Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aichi closes his eyes.

He stands on a cliff overlooking Cray’s vast lands. The sky is a cloudless blue. The air is fresh and a breeze picks up from the south, making green fields ripple gold under the rays of two suns.

It’s the Cray he knows in his heart, the Cray he’s fighting to bring back.

Blaster Blade stands beside him, regal and reassuring.

“The choice is yours to make,” he says. “The cards are in your hands.”

“I know,” Aichi answers and looks on. They’ve talked about this all of last night, for the past several restless evenings. Aichi turns his choices over and over in his head, oscillating between fear and consolation, only to repeatedly encounter an oddly comforting sort of acceptance.

Blaster Blade waits for him.

Aichi opens his eyes.

He is in the world behind mirrors.

It is a quiet world, eerily disorienting yet familiar. There are no people, only images on glassy surfaces that quickly come and go. Aichi would leisurely explore but he is running out of time.

He finds Tatsunagi Takuto alone in a small, high-walled room, sitting among images of Kourin, Suiko, and Rekka, their smiles and times together, conjured in the struggle to keep himself sane. The boy is visibly tired, but there is still fight in his eyes. He looks up sharply upon sensing Aichi’s presence.

“Sendou Aichi…” Takuto’s voice is weak.

Aichi smiles woefully. “It’s alright, Takuto-san.”

“Why are you here? Void is…what happened to Void?” He tries to move toward him but stumbles.

“Please don’t come any closer, Takuto-san. Void is…”

Aichi sees Takuto’s eyes widen in realization and horror. He forces himself to stand on shaky knees. “No…” his voice breaks. Anger starts to flow from him in waves. “No…no! You…”

“I am taking Void into myself,” Aichi gently explains. “I’m going to travel to different worlds and release it bit by bit. It’s going to take a long time.”

“H-how…what’s going to happen to you?”

Aichi shakes his head and Takuto lets out an anguished cry.

“No!” He sinks to the floor once more. “I never wanted this for you. I never thought…when I asked for your help…that things would turn out this way.”

“This is what I chose, Takuto-san,” Aichi says. “I wanted to save everyone.” After a pause, he adds laughingly, “Vanguard is really fun. It saved me. I want to bring that kind of Vanguard back.”

The expression on Takuto’s face is desperate and pleading, but he cannot bring himself to deny Aichi's conviction.

“Takuto-san, I leave the future to you.”

The walls shatter and Tatsunagi Takuto is alone once more, but free.

Aichi is lying on Escrad’s lap.

He feels Void steadily fill his being, stitching itself into his soul, eating away at his spirit like a million tiny ants. It rises from the earth to consume him. His back is on cold fire, his limbs are losing feeling and feverish sweat shines on his brow. A pained sound passes his lips in a plume of red and black smoke.

“Aichi…” Marron kneels beside him and takes his hand. Llew follows suit, visage oozing with worry. Wingal quietly noses his hip and rests its head on his stomach, body soft and warm.

“Everyone…” Aichi breathes, vision swimming. “Ah!”

Pain shoots through his body once more, locking it in a relentless, quivering arch. Void is tearing open his mind, eagerly devouring his thoughts, memories, and knowledge. He feels light-headed, seemingly being whittled down to a mass of white noise and pain. Aichi finds it difficult to think and gasps for air.

“I’m scared,” he whispers with a shudder. A sheepish smile grace his face and his eyes brim with tears.

Gancelot takes his other hand and grips it tight. “Aichi.”

“I’m going to stop existing,” his voice is helplessly small. “People will forget me. I’m going to be alone again…”

“You won’t.”

Aichi looks up at Blaster Blade kneeling beside him, wiping tears from his cheeks and smoothing his hair. “We will be going with you.”

Aichi’s eyes widen in surprise. “What?”

Blaster Blade smiles gently. “It will be tough in the beginning. Void will overwhelm you. During that time, we will be the ones to release it little by little, until your consciousness is strong enough to return, ”

“But…you will be leaving the clan. You won’t be able to return.”

“We know,” says Gancelot.

“We aren’t called Liberators for nothing,” Marron adds, smiling through his own tears. Wingal licks his palm.

Aichi struggles to look at each and every being by his side—high beasts, humans, elves, giants. Despite the numbing pain, he feels his heart fill with something profoundly comforting he cannot quite name.

“Even if you cease to exist on Earth,” Blaster Blade says. “Cray will never forget. This planet and everyone on it will forever be grateful to you.”

Aichi nods and relaxes against Escrad, letting what’s left of him be consumed by Void.

He thinks of his mother and Emi, in whom he always had a home to return to.

He thinks of his friends, Misaki, Naoki, Shingo, Kamui, Kourin, and everyone he’s met through Vanguard, how they incredibly saved him, how they’ve become people very precious to him, beyond cardfighting, so much so that he’s willing to give himself up to save the world they live in.

He thinks of Kai, whom he loves.

With a sharp intake of breath, Toshiki Kai opens his eyes.

The first thing he sees is the sky outside a wide window. Clear, bright, and a nostalgic blue. It’s disconcerting.

He looks around, quickly realizing he’s in a hospital, in a private room on a bed. An IV drip runs into his arm and there are voices coming from behind the door to his right. He can easily single out Miwa’s jovial tone.

“I’m sure he always appreciates you stopping by,” he’s saying. “I’ll put these flowers in a vase. Come on in.”

The door clicks open.

Kai sees Miwa freeze, bouquet in hand. Tatsunagi Takuto is close behind him.

“K…Kai? …Kai!” The bouquet is all but tossed at him as Miwa rushes to his side and takes hold of his hand. “You’re awake!” He’s shaking.

“Mi…wa.”

“Oh man,” Miwa seemingly doesn’t know what to do with himself. “Oh man. You're...! Hang on, I’ll…I’ll call the nurse,” he says hurriedly and leaves.

Takuto awkwardly watches the happenings in quiet surprise.

“You’re…” Kai starts, voice hoarse.

He smiles. “Welcome back, Kai.”

“Void…?”

The boy waves a hand. “Old news. You’ve been out for a month, recovering. Void took a lot out of you.”

Kai stares at him stupidly. “A month? H-how…”

Takuto shrugs. “I honestly don’t know myself. When I came to, Void was already disappearing.”

“As if someone pulled the plug out of a bathtub,” says Miwa, coming in with his phone in hand. “Called everyone,” he adds with a grin at the mild mortification that momentarily graces Kai’s face. “We were all fighting at Tatsunagi Corp. Ren found you collapsed on the roof. You were barely breathing.”

“Ren…?”

“Yeah! You should’ve seen him barrel through those Reversed like his cards were a shotgun,” Miwa continues, gesticulating animatedly. “Well, technically you did but circumstances considered…”

Kai’s insides squirm uncomfortably. “Why did Void leave?”

“We don’t know,” Miwa says, sitting beside him. Takuto retrieves the flowers from the bed and arranges them in a vase. “It just did.”

“It just did,” Kai deadpans.

Something isn’t right.

He looks around the room. There are sure signs of people who visit him regularly—personal affects, washed cups and cutlery, a change of clothes, a makeshift study table, and even a small desk with a Vanguard play mat on it, on which without a doubt passed plenty an afternoon.

“Oh, and you’ll be rooming with me for a while,” Miwa says casually.

“Why.”

“No one knew your rent was up. The landlady had to trace your connections and tell us your things needed picking up.” At Kai’s look, he adds. “Cut us some slack! We didn't know where you lived until now! They wouldn't allow us to speak for you to keep your apartment, dude.”

Loud banter comes from the hallway.

“Ah, they’re here,” Takuto moves to open the door but it flies open before he could reach a hand out.

“He’s awake?! Where is he? Let me punch him!”

“I go first! This is for all the trouble he put nii-san through!”

Naoki turns to look at Kamui, bewildered, both their fists comically raised. “What are you talking about?”

Kamui blinks. “Uh...I...don't know? That just came out.”

“You’re disturbing the neighbors,” Kourin says sharply, coming in the room as well, carrying a decorative box of cake. Misaki follows with a plastic bag of drinks and convenience store food. She smiles warmly at him.

“Welcome back, Kai.”

Kai watches them busy themselves to eat, chatting absently about classes early that afternoon, the new booster packs, and how Shin could use some of his regulars back instead of having them cardfight in a hospital room all the time.

Takuto quietly stands by Kai’s bed, watching them as well. “They’ve been worried, you know.”

“Takuto-san! We’ve got cake!” Kamui calls.

Takuto gives Kai a gentle smile, one shade imploring, and joins them.

“Are Kourin and the others dropping by?”

“They said they would. They’re still as busy as ever with work. Even I can't stop them.”

“Morikawa and Izaki say they’ll drop by after remedial classes.”

“Mark-sensei sure can be tough!”

Miwa returns to sit beside Kai, carrying a plate of food. “Only water and a bit of onigiri for you,” he says in a matter-of-factly tone. “Doctor says a normal amount of food will shock your system.”

Kai’s gut twists further, quite different from his earlier discomfort. He feels he doesn’t deserve any of this.

And Miwa may or may not have seen a look cross Kai's face, he couldn’t know, but Miwa says, “You’re not alone, you know. You never were.”

Kai bites his lip and bows his head in silent apology.

 → 

Chapter Text

Aichi does not know where he ends and where Void begins. From time to time, he wakes to find himself floating on an elevated plane of existence, stretched thin and ever expanding, watching bits of himself go in small, steady increments. In other times, he is the sea, and who or what he is means nothing.

He is a sandpiper on the shore.

He is sunlight streaming through the leaves.

He breathes.

He is a child in his mother’s arms.

He pokes at sand with one of his many legs.

He breathes.

He is the sea once more.

He has breakfast with Ezel.

...who is bemusingly off-putting walking around with his hair down, wearing only a cream-colored robe. He sets down two plates of toast with scrambled eggs and two cups of coffee, one for himself, one for Aichi.

“I can’t imagine where you’ve gone or what you’ve been through, but it’s great to see you back again,” Ezel says warmly. “You have been missed.”

Aichi fidgets bashfully in his seat and looks around.

By them were large, floor-to-ceiling windows that opened to a spacious garden where various -gals were gambolling and barking with delight. Larger high beasts elegantly sat in the shade of trees. Kyrph, Tron, Sagramore, Marron, and Llew were playing games in the living room, boyish laughter peacefully filtering through the sweet morning air. Garmore and Gallatin had brewed themselves their own cups of coffee, leaning against the kitchen counter beside the coffee pot and talking in quieter but no less enthusiastic tones. Beaumains, Epona, and Gancelot are also outside, sitting on the grass exchanging stories. Fortune Bell fashions a quaint flower crown and places it on Gancelot’s head.

Aichi smiles. “It’s good to be back.” He takes a bite of breakfast.

“How’s your body?” Ezel asks.

“Better,” he opens and closes his hands as if to test them. “There’s still a lot left in me, but I can manage.”

“Take care of yourself, Aichi. Will you be staying here long?”

Aichi nods. “We’ve got a bit of time before we need to move again. Blaster Blade says I need to pay Cray Council a visit.”

“You should,” Ezel smiles. “I do think they’d like to know how you are. Speaking of Blaster Blade, the Royals have been wanting to see him, where is he?”

Before Aichi could answer, Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark come through the kitchen doorway, dressed casually in colors that reflects their armor.

“Room for two more?” Blaster Blade asks good-naturedly while Blaster Dark helps himself to a seat.

Ezel waves a hand. “Get breakfast yourselves.”

“I’ll do that,” Blaster Blade answers. “Aichi, Blaster Dark has something he wants to talk to you about.”

“Should I leave?” Ezel begins but Blaster Dark stops him.

“It’s fine. One concern of mine is personal, though I don’t mind you hearing about it. Another is Council-related, so that comes first.”

Aichi’s brow furrows in confusion, but realizes where the conversation is headed. “Ah, they’ve heard about it?”

Blaster Dark shifts in his seat. “Listen Aichi, no one doubts your capabilities to keep Void in check—“

“—they shouldn’t.”

“—not with the Liberators by your side. They’re just concerned, as everyone is.”

There is a tense pause, in which Blaster Blade comes back with breakfast for himself and Blaster Dark. Ezel takes a quiet sip of coffee, keenly observant.

Aichi’s expression is unreadable. Blaster Dark continues carefully, “Your eyes are rimmed black. What has Void been telling you?”

He smiles wanly. “Void always whispers to me.”

“What does it say?”

Aichi closes his eyes and leans back onto the cushioned chair with a sigh, serenely quiet as if listening. “If I set it free, I can have everything I want in the world.”

Ren dreams.

He stands on Cray, a familiar landscape of rocky grey and blue under a vast night sky filled with stars. It’s the Cray Ren always imagines.

There is movement in his periphery. He turns to look and sees a boy planting a tiny, dark tree. His shock of blue hair is painfully familiar.

“So it’s you.”

Aichi jumps and turns around, instinctively making himself small and hidden, but stops himself. “H-hello, Ren-san.”

“It’s you,” Ren says evenly. “The one go gave himself up in exchange for Void’s disappearance, Sendou Aichi.”

Is this what Blaster Dark was talking about? Aichi thinks and scratches the back of his neck. “How do you know, Ren-san? I thought the conditions were for no one to remember…”

A glow of power shines within Ren’s eyes, power Aichi knows well. His hand drops. “Psyqualia…”

Ren sits down on a stone chair and table and invites Aichi to sit with him. He concedes. In any other circumstance, they would be fighting on that table, but now is not those times.

“At least I have something good to tell Souryuu Leon and the child from Singapore,” Ren smiles and rests his chin on his hands.

“Leon-kun and Chris-kun?” Aichi asks. “Why?”

“Ah~” Ren sighs in his singsong way. “The whole Void affair was very confusing and tiring. We were especially shocked when it suddenly went away, and so did you, and no one remembered anything about you at all, like you never existed.”

Aichi laughs sheepishly, trying to figure out what his feelings are doing, drawing a blank, before settling for a vague sort of relief, a comfort in familiarity. It warms his heart. “So they remember as well, because of Psyqualia...”

“But really, this is great,” Ren says in a more serious tone. “We thought we lost you. But now I know that's not true and I can come here to play against you.”

Aichi balks. “W-wait, Ren-san! I don’t have much control over where I can go, much less make it back here to fight with you.”

“But you do want to come back here, don’t you?”

Aichi looks at his feet. “Of course.”

“Then it’s settled! Let’s fight once you’re here again.”

There is a comfortable pause before Aichi asks, “How have things been going?”

“Oh? Great, I suppose. The start of a new school year means the start of a new Vanguard Koushien, or whatever it’s called. You know how I'm bad with this stuff.”

Aichi is fidgeting, embarrassed to clarify himself, but he eventually does. “H-how is Kai-kun?”

“Hmm? Kai, huh? Happier. Miwa-kun says he’s back to his former self, but I’ve never seen Kai like that so I wouldn’t know. He still looks like a poop with a giant frown on his face! ...but,” an expression Aichi can't place crosses Ren's face. "He's as fine as he lets himself be."

Ren sees Aichi red in the face and he smiles once more, this time knowing and secretive. “Why don’t you pay him a visit?

“There’s something in my house.”

“What.”

“I said there’s something in my—“

“I know what you said, but what makes you say that?”

Kai and Miwa are on their way home from a lively Friday afternoon at Card Capital. Miwa is halfway through finishing a sweet-filled crepe and Kai is steadily consuming a bottle of peach Calpis.

“Sometimes I forget to turn off the lights when I leave for work, and when I come back home, the apartment’s completely dark. When I can’t find the things I’m looking for, they just show up as if they’ve always been where they were. Other times when I go to bed, I can feel something breathing down my neck—“

Miwa’s bark of laughter interrupts him and Kai stares at his friend, mildly irritated.

“Sorry, sorry. I just can't imagine you scared. I know you’ve barely been there for two months. You’re probably still moving in, y'know.”

Kai looks unimpressed.

Miwa shrugs, crepe seemingly about to fall from his grip, “If you’re worried, you can chalk it up to the work of a guardian angel!”

“What the hell does that mean…”

But before Miwa can answer, a strong breeze whips around them, tousling their clothes and hair, and the sakura of April.

It must be Kai’s imagination, he can’t tell, when he feels a smallish hand touch his shoulder and something ascend into the late afternoon sky. For a moment, a great emotion stirs within him, but it's gone as quickly as it came, leaving him with an odd, gratifying sense of closure along with the dying of the wind.

Upon Miwa's inquiry, Kai shakes his head with a quiet smile, insisting they stop by the park to feed the cats before heading home. Inexplicably, he feels safe, warm, and at peace.

END