JT AMINO Challenge: #BrightSkies
Bright skies remind us all of the great possibilities, life gives us, and reminds us, that even after the darkest of nights, the sun will rise. Hopefully, all our futures will be as bring to the skies.
A/N: My babies deserve the best. Resurrection AU. 4 Parts fic!
And I'm dead because this was the end of me...
Hope you enjoy.
Part 1. Dotsuku and Niwatori
Dotsuku opened his eyes to meet the brightest sky he had ever seen in his life and his first thought was that he was in heaven. He had died. He had lost. And all in a so foolish way. He didn't blame the other warrior, she had only made her job and it was his own fault for letting his guard down: it had been a cunning move from her and he needed to congratulate her for being able to fool him.
He felt something soft under him and looking at his side he saw the elegant green field of grass that he was in, having no memory of how he got there yet he knew that place pretty well: it was where he and his daughter went to play every day after school. He smiled as in his memory he could hear the happy cries of his little friend while he chased her when playing tag and only there he faced the reality of his selfishness: What was going to happen to her? She was still a kid and now, once again, she had no one in this world to take care of her.
Some steps were heard coming his way, what made him get up from his laying position. The unexpected then appeared in front of his eyes: wearing a red formal suit unlike the revealing outfit that she'd wear in the Taisen stood a shy looking Chicken warrior, throwing him a small apologetic smile "I thought it seemed a familiar figure."
The Dog watched her every single move, still a little cautious about her presence and she knew it, what made her look down at the ground ashamed.
She shouldn't be ashamed, she knew it, she needed to do whatever it was needed to be done to win, even if things had turned the way they did. But she still remembered the way that Monkey had talked to her and it made her think twice about her actions so she was glad to have a new opportunity to apologize.
"I'm sorry."
"You just did what a normal warrior would do. There's no need to apologize, I think." He simply commented, looking away from her to stare back at the scene in front of him. The gentle breeze made the grass move slightly, and Dotsuku knew better than to overthink about things that couldn't be changed.
He heard some movements from Niwatori and didn't even needed to turn to knew she had sat down next to him, watching the same scene he was focusing while the two stood in a complete silence for some minutes until the Chicken started talking again.
"C-Can we... Start over?"
Dotsuku wasn't sure what to answer at first, yet his body knew exactly what he wanted to say even before his brain could react, he wanted to trust her once again, this time without underestimating the amazing warrior that she hid behind her shy facade.
"Sure."
Part 2. Tatsumi brothers.
The younger brother was, a little surprisingly, the first one to wake up in the usual apartment the two brothers lived in. The bright sun that came through the window's curtain that had been left open because someone had forgotten to close them had caused him to open his eyes due to the brightness and he couldn't go back to sleep so he decided to do something.
He walked to his brother's room yet he wasn't there so he went to search for him, having a weird feeling of need to see him. They were always close and it was really rare the occasions where they were separated and when that happened it caused both a certain discomfort.
Snake then finally found his brother sleeping on the couch, his back turned to him as he was facing the furniture's back so he took his change and jumped on top of him, instantly waking him up in surprise "What the hell? Can't a person just sleep in this house?"
The grumpy dragon pushed the Snake away, who was laughing at the successful mission "Geez, you would spend half of your life sleeping if you could."
The older brother got up too, stretching his arms, and seeing the full image of his brother's intact body caused him to forget his grumpiness and show a small smile "Good to see you have your head back in the game."
"It's good that you went back to be the guy you used to be, instead of being just half of it." The other fought back immediately, giving a small chuckle "Seems like things weren't exactly as planned heh? At least now we're together once again, no matter the reason."
"We're the Tatsumi brothers. Always better together, no matter the situation." Dragon returned the smile and tackled his brother in a so much needed hug, it had been so painful to see him die so easily and so early that they hadn't been able to show their amazing teamwork and he wouldn't let this new opportunity to be together once again be wasted.
"Just admit that without my amazing help you couldn't do anything."
"Whatever." He commented, closing his eyes as he held him tighter, feeling some tears forming in his eyes as he silently promised himself to do a better job as acting like a good big brother that would protect his younger sibling.
Part 3. Tora and Ushii
Ushii was, for probably the first time in his life, confused. He wasn't sure of what had happened: He remembered being straddled by a zombified warrior of the Monkey and being confronted by the Rat, he still remembered seeing the smiling and peaceful expression of the Tiger's deceased face before a white light took over and then once he opened his eyes again, he was on a busy street, people walking around such like any other day and to other's that non-warriors vision it was just a normal day, no signs of any death battle occurring any time soon.
What could have had happened? He asked himself yet a child scream caught his attention and made him look in that direction. It wasn't just one but two children playing tag, laughing as they chase one another until something clicked on his head when hearing a particular sentence coming from one of them before giving the other a bump for them to not go against a tree "Hey, watch out!" The first one had said, stopping their small game" Why are you so clumsy, you would get hurt."
The small moment between the children had somehow triggered a memory on his head. He looked around frantically at every single side as his brain was reconstructing the battle that had happened in that precise place. He remembered perfectly they way the warrior of the Tiger had sacrificed herself to protect him from a sneak attack from the Rabbit and if he was there, alive and without any signs of wounds then maybe, just maybe the Tiger would also still be alive.
A certain despair started to be felt when he didn't manage to find the ginger hair along the crowd but he refused to stop looking, now he could have a chance to pay her back for having saved him.
But then he remembered the trail he had made in an attempt to save her and almost as an instinct, his feet walked him in the same way, soon meeting the familiar scenario of the tree where Tora had given her last words.
He finally found her, laying down with her back against the tree while stretching her arms up to the sky and letting out a yawn as if she was just waking up, yet to confirm his theories he still heard her mutter "How did I even fell asleep here? My back hurt."
She didn't remember ever falling asleep there, she loved to drink, yes but she always was able to remember to go back home and never pass out in the street yet she had a strange feeling of why she was there.
"Tora" A strong, familiar voice rang in her ears and no matter where she would be she would always recognize that voice. She looked up, ignoring all of her previous complains, as she saw the tall form of the warrior of the Ox, standing right in front of her.
"What are you doing here?" Tora asked, after a while as she was trying to take in the facts. She knew she had died, why was she still alive? This didn't make any sense and she wasn't drunk enough to find a logical, or even illogical, solution, the only thing she could think was that some idiot had wasted their wish in resurrecting all of them.
"I'm just doing the right thing." He simply stated, following his own philosophy.
"So, you wished that your rival would be resurrected?" The female asked, assuming that the obvious winner would be the Ox.
"I didn't win." He commented, a little ashamed to admit it as he knew the Ox clan wouldn't be really happy at that time "But I wouldn't call you a rival after you'd saved my life. I would rather call you a comrade or even a partner"
"H-Heh..." The tiger couldn't help but feel rather bashful under the compliment, after all, she never expected to hear that coming from the so famous genius of slaughter yet she still wanted him to remember her... Maybe... "Can I ask you something?" He gave her a small nod, only then she continued "You do the right thing, but how do you do it?"
He smiles and holds out his hand to her, who takes it and supports herself to get up "I think I've already said it to you before and you don't seem to be a person that needs things to be said twice. On the other side, would you like to go for a drink? I believe we have some things to catch up."
Their hands don't let go of each other, almost as if they were magnets impossible to break away but none of them noticed it. Tora was smiling more brightly than she ever remembered and nodded "That sounds great. "
Part 4. Misaki and Nezumi
Sharyu is wide awake yet she doesn't understand how she was back in the tunnels she had been with Nezumi. She remembered parting ways with the student warrior as she went to face the Rabbit so why was she there again?
"It was my wish." His familiar voice caused her to turn around to see the Rat, who was making his way to her while yawning " See it as a Thank you."
"Your wish...?"
"They were all resurrected. I'm sure they are all somewhere where they have good memories of. " He continued as if knowing the details she wanted to know of. He knew her pure heart would want to know what the destiny of the other warriors was too, it was the generosity that the Monkey had no matter if they were her enemies.
"You... Did you use your wish for everybody of us? But... Will we even remember the battle?"
"You all still have the battle memories, at least this one where I won. It might be confusing but I have a feeling they'll be able to let the past go."
Nezumi hoped she wouldn't ask for many explanations as he honestly didn't know how things worked himself, he just trusted that his wish would be fulfilled and every warrior would have a second opportunity to live their lives without being forced to do their warriors responsibilities, at least for more twelve years.
Luckily for him, Sharyu just showed him a maternal, genuine smile and playfully ruffled his hair like a mother playing with her child "I knew you would find a good solution"
The bright sky that shone that day could be ignored by everybody else, mistaking it as just another regular thing in life yet for the warriors it was different because they all knew that they had been given another chance and they couldn't be more glad for that.