Work Text:
“We don’t have to part ways if I go with you... Let us both become the new king.”
Yoh was already on the verge of tears when Ren stopped him — he could never resist his handhold — from finally going up the holy stairs to the throne where he would be laid to rest and ascend as the new King. Yoh forcefully closed off his walls, his eyes, his mouth. He had already said good-bye to everyone; Anna held her belly as rueful yet proud tears ran down her cheeks, Manta was hiding behind her with a hand over his face, Amidamaru swore loyalty once again and promised to stay with his family for as long as he was needed, Horohoro had tried to smile and give him a thumbs up, Chocolove had sincerely wished the best for him, Lyserg gave him a little speech about being inspiring and never forgotten, Faust and Ryu promised to take care of everything, even Tamao had tried to put on a brave face — why was Ren making it harder for him? Why did he have to fight him too, always, especially now?
The urge to cling to his hand and rescind was overwhelming.
“Ren... Please,” he muttered.
With a heart already in pieces, Yoh shook his hand away and quickly went up a few steps. A special barrier made by the Patch went up, shining behind him. He couldn’t go back now. Ren couldn’t follow. No one could.
The physical separation made it the tiniest bit bearable, and he was able to turn around and smile at everyone one… last… time…
“I love you,” Yoh said with a practiced yet honest smile to all of them. “Everything will work out. I promise.”
After all, he was going to make sure of it now, for 500 years. And it was for them. For everything that ever lived and was yet to. For everybody in the Great Spirits.
500 long, long years…
On his own…
He focused on how proud he was of all of them, on the beautiful sensation of their last group hug, and the wonderful memories they’d made together. He let those good feelings swell inside his chest, then took a deep breath.
He nodded in determination, waved a little at his found family, and turned his back on them to keep climbing. He didn’t plan on turning to them again; the only thing that kept his body moving was the painful hope of their bright and fulfilled lives by his hand.
He could make it possible. He would prove they were right to trust him. He would make all of their dreams come true. He would make them all happy.
“Yoh!”
Ren’s voice. Damn him.
“I thought you knew better than that! Nothing can stand in my way!”
It clicked a moment too late. By the time Yoh stopped and turned around, Ren was already attacking the barrier. It opposed him with the power of every Patch official — he could’ve been blown to bits!
But he resisted. Somehow, with no O.S., just his own furyoku, Ren resisted against it.
“Ren, stop!!” Yoh urged him. The others agreed in chorus.
“Officials! We must stop the intruder who wishes to take the throne!” Croaked Goldva, swinging her hand at his friend. The twin girls joined hands, acting as a beacon to spread the alert.
“No, wait!” Yoh begged at Goldva, but she wasn’t listening.
Ren smiled wickedly. “Come on, Patch Tribe! I’d like to see you try!”
“Ren, what are you doing?!” Yoh’s voice was soaked in desperation.
“Trying to get to you, you fucking idiot!” He replied with sweat on his brow.
“It’s too late! They’ll kill you!!” Yoh tried to reason it out.
“You really are that dense…! Don’t you get it?!” Ren gathered a fist and punched the barrier so hard that even the floor under Yoh’s feet shook. “I love you too!”
Yoh stopped breathing.
“I was able to accept you becoming the Shaman King instead of me. I was able to accept that you’d die. But I’m supposed to accept that you’ll go off and make a world without loneliness, while you’ll be on your own for eternity?! Don’t screw around with me!!” Ren spat out as he struggled.
Some of the Patch officials arrived from their Plants and started arming up. Some of their friends had the right idea and made everybody back off, as to not get caught in the oncoming bloodshed. But Ren didn’t back down.
It started raining on Yoh’s face, somehow, even though it was spring. He had no walls left to uphold. “Ren…”
“Don’t tell me it’s impossible, Yoh,” Ren growled, unfazed by the arrival of the officials. “You know it as well as I do — loneliness brings forth pain, and pain turns to hatred. You’ll see everyone happy, except for you. And that will grow into resentment. If you go, my dream — it’ll never come true, no matter what you do.”
Yoh’s feet faltered and stepped back. Ren’s attack wasn’t just against the physical barrier.
“I know your pain as well as mine, and you too have a hole in your soul! I can’t let you go through this alone!”
“So you want to die?!” Yoh pushed the question out of his tight throat as his tears adorned his face.
Ren was silent for a moment. The Patch took the chance to hyper-charge the barrier, which pushed Ren away with the force of a titan. His back slammed against the door of the last Plant behind them, and his body fell to the ground.
“STOP!” Yoh yelled.
To his surprise, to everybody’s surprise, the Officials obeyed.
Goldva saw fit to let him know she wasn’t happy about this development. “Yoh Asakura, the ceremony must continue, why are you stopping us from defending you?”
“No one else gets hurt. No one,” Yoh growled at the old woman, as too many deaths replayed in his mind.
Something in her eyes shifted to fear, and he knew in the back of his mind that she was seeing Hao instead. Yoh acknowledged his emotions were all over the place, and that his anger was burning hot to replace everything else, though a few tears kept running down his cheeks.
He didn’t care. Whatever it took.
He threatened the Officials with the same stare and they turned their weapons down. Silva was the first one to do so.
But Yoh couldn’t get out. He couldn’t run to Ren’s side to see if he was alright. All he could do was observe from above . Anger turned into frustration and his fists reflected it.
Maybe this truly was a glimpse of how things were going to be for him from now on…
Horohoro and Chocolove helped Ren get back up, despite his protests. Jun ran to his side too. The four exchanged a few words that Yoh wasn’t able to hear. Once Ren was on his feet, he couldn’t walk right, so he stumbled forward, back to the barrier. Nobody followed.
“Yoh…” Ren spoke again, his voice shaking, and Yoh’s hands tightened even more. Ren’s words were now slower, quieter, but no less intense.
As Ren looked up, Yoh swallowed hard and the tears halted. Suddenly, it was just the two of them, opening their hearts and doubts to each other in the middle of the night, where no one could interrupt or eavesdrop, just like they’d one many, many nights during their journey. Their eyes met and Yoh once again felt like he couldn’t move away. Never had he ever seen such earnestness from those golden eyes.
Ren’s nose wrinkled and one of his hands flew to his other arm. Blood ran down his toned, now useless arm. The Patch had not held back. Still, Ren settled his face and spoke again.
“You’re the reason I believe in the future… I believe in your paradise… But it won’t be true if you’re alone.”
With ragged breath, Ren didn’t attack but placed his now-blood-soaked hand atop the barrier. The furyoku rippled as it met a different energy from the boy. It made everything look like an illusion; like the world’s separation between them was way more than a flight of hand-made stairs.
“I’ll take care of your heart.”
Yoh’s chest yearned. Yoh’s mind knew it to be true.
“Let me in,” Ren said.
Everything fell into silence. Their eyes never left each other’s, as if they were continuing the conversation of their own.
In the moment’s hesitation, Goldva seized her opportunity and interrupted again. “Yoh Asakura, I don’t know if you are willing to fall for this farce, but, one way or another, the Shaman King is only one. A single person gets to fuse with The Great Spirits to become the savior of a great tragedy. There is nothing to be done.”
“Unless we want to make a world free of constraints,” Yoh finished for her, eyes still fixed with Ren’s.
“Yes, exactly, unle—” Goldva nodded, then realized her mistake too late. “Whaaaat?!”
Yoh lifted his hand and the Officials dissolved the barrier to let Ren Tao through. Goldva screamed in horror.
With bated breath, Yoh witnessed as Ren took a careful foot to the first step of the stairs. When he didn’t burn to a crisp or disappear, they both let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t like it, but Yoh’s eyes started welling up once again as Ren straightened himself up and climbed up with his chest and chin held high. As Yoh’s breathing got more agitated, Ren finally made it all the way up.
A punch on the jaw was what received Ren at first. Which, surprisingly, Ren didn’t expect. After that, and as soon as Ren was going to shout for an explanation, Yoh threw himself at him, like the sun clings to the sky to stay with the moon for one more minute.
“What are you doing,” Yoh asked, voice all but defeated. “What about your future, your family…”
“If anything goes wrong, meet me in the forest where we had our qualifying match,” Was what Ren said instead, clearly meant to be a secret, hugging him back briefly.
As Ren ended their hug to also stare dangerously at Goldva (the woman had no choice but to take a step back), Yoh refused to back down on this topic: “Ren!”
“Everything will be okay!” Ren countered, out of patience.
Yoh sniffled again, feeling too many things at once. Ren noticed and brought his voice back down, with a confidence so radiant Yoh almost had to squint.
“Everything will be okay,” Ren reassured him. “We’ll make it okay. I’ve said my good-byes, and I have no regrets.”
“None? Are you sure?”
“I’m going to regret not pummeling you back if you keep doubting me.”
“Ah, sorry…!” Yoh cleared his throat and wiped his face.
Slowly and all at once, a calm came down his heart, like a mist in the early morning. Yoh opened his eyes again and Ren was still there, by his side.
It was decided; Yoh had yielded. Ren had won this, their very last, round. He smiled as such.
Once all tears stopped, Yoh took a deep breath and asked. “Are you ready?”
“Of course,” Ren replied almost automatically. Then, he softened his voice once more. “Are you?”
Both of them turned to their friends. Although farther away, they were waving, wishing them good travels. They waved back, Yoh now with both his arms, Ren kind of smiling too.
“Yeah. I think I am.”
They announced this to Goldva, who, in her position, could not contradict the Shaman King, but could still wail on about the ruined sanctity of this ceremony, and how she’d lived so long just for two kids to blubber all over her perfect arrangements. Ren and Yoh didn’t listen.
They stripped away from all earthly possessions. They tried not to glance at each other too much. Their skirts were given by the twins. Upon getting to the bear-talon necklace, however, Yoh didn’t have the heart to take it off.
“Keep it,” Ren told him. “Matamune will be at our destination, after all.”
Just when Yoh thought he couldn’t cry anymore…
There was only one throne, where the one king would sit. The pair had not thought about that. Goldva pulled a handful of her hair out.
Finally, they settled in taking seats to the sides; one looking to the East, another to the West. Once again, they tried really hard not to gaze at each other. But as Yoh’s breathing started shaking, Ren pulled him up and put their foreheads together.
“I love you,” Ren said again, now only to him. It was one of the most intimate moments of Yoh’s life. “And I choose you.”
“I love you too,” Yoh replied with the certainty of a thousand oaths, while also blushing madly. He grabbed Ren’s hands and held them tight. “And I choose you too…”
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
As soon as those words left their lips, the sleep of the end fell upon them. They had both died before, technically he shouldn’t be afraid. But Yoh didn’t want to linger on those memories.
His consciousness started slipping, he stopped feeling the vines swirl and tangle with their bodies. For a moment, he felt scared. But Ren’s hand moved, despite the spell, his thumb caressing Yoh’s. Ren was always the kind to pull miracles. With that, Yoh trusted him and let his heart slow down, down, down…
"Behold, your new Shaman King."