A/N: Takes place post-season two in which Ai is the only surviving Ignis.

Takeru opened his eyes in morning haziness, and forgot the contents of his dreams by the time he stretched his arms above his head with a yawn. Sunlight was filtering through his window and his bones ached from sleeping in an awkward position. It was a Saturday morning so it didn't matter that he had slept in. Besides, Den City High was on summer vacation and he had returned to living permanently at his grandparents' house.

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he reached blindly onto his nightstand for his glasses. After a few unsuccessful attempts of playing claw machine, his fingers found the green rims. Takeru pushed himself upright on the bed, shoving his glasses onto his face with all the grace of an uncoordinated monkey. He ran a hand through his hair, brushing his bangs to the side and out of his eyes.

Still half-asleep but driven by the need for food, Takeru swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood. He reached under his baggy shirt and scratched at his stomach, distantly recalling a time where he had gone days without eating and food had been a godsend.

He instantly pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. No, he wouldn't think about it right now. Today was a new day and he couldn't let the past hold him down. He had done far too much lingering on the past and he needed to keeping moving forward.

Takeru left his room, slowly making his way through the hallway and down the stairs. His grandparents were nowhere to be seen, probably off running a morning errand, but there was a bowl of food left on the table for him. They had made him breakfast before they left.

He sat down on the tatami, sending up a quick prayer before digging into his meal. Sometimes he forgot how grateful he should have been to his grandparents. They had taken care of him for the past ten years, especially when he had lost his way. Kiku had been a big help too, and then there was-

Takeru froze, his grip on his chopsticks tightening. He took a deep breath before forcing himself to untense. He continued to eat, keeping his thoughts from straying to black and red and bright yellow eyes.

He chewed his rice slowly and focused on the task, not allowing his mind to track back to Link VRAINS and a certain AI. The rice seemed grainier than usual, and the cold, grilled fish could have been meatier, but he was anything but picky. He'd eat anything that was put in front of him after what he lived through as a child.

Once he was done, he placed his chopsticks across the bowl and got to his feet. He was thirsty. How had he forgotten water? He found a cup on the counter and filled it at the tap, bringing it to his lips and downing it in no time at all as soon as he turned the faucet off. He placed the cup into the sink, began to walk away, and then came to the realization that he should probably clean up after himself and save his grandparents the trouble. They had made him breakfast, so the least he could do was wash the dishes.

He retrieved his bowl from the table before returning to the sink. Turning the faucet to one of the hottest settings, he added soap to a sponge and began to wash the other dishes left in the sink. He didn't mind; it served as a distraction from his thoughts and the hot water kept him focused on the task. The burn of his fingers tugged at his memory but he narrowed his eyes, stuck his tongue out in concentration, and hastened his washing.

Takeru placed the last of the dishes into the drying rack with a small feeling of triumph. Now that that was done, what was he to do now? Kiku was busy today with her parents and his own grandparents had their own lives to attend to so there was a good chance that they wouldn't entertain him today. There were no TV shows on at this hour and no books really interested him. Maybe he could visit Den City and see Yusaku?

"When was the last time I saw Yusaku, anyways?" He continued his monologue out loud, figuring that he was home alone and needed the sound to fill the emptiness of the house. "We beat Lightning... what, two months ago? ... Has it already been that long?"

He laughed to himself, locking his fingers behind his head in a laid back manner as he leaned back leisurely. "I wonder how Ai is doing, now that he's all alone..."

"Hah," Takeru smiled, trying to fight back the sadness clawing in his chest. "He must be so, so lonely, all by himself..."

Without being conscious of it, he had found himself in front the bathroom. Yeah, maybe a shower would take his mind off things. He retrieved a mismatched pair of shirt and shorts from his room before returning to the bathroom and running the shower. He undressed, leaving his clothes in a ball on the floor that he would probably forget to grab later, and left his glasses on the counter before stepping into the shower.

The hot water burned his skin, but he welcomed the heat. He had always preferred things hot. Besides, the steam was alleviating some of the tension in his bones and the aches from sleeping were fading.

He squirted some no-name brand of shampoo into his hands and worked at his scalp, bubbles mingling with white and red locks. Maybe he should get a haircut. Washing his hair was becoming a pain, especially with how long it was getting. The last time he cut it was before leaving for Den City with Flame.

Takeru's fingers stopped and he took a shuddering breath. He forced himself to keep washing his hair, digging his nails into his scalp and scratching vigorously and oh god he missed Flame-

Takeru crumpled to his knees, the burning water still raining down on him, but he didn't care about that. Flame had been gone for two months now and Takeru couldn't lie to himself any longer about the emptiness in his chest. He curled in on himself, pressing his hands to his face to keep his tears at bay and hold himself together.

"Flame," he whimpered, but it was hardly audible over the patter of water against the acrylic bathtub. He must have looked unbearably pathetic right now, crying on the floor in the shower, but reality was finally catching up to him.

After Windy had cursed Flame, the latter had come out on top. However, Flame had died shortly after reabsorbing Windy. Takeru had thought that beating Lightning and Bohman would return everything back to normal, but that had not been the case. Link VRAINS had been returned to normal, everyone's consciousnesses had been restored, and the network had been saved. However, none of the Ignis came back; Ai had been the sole survivor, as he had not been absorbed by Bohman.

Takeru had hoped and prayed and wished for Flame to come back, to reincarnate just like he had, but the Ignis never did. His Duel Disk never flared to life, and Takeru had felt the fire die in his chest. Flame was gone for good, and he had to accept it.

It amazed Takeru how fast Flame had weaseled his way into his Origin's life. The first time Takeru had met the Ignis, he had been ready to slam a suitcase on his Duel Disk. Through their duels in Link VRAINS when he was Soulburner and their time together with Yusaku, Ai, and Kusanagi, they had bonded in a way Takeru could have never dreamed of.

Flame had given Takeru a reason to live - a purpose. If the AI had not found Takeru, he was sure he would still be picking fights and living as a shut-in. Although they poked fun at one another and constantly butted heads, Flame was his partner.

And despite dying, Flame had lived up to his name (written indomitable soul dream, pronounced Flame) when he had conquered Windy. Flame had fought to the very end - up until his fire was extinguished.

Takeru choked a sob, tightening his fists around handfuls of his hair. As much as he wanted to wallow in his sorrow, he knew Flame wouldn't want him mourning over him. If anything, the AI would want Takeru to get back up and continue fighting. That had been the point of his reincarnation: to keep living.

Slowly, he became re-aware of the burning water against his skin and the steam fogging up the room. Right. He couldn't waste anymore time crying over this. Flame would want him to keep living his life.

Takeru pushed himself up using the side of the bathtub, legs numb from falling asleep. He finished washing out his hair, and he cleaned his body without much thought. He stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel from the cabinet to dry himself. He got redressed and threw the towel over his head, keeping the water from dripping onto his clothes.

He glanced at himself in the mirror with a small sense of criticism. His eyes were slightly red, pretty much unnoticeable unless someone leaned in and stared at him meticulously. His nose was somewhat stuffy after his crying, but he would be fine in a few hours. Probably.

Placing his glasses against the bridge of his nose, he bent down to grab his dirty clothes and headed back to his room. He threw the bundle into his laundry hamper and resolved to doing laundry sometime later. In the meantime, he flopped back onto his bed in a new bout of exhaustion. Despite sleeping about ten hours last night, Takeru felt as though he could sleep another five.

In a quick moment of impulse, he snatched his Duel Disk from his nightstand and did a quick scan over it. Of course, like the other hundreds of times he had done a similar check, the Disk was empty. His cards - his trusty Salamangreats - sat exactly where he had left them, but the screen was dark. Nothing had changed since he left Den City.

With a slight frown, he shut his eyes. Sleep sounded good right about now. There was nothing to do anyways, so it wasn't like he was wasting anyone's time besides his own. Maybe he would take a train to Den City when he woke up.

It must have been twenty minutes later when Takeru was half-asleep that he heard a noise. He was too tired and didn't have the willpower to make himself care, so he kept his eyes shut.

To his annoyance, something was bright. He was laying on his Duel Disk so maybe he leaned too hard against it and hit the power button, activating the system's old automatic AI. Or maybe he rolled over onto the TV remote and accidentally turned it on. Re-evaluating the situation, it was probably his Duel Disk.

There was a muffled noise that came from below his neck bones and how did he fall asleep on his Duel Disk like this? It was pressing uncomfortably against his skin and it was beginning to actually hurt. Plus, the automated AI was starting to become annoying. He'd have to get up and turn it off.

Pushing past his tiredness and rolling himself onto his side, he realized he had fallen asleep on his Duel Disk -

"Takeru!"

- and that a familiar black, red, and yellow eye stared back at him.

Takeru's mouth fell agape and he didn't fight the tears beginning to prick at his eyes. "Please don't tell me I'm dreaming."

The eye disappeared and Flame, who surely must have been smiling, rose from the Disk with his arms crossed. "I would hope you don't dream about me."

"Oh shut up, you," Takeru laughed, tears trailing down his face. "You can tell me all about how you're an indomitable soul dream and how you reincarnated after you give me a hug."

"Anything for you, Partner."

A/N: This was a request from Elfin Fan. Thanks again! To my other readers, feel free to send requests!