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Gunshots filled the air. The night sky was alight with flames. Every few seconds, the earth trembled beneath the force of an explosion. All he could smell was smoke, his eyes stinging from the ash. Another explosion, followed by yelling from somewhere to his right.
It took all of his willpower to keep his clammy hand from shaking. The gun he was holding felt heavy. He had carried it before, back on the plane. And yet, it seemed different this time. The heat of his surroundings was uncomfortable against his sweaty skin. His mind was calm.
Dr. Xeno was standing behind him, ropes holding him in place. It shouldn't be his job to guard him. But he was the only one left that could. Another explosion shook the earth near him. He forced himself to take a slow breath. Dr. Xeno was talking to him now. As if it was already decided who would win.
He listened for a while. But when Dr. Xeno insinuated that he could be spared if he joined them, he interrupted. There was no way he would let himself be swayed. His eyes were trained out into the smoke-filled night. The finger on the trigger was loose. He wouldn't be able to pull it anyway.
And yet, he couldn't give up. He had faith in his friends. They hadn't lost yet. One second bought was one step closer to their goal. Sometimes, that was all that was needed. It was the essence of science. And he had faith that Senku would do all he could. Even with fire and ash raining down around him.
He knew that Dr. Xeno understood that feeling. He was a scientist too, after all. More gunfire. Each shot felt like it went straight through his head. He didn't let himself think about the others. It would do nothing to change it. The gun was still aimed in front of him. It didn't have a target. But he was a target regardless.
No matter how much he tried to, he could not have prepared himself for it. The force threw him backwards before he even heard the shots. Red joined the orange flames. There was no pain. Not like he would have expected. He didn't feel much of anything, actually.
The last thing he heard was Gen's panicked shriek before his body hit the ground.
—
Ryusui came back into awareness with a quiet gasp. His hand immediately flew up to his chest, grabbing at the soft fabric that was covering it. His skin was coated with sweat and his heart was racing fast enough that he didn't even need the hand of his chest to feel it. The gunshots still echoed in his ears, and his body instinctively braced itself for the impact.
It took him a while to register the tranquil silence he found himself in. The floor rocketed slightly in an almost even rhythm that Ryusui was more than just familiar with. It helped him pull his thoughts together. There was no fire around him. The air smelled of the sea, not of smoke like it had in what he now realized had been a dream.
No, not a dream. A memory. Twisted as it had been, it was still a memory disguised as a nightmare.
The next few minutes were spent trying to control his breathing. He wasn't in Araxá anymore. He was on the new Perseus, a few days out from India. They were sailing towards Australia next, to get more materials to built the rocket. Everyone was alive. They had made it out alive.
Taking another deep breath he carefully closed his eyes–
—
Another explosion. Right where Taiju had been a moment before. He could feel the heat from where he stood. Small embers drifted past his face. Gen yelled out Taiju's name in fear while his own mouth wouldn't move–
—
He wrenched his eyes back open. The air he had taken in escaped through clenched teeth. The warmth of his blanket felt too much like the heat from the flames. He kicked it off in a panic, using the shock of the sudden cold to violently rip himself out of the memories. Okay. He was okay. Still on the new Perseus, still in the middle of the Indian ocean. Taiju was fine too, back in corn city with Yuzuriha, Ukyou and the others. They had won. Everything was fine.
So why wouldn't his brain just let it rest? This had been the third time this month that he'd had the same dream, that same recreation of the night in Araxá. Ryusui let out a sigh, slowly sitting up. He wouldn't be able to get anymore sleep tonight. He never did after one of those dreams.
Abandoning his covers, he went to grab his coat. He didn't need to get sick because of his sweat-soaked night clothes, even if the air outside was a comfortable temperature no matter how late it was. The light of the moon shining in through the singular bullseye window of his captain's quarters was enough to guide him through the door.
There was less light out in the narrow halls, but Ryusui didn't bother to turn on the light. He knew the Perseus like the back of his hand and even with the changes they had made, the layout had stayed roughly the same. This was his ship, the one he had worked towards since he was a child.
It was quiet, but Ryusui knew that at least one other person was awake. A ship never slept. Someone had to keep an eye on their course, so that they didn't accidentally drift into the wrong direction during the night. This far out on the ocean, they couldn't simply throw out the anchor.
For a moment, he considered going to the bridge and see who was on shift. But the remnants of the dream still clung to him like a dark shadow. So he turned the other way.
A salty breeze greeted him the second he stepped out onto the deck. Ryusui took a deep breath in, letting the sounds of the sea wash over him. It was easier to ignore the echoes of the memories out here. The headlights were turned off for the night, and as Ryusui lifted his gaze to the sky, he could clearly see a dozen of stars shining above him.
That was one of the things he loved the most about the stone world. There was no light pollution. Back in the twenty-first century it had impacted the view of the stars even this far out at sea. But now, the entire milky way was visible, the moon shining brightly in the middle of it.
Ryusui lifted his hand to the sky. Polaris might have wandered over the past few thousand years, but it was still the easiest star to spot in the northern hemisphere. If he factored in the new difference, Ryusui was easily able to figure out their current position.
Navigating by the stars was a practice that had become redundant with the use of modern tools, but Ryusui never went halfway when it came to these things. It was something that every sailor worth their salt should know how to do.
With their location confirmed, Ryusui let his gaze drift out onto the dark waves of the ocean. Usually, coming out here helped him forget about the fire. But tonight, the low squirming in his gut just wouldn't go away. A shiver went through his body as the night breeze blew past him, bringing tiny droplets of ocean spray onto the deck.
Ryusui let his upper body lean heavily against the railing, uncaring of the biting cold metal against his arms. It was just his luck that this happened tonight of all nights. Since their departure from India, they had gotten caught up in one storm after the other. This was the first night in almost a week that the sea was calm beneath them.
And yet, it was like the storm continued to roar inside of his head. No matter how much he tried to ignore it, the flames found a way to sneak their way back into his thoughts. And he was too tired to do anything about it. Every time he closed his eyes, his world lit up in shades or orange and gray.
He hadn't really talked to anyone about it. None of them had. Sure, they had discussed it once or twice. But it was always just about facts or the data they got out of it. In rare cases some of the smaller consequence. Never about the nightmares. The flashbacks. How all of them still flinched at loud noises that they weren't prepared for.
How they had almost died.
Ryusui didn't dare think too much about it, but he was pretty sure that some of them did actually die. He had seen Taiju take that explosion point blank to the face. It was near impossible to survive an explosion from that close. Taiju would have had to be incredibly lucky to walk away with his life.
And the same went for himself. Ryusui didn't remember most of what had happened after he got shot. But he knew the odds of surviving multiple bullets to the chest were not great. He would never be able to confirm if he had actually been dead before he got petrified or not. He wasn't sure he wanted to know anyway.
In the end, did it really matter all that much? He was here now. There wasn't even a scar left on his chest. The nightmares were inconvenient, so were the flashbacks, but he could manage that. If the medusa really could bring people back from the dead he was sure that Senku already knew about it. And Ryusui trusted Senku to make the right call.
In the meantime, maybe he should inquire about reviving a therapist for them once they made it back to Japan. Mental health was important, and all of them had been through quite a bit in this stone world. It had left scars, some that were more visible and some that were hidden well. They might be managing, but there was a difference between just managing and actively working to overcome trauma.
And Ryusui wanted his friends to be happy. He desired only the best for them. That included their mental health. Francois would approve of his plan. He was sure of that.
Goosebumps rose along his arms. His chest felt tight, the salty air doing nothing to soothe his shuddering breaths. His hair was hanging limply into his face. It didn't feel good to be alone out here anymore. The sound of the waves, which had been calming before, now felt too loud in his ears. His entire being buzzed with the need to move.
He pushed himself off the railing, his coat flapping against his legs as he turned. It took him only five strides until he was back at the door. Carefully, as to not let it fall close and make a lot of noise, he pulled the door closed behind him. The halls were still quiet. His bare feet made no noise against the wooden floor.
Before he knew it, he was standing in front of a familiar door. His hand was already halfway to the door knob before he stopped himself. Francois was probably sleeping right now. And while Ryusui knew that they would not mind if he woke them, they hadn't gotten a lot of rest in the last few days.
Neither had Ryusui for that matter. The constant storms meant that he as the captain was needed to stand guard at the helm. There was simply no time to rest.
But that was beside the point. Fact was that Francois had spent all that time staying up with him and today was the first time they could actually get a full night's sleep. And Ryusui wanted them to get that sleep. They more than deserved it.
Once again, he debated going to the bridge, but he abandoned that thought as quickly as it came. No need to bother one of his friends with this. He also didn't know whose shift is was right now. And while he usually didn't mind any of his friends, right now he wanted someone familiar.
A memory from his childhood invaded his thoughts. It was one of cold hallways and bad dreams. The details were too faded for Ryusui to properly remember, but he knew that it must have been from before Francois started working for them. With them there, it had never been as cold as before.
Which didn't mean that Ryusui had been alone before then. He remembered arms holding him close, bigger than his own, but still small. He remembered the warmth of sharing a bed. The safety of it. It was something he hadn't let himself think about in a long time. Not since he had found the room empty.
But that room — even if it wasn't the same one as all those years ago — wasn't empty now. With a new conviction in his heart, he turned away from Francois' door and down the hall. He walked right past his own door, still open from where he had forgotten to close it earlier. He didn't pay it any attention now either, instead walking up to the next door in the hall.
He made sure to open the door quietly, as opposed to how he usually liked to throw it open without a care in the world. Just because Ryusui had no regard about waking his brother up didn't mean he wanted to scare him awake. He took a moment to look around as he closed the door behind him. The walls were still filled with rows upon rows of machine code. Even the ceiling had writing on it.
The lump on the singular bed in the room moved, capturing Ryusui’s attention. Dark, tousled hair emerged from beneath the covers, standing up in all directions, even worse than it usually did. Thanks to the moonlight bathing the room in a silvery light, Ryusui was able to see the moment Sai's eyes blearily opened to look right at him. He shrugged off his coat, draping it over the back of the chair as he calmly walked towards the bed.
"R'us'i?" Sai slurred. He mustered Ryusui through half-lidded eyes. "Wha're you doin' here?"
"Can't sleep," Ryusui responded. He wasted no time to sit down on the edge of the bed. It would be a tight squeeze, the beds on the Perseus were not made to hold more than one person at a time, but he could manage. If Sai would make some space for him to lay down at least. "Scooch over."
Sai barely had time to get out of the way before Ryusui let himself fall onto the mattress. "Wha– Hey!" He sounded a lot more awake this time, and a lot more indignant too.
Ryusui ignored him, trying to shuffle further onto the mattress, to keep himself from falling over the edge of the bed at the slightest turn. He was vaguely aware of Sai pressing himself against the wall while Ryusui got comfortable. In the end, he ended up laying on his side on the outer edge of the bed, facing both the wall and his brother.
Sai was staring at him as if he had grown a second head. He ripped his blanket out from beneath Ryusui's body, gathering it up to hold it close to his chest. "Go sleep in your own bed!" He nudged Ryusui with his foot, trying to gently shove him off the bed.
Ryusui didn't let himself be moved, his face smushed against the pillow. "Nah, I'm good," he said.
He didn't mind not having a blanket to sleep with. As long as he was allowed to stay, he would even migrate to the floor if Sai asked him to. He just didn't want to be alone right now. He carefully closed his eyes. Even while anticipating it, he couldn't suppress the way his body shuddered when his mind was once again assaulted with fire and ash.
A deep sigh came from in front of him, cutting off the crackling flames in his head. The mattress below him moved and Ryusui peeked through his eyes to see Sai laying back down in a more comfortable position, draping the blanket over the both of them in the process. The added weight of it helped Ryusui relax again, and he couldn't help but bury himself further into the warmth. This time, when he closed his eyes, the flames were nothing more than a distant echo.
Arms wrapped around him, bigger than in his memories, but just as comforting and save as they had always been. "If you kick me I'm throwing you off the bed," Sai grumbled.
Ryusui couldn't help but chuckle. He remembered that one time where he had accidentally kicked Sai out of his own bed while he was asleep. He had woken up to a loud yell, completely oblivious and confused as to why Sai was on the ground. So the threat wasn't unfounded.
He let out a content sigh, finally allowing his tired mind to drift again. This time, there were no flames, no gunfire or explosions. Instead, his thoughts were filled with the laughter of children, running around their part of an estate. It was filled with impressions of people he loved, both past and present.
It had been over a year since that night in Araxá. The nightmares had gotten less over the course of the year, even if they never fully left. Usually, the nights where he dreamed of guns and fire were the nights he knew he would get no more sleep.
But this time, held securely in his brother's arms, the dreams could not touch him. And Ryusui was finally able to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.