"Keigo, this is Tao Ling, his code-er-hero name is Annum. Tao, this is Keigo Takami, or Takami Keigo, however you wanna say it. He's my guardian." Sanyu said, wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands. The man with purple hair, Tao apparently, held him upright as he did so.
"You're a member of the Six." Keigo said, smiling. When Sanyu had started crying he panicked a little thinking someone who hurt him had gotten through. Sanyu had told him about Tao though. He was a very interesting type of hero but a kind man nonetheless.
"That I am." Tao said, reaching out his hand to shake Keigo's. The otherworldly hero took it then smiled and teared up again. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I'm not usually this much of a mess but I-we really all thought he was dead.".
"I'm alive." Sanyu said with a smile, "It's just....complicated.".
"I have all the time in the world for you to explain." Tao replied. The three sat back down on the couch, slowly coming down from the excitement. Sanyu clung to the man like he would disappear if he let go and Keigo couldn't blame him.
"To make a long story short, a villainous organization in this world created a portal to summon someone powerful to their world. They hoped I would help them defeat this world's number one hero. But I realized what they were doing quickly and put all my effort into protecting the hostages until Keigo, who's what they call a pro hero, saved us." The boy explained.
"So you just got sucked up by a portal? And we're in that world now?" Tao asked. Sanyu nodded. "I didn't see it coming at all. One second I was flying, the next I was in some purple void of some sort, then I exploded out of the portal and into this world." He explained, "What happened after that in our world?".
"When you were declared MIA the world went insane. The government tried to keep it under wraps that you had gone missing but Jackson found out within 24 hours when he tried to call you.". Tao took a deep breath. "He tried to call everybody to get us to fly out to Siberia with him to look for you but I was deep undercover in Malaysia at the time and he couldn't reach me. I learned about your disappearance on tv but my situation was dangerous. It was a kill mission so I couldn't leave until the deed was done.".
"Fast forward two months and I finally finished the mission. I flew out to Siberia to join Yuliana and Jackson but..." He trailed off. "We couldn't find you. Within a week of me getting there you were presumed dead.".
"I bet the world was glad to get rid of me at least. One less liability." Sanyu said bitterly.
Tao almost seemed to smile, but his face was overtaken by sadness. "The opposite, Sanyu. The world was heartbroken.".
The kid seemed shocked at that. "Tribute after tribute. Protest after protest. It was like they finally realized that you were just a kid. Because of that the government decided to dissolve the Six program-"
"They WHAT?!" Sanyu asked, shocked.
"They dissolved the program kid." Tao said, a smile on his face. "We're free. We can be heroes on our own terms, or not be heroes at all. We have our legal personhood back, our rights, everything. Jackson got married finally. Oh-and this will really surprise you-Vivian Holt is still alive.".
Sanyu's open mouth spoke for itself. "I know! She hid in plain sight for nearly a decade. Pretty easy for a shapeshifted honestly. We all thought she was dead but she's back now to help out with the hero work. Not that there's been anything since you 'died'. The world's still a little shell shocked." Tao explained.
"Well then the news that Haemon's alive will come as less of a shock." Sanyu said with a smile. Haemon had always been Tao's idol. He had worked with him for a couple years before his suicide. "He's not here, he lives in the 'dream dimension' now. He kinda talks to me in my sleep, as insane as that sounds.".
"Jackson mentioned seeing him a lot in his dreams these days." Tao remembered. "Okay...wow. This is a lot at once.".
"You think you're shocked, I just learned that my death was all it would take to give you guys everything you ever wanted." Sanyu said with a sad smile.
"Oh baby no." Tao said, squeezing the boy's shoulder, "We would give it all back if you could come back to us. Any one of us would. But...we did also think you had it better now. What they did to you, what they made you do-it was a fate worse than death.".
Sanyu nodded solemnly. "Well it worked out in the end. We're just like everybody else in this world. Tao, they all have powers.".
"Is that why he has wings? No offense sir, it's just...you don't see stuff like that where I'm from." Tao said, looking over at Keigo.
"No offense taken. Sanyu thought I was an angel at first." The blond said. Sanyu blushed.
"So you've got a good life here? They're treating you well?" Tao asked. The boy nodded.
"Better than I could have imagined." He said with a shy smile.
Tao looked him up and down for a second, searching for bruises or anything to indicate otherwise, but nothing was wrong. Sanyu's posture and behavior all pointed towards him being happy and healthy.
"When did you get so tall? And so broad. You really went all Bucky Barnes on us, huh?" The man joked. "Went off to paradise, ditched the prosthetic and grew your hair out.".
Sanyu fiddled with his much longer hair shyly. It wasn't an incorrect assumption. "I wonder when I'm getting my leg back." He thought aloud. At Tao's confused expression he filled him in. "They had a big villain attack so I went to help their number one hero, who's name is Yagi Toshinori, by the way, out. My leg got damaged and the principal of my new school offered to fix it.".
"I'm gonna guess that this isn't some normal school?" Tao asked. Sanyu nodded. "Well they'd better be careful with that leg of yours. Otherwise that's 12 million down the drain.".
"I'm sorry, 12 million yen?" Keigo asked, shocked, "That's how much it cost?". It seemed like a lot, honestly.
"Oh no," Tao said, waving his hand dismissively. Keigo relaxed for a moment. "12 million dollars. U.S dollars.". And suddenly Keigo was tense again.
"Sanyu you balanced pop corn on your leg! You never mentioned it cost 12 million dollars!" Keigo said, shocked. Sanyu shrugged.
"Nerve sensitive prosthetics don't come without a price tag. It wasn't like I paid for it or anything. Besides, the metal it is made out of is a special alloy. Otherwise it would never stand up to my powers.".
"Oh, speaking of the alloy, a company was given access to the spare leg they kept around for you and they made it into something pretty cool. I should go back to Jackson's present timeline and get it now. We're all staying at his place in Queens right now." Tao said excitedly. Sanyu wanted to be jealous that they were all able to hang out and live together without him, but he was too worried about what Tao had suggested.
"Don't go! Don't leave me alone!".
"Hey, don't worry kiddo." Keigo said, putting a hand on Sanyu's other shoulder. Sanyu relaxed immediately and Tao raised an eyebrow at the two of them.
"You've got yourself a dad now?" He asked, grinning, "You should have said so.".
"He's not my dad!" Sanyu said, embarrassed, "He's only your age!".
"I'm his uncle. Sort of." Keigo explained with an equally embarrassed smile.
"Uncle? You're calling people by family names now?" Tao said excitedly. "Wait, this isn't fair. You never once called me 叔叔!". Sanyu blushed bright red at that and laughed.
"I'll get there eventually." He promised. Tao smiled and held the boy closer.
Keigo observed the pair with interest. He never thought he'd meet another person from Sanyu's world, let alone a member of the Six. Tao didn't act at all like he expected. He had anticipated another person like Sanyu, closed off and scared. The man was exactly the opposite. He was excited and open. Sanyu only even initiated physical contact with Keigo, but Tao seemed like the type of person to hug people he'd only just met.
He also hadn't expected how tender he was with Sanyu. The way the boy described the Six it sounded like they hadn't been particularly involved with each other except for the youngest members and maybe Jackson. But Keigo was pretty used to Sanyu's raging insecurity as well and realized pretty quickly Sanyu had tried to distance himself from them and not the other way around.
-------- -------- --------- ---------- ---------- --------- ----------
Hours later almost everything had been explained. It seemed like neither man had ever seen Sanyu so worked up before. His excitement was contagious.
But along with the extra energy came extra sleepiness and the boy was now knocked out, sleeping peacefully against Keigo as the man wrapped his wings around the kid ever so slightly.
Tao smiled down at the boy.
"You fixed him." The man whispered, breaking the comfortable silence they had fallen into.
"What?" Keigo asked, confused. Tao looked at him with a sad smile.
"He's been on a downward slope since he got his powers. He used to be like this, albeit shyer and worse at English. But he used to smile. Then he absorbed that missile and Lela died protecting the bunker- and he shut down. It didn't help that they dragged him back into training and made it all twice as horrible. We tried so hard to stay close to him, to keep him as safe as we could, but he wouldn't let us." The man explained. His breath hitched a little as he kept speaking.
"Right before he went to Siberia and went missing he was staying with Jackson. Recovering from the shock of Lela's death combined with Clem's betrayal. Jackson-" Tears gathered at the corners of Tao's eyes. "He begged San to stay with him. To go rogue and live with him in Queens. To let us keep him safe. And Sanyu-he's never been able to run from a fight but this time...".
It was like he couldn't get the words out. Keigo reached a wing out and touched the man's shoulder gently. The action seemed to surprise Tao, but he accepted it nonetheless.
"We thought Sanyu was trying to kill himself. By throwing himself into work. More missions, more dangerous missions. It looked more like a combined effort between himself and the government to end his life.".
Keigo's breath hitched. No. Then, something clicked. "So when he went missing and no one could find him..." The pro hero wasn't able to finish his sentence either. His throat felt too tight.
"We thought he'd committed suicide." Tao confirmed.
The words hung heavy in the air. Tao reached out and brushed Sanyu's cheek with his fingers. "I'm so glad he's alive. And safe, healthy and happy." He said, his voice wet with tears, "And I'm so glad he's back to normal. Thank you, Keigo. From the bottom of my heart thank you.".
"He deserves everything good in the world." Keigo said. Tao nodded in agreement.
"There is one more thing I need to ask though, about his world. I wanted to wait until Sanyu was asleep." The man admitted. Tao looked up at him, eager to answer. "What's the general opinion on same-sex attraction?".
Tao tensed up at that and Keigo's heart sank. "For safety reasons I'm going to have to ask what this world thinks about them before I answer that question." He said cautiously.
"Well you can't become a country unless you allow same-sex marriage. It's been legal for what-50 years at this point? It's just as normal as being straight. Kids, marriage, the whole thing." Keigo explained.
"Wow." Tao said, taking a deep breath. "This really is paradise.". Keigo waited for the man to continue.
"It's a disease, to most people in our world." The man admitted. "If someone were to come out...they wouldn't be safe. Definitely wouldn't be able to get married. Depending on where you are you might get killed.".
Keigo felt incredibly tense at that. "I'm gay." He revealed, "But when I told Sanyu that all he said was he promised not to tell anybody.".
"He probably thought he was protecting you." Tao explained simply. "That's what we all said when Clementine came out to us. She trusted us with her secret and we promised to protect her. Even after she went rogue no one ever told anybody.".
"He thought he was...protecting me?" Keigo asked. Tao nodded. "During one of his classes he got...unnaturally angry at someone who insinuated he was gay. We got into a bit of a disagreement about that.".
"That's my fault. San told me once, in confidence because I'm known for my secret keeping, that he thought he liked boys." The man said softly. "And I told him not to tell anybody. Not even Lela or Jackson. He got scared, went overboard and came off the other way.".
"Why?" Keigo asked. Tao grimaced.
"Because of what happened to me." The hero revealed. "God it was bad enough when I first got my powers and I was 17. Sanyu-he was only 12 when he told me that. He was so small and so fragile and...I don't use the term 'brainwashed' lightly. I don't think anyone will truly understand how deep those fuckers are in his head, not even San himself. And the trainers were all the most fucked up people on earth. If they had known-".
Tao took a deep breath. "He likes both, so it was safer for him to pretend to hate gay people than to be one.".
"You're safe here." Keigo said suddenly. "No matter what happens in your world, you're safe here.".
A tear dropped from Tao's cheek onto the fabric of the couch. "Thank you, Keigo." He said again.
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Sanyu's original world just gets worse and worse, doesn't it?
But now the three remaining members of the Six are free from government control and are free again!
I played around with how Tao would react to seeing Sanyu after he thought he was dead for nearly 4 months until I decided that he, rightfully so, would be a sobbing emotional wreck.😂
Also, thank you to @SaturnSunset for lending me Vivian! 😁
She's a member of the original Six who went into hiding after dedicating most of her life to hero work. She settled down for a bit, got married and put effort into building herself a family and a real life. However now that heroes and people with powers are free from government control she's back to help out!
Since I glossed over how Tao ended up there in the first place here you go:
By touching someone he can travel into their past or future. He can't change the future or the past and basically just acts as an observer. Because of this he's used more as a political asset than the other heroes who's powers are more suited to physical work.
While just hanging around Jackson's apartment he accidentally activated his powers by touching Yuliana and went into her past. When he saw the past version of Sanyu he reached out to hug him despite not being able to touch people in the past (because if you can't tell this man is not coping well with Sanyu's death) and was transported to Sanyu's present.
They don't know why this happened yet 😶
Stay Tuned!
(I'm really sorry that this chapter is so long and basically just talking tho 😭. But time and space travel need so many explanations!)