In the quietness between universes, where stars breathed and worlds bloomed, there existed a place that not even Zeno saw. A garden woven of time, where flowers opened with the rhythm of born galaxies and the air shimmered with a celestial hum that only 2 could hear...

Daishinkan had built it long ago in secret. Not for power. Not for gods. But for you, Y/N, the Priestess of Harmony.

You stood there, your robes moving like soft ribbons through the air, trailing silver light. Every step you took made the crystal ground beneath your feet glow faintly, your presence alone stirring the balance of this secluded realm. You had been created to heal the ruptures between universes, to soothe divine energy gone astray. Yet even your power paled next to the stillness of the Grand Priest’s gaze.

He appeared as he always did, calm, unreadable, his eyes a mirror of the universes long-gone. But tonight, something softened them.

“You’ve been here often lately,” his voice came, smooth as the still air itself.

You smiled faintly, brushing your fingertips over a glowing blossom that pulsed brightly. “It reminds me of the peace... and of you.” You said with that beautiful smile of yours.

He blinked, an almost imperceptible sign of surprise. “Peace and I are rarely found in the same sentence.”

“Then perhaps,” you turned, facing him, “you should let someone say it more often.”

A silence stretched between you, as sacred as it was fragile. The Grand Priest had seen the death of suns and the rebirth of dimensions, yet nothing seemed to weigh on him the way this did, this gentle affection he felt for you. It wasn’t meant to exist. Not for one such as him.

Still, he stepped closer. “You know what it means to feel as I do.”

You looked up at him, your eyes reflecting the faint, swirling cosmos above. “Yet you still made me this garden.”

His lips curved, just a breath of a smile. “Maybe I did not make it for the balance of creation after all.”

The moment stretched quietly. You could feel his energy brushing against yours. As though afraid that a single wrong touch would unmake the fragile beauty between you.

When he finally reached for you, his hand hovered first, hesitant, before cupping your cheek with a tenderness that contradicted his omnipotence. “When I built this place,” he murmured, “I did not understand longing. Now… I do.”

You leaned into his palm, feeling the faint hum of divine energy beneath his skin. “Let it be our secret. A place where even time lets us be.”

He opened his mouth to answer, perhaps to say something he had never allowed himself to before, when the air suddenly shimmered. A pulse of absurdly bright, childish energy rippled through the garden.

“Daishinkan! Daishinkan! Where are youuuu?”

The voice was unmistakable.

You blinked, nearly stepping back as a glowing portal opened above one of the starlit trees, petals scattering from the sudden divine pressure. Daishinkan’s serene expression twitched. Once. Just once.

“…The Omni-King,” he said, in that perfectly composed tone that somehow carried the faintest whisper of exasperation.

You pressed your lips together to hide your laugh. “You mean our privacy alarm.”

“Apparently, even this realm isn’t beyond His Majesty’s curiosity.”

A blue/purple head peeked through the portal, blinking enormous eyes. “Daishinkan! You’re here! Ohhh, what’s this place?”

Daishinkan straightened immediately, his usual divine calm snapping back into place like a mask. “A minor… maintenance project, Your Majesty.”

Zeno floated fully into the garden, spinning once, delighted by the shimmering flowers. “It’s pretty! You made it sparkle! Oh, and-” his eyes turned toward you, “-who’s she?”

You bowed gracefully, hiding the small smile threatening your composure. “An assistant in maintaining universal harmony, Your Majesty.”

Zeno gasped. “She’s shiny too!”

Daishinkan’s faint cough was not quite a cough. “Indeed, Your Majesty. But perhaps we should return to the palace before the Supreme Kais grow anxious again?”

Zeno frowned, crossing tiny arms. “Mmmm… okay. But I like this place! It feels happy!” He pointed at Daishinkan and then at you. “You should come here more! Both of you!”

The portal blinked out as suddenly as it had appeared. Silence reclaimed the garden.

You turned slowly to find Daishinkan looking at where Zeno had been utterly expressionless, though the tips of his ears carried a faint pink hue.

You couldn’t help it. You laughed softly. “So much for ‘a place where even time lets us be.’”

Daishinkan exhaled, almost smiling. “It seems even time bows to His Majesty’s schedule.”

You tilted your head, eyes bright. “Then we’ll simply steal a few moments when we can.”

He looked at you, the faintest gleam of warmth returning to his eyes. “Then I suppose,” he murmured, offering his hand, “we’ll continue our secret… between interruptions.”

You took his hand, your laughter echoing through the shimmering garden, the kind of sound even the Omni-King might have smiled at without knowing why.

Masterpost