Archive of Our Own ^beta

Dreams and Dedications

Rui is the first non-Daichi member of XIO to attempt uniting with X.

She tries to be as scientific about it as possible, though there's a giddy, euphoric part of her that just wants to grab the Devizer that X is trapped in and see if their union works. If they were in the middle of a fight, then sure, she'd go for it—there wouldn't be much to lose, and she would at least get anecdotal data out of it, assuming she survived.

They're not in the middle of a fight, though. They've just survived Greeza's attack, and are in the process of rebuilding what's been destroyed; there's no reason to risk life or limb or sanity, not when they were so incredibly lucky to snatch Daichi and X and Asuna and Mamoru and Wataru from death's jaws days ago.

"There's a possibility that the arrays won't survive the merger." X makes the observation cheerfully, his Japanese loud and certain where it emerges from the devizer's speaker. X has been quite talkative ever since Daichi told him he didn't have to hide. "It's a physical as well as mental connection that allows me to take my physical form."

"I know." Rui's fingers run over the smooth surface of the device. "But any data that we can acquire is good data—useful data. Plus the equipment shouldn't be damaged by the merger—Daichi's uniform and weapons and devizer all come through the merger all right."

"True." X hums a sound of acquiescence. It's really incredible how much personality and emotion he manages to convey just through sound.

"You really don't mind this?" Rui hugs the devizer a little closer to her body, her eyes moving to where Daichi is sitting with Mamoru and Dr. Guruman at the edge of the field where XIO has set up the test. Daichi's eyes are fixed on X's housing; Mamoru sees Rui looking their way and gives a smile and a little wave. "Because if you'd rather just have Daichi do all the tests, that's fine."

"You want to see how it works with multiple hosts, yes?" X's face blinks into and out of being on the devizer's screen. "I'm not entirely sure, myself, and think it will be interesting to try. If it doesn't work, then we'll have Daichi take over."

"That's my line." Rui smiles down at the hand-held Ultraman, staggered once again by the power and intelligence that has someone been condensed into a form that she can carry easily. All the advantages of digitizing, right here... and all the drawbacks, the loss of physical data and interaction, and she will need to ask X about what it's like both to be an Ultraman and to be an Ultraman trapped like this.

That's a conversation that can wait for later, though. Right now, Mamoru is gesturing for her to get started; she can hear the barely-audible hum of the helmet taking readings; and it's time to get this experiment under way.

Spreading her feet, standing as she's seen Asuna stand when preparing to fight, Rui holds the devizer out in front of her. "Ready, X?"

"And willing!" X's voice is all eager excitement—is he glad to be merging with someone when there isn't a crisis? Is he glad every time he is able to take physical form again? Or is physical form less important to these creatures who are mostly light, who in multiple universes inhabit objects and form symbiotic relationships with humans?

"On the count of three, Rui?" Mamoru's voice over the loudspeaker in her helmet is hesitant and worried.

"Roger-dodger!" Rui grins, her hand poised to activate the devizer, just as Daichi showed her.

"One..."

A shield pops up around their trial field—not because they're worried about what X will do, but just because they don't want anything unexpected happening.

"Two..."

Daichi stands silently at Mamoru's side, his eyes rising and falling as his gaze moves from her to the devizer and back again, tension in the line of his shoulders.

"Three!"

Rui brings her hand down on the activation switch, and the world explodes in a patina of rainbow light.

"Oh wow oh wow oh wow!" Rui is kneeling, her hands up to protect her head, her eyes moving frantically left and right, trying to understand what's happened.

She knows what's happened. She's merged with X. She is both inside and a part of X; seeing a world that explodes in unexpected bursts of light, and seeing the world through X's eyes, from a vantage point that is far higher than she can imagine, feeling the earth under her knees and the sun on her silver back.

"Are you all right?" X's voice is concerned, and she can feel that concern, echoing disconcertingly through her own thoughts.

"I'm... uh..." Rui tries to stand up, and the body that she and X are sharing stumbles awkwardly to its feet. "I'm very impressed with Daichi."

"Daichi is very impressive." The light seems to shade a bit brighter, a bit bluer, in the space-within-a-space where Rui's consciousness has apparently decided to center itself; wind wraps around their body as though they were a skyscraper, and Rui lifts their hands to stare at silver skin, the calculations for lift and drag and the sheer incredible amount of force contained in this body dancing in the back of her mind. "But he didn't do too much better than you his first time. Granted, he was dropped into the middle of a fight and he's afraid of heights—"

Rui blinks, and it does nothing to dim the information that she received from outside, the picture of Mamoru and the others standing like ants forty-some meters below her. Though Rui has never been afraid of heights, and isn't now, she is beginning to understand why people might be. "He's afraid of heights? He never told me!"

"He—"

Something shifts, in the ground beneath them.

They fall. X ensures that it isn't a bad fall, their hands reaching out, rolling them carefully away from their friends, absorbing pain before Rui can do more than realize it should be there.

The shield falters, flickering through parts of the spectrum that Rui wouldn't be able to see without X's eyes.

And a giant dinosaur-alien chooses that moment to attack, dropping out of the sky more quickly than Rui thinks she would normally be able to follow, tongue lashing out at impossible speeds to flay the faltering shield and the century-old trees that had the temerity to exist just beneath the shield.

"No!" Rui screams her denial, and X uses the desire to move them, their body coming to stand between the creature and the rest of XIO.

Pain licks across their chest, too much for X to completely block, and Rui screams.

"Work with me, Rui!" X's words are pleading, his consciousness hovering around her, protecting her as much as it can. "I can't fight alone."

"I know." Rui gasps in a breath, forcing her hands to move away from her chest. She isn't supposed to fight, but everyone who might end up in the field has at least basic training, and if Daichi can do this, so can she. Just because her hands are shaking, just because she's scared, doesn't mean she can't do what needs to be done. "You chose the wrong day to come to Earth, Dinozaur!"

They're strong words, and she means them.

Words can only take them so far, though, and she isn't Daichi.

It becomes painfully obvious, as they attempt to fight. Rui tries to fight like Daichi and X fight—she tries to match her moves to what X is attempting to do. She always seems to be either a second late or a second early, though, and their blows aren't as strong as they should be.

Pain licks across her knees, across her arm, across their face, and she knows that she isn't blind but it hurts and—

And then it doesn't.

"It's all right, Rui." X's voice is soft and gentle. "You're fine."

She is, but she has heard about X doing this before, from Daichi, and there is no possible way that she is going to let him do it for her, either. "You can't fight alone. Don't shut me out. Let me help you."

Help you.

The words are a soft echo, not something she hears with her ears but something she feels, as she feels X around her, though his thoughts and emotions are more distant as he tries to protect her.

All I want is to help you.

"I don't know if you and I can—" A pause, as pain lashes once more against X's skin, and Rui can no longer hear that third voice over X and the overwhelming agony.

"We can. And Xio will help us. So let me help!"

I just want to protect, like they did...

And then she is X again, and X is her, and they are fighting but they are hurt, they are losing, and—

There are many reasons she loves Cyber Gomora. Cyber Gomora is the epitome of years of research and experiments. It is proof that humans and monsters can work together—can understand each other.

She has never been happier to see the great beast than now.

A glance behind them, and she sees Daichi with Gomora's interface on, his eyes flinty-hard as he watches the battle—watches X. Panting hard as they back away, Rui still has energy to grin as she feels the fire building up in X's chest. "Come on, X. Let's make Daichi proud."

The light comes from both within and without. It is channeled in ways that Rui doesn't understand and knows she could happily spend years deciphering—ways that she can use, to help improve XIO's weaponry, make them better allies for X and others like X.

It strikes Dinozaur dead center, while Gomora is busy chewing on the monster's neck. In a flash of fire and smoke and a shimmering wrongness that X feels as a fizzing along his skin and Rui sees as a heat-shimmer in the smoggy air, Dinozaur is gone.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just wanted to protect...

Confusion, horror, misery, shame, fear, all whispering directly into her mind, and Rui thinks she sees a shimmer of red rain and a figure within it before the world dissolves into darkness.

Except it isn't dark. It's light, normal, bright daylight like it was when the experiment began, and she is sitting dazed in the grass in the center of the field she helped pick out. The smell of smoke and char is thick in the air, and she coughs, somehow surprised to see her hands so small and her skin so organic when they rise to cover her mouth.

"Rui!" Mamoru drops to his knees beside her, removing the sensor helmet from her head.

"Rui?" Dr. Guruman huffs up a moment later, dropping down at her other side.

"X!" Daichi's hands fumble at Rui's, removing the devizer that houses X from her grasp. "Are you all right? Are both of you all right?"

"We're fine." X's voice is tired but strong. "Do you know what happened?"

"That was a Dinozaur." Mamoru gestures toward the decimated trees. "But XIO didn't give us any warning! Even with our decreased satellite count, we should have seen that coming, but it's more like it just appeared, and—"

Rui bites her bottom lip, staring at X and Daichi. "Did you hear it, X? Feel it?"

For a moment she doesn't think he's going to answer. When he does, there is a strange combination of anger and pain in it. "Ah. I felt it."

"Felt what?" Daichi looks at her, his eyes wide, his hands tight around his devizer.

"This isn't over. It's just getting started." X's voice drops to a lower level. "That Dinozaur didn't come here by chance, and whoever brought it—whoever instigated this—they've got something that communicates just like an Ultraman tied up in it against their will."

Silence descends on their little group as Rui is helped to stand on unsteady feet by Mamoru and Guruman. Daichi continues to hold X's devizer close, as though he can give X comfort by holding the object.

And who's to say that he can't? Given how different X is from anything else Rui has studied, perhaps he can feel Daichi's affection in multiple ways.

"Come on." Rui tugs on Mamoru's sleeve until he turns them toward the tent where their equipment is set up. "Let's go see if we have anything useful in the data we collected, so we can stop this before it gets any further."

XXX

The science team doesn't find anything.

Wataru watches as Daichi, Rui, Mamoru, and Guruman run themselves into the ground for a week trying to determine exactly what happened and why, and come up with nothing.

They find out things that didn't happen. The Dinozaur didn't come from space—it appeared fully-formed less than half a kilometer from the testing ground. The Dinozaur didn't leave a Spark Doll behind when it was defeated, likely because the Dinozaur wasn't actually real, not in the way that other monsters they've fought have been.

They didn't manage to track exactly where the monster came from, though. They weren't able to track the other thing, the at least semi-psychic creature that may-or-may-not be an Ultraman and may-or-may-not be in trouble.

It bothers Daichi. He frowns more than he has since Gomora was brainwashed by the enemy.

He also keeps X close to him at all times. It isn't really surprising, Wataru supposes. The devizer that X resides in should be close to Daichi all the time—it's part of his work equipment. There's something different about the way Daichi holds it now, though, as if he's afraid someone's going to try to take it away from him.

X is also more subdued than he's been since they defeated Greeza, speaking mostly when prompted to instead of pretty much non-stop.

There's unfortunately not much that Wataru can do to help the scientists. He can move things; he can set things up; he can shoot things and he can fly things, but at the moment there's just a whole lot of data and speculation to do, and that's not something that Wataru can really help with. He and Asuna make sure food appears at semi-regular intervals for the scientists, and they otherwise just try to stay out of the way.

Which is why is comes as a great surprise to Wataru when Daichi approaches him and thrusts the devizer containing X into his hands.

"Huh?" Wataru looks between the devizer and Daichi.

"We need to run another experiment." A little muscle twitches in Daichi's cheek, another one in his throat. "Whatever it is that we're hunting decided to attack when X showed up before. Plus we need more data to try to really pin down how it is that X and the host connect."

"And... you want me to participate?" Wataru stares down at the human device that contains an Ultraman. "You... uh... you want me to merge with him? And you're all right with this, X?"

"I'm fine with it. I'm quite fond of everyone I've come to work with at Xio. I doubt I would have severe problems uniting with anyone." X's icon flashes on the screen. "Though with what Daichi and I have been through together, I doubt anyone could merge with me as well as him. Not all of us are as versatile with our hosts as Zero and Nexus."

Daichi actually smiles, the first time all week that Wataru thinks he's seen the expression. "Stop teasing us with information unless you're going to tell us everything."

"Teasing you with what information?" X feigns ignorance, and Wataru is struck by how easy it is to pick up meaning from just the alien's words and the flickering image on the devizer. "I won't give you information that the Land of Light has classified, but surely you'd never ask me to."

Another smile from Daichi, and he looks honestly relaxed for a moment. "You're impossible." His eyes rise to meet Wataru's. "But, yeah, if you don't mind..."

"I certainly don't mind trying. I mean..." Wataru can't keep a grin from his own face. "Who wouldn't want to be an Ultraman? Now that you and Rui and Captain Tachibana have all done it, I don't want to be left out!"

"Then come with me." Daichi's smile falters as he gestures for Wataru to follow him.

It's a faltering that Wataru recognizes, though the context now is so different from what he's used to that it takes him a moment to figure out why the expression looks familiar. Why is he suddenly thinking of Nanako?

Why should Daichi's reactions to sharing X remind Wataru of his grin-and-bear-it response to seeing Nanako with Hayato? X isn't even human, and definitely doesn't seem to be female—though do Ultramen have genders? X certainly doesn't seem to mind being called a guy, and Dr. Guruman has a gender, but X is made out of data and light and—

Wataru shakes his head. That is getting way out of his league, and anyway, he knows from bitter experience with rugby teams that jealousy doesn't have to involve romance. (How does one romance a digitized version of a giant alien of light? Why is he still thinking about this?!) "Hey, Daichi."

Daichi casts him a confused look.

"Do you mind?" Wataru holds up the devizer. "I mean, if you'd prefer that the rest of us don't try the whole uniting thing... just say something. You've done pretty well as Ultraman."

"Do you..." Daichi's step falters, and Wataru reaches out to keep the scientist from walking into a wall. "Would you prefer not to merge with him?"

"Hell no. If I get a chance to be an Ultraman, I'm taking it." Wataru studies the glowing image of X on the devizer's screen. "But not if it's going to upset my buddies for no reason."

Another honest smile flits across Daichi's face. "There's plenty of good reasons for other people to try. It means if something happens to me, X isn't definitely out of commission too. Plus I'm one of the people who's been studying the Spark Dolls and the realization technology the most, and there's something similar that happens with X. So it makes sense for me to be down looking at the data. Just... take good care of X for me, huh?"

The devizer's screen flashes as X talks. "X will take very good care of himself and of your comrade, too, Daichi."

Wataru flashes a victory sign at the screen. "And I'll do what I can to help. Besides, X might learn a thing or two, practicing with an actual fighter."

"Hey, I've been doing really well!" Daichi protests hotly. "At least since Shou taught me."

"Since... hey." Wataru gives Daichi's shoulder a shove. "He knew, didn't he? That's why he kept stealing you! It wasn't just that you found him, he knew you and X were a thing!"

Daichi laughs nervously. "Uh... I think we should be heading out to the testing ground. Ready to go, X?"

Daichi takes off running, actually managing not to trip and fall, and Wataru sprints after him, keeping a tight hold on X's devizer.

Despite how awkward he can sometimes be in a firefight, Daichi is very good at running through XIO's halls. By the time Wataru catches up to Daichi, he's forgotten why he was chasing him, and after tackling him to the ground and ruffling his hair he follows the scientist to the testing field.

There Wataru stands for what seems an inordinate amount of time, being fitted with sensors and asked to think and teased by both Rui and Mamoru as they outfit him. He's pretty sure it's teasing, at least, from the way Rui giggles, though he can't understand half of what they're talking about.

Taking the devizer from Wataru's hands, Rui smiles down at it. "You ready, X?"

X's icon blinks. "Always."

"All right, flyboy." Rui presses the devizer back into Wataru's hands, but not before giving X's icon a quick kiss. "Let's see how this goes."

Wataru waits for Rui to retreat back to the tent and the shield to snap into place in a half-dome around them before holding the devizer out. He doesn't ask X if he's ready again—if X weren't ready, Wataru's certain he would be saying something now. He draws a deep breath, settles his stance, and slams his hand down on the activation switch.

It's like nothing he's ever felt before.

It's breathtaking, in both the literal and the figurative meaning of the word, and Wataru spends a moment just trying to remember what body is his—trying to remember how his lungs are supposed to work, what his chest is supposed to feel like.

Then he is back in his body, though he is also more than his body—is two bodies, one small and human, protected and sheltered, and one... one...

Spreading his arms wide, Wataru studies the silver-gray metal that is his skin. Or is it metal? Condensed light? Something else?

It feels, whatever it is. The sunlight brushes across it, and Wataru feels it far more acutely than he ever has in his human body, energy that crackles along every exposed centimeter, and there are differences in the light, slower and faster light that probably have something to do with that spectrum thing that Mamoru and Daichi and Rui were on about, and—

"You don't do anything halfway, do you?" X's voice is gently teasing. "You're even more eager to throw yourself into the bond than the scientists, though with a bit less knowledge to give you words for what you're feeling."

"I... uh..." Wataru shifts, and both his human body and the body that he is sharing with X move, shuffling back a half-step. "I just think this is really cool. And knowing your body is the first step in being able to use it, so..."

"I'm not complaining. I'm glad you trust me enough to be comfortable with this—glad all of you trust me enough." X is silent, but it's the silence of contemplation, so Wataru doesn't break it. "If you're so eager to join with an Ultraman, why did you ask Daichi if he was sure it was all right?"

"Well, because Daichi didn't seem like he was all right with it." Wataru frowns, and for that there is no corresponding change in X's body, emotion showing more plainly through body language than facial expression for X's people. "If a buddy's already got a claim on someone, it's not right to barge in and steal them, you know? At least if you know they're interested. I mean, if someone's your buddy you don't want to make them jealous, you know?"

X's puzzled interest is a buzz in the fizzing air around Wataru's body. "Is this a typical human belief? That friendships are objects that can be given to only one person?"

"Well, no. Not friendships. You can be friends with lots of people, obviously—I like to think all of us in XIO are friends. But... like, it's important in romantic relationships. And there's really no comparison between most human relationships and what happens with you, with... all this, but I figure it's probably closer to a romance than a friendship? Maybe? I don't know." Wataru sighs, and he can feel X's whole body rock with the motion, though X doesn't need to breathe or sigh. "I'm just trying not to hurt a friend."

"An admirable goal, but I think I still don't understand where the hurt would come from. If three humans wanted to be in a romantic partnership, is there something biological that would dissuade them from such?"

"I, uh..." Wataru pulls at the collar of his uniform jacket, feeling X's fingers brush against their throat as he does. How does he get himself into these situations? Why is he talking about human romantic attachments with an alien?

Can Daichi and the other scientists tell this is what they're talking about?

"Don't worry." X's reassurance is quietly entertained. "They can't hear us. Human males are strange. Why—"

The rest of X's question is cut off by a clap of thunder—or anti-thunder, because instead of it being a vaccuum burned into the air by electricity, this is a sudden displacement of air as a creature with teethed wings, thorn-hands, and eyes that burn a malevolent yellow appears right in front of them.

Killer. Destroyer. Predator.

The whisper is just on the edge of hearing, but it drips grief and rage, and Wataru reacts before he thinks. His fist swings out—X's fist swings out, driving straight at the creature's face.

"There shouldn't be a Bogal here!" X's voice is practically affronted at the idea of the alien being present.

"Doesn't matter if it should be, it is!" Their first blow landed squarely on the Bogal's face, and Wataru pulls back for another swing.

This time the creature moves, and it turns out that teeth-wings hurt when they grab onto your arm, even if it's only your be dint of some kind of strange neuro-connection with an alien made of light and data bits.

They can't scream vocally. Their vocal abilities are actually quite limited, Wataru finds, though he can scream vocally, his voice echoing in his ears.

They can scream in other ways, though, and there is an answering scream, though it is faint, confused, a reaction that Wataru's fairly certain doesn't understand the action it is moving against.

Destroyer of worlds! Breaker of souls! He just wanted... he just wanted...

"Where is he?" X's desperation beats around Wataru, stronger than the pain currently licking up and down his arm. "What are they doing to him?"

"I don't know, but right now we need to focus on the bagel! Bogal! The thing currently trying to literally eat us holy f—"

Wataru's terror and agony snap X back into full battle mode, and they rip their way free of the Bogal's grasp, sparks of blood-light flying from their skin.

They fight well together. Not as well as X does with Daichi—X knows Daichi, in a way that X doesn't currently know Wataru. He knows when Daichi will attack, when he will hesitate, when he will examine a situation. Daichi is a more careful, cautious fighter than Wataru, and there is more than one time when a blow that should have been staggering to the monster is lacking in force because X wasn't expecting them to move yet.

Daichi is just more aware than Wataru, Wataru thinks as his connection with X throws information at him that he doesn't know what to do with. Why do some things glow neon blue when X does something fiddly with their eyes? Why do spots appear on the Bogal where he's certain that there were no spots before?

It takes X, Cyber Gomora, and Hayato in the Sky Musketty to finally bring the Bogal down, and when it finally disappears in a shimmering blood-red rain, Wataru allows himself to drop to his knees.

He's not sure exactly how he ended up on his back after that, but it definitely happened, because that's the sky up above, blue with little fluffy bunny-tail clouds punctuating it.

A sky that is soon eclipsed by Hayato's head, and Wataru forces himself to blink the man into focus.

"Wataru!" Hayato's right hand slaps gingerly at Wataru's shoulder—not quite a shake, since the medical team yelled at them last time for shaking Daichi, but still a demand that Wataru focus and look up. "Wataru?"

"Ow." Wataru lifts one tiny, human hand to his head; the other is clenched tight around the devizer that holds X. "We need to give Daichi more credit for pain tolerance. That wasn't much fun."

Tension drains from Hayato's face, a bright grin taking its place. "I don't know, from where I was sitting it looked like a lot of fun."

"Good." Wataru presses the devizer into Hayato's hands. "Next time, you can get gnawed on by a giant alien."

"And you can crash the Musketty. Good trade." Turning the devizer around, Hayato taps gingerly on the screen. "X? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Tired, but fine." Tense energy fills X's voice still, a driving need to know that Wataru felt first-hand a few minutes ago. "Did they learn anything? Did they find it?"

"They learned a lot. Hang on, give me a minute." Raising his hand to his helmet, Hayato opens a channel. "They're both fine! Stop shouting in my ear so I can tell them things! Good. So, as I was saying... Daichi and the others learned a lot. For one thing, the monsters aren't real."

Wataru has worked himself into a sitting position, is busy examining his arms to ensure that they really are in one piece, and he glares at Hayato.

Holding up his hands in a placating gesture, Hayato shrugs. "I don't know, that's just what they said! Something about the monsters being an etheric construction from another dimension or something like that."

"Hmm." X's icon flashes, the noise that he makes noncommittal rather than contrary.

Wataru sighs. Add that to the tally of science things that he doesn't understand, then. "It sure leaves a hell of a mark, for something that isn't real."

"You're fine, stop complaining, but the surrounding landscape agrees with you." Hayato shrugs. "Daichi said something about it being projected, and Rui was chattering about it having form and substance due to strings or something, I don't know. But they think they followed it back to where it's being projected from, and Mamoru and Daichi think they can modify the power that Zero shared with X, and basically we're going to go punch the thing in the face that's been doing this."

"That part I understand." Wataru grins, trying to get to his feet and immediately sitting again. Why is his body so tiny? So weak? Why do distances look so different now?

"I figured you would." Clambering to his own feet, Hayato holds out a hand to help Wataru up.

Wataru considers swatting the hand away, but falling down again afterward would just make him look silly. So instead he takes it, hauls himself up, and keeps holding on until he trusts his balance. "Hey, anything that's going to attack us like this needs to be dealt with."

"More than that." X's voice is fierce, a growl from the devizer. "You heard it, right, Wataru?"

Wataru doesn't need to ask what X is asking if he heard. "Ah. I heard it."

"This isn't just a defense mission. It's a rescue mission." X's icon glows steadily. "Tell Daichi that whatever this thing is, it has an Ultraman captive, and I intend to rescue him."

"We." Wataru follows Hayato back to the downed Sky Musketty, surprised to see how far he and X traveled during the fight. Everything looks different, he supposes, from forty-some meters tall. "If there's an Ultraman in trouble, we're going to rescue him."

Hayato nods, and Wataru has no doubt that the others will agree, too.

It's just a matter of figuring out how to do it.

XXX

Asuna is the next one to unite with X.

She does it in the middle of a fight, scooping the devizer out of Daichi's too-slack hands after a creature with six legs and way too many teeth threw Daichi into a wall before turning into a much bigger creature with six legs and way too many teeth.

Asuna had done her best to protect Daichi from falling rubble, had made sure that Daichi was breathing easily, scooped up the devizer, and transformed into X just in time to keep both of them from being crushed by a spiny leg.

"You're a natural at this, Asuna." X's voice is all quiet approval, his certainty and determination a blanket of calm around Asuna's frightened thoughts as she realizes exactly how big X is.

"I just..." Asuna closes her eyes, though that doesn't change what she sees with X's eyes, the landscape spreading out around them. It does mean that there isn't quite so much of a duality to what she sees, a sense of being herself-and-him at the same time.

"You are both yourself and me, as I am currently both myself and you." They circle around the insect-like creature, and Asuna isn't sure if she should think of it as an alien or something else. X's vision flickers, falling into what Asuna thinks is infrared and then spiraling up into UV before settling on a more normal spectrum. "And if this is an alien, it's one I don't know."

"Well, you did spend a few years locked in a sun." Which is an impossible thing, really, but there are many, many impossible things that must be accepted as real, and that's probably low on the list of things she should complain about. "Perhaps it was discovered during that time?"

"Or, since we did just punch a hole into another dimension..." Humor tinges X's words. "Perhaps it's a resident of that dimension? There are many, many possibilities."

"Either way, it just tried to kill us." It injured Daichi, possibly badly, though Asuna isn't entirely certain. He's unconscious, and the left side of his face is covered in blood, but scalp wounds always bleed a lot. He'll be fine. "And it's probably working for whoever's holding your other Ultraman hostage."

"Possibly. Or it's being used. Or it isn't real." Tension gathers in X as they continue to circle the monster, driving it farther from the ruins of the building in which they had been building their gate, the ruins where Daichi's helpless body currently sits. "There's so much we don't—"

A sword—a sword that looks like a sword to X, which means that it's more like some kind of horrific skyscraper-missile if put into proper human perspective—comes out of nowhere, skewering the creature that they're fighting.

No! Not him, not him!

The psychic howl is stronger, clearer, a denial filled with rage and grief such as Asuna wouldn't have imagined an Ultraman could feel.

"Why shouldn't we be able to?" X's voice is a quiet whisper, pained, aching in fear and sympathy for the person they still haven't laid eyes on. "We're sentient, sapient—capable of love and affection. To know love is to know grief."

The wielder of the sword shoves the corpse free, the insect's body landing with a dull whump and staying put. That one was real, then—real and tangible, something that they will have to clean up later, and she hates those few times that XIO has to dismember and dismantle alien bodies to move them out of habitable areas.

"We can take care of it." X's reassurance is calm, his focus steel-firm as he studies the new threat before them. "If we have enough energy left when this fight is over, we'll take it into space."

Enough energy. Asuna swallows, adrenaline burning through her veins as she considers the words. She knows that X has a limited time during which he can fight—Rui had tried to explain to her, post-Wataru's bonding, how X's form is produced and maintained, but Asuna hadn't been able to follow all the equations that Rui was drawing.

Light is important. Asuna knows that much, and she turns their head just slightly, to gaze at the sun. It's just past noon. They'll have as much light as they possibly can.

"Focus on me." The sword-wielder speaks, drawing Asuna's startled gaze to him. He is dressed in armor—old armor, reminiscent of ancient Japan, and Asuna runs her eyes over it, looking for weak points. The creature smiles as she does, she thinks, a curving of the lips that are partially visible beneath the armor. "That's it. Don't waste your energy on that mewling thing—give me a fight to remember."

No! He changed, he learned, he wouldn't do this, Zamusha, Zamusha!

The closer they are to the creature, the more clearly Asuna can hear the pleading voice of the Ultraman that they are trying to save, but she can't allow herself to be distracted.

Fight first; save second.

Save Daichi.

Save the Ultraman that X desperately wants to rescue.

Save everyone, because that is what Asuna signed up to do, what she has always wanted to do. There must be a reason she is so good at fighting, right? A purpose to her mastery of her body? And what better purpose can there be than protecting?

"You're amazing, Asuna." X's words are full of awe and affection, wrapping tight around her, helping to hold the pain at bay when the alien's sword slices across their—X's—skin, drawing sparks from the right wrist, the left shoulder, the right knee. "And very similar to Daichi, I think."

"Yeah?" Asuna gasps out a sobbing breath, trying to remind herself to breathe evenly. X needs her. "You're pretty good yourself. Though you're... better in Daichi's hands."

"Daichi and I have a bond. One that has been tested and tempered." X hesitates, and Asuna can see his uncertainty as glowing green lines that spark and fade in the space around her. "One that you're jealous of?"

"Of course not!" Shaking her head, Asuna does a back flip, taking them out of range of one of Zamusha's blows.

The alien is laughing, a horrific, grating, gloating sound as he revels in the destruction and death he is going to bring; the Ultraman that is somehow attached to him is sobbing, impotent, unvoiced denial and grief that blows through the psychic space they inhabit like dark fog.

"Focus on the battle!" Asuna spins to the side, avoiding another strike.

"I am." X is with her, his body responding in perfect harmony to hers. "I'm just also trying to understand."

"Later!" It's a promise she will have to keep. She can feel that in X's thoughts.

It's not one she has to keep right now, though, and she focuses both of them just on surviving—on keeping Zamusha occupied and moving him steadily away from the ruins of the building where Daichi's body lies.

Would Daichi and X together have been able to beat the swordsman? Maybe. Maybe not.

It's a moot point, anyway. X only has her, and she isn't quite up to the task. Though they injure the swordsman, they don't defeat it, and eventually Asuna moves left when she should have gone right, and the sword sinks up to the hilt in X's stomach.

It's not an immediately fatal wound, even if he were human. It's as shallow as a gut-stab could be, far to the right of center, but it is completely penetrating, and both Asuna's hands close on her own abdomen, pain flaring bright before it almost fades completely.

"X!" Asuna reaches out with both hands, to the living blackness that is X's consciousness. Daichi has talked about this, about how X can try to protect his host from harm, but it comes at the cost of X's safety, and she is not going to tell Daichi that she let X die.

"This form will dissipate in approximately twenty-five seconds." The area around her begins to glow red, thin spreading lines sparking and fading as X speaks far too calmly. "I'll try to set you as far from Zamusha as I can. Hopefully he won't know to look for you. If you run—"

Gomora saves them.

Zamusha draws them forward, a grin showing sharp teeth, and in his gloating victory he doesn't see the monster materialize behind him. In less than a second Gomora has his claws sunk into the swordsman's back, his teeth locked into the creature's throat.

X's fist rises, smashes into the creature's abdomen, and Gomora takes a firmer grip on Zamusha's neck, his teeth sinking in. Needing to know who—needing to know where, so that she can keep them safe—Asuna forces X's too-tired eyes to scan the surrounding landscape, picking out Captain Kamiki with the realization helmet on.

The swordsman disappears in a fall of red rain; X's form flickers and fades away a moment later, leaving Asuna doubled-up on the ground, a blank devizer in front of her.

"X!" Moving hurts. Her body is certain that it's been badly injured, though Asuna can see and feel no blood anywhere.

It doesn't matter. She has a comrade to check on.

"X!" The devizer stays stubbornly silent as she scoops it up in trembling hands. "X, what's wrong? What can we do? Are you—"

"I'm all right." X's voice is a quiet, weak whisper. "My data's uninjured. Just... drained. Tired. I'm going to sleep now, if that's all right."

Do Ultramen sleep? Asuna supposes that if dolphins and all the others intelligent life forms on Earth need sleep, it's not unreasonable to think aliens of light do too, right?

"We should talk more, when I've rested." X's voice becomes even fainter. "And if you could check on Daichi..."

"Already going." Pulling the devizer close to her chest, Asuna struggles to her feet and begins limping towards Daichi, the distance that she and X covered looking much further to her human eyes than it had to X's eyes.

That's all right, though. Distance doesn't matter. Once Asuna sets her eyes on a destination, she gets there.

XXX

Daichi wakes in XIO's medical lab.

This is becoming a lot more of a habit than he wants it to be.

His head hurts. Everything hurts, really, a body-wide ache, but a spot halfway down his spine and the back of his skull are definitely the worst. Reaching up tentatively, Daichi isn't surprised to touch a bandage, wrapped tight around his head.

"Daishi?" Asuna's voice is sleep-slurred, barely awake, and Daichi carefully turns his head to the right.

Asuna looks about like he feels, a mass of bruises, her eyes shaded by deep shadows above and below. She blinks quizzically at him, and then breaks into a smile. "Daichi!"

"Daichi?" The devizer sitting in front of Asuna, on the edge of Daichi's bed, also sounds sleepy. "Daichi! You're awake!"

"Hi, Asuna. Hi, X." Levering himself carefully into a sitting position, Daichi is glad to find that nothing seems broken. "What happened?"

"You got yourself beat up. Again." Asuna glowers at him. "We're going to spend a lot more hours with you in the gym, training on dodging."

"Technically I'm on the science rather than..." Asuna's glower only deepens, and Daichi sighs, knowing that's a lost battle. Though he's still technically more scientist than fighter, since his bonding with X, the fighting has become much more important. "Are you two all right?"

"Sore and tired, but otherwise well." X sounds quite chipper as he reports.

Asuna pats the little devizer, a small smile flitting across her face. "What X said."

Daichi picks up the devizer with his right hand, trying not to let his smile falter. It's good, that X is making friends with the rest of XIO—that XIO is recognizing X as the hero and the ambassador that he is, when far too many science fiction stories have warned Daichi against trusting large government organizations with vulnerable but powerful aliens. Even government organizations that he likes and is a part of and is proud to serve, and it hadn't taken much convincing on X's part for Daichi to help X keep his identity secret.

X sighs, a raspy burst of static from the devizer. "Daichi, if it bothers you to see me bond with others, why don't you talk to me about it?"

Daichi can feel his face heat immediately, and he shakes his head. That's a mistake, and he spends a moment blinking and wincing, trying to get comfortable again before he addresses X's statement. "It's fine! It's good for everyone. You enjoy it, they enjoy it... it's fine."

"But you don't enjoy it, do you?" Asuna sighs, studying her hands. "Being merged with X... it was one of the most awesome things I've ever felt. And I think we did a decent job, didn't we, X?"

"We saved Daichi and kept collateral damage to a minimum." The devizer feels warm in Daichi's hand.

"Thank you." Daichi offers his friend and colleague a smile. "For saving me. I really appreciate it."

"No problem." Asuna returns the smile. "Looking out for klutzy scientists is my job."

"And she cares about you." X speaks matter of factly. "Just like you care about her."

For a moment there is silence, both of them staring at X's devizer.

"Of course I care about Daichi, he's a member of Xio—!"

"We've been through a lot together, that's all, and—!" Daichi pauses, turning his gaze to meet Asuna's. "I mean... you've saved my life. Probably more times than I can count, physically, and you brought me and X back after Greeza..."

"You're really important to me, Daichi." Asuna studies her hands. "As a friend and a coworker... that's what matters. That's we're close. The details aren't important. Just like you and X being close is what matters, and—and I should go tell the others that you're awake and all right."

Asuna stands, scurrying from the room; Daichi allows himself to collapse back onto his cot with a sigh.

"Humans aren't very good at communicating emotion, are they?" X sounds honestly puzzled, his icon glowing bright blue.

"We are, just..." Daichi sighs again. "Things like this are complicated, all right?"

"Things like what?"

"Things that verge on the, you know... on the romantic." Daichi can feel his face flushing again, but X deserves an honest answer, if he's going to understand what's going on.

"Oh." A pause, a flash of X's icon as he considers the information. "Do you have romantic feelings for me, then, or for Asuna? Or for both of us?"

Daichi is fairly certain he's going to spontaneously combust from embarrassment, and he turns over, burying his face in his pillow.

"I know you have very deep feelings for me, as I do for you. I feel it when we merge." X's icon glows a little bit brighter.

Apparently not engaging in this conversation isn't going to make it not happen. Besides, it probably is something that they should talk about. "I... you're my best friend. It feels like we've known each other forever. And I like it when we unite, I like... and all right, yes, it feels a little... weird, seeing your body and having it be you and someone else."

It feels like a part of him is missing, like watching his arms or his legs run off without him. It feels like a betrayal, though he knows that's irrational, knows that he's doing more good with his science knowledge, and—

"There is a saying, on some worlds—jealousy is a sign of an improperly cared for relationship." X speaks slowly, carefully, as though not certain how Daichi will respond.

"Sometimes that's true, I guess." Daichi turns so that he's resting on his side, facing X. "But it can also be a very personal failing—being jealous of someone for having other healthy relationships is controlling. Abusive."

"You're not the kind of person to be either controlling or abusive. So what can I do to make you feel more comfortable again?" X's icon glows an even stronger blue. "You're my first host, Daichi. You're everything that my people and I have ever loved about Earth and humanity—generous, caring, outgoing, empathic, self-sacrificing."

Daichi pulls the devizer closer to his chest, his body instinctively trying to curl around the plastic and metal case that somehow contains all of X—the determination, the verve, the curiosity, the power, the kindness. "I guess... that's really all I need to know. That you still care about me, that you still like bonding with me, that I'm..."

The word special sticks in his throat, and he doesn't have enough gall to say it, to demand that X favor him above all the rest of their friends.

"You're very special to me, Daichi." X's voice is gentle, conciliatory. "Every relationship with a new host is different, but yours and mine... that's one for the ages. One I won't give up unless I have to, and one I will treasure for the rest of my life."

His very long life, and Daichi is struck again by the differences between them. He will be dead before X has aged noticeably in his people's eyes.

"Do you want to be romantically involved with me, Daichi?" X's tone is gentle, inquiring but not hesitant.

"I... you..." Daichi shivers. "Is that possible?"

"It wouldn't be the first time an Ultraman and their host have been romantically involved. Or the first time an Ultraman and a human have been involved." X's icon continues to glow steadily, his voice considering, almost excited. "But there would be difficulties. Particularly with regards to sex. If I've interpreted the data I've gathered so far correctly, it's an important part of many human romantic relationships, but I would have difficulty participating in standard ways gives that I'm rather less corporeal than most of my people at the moment and certainly less corporeal than your people are used to with their romantic partners—"

"X!" Daichi cuts off the alien's stream of words, pulling the devizer tight to his chest, his eyes burning and a laugh stuttering in the back of his throat and his chest feeling far too light at the easy way with which X accepts the idea and begins considering complications. "We really don't need to worry about that right now."

"As you like." X is silent for all of two seconds. "Though if you were to be in a romantic relationship with Asuna, as well—or all three of us were to be in a romantic relationship—then the physical aspect—"

"X!" Daichi is laughing as he shoves the devizer under his pillow, muffling the alien's next words.

"Daichi!" Asuna runs back into the room.

"Yes?" Daichi sits up, dragging X out from under the pillow, hoping Asuna didn't hear anything she shouldn't have.

"How are you feeling?" Asuna's eyes flick to the devizer. "Both of you?"

"Sore but functional, just like before." Daichi's eyes drop to X. "Why?"

"Because Mamoru and Rui just finished crunching all the data from our fight and dimensional incursion, and they've got some good news that's also bad news."

Daichi frowns, not sure he heard the words properly.

"They're certain they can pinpoint the dimension that Zamusha was projected from—the dimension that the Ultraman is probably being held in." Asuna pulls her hair back into a ponytail. "They think they can drop us pretty much on top of where we need to be."

Daichi scrambles to his feet. "Great! So what's the bad news?"

"They can drop us right on top of the thing that's been beating the crap out of us for the last two weeks, right into its lair, and we're not in top form right now." Asuna arches her eyebrows up. "Do the two of you think you're ready?"

Daichi looks down at X. "I'm ready when you are."

X's icon glows bright. "Let's go save my comrade, then."

XXX

X unites with Daichi for the offensive.

It's just as it should be. X enjoys merging with the other members of XIO—they are all his friends and comrades in arms—but Daichi is the one who calls to him most. Daichi is the one who named him, and X likes the moniker that the human chose for him. There is something about Daichi, about the wavelength of life and light and hope that he gives off, that resonates deeply with X, and every moment that he is bonded with the human is beautiful.

Even if the reasons for those bondings usually aren't, and the circuits of the devizer shudder, X's data spinning by faster in his agitation. Anyone needing help and rescue is cause for alarm; a fellow Ultraman needing help...

"We beat Greeza. We beat the embodiment of nothingness." Daichi's hands have a light sheen of sweat on them where they grip the devizer, proof of his own nerves, though his voice is steady. "We can take on anything."

"Ah." X is old enough to know that past victories don't necessitate future ones; he is also old enough to know that doubting yourself never helps, and he suspects Daichi is at the same maturity level, given everything they have been through together. "Let's do this."

They use Zero's power to rip a hole between dimensions and take them where they need to go, a strike team following in Sky Musketty. Asuna is prepared to summon Gomora as soon as they know what they're fighting, providing them with as much back-up as possible.

They surprise the creature. That much is obvious from the way it spins around, one crab-claw hand clacking together as it stares at them. "No! You shouldn't have been able to come here!"

X doesn't bother trying to answer. His attention is focused past the creature, on the roiling cloud of blackness that is holding a small, human-shaped individual bound—crucified, practically, his wrists and ankles attached to some kind of device that crackles and sparks as the red, beaked alien rushes to a console and slams his hand down on a bright red button.

Sparks fly as the bonds around the captive's wrists and ankles glow an ugly blue-yellow, light striking the cloud of darkness and seeming to be absorbed. The little human body screams, a sound of agony and denial as the form convulses.

In X's head, an Ultraman wails out a cry of utter despair and rejection. No, I stopped Empera, we sacrificed so much, he can't—he can't—

A being dressed in darkness materializes out of the air in front of them. On his head is a crown, though it is woven all of night-dark material; a cape blacker than the darkest night flows around his body.

"Another Ultraman to kill. Another soul for the Land of Light to despair over." Empera raises one hand, and a quick flick of their vision up into the ultraviolet spectrum shows X and Daichi that energy is gathering there. "I'm going to enjoy this."

They dodge the first attack, and X goes to move forward, to grapple the creature.

Daichi holds him back, Daichi's attention focused elsewhere. "That thing's just like the others that we've seen, yeah? It's not real. It's some kind of construct. Some kind of... of living nightmare being ripped out of that guy's mind, isn't it?"

Circling around Empera, watching for the next attack, X inclines his head in a human gesture of agreement. "The real threat is the alien behind it—a Yapool, I think, though last I heard they were all dead, wiped out after trying once too often to destroy all Ultramen."

"Maybe they were in our universe." Daichi almost smiles, his scientist's enthusiasm at the reality of multiple parallel universes never far beneath the surface. A quick glance at the bound, writhing form of the person they are trying to save, though, and Daichi is once more all deep conviction and righteous fury. "Clearly this one isn't dead, and if I'm understanding correctly, that person down there's an Ultraman host, isn't he? And these are all monsters that he and the Ultraman he's bonded with have fought."

"Something like that." X isn't convinced that there is a host body there, though a physical form is definitely present. There's something... odd about the body, though, something that doesn't read as quite human to his senses. "Whoever they are, we need to save them."

"Agreed. And that means taking care of that Yapool, right?" Gathering the Xlugger's data together with the ease of long practice, Daichi materializes it in front of him. His finger caresses the activation bar with the surety that comes with experience and trust, and X shivers as a burst of energy runs through him, transforming his body into something more—something better, something that will stand a chance in this battle.

Gomora appears next to them, throwing his head back in a fierce roar; Sky Musketty performs a strafing run on Empera.

They have their friends at their side; X is certain that they can overcome this hurdle, too.

It's a difficult battle. What battle that they've faced hasn't been difficult? Empera is a force of darkness, cruel and twisted and far more powerful than X had been expecting; the Yapool creature is vicious and clever, using Empera to protect itself, striking at them from the cover provided by the construct.

Sky Musketty falls after barely a minute's worth of fighting, smoke trailing from the right wing.

They land safely, though, and that ends up being the creature's undoing. None of XIO's crew is very good at being patient and waiting, and when deprived of their means to fight Empera and Yapool, they turn to more clever strategies.

It turns out that the darkness holding the captive is alive, and it doesn't much like being shot with Ultlasers, something Hayato hails with an eager whoop of satisfaction as his first shot causes the creature to keen and pull back.

X winces as the too-frail-looking human figure tumbles about four meters to the ground, lying far too still amidst a jumble of electronics.

Empera fades away, disappearing in the now-familiar cloud of bloody rain, and then there is only one target.

Yapool doesn't stand a chance against XIO's combined forces, and X still has fifteen or twenty seconds of energy left when the monster staggers away, sparking and cursing in equal measure. "Kill me however often you want! I will be back! I will see all Ultramen in all universes suffer! I will—"

Explode, spectacularly, in a roaring vortex of fire and crackling energy and malevolent hatred such as X has felt very few times in his life. Yapool despises Ultramen, to the core of its being.

That's a problem for another time, though. Right now, X is running out of energy, and they still have an Ultraman to finish rescuing.

"I'll take care of him, X." Daichi smiles, tired and sore like X but also proud of what they've done. "Don't worry."

So X doesn't. He allows his physical form to dissipate, retreating back into Daichi's devizer. He doesn't know what is more disconcerting—the loss of physical sensation, or the loss of Daichi's thoughts and emotions just on the edge of his awareness.

There are other things to distract them, though, and X forces his tired consciousness to be as alert as possible as Daichi sends them stumbling toward the small collection of XIO officers that has sprung up around the captive.

Hayato and Wataru are both busy untangling the restraints and wires from the male's hands and legs—he looks like a human male, likely aged somewhere in his thirties, but the closer X comes to him, the more convinced he becomes that he isn't. This individual is an Ultraman, as surely as X himself is.

"He's alive." Asuna has one hand on the male's neck, is holding his upper body still against her, though he still appears to be unconscious. "We need to get him back to medical, though."

"Some of these..." Wataru gestures at one of the man's wrists. "The wires go into him."

"He's military or paramilitary." Hayato taps gingerly at the male's chest, at the bloody, sooty, tattered remains of an orange-gray uniform jacket that reminds X a great deal of the jackets Ginga and Victory's hosts wore. "And he has this."

The item that they hold out is beautiful, crafted in red and gold, and X draws in a sharp breath, recognizing some of the energy patterns coming off it. "Careful with that. It has a part of him in it—not quite like my Devizer, but close enough."

Hayato blanches a bit, tucking the little bracer into the tattered remains of the male's jacket. "Then... what do we do now?"

Daichi looks around, holding X's devizer so that X can survey the empty space they are occupying. "Now we let X recover enough to use Zero's power again, we destroy everything we can in this place, and we go home, taking him with us. Unless someone else has an idea?"

Nobody does, and X gathers up all the strength that he can, determined to get them and the unknown Ultraman they've found home as soon as possible.

XXX

The medical team meets them as soon as they return to base, collecting their rescuee and insisting that the rest of the team report for physicals, as well.

Daichi doesn't really mind. Anything that will allow him to sit down right now is appreciated.

Plus it means that he and X are there when the stranger who's an Ultraman host from another dimension—that is Daichi's guess, at least, from the strange GUYS uniform that the man in wearing—wakes up.

He doesn't wake up gently. He goes from flat on his back, comatose as the medical team bandages his wrists, to screaming and trying to crawl off the hospital bed, with no steps in between.

He isn't violent. He doesn't strike out at the med techs. He just tries to get away, keening low in his throat as he does, and Daichi is reaching for the man even before X's voice cries out for him to help.

"It's all right!" Daichi doesn't actually touch the clearly-distraught man, waving for the med techs to stay back, too, as the man huddles up against one of the back walls, blinking furiously out at them. "It's all right. My name's Daichi. Ozora Daichi. I'm a member of XIO, which is an organization responsible for protecting Earth and ensuring good relationships with aliens. I'm also..." he pauses, the words still feeling awkward and strange. He needs to get this man's trust, though, and there's one sure way to do it. "I'm connected to Ultraman X."

"Ultraman..." The stranger uncurls a bit, reaching up with one bandaged hand to shove his messy hair away from his eyes. "X, you said? And XIO?"

"That's right." Daichi nods.

The man seems to consider his words for a moment, his hand moving to where the beautiful bracer that X said contains an ultraman's power lies against his chest. "I'm Hibino Mirai. I've... never heard of a XIO and an Ultraman X, though. Are they... new things?"

Daichi shakes his head. "Not really. But I'm not surprised you haven't heard of them. I think we're likely from parallel worlds. I know it sounds crazy—how long have scientists been looking for proof of alternate universes? But it's real, and you're not the first... person from another universe we've met. We've also met Ginga and Victory, who are from another dimension, and Zero seems to travel between dimensions all the time—"

"Zero." A faint, almost pained smile appears on Mirai's face as he says the name. "You know Zero?"

"Yeah. He's a..." Daichi pauses, trying to think of a way to summarize their interactions with the arrogant but ultimately well-intentioned Ultraman. "We helped save some people together. He's an interesting person."

Mirai laughs, a strained but pleasant sound. "Interesting is a good way to describe Zero. And he was haring off between dimensions with his little motley crew, last I heard..."

"He didn't have anyone with him when I met him, but it was a pretty quick meeting." Daichi returns Mirai's smile. "We borrowed his inter-dimensional abilities. That's how we were able to come rescue you."

"Rescue me..." Mira's smile falters, his eyes moving to the bandages around his wrists. "I was back on Earth. With GUYS. With Ryu and... but then... Yapool's dead. We destroyed it. But with everything with Belial and the graveyard..."

"I'm afraid I don't know anything about a Belial, or much about what Yapool was doing." Daichi shrugs. "Yapool attacked us, several times. They had you hooked up to some sort of machine that was creating monsters..."

Mirai rests his head back against the wall. "He wanted to destroy all Ultraman. Starting with me, but that was never enough. And he has always been good at manipulating dimensions..." Once more Mirai's eyes move to his wrists. "You promise me this is real? You're what you say you are?"

X speaks for the first time, his voice strong and steady and full of compassion. "Daichi is my host, and I swear to you, this is real."

"Good." Nodding, Mirai offers Daichi a more honest smile. "Then I owe you a lot of thanks, for rescuing me, and an apology, for anything that Yapool used me for. But I've also got to ask—"

"We'll get you home." Daichi makes the promise easily, recognizing the need in Mirai's eyes. "I promise. But first, we want to get you and your Ultraman patched up. So." Daichi holds out a hand. "Let the doctors take a look at you?"

Mirai takes Daichi's hand, allowing himself to be drawn to his feet. His expression is puzzled as he studies Daichi, though. "Are there not rules, here, about who knows and who doesn't?"

"Huh?" Daichi blinks.

"About who knows about the Ultraman." X's response is prompt. "There are rules, but there was reason to let others know, and it's proven to be no problem to have a certain subset of XIO in on the secret."

"It's the same right now, with me and GUYS." Mebius nods. "It makes it better, when you're not having to hide."

"It does." Daichi stays by Mirai's side as the medics move in to continue their ministrations. "Do you mind me asking what your Ultraman's name is?"

"No. I'm Mebius." Mirai pulls the bracer from his jacket, frowning as he attempts to work it onto his wrist over the bandages. "But I don't have a host. It's just me."

"It's..." Daichi blinks, thinking maybe he's misunderstood. "You're the Ultraman?"

Mirai nods.

"But... you were bleeding." Daichi points toward Mirai's wrist. "And you're, uh... you look a lot like a human? Size wise and... person-shape-wise."

Mirai smiles again, wiggling the fingers on his right hand as he watches them. "I did a decent job on the body, didn't I? I copied it, to protect myself on Earth, so that I wouldn't have to disrupt someone's life by taking them as a host. And... because the person whose body I copied deserved to be remembered."

There is a story there. Daichi can tell that from the way Mirai's eyes close, the way his fingers clench together.

It's not a story he feels he knows Mirai well enough to ask about, yet, especially when there are more pressing things he can worry about. Turning X's devizer so that they're face-to-face, Daichi frowns. "You can take human forms yourself?"

"I certainly couldn't, not after my little trip through the sun. And I don't know if it's ever been done by an Ultraman is our universe." X's tone is thoughtful, considering. "But if it is possible... well, it's something we can look into in the future."

Daichi rolls his eyes, though there's a fond excitement building in him as he considers all the implications of this new information. "Rui's going to be thrilled about this."

"The whole lab team is going to be thrilled." X sounds vaguely resigned. "We have plenty of time to worry about that, though. Right now, let's worry about getting our friend patched up and back home."

X and Daichi talk with Mirai for the remainder of the afternoon, Mirai sitting with a blanket draped across his shoulders. Asuna brings them dinner, and the rest of the XIO strike force comes by multiple times, Hayato and Wataru obviously fascinated by the man that they saved.

Though Daichi tries to keep his mind focused in the present, on making Mirai comfortable, he finds his thoughts constantly returning to the idea of making X a body of his own. Not that he dislikes merging with X, or having X as his constant companion, he just... it seems like X deserves a bit more autonomy, especially if he's going to be staying with Daichi for a long time to come.

The future is suddenly looking much longer and more interesting than Daichi had considered before, and given his imagination, that's saying something.

XXX

Tachibana unites with X for the time needed to open a portal into Mirai's world.

They open the portal right in front of the GUYS facility, and Mirai and Daichi follow. Daichi makes a good ambassador, Tachibana thinks—not only does he share the Ultraman thread with Mirai, he's just a genuinely good and kind person.

"He is at that." X's fondness for Daichi is a warm glow around Tachibana's skin as they look down on the two small human figures. "Though he also knows several others."

"No need to flatter me, X." Tachibana smiles, closing her eyes so that she can see more clearly through X's. His body is so different from Nexus'—less powerful, but still brimming with energy; younger, but still far, far older than any human could ever live to be.

"It's not flattery. It's simply truth." X watches as soldiers spill out of the GUYS compound—soldiers who are shoved out of the way a moment later, as a half-dozen people in various states of dress charge through them.

"Mirai!" A short, heavily-built man throws himself at Mirai, enveloping the Ultraman in a tight embrace.

The embrace is joined a moment later by two women, one in a skirt and one dressed for combat; two more men, one with only one shoe on and one in boxers and some kind of soccer tank top, join the pile a moment later.

"There's a reason we Ultramen love Earth so much. Love humanity so much." X studies the scene below, fondness fizzing through them in rainbow sparks. "You take so much joy in existing—so much joy in the existence of your friends, your family. You are capable of hatred and aggression, yes, but more often than not your driving motives are love and curiosity. How could we not respond to that?"

"You have a very pretty view of our species." Tachibana wraps her arms around herself, far too tempted to cry by the sheer intensity of the emotions running through X—emotions she has felt before, for her children, her husband, her team; emotions she has felt from Nexus, for all the small living creatures of Earth.

"You do, as well." X's voice is gentle, half-teasing, though there is a note of awe lurking beneath it. "The woman that Nexus chose can't be anything but a hero."

There is something almost worshipful in the way that X says Nexus, and Tachibana blinks, opening her eyes, drawn away from the bond by her sheer surprise at the intensity of the emotion. "You have a great deal of respect for Nexus."

"Nexus is very old. Very powerful." There is something else underneath the words, something that isn't quite translating—something that is different about Nexus, Tachibana thinks, though she isn't sure exactly what it is. "To be chosen to be a deunamist of Nexus is a great honor."

"Then I don't understand why he chose me." Tachibana shrugs. "Except because he—they—" There had been no concept of gender when she merged with Nexus, not even the nebulous half-concept of masculine that Daichi has imprinted X with. "Nexus needed to get a message to you."

"Nexus could have gotten the message to me in many ways. But Nexus chose you, hero, fighter, mother—" The way X says it, thinks it, there is more to mother than just female—something that isn't even inherently female, something warm and nurturing that could be of either gender. "Nexus doesn't make mistakes."

"I'm still not sure what I did was right. Saving my children. And I would still do it again in a heartbeat." Tachibana watches as Daichi uses wide hand gestures to try to explain exactly what's happened and what they're doing now to the collection of GUYS personnel. "Heck, I'd be tempted to take you on a little trip to Canada. You're a lot faster than any plane."

"I am. And I would be happy to go, if you wanted to." X acquiesces without any hesitation. "You and Kamiki both sacrifice to save the world. But that sacrifice must never be your heart."

Tachibana smiles, touched at the simple regard in the Ultraman's voice, her chest once more warm with a combination of personal and borrowed emotion. "You're a poet, X."

"And I definitely know it." X settles into a kneeling position, waiting for Daichi to signal whether they're going to leave immediately or stay and answer some of GUYS' questions. "As I said, Nexus doesn't make poor choices. And neither do I."

Tachibana closes her eyes again, stretching out her senses to feel the light gentle against X's skin, the feel of the wind whistling around them, the tickle of small particulates brushing against their skin. "We're honored to have you, X."

X laughs, an eager, energetic sound. "I'm honored to be here."

Tachibana's smile grows just a little wider. They are so very lucky, to have X and Daichi—to have everyone in their team, really.

It's something she hopes none of them will ever take for granted.

Watching the way GUYS welcomes back Mebius, the way the half-dressed team that is clearly Mebius' companions bow to Daichi and urge Mirai to do the same, Tachibana suspects that they won't.

A well-functioning military unit should be close. They should trust each other, and care about each other, and know each other's strengths and skills.

Watching GUYS and Mirai, smiling down at Daichi and X, Tachibana thinks that with an Ultraman on the team, they somehow become a family, and she is perfectly all right with that result.