Chapter Text
“Alcora!“ A voice shouted through the crystal halls.
She turned around, halting her walk. But when she recognised the voice her eyes lit up.
“Mizael!“ She skipped over to him with a slight bounce in her step. Mizael was one of, if not the closest friend she had, ever since arriving here. Though it wasn’t easy to get there. There had been one major factor influencing their relationship. That one being Galaxy-eyes Tachyon dragon. Alcora had found her cave by chance, when taking a stroll around barian world. Not one hour later, when Mizael had decided to pay his dragon companion a visit, Tachyon had already completely warmed up to Alcora and began snuggling with her. Mizael was astonished to see someone get along with Tachyon that fast and since then they always had come together to visit her, resulting in countless conversations between them. And before they knew it, the two of them became friends.
“Are we going to see Tachyon again? It’s been a while since we’ve visited her.“
Alcora‘s excitement died down a bit, when seeing the more tense expression on Mizael’s face, barely hidden by his white stone mask. „No, I’m afraid not today“ he responded to her confusion. „Nasch wants to see you.“
An instant shiver ran over her stone body.
“A-Alright… Then I guess I better go talk to him.“
She quickly walked past Mizael, not waiting to see whether he noticed her slight stammer or not. She didn‘t know what Nasch could possibly want from her. They always kept their distance from each other, except in meetings with the imperial council, that of course everyone was always attending. So one on one meetings between Alcora and Nasch were rather rare. Mostly because every time Alcora was around him, she‘d get this eerie feeling, though she could not explain why. She accepted and respected him as their leader, as did they all. But that didn’t mean, that she particularly liked him, even though he had never actually wronged her, as far as she could remember.
She walked into the grand throne room, her steps echoing against the walls. There on top of the stairs he sat on his throne, whispering with Durbe by his side. They seemed to be deeply engaged in a conversation, leaning into each other far too intimately, than for it to be just a mere talk. But when noticing Alcora, they separated at once and Durbe took off with a slight nod towards Alcora. She nodded back acknowledging him, but never took her gaze off of Nasch, who now called out to her.
“Alcora, I wanted to speak with you.“
“So I’ve been told.“
She watched as he graciously stepped down the giant stairs and approach her, stopping in the shadow of a crystal pillar.
“I heard that you’ve been spending a lot of time with Vector lately.“
That was true. Ironically the more distance she put between herself and Nasch, the more she was pulled into Vector‘s direction. His laid back and goofy behaviour never failed to make her laugh, which did always get her some strange stares from her fellow barian emperors.
“I have. What about it?“
Nasch contemplated for a second, thinking carefully about his next words.
“Alcora, you can very much deny this, but… Are you considering a courtship with Vector?“ he said, stepping closer to her into the red light of the Barian sun.
“Excuse me?“ Of all things this was not what she had expected to hear from him.
Though when thinking about his question, she had to admit, that she indeed, not only considered, but really wanted a courtship with Vector. While yes, he was malicious and a bit cruel, he still had his fun and outgoing side, more so when being around her. And judging by his approaches towards her, she could very well assume, him also wanting a courtship, which made her feel a bit giddy inside.
“Well, I guess so…“ Feeling the unusual warmth in her stone face, Alcora averted her eyes from Nasch in slight embarrassment. She only heard a sigh from him.
“I was afraid, that it would come to this… And nothing I or the others could say would change your mind, right?“
He only received a determined nod and vicious glare at the suggestion.
“Alright, I won‘t stop you, if this is your decision… But, just - Be careful around him alright? You‘re somehow the only one, who doesn’t have a bad feeling about him. I guess that‘s why you‘re so drawn to each other.“ He said the last part under his breath, as he walked past Alcora. Seemed like this really was the only thing he wanted to talk to her about. She quickly turned towards him again and asked in confusion: “Is this… you‘re way of giving us your blessing?“
He turned around and said with a slight chuckle: “We both know, you two would neither need, nor want my blessing. But if that‘s how you want see it, then yeah consider this my blessing. Since you‘re the only one, who seems to be able to keep Vector in line, I think it would be rather beneficial for you two to wed, if that is truly your wish.“
He walked closer to her once more, Alcora trying to gain distance again by taking a step back.
“But just know, that in the future, if Vector dares to do anything uncalled for, I expect you to keep him in line or you’ll both be suffering the consequences.“ The imperious gleam in his eyes sent a shock of terror right through her body. She froze up and when she didn‘t respond, Nasch demandingly spoke up: „Do you understand, Alcora?“
“Y-Yes, of course, Nasch. I understand.“
“Good.“
Alcora‘s quickened heart beat slowly calmed down again, matching Nasch‘s departing steps, leaving her standing alone in the throne room.
Vector had very few fears, but he couldn’t believe that one of his worst ones was coming true right now. The second he had seen Alcora collapse though the video call, he bolted out of the school grounds back to the hospital as fast as he humanly could, with Yuma barely being able to catch up to him.
By the time they’ve arrived, Alcora was still unconscious. Vector had immediately taken her from Kotori‘s arms and while feeling her actual heartbeat against his chest did calm him down a bit, he was still distraught by her lifeless look.
It wasn’t hard to “convince” a doctor to put her in one of the best rooms they had. Yuma and Kotori stayed a while, but eventually left to check up on Rio and Ryouga again too, before going home.
Right now he was sitting near her laying form on the hospital bed she had been laid on, nervously tapping his foot non-stop. It was agonising for him to see her in such a state. He kept on thinking what possibly could have caused this.
He never should have left her. He should have stayed with her. She had been acting strange the whole day. Was this because of what she said about Ryouga? He thought she was just overreacting. Sure, he’s seen Nasch‘s tendencies in him, but that’s not a reason to assume that he and Ryouga were the same person. Nasch was dead! He personally took care of that! He should have assured her of that, instead of mocking her. He should have-
“Vector…?“ A weak whisper from the bedside took him out of his thoughts. He looked up and watched Alcora rise into a sitting position.
“What happened?“
Vector almost tripped when speeding out of the chair to engulf her in a hug and bury his head in her neck.
“That’s what I should be asking you! Are you ok?!“
He looked up and saw Alcora‘s eyes becoming slightly glossed.
“I… I‘m sorry, Vector…“
This baffled him.
“W-What are you talking about? Alcora, please tell me what’s going on.“
He softly took her hands into his, putting their foreheads together.
When she at first didn’t say something, Vector assured her: „I promise you can tell me, no matter what it is. Alcora, I‘m your husband, I just want to know what’s going on.“
Alcora took a deep breath, composing herself before saying, what has been weighing on her heart the whole day.
“I… I’m scared of Ryouga.“
She readied herself for laughter or mocking from his side. But nothing.
He just looked at her expectingly. He has learned from the previous experience.
“Go on. Why?“
She took another deep breath and suddenly the words were just flowing out of her.
“Well, he just reminds me so much of Nasch, his look and his aura and his attitude. I know that can’t be, but what if it is? Vector you weren’t there, when the duel concluded. He got this strange aura around him and I swear to you he had traces of barian power inside him. I-It wasn’t much, but it was there! So what if its really him?! What if he’s back, what if he remembers? If he’s truly back, he’s not gonna let you off the hook this time, not even I will get you out of there! I’m just worried about you, Vector. What if he does something to you I- I couldn’t bare with it…I… I’m scared to lose you…“
When her breathing calmed down again, she could only feel Vector embracing her again.
“I understand.“
“You do? I- I thought you’d be disappointed in me. Just look at me, the state I was put in by being scared of a human.“
“Honey, I could never be disappointed in you. You had your reasons to be scared, you didn’t think, that he was just a human. I don’t know why you always had these feelings around Nasch, but I want to help you with them. I‘m sorry, that I didn’t take you serious at first, but hey, look at me.“
He held her face in his hands and gazed into her eyes with a soft look.
“Nasch is dead. You know it, I know it. I was there, when it happened. I assure you there is no chance, that he’s back. Even if he managed to be reborn or some shit, Ryouga Kamishiro is much too old to be him. Also, remember that Tron guy, the one that stumbled into Barian World?“
She nodded lightly, viciously remembering the lost wanderer and the barian power Vector had granted him for his own plans.
“He did at one point have Ryouga under his control and his control was powered by the barian power we gave him. Those traces you saw were probably left from that time.“
Alcora didn’t look completely convinced, so Vector continued in a gentle tone: “Nasch is gone. He can’t hurt us and he won‘t come after us. And even if he somehow did survive, be sure, that I‘ll always be there, ready to protect you and fight by your side.“
He interlaced their hands and put their foreheads back together.
“It’s you and me. Always and forever. Right?“
The light from the sundown shined softly onto his face and highlighting the violet in his eyes. This was her Vector. Not the Barian Emperor, not the clueless Rei, but her husband. This soft gaze was only reserved for her. She knew, he would stand by her side no matter what. The look in Alcora‘s eyes changed from uncertain to determined.
“Right. You and me. Against everyone else.“
And though her doubts didn’t just vanish into thin air, but rather crawl into the back of her head, in this moment right here, right now, she felt calm and at ease with her husband holding her close and pressing their lips softly together.
No matter what the future held, as long as they would stay together it would be ok.