Summary: Astral had used the Numeron Code, so now everything was back to normal. Or was it? Post-Canon
After the duel between Astral and Yuma ended, the Arclight brothers quietly returned home. The duel had been an exciting watch, and fortunately not as high stakes as they had feared, but Astral and Yuma were exchanging teary goodbyes that none of the young men felt like they were close enough to the two to be around for. They all agreed it had turned personal, and that remaining would be an intrusion, so Quinton used their updated (now 100% less likely to drain their souls) Crest powers to open a portal home.
"That was certainly exciting!" exclaimed Michael as he hopped out of the portal, his feet landing squarely on the marble floor of their living room.
"I honestly thought Astral was gonna trounce Yuma," huffed Thomas with good natured sarcasm as he stalked into the house right after his younger brother. "Guess Yuma isn't as pathetic as I thought. He might almost be able to be considered a good duelist."
Smirking, the youngest retorted, "Wow, brother, coming from you that's quite a compliment!"
While they chatted about the duel, both had by unconscious agreement started walking in the direction of the kitchen, with the joint unspoken thought of getting a snack (or maybe it was more of a dinner, given the time of day - they still hadn't quite gotten back into the habit of regularly timed family meals yet, if in fact they had ever had any) to finish off the eventful afternoon. Of course, this path led them past the closed doors to their father's room.
"Hush," spoke up Christopher in a low voice, breaking up what had turned into a quarrel over dueling strategies, "Father is still asleep."
"I can't believe he decided to take a nap during the entire duel," scoffed Quattro, though despite his harsh words he also lowered his voice.
"I'm sure stopping three planets from crashing must have been really tiring," mentioned the youngest softly, glancing sympathetically at the closed doors as they passed by.
"Hmph," grunted the middle in return, either in rebuttal or agreement no one was really sure.
The three brothers filed into the kitchen, grabbing their comfort snacks of choice before sitting scattered across the room, Chris at one side of the table, Michael seated by the window, and Thomas leaning against the counter.
"So if Astral isn't gonna destroy Barian World, what is he gonna do with that code?" Wondered the middle brother aloud, taking a bite of an apple.
"I do not know," replied Chris, nursing a cup of tea in front of him, "I suppose, though, it's not for us to worry about. We have done our part enough already."
"Yeah, I guess so," piped up Trey, though his red headed brother looked disappointed, so he added,"It'd sure be neat to see, though, wouldn't it?"
"Lame!" Groaned Quattro in response to his older brother, sinking further against the counter, "Whatever," he muttered, "I bet Astral'd just do something boring with it anyway."
The next morning, despite all of the drama of the previous few days, Quattro planned to head out for the day. So, after briefly eating some type of breakfast, he stalked purposefully out of the house and down the street towards Heartland. He occasionally got stopped every now and then for autograph requests, but with his dueling status that was normal. What was weird about the day was ironically how not weird everything was outside. Even when Yuma and Astral had dueled the day before, the city had shown some signs of wear and tear from the Barian invasion. But today, it was like it had never happened and the streets looked brand new. He tried to shrug it off, muttering to himself about litterbots and Faker finally actually making himself useful for once, and focused instead on where exactly it was he was even going.
He didn't find himself too surprised, though he was slightly annoyed at his own sentimentality, when he realized all his seemingly aimless walking had brought him to the gates of Shark's house. He fought hard to shove down the pang of hurt that went through him when he thought about Shark dying in a duel for Barian World, against Yuma no less, and how he hadn't been able to stop him. Quattro may have had many fans, but Shark was just about the only person he had been willing to call a friend out loud. Yuma wasn't the only person allowed to miss him! This whole thing stunk!
Hurt turning swiftly to anger, he gave the gates a swift clanging kick, letting out a frustrated scream as he did. Stupid idiot got himself killed before Quattro could beat him himself!
"Geez, watch it," droned a bored sounding voice behind him. Quattro froze, but didn't dare turn around in case his ears were somehow lying to him. "Whatt're you doin here, Quattro?" asked Shark, and that definitely was Shark.
Turning swiftly aloud, he exclaimed, "What the hell?! I thought you died!"
"I did," replied Shark in way too casual and monotone a voice for the situation, "Astral brought me and all the other Barian emperors back as humans when he used the Numeron Code," he explained flippantly.
"He what?!"
Shark just shrugged. "So what did you want, anyway?"
"Nothing. I have to go," hastily said Quattro, this time using a portal to get home as soon as possible. He needed to discuss this with his brothers. If Astral had used the Numeron Code to restore the Barians, this could mean any number of big things had happened. He tried not to think about the one wrong that they had wanted set right for 5 years.
He burst into the kitchen, where he was certain his brothers would be eating breakfast, since he had gotten an early start. They were both there, though his father still was not, which was possibly for the best.
"Did you know that Astral used the Numeron Code to bring all the Barians back to life and turn them human?!" He shouted without preamble.
"There's no need to shout," sighed Quinton, looking like he wasn't quite awake yet.
"Shove it, Chris, this is important," he shot back. "Well?"
"Oh, is that what Yuma was trying to call me about last night?," mused Michael thoughtfully in response, "He was so excited I didn't really understand what he was talking about at the time."
"Of course!" proclaimed Thomas, slamming his hands on the counter, "Yuma would have to know something about this! Give the twerp another call - I want answers!"
They gave Yuma another call, having to wait precious seconds as the half asleep boy drowsily processed their rushed questioning. "Oh, yeah," he said, perking up once he had finally woken up, "Astral brought everyone back! All the Barians, and Kite, and my mom and dad, too!" The brothers could all practically hear him beaming over the call.
All three brothers drew in simultaneous breaths of realization and hope when Yuma mentioned his father. If Astral had used the Code to set everything right, then that could mean-!
"Thank you very much for telling us this, Yuma," spoke Chris, quickly yet politely.
"I'm glad you finally got to see your dad again!" Chimed in Trey.
"Ok, that's nice, hang up the call we should go!" Urged Thomas.
"Um, ok, bye?" spoke Yuma bewilderedly at the sudden start and end of this conversation, before the hot headed Arclight swiftly ended the call.
Without another word to his brothers, he sped walked purposefully out of the kitchen and down the hall, and his brothers followed him. There was a silent air of anticipation and hope among all of them as they turned a corner towards their father's room. Quattro banged on the door in three strong knocks, and they all stepped back, wondering what could possibly wait on the other side of the door.
There was an indistinct murmuring from the room that offered nothing conclusive other than the fact that their dad was actually awake. Little over a minute later, the door at last swung open. The brother's spirits collectively dropped when they realized there was no adult height form of their father to greet them, and it was with a sinking disappointment that they all looked down at their still short, still childlike, still masked father.
He looked up at them slightly blearily, looking about as awake as Yuma had sounded over the phone, and his hair thrown into a loose approximation of a braid - clearly hastily tied after he had just gotten up. Obviously he had expected that since they had knocked on his door, they had something to say, since he simply looked at them in silence for a few seconds. Noticing their collective frowns, he frowned himself and asked,"What?"
None of them knew quite what to say. In so many minutes, their high hopes had been dashed. If everything else had been set right, if so many people had been brought back, why wouldn't Astral have helped their transformed father? Had it really been so foolish for them to think that they, too, would receive benefits from the use of the Numeron Code?
"What is it?" asked Vetrix worriedly at his sons' continued silence and drawn faces, "Did something happen?"
"No. Nothing happened," Quinton glumly replied, though he did his best to sound neutral. Vetrix wasn't buying that for a minute, and cocked his head back inquisitively to regard his tallest son.
"You sound disappointed," he observed with a seemingly equal neutrality, if not a little confusion.
The brothers traded glances, silently debating if they should tell him that Astral had used a one time use God code to rewrite the world, and had accidentally forgotten to right one glaring wrong.
"We just wanted to tell you," spoke up the youngest in a cautious voice, though he did his best to keep his voice sounding light, "That Astral used the Numeron Code to bring Kazuma Tsukumo back. And Kite as well. Aaanndd.." he shared this last fact more hesitantly, "he turned Shark and the rest of the Barians human."
Vetrix had been nodding along, happy to hear that his friend finally got to reunite with his family, and the rest of the Arclights were hopeful for a second that he would miss the other implications in all the people that Astral had restored. Unfortunately for them, their father was a doctor for a reason, and he quickly figured out what his sons had been so disappointed about.
"Astral…used the Numeron Code, huh?" he asked, trying to keep his voice from sounding shaky as he clenched his fists at his sides.
"Yes," answered his eldest son simply, though he looked off to the side inside of downwards to meet his father's masked face. And the middle Arclight tightly crossed his arms with a scowl, though the scowl was not aimed at anyone - or at least, not at anyone in the room at the moment.
There was a heavy pause after the confirmation, and Byron took measured breaths as he wrestled with the knowledge that the world had been set right - the world, except for him. He would not lose it, he would not throw a tantrum, he would keep control over his childish impulses even though a large part of his mind was repeatedly screaming It's not fair! in a steady stream and filling him with the urge to flail his fists and scream.
"Sorry," said Michael in a near whisper, as if he had anything to do with this!
Vetrix fought off the rising desire to just laugh, hysterically and humorlessly, clenching his fists tighter and using his nails biting into skin to keep himself grounded. "Oh, well," he forced himself to say, with a false nonchalance, though his smile was brittle, "I'm sure Astral had much bigger things on his mind than little old me! Plus, he doesn't know me all that well, he doesn't know what I looked like before to put everything back, I'm sure."
"Father…" Michael started to say softly, eyes gleaming in sympathy.
"It's fine!" Vetrix choked out in a fake chipper tone, cutting off whatever attempt at comfort his son would have offered next, his fists still clenched tight and shoulders starting to tremble despite his best efforts, "I've gotten used to being like this anyway, it's fine!"
He had gotten used to how he wouldn't be able to pat his sons on the head, or properly embrace them. He had gotten used to being legally dead and unable to prove he was still alive because he looked completely different so Christopher had to continue to handle everything (legally speaking). He had gotten used to having to stand on things to reach what he wanted. He had gotten used to the GIANT GAPING HOLE IN HIS FACE that stung immensely if it was exposed to anything from Earth for too long. He had been prepared to have to live with that for the rest of his life (however long that even would be) anyway! Knowing that the one conceivable thing that could have been used to turn him back to normal had already been used and was gone was fine! He was fine, this was all fine. Part of him, the chaotic Barian energy that made half of who he now was, wanted to hate Astral for this, to track him down even to another planet and make him pay for so carelessly tearing away his family's last hope, for having the key to their salvation and either refusing or forgetting to give it to them. Fast as the thought built up though, it vanished. He didn't want to drag his family down again. It just wasn't worth it.
He suddenly found himself surrounded by the arms of his youngest son, Michael having dropped to his knees on the floor to give him a hug. The embrace was sudden, but not surprising as ever since their family had given up revenge the youngest had been giving them out lovingly and frequently, and Vetrix returned it as best as he could. "I know it's not really fine," the teen spoke with a weariness and understanding that did not quite match his young age, "But we'll keep working to make it as close to fine as we can. You're still our dad."
"Thank you," returned Vetrix softly.
"I can beat up Astral for you if you want," suggested Thomas harshly, his intention of support clear despite his hostile tone, and the father noticed his oldest son nodding in agreement with the statement. "Maybe if I wreck him hard enough in a duel he can cough up a second God code. Could be worth a shot."
Vetrix huffed a quick laugh at the suggestion as Michael broke off the hug and moved to sit next to him instead (Vetrix tried to ignore how even when sitting he was only barely taller than his son - wouldn't he ever get used to his shortened stature?). He laughed again when he realized a year ago he would have jumped on that offer, heck, he would have orchestrated it. Now he simply shook his head.
His son looked almost disappointed and he couldn't help but find the reaction -and the irony of it - amusing. "Ah, ah ,ah!" he chastised all the same, waggin a disapproving finger, "No more revenge dueling, remember? Dueling will be for fun and competition only," he thought about that for a moment, then added turning his palm upwards in a half-shrug and deciding it was better to be safe than sorry, "Unless the world becomes in danger again."
Thomas huffed, and shrugged his shoulders, seeming to (mostly) drop the idea. Chris, however, was still regarding his father with a serious expression, and suggested, more levelly than his younger brother but clearly coming from the same angry place, "All the same, father, if Kite really has returned then we can reconstruct our portal to Astral World so you could…talk to Astral about this," though the suggestion was made in a level voice, the intensity of his expression suggested that he was thinking about something more intense than a mere discussion.
Vetrix sighed, sinking to sit cross-legged next to his son, "Christopher," he said wearily, which certainly must have sounded strange coming from his voice, "If you rebuild the portal I want you to do it for you, not for me. I've taken up enough of your lives with revenge, you should get to do things just because you want to do them."
"But still! Astral-" his middle son started to protest.
Having calmed down significantly, and gotten full control of his base chaotic reactions, Vetrix waved the coming argument aside, "We've dealt with this this long, and we were prepared to deal with this for the foreseeable future. And I really have gotten used to it," at the skeptical looks he was receiving he amended, "Ok, I've nearly gotten used to it. Michael was right," he said, turning towards his son that he sat next to, the other giving a soft smile, "Everything might not be completely fine right now, we'll hardly be a 'normal' family again, but we'll work with the way things are. We'll make it as close to fine as we can. We're still a family, after all."
Everyone could only nod in agreement to that. None of them would argue that they weren't a family or against keeping their family together. Even when revenge was suggested, it came from a love of their family at its core. But revenge wasn't what they needed. They just needed to move forwards, together. Even if one of them was now moving forwards at a slightly shorter pace.
Hey, um, Astral? You forget something, bud?
I laughed out loud but also screamed when we went through the whole epilogue of people Astral helped with the Numeron Code, and then it just cut to Byron and he was STILL SMALL! Like, sure we'll rescue Kazuma from Astral world. Wait a minute didn't someone else ALSO get tossed off a cliff by Faker? Eh, whatever he's fine probably.
Anyway hope you enjoyed this Arclight post-canon thing with a little side-order of Quattro and Shark friendship. Not really sure what I achieved in this story, because it kind of got away from me and rushed ending is rushed, but oh well! Kudos, comments, etc are always appreciated, thanks for reading!