Chapter 2

Mai watched silently while Elisabeth served the tea with flawless motions, the way she only saw during ceremonies or when her paternal grandparents visited from Kyoto.

"My grandma loves tea. Her father grew and sold it, and, after the war, they travelled all the world to find different blends. Then she came back to Japan and met my grandpa. She taught me how to serve it since I was four years old."

The Purple Soldier nodded absently, gazing over the garden. The side where they were sitting was an explosion of coloured flowers. Two rose bushes stood out, white and yellow. The other side, instead, was a traditional Japanese garden, with a pond and perfectly trimmed bushes. From under the graceful wooden bungalow, they had a perfect view of both.

"Here."

Mai grasped the teacup and bowed her head, but she didn't bring it to her lips. Elisabeth, instead, sipped it with no hesitation and picked up one of the pastries handed to them by Mrs Yoshida.

In the end, Mai imitated her: she didn't want to sound rude to her guest. But doubts and questions became too heavy to be ignored longer. So, Mai put down the teacup and raised her eyes on Elisabeth.

"How? How is Yuuki here? He died. He should be dead. And why you helped him? All they said about us, it should have been enough to make you turn him over. Why?"

Elisabeth sighed and copied her. Then she smiled and started playing with a napkin.

"It just happened, only a few days after the news. I remember they spent a lot of time talking about the White Soldier's death."

Mai flinched and looked down. She remembered those days, the grief, the fear to leave her home. Her family had watched the news only when she was asleep.

"I'm a member of a charity, as my mother was. We help the homeless, we give some blankets, a bowl of rice, some comfort. My parents would have helped everyone, if only they had the chance."

Elisabeth squeezed her eyes, breathing in and out a few times. She reopened them and smiled again.

"I was going home. It started to rain, and Kosuke had just arrived. One of the homeless was a former colleague of my father, when he worked at the hospital, ended up on the street after his wife and son died in a car crash."

"It's awful", Mai murmured.

Elisabeth nodded. "He approached and knocked on the car window, asking to talk with me. He was keeping looking around, almost afraid to be followed. I shared a look with Kosuke and let him get in."

"Mister Matsumoto, what's happening? I'm not telling anyone, but you must tell me what's the problem."

The man sighed, rubbing his face. "You are a dear girl, so like your father. If you don't help me, I don't know what I could do."

Elisabeth motioned him to continue, puzzled but curious.

"There's a boy, where I live. He urgently needs medical care."

"You want us to bring him to a hospital?"

He widened his eyes and shook his head, clutching frantically one of her arms. Kosuke shifted in the front seat.

"They'll kill him! You can't take him there. They find him and finish the job. They'll kill him."

The girl turned alarmed to Kosuke and saw him with his phone in hand. She motioned him to wait and turned her attention to the elder. She really hoped the Yakuza wasn't involved.

"Of whom are you talking? Who are they? Who is the boy? If there is something criminal, I-"

"Please. I couldn't save my son, help me at least save this boy."

Her grandma always said she got a heart far too big: during her childhood, she had tried to adopt four dogs, six cats, one parrot, two macaques, one fox and a little girl known at a park. In retrospect, her grandma made a lot of sense.

"All right. Kosuke and I will follow you but, at the first hint of trouble, we leave."

The man nodded and got out. She and Kosuke copied him, raising their hoodies to shade the rain, and started to follow. They zigzagged puddles and garbage, Elisabeth trusting Kosuke to have a better sense of direction than her, and they reached their destination. It was an almost crumbled building, one of those abandoned without being taken down. It seemed a warehouse.

They entered and lowered their hoods. Elisabeth spotted the rain filtering in by gaps in the walls and hoped the roof wouldn't come crashing down on them. The homeless moved to a little wooden shack, pinned against a wall. On the ground, there were old magazines and a pair of ruined shoes. He motioned to follow and disappeared inside.

Elisabeth inhaled and went after him, reassured by Kosuke's presence behind her. A stifling smell came up from some dirty dishes, piled messily near some cans of preserves. In a corner, there was a pile of worn-out clothes and more newspapers.

The elder knelt near an old mattress. On it, there was someone, covered by a ratty and washed-out blanket.

"He is the boy I told you."

Elisabeth got close, trying to not give in to the instinct to run in the other direction. The boy was in pain, his breathing difficult and on his face, there was a pained grimace. The man sighed and lowered the blanket a bit. She gasped and grasped Kosuke's arm, feeling dizzy. The boy's white t-shirt was tainted near the abdomen by a dark red stain. An impromptu bandage was barely stopping the bleeding. Blood. If she felt in the Yakuza's aim, her grandparents would never forgive her.

"What happened?", said Kosuke.

Elisabeth was grateful: she couldn't find the strength to speak. Not yet, at least.

"Gunshot. I was near when they shot him. The attackers fled at the sound of a siren. Then a boy showed up. He got close for a moment and then ran away. He seemed devasted. Then I moved closer. He was still alive. So I brought him here and tried to stop the blood. He needs help."

But how to help him, if they couldn't take him to a hospital?

"Elisabeth, he's the Core Soldier! The one on the news!"

She started and looked closer: Momose Yuuki, the Bearer of Core's Light presumed dead two days prior. She squeezed her eyes and breathed in: maybe it'd have been better the Yakuza.

Built up the nerve, Elisabeth reached the mattress and got down on her knees. She brushed his forehead with her fingerprints. He was burning. She stepped away, and Yuuki whimpered, muttering something.

"Ka… jitsu…"

"Kajitsu?", Elisabeth repeated louder, frowning. "Who is she?"

"He's delirious since I bought him here. He keeps saying incoherent phrases. He calls this Kajitsu, the Bearers of Core's Light and he talks about a rose under a storm. He won't last long like this."

Elisabeth stared at him, trying to recollect all the TV services about the Core Soldiers. Then she remembered: the monster stopped by Otherworld's King. Momose Kajitsu was his sister.

"What are you going to do? You really want to help him?"

She stood up and turned hesitantly to Kosuke. "I don't know. But he's a person. We can't leave him here in his conditions. And we can't bring him to a hospital."

"Your grandfather's friend", suggested the man. "The one of the private clinic. Mister Nakano always tells how he owes him a debt?"

"Doctor Aosawa!", she said excitedly. "Of course. I'm sure grandpa could help us convince him."

Because not even her stern grandfather would leave alone the White Soldier, regardless of what everyone could think about them. Human life was human life.

The two men lifted the boy, and Elisabeth reached the exit to make sure they were alone. Silent and on edge, they arrived at the car and settled Yuuki on the back seat. Kosuke got in the driving seat. Elisabeth was stopped by the elder just before getting in.

"Be careful. No one, no one can know. Don't trust easily. For both your sakes."

She nodded and got in the car. Kosuke set off immediately.

Once far from there, Elisabeth grabbed a tissue and started to softly wipe away the rain from Yuuki's face.

"It'll be fine."

Yuuki moaned, and his body jerked. Elisabeth struggled not to cry. It was like with her brother, all over again. And that time it was really the Yakuza, with him in the wrong place at the wrong time.

How could people so heartless exist?

"You must hang on", she said softly holding his hand. "You can't give up now."

"I called grandpa and was able to convince him. We met at the clinic, and he convinced his colleague who promised to maintain absolute secrecy. They registered him in the files with a false name. We stayed there, and I think I fell asleep. Next thing, grandpa woke me up and a nurse confirmed the end of surgery."

Doctor Aosawa finished to put on the coat and lead them to his office. The air was heavy and tense, and her grandfather seemed still upset with her for her reckless decision. They sat around his desk.

"Surgery was successful, but his conditions are critical. We'll have to monitor him for the next twenty-four, forty-eight hours. Thank goodness, his blood type is one of the most common."

"And the prognosis?", Elisabeth's grandfather urged.

The doctor sighed and tiredly rubbed a hand through his hair. "We didn't find brain damage, but nonetheless he slipped into a coma."

Elisabeth blenched and covered her mouth with a hand.

"The condition in which you brought him here wasn't ideal. I would not raise my hopes. It'll be already a bless if he'll survive the night. Besides, even if he stabilises, I won't be able to do more. I helped you for friendship but, even respecting my dignity as a doctor, I can't jeopardise this clinic."

Elisabeth sipped her cooling tea. Mai copied her mechanically, bewildered by the tale. On instinct, she turned towards the house and felt her heart sank. Yuuki was in coma since February. They were in September.

"Yuuki got through the first days, and I persuaded grandpa to bring him here thanks to my grandma's help. His injuries are healed, but he didn't wake up."

"What are his odds?", Mai said softly, tightening the grip on the teacup clutched between her fingers.

"Maybe none", Elisabeth lowered her gaze, "maybe the more merciful choice would be letting him go. But I can't do it, not if there is even the tiniest chance for him to live."

It was what she would have wanted for her brother, Elisabeth thought, pushing the sweet crumbles with her fingerprint. If someone had called for help earlier, he would still be with them.

Mai, instead, turned to the table and stared at the girl who saved and protected Yuuki. There was something more in her voice, an unexpected bitterness. But it wasn't her place to ask: they were strangers. Even if, thought Mai smiling softly, it was a little like speaking with a kindred soul.

"You talk like us."

Elisabeth blinked, gaping at her, and burst out laughing shaking her head.

"I really don't think one act of mercy and kindness make me a Bearer of Core's Light, but I'll take it as a compliment. I wouldn't mind thinking I'm a backup."

The two girls ate the small pastries. Even if Elisabeth undermined her action, Mai couldn't help comparing it with their friends and families' one, when not even affection had been enough to not let them give into fear. It was ironic that one of the few people, who didn't turn their back to them, had been a total stranger.

"And Kajitsu?", said the Purple Soldier. "What do you know about her?"

"What I found on web and newspapers. She was one of you and tried to destroy Tokyo. Only Otherworld's King stopped your recklessness, even if, in the end, you stopped him from bringing prosperity to humanity."

Mai leapt at her feet, a burning fury shaking her and wetting her eyes. She moved away from the table, pausing near one of the pillars of the bungalow. She would never get used to it and, after the future, it was ten times worst.

"Only filthy lies. Mother Core's Light isn't a magic wand which changes people, stops hate and wars. It would have changed the world, not humanity."

Elisabeth stood up quietly, moving towards Mai but halting a few paces away.

"And Otherworld's King wanted none of that. He wanted to deceive them, and then destroy all of us, because we were inferior for him. Disposable in the name of some insane evolution."

The Purple Soldier clenched her hand on the wooden pillar, the rough surface scratching her skin and nails. Elisabeth placed one hand on her shoulder. Mai started.

"I believe you."

Their gazes met, and a stunned Mai saw the sincerity in them.

"What makes us afraid makes us meaner", said softly Elisabeth holding one of her hand. "And makes us seek someone to blame. We don't want to look at the dirt inside us, because then we won't have an excuse. My father thought me to see past appearances, to think with my mind. I don't believe someone in the right would try to kill non-threatening opponents. You Bearers of Core's Light didn't try to hurt anyone."

"You truly are an unusual girl", replied Mai reciprocating the squeeze.

Elisabeth laughed again. "Don't go too far. But I hope we could become friends."

"I'll like it very much."

They exchanged a smile and went back to the table. They gathered cups, teapot and remaining sweets. Once inside the kitchen, the cook welcomed them.

"Dears, thank you for your help."

"It's the least", said Elisabeth edging closer and leaning over the pots. "What are you cooking?"

"Hiyashi Chuka. But it'll still take a while."

The girl hummed and turned towards Mai, grabbing her arm.

"We'll go upstairs to see if Izumi has finished."

"Why you went to the cemetery?", said Mai once they reached the upper floor.

Elisabeth blushed and started smoothing her skirt. "I, well, I guess I thought it may be something nice? After all, he can't go. I messed up, didn't I?"

Mai chuckled, amused by her worried face, and shook her head. "I'm sure they'd appreciate it."

Elisabeth brightened. They got past a half-open door, where Elisabeth's grandfather was talking on the phone. Elisabeth turned towards Mai.

"My grandma, she has poor health. During summer she often goes to Hokkaido."

They stopped at the door, and Elisabeth reached out for the handle. Mai blocked her wrist. Their eyes met.

"Why you didn't try to contact us?"

"I wouldn't have known where to start. You had closed your blog, and all the other had tried to drop off the grid. I was afraid to ask too much, to attract attention. A stranger who out of the blue began to search the Core Soldiers: I'd have been suspicious. Besides, would you have believed me?"

Mai opened her mouth to replay but halted and shook her head dejectedly. They wouldn't have trusted her. Not after that news, afraid that it could be just a trap to lure them out. And now it wasn't important anymore. Yuuki was still alive. That was that mattered.

Elisabeth opened the door, leaving Mai the chance to enter first. She approached the bed and closed her eyes, struggling to hold back the tears. It was heart-breaking to see him there, the once proud White Soldier now helpless and weak. The beeping machinery was a merciless view.

Elisabeth was right next to her.

"You know why I keep on helping him? Because it's what I'd have wanted for my brother. He found himself amidst a Yakuza's gunfight. He died before reaching the hospital because rescuers were called too late. He died alone, in a pool of his blood. I wouldn't wish that to anyone."

Elisabeth's voice trembled and Mai, on instinct, turned and hugged her. A few moments later, Elisabeth pulled apart and grabbed a deck from a nightstand. The Purple Soldier didn't even notice it before.

"The day I found him, he had this with him. It's his?"

Almost shaking, Mai snatched the cards and started scrolling them. White cards and green cards, Kajitsu's ones.

"I confess I took some cues for my deck. I hope he won't be offended."

Mai smiled absently, still flipping through the cards. Blizzard Wall, The Sacred Gugnir, The IronKnight Yggdrasill, The WingDeity Grand-Woden and The Armored Sacred Walhalance. Again, she felt like crying: they always believed those cards were lost along with Yuuki's body.

She put down the deck and kept only two cards, brushing them lightly with her thumbs. Elisabeth flanked her, looking intrigued.

"The Providence Hououga and The DoomKnightLord Ragna-Rock. Why you took those?"

"Hououga was Kajitsu's spirit", Mai said with a sorrowful voice. "Ragna-Rock was the symbol of their affection."

She put the cards on top of the deck, jerking her hand away.

"Do you want to keep it, Mai?"

"No", the Core Soldier didn't hesitate, "I think it's right they stay with him."

Elisabeth nodded and moved towards the door. On the threshold, she gripped the handle and turned to Mai.

"I leave you alone with him for a bit."

She didn't wait for an answer and quietly closed the door behind her. Mai stared at it, overwhelmed by the stillness of the room. She let her gaze wander on those four white-painted walls, on the airy landscapes hung on them, on the wooden dresser in a corner. And the machinery keeping Yuuki alive.

She looked at the nightstand and noticed a frame. She picked it up and recognised Kajitsu's photo, identical to the one left near her memorial. Elisabeth must have been able to obtain a copy.

If Kajitsu was there, she was sure, her voice would have been enough to wake him up. But Kajitsu was gone. Mai sighed and, dusted the chair from the dried petals, moved it near the bed.

She sat and looked at his pale face, paler than usual, thinner than usual. Every injustice endured by the Bearers of Core's Light rushed back, a feeling of helplessness, of despair, she had not felt since the day she talked to Kenzo. They were only teens, barely more than children, and the world had hurled against them its worst. For what they still had to pay? After almost losing their families, after losing friendships, after being alienated, hated, after watching friends die, after what happened to Dan.

Mai reached out and clutched Yuuki's fingers, closing her eyes and trying to slow down her strained breathing. She focused on the regular machinery beep, Yuuki's weak and stable heartbeat. And, despite all, that sound managed to calm her.

"I'd have come before. We'd have all come. Oh, Yuuki, we thought you dead. Dan blamed himself."

Hot tears wetted her cheeks, but the girl didn't make an effort to dry them. Instead, she offered a faltering smile.

"We should have been there. It wouldn't have changed anything; you both were too stubborn and resolute for your own good. But we should have been there."

"We should have been there", she repeated shaking her head. "But I was afraid. If I'd have stayed even for only a day more… I wish I'd been stronger."

But she hadn't. She fled, she cut ties. And she breathed again. Even if fear never truly got away but, at least, she hadn't had anymore that instinct to curl up in a corner and to hide from everything. And then she ran away in the future.

"You missed a lot of things", Mai said smiling and used the other hand to wipe the tears. "Kazan called us from the future. We had only to stop the Earth's total reset. Easy, isn't it? Clackey, Kenzo, Hideto… we all went. I even returned to bring Dan."

She swallowed and blinked. It was so difficult for her to think of that day, so close on the calendar, yet away a lifetime.

"He grew up so much, I almost didn't recognise him. But he loved Battle Spirits as always, even if regular duels disheartened him. After Grand Lolo, after really risking the life, how could anyone blame him?"

Mai freed her hand from Yuuki's one and held her arms tight around her body.

"In the future, we began to heal, we found ourselves, and the strength to fight." Thanks to Dan. "We won. We brought peace to humans and Mazoku. Yeah, exactly Grand Lolo's creatures. They were left behind on Earth. Magisa had decided to not take them to Grand Lolo."

She sighed and intertwined a finger around a hair lock.

"Maybe, she hoped it'll help us overcome our difference. It took a few centuries, but, well: the idea worked", her laugh sounded hollow. "And we discovered we all have the same DNA. Grandlorians are humans evolved in a different way. Did you know it, Yuuki?"

Mai bit on her lip and moved her gaze towards the window. She stared for a long time at the gentle swaying of the thin curtains. The chirp of the birds outside was almost soothing.

"You were there. Zolder Grave and Flora Perfume", she grinned, "but please, Yuuki, pass down also an instruction manual to your reincarnations. They fought for everything and mocked each other. I really hope it's not how they flirt!"

She took his hand. "They have such extrovert personalities. But I'm sure they'll remember."

Mai quieted, finding it hard to carry on. In the future, she had spent days locked in her room, refusing to accept that it had happened for real. Then, after yet another attempt of Clackey to get her outside, she had screamed at him. And she didn't stop. She had yelled and hated everyone, from Barone to Plym to Zolder. When she had found Dan's remaining deck, she had thrown it on the floor and had screamed and screamed, till her voice became hoarse and her throat burning. Because it had been Dan's fault, of his darned spirit of self-sacrifice, of his desire to protect everyone and everything. She had collapsed on the ground, and Clackey had hugged her while she had cried.

From that moment, she put her heart and soul on helping with the reconstruction, at least till the departure, to not stop and think, to not be overcome by all the what-ifs, by all that they could have done differently. But she hadn't been able to silence the little voice, the one remembering her of all the things she hadn't done.

"Clackey stayed in the future. He found a home. He fell in love with a girl we found hibernated in a space station, Angers Lochè. I hope you enjoy the irony, as well", she added laughing despite her misty eyes.

"Kenzo, Hideto and I came back. Perhaps we'll resume our battle, step by step. We'll finish what you and Dan started. Dan-", a sob broke her voice and Mai put her hands on her face, taking shallow breaths.

"Dan didn't return. He sacrificed himself to save Earth, to save all of us. Because of course, it had to be him, always in the first line. If we only could have found another solution, Dan will still be here."

She sniffed and squeezed with both hands Yuuki's one, new rivulets of tears wetting her cheeks and a shaky smile, full of sorrow and regret.

"He was again who he used to be. Enthusiast, stubborn. But he left us. And I had known it already. I had found a plaque, in a crumbled museum. August 30, 2010: the day when they lost track of him. The day I have brought him in the future. I tried, Yuuki. But I couldn't stop him, even with Battle Spirits. Maybe you'd have been able to stop him. You were the only one of us who has ever succeeded to beat him in a duel."

She closed her eyes, barely holding back another sob. "He had come to duel, to win. And it's what he continued to do. I was only able to be by his side. I kidded myself it wouldn't happen anything, not with his resolve. Not also Dan. Hadn't we paid enough?"

She bit her lip. "I didn't even tell him what I felt. He was the one to take the lead, before that damn duel. You do realize, Dan!", she ran her fingers over her eyes and shook her head. "He promised me we'd face the past together. And I believed him. I'd even practised the curry."

Her face crumbled, unable to stop her sobbing. "He-he didn't come back."

Mai cried with her palms pressed against her face. Her chest was shaken by the sobs and her breathing was laboured.

She has never spoken so openly, nor in the future, nor with Hideto and Kenzo, nor with her sister. But there, in that room, with Yuuki who couldn't respond, Yuuki who would have been the only one to truly understand her, words flowed more easily.

"I didn't do anything. I couldn't stop his death. If I had only tried more, but I gave up because I trusted him. And then it was too late. I never felt a pain so strong, Yuuki. I really thought I wouldn't be able to bear it, that I'd shatter. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. Emptiness swallowed me, but I was still seeing him, over and over again. Vanishing, vanishing, vanishing. And I didn't do anything."

She lowered her head, hair shading her face. For minutes that seemed to last hours, hot tears wetted her cheeks and tried to soothe her wounds. But they couldn't bring Dan back to her.

A/N: Hello! Here we are again, one week later than I hoped, but I tried to polish the chapter as best as I could.

I hope you like it and that everything doesn't seem too much unrealistic. The first version of this story is almost six years old, but I didn't want to change it… I'm rather fond of it. And I'm not a doctor, so I'm sorry if I messed up with the medical aspect. I tried to not be too much specific.

Do you think that the K+ rating is high enough? The scene in the flashback will be the most "graphical" (and it isn't described in detail) but I'm not totally sure if the mention of blood and wounds is enough to increase it…

A big thank you to all the people who read this story. I hope we'll see us again in two weeks (kinda).

If you have any questions, comments, doubts or if you want to tell me what you think about it, feel free to leave a review. But, really, thank you even if you'll decide only to read.

Til next time!

Gate Open! Release!

P.S. Hiyashi Chuka is a Japanese dish usually eaten in summer (chilled ramen noodles with various topping).

Originally posted on "EFP il tuo sito di fanfiction": 8 October 2018 (revised version), 5 October 2013 (original version)