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thebladeblaster · 8 months

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Digimon Tamer ZERO -Earth Arc-

Chapter 3 Nightmare Fight Part 1

Emi and Shizuka had moved into Card Capital with the others and their families. The card shop now stood up as a fort for them in case the streets spilled into insanity again.

Also their two biggest idiots Aichi and Kai were off who knows where.

The thought of either of them being left to their own devices Void, invasion, or not was beyond troubling. There was still a party out looking for Kai who they could only pray was still safe. Aichi was physically safe with Dynasmon but not spiritually. Spiritually for all they knew he was quite fucked with the Void eating away at him and the Dark Lords only magnifying that. They still couldn’t fathom how he’s been withstanding it for this long.

Emi was cleaning Herissmon’s claws as she looked pale. Her protector unfortunately had to act on the way. Despite being cute, Digimon were truly terrifying. All Herissmon needed to kill someone was a quick swipe of his claws.

Which the redhead found frankly QUITE concerning.

She supposes her brother didn’t leave them with Herissmon for nothing. Despite being such a young creature it was quite strong. At least compared to humans…She didn’t know where he stood compared to Digimon.

“I went all that way just to get spooked by him into leaving. I’m so lame…Maybe if I got Herissmon to evolve I could get my brother to stop being stupid or at least help.”, Emi thought.

She looked down as she saw a small light coming from her hand which formed a black Digivice.

“That’s…really weird and awfully convenient. Something is definitely up.”, Emi thought as she looked around.

But there didn’t seem to be anything suspicious going on. People were just talking.

With Aichi…

Aichi clinged onto Dynasmon tightly as his mind felt heavy.

He was so sleepy all of the sudden.

He didn’t know why he was so exhausted. Dynasmon noticed this and began to land while making sure Aichi was secure.

With Kai…

His fist was shaking as he was annoyed at his inability to pursue Aichi.

“Long time no see, Kai.”, a familiar voice said, which made the brunette’s heart skip a beat.

“Is something wrong, Kai? You look scared.”, Dracomon questioned.

Kai looked over to see a familiar specter with a devilish grin. He wondered if he had crawled out of the depths of hell somehow.

“The emissary…”, Kai said as he turned to face the emissary.

“You really should have tried harder. It would have been fun to watch Aichi shatter your hopes in the same way you did to him in his first bout against your reversed self.”, the emissary continued.

“What do you want?! How are you here?”, Kai questioned, before he suddenly noticed the area around them changed to a space-like area.

“I just came to say hi. It’s been so long so I decided to drop by.”, the emissary replied jokingly.

“Enough with the messing around. What do you really want?”, Kai questioned.

“Heh…Well, I came to thank you for delivering our first choice for our Vanguard on a silver platter. As you’re well aware, Sendou will soon belong to us. Very soon.”, the emissary taunted as Kai glared daggers through him.

“I won’t let you have Aichi!”, Kai barked.

“What’s wrong? Isn’t Aichi being locked what you wanted? You declared that you would lock him forever. Soon, it will finally happen.”, the emissary questioned.

“That’s not…it wasn’t what I really wanted. I let my desires get distorted by that power just as Ren and Aichi had with Psyqualia.”, Kai replied.

“Aww…but you liked it so much. You were the strongest. Near invincible even.”, the emissary taunted.

“It wasn’t real power. It was just a lie…that I fell for head first. I don’t know what you’ve been doing to him but I won’t let you deceive him into falling under your spell.”, Kai said.

The emissary laughed in amusement at Kai’s declarations.

“He’s not going to listen to you. Like you he’s far too hard headed to listen to anyone else when he has an idea in his head.”, the emissary replied.

“Is that your plan? You spooked him into not confiding in his friends so that he would isolate himself and you could corrupt him?”, Kai questioned with an accusatory pointer finger.

The emissary’s smile widened.

“Maybe~”, the emissary answered.

“He doesn’t even realize that he’s being manipulated by you…”, Kai said.

“Well, Aichi is quite gullible and he has strong bonds unlike you. That made you much easier to use. That and his tenacity have made taking him quite the annoyance. Though, that’s wearing away.”, the emissary replied.

“You seem awfully confident to be talking to me of all people about your plans.”, Kai said as he narrowed his eyes.

“Do you know how I’m speaking to you, Kai? In case you don’t remember, you don’t have the reverse and Tatsunagi is gone.”, the emissary asked as Kai raised his eyebrow.

Kai looked around the area. He noticed Dracomon wasn’t there. It truly just seemed to be the two of them. Then, Kai looked down and noticed his feet wasn’t touching the ground.

“We’re…spirits! In an image!”, Kai gasped.

“Bingo. I’ve been communicating with you through Sendou’s Psyqualia and he hasn’t even noticed. Now, imagine what I can do that he would notice.”, the emissary replied.

Kai tensed as he gritted his teeth, his fists were balled up and shaking.

“So, you can do this much without having full control, is that it? Because of this trick you think you’ve beaten him?”, Kai questioned.

“You know Aichi doesn’t know about this at all. Every time he sees me or one of the images I send to him he THINKS he’s hallucinating. Hehe. He thinks he’s losing his mind.”, the emissary laughed.

Kai unconsciously raises his Vanguard deck to cardfight as his tolerance for the emissary’s bullshit has reached its peak.

He intended to make him suffer for torturing Aichi so cruelly.

“Oh…Kai, you wouldn’t hurt me again, would you?”, the emissary taunted as his voice shifted perfectly mimicking Aichi’s.

If Kai could possibly become more pissed he did especially as the emissary shifted his form to mimic Aichi as well. The only difference was his cold, soulless eyes and the red markings under his eyes like blood tears.

Kai has never wanted to throttle the Void more in his life and that’s saying something.

“What perfect timing. This form is more fitting since Tatsunagi is gone and Sendou is my new host. Do you still want to fight, Kai?”, the emissary questioned in Aichi’s affectionate tone as a mockery.

“I’m sure! You’re going down!”, Kai fumed.

“Oh no…it seems I’ve pressed your Aichi button. Whatever shall I do? Oh right, fight. ‘What was lost in a cardfight can only be regained in one’. If you want to regain Aichi you have to win.”, the emissary mocked with fake worry.

“I will…”, Kai replied.

The Void grinned sinisterly as the transparent card tables appeared in front of them and they set their Vanguards.

“Stand up! (The) Vanguard!”, the two said.

Earlier in reality…

The group of Kourin, Naoki, Kamui, and Miwa searched for Kai while the others stayed back at Card Capital.

“This is freaking nuts…”, Naoki commented when saw the streets were scarred from the violence.

“Darn that Beezlemon…He’s created a big mess.”, Kourin cursed.

“What shall we do, my lady?”, Crusadermon questioned.

“Let’s find Kai before he gets himself killed like an idiot.”, Kourin replied and she nodded.

Back to the cardfight…

“Red Pulse Dracokid.”, Kai declared.

“Liberator, Cheer Up Trumpeter.”, the emissary declared.

Kai narrowed his eyes at the Void’s choice.

“Is this a joke? You’re even using Aichi’s deck?”, Kai questioned.

“This IS my deck.”, the emissary replied, with a smirk.

“You’re not Aichi. You’re just pretending to be him!”, Kai barked.

“That hurts me, Kai…I AM Aichi.”, the emissary insisted as he mimicked Aichi’s mannerism of putting his hand to his chest.

“No, you aren’t…”, Kai hissed.

“Go ahead. Go first. It won’t help you, Kai. No matter how much you struggle I will destroy you and leave you shivering in fear. Just as I had intended to do all those months ago.”, the emissary explained.

Since they were in a Psyqualia illusion they were currently their Vanguards. The cards hovered in front of Kai as he commonly imagined.

“That won’t happen! I ride Dragon Monk Gojo!”, Kai declared.

The emissary simply smirked as their turns continued on. Kai rode Prowling Dragon, Striken while the emissary had Fast Chase Liberator, Josephus as his Vanguard. Something seemed…off about Aichi’s Liberators there was a sinister aura around them. There was an air of malice coming from them which he only sensed when Aichi had used the Shadow Paladins.

“Here I come, Kai. Stand up my avatar!”, the emissary declared as he held up a certain card.

Kai’s eyes widened as the emissary smacked the card onto the table with the exact same intensity that Aichi would.

“What?!”, Kai questioned, completely stunned.

The reverse aura engulfed Josephus as he roared. His eyes glowed red and his grabbing his head then threw himself backwards. It reminded him of the image from THAT fight against Ren...

The aura intensified as the unit was consumed. Out from it appeared the emissary as Blaster Blade. He cleared away the aura with his blade and grinned maliciously at Kai.

“I ride Blaster Blade Liberator!”, the emissary finished as his cape waved in the air.

That cape was usually reassuring but now all he felt was dread. The emissary raised up his blade to point at Kai.

“You created me, Kai, but I’ve surpassed you. That’s why you had seeked out this power. How ironic…Because of that decision reawakened the very thing you buried out of fear.”, the emissary mocked as the imitating was becoming increasingly eerie.

“I didn’t save you from Psyqualia because I was scared! I saved you because it was warping you!”, Kai replied.

The emissary’s smile deepened.

“So you’ve finally accepted me as Aichi?”, the emissary questioned.

In reality…

The group finally found Kai who Dracomon was flying around and waving his hands in his face frantically.

“Kai, you alright bud?!”, Dracomon questioned as he desperately tried to wake the brunette up.

In reality it looked like Kai was frozen and staring off into space.

“What’s with him?!”, Naoki questioned.

“That’s Dracomon…he’s…fine. I think. I don’t know why.”, Miwa said as he ran over to Kai and grabbed his hand.

“Miwa? Naoki? Kourin? Kamui? Crusadermon? Did you all Digivolve?!”, Dracomon questioned as he looked over to them.

“What no…Considering your trying to help him I guess you’re Kai’s Digimon, right?”, Kourin questioned.

“That’s right. I’m Dracomon but I heard you guys don’t remember us.”, Dracomon answered.

“What happened to Kai?”, Kamui questioned.

“He met up with Aichi and Dynasmon then froze after they left. They got into a really heated argument about something I didn’t understand at all. Something about a seed and the Void…”, Dracomon explained.

“You don’t think Aichi got possessed and…”, Naoki murmured as his eyes grew wide.

“No, that didn’t happen. Aichi just left rather rudely.”, Dracomon replied.

Miwa was poking Kai to no response. Concern was plastered over the blonde’s face.

“Something is really wrong…”, Miwa commented.

“Yeah…he’s like a statue.”, Kamui replied as he sweated.

“We’ll figure out what to do when we bring him back to Card Capital. Sitting here and wondering what happened won’t do anything.”, Kourin replied.

“I got him.”, Naoki said as he and Miwa carried Kai.

“He’s alive, he's just frozen for some reason. It’s like his mind is somewhere else.”, Miwa commented.

“That’s really freaky…”, Naoki replied.

Kourin cups her chin as she thinks about what they described.

“Maybe he is in his mind?”, Kourin thought.

At Card Capital…

“Misaki, I need help.”, Emi said.

“What’s wrong, Emi?”, Misaki questioned softly.

Despite her frustrations at their current situation she held it down as she went over the small girl. After all, the one the most entrenched in this insanity was her brother. Regardless, such events would be difficult for a child to experience.

“You guys are planning something to help Aichi. I want to help. I can’t just sit on the sidelines while some weird demon monster thing from outer space is trying to possess him.”, Emi explained as she tried to look as determined as she could.

“Aichi wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”, Misaki replied.

“I don’t want him to get hurt. If Kamui is old enough to help then I am. Please.”, Emi begged.

Misaki but her lip felt very sympathetic. Emi just seemed too pure for this kind of thing. Too fragile.

It was an impression her and Aichi both gave off but Aichi ended up accidentally slipping into the supernatural madness before they even knew to shield him from it. If there was any possibility where Aichi could have been kept out of those conflicts she would have tried though she would have likely failed due to his stubbornness. If anything the situation Aichi was currently in made her wish she had.

If only she could have stopped him from being a suicidal idiot and battling Link Joker while literally dying…

Now, it’s sunk its claws into him and might never let go…She didn’t want anything similar happening with Emi especially if when the situation arose that she proved to be as stupid as her brother. God forbid she’d be THAT stupid but she WAS related to him after all.

Not to mention there was kinda the unspoken question that they never wanted to find the answer to.

If she had Psyqualia.

For all they knew that crazy ability could be genetic and they could end up experiencing a bad rerun of Aichi’s…episode.

Especially after the chaos she heard outside she just didn’t want her to have any part of this. If she knew what getting involved with such madness was really like she would want to turn back and bury her head in the sand. Kamui was young but he was already too deep into this like Aichi.

“Are you really sure that’s what you want…? If you walk into the world of this insanity there’s no turning back EVER.”, Misaki said.

Emi revealed the black Digivice to Misaki whose eyes widened. It was linked to…Heirssmon?! Heiressmon IS her Digimon.

Of all the rotten coincidences…

However Misaki got a sinking feeling that it was NO coincidence. Nothing involving the Digital World was coincidental. It was destiny.

With the cardfight…

Kai snickered.

“Just look at you…I can feel your fear. To think I’d admired you so much over the years…It’s embarrassing. You’re a complete mess.”, the emissary continued as Kai was getting increasingly uncomfortable.

“Stop!”, Kai barked.

“I call…”, the emissary continued his turn with an amused tone at Kai’s distress.

Blaster Blade was now surrounded by his allies as they then launched their attacks. Kai gasped when he lost sight of Blaster Blade.

“Kai~”, Kai suddenly jumped when looked over to see Blaster Blade behind him.

His heart was jackhammering as the emissary turned to him and stabbed him through the stomach as soon as he turned around. Kai gasped in pain as he desperately tried to get some air. The emissary put his hand on Kai’s shoulder and tilted his head as he enjoyed Kai’s suffering and spasming.

Kai met his cold, soulless eyes up close as he felt a shiver down his spine.

“D-damage check…Critical trigger…”, Kai barely murmured out.

Kai’s damage had exploded up to four when the emissary had drawn a critical trigger.

“Kai…Kai…suffering so much already? This fight has only begun…”, the emissary taunted.

Kai howled in pain when he twisted his sword wringing out his pain. He started chuckling with that distorted pleasure that he hated.

“Consider that revenge for that smack you gave me on the Tatsunagi building while I was hardly clinging to life.”, the emissary said as he got close to Kai, meeting his angered gaze.

The emissary even went far enough to replicate anger…?

“The fuck’s wrong with you?”, the emissary questioned before hitting Kai over his head with the back of his blade.

Now, his head was ringing and soaring with pain. Just how elaborate had the Void made this illusion? He went through all this trouble to replicate Aichi just the torture him?

“What’s wrong sore that I’m not just shutting up and taking it for once, Kai?”, the emissary questioned.

“S-shut up, you imposter!”, Kai spat.

The emissary looked down at him with contempt as he squirmed in pain on the ground.

“Come on! Get up! This is a mere sting compared to the pain you put me through. You’re so pathetic…and you seriously expected to take on the seed. What was your plan? Instantly getting reversed and using it to cling onto your relevancy?”, the emissary questioned.

Kai gritted his teeth as he bit back then pain. He used his knee for support as he struggled to get back to his feet.

“You’re right about one thing…The pain Aichi has been…put through IS worse…If he wouldn’t succumb to it then neither shall I…I’ll burn you to ashes with my eternal flame, you damn demon!”, Kai replied as he got to his feet.

He was engulfed by flames as he roared.

“Ride the Vanguard! Burn this world to ashes with your apocalyptic fire, Dragonic Overlord!”, Kai roared.

Out from the flames he emerged as Overlord who now towered over Blaster Blade.

“Now, this brings back memories.”, the emissary commented.

“I will burn away that evil! Prepare yourself, Void!”, Kai roared.

At Card Capital…

“I’m already involved whether you like it or not. Even if you say no to letting me in, I'm going to do everything I can to save Aichi!”, Emi explained.

“Damn it…She’s a dumbass…”, Misaki thought, feeling like she was going to have a headache.

“This is just great…”, Misaki grumbled sarcastically.

Heiressmon had gotten a hold of a chocolate bar and was chomping down blissfully unaware of their conversation.

“If you’re doing anything it’s on our terms. I never told you this but we never included you in this stuff because Aichi made us promise not to get you involved.”, Misaki replied.

“What?! Why? I can fight! I’m not weak!”, Emi questioned in disbelief.

“Emi, it’s because he cares about you so much. The kind of nonsense we have gotten into can be…traumatic.”, Misaki explained.

After hearing that she simmered down a bit.

“But still…besides when did you guys just decide this?!”, Emi questioned.

“After the end of that episode he had started with the second Regionals and ended at Nationals. You know the one.”, Misaki answered.

Emi froze when she remembered that time. It was frightening even from the sidelines. Arguably more so.

She’s known Aichi her whole life but one day he was just…different. It was like he was replaced by a stranger. Before that fight she noticed something was off with him suddenly starting to talk to his cards and became much more spacey than usual.

Then THAT fight happened.

She still didn’t understand what or how it happened but Aichi seemed to have somehow become psychic?! Though, the much more alarming part was the distortion in his personality. Her kind timid brother was nowhere to be seen in that fight. In his place was some jerk who got a kick out of watching his opponent being driven into madness.

Any time she tried to ask Aichi about the heck happened during those few weeks he would just wave her off or play dumb. Like he knows she’s not stupid and absolutely noticed something not normal was going on and he just wouldn’t explain

She had thought it was because it was a touchy subject, not that he was actively keeping something away from her.

“Something happened to Aichi then that was not normal as you probably had guessed by now.”, Misaki said.

“What happened? Was he possessed then too?”, Emi asked.

“Not quite…He awakened this strange power that we still don’t really understand. By his own admission it was not directly the fault of that power. It was his. He became completely addicted to and entranced with it.”, Misaki explained as Emi looked down.

“It must be because of how he was treated…He finally had the power to do something back and lost it?”, Emi thought.

She remembered overhearing Aichi’s conversation with Kai after his fight with Kyou. That was the point where Aichi seemed to have completely snapped and became someone else.

“Was it because of what Kai said to him? How he was weak.”, Emi questioned.

“Yeah…even Aichi had enough of Kai’s crap and just snapped but I wouldn’t completely blame it on him. Aichi had been so depressed since he lost to Tetsu believing that he had failed everyone by losing. We tried to help him with what he was feeling but it wasn’t good enough. He got desperate. Then…that led to the crazy.”, Misaki explained.

“I see…but it’s not like something like that would just happen again, right?”, Emi questioned.

Misaki was silent for a moment.

“What…? Do you think…? Do you think I’m just like Aichi?”, Emi questioned.

“After what happened we decided that we never wanted to experience anyone going through THAT…Aichi can control that power now and he chooses not to use it. It’s called Psyqualia.”, Misaki continued.

“And…?”, Emi questioned as she tilted her head.

“We don’t know how Aichi got it. Takuto said some nonsense about imagination or whatever but that’s really vague and you think that would apply to more people…”, Misaki continued.

“So you think it’s genetic?”, Emi questioned as she felt genuinely nervous.

“It’s a guess. But, even if we’re wrong, you know what happened to Aichi when he stuck his nose into this craziness. I don’t want that to happen to you.”, Misaki explained.

“I’m not scared.”, Emi replied.

“You should be. Aichi’s in this situation because he wasn’t scared enough…He could have just let someone else fight Link Joker then…I don’t know…”, Misaki trailed off.

“It shouldn’t have been him.”, Misaki thought.

She wouldn’t wish it on anyone but least of all Aichi.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll be careful. Please Misaki.”, Emi begged.

“Fine…don’t say I didn’t warn you.”, Misaki replied.

Somewhere the familiar silhouette of Lilithmon smirked as she seemed to be reforming.

With the cardfight…

He gained a critical from the skill of his last Vanguard. His dragons engulfed the Gold Paladin’s with flames burning many of them away.

“It was a mistake to give me so much damage to work with! Attack!”, Kai declared.

His units charged at Blaster Blade who stood there with his sword stabbed into the ground taking their attacks unflinchingly without care much like Aichi’s image of Blaster Dark.

“I feel nothing.”, the emissary commented, still having his serious tone from before.

“What is this…? What the hell is this sick and twisted charade?!”, Kai questioned.

“It’s not a charade. As I told you. I AM Aichi.”, the emissary insisted blandly.

“That’s impossible. Aichi isn’t reversed.”, Kai replied.

“Not completely but parts of me have already been consumed by the Void. It’s been swallowing up chunks and chunks lately.”, the emissary? explained.

“What are you talking about?!”, Kai questioned.

“The emissary is the one who is the Void’s avatar who will inevitably by assimilated into it as Takuto was. The one it is currently inhabiting and that’s Aichi. As parts of myself have been consumed they have started to become the new emissary…When it’s complete I’ll be whole again and reborn completely as the emissary. Before now the best the Void create is an imitation but now that’s changed…”, the emissary? explained.

In reality Aichi sweated intensely in his sleep. He clung onto Dynasmon tightly.

To be continued…

The biggest plot twist of this whole chapter is that there was ACTUALLY a cardfight. Okay I just suck at writing cardfights so I decided to write it this way rather than just continuously avoiding cardfights in every Vanguard story I write.

#cardfight vanguard #cfv #link joker #Legion mate #digimon #aichi sendou #kai toshiki #misaki tokura #miwa taishi #emi sendou #naoki ishida #kamui katsuragi #dynasmon #dracomon #heirssmon #reverse takuto #my crappy edit #my crappy writing

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meltypop · 2 years

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Nowhere to Go but Up

Summary: Emi is quickly growing tired of her older brother's worsening behavior. He barely gives her and her mother the time of day, and never helps out with the chores. And, worst of all, their mom always seems to take his side! However, when she goes to confront him about it, she learns that she hadn't really understood the situation. At all. As the more responsible Sendou sibling, she has her work cut out for her.

TW: Suicide Attempt, Bullying, Family Dysfunction

Note: Gonna start posting fics here as well as ao3, I go by meltypop there as well if anyone wants to check out the stuff I’ve already written

This covers some dark themes so be warned, maybe don’t read if you’ve felt suicidal recently or anything like that. Know that there are people who love you and seek help

Anyway this is supposed to take place pre-canon, a little bit before Aichi meets Kai. It’s more like v-series where Aichi was older when he got Blaster Blade so in this Aichi is 12-13 and Emi is 9-10 or something like that

Chapter 1:

Emi had had enough. This was the fourth night in a row that her brother had skipped out right after dinner, ditching her to do all of the dishes, including his, by herself. He just scarfed down his food with barely a word to either of them (not even a thank you to their mother) and waltzed right back upstairs.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t brought it up to him before. She did, every single time. And every single time, he profusely apologized and promised it wouldn't happen again. Yet, again and again, it did.

“It’s not fair, Mom! You never make Aichi help with the dishes!”

Shizuka sighed looking up from the tupperware container that she was currently scooping the leftover rice into, "Emi, I think Aichi had a bit of a rough day today." She smiled warmly, "Why don't we just let him rest a while? I can help you with the dishes as soon as I'm finished with this, sweetie."

"You shouldn't have to…" Emi pouted, "He had a rough day yesterday too! He never even helps me with my homework anymore, either."

"I'll help you with it, if you need it, Emi," Her mother replied, her voice tight.

"But I want Aichi to!" Emi whined. Honestly, she didn't even need the help. She mostly just wanted the opportunity to get upset at him about the dishes, and possibly have a conversation with him that lasted more than a few minutes.

Her mother pursed her lips, giving her daughter a stern, yet somewhat sad, look. “Well, I’m the parent here, Emi. It isn’t up to you.”

Emi shrunk a little at this. She was generally a well-behaved child, almost never getting scolded by her mother or the teachers at school. But she wasn’t some stupid child, either. The favoritism her mother had been showing her older brother lately had been obvious to her.

She couldn’t understand it. She was the one who helped her mother with the chores. She was the one who went on errands with her. She was the one who spent time with her, who talked to her. All Aichi ever did was mope around and lock himself in his room, yet it seemed like their mother expected everything of her and nothing of him.

It was the only thing Emi and her mother ever seemed to fight about. She didn’t understand why her mom was always so quick to jump to his defense, to excuse his lazy, moody behavior. Did Emi’s feelings not matter at all?

"...I'll finish them, honey," Her mom murmured, shaking Emi from her thoughts as she rotated the faucet to the other side of the sink. "The offer still stands about the homework, by the way. Though you know I'm no good with that long division!"

She knew that her mom was just trying to break the tension, but it wouldn't work on her tonight. She wasn’t a little kid anymore, and she wouldn’t let herself be pushed around, not by Aichi and not even by her mom. "Well, I am," She said coldly, turning away from her mother, "so it's fine."

After a moment of silence, she turned to gauge her mother's reaction, fearing that she angered her. Instead, she was staring into the bowl she was cleaning with a sad and conflicted look. It made Emi feel bad, and she didn't like it. So she wordlessly trudged up the stairs.

She had no problems with her homework, and decided to go to bed early after she had finished. Mai had talked about having a sleepover tomorrow, so she wanted to get plenty of rest. The two of them tended to talk all night long, after all.

It would have been much nicer if the sleep had been uninterrupted, but a full bladder rudely awoke her around 2 AM. With a sigh, she forced herself out of her tantalizingly warm blankets and begrudgingly made her way down the hall.

As she returned from the bathroom, feeling only slightly more awake, a thin sliver of light underneath her brother's door caught her eye. She wasn't surprised he was up this late, but that didn't mean she liked it. He'd been late for school way too many times, lately. Why couldn't he just go to bed at a normal time? What did he have to do right now that was so important?

Still, if he was awake, then she was going to take this opportunity to finally have a real talk with him. Just because she was the younger sibling didn't mean he could just walk all over her!

Just as she began walking towards his door, she heard an obnoxiously loud thump; almost a bang, even. She was startled a bit. That wasn't normal- Aichi wasn't very active. He usually hardly made any noise at all.

"...you okay, Aichi? I heard a loud noise just now… you didn't fall or something, did you?"

No response. This wasn’t atypical, Aichi often didn’t respond when people spoke to him. Whether he was crabbily giving her the cold shoulder or simply lost in his headphones, she wasn’t sure.

She hesitated before his door. It would be rude to just open it without his permission, wouldn't it? He might even yell at her. He'd been unpredictably emotional lately, in the worst of ways.

She heard what sounded like a faint creaking noise, followed by a soft gurgle. It was a strange, inhuman noise, and it sent a chill down her spine; if ghosts exist, they would definitely make noises like that. Emi wasn't the most superstitious kid, but she wasn't really sure that they didn't exist, either.

The ominous noises continued. It probably wasn't a ghost. Of course not. But, on the teeny-tiny off-chance it was, what would Aichi do? Her poor brother was always so flinchy and nervous. He would hide under the bed and whimper and cry and it would slowly reach under and grab him, just like in that awful movie she'd seen once when she watched the TV after mom said to go to bed.

He may have gotten on her nerves sometimes, but he was still her brother. It was up to her to protect him, since he was the weak one, after all. She slowly let the door creak open...

…and time stopped.

She thought she had been terrified to her core before. She was even a little proud of herself for being brave enough to face a ghost.

But she wasn't brave enough for this.

She couldn't move. She couldn't even form a proper thought.

The sudden influx of bright light against her unadjusted eyes caused the image of her beloved brother hanging from the ceiling to instantly burn into her retinas. She blinked, and it remained in the back of her eyelids.

'He's dead.' Was her only thought. It was the only thing her brain could seem to process, so it repeated, over and over, like a skipping vinyl. 'He's dead… he's dead… he's dead… he's dead…'

A strained noise started in the back of her throat. She was barely conscious of it until it had morphed into an anguished wail. It felt as though the noise was playing through a speaker, like she was only an observer in this reality. Like she was dreaming.

That must've been it. She knew that people did this sometimes. Even so, this was something that happened on daytime news, to some other family she didn't know, in a different prefecture. Aichi wouldn't do this. He wouldn't just leave them like this. This was just a nightmare, and she'd never gotten out of bed in the first place.

No, he wouldn’t do this. How could he do this? To her? To himself? To their Mom?

She let out a guttural moan as a wave of nausea crashed down onto her. She couldn’t move a muscle, but just as she was about to be sick all over the carpet, she saw him twitch, almost imperceptibly. If she'd blinked, she might've missed it. Her voice died in her throat as his eyes rolled downwards, shaky irises locking with hers. There was something in them. Guilt? Regret? She didn't know, but the mere fact that he was still alive was enough to shake her from her trance like a brick to the head.

The facts came to her in one instant package: Aichi had a tweed rope around his neck, about an inch thick. It was tied to the ceiling fan, which was turned off but swaying slightly with his weight. His desk chair sat on its side underneath him.

He couldn't breathe, and would die soon. But she still had a chance to prevent it.

Adrenaline kicking in, she frantically scoured the room for anything that could help. Her eyes fell on the pair of scissors that were stuck between a variety of pencils and pens in the cup on his desk, and she ran more quickly than she thought was possible to retrieve them.

The chair was a bit of a struggle for her weak, skinny frame, and trying to prop Aichi up was an even bigger one. Lacking time, she let him go, and he began to writhe and thrash, clawing at the rope that dug into his neck.

"NO!" She yelled as he nearly knocked her off of the chair. "Stay still! I-I'm gonna save you!" She hacked and hacked at the knot, the dullness of the scissors making it much more difficult than it would have been. He stopped struggling, at least, and she prayed that it was because he trusted her and not because she was too late.

A moment stretched into infinity, her mind a complete blank. The only thing in existence was the knot and the sound of the metal scraping against its fibers.

Then, it fell apart, creating a moment of weightlessness as Aichi crashed onto the ground, taking his sister and the chair she was standing on with him.

For a moment, he didn't move.

Then, he took in a sharp, gasping exhale and began hacking uncontrollably. The relief she felt made her lightheaded and sent shudders down her spine. She had really done it, and he would be okay.

The euphoria it brought didn't last long, as the reality of what had almost transpired set in. Suddenly feeling broken and empty, she gently rubbed a hand on his back, hoping to soothe the awful coughs, but it didn't seem to help.

"Mm… E-Em… Emi…" He wheezed, his voice crackling wetly in an unnatural way. "M… sorr-" He spat a glob of brightly-colored blood onto the ground, wiped his mouth on his sleeve, then shakily wrapped his arms around his little sister. “I'm sorry… I’m so sorry… I didn’t-” He buried her face in her hair as sobs wracked his body, “I-I didn’t want you to see that, Emi…”

“Why, Aichi?” She sniffled, “Why would you want to just die like that? In such an awful way? I don’t understand…"

At this he only sobbed harder. She couldn't help but be a little hurt that he wouldn't say, but she had the feeling that pushing it would make him feel worse.

"I don't understand any of this," She murmured, burying her face in the front of his jacket.

"I know… I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I’m sorry…" He repeated over and over, as if it were some sort of mantra that would save him from whatever nightmarish feelings must have tortured him in that moment.

It made her very sad and uncomfortable, and she felt a burst of relief when she heard urgent footsteps plodding up the stairs. Mom would know what to do. She could handle anything.

But when her mother stood in the doorway, taking in the scene in front of her, her face took on a look that Emi had never seen before. Whether it was anguish, fury, or both, she couldn't tell. But she certainly wasn't expecting her to lunge forward and deliver Aichi a vicious backhand.

For a moment he seemed shell shocked, cupping his hand where hers had made contact. But the shame quickly returned to his posture and he turned away from them, shoulders slumping in defeat and remorse. It made the inside of Emi's stomach prickle, but she was too confused to get properly angry at their mother. Emi had never seen her mom do anything like that before.

“Emi," Her mom addressed her, somewhat coldly. The slight wrinkling on her face was more defined than usual. Emi didn't like it. Her mom was supposed to be kind and gentle, not angry and tired. "Go to your room.”

“But-”

“Please don’t argue with me right now!” She had barked this out like an order, but it was muffled and bubbly beneath the thin liquids that were beginning to run from her eyes and nose.

On shaky legs, Emi outwardly complied, but hastily camped out in the shadow of Aichi’s door.

“Why?” She finally addressed him after Emi was out of sight.

He sniffed wetly, but didn’t respond, only picking at the carpet with a guilty, sullen expression.

“Why won’t you talk to me, Aichi!” She yelled, sudden and anguished, “Don’t think I don’t notice the scars, and the scuffs, and the bruises! We could be doing something about it, Aichi, we could be making things so much better for you! Instead, you just hide from everyone, all the time, you snap at me when I ask, and then you do this?”

“I-”

“Did you think about my feelings at all? That I would come to wake you up in the morning and find you hanging from the ceiling? About the phone call I would have to make to your father?” She continued, not even acknowledging Aichi’s attempt to speak; she was on a roll. “And your little sister? Who walked in on you? Who- who had to-” She sobbed harshly, shakily picking up the scissors from the pile of twine shavings they lay in, “Cut you down…”

“I- I’m sorry!” He whimpered, high and hysterical, “I didn’t know! I didn’t want to hurt you guys,” He sobbed, voice cracking on every word, “I love you guys so much! I would never-” His voice caught and he began hacking a spritz of red onto his sleeve. Their mother gasped, running her fingers gently along the thick line around Aichi’s neck that was beginning to turn from red to purple. "It's just too much..." He whimpered, "I can't take it anymore... I can't get away from them..."

Wordlessly, she grabbed his jacket from where it hung on his door and slung it over his shoulders, gently maneuvering each arm into the sleeves as if he were a child. He didn’t try to fight this, accepting her hand as she helped him to stand up.

“We have to go to the ER to get your neck looked at, okay? …I know today’s been very rough for you. I’m so sorry, sweetie. I’m sorry…” She whined, her voice high and tight, “I guess I’m all mixed up, too.”

It suddenly occurred to Emi that her mother was a person. Not in the literal sense, of course she’d always known that obvious fact, but her mother was almost always so calm, so gentle, so well put together. Now, what seemed obvious was the hurt and frustration she’d been repressing for a long time.

Hitting and yelling at Aichi after he’d almost died was probably not what a good mother would do, but being a parent didn’t make you perfect, she supposed.

Aichi nodded, not making eye contact with her as he absent-mindedly rubbed at his neck. She gently caressed the red mark where the back of her hand had met his face, then planted a soft kiss on the top of his head.

“Wha- what about Emi?”

She hesitated. “Let’s let her sleep, Aichi. We’ll deal with it tomorrow, okay?”

Emi tried to back up further into the shadows to hide, as they soberly left the room, but her position was immediately compromised when their mother pulled the door shut behind them and flipped on the lights.

“Emi…” Her mom acknowledged, with exasperation but no anger. “I said to go to your room, didn’t I?”

“...I’m sorry. I wanted to make sure he was okay.”

Her mother gave her a sad smile, softly rustling her hair. “I’m going to take your brother to the doctor for his neck. You try and get some sleep, okay? We'll talk about this in the morning. Set your alarm in case we’re not back yet by then, alright?"

Emi nodded, and her mother knelt down to plant a kiss on her forehead. "I love you both, so much, okay?"

"...love you too," Emi murmured, eyes still trained on the thick purple line that circled her brother's neck. The bruises blossomed out in splotches, almost like a ring of purple flowers. He kept touching it. She kind of wanted to touch it, too. It seemed unreal, like the makeup they did when someone got hurt in the movies.

“...sorry, Emi…” Her brother said, again, looking away regretfully and covering the injury with his hand as the two of them continued down the stairs and out of her sight, leaving her to stand in the shadows, consumed by the most conflicting whirl of emotions she’d ever felt.

#cardfight!! vanguard #aichi sendou #emi sendou #fanfiction #cfv #my fics #tw: suicide attempt #tw: bullying #angst #whump

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