Home is Where the Heart Remembers You.

[misfortunes_fool]

The thing about being stuck in a world that was build on dream, of watching the ebb and flow of time and people come and go, meant that eventually... you lost everyone.

Some came back, more than once, and sometimes they even remembered you.

Others... well, you could hope and you could pray to gods that you don't really believe in, or you could do like Yuui and spend all of your time studying magic from all the worlds that touched the one you were stuck in.

And you would do so in the same house you've always had, on that sliver of a chance that one of those important people would eventually find their way home. And that's just what Yuui's doing on a breezy spring morning.

Or rather, he's dozing off, beneath the newly budded leaves of his favorite shade tree, a book on Valerian history sliding down his lap. Just another endless morning, in an endless world.

Nothing more... or so he thought.

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[misfortunes_heir]

It felt strange to walk through this place again, everything had changed, subtly; the people were different, the trees growing in different shapes. The doors were painted different colors; it was disorienting. It was a clue.

If not for that, he would have supposed that it had been only a moment; to blink, and then wake up from a dram, here in this place again. Needless to say, he'd hurried first to the house, that beautiful house they'd all picked out together.

"Hello?" He could sense Yuui nearby, but so close his power was like a miasma; huge, and directionless, "Anyone? Yuui?"

[misfortunes_fool]

Some dreams were, and would always be, more vivid than others in this place - and for Yuui, the ones that stood out the most were also the ones that held the memories that were as a gift. The ones that brought to life his brother's unfettered smile and his sweet, childish voice raised in question, curiosity, or for the first time, in laughter and song.

And so, to hear that voice again, feel the familiar wind and curl of magic within him...

Was it no wonder that, for Yuui, the sound was no more than a dream conjuring the gift of one such memory? Could he be helped, if it was such a constant yearning in his heart that he didn't immediately recognize the truth of reality there, half asleep under the shaded sunlight?

Probably not, and so he slouched down further, long fingertips trailing further down the spine of his book as the hint of a smile curved his lips.

[misfortunes_heir]

The house was empty, warm, inviting, studded here and there with little artifacts of life; a book laid out over the arm of a chair, a blanket carelessly thrown aside, dirty dishes in the sink. But no Yuui. Fai wandered further in, and that's where he saw the figure under the tree, in the garden, their garden.

"Yuui," Fai breathed, though he meant to shout it, to run forward and hold him, but something checked his mad dash before it had properly taken hold; that sad smile, the shoulders stooped as if to ward off the reality. Something was wrong...

No, Fai understood, of course. Everything was wrong, they'd been separated again, hadn't they?

Quietly, he padded across the grass, blindly kicking off his shoes, and bent his head to look up at Yuui from below. Gently, gently, a small hand came up to cover his twin's, and Fai tried a smile.

"Yuui?" Please wake up, now. I need you, "I'm here now."

[misfortunes_fool]

No matter how detailed a dream, even in this place, there was one thing his dreams could never truly replicated with convincing detail - and that, for Yuui, was the warmth of touch.

And in that, now, there was no mistake.

Which was why his breath caught at the sound of that unmistakable voice and his own hand turned to catch the delicate fingers in his own before his eyes blinked open slowly to see his twin's upturned face and impossibly wide cerulean eyes staring up at him.

Yet even with this undeniable proof before him, winged brows furrowed in confusion as his eyes - both of them again - darted back and forth between his brother's. "...Fai? I'm not - not dreaming again, am I?"

Because it wouldn't be the first time the Weavers played so cruelly with his reality in this place.

[misfortunes_heir]

Fai shook his head, silently reveling in the perfect way Yuui's hand curled around his, the natural sensation of his body's warmth, so close, so dear.

"I'm here," he repeated and reached with his other hand to touch Yuui's face, to slide gentle fingers into his hair, and feel his brother's breath warm on his wrist, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to leave you alone."

A crack in the moment, a shard of ice through the drowsy-warm day; Fai faltered, wavering on the knife-edge of guilt, "I would have— I wish...I never wanted to leave you at all..."

[misfortunes_fool]

I'm here.

Such a simple confirmation and yet, combined with the soothing brush of gentle fingers, that's all Yuui really needed to accept this gift once more. Which is why, as Fai's voice trailed off, Yuui simply moved.

He reached out to catch his twin's waif-like form, both his arms wrapping protectively around his twin's frame as he settled his brother in his lap. He couldn't help but bury his face in the crook of that small shoulder, breathe in the impossible scent of new frost and warm sunlight as he shook his head.

"Don't, Fai. There's no need. It wasn't your fault any more than it was mine. They couldn't control the gates into this world anymore then than they can now. I'm just... just glad to have you here once more."

[misfortunes_heir]

"But..."

More in surprise than defense, and when Yuui finally moved, Fai collapsed with that last whimpering cry, both as tense as he'd ever been, and relaxed for the first time, since he'd again become alive. Yuui. The smeel of Yuui, the warm solid bulk of Yuui, the smell of him, which hadn't changed through three hundred years, through death and starvation and blood and a thousand worlds' travel. Yuui.

"...Yuui," Fai whimpered, bent back by his unwillingness to let go, turning into his twin in a perfect mirror, "W-was it a long time? It felt like..."

Such a strange sensation— a loss for words. Fai sniffed and held tighter, secure in the knowledge that Yuui would never willingly let him go.