Chapter Text
It’s over.
The thought brings forth a sense of serenity. Not unlike getting to bed after a long, tiring day, the immense relief of finally being able to close your eyes and heave a heavy sigh, rest your head against a soft pillow, and let the much-needed sleep take you.
It doesn’t even hurt anymore. He can feel his breaths rattling wetly in his chest. He thinks his shattered ribs may have punctured a lung. His abdomen feels numb, and the numbness is spreading, like a drop of ink into a glass of water. Soon it will all turn black.
It’s over, and it is time to make his final judgment, to make one last sinner die by his hand. The voice of Thanatos is quiet, and the silence is so peaceful, and Yuri knows this must be because his work is finally, finally done.
The air is rushing in his ears, the gravity pulling him into its deathly embrace feels not unlike flying. He prepares to ignite his powers one last time. Just a flicker of blue-green fire, and he will be gone long before he hits the ground.
A shout pierces the air.
He opens his eyes - he doesn’t quite remember closing them - and sees a figure appear at the edge of the construction beam he has thrown himself off of. He is not surprised to see it is Kaburagi. The man is much too intent on saving every single person, without regard for if they deserve to be saved or not.
He should also not be surprised to see Kaburagi rush to his aid in one final attempt at grabbing him before he plummets out of reach. But alas, surprised he is, though of course Kaburagi would be the one to do something so utterly idiotic as to risk his life to save a dying serial killer.
Wild Tiger reaches for him, but he is too late. Yuri can see it in his amber eyes when he realizes he will not be able to catch him, that he is too late, that Lunatic will fall to his death and there is nothing the Hero can do about it. Yuri almost wants to smile, but that soon turns to a distant feeling of alarm as he watches stubbornness flash in Tiger’s eyes, and he realizes he was too hasty in thinking that Kaburagi would make the only sensible decision here and let it go, accept that sometimes, you cannot save everyone.
It is a stupid oversight on Yuri’s part, not that he can do much about it.
Kaburagi turns his movement into one final lunge, which causes him to fall off the edge too. Yuri can see his plan, as senseless as it is: to grab Yuri with one hand and to grab the construction beam with another, then probably wait for Brooks to come and haul them both up. Yuri has no idea why he is bothering with all this, risking his own life, when Lunatic is already drowning in his own blood, slowly dimming away. There is nothing to gain in this.
He watches Kaburagi try, and both succeed and fail. He succeeds in grabbing Yuri by the ankle. He fails to grab the beam.
Tiger’s eyes widen, and Yuri can almost see him go Uh oh! in his mind. It would all be very comical if Tiger wasn’t about to die with him, and that’s not what’s supposed to happen.
There is another shout, a scream more like, and both Yuri and Kaburagi are now plunging towards the ground far away beneath them. The beam is growing smaller and more distant, but Yuri can still see the blond hair and terrified face of Barnaby Brooks Jr. appear, only seconds after Kaburagi’s fall, although those few precious seconds already have them rushing far away from the beam. Brooks is reaching out too, in vain, of course, screaming out Kotetsu!. Yuri almost wants to apologize to him, to mouth sorry, but it is not his fault that Kaburagi is an idiot of a man who doesn’t know when to quit.
The guilt still latches onto him, spreading along with the numbness from his chest. Kaburagi is trying to twist around in the air, he is shouting too, Bunny!, as if that alone would be enough. Yuri would snort if he could.
Tiger doesn’t have his suit. If he did, he would be able to shoot his grappling hook and fling them both to safety. But he lacks the bracelet, and Yuri is relieved that he doesn’t have it - and sad that he doesn’t. Despite the voice of Thanatos sometimes hinting otherwise, Kaburagi is not a sinner. He does not deserve to have such an end. To have his end.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he says, or tries to. It comes out as a wet cough and rasping words he can barely utter. Tiger shouldn’t be able to hear that, not with the rush of the wind in their ears and Yuri’s hair blowing out wildly around his face. But somehow he does catch it, or then it is just a chance of luck that his words are a perfect reply:
“You shouldn't have done that!” he yells, voice angry but still determined not to let Yuri die. Such a curious creature, Tiger is. “Now hang on, Bunny will get us!”
Yuri’s eyes, his vision already going blurry, find Brooks again, and look at that, they are both equally stupid, because Brooks as well has leaped down from the beam and is now racing towards them, Tiger’s suit growing around him. Huh, oh yes, maybe Brooks is slightly less of an idiot than his partner. The blond man is already reaching for them, and Yuri can see him prepare his other hand for the grappling hook. He clearly thinks he will be able to get the cable to latch onto something and swing them all to safety. Or at least Kaburagi. Yuri is not sure if Brooks is so set on saving him.
It is a race, and Yuri is not sure which one will win. He feels a pang of relief, and annoyance, and panic, and rage, and fear, all this in one jumbled mess, a crescendo in his mind that rises and rises until it is louder than the cold rush of air all around him. He doesn’t want to be “saved”. He doesn’t want to die in a hospital, he doesn’t want to be there to witness the newspapers going Lunatic’s identity revealed! Murderous vigilante confirmed to be Judge Petrov! How did the esteemed judge succumb to insanity? Read all about it! He refuses to go through that humiliation. He has done terrible things, yes, but in the end he did good things as well. Can they not allow him to go out peacefully? To go out his way?
(This is as peaceful as it is going to get.)
He could ignite his body now. That would surely make Kaburagi let go, the man can’t be so stupid as to decide to burn with him. No, Wild Tiger would let go, and Yuri would be free to go. He still has the spark to make one last burst of flame.
But.
Brooks is still rocketing towards them, and Yuri for the life of him (a bad choice of words here, maybe) cannot make out if he will reach Kaburagi in time or not. If Yuri was to use the last ember of his powers for a burst of flame to change his direction, would he be able to get Kaburagi to slow his fall just a little, so Brooks could reach him on time? But that would be throwing away the last means of escape he has, maybe for nothing, as that course of action has no guarantees of working.
He could ignite himself, see Kaburagi let go, and be gone before ever knowing if the man’s partner made it in time, if they both survive or not. Ignorance is bliss, after all.
He sees the determined look in Kaburagi’s eyes, the way he grits his teeth, reaching out towards Brooks. And Yuri wonders that maybe the one thing he owes this man is to witness whether he survives.
It is a race, and just as he starts to see which side is about to win -
Brooks disappears.
And Yuri and Kaburagi are still falling through the night towards the unyielding ground below.
“Bunny!” Kotetsu screams, and now his voice has gone panicked. There is nothing to save Kaburagi anymore. “What -”
Yuri doesn’t know what happened, but whatever it was, seems to have sealed their fates for them.
“I’m sorry,” he says and feels blood on his lips.
“No, no, no, this is not -” Kaburagi truly is one of the most stubborn men he has ever had the misfortune to encounter. Well, that should not come as a surprise, considering the man’s career. He came back with diminishing Hundred Power of all things. Inability to accept an inevitable fate is Wild Tiger’s trademark. “I will figure something out!”
It better be quick then, Yuri thinks but can no longer say aloud. Kaburagi will just have to sense the sarcasm emanating from Yuri’s broken body.
Everything is going dark. He closes his eyes. The familiar self-loathing in his chest is raising his head again, although Kaburagi’s death will not be his fault. It was his own damn decision to die with Yuri.
Such a waste…
He fades away to the sound of Kaburagi cursing and the wind rushing in his ears.
I’m sorry.
Kotetsu is not sure what happened. A second ago, Bunny was racing towards them, so close already. Bunny would surely be super mad at him for this, but Kotetsu can’t help it: if jumping off of buildings is needed in order to save people, he will do that and not hesitate. Okay, maybe he also for a teeny tiny moment happened to forget that he didn’t have his bracelet on, which sounds very embarrassing and stupid and Bunny will probably throttle him and maybe kick him off of the construction site himself after hauling them up. But surely Bunny will forgive him at some point, right?
But now Bunny is gone, and Kotetsu hasn’t got the faintest idea of what is going on. It is like he blinked and then he was gone, like he had imagined it all. There are also other very pressing matters at this moment, like falling to his death with a severely injured murderous vigilante.
Well, this is embarrassing, he thinks, and refuses to think of Kaede, because if he thinks of Kaede it will mean he will not survive this, and he will survive this, he just needs a moment to figure this out -
Lunatic aka Judge Petrov seems to have lost consciousness, going by the way his eyes have rolled back in his head. Kotetsu feels an absurd flash of annoyance at the man. He is of no help at all! Kotetsu will have to do all the thinking himself, and the amount of time he has left for thinking is running out by the millisecond.
Just as he is starting to feel that maybe, just maybe, it is the time to start thinking about Kaede, and his mother, and Tomoe, Muramasa, and Bunny, because this is not looking good, not good at all -
He sees a shadow from the corner of his eye, growing closer. He turns his head to look better, and dashing towards them there is a -
Well. He doesn’t really know. It must be a Hero, and for one silly moment he is flabbergasted at the thought of Subaru coming to save them, and then feels a little guilty for thinking that, but Subaru can’t fly, and this guy definitely does.
The Mystery Person grabs them both, and before they do Kotetsu sees black suit, a cape that fans out like wings, and a dark cowl of a mask. Then he isn’t quite sure what is happening, only that they are flying through the air. Or actually gliding, more accurately, but doing it in a very cool way that really does feel like flying.
Then they are landing, much smoother than you’d expect, though there still is a bit of a tumble, and Kotetsu is rather concerned about Judge Petrov. It didn’t seem like the guy could get much more hits before going out for good, and rolling around on cold dirty pavement is probably not at all good for him.
Wow. They are not dead.
Kotetsu feels like fist-pumping the air.
He picks himself up from the ground - a slightly shady back alley, it looks like - and turns to look at their savior, who indeed seems to have very good timing. The mystery guy or gal is standing before him, next to Lunatic’s unmoving form lying on the ground. Kotetsu can hear Judge Petrov’s barely audible, slightly rattling breaths. They do not have much time.
“There is a hospital close by. An ambulance is on its way,” the guy in black says, with a voice that sounds like it has gone through a computer of some kind, making it low and electronic and unrecognizable.
Kotetsu takes a closer look at him - at least it sounds like a man, though that can of course be a ruse - and suddenly realizes he has no sponsor marks. And no company name.
He gasps.
A vigilante.
Stern Bild’s track record with vigilantes is not the best one, not with L. L. Audun and Lunatic and all that, so this guy may be bad news, what if he has something to do with Bunny’s disappearance? But he did save them, and has called for help, and he doesn’t look like he is about to murder Lunatic here and now - although the man could just wait for that, offing Lunatic doesn’t need much of active murdering right now.
The dark-clad vigilante turns to leave.
“Hey!” Kotetsu yelps. “Who are you?”
But he is already gone, leaving Kotetsu there with another vigilante of much more murderous type, out cold at the moment. In the not so distance, he can suddenly hear the sound of sirens, growing steadily closer.
Kotetsu decides that Bunny must be okay, and Lunatic will too, and if he decides things then they will surely come to pass, and he can’t wait to tell Bunny that there is a new vigilante running around and he met him first, how cool is that? Of course vigilantes are usually not a good thing, he admits, but this guy saved them, so he can’t be that bad.
The flashes of red and blue catch his attention, and he quickly dishes out his mask and slaps it on his face. Then he turns to wave at the approaching ambulance.
He can call Bunny from the hospital.