SSX and CWZ have my fav Harlocks and are my favorite series with Harlock (at least a Harlock named Harlock bc there’s Wataru and all) in them, so here’s a drabble with those boys. Keep in mind that I’ve written this before, and it was inappropriate. I can only say that this one isn’t as inappropriate.
“Okay, look, I can explain,” he said with my face and what Tochiro said was my voice, though I felt certain I did not sound that full of myself. When I allowed him to continue, he paused, eyes rolling back and forth through his thoughts. Giving in, he shrugged. “Alright, I can’t. I don’t know what happened. But I’m not like a spy or a clone or anything.”
I hoped not because he was a terrible impersonator. He had both his eyes and an obnoxious bright blue uniform. He was younger than I as well, and he acted it. When he’d appeared on the bridge, he’d been all smiles and charms despite having fallen through some sort of tear in space and time. The man who fell through with him shared our confusion, looking around the room as though in a dream. Though when he noticed me, his daze became abject horror.
“Oh my god,” he’d said over the rambling younger me. “There are two.”
Once the stun wore off, we tied the two up and placed them in separate rooms. The elder one, some captain of a fleet I’d never heard of, muttered his thanks once they were apart before asking if we had anything to drink.
I’d questioned how he planned to drink anything with his hands bound behind him, but he said he could manage. He did manage, actually. It was quite impressive.
Even after enough drinks to send most men to the floor, I had no luck interrogating him. He muttered how he had no idea what had happened and how it was all Harlock’s fault. “The other one,” he clarified, squinting at me. “The one in the jumpsuit.”
In the end, though, talking to “the other one” gave me no new answers. He sat with his legs crossed, seemingly unconcerned with the whole ordeal. “I guess we messed with something weird at that lab,” he offered. “Hopefully someone will be able to figure out how to get us back.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Guess it’s not too big of a deal. Tochiro’s here, and this is the Arcadia, right? Not too much seems different.” He flashed a grin at me. “I’m digging the eyepatch.”
I would have been content to keep them tied up, but Tochiro took a liking to the drunk, muttering captain he called Zero and insisted we let them both go. “I’ve seen stranger things,” Tochiro said. “I think they are who they say they are, and they mean no harm. Who knows? They could be a big help.”
That was all well and good for him, and Zero did seem like a reasonable sort. Tadashi and Rebi took a shine to him as well for all his doting on them.
But Tochiro wasn’t having to deal with an obnoxious double who seemed to think he was also the captain of my ship. And no matter how many times I insisted he had his own room, he always appeared in mine, his feet kicked up on my desk as he lounged in my chair.
“Why are you always in here?” I asked at yet another occurrence.
“Zero kicked me out,” he said.
“What did you do to deserve that?”
“Why do you assume I deserved it?”
I could only be bothered to stare at him, my brows raised. Unoffended, his lips tugged toward a smirk. “I guess you know me too well,” he said.
“We’re not the same person,” I reminded him.
As always, he responded with a noncommittal hum.
“Now go apologize to Zero, or you’ll have nowhere to sleep,” I said.
“Ah, you’re cruel.” Swinging his feet down from the desk, he stood and started toward the door. At least, I had hoped his aim was for the door until he took a step past me, dropped to the ground, and swept his feet under mine.
He was quick enough about it that he caught me before I could catch myself. One arm snagged me around my shoulders just to slow my fall before he dropped me to the ground anyway. His hands appeared at my shoulders like blades pinning me to the ground, and he straddled my waist with the smirk of a man who won.
He had not won.
“Just wanted to see if I could,” he offered in explanation, though I didn’t care to ask. “I figured the only person who could beat me was me.”
“You’re awfully full of yourself,” I said, keeping my expression even.
He leaned in over me, strands of his hair tickling my cheeks. “But am I wrong?”
He wasn’t just wrong. He was stupid. The shift in weight left him wide open. Grabbing his right shoulder, I threw all my weight into flipping him. He didn’t have as much muscle, a thin, wiry kid. For once, I managed to see surprise and frustration on his face as I took my turn on top. I held his wrists down near his head, my knees held tight to his sides to keep him from wiggling free.
Even if only I could beat me, and he were me, I still had the upper hand. I had more experience and strength.
“You are wrong,” I said.
“Alright-alright,” he said with a sigh. “You can top if you want, but go easy on me.”
He made little sense, and my triumph faded to annoyance. “I’m not going to fight you.”
His brow furrowed. “You don’t have to. I can take it.”
“I’m sorry?”
A smile tugged at his lips. “If you’re going to keep us here in this position, someone’s clothes need to start coming off. Otherwise, you’re just being a tease.”
I released him and realized my mistake in the same instant. He played me like a fiddle, throwing himself up to knock me onto my back yet again. This time, he just lay himself on top of me, his chin atop my chest. “You’re too easy to fluster,” he said with that wicked smirk. “It’s kind of cute, really.”
“What is your goal here?” I growled.
His grin widened as he pushed himself up on his forearms and dragged himself closer until I could feel his words on my lips. “Shouldn’t that be obvious? I want you to acknowledge me. I’m you, Captain. You’re me. You refused to believe it based on sight or anything I’ve said, so I was hoping a bit of hands-on experience might do the trick.”
I hoped my glare would deter him, but his eyes remained above mine. “Say you are me. What makes you think something like that would convince me? Or that I’d even allow it? Shouldn’t you know better?”
He breathed a laugh before nuzzling his lips to my ear. “But I do know. I know everything you’d want, and you know it too. Otherwise you would have moved or thrown me off by now.”
As a shudder ran down my spine, I found I couldn’t deny it. He was winning. Damn.
A dick up his ass. Honestly, I find Harlock to be a kind of boring character on his own. It’s his interactions with others that endear him to me, mostly because he’s an awkward nerd who doesn’t know how to talk to people. My favorite thing is that he sucks at being a dad, so here’s a drabble about him being a shit dad. Set vaguely in the SSX-verse.
People were fragile. Not in the metaphorical sense – though that much was true as well – but literally. Bodies broke easily.
Children in particular were very fragile.
Tadashi sported a split lip, bloodied nose, black eye, and more bruises than I cared to guess at. He’d torn open the knuckles of both hands in his attempt to fight back. I had no doubts he’d broken a few fingers in the process.
The room stung with the scent of disinfectant and the glares Kei and Dr. Ban tossed my way. I made no attempt to defend myself. I’d made quite the mistake.
Tadashi seemed to be the only one not upset with me. His ego was the only part of him that had come out unscathed.
A couple hours before, he had still been in one piece, tailing after me as I wandered the streets of a market sector. The planet was an industrial one, near-hollowed from mining. Had I not been taller than most of the crowd, Tadashi would have gotten lost every time he stopped to gape at a skyscraper or rumbling factory.
I would halt my steps on occasion and glance back to ensure he was still at my heels, often waiting for him to dart through the crowd back to me.
“Captain,” he’d called, racing up to me after one of these instances. His eyes were wide like a scared rabbit’s. “Some guy stole my money!”
For a moment, I wondered why he’d had money in the first place before I recalled that Tochiro had started giving him a small allowance. It wasn’t much, something like two cosmo doubloons a week, but Tadashi always looked at them like he’d never seen money before in his life.
Then again, I suppose he hadn’t.
“Pickpockets are going to be difficult to track in a city like this,” I said. Cruel as it was, this would have to serve as a lesson for him to be more careful with how he held his money. He wouldn’t learn anything if I replaced it for him, and there was no way we could get it back.
“He wasn’t a pickpocket,” he muttered. “He just took it ‘cause he was taller than me.”
My brows shot up. “You let him?”
It came out a bit crueler than I’d intended, but it was too late to back out now. Tadashi scrunched his shoulders and gave a huff. “I didn’t let them, but you said we shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves, so I wasn’t going to start nothing.”
“Anything,” I corrected. It was true this planet wasn’t a safe space for us, but spats between young boys were undoubtedly common enough not to draw too many eyes. “If they’re still where you left them, go ahead and try to get back what’s yours. You should stand up for yourself. Don’t back down.”
I hadn’t allowed him to carry his gun while on the planet. I had it in case of trouble, but I didn’t imagine he would need it. Most would back down at the threat of a fight, and it was just a handful of doubloons, nothing worth spilling blood over.
I had no doubts Tadashi could handle himself in his endeavor, but moments after he slipped back into the crowd, I made a game of spotting him within it, keeping far enough away that I hoped he wouldn’t notice. In the end, I lost sight of him.
He reappeared ten minutes later, grinning from ear to ear as he held up his reclaimed prize for me to see. His eye had already begun to swell shut, and his teeth were stained pink with blood from his lips. With each gasping, wheezing breath, his body shook from excitement or adrenaline or pain.
It was enough to make me sick. My eye darted from wound to wound as horror sank in. I took hold of one hand, examining the damage. “What happened?”
“I won!” he said, though I couldn’t comprehend that to be true. There was no way his opponent could have come out worse than him.
“There you are!” someone roared. I looked up to find a man shoving his way through the crowd toward us. People barked their offense as he barreled through them. “Get back here, you little brat!” His wild eyes stabbed into Tadashi, though the boy glared in return.
“It’s mine!” Tadashi snapped, though his voice wavered. I found his hand curling into mine as he stepped back slightly behind me. I could feel his fingers trembling against mine.
Realization came like a blow to the head, and I pulled Tadashi farther behind me. The man halted in his tracks as he came to face me. “Sir, were you trying to steal from him?” I demanded in a cool voice. I could feel my rage flickering in my eye. I’d expected this sort of behavior from a cowardly street rat child, not an even more cowardly adult.
The man hesitated, his gaze darting to and fro. “The little bastard bit me!” he stammered, shoving his bleeding hand into my face.
“You wouldn’t let go of my money!” Tadashi said.
That explained how he had “won.”
“I suggest you leave,” I said, leaning my weight to one leg. My cape drifted out enough from the shift to reveal the shining handle of my saber. “I don’t take kindly to thieves or anyone who harms my crew.”
Had the area not been so crowded, I would have broken a few bones on principle. A man who took advantage of those weaker than him was not truly a man at all.
He got the message, and Tadashi grumbled his thanks between his insistence that he had it under control.
“My apologies,” I said once he stopped to take a breath. “I should have been there to back you up. I didn’t realize how much taller than you he was when you said that.”
“Nah, I took care of it,” he said, nodding.
That didn’t make me feel any less guilty.
Despite his assurances that he was fine, I dragged him back to the ship without the parts we’d gone to retrieve for Tochiro. When Tochiro saw Tadashi’s state, he didn’t complain.
“I won!” Tadashi said anytime someone commented on his appearance.
No one seemed to believe him, and they all frowned at me for my prominent lack of injury.
As the doctor bandaged Tadashi’s hands and Kei applied antiseptic, Tadashi kicked his legs and tried to hide each wince.
“So next time-” I began.
“Next time, I dodge more,” he said with a nod. Kei smacked her hands to each side of his face to hold him still.
I couldn’t help but smile. “Well, I was going to say hide your money better. But yes, dodge too. I’ll also need to teach you how to punch in order to avoid injury.”
“Please don’t encourage him, Captain,” the doctor sighed.
Tadashi, with his legs still childishly kicking back and forth, barked his offense. “Hey, I’m a man! I need to know how to fight good!”
“Well,” Kei and I corrected in sync.
Yes, he was a man, a man who had kept his hand in mine the whole way back to keep us from getting separated again. Well, he was getting there.
12 - Family gatheringsI call this one “Restaurant AU that is also a Mob AU where Harlock is drunk at all times.”~1100 words
Tadashi looked so exhausted I worried he might fall face-first into the griddle at any moment. It sizzled with heat as he poked a browning steak. Rice steamed in the cooker, while vegetables cooked in a skillet.
“Why are you still cooking?” I asked. “We’re done with customers for tonight.” In front of me towered the mound of dishes from the day’s crowd. Once they were all rinsed, the dishwasher would take care of the rest, buteven that would require a couple loads.
He spoke through a yawn that made his eyes water. “My familyis coming for a late dinner. Didn’t I tell you that?” He turned to me,squinting as he tried to remember if he’d mentioned it.
“I don’t think so. If I’d known, I would have broughtsomething to change into.” Working in a restaurant all day left my clothes agreasy mess no matter the aprons. I was sure I reeked of a weird combination offoods too. Tadashi had enough practice to keep his shirt clean, but he probablysmelled of the kitchen too.
His shoulders twitched with a shrug. “I promise they won’tcare. If they’re all sober, I’d be impressed.”
I knew nothing about his family. He’d mentioned them a fewtimes but never bothered with specifics. I wondered if that was for my sake. Heknew about my family, or really, he knew I didn’t have one. Maybe he held backtalking about his because he didn’t want to make me feel bad. But I did want tomeet them. I wanted to be a part of them. It was a bit much to ask for, I knew,but I wanted his family to accept me as one of them. I wanted a family to callmine again.
But with how gross I looked and smelled tonight, I doubtedmy chances.
When the bell hanging over the door chimed, Tadashi shuffledover to the window between the kitchen and dining room. “Still working on yourfood,” he yelled. “I’ll have Tetsuro bring you some drinks. What do you want?”
“Wine,” called the worn voice of a man. I guessed it couldbe Tadashi’s father.
“Same!” a brighter voice of another man squeaked. Maybe thatone was his father. Maybe they were both his fathers. Maybe one was his olderbrother.
My mind reeled as I tried to figure them out before I facedthem. I couldn’t embarrass myself with our very first meeting. I had to makesure they would like me.
The voice of a young woman asked for water, and an evenyounger girl demanded a milkshake. His sisters? Or was the older one his mom?
“Sorry you’ll have to put up with them tonight,” Tadashisighed, dumping ice in the blender. “They’re mostly harmless, but they can bepains. Just go out and introduce yourself. I’ve told them about you before.”
How unfair. They knew about me, but I knew nothing aboutthem. My heart pattered along with the whirring of the blender. The only goodthing about my clammy hands was how much they helped me hold the glasses. OnceI had all four and a wine bottle under my arm, I pushed my way through theswinging door and out into the dining area. Despite working there every day, Irarely set foot outside the kitchen.
Tadashi’s family sat at a six-person table in the center ofthe room. They were… Well, I didn’t know what to make of them. The little girlwas no more than six, swinging her legs back and forth as she sat. She lookednothing like Tadashi, and none of the other three did either. The young womanwas as blonde as the girl, with a thin face. One of the men was shorter thanTadashi, but the other was at least twice as tall.
My feet froze before I reached the table. I recognized thattall one, with his eyepatch and the scar across his face. He was one of thecity’s most wanted - Harlock. I forced my feet forward and set the drinks downwith shaking hands.
Now that I saw it, I recognized the short man as TochiroOyama, Harlock’s second in command. The woman, Kei Yuki, was part of theorganization too. So when Tadashi said “family” he really meant the mob. Thesewere the sorts of things I would have preferred to know before the dating partof the relationship.
“So you’re Tadashi’s boyfriend,” Kei said with a smile. “It’sso nice to finally meet you. I’m Kei, and this is Harlock, Tochiro, and Rebi.”Little Rebi gave an enthusiastic wave as Harlock poured a full glass of the redwine.
“I’m Tetsuro Hoshino,” I offered through a nervous laugh. “Sorrywe don’t have any real waiters available right now. They all go home at nine.”
Harlock downed his glass like it was a shot. As the baseconnected with the table, his eye flashed to me. His gaze felt like a wall pushingme back, but I kept my feet planted. It felt like minutes had gone by when hefinally spoke. “When are you two going to get married?”
Now it was my turn to stare. Tadashi yelled from the kitchenbefore I could think of a response. “We just started dating three months ago!”he roared. “Do not harass my boyfriend into marriage!”
“He just wants to plan you a nice wedding!” Tochiro calledback through a laugh.
“Don’t worry,” Kei sighed as she reached up to pat myshoulder. “If he’s saying that, it means he likes you.”
Rebi threw her hands up “I will be the flower girl!”
The swinging door flew open to reveal Tadashi with a burningred blush. “No wedding! All of you stop it!”
“You don’t have to get married now, but he will make a goodaddition to the family,” Harlock said, nodding. “You should get married soon.”
Well, I was getting what I wanted. The family was acceptingof me, a little too accepting. I had a guess as to why Tadashi had never let usmeet before this.
Harlock continued on, muttering to himself. “You’ll both bein nice tuxes, and we’ll have an orchestra and so many flowers.” A smile easedonto his face as he stared off into his imagination.
“Tetsuro will be my new big brother,” Rebi cooed.
Tadashi ignored the door as it swung back and smacked intohim. He was too busy covering his face to bother with it. I hoped the food wasn’tburning.
I wandered back to him on unsteady legs. “So this is yourfamily,” I said.
“I’m so sorry,” he wheezed.
I patted his shoulder, worried hugging him in front of themmight be seen as a proposal of some kind. “No-no. They seem very loving.”
“They’re…certainly that,” Tadashi sighed.
“Tell me when you want help picking out the rings,” Harlockcalled. “We have some at the hideout you might like.”
28 - Holding handsThis isn’t really a pairing fic. Heck, this barely follows the prompt, but I had to use this opportunity for such a thing. And yes I do regret this decision immensely. ~700 words
As the butt of a Dragoon cut down through their air, my hand latched onto its owner’s wrist. The polished wood halted so close to my head I could feel my hair shift beneath its touch. The man in front of me started to pull his saber from its holster, but I snapped my other hand over his and held it in place. Before we’d exchanged a single word, we were locked in a stalemate. But there was no need for words here. Whoever this man was, he wore my face and uniform. He was pretending to be me, and he would die for it.
Whoever he was, he couldn’t have been a clone. He stood half a head taller than me, his eye almost gold. Armor of the same color curled around the sides of his chest. His attempt to be my likeness was by no means perfect, but that face was unquestionably mine. It stared down at me with one narrowed eye. I glared back, my lip curling toward a snarl.
His hands twitched under mine as he tested the difference inour strength. It appeared we were equal. I could not force his hands back, andhe could not move his weapons as he pleased. Honestly, it was starting to feela bit awkward, my face so close to his while we stood frozen against eachother. “So you are?” I prompted.
His brows pinched. “Harlock,” he said in a worn voice Icouldn’t say was the same or different from mine. “And you?”
I gave a nod. “Harlock.” The strain in my arms began to tireme out, but I couldn’t let him know that. I had to hold out until he gave in.That way I could prove I was the real Harlock, even if he was taller.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the young man who’dappeared so suddenly on the bridge with him plop into my chair. “I told you notto warp in the middle of that magnetic storm,” the man said.
“You only said that because of Kei,” the other me growled. “Youdidn’t know anything about what might happen.”
Tadashi peered around my chair to point his gun at the skulland crossbones on the young man’s chest. The man did not appear frightened orstartled in any way, despite Tadashi attempting to look as tough as possible. “Areyou a pirate?” the man asked.
“Of course!” Tadashi snapped.
“Look at him, Captain,” the man gasped. “He’s so small.”
“Yes, that’s nice,” my clone hissed through grit teeth. Ihoped his arms were burning as much as mine.
Tadashi threw his fists down at his sides along with hisgun and proceeded to scold the man for ever considering him small.
I glanced from the tiring eye boring into me to the youngman lounging in my chair. He did not appear to be an entertained spectator. “Hey,”he called despite Tadashi’s continued lecture. “You two quit that. You won’tget anywhere.”
“I will handle this, Yama,” the clone wheezed. Judging bythe sheer fire in my muscles, my arms weren’t far from giving out completely. Idoubted we could manage much of a fight after this.
Yama’s gaze wandered toward the windows as he drummed hisfingers against the armrest. “I think if you meet an alternate timeline self therule is that you’re supposed to make out with them, not fight.”
Tadashi choked on air.
I hoped my cheeks weren’t the same color as the man in frontof me as he took a sudden step back. I released his hands, and he reholsteredhis weapons without further prompting. I took an interest in staring at everycorner of the room in rapid succession.
“Finally,” Yama sighed. “Please don’t ever make me saysomething like that again.”
We spun on him as the new enemy. “That was not necessary,” Isnapped.
“I did not make you say anything,” my clone barked.
Yama rolled his eye. “Fine. If you two want to go back toholding hands and staring longingly into each other’s eyes, go do it in yourroom or something.”
My clone’s cheeks tinged pink once more. “There was nothing longing about it!” he roared. “Now stop talking that way. You’re scaring the child.” He gestured to Tadashi, whose face was buried in his hands.
In my opinion, Tadashi had the right idea for dealing with the situation.
My favorite thing about Dadlock is that Harlock doesn't really know how to be a dad, but he tries his best. Here's Dadlock and his SSX kids for harmony-gold.
~750 words
It wasn’t until we were too far away from the ship to turn back that I understood Tadashi’s reservations for bringing Rebi along. She didn’t mind the cold or the endless walk. No complaints came because of the snow tripping her. In fact, she did little more than hum carols until we found our perfect tree.
“Why do we have to cut it down?” she asked, fists clenched in front of her. Those wide, doe eyes looked close to tears. I glanced to Tadashi for help, though he looked to me the same way.
“We can’t put the tree on the Arcadia if we don’t cut it down,” I said. “We wouldn’t be able to have a Christmas tree.”
Rebi stamped her foot in the snow with a crunch. Something about the gesture made Tadashi sigh. “But why do we have to kill it?” Rebi howled. “Can’t we dig it up by the roots?”
“We can’t plant a tree on the ship,” Tadashi said. He threw his hand out toward the frosted rows of firs around us. “Look, there are tons of trees in this forest. One isn’t going to be missed. You want a tree to hang ornaments on don’t you?”
I would have offered to buy a fake one, but I didn’t know where that would be possible. We needed a populated planet with a decent economy that wasn’t riddled with guards. Cutting one down sounded like the nicer option. I didn’t feel like hauling around a fake tree while being hunted by Illumidas soldiers.
Rebi sniffled, and her voice wavered with the threat of oncoming tears. “But I don’t want to hurt the tree.”
It was time to lie my way out of this. “Trees don’t feel any pain, Rebi. In fact, trees are happy to be picked for decoration. That’s why they compete to grow so nicely.” It disturbed me how easily the lies came. I had no skill for them until Rebi settled in on the ship.
“Really?” she whispered, the tension easing from her shoulders.
Tadashi nodded to back me up. “Oh yeah. All this tree’s friends will be jealous.” He seemed far less conflicted about telling her this, smiling with ease. I couldn’t be certain about the ethics of white lies for children, but Tadashi raised more than I had, so I decided he knew what he was doing.
“Alright,” Rebi said with an uneven smile. “We’ll make it extra pretty then.”
Tadashi flashed a triumphant grin. “Great. I’ll cut it!” He grabbed the ax at the base of the handle and stepped in front of the tree. My worry moved from Rebi to him. Everything about his form was wrong.
“Have you ever used an ax before?” I asked.
He glanced over his shoulder at me, sheepish eyes judging my reaction. “No… but I can do it.”
To ensure all his limbs stayed attached, I ran him through a crash course on proper form and sent Rebi to stand far enough away that no flying ax would do her harm. With her blessing and my tentative okay, Tadashi attempted to embed a strong swing into the tree’s trunk. Instead, the uneven angle of the hit sent the head of the ax ricocheting off the tree as if made of rubber. Tadashi held on well, a little too well. I shouldn’t have brought the double-sided ax.
All the blood must have drained from my body, sinking out of my face and gut as the blade came back to hit Tadashi’s shin. He didn’t flinch.
“Are you okay, Brother?” Rebi yelled from the safety zone, too far out to see the dark red stain sinking into the edges of the tear in his pant leg.
“Fine,” he called back. Before I could ask too for confirmation, he smiled. “Just a scratch, Captain.”
Being around these two took years off my life. “Just make sure the doctor looks at it when we get back,” I sighed. “And let me cut down the tree.”
Three good whacks and it fell with a crash. Tadashi and I wrapped it in rope, while Rebi sat on it. “Forward, march!” she commanded as we set off, dragging it back to the ship. I never had a tree on a ship before, and we still needed some means to keep it from falling over during a fight. These kids conned me into the strangest things.
“You look tired, Captain,” Rebi said. “You should nap when we get back.”
“I think you two just tire me out,” I said. “But I’ll be fine without a nap.” A few glasses of wine sounded preferable anyway.
Multi-verse; Chapter 4 - Acquainted with the Night
Slight gore warning; death warning
The so-called god must not have paid attention when choosing the pawns of its game. At least, I saw no sense in choosing me. Threatening me with the destruction of my world lacked sense when that was already my goal. Even though it would erase the need for years of hard work, losing this game would provide me with far more of a reward than winning.
Though I couldn’t confirm much about the other groups, they all seemed to be in better shape than me in one aspect or another. I could only hope that Yama was not the one causing the gems to shatter across my wrist. Any of the others could win. I did not care which, as long as it was not us.
The only problem with that was that I had to die first. Not so much a problem as a barrier. Death had always seemed out of my reach, though perhaps I could be killed by myself, one of those from a better world.
I’d yet to run into another person. The desert I’d started out in had offered me no clues as to where anyone else might be, but the jungle I’d eventually found was slightly more helpful. There were occasional tracks in the mud of varying sizes, which I hoped to follow toward someone either willing to talk or take my life. I couldn’t be too sure what the others were planning, but I followed the larger footprints in hopes of finding out. No matter what, I would not draw my weapon against them. If they decided to draw theirs, it would be of no consequence. Sooner or later, I would lose the game.
If that happened sooner, I hoped one of my alternates would take out Yama to prevent me from coming back, but if I found Yama first… Hopefully he could be reasoned with.
The jungle was a tangle of limited visibility. The trees and dense canopy formed a wall that prevented any hopes of scanning for others. Sound would be more useful, as my own footsteps sloshed through each patch of mud and rattled every bushel of leaves I passed. But other than my own progress, I heard only the wind through the trees. Perhaps the others had left this area already for a more comfortable one. While it was certainly better than the overwhelming heat of the desert, the heavy humidity of the jungle made each breath feel weighted. The endless trees made for an infinite number of blind spots, especially with so much of the sun blocked out by the branches above.
Since spotting the footprints, I’d planned on following the larger set, hoping to find one of my alternates. Though the footprints were certainly smaller than my own, the rest were all shorter than me, about Yama’s height truly. Even so, it was difficult to gauge who the set belonged to, considering the other men of the groups, but that hardly mattered when it became clear that the smaller set of footprints followed the same path. Someone had been on this trail before me, tracking the other.
It was no matter, whether I found one or two when I caught up. I simply hoped I would not find one dead.
Faster than was reasonable, the shade from the trees grew heavier until it consumed the ground. Even with the arrival of the moon to replace the sun, I was offered far less visibility. Splashes of the white light gave me small hints as to where each dip of a footprint might be, but I was forced on occasion to trace the indents with my hand to be sure.
But how could I mind when the moon was so brilliant and clear through the trees? There was so much green, so much life. It was all fake, certainly, but like any dream of the past, I couldn’t help enjoying it. I wondered if the Earths of the other worlds still held the same life that this imitation showed.
Surely they did, because most of my alternates seemed to look younger. It was hard to say how, considering some of us technically looked the same age, but they seemed livelier to my eye, as though they truly were the age they appeared.
And at least in one world, Tochiro was still alive. If nothing else, that was something to give me hope. I didn’t need to reset my world. I could simply allow another to thrive.
I was only disappointed not all of them would be allowed to.
The tracks were certainly not fresh, so I had imagined I would have to follow them for some time, but the moon was still hanging brightly above my head when I was allowed my first taste of contact.
“Captain?” The voice was small, shaking. It sounded like a child fearful of reprimand, which was perhaps why they were hiding.
I scanned all sides, though a dense grove of foliage up to my hip covered much of what was in front of me. “Yes?” I answered at length.
I could hear the boy’s breath. It shook just like his words and was so labored I could practically feel the quick rise and fall of his chest. “Um…which one are you?”
It was a difficult question to answer, so I decided to simply show him. Stepping forward, I pushed aside the fern that had masked his location. Immediately, I realized I was wrong. He had not been hiding, not on purpose.
The bright shine of his eyes widened as he shrank back from me, pawing for the gun a few feet away as though he could reach it. I recalled the creature that had dropped us here had mentioned leaving traps, but I hadn’t realized what it had meant by that.
The bear trap clung to the boy’s leg like canine fangs sinking into a piece of meat. Even in the limited grayish light, I could see the deep stain of blood on his pant leg, seeping from the wound. The trap was so deep into his leg it seemed the bone was the only thing keeping the teeth from meeting together.
The boy couldn’t run, and he couldn’t pull it apart. He could only sit there in agony. This simply would not do.
I dropped down to my knees and whipped off my cape. The material wasn’t much for bandages, but it would have to do. I could not allow him to bleed out once he was freed.
Using my saber, I cut a strip from it to use as a tourniquet, only to hear a bright yelp of pain. With the strip still clenched between my teeth, I looked up to find him trying to crawl back toward his gun. The dark stain on his leg spread down from the sudden movement. Sweat gleamed on his face, screwed up in pain.
“You shouldn’t move,” I said, finally understanding. He was afraid I would kill him, understandably so. That was the logical course of action, and I was practically three times his size, while he could hardly stand moving. “I’m not going to harm you.”
His eyes shone so brightly in the moonlight that he looked feverish. He merely stared at me, frozen in place with his hand outstretched toward his gun. Despite how his small form shook, he stared me down with a mask of bravery that few of the men who faced me managed. His face was childishly round, brunet hair framing it messily. He was certainly the youngest of the ones who had been dragged into the game, yet he had called me captain. He was a pirate just as any of my crew.
“I swear I won’t harm you,” I repeated slowly. I held the meager attempt at a bandage out toward him. “I’m going to get you out of there.”
He didn’t relax, muscles still tensed and shaking, but he slowly nodded. His hand shrank back from his gun.
“I would offer my name, but I assume you know it,” I said as I slipped the tourniquet around his leg, just below the knee.
“My name is-“ He cringed, eyes sharp with pain. “Tadashi, Tadashi Monono.”
Once I had the tie tight enough, I tore more strips to wrap the wound, talking around the fabric in my teeth. “Do you know who set this trap, Monono?”
His brow furrowed. “Wasn’t it the god?”
“No. It said it would leave traps available, but they were for us to set. I would imagine it was whomever you were following.”
“Oh!” he blinked, round eyes wide. “I didn’t know who I was following. I was just going by their footprints. I don’t think they were any of the other captains, but I dunno. Should have been watching where I was going, but this was just behind that plant, so I didn’t notice.” He made a clicking noise as his hands mimed the jaws of the trap shutting. “It doesn’t hurt so bad if I’m not moving or looking at it.” He laughed weakly, certainly lying.
When I had enough strips, I stood. “This isn’t a normal bear trap. They’re usually impossible to set without a clamp, but this one was likely set…” I didn’t give him a warning, because I wanted it as quick and as painless as possible. With a slight hop, I slammed all my weight down on the springs on the sides, flattening them beneath my feet. The jaw wrenched open along with a scream from the boy like nails against a chalkboard.
Carefully as I could, I pulled his leg away from the trap before allowing it to snap shut once more. “I’m sorry. I know it hurts,” I said uselessly. He whimpered as he collapsed to lie back against the dirt. If the pain had been much worse, he surely would have passed out, but that might have been preferable for him.
I set to work as quickly as a could, using sturdy branches as splints for what was possibly a broken bone as I wrapped his leg in what had once been my cape. He didn’t speak a word, though his breath would occasionally stutter or hitch against the pain.
“There,” I offered once it was finished. “But you won’t be able to walk on it.”
“Thanks,” he sighed. “I owe you.” His eyelids were heavy as he stared up at the stars beginning to disappear from the tinge of pink signaling the arrival of the sun. Even without full daylight, I could see how pale he was. He certainly would not make it on his own.
I picked up his gun and handed it to him with a small request. “Would you tell me about your world?”
He frowned in confusion as he took the weapon, as though I was being completely unreasonable. “Well, I dunno. It’s… There are these aliens messing things up for all the humans all over. They’re horrible. Keep taking over things like the world’s theirs to own, but the Captain’s stronger than them, so it’s alright.” A smile twitched on his lips. “He and Mr. Tochiro are going to take us to Arcadia, and then everything will be alright.”
It sounded like a bedtime story for a child, but surely this boy was old enough to hear the truth. Perhaps there was a paradise in that world. If Tochiro truly believed in it, it seemed plausible. “What about Earth?” I asked.
He hummed in thought for a moment, clearly fighting off sleep. “Don’t know much about Earth. I’ve never been there. Heard the Illumidas took over.”
So then humans were still spread around the universe, living on worlds that couldn’t sustain them and searching for a fantastical one that would. But the boy seemed less concerned with the prosperity of humans and more concerned with these aliens. “The other planets humans live on – how would you say they are?”
His eyes were completely closed, but an answer still came. “Depends. Some of them are Goldilocks planets. You know – not too hot, not too cold, pretty close to Earth. Kind of depends on your lot in life. There are some really nice planets with grass and water.” His voice softened. “Then there was mine.”
Odd. Either he’d been lied to, or the planets in his universe were simply more attuned to the needs of humans. Perhaps he was thinking of the planets the rich lived on, but that still implied there were more habitable planets than in my world. Either way, Earth was still in livable condition if those aliens staying on it were any indication. His world was one worth protecting, so he was worth protecting.
“You can’t sleep here,” I said. “We need to find somewhere with water, maybe some more medical supplies or at least someone with more medical knowledge than me.” All I could do was simple wrap jobs made for the battlefield, and those bandages would need to be changed. There was already a good chance of infection.
His eyelids fluttered open, but he frowned up at me. “Should I…hop?” He’d meant it in all seriousness, and I couldn’t help but feel amused.
Once more, I dropped to my knees, this time with my back facing him. “This is the best we can do to keep from agitating your wound.” I looked back over my shoulder to see him sitting up, but he would only stare at me. “We should head out since the sun’s coming back up.”
His eyes darted from my back to the ground to the trees. It seemed he was having an internal debate. I wasn’t sure what for exactly. “We’ll look for your captain as well,” I said. His eyes snapped back to me, and his arms hesitantly reached forward to circle my neck.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked as I picked him up. Even the slight jostle of my arm slipping under his knee was enough to make him cringe again.
I didn’t want to answer the question completely. It would have seemed insane, but in a way, it was. “You don’t deserve to die in a game like this. Your world deserves to live, and you’ll see it through ‘til the end.”
“What about your world?” he prodded.
“That is only of concern to me. It does not involve your life, and you should not be harmed because of it.”
He seemed to accept that, and we started off. I decided to continue following the footprints of the one before us, thankful he did not come back to check on his trap. I didn’t want to cross paths with him while my arms were full, but I believed he was still hours ahead. Even if I did encounter him, I felt I would be capable of shooting him down if need be.
Monono heaved a sigh near my ear. “It’s weird. You’re a lot like my captain, but you’re definitely not him.”
“How so?”
“Well it’s like… It’s kinda…” It seemed he had trouble describing it as well. “You don’t show as much emotion, I guess. And that’s saying something, since my captain usually doesn’t show much either. Also, your outfit has a lot of metal, and that’s weird.” He poked at the armor around my neck, tracing the design. I wasn’t sure if I should have been offended by his remarks or not. “Taller too,” he muttered.
“How old is your captain?” I asked without meaning to. I was too curious about my alternates for my own good.
“I dunno.” Monono shrugged. “Like twenty-something. Doesn’t talk about himself much.”
The alternate I recalled being with Monono had truly looked younger than me, though not by much. It did seem odd to me that one of his crew didn’t know his age. Or perhaps… “Are you a member of his crew?”
“Ah, yeah!” His eyes brightened. He was clearly prideful of his position. “I’m the cook!”
“I see.” Quite young for a cook. “What about the ship?”
“The Arcadia?” He tilted his head curiously. “What about it?”
“Well, what sort of engine does it have?”
Monono puffed his cheeks, his brow furrowed. “You ask a lot of questions,” he muttered. Thankfully he went on before forcing me to respond. “I don’t know. Mr. Tochiro built it, and he makes all kinds of fancy stuff.”
I didn’t want to risk asking him if it was a dark matter engine, but based on his words, it was not. That was a relief all its own. “So who was the guy with you?” he asked suddenly. “He was, uh, in green, right?”
“His name is Yama,” I said. “He’s new.”
Monono waited for me to continue, but I said no more on the matter. There wasn’t much else he needed to hear.
“Okay,” he continued at length. “So what should I call you?”
“Harlock,” I answered without a second thought.
“Is there something else I can call you?” he frowned.
Of course, he considered Harlock to be his captain, and I was not, but my first name wasn’t something I liked to go by. I tried to consider a different option as he ducked his head closer to my shoulder to avoid a low-hanging branch.
Then the thought was gone from my mind.
There was nothing stranger than seeing your own body lying on the ground. His face was in the dirt, a shot through his back. A coward had killed this one.
Monono cried out, his voice cracking in a new sort of agony. “Captain!?” Before I could stop him, he wriggled free and fell back to the ground. “Captain!” he gasped again, rolling over to crawl toward the man.
I wondered how he could tell, or if he really could. There were others that wore the same outfit. “Stay still, or you’ll aggravate your wound,” I said, reaching down toward him.
He pushed my hand away and grabbed for the dead man’s arm instead. “Captain,” he sobbed, pushing with all his strength to get the man off his stomach. I strode to his side, ready to remind him of what could happen if he was able to survive. There was no need to mourn the dead if they could be brought back.
But just as he was able to roll the dead man over, his voice caught in his throat. “I-it’s not him,” he choked. “But why…” Tears rolled down his face, his jaw clenched.
“If it’s not him, then he’s likely safe,” I said. Kneeling down, I looked at the dead man. His eyes were half lidded until I reached out to close them. An odd sentiment for someone who shared my face.
“But why kill him?” Monono begged me for an answer that seemed so obvious.
“So they could live.”
Monono’s eyes went wild with fury. “That’s not an excuse! His saber’s not even drawn!”
That was true. Coupled with the fact that they’d shot him from behind, I particularly didn’t like whoever our killer was. Perhaps their world was not worth saving.
“I know it’s not an excuse," I said, "but it’s a reason, and it’s probably the one they had.” Reaching out, I wiped the tears from Monono’s face as they continued to fall. “Why are you crying for him? He’s not your captain.”
“But he is! I know he’s not my captain, but…he deserves to live. No one deserves to die for this stupid game. You too – you deserve to live.”
His eyes felt piercing, so firm in their belief. “You don’t know me, Monono. You can’t say that for sure.”
“But I do know you.” His smile wobbled. “You’re Harlock.”
I didn’t think I could convince him otherwise. “Come along, Monono,” I said. “We should keep looking.” I would have attempted to take the dead man’s cape for more bandages, but I was certain Monono would not allow it. He so gently took the man’s hands and placed them across his chest before taking my hand to help him onto my back.
“Do you know which one that was?” I asked as we started off once more.
His arms hugged my neck a bit tighter. “He was the quiet one. Never said a word. His partner was that guy in tan.” I recalled him then, but the fact that Monono could tell so easily was impressive. He rested his chin against my shoulder, his eyelids heavy once more.
“You can rest for now,” I said. “I’ll let you know if anything happens.”
“Thanks,” he murmured. “I owe you.”
He didn’t need to repay me. He was doing enough by simply being alive, and I would make sure he stayed that way until the very end, no matter what it took.
Blusey get me an AO3 account as a graduation present. Heck yeah
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* \(◕ω◕✿)/ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ Gonna put some of the fics on there and try not to feel overly inadequate.
Chapter 3 - A Late Walk
Not really any warnings other than that this chapter is short and doesn't have any action.
The forest seemed to be a square. Maybe it wasn’t an exact square, but the sides appeared about even – maybe a half-dozen miles across, give or take. If I pretended the Sun was acting like the Earth’s, though faster, then to the north and south was a desert, and to the east and west was snowy tundra. I had a felling these were just the same areas on a loop, considering every corner of the square met together with three other squares: the tundra, the desert, and a what appeared to be jungle diagonally across. That was all my endless hours of searching had found me. No people or objects or exits – just the map I had eventually sketched into the dirt at my feet. A map that looped forever.
Now I was at a standstill, because it felt like my best option was to wait. The lake in the center of the forest held pristine, perfect water, reflecting the crescent moon now hanging in the sky. It was an ideal place to draw in others. That way we could discuss a plan, and no one… Well, no one else would have to die, if that was really what the wristband was indicating
I sat on a smoothed gray rock near the water’s edge, watching it lazily lap at the dirt and wondering if someone might try to sneak up on me and shoot me while I was so clearly out in the open. They probably wouldn’t be able to with all the twigs and dead leaves scattering the forest floor, but they could always try.
Holding my wrist up to the moonlight, I twisted it and watched the transparent gems sparkle in a rainbow of hidden colors. Selfishly, I hoped the circle-stamped gems didn’t represent us. Tadashi was small. He could fight and hold his own, but he was young and I could only guess the amount of training all the older boys had. And if he ran into a version of me that was selfish enough to hurt him… It took a great deal of work not to think on the idea, as my mind continuously fell back to it.
My head snapped to the side just as a rustling began in the brush nearby. At least I was finally getting to see someone. Logically, I thought we all would have filtered into the forest as the most comfortable region, which was probably what that creature had been planning. But the only sign of any person I’d seen were small footprints in the soft ground of the lake shore. Not Tadashi’s, but definitely one of the boys’. They’d disappeared after I’d followed them for a time, so I couldn’t be too sure.
Whoever this was, he wasn’t trying to hide his approach. His footsteps crashed through the browned leaves, and I wasn’t surprised to see a familiar skull and crossbones on his chest, shining in the moonlight as he came into view. It was one of my doubles, the one with the gray pants. Honestly, there wasn’t any other way to tell us apart. When he saw me, he paused a moment, probably waiting to see if I was going to shoot, since I was sitting there wondering the same thing.
But he didn’t, and neither did I, so he continued toward me. His expression was difficult to see in the deep blue hues of moonlit night, but when he was close enough, I found him with a calm, unreadable expression that I imagined matched my own. “Have you been here the whole time?” he asked as he neared. “Or were you in a different area?”
“I started here, but I looked around the whole thing.”
“I was in the desert. Didn’t bother looking around more than I had to, but there wasn’t much to see.” There was a touch of irritation to his voice, and I couldn’t help but smile as he tossed his cape over near me, yanked off his boots, rolled up his pant legs and waded into the water. His gloves came off too with quick tugs, thrown to land on top of his cape. “Run into anyone else?”
“No, but I was hoping they’d all come here.”
He nodded, staring down into the water as though he could pull answers from it. “Makes sense. So you don’t know who died then?”
“No.” He must have reasoned that out from the band too. Either that or he’d been the one to kill them, but I doubted that.
Again, he nodded. “I’m not sure if I want to know, but I would like to know who killed them.” He turned to look back at me, his brow furrowed. “I trust my crewman to know when it is and isn’t okay to kill, but a situation like this is different.”
“Very different,” I sighed. “I don’t know that Tadashi would ever shoot anyone here unless they attack first, but that does make him an easy target.” The way we talked about everything felt almost like any ordinary conversation. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t think of how else to speak with him. It was strange enough to be speaking with him at all. My mind wandered to the idea that his crewman could have been the killer, and mine could have been the victim.
What then? I would feel angry, of course, but taking revenge by killing his crewman might in-turn lead him to fight me. And that was just what the monster wanted. It wanted a bloodbath fueled by fear and hatred and revenge.
“So you have a Daiba as well?” he asked, still just a simple conversation despite the absolute madness surrounding us.
“No, it’s Tadashi Monono – the little brunet.”
I found a moment’s sympathy in his eye, and I was certain it was because Tadashi was the absolute youngest among us. “How can I say I hope they’re both alright?” he murmured. “Because that would mean hoping someone else is dead.”
The polite conversation fell away as I nodded. “I think we should just gather everyone and work out a solution. Banding together will ruin the whole game. It’s our only chance as far as I can see, but we have to make sure everyone keeps a cool head, no matter what happened in the past.”
“No matter what it takes, I will not kill anyone else,” he said mostly to himself, his eye locked into the trees.
I followed his gaze. “I promise the same,” I responded, though he may not have been listening as both our attentions were turned to a much louder, more hurried crashing nearing us.
I hoped to see one of the younger boys, and in a way, I got what I hoped for. “Oh, hey!” he greeted with a slight wave as he hit the edge of the tree line. It was the young version of us with the flashy white pants and odd black shirt. His eyes were bright with interest, though his face didn’t show it otherwise. “What’s going on?”
“We were just discussing a plan to bring everyone together,” I called while he struggled to free his foot from where it had tangled in some roots. “Have you seen anyone?”
Even though he was yards away, it was easy to see his face screw up against the question. Once his foot was loose, he continued toward us, his pace slowed “I saw another one of us, but he was in a pretty piss-poor mood, so I just got away from him pretty quick. Thought he was gonna shoot me.”
“Which one of us?” the man next to me asked. Looking between them, I realized we would need some sort of name system to tell each other apart.
“I’m not sure. One that looked like you two. He started yelling at me as soon as he saw me, asking if I killed whoever had died. Maybe you can try to approach him later, but he seemed a little crazy.”
Well that was discouraging, but surely we could reason with him. I thought for a moment, wondering if they would mind taking orders from me. “Alright, we’ll wait on asking him, but we need to spread out and look for anyone else who might come through here. The lake can be our base. I think there might also be some people in the jungle area, but I doubt anyone will stay-”
There was that split second where we all felt confused. The sound was so foreign in the middle of a calm, natural setting. But I watched the younger one of us cringe, not wanting to look down. I looked to the other me to see him holding up the bracelet as though he was checking the time on a watch. His eye was heavy with disappointment. It felt like we were at a standstill, and that silvery sound of the gem shattering still rang in my ears.
“Which shape?” I felt myself ask, as if it would make some difference.
“Star,” he said. I could only guess at who that was. The dread in my stomach assured me it had to be Tadashi, because I couldn’t help but think the worst.
When the younger one of us spoke, his throat sounded dry. “You two haven’t seen a scrawny kid, have you? He’s real loud, so it’s hard to miss him.” He was trying to smile, but it wasn’t working.
“No, I’m sorry.” I really was. I understood. “You’re the first one we’ve seen,”
When that thing brought us along with a partner, it really had known what it was doing. If it had just been the eight of us, I wasn’t sure there would have been much bloodshed, if any at all. But the boys we’d drug along were impulsive, and I wasn’t even sure what to think of the older ones. My Tochiro wouldn’t have harmed any of them, but I couldn’t be sure about the one with the cowboy. I didn’t know anything about the other two, who weren’t even remotely recognizable. The one that worried me the most was the lone man whose insignia was not a skull and crossbones.
“I like to think that whoever is doing this is doing it out of fear,” the elder double said. “So when we’re all together, we may be able to calm them down.”
I’d been hoping the same thing, but there was no guarantee. “That idea fits if it’s one of the boys. If it’s one of us, I doubt that’s the case. We can’t even be sure these acts weren’t done by two completely different people. It could even be a pair that has decided to try to win.”
The young one’s slow pace had finally reached my side, and he plopped down next to me on the rock, frowning out across the lake. “But we have to keep at it. We have to try uniting everyone. If we’re not fighting, that thing doesn’t have the show it wants, and we may be able to draw it out and talk to it again.”
“At the very least, we have to try,” I nodded in agreement.
“You’re right. Let’s set up base here.” The elder said as he leaned down to clean his hands in the water. The reflected moon wobbled from the sudden waves “We can search here and the jungle for three passes of the Sun, since I’d estimate that’s around five hours. After that time is up, we’ll return here with everyone we’ve found and check everyone over.” He straightened his back, his expression calm, though his eye was dark. “I have a talent for catching liars, so we’ll just see if we can find out who is responsible so we can keep an eye on them.”
I pulled off my cape and dropped it on top of his as I stood. It would only get in the way in the tree-dense areas. “Sounds fair. We can keep doing cycles with that plan until we have everyone. And just so I don’t get confused, we should probably all go by different names other than Harlock for when we’re all in a group.”
“As long as we don’t have to go by embarrassing nicknames,” the youngest grumbled.
“What if he’s A,” I pointed toward the man in the lake, “I’m B,” I cocked a thumb at myself, “and you’re C.” I pointed at the last of us, who didn’t appear thrilled with his rank.
“I guess it’ll work,” he shrugged. “But what happens if one of them attacks us?”
“Do your best to knock them out,” A said. “Killing is your absolute last resort. If you have to shoot, go for the legs.”
“There’s a chance some of them may not trust us,” I realized. “I can’t help much with anyone else, but if you run into my cook – the short brunet in green – tell him I sent you, and we still need to get to Arcadia.” Admittedly, the code sounded a bit silly, but I had to trust that these men would keep him safe, and so would he.
With a slight smile, A picked up on my plan. “And if you see mine – the blond – tell him he still has more Mazone to go after.”
“You can just tell mine to shut up and listen,” C said, smirking. “He’ll probably manage to call everyone else to you with how loud he always is.”
“The time will begin once the sun rises,” A said. “I’ll look in this area since I just got here if you two want to take the jungle.”
I nodded. I’d spent far too much time here already, but it hadn’t been a waste. As long as we had a goal we could work toward together, we had a chance to overcome this. The alternate versions of me were all good men so far, so there was still hope for us to win and maybe even bring back the ones we’d lost.
I’d worked too damn hard on protecting my home and friends to let anything else take them from me.
*punches a wall* Pointless Dadlock fluff. Featuring precious baby Monono. It's always werid to me to write his name as Tadashi in fics since I usually call him Monono.
Tadashi awoke to his name, called from somewhere above him. He wasn’t concerned with whatever it was, and he only looked up as a natural reaction. The Arcadia had pulled an all-nighter outrunning the enemy, which wasn’t so bad since they’d gotten away unscathed, but then he’d needed to make dinner from scratch. After he’d served it, he felt too tired to even eat what he’d cooked, only bothering to clean up before going straight to sleep.
His exhaustion weighted his limbs and made his eyes sting. The Illumidas could have been invading the ship at that moment, and he still would have felt more concerned with sleep, so seeing the captain standing above him called for no reason to be alarmed. Had he been more coherent, he would have jumped up and asked if there was something he needed to do, but his eyelids fell shut again, and he relaxed, headed back to sleep.
“Tadashi,” Harlock called again, his voice gentle with a touch of amusement. “Wouldn’t you rather sleep in your room?”
The cook pried his eyes halfway open to take in his surroundings. He swore he’d been on his way to his room after he’d finished cleaning the dishes, but he guessed he hadn’t made it far. He sat on the floor of the kitchen, leaning against the cabinets. Now that he thought about it, it wasn’t exactly comfortable. There was a slight crick in his neck, but moving wasn’t worth the effort to him. He gave a small noise of neutrality in response, his eyelids falling against his own will.
“That was a pretty stressful run,” Harlock smiled as he knelt down to the boy’s level. “Thank you for dinner. I’m sure you weren’t up for making it, but it was still very good.”
Tadashi gave another soft noise of recognition from his throat, his mouth remaining closed. Harlock thought he looked too thin and too tired as usual, but a large part of it was certainly from all the stress they’d been through over the past day. Harlock carefully placed his hands under the small weight of his crewman, who hung like a ragdoll in his grasp despite the small noise of confusion and protest that left him.
“I’m sure you’ll be better off in your bed,” Harlock said as he adjusted Tadashi to lie in the crooks of his arms. One of the boy’s arms hung down to sway with each step his captain took toward his room, where Rebi and Tochiro were already long asleep in their capsule-like beds. As Harlock settled Tadashi in his, the cook gave a soft growl of contented thanks.
“Sleep as long as you need to,” Harlock offered, pulling the blankets over him. “Breakfast can wait.”
Tadashi managed to twitch the corners of his lips into a smile before he began to fade again. He heard his captain tell him goodnight, and he wondered if the man ever really slept, or if he just made sure everyone else did.
