Howdy there!

So to be honest, this story really did end with chapter one. There's no driving plot at this point besides, potentialy, Taki and Mitsuha's interactions with everyone, and their eventual everyday lives in the city. Maybe some more drama once the timeline swings around and 'YoungTaki' disapears from the mountain, and 'OlderTaki' just pops back in on his friends and family like, 'Yes, hello'. :}

Seriously though, essentialy any story from here would be a series of one shots with the Itomori side of the cast just kind of, well, living life in the city like a bunch of normal people; because really, Taki and Mitsuha deserve it, and any 'plot driving drama' I could create at this point would feel forced and wrong.

Our sweet star-children deserve their peace dang it!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I swear, I can't even listen to three gosh darn seconds of the sound track of this dang movie without getting all lost in my feels. Any who, hope this is as enjoyable to y'all to read as it was for me to write!

Enjoy!

In Love, Erebus

- Our Name -

- Chapter 2 -

*Explanations*

Everything was absolute chaos for the better half of a week. Though, Taki supposed that should be expected, considering a town had been wiped off the face of the map.

From the emergency personnel who had flooded the scene not long after the comet struck, to the near hysteria - intense grief and shock tends to appear when one sees their home destroyed in a single, devastating moment, and the realisation of how they were almost caught in that slithers into their mind - of the former-town's residents, to say that there was 'a lot going on', was essentially equitable to saying 'Mitsuha is cute'.

A massive fucking understatement.

Somewhere in all that chaos, Taki had learned there had been no casualties, and he once again praised whatever deity had helped him to accomplish such a miracle from the bottom of his heart.

They'd really done it. Him, Mitsuha, and whatever divinity had woven their threads together along the way.

There was an old saying about the strength of a threefold cord hidden in there somewhere.

And so, having done it, and avoided the destruction of Itomori, Taki had found himself very suddenly thrust into the reality of his new situation.

He was in the past.

Surprisingly, it wasn't something he was all that worried about. Musubi, or God, or whatever It wanted to call Itself, was most likely the one behind his literal time travel, and so considering the fact that he couldn't see said deity - who Taki had come to theorize had very meticulously, and carefully, planned out generations of it's priests, all to guide them towards the Truth that would eventually be the Tachibana's bond to Mitsuha, all so that It could save the town - doing something like this with any sort of maliciousness in mind. He couldn't imagine It being malicious at all, and It obviously wasn't shortsighted, so…

Yeah, he wasn't all that worried.

It cared enough about humans to go through all this trouble for a single town, so Taki just couldn't shake the strange amount of faith he had in the being's loving nature, and through that, his faith that whatever was going to happen, he - and Mitsuha - were going to be ok. Were going to be more than 'ok'.

They were going to be together.

And so, as he did his best to blend in with the crowd, tethered to his other half like a patient to life support, and only leaving her side when the situation absolutely demanded it, Taki had smoothly integrated himself into both the family, and the survivors of Itomori as a whole.

Though, questions did eventually come, and with those questions, the need for answers.

Which is why, nearly a week after the comet fell, Taki found himself nervously thumbing Mitsuha's hand as the two of them sat before the small, curious group of friends and family; taking calming breaths as they gathered their thoughts, and cooled their nerves.

They - both him and Mitsuha - trusted these people - even if they didn't get along with all of them - and so they wouldn't hide anything. They had no reason to, afterall, and it would be much easier to deal with this new crisis - if you could call it that, because really, maybe it was strange, but Taki just couldn't find it in himself to care about the whole 'I'm stuck in the past' thing - if they were all on the same page.

And so, as they gathered in the small, musty little inn room that the Miyamizu-plus-Taki had temporarily taken residence in, said family - as well as the two friends who had been originally been involved with the evacuation plot - waited patiently for the couple to gather their courage, and explain exactly what the hell had led up to this point.

This is going to be… Difficult. Though, they're definity justified in wanting answers, and we kinda promised them some anyway, so...

Taki sighed internally.

If a friend of mine prophesied a falling space rock of death, and then suddenly had a boyfriend who also apparently prophesied said doom-rock, I'd want answers too.

"Sooo, um…" Tessie scratched the back of his neck as the silence stretched on, and Taki took a deep breath. "Where… What's even…?"

"It's… It's complicated." Mitsuha looked off to the side, hand still entwined with his as she spoke, nervously dragging her thumb up and down Taki's own as the teen smiled at her gently. Wrapping her nervously twitching limb between his hands, he began gently tracing characters which, while having been washed away, at this point, still remained firmly written onto the heart of his other half. He didn't say it, but he felt Mitsuha relax a bit as he smiled and met her gaze, and his unspoken message was well heard by the shrine maiden.

I love you. We can do this, together.

"I think," Taki began, quiet - whimsical, almost - and so very nostalgic, "It started the day I watched the stars fall out of the sky."

…

Silence. The mysterious, heavy kind pressed down upon all those in the room, and the dark haired boy pushed onward.

"I had forgotten, because at the time, I guess it hadn't meant a lot... Well, to me, at least. But I do remember." The boy's gaze drifted off into no man's land, dark eyes becoming foggy, as though he were looking beyond the eggshell walls of the room to somewhere distant, and lost. "I remember watching the newscast with my father, and rushing out onto the balcony as a beautiful streak of light fell to the earth. I remember, even if for me, that was three years ago." Taki shook his head. "It's… complicated but…" He hummed, lost for words, and Mitsuha picked up where he left off.

"You know how I've been acting strange lately?"

Looks were passed around, and Yotsuha jumped in.

"Yeah, you mean the weird days where I'd walk in on you grabbing your own boobs?"

…

Fuck.

The logical part of his brain, which told him Mitsuha probably already knew about his morning ritual, was shut off as he turned cherry red, and pointedly did not look at the hazel eyed girl - or her father - who thumped him casually - hard - in the side.

"Yeah, those days." She seemed to take her boyfriend's boundary crossing in stride though, and continued. "Well… I wasn't exactly me, those days… Literally."

…

"Wait." Tessie held up one of his hands in a 'stop' gesture, and grabbed his face with the other. Confusion turned to shock, and realisation, as he suddenly stood from his chair and screamed silently while pointing at Taki; his stunned squeal muffled by his own hand. "You! No way! Taki, when we met on the mountain, you said that it was the first time I'd seen you 'like that'. Which means I had met you before, which means…" His words turned back into incomprehensible, panicky - excited - squeaks.

…

Taki bit the bullet.

"We've been switching bodies. It's been going on for a few months now, and would happen randomly a couple times a week. Always triggered by sleep." He shrugged, smiling awkwardly. "It's why, well, I guess you already do know me, dude, you just didn't know it was me. All those times Mitsuha was 'possessed'," he added the quotation marks with his free hand, "that was me. Remember when we built the cafe? Or-"

"Or that time you kicked over a desk while we were doing still-life drawings?" Sayaka cut in, and Mitsuha groaned as her boyfriend smiled.

"Hey, that was necessary." The look of exhausted - though playful - resentment which painted Mitsuha's face told them all exactly how much she disagreed. "They were talking shit, and I'm sure as hell not going to take that, or let them keep doing it. Mitsuha kept refusing to do anything about it-"

"I just didn't care!"

"Liar." That earned him another thump in the side, and the girl descended into pouting. "Now, continuing, yes, that was me. And on days that I was Mitsuha…" Taki trailed off, and Toshiki joined in for the first time.

"She was you."

The fated duo nodded, and a thoughtful silence fell around the room.

"I'm confused. So you were just like, switching places? Why? How?" Yotsuha cocked her head to the side as she shot her sister a look, and Mitshua smiled softly.

"We don't know, it just-"

"Actually, um, maybe this is where we should start the second half of the story, 'cause well…" Taki's declaration fell away, and his girlfriend shot him a surprised glance.

"You figured it out?" She asked quietly, and the dark haired boy met her gaze for a moment, before shaking his head tepidly.

"Well, no. At least, I don't know for sure, but… I have a theory." He straightened. "But for that to make sense - and to be honest it probably won't anyway - you have to hear the second part of the story. And it's… It's not exactly happy…"

…

"You said… You said this all started when you watched the stars fall out of the sky three years ago, what…" Tessie looked to Taki for an answer, and the soft hum of the room's heater was the only sound in the silence which followed in the next few moments. "You… You are not from this time, are you."

Taki smiled, and something jokingly proud bloomed across his face.

"Yupp! I am officially the first human to achieve time travel not once, but twice! Though, I guess I didn't do anything, so much as… Well… It's kinda complicated." He shook his head. "The important thing to understand is that what we." He gestured to him and Mitsuha. "Didn't know, is that our timelines were skewed by three years. Right now, somewhere in Tokyo, there's a third year middle schooler named Taki Tachibana, who just two days ago received a beautiful red cord from a random girl he didn't know, but had the distinct feeling he should. And because he hadn't met her yet…"

"You cut your hair!" Sayaka cried, as though she'd found the answer to life, the universe, and everything. "You went to see him, but he didn't know you, because you hadn't met yet, because the timelines were skewed! That was the misunderstanding! But then…" She looked carefully at Taki. "How… What…"

"The comet struck Itomori in the middle of the autumn festival. It's like I told you, Sayaka." Taki's face became something grim, grief ridden and terrible. Across the room, he watched Toshiki's eyes swell with something - empathy, maybe - as he likely realized what the younger man was going to say next, and exactly what emotion had been driving his fervent actions that terrible day.

Emotions that the man could understand quite well, because really, if there was a chance to save his wife, Taki doubted Toshiki would be any less zealous than he'd been the day of the comet.

"There were no survivors. None of you…" The boy trailed off, and even if he knew they were right there, that they were safe, the phantom memory of their names in that damn black book haunted him even now. It's bone colored pages danced in front of his mind's eye like a devilish tormenter, and Taki felt his teeth snap shut with a sharp click; his breath became heavy, and dread filled his lungs like tar, suffocating him with its weight, and filling him with an insurmountable grief that strangled mercilessly, stealing his words as he fought back tears.

He doubted the image - and the feelings which accompanied it - would leave him any time soon. Even as his love for Mitsuha, and his joy at saving her - at saving all of them - quieted the distress of his heart, his nightmare would haunt him in his sleep for months, maybe years to come.

Mitsuha's hand - warm, and soft, and so very alive - squeezed his, and he found himself anchored once again.

He took a breath.

"I came looking, after the switching stopped, but I hadn't even bothered to learn Itomori's name, so I was kinda just… Wandering around the countryside with a picture of this unnamed town I'd drawn, and asking every other person I came across if they'd seen it. Eventually, I found a survivor, and he drove me up to the crest. The one just above the school, and…" The boy rubbed his angry red eyes. "That's when I figured out what had happened. I made sure, of course. Found all your names in this stupid little black book that the government made for those who'd been lost in disaster, and I…"

He couldn't keep going. He'd probably break down if he did, so he went quiet for a moment, catching his shaky breath as everyone sat frozen, suffocating in the silence, and waiting for him to continue as Mitsuha rubbed his back soothingly.

"I remember it, kind of." She said to fill the void. "When we switched for the last time, I had this… Vision, of my last moments… And well…"

…

The already chilly air seemed to freeze with her words.

Taki found his courage, and pushed onwards with his tale.

"I couldn't accept it. I refused to accept it, and I knew I had to do something, so I convinced the survivor to drive me up the mountain, and I… I went to the only place I could think of." His voice became resolute, and he sat up straighter; clenching his left fist as though he'd caught a miracle - which really, he had - in his hand, and needed to make sure it didn't escape. "I went to the vessel of the god of the Miyamizu shrine."

That earned him some looks.

"I knew I had to reinitiate my connection with Mitsuha somehow, and so… I went, and I prayed, and I drank some of her kuchikamizake."

He swallowed thickly.

"And um, this is where things get weird."

"Bro, if we haven't even hit the weird part of the story yet, then I'm kinda scared for what comes next. Though," Tessie scratched the back of his head. "I can make a guess."

"Of course you can, ya damn sci-fi nerd." Taki laughed from his belly, and everyone shared a quick chuckle as Tessie socked him playfully in the shoulder. "No but um… I drank the sake, but when I stood to leave, I tripped, and my flashlight lit up the back wall… There was a painting there, of a comet splitting in two, and striking a village. Then, I fell, and hit my head, and…"

The city boy looked to Hitoha and smiled gently.

"Musubi, or the god of the shrine, or whoever it was, answered me. I think… I think they had been waiting for me, for us. All these years, I think they've been doing this." He knew the grandmother understood what 'this' was, so he didn't feel the need to explain that the switching was normal for the Miyamizu family. "For this exact moment, grandma. The deity wanted to save the town, and so everything has led up to this. I…"

He looked upwards, staring into the ceiling, and imagining the grand cosmos which lay beyond.

"I think… What happened next was like, the worst, weirdest, and most amazing fever dream I've ever had. It was all colors, and ideas, and thoughts that weren't my own, and images I'd never seen. Parts of Mitsuha's past and life that I'd never experienced before, because it was her, and not me, and…" He shook his head, dropping it and meeting his love's warm hazel eyes. "And then I was in the past. I woke up in Mitsuha's body the day the comet hit, and well… You all know the rest."

He didn't mention how he'd seen everything. How he'd seen it all, felt it all - through her, and through the god that spoke to him - and how intimately he knew Mitsuha now because of it; not just her as she was now, but as she had been, before, and really, maybe glimpses of who she could become. He'd been allowed to see - and feel - every heartbreak and joyous moment of her life; from Yotsuha's birth, to the death of her mother, and her father's abandonment.

He even experienced her own death.

He felt it all, knew it all.

And more than that, he knew her, maybe even more than he knew himself.

Their threads, which before had burned and snapped, had not just been re-tied, but had been woven together to form a single strand; bound by the power of the god in the cave, never to be separated again. Their bond was so strong, not even time itself could split them from each other.

The threefold cord.

…

No one said anything. Not for a long - or at least, what felt like a long - time, and Taki was okay with that. The pondering silence bought him a moment to anchor himself in the now, and remember that this was real, and that Mitsuha was right there, next to him, and she wasn't going anywhere.

We're alive, and we're together, and there's nothing else I could possibly ask for.

"Then how are you here?" Toshiki finally broke the bitter, and yet undeniably grateful - in the way one is when they know they have been saved from something terrible, and yet the fear of what might have been continues to haunt them - silence.

"Twilight." He and Mitsuah said it in synch, and both of them spoke with such awe it was astounding. The shrine maiden continued.

"We met on the mountain, physically, for the first time, and for some reason we were able to interact, even if we were years apart. And then…" Mitsuha's explanation fell away, blushing heavily as Taki smiled, maybe just a little proud, as he pulled his girlfriend close.

The heaviness in his heart was lifted a little at the uncomfortable look Toshiki was sending them, and the young man thought of giving his girlfriend a kiss just to see the quesy look on the politicians face become more potent.

He didn't, of course, but it was an amusing idea.

"We kissed, and suddenly, I was here. In this time, permanently. It hadn't been purposeful, but…" He shrugged. "To be completely honest, I couldn't be happier. Even if this is a really weird situation, I know that if we had been separated, I would have forgotten. Weird, magic amnesia was already getting to me before I got to the shrine, and so if I hadn't come here…"

I would have forgotten. I would have been forgotten.

Erased, and then cursed to never remember. Unaware of why I felt so empty until the day we'd meet again.

A fate worse than death.

All these things were left unsaid, and yet were heard all the same.

"Well… I think that's crazy as shit, to be honest, and I'm going to need to process for a bit, but um… In the meantime, what are we supposed to do now?" Tessie asked. "Unless you, you know, just up and replaced the younger you - which would be kind of messed up, erasing yourself and all - then there's already a Taki Tachibana in Tokyo, right? And there can't be two of you, so…"

Ah, yes, the question me and Mitsuha have been asking for the last week. What the heck do we do now?

It took a moment, as everyone became lost in thought, but Toshiki eventually spoke up.

"We lost everything." The politician straightened from where he'd been leaning against the wall. "All the official documents that had been in town were destroyed, and well… With everything that's going on…" Toshiki looked off to the side, a little uneasy. "It shouldn't be too hard to… Make someone... Apear, so to speak. I know some people who could help me make it happen… Discreetly. No one will notice with everything else that's going on anyway."

…

"Dad are you… Did you just offer to forge papers?" Mitsuha asked, and while there was a disbelieving - and maybe a little disapproving - glint in her eye, it was overshadowed by pure awe, and thankfulness.

"Well… Yes. I think I owe Taki that much, at least. It's just…" The man sighed, dragging a hand across his face, before scratching thoughtfully at the scruff on his chin. "He can't come from nowhere. I can't make up a random person, they need to be connected to me in some way, or else too many people might look into things they shouldn't. We need a good enough alibi." The man's eyes drifted to the supernatural pair who sat on one of the futons, and he seemed to come to a decision; though from the way his face twisted up, it might not have been a good one.

At least, not in his mind.

"My point is, this would be a lot easier if you were a part of my family, Taki…"

…

The idea sank in, and the boy felt his eyes widen.

"Um, sir I think, I mean- I'm dating your daughter!" He cried, red in the face. "I think people wouldn't really, um. People would think weird things if you were to 'adopt' me, and I'm not about to bring that on Mitsuha, even if it means more danger for me, so…"

"God help me… I can't believe I'm about to say this." The man groaned, shaking his head and taking a deep breath, before turning to face his daughter. "You know, Mitsuha, my sir name isn't Miyamizu. Because of the shrine, I took your mother's name, so…"

…

They probably woke up the whole damn inn with their shrieking.

The story goes like this.

He was originally Taki Kataware - and yes, he understood he was being a bit of a nerd with that, because really, Mitsuha and Tessie would never let him forget he wanted his fake original surname to be twilight - but after the death of his parents, he ended up being taken care of by Hitoha, due to some promise she'd made his non-existent mother, and had lived in Itomori under the woman's care ever since.

Then he met Mitsuha, and the two of them hit it off. Hitoha began training him in the ways of the shinto priest, and he was predominantly homeschooled because of it; though he did show skills with both math and art, and wanted to seek a career in architecture should the situation allow it. After falling in love, he and Mitsuha got engaged, and planned to marry after highschool; because of this, and because he wanted to show his dedication to both her and the shrine, he legally changed his name to Miyamizu in advance.

That was the story they'd decided on, should anyone ask. Though, most of the backstory was skimmed over when talking to a former inhabitant of Itomori - as they knew the alibi would fall apart immediately, damn small towns can't have any secrets - and was only to be called upon should they be talking to a government official; of which there were many, most of whom only wished to speak Toshiki, and who thankfully cared very little for the young man who shared the former mayor's surname, or the rest of the politicians family for that matter.

And wasn't that a weird thing to think about, him being Toshiki's family.

…

Him being Mitsuha's family.

…

Him being Mitsuha's husband.

…

Calm down Taki, breathe…

Thankfully, a lot of the inhabitants of Itomori had already vacated the area - even Tessie and Sayaka had gone their separate ways, with their parents hauling them off to stay with grandparents or cousins until they could find a way to get back on their feet - leaving the little group there to deal with the rest of the political fall out.

Though, it also might be because they had no place to go. All of the Miyamizu family had been in Itomori, afterall, so they had no extended blood to rely on in a situation like this. What they were really waiting on, at this point, was for Toshiki to find a cheap enough place in the city that they could both afford, and could fit a family of five into comfortably.

A surprisingly difficult task, to say the least.

Taki actually took an active part in the home hunt, and ended up spending hours of his time sitting around with Mitsuha and her father in the business center - which was really just a glorified lobby, with a coffee machine and an internet router - of the little Inn, looking through different listings and offering advice to the older man that only someone who'd spent all their life in the city could offer.

Eventually, they would find something, and the group would finally be able to get away from the inn, and the memories, and the smoke from the newly formed crater that reminded them constantly of how close they'd all come to death.

So they left, and for the first time in weeks, Taki felt like he would appreciate being able to forget about Itomori, if only for a little while.

Drawn from his thoughts, the young man felt Mitsuha pull gently on his hand, herding him onto the train which had called for boarding as they followed Yotsuha onto the compact, high speed railway which would take them to the next city over.

People looked at them oddly as they entered, which was to be expected, considering most of the group - all the ladies - were dressed in the clothes supplied to them by the emergency services - they hadn't found the time to go shopping quite yet, and everything else had been lost in the devastation - and thus stood out a little bit; though, with everything going on, even if they hadn't looked like escaped government black-projects, dressed in the cheap teal colored sweats and matching jackets, a group such as theirs would have received stares anyway. An entire family was traveling together with nearly no possessions whatsoever?

Definitely Itomori refugees.

It didn't bother Taki much, though.

And so, as they got settled, the young man began playing travel games with Yotsuha to cure her boredom, lacing his fingers with his girlfriend's as a brilliant smile graced his lips, and he watched the countryside fly by.

Things were good.

Yeah, that's right, Toshiki is using bs politician magic to solve all the paperwork problems. Is it unrealistic? Yes. Do I care? No. Why? Because like I said before, this story was meant to end with the first chapter, and as such will be used by me as a shameless, fluffy, no real problems series of one-shots, which I will write as my need to see our twilight duo and the rest of the cast living happily grows and returns to me.

Also! Yes, they are officially-not-officially engaged, and you better BELIEVE that Taki is gonna make sure every person and their mother knows it. I found some translations of the Dynamic-Duo's notes and diary entries, and I have to say, it REALLY opened my eyes to Taki's character. He's a lot more... Crass, than the sub makes him out to be, lmao. All of the entries he leaves for Mitsuha are really detailed and thought out, don't get me wrong, but he also is strangly protective of her even then; he writes to her in one of them, and I'm paraphrasing here so forgive me, 'By the way, I kicked a desk over in class today because some fucking idiots were talking shit about you. You have to stand up for yourself! Don't let them treat you that way, because you sure as hell don't deserve it!'

That aside I really do hope you guys liked it. I've officialy finished school for the year, btw, so yay! Nearly failed my trig/pre-calc class, but whatevs, right?

…

That's actually why I vanished for a couple weeks, and haven't updated Silence in the Sound for a while. I passed by the skin of my damn teeth, and as such will be making sure my priorities are straight going into next semester, lmao. Sorry fanfic and fantasy novel, college is expensive and I can't risk failing!

Erebus's terrible mathematical skills aside, I really do hope you enjoyed, and are staying safe and healthy!

In love, Erebus