Chapter Text
Yuuji—he's sure that's his name—doesn't know where he is.
He's been walking for a while now, but all he's been seeing is a sky so red it looks like meat, and bones arching overhead. There's a constant lub-dub sound, emanating from underfoot and reverbating around him into the boundless red expanse.
It's almost like he's in someone's lungs. Except he's pretty sure lungs aren't supposed to be covered in flowers. And people aren't supposed to live inside lungs.
He's dreaming, he'd decided a while ago. A very strange dream.
(But again, when were dreams ever un-strange?)
His legs are hurting, and his brain feels like it's fought someone and lost.
He plops down with a huff.
The ground is soft beneath his palm, warm, pulsing. But he'd accepted the weirdness a while ago. Now it just sounds calming.
He plucks a flower and rolls it in between his index finger and thumb.
It's as red as the sky above—thin petals blooming around a cluster of stamens, kind of like a spider. He takes a deep sniff. It smells sweet.
And it hits him.
He grins to himself.
Spider lily!
Then he frowns. He can remember the name of a flower, but not how he got here.
He sighs and flops back into the field of spider lilies. They cushion his body and tickle his cheek.
He blows at the strand of hair obscuring his vision nearly going cross-eyed. The last thing he remembers is a building. A dark one. And fear and grief so overwhelming it felt like a boot pressing into his chest.
He remembers calling for someone to help.
For someone with pink hair like his.
He can't remember their name, or what they are to him. But his chest hurts when he thinks about them.
If he was calling for them, they must have been important. He's been looking for them ever since he woke up.
But all he's found is red. Red, and more red.
He hopes he hasn't offended them.
He blinks slowly. He's tired.
He'll take a cat nap and resume exploring after a bit. It's not like the lungs are going anywhere. All he's been seeing is the sky and bones and flowers.
(Is that even a thing? Napping in a dream?)
He curls into a ball, and the lilies sway gently around him.
The sweet scent settles over him like a blanket, making his eyelids heavier.
The dream is stretching on for far too long.
He doesn't like it.
Maybe when he wakes up, he'll remember who he's looking for.
He's woken by something pointy poking his cheek.
He opens a bleary eye and blinks away the sleep gunk.
A nail comes into focus, resting against his cheek. He follows it to a finger, then a hand attached to—
Every muscle in his body unclenches. The fear that's been sitting in his chest for what feels like forever simply disappears.
And he's leaping so fast it makes his head hurt, wrapping his arms around the figure like a koala.
The words start spilling out by themselves.
"You found me! Oh my God, I was so scared and worried and I woke up here and everything was red and there was no one around and there were bones and I'm a hundred percent sure there's a huge heart beating somewhere and I think it's a dream but I couldn't wake up but you're finally here and God, I was so scared—"
He hugs the figure impossibly tighter.
Their chest is silent beneath his ear. But the soul feels familiar.
And a wisp of a memory surfaces—a man with pink hair looking lovingly at him.
He grins wide and nuzzles into his chest.
His dad's chest.
"I missed you, Dad. Thank you for finding me."
His father—his father!—is statue-still, as if carved of stone. Yuuji frowns, "Dad?"
His Dad is not a hugging person. Noted. It won't stop Yuuji though!
His father retracts the clawed (?!) hand that had still been outstretched where Yuuji's face had been, and places it on his head instead.
Yuuji preens into the touch.
"Father," Dad says, as if testing the word. "You've lost your memory. How convenient."
His dad talks funny, but that explains a lot. Yuuji butts in.
"But I'm with you now! Everything's going to be okay!"
He lets himself drop back down.
Dad opens his mouth.
Closes it.
Opens it again.
"You are an idiot."
His father has a strange look on his face. Yuuji can't figure out why.
But then Dad turns around and starts walking quickly. Yuuji stumbles after him.
The entire time he's talking.
"Dreams are so freaking weird, but I don't remember any dreams because I'm one of the people who don't remember dreams at all, so I don't know if I'll remember this, but I kind of wish I do even if my head hurts because it's kind of pretty in a morbid way, andGodisthatahillofbones?"
Dad sighs.
Yuuji feels a little guilty. His dad's probably overwhelmed by him getting hurt and then getting lost.
But C'mon, A hill of bones!
Dad's voice is strained as he speaks, and guilt kicks Yuuji in the ribs again.
"Yes. And you are... asleep, of sorts. You were briefly dead. Your heart—"
Dad's expression looks pleased, and warmth blooms in Yuuji's chest at the thought that his dad is glad he woke up.
"—was removed. The resulting bloodloss damaged your brain—"
What.
Oh God.
Dad's saying something but he's spiralling too hard to hear them.
Is he dead? Oh God.
"—vow, healed the heart—"
Is this the afterlife? Is he good enough to make it to heaven? He can't remember if he was a good person. Oh God is that why he's stuck in nothingness—
A clawed hand grabs his skull, making it ache, but keeping him from getting distracted.
"However, your brain didn't fully heal. Not that it would've helped. You're currently in an innate domain."
Yuuji just grins, not upset by the words. His brain doesn't register the cruelty at all. He must be used to his father being a jackass.
Then the grin falls as he realizes.
"I'm in a coma then."
And then—
"Wait, what's an innate domain?"
But Dad's gone, and Yuuji's heart jumps to his throat until he realizes he's on top of the bone hill.
Yuuji naturally follows, rushing to climb up. The throbbing in his brain gets worse as he grabs onto bones and pulls himself upward, but his muscles barely register the exertion at all.
He's fast too, Yuuji realizes.
There's a curl of pride at the reminder. He takes after his father then.
His father doesn't look at him when he makes it to the top.
Yuuji grabs the opportunity to surprise-hug him from behind.
Dad's body goes tense, and Yuuji has a bone-deep urge to retract and shield himself.
The feeling disappears as quickly as it came. Weird.
"Get your hands off me, brat."
Dad still hasn't relaxed.
But in true Yuuji fashion, he says:
"No."
And makes himself comfortable, leaning against Dad's back instead.
With his face half muffled against his robe, he asks:
"What's an innate domain?"
A sigh reverberates against Yuuji's cheek.
"An innate domain is a manifestation of one's soul. This is ours."
Dad speaks distastefully, as if affronted by the idea of sharing his soul with Yuuji.
But Yuuji just interprets it as fake exasperation.
Yuuji frowns, "If this is my soul, then why can't I remember what happened?"
"The soul is housed in the brain," Dad says, almost bored. "Damage the brain, damage the soul. Your memories are leaking out of the cracks in your skull."
Yuuji blinks, not really understanding it.
"I can't have that."
So he's in a coma dream. Yuuji concludes.
And he's sharing it with his dad.
Is his dad dead too then?
There's a spike of pain in his chest.
No.
It couldn't be.
Dad is here and real.
He shakes off those thoughts and tries to wriggle into his lap so he can put his aching head there.
Dad pushes him away like an unwanted cat, making him roll a few inches.
"No. Absolutely not."
Yuuji pouts and settles for leaning against his dad's back instead, cheek pressed to his spine. Grabbing a handful of fabric without realising it.
His head doesn't feel any better. But at least Dad's here and real.
So he'll be real when Yuuji wakes up too.
He refuses to accept any other possibility.
He closes his eyes. "G'night, Dad. Love you."
The heartbeat beneath the domain continues.
Dad doesn't answer, probably embarrassed.
Yuuji smiles and closes his eyes.
Dad is here.
Everything will be okay.