Story Title: Walking Tall
Chapter Title: 2. Tangible Identity
Author: Heleentje
Rating: T
Word Count: 8686
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX.
Notes: The chapter that just kept going... And going... And going. Next chapter probably won't be this long. Probably.
2. Tangible Identity
One thing Juudai hadn't been looking forward to was explaining Chiyoko to his parents. However hard they had been trying, they still weren't completely okay with their son traveling across several dimensions and wielding the powers of darkness. Yubel had complained about it often enough, and while Juudai understood their reluctance very well, it still hurt. Explaining to them that they were now grandparents? Not exactly in his top ten of favorite things to do.
Still, putting it off had never done him any good, so upon returning from the Dark World, only a few days after they'd left Marastre for a final, lackluster scan of the area, they stopped in Japan first.
If anything, Juudai's parents were always glad to see him, and this time was no exception. His mother ushered him and Yubel in and hugged them both, but didn't ask about the baby. Biding her time until his father joined them, Juudai decided. He didn't complain. It gave him some time to calm down a restless Chiyoko. Japan was very different from the Dark World and all the new impressions were starting to overwhelm the baby.
It only took a few minutes for his father to join them. He too looked curious about the baby, but only when they'd all settled down did he ask about her.
"So Juudai, what have you been up to?"
Juudai considered avoiding the subject, but decided to just bite the bullet. "Uh yeah, about that. You guys have probably been wondering about her?"
Juudai's parents shifted uncomfortably. Juudai took it as a yes.
"This is Chiyoko. We, uh, adopted her."
"She's our daughter," Yubel said.
His parents… Took it better than he'd expected. His mother took a long drink and his father sighed.
"I rather expected something like that when I saw you with her," he said. "But Juudai, you're only twenty-one. Aren't you too young to raise a child?"
"Papa, we couldn't just abandon her. Her parents are probably dead."
"This is one of those things we won't be able to change your mind on, is it?"
"No," Juudai and Yubel said simultaneously.
Juudai's mother drank again, then put down her glass with a decisive clink.
"Have you thought about how you're going to raise her?" she asked. "A baby takes time and effort. Are you going to stop traveling around?"
She looked like she wouldn't mind. Juudai shook his head. "We… Can't. I have a duty as protector of this universe. But we'll probably take shorter trips whenever possible. I think Johan can take care of her if we really have to leave."
"Johan? Your friend from Europe?" It was the first time that his mother sounded outright disapproving. "Are you really going to drop off our granddaughter with someone on the other side of the world? Do you really think we don't want to take care of her?"
Whoops. Bit of a misstep there. "It's not that!" Juudai hastened to correct. "You guys would do great. Probably better than myself. But the thing is, Chiyoko isn't human. She's not from this world. Her parents… I believe they were a Different Dimension Survivor and Different Dimension Warrior Woman."
He'd looked that up as soon as his laptop had connected to the internet again. Miryam had been right in saying that Chiyoko's mother had been Different Dimension Warrior Woman, and while the card art for Different Dimension Survivor wasn't very clear, the resemblance with the man in the picture was uncanny.
"What difference does it make that she's not human?" his father asked. How things changed. Five years ago, it would have made his parents freak out.
"Yubel?" Juudai whispered. She nodded and at once stopped using her powers on Chiyoko. The baby lost her solid form. For his parents, it must've looked like she'd disappeared in thin air.
"What-"
"Chiyoko is a spirit," Juudai said. His eyes glowed briefly and his daughter reappeared. "The only reason she's solid now is because we're keeping her that way. When we're gone she'll revert to her spirit form and you guys won't be able to see her. Johan can see spirits."
"I don't like that," Juudai's mother said. "I don't want her to be on the other side of the world. Don't shut us out, Juudai."
"If there was another solution… I can ask Manjoume or Hayato, then she'll still be in Japan."
It clearly wasn't to his parents' liking, but it was the best he could offer.
"Juudai, we know we haven't been the best of parents, and I can't say I really understand what all this darkness protecting the universe stuff is about, but please let us help with this," his father said slowly. Pleadingly. Juudai rocked Chiyoko in his arms. He knew his parents loved him and genuinely wanted the best for him. He knew they were trying their best to understand. It wasn't always enough.
"We probably won't have to leave anytime soon," he said. A peace offer.
"We'd be honored if you could help us," Yubel said, voice stilted. She didn't like speaking in situations like these. "We could use your experience."
"Yes… Yes of course." And then his mother was up and about, all barely contained energy. "Have you thought about the paperwork yet? Obviously you can't say she's not human, so we'll have to find a solution for that, but she looks human enough, right? Do you have clothes? Food? You can stay here for a while. I think we still have your crib."
She bustled upstairs. Juudai's father looked after his wife with the slightly stunned expression he always got when she got like this. Finally he just shook his head and looked back at Juudai.
"Chiyoko's a pretty name," he said.
"Yubel chose it."
Yubel smiled tentatively and Juudai's father smiled back. He shifted.
"Well, this is unexpected…" He swallowed. "So, Juudai. If she's my granddaughter- Can I hold her?"
Juudai smiled widely as he handed over the baby. He still had to inform all his friends, and there were so many things he hadn't even considered yet, but somehow, he thought, it would probably be okay.
oOoOo
Manjoume called him an idiot. Then he called the Ojamas idiots for fawning over 'Chiyo-chan', but even so, he still agreed to help forge a birth certificate. Juudai just hoped no one would look at it too closely. He couldn't very well tell the city registry that he'd just found her. That was one legal mess he did not want to get into.
"You owe me for this, Juudai," Manjoume grumbled, picking up the phone and dialing. "Of course you'd do something like thi- Yes, hello. I need to talk to Chosaku. Yes. Tell him it's his brother. Jun. No, it very much can't wait!"
Silence on the other side. Juudai thought he could hear hold music. Chiyoko tried to free herself from Juudai's arms and crawl onto Manjoume's desk.
"Isn't she adorable, Aniki?" Ojama Yellow gushed. Chiyoko reached out to him, but lost her balance, and Juudai quickly pulled her back onto his lap. "Look, she likes us. Hello, Chiyo-chan!"
"Be quiet, will you? I- Yes, Chosaku, it's me. I need a birth certificate."
Juudai could hear shouting on the other side. Manjoume shouted right back.
"What? No, I don't have an illegitimate chi- I don't need a press cover-up! Will you listen to me?" He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It's for Yuuki Juudai, from school. He picked up a kid. Yes, I know."
He covered the receiver with one hand. "Okay, he'll do it. You'll need a birth date, no more than fourteen days ago. Actually, make that a week. Chosaku's going to need time to have the certificate made."
"She's at least four months old!" Juudai protested.
"You need to register within fourteen days, or you're going to have trouble at the registry. You don't need to take her with you, so they won't check."
"Fine then." Juudai set himself to answering Manjoume's questions, who relayed them to his brother over the phone. After almost half an hour, they finally settled on Domino City as a birthplace and finished the list. Manjoume hung up.
"Chosaku should have it by the end of the week. I'm going to have to sit through a lot of family dinners for this one, so don't think I'm going to let you forget this."
"Thanks, Manjoume." Juudai grinned. "I guess you won't be babysitting, then?"
"Get out of here, Juudai."
Juudai cheerfully hummed a tune as he walked towards the elevator in Manjoume's building. Time to go tell his other friends.
Neither Kaiser nor Edo called him an idiot and neither needed to; the look on their faces said more than enough. Edo quite empathically told him to find another babysitter. Juudai didn't tell him that he hadn't really been on the list of options to begin with. He suspected that Edo might actually be disappointed.
Shou was a bit more enthusiastic than his brother, but when Juudai offered to let him carry Chiyoko, he backed away with wide eyes, and only ever dared to take the baby's hand. Chiyoko immediately latched on to his finger and didn't let go until it was time to leave. Grabbing things was quickly becoming one of her favorite pastimes, and she much preferred living creatures. She'd just started crawling, and Pharaoh was quickly becoming one of her favorite targets.
Fubuki-san predictably loved Chiyoko, and Asuka just shook her head, a bit sadly, when he told her, but she too seemed to take a liking to the baby. Juudai had never really doubted that Johan would be enthusiastic about the baby, and he had been right. Despite the Gem Beasts' mockery, Chiyoko was immediately approved of by Johan and his family. So when he asked Johan to babysit, what he really didn't expect was a no.
"I'm flattered, really," Johan said with a glance at Yubel. "I mean, really, it means a lot that you'd trust me with her. But I can't."
Juudai shook his head, still trying to get over his surprise. "I'm sure you'll do fine-"
"No, I mean, I literally can't take care of her. I'm physically incapable," Johan interrupted. "What happens when you guys are gone? In this world, spirits aren't tangible. I won't even be able to touch her, let alone take care of her."
"What about the Gem Beasts?"
"We're rather lacking in the opposable thumbs department," said Amethyst Cat.
"We absolutely can't take her with us if we have to go anywhere," Juudai said softly. "I won't let her get hurt. But I can't not go either." He held out his arms and Chiyoko started crawling over to him, then changed course with a happy, "Fa!" when she spotted Pharaoh.
"Can't you make her solid permanently or something?" Topaz Tiger said. "She looks human enough. No one'd notice."
That was true. Chiyoko's features were a kind of eclectic mix that would make her look foreign no matter where on earth she went, but she would still be able to pass for a human baby with little trouble.
"No." Yubel hadn't spoken yet, but now she did, and she didn't look particularly happy with the turn the conversation had taken. "I don't want her solid permanently. You people always get stuck the moment you're in danger. I want her to be able to escape whenever she's in trouble."
Juudai nodded, ignoring the dig that had probably been aimed at Johan anyway. She made a good point. Of course, that still didn't solve their problem.
"Okay. How about something she can hold on to. An item, something she can wear. Wait, can you do that?" Johan said, looking at Juudai. "Transfer your powers to something else?"
"Never tried it. You mean give her a necklace or something?"
"Maybe not a necklace, but…You know those golden ID bracelets? She wouldn't be able to take it off easily and it's no danger to her."
"Johan-kun makes a good suggestion, but may I propose silver instead of gold? The alchemical properties of silver are highly suited for conducting magic and the supernatural," said Daitokuji-sensei. Juudai wondered if he should be worried about the slightly manic expression on his face. "While both silver and gold are part of the seven alchemical symbols of alchemy, silver works extraordinarily well for the purpose you intend, far better than gold. You can use it as a base material for-"
"Sensei, you know I'm no good with alchemy. We'll take your word for it," Juudai said with a grin. Daitokuji-sensei looked sorely disappointed and muttered something about fusions and perfect examples.
"A bracelet will work," Yubel said. She picked up Chiyoko before she could reach Pharaoh. Chiyoko made a face, and for a moment Juudai thought she was going to cry, but then she spotted Ruby flying next to her and reached out her arms. Ruby headbutted her softly and Chiyoko laughed loudly.
"Shouldn't we try it out first? I don't know if I can actually transfer my powers to anything, and those bracelets are expensive," Juudai said. Johan nodded, deep in thought. Then he leapt up with a quick, "Hold on," and disappeared into his bedroom. He returned several minutes later, carrying a small box.
"Almost didn't find it. I haven't looked at this one in years," he said, something wistful in his voice. He opened the box and fished out a small golden bracelet like the one he'd suggested Chiyoko wear. It was clearly nowhere near the size of an adult's wrist.
"This was mine. It's gold, so it might not work as well, but then we'll know if it works."
Juudai carefully accepted the bracelet. Johan's name was engraved onto the tag, with his birth date on the other side. He started channeling his powers into the bracelet, then thought better of it and got up.
"Be right back."
The place he disappeared to was one he didn't like spending much time in. There was a space between the twelve dimension, called the Dimensional Crossroads by the few dimensional travelers he'd met. Whenever they crossed over to another dimension, they would pass through the Crossroads, but normally he never spent enough time there to take in the sights. It was a weird place, to say the least. All the dimensions could be seen here, all in their own little sphere, and sometimes, if he looked hard enough, Juudai could almost make out the individual planets and lands. It was unnerving more often than not, but right now, it was ideal for his purposes.
He sat down onto thin air and focused on the small piece of jewelry in his hand. It shouldn't be all that hard, if he just concentrated… It was important. With this, he could keep Chiyoko safe and well-cared for. The thought made him start pouring his power into the gold, until it was glowing and hot to the touch. Only when it started to hurt to keep hold of the metal did he stop. He studied the bracelet critically. It didn't look much different from before, but he could feel his own power emanating from it. Satisfied, he nodded and reappeared in Johan's living room.
"There, that should do the trick," he announced, giving the bracelet to Chiyoko to hold and concentrated on halting the flow of power he was using to keep her visible. It was almost second nature by now – his eyes didn't even change color anymore.
Chiyoko's image wavered for a second, going slightly see-through, but a moment later she returned to her solid form. She tried to stick the bracelet into her mouth.
"Don't do that," Yubel admonished gently, pulling her hand away from her mouth. She sniffled.
"Seems to have worked. But why couldn't you do it here?" Johan asked.
Instead of replying, Juudai freed the bracelet from Chiyoko's grasp without reactivating his powers. Then he held it up in front of her. She grabbed it and immediately turned solid again.
"I went to a place between dimensions, so right now the bracelet isn't technically part of this dimension anymore. This way she can pick up the bracelet herself if she loses it."
"And she wouldn't have been able to if it had been a part of this dimension. She would have just phased right through it," Johan concluded. Juudai nodded.
"I didn't know if it'd work, but it seems to be fine."
"We'll have to get her a proper one for herself." Yubel, eyes glowing faintly, took the bracelet from Chiyoko again. She tossed it at Johan. "Here. That's yours."
"She can keep it if she wants, you know."
"I'd rather not."
Johan shrugged and gave the bracelet to Ruby, who cheerfully zoomed off with it, forgot she was now solid, and smacked into the doorframe. Juudai smothered a laugh. Bracelet it was, then. It would solve a lot of their problems. Besides, Daitokuji-sensei would probably be delighted to help them pick it out. Juudai might still learn alchemy after all.
oOoOo
Chiyoko was almost a year old when Juudai was rather rudely awoken – not by Chiyoko's crying, for once, but by an Antique Gear. Juudai opened one eye to see the monster hovering anxiously above him.
"Whassit?" he grumbled, turning around and burrowing his head in his pillow. In his mind, he could feel Yubel wake up.
"Are you Yuuki Juudai-san?" the monster asked, gears clicking and whirring loudly. Juudai covered his ears.
"Yeah, 's me. Can you tone that down a bit? My kid's asleep."
The whirring grew softer, and the Antique Gear looked abashed. For a machine, it was surprisingly expressive.
"Well?" Juudai prompted when it didn't say anything. "Wait, you're not one of Chronos-sensei's monsters right? Is something wrong with him?"
"M- My apologies, I do not know of your sensei. I'm sure that any sensei of Yuuki-san is a very strong duelist who does not need my help."
"What are you apologizing for? Look, uh, do you have a name?"
"Trahern," the monster mumbled.
Juudai sat up and turned on the light. "Okay, Trahern. What did you come for?"
"My home is at war, and I was looking for help and I thought Yuuki-san could help and that I just needed to go to this different world so Different Dimension Warrior helped me and then I came here but I didn't-"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down! Start at the beginning." Juudai ran a hand through his hair. Trahern bobbed up and down nervously. "You say there's a war? Where? What happened?"
The war was in what Juudai had come to refer to as the ninth dimension, a dimension whose primary inhabitants were warrior clans and machine monsters – and odd combination, but it had always seemed to work. Until now, that was. As Trahern explained, a group of machine monsters, tired of being treated as just pieces of metal to use as construction workers and spare parts, had violently demanded equal rights. In turn, a coalition of warriors had taken out the leaders of the machine group. It had only gotten worse from there.
"I was with the machine group, and- and we just wanted peace, you know? And then they started killing us, and I was so scared…"
Juudai patted Trahern on what he thought passed for a shoulder.
"But then a few of us, they were furious, and they started retaliating. They destroyed entire villages. And some of the warriors kind of wanted to help us, so we teamed up? But now everyone's fighting each other."
"So let me get this straight. You have a group of warriors who wants to kill the machines, a group of machines who wants to kill the warriors, and a group of both who doesn't really want to kill anyone?"
"Yes, Yuuki-san. I thought you could help… People said you could help." Trahern sounded dejected. "But I- I understand if you don't want to. It's really far away and-"
"Trahern, stop that. Of course we'll help," Juudai said. Then, as an afterthought, "Oh, and call me Juudai. Seriously."
"Yes, Juudai-san."
Close enough. Yubel?
Yubel appeared next to him, and Trahern floated backwards nervously. Juudai could safely say that he'd never seen such an expressive – or shy – machine.
"You heard what he said, right?"
Yubel nodded. "What do we do with Chiyoko?"
"We can't take her." That was one thing that had been absolutely clear from the start. If it involved short trips that weren't dangerous, they sometimes took her along, but this sounded like it could take a lot of time, and it was by no means safe.
"Your parents?"
Juudai hesitated. Chiyoko had, on a few rare occasions, managed to take off her bracelet. It was no problem as long as they were around, but if it was just his parents, they'd never be able to find her again.
"Mama and Papa aren't going to like it, but I'd prefer to leave her with someone who can see her regardless."
"You mean Johan."
Juudai gave an embarrassed shrug. "Well, Manjoume doesn't want to, and Hayato's really busy with work right now, so yeah."
"I didn't know Juudai-san had a child," Trahern said softly.
"She's still a baby." Juudai looked at the clock. Four in the morning. "Can you give us a day or two to get everything settled? Then we'll come with you."
"Yes, of course. Thank you very much, Juudai-san!"
Juudai spent about half a day convincing his parents that it'd be safer for Chiyoko to stay with Johan. In the end, he only got them to agree by promising that Johan would contact them regularly. Johan didn't have much of a problem with it. At the last minute they also decided to leave Pharaoh with him. Chiyoko loved the cat, and Juudai didn't like taking him into a warzone anyway. Daitokuji-sensei protested, but his knowledge would be of little use in what Trahern described as a highly technological world. It was with great reluctance that he agreed to stay behind.
"Do you know when you will be back, Juudai-kun?" he asked, as Johan carefully took Chiyoko from Juudai. Juudai shook his head.
"No idea. We'll try to keep in touch, but no guarantees." He kissed Chiyoko on the forehead. "We'll be back soon, sweetie. Be nice now, okay?"
"You take care of her," Yubel told Johan. Johan looked her straight in the eyes.
"Of course I will."
"Alright then." Juudai ruffled Chiyoko's hair with a heavy heart. It would be the first time they'd really be away for what could end up being several weeks. "Trahern, you coming along?"
"Yes, Juudai-san."
"Then let's go."
oOoOo
There were certain dimensions Juudai visited more often than others. Earth was one, of course, and the Dark World was another. On the flipside, some worlds he only visited when a call for help came. The ninth dimension was one of those.
Right now, looking at the ruins of what once must have been a large and prosperous village, he deeply regretted it. According to Trahern, this war had been going on for over a year, and Juudai hadn't known about it.
"They were fine when I left," Trahern was muttering, gears spinning anxiously. "I don't know what happened. The village was still fine last week. If I hadn't left, then-"
"You would've been dead," said Yubel, unforgiving. Trahern flinched. "What would you have done? One monster against an army? Don't fool yourself."
Juudai didn't disagree, but, "Yubel…"
"No… No. Yubel-san is right." If anything, Trahern looked even more dejected than before. "I'm a weak monster. I wouldn't have stood a chance."
"C'mon, we'll find a way to solve this mess." Juudai patted the large central gear. "Do you have friends around here? We'll need to find out what happened."
As it turned out, and to Trahern's great joy, the majority of the village had been able to evacuate. They were met by the Different Dimension Warrior who had been the one to send Trahern to Juudai. He introduced himself as Leon and guided them to a large underground facility – one of many, according to him.
"Of course, everyone has facilities like these," he said, running a hand through his bright red hair. He passed Juudai a handheld device. "You have a laptop, right? Sync it with this. Everything you need to know is on there."
Juudai obediently took out his laptop. "How do you even know it's compatible with my laptop?"
Leon grinned. "Seriously? We're dimensional travelers. That thing is compatible with pretty much anything advanced enough across all dimensions. And guys like Trahern here have developed amazing things."
"Mr. Leon, I never did much," Trahern said.
"And you always say that. Give yourself some more credit!"
"Do you Different Dimension monsters always live here?" Yubel asked. Juudai looked up sharply.
"Like I said, we're travelers. But most of us tend to meet up here, yeah. Before this war started, we had a bit of a group here." Leon sighed. "Not anymore, though. A lot of us died, and those who survived… Most hightailed it out of here."
Are you really thinking…
Do you still have that photo with you, Juudai?
Juudai fished around in his backpack until he found the picture of Chiyoko's parents. It was a bit bent around the edges now, from being hidden away in his backpack for so long. It had been months since he'd looked at it.
"Do you know these people?" he asked Leon, pulling him to the side. Leon studied the picture closely.
"Ah… Yes. Not very well, but I knew them through friends. Alexander and Cassia. I never got to meet their kid."
"Are they… Are they still alive?" Juudai asked. He wondered if Leon could hear the slight tremble of his voice.
"Cassia's dead. One of the worst attacks was on their town, and we found her body when we went looking for survivors. Alexander's brother was a good friend of mine. He survived that attack. Told us what happened."
"And Alexander?"
Leon shook his head. "I honestly don't know. According to his brother, they'd all been planning to leave this world when the attack hit, so he took the kid and fled." He hesitated for a second. "From what I heard… He was badly wounded. I doubt he made it very far."
Juudai clamped down viciously on the bright flash of relief, suddenly disgusted with himself. But the idea of having to give up Chiyoko after taking care of her for all those months was not something he wanted to consider.
"Where is the man's brother now?" Yubel asked. Juudai could feel her unease. It mirrored his own.
"He died two weeks ago," Leon all but snapped. Sore topic, apparently. "Their entire family is gone now. Why are you so interested anyway? Where'd you get that picture?"
"We found it in the Dark World." Juudai hesitated for a second, then decided he might as well be honest. "Together with the baby."
Leon's face was carefully blank. "That so? What did you do with her?"
Juudai knew a test when he saw one. Even so, he didn't know if his answer would be deemed right.
"We took her with us. She was all alone, and no one came for her, so we didn't want to leave her behind."
Leon nodded, but he still didn't look satisfied. "Where is she now?"
"At home. We, uh, adopted her."
"I see." Whatever else Leon was going to say was interrupted when Trahern appeared near Juudai's shoulder, clearly not happy to interrupt the conversation.
"Mr. Leon, there's some trouble in the gamma sector," he said softly. Leon's demeanor changed entirely. He gave Trahern a distracted grin and headed off to another part of the facility, looking over his shoulder as he went.
"We'll talk," he mouthed at Juudai and Yubel. Juudai nodded, but he wasn't looking forward to it. Chiyoko's family was dead. He really didn't want to feel happy about it.
Don't beat yourself up over it. We didn't kill them.
Yubel was staring straight ahead, probably thinking exactly what Juudai was thinking. Juudai nodded, but her words didn't stop the queasy feeling in his stomach. In search of a distraction, he headed back to where he'd left his laptop. It had finished syncing, so he sat down and started scrolling to the long list of files, opening whatever looked interesting to him. He frowned a bit when he read over a history file that was suspiciously vague.
"Trahern?" he called softly. Trahern came over immediately. "You were with the machines when this started, right? I mean-" he gestured vaguely at Trahern's overall machine-ness.
"Yes, Juudai-san."
"What happened? This file just gives me facts and dates. I need motivations. You said you guys wanted equal rights."
"Yes… As a machine, we didn't have much choice but to work in a factory or invent things. Some of us do other things, but for most of us… That's what we do. I like it," he hastened to add. "I mean, I like making things, but sometimes it's dangerous. The machines in Juudai-san's world are dead things, but we aren't. If we get ripped apart, they can put us back together, but we'd still be dead."
"So it wasn't safe to work?" Juudai asked. That would make sense, wouldn't it? He'd want better working conditions too.
"Sometimes it wasn't very safe…" Trahern hesitated, "but that wasn't really the problem. I mean, we made all the equipment and machinery ourselves. As long as it was within our budget, it was fine."
Yubel joined them. "Then what was the problem?"
"The problem was that we were shortsighted idiots," Leon said, appearing behind them. Trahern jumped slightly. "False alarm. Gamma sector's fine."
"Mr. Leon, that's not true… I'm sure you did your best."
"If there was money, it usually went to the warrior clans. They were the ones with the most influence, and of course the most infighting. So they employed a lot of machine monsters like Trahern here to come up with newer, better things. Anything to get ahead of other clans. You should've seen the ninja and the samurai clans." Leon smiled grimly. "Us Different Dimension monsters, we stayed out of it for the most part. We liked traveling too much to stay in one place for long.
"But anyway, so the money that went to the machines often wasn't enough, and all the clans just told them to come up with a solution for our problems, without caring whether they liked doing that or if they had the resources to do so."
"I liked doing so," Trahern said softly. Leon smiled.
"Yeah, you, but you're some kind of genius with gadgets." He bent towards Juudai and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Seriously, that handheld I gave you earlier? We tracked down all the different versions in other worlds, but Trahern was one of the guys who actually made sure that everything's compatible."
"My hands aren't very useful. I can't do much."
"And still you made some awesome things." He patted Trahern on the head. "Anyway, so we didn't even really notice that we weren't treating the machines very fairly. It came to a head about a year ago. A few machines started demanding more material to work with, more freedom to do what they wanted. At first we thought it'd pass. The big clans made a few minor concessions, but nothing substantial."
"And that wasn't enough," Yubel concluded.
"Nope. Not by any objective standards, really. Things got out of hand after that. When some people started making too much of a fuss, they were taken out. You can see where that got us." Leon made a grand sweeping gesture. "Most people don't want to fight. It's the fringe groups that do the most damage."
At this, he sighed sadly. "You know, sometimes I think I kind of understand them. Sure, you've got the ones who are just in it for the fighting and the violence, but a lot of them are people who lost their children, or their partners or friends…"
Revenge. Juudai could understand that, even if he wished they hadn't taken this route.
"Has no one ever tried to sit everyone down and come to a compromise?" he asked. "Make a treaty?"
"Of course we have. Didn't work; everyone got accused of nepotism and the mediators were never impartial enough. That's why Trahern thought we could use someone like you."
Juudai nodded. Time to stop this war. It might be too late for Chiyoko's parents, but it was the very least he could do.
oOoOo
The situation was both better and worse than Juudai had feared. On the one hand, as Leon had explained, the group that wanted to resolve the conflict was by far the biggest group and growing every day. On the other hand, the two other groups were coming to blows more and more often, each confrontation more violent than the previous one, and the victims caught in the crossfire were too numerous to count. Juudai tried his best to stop the worst, and his presence was slowly contributing to the growing number of people on their side, but it also made him a target. He had been trying to get in touch with the leaders of both groups, so far with little success.
Almost three weeks after dropping of Chiyoko at Johan's, Juudai was working his way through the ruins of a collapsed underground facility, looking for any survivors and wondering absently whether they could afford to just go back home quickly and check up on Chiyoko. Not that he didn't trust Johan, but he missed his daughter. He knew Yubel felt the same way.
"Anything on your side?" he called, more for the benefit of the other people around him than for Yubel. Telepathy was by no means a foreign concept here, but it still tended to freak people out.
"Nothing," Yubel replied. She strayed a bit further away from him, joining Trahern in his search for salvageable material. Juudai had seen Trahern construct state-of-the-art equipment out of just a few pieces of metal and some wiring. Too bad the monster was horrible at accepting compliments.
He reached the corner of what had once been the main research room. Any people here had probably been crushed to death when the ceiling fell. He half-heartedly kicked at a stone. It didn't budge.
He turned around. Then his body jerked, twisted around of its own accord, just in time to avoid the knife that hit the rock behind him with a hard clang. Juudai stumbled and fell, catching a glimpse of someone – a woman? – in the air above him before his own darkness took over, wrapping around his attacker until she screamed, a low, terrible noise that sounded nothing like a person and yet cut right through him, and he could only watch, horrified, as his own powers went out of control, crushing and crushing until there was the sound of breaking wood and breaking metal and then nothing but splinters.
Yubel was by his side in an instant, wings fully extended and expression vicious, but his attacker had been reduced to a just few metal shards.
"She was just there- I- Didn't see her coming- I-"
Yubel wrapped her arms around him, and he shut his eyes tightly, trying not to remember how she'd screamed, how her body had been crushed by his own powers, powers he'd sworn never to use for killing again.
"Juudai, it's okay," Yubel shushed. "You didn't see her coming. I didn't even see her coming."
"I should've been able to control myself-"
"Juudai-san, are you okay?" Trahern asked tremulously. Juudai heard him inch carefully around the remains of the fallen warrior. Selene, a young woman with long, blonde hair who was responsible for the guard detail when they went on expeditions like this one, was right behind him.
"Please tell me what happened," she asked.
Juudai slowly opened his eyes, but he made no effort to free himself from Yubel's embrace. He felt her arms tighten slightly around him.
"I was attacked. I- I didn't see who it was. A woman, I think, like a ninja, but," he stared at a piece of bent metal that had landed near his foot, "a machine. It doesn't make sense-"
Selene studied the surroundings. "Ninja, you said?"
"To sneak up on us, she must have been," said Yubel. Selene nodded.
"Karakuri."
The name wasn't familiar to Juudai, but Trahern twitched in recognition.
"They're machines…" he explained softly, "but they're ninjas too. They haven't been here for very long."
"New families and clans often arrive out of nowhere. The Karakuri sided with the machines. They do a lot of damage," Selene said. "You know, it might have been a good thing that you-"
A fierce glare from Yubel shut her up.
"It's not your fault. You reacted instinctively."
"I lost control. If I lose control just because someone surprises me, what will happen if someone makes me angry? What will happen if-" Juudai didn't finish the sentence. He knew exactly what would happen. It already had.
"This situation is nothing like that," Yubel said sternly. "You can control yourself. Don't ever doubt that."
"I didn't just kill her, I destroyed her. Just look! There's nothing left!" Juudai closed his eyes again. "And this was nothing, just another attack. I'm supposed to be here to stop this war, not to kill even more people."
"Would you rather she'd killed you?" Selene said.
"That's not…" Juudai tried to find the right words. "Selene, that's not how it works for me. She wouldn't have killed me. I could have easily stopped her from attacking, restrain her, something! No one should have died."
"Collateral damage."
Juudai rounded on her. "People should not be dying!"
"Should not, would not, … All that matters is that it did, and that it's going to happen again unless this stupid war ends." Selene did not look particularly intimidated. "I'm not going to be sad that she's dead, Juudai."
"You're no better than them," he spat.
"Maybe I'm not, no. If you want unambiguous good guys, then go read a fairytale. I deal in facts, and the facts tell me that we're far better off without another assassin waiting to stab us in the back. You might be able to survive, but I don't want to lose any of my people if I can help it."
Juudai walked away. He'd had it with this place. He just wanted to go home and pick up Chiyoko and stay put, just for now. It was the first time in a while since he'd felt this urge. It was also the first time since he was seventeen that he'd outright killed a person.
Juudai!
You think she's right, don't you? Selene?
Yubel took several seconds to reply, which told Juudai everything he needed to know.
It's a war and she's practical. I don't disagree.
Juudai didn't reply. He really didn't want to agree.
This needs to end. Soon.
"Yes," Juudai said out loud. "I think I'm going to talk to some people."
And, he thought, they're going to listen, whether they like it or not.
oOoOo
Leading the more strategy-oriented branch of the machine group was a member of the Antique Gear family, like Trahern. He was not, however, an Antique Gear Golem, as Juudai had expected, but an Antique Gear Knight named Einion. Trahern refused to confirm whether they were related or not, but the pointed silence that fell every time Juudai brought up the subject made him think they were.
"So I meet with those bastards, and then what?" Einion growled. He'd reluctantly agreed to talk once he realized that Juudai was not going to leave and wouldn't be stopped by him or any of his allies. Maybe the golden eyes and aura of darkness were overkill. Juudai couldn't bring himself to care. Now he and Einion were on their third iteration of the same conversation, and frankly, he was getting annoyed.
"We come to a compromise and people stop dying."
Einion actually laughed. "And you're going to accomplish that? An outsider, who knows nothing about us or the way we live? If you're so good, where were you a year ago?"
"I'm only here as a mediator. That's my job."
"What if I refuse? Are you just going to drag me out and force me to come with you?"
"If necessary." Juudai kept his face impassive. Behind him, Yubel leaned on his shoulder, flexing her claws.
"You know, I've heard some interesting things about you. Your soul isn't very pure either, is it? The Gentle Darkness isn't all that gentle."
Yubel's hand found his shoulder and squeezed once.
Stay calm.
"That is irrelevant. Will you agree to a treaty or not?"
"What's in it for me?"
Juudai raised an eyebrow. "I thought that would be obvious. Peace. Better living conditions. Equality."
"Why should I trust them to keep their word?"
"Because I'll be there. I've said so before." Juudai sighed. This was why he preferred helping out people in small ways, without them noticing. If the warriors were going to be as stubborn as Einion, he might as well make good on his promise and just drag them all in one room and lock them up.
As it turned out, the warriors weren't as stubborn. They were worse.
"I have absolutely no intention of ever meeting with any of them, unless I get to kill them," Alida snapped. She was a Tactical Warrior, and Juudai's first thought upon meeting her had beenthat she reminded him of Asuka. He'd revised his opinion within two minutes. Asuka would never be this bitter, or this cruel.
He slammed his hands down on the table. "My daughter's parents were warriors like you, and they were killed in this war. And I really don't fancy telling her that you all murdered each other because you couldn't stop hating each other for two friggin' seconds!"
"Your daughter is still alive!" Alida shouted. "You do not get to tell me not to hate the people who killed my own children in front of me! I don't care who you are or what you can do!"
"So your idea of a solution is to kill other people's children in front of them? Wow, I'm sure your children would be glad to hear that."
For a moment Juudai thought Alida was going to hit him. Then her demeanor changed completely.
"It seems you still have a lot to learn about being a parent, Herald," she said, voice cold enough to chill Juudai to the bone. "And I hope one day a stranger tells you that he knows your child better than you do. Just so you know how it feels."
Juudai thought of Chiyoko, and the picture still in his backpack. "I apologize. I was out of line."
"Yes. You were."
"I'm not asking you to become best friends, but people are dying every day, and most of them never wanted any of this."
Alida raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I've never thought of that? We're too far in to stop now. It's too complicated."
She was not going to like him for saying it, but… "That's a coward's excuse."
"What would you know?"
"More than you think." Juudai briefly touched his deck holder, with Super Fusion still inside. "I thought the same thing, once. And so even when I'd reached my goal, I kept going and going, and I hurt far too many people in the process."
Alida sat down at the table, not looking at him, but instead staring at a blank spot on the wall behind his head. "What are you going to do if your treaty plan doesn't work, Herald?" she asked.
"Revise it. Try again and again until everyone can come to an agreement."
He didn't mention that any such agreement might very well involve putting Alida herself on trial. She was a tactician, after all; she was probably perfectly aware of it.
"It's not that I don't want an end to this," Alida said. "But if you think that we can live here peacefully after everything that's happened, you're just being naïve. If it were up to me, they'd all just be spare parts by now."
"Yeah, you've said." Juudai waved a hand dismissively. "Will you consider it?"
"Can you guarantee that the culprits will be brought to justice?"
"The worst offenders on both sides," he stressed that last part, "will probably be tried."
"I'll consider it." Alida got up from behind the table again. "Now get the hell out of here."
oOoOo
What do you think?
Juudai glanced briefly at Yubel, before concentrating on the argument that Einion and one of Alida's superiors were having. It didn't look like it was escalating yet, but he was prepared to intervene when it did.
This might take a while.
It had taken a week and a lot of running around before everyone had managed to agree on a meeting place, an abandoned building that had been around for so long that no one quite remembered whom it had belonged to originally. Leon and his team had worked tirelessly to restore it and equip it with all the technology they needed. Even so, the large room they were using for the purpose of these meetings still felt far older than any of the buildings and facilities Juudai had seen so far. Maybe it'd inspire some respect.
With twenty people for each faction, the room was too crowded for Juudai's liking, but it had been one of the conditions for this meeting to take place at all. He was quite sure that both the machines and the warriors had troops waiting near the building, ready to attack the moment something went wrong. That was why he'd shielded the entire area the moment everyone was inside. Selene was on the outside, ready to divert anyone who got too close. He hoped it would be enough.
Einion was demanding the extradition of several people. As Juudai had expected, Alida was on the list. He found her sitting in the audience, stony-faced as she watched the proceedings.
"You've murdered our friends and our families. Do you really expect us to let you get away with it?" Einion was saying. His opponent snorted.
"Why not? You expect us to let you get away with it."
Three hours in. Juudai slumped down next to Trahern, who was following the debate with an unusual fervor.
"You're related to Einion, aren't you?" he whispered.
Trahern nodded, not looking away from Einion. "He's my cousin. We were never very close."
"But he's family," Juudai finished for him. Trahern nodded again.
"I know he's done terrible things. I just wish…" he shook his head. "Ah, it doesn't really matter, does it? We need this treaty."
Juudai looked away. No use in disputing it. Most of the people in this room would probably end up being tried in some form. The fact that they all knew this and had still shown up was a good sign.
"So you can continue killing our children?" someone in the audience shouted, and the conversation suddenly devolved into harsh accusations being shouted from all sides. Juudai started and quickly got up.
"Hey!" he shouted. The room slowly quieted down. Juudai waited until all attention was on him before continuing."Look, I- I know what it's like to be a parent, and I know that most of you would gladly kill anyone who so much as dared to hurt your children. I think it's the same for many parents."
A few people in the audience nodded.
"And I can't blame anyone for wanting to avenge their loved ones. But this isn't the solution. Hate only creates hate. I don't think I need to tell you that."
"Do you even have any idea what it's like?" someone shouted in the back.
"All too well," he muttered, then said, louder, "You'll feel relieved at first, but then the guilt sets in: Maybe you just killed someone who didn't even have anything to do with it. Maybe their loved ones will want revenge too. Maybe you start thinking that your child, or partner, or brother or sister wouldn't have wanted this."
"How do you know what they would have wanted?" Another voice, a woman this time, shouted. Juudai acknowledged her with a nod. He'd learned his lesson from Alida this time.
"I don't. Maybe you're right and they would have wanted you to take revenge. And then maybe the next time someone else comes for you."
"We're willing to take that risk." Alida. Of course she'd say that.
"But I'm not." He swallowed. "Look, it's only been a year. You can't tell me that none of you ever had a friend on the other side. You can't tell me that no one has friends and family in Leon's group." He gestured at Leon, who was sitting in the front row.
A few people nodded, almost unwillingly. He saw Einion look at Trahern.
"Okay? I'm pretty sure you can still find your friends again." He breathed in deeply. "Okay, continue. The floor is all yours."
He walked back over to Yubel and leaned against her. "I want a break," he muttered.
She ran a hand through his hair. "You're doing fine. It won't be much longer. Then we can go home."
To Chiyoko, she didn't say. She didn't need to. Juudai sighed and leaned into her touch, closing his eyes for a second. Almost there. If only they'd listen to each other.
They didn't reach an agreement that day, even though the negotiations went on well into the night. Nor did they reach one the next day. The third day brought the promise of progress with it, when a few people on the three sides proved willing to form a subcommittee to draft an outline of rights for every inhabitant of the dimension. Trahern was on the committee, and for the next two days, Juudai saw hide nor hair from him.
Day five was the first day Juudai really counted as a success. The committee came forward with a first draft, and the discussions proceeded with minimal shouting.
It's almost as if they can be civilized.
Yubel grinned wryly. You're optimistic, aren't you?
But as it turned out, he had reason to be. Day nine saw the final version of the rights bill approved by all sides. It had been rushed, Juudai knew, and it would probably go through a lot more changes, but it seemed like the end was in sight.
And then, over six weeks after Juudai and Yubel had left earth, everyone finally, finally came to an agreement. It was provisional, and there was a lot of work to be done, but everyone had signed and agreed, and as far as Juudai could see, hostilities had been ceased except for a few small scuffles here and there.
"You'll need to come back," Leon said on their final night. "You know that, right? There's a lot more work to be done."
"We know. If you need us, you can send Trahern."
"I think he's going to be pretty busy in the near future." Leon grinned. Trahern had been appointed vice-president of what had been termed the Committee for Technological Restoration, much to his embarrassment. "I guess I'll just have to come myself."
Juudai sobered. "About Chiyoko-"
"Don't worry about it, okay?" Leon clapped him on the shoulder. "I've heard you two talk about her, and I'm glad you're taking care of her. I didn't know Alexander and Cassia very well, but they didn't want her to grow up here."
"Thank you," Yubel said.
"You should come visit," Juudai told him. Leon nodded.
"I think I'd like that. Someone's got to teach her how to cross dimensions anyway."
Leon laughed loudly at Juudai and Yubel's horrified expressions. "Don't worry. I'll wait until she's old enough. Is five okay with you guys?"
Comments, questions and concrit are welcome as always!