Chapter Text
???: [――There is nobody who can defeat you, you whom I created.]
Those were the words of the Witch, who had taught Aldebaran everything that he knew, and had bestowed upon him the name of the Following Star.
???: [――Look at that, it is mine victory again.]
Those were the words of the Sun Princess, who had given meaning to Aldebaran’s life outside of being a Following Star.
Aldebaran: [――――]
The foolish, powerless Aldebaran had lost both of them, so despite being one who possessed an Authority that was supposed to rectify erred choices, ultimately, he had continued to choose the most half-hearted path.
Only, he would not allow the birth of the Witch who would end the world. ――Everything had been for that purpose.
Receiving the Witch’s teachings, and acting in accordance with her wishes, he had attempted to kill the Witch. ――He had failed.
Meeting Priscilla, and acting to make her the Monarch, he had attempted to kill the Witch. ――He had failed.
Falling back on his initial resolve, and acting to remove Natsuki Subaru, he had attempted to kill the Witch. ――He had failed.
Aldebaran: [――Ah.]
As a blinding light spilled forth, feeling his eyes being scorched even from behind his steel helmet, Aldebaran bore witness to the marvel of brute force taking place right before his eyes, and the result of that rule-defying power.
The phenomenon brought about by one suprarational power was severed at the hands of another suprarational power, so when that which had been sealed was released, the only thing Aldebaran could do was to tighten his arm around the slender body in his embrace, as if having a tantrum.
And then――,
???: [――Hk.]
A faint respiration, one he by no means should have been able to hear, scratched at Aldebaran’s consciousness.
That was something which belonged to the silver-haired girl behind him, who had been wielding her strength to fend off the inundating flood, emitting a tremendously cold air to prevent the battlefield from being swallowed by the muddy stream.
If that had been a lament for being unable to completely dam the rush of water, he could have endured it.
If that had been a sigh of relief at Reinhard’s arrival, he could have endured it.
If that had been satisfaction for the abhorrent Aldebaran having been cornered, he could have endured it.
But, it was none of those things. ――That which her amethyst eyes had trained their gaze upon, was but a single person.
After all, no matter the time, Aldebaran would never be reflected in those eyes of hers.
Aldebaran: [――NATSUKI SUBARUUUUUUU!!]
He shouted. He screamed. He roared.
With a hoarse voice that quite literally seemed to spew forth blood, Aldebaran cried out that name.
Emerging from within that light, was a black-haired boy embracing a dress-clad Great Spirit―― that unmistakable individual, with the vigor of having been liberated from the black orb, dropped to one knee upon the ground.
Then, as his lips opened, the very first thing to exit his mouth was a yell.
???: [――Rem!!]
As if in response to that call, the sound of chains grated upon Aldebaran’s eardrums.
△▼△▼△▼△
――The sound of chains, ringing out.
In that instant, his own bloodcurdling scream, the protrusions of the ground caused by the utmost extent of magic he had unleashed in a trance, the negation of that cataclysm by the supreme flash of the Sword Saint severing even the glaciated atmosphere, the fact that it seemed like the man who had appeared while hugging the Spirit had been utilizing the Authority of Greed to keep a grasp over the situation, the fact that he was subconsciously tightening his embrace on the warmth of the woman in his arm; absolutely all of it, did not matter to Aldebaran in the slightest.
Merely, with reckless abandon, he reached out his hands. ――No, he only attempted to reach them out. He had failed to do so.
His right arm was embracing the woman who had betrayed him, and his left arm had been abandoned all that time ago alongside the Witch’s expectations, so Aldebaran had failed to reach out his hands.
Instead――,
Man: [――Al…]
The man, having gathered the attention of all present there, trained his gaze upon him, and called out.
The emotions dwelling in those black eyes, the fact that it seemed like he wished to save even Aldebaran if he could, that color of Natsuki Subaru was, above all else, more than anything, eclipsing aught in his heart――,
Aldebaran: [EL DONA]
――The sound of chains, rang out.
△▼△▼△▼△
――The earth itself rose, embodying its caster’s rage. Pillars of stone erupted from the ground in a violent bloom, one of them slamming into the Morning Star’s arc towards Subaru’s head and knocking it into the sky. More pillars followed, rising in a jagged claw around Natsuki Subaru, hemming him in like a caterpillar.
Subaru did not panic.
He stood amid the Earth confinement. He had known he was never the true target of Al’s wrath, only the excuse. The real victim was Aldebaran himself. Subaru’s voice cut through the chaos again, calling the name belonging to the betrayer, once more, unable to move, unable to reach.
△▼△▼△▼△
A pillar exceeding that of any surrounding Natsuki Subaru struck Al full force. The impact drove the breath from his lungs. Stone met flesh and bone with a crunch. Aldebaran and Yae Tezen were flung backward together, their bodies locked in a desperate embrace, tumbling toward the edge of the cliff. The lake stretched below. The Grand Mogolade Geyser waited.
The geyser erupted. A column of scalding water and steam exploded upward, swallowing them both in a roar of heat and force. He didn’t know what came over him, but he pulled Yae tighter against him as the world turned white and roared. Somewhere in the chaos he found a final thought――,
Al: [――Whatever awaits on the other side, may our stars be kind.]
The light went out.
Al’s world fell into darkness.
The sterile hum of the hospital room in Ansel’s medical ward enveloped a family like a shroud, the air thick with anticipation. A newborn lay motionless in his mother’s arms.
???: [Sol! DOC!!!]
Both parents clustered around the newborn, a tableau of fear and sorrow――.
――Their child took in a breath.
△▼△▼△▼△
Al could hear tense breathings from a woman. The wind caressing his face now was warm, like room temperature. Unlike the surface freeze from when he was catapulting towards the geyser, or the scorching heat when consumed by it
All he could think was that he failed to even get rid himself from the world, that was the most logical conclusion.
Al: [――I failed once more.]
Slowly, a few seconds go by did Aldebaran begin to piece something with his fragmented mind. There wasn't an earthy smell, no scorn yelling. Al could hear voices all around, but not recognizable ones.
Al: [Where am I? Wait――Where’s Yae?!]
Moving around was impossible. Opening his eyes was not, just difficult.
His eyes were assaulted by a bright light. As his eyes focused, he saw the face of a beautiful woman staring down at him. She had light brown hair and incredibly striking blue eyes. She turned, with Al following her sight, and talked to a man with blonde hair and teal eyes. The problem was that they seemed to be speaking in English, and Aldebaran doesn’t have a high proficiency in the language.
Words slid past him like water over stone. If words were useless, then he would use his eyes. He forced himself to look beyond the two figures. They’re closed in by white walls. There’re machines with soft glowing screens and constant beeps. Lights from the ceiling lights and curtains.
For a brief moment, Aldebaran was left speechless. The realization slammed into him with full force. He is in a modern hospital. He is on Earth, and the English the way the man and woman spoke it, the cadence, the ease――
――He was somewhere in the United States.
The woman: [――Take him.]
Al: [! ! !]
The woman handed him to the man, who was way too strong and way too close for comfort. With a smirk that reminded him too much of someone, the man seemed to shake his head, turning to the woman. He whispered something in her ears, whatever it was, made her laugh.
Al: [Hey――! I’m right here.Tell me where am I?]
Yet the words that came out of Al mouth were not what he expected,
"Baaah, eeaw, Raaah.”
It wasn't his voice.
“Aeeeel, Mooa. Waaah Aaah Aewi "
The noises were formless, high-pitched, and pitifully-weak. They cracked and wavered like the babbling of an infant struggling to shape syllables that did not yet exist.
Al’s heart slammed against the inside of a chest that was far too small. The frantic rhythm echoed in his ears, too fast, too loud, trapped inside a body that could not obey him. His limbs were useless stubs. His throat produced only those thin, broken sounds. The man’s arms held him securely, the woman’s laughter still lingered in the air, and the bright hospital lights continued to burn against eyes that no longer belonged to the Following Star.
The baby cried and screamed.
"Hey, hey. I’m sorry little-man, I didn't mean to scare you." Nicolas was used to a baby crying, after all this is the birth of his fifth child. The crying never really got easier, but the excitement of seeing each new face never faded either.
He shifted the small body carefully against his chest, one large hand supporting the fragile head. The crying continued, Nicolas helplessly glanced toward the bed with a smile.
"Maybe this little man loves his mama more than his papa”
"Yeah. Ah. No. You sir will hug him, pet him, and rock him carefully," Juniper, his lovely wife, who was leaning against her bed, crossed her arms.
Her striking blue eyes half lidded with exhaustion, “I am exhausted from the procedure. You’re the one who was well rested enough to bolt straight from the station to the hospital.”
Nicolas accepted the orders without argument. He began to rock the infant back and forth, gentle, while his free hand stroked the fine blonde hair on the tiny head. The motion was practiced with four—techically three—others. The same rhythm he had used with the three children who came before.
Curiously as he rocked, Nicolas noticed it again. That peculiar detail, the same blonde hair as his own. The same vivid blue eyes as Juniper’s. The same combination that every one of their children had inherited. Five kids now with not a single variation among them.
He had brought the peculiar consistency up with the family doctor once. Half-joking, but also half-concerned, he may have brought that he thinks it was tied to his semblance, or some strange byproduct of it.
The doctor’s answer had been disturbingly calm.
“If the uniformity had anything to do with your semblance, then your wife, your kids, and any future offspring would be dead.”
Nick then ignored the voice of the doctor that seemed to be mysteriously next to him. He concluded the reason for this genetic mystery would, to this day and the future, remain a genetic mystery. Some questions, he decided, were better left unanswered. Perhaps this particular genetic puzzle wasn’t a bad one at all. Nicolas turned his head.
Standing off to the side and in the shadows, giving the new parents space, was Solaire Kaiser, the family doctor. The man finally stepped forward and leaned in to peer at the infant nestled against Nicolas’s chest.
“Congratulations,” A small smile on his face. “A successful delivery. A normal, healthy son at that.”
The baby’s face was still flushed red and streaked with tears, but the earlier full throated screaming had faded into quiet, hitching sobs. When those striking blue eyes landed on Solaire, they widened in clear surprise before the little face crumpled again.
Nicolas kept stroking the fine blonde hair with careful fingers. “Hopefully this isn’t another Sabrina case,” he muttered under his breath.
Sabrina, their fourth. She’s the quiet one. The daughter who had never cried the way her older sisters did. They had spent weeks teaching her how to make noise when she was hurt, when she was hungry, when she needed a change..
Juniper, still sprawled against the raised bed, groaned. “Honey, please don’t fill my weakened heart with those thoughts. I don’t know if it’s possible to scare someone who’s faced Grimms and her own mortality with an iron fist. But here we are.”
She pushed herself up a little, sudden urgency cutting through the exhaustion.
“We still haven’t named him.”
They had taken turns choosing names for each of their daughters. But this was different. Their first son after a string of girls. The name had to mean something. It had to be special. Nicolas’s gaze drifted to Solaire, who had moved to check Juniper’s vitals. A thought clicked into place.
“Sunny,” Nicolas offered. “I vote Sunny.”
Juniper shook her head firmly hard enough that even Solaire glanced over with mild chagrin.
“It’s too basic. I want something with meaning.”
Her eyes flicked to the name embroidered on Solaire’s medical ID badge, to the pale gold light spilling across the floor. She was quiet for a moment.
“…Jaune.”
Both men looked at her.
Juniper’s voice softened as she settled back against the pillows.
“Jaune Arc. Our little Sunshine.”
Nicolas carefully transferred the small, still crying bundle into Juniper’s waiting arms. The moment the infant settled against her chest, something shifted. Whether it was the steady, living rhythm of a heartbeat thudding gently beneath his ear, Jaune’s frantic sobs faltered, softened into quieter hitching breaths. The tears kept falling, yet the desperate edge of the crying had finally begun to ease.
Juniper cradled him close, one hand supporting the fragile head, the other resting protectively over the tiny back. Nicolas stood beside the bed, watching the two of them with quiet wonder. Solaire remained nearby, giving the family their space now that the moment had settled.
In the soft light of the hospital room, with sunlight still filtering through the thin curtains, Jaune Arc had finally come to this world. His parents, exhausted and smiling, would make certain he received every scrap of love and attention he could possibly need.
Author Note: I don’t know what compelled me to write this crossover. Whether it was my birthday, or me wanting Al to be happy.
I don’t have a plot for this fic, other than a bunch of scenes of Al living with Arc family and how he came to learn to finally ‘love’ himself.
The fate of Yae Tenzen is unknown.
The update schedule is non-existent as I am very busy with college. Expect the chapters to pop up in a blue moon or whatever. I am very tired.