AU. Slash. Heavy T. I don't own Cardfight! Vanguard.
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"Alfred! Catch me if you can!"
A young man with blonde hairs exclaimed while running away. A boy roughly six giggled as he ran to catch him. Alas, the young man was too fast, his speed was almost inhumane. Not too long, the boy was exhausted.
"...Wait for me!" Alfred yelled as loud as he could. "Inferno! Ah-!"
Alfred was almost slipped out to the cliff, before suddenly he was held by Inferno's warm hands. Alfred was surprised that Inferno could catch him, even though he had away around five hundred meters.
Inferno looked way different than before. He had sharp deep blue iris on his eyes, longer canines, and several yellow marks on his face. He looked worried as he asked, "Are you okay, Alfred? You're not hurt, aren't you?"
"No, I'm alright." Alfred smiled, ignoring the abnormal heat of Inferno's skins, "Let's play again, Inferno!"
"Sure!" Inferno exclaimed as the changes slowly disappeared, "...Ah, but you need to have dinner first. It's almost sunset. Let's go back to where others are, alright?"
"Okay." Alfred tugged his shirt down, "Hey, Inferno?"
"What's wrong?" Inferno patted his head, "Do you want me to pick you up?"
There was a long pause before Alfred continued as he squeezed his back, "...I like you, Inferno!"
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Extra: Memories of That Day
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"Ah, there you are!" A silver haired young man exclaimed worrily, "We've been searching both of you for a while!"
"I'm sorry, Ezel. We didn't look at the time." Alfred apologized from Inferno's back, "I should go see Zero now."
"You should." Ezel warned when he saw him running away, "Don't run, Alfred."
"Okay!" The said boy waved to him with a cheery smile.
"So." Ezel folded his hands, "What happened to you?" He intervened before Inferno could reply, "Don't try to deny it. You're beet red, Inferno."
"No, it's just-" Inferno looked away from Ezel sight, "What's wrong with Alfred? It's like, he's not himself."
Ezel finished his sentence with a sigh, "Yesterday, Zero bought him a children book called Peter Pan."
"Huh? I know that story too." Inferno cocked his eyebrows, "But I don't see the connection between them."
"Well, in the end, Peter Pan left his friend from the Earth, Wendy, to stay in the Never Land." Ezel smiled wryly, "While Wendy grew up every year, Peter didn't change at all from the time those two met each other." Ezel looked at the orange sky, "After a while, Wendy couldn't go to Never Land anymore because she was already an adult. She thought that Peter left her, but actually Peter kept seeing her every year in secret." Ezel took a deep breath before he continued, "It ended when Wendy was in her deathbed, surrounded by her families and relatives, while longing for her friend. At the windowsill, hidden by the moonlight shadow, Peter was crying." He turned to Inferno, "It's really a sad story, isn't it?"
Inferno bit his lower lip, "...Doesn't Peter sound like us?"
"Indeed." To this, Ezel could only reply with a weak smile. "I think that's one of reason why Zero bought it."
"To think that we're different than him? Ridiculous!" Inferno fumed, "I'll talk to him!"
"You can't." Ezel stopped him, "It's something that Zero had been thinking for a while. You can't waste his effort, Inferno." He closed his eyes, "The one who picked Alfred and even went against Overlord's order was Zero." The young man reassured him, "...He knew what he should do."
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"Zero!" Alfred hugged the young man with black hairs from behind as he exclaimed merrily, "I'm home!"
"Welcome back." Zero crouched down to have the same eye level, "Did you have a good day today?"
"Yeah!" Alfred remarked, "...Ah, I almost fell to the cliff, but Inferno saved me."
"Alfred?" Zero noticed his slightly changed tone, "...What's wrong?"
"Inferno is really cool! He could catch me before I can even blink!" Alfred excitedly told him before he paused,"...Zero, can I be like you and the others someday?"
"You can't." Before Zero could answer, the young man with brown hairs beated him first. Looking at him, the young Alfred quickly hid behind Zero's back. "And you won't."
"Overlord!" Zero was angry when he reminded him, "He's still a child!"
"Don't cut me off, Zero." Overlord glared at him before he turned to Alfred, "Answer me. Does it matter to you?"
"...Yes." Alfred answered truthfully as he shook his head, "I don't want to be Wendy! I want to be together everyone!"
Overlord looked at Zero for explanation, but the young man just showed him the book he bought yesterday. It seemed Alfred's shout made Inferno and Ezel came. Overlord then sighed, "Who told you to be like her?"
"No one." Alfred added, "But someday, I'll be an old man and you guys won't let me go together anymore!"
"Then make yourself useful." Overlord remarked simply, "So that, when you're already old, you can still be with us."
"Really?" Alfred slowly asked, "...Can I be useful to you even when I turned really, really old, Overlord?"
"It depends." Overlord challenged him, "Are you good enough to be by my side?"
"...I don't know."
"For starters, you can learn something from us." Inferno lifted the boy to his shoulder. Alfred was thinking too deep, he didn't even realize that Ezel and Inferno were here as well. "We'll help you through your study, so don't worry."
Ezel came next to him as he asked, "What do you want to study first, Alfred?"
"Swordsmanship!" Alfred exclaimed; his eyes looked very bright. "I want to be strong like Overlord!"
"Okay, so Overlord will teach you swordsmanship at morning then." Zero folded his hands as he walked next to Inferno, "Etiquette with me at afternoon, and Astronomy with Ezel at evening."
"...Why me?"
"I'm not that good at handling sword." Ezel reasoned as he winked at Alfred, "As far as I know, Zero is the best at handling lance and Inferno isn't as good as you."
"Yup!" Inferno whistled nonchalantly, "As human often said, learn from the best!"
"You're all really..." Overlord gritted his teeth before he sighed, "Fine. But I won't tolerate tardiness."
"Right!" Alfred smiled brightly, "Thank you, Overlord!"
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"What are you reading Kai-kun?"
"Peter Pan and the Never Land."
"Oh, I really like that book! I want to be Peter when I was a child."
"Why, Naoki-kun?"
"Why, you asked? Hmm, I don't know for sure why. I think because Peter was really cool?"
"..."
"Jeez, what's with that look, Kai!"
"How about you, Aichi?"
"I don't have one in particular, though. I just hope that in the end, they'd be together forever."
"…Huh? Isn't that the exact ending?"
"This story have been rewritten for couple of times so it'd be suitable for children."
"Really? I don't even want to know the old version. I'm good the way it is! Right, Ai- Wh-Why are you crying? What's wrong?"
"…No, it's just, I'm glad. I'm sorry, I don't know either."
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Special thanks to: dracokid, Maiden Warrior, and Guest. I'm sorry for being late. Words can't describe how grateful I am. I hope I can post the last chapter at late Thursday. Thank you for reading. Please review, if you like.
