Work Text:
Destiny was not cemented within darkened clouds of time and space. Sumeragi Subaru was determined to prove that belief a fact. Many things had changed for Subaru upon becoming the next in line Sakurazukamori, and he was not willing to let the world ruin everything he had once held dear to him.
The Promised Day arrived. It was Fuuma and Kamui’s final verdict, not his own. He helped Kamui along his path emotionally, and his triumphant turn-of-events win against Fuuma brought a new bundle of prayers. Kamui’s fierce stand to protect world from destruction became another day humanity went on.
The dust settled, and the world was at peace.
The outcome wasn’t important to him except Kamui discovering his own wish. A world with his happiness satisfied him. Keeping his new identity alive for Seishirou’s sake was a given no matter the cost during that time. Staying until the end of the showdown as a Dragon of Heaven and seeing the next day was a piece of the puzzle. Destiny would not steal that.
Kamui stepped towards him, Shinken in hand. His weary expression pleaded for him to stay, but he knew the answer. “You… you’re sure?”
“Yes.” Subaru watched the clouds drift away from the sun. Warmth skimmed his cheek. To his astonishment, his wish would be granted. A happy destiny hovered on the horizon.
White light surrounded Kamui. He took a deep breath. “My wish with Fuuma is realized,” he said, “and this power will help with yours.”
“Goodbye, Kamui.”
And the gentle light enveloped Subaru’s body. Instantly, the power twisted and forced him backwards, pulling him towards its center. He gave up balance and relaxed while memories flashed before his eyes of the past month and a half. The overwhelming, dizzying sadness had barely given him peace. Rewinding, and reversing the pain. Static blared in his ears.
The gift given to them was to restore the world they had both known before 1999.
The unmatched fuel for a second chance was too sweet and irresistible, the monstrous roar echoing deep within his heart. The fact many events took place would not be forgotten. Not every single detail was fixable, but big events were reversible in name of the wish’s power. Subaru could fix any mishaps and rid history of the wounds. Change the past’s woes.
The previous Sakurazukamori’s wish for him to be the only one left standing was void.
The thick layers of haze in his mind lifted.
The gray, misty stretch of world around Subaru wavered and conceded to his whims. He imagined the details of that overcast day so he could drag it into existence – November 14th, the day his fragmented life had indelibly shattered for the foreseeable future. His mind worked against him and obscured memories, but he clung to them until the pieces and colors and shapes manifested before him.
Rainbow Bridge’s rubble and destruction piled upon itself in the murky, stationary waters. But he rewound that – he went back, and he went back before the bridge collapsed – and he was drawn into the wave of time. Subaru spun in the majesty of time’s lull, anticipation enlarging his heart four sizes. The sounds vibrated and whistled in his ears like the late train guiding him towards the train tracks.
It was less than two months ago. It could have been an eon from what he remembered of it with elusive dreams and depression.
The whip of a black trenchcoat flying in the breeze caught his attention. His body jerked and seized, but he stood firm despite the realization he had nothing to hold onto for support besides his steadfast conviction.
He caught himself, arms around his body, before he tumbled. The ground wobbled and the spinning stopped. There was silence and the groan of a door in the distance, signaling he had finally arrived at his destination.
Rainbow Bridge’s architecture was clear. The stone and pillars and long road above Tokyo Bay blinked to life with one line and arch, the outlines of a coloring book rapidly filled in from memories too bright with regret. But Subaru wasn’t focused on the extraneous details; his gaze latched onto the familiar, winded pair of onmyouji testing the bridge’s stability under their monumental fight.
Seishirou stood the closest, body half-turned.
Upon a second time, Subaru witnessed the way in which Seishirou’s hand tensed. But he saw more. The flicker of his good eye tipped upwards for a view of the sky. The wrinkle of his forehead warned of a fatal decision.
The Sakurazukamori bunched his hand into a fist. He stepped forward, resigning himself to the death that awaited him, and he sprang.
Subaru darted at him, and his hand opened.
The beats of life around them deafened.
Everything froze.
The backdrop of the bridge, Subaru’s other self, and their onlookers were forgotten and blurred. Blue light surrounded them and they each faded from the recesses of his mind.
The flow of time around them again ticked and rippled in his ears. It was a thousand drops of rain pelting on the bridge within a second – confusion, horror, anxiety – and the mission he set himself out to accomplish.
Life was no longer lost. In this time and space for them alone, Subaru suddenly felt… real.
He caught the rounded curve of Seishirou’s fist and trapped his knuckles. He yanked him, pulling him downwards without hesitation.
The motion was so swift and precise that Seishirou didn’t see it coming. His thoughts were pinned on the Subaru he planned to offer his life to, the last retribution he deemed necessary. For his stabbed eye. For the older sister he had killed as a trade-off. Most of all, the horde of lies he had let him dwell on for years... The force of Subaru’s attack sent them both off balance, causing them to sprawl on the roadway gracelessly.
The power held firmly in the palm of his hand crackled before sizzling out of existence.
Seishirou resisted as well as he could from the invasion of privacy – he shoved, and he retaliated with a kick to his leg – but Subaru tackled him and didn’t let that faze him. He pounced, knocking him clean on his back, and Seishirou landed with a mindful of questions.
To Subaru, the anger and confusion and downright pride were incredibly beautiful.
He straddled him. The frenzied struggle beneath him aimed to throw him off, but Subaru snatched his forearms. He slammed Seishirou’s arms above his head. Seishirou kneed him in the side on reflex, but he was awakened to the magnetic draw of the soul before him and Subaru’s all too familiar power, his own addiction of pleasure; he didn’t flinch or feel the soles of his shoes brand pain into his flesh. Subaru’s hand slipped down his arm, elbow, until he clasped wrists. Bracing himself, he pinned Seishirou with all his strength.
Seishirou did not know how it was possible, but he had magically appeared before him.
Ofuda slipped from the sleeves of his shirt, and he strapped them around his wrists. It would suffice to keep a barrier for control, and he wouldn’t break free of restraints. The ofuda’s power wildly crackled on Seishirou’s skin. Such trade tools weren’t usually meant to be used in such a physical manner, but he would throw every single piece packed in his arsenal to overpower the person he loved.
“How dare you,” Subaru said. Teeth clenched, he seized the trenchcoat’s thick, black fabric for purchase. He hovered closer. “You ran away one time. You will not do it twice.”
The flash of memory soared across his vision. Blood splatter, the tilt of Seishirou’s head and the thin parting of lips before he collapsed on him. The jeer of Hokuto’s curse as it activated and protected Subaru with an iron clad fist. The spell of those mesmerizing last words he had uttered and captured him in a trance.
But those memories would soon be broken and lost to time, like they deserved to be.
The scene processed in Seishirou’s mind, but he didn’t comprehend the cutting words or eye which looked like his own glaring back at him without sympathy, because this wasn’t similar to anything Subaru had ever pulled previously. His expression fell flat. It was his reasoning for death in the first place. But he had been across from him, only seconds ago… On second thought, this version of him wasn’t wide-eyed and wallowing. His demeanor was stark, fraught with demanding ruthlessness.
Subaru smiled. His mouth was tight, no teeth.
Of course he wouldn’t finish his mistakes.
Since the title had been passed onto him, now was his time to handle the reins.
Death’s grasp could go to hell, because this was his moment. Not Seishirou’s. Things died and yielded. There was no escape to it. The flow of change was under Subaru’s watch.
Subaru kissed him. His lips pressed against his, rough and heavy and crushing, and he didn’t give Seishirou the chance to breathe.
Eyes blank, Seishirou stiffened. The shock was evidence in his expression: the twist of lips under Subaru’s that desperately fought to claim Seishirou’s, the slack of sturdy jaw.
He had vaguely pictured this prospect, but he hadn’t thought it would be this… suffocating. Far more than a punctured lung and severed heart beyond repair served to be. Seishirou had always hoped he would become stronger, less internal, and able to give him a run for his money. This was too much and it burned deliciously and horribly he had an upper hand. Seishirou stopped thinking, but he didn’t want to succumb. Yet he didn’t care to destroy the ofuda ferociously dug in the fiber of his skin.
He should die. But this was unexpected, fresh, all too different than Subaru had a right to be.
Heat and nervousness blossomed in Subaru’s chest. His stomach churned and time chafed his mind for every bit of rebellion he exploited to change his fate. But he was too elated, far too afloat in an ocean of triumph to entertain that. The outside world didn’t have a bearing on this. Neither what came afterwards. He could stay in this pocket of history forever, and he may make that wish their reality.
Seishirou would be happy with him forever even if he had to override destiny itself.