//------------------------------//
// Picking up the Pieces - The Morning After
// Story: Kamen Rider Alchemy
// by Layton13
//------------------------------//
The morning sun was slowly starting to rise over the city, gracing it with its warm and soothing light. Even though the light shined into the living room, shimmering through the still wet windows above, the warmth and soothing feeling were lost on all of them. Everyone in the room just stared somewhere, if it was the floor or the wall, it didn’t matter, everything felt cold, distant like something was missing.
Light Bulb was distantly searching through data on her notepad, Shining sitting next to her and doing something similar on his own notepad, searching for any sign of something going wrong, anything. Thunder and Summer had sat down a plate of food on the table, a plate that hadn’t been touched the whole night and were now just sitting next to it, clueless expressions on their face.
And of course, Emerald who was just sitting there, a blank expression on her face, staring at the floor beneath her. A blanket had been pulled over her shoulders, one she hugged tightly to her. Emerald’s eyes were bloodshot and tear-stricken. In seemingly random intervals she just sobbed, but no tear rolled over her swollen face, all of them having already been spent. An arm swung around her, Ocean hugging her tightly, her eyes similarly tear-stricken.
Not too far away from the Phoenix was sitting on the couch, an expression of uncertainty and confusion shrouding his face as he stared at Monster Driver in front of him. The device had besides a few dents not taken and damage, still looking like it was fully functional. It was impressive that it had survived the fight in such a pristine condition, especially after… No, he didn’t want to think about that right now. It might be true that he and Pinecone had never really seen eye to eye, but this? This was just too much. He never wished this upon the man… no, his friend. He had this feeling of emptiness, loss, and helplessness that threatened to suffocate him. He would miss their little arguments, them butting heads, them disagreeing even if he had at times nearly hated him, but he was a good man, at least that was what he thought.
Lifting his head, he looked over o Emerald. She looked awful and was most likely even more distraught then all of them thrown together. She had lost her brother, a person she had known for her entire life. If he lost Thunder, how would he feel? That thought alone was horrifying enough for him to stop thinking about it. And if the idea alone was so horrid how would it be if it happened for real and you couldn’t do anything to stop it? The cold shiver that ran down his spine was answer enough for him.
With a silent sigh, he finally broke the dreadful silence that had held the room captive until now. “It’s not your fault.” That was all he managed to say, managed to bring out and even it sounded wrong.
Within seconds every eye in the room was now staring at him, at the one who had dared to disturb this moment.
“What?” She said, halfway sobbing, the hint of new tears in her eyes, staring at him like he had just murdered a puppy right in front of her eyes.
“It’s not your fault. Nothing that happened today is your fault. At all. And convincing yourself that it was won’t make anything better,” he repeated, this time sounding far more confident than before, even though the eyes on him felt like daggers.
“Phoenix…” Ocean said, unsure of what to make of his words right now.
“Not my fault? Not my fault! How could it not be my fault? He died because he thought this would protect me! He died because he retreated back into the forest, back home, completely alone. If it weren’t for me, that monster never would have had the chance to attack him alone. It was my fault!” She shouted back at him, several small tears falling down her cheeks.
“Phoenix! This is not the time for this! Let her-“ Ocean hissed back, pulling Emerald closer into her hug.
“No! This is precisely the time for this! I won’t let her suffer under this, let her be caught in this damn spiral of guilt. If we let this fester she will just hurt more and more. I won’t let this happen. I don’t want to see her suffer more than necessary and neither would Pinecone. I can’t help him anymore, but I can help her, and by Celestia, I will help her!” He hissed back.
Ocean was about to throw something back at him, but her mouth just opened and closed again without any sound escaping her lips. Instead, she lowered her eyes towards the ground.
“Oh, now you want to help him? You are too late, we were all too late! And all because I made a mistake! Because I was selfish and-“ Emerald barked back, a low growl audible in her voice, all while clenching her hands into fists.
“Bullshit! He put himself into this situation, one he could have seen coming if he wasn’t so damn stubborn. He pushed us away, the people that could help him and you standing up for yourself had nothing to do with it! And yes, he did all of this for his duty, but more importantly, for you. He wanted to protect you. He might have gone overboard with it, but he did it for you! He cared a lot for you! He was your brother for crying out loud. He tried to protect you from all of this, in his own weird way, but he did it o defend you. And he would be relieved that you are okay right now! I’m sure he would do it again if it were the only way to protect you! And I would do it for Thunder as well, in a heartbeat. He is your brother, and siblings care for each other, and as much as I had my problems with Pinecone I always could see how much he cared for you! He wouldn’t want you to cry over him and wast the life he gave his for. Be honest with yourself, would he be happy with you blaming yourself for all of this?” He continued, his voice growing more and more firm the longer he spoke.
“I… I… But…” Emerald stammered, desperately looking around the room.
“Phoenix! This is enough! She just lost her brother, let her grief! You can’t expect her to be over the death of your brother so fast!” Ocean once again interrupted them, glaring daggers at her boyfriend.
“I’m not. I know that scares like this won’t heal fast, by all means, I’m still carrying my own, but the thing is, I’m not suggesting she shouldn’t grieve. Oh, the contrary, she should. But she doesn’t have to grieve over things out of her control. She did nothing wrong, and if she beats herself up over it she won’t start to heal and be forever stuck in this state! She has to see that she did what she did and that it wasn’t part of why Pinecone died. It was his own decisions that caused this. We all make mistakes, and sometimes the consequences are just that hard. But he wouldn’t want you to lose yourself in it. Grief, but don’t blame yourself, you don’t need to,” he finished, his voice a strange mix of confidence and somberness.
Emerald looked at him for a moment before more small tears ran down her cheeks. He was about to say something else as she weakly nodded. Phoenix just smiled weakly before sighing and standing up. “I think I need a bit of fresh air,” he muttered before walking down the stairs, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. Ocean looked after him for quite a while, not even noticing how her grip on Emerald weakened with every passing second.
“It’s ok, go,” the weak and fragile voice next to her said, Ocean winced immediately, staring at her with wide open eyes.
“What?” Was all she could manage, sounding quite surprised.
“You know what I said, just go. I’m fine,” she said, looking at her with a weak smile on her lips.
“But-“
“No buts, no nothing. Just go. Not like I’m alone,” she returned, the last word sounding significantly lower than every other one.
“Thanks,” she said, smiling back at her and standing up to follow Phoenix, but not without giving her another hug. “Take care, I’ll be looking for our idiot.”
>--------------<
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He screamed, slamming his fist on the desk in front of him, the small lamp on the ceiling swaying back and forth from the impact. “How could this happen? I thought finally things would move forward, I could actually make progress here, but no. Here he comes and fucks everything up. I lost the Corrupted, ok not good, but no big deal either. But Gold? How, did this happen? This is just the worst,” Checkbook was rambling on and on, his dimly light face cast in doubt and fear as he desperately tried to make sense of what had happened today.
“And I thought this was a good idea? I should have known that this wouldn’t end well, but no. I had to make the glorious decision to help this insane bastard. Hey, he might be a bit nuts, but I can work with that.” Once again the fist slammed on the table, the old wood cracking under the immense pressure. “But no, here comes this damn brat and ruins everything. Now I have nothing, absolutely nothing. No plans, no Drivers, nothing. And I don’t even know where he is. Oh, this is bad, so bad.” With a nervous swipe, he went through his hair, messing up the meticulously kept hairstyle he had.
“And if I can’t find anything else my head will be the one on the chopping block. No hiding, no escape. I’m a dead man walking, or worse I’ll become another experiment. Oh, sweet mother, what should I do?” Checkbook was getting more and more nervous. “Maybe they have some plans laying around here? Or I could steal the schematics from the MRG while the Riders are busy grieving? Yeah, that could work, or get me captured. Oh, what should I do?”
“First things first, you should relax. The scared act doesn’t suit you,” a voice cut through his solitude, a voice he was not in any way shape or form happy to hear.
“You! What do you want?” He growled, spinning around and staring with a mad gleam in his eyes at the man, Platinum Shadow. The amulet around his neck was starting to glow through his suit.
“Oh, is that how you greet a comrade? Really, a shame. I had expected a far more warm welcome. I took care of the old geezer for you after all. He won’t be bothering you with his insane revenge schemes anymore. Isn’t that great?” Platinum asked, a wide smile on his lips.
“Great? Are you insane? I lost my business partner, again. If my higher-ups find out about this, I’m finished. Expect…” Checkbook snapped back in anger before his eyes wandered towards Platinums waist.
“Oh, I see what you mean, but trust me. You don’t stand a chance against me, especially with this,” he chuckled, pulling out Shadow Gold’s Philosopher Stone. Checkbook immediately tensed but remained silent. “But a nice try none the less. But it was also smart not to try your luck. Do you know what I’m capable of and that with a Philosopher Stone? Oh, believe me, you have no idea.”
“I have a good guess,” Checkbook hissed back, glaring at him, still tempted to strick the Rider down before he could act.
“But we should get back to business. Both our situations are a bit tense right now. You are without a business partner and I… Well, let’s just say, I’m a target for the Riders, one they won’t let go. I’m a wanted criminal after all and if they find out who is in a way responsible for killing one or two of their friends I won’t have a quiet moment on this world anymore. This is why I need your help,” Platinum said, casually examine the Disc in his hand.
“My help? After you put me on the chopping block? What are you expecting? That I jump into the fire for you because you ruined my life?” He hissed back, taking an angry step towards Platinum.
“Wow, wow, easy there! I get what you mean. You are screwed right now, and this was your great chance to rise in the ranks. I understand that. But, it’s not like I can’t offer you some things. You know who maintained the Driver? Or who made the second one? That was me. Not like Gold could have done much as a passenger in the necklace. Every ‘servant’ of Gold was a master in magic tech. I can build a Driver from scratch if you want. Or write down a detailed plan to make a Driver. All of that comes naturally to me. You know what that means? Your head isn’t off just yet. You just have to switch partners, how does that sound?” Platinum grinned, knowing fully well that he had all the cards in his hand.
“You… You mean… You… What is the catch? I’m sure you won’t give me this out of the goodness of your hearth. That is not how this works, right?” Checkbook stammered before raising an eyebrow and regarding Platinum with caution.
“Oh, of course. I knew you would be smart enough to understand that. And don’t worry, I’m not like that old geezer. I’m not interested in revenge or any of that crap. I just want something simple, something we can achieve very fast if we work together. And if we get a little bit of help.”
“Help? What do you mean with help?”
“Oh, we get to that when we get to that. First I need an answer. Are you in, or are you out?” He asked the question with such a low voice that a cold shiver ran down Checkbook’s spine.
“What do you want?” He asked, his voice somewhat shaky.
“Oh, believe me, it’s simple. Peace and quiet…”
>--------------<
The morning sun bathed the small alley in its light, a soothing feeling washing over her as she stepped through the rays of light. Still, the wet asphalt under her mad the whole scenery rather sober. A sense that was only strengthened as she spotted Phoenix at the end of the alley, staring out at the street before them. Every step she took echoed from wall to wall like it was loud the stomping of a giant.
“Hey,” she merely said, stepping next to him. One could see the closed shops on the other side of the street and a few that were already in the process of opening, like a small bakery, it’s light casting long shadows onto the road.
“Hey,” he returned, not even looking back at her. “Let me guess, you want to chew me out for what I said back there? That I was too harsh?”
“Actually, not really. I think what you said was exactly what she needed to hear right now. Though I don’t think this will stop her from blaming herself forever. But right now, I think she is in a good place, well as good as she can be really. No, I wanted to talk about something else,” she returned in a hushed voice.
“Oh, what is it?” He asked in return, sounding quite intrigued.
“How do you feel?” She simply returned, in the most nonchalant way he could imagine.
“What do you mean?” He said, a bit of nervousness in his voice.
“Just, how do you feel? Good, bad, something in between? Tell me?”
“I… Well, I wouldn’t call losing a friend good, but I’d say I’ll manage,” Phoenix said, the nervousness in his voice only growing stronger.
“Oh, really?” Ocean asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, really,” he said, sounding slightly irritated.
“You know, I don’t buy it. Not for a second. You know, you really should start listening to the advice you preach. Primarily the ‘don’t blame yourself’ one. I mean seriously, you are good at giving it, but applying it to yourself, not so much.” Phoenix expression was getting more and more desperate with every passing second and before he could huff something in return Ocean continued: “I know you. I know you far too well. I know how you think, at least on a fundamental level. I know how you react, and I know how you feel. And right now, you are hurting, and I can’t just watch how you eat all of this up like you always do. When you decided you weren’t doing enough and stopped sleeping when you lost your grandfather, and it came back up in Scootaloos world and now with Pinecone. You always think you can handle it and bottle it up, but you can’t,” Ocean said, stepping closer to him and laying her hand on his shoulder.
“I… I’m fine, believe me,” he desperately returned, not entirely sure if he was saying this to her or himself.
“No, you are not. And you know, if you think this will protect us you are dead wrong. It hurts to see you like this, to see you suffer. It hurts from the bottom of my heart, especially since he helped me through my own problems. You convinced me that mistakes are human, that I’m allowed to make them. You pulled me back when I lost myself in doubt when I turned into something I would have regretted. Saved me from my own self, my own blame monster. You pulled me back from turning into a madwoman because I had lost a friend and was willing to do everything to get him back. And you helped me smooth things over with my sister. Without you, I would never stand her right now. You saved me countless times, and now it’s time for me to return that favor,” she returned, tears in her eyes.
“Phoenix, I love you, and I just can’t take seeing you this way, so please, let me help you,” she pleaded, looking at him with these tear-filled eyes, a desperate look in her eyes. “Phoenix, please!”
He looked back at her, into her beautiful eyes, filled with sadness and desperation, feeling the pain and helplessness in them, but also the warmth and care. He hadn’t even noticed the tear running down his own face until its warmth passed his cheek. Then he couldn’t hold it any longer, tears were bursting out of his eyes, and he threw himself into Ocean’s arms. “I… I… It’s all my fault! I can’t help anyone. Every time my friends need me, I fail them. I couldn’t stop the Magnum Opus from being destroyed and protect my brother. I couldn’t protect Summer when she was kidnaped. I couldn’t be by your side when you fought your mother. I could help Ivory when he was kidnaped. I couldn’t protect Shining when he got injured and worst of all I couldn’t have Pinecone. I could have done something, I should have done something, but I couldn’t. I’m just a failure, a massive failure. Whenever push comes to shove I fail time and time again,” he sobbed.
“You are not a failure. Sure, you might make mistakes, but like you said, we all do. We just have to not do them again, that is all, right?” She chuckled while giving him a weak clap on the back. “And I know you know it. You made a good amount of mistakes, but you are still here. You always stood back up, and I know you will do it again. That is what I love about you, your determination. You fall, you fail, you make mistakes, but you aren’t above yourself to see that and correct them. You aren’t perfect, but you aren’t ok with that. You always strive to be better, and that makes you a good man. A man I can respect. I once saw the ability to do good in you, even if I didn’t know you at all, but there was that certain something. That spark for greatness and I was right. You are a good man, a hero and a Kamen Rider I can be proud of. One I love, so please, listen to me. This isn’t your fault, neither is it Emeralds or mine. The one to blame for this was Shadow Gold and no one else. You know that, so please, don’t put yourself through this, don’t put us through this,” she finished, the love and care in her voice was heartwarming.
If he hadn’t been crying, already he would be now. Every single word was filled with warmth and peace; it was almost unbearable. But it felt so good, finally letting go of all the burdens and filth that had weighted his hearth down for so long. Letting go of the failure, the shame and the self-pity felt so good. “Thank you.” That was all he said and all he had to say, his feeling carrying through the two words better than through a thousand. He felt good and free.
“It’s ok. We are friends after all, aren’t we? That is what friends are supposed to do, be there for you when things get though and I couldn’t hope for better ones. Believe me,” she returned, sobbing just like Phoenix did.
Their embrace lasted for a few more minutes, the warm morning sun gently causing them as it danced passed the clouds through the fresh morning air. But all good things had to come to an end, the small oasis of peace and quiet didn’t last forever. Eventually, they had to stop, ending their embrace. Still, their hand remained firmly locked,
“So, what now?” That was the question he had suppressed for so long, feared it, but he couldn’t hide from it, he eventually had to ask the question. He felt the levity drain from the moment, disappear into nothingness and the crushing reality take its place.
Ocean looked at him with a somber smile and after a silent sigh returned: “We have to finish this. Tartarus is no more, and Shadow Gold is gone. The only two people that are any sort of danger to the city now are Checkbook and Platinum Shadow. They are still out there, and goodness knows what they will do now that they aren’t under Gold’s thumb. We have to find them and finally put an end to this. We might not be able to stop the Corrupted, but we can stop them. They have to pay for what they did to this city and the sooner, the better.”
Phoenix nodded. He had already known it, but now it had been spoken, set in stone. It was tangible. “We are gonna leave no stone unturned we will pull out everything we have and won’t stop until they have been dealt with. This is all we can do, and we will do it. For everyone who has suffered thanks to them.”
“Then we have a goal. No matter where they hide we will find them and bring this to an end,” he returned, having found new resolve.
“And of course we have to… have to arrange the funeral,” she added with a somber tone. “This will be an interesting discussion with Emerald. But I don’t think we should talk with her right away about this. Let her grief a bit.”
“Yeah, we don’t have to start right now. A bit of time won’t hurt anyone. And I’m starting to get hungry. You think there is still something left of Thunder’s food?” Phoenix weakly chuckled and smiled.
“You know, some things never change,” Ocean returned the chuckle with one of her own.
“Yeah, I know. But some things don’t need to change, am I right?”
“Yeah, some things are perfect the way they are,” Ocean said with a satisfied tone. “Come you, idiot, I’m getting hungry as well.
>--------------<
The streetlamps were glowing brightly, their constant buzzing getting on his nerves. It was already way past midnight, but who gave a crap? Especially when he had the whole house for himself for a few days, and it was weekend. And even if it weren’t weekend, it wouldn’t really change much. Walking through the dimly light streets, past all the graffiti and trash felt liberating, like he was truly at home. Well, as home as you could feel in this god-damn city.
The last few months hadn’t really been great, scratch that, they had been awful. He had become the laughing stock of everyone. He almost was afraid of leaving his house because he would just end up with another laugh at his expense. And it was all his fault, all that damn bastards fault. That damn feather-bastard.
With anger boiling up inside him he stepped over the broken glass bottle on the front porch and ignoring the snickers he heard from the other side of the street and pulled out his key. The moment he had entered the rundown house that looked just like the other ones beside it he slammed the door shut behind him. “These fucking bastards!” The door violently shook inside its handles, the young man with his grey skin and red mohawk having slammed his fist against the wall.
“One day I’m gonna get them back, just wait. And all because I thought one could help them by making the world a better place free of these corporate slavers. But look at how they thank me. Pathetic, the only one you can trust is yourself,” he growled, a raging fire burning in his eyes.
“Truer words have never been spoken,” another voice said, catching the young man by surprise, slamming back against the door. Inside the dark living room, he could make out a shape sitting on his couch.
“Who are you? What are you doing here? Answer me, or you will regret it,” he barked back. Still, his voice did sound somewhat scared.
In return, the strange figure simply raised his hand, something that let him stay silent. “Ok, first, threatening me will get you nowhere besides an early grave, so knock that off. Second, excuse me, I shouldn’t have entered like this, how uncouth of me, but that is beside the point. I’m Platinum Shadow, or how most people know me, Kamen Rider Alkahest. And you are Crimson Napalm, right?” Platinum asked in an unnerving casual tone, one still layered with power strangely enough.
“Yea... Yeah, that’s me. So, what do you want?” Napalm stuttered, staring at the murder on his couch.
“Oh, that is simple, I want to help you. Well in a way. We both have… People that stand in our way or have problems with. And it just so happens that one of these people we both can’t stand. Take a guess who it is,” he chuckled.
“Alchemy!” Napalm hissed, his expression suddenly turning to pure vitriol.
“Bingo, you’re right. Alchemy, the first Kamen Rider of the city. The goody two shoes. Oh, I know how much he screwed you over. After he beat the ever loving shit out of you, everyone lost all respect for you. You are the laughing stock of your neighborhood even if you didn’t really have any other consequences because ‘you weren’t in control thanks to the magic’ or something like that. And now you are stuck, no power, no friends, and he is still loved all over the city. It’s almost like he is mocking you,” Platinum said, his voice hitting just the right spot to let his anger boil over.
“Ok, listen up you bastard. I don’t care who or what you are, but if you continue insulting me, I swear to Tartarus that I’m gonna rip-“ Napalm burst out, storming towards the man on his couch, not even thinking about the consequences.
He was however halted in his steps when Platinum stood up from the couch and stared at him, with these cold, unforgiving eyes. “Ok, I think you are overestimating yourself here a bit. Let’s make a thing clear. I’m here to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime. Your revenge on Alchemy and you decide to bite the hand that feeds you? Really, you should know better than that, especially since I’m sure you know what I have done to people that have done way less to me than you have. So, how about this, you treat me with the respect and grace I deserve, and I won’t kill you right now?” He said, a ruthlessness shining through his voice that was chilling to the very core.
Napalm could only nod nervously. “Good. So, this is my offer. You know this?” He held up a red Magic Disk, Napalm simply nodding silently in return. “Good, that makes this easier. You know that Alchemy draws his power from them through the belt around his waist. But did you know that you could draw power from them without the Driver and end up even stronger than him?” A devious smirk crept across his face as he realized what Platinum was offering him. “Excellent.”
“What do I need to do for this beauty?” He said, glaring desperately at the round artifact.
“Oh, it’s simple. Fight Alchemy for me.” The moment he had said that Napalm reached out to grab ahold of the Disc, only for Platinum to pull it back just before he grabbed it. “Na, na, na. Not so fast. There is a catch after all. You will listen to me, no questions asked, no complaints and if you show any sign of insubordination, you will regret it. Got it?”
Napalm looked at him with a nervous look in his eyes before the desire overtook him, grabbing the Disc out of his hands. “Got it! So, when are we gonna start?” He said these with so much conviction every normal person would have taken a few steps back, Platinum however just smiled in return.
“Patience. We are still short a few others. But trust me, we will get this over with as soon as possible. Until then you should lay low for a bit,” he returned, all while pulling out his phone. Napalm nodded, but not without a displeased growl, but another glare form Platinum shut him up rather quickly. “Good, now, where was I?”
The phone rang a few time until: “Yeah?”
“Hey, Checkbook, how is it going? I’m done on my end.”
“Don’t rush me! This takes care, finesse and an unholy amount of money. I hope for you this works, you wouldn’t want to piss off the Circle. But I should be about done here, so don’t worry, we can start soon.”
“Perfect. I want this to be over as soon as possible. So, be ready. We are in the endgame now,” Platinum said, a devious smile across his lips.