King of the Mountain
Summary: Kamen Rider Gaim. It was an empty victory, but the fighting would never stop until only one remained standing. It was always going to be Kouta.
Author's Note: If you download the full theme song the later verses HAS AWFUL FORESHADOWING. Speculation for the end of the series. (and oh my god so does the first scene of the show don't go back and rewatch it if you value your mental health)
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Live like you're always taking the stage
You gotta keep winning or get pushed to the edge
The war will never end
Until only one remains standing
-Gaim no Kaze ("Just Live More") by Shōnan no Kaze
Kouta was on his knees as he looked over the field that was covered in Inves corpses. He laughed humorlessly and it wasn't until he found himself gasping for breath he realized that somewhere along the way his laughter turned into sobbing and that his eyes were streaming tears he had long thought he lost the ability to shed.
"Why did this happen…" He moaned breathlessly, getting to his feet on shaky legs. His Sengoku driver was discarded on the ground beside him, broken. Kouta considered picking it up, but then he remembered that Kaito and Micchi were lying among the corpses because of this…this belt—so instead he kicked it, sending it tumbling down the rocks. It wasn't satisfying.
He was stumbling through the bodies, tripping over the hard shells and claws of outstretched Inves and trying his best to avoid puddles of blood. He found Baron first, his fist still tightly clenching his lock seed and his face into the ground. Kouta turned him over as gently as he could, gasping in horror at the marred state of his face. Deep gashes ran over one eye and his lip was torn open in several places, crusted over with blood that had darkened into a brown.
Kaito said he wanted to be the strongest. The weak didn't deserve to live.
Even he fell.
Kouta wanted to throw up, but he had nothing left in his stomach. He continued his trek across the battlefield, disgusted with his desire to find and identify everyone's body. It was the morbid idea of not being able to turn away from a car crash.
Well.
Bravo, for all intents and purposes, didn't look like he should be dead: not if you were only looking at his face, anyway. Kouta would never understand the older man's fascination with jewelry and makeup, but with the pink lipstick faded he looked…wrong, somehow.
Defeated.
Even still, Kouta wasn't entirely sorry for his loss. He felt bad, sure, but not the same gut-wrenching grief he felt at Yuuya or Hase's death. In a way, you could hold Bravo responsible for his death—he made his own choices—he dug his own grave.
Gaim wasn't sure if he had much sympathy left to go around for everyone else.
Jonouchi was half-buried under the corpse of an Inves not too far away. When Kouta moved the monster he found out he was wrong—Jonouchi wasn't half buried. Half of him was missing. Kouta tripped over his own feet in an attempt to escape the gruesome sight. His breaths came out in wheezing heaves and more tears squeezed themselves from his eyes.
I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry…
It wasn't too long ago Jonouchi was smiling on stage and dancing with his team. God, what had happened? Where did they go so wrong? Kouta screamed in anguished rage and fell to the ground, clawing at the dirt with his bare hands. Why couldn't have Jonouchi been a coward just one more time? Why didn't he run?
He should have run.
Kouta lifted his head, feeling a numbness prickle every nerve on his body as he saw two figures lying before him. He knew exactly who they were.
Micchi. Why?
His body was the most intact—the least injured. Actually, if Kouta ignored everything else around him, he could trick himself into believing the younger was just asleep. His lips were paler than they should have been, his hair more tangled than he would've ever let it get—but maybe he'd open his eyes and apologize for betraying Gaim; for betraying all his friends. Maybe he'd open his eyes so Kouta wouldn't have to be alone.
Micchi wasn't going to open his eyes, though. And neither would Takatora, who was but three feet away from his brother, his arm splayed out to his side as though he were reaching for him. At first, Gaim didn't understand why Micchi had joined Yggdrasil, until he realized it was for the same reasons he had opposed Yggdrasil. They both wanted to protect the world and what was left of their families. How could Kouta hate Micchi for that?
The world was saved, but all of his friends were dead.
It didn't feel like a victory.
Kouta closed his eyes as he above the battlefield, over the carnage wrecked. The wind blew as though it could carry away everything that was done.
The war was over, but he was the last one standing. Maybe it was always destined to be him.
The world was saved.
Kaito was lying in his own blood.
The war was over.
Micchi was dead next to his brother.
Kouta had won.
No, he hadn't.