Kamen Rider Vitaz: As the Crow Flies
Author: Green Phantom Queen (with character permission from Myshiroyuki)
Rated: T
Summary: Yukio Kikaido met a strange white crow that lead him into the Nightmare Realm, where he is told by its rulers to look at another world that has its own problems...if only for a while.
Notes: This is a crossover between "Horseshoes and Hand Grenades" and "Kamen Rider Vitaz". This story will take place inbetween chapters 21 and 22 and "Kamen Rider Vitaz" and after "Horseshoes and Hand Grenades".
Prologue: Go Down the Rabbit Hole
"As the Crow Flies – The most direct way via a straight line between two lines."
-Idiom
"Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
"In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.
"The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well."
-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Yukio Kikaido knew only two things at the moment.
First, he was angry. After learning from Yukiteru that yes, he and his siblings did have a mother, and that their father not only killed Yuki Kikaido, but also forcibly wiped out any lingering memories of the kindly scientist out of his siblings, but now his father was trying to unleash something known as the "Master Virus". All of the anger that he had on his siblings was drained away—how could he be mad at them after seeing his own brother, his kin, become nothing more than an empty shell?
This lead to the second thing he knew: he was sad. Even though he wasn't able to cry, the tears fell down his face as he gently lead his brother to a warehouse far away from Shiho's apartment, where no one—especially his father—could find them. There, Yukio moved the crates aside to build a make-shift bed for Yukiteru. Later on, he'd find some books for his brother...if anything finding something that Yukiteru loved so much could bring a glimpse of his brother back...hopefully.
Walking towards a window, Yukio looked at the moon shining high in the sky, remembering how Yukiteru told him that the moon was made of cheese. A memory of him telling that to his family so proud that he knew such a fact about the world danced in his mind. He recalled how everyone laughed at him, telling him that Yukiteru was teasing him and began to tell him what the moon was really made out of. That day ended with the seven looking at the moon with a telescope, and telling each other that one day they would all ride a rocket ship into space.
Of course, that was nothing more than a memory...that's all he had left of his family.
Yukio watched Yukiteru look at the ceiling, not even blinking his eyes. When Yukio placed a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder, Yukiteru didn't even respond to it. Yukio clenched his free hand into a fist, knowing that he had to stop his father's madness before the world became corrupted by this so-called "Master Virus". He also had to find a way to get his siblings free from their father's corruption without having said father erase everything that made them...them.
For now, Yukio had to rest. His body was tired, and there was nothing he could do if he was tired. All he wanted to do was sleep. He knew that his father wouldn't be going after him for a while, and he had to make sure that he kept an eye on Yukiteru until something could be done.
"I promise that you'll be back to normal," he said, smiling at his older brother. "I'll end our father's madness."
Yukiteru didn't respond to the words, except with a simple tilt of his head. Yukio sighed as he sat against a wall, knees to his chest and arms wrapped around said knees. What could he do? If he told Shiho, Aki, Hana or Seiji about this, they could become easy targets for his other siblings. Not to mention, the four were powerless against the viruses. And asking Keiji to take over wouldn't do much help-one man was only able to accomplish so much by himself.
Moreover, he had no idea where Tsukasa went off to. The words that Kamen Rider Decade told him echoed in his mind...something about being needed in the future. It also made Yukio wonder if he could find other Kamen Riders to help. If Decade was there, what about the other Kamen Riders Hana seemed to adore?
"No..." Yukio shook his head. "There's no way I could go searching for other Kamen Riders...not right now."
As another sigh escapes his lips, he hears the sound of a loud "CAW!" He looks up and sees a peculiar bird looking at him. There were two things about it that made it so peculiar:
First, it was white. It seemed to be made out of light as it stretched its wings out and flew to Yukiteru. From the caw, Yukio knew that it was a crow...but he knew that there were no such things as a white crow.
Second, when Yukio saw the crow peck at Yukiteru's forehead, he could see that the crow had an additional leg. Once again, Yukio knew that crows only had two legs and not three...but perhaps it was a special crow?
"Caw!" said the crow, in a way that said "Of course I'm special." Yukio watched the crow land on his own shoulder, pecking at the android's ear before landing on Yukio's knees.
"What are you doing here?" Yukio asked. "Why do you need me?"
"CAW!" The crow let out a large caw as Yukio's vision was swarmed with light. All that he knew was that as the crow outstretched his wings once more, he began to fall. He tried to grab his cellphone to let him transform into Kamen Rider Vitaz, but all that was lost as it felt like he landed on the ground (Was it ground? Yukio couldn't tell at all) and everything turned black.
0-0-0-0-0
The next thing that Yukio knew, he heard the sounds of water in his ears. He opened his eyes, seeing a young boy in a white and black school uniform rowing in the water.
"W...where am I?" Yukio asked, looking around. He was in some underwater cavern with water, the only sound heard was the water splashing against the tiny boat he and the boy were on. "And who are you?"
"I'm Ramon!" the boy said cheerily. "And I'm rowing you across the River of Unrepentant Souls."
"River of...what?!" Yukio's voice bounced across the walls as he sat up. He looked at the water, seeing bodies submerged underneath. A pale hand rose out of the water, attempting to tip the boat over."
"Shoo!" Ramon said, whacking the hand with the oar. He sighed and turned to Yukio. "Keep your voice down. The souls here are sensitive to loud vibrations." He shook his head and continued to row. "Maybe I should've taken Jiro's advice and used you as a battery for Riki. Or perhaps it might've been better that Riki massage those knots in your body before I took you to see King Otoya."
"King...who?"
"Oh, that's right. You're new." Well," Ramon smiled as the boat made it to shore. "You'll see soon enough. Just keep walking and you'll find your way to the throne room. I have to go. I have a game of chess to play in a few minutes."
"Um..." Yukio slowly stepped out of the boat as he looked around him. He tried to talk to Ramon, but Ramon was already rowing back to wherever was back there. Knowing there was nothing else to do, Yukio continued to walk forward. A part of him wanted to know just where this place was. He'd ask Yukiteru about it, but quickly remembered that Yukiteru's memories were gone...everything about Yukiteru was wiped clean.
Shaking his head to forget his older brother's worries, Yukio eventually made it to the throne room. It was made out of obsidian, with two thrones: one for a man, another for a woman. The man, dressed in a tuxedo with a lily adorning his breast pocket, stood up.
"Welcome to the Nightmare Realm, my lad!" The man's voice boomed. "I am Otoya Kurenai, and this lady here..." he pointed to the woman in a black dress with a large pink pearl worn over her heart. "Is my beloved wife Maya. We are glad that you found our messenger."
"Nightmare Realm..." Yukio repeated. "I've never heard of a place like this..."
"It is a doorway to possibilities," Maya answered, smiling as her husband sat down. "In this world, there are doorways to new worlds, new people, new...souls. We felt your soul in need of help, and we wanted to cheer you up."
"But I don't need cheering up!" Yukio protested. "I need to keep an eye on Yukiteru...I have to get back to my world and..."
"Not so fast!" Otoya interrupted, leaning forward. "We heard from our friend Tsukasa of the breakdown you had back at the party. So he asked us to take you on a 'vacation' so to speak. Don't worry—I'll ask Jiro, Ramon and Riki to take care of your brother while you're gone. He's safe until you return."
"I don't know," Yukio frowned. Something about this whole situation just didn't sit well with him. "Could you at least explained that strange crow that came to the warehouse?"
"Oh, that is a messenger from a world that has been troubled for a while," Maya sighed. "It is a yatagarasu, a crow that is shown to give divine messages of hope. However, its avatar has become corrupted and it is hoping to find someone to help that avatar before bad things arise. I wish there was more we could explain more about it but..."
"Why tell you when we can show you?" Otoya grinned as he clapped his hands. "We will send you as an observer to that world. You will stay there for...about a week or less, and help out in fighting monsters in the name of justice. Who knows? We might broaden your perspective."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Yukio inquired as Otoya waved his hand. He watched as a door materialized in front of him. It was a black door marked with a symbol of a winged serpent biting its own tail. The door opened and a large gust of wind began to drag the android in. "Because I don't think this is a good IDEA!"
The last word was drowned out by the door closing shut before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Otoya sighed as he looked to his dear wife, knowing just what was on her mind. Even though the two of them were the rulers of the Nightmare Realm, there were things that they were unable to interfere with, try as they might. All they could do was hope for the best, which really wasn't the best course of action but the best thing they could do at this particular moment.
"He'll be all right," Otoya said to reassure his wife. "Kamen Riders always get out of any situation, no matter how dire. We just have to believe in them."
"I know," Maya whispered, closing her eyes. "Yet I fear that believing won't be enough...not for those poor souls anyway."
0-0-0-0-0
"3...2...1...Liftoff!"
Yuki Jojima's rocket alarm clock let out a roar at 7:00 AM, telling her it was time to wake up. Even though it was Golden Week, she didn't want to rest. She couldn't rest after what she learned, and saw, about Gentaro Kisaragi. No, she just wanted to sleep.
Still, she wouldn't be able to do that with her alarm clock sounding like it was heading to Mars. She lifted her hand and slammed her hand on the button that turned off the alarm until tomorrow morning. She yawned as she rolled to her side...
And was face to face with a strange boy in her bed.
"Um...hi there," the boy said, waving hello. "And uh...good morning?"
The next thing that could be heard in the house was Yuki Jojima's screams.