05—haze
Kai could be that boy again.
The boy before the compounded betrayals, before weakness in the face of his friends' growing strength, before not belonging, before learning that his own strength made his friends weak, before being a sleep-deprived loner, before being left alone and before he thought dragons were more fearsome than knights.
In sum, before Kai was himself.
Gaillard could never be that boy again.
The boy to be relied on. The boy who scraped together smiles with paper cards. The boy who lived like someone a dreamer would want to become. The boy who journeyed across the continent, just to bring the continent back home. The boy who expanded his family. The boy who wore too much lace, but think it suited him just fine.
There was the Gaillard on Earth, and there was the Gaillard in space.
What ought Kai do with his dragon clans?
He needed to know where he could find them when he needed to, lest the history of the world be rewritten once more. He stored them in the bottom drawer of his sparse wardrobe. He locked them in the cupboard of the club room at school. Finally, he entrusted them to Miwa for safekeeping.
Only the knights were on his person.
How did Gaillard end up being the unofficial leader of the Quatre Knights?
He didn't even know if he could truly get along with these people until the end of his life. Nonetheless, he could, as always, be someone others could truly get along with.
We are the Quatre Knights. We are above those who get in our way.
This was now his truth, his bluish flames.
The running thread of Gaillard's hatred for Kai Toshiki was: 'Who does he think he is?'
What Kai felt for Gaillard made him understand what others had felt about him. He often wonders, 'Will I ever understand him?'
For the first time in his life, Kai had an answer to give.
Gaillard had something to answer to.
The burns of Judgment were invisible, but the injury that it had inflicted was real. The mixture of bluish flames and ordinary air created smoke that signaled Kai Toshiki's pain.
For the first time since he started Vanguard, Gaillard had succeeded in literally bringing his opponent down onto his knees.
He wouldn't do that, in ordinary circumstances. He secretly hoped that Kai was a villain who would and searched the latter's eyes for confirmation. He was denied one as Kai stubbornly contorted his face to keep up the death glare which he had sustained towards the end of their fight.
I'll consume your soul again and again with the flames of despair.
Gaillard meant it as both a threat and a promise. He went to the place that he was privileged to be, leaving Kai alone with the gravity of living with himself.
A/N: Tomorrow's drabble will be a continuation of this one, though I haven't decided if I would be using the same form. Stay tuned and stay hot!