Hii this week looked fun so I've been doing it but posting pretty late XD I'm putting this in the 5D's section but it also includes Ryo/Rahlin content!

The prompts for day 1:

Holding Hands / Apocalyptic AU / "If it wasn't for you…"

./cycle0119

Ancient, wooden boards creaked beneath Kalin's steps. Dust wheezed and swept behind his cape. Moonlight pooled on the stage from the gaping holes in the roof. Of the rows of seats watching his "performance," only the frontmost remained.

His fingertips skimmed a cot, moldy and coated in grime. Moth-eaten holes pocked the black stage curtains. He pushed them aside and approached a wide object covered by a tarp. Tenderly, he lifted the fabric protecting the duel runner.

The shadows dulled the frame's color to a dark bronze. He dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead to the cool metal. His fingers left trails in the gathering dust. He breathed in deep, held, and released.

A shudder wracked him. Though the cold didn't affect him, he pulled his cloak tighter around himself. He sat on the boards and rested his temple against the runner's leather seat. To no one, he said, "You're too loyal. Too… everything. I wish you were here and I don't. I- I hope you're alright. What else can I say, partner? I don't want to be a ghost haunting you forever. I hope you move on. Have a happy, free life over in that City. Heard you managed to break out of the Facility. Didn't expect any less of you."

He crossed his arms behind his head and lay flat on his back. Through the hole in the roof, he watched stars shimmer beyond the Satellite smog.

"And," he started softly, fingers curling into fists: "that fucker will pay for what he did to you."

Thunk.

He shot to his feet. Across the stage, an individual in a black suit leaned on a cane with a dragon's head for a handle. The lengthy hood of their overcoat masked their facial features. Kalin shouted, "Who the hell're you?"

Their hand lifted and froze as though hesitating. The starlight paled their skin further, and the veins beneath the skin appeared… black? No, must've been a trick played by their black fingerless gloves. They said, "I, er. You're here because of Rain, right?"

Air hissed in through his teeth. He thinned his eyes. "You know her?"

"Yes. She's my-" The woman placed both hands on her cane and rocked back and forth on her heels. "Forget it. Would you like to see her?"

He stepped forward, jaw quivering. "I can? Wait, who are you? Why- how do you know who she is?"

"I definitely said that too early," she mumbled. Her voice even sounded like Rain's.

Kalin shook his head. "I know Rain's one of Sector Security's most wanted. Director Godwin himself is after her. No way in hell would some rando stick their neck out for her. If this is some kind of trap, you've picked the wrong target."

A grin slashed his face. The violet sign of the Giant glowed on his arm, and black bled over the whites of his eyes. The stranger frantically waved a hand in front of her face. "Please, please no! I'm- you know Rain has amnesia! Is it such a stretch for you to believe anyone would want to help?" Her voice cracked. She cleared it and held her fist in front of her mouth. "F-family, even?"

His brows lifted. The glow of his dark mark extinguished, and his smile became the friendly sort. "Why didn't you say that in the first place? I can hear it, y'know. You sound just like her. If you're helping her, what're you doing all the way in the Satellite?"

"Um. You."

"I what?"

"I'm here for you," she said. "You truly have no clue. Her without you, her believing you're dead, she's-"

"Better off." Kalin turned his back on the woman. "Might not look it, but I am dead. She's better off thinkin' as much."

"You won't even visit her?"

"Tch. You're full of bad ideas. Creepin' up on me and now this?"

"I wasn't trying to. I apologize."

"Pfft. Don't get so emotional on me."

She flinched. "Grief has delivered Rain to a very dark place. If she continues to spiral, I fear the worst."

"Shit!" He walked in a circle and dragged his hands down his face. "Shitshitshit. Okay. Okay, I'll go."

"That was… easy?" the woman murmured.

"The hell you say?"

"N-nothing! Anyways, there's a helicopter. I brought. Out. There."

He laughed to himself as he followed the woman. Deeefinitely related.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The ride over was awkward, to say the least. Kalin had visited the City with the other Dark Signers via teleportation but never by flight. He gazed at the surge of the waves below and felt a similar churn in his stomach. The woman didn't speak and stared at a small sheet of paper in her grip.

"So. Where'd ya find her?" he said.

She folded the sheet. "At this point, Rain is targeted by the Director of Sector Security and the Arcadia Movement. Ordinarily, Sayer happens upon her. He must have gotten a tip from the Facility guards of her psychic prowess. Either way, she's targeted by Security or corrupt Security."

He snorted. "Aren't they all?"

The helicopter descended. She gripped her seat. "Sure. I found her unconscious because she could not run anymore. My apartment is close enough to Tops that I'm far from a suspect. Ah, Tops being a more affluent sector of New Domino for your information."

Normally, he'd feel patronized and snap back, but she spoke as though repeating a script she'd studied a hundred times. "Uh-huh. You saying you're a rich asshole?"

Her head lifted, considering. "Yes."

He belted out a laugh. The helicopter lowered onto a landing pad on the roof of a highrise. The pale light of dawn crept up the horizon and blurred over the stars. He leapt out. The woman took one step at a time, dragging one leg down. She spoke sparse words with the pilot, scanned a key card at the elevator, and pressed for the sixteenth floor.

"Let me go in first, then you knock," she said. "I'll stay in my room so you can have privacy. When you hear my door slam, that's your cue."

His chest tightened. This was happening for real. It could still be a trap, but he wasn't sure what the point would be with him dead already and capable of demolishing ten blocks with his dark mark. The woman unlocked the apartment door. Kalin checked himself. He maaaybe should've put on something normal rather than the Dark Signer cloak. The woman hobbled inside. He pressed his ear to the door but couldn't make out their muffled conversation.

A door slammed.

He breathed in through his nostrils. His hand hovered near the wood. No sense dragging this out longer. He grit his teeth and knocked on the door.

Someone shuffled forward. He flexed his fingers for no reason at all. The knob turned. His pulse accelerated. The door opened an inch, and her soft voice whispered through the crack: "She told me a good person was waiting. You're not… here to take me away, are you?"

He grasped the door and whispered back, "Not unless it's what you want."

She fell back. The corners of his mouth twitched down. He opened the door further and slipped inside. She sat on the ground, gaping. Her sunken eyes accentuated her horror. He took a step forward but stopped himself.

Rain was spiffed up, now in a long-sleeved black shirt and jeans, neither with any holes. She was clean but clearly hadn't been eating or sleeping enough. The panic didn't recede from her expression despite their passing seconds in reality. Kalin held up his hands, palms facing her.

"It's me," he said, still not daring to speak above a whisper. "It's really me. What's the matter?"

"Nonono." She pressed her palms over her ears and rocked back and forth. "First the crazy dreams and visions of dragons and Signers. Now I'm seeing ghosts. I'm losing it. Lost it."

A pang stabbed his chest. He dropped to a knee and slowly reached for her arm. With a tender touch on her elbow, he guided her hand away from her ear and held it between both of his own. Her eyes shivered in their sockets. He felt her arm quake, and he stroked her knuckles one-by-one with brushes of his thumb.

"I'm here," he said, breathing the words onto her skin.

Her mouth opened. She raised her face to his, and the overhead light brightened her blank and lost eyes to ocean blue. Seeing their crystal clear color again stole his breath. Her face scrunched. She threw her arms around his neck, buried her face in his chest, and sobbed. He held her as she cried, her back heaving with her wails.

"It's alright," he murmured into her hair, and he kissed the crown of her head. "Everything's okay now, partner."

She broke off into a hiccup. Her eyes searched his, and he managed a pained smile. She raised her hands. Her fingertips skimmed his jawline. A shiver of anticipation ran over him. She took his face in her hands, and she pressed her thumb to the cold metal of his criminal mark.

"What happened?"

Her voice cracked on the second word. He lay his hand over hers. "The guards were targeting us because of me. I knew I- I couldn't let it keep happening to you. I thought I was gone for good, but here I am."

"As a ghost?"

When he shook his head, she dropped her hands into her lap. Silent streams of tears cascaded down her cheeks. "How?"

To tell the truth now would be confusing and cruel, so he jerked his head towards the bedroom door. "Your fam there saved me."

"B-but you were dead," she sputtered. "I felt it, and even Armstrong said so, and-"

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight against him. "And all that's over now. We're free from that place; I'll make sure of it."

She pressed her forehead to his. "Partner?"

"Yeah, Rain?"

"Can you please…" She opened her eyes, the blue magnified by the redness from crying. "Promise you won't leave me again?"

"Never," he said instantly. "I swear it."

She loosed a long exhale, wiped tears from her lashes, and planted a kiss on his cheek. Time stood still, the world soundless. She eased back but kept both hands on his arm like his anchor, as though he might vanish any moment if she didn't.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you, too," he whispered back.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

They slept tangled in each others' arms on the couch. The woman in the suit hobbled out upon hearing their snores. She couldn't help but overhear their conversations about where they've been, what they've seen. Kalin regaled her with stories about a new gang, and Rain had spoken about the silent nature of her long lost family.

The family in question observed their peaceful expressions. A warmth blossomed in the woman's chest. This was a reunion Rain and Kalin never had a chance to experience: heartwarming, reassuring, loving. The feelings were evidenced by the fact Rain hadn't slept proper—not like this—in weeks.

And Kalin hadn't wanted to come.

The woman sighed. "Ridiculous. When will you understand? If it weren't for you…"

She twisted her cane into the ground and tugged down her hood. The afternoon light spilling through the crack in the curtains illuminated her locks of white hair. "Rain's world would not be."