Chapter Text
In the early days of June, 1999, the Guild War comes to an end with the defeat of Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. The Guild has lost, and Yokohama - for the time being - is safe.
More importantly, Byakko has won once again, because she has kept her boy safe and alive, and now they finally have something to show for it: a home.
However.
Her boy still does not know who she is. Despite everything, Byakko still fears revealing herself - her true self, not just as an Ability, but as an inhabitant of his physical self, as someone with her own presence who was created to protect him - to him. She has feared it for so long, it only seems natural to continue doing so.
That is, until one night, when another voice invades Byakko's inner space.
"You should tell him."
The voice is both strange and familiar at the same time, somehow. Byakko does not lift her head from her paws; instead, she only twitches her ears to show that she is listening.
"I know you know who I am. We met before, if only for a little bit. You were even more scared back then, hiding so deep within his mind that even I couldn't talk to you. I'm glad I finally broke through, though. You and I… we're the same, after all. But you knew that already."
"Why are you here?" Byakko's voice is rusty and low from disuse, and quiet, but nevertheless, still there.
"Because you need me to be here." A pause. "I know why you are what you are. I know you love him. You only want to protect him. I feel the same way about my boy."
The voice trembles a little when Byakko hears it again: "He used to hate me, too. And now I think he loves me as a replacement for someone he lost a long time ago. But that hasn't happened to your boy, yet. He still has time to love you for who you are, and for what you've done for him already, what you'll do for him in the future, too."
Another pause. "He deserves to know who you are. He deserves to know you. Just like you deserve to know him, too."
Byakko doesn't say anything for what feels like forever.
"... I will take your advice. But first, you must tell me your name. Not the name of your boy, nor the name of the Ability which allows you to take this form. Your name, and your name alone."
There's a moment of hesitation, until:
"My name is Elise. I chose it myself." She stops, as if thinking, wondering whether to ask. "What's yours?"
Finally getting to her feet, Byakko turns her head to look over her shoulder. In the distance behind her, she can see the distinct blonde curls, the bright red dress, clearly through the everlasting night of Byakko's inner space.
"My name is Byakko. Thank you, Elise."
When Atsushi wakes the next morning, Byakko follows through.
"When you were three and a half years old, you said you wanted to be a tiger. No one heard you… except for me. My name is Byakko, and ever since that day, I've lived alongside you. For years, I've done what I could to protect you. I know it was never enough. I hope you can forgive me, for allowing you to believe you were alone for so long."
Atsushi laughs; it's soft, and watery.
"I always knew I wasn't alone. I only never talked to you because… I knew you were stronger than me, and I felt like I didn't have the right. But now- now that I'm getting stronger, I guess it's about time one of us finally reached out, right?"
After 14 long years of careful separation, Byakko and Atsushi finally awaken once again, together, this time, for good.