Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The air was bristling with high energy as two hooded figures stood on a cliff, far away from the capital crystal tower, where they actually should have been.
“Are you certain, we shouldn’t first discuss this with the others?” spoke one of the figures with a disembodied voice, wrapped in a blood red cloth, eyes glowing blue as she spoke.
“As if they’d ever listen. Besides, we don’t need their permission to pursue our plan. After all, we are working towards the same goal~” replied the other figure, hooded in fabrics of purple and black. He stretched out an arm to open a rift in the air with purple aura surrounding it, working as a portal to another world. The inside of the rift looked like a galaxy, full of stars and a deep blue, not like the scarlet sky above them. He turned to his partner and held out a clawed hand as he spoke to her with gentle violet eyes:”You trust me, don’t you?”
Without hesitation the other figure laid her slender light pink hand into his, intertwining their fingers, as she walked to stand next to him.
“Always.”
Tightening the hold on their hands, they stepped through the portal together, the rift closing right behind them.

They instantly felt the change in their bodies. No more stone as limbs, instead they immediately felt the soft flesh of the others hand. They looked at each other curiously and though they did look different, outside of their true form, one look into each other’s eyes and they knew it was still the same person standing at their side.
Instead of their cloths, they both now wore a middle school uniform, perfect for their undercover plan, as if their thoughts alone were enough to conjure them up. A giggle escaped the now young looking girl.
“What?” asked the equally changed boy, not even trying to hide the amusement in his voice.
“Your hair. It’s orange” she said smiling and reaching out to touch it. She was surprised how soft it now was, compared to the grey stone it normally was.
“And yours is shorter” he giggled, moving his hand to pick out a lost strand, admiring her way shorter, but still pink hair. He moved the strand to his head, leaning forward to kiss it while saying: “But still as beautiful as always.”
A pink blush dusted over her cheeks, still being weak for his charms after all this time together.
“Shouldn’t we move towards the location of the Astral being?”
He hummed, appearing to be in thought about it.
“Yeah, we probably should. - But first!”
He suddenly moved to take her face into his hands, cupping her still blushing cheeks.
Looking at her mischievously, he proclaimed: “I’d like to try something first with these new assets to our faces.”
He moved closer to her face and put their lips together for a sweet kiss, the softness of it being new to them, yet somehow familiar…
They both closed their eyes and leaned into each other, leaning into the warm feeling spreading through their chests at the tender contact.
This felt completely different, but also very similar to the way Barians kissed.
Whereas a human kiss was a touch of lips, a Barian kiss was a touch of gems on their bodies, since Barians don’t possess any kind of mouth.
They separated after a certain amount of time, being reminded, that as humans they now had to breathe.
Still looking into each other’s eyes, the female teasingly pushed his chest.
“Of course, this is the first thing you do.”
“Hey, I just couldn’t resist. Who even allowed you to be so gorgeous in every form you take? You should blame the one responsible for that, not me! I’m just a victim!”
She booped his nose, when he gave her the “innocent puppy” eyes, reminding him of their actual goal here. They once again took each other’s hands and were off to find the one they’re searching for.
The human inhabiting the power of Zexal.

~~~~~~~~~~

They both looked through the glass wall in front of them, eyeing the group of young individuals after they had defeated the opponents sent under Barian influence. (The light green hue of aura around them indicated that it was Girag who had put them under Barian control.) Or rather they celebrated a single boy, who defeated the big boss of the group.
It was him, no doubt. The human with the Astral being at his side.
Yuma Tsukumo.
Silently standing next to each other, the two of them kept observing the scene under them, while the male’s face slowly stretched into a smirk, excited for the thrill awaiting them.

Chapter Text

Alcora knew better than to be worried, but she just couldn’t help herself. Sitting in a classroom full of middle schoolers, she kept looking over to the watch hanging on the wall. Already ten minutes late she sighed in thought. Vector had told her about his “genius pan” for meeting their target Yuma Tsukumo and about the so called “Rei- Way”. She didn’t really know what it meant, but when she had asked, if she should come along, he had just stared at her with a blank face and frankly told her to never go the Rei-Way. So she had just went to school alone, where she was still waiting for Vector and Yuma to show up.
Of course that had meant, she had to stand at the front of the classroom alone and introduce herself as one of the new students, Akiko Airi. It had been fairly easy using their Barian powers to convince the principal, that yes, they were indeed new students.
He had asked no questions whatsoever.
She knew, nothing bad would happen to her lover, since this was Vector.
But also anything could happen, since this was Vector.
She looked at the clock again. Twenty minutes now.
Just as she was about to sigh out loud this time, the classroom door suddenly burst open and a loud voice proclaimed: “Ta-da~! Sorry we kept you all waiting!”
Alcora recognised him, before she even turned around. Like she had thought, nothing bad had happened, yet she still couldn’t hold back a little sigh of relief at seeing him.
Every other student also turned around now, very confused as to who this was what he was doing here.
“I brought the crown jewel of the school, Yuma Tsukumo!” Vector announced as he reached behind the wall and pulled a very much bruised and disoriented Yuma to his side. At this point Alcora didn’t even want to know what this “Rei-Way” was anymore, if that was how you’d look afterwards. She assumed that was the reason, why he so blatantly refused to let her come with him.
As Vector was looking around the room, he eventually made eye contact with Alcora giving her a slightly larger smile, which probably only she noticed.
“Wh-What on earth happened to you, Yuma?” asked the teacher, probably just as shocked as all the others.
Alcora made a little gesture towards the clock and when Vector followed her gaze he hastily said: “Oh, I’m a bit late.”
It was certainly more than just a bit, but before Alcora could signal that to him somehow, he had already begun talking again, while also letting go of Yuma (who had sunken rather roughly to the ground).
“I’m one of the students transferring to this class starting today. My name is Rei Shingetsu! Pleased to meet everyone!”
Everyone had sunken into a rather uncomfortable silence, still being shocked about the situation, while Alcora was still in awe over how changed his behaviour is. Of course, Alcora was aware of her beloved’s amazing acting skills, but it was still rather weird (though also strangely comforting, for some reason?) to see him act this way.
“That aside”, the teacher picked up again, “You’re both still twenty minutes late.”
That seemed to wake Yuma up, as both boys let out a sound of shock.
Vector looked over at Alcora again and she just looked at him, as to say I tried to tell you. The teacher told them both with a sigh to sit down and they walked defeated into the classroom. Yuma sat down at his seat and Vector was already instinctively trying to slide next to Alcora, when he was stopped.
“Ah! No, Rei. Masumi normally sits there, but she is sick today. You have to pick out another seat.”
Alcora could feel, that the shock on his face was very much not acted. He looked down at her with big sad puppy eyes and she could only shrug her shoulders, as he slowly moved towards the only other free seat at the other side of the classroom.
If there would have been a free table for two, she naturally would have jumped at it. But since this wasn’t the case, they both just had to live with this for now.

The second the bell rang for lunch, every single student rushed outside to either eat or talk with their friends. Yuma and his clique were no different and got out of the classroom immediately, probably trying to get away from the strange new student.
Alcora trailed a bit behind to try and follow them unnoticed, when she suddenly felt familiar arms embracing her from behind. They stopped in the middle of the hall and got some strange looks, but those were probably still from Vector‘s great show entrance.
„Shouldn’t we follow them?“ she whispered to him, curious as to why he has stopped her.
He groaned into her shoulder and murmured: ”No, just wait for a bit. The seeds of my Plan have been planted. Besides I need to recharge my Battery.“
He murmured the rest into the crook of her neck, making it inaudible for her, except for some little things like Stupid teacher and separating us.
She let out a soft giggle and gently took his hands off her waist to pull him with her.
„Come on, you big baby. Let’s go somewhere more private, I want to hear all about your morning!“
They walked down a more secluded part of the hallway, where Vector told her all about the route he had taken that morning with Yuma.
“Oh- You should have seen his face when we reached the underground tunnel! Haha, he really didn’t question anything! I mean, how can anyone be so gullible!?”
Vector was almost roaring with laughter, just as maniacal as back home, when making up his plans. The other Barians never understood how Alcora could listen to it, while looking absolutely smitten. Now wasn’t different, but suddenly she was distracted by something in the corner of her eye. She walked towards the side of the hallway and looked out the glass wall, down into the courtyard, where a small crowd was building up all around a young man. But not only down there did a crowd seem to build. Alcora noticed more and more students moving in the hall and going to stand at the glass window-wall to stare at the display down below as well. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, but didn’t flinch, since she immediately felt, that it was Vector.
“Honey, don’t just walk away without saying anything!”
“Oh- I’m sorry, dear! But take a look down there. I wonder why everyone is so drawn to that man?”
“Are you kidding!?” was almost screamed at Alcora from the side. A female student from the second year, as she could tell by the uniform, stared at her with a shocked face.
“No… Why?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know Daisuke Katagiri?! He is one of the best Pro-Duelists and super dreamy on top!”
Alcora looked down again to take a closer look at this pro-duelist. Personally she didn’t really think he looked that impressive, but he must have been considered attractive enough for these humans.
“Hmph, I don’t really think he’s all that…” Vector whispered to her, just loud enough only for her to hear. She could imagine the backlash that comment would have caused, if the other students had heard him.
Everyone around them was now talking about this guy, but one conversation specifically caught her attention.
“You think that Yuma guy wants to duel him, too?”
“Of course! I bet he’ll be one of the first in Daisuke’s duel class later. Oh! Do you think we’ll have the chance to ask for his autograph?”
Alcora glanced to her left and saw Vector slightly nod, indicating that he also had heard the conversation. Well, now they knew where Yuma would be next.
Suddenly both of them felt a familiar energy, even though it was rather faint. They looked around and spotted Girag coming around the corner, who also seemed to notice the whole commotion now.
Vector and Alcora quickly spun around and made a beeline towards the next exit from the hall. None of the other Barians knew they were here and the both of them certainly didn’t want to test if one would recognise them both. They were already suppressing their chaos energy as much as they could, so they wouldn’t get unwanted attention from individuals, who could sense it, like the Astral-Being bound to Yuma. But who knew, if it would work with their fellow Barians. So for now, that just meant avoiding direct contact with Girag as much as possible.

Alcora had guessed many students wanted to join the extra-lesson being held by the pro-duelist, but she truly had underestimated just how many students. The guy sometimes had to take on four opponents at once, so that everyone could eventually get their chance. And while he did manage to defeat all of them, Alcora thought of him as… not that special. It didn’t mean much if all his opponents are just beginner students instead of serious threats. The humans may have celebrated him and his supposed strength, but he was just a newbie compared to the duelists, or rather warriors, back home, that would show their strength in Barian Fighting-tournaments now and then, Vector being one of the more recent winners.
They were standing on the second floor, looking down at the current duel being once again won by the Pro-Duelist and followed up by him saying: “Don’t whine, keep enjoying the duelling!”
As if working as a spell, all the young female students squealed and began to crowd around him again and practically begging for more of his duelling. Alcora seriously did not understand the appeal about him, but maybe that was just her long and happy relationship with Vector speaking, since she has never been attracted to another individual than him. She got pulled out of her thought by another praise of the pro-duelist, but this time from Yuma Tsukumo.
“Man, that Pro-Duelist is awesome! Argh, I wanna duel him, too!”
Beside her Vector saw his chance and jumped at it by yelling: “Got it, Yuma!”
This caught Yuma’s attention as he now looked up to see both Vector and Alcora on the second floor.
“Leave the duel with that Daisuke guy to me! Rei here will get it done for you! Come on, Akiko!” He grabbed Alcora’s arm and bolted out of there, ignoring Yuma’s following protests. Once they were out of earshot, Alcora felt safe enough to ask what that was about.
“For my plan to work, we need to build up enough trust with that naive human! So we’ll just be as nice and helpful as possible. For now at least.”
Trusting his decision, Alcora suggested searching outside for him, since he couldn’t have gotten far in that small amount of time. But after some minutes of looking for him, they found nothing.
“That’s strange” Vector murmured.
“If he had gone to a locker room or something, shouldn’t he have come back by now?” wondered Alcora aloud. But then Vector nudged her shoulder saying with a bright expression: “Honey, look! There he is!”
Truly, walking down one of the school’s paths was the Pro-Duelist.
Alcora called out to him as they tried to catch up: “Mister Pro-Duelist! Please wait a moment! We have something we’d like to ask you!”
“Yes, we wanted to ask if you could duel a student named Yuma Tsukumo.”
He abruptly turned around with a crazed look in his eyes.
“Yuma Tsukumo?!”
Alcora and Vector immediately felt the faint Barian energy coming from him. They quickly shared a look, confirming their suspicion.
Girag.
“Honey, go and get Yuma” he whispered to her and quickly regained his surprised and sort of scared look as Rei, as she nodded and quickly ran into the other direction. She knew what his plan was and she knew that for it, Vector would pretend to be a lousy duelist and maybe even get hurt unintentionally. She was aware that it was part of the plan, but it still made her anxious, knowing that he’ll likely get hurt.
Luckily she didn’t have to search that long and quickly found Yuma and two of his friends.
“Yuma!”
The group in front of her stopped and looked curiously at her seemingly breathless form.
“Hey, don’t I know you?”
“Yes, I’m Akiko Airi, the other transferring student in your class. But that’s unimportant right now! Rei needs your help!”
“You know where Rei is?” The green haired girl, Kotori, spoke up.
“We were just searching for him and-“
A sudden scream interrupted her. Vector’s scream. She knew it was staged.
It was staged. But she still felt scared hearing it.
“Please! Follow me!”
Her fear must have come off as very convincing, as the others quickly followed her back to where Vector and the Pro were. Probably because it was only half acted.
When they arrived Vector was already lying on the ground, almost defeated. It made Alcora’s heart sting.
“Tell me where Yuma Tsukumo is this instant!”
“Never! It’s for the best, so I won’t tell!”
“Then I’ll just beat you to a pulp. Take that, direct attack!”
She knew Vector was just laying it on thick, but the scream he let out as he was defeated still made shivers run down her spine.
“Rei!” Yuma and her yelled simultaneously as they ran towards him.
Alcora carefully cradled him in her arms as he spoke to Yuma.
“Yuma, I’m sorry… I thought it was for the best…”
“Rei…” Yuma’s gaze turned from worried to enraged as he looked at Daisuke Katagiri demanding to know what he did. From the corner of her eye Alcora catches a slight smirk Vector was sending her.
Everything was going according to plan.
The Barian symbol now appeared on Daisuke’s forehead, revealing him to be under Barian control, just as they had thought.
“Yuma Tsukumo, I’m going to bury you with the power of Barian!”
“I don’t care if it’s Barian or whatever, I’ll crush you!”
And like that the both of them got ready to duel, while Alcora was helping Vector get off the duelling field, though she could tell, that he was perfectly capable of walking himself. She sent him a look saying just that, which he returned with a look of his own saying Yes, but I like your hands on me~.
She was lucky the others were already too absorbed in the ongoing duel to notice the blush forming on her face.
But soon it was clear, that the duel was not in Yuma’s favour, losing more and more life points, leaving him with only 100, when Rei suddenly spoke up:
“Please stop this! I’ll do anything, just let Yuma off the hook!”
Alcora looked at him slightly shocked.
What are you doing?
Winning his trust.
“Rei, you idiot, what are you talking about?!”
Vector’s attention shifted back to Yuma.
“Please, Yuma. Run away!”
“Rei…”
Though the pro-duelist didn’t seem very impressed by that.
“Seriously, you’re pulling the friendship is magic bullshit? You’re such a loser.”
Alcora could practically feel Vector’s inner ego slightly cracking at the idea of being associated with something like the “magic of friendship”. But then Yuma spoke up:
“He is not a loser! He’s just a guy who thinks positively and stumbles recklessly into things!”
Well, at least the second part was true.
“Rei, I swear I’ll win this duel for you, too!”

And win he did, once he managed to turn the tables. As Yuma’s win was announced, Alcora could feel the faint Barian energy leaving the duellists body, making him return to normal and question what he was doing here. Figures, that he wouldn’t remember being controlled. Suddenly Yuma crouched down to one knee with a groan.
They all quickly ran worriedly towards him, Vector arriving first.
“Yuma, are you ok?? Here, get on my back! Off to the infirmary.”
“Hey, Rei…”
“Huh?”
“I was able to win, because of you. Thanks a bunch!” he said as he got on Vector’s back.
“Rei, Akiko, from today on you’re one of us!”
“Yes, thank you! It’s for the best.” Vector replied, sending a Quick Look towards Alcora.
Told you it would work~.
Before Alcora could even reply in any way, Vector was already bolting off, not waiting for Yuma to properly hold on, which caused quite the amusing display.
“Hey, W-Wait a minute! Rei! I’ve had more than enough of what you think is best!”
Alcora and the others just watched as Yuma got dragged off, but Alcora couldn’t help herself, but laugh out loud. Yes, these silly antics were exactly why she fell in love with him…

Later, when the sun had already set, both Vector and Alcora got back to where they were staying while being in the human world.
An open meadow in the woods outside the city. Of course they didn’t walk all the way there, they had just waited until there were no people around, so they could simply teleport back.
Now they were lying on a large boulder, that was surprisingly soft, due to it being overgrown by moss, cuddling and enjoying each other’s company.
“You know what’s stupid?” Alcora spoke into the comfortable silence.
“Hmm, the way that Yuma kid just trusted me so quickly? I mean honestly, even I thought it would take a bit more than that to earn his trust.”
She let out a nervous laugh and continued:
“No, not that, sweetie. I meant how… I was actually kind of scared, seeing you all roughed up.”
The amusement went out of Vector’s face as he looked at her slightly concerned.
“Honey, you know that was nothing for me. Just look at me now, I’m already all better.”
It was true. Once they got back to the meadow, Vector used a small part of his power to heal the scratches and slight bruises he got. He looked like he’d never even fought in a duel.
“Hah… I-I know, that’s why I said it was stupid.”
And she felt even more stupid, feeling tears coming to her eyes. Honestly, it really was not a big deal, but her body just didn’t seem to obey her.
Seeing this, Vector sat up, softly holding her in his arms and reaching out a hand to wipe the unshed tears.
“Hey, no, it’s not stupid at all. I’m sorry for scaring you.”
He kissed her forehead and whispered: “I’ll try to be more careful in the future, ok?”
Alcora giggled softly and added: “As careful as you can be, when taking the Rei-Way every day, I assume?”
“Well, I guess Akiko just has to deal with a slightly bruised Rei in school.”
“Good thing then, that Akiko loves Rei enough to let that slide.”
They put their foreheads together and gently gazed into each other’s eyes.
“I think Rei loves Akiko, too.”
“You only think so?”
“Alright, I know so” he giggled in response.
No more words were said after that, as they huddled closer and shared sone soft and gentle kisses, before finally going to sleep.

Chapter Text

There was a slight tension in the air, as all students in the room looked towards the digital projection showing the votes for class-rep. It wasn’t really that serious to Alcora, especially since this whole “voting” stuff was still new to her. Back home they never voted for their leader. They all had just known, ever since being created from rock and crystal, that Nasch was their leader and always would be.
Until 10 years ago.
But it had been a fact even Vector couldn’t deny, hence being reason for all his plans and schemes.
Her focus went back to the front of the room, where the results were now being shown. The vote had ended with Yuma as the winner, leading by 2 votes. Said student was sleeping peacefully on his desk, completely unaware of the ongoing event. Though he was soon waken up by Kotori.
“H-Huh? What?“
“Yuma, you won the election for class-rep!”
“What!?” That seemed to wake him up completely, standing up from his seat in shock even.
“But I didn’t even volunteer!”
Vector hurried from his seat to Yuma’s side to proclaim: “I nominated you, as I thought it was for the best! Isn’t it great Yuma?”
Everyone started to gather around Yuma’s seat now to congratulate and encourage him, which ended in him standing on his table while proclaiming all the things he would enable as class-rep, like “being late is ok” or “it is allowed to eat lunch early”.
Alcora let out a little chuckle, when hearing all this and went over to Vector and whispered: “Is this why you nominated him?” He gave her a mischievous smirk in return and whispered back: “Kind of. Just look at him, he’s just hilarious to watch! But also…” Vector slightly motioned for her to look at the class entrance and when she did, she saw another student, seemingly from the third year. It was the student council president, as could be seen from his arm badge. But when Alcora took a closer look, she could sense a slightly green energy around him.
Ah, so that’s why.
“You’re just making Girag’s job easier, you know that, right?”
They could safely whisper about it, as the commotion around Yuma didn’t die down in the slightest and no one paid attention to the two of them.
Vector let out a little *Tsk!* and said: “Yeah, yeah… but the meathead would get no progress whatsoever other wise. And I think we should give our dear Yuma a challenge now and then.” Just as he said that, Yuma fell right in front of them off the table on the ground, probably having misstepped or tripped.
They both flinched slightly and Alcora spoke with a sweat: “I think a challenge would do him good, now and then. If he manages to stay on two feet.”

Later on lunch break, they sat together with Yuma and his friend group on the roof. Or rather just with his friend group, since Yuma decided to just go right back to sleep when arriving. They just started leisurely talking about some topics like school and duelling until Kotori’s face suddenly lit up.
“By the way, Akiko, you and Rei seem to know each other really well. Did you two go to the same school before transferring here?”
“Oh, not only that. We’ve known each other since forever.”
Which was true, they’ve known each other ever since they climbed out of their crystals. Each and every one of the Barians climbed out of a crystal, which would be considered their birth. Though they were never babies, they look just like they did all those years ago.
“Whoah, so you’ve been dealing with him since you were children, huh?”
“You could say that, yeah.”
Now Vector suddenly chimed in and interlaced his and Alcora’s hands.
“We’ve also been dating for one and a half years!”
“What!?” Now everyone’s attention was on them.
Of course they’ve been together for far, far longer, but the real number of 2019 years, would hardly be believable. They both had brainstormed about their “human backgrounds” and what to say about their past, when deciding on a name, before starting their mission. Alcora had just mashed together the names of two actresses, that she saw on movie posters in the city, but when asking her partner about his choice of the name “Rei”, he had just shrugged with an absent kind of look on his face and said, that it just felt right.
But going back to the present, everyone was now staring shockingly at them.
“Ehm, no offence, Rei, but…” began Tetsuo, one of Yuma’s best friends, if Alcora remembered right.
“How exactly did you pull her?”
“Tetsuo!” Kotori looked like she was bout to smack him, but Alcora quickly put her hand on her shoulder to stop her from it and said with a chuckle: “No, no! It’s alright.”
Vector leaned forward, as if wanting to tell a secret, but not whispering in the slightest: “Honestly, I have no idea.”
Everyone, including Alcora, sweat dropped at this, while Vector was looking almost proud at his statement. Probably because it was truthful nonetheless. Both of them didn’t really know exactly when it sparked between them. It just did. Or maybe they’ve always had a thing for each other and didn’t notice until a while later. But the more they stayed together, the more they knew, that they belonged together. Neither of them could ever imagine themselves with another partner.
The small boy, Tokunosuke, sighed and said: “So we finally know someone with a girlfriend and he can’t even give us hints on how to get one. You probably don’t even know how to get a girl’s number, do you?” Vector only sheepishly put a hand on his neck and laughed nervously. Tetsuo suddenly seemed to remember something and fumbled around in is bag.
“Talking about numbers, guys…“ He took out a card and proudly presented it to the group. On it were his face and name and written in large letters “The numbers club.“
“Ta-da!“
“What’s that?“ asked Tokunosuke as he moved closer to get a better look at it.
“It’s a membership card of the numbers club.”
“Really?!“ Tori gasped “Tetsuo, did you make it yourself?“
Tetsuo’s only response was a proud smirk on his face and took out three more cards, for Kotori, Tokunosuke and Cathy.
“Here is one for everyone else too“ he said as he handed them to the others.
They all looked at their member cards with astonished gazes. Vector and Alcora stared at the cards from behind. She had to admit, they did look pretty decent for being made by the student himself. Vector immediately leaped forward asking for one of his own.
“Please let me join the numbers club too!“ he pleaded while leaning way too much into Tetsuo‘s personal space. But it was nothing new for Alcora. For 2019 years her personal space just also had become Vector‘s personal space. He really had no restraint, moving directly into people’s faces, probably way too close for their comfort. The other Barians all had plenty of experience with that too.
Tetsuo moved to the side, to get away from Vector‘s face while saying: “Yeah, ok sure. You‘ll also get a member card-“
He was suddenly interrupted by the sharp trill of a whistle. It was Takashi Todoroki, the former class-rep, but wearing a very strange outfit. He also had two other students in the same dark cyan robes with him.
He introduced himself as the new “Special Disciplinary Commander“ at which the others, aliens included, just stared at him in confusion. He explained how he had to check that every rule of the school would be upheld and proclaimed that Tetsuo broke one, by bringing “unwanted objects to school“ while planting a yellow card with a red symbol on his forehead.
“If you collect 10 of these points you gain suspension. 30 of them will get you expelled.“ While everyone was still utterly confused with the situation, Yuma peacefully continued his nap, not perceiving anything of what was going on right now.

Alcora never would have thought, that a being besides Vector could be so persistent. Takashi had been giving out the “punishment points“ left and right for the rest of the day. It was already the next day and he was still going strong.
When lunch break had arrived, Kotori and two of her girl friends had suddenly dragged her off, as Kotori had told them about her relationship with the energetic carrot-head.
“Akiko, you’re one of the first girls in class to have a relationship, what is it like?!“
“Yeah, we want to know some first hand experience!“
She never got the names of these girls and quite frankly she didn’t care about them either, as they were slightly starting to annoy her. Her love life was very much none of their business, but wanting to up hold her cover, she just gave some simple and basic answers. Things that she thought normal human boyfriends would also do. Which apparently was the wrong approach.
“No way, he remembers all of your anniversaries?“
“Forget that! What about the fact he gives her flowers almost every day!?”
“I think the sweetest thing is how he always shows his affection for you in public and isn’t embarrassed in the slightest, Akiko! I wish the other boys were that open with their emotions.”
Alcora was, simply put, confused. Was this not the basic norm for every court- or rather relationship? All the other Barian relationships she’s ever seen had always done similar things. Barians were pretty possessive, but also affectionate beings, stemming from the fact, that Barians tend to only ever pursue one partner and one partner only for their whole life. So they were always very content and happy with their relationship.
“Is this… not the basic treatment?” Alcora asked cautiously.
“Oh, I wish it was! You’re really lucky, Akiko. Rei seems to practically worship the ground you walk on! If only I could ever find myself a guy like that.”
Alcora slightly blushed at the sentence. Not one moment went by, after Vector had officially announced their relationship to the others, where he didn’t show his affection and love towards her. Constantly holding her and cuddling up to her, sending little love letters on paper plains through the classroom, always landing precisely where she sat, carrying her books, carrying her bags, even carrying her.
Yeah, he was really going at it. He was slowly beginning to act like he did back home in barian world with her.
They continued walking, as Alcora could see the other guys, plus Vector excitedly waving at her. She smiled and started walking down the stairs slightly faster.
“Oh, speaking of Rei, just now in class he-”
Suddenly a wind gust went by and the girls skirts almost came up. They all quickly held them down with surprised shouts, blushing all the while. Who had even come up with these short skirts? The sound of a whistle got their attention, as Takashi and his two followers held four cards at them with a rapidly growing blush on their cheeks.
“Mini-Skirts are banned!”
“It’s the school uniform!” shouted the other girls and threw their shoes at them shouting stuff as “perverts!” and “how dare you!” and angrily walked away.
Alcora just slowly looked up again towards the other guys, who had witnessed the commotion and were respectfully looking away with a blush on their cheeks. Only Vector had vanished, but she quickly regained sight of him, as he was approaching Takashi and the others with a- Was that a wooden log?! Where did he even get one? He had a blank look on his face and seemingly got ready to strike them. Alcora hurriedly walked towards him and shoved him back while trying to take the log out of his hands.
“No- Vector, No!” she harshly whispered at him while trying to push him back.
“They deserve it.” He whispered back, his words oozing with murderous intent.
“No, Vector! Stop! NO murder while we’re here!” Somehow she managed to drag him away, miraculously without anyone noticing them and threw the wooden log to the side.
“Keep acting like this and you’re sleeping alone tonight!” This seemed to finally get him out of it a bit and he just pouted, while letting her drag him away, but not without still grumbling some death threats under his breath.

Alcora was actually kind of glad, when everything was resolved again. Girag’s Plan may have failed, but it had been starting to annoy even her, so she was glad when she heard about Yuma’s win in his duel with the possessed student council president.
Even Takashi apologised for his behaviour.
“Everyone… I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done. My actions were horrible… I…”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, it’s alright, not that big of a deal.”
Takashi had been stunned to hear how easily they were willing to forgive him. Alcora had to admit, that, while being bad, those were not the worst actions. Alcora has seen far crueler deeds, Vector’s included, but she knew it was different for a kid, who hasn’t seen the worst of the world yet.
She had stepped forward, taken his hands and said: “Takashi, as long as you truly regret your actions and are working to redeem yourself, you can be sure that the people closest to you will always forgive you. You can trust me on that.”
While facing Takashi, Alcora missed the distant look in Vector’s eyes, as he seemed to be deep in thought, but he quickly recovered and went back to his Rei-Personailty to not raise any suspicion.

Later that evening, back at their little campsite, Alcora and Vector laid next to each other in silence, just watching the stars with their fingers intertwined, the sounds of nature around them filling the air like soft music.
They stared up at the big dipper, that was also always visible in Barian world.
Its stars were not shining as bright as they used to.
“Do you think the others have already noticed, that we’re missing?” Alcora softly whispered, not wanting to speak loudly with the peaceful atmosphere around them.
“I don’t think so.” He whispered back. “Maybe you, but definitely not me. They’ll think we’ve wandered off somewhere again to be alone.”
“I guess they’ll reach out to us in, if we’re needed.”
Alcora reached inside the top of her school uniform to take out the necklace with her Baria Lapis on it. She and Vector hid it under their clothes, aware that the small chaos energy around it may trigger Astral, when wearing it out and about.
If one of the others wanted to contact them, the gems would glow and let them know, when they’re needed. But they’d probably rather contact Alcora than Vector, except something very serious happens. Alcora just hopes it won’t come to that too soon.

Chapter Text

Have you ever looked at someone and immediately gotten an off feeling about them? That is what Alcora was feeling that particular day, when meeting Ryouga Kamishiro.
The day had started fairly uneventful, when Alcora decided to look into Girag‘s current plans. Although she and Vector had non-verbally agreed to stay out of his path, Alcora at least wanted to know what he was planning to sort of be prepared for what he was going to throw into Yuma‘s way. So she‘s decided to follow Girag around today while keeping a fair distance. Even though she didn’t think it was really necessary. Don’t get her wrong, she loves Girag like a big brother, but even she knew that he wasn’t the brightest star in the sky, only further proven by the fact that he has not recognised her and Vector yet.
Anyhow, since she was still posing as a student, Alcora could only follow him around in the lunch break and free periods. He didn’t actually seem to be doing much, just lounging around the school, looking grumpy, probably planning Yuma Tsukumo‘s demise.
She could tell he missed Alito.
Then finally after that last period, Girag actually seemed to be going somewhere. Though Alcora didn’t expect him to head to the Manga Club of all places. She noticed that the door didn’t close completely, so she carefully stepped closer and leaned into the opening to maybe listen in on what was going on.
“You remember your mission?“ she could hear Girag‘s deep voice say.
“Yes, master Girag. Find out Yuma Tsukumo‘s weakness. For Barian World.“
“What the hell are you doing?“ she suddenly heard behind her.
She flinched and turned around to look into ocean blue eyes, that stared her down.
Out of nowhere an image flashed before her eyes, too fast for her to actually register what she saw, but it somehow incredibly unsettled her. A sudden headache followed it, as if to say this student was bad news. He raised an eyebrow at her, not only in question about her weird behaviour, but also as a reminder, that he had asked her a question.
Alcora quickly tried to recollect her thoughts and search for a reasonable answer in her head. But all she could hear were alarm bells ringing, though for the love of Barian World, she could not imagine why this simple human could cause such an intense reaction from her. The only thing she could force out of her mouth was an unintelligible: „U-Um… Ah…“ Not her best moment.
The purple haired boy’s eyes slightly widened for a second, seeming to recognise her, which somehow put even more fear into her.
“Hey, wait a second… Aren’t you one of the new twerps hanging around Yuma so much?“
He suddenly stepped even closer to her, trapping her against the hallway wall. This was ridiculous! She was a Barian emperor, how could this human have such a terrifying impact on her?
“I don’t know who exactly you are or where the hell you came from, but I have a major bad feeling about you.“
Well, that feeling was very much mutual.
“So I’m only going to say this once. If you lay a single finger on Yuma or cause him any harm, you’ll have to deal with me and I assure you, it won‘t be as nice as this encounter.“
With that he moved away, continuing his way down the hallway.
Alcora was standing there stunned, unable to move for multiple minutes.
What just happened?
She has never felt this vulnerable - this scared of anyone - since…
Since Nasch.

Safe to say, Alcora felt very uneasy after that encounter. She had completely forgotten why she was even in that hallway to begin with until she had heard footsteps and someone coming out of the clubroom. She bolted right out of there, in fear of getting caught by another person, or worse Girag himself. She continued running until she was out of the building. Once she was in the clear, she leaned against the wall and slowly slid down until she was sitting on the ground, her knees perched up in front of her. The frightened feeling slowly died down, the more deep breaths she took. But the less she felt scared, the more she felt ashamed. What would the other Barians say, if they saw her like this? Almost quivering in fear, just because of a mere human. But it wasn’t just any human was it? She was certain, that boy was Ryouga Kamsishiro, one of Yuma‘s stronger friends. Though that still didn’t explain why his presence was so incredibly intimidating to her.
She looked up and saw said boy just leaving the school grounds in that moment. She didn’t know what to make of his warning, if what he said wasn’t already a threat. Of course she wouldn’t back down from her plan, she wouldn’t let herself get scared out of it by a human. Her pride as a Barian Emperor was on the line here! Besides, she never would be able to look into the eyes of her friends again, if she were to stop just because of something insignificant like this - like fear.
She was already known as the weakest emperor amongst them. Still fairly powerful on her own, but nothing like the others.
She was determined to not let this matter get to her. She couldn’t face the others, if she were to.
Although she could not get the way he looked at her out of her head. Alcora knew that look - she knew those eyes. As if she had seen them before. But where?
“Honey, are you ok?“
Alcora looked up into the violet eyes of her lover, staring down at her with a concerned look.
She looked behind him to see Yuma and the rest of his group catching up to Ryouga and walking with him. No one seemed to be near enough to listen in on them so Alcora grabbed Vector‘s shirt to pull him to the ground and said: „Vector, have you noticed anything strange about Ryouga Kamishiro?“

Her tone was dead serious and it only furthered Vector‘s concern, but also his anger.
Had he done something to her?
If so, Vector would make sure he would pay for whatever he did to his beloved.
“Not really, though we didn’t have direct contact yet.“
“Yes, but… does he seem kind of familiar to you?“
He thought about it and recalled the cold demeanour he had just witnessed from said Ryouga only a few minutes ago. That demanding tone and stone cold glare…
He would lie if he’d say, that it wasn’t somehow familiar to him. But he had no idea as to why. He would have investigated further and do it like Yuma, following him off the schoolgrounds, but that was when he had noticed Alcora at the wall of the building further ahead looking practically dissolved. The pang of worry hitting his heart had been so strong, he barely said goodbye to Yuma and immediately rushed over to her. He hated her scared look and for sure hated whatever - or whoever - got her into this state even more.
“You know, he kinda does… but I’m not sure why.“
“Me neither, but do know that I have a really bad feeling about him. I can’t really explain it - I…“ she hesitated. Alcora knew she could tell Vector everything and anything, but she still felt ashamed about her fear of the boy. She didn’t want to tell him that she had been scared by a human… or whatever Ryouga was.
“…I just think there’s something more about him, something strange. We should be careful.“
Vector scoffed at that and replied with a cocky smirk: „Oh Honey, please! Is that what you’re so worried about? He may have helped Yuma Tsukumo defeat Faker, but he’s still just a dumb human. As if a simple human could have a chance against two barian emperors! No matter how strong he is he wouldn’t stand a chance, don’t worry.“
Normally she would roll with Vector‘s prideful attitude, but this was something else. This was more serious than he seemed to realise.
“I’m serious, Vector! There‘s something strange about him. We both felt it and I don’t think we should take this so lightly.“ She stared at him with a stern look, while his expression moved from shocked at her words to serious - with a hint of worry.
“Alcora…“ He gently took her hands into his.
“Be honest. Did he do something to you?“ he asked with a dead serious voice. The light in his eyes had almost vanished and was replaced bit by bit with an intent for murder.
She’d know. She had seen that look various times before.
When it was about Nasch.
The encounter in the hallway flashed in her memory again. That strange presence that was ever so similar to Nasch‘s.
She took her hands from Vector and stood up with a deep sigh.
“Forget it. Let’s just go…“
She started walking ahead without waiting for him, though she could hear him quickly catching up to her.
She wouldn’t stay out of Yuma‘s way, they still had a mission to fulfil.
But she was definitely going to try and stay out of Ryouga Kamishiro‘s way.

Which didn’t work really well.
Alcora and Vector both been silent on their way back until they reached the supermarket, where Yuma and Kotori had just been walking out.
“Oh, hey Rei! Hey, Akiko!” Yuma greeted them cheerfully.
“Akiko, are you ok? You didn’t look so good when we were leaving.” Kotori asked with a concerned look on her face. Yuma turned his head towards her and said: “Really? Akiko, you’re not getting sick are you?”
Could Barians even catch a human virus?
“No, don’t worry guys! I was just feeling a bit under the weather.” She forced a smile on her face to not seem suspicious. She doesn’t have her partner‘s acting skills, but it would suffice.
Alcora could feel Vector’s gaze on her again, but she didn’t react. He had been glancing at her ever so often on their way back, but hadn’t actually said anything, probably wanting to give her some space.
“Anyway, what are you guys up to? What’s up with the big shopping bags?” Alcora gestured towards the two big plastic bags, Yuma and Kotori had carried out of the shop.
“We’re going to visit a friend at the hospital, you guys wanna come with?”
Before she had even thought about it Alcora had already replied: “Sure!”
She needed a distraction from the uncomfortable silence between her and Vector, so they both tagged along and Vector, slipping back into his Rei personality, took all the bags from Yuma to carry them himself.
Once they were only a few feet away from the hospital entrance Alcora finally asked: “So, who exactly is this friend you’re visiting, Yuma?”
“Oh, it’s Shark’s sister!”
Her mind went numb at that. Shark as in Ryouga? The same Ryouga she had just decided to avoid??
All she could get out was a little: “W-What?“
“She‘s been in the hospital for a long time after a terrible incident, she hasn’t woken up ever since.“
“Yeah, so she can’t actually eat snacks and fruits.“ Kotori added.
Vector held the bags up with a surprised face.
“Huh?! Then these…?“
“It’s okay! I‘ll eat them all in her place!“
“So this has been your plan all along, Yuma!“ Vector replied.
“Geez…“ Kotori and Alcora both sighed.
Suddenly Ryouga came running down the stairs to the hospital entrance.
Alcora tried not to show her body stiffening up, but she realised, that Ryouga seemed to have other concerns, when seeing the frightened look on his face.
“Shark, We’re here to visit your sis-!“
“Rio…“ Ryouga interrupted him. „Rio has disappeared from her ward!“
They all locked at him with a shocked face.
“What do you mean disappeared? Where could she be now?“ Yuma asked.
Suddenly a new voice spoke up: “What a coincidence. The gang‘s all here!“
Alcora and the others turned to face the voice and saw a Heartland School student from the third year.
“You’re from the Manga Club!“
Alcora silently gasped. Now she recognised his voice, it was the one she had heard talking with Girag in the Manga Club room. How cold she have forgotten that?
„Could you perhaps… be looking for your little sister?“ the manga guy asked Rouga.
Ryouga glared at him with burning intensity.
„Why do you know about Rio? Don’t tell me…“ he asked in a dangerously low tone.
The manga guy only chuckled and said: „I will tell you where she is, but only on one condition. Duel with me.“ As he said that Alcora could see the barian aura radiating from him. So he‘s really been sent by Girag.

Ryouga, worried about his sister accepted the duel. They moved to the roof of the hospital to have a proper duelling place, where the manga boy activated a field spell, claiming it to be the world he created. The duel was going in Ryouga‘s favour until…
“You sure attacking me is a good idea?“ his opponent suddenly asked.
A picture appeared above them all, of a girl with long blue hair wearing what seemed to be a a hospital gown.
“Your sister is currently trapped in the world I have created. In other words, she’s in the world of manga!“
“I-Impossible!“
“If you were to destroy me, you would destroy the world I created as well! And what would happen to your dear sister, while being in there?“
He started to laugh crazily with a prideful demeanour, being sure that he has already won the duel.
“Is that even possible?“ Yuma asked, furious about the situation.
Alcora wouldn’t put it past Girag to grant this up such a power. The power of Barian had only few limits.
But with this looming threat to Rio, Ryouga was unable to defend himself.
“At this rate, Ryouga will…“ Alcora softly muttered. He would lose. As far as she knew, he would never hurt his sister in any way, so if it goes on like this….
But would that be so bad? Alcora thought back to that afternoon, thought of her fear. If Ryouga would be out of the way, no one ever had to know about her moment of weakness.
“We have to save Rio!“ Kotori exclaimed, bringing Alcora’s attention back to the current situation.
Astral floated behind Yuma and Kotori and said: „But this field is a world he created, you could say these are all his creations.“
Alcora and Vector listened in, pretending not to see him. They have been doing so ever since arriving here, because it would have been immensely suspicious of them, if they were to show that they could see and hear him. So they decided not to.
Suddenly Kotori seemed to have an idea.
“Yuma that guy‘s sketchbook!“ She exclaimed.
“The world he created should be drawn inside it. And if it is…“
“Then the sketchbook should have some hints inside!“ Yuma finished her sentence.
“Rei, come on! We‘ve gotta find that sketchbook!“ Yuma said as he began running towards the staircase. Vector slightly hesitated, glancing at Alcora. She only nodded at him, signalising for him to go. She would stay here. She needed to see how this would end.
Vector‘s hesitance vanished and he nodded back at her, while running after Yuma
“I‘m right behind you, Yuma!“

The duel really wasn’t going that well for Ryouga. He had even summoned his number 32 Shark Drake, but it was no use. He couldn’t play serious as long as that other guy had his sister in his clutches. It even came as far as to the manga guy using Barian‘s force to summon a chaos xyzs monster.
Then a video call from Yuma came in. They had found the sketchbook and shown the drawings into the camera, explaining that seemingly no matter if Ryouga wins or loses, his sister would be lost forever.
It was a cruel prediction and made Alcora‘s gut turn a bit.
“How can our future be decided by something like that?!“ Yuma yelled through the call.
“Stand up, Shark! Stand up and fight! You’re the only one who can protect your little sister right now! Just crush everything that stands in your way! That’s how you do it right?!“
That seemed to wake Ryouga up, as he stood up again, regaining his fighting spirit and ready to fight for his sister.
Then suddenly a female voice called out.
“Ryouga…“
Alcora‘s heart skipped a beat. That voice was familiar…
She looked up to see the girl from the drawing, Ryouga‘s sister Rio, standing on top of what appeared to be a tower. There was a white bandage wrapped around her eyes, that slowly flew off of her face, because of the wind. She opened her eyes and looked down at them. “Rio!“ her brother called out to her.
“It’s really her!“ Kotori said as the manga guy freaked out.
“Impossible, how can this be?!“
Indeed, how could this be…? No one could break through barian power as easy as that.
Astral said though the call: “So his feelings towards his little sister seem to have broken the curse of Barian.“
But how?
Alcora was glad that everyone was so focused on Rio right now, or else they would have noticed the slightly panicked expression on her face.
“Ryouga!“ Rio called down.
“Could it be that you’re losing this duel? I can’t believe you’d actually dare to lose in front of me…“
“And whose fault do you think that is?“
Even that demanding tone of hers was so familiar to Alcora. But from where?! How does she know her?? Another image flashed before her eyes. Again too quick to actually see what it was, but it came with another incoming headache.
Alcora‘s body swayed slightly loosing her balance. Kotori was quickly by her side, trying to hold her up. „Akiko! Are you ok? Is it like this afternoon again?“
Alcora barely heard her. The duel had continued and with Rio safe now, Ryouga was able to go all out. He summoned Chaos number 32 Shark Drake Weiß and right as he did that, a powerful aura formed around him.
At that, fear clawed itself into Alcora‘s heart again. Such an aura… He couldn’t possibly be a normal human! She cautiously tried to read into his aura, scared of what would happen if he were not notice. It was Chaos energy, no doubt, but she couldn’t really place it… as if his aura neither belong to this world nor to another.
Then she felt it. It was such a tiny speck of energy, she almost didn’t notice it. But this was impossible…
How did Ryouga Kamishiro have Barian energy in him?
Did he get in touch with it before unknowingly? Was he another experiment of Vector‘s or maybe from Vetrix, when Vector had granted him access to to Barian energy?
Countless thoughts and questions were swirling around Alcora‘s head, she didn‘t even notice the duel ending with Ryouga as the winner.
Her breath started to quicken up and she clenched her sweaty hands.
„Awesome, Shark!“ she could hear Yuma say through the call, but it was as though Alcora heard him through a cotton wall.
„You’re still so strong! How cool is this!?“
Through Yuma‘s cheers for Ryouga Kotori suddenly yelled: „Rei! Something is wrong with Akiko! I think something like earlier today is happening!“
„What?!“
Yuma was pushed out of the picture and Vector‘s worried face filled the call screen.
„Alc- Akiko, what’s the matter?! Speak to me, please!“
She wanted to, she really did. But she couldn’t. All she could do was stare at Ryouga as he looked at her with a puzzled expression, before moving to get his sister.
Those ocean blue eyes were the last thing she remembered before everything turned black.

Chapter Text

“Alcora!“ A voice shouted through the crystal halls.
She turned around, halting her walk. But when she recognised the voice her eyes lit up.
“Mizael!“ She skipped over to him with a slight bounce in her step. Mizael was one of, if not the closest friend she had, ever since arriving here. Though it wasn’t easy to get there. There had been one major factor influencing their relationship. That one being Galaxy-eyes Tachyon dragon. Alcora had found her cave by chance, when taking a stroll around barian world. Not one hour later, when Mizael had decided to pay his dragon companion a visit, Tachyon had already completely warmed up to Alcora and began snuggling with her. Mizael was astonished to see someone get along with Tachyon that fast and since then they always had come together to visit her, resulting in countless conversations between them. And before they knew it, the two of them became friends.
“Are we going to see Tachyon again? It’s been a while since we’ve visited her.“
Alcora‘s excitement died down a bit, when seeing the more tense expression on Mizael’s face, barely hidden by his white stone mask. „No, I’m afraid not today“ he responded to her confusion. „Nasch wants to see you.“
An instant shiver ran over her stone body.
“A-Alright… Then I guess I better go talk to him.“
She quickly walked past Mizael, not waiting to see whether he noticed her slight stammer or not. She didn‘t know what Nasch could possibly want from her. They always kept their distance from each other, except in meetings with the imperial council, that of course everyone was always attending. So one on one meetings between Alcora and Nasch were rather rare. Mostly because every time Alcora was around him, she‘d get this eerie feeling, though she could not explain why. She accepted and respected him as their leader, as did they all. But that didn’t mean, that she particularly liked him, even though he had never actually wronged her, as far as she could remember.
She walked into the grand throne room, her steps echoing against the walls. There on top of the stairs he sat on his throne, whispering with Durbe by his side. They seemed to be deeply engaged in a conversation, leaning into each other far too intimately, than for it to be just a mere talk. But when noticing Alcora, they separated at once and Durbe took off with a slight nod towards Alcora. She nodded back acknowledging him, but never took her gaze off of Nasch, who now called out to her.
“Alcora, I wanted to speak with you.“
“So I’ve been told.“
She watched as he graciously stepped down the giant stairs and approach her, stopping in the shadow of a crystal pillar.
“I heard that you’ve been spending a lot of time with Vector lately.“
That was true. Ironically the more distance she put between herself and Nasch, the more she was pulled into Vector‘s direction. His laid back and goofy behaviour never failed to make her laugh, which did always get her some strange stares from her fellow barian emperors.
“I have. What about it?“
Nasch contemplated for a second, thinking carefully about his next words.
“Alcora, you can very much deny this, but… Are you considering a courtship with Vector?“ he said, stepping closer to her into the red light of the Barian sun.
“Excuse me?“ Of all things this was not what she had expected to hear from him.
Though when thinking about his question, she had to admit, that she indeed, not only considered, but really wanted a courtship with Vector. While yes, he was malicious and a bit cruel, he still had his fun and outgoing side, more so when being around her. And judging by his approaches towards her, she could very well assume, him also wanting a courtship, which made her feel a bit giddy inside.
“Well, I guess so…“ Feeling the unusual warmth in her stone face, Alcora averted her eyes from Nasch in slight embarrassment. She only heard a sigh from him.
“I was afraid, that it would come to this… And nothing I or the others could say would change your mind, right?“
He only received a determined nod and vicious glare at the suggestion.
“Alright, I won‘t stop you, if this is your decision… But, just - Be careful around him alright? You‘re somehow the only one, who doesn’t have a bad feeling about him. I guess that‘s why you‘re so drawn to each other.“ He said the last part under his breath, as he walked past Alcora. Seemed like this really was the only thing he wanted to talk to her about. She quickly turned towards him again and asked in confusion: “Is this… you‘re way of giving us your blessing?“
He turned around and said with a slight chuckle: “We both know, you two would neither need, nor want my blessing. But if that‘s how you want see it, then yeah consider this my blessing. Since you‘re the only one, who seems to be able to keep Vector in line, I think it would be rather beneficial for you two to wed, if that is truly your wish.“
He walked closer to her once more, Alcora trying to gain distance again by taking a step back.
“But just know, that in the future, if Vector dares to do anything uncalled for, I expect you to keep him in line or you’ll both be suffering the consequences.“ The imperious gleam in his eyes sent a shock of terror right through her body. She froze up and when she didn‘t respond, Nasch demandingly spoke up: „Do you understand, Alcora?“
“Y-Yes, of course, Nasch. I understand.“
“Good.“
Alcora‘s quickened heart beat slowly calmed down again, matching Nasch‘s departing steps, leaving her standing alone in the throne room.

Vector had very few fears, but he couldn’t believe that one of his worst ones was coming true right now. The second he had seen Alcora collapse though the video call, he bolted out of the school grounds back to the hospital as fast as he humanly could, with Yuma barely being able to catch up to him.
By the time they’ve arrived, Alcora was still unconscious. Vector had immediately taken her from Kotori‘s arms and while feeling her actual heartbeat against his chest did calm him down a bit, he was still distraught by her lifeless look.
It wasn’t hard to “convince” a doctor to put her in one of the best rooms they had. Yuma and Kotori stayed a while, but eventually left to check up on Rio and Ryouga again too, before going home.
Right now he was sitting near her laying form on the hospital bed she had been laid on, nervously tapping his foot non-stop. It was agonising for him to see her in such a state. He kept on thinking what possibly could have caused this.
He never should have left her. He should have stayed with her. She had been acting strange the whole day. Was this because of what she said about Ryouga? He thought she was just overreacting. Sure, he’s seen Nasch‘s tendencies in him, but that’s not a reason to assume that he and Ryouga were the same person. Nasch was dead! He personally took care of that! He should have assured her of that, instead of mocking her. He should have-
“Vector…?“ A weak whisper from the bedside took him out of his thoughts. He looked up and watched Alcora rise into a sitting position.
“What happened?“
Vector almost tripped when speeding out of the chair to engulf her in a hug and bury his head in her neck.
“That’s what I should be asking you! Are you ok?!“
He looked up and saw Alcora‘s eyes becoming slightly glossed.
“I… I‘m sorry, Vector…“
This baffled him.
“W-What are you talking about? Alcora, please tell me what’s going on.“
He softly took her hands into his, putting their foreheads together.
When she at first didn’t say something, Vector assured her: „I promise you can tell me, no matter what it is. Alcora, I‘m your husband, I just want to know what’s going on.“
Alcora took a deep breath, composing herself before saying, what has been weighing on her heart the whole day.
“I… I’m scared of Ryouga.“
She readied herself for laughter or mocking from his side. But nothing.
He just looked at her expectingly. He has learned from the previous experience.
“Go on. Why?“
She took another deep breath and suddenly the words were just flowing out of her.
“Well, he just reminds me so much of Nasch, his look and his aura and his attitude. I know that can’t be, but what if it is? Vector you weren’t there, when the duel concluded. He got this strange aura around him and I swear to you he had traces of barian power inside him. I-It wasn’t much, but it was there! So what if its really him?! What if he’s back, what if he remembers? If he’s truly back, he’s not gonna let you off the hook this time, not even I will get you out of there! I’m just worried about you, Vector. What if he does something to you I- I couldn’t bare with it…I… I’m scared to lose you…“
When her breathing calmed down again, she could only feel Vector embracing her again.
“I understand.“
“You do? I- I thought you’d be disappointed in me. Just look at me, the state I was put in by being scared of a human.“
“Honey, I could never be disappointed in you. You had your reasons to be scared, you didn’t think, that he was just a human. I don’t know why you always had these feelings around Nasch, but I want to help you with them. I‘m sorry, that I didn’t take you serious at first, but hey, look at me.“
He held her face in his hands and gazed into her eyes with a soft look.
“Nasch is dead. You know it, I know it. I was there, when it happened. I assure you there is no chance, that he’s back. Even if he managed to be reborn or some shit, Ryouga Kamishiro is much too old to be him. Also, remember that Tron guy, the one that stumbled into Barian World?“
She nodded lightly, viciously remembering the lost wanderer and the barian power Vector had granted him for his own plans.
“He did at one point have Ryouga under his control and his control was powered by the barian power we gave him. Those traces you saw were probably left from that time.“
Alcora didn’t look completely convinced, so Vector continued in a gentle tone: “Nasch is gone. He can’t hurt us and he won‘t come after us. And even if he somehow did survive, be sure, that I‘ll always be there, ready to protect you and fight by your side.“
He interlaced their hands and put their foreheads back together.
“It’s you and me. Always and forever. Right?“
The light from the sundown shined softly onto his face and highlighting the violet in his eyes. This was her Vector. Not the Barian Emperor, not the clueless Rei, but her husband. This soft gaze was only reserved for her. She knew, he would stand by her side no matter what. The look in Alcora‘s eyes changed from uncertain to determined.
“Right. You and me. Against everyone else.“
And though her doubts didn’t just vanish into thin air, but rather crawl into the back of her head, in this moment right here, right now, she felt calm and at ease with her husband holding her close and pressing their lips softly together.
No matter what the future held, as long as they would stay together it would be ok.