Archive of Our Own

Kanade’s feet clattered against the metal stairs, each step splattering droplets against the walls and leaving a muddy footprint behind. She could feel the water trickling down her long hair, cold and heavy, but even as it seeped through her damp clothes it didn’t bother her. Her mind was far away from her body, drenched in rain and sweat and dirt as it was. It was already at the top of the tower and, even beyond that, wandering out into the listless sea. There were important things waiting for her there, and all Kanade could do was follow them up, up, up that spiral staircase until she found what she was looking for. Until she found her.

Her chest was heaving, and she had to stop for a second to catch her breath, but she couldn’t even hear her own panting over the noise. Rain barraged the walls surrounding her, a cacophony of sound that blurred with the howling wind to create a crudely caustic melody. The storm raged on, spurring forward the violent waves that pounded into the rocky shore below, and occasionally the tower would shudder as the water crashed into it again and again. With each tremor, Kanade’s hand gripped more tightly against the guardrail. It was slick with rain and her fingers threatened to fly off, but she knew they wouldn’t, because she had a job to do. This lighthouse wouldn’t man itself.

To think that it had been today of all days that the storm had begun pulling in. She’d seen the dark clouds on the horizon this morning, ominous and foreboding, and had immediately known that tonight would be a harsh one. Not that it mattered much. The rain was an insignificant obstacle compared to the years she’d spent waiting for this moment, gazing out the window towards the sea as her fingers rested over worn piano keys. She had always found herself idly scanning the horizon in search of that same familiar vessel that had departed these docks so long ago, just in case it came home early, but she’d never expected it to actually arrive until today.

If there was one thing she could count on Mafuyu for, it was to keep a promise. The words they’d whispered to each other all those years ago were still fresh in her mind, and she’d ticked down every day in the calendar since then, waiting for the moment they’d sworn to be reunited. There was no storm that could stand in the way of the fate they’d threaded together, stitch by stitch, line by line. As long as Kanade kept the flame in the lighthouse from flickering out, Mafuyu would find her way home. There was nothing she couldn’t do, and there was nothing that Kanade wouldn’t do for her.

Her heart was an unwavering iron cage, and she steeled herself forward up the steps again. It was watertight, not allowing even a drop of doubt to spill down her chest. Faith and confidence. Nothing was cold when they were together, so she couldn’t even feel the frigid air clinging to her damp clothes, the wind biting her exposed cheeks, the numbness spreading between her toes. One goal. Nothing else mattered.

Kanade emerged from the stairwell, and the light was shining at the top in all its golden brilliance. She pressed her palm to the glass and watched as the warm glow encased her fingers. The fire was still burning. Her tired hands wrapped around the rusted poker stick, and she turned the coals with her weary body, watching the sparks flutter like fireworks with every touch. Their flickering light could be seen in the sky for miles around, even through this dark storm and its relentless deluge. When she couldn't even see the water below her and the ropes of the sail knotted through her fingers, she knew Mafuyu would be able to see the lighthouse shining in the distance, the North Star to guide her home.

The waves churned louder and louder, and the wind whipped Kanade's frail body, but she just continued to fan the flames and stare out at that black abyss that she could only assume was the ocean. The dark midnight air was impervious to her searching eyes, so there was nothing she could do but wait. It wasn’t a bother, though. There was no hurry.

So she waited and waited and waited, and sure enough, a new sound began to resonate beneath her soles, echoing with the wind and rain. The squeak of rubber on metal, the clang of each hurried step and creaking complaints as the lighthouse squirmed under their weight. The poker stick fell from Kanade's grasp with a clatter. Deafening noise, then deadly silence, and she turned to see Mafuyu standing there at the top of the stairwell, water dripping from the tip of her nose before her parted lips.

She'd grown taller, and her hair had been cut short and choppy, and her tattered raincoat was nothing Kanade had ever seen before, but she was undeniably Mafuyu. Those watery eyes were something she could never forget. They glittered now, Kanade noticed; that was something they'd never done before. What were once unreachable murky depths were now oceans illuminated by bronze sunsets and red clouds, and the waves rippled with a million different colors as though someone had slotted a kaleidoscope behind her eyes and lit it on fire. Kanade bathed in the warm water of that beautiful gaze. It poured itself into her in all its bliss and happiness and tranquility, and she drank it up with a thirst she didn't even know she had.

Mafuyu's face softened. Her cheeks were tinged pink in the cold, and they scrunched up into each other as she smiled, and Kanade could feel her heart unraveling at the seams because it was all worth it. Those years of longing were a drop in the bucket when faced with everything she'd give to see that smile on Mafuyu's face, warm and genuine, leaving not a trace of that plastic grimace she'd worn when they were younger. Kanade would give up lifetimes for this. She'd tear herself apart and give Mafuyu everything she had, flesh and blood and bones, then put herself back together just to do it all over again. She'd tie a noose around her throat and hand her the other end of the rope, and if Mafuyu told her to jump, she'd obey in a heartbeat. The beat of her heart was already laying in those calloused palms, so how could she disobey? Kanade was just glad she was so lucky, such that one brief voyage was all she had to sacrifice, and Mafuyu had gone and found herself and come back anyway, and all Kanade needed to do was let the rope hang slack around her neck and fall back into her embrace.

Despite the freezing rain, Kanade had never felt warmer than when she stumbled across the lighthouse deck and into Mafuyu's open arms. Her touch was the same as it always had been, and Kanade leaned deeper and deeper in, submerging her head in those tepid waters. She never wanted to let go again, and she wouldn't have to. They'd hold each other until time itself passed away, arms intertwined in a delicate, breathless dance.

The gentle brush of Mafuyu's palm pulled her back to the surface, and she lifted her face from the soaked raincoat she'd buried herself in to see Mafuyu grinning down at her, eyes bright and shimmering. Kanade had never known that the ocean could smile, but there was no other way to describe the way Mafuyu was looking at her right now. Misty eyes, dripping with what she couldn't tell were tears or just the rain. Gentle eyes that she wanted to drown in. Beautiful eyes, and they were growing closer and closer until their noses were crossed and Kanade could feel Mafuyu's hot breath on her tongue.

"I missed you," the breath whispered, each word brushing against her skin, and Kanade was falling all over again. She'd be falling forever, sinking into this embrace and this smile and these eyes that were more important to her than the air in her lungs.

There was only one thing she knew how to say in reply, and Kanade let the words that had been patiently waiting since the day Mafuyu left slide off her tongue.

"Welcome home."