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Chapter Text

Despite feeling more than a little unwell, Ace had been having a relatively decent day before Stranger started staring at him like a disappointed father.

“Can I help you?” Ace scowled after ten minutes of pointed glances and disapproving hums, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Why are you hiding the fact that you’re sick?” Stranger replied, and Ace straightened, forcing his expression to remain neutral even as alarm bolted through him. A cough tickled his throat, but he forced it down, unwilling to give the man the satisfaction of being right.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he said, quickly checking himself in the mirror, seeing no flushed cheeks or glassy eyes or dull hair. So how could the human tell?

“Don’t try to hide it, kid, I can smell it from here.” Stranger rolled his eyes, and Ace looked over at him, more confused than alarmed now.

“Smell what?” he asked.

“That you’re sick.” Stranger said easily, not seeming to grasp what a weird thing to say that was.

“You’re saying you can… smell that I’m sick?” he asked skeptically, waiting for the punchline.

“Sure can.” he said instead.

“Bullshit.” he called him out, “Sickness doesn’t have a smell, especially not to a human’s dull nose. You’re lying.”

“Now why would I lie about that?” Stranger sighed, “Kid, I can tell you’re sick. It’s on your breath, it’s in your sweat, ain’t no hiding it and ain’t no need to be ashamed of it either. You just need to rest, s’all, maybe take some medicine.”

“I… Even if I was sick, I don’t have time to rest.” he scowled, deciding to humor his ridiculous assertion that he could smell sickness, “There’s too much to do. We have to investigate Marucho’s visions and figure out a way to Zetli, not to speak of the actual war going on-“

“Well, tough. Your body doesn’t work on your mind’s timetable.” Stranger interrupted him, “All that mess can wait. The world won’t end just because you took a sick day.”

“I’m not taking a sick day.” Ace glared, “And the others will back me up on this. Who’s gonna believe you can smell sickness anyway?”

“Oh, easy. Ay, Marukura!” he called, and Ace winced as the human immediately peeked his head into the room, blinking curiously, “Come smell Mister Grit.”

“Come… what?” Marucho asked warily, eyes narrowing and head cocking.

“Come smell him. See if anything’s off.” Stranger waved him over. Marucho looked more than a little suspicious, but cautiously entered the room. Ace watched as his expression became contemplative as he got close, watching the little human sniff at him just like Stranger had, his brow furrowing slightly before he pulled Ace down more to sniff at his face like an Earth puppy. Then his nose wrinkled, and he pulled away with an unimpressed scowl.

“Ew, you’re sick.” he took a few steps back, putting his hands on his hips as Ace reeled, “Ace, what did we say about hiding when we’re sick?”

“You… How did… Ves, Stranger wasn’t kidding?” Ace asked in amazement, “You guys can actually smell that I’m sick?”

“Yeah.” he frowned, “And I don’t like it”

“Is that something all humans can do?” he asked, and Marucho’s frown turned contemplative. 

“Huh… yeah, I guess?” he blinked, “Sick people have a unique smell, it’s sorta… I dunno. You just smell sick.”

“It probably helped our ancestors out, to be able to smell diseased meat so they knew to avoid it.” Stranger theorized as he laid a big warm hand on Ace’s shoulder, grinning as he squeezed it, “Off to bed, young man. You can walk or I can carry you there, but you best get some rest or I’ll tell Miss Mira you’re lying about being sick.”

“You’re insufferable, I’m not a child.” Ace scowled, but Marucho grabbed his wrist and started pulling him towards their room, and with Stranger helping him, Ace was powerless to resist, “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Marucho nodded, “Rest and relax, and no trying to weasel out of it. I’ll sit on you if I have to.”

“You two are the worst.” he groaned, only to be seized by a coughing fit that no doubt vindicated the humans, glaring at Stranger’s smug look, “Not a word, old man.”

“Ouch.” Stranger chuckled, but seemed far from actually pained, “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll look this good at twenty seven too. Oh wait.” He laughed, and Marucho, the traitor, laughed with him. Ace decided then that letting Stranger into the Base was the worst mistake they’d ever made, and it had absolutely nothing to do with how easily the other humans teamed up on Ace with him.

Absolutely nothing at all.

—-

“So…” Marucho was lounging in the humans’ nest, using Ace’s legs as a mattress as he kept him prisoner-slash-company, “What was your ‘almost name’?”

“My what?” Ace grumped, still a little sore at being treated like a child and confined to bed.

“Like, what did your parents almost name you?” Marucho clarified, “With me there was a while where my parents thought I was gonna be a girl, so they were gonna name me Hanako, but then I came out a boy so they called me Choji instead.”

“Cool.” Ace said blandly, and then blinked, “Wait, hang on. Choji? Isn’t your name Marucho?”

“Hm?” he cocked his head, and then sat up with a gasp of realization, “Oh man, I guess I never did mention that, huh? I’m sorry, no, Marucho is my nickname, Choji is my actual name.”

“…Are you kidding? This entire time ‘Marucho’ was just a nickname?” Ace asked incredulously, only stopped from sitting up by a wracking fit of coughs. Marucho patted his knee until the coughing passed, and Ace opened his mouth for more questions before a knock at the door frame drew their attention, Dan peeking in with a pointed little smile. 

“Marucho, are you riling up your patient?” he asked with faux sternness, and Marucho giggled. 

“Dan, we’ve been lying to Ace since we met him.”

“Have we?” Dan asked, visibly wracking his brains, “Ah shit, so he finally learned Gojira isn’t real?”

“No, silly.” he giggled as Ace squawked Gojira isn’t real!? “We never mentioned that my name is Choji, so he’s understandably put out.”

“We never...” Dan blinked, “Oh shit. Yeah, whoops, sorry man. Yeah, Marucho is a nickname. ‘Maru’ like Marukura, and ‘Cho’ like Choji. We’re so used to calling him that, I guess it slipped our minds.”

“Every day is something new with you people.” Ace rolled his eyes, before turning to Marucho, “Do you… Would you prefer it if I called you Choji?”

“Oh god no, I’m only Choji when I’m in trouble.” he chuckled, beckoning Dan over to come sit beside them, the other human flopping into the nest on Ace’s other side and making himself right at home.

“What brought that up?” Dan asked curiously. 

“I was telling him about how I was almost a Hanako.” Marucho explained, and Dan grinned.

“Cool.” he said, “I was originally gonna be named after my uncle Yuzuru, until he had that psychotic break.”

“A psychotic what?” Ace asked, eyes going wide. 

“Yeah, I was gonna be Kusou Yuzuru, but apparently halfway through the pregnancy he came to my mom’s house asking to stay with them because he, and I quote, ‘burned his house down after it had enough swans inside and he spent all his savings buying the swans’.”

“Okay… none of that makes any sense.” Ace said, earning a snort.

“Didn’t make sense to Mom either.” he grinned, “That’s why he’s in a psych ward and my name isn’t Yuzuru.” Ace thought about asking for more information, but his common sense balked at the idea of learning more about the human psyche and how it could apparently ‘break’, so he chose a safer topic

“What’s a swan?” he asked instead.

“A swan is a large white bird associated with beauty and grace.” Dan explained, “They’re big and cool and beautiful, they’re generally symbols of elegance and purity.”

“They’re also extremely aggressive.” Marucho chirped. 

“They’re also extremely aggressive.” Dan parroted with a nod, “So yeah, my parents made the executive decision to not name me after swan guy and went with Daniel instead. More American, to help me fit in. Course, then we moved back to Japan so the whole point was moot.”

“Huh.” he blinked slowly, “That’s interesting. What about Shun, do you know what his almost name was?”

“Oh, Shun’s parents fought tooth and nail over his name.” Dan laughed, eyes going distant as they often did nowadays when Shun was brought up, “His mom wanted to call him Keigo, but his dad wanted to call him Yukito, so they butted heads over it. It got so bad that Shun’s grandpa had to step in and mediate until he suggested the name Shun, and everyone liked it enough to agree. So Shun it was.”

“Huh.” Ace hummed, “Good to know humans fight over baby names too.”

“Baby names can break families apart, I’ve seen it.” Dan laughed fondly, “What about you, Ace? What was your almost name?”

“Wanna hear something wild?” Ace asked, lips quirking, “I was almost a Hydron.”

“No.” they both exclaimed, immediately sitting up as Ace grinned. 

“It’s true, my name was almost Hydron Grit.” he laughed, pausing to cough into his elbow, “And then the prince was born literally a month before me and my parents had to pick something else, since no one is allowed to have the same name as a member of the royal family. They went between Ace and Tav for a while before settling on Ace, and thank the stars they did. Can you imagine living with a guy named Hydron Grit?”

“That would have been fucking hilarious.” Dan grinned, “We would have made fun of you constantly. Hydra, hydraulics, high drone, oh the name-calling possibilities.”

“My life would have been over.” Ace chuckled, “In my defense, while Hydron would have been funny, Tav would have been even funnier because my sister ended up marrying a woman named Tav, so that would have been extremely awkward at family dinners.”

“You have a sister?” Marucho perked up, “You never mentioned a sister! What’s her name, what’s she like?”

“She’s… silly.” Ace smiled, a pang of longing in his chest, “Her name is Kina, she’s a total ditz, but she understands people in a way that’s honestly unnerving at times. She was so upset when she heard I was joining the Resistance, she even tried to sabotage my leaving because she was terrified something would happen to me. To this day she still calls Mira ‘that rotten temptress’ for ‘stealing’ me.”

“Awww, that’s sweet.” Marucho cooed, and Ace rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, real sweet.” he snorted, “It’s a good thing the Base is always on the move or I’m pretty sure she’d have already tried abducting me back to Vestal.”

“Protective big sister?” Dan grinned, “Do we need to worry about you being stolen away in the night?”

“She never stopped seeing me as the little boy clinging to her skirts.” he sighs, “No matter how old I get, even though I’m a grown-ass man, she still sees me as her little baby brother.”

“I bet you were the cutest baby.” Marucho cooed, boldly pinching his cheek with no regard to the scowl it warned him, “All moon-silver eyes and a mean little scowl. I bet you were her little bodyguard.”

“Yeah, you got me there.” he admitted, flushing a little at that word, moon-silver, “She used to take me to work with her, and I was so annoyed that all these boring people kept taking Elder Sister’s time and attention away from me.”

“That’s so cute!” Marucho looked absolutely charmed, “Where did she work?”

“She works in the municipal water department for Vestalia, the planet’s capital city.” Ace answered, “She has a whole team under her and everything.”

“That’s pretty neat.” Dan whistled, “It’s an important job.”

“Yeah, I never understood half of what she was talking about when she got going about work.” Ace shook his head, “But damn if she wasn’t passionate about… contaminant eradication and molecular purification and whatever else she was into.”

“Water purification can be pretty wild.” Marucho said, “Hell, there are cities in Poland that attached springs to mollusks and gave them control of their water supply.” 

“No shit?” Dan asked curiously as Ace stared blankly at Marucho, waiting for the punchline. But the punchline, as was so horribly common with humans, never came. 

“…Mollusks.” he echoed blankly, “Mollusks, mindless invertebrates? The weird little… squishy things without brains. The animals.”

“Uh huh.” Marucho answered, “But these ones have shells.”

“And you gave them control of the water supply of multiple Earth cities?” Ace asked pointedly, but Marucho either didn’t see how deranged that was or he was just riling Ace up. Humans liked cooperating with nature, sure, but giving brainless animals free rein of something as important as a city’s water supply?

“It’s actually really clever.” Marucho defended, “The cities get water from nearby rivers, so they set up a couple of clams-that’s the name of the mollusks-in the main water pump with springs attached to their heads. When the water toxicity gets too high, the clams close their shells and bring the springs down, which press buttons that automatically shut off the water supply.” That was… actually kind of interesting. But mostly incredibly stupid, and Ace would never admit to any human that their madness sometimes birthed intriguing ideas

“And why can’t you just use automatic sensors?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, and Marucho shrugged.

“The clams are better at detecting toxicity than anything we can make.” was his explanation, and Ace felt that familiar urge to pull his hair out. 

“Brainless animals are better at detecting toxins than advanced human technology?”

“Yup.” he grinned, “Probably a whole lot cheaper too. I think vestals could learn a thing or two from us and the clams.”

“I would love to see you pitch ‘give mollusks full control of the water supply’ to the Vestalia Water Department.” Dan laughed, and Ace buried his face in his hands. 

“Ugh, my sister would probably listen to you too, which is the worst part.” he groaned, “Please don’t do it.”

“Maybe they’d pay us for our time, at least.” Dan joked, and then blinked as something seemed to occur to him, “Hey… that makes me think, how are we getting paid?”

“What?” Marucho asked. 

“Like… the Vexos have jobs. ‘Vexos’ is their job, they’re getting paid for it.” he said, “But we’re not, resistance organizations don’t get paid, so how the fuck are we getting money for food and shit?”

“Baron’s been counterfeiting it.” Ace shrugged, and Marucho chimed in.

“And I help!”

“And Marucho helps.” Ace nodded. Dan hummed, but seemed to accept it well enough. 

“I can show you how tomorrow if you like?” Marucho offered, but Dan shook his head.

“Sorry little buddy, but I have plans tomorrow.” he said. 

“Oh? What plans?” Marucho asked curiously, and Dan gave a smirk that didn’t actually seem all that amused, something worryingly dark glinting in his eyes that had Ace sitting at attention.

“I’m gonna beat the shit out of Spectra for what he did to Shun.” Dan said easily, “I know where he’ll be, so I’m gonna get him alone and beat him within an inch of his life.” 

“O-Oh.” Marucho blinked, and for a moment Ace thought he’d try to stop him before he asked, “Can I watch?”

“Nah, it might get bloody.” Dan hummed, “But if you could have some first aid waiting for me when I get back?”

“Are you… sure this is wise?” Ace asked as Marucho nodded his agreement to Dan’s request, “Spectra is a powerful fighter, and I don’t think going after him alone is a good idea, especially since I know you tend to get…carried away with things.”

“I’m not gonna kill him.” Dan assured him, “The explosion was an accident, so he’s safe from Death By Dan for now. But I am gonna make him understand that the only thing keeping us from just laying waste to him and his bosses is our boundless mercy and the rules of engagement. If he takes it too far and seriously hurts one of us, then all bets are off and he gets to experience my dense human bones punching his delicate vestal face until his brain gets some fresh air.”

“…I worry about you.” Ace said faintly before recovering himself, “Look, I’m not gonna try and stop you, hell I’d be helping you if I wasn’t sick and confined to a bed. Just… be careful?”

“I will.” Dan promised, “I even have a panic button in case anything goes wrong. I’ll be super careful, okay?”

“Okay…” Ace sighed, and the sigh triggered another annoying coughing fit. His humans patted his back and offered him tissues, distracting him with idle chatter, and the issue was shelved for the moment.

Chapter Text

Spectra went down with a pained grunt, his entire face singing with pain as he struggled to get up from the ground, only to feel a boot press down on his chest. 

“The Vexos praised you, huh? For what you did to Shun?” Dan Kusou sneered down at him, eyes alight with fire and fury, knuckles stained with green blood. Spectra struggled, but humans were strong and hardy, and though Kusou didn’t pin him down effortlessly, he still pinned him down. 

“They are of the mind that I waste time by ‘playing’ with you.” Spectra answered through a swollen lip and aching jaw, “They were pleased that I was ‘taking initiative’.” Most of them were pleased, at any rate, but Kusou didn’t need to know about the furious fight Volt had started with him, nor the worry in Lync’s eyes as he seemed to remember that he was in fact expected to stop the Resistance by any means necessary, even lethal force. The less the Resistance knew about dissent in the ranks, the better. 

“And you work with people like that.” Kusou scowled, not bothering to hide his judgment, “You willingly ally with people who take joy in the cruel death of an opponent?”

“I don’t enjoy their company, I am using them to further my own goals.” Spectra tried to explain, but Kusou’s fury could not be calmed, the memory of his best friend’s death, however temporary, obviously still fresh in his mind. 

“I don’t care about your goals.” Kusou growled, removing his boot only to fist Spectra’s collar and yank him up, baring his blunt teeth, “Here’s an Earth saying, if your rigid vestal mind can grasp it. ‘When you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas’.” Well, at least the relative meaning of that one was easy enough to glean. 

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, though he already knew the answer, “Why risk even harsher retaliation from the Vexos, from the King?”

“You’re not going to tell the Vexos about this.” Kusou said confidently, “Admitting that you got your ass kicked by a puny human teenager? No, your ego is too big for that.” Spectra wanted to deny it, but Kusou had guessed correctly. He wouldn’t tell the Vexos or the prince about any of this, not only because of his pride, but because they’d likely assign one of them to work alongside him for his ‘protection’. He’d never get anything done, then, he’d never get a moment of privacy again, his every move would be surveilled and reported to the King. 

No, he wouldn’t be telling them about this.

“That doesn’t answer my question, why-“ he started, but Kusou cut him off.

“Surprised you can’t figure it out for yourself, oh mighty Spectra Phantom.” he said lowly, his tone dripping with derision, “This is revenge. Pure and simple, you fucking smoothbrain dipshit.”

“Smoothbra-“ he didn’t get the baffled echo out before Kusou was landing another punch on him. It hurt, stars it hurt, if this was the strength of an adolescent human then he didn’t want to learn how hard an angered adult could hit. Ted Stranger, it seemed, had been taking it incredibly easy on him, where Kusou had beaten him with a level of violence even he hadn’t thought the human capable of. But it seemed everyone had a breaking point, and Dan Kusou’s was seeing his best friend lying dead in the grass at his hand. Oh, Gus was going to lose his mind when he saw his injuries, he was going to be furious. Spectra would have to work hard to ensure his partner didn’t do anything stupid for his sake. The reckless loyal man was far too impulsive for his own good sometimes. 

“Which reminds me… wanna see a neat trick we learned?” Kusou grinned, shoving him harshly to the ground and pinning him when he tried to buck him off, “Oh no no no, don’t get up on my account. I’d hate to have to break something. Vestal bones are so fragile, you know?” 

“I believe you’ve already broken my cheek.” Spectra said, feeling the telltale stabbing pain. 

“Oops.” Kusou said without a hint of remorse, looking almost proud, which gave Spectra the chilling realization that he hadn’t even been trying to break anything, it had been a natural consequence of his human strength. He stewed on that as Kusou reached into his pocket and pulled out one of Kazami Shun’s odd little blades, held in his hand like a well-loved memento, like Kazami was with him even now, guiding him. He clearly didn’t use them often, having to pull them out where Kazami would just flick them expertly into his hands, but a blade was a blade regardless of skill, and Spectra’s hearts dropped. He pushed down his fear, meeting Kusou’s strange eyes with as much confidence as he could muster, refusing to be cowed. 

“You won’t kill me.” he said softly, “It goes against everything you’re fighting for.”

“Oh does it?” Kusou scowled, bringing the blade up to catch the light, making a show of examining it, “I want to make something very clear, Spectra. The only reason your people’s entire royal lineage hasn’t been wiped out is because our vestal friends won’t let us, and because it would look bad for future interspecies relations if a human were to slaughter the rulers of an alien race.”

“What are you saying?” Spectra asked calmly, and Kusou smiled a deeply unpleasant smile. 

“I’m saying that you’re right, I may not kill you.” he said, “But maiming? Oh, I can maim.” Against all Spectra’s expectations, the human brought the edge of the blade to his own flesh instead of Spectra’s, catching his gaze before slicing a shallow cut across his palm. Red blood welled from the wound as Spectra stared up at him unfiltered shock, dumbfounded and confused. 

“What are you doing?” he exclaimed as Kusou brought his wounded hand to Spectra’s throat, wrapping bloody fingers loosely around the pale column with just enough pressure to be noticeable.

“Showing you a fun little magic trick.” he grinned, and Spectra wondered if he had indeed completely lost his mind. 

“By bleeding on me?” he asked incredulously, “What’s your plan here, to infect me with some bloodborne disease and… hey, what are you… ow, I….” The burning began, subtle but unmistakable, growing in intensity until it became nearly unbearable, like fire at his throat. His fear returned as he scrabbled uselessly at Kusou’s hand, only succeeding in getting blood on his white gloves and a warning tingle in his fingers. 

“Did you know that vestals are allergic to human blood?” Kusou asked casually, heedless of Spectra’s struggles, “We tested it a lot. A small amount causes a rash, itchy and burning but ultimately harmless. But you wanna know what would happen if I were to keep my palm here for a bit? Enough to spill, oh, about an arm’s worth?”

“Let go.” Spectra demanded, yanking uselessly at Kusou’s hand, damn human strength, “Release me now.”

“It starts to act as a sort of acid.” Kusou ignored him, “Eats away at the skin. Oh, it would be a very weak acid, a vestal would have to be exposed to it for a very long time. But if I were to stay here and keep my palm bleeding, keep my blood leaking onto your delicate little throat, it would only take about… a couple of hours for my blood to start eating away at your esophagus. Maybe a day or so to sever your head from your body completely.”

“You’re bluffing.” Spectra said as calmly as he could, hearts racing, and Kusou smirked.

“You wanna find out?” he asked, “Because I have no plans today, and you didn’t tell your partner or your bakugan where you were going. In addition…” he leaned down then, forcing Spectra to meet his eyes, “I could sit here all day. I don’t weaken in the dark. I can stay awake for a very long time if I need to. Even blood loss wouldn’t weaken me enough to let you escape. If you struggle too much, I can knock you out with a single punch because you vestals are so weak.” Spectra didn’t reply, frozen beneath him as he realized that Dan Kusou was absolutely serious. 

“You wouldn’t.” he swallowed, the pain on his throat growing more and more unbearable, “It was an accident, Dan Kusou, you know this. You’d become a murderer over that?”

“I don’t care that it was an accident.” Kusou said firmly, his grip on his throat tightening just a little, “You hurt my best friend. You killed my best friend. The fact that Mister Stranger brought him back is the only reason I’m letting you live. Here’s another Earth saying; ‘you reap what you sow’.”

“And that means…?”

“Oh, figure it out for yourself, you’re smart, aren’t you?” he scowled, his voice turning dark as he dipped down, his face inches from Spectra’s as he growled lowly, “My point is, if you ever harm Shun or any of my friends like that again, I will hurt you in ways you can’t imagine. And if that doesn’t scare you, I’ll hurt Gus instead, in ways that would make a lurelight look positively cuddly by comparison. Do you understand?” Spectra remained silent, and Kusou gave his throat a mean little squeeze.

“Do you. Understand?” he asked, and Spectra’s throat worked under his hand, reevaluating Dan Kusou’s status as a threat before he replied. 

“I do.”