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Chapter Text

The skies over the Dragon Empire were nothing like the clear blue skies of the United Sanctuary; red and gray, they churned with a powerful, rainless storm that did nothing to dissuade the mix of Narukami and Kagero warriors, ranging from humanoid to draconic, from continuing their harsh training. In fact, the frequent lightning strikes distracted them less than the sight of three silver armored Royal Paladins approaching their stone and crystal stronghold built into a rocky hillside.

The lead Royal Paladin strode forward with head high, ignoring the jeers from the Dragon clans. The second, carrying a broadsword on his back as tall as he was, walked with a purposeful gait and an expression of utter indifference.

The third, and smallest, slouched in the second's shadow, peering around at the clans nervously. Several warriors focused their attention on him, smirking and laughing to themselves, but the small Paladin was fixated on the sight of a humanoid Kagero leader with a long, slender tail - and he must be a leader, the way he stood on high ground with his gold and red tattooed arms crossed, sword sheathed at his side - who turned his attention from the training in front of him to stare directly at the small Paladin.

Even from such a distance, the small knight could feel this Kagero's intense stare, burning into his very soul like the sun beating down on this desolate wasteland. Yet he couldn't look away; the terrifying beauty of the dragons roaring in the sky were nothing compared to the terrifying beauty of this one man.

"The Vanguard," the middle knight said in a low voice. This was Ahmes, wielder of the legendary Blaster Blade, and the youngest knight's mentor. "Some call him the Dragonic Overlord, a title he acquired from his father."

If that man was the Vanguard of Kagero, then he was the equal to Sendou Aichi, the Vanguard of the Royal Paladins. Yet, to Aichi, a vast chasm of experience separated the two of them; where the son of the legendary dragon lord radiated authority and confidence, Aichi had yet to make a name for himself in any meaningful way outside of the Holy City. In this, there was nothing equal about them.

Uneasiness filled him as they continued to walk. 

A blond-haired human man of average height and build waited for them by the entrance to the crystalline palace, offering a jovial wave. 

“Hi!” he called out, his cheerfulness contrasting with the overall stern and uncaring atmosphere of the rest of the Dragon Empire that Aichi had seen until now. “Here to see Kai?”

“Yes,” Aichi said, able to relax just slightly in the presence of such an unorthodox denizen of the Empire. “We are from--”

“Oh, it’s pretty easy to see you’re Royal Paladins,” the man interrupted, hands on his hips. His armor was dark leather, like the rest of the warriors, but with splashes of red and gold on the trim. “I’m Miwa Taishi, of the Kagero clan.”

“Sendou Aichi.” Aichi gestured at his traveling companions, who nodded in turn as he introduced them. “Gancelot and Ahmes.”

Miwa nodded at them, flashing a casual two-fingered salute of sorts. “Kai will be here soon. He’s overseeing training today.”

“We saw,” Ahmes said. “You seem… familiar with him.”

“Oh, you mean not using his title?” Miwa laughed. “Nah, we’re childhood friends.”

“Which isn’t an excuse to disregard my title in front of a rival clan,” a cool voice behind them said, and Aichi jumped slightly as the man from earlier walked past, a head taller than Aichi but still shorter than Ahmes. 

"Our guests from United Sanctuary, m'lord." Miwa gestured at the three of them as he stepped to Kai's side, dropping his casual tone.

Close up, Aichi noticed that Kai's tattoos were not tattoos at all, but actual gold and red scales that extended from the backs of his slender clawed hands up under his robes and to the curve of his neck.  A dragonic human; such a creature was a rarity even in the Dragon Empire, where humanoid lizardfolk were a common race, but here he was, and the Vanguard to boot.

His slitted green eyes swept over Aichi, over Ahmes, and settled finally on Gancelot. His thin tail, also covered in reddish-gold scales and tipped with a lethal-looking spike, flicked lazily across the floor. "Are you the Vanguard?"

He had a soft voice that somehow carried the sharpness of a blade. Aichi was aware of Ahmes giving him a raise of the eyebrow, a silent gesture to encourage Aichi to take the initiative and introduce himself as the leader, but Aichi's jaw suddenly wouldn't work and his throat went dry.

"No," Gancelot said after a few seconds of silence. He, too, must have waited for Aichi to interject, to no avail. He swept his hand in Aichi's direction. "He is our Vanguard."

Kai looked him over with unblinking intensity. Aichi stood as still as he could, hoping that Kai couldn't see his hands trembling, the bulge of his throat as he swallowed, the beads of sweat trickling into his armor. But he knew Kai could see all of this, and more; he could see Aichi's discomfort and sense his nerves, and he would know that Aichi was ill-suited to be in the army of the United Sanctuary at all, let alone its Vanguard.

"What is his name?" Kai asked, eyes still fixed on Aichi's, and it was perhaps this blatant disregard for Aichi's very presence that unglued Aichi's jaw.

"My name," he said, voice quivering, "is Sendou Aichi."

"It seems the knights of the Holy City will let anyone be the Vanguard," Kai mused, sweeping his gaze over Aichi's shoulders and down his arms. 

Aichi didn't know whether Kai was commenting on his nerves or was judging him based on his size, but either way his irritation swelled and he clenched his fists. "Anyone who proves themselves can be the Vanguard."

"Is that so." Kai jerked his head toward Miwa and turned on his heel. "You'll find the Dragon Empire does things a little differently than the United Sanctuary, Little Vanguard."

He couldn't have retorted to this insult if he'd tried; Kai outclassed him, both physically and in confidence. He's trying to dissuade me from pushing further for his help, Aichi thought; Kagero, with its immense physical prowess, was indispensable in the fight against the Void. If he ceded an inch, the fight was over, and Cray would be destroyed. 

“We come seeking your assistance, as I stated in my letter to you,” Aichi said, forcing his shoulders back. “Cray is in danger from--”

Kai laughed to himself as he half-turned to face the Paladins, the corners of his mouth curling up enough in a smile that Aichi could see two sharp incisors in a mouth full of otherwise human teeth. “Relax, Little Vanguard. Let’s sit and talk somewhere more comfortable than my hallway.” He turned his back on them and strode off without another word.

"Are you coming?" Miwa chimed in, gesturing toward the heavy oak doors through which Kai had disappeared.

Ahmes gave Aichi's shoulder a tiny squeeze, and Aichi glanced up into his face. "King Alfred trusts you to fulfill your mission as the Vanguard of the Royal Paladins. Kagero's Vanguard is trying to rattle you, only because he senses your strength and wants to see you at your best."

It certainly didn't feel like Kai was trying to encourage Aichi, but Ahmes had never misled him before. Besides, Aichi had to represent his clan with dignity and courage, qualities that Alfred had seen in him before appointing him to the coveted title of Vanguard. 

He nodded and strode forward, shoulders straightened.

Aichi expected a throne room of sorts, a dais atop which Lord Kai sat in his regal reds and golds; he did not expect a small chamber with a table and round, checkered board set up; rounded stones of various colors sat in bowls on a desk by the windowsill. After lighting some lanterns on the wall, Kai collected these bowls and nodded his head at one of the chairs at the table. 

“Have a seat.”

Ahmes and Gancelot waited by the door, Ahmes’s hand on his waist. Miwa plopped on his stomach on an oversized chaise lounge that didn’t quite match the rest of the decor and rested his head on his propped up fists. He’d seen this before, then, whatever it was they were about to do, and was eager to watch. Aichi’s stomach churned with anxiety.

Kai took a clear stone out of a bowl and sat down across from Aichi.

“You pick up on things well?”

“Y-yes.”

“Good. I’ll only explain the rules once.”

A game of some sort, though Aichi couldn’t guess at Kai’s motivation. He nodded.

It wasn’t a complicated game. Each color of stone represented a warrior of differing strength, from the lowest level to mid level to high level to Vanguard. Each person took turns placing one of fifty stones on the board, replacing low level stones with the higher, and then “attacking,” which consisted of jumping one stone of an equal or higher level over the opponent. That stone would then leave the board. The Vanguard waited unmoving at the back of the board, directing “warriors” with the end goal of capturing the opposing Vanguard. Yellow, red, and green stones could be used at any point and allowed the player to upgrade existing stones, add a new stone to the board, or even bring a stone back that had been discarded earlier, though they were limited to four of each of these. 

Kai was exceptionally good at this game. Twice, when Aichi came close to his mid-level stones reaching Kai’s Vanguard, Kai used a green stone to bring back one of his discarded mid-level stones and blocked Aichi’s path. But Aichi imitated his actions, calling stones to the board after Kai did, and powering up when Kai got too close to Aichi’s Vanguard. 

“Clever move,” Kai remarked as Aichi blocked his high-level unit with a red stone. “You do learn quickly.”

Oddly, the mechanics felt familiar, despite this being a game Aichi was now certain Kai had invented for his personal enrichment. Twice, Aichi uttered the words “critical” and “heal” when placing his yellow and green stones, despite the words having nothing to do with the game; Kai’s frown deepened but he said nothing, instead placing his own stones to counter. Aichi placed another stone, pushed forward, and eliminated one of Kai’s mid-level stones, opening up a hole that, if he could fend off Kai this turn, he could exploit.

“Hm.” Kai prodded a stone forward to Aichi’s left flank and reached for his last yellow stone.

Too late, Aichi noticed a gap in his own defensive formation. 

Kai’s attack pushed Aichi’s line back, and he placed his last unit in front of Aichi’s Vanguard.

“I win.”

Aichi pressed his lips together in a tight line as he surveyed the board. With the game over, he could see at least four misplays that cost him early and forced him to use up his Heals--

Heals?

As he struggled to come up with an explanation for the words heal and critical and draw slipping into his mind, Miwa straightened up on the bed and pointed at the board. 

“You made several mistakes that would have cost real lives on the battlefield.”

Aichi’s teeth ground together, partly out of embarrassment and partly out of indignation.

Unbothered, Kai began to collect the stones, placing them back in their respective bowls. “But, you have potential. You and the other Paladins may stay the night.” He smiled, his sharp fangs glistening in the candlelight. “I’ll make my final decision in the morning.”

The night air of Kagero held none of the cool, quiet comfort of the Holy City. It was a hot night, and dusty; the dragonfolk surely slept comfortably, but Aichi couldn't. Even stripping down to a light undershirt and half-trousers didn't stop him from sweating. Worse, he kept replaying his sound defeat over and over in his mind, keeping him from sleep even if he could get comfortable.

There was no point in lying in bed, he thought as he wandered into the dark, empty hallway. He wasn't a prisoner; he could come and go as he pleased, but he still walked on the balls of his bare feet so as to make as little noise as possible. Not grabbing some boots on his way out would be his biggest regret of the night as he stepped outside onto the rocky ground of the courtyard and felt something scuttle over his foot.

"Ah!"

Lunging forward, he broke into a dead sprint, letting his feet touch the ground only long enough to spring back into the air. A couple of guards nearby laughed loudly and Aichi, breathing heavily, sank onto a stone bench next to a small fountain.

Embarrassing, he thought, tucking his scraped feet onto the bench as he turned his back to the guards. Ahmes would certainly chide him for leaving his back open in enemy territory, but the fountain's rhythmic spurts of water almost reminded him of home.

Home. How would he tell King Alfred that he'd not only failed to secure Kagero's help in the war against the Void, and thus the help of the powerful other Dragon Empire clans Murakumo, Nubatama, Tachikaze, and Narukami, but that the Dragonic Overlord had thoroughly embarrassed him in a war game?

The dust was making him thirsty, and the fountain water was clear, so after checking the ground for any unpleasantries, he slid off the bench, hand outstretched toward the fountain.

"I wouldn't, if I were you."

Aichi jerked his hand back and spun around. This time unaccompanied by Miwa, Kai strode toward him in a simple sleeveless robe as his tail dragged across the dusty ground behind him. Like Aichi, his feet were bare; unlike Aichi, his feet were scaled, the golds and reds flashing in the bright moonlight like the scales on his arms, and he seemed totally unaffected by the sharp ground beneath him. Out of his armor, he seemed... less intimidating. More human.

"Inside," he said loudly, waving his hand behind him, and the guards snapped a salute at his back and hurried into the palace.

Almost less intimidating.

"Water is a scarce resource here in Kagero," Kai said, placing his hands behind his back as he came to a halt on the other side of the bench.

Aichi's face warmed. "I didn't know I wasn't meant to-"

"This water," Kai interrupted, "is toxic, even to the denizens of Kagero. For a human such as yourself, it would likely kill you within a couple of days." He finally turned his unblinking green gaze on Aichi, who steeled himself against the inhuman intensity. A smile twisted his face. "It wouldn't be good optics to have the Vanguard of the Holy City's Royal Paladins drop dead on my watch. King Alfred might think I had you poisoned."

"I didn’t think you were concerned about war with the United Sanctuary," Aichi said carefully.

His twisted smile morphed into something a little... softer, unless Aichi was imagining it. "Kagero hasn't been at war, not outright, anyway, since I became Vanguard. It's a needless waste of resources and right now I don’t have anything to gain from it."

The scales on his foot flashed as he smashed a scuttling insect underfoot. Aichi forced himself to look up at Kai's face again. "Is that why you refuse to help?"

Kai brushed his foot against the ground and sat on the bench, facing Aichi. "I told you, I'm not concerned. Let the Void come here; we will crush it without having to leave our home."

Here was another opportunity to make his case for Kagero’s assistance, but was there any way Aichi could do so without weakening his clan’s stature in Kai’s eyes? He would have to be strategic, but not deferential. “Maybe,” Aichi said slowly, “but even if you could ward off the Void alone, it would cost your clan hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives. Wouldn’t it be better to join forces, to minimize casualties?”

“Hm.” Kai frowned at the sky, where the planets nearest Cray hung low on the horizon. “How certain could you be that there is any threat to Cray at all?”

“As I stated in my letter to you,” Aichi said, trying not to seem as though he were disgruntled about Kai not reading the letter he had worked on for an entire afternoon, “the Vanguard of the Oracle Think Tank had a premonition about a dark, merciless force invading Cray.”

Kai pondered this for a moment. “Tokura Misaki?” 

“Yes. If we don’t combine forces--”

“I heard you.”

“If you have no interest in helping, then why invite us?”

“I wanted to see who you were for myself.” Kai looked at him, and Aichi forced himself to stare into those slitted green eyes. “The youngest Vanguard in the history of the United Sanctuary? I was intrigued.”

“And now that I’m here?”

Kai leaned back and stared at the swirling red sky. "You caught my interest."

Aichi, who had expected descriptors like small, timid, and shy, was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"No one has defeated me at the game, of course, but you..." Kai closed his eyes. The muscles in his face and neck relaxed. "You came the closest. The concept of the game came easily to you."

There was no way to tell Kai that the setup of the game felt familiar, yet distant; it was almost as though in some other life, he played a game with similar mechanics. A ridiculous prospect, and that was exactly why Aichi would say nothing.

“What did you mean when you referred to the yellow stones as critical ?” 

Aichi winced. “I don’t know. It was a, a slip of the tongue, I guess.”

“You said it twice.”

“I don’t know,” Aichi said again, quieter.

Kai didn't push the subject. He continued to stare at the sky, with his clawed finger scraping against the stone bench. Just as Aichi was trying to work out a way to excuse himself without coming across as rude, Kai straightened up. 

"I want to see what else you're capable of."

A high-pitched huh? slipped from Aichi's mouth before he composed himself with a lightly cleared throat and a firmer "what?"

"Are you good at fighting?" 

He was the Vanguard; he never would have gotten to this point if he couldn't hold his own in a fight. "I'm better with magic, but yes."

"Show me."

"R-right now?"

Kai held out his clawed hand as though expecting Aichi to conjure a sword from midair and demonstrate. Aichi huffed and stood, determinedly not looking at the insects scuttling around on the ground by his bare feet.

"I'll show you in the morning."

"Will you?" A wry smile graced Kai's mouth. 

"Good night, Lord Kai."

Kai said nothing in response; Aichi walked calmly back into the palace. When he settled back in the oversized bed in the oversized guest room, he stared at the silk canopy overhead, feeling less nerve-wracked than he had just six hours ago. Kai hadn't refused to help. Aichi felt that their conversation had gone well. He had kept his composure, for the most part. 

Maybe there was hope for Cray after all.

Chapter Text

The warriors of the Dragon Empire woke before the sun, a routine that Aichi certainly did not have, nor was it one he wanted to have.

It took Ahmes fifteen minutes to shake Aichi out of bed, ignoring Aichi’s grumbling and complaining; when they ate breakfast in the cavernous guest dining room, Aichi yawned over his toast and sausage. The only saving grace was the coffee, which had a rich, dark flavor and brought some life into Aichi’s exhausted body. 

But when it came time to participate in the Empire’s daily training, he was nothing but jitters, and he found himself on his back against the rocky earth five times in ten minutes.

“Not fast enough,” Kai said, pushing the tip of his practice sword into Aichi’s shoulder. “Again.”

Aichi suppressed a sigh and rolled himself back to his knees, then his feet. He staggered slightly as he bent to pick up his sword. 

He had long since learned not to complain when he was tired, not to dramatize his weariness. He was a knight of the United Sanctuary, and he would prove his strength to this dragon lord.

Kai didn’t wait for Aichi to straighten up before he struck again; this time, Aichi read the sweep of Kai’s strike and deflected it easily. When he jabbed at Kai’s knee, he caught Kai off-balance just enough to dodge a crescent sweep. 

Their fighting styles were vastly different. While Kai clearly favored overwhelming force and decisive blows, Aichi preferred a series of several lighter, faster strikes in weak areas, whittling the opponent down before his powerful finisher. 

Aichi landed several blows to Kai’s knees and ankles, yet Kai maintained his composure, seemingly unbothered by Aichi’s attempts to wear him down. Ultimately, it was Aichi whose stamina faltered first.

“Tired already?” Kai aimed a blow at Aichi’s shoulder, the blunt tip of the practice sword making impact with a painful thud, and Aichi stumbled backward, landing hard on the ground. “Come, Little Vanguard! Have you reached your limit?” 

Every muscle in Aichi’s body ached; his exhaustion had caught up with him. He doubted he had enough energy in him to stop one more attack…

“Break through your limits, Sendou Aichi!”

Aichi’s sword arm moved on its own, but rather than attempting to block the incoming attack, he pointed the blunt sword tip directly at Kai and conjured up an image of energy emanating from it.

Perhaps he was too unfocused to use his magic, or maybe he was still too tired, but rather than being a blast of non-elemental energy, his silent spell came out from the tip of the sword as a stream of fire.

Despite Aichi’s barrage of attacks intended to slow Kai’s movements, he was able to evade the fire, though barely. 

“Fire… huh?” Kai brushed at his slightly singed shoulder pad, his incisors visible behind his amused smile. “You think that was an effective offense against a clan of flame dragons?”

“It wasn’t intended as an attack.” Aichi pushed himself to his knees, praying silently that they wouldn’t collapse under him in front of Kai when he moved to stand. “I couldn’t deflect your attack, so…”

“Hm.” Kai reached out a clawed hand. “Was fire your intent?”

“My intent was stopping your attack.”

True yet evasive, and obviously so to someone as shrewd as Kai Toshiki.

Kai hummed again and gave his hand a little shake. “Come on. Stand up, Vanguard.”

Aichi finally reached up and took it. Kai’s fingers tightened around Aichi’s as he pulled him effortlessly to his feet. He eyed Aichi’s dirty uniform, face scrunched up. 

“Get cleaned up and meet me in the audience chamber in an hour.” 

Aichi leaned against his practice sword, pressed into the hard, rocky ground. A bath sounded nice to soothe the dozen or so bruises he was sure he had now; more than anything, he just wanted to rest. “Where--”

Kai was already walking away, hand waving dismissively. “Miwa will show you.”

“Eh?” Miwa, who had started to follow Kai, stopped abruptly. “I will?”

A hand gripped Aichi’s sore shoulder. He couldn’t suppress the grimace. 

“You did well, my Vanguard,” Ahmes said quietly. He gave Aichi a gentle nudge to follow Miwa back into the palace.

“I failed to secure victory.” 

“If the Overlord did not see merit in your fight, he would not be asking us to meet with him further,” Gancelot said in a low voice. 

Aichi wasn’t convinced, but he nodded and followed Miwa into the palace regardless.

A hot bath could really do wonders for anxiety.

After Miwa escorted him into a small, windowless bathing chamber with an enormous bath built into the crystalline floor (“make sure not to drink any of the water by accident,” he said cheerfully as he left), Aichi allowed himself to sink into the hot water -- almost too hot, but his aching bones welcomed it -- and think about the upcoming conversation with Kai and how he was to convince a reticent leader to join a fight for the survival of the planet. And when he finally finished his bath and followed a tall, silent human knight in dark armor to the audience chamber, he felt much less apprehension than he had before.

“My Vanguard.”

“Bring him in, Nehalem.”

The dragon knight, Nehalem, gestured for Aichi to enter the dim, enormous chambers before closing the door on his way out. Ahmes and Gancelot sat across from Kai at a long table next to a roaring fire; Kai wore ornate robes in red and gold that matched the scales along his hands, arms, and neck and leaned an elbow on the arm of a high-backed chair of dark stained wood, looking almost bored. Next to him, Miwa sat in his normal armor with a look of excitement on his face. At least one of them was about to have a good time.

Gancelot and Ahmes stood as Aichi approached, placing their fists over their chests in salute. “My Vanguard,” they murmured in unison, and Aichi nodded as he took his place between them, directly across from Kai. 

Kai’s slitted green eyes swept over the red, black, and gold light armor Aichi now wore. “I see you have taken to our dress.”

“It was draped over a chair near the bath,” Aichi replied. “I assumed it meant you would be insulted if I wore my dirty Royal Paladin armor for a formal meeting.”

For a second, Aichi thought he saw the corners of Kai’s mouth twitch upward. But Kai straightened up, face lacking emotion, and Aichi wasn’t sure if he had imagined it or not.

“Well, let’s get to business, then.” Kai held out a hand toward Miwa, who placed a folded letter in it. Aichi recognized the handwriting on the outside immediately. “You have gained the support of the other clans of the United Sanctuary, Star Gate, Zoo, and are negotiating with Aqua Force’s navy to clinch the support of Magallanica. So you’re trying to get the Dark Zone and the Dragon Empire now.”

“That’s correct.”

“It’s impressive you managed to convince so many clans.” Kai handed the letter back to Miwa without looking at him. “The United Sanctuary alone is an impressive military force. Angel Feather, Genesis, Oracle Think Tank, Gold and Royal Paladins…”

Aichi tensed.

“...the Shadow Paladins.”

Aichi sucked in a breath. Kai noticed, a bemused smile on his face as he leaned his chin on his fist again.

“I take it that’s a no.”

“The Shadow Paladins may be part of the United Sanctuary in name,” Aichi said, avoiding Kai’s intense gaze, “but they are… difficult to communicate with.”

An understatement. 

“Weren’t they Royal Paladins once?” Miwa pressed.

“Once,” Ahmes said quietly.

“What happened?”

In an uncharacteristic show of reluctance, Ahmes tapped his finger on the back of his other hand and glanced over Aichi’s head at Gancelot. 

“Ideological differences,” Gancelot said evasively.

“I see.” Kai leaned back in his chair, studying Aichi over his folded hands. “Then, why should the Dragon Empire help if you can’t get your own house in order?”

To everyone’s surprise, including his own, Aichi got to his feet and leaned his hands on the table. “This isn’t about Dragon Empire and United Sanctuary. This is about Cray. This is about protecting everyone on Cray. There’s no good in squabbling over clan loyalty when the Void swallows up all the clans!” He inhaled sharply before bowing his shoulders toward Kai. Next to him, Ahmes made a small noise and Gancelot reached for Aichi’s arm, but Aichi shook his head warningly, staring directly at the table beneath him. “I, Sendou Aichi, Vanguard of the Royal Paladins of the Holy City, humbly beg the Overlord of the Dragonic Empire for his help in protecting the people of Cray.”

He kept his head bowed for what felt like an eternity before Kai spoke at last. 

“Stand up, Vanguard.”

Aichi inhaled again, exhaled, and straightened up. His heart raced, faster by far than when he was fighting Kai. He clenched his trembling hands, and waited for Kai’s answer.

Kai simply stared, his eyes boring into Aichi’s -- and it was so, so difficult to maintain eye contact with such an intense look -- before he stood in turn. 

“How long,” he said slowly, “until the Void comes to Cray?”

Aichi’s heart leapt in his chest. Something of the hope welling inside him must have shown on his face because Kai shook his head.

“I am not agreeing to anything. I just want to know how long.”

“At the earliest, about six months,” Aichi said quickly. “No longer than ten, though. Misaki said that her -- er, Tokura Misaki said that her vision showed the stars between the spring and summer months.”

“Hm.” Kai studied him a moment longer. “I need two months to decide.”

“But--” Aichi opened his mouth to protest. 

“Is that not agreeable, Sendou Aichi?” Kai lifted his hand in Aichi’s direction. 

Two months would cut into their preparations substantially. Further, there was no guarantee that Kai would agree to help by the end of it, in which case Aichi had lost two months planning around uncertainty. But this was as far as he had gotten and if he pushed too hard, he may end up with even less. 

“That… is fine.”

“Good.” Kai sat back down. “And I would like you to stay in Dragon Empire, Sendou Aichi.” He glanced at Ahmes. “Alone.”

“What?”

Ahmes was halfway to his feet before Aichi threw out a hand to catch him. 

“I’m sorry?” Aichi said, gently pushing at Ahmes to sit him back down. 

“Part of my agreement to consider helping you is for you to stay here and train with us.”

“No!”

“Ahmes!” Aichi warned. 

Miwa chuckled, clearly having the time of his life. “Interesting.” 

“My Vanguard,” Ahmes whispered, “you can’t--”

“It’s fine.” Aichi placed his hand on Ahmes’s arm. Apprehension filled him, but he felt an odd sensation of… something for Kai. Like he knew Kai would not harm him. “Two months will give me the time to convince him to help, right?”

“I don’t like this either,” Gancelot interjected.

“What if something happens to you?” Ahmes added.

“You think I would bother hurting him and sparking a war when I don’t even feel like being involved in a war?” Kai sounded bored. 

“I don’t know, would you?” 

“Ahmes, please! ” Aichi said exasperatedly. “Yes, Lord Kai, I will take you up on your offer--”

“Aichi!”

“--and thank you for your consideration.”

He gave Kai another short bow before leaving the table, Gancelot and Ahmes following closely behind to protest. 

Aichi closed the doors behind him and sighed heavily. “Ahmes, I need you to trust me.”

“I do, my Vanguard.”

“Then let me do this.” He looked up at him, offering a weary smile. “Even if he refuses in the end to help, I think it would be good to train with them. And I promise, I’ll write once a week. Detailed letters. I’m the Vanguard” (the words still felt strange to say, even now) “and this is the path I have chosen that I believe will lead to the salvation of Cray.”

Ahmes looked over Aichi’s head at Gancelot again. Aichi wished they wouldn’t do that; he felt short enough as it was. “I guess, if this is what you have chosen...” Ahmes sighed before kneeling. Gancelot followed suit. “Then, my Vanguard, we will respect your decision.”

Chapter Text

Alfred didn’t expect them back so soon, nor did he expect them to return without their Vanguard. But when Ahmes explained the situation -- how Aichi had agreed to stay in Dragon Empire to coerce the Overlord to join their cause -- he couldn’t help but feel proud for Aichi. 

“Walk with me?” he offered, and Ahmes agreed.

They strode wordlessly through the glistening marble hall together, slightly heeled boots clicking with each step. Knights stopped in their haste to get from one place to the next to bow; Alfred smiled and gave a gentle wave of the hand each time. 

“You know,” Alfred said after they had wandered into a less busy part of the palace where the likelihood of people eavesdropping was lower, “it’s rare to see you get worked into a tizzy like this.”

“I’m not in a tizzy.” 

“Mm-hmm.” Alfred smiled and stopped in front of the massive library doors. “I know you’re worried, my friend.”

Ahmes sighed softly. “We’ve spent so long at war with the Dragon Empire…”

“I know.” Alfred reached out and placed a hand on Ahmes’s shoulder. “But the Overlord has left his title with his son, who is less… eager, I suppose, to war with us. We’ve been at peace for nearly two years.”

Ahmes nodded, but he still avoided Alfred’s eyes. 

“Still uneasy?” Alfred said gently.

“He’s so young…”

“Barely younger than the Overlord’s son, I understand. And besides.” Alfred gave Ahmes’s shoulder a squeeze before letting it fall to his side. “Aichi is a fine, compassionate, and strong young man. He will be fine.”

Ahmes didn’t get the chance to reply before an overexcited, high-pitched “Blaster Blade!” echoed down the hall and an enormous blue dog barreled into him from behind. Being an uncannily tall man who wore heavy armor with as much comfort and ease as anyone else might wear nightclothes, Ahmes barely stumbled at the impact.

“Wingal, hello.”

“You’re back!” Wingal sat back, ears twitching as his tail wagged excitedly. “I heard from Lady Kourin that she saw…” He trailed off, looking between Ahmes and Alfred, then around the hallway. “Where’s Aichi?”

Alfred winced. “Ah, that’s…”

The library door swung open. A young, small blond knight in loose-fitting sage clothing stood there, clutching several large tomes. “Wingal, you are being noisy again.”

“But Marron, I was excited to see Blaster Blade and Aichi again.”

Marron peered at Ahmes over the top of their red-rimmed glasses. “Oh, you’re back early.” They glanced up and down the hallway in comic imitation of Wingal. “Where is Aichi?”

Alfred and Ahmes had been friends for many years, even before the days of Alfred’s coronation and Ahmes’s knighthood. So Alfred could see the conflict in Ahmes’s eyes, the way he pursed his lips just a little, and knew that Ahmes would be compelled by his very nature to speak the full truth if he but opened his mouth.

So Alfred intervened. “He’s taking care of some diplomatic odds and ends. He’ll be home soon.” 

“Still?” Marron lifted an eyebrow. “Without support?”

“In the Dragon Empire?” Wingal added.

“Aichi will be fine.” Alfred placed a hand on Marron’s shoulder and scratched behind Wingal’s ears with the other. “He has my full confidence in his abilities.”

Wingal relaxed, but Marron still looked skeptical, their eyebrows now furrowed in deep thought. They were a brilliant mage -- it was Alfred’s idea to have Marron train Aichi in the basics of elemental manipulation, due in part to Marron’s studiousness and unwavering loyalty to their Vanguard -- but sometimes Alfred wished they weren’t quite so questioning about everything. 

“Have faith in our Vanguard,” Alfred said soothingly, “and trust that he will return to us soon, having accomplished his goals.”

Marron opened their mouth as if to continue their protest, but as they looked up into Alfred’s face, their stubbornness melted away. “I understand.”

Alfred smiled and patted their shoulder. “You should get back to work, our little sage.”

“Yes, sir.” Marron bowed deeply to both Alfred and Ahmes before gesturing at Wingal. “Come, Wingal. I need your help.”

“Okay! Bye, Blaster Blade! Bye, King Alfred!” 

Alfred waited for the library door to close before placing a hand on Ahmes’s back and leading him along again. Ahmes was typically a quiet, pensive man, but the expression on his face was anything but pensive. “What else?”

“What do you mean?” Ahmes didn’t look at him. 

“Come now, friend, you know better than that.” When Ahmes sighed, Alfred paused again by a closed window. After checking that no one else was around, he gestured to Ahmes to speak. “You’re not just distracted by the Overlord keeping our Vanguard in the Dragon Empire. There’s something else. Out with it.”

Ahmes stared out the window, focused not on the physical world beyond it, but on something deep in his mind. Only one thing rattled Ahmes like this, but Alfred didn’t want to be the one to bring it up. Or, rather, bring him up.

“Junos,” Ahmes said finally, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He glanced at Alfred. “You’re not surprised.”

“No, not really.” Alfred leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “Why are you thinking about him all of a sudden?”

“The Overlord.” Ahmes frowned. “He didn’t say outright but hinted that his agreeing to our request hinged on gaining the support of the Shadow Paladins.”

“Mm.” Alfred put a finger to his lips in thought. A conditional agreement to help stave off the greatest physical threat in the history of Planet Cray would indeed be troubling, but it was more so when it came to…

...them.

“Do you know where he is, Alfred?”

“Not immediately. He’s notoriously hard to find if he doesn’t want to be found.”

“Such is his nature.”

Alfred pushed away from the wall, placing his hands on his hips. “We’ll find him.” His mind raced; the Gold Paladins might be best suited to search him out, yet Junos would almost certainly be aware of their efforts. “I’ll see if the Oracles will help out.”

Ahmes nodded. “I can talk to them.” He turned on his heel and strode down the hall, long legs covering the distance with incredible haste. 

“Take Lady Kourin with!” Alfred called after him, and Ahmes waved without turning around. 

Time was ticking. They had only six months until the Void would turn to Cray, two months for Kai Toshiki to agree to help, and only a few weeks just to find Junos -- let alone convince him and their Vanguard to join forces with his sworn enemy in time to convince Kai Toshiki that they had garnered the support of the entire United Sanctuary. 

He clicked his tongue before turning in the opposite direction of Ahmes, back the way they had walked. He couldn’t speed up the search for Junos, but it was time to see how negotiations with Aqua Force were doing.

Kai stretched, not bothering to hide his wide yawn from Miwa. It was only the third day of training, and the Royal Paladin had already shown signs of improvement. He even laid a blow on Kai’s shoulder that rendered the muscle sore -- not that Kai would let him know that. 

He heard a soft click behind him and turned his head. Miwa had moved his stone forward, cutting off a path to his Vanguard. 

“You gonna play or you gonna lounge around like a lazy dragon?”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?”

“A lazy dragon, apparently.”

Kai scoffed before plopping himself back in his chair. He surveyed the board for a moment before nudging a stone to the left. “My father would have eaten you on the spot for talking to him like this.”

“I just want to see at what point you’ll respond in kind,” Miwa said cheekily, placing a yellow stone on the board. 

“Hmph.” Kai peered at the board. “You’re getting better.”

“That’s what you say every time you’re about to destroy me.”

“Hm.”

They played a few more rounds before Kai secured victory, placing his final yellow stone in front of Miwa’s Vanguard. 

“Ah, that brings my record to zero for… a thousand, or something.” Miwa leaned back. “What are your thoughts on the Royal Paladin?”

Kai grunted at the abrupt change in conversation as he placed the stones back in their small bowls. 

“I think he’s pretty good.”

Another grunt.

“Like, maybe a little preemptively promoted to Vanguard but I think he’ll get there.”

Kai placed the bowls back on their shelf.

“Always a pleasure talking with you, m’lord.”

“Miwa.” Kai finally turned around. “What do you think my… the previous Overlord would have said to this whole situation?”

He was opening himself up too much for comfort, but Miwa was his oldest and closest friend, maybe his only friend, in a world where one misplaced alliance would end up costing someone their life. 

Truthfully, he was stalling in giving the Royal Paladins a clear response because he didn’t know what to do. 

“I think…” Miwa glanced up at the ceiling. “It doesn’t matter what he would have done, because you’re not him.”

Kai sighed frustratedly. “That’s unhelpful, Miwa.”

“I mean what I say.” Miwa leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands together on his lap. “Your leadership is different from his. You chose peace over war with the Paladins, when we’ve been at war for decades. You should choose what you believe is right in this situation, too.”

Despite the vagueness of Miwa’s answer, Kai could see the logic behind it. 

“Anyway, I think you should let Sendou Aichi have a day off of you kicking his ass repeatedly,” Miwa said matter-of-factly, clapping his hands together. “He’s been spending longer soaking in the baths after you fight. I think he’s tired.”

“He has no business leading a planet to war if he can’t handle some mild training.” 

“Mild,” Miwa repeated, amused.

Kai clicked his tongue. “Go to bed, Miwa.”

“Yes, my Vanguard.” Miwa swept into an overexaggerated bow. “Oh, might I suggest one more thing?”

“I suppose you’ll offer your unsolicited advice whether I ask for it or not.”

“Spend some time talking to their Vanguard.” Miwa winked. “See if he’s trustworthy or not.”

Kai shooed him out, Miwa chuckling to himself as Kai closed the door, Miwa’s words echoing in his head. 

You’re not him.

He wasn’t him. He never would be. But it didn’t stop him from wishing he could be.

Still, some of Miwa’s advice was sound. Tomorrow, then, he would attempt to have a conversation with Sendou Aichi, one-on-one.

Chapter Text

When Miwa arrived at sunrise to open the window and wake Aichi, as he had the past few days, Aichi was already awake, tense from the anxiety of the grueling training that he would be subjected to that day.

But instead of telling Aichi to eat breakfast and meet outside, Miwa brought him a cup of coffee and told him to meet Kai in an audience chamber in half an hour. The coffee helped him wake up, or maybe it was a combination of that and the anxiety again.

I should stop drinking this, he thought, staring into the dregs at the bottom of the cup. 

As he dressed in the soft cotton shirt and trousers that had been laid out for him -- far more comfortable than the armor he wore when training -- something outside the window caught his attention. Even from this distance, Aichi could make out the gold and red scales, the restlessly swishing tail. Yet he could also sense something off about the way Kai held himself; his shoulders fell forward, his head down as he walked away from a plain door inlaid in a small mound of rock a few hundred meters from the palace. Aichi had asked Miwa on his second day what the building was -- he assumed it was some kind of building, anyway -- and Miwa had eyed it uneasily before assuring Aichi it was nothing to concern himself with. As Miwa was open about most things Aichi asked about, the short, evasive reply had taken him aback. 

He shook his head. It wasn’t any of his business, and besides, he didn’t want to keep Kai waiting long.

Nehalem waited outside the door in exactly the same spot he had been when Aichi had returned here the night before, and Aichi wondered idly whether Nehalem ever really needed to sleep. He tried making conversation and was met with silence; very few denizens of the Dragon Empire were conversationalists, it seemed. Not surprising, given their Vanguard.

When they arrived, Nehalem knocked once, waited for a reply, and gestured Aichi into the room when Miwa opened the door. It was the same chamber Aichi had first played the game of stones in; the table was set up once more, the small bowls of stones neatly arranged next to the board. 

“He’s not here yet,” Miwa said at Aichi’s puzzled glance around the room. “He had… something to attend to this morning.”

Miwa was typically lively in the morning, but today he looked tired; his eyes were shadowed and his smile half-hearted. Aichi thought about asking him if he was feeling all right but decided against it when Miwa waved a hand at the table, and sat down to wait for Kai.

They waited in silence, as Aichi had become accustomed to in this palace. But it was different now, because conversation with Miwa flowed easily most of the time. No, this was uncomfortable.

The door finally opened and Miwa glanced up. 

“How was he--”

Kai shook his head, giving Miwa a stern, pointed look; Miwa’s eyes flicked between Aichi and Kai before he closed his mouth again.

“I didn’t keep you waiting long, I trust.”

Aichi glanced at Miwa again, but Miwa wasn’t looking at him. “No, not long.”

Kai deftly undid the ornate silver clasp holding his cloak in place and hung it from a hook by the door. “Miwa, you will be overseeing the training today.”

“Yes, my Vanguard.” Miwa barely inclined his shoulders in Kai’s direction before nodding at Aichi once and sweeping out of the room without another word.

Kai made a soft noise that might have been a sigh before removing pieces of armor and jewelry, which he set carefully on the chaise. Aichi sat in silence again, leg bouncing under the table. He desperately wanted to know what that building was; it must have been somewhere important, if Kai had donned so many ornate pieces of armor that he never wore during regular training…

He couldn’t help but stare as Kai organized each piece, his back to Aichi. The soft gold rings on his fingers matched the gold of the scales on Kai’s hands; a particularly beautiful clasp on his ear caught Aichi’s attention next. He hadn’t noticed before, had he, that Kai’s ears were pointed, almost elfish? But the more he took in Kai's appearance, uninterrupted, the more he noticed the human features underneath his draconic ones. A slight overbite to accommodate those sharp teeth, high cheekbones, long lashes to offset the harshness of the slitted pupils of his vividly green eyes. 

He remembered a time in his youth, when he was maybe nine or ten, when he asked Ahmes a question that was bothering him. Ahmes had been sitting in the mess hall drinking a cup of coffee as he pored over a report. He was always patient with Aichi, so when Aichi sat across from him, he looked up from his work.

“Blaster Blade, can I ask a question?”

“Of course, Aichi.” Ahmes picked up his mug to take a sip.

“How does a dragon make a baby with a human?”

The question was clearly unexpected, as the typically stoic Ahmes froze mid-sip before lowering the mug with exaggerated slowness. 

“Did you ask Marron?” His voice was strained.

Aichi pouted. “They said I didn’t need to know such a thing.”

Ahmes set down his mug and cleared his throat. “They’re quite right.”

And that was the end of that.

Still, staring at Kai’s scales and tail and claws and sharp incisors on his otherwise human body brought this question unbidden to Aichi’s mind once more. 

“Is there something on my face?”

Aichi jumped, startled. “Wh--”

“You’re staring.”

“S-sorry.” Aichi looked down at his hands.

“Hm.”

Aichi determinedly did not look up at Kai again until Kai was seated and began setting up the board. 

“I thought we might take a day of rest,” Kai said. “Miwa thinks you’ve been overexerting yourself since you’ve been here.”

Loathe as he was to admit that Kai’s training regiment had left him exhausted and sore for the past week, Aichi felt a rush of gratitude toward Miwa for voicing what Aichi would never admit out loud. That, and he didn’t really want to do another ten mile run today. “I suppose.”

“I would hate to have to deal with the consequences of you dropping dead from exhaustion on my watch,” Kai continued without looking at him. He gestured toward the board. “You can have the first turn.”

Aichi nodded and placed his first stone, the same way Kai had that first night they had played. Kai lifted his eyebrow just a little before making his move. The game was on.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, save for the clacking of stone on marble; Aichi paid close attention to his rearguard, cutting off Kai’s advances and earning a brief, satisfied nod in return. 

“How long have you been Vanguard?” Kai asked after a while, placing a yellow stone on the board.

Aichi intercepted and removed a stone. “About ten months.” It felt like a week ago; he still remembered the embarrassment of crying in front of King Alfred when the position was offered to him after the previous Vanguard retired. He didn’t think himself strong enough, or experienced, or even worthy of the position; there were plenty of strong knights who would have made a better Vanguard than he. But Alfred insisted. Even now, Aichi wondered what it was Alfred saw in him, because he struggled every day to see it in himself. 

“Hm.” They exchanged a few more turns. “The last Vanguard. Daigo, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, Lord Daigo was leader of the Sanctuary Guard and the Vanguard.” Aichi looked up. “Did you know him?”

“I met him once, when I was younger.”

“When your father was Vanguard?”

Kai pressed his lips together. Aichi wondered fleetingly whether he’d ventured into forbidden territory, but Kai finally nodded. “My father respected him.”

Throughout his childhood, Aichi had learned of the Dragonic Overlord, the United Sanctuary’s greatest enemy, the warmongering dragon who commanded the greatest military might on the planet. Hearing that such a feared beast respected Lord Daigo was startling, but it also amplified Aichi’s anxiety. 

Could I ever gain Kai’s respect the way Lord Daigo commanded even the Dragonic Overlord’s? he wondered.

But another question nagged at him for the second time that morning, stronger than before, and it was none of his business but he had been dying to know the answer for the past twenty years.

“Did… do you have a human mother?”

Kai’s hand froze over the board, halfway through placing a green stone.

I overstepped, Aichi realized immediately, but it was too late to take the question back so he stammered a quiet apology and clasped his hands together in his lap under the table. 

The stone clacked against the board with more force than Kai usually put into it. 

“Yes,” he breathed out, sitting back. 

“Huh?”

“I had a human mother. And father.”

“Then...“ Aichi’s eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. 

Kai pressed his clawed hand to his chest. “This body, as you see it, is the result of the Overlord’s will infused into the body of a young, dying orphaned boy. In a very real sense, the Dragonic Overlord is my actual father.” Kai’s eyes softened as he stared at the back of his hand. “He gave me life, after all.”

This startling revelation was such that Aichi couldn’t muster up a reply, not an apology nor a confirmation of his understanding. He simply stared at the board, trying to imagine a small boy losing his parents in the midst of war with the United Sanctuary, and the unbearable pain he must have felt as the Dragonic Overlord imbued his tiny body with the form and power of a dragon. 

“It’s your move,” Kai said, interrupting Aichi’s thoughts.

“Ah… yes. I’m sorry.” Aichi cut off a potential opening on his left flank and pushed forward with help from a red stone. 

“Hm.”

By this point, Aichi recognized that every time Kai made a small humming sound, it was because Aichi succeeded in disrupting Kai’s movements. But he still didn’t have it in him to feel pride in his budding skills; the revelation of Kai’s parentage filled him with deep sorrow. 

“What of your parents?” Kai prodded a stone forward and placed another on the right flank.

“Wh… oh.” Aichi bit his lip, surveying the formation and deciding to strengthen his left rearguards. “My mother and sister live in Magallanica.”

“Magallanica?” Kai frowned, clearly cycling through the three Magallanica clans in his mind to determine which one was more likely to be where the Royal Paladin Vanguard’s family lived. “With the mermaids?”

“With the Bermuda Triangle clan, yes.” Aichi hesitated; Kai had already shared far more than Aichi could have expected, and it wasn’t as though talking about his own family would put him at any more of a disadvantage when it came to negotiating. 

“Are they… mermaids?” 

Kai’s genuine confusion eased the tension instantly; Aichi tried and failed to hold back a snort of laughter. “No,” he managed, half-covering his mouth to hide his smile. “No, they’re both humans.” When Kai continued to frown at the board, Aichi added, “they live on one of the islands in the Magallanica Archipelago.”

“I see.” Kai made his move. “And your father?”

“He... “ Aichi hesitated. Kai had shared his past, and hadn’t needed to, so it was the least he could do to show Kai an ounce of trust. “He left my mother after my sister Emi was born.” 

He didn’t expect condolences and he didn’t receive them. Kai simply made a small noise of what Aichi might have taken as indifference under any other circumstances and went about his turn. Aichi appreciated that. He still felt some resentment toward his father for leaving them and causing his mother heartache and grief, but if he hadn’t, Aichi’s mother wouldn’t have offered him up for training with the Royal Paladins at a young age, and he certainly wouldn’t be here now. He was grateful, at least, for the opportunities born from his father’s betrayal of his own family. 

But now, he had other things to think about. 

He surveyed the board, searching out an opening. Kai had focused much of his power on his right flank; unfortunately, Aichi had to buff his left flank to counter it, leaving his other side weaker. But in the center of Kai’s left rearguard formation… the one opening seemed to call out to him. 

Aichi pressed there, pushing inward with the help of a yellow stone, and Kai made a soft noise of surprise. 

They rapidly exchanged blows, one after the other, with Aichi mounting an offense and forcing Kai to devote more resources to defending. His heart pounded excitedly even as a dull ache bloomed in his head. Maybe… maybe…!

But Kai’s skill came through in the end, successfully fending off Aichi’s all-out attack just long enough to push through on Aichi’s end and capture the Vanguard. 

Aichi sighed, defeated, as he slumped back in the chair. He had been so close… it was so frustrating to have victory in his grasp only to watch it slip away at the last second. He looked up at Kai after a moment of catching his breath and was surprised to see Kai leaning back in his chair with a tiny smile on his face. 

“That,” Kai said quietly, “was the closest I’ve ever come to losing.”

“I’ll beat you someday,” Aichi replied. 

“Hm.”

They both surveyed the board, with Aichi going over his early plays in his mind. There were a few times he could have buffed his attacking front but chose to defend instead; next time he could…

Kai stood. “You can have the rest of the day to yourself. We’ll resume training at sunrise.”

Aichi looked up. “Y-yeah…” 

When the door closed behind Kai, Aichi smiled at the board, even as the aching in his head increased and fatigue overtook his adrenaline. A nap, maybe… and then time to write a letter back home.

Many years ago, when a young Oracle with a perfect memory was slated to become the new Vanguard of the Oracle Think Tank conglomerate, CEO Amaterasu feared that enemies of the United Sanctuary would harm the new Vanguard as she traveled to Zoo for an important meeting. She petitioned King Alfred for a small force of warriors to protect her Vanguard from harm in her travels. In response, Alfred sent a small band of Jewel Knights, the regiment of highly skilled female warriors, to escort the young Vanguard in her travels. The leader of this band of knights was Tatsunagi Kourin, the Vanguard, Tokura Misaki.

While at first the two clashed in personality, they quickly grew to rely on one another, becoming allies and, after many life-threatening encounters together, close friends. This, Alfred knew well, and he knew Misaki would be more at ease in a meeting with Ahmes if Kourin was also there. It was why he sent Kourin with Ahmes to secure assistance in locating the elusive wielder of the Dark Sword, Junos. 

“Blaster Blade,” Misaki said, giving him a courteous bow, “Lady Kourin.”

“Lady Misaki,” Ahmes replied, returning the bow; Kourin echoed him, adding a warm smile, which Misaki graciously returned. 

“Come this way.” 

Misaki strode gracefully down the towering corridors of the Conglomerate, her long silk kimono of dark blue swishing against her ankles with each step. “Blaster Dark is notoriously difficult to find,” she said as they walked. “What is it you could want with him?”

“We need to secure his support in fighting the Void,” Ahmes said. 

“Him?” Misaki glanced over her shoulder at him, skepticism in her eyes. “I don’t think he would help even if I find him in time. Why him?”

“Our Vanguard is currently working on securing the support of the Dragonic Overlord,” Kourin said. “But the Overlord is being stubborn about it.”

“Sounds like Kai Toshiki,” Misaki muttered, and Kourin stifled a laugh behind an obviously fake cough. 

Ahmes gave Kourin a stern look; she shrugged. “We think if we can secure the Shadow Paladins’ assistance, the Overlord will be more… willing to help.”

“I see.” Misaki stopped in front of a nondescript door and unlocked it. “It’s more private here.” 

She stepped back to allow Ahmes and Kourin to enter the small room, dimly lit by fragrant candles. Dark colored cushions covered the floor, surrounding a low table on which a deck of cards and a series of crystals sat. Misaki lowered herself to her knees in one graceful sweep, and gestured for Ahmes and Kourin to join her.

Kourin, who wore light armor and a short skirt, was able to follow suit with no difficulty; Ahmes, who wore heavy armor ill-suited for doing kneeling for more than a few minutes at a time, had more trouble. Misaki and Kourin watched him struggle to tuck his heeled boots under his rear in a way that would not cause him immense discomfort within five minutes. With the growing discomfort of them watching him so intently, he finally gave up and sighed quietly, opting to splay his legs under him rather than sit directly on the heels of his boots. His knees started cramping almost immediately. 

“Now…” Misaki took the cards and laid several out on the table in what appeared to be a very specific order. She touched each one thoughtfully before turning over the first one and frowning.

Ahmes watched her work, trying to gain some comprehension from her bizarre methodology and finding none. Each card had a picture on it with a caption written in the language of the Celestials, which he could not read. But he didn’t question her methods. Her divination had never been wrong before and he had no reason to believe she would be wrong now.

Her frown deepened as she flipped over the last card. “That can’t be right,” she muttered.

“What is it, Misaki?” Kourin leaned forward to peer at the cards. 

“I need to do it again to make sure.”

She shuffled the cards back into the deck, laying them out on the desk before spreading them all out in a discordant manner before collecting them again. Once more, she placed several cards on the table, touched them gently, and took a deep breath before flipping over the first card.

It was the same card as before.

Undeterred, she flipped each card, muttering to herself as they revealed themselves in exactly the same order, down to the last one. 

“It wasn’t wrong, then.”

“Do you know where he is?” Ahmes prompted, knees aching from sitting for so long.

Misaki touched the first card. “Deep in a forest--” the next card “--where the trees have died-- the sky is dark-- a crimson palace-- the souls of the damned-- the cursed sword-- the Vanguard-- and an entourage of nightmares.”

The first few cards narrowed Junos’s location to Dark Zone, certainly. No forests existed in the Dragon Empire or Star Gate, and Zoo had no dead forests thanks to Neo Nectar. A crimson palace was the place within, though there were several that Ahmes knew of, belonging to some vampire or another. The souls of the damned implied they were indeed in the territory of the Dark Irregulars, the cursed sword was Junos. 

“The Vanguard… Suzugamori Ren?”

Misaki nodded.

“What is this entourage of nightmares?” Kourin asked, pointing at the last card.

Misaki stared at it distastefully. “The Pale Moon circus.”

A vampire castle in the middle of the Dark Zone, surrounded by demons and the creepy dolls and puppets that made up a troupe of what the denizens of the Dark Zone considered entertainment. 

Kourin sighed, her thoughts reflecting Ahmes’s. “I guess it was too much to hope he would be vacationing in Magallanica for an idol concert, huh?” 

Misaki gave her an apologetic smile. “I did the reading twice. This is where he is, I’m certain of it.”

Ahmes pushed himself to his knees and, ignoring the uncomfortable tingling shooting through his legs, forced himself to his feet. “Lady Misaki, thank you.”

“Be careful,” Misaki warned. 

“Of course.”

“Blaster Blade, may I speak with Lady Misaki alone for a moment?” 

Kourin’s voice was casual, perhaps too much so. It wasn’t his place to pry.

“Yes, I’ll wait in the hall.”

He closed the door behind him, giving his tingling legs a solid shake that rattled his armor. To give them time to wake up, he leaned heavily against the wall and watched a pair of Battle Sisters half his height arguing about something in heated tones. But his mind was focused on the arduous task ahead. He knew where Junos was. The only problem now was getting to him.

Chapter Text

Ahmes,

Being in the Dragon Empire has been exhausting. Lord Kai drives his soldiers hard, and makes no exception for me. Sometimes, I feel like he’s being extra hard on me. But he’s not treating me poorly. We took a break from training and played his stone game, and I came really close to winning! He was impressed, I think. He also told me about himself and I think he works really hard to be a Vanguard that others respect. His soldiers respect him too, but I don’t think they fear him like you said they feared the previous Overlord. Lord Kai won’t talk about him, though. Let me tell you about some of the formation techniques I’ve learned this week…

“Blaster Blade, the Vanguard of the Gold Paladins is here to see you.”

Ahmes looked up from the letter, his third time reading it, and stood. “Please.”

Among the several regiments of Gold Paladins, whose missions included securing the borders and investigating the other nations of Cray for impropriety, no leader was more respected and more loved than the Incandescent Lion, Ezel. Indeed, with his imposing stature that rivaled Ahmes’s own, his lightning reflexes, and his mane of golden hair, he resembled a lion in more ways than one. There were no other Vanguards who looked their title more perfectly than Ezel. 

“Blaster Blade.”

“Ezel, thank you for coming.” Ahmes waved a hand toward the chair across from him, inviting him to sit.

Ezel placed his hands on his hips as he stood over the table, peering down at the map that Ahmes had laid out. Unlike any of the Royal Paladins in the Holy City, Ezel seemed to prefer wearing his armor over his highly chiseled, bare chest. In fact, Ahmes wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Ezel wear a shirt but then realized it wasn't really any of his concern. “I’d prefer to stand, thank you. I’ve secured the help of the Aqua Force navy and they made me sit for hours on end.”

As expected. Soryuu Leon would have respected no one more than Ezel. Alfred had made the perfect choice sending him. “That’s excellent news. Aichi will be pleased to hear it.”

“I heard he’s in Dragon Empire?” 

“Yes, he’s… working with the Overlord for their support.”

“Is that right.” Ezel pointed toward an area of the map, his hand covered in a rough leather gauntlet. Ahmes looked down at where he gestured. “King Alfred said you wanted a corps to go into the Dark Zone?”

Right to the point, as always. “I’m looking for Junos.”

“I see.” 

Ahmes waited a beat for Ezel to ask why; when he didn’t, Ahmes figured Ezel didn’t really want to know why. “The only clues we have are that it’s in a forest, in a crimson palace, and that Junos is accompanied by Suzugamori Ren and at least a few emissaries of Pale Moon and Dark Irregulars.”

“Right.” Ezel tapped a spot on the map, toward the southernmost reaches of the Dark Zone. “They’ll be here.”

Even knowing that Ezel was a skilled navigator who knew Cray better than most, the speed at which he declared Junos’s location took Ahmes aback. “How can you be sure?”

“There’s a palace here--” Ezel picked up a nearby marker and dotted a spot “--here-- and here. They’re all within about twenty miles of each other.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Only the vampires and Amon live in palaces but they don’t like each other so they tend to spread out. Junos’ll be in one of these three places.” 

Several things unnerved Ahmes about this entire situation, but none so much as the chilling revelation that they would have to venture into Sonne Grab, the land of eternal night. “Leave it to Junos to venture there,” he murmured. Part of him wanted to leave Junos there and let the Shadow Paladins assist them in the war against Void of their own volition once the invasion began, but he entertained the thought only fleetingly. If Aichi could bravely face the mercy of the Dragon Empire for the sake of Cray, Ahmes could, too. “What is the quickest way there?”

“Hmm.” Ezel trailed his fingers first over the western route, from United Sanctuary straight into the Dark Zone, then to the east, cutting through the Dragon Empire. “Fastest way is west, safest is probably through the Empire if we’ve got the Overlord in good graces. Either way, I recommend a small corps, no more than a dozen to avoid attracting attention.”

This was sound reasoning; Ahmes had already considered the merits of a small group. “Who would be best suited for a mission through the Dark Zone?”

Ezel contemplated this for a moment and brushed the map absently with the back of his finger. “Well, I wouldn’t recommend bringing along anyone who uses magic. There aren’t any elemental spirits residing in the entire nation so there’s nothing to draw power from.”

Marron would be upset about that. They had been begging Alfred to leave the Holy City to test out their new spells for some time. “What of high beasts?”

“I think they would be very sensitive to the stench of decay in Sonne Grab, but one would be useful for tracking. Other than that, elves and humans would be best suited.”

A few names popped into Ahmes’s mind as he thought about who to bring on this excursion; he regretted not being able to bring Marron, which meant he wouldn’t bring Wingal along, either. The two were strong partners in battle. He looked up at Ezel, who stared at the map with sharp gold eyes, one more of his lionish attributes. Like Junos, Ezel had once been a Royal Paladin. Like Junos, Ezel had been too free-spirited and bold to be satisfied with the rigidity of life in the Holy City. And like Junos was able to amass a following of disaffected Royal Paladins to form his Shadow corps, Ezel had been respected and admired enough to pull other Royal Paladins into the new clan of Golds. 

At any rate, it was best to bring a Vanguard along to negotiate. Perhaps Ezel’s similarities with Junos would be enough to garner some respect.

“Ezel, would you care to put together a team for this mission?”

“Mm? What was that?”

“I would like you to lead this mission.” Ahmes hesitated. He hated admitting it, even to an ally, but… “I think you’re best suited for it.”

A devilish grin creeped across Ezel’s face. “Oh? The mighty Blaster Blade has admitted my superiority?” He laughed, full and hearty. “Relax, Ahmes,” he added, correctly interpreting Ahmes’s failed attempt at hiding a grumpy frown, “I will do this. For you, old friend, for King Alfred, and for your Vanguard.”

Ahmes gave Ezel a respectful bow. Despite Ezel’s jests, he truly was grateful. “Your service to Cray is deeply valued. When shall we leave?”

It was an especially long, grueling day of training and Aichi was exhausted.

Every muscle in Aichi’s body begged for relief, but even after the sun began its descent, Kai continued his barrage of attacks. Maybe the training was paying off, or maybe Aichi was just lucky, but it was easier to dodge and deflect two weeks into his stay here, and Kai seemed (maybe?) to be enjoying himself. 

That was well and good for Kai, but Aichi, who was kneeling on the ground trying to get up, was not enjoying himself after nine hours of it.

Aside from sore muscles and fatigue, Aichi was now experiencing headaches, which had increased in frequency and intensity over the past few days, as well as mild dizziness. It may have been dehydration, he thought. It wasn’t as though Kai was depriving him of water, but the dragon warriors didn’t need water breaks like Aichi did, and it was hot and dry. 

“Come on, Aichi,” Kai declared, holding out his hand at exactly the moment a violent dizzy spell swept over Aichi.

He grunted, catching himself with one hand on the ground. His vision swam, colors blending together to create entirely new shapes, surrounding Kai in a kind of strange blue light. 

For a moment, just a moment, Kai looked like a human, holding his hand out as his voice echoed distantly, Aichi… Aichi…

“I’m trying,” he said hoarsely, and squeezed his eyes shut to orient himself.

Below him, the earth was hot and rocky. Here in the Dragon Empire, three of the four main Elementals thrived. Conditions were perfect to attempt a spell, all he needed to do was make sure he focused enough to call for the correct ones this time.

The four Cray Elementals are Water, Wind, Fire, and Earth. The spirits of the elements are everywhere around us, waiting for us to ask them to lend us their strength. If you but ask--

Aichi was vaguely aware of Kai’s presence, rustling closer. 

Aichi? Aichi, are you listening to me or are you daydreaming again? Ahmes wants me to train you, you know!

The ground trembled and cracked under Aichi’s hands, the earth shifting and rising in front of him. His hands were conduits for the power of the Elementals flowing in and out of him like a current, until the energy buildup split the very earth. He was aware of Kai’s shout of alarm and a loud grunt, and looked up to see a mess of rubble and dust surrounding Kai, who now knelt on the ground. 

“You’re a good teacher, Marron,” he whispered weakly before slumping over in exhaustion.

Distinctly human hands gripped him under the arms and lifted him to his feet; he heard Miwa talking but could only make out every other word. 

“Aichi?”

Kai’s voice, now. More concerned than usual.

“Dizzy,” Aichi mumbled. Even the pain in his body seemed to be numbing now, though his vision was returning. “Tired.”

He could see the ground at his feet better now. Miwa let him shuffle along, though he kept a firm grip on Aichi’s waist to keep him upright. If Aichi hadn’t been so thoroughly exhausted, maybe he would be embarrassed to be dragged back to the palace like this. He answered Miwa’s questions the best he could, trying to speak in complete sentences to make it seem like he wasn’t about to pass out.

When Kai spoke next, it sounded faint, like he was speaking from across a spacious, echoing room. “Will you be here tomorrow?”

An odd question; of course Aichi would be here. “I have to be, don’t I?”

When they reached his quarters, he shook off the suggestion that Miwa get a healer to look at him. There was no need for that. He just needed to sleep, after all. The early mornings and long, grueling days had finally caught up to him.  

The room was enormous, too big for one small human, with an equally large bed. It beckoned for him; he was so tired he couldn’t bring himself to change out of his light armor. It would be uncomfortable to wake up in it, but that was a problem that tomorrow’s Aichi would have to deal with. 

He dragged his feet closer to the bed. Sleep…

...sounded so good.

As always, Kai woke before the sun, despite his exhaustion from holding back Aichi's intense attack from the night before. It was a far cry from the paltry fire attack he had tried on their first meeting; a light warmth bubbled up in his chest, as though he were feeling some pride on behalf of the little Vanguard.

But he was still concerned about how pale Aichi was, how he could barely walk unassisted, and how he had been answering questions that neither Kai nor Miwa had asked in sentences lacking any context whatsoever.

He dressed carefully, in casual clothing -- no heavy armor or thick robes -- and left the room, motioning without looking for the guards to relax their stances.

Nehalem stood in front of Aichi's door. Kai considered it for a second, how he didn't really need to set a guard there when Aichi posed no threat to him anymore. For Aichi's sake, perhaps he would continue; though he couldn't imagine anyone in his palace would seek to harm the Royal Paladins' Vanguard, he had long since learned never to fully trust anyone.

One knock, two knocks, three knocks, without a response, and he opened the door.

"Aichi, are you-"

His sight in the dark was more than sufficient to see Aichi's collapsed body on the floor, near the base of his bed.

It took three strides to clear the room and kneel by Aichi's side; he had landed on his arm, tucked under his body. Kai reached out and rolled him over onto his back, hand fumbling for Aichi's wrist, which he held between two trembling fingers.

A faint thrum of his heart, slow and steady as a rhythmic drum beat. He still breathed, chest rising in shallow intervals that seemed too spaced apart to ensure proper oxygen filled his lungs.

"Nehalem!"

The knight peered around the door frame. "Yes, my Va-"

"Get Genjo, now."

Nehalem barely gave the scene in front of him a second thought before turning on his heel and sprinting away.

“Aichi? Aichi!” 

Aichi’s head lolled against Kai’s chest, face pale. He still wore his dusty light armor from the night before, and his hair was matted with sweat and dirt. 

“Damn it.” Kai scooped Aichi up into his arms and carried him to the bed. His body was light, almost delicate, as he laid him down. Was this his fault? Had he overworked Aichi to this point? 

His Empire had been at peace for two years, since he had taken over for his father. He knew the Dragonic Overlord would disapprove of his softness, but did it really matter? Was putting lives at risk for the sake of meaningless war any better than advancing technology and rebuilding towns? He didn't want to go back to war with the United Sanctuary. That was why he had to make sure that Sendou Aichi was well, because anything less would ruin the tenuous ceasefire. 

He sat on the bed next to the unconscious paladin and held his wrist, feeling the faint throbs of his heartbeat, and waited uselessly for a healer.

Chapter Text

Kai waited by the window, arms folded tightly across his chest. Genjo sat by Aichi’s side, touching and prodding various parts of his body, her back to Kai. He couldn’t see her expression, but he could tell from the tilt of her head and her hunched shoulders that she wasn’t having much success. 

At one point during the examination, Miwa slipped into the room, face lined with worry. Word must have traveled fast in the palace. “The Angel Feathers,” he began, but Kai sent him away to lead the day’s training. Kai wanted nothing less than to summon the Angels to deal with this. There were plenty of perfectly capable healers in the Dragon Empire. 

Or so he thought.

When Genjo approached Kai after an hour of examination, the dejected look on her face told Kai everything he needed to know. She didn’t understand why Aichi wouldn’t wake, nor how to wake him. Her final diagnosis, however, made Kai feel worse than before. 

“There is nothing physically wrong with him.”

Kai jabbed a finger in Aichi’s direction. “Nothing wrong with him? He’s been unconscious since last evening!” 

Genjo flinched at Kai’s raised voice. He lowered his hand in concession. “I’m sorry, my Vanguard, but I have found no explanation for his collapse. He has a sprained wrist, which I believe was from when he fell on it, and his body is covered in bruises, but I do not believe even collapsing from exhaustion would keep him unconscious for this long.”

The bruises were from the training. Kai felt a twinge of guilt. The Royal Paladins had left Aichi in his care as a gesture of trust, and now… “How long is... this... going to go on?” he asked, knowing before she even shook her head that there was no way to tell.

“I’m sorry, my Vanguard,” she said again. 

He turned toward the window, where the sun had risen fully and the sounds of the morning’s daily training echoed. From here, he could see the shrine of his father and wondered, not for the first time since the Royal Paladins had come seeking his help, what his father would do in this situation.

You’re not him, Miwa had reminded him, but sometimes Kai wished he was.

It would make this so much easier. 

“Thank you,” he said softly, “you can go.”

He waited for the door to close before he leaned his head on the glass and closed his eyes.

The next few days passed in a whirl, Kai barely registering the healers who had come from all clans of the Dragon Empire to examine the still-unresponsive Paladin lying in Kai’s guest chambers. Each tried different medications and spells; each was wholly unsuccessful. With each new day and each new attempt, Kai became more restless. The thought of how the Royal Paladins would react when they found out about their Vanguard’s condition kept Kai awake at night and caused him to lash out in irritation at everyone around him. The only ones who would willingly stay near him were Miwa and Nehalem -- though in Nehalem’s case, it may have been more out of contractual obligation than friendship. 

When the last healer from Nubatama closed the door behind himself, Kai sat heavily in the chair next to Aichi’s head, placing his head in his hands. 

“If I’d known you would be this much trouble, I’d have sent you back to the United Sanctuary the day you showed up asking for help,” he said irritably. 

Aichi, of course, did not answer.

“I’d send you back now if Alfred wouldn’t think I did something to you.”

No answer. Kai pulled his hands down in frustration.

“Why the hell won’t you just wake up!”

A soft knock at the door.

“What!” 

“It’s me,” came Miwa’s muffled voice from the other side before the door opened. 

He looked every bit as tired as Kai had seen him; his normally bright eyes were drooping and he held himself poorly. It was no wonder; Kai had been sending him out to the other clans all week to collect healers. The fewer people who knew about Aichi’s condition, the better. Still, Miwa had barely slept and it showed.

Miwa closed the door. “Kai.”

“What?” Kai spoke in a softer tone this time.

“I know you don’t want to hear this--”

“And yet you’re going to say it anyway.”

“Yes, I am.” Miwa’s voice was firm. “Kai, summon the Angel Feathers.”

“Absolutely not.”

“King Alfred will find out about this before too much longer.”

Kai gritted his teeth, catching part of his tongue between two of his back carnassials and drawing blood. 

“Kai, please.” Miwa knelt next to Kai’s chair. “The Angels are unpleasant but they have medical technology no one else has. At the very least, they can monitor him to make sure his condition doesn’t worsen.”

“We don’t even know what his condition is, ” Kai said wearily. 

“If anyone can figure out what it is, it’s them. It’s them or no one. Please, Kai.”

Kai had seen many deaths in his life, starting with his parents. Prisoners of war died in his father’s care; it was why war raged unceasingly for so many years. The Dragonic Overlord had relished the thrill of battle. But Kai didn’t. He didn’t want to spark another war during a time of peace. 

What would my father do?

He would let the little Paladin die. 

It doesn’t matter because you’re not him.

Miwa’s hand grasped his. 

“All right,” Kai whispered. “Send for... “ He cycled through the few Angels whose names he could remember. Not Shamsiel, the Chief Nurse. Not Zerachiel. Not Ramiel. And certainly not the Vanguard. “Ergodiel,” he said finally. “Send for her immediately, but keep it under wraps. Don’t mention Aichi until she gets here.”

Miwa straightened up, letting Kai’s hand slip from his grip. “If I say it’s for you, they’ll only send an important Angel to deal with you, you know.”

Kai knew this. But it was the only way to guarantee that she would come quickly. “Just tell her to hurry.”

Swirls of blue and purple in every shade surrounded him, giving him the impression of being trapped underwater. His head pounded. 

Where am I, he tried to say, but his voice was silent. He tried again, and again, putting his hand to his throat to feel the vibrations of his throat, but still, no sound. 

He had subconsciously curled in on himself. 

Tiny white lights twinkled all around him, like millions of little stars. Like the space beyond the skies of Cray. Perhaps that was where he was, surrounded by stars in the vast expanse of space. 

A sound.

He strained his ears to hear it again. A sound like a sigh. An ah, but just a little different. 

...ai…

He looked around but saw nothing. Simply the blue and purple, the pinpricks of light.

The pinpricks of light that were…

K...a…

Slowly blinking out.

Kai...

A sharp rap at the door jolted Kai out of his half-sleep. He rubbed his eyes with the back of one hand and stood, trying to shake off the uneasiness he still felt from the dream. The details of it were slipping from his memory like a sieve trying to hold in water. “Enter,” he said, trying and failing to keep the weariness out of his voice.

The door swung open. In strode two women; the first, with incredibly long hair and glasses, didn’t bother to hide or even minimize her enormous crimson wings. The second, who peeked from around her companion’s wings, kept her blue hair and white wings short. Kai exhaled slowly at the sight of them, because for Metatron to show up with the Angel Feather Vanguard in tow, he would have no chance of keeping Aichi’s condition secret from the Royal Paladins for much longer. Miwa had been right; they were only going to send an important Angel to tend to a Vanguard. He just wished it hadn’t been these two, and in particular the Vanguard, Tatsunagi Suiko. 

“I asked for Ergodiel,” he said in lieu of a proper greeting.

“Shame.” Suiko stepped around him and peered down at Aichi’s unmoving form. “Ergodiel went to Shamsiel, who delegated this important task to me.”

Metatron stood on the other side of the bed, her wings flayed across the room. Kai crossed his arms and scowled. “He’s smaller than I envisioned,” she remarked, adjusting her glasses as she looked down at him.

Suiko hummed in agreement and touched her finger to Aichi’s cheek. “There’s a lot of goodness in such a small form, though. The heart monitor, Metatron?”

The Angels went to work, setting up a number of small machines and connecting them to Aichi’s fingers, his chest, and his legs; Kai turned away as they shamelessly stripped him down to his undergarments. They didn’t seem to be the slightest bit embarrassed about the whole thing, though he supposed they were doctors, of some sort, anyway, so they had probably examined their patients far more intimately than this. He pulled his arms even closer as Metatron pulled out an unnecessarily large needle.

“It’s been how long, Lord Kai?”

“Six days.” 

“Has he been fed?”

“Liquids, yes.” 

Suiko hummed again. “He’ll need to be washed.”

“His blood pressure is low, but not outside normal range, my Vanguard. His brain’s electrical impulses are also quite high.”

“I noticed. That’s incredibly unusual for a patient who is simply unconscious.”

They hovered over him, watching the monitor of their heart machine beat out a steady thump, thump, thump while a second monitor hooked up to Aichi’s head, with sharp lines going up and down, seemed to be overexcited. Kai had no idea what any of it meant, but Suiko was the Vanguard of the clan of top-class healers, so he had no choice but to believe she knew what she was doing.

“Overlord.”

“What.”

“Your messenger told us that Sendou Aichi was acting strange the night he collapsed. What exactly happened?”

Kai thought back to their sparring match, about how Aichi had been pale as he used the elemental energy, about how he had all but collapsed from exhaustion afterward. About how Kai and Miwa had to drag him back to the palace as he mumbled incoherently.

Suiko listened, her face impassive. “What was he saying?”

“None of it made any sense.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Kai closed his eyes, trying to recall. “He said something about… homework? Going somewhere after… something…”

Metatron and Suiko exchanged a puzzled look. 

“He was just delirious.” Kai crossed his arms. “I thought he was dehydrated.”

“He is,” Metatron said.

“You should give him more water,” Suiko agreed, “but I think…”

She busied herself with some task, leaning over Aichi, shining a light in his face, checking his ears. Kai moved away toward the window when she rolled him over and started wiping him down with a wet cloth. The sun was already beginning to set; it had now been exactly six full days since Aichi had fallen unconscious. He watched as the moons rose on the horizon and the sun vanished completely, leaving behind a sky of dark blues and purples, with tiny blinking lights dotted across the dark canvas.

A sight he had seen every night for his entire life, yet there was something unnerving about it this time. 

“Overlord.”

He turned away from the window. Suiko stood close by, a grim look on her face. All hopes that the Angels would be able to solve this mystery evaporated.

“I can tell you for certain that there is, with the exception of some bruising and a sprained wrist, nothing to explain why he collapsed.”

Each word she spoke set Kai’s tolerance level plummeting. “You’re just telling me what I already know! What the hell was the point in bringing you here if you were just going to be--”

Suiko jammed a finger in Kai’s chest, the audacity of which took Kai so aback that he fell silent. “Don’t you even start. You send your messenger to my clan without even telling us why you, specifically, are requesting our help and now you insult me to my face? I could take this straight to King Alfred, Kai Toshiki.”

Kai clenched his teeth as they stared straight into each other’s faces. Suiko didn’t even flinch as he narrowed his eyes at her. 

It was admirable, in a way.

“Fine,” he said finally. “Did you discover anything that might be helpful?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.” Suiko gestured Kai over to the bed and leaned over Aichi. “Look.” 

She opened one of his eyes. It lolled rapidly in all directions; Kai felt somewhat nauseated looking at it, so he looked away. 

“You’re not looking.”

“I saw enough,” Kai growled. “Get to the point.”

Suiko tsked and pulled up one of the screens, the one with the sharp lines. “His body is acting like it would in a deep sleep. But it doesn’t match up with this. This machine measures brain activity. In a normal, awake human, this is what brain activity should look like.” She pointed at the screen. All Kai saw were squiggle lines. “And this is what Sendou Aichi’s brain activity looks like.” 

“It all looks the same to me,” Kai muttered.

“Because it is. ” 

Suiko seemed so eager for Kai to grasp what she was trying to say that he felt kind of stupid when he didn’t. “Are you saying… he’s awake?”

“Yes and no.”

Kai waited for an explanation and received none, so he held his hands out expectantly. 

Suiko rubbed her head and sighed. “There’s a concept that the Conglomerate discovered called lucid dreaming. The body enters a state of total rest while the mind is transported into a dream state.”

It was already a lot to take in, but something in her explanation didn’t add up. “You said his mind showed normal activity for a person who’s awake. So if he were dreaming, wouldn’t his brain activity be… different?”

“Yes.” She seemed pleased that he grasped this so quickly. He was still terribly confused. “I think he has unconsciously gone into a state of lucid dreaming where he has convinced himself that he is, in fact, awake.”

Kai looked down at Aichi, whose slow, methodical breathing was the only outward sign that he was still alive. “How do we wake him up from this… dream?”

“I don’t know much about it since it’s hard to study, but the Oracles and Genesis would be able to help.”

The Oracles. Tokura Misaki was particularly close to the Paladins. Bringing her here would be terribly risky. “But there’s a chance he’ll just wake up on his own, right?”

“I would imagine so. But, like I said, I don’t know much.”

He breathed out heavily. He knew more than he did before, but he still didn’t understand most of it. At least now he knew what had happened. 

The only thing now was to reverse it.

“Tatsunagi.” 

“Mm?” 

“Will you be telling Alfred?”

“If he asks.” Suiko pulled a bag of liquid from her case and handed it to Metatron. “I won’t lie to the king.”

“If he doesn’t ask?”

Suiko shrugged. “Are you worried?”

He was. Because if Aichi didn’t wake back up…

He turned and leaned his head against the window pane again, taking in the familiar, swirling galaxies lying beyond the stars.

Chapter Text

The nation of the Dark Zone lived up to its name in more ways than one. 

The land itself was dark, with barren fields, treeless forests, and storm clouds overhead that never seemed to rain. Not even a single ray of sunshine could breach the darkness overhead. Most of all, the citizens of the Dark Zone were a terrible, lawless lot of the worst Cray had to offer -- demons, succubi, werewolves, and vampires roamed the lands freely, hunting weaker beings with sadistic pleasure. 

Accompanied by a small, handpicked group of Gold Paladins, Ahmes had ventured into the Dark Zone to the south of the United Sanctuary in search of Junos, wielder of the cursed blade that stood in opposition to the one Ahmes wore on his back. He did not expect the journey to be simple. Indeed, it was not; just three days into their trek, they had been unable to avoid notice of a group of demons caught up in a riveting game of Gallows Ball and couldn’t get away until they humored the Spike Brothers by participating. Miraculously, the worst injuries befalling Ahmes’s party were a few minor burns, a temporarily dislocated shoulder, and a smattering of deep gashes to the arms and hands before they were able to slip away in the midst of confusion about an explosion halfway down the field. 

“Never understood the appeal of the murder ball game,” commented one of Ezel’s most trusted warriors, the Battlefield Storm, Sagramore. He walked slowly as Viviane cleaned and wrapped the gash Sagramore had sustained on top of a burn from an exploding ball. “Having now played it, I find it even more unpleasant.” 

Despite taking the brunt of the injuries, Sagramore was calm and did not once complain as Viviane finished bandaging his wrist. Ahmes admired that. Ezel truly had picked an extraordinary team--Sagramore, Viviane, Beaumains, Gareth, and Dindrane were all highly capable warriors with unmatched speed and agility. 

Gareth stretched his arm across his body. It had been his arm that dislocated before Beaumains shoved it back in place, a process that Gareth had dramatically lamented until Viviane prodded him in the abdomen with her bow. “Once we find a quiet place to stay for the night, I’m ready for some sleep.”

“Shall we draw straws for the first watch?” Dindrane rifled through her bag for a water pouch.  

“I’ll take it,” Ahmes offered. The Gold Paladins had literally thrown their lives into danger for his sake; the least he could do was stay up for a few hours and make sure no harm befell them. 

Ezel gave Ahmes’s shoulder a squeeze. Even through the armor, he could feel the pressure. “Much appreciated, old friend.”

They settled in a cluster of dead trees by a nearly dried-out riverbed and had a fire going in minutes from some of the highly flammable dead tinder littered all over the ground. Dinner consisted of some of their rations--dried jerky and fruit--and after cleaning up, the Gold Paladins pulled out their sleeping rolls and fell asleep. 

Ahmes leaned against the sturdiest tree he could find, settling in for what he hoped was an uneventful four hour watch, and pulled a ream of paper from his pack. A folded letter lay on top of it.

Ahmes,

Being in the Dragon Empire has been exhausting…

Ahmes sighed. Aichi had promised to write every week, but Ahmes wouldn’t be receiving any of those letters as long as he was in this desolate wasteland. At the very least, despite the Overlord’s brutal training regimen, Aichi seemed to be in good health and good spirits. And he seemed to be getting along well with the Overlord, somehow. Ahmes just had to place his trust in Aichi, that he would be able to reach through Kai Toshiki’s armored exterior and find enough compassion for the plight of the rest of the clans that he would agree to help. 

It was Ahmes’s turn to help.

He found a pen and placed it to the tip of a blank piece of paper. He wouldn’t be able to send this letter until they returned to the United Sanctuary, but he could at least chronicle this experience as it happened…

Aichi,

It was good to hear from you, and to hear that you are doing well. I am proud of the strength you have shown in your endeavors to save our beloved Cray. To continue your goal of uniting all clans against the Void, I have ventured into the Dark Zone with the Incandescent Lion, Ezel in search of the Blaster Dark...

The sun never rose on the Dark Zone so he had no idea what time it was, but Ahmes woke himself up at the same time his traveling companions were beginning to stir. Beaumains, who had taken the last night watch, sat against a tree, whittling a piece of wood into an unidentifiable shape with a pocketknife. Ahmes had learned that Beaumains was a man of few words, and decided not to ask what he was making. Instead, he turned to Ezel, who was poring over a map laid out on the ground. 

“How far are we?”

“Getting closer to Sonne Grab.” Ezel drew a line with his finger. His brows were drawn together, mouth set in a thin line. “Another two days’ journey. It helps that this land is so flat, it makes it easier to cover ground quickly.” He straightened up. “I sent Dindrane ahead to scout. She’s easily the fastest of all of us.”

Ahmes nodded, uneasiness filling his gut. They had encountered the Spike Brothers and escaped fairly unscathed, but they had seen none of the denizens of the Pale Moon Circus, nor the demons of the Dark Irregulars. How was it that they could have come so far without being ambushed?

The quiet, high notes of a violin filled the air around them; Viviane stood on the other side of the now-extinguished fire pit, her bow pulling a soft, slow, nostalgic sound from the strings with practiced ease. With each stroke, picking up speed as the melody continued, Ahmes felt the knot in his stomach ease, and his shoulders relax. Nearby, the tension in Ezel’s face melted away; Gareth leaned against a tree with a smile on his lips, eyes closed. 

I’m sure I’ve heard this before, Ahmes thought, allowing Viviane’s skillful playing to drag the worry from him. Gentle and melancholy, peaceful and thoughtful, like a lullaby. 

At the last note, Viviane lowered her bow. “Fret not, my friends, for music is the sound of courage.”

Ezel climbed to his feet, giving her a warm smile. “Thank you, Viviane. I’m always cheered by the sound of your bow.”

“A beautiful piece,” Ahmes added. “Where is it from?”

Viviane pulled the violin and bow together over her shoulder with a leather strap. “It is a piece I heard once in the south pole. It is said that the clans of the Star Gate are closest to a bridge between worlds, guarding the place where the prayers of our world reach another.”

“Marron spoke of this once,” Ahmes said slowly. “They said there is a legend of another world beyond the stars that is connected to Cray.”

“Yes.” Viviane smiled. “Fittingly, that is the name of the piece. Another World. ”

The party sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes longer, Viviane’s music filling Ahmes’s body with renewed vigor. He had thought little of Marron’s tales of other worlds and legends of the creation of Cray, but maybe he would ask for Marron to share more when he returned to the Holy City. He knew that Aichi had always loved to listen to Marron’s stories. 

“My Vanguard.”

Ezel’s eyes opened in time to see Dindrane hop out of the trees next to Gareth and land in a graceful crouch. “Welcome back, did you find anything?”

“Spotted some Dark Irregulars a couple miles ahead.”

“How many?”

“Fourteen.”

Sagramore whistled. “Quite a crew.”

“We can take them,” Gareth said, flexing his arm. 

“We can but we shouldn’t ,” Ezel said firmly. “We’ve already had one too many skirmishes and we’d like to be in the best shape we can when we get to the real enemy.”

“We can avoid them well enough,” Dindrane piped in. “The riverbed winds away from where they are and as long as they don’t swing due east they won’t see us if we follow it.”

Ezel studied his map again and sighed. Ahmes understood; this would take them a few hours out of their way. But it was safer to avoid the demons if at all possible. The real fight was yet to come. 

“Kai?”

He blinked several times to focus his eyes; the world around him struggled to catch up.

“Kai-kun?” 

A softer voice. More concerned. Tender, almost.

He leaned his hand on the table in front of him. His fingers tightened around his cards.

“Are you okay?” 

The world stopped spinning, and Kai looked up. Across from the table, Ishida waited.

“You okay, buddy?” Miwa tilted his head at him, eyebrows narrowed. “You look like you’re about to puke.”

His face was hot; an uncomfortable sensation built up in the back of his throat as his mouth became wet. Maybe he was about to throw up. 

“If you do feel sick, please use the toilets and not the fight table,” Tokura said from across the room, barely looking up from her book. 

“Hey, hey, Boss Lady, he don’t look that great.”

“Call me Boss Lady again and you’ll be cleaning the entire club room by yourself tomorrow before school.”

Ishida grimaced and muttered something about Tokura being a scary lady but Kai didn’t comment on it. He instead glanced over where Aichi stood staring intently at him.

“I’m fine,” he said, “just got dizzy is all.”

Nearby, Kamui made a hmph sound, arms crossed. “You worried Big Bro, you jerk.”

“We can finish the fight tomorrow, if you want,” Ishida offered. It was a testament to how bad Kai must look that he didn’t make a comment about his Eradicators being too strong for Kai’s Overlord (they weren’t, of course). 

Still, Kai never left his fights unfinished, but before he could argue to this point, Aichi had chimed in and wrapped his fingers around Kai’s forearm. Kai’s skin tingled at his touch. 

“Yes, that’s a good idea, Naoki-kun.” With his free hand, he collected the cards from the field and damage zone. “I’ll make sure Kai-kun gets home safely.”

He let Aichi lead him to the bed by the hand. Let Aichi sit him down to wait as he went to make Kai some tea. Listened to the sounds of Aichi digging around in the cupboards for something soothing and decaffeinated as the electric kettle heated the water. 

There was something mundane about it all, yet comforting; a taste of domesticity coloring their budding relationship, calming the anxiety he felt still even two months in. He’d been in love with Aichi for so long that he still had trouble believing it was real, that Aichi loved him back with equal fervor. That doubt dissipated the moment Aichi pressed the hot cup of tea into Kai’s hands.

“Thank you.” Kai lifted the tea to his lips. It was scalding hot, but he sipped it anyway; the aroma of ginger filled his nose and he breathed it in deeply.

Aichi smiled. His hand slid over and rested on Kai’s leg, a simple gesture that had Kai’s entire body shuddering. “Are you feeling better?”

Yes barely passed Kai’s lips as Aichi’s free hand pressed against Kai’s back at the same time the hand on Kai’s thigh slid inward. Kai cleared his throat weakly. “Yes.”

“That’s good. You should sleep when you’ve finished the tea.”

Either Aichi didn’t realize what his simple touches were doing to Kai or he was doing it intentionally; either way, Kai struggled with the need to touch Aichi in return, to caress his face, to--

“Drink up, Kai-kun.”

The hand on Kai’s thigh moved to hold the bottom of the cup. It was probably for the best; Kai’s own hands shook as he lifted the cup to his lips for another sip.

Another, and another, each guided by Aichi’s firm hand, even as he stroked Kai’s back with feather-light touches that sent shivers up Kai’s spine. With each sip, a word of encouragement. That’s it Kai-kun, keep it up, it’s almost empty, just a few more sips…

With the last sip, Aichi hummed approvingly and took it from Kai’s hands with both of his. Losing the sensation of Aichi’s fingers running up and down Kai’s back was suddenly too much, and Kai grabbed Aichi’s wrists with unseemly desperation. 

“Kai-kun?”

Aichi’s skin was so soft. 

“Stay,” Kai began, but he lost his voice before he could continue. He looked down at the bed as he released Aichi’s wrists.

“I will,” Aichi assured him. “I’m going to put this in the sink, okay? I’ll come right back.”

Kai nodded, and as Aichi strode from the bed to the kitchen, a few short steps, Kai swallowed and leaned on the bed. 

Maybe he was feverish. Maybe he was desperate. Maybe he still felt lonely, despite everything. But he knew he didn’t want Aichi to leave, and he knew that he wanted to feel Aichi touch him.

Selfish, he thought.

Aichi’s hands cupped Kai’s face, which burned at the touch. “You’re still warm. Let’s get you--”

Kai grabbed his wrists again, pulling Aichi closer. “Aichi, I--”

How was he supposed to communicate that he wanted Aichi to kiss him, to hold him, to caress his body as they fell asleep together? They had never done anything that physical before, not in the two months since Aichi was able to blurt out that he loved Kai, and Kai was finally able to reciprocate. They’d kissed a few times, held hands, hugged, but in such reserved ways befitting two painfully shy teenage boys who had never been in love before and didn’t know how to be.

“It’s okay.” Aichi’s hands shook a little as he pulled Kai’s face closer. “It’s okay,” he said again, and pressed his mouth against Kai’s. 

Kai opened his eyes.

His sleep had not been restless; it was calm, and he barely moved as he slept. Yet his sleep had not been restful, either.

He sat up.

“Good morning, sunshine.” 

Miwa poured out a mug of tea and set it on the table by Kai’s bed next to a small platter of sausages. Kai stared at them, somewhat hungry but with no appetite. He looked down at his hands, scaled on the backs in red and gold instead of pale and soft. Some of the teeth he trailed his tongue over were sharp instead of rounded, his upper jaw extended slightly over his bottom one to accomodate for his inhuman teeth. 

“You okay?”

Kai frowned, the image of his dream escaping him each second. Yet the images that remained were so vivid that he couldn’t help but examine his surroundings a second time to ensure he was awake, turning his head to hide the creeping embarrassment of the dream’s contents. Sprawling bed covered in sheets of thick wool, blood red curtains covering the smaller windows, a massive pine door on the other end of the cavernous stone room, the main window that stretched from floor to ceiling, covered by enormous black drapes that Miwa had not yet opened to allow in the morning sun. 

“Did I fall asleep here?”

“No, I had Nehalem help carry you here from Aichi’s room.” Miwa tilted his head. “You didn’t even move. I started to worry that you were gonna slip into unconsciousness next.”

“I had a dream,” Kai said, voice flat. 

“Oh?” Miwa lifted an eyebrow and sat on the edge of Kai’s bed. “That’s unusual. About what?”

He hesitated. “I dreamed I was a human.”

“Like… a full human?”

“Yeah. Not on Cray, either.” He put a hand to his head. “I was playing a game of cards… Ishida from Narukami was there. So was…” He took a deep breath. “Aichi.”

If this caught Miwa’s attention, he hid it well. “Who else?”

Kai swung his legs off the bed and walked to the window, pulling back the heavy curtains to let in the soft rays of the waking sun. Before too long, the sun would be high in the sky and blazing hot, the way it always was in Dragon Empire. “You.”

“Oh? And?”

“The Nova pilot, the one from Star Gate.”

“The short one? Katsu… Katsu…” Miwa frowned, scratching his chin. “Katsuragi?”

“I think so. And…” Kai hesitated. He didn’t want to drag her into it, especially not with Miwa, but… “Tokura.”

It took Miwa several seconds to think of a reply, which ended up a simple “oh.”

Kai couldn’t think of any reason for the other two to be in Kai’s dream; he scarcely dreamed at all, let alone of two Vanguards he barely knew, and one of them being from a rival nation, at that. 

But in the dream, they had been friends, and Aichi…

“Miwa.”

Miwa made a strange sort of noise from the back of his throat that may have been an invitation for Kai to speak or a whimper. Kai interpreted it as the former.

“I need you to go to the Oracles and bring Tokura Misaki here.”

The noise again, this one of distress. Kai expected that. “Y-you want me to what?”

“You heard me.” Kai moved away from the window, pulling off his night robes before starting to dress himself for the day. He had almost completed the whole process before Miwa was able to find his voice.

“The entire border is patrolled by Paladins,” Miwa argued, voice high. “I can’t just walk into United Sanctuary without--”

“I’ll give you the necessary paperwork,” Kai said, exasperated. “We’re not at war right now.”

Miwa snorted, but rubbed his arms close to his chest. “They still don’t like us.”

“Good for them. I need her here by tomorrow night.”

“I love that you think I can get an audience with her by tomorrow morning.”

“You can if you’re on the orders of another Vanguard.” Even for me.

“Yeah, yeah… do I get to sleep at all anytime soon?”

“Depends on how hospitable the Oracles feel like being.”

Miwa turned around dramatically, letting out an exaggerated sigh. “So, probably not, then.”

Kai felt a twinge of guilt. He had been running Miwa ragged for the better part of a week. He’d have to make it up to him somehow, once all this was resolved. “Miwa?”

Miwa paused by the door. He didn’t bother to mask this sigh, either. “Yes, my Vanguard? ”

Kai took a deep breath, exhaled slowly. He had to exhaust all avenues, but even he realized that dragging the Royal Paladins into this would be stupid. War would break out the second that the Jewel Knight captain Tatsunagi Kourin learned what happened to Aichi. She was, after all, close to Ahmes. 

Even bringing Tokura here was dangerous. She was friends with Tatsunagi, close friends, but if the Angel Feathers couldn’t find anything physically wrong with Aichi, he needed someone who knew how to connect with Aichi’s psyche. He had no choice.

Well, at least one player in his dream would be easy to summon.

“Before you leave, send for Ishida of the Narukami.”

When the door closed, Kai sat on the edge of the bed, legs shaking. He could still feel the weight of Aichi's hands on his hips.

Chapter Text

Kai slept poorly that night. He had no way of knowing if Miwa had been successful in persuading Tokura Misaki to come to the Dragon Empire. He had no idea if the Angels had told Alfred of Aichi’s condition. He had no idea what he would do if they had. 

The Angels had left detailed instructions on caring for Aichi, a task overseen by Genjo. There was no change in his physical well-being, but Kai stayed in Aichi’s room every night to ensure that nothing happened to him while Genjo slept. A combination of the anxiety and physical discomfort were probably to blame for his poor sleep the past few days, yet he couldn’t bring himself to go to sleep in his own bed instead of in a straight-backed chair. Regrettably, he still had to meet with Ishida of the Narukami in the early afternoon, despite how tired he must have looked. 

The sun was not yet up, but Genjo would be here soon, and Kai couldn’t sit still any longer. He wandered into the hallway, where Nehalem stood dutifully for his early shift, dressed in full armor. He followed Kai’s habit of waking up too early for most people; Kai wondered how tired he must be with all of this going on, especially since Nehalem had been helping Miwa in the numerous tasks Kai had been dumping on him. If Miwa was tired, Nehalem certainly was, too.

“Nehalem,” he said, failing to keep the weariness out of his voice, “I need your help with something.”

Nehalem nodded and followed Kai to Kai’s chambers, hesitating just long enough when Kai gestured for him to enter to indicate reluctance. It was no wonder; Miwa was the only one allowed to enter. 

“It’s fine,” Kai assured him. 

It was Miwa’s job, typically, to help dress Kai in his formal robes, armor, and jewelry. Many pieces were either too delicate for Kai’s clawed fingers to handle properly or had to be put on in a way that was difficult to do with just two hands. But Miwa wasn’t here, and it fell to Nehalem to help Kai tie off the golden belts, clasp the earrings over Kai’s ears, and lace Kai’s gauntlets. If Nehalem was confused about Kai dressing in formal clothing this early in the morning without expecting a formal audience, he said nothing. Kai was grateful. 

They left the palace together, each step filling Kai with dread. Since becoming Vanguard three years ago, he had only done this four times, and this would be the second time in as many weeks. 

There’s nothing to be afraid of, he tried to remind himself, but the fear gripped him regardless.

“My Vanguard?”

Kai looked up. They had stopped in front of a plain door set in a smooth mound of stone. Next to him, Nehalem eyed the door curiously -- or as curiously as Nehalem could ever eye something -- but Kai knew he would never ask what it was, because Kai wouldn’t say.

He sighed and reached in his robes for a key. “Nehalem, please oversee the morning’s training. When Ishida of the Narukami arrives, have him wait in the audience chamber.”

Nehalem bowed and swept off without a word, leaving Kai to face the nondescript door alone. 

With another sigh, he unlocked it and entered the dark corridor leading down into the dark, fortified chambers below the palace.

He had to unlock several doors down a winding corridor that split off into a series of other tunnels. He opened each door with a different key; despite coming down here so infrequently, Kai knew the path to take and the order of the keys by touch. This place was designed to safeguard the most irreplaceable asset of the Dragon Empire. It wouldn’t do for it to be a simple task to find it.

With each step, he felt the aura he sought, thicker and thicker until it was almost stifling, until he faced the final door made of the strongest metal on Cray and closed his eyes.

He pushed the door open.

The deepest chamber was a cavernous room carved out of the natural rock beneath the Empire; despite there being no visitors to this room besides Kai, glowing red orbs burned brightly in crevices throughout the room. Kai walked to the center, where an enormous, ornately carved coffin sat atop a raised dais, and knelt next to it.

His clawed fingers traced the draconic language etched into the coffin, inlaid with gold and precious gems. He knew without looking that the emblem of the Kagero clan was carved into the lid of the coffin as well. 

The desire for strength

Fueled the dragon

And with the last of his will,

He achieved his greatest wish:

“This life, right now, exists for the sake of this single moment, this single instant, in time and no other."

“I’m-I’m back.” He bit his tongue, cursing himself for stammering, and drew blood. His mouth tasted of metal that trickled down the back of his throat. He took a breath and continued. “I came here to remind myself of the consequences of unbridled warfare.”

There was, of course, no response.

“You gave me life, Father. I wanted to be like you.” Kai looked up at the coffin. “I tried so hard to do what I thought would please you. But I can’t please you as I am.” Tears stung the corners of his eyes. “I’m too soft. Too soft to be you… but I’m trying to find my own way, as the Dragonic Overlord.”

Though he was young when his parents were killed in an attack on his village on the outskirts of the Dragon Empire, he remembered that night vividly. He could still smell the burning bodies, he could hear the screams of his dying parents, he could feel the bubbling and blistering of his blackening skin. The heat of the flames engulfing his home dried out his eyes, so he could not cry. He could remember the human hands that picked his little body up, cradled him against a strong chest. He never knew who had saved him, just that they brought him to the Overlord and offered him up, as a sacrifice or an offering or a reward, he would never know. 

But the pain of the burns was nothing compared to the feeling of the Overlord’s will infusing itself in his body.

His very bone structure had changed in an instant; human hands became more clawlike, his teeth grew longer and sharper and his jaw reformed to make room for his new incisors, his skin hardened and reformed into scales along the top of his arms and sides and neck, a tail grew from his spine, two small bone growths formed in his upper back where wings tried and failed to form. 

He had survived that war, but came out an entirely new creature, unlike any that had existed in the Dragon Empire before or since. A human boy, who was now partly a dragon. 

The new heir to the title of Dragonic Overlord, reborn, given life by the great Dragon himself. 

He worked hard to prove himself to the other warriors of the Empire. Years of grueling training, years of hardening himself against human attachments, years of growing cold toward everyone, including the only man he considered a true friend. 

Yet he found himself overly attached to a human from an enemy clan, and for what? The possibility of war, and the possibility of another young boy losing his parents and his future to worthless bloodshed. 

Ahmes and the Dragon had been enemies, rivals, for years. His father thirsted for the thrill of that fight each time they met on the battlefield. Kai had always found it odd, that the Overlord would not seek out the Vanguard, but would push his son to seek him out. Yet Kai never felt the same thrill fighting Lord Daigo that his father did fighting Ahmes. The Overlord and the Blaster Blade were soulmates, destined to clash for eternity.

He leaned his head against his father’s coffin. 

“If he was your rival, Aichi is mine, then…”

That was it, surely; his determination to reawaken Aichi was driven by the same primal desire to best his rival. That was the will of his father, burned into his very soul. 

Seek him out, your soulmate…

Those dreams of him, those inexplicable dreams where he was human again in some other world, were faint in his memory, except for that feeling...

Soft hands on his face, neck, shoulders, chest, hips. Soft lips touching the curve of his neck, warm breath tickling the skin. A gentle voice whispering his name, over and over as their lips meet, pull away, meet, their breathless laughter coming together in this tender moment...

Kai shook his head and pushed himself to his feet. He’d spent long enough here.

Ezel crouched over his map, folded and unfolded and crinkled so Ahmes could barely read it at this point. But when Ezel straightened back up and declared that they had reached their destination, the other Paladins appeared satisfied.

The enormous black palace was surrounded by an ominous red glow, silhouetted by one of the moons of Cray. Bats flew around the palace in a grotesquely comical way, like they would in children’s picture books about the otherworldly demons of the Dark Irregulars.

Even children’s fiction had a basis in reality. 

“Let’s go,” Ahmes said, strangely calm. 

The Gold Paladins nodded in unison and followed Ahmes to the massive front doors, made entirely out of a heavy metal. As they approached, the doors opened, as Ahmes suspected they would.

Junos would know they were here, after all.

Their footsteps echoed in the dark entry hall until the torch brackets lining the walls burst into flames around them. Looking up to the top of a set of winding staircases, Ahmes saw a figure cloaked entirely in black; an arm swept out from under the cloak, beckoning them on before vanishing.

“Couldn’t be a more obvious trap,” Gareth muttered. 

“Well,” Sagramore said cheerily, “it wouldn’t do to let such a hospitable trap go untriggered.”

They headed up the stairs, where a door in the center of the landing opened on its own, and Ahmes sensed true danger for the first time. 

He slowly pulled his blade from his back and strode forward, into the doorway. Behind him, the Gold Paladins followed suit.

The room was cavernous, yet dark. Ahmes could barely make out the shadow of a raised platform in the center of the room before a shadowed figure dropped onto it from a bar hanging from the ceiling and a lilting female voice filled the air.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Pale Moon Circus!”

The stage was instantly illuminated from stage lights around the base of the platform and from the ceiling, revealing a woman in a blue ringmaster’s suit and top hat twirling a baton. Ahmes recognized her immediately,

Narumi Asaka, Vanguard of the Pale Moon Circus. 

“We are so pleased to welcome our guests, the legendary Blaster Blade and his wandering friends of the Gold Paladins!” 

There was a soft grunt behind Ahmes as a bright light shone directly on them; he put his arm up to block the light, his grip tightening on his blade.

Asaka held her hands in the air as though speaking to a tent packed with individuals eager to witness the famously macabre circus performance. “Without further ado, let the curtains rise… on Act One!”

If he hadn’t been prepared for it, Junos’s attack would likely have injured him; he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and stepped to the side to avoid it. 

“Blaster Bl--”

“Ah-ah! Spectators should stay put!”

When Asaka snapped her fingers, a towering ring of flames surrounded the Gold Paladins, separating them from Ahmes. But he had no time to think on this; Junos was extremely fast, and extremely determined.

Their blades clashed with a blinding spark of light; Junos spun, swinging his blade around to the opposite side. To avoid it, Ahmes was forced to drop to one knee and swung his own sword up to Junos’s chest. Junos danced back, a mischievous grin on his face as the tip of the blade scratched Junos’s breastplate. 

“What a wonderful look in your eyes, Blaster Blade,” he jeered as he easily maneuvered out of Ahmes’s immediate reach. Their blades clashed again, shooting sparks around them. “What brings you to me?”

Their blades met several times in quick succession, each mirroring the other’s swift movements exactly. 

“I am here on my Vanguard’s behalf,” Ahmes said through gritted teeth. No matter how hard he pushed, Junos pushed back with equal force, his determination powering his blade. 

“For?”

This time, the force of the legendary blades colliding forced the two swordsmen back several feet; Ahmes seized the opportunity out of Junos’s melee range to prepare the Blaster Blade, now pulsing with power.

Junos mirrored him once more, the Blaster Dark crackling with an equal force of energy. 

Ahmes waited patiently, something Junos rarely did. The moment Junos’s arm so much as twitched downward, the force of their Blasters would finally meet...

A slow clapping broke the silence, and Junos’s gaze flickered from Ahmes’s at last, the crackling energy of his blade subsiding. 

“What a wonderful show, you’ve put on, Asaka!”

Asaka bowed deeply as a slender man in black armor and long red hair came into view. “Of course, Master Ren.”

Suzugamori Ren, Vanguard of the Shadow Paladins, stopped between the two legendary Blasters, peering between them curiously. “Of course, it was a nice show from you two, also.”

“My Vanguard,” Junos muttered, clearly disgruntled over his fight being interrupted. 

“Oh, don’t be so fussy, Blaster Dark.” Ren pouted, placing his hands on his hips. “I didn’t want you to actually obliterate this palace. It would make the Marquis so very unhappy, I bet. Right? Right, Tetsu?”

A large, bearded man in green armored robes joined Ren next to the stage. Shinjou Tetsu, the top general of the Demon Marquis Amon’s army. “He’s only letting you stay here; don’t go ruining the place.”

Junos straightened up, pressing the tip of his blade into the floor. Ahmes followed suit and tried to ignore Ren as he circled Ahmes like a curious cat. 

“You’re so tall.” Ren stopped in front of him and tilted his head. “So many tall knights. Him, too.” He pointed at Ezel, who was still rooted in place by Asaka’s fire circle. “Blaster Dark knew you were coming, but why?”

“We came here to speak to you.” Ahmes met Ren’s gaze, the pupils of his scarlet eyes slitted like a cat stalking its prey. “On behalf of our Vanguard.”

Ren’s expression changed instantly, his face lighting up. “Aichi? I haven’t seen him in ages. Where is he?”

Aichi and Ren had only met once, when Aichi first became Vanguard. Alfred had invited the Vanguards of the United Sanctuary to welcome him, and had been surprised when Ren accepted. Ahmes got the impression that Ren intimidated Aichi, but apparently Aichi had made more of an impression on Ren than Ahmes thought. 

“In the Dragon Empire.”

“Ohhhh.” Ren put his finger to his lips. “Did he finally meet Kai?”

Suzugamori Ren was a very odd man, Ahmes decided. “Yes, and--”

“My Vanguard,” Junos interrupted, “perhaps we should take this--”

“No, no, it’s okay. Blaster Blade, go ahead and say what you’re here for so I can get back to my nap.”

Ahmes caught Sagramore out of the corner of his eye mouthing the words a nap? and Vivian rubbing her forehead. “Would you kindly free my companions from the fire circle?”

“Yeah, yeah, after you tell me what you want.” Ren’s eyes glistened. 

Ahmes sighed through his nose. He needed to be concise with this one. “The Vanguard of the Oracle Think Tank--”

“Oh, Misa-ki!” Ren clapped his hands together, clearly delighted. 

Ahmes frowned, debating for a moment whether it was worth correcting Ren. “...Yes. She had a vision of a powerful invading force attacking Cray about five months from now. Sendou Aichi seeks to bring together all clans of Cray to fight the invaders.”

He let the implication hang in the air, knowing that if Ren didn’t pick up on it, someone would. He was loathe to say the words outright. 

“So,” Tetsu said slowly, “you need our help.”

Ahmes clenched his jaw. Junos’s eyes widened in surprise before a terrible grin split his face.

“Oh, so the legendary Swordsman of Light needs the help of the denizens of darkness?” Junos laughed, a deep, full-chested sound that filled Ahmes with the urge to hit him with his sword. “How rich! Why should we help you?”

“I am not the one in need of help,” Ahmes said through gritted teeth, “but the entire planet of Cray.”

“And why do you think--”

“Okay,” Ren interrupted, and Junos’s laugh fell silent. 

“What?” Junos said.

“What?” Ahmes echoed, unsure of the context of Ren’s agreement. 

Ren shrugged. “Okay, we’ll help.”

There was a long pause.

“What?” Tetsu added unhelpfully.

“Oh come on, what part of okay are you all not getting?” Ren put his hands on his hips. “I live on Cray and if some bad guys are going to try to destroy my home...” He let the sentence hang, eyes glistening again.

“...thank you,” Ahmes said uncertainly. 

Ren shrugged. “I want to see Aichi.”

“He should return to the United Sanctuary in about two weeks,” Ahmes said. “He will be holding a meeting of Vanguards shortly thereafter.”

“Yay!” Ren smiled, clapping his hands together again. “I hope I get to see Kai again, too.”

There was no reason that Kai would feel the same way, but Ahmes just inclined his head noncommittally. “Okay, now that that’s settled, I’m going back to sleep. Good night!” 

And without another word, he walked off, humming to himself. 

Junos, Ahmes, Tetsu, Asaka, and all the paladins stared at each other in silence.

Kai closed the door of the crypt behind him, locked it, and headed back into the palace. It was midmorning now, still a little too early for Ishida to be here, so he decided to change out of his ceremonial garb and into something that was actually comfortable. He ignored the startled greetings from the guards posted at the entrance, unused to seeing him dressed like this, and headed down the hall toward his chambers. As he rounded a corner, he was met by Miwa, who looked as tired as Kai had ever seen him, and stopped abruptly. 

“Miwa? Why are you back so early?”

Miwa pointed over Kai’s shoulder, toward the hallway leading to Aichi’s quarters. “We have a guest.”

Abandoning his desire to remove his garb, he hurried down the hallway, Miwa right behind him; when he reached Aichi’s room, he found the door slightly ajar. 

A woman in a lavender kimono stood over Aichi, her hand on his forehead and back to the door. When Kai entered the room, she turned her head just enough to take in Kai’s attire and turned her attention back to Aichi.

“Kai Toshiki, you’ve kept me waiting,” Tokura Misaki said softly.

Chapter Text

Tokura stared into the dregs of her tea as Kai finished explaining what had happened to Aichi -- or what the Angels suggested might have happened -- and frowned deeply as silence fell. She set aside the cup and took out a stack of cards, which she began laying out on the table in a seemingly random order. Even a soft knock at the door of the audience chamber failed to interrupt her; Miwa answered it and slipped out of the room without a sound. 

Kai had never put much stock in divination or fortune telling, yet Tokura had a remarkable rate of accuracy, so he heard, and he let her do her card readings in peace. At this point, he was out of ideas for anything else to do about Aichi. 

“I think Suiko was correct,” she announced after nearly ten minutes of silence, jolting Kai out of a half-dazed state. 

“About--”

“His body is on Cray, but his mind is elsewhere.”

Kai hadn’t slept much in the past two weeks. It was affecting his mood, his focus, and his ability to react quickly. This, coupled with the general confusion Kai held over this entire situation, meant that his reaction to Tokura’s firm pronouncement was heavily delayed as his brain processed the words. 

“Where?” was all he managed to say.

Tokura gathered up her cards, tucking them inside her kimono. “Sages of the United Sanctuary have long believed there is… another world, one similar to Cray, where people live lives similar to our own.”

Flashes of mundane life, playing games with friends, attending some kind of school, sleeping on benches in a park filled with flowers and colorful pink trees as children chased each other, laughing. There was nothing similar to their lives here on Cray, where the constant battle for survival and the fragility of peace hung over his head like a guillotine. 

“You don’t seem surprised.” Tokura watched his face closely.

At this point, he didn’t see any reason to keep the contents of that first, vivid dream a secret.

Well, some of it, anyway. 

Judging by the way her eyes narrowed, she knew he was omitting the details of the dream after dream-Aichi led the other Kai out of the shop, but he looked down at his hand on the table and stopped talking with the hope that she wouldn’t ask what happened next.

“I see,” she said, after apparently realizing that Kai was not going to elaborate. “That’s why you requested me, specifically.”

Kai tapped a finger on the table in response. Tokura glanced at the ornate gold jewelry accenting the scales on his hand. He hadn’t the time to remove the garb he wore to speak to the Dragonic Overlord, but maybe wearing it was giving Tokura the impression that he respected her enough to don his formalwear to speak with her. 

“Well.” She stood. “I have a theory as to how to wake him. Are you coming?”

He pushed himself from his chair. “Tatsunagi suggested that he would have to wake himself.”

“In the end, yes.” Tokura headed into the hallway, correctly navigating her way back to Aichi’s room. “But we can speed up the process, I think.”

“You think?”

She gave him a stern look over her shoulder. “I can’t guarantee anything, Kai Toshiki.” 

Nehalem stood outside Aichi’s room, clenching his javelin. He glanced at Tokura as she opened the door into Aichi’s room without looking at him, then at Kai. Kai nodded once; Nehalem returned the gesture and went back to staring at the wall across from him as Kai closed the door. 

Tokura leaned over Aichi once more, hand on his forehead. “I am not an academic. Actually, the scholarship about this other world that Suiko mentioned is exclusively studied as an experimental subject rather than one studied in, say, the universities of Zoo.” 

“The experimental subject of…” Kai waved a hand as he thought. “Astral projection?”

“Correct. It’s studied mostly by scholars in the Holy City, and even more specifically by the nobles of Genesis. What I know about it is what I’ve read from those reports.”

“And what would that be?” Kai tried to keep the impatience out of his voice. Judging by Tokura’s severe frown, he failed. She straightened up, turning to face him with her hands on her hips. “That other world is known as ‘Planet E.’ The scholars suggest that there are some people on both Cray and Planet E that are predisposed to have some mysterious ability to connect somehow to the other world. But the experimental processes have never resulted in a person projecting to Planet E unknowingly, or for more than a normal sleep cycle.” She gestured at Aichi. “I don’t think he knows he’s asleep. I think… he truly believes that he is part of Planet E, and if he is having any recollection of Cray, he likely thinks of it as a dream.”

Kai moved next to her and looked down at Aichi’s sleeping face. Calm, peaceful. “You said you think we can get him to wake up.”

“Yes. That depends on two things. One, his connection to Planet E has to be weaker than his subconscious desire to be on Cray, and two, he has to be convinced to wake up by the people closest to him.”

Kai’s heart sank at this. “Closest to him… here on Cray?” If this was the case, then the only ones who could possibly be successful in waking him were the very people Kai didn’t want to know about this entire ordeal in the first place.

“Or there. If your dream was your own form of astral projection, then maybe you can convince him he’s dreaming.” She smiled shrewdly. “It seemed you were… close, in that dream, if you let him walk you home.”

Kai was spared the embarrassment of trying to come up with a plausible denial of her accusation by a knock on the door. Ignoring her completely, he crossed the room and opened the door to Miwa, accompanied by a lanky human man with goggles in his unruly red hair and raggedy, sand-colored robes. 

“Ishida Naoki, of Narukami,” Miwa said, gesturing vaguely. 

“Hey.” Ishida brushed some dust from his clothes. Kai watched it settle on his clean stone floor with lips pressed together before stepping back and motioning for them to enter. 

Ishida rubbed the back of his neck as he wandered into the room. “This palace sure is fancier than the cliffs where I live.” He stopped as he caught sight of Tokura tipping water into Aichi’s mouth. “Hey, hey, w-what’s she doing here?”

“She was invited,” Miwa said, though he seemed only slightly less put off by this fact than Ishida. Close up, his eyes were deeply shadowed from lack of sleep. 

“Come over here and talk to him,” Tokura said, unbothered by Ishida’s apparent fear or distrust -- or both -- of her.

“Like hell! Who is this guy!”

Kai sighed as Tokura and Ishida started to argue -- rather, Tokura gave Ishida pointed demands that Ishida questioned -- and turned to Miwa. 

“Go get some sleep,” he said.

Miwa nodded, shoulders relaxing. “You gonna be okay, Kai?”

“Yeah.” 

“If you’ll actually let me talk then you’ll maybe understand a little of what I’m telling you to do!”

“No one even told me what I’m doing here and I’m getting bossed around by some United Sanctuary mob boss!”

“I’m not part of the mob!”

Kai closed his eyes. “Probably.”

Miwa reached out and gave Kai’s arm a gentle pat. “Good luck.”

He slipped out of the room, the unspoken you’ll need it hanging in the air. 

Every so often, Alfred enjoyed walking around the Holy City without his armor, his long blond hair hanging loosely down his back with his chest and legs free of the restrictive armor he normally wore. Without his helmet, he was barely recognizable to most people; it allowed him to be alone with his thoughts, uninterrupted. 

Ahmes had been gone for over a week, Aichi for more than three. Alfred didn’t expect letters to come in from the Dark Zone where Ahmes and Ezel sought out Junos, but he was curious as to why only one letter had made its way from the Dragon Empire. 

He considered sending someone out to the Empire to check on Aichi. Of course, he was probably just paranoid, and Aichi was probably just too tired from training to write as regularly as promised.

Still…

He wandered past the library, out toward a balcony with a particularly lovely view of the city below. The cool air on his face felt good; the wind teased his long hair, whipping strands of it in his face. A calming distraction from the constant war planning sessions he had been involved with for several weeks now. 

“King Alfred?”

A woman’s voice behind him interrupted his planned peace. 

With a sigh he turned to face Tatsunagi Kourin. 

“Kourin… what is it?”

Her face was scrunched up in a rather frightening combination of worry and anger. “I had heard that Suiko was summoned to the Dragon Empire last week.”

“Oh?” As far as Alfred knew, none of the clans of the Empire utilized the Angels for anything whatsoever. “What for?”

“Aichi.”

Alfred’s hand tightened on the balcony railing as the name rang through his mind. His body felt numb, his heart almost stopping.

“What happened?” he managed.

Kourin shook her head. “He fell unconscious and won’t wake up.”

“Won’t? Even with the Angels’ medicines?” Alfred pushed himself from the railing and headed back inside, walking with long strides that Kourin almost had to jog to keep up with. 

“She said she’s not sure what’s wrong with him.”

The Overlord wouldn’t hurt Aichi. Two years of peace under his rule would dissipate in an instant, and Gancelot and Ahmes both had seemed insistent that the Overlord wanted to maintain peace. Yet he hid Aichi’s condition. Why? What had even happened? Was it something the Overlord did to him, intentionally or otherwise?

He rounded a corner and nearly ran straight into a heavily armored man that he recognized instantly. 

“King Al-”

“Ahmes,” Alfred interrupted, the relief at seeing his friend return safely from the Dark Zone overshadowed immediately by his worry for Aichi, “I am sorry to send you off so quickly, but I need you to go to the Dragon Empire, right now.”

Ahmes fell into step beside Alfred, matching his strides. “Aichi?”

“He’s unconscious,” Kourin said from slightly behind them.

“What?”

“Take Wingal, Marron, Akane, and Gancelot. Hurry.”

Ahmes took off at a near dead sprint down the hallway and was out of sight in an instant. Alfred stopped; Kourin followed suit.

“King Alfred, I want to--”

Alfred shook his head. “No, I need you to go find Ezel and tell him to come see me… to report on what happened in the Dark Zone. And then I need you to get your half-sister from the medical research facilities. I need to talk to her, too.” 

Kourin opened her mouth, decided against saying whatever was coming to mind, and gave him a curt nod. She turned and headed the opposite direction.

When she was out of sight, he leaned against the marble wall and sighed, running his hand through his hair. He prayed that Aichi would be all right, for Aichi’s sake, for the sake of the United Sanctuary, and for the sake of the two-year peace between the Empire and the Sanctuary. 

Because if Kai Toshiki had done something to Alfred’s Vanguard under terms of peace, there would be hell to pay.

Chapter Text

It was much too late in the year for the cherry blossoms in the park to bloom; the chilly breeze blew through the trees, forcing the yellow and red leaves of the other trees to fall. Kai didn’t mind it much. The children in the park were few, which meant he could have a quiet nap for once.

“Kai-kun!”

He cracked open an eye. 

Aichi stood over him, a schoolbag in one hand and a warm smile on his face. “You got out of school early.”

“Might have skipped the last class.” Kai pushed himself to a sitting position and moved his feet so Aichi could sit next to him. 

“Kai-kun!” Aichi admonished him, the sternness in his voice offset by his playful smile as he sat down. “You’re only one year from graduation, you know…” He took a quick look around the park before wrapping his hand over Kai’s. “You’re cold.”

“It’s not too bad.” Kai looked down at their hands and returned a squeeze. “You’re warm.”

Aichi was always warm.

“We can go somewhere warmer, if you want.”

“Did you have somewhere in mind?”

“Your bed.” Aichi smiled mischievously and Kai’s face reddened. 

“You’re getting bold, Aichi.”

“I like cuddling with you.”

“I know.”

They left the park, holding each other’s hand until they caught sight of someone and let go. Kai still felt guilty about not wanting others to know about them; he didn’t really understand why he was so reluctant to share their bond with others, like doing so would somehow endanger Aichi.

Silly , he thought, considering neither he nor Aichi had any enemies anymore. 

“Kai-kun?”

“Mm?”

Aichi tilted his head at him. “You have that troubled look on your face again.”

Kai’s eyes flicked to the sky. Gray storm clouds hovered over the city, as they had for nearly a week, yet there was no rain. The meteorologists on the morning news couldn’t figure out why such a phenomenon was happening, either. 

“I feel a bit uneasy,” he said truthfully. 

“About the sky?”

That was only part of it. There was something else, some other feeling of disquiet in the back of his mind, like something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t pin it down. “I don’t know.”

“Hey.” Aichi stopped in front of him and placed his hands on both of Kai’s shoulders. With a little tug, he pushed himself onto his tiptoes and pressed his lips to Kai’s. The kiss lasted only a couple of seconds, but it was enough to send bolts of lightning through Kai’s body. “It’ll be okay. Right?”

Kai caught his breath. “Yeah. It’s just…” He sighed in frustration and put his hand over Aichi’s still on Kai’s shoulder. “Sometimes being with you just feels… too perfect. You know? Like a dream.”

Aichi pressed himself close to Kai’s body, and Kai wrapped his free arm around Aichi’s waist. “If it’s a dream, it’s one I don’t want to wake from.”

“I just keep feeling like something bad is trying to happen.”

“Don’t worry, Kai-kun.” Aichi lifted his hand from Kai’s shoulder to cup his cheek. Kai leaned into it, closing his eyes. “Together, we can get through anything. Right?”

Kai opened his eyes, adjusting to the dimness in the room instantly. 

“Damn it,” he said into the silence, and pulled himself to a sitting position. 

It was too vivid now, too realistic. He wiped his face with the soft palm of his hand to shake off the lingering feeling of Aichi’s hand; it came away wet. 

“Damn it!” he said again, voice strained, and he pulled his knees to his chest, placing his head between them. 

Why, why, why…

Why am I dreaming about being with you?

I barely even know you, Sendou Aichi.

He took a series of deep breaths until the shaking subsided. 

Seek him out , his father’s voice told him. Your eternal soulmate.

Ishida sat next to Aichi’s bed, regaling the unconscious man with a truly dramatic story of a time he fell off his dragon and almost had his arm ripped off when the dragon caught him by the shoulder. Tokura was already gone; Miwa had (reluctantly) returned her to the United Sanctuary on his own dragon (much to her reluctance). For her part, she managed to explain the entire situation to Ishida better than Kai could, leaving only because she had her own duties as Vanguard to attend to back in the Holy City. And, of course, Ishida had been obstinate about a United Sanctuary Vanguard telling him what to do, but took it deeply to heart when she told him all he needed to do was talk to Aichi.

And oh, did he talk.

Kai let him finish some harrowing tale of being lost in the desert with no water and finding his way home only when he stumbled upon a dry creek bed and crawled his way back to a Nubatama outpost. Before he could start up on something else, Kai interrupted him.

“Ishida.”

Ishida looked up. “Eh? Oh, it’s you.”

Kai clicked his tongue. His tail flicked impatiently. “Interesting way to speak to the Overlord of Kagero.”

“You ain’t my Vanguard,” Ishida muttered. 

Choosing to ignore this, Kai crossed his arms. “Did you even go to sleep last night?”

Ishida yawned reflexively. “Nah, I only sleep during the day when it’s hot out so I can be out when it’s cool. It’s hard being human in the Narukami clan.”

“It’s day. You should sleep.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Ishida climbed to his feet, stretching. “The boss lady said something real weird yesterday.”

Kai grunted.

“She said this guy was dreaming about us, but like, in a different world.”

“Yeah.”

“So if that’s the case, is this other world real or is he dreaming it all up? An’ are you dreaming the same world that he is? An’ if you are, how?”

Kai watched Aichi’s shallow breathing for a moment, pondering the question. What was Aichi truly dreaming? Was he also imagining some world where some of the most important people on Cray were just a bunch of schoolchildren who liked to play card games? And why would Kai dream the same thing, if he had never met Aichi before this month?

He shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said finally. He gestured toward the door. “Nehalem will escort you to your guest chambers.”

“Yeah, okay.” Ishida pulled open the door and turned back to Kai. “I’ll come back when I wake up.”

Kai waved his hand vaguely as the door closed and sat in the chair Ishida had vacated, scooting it closer to Aichi’s bed. Close up, Aichi looked ill. His face was pale and gaunt, and he had visibly lost weight. The Angels had left instructions on how to give Aichi nutrients that he couldn’t get through liquids alone, yet he was still lacking adequate food to maintain his already small frame. How long would he last like this? 

“You have to wake up, Sendou Aichi.” 

No response, of course.

With a growl, Kai leaned forward. “I hate these dreams. You may think your dream is a reality but I--I hate it. That’s not me, it’s not my reality and it’s not yours. Wake up, Sendou Aichi. Free yourself, and free me from these dreams.”

But Aichi kept sleeping.

Kai was half-asleep when Miwa's voice snapped him fully back to reality.

"We've got visitors."

From the strain in his voice, the visitors could only be from one place, and Kai barely had time to get to his feet before Ahmes pushed past Miwa into the room and strode toward Aichi's bed; behind him, a smaller Paladin with a book tucked under their arm sidestepped both Nehalem and Miwa into the room. Kai stepped between Aichi's sleeping figure and Ahmes, who looked, for the first time Kai could remember, furious.

"Out of my way, Overlord."

"He's resting," Kai said tersely.

Ahmes's mouth tightened. "He's not resting, he's unconscious . How long did you think you would keep this a secret from King Alfred?"

"I have it under control."

"You summoned Angel Feather to cover this up," the sage interjected. "Did you think their Vanguard wouldn't tell us that our Vanguard was on the brink of death while under the watch of the Kagero clan?"

Suiko didn’t have strong feelings one way or another toward the Royal Paladins, but Kai could imagine the chain linking Suiko to her half-sister Kourin to Ahmes. If Kourin had asked Suiko about Aichi, Suiko would have told her. He was almost surprised that this game of courier didn’t end up with someone mistaking Aichi for dead. "I summoned Angel Feathers precisely because that is what Alfred would have done in my situation." Kai crossed his arms. "I told you, I have it under control."

"You--" the sage began before Ahmes cut them off with a simple wave of his hand.

"Enough, Marron. Kai Toshiki, we will take back our Vanguard now."

Two months ago, Kai would have allowed the Royal Paladins to take one of their own back to the Holy City with them. His own clan had enough to deal with without tending to the fragile body of a dying knight. But Aichi was different; he had a spirit that Kai had never seen before, determination and drive and patience and skill, and Kai was fascinated by him.

Not to mention those strange dreams he had since Aichi had fallen unconscious where they were closer than Kai could ever imagine being with another person. He wanted, no, needed to know what had happened to Aichi, if only to understand what was happening to himself. 

"You will not."

The silence that followed was such that Kai could hear a fly buzz by the window.

“I will,” Ahmes said after fifteen seconds, “and if you try to stop me, I will take that as a declaration of war.”

“Neither of us want that, Blaster Blade.”

“Then turn him over to us, Overlord.”

Miwa tugged on Kai’s robes, intent clear. He’s not worth war, Kai. 

Kai’s father had warred for far less, but Kai didn’t relish the never-ending bloodshed the way the dragon emperor had. No Royal Paladin’s life was worth going to war over in Kai’s mind.

Or it had been so in his mind, until he’d met Aichi.

“If I wanted him dead, he would be dead,” Kai said in a low voice. 

“Is that supposed to make me feel less like ending you?” Ahmes’s voice was anything but low. 

“Don’t threaten our Vanguard,” Miwa warned, tone clipped. 

“Like you’re not threatening ours?” the sage said indignantly. 

Ahmes whispered something to them, shaking his head, and they frowned but fell silent. 

Kai gestured toward the door. “We have a meeting room for Vanguards, as you know. I would like to discuss this alone with you, Blaster Blade.”

He could imagine Miwa’s frown mirroring the sage’s, deep and irritated. 

“I will not meet with you alone, Overlord.”

“Fine.” Kai held his hands out, palms up in what he hoped appeared placating. He had to be diplomatic. Ahmes knew it, too, because he narrowed his eyes at Kai. “We can all go together, then. You can have someone stay behind and watch over Sendou Aichi, if it concerns you that much.”

Perhaps the last bit was better left unsaid, he mused, watching a muscle twitch in Ahmes’s face.

They maintained unblinking eye contact for what seemed an eternity before Ahmes gestured rigidly toward the door. 

Kai allowed himself a tiny exhale and swept past the Paladins, Miwa close on his heels.

The Paladins came and went, sometimes spending only a few minutes at their Vanguard’s side and sometimes staying nearby for hours at a time; this was a concession made by his own Vanguard to keep the Paladins, and their Vanguard, under his watch. There was no point, as Nehalem saw it, to their insistence on “keeping Aichi company” or just wanting to “talk to him.” The Vanguard was completely unresponsive, and no amount of idle chit-chat would change that. Nehalem didn’t question them. It wasn’t his business, and besides, all he was assigned to do was act as a sentry and prevent more than one person from entering the room at any given time, a concession made by the Paladins to appease the Overlord. A simple, mind-numbingly dull task, to watch over a comatose enemy soldier, but it meant a great deal to his own Vanguard, and so he would do it dutifully and without complaint. 

It was the little sage’s turn today to sit by their Vanguard’s side. They were young and quiet, though not timid by any means, and had a habit of humming while turning the pages of their book; Nehalem watched from outside the open door, leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed. 

“I wonder if I might be able to lift the height magic,” they mused, tapping their chin. “The door frames and rooms are much bigger here than back home, so I might be more comfortable…” They hummed again as they flipped through their book. “Though I wonder if they might see it as an act of aggression, what with--”

“What are you?”

They jumped, nearly dropping their book. “Wh-what a rude question!” They adjusted their red-framed glasses and brushed imaginary dirt from their spotless robes as they turned their flushed face toward Nehalem. “Do the guards in this godforsaken empire believe in privacy?”

“No,” Nehalem said bluntly, “as most of us are not human.”

They muttered something under their breath and snapped the book shut. “Are you ?”

“Yes.”

“And yet you don’t care about letting people you don’t even know have quiet time with their loved ones without interrupting with rude personal questions?”

“No.”

They stared at him for a moment, frowning deeply, before standing. Nearly a head shorter than Nehalem, with feathery blond hair and a round face, they looked little older than a young adult, yet there were lines and shadows under their bright blue eyes that indicated experience, and he suspected they were much older than they appeared at first glance. Nehalem maintained eye contact, unblinking, waiting for this little mage to speak first.

“What’s your name?”

This kind of personal chatter was unfamiliar to Nehalem; the other dragon knights were near silent, sullen, and that was fine. Nehalem had his dragons, and there was no need to become attached to other knights who would likely end up dead on the battlefield. “Nehalem,” he answered in spite of himself; there was no reason to continue talking with this Paladin, yet this kind of mindless curiosity was harmless.

They repeated the name, quietly. “I’m Marron.”

Normally, Nehalem wouldn’t probe further, and wouldn’t even initiate more conversation, but Marron had failed to answer his first question. “What are you?” he repeated.

Marron scoffed and slumped back in their chair. “I thought we were getting somewhere.”

“It’s not a difficult question to answer.”

Instead of answering, Marron opened their book to a random page and peered over it at their sleeping Vanguard. Nehalem shrugged and resumed his watch over the empty, cavernous hallway, while still leaning against the door frame. 

“I’m a giant.”

If Nehalem had ever experienced mirth at any point in his three decades of life, he would have laughed. But he didn’t, because he didn’t know how to. “Excuse me?”

“A giant.” Marron held their hand over their head, as if to indicate great height. In reality, their hand reached barely high enough to have pet the top of Nehalem’s head had they been standing next to each other. 

“Okay.”

“I use height magic to shrink myself,” Marron explained, correctly identifying Nehalem’s skepticism. “I’m too big for the Holy City’s tiny hallways and doors.”

Nehalem had heard rumors that a giant in the Shadow Paladin clan often took the form of a smaller being to avoid being detected, so maybe it wasn’t so farfetched. For a moment, he entertained the idea of asking how such magic worked, but it wasn’t really his business, either. He returned to his watch.

Marron continued to talk to their Vanguard, discussing theories of magic and goings-on in the Holy City, all while flipping through their book. After another half hour of this pointless chatter, Nehalem glanced back into the room, where Marron caught him staring at them and frowned. 

“Is there an issue, Nehalem?” they asked curtly.

“Why do you care so much about him?”

Marron frowned. “He’s our Vanguard,” they said as though it were the most obvious answer in the world. “Wouldn’t you worry if it were your Vanguard in this situation?”

Even in Nehalem’s comparatively short thirty years of life, he had witnessed more than one other clan’s Vanguard fall in battle. The clans mourned their loss and moved on, choosing a new Vanguard to lead them to prosperity. Yet, the Royal Paladins seemed stuck on Sendou Aichi, refusing not only to search for a new leader, but halting their preparations for battle against an unknown enemy in order to stay by his side.

It was irrational.

“The Vanguard is the one who leads their clan in battle,” he said at last. “It is not unreasonable to expect that war will cost clans their Vanguards.”

“This isn’t war.” Marron narrowed their eyes at Nehalem. “This is a, an illness, an infirmity. And he isn’t dead. We love our Vanguard. He is kind and patient and brave. Do you not love your Vanguard?”

Love? It wasn’t a concept Nehalem understood. Here, in the harsh deserts of the Dragon Empire, getting too attached to any person or creature could cost someone their life. “I respect him.”

“Would you die for him?”

This little sage was starting to grate Nehalem’s nerves. “Life here isn’t the same as life back in your cushy Sanctuary, Paladin. Survival is the only thing that matters. If our Vanguard falls, we will simply appoint another.”

Marron’s eyes softened behind their red-framed glasses as they surveyed Nehalem. “You speak as though you consider your Vanguard disposable.”

“He is only one man.”

“What a sad life it must be here,” Marron murmured, placing their hand on their book as they gazed at their Vanguard’s sleeping face. “I can’t imagine not being able to feel love for those close to me.”

Nehalem had nothing more to say to this, and returned to his post. 

Irrational, he thought again, how anyone would put one life so far above their own.

Chapter Text

Kourin stood outside the room where Alfred and Suiko spoke in private. She assumed Alfred wanted to talk to Suiko about Aichi -- the fact that the Overlord had summoned Suiko to the Dragon Empire was a well-known fact throughout the Royal Paladin corps at this point -- but Alfred wouldn’t let Kourin in to listen. He wouldn’t let her go to the Dragon Empire, either; she was relegated to the useless tasks of playing the messenger and standing outside the door. 

She scowled, arms crossed. 

“Your face will freeze that way, you know,” a bemused voice called out from nearby, and Kourin glanced up to see Misaki strolling down the hall, dressed today in a black and red kimono. 

Kourin’s scowl deepened. “I’m third in authority within the Jewel Knights and I’m being treated like a new recruit.”

Misaki stopped next to Kourin, tilting her head. “You’re too hot-headed to go to the Empire.”

“That’s what King Alfred said.”

“Well,” Misaki said, a smile creeping over her face, “there’s your explanation.”

Kourin huffed.

“At any rate,” Misaki continued, tucking an errant strand of hair behind Kourin’s ear, “such a look of bitterness doesn’t suit a beautiful woman.”

“If you were a man, I’d have you pinned to the ground under my boot for that comment,” Kourin replied, but she allowed her facial muscles to relax, just a bit. 

“Lucky me.” Misaki reached down to take Kourin’s hand in both of hers. The smile on her face turned contemplative; Kourin stared at their hands and allowed herself a small smile in return. “I know how frustrated you are.”

“I’m worried.”

“I know.”

Kourin placed her free hand over Misaki’s. “I’m sorry for being so grumpy.”

“Just have faith, Kourin.” Misaki squeezed her hand. “I believe everything will work out.”

“I truly pray you’re right.” Kourin lifted their hands between their faces, pressing her lips to Misaki’s knuckles. In truth, she was worried about more than Aichi; she worried that when the Void came, they would be ill-prepared to defend Cray against it. And in that moment, she feared for Misaki’s safety, too. Misaki was a tactician, not a warrior, and the Void would certainly target her. 

“I’ll be safe in your hands, Kourin.” Misaki gave her a reassuring smile. “I trust you to look after me.”

“I will,” Kourin whispered. 

Misaki let her hands fall to her side. “I believe it is my turn to speak with the king.”

No sooner had she spoken these words than the door opened and her half-sister Suiko stepped out, dressed today in a scandalously short dress and knee-high boots. Kourin eyed the outfit distastefully as Misaki and Suiko exchanged brief pleasantries before Misaki closed the door behind her. 

“Kourin.”

“Suiko.”

“You look like you shoved a whole lemon in your mouth at once,” Suiko remarked, tapping her finger to her chin.

“I can’t believe you wore such a thing to an audience with the king.” 

“What, this?” Suiko looked down at herself. “Mm, I guess it is a bit short.”

“Is Aichi all right?”

“Physically?” Suiko shrugged, hands on her hips. “It’ll take some time to get his strength back if he wakes up.”

“If,” Kourin repeated, eyes narrowed. “You mean when.”

“Nothing is absolute when it comes to a man’s health, Kourin.”

The Angels were maddeningly neutral on most issues. Even something as consequential as a Vanguard falling into what Kourin gathered was some kind of weeks-long coma seemed to be nothing more pressing than a medical puzzle to be solved. 

“You have to save my Vanguard, Suiko.”

Suiko sighed, shaking her head. “Kourin, I have done everything our medical technology can . The rest, I believe, is up to Sendou Aichi.” She gave Kourin a barely perceptible curtsy before she turned on her heel, stretched out her wings, and swept herself away.

No one who valued their life in the Dragon Empire dared to raise their voice to the Overlord, but the Royal Paladins felt pretty daring as they met with Kai in the Vanguard audience chamber to discuss Aichi. Or, rather, Kai sat in his high-backed chair by the fire with head propped up against his fist and his tail flicking in irritation against the stone hearth as the Paladins yelled at him.

He let Blaster Blade rail against him for negligence and keeping secrets, the little sage berated him for breach of trust, and even the Solitary Knight Gancelot had a go (in a rather soft voice) about sabotage. Each time Miwa started to object, Kai held out a hand to silence him. He wanted to let them have their say.

The threat of war came up more than once. But with Kai thinking about it every waking moment for the past month, he decided to take a gamble on a temporary solution. 

“If there is an outside force preparing to invade Cray, do you really have the luxury of depleting your resources through war with the Empire?”

Surely, the thought had crossed Ahmes’s mind at some point, but it only seemed to sink in as he and Kai made eye contact. 

In the end, Kai managed to keep the peace through a weary promise to allow the Paladins to take Aichi back to the United Sanctuary, and the weight on his shoulders lifted. For now. 

He exhaled as the door slammed closed behind them and buried his face in the palms of his hands. 

“What now?” Miwa’s voice was strained. 

“I don’t know.” 

“You really think it’s best to send him back?”

Kai didn’t really know why he had been so adamant about keeping Aichi here. Maybe all of this could have been avoided if he had just contacted the Paladins from the beginning; maybe they could have woken him up by now if they had just known about his condition. Maybe if he hadn’t been hung up on this idea that Aichi was somehow connected to him the way Blaster Blade had been to his father...

“I don’t know,” he said again, “but it’s the only choice we have left.”

Aichi’s mother answered the door, giving him an oddly insincere smile. “Oh, Toshiki-kun. Is Aichi expecting you?”

Aichi hadn’t shown up to school that day, according to Ishida, didn’t show up to Card Capital, and wouldn’t answer his phone. It wasn’t like him at all to leave his friends in the dark if something was wrong. “No,” Kai said quietly, “but I was worried about him.”

“I see.” She stood back, waving him in. “He’s not feeling well, he says. He won’t leave his room. Maybe you'll have more luck."

Kai nodded mutely and made his way upstairs. When he knocked at Aichi's door, he was met with a quiet “I’m fine, Mom” from inside.

“It’s me,” Kai said, placing the palm of his hand against the door. “Can… can I come in?”

A moment of silence, followed by muffled footsteps, and Aichi opened the door a crack.

“Kai-kun… what are…”

“Aichi, I was worried, you wouldn’t answer the-- have you been crying?”

Aichi’s cheeks and nose were splotchy, and his eyes were red. He hastily wiped at his face with the sleeve of his sweater. “I--”

Before Kai could say another word, Aichi had thrown himself into Kai’s chest, gripping at Kai’s shirt with all the desperation of someone clinging to a life raft at sea. His sobs were muffled by the shirt, but his body shook uncontrollably.

Kai held Aichi tightly, murmuring words of reassurance-- I’m here, I’m here --and closed the door with his foot. 

“I, I couldn’t sleep last night,” Aichi whispered through his sobbing. 

“Are you feeling sick?” Kai leaned back enough to place his hand on Aichi’s forehead. It was warm, but not overwhelmingly so. 

“I don’t know. I--I kept hearing something last night.”

Kai wrapped his arms around Aichi’s waist and led him to the bed. Aichi sat, legs shaking. “Outside?”

Aichi shook his head. “No... “ He looked away, sniffling. “Voices. In… in my head.”

That Aichi was hearing voices that weren’t there should have alarmed Kai more. Yet he felt almost relaxed, guiltily so, as though this was a normal occurrence and not something that was clearly affecting Aichi deeply. 

“I told my mom I wasn’t feeling well, and she let me stay home, but… when I tried to sleep, I--”

Kai spotted a glass of water on Aichi’s desk and got up to get it; Aichi was surely dehydrated from the crying. Aichi grabbed Kai’s hand. “Kai-kun, I keep hearing them every time I try to sleep.”

Kai squeezed Aichi’s hand reassuringly. “What are they saying, Aichi?”

“Come back.”

“Come back, where?”

Aichi shook his head, burying his face in his hands again. “I don’t know. I don’t know. They sound familiar, but I don’t know why. They keep telling me to come back. I’m scared, Kai-kun, what if--”

Kai took Aichi in his arms, holding him close as Aichi cried, stroking Aichi’s hair and back as soothingly as he knew how. “You’re here with me, Aichi. Wh-where you should be.” He cursed the stutter in his voice, but Aichi held him tighter in return.

“Will you stay here, by my side?” Aichi whispered. 

“Of course I will.” Kai helped Aichi lie down on the bed, curling up next to him with their heads sharing the pillow. Aichi’s hand continued to grip Kai’s shirt. “Sleep, Aichi.”

“Will you be here when I wake up?”

“Yes.” Kai stroked Aichi’s face. His chest hurt, seeing how much pain Aichi was in. Yet, Aichi relaxed against his touch. “When you wake, you’ll be with me. Just like you’re supposed to be.”

The whisper of his name was barely audible, but it was enough to pull Kai out of his uneasy dream. He had gone to Aichi’s room in the middle of the night, unable to sleep in his bed, and had fallen asleep instead in that uncomfortable chair. 

He blinked against the dimness in the room; the light of the moons was the only source of light. Yet his sight in the darkness was strong, and he could see Aichi lying in the bed, looking right at him.

They stared at each other, seemingly with the same level of confusion on each of their faces, until Kai slowly straightened up.

“A-Aichi?”

“Kai?”

Face scrunched, Aichi glanced past Kai toward the window. “I didn’t… miss training, did I?”

The question was so absurd, so innocently oblivious, that Kai might have laughed if the circumstances behind it had been less stressful. Instead, he shook his head slowly and took a deep breath.

“Aichi, you’ve been unconscious for over a month.”

The look of confusion on Aichi’s face deepened as he struggled to push himself to a sitting position. His arms shook with the effort, and Kai eventually stood up to help Aichi prop himself against his pillows. 

“I--A month?”

Kai nodded, straightening up once he was satisfied that Aichi was comfortable. Relief was starting to set in. Aichi was awake. He was finally awake. “Do you remember anything?”

“Um…” Aichi placed a hand to his head, face scrunched up in thought. “I was really tired after that training. You and Miwa helped me get here, and then… I just woke up.”

“Did you have a dream?” Kai pressed, heart pounding. He had to know if Aichi was having the same dreams he had, those maddeningly intimate dreams that haunted Kai so frequently since Aichi fell unconscious. 

“Yeah…” Aichi’s voice trailed off as he looked at Kai and looked away in quick succession. He fidgeted with the sheets. “Um, I was a teenager and... “ He cleared his throat. “A long time ago, Marron, one of the best tacticians in the United Sanctuary, told me that there were tales of another world like this one, called--”

“Planet E,” Kai whispered, heart sinking. 

Aichi looked up, startled. “Y-yeah, how--”

“Doesn’t matter.” He stood. The mention of the little sage reminded Kai of one of his most pressing issues at present. “Your friends from the Holy City are here,” he said, turning to go. “I’ll go get them.”

“Wait… Kai.”

Aichi caught the edge of Kai’s sleeve between two fingers. It would have taken no energy at all to pull free, but his intention to leave was predicated on the belief that Aichi would want to let Ahmes and the others know that he was now awake and well. If Aichi had something to say to Kai, away from the other Royal Paladins, then Kai would listen.

“I doubt Blaster Blade would be happy if he knew you would rather talk to me than let him know you’re not dead,” Kai warned.

Aichi laughed weakly, his hand flopping back onto the bed. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve made him worry.” The half-smile faded as Kai sat on the side of the bed, facing him. “I’m, I’m sorry for making you worry, too.”

Only Aichi would apologize for being unconscious for six weeks. “What makes you think I was worried?”

“Hmm.” Aichi looked away and smiled again at his hand, which was now absently picking at the bedsheet. “You fell asleep in that chair, right? It couldn’t have been comfortable…”

Kai growled, a rumble in the back of his throat that Aichi didn’t seem to notice or chose to ignore. Yet he couldn’t deny it; he had slept here, agonizing over every possible reason Aichi had been completely unresponsive even to the technologies of the Oracles and the Angel Feathers. And in that time, as he watched treatment after treatment fail, he had begun to feel more than panic well in him that the Vanguard of the Royal Paladins was dying on his watch. Then, he hadn’t understood the deep sadness in his heart. Sorrow was an emotion he hadn’t known in many years. But this, now, looking down at Aichi’s gentle, shy smile, he felt something else entirely, and it was unlike anything he had ever known before.

“When I found you unconscious in your room, I was concerned that the Royal Paladins would think I harmed you and declare it an act of war.” 

Aichi looked up. Kai looked away. 

“But you didn’t do anything.”

“That’s not how Ahmes saw it.”

Aichi sighed. “He’s always been overprotective of me. He’s kind of like, a surrogate father, I guess, since…” He shrugged. “I’m sorry again, for causing so much trouble.”

Kai nodded stiffly. “I’ll send for the Royal Paladins, and some food.”

“Thank you,” Aichi said, and Kai left the room, slamming the door behind him.

The night was every bit as hot as it had been during Aichi’s first night in the Dragon Empire. This time, though, he wore his boots and walked slowly out to the fountain where Kai sat, trailing his gold and red hand through the toxic water. 

Aichi sat on the bench and waited. 

The other Royal Paladins hadn’t let him out of their sight since sunrise, smothering him with questions and hugs and food and water, and the whole thing just made Aichi more tired. Late in the evening, Aichi had seen Kai leave the palace through his bedroom window and chose to follow, despite Marron’s objections. 

Something bothered him terribly, and he needed to get it off his chest.

“I’ve decided that I’m not going to participate in your war councils,” Kai said finally, pulling his hand from the water. 

“Why?” Aichi blurted out. “Cray is your home too--”

“I’m aware.” 

Maybe it was just Aichi’s imagination, but Kai seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him.

“Then--”

“If the Dragon Empire is invaded, we will protect our home. I simply have no desire to plan for a war I know nothing about.”

He spoke with a finality that told Aichi in no uncertain terms that his mind was made up. But if Aichi didn’t try, then he had already failed. The Dragon Empire was such a strong force that there was no way to hold off the Void without their help. And Ahmes had told him that they had secured the assistance of the Aqua Force navy, as well as the Dark Zone clans and--most surprisingly--the Shadow Paladins. Kai knew this; Ahmes had told him. Yet Kai wouldn’t help. Was it all for nothing, in the end?

“I don’t believe that’s your only reasoning.”

“Believe what you want.” Kai stood, crossing his arms. He glanced up at the sky where the celestial bodies hung low on the horizon and the stars twinkled against a purple backdrop. The night sky was more beautiful here than back home, Aichi thought. “I will not change my mind. I’ve had weeks to think this through.”

Aichi felt a twinge of guilt. Had he not been out of commission for so long, would Kai have come to a different conclusion? Had Kai determined that Aichi’s weakness was a contributing factor to his decision not to help? 

But then, Aichi had his own reasons for believing that Kai, under his indifferent attitude, would be willing to lend his hand. 

“I--” Aichi hesitated. “I wanted to tell you something.”

“Fine.”

Aichi licked his dry lips. Oh, where should he even start.

Kai made no movement as Aichi told him about the dream he had over those weeks. That life where he was a teenager on Planet E, and so was Kai, and Miwa and Tokura Misaki and even that Narukami warrior he briefly met only today yet whose voice was familiar. That life where they went to school and played a card game and had completely normal, peaceful lives. 

But he couldn’t bring himself to include the part of it that had the greatest impact. 

“I thought it was real, that life. All my memories of this life were hazy, like a weird dream.” Aichi looked at his hands. “Everyone that was in that life was so different in a lot of ways, but… the same, in others.”

“That was the dream,” Kai said stiffly. “That wasn’t another life. It was a long, long dream.”

“How do I know?” The question had plagued Aichi since waking. That life of his, was it really a falsehood? It felt real, it felt so real. One of his lives was a dream, the other was his reality, and he had no idea which was which. 

He slumped forward, head in his hands. 

Kai pulled his hand out of the water and moved to sit next to Aichi on the bench, his claw gripping Aichi’s wrist. “Was it idyllic, that dream?”

A calm life, free of war and pain, filled with friends and family, his mother and sister safe at home and not miles away in another country for their safety. A life of disappointments and confusion, but also of happiness and love. A good life. 

A life he had yearned for. 

“Yes,” he whispered.

Kai let go of his wrist, seemingly satisfied. “Life isn’t idyllic. Dreams are. That was the dream.”

“You were in that… that dream.” Aichi stared at the ground. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Kai, because his memories of the other Kai… 

Soft human hands, gentle as they hold Aichi’s; playing a game of cards, surrounded by friends as they laughed; cooking a meal as Aichi makes a mess of the garlic before Kai guides his hands in the proper way to mince it; a shy smile leaning close, hesitating just inches from Aichi’s own, waiting for permission; his soft lips, parting for Aichi, leaning his lanky body into his pillow, their arms around the other’s body, deeper, deeper--

He shifted, clenching his fists. He hated this, hated having such a connection to a boy in another life while his Cray counterpart sat motionless on this bench without a trace of human affection, not even fully human. 

It wasn’t fair, that he couldn’t have them both, but then, maybe he was just selfish. 

Kai smiled wryly. “Your mind created a fantasy version of me while you were asleep.”

“It wasn’t a fantasy!” Aichi didn’t look at him, though his voice rose. His face was hot, and not because of the climate. “It was, is real. You were-- he was real. He is real.” 

He was being stubborn, an uncharacteristic quality, to be sure. But he was right, he knew it, and he needed Kai to know it, to recognize it, to understand it. 

“It’s not possible.” Kai shook his head. “There’s not another world where some other version of us lives--”

“There is!” This time, Aichi turned to him. “Kai, please listen.”

Kai held out his hands as if to say go ahead, then.

Aichi took a deep breath, using the time to determine how much of his life as timid schoolboy Sendou Aichi he would share with the half-dragon lord Kai Toshiki. After all, Kai’s fully human counterpart was hard to draw out of his shell, but he was still gentler, more reserved, and--

May as well get to the point.

“Our other selves, they played a game called Vanguard. You-- Kai introduced it to me, my other self. It gave me-- him, us, confidence. We were friends and rivals and--” The lump in his chest was almost painful as he felt the ghost of Kai’s hands on his face and shoulders and hips. He forced himself to finish. “He meant everything to, to him. To the other-- to me.”

Kai sighed and stood up. “It was a dream, Aichi.” He shook his head again and began to walk away. Aichi stood up and, without thinking, grabbed Kai’s hand. 

The top of his hand, covered in scales, was rough, but the palm of his hand was smooth, a feeling not unlike one Aichi had known in his other life. Kai stared at their connected hands, a barely perceptive frown on his lips. 

“Please, Kai.” Aichi’s eyes watered, and he cursed his timidity. “I was, he was…” 

Which is it?

“I loved you.”

Kai’s face was impassive, save for the visible paling of his skin beneath the scales. “Excuse me?”

Aichi couldn’t say it again, so he let go of Kai’s hand and walked past him without looking back. “We’re leaving now, while the night is cool. Good-bye, Kai. I’m sorry you won’t help us fight the Void, but thank you for looking out for me anyway.”

He walked away as quickly as he could, praying that he would look confident in Kai’s eyes and not like a child running away, like a warrior of the United Sanctuary and not like a heartbroken fool who didn’t even know who he was anymore.

Chapter Text

Kai pulled back the heavy curtains concealing his bedroom window, letting the light from the distant celestial bodies hanging low on Cray’s horizon shine through. Behind him, Miwa lounged on the bed, already dressed in his warm night clothes. 

“After all that, you’re just letting him go, huh?”

Kai leaned his head against the window as he watched the Paladins disappear into the night. The glass was cool against his skin. “It’s not my war.”

“It’s not,” Miwa agreed, “but are you content with it only being his?”

“He’s dragging other clans into it. It’s not his alone.”

Instead of answering, Miwa hummed and joined Kai by the window, staring at Kai’s face rather than into the dark night. “What did he say to you?”

They stared at each other, Kai searching Miwa’s face for a hint of shrewdness that accompanied Miwa’s jests. He found nothing but intensity.

“Noth--”

“Uh-uh, what did he say, Kai?” Miwa grabbed Kai’s upper arm. 

Out of anyone in the Empire, and perhaps the entirety of Cray, Miwa knew Kai the best. Maybe there wasn’t a point in hiding this from him after all.

I had a dream.

Oh? That’s unusual. What about?

I was human.

“He told me he was… living in a world similar to this, but as a human.”

Miwa lifted an eyebrow. “He kind of is human , Kai.”

“Not like a Paladin or a warrior. He was, I don’t know.” He regretted entertaining this conversation, because Miwa would draw the parallels instantly. “I was in his dream, too. That’s what he said. As a human.”

Sure enough, realization dawned on Miwa’s face. “Oh.”

Kai swallowed. “In his dream, we were… close.”

He didn’t need to elaborate. Miwa’s slow exhale told him that Miwa understood perfectly what Kai meant by close.

“Oh, Kai,” he murmured.

“I don’t know what to do, Miwa.” He hated admitting his own weaknesses, but he didn’t have much of a choice. “I don’t want him to get attached to me the way he did… that other Kai.”

“Is that why you’ve chosen to stay out of this?”

It was one reason. But even before Aichi’s startling confession, Kai had doubted his place in any war council comprising nearly every other clan on Cray. He could never measure up to the mere presence his father had compared to the other Vanguards. Not that he would ever admit this out loud, even if Miwa probably already knew.

“Neither of us have slept much these past few weeks,” Kai murmured, ignoring Miwa’s sigh. “I am going to rest, and so should you.”

It was not a suggestion.

“Okay,” Miwa said quietly. “Good night, Kai.”

When the door closed, Kai let out a sigh of his own and leaned his head on the window once more, staring westward toward the United Sanctuary.

Every three hours, like clockwork, a healer would enter his room and check his pulse, his eyes, his ears, and his breathing. This routine happened every day for three weeks. It was embarrassing, being treated like someone sickly and fragile, but Elaine explained the reasoning as she held him by the wrist and checked his heartbeat. 

“King Alfred wants to make sure that you remain in good health.”

He felt fine, albeit a bit weak and hungry, but that was to be expected given that he had apparently been in a coma for a month. As the Vanguard, he held a great deal of authority, but the king firmly refused to let Aichi overextend himself, so he put up with this with no verbal complaints. 

During the mornings, he trained with the knights -- a workout that, though not as strenuous as the one in the Dragon Empire, still tired him out quickly, though he regained his strength more and more each day -- and in the afternoons he worked on strategies with Marron. The surprising ease with which the Shadow Paladins, Pale Moon, and Dark Irregulars agreed to join the cause made the planning process easier, but Aichi couldn’t help but feel a constant guilt gnawing at him every time he looked at the map and remembered why the Dragon Empire wasn’t going to help, too. Ahmes had given him a stack of letters he had written while in the Dark Zone, detailing the experience. He had worked hard to gain the alliance of Suzugamori Ren, and Aichi couldn’t even secure Kai’s help. 

Sleeping was hard now, a combination of fear that he would slip into unconsciousness again and of a desire to forget everything he’d dreamed about in the first place. When he did sleep, he often had nightmares of shapeless shadows converging on Planet E. A few times in the weeks since he had been back in the Holy City, he had woken up in a screaming panic that had summoned Marron from the nearby library. These situations, where Marron would coax Aichi back to sleep by stroking his hair and murmuring soothing words, only heightened Aichi’s embarrassment and shame. The last such incident had been three days ago, and Marron had barely let Aichi out of their sight since. 

"My Vanguard? Are you paying attention?"

Aichi was forced back to reality when Marron leaned close, placing their hand on Aichi’s forehead. 

"Eh? I'm fine, I'm f-"

"You look pale again. Let me get you some water."

"I said I'm fine." Aichi frowned, shaking off Marron’s hand. 

"You haven't responded to any of my questions." Marron peered sternly at Aichi over their red-framed glasses. Aichi looked away. "Let's take a break.”

“No.” Aichi looked down at his notes. His handwriting had gotten progressively worse from the start of their session, to the point where he could barely make out some of the characters. “The meeting is in two weeks, I…” He trailed off as he noticed some of his notes were written with characters that did not exist on Cray. 

Marron seemed to notice, too. But to their credit, they simply pursed their lips at the papers and placed a hand on Aichi’s. “My Vanguard, forcing yourself to do this isn’t going to accomplish anything. You’re anxious, I think.” They pulled on Aichi’s hands until he stood. “Let’s go… pet some dogs. Akane would be pleased to see you.”

Aichi wanted to say no. But the thought of playing with some of Akane’s high beasts was appealing. There were no such opportunities in the Dragon Empire. And besides, there were two weeks remaining until the other Vanguards arrived for their meeting. He could justify relaxing for an hour or two.

“Okay,” he said, and Marron smiled.

Akane was in the middle of a complicated-looking routine with Wingal, involving a sword and a tall platform. As Aichi walked in, Wingal had leapt some eight feet off the ground, grabbed a sword from mid-air in his mouth, and was about to land on the platform before he caught sight of Aichi and Marron and promptly smacked himself face-first into the side of the platform. Marron groaned, shaking their head; Akane blew her whistle in irritation. But Wingal ignored her as he fell to the ground, dropped the sword, yelled “Aichi!” and barreled toward him as though he hadn’t seen him that morning at breakfast. 

Much to Akane’s chagrin, several of the other high beasts in the training court rushed over, all clamoring for Aichi to pet them. He obliged; the feeling of their soft, well-kept fur in his fingers, the sensation of their wet noses bumping his hands and face, and the comfort of their weight against him… relaxed him more than he had been in months. 

He caught Marron’s eye and smiled, which Marron returned. 

“My Vanguard, I am pleased to see you.” Akane snapped her fingers and some of the dogs moved away enough for her to kneel next to him. “Are you well?”

“Yes, I’m feeling much better.” Aichi found that he meant it, now. “How’s your training?”

Akane huffed in Wingal’s direction. “This one keeps getting distracted.”

“It’s hard to balance midair with a sword in your mouth, you know!” 

“What are you training to do?” Aichi asked. 

“We’re trying to land gracefully at about the height of Marron’s shoulders when they’re normal sized.” Akane blew at a strand of hair in her face. “Maybe practicing with Marron will work better.”

“Oh no,” Marron said sharply, hands on their hips, “Wingal isn’t jumping anywhere near my shoulders with a sword in his mouth.”

They bickered back and forth for a while, and Aichi took their distraction as an opportunity to play with the other high beasts. By the end of their session, he was feeling much better, physically and mentally. He was able to eat a full meal without feeling ill, and before going to sleep, he managed to squeeze in some productive studying. For the first time in many weeks, he truly felt at ease. 

The sky was dark, with an ominous red tint to it that certainly had something to do with the massive red ring hanging low over the Tatsunagi building. Gates, to allow the power of Link Joker through to Earth, had cropped up all over the city, preceding countless horrible fights and Reversals of everyone Aichi had ever cared about.

This was the last one remaining. 

He stepped onto the rooftop. A chill in the air made the hairs on the back of his arms stand up, despite the warm weather. On the far end of the roof, someone sat hunched over themselves, shaking uncontrollably, with their hands covering their ears.

“Kai-kun--” he began, starting forward.

“No.” 

The harshness of the voice froze Aichi in his steps. 

“Don’t come near me.”

“Kai-kun, I--”

“I said stay where you are!”

Aichi hugged himself tightly, his breaths quick and stuttered with the effort not to cry. Kai had turned his head at last, revealing a dark expression and the telltale red marks of the Reverse coming from his eyes like streaks of bloody tears. 

“Not you, too.” His voice was pleading, willing Kai to reassure him that this was all some kind of misunderstanding. Some kind of horrible nightmare.

“I was the first,” Kai said to his hands. “It told me I wasn’t strong enough… I believed it.”

“Strong enough for what?”

“To protect you.”

Blood pounded in Aichi’s ears. Kai, who had taught Aichi that strength came from within and not from some external power, had given in to this…

His shaking legs gave out and he fell to his knees. The impact of the concrete hurt, but his mind was racing too much to pay it much mind. After everything… 

“It’s okay,” he whispered, placing his hands on the rooftop. “It’s--”

“Stop saying it’s okay!” Kai’s voice was high and broken, the hint of a sob punctuating the last syllable. “It’s not! I’ve hurt so many people…”

Aichi dragged himself forward a few inches, though Kai was too distracted to notice. “I can’t speak for those people, Kai-kun. But I forgive you for hurting me. Nothing you do will stop me from loving you.”

Kai shook his head, faster and faster with each word before clapping his hands over his ears again. “If you had any idea what it’s telling me to do to you right now--”

“Then fight it!” Aichi reached out. They were still too far away to touch, but he was getting closer… “Kai-kun, you’re stronger than anyone I know. If anyone can fight it, it’s you.”

“Not this,” Kai said hoarsely. His eyes were unfocused, as though trying to listen to a song that was too soft to hear properly. “Aichi… do you know why they call it ‘Link Joker’?” 

Aichi shook his head mutely.

“It’s because they’re linked together. Individual parts of a whole, like a colony. And when they take over a host, they assimilate it into their colony. It’s happening to me, too.”

“Kai-kun--!” 

He shook his head again and stared at his hands. Aichi needed to take those hands in his, to pull Kai into his body, to embrace him, to remind him that together they could overcome anything, but his legs suddenly couldn’t move and he could only choke out Kai’s name as Kai staggered to his feet.

“I’m the last one,” he murmured, as if to himself. “Without me, it can’t spread anymore…”

He turned to the edge of the rooftop, and Aichi suddenly understood what was happening.

“No, no, Kai-kun, please!” 

Tears flowed down Kai’s cheeks as he turned back to Aichi and offered him a sad smile. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, please just come here, please, Kai-kun!” Aichi reached out his hand, desperately struggling to find his feet, but his legs shook so much he could barely climb to his knees. “You mean everything to me! We can take this on together! Kai-kun!”

Kai stepped back, closer to the edge. “Be strong for me, Aichi.”

“KAI-KUN!”

He reached out, his hand grasping--

--nothing.

Darkness. Soft blankets, the faint smell of chamomile. The only sound was that of Aichi’s shaky, heavy panting and his pounding heartbeat. 

He lowered his hand, slowly. Sweat and tears mingled together on his face, leaving behind salty streaks. 

A dream…?

He hunched forward and pressed his face into his hands, breaths slowing but still shaky. Kai…

A knock at the door startled him, and it opened before he could choke out a response. 

“My Vanguard?”

Marron stood at the door, electric lamp in hand, illuminating their soft, worried face.

“My Vanguard!”

The next voice was high-pitched and followed by a large dog bouncing onto Aichi’s bed and nearly barreling Aichi back onto his pillows.

“Ah-- Wingal…”

Wingal licked Aichi’s face. “You’re crying! What’s wrong!”

“Just… a bad dream.” Aichi scratched Wingal behind the ears and smiled weakly. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”

Marron approached more tactfully, setting the lamp on Aichi’s bedside table as they sat tentatively on the edge of the bed. Worry lines creased their face. 

“Another one?” Marron reached over and placed a hand on Aichi’s forehead. Aichi squirmed. “You’ve had them often ever since... “

The unspoken ever since you woke up from that weeks-long dream went unspoken, yet understood. Aichi sighed and rubbed the remaining wetness from his face as Wingal buried his face in Aichi’s chest; Aichi pet him soothingly.

“I’m okay, really.”

“You screamed,” Marron said quietly. 

Aichi winced. 

“We heard you from the library,” Wingal added.

“Ah, d-did you…” Aichi laughed weakly, though he couldn’t suppress the chill running through his body at the memory of Kai standing on the edge of the rooftop.

“You screamed his name.” Marron fidgeted with the trim on their overcoat. “The Overlord’s, I mean.”

Aichi swallowed. 

“You screamed ‘Kai,’” Wingal said, wrongly taking Aichi’s silence for confusion.

Aichi tried and failed to think of a suitable response and landed on a simple, quiet “oh.”

“My Vanguard.” Marron placed their hand over Aichi’s. “Since we left the Dragon Empire, you seem to have worried about him often. Perhaps you should write him a letter.”

“Oh n-- no, that’s fine,” Aichi blurted out, too quickly. The way he and Kai had parted the last time they spoke had been contentious. He didn’t even know what he would say in a letter. Hello, Kai, I hope you’re well. Sorry for telling you I was in love with your human self on Planet E last time we talked. By the way, I had a dream last night where we were humans and you took in an evil power to protect me, at the cost of your own life. Hopefully I don’t see you soon, because my idiocy that night in your courtyard haunts me. Yours sincerely, Aichi. 

But then, this reminded him of what Dream-Kai had told him about the enemy they still knew so little about. 

“Um, but, I-I would like to talk to… to Ahmes, in the morning.” Aichi blew out a shuddering breath. He would have to be careful how he addressed the issue of dreaming about the leader of their enemy clan so frequently, especially since the Aichi and Kai of Planet E were so clearly in love. But the scarce information he had gleaned from the dream about the impending invasion by the Void might help. “And, and Tokura Misaki.” If anyone could help him divine this most recent dream, it was the Vanguard of the Oracle Think Tank. 

“I’ll send a letter to the conglomerate first thing in the morning.” Marron gave Aichi’s hand a squeeze. “Would you like some sleeping medicine?”

Aichi’s first thought was to reject it, but if it meant he would sleep dreamlessly for the rest of the night, perhaps it wasn’t such a bad idea. “Yes, I think that would be good.”

“I’ll stay with you,” Wingal offered. 

Aichi smiled. “Thank you, Wingal. And thank you, Marron. I appreciate you both.”

“Of course, my Vanguard.” Marron patted Aichi’s hand as they stood. “I’ll be back with the medicine. And I’ll let Ahmes know in the morning to expect you when you wake.”

Aichi nodded, lying his head back on his pillow as he pet Wingal’s back, relaxing with Wingal’s comforting weight pressed against him. When Marron returned with the sleeping medicine, Aichi felt the effects almost instantly, drifting off with only the vague awareness of Marron brushing back his hair, murmuring soothing sounds that Aichi couldn’t make out, until finally...

Chapter Text

The sun was just beginning to rise when Ahmes made his way to the Vanguard audience chamber, a small note from Marron that had been slipped under his bedroom door late at night in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

Aichi had another nightmare last night, woke up screaming. He wants to talk with you first thing in the morning.

He didn’t expect Aichi to be awake for a while yet, so he settled into one of the comfortable chairs by the fire and sipped his coffee. Forgoing the heavy armor he normally wore all the time made him feel strangely naked, and he ran his bare fingers through his thin, longish brown hair as he thought about the upcoming conflict. Only a couple more months, if Tokura Misaki’s vision was accurate (and he had no reason to believe it wasn’t), and Cray would be fighting back at a fraction of the military force it actually had thanks to one man’s insufferable stubbornness.

Damn Kai Toshiki.

A light scratching at the door preceded it opening, and Wingal popped his head into the room. “Blaster Blade, sir! You’re awake!”

Ahmes woke at dawn every day, so he didn’t know why this was a surprise. What was more surprising was that Wingal was already awake. “What is it you need so early, Wingal?”

“Aichi wanted to know if you were up or if it was too early to meet with you.”

This was even more surprising. Ahmes lifted an eyebrow. “Aichi’s awake?”

“Yes sir, he wanted to talk to you.”

“Well, I’m here whenever he’s ready. And bring him something to eat, he’s been looking peaky.”

“Yes sir!”

It didn’t take long for Aichi to slip into the room, still in his night clothes and looking every bit as tired as Ahmes would expect someone who literally has to be dragged out of bed some mornings to look at the crack of dawn. Aichi rubbed his eye with the palm of his hand. His hair was even messier than usual. Wingal trotted behind him, carrying a plate of toast and coffee on his head, which Ahmes took from him with a quiet dismissal. Wingal gave Aichi one more tilted-head, puppy-eyes look and Aichi, ever the softhearted man, scratched him behind the ears with a soft smile.

Once the door closed, Aichi reached for the coffee and ignored the toast. He took a sip and winced before setting it down and rubbing his hands on his pants. 

Ahmes waited patiently. He wasn’t sure coffee was the right choice of beverage for someone as naturally anxious as Aichi, but apparently he had developed a taste for it during the time he was awake in Dragon Empire. One more thing to blame Kai Toshiki for.

“Um,” Aichi said finally, “I had a, a dream last night. Kind of like, you know, the one dream I had before. Over there.”

Ahmes nodded, folding his hands in his lap. Aichi had apparently been deep in a dream that felt real, so he explained on their way back home after they left the Empire; Tokura Misaki had told King Alfred that Aichi’s dream may well have been real. The whole thing seemed farfetched to Ahmes, but Aichi seemed so convinced that it was real that Ahmes would hear him out. 

“It was on Planet E,” Aichi went on, now staring at his hands clenched in his lap, “and, and there were these strange rings in the sky… gates, I think.” He furrowed his brows in thought. “A-and there were these creatures going around doing… something. Taking over people’s minds?” He shook his head. “I don’t remember the details very well. But, I went to a rooftop where there was a ring and, and Kai was there…”

Here, he trailed off, and even though his head was bowed, Ahmes could see the fear in Aichi’s face.

After a long silence, Ahmes leaned forward and placed a hand over Aichi’s. “What happened? What did he do?” 

Aichi licked his lips and swallowed. “H-he told me that the enemy, the Void’s army, I guess, was called ‘Link Joker.’” 

“Link Joker?” 

Aichi nodded. “He explained it like… they’re kind of like a colony. Each person they overcome becomes part of that colony. It’s easier for them to overcome the weak-willed.” 

“Overcome?”

“I don’t really know. Just that if… if the strongest links in the colony fail, it shatters the control over the weaker ones.”

“So we should target the strongest enemies and the weak ones will fall on their own.”

“I guess.” 

There was something in the way Aichi held himself, that unsure, slouched posture and worry lines all over his face, that told Ahmes that there was some key part of this dream that Aichi was leaving out. Though the information he had gleaned was unsettling, it wasn’t particularly nightmarish to the point of Aichi waking up screaming in the middle of the night. “What else?” Ahmes pressed gently, not expecting an answer.

“I-I… I don’t remember much after that.” Aichi avoided Ahmes’s eyes. 

He never was good at lying.

“This is all very helpful,” Ahmes said softly, squeezing Aichi’s trembling hand with both of his. “I’ll relay this to Alfred. I think, in the meantime, that you should get some sleep, my Vanguard.”

Aichi shook his head firmly. “No, I’m not… I’m not sleepy. I think, I’d rather go pet--er, help Akane with the high dogs.”

Ahmes didn’t bother to hide his small smile. He’d already heard from Akane that Aichi had spent the better part of the afternoon yesterday petting every dog that Akane was training. But it sounded like it had been good for him, so he saw no reason not to encourage this simple form of therapy, especially since Aichi seemed so unnerved by his dream.

“Of course. I’m sure Akane would, ah, appreciate the company.”

Debatable. She may appreciate Aichi, but not the distraction of him playing with the dogs she was attempting to train.

“Thank you.” Aichi got up and started walking to the door before he stopped with his hand on the handle. “Um, sorry I couldn’t help that much…”

“You’ve helped a great deal. Please, go relax.”

Aichi nodded without looking back, and left the room.

Save for a sip of coffee, his breakfast went untouched.

Alfred sat in silence on his throne as Ahmes, kneeling before him, relayed the details of his meeting with Aichi, and the unpleasant details behind Void’s powers. It was still early, but Alfred dressed in his full armor, in contrast with Ahmes, who still had not donned his. 

When Ahmes finished, Alfred remained seated. Under the shadow of his helmet, it was hard to see his expression, but Ahmes suspected he was troubled by the way his fingers curled and uncurled around the arm of the chair. 

“He said he doesn’t remember anything after that,” Ahmes concluded, looking down.

“You don’t think that’s true.” 

Ahmes hesitated for a beat before shaking his head. 

“Why?” 

“He woke up screaming. There was more to it than a simple conversation.”

Alfred’s armor clinked as he stood and walked down toward Ahmes. “This enemy, this Link Joker. He said they are able to overcome the weak and assimilate them into their… colonies?”

“Yes.”

Alfred stopped right next to Ahmes and rested his hand on his shoulder. “And the Overlord was in this dream, explaining the machinations of this unknown enemy.”

The implication hung in the air. “...yes.” 

“And Aichi’s nightmare?”

There wasn’t any point in keeping his fears for Aichi’s safety quiet, not to Alfred. They both knew each other better than that. “I believe the Overlord in Aichi’s dream had fallen victim to the Void’s army, and this has grieved Aichi terribly.”

He heard a soft sigh and felt the squeeze of Alfred’s hand on his shoulder. “Yes, I believe so, too.”

Ahmes finally looked up. From here, he could see the troubled look on Alfred’s face. “If this dream has any connections to our reality, this could be a terrible, terrible thing.”

“The Overlord being weak-willed enough to fall to this kind of enemy seems so outside the realm of possibility,” Alfred murmured. He reached down to take Ahmes by the hand, pulling him to his feet before letting go again. 

There was barely any difference in height between the two, so now that they both stood next to one another, they were able to look at each other eye to eye. Ahmes saw the way the corners of Alfred’s eyes creased in worry, just as he knew Alfred could see the way Ahmes’s jaw was set.

“He may have insecurities we know nothing about,” Ahmes said quietly. “And the fact that he refuses to assist us makes him all the more dangerous. If he succumbs to the Void...”

If Kai Toshiki was lost to the enemy, Cray would fall immediately after.

Alfred nodded slowly, squeezing Ahmes’s shoulder again. “Watch over our Vanguard, my friend.”

“With my life.”

With a gentle pat on Ahmes’s face and a smile, Alfred turned back to his throne. “You should put on your armor. I barely recognize you without it.”

Despite himself, the corners of Ahmes’s mouth twitched. “Of course, my king.”

Gancelot was a man of few words in the best of times, and it made the long walk from the Holy City to the halls of the Oracle Think Tank conglomerate so much longer. 

Aichi needed to see Misaki, but she was trapped with work and couldn’t get away; instead, she requested he come to visit her. Gancelot had offered to escort him and said nothing else the entire trip, leaving Aichi alone with his thoughts -- about the war, about the impending meeting with the other Vanguards, about his dreams, about Kai.

If Gancelot saw the way Aichi rubbed his arms in discomfort, he said nothing.

The conglomerate was bustling when they arrived in the late afternoon; Battle Sisters rushed through the halls with dangerous-looking weapons in tow, Oracle Guardians scanned the halls for people who might not belong there, a well-dressed man with sunglasses covering his face and an attractive spectral woman draping herself over his shoulders strode past with a gun visible on his hip, and groups of witches passed, reading out of enormous tomes that wouldn’t look out of place in Marron’s hands. None of them so much as glanced at Aichi and Gancelot as they made their way to Misaki’s office.

Gancelot knocked on her door, and they waited. Aichi fidgeted.

The door opened. 

“Come in.”

Aichi looked up at Gancelot, who simply nodded and turned his attention back to the business in the hall. 

As he closed the door behind him, he blinked a few times to help his eyes adjust to the dim lighting; rather than the electricity powering the rest of the building, she opted to light her office with candles. 

“It helps me focus,” she said, kneeling at the low table in the corner. “Have a seat.”

Aichi followed suit, kneeling across from her. On the table were several crystals, a stack of cards, and thin metal rods. Divination tools, he supposed; she was said to be from the Magus sub-clan of fortune tellers. 

“You had a nightmare,” she said, removing the divining rods and laying out the cards face-down.

He hesitated. “Yes.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Um…” He bit his lip before carefully relaying what he had told Ahmes that morning. She didn’t look up as he finished; she flipped over each card one by one and nodded before scooping them up again. 

“I’m not really interested in hearing about what this Link Joker does,” she said at last, and Aichi glanced at her, startled. 

“W-what do you--”

“Tell me about Kai Toshiki.”

He grimaced at exactly the moment she looked at him. “Ah--”

“You surely told King Alfred about Link Joker. I am more interested in hearing why it was the Dragonic Overlord who told you about it in this dream.”

There was no way around it. He burned to know if this dream was a reality or a premonition, yet if it was a reality, then the Kai of Planet E was…

He told her everything he could remember, the gates, the sky, the markings under Kai’s eyes that told him that Kai had been assimilated into Link Joker, Kai’s confession that he had done it for Aichi’s sake, Kai’s decision to--

Here, he faltered. 

“I can’t,” he whispered.

“That’s fine,” Misaki said, “I heard what I needed.” She tapped the table with a well-manicured fingernail, painted a vibrant shade of blue. It matched her kimono, Aichi noted numbly. “To set your mind at ease, I do not believe it was a real event occurring on Planet E.”

A weight he hadn’t even noticed lifted from his chest. 

“However,” she added, and his heart sank again, “I do believe it is an event that may happen.”

“May?” Aichi leaned forward, placing his hands on the table. “So, it might be real someday? How can I stop it?"

Rather than respond, she reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling it palm-up toward her.

“W-what are--”

“Quiet.”

She traced a finger over the lines of his palm for a few minutes, eyes narrowed. When she finally let go and looked up at him, he felt a sense of dread return. 

“I have been telling fortunes for many years,” she said, “but I have never read a fortune as situational.” She frowned into a candle on the table. “Perhaps it is because you are both Vanguards.”

Aichi’s heart pounded. “W-what does that mean?”

“It means your fate is inextricably tied to Kai Toshiki’s, both on Planet E and on Cray.”

“And… if it’s situational…” His mouth was dry. 

In the dim, flickering light, her face was shadowed, her mouth set in a line. “Your choices from here on affect him and you. You must be careful with every decision you make because there is no clear future for you that I am able to divine.”

Maybe it would have been best not to have come here. Aichi’s entire body shook from the nerves, the anxiety, the fear; the image of Kai taking on the Void’s power to protect him filled his mind. 

I can’t let him do that.

But did that mean that he had to distance himself, to keep the temptation away from Kai in the first place, or bring him closer, to dissuade him? 

He didn’t know what to do. 

“Even if I make the right choices,” he whispered, “if Kai…”

Misaki nodded, her expression grim. She touched a finger to the now-dancing flame on the nearest candle. “You must pray that he chooses well, or you will suffer his consequences, too.”

Chapter Text

It wouldn’t be long before the large, windowless room would be filled with the Vanguards and other representatives of each clan, but for now Aichi sat alone, staring at his notes as his stomach twisted. He should eat--he hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning--but his nerves made him sick to his stomach and he feared eating would make him throw up. 

His hands shook as he picked up a sheet of paper.

At the behest of the Supreme Heavenly Emperor, the Dragonic Overlord Kai Toshiki, the nation of the Dragonic Empire declines your request for an audience in the United Sanctuary.

A simple rejection, but it hurt. It especially hurt knowing that Kai hadn’t even bothered to write the rejection himself. 

Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad had Aichi not stupidly confessed his feelings for a parallel world version of the Kagero Vanguard that he only knew from a month-long dream he had. If he were Kai, he wouldn’t have written it, either. 

“Supreme Heavenly Emperor, huh?”

Aichi jumped in his seat at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder. Startled, he looked up into the face of King Alfred, who smiled gently from a face unadorned by his usual helmet. Immediately, Aichi tried to stand, finding his legs shakier than normal. “Ah--King Alfr--”

“Sit, sit,” Alfred insisted, pushing Aichi back into his seat. “You should compose yourself, Aichi.” He sat in the seat next to Aichi, reserved for the Gold Paladin Vanguard and nodded toward the paper in Aichi’s hands. “Either he’s gotten more arrogant since he inherited his father’s title or whoever composed the letter wanted to add a little too much gravitas by adding the Supreme Heavenly Emperor bit, hm?”

Aichi smiled weakly. It seemed like something Miwa would do, tongue in cheek, and certainly not at Kai’s behest. “I, I’m sorry I couldn’t get his support, in the end.”

Alfred shook his head. “He is notoriously difficult to deal with. Perhaps with more time, you could have softened his shell.”

“But we’re out of time.”

“I know.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Aichi nervously flipping through papers and not actually reading a single one. Alfred seemed deep in thought and Aichi didn’t want to disturb him, but one question haunted him. 

“K-King Alfred?”

“Yes, Aichi?”

Aichi swallowed as he set down the papers. “Why did you choose me?”

“I think we’ve had this discussion before.”

“I still don’t understand. There are so many more talented knights, smarter and stronger than me... ” He looked down at his hands, now clasped on the table in front of him. Out of everyone in the Sanctuary Guard, the Jewel Knights, the Paladin corps, he was the last one who should have become Vanguard. Small and shy, he always looked up to knights like Daigo and Ahmes, but never felt he could ever measure up. Even still, he was convinced Alfred had made a mistake in choosing him.

Alfred sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the stone ceiling fifteen feet above them. “When I think of what it means to be Vanguard, there are a few qualities that come to mind that have nothing to do with physical strength. Caution, the ability to think things through rationally. Foresight, the ability to see the consequences of each action. Compassion, the rare ability to reach out to everyone, friend and foe alike, with a hand of friendship.” Alfred smiled at Aichi fondly, the way a father might look at his son after a great achievement. Aichi’s face warmed in equal parts embarrassment and affection for the king who saw so much in him. “I still remember when your mother brought you to me and asked if we would train you to be a knight. Do you?”

He had been young, his mother newly single after her husband left, and she had been devastated. With a young baby to care for on top of everything that had happened, she was in no shape to raise Aichi, too. He never faulted her for that. After all, he had always looked up to the knights of the Holy City and wanted to be like them, one of them. Meeting the legendary Blaster Blade, the only knight who could stand on equal footing to the terrifying Dragonic Overlord, and the benevolent King Alfred was a dream come true. 

Will you look after my son? she pleaded, and the knights took him in without question. Blaster Blade trained Aichi himself in swordplay, Marron taught him in strategy and history, and so many of the knights had taught him to become one of them, never questioning his place or his skills, always treating him with kindness and respect. 

“I watched you grow up,” Alfred continued gently, taking Aichi’s silence in stride. He stood, towering over Aichi in a way that was somehow reassuring more than intimidating. “You grew up to be a handsome, brilliant, devoted knight, compassionate and methodical and careful. The other knights loved you. When Daigo told me that he would be leaving to travel the world, I knew immediately who I would choose to replace him.”

He placed his hands on Aichi’s shoulders, giving Aichi a little tug that told him that Alfred wanted him to stand. As he did, Alfred swept him into a gentle embrace, hand on the back of Aichi’s head; Aichi’s face was pressed somewhat uncomfortably into Alfred’s breastplate. When Alfred pulled Aichi away, he smiled fondly at him, one hand on Aichi’s shoulder, the other on Aichi’s cheek.

“I’m so proud of you, Aichi,” he whispered, giving his face a little pat. Aichi returned the smile, a little embarrassed. “You’re like a son to me. I know Ahmes feels the same.” 

This simple statement stirred up a well of emotions in Aichi’s chest and stomach; tears burned at the corners of his eyes. “Thank you,” he said, voice quivering. 

With a little ruffle of Aichi’s hair and a pat on the cheek, Alfred stepped back. “I trust you to make the right decisions for Cray. I know you will.”

When he left, closing the door behind him, Aichi barely had time to rub the wetness from his eyes before a knock at the door preceded it opening once more. Misaki entered, clad today in an ornate green kimono covered in flowers. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun, adorned also with flowers of light, springy colors. Behind her, dressed in a much more casual black turtleneck and slacks was Mitsusada Kenji, Vanguard of the Dimension Police. 

“Misaki, Mitsusada,” Aichi greeted, offering the two of them a slight bow. 

“Aichi,” Misaki murmured as she took her seat at the massive table. 

“It’s good to see you again,” Kenji said, taking Aichi’s hand and giving it a firm shake. “I wish it could have been under less, uh, dire circumstances, though…”

Aichi laughed weakly. “Yeah. How is your wife…?”

Kenji positively beamed at the mention. “Oh, with everything going on, I haven’t had the chance to tell you… Yuri’s pregnant.” At Aichi’s stunned face, he scratched the back of his head with a humorless chuckle. “Ah… I guess it’s probably a bad time to be with child when we’re so close to impending global war, but… you know, things have been stressful, so--”

“I’m sure Sendou doesn’t need you to explain how babies are made,” a wry voice behind him cut in. 

“Eh? Oh, Leon. Long time no see.”

“Indeed it has, Mitsusada.” Soryuu Leon turned and gave Aichi a courteous bow before heading toward his own seat. Kenji gave a half-wave before following suit. 

The other Vanguards and Vanguard emissaries filed in quickly after that; Daimonji Gouki of Granblue, Cecilia of Neo Nectar, Tatsunagi Suiko, Ezel, Minerva of Genesis, Christopher Lo of Great Nature (sent by the Vanguard, Professor Chatnoir), and finally Suzugamori Ren, flanked by the Pale Moon Vanguard Narumi Asaka and the Dark Irregulars emissary Shinjou Tetsu. 

“Hi!” Ren said cheerfully, drawing out the word. “Aichi! It’s been so long! I’m so happy to see you again!”

And he promptly pulled Aichi into a tight squeeze.

Aichi’s feeling of relief at seeing Ren was mixed. He was quite grateful that Ren even bothered to show up to this meeting, but their last encounter had been mildly uncomfortable, with Ren sticking to the new Royal Paladin Vanguard like glue, seemingly unaware of the concept of personal space. It wasn’t that Aichi didn’t like Ren, it was that Ren had an aura of distinct oddness about him, switching from airheaded to deadly serious in a matter of seconds--and he was infamously good at his role of Vanguard, merciless and occasionally cruel. 

“It’s, ah, good to see you too, Ren…” Aichi squirmed under Ren’s grip. “Can you…”

“Where’s Kai?” Ren asked in the same breath he released Aichi, and several of the others turned to the entire empty side of the table where the Dragon Empire should have been sitting. 

“He… won’t be joining us today,” Aichi said, willing his voice to remain strong. 

“What a shame,” Ren whined loudly, “I haven’t seen him since we were kids.”

Aichi was spared the thought of wondering what kind of bizarre relationship Ren and Kai might have had as children by Leon, who curtly interrupted Ren’s reminiscing.

“If we can get to this meeting now, we have much to discuss.”

“Aren’t we missing a few?” Gouki pointed out. 

“Aside from the entire Dragon Empire?” Asaka said, and Aichi’s stomach twisted again. “Kyou hates Master Ren and is obnoxious in polite company, so Spike Brothers isn’t here, but where are Megacolony, Bermuda Triangle, and Nova Grappler?”

“Megacolony won’t be joining us,” Cecilia said, adjusting her enormous white hat, “as they are also highly unpleasant in polite company. I will relay the contents of this meeting to their Queen.” 

“The idols are not able to fight,” Leon said, “as they are performers and lack any kind of military force.”

“Nova Grappler is assisting us,” Suiko piped up. 

Everyone turned to look at her.

“Oh, they’re helping make some modifications to our mobile hospital units,” she added, correctly identifying the bewilderment in the room. “I have a feeling we’ll need them.”

“I think we’re past the pleasantries,” Ezel said, crossing his arms over his bare chest, “so let’s get to business.”

“Yes,” Aichi said, grateful for Ezel’s interjection. He picked up his stack of papers. Vanguard he may be, but his speaking skills were not up to par with some of the rest of them. “As you all are now aware, Misaki had a vision of an invading force attacking Cray sometime in, we believe, the next couple of months. Their initial target will be Zoo. How have the clans of Zoo been preparing for this?”

One by one, the clan leaders discussed their preparations, from defensive fortifications to weaponry to new technology designed to combat aerial foes. Even as he listened and took notes, the anxiety over the one new piece of information that he possessed--the information gleaned from a dream he did not want to share--gnawed at his nerves. He was glad he passed on the coffee at breakfast, though he wished he had eaten more than a piece of toast. 

“Aichi,” Ren drawled as the last leader--Suiko--finished describing the finishing touches on her mobile hospital units, dragging out his name as he stared at Aichi in a way reminiscent of a cat eyeing its prey, “you look pale.”

“You do,” Suiko agreed. 

Of everyone in this room who knew of Aichi’s month-long coma, Suiko was least likely to see a reason to keep it to herself. She was neutral to a fault, blunt, and shrewd--a combination of traits that made Aichi nervous. 

“I--I haven’t slept well lately…” This was true. The same nightmares replayed in his head over and over, to the point where he wondered if he would have them until the day he died. 

And he still hadn’t come up with a satisfactory answer for the question he knew they would ask as soon as he told them about Link Joker. And he had to. That knowledge was the one advantage they had.

“Oh, Asaka makes this delightful tea that knocks me right out,” Ren said liltingly, though his gaze was still fixed predatorily on Aichi’s face. “You should try it! Right, Asaka?”

She looked at him in surprise. “I-Of course, Master Ren. I’d be delighted.”

“We’re all tired,” Leon interrupted, “and we have yet to get to the initial strategy. What should we be looking for? How is this enemy going to attack Zoo first if the Dimension Police are guarding the stratosphere?”

“That’s a good point,” Kenji said. “We patrol the atmosphere. Not even a space rock can get through without us knowing. The primary entry point to the planet is through Star Gate.”

Guess it’s time.

“Gates,” Aichi said quietly. 

Everyone turned to him.

“Gates?” Chris repeated. “As in, portals?”

“Yes. They form over the place where the invaders will go first, in this case, Zoo.”

Tetsu, who had remained completely silent until now, asked the question Aichi had been dreading. “How do you know this?” 

To his great surprise and relief, it was Minerva who spoke up. “It is the only way to enter Cray undetected. Genesis has spent decades studying disruptions in certain spacial coordinates around the planet. Weaker spacial areas are susceptible to warping, such as in Star Gate. Some enemy with the ability to travel through the solar system would have no difficulty manipulating these areas to jump through the layers of the atmosphere straight to the surface.”

“It’s how the Dimension Police enter and exit the atmosphere quickly,” Chris mused, nodding. “It makes sense.”

Around the table, everyone nodded in agreement and understanding. 

Everyone except Ren, whose eyes had not left Aichi.

“What else do you know, Aichi?” he all but purred.

The nature of Link Joker was the last piece of information he had, but this was the hardest thing of all to breach. And he couldn’t expect Minerva to explain it away scientifically the way she had the gates. 

He swallowed, and willed himself to be strong enough not to break down at the image of Kai standing on the edge of that building, willing to die to eliminate Link Joker from Planet E. 

“The Void… its army is collectively known as Link Joker.” 

He let the murmuring around the table subside and ignored Ren’s narrowed eyes before continuing. 

“They are a collective, like insects. A colony. But what makes them so dangerous is that they have the power to manipulate sentient beings into becoming part of their colony, to… Reverse them against their allies.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I can’t tell you how I know this. You will just have to trust me. Just know that, as the leaders of Cray, they will come first for each of us, and if we aren’t ready, we’ll be fighting each other against our will.”

Ren sat back, his expression now thoughtful. Everyone else was troubled--biting lips and fingernails, frowning, tapping their fingers on the table, their legs bouncing. 

“So what do we do?” Gouki asked finally.

Aichi truly wished he knew.

“If they are like a colony,” Cecilia said slowly, “they would behave like insects. Remove the queen, and the workers will have no direction.”

“This is sound logic,” Leon agreed. “It seems that to overcome the effects of this Reversal process, we must first remove the ones doing the Reversing.”

“I guess we have a strategy now,” Ezel said, and everyone murmured in agreement. 

As they made plans for positioning forces, weapons, and ground hospital wards, Aichi felt some of the stress ease up. But he was still filled with unease. No one had mentioned it past the beginning of the meeting, but the absence of a fifth of Cray’s entire force, and the most powerful military force on the planet, at that, was omnipresent in each of their plans for positioning. And when they adjourned, wishing each other well in a subdued manner befitting a group that knew any of them could die in the next few months, the need to convince Kai to help them overwhelmed Aichi in every letter he wrote to the Dragon Empire. 

But Kai never replied to any of those letters, and the day of invasion loomed ever closer.

Two months to the day, the first black ring appeared in the sky over the nation of Zoo.

Chapter Text

The two-way video transponders, a piece of technology prized by the Dimension Police, proved vital once Link Joker began its invasion. Letters took too long to be of any use for as quickly as Link Joker was moving, and those carrying letters would be targets of the enemy. Aichi was grateful to Mitsusada for his willingness to share the transponders, especially once more rings started cropping up in other parts of Cray. Destroying the rings as they appeared slowed down the assault, but it didn’t stop Link Joker from coming through anyway.

Unfortunately, there were now so many of the enemy that it was starting to overwhelm each of the clans. 

“We’re holding Star Gate okay for now,” the young Nova Grappler pilot Katsuragi Kamui said from inside his machine, “but if the Dragon Empire doesn’t stop being abstinent--” 

(Aichi figured he meant ‘obstinate.’)

“--I’m gonna go to the Empire and kick Kai Toshiki’s ass into gear myself.”

“Don’t worry,” Aichi said soothingly. He’d been saying that a lot lately, despite how he was doing nothing but worry. “He’ll come around.” Sooner or later, he won’t have a choice.

“He’d better.” In the background, Aichi could hear a woman’s voice barking an order. Kamui grimaced. “Gotta go, Kenji’s scary wife is yelling at me.”

The screen cut out, and Aichi sighed. “Marron?”

“Yes, my Vanguard.”

“How long do you think we have before Link Joker takes Star Gate?”

There were many stories of the south pole’s connection to other worlds, including Planet E. Marron had told Aichi of some of them. Aichi’s greatest fear, aside from Cray’s subjugation and destruction, was if the Void gained access to this connection and targeted Planet E next. This was, in all reality, a war for the fate of two planets.

“It’s hard to say. With the current forces we have, a week at most.”

Aichi stared at the huge map laid out in front of him on the conference table. Link Joker hadn’t lingered long in Zoo, opting instead to head south to the Star Gate. The Aqua Force navy and the fleets of the Granblue patrolling the waters between the two nations had done admirably at holding back the enemy, but if there wasn’t a huge offensive push soon…

The door flung open without preamble and Ezel stormed in. Aichi couldn’t tell if the look on his face was one of apprehension or triumph. 

“Sendou Aichi, we’ve just gotten word that some of the Void’s force has landed at the southern border of the Dragon Empire.”

Marron let out a small oh of surprise. Aichi understood why. If the Void had decided to target the Dragon Empire, then Kai would soon have no choice but to intervene. “Why would they target the Dragon Empire now? It has stayed out of the fighting, and surely the Void doesn’t want to risk drawing the dragons into it.”

Aichi shook his head, stomach twisting. “They have some reason, I’m sure." He tried not to think about the reason involving Kai. "Has the enemy tried to do that assimilation thing yet?" What had Leon called it? "Reversing?"

Ezel shook his head. "Not one documented instance so far."

Two weeks, and all Link Joker had done was kill and wound. Something was wrong, and Aichi couldn’t figure out what it was. “Any new gates?”

“They only seem to be utilizing the space over Zoo, no matter how many times we destroy the gates.” Ezel crossed his arms, staring down at the map spread out on the table. “Christopher Lo thinks they’ll keep drawing from that space until they are able to conquer Star Gate, when they’ll concentrate their gates there.”

Marron traced their finger from Star Gate on the map up to Dark Zone, to Zoo, to Magallanica, to the Dragon Empire, and finally to the United Sanctuary. “Right now, they’re surrounded. Zoo isn’t a good place strategically to launch an assault without getting pushback. It’s lucky for us that they started there, because it makes it easier to contain them.”

“We’d be in a better position to crush them if we had the Dragon Empire on our side,” Ezel muttered, and Aichi felt that familiar pang of guilt. But he had another concern, looking at the spread of the Void’s army around Zoo--particularly the Magallanica Archipelago, which bordered Zoo.

“The Zoo clans are probably exhausted,” he said slowly.

“Cecilia reported heavy losses among Megacolony and the Musketeer corps,” Marron confirmed. “Great Nature is holding firm because they’ve fortified their universities. That’s how they’re destroying the gates over and over, with long-ranged attacks.”

Aichi leaned on the table. All the fighting had been concentrated in Zoo, Magallanica, and Star Gate, while the other nations had been left alone. That is, until Link Joker decided to hone in on the Dragon Empire. 

Why there? What are they after there?

“We have to push them back, away from the Empire.” Aichi moved his finger from the United Sanctuary to the southeastern border of the Empire. “We need to hold forces on the border, to keep Link Joker from pushing farther in.”

“Risky,” Marron murmured, crossing their arms. “If they push through and head this way, it leaves our forces weakened.”

“And I doubt the Empire will take very well to UniSan forces occupying it in any capacity,” Ezel added.

“He’ll allow it,” Aichi said, aware of his slip-up before the sentence finished leaving his mouth. He flinched.

Marron lifted their eyebrows. “He?”

“They,” Aichi amended, aware of Ezel and Marron exchanging a look. “They’ll have to allow it. There’s no choice anymore.”

“Very well,” Ezel said. He brushed his mane of hair back. (Unnecessarily, in Aichi’s opinion. Ezel’s hair was always perfectly set no matter the situation.) “How many forces do you think we should send?”

“We should contact the other United Sanctuary Vanguards,” Marron interjected, “as they will want to have input on this decision.”

“Marron’s right,” Aichi said. “We can’t decide for them.”

“Very well.” Ezel headed back toward the door. “I’ll contact Tatsunagi, Tokura, and Minerva. If you can get a hold of Suzugamori… well, more power to you.”

Aichi held in his frustrated sigh until the door closed behind him. 

He shouldn’t have gone to Star Gate, but he did a lot of things he shouldn’t do, and it wasn’t like anyone was going to tell him otherwise. Oh, Junos had tried, certainly, and so had Tetsu, but their words fell on uncooperative ears. Suzugamori Ren did what he wanted, and people just had to deal with that. It wasn’t as though it was a pleasure trip; he had to hitch a ride on five different Aqua Force vessels, including Leon’s, and there had been some bribery involved that Ren knew Leon knew was complete bullshit, yet Leon let it happen. Maybe them both being Vanguards had something to do with Leon’s reluctant agreement to pass Ren through the battle line onto Star Gate. Or maybe Leon figured Ren would do less harm out of the way. 

Joke’s on him, Ren thought cheerfully as he strode through the loud, cavernous steel hallways of one of Dimension Police’s largest repair centers, I have no intent to be out of anyone’s way.

Very few technicians paid him any mind, and the ones that did only frowned at his black armor head-to-toe before hurrying on. Countless robots and humans alike rushed around with their arms full of tools and armor pieces and what seemed to be entire mechanical body parts; Ren watched the display with mild interest, pausing at one point to avoid a burst of steam shooting from an open repair bay. 

“Hey!”

The voice was female, and not friendly at all.

He turned his head enough to see Usui Yuri, clipboard in hand, storming toward him.

“Uh-oh,” he sang quietly.

“What in the world are you doing here?” She stopped in front of him, eyes narrowed so much it looked like she was trying to shoot lasers out of them. 

“Oh, nothing much.” He shrugged.

“This is a war zone, you irresponsible lunatic…”

Ignoring her, he looked down at her stomach, where the bump was now very obvious, and he assumed she was probably over the halfway mark through the pregnancy. He leaned down and pressed his ear to it. “Is this where Baby Mitsusada is growing? Hello, little baby. Your mommy is scary.”

She put her hand over his face and shoved him back. “Do your lackeys know you’re here?”

He straightened up and put on an apologetic smile. “Lackeys? Tetsu would be very offended by that word.” At her deepening frown, he shrugged. “Probably.”

“And the United Sanctuary?”

“Probably not.”

She clicked her tongue disapprovingly and pulled out a small handheld device. “Sendou Aichi,” she said loudly, and the machine flashed a few times before a tired-sounding voice replied in the affirmative on the other side.

Ren lit up. “Aichi? Aichi!” He stepped behind Yuri and peered over her shoulder at the device, which had Aichi’s face on the other side. “Hi!”

Aichi’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Ren? What are…” He shook his head. “Never mind. I was actually trying to get a hold of you.”

Ren leaned his chin on Yuri’s shoulder. He couldn’t see her face, but he imagined she was probably counting back from a hundred to keep from punching him in the nose. “Must be fate, huh Aichi?”

“Yeah, sure.” Aichi seemed distracted about something, “The enemy is starting to push into the Dragon Empire’s territory.”

“What?” Yuri blurted out and for once, Ren felt the same. 

“They’re splitting their forces between their push for Star Gate and the Dragon Empire?” Ren repeated.

“Looks like it.”

“Why?” Yuri wondered. “The Dragon Empire has been staying out of it so far…”

“That’s what I wanted to know. Ren, I am going to send a force to the Dragon Empire border but I wanted your opinion first.”

Ren lifted an eyebrow. “My opinion on what?”

“Whether I should.”

“Didn’t you say you were going to do it anyway?”

There was a short pause on the other end as Aichi frowned in thought. “If you think it’s ill-advised, I won’t.”

“Ill-advised, as in, Kai Toshiki wouldn’t like it.” Ren smiled shrewdly at Aichi’s slight wince. There’s the concern. “Of course he won’t like it. But seeing as his country is about to be invaded by a bunch of bad guys who up to now have been killing and destroying indiscriminately, you’re being very nice trying to stave that off.” He straightened up and leaned his elbow on Yuri’s shoulder. She shoved it off. 

Aichi considered this. “Ren… you knew him when you were younger, right? Has he always been…”

“Cranky, ill-tempered, and generally unloveable?” Ren suggested. 

“I… I wouldn’t go that far…” Aichi mumbled.

Ren ignored him. “Yes, he has.” When he met Kai for the first time, it was on the battlefield. The fight had been exhilarating. But their fight had been cut short by the sounds of retreat, and Ren had to be dragged away by Junos. Each time they met from then on, they searched each other out like wild dogs, seeking that same high and never reaching the conclusion, never really able to determine which of them was stronger. “But he is also not the kind of man who would leave something like this alone.” Ren shrugged. “Not that he feels an obligation to save other people, mind you, but to prove himself. He won’t let Link Joker encroach on his territory for long.”

“I see.” Aichi tilted his head as he stared at something just off screen. “Then… I will send a small force, and set up an Angel Feather ground hospital there.”

“Will you be there?””

Aichi looked up. “Me?”

Everyone had heard by now that Aichi had been training with Kai before falling unconscious for several weeks. It was the worst-kept secret among the Royal Paladins, and this news had leached out to the other clans. Even more surprising about the whole thing--to Ren, at least--was that Kai had seemingly been harangued by the whole situation, trying his damndest to wake Aichi up without dragging the Royal Paladins back into it. Obviously, he had to feel some affection for the little Paladin on some level not to just toss his unconscious body back at Alfred with insincere well-wishes. 

“I just think you should be there, is all,” Ren said simply. “This is sort of your thing, isn’t it?”

“It’s all of our thing, ” Yuri interjected, “and I don’t think the Royal Paladin Vanguard should be on the front lines like that.”

“Isn’t he the Vanguard?” Ren said. “Like your husband, who is definitely on the front lines right now?”

Yuri looked over at him, something indescribable in her expression. Sadness, maybe? She ran her free hand over her baby bump. “No one could make Kenji stay behind when the world is at risk. Not even me.”

“Then, I think I should go,” Aichi said. “I am a Vanguard. And the Vanguard is the one who leads. I can’t be a true leader unless I am willing to take risks, too.”

“Aichi--”

“I’ve made up my mind.” Aichi’s voice was one of finality. “Thank you, Ren, Yuri.”

He cut out and Yuri let out a long sigh. 

“For what it’s worth,” Ren said, looking up at the cross beams in the ceiling fifty feet up, “the heroes who fought for love will be the ones to have the most-told stories in the future.”

This didn’t seem to cheer her. “And what do you know about fighting for love, Suzugamori Ren?”

Ren just smiled. “Shadow Paladins will never have grand tales told about us. We operate in the shadows, and that is where we will stay for eternity.” He gave her a short bow. “Have a good day, Ms. Empress.”

As he turned to leave, he saw her put her other hand over her stomach and close her eyes. 

Maybe this was war, and maybe Mitsusada Kenji would not survive, but for her sake and the sake of the little person she carried inside of her, Ren could spare a thought for him to pull through. 

The Dragon Empire was oppressively hot even this close to the sea, the sun bearing down directly on the cracked ground. Aichi had replaced his gleaming silver armor--a disadvantage, with the sun glistening off it and alerting the enemy to his presence like a beacon--with the light armor he was used to wearing in the Dragon Empire. 

Aichi had sent a letter to Kai before embarking on his trek here. He didn’t expect a response, just as he hadn’t received one in the dozens of letters he had sent over the past few months. He didn’t know if Kai was even reading them, or if someone had orders to burn every letter sent from the United Sanctuary. But at least he could say that he tried to let Kai know he was entering Dragon Empire territory. 

Ahmes had adamantly refused to let Aichi come here. You’re a tactician, he warned, and we need you here. 

Ultimately, it didn’t matter. Aichi was the Vanguard--he made this point very clear to King Alfred--and he already decided this was his path of action. 

He couldn’t help but wonder how much of Ahmes’s adamant refusal to let Aichi leave the Holy City was Ahmes being overprotective. 

You’re like a son to me. I know Ahmes feels the same.

The Angels spent no time at all in setting up a tented medical ward, covered by a protective barrier that would prevent attacks from the sky. Suiko had been more than willing to come here; this location’s close proximity to the sea, to Zoo, and to the front lines, would make treating injured patients much easier. Surrounding the ward were several massive machines not unlike those of the Star Gate. Mobile Assault Hospitals, Suiko called them. They could be used as a safe place to treat gravely injured patients while fending off attacks at the same time. An impressive engineering feat, to be sure. 

He shouldn’t have left the safety of the hospital ward, and certainly not on his own. But he needed a firsthand account of the layout of the region, and quickly, so he left Marron a note and slipped out in the early morning with several water bottles and a few small snacks in his bag.

By mid-afternoon, he had mapped out eight kilometers and had taken refuge in a shaded alcove of rocks, pleasantly comfortable out of the direct sunlight. He was just finishing up his notes on the location of several sheltered areas and two water sources to investigate for toxic chemicals (one thing he had definitely learned from his short time in the Dragon Empire before) when he heard a soft rustle on the other side of the rocks. 

He froze, straining his ears for a repeat of the sound, but heard nothing. As quietly as he could, he folded his notes back into his bag and, leaving it by the rocks, took a cautious step forward. Another. Anoth--

A flash of red, and Aichi instinctively dropped his hands to the ground to call forth the power of the earth. Just in time; the pillar of rocks that shot up from the ground in front of him deflected the attack, and Aichi got his first real look at the enemy. 

The creature was humanoid, with long white hair tied into a wispy ponytail, and skintight armor in white with red, gold, and black trim from its neck down. A dark visor covered its eyes, and the sword in its hand glowed red, pulsating with an energy that made the hairs on Aichi’s arms stand up. Hovering around its head like a perverse halo was a red and black ring, identical in design to the gates the enemy used to invade Cray. 

So this was Link Joker.

It studied Aichi in turn before stepping forward, and Aichi finally made for his sword, meeting the intended blow with a deafening clang. 

It was fast, faster even than Kai or Ahmes, and Aichi could barely keep up with its blows. They danced back out into the exposed desert, the blinding sun to his left putting Aichi at a crucial disadvantage; the Link Joker soldier took advantage of Aichi’s squinted eye to deliver a sharp elbow to the face, and Aichi stumbled backward.

Aichi saw the red flash of the sword and moved to the side enough to avoid a fatal blow, but a searing pain in his side told him that he hadn’t fully dodged it, and he collapsed to the ground, the enemy approaching with its full attention on its victim beneath it. Maybe it didn’t know Aichi was a Vanguard. Maybe, like a worker ant, it had no concept of such a thing. If its purpose was to kill, kill, kill, it had succeeded in one more instance. 

Not once did it utter a word.

I’m going to die here, he thought, yet he felt strangely calm; his heart was steady, his natural instinct to flinch away or put up his hands gone. He only wished time would move faster than this and end the anticipation of the death that awaited him.

He had always heard that a dying man would see his life “flash before his eyes,” a testament to a life lived, regrets had, and friends made. If he died slowly, which he always prayed he wouldn’t, he thought he would see the faces of the other Royal Paladins with whom he shared such a bond, would remember a life of experiences both good and bad, of the promises he had made and kept or broken, and the faces of his mother and his sister Emi--maybe he should have talked to them more, maybe visited the Archipelago and saw one of those idol concerts he had no real desire to see but that Emi adored. 

Over all of these things, he thought of Kai in those fleeting seconds, of the last words they had spoken to one another, of that argument--surely, a regret he would never resolve--and wished…

Aichi!

He could hear Kai’s voice as he closed his eyes, crying out his name in a panic.

Don’t worry, he thought. Maybe I’ll see you soon… 

Can we be together again, on Planet E?

The ringing clash of steel on steel startled him out of his reverie; he struggled to open his eyes enough to see the hazy swirls of red and gold and silver in front of him through his tears, and he heard the grunt of the enemy as it fell motionless to the ground in a pool of thick black blood that seeped into the soil.

He barely had time to register Kai’s sudden appearance in front of him before Kai had wrenched his huge, wickedly curved sword out of the dead creature and issued half a dozen orders in quick succession to several of the dragon knights who appeared just as suddenly around Aichi, now struggling to sit up through the pain in his side. 

“Kai…” His voice came out a pained groan.

“Lie back down.” Kai’s voice was sharp. “Nehalem, how far are they?”

“Less than six kilometers.”

Kai was close enough to Aichi for Aichi to hear his low curse. “Nehalem, with me. Miwa, guard the flank.”

Two voices, one deep and one higher, overlapped. “Yes, my Vanguard.”

“Aichi.”

His head swam as he leaned his head back on the dusty ground. Every inch of his body hurt, but none so much as the wound in his side. 

Rough human hands grabbed him; he found himself being swung in the air and groaned in agony as his rescuer heaved Aichi’s weak body over his shoulder and further exacerbated the bleeding. His vision was hazy. He felt like throwing up. Maybe he did, since he heard a groan close by and there was an unpleasant watery sensation in his mouth.

“Nehalem, he’s injured.” Kai’s voice sounded more stern than concerned. “Here, I’ll take him.”

Without a word, Nehalem flung Aichi into Kai’s arms, with Aichi’s face buried in Kai’s chest armor. Blood seeped from Aichi’s injury onto Kai’s clothes. He was terribly dizzy from being tossed about. Or maybe it was the blood loss. Or both.

“Three kilometers,” a softer, unfamiliar human voice warned. “Less than a minute.”

“Prepare to fight.” Kai trotted off, carrying Aichi as easily as a small sack of grain. Aichi’s head lolled against Kai’s chest, thumping it hard when Kai jumped in the air and landed heavily on something… huge.

Aichi’s eyes fluttered open in time to see two massive, leathery wings stretch and beat, hurling them upward with a tremendous lurch. His breath hitched in his throat; the terrifying sensation of being unable to draw a deep breath filled him, and he could do…

...nothing…

Aichi!

...about it.

Chapter Text

If they had just stayed away from the Dragon Empire, Kai might have continued to stay away from them. But they decided, the complete idiots, to set foot on his territory, and for that they would pay. 

He knew to expect that the Angels had set up a ground ward on the southeast border, and that is where he headed first. He was surprised to find that little sage horribly worked up, begging Kai to retrieve Aichi, who had gone out on his own into the desert. 

Foolish, foolish man, Kai thought.

He might have refused that request, too, had it not been for his advance scouts returning with the news that they had detected an unfamiliar lifeforce some eight kilometers to the west. Even then, he had been focused on that creature, until they came across it preparing to deliver a fatal blow to a small-figured man lying in the dust below. 

Kai instinctively yelled out Aichi’s name and vaulted from his dragon, burying the wickedly curved sword he had inherited from his father into the creature’s back. It fell without a sound, black-red blood seeping in thick pools into the thirsty desert floor. But Kai was less concerned with the creature and more concerned as he heard Aichi mumble his name and try to sit up.

Aichi was bleeding, too much, and had every sign of a man who was dying of blood loss; slurred words, disorientation, pale skin, dizziness, and, much to Nehalem’s chagrin, vomiting. But he didn’t have time to administer aid. More of the enemy were approaching, and fast. 

He held Aichi with ease; over the past several months, he seemed to have lost weight. And as he leapt onto his dragon’s back, Aichi’s breathing shuddered nearly to a halt. 

“Aichi,” he hissed. “Aichi. Aichi !” 

There was no response as Aichi’s head lolled into Kai’s chest. 

“Damn it, damn it…” Kai looked over to where Miwa hovered nearby on his own dragon, waiting for his orders. “I have to go ahead.”

Miwa nodded. “We’ll cover.”

Kai returned the nod and urged his dragon forward. 

It took less than two minutes for his dragon to clear the eight kilometers back to the ground ward, but it felt an eternity, with Aichi bleeding to death in his arms, scarcely breathing. But when he got within view of the entrance, he found his path blocked by an enormous green and red robot the size of a building that looked like it came straight out of Star Gate. Perched on its shoulder was a tall woman with long blue hair and sprawling crimson wings. Kai had never been glad to see Metatron until that moment. 

“I have the Vanguard of the Royal Paladins!” he yelled at her, and she slid from the robot’s shoulder and met him in midair, surveying the dying man in Kai’s arms before reaching for him. Kai handed him off, and she flew wordlessly back to the robot, into which she disappeared. Kai hovered there for a moment, heart pounding, hoping against hope that the Angels would be able to save Aichi. 

If anyone can, it’s them.

He couldn’t do anything for Aichi now, but he could do something, and that was to destroy the monsters who had dared to invade his country. 

It took less than a minute to reconnect with his squadron, and at that point his anxiety had melted to raw, blind fury. 

There were perhaps two dozen of the enemy--too few to do any meaningful damage to the Angels’ ward--compared to Kai’s fifty advance units, and as he landed on the ground to face these strangely humanoid, white-haired monsters, he would have liked to have taken all of them on his own. 

They seemed to have identified him as someone of importance right away, as they honed in on him en masse. His tail flicked impatiently as the first of them approached, and he launched himself into the fight with an eagerness he hadn’t felt in many, many years.

His father’s sword was soon stained with that thick, black-red blood, which he swung with reckless abandon at any enemy that came within ten feet of him; they fell easily, wordlessly, and he paid no mind to it as he felt his sword pierce their bodies. These creatures, these monsters had attacked his homeland, and that was simply unforgivable.

As he cut down the last of them, he buried the tip of the sword in the ground, breathing hard.  

“Miwa.”

“Yes, my Vanguard.”

“Casualties?” 

“None.”

“Good.” Kai leaned down and wiped the sword off on one of the dead creatures’ clothing. Its white hair was now stained dark red with its own blood. “I don’t think it’ll be so easy next time.”

Miwa trotted closer, eyeing Kai’s bloodstained armor. “An advance guard?”

“Yeah.” Kai spotted a small bag in a cove of rocks. Miwa followed him at a slight distance and paused to keep watch as Kai bent down to investigate. A few mostly-empty water bottles, a little bag of dried mangoes, and a notebook. He sat down and opened it, recognizing Aichi’s handwriting immediately. There were several hand-drawn maps of the area with landmarks notated on it. 

All of this would have been a simple task from the back of a dragon rather than on foot. 

He closed the book with a soft sigh and slung the bag over his shoulder. 

“Miwa.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s wipe our country clean of these things.”

The smile on Miwa’s face was strained. “Yes, my Vanguard.”

Kai found the Royal Paladin quarters in the west quadrant of the Angel Feathers’ ground wards, after nearly an hour of asking around and being ignored by Angels holding a variety of tools that he did not believe could be used for healing of any kind. It was only when he bumped into a harangued-looking Tatsunagi Suiko that he was finally able to figure out how the Angels had organized their impromptu hospitals. Kai was lucky; Aichi, by virtue of his Vanguard status, had been aboard one of the Mobile Hospitals for safe treatment and was transferred back to the ground ward just two hours before.

“Make it quick,” she had warned in a clipped tone as she followed another Angel in the opposite direction, “I have to perform his final check in an hour and if you’re still there when I get back you’re going to become acquainted with the Kagero ward next.”

Aichi had a private tent, guarded by an enormous dog with a sword on the ground in front of it and a woman with long red hair. The woman surveyed Kai with narrowed eyes and the dog growled.

There would be no respect for the Overlord of the Dragon Empire by anyone from United Sanctuary today, it would seem.

“I’m here to speak with your Vanguard.”

“He is to have no visitors.”

“Says?”

“Blaster Blade.”

Kai suppressed a sigh with difficulty and was spared having to push his way into the tent by the very person he was here to see pulling the tent door back.

“Kai!”

“Ai–” He couldn’t be too familiar in front of Aichi’s knights. “Sendou Aichi.”

Aichi smiled warmly at him before turning to the woman, his hand resting gingerly on his torso. “Akane, Barcgal, it’s okay. I, I want to talk to him.”

“My Vanguard–” Akane began, holding out her hand.

He shook his head earnestly. “He saved my life. It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

She stomped her foot in frustration. “You want me to leave you with the Kagero Vanguard? Alone, while you’re injured?”

“I’ve been alone with him before and he hasn’t harmed me.”

Uncomfortable silence fell as Akane and Barcgal glanced at Kai suspiciously. He kept his face impassive even as Aichi turned red.

“Oh– oh, like, when I was training in Dragon Empire all those months ago… and then when I fell into that sleep…”

“Sendou Aichi,” Kai interrupted, wanting nothing more than to cut off this train of thought before it got Aichi in an even more uncomfortable spot, “the Angels will be releasing you after your final check in about half an hour. I hoped to speak with you in private while we had the opportunity.”

“Of, of course…” Aichi reddened even deeper but he straightened up, hand still on his side. “Akane, would you get Marron for me? They can escort me back after I’m cleared for release.”

Akane gave Kai a hard glare, which he returned, before she gave a short bow and gestured for Barcgal to follow her. “Yes, my Vanguard. We will see you shortly.”

“Thank you, Akane.” Aichi reached out to pet Bargcal and smiled. “I’m grateful to you.”

Her expression softened and she smiled back. “As I am to you, my Vanguard. Come, Barcgal.”

When they were both out of sight, Aichi sighed and waved Kai in. The tent was quite small, with room enough only for a rather stiff-looking hospital bed, a metal table on wheels with several medical tools neatly arranged on it, and a basket filled with what looked to be Aichi’s desert armor.

Aichi, now wearing trousers and a shirt of matching gray cotton, settled back on the bed, wincing. He put his hand over his side again. “It’s still painful, huh…”

“It’s only been two days.”

“Really?” He didn’t sound as though he were asking a question; rather, he seemed downcast. “Feels like an eternity.”

Kai didn’t say anything, just stood by the bed, arms crossed. He had an entire list of things he needed to talk to Aichi about, yet in the moment he couldn’t think of a single one. The past two days may have seemed an eternity to Aichi, but to Kai, they flashed by in an instant, one more reminder of the fragility of human life.

“You’re covered in blood,” Aichi said quietly. 

Kai glanced down at himself. His black and red leather and metal armor had dark stains all over it, and so did his pants and feet. He hadn’t really noticed, but he must have been a terrifying sight. “None of it is mine.” Some of the older stains, he was sure, were Aichi’s blood. 

“I… I see…” Aichi swallowed and looked away. “You said you wanted to talk?”

“Yeah…”

Glancing around the tent for a chair and finding none, Kai instead waved his hand at the side of Aichi’s bed. At Aichi’s brief nod, he sat, hands folded on his lap. He didn’t have much time left before Suiko returned to see her patient and kick out the visitor, but he couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Kai?”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said brusquely. He wanted to ask Aichi why he had been so stupid as to go out into the desert unaccompanied in the first place, but it didn’t seem like the time.

He wasn’t looking at Aichi and didn’t know what he expected Aichi’s reaction to be, but a weak laugh wasn’t quite it.

“I mean… I don’t know if I’d call this okay, I almost bled to death…”

“You know what I mean.” Kai turned to face him. Now that he was closer, he could see the bruising on Aichi’s left cheekbone and the scrapes on his exposed neck. “You’re alive…”

“I am that.”

Kai moved closer, taking Aichi’s chin in his hand, careful not to dig his claws into the soft skin. Ignoring Aichi’s embarrassed sputtering, he examined the yellowing bruise. “What were those monsters?”

Aichi tilted his head back until Kai let go of his chin and leaned back against the cushions keeping him upright. “We don’t know much. We haven’t gotten anything out of them from… imprisonment… except that they call themselves Link Joker.”

From Aichi’s tone of distaste, Kai could assume he didn’t approve of the quality of treatment given to the invaders. Looking at Aichi’s bruised and injured body, Kai couldn’t muster up any sympathy for them at all. The name was familiar enough, seeing as Aichi had referenced them in every one of the several dozen letters he’d sent over the past six months. He didn’t really want to admit that he’d read and ignored those letters, so he settled for mild ignorance. “Link Joker?”

“They’re from another world, I guess.”

“What do they want?”

Aichi shrugged with one shoulder, avoiding Kai’s eyes. “Nothing, as far as we know. They just… destroy. That’s all.”

They fell into silence again as Kai contemplated this information. Alien creatures who sought total destruction of Cray for no real reason meant it would be impossible to try diplomacy. The way they fought indicated that they wouldn’t rest until they had wiped out all life on Cray, which meant all the clans would have to come together to wipe them out completely, or face total extinction.

He didn’t realize his hands were shaking--out of anger or frustration, he didn’t know--until he felt Aichi move behind him and placed his own hand over Kai’s.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, giving Kai’s hand a gentle squeeze, “you’re here. Everything will be okay now.”

“Aichi,” Kai began, but he couldn’t speak another word through the feeling of something choking off his air, an unfamiliar sensation that brought with it a vivid memory of something that had happened to someone else.

It’s okay.

Fingertips tracing his spine, one vertebra at a time, until those fingers wound his way into his hair. Words of encouragement. Lips, light as the touch of a butterfly, flitting across his pale, soft neck, finding their way up and up until they met Kai’s own…

It’s okay.

Memories that were not his own, yet filled his mind and refused to leave. Memories of a boy on Planet E, a boy awkwardly in love with his best friend, a boy connected to Kai through a power Kai couldn’t begin to understand.

But if that boy could have it…

“Kai?”

He forced himself to breathe. “Why do you believe everything will work out just because I’m here?”

Aichi moved his hand with agonizing slowness, first across the scales on the back of Kai’s hand, over his wrist, up his arm…

“Because you always remind me what it is to be strong.”

He expected, going into this little tent, that Aichi would apologize for the way they parted after their last conversation, then thank him for saving his life. He expected to find that Aichi was injured but recovering well. He expected to discuss the invading force about which he knew so little.

He did not expect to feel Aichi’s fingertips against the exposed, soft skin of his cheek. He did not expect Aichi to place his other hand on the small of Kai’s back as he moved closer on that tiny hospital bed.

And he did not expect Aichi to kiss him.

The other Aichi, in those dreams, was fearless and bold in his passions. This Aichi was no different; he pressed his lips tasting faintly of mint against Kai’s with all the surety of a well-established man, holding Kai’s head in place with one firm hand on the back of Kai’s neck. Kai let him. With no baseline for how such a uniquely human form of affection worked, he wouldn’t dare interrupt the drumbeat of his heart, the burning in the pit of his stomach, the tingling in his extremities. No, he would allow Aichi to lead, to be the Vanguard, in this alone.

My Vanguard…

Aichi pulled away with a sharp inhale, eyes wide at something over Kai’s shoulder. For all the overwhelming sensations and confusion wracking Kai’s body and mind at that moment, he had enough clarity to sense that someone had just walked in on them.

Oh, please don’t let that be Ahmes was his first, fervent plea as he turned around.

“I’m sorry, my Vanguard, I’ll be–”

The little sage, Marron; it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see them there, as Aichi had requested them specifically come to his tent for his final checkup. But it didn’t stop the feeling of pure embarrassment begging Kai to ensure that no rumors made their way to Ahmes or even King Alfred.

“Hey,” he began, but Marron was already out of the tent and was setting off at a brisk walk by the time Kai, swearing under his breath, reached the tent entrance.

“My Vanguard?”

Nehalem’s questioning tone startled Kai for a second too long, but he recovered quickly enough from the question of why Nehalem was there in the first place to point at Marron’s retreating back. “Go get them. Hurry.”

No questioning look even crossed Nehalem’s face as he leaned his spear against the tent and took off after Marron at a dead sprint, catching up to them in seconds. Kai sighed, frustrated, as he ducked back into the tent, where Aichi sat anxiously on the bed.

“Ahmes is going to be very unhappy if he finds out about…”

Kai waited, arms crossed. Truthfully, he was far less concerned about what Ahmes or Alfred would say to him if they found out their Vanguard had been sharing an intimate moment with the Vanguard of a longtime enemy clan and more concerned about how it would affect Aichi’s standing in the Royal Paladins.

If needed, Kai reflected, they could pass it off as a temporary lapse in judgement. It was only the one time, after all. Or he could shoulder the blame and suggest the situation was of his own doing, despite the truth being that Aichi had initiated the entire thing. Certainly, Ahmes would not allow Aichi anywhere near Kai again if they had to go this route, but it was better than the alternative. 

Despite his very real problems at that moment, Kai couldn’t help but wonder if Aichi’s feelings for him were truly for him or if they were still for that boy on Planet E. 

There was some minor commotion outside before Nehalem pulled back the tent flap. “My Vanguard.” He entered, yanking Marron along by the arm.

“I’m going to change back to my normal height next time and see how you try hauling me around like a sack of potatoes,” they muttered to Nehalem, who shrugged before walking out again. Kai didn’t know how much Nehalem knew about what had transpired in the past few minutes, but he was unconcerned about anything spreading from him.

The sage, on the other hand…

“Marron,” Aichi said softly, clutching his sheets between both hands as he pointedly did not look at them, “I know… it’s probably hard for you, having seen, um, that, but I hope, or, or I need you to… not tell anyone.”

Marron was just as determined not to look Aichi in the eye, and instead kept glancing over at Kai, who returned the stare as impassively as he could. They opened and closed their mouth a few times before taking a deep breath.

“I care about you, my Vanguard. We all do. We all love you and want you to be safe.” They finally managed to meet Aichi’s worried gaze with a determined one of their own. “And, despite being the leader of an enemy clan, he… he took care of you, back when you were in that deep sleep. And again, when he saved your life. So, I can’t… I can’t hate him for that.” They sighed, making a vague gesture with their hands. “Just be careful next time, my Vanguard.”

Next time? Kai wondered.

Aichi made a noise halfway between a sigh and a laugh, shoulders relaxing. “Thank you, Marron. Truly… thank you.”

Marron crossed the floor and gently took Aichi in an embrace. “Of course. I will do anything for you, my Vanguard.”

As they pulled away, Tatsunagi Suiko pulled the tent flap back and stomped in, looking as irate as ever.

“Everybody out.”

Marron jumped a little in surprise before giving Aichi a short bow and hurrying past Kai out of the tent. Kai glanced back at Aichi, who looked down at his hands. It seemed his actions were catching up to him now. 

“Be careful,” Aichi whispered.

Bold words from a man who just kissed someone he barely knew.

“When this is over,” Kai said slowly, “I’d like to play a game of stones with you again.”

He turned and left the tent, not waiting for a response. 

Nehalem waited for him and fell into step as Kai strode toward the entrance to the ward. He was normally perfectly good company, silent and brooding, but he seemed more contemplative than usual today. 

“What is it?” Kai said finally. He didn’t expect a response outside of nothing, my Vanguard, which was why he was surprised when Nehalem thought for a second before speaking. 

“That sage was very worried when you sent me after them.”

Kai stopped and glanced over at Nehalem. “Worried? About?”

“You, I assume.”

“Me?”

Nehalem hesitated. “Over the past two days, I have conversed with them a few times. They seemed to fear that if something happened to you, something would also happen to Sendou Aichi… or that any of Sendou’s issues had something to do with you.”

This was the longest string of words Kai had ever heard Nehalem speak at once, so it took him a moment to overcome this surprise before he could process the content of the statement. “I don’t understand what you’re saying. That what happened to him is my fault?”

“I don’t understand much either, my Vanguard.” Nehalem shrugged as he looked off toward the sky. “The sage likes to talk. I don’t always listen to them.”

Kai sighed. The past hour had been among the most confusing and unexpected of his time as Vanguard. He should be focused on the task at hand and keeping the enemy away from his homeland and eradicating them before they could grow in numbers.

He licked his dry lips. They tasted like Aichi. 

Chapter Text

When Suiko arrived, flanked by Metatron and--to Kai’s discomfort--Ahmes and Ezel, the sun was already beginning to set, and the moons beyond Cray began to glow on the horizon. The group stopped and looked down at the immobile dragoon hovering inches off the desert floor, his body encased in two crisscrossing black and red rings crackling with energy. 

“How long has he been like this?” Metatron asked.

“Few hours.”

“What happened?” Suiko bent closer to the body.

“Dunno,” Ishida tapped the crossbow at his side. “We were fighting the enemy, one of them did something with its hands, next thing we know…” He gestured at the dragoon.

Suiko tapped one of the rings and pulled her hand away instantly, hissing in pain as she shook her hand. 

“Tried that,” Ishida grunted.

Ignoring him, she held out her hand, and Metatron placed her staff in it. Ishida sighed as Suiko prodded the dragoon with the blunt end of the staff. Kai considered telling her not to do it, but perhaps it was for the best that she learn on her own, which she did as the pulsating energy zapped her through the staff. She cried out and took several steps back; Ezel caught her by the shoulders.

“Tried that, too,” Ishida said, sounding somewhat exasperated.

She handed the staff back to Metatron and crouched back down, close enough to the dragoon to see his face but far enough away that she was avoiding the rings. “What is this?”

“We thought you might know,” Kai said. His arms were crossed as he looked down at them. “Is this not something the enemy has done so far?”

“Not that we’ve seen,” Ezel said. He exchanged a look with Ahmes, something between concern and confusion. “Is he dead?”

“I don’t know,” Kai said. He looked back down at Suiko, who was examining the dragoon’s face on her hands and knees. “That’s why we asked for her.”

Suiko climbed back to her feet, dusting herself off. “A moment.” She gestured for Metatron to follow the group out of earshot, leaving Ahmes, Ezel, Ishida, and Kai standing on opposite sides of the dragoon, staring at each other.

“Thank you,” Ahmes said in a low voice, inclining his head in Kai’s direction, “for saving my Vanguard’s life.”

Kai crossed his arms and grunted, avoiding Ahmes’s piercing gaze by focusing his attention on the man at his feet.. 

“That’s about as close as you’re going to get to a ‘you’re welcome,’” Ezel said to Ahmes, who merely frowned.

“The more pressing issue is, what happened here and how do we stop it from happening again.”

“This ain’t that Reverse thing, is… it.”

Ishida seemed to realize he’d said something he shouldn’t have almost instantly as Kai grimaced, but it was far too late to take it back.

“The Reverse?” Ahmes repeated. “Where did you…”

“We only talked about that in the meeting you didn’t attend,” Ezel said in a dangerously low voice, turning his attention to Kai.

“Aichi wrote you letters,” Ahmes said, his jaw set and face lined with fury. “You read the letters, and yet ignored our pleas for help until it suited your own interests.” 

The letters were the easiest way to explain how Kai knew of “Reverse.” He was sure it wouldn’t be as easy to explain that he’d known about it even before the letters, when he’d dreamed of that human boy on Planet E, tormented by his own insecurities, wracked with guilt over his own weakness, forced to make an impossible choice to save the one he loved.

He’d woken with a start, struggling to ground himself from the sensation of falling. The Kai of Planet E had succumbed to Link Joker, in a process he referred to as Reverse. 

They’re linked together. Individual parts of a whole, like a colony. And when they take over a host, they assimilate it into their colony.

“You rescinded your thanks to me for saving your Vanguard’s life quickly, I see,” Kai said in a surprisingly even voice for as much dread as was settled in the pit of his stomach at the memory of his counterpart on Planet E falling from the rooftop.

“You are as selfish as your father.”

Kai clenched his fists at his side, all desire to be as cordial as possible disappearing. “I am not him, and I don’t give a single--”

“He’s not dead,” Suiko interrupted loudly, returning to the group. She seemed unfazed by the fact that she had just stepped into the middle of what was shaping up to be a heated argument. 

“How do you know?” Ishida asked. 

“He’s human,” Suiko began.

“Yeah, I noticed.”

She ignored him. “The human body, upon dying, undergoes several chemical changes that are visible within a few hours of death, faster if the body is overheated.” She gestured at the desert at large. “It’s very hot here, which would expedite these processes.”

“He would be well into the stages of rigor mortis if he were dead,” Metatron added. “From what we can see, his facial muscles are still relaxed.”

Ishida scrunched up his face. “So, what, he’s… locked in time or something?” 

“I don’t know. I will need my equipment back in the United Sanctuary, so I have to find a way to transport him there.”

“Genesis and the Oracle Think Tank may have some technologies they can use as well,” Ezel mused, crossing his arms over his chest. “Or they may be able to craft some.”

“Right,” Suiko muttered. “Let’s go, Metatron.”

Metatron followed Suiko’s lead and stretched out her massive crimson wings, giving them two powerful beats before hoisting herself in the air. “Yes, my Vanguard.”

Under any other circumstances, Kai would balk at the thought of a Narukami soldier being taken unconscious to the Holy City. But he had no idea what to do in this situation, and his nation was not particularly suited to healing technologies. “I’ll… send some aerial units to aid the Magallanica clans, and some Tachikaze cavalry to Zoo as backup.”

Ezel’s eyebrows shot up into his mane of hair. 

“I’ll go,” Ishida offered, giving his crossbow a solid pat. “I’m ready for some ass-kickin’.”

Kai nodded slowly. Ishida was headstrong and passionate and strong in battle, but not much of a planner. What was to come would require more careful planning than he had the patience for. “Good luck.”

Ishida clicked his tongue and winked before heading off at a trot. Kai looked down at the dragoon on the ground. Out of his periphery, he saw Ahmes and Ezel turn to leave.

“Blaster Blade.”

Ahmes stopped to look back at Kai, wordlessly.

Kai swallowed. “Is… how is Sendou Aichi doing?”

A short pause. “Recovering well. He has been sent back to the United Sanctuary until he is back to normal.”

“Good,” Kai said quietly. 

Given that Ahmes had been on the verge of cleaving Kai in two not ten minutes earlier, the tension in the air as they discussed Aichi was palpable. The Paladins’ knowledge of “Reverse” told Kai that Aichi had the same dream, that terrible dream, before all of this happened. Was that partly to blame for Aichi’s urge to kiss Kai back in his tent? Had Aichi feared that the Kai Toshiki he loved in the other world was gone, and turned to the Kai Toshiki of Cray as some kind of tangible reminder of him?

But he didn’t want to be an expy of the one Aichi really loved.

“Thank you,” Ahmes said quietly, pulling Kai out of his thoughts, and he left with Ezel without looking back.

Kai couldn’t force his throat to work. All he could do was nod.

Miwa never relished the thrill of battle the way Kai did. He was good at fighting, certainly--and who wouldn’t be, with the son of the Dragonic Overlord being your sparring partner for twenty years--yet he didn’t enjoy it. Sparring was fun, but this--the sounds of screaming and roaring and pain--was anything but. 

It was necessary, though, and he couldn’t muster up any sympathy for these white-haired, red-eyed monsters invading his planet. Especially not when they were boldly attempting to push deeper into the Dragon Empire. His home. 

He deflected another blow and buried his sword into yet another creature made of both biological matter and wiring. He didn’t bother to look at it or its thick, black-red blood pooling on the desert floor. Three more soldiers of Cray had been targeted with the terrifying red and black rings immobilizing their bodies. Locking, Kai had called it as he explained his orders for some of the aerial units and Tachikaze ground units to head toward Magallanica and Zoo to bolster the tired forces there. 

Don’t let them touch you, he warned, and then left for another part of the battlefield. 

Easier said than done, Miwa thought, barely dodging a blow. They had almost eradicated this particular wave, but there was no way of knowing just how many had made it to the surface of Cray, and how many were waiting to join the fray. 

He heard a sound behind him and turned to meet the enemy--

---only to watch a spear tip cleave straight through its neck with a horrible squelching sound.

“Oh man,” he moaned, putting a hand to his mouth, which was watering with the sensation of bile in the back of his throat, and the sensation worsened as Nehalem wrenched his spear out of the body, spurting blood everywhere.

Nehalem watched as Miwa bent over to throw up, emptying what little breakfast he had time for that morning, along with most of the water he’d consumed. 

“Right in front of me, man,” Miwa muttered, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth before reaching for the water pouch offered to him. 

“Watch your back,” Nehalem said indifferently, “there are still a handful left.”

Miwa drank some of the water and was about to retort when a bright flash of fiery light filled the sky to the southeast, followed by a high humming sound and a colossal explosion that shook the ground with such force that Miwa would have fallen over if not for Nehalem grabbing him by the shoulders to steady him. 

“The hell?” Miwa wondered.

“A meteorite?” Nehalem said in a more questioning tone than Miwa had ever heard from him before.

Whatever it was, it caught the attention of the few Link Joker soldiers still on the battlefield. And when one of them tried to disengage from battle and move toward the crash site in the distance, Miwa knew it had to be something important. The Link Jokers’ momentary distraction cost them dearly, with the remaining handful swiftly being dispatched by the ninja of Nubatama. 

It would have caught Kai’s attention, too. “Let’s go see what it is,” Miwa muttered, and he followed Nehalem back to their dragons.

On foot, it would have taken half a day to reach the site, but on their dragons, it took minutes. They weren’t the only ones there; several dragon knights were crowded around a crater roughly thirty feet deep and as wide, peering in curiously. And, just as Miwa predicted, it didn’t take long for a commanding voice to silence the murmurs.

“Get back.”

Miwa pushed his way through the crowd until he reached Kai, who was striding toward the crater with an unreadable look on his face. They both stopped at the edge and peered in.

A pile of smoking metal lay crumpled in the center, presumably some kind of aircraft that had malfunctioned. Next to it, covered in blood that Miwa could see clearly from the crater rim, was huddled a humanoid figure with long white hair. It must have been ejected from the machine before impact, but it was hard to see how it could have survived such an explosion. 

“Hmph.” Kai started to turn away. “Good riddance.”

“Wait.” Miwa grabbed the hem of Kai’s shirt. Kai huffed and looked at Miwa.

“What.”

Miwa pointed into the crater, where the crumpled figure was moving, slowly and agonizingly trying to push itself up. Behind them, Nehalem let out a quiet curse. 

“How the hell…” Kai muttered.

Through a curtain of matted white hair, Miwa could see its vivid red eyes, turned on him, as it reached out a shaking, clearly broken arm. 

He couldn’t hear its voice, but he could see its mouth form one simple word before collapsing again.

Help. 

Chapter Text

...human, since it has…

Can't poss--

...survived?

Just kill the...

...true… --lock, it… the key. 

--asked for help…

Heated voices nearby pulled him out of the uneasy darkness of sleep. He tried to move his arms, but they were unresponsive at his sides. He tried opening his eyes next, and found them heavy and unfocused. He was lying on something soft yet firm, a cushion of some sort; through the darkness, he could just make out a high stone ceiling above him. 

This wasn't right; he should be somewhere else, but...

A loud thud preceded a bright light flooding the room, and he instinctively squinted his eyes at the sensation before a heavy door slammed shut, plunging the room back into semidarkness.

Then, a flickering flame illuminated those who had joined him in this room, and he turned his head to look at them.

The one holding the large candle was slenderly built, a cropped shirt revealing much of his lean stomach and the intricate red design painted on it. The jewelry on his wrist clinked together as he lifted his hand to brush his longish green hair from his face. Behind him was a slightly shorter man with yellow hair; something about him and his black and red armor seemed vaguely familiar, but he didn't have time to dwell on that as his eyes focused on the final man.

Tall and slender, with a mess of brown hair, he would not have been remarkable save for the scales across the backs of his arms and neck, the clawed hands, and the whiplike tail brushing against the ground. A man, but also a dragon. A fascinating specimen to behold, but even more overwhelming was the aura of raw power emanating from him, an aura he knew in the back of his mind was familiar but in a way he couldn't quite place. 

He knew this dragon man was important somehow, before he even heard the green-haired man refer to him as My Vanguard.

The Vanguard stared at his prisoner-- yes, I must be that --with such contempt in his slitted green eyes that he couldn't look at him anymore and turned his attention instead to the green-haired man, who was speaking.

"...normal blood, my Vanguard. Human."

"It didn't come from Cray, Anjou," the dragon spat, taking one step closer. "It can't be human. None of the rest of these things are."

"I am telling you what I know to be true, my Vanguard. This creature, this… Link Joker warrior, is not like the others we have encountered."

Link Joker…?

His fingers twitched involuntarily. 

"It can't lock, can it?" the yellow-haired man interjected. He sounded nervous.

"No, when I set his broken arms, I tightened the casts so he won't be able to move his hands."

"Fine." The dragon man waved a claw toward the cushion. "Since you insisted on keeping it alive, it is your responsibility to keep it under control. Find out why it's here… and how to reverse the lock."

Reverse… Lock…

These words meant something, he was sure of it.

"Yes, my Vanguard." Anjou bowed deeply as the dragon man and the other man left the room. As the dragon man--the Vanguard--walked out first, the yellow-haired man whispered something that could barely be made out. 

“Will you tell Aichi?”

The response was terse. “No.”

When the door closed, Anjou straightened up and turned, bangles jangling on his arms and ankles as he set the candle down on a small table next to the cushion. "Now then," he murmured, leaning down with his hands clasped behind his back, "what is your name?"

Name… Name…

He craned his neck, peering down at his tattered armor and arms wrapped tightly in stiff cloth; only the very tips of his fingers showed. He tried to sit up and failed. 

Anjou clicked his tongue and pressed him back on the cushion. “Stay put. You aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.”

That much was true. He had no energy, he couldn’t move his arms, and every inch of him ached. He tried to think back on what happened to put him in such a state, but nothing came to him. He licked his lips and found them swollen and bleeding.

Anjou was speaking, but he couldn’t focus on what he was saying. His mind raced, something akin to panic welling in the pit of his stomach. 

Lock… Reverse… Vanguard…

The words repeated over and over in his mind in a vaguely familiar voice, yet he found no meaning to them. They were important, yet he couldn’t remember why. 

“--key to unlocking, but now I’m not so sure…”

Key.

Unlock.

“Well, I guess any hope that you can help has vanished…”

At this last word, something stirred in his memory, or perhaps his subconscious, as Anjou droned on incoherently. One word, a word that escaped his parched, aching throat in a hoarse grunt.

“Ibuki.”

Anjou stopped speaking abruptly and turned his attention back to his prisoner, eyes wide in surprise. “Excuse me?”

Speaking was agony. It felt like he was trying to force fire from his stomach into his mouth. “My name,” he rasped, and tried to swallow. Nothing came of it, since there was no moisture in his mouth to swallow. The word failed several times until he was able to force it out. “Ibuki.”

Maybe there was some merit to Yuri’s request that he sit this particular mission out, Mitsusada thought as the warning lights in the cockpit flashed and beeped; Daiyusha had taken a hard crash on a small island in the southernmost reaches of Magallanica  just north of Star Gate, and he was frantically trying to get the systems back online. Most unhelpfully, communications had gone out first and he didn’t know if his tracker was online. 

“C’mon, big guy,” he murmured, digging around in the wiring to repair the damaged lines. “Don’t let me down now…”

Perhaps the most miraculous part of the whole situation was that there were no approaching enemy fighters on his radar. Maybe they didn’t know where he crashed, or maybe they thought he was already dead. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand; it came away bloody. 

It had been a routine patrol until he encountered several Link Joker warriors who had broken through the Magallanica fleet. He didn’t fault Soryuu Leon for that; for all the Aqua Force Vanguard’s bravado, he and his fleet were exhausted from two weeks’ straight of fighting. Granblue must have fared slightly better, but not everyone in that fleet was undead. Gouki must have been tired, too.

He engaged in combat together with his partner, batting several enemies back without any real difficulty. They were powerful, but no match for the massive size and brutal power of the Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha. 

Or so he thought. 

He didn’t see where the energy beam came from, but felt its impact from behind; he lurched forward in his seat, smashing his head on the control panels, and grunted as his vision blacked out for just a moment.

It was all the time the enemy needed. 

He didn’t see the strike to Daiyusha’s chest, as he was still disoriented from the earlier impact, but he certainly felt it, the tremendous force of gravity shoving him painfully into his seat, making breathing difficult as Daiyusha fell toward the ground at such a high speed he was certain he was going to die. 

Fate spared him, it seemed.

He spent the next half hour digging around the cockpit, shoving fuses together and smacking things around with his wrench. Daiyusha beeped indignantly. 

“Ah, sorry, old friend.” He gave the control board a fond pat. “Just trying to get you up and running enough that we can get home and patch you up properly…”

There was another beep, but not one of affirmation. He straightened up and peered at the control panel where the radar alerted him to an incoming enemy. 

“Damn,” he muttered. “Sorry, Daiyusha. We’ve gotta have one more fight. You up for it?”

The control panel lit up in response and Mitsusada grinned. “All right. It’s just one, so it shouldn’t take long.”

He pushed Daiyusha up and eased the throttles forward until Daiyusha came to a full sprint; strapping himself in, he launched into the air to meet his foe.

The enemy approaching was nothing like any he had fought to this point. It was huge; red, white and black in color, draconic in shape, but unlike any dragon found on Cray. Its long, thick tail looked almost mechanical, as did the eerie red glow surrounding it. Red and black rings, like the gates that had cropped up on Cray, surrounded every one of its extremities. In one massive clawed hand it held a weapon that looked like a scythe, pulsating with the same energy as the rest of it. 

“Looks like a boss fight, huh?” Daiyusha was almost out of juice, and this Link Joker warrior looked raring to go. “Ah well, not like I have a choice, I guess.”

He swung Daiyusha’s sword; the enemy parried it easily with its scythe. They exchanged several blows, none piercing the enemy’s defenses, yet the enemy barely forced an offensive. He found the enemy’s lack of engagement puzzling until an alarm flashed above him, alerting him to the fact that he had been forced back into a rocky cliff. The most predictable play in the book, and he fell for it.

He barely managed to choke out a curse before the enemy reached an arm back and pushed forward, shoving Daiyusha into the cliff with so much force that it crumpled the monitor display; Mitsusada threw his arms in front of his face just in time to avoid another smash of the head against the display, but a crack in his arm told him he may have just broken a bone. He didn’t feel it. The adrenaline coursing through his body numbed the pain in his head from earlier, too. 

With a horrible, deafening grinding sound, the Link Joker dragon crushed the front of Daiyusha’s armor and ripped it away, revealing Mitsusada, still strapped into his seat, hunched over and bleeding.

As the creature leaned close, he got a good look at its face, taken up mostly by an exaggerated grin with enormous, sharp teeth. Its glowing red eyes, pupil-less, were set in such a way that it looked permanently amused.

“Oh, you’re alive,” it said. 

Mitsusada spat out some blood pooling in his mouth. Some kind of internal injury. He needed a healer. “You can talk.”

“Of course!” It straightened up and flung out its arms theatrically. “After all, I am not a weak minion of Void. I am a master of it!”

The adrenaline now coursing through Mitsusada’s body made him dizzy, though it was probably better to be dizzy than fully aware of the pain of what was almost certainly a broken arm and a concussion. “And what are you called?”

“Hm, I am called many things.” The creature’s grin widened, if that were possible. “I suppose, to you things on this planet, I am… a jester.”

Mitsusada forced back some vomit at the back of his throat. “A jester?” he managed to choke out. “Like someone who performs for a king’s amusement?”

“Precisely!” The jester seemed thrilled that Mitsusada had grasped this fact so quickly.

“So this is what, all a game to you?”

“Well, yes.” 

Mitsusada bit back the desire to call this thing a monster. It would probably be considered a compliment. “My team will be here to rescue me soon--”

“Oh, no one knows you’re here,” the jester said cheerfully. “We deliberately took out your communications first.”

“They’ll scour the one area I was in before I went down.”

“And what will they do? Fight me? Me?” The jester’s laugh was more of a high-pitched cackle that made Mitsusada’s hair stand up on its end. “Oh dear, you humans are really so amusing.” It shrugged. “Well, you weren’t supposed to be alive, but I guess we’ll make do. You can help us find what we’re looking for.” 

It was Mitsusada’s turn to laugh, though it was more out of indignance than mirth. “Help? And why in the world do you think I would help you?”

“Surely the one person on this gods-forsaken planet that you care about more than any other is worried about you…” The jester giggled even as the blood drained from Mitsusada’s face, both inside and out. “What a shame it would be, if you know what I mean.”

The image of his very pregnant wife flashed into his mind. The intense fear must have shown on his face, because the jester made a noise that might have been something like a laugh. 

“Don’t worry,” it said cheerfully, pressing its enormous clawed finger to Mitsusada’s chest where the necklace Yuri had given him so many years ago dangled, “I’m not going to kill you.”

“Why?” Mitsusada said bitterly, trying to push the jester’s hand away. He wanted to feel it for himself, that tangible reminder that he was alive and that Yuri loved him. 

“I have big plans for you, Mitsusada Kenji.”

Nothing about these words eased the terror that had wedged itself deep in his heart. “And… if I refuse?”

The jester laughed again, a sound that felt like Mitsusada was being plunged into icy water. “Oh, Mitsusada Kenji, you can’t refuse.” It held that wicked scythe close to Mitsusada’s neck, lifting the necklace with the tip with an almost delicate precision. “Unless you want something to happen to your dear person?”

“D-don’t touch her--”

“I won’t.” The jester’s permanent smile seemed somehow more pronounced. It was clearly having a jolly time. “But you have to do as I say.”

“How can I trust that you won’t hurt her?” His voice cracked. He and Yuri had been together for many years. He loved her, more than anything, and his love for her was now being leveraged against him.

The jester sighed. “I am many things, Mitsusada Kenji, but a liar I am not. I swear to you, I will not harm her as long as you do what is asked of you.”

Sacrifice himself to save her. This was what a true hero of justice would do. How angry she would be with him, putting her before others. 

But even she would understand that she was his guiding light, the star to which he set his compass. He could never let harm come to her. It wasn’t in his nature.

And Link Joker knew that.

“Fine,” he whispered before the tears began to fall.

“That’s right,” the jester whispered as Mitsusada Kenji wept, “give in to your despair… and be reborn.”

With the added forces of the Dragon Empire now fighting the enemy, the situation on Zoo seemed to improve, though the Link Joker forces were starting to spread out across Magallanica and toward Star Gate to the south and the Dragon Empire to the north. Aichi pored over maps day after day as he became fully recovered, but Ahmes could tell there was something bothering him. The nightmares had not ceased; they seemed to be intensifying. Aichi frequently woke up in fits of terror, hardly ate, and had almost completely closed himself off to regular conversation. Alfred agreed; the stress was tearing him apart. 

“Aichi.” 

Ahmes sat next to him, pulling Aichi out of deep thought. Aichi’s eyes were slightly red. It pained Ahmes to the very core to see him this way. 

“I feel like no matter what we do, they just keep coming,” Aichi whispered. 

There had been no reports anywhere of any creature of Link Joker that may have been a commander. Every creature fought thus far had been a silent footsoldier, disposable fodder for some grand endgame. There had been little progress from Genesis and the Oracles in unlocking the unfortunate people who had been locked, though at least they had managed to figure a way to move them from the battlefield. The number of those locked grew each day, and some of them were people Aichi and Ahmes knew. 

Ahmes placed a hand over Aichi’s and gave it a gentle squeeze. Aichi rubbed his eyes with the back of his free hand. “We have asked you to be strong for all of Cray, my Vanguard. It is selfish of us. Please allow us to share in your pain.”

“I just want the suffering to end.”

“I know.” Ahmes knelt next to Aichi and brushed away the hair sticking to Aichi’s wet face. “Everything will soon end, and we can rebuild.”

“I don’t want things to go back to the way they were.” Aichi looked at Ahmes, fresh tears glistening on his lashes. “No more war, no more bloodshed, no more children torn from their parents or lovers from rival clans caught up in war…”

There was something distant about the way he said it, a quiet longing in his eyes. It could have meant anything. Tokura Misaki and Tatsunagi Kourin were such lovers of different clans, but Ahmes couldn’t help but suspect Aichi didn’t quite have them in mind as he spoke.

He had no time to press the issue; the video transceiver beeped once, twice, three times--

Aichi hurriedly wiped his eyes again and answered on the fifth beep. “This is--”

“Get Asaka and Tetsu down to Star Gate right now,” came the urgent voice on the other end without preamble. 

“Ren?”

“And Junos. We desperately need--” Static cut off what he was saying halfway through the sentence. Ahmes leaned over and saw Suzugamori Ren standing in a cavernous hallway where the Dimension Police stored their battle robots,wearing the most serious look Ahmes had ever seen on his face. Behind him, smoke and steam and the sounds of people yelling added to a vision of complete chaos. “--Kenji. Yuri is unconsolable, she saw him-- He’s attacking his own people. He’s using the lock.”

Aichi dropped the transponder.

“--Aichi! Send help, now! Get Kai’s drago--”

He cut out. 

Aichi teetered on the edge of his chair. Ahmes grabbed him by the shoulders. “Aichi, we must act quickly.”

“He’s been Reversed,” Aichi muttered numbly. His eyes stared blankly ahead. “He… he and Yuri are going to have a baby…”

“Aichi!” Ahmes grabbed Aichi by the face and forced him to look him in the eyes. “You must be strong, Aichi. So many people need you to be strong.” He rubbed his thumbs over Aichi’s cheeks. “Alfred and I. Your friends here in the Holy City. Your mother and sister. Yuri and Mitsusada.” He hesitated for one second too long. “Even Suzugamori Ren and… and Kai Toshiki. We all need you to lead us. Please lead us, my Vanguard.”

Aichi’s eyes flickered upward, meeting Ahmes’s. “I…” He swallowed thickly before nodding. “Then, I need to contact… Pale Moon and Dark Irregulars…”

“And the Shadow Paladins.”

“And Kagero,” Aichi whispered. He looked up at Ahmes again. “Will you get Junos? You’re the only one he respects enough to listen to.”

Respect wasn’t quite the word Ahmes would use to describe Junos’s feelings toward him. Maybe, many years ago, Junos had respected him. “Yes, my Vanguard. Please be careful.”

“And you,” Aichi said softly, turning his attention to the monumental task ahead of him.

Chapter Text

Kai expected the south pole to be a frigid wasteland, but he was unprepared for exactly how cold it would truly feel to him as a half-dragon man used to the dry heat of the desert. He pulled his cloak tight to his body as he hopped from his dragon’s back onto the tightly packed snow and ice below. His exposed feet -- half skin, half scales -- went numb almost instantly. With a muttered curse, he crunched his way into the vast, black steel building that housed the Dimension Police. 

The contrast between the frigid outside air and the hot, humid indoors made Kai pause as he caught his breath. He wasn’t about to complain, though. His numb feet and hands welcomed the warmth. 

But there was still a deep chill in his bones, one that didn’t feel like the cold. It made him uneasy.

“About time you showed up.”

Kai turned to see a lanky knight in all black slinking toward him. He was taller than the last time Kai had seen him, and his mess of red hair much longer, but there was no mistaking Suzugamori Ren.

“Master Ren!” Narumi Asaka pushed her way past Kai and stopped at his side. “I’m so glad you’re unhurt.”

“I can’t believe you would just dart off down to Star Gate without telling anyone where you were going,” added Shinjou Tetsu as he joined Asaka. He wore a deep frown on his already stony face.

“ I can,” Kai said darkly. “Where’s Mitsusada?”

Ren’s eyes narrowed. “Skipping straight past the pleasantries, I see.”

“There’s nothing pleasant to discuss here. Where is Mitsusada?”

“I don’t know.” Ren’s eyes were narrowed. “He Locked half the people here. He left, along with the Nova Grappler pilot… Kami?”

“Katsuragi Kamui,” Kai said, the unease in his bones intensifying. If Katsuragi went with Mitsusada, he was probably Reversed, too. “Where did they go?”

“I already said I don’t know.”

“Then find someone who does.”

Asaka stomped the heel of her boot on the metal floor. “Don’t talk to him that way.”

“It’s okay, Asaka,” Ren said soothingly. He gestured for her to lead the way. “Yuri is still here. She can probably find her husband and Katsuki.”

Kai didn’t bother to correct him this time. He walked behind the other three, Ren pulling his long hair into a ponytail as Tetsu chastised him for leaving so suddenly. No one else was in the hallway, and every open bay door they walked past was empty of workers. 

Something didn’t feel right.

Kai stopped and pulled out his father’s blade.

Ren froze mid-step as the blade touched his neck. “What’s this about, Kai ?” 

“How dare --” Asaka began, but Ren held up a hand.

“Don’t move, Asaka.”

“But--”

“I said don’t move.” His shoulders moved up and down as he breathed heavily. “Kai, what are you doing?”

“How do I know you’re not Reversed?”

Ren was quiet for a moment as he thought the question through. “You don’t.”

“Then how do I know you’re not taking us somewhere to Reverse us?”

“...you don’t.”

“Master Ren--”

Ren shushed her.

Kai’s mind raced. Aichi had asked him to go to Star Gate immediately along with Tetsu and Asaka, claiming that it had been Ren’s request specifically. He had also requested Junos, whom Ahmes was struggling to contact. Mitsusada had somehow Reversed Katsuragi before leaving Star Gate, but didn’t Reverse his wife or Ren. Ren had claimed that everyone was getting Locked, yet there was no one in sight in the facility. 

“Are you suggesting Ren got Reversed and lured us here?” Tetsu said slowly.

“If I wanted to lure a powerful Vanguard as far away from his territory as I could so I could Reverse him and take over his Empire, this is exactly how I’d do it.” Kai’s sword remained steady against Ren’s throat. 

To his credit, Ren remained still and calm. “Asaka, Tetsu, go find Yuri.”

“Ren–”

“Master Ren!”

“If she is Reversed,” Ren interrupted in a quiet voice that cut them both off, “her baby may be in danger. Capture her, but carefully.”

Asaka stomped her foot in frustration. “What about him ?”

“It’ll be fine.” Ren’s voice had gone from eerily calm to stern to soothing in the space of three sentences. “My dear rival and I have something to discuss.” 

It was clear from the way Asaka balled up her fists and glowered at Kai that she objected to Ren’s request; that she, a Vanguard in her own right, would defer to another Vanguard so frequently was a mystery to Kai. He wondered briefly what their history was, and decided it was best not to dwell. 

Ren waited for the pair to disappear down the corridor before tilting his head away from Kai’s blade, which he held steadily through the entire situation. “Now, Kai, put down your sword and let’s talk this out like responsible Vanguards.”

“We’ve never talked it out,” Kai replied, but he took a few slow steps back, letting his sword fall to a ready position should Ren decide to lunge toward him. 

“No, no, we never really did,” Ren mused. He released the broadsword tied to his back, a near mirror image of the Blaster Dark. “There only ever was one way for us to talk, wasn’t there?”

Kai was ready when Ren took the first attack, deflecting it with the flat end of his father’s blade. He had the advantage of speed, but the size of Ren’s weapon was more than Kai had been prepared for. His feet scraped against the cold, concrete floor as they exchanged blow after blow, the ringing of their blades echoing in the eerily silent halls. Each fighter landed a series of smaller blows, nicking the skin here, cutting through cloth there, but nether slowed their attacks until both blades clashed, trembling against the strength of their owners who refused to cede an inch to the other.

Ren leaned into his blade with all his weight, grunting with the effort. Despite Kai’s success in keeping his blade steady, Ren managed to press their faces close enough together that Ren’s bangs tickled Kai’s cheek. 

“Don’t you feel it, Kai?” he breathed, arms straining, his warm breath ghosting over the exposed skin of Kai’s cheek. “The uneasiness? The dread that you can’t quite pinpoint the source of?”

As they locked eyes, time stood still.

Aren’t I strong, Kai? Stronger than you…

This isn’t your strength. 

Who cares where the strength comes from? You’re weaker than me. You’ll never be strong enough to stop me.

Ren…

If you won’t accept this power, then I will use it to strike you down.

Kai’s arm slacked just enough to give Ren the tiniest opening, and Kai found his foot slide into the wall and his blade fell to the ground as Ren pushed him back, pressing his own sword to Kai’s neck.

“If I was Reversed,” Ren whispered, breathing heavily, “now you would be, too.”. 

Kai ground his teeth together so hard he tasted blood where his incisors dug into the inside of his bottom lip. He trembled, though he didn’t know why; anger, humiliation, fear, it could have been any or all. If he couldn’t defeat Ren, how could he hope to defeat the invaders?

“What was that?” he whispered, body sliding down the wall to the floor.

Ren busied himself with re-securing his sword. “The south pole is known for having a weak barrier between Cray and its sister planet.”

Kai forced himself to swallow. “Planet E?”

“You’ve been there, haven’t you?” 

The way Ren turned back to look at Kai, with a sly, toothy grin and his eyes slitted like a predatory cat’s, made Kai feel like a bird about to be pounced on. 

“I don’t understand,” Kai whispered. 

“Surely you know by now? Aichi does.”

Kai sucked in a breath.

“Our other selves. On Planet E. What happens in one world will affect the other.”

Unbidden, the image of his human self filled his mind. Playing that card game with friends. Napping on a bench in a park. Sleeping through class as Miwa poked him from behind with a pen when the teacher wasn’t looking. Curled up in bed next to Aichi, listening to his soft breathing as he slept. 

Falling from the top of a tall building as Aichi screamed his name with a primal agony Kai never wanted to hear again.

“What am I supposed to do?” His mouth was dry. 

“That’s up to you, Kai.” Ren turned on his heel and headed down the hall in the direction of Tetsu and Asaka. “As for me, I am going to figure out a way to undo the Lock.”

Kai watched him disappear around the corner before squeezing his eyes shut. He didn’t know what to do. The Kai Toshiki of Planet E chose to take on the power of Link Joker to protect Aichi. I wasn’t strong enough, he’d said. Kai could empathize. As he was, now, would he have enough strength to beat back the invaders? Would he be able to protect Cray? 

I need to get stronger.

He had to return to the Dragon Empire. There was a source of power there so strong that it would almost certainly be enough to stave off Link Joker. But it might be too much even for Kai to handle on his own. It might very well destroy him in the process, and accomplish nothing in the end. 

Stronger…

He got to his feet and retrieved his father’s sword. It was time to go home.

Gouki was tired. 

For all that the majority of his fleet was made up of the undead, he was very much not; the enemy poured from Zoo into the oceans of Magallanica like insects on a rotting carcass. No matter how many they destroyed, they kept coming back. The worst of it was, these creatures learned quickly that the pirates of Granblue could not be killed by normal means. Instead, they turned to Locking, leaving Gouki with ships full of paralyzed sailors, suspended in an eerie red light that no one seemed able to undo. 

They hadn’t attacked in a few hours. Gouki took advantage of the brief respite to rest his body, but he couldn’t rest his mind. Something was up.

“My Vanguard!”

Captain Nightmist’s voice carried from the deck, not in alarm but in puzzlement. With a sigh, Gouki dragged himself out of his hammock and made his way to the bridge to see what was going on.

A single figure, a feline beast-shaped robot, gazed portside over the ocean. Gouki recognized the robot as a mechanical suit donned by the Beast Deity units of the Nova Grappler clan, and this particular suit belonged to…

“Kamui!” Gouki made his way across the deck toward the Nova fighter. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you defending Star Gate?”

Kamui didn’t respond right away; he tapped the railing of the deck with one clawlike finger and tilted his head out at the ocean. Gouki frowned and took a step closer.

“Kamui? What’s going on?”

Finally, Kamui turned to look at Gouki. Even from behind Kamui’s helmet, Gouki sensed an inhuman presence and felt a chill run down his back. 

“Are you strong?” Kamui asked.

Every few hours, Ibuki would wake to the sound of Anjou Mamoru entering the room where he was being held prisoner. Anjou worked methodically, replacing bandages and dabbing a stinging, foul-smelling liquid over Ibuki’s wounds. He completed his task in silence, save for the soft jingling of the jewelry he wore around his wrists and ankles. During the eighth visit, he seemed to hesitate with his hands on the tight casts splinting Ibuki’s arm. His hands shook, almost imperceptibly, but Ibuki could sense the reluctance.

“You’re afraid of me.”

Anjou pulled his hands back as though shocked by lightning. This only confirmed Ibuki’s observation. 

“If you had seen what I have seen from the others like you on the battlefield, you would be wary, too,” Anjou said at length, and began unwrapping Ibuki’s arm.

“Others like me?”

”Other Link Joker invaders.” Anjou’s heavily shadowed eyes flicked toward Ibuki’s, and they held eye contact for the briefest moment before he returned to his work. “Locking my friends, killing them outright. For what?”

The last bit was whispered to himself, as though an afterthought, but Ibuki considered the question as Anjou finished unwrapping his arm and moved onto cleaning the wet gashes where his bone had penetrated his skin. It was beginning to ooze pus, the sign of an infection. Anjou splashed a liberal amount of some kind of liquid over it, and it bubbled and hissed angrily as it made contact with the blood. 

“If, as you say, others like me are harming your people, then why help me?”

“You’re the only one who is willing to speak. My Vanguard believes you can give us some help learning to combat the Lock.”

Ibuki’s fingers twitched involuntarily at the word, again, and Anjou noticed; without breaking his methodical wrapping, he adjusted his firm grip on Ibuki’s wrist to encompass Ibuki’s entire hand. 

“So you’re hoping to use me for information. I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember much of anything.”

“So you claim,” Anjou said wryly, pressing his fingers firmly against the still-broken bone. Ibuki avoided wincing in pain, but only just. . 

“You could simply let my wounds fester until I am faced with death. Instead, you heal me the way you would a companion. Why?”

Anjou finished with Ibuki’s left arm and moved around the cushions to sit on Ibuki’s other side. He ignored Ibuki’s question until he was finished cleaning and re-wrapping Ibuki’s right arm. “In my clan, there are many dragons. They are magnificent and powerful, but untrusting creatures. Some humans are able to forge a connection with them through their healing, and the trust they gain can undo the wariness. It is a bond for life.” He smiled to himself. “Some say that when those who bond with a dragon die, they are reborn as dragons.”

Anjou was obviously one of these people, Ibuki mused. Though Anjou did not elaborate further, the implication was clear; he was trying to forge the same kind of bond with Ibuki through his healing, to turn Ibuki against the invaders for the sake of his newfound caretaker. 

But Ibuki wasn’t lying when he said he didn’t know anything. All he could recall were swirls of colors and voices he couldn’t make out. Even these, he saw and heard only in his dreams. 

“I’ve never met a human quite like you,” he muttered.

“Oh?” Anjou lifted an eyebrow. “And how many humans have you met?”

A fair question. Ibuki chose to ignore it as Anjou got to his feet in one fluid movement. He didn’t remember, after all, except for the fuzzy images in his dreams replaying over and over with a cacophony of joyful and humorless laughter overlapping in haunting contrast. 

When the door closed behind Anjou, he sighed and leaned his head back, staring at the cavernous stone ceiling above him, forcing himself to stay awake and stave off these images for a little while longer.

When he finally succumbed to his exhaustion, he dreamed of a red ring over a glistening white city.

Chapter Text

The only sound over the vast expanse of the ocean was the steady beating of the dragon’s wings to his side. Kai was lost in thought as his dragon flew him home, with fear over what would transpire at Star Gate should Ren fail to secure it weighing on him. Where were Mitsusada and Katsuragi now? How had they been Reversed in the first place? What had happened to Mitsusada’s wife? 

More than anything, Kai tasted the bitter tang of weakness. His burning desire to return home and seek out the power that would make him stronger filled his tired body; the sound of a voice that both belonged to and was foreign to him played in his head like a tired recording.

I wasn’t strong enough to protect you.

He hissed through his teeth, hands clenching his dragon’s reins so tightly that his clawed fingers dug into the soft flesh of his palms. Even in death, that weak human Kai Toshiki haunted his every breath. 

He couldn’t escape those false memories, those memories of another world where some other version of himself and Sendou Aichi were friends and rivals and lovers; worse, he couldn’t shake that very real memory of this world’s Aichi kissing him in that hospital tent. 

His dragon snorted underneath him as he unintentionally pulled back on the reins. He loosened his grip and patted the dragon’s neck. “Sorry.”

As he looked up, a tiny sliver of color appeared in the corner of his eye, contrasting sharply against the endless blue of the sea and sky. He turned his head, very slowly.

Red.

His sword was in his hand just in time to intercept the wickedly curved blade of the approaching enemy. He cursed himself for getting so distracted that he would lose focus on his surroundings and allow the foe to sneak up on him.

“Very good, Overlord!” 

This was only the second creature of Link Joker that he knew of who spoke actual words, and it was not even humanoid. It was enormous and draconic, white and black and red, with massive sharp teeth that gave it a permanently amused expression. Surrounding it like some kind of grotesque fashion accessories were the eerie red and black crisscrossing rings of the Lock. 

“I was worried you would let me kill you without putting up a fight. It’ll be more fun this way!”

Kai found himself at an immediate disadvantage, with its size and ability to maneuver through the air without relying on another creature to respond to its demands. Kai knew his dragons well, they respected him and performed admirably in battle, but the threat of having his mount Locked beneath him a hundred feet in the air was a very real fear. He urged the dragon downward, until they were closer to the water, and the creature let out a hair-raising laugh as it followed.

“Clever, clever! You have met my expectations, Kai Toshiki.”

“How do you know who I am?”

The creature aimed another blow at Kai, who deflected it. “I know so much about your pitiful planet that it would be easier to tell you what I don’t know.”

Kai took a running leap from the dragon’s back and leapt toward the creature, slicing into its shoulder before sliding down its back. He dug his sword into it to prevent himself from falling before his dragon could meet him from behind. 

The creature let out a shrill noise that Kai supposed might have been pain before it took a swipe at Kai’s dragon. The dragon grabbed the scythe-like blade, blowing a gust of fire into the creature’s face.

“Ahh!” 

The creature yanked its blade free and swung around, Kai dangling on its back by his sword. Kai let out a sharp whistle, summoning the dragon to him; it swept around the half-blinded creature just as Kai pulled his blade free and leapt to meet his dragon. 

“You aren’t playing a very fun game, Kai Toshiki!” the creature growled, covering its face with one hand. 

Kai remained silent. If the creature couldn’t see him, he wasn’t about to give away his position that easily. He could and should use this opportunity to escape, find the nearest Aqua Force or Granblue ship, and get help finishing this thing off. 

Instead, he urged his dragon forward, holding his sword steady in front of him, and prepared to launch himself at the creature’s neck. He would finish this off in one blow.

“Lock!”

A pain comparable only to the night his father infused him with his will struck Kai at that moment, sending white-hot lightning through his very veins; the agony pulled a scream from deep within Kai’s body, his throat going raw in seconds. His vision blurred and went white, and at that moment, the pain stopped. 

His mind felt disconnected from his body as he fell, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, the sensation happening to someone else and not him. 

Be strong for me, Aichi.

Of course… that other boy… that other Kai Toshiki…

Is it happening here, too? he wondered idly, until all the air from his lungs was knocked out of him as his body crashed against something hard.

It wasn’t the ocean, but a monstrous hand wrapped around his torso. He gasped for breath, the pain returning in full force, so intense he thought he might throw up.

“Interesting,” the creature mused, holding Kai out in its tightly clenched fist, “it didn’t work nearly as quickly this time.”

The lightheadedness was returning as Kai failed to draw adequate breath through the creature squeezing him. 

“...Is it even working? Ah well, I guess we’ll know if it worked in due time,” the creature said with a dramatic sigh. “And if not, well, I have backup plans.” It made a series of high-pitched sounds that resembled a laugh and held Kai up to its face. "Perhaps I could use… Miwa?"

Kai’s struggling stopped as these words echoed in his ears.

"Or mayyyyybe…" It lowered its voice to a stage whisper. "Aichi?"

Kai opened his mouth, the word don't forming wordlessly on his lips. He was rapidly losing air and was less than a minute from losing consciousness. But in his hazy, oxygen-deprived mind, the fear that his weakness would be the cause of suffering for Miwa and Aichi was his single point of clarity.

" There it is," the creature cooed as Kai’s body slumped in its grip. "That despair… it looks so good on you." 

Without another word, it let go, and Kai’s body plummeted toward the sea once more.

Leon helped Mitsusada to his feet as he stumbled from the near-wreckage of his robot. He had clearly been on the losing end of a fight; he held his wrist gingerly to his chest, a wound on his head bled freely, and he walked with a slight limp. Daiyusha’s chest cavity, which protected the cockpit, was barely held together.

“I got hit from behind by something and crashed onto some island,” Mitsusada explained as they headed toward Leon’s quarters. The deck was mostly deserted, with the majority of his sailors below deck resting during a rare stretch of quiet. “I’d already had my communications knocked out so I couldn’t call for backup.”

“We have also been unable to establish communications with the mainland,” Leon said. Their connection with the United Sanctuary had gone out about three hours before, right as Sendou had tried to establish a connection through the Dimension Police transponders. “Did you come straight here?”

“Tried. When I came to on that island, half my systems were offline. I barely got Daiyusha up and running enough to get here. Could barely see through the cockpit window.”

Leon stopped mid-step. The wind didn’t feel right. "You were hit from behind, you said?”

“Yeah, why?”

“So you couldn’t see your attacker?”

“No, I vaguely remember crashing onto the island. I hit my head on something so I don’t recall very well.”

Leon closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. “It just let you go? That doesn’t sound like the Void we have fought here at sea.”

The silence lasted a second too long.

From a young age, Leon had always been able to read the wind. Changes in pressure, temperature, and speed were critical elements for a captain to read to avoid catastrophe at sea. 

His ability saved him here, too.

He ducked under Mitsusada’s right hook to the back of his head and spun around with a little pirouette to avoid the follow-up kick to knock Leon off balance. He got one good look at the manic glint in Mitsusada’s eyes before he was forced to dodge a series of sharp jabs to the shoulders and chest. His limp was gone, and so was the pain in his wrist; clearly, his injuries were faked so Leon would let his guard down. Unfortunately for Void, Leon was a naturally untrusting man.

Mitsusada was much larger and physically stronger than Leon – a fact that Leon recognized without resentment; he couldn’t change the size of his body, nor would he – but Leon was faster on his feet and was more successful in dodging. The few hits Mitsusada managed to land were painful, though, and each blow he had to parry slowed him down just a little more. Mitsusada, on the other hand, seemed to have unlimited stamina, and a solitary drive to knock Leon unconscious. 

Leon was without any doubt at this point that Mitsusada was Reversed, but the true measure of what that meant only arrived when a handful of sailors from the other side of the ship saw the fighting and ran over to investigate. Leon’s distraction cost him dearly; as he tried to yell out to them to stay back, Mitsusada’s fist connected with his jaw, sending him sprawling to the deck in dizzying agony.

“My Van–”

Mitsusada looked away from Leon, struggling to sit up, and held out a hand to the intruders.

“Lock!”

“No!” 

Leon forced himself to watch as the red and black rings of energy engulfed his subordinates, as he did every time the monsters of Void used their hellish powers against his fleet. He knew the names of each of his Locked men, each one fueling his anger and drive to destroy them utterly from the face of Cray. 

“Ah,” Mitsusada said quietly, turning his manic grin back to a trembling Leon, “that look of despair is delightful on you.” 

“Is that what you think this is?” Leon replied in an equally quiet voice. “You are mistaken.”

Under any other circumstances, Leon would never have used a tactic so underhanded and disgraceful, but this was a battle for the fate of the planet and not just his pride, so he would forgive himself for it this one time.

He aimed a powerful kick between Mitsusada’s legs.

Drunk with the power of Void he may have been, but Mitsusada was still just a man, and he doubled over in pain even as Leon pushed himself to his feet and aimed an elbow squarely into the back of Mitsusada’s head. With a grunt, he fell to the deck. As he tried to roll over onto his back, Leon pressed a knee into his chest and pinned his arms down with his hands, using the weight of his body as leverage to hold him in place even as he squirmed to free himself.

“This is not you, Mitsusada Kenji,” he said, blood trickling out of his mouth and onto Mitsusada’s shirt. His jaw hurt slightly worse than the time he’d gotten a tooth pulled by the fleet dentist. “You’re better than this.”

“I am just one part of the grand plan for Cray,” Mitsusada whispered with a humorless chuckle. “Just as the other Dimension Police, and Nova Grappler, and–”

“Your wife?”

The grin on his face wavered.

Leon seized the opportunity. He didn’t know how to un-Reverse someone, but perhaps they simply needed the drive to un-Reverse themselves. “You’ve endangered Usui Yuri and your unborn child. Mitsusada Kenji would never do that. He would never let anyone else harm them, either. A grand plan for Cray?” Leon spit blood to the side. “Void knows nothing about the resilience and hope the inhabitants of Cray possess.” 

For that one moment, Mitsusada’s eyes were wide and clear with horrified realization, true and genuine fear that an entity like Void could never hope to imitate. 

And then Leon punched him with all of his remaining strength. 

As Mitsusada’s head thudded against the deck and his nose bled freely, Leon climbed off of him and knelt on the wood, rubbing his sore jaw. He was only vaguely aware of hands pulling him to his feet and his own voice mumbling orders to take Mitsusada to the infirmary. He shook off attempts to take him there, too, and instead headed for his quarters. It was locked, and he did not have the energy to dig for his key. 

Instead, he closed his eyes, letting his body slump against the wall outside the door. 

Just… a moment of sleep…

“My Vanguard!”

Leon suppressed a sigh with difficulty and forced himself to his feet, trying not to waver in his exhaustion when he stepped back onto his deck.

It was three officers from his Tear Knight regiment, carrying between them the barely conscious body of Kai Toshiki.

“Set him over here,” Leon commanded, gesturing toward the wall by the captain’s quarters where he had been hunched over just minutes before. He tried not to let the bewilderment show on his face. “What happened?”

“The idols found him a few miles away, unconscious under the water,” Tear Knight Valeria said, propping Kai against the wall. “They stabilized him and called for us to return him to the fleet.”

Leon bent next to him and placed his hand on Kai’s chest. His breaths were shallow, his heartbeat slow. “He needs a healer.”

“They are still monitoring Mitsusada,” Diamantes said from behind Valeria. “They wished me to relay to you that he is stable but not yet awake.” 

Leon shook his head. “No, not one of our healers. The Angels. We need to get him to the mainland.”

“Perhaps one of the kelpie riders would be faster than by ship?” Valeria suggested. 

“Yes, I agree. Send for a handful of the elite riders at once.” He waved his hand to dismiss them and turned back to Kai.

“Yes, my Vanguard.”

Once they were out of earshot, Leon shook Kai roughly by the shoulders. When this failed to elicit a reasonable response outside a barely perceptive moan in the back of the throat, Leon slapped him across the face.

Kai grunted and began to cough, doubled over; as he leaned over away from Leon, he vomited mostly water all over the deck and coughed some more. 

Leon glanced at it and scowled, grabbing Kai by the collar when his coughing subsided. “What were you doing in the middle of the ocean, Kai Toshiki?”

Kai put a clawed hand to his face. “I need… to get back. Where’s my… dragon?”

No one had said anything about recovering a dragon from the bottom of the ocean, and when Leon told Kai so, Kai squeezed his eyes shut. 

“You didn’t answer me,” Leon continued. “Why were you in the middle of the ocean?”

In a pitiful display, Kai pulled his knees to his chest and rested his forehead on them. He looked like a child trying to comfort himself, water pooling at the corner of his eyes. Leon gave him the benefit of the doubt and told himself it was seawater dripping from his hair onto his face. “Star Gate. Ren… needed help. Mitsusada and Katsuragi are Reversed…”

“Katsuragi, too?” Leon’s body ached in protest as he bolted to his feet. 

“He left with Mitsusada…”

With a low curse, Leon hurried onto the deck and flagged down Diamantes. “Send a hail to Granblue. Ask Daimonji if he’s seen Katsuragi Kamui of Nova Grappler.”

If Diamantes was confused by this request, they hid it well. “Yes, my Vanguard.”

Fighting Mitsusada had been difficult enough without the concern that Katsuragi had Reversed Daimonji, too. And Kai was still being vague about why he had been found half-dead in the middle of Magallanica. 

Leon walked back over to him and spotted a fresh splatter of vomit on the deck next to him. He grimaced. “Kai Toshiki, who attacked you? Katsuragi?”

Kai sat up and shook his head. “It was Link Joker… some massive dragon creature. It knew who I was. I wounded it, but…” He stopped abruptly and looked around him. “Where is my father’s sword?”

Everyone knew how much that sword mattered to Kai. It was, according to rumors, the only true gift the previous Overlord had given to him before passing along his title. “I’ll ask Bermuda Triangle to search for it near where they found you. More importantly, what did the creature of Void do to you?”

Kai grunted as he ran a hand through his hair. “Tried to Lock me.” He shuddered. “It hurt so much…”

It tried to Lock Kai? Even as it knew who – and what – he was, it didn’t try to Reverse him? And it just let him go?

Something didn’t add up. 

“I have to get home now,” Kai whispered, pulling himself unsteadily to his feet by the wall behind him. “It’s going to harm Miwa… and Aichi…”

“It’s going after the United Sanctuary?” 

There were too many factors all at once. The Void had already targeted Zoo, Star Gate, and Magallanica, but now it seemed to be targeting the military strongholds of Cray by going after the Dragon Empire… and the Paladins. 

All of this was, of course, assuming that Kai Toshiki had not been Reversed and was telling the truth. 

“I have some kelpie riders on standby to escort you back to the Dragon Empire,” Leon said, “but you need to stay still and recover for a few hours, at least.”

“I don’t have time for–”

“I don’t care. You’re on my ship.” Leon crossed his arms as he stared down at Kai. “Maybe in your desert city you’re considered the most powerful warrior, but here, you’re helpless. The longer you fight me over this, the longer you’ll be stuck here, so I suggest complying.”

Kai ground his teeth in frustration before sighing furiously, his tail slapping against the deck the way a fish out of water would. Leon watched him for a moment before turning back to his deck, where Diamantes now waited with a grim look on their face.

One crisis at a time, he told himself, and walked out to meet them.

Kourin woke from an uneasy sleep to the sound of labored breathing next to her in the semidarkness. She untangled herself from her blanket and turned to Misaki, lying perfectly still save for her chest rising and falling rapidly. Kourin fumbled for the electric lamp on Misaki’s bedside table, flinching as the light flooded the room. Misaki’s eyes were open, but cloudy; her face was eerily relaxed. 

“Misaki.”

There was no response from the woman next to her. Kourin had never seen Misaki experience a vision, but this must be it. There was nothing to be done but wait helplessly. 

Dressed in nothing but a thin night chemise, Kourin began pacing the room, eyes fixed on Misaki’s still body. The longer she paced, and the longer Misaki’s vision, the more anxious she grew, and she walked over to the lone window facing out to the Holy City, pulling back the heavy curtains.

At that exact moment, Misaki gasped behind her, and Kourin heard the sound of her pushing blankets away and sitting up. Yet Kourin’s eyes were now drawn entirely to the cityscape beyond the window.

“We have to find Kai Toshiki,” Misaki said hoarsely. “The United Sanctuary is in danger, he’s going to–”

“Misaki,” Kourin whispered, finally turning around, and Misaki met Kourin’s eyes for a heartbeat before looking through the window to the city beyond. 

As if in a daze, Misaki lifted herself from the bed and met Kourin at the window, staring out at the red ring hovering over the central tower. “This is happening too quickly.”

“You knew?”

“Yes.” Misaki swallowed. “This… was in my first vision with Void. Many months ago. But…” 

An ear-splitting siren erupted from the city’s loudspeakers, causing both women to flinch. It was a sound Kourin had prepared for many times but hoped would never be more than a drill; almost immediately, the sounds of footsteps and screaming and doors slamming filled the streets below.

“I have to go.” She grasped Misaki’s hand in both of hers and lifted them to her lips. “Please, whatever happens next, stay out of harm.”

“I have you to protect me,” Misaki whispered, and leaned in to kiss Kourin’s lips. 

Kourin returned the kiss and broke away, gathering her armor and pulling it on as quickly as she could. She would almost certainly be late, coming all the way from the Conglomerate headquarters, and Ashlei would be beside herself with anger and worry.

“I have faith that you will return unharmed,” Misaki said as Kourin opened the door. 

Something in Misaki’s voice unsettled Kourin as she turned her head back. But Misaki was always good at hiding her emotions, and Kourin needed to hurry to the other Jewel Knights, so she simply gave Misaki a strained smile and headed out into the chaos.