Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“It can’t be denied anymore. We have to do something now, while there’s still enough of us left.”

The voice was frail and tremulous as it drifted out of the darkness towards them. Soft though it was, however, it was still enough to make them shudder.

Ever since that day, they had worked incessantly to ensure that they were the strongest in their field. To make sure that they would never be as weak to another Mist as their family had allowed themselves to be. For over a decade now, they had been all but immune to any and all attempts to trap them in every sort of illusion imaginable. It was their pride that they would always be able to tell. And yet…

No matter how many times they ran checks of their senses, there was not a single trace of foreign Flames in their system. No trace of anything out of the ordinary. If they didn’t already know that what they were being shown wasn’t real, couldn’t be real, there would be no way for them to have guessed.

It was deeply unsettling.

Despite their mental crisis however, the darkness continued to recede, presenting their group with the image of two young children playing by the side of a fire. Other than the pair, a blue haired girl and a boy who looked unmistakeably like Kawahira, the room was… fuzzy almost. It seemed as though the two of them were the only ones in focus. Still, the voices of adults could still be heard drifting through the cracked open door in the corner.

“That’s the thing. I’m not sure there are. You’ve seen the numbers Noah you know what they mean! We can’t- “

The voice was quickly hushed as the speaker appeared to stop outside of the door. Viper presumed that they were looking in at the pair who were continuing to play, rolling a wooden ball back and forth in front of the hearth, though their frames were much more rigid than before. They were listening.

“Rhea.”

There was an exhausted sigh before the sound of footsteps started once again.

“Hope is all we have, we mustn’t give up now.”

Once the sounds had fully died away, the two gave up their pretence of play, the girl slumping in place as tears began to drip down her face. Alarmed, the boy sprang forwards.

“Sepira, what’s wrong?”

The girl only curled further into his arms, shaking her head as she released more choked sobs. At the very edge of their senses, Viper could just about feel the faintest flicker of distressed Sky Flames. Not quite as pure as Harry’s, but enough to make their Mist flinch back slightly. To their left, they felt more than saw the jerking, half-aborted movement that Kawahira made towards the illusion.

“It’ll all work out. Just wait a little longer and you’ll see.”

The boy tried hard to fill those words with determination, but from the way his voice faltered mid-way, it was obvious that they were nothing more than empty platitudes.

“Just hold on a little longer love. Just a little longer then everything will be well.”

For a second, their vision was obscured by long, ebony locks that framed a too pale face, tears carving paths through the crimson that they refused to even think about. For just one second, Viper was 9 again, and their world was ending.

The next, a doll like hand was slipping in their own, the blossoming warmth from the contact enough to jolt them back to the present. To their present at least. In front of them now was an upturned face filled with enough concern that it made something in their chest squeeze and suddenly the full implications of what they were doing hit them.

They were watching the memories of those who had watched the world fall apart around them. This was not going to be fun for any of them, but for Viper especially… could they really do this?

Before they had an answer, the world around them dissolved once again, and Viper clung harder to their one lifeline. What ever happened next, they just had to remember that they weren’t alone. Not anymore.

***********

As soon as he heard the first words, Kawahira’s heart had stopped. He remembered that night. Remembered how Sepira had cried unconsolably into his shoulder long past the time they should have been asleep, refusing to tell him anything even as she attempted to hug the life out of him. Her broken apologies still featured heavily in his nightmares to this day.

(In hind sight… she had known. There really was no other reason… had she seen it all?)

(Why hadn’t she… she could have warned him…. She could have done… anything really, but had chosen not to. And that hurt.)

At the time it had been one of the worst nights of his life. Newley bonded to his best friend, locked in the home of his Uncle and completely unable to provide comfort to the one person he had sworn his life to. It was the most useless he had ever felt in his young life, and while the emotions of that night were dwarfed by the nightmare that came after, the Earthling still didn’t appreciate having it thrown in his face with no warning.

But for this to be the first memory stored in the archive, it only cemented the fact that this had been of Sepira’s design.

He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Even knowing it was coming, the sudden spike in those long missed Flames was enough to drive him to his knees, and he only just managed to stop himself from reaching out. He knew this was a memory, but still… for just one moment he could close his eyes and believe…

A deceptively delicate hand slipped onto his shoulder, oddly gentle Storm Flames brushed across his own and forced him to relinquish his fantasy. He wanted to be annoyed at the intrusion, he really did, but deep down he knew… no good would come from clinging to the past. He was beginning to see that now.

Still, he kept his eyes fixed on the memory in front of him, seeking desperately to rememorize that well loved face right up until the second that the image dissolved, and he braced himself for what was to come.

“Shh, they’ll hear us!”

Even with his preparation, that voice still made him flinch, but this time it hurt a little less when the world resolved itself once again to show the two children, now a little older, a little more worn, crouching on a cross beam in the rafters as they attempted to spy on the meeting that was going on below.

Huh, from this new angle he could see the short glance that Rhea had shot to their hiding place before she turned her attention back to those around the table. He had always wondered if she had known, but this just confirmed it. Seemed like Sepira had come by her stubbornness honestly, the woman had always been adamant that the two of them, the last born Earthlings, be included in these meetings, no matter how many times she had been denied.

“We have the system now. Surely that must mean something?”

There had been a time that he would have been able to name every one of those present from voice alone, but now… either time or his own Flames had dulled his memories of those in the past. He hadn’t wanted to remember for the longest time…

“A system that only works so long as we have enough power to support it. We will lose that before long.”

Even back then, shrouded in wilful ignorance and youthful optimism as he was, he had been able to hear the fatalistic tone in his Uncle’s words. From the look on Sepira’s youthful face, she more than heard it. Even back then her precognition had been more of a curse than a blessing. Constantly besieged by visions of an apocalypse she could do nothing to prevent.

He never considered how much that must have weighed on her before.

Bored and more than a little unnerved by the doomsday meeting that he could still vaguely remember, Kawahira decided to turn his attention to his fellow Elements, hoping to distract himself by tracking their reactions.

Given the constant thread of Storm Flames that were curling in the air around him, it was no surprise to find Fon with a sympathetic smile on his face. Down to the right, the concerned frown that the little Sky was splitting between both himself and the other Mist was equally expected, though he hadn’t predicted the tumultuous feel to the usually apathetic Miser’s Flames.

There was a story there. One for another time.

The others were fairly neutral in a way that seemed oddly forced.

The Hitman maintained the stern glare he had adopted after the revelation of the curse, but the fact that he had released his hold on the little Sky he had been shielding so desperately was telling.

The Cloud bore an expression of subdued horror and the two Rains had drifted closer together, leaning on each other for support while the Lightning was watching, always watching as the shades before them continued their discussion of losses and contingency plans.

With every word that drifted from the table, one truth became undeniably clear. There would be no recovering from this.

It had been at this meeting that a decision had been made that had sent himself and his Sky fleeing into the outside world for the first time in either of their lives. It had been an ill-advised decision at the time, but it had been what saved them in the end.

For all that Kawahira had run from his memories, there was still one face at the table he would be able to name until his dying days. The frail, sweating face of the man who he had caused them more pain than they had ever felt before and were likely to feel after. The tells that he hadn’t seen before, too distracted by watching Sepira’s precarious balance, now stood out as clear as day.

A too pale face.

Trembling hands.

A faint sheen of sweat that persisted on his brow despite his numerous attempts to wipe it clear.

Later that night, Cassio, lost in his grief at the death of his young sons and unable to see any future beyond a slow and painful death to an unknown virus, had detonated a bomb that had wiped their last safe house from the very face of the earth. Thankfully, they had been long gone by that point, running from the idea of having to live in a world without their family.

The Irony was as bitter as it was a sharp, constant blade biting deep into his chest for years afterwards.

Even now he couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if they hadn’t heard the meeting. Hadn’t fled when the elders suggested the idea of cryogenics for the last children of their race... He had been wondering for a very long time.

*************

As the scene dissolved for the second time, Renato allowed himself a split second to frown, ensuring that the expression was long gone before any of the others would be able to see the moment of weakness. For the first time in a long while the Hitman was… conflicted.

On one hand, he was still furious. His instincts were raging at the very idea of a threat around his Sky to the point that allowing Harry to leave his hold in order to comfort Viper had been almost physically painful. After what Kawahira had said about the so called ‘Rainbow Curse’, there was nothing that should convince him to feel any trace of sympathy for the wayward Mist but…

There was something about these memories that felt more intimate than simply watching a story play out. Whether it was the faint interplay between the Flames of those they were watching, or the lingering taste of the girl’s Sky on the back of his tongue, he couldn’t say, but the fact remained that he was feeling a distant echo of the emotions that she felt as the scenes progressed to show Kawahira and the girl running through a darkened wood. The mixture of adrenaline and sheer determination was enough to send a shiver down his spine.

In fact, the scenario felt so real that, when a blinding explosion lit the nearby hillside, he instinctively threw himself to cover the small figure behind him, shielding the boy from a threat that was long past.

He tried to tell himself that he didn’t hear the faint whimper from the side, but he had never been good at lying to himself.

It took several long moments for the light to fade from the night sky, but the afterimage of the two huddled children remained burned into his eyelids even as he shifted his hat down to block out the world. Given the disorientating effect of the memories, he couldn’t be sure of the location of anything, but given the sharp spike of sheer agony that had shot through the scene… well, it didn’t take much to put two and two together.

Despair was a powerful thing and there was nothing more dangerous than a desperate man.

Even with his eyes covered, he could feel the echoes of adolescent Flames that lashed out at the world around them, Mist and Sky mixing in a way that almost destabilised the viewing system.

This was not what he had expected when they entered into the archive. Then again, how could it have been?

*******************

Freak Harry was… confused.

The last day had been nothing but a mad rush from one extreme to another leaving him lost in an endless storm of colours mixing and twisting in a way that left him blinded to pretty much everything else. It had been all he could do not to drown in everything.  There was a part of Freak Harry that just wanted to curl up in the corner until everything made sense again, but he couldn’t.

The lights were frantically fading in and out, twisting in on themselves and pulling away. It made something in him ache terribly. Then the two indigo glows started to shut themselves away and he just acted, launching himself forwards and grabbing hold of anything he could reach.

He didn’t know what to do!

Instinct demanded that he wrap his own light around the faded ones, keeping them close and shield them from the strange spines of sickly orange that pressed forwards. And didn’t that burn. The lights were his and Harry was not going to let anything take them away from him. Not now. Not ever if he had anything to say about it.

It took a lot of the energy he had slowly been regaining over the last few weeks, but he was finally able to flare his light bright enough to cover all of his colours and burn away the other orange that had no business being here. Once done, he began to blend with each of the colours until they finally began to light up on their own.

It was draining, but it brought a warm feeling to his chest when they all shone brightly once again and that made it all worth it.

The soft brush of a hand against his cheek had Harry finally opening his eyes to meet the softened purple eyes of Viper as they looked down on him in concern. He didn’t know why they were worried. No now that the lights were burning brightly once again.

“Hase… Hase look at me.”

Look? He was looking at them. Well, basking really, but who could blame him? The indigo light was so pretty and he just wanted to melt into it forever.

“Harry!”

That was Fon, but he couldn’t concentrate on that. Not when those sickly spines had reformed and were pricking at the edge of his light.

There was a low grumbling sound like when one of Aunt Marge’s dogs chased him up a tree. Growling. Someone was growling… oh. It was him.

Unimportant, that other light had to go. It wasn’t his and he didn’t want it here!

“Reborn, what’s wrong with him”

The yellow light drifted closer and something in Harry purred. His lights were all drifting closer, exactly where they were supposed to be.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen this before, he seems almost... feral?”

“It’s a Sky thing. I’ve not seen it in decades, but he should be fine. It’s a stress reaction more than anything.”

The words were washing over him but he didn’t mind, too focused on snuggling closer to the little rainbow in his mind.

Then those spines came back. Again.

A sudden spike of fury rushed through him and something sparked in his chest lashing out viciously before the source of those annoyances finally shattered around him. Now wasn’t that much better?

*********

Feral… the Sky had gone Feral. Not something he had seen in a long time, though he had been aware that it was a possibility. In truth, Kawahira should have been expecting it considering how much this particular set relied on their instincts for their interactions. Still, the shock was a welcome distraction from the nostalgic pain that had been overwhelming him before. Well, that, and the sheer flood of Sky Flames that the boy had doused them all in.

For a second, it confused him how the emotions that had been so strong were suddenly so muted, but then it hit him. Sepira had made the vault, using her own Flames in it’s creation. That must have been influencing him through their former bond, and through him, the rest of the set were also suffering. That must have triggered the instincts of their current Sky. Such a possessive little thing.

Still, it would have been a lie to say that it didn’t feel nice to feel so wanted. Especially in the presence of those Flames that had so casually cast him aside before.

Without warning, a spike of wild energy shot out of the child and completely shattered the image of the memories they had all been ignoring, leaving them back in the vault where all of this had begun.

“What just happened?”

Yes… Kawahira would like an answer to that himself, but watching the child napping so happily in the other Mist’s hold, be couldn’t quite bring himself to push. Sure, they hadn’t been able to gain all of the answers they had wanted from the vault and, yes, it had opened up a lot of old wounds but… anything else would have to wait.

Preferably for a time when they could take another dive into the memories without the possessive little Sky to interfere. For now… well, now he was going to take a look at that seal. It obviously needed it.