This fic was written as a gift to miravrse (AO3)

Inazuma was a land resistant to change, a country isolated and mostly untouched by the world. Ei stood at the top of her country, one she swore to protect but one she never wanted to rule. She knew she was too cold for her people, too uncaring, and yet, fate had never once cared for what she wanted, has it?

"You shouldn't lie to yourself Ei, it doesn't look good on you."

Her sister was meant to rule, she was the picture of the perfect ruler, the perfect god. She cared for the people, she loved her country, she was the change inazuma sorely needed, and yet, death had never once cared for what the world needed.

"What would you know of lies, Miko?"

The people knew nothing, the world knew nothing. The gods knew but they did nothing. The world moved on and Inazuma remained unchanged, untouched by the changes of the world beyond. Ei had lost everything, she had nothing, and the world around her had changed and at the same time, it had not.

"Did you forget? I am a fox, we are known for our trickery and we have not changed."

Ei feared the change. She feared to forget, to lose what she had left. The world had changed and she had been left behind in its wake. She had lost far too much and she feared to lose more. She sealed herself away, hiding away from the world outside, to forever remain eternal until she found her way in this new world.

"You say you have not changed, but you did change."

Yae Miko had been her eternal. Her sister had known about her love for her, teasing her often when she failed to confess her love to the sly fox. Ei yearned for those times, when simple love was enough to put a smile on her face, when the passing days did not ask for anything more than to live as herself. And yet, time never once cared for love.

"It's more accurate to say that you've changed instead."

When her sister died, Ei became overwhelmed by her grief. She wore a mask for her people, for her country, for her love, but in the shadows where no one could see, she tore it away and let the tears fall. She hid her grief from her people because she was to be their ruler. She hid her rage from her country because she was to be its Archon. She hid her sadness from her love because she could no longer live her empty days with her. She hid her tears from the world because she could no longer become Ei.

"You weren't there, Miko."

Ei could not exist, Inazuma did not need her, the world never needed her.

"I was there, Ei, but you didn't let me in."

If the world did not want her to exist then she would cease to exist, she would hide away in her eternity, away from the world that had taken everything from her. She made a puppet to replace her, to rule her people in her place, to become the Archon in her place, to uphold the eternity of Inazuma in her place. When she placed the Raiden Shogun upon her throne, Ei turned her back on the world, her country, her people, and her love.

"...I didn't want you to see me so unlike myself."

She sat alone in her world of eternity, living in silence and muted to the outside world. She meditated on the meaning of eternity, the meaning of change, and the different views she and her sister carried. What was 'eternity' and what was 'change'? Why had her sister pursued 'change'? Why did she perish in her place, to embrace eternal death, when she was forced to embrace change with pain and tears? Why was she, who lived by eternity, forced to change?

"That has never once mattered to me."

The world moved on without her. She watched through the eyes of the Raiden Shogun, watching Inazuma remain unchanged, as if the cataclysm never happened, as if her sister never died, as if she never existed. She no longer existed in Inazuma, only in the eternal world she created for herself.

"It mattered to me."

Yae Miko tried to convince her to leave her world of eternity, to walk with her into a new world with just the two of them, but Ei remained adamant in her ways. She chased her love away with her silence. She shut her eyes and her mouth, ignoring the words as her love tried to ask her, beg her, to leave this ugly eternal world. And when she left, Ei let the mask shatter and the tears fall.

"You're so foolish, Ei. I love you far too much for anything to phase me."

Her eternal world remained unchanging even as years passed. Yae Miko never returned since then, and Ei wondered if she had forgotten about her. It was simply another thing that had changed in her life, another thing that went against her will and her desires, just one more thing she lost and would never recover.

"Why would you love me? I hurt you."

She thought that her eternal world would continue to remain unchanged. She thought that she would continue to live her life alone forever. She thought that she had accepted her lonely life, to live without love, without care, without anything to tie her down to a world changed and gone. She thought she could survive in eternity with no voice, no sight, no sound. She carried so many thoughts in this eternal world even as the clock ticked ever forward, even as she was left behind unchanged and the world moved on without her. She thought it would last forever until her world shattered by a single being who forced her to move, to no longer remain ignorant of the world outside.

"Hurt me? As if anything you do could hurt me. Have a little more faith, Ei. Don't push me away next time, okay?"

Ei had been content to remain in her eternal world, uncaring, ignorant to the changing world outside. She had not expected her love to bring the changing world to her, to show her what she had done wrong, what she should have done, to show her how much she loved her.

"I promise, Miko."