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“Kuu-Chan? That you?”
Yuusuke almost falls out of his perch on a windowsill, at the unexpected voice. To his credit, he had been very lost in thought. Sitting and trying not to drown in the grief and the roiling emotions that he can’t help despite his surety that Tsukasa, the one he knew who had promised to protect his smile and gone from world to world helping save people, is no more.
It would probably make the ache far too great if he took the time to consider Yashiro, or Natsumi and Daiki and Eijiro who he still hasn’t been able to ask the fates of, or…
Or…
“Uu-Chan?” He asks, staring at the man in the doorway. He wore simple, all black clothing, but that was definitely the belt of a Riotrooper.
A familiar voice.
A smile.
“You’re really okay,” Uu says, walking forwards slowly before practically knocking Yuusuke down again, this time with the force of his hug. “I watched my World fall away, and the stars were wrong, and I didn’t know what to do until I found these other Riotroopers - did you know I’m still a mook? I got to do both and now I’m good at it! And… and I didn’t know what had happened to you until we found you guys.”
Yuusuke can’t bring himself to process the words yet, just hugs the other Rider back with everything he has.
So much has happened and he feels more alone in some ways now than even after Yashiro’s death, and…
Uu’s started crying, and they’re loud, painful things. Yuusuke doesn’t realize he’s crying until he tastes salt on his lips. It almost makes him forget that Tsukasa has turned into a monster. That the one lying under his own skin has been bubbling under the surface since he felt the black darkness of death hit him, that he can only vaguely make out the time between reawakening and blinking into full awareness before a Tsukasa with eyes darker and more empty than a black hole.
It almost makes him forget why he’s been reunited with Uu.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he all but whispers. “Uu-Chan. I’m so glad you’re here. Uu-Chan.”
“Kuu-Chan,” Uu says back, and neither let go.
And then Yuusuke pulls back.
“Have the others explained what all is happening?” He asks, then. Uu shakes his head. “The uhhh… I asked about you and they sent me back here.”
“Oh,” Yuusuke says. “Well…”
He chokes it out, eventually. Everyone who died, the how and the why. The dark form under his skin which has become the new normal, allowed him to fight and not die (yet).
Tsukasa.
“Kuu-Chan…” Uu murmurs. “I’m sorry.”
“I isn’t anyone’s fault. Uu-Chan,” Yuusuke replies, immediately. Except, he refuses to put to put to words, for Tsukasa.
“Are you okay?”
Yuusuke blinks.
“What?”
“Are you okay?” Uu repeats. “I don’t think you are. You saved me when Dai-Shocker turned me into a monster, and now you have to…”
He trails oof, and Yuusuke sighs and looks away from the too-earnest expression.
“This isn’t the Tsukasa I told you about,” he says. “He kills without hesitation and he doesn’t care about the Worlds. He… really is the devil.”
Uu’s expression turns thoughtful… and then hard.
“Then I’ll stay right by your side as you fight,” he says. “You saved me from the darkness, and now I’ll do the same until we beat Decade.”
“You don’t have to—”
“Every Rider is in danger, aren’t we?” Uu asks. “And all of our worlds. A good mook does his best work when the hero’s down, you know.”
“Uu-Chan…”
“Besides,” Uu continues. “If me and the others follow you around, you don’t have to use that form. It’s my turn to help you, Kuu-Chan.”
And Yuusuke… he can’t help it, he laughs.
“I’m so glad,” he says. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Ending up beside Uu on the same mattress that night doesn’t quite feel like coming home, it’s not the way Tsukasa dwarfs him and always verges on too cold, it’s not the way Natsumi finds just the right place in his arms.
(It’s not enough to let him forget about how quickly they filled the hole in his heart where his World should be.)
But it is Uu, Uu’s warm comfort, the fact that he wears his emotions loud enough to not need analysis, the sheer presence of someone he actually knows. And that’s… right now, that’s enough.
For a moment, it’s enough to not be alone.