Disclaimer: I don't own Decade.
Author's Note: There are very minor spoilers for Double in this and a lot of speculation from Kuuga-verse. I don't think there's really anything else to warn about.
Part Eleven: Let your Eyes Half Close
He can't remember her name.
He should be able to remember her name. She's his, and he took her less than a minute ago. Her and her guardian, changing them both in a single stroke, and he should know their names. Know the names of the ones he didn't take, because it's easier to slice between worlds and find the next group than search through a world he doesn't know for the people that are supposed to be his.
The world comes into focus again, the bridge falling away, and he knows this place. Japan again, finally, and he smiles.
He knows the young man currently in the process of jumping to his feet. Tsukasa met him, once. Tsukasa liked him, had a connection with him, and taking him will be almost like having Tsukasa with him for a moment.
"Yuusuke? What—"
Takeru. That's the man's name, and he smiles shakily as the power flows from him, claiming this new human.
The other five come running a split second after he starts, as he knew they would. This group is close, tied together by bonds of duty and devotion, and the remaining five would do anything to protect their lord. The darkness slams into each of them, ripping through them and implanting the seeds of the Grongi power in their hearts.
He doesn't stay to see them rise after the change. They'll be fine together, able to control their power and keep from killing each other until he calls them, and he needs to keep going.
The bridge between worlds wavers alarmingly, but he doesn't have the presence of mind to do anything to stabilize it. All his focus is on the next world, the next people, the next opportunity to siphon a bit of the monstrous energy inside him into other vessels.
What world did he just come from? Who did he claim? They were important, he thinks, but he can't remember why, and he frowns as he stumbles into the next world.
Still Japan, and he smiles at the sound of the familiar language as he claims the three who are his from this world. One lunges at him, snarling in primal rage and fear, the tiger that is its soul lashing out at the invasion.
He shouldn't stop. He can't stop, the need to keep going pressing at him, but he won't leave one of his in this state. It's too dangerous, both for the tiger and for the others he's created.
"Hush." His fingers stroke the boy's hair, scratch behind his ears, a gentle touch for his body and a brief influx of power to calm the battle in his soul. "You're fine. It isn't hurting you. Accept this, and come when I call you."
The tiger responds to him, instincts telling it what the humans always take longer to figure out. They are his, and he won't destroy that which is his.
He leaves as soon as the boy relaxes, running between worlds again, because he has to keep going. He has to keep doing what he's doing, though it doesn't actually seem to be helping at all.
It burns. The power burns so strongly, claws so unrelenting at him, hollowing out his mind and soul from the inside, and it isn't getting better. It should be getting better. He's made so many… turned so many… and it should be getting better, but it's not, and he's going to need to go home soon.
He has to be with them when he loses control, has to be by them, so he needs to find his way home soon.
His mind's wandered too much, done too poor a job of directing the bridge between worlds. They emerge a foot above the ground and he doesn't notice until it's too late, stumbling and falling to the forest floor as he exits the portal.
He doesn't rise, because it's possible that there's something he can do just lying here. If the people who are meant to be his are close…
Nothing. Nobody. Just the quiet chirping of night insects, and he curls into a ball, fists pressed against the fire in his stomach. Stupid. Should have been more aware of what was going on. Have to get up, either find the people in this world or just keep going, do something about the fire and the darkness before they devour him entirely.
Home. It's not time to go home yet. Is even further from when he wanted to go home than when he started this, because there's less of him and more of the darkness and that'll mean Tsukasa and Natsumi will fight him more.
But he wants to go home.
"My lord…" Her hand strokes along his forehead, a wonderfully cool touch.
He sighs, uncurling slightly, leaning into the contact. It's not quite right. Not gentle enough or small enough to be Natsumi's hands; not rough enough or long enough to be Tsukasa's fingers. But it's someone touching him without wanting to hurt him, without needing him to fix things inside them, and he gulps down a breath before looking up at her blearily.
Ra-Baruba-De manipulates him gently until he is lying with his head on her lap. "This isn't the way things are supposed to go. I'm sorry, Yuusuke."
Yuusuke. He likes that name. He was Yuusuke, once. When Tsukasa and Natsumi didn't fight him, defy him. When Kuuga didn't burn inside him, a dark flame channeling the black heart of the universe through him and into others.
"He used me." She continues to stroke his hair, though her features harden. A warrior's calm anger, determined hatred, and he smiles. His Grongi, his priestess, perfect in every way. "The Man in Black. He intends to use you for his own ends as well, now. You know that, Yuusuke, right?"
"You made me what I'm meant to be, Ra-Baruba-De." Sitting here, relaxed, calm, with her stroking his hair, the desperate need to keep going fades a bit. He is the Ultimate Darkness, and he is creating the ultimate generation of Grongi, but he can spare a moment to rest here.
"No. I made you what he wishes you to be." Her hand stops moving for a moment. "I… don't want this, my lord. It's not the way this is supposed to go."
He reaches up to touch her face. "How is it supposed to go, Ra-Baruba-De? How did yours go?"
"It's supposed… it's supposed to be wonderful." Her eyes close, studying a time long ago. "Fast and bloody, the first part. When the next generation wakes—when I woke. So much power… it's amazing. Exhilarating. Going from an animal, an imitation of a true life, to a full person so quickly, and proving your right to live… I enjoyed it, my lord. I made a good showing, one of the best of my generation. Almost good enough to earn the N title, to be the one who could institute the next gegeru, but not quite. I didn't mind, though, because there's so much more to it than that.
"The Gegeru is the start and end of a generation. It is important, and awesome, but it's not all that defined our people. We had writing—we shared writing with the Linto, though they were still beasts. We had schools, books, livestock, festivals… oh, the festivals. The threat of death is the thing that makes you most alive, our people would say. But Grongi rarely died in the festivals. A little blood spilled, a little sport, but not death during those times.
"Learning to use my power properly, learning the history of our culture, studying the science and the religion and the traditions of our people… I think, maybe, I enjoyed that more than the birth itself." Her hand strokes his hair again, and he inhales, reveling in the smell of green things growing. "I'm certain I did, actually. I'll enjoy teaching it all to you, when you're done choosing our people. Rebuilding our civilization, in whatever world we choose."
He smiles as he sits up, but there's as much sorrow as delight in the expression. His fingers trace lightly across her stomach, above the spot where her own power lies. The last of the old Grongi, the one who is most like they are supposed to be, and he is making his children based on her. Based on her and based on Kuuga, not based on the frantic, ravening energy inside him now, or the madness at the heart of the Man in Black.
"Thank you, Ra-Baruba-De." He stands and offers her a hand up. She rises gracefully, dropping her head in acknowledgment of his authority.
"You seem… better now, my lord."
He is better now. The power's still clawing inside him, still straining and struggling to get free, but ignoring it for a few minutes has allowed him to regain control. To make it so that he is the one leading it, not being led by it, a vessel meant to spread its madness far and near.
It won't last. He's certain it won't last, just as he's certain that he won't ever see Ra-Baruba-De's new world. The power that's eating at him comes with a price, and he will pay it eventually.
But he'll be strong until then. He'll create their people, choose the perfect ones, and when he's ready—when the time is right—then he'll go home.
Tsukasa and Natsumi will know what to do when he does.
His right hand curls into a thumb's up, and he smiles at the gesture before opening his fingers wide and slicing another portal between worlds.
XXX
They get Kenzaki to fall asleep as the first rays of dawn are touching the window. He's ended up huddled in Natsumi's bed, because the Grongi's still passed out on Yuusuke's.
"He'll be all right." Natsumi straightens the man's hair, running her hand over it again and again before finally standing up. "He'll be fine. When he wakes up, we'll all be able to go find Yuusuke and take on… that thing."
Tsukasa just shrugs. Maybe. Hopefully. Kenzaki will probably wake up fine, at least. The man's strong, and stubborn. Giving up isn't something he knows how to do.
"Please don't look like that." Natsumi closes the door to her room behind them softly, though Kenzaki's so deeply asleep Tsukasa doubts he would notice if they started slamming all the doors in the house.
"Look like what?"
"Like it doesn't matter. Like you don't care." Leaning against the door, Natsumi closes her eyes. "I'm not asking you to lie, I just… don't…"
"I'm not giving up." He takes her hand in his, acutely aware of how warm her skin feels. Not soft, not anymore, not after all the training she's done as a Rider, but he likes the feel of her calluses. "But I don't know how much Kenzaki's help will or won't matter. We're talking about gods here, Natsumikan. Gods and more than gods. One kaijin more or less—"
"Don't call him a kaijin." Tightening her hand around his, she reaches up with her free hand and places a finger across his lips. "It's mean."
"And it would be very out of character for me to be mean." His tongue slips out from between his lips, taps against her finger. Fire, burning in his blood, but it's become such a familiar feeling that he barely cares. "If he can help, good. If not, we'll try to keep him safe until this ends."
Her hand slides down, trailing from his mouth to his chin to his neck. "I think we should go after Yuusuke next. I think he's the important link now. If we can save him, it should at least inconvenience that… thing."
"I agree." Just the movement of his left foot, a slight shift in posture, and he's pressed close against her. Running his hand up her side, he cups her face. "Save Yuusuke. Save the universe. Banish the Man in Black. Try to fix the worlds. Why do we always end up with missions that are so much work?"
"Because we're good enough to handle them." The words are breathed into his mouth before her lips meet his.
Fire meeting fire. Fire calling fire, and he spins her around, away from the wall, arms wrapping around her.
"Oh, fuck this. I quit." Rolling his eyes, Kaitou turns back toward the stairs.
It's tempting to just let him go. To ignore the human, and revel in the joy that's so very near. Let go of all the desperation and worry of the last hours and enjoy being a god, with his perfect partner at his side.
But the moment's already lost. Natsumi's pulling away from him, the fire in her eyes dying away. Running to the thief, she puts a hand on his shoulder, stopping Kaitou's retreat. "Sorry, Daiki. That was poor judgment on our part. I promise it won't happen again."
"Yeah. Right." The thief runs a hand through his hair, leaving it even more ruffled than it was before. "Are we going? Are we still waiting for your Grongi? What's the plan?"
"We want to go after Yuusuke again." Natsumi lets her hand drop from his shoulder as Kaitou turns completely around, facing them. "We think that if we can get him out from under the control of the Man in Black, we can at least buy ourselves more time if not stop him entirely."
"So we're leaving now?" The statement's tone is almost neutral. If he didn't know Kaitou so well, he might have missed the way the thief's hand slides inside his jacket, undoubtedly finding Diend.
Kaitou's afraid.
More than that, Kaitou's exhausted. Dark circles ring his eyes, and his stance is looser than normal, missing most of his self-assured energy.
"No." Tsukasa strolls over to the other two. "We're waiting a few hours."
"Oh." Kaitou breathes a sigh of relief, muscles relaxing even further, and almost falls down the stairs. He catches himself before he does, trying to make it look like he'd just meant to lean against the wall. "Hoping we can bring the others as back-up?"
"Yeah." He at least wants Kaitou there, though he couldn't say why. Despite the fact that he's still not sure about all the instincts that go with Shiva, this is one he wants to trust. But if they bring Kaitou as he is right now, he's more likely to get himself hurt or killed than actually help them. "Natsumi, are you tired?"
Her eyes flick from him to Kaitou, and she nods. "Exhausted. I think I'm going to ask grandpa if I can steal his room for a few hours. You could sleep downstairs on the couch if you wanted to, Daiki."
"You two…" Rubbing at his eyes, Kaitou shakes his head. "Whatever. Don't leave me behind. If I can just get three or four hours, I'll be good for the day. All right?"
Natsumi takes the thief's hand, giving it a brief squeeze. "I promise. Sleep well, Daiki."
He waves laconically over his shoulder as he goes down the stairs, not bothering to look back at them. He's spent enough time living at the photo studio—though usually his temporary residence is in Tsukasa and Yuusuke's room—that he knows where to go for bedding, so there's no need for them to follow him.
Tsukasa waits until the thief's all the way down the stairs before meeting Natsumi's gaze. "Are you really tired?"
"No." Shaking her head, she sighs. "I hadn't even considered that we've been up all night. Given Daiki's tendency for odd schedules, who knows how long he's gone without sleep. Good catch. What about you? Are you tired?"
"Shiva doesn't get tired." Leaning back against the wall, he crosses his arms over his chest. "Though if you were to invite me to come sleep with you…"
"No." Blushing deeply, Natsumi turns away. She turns toward him after a moment, then turns away again, and she giggles lightly. "No, Tsukasa. Don't even think it."
"I think it's a little too late for that. Given what happens with just a touch…" He reaches out to take her hand. "Or a kiss…"
"I thought we were trying not to give into them, yeah?" Her fingers skitter gently along his face anyway.
"I don't want to kill anyone based on what some cosmic force is thinking or feeling. I want to have control of myself." One of his hands steals around to the small of her back, pulling her tight against him again. "But some things… some things we might not think so differently about. And if the two of us can get some pleasure out of all this misery…"
"If I could say it was really just you saying that…" She kisses him, a sunbeam-soft caress of their lips together. "And if I could know it was really just me feeling this… but we can't. No killing because of cosmic forces being shoved into our souls. No… well, nothing else, either."
He lets her break away from him, pull free of his arms, though the place where she stood feels ice-cold. "Ah. You're right."
"I know. I usually am, to steal a line from someone I know." Natsumi grins, an expression that quickly softens to a more normal smile. "When this is all over… maybe we could consider it. Though I'd hate to hurt Yuusuke… or Daiki…"
"We can have Yuusuke, too. We both like him. Kaitou…" He trails off as he gets a good look at her reaction. His hands rise to guard the sides of his neck. He's not sure if it's Shiva's fault or DaiShocker's Great Leader's fault, but he definitely should have put more thought into the words that were coming out of his mouth.
Natsumi starts laughing a second later, peals of amusement that leave her gasping on the floor. "Tsukasa… you're just… oh, Tsukasa."
Being laughed at is marginally better than being Hikari Family Secret Techniqued. Marginally better. And it really isn't all that funny. They are both fond of Yuusuke, and if it's going to hurt him to be left out… Maybe there are more downsides to being raised by evil organizations than he had thought of before, because he doesn't really understand what the problem is. There's more than enough of him to go around.
Natsumi scrambles back to her feet. "I think I am going to try sleeping, at least for a little bit. The more human we try to be the better, right? Come and get me if anything interesting happens."
She heads downstairs, probably to ask her grandfather if she can borrow his room for a little bit. Tsukasa watches her go, hands slowly falling from their guard position. Sleeping's the last thing he wants to do right now… which is actually a fairly rare occurrence. Maybe if he tries to wake the Grongi again, he can get a few more pieces to this complicated puzzle.
He doesn't need to wake the man. The Grongi's already awake, sitting cross-legged on top of the bedding. His suit jacket, dress shirt and tie are all gone, disposed of yesterday because they'd been torn half to shreds and were liberally soaked in blood. They'd left him his dress pants, because those had come through the fight in slightly better shape and because Tsukasa's only willing to share so many of his clothes at a time. It's really not fair that Yuusuke's so small, making it impossible to just give his clothes to their growing menagerie of castaway monsters.
The Grongi's hand rests against his stomach, over the spot where Tsukasa knows Yuusuke's amadam sits.
"Getting used to everything in there?" Strolling over to his half of the room, Tsuaksa throws himself down on his bed. He stares at the ceiling for a moment before turning to face the Grongi. It's too disconcerting knowing there's someone over there, in Yuusuke's spot, and that it's not Yuusuke. Better to be looking right at him.
"Slowly but surely, yes." The Grongi's hands both fall to his side as he shifts position. Sitting in seiza, he inclines his head a few inches. "I owe you my thanks for your help yesterday. My name's Sonozaki Kirihiko."
"Kadoya Tsukasa."
"Ah." Kirihiko nods. "If I could be impolite for a moment, Kadoya-san… what are you?"
Always the question on everyone's lips, and Tsukasa smiles wryly as he shrugs. He doesn't feel like explaining everything all over again right now. "Just a passing-through Kamen Rider."
"Kamen Rider… like that man…" The Grongi considers the information for longer than most do. "You're acting against the Museum, as well. Are you working with the others?"
"Others?"
"There are two Kamen Riders in Fuuto. Or… there were. Skull hasn't been seen in over a year, and Double disappeared two weeks ago. Neither was quite as… magenta… as you are." Kirihiko's expression closes down. "Do you know anything about them, or what they wanted?"
"No. Sorry. This isn't really my world. We're interested in you because you're a Grongi, and if you're a native of this world and a Grongi that means you met a friend of ours."
"If your friend is prone to kissing strangers and… changing them, then yes, I believe we've met." Kirihiko's hand moves, pressing against the hidden Grongi sigil again.
"Yuusuke hasn't quite been himself lately." Sitting up, Tsukasa watches the Grongi closely. "Tell me what happened."
"I'm not entirely sure. I was hoping to discuss some concerns I have with my father-in-law. There was a young man there. He looked at me… his eyes… pure black. Nothing but darkness." A shiver runs the length of the man's body. "He put some of his power inside me. He… it… something spoke to me while that was happening. A voice in the darkness, but not part of the darkness. His voice, I think, though it was… He told me to hold tight to myself. To protect Fuuto. And then he left, walked through a hole in the world, telling me to stay here until he calls."
"Yuusuke…" What's he trying to do? Why come back to this world to create a Grongi and then leave again? Why tell this man to protect Fuuto?
Why choose him, go to him, when they were so close?
Tsukasa stands, pacing over to the window and looking out. "Tell me exactly what he told you. As closely as you can remember."
"He asked me what I would do, if I could do one thing with my life and death. I told him I would protect Fuuto." The man's words speed up as he talks, and Tsukasa wishes he knew this Kirihiko better. Is that nervousness, fear, excitement? "I was trying to fight him. He asked me not to—or, rather, not yet. Said I could kill him later, but for now I just had to endure." Kirihiko takes a slow, deep breath, features smoothing out again. "Before he left he said I was his first Grongi. He told me to have fun until he came back, out loud. The other voice… it told me to be true to myself. To please stay true to myself. He sounded… tired."
Stay true.
Protect Fuuto.
Seeds spread throughout the whole of creation.
"Oh, Yuusuke…" It clicks together, finally, a picture of what's supposed to be happening, what Yuusuke's doing, and what the probable ending is.
He pulls his hand away from the window too late to stop part of the pane from melting, leaving imprints of his clenched fingers behind.
"Kadoya-san?" Kirihiko's standing behind him.
"You've got control of the power." He's talking to Kirihiko; he also gets control of the fire trying to flicker along his skin while he speaks. "You seem perfectly sane and reasonable right now."
"I am. Or so I like to believe." The man takes a step back, giving him space. "It was difficult at first. There's a certain… exhilaration to this power. Rather like a Memory to an untrained mind, I suppose. It's harder to maintain control when I'm in my other form, or when something very distressing happens, but I believe I'm making good headway on fully containing these new abilities."
"Good. Keep working on it." The fire's gone again, called back inside where it belongs. "What distressing event was it that caused you to turn against the Sonozakis?"
"I haven't." Clasping his hands behind his back, Kirihiko paces over to the door before turning around. "There's no evidence that they know what's being done. Isaka's the type of agent who would act on his own if given the opportunity."
"And what do you think he's doing on his own?"
"Torturing children." Kirihiko's lips pull back from his teeth, a half-feral snarl that looks very similar to the one he wore in his Grongi form. It only lasts a second before the man takes a few deep breaths, regaining his equilibrium. "He didn't expect me to notice, I don't think. Our visit was unexpected, given that I hadn't intended to be accosted and changed into a Grongi. The child was locked in the room two doors down, but when I'm in my other form my senses are remarkable. I could smell his blood. His fear. Hear him whimpering… talking to himself… calling for his partner. I wasn't terribly… diplomatic in asking Isaka what was going on."
"You tried to rip his head off."
"I was considering limbs first, but so far as the general concept goes, yes."
"You realize the Sonozakis sided with him." He speaks gently. Breaking this man is absolutely the last thing he should do. But it's even more dangerous leaving him unprotected from what's going to be a far-too-easy attack. "Including your wife."
"We're trying to help Fuuto. To develop technology that can be used to better lives, save people." Kirihiko shakes his head. "They can't know Isaka's using children for the research."
"You know the Memories are addictive. You know the damage that's done by them on a regular basis." He pauses, watching the conflict on the other man's face. "Kirihiko, they know. They're willing to sacrifice children, whether or not you are."
"Saeko wouldn't…" He trails off, left hand moving to touch his shoulders, his back. "She's not a bad person, Kadoya-san."
"Maybe not. That doesn't mean she can't be involved with this." There are very few people he's met that couldn't be pushed by some circumstances, in some world, to do terrible things. If she's anything like the Sonozaki Saeko he once knew, she definitely isn't one of them. "Are you all right? Still in control?"
"Of course." The man seems legitimately surprised by the question. "Like I said, being surprised by something like that, so soon after, was difficult to take. I acted rashly. I don't intend to do so again."
"What do you intend to do?"
Kirihiko gives the faintest smile, hand reaching for the door. "Save the boy, of course."
"Of course." It's stupid. It's practically suicidal.
It's what Yuusuke would have done.
"Will you help me, Kadoya-san?" The question is spoken to the door. Not hesitantly, though; just a simple question, and Kirihiko seems to honestly not care about the answer.
"I'll help." There are a lot of reasons to help this man, some very selfish and some very self-less. The fact that he reminds Tsukasa of Yuusuke shouldn't even matter, compared to everything else, but it's probably the main reason he agrees so readily.
"And the others from last night? You seemed to have quite a fighting force with you."
"Kenzaki and Kaitou are sleeping. It was a hard night."
Kirihiko mouths Kaitou's name, brows down together in mild perplexity.
"It's his real name, but it's also very fitting."
Kirihiko nods. "Then it will be just the two of us."
It would be very easy to just go with that. He's tempted to—the gods know having Natsumi in danger is bad for his own stability right now.
But she'd never forgive him if he didn't bring her, and more people means less work for him. "No. There'll be three of us. Here. Let me get you a shirt, we can get some breakfast if we're quiet, and then we'll go save your boy."
He goes to Yuusuke's closet. Even though Yuusuke's small, he has a tendency to wear multiple layers of baggy clothing, so one of the man's sweatshirts should work well enough.
After a moment's contemplation he goes over to his own closet, pulling out a shirt he's not terribly fond of and lobbing it toward the other man. Kirihiko catches it in one hand, studying it for a moment with one eyebrow raised before slipping the magenta and black fabric over his head. "Thanks."
"Thank me by getting this done quickly." He brushes past the other man, shoving the door open. "And, once we've saved the kid… helping me get Yuusuke back."
"Your friend… he was human once?"
"We all were, once." Before they were gods. Before they were stories. "But Yuusuke… was the best of us."
Kirihiko's hand grasps his shoulder. "We'll definitely save him."
"Yes." He says it because it's the right thing to say to this man. The right thing to say at this time, because faith and belief are vitally important if anything's going to survive the next few days.
But mainly he says it because he wants it to be true, and if the gods hoping can have any effect on the course of events, maybe that all by itself will make a difference.