Author: zecretsanta

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Happy Holidays thefireinthewire!

~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @thefireinthewire

From: @epobbp

Hi! I was your Zecret Santa ^.^ You had some fun prompts for me to decide on but I went with Light and Aoi during the VLR timeline. I hope you enjoy it and have a fantastic holiday and new year ^.^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Light heard a familiar voice. The last time he heard it was when they were trapped on a boat together.

“To what do I owe this pleasure, Aoi? Come to kidnap me also?” Light’s voice was falsely friendly. He had no proof that Aoi was part of Clover’s most recent kidnapping but it would not surprise him if he was. Clover had been missing for over 6 months now and not once had she tried to contact him through the morphogenetic fields or any other way. There were multiple things this could indicate: A. She is out of range for contact. Which he felt was unlikely, especially when taken into account that the training obtained since joining SOIS had improved his range even farther than what it was during the Nonary Game. B. She is unable to contact him but she’s alive, whether it be due to being knocked out or drugged. Or worse case scenario C, she had died, either in the reactor explosions earlier this year, as one of the many victims of Radical-6 before that, or from her kidnappers, of which one was possibly here.

 Aoi just sighed. “Look Light. I know you think I took your sister.” Light was right, but he didn’t need to know that. “I might know of a way to get her back. If you want to help out.”

“A way to get her back you say? How?” Light could tell that Aoi was not telling him everything. Why would he be looking for a way to get Clover back? If Aoi is involved in this, that meant Akane would be to, Light had no doubts about that. Which brings the question of what are they looking for, and how does Clover play in.

“Akane told me about this device called a transporter. If we can get it, we can get your sister back.”

“A transporter?” Light raised an eyebrow at Aoi. Aoi let of a groan of frustration.

“I don’t know okay. I heard about it from Akane. Using it would be a way to get Clover back from what I’ve heard about it. I figured you would want the chance to find her.” The last sentence he muttered to himself, but Light heard it anyway.

Light considered this for a moment. He could potentially be walking into a trap. However, apocalypse had happened and it was incredibly different to get food and water. He had previously been working with SOIS, but after the explosion, everyone was too focused on getting food and staying alive to actually care about what had happened to Alice and Clover. Some of them had even said they are probably in a better place because they don’t need to deal with this hell. Working with Aoi might be the only chance he had for seeing his sister again. Why they needed this “transporter” was another matter entirely. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had been searching for months now, and all leads had turned out dead. It was hard enough finding enough food and water in this hellscape, but they were managing. They had found a place to make camp in and had cooked the food they had found.

They were eating in silence when Light turned his head to the left. “I believe I hear Junpei approaching.” His voice was mildly surprised. He didn’t think it would be likely to run into people he knew as they were looking. However, if Junpei was still looking for Akane, then he guessed it would only make sense for him to find Light and Akane’s brother eventually.

Aoi stood up quickly, making sure to take the food with him as they couldn’t risk wasting anything. “Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.” Light waited one eyebrow raised. Aoi looked around for a place to hide. “Wait, which direction is he coming from?” Light pointed, still waiting for him to explain. Spotting something that would conceal him from Junpei’s view as he approached, Aoi spoke to Light as he ran over to it, “Don’t let him know I’m here. He cannot know that I’m here. But see what info he might have. Akane said he joined a detective agency so who knows what they could know.”

Light’s hearing was still incredible. Aoi was able to hide and finish his food before Junpei appeared.

“Snake??? What… You survived! Are you alone?” Junpei looked around. Aoi ducked his head, making sure Junpei couldn’t see him.

“It’s good to know you survived also Junpei. I am not alone, but…my companion had to leave momentarily. I do not know when to expect him back.”

“Your companion? Wait,’him’? You mean it’s not Clover? I would have thought you’d be together.” Junpei then noticed that Light had tensed up at the mention of his sister.

“Wait…Is she dead? Oh man I am so sorry, Light. Did she die from Radical-6? Or the explosions?” Junpei’s voice was laced with concern.

Pain radiated from Light’s face. “No. No. I do not believe she died from Radical-6 or the explosions. In fact she went missing on December 22th, 2028, before the outbreak.”

“Oh…well at least there’s hope right? She could still be out there looking for you too…” His expression showed how likely he thought this was, but he tried to keep his voice optimistic.

Light nodded. “Yes. We have actually had some leads as to where she might be. Have you heard of a device called a transporter? We believe that those who have taken Clover have obtained this device as well or that it could be used to help locate her.”

Junpei frowned, a headache suddenly starting. A transporter sounded very familiar to him, but he couldn’t remember why. There was the gap in his memory during the Mars Mission. Could he had heard of it during that time?

Junpei shook his head. “Sorry Light. I don’t know about it, but I’ll keep an ear out for it and let you know if I find anything. If I can find you anyway.”

“It is appreciated Junpei.”

Junpei stayed and visited, but fortunately for Aoi, it was only for a few hours. He eventually excused himself, saying that he was still looking for Akane and was following some leads he had gotten from some of the other survivors.

Aoi returned from his hiding spot.

“Is there some reason why Junpei cannot find you? I assume it has to do with Akane?”

Aoi’s silence said it all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Periodically, they would find their way to one of the Crash Keys hideouts. Aoi would check to see if there were any new rumors about the location of the transporter and ask about his sister. To his joy, his sister was at this particular site.

They could not be in the same room together. Aoi had been on the outside for long enough that it was a concern that a mutation or new strain of Radical-6 could have infected him and he would not risk his sister. They both knew that Akane should be fine for the next 42 years or so, but neither wanted to risk the plan failing.

Still, he would be able to see his sister again. To know she was alright. He would forever be grateful to Junpei for saving her. But he would not go against her determination to keep to the plan, even at the cost of Junpei. Before he left to recruit Light, he saw her ring and knew the meaning behind it. He dearly loved his sister, but this was not a wish he would be able to grant for her and Junpei.

He heard the leads she had for them this time and reported the failed ones to her. She knew he (really Light) had been meeting up with Junpei from time to time, but never once did she ask about him. When he had told her that they had come across Junpei and that he was assisting them in trying to locate the transporter, her face went through a range of emotions: happiness, grief, and determination. All she had told him was to make sure that Junpei did not see him. They both knew he would survive the years until the Ambidex game, but he could not remember what happened at DCOM.

“How are things on Rhizome-9?” Aoi wanted to be kept up to date as much as possible on the plans.

Akane was quiet for a long moment. “Diana died. She was not able to adjust fully to the moon like Sigma has. He’s taking it hard. But she got her wish to go to the moon, and they had three happy years together.”

Aoi had nothing to say to that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Here.”

Junpei placed an object in Light’s hand.

“What’s this? An old walkie talkie?”

“Yeah. We found these a while ago. I was able to get them to work again. At least it worked when Carlos and I tested them…They don’t have a long range. But I can’t think of any other way to get into contact with you when we find something.”

“Carlos?”

“Huh? Oh yeah…I guess you can say he’s a friend of mine?” There was an odd tone to Junpei’s voice.

“Are you sure you can trust him?”

“Hmmm? Oh yeah. At least I think so anyway…” Junpei trailed off, trying to figure out how to explain. He sighed. “I was involved with a simulated Mars mission, it was a lead I had on Akane. The first one I found. I met Carlos during that time, but I have no idea what happened there. My memories from that time are pretty much gone, and Carlos said he was sworn not to discuss it, no matter how much I asked. It’s complicated.”

Light nodded, unwilling to pry further into the subject.

“Anyway. I’m glad I found you. We’ve been trying for a while now. I’ll let you know if I have anything else. We’re headed south. You?”

“We haven’t discussed it yet. I believe we need to make a stop somewhere for my companion, however.”

“Well. Stay safe you two. Things are starting to get better, but it’s far from over yet.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aoi and Light were supposed to meet Junpei at this spot. However, Light had gotten ill off of some of the…”food” they had to eat and this was possibly the best lead they have gotten in all these years. Junpei had contacted him over those walkie-talkies. They weren’t the best, but if they were close enough together, they could communicate and find a place to meet. Aoi wouldn’t risk not getting this information, so he wore a scarf and hat he had traded for a few months ago and went to the meeting spot.

The man who approached was not Junpei. He was muscular and had old burn scars on his arms. It was impossible to tell if it was before or after the antimatter plant explosions.

“Who are you?” Aoi spoke first, regarding the man warily.

“I could ask you the same question.” The man returned his gaze. “The man I’m here to meet is not you.”

“How would you know?”

“Well for one thing, you saw me approach.” Shit. Well, it’s not like Aoi was pretending to be Light, he just didn’t want to be discovered by Junpei.

“He’s sick, but has a message.” Over the years, they had come up with codes and other security measures to prevent the information from being heard by others.

“Very well. Here.” Carlos handed over a piece of paper written in braille. Another security measure that Junpei and Light (and Aoi) had agreed upon to prevent others from seeing the message.

Aoi nodded, unsurprised at the braille and turned around headed back towards where he left Light.

Unbeknownst to Aoi, the man followed. He was still suspicious and wanted to make sure that the letter actually arrived to its intended person.

Upon hearing the footsteps he recognized as Aoi, Light sat up.

“Ah, Aoi.” His voice was still a little weak, but stronger than it had been. “I trust there were no problems? Junpei did not recognize you?”

“Nope. It was some blond guy instead. Here’s the message. Is it actually from him?”

The message was placed in Light’s hand. He nodded. “Yes the correct code is there. This is a message from Junpei.”

Upon confirmation that the message was safely delivered, Carlos left to return to Junpei.

Aoi…the name sounded familiar to Carlos, but he couldn’t think of why.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a long time since they started searching for Clover. All that time, and still no luck in finding his sister. His hope and faith were beginning to waver. Aoi was convinced that the transporter (that he had begun to doubt the existence of) was in this lead that Light had gotten from Junpei. There was a flash of recognition in Junpei’s eyes every time they brought up the transporter, but he always frowned and as far as Aoi could tell, he never could place why. (Aoi knew Akane was conflicted about this. Junpei was not allowed to remember what had happened in 2028. He could not remember for them to have a chance at changing it.)

The building was an old warehouse. A suspicious location to be sure but every lead they received had to be checked, and Junpei had participated in multiple raids on Free the Soul locations before the antimatter plants went off, so he might be able to tell how likely a location it was for them.

Aoi had an idea of what the transporter looked like and how it worked from Akane. The only reason she was alive now was because of this transporter, and it was Light’s only chance on being reunited with his sister unless he wanted to wait until after the Ambidex Game, if he lived that long.

They snuck in, it was suspiciously easy. They had gotten a lot of practice over the years, but if the transporter truly was here, there was not enough security for such an important item. Aoi was leaning towards calling it another false lead when a voice spoke out from behind them.

“I see you’ve arrived.” Aoi pulled out the gun Junpei had helped him fix (well, helped Light fix for his “companion”) and turned to face the voice that had spoken. He was very old, with purple eyes and a pair of orange glasses in his hands.

“There is no need for that. You have come for the transporter. It is here. You can use it for your intended purpose, but you cannot have it yet. You will not obtain it for many years yet.”

“What the hell do you mean? We’re here now and we’ll take it.” Aoi was about to pull the trigger on the old man. In this hell on earth, it was survival. However he was not able to, instead his hand let go on its own.

“What the f-”

“No you will not.”

The man turned and lead them down to a secret room hidden in the warehouse.

“By the time your reinforcements get here, this will be gone. Tell Akane Kurashiki: The date and time are April 18th, at 2:20 am.” The man turned and began to leave the room.

“Why are you helping us?” Light spoke up for the first time. The man paused and spoke four words before he left.

“My motives are…complex.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” were going to be the next words out of Aoi’s mouth but then the machine started up. He had been so focused on the man, that he hadn’t looked around. The machine was huge: two green pods with a screen between them on one side, two caccoon looking silver pods with yellow…doors he guessed… in the center on the other, with silver and gold silos behind them. The pods were glowing, with small beams of white lights surrounding them as if it was in a tornado. The light became blinding.

When Aoi could see again, he watched the pod doors (he was right) open to a bright light. From inside the light, two figured walked out and headed down the stairs in front of the pods. Aoi recognized both of them. He had played a part in their original kidnapping after all. They looked exactly as they had the day he kidnapped them.

Light heard the footsteps. He recognized the gait and the way she gasped, no matter how much time had passed.

“Clover!” All that time, combating despair, almost falling multiple times and she was here. Alive.

“Light!? Is it really you?” She ran towards her brother and hugged him. “I thought I’d never see you again. I thought this would never work but it did! You’re here! I’m here!”

Alice, who had emerged from the other pod stared for a few minutes at Light. She noticed what Clover had not yet realized in her happiness at seeing her brother. She looked to Aoi who turned his gaze away from the siblings and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What year is this?”

He answered her and she nodded, having expected as much.

That was all they got to say when a white gas filled the room, knocking them all out.

When they came to, they were in the same location, but the transporter was gone.

Internally cursing himself and his stupidity, Aoi faced his companions. “Well come on then. We have to get you all to Akane. There is a lot of explaining to do.”

“WHAT? You mean we have to go back to her? Why! She told us that we would be able to return. She promised!”

“Hey, I have no idea why she told you that. What I was told is that if I found you, you need to go see her. Something about rules for not disturbing this timeline. You know that you’re in cold sleep on the moon right now. Also, Junpei can’t meet either of you, ever. As far as he’s aware, you both went missing years ago and it needs to stay that way.”

Shit. He hadn’t told Light that he knew where they were the entire time had he? He glanced quickly at Light, who showed no surprise at all that Aoi had known (figures), before motioning for them all to follow and left the warehouse.

He would still need to continue on to find the transporter alone, but at least Light had his sister back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bonus: After Carlos met back up with Junpei:

“So, you met Light. Interesting guy right?” Junpei was sitting in the middle of the deserted building trying to figure out what was wrong with the walkie-talkies.

“No, he was sick. So his friend was there instead. Some guy named Aoi I believe.”

Junpei stopped what he was doing the second he heard Aoi.

“His companion’s name was Aoi? You’re sure?”

Carlos was confused as to why Junpei looked so shocked at Aoi’s name. “Yeah, and don’t worry, I confirmed multiple ways that it was actually Light to whom he was returning to.”

“No, but…Aoi….white hair? Kind of a jerk?”

“Sure, that sounds about right I’d say.”

“GOD FUCKING DAMN IT LIGHT. The next time I see him I am killing him. Did you hear which way they were heading next? We need to follow them.”

Needless to say, Carlos was confused.  

Thanksgiving

~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @misstooni

From: @queenofdragons6

I got this idea around Thanksgiving, so that’s why it’s a Thanksgiving fic. “ZTD Team D/family heartwarming moment (post realizing they’re a family)” is the prompt I chose.

AO3 link

Phi honestly wasn’t sure what she had been expecting when she had agreed to spend Thanksgiving with Sigma’s family, but she sure didn’t expect to be standing in front of a surprisingly large house holding a Tupperware container with something Diana had made inside it. Well, more the size of house than holding the Tupperware.

The three of them walked up to the front door, Sigma taking the lead. Right when Phi started to wonder if coming along was a bad idea, the door opened to reveal a man Phi recognized as Sigma’s uncle.

“Heya, Siggy!” the man jovially yelled with a wide smile.

“Hey,” Sigma replied.

The man’s smile vanished the moment he saw Phi. Not looking away from her, he said to Sigma, “Uh, non-relatives aren’t-“

“I made an exception for her!” a woman called from inside the house.

Almost immediately afterwards, the owner of the voice appeared in the doorway: Sigma’s mother.

Breathless and smiling widely, the woman motioned for them to come in.

Inside the house were at least 15 other people, and Phi was sure that more were coming. Most of them immediately greeted Sigma and Diana, but nobody said anything to Phi. Several people gave her confused looks and a few of the kids waved, but nobody said anything.

Understandable, given what they believed of her.

Phi held up the Tupperware container. “What do I-?”

“I’ll take that, dear,” Sigma’s mother said as she took the container out of Phi’s hands and went into the kitchen.

Phi stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. It didn’t feel right to just try talking to someone, especially when she technically shouldn’t have been there.

“Hey! Give that back!”

Two children suddenly ran past Phi, one holding up what looked like a toy. They ran up the set of stairs leading to the second floor, and an adult went up after them. Phi stared after them, half-tempted to follow.

“So…” a man’s voice said.

Phi gave a start and turned to look at whoever had spoken to her. It was a man she recognized as another of Sigma’s uncles.

“You…” the man slurred, “…look familiar.”

The man gave all the impression of being drunk, but Phi knew that he probably wasn’t. “The Fourth of July, remember?”

The man stared at her for a few moments before his eyes lit up with recognition. “Oh yeah. Uh…Fi?”

“Phi.”

“Right. Still don’t have anyone else to celebrate with?”

Phi had met Sigma’s family for the first time on the Fourth of July earlier in the year. The original plan was to introduce her to them as Diana’s sister, but the unexpected appearance of Diana’s cousin had forced them to introduce Phi as “a friend we met at Dcom who didn’t have anyone to celebrate with”, which was true, if a bit inaccurate.

Phi looked away from him. “Well, technically I do, it’s just…”

“Not on good terms?”

“Haven’t talked to them in a long time.”

“Foster family or somethin’?”

“…Yeah.”

The man stroked his stubble-covered chin. “Well, I don’t have a problem with a stranger bein’ here if it’s you.”

Phi had mixed feelings about that statement, but the man didn’t seem to notice and walked away.

After a minute, Phi began to feel awkward just standing there and moved into the living room area. Set into the wall was an unlit fireplace and, thankfully, there were no Christmas decorations. Nine people had gathered there, including Sigma.

“What’s she doin’ here?” a guy in the crowd asked.

“My mom begged me to bring her,” Sigma replied with a hint of joking in his tone.

Phi gave him a hard look. “You didn’t mention that.”

He didn’t seem to have heard her, as he didn’t even look in her direction. Phi felt mildly annoyed, but decided to let it be. It ultimately didn’t matter whether or not Sigma’s mother had asked her to come as long as she was allowing Phi to be there.

Phi cautiously walked over to a navy blue couch next to the fireplace and sat down. She still felt like she wasn’t supposed to be there, and it felt awkward to be stared at by several people, even if they didn’t stare for too long.

After a few minutes, a young boy approached her and stared at her intensely. Phi was about to ask him what he was doing when the boy said, “Your glasses have no lenses.”

She blinked. “You’re right. They don’t.”

“But that’s silly. Why would you wear glasses without lenses?”

“They make me look professional.”

They continued on for a few minutes. No matter what Phi said, the boy just couldn’t seem to understand why someone would wear glasses when they didn’t need to. Phi didn’t mind, though. She liked kids, and the boy definitely wasn’t trying to insult her.

“Oh, hello you two,” Sigma’s mother suddenly said. When Phi turned to look at her, she noticed that the older woman was wearing glasses with lenses.

“Hi Aunt Norma,” said the boy.

Her name’s Norma?, Phi internally remarked.

“Sorry to interrupt,” said Norma, “but may I talk to you, Phi? Upstairs?”

“Uh… Sure.” Phi looked at the boy. “We’ll continue this later, okay?”

The boy pouted and crossed his arms, but said, “Okay.”

Norma led Phi to the stairs leading up, the wooden floor creaking under their feet.

0~*~0

The second story was where the bedrooms were, and were, as Phi expected, deserted. Norma led her to the room at the end of the hall, which appeared to be the largest. The bed had two red pillows and a blanket with thick diagonal lines creating diamond patterns. There was also a white ceiling fan, but it was motionless.

Phi turned to face Norma. “So what you’d want to talk about?”

She stared down at the floor, her expression solemn.

“…Is it about Sigma?”

Her eyes flickered up. “Yes.”

“Look, I don’t know how to explain it to-“

“I don’t want explanations. I just want answers.”

Phi’s eyebrows went up as she waited for Norma to continue.

“Something happened to him last winter, at that…wherever it was. He’s different, and yet…I can still see him in there.” She looked pleadingly at Phi. “Phi… Is Sigma still in there?”

“Yes,” Phi said with a nod.

Norma let out a soft but audible sigh of relief. She stayed silent for a few moments before saying, “Can you tell me…what the best way to think of him as is now?”

Phi raised an eyebrow. “What the best way to think of him as is now?”

“Well, I’m…not really sure how to explain it. I guess it just seems that he’s…older, in a way.”

Phi briefly thought about whether to lie or tell the truth. “…He has the mind of a man in his late 60s.”

Norma gave Phi a stare the likes of which she had never seen. She took a few steps forward and put her hands on Phi’s shoulders.

“Phi… Are you my granddaughter?”

Phi could only wonder if she had been wondering that for a while or if that had somehow been kicked off by what Phi had just said, but regardless, she answered, “Yes.”

Norma looked down, hiding her eyes. Her lips twitched into a smile as she let out a soft chuckle.

Phi waited for her grandmother to say something, but she didn’t. After a few minutes, she looked back up, wearing a sad smile on her face. “I…need to go back downstairs. They’ll…need my help with the cooking.”

It took a few seconds for Phi to realize that Norma was waiting for her to respond. “O-Okay.”

Norma let go of Phi’s shoulders and left the room, heading back down the stairs. Phi stood there, unsure of what to do next.

0~*~0

Thirty minutes later, Phi was still in the bedroom, though she had moved to sitting on the bed. She heard the stairs creak as someone came up, and was mildly surprised to see Sigma come in the room.

“Oh, hey,” she said.

Sigma’s expression was more relaxed than it normally was. “Not used to big family gatherings like this, are you?”

Phi looked down. “Not really. Growing up, it was always just me and my foster parents, and they were pretty old. I don’t think they had any other family members to celebrate with.”

She glanced back up and saw that his expression had gone back to its normal seriousness.

“…Your mom’s nice,” she said, hoping to change the mood.

Sigma’s eyebrows relaxed a bit as he nodded. “Glad you like her. She seems pretty fond of you.”

“You didn’t tell me that she had asked you to bring me.”

A flash of guilt went across Sigma’s face. “I didn’t want to make you feel like you had to come.”

A few moments of awkward silence followed.

Phi broke the silence by saying, “So, what’d you come up here for?”

“Well, we’re about to eat, so…”

“Oh,” Phi said before sliding off the bed and following Sigma downstairs.

0~*~0

The rest of the family had gathered in the dining room, and most of them had already sat down. The kids had their own appropriately-sized table. Phi ended up sitting between Sigma and Norma, the latter of whom had saved her a seat.

The sheer amount of food on the table made Phi’s mouth water, but she only took some garlic bread, mashed potatoes, green beans, and what she assumed was glazed ham.

“You can have some more if you want, dear,” Norma said quietly.

“No, I’m fine,” Phi assured her.

And then she realized. Wait, did she just call me “dear”?

Nobody else seemed to notice, so Phi decided to let it go for now. She did, however, feel less reluctant to grab more food as time went on.

0~*~0

“Phi, would you like to have some dessert?”

Phi nearly jumped at the sound of Norma’s voice. She had moved back into the living room area onto the couch after finishing dinner, having no real reason to stay in the dining room.

Norma was looking at her from inside the dining room’s doorway. There seemed to be a slight hesitance in her expression.

“…All right,” Phi said as she got up and walked back into the dining room.

The only other people in the room were the kids, all of whom were sitting at the grown-ups’ table and eating what appeared to be some sort of pie. Most of them were already half-finished with it.

Norma handed Phi a plastic plate with a piece of pie and a fork on it. Her expression made Phi raise an eyebrow, but she didn’t comment on it.

Phi sat down in the same spot she had during dinner and started eating it. The taste nearly made her moan in pleasure.

Upon seeing Phi start eating the pie faster, Norma asked, “What do you think?”

“It’s delicious!” Phi exclaimed with her mouth half-full.

Norma smiled. “I’m glad you like it.”

By the time Phi finished with the pie piece, Norma was gathering up the messy plates the kids had left behind. Phi handed Norma her plate and fork and went back into the living room area, licking her lips.

As she sat down on the couch, cheers came from downstairs, presumably from the men watching sports (Phi was silently glad that Sigma wasn’t one of them).

She looked over at the now lit fireplace and began to feel relaxed for the first time since she had entered the house.

“Uh, hey…”

Phi glanced up and saw one of Sigma’s uncles, the one she had talked to earlier. “Hey.”

The man crouched down and gave her a serious look. “I take it ya don’t…understand the significance of that dish ya just ate.”

Phi tilted her head. “Apparently I don’t.”

The man put a fist against his hip. “Well, it’s sort of a tradition in the family for the grandparents to give that particular recipe to their grandkids.”

Phi raised an eyebrow. “Huh.”

“And only their grandkids.”

Phi didn’t respond, only staring at him with wide eyes.

“How old are you?”

“…21.”

The man looked surprised, but continued. “I don’t know if Norma knows that, but as my sister, I know she doesn’t see people…like…”

The man trailed off, staring at her intently. He leaned in closer to Phi, carefully studying her facial features.

After what almost felt like an eternity, the man moved back, looking very thoughtful. “Hmm.”

He then got up and walked away, leaving Phi to stare after him in mild bewilderment.

0~*~0

They could not have left soon enough. As much as Phi genuinely appreciated Norma’s gestures of acceptance, she still had a hard time dealing with all the people there, especially after they had learned that Norma had given Phi that pie. Nobody had said anything, but it was clear that each person had varying degrees of suspicion towards her.

When it was finally time for Phi, Sigma, and Diana to leave, Phi rushed to get ready.

“See you later, Phi,” Norma said as Phi was putting on her shoes.

“Bye, Norma,” Phi replied as she slipped on her last shoe.

Norma began walking towards Phi while holding out her arms.

“No thanks,” Phi said, and Norma stopped and dropped her arms.

Diana, holding a bag of leftovers, looked in and said, “Ready?”

“Coming,” Phi said as she passed Norma and followed her parents out the front door.

Once outside, Phi almost speedwalked to Sigma’s car and climbed into the backseat as soon as Sigma unlocked the doors. She stared out the window as the other two got into the car, her chin resting in her hand.

It wasn’t until a few minutes after Sigma had started driving when he asked, “So, Phi, what did you think?”

Phi didn’t even glance in his direction. “…Your mom’s pretty nice.”

Sigma didn’t reply. Neither did Diana.

Phi continued to stare out the window, watching the houses that passed by.

She was exhausted.

0~*~0

Phi was honestly a bit surprised to get a text from Diana around noon asking if Phi would be willing to come over for dinner. But she saw no reason not to and sent a reply saying she would.

That evening, she didn’t suspect anything as she walked up to the front door, the sound of chirping insects surrounding her. She rang the doorbell and the door opened to reveal Diana, smiling and looking a bit flustered.

“Hi,” Diana said breathlessly. “You’re early.”

“Is that a problem?” Phi asked.

“No, no, of course not.”

Phi looked over Diana’s shoulder. “Where’s Sigma?”

“He’s in the kitchen. Come on.”

Diana led Phi by the hand into the house, taking her into the kitchen/dining room. The moment Phi saw the table, she let out a small gasp.

On the table was a full Thanksgiving dinner, complete with a turkey and some of the leftovers from the previous night. The table was just barely big enough for all the food. Sigma was standing nearby with a shy, awkward smile on his face.

There were only three placemats on the table.

Sigma and Diana had made a Thanksgiving dinner that was just for the three of them, just like the ones Phi used to have.

Phi looked away, blushing. “…Thanks.”

~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @komayuna

From: @yukimori-himeko

Merry Christmas, @komayuna!

I loved your prompts, and while I wasn’t quite confident enough to use the entirety of the prompts, I still used them as inspiration! 

So this is a picture of Lotus in a wedding dress on her special day. Her wedding to Seven. 

I really hope that you like this, and I hope that your day is great!

Warming the Ice

~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @merouses

From: @morphogenetic

“heyo, this is the first fic i’ve ever written – only fitting that it was for zecret santa, I suppose. (still not sure why I decided to make it two chapters. whoops.) it was written for @merouses on tumblr – I hope you enjoy it!”

AO3 link

CHAPTER 1

“Light, I’m going out!”

“Please tell me you’re at least wearing something reasonable for the weather, for once.”

Clover rolls her eyes, even though there’s not much of a point. “We’re in Nevada, bro, come on!” she shouts back. “It might be December, but it’s not as cold as it was back in Japan!”

She can almost feel the exasperation from this voice as he replies. “Fine, but I really hope you’re wearing something longer than a miniskirt.”

“Of course I am, Light,” she says, running her hands over her half-bare thighs. “Why would I lie about that?” She smiles as she pecks him on the forehead. “Anyway, I’ll be back in a bit. Tell the bodyguards that they don’t need to keep up with me today. Have fun with your boyfriend!”

Light just sighs as his sister makes her way to the door, recognizing the swishing noise as Clover’s self-described “business-professional bubblegum bitch” skirt. He only has the resolve to say a “Aoi is not my bo-” before he hears the door click shut.

“I can’t believe we have the same parents,” he mutters to no one.

–

Clover pulls her phone out of her pocket, checking to see if there’s any new texts from Alice. They’ve been planning on a shopping date for a few months, but the two of them have continuously been busy with SOIS work – or busy working at a coffee shop as cover, in Clover’s case – such that they haven’t had any simultaneous free time in a while. She had had to convince Alice to use up some a day of the vacation time she’d accumulated so that they could go Christmas shopping, a task that was, despite Alice’s general workaholic nature, surprisingly easy. Clover was used to having to convince her girlfriend to spend money on little things once in a while – “Come on, treat yourself! Live a little!” – so her easy acceptance of this date did seem a bit odd. But, then again, Clover’s experienced things a lot odder than an easy date acceptance in her lifetime.

Her phone buzzes, and she looks down to see a text displayed on her screen. I’ll be there in a few. got stuck in traffic when I was traveling back from L.A. from that business meeting. She smiles, typing back don’t worry, you’ll be about twenty minutes early. like usual. Alice responds about a minute later with a picture of her, with a mock-exasperated expression and the caption “Better early than 45 years late like you always are.”

Clover is about to reply with an angry face emoticon when she hears the sound of a car pulling up t the curb. She doesn’t even need to look up to know that it’s the Jeep she drove out of the Nevada desert a little over three years ago – the rumble of its engine is unmistakable. She’s a little surprised that Alice has decided to pick this car for a date, given that she basically has the pick of the SOIS’s most secure vehicles, but the thought disappears quickly once Alice rolls down the window and grins while pushing up her sunglasses onto her forehead.

“Miss me?” she says in a smooth tone. “It’s been a while since the last time, hasn’t it?”

“If you mean the last time we went on a date, yeah,” Clover replies while walking to the passenger’s side of the car. “If you mean the last time I saw you, I literally talked to you yesterday. About that case with the religious cult that might be hosting that one terrorist who’s going to bring about the end of humanity?”

Alice waves her comment off as she gets into the shotgun seat. “Not what I meant, and you know it. Also, we do that every day. It’s in the job description, remember?” She turns the radio dial up before Clover can rebut with a sarcastic remark of her own. It’s tuned to a Top 40’s pop station – not the kind of music Alice would be listening to if she wasn’t on a date with one of the biggest unironic fans of the genre in the known universe. She just smiles as she starts the car, Clover already working on her rendition of Carly Rae Jepson’s “Boy Problems.”

“Isn’t that song a decade old by now?” Alice cuts in during the instrumental section. “Why on earth is it still playing on the radio?”

“It’s a classic now, obviously. I’m more surprised that you didn’t ask why I’m singing along to a song called Boy Problems.”

“…Fair enough.”

They don’t talk much for the rest of the drive – it’s not as if they need to at this point, after three years of having known each other. At this point, even being in each other’s presence is enough. Clover continues belting out the lyrics to pop songs that are definitely too old to be playing on the Top 40 any more, while Alice makes her way through Las Vegas traffic, driving towards the nearest non-casino-associated shopping mall. After about half an hour, she manages to find a place, but it takes another ten minutes to find a parking spot in a lot crowded with holiday shoppers.

“Guess we probably should’ve gone shopping earlier, huh?” Clover remarks when she notices her girlfriend’s frustration at the lack of empty spots. “I’m not going to say “I told you so,” but….I told you so.”

“Listen, when you work for a top-secret governmental agency, it’s hard to find time off. Criminals don’t exactly stop for holidays.” Alice glances from side to side, keeping her eyes out for a vacant parking lot.

“Neither do baristas,” Clover rebuts, “but I don’t see that getting in the way of a holiday shopping excursion. Oh, there’s a spot open right over there.”

“Sometimes, I feel like you get a little too into the coffee shop cover.” Alice pulls the Jeep into the empty lot with practiced ease, making sure the wheels are even before turning the engine off. “Anyway, you ready for some Christmas shopping?”she asks while unbuckling her seat belt.

“Boy, am I ever!”

–

The two of them make their way through all the holiday displays, taking moments occasionally to stop and admire the festive decorations adorning almost every inch of the mall. Clover marvels at the Santa photo-op taking up a significant section of the main lobby.

“What, want to sit on Santa’s lap?” Alice says with a smile. “You’re about the right size for it.”

“First of all, heck off. Secondly, I could do that if I wanted to without waiting for Christmas to come around.”

“Touche.”

They browse stores ranging from confectioneries to holiday-specific clothing stores, trying to hide what they’re getting for each other and barely succeeding. At one point Clover goes into a lingerie store and comes out with a lacy set that is definitely too big for her, face tinged a pale shade of pink, to which Alice just shakes her head in both disapproval and mild amusement.

After a while, Clover says that she needs to use the bathroom, to which Alice says she’ll be waiting just outside. When she comes out, however, Alice is nowhere to be found – not in the bathroom, not in the nearby shops, nowhere. Clover can feel her heart starting to race in her chest as air catches in her throat. She pulls out her phone with shaking hands, barely managing to type out a alice where are you please tell me before sprinting as fast as she can down the mall lobby, not quite knowing where she’s going but deciding that running is better than standing still. Almost barreling over at least four grown men in the process, she races around faster than she has since the second nonary game.

“Clover? CLOVER! I’m right here!”

She whips her head around and comes to a screeching halt, her breath finally catching up with her. Her panic bubbles up in her voice as she shouts “Where were you, Alice? You know you can’t just – can’t just – disappear like that!” Alice looks down and furrows her brows as Clover continues.

“Honestly, what the hell were you thinking, leaving me like that? You know we aren’t supposed to just, I dunno, abandon each other, right?”

“I wasn’t abandoning you, Clover! I was-” Alice halts herself in the middle of her sentence. “Look, it’s not important what I was doing, but I definitely wasn’t doing whatever you think-”

“You broke protocol! You’re supposed to at least tell me that you went somewhere and that you didn’t just, I don’t know, get kidnapped or something!” She pauses to wipe her eyes before murmuring, “You didn’t think I would be worried about that after it’s happened to me twice?”

Alice just looks down to the floor, running her hands through her hair before speaking. “I’m sorry. I should have known better, I just…wanted to surprise you.” She holds out her hand before Clover has a chance to interrupt her. “In retrospect, it was kind of stupid, but….well, there’s a good reason for it, trust me.”

“Am I going to learn this reason?”

“Eventually. Not today, though.” She gives an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I should’ve known better than to just leave you alone without telling you were I was going. Anything you want me to do right now?”

“Can we just…sit for a minute?” Clover points to a bench nearby. “Still gotta…catch my breath…”

Alice obliges, helping her over to the seat and rubbing her back as she closes her eyes and breathes as deeply as she can, trying to still her shaking. She rubs the palms of her hands with her thumbs, focusing on centering herself as she traces slow circles. In, out, in, out. She opens her eyes and gives her girlfriend a shaky smile. “I-I’m okay,” she says, trying to convince herself of it more than she’s trying to sell it to Alice.

“You sure? Your eyes still look red.”

“I’ll be back to normal in a minute or too,” Clover says – a bit of an over-exaggeration, but not too much of one, when she can feel her heart slowing down from its horse-race tempo a few minutes ago. “I’m sorry for wasting some of our date time.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Clover,” Alice says, looking her in the eyes as she says so. “I should be the one apologizing for pushing you into an anxiety attack.”

The two of them don’t say anything else for a minute, taking a breather, before standing up together once Clover indicates she’s ready.

“Well, anything you want to do to end our date on a better note than that?”

“Actually,” Clover says with a mischievous grin, “I saw that they just opened up an ice rink next to the mall.”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Alice replies, shivering at the mere idea of skating with a jacket as thin as hers is right now. “In this?”

“Uh, yeah, obviously? You just bought a coat.”

“You’ve got a point,” Alice sighs. “Alright, I’m up for it. But I’m warning you, I’m probably a better skater than you.”

“Game on!” Clover says, mouth spread into a toothy grin which gets even the ice queen smiling.

–

As it turns out, Alice is most definitely a better skater than Clover is. Sure, at first she needs to hold onto the backboard of the rink while moving her feet five inches forward at a time, but, after a few minutes on the ice, she’s the one who has to pull her partner up from constant falls. Clover, as a result, slips into making puns in an attempt to show her dominance.

“Hey, this ice rink is just as frozen as you are!”

“Very funny,” Alice says while rolling her eyes, though Clover can tell she finds the joke mildly amusing despite the obviousness of the pun. “Honestly surprised that you didn’t go for a ‘Hey, this rink is All-ice!‘”

“That’s too blatant of a joke,” she replies, deadpan. “I’m not going to go for something that obvious.”

“And the frozen ice rink joke wasn’t?”

They pause before each of their overly serious expressions causes the other to break into laughter, Clover’s higher-pitched giggle melding well with Alice’s lower alto laugh. The two of them hold loop their hands together, skating in circles around the rink. Alice starts moving her feet into fancy patterns, almost going into a twirl at one point before Clover has to remind her who’s linked to one of her arms. In response, she picks up the girl in pink, putting her into a piggy back around her while she spins.

“Enough, enough!” she laughs. “I get it, you actually have talent on the ice. What aren’t you good at?”

“Well, I’m certainly not good at being you,” Alice replies with a smile. She leans down to peck Clover on the forehead – a gesture to which she immediately blushes – before asking if she’s had enough skating.

“Theoretically, I could skate forever,” Clover replies. “In actuality, I’m freezing my butt off, my feet hurt, and I really just want to go and get dinner.”

“Can’t blame you for the last two, though that first one is a little too literal for my tastes.”

“Shut up,” she says while brushing bits of ice off the back of her skirt. She bends down to untie the laces of her rented skates, sighing at relief when she gets one of the boots off. “I didn’t mean it that way and you know it.”

“Suuuure you didn’t.” Alice continues on as Clover glares at her. “Anyway, what did you want to have for dinner? I was thinking Chinese would be nice.”

At that, her girlfriend’s eyes light up, and she nods furiously, not even needed to reply out loud. She stands up after taking off her other skating boot and putting her own shoes back on, leaning up on her toes to kiss Alice on the nose before taking her hand. The two of them grin at each other while making their way out of the rink to Clover’s favorite restaurant a few blocks away, knowing that they can count on just enjoying one another’s company. Their relationship isn’t perfect by any means, but is certainly one which both of them would miss if it was gone.

–

Earlier, at the mall:

“Hey, isn’t that Alice?” Junpei asks Akane, who’s sitting next to him drinking hot chocolate after a long hour of holiday shopping themselves. He squints, not quite sure if that’s her at this distance, especially when his knowledge of her in this timeline is fairly limited to selfies that Clover has sent him.

Akane turns her head around and glances into the storefront “Yep, that’s her. Not exactly sure what she’s doing in a jewelry store, though – she’s not really the type to do buy something for herself.”

He shrugs a bit, before his eyes widen in possible realization. “Wait, is she – “

“Unless you want to ask her yourself, I doubt you’re going to find out.”

Junpei sighs, knowing that going up to a tiger and poking it with a stick would probably be less scarring than walking up to Alice out of nowhere and asking her what she was doing buying jewelry. Probably for the best, as she walked away a few minutes later, putting the tiny bag into one from a clothing store in what he thought was an attempt to hide it.

Why would she need to hide a jewelry bag? he briefly thinks to himself, before shrugging and returning to inhaling his smoothie. Guess I’ll find out eventually.

CHAPTER 2

Alice presses the doorbell of the Kurashiki apartment, hearing a “Coming, coming!” a few seconds later before the door opens to reveal a grinning Junpei. “Hey, Alice, nice seeing you!”

She follows him into the living room, where everyone is gathered around a tree that looks like it was decorated by an eight year old with too many baubles at their disposal. She’d honestly rather be at the Fields’ house for celebrating Christmas, with at least one less Kurashiki at that kind of party than here, but, alas, Akane and Aoi have the biggest apartment, and so, by default, host the annual holiday party. She takes off her jacket and puts it on the coat rack, smiling a bit to herself as she thinks, Well, I’ve got a bigger audience this way.

Alice has barely entered the living room before she hears a cry of “Alice!” and feels a vice grip of a hug surround her. “You’re gonna love the present I got you.”

“Same goes for you,” she says with a smile as Clover unhooks her arms from Alice’s waist.

They take seats next to one another on the carpet, opposite Junpei, who’s sitting between Akane and Carlos and looking at both with glances of adoration. Light, who probably arrived at the same time Clover did, has his arm around Aoi’s in a way that seems to indicate more than just a blind man needing physical guidance. Phi sits between the people she now knows as her parents, looking even more uncomfortable than usual – she probably didn’t want to even go to the party, Alice thinks, but probably felt obligated to, after everything that had happened in the last few years. She is a bit surprised to see Eric, who is looking just as uncomfortable as usual, but figures that Junpei must have invited him in a gesture of kindness. Even Hazuki and the man everyone continues calling Seven despite knowing his actual name are here, probably because of – or maybe despite – Akane’s invitation.

“Well, let’s get this party on the road, shall we?” Junpei says as he stands up. “We don’t really have any order set up for this, so whoever wants to start can, I guess.”

“I’ll go.” Carlos raises his hand, then picks up a package wrapped with simple white and gold striped wrapping paper. “This one’s for you, Junpei.”

He opens it carefully to reveal a flannel, to which Akane, Aoi, Seven, and Hazuki all start laughing while he simply says, “Haven’t had one of these in a while.” Carlos then whispers something neither Alice nor Clover can hear into his ear, to which Junpei blushes and mutters “Thanks.”

The gift-giving goes on for a while, the party-goers presenting each other presents from the cute (“Aw, a scarf covered in kittens!”) to the overly utilitarian (“We don’t need another blender, Light,” followed by a “So tell me, what do you need that you couldn’t just buy yourself?”) to the frankly weird (“….a giant gel creature?” “It’s a jellyfish toy!” “…….Pardon, but why are you giving me a jellyfish toy?”). By the end, though, Clover notices that her girlfriend hasn’t given her a present at all – weird, when she’s usually one of the first to go – a concern quickly put to rest when she claps loudly to grab the attention of the living room.

“I have a gift that I didn’t give to Clover earlier,” Alice says with some degree of hesitance. “I thought it was better to wait until the end.”

“Well, give it to her, then!” Aoi yells impatiently, to which Alice just smiles and nods. She reaches into the pocket of her dress before taking out a small rectangular box and dropping on to one knee. Clover’s eyes immediately widen as she claps her hands over her mouth to try to cover an “Oh my god…” from escaping.

“Clover Field, in the three years that we’ve known each other, I have grown to trust you more than anyone else in my life. From the moment you picked me up off the side of a road in the middle of the desert, I knew you were going to play an important part in my life, but I didn’t realize just how important until you joined the SOIS – and, after that, when we started dating.” She pauses a moment to glance for a moment around the room, noticing all the open-mouthed faces around her before she continues.

“You are the most beautiful, most caring, most kind person I have ever met, and I would be honored if you wanted me to spend the rest of my life with you.” She pulls the ring out of the box. “Clover, will you marry me?”

“Yes, oh my god, yes!”