#devaiht

not good enough (tips over one of the vault vases)

That was...Ai? 

Blinking slowly it was almost visible how his thoughts were resetting. It wasn’t possible, right? After all... Ai was... Ai had been... gone. By his hands. It had been his fault because he hadn’t been able to protect his partner neither from the world nor from the Dark Ignis itself. 

There had been a lot of things that eventually had lead to this outcome. But most of those things were connected to Yusaku and in the end Ai had admitted so himself right? He hadn’t wanted to live in a world without Yusaku... 

How could he have been so blind to his partners feelings? Why hadn’t he noticed that there was more behind all of this act than just losing his family? 

The last few days he had spend online, with looking up the simulations his partner had looked into as well. Because he had wanted to understand. Wanted to see what horror his partner had gone through in an attempt to safe him. 

It probably was the reason why he was imagining to see Ai now. After seeing him around all alive again for so long... his mind probably was just playing tricks to him. 

But still.... there was this tiny part of him that didn’t want to let go of that possibility. Didn’t want to accept the death of his partner. And this tiny part was getting stronger and stronger and in the end he was chasing after the ghost he thought he had seen. 

Just that... he actually found the person he had thought to be nothing more than a product of his mind. 

“...Ai...” 

if you’re comfortable with IMing people you could always try a plotting call!

well yeah but i’m an introvert for life and suck at starting conversations too

but yeah that sounds good

This couldn’t be right. Something must be malfunctioning. “Ai? is that you?” Aqua asked hesitantly stepping out from her hiding spot as she traversed through Link Vrains. The dark ignis had been the only one missing when the rest of the ignis revived. All of them sans Lightning had hoped that somehow the one that had outlived them all was still out there. Either with his human partner or on his own out in the network. Of course, Lightning had started spitting that he was most certainly dead, but they had all ignored the light ignis.

“it’s okay to cry in front of me, you know. you don’t have to carry this alone.”  @devaiht​

He wasn’t about to cry. He was not. Or at least that was what Yusaku tried to convince himself of at this point. He hadn’t cried since the day Ai had died. Or at least... hadn’t cried in the real world ever since. Tears in Link VRAINS had happened at some points, but he wouldn’t let that count here. Not right now. 

Shaking his head, Yusaku’s hands eventually found their way, softly gripping the fabric of Ai’s coat, while he tried to ignore how much they were shaking to begin with. 

He wasn’t about to cry. Not like this. 

“If I’d cry now... you’d blame yourself again. Because this is something I have to carry alone.” 

unprompted.     /     always accepting   !!

@devaiht​ said :   hey rakan since we're here i have a confession to make. did NOT care for teamfight tactics

              he never expected it.     their friendship had been blooming for oh,     so many years now,     finding a basis in their mutual love for this video game that has brought them closer as gamers    :    league of legends,     a supposed multiplayer team game riddled with toxicity at every corner,     every game mode.     despite this,     they've withstood these trials,     as both sought after one goal    ;    challenger,     a tier in the ranked games that denote naught more but an inconsequential cosmetic,     &    maybe a jacket or two,    &    the chance to go pro,     or whatever.     regardless,     it is a mythical tier that,     through their combined goal,     sought deeply for.

              ai    &    rakan's combined efforts have allowed them to climb up,     climb far,     despite the unchanging gameplay,     less one were count the game modes that they've removed completely,     vestiges of them through videos that are now only a memory in the grand scheme of the game.     (   please,     please add the star guardian invasion game mode back,     she's all i've ever wanted   )     the addition of a permanent game mode is a novel concept,     one not heard of by many     ————     we don't talk about ARAM,     fuck you    ————    teamfight tactics     ...     it is akin to fire emblem,     strategy dependent,     reliant on one's own cognitive processes    &    their cunning methods of beating the enemy team.     alas,     it has adopted the gacha formula,     insofar that luck is,     too,     a factor in the game.     rng gods be merciful,     he begs you.

              to hear that this game mode he's fallen in love with is not appreciated by his friend,     who he knows is way too good in the jungle     (   you got banned for being toxic in the all chat,     ai     ...     this wasn't supposed to happen   ),     it's heartbreaking.     it's not real.     the gamer juice flowing through his veins rejects ai's statement.

So there was no way he could spot him around in Link VRAINS. And so he decided not to chase after the shadow of the past. It most likely was the fact that he still felt guilty about leaving Den City without a chance to tell Yusaku his goodbyes that he now saw his friends partner every now and then. It couldn’t be anything else. 

Or so he had tried to convince himself. 

But that only worked as long as he only saw glimpses of the other one. Something blurry in just the right colors in the corner of his eyes. He was mistaking others for that AI. 

At least that was what he told himself over and over again, but as he now stood right in front of him, there wasn’t much left to deny anymore.