Work Text:
Sometimes he wishes he can stop having these dreams, yet at the same time, he doesn’t.
“Slaine, look! From here you can see the Earth!”
A girl dressed in white. Emerald eyes sparkling with light. Long hair like threads of gold. He is mesmerized by the sound of her laugh, her happiness in its purest form. Slaine. Slaine. Slaine. She keeps on calling his name, with her arms extended, inviting him to join her. She dances, singing about lovely things such as peace and harmony. She is full of joy, yet his foot is glued to the floor, reluctant to come any closer.
“Princess, I……” He doesn’t want to disturb the sight before him. He cannot bring himself to be near her anymore, as though his presence would unforgivably taint this blissful moment.
He catches a glimpse of the beautiful blue planet that the girl loves so dearly, a familiar feeling known as guilt swelling inside his chest.
Princess, I waged war on this planet……
He watches as everything stops around him. The singing voice comes to a caesura. The smile on her face freezes.
“Slaine, why……?”
He is suffocating in her grief, his chest tightening painfully. He will not run away. He has no right to do so. He will accept her anger. He will accept his sentence.
He waits for his world to collapse, taking him along with it……
Princess, please forgive-
“Troyard.”
Slaine is awaken by a voice belonging to a particular someone he has no desire to see at the moment. He opens his heavy eyelids, trying his best to gather the strength to glare at the intruder inside his cell. Now that he is conscious, there is no way for him to escape his headache and sore throat, in addition to the fever that he has been experiencing for the past three days.
Inaho Kaizuka sits next to his bedside, impassive as always. “It seems like you are lacking in the area of knowing how to take care of yourself.” His tone is even. No signs of impatience despite the trouble the blond causes.
“Why are you……here……” Slaine asks in between coughs. “I thought you were attending some kind of conference in Russia.”
“The warden notified me that you are sick.”
Slaine rolls his eyes. “Please tell me you did not come back early just because I caught a cold.”
“I was finished with my work ahead of schedule regardless. There is no reason for me to spend extra time there.” The brunet pours out something from a bottle into a cup and hands it over to Slaine. He raises his eyebrows skeptically. “What is that?”
“It is supposed to help soothe your throat.” Again, the same toneless voice. As much as Inaho irritates him, Slaine knows he does care. He takes a small sip of the warm liquid. It is lemon tea with a hint of honey added to it.
“.......Thanks.” It still feels strange for him to be expressing gratitude to someone he tried to kill, but for the past two years Inaho has been around more often than he should and shows that he has no intention of being his enemy anymore.
Slaine Troyard stares at the white ceiling above him. He wishes he can be buried along with the past and his wrongdoings. He wishes he can forget how the air moves around him, the sound of the night. But with the presence of Inaho Kaizuka, none of this is possible.
“Are you alright?”
He stares at the young girl standing in front of him, her eyes full of concern. One thing he remembers is not being able to breathe when the water rushes in all at once, and she gave him air. He opens his eyes and there is light. When she speaks, it is like the whole universe grows silent, so her voice can be heard. He will never forget this day, when Asseylum Vers Allusia gave him a purpose to live. She saved him that day, and he devoted his life to her in return.
She smiles gleefully when he nods, an innocent expression. At the time, he almost thought he was special, that his existence meant something else to her, but now he understands that she would have done the same for anyone. She is the princess of Vers, and therefore her heart will never belong to anyone alone.
“I will get someone here to help you! Don’t worry!” The little girl dances away, a spring in her steps. He watches the distance grows between them. He wants to call after her, begging her to stay, but his voice is caught in his throat.
Princess, princess……
After everything that happened, do you regret this day?
Do you regret……saving me?
The brunet woke him up at an odd hour again. This time is even worse because he is still sick. Slaine groans as the warden unlocks the door for Inaho. He makes sure that the brunet can see the grimace on his face.
However, Slaine can immediately tell that something is different about today’s visit. Inaho has something to tell him, and he isn’t sure if he is about to receive good news or bad news.
“Slaine Troyard. You now have two options.” Inaho sits on his bed (Slaine almost couldn’t suppress the urge to kick him off the bed; it would be comical at least). “One, stay in this cell.”
“Or I can……?” Slaine frowns. He can hardly imagine what other choice he would be given.
“Or you can leave this prison.” Inaho says. “And live with me.”
She stands in front of him, her eyes determined. Her melodious voice no longer reaches his ears. Her small hands wrap around the gun, and it pains him. In his mind, she has always belonged in her garden of happiness. He wants to shield her from harm. He fears, day and night, that the reality of the world will take away her smile.
But now he recognizes that part of his dream has been selfish, and that in order for her to become an adequate ruler as she is entitled to be, she needs room to grow. He cannot shelter her forever.
She whispers something, but he cannot hear her. Instead, he walks straight towards her. Asseylum does not falter, and he is glad to see that.
In order for her to carry the weight of an entire planet, she must be strong.
“Princess Asseylum.” He can feel the muzzle of the gun pressed against his chest, where his heart is beating steadily. “I am sorry, Princess. I am not the person you wanted me to be.”
He will keep on trying to atone for his crime, because he realizes his mistakes.
He isn’t going to beg for her forgiveness anymore, because they have already gone separate ways.
He will keep on living, but not for her sake.
“Farewell, Asseylum.”
He is surprised that he is able to smile at the end.
The sound of a gunshot is heard. A flower is blooming.
At first, he can’t get used to living with Inaho, but slowly he finds the rhythm between them. It still amazes him how they can argue over the slightest things, yet be so unbelievably compatible at the same time.
Slaine never asked how Inaho managed to convince the UFE to let him out of his cage, and Inaho never brought the topic up. He cannot imagine the amount of effort that Inaho took.
He doesn’t want to admit it, but he learned a great deal from staying with Inaho. From the most mundane things like cooking egg dishes to a long list of unnecessary science facts that will never be useful in real life, something new happens each day.
Surprisingly, he learned a few new things about the hero of Earth too.
“So, doesn’t this bother you at all?”
It is a boring evening. Slaine lies on the couch carelessly with his tablet in hand. He recently discovered the joy in playing games on this piece of technology Inaho bought for him. Because Slaine Troyard Saazbaum is still not allowed to show his face in this world, he is currently on level 56 in a game that is probably geared towards “teenagers with no social life.” He should read, or do something productive, He thinks. This way he will be smarter, and be able to fight with Inaho more…….well, of course, that’s not the main purpose. Still, it would be nice to win once in a while.
“What are you referring to?” Inaho is sitting in front of the dinner table, with stacks of paper organized in the most meticulous way possible. Apparently he is calculating their budget for this month like some kind of housewife. Slaine makes a face. After the war, Inaho has been given rewarded with more money than he can spend in a lifetime. Even so, the brunet still insists on careful spending and ensuring they are not making any kind of unnecessary purchases each month.
Slaine feels like he should feel bad for entirely depending on Inaho financially, but it is hard to do that when Inaho is the one who brought this upon himself.
“Like you know, having to live with me? It’s like we are some sort of couple……” Slaine immediately regrets phrasing this the way he did. It is too awkward and he doesn’t want to give Inaho the wrong idea……”What I am trying to say is wouldn’t you prefer to move in with someone you actually like!”
“No, I don’t have any complaints at all.” Inaho looks up from the paper with his usual blank face. “Responding to your question, I already am.”
“What? Do you know what that just sounded like?” Slaine shifts his gaze away from the screen and glares at the younger male, exasperated and embarrassed. “You sounded like you wouldn’t mind if we dated……!”
“I wouldn’t.” Inaho blinks. “I am not opposed to the notion.”
“Inaho Kaizuka!”
“I am attracted to you, after all.” A short pause. “By that, I mean romantically.”
The living room goes silent for an entire minute before a loud yell of “ouch!” is heard from Slaine’s general direction.
“What happened? Slaine?” Inaho’s voice almost sounds worried.
“I dropped the tablet on my face……”
Slaine can’t stop thinking about the way their conversation ended. “I understand that you do not return my feelings. I just figured that it is time to let you know.” Inaho said as if he is merely stating facts, rather than something more personal. He is still horrible at reading the brunet, but he knows he is not emotionless enough to be entirely unaffected by his own words.
He chuckles, thinking about how silly both Inaho and him are, running around in circles. With everything that had happened for the past few months, it is actually very obvious, isn’t it?
Slaine sits on his bed, gazing at the moonlight. There are nights when he can’t sleep. It has been too long since his last dream. Asseylum’s shadow no longer follows him around.
He remembers the blooming of the daffodil he saw in his dream. It brings a small smile on his face and gives him a bit of courage. Can he believe in himself, just one more time?
Feeling adventurous, he jumps off his bed, embarking on a journey to Inaho’s room. He quietly pushes the door open. Naturally, the brunet is already asleep. He follows a rigid schedule, no staying up past 12am. He is wrapped up in his thick blanket. Ah, that’s right. Slaine tilts his head. Contrary to common beliefs, the UFE hero’s greatest enemy is actually cold weather, not Slaine Troyard Saazbaum.
Slaine hums softly, aware of the fact that Inaho is a light sleeper and this would be enough to wake him up. “Kaizuka.”
Inaho opens his eye. He is clearly questioning why Slaine decides to wake him up at 3am in the morning. “Why are you in my ro--”
“What would you say if we start dating?” Even in the dark, Slaine can tell that Inaho is taken aback by the question. He feels childishly victorious. In the hundreds of possibilities that Inaho has considered, this is something he would have never predicted.
“Slaine, what are you……” The blond sees the syllables forming on Inaho’s lips and he laughs. This is finally his chance to surprise him for once.
“I said, let’s date, Inaho.” He declares. Right now he feels oddly greedy, and he wants to take control. Somehow he knows this is would all be allowed. It is a new beginning. Even though it is still winter, spring will come for sure. There will be fields of daffodil covering this Earth and he wants to see it with his eyes. He can feel the warmth of Inaho’s hand on top of his own.
As unbelievable as it is, there is still a place in this world for him.
“Yes……I would be more than happy to do so.”
He beams. Inaho’s voice is all he can hear.
Meaning of daffodil: rebirth, return of spring.