To: @silvershoelaces
From: @morisninethlion
I was super excited to get to work on this one! The question of what happened to Alice and Clover after VLR has been on my mind since i first finished, and got even more strong after I played ZTD, so I was super pumped up to finally have reason to write something out for it! I hope you like it, and I hope you have a great holiday season 😀
Ao3
It had been a few hours after Sigma’s consciousness had gotten traded with the Doctor’s when she and Alice were approached by Akane inside the lounge, Clover stiffening up almost immediately. Everything about this situation was frustrating– after all the crap she’d lived through, she and Alice were now stuck forty-five years in a future without anyone they knew. They’d been completely left behind- and even Phi, who should’ve been in a similar situation, had closed herself off completely.
Tenmyouji- no, Junpei– and Quark were waiting in the B. garden for their shuttle to earth to be prepared, and Luna had been watching over Kyle while he slept. Dio was locked up somewhere, but Clover didn’t care about him. No, it was just her and Alice trying to figure out what in the world they could possibly do, when Akane walked in.
“Good afternoon.”
“Oh, uh… hey.” She still didn’t really know how to talk to Akane like this, honestly. She seemed too dignified (and not to mention old), and it was hard to really think of her like the same girl from the nonary game. “Were you looking for Junpei, or something? He’s not here, he’s-“
“No, I came to speak with the two of you.”
“Huh?” Raising an eyebrow, Clover quickly looked over to Alice, who only seemed to be sharing the same guarded confusion. “Why would you want to talk to us?”
“I have information I believe will be of interest to the two of you.”
Clover quickly tugged at Alice’s hand, the both of them turning aside from Akane to speak together for just a moment. Neither of them were really sure if they could trust her- but could it really hurt to listen at this point? There was nothing more they could possibly lose, not at this point. Eventually it was Clover taking the lead again, looking back to Akane.
“Alright then.”
Akane seemed almost vaguely amused with herself- or perhaps Clover was just reading her entirely wrong? Honestly, it was impossible to tell what Akane was thinking.
“To start, I can imagine you aren’t pleased with your situation, but-“
“Not pleased? Not pleased?” Clover rose to her feet with a huff, clenching her fists. “You bet your ass I’m not pleased! You drag us out of our own time just to dump us like this- and you think we’d be pleased with this?! You made me play another nonary game! You, of all people, should know that I am EXPLICITLY NOT PLEASED WITH THIS!”
There still wasn’t any readable change of expression on Akane’s face, but she had taken a step back- it’d seem like not even she saw Clover’s outburst. She felt herself calm slightly when Alice placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her- but she could feel the same anger from Alice, just calmer. More refined.
“I do apologize, Clover. But your presence was necessary for our plan-“
“Well fat lot of good it did us! Doesn’t the fact that we’re here mean you already failed?”
“…..yes. However, that is not what I wanted to talk with you about.”
“Then what did you want to talk about?”
“A chance for you to regain your lost time.”
Clover was knocked speechless at such a ridiculous-sounding statement, so Alice began speaking instead.
“What are you talking about? Isn’t that impossible?”
“No, it is not. On earth, there’s a machine- with its use, it is possible for you to return to your lost past.” Akane shook her head gently, lacing her fingers together as she spoke. “However, there are conditions to it before I tell you more.”
“Alright then, what are those?”
“Firstly, you must accept the results given to you. You may return to the past, or you may continue on this time- your existence will continue from both points in time, so your consciousness might not be the version that moves to the past. Second, you must not abuse this machine. Continued use could have the potential for unforeseen side-effects, that not even I could understand. Finally… you cannot leave this timeline.”
Stomping her foot in frustration, Clover cut in.
“What? I thought the entire point of this was to get us off this timeline!”
“No. You must agree to simply move to a far earlier point on this same timeline- The day the outbreak began.”
“Why would we ever agree to something like that? I don’t want to live on a timeline like this-“
“It is not because I want you to suffer. It is simply because this is the only timeline where your existence will not cause a contradiction.”
“…what?”
“In past uses of this machine, people always went to timelines where the selves that originally existed there had already died. As a result, there was no potential for contradiction. I only know of one person who didn’t follow this logic- a rather foolish man, who simply avoided his past self for a year of his life.”
Despite her words, there seemed to be a slight hint of amusement behind Akane’s words. Whoever this ‘foolish man’ had been, it would seem like Akane didn’t think poorly of him- or perhaps Clover was just misinterpreting things again.
“So, you’re saying that if we moved to a different timeline and saw ourselves, time would get screwy?”
“I don’t know.”
“….what?” Clover stared blankly before looking over to Alice, who only shrugged. “What do you mean you don’t know?!”
“I mean, this isn’t something I have ever experimented with. The results could be entirely harmless, or it could result in an entire timeline’s collapse. The chances are high that you wouldn’t live through the encounter- I doubt the morphogenetic fields would know how to process the information of such a meeting.”
“So…. If I saw my double, I’d run the risk of destroying the entire world?”
“Potentially, yes.”
“…okay. Okay, sure.” Frustrated, Clover folded her arms. “So you’re telling me you know of some sort of nondescript time machine that can send us back in time, but we can only use it to move back to this timeline, otherwise we might accidentally destroy a world or something.”
“Yes, that’s how to put it simply.”
“Are you serious?” With a huff, Clover finally sat herself back down. “How could we possibly believe something like that? It’s insane!”
“You believe us about the earth-“
“That’s different! I can see that with my own eyes- it’s hard, but it’s real. This, though? There’s no way any of that’s real- just… just go away. Stop messing around, Akane. We played our part, helped you guys out… so just leave us alone. Stop doing this.”
“Well.” Seeming to realize she was no longer welcome, Akane gave a slight shrug. “I suppose I expected as much. Still, I would’ve expected you to be more the type to take the chance.”
She walked out, leaving Clover and Alice alone. The older woman sat down beside Clover, and the mood only seemed to get more depressing.
“Alice… do you think she was lying?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I can’t say it at all sounds plausible… but I didn’t think cryogenic freezing had been perfected either. And yet, here we are…”
“Yeah… but a time machine?”
“It doesn’t sound too realistic, does it…”
“No, it doesn’t.” Clover started to wring her fingers in the way she often did when nervous or thinking about things, eyes scanning the floor for nothing in particular. “It doesn’t make any sense at all, but… does she really have any reason to lie?”
“…at this point, not really.”
Both of them sighed in unison, taking a moment to pause and just think.
“Alice… I… I know I just yelled at her, but… it wouldn’t hurt to at least learn more, right?”
“The worst that could happen is nothing happening, as far as I can tell. I hardly imagine she’d plan to throw us into another game.”
“Yeah…”
“Then… do you want to talk to her about it?”
“I… I do. This might… be my only chance, after all.” She didn’t want to say it, but she hadn’t been able to get in contact at all with Light. She’d just been hoping that it was due to the resonance effect- but the chance that it wasn’t and that something bad had happened to him was all too terrifying. “I just… even if it’s a cruel joke, I… want to at least have a chance at knowing……”
Finding themselves once again at a reluctant consensus, they both got up- they’d just have to find Akane, and get more information out of her. And hopefully this all wouldn’t turn out to be some sort of horrible, horrible joke.
–
It was in this method that they’d found themselves joining Junpei and Quark on the shuttle back to earth, after having gotten plenty of detailed instructions written out by Akane, as well as precise coordinates of where they were supposed to go. They’d asked her why she wasn’t coming with them- but she’d just waved it off with an ‘its not my place anymore’, leaving both Clover and Alice to assume she simply didn’t want to be trapped in a shuttle with Junpei for many long hours.
It’d seemed like Junpei didn’t want to talk much himself, though- he’d sat down in his seat fairly quickly after takeoff and not said a word since, outside of a few words to Quark that’d been too quiet for Clover to make out.
Still, despite the somewhat awkward mood, Clover still found herself fascinated by the trip. After all, this was space– certainly not something she’d ever expected to experience! It was almost surreal to watch the moon grow smaller behind them as the ship flew, the red earth on the other side of the horizon growing slowly bigger.
“So, Quark, what was it like living with Junpei?”
“Huh? Oh, Grandpa’s great!”
Quark had gotten out of his seat to look out of the window with Clover, both of them holding onto a railing to keep from floating aimlessly.
“I still find it hard to believe… I mean, not just Junpei being old, but him actually having kids…”
“Oh, actually, Grandpa adopted me.”
“O-Oh? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“
“It’s okay. We’re still a family.” His smile was large, although it couldn’t stop Clover entirely from feeling bad. “So, you and Alice are coming to live on earth too?”
“Well… it’s a bit more complicated than that. But… kinda, yes?”
“…okay!”
If it worked, they’d go back in time and live through the end of the world. If it didn’t, then they’d… well, probably just hang around Junpei and Quark. There was the option of going back to the moon, yes- but it was… a little awkward. Phi had shut herself off, Luna seemed to be far more awkward and reserved than she’d been before, and there was the obvious problem of Akane and Sig- Doctor Klim being around. It just wasn’t a situation that had sounded enjoyable to either of them to remain in, even if living on earth hardly sounded pleasant either.
The trip was largely uneventful, broken up only by low conversation and the sounds of Junpei snoring at the five hour mark, having fallen asleep. Alice stayed in her seat a majority of the time, but Clover found herself just fascinated by watching the window. This was… space. She’d seen pictures and videos as a kid, heard things about the space stations and stuff out there- but it had never even crossed her mind that she’d be able to actually go to space.
Junpei was woken up by a little announcement coming on that they’d soon be re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, giving a warning to buckle up as if this was a simple plane ride across the country or something, and not through space. She did as the voice said, sitting herself down and buckling herself in, looking over to Alice nervously.
The landing was rough compared to an airplane, but still smoother than she’d expected. Quark and Junpei didn’t even look too horribly put out- Quark was just bouncing in his seat, presumably from excitement.
He was the first one off the shuttle when the announcement said it was safe, jumping out of his seat with the amount of energy she would’ve expected from a kid around his age and running outside. Next out was Junpei, just pausing for a moment to see if they were following.
When they finally stepped out onto the pavement of the landing area, everything seemed to stop for a moment.
There had been a degree of plausible deniability from the shuttle, and from the moon. They could just say that the visors were faked, or the window was really a screen- but no. No, looking up at the sky with their own eyes proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that what had happened to the earth was no lie. The world truly had ended.
Junpei didn’t say anything for a while, silent as Quark ran off towards an old-looking pickup truck a short ways off. There was nothing that could truly be said to someone experiencing this for the first time- and Clover could only imagine what it had been like to live through the things that had brought the world to this point.
They stood in silence for what felt like hours until finally Junpei called them over, standing outside of the old pickup.
“I’m driving this time, Clover.” There was a grin on his face when he spoke, as if attempting to break the tension heavy in the air. “Can’t have you busting this thing up like you did that poor Jeep.”
“Hey! I didn’t break it- it just got a little dirty!”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I trust your driving.”
Clover turned to look to Alice for support, but she only chuckled and gave Clover a pat on the back. She wasn’t that bad- yeah, maybe she’d gone a little fast, but that was just because there was no speed limit in the desert! She’d drive more carefully with a kid on board… but to be honest, she didn’t really want to drive. She didn’t know this place at all, and… well, she wanted some time to take it in. Really absorb what she was looking at, because just a few moments wasn’t nearly enough.
The drive away from the landing pad was about three hours, being mostly silent as all the passengers just looked out the windows at the passing scenery. Skyscrapers were destroyed, houses and apartments collapsed in on themselves… the buildings that weren’t ruined showed clear wear and tear from the years, with weeds and shrubs overgrown and pushing through cracks in pavement.
It was a bit surprising how many plants there actually were– but then again, Junpei had said the nuclear winter was seven years long, so it had to’ve ended a long time ago… there were plenty of dead trees and bushes, but not all of them were dead.
The only real noise inside the truck, outside of the rumble of the engine, was when the sound of the radio picked up. It seemed to be something generic, talking about something to do with a place Clover didn’t recognise the name of- Junpei let out a slight grunt of acknowledgement, but didn’t say anything more. Perhaps that was where they were headed, then? She hadn’t really thought about it, but the place probably had a name… but she wasn’t going to be staying there.
After a while the truck started to slow, entering a run-down looking town area. Clover didn’t pay much attention to the turns they were making until they pulled into a driveway to a rather small house, turning the truck off and getting out.
“Well? We’re here.”
“This is… the place?”
“No, this is my house. I’m tired, I’m not driving you there today.”
“Aha.. fair enough.”
Despite the look on the outside, the inside of the house was… strangely normal. Sure, the paints and wallpapers were faded, and some parts of the house looked like they had a permanent layer of dust to them, but it was just… a normal house. A place that people lived.
“I, uh, I’ve only got one guest bedroom, but I’ll sleep on the couch-“
“No, it’s fine.” Alice smiled, shaking her head. “I’ll sleep on the couch. I couldn’t impose on you like that.”
“It’s not really…” He paused when he saw the look on Alice’s face, before just shrugging and scratching at the back of his head. “Alright then. I’ll grab a couple blankets for you though, it can get cold at night.”
“Thank you.”
He left the guest room at that point, Clover seated on the bed and Alice standing by an old-looking desk.
“I could’ve taken the couch, Alice.”
“Nonsense. I’m not going to let my subordinate take the couch while I get a bed, that would hardly be fair.”
“I… Alice, I don’t think we really need to talk like that anymore, do we?”
“Hmm?”
“I mean… is there any point to it? At this point, SOIS is… gone for sure.” She sighed, shoulders heavy. “I don’t work for you anymore, not really.”
“I… suppose.” She paused, looking aside. “But still, I’m not going to let you take the couch.”
There was a long silence, eventually broken by Quark knocking at the door and announcing that there was food. The meal itself was short and simple, and they all went to sleep directly after- even if there were countless things swirling in Clover’s mind, she couldn’t bring herself to ask anything. So instead she just stared up at the ceiling until sleep finally came for her, pulling her under.
–
They were all up fairly early the next day- despite how fast Clover’s mind had been she’d ended up sleeping well, but that didn’t stop her from being up far earlier than she normally was. Junpei had already started on breakfast by the time she was there, yet another simple meal that they ate quickly, before Junpei and Quark left for about a half-hour. Quark wasn’t with him when Junpei returned- he’d dropped Quark off with a friend, it seemed. Clover couldn’t blame him for it, if she’d had her kid go through a nonary game, then she’d be taking no chances.
He’d looked… frustrated when he seemed to realize where the coordinates Akane had given them led, and Clover couldn’t say she was too fond of returning to the Nevada desert herself. It somehow looked more barren and desolate than she even remembered… and in the middle of it all was what seemed to be a hole in the ground.
“Of course it’s here…”
“What’s here?” It looked like Junpei hadn’t wanted either of them to hear it, but that wouldn’t stop Clover from asking. “Have you been here before?”
“Yeah… once. This is…. Well, this isn’t where the Mars simulation took place, but it’s where I ended up.”
“Wait, what? I, uh… back up a little there, Junpei.”
“This is where everything… the end of everything started here, from what I gather. This is where radical-6 got out.”
“And Akane wanted us to come back?”
“Apparently so.”
Junpei stopped answering questions after that, only giving halfhearted grunts in response to whatever they had to say. It was pretty clear that there was no point in saying much more- so they all stood in silence as the platform they were on started up, acting as a lift and taking them down, down, down into the depths.
Everything about the place down there looked… off. One of the walls was just a pile of collapsed rubble, another was a gaping hole where a large metal door looked like it’d been blown off- and it was faint, but along the ground were what looked like bloodstains. Junpei paid them no real mind, continuing to walk forwards, but it was clear he was bothered by something.
The instructions told them where to go inside the place, staring at the large walls of what was clearly some sort of shelter.
“Tenmyouji, what is this place?”
“I’m… not sure. I don’t remember.”
“You don’t- are you just kidding around?”
“No, I’m not.” His face grew dark for a moment, before shaking his head. “I can’t remember a thing. I’ve been trying to remember for fourty-five years now, but still… I don’t. I don’t remember a thing.”
“Oh…”
They went silent yet again, walking through the dust-covered halls. There was something decidedly uncomfortable about the place to Clover, almost as if it were a memorial, or… a tomb. But no- that was silly. Just silly.
They reached a room that seemed even more off than the rest, with the same tall structure and weird ‘pods’ that Akane had described in her letter to them. They went through the instructions that she left and got the device to power up… but was this really a good idea?
No, there was no real turning back now. They had to do this.
“Hey, Junpei?”
“Mh?”
“Thanks. For taking us out here- you didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it. I really do.”
He simply shrugged and nodded, waving as Alice and Clover got into the pods as per the instructions. She couldn’t shake the anxiety, it was insane– but they had to do this. If they were going to reclaim those last forty-five years, then they would do this.
Closing her eyes as the pod around her started to grow bright, Clover let that be the last thought in her mind before things went dark.
–
–
“Clover? Clover, are you okay?”
“Mnnh… huh?” Clover blinked when the door to the pod opened up, realizing something off- she was in the export pod… right? Yes, there was no doubt about it, she most certainly was. “Alice, did it work? Are we- is this the past?”
“From what I can tell, yes… at the very least, this place doesn’t look nearly as dusty.”
“Well then, let’s…”
Anxiety was gripping tightly at Clover’s chest, but she shook it off. They both did- they made way back outside, back out past the collapsed wall and the blown-off door… and out to the currently fresh bloodstains.
“What… the hell happened here?”
There was a lot of blood, enough to imply that people had most certainly died. Were they… had they been the first radical-6 victims, perhaps? Or did they have something to do with that collapsed wall… no, there was no point dwelling. They couldn’t let themselves dwell.
Calling the elevator back down with held breath, Clover and Alice waited for what felt like the hundredth time that day until they were back at the surface. They were taken aback at what they saw- multiple emergency services vehicles were present, with police and ambulance and firetrucks. Before either of them could react they’d been swarmed by about ten different people at once, asking questions and demanding answers- Clover stepped back a bit behind Alice; who was far better at talking in a situation like this. She managed to clear the air on what was going on and got them a ride back to the nearest city, but now wasn’t time for that for Clover.
[Light? Light, are you th-]
[Clover! My god, Clover, what happened? Where are you? Are you alright? I’ve been trying to contact you, but-]
[It’s… it’s a long story, Light. I’m alright now, I’m with Alice, but… that’s not the thing we need to be worried about now. We need to find some place safe.]
[…safe? Clover, what are you talking about?]
[Light… it’s the end of the world.]
[No… does that mean, Free the Soul…?]
[Yeah… we were too late to stop it. What we need to do now is find someplace safe, and take care of whatever survivors we can.]
[I… I see. I’ll get in contact with the others.]
[Thanks, Light. We’ll be back soon, okay? I promise, I’ll explain everything. I promise.]
–
The two of them had gotten on a flight almost as soon as reaching the city, making way to SOIS headquarters and all of the others that they worked with. Clover ignored the concern from everyone else, though- what was most important was that she found her brother. She didn’t even wait to say hello before she’d launched herself into his arms, sobbing and holding him close.
“I’m so glad… I missed you so much, Light…”
“Clover… I’m glad you’re safe.”
“I’m sorry I worried you…”
“What matters now is that you and Alice are back. And, that we have time to figure out what will happen next.”
“Yes. About that, actually.” Alice interrupted the reunion, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. It was currently just them and the other kids from the first nonary game (sans Akane and Aoi, of course) gathered around a table, Alice standing at the head. “We need a plan. According to this, we have a general timeline of when things will happen. Our deadline is April 13th, 2029.”
She laid out the note they’d gotten from Akane, and all at once everyone was speaking on top of each other.
“How can we trust that?”
“Where did it come from?”
“Where were you guys?!”
“Is the world really going to end?”
“How could you know this, but not know how to stop it-“
“Everyone, please be quiet.” Light’s voice cut through the noise, calm and collected as always. “I don’t think there would be any reason whatsoever for Alice to want to lie about this, no? And even if that message is wrong, is preparation really a bad thing? We either be prepared for an apocalypse that doesn’t happen, or stand unprepared for one that does. And one of those options certainly sounds more pleasant than the other.”
Nobody really had grounds to argue him on that– after all, it was true. If there was even the slightest chance the note was true (as Clover and Alice knew it was), then they couldn’t take the risk. It was just too dangerous.
The meeting went on for a while after that, trying to figure out exactly what they could do. SOIS and the government had shelters prepared for the worst, in case things went wrong, so they’d decided that’s what they’d do. Each shelter would have one transmitter and one receiver to keep contact flowing in a ‘network’ of sorts… it meant they would all be split up from their siblings, but it was a pain that they would have to deal with. Besides, the shelters weren’t terribly far apart- so long as they had cars, once the worst was over, they could reunite. It would be seven long years, but… they could do it. They could handle this.
–
“Light, you… please be careful, okay? Take care of yourself?”
“I will, Clover.”
“Alright…”
She’d told him everything about the game and about the end, but she’d never mentioned one particular fact- the fact that she hadn’t been able to contact him. As far as she knew… Light would die. But so long as he lived through these seven years, it’d be fine- she just… she wanted to be there. At the very least, she figured she could deal with it if she was there.
“You’ll be careful as well, right Clover? I doubt Akane would do anything considering she has you and Alice in this timeline as well, but… don’t be careless.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Light turned to go to the supply van that was going to take him to his shelter for the next seven years, but was stopped short by Clover throwing her arms around him one last time, hugging him tight and holding him close.
“Be safe, Light. You’re the best brother in the world, you know that? I love you. Be careful.”
“Clover…” He sighed, patting her hair for a moment. “I will, I promise. I will be fine. I’ll see- well, not me, but you’ll see me again when it’s safe again. The time will go by faster than you think, I’m sure.”
“I… Alright.” Finally letting go, Clover let him start walking away. “I will see you again, Light! I will!”
Ignoring the doubt that sat in the bottom of her mind, she let herself just believe in that. It had to be true. She’d… she’d see him again.
–
The ride to her own shelter felt long, too long, accompanied only by nervous fidgeting from Nona and he sound of Clover tapping her fingers again the armrest of her seat, while Alice drove. The thing had been stocked full as it could go, and apparently the shelter itself was already well-stocked… this was more personal belongings. Lotus (no, Hazuki) and Seven (when would he give them a real name?) had ended up at different shelters, Lotus with Ennea and Seven with Light. She was glad they’d at least be safe- but even knowing that Junpei would be alive, that didn’t mean she didn’t wish that they’d been able to find him. It seemed unlikely that he’d make it into a shelter from how he’d spoken, but still… well, she’d told everyone else to make sure it got to her if a ‘Junpei Tenmyouji’ entered any of the shelters. That was enough.
Entering the thing after arriving felt… final. There were all sorts of radios and communication devices set up, a power generator that would last for (according to Alice) at least fifty years, and walls upon walls of preserved food and huge tanks of stored water, as well as things for purifying air and… well, a ton of other things Clover didn’t entirely get but was certain they were important too.
The three of them set up pretty quick inside of the place, and then just… got ready to wait. People would find out about this place sooner or later, and they’d have to filter out the sick ones… but they could do this. Even if these shelters only ended up saving a handful of people, it was something– so she’d take it.
–
There were only 12 people in their shelter the day the reactors went off- all of the other ones had far more, from what it sounded like, but their was apparently in a bit of an odd location for people to reach. They’d had the radios going when everything got loud, and then cut to static. The whole shelter was dead silent at the knowledge of what’d happened… this was really, truly the end. Even with the knowledge that it wasn’t over, the world would recover, it would never be the same. The earth as they knew it was gone now- you’d have a better luck of finding something similar on the moon eventually, from what she understood.
[Light… you there?]
[Yes. This is… it, right?]
[Yeah… yeah, it is.]
[Are you holding up alright, Clover?]
[I’m fine. I was… I was prepared for this. Are you alright?]
[As alright as I can be. I’ll be fine Clover, you know that.]
[I do. I know. How’s Seven?]
[He’s doing well. People listen to him well- turns out he’s rather good at dealing with people. Never would’ve expected that.]
[Aha, yeah..]
[How’s Alice?]
[She’s doing well too. She’s a lot better at keeping the peace than I am, at least..]
[I’m sure things will be fine, Clover.]
[Yeah… yeah. They’ll be fine. I’ll talk to you later, okay Light?]
[Okay, Clover.]
As easy as it was to say, that didn’t make things any easier in reality. But things would be alright- they’d all make it through this. Things would be fine.
–
They’d made it up to 26 people after the first year, and 45 by the third. Less and less people seemed to show up with time, probably because they were… well, they were dead, or they’d gone to the moon. A handful of people had left at one point when the notifications about the Lunar Extraction Program went live, attempting to make it into the Rhizomes… and they’d never been heard from after. Clover could only hope that they’d managed to make it in, and not ended up dead… she didn’t have much reason to believe they were alive, but she had to have hope. So long as she could cling to that hope, then she could pull through.
And the years did pass by far more quickly than she’d expected them to, even within the confines of the little shelter. Times got tense far more often than she’d like, nobody was ever happy with their situations, but they could pull through. They had to pull through.
It was December of 2035, December second to be exact- the day that Clover had moved her birthday to, so she could share it with her brother. Nobody gave gifts or anything, but she still liked to keep it in mind- she and Light would always spend the day talking back and forth a little more than usual, trying to keep in good spirits. This year she would turn twenty-five, a whole six years after the explosions… and soon, it’d be seven years. Soon they’d be able to get out, to see the world for what’d happened… she’d be able to see her brother again. Things would turn out alright, they had to turn out alright.
“Clover, there you are.” She turned her head to look at Alice, moving to get up from her cot but stopped by Alice waving a hand. “I didn’t meant to interrupt your thinking. I just wanted to talk.”
“Oh… okay.”
“Well… happy birthday, Clover.”
“Yeah… thanks.”
“We’ll be able to get out of here soon. And everyone will be able to see their families again… we’ll be out of here soon.”
“Mmmh… hey, Alice?”
“Yes?”
“About… hm. Do you ever wish you’d gone to one of the other shelters?”
“Well, I mean, I wish I could check in on everyone. But that’s why we set things up like this, so we could stay in contact-“
“No, I mean… are you… you picked to stay with me and Nona. Why?”
“This is… a bit late to ask this question, don’t you think?”
“Please, just answer it. I want to know.”
“I picked it because… I didn’t want to just leave you all alone, Clover.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t have been alone-“
“That’s not it, exactly… I wanted to stay at your side, Clover.”
“Alice… I’m… I’m glad.” She smiled, looking off to the side. “Say… do you still just think of me as your subordinate?”
“Don’t you keep saying that those things are pointless now?”
“Aha… yeah, I do.” Clover laughed a little, trying to ignore the pink tinge on her cheeks. “So then… what do you think of me?”
“You’re very important to me, Clover.” Alice’s own face had a bit of a blush on it, although nowhere near as obvious as Clover’s face. “Of course I would want to look out for you.”
“Alice… please, just… can you just say it? I-I, uh, I don’t think I can say it first.”
There was a bit of a sly grin on Alice’s face now, leaning down and planting a kiss on Clover’s head.
“I love you, Clover. Happy birthday.”
“A-Alice… I-I, um… I love you too.” She knew the blush had to be painted brightly across her face by now, but that was fine. This was… it was something she’d wanted to say for a long time, but had just never had the words or the time. But now… now she did. “I love you a lot, Alice. I’ve loved you for a long time, and I… I don’t want you to be my boss or anything, I just… w-would you be my girlfriend?”
“Clover, I’d like that a lot.” Sitting down beside Clover on the bed, Alice put an arm around her and pulled her into a hug. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
–
The months until it was deemed really safe to return back to the surface seemed to pass by in a flash, everything just a little bit brighter now. It wasn’t like anything had even changed– but being able to say “This is Alice, she’s my girlfriend!” just made Clover feel giddy in a way she hadn’t felt before. Not that it was a bad thing- no, she rather liked that feeling.
Stepping out into the upper parts of the shelter, behind closed doors that had managed to avoid being destroyed by scavengers, laid the van that they’d come here with once, and two Jeeps. It certainly wasn’t enough for the sixty-something people they had in the shelter with them- but despite it being safe outside, most of them wanted to stay. In the end, there was a group of four who took the van; Alice Clover and Nona took one jeep, and they agreed to leave the other in case the others needed it. About twenty people had said they were simply going to walk for a while and see where it took them… she doubted they’d ever meet again, but that was alright. They’d survived, and they’d continue to survive- the people here were survivors. All of them were.
Clover and Nona had each been in contact with Light and Ennea, telling them that they’d go to them. The trip would take a couple days, a lot of driving to reach them both, but they’d make it.
They went by Ennea’s way first, the reunion between sisters and mother and daughter enough to get Clover to cry. Then, all piling back inside they drove off towards Light’s shelter- Clover couldn’t quell her nerves, but she knew he’d be fine, they’d been talking all day.
That wasn’t going to stop her from sobbing the moment she saw him again, launching herself into his arms.
He looked older, much like she did, but he still looked familiar. His eyes crinkled up in the same way when he smiled, his hair was maybe a hint greyer and his skin (somehow) a touch paler, but he was otherwise the same.
Clover herself looked older- she’d maybe grown a bit taller (or at least she insisted she had), and her hair had long since grown back to it’s natural auburn. She’d started cutting it shorter, too- it was more manageable to have in a little ponytail, although plenty of loose curls still managed to fall out and stay in her face.
They’d changed, yes, but now they were together again- them and the Kashiwabaras and Seven and Alice were together, and they’d find someplace where they could settle in and make things work, just like Alice and Clover had seen Quark and Junpei making things work.
–
It had taken them only about a day by car to find a place where some people were living, no more than ten people taking up residence in old abandoned houses. After assuring them that they were in fact not here to rob and/or kill them they all settled into places of their own, trying to find which houses weren’t going to collapse any time soon.
The next years were rough, certainly, but they weren’t without happiness.
They’d all found niches within the community fairly quickly, attempting to find things to do that suited them well. There was certainly a lot of change, from what life had been, it wasn’t like old jobs like ‘cop’ or ‘programmer’ really existed anymore, but they’d found ways around things. Seven just naturally made people feel safe, Hazuki had started learning more about the hardware side of things in an attempt to help keep old radios and dvd players and whatever else running smooth, and the rest of them found their places as well.
For Clover thought, that didn’t come as easily. It wasn’t like she was really good at growing things, so she didn’t try her hand at helping out there, and she didn’t really consider herself intimidating enough to keep their group safe like Alice or Seven. She spent a good deal of time just drifting around, helping whoever needed it whenever needed- and she was always accumulating stories. It quickly became known that she was the person who knew everything around ‘town’, recounting the stories of friendly travellers and able to give whatever people needed to know about where someone was, or what they were doing.
The answer seemed almost obvious when Alice one day handed her a thick-looking book and a handful of pens, as if it was something Clover should’ve known all along. She wasn’t the best writer or anything- but even if she didn’t have a computer (or even a typewriter) here, that didn’t mean everything they’d go through had to be lost forever. Telling the stories over and over from person to person, and writing them down for the future, that was something she could do and enjoy.
Time continued to pass by, same as always, but life kept moving onwards. It certainly wasn’t easy, they were always on guard for the potential of drought or famine or attack; but they’d made do for themselves.
As life moved forwards for her, Clover found herself slowly growing less worried about what would happen next. Maybe it was just age, maybe it was from living in the apocalypse, but by the time she’d gotten old she was simply accustomed to life.
“Oh, Clover. You’ll never guess who I spoke with today in town.”
“Light?” She turned to look at her brother, who had something of a pleased grin on his face. “Who was it? One of the others?”
“No, no- it was Junpei. You remember him, right?”
“Of course I- wait, what?” No, that wasn’t possible… was it? But no… it was 2064… “Well, what did you say?”
“He seemed to be in a bit of a rush, something about preparing for a trip soon… and he has a son! Never would’ve expected that of him.”
“A-Aha, yeah…”
“Clover? Is everything alright?”
“Fine! Just fine!”
–
“Say… Junpei?” Clover looked down at her knees, seated back on the couch in Junpei and Quark’s place. Alice was at the other end of the couch, looking off to the side as well. “Do you… do you know what happened to my brother?”
She didn’t know why the transporters hadn’t worked for her, she hated the fact that she was stuck here like this- but maybe, just maybe, she could at least get an answer.
“Light? Oh, I think he’s… a few hours away? Yeah, it’s only about three hours south by truck- I saw him at the beginning of the year.”
“……” Clover was dumbstruck. Completely and utterly dumbfounded- what? No, that was impossible. Her brother couldn’t be alive, she couldn’t contact him– unless… no way. That was stupid– but it had to be true. The reason she couldn’t contact her brother was because she was blocking herself, right? Did that mean a version of her had found him, and was living somewhere else with her brother right now? “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Uh… no? I guess I didn’t think about it, but we could go visit him if you wanted..”
“That, um, might not be the best idea there Junpei.”
“Alright…”
–
“Clover, could you get the door?”
“Sure thing, Alice!” Even in her old age, Clover was still quite energetic- but that didn’t stop her jaw from dropping when she recognized who was at the door. “Junpei?”
“Yeah, that’s me… wait. Clover?” He seemed equally dumbfounded, staring at her with his mouth open. “How’s that- that’s impossible, isn’t it? I thought it didn’t work- you’re old-“
“You moron!” Cutting him off, Clover folded her arms with a huff. “You saw Light just last month, and you never thought to tell me about that? I spent the last 45 years thinking he was gonna die because of that little oversight!”
“I-It didn’t cross my mind! I was a little busy, Clover!”
“That-s you- augh!” With a huff, Clover eventually just shrugged and waved him inside. “Sit down, you!”
“Clover, what’s with the noise- Tenmyouji?”
“Alice, it’s good to see you.”
“Yes, it’s been a while- or at least, it has for us.”
“Yeah, I’d imagine..”
There was a hell of a lot to talk about, and they all took a seat around the place- but hey, at least they had the time now. Going to pull out one of the many journals Clover’d kept over the years they got to talking back and forth for a good few hours before Junpei finally had to leave again, with a promise that he’d bring Quark the next time so Light could meet him.
Clover’s mind was still busy when she went to bed that night, settling in beside Alice and staring up at the ceiling for some time, just listening to the sounds of the house. Seeing Junpei again after all these years… it really had been quite a time, hadn’t it? Not easy, not what she’d expected… but she didn’t regret going in that transporter. Not when she could know that her brother was alive, and she was with the woman she loved so much… it wasn’t perfect, but they’d struggled through it to find something worthwhile.
And, she thought to herself with a smile, that was certainly good enough.
ZEcret Santa 