Author's Notes: I've chosen not to use archive warnings on this mostly because I'm not sure if any will apply. Given the nature of X/1999, I feel like there should be something? I don't know.

However, there will likely be some plot-relevant sexual content in future chapters, but everyone will be of age at that point. There will be referenced violence, likely somewhat graphic. I will update the tags as the story continues and mark any major archive warnings if they become relevant, so please do read them.

Onwards with the story!


The other Kamui lifted his sword high and Subaru watched in horror as he pierced Kamui right through the heart. The deadened calm of his heart suddenly lurched; Kamui was never supposed to die. He'd simply wanted to remain out of the battle, wanted a break from existing, but never this.

Kamui's eyes widened. Blood gurgled from his lips. The light in his eyes slowly dimmed, eyes that Subaru had seen look at him with so many emotions: fear, sorrow, kindness, warmth. And now they would never show any of that again. There was silence as everyone took a moment to process what had just happened.

"A pity," the other Kamui finally murmured. "I had so hoped you would fulfill my wish."

Yuzuriha was the one who reacted first and, with a cry of rage, she launched herself into the fray. The rest soon followed. It was difficult seeing the Dragons of Heaven fight so valiantly only to be pushed aside by the other Kamui as if they were merely slinging paper at him. He dodged with an effortless grace that reminded Subaru of another man who had fought so well. Thankfully, there were no illusions as to who this really was anymore, but it was still ... difficult to witness.

Yuzuriha was the most skilled fighter, oddly, but even she was having a hard time. No one was paying any attention to Subaru. He figured that was for the best.

Rather than get anymore involved, he carefully maneuvered the rubble, ignoring parties on both sides, and crouched by Kamui's prone body feeling curiously numb yet strangely… upset.

He hadn't been able to help him, after all. He'd brought him back from his dream and for what? So he could die without ever fulfilling his wish? That… wasn't what was supposed to happen.

Granted, Subaru had long since given up on the world being fair, but Kamui… He was a good person. He'd done nothing to deserve any of this except be born under an unfortunate star.

"Kamui…" It was just so terribly sad. He shouldn't be able to care still, but the sheer wrongness of the situation grated at him, propelled him into some kind of action. He had to do something, even if it was too late.

Subaru glanced about swiftly only to see that the battle yet raged on, probably the last one. Confident he wouldn't be noticed right away, he carefully cradled Kamui in his arms and sprinted away. He wasn't sure what he intended to do, exactly; he only knew he wasn't about to leave Kamui's body in a war torn section of the city where he would inevitably be buried by rubble.

Wind whistled in his ears as he leaped from building to building, trying to find a good location. He eventually hid them in a deserted park surrounded by trees. It was calm, restful. Kotori-san had also been buried amidst trees; Kamui would likely want the same. Maybe I should try to bury them side-by side.

His mournful musings were cut short by a sudden explosion that erupted near the center of the city. The earth began to rumble, shake, large cracks split through the ground, and, to Subaru's awe and horror, several large dragons rose with mighty roars that deafened the entire area. Subaru could feel his ears pop and he winced in pain.

"I'm sorry," he murmured to his silent companion, eyes wide as he gazed above. It was actually happening; humanity would be obliterated.

Even through his numbness, he felt regret, especially for the young man currently in his arms. This was everything Kamui had fought against and Subaru had done absolutely nothing to help him in his final moment of need. He closed his eyes sorrowfully; he really had only been thinking of himself for so long now. He'd chosen a poor time for it, he supposed.

He held Kamui's body close, murmuring apologies as the world dissolved about them. He was unsurprised to hear several car crashes and the shouts of people as they tried to escape.

Then, to his shock, Kamui feebly turned his head. His eyes were glazed over and Subaru had to put his hand directly beneath Kamui's nose to detect even the faintest indication he was breathing.

There were several more explosions; the sky was black with smoke and the din of the huge dragons could not be ignored.

"S…Su—"

He couldn't hear the words so much as see them being formed. It took him a moment, but his senses finally caught up with him and he immediately shrugged off his coat, tore off several long strips, removed Kamui's shirt, and began wrapping the makeshift bandages about him.

"Shh," he said when Kamui's mouth moved again as he clearly tried to annunciate Subaru's name. "Save your strength. You'll be all right."

He supposed he could now label himself a liar along with everything else. The other Kamui's blow had been lethal; he'd had no intention of sparing him. This was surely some bizarre fluke and now there wasn't a hospital Subaru could drag him to to fix the damage, and he certainly couldn't take him to the Dragons of Heaven; they were losing and that was partially Subaru's fault as well and-

He'd have to take him to his apartment for now. He didn't have any obligations to the Dragons of Earth and he didn't particularly care what happened next, but he couldn't bring himself to simply let Kamui die. Not that there was a truly unforeseen chance to rectify that.

Once he had the bandages wrapped about him as well as he could, he picked him up and moved with as much haste as he felt was safe. Kamui let out the faintest pained moan at any jostling, and Subaru internally winced at how medically inadvisable all of this was, but there wasn't anything else he could do.

Once he reached the apartment, his heart sank as a mighty roar shattered all the windows before he'd even entered. Kamui let out a cry of pain as Subaru collapsed with tight groan. A large, serpentine head slammed through the complex and continued down the street, slithering and flapping its mighty wings as it went. People dashed out of their homes, shrieking in despair and confusion, and Subaru had to rethink his plan now.

His breathing accelerated as he tried to consider his options; Tokyo was falling. Staying in the city would be madness.

Weakly, Kamui reached up and clutched his shoulder.

"It's all right; I'll figure something out," Subaru murmured.

Kamui shook his head slightly and pointed downwards. Confused, Subaru followed the indication, but all he could see was cracked pavement and people hustling past.

"I don't follow… the ground?"

Kamui nodded tightly, his eyes clenched shut against the deathly visage roaring above them.

"Underground!" Subaru realized. But that was easier said than done. He couldn't very well go into one of the subways; that would be far too dangerous and they could end up trapped underground that way.

He dodged the swarms of people as he ran about with no real destination in mind; his only goal was to get through this.

The Dragons of Earth will decimate anything related to humanity, he thought frantically. They want to preserve the natural world.

Kamui coughed, then choked on some blood. Subaru tilted his head so he could spit it out. He needed to think faster than this!

Something natural, mostly unaffected by people…

There were some caves, largely ignored by most people, on the edges of Tokyo by the coast. He'd have to go there.

He left amidst ungodly roars, cries of panic, and smoke.


Of course, once they'd reached the caves, there was still the matter of Kamui's bleeding. He placed him in the recovery position and leaned back on his haunches, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do now, exactly. Kamui was no longer in any danger of being demolished by dragons, but he was still bleeding out and his rudimentary attempt at bandaging him wasn't going to cut it for long. The truly miraculous part about all of this was that Kamui wasn't dead already.

He supposed that was thanks to his abilities as the Kamui; slightly faster healing, slightly higher constitution. Most men would have died after the various other injuries the other Kamui had inflicted upon him over the course of their many battles.

Right now, that was the only hope he had that he would come through.

"I'm not going to be able to rummage for supplies until they stop," Subaru murmured. They each knew what he meant by "they."

"I-I know," Kamui forced out.

"Shush," Subaru responded gently. Kamui was shaking now; no doubt he was going into shock. Well, he didn't have a blanket to help him, but he'd have to keep him warm somehow.

He lied down behind him and wrapped his arms about him. He really was freezing; Subaru shivered at the contact. He clutched Kamui's hands and began rubbing them between his own. He could smell the scent of iron strongly in the air and feel Kamui's violent shivers run through him as if they were his own.

"Why?" Kamui asked. His voice was terribly faint. Subaru frowned at that and the question both.

"I could no longer make a kekkai," he explained. "Furthermore, the other Kamui … told me Seishirou-san's last wish." There was no need to get into that any further with how things stood now. "That bestowal and the loss of my ability to form a kekkai changed my role from Heaven to Earth. I had no intention of helping them nor of hindering them." He would understand if Kamui was furious with him for that; it was his right.

"N-no, why this?"

Subaru held him a little closer and tilted his head to get a better look at his face. His eyes were closed in pain and his lips were utterly white; his state was poor, but there was no dismissing his question. He felt a pang of hurt that Kamui would even wonder why he was helping him. Subaru may have left, but he didn't... He didn't wish Kamui harm.

"Because I—"

You care about the Kamui. Not me—the other one.

Was he even capable of caring about anything anymore? He'd told the other Kamui there wasn't anything left for him, and yet here he was trying to help someone.

"I didn't want to see you die like that," he finished quietly. "I never meant for you to… I'm sorry."

Kamui didn't say anything. Subaru couldn't blame him.


It was a difficult bout of time and Subaru had no idea how long it took for the Dragons of Earth to move on from Tokyo. He clung to Kamui, wondering if he would live through the day or if his efforts would prove for naught.

But eventually the roar of the Dragons of Earth calmed and there was eerie silence. Kamui had been drifting in and out of sleep—Subaru had to continually wake him up—but the silence got his attention immediately. Subaru could tell because his lips thinned in pain. Subaru shifted slightly so he could take in their surroundings. The ocean had calmed somewhat and the air felt cooler. He could smell dust and petroleum heavy in the air and he closed his eyes, knowing what it entailed.

Kamui shifted slightly in his arms. Subaru ran a hand down his arm in an attempt to comfort him. "It's over?" he whispered.

"I believe so," Subaru responded with some concern. What happened now?

He was unsurprised to see tears forming in the corner of Kamui's eyes. He tried to wipe them away, but he turned his head and said, "You need to get supplies." It was an odd, heavy tone he'd never used with him before. Subaru glanced at him worriedly. This had to be a difficult revelation, but he had his face angled so Subaru could no longer see what was written on it.

"I'll be as swift as I can."

"Right."

When he left the cave and maneuvered himself back onto ground level, his heart sank.

Tokyo was utterly flattened. He couldn't make out a single standing building for miles. Worst of all, there weren't any people.

Searching for supplies was going to be nigh impossible. Still, it was all he had left to do; there were hardly any other matters he needed to attend to.

As he reached what appeared to be the epicenter of Tokyo, he set to looking for the remains of a drug store of any kind.

"So, you're still alive."

Subaru turned towards the voice to see the other Kamui there. His face was carefully blank. Subaru subtly shifted his stance into something a little more defensive.

"I must admit, I'm a touch surprised," he continued calmly as he leapt to Subaru's side. Subaru resisted the urge to step away from him. If the other Kamui wanted to kill him and his patient, there was hardly anything he could do about it at this point, and yet some part of him knew he would try anyway. What had gotten into him?

"What do you intend to do?" Subaru demanded.

The other Kamui arched a brow at him. "You're a little livelier than the last time I saw you. And you have a new wish. Interesting."

"Please answer the question." He was too tired for this.

"Nothing," the other Kamui replied. "I know he is still alive as well. The other Kamui, that is. But it's too late for him to fulfill my wish and he has lost, quite thoroughly. Are you sure it was kind to rescue him like that?" He smirked. "He might not feel that way."

"I didn't realize—" Subaru bit his lip and looked away. Perhaps admitting he'd thought Kamui was dead when he'd whisked him away was unwise.

"Ah," he murmured. "So that's how it is. I didn't realize you were the impulsive sort."

That's because Subaru wasn't. Or hadn't been. He wasn't entirely sure where he stood on anything at the moment.

"Take these," the other Kamui continued flippantly. "It's your wish to help him." He tossed some medical supplies at him.

"How thoughtful," Subaru managed with only a touch of bitterness.

"I'm a giver," the other Kamui chuckled. "I'll miss the games we played. I wish…" He sighed. "Well, it hardly matters now. Good day, Sakurazukamori."

He left without another word. Subaru stared at the supplies in his hands and for one, brief moment, felt genuine anger, but it was doused as quickly as all the rest. He had to return to Kamui and feeling anything at all would do nothing to help him.

His choice to rescue the young man plagued him the entire way back, the other Kamui's words ringing in his ears, the judgment clear: You're not helping him.


Author's Notes: I have a loose outline for how this is going to go, so updates will be somewhat consistent. I could have waited, but I wanted to share the idea with everyone. :D

Also, I know that the last chapter we got wasn't supposed to be the ifinal/i battle, but for the sake of speeding things along a little bit, I decided to treat it as if it was. Hopefully that works okay for readers. ^^