Together, Not Alone, a dr. stone fanfic

Senku walked into the room. Chrome had raced ahead and Gen was lingering behind. Ryusui was trembling in rage, holding his sword, decked out in armor.

Senku walked up to Why-Man, paused, then turned to the rest of the room. Gen had joined them. People were gathering in the doorway, wondering what was happening.

"Well, looks like you figured things out a little sooner than I would have liked," Senku said.

Ryusui and Chrome looked baffled. Gen's started to shake his head.

"Yes, the message from the future was a fake," Senku went on. "I needed something to get people excited about helping to build the moon base."

"Senku, what are you talking about?" Chrome asked. "Fake message…?"

Senku cackled. "Time travel isn't real. It's impossible, ask anyone. I told Why-Man to pretend to be someone from the future to trick everyone, and you all fell for it. Byakuya! In the future! As if."

Ryusui was frowning. "Enough with whatever bullshit you're spouting, Senku! I'm trying to fix this!"

"Bullshit? What bullshit? I tricked you so you'd work with me." He grinned, his eyes a little manic. "I've tricked people into helping me before. Just ask Nikki or Ukyo about Lillian the pop idol." He cackled again. "And our little Medusa here is the perfect tool to get it all done!"

The crowd in the hallway was growing agitated.

Senku snorted. "You've all always been a means to my ends. I was upfront about it from the start. I just figured I could use a little more…interesting persuasion to get my way without a big campaign."

"Senku-chan, you don't need to do this," pleaded Gen. Chrome and Ryusui just looked confused now.

"It's already done." Senku's smile shrank a little. "I'm almost sorry it ended like this. I thought…this was finally it. What we've been working towards this whole time." Then his grin grew even wilder. "Guess I didn't give you all enough credit. You're smarter than I anticipated."

He grabbed a few vials from his belt and popped the stoppers off. "But I'm not going quietly, you hear me? Threaten me with that sword all you like, captain, but I'm still smarter than you." And he threw the vials to the ground, where they shattered and made a cloud of smoke that was impossible to see through.

When the smoke cleared, Senku was gone.

—

Kohaku wasn't expecting Senku to get back so early. He ran through the back door to the kitchen of the apartment they shared with Suika and Gen, then immediately ran for his room, pulling off his shawl and coat as he went without so much as a 'hello.'

She followed him to his bathroom, where he was tearing through his drawers looking for something. "Senku, what's going on?"

He looked startled to see her. "Damn it. Damn it, how the hell am I going to knock out a lioness?"

Kohaku narrowed her eyes. "You're not. You're going to tell me what's going on."

"Nope. Not happening. Get out of here, now. You can say you saw me, but you can't stick around."

"You're not making sense."

He growled and kept digging through the drawers. "Where's that stupid shaver?" he muttered.

Kohaku glanced around the disaster his normally tidy bathroom had become and picked up the shaver from where it had been tossed.

He sighed and took it, plugging it in. "Thanks. Now seriously, go. I'm not kidding when I say you'll ruin your life if you stay another millisecond." He started, bizarrely, shaving his head.

She had no idea what was going on. "I'll get the back for you," she said, grabbing the shaver and neatly cutting the hair on the back of his head.

He looked stressed. Incredibly stressed. She didn't think she'd ever seen him so stressed before.

"So where are we going?"

His scowl deepened. "We aren't going anywhere."

"You think you can outrun me?"

"Kohaku, if you want to see your family, if you want to live your life not inside a prison cell or being hunted down, you'll leave now."

She met his eyes through the mirror and very deliberately kept cutting his hair. He laughed a little, but it was the saddest laugh she'd ever heard.

"You can be you anymore," he said. "Change your hair, your clothes, makeup, whatever. We have to leave Japan, and we need to be gone ASAP."

"I have hair dye," she said. "You can use some." She and Suika had been debating dying their hair for fun. This was not any kind of fun at all.

But she'd made her decision. So she sprinted for her room, grabbing one of the packages of brown hair dye and chucking it to where Senku had taken a few steps out of his bathroom (she heard a small impact and a quiet curse). She had clothes from Ruri that she never thought she'd wear—she didn't like long pants, nor did she like long sleeves, but just by wearing them, she would look less like herself. She cut her hair first, changing the bang line and getting rid of her forelocks, then got the dark brown hair dye out and put it on to set as she gathered up her things. Her hair was so blonde that any dye would be soaked up immediately, so even if it wasn't ideal, it'd be different from her usual color.

When she left her room, she had on a long brown woolen coat over a cream sweater and dark wool dress pants. She wore a pair of short boots and had her things packed in what Yuzuriha had assured her was a very chic tote (a birthday gift). Her hair was down, hanging straight thanks to some leave-in conditioner from Amaryllis (another gift), and she'd put on a bit of makeup.

Senku was finishing gathering his own things. His shortened hair was dyed brown; he wore a woolen coat similar to hers (had Ruri given them matching coats?) and had a leather satchel on his back. The rest of his clothes hadn't changed, but Kohaku had seen that Senku basically wore what businessmen all over the world wore under his lab coat and shawl—utterly unremarkable slacks, a collared shirt, and brown leather shoes. He grabbed a pair of glasses off his end table and put them on, then opened his end table drawer and pulled out a tiny box which he opened and took the contents of. He was putting a ring on his finger as he left his room and he tossed her something that turned out to be another ring. "Left hand, fourth finger," he said, then hurried them out the back door.

It was still raining, but Senku popped open a black umbrella and held out his arm for her to take. They walked at a normal pace through the streets of the city they'd built up here. She glanced up at Senku and all she could see was his tense jaw—too stressed for casual conversation.

They made it to the train station where Senku bought them tickets while instructing Kohaku to go to the ATM nearby and extract all the cash she could from his and her accounts. She ended up with about 500,000 dragos and carefully buried them all in her bag.

The train was, of course, powered by magnets (public opinion of magnetic travel had skyrocketed), and the trip was quick. Senku took the time to hand her a smartphone. She was a bit alarmed by this, as she remembered Ukyo telling her that people could track where she was if she had a smartphone. Senku was working on something on a smartphone of his own, though, one that didn't look as experimental as the ones he usually had, and she knew he would've thought of being tracked, so she took it and pocketed it without question.

As they got off the train, Senku held out his arm again. "Quick stop," he said. "Follow me, try not to talk. You don't speak Japanese, ok?"

They walked through a new city to what Kohaku recognized as a post office. They stood in line, and when they got to the counter, Senku said in accented Japanese, "I need to pick up IDs for me and my wife."

"Certainly, sir," said the employee, going to the back to fetch something. They came back with a pile of paperwork. "Can you please confirm your names?"

"Sebastian and Coraline Wienberg." Then he smiled charmingly. "Sorry, my wife doesn't speak Japanese. We were here for a conference with my work."

"Not a problem, Wienberg-san, as long as you can translate for her. Here is where you need to sign." Senku wrote something where the employee pointed. Kohaku noticed it was basically a longish squiggle. When Senku said "Sign here" in English and pointed at the paper, she also made a longish squiggle and hoped she'd done it right.

The employee handed over two cards that she recognized as identification cards. There was a picture of her with dark brown hair and a picture of Senku with short brown hair and glasses. The rest of the information was written in the Roman alphabet, and she realized she probably have to learn to read that, too. Great.

They scribbled on the back of the cards as well, and then they were leaving the post office. "Alright, dear Cora," Senku said with a grin. "Let's get off this island."

It was then that "breaking news" started showing on TVs around the city, people pulling out their phones and gasping. Kohaku overheard some conversations as Senku led them somewhere else.

"Can you believe it? Ishigami-san was lying the whole time!" "No, no, just about the time travel, can't you read?"

"I never liked him, like some stereotypical evil scientist." "Yeah, some weirdo who wants the world to fund his moon base or something."

"But we're making such big strides! Those weren't lies! What if it was a misunderstanding?" "You know what men like that are like. They lie as easy as breathing."

Kohaku's hand tightened on Senku's arm. What were they saying about Senku?!

"Easy, darling," Senku muttered. "Don't break my arm."

"But Se—Sebastian, they're saying—"

"I know what they're saying. I wasn't joking earlier."

Kohaku wanted to start screaming that these people were all idiots if they believed that Senku would do something like that, lie to the whole world just because he thought having a moon base would be cool.

But she'd stay calm. She'd told Senku she was going with him and she was committed. He was useless on his own, and she already knew she'd follow him to the ends of the universe.

—

Gen came back to the apartment, feeling a thousand years older. Suika was there, tears in her eyes. "Gen!" she cried, rushing over to him. "Senku and Kohaku's rooms are a mess! It's like someone robbed us, but they only messed with their rooms!" She glanced behind him. "Is Senku staying later at the lab? Is Kohaku with him? She had today off…"

Could Suika keep the secret? She was a little ray of sunshine, still so young in some ways, and he'd never known her to lie.

Why hadn't Senku waited? They could have figured something out together. The strength of the Kingdom of Science was in the diversity of its citizens, many minds coming together. And if they hadn't thought of anything…they would have stood behind their leader. Senku didn't need to take the fall for everyone.

At least it seemed like Kohaku was with him. At least he wasn't alone.

"Suika-chan," Gen started. "I've got some ad-bay news…"

—

Ruri sat in uncomprehending silence.

Chrome sat across from her, elbows on his knees, waiting. He looked…exhausted. Exhausted but patient.

"I don't believe it," Ruri said at length. When Chrome started to explain again to her, she shook her head. "I understand what you said. I believe that what you said happened actually happened. But I think Senku was lying."

Chrome huffed. "Well, yeah, obviously. But…why? Why did he force the situation like this?"

Ruri put one hand on her belly and the little baby growing there. "Do you really need to ask?"

Tears filled Chrome's eyes and he clenched his fists. "We're the Kingdom of Science. We stick together." He rubbed his eyes. "We're not children that need saving. And everything was going so well…"

"Isn't that just it? It was going well. Everyone is doing well. All our friends are safe and building the lives they've always wanted to live. We aren't the underdogs anymore."

Chrome buried his head in his hands. "I hate him. I hate him!"

Ruri scooted closer so she could wrap her arms around him and he quickly hugged her back, tucking his face against her shoulder. Ruri closed her eyes and rubbed Chrome's back. "It'll be alright. I know it will."

As Chrome calmed down, Ruri looked out the window and prayed that her sister would be safe. At least she wasn't alone.

—

Senku's little gamble paid off. The media was busy criticizing him and his deception and never caught on that Why-Man had been acting of its own volition. The world was all too eager to believe that the man who'd saved the world had let the power go to his head.

(If asked directly about him, Senku's friends would change the subject. Why-Man no longer 'helped' without asking first.)

The science of the space elevator itself was obviously still useful. Production of raw silk was at an all-time high around the world. Construction towards a moon base proceeded, if at a much slower pace than before, because there was no denying that there were valuable materials to be harvested on their lunar satellite.

It was the general consensus in the scientific community that "Dr Stone" had been pretty damned justified in lying to get this crazy project off the ground and into orbit. It was taking years without their original top scientist, and they were more desperate than ever for some new genius to get them back on track. Hence, many new hires.

One of them was an American scientist named Dr Wienberg who'd done incredibly well in the North American division and was being transferred to the Kanto division with glowing recommendations.

"I'm excited to meet them," Suika said, smoothing down her cowl. "I don't think anyone's mentioned a first name or pronouns or anything, though."

"A mystery, to be sure," Gen said, also waiting to receive their new scientist. He and Suika would escort them to their apartment and then to the lab for an introduction party—it wasn't every day that a new member joined the Kanto division, and there had been some feedback that the group felt too insular for new members to feel comfortable. This little party would hopefully help with that.

They waited in silence for a few more minutes before Suika giggled. "Did you hear what Pluto did the other night?"

Gen smiled. "No, but I can only imagine. Was he tormenting his sister again?" Chrome and Ruri's kids were an absolute riot.

"Apparently, he overheard some…uh, choice words from Magma…"

Gen covered his mouth to hide his smile. "Oh, no."

"And then taught them to Opal…"

Gen tried to keep from snickering.

"…who decided to tell her grandpa all her new words at the festival…"

Gen laughed outright. "It's amazing how much kids pick up, especially when we don't want them to. Although in Magma-chan's case—"

Someone cleared their throat. Two people stood in front of them.

Gen and Suika both jumped to attention, Suika's whole face going red. "I—I—I'm so sorry!" she cried with a deep bow.

Gen kept his cool a bit better, but that had been rather unprofessional of him. In English, he said, "Forgive our inattention. Would you happen to be Dr Wienberg from the North American division?"

A woman with long, dark brown hair stepped forward and held out her hand. "Yes, Dr Cora Wienberg. This is my husband, Sebastian." She then immediately pulled back her hand. "Ah. Sorry." She then bowed somewhat awkwardly. Sebastian bowed smoothly with a cordial smile on his face.

"We're—we're so happy to have you here," Suika said in English. "I'm Suika, and this is Asagiri Gen." They both bowed and Cora nodded, seeming uncomfortable.

Gen gestured towards where their car was waiting for them. "Why don't we talk more on the way? I'm sure you're eager to meet everyone and rest after your long journey."

Sebastian said, "I'll grab the bags and meet you at the car, darling." Then he kissed her cheek and walked off.

Suika squeaked a little and looked away. Public displays of affection were still quite rare in Japan—that aspect of the culture hadn't really changed. Gen just chuckled. He was used to it by now—every country and culture had their own definitions of acceptable-in-public behavior and getting scandalized about it just wasted energy.

Cora had a smile on her face that faded as she refocused on the two of them. "Well, shall we go?"

—

There was something achingly familiar about Cora Wienberg. The shape of her eyes, the way she sat, the expression on her face as she looked out at Japan. Suika knew this person.

Sebastian reached out and grabbed Cora's hand. "It's nice to be back, isn't it?" he said.

"Oh? Have you been to Japan before?" Gen asked, sounding politely curious.

Sebastian grinned and nodded. "Yes, we were actually in Japan for a business conference I was attending when…well, you know."

That was often how modern-timers referred to the first petrification event—vaguely.

"It's grown even since we left for home, and it's nice to be back for Cora this time."

Cora eyed her husband. "Remember, I'm here to work."

"Ah, but you have weekends, don't you?" he teased, leaning closer. "I'll have you all to myself then."

Suika could hardly look at them. She was so flustered! She'd never known a couple to flirt so much in public before.

Cora cleared her throat and Sebastian chuckled but leaned back in his seat. He stretched his arm out behind Cora, though, and Cora scooted a bit closer to him to lean against his side slightly.

The drive to the lab wasn't very long and they arrived before Gen started another topic of conversation (Suika was far too nervous around strangers to think of anything casual to talk about.)

The living quarters for scientists in residence was just outside the lab. Ryusui had, in an effort to entice more scientists to come to the city, had a luxury apartment building built with all the modern amenities.

Sebastian whistled when he saw it. "That's some building."

"Yes, Ryusui-chan has been exceedingly generous," Gen said. Suika knew the truth—the scientists were all so exhausted after a day's work that those nice mattresses and whirlpool tubs and whatever were needed to relax them so they'd be able to come back the next day.

"How lovely," Cora said with a polite smile.

Sebastian scoffed lightly. "Ah, so serious all the time." He kissed Cora's cheek again and grabbed the bags from the car. Cora's smile became genuine as she watched her husband.

Scandalous or not, it was clear as day that this couple was devoted to each other. Suika was glad to see it, even if her face still hadn't cooled down.

"We have a reception planned for six this evening," Gen told them. "I'll show you to your suite while Suika-chan gets back to work." He smiled at her. "She's one of our top minds, you know."

Dr Wienberg smiled as well, glancing at Suika. "I've heard great things."

That smile. Suika knew that smile…

—

Chrome was a bit stressed. They had a new scientist coming, but his little Opal had been feeling poorly this morning and all he wanted to do was go check on her. Suika was trying to tell him about Dr Wienberg, another scientist was telling him about the newest trouble they'd had with the cable, and Chrome was just worrying about his baby girl.

Right as the party was to start, a couple walked through the main doors. For a second, Chrome wondered why Ruri was there and why she'd dyed her hair. He immediately felt dumb—he must be more out of it than he thought.

The woman was introduced as Dr Wienberg, and the man as Sebastian, her husband. They looked so familiar to him…he probably should get more sleep, like Ruri had been asking him to.

The couple seemed polite, at least. Sebastian seemed to be more carefree in general while Dr Wienberg seemed quite serious.

When work started the next day, he gave the doctor a tour of the facilities, of the projects they were working on. Dr Wienberg took it all in with sharp eyes. Chrome ended the tour at the lab she would be working in, telling her to get settled and someone would be by shortly with her assignment. She got to work immediately.

By lunch, people were whispering about her excellent work ethic.

By the end of the day, the whispers had grown to excited exclamations about her initiative.

By the end of the week, the scientists were almost ecstatic about her massive contributions.

They'd found a new Dr Stone!

—

When Ryusui stopped by to see how Chroke and Suika were doing, the energy of the lab excited him.

"Ha ha!" he cried. "What's all this about?!"

Suika's cheeks were glowing. "We just had a breakthrough! Dr Weinberg is just wonderful! Oh, I can't believe it, I'm so excited!" She did a little dance on the spot. "It's—it's like—"

She didn't finish her sentence, but the expression on her face made it clear: it was like having Senku back!

"I want to meet this new addition!" Ryusui cried. Suika giggled and led him towards the back.

In one of the warehouse sections of the facility, clinging to the wall, a woman was writing out equations with such speed that her hand was a blur. She finished one section of wall and quickly hopped over to the next.

Ryusui blinked. He certainly hadn't expected Spiderwoman to be their scientific savior, but here they were.

"She's a free climber," said a voice in English beside him.

Ryusui turned to see a rather unremarkable-looking man a few feet away watching the scene as well. The man chuckled and pushed up his glasses. "And she doesn't care for screens and computers. The world is her whiteboard." The man looked incredibly proud. He then seemed to realize he had been talking to a stranger. "Ah, apologies! I don't think we've met. I'm Sebastian, Cora's husband." When Ryusui still looked confused, he clarified, "Dr Wienberg's husband."

Ryusui laughed. "And I'm Ryusui, head of Ryu-Corps! I've heard great things about the good doctor already!"

Sebastian's smile only grew. "That's my wife. Never fails to impress."

"So what do you do? An impressive woman surely has an impressive husband."

Sebastian seemed startled, but then laughed. "No, no, I'm afraid I'm rather boring in comparison. I'm her spotter when she wants to climb and her sounding board when she has new ideas. I suppose I cook, but nothing fancy." He shrugged. "I'm well and truly a househusband to my incredible wife."

Ryusui would have pushed more—everyone was interesting in some way—but Dr Wienberg was descending the wall she'd covered in equations and other things Ryusui had no hope of understanding. She seemed a little tired, but when she looked around and saw Sebastian, her face lit up. "Darling!" she cried, and suddenly she was hugging her husband.

Ryusui was a bit startled. He'd only known one other person so quick…but she certainly wasn't a scientist.

"Cora, dear, this is Ryusui of Ryu-Corps," Sebastian said as their hug ended.

The woman turned to him and smiled politely. "A pleasure to meet you," she said, extending her hand.

Right, they were American. Ryusui was used to that, though, and shook her hand easily. Her grip was quite firm for a woman, but she was a free-climber. "The pleasure's all mine," he said. Then he paused. There was something about her eyes… "Sorry, have we met before?"

She chuckled and pulled back her hand. "I get that a lot. I look a lot like my cousin Lillian. She was a pretty popular musician back in the day."

Wienberg, of course. Yes, that would make sense…but Ryusui's instincts were telling him otherwise, and a sailor's instincts were never wrong.

But Sebastian was leading Cora out for lunch and the two were gone before Ryusui could ask anything else.

It didn't matter. Ryusui wanted answers, and he always got what he wanted.

—

Ukyo had been busy with Gen talking to various diplomatic groups for months and was finally able to visit the lab. He was going to see how Chrome was doing (his daughter had had a few colds recently and by all accounts the man had nearly lost his mind with worry) when he heard two voices he'd never thought he'd hear again.

He froze in the hallway as he pinpointed where the voices were coming from. He hurried over—what were they doing here?! Had they snuck in?! It wasn't safe for them to come back to Japan yet!

When he peeked into the room, though, he didn't see Kohaku or Senku, but two brown-haired strangers. There was a woman in a lab coat and a man in a cozy-looking sweater. They were talking about plans for dinner and Ukyo almost walked away—his memory must be failing him after the years that had passed—but the woman stopped the idle chatter and said quietly, tiredly, "How much longer, do you think?"

"Ah, getting tired of our charade? We have a year or two more, if you keep up the pace."

"I just want to go home."

"Yeah. Me, too." Then he laughed. "But you're not getting rid of me…lioness."

"Hah! Haven't heard that in a while." Then a happy hum. "I wouldn't want to. I've grown rather fond of you, it seems, even with that ridiculous haircut of yours."

Ukyo trembled, tears filling his eyes. It was them. In disguise, it seemed. But if he had overheard them, anyone could have. So he quickly tapped out a rhythm on the wall before continuing on to find Chrome.

Quiet

Almost immediately someone ran for the door—Kohaku, probably. As he reached the end of the hall, he turned back a bit to see her in the doorway. He winked and walked on.

Hopefully they'd take the warning to heart. He didn't want to lose his friends twice over.

—

The space elevator was ready for the initial launch. The world was trembling with anticipation—would it work? Would they really revolutionize space travel?

The Kanto division had been temporarily transferred to Sri Lanka for the launch, and many friends and family members had come along. Before the launch, Chrome was trying to corral his kids while Ruri held their baby. Ruri giggled as the two kids practically ran circles around their father.

As they waited, she saw someone come in who she recognized from the news but hadn't met in person yet—Dr Wienberg, the genius scientist who had gotten the space elevator back on track. Chrome and Suika had only good things to say about their colleague, so Ruri felt comfortable enough to go up and introduce herself.

But the woman that turned around was, in fact, her little sister.

Kohaku's eyes widened. Ruri floundered for a moment before saying, "Dr Wienberg…right?"

Kohaku relaxed. "Yes. And…and you must be Ruri." Then she glanced at the baby in Ruri's arms and blinked rapidly. "And…and your baby."

Ruri wanted to laugh and cry and wrap her sister in a hug. "Yes, this is Dou. His brother, Pluto, and sister, Opal, are with Chrome."

Kohaku trembled and swallowed and Ruri knew she felt the same. But Kohaku was obviously in disguise, and Ruri wouldn't be the reason her cover was blown.

"I hear you have a husband," she said instead, eyebrows raised meaningfully.

Kohaku chuckled. "Yes, my husband, Sebastian. Darling," she called, "come meet Ruri, Chrome's wife."

And Senku came over, wearing glasses and his hair cut short and dyed brown.

Had anyone been fooled by these disguises? They were so obvious!

Senku smiled and bowed his head. "Nice to meet you, Ruri."

She shook her head but returned the greeting.

Then the event was starting—because it was an event. Reporters swarmed the scene, and the scientists behind the space elevator were called up to the stage.

—

Kohaku hesitated. Senku should be the one going up there.

He chuckled. "Get going, dear Cora." She looked at him and the reason for his hesitation must've been obvious. His expression softened and he smiled. "I've never cared about fame or recognition. That hasn't changed. Besides, I get to cheer for my awesome wife, and that's ten billion times more exciting than being cheered for myself."

Kohaku blinked back tears, then threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. He hugged her back and they stayed there for a moment before Kohaku realized that the arena had gone quiet. "Are…are they watching us hug?" she whispered.

"Yep." He hugged her tighter. "Like we're in a romance movie or something."

The announcer cleared their throat. "Of course, spouses are welcome to join their partners if they wish…"

Kohaku chuckled and pulled back, taking Senku's hand in her own. "Good," she said softly. "I don't want to go if you're not with me."

They held hands all through the ceremony (which was incredibly boring) and as the countdown started.

Senku squeezed her hand tightly and she looked up at him.

He had that expression on his face, that wide-eyed look of wonder and hope she loved so much.

It had taken so long to get here, with setbacks they'd never foreseen.

But they'd gotten here in the end.

Years of learning and memorizing, of learning how to "be" a scientist.

Years of going home and discussing problems with Senku so she could solve them at work, of memorizing his answers and replicating them exactly.

Their friends had been kept safe.

The charade could end.

And even though she stood in front of the whole world, in a different country, being honored for something she didn't feel qualified for, by a name that wasn't her own, in disguise…

…she and Senku had done it together, with all their friends. With the whole world. That was what mattered.

Ignition!

She was excited for what came next, whatever it might be!