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Chapter Text

Evelyn Nightingale was nervous. It was her first time performing in Japan after all. Her producers and her manager said that a world tour would be the perfect way to promote her latest album but she was just worried about performing in countries where she didn’t speak the language. The only reason she had agreed to the whole thing, aside from her contract stating she had to, was that they agreed to allow her to perform charity gigs whilst in each country. Specifically, performing at schools for kids that may otherwise never be able to see her perform. If she was honest, she just wanted to be able to spend some time around people her own age. Being a famous teenager meant a lot of the time she was surrounded by those much older than her. She was about to turn 16 and she didn’t have a single friend her own age.

She got to spend the day at the schools before the performance and then her producers sponsored a sort of school dance style event where she would perform and the students got to watch and dance and just have fun. It’s why she wanted to be a musician in the first place, to entertain people, to show them what it was to have fun. Her shoulder length mint green hair was wrapped up on top of her head under a simple grey beanie. Her hair was her most recognizable feature so hiding it whilst touring the school helped her maintain a level of normalcy. The rest of her outfit was simple jeans and a white t-shirt. Despite the outfits she wore on stage her style was usually a lot more modest. According to her manager, dressing in flashy, skimpy outfits, was ‘imperative’ to upholding her popstar image.

The school’s principal was talking to her manager, Elizabeth, as they walked through the Japanese school’s hallways. He was a very forgettable somewhat boring man, but he was showing her great respect as he showed her around to the clubrooms where the students were hanging out during their lunch period.

“Miss Nightingale, this is the science clubroom,” the man said in accented English as they reached an open doorway.

Evelyn could hear chatter inside as the students went about doing their experiments. “Science?” she asked, her British accent strong, “I’ve always loved science,” she looked through the doorway into the room.

“Yes, our science club is the top club in the city, due to the club’s president being a genius in the discipline,” the Principal told her.

“Do we have time to watch them do some experiments?” Evelyn asked peering at Elizabeth. The blonde woman looked at her watch and nodded simply. Evelyn’s face broke into a huge smile, her grey eyes sparkling excitedly.

“Students,” the Principal spoke as he walked into the room. The group of teenagers turned to look at the man, every one of them appeared confused. He continued in Japanese, a long sentence that Evelyn didn’t understand at all but he must have introduced her or something because every pair of eyes in the room turned to look at her.

“Kon'nichiwa,” She said and bowed slightly in greeting.

One of the students walked over to her speaking in Japanese and shook her hand happily before leading her over to some beakers and other science equipment where they were testing different chemicals or something. Evelyn tried to keep up as the student explained something and started heating about 1cm of water in a beaker over a Bunsen burner. She peered over her shoulder at Elizabeth who was ignoring everything to look at her phone.

‘I guess I’m not getting help there then,’ she thought to herself and turned back to the experiment to see the clear liquid starting to bubble a little. The boy showing her his experiment quickly lit a match, turned off the Bunsen burner and then after a few seconds blew out the match and dropped it into the beaker. As the match sizzled in the water the boy then stretched a rubber glove over the top of the beaker to cap it off

The boy picked up the beaker at the sides carefully and held it out to her saying something in Japanese she didn’t understand.

A bored voice behind her suddenly spoke and everyone turned. Evelyn too turned to look at the speaker despite not understanding him. The boy had white hair tipped in green standing straight upright on his head and bright scarlet eyes in a pale face that suggested he rarely spent time outdoors. He had somewhat of a scowl on his face as he spoke to the other students then sighed and turned those brilliant eyes onto her.

“What these morons are trying to show you is how to make a cloud in a jar,” he stated in perfect accented English, “it’s an experiment for children, if you want to see some real science…” he turned to a machine that looked way too advanced for a school clubroom, “…this machine refines plastic water bottle caps and turns them into gasoline,”

Evelyn’s eyes sparkled and she rushed over to look closer, “Something in the polyethylene?” she asked looking over the machine ignoring the boy to study his science, “I’m not a scientist but…” she trailed off, “It’s just so fascinating,”

“Exactly, 10 million points, It's just a long gasoline molecule with a few hydrocarbons chopped off,” the boy stated showing how the machine melted down and refined the plastic bottle caps.

“Evelyn,” Elizabeth called out from the doorway causing Evelyn to look up, “Time to go, we have sound check,”

“Right, of course,” Evelyn sighed and looked at back to the boy who was excitedly tinkering with his machine, “Thank you for showing me this,” she said and gave him a small bow.

“Tch, no need to thank me,” he replied not looking up, “These morons couldn’t show exciting science if they even knew what it was,”

“Evelyn,” Elizabeth said in a tone that warned her that she wouldn’t ask again.

The grey eyed girl sighed and turned away from the scientist who spoke to her like she was just another person, not somebody famous to be coddled and worshipped. They left the science clubroom, a brown-haired boy rushing in after they left.

“Listen up Senkuu!” a voice echoed out through the door behind them as they headed towards the school’s Amphitheatre where the performance would be held that night. The room was huge, obviously built to hold every student of the school for assemblies and such. There were no windows apart from small slivers at the very tops of the walls to allow for airflow in hotter weather. It kept the acoustics in the theatre unhindered and perfect for musical performance. The band was all set up on the stage already when they walked in through the large double doors. The band consisted of session musicians hired just for the world tour. None of them worked with her full-time and thus she didn’t really know them. She stepped up onto the stage ready to run through the set while Elizabeth sat to one side where benches were lined up against the wall.

The music started and Evelyn let out a deep breath, it wasn’t time to worry about her lack of friends, it was time to play music. The one happiness she could claim. She smiled as she sang, her eyes closed as she lifted her face to the ceiling projecting her voice out through the room. The acoustics were marvelous, even without the microphone Evelyn knew she’d be able to give a compelling performance the way her voice echoed and bounced off of the walls. Behind her closed eyes she could see a bright light and then suddenly…nothing.

No sound. No light. No feeling. Nothing.

--

‘Where am I?’
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‘What’s going on?’
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‘Why can’t I open my eyes?’
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‘Am I blind?’
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‘How long has it been?’
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‘Am I…am I dead?’
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‘If I am dead, why am I conscious?’
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‘What even is consciousness?’
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‘I’m either dead, or in a coma,’
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‘I have to keep thinking, if I stop thinking I’m done for,’

‘Think Evelyn,’

‘Yes, Evelyn, my name is Evelyn, Evelyn Nightingale. Popular British musician. I was touring the world for my latest album…I was in Japan, a school,’

‘Something must have happened that day…what was it? Did I get hit on the head by a falling light? Am I in a hospital? Surely, I should be able to hear or feel around me, even if I can’t see,’

‘Wait…what if I’m deaf? I’ll never be able to sing again. Oh God, please, somebody help me, get me out of here, I don’t want this, I want to be free, God please,’
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‘How long has it been now? Another day? Another week? Why can’t I just die? I keep coming back to this nothing place,’

Darkness. Cold without feeling. Complete isolation. Alone. Alone. Alone.

‘I’m going to go mad, if I am not already there, somebody, please, save me,’
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‘Am I not the only one stuck this way? Is that why nobody has helped me yet?’

‘What about Dad? Is he safe? In England? Was it just Japan that got this nothingness? Oh God, I wish I could see him, I wish I could apologize for leaving on this stupid tour, why did I leave him?’

‘Dad, I’m sorry for everything, you deserved so much better than me, so much better than a daughter that would leave you all alone. Just like Mum, I went and died on you,’

--

Somewhere in the distant future a Scientist awoke. Stone crumbled away from his face and his bright scarlet eyes looked upon the sky for the first time in millennia. Ishigami Senkuu had broken free. 

Chapter Text

Senkuu had awoken in the Spring, just as he had planned. Now it was just a matter of survival. The first thing he did was mark out the position his body had lay for 3700 years, and collect all the stone matter that had fallen from his body into a pile for later research. A group of monkeys watched him as he moved around. He peered up at them for a moment seeming to catch the eyes of one. They stared at each other in silence before the monkeys screeched and ran away into the trees.

“Is this the first time they’ve seen someone like me?” he asked the air as he went about making a covering for his nakedness from leaves and vines. It wasn’t much but it’d keep his nether region safe until he could make better clothing. He stretched his arms above his head and then cricked his neck. “Hmm, it seems the back of my neck is still petrified,” he murmured running his fingers across the stone at the base of his skull. He shrugged it off and began to walk towards a large tree calculating in his head the time he had been frozen in stone.

“This will be some rough mental math…” he said quietly using his mind to work out the number of years since humanity was turned to stone. Picking up a sharp rock he carved into the bark of the tree. “5738 A.D, although this could be called year 0,” he said with a crazy smirk, “Everything starts from now,”

The monkeys were there again, staring at him, the very first smooth shiny monkey. He sent them a sideways look before finding a small log and a decently sized branch. If he was to survive, he would need several things, food, shelter and…heat.

“Behold the power of the smooth shiny ape!” he exclaimed and began to vigorously rub his hands together around the stick. The end of the stick was twisting back and forth in a small groove in the bark of the log. Any second now it would create enough friction and heat to start a fire…any second now…

Any

Second

Now…

Senkuu collapsed exhausted after hours attempting to start a blaze. He could feel the monkeys watching and judging him.

“I think that smooth shiny monkey is a little special in the head,” they would be thinking.

“Tch,” he sat up and smirked gazing at the creatures, “That’s right this smooth shiny monkey has no fangs or claws, all I’ve got is my steady straight forward ingenuity,”

He stood and walked off towards a river he could hear burbling through the trees. Senkuu had never been the type to be put off by failure. Afterall science was about trial and error until you got to correct result. It was painstaking work but it exhilarated him. Finally getting an experiment to work correctly after months and months of work got him so excited it couldn’t be expressed with simple words. Science was his mistress, and he’d do anything for her.

The white and green haired teen began collecting rocks and stone from the bottom of the river in abundance. All different colours, shapes and sizes. He’d need all different types of stones to create the tools he wanted. Hours he worked smashing rocks together. Once again, he could feel the judging eyes of the monkeys watching his every move. Trial and error, trial and error, try and try again, until finally he did it.

=Shiny Monkey Acquires Stone Tools!=

Using his new tools, Senkuu harvested vines and began shredding them into thin fibers he’d be able to twist into rope. It was tedious work, monkeys judging him every moment of it and by the end he could feel blisters on his palms and fingers. His stomach growled, hunger tearing at his insides as he stumbled to the river and dunked his hands into the cool stream.

“Tch, who knew all this manual labour was going to be so hard,” he said quietly before letting out a small huff of a laugh and smirking, “What I’d give to have that big oaf here right now, his cheat code stamina would make this so much easier,” He looked to his hands, the skin pink and sore but slightly better thanks to the coolness of the water. He sighed and stretched, once again cricking his neck. “No rest for the wicked,” he thought and returned to his rope and tools.

=Smooth Shiny Monkey Acquired Rope!=

“There are a surprising number of living creatures that use tools,” he thought as he crafted himself a loose bow using a bent stick and some of the rope, “But only one uses science!” Returning to the stick and log he’d been using to try and make fire he wrapped the stick in the rope of the bow and holding a rock on the one end while the other stuck into the groove of the bark he moved the bow back and forth. The resulting kinetic energy twisted the stick much faster than he could by hand. He could feel the monkeys watching him again and he grinned like a madman seeing the log begin to smoke. He leant forward and blew slightly onto it to add more fuel.

“Generating heat from the oxidation of gas released from cellulose,” he said out loud to the monkeys, “In other words, Combustion!” The smoking log burst into flaming life and the monkeys screeched in shock.

=Shiny Smooth Monkey Acquires Fire!=

“And not a moment too soon either,” Senkuu murmured looking up at the darkening sky, “I have no idea what kinds of animals live here now so it’d be best to stay put for the night,” He looked up as the first stars began to show between the treetops. His scarlet eyes softened upon seeing those all too familiar lights. Even now, 3700 years in the future and tasked with resurrecting humankind and all of civilization, he was still a boy who wanted nothing more than to go to space.

His stomach growled again, painfully so, as he tried to curl up on the ground beside the fire to get some sleep. “I suppose I haven’t eaten in nearly 4000 years, it makes sense I’m so hungry,” he groaned and tried to ignore the feeling of his stomach eating itself. There’s no way he could find anything to eat in this darkness anyway.

--

Birdcalls woke Senkuu the next morning. He blinked his eyes open to see pale blue sky above him. “It can’t be much past sunrise,” he said quietly and sat up. His first instinct was to check the fire. “Damnit!” he exclaimed seeing it burnt out and not even smoldering anymore, “I knew I should have added more wood,” He groaned and fell back onto the floor, “Even with the bow it was super hard to light,” he huffed out an annoyed breath and sat up again. His stomach growled and he grimaced gripping his midsection.

“No time to worry about lack of fire,” he mumbled and stood up reaching for the spear he crafted the day before, “Time to hunt for some food,” He headed toward to the river first, logic stating that wild creatures would be drawn to the water source for hydration. He knelt and used his hands to take a drink himself before splashing water on his face to fully wake himself up.

“Surely hunting isn’t too hard,” he said, “Just hide and pounce,” he walked upstream a ways looking for any sign of wildlife. He’d just begun to lose hope, his head hanging low and his stomach letting out an almost constant grumbling, when his downcast eyes spotted tracks in the damp mud by the waters edge. “Yes!” he grinned and knelt down to examine the foot prints. “Judging by the size and distance between prints, a long-legged animal…” he tilted his head slightly and smirked, “Cervus Nippon, the Japanese deer also known as the spotted deer, most likely a male since it appears to be alone,” he looked into the trees in the direction the tracks went and stood up, “If I hurry, I might be able to catch it,”

Senkuu hurried through the trees as quietly as he could despite his stomach rumbling. He could almost taste the meat already. He caught sight of the beast trotting through the trees at a leisurely but not rushed pace and grinned. He raised his spear and burst out of the bushes towards the animal.

--Several Attempts Later--

“sUreLY HunTIng ISn’T ToO HaRd,” he mocked himself as he collapsed onto his back out of breath as the deer once again evaded him. He took deep gulps of air, his frail scientist’s body winded and his lungs burning from exertion. “Come on Senkuu, you can’t revive humanity if you die of starvation,” he thought to himself. He narrowed his scarlet eyes in resolve and returned to his base camp to gather supplies.

“By using my ingenuity, the entire world can be mine for the taking,” he thought setting up a large snare trap. He circled around to where he knew the deer to be and chased it out of the trees into where he wanted it, he didn’t need to catch it this time, he just needed to herd it. The deer loped away from him easily, into a copse of thinner, more easily bendable trees. Rushing past a bush the creature’s foot landed in the centre of the rope loop while its body nudged against the wooden frame, letting loose the trap. A branch that had been all but bent to the ground sprung upwards pulling the rope taught and the deer up into the air by its back leg.

“I am a ruler of science!”

Senkuu wasted no time butchering and cooking the creature, once he restarted his fire of course. The meat didn’t even taste too bad despite being slightly burnt in places and barely cooked in others. His starving stomach wasn’t about to complain. He ate until he couldn’t eat anymore and then began prepping the hide to be used as clothing. He couldn’t go around wearing leaves and vines forever, now could he?

--

Senkuu stepped through the trees to where he knew the monkeys to be settling. Excited to show off his accomplishment to the slightly less than human creatures. “Wow, I guess I’m going a little mad being the only human,” he thought, “I’ll have to work out how to revive others soon before I devolve into a raving lunatic,” he had images of himself talking to a rock he had drawn on a face on and named Wilson. He shuddered and kept walking.

“Ah, there they are,” he thought smugly seeing the shocked look on the monkey’s faces. “Yes, definitely devolving into madness, thinking these monkeys have human expressions,”

“Smooth shiny monkey?! But He’s not smooth and shiny!”

“Guess I haven’t introduced myself yet, pleased to meet you,” Senkuu said with a mad grin, “I am a human!” He did what he thought to be a cool pose in his new leather outfit that resembled his old lab coat slightly.

=Clothing Acquired!=

The monkeys all scurried away and he laughed to himself. “I guess they were surprised,” he looked up at the sky, “I must look like I evolved, like a Pokémon, not that they even know what a Pokémon is,” He studied the clearing he found himself in. A strong tree grew in the centre with wide reaching branches. “I guess this is a good a place as any to build a base camp,” he walked over to the tree and froze. On the other side stood a petrified human girl, face uplifted to the sky, mouth open as if in song. He frowned slightly, how could she look so at peace? He walked over to get a better look at her. Her hands were clenched into fists at her chest, she really must have been feeling whatever she was singing before she was frozen. He tilted his head slightly and smirked, “You’re facing due North, I’m going to name you Compass, welcome to the Kingdom of Science!”

=Compass Acquired!=

Chapter Text

A grey eye blinked open in the darkness. The pupil was so heavily dilated, trying to absorb as much light as possible despite it being pitch black, that it was hard to distinguish the colour. The only reason Evelyn had any indication of the colour of the eye is because it was her own and she knew her own eye colour.

‘What is happening?’ She thought ‘Did I lose consciousness again?’

‘How long has it been?’ She was sure it had been years since she had gotten stuck in the dark place. It was true what they said about sensory deprivation, it was truly the most extreme of tortures. She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. She wanted to feel the wind on her skin, but she couldn’t. Mostly she wanted to sing, she wanted to take the deepest breath her lungs could handle and sing to the heavens.

She had decided a long time ago that if she ever broke free the first thing she would do was scream. Scream so hard her vocal cords might tear from it. To feel the air move through her throat, vibrating her vocal cords and project outwards, it would be bliss after all of this nothingness. She felt suffocated, and for once she could understand what claustrophobia truly was.

Her consciousness drifted through the darkness. Floating there suspended in space not really thinking of anything but not slipping away either.

‘Why am I not disappearing again?’ she thought ‘I…I suddenly don’t feel so alone,’

It’s true that she could not hear, nor really see anything in the dark place, but for some reason she could feel another presence.

‘Hello?’ she called out with her mind, ‘Is somebody there?’

She didn’t get a response, but the presence was definitely there.

‘Perhaps I have gone completely insane, inventing somebody to talk to because I have been alone like this for so long,’

An image formed in her mind of a pale face with red eyes staring intently at her. She didn’t know that face, but the eyes looked at her as if they were the closest of friends. ‘Yes, I am surely going insane,’

The face, it was a boy, spoke to her though she couldn’t hear the words. She couldn’t even read his lips as they formed strange shapes that didn’t appear to be English.

‘Who are you?’ she asked. The face moved away a smug smirk on his lips that she would have found endearing if he wasn’t just a figment of her imagination, ‘Wait…I know you, you’re the boy from the Science club,’ she thought in surprise. She supposed it made sense, her subconscious was creating her company using information her brain already held, like the face of this boy. ‘He had…white and green hair, and it stood straight up,’ she thought and as the words flitted through her mind the image of the boy cleared and she could see him whole. He sat before her cross-legged and appeared to be making some sort of bowl out of mud or clay as he spoke. He wore a pale tan outfit that looked a lot like the lab coat she recalled him wearing in that classroom all that time ago.

‘What are you doing there?’ she thought watching as he waved his hands animatedly as he spoke and went back to making the bowl, ‘How strange that I would imagine such things, oh well, at least I’m not alone,’

The boy laughed then; she could tell even though she couldn’t hear it. His head fell back and his mouth opened wide and finished in a large grin. His red eyes sparkled up at her and if this had been real, she might have blushed. She wondered if it was a response to her thoughts.

Then…he began to fade away.

‘Hey, wait, where are you going?’ she asked panicked as he stood up and turned away, his finished bowl in his hands, ‘Don’t leave me,’

She watched him walk away until he faded completely into the darkness.

--

Senkuu looked around at his makeshift camp. He had been there for about a week now. In the centre of the clearing, he had dug a small pit for his campfire. Beside it lay a sleeping bag he had crafted from leather. It wasn’t the nicest place to sleep but it kept the chill of the night away. He had started collecting wood and weaving more ropes in order to create a small treehouse in the wide-reaching branches of the tree. It would ultimately be safer and better once the rains came to not be sleeping on the damp floor.

At the base of the tree, he had a few very roughly made clay pots and bowls that he had fired in the haphazardly made kiln off to the side. It was one thing to know how something was made and another thing completely to actually make it. He chuckled to himself as he picked up his latest monstrosity and a fresh piece of clay. The mangled bowl was enough to hold water and that’s all he really needed to work fresh clay so he carried them both to sit in his favourite spot beneath the branches of the tree in front of the girl he had come to rely on, at least for his own sanity.

“Good morning Compass,” he said as he got to work on the clay. He used some water to soften it and roll it out into a long sausage before winding it around itself to form a cup, “I trust you slept well,” he joked and gave a lighthearted chuckle. “It is getting truly tiring doing all this on my own you know, perhaps you should get up and help already,” He looked up at the singing statue and paused in his work on the clay. “I bet you can hear me in there and you’re just waiting until I’ve finished making the house before you wake up so you don’t have to help,” He laughed and went back to work.

“It would be nice to actually hear somebody talking back,” he murmured, “But then you could be really annoying like that Big Oaf,” he grinned and looked up at the sky, “I’ve told you about Taiju right? That meat head is probably out there right now thinking about how much he wants to confess to Yuzuriha,” He shook his head and looked back to his hands where he was using some water to smooth out the clay, “As illogical as romantic attachments are, I know that oaf won’t give up until he has confessed, which is helpful for me I suppose, when he finally shows his face,”

Senkuu frowned slightly and worked in silence for a moment. It was oddly peaceful for him to sit before the statue and work. It almost felt as though she was alive and sitting with him, despite how illogical that thought was. He must just be feeling the isolation more than usual today to be thinking like that. He didn’t even know this girl and he felt attached to her. He would have to thank her when he figured out how to revive her, for helping him get through the lonely days before anyone else awoke.

She’d probably find him creepy. He had images in his head of her slapping his face and screaming for help. Him being led away in handcuffs by stone age policemen for being a stalker. “Yeah Senkuu, what are you going to say? Hey I watched you sleep while you were a naked stone statue?” he laughed at himself and cricked his neck before looking up at her singing face. A soft smile graced his features, seeing how peaceful she was always made him feel better. “I guess I am a creeper,” he mumbled and chuckled before finishing up on the small clay cup in his hands. It wasn’t as warped as his last attempt so he marked it as a win and stood up.

“Alright Compass, I need to fire this baby and then go forage for some food, I’ll see you for dinner,” he smirked at the statue taking in her gentle features, the way crawling vines curled up around her body and onto her cheeks. It was like the forest wanted to preserve her modesty in the leaves that sprouted to cover her otherwise naked body. Senkuu felt his face heat up as he realized he was observing that body and he turned away covering his mouth with one hand, “I’m sorry,” he said quickly, “I’ll see you later,” and he hurried off to put the new cup in the kiln.

Chapter Text

It had been a couple weeks since Senkuu’s success with the cup. He was getting close to completion with the house now. Somehow, he had managed to chop several smaller trees and drag them over to use as support beams. He dug 3-foot holes to place the beams into to help hold them upright against the main tree. Then using his crafted rope he tied each beam securely to the tree. After that it was just a matter of creating a sturdy base for the floor.

“I can’t believe I managed it without that Big Oaf’s strength and stamina,” he said over his shoulder to Compass as he looked at the structure, “All it needs now is walls and a roof, they should be easy enough to make, they don’t need to be as secure as the floor after all,”

The first time he had tried to stand upright on the ‘completed’ floor, he had fallen straight through. In his head he could hear Compass laughing at him as he grumbled to himself about miscalculating the strength of wood needed.

In the end he had managed to create a solid foundation by using thick branches and weaving them together with rope. It had a slight bit of flex to it but was much stronger than his attempts at planks, especially given he had no metal to fashion into nails. He’d fashion the walls and the roof the same way and weave a doorway curtain from ropes, then he would have a secure treetop home.

--

A couple more days and he had finished the construction, looking up at his new home he couldn’t help but feel pride well up in his chest. “Get excited Compass, the beginning of the return to civilization,” he said loud enough that his words would carry to the statue on the other side of the tree, “The birth of every boy’s dream treehouse! I’ve finally collected the necessities for survival,”

=House Acquired!=

He sighed to himself, “My ‘ignoring all fatigue would be most logical’ switch is at it’s limit,” he mumbled before collapsing onto his back like a dead man.

He stared up at the sky feeling every ache and pain in his body screaming at him to rest, to sleep, to do anything right now except for more work. He couldn’t count the blisters on his hands that had torn open and turned into calluses only to blister again after more vigorous work. The number of splinters, the bruises, the scrapes, the dirt embedded into his skin. He felt slightly like having a tantrum like a child but knew it would be illogical to waste his energy. “Surviving as the lone human being is taking all of my energy, there’s no time for scientific progress,” he thought to himself too exhausted to speak out loud. After a moment more of down time he forced himself to his feet on shaky legs.

“I know what I have to do,” he murmured, “But, not tonight,” he added when he nearly collapsed again as a wave of fatigue induced dizziness flowed over him. He stumbled to his collection of pottery and using the cup he had made he scooped some fresh water out of a larger pot that he’d covered with a wooden ‘lid’. He had collected the water from the river to stop himself having to go back and forth every time he wanted a drink. Taking his cup of water, he collapsed to sit in front of Compass. His usual spot upon the grass was starting to wear away due to his constant presence there. The dirt beneath was smooth and worn but not uncomfortable.

“From tomorrow, I’ll go out and start looking for that Big Oaf,” he told the girl, “Logic states that he should have washed up in a similar place to me, so all I have to do is search around where I woke up and slowly enlarge my search radius until I find him,” he drank some water and grimaced at the slightly dirty taste of it. Drinking out of earthen wear cups was not his favorite but until he could get some glass it was what he had to do so he’d suck it up.

“If I find Taiju, I’ll then need to figure out how to get him to wake up,” he said to the statue, “I’m 10 billion% positive he is awake in there, I just need to get him out of the stone,” He tapped his chin in thought, “I found some stone swallows in the bushes near the river, I should start experimenting on them to see if I can figure anything out,”

He stood up quickly and rushed to where he had left the birds before bringing it back to show the girl. He held it in front of her and turned it this way and that observing it at different angles. “These things started turning to stone well before humans,” he explained, “I was actually looking into it the night before everything happened 3700 years ago,” He held it up to the light and stared at it with curious red eyes which slowly turned frustrated. He sighed, “What I’d give to have a proper laboratory to get a better look at these things,” he turned to the girl, “If I had a scanner I could look inside the stone and see what is going on in there,” He reached out a hand and ran a finger down the girl’s cheek before his face turned bright red and he jumped back.

“Right, I’m uh, going to get the house sorted out, I’ll see later,” he said hurriedly and rushed around the tree to start moving his supplies up into the treehouse.

‘What am I doing?’ he asked himself, ‘Getting sentimental with a girl, with a statue,’ he shook his head as he carried his food basket into the tree, ‘How more illogical can you get?’ He placed the basket down beside the doorway before climbing back out to get the next thing, ‘I don’t even know her real name,’ he grabbed his sleeping bag next and flung it over his shoulder before heading back into the treehouse, ‘She probably doesn’t even like scientists, she’s way too pretty,’ he paused at the thought a touch of pink dusting his cheeks, ‘The hell Senkuu?!’ he shook his head, ‘It doesn’t matter anyway, romance is illogical and I have way too much to do to revive humanity to even think about it,’ he nodded in resolve before climbing back down and turning his face to the sun, ‘Yeah, too much to do,’

--

Evelyn was sure she was a bit loopy now. She kept imagining the red eyed boy. He would come and talk to her, despite her not hearing nor understanding him. He was always doing something with his hands when was with her. Making pots, weaving weird ropes together, or simply eating a meal of cooked mushrooms or sometimes charred meat off of sticks. It was like she had imagined him into a caveman. The thought was laughable and she didn’t even know why her subconscious would do such a thing. All she knew is that the last time he spoke to her, he touched her and she could swear she could feel it.

Not in truth, but an imagined fleeting caress to her cheek. He had been showing her a stone bird, looking at it intently as if discussing his latest craft. She was astonished at his ability to carve the animal from stone, and was slightly upset that she hadn’t been able to watch him do it. Then he had reached out to her and stroked her cheek. His red eyes had gone soft and he had been saying something she didn’t hear, but as his fingers met her cheek, she could feel tingling sparks where she had imagined he touched her.

She knew it was crazy and that’s probably why she was now berating herself for the direction her thoughts had taken. He looked at her as if she was precious to him. Nobody had ever looked at her that way, not truly, not in the way of a lover. Sure, her father had loved her but he could never look at her, she looked too much like her mother, she knew that, though it still hurt that he would never meet her eyes.

But this boy, this stranger she had conjured up, he cared for her and she just wanted to be able to touch him too. Maybe he would hold her hand as they walked, or show her how to carve such exquisite stone art. What if he could want her more than just the money she brought from her music, or the body she showed on stage, more than what he could get out of her because it was expected of a pop singer to act in certain ways despite being a 15-year-old girl. She cursed her mind for dragging up those memories, memories she would rather forget, at least in the dark place her body was her own. She forced the hated memories away and focused on the red eyed boy, focused on the tingling she could still feel in her cheek, focused on hope.

Chapter Text

Senkuu spent the night crafting a shovel that would be sturdy enough to dig up Taiju if the boy had been buried in any way. The process was slow, he couldn’t seem to get the stone shovel to stay together and not just fall apart after a few uses. “Damnit, why is this so hard?” he grumbled to Compass from where he sat trying yet again to fix the shovel head to the stick securely enough. The sun had set hours ago so he was working by firelight and his eyes were gritty. “I’m probably doing more harm than good when I’m this tired,” he mumbled and put the shovel down with a sigh. “Do you know how to do this Compass?” he asked the stone girl. He looked up at her, enjoying the way the firelight glowed against the shape of her face.

“I wonder what colour eyes you have,” he said and yawned stretching his arms up above his head, “What am I saying? Your eye colour doesn’t matter,” he stood up, “I must be more tired than I thought,” He stepped closer to the statue and examined her face closely before noticing something he hadn’t before. “Huh, you have long hair,” he stated. Up until that point he had just assumed the girl had one of those, what was it called? Pixie cuts? But no, her hair was actually wrapped up on her head as if she had pulled it up under a wig, or a hat…or a beanie.

His mind had a brief stuttering moment of recollection to the day of the petrification. A girl had come into the science club, a girl with her head covered by a grey beanie and silver eyes that sparkled when he told her about his science experiment. “Are you…that girl?” he asked thoughtfully then he chuckled to himself, “And to think, if you are her, I’ve been speaking Japanese this whole time, you must think I’m terribly ignorant,” he gave the statue his signature smirk, “My apologies Compass,” he said, “And to think I knew you this whole time,”

“Maybe, if you are her, if I talk to you in English, you might wake up, like I did,” he murmured to himself more than anything. The thought of her waking up sent a wave of exhilaration through his body. It shocked him. He’d never felt that when he thought of anything but science. “It must be because the thought of any other living human is exciting, I’ll finally be able to do some experimenting,” He rationalized away the feeling and though part of him didn’t fully believe the theory he couldn’t think of any other reason for it that made logical sense.

“Hello Compass,” he spoke in English, “Welcome to the year 5738, I am Ishigami Senkuu and I am going to bring back all of humanity with the power of science,”

--

If Evelyn could have gasped in shock she would have. The vision of the red eyed boy had started off as normal, aside from him sitting beside a campfire, he appeared to be attempting to make a shovel out of stone and sticks, crafting like a caveman as usual. She admired the way the orange glow of the fire lit up his features in the otherwise dark place. His extraordinary red eyes flickered and sparkled in the light and she was breathless at his beauty. She hadn’t ever thought that about a boy before but he truly was a sight, maybe that was why her subconscious had conjured him up.

That however, was not what had shocked her. What shocked her was when he stood before her, looking at her face like he was admiring a piece of art. His lips moved as he spoke, though she still couldn’t understand his silent words. His eyes widened as he seemed to realize something, then he smirked at her. His eyes narrowed and his lips curved and she could have sworn her heart fluttered even though she couldn’t feel the organ. ‘Damn he really is gorgeous’ she thought as he continued to speak to her. Then she saw it, his lips moved in a way she could understand.

Her shock was jarring enough that she almost missed when he said. “…the year 5738, I am Ishigami Senkuu and I am going to bring back all of humanity with the power of science,”

‘Year 5738?’ she thought incredulously, ‘then…I’m not dead? I’m just…in like hyper sleep or something?’ It was something like a coma, how they say you could still be heard by those that were under. Except in her case, she could still somehow see this Senkuu, the boy with the red eyes, in her mind. ‘Man, this is weird,’

‘That means…’ her mind was racing, ‘he is real, my red-eyed boy, is real…and he really looks at me this way…’ she could have cried, maybe they didn’t really know each other but for some reason this boy, this scientist, cared for her. Maybe she was the only other human left in this far distant future…but no he said he was going to bring all of humanity back. Back from what? This hyper sleep? Or had everyone else perished and he had found a way to reverse death?

He continued to speak to her and she tried her hardest to read his lips despite her racing mind and tumult of emotions. Lip reading was a talent she had picked up in the music business, it helped to understand her crew when she was on stage if she could just read their lips. Thankfully it was something she was incredibly good at and didn’t need to 100% focus on to be able to do, or she’d be out of luck with the speed in which Senkuu was speaking to her.

“I should probably get some sleep, tomorrow I’m going out to look for that Big Oaf and I have a feeling I’m going to need all of the energy I can get to drag his muscle head body back here,” he said. She blinked as she watched him, she could hear his voice now, or maybe that was her mind filling in the blank where there was no sound. Did she even remember what his voice had sounded like? She supposed it didn’t really matter, her imagination of his voice or his actual voice, it didn’t matter, because now the dark place wasn’t silent anymore. She could hear his words because she could read his lips and that made her heart skip with renewed hope.

‘Who is this Big Oaf? Must be a friend, the nickname suggests familiarity,’ she turned the information around in her mind as Senkuu gave her that smirk again and turned away to douse the fire. ‘If he is bringing him here, that means that we, humans, must be in some kind of sleep state, so he isn’t reversing death, but how did our bodies survive over 3000 years?’

Her mind showed her the image of the stone bird Senkuu had brought to her last time he had visited. ‘So…not a carving, but a real bird petrified in stone…’ she thought, ‘So, I’m a statue right now, I must be the only one near where he had camped, that’s why he speaks to me,’ She would have furrowed her brows if she could, ‘So, he’s talking to me to keep him company while he is the only one awake,’ she would have smiled, ‘You keep me company too Senkuu,’ she thought softly watching him move away into the darkness.

--

The next morning had Senkuu trekking back to where he had broken out of the stone. He carried the shovel that he had perfected once the sun had risen and he could see what he was doing. He looked around the outline of where he had lain for 3700 years with blank eyes. He didn’t want to admit he was lonely but there was only so much time one person could remain in solitude before it began to wear at the mind. Sure, he had been alone in the stone for thousands of years but he had been preoccupied with counting, not giving himself any spare moment to think about being alone in the dark. His mind had been pin-point focused on keeping track of the time so he would wake up in spring that he hadn’t even thought about how cold and alone he was.

Now he walked around looking for his friend, that Big Oaf, who he thought he would be happy without all those years ago but now…he missed his stupid face. He spotted it then, a large hand reaching out of the ground. He smirked, “Trust you to get completely buried,” he murmured and began to dig. Once Taiju was successfully uncovered Senkuu gazed down at him, his eyes soft and relief flooding him that his friend lay unbroken.

“It’s been a long 3700 years hasn’t it, you Big clumsy Oaf,” he said.

He sat beside Taiju and began to think of reasons behind the petrification as well as why he, and only he had been able to break free. His gaze fell on the stone shards that had fallen off of his body and he hummed in thought before a bat flew over his head. He blinked and looked up. That was when he saw the cave.

Chapter Text

“You won’t believe it, I found that Big Oaf,” Senkuu said to Evelyn his eyes bright with excitement, “And remarkable he was 10 billion percent unbroken,” he chuckled and ran his hand across his eyes before looking up at the sky, judging by the fact he had a fire lit Evelyn guessed it was night time and he was staring up at the stars, “Would you believe I was actually happy to see his face?” he asked, voice soft with nostalgia, “I dragged him into a cave overrun by bats, judging by the location of where I broke out of the stone and the frequency of the bats I can only assume it was the nitric acid secreted from their guano that somehow helped me wake up,” he said he hand coming to rest against his chin in thought, “Though dumping it on the other statues nearby didn’t seem to wake them up either, I hazard a guess that the fact I remained conscious the entirety of the 3,700 years I was petrified had something to do with it,” He looked to her fondly, “If I know that Big Oaf, and I do, then he is 10 billion percent awake in there waiting to confess his love to Yuzuriha, which means a few days under the direct flow of nitric acid should wake him up no problems,”

“Would the nitric acid work on me if you poured it on me?” she thought as she stared in wonder at the boy before her, he truly was amazing to have figured out so much all alone in the primitive world he had awoken, “I’m conscious in here,”

“I wonder if you’re conscious in there,” he murmured stepping closer to her, scanning her face with his scarlet eyes, “I’m going to run tests on the petrified swallows until I find out how the nitric acid affects them, then once I discover the secret to de-petrification, then…” he trailed off and seemed to be warring with himself, his eyes looked hopeful, then unsure, then pained, then…sad… “I’ll wake you up one day Compass, I promise,” he sighed and looked up at the stars, “If only you could see me now Old Man,” he whispered before stepping away from her and disappearing into the darkness.

“Senkuu…” Evelyn thought her heart hurting for the lonely boy, “I believe you. I trust you. You’ll save me I just know it, you’ll save everyone,”

--

A few days passed and Senkuu had returned to the cave every one of them to discovered no change in Taiju’s statue. He started to second guess his hypothesis about the nitric acid, especially since none of his experiments on the swallows had led to any results either.

“I need more time to do science,” he complained to Compass as he paced back and forth in the clearing in front of her, “If only you were awake, or that Big Oaf would hurry up and break out of the stone, then I wouldn’t have to struggle alone,” he turned to the girl, “I suppose if you did wake up you’d have trouble here given you don’t speak Japanese,” he stepped closer to the statue, “Especially if the Big Oaf does wake up, then you two would have a really hard time communicating and I don’t have time to act as translator to you both,”

He looked up to the sky, it shone in shades of pink and orange as the sun set. Ideas ran through his head on how that sort of situation could be countered. If she did ever wake up, she’d be lost here, no friends, probably no family either, and she wouldn’t even know what he or the others who may wake up would be saying. At least he could speak English, but he couldn’t say the same for Taiju or Yuzuriha. It would take considerably more time to teach them how to speak English than it would for…

He lowered his red eyes to the statue and gave her his trademark smirk, “Time to get excited Compass,” he said and pulled out a small slate from one of his many pockets, the one he used to jot down his notes from his experiments, “I’m going to teach you how to understand Japanese,”

--

Evelyn watched intensely as Senkuu showed her the words on the slate, he wrote down the word with the English meaning and how it was pronounced. He had been ‘teaching’ her Japanese for the past two weeks according to him. He’d laughed to himself about the absurdity of the task, he didn’t even know if she was conscious and according to him, she shouldn’t have been able to see or hear him either. So then, why did she? She asked herself.

She didn’t have time to ponder the thought though as he had commenced with the lesson anyway. She concluded that much like talking to her had been, this was a way for him to stop himself going crazy under the stress of being alone and having to singlehandedly revive humanity. It was a lot for a teenage boy to have on his shoulders so, so what if he needed to talk to a statue to remain sane, and teach that statue Japanese as if it was just a very quiet and attentive student.

Evelyn didn’t mind though. She enjoyed his lessons. It gave her something to think about when he was gone. He usually came to her each morning and evening before the sun set to teach her for roughly an hour. In between those times she went over everything she had learnt. She wasn’t sure if it was because she had nothing else to do with her time except for learn it, but she found herself picking up the Japanese language extremely quickly.

She obviously would have no idea if her pronunciations were correct until he woke her and they could talk face to face, but she felt confident in herself. Not to mention Senkuu was an incredible teacher, he seemed to understand the best way to explain things for her to understand, as if somehow, he knew the kind of learner she was. That was absurd of course, they didn’t know each other before all this, and judging by the fact he had taken so long to realize she only spoke English; he couldn’t have recognized her as Evelyn Nightingale the pop sensation from the United Kingdom. He simply remembered her from their chance meeting in the science club room where he had shown her his incredible invention.

She didn’t care either way, in fact, knowing he spoke to her not because she was famous and could gain something from that but because he wanted to made her happy in a way that she didn’t realize she was missing before. Maybe this whole petrification thing was a good thing after all.

She felt like smiling as he wrapped up the lesson for the day. He yawned and stretched his arms above his head.

“I’d give you a pop quiz if you had any way to respond,” he joked, “You’re lucky you’re stuck in stone,”

Evelyn would have laughed it she could. “Somehow I think you’d be a hard task master Senkuu,” she thought as he smirked at her.

“Don’t slack off tonight, make sure you memorize everything from today, I’m going to start talk to you in only Japanese soon, what will you do then if you haven’t been taking your lessons seriously?” he asked with a grin.

Evelyn hummed a tune to herself after he left for the night. Gosh she missed singing. “I wonder what kind of music Senkuu likes,” she thought as she went over the words from the day. It wasn’t just the words themselves she had to memorize, but the correct order for them in the sentence. It was a lot different than English so the learning curve was hard but she thought she could get the hang of it with a little more practice.

She had a particularly good memory for words and the flow of them from her singing days. Her ability to remember thousands of song lyrics was incredible and she used the memory techniques she had picked up from learning music to learning language. She hummed tunes and sang the sentences with a melody that helped her remember the shapes and forms of sentences. She even started trying to write a song using the limited Japanese she had already learnt. It was incredibly fun and she found herself for the first time in so many years, not entirely hating the dark place.

She had Senkuu, he always came back, and he was going to get her out of there. She felt incredibly lucky. She was incredibly lucky. And if her heart started to beat a little faster at the thought of the next time that he’d visit her, then maybe she didn’t really mind all that much.

Chapter Text

Senkuu’s hope for the nitric acid to wake Taiju from his petrification was starting to wear thin. It had been just over 5 months since he had found the Big Oaf and there had been no change. None of his experiments with the swallows had proven fruitful either. If he wasn’t so sure of the scientific process he would have given up by now. Try and try again, that’s the only way to reach success. Besides, it wasn’t like he had any other ideas on how to wake up the Big Oaf, might as well leave him under the dripping liquid until something happened or he could come up with something else. If anything, the Oaf deserved to smell like guano for making Senkuu wait so damned long.

The young scientist sighed from his place seated on the grass in front of Compass. He had just concluded their lesson for the morning and he was telling her about his doubts in his hypothesis, yet again, before beginning his daily chores. He had to go out for some more firewood, he was getting low and with the nights growing colder he would need to stock up and find a way to keep it dry for the oncoming rainy season.

“If that Big Oaf doesn’t wake up before winter hits, I’m afraid I might actually starve to death,” he murmured in English to the statue. While he had been ‘teaching’ her how to understand his native tongue he still felt rude speaking to her in Japanese. As illogical as it was to feel rude when talking to an inanimate object. “No use moping around here though,” he said and stood up brushing himself off as he did so, “I should get to work, the days are growing shorter after all,”

--

Evelyn watched him go with a renewed sadness. She wished that she could comfort him. Watching his enthusiasm fade day by day was excruciating. He had been so sure of himself at the start and now it seemed like he was just waiting to die. Although he never said anything of the sort, he just wasn’t so…lively anymore. He did his science experiments and would not even be shocked at the failures. There was no more spontaneous burst of scientific jargon being thrown her way as he discussed with her what he would change for the next experiment and why the current one might not have worked. A lot of the time he flitted between Japanese and English so fast it was hard to read his lips.

She liked it when he got excited like that. It was like seeing into the soul of him. Now though, now he just sighed and moved on. He was losing his drive and it killed her. If Senkuu couldn’t figure it out, then she was sure that nobody would. That was if anybody else out there was even alive.

She tried yet again to force herself out of the stone. If only it would crack, just a little she would be able to move and then pull herself free.

She just had to try harder.

“Come on me, wake up,”

“Get up,”

Get.

Up.

--

Senkuu was climbing in the branches of the trees chopping thin branches for firewood when he heard it.

Heavy breathing…

Footsteps crunching through the undergrowth…

He moved down the branch he was balanced on carefully and looked down to the ground.

There stood a very teary eyed,

very naked,

Taiju.

“Kukuku, so you finally woke up, ‘eh? You Great Big Oaf,” Senkuu drawled, a smirk carved onto his face. His heart was racing, this was exhilarating. His hypothesis was correct, the nitric acid worked! That meant it was only a matter of time before he cracked the secret to de-petrification formula. He couldn’t wait to tell Compass.

“SENKUU!” The Big Oaf screamed and launched off the ground towards him in an attempt for some kind of meaningful embrace or something.

--

As they walked back to Senkuu’s camp he explained to Taiju everything he knew about the petrification, about how he counted the entire time to make sure he woke up in Spring, how he had had to scrape and scrounge to survive the first few weeks until he was able to settle and finish building his current home.

They emerged through the trees and Taiju’s eyes filled with wonder at everything Senkuu had already accomplished. They spoke about the Scientist’s plan to rebuild civilization and how he needed Taiju’s stamina to do it. It was Senkuu’s weird way of telling the stronger boy that he had missed him, that he needed his friend, and that wasn’t lost on Taiju.

However, Taiju also knew that if he mentioned that emotional concept to the other boy then he would deny it and change the subject so he just grinned and agreed. They would do this together, like they always had, since they had built Senkuu’s dad that suit to help him learn to swim better. They could always do whatever they set their mind to, and they would continue to always do that.

Senkuu had given him a set of crudely made leather clothing. It was nowhere near as good as what Yuzuriha would be able to make but Senkuu wasn’t a craft genius, the clothes would cover him and keep him warm, that was what mattered. The day drew on with Taiju collecting various mushrooms for them to eat while Senkuu pottered around in his laboratory. It was like they had always been doing this, it fell into place so flawlessly. Taiju grinned, it’s because they were best friends, they were perfectly in sync even if Senkuu would never admit it.

As night drew near Taiju watched as the other boy made his way to a clearing behind the tree where the house was built. Curious to see what he was doing back there he followed quietly and watched as Senkuu sat down and pulled out a small slate.

--

“Before we start our lesson, I should tell you,” Senkuu spoke in English, “The Big Oaf woke up!” He laughed, “I know! It took him long enough! But it proves I was correct about the nitric acid,” He looked up at the sky with his trademark smirk, “Get excited Compass, I’ll be waking you up before you know it,”

“What are you doing?” The Big Oaf asked.

Senkuu jumped, not used to hearing another voice in this new world, and turned to the brunette. “Talking to…” he started in Japanese and blushed slightly, “Uh, this statue,”

“What statue?” Taiju asked and moved closer to look. His eyes widened upon seeing Compass, “Oh a giiiiirl?” He grinned so wide Senkuu wondered how his face had room.

“Shut up, you idiot, I had to talk to someone while I was alone or I’d have gone insane,” He explained and crossed his arms looking away, “I guess it isn’t necessary anymore though,” he pocketed his slate and walked to the campfire area, “No need to waste energy on something so illogical,” he added as he lit the fire not sparing another glance at the stone girl.

Chapter Text

Evelyn waited excitedly for Senkuu to return for their evening lesson. She had taken to ‘speaking’ to him in Japanese when he was there. Nearly six months of daily lessons had her confident in her conversational ability in the foreign language, though she wouldn’t call herself fluent. Especially since she wasn’t 100% sure that her pronunciations were correct.

As if by thinking about him, she had summoned him, Senkuu appeared before her and sat down on the ground, pulling his slate from his pocket.

“Before we start our lesson, I should tell you,” He said so fast she almost missed it, “The Big Oaf woke up!” he threw his head back with a laugh that she felt in her soul.

“Finally!” she cried out with joy in her mind.

“I know! It took him long enough! But it proves I was correct about the nitric acid,” He looked up at the sky with his trademark smirk, “Get excited Compass, I’ll be waking you up before you know it,”

Before she could think up a way to respond, he jumped and turned his head to look away from where she could see. “Talking to…” he said in Japanese a hint of pink dusting his cheeks, “Uh, this statue,” he gestured to her.

Evelyn frowned, or she would have if she could control her face. He was embarrassed by her, embarrassed to have been caught talking to a statue of a stranger. She watched as a brown-haired boy stepped into view and walked over to her curiously. His eyes widened as he got closer.

“Oh a giiiiirl?” he grinned so wide Evelyn wasn’t sure his mouth would fit on his face. She felt a small sense of relief, he wasn’t embarrassed by her, he was embarrassed because she was a girl, he must not have spoken to many girls before this whole petrification thing happened. The blush on his cheeks made that obvious to her.

“Shut up, you idiot, I had to talk to someone while I was alone or I’d have gone insane,” He explained and crossed his arms looking away.

“Yeah, Big Oaf,” Evelyn echoed in her mind as she watched the conversation unfold.

“I guess it isn’t necessary anymore though,” Senkuu said and pocketed his slate before walking out of her line of sight.

“What?” Evelyn gasped panic filling her, “No, Senkuu come back,” she tried to move, tried to break free of the stone, “Don’t leave me all alone!”

She barely caught the look of confused sadness on the brown-haired boy’s face as he looked between her and Senkuu before walking away too.

“No! NO! COME BACK!” she cried out, but neither of them heard her, and she was alone again in the dark place.

--

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Taiju said catching up to Senkuu, “You can talk to her if you want to, I think it’s nice that you finally like a girl,”

“I don’t like her,” Senkuu said quickly before taking a breath, “I don’t even know who she is Big Oaf, I just used her statue to keep my mind sane whilst I was all alone,” he explained, “Now that you’re here I don’t need to waste my time on such an illogical act,”

“But…” Taiju said quietly, “What if she needs you too?”

Senkuu froze and frowned, “No,” he said, “There’s no way she could see or hear me from inside there, you know what it was like to be petrified, it’s endless nothing,”

“Well…yeah,” Taiju muttered, “But, what if it’s different for her?”

“It’s not,” Senkuu said simply and moved away ending the conversation.

Taiju frowned after his friend before looking back to the statue. It was obvious to him that he had upset Senkuu and he hated it. Senkuu might not understand emotions like a normal person, Taiju laughed to himself on that thought, but it was clear as day that he had formed an attachment to the girl in stone. There was no reason he couldn’t treat her like a friend despite the fact the girl was trapped. He knew if it was Yuzuriha frozen there he would talk to her every day, with or without other company. He nodded to himself as if resolving to take action before running off after Senkuu to help cook some of the food he had collected for dinner.

--

Senkuu woke with a slow stretch in his bedroll in the top of the treehouse. It had been far warmer up there the night before with Taiju now providing extra body heat. There was no way they would go so far as to cuddle to preserve heat but laying beside the other boy had kept the cold night air at bay. He couldn’t help the thought that it would be much easier to get through the winter months now he had a companion. Then his mind flashed to images of Compass and how she had been his companion thus far. Her peaceful face turned up to the sky as she sung endlessly. He sighed; it was for the best that he stopped talking to her now. Not only because Taiju would tease him endlessly for it, but also because he was starting to get attached to her.

He scoffed, yeah sure, ‘starting’. He knew he was well past that but he wasn’t ready to face that yet. When she woke up, she would have no idea who he was. He’d be a stranger and he’d have to watch her walk away. Probably into the arms of some athletic guy, or some model, she was pretty enough. Then again, she had been very excited about his science experiment when they had met all those years ago, maybe she was interested in the smart type. He groaned and banged is head back against the floor to stop thinking so illogically. She was out of his league and he had far more important things to worry about. He sat up then and prepared himself for the struggle of waking up the Big Oaf when his eyes fell on the empty bedroll that Taiju had used the night before.

“Huh?” he pulled himself out of his bedroll and crawled to the edge of the treehouse to look down to the ground, surely, he hadn’t rolled out in the middle of the night? No sign of him. Senkuu stood then and began to climb down to the ground. Must be off answering the call of nature, he thought as he opened the water jug to splash some on his face. He stretched his arms above his head and cricked his neck as he walked further into the clearing. As he noticed himself drawing nearer to Compass, he made himself stop, he couldn’t do that anymore.

“Senkuu!” Taiju’s voice rang out, echoing in the quiet of the morning, “Good morning!”

“No need to yell you Big Oaf I am right here,” Senkuu groaned turning to where Taiju’s voice had come from and froze.

Taiju sat on the ground next to where the grass was worn away by Senkuu’s constant presence. Before him were two of Senkuu’s clay bowls filled with various berries and a couple of cups of water. “Come have breakfast with us!” the Big Oaf called out waving him over.

Senkuu stared at his friend and after a moment his signature smirk crawled onto his face, “Kukukuku, you Big Oaf, let me make sure you didn’t pick anything poisonous before you eat that,” he said as he sauntered over to take his usual seat. He sifted through the bowls throwing away the few poisonous berries quietly.

“Don’t be rude Senkuu, say good morning,” Taiju said elbowing him and gesturing to the statue.

Senkuu narrowed his eyes at his friend but sighed and looked up at Compass, “Good morning, Compass,” he said, his eyes softening as he took in her peaceful features.

Chapter Text

Evelyn would have to kiss Taiju when she finally broke out of the stone. The Big Oaf hadn’t taken Senku at his word and brought him back to her. That time she’d spent alone in the darkness had been horrifying, more horrifying than the time before Senku, because she knew that she was trapped, knew that he was out there and she couldn’t call out to him. She never wanted to be alone again.

Their routine went back to normal, for the most part. He wasn’t teaching her Japanese every night anymore, only at the times when Taiju was out foraging for food and he had some time to kill. She guessed it was because he was embarrassed by it, it was illogical to teach a statue how to speak Japanese after all. She felt warmth in her heart, he obviously needed to talk to her as much as she needed him to. He wouldn’t admit it of course, but teaching her Japanese had become a comfort for him. When his work on the nital (that’s what he had called it anyway) was stressing him out too much he would find time to sit and teach her. Like the act of doing so allowed his mind to calm down enough that he could tackle the problem again.

She didn’t know how much time had passed since Taiju had woken up but he and Senku had been trying to distill wine into Brandy. It was essentially a very easy process but it took a lot of time and patience. Not to mention the distilling pottery Senku had made broke the first time. She chuckled to herself remembering his sour expression as he sat before her, stained purple by the wine that had spilled all over him. Now, the boys wore fur lined clothing and Taiju had the beginnings of a rather impressive beard.

They sat in front of her eating their breakfast meal, snow surrounded them on the floor but the place where they sat had been cleared of the cold white powder. Taiju was talking animatedly to Senku about how much he missed rice and other things from the modern times. Senku just ate and rolled his eyes at the Big Oaf’s antics but Evelyn could tell by the slight curve to his lips that he enjoyed his friend’s company.

“Alright, enough lazing about, to fast track the resurrection of humanity we need to get this brandy finished,” Senku said rising to his feet and stretching his neck. Evelyn couldn’t really hear any of what was happening but it looked like the action would have made a rather impressive cracking sound. She noticed belatedly that he did it a lot, perhaps a habit of his? She thought about all their time ‘together’ and began to notice other things he did, like putting his pinky in his ear to scratch it, sometimes even pick his nose. The later would have made her shudder if she wasn’t covered in stone.

“Huh, you’re getting covered in snow Compass,” Taiju said moving up to her. His hands moved above her head as if he was brushing said snow off of her.

Senku watched from the corner of his eye, for some reason she had the feeling he was either annoyed at Taiju or jealous of him. However, she couldn’t dwell on that thought because suddenly Taiju’s face was so close to hers, she would have jumped if she could.

“No way!” he yelled, getting closer before pulling away mouth agape, hands on her shoulders and eyes sparkling like stars, “Compass is Evelyn Nightingale!”

--

“Who?” Senku asked turning to face the Big Oaf.

“Evelyn Nightingale!” Taiju repeated turning to him and waving his arms around madly, “Only one of the best British popstars of our time!” he yelled, “Yuzuriha and I had tickets to her concert! She was doing a world tour when…” he railed off and turned to Compass, “When everyone turned to stone, she must have been rehearsing or something, that’s why she is singing,”

Senku’s heart dropped, a popstar? Not just any pop star, but a really famous one. “She was having a tour of the school the day of the petrification,” he found himself saying, “I met her when she came into the science club,”

“Really?” Taiju asked, “Why was she touring our school?” he looked at Compass again before pointing at her and yelling, “That’s right! She does charity gigs at every tour location! She must have been planning to sing at our school! Remember?!” he turned to Senku again still pointing but now at him, “There was going to be an all-school assembly that night! We were all going to go together!”

Senku put his finger into his ear as he tried to think back to that day, he did vaguely remember being told about something like that but he hadn’t really cared, “So, Compass is some famous popstar?” he asked looking at the statue of the girl he had become attached to with the knowledge that she would never look at him twice were she to wake up.

“Yeah!” Taiju grinned and turned back to face Compass, “Now we definitely need to wake her up! She could be the entertainment while you’re the brain and I’m the brawn!”

“Not sure how singing will help us revive all of humanity,” Senku stated logically before turning away, “Come on you Big Oaf, we won’t be waking anyone up until we finish the nital,”

Senku was good at hiding his emotions, he often got accused of not having emotions but the truth was he was just good at compartmentalizing. Emotions got in the way of logical thinking, so a lot of the time he just pushed them to the side so he could get back to work. But at that moment he couldn’t seem to stop his hands from shaking, his heart racing and the strange burning in his throat. Why did he feel like he had just been betrayed? Compass, Evelyn Nightingale, owed him nothing, not friendship, certainly not anything more than that. But with the realization that there was absolutely no way for him to even be a blip on her radar, it hurt.

He hadn’t realized that he’d held a small piece of hope inside that maybe when he woke her up, when he told her how she had helped him through, that maybe she’d like him. He shook his head to rid it of the irrational thoughts, he didn’t even know her, what if she was super annoying? A popstar could hardly be expected to hold a conversation that would stimulate him. He continued to tell himself things like that until finally he just sighed and admitted to himself that he’d been a fool.

Time to forget about that and move onto bigger things, things that mattered more than his attachment to the statue of a girl he had never properly met. His mind flashed with the moment she had turned to him in the science lab 3700 years before, her eyes lighting up with interest at what he had to say about his experiment.

“I’m going to get more nitric acid,” he said to Taiju as he began to walk off into the trees towards the miracle cave.

“I can come with you!” the Big Oaf yelled getting up.

Senku shook his head without turning around, “No need to waste resources, I’ll be back soon, you go check the traps or something Big Oaf, with the snow falling we’ll need all the food we can get,” With those words over his shoulder he wandered off, trying to get away from the thoughts and feelings that plagued him. Trying to get away from her.

--

Evelyn was shocked that Taiju had recognized her but she supposed it did make sense. They were similar in age so it was likely he’d been a fan. She was a little hurt that Senku hadn’t known who she was but then realized that since he didn’t know her, he wouldn’t treat her like some famous popstar, he’d just treat her like her, like Evelyn, like his Compass. She felt giddy, finally, finally she might have a friend who treated her like a person! Not trying to impress her or use her to better their own self-interest. Her heart stuttered as she thought, maybe, he’d like her for her. Not for her music, her money, her body, just her. She’d have turned red if she had been able to blush. They’d gone through so much together already, not that he knew she’d been awake in here listening the whole time, but…she considered him a friend, a friend that she happened to find attractive in appearance and personality…would he think the same of her?

Chapter Text

Senku finally returned to the camp as the sun began to set. He didn’t really want to go back if he was honest, but he knew it’d be illogical to sleep out in the elements on a winter’s night. He knew his feelings in themselves were also illogical. He had never met Compass...Evelyn Nightingale, not really. He had no right to be annoyed at her for being who she was in the past. She was a stranger to him, a girl trapped in stone who had no idea who he was and who probably never would even after he de-petrified her. He sighed, that was the beginning and end of it, and he would have to stop thinking of her as if they were friends, or more. Romance was a waste of time and energy anyway. That was what was going through his mind as he walked back into camp to see Taiju talking animatedly to the statue of the girl who had plagued his thoughts for months now. Senku felt his eyes narrow in annoyance as Taiju placed his hands on her shoulders and lowered his head.

“Why are you touching her?” Senku asked as he hurried over seemingly forgetting all about his promise to himself to stop thinking of her as his.

“Senku!!!” Taiju exclaimed and all but jumped at him. The scientist side stepped the attempt at a hug as his red eyes tracked his friend’s movements and then flitted to Compass.

“What is going on?” Senku asked eyeing the poorly assembled crown of winter plants atop her head.

“I was starting to get worried!” Taiju yelled, “I was telling Compass not to worry about you and that I’d go looking!”

“What is on her head?” Senku asked ignoring his friend’s words in favour of glaring at the crown.

“huh?” Taiju stopped his babbling and turned to also look at the crown before rubbing the back of his head and laughing, “I was bored while waiting for you, Evelyn Nightingale ALWAYS wears something on her head when she performs so I made it for her while she kept me from going to look for you when you didn’t come back, I knew you were ok but Compass was worried and then I was worried, but I kept saying to her...”

Senku tuned out Taiju’s words and removed the messy crown from Compass’s head and dropped it onto the floor.

“Hey! I worked on that for hours!” Taiju whined, reaching for the headpiece and trying to fix the parts of the plants that were unravelling.

“That will fall apart as soon as a slight breeze hits it,” Senku stated letting his eyes scan Compass’s face before nodding to himself slightly, “Come on you Big Oaf, let’s get some stronger plants to weave this with,” Senku replied wandering to the forest edge leaving Taiju staring after him dumbfounded, “While the sun is still up,” he added over his shoulder.

“Right!” Taiju yelled and dropped the broken crown to follow Senku into the tree line.

--

If Evelyn hadn’t been solid stone she might have collapsed with relief when Senku finally returned to camp. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t been worried about him. Taiju had stayed with her the whole time Senku had been gone, telling her stories of their past before the petrification and confiding in her his thoughts on his childhood best friend as if he knew she could hear him.

“He’s not good at showing how he truly feels but he is the best guy I know,” Taiju had said, “He broods like an old lady Compass, you’re going to have to be able to get through to his big brain if you want a chance with him,” the brown haired boy had laughed, “I can tell he likes you, even if he’ll never admit it, I hope you’ll give him a chance, because I want him to feel what I feel for Yuzuriha and this is the closest he has ever come to that with anything other than science,”

“I promise I’ll give him more than a chance Taiju,” Evelyn had thought before noticing the fidgeting in the boys hands.

“It’s getting late and he still isn’t back,” Taiju muttered looking up at the sky, “Don’t worry Compass, I am sure he’s fine, this is Senku after all,”

Evelyn had worried, especially when Taiju had left and then returned with an arm full of plant clippings and no Senku in sight.

“I didn’t see him anywhere nearby but I gathered these,” Taiju said placing the clippings out in front of him on the floor, “You always wear some hat or something at your shows, Yuzuriha really liked the flower crown you wore one time, I thought since we’re waiting for Senku I’d make you something, ya know, since you’re singing right now, you really should have a signature headdress,” A lot of time had passed while she watched him try and fail and try again to make something that stayed together and slightly resembled a crown. “Yuzuriha could make something a lot better,” Taiju said as he held it up for her to see, “But until Senku finishes making some of that magic revival fluid, it’ll have to do, what do you think?”

Evelyn would have smiled if she could, the crown was very messy and looked like it would fall apart any minute but she loved it anyway, “Thank you Taiju,” she thought as he placed it carefully onto her head and stepped back admiring his work with hands on his hips.

“Wait until Senku sees you now!” he exclaimed arms flailing, “Argh, where is he?” he looked up and frowned, “The sun is starting to set, I better go look for him in case something did happen,” he placed his hands on her shoulders and lowered his head, “I’ll find him Compass, I promise, I’ll bring his big brain back to us,”

Then, he arrived, face a narrow-eyed scowl as he took in her and Taiju’s familiarity. Not that she had anything to do with it since she was a statue. Taiju, the big oaf, had been oblivious to Senku’s ire and launched a hug at the scientist which was skillfully dodged. Evelyn just watched him as he took in the crown on her head and questioned Taiju about it. Then he took her crown and dropped it to the ground.

“Hey!” Evelyn wanted to shout, Taiju had spent a long time working on that. She was too busy being annoyed at the boy’s actions that she missed what he said before watching him walk away, “Get back here and apologize!” she screamed wordlessly watching Taiju jump up to follow him. Being stuck in stone truly was inconvenient.

She didn’t know how long it had been before Senku and Taiju returned to sit before her, a campfire lit to illuminate the ground where they placed more plant clippings. “What are you doing?” she wanted to ask as she watched Senku work, a crease between his brows as he gave Taiju instructions. Senku wasn’t much better than Taiju at this but he made thin twine out of a small vine and used it to tie the varying plants together where they wove them into crooked star shapes to adorn the new much sturdier crown. “Oh...” She though, her heart aching as if she wasn’t frozen in stone. Taiju grinned his big toothy smile as Senku stood with the completed crown in his hands.

“There, that is much better,” Senku said looking at it from all angles as if to ensure it’s structure, “And since she is our Compass for true north, like the north star, it’s only fitting she have a star at the centre,”

“You’re right Senku, this is so much cooler!” Taiju yelled jumping up to get a closer look, “What do you think Compass?” he asked looking at her.

Senku’s eye twitched but he held the crown out for her to see as if she was really there with them, “I love it,” she wanted to whisper as she looked into red eyes shimmering in the moving light of the campfire.

As if he’d heard her, a smirk graced his lips and he moved to place it on her head. With his back to Taiju only she could see when his eyes scanned over her face and went soft in way they hadn’t since before the Big Oaf had woken. “Perfect,” he whispered before stepping back, leaving her in stunned wonder.

Chapter Text

The rest of winter passed much like the other seasons had before and soon, as the snow melted away and the plants turned green again, it was time to test the nital. Senku stood before Compass in the early morning light feeling a mix of nervous, exited and...scared. If this worked, he’d be able to wake her up, and then he’d know for sure if she’d ever look at him twice. Sure, she’d be thankful for his help in freeing her from the stone, but then what?

“We’re testing the nital today,” he told her and cracked his neck in the way he had of doing since he woke from the stone, “We’re bringing back all of civilization, get excited,” In his mind he could see the look of amazed wonder that had lit up her face back in that science classroom all those years ago and he let his gaze trace over the statue of that girl and took a shuddering breath, “Do you think...when I wake you up...” he began but was cut off as Taiju bounded down from the treehouse.

“Good morning Senku!” the big oaf yelled, “Are you excited to test the nital today?!” the brown-haired boy hurried over and gave Compass a thumbs up, “With the revival fluid we’re going to bring you and Yuzuriha back in no time Compass!” he exclaimed and laughed, “Then maybe I could ask for your autograph!”

“One step at a time you Big Oaf,” Senku stated dryly, “We have to test the alcohol to nitric acid at different ratios over and over until we find the right one,”

“What?! I guess it was never going to be easy,” Taiju moaned.

“That’s how science works, perseverance, try and try again,” Senku replied, “If we gave up at the first hurdle, I’d have died shortly after waking from the stone and you would still be buried in the ground,”

“Yeah! Perseverance! Let’s go Senku!” Taiju yelled, “Tell me how to do these ratio things!”

“Tch, stop yelling already,” Senku chided though his face held a smirk as he turned away, “Come on, first we have to get the nitric acid from the cave,”

--

Evelyn couldn’t believe it as Senku and Taiju ran over excitedly. They were silent but their bodies vibrated with energy as Senku placed a stone swallow on the ground. They poured something on it from a clay pot and watched.

“Let this be a lesson. You big Oaf,” Senku said as they watched the bird intensely, “It’s not that there are some things even science can’t explain,”

Evelyn wanted to pay attention to what he was saying but she couldn’t focus on reading his lips when the stone encasing the small bird broke away all at once letting the small creature fly into the air and disappear from her view.

“Senku,” she cried inside, “I knew you could do it,”

“WOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!” Taiju yelled watching the animal.

Evelyn was too busy in her own thoughts to notice what Senku was saying to himself after sitting down.

“I can’t believe it, I’m finally going to be free, I’ll be able to thank you Senku, I’ll be able to tell you how you’ve kept me alive in here, how you’ve helped me,”

--

Senku sat with a smirk on his face watching Taiju jump around excitedly staring at the sparrow. “Now we can start reviving civilization,” he thought to himself as his eyes flitted over to Compass and he felt his heartbeat accelerate, “It’s only been a year, I don’t think I’m ready to face her yet,” he scolded himself for the train of his thoughts, he was judging her again before he even knew her, but hell, he was scared of her rejection. “Senku, you don’t even know her,” he told himself, “You might not be able to stand her once she is awake,” the prospect of that frightened him more, what if the image of the girl he had created in his head didn’t match up to reality? “It doesn’t matter,” he thought firmly, “It’s not like you can just not revive her because of some emotional nonsense,” his eyes scanned her face and his heart felt tight in his chest, his hands shook and he felt sweat break out over his skin. “Just a little bit longer,” he thought, “Let me have this fantasy for a little bit longer,” and if that thought was illogical he ignored it in favour of grinning up at his best friend.

“Taiju. The grapes were your idea to begin with...” he announced, “...so you get to decide whom we save first,”

Taiju turned to him with the most determination that Senku had seen since that day all those years ago when the Big Oaf had declared he was going to tell Yuzuriha how he felt about her, “Thanks Senku!” he yelled in that way he had of doing, “The answer is way obvious!”

--

Evelyn couldn’t contain her excitement after Senku and Taiju left to go revive Yuzuriha. She sang to herself and if she could move she’d have been bouncing up and down happily. She’d finally get to meet Senku, she’d finally be free. She could give Taiju her darn autograph, not that it meant much anymore, she’d rather be his friend. “Oh Senku, I am going to hug you so tightly the second I am out of here,” She didn’t know how long she waited there, it was hard to judge time inside the darkness but eventually she saw Senku fade into view, but he wasn’t alone and it wasn’t Taiju with him and she was fairly sure that the tall, long-haired man was not Yuzuriha either. “Wait...how long has it been?” she asked herself, “Surely he didn’t forget about me and wake others before coming back here...” she couldn’t help the hurt in her heart, but she supposed Senku didn’t have to wake her, she was useful to him when he couldn’t wake anyone, now that he had the miracle fluid he didn’t need her. What use was she to him anyway? She’d have teared up if she could cry, she thought that he’d cared about her.

Taiju faded into view then, carrying a statue of a girl her own age. He placed the girl beside her, nestled up against the tree, “Just a little while longer Yuzuriha! As soon as we have some more of that miracle fluid stuff, I’m gonna save you!” he said to the girl. The brown-haired boy looked at her next, “You wouldn’t believe it Compass, we got attacked by lions and we had to wake up Tsukasa here to save us,”

“Taiju, stop talking to Yuzuriha and come over here,” Senku called from the clearing.

“Sorry, he is probably shy in front of Tsukasa and doesn’t want to get teased for saying hello,” Taiju whispered with a wink before turning to the other two and wandering over.

“Lions?!” Evelyn thought, “What are lions doing wild in Japan?” she was momentarily scared about how close he and Senku had come to death from lion claws to comprehend what the Big Oaf had said to her. They hadn’t forgotten her, they just had to revive this Tsukasa guy first...wait...Tsukasa? Evelyn looked at the new guy, tall, muscular, long brown hair...it was him! Tsukasa Shishio, she’d meant to meet him at a fancy gathering of famous people in Japan the night before the petrification. She had been excited because he was her own age, she had hoped they’d become friends, but he didn’t show up. Her manager, Elizabeth, later told her he hardly ever showed his face to those kinds of events. Evelyn didn’t like going to them either, it was usually a bunch of rich adults who wanted something from her. She had been disappointed at the time. As she watched him with Senku and Taiju talking she wondered if the universe had given them a fresh chance to meet. Maybe she could be friends with him too, like Senku and Taiju...and Yuzuriha when they finally got free of the stone.

“Maybe,” she thought, “Maybe this whole stone thing was the best thing that could have happened to me after all,” She watched the boys with a new sense of hope lighting up her heart.

Chapter Text

Senku was glad for Taiju’s discretion when it came to Compass, he didn’t want Tsukasa to know of his...attachment to the girl, he didn’t trust him. It was one thing to have Yuzuriha be an obvious target if Tsukasa was to turn against them, but to have two possible hostages doubled the odds in Tsukasa’s favour. Senku didn’t like that, not to mention, if Tsukasa took a liking to Compass then Senku knew he didn’t stand a chance. Tsukasa was just more of the female ideal, it was fact. So, what he had said to Taiju about the possibility of Tsukasa being an evil sex-crazed tyrant was partially his own worries too.

At first everything was going well though. Tsukasa took up the job of hunting and the three of them ate a full meal. Then Taiju collected and crushed hundreds of shells for the calcium carbonate. He explained the uses of it to the other two for agriculture, mortar and soap but as he finished making the soap Tsukasa began to talk. The words the other teen spoke only heightened Senku’s distrust so when Taiju asked about the forth use of calcium carbonate Senku lied. He didn’t like lying about science, but it was imperative that Tsukasa didn’t realize they had the tools to make gunpowder. He would ten billion percent kill them if he thought they could get the upper hand like that.

During the night after Tsukasa and Taiju had fallen asleep he snuck down to stand before Compass and think. “There’s absolutey zero percent chance we could beat him in a fight if it came to that,” he thought as he began to pace, “but we can’t have no backup plan,” he turned to look at Compass and Yuzuriha, they were counting on him and Taiju. His eyes traced Compass’s face and he stepped closer to put his hand on her shoulder as he spoke in a hushed tone.

“Now listen to me Compass, I promise I am going to bring you back,” he said, “But right now, it’s too dangerous, I don’t trust Tsukasa not to hurt you as soon as he finds out how much I...” he trailed off and felt heat in his cheeks. He took his hand back quickly as if he’d been burnt. “Look, I just can’t let him know that you matter, I have to act like the only one I care about here is Yuzuriha otherwise he could hurt you,” He took a deep breath and looked up at the stars, the North star glowing brighter than the others, “Compass, I may have to leave you behind,” he said, hating that he’d have to do it despite not even knowing her but being rational. He would have to leave the only comfort he had known since waking from the stone, but he had lived before without her presence and he would be able to do it again. He didn’t like the thought of waking up in this stone world and not being able to talk to her, to bounce ideas off her, even though she never replied. “If Tsukasa turns against us, I am going to leave you behind,” he told her letting his red eyes meet her closed ones, “but I promise you, I will come back and get you,” he said, “I will wake you from the stone, you just have to wait for me,” He felt her cheek against his palm before he realized he was cupping her face in one hand, “Please, wait for me,”

--

Evelyn could have sworn her heart stopped when Senku told her he was leaving her. She understood his rationale behind it, but she hated it. She could help him, surely. She felt jealous of Yuzuriha being able to be known to be his friend while she had to remain a secret, alone. But...she trusted Senku, she knew when he said that he would come back for her that he meant it. His words weren’t empty. His eyes had glistened with determination and she could swear she felt his touch against her cheek as he asked her to wait for him. “Always Senku,” she wanted to whisper, “I’ll wait here, however long it takes,”

The next time she saw him everything happened in a blur. Senku and Taiju woke Yuzuriha in a rush of panic, Senku said something about offering them the chance to run and then told them that Tsukasa was a murderer. Evelyn was shocked that his instincts on the strongest primate high schooler had been so on point. She couldn’t ‘hear’ any of what Taiju or Yuzuriha had to say because their backs were to her but by the look on Senku’s face they had refused to run. It was then that Tsukasa strolled into the clearing the crumbling remains of a statue falling from his fist.

“Oh my god,” Evelyn thought terrified, “he’s breaking statues...what happens if he breaks me?” she felt like she’d hyperventilate if she only had a beating heart, “Will I die? Is that what Senku meant when he called him a murderer?”

Taiju ran at Tsukasa forcing Senku to pull out the crossbow he had crafted the night before after asking her to wait for him. The projectile did nothing against Tsukasa who caught and deflected the bolt before landing a heavy kick to Taiju’s blocking fist. The spoke to each other a moment before Taiju collapsed on the ground and Tsukasa left. Evelyn honestly caught none of it, hearing nothing but white noise as she pondered the very real chance that Tsukasa might kill her. “That’s why Senku didn’t want to let on that I was important,”

Senku, Taiju and Yuzuriha ran around collecting things preparing to leave. As Yuzuriha and Taiju loaded their packs Senku wandered over to her.

“I will come back for you,” he said as he adjusted his pack, “You’re young, he’s not likely to hurt you without reason,” he reached over her head and she saw him take off her crown, “I’ll give this back when we meet again,” he told her.

“Ok Senku, I understand,” she thought, “I’ll wait for you,”

--

“Senku, we’re ready,” Yuzuriha said as she came to stand beside him, “Huh, what’s this?”

“Oh this is Compass, Senku’s friend,” Taiju said, “we made her a crown because, she’s Evelyn Nightingale and you know how she wears hats and stuff to every show,”

“Evelyn Nightingale?!” Yuzuriha got really close to the statue’s face for a moment, “Oh my! It is! We have to take her with us,”

“I can carry her...” Taiju began.

“No,” Senku stopped them, “We have to leave her behind, if Tsukasa finds out how important she is to us then he’ll use it against us,”

“You’re right,” Taiju groaned, “But how can we leave her behind? She’s your...”

“She’ll be right here when we come back after we beat Tsukasa with gunpowder,” Senku cut him off again, “She’ll be safer if we leave now and don’t let Tsukasa find out about her,”

“Yeah, right! Let’s hurry then,” Taiju exclaimed, “The faster we get the gunpowder, the faster Senku can wake up Compass,”

“I’m so excited to meet you,” Yuzuriha said bowing her head, “We’ll come back soon,”

--

Evelyn watched, her heart aching as the trio walked away from her into the tree line. Just before he faded from view she saw Senku look back over his shoulder at her. Then...he was gone. She was alone again in the darkness. She did what she said she would do...she waited...and waited. The darkness was endless, she started to wonder if she’d go insane sitting there conscious. She sang to herself, and practiced her Japanese, but mostly she thought of Senku. About how she missed his insane smirks when he got a good idea, or how he would go on a tirade about science anytime something didn’t work out and how he’d do better the next time. She thought about what it would be like to able to talk to him face to face and have him hear her.

What could have been hours...

days...

weeks...

or months later,

she didn’t know...

...a cracking sound filled her mind and the darkness fell away.

“Senku, is it you? Did you come back for me?” she thought as she collapsed to her knees on the earth, mint green hair falling around her face like a curtain.

She blinked against the blinding light and lifted her head to look at her saviour.

“Tsukasa” she gasped.

Chapter Text

“Welcome to the year 5,739, I am Tsukasa, I have awoken you as you are one of those that I have deemed worthy of being revived,” Tsukasa said as he stared down at her.

Evelyn registered three things in that moment. First, he was speaking to her in English which meant he had no idea Senku had been teaching her Japanese or if he did he doubted the fact she could see everything that happened whilst being a statue. Second, he had described himself as the one to awaken her, which meant Senku hadn’t returned for her yet and Tsukasa for some reason had chosen her to wake up which meant he didn’t know that she was important to Senku. Third, she was naked and this tall scary guy was staring down at her as if she was a bug.

She decided then and there to play the part of a confused scared girl with no knowledge of what had happened to the world and no knowledge of a scientist named Senku. Until she knew more about what had happened since Senku had left her behind she’d be playing the character of Evelyn Nightingale, famous British popstar and 15-year-old girl.

“Where are my clothes?” she asked covering her body as much as she could with her arms as she tucked her knees to her chest.

“My apologies, Yuzuriha is on her way with some,” Tsukasa said his voice not quite gentle but not cruel either, “She said something about wanting to recreate a costume you wore once back before the stone world,”

“Yuzuriha? Who is that?” she asked looking around. She had been moved from the clearing where she had stood for so many years and was now atop a hillside with hundreds of other statues lined up before her waiting for their turn to be awoken.

“A member of my empire,” he said, “She is an excellent craftswoman and makes clothes for everyone I awaken,”

“Your empire?” Evelyn asked looking up at him, “Where are we?”

“We are in Japan 3700 in the future from you last memories,” he stated as if it wasn’t an Earth-shattering thing to say, “Everything you used to know is gone and now I am recreating a society of the young and pure, free of all the old and greedy who used to ruin our world,”

“I see,” she whispered and felt goosebumps break out over her body from the feel of the cold breeze against her skin. It had been so long since she felt anything, she didn’t even mind the discomfort, “Why wake me?” she asked.

“You are young and from what I remember of your stances back in the old world, you care about making the world a good place,” he explained, “The fact you were famous and a lot of the people I will be reviving were most likely your fans means you can help me keep everyone on the same page towards that goal,”

“Why would people listen to me?” she asked, “I’m not anyone anymore, just a teenager, no money, no power,”

“Don’t underestimate the power you hold,” Tsukasa stated, “Just by being who you are, people will listen, they’ll want to make you happy, so you’ll tell them to do what I want and they’ll do it,”

“Why should I do that for you?” she asked, “I don’t even know you,”

“Because I am the strongest person here,” he said crouching down to meet her eyes, “I can rule everyone with fear if I have to, but I don’t want to live in a society run by fear, do you?”

“No,” she whispered, “I don’t want to be forced to do things by people because I am scared of what they’ll do to me if I don’t,”

“If you join me, you never will have to do any of those things again,” Tsukasa said, his voice knowing as if he understood the kinds of things asked of a young famous person by older, greedier people.

“Evelyn,” a female voice called in Japanese, “I’m sorry I’m late, I wanted to get it perfect,”

Evelyn looked over to see Yuzuriha running up the hill carrying an armful of fabric. “Umm, I don’t speak Japanese,” She said looking between Yuzuriha and Tsukasa, “What did she say?”

“She apologized for being late, she wanted the clothes to be perfect,” Tsukasa translated.

Evelyn nodded pretending like she had needed the translation. It was amazing to think that she could understand so well with only Senku’s lessons that up until this point she hadn’t been sure she had actually heard correctly due to it all being lip reading. “Thank you,” she said to Yuzuriha and bowed her head slightly while taking the girl’s offering.

“Turn around, give her some privacy would you?” Yuzuriha scolded Tsukasa and made him turn so Evelyn could dress without them watching.

Evelyn grinned at their backs and quickly pulled on the clothes Yuzuriha must have made from animal leathers and furs. It was amazing what the girl could create. She wore a form fitting dark brown long-sleeved t-shirt with the ends of the sleeves sewn like fingerless gloves. The pants were high waisted beige shorts that tied up like a corset at the front and to top it all off was a plaid green poncho with a wide fur lined hood with cat ears on top. The shoes were simple leather pull ons much like the ones Yuzuriha herself wore. All in all, it looked a lot like a costume she had worn to her first big live performance in England only, far less crisp, the colours much more muted and a lot more stone world charm.

“It looks so good on you,” Yuzuriha said excitedly, “I remembered in one of your interviews you said how this was your favourite costume you’d ever worn on stage so I wanted to make something similar for you so you wouldn’t feel so lost here,”

Evelyn had heard everything and had to fight the urge to hug the girl tightly in favour of pretending not to understand. “Umm, Tsukasa?” she asked him.

The tall guy turned to look at her and translated Yuzuriha’s comments. “I’ll have to make sure to pair you with somebody who can translate for you,” he added afterwards.

“Thank you Yuzuriha,” Evelyn said to the girl and hugged her. The first human contact she had in 3700 years, it felt good, even if she had dreamt that Senku would be the first person she touched, it was still good to feel Yuzuriha’s arms wrapping around her. And just like that, the tears began to fall from Everlyn’s eyes. Her body began to tremble as Yuzuriha patted her back gently and whispered soothing words of comfort despite not knowing Evelyn could understand her.

“I’ll go and get Gen,” Tsukasa said frowning at the girl who was now crying in earnest while Yuzuriha looked panicked, “For now just comfort her, it’s a lot to take in,”

Yuzuriha nodded at Tsukasa’a words and watched him walk away before pulling back from Evelyn and wiping away her tears. “I know you can’t understand me, but I’ll look after you, Taiju and I will make sure you are safe here until Senku comes back to defeat Tsukasa,” Evelyn could only nod and cry more as Yuzuriha pulled her back in for another embrace.

“Oh Senku,” Evelyn thought, “Where are you?”

“A pretty girl like you shouldn’t mar her face with the ugliness of tears,” a sing song voice crooned in English making Evelyn lift her head to look at the new guy. He wore traditional Japanese clothes with a bright lavender robe.

“I think you’re the pretty one here, purple boy,” she sobbed out the first thing that came to mind in her emotional state.

“Well, aren’t you a sweetheart, I am Asagiri Gen, you may call me Gen,” he told her with a smile she could tell was false as he pulled a flower from his gaping sleep with the flourish of a magician and held it out to her.

Chapter Text

Evelyn could tell in an instant that Gen was full of feathery fluff, but he was acting kind to her and spoke English so it was easy to keep up the ruse of being unable to speak Japanese. Tsukasa had given Gen the job of showing her around the Empire and to her “house”. If you could call the shabby lean to that had been assigned to her a house at all. Either way, it gave her privacy, and she desperately needed that right then, when she had to figure out how on Earth she had ended up here. However, Gen wasn’t ready to leave her alone yet.

“So, you’re the Evelyn Nightingale,” he mused as they strolled in the fresh air through the trees. She didn’t mind, she had been frozen in stone for millennia, she welcomed anything other than still darkness.

“Yes, were you a fan?” she asked him with a teasing tone. It was easy to play such games with Gen, especially since she didn’t take anything he said at face value either.

“Oh my dear, I oved-lay your emotional ballads, the upbeat girly pop stuff though, not really my style,” he replied in the goading sing-song way of his.

“I’m surprised, you struck me as the kind of guy who liked to sing into your hairbrush while you put your makeup on,” she joked.

“Please, this flawless complexion never used makeup,” he said dryly making Evelyn giggle.

“There you are,” he sang, “That’s the first time I’ve seen you crack a smile since I met you, really, such a pretty face you can’t be moping around,”

“It’s hard to smile when everything I know and love is just gone in the blink of an eye,” she stated and for the first time noticed where they had walked to, “Gen, what is this place?” she asked staring up at the treehouse that had far better construction than the places she’d seen in Tsukasa’s empire.

“Ah, it seems we strayed a little far from camp whilst we were chatting,” Gen mused, however, the tone of his voice had her raising her guard, was he a spy? Did Tsukasa know something?

“Is this not part of Tsukasa’s empire?” she asked him and wandered to the building with a sign above that read “laboratory” in Japanese characters.

“I’m afraid not, this place was owned by the first person to break free of the stone,” Gen explained as he strolled after her, his hands tucked into the ends of his sleeves, “Senku I am told his name was, he lived here for a time,”

“Senku,” Evelyn said as if testing the name on her tongue, “Where is he now?”

“Tsukasa killed him,” Gen stated as if people killing each other, wasn’t a big deal.

“He did what?!” Evelyn exclaimed, turning on the purple robed mentalist.

“Yeah, I was shocked too, but it seems this Senku was a scientist, a genius at that, and Tsukasa couldn’t have him reviving all of humanity. Not when he wants to create a perfect civilization of the young and strong,” Gen said and sighed, “So after he got Senku to explain the recipe for the revival fluid, he killed him so that nobody would be able to ruin his plan,”

“But...but...” Evelyn stammered, her hands began to shake, and she could feel herself starting to panic. Senku couldn’t be dead. That wasn’t possible, he said he would come back to her. He promised.

“Ah my dear, don’t worry, Tsukasa isn’t a mindless killer, as long as you don’t threaten his plans for his Empire, you’ll be just fine,” Gen told her with a close eyed smile. This was a trap, Tsukasa had Gen bring her here as a threat. Follow his rule or die, those were her choices.

“So that’s it then?” she asked, “He wanted you to scare me into following him, even after telling me I’d never have to live in a world ruled by fear,”

“Why of course not,” Gen sang, “I brought you here to warn you, not threaten you,”

“Why warn me at all?” she asked.

“I am the most superficial man on Earth, I just want to live an easy life surrounded by beautiful women and all the things I could want,” he explained, “It wouldn’t do if all the pretty girls get killed by our tyrannical leader,”

“I have no intention of joining a harem,” Evelyn responded.

“Not yet, my dear,” Gen mused, “I’m sure you’ll warm up to me,” From the wink he sent her, Evelyn could hear the edge of a joke in his tone and smiled slightly before turning to look at the clearing where she had stood frozen for so many years. She wandered over with Gen trailing behind her in silence.

“So, if this Senku is dead...” Evelyn said, somehow managing to make herself sound uncaring despite the pain in her heart, “What is Tsukasa so worried about?”

“That’s the catch,” Gen stated, “Is Senku dead?”

“How could he not be?” she asked.

“Tsukasa seems to think otherwise, he’s woke me up specifically to find out, I’ll be going on a god-awful hike soon, looking for a dead man,” Gen told her and for the first time she didn’t hear a lie in his voice, Gen really did not like the idea of traipsing through the forest on a wild goose chase.

“That sounds like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” Evelyn teased.

“Hopefully when I return, I can start my harem in peace,” he said with a large sigh, “I trust you’ll join me,”

“In your dreams,” she replied with a laugh, her heart racing with hope, Senku had to be alive, if anyone could escape death, it would be him.

“Ah and what good dreams they would be,” Gen crooned and bumped her shoulder with his, “I hear this is where Tsukasa found you,” he stated nodding towards the base of the tree where a patch of earth was barren of plant life as if something had stood there for a long time.

“What? Right here?” she asked feigning surprise in a tone she hoped sounded genuine to the mentalist.

“A remarkable coincidence,” Gen sang, “That you’d be found within the camp of the genius scientist our dear Tsukasa hopes is dead,”

“I was in Japan when everything happened,” she said, “On a world tour for my album, I was at a school doing a rehearsal for a concert the day we turned to stone, maybe this Senku attended that high school,”

“Maybe indeed,” Gen agreed, “Well, I managed to convince Tsukasa there would have been no reason for a pop star such as yourself to know or associate with a science genius like Senku,”

“Are you trying to tell me that Tsukasa thinks I know this Senku?” Evelyn asked incredulously hoping she was selling her confusion to this man who trained to read people.

“I’d say it’s more a case of him being apprehensive,” Gen stated thoughtfully.

“Why are you telling me this? You don’t honestly think I’d pose a threat to a guy like Tsukasa?” Evelyn asked.

“I think, if you chose to turn people against Tsukasa, they’d listen to you, he said so himself, didn’t he? A lot of these people are your fans, Tsukasa may be scary strong, but you have charisma and a pretty face,” he replied, "And I have every intention on being on the team that comes out on top,"

Chapter Text

After further discussion on the matters of Senku and Tsukasa Gen walked her back to her ‘house’ and left Evelyn alone to contemplate what he had told her. Tsukasa killed Senku, but he doesn’t believe that Senku is actually dead and is sending Gen to a primitive village in search of the scientist. She could choose to turn against Tsukasa and use her fame from before she was petrified to convince those in the Empire to rebel on the slim chance that Senku was alive, or she could do as Tsukasa wished and convince everyone to follow him. Gen was clearly going off of a hunch that she might know Senku, but in her opinion he was just setting things up for if Senku was leading a kingdom of science against Tsukasa that he wanted in on. If he had her help in the Empire it would be a lot easier to overcome Tsukasa later, and if Senku wasn’t alive, he could claim innocence if she got caught out trying to go against the Empire.

He had said so himself, he would choose the winning team regardless of what that team was fighting for, he was the world’s most superficial man. She couldn’t help but like the sly tongued mentalist and hoped that they could become real friends instead of whatever this was right now. Sure, he lied through his teeth, but he was honest about the fact he was a liar.

In the days that followed Evelyn was required to stick by Tsukasa and Gen, talking to the people he had awoken so far. Bolstering their spirits, making them feel valued. It wasn’t hard work, and it also didn’t go against any of her morals to help people feel good when they may feel hopeless and lost in this new world. The problem was she only spoken English, or so Tsukasa thought, so he and Gen did a lot of translating for her when they spoke to those who didn’t understand her. She wasn’t sure if it was purposeful, and it probably was, but Tsukasa kept her away from Taiju and Yuzuriha. She didn’t know what he thought she might do, she didn’t speak Japanese and they didn’t speak English, hardly conducive for grand scheming. She didn’t mind though, she didn’t think she’d be able to keep her cool if she was to spend extended amounts of time with them. She needed to play her part, convince Tsukasa she was to be trusted and then, as Gen had said, use her fame to turn people away from the Empire of Might and towards the Kingdom of Science.

Gen disappeared in the first two days of her revival, on his journey to find Senku. He didn’t say goodbye, which kind of stung, but she also knew that he was supposed to be doing this mission in secret which meant she wasn’t meant to know about it. It was on the third night that there was a knock at her door.

“Hello?” she asked as she opened it to see Tsukasa.

“We’re having a feast tonight, you should join us,” he said.

“I’m not very hungry,” she replied.

“It would mean a lot to the people if you were there,” Tsukasa stated, “Perhaps you could perform a song for everyone, boost moral,”

“I...” she blinked and remembered the last time she had sung, the green light behind her eyelids the forever darkness, “I can’t sing... the last time I sang...” she gasped feeling her heart rate speed up and her palms go sweaty, “It was so dark, I was so alone...”

“Hey, it’s ok,” Tsukasa said calmly and leant down to lock eyes with her, “You’re not in that dark place anymore,” his tone was smooth and captured her attention where she had been spiraling down into panic.

Evelyn nodded shakily but her teeth began to chatter, and her hands wouldn’t stop shaking, “There was nothing, no warmth, no cold, no light, no sound, no touch, only...” she spoke in a rush but cut herself off before she could say what she wanted to say, there had only been Senku, comforting her, talking to her, caring for her.

“Only darkness,” Tsukasa finished for her in a sad voice.

Evelyn nodded again, not moving from her doorway, completely rigid, like a statue. The thought terrified her, but she couldn’t make herself move.

“Listen to me Evelyn, you are not alone in the darkness, you are alive and awake, with me and the rest of the Empire we are going to build together,” Tsukasa told her placing his hands on her shoulders and squeezing, “See, I’m here, I’m real and you can feel my touch,”

‘This man killed Senku’ Evelyn thought angrily but still couldn’t make herself move, ‘He killed Senku for no reason other than to hold onto power’, her bottom lip trembled, and she felt tears well up in her eyes, ‘He’s obviously a villain, why is he so kind?’

--

At the sight of her bottom lip trembling Tsukasa couldn’t stop himself from pulling Evelyn into his arms and holding her close. “Hear my heartbeat, feel my breath, touch my body, you aren’t there anymore,” he told her wanting desperately to help this girl who had no idea what she had done for him.

“Tsukasa,” Evelyn sobbed as she stayed stiff in his arms, “Why are you so kind?”

He blinked and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding, then he decided to tell her the truth, “A long time ago there was a poor boy whose little sister was very sick, he worried about her all of the time, she had been in hospital for most of her life, and was beginning to lose faith in the doctor’s abilities to heal her, she stopped fighting,” he began, recounting his childhood in the only way he could to not cause himself pain, as if it were a story happening to somebody else, “His little sister loved the little mermaid, and one day when she was particularly ill he happened across a recording of a young pop sensation singing the songs of his little sister’s favourite movie as an audition to a big music competition,” Tsukasa blinked but he wasn’t seeing anything other than the memories of that day in his mind, “He played that recording for his little sister, and she loved the pop sensation so much that she fought to live so that she could watch every week as that pop star competed in that music show on the television, watching her sing gave his little sister hope and faith to keep living despite her illness, and when that pop sensation won that competition she bought every one of the pop sensations albums and followed her career, she was her biggest fan,” Tsukasa took a deep shuddering breath, “That pop sensation saved his sisters life, and the boy forever felt indebted to her for it,” He realized that Evelyn had gone still in his arms now, not stiff anymore, not shaking. “I owe you a debt I can never repay, that is the true reason I revived you Evelyn Nightingale,” he slowly released her and looked down at her silver-grey eyes that held so much pain in them, for him, for his sister, “You don’t ever have to sing again, you’ve done enough,”

“I... I had no idea,” she whispered, “Your sister... did she... is she...?” she asked unable to ask the question, to utter the words.

“She was alive when the world turned to stone,” he replied and saw her shudder with relief.

“Oh thank goodness,” she whispered, “Thank you for telling me, for trusting me with your pain,” she added looking up at him.

Tsukasa felt his heart kick at the closeness of her and he stepped back suddenly, “It’s nothing, like I said, I owe you a debt I could never hope to repay,” he said and looked over his shoulder, “I’ll head to the feast now, you may rest if you wish, don’t feel pressured to be there if you would rather be alone,” with that he turned and walked away.

--

Evelyn wanted to hate Tsukasa for what he had done, but now...knowing about his past she felt pity for him, she knew what it was like to watch somebody you loved get sick, the fear of losing them. ‘What now?’ she thought, ‘Do I just forget that he killed Senku? Why does everything have to be so confusing?!’ She shut the door and sat on her makeshift bed with a sigh. ‘Senku, I wish you were here, you’d come up with some logical way to make this all make sense again,’

Chapter Text

Evelyn’s eyes opened in darkness.

She couldn’t move,

She was trapped again,

No sight,

No sound,

Endless nothing.

“No, please, how did I get turned to stone again?” she thought in panic. She could feel her breath coming quicker and her heart racing in her chest. Then a figure appeared before her, a figure she knew. “Senku! You’re alive!” she thought, “Help me, please!”

He stepped closer to her as he spoke, “Compass, I’m so sorry I didn’t come back sooner,” He said and held up a clay cup, “This revival fluid will help you break free from the stone,”

“Yes, Senku, please, set me free,” she thought eagerly as he raised the cup over her head. Then she felt liquid splash over her face, it was warm and sticky. Senku dropped the cup and staggered backwards. A spear protruded from his chest, a blood red stain spreading on his leather clothing. “Senku!” Evelyn wanted to scream, to reach out, to help somehow. Then Tsukasa appeared behind her scientist and pulled the spear back through, leaving a gaping bloody wound.

“I’m sorry Compass,” Senku gasped as blood leaked from his mouth and he collapsed to his knees. Tsukasa laughed behind him and watched as Senku slumped forward onto the ground.

“Now that Senku is dead, there is nobody to stop me from ruling my empire of the pure and young,” Tsukasa gloated and stepped forward towards her, “And you will be right there to help me do it Evelyn,” as he reached his hand up to cup her cheek Evelyn screamed inside her head, the image of Senku dying in front of her burnt into her irises. “Evelyn...Evelyn...Evelyn...” Tsukasa cooed like a mantra as she fought the stone to try and move away from him but to no avail.

--

“Evelyn, wake up,” a quiet voice roused her in English.

Evelyn jolted awake, a scream stuck in her throat and looked around her ‘house’. There was a guy in yellow clothing crouched by the head of her bed where she had been laying, before she woke and sprang forward. He held his hands up in a ‘I mean no harm’ gesture. “Who are you?” she asked him.

“My name is Ukyo,” he replied in perfect English, “I was on guard, and I heard you crying out, I thought you may have been in trouble,” he explained, “Not everyone in this Empire is as pure hearted as Tsukasa claims them to be,”

“Oh, right, thank you,” she said as she managed to calm her breathing, “I dreamt I was trapped in the stone again,” she told him, not a lie, just not the whole truth, she couldn’t tell him everything without knowing whose side he was on.

“Were you conscious for a long time while you were petrified?” he asked.

“For most of it...it’s hard to tell how much time has past in total darkness,” she replied, “I kept hoping that someone would save me, but I was always alone,”

“I’m sorry you went through that,” Ukyo said with a sad smile, “I know Tsukasa paired you with Gen, but as you can tell I speak fluent English too so if you want to stick around me at any time while he is gone, just say the word, nobody should have to be alone,” His face was gentle and Evelyn couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you, Ukyo, I appreciate it,” she said and swung her legs over the side of the bed, “What time is it?” she asked him.

“Close to dawn,” he told her, “Want to come and get some fresh air?”

“Please,” she said and stood. Most of the fear from her nightmare had dissipated but she didn’t want to stay inside her dark home any longer than necessary, it was claustrophobic. Ukyo stood beside her, and they walked out into the predawn morning. “It’s so beautiful,” she gasped.

“I like this time of day the best, it’s so quiet and peaceful,” Ukyo told her with a smile that made his green eyes glisten.

--

Evelyn spent the next few days with Ukyo, his company was calm while Gen’s was full of flamboyant energy. He didn’t talk a lot and always seemed to be listening for something, but Ukyo made her feel comfortable in a way she hadn’t since she had been revived. She liked Gen but she couldn’t relax around him without worrying that he was trying to double cross her or trick her into something. She found it kind of funny that she had to be petrified in stone for thousands of years in order to make some friends around her own age, but she wasn’t about to start dwelling on that. Tsukasa hadn’t come looking for her yet and she was thankful. After her nightmare she didn’t think she’d be able to face him without screaming at him for killing Senku. Instead, she had mostly hung around with Ukyo and helped him break up a few fights between the hotheaded crowd that Tsukasa had revived. That was until Ukyo’s head snapped towards the cave that Tsukasa and his closest cronies hung out in and started running that way, his bow already drawn.

“Ukyo?!” Evelyn yelled in surprise and took chase. She caught up in time to see a badly beaten Gen barely miss being hit by an arrow at the entrance to the cave. He looked like he had been running for hours as he struggled to speak. Evelyn stopped and stared at him wide eyed, pretending not to understand the Japanese that the mentalist used to give his report. As Gen explained his situation in the primitive village Evelyn had to act nonchalant as he spoke the words that she desperately didn’t want to hear.

“Senku is dead, surely and truly,”

Evelyn backed away from the cave slowly, she hadn’t gotten into view of anyone inside yet, the only person who could see her was Gen and he was focused on Tsukasa. Once she was sure she was far enough away she ran for the trees and didn’t look back. Her heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vice and her throat burnt with unshed tears. She ran until she reached Senku’s old camp and then she collapsed in her place underneath the tree. She took harsh gulping breaths that hurt going in and the urge to scream her pain into the void was overwhelming, but...she couldn’t. She wasn’t meant to even know Senku, she wasn’t meant to understand Japanese, it would make no sense for her to break down now. She shook violently as hot silent tears slid from her eyes despite the fact she was trying so hard to hold it all in.

“I thought I might find you here,” a sing-song voice rang out as footsteps approached where she huddled beneath the tree, “My dear Eve what is ong-wray?” Gen asked crouching beside her.

“G-gen...when did you get back?” Evelyn croaked, avoiding his questions as she met his gaze.

“Just now my dear,” he replied, “had a little meeting with Tsukasa and came right away to find you, you must have missed me a great deal while I was gone to be over here crying for me,” he teased with a wink.

Evelyn spluttered out a choked laugh, “It was hard to get by without your presence,” she replied and took a deep shuddering breath.

“I know, I am simply too onderful-way,” he smiled at her, surely glad to see she was no longer on the brink of a total meltdown.

Chapter Text

“So, when are you going to tell me what you were really upset about?” Gen asked as they sat side by side in the clearing. Evelyn sat in the place that had once been worn away by Senku when he would sit and talk to her.

Evelyn took a deep breath and prepared a convincing lie, “It’s been pretty overwhelming,” she said, “Waking up in this stone world, where I don’t know anyone, and hardly anybody can speak English, I miss my dad...I miss...” she wanted to say Senku but she couldn’t speak his name and give herself away, “my friend,”

“Friend?” Gen coaxed, “A male friend?” he gave her a coy smile and she blushed.

“It wasn’t like that,” she defended and then frowned looking up at the sky, “It never got the chance to be, and now he’s gone,” her voice hitched.

“He may still be out there,” Gen supplied, “Waiting to be revived by the amazing Evelyn Nightingale,” he said her name like she was a superhero in a comic book, “How could he not fall for you then, hmm?”

Evelyn chuckled but the laugh didn’t reach her eyes, “Spill it Gen, what happened? Who hurt you?”

“Ah well, there was a primitive village where I went searching for Senku and they didn’t take too kindly to my sleight of hand,” he told her as he rubbed the back of his head with a laugh that may as well have been a giggle, “Called it sorcery and attacked me, I barely made it out alive,” he swooned in a dramatic fashion.

“I can’t believe Tsukasa would send you on such a dangerous mission alone,” Evelyn stated and turned to him cupping his face to get a better looked at his wounds so quickly he was unable to move away, “Do you need help applying a salve? My father was a biology professor at Harvard, I have some basic knowledge of first aid,” She leaned in close looking at his scrapes and bruises.

“Oh no, I’m perfectly fine,” he squeaked cheeks going a light shade of pink as she looked him over not seeming to realize how close she was to straddling his lap, “Eve, dear, you needn’t worry,” She ignored his words and placed one hand on his shoulder while she tilted his head to the side and looked at his jawline closely.

“Hush, you might have blood in your ear here,” she said more to herself as she leaned closer to try and determine if it was blood or dirt she could see in his ear canal.

“I didn’t know your father was a professor,” Gen said trying to not focus on her fingertips tracing up his neck and around his ear with feather light strokes.

“Oh? Yeah, not many people do, he tends to keep out of the limelight,” she replied absently, “After my mother died, he kind of distanced himself from me altogether, I look a lot like her and he couldn’t handle that,” Seemingly happy with the state of his ear she tilted his head up and looked over his neck.

“That must have been hard for you,” Gen said his pale skin now a light pink all over, “Eve...Evelyn...” he squeaked as she undid the neck of his shirt to get a better look.

“Hmm?” she asked looking away from his body to meet his eyes. His eyes were huge and shocked, free from the cunning he normally wore like a second skin; his cheeks were pink, and he swallowed before giving her a nervous half smile. All at once she noticed exactly how close she was to him. Her cheeks flamed and she jumped back, “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!” She scrambled a few feet away and bowed her head in embarrassed shame, “I got far too carried away, I just wanted to make sure you were ok, I shouldn’t have,”

He gave a nervous chuckle and coughed to clear his throat as he did up the ties at his neck, “It’s no problem, I knew you would be begging to join my harem at some point,” he teased regaining his composure.

“I am not begging!” she exclaimed and pointed her finger at him accusingly, “what about you? Got all shy and nervous as soon as a girl gets too close? Are you sure you can even handle a harem?”

“My dear Eve, I just wasn’t prepared for you to come onto me so suddenly,” he teased, “We can play nurse and patient all you like, but perhaps in a more private setting,”

“Gen!” she squeaked and hid her beat red face in her hands with a groan. He laughed then, a full laugh free of cunning and trickery and she couldn’t help but join in. When they finally calmed down, she smiled at him, “Are you sure you’re ok though?”

“I will be, once I get some rest, I ran all the way back here,” he shuddered, “It’s two days to that primitive village, and I haven’t had a chance to bathe since I left here,”

“You should definitely clean yourself up then, you don’t want any of those wounds getting infected,” Evelyn stated, “We haven’t got antibiotics in this stone world, and I don’t know enough about natural supplements to help if you get sick,”

“Alright, Nurse Eve, I shall do my best to rest and heal,” he teased in his usual sing-song voice.

“Why do you keep calling me that?” she asked.

“It’s a nickname, didn’t your friends ever give you nicknames?” Gen asked.

“Everybody always called me Evelyn after I got famous,” she replied, “I am THE Evelyn Nightingale after all,” she said.

“Well, you’re Eve to me,” he said, “Much like the garden of Eden, you’ll be the first woman to join my harem,”

“So not happening,” she groaned.

“We shall see my dear, we shall see,” he teased before giving her a soft, real smile, “It is overwhelming in this new world, but you’ll be fine, I’m sure of it,”

“Thanks Gen,” she replied with a genuine smile in return, “I just don’t know what I’m meant to do here, Tsukasa wants me to convince people to be loyal to his Empire but I can’t even talk to most of them without you, Ukyo or Tsukasa himself translating for me, it’s ridiculous, surely he knew that when he woke me up,”

“You’re right, for someone as smart as Tsukasa it doesn’t make a lot of sense for him to have a plan with such an obvious flaw,” Gen mused, “Perhaps he has a thing for you and wants you to join his harem,”

“Not everybody wants a harem, Gen!” Evelyn yelled indignantly, “but...he did mention that he and his sister were fans of mine,”

“Ah, so he wanted to wake Evelyn Nightingale for his own personal reasons, that does make a lot more sense,” Gen sang, “He’s a fanboy,”

“I don’t miss the fanboys,” Evelyn cringed, “Promise not to leave me alone again,” she begged half-jokingly.

“Never fear my dear Eve, I shall take you with me next time, maybe your angelic voice can sway the villagers more than my magic,” he chuckled.

“Wait, you’re going back? Why?” she asked him.

“Well, Tsukasa wants to be sure that Senku is truly dead, since I saw no body, he wants confirmation. He’ll be sending a small raiding party to take over the village, I’ll be leaving ahead of the others to scout things out,” he explained, “I’ll tell Tsukasa I need you with me to help convince the villagers to surrender before any bloodshed,”

Evelyn’s heart raced, Senku might be alive after all, and Gen was going to take her to him. She smiled at the thought and could almost hear Senku’s voice in her mind telling her to get excited.