Work Text:
He’s transformed a mere handful of times since that fight, but he knows from the minute the fight starts that this is different.
Okay, he probably knew earlier, but.
The first realization is when a stranger calls him Kuuga, a stranger in black and pink leather whose eyes meet his with some odd mix of respect, longing, and complete emptiness .
“Kamen Rider Kuuga,” he notes. “The first Heisei Rider.”
Yusuke tenses.
The man raises a card with Kuuga’s symbol, then.
“Thank you,” he says, sarcasm evident in his voice, and Yusuke truly knows that this boy is different from anyone that he knows. “I admire you, Godai Yusuke.”
“And why’s that?”
“Kamen Riders intrigue me,” the boy replies. “Why do you fight? How can you help people and… win?”
Yusuke tenses.
It’s not winning, not fully, it’s not a game. It’s defeating your opponent so no one else suffers.
“Someone has to try,” he says. “It would be better if no one had to, but we do.”
(We, because he’s Kamen Rider. And it does help some to now there’s a word, even if he’s met others very rarely.)
The boy hmms and doesn’t reply.
And then he disappears through something strange, unfamiliar. But Godai already knows it isn’t over. It’s likely an enemy, thought that boy seemed so very human and yet so very not, and that’s…
Well, it’s something.
It’s more than a bit expected, after that, when he learns of Dai-Shocker a few weeks later. Just like him, their leader had appeared before eight other Riders, holding up cards before disappearing.
The leader of Dai-Shocker , an organization of monsters from across the multiverse. Led by the boy with the empty yet longing gaze.
“Yusuke?”
Yusuke turns. Kaoru looks worried. He shakes his head, quickly.
“I’m okay,” he says. “I just… can’t imagine that boy is the Great Leader. He’s so…”
Young. Bleeding good around the edges.
“You’ve met him?” Kurenai - the newest of the ones contacted by Decade (and he hates having no name for the boy other than Decade) apparently - asks.
“Of course,” Yusuke replies. “Isn’t that why you came here? It was about a month ago. But he didn’t seem that… dangerous.”
“Dai-Shocker crashed my friend’s wedding using monsters from my own dark future,” Kurenai replies. “I assure you, he’s dangerous. Especially if he’s really taken our powers.”
There’s things in there that Kurenai doesn’t say, which is okay.
Nonetheless, Yusuke wants to ask.
What did the boy do?
But the fights continue, for the next few weeks.
Yusuke joins because they need him, but not just. There are so many Riders, he won’t make a difference. What he needs to do is find him, find Decade.
“I admire you, Godai Yusuke.”
He does it, he tracks Decade down to the side of the battle.
“Why?” He asks. “Why are you doing this?”
Decade turns.
“Is there something else I can do?” He asks. It’s a child’s level of innocence or ignorance depending who you ask. He’s from a world of monsters, but there’s more to him.
Yusuke sees it, clear as day.
“What’s your name?” He asks.
“I’m De—”
“Your name ,” Yusuke emphasizes. Decade pauses.
“Tsukasa,” he says. “Kadoya Tsukasa.”
“Tsukasa,” Yusuke replies, rolling the name on his lips. “What do you want?”
Tsukasa blinks.
“I…” he says. “I watched you. I’d just discovered the Veils. Yongou fought grongi, but you were… I put my symbol on me, too.” He gestures, and there is some emblem of Decade on his pant leg indeed. “I want to…”
He trails off, unsure.
Soon, both are called back to battle.
They lost. None of them - not all of them - are dead yet, judging from the groans of pain, but nobody can touch Tsukasa.
But Godai Yusuke is not nobody. He gets up.
“You can stop this,” he says.
“Can I?” Tsukasa asks. “There are more twisted Worlds than you know.”
It doesn’t feel like a threat.
“You can, if you choose.”
Something tightens in Tsukasa’s stance, then, and Yusuke wonders if he says the wrong thing.
“Come get me,” Tsukasa says, with an open stance.
Yusuke changes forms, bypasses it all. Ultimate.
They hit with an equal power that doesn’t hurt anyone else, but Yusuke just barely catches Tsukasa and his Driver falling through flickering veils before the world goes dark.
“I won’t do it,” Yusuke says. The other Riders look at him in shock.
“We have no other choice,” one of the other Riders says. “You say he wanted to do better, then… this is the price he pays for helping others.”
“Well, count me out,” Yusuke repeats. “I won’t do it.”
Tsukasa… he wanted to change, Yusuke had seen it. The relief on the boy’s face as they both fell. Wherever he’s hiding, it’s not with Dai-Shocker. It was his first thought when he woke back up to a relieved Kaoru and assortment of Riders. There has to be another way to stop this, anything better than using an amnesiac former villain.
He leaves before anyone else can try and stop him.
Yusuke tries, for weeks, to summon a veil. For whatever reason, it comes unnaturally. Like it belongs to someone else. But he has to see Tsukasa for himself.
“Yusuke—”
“He’s not an Unidentified Lifeform,” Yusuke says. “He’s not a monster, he’s just… a kid, and he doesn’t want this.”
Kaoru sighs. They’ve had this argument before. But Kaoru has points, of course. Yusuke smiles, gesturing at the vale.
“Just to check on him,” he says. “If he’s truly irredeemable, we’ll see.”
“Tsukasa?”
Yusuke blinks in surprise. The boy is leaning against a motorcycle with a sign that reads “I will take your picture”. He turns.
“Yes?” He asks. There’s no recognition in his eyes. “Do I… know you?”
“Don’t play dumb,” Kaoru says, but Yusuke holds up a hand. He takes a step forwards and Tsukasa takes one back.
“Do I… know you?” The boy asks, and then. “Do you know me? Do you know who I am?”
Oh. Oh no, Tsukasa doesn’t remember. Is that why he’d egged Yusuke on like that? Is this what he wanted?
But before Yusuke can respond, a third, higher voice calls Tsukasa’s name. Yusuke turns to find a girl stomping over to Tsukasa, hitting him in the neck with a pressure point and apologizing for Tsukasa’s pictures in advance.
Yusuke smiles, as reassuringly as he can.
“It’s alright,” he says. “We thought he was someone else, is all. We’ll be going.”
The girl looks him over, and then Kaoru.
“Are you sure it’s someone else?” She asks. “Tsukasa lost his memories, so…”
“It’s someone else,” Kaoru agrees. “But we really must be going.”
“Come again soon,” Tsukasa snarks, but he shrinks at Natsumi’s raised thumb. “Calm down, Natsumikan.”
“It was nice to meet you both,” Yusuke says, and with that, he leaves.
“We have to tell them,” Kaoru says. “That Decade is amnesiac.”
“It’s not fair,” Yusuke says, sadly. “But you’re right. I just… can’t be a part of it.”
(He can’t send someone innocent down this path of heroism that only ends in tragedy, not when he’s lived it.)
Kaoru kisses him, keeping his forehead to Yusuke’s to ground him.
“I know,” he says. “Let’s hope this all ends better than we think.”