Work Text:
Katana Zero x Arknights - One Shot
<2 days after the events of Katana Zero>
The sound of a black and grey motorcycle speeding through the dark, cold night of a desert road echoed in the distance.
As for its destination?
The black motorcycle comes to a screeching halt in front of an old wooden bathroom stall.
The driver dismounts and steps into view.
A man wearing black hakama pants with red sandals, a black one-sleeved bathrobe/kimono-like outfit with gold trim, and his black hair tied in a messy ponytail.
<--->
Zero.
I don’t remember my old name, the innocent kid who played catch by himself.
The young child who would play pretend with plastic toys to ignore the boredom of slow, long tests every day.
...
The young child who had his innocence ripped away.
Forced to become a weapon of war, a sword for the greed and hate of others. It was only seven years ago, but... what it felt like, what it was like in that accursed forest...
28 years in that hell.
The effects of being a biologically enhanced soldier, combined with the effects and powers of Chronos, made me process time hundreds, even thousands of times faster than a normal human being. It gave me the ability to look into the future, predict it, and slow my perception of time to a grinding halt. Bullets, lasers, missiles would freeze midair.
...
The downside?
You were on borrowed time. The problem with Chronos, unlike other drugs, was that withdrawal made your mind process the world slower and slower. Hours turned into years, minutes into months, and the seconds? Eventually, eternity.
Your mind was always in the mud. Chronos went beyond seeing a few seconds ahead; no, it kept predicting and predicting until your mind found the best outcome, no matter how much time it took. To others, the war lasted only three years. To a Gamma Null?
It was an eternity.
...
Closing my eyes, I let the thoughts and memories drift away.
It didn’t matter anymore.
I had limited time. The last bit of Chronos I found would only spare me so much time before I entered that never-ending limbo.
Zero looked down at the silver and blue keycard he pulled out of his kimono, standing in front of the old wooden shed of a porta-potty, in the middle of nowhere.
He was only here for one thing: looking for one person.
Fifteen.
His old war buddy, the only other person left from Gamma Null who knew their plight.
Opening his eyes, he walked into the stall. It was... clean.
Too clean.
Good, he was at the right place.
Looking down at the corner of the stall, he saw a metal plate—
Jackpot.
Pressing the keycard against the plate on the floor in front of the toilet, it made an audible click and opened up like something out of an old '80s movie.
<--->
Laboratory Site W-*#^$
Zero looked down the hallway and saw nothing but a river of bodies and blood.
...
Zero frowned as his slippers didn’t stop the blood from touching the bottom of his feet.
“My slippers...”
Waddling up to one of the corpses, he touched its arm.
Warm.
Fifteen is still here, then.
Zero steeled himself and made his way through the facility, searching for the golden-haired asshole.
The trail of bodies made it easier.
Zero stopped in front of a particular room, coming face to face with a medbay.
Walking in, the air smelled of static dust.
He passed by cells, rows of dead patients isolated, black crystals protruding from their bodies like an unholy scarecrow.
Zero looked through the glass before moving on.
He didn’t pay much mind to it. Probably some chemical weapon that never made it past the testing phase.
Leaving the medbay, he made his way over to a particularly interesting metal door.
“This is where the bodies end.”
Zero steeled himself before pressing the yellow button to open the metal gate.
Walking into the white room, he saw several glass tubes, each containing a black crystal with multiple wires hanging from them, all lined up leading to a circular archway.
Walking up to the sci-fi-looking arch, his eyes traveled up and down the contraption of metal and wire.
Zero didn’t like how quiet the facility was, despite wanting his eccentric neighbors to shut up.
Something about the place just felt off.
He sighed, the sound echoing in the otherwise silent room.
Zero was disappointed, to say the least. He’d spent a good four hours riding a motorcycle here to find a friend. All he wanted was to have one last smoke with someone before entering eternal limbo…
Zero laughed bitterly at the cruel irony.
“And to think, all I got is a lost—"
"Lead."
Zero’s pupils instantly dilated into pinpricks, and he backpedaled with inhuman speed, getting into a defensive stance, his back against the metal archway.
The wind in the room sputtered at his panicked movement.
...
Zero hated looking for other Gamma Nulls. The time-based abilities would end up entangling each other, making future sight and prediction a shot in the dark. Essentially, when two Gamma Nulls fought, time became messy. Only the person with the stronger will to survive the temporary eternity would emerge victorious. It was a singularity against a singularity.
Zero recognized the voice.
“…Fifteen,” Zero said in a solemn tone.
The other man, standing across from him, wore a comfortable smile. Zero knew it was fake.
They were both on their last legs. There was virtually no Chronos left, and if there was, their location? Unknown.
Fifteen was dressed in a black suit with a low-hanging, clean ponytail contrasting his outfit.
“Zero.” Fifteen’s calm face barely betrayed anything.
Fifteen looked around the room, sighing to himself before pulling out a box of cigarettes and a lighter.
“Want a smoke?”
Fifteen asked with a perfect facade that Zero couldn't read.
Zero stared for a moment in disbelief before relaxing his posture and walking up to him.
“…Sure.”
Zero pulled out a cigarette and let Fifteen light it.
The two of them sat, leaning against the metal walls of the testing facility.
A lamenting silence permeated the air, and Fifteen’s voice cut through the silence like a sharp knife.
“Zero… If you had another chance at life, what would you do?”
Zero looked at Fifteen, digesting his question. Fifteen sat next to him, an unreadable expression on his face, staring at the metal archway.
Zero contemplated the question before answering with a resounding reply.
“…I’d probably try to live my life without the need for a drug, surviving not just for myself, but... for others, and they in turn for me.”
Fifteen looked at the archway before a smile crossed his face—one of acceptance and happiness.
There was an unreadable expression on his face before he spoke.
“That's good.”
Then the archway began to spin and light up with a two-dimensional gateway filled with stars, an indescribable feeling filling the room.
Before Zero could react, he was forcefully pinned against the floor.
“Zero... I have one final gift for you… and some words to say.”
Fifteen dug into his blazer’s pocket, pulling out a black vial syringe filled with black liquid.
“FIFTEEN?!” Zero struggled to break free.
“This vial will remove the side effects of Chronos. After that… you’re free to do whatever you want.”
Zero stopped struggling and turned his head to look at Fifteen.
Fifteen had a sad, almost regretful smile on his face.
“I only have about 30 minutes left before my brain and mind hit limbo. Even if I did take the cure, my body wouldn’t process it quick enough to stop it.”
Fifteen paused before continuing.
“So promise me, that you’ll hold that answer close to your heart and grip onto it.”
Zero couldn’t respond to his old friend's words before Fifteen grabbed Zero’s sleeve and threw him through the starry gate.
“And promise us that you’ll live on for us.”
Zero only caught a glimpse of Fifteen’s face… solemn acceptance.
<—>
In the dark night alleyways of a colorful city…
<—>
A dumpster shifted before the lid came undone, and a messy-haired ronin fell against the cold, hard concrete.
Zero groaned as he hit the floor, vowing to himself, "I never want to go into a lab again."
He fortified himself, trying to steady his wobbly legs and avoid vomiting all over the floor, though he hadn’t eaten anything today anyway.
Zero walked out of the alleyway and onto the dark sidewalks, looking up at the towering buildings of the sleepless city.