Work Text:
Seasons [Jonouchi’s Time Magician/Pandora’s Black Magician]
夏 (Summer)
Someday , Time Magician thought, Perhaps my work won’t continually come back to haunt me.
That day wouldn’t come within his lifetime, he supposed. Over the past three thousand years, the failed spells of his youth ricocheted into the far flung future— wormholes opening up and discarding the remains of something Time Magician had lost centuries prior, usually. Occasionally some poor soul would try to recreate his work from scratch and Time Magician would have to investigate. And ever since his last bout of misfortune , shall one say, he would come across a temporal anomaly left behind by the Machine King’s experiments.
Today he’d detected one on the borders between the Grasslands and the Yami Field. It made for a bizarre temperature gradient— where the grass still lay fresh and green, the summer heat was cozy and welcoming. Where the daylight turned into black, swirling eternity, however, the world dropped into a cold only comfortable for a corpse. Time Magician only minded the difference for the sake of his mechanical body— but he remembered that in a time long passed, he’d never liked the cold. Cold was such a lonely feeling.
Knowing what to look for, Time Magician found the anomaly in the time he estimated for himself. The space afflicted rippled, like droplets of rain in a quiet lake. When someone tried to intrude into it, there would be a pushing sensation against their body, stopping them just short of touching the space. Time Magician expected it would be closer to the darkness than to the Grasslands, but he did not expect another Magician to have beaten him to the spot.
Time Magician recognized the silhouette of this other Magician very immediately. The name Mahado nearly came out of his mouth, but he stopped, realizing just as quickly that this Black Magician was not the same one he knew.
His armor differed, for one. It gleamed a deep scarlet with a golden trim. The aura of dark magic around him was much the same, but his presence exuded far less welcome. And Mahado didn’t tend to be alone— he would often be with Mana, or Kuriboh, or one of the Nameless Pharaoh’s other dearest friends.
The Black Magician noticed him, in turn, turning slowly. His face was a sharp scowl, at first glaring out above Time Magician, before realizing that his company was much shorter than eye-level.
Belatedly, Time Magician also realized that Mahado had explained meeting another Black Magician before. During the course of Battle City, the Nameless Pharaoh had a bout with one of Malik Ishtar’s thralls, one who wielded an ultimate wizard of his own…
Time Magician was of no mind to assume that this Black Magician was necessarily the same type of person as his Master. He was too old to be so presumptuous.
“Good day,” Time Magician began simply. “I don’t suppose you’re interested in this anomaly as well?”
Black Magician stared down at him blankly at first. The unfriendly expression he’d started with shifted to skepticism. “Who are you?”
Time Magician had no inclination to react to said skepticism; that was a normal reaction to another Monster seeing him in-person for the first time, honestly. Instead he bowed and introduced himself— “I am the Time Magician! A longtime scholar and teacher of my chosen school of magic. And of course, that includes investigating such phenomena as the anomaly behind you.”
He looked up to see Black Magician’s expression hadn't changed. “... You’re the Time Magician.”
“Yes,” Time Magician confirmed.
“I don’t know what I expected.”
Long-lived as he was, Time Magician had met a number of first impressions. He was well-known all across Duel World, mostly on account of his personal frequent travels; he had friends all over, many in unexpected places. He’d seen generations of shifting culture, the rise and fall of empires, the opening and closing of the gates between this world and the human world— and being so thoroughly acquainted with this land and its history gave him the privilege of authority that he’d used to develop something of a university out of his home, and something of a lofty standard to live up to. Depending on the nature of the Monster he met, he met that standard, or he didn’t.
Many younger Monsters were awed by him and his expertise. Children and their curious minds lit up to be taught how the fabric of space and time worked. Humble or kind-hearted souls were fascinated by his historical experience. The worldly recognized him as a peer. Conversely, Monsters who were cruel, domineering or just cynical had a very specific impression of him: that he was a weak Monster with unreliable magic. To be honest, Time Magician felt no need to dispute that. They weren’t wrong .
Three thousand years, and it wasn’t as if he’d ever stopped making mistakes or having his spells backfire into his face. He’d just learned to keep it a bit more quiet. And more importantly, found better ways to use his knowledge.
So Time Magician let out a small, somewhat forced laugh to Black Magician’s incredulousness. “I suppose I do have something of a contradictory reputation to my name, don’t I?”
“Something like that…”
Time Magician composed himself shortly thereafter. “So! I hope you don’t mind, I’d like to get closer to the anomaly.”
For a second, neither of them moved— Time Magician was waiting for Black Magician to either oblige or rebuff him, and he guessed after a moment that Black Magician expected him to approach regardless of his thought on the matter. When Black Magician seemed to realize that for himself he decided to step aside, though never turning his back to Time Magician.
Time Magician raised his hand to attempt to touch the anomaly— and as expected, the space pushed him out, refusing to let him in. He checked off that criteria mentally and instead brought out his staff to analyze the anomaly more concretely.
As he concentrated, Black Magician’s voice came out of nowhere. “What is this, exactly?” he asked.
Time Magician needed a moment to note down his current reading of the anomaly before he replied. “This is the aftermath of someone manipulating time in this specific, afflicted spot.”
Black Magician raised an eyebrow. “Someone. You?”
“I’m afraid not.” Time Magician rubbed the back of his head. “I have suspects , but until I know exactly what they’re doing, I cannot properly confront them.”
“Hm.”
“My working theory,” he continued, “is that the person in question has done something to stop time altogether here. Having a place divorced from time, surrounded by space that still conforms to it, creates this impenetrable effect.”
Time Magician again demonstrated the anomaly’s inability to be touched. Black Magician watched.
Time Magician went on; “This is something of a protective barrier. If someone ran into this space by accident, the surrounding layer of temporal energy would keep them from being swallowed into limbo. After a while it will start to grow into the anomaly itself, slowly fixing the space to return to step with the continuum, though if it’s as big as I think it is it may take several months for it to finish overtaking the anomaly and—”
He stopped, realizing that Black Magician hadn’t asked any further. “Oh! I’m sorry, I suppose I started to ramble, there!”
Time Magician looked up at Black Magician, but Black Magician seemed unconcerned. “Then this was recent?” he asked.
It seemed he’d been listening anyway. Encouraged, Time Magician relaxed, and nodded. “Yes, most likely no more than a day or two. At least this time, it was along this border— a few months ago an anomaly much like this one was brought to my attention when it was mistaken for a magical barrier in the middle of the Supreme King of the Dark Demon World’s territory, and he got into a feud with neighboring Demon territory leaders because of it.”
Black Magician snorted. “That almost sounds like it’d be funny to watch.”
Time Magician cracked a smile. “You didn’t hear this from me, but for as… highly self-regarded as his Majesty and others of his Type are, they argue like children.”
He hoped the twitch on Black Magician’s lip was a smile of his own, before turning back to his work. So far, he was right about the size, and the density of the anomaly; and he quickly ran the numbers in his head as to how to proceed.
While he was at it, he decided to explain the plan to Black Magician: “While I don’t suspect there’s any harm in letting this one be, I’m not comfortable with leaving it untended. Please step back, I don’t want to risk collateral.”
Black Magician squinted. Wisely, he drew himself back a few feet, again moving backwards. “I have heard that your time magic is dangerous.”
“It is.” Time Magician took no pleasure in that fact.
He stopped to concentrate. Now that he had the dimensions of the matter he was working with, he could calculate how much he needed to spin the clock forward to accelerate the process of fixing it. For a small matter like this, he didn’t even need the fifty-fifty uncertainty of Time Roulette; just a slightly less-risky spell that, if his math was correct, would resolve the anomaly with no harm—
The backfire of time magic flung Time Magician backwards, throwing him far across the border back into the Grasslands. The green cushioned his fall, but the spell’s recoil still left him with a troublesome crack at the top of his clock glass, crossing down over the space above his right eye.
Did he forget to carry a zero? Ah… yes, that was right. That was the problem when, despite a mechanical body, the soul within was born human.
Time Magician pushed himself up to see Black Magician, thankfully unharmed, looking between him and the space where the anomaly used to be. Cautiously, Black Magician took a few steps towards him.
“What did you do?” he asked.
Time Magician brushed off his cape. “I moved time forward within the anomaly,” he explained, “To speed things up. Unfortunately, I miscalculated exactly how far forward I needed to go, and that’s what caused the spell to rebound on me like that.”
“Well, it worked…” Black Magician noticed the crack on Time Magician’s face and frowned. “That looks like it hurts.”
“Ah.” Time Magician tentatively touched the area, winced, and drew his hand back. “It’s nothing. I’ll repair it when I get home.”
Besides, better Time Magician than Black Magician. That was precisely why he’d asked Black Magician to keep his distance. And he was glad that Black Magician had done so— there were a few incidents where bystanders had been… less wary .
The concern was still very thoughtful of him, though. This Black Magician had the air of a person much kinder than he seemed at first glance.
Time Magician personally preferred to assume the best of others until proven otherwise, much as that had failed him in the past. Cynicism only made him miserable. And now that he knew for certain, he had to wonder: when and where did this Black Magician come from? Did he have apprentices? Masters, besides the man enslaved by Malik? Or, what drew his interest to this matter to begin with…
But as Time Magician considered where to start, Black Magician stepped back.
“Then I won’t keep you,” he said. He lifted his staff, a gesture that Time Magician knew was in preparation to teleport.
“Wait—”
Black Magician paused, but squinted. “What is it?”
He supposed he’d have to choose one thing to ask, wouldn’t he? If Black Magician wanted to leave, then it was all the give he had— and it would be unwise to test his patience. Time Magician decided to settle on something simple, yet personally significant.
“An exchange of names can’t be too remiss, can it?” Time Magician asked.
Names, as a concept, were more than one thing in their world. Duel Monsters had the name of their sort of Monster— Black Magician, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Flame Swordsman, and so on— but occasionally, an individual name, not dissimilar from that of a human being. Time Magician had three. His primary form as Time Magician was his typical form of address, but he had a stronger form in Time Magus; and before either such title became his, he had his given name. A gift from birth that nowadays, he… perhaps felt a little secretive about.
He offered it in sincerity: “My name is Menes. What’s yours, friend?”
The Black Magician looked down at him. It took a long moment— Time Magician neglected to calculate its exact time— before he softened, if just a little.
“... Arkana,” he answered. “My name is Arkana.”
秋 (Autumn)
After that day, Time Magician heard nothing of Arkana. That wasn’t unexpected, given how briefly they’d met to begin with. It wasn’t as if Time Magician had any way to contact him without overstepping common courtesy. Besides, many of Time Magician’s friends could go quite a while without hearing from him, whether they were recently acquainted or had been bonded for a lifetime; Time Magician kept himself very busy, and that was no one’s fault but his own.
Still, he thought of him every so often, as the Grasslands’ trees changed to the colors of fire and the air grew colder. At one point before the day humans called Halloween, the subject of Arkana came up in conversation with Mahado. Mahado seemed surprised to hear that his fellow Black Magician was around, and expressed some degree of concern of his own… but he didn’t indulge why. Time Magician suspected the matter was something personal to Arkana. He knew better than to pry.
But the thought that something might have been the matter, matter enough to be remembered later by a rival that had met him only once, was troubling. It left him to wonder if there was any way he could help, if it was something that could be helped. But maybe it was better not to obsess over “if”s.
As fate would turn out, he’d come to know the answer in due time.
Leaves of every hue blew across the Forest, crisp as the air that flew them, when that day came. Time Magician’s business that day was a visit with Insect Princess, and to pick up a delivery to his tower. He brought one of his students for the occasion— Saint Magician— and had just about finished the errands at hand when he heard something crashing among the trees.
“Saint Magician, can you go an ahead?” Time Magician said. “I think there’s something that needs my attention.”
“Are you sure you won’t need help?” Saint Magician asked, herself startled by the noise.
“I’ll be alright. I’ll see you back at the tower.”
Saint Magician, somewhat hesitantly, did as she was told and teleported back. As soon as she was gone, Time Magician went on to investigate.
He had to stop mid-stride to narrowly miss a Demon-type Monster’s path as they carved it through the trees.
What he found was a battle: the Demon’s target was able to dodge behind them with a teleport. The Demon— now sitting still just long enough for Time Magician to understand that they were the Masked Demon Beast, Death Gardius— summoned a Mask of Weakening and flung it at his opponent. The opponent’s Black Magic shortly destroyed it into a cloud of smoke.
Black Magic. And now that Time Magician could see him…
Arkana!
Arkana prepared a strike of his own, but the Mask of Weakening was a ruse— Death Gardius leapt through the smoke, smoke that must have blocked Arkana’s line of sight of his enemy, and connected a blow with its claws that threw the Black Magician painfully to the earth.
Time Magician choked on a shout, afraid for Arkana’s life but catching himself only soon enough to remember that Death Gardius didn’t know he was there.
There was no question he had to help. How was another question. Time Magician was, as he knew full well for himself, a weak Monster with unreliable magic.
His Time Roulette could destroy virtually anything, but it came with the risk of backfiring on him— and on Arkana. His base attack power— a simple Light spell— was nowhere near enough to make a dent in that Demon’s armor. As Time Magus? He needed help to become Time Magus! And even then, he was only strong enough to be a distraction at best…
“You will pay,” Death Gardius boomed with a trinity of voices, crawling like an animal towards the injured Arkana. “You will pay for disobeying the True Master!”
In the impact crater that resulted of that last blow, Arkana couldn’t manage to push himself up— though he still had enough strength to try. Time Magician had only seconds to think: was there a way to still Death Gardius, in one move that would allow Arkana to recover but prevent a senseless sacrifice on his own part?
Time Magician remembered— there was more to Light magic than offense!
He moved to stand just outside Death Gardius’ peripheral vision; a distance such that Death Gardius, the moment he heard his voice, would have to turn to see him, and force his attention away from Arkana. He raised his voice, and his staff, as Death Gardius reeled back for a finishing blow: “ Protective Seal Swords of Light !”
The swords began to materialize above them. As he hoped/expected, Death Gardius had to stop mid-strike to turn. Arkana noticed, too.
“What are you doing?!” Arkana called. “Don’t be a fool! He can still—!”
“Wretched Time Magician!” Death Gardius snarled. “This is no business of yours!”
But Death Gardius couldn’t finish changing his trajectory before the seal swords rained down, striking Death Gardius down, forcing him down into a kneel. The contact between the Demon’s body and the light of the blades made a sizzling sound. Death Gardius roared in certain pain.
Time Magician turned his attention to Arkana, rushing over. He was badly battered, and that was the more important matter at hand while Death Gardius was immobilized.
“I couldn’t just stand by,” Time Magician said, offering a hand. “I’m just glad I was around to—”
“ Move! ”
Suddenly, Arkana shoved him back, and a Mask of the Accursed Souls just barely missed latching itself onto Time Magician’s face. Arkana finally found the strength to get up and destroy it in the moments it needed to turn back around.
If Time Magician had a human body, his heart might have been pounding. But he understood: “Ah. That was what you meant to warn me about…”
“You shouldn’t have involved yourself,” Arkana scolded, “but no point in telling you that right now.”
Death Gardius summoned more masks, each one hovering in the air around him. Time Magician cursed internally.
He himself had limited options for handling others’ magic. He had faith that Arkana was powerful enough to destroy Death Gardius if he could just get a clean shot in, but that wasn’t going to be doable if he had to look out for him ! The best he could think of was…
“Then let me reap what I’ve sown— and take care of the rest!” Time Magician said, before taking off in a sprint.
Running in wide circles was hardly the most dignified means of keeping Death Gardius’ attention off Arkana, or handling the masks, but, well— it wasn’t like he had the time to come up with anything better. The important part was avoiding them long enough to give Arkana the opening he needed— and to stay within Death Gardius’ line of sight so he didn’t switch targets!
It also didn’t help that he barely had legs. The masks were faster than he was. He couldn’t even risk stopping to use time magic to destroy the masks.
“Pathetic!” Death Gardius’ voices loomed over his head. “I tire of this bad comedy! I will keep you alive, only to watch as I exact the great Malik Ishtar’s vengeance upon this treacherous Black Magician!”
Time Magician was too busy to see what Arkana was doing, but he could hear the shing of blades somewhere in that direction, and Arkana’s reply: “If you’re so bored, then here’s the punchline .”
A Thousand Knives struck Death Gardius at once, and the resulting roar rippled the air it pierced. Blood and smoke billowed from the Demon, swearing his return/revenge (if Time Magician recalled correctly, certain Demon-types spoke a language wherein those were the same word) until he fell and vanished into darkness.
The masks he summoned fell from the air and vanished as well.
Thank goodness. Time Magician released the seal swords, as they now held nothing, and stopped to catch his breath.
Arkana, with the danger passed, lost the strength to keep himself on his feet. He caught himself with the end of his staff, clutching it as a cane, struggling himself upright.
“Are you alright, Arkana?” Time Magician asked. “You took a terrible blow…”
“Fine,” Arkana replied through gritted teeth. “I’ve had worse.”
Time Magician knew that was a common way to dismiss an injury. Admittedly, he’d used that line himself, a great number of times throughout the years. But that meant that he knew exactly what the statement meant, and he worried for it.
He approached Arkana. On closer inspection, he was even more injured than he’d looked at a distance.
“... Is this typical, then?” Time Magician asked. “That you’re accosted by such Monsters.”
Arkana shot him a look. “I told you that you shouldn’t have gotten involved. It’s not any of your business.”
“I know who Malik Ishtar is,” Time Magician said, just short of interrupting him. “My Lucky Master was once put under his mind control.”
Time Magician only realized how he felt about those words after he’d spoken them.
Of course, he knew how he felt at the time, and how he felt since about the matter. He shared his Master’s fury and guilt over such a situation neither of them could control. He hurt over his Master, and over Red-Eyes. Jonouchi had not drawn him during that duel, but that hadn’t made things any better. It’d only made him feel even more useless.
But those feelings were as potent as the day it had happened, saying it out loud. He reigned them back in with a personal note to write it out later. Arkana was more important right now.
Arkana paused, considerate of this information.
“I don’t mean to overstep,” Time Magician continued, “but I can’t, in good conscience, stand by and do nothing. Even if you don’t think that it’s ‘my business’...”
Arkana averted his eyes. He let out a long, soft breath. “... Thank you … for your help, Menes,” he replied slowly. “But I’d rather take care of myself.”
Time Magician sighed. “You’re sure there’s nothing else I can do for you now? I can call for a healer, or at least escort you to your home if…”
“Entirely.” The firm response sounded less curt than Time Magician thought it was meant to.
“...Alright.” Time Magician conceded reluctantly— but he couldn’t help one last offer, one that wasn’t meant for the immediate present. “But if you ever change your mind, the Time Magic Tower is in the Grasslands, at the foot of the Red-Eyes Mountains and within bird’s-eye distance of one of the Warriors’ cities. You’re welcome there anytime you like.”
Arkana prepared to teleport. Although Time Magician let him, that useless feeling crawled in the pit of his chassis.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Arkana said. And as he disappeared, Menes hoped with all his heart that he was being truthful.
冬 (Winter)
Time Magician was called down to the entrance of his Time Magic Tower in the late hours of an evening stricken by a furious blizzard.
His tower was a variety of things to a variety of Monsters. It was a shelter, a college, a library; Time Magician had been alive long enough to have gained immense influence, even if he wasn't the most powerful Spellcaster alive. His acolytes were as much friends as they were students. In a way— given how young many of them were-- Time Magician felt like something of a foster father.
So when Saint Magician sent a message that someone had come in from this horrendous weather in need of help, Time Magician didn't hesitate to teleport down.
There, he was met with a familiar face.
Arkana stood at the doorway— though the very act of standing itself seemed to be a struggle. His body trembled. Much of his armour was gone and he had to hold his staff at a spot where it had been snapped in half. Time Magician had to guess by the frost build-up on him that he had been forced to travel by foot for several miles to arrive here. Was this the work of Death Gardius? Or was it another Monster who considered themselves Malik Ishtar’s? Or, heaven forbid, something else?
"Oh, my!" Time Magician exclaimed, rushing over, taking one of Arkana's hands. It felt stiff and cold in his. "Are you alright? Of course you're not... Please, come with me, there's a fireplace outside the library."
Time Magician placed his other hand over Arkana's, though he only had so much warmth to share at his size, and carefully led him further into the Tower. He wished he could be taller, and properly carry some of Arkana's weight; but when Saint Magician approached Arkana's other side to try, Arkana suddenly swatted her off.
"Don't touch me," he hissed. His voice was ragged; strained, as if he'd been screaming for hours.
Saint Magician, timidly and reluctantly, gave him his space with an apology. Time Magician, for a moment, worried if he was unwelcome— but Arkana stopped him.
"You, you're..." Arkana swallowed. "You're fine."
Time Magician allowed himself a moment of relief. He turned to his acolyte: "Saint Magician, fetch a blanket, my dear."
Saint Magician agreed and ran off, sparing a single glance over her shoulder at them.
Time Magician brought Arkana over to the lounge outside his tower’s main floor library. By the time he was able to help him hobble over to a couch closest to the fireplace, Saint Magician had returned with the aforementioned blanket. She handed it to Time Magician.
“I called for Injection Angel Lily,” she said. “But she might be a while with the weather… I’ll go get some tea. Tell me if there’s anything else I can do to help.”
“Thank you. You’re a treasure.” Time Magician gingerly set the blanket around Arkana’s shoulders, though worried that the wool might tug at his wounds. Arkana shivered still, but settled into the blanket, against Time Magician’s hands.
Time Magician allowed himself a moment to decide how he wanted to handle the situation at hand. He doubted Arkana would talk openly about what had happened to leave him in such a state, in such unfortunate weather. Perhaps it was best to not ask at all— remove any obligation on Arkana’s part to explain himself. Maybe it would help to make it clear that the aid he was getting here was absent any conditions. But on the other hand, wasn’t it only right to try asking anyway?
He did want to know. Arkana deserved to know that someone was on his side.
The concern, however, proved unnecessary. Arkana spoke of his own accord: “... Couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.”
“I’m glad you came here.” Time Magician spoke gently. He rubbed Arkana’s shoulder through the blanket. “I’m grateful to know that you trust me enough to do so.”
Arkana turned his head an inch towards him, brows just barely furrowing (more than usual, at any rate). Time Magician was sure he was being scrutinized. He felt it best to let Arkana feel however came naturally to him. He didn’t want to come on too strong.
It was a balance Time Magician sometimes worried he’d never master— being sincere and being overbearing. Just another thing he’d been left to keep trying at for the past three thousand years.
“The worst you were going to do otherwise was slam the door in my face.” Arkana shrugged— a motion that seemed to agitate his injuries. “It was worth trying.”
“I wouldn’t dream of such a thing,” Time Magician replied, doing his best not to sound hurt by the thought. “I meant what I offered… I will happily spare you a room if you’d like to take one.”
Though, really, a place to stay was only the most obvious thing Arkana needed in the long term. Time Magician’s thoughts were abuzz with other considerations and logistics— fixing his armor and robes, if Arkana had anything spare he could use in the meantime, if he’d accept any kind of counseling. He knew such things were tomorrow’s problems, but Menes could hardly help himself— if he could ever spare someone of an unkind future, then perhaps all his years of trying will have mattered.
Maybe he was thinking too far forward. Again.
Arkana lifted his head, taking a moment to look around the lounge. The space was fairly open— from the couch, one could see most of the corridor to the main entrance, and the portal system connecting each of the tower’s floors, and even into the first-floor library. Some students worked the waning hours away, a few sneaking glances to the scene at hand. Others did their best to politely ignore it. A scarce number of staff— Boo-Koos, mostly— attended where they were needed.
“You’ve spared a lot of them,” Arkana commented.
Time Magician followed Arkana’s line of sight. “I have,” he said. “I like to help, who and when I can.”
“They all study under you?”
“Not always me, personally. Some have come here looking for a place to teach. Others want to study independently. Anything that’s needed of me, I provide.”
“I’m surprised this tower’s still standing.” Arkana paused— “I don’t mean that as an insult. But I’d think being so generous would get you stabbed in the back.”
Time Magician tensed within himself, a response that made his minute hand stall for a moment. Because Arkana wasn’t wrong— Time Magician had, in fact, been betrayed. More than once. The Time Machine incident in particular came to mind. He’d be lying if he said that he didn’t feel hurt to this day over the ordeal.
“It… has,” he admitted, “but that’s on the person who would make the choice to do such a thing. I have never regretted helping someone more than I’ve regretted failing to.”
Jonouchi-sama… Jono …
Time Magician cracked a smile, one that was barely expressable on his mouthless face. “I suppose someone will have to kill me before I ever stop.”
Arkana looked like he wanted to say something to that, but hesitated on it long enough that Saint Magician returned with tea for him.
“Here you go,” she said, setting it down on the table next to the couch. “I’m sorry it took so long.”
“It’s alright,” Time Magician assured her. “You’ve been lovely through all this. Any word on Lily?”
“She sent a message that she’d be here sometime after 2AM…”
Time Magician paused to calculate the present time. 2AM was short of an hour and a half away. That poor girl— he hated for her to have to struggle through the weather, but it was necessary. He would have to repay her sometime for her hard work.
“Understood.” Time Magician set a hand on Saint Magician’s forearm. “You should get some rest, my dear. You still have studies to attend to tomorrow, and I can take things from here.”
Saint Magician hesitated. She glanced over at Arkana, possibly to reiterate her earlier offer— if there was anything else she could do to help— but he waved a hand.
“Go ahead,” Arkana said.
Ultimately, Saint Magician accepted and bowed. “Well… okay. Good-night, Time Magician-sama, Black Magician-san.” With that, she left.
Arkana watched her go. “Looks like she’s decided to take after you.”
Time Magician laughed a little. “Yes, I suppose so. She’s a sweetheart.”
Arkana didn’t respond to that. Instead, Time Magician felt his gaze linger on him.
“What do you ask in return?” he asked.
“Pardon?”
“For a place to stay.”
Time Magician felt a swell of hope, anchored as it was by the nature of Arkana’s question as he asked it.
“A tower of this size with everything you keep within it takes resources,” Arkana continued. “I can’t expect that everyone you take in stays here for free.”
Time Magician shook his head. “I have providers I deal with, in exchange for my time and expertise. I promise you, I have no intention of asking you to earn your keep, just as I’ve never asked such a thing of anyone else.”
Another beat of silence punctuated the conversation, but this time, Time Magician didn’t feel as if his honesty was being deliberated. By the considerate expression on Arkana’s face, and that he chose this moment to take the mug of tea Saint Magician had prepared for him, Time Magician felt he finally believed him.
“I guess I’ll see,” Arkana said, taking a sip.
春 (Spring)
Warmth returned to the world in a slow, steady march. Arkana by no means adjusted quickly to life at the Time Magic Tower; for someone that (Time Magician suspected) had spent his life alone, suddenly sharing a roof with a not-insignificant number of other Monsters was unsettling. Time Magician had accommodated as best he could, giving Arkana a room a comfortable distance away from the living spaces of others (particularly the students, who could be rowdy as studious young folks were want to do when their work was done). As promised, he asked nothing of Arkana in return for this. The room was free, the food was free, and Arkana could walk out whenever he wanted.
It was hard to tell how much Arkana came to accept these things as truly his. But Time Magician tended to find himself reassured, whenever he would pass through the library and Arkana had gotten distracted by some tome or another that had caught his eye— so much so that he didn’t even seem to mind the occasional acolyte that needed to grab something off the same shelf, or a Boo-Koo dusting nearby. Or when one of the other occupants, any of them, managed to catch Arkana in a talkative mood.
Time Magician had gotten the chance to get to know Arkana better himself, of course. As he’d already thought, Arkana was kind, despite his caution around others. He was the sort that stepped up if no one else did— someone who was quietly reliable. He was curious, and inquisitive. He was fond of classic human literature. He also had a way with less-than-friendly predator animals, as Time Magician had learned when someone had let an Electric Snake loose in one of the residential halls. He’d learned in that same incident: Arkana had quite a nice smile.
That wasn’t to say there weren’t still occasional problems, and there was a lot that Time Magician still didn’t know about him. That was alright. After all, nothing was ever perfect, and Time Magician had secrets of his own.
If he could achieve “tentatively comfortable”, then that was itself an achievement.
Time Magician made only one request. Certain nights of the year, when the world was fresh and warm again, the stars shone their brightest and revealed their patterns. Such nights, he liked to share with whoever would spend them with him, in a little nook he’d set up in the tower’s highest loft. He extended that invitation to Arkana with the full disclaimer that Arkana could decline, if he preferred not to expend any social energy so late in the day.
“It is pretty,” Arkana admitted.
(Thankfully, he’d accepted.)
“It is,” Time Magician agreed. “It's a wonderful thing, I think; that no matter what happens, there will always be certain things that are eternal, and beautiful, even after countless years.”
Though, he wasn’t looking at the stars at present— instead, his attention had been caught by how relaxed Arkana seemed to be, and how the moonlight seemed to make him look almost ethereal, casting a glow upon his face.
That was something else Time Magician had come to notice: Arkana was beautiful.
“Astronomically-speaking,” Arkana was saying, redirecting Time Magician’s focus, “That's not exactly true, is it?”
“Well, no, it's not.” Sadly , Time Magician thought. The reality was existentially depressing. “But we won't know if or when the stars have died until centuries after it's happened. I don't suspect I'll be around that long to find out.”
Granted, the topic was … complicated , for Time Magician. He had certain reservations about death, and passing on, and what awaited in the afterlife. Awaited him specifically. But it was unreasonable, arrogant even, to think he’d outlive the stars themselves.
Arkana shrugged. “Fair enough.”
Time Magician finally turned back towards the sky. From this spot, all the night sky’s constellations were easy to spot. From the twins above them, Castor and Pollux, to Virgo in the west, and Orion in the east.
He’d told their stories to friends before. Some, he’d preferred to draw new shapes in the stars, and he could find those memories in the stars, too. With Arkana… he was just happy to have him here.
“... I'm glad you accepted my invitation,” Time Magician said, his thoughts voicing themselves.
Arkana snorted. “Are you going to say so every time you manage to get me alone?”
“Well... Er, I just—” Time Magician flustered somewhat. “It certainly took you a while to warm up to the idea, and I did worry in the interim…”
“You worry about everyone, all the time,” Arkana pointed out, turning his head towards him. “That can't be good for you.”
Guilty as charged. Not that Time Magician was particularly ashamed of it: “Well, it hasn't killed me yet.”
“And I'm the one to be worried about.”
“Heh…” Time Magician rubbed the back of his head. “Point taken.”
Another comfortable silence lulled conversation before Arkana spoke again.
“... It has been... nice, here,” he said. “But I've noticed something.”
“Hm?”
“I’ve noticed not a lot of people use your name.”
“Ah, that.” Time Magician scratched his cheek, embarrassed. “Well, that’s because I don’t always give it out…”
Arkana raised an eyebrow. “You don’t?”
“No. It’s, well— I only tend to share it with those I’m particularly fond of, and trust…”
The ones I hope to know for a lifetime , was the dimension Time Magician couldn’t bring himself to admit. It felt too pushy to say, especially since he’d given it out during their first conversation! It had been centuries since he’d been so sure of someone so soon after meeting them. But it had turned out quite well, hadn’t it?
Arkana gave him a look like a deer in headlights.
“That’s not too overbearing, is it?” Time Magician asked.
“You trust me?!”
Time Magician offered Arkana as sincere an expression as he could make. “Of course— you’ve never given me any reason not to.”
Arkana’s brain visibly crashed. Menes stifled a laugh, and did his best to help him reset.