#aaaaa i always feel bad for enjoying this ship since its so niche

[merryfortune]

Olive Branch

Written for the 100ships Challenge on Dreamwidth and as the Free Day Prompt for @ygotplusweek

100ships Challenge Prompt #63: Olive

YGOTPlus Prompt(s): Reunions, Negotiations, Favourite Things, Separate, Learning Something New

Ship: Rockdustshipping | Earth/Spectre/Ryoken

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

Word Count: 2,423

Rating: T

Warnings: No Warnings Apply

Tags:  Post Canon, Canon Divergent, Self Indulgent, Minor or Implied Possessiveness, Developing Relationship, Eventual Polyamory

AN: this is my guilty pleasure ot3, I just want to have my two cakes and eat them too!!

   The current situation was rapidly beginning to unfold into scenarios that Ryoken had never wanted to entertain. He would not call it the worst case scenarios - unfortunately, things like armageddon had a rightful place in thoughts and calculations like those - but he was not going to be quick to call it ideal. He still had a few fingers that he could cross but already, his heart was beginning to break just from witnessing this scenario unfold in the flesh, blood, and some pixels too.

   Ideally, there would be zero Ignis but he knew Fujiki Yusaku, Playmaker, as one thing and one thing only: incredibly determined. Once his will was committed to something, it all but brought miracles forth so Ryoken accepted that a new era would likely unfold. Perhaps from the mistakes of the previous one, this second coming would be more hopeful. He had his own, after all.

   He wanted to commit to his redemption. His atonement. To himself and his own nature, not as a destroyer but a protector. He had wanted to protect the children of the Hanoi Project and now, he wanted to protect what little serenity and closure they had found, finally, ten years later.

   This, however, would test him, Ryoken knew, not instinctively but for more humanly reasons than that as well.

   Thanks to Playmaker and his own Ignis’s determination, they had managed to revive the five remaining Ignis. Some of those matches were easier to make than others. Returning Flame to Takeru would be safe and teary-eyed; returning Aqua to Miyu and Aoi would be joyful and misty-eyed; but then there were the others. Ryoken did not have stable predictions for what would happen were Lightning and Windy were to return to their respective Origins but, for better or worse, he did have eyes. He did not need to predict what would happen were Earth returned to Spectre for he could just watch such a thing happen.

   In fact, it was happening right now and it was already piercing Ryoken’s armour and cracking his heart.

   Ryoken had always known it would one day come to this. Or that it should have come to this, possibly even sooner than ten years. He had run the simulations as a child, to discover what was the link that kept breaking, and in them, he did discover that Earth was not the cause for what would eventually break. He never was. If anything, he fixed things. Drastically so, if only for one person: Spectre. His Spectre.

   Time and time again, running those simulations, Ryoken saw all the pathways in which Spectre and Earth would become remarkably good friends. Family. Partners. Whatever form their bond took, it was unbreakable and truly only brought the best in each other. A clean track of wins for both of them, in theory, at least. And it had incensed Ryoken.

   Spectre was his. Not Earth’s.

   Ryoken was Spectre’s first everything. First friend, first confidante, first person who had ever truly loved him. Spectre adored Ryoken and Ryoken matched that adoration as best as he could.

   But he saw the digital future. He saw how Earth would disrupt that. The Ignis had to be exterminated regardless. It would be best if Spectre knew, it would protect him. The truth would only ever hurt but Ryoken now suspected, he had been for a fair few months now, that Spectre had come to realise that the bond that he was meant to have with his Ignis would have been incredible. And Ryoken had destroyed that possibility in some vain, petty destruction that only served his own ego.

   Ryoken rationalised it as being a child. Volatile, short tempered, not properly fused or wired yet. But he still felt it. That streak of possessiveness that flared a mile wide as he watched Earth and Spectre meet for the first time. Or was it a reunion as they had always known each other, on some level that Ryoken couldn’t begin to understand because he hadn’t been the one experimented on and had life created from his brainwaves and duelling. A bond that could only be truly called soulful or psychic.

   A storm raged inside of him when he should have been happy for his beloved friend. Instead, he was in wrongful furor that Spectre might be able to become happy because of someone who was not him. It was a storm between right and wrong and Ryoken knew to part it not unlike the beam of a lighthouse and he knew which side to take, even if it did repulse him. He just couldn’t let himself get in the way of Spectre’s happiness as Spectre was, easily, his most important person.

   Spectre’s eyes were wide with the purest wonder that Ryoken didn’t even think he was capable of such an unguarded, vulnerable expression. In the corners of his eyes was the glistening on a single tear. He hazarded a feeble smile as he welcomed his Ignis back to the realm of the living with a shaking hand.

   Earth reached out to him and his demeanour could only be described as calm. The past half an hour was a whirlwind, even to Ryoken so he was surprised - and maybe even impressed - that Earth could be so stony face before Spectre who was coming close to blubbering with happiness with the events that had occurred. Once more, Pandora’s box had been open but this time, it had been Playmaker’s fingers on the lock and key.

   He had brought back the Ignis and returned them to a respectable vicinity of their Origins, forcing the data back through the Link VRAINS and getting it to rematerialise in the real world. Ryoken, a good programmer and coder in his own right, could only regard it as nothing short of magic.

   “It is good to see you.” Earth said. The sound of his voice was even but gladdened.

   He reached out to Spectre’s hand and though he was a large Ignis, he was still entirely dwarfed by the scale of a human. Both his hands clasped onto a couple of Spectre’s fingers and he was made to seem so small because of it. Nonetheless, he gallantly shook Spectre’s hands and that appeared to cleanse them of their nervous jitters.

   “It's good to meet you, Earth,” Spectre replied, a hiccup to his voice, “but it feels like I already know you.”

   Earth’s eyes softened, “I feel the same.” he confessed.

   Ryoken wanted to scream. To yell. To rage. To do anything but let this selfishness stew inside of him as he held onto the helmet of his VR set. They hadn’t even had the time to get up and stretch their legs before being thrust into this situation that Ryoken could only describe as the most impossible and unplanned future possible, hurtling forward at a pace of a few minutes at best.

   Spectre shyly glanced towards Ryoken, his heart beating quicker in his chest than it normally did. He could see the upset in Ryoken’s face but he was glad that Ryoken was here. He wanted Ryoken to be here for this quite dearly. He returned his gaze to Earth and it was apologetic.

   “Are you aware?” Spectre hesitantly asked Earth. “Of my activities as a Knight of Hanoi?”

   Earth was very quiet, his expression turned very stern and with glacial speed, he finally replied, “No…”

   “No?” Ryoken exclaimed. He was startled and he awkwardly took his interjection as an excuse to cross the vast chasm between his own perch on one side of the room and Spectre’s on the other.

   “Truly?” Spectre asked and he had to swallow a giggle.

   “Er… yes… truly.” Earth said. “My best recollection of events is as follows: us Ignis made a pact not to interact with the material world, including with our Origins, for a while, we lived in the best harmony we could muster…

   “One day, a dragon destroyed the Cyberse World, we were protected by Ai who did his best to flee from this dragon… When Ai released us, Windy and Lightning withdrew. I believe now to put in place their own machinations that resulted in this Bohman figure being created.

   “I only desired to find Aqua, she was taken before I could make my decision. A decision that has now been taken from me as I have now been thrust before you… But I wanted to base my decision on logic and sound information. I needed to know more about the humans but unlike my duplicitous kin, even Aqua to an extent, I endeavoured to honour my vow so I never sought you out.

   “So, now I have to ask, what were your activities as a Knight of Hanoi? It sounds noble so I desire to tentatively approve.” Earth looked up very cautiously at Spectre, and even towards Ryoken, as he finished his ramble.

   Ryoken could not believe what he was hearing. He couldn’t decide if this was extremely lucky or extremely unlucky. How ironic that such a perceptive and observant person such as Spectre produced such an oblivious Ignis, even if Earth was right to conclude that he needed to proceed with information rather than instinct or some other whim, no matter how fond. He supposed that it would be up to Spectre to decide the worth of the fortune before them.

   And Spectre seemed very quick to make that decision, he took a breath then explained, “Master Ryoken is the dragon who destroyed your first home. We, the Knights of Hanoi, have been hunting you for the past five, almost six, years, trying to destroy.”

   Earth’s blue eyes went wide. This was certainly news to him - and Ryoken did find himself relishing that.

   “Is that true?” he asked, turning to Ryoken. “You are the good doctor’s son, are you not? The son of the man who created us Ignis, I - I have vague memories of your face as a child, seeing you from within the apparatus I was created within. Is that true?”

   “In its entirety.” Ryoken gravely replied, folding his arms.

   “M-My…” Earth murmured.

   “You understand why three of your companions were so eager to take up arms against us humans now, don’t you?” Ryoken said and he felt some snake of vindication inside of him, that Earth may flee from them and all would be right with what was left of Ryoken’s little world.

   And yet, Earth steadied, “I do,” he admitted, “but Spectre spoke in past tense just now, I noticed. He said “for five, almost six years”, that would imply the activity has ceased, albeit recently.”

   “Correct.” Ryoken growled. “We desire to protect the Link VRAINS, to do what we can with technology that once brought misery, to bring joy. To keep the Incident concealed so the victims can enjoy privacy.” Ryoken then took a sharp breath. “To even allow the behaving Ignis some space in this world, you were created to enrich humanity but per my observations, I believe it is only possible for you lot to touch a handful of lives at best. Though it pains me, I would appreciate it if you were able to do so with Spectre.”

   Now it was Spectre’s turn to be in disbelief of his own ears. His face paled but purely because he was stunned to hear such words from Ryoken’s mouth. He thought it was going to take hours upon hours of convincing him, grovelling all but on his knees, to allow Earth to stay with them. Ryoken had always been brusque upon the subject of Spectre’s unique Ignis at the best of times and at the worst, Spectre recoiled to remember what was said implicitly and explicitly about Earth’s death from Ryoken.

   Earth’s expression lightened and a peculiar thing happened. A thin branch manifested in his hands. It was thin and wiry, delicate, plumed with rounded leaves with a few bounties blooming off the stem. Earth held onto it preciously. Spectre recognised the branch by its leaves; Ryoken recognised it by its boon. A literal olive branch and it was one that Earth chose to gift to Ryoken.

   “It is my understanding that the olive branch is a symbol of surrender and compromise to humans, that to give one to another means to cease an argument or war.” Earth rambled.

   “Yes, that is correct.” Spectre assured him.

   “Then my intentions should be apparent but if not, if I have muddled them somehow, I wish to live long and well alongside you and Spectre.” Earth said. “I value peace over all else, to the point of uselessness, perhaps, but that is who I am.”

   Ryoken’s gaze wandered towards Spectre. He looked so… hopeful. It was bright and bittersweet, as such he was holding his tongue. Ryoken took a breath and he accepted Earth’s gift.

   “I believe I can find those values complementary to my own.” Ryoken replied.

   There likely wasn’t a response that could have overjoyed Spectre more. He got to his feet, untangling from the VR set, and embraced Ryoken. Ryoken stiffened but he pat Spectre’s shoulder before finally hugging him back. Earth, meanwhile, settled on Spectre’s head.

   He looked down on them both rather curiously, like he was still quantifying the various rituals of humans even though hugging was not something alien to him as an Ignis. It was more the metrics of these two and their particular relationship, perhaps even how he would figure into their equation.

   If so, Ryoken felt the same.

   He still very much, at his best and kindest, wanted to fling Earth far, far away from his domain, keep him alive just with other arrangements for a home, perhaps with Aqua and either of her girls or even with Ai and Yusaku. Instead, Ryoken swallowed that one-sided resentment that he had stoked since he was a child, trying to understand the intertwining paths of Spectre and his Ignis and instead, endeavoured to make peace with this Ignis. For Spectre’s sake. He would merely have to believe that Spectre whose heart seemingly only had enough space to love and adore just one could have enough room for two.

   After all, at the end of the day and at the end of time, all Ryoken wanted was to make Spectre happy and it had been proven to him, time and time again, there should be no better way than to let him have his Ignis. So, perhaps, he could come to tolerate - maybe even become fond - for the socially awkward little creature, too. If only for Spectre.