Chapter Summary: Ace had a nightmare. Luckily, Keiwa is nearby to keep him company.

Ref: Timeline - somewhere before Chapter 6 of Lonesome Kitsune


"Tycoon, stop this! I do not want to fight you!"

The two of them clashed blades as the momentum of both of their strengths pushed them back. Their powers were almost equal to each other. But of course, since the source of both of their powers was from the powers of Creation.

Destruction and Rebirth. Two sides of the same coin.

They should have been working with each other—not fighting against each other! He really didn't want to have to fight Tycoon like this!

Tycoon started preparing for his Ultimate move... and Ace prepared to counter with his own Ultimate move. And both attacks rammed against each other almost at the same time, the explosion that resulted from both attacks threw both of them apart—causing both of them to detransform.

Ace glanced up to see Keiwa struggling to get back on his feet, his Bujin Sword buckle lying a few meters away from them. The same for him, as Ace could see from the corner of his eyes the two-piece buckle that allowed him to take the form of Geats IX lying on the ground.

Yet between recovering his buckle... and recovering an important partner—which of the two was more important?

.

In that split-second moment, Ace made his decision. He made a jump towards Keiwa as Ace tried to get some sense back into Keiwa's head. But Keiwa wasn't gonna let him have it easy. It almost surprised Ace that Keiwa had been keeping such fire inside him hidden for so long. Keiwa really was not going to listen to some half-hearted words of reassurance. Not even an overdue apology for not being courageous enough to reach out to Keiwa when he needed Ace most. But perhaps, there was something else that could snap Keiwa back into his old self!

"Hakubi!" Ace shouted. As he thought, the mere mention of his sister was enough to get Keiwa's attention.

Keiwa gritted his teeth. "You have no right to say that name with your mouth—!"

"Sara-san!" Ace cut him off right away. "Tycoon—I mean, Keiwa—your sister might actually still be alive!"

For a brief second, Ace thought he saw something change in Keiwa's eyes. Perhaps he was finally reaching him—!

"D-don't... don't try to trick me!" Keiwa's eyes started to swell with tears. "I won't let you trick me anymore, Ace—!"

"This is no trick—!" Ace gasped as both of them continued to hold onto each other by the collar of their shirts. "Buffa, PunkJack and Na-go had gone to search for the people who have been taken away. Those people should still be alive... including Sara-san! So there was no need for us to fight!"

"Why should I believe you?" shouted Keiwa again as Ace pushed him onto the ground.

"Remember again what Nadge-Sparrow had always been after! That guy had always been obsessed with a collective of humanity's knowledge! Was he the kind of person to kill anyone so needlessly? Was there even a specific purpose for him to want to do that? Did you forget about how Nadge-Sparrow always lies?"

Keiwa let out a hoarse cry. "Then... Big Sis... wasn't really gone?"

Ace pulled Keiwa into a sitting position as he tried to reassure him.

"Yes, I'm sure of it!"

Tears continued to fall from Keiwa's eyes. "Ace... what have I done? Tsumuri-san... because they told me that I needed to give them Tsumuri-san, that was why—"

Ace stood up as he pulled Keiwa back to his feet. "Don't worry about it. We'll go save my sister together—"

Ace turned around to recover his Geats III buckle and Geats IX buckle that were left on the ground near him. Just as he grabbed the two buckles, he turned around to call out towards Keiwa. But he could never have predicted what happened next.

Just as Keiwa got a hold of his Bujin Sword buckle, Ace caught sight of a familiar probe-like device sneaking up towards Keiwa. Before Ace could warn Keiwa, the helmet-like probe latched itself around Keiwa's head. Keiwa turned around to face him like an awkward marionette...

"No!" Ace cried out, as both of them transformed again—

xxx

Keiwa woke up suddenly to some odd whining noise... and saw that the noise came from Ace. The albino fox had been sleeping rather fitfully, its four legs kept twitching as if it was having a bad dream.

I mean, even animals can have nightmares, right?

Keiwa gently pulled Ace closer towards himself before starting to massage Ace's body to help the fox to calm down. And eventually, Ace's legs and body stopped twitching and convulsing very badly and Ace barely made any more sounds. Keiwa smiled.

Of all things he never thought he'd be doing, calming a wild animal in the comforts of his own bedroom. Certainly, something no one could ever predict he'd end up doing.

Keiwa just shook his head as he went back to sleep.

.

Sometime later, Ace woke up from its slumber... feeling the weight of Keiwa's arm over its body. Grateful for the bodily warmth, Ace crawled out from under Keiwa's arm before snuggling closer to Keiwa's side.


A/N: Additional back story stuff that I conjured out but didn't feel like I could fit it anywhere in the main fic w/out compromising flow.