You can't choose your family, but sometimes, family chooses you
I've had this idea since 2018 and it was originally very different. We were robbed of Yoh & Silva interactions
Also Silva has an unhealthy habit of leaving Kalim to do the dishes
Yoh opened his eyes. The scenery was plain, dry, cracked ground and a few mountains in the background. Inwardly, Yoh sighed. He knew this dream very well. Since visiting Lilirara, the vision of 4 Seminoan warriors perishing at the hands of his ancestor kept returning every day or two. Yoh had hoped that upon reaching the Patch village, these dreams would stop, but they didn't.
Yoh looked around. There were the other warriors. The Asakura braced himself for the dream filled with pain that he couldn't feel, but he could remember it from Lilirara's projection. He looked ahead of him.
There he was, emerging from behind a rock, wearing the traditional Patch clothes, his face almost identical to Silva's. This was Hao, but a one he didn't know. The current reincarnation, he knew. At least to an extent. This one, he didn't know at all. He only knew of his long-term goal: to wipe out humanity and replace it with a shaman-only world. This reincarnation felt cold, and even colder when he mercilessly killed his companions.
Yoh was thrown on the ground, and, terrified, he looked up. Instead of Hao, Silva's face was grinning maniacally back at him. He and the Spirit of Fire.
Yoh shot up in his bed, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Breathing hard, he took in the calmness of his room in the Patch village. It was quiet, and at the horizon, the dark sky had begun to turn lighter. It was almost morning.
"This was new," Yoh mumbled, focusing on calming himself down. With a poof, Amidamaru materialized right next to him.
"What's new, Yoh-dono?" he asked, floating in the air just a few centimeters away from the bed. Yoh blinked back sleepiness and rubbed his eyes. He yawned, finally calming down from the dream. Yoh crossed his legs and looked at Amidamaru with half-closed eyes.
"You know the dream?" he asked him. He hadn't discussed this with anyone else but Amidamaru, and later on, Anna, when she came to give him the Chou-Senjiryakketsu. Only the two of them knew about this strange dream.
Amidamaru nodded. He had witnessed Yoh waking up at random times during the night. Due to his easy-going nature, he was able to fall back asleep fairly quickly, but in the long run, it'd become a problem. Yoh couldn't afford to lose his sleep in the middle of the Shaman Fight.
"It changed today," Yoh said, his expression neutral. Amidamaru's eyes widened briefly in surprise.
"Changed? How so, Yoh-dono?" he asked. Dreams that changed could be dangerous. Or prophetic. Yoh wasn't sure which one. He yawned, then stretched like a cat.
"It was weird. It was Lilirara's vision alright, but the end… Hao changed into Silva, somehow," he explained, not really fond of remembering the last bits. Amidamaru looked to be deep in thought.
Suddenly, a familiar voice cut through the silence.
"Maybe it's trying to tell you something," Anna said, making both Yoh and Amidamaru jump into the air in surprise.
"A-Anna!" Yoh cried, looking at her. She stood in the doorway and leaned on the door frame. She had her sleeping yukata on, but nothing indicated that she just woke up. No severe case of bed head. Anna always looked neat, no matter what state she was in. Ignoring the slight blush on Yoh's cheeks, she came into the room.
Yoh shifted on the bed nervously, raising his hand and scratching the back of his neck.
"What could it want to tell me, though?" he asked. Deep down, he had a lingering suspicion of what Anna would say next, but in his sleepy state, he didn't want to believe it.
"Who knows, maybe Silva is linked to Hao somehow?" she suggested. She stood right in front of Yoh, her amber eyes piercing him. Yoh was quick to shake his head in disagreement.
"No, he can't be one of Hao's people!" Yoh protested. "He's not like them at all. He's a nice guy and he taught me how to use oversoul." Unknowingly repeating the words he said at Lilirara's, Yoh frowned.
"Maybe you're right in some way," he mused, pursing his lips into a thin line. "There was something about that vision, but I can't really place it." With a sigh, the boy laid back on the bed. It wasn't soft, but it also wasn't hard; but after all the places he had to sleep in during the America trip, even having a bed to sleep in sounded like heaven. However, Yoh was sure that he wouldn't be able to close his eyes that night. It was almost morning anyway. He could always use these extra hours not to laze around in bed but to rise early and train with the antique sword that Anna came with - the Futsunomitama sword that had been a treasure of the Asakura family for generations. Yoh's training had currently been centered about creating a new oversoul with it, under Anna's watchful gaze of course. Furthermore, he could always practice wielding the oversoul alone, unlike the times when he had to practice with his team.
Anna had also spent the last days stitching large advertisements of her future onsen onto their combat uniforms' backs while the team exercised. The days passed by very quickly in the Patch village, and soon it'd be time to move back to Tokyo where the real tournament would begin. Where Yoh would face his ancestor-turned-twin brother.
Yoh stared at the simple ceiling and sighed. The dream couldn't be right. He felt the weight on the bed shift as Anna sat down on the edge.
"You have to take care of this problem," she said, her voice regaining the strict undertone that had been missing before as she had also just woken up. Yoh blinked.
"I know. It wouldn't do me any good, worrying over this while fighting," he replied, raising his hand to cover his mouth while he yawned. "I'll go talk to him soon." Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Anna nodded curtly. Having her approval, Yoh let his eyes close once more. At least until he heard her say: "Now, get up. It's the perfect time to train."
Yoh's mouth moved into a pained smile as he got up.
"But the dawn just started," he protested, opening one eye to look at his fiancée. Anna stood up and straightened out her sleeping yukata.
"Even better. At least the other teams won't be able to spy on us."
Grumbling, Yoh let go of his idea to sleep more and followed her outside.
Several hours later, the ever-growing group of teams the Ren and Funbari Onsen, along with Anna, Tamao, and Manta, could be found shielding itself from the growing midday heat in one of the restaurants in the Patch village. It was also a perfect place to have lunch at, at least after sending Anna to bargain over the price with a poor Patch tribe member who had the misfortune to be manning the facility that day.
It made Yoh forgot what he went through every other night, spending time with his teammates and friends, having a cold drink, and surprisingly good food. They chatted, laughed (or rolled their eyes) at Chocolove's jokes, or listened to what all Manta learned about the other shamans and where they came from, though the short boy still kept a respectful distance away from Faust.
Despite spending the majority of their time together, both teams kept to themselves during most of the afternoons. Everyone practiced; they needed to know how to be a well-coordinated team, how to depend on one another, and how to predict everyone's moves. Developing new oversouls during the training, they all tried to keep them secret from the others, and under Anna's watchful gaze, no one would even want to risk getting closer to sneak a peek. The future Asakura kept everything organized, with Manta's occasional help. Everything was going as it should. Tamao was sent by Anna to fetch some cold drinks from a nearby store (with strict instructions not to pay too much, which almost made the poor girl have a heart attack), and the guys gratefully accepted it.
"Ahhh, it's so nice to take a break," Yoh said as he laid in one patch of grass, legs and arms spread out as he followed clouds with his gaze. Amidamaru hovered nearby. Faust allowed Frankensteiny to regain his form and the dog laid with his head on the front paws. Ryu lazily sat beside him, petting the dog's head and Faust himself sat comfortably in his wheelchair, Eliza's skull in one hand and a cold drink in the other. He wore his hat that protected him from the worst heat. Tokaghero floated next to Amidamaru to start talking about other people's ghosts that they've seen, trying to measure their power levels. Manta sat next to Yoh, picking up daisies and tearing their petals off to pass the time. They all enjoyed such moments of peace before being put to work again - after all, strong teams like Hao's probably didn't need any more additional training; it was Yoh & company who needed to get stronger. Otherwise, they'd be pulverized during the first match.
It wasn't even close to the evening when Yoh yawned. From her place, Anna closed her eyes. It wasn't any use forcing the boys to train more if Yoh was going to pass out from exhaustion sooner or later. She crossed her arms on her chest.
"That's enough for today," she announced, turning around. Tamao nervously looked up at the sun but didn't say anything, feeling that it wasn't her place to comment on the training schedule.
Hearing that, Yoh closed his eyes, almost immediately falling asleep.
"Wow, Chief must've been really tired," Ryu said, noticing Yoh dozing off. Manta put a finger in front of his mouth, silently saying to quiet down. The last thing they'd want was to wake Yoh up. No one else knew about the dreams, after all.
"Come on, let's go," Faust said, turning his wheelchair away. It was time for him to go about his own way. Ryu took Manta away, saying that he'd like to look for souvenirs for all his friends (at least some not overpriced souvenirs), Tamao looked at Yoh one more time and then followed Manta and Ryu, and they left Yoh and Anna alone. Anna watched until they left her vision, and then sat down beside Yoh.
It was almost dinner time when Yoh woke up. The sun was slowly beginning to set and it took Yoh a moment to realize where he was. He frowned; it was weird that Anna didn't wake him up yet. Sitting up, he saw that his fiancée was sitting right next to him, her amber eyes following his every move.
"I hope you slept enough," she said curtly in her typical Anna fashion.
Yoh nodded. Putting his hand up to cover his mouth as he yawned, he said: "I think this is the best I've slept since coming here."
Anna nodded and stood up.
"I'm hungry," she announced. Yoh rubbed the back of his head.
"You're in charge of the money," he said. "Why don't you choose somewhere to eat today?" It wasn't entirely true. While Anna was taking care of most of their savings, she trusted Yoh to take care of money too.
The two teenagers made their way back to the Patch Village. The sky had turned from blue to various shades of orange to dark purple as they entered one of the local restaurants. Yoh and Anna took their seats and looked through the menus.
"Such prices," Anna muttered as she tried to choose what to get for dinner. She got used to Manta paying for a lot of things during their journey to America and she didn't like the (actually affordable) prices at the Patch restaurant.
"Have you chosen?" a familiar voice asked next to their table. The two looked up to see a smiling Silva as he was standing there, wearing a light blue apron with the restaurant's name on it.
Yoh looked taken aback a bit, but Anna started by telling her order and he followed her lead. Silva wrote it all down and disappeared, presumably to relay their orders to the kitchen.
Yoh rested his elbows on the table, resting his head. Amidamaru floated next to him in his spirit ball mode. The boy sighed.
"You have to do something about it," Anna crossed her arms. Yoh nodded, but it was a lazy nod and she could see that he wasn't happy about it in the slightest.
Looking around to check if someone was watching, Anna gently put her hand over his.
"I know," Yoh said, frowning. "But I don't really vibe with confronting him about it so suddenly." He lowered his voice for the last sentence and he glanced towards the counter.
"You'll figure it out," Anna said, retracting her hand when several other shamans entered the establishment and looked for places to sit. She looked away for a moment, a shy expression on her face. Yoh watched her and smiled. Sometimes, Anna was simply too cute.
Their food came surprisingly fast. It was Kalim who delivered it and the two of them dug in. They didn't speak while eating, the only word was Yoh's whispered: "Amidamaru," as he presented the ghost with an offering. The samurai ghost thanked him for the food, despite not being able to eat it, and then Yoh peacefully ate the rest of his dinner.
"Aaah, I'm so full!" Yoh sighed, patting his belly when he finished. Anna cleaned her mouth with a napkin.
"They do give big portions," she said, tilting her head. "Maybe it's worth the price after all."
Yoh smiled.
"The Patch officiants are quite big and full of muscles, no wonder they need big portions," he remarked lightheartedly. Kalim, who just passed their table, hid his smile.
Anna didn't reply, rather watched as crowds of shamans passed by the window. No doubt they were returning to their rooms after days full of training. She frowned, risking a glance at Yoh.
He had become stronger since leaving for the Patch Village. And after receiving the Futsunomitama sword, he had developed a magnificent new oversoul that could scare the opponents off in the best case. And if not, Yoh was strong enough and prepared for whatever the tournament threw his way. Anna was sure of that. He had definitely grown since she met him in Aomori those years ago. And even more so since they started living together.
"Will we go?" Yoh asked her. Anna studied him with her gaze.
"I'll go," she replied. "You will stay here."
Knowing that there wasn't any way he could persuade her, Yoh nodded. Then, he raised an arm, signaling that they'd pay for their food.
"That would be $25," Silva said when he got to their table. Anna grumbled once more about the price but produced the correct amount and put it on his hand.
She stood up, the chair creaking under the sudden movement.
"I'll see you later, Yoh," she said, turning around and going off. She didn't look back. Anna never looked back.
Yoh and Silva watched her, then looked at each other. Yoh offered a weak shrug.
"Actually, Silva, could I talk to you about something?"
Assuming that it was close to the restaurant's closing time as there were fewer and fewer shamans in the street (it took them that long to properly enjoy their food), Yoh waited for an answer.
Silva blinked, a bit surprised.
"Sure," he said. "Let me just finish up here."
He turned around to deposit the money and briefly disappeared in the kitchen to hang the apron and take his Patch cloak. Kalim's head appeared from the kitchen.
"Silva? What about all those dishes?!" he whisper-yelled over the half-empty restaurant. He didn't seem pleased about the prospect of having to do all the dishes on his own.
"This is important!" Silva called back, putting on his red headband. Kalim shook his hand.
"Fine, but you owe me. This is the second time you've done this!"
Ignoring him, Silva put his cloak over his shirt and moved to the exit. Yoh followed him.
"Why didn't we stay there? It was almost empty," Yoh asked, having to speed up his pace to keep up with the older man.
Silva turned his head slightly.
"You never know who's listening," he replied. Yoh tilted his head. In his opinion, it would've been perfectly fine to stay in the restaurant.
The two of them went to the outskirts of the village, barely illuminated. The shadows got longer as they stopped and Silva asked: "What did you want to talk about?"
Yoh took a deep breath.
"You see… when we were travelling, we met this woman, Lilirara," he started. "And she showed us that Hao had actually been a Patch tribe member in his second life." He saw Silva frown. It was obvious that he didn't like this one bit.
"And I keep having these nightmares about it. I know that nightmares are nothing, but this really happened," Yoh continued, watching Silva's guarded expression closely. "And I wanted to ask if you had any relation to him."
Silva closed his eyes. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts. Hao's previous incarnation was a touchy subject in the whole tribe, and no one was proud of that. And him especially.
"We all have a relation to him," he said carefully, weighing each word. "It is true that he was a member of the tribe, and no one remembers that fondly. He stole some of our well-guarded treasures. Killed a lot of people, our people too. No one likes to remember that."
Yoh nodded in understanding.
"I get that. But I wasn't asking for his relation to your tribe. I was asking for his relation to you."
Silva stepped away, his eyes narrowed.
"Why do you want to know?" he asked, his tone becoming defensive. Yoh closed his eyes for a moment. He could see that he was uncomfortable with this topic, but he had to press on.
"Because in the nightmares, Hao changes into you," he replied finally. Granted, it happened only once, but that was one time too much.
Silva's eyes widened in surprise. His expression slipped before he could correct it and he looked at the teenager.
Yoh shrugged.
"I know it might not mean anything, but he really reminds me of you," he said, thinking back to the moment he first met Hao's current incarnation. He really did remind him of Silva, and he found it weird that he looked quite similar too. Now he knew why. This was the only missing piece.
The Patch tribe member turned slightly away, not completely. Yoh looked at him and nervously scratched his head.
"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have pressed. I can drop it if it makes you uncomfortable," he said. Maybe it'd be for the best. He got another confirmation that Hao had been born into the Patch tribe in his second life, maybe he could try and hope that all the dreams would go away.
Silva turned his head towards him.
"He was my ancestor," he said finally, turning back to him. Their eyes met and Yoh held his gaze, then closed his eyes.
"I suspected something like that," he remarked. "He's also my ancestor. And in this life, he's also my twin brother."
Silva looked down.
"I knew," he said simply. "We do have the information on all the contestants."
If Yoh was surprised, he didn't show it. Instead, he looked at the stars, obscured by the light coming from the village.
"You know, he's done bad things, but being his descendant isn't that bad," he said. "He was the bad guy hundreds of years ago, and apart from the same bloodline and looks, you're not the same person he was."
He was trying to be supportive, instead, Silva let out a dry laugh.
"Try growing up here when all the guilt is passed down the generations," he replied, suddenly resembling a different man. It was obvious that this topic was hard on them both.
Yoh put his hands into his trousers' pockets.
"Maybe not, but the guilt of the Asakura family is also still there," he said. "The descendants always end up having to clean Hao's messes. Now it's my turn to defeat him, though I don't know how yet."
For a moment, Silva looked at him as if he were crazy. Then, he looked at his own oracle bell, typing some combination into it. His eyes widened.
"Hao's level of furyoku is presently 1 250 000," he said. Now it was Yoh's turn to look surprised.
"That sounds like a lot," he commented, drawing out the last word so the whole sentence sounded rather lazy than serious. Silva nodded.
"His furyoku is the highest of all the contestants," he agreed. "Only one other contestant comes close to him and her furyoku is 500 000 at the maximum."
Yoh frowned, all carelessness disappearing from his face.
"So you're saying that basically, no one in this fight can defeat him, right?" he asked, already having a clear image. Silva nodded, his dark hair falling into his face.
"That's it. There would be a way though…" he fell silent, his eyes wandering over the horizon to the Great Spirits. Yoh looked in the same direction. Disapprovingly, he shook his head.
"You shouldn't suffer for what your ancestor did," he told him softly. Silva looked at him.
"Neither should you," he said. Yoh just shrugged and, for a moment, fell silent.
It wasn't a comfortable silence, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence either. They just stood together, neither of them knowing what to say or do.
Suddenly, a quiet laugh came from their left.
"Fu fu fu fu, discussing such things out in the open," an unfamiliar voice said. Yoh jerked a bit, though Silva stayed where he was, unfazed. Obviously, he knew the person it belonged to.
The shadows disappeared as another Patch officiant stepped into the light, a smirk on his face. His hair was quite wild with two horns sticking from it and half his face was painted orange. He had the usual Patch cloak on, secured by a unique chest plate.
"Magna," Silva greeted, his tone low. Magna shot a calculating look his way. It seemed that the two didn't particularly like each other.
"I'd be careful if I were you," Magna said in a slightly amused voice. "You never know who's listening in the shadows."
Now Yoh understood why they didn't stay in the restaurant. They probably didn't go far enough, though; they were still within the village's reach. Magna came closer, making Silva glare at him.
"Other people could find this talk… treacherous," he smirked. He looked so satisfied with himself and Yoh didn't like it one bit. Neither did Silva.
"I'm well aware," he offered his own, curt reply. He didn't budge when Magna patted his shoulder and disappeared into the depths of the village. Silva kept glaring after him.
Feeling uneasy, Yoh took a step back. This interaction was quite tense and to be honest, he was glad it was over.
"I think it'd be better to return," he said, nodding back to the village. It would be foolish to resume their conversation; besides, Yoh felt like he had already said everything that he wanted to say. In some matters, he was left with more questions than answers though. Nevertheless, he decided not to pursue it anymore - he already got even more information than he had asked for.
"I agree," Silva said, the tension not leaving his voice yet. Yoh noticed that and rather led the way to the village.
Both of them kept silent, walking side by side in the deserted streets. They were actually going back to the restaurant, but their pace was leisure and the dishes were sure to be long done (courtesy of Kalim).
The silence was broken by Yoh.
"Hey, Silva?"
"Hm?" the Patch officiant raised his brow. Yoh put his hands behind his head casually.
"If you-know-who is your ancestor and also my ancestor and my brother, does that mean I'm your uncle?" Yoh asked, a smile playing on his lips.
Silva looked at him, finally releasing the tension in his face and letting his expression turn into a similar smile.
"I'd say more like a cousin," he said, amused. Yoh shrugged.
"A cousin, then. Either way, you're family." He offered him a big, toothy grin. "I can be like your second family."
Silva kept his smile.
"I'd like that," he said. Knowing what would be inevitably coming, every moment spent with family was valuable. Even more so before they took off for Tokyo again.
Seeing Kalim from inside of the restaurant, waving at him, Silva stepped aside.
"I'll be going then. Lots of work to do." He paused for a moment. "Hopefully your nightmares will be gone after tonight."
Yoh nodded.
"Sure. It was an interesting talk today. I think you'd be the first person to know if they weren't," he replied, his grin never leaving his face. Actually, the first person to know would be Anna, but that was just a small detail.
Yoh waved briefly as Silva disappeared back into the restaurant, meeting Kalim, and then he turned around to make his way back to his room.
From that night on, he didn't have any nightmares.