Archive of Our Own

Zero has no idea how it happened.

Now, he is fully aware of how wild rumours can get about his father's ‘involvements’. He knows how the Garrison talks about Seven’s history with Master Leo, the Ultra Brothers, some weirdo Andromeda warrior with a fencing sword, and even Anne and the TDF. He also knows how unreliable all (most?) of those rumours are — Zero knows firsthand how easy slander can spread.

He doesn't talk about any of it with Seven — no one wants to have that discussion with their dad, no matter how estranged they used to be. He’s barely managed to wrap his head around the concept of having an actual parent in his life, much less the idea of said actual parent sleeping around. There’s also the small problem about their jobs — the fact that their enemies don’t seem to know when to quit (oh yeah, and the occasional invasions every other day). It’s admittedly hard for Zero to go, “hey old man, I know we got floating space kaiju to investigate, and about 5900 YEARS of catching up, but exactly how active is your love life right now??”

So, when people start talking about his old man hanging out with Belial – that evil, heinous, warmongering asshole out of all people – Zero slaps bruises on his knee howling about it for one day. And the next day. And the third.

Then on the fourth day, before Zero can surprise Seven during one of his patrols, he sees his old man amongst the asteroids in a distance, back facing against the rest of space, floating arm-in-arm with a towering figure of black and crimson curled into a startlingly familiar hunchback.

Zero barely manages to fly back to his base without screaming.

----------------------

“Is it treason to hold hands with the enemy?” Zero asks.

“If it isn’t,” Zoffy seethes, “I’ll personally cut off your father’s hands and feed them to him.”

Next to him, Ace huffs, muttering what sounds like a cross between disappointment and disgust. Jack brews a new cup of tea from what is probably a whole farm of tea leaves (Earth plants are very tiny). Taro blinks, face as blank as his mind, probably. Ultraman leans on his hand, like it was just normal to learn that his brother’s been holding hands with someone who tried to kill them multiple times.

“But, is Belial still considered an enemy?” Taro scratches his horn. “Haven’t gotten news about him since we registered side space and his clone son.”

“Enemy of state, yes.” Ultraman leans on his chair. “Priority, no.”

Jack sips on his mug. “I mean, we haven’t gotten any reports on Belial sightings in a while. Just a lot of kaiju floating in space.”

“Rules out invasion.” Ace frowns. “He’d make sure we knew he staged an attack on us.”

“Rules out espionage.” Ultraman taps the handle of his chair. “Seven would have reported any useful information to us by now.”

“Rules out hostage,” Jack adds. “None of us have gotten a single death threat from Belial.”

Taro scratches his other horn. “Maybe Seven-nii-san just thinks Belial’s hot.”

The entire room of senior elite warriors erupts into a cacophony of groaning, gagging, griping and giggling. Zero wants to disappear.

Ace coughs. “Gross. The guy looks like a lump of used coal. Exactly what part of that bastard is hot?”

“Does that matter?” Taro shrugs. “Seven-nii-san has a thing for aliens, and we don’t make a fuss about it.”

Ace sighs. “This is Belial we’re talking about.”

“I mean, why are we assuming Seven’s sleeping with Belial?” Jack takes another sip from his mug. “They could just be hanging out, you know, arm-in-arm.”

Ace sighs again. “This is Seven we’re talking about.”

Zoffy scowls. “Seven has access to a lot of information that isn’t even privy to most of us. He knows he can’t just fraternise with anyone that looks pretty, especially someone who has razed our planet’s cities to the ground three times.”

Ultraman hums. “You think Belial’s pretty?”

Zoffy hurls a spinning saw of energy inches from Ultraman’s head. “I did NOT say he was pretty!”

Someone hoots in laughter, someone sighs, and a bickering match lights up between the Vice Commander of the Garrison and his most senior chief. Apparently no one cares that Zoffy was inches away from beheading Ultraman. Everyone was too busy laughing about the whole development.

Zero slams a fist on a nearby wall.

“How are you even joking about this?!” Zero shouts. “My old man is with Belial. Belial! The very same bastard who tried to take our Plasma Spark several times!”

“It’s ridiculous.” Ace mutters.

“It’s hilarious.” Ultraman smirks.

“It’s cute!” Jack giggles. “I mean, I’ve always wondered if Seven-nii-san was lonely on his deep space missions, but now I don’t have to worry!”

Taro pats Zoffy’s shoulder. “If Seven-nii-san sees you this upset, you’re going to break his heart.”

“I’m going to break his everything,” Zoffy vows.

Zero puts his face into his hands. Five Ultra Brothers, five of the most senior leadership he could get in a short notice, and none of them are taking it seriously. Clearly he’s wasting time, while his old man is waltzing into the hands of that demon, in the cold depths of uncharted space…

Jack comes up to Zero to rest a hand on his shoulder. Zero can’t help but flinch. Last time he did that, he dragged Zero out of the plasma spark tower to his sentence.

“None of us are happy about it, truthfully,” Jack says, with a sorry chuckle. “We’ve tried to stop him before, believe me, but he does what he wants, as you know. This won’t be the first time your father’s hung out with an enemy, and it won’t be the last. He doesn’t take any enemies personally, he’s just the type to forgive anyone who tried to kill him.”

Zero frowns. Jack’s right, and he hates it.

“Plus, even if they were, you know, seeing each other—” Zero winces at the mention of it, “—so what? Your old man’s as flakey as it gets. It’s probably a fling.”

“A fling,” Zero repeats.

“That idiot can’t even keep a long term relationship,” Zoffy sighs at his window.

“Or keep any of his friendships,” Taro pipes up.

“Or decide where to live,” Ultraman notes.

“Or handle child support,” Ace adds. “No offence.”

As much as Zero hates to admit, that part was convincing. The only thing Seven’s shown a record commitment towards was round and blue and full of humans. He seemed pretty content to pop Zero off into an orphanage for almost six thousand years — the idea that Seven would be even interested in anything long-term didn’t make any sense. Zero wouldn’t be surprised if he got tired of his own son, one day.

“At least we don’t have to worry about more kids, this time,” Taro laughs.

Zero gags.

----------------------

A fling, they say.

Zero watches Seven turn down parties, gatherings, meeting invitations and advances. His excuses include a wide array of pre-scheduled activities, all of which Zero knows doesn’t exist. The clueless ones think Seven’s dating an alien. Zero would prefer it, if it were true.

A fling, they say.

Zero watches a small collection of rocks pile on top of Seven’s desk. Weird looking satellites. Glowing pebbles. Bits of asteroids that look just about the same. No one in the Garrison knows how they get there, but Seven never complains.

A fling, they say.

Zero watches as a red Ultra Sign shrouds the skies with a crimson hue, casting a blanket of blood on the Land of Light. He watches as the Garrison erupts into panic mode, trying to decipher the location of its sender and the code illustrated in energy, while sending scouts to investigate and soldiers to patrol the perimeters for any invasions.

Zero watches as Seven takes one glance at the sign, and mutters a fond “idiot” under his breath. Zero knows that in a few minutes, Seven will fly out into space himself, on the guise of a ‘solo investigation’.

Zero’s no stranger to flings. Flings don’t involve frequent stays away from home, or long glances directed at a growing collection of rocks, or questionable secret codes with even more questionable double meanings.

And flings certainly don’t involve secret meetups, long quiet patrols in deep space, arm-in-arm with their backs against the universe.

A fling, over my burnt carcass.

----------------------

“I’ve heard rumours,” Leo murmurs. “I guess it’s true, then.”

“Yeah.” Zero rubs the back of his neck. “I was hoping you knew how to stop it.”

Zero watches as Leo simmers, eyes drawn down, quiet in thought. The shimmer of Old Man King’s cove probably does little to hide Zero’s discomfort. Somehow it was even more embarrassing to bring up Seven’s new ‘development’ to his mentor — especially with all the other rumours about Leo and his old man, none of which Zero wanted to hear about at all.

No doubt Leo thought it was awkward as well, but he was kind enough not to show it.

“Well,” Leo finally says, “your father always had a soft spot for the disenfranchised.”

Zero rolls his eyes. “Just because he forgives his enemies, doesn’t mean he has to date them.”

Leo shrugs. “It’s likely that he was looking for someone… less conventional.”

“But it’s Belial we’re talking about.” Zero pressed. “Belial. Corrupt and twisted down to the core. ‘Less conventional’ is taking the goddamn piss.”

Leo sighs. “Look, I’m just as unhappy about this as you are. But he never listens to me. You know that.”

Zero rubs his temple. “I’d thought you’d be more angry about it, at least. You guys were close.”

Leo looks to the side, a wistful glimmer in his eyes. “Too much happened between Seven and I for there to be anything more. And too little happened after that.”

Zero clenched his fists at his side, fire searing in his chest. “That ain’t true and you know it. King keeps going on about how my old man went out of his way to get you a home here. The old man keeps yapping about respecting you as a coach. Told me not blame you for hiding shit from me, and to learn everything I can from you.

A bout of embarrassment hits him. “And, I’m not blind.” Zero can’t help but fidget. “You still care for him. I know you do.”

A beat, and Zero dares to look at Leo again. Leo’s frozen still, a mild sheen of glaze over his eyes. Makes his eyes look bigger, Zero thinks. Makes him look younger.

“I know, but that’s not the point.” Leo begins – much, much graver than Zero’s ever heard it. “I don’t think I can give what Seven is looking for.”

Zero huffs. “Power?” He rolls his eyes. “Problems?”

Leo dips his head, grave. “Punishment.”

Zero freezes. A chill slinks down his spine.

“Your father has a terrible mindset.” Leo wrings his hands. “I thought him cruel when I first met him, and his training methods – but I realised, this was how he learned to fight on Earth. He had no one to guide him, and he fought his battles alone. He believes his trauma is a kindness, and considers his aggressors as mentors. He is incapable of understanding that he was hurt, not helped.” Leo shakes his head. “That was what broke me the most.”

Zero presses his fingers into his palms. He knows what this is – he came close to it when Belial possessed his body and proceeded to rip apart his entire team, his own band of brothers. This was something that even Hikari’s Revitalisation Machine couldn’t save Ultras from. Ultras did not die from kaiju and seijin, but from a broken heart, a difficult job, a lost loved one.

Ultras were made up of light, held together by willpower. The Machine cannot generate willpower. There would be nothing holding them together without willpower.

“You think he wants someone to hurt him?” Zero suppresses a shudder.

Leo holds his arm close. “I don’t want to presume.”

The unspoken ‘but’ still hovered in the air. Zero hastily flips through his memories, recalling all those moments he’s seen his old man in action. All this time, he thought Seven was just being cool and stoic and unnecessarily stubborn. Yet, his old man never preached justice or peace, and never questioned those who wanted him dead. He never corrected those who believed he was a criminal, he never confronted anyone who despised him. Zero had wondered why Seven was always unbothered by the amount of hate and slander he received, but Leo’s answer was harrowing.

When was the last time Zero heard his old man introduce himself as Ultra Seven?

(When did he ever introduce himself as Ultra Seven?)

“All the more reason you should stop him.” Zero shakes.

Leo huffs. “When I confronted him back then, he threw his cane at me. And threw some boomerangs at me. And ran me over with a jeep.” Then, with a softer voice, “Last time I did this, he left me.” Then, even quieter. “I don’t know if I could handle that again.”

Zero thinks back to his time as a student. He remembered the unstoppable urge to lash out, to strike first, to cause a scene before anything happened to him. He remembered the pain of getting ostracised by his peers, or being scolded by his tutors. That pain was the only warmth he had against the cold of being sidelined to his room in the orphanage, alone.

Plus, Seven does have one of the worst disappointed faces.

“He never listens to me. Not once,” Leo adds, in the distance. “But he might listen to you.”

“Me?” Zero blinks. “He barely knows me.”

“Yes, and that didn’t stop him.” A hint of a smile graces Leo’s lips. “Something changed in him, when he saw you after the second invasion. It was like he completely forgot why he was trying so hard to leave M78 for centuries.”

Zero tried. He tried very hard. But in the midst of his memories of arguments, fights, and periods of silent treatment — he couldn’t really envision his stubborn old man budging from his convictions on anything. Nothing changed Seven’s mind — not even his own suffering, not even death.

“He’ll listen to you.” Leo bows his head. “Please believe it.”

----------------------

Zero takes a page out of Zett’s book and decides to observe his old man, so he can catch any signs of distress. Zett calls it ‘studying’. Ace, unhelpfully, calls it ‘stalking’.

Of course, Zero doesn’t always have to secretly follow his old man around. When his old man calls, Zero tries to stay on call longer to weasel more information out of him. When his old man asks to accompany him, Zero chooses a long route so he could spend more time observing him from his side.

Even after all that, Zero doesn’t find any sign of distress at all.

Seven acts differently now. His strides aren’t as heavy, and his steps aren’t as quiet. He greets the officers casually as he passes them. He still gets involved in arguments and loses his temper every now and then, but now it’s plainly obvious that Seven enjoys taking good insults as much as he likes dishing them out. Zero hasn’t seen him glare in a while.

Seven’s witty. Seven’s sharp. Seven likes to tease his coworkers and piss the hell out of his superiors. Seven likes people. Zero’s never doubted that Seven cares for the people around him, but it’s something else to actually see it in person. He never would’ve dreamt of the day that he’d see his stuck-up stoic old man playfully throw the end of his slugger through the hole in Ace’s crest, sneering at him like a rude older brother when Ace threatens to shave his face off his skull. Ultraman calls it nostalgic.

Zero likes this Seven. He likes this Seven a lot.

He sees why he doesn’t buy Leo’s theory. He sees it, when he spots Seven and Belial in the outskirts of the galaxy again, shoulder to shoulder facing Andromeda’s stars. He sees them all, the whispers, the glances, the way their fingers graze as they talk about nothing. He sees Seven lift a corner of his mantle up towards Belial’s shoulders, barely able to cover Belial’s hulking mass of a back. He sees Seven smile.

(He does not see Belial curl into Seven’s mantle, making himself smaller and easier to reach. He does not see that at all.)

----------------------

“They’re planning something.” Camearra giggles. “I bet you they are.”

“Maybe they’re making an army,” Evil Tiga chuckles. “A farm of capsule monsters and lab experiments.”

“Maybe the Land of Light is their first target,” Jugglus Juggler smirks. “They’ll overrun that shit planet with their factory of failed clones.”

“Maybe they’re eloping!” Zagi shrieks.

Zero powers up his Ultimate Aegis. “Stop talking and get hit already!”

The Darkness Heels cackle remorselessly, easily dodging and floating away from Zero’s rashly-executed energy swings. Honestly, Zero’s forgotten what exactly they were fighting about, or how he even found them at the edge of chartered space. He’s more focused on beaming specium rays down their throats before they could spew more bullshit about his old man.

“What are they yapping on about?” Glenfire asks, behind him.

“Don’t want to talk about it,” Zero growls.

“Oh, but you really should.” Juggler drawls. “You should probably know that your father isn’t the pinnacle of honour and integrity you think he is.”

“Talk shit about him again, and I’ll fire an arrow straight through your ugly face.” Zero pulls his Aegis bowstring taut.

“So rude. I meant it as a compliment.” Juggler places a hand over his chest in mock woe. “He agrees that some ends justify its means, at least.”

Zero’s eyes blaze. “My old man is not evil!”

“Please.” Juggler rolls his eyes. “There’s a reason why half of this universe wants your father dead.”

Zero lets out a furious rain of plasma arrows, all of which were finished off by lazy flicks of Juggler’s sword. He ignores the looks of confusion from the rest of his team, because yeah, sure, he’s being rash and reckless, but if those villains just shut up and stabbed themselves, maybe Zero wouldn’t be acting so out of character!

(And if his old man never went and dated their damn troop leader, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place!)

“Oh child, didn’t your planet sentence your old man as a criminal?” Camearra fakes a gasp. “Heard he deserted his duties to hide on that blue rock of a planet, started plenty of civil wars, and helped the humans aim a bomb at the Land of Light.”

“Not that he has a good track record with those humans either,” Evil Tiga puts on a show of shaking his head. “All of his human hosts were pretty unwilling. Hell, he recruited that human reionyx to help him by bombarding his brain with visions until he underwent psychosis.”

Zagi laughs. “If Belial wanted to invade that planet for the fourth time, I bet you Seven would join him.”

Juggler flashes his teeth, sinister. “I bet you he would beg for it.”

Zero sees fire, literally. He switches to Strong Corona and fires a sweeping Gulnate Buster beam in seconds. Of course, it does little to stop the Darkness Heels from sniggering and gibbering as they tumble away into space.

Glenfire slides up behind him. “Man, I thought your dad was a dick for abandoning you as a kid, but was he really that evil?”

“Don’t want to talk about it!” Zero shouts.

“Aw, daddy issues, aren’t we.” Camearra feigns a sigh of pity. “Don’t worry. Belial’s also dumped a kid, so you’ll get more where that came from.”

Zero sets his own fists on fire. “Don’t ever suggest they’re anything similar!”

“Boy, your old man and that old bastard are the same type of asshole.” Juggler drawls, like it’s obvious. “They’re the only two people who actually got jailed to a rock by the Land of Light. Some sick treasonous prison romance.”

“Say, aren’t you a little criminal as well?” Zagi sneers, vibrating in space. “That’s right, that’s right, you’re another one of M78’s plasma pinchers!” He cackles. “You three could start a mafia!”

Glen pulls on Zero’s shoulder. “You a criminal too?”

Zero swivels around to glare. “Don’t want to talk about it, Glen!”

He turns back to raise a flaming fist. “My old man is nothing like that bastard,” he declares. “Everything he did, he did it with a conscience. He did it because he cared about other people’s lives. He is nothing like any of you-“

He ducks, narrowly dodging a burning, sparking whip.

“We all cared about people,” Camearra seethes. “We all had people we would’ve died for, before they betrayed us. You think you’re so righteous, cursing us for turning to the dark, when it was your kind who failed to save us, who pushed us away, who left us with no choice!”

Now it was Zero’s turn to laugh. “As if! You made the decision to never return.” He jabs an accusatory finger at all of them. “You’re all just too arrogant to admit you went down the wrong path, pretending to play anti-hero and convincing yourself it excuses all of your bad deeds, so you can hide behind the delusion that any of you are worth saving!”

Camearra’s eyes flashes, and she raises her whips. “How dare you-“

“Stand down.”

The Darkness Heels swivel their heads in an instant. Zero follows their gaze.

Zero hasn’t properly come face to face with Belial since he’d helped out Geed on that Side Space Earth. He knew that damn old bastard was too stubborn to die from losing his body to a death ray. Even so, it was shocking to see Belial with all the details of his scarred, dark, haunting form — just as much of a shock it was to see his silhouette follow his old man in deep space.

Belial’s appearance was enough to get Zero’s blood boiling at once. He looks the same as he’s always been: hulked back, roughed skin, mangled face and gnarled jaw. But there’s no more storm in the amber of those crooked eyes, yet his eyes were no less bright.

Zero grits his teeth, preparing a flurry of a thousand insults to hurl at his arch-nemesis‘ usual taunts and grovels. But Belial doesn’t even greet him. Belial only stares him down, apathetic, like he thinks Zero bores him.

It pisses Zero off more than ever before.

“You should know better than to get taunted by a group of brats.” Belial growls at his team. “We have bigger things to worry about, and I will not tolerate distractions.”

“Need I remind you how many times those ‘brats’ have beaten your ass, Big B.” Zagi sneers.

“Silence!” Belial roars. “We do not have time to waste on entertaining children. Do not make me repeat myself, or I will carve it into your skull!”

Zero never thought Belial would be the one to turn down a confrontation, and it was somehow the most arrogant reaction Zero had ever witnessed from him. Or, was it the most confident? Zero never really knew the difference.

(At least Belial hasn’t lost his bossy bitching bullshit. That is still familiar.)

It was then when Zero notices the weapon slung over Belial’s shoulder, and does a double take. It’s a dangerous lookalike of the Giga Battleniser, being a double-headed polearm with a segregated handle and two long maces on each end, but it’s grey, and there’s no boxes of light running down its sides. A second look at the weapon, and it doesn’t take long for Zero to figure out where he got it.

Belial’s new weapon is the same colour as Zero’s bracelet.

Camearra drops her energy whips, letting them dissipate into space. “Ugh. I miss the days we could just terrorise some Ultras. Life hurt, but at least it was fun.”

Juggler rests his sword on his shoulder, shaking his head. “Can’t believe we actually have to treat them nicely now.”

Evil Tiga grins. “But of course. Especially this one. Wouldn’t want to risk upsetting Big B’s boyfriend now, isn’t that right?”

Belial flings his weapon at them. “SILENCE!”

And just like that, Darkness Heels giggles and drifts off into their own corner of space, leaving Zero and his UFZ floating behind. No resolution, no closure. Zero’s still processing the fact that Belial has just de-escalated a situation, unprompted, on his own.

(He doesn’t recognise this Belial at all.)

“Did I just hear correctly?“ Glen wonders. “Belial has a boyfriend?”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Zero grumbles. “We’re leaving!”

----------------------

Zero sees something purple on Seven’s desk.

No one is at the office. Zero’s sure of that, because everyone’s either off-planet, or preparing for their meeting on the floating in space kaiju. Those poor patrolling Ultras found more of them, some of them dead and frozen by the temperature of space, some of them blasting and biting their way through space debris, some of them finding homes in planets and asteroids where they shouldn’t be. No IGDF member should be left behind finishing paperwork in office, least of all his old man: the IGDF’s most rigorous reconnaissance agent.

So, Zero found himself standing in the office, staring at the new addition to Seven’s desk. It set off that damn gut-seizing feeling he got in the pits of his stomach whenever he saw Belial.

Seven had pushed his small pile of rocks onto one side of his desk. At some point, he placed them in order and gave them all labels that made no sense to anyone else but him. This something new stood in the barren centre of his workstation, the glow it emits far outshining even the most sparkly of crystals in his modest collection.

Upon closer look, this something new was clearly meant to be different. It’s a brilliant shard of crystal, cut with professional precision, with a glassy liquid luster rendering it slightly translucent, but undeniably a shade of regal purple. It’s encased in a small glass capsule, filled entirely with clear fluid. It looks precious.

It looks special.

Zero is beyond angry. How dare he. How dare he, when he was so cruel to his well-meaning allies and adversaries. How dare he, when he stayed a traitor against his family, friends and homeplanet. How dare he, after all this time, still manage to find a way to hit Zero where it hurts.

How dare he find something salvageable in that old bastard. How dare he fall for this asshole. How dare he leave him again, like he did 5900 years ago, and for a violent evil and arrogant bastard like Belial-

Zero takes a deep breath, trying to quell his shaking. His relationship with his old man is still foreign and unchartered to him, and in his miasma of overwhelming emotions, he’s not about to navigate that area of deep space yet.

But, Zero’s familiar with the Belial problem. Belial could, and should, be dealt with.

Zero feels his furious tremors simmer as cold rationality hits his mind. He thinks of Belial setting off a bomb on Side Space, as the entire IGDF watched. Belial overtaking his mind, using his ragged body to slaughter his entire crew. Belial’s clawed hand of a spaceship, slowly crushing an emerald green planet within its palm.

Belial perching on top of the Monster Graveyard, sneering at Seven’s greying corpse on the rocks below.

Zero shoves the purple capsule in his subspace. He didn’t need Belial ruining his life again. Whatever was happening between Seven and Belial needed to end now. And if no one was doing anything, he’ll take matters into his own hands, as he always had.

Belial’s already tried to take his old man away. He won’t let that happen the second time.

Plus, Seven’s not due to arrive on M78 for a while. He won’t notice anything missing. Zero will have plenty of time to plan his next course of action.

----------------------

Zero catches some of the Ultra Brothers talking by a corridor. They don’t wave at him as he walks past. Of course they don’t. Zero’s out of place here.

“Hey Taro,” Zero hears. “Did you do something Seven-nii-san didn’t like?”

”Huh?” A thump. “What did he yell about this time?”

“That’s the problem.” A pause. “He hasn’t been yelling.”

Zero stops in his tracks. He hasn’t heard his old man yell in a while. Actually, he hasn’t heard back from his old man at all. Zero chalked it up to Seven being occupied with the whole space-floating kaiju issue — and it’s not like Zero’s gone literally thousands of years without him present. Now, he’s not so sure.

The Brothers don’t seem to notice when Zero stops behind them, just within listening distance.

“We had him on call just now.” Jack wrings his hands. “He’s got some theories on where the floating space kaiju came from. He asks us to check some stuff out, to confirm, right? But we don’t have enough people, because we’ve sent out everyone to deal with the kaiju clusters.”

Taro huffs. ”Bet that pissed nii-san right off.”

Jack nods vigorously. ”You’d think, right? No way nii-san would let that slide. He’d yell at us about logistics. Operations and management, all that jazz. You know how intense he gets with the details.”

“Except this time,” Ace deadpans. “He just hung up.”

Taro’s eyes widen. ”Woah. Just hung up?”

”Yeah. No sigh, no insult, no last word.” Ace shrugs. “He just tapped off.”

“Woah.” Taro leans back. “Woah.”

”Yeah.” Jack mutters. “He’s really, really upset.”

Zero tries to inch closer to the gossiping group. He’d never think that Seven was the type to give the silent treatment. He’s always been the yelling, lecturing and brooding type. He wasn’t the type to go cold.

…Was he?

”Wait, hang on.” Taro’s eyes narrow. “Seven-nii-san gets upset, and your first thought was that I did something?”

Ace scowls. ”Well, we certainly didn’t do anything.”

”Yeah, well, it’s not me either.” Taro frowns. “If he doesn’t like something I did, he’ll say it straight to my face. He’ll say it straight to your faces, too. That’s how he always is, with us.”

Ace shrugs. ”True. Plus, he doesn’t care about you enough to be this upset.”

”Hey!”

”But then what?” Jack mumbles. “What’s going on with him? Why this sudden mood change?”

Taro scratches his horn. “Think he bumped into one of his old enemies?”

Ace sighs. ”If that’s true, Leo would know about it.”

”Think Leo has anything to do with it?”

”If that’s true, we’ll know about it.”

“Think Zoffy has anything to do with it?”

”If that’s true, the whole Garrison will know about it.”

Dread pools in Zero’s gut. There is one thing none of the Ultra Brothers know about, yet. It’s the one thing he stole from Seven’s desk, when the office was empty. That one thing currently sits in the subspace behind his timer, glowing a stinging purple hue.

“Think it’s got something to do with Belial?” Zero wonders.

A pause. The Ultra Brothers simultaneously turn to look at him. Zero’s subspace throbs, thinking he might be had.

Somehow, they always make him feel out of place.

“Come to think of it, there’s been less rumours going around about them.” Taro hums. “Maybe they broke up.”

Jack shakes his head. ”Don’t think so. We’ve seen how Seven-nii-san deals with being dumped. He shrugs off most of them, and for those he doesn’t shrug off, he kinda drinks it away until he forgets.”

“Yeah, but rumours about them have lasted quite long, a new record for a fling.” Taro thumbs his chin. “Maybe actual feelings were caught.”

Jack looks to the side. “True. I wonder what Belial could’ve done to piss Seven-nii-san off, though. Some of his standards must’ve been, you know, significantly lowered for him to even consider dating him.”

Taro pouts. “I just hope nii-san’s doing okay.”

Slam. Ace rams the side of his fist through a nearby wall. Crystal shards sprinkle down his now-bleeding arm. It stuns the other three Ultras to silence. Zero’s heart nearly leaps out of his chest.

“This is the most annoying thing about him!” Ace yells. “He doesn’t say anything about himself. Doesn’t ever call us for help. We’re his damn family!”

“Inside voice, nii-san,” Taro reminds kindly.

Ace yanks his arm out of the wall, plasma and crystal shards scattering everywhere. “Does he even know how much worry he puts us through, when we have to guess what’s wrong with him? For Noa’s sake, we’ve known each other for over 10,000 years. He didn’t even tell us about his son until we arrested him!” Ace looks back. “No offence, Zero.”

Zero just looks at Ace’s dripping arm, heart still thumping. “I think you need the Silver Cross.”

Jack sighs. “You heard him. Let’s mop up this mess.”

Taro and Jack take to Ace’s sides like clockwork. One of them sweeps up the bits of crystal on the floor, the other makes a small energy shield over Ace’s wounds. This leaves Zero standing awkwardly in front of them, as the brothers wordlessly cleaned up without sparing Zero a single look.

They make him feel out of place, like always.

“How do you know it’s not me,” Zero can’t help but ask.

Ace huffs. “You? No way. Not a chance.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Frankly, we do.” Jack looks up. “We were there when you tried to steal the plasma spark and shut down our planet. Remember?”

All too well. Zero tries not to wince outwardly at that painful, humiliating memory.

Jack pulls away from Ace’s arm. “Right after your arrest, he fought tirelessly to get your sentence revised. Confessed to all sorts of crap in order to convince the council that you didn’t mean it. Did all sorts of work just so the elders would agree to rehabilitate you instead.” He stares Zero in the eye. “You were supposed to be exiled and left for dead, like all that tried before you.”

Before Zero can take a step back, Jack’s closed the gap. Zero’s deftly reminded of the hands that dragged him out of the Plasma Spark Tower all those years ago. He can’t help but freeze up and look away.

“Everyone thought you were going to be our second Belial. Everyone thought he was just wasting his time. Yet, not once did he lose hope in you.”

This time, the hand doesn’t land on his shoulder. Instead, he feels two quick pats on his arm. Zero dares to look back up — Jack’s eyes are soft.

“He’ll never be that upset at you.” Jack smiles. “He loves you.”

Zero’s chest throbs. The ache stings.

----------------------

Zero’s not sure what to be more surprised with – the fact that Leo’s back in the Land of Light, or the fact that Zoffy decided to pick a fight with him right outside in the empty Colosseum.

“I really don’t know what’s happened.” Leo raises his hands. “You’re really freaking me out here, Captain Zoffy.”

“I just wanted to talk about the wellbeing of my subordinate.” Zoffy deadpans. “I don’t see why you’re so worked up.”

”Zoffy. Stop it.” Ultraman steps closer between them. “Leo. Please go.”

“No. He stays.” Zoffy’s eyes narrow. “He stays until he tells me exactly what I want.”

Zero quickly slides up against the only wall separating him and the scolding that’s about to unfold. Captain Zoffy and Master Leo have usually been on professional terms, certainly never at the level of warmth they have towards their other brothers. Zero figures it was because on their first meeting on Earth, Zoffy pretty much directed his brothers to beat Leo into a coma.

“You know about Seven’s new development with Belial,” Zoffy starts. “You knew just how close contact he was with an enemy of the state, and yet you chose not to disclose it to us.”

“It was a hunch. He never directly talked about it to me.” Leo jerks a hand to his side. “I’ve only heard it through rumours, just like you.”

Zoffy frowns. “Then explain to me why his coordinates are with you, instead of the Garrison HQ.”

A pause. “I didn’t know that-”

Zoffy steps towards Leo, arms tight. “Not only have you known about this development, you have chosen to hide information from us, information that could be important for everyone’s safety.” Another step. “You understand why I’m finding it difficult to trust you right now.”

Leo shakes his head, putting his hands up closer. “I would never deliberately hide anything like that, not when it comes to him-“

Zoffy pushes Ultraman away from interfering. “Last time he was this despondent, it was during Zero’s birth. Then, it was during Zero’s exile. Then before that, it was when he chose to stay behind with you as our planet was crashing into Earth. And even before that, it was when he left for Earth to deal with you.”

Leo goes silent. Zoffy steps up to his face, mere inches away.

“Somehow, when he’s like this, there’s always one of you involved.”

Zero slips further against the wall, eyes darting towards the floor to make sure his shadow doesn’t betray him. Zero’s never been good at stealth, so he makes a quick prayer to Noa to give him the strength to not do any dumb shit that might give him away.

Especially since now, Leo no longer shows any signs of backing down.

“No.” Leo starts. “How dare you.”

Ultraman lunges forward. “Leo-!”

Too late. Leo grabs Zoffy by the collar of his mantle, and drags him even closer to his face. His hands start glowing, the same bright red that colours his foot seconds before bursting aflame. Ultraman puts a hand on Leo, trying to yank him away to no avail. Zero slaps a hand on his mouth before he makes any noise.

“You can insult me all you’d like. I don’t answer to you, so I don’t care.” Leo glares. “But I will not stand here and let you even suggest that Zero is a ‘distraction’ to him!”

Zoffy stares back, unfazed. “Really. When he asks you to babysit his son again, feel free to ask him why.”

Leo growls. “We already know why. The Garrison job you’re forcing him to do is what is stopping him from spending his time with his son, and you know it!”

“Leo!” Ultraman warns. “Stand down!”

“He doesn’t even want to be in the Garrison! His home is on Earth!” Leo shouts, eyes blazing. “Yet you refuse to let him leave, because you know once you let any of your brothers go, they’ll never return to your side!”

A hand grasps onto Leo’s wrists, burning a bright, pale blue. It’s electrifying enough to snap Leo from his anger, and causes Ultraman to immediately back away. Fingers dig deep into Leo’s now loosened fist, as the familiar hum of a charging M87 beam echoes in the vacant Colosseum.

Zoffy’s eyes are white.

“I keep him on the team for his protection.” Zoffy begins, his voice low. “You can’t even fathom the amount of enemies after him, because you are blinded by the pity of Seven and King.”

“Zoffy. That’s enough.” Ultraman tries. “Leo’s not to blame.”

Another hum, and Zoffy’s timer starts glowing. “The Garrison exists because its members fight. Land of Light still stands because its members fight. If I didn’t keep Seven in service, do you think you’d stay safe from Alien Magma forever? Do you think Zero won’t get stolen away by one of Seven’s many enemies before he could even learn to walk?” Zoffy’s eyes flash. “Seven cannot afford to be distracted!”

Zero watches in terror as Zoffy’s right arm starts glowing, while he still hasn’t let go of Leo’s hand.

“Next time you think of hiding his whereabouts from me, remember that he protects the galaxy, and you in it.” Zoffy growls. “And when he inevitably gets corrupted by that undead traitor of our people, remember that you had a hand in it!”

“Zoffy. Stop.” Ultraman places a hand on Zoffy’s right. “Seven will never succumb to Belial’s-”

“How would I know?” Zoffy yells. “He doesn’t tell me a thing!”

Zoffy flings his right arm to the floor to his right, seconds before a short beam releases into the ground with a bang. The crystal ground around them shakes and shatters. Everyone’s quick enough to shield themselves from the force of it all, as they get thrown to the floor upon impact.

Alarms start blaring close by. The air slowly fills with the muffled panic of nearby bystanders. Zero manages to pick himself up without much noise. He spots Leo and Ultraman dragging themselves up from the ground, with Zoffy standing in the middle of it all, right arm dripping with white light, staring at the floor.

For a moment, the three of them just stare at Zoffy, all breathing rather heavily.

Thankfully, Zoffy breaks the silence first.

“I apologise.” He says. “I lost control.”

Leo exhales, still shaky. “N-no, I did it first. I’m sorry.”

Ultraman reaches a hand towards Leo. “We’re all anxious. Seven still sends us messages, but he hasn’t been reporting his whereabouts.”

Leo takes it. “That’s not great timing, with all these kaiju appearances in space.”

Ultraman shakes his head. “It’s not the first time people have walked away from…here.” Ultraman drops his voice. “You know what happened before the war. And… after the war. And, with Hikari, and with Jackal-”

Leo pats Ultraman’s hand. “I understand. I was inconsolable too, when you guys came after that impostor. I couldn’t tell my twin brother apart from a pretender.” He sighs. “I still lose all sorts of composure when it comes to him. I guess it extends to Zero as well.”

Zoffy’s eyes never leave the floor. “I simply don’t want to lose any more family.”

Leo looks at him, and cracks a humourless smile. “I get it.”

Zero slinks further behind the now cracked wall, chest and cheeks suddenly burning. He doesn’t know what to do with these feelings.

He sneaks another peek behind the wall, enough to see Leo and Ultraman cleaning up the cracks on Zoffy’s arm, caused by that premature release of the beam. Zero never thought he’d see Zoffy look this sheepish.

“At least we won’t have to worry about Seven going to Belial’s, for now.” Leo muses.

Zoffy looks up. “Why’s that?”

“There are less stories about them going around, yet he’s still going out every now and then.” Leo continues. “So maybe he’s finally doing something about those rumours.”

“That would explain his secretiveness.” Ultraman mulls. “He’d need a good deal of luck to cut his ties with Belial without getting into danger himself.”

“If it were true.” Zoffy frowns. “Good riddance.”

“Though, that might put Seven in danger.” Ultraman adds. “Belial doesn’t react to rejection nicely.”

Zoffy shrugs. “Then we will put Seven under our scrutiny and care, as we’ve always done.”

Ultraman hums. “Wonder what made him change his mind. This odd relationship is disappearing as fast as it appeared.”

Leo ponders. “Maybe Zero told him how much he hated it?”

“Maybe.” Zoffy nods, once. “He always listens to his son, thankfully.”

With the help of two people, Zoffy’s arm gets cleaned and sealed in record time. Ultraman pulls his data pad and calls for a cleanup in the Colosseum. Leo helps Zoffy dust off any stray crystal dust.

“Did you ever confront him about Belial?” Leo asks.

Zoffy considers. “I yelled at him. I suppose there’s that.”

Leo shrugs. “At least you talked to him. I just avoided him and sulked.”

Ultraman frowns at the damage. “This is why Seven doesn’t tell us things. You both respond poorly to it.”

Zoffy sighs. “He’s going to be the death of me.”

Leo chuckles. “As all family are.”

Zero decides to leave before his position gets given away, either by the cleaning crew or by the hammering in his chest.

----------------------

Zero and the UFZ set off to tackle a particularly large cluster of kaiju in space. As usual, just as they manage to track them down, they bump into the Darkness Heels. Only this time, there’s just one of them, who barely reacts to his crew until Zero flies right up into his ugly fishy face.

Juggler rolls his eyes. “Go away.”

Zero frowns. “We’re here to fight the floating space kaiju. You go away.”

“You still haven’t dealt with that? With all one million Garrison members?” Juggler waves a hand in their direction. “Don’t waste more of your time. Go home.”

Zero narrows his eyes. “You’re not even going to fight us?”

“After what happened,” Juggler scoffs. “We don’t even want to see you.”

Zero shares a look with his crew, showing that he’s just as confused as they are. Before he could think of a retort, more of the Darkness Heels start filing in, looking just as moody as Juggler. Somehow, they’ve gotten much more unapproachable since their last encounter. Not that Zero wanted to approach them, anyhow.

Camearra glares daggers at Zero. “JJ, what’s this?”

Juggler sighs. “I’m trying to shoo away the boyfriend’s brat and his wannabe boy band.”

Camearra manifests an energy whip. “We don’t need to play nice with them anymore.”

“Yes, Cam, we do.” Juggler gestures with his sword. “Put that thing away, would you.”

“And pass up the opportunity to let off some steam?” Zagi shrieks. “He’ll probably thank us for tearing that brat apart!”

“We’ll just end up on the Land of Light’s blacklist.” Evil Tiga steps in front of them. “What good would that do?”

Zero slowly inches back towards his crew, as the Darkness Heels turn on themselves, arguing.

“He’s here now. Let’s finish them off. Their kind can’t be trusted-“

“Especially that asshole. He’s a traitor, Belial should’ve known better-“

“Absolutely not. Big B doesn’t want to escalate anything, so I’m not wasting my energy on this kind of drama-“

“We don’t know for sure whether the kid’s part of whatever they’re squabbling about, anyways-“

Zero could just leave. With the Darkness Heels preoccupied, Zero could exit with his UFZ anytime. This has nothing to do with him, and he has no desire to get involved.

Yet, Zero finds himself yelling: “Hey! What in the stars is going on?!”

“Aw, did your dear old dad not tell you?” Camearra glances at him, curling her lip. “Figures. Shady runs in the family, apparently.”

“My old man didn’t set me up for anything!” Zero shouts back. “I haven’t even talked to him these days!”

Camearra rests an elbow on her hand, a humourless smile on her lips. “Hm. Then maybe you should go talk to him. Tell him that he played Belial well. Played all of us well.”

She forms a single energy whip, letting it dangle by her side as she drifts towards Zero.

“Tell him that he’s pathetic. Tell them he’s scummier than all of us combined. Tell him that he’s a soulless creature who dared to play with the heart of someone who has barely anything left to his name.”

She grabs the end of the whip and pulls it taut, eyes never leaving Zero’s own as the energy of the whip sizzles in her hand.

“Tell him, the next time we catch his energy signature within our vicinity, he’ll pay with his head!”

“Stand down.”

Zero knows this voice from anywhere.

A deathly silence falls between the two crews. Camearra doesn’t put her whip away, doesn’t stop glaring at Zero.

Belial tightens his grip on his weapon. “I will not repeat myself.”

Slowly, Camearra lets her whip dissipate, unmoved by the burn in her palm. Silently, she drifts backwards and rejoins her crew, eyes finally drifting back to regard her hulking hunchback teammate. Zero can only stare back.

Once again, this isn’t a Belial that Zero’s familiar with. His hunch is a bit more pronounced, his frown is a bit too curled, his patterns are not as sharp. Zero’s usually able to spot Belial’s torrid intent and ambition from miles away — now, he can’t figure out what he’s seeing in Belial’s eyes.

“We will take our leave,” Belial drones, flatly. “This place is not ours.”

Huh, Zero thinks. Seems like Belial doesn’t know about the purple capsule.

Zero catches the Darkness Heels looking at each other, exchanging looks of wordless confusion. Zagi opens his mouth to say something, but is quickly elbowed to silence by Evil Tiga. Camearra floats behind them, quelling her own angered breathing. Juggler sports a look on his face that could almost be mistaken for concern.

Seems like they don’t exactly know about it, either.

Zero could just let them go. He and his team have a job to do, and Belial is giving them an easy pass. With how apparently sour Belial and Seven have gotten, he doesn’t need to get involved. This was what Zero wanted from the start.

Yet, he still calls after them.

“Belial, wait-“

A blast. A blur. In a blink, Zero’s found himself slammed against a neighbouring asteroid, choking against the staff of Belial’s weapon. Belial envelopes his world in shadow, the pressure on his neck overbearing and lethal, as he peers down at him, amber eyes searing holes into his own. Zero can feel the lava of his glare burn the back of his skull.

Zero can’t tell which crew’s yelling the most. All shouts fade into static behind his ears. He couldn’t even react. When was Belial this fast?

Years of rivalry sets Zero’s veins alight. The promise of battle shoots up his spine, through every nerve. Thousands of possibilities blink past Zero’s eyes, preparing himself for a punch, a claw, a blast to the face, or a deathcium beam. Or maybe Belial knows where that purple capsule is, after all.

Belial presses close, until Zero’s entire world is filled with his burning eyes.

“You have won, Zero.” Belial declares, voice ragged and rough. “You. Have. Won. Do you understand?”

Zero coughs and wheezes, scrabbling. “Ack-huh..?”

“You have won, so do not show your face in front of me again.” Belial’s voice rakes like gravel. ”I do not want anything to do with you or your Garrison ever again.”

Zero’s hands find purchase against Belial’s weapon, and he pushes. He pushes and pushes as he imagines Seven on the ground, feeling his plasma drain out of his wounds as Belial looms above him, as he’s doing now.

This weapon has almost taken his old man’s life. The thought gives Zero the strength to lift a hand to his head.

He gasps, “I won’t let you…near him…!”

He yanks, and one slugger splits Belial’s weapon into two. The pressure on his neck lifts instantaneously, and Zero blinks and hacks and splutters back into reality, hand fruitlessly massaging the blooming bruises on his neck. It takes him a moment to realise he’s still in space, surrounded by the UFZ and the Darkness Heels. Zero drags himself out of his daze and breathlessness to fight, but his guard stills when he takes a proper look at his opponent.

It takes him a moment to fully register the harrowing look on Belial’s face, and it’s not one of anger. The weapon lays split in his claws, still the same colour as Zero’s bracelet.

It takes another moment for Zero to notice a crack in Belial’s timer, a gap in the purple crystal.

Zero’s chest throbs.

The Darkness Heels flock to Belial at once, uncharacteristically hushed and whispered. They pull Belial from his stupor, getting him to physically turn his back on the UFZ. It’s odd, seeing them this tender. It’s not something Zero’s comfortable with, at all.

Zero doesn’t stop the Darkness Heels from leaving them without another word. His chest aches too much for him to think of anything to say.

Glen sighs. “Let me guess. You don’t wanna talk about it.”

Zero just shakes his head.

----------------------

Shortly later, they do eventually get a signal from Seven, marked right in Side Space. Zero volunteers himself immediately, even though scouting is not part of his job.

He doesn’t find Seven on that planet, although he does find himself arms full of someone else.

“Woah, hey!” Zero plants a foot behind him before he topples over. “You’re energetic.”

“I know, I’m sorry, but I’m just so glad!” Geed laughs, hugging tighter. “I haven’t seen you in so long!”

Zero can’t help but smile. He was always fond of Geed, ever since he saw him fight after the Armageddon mess. Geed had always been patient with him, a saving grace in a world full of unfamiliar humans and aliens that wanted him dead. Zero hoped to tell him how grateful he was, one day.

After a while, Geed lets go. “Sorry about the floating kaiju. We only just found out about the wormhole. It’s in the Mariana Trench, our deepest trench in the ocean. Recordings showed that the kaiju’s flowing from Zegun’s dimension.”

“The same dimension you fought Belial in? Can’t believe it’s still here.” Zero crosses his arms. “Explains how that wormhole stays open for a long time, and why there’s so much kaiju.”

“Apparently people often use our oceans to open wormholes to other dimensions. Pretty cool, right?” Geed nods. “Mister Seven told me about the time he went to another Earth through one.”

Zero blinks. “He was here? He talked to you?”

“Yeah, a few times.” Geed frowns, confused. “I thought he was the one who told the IGDF to come here.”

Zero feels a sharp pang in his chest. It might simply be because he hasn’t heard from his old man since this whole space kaiju mess sprung up, but he doesn’t want to think about the fact that Geed has seen Seven before he has.

It’s certainly not jealousy. That’s childish.

Zero hums. “What other things do you talk about with him?”

Geed bounces on his feet. “Anything, really. Life stuff, about living as an Ultra, or living on Earth. He gives me lectures every now and then.”

“Ah yeah. He does that.”

“He took me to a pasture last time. I got to help out on the ranch. He’s really good with sheep!”

“Ah, is he.”

Geed ducks his head, suddenly shamed. “Ah but, he doesn’t come talk to me that often. Just when he’s free. It’s not serious, or anything-”

“Hey, calm.” Zero raises his hand. “I’m not gonna gatekeep him. If he yells at you, let me know.”

Geed shakes his head. “The opposite, actually.” He looks away. “He’s been really considerate to me even before he started talking to… you know.”

Zero stiffens. Of course Geed was aware about those two. That would explain his old man’s apparent visits to Side Space. The pang in Zero’s chest spreads to his throat.

“Did he tell you about, you know?” Geed’s eyes dart. “Him and you know? I don’t know if you know. It’s okay if you don’t.”

Zero grits his teeth. “I know.”

“Okay. Then that’s okay.” Geed lets out a breath of air, but his shoulders don’t look any less tight. “I’m worried about that, actually.”

Zero rolls his eyes. “Oh, tell me about it.”

Geed bites his finger. “You noticed it too, right? That they… haven’t been seeing each other.” He turns his eyes towards the floor. “I’m scared that something’s happened. Father refuses to even mention him, and I haven't seen Mister Seven in a while... I’m super worried.”

Zero nods slowly, before fully registering what he’s said. “Hang on, you’re worried for them?”

Geed picks at his hands. “Father puts everything into his goals, and he expects others to do so, too. You know he’s the type to put in and expect nothing but absolute commitment. He simply doesn’t hold back on anything.”

Zero remembers his first battle with Belial well. How he brutalised his way into the Tower and ripped its sun from the planet. How he did it so effectively and systematically that none of the IGDF could react in time, despite all the data they had on Belial’s battles, and his previous invasion on the Land of Light.”

“We both know how obsessive he can get. That’s the reason why he made his clones and soldiers instead of… you know. He likes to control every aspect of what he does. You know how little he can tolerate.”

Zero remembers the battles after it. How close Belial would come to achieving total conquest every time he came back. How each of his attacks on the Land of Light left more of it in ruin, how each of his plans left more and more people stranded. How, even after vastly improving since his exile, Zero wasn’t sure he could stand toe-to-toe with Belial again without his armours, forms and teammates by his side.

“I don’t think he can stand being left behind again,” Geed whispers. “If Mister Seven isn’t as serious as he is, then… then…!”

Zero remembers Seven’s back. He grew up looking at it, even as an orphan watching records of fights from the bunk of his orphanage. The sight of it only brought him pain, when Seven threw him onto the ground right at the Plasma Spark. The memory of it gave him enough anger to push through the entirety of Leo’s hellish training. It made him want to burn the Land of Light to the ground. He’s sure that’s what Belial did.

Even now, the thought of Seven’s back still burns the worst parts of Zero’s mind. With Seven still absent, anxiety gnaws at Zero’s chest. Bile bubbles and churns in Zero’s gut, making him ache and sore. If Seven just up and left again, Zero’s not sure if Belial could ever stomach it. Zero’s not sure if he himself could.

It was one of the many things he hated about his old man.

His silence must’ve unnerved Geed, because Geed’s started rambling. “Please don’t get mad! Father and I, we’re still figuring things out, but he hasn’t been violent or anything when he shows up! And Mister Seven’s been a real help with the whole human-ultra identity thing. I’m not asking for anything more, I’m happy with all of that!”

Zero blinks. “Hey, we’re good.”

“I-I know your feelings about the both of them, especially about my father, so I didn’t talk to you about it, I’m sorry. And I really don’t want to make you feel I’m taking Mister Seven away from you, because I know how you feel about your dad, and you’re his kid first and foremost, and I’m just some- you know-“

“Hey, Geed-“

“I just thought, you know, we could be brothers.” Geed shakes. “I just wanted, it would be great, I thought it would be a good idea-“

“Riku.”

Geed stills, making a great effort to keep his words in his mouth, eyes watery like he’d just been kicked. He’s strong in his own right, but he’s still just a kid. The sour taste of bile dies on Zero’s tongue.

Zero puts a hand on Geed’s shoulder. “What happens between the both of them shouldn’t affect how they treat you. If they did, you tell me.”

Geed swallows. “Okay.”

Zero chuckles. “I’m a bit hurt, you know? Thought we were already brothers before that.”

Geed nods. “We were, weren’t we?”

Zero’s smile grows. “Yeah. Absolutely.” He pats Geed’s arm. “We don’t need those two old farts to play house for us to be family.”

Geed laughs, and his grin is honest. “I’m glad.”

Zero pulls Geed in, and Geed hugs him back. Warmth blooms in Zero’s chest, the first in a long while. For a moment, Zero can forget the floating kaiju, the whole Belial thing, and the whole unprocessed mess that is his relationship with his old man. He wishes this could last forever.

In his arms, Geed murmurs, “Though, you know, it’d still be nice to have a proper house.”

Zero sighs. Teenage Zero would’ve probably thought the same. But Adult Zero had learned to do well without a house. Adult Zero knows that houses are not freely given.

Yet, the child in Zero stares out of the orphanage, quietly admitting, “I know.”

----------------------

The good news is, now that they’ve found where the kaiju are coming from, the Land of Light is ready to start sending off rangers to deal with it. Given the amount of kaiju pouring out of the rift, the IGDF is calling back most of its teams to get ready for briefing and mobilisation.

The bad news is, Zero feels oddly out of it. Maybe he’s weirded out by how everyone’s talking about his old man. Maybe he’s more affected by his old man’s absence than he thought. Or, perhaps he still hadn’t properly processed what having an old man really means, nevermind the fact that his old man’s apparently in a relationship with an evil genocidal bastard.

He finds himself drifting near the asteroids, where he first saw the two of them together. Perhaps out of habit, he lingers a little longer, letting his eyes flit between the rocks, searching for the two of them behind the shadows.

He doesn’t find them, of course. Instead, he finds himself face to face with a cluster of kaiju.

There’s a good dozen of them. It’s nothing Zero can’t handle on a usual day, even without the UFZ. Except this time, his mind’s not there. A beat slower, a beam pulled too late, and Zero gets hit with an electric shock from an Eleking.

“Shit!” Zero grits, flinging a slugger. It misses the Eleking and hits the asteroid behind it.

Another kaiju roars, and Zero gets his raised arm caught in the whips of a Twintail. He’s quick enough to cut himself free with his other slugger, but not quick enough to escape from the gaze of a Gan-Q. With no footing or handle, Zero’s being dragged forcefully into Gan-Q’s dimension. So, he pulls his arms into a wide shot, bracing himself to tank the impact of beaming a kaiju at point-blank range.

Then, Zero doesn’t feel the drag anymore. The Gan-Q makes a sputtering noise and splits neatly into quarters. As the roars around him fade into sounds of sliced flesh and metal, Zero’s heart soars with an overwhelming feeling of relief and dread.

Zero may not know his old man well, but he could hear the piercing whine of Seven’s slugger from anywhere.

“Zero?” Seven catches his blade. “What are you doing here?”

I wanted to see you, Zero thinks. I was worried about you.

“Where in the stars have YOU been?!” Zero yells instead.

Of course, that sets Seven off. “Doing my job! What did you think I was doing?! Don’t you know what’s going on with these kaiju?!”

Zero throws his arms up in space. “I don’t know! You haven’t told me anything!”

Seven flies up to his face. ”I’m not your direct superior, Zoffy is! And I know that he would have briefed the ears off your head before he even let you come here!”

“No! Not that!” Zero jabs a finger at his chest. “I don’t know what’s going on with you!”

Confusion bleeds into Seven’s anger. ”What are you even talking about?!”

Zero waves his hands, frustrated. ”I! Don’t! Know! That’s what I’m asking. That’s what everyone’s asking!”

”Who’s everyone?” Seven demands. “What’s going on?”

Zero meets his gaze, fire with fire. ”You and Belial, of course!”

That stuns Seven to silence. Zero’s chest heaves heavily and rapidly, like he’s out of air. He keeps his glare strong as Seven’s gaze turns more neutral, more stoic. That angers Zero even more.

“I know you’ve been seeing him in secret,” Zero starts. “You’re trying to hide it, but everyone knows that there’s something going on between the two of you!”

He continues. “Those ‘solo’ missions. The rock collection. The big dark Ultra signs. Are you serious? Do you know how insulting it feels to find out about your old man’s life through rumours and taunts? Even Belial’s crew knew about it before I did!”

Then, he continues, “I know that we argue a lot, and we don’t know each other very well,” he pauses, caught, “but, don’t you think I deserve to know, at the very least?”

Another pause. Then, “can you at least say something?”

More silence. Zero watches Seven for any sign of readable movement. He looks for signs of attempts to avoid the conversation, or the desperation to find any excuse, or any anger before the storm. If his old man thinks he can still avoid, condescend or deny anything, Zero will answer with his fists.

But Seven simply sighs. “It’s nothing like that.”

Zero scowls. “Don’t fuck with me.”

“It’s true.” Seven deadpans. “A couple of months ago, he and his rag-tag team started frequenting parts of space that I was ordered to charter. He was always in the area, and I always happened to have time. Not a lot of people out in deep space.”

That shocks Zero, for a second. “Wait, months? How is that not serious?”

Seven rolls his eyes. “Two adults can have a casual relationship. You know what that is, right?”

Zero’s brow furrows. “But, he gave you gifts. You cancel everything to see him. He doesn’t even let his team bother us. You share life stories with his kid-clone.” He pauses for a second. “You guys went on dates. Holding hands. For months.”

Seven barks a laugh, flippant. “So?”

A chill runs down Zero’s spine.

Seven was generally pretty stoic, but he just made it sound too easy to get over someone. He risked getting jail time visiting Belial, yet he’s unbothered about ending it just like that. There was something terrifying about Seven talking casually about the end of a long relationship with a renowned galactic criminal, like it was a minor convenience in his day. Hearing it felt cold. It felt like it didn’t matter.

I don’t think he can take another betrayal.

Zero almost felt sorry for Belial. Almost.

Suddenly, a spike of terror stabs into Zero’s chest. The sight of Seven’s back flashes in his eyes. If Seven could easily shake off a relationship he risked so much for, then cold-quitting the relationship with his previously estranged son wouldn’t be too hard, either. Right?

Zero clenches his fists, as if they could protect him from one of his greatest fears. He trains his eyes on Seven, trying his best to keep his panic at bay.

“Can I ask what happened?”

Seven shrugs. "I've upset him."

Oh. Zero didn’t expect that. “How?”

"It seems I’ve lost something of his."

Oh. Zero’s eyes widen. Oh.

"Honestly, I had no idea what exactly I misplaced. He wouldn’t tell me what it was. I thought that was ridiculous, so we argued.” Seven sighs. “He wanted it to end. I agreed.” Seven shrugs again. “Now, we don’t talk.”

“Belial wanted to end it?” Zero repeated.

Seven nods. “He is an enemy of the state with invasions and acts of crime under his belt. I’m just one of the IGDF’s lackeys.” Seven meets Zero’s gaze, cold as steel. “There wasn’t supposed to be anything between us.”

The capsule in his sub-space thrums, heart hammering at his ribs. Zero looks down and lets out a shallow breath, his chest suddenly feeling extremely heavy.

Things didn’t match up at all. If Belial wanted Seven to have that purple capsule, why not give it to him during one of their visits? If Belial was really just a convenience to Seven, why go through all that effort of keeping their relationship at all? And if Belial wanted to end it, and got his wish, why was Belial not going back to fighting Zero like he used to?

And why didn’t Seven give him any straight answers?

Zero thinks hard about what he’s witnessed. The Ultra Brothers never blaming him. Leo asking him to talk to Seven. The Darkness Heels doing nothing to hurt him. Geed sharing his worries about them with him. Seven skirting around his questions. Belial telling him that he’s “won”. The fact that none of them know about what he’s done to the purple capsule, but have all changed how they acted when it came to him.

He has one last harrowing thought to confirm.

“Hey old man,” Zero begins. “Did Belial ever make you happy?”

Something flickers on Seven’s otherwise stone face, subtle but no less telling. For a second, Zero could see the answer in his eyes. He could see the glow of those dark red Ultra Signs, and the promises the messages always brought. He could see the sparkle on his growing collection of rocks, and how they brought warmth without any heat. He could see how the stars shimmered from the edges of deep space where they often visited.

But it goes, as quick as it came, and Zero finds himself staring back at eyes of dull steel.

This time, to his horror, it’s exactly the response Zero predicted.

“It doesn’t matter,” Seven gives him a symmetrical smile. “You make me happy enough, son.”

----------------------

Of course it’s his fault.

Zero thought he’d be happy with it. Technically, by being both reasons why they split, he did manage to save his old man from Belial. Even if Zero’s world won’t return to normal, at least the nonsense between the two of them is going to end. His old man will be safe. And it’ll all be because of him.

Of course it’s his fault.

That’ll also mean no more new rocks. No more sudden Ultra Signs. No secret patrols amongst the asteroid belt. No more purple crystal gifts. No more smiles.

Of course it’s his fault.

It would be as if this whole recent development never happened. Geed probably won’t get to see Seven again. Zero will have to go back to fighting Belial again. It’ll just be Zero and his old man, arguing and bickering and working, as it has been for a while. Nothing will change.

And it’ll all be because of him. Again.

Zero feels himself spiralling downwards. Every turn he makes takes him nowhere but down. He’s not sure how to go from here, or if he even should do anything at all. He isn’t even sure what to feel about all this, or even what he is feeling.

He either saved his old man, or took away something that made him happy. None of these interpretations make him feel any less terrible.

In any event, he’s afraid to do anything about it. He hasn’t had the chance to speak to Seven again. He hasn’t spoken to Belial since. He hasn’t found the courage to ask anyone else about it. The purple capsule still sits heavy in his subspace.

So, Zero parks himself at the edge of the Space Port, watching the IGDF assemble their units to close the rift spewing kaiju from Side Space Earth. Unlike him, they sure don’t waste their time.

Just by luck, he spots the Father of Ultra standing by the edge of the Space Port. He stands facing the Tower, still and poised, his serene eyes showing none of the intensity of the impending mission. The Plasma Spark reflects off his horns and mantle in gentle, lustrous highlights, casting him in a regal glow. When he turns to look at him, Zero feels the overbearing weight of composure.

Father of Ultra gives him a smile. “How is the preparation going?”

Zero shakes his head. “I don’t know what else to do.”

Father of Ultra nods once. ”Then, you can join me in admiring the view from here.”

Zero’s smart enough to know that a request from the Supreme Commander is never without an order. With any luck, he’s not in more trouble — he doesn’t want to add anything more to his list of heartaches right now. As instructed, he walks right up and faces the view of the Space Port.

Well, Father of Ultra isn’t wrong. There’s Ultras flying around buildings carved out of clear, turquoise crystal. It is a great view, just like all other views in the Land of Light.

Zero picks a random street to stare at, hoping that it’ll stave off the awkwardness.

“I hear that Belial’s got a group of his own, now,” Father of Ultra says. “Sounds like they’ve kept him busy.”

That’s the last thing Zero wants to think about. “Don’t even get me started. They cause nothing but trouble for my team.”

“As much history of crime and destruction they hold amongst them, they sure are a funny bunch. Makes me miss my field days, really.”

“As long as they stay outta my way, I don’t care.”

“Well, thankfully neither he or his new crew have stayed out of trouble, based on Seven’s reports. Your father doesn’t seem to mind them, at least.”

Zero bristles. “He should be minding them more, then!”

“He’s been our scout for centuries. I’m sure he’s mindful. I trust him to find light in the darkest of spots.”

“Well, sorry, but I’m not as forgiving as my old man. What do you want from them anyways? You want to give Belial a ticket to invade us again?”

A pause. “Well, I’m hoping to bring him home.”

Ah. Of course, Father of Ultra had business with Belial too. And a whole lot of baggage Zero’s glad not to have. Their story differed every time someone told it, but one element was always consistent — they were once brothers, and something tore them apart.

Plus, given his own history and his own recent decisions, it’s clear he doesn’t know a thing about family. No good family would willingly sabotage another, but no good family would let another fall into danger.

Maybe Zero really wasn’t meant to have any family. Maybe Seven was right to leave him behind, 5900 years ago.

Father of Ultra starts talking again, breaking Zero’s spiral. “He’s always been a handful to deal with.” He reminisces. “He’s difficult and unapproachable, but when he was given a mission, he would always make sure he was involved before his teammates were. He was a first responder, first and foremost. He wouldn’t hesitate to give his life to a cause or for those that he cared for.”

Zero rolls his eyes. “Good to know my old man was always this irritating.”

Father of Ultra looks at him. “I was talking about Belial, when he was still here.”

Zero stills. “Oh.”

Father of Ultra chuckles quietly. “Odd isn’t it? It’s almost scary how similar they are, considering that they don’t have any history together.” He tilts his head towards the sky. “From the way they make decisions, to how they react to their consequences, to the way trouble follows them.” He looks towards the Plasma Spark tower. “They are the type who must fight for their world, in order to feel like they belong in it.”

Zero looks down at the people below them, confused. “I really don’t get that.”

Father of Ultra casts a rueful glance to the same. “Neither do I. And neither do most other people. The universe doesn’t fare kindly to people like them, regardless of their intentions. Most of them get ostracised for their radical actions. Most of them end up isolating themselves from the people they risk blood and soul to fight for. Most of them end up losing the very ones they swore to protect.”

After a beat, he adds, “Most of them end up dead.”

Realisation dawns in Zero, slowly but surely. He thinks back to the first real meeting with his old man, dying on the ground near a team of humans crying for him. He thought of this moment every time he saw Seven fight, or fly to complete a mission. He didn’t know it then, but he was always aware of it — the only way Seven was going to die was by giving his life for another. Zero couldn’t imagine otherwise.

Zero hated it. He hated that he, as Seven’s son, was not enough of a reason to live for Seven. He hated that Seven could leave him for 5900 years just to fight for planets that hated him, and for people who didn’t even know him. He hated that Seven would willingly deprive his son from a life with him, just because a couple of humans were in trouble.

Everyone was right when they called Zero selfish — Zero hated the fact that Seven was never his.

Zero thought that Belial was just as relentless in his hate, as it always brought him back to life. Belial gave Zero a career that way — he came back and attacked so often. Yet, Zero never really understood what exactly he hated so much. If he hated the Land of Light, why destroy other worlds? If he hated the universe, why not destroy all of it? Why seek to conquer it all, if all of it was worthless?

But love, on the other hand, Zero could understand. After seeing his planet ravaged by Alien Empera, Belial probably saw the failure of their security systems and the government that was supposed to protect them. He probably thought to replace the system of the Land of Light, or become the strongest to better protect it. Or, better yet, become the ruler of the entire universe, so that he would never experience the pain of losing his home to war ever again. It didn’t justify it, but it’d make more sense that way.

Belial and Seven would readily risk their lives for what they wanted. They wouldn’t let anyone else do it for them, or with them. They’d ruin lives and neglect others for what they cared about.

And those have been the causes of Zero’s pain his entire life.

“Don’t they have things to live for?” Zero can’t help but ask. Seniority be damned. “Don’t they know that their lives can’t be exchanged, just like that? Don’t they get that they can do so much more with their lives, if they just lived it instead of trying to give it away?”

Father of Ultra regards him silently at first. For a second, Zero thinks he’s crossed a line. But, the commander follows up with a hand on Zero’s shoulder, a touch gentle but no less firm.

“We may never truly understand their principles, or the experiences shaping them.” He says, kindly. “But, if the world will not give them peace, maybe they can find some peace with each other.”

Zero stays silent. His mind drifts back to those secret visits on the edge of the galaxy, arm in arm and facing the stars. The stars they liked to gaze upon probably had their own monsters and invaders, or were involved in wars between themselves. The lives they were living were defined largely by the battles and wars they started and ended. The Belial he knows won’t rest until the universe was his. The Seven he knows won’t rest until the universe was safe. There was nothing peaceful about themselves.

Yet, in all those secret meetings Zero managed to catch them on, Zero never forgot how quiet it was. It was quiet like the days he spent perched on a boulder on K76, or on the evenings after Leito came back home from work. In those moments, it was as if the universe stopped moving, and faded away from the mind.

There really was nothing between them. That was what they needed.

That, Zero could understand.

Zero steps away. “I’m gonna go. I realised I have something to do.”

“Alright.” Father of Ultra smiles at him. “We’ll be counting on you.”

Zero nods, resolute. ”I know.”

Zero doesn’t have time to wallow and brood. He can blame himself all he wants and process the rest of his feelings later. Now, he’s found two problems to deal with. And, if he has the capacity to ruin, he should have the capacity to fix.

He just hopes it can wait after work. He can only hope.

----------------------

They started off with a good strategy — send all the Ultras who could one-hit-KO kaiju down the Mariana Trench, and eventually one of them would reach the bottom and close the rift. In space or on land, they could easily handle the waves and waves of kaiju pouring out of the rift — but the ocean is another beast on its own.

Zero never knew water could be this heavy. Water made things slipper, but it was barely a problem for him on land. Here, each move he makes takes more power out of him. He feels his energy drain just to keep him in place. The deeper he goes, the less light is able to reach him — he couldn’t recharge even if he wanted to.

And given the average three-minute limit for rangers, everyone else around him isn’t doing too well either.

“The kaiju are practically pushing us to the surface,” Jack mithers. “I don’t know how we’re supposed to reach the bottom at this rate.”

“Screw ‘em.” Zero catches his sluggers. “Let the others deal with them above us.”

“This trench is way too deep!” Taro complains, ripping a hole through a kaiju’s body. “Can’t we just shoot at the ocean?”

“Do you know how much harm our beams can do to this Earth?” Ace flicks off a kaiju’s head with his sword. “Especially their waters?”

“That radiation thing is ridiculous!” Taro pauses, mid-fight. “Fire isn’t radioactive, is it?”

“No Ultra Dynamite in the trench.” Zoffy deadpans, cracking a kaiju’s neck with a kick.

Zero slices through a kaiju and barely misses another kaiju barreling towards him. To his left, Jack gets caught in the tendrils of a Silverbloome before he can descend further. To his right, Ultraman gets yanked upwards by a Gudon with a handle on his leg. Just behind him, Leo struggles with a Bemstar as his timer flashes. Zero’s own timer’s been flashing for a while, too.

Geed claws through a Kemular before he can reach Zero. “I don’t think we’ve even made it halfway,” he says worriedly. “I’ve still got some energy left, do you need some again?”

Zero’s aware that Geed’s adapted to Earth well enough to last more than three minutes, but he’s not letting him act as a battery for every IGDF member in the deep sea. “Save it,” he tells Geed, then shouts: “I can still do a wide shot!”

“Noted!” Taro yells back. “Nii-san-tachi, we can still shoot something down there!”

“No!” Ace swims up to them. “We’ll end up giving this Earth radiation poisoning for generations!”

Ultraman looks up. “A few of us can swim up to get some more energy again. The light’s way too weak here.”

Leo follows his gaze. “I don’t think that’s sustainable. We barely made any progress even with all of us underwater.”

Jack looks around, frantic. “Almost all of us have been beeping red for a while,” he points out. “A final beam may kill us.”

“We may not have a choice,” Zoffy mutters. “Especially if this is the closest we can get.”

Zero watches Zoffy pull his arms in front of him, his timer glowing with the power of M87. The familiar whine of Taro’s storium kousen rings behind his ears. A range of colours illuminate the deep sea, as the Ultra Brothers charge their respective beams as their timers blink faster and faster.

Zero pushes a kaiju aside and fumbles for his bracelet, exhaustion seeping into his mind as he recalls the power of Aegis. A mild bout of disorientation hits him, but he ignores it, hoping his body actually has enough energy in store for one final beam.

Then, something behind him explodes, sending him bobbing forward.

Zero swivels around to see what’s distracted him, only to be momentarily shrouded by a dark, jagged silhouette. Belial shakes his claws free of oil and metal, unfazed by the combustion of a King Joe right at his face. He growls his frustration at the remains of the kaiju that were once swarming them. Judging from the looks on the Ultra Brothers, they don’t know how or why he got here either.

Zero can’t swim back faster than Belial can propel himself towards him. The bastard swims up to his face in a matter of seconds. Zero expects another bout of yelling, or taunting. He even expects a swipe of claws to the face.

Instead, Belial grabs his arm. “Stop moving!”

Before Zero can say anything, Belial practically slams a glass canister right into his timer. It’s one from Hikari’s lab, from the looks of it. Zero can feel the pulse of light energy through the material — it’s not enough for a full recharge, but probably just enough to buy everyone else some time to swim out of danger.

Belial lets go of him. “Share that with whoever you want, and get them out of my way.”

Zero looks at the canister of energy, then back at Belial. “Thanks?”

Belial ignores him.

More sounds of diving and bubbles reach Zero’s ears. He looks up to see a few more other fighters sail down towards them, finishing off some kaiju along the way. One of them decapitates them with a glinting blade. One of them makes them explode with whips. One of them makes quick work of them with… mirrors?

Zero squints. “Mirror, what are you doing with Darkness Heels?”

Mirror gives him a sheepish wave. “Just wanted to check on you. You’ve been down for a while.” He gestures upwards. “Glen and the others are waiting on the surface, because water.”

“Heads up, Big B,” Juggler calls. “There’s a lot of kaiju flying up into space. Puts your former army to shame.”

“ET and Zagi should be doing a deep clean with the rest of them right about now,” Camearra adds. “Don’t freak out when you see the UFZ with them.”

“Pests,” Belial hisses. Zero’s not sure what he’s referring to.

Zero busies himself with swimming to the Ultra Brothers, sharing the canister as equally and quickly as he can. For once, they’re all too flabbergasted to even talk amongst themselves, though they’re still keeping a good distance from the new joiners.

Zero takes another look at Belial, who’s got an armful of some other giant reptile. As powerful as Belial is, there must be another way besides clawing through each and every kaiju. “Where’s his weapon?”

”You sliced it in half with your slugger, remember,” Camearra drawls. “And we can’t repair it, since it’s made from M78 metal, which we don’t have clearance for anymore.”

“We never had clearance for that, it was all that red asshole’s-“

Camearra elbows a bruise into Juggler’s ribs, and flicks her head pointedly at Belial nearby. Zero tries not to think of apologising for it.

Belial decapitates the reptile kaiju with his bare hands, before doing a full turn in the water to survey. His eyes land on Zoffy, and frowns. “Why is your timer still beeping?”

If Zoffy was still shocked, he was hiding it very well. “We’ve only got enough for a minute each.”

Belial spits a curse, before barking: “Get them out of the water!”

Juggler and Camearra wordlessly listen, grabbing an Ultra by the arms before rocketing to the surface. Mirror looks back at Zero, wary.

Zero shrugs. “Just do as he says.”

They drag everyone to the surface before they can get smothered by another wave of kaiju. Zero doesn’t care that he probably looks like a corpse just fished up — he’s just thankful he can feel some sun on his face. This planet’s ozone layer’s a pain enough for Ultras as is, nevermind the darkness of the deep sea. He decides that the ocean’s the worst part of Earth.

Glen, JB and Nines float right above him, offering their hands. “Mother says you’re using all the hot water,” Glen quips.

“Shut your mouth,” Zero replies, taking their hands and letting them drag him out of the water and into the air. He takes a moment to survey his surroundings — there’s no nearby platform or island, yet kaiju were still popping out from the water, some getting propelled into the sky from the force of it. It’s like the opposite of kaiju rain.

“I never expected to see you here,” Zoffy says, still bewildered.

“Your worthless warriors are taking too damn long.” Belial grumbles. “You let out too much kaiju into space.”

”That’s what we’re trying to fix, if you could believe it.” Zoffy looks around. “How did you even find us?”

Belial glances to the side, making others follow his gaze. A kaiju drops from the sky, felled by a small hole in its forehead singed with green light. Seven hovers above them all, beam lamp still glowing with residue energy. Zero’s never been more relieved to see that dead stare.

Geed waves both of his hands. “Mister Seven! Hi!”

Seven gives him a quick soft smile. ”Hey kid.”

Zoffy’s next to fly up to him. “Where in the stars have you been?”

“Doing my job,” Seven replies, impassive. “That includes finding people who don’t have to live off that three-minute rule, or any light energy at all.”

“You hid your location so you could recruit five of our top enemies of state?”

“No.” Seven pulls out Belial’s weapon from behind him. “I also brought this.”

Zero thought that the sight of the light-grey double-headed staff would make the rest of the Ultras gasp more. Indeed, some of them begin harshly whispering amongst themselves. Although, given the shaking heads and hushed laughs, Zero figures that Seven’s probably danced on the edge of treason more than once. Plus, they all know how Geed’s expelled Reiblood out of Belial’s soul – Belial doesn’t have the ability to control kaiju anymore.

Zoffy stares at him, aghast. “You hid your location so you could recruit our enemies of state, and retrieve the Giga Battlenizer from Noa-knows-where?”

“I didn’t retrieve it,” Seven corrects. “I made a copy.”

Zoffy starts shouting. “You made a copy of the Giga Battlenizer?!”

Seven snaps back. “Better than you thinking you can dive 11 kilometers through water pressure and kaiju in under three minutes!”

Zero’s glad not to be caught up in his old man’s squabbles, for once. He closes his eyes, trying to shut out the sound of Zoffy and Seven arguing (“I’m not the one in apparent cahoots with known enemies!” “I’m not the one trying to drown half of the elite force!”). The noise makes his temples throb.

”My word, that temper,” Mirror murmurs.

”I see where you get it from, Zero,” Glen hums.

“He’s just as bad as Big B.” Evil Tiga muses.

Camearra curls her lip. “The worst.”

“Okay nii-san-tachi, let’s table that meeting for now!” Taro practically shoulders himself between Zoffy and Seven. “We’re in front of visitors! As well as a huge underwater wormhole practically spilling with kaiju.”

“We’ll continue this later.” Zoffy throws a final glower at Seven, before turning to address the rest. “Change of plans. We need more of us to stay on the surface. Too many kaiju have resurfaced, and they may filter outside into our galaxies.”

Camearra puts a hand on her hip. ”Earth isn’t our concern.”

“But space is.” Juggler rests his sword on his shoulders. “Plus, I prefer doing cleanup in this case. The ocean’s a right pain to move in.”

Seven crosses his arms. “I saw some crawling into Earth’s cities. Have people been evacuated properly?”

Geed raises his hand. “The AIB worked with the UN to evacuate everyone living near the Pacific Ocean. Also everyone in Southeast Asia, just in case.”

Ace flies up to Zoffy. “I understand that having Belial here puts you on edge, but it’s better that we all work together to deal with this for good.”

“I know.” Zoffy sighs shallowly. “I just hope his team understands that, too.”

“Can’t believe Seven-nii-san managed to wrangle them here though,” Ace mutters. “I wonder what kind of strings he had to pull.”

Belial says nothing.

Seven says nothing.

Zero winces.

“So, you want everyone taking care of the kaiju on Earth and in space.” Jack looks towards the water. “Who will seal the rift?”

“I will.” Seven doesn’t hesitate. “I’m more familiar with underwater wormholes anyway. And I’ve sustained energy for much longer than three minutes.”

Zoffy furrows his brow. “Are you sure? It seems like a huge rift. You might not have enough destructive power for it.”

“Someone needs to go.” Seven glances at the kaiju soaring through the clouds and sky. “I’m not the best at crowd control, anyways.”

Zoffy regards him with another long look, before resigning. “Make sure to get a full recharge before you dive in. The Ultra Brothers will deal with the kaiju on land.”

Seven nods. Zero feels his heart pound at his chest. He knows his old man’s survived some impossible situations, but diving through darkness without an energy source to destroy a rift really sounds like suicide, especially solo. Seven would throw his body into that rift if it meant closing it for good. Zero hates that the Ultra Brothers don’t even attempt to stop him. They probably wouldn’t be able to change Seven’s mind, but still.

Zero catches a glimpse of the Darkness Heels. Belial’s silent and motionless, but his eyes are trained on Seven. Odd, given that this has nothing to do with them. They’ve been ready to pack up and go since they’ve fished the Ultras from the water.

“Juggler, Camearra.” Belial speaks, suddenly. “Join ET and Zagi in clearing our space from vermin.”

Juggler stares, eyes wide. “You’re going with him?”

“I freed myself from this exact rift.” Belial barely spares them a glance. “I wouldn’t trust these Ultras with anything.”

Zero regards him, wary. “I thought you no longer wanted anything to do with the Land of Light.”

Belial swivels to glare at him, eyes burning ember. “Make no mistake, I will never help the Garrison,” he declares. “I will never again trust a planet that was so quick to get rid of me after tens of thousands of years of service and sacrifice. I will never forget how quickly I was cast aside by the leadership of the very same people I risked my life to protect.”

Zero stills, with bated breath. “But you’ll save this universe with us?”

Belial holds his chin up high. “Of course. How am I supposed to conquer it if it has been destroyed?”

The Ultra Brothers and the UFZ chuckle in surprise. Zoffy rolls his eyes. Geed claps his hands together and holds them to his chest, overjoyed. Zero huffs. This is ridiculous.

Camearra frowns. “Couldn’t we just conquer the other infinite number of universes instead?”

Juggler groans. “I knew he was still down bad for that red asshole.”

Zero looks towards his old man. Seven’s staring at Belial, eyes unreadable but nonetheless strained. He stays silent and still, tenser than he previously was. Even so, Zero has an inkling of what his old man’s thinking about — Father of Ultra’s words wouldn’t stop racing in his mind.

They are the type who must fight for their world, in order to feel like they belong in it.

Most of them end up dead.

Zero sucks in a breath. “I’m going too.”

Seven swivels sharply. ”Zero-“

”You can’t stop me,” Zero retorts hastily, before toning down. “Also, no offence old man, but your destructive power is kind of shit.”

Mirror flies up to him, worried. “You barely got through halfway on your first dive! What if you run out of energy again?”

Zero doesn’t have a good answer to it, admittedly. But he doesn’t want to admit his worries either. “Keep an eye on Geed for me, okay? Make sure he doesn’t do anything dumb,” he says instead. “You and the UFZ can help both teams with whatever they need.”

Mirror nods, reluctantly. He knows he can’t change Zero’s mind once it’s made up. He flies back to join Glen, JB and Nines. Zero doesn’t want to see their worry on their faces.

Seven glares at him like he’s about to say something. Joke’s on him, unrelenting stubborness is genetic. Zero meets his old man’s gaze without blinking, until his old man realises it and sighs.

”When we dive down, you’re staying right in the middle of us,” Seven resigns. “Get up there and recharge.”

Zero dips his head, before joining the other Ultra Brothers in flying further up into the clouds, to get better exposure to the sun. He beckons for Geed to follow him, and watches Geed flit towards Belial for a brief exchange of words that he can’t hear.

As Geed joins him, Zero sees Juggler and Camearra spare a silent glance towards Belial, before heading up and disappearing into the air. As he reaches the clouds himself, Zero looks back at Seven and Belial standing next to each other, with their backs towards the skies. Both haven’t made a move since.

“You don’t have to do this.” Seven says.

“Neither do you.” Belial replies.

Seven gives Belial a wordless look, and Belial meets it with equal silence. Zero’s not sure if even his slugger could cut through that level of uncomfortable tension. He’s afraid they’d start trying to kill each other if he looked away, just like what happened in the Monster Graveyard.

Seven hands the weapon.

Belial takes the weapon.

Seven says nothing.

Belial says nothing.

Geed notices Zero’s pause, and begins to follow his gaze. Zero tugs on Geed’s shoulder, pulling him through the clouds before Geed gets anxious about them too.

----------------------

Never in Zero’s young life would he ever imagine getting to fight with one of the Land of Light’s most legendary warriors. Never in Zero’s adult life would he ever think of fighting alongside one of the Land of Light’s greatest criminals. Now, Zero’s going to get escorted by both of them to the bottom of a frankly alien planet, to destroy an underwater portal. Zero never even had dreams on this level of crazy.

Surrealness aside, it’s mesmerising to watch both of them fight. Belial and Seven exude combat discipline, honed with centuries of experience. Without exchanging any words, they dive into the water simultaneously, and begin swimming moonwise around Zero with no visible prompt. They manage to keep a consistent distance from Zero and each other, whilst diving underwater at a consistent pace, whilst avoiding each other’s weapons and kaiju carcasses, all without looking at each other.

If Zero hadn’t known who they were, he’d think that they’ve been working together their whole lives.

Their strategy is so effective, Zero can pretty much focus on diving within a small radius without any kaiju reaching him, conserving most of his energy as they descend deeper into the trench. Soon, Zero can barely make out where they are, save for the glowing amber of Seven and Belial’s eyes.

Paranoia starts to seep under Zero’s skin. Maybe it’s the darkness, or that too much blood is rushing to his head, but Zero feels the water getting heavier, tighter somehow. It’s as if the trench is shrinking the further down they go. Zero hears his heart beat near his ears.

He gets too distracted to dive straight, and almost gets his head caught by a swipe of Belial’s not-battlenizer.

He yells instinctively. “Watch it!”

Belial’s voice booms. “You watch it!”

Zero’s too panicked by the whole environment to think. “You literally swam right in front of me, you bastard!”

He gets a face full of Belial’s furious eyes. ”You have one job! Dive in a straight–”

Belial stops, stares at him for a beat longer, before shoving him at arm’s distance. Zero follows Belial’s eyes to his own flashing timer, blinking a slow red. Briefly, he also catches a glance of Belial’s timer, still cracked.

“Your brat’s running low!” Belial barks.

Something behind Zero flashes green. “Zero! Face me!”

The second Zero turns around, Seven’s fired a bolt of energy straight into his timer. Damn if his old man doesn’t have good aim — it knocks the breath out of him. Zero wheezes and tries to rub the soreness of the hit away, but his head’s stopped throbbing. Zero wants to kick himself for not realising it.

Seven glances past Zero with a frown. “You’re running low.”

Belial scowls. “Keep covering him.”

As Belial resumes his campaign of kaiju slaughter, Seven puts a hand on Zero’s arm. “Next time, tell me right away when you need energy,” he says, voice low and firm.

Zero can only nod and feel helpless.

As they continue the dive, a low organic groan of rocks and water seeps into Zero’s ears, raking at his temples and clawing through his bones. Light bleeds into his eyes, illuminating the silhouettes of bubbles and kaiju corpses. The bottom of the trench is a wide stretch of sand and bones, save for a cavernous chasm of dark energy that rips from across from one end of the seabed to another. The longer Zero looks into the rift, the more he feels drawn to its gaping maw.

Zero feels a hand grip his wrist and yank him to the side, away from his dive. Seven drags him to his back, Belial hovering not too far behind. They observe the vast void of the wormhole, as it rasps and growls and hurls kaiju after kaiju into the waters above.

“That’s huge,” Zero manages. “How much kaju does it have?”

Even Seven looks unsure, brow furrowed in concentration. “I think we might have to seal it instead.”

“But then it’ll just reopen in the future.” Zero turns to him. “Earth will still be in danger.”

Seven rubs his arm sharply. “Then we’ll station people here and–”

Zero narrowly misses being whacked in the head by a spinning mace. Seven managed to dodge in time as well. Belial spins his weapon above his head, charging a ring of blinding blue energy. Branches of charge spins out of his induced tornado, zapping and stabbing at everything within his vicinity.

Zero’s eyes widen, Father of Ultra’s words ringing in his head. He was a first responder, first and foremost.

Seven pulls Zero behind him. “What are you doing?!”

“This was my prison,” Belial snarls. “It will be mine to destroy!”

Seven gasps. “You want to do it solo?!”

Belial’s glare burns his skull. “Get in my way, and I’ll kill you!”

He shoots off towards the rift as it continues spewing out kaiju, Seven’s yells landing on deaf ears. Belial swims back into the booming hurricane of kaiju, right before the eye of the thunderous wormhole. Belial ends his spinning with a final swing, unleashing a roaring beam of electric blue right towards the center of the rift.

It’s unlike any beam Zero’s seen from Belial. It doesn’t take long for Belial’s timer to start blinking, flashing the tunnel of kaiju with purple light. Belial doesn’t stop: he lets out a low growl, and dark energy surges from his chest and arms, corrupting his unrelenting beam with red and black.

The rift pulses and undulates, but nothing about it changes. The raking groaning continues. The continuous stream of kaiju continues. Belial’s timer blinks faster.

Zero turns to his old man, only to find him gone.

All he can see is Seven’s back, as Seven dives right into the kaiju tunnel in a bolt of orange. He latches onto Belial’s shoulders, the dips in his armour glowing with a blinding yellow. The yellow glow stretches down his arms, to his hands, and disappears into Belial’s broad back. His pupils disappear in amber brilliance, and his eyes and mouth start to leak with light.

No doubt Belial instantly feels the new rush of energy. He snaps his head back, eyes wide. “I told you to stay out of my way!”

Seven shouts, “Kill me yourself, idiot!”

Zero’s heart nearly beats out of his chest. His body is so tense, he can’t feel anything else. The rift pulses, more erratic and more violent, but it doesn’t move or close. The endless waves of kaiju don’t stop. They don’t stop either. Seven’s timer starts to blink, in time with Belial’s own. Zero’s ears have long been deafened by the booming and the blasting of it all. He can’t even bring himself to scream, or cry. He can only watch on as they quite literally pour their life into their attack, knowing that they’ll both give up their lives to destroy it.

If only they had more energy. If only they had more time.

Time. Zero hastily slams a hand on his bracelet, digging rapidly into his core for his Shining form. He watches his hands and arms line with gold and silver. Without a second to waste, he dives and plunges head first into the hurricane, looking for a sliver of red and black amidst the neverending kaiju. When he does, his body reacts first, surging forward to grab onto Belial and his old man.

He doesn’t need to change the history of the universe, nor does he need to reverse the rift to before its creation. He just needs to give Seven and Belial all the energy they had in the last 24 hours.

Somewhere, he hears his old man yell his name in horror. Zero smiles to himself – he’ll apologise later, for being a bad son.

He calls on Shining Star Drive, and rewinds time for the two of them.

Belial’s timer stops blinking. Seven’s beam lamp stops flashing. Their bodies start emitting red, then yellow, then white. Zero feels his world flip backwards, his blood rushing back to his heart, his chest throbbing at an unfamiliar rhythm, bile churning at the pits of his stomach. He hears the whine of Belial’s beam ring louder, he sees the dimples on Seven’s armour glow brighter. He catches the drowned sound of Belial’s roar. The thunder of surging kaiju does not stop. They do not stop, either.

Then finally, finally, the rift shrieks.

The wormhole screams and shakes, quaking and convulsing out of control. Its edges begin to fray, dark energy dissipating into the murky waters. It twists rocks, dissolves sand, claws at the waterborne kaiju and the bones on the seabed. Another round of screeching, and something in it explodes, sending a powerful upthrust of water pummeling everything and everyone in its path.

Zero can barely stay awake. The red flashing of his timer confuses his sight. His last dredges of consciousness dangle in his gut. He lets it spin him, carry him to the side and turn him upright.

He barely registers two arms around his back, propping him up. He feels one hand on his left, and claws on his right.

“That,” Belial marvels, “is a ridiculous ability.”

“That’s literally your fault.” Zero grunts, weary. “I got it when you possessed me.”

“We couldn’t have done it without you,” Seven reassures, putting another hand on his chest to steady him. The hand is strong and alive, just like the claws on his side, and the two firm arms supporting his back. He could fall asleep like this.

Zero wonders if this is what home feels like.

They watch as the wormhole struggles to stay open, as its dark energy seeps back into its maw. It makes horrid organic squalls and squeals as it begins to consume itself. There’s no more kaiju being expelled from its jaws – what remains of them are floating in the ocean above them, most of them unable to swim or survive in deep waters without a tunnel to propel them to the surface. To Zero’s experience, all wormholes closed like this, especially the ones from a different dimension. He’d give it five seconds, and then it’ll all be over.

T-minus five. “Why is it making that noise?” Seven wonders.

T-minus four. “The rift comes from another dimension.” Belial grunts. “It’s collapsing into itself.”

T-minus three. “Collapsing?” Seven repeats. “As in, imploding?”

T-minus two. Belial looks at him, first wary, then, “No–”

T-minus one. Seven immediately pulls his arm towards his chest and flings, sending a powerful blast of ESP at Belial and Zero. Zero barely has the strength to stay awake, let alone stop himself hurtling through the waters. Belial blocks with his weapon and a shout, but he’s still sent jetting away.

T-minus zero. The rift shuts and disappears, turning everything in its vicinity into dust.

Zero can see Seven’s back. Then, he can’t.

All that remains of him are bits and particles, barely bright enough to illuminate the bottom of the ocean.

----------------------

Implosions were common. Rifts and wormholes disappeared all the time. Ultras, like all space-faring beings, were used to the physics of space, and how it could easily fill a vacuum with its nothingness, without moving anyone nearby.

Apparently, that isn’t how it worked underwater. When the rift disappeared, part of the ocean simply collapsed on itself, and took everyone and everything in its vicinity with it.

How did they not see it? How did they not think of it? It’s simple, primitive physics, how could they have let this happen?

It’s okay, though. Ultras are beings made purely from light. Naturally, that means that they could gather every bit of an imploded Ultra and stuff them in Hikari’s machine to resurrect them.

After all, Taro can reform his own body from a mass of particles.

Even though Seven can’t.

Marie reaches them first. Zoffy and the brothers follow closely behind. They filter through the darkness easily, gathering every fragment of light that hasn’t been extinguished by the collapse of the rift.

The rest of the brothers sail closely behind the Darkness Heels. They’re there for them. Zero lets himself get pulled somewhere. He can’t seem to move or feel much. He figures he must’ve gotten hit by the implosion too, and maybe he’s used the last bit of his energy to keep his body intact. It wouldn’t be nice to also fall apart into bits and particles. He’s already caused too much trouble already.

Belial’s voice breaks in his screams. His arms and claws are glowing with Seven’s particles. It takes his entire team and a bunch of Ultras to keep him from going off on his own. Maybe he was in the middle of scrambling for Seven’s remains. Maybe he was about to unleash hell on the remaining kaiju in the water. Maybe he was going to destroy the planet. No one can subdue him, not when he’s conscious.

Briefly, Zero wonders why Belial’s making all that fuss. It’s not like Seven can’t be resurrected. Then he remembers: the machine didn’t exist before Belial was imprisoned. Belial lived in a time where Ultras died from their injuries. Belial didn’t know that as long as an Ultra’s energy and willpower can be contained, they can come back, even from a mass of particles.

As far as he knew, Belial just saw Seven die right before his eyes.

Zero gives into his exhaustion and the support of arms around his back, and lets himself fall into darkness.

----------------------

Zero wakes up under the blinding light of the Silver Cross clinic. Everything hurts.

He didn’t come out unscathed, apparently. His neck aches. His stomach aches. Something in his back screams at him when he sits up. His head feels like it’s been pounded by a horde of kaiju. After a few struggles, Zero settles for laying back in bed. He props his head up with an arm, so he can look around and figure out who his new roomie is for the duration of his recovery.

They really did slap Seven onto Hikari’s machine. He’s littered with glowing cracks. He looks like he’s been hastily glued together by glowing plasma energy. He’s got a vast array of tubes sticking out of him, connecting him to the machine bed and to the various beeping and pumping machinery scattered around him. They’ve removed the glass covering in favour of sticking more tubes and monitors to him, most of which are joined to screens plastered around the ward. Seven looks extremely fragile, like a sheet of fractured glass, ready to shatter at any moment. It’s a sight that would send anyone into an anxious episode.

But his old man is awake enough to throw a lazy stare at him, so everything is fine.

“You’re absolutely insane.” Zero says.

“Good to see you too, son,” Seven grunts.

Zero simpers, rubbing his damp eyes before anything could fall. Nothing in existence could wipe out his old man. Not a collapsing interdimensional wormhole, not some dark hulking bastard with a double-headed mace. Stubborn idiot.

“You’re also a stubborn idiot,” Seven mutters.

Zero huffs. “Runs in our blood.”

“Swimming in behind us to turn back time. Who knows what could’ve gone wrong. Gave me a heart attack, you know.”

“I wasn’t the one who got caught in the vacuum, you know.”

“Good. Wouldn’t want to overload the Silver Cross with three cases of Figure Rise model kits. They work hard enough as it is.”

A pause. His old man looks to the ceiling. “How’s-”

“I don’t know.” Zero replies curtly. “I haven’t seen him here.”

“Did you see him before?”

Zero recalls Belial screaming, with his arms clutching at Seven’s remains. “He’s in one piece.”

Seven’s shoulders dip in relief. “Good.”

Zero watches Seven close his eyes, leaving him alone with the thrumming machines. Despite the many cracks stretching across his face and body, and the amount of glowing tubes plugged into his sides, his old man looks more at ease than he usually did in the Garrison. His usually furrowed brow had relaxed, his eyes did not hold its usual glint of steel. He never let himself get too comfortable, especially when he was around people he cared about – he was always ready to protect his brothers, his humans, and Zero at any moment's notice. It irked Zero that his old man seemed more comfortable lying in a hospital bed with hundreds of fractures, than he did literally anywhere else.

Well. Almost anywhere.

“Hey, old man.” Zero shifts to rest on his side. “Ever consider getting back with him?”

Seven peeks at him, startled. “Why would you think that?”

“Why wouldn’t I think that? You just saved his life.”

A scoff. “You know I’d do that for anyone. Plus, he was the one who flipped.”

“I flip. Zoffy flips. Leo flips. Yet, you’re still with us.” Zero lowers his voice. “Why did you give up on him?”

Seven keeps his eyes pinned to the ceiling, as he brings his hands together to fiddle with the cracks and the tubes coming out of them. His eyes dart, like he’s searching for a good answer. Zero watches Seven’s face as something troubled melts into his gaze. He briefly wonders if he’s gone too personal, but he stays silent. He needs to know.

After a pregnant pause, his old man turns his head away.

“Zero, I have a horrible track record, a myriad of enemies and a dangerous job that I’m not very good at.” Seven admits. “I can barely handle what I have now, let alone take care of a new relationship.”

Zero swallows. When did he ever introduce himself as Ultra Seven? His conversation with Leo gave him suspicions about how poor his old man’s self-image of him was, but he always thought that it was simply self-destruction, not a lack of confidence. He figured that his old man prided himself in doing what he believed was right, whether people agreed with him or not. The idea that the Ultra Seven apparently had no pride in what he did was baffling.

Seven gestures to himself, and all of his wounds. “This work is all there is to me. It’s all I know how to do. I’ve always hated that I never had much to give you. All I have is my body and my life, and even that’s spread thin.”

It upset Zero to see his old man this defeated, despite all his accomplishments and service he did for the universe. Seven didn’t find any shred of solace in his work – he simply believed that he had no other choice. He found no joy in fighting, yet he couldn’t live without it.

“If I continue to spread myself thin, I’m thinning what’s supposed to be yours. To a person that you hate, no less.” Seven closes his eyes, shamed. “I can’t keep doing that to you.”

Zero remembers seeing Seven’s body collapsed in the Monster Graveyard. How limp and light he was when he carried him. His trembling hand as he reached to touch Zero’s tear-drenched cheeks. His weary voice, weak but warm, trying to calm Zero with his last breaths. Even as he was dying, Seven tried to reassure his kid, the same kid that spat insults at him the last time they met.

Zero would go on to battle Belial for years, with all the teammates and weapons and miracles in his arsenal. But he would never reach that level of anger that he had in the Monster Graveyard. That anger gave an inexperienced teenager the strength to go toe to toe with the galactic warlord and the remains of his monster army, and win.

Zero squeezed his eyes shut. “I hated him because of you, old man. I hated him for what he did to you.”

“Well, I kept a distance from him because of you.” Seven sighs. “We think alike, huh.”

“Mhm.” Zero curls into himself. “Sucks to be him. We’re both jerks.”

Seven shrugs. ”Runs in our blood.”

His old man turns back to look at Zero, eyes watching Zero for something. After a quiet moment, Seven lifts his closest arm, gingerly avoiding pulling on any tubes, to offer his hand to Zero. Everything in Zero protests, but seeing the offered hand gives Zero the autopilot to haul himself upright and drag himself to his old man’s bedside, nudging between the beeping machines and the pulsing tubes to grab his hand.

Zero wonders how pitiful he must’ve looked, in order to make Seven move his fractured limb to comfort him.

Seven looks up at him. “I’ll always put you first. I hope you know that.”

Zero winces. “You don’t have to.”

Seven shook his head slowly. “I could’ve lost you. You could have walked away, anytime. Maybe one day, you’ll realise just how much trouble this all is, and you’ll stop talking to me forever. Maybe one day, I’ll really die.”

Zero bristles. “That’ll never–”

Seven squeezes his hand. “My point is, you’re giving me a chance to be part of your life. You’re giving me a chance to be a father. You deserve to have a good father, but you settled with me.” Seven’s grip tightens. “After those 5900 years, I don’t want you to regret your kindness.”

He takes a longer look at Zero’s face, eyes glassy. “The moment you reached out to me for a hug, I decided I’d do anything for you. If you wanted to stay in this universe, I would defend it. If you wanted to go elsewhere, I would defend that, too.” He lifts his other arm to clasp Zero’s hand in another. “You, your home and your future will always be worth fighting for.”

Zero can’t bear to respond to Seven’s confession. Hearing his old man fully express his commitment and love should make him feel happy. It was what he always wanted to hear, all his life. Yet, for some reason, it did nothing to quell the unease in Zero’s chest. In fact, it only made it worse.

Maybe if Zero was a good son, Zero would be satisfied with his old man’s dedication. He would understand just how hard his old man was trying, never demand anything from his old man, and never add to his list of responsibilities. If he was a good son, he would take his old man’s confession and free his old man from his fatherly anxieties by finally letting go of his own irrational fear of being abandoned, after it’s been ingrained into his core ever since he learned what an orphan was.

But Zero did not know how to be a son. Zero didn’t get to be a son for 5900 years. Zero didn’t trust himself to say the right things, because he clearly didn’t feel the right things. His old man was being as vulnerable and truthful as he could be, and Zero still wasn’t happy.

Maybe that was the root of the problem.

Zero breathes in. “Does that mean you’ll do whatever I want from now, then?”

Seven nods. “Whatever you want.”

Zero tightens his grip on Seven’s hand. “Even if it meant leaving your brothers? Even if it meant sacrificing Earth?”

Seven only took a moment to pause. “Yes.”

Zero squeezed his eyes shut. Through the weight of his hand, he can feel the heaviness of Seven’s duties and promises, anchoring Seven to him. Seven had long since given Zero the chains to his life, just like how he chained himself to Earth many years ago, or how he was chained to M78 by his brothers who lived there. Seven did not have much more to give, and he gave anyway. And Zero had always been selfish.

At this moment, Seven would give Zero anything he wanted. They both knew.

Zero breathes out. “Then, I want you to be happy.”

Seven doesn’t miss a beat. “I am happy, son.”

Zero shakes his head, irritated. “No, you’re not. I can see that you’re not.”

Before Seven can say anything, Zero grasps Seven’s hands in both his own. “Your enemies put you in survival mode. Your duties made you complacent. The IGDF made you forget yourself. Earth makes you forget your own worth.” Zero’s frown deepens, determined. “I won’t be part of that.”

He shuts his eyes in frustration. “The second I found out who you were, I understood exactly why you left me in that orphanage. Sure I was mad about it - and believe me, I am still mad about it - but I understood. Sometimes, I can’t help feeling that, by being your kid, I’m taking away your love for Earth. Or, I’m taking away from planets and aliens who actually need your care. Or, I’m taking away you from time you could spend with your brothers. And now, I have to compete with Belial, of all people.”

Zero opens his eyes back up, watching his hands tremble. “But then, I watched you, really watched you.” He squeezes his hands. “I watched you talk about Earth. I watched you talk to your brothers. I watched you, and him, wandering around space with your backs against the universe. And, I watched them all talk about you and me.”

He remembers the witty Seven. Who likes to tease his coworkers and piss the hell out of his superiors. Who wouldn’t hide how fond he was of his growing rock collection, nor how excited he got whenever he received a dark red Ultra Sign. Who was comfortable enough to show that he liked people, that he liked being alive.

“Seeing you happy makes me feel happy.” Zero admits. “And you looked really happy.”

He likes that Seven. He likes that Seven a lot. He wants that Seven to stay forever.

Seven opens his mouth, stuttering, then gives him an odd look. “Hang on, you saw us-?”

“Point is!” Zero snaps, a bit too loudly. “I’m always going to be needy. I’m always gonna be your pain in the ass, because you still fucking owe me 5900 years of your full, undivided attention. No way I’m letting you get hurt, or put yourself in danger, or make yourself miserable.” Then, he adds, “Not even for me.”

He leans forward until he’s directly above Seven’s head. “You don’t have to give up on yourself for me. Promise me, old man.”

He leans down, until their foreheads touch, and closes his eyes. “Promise me, dad.” He repeats. “Your happiness is worth fighting for, too.”

He doesn’t dare pull away, not when his face is scrunched up with desperation and distress. He probably looks pathetic. He only moves his face when he feels a cracked hand touch his cheek, pushing him just an inch away so he could look into Seven’s eyes.

“I’ll try,” Seven says.

Zero nods, lifting himself back up. He’ll settle with that, for now. He gives his old man’s hands one last squeeze, before helping him lower them back to his sides. His heart is still pounding, but his chest feels fuller and warmer, giving him a new surge of energy.

There’s just one thing left to do.

----------------------

Zero finds Belial perched on a ledge outside the Silver Cross building, with his weapon resting against his shoulder, facing the rest of the crystal city. Welts and cuts mar his black and red patterns, and his weapon looks frayed and worn. Back at the Monster Graveyard, Belial was sitting just like this, with a knee crooked and Giga Battlenizer on his shoulder, perched on a cliff as he watched his old man die. This very sight of Belial put Zero’s entire body on high alert.

Of course Belial would choose Zero’s favourite solo spot to brood and sulk. He wouldn’t miss any chance to annoy Zero with his existence.

Belial didn’t even care to look at him. “Pity. You’re still alive.”

Zero rolls his eyes. “Woe is you.”

“And, judging from your temperament,” Belial adds, “he lives, too.”

“Yeah.” Zero crosses his arms. “He’s tough.”

“I’m aware.” Belial’s grip on his weapon tightens. “Doesn’t know how to stay dead.”

Zero would never admit it out loud, but he almost missed the rivalry he and Belial once shared, when Belial was still corrupted and possessed by Reiblood. Fighting and exchanging insults was easier to deal with than… whatever this awkward thing is. Neither of them liked each other, and would likely never talk to each other outside battle. Belial was never going to start a conversation with him.

Which was exactly why Zero needed to start one.

Belial uses his weapon to prop himself up, and turns his back to Zero in one swift motion. “I’m leaving.”

“Wait,” Zero calls. “Belial, dammit, wait.”

Belial doesn’t look back. “I have no desire to entertain your tantrums, Zero.”

“I’m not going to fight you. I’m here to talk.”

“I have neither the time or the patience for the lectures of a child, either.”

“You will, when it comes to my old man.”

That gets Belial to finally stop and turn to him. Of course, Zero’s seen Belial in a more harrowing state with more severe injuries during their battles. His timer only has a single crack. His chest and arms are only covered with stains of plasma that isn’t his own. His face is only smeared with crusted residue. The amber of his eyes hadn’t disappeared, but Zero can’t figure out exactly what kind of mess he was holding back within them. Yet, Zero thinks this is the worst he’s ever seen him.

He can hear Geed worry. I don’t think he can stand being left behind again.

Belial’s jaw stretches slowly into a sneer. “Well?”

Zero blinks. “‘Well’ what?”

Belial’s chuckle is low and cold. “I assumed you were here to destroy me. For ruining your beloved father. I still remember how berserk you went when you found out I killed him.”

Zero returns the humourless laugh. “Oh, I would. I’d love to wipe the floor with you where you stand.”

“And? Why hesitate?”

“Because that’s not what my old man wants.”

Belial’s face darkens, his grin dissipating. “If he wants something, he can come say it to my face.”

Zero wants to hit him, injuries be damned. “He has. Multiple damn times. He even saved your sorry hide from turning into paste, don’t you forget it.” He growls in frustration. “You’re the one who won’t give him a straight answer. He never knew what actually made you break up with him on the spot.”

“The hell he doesn’t-”

Zero tilts his chin up. “But I do. It’s a capsule with a purple shard of your colour timer in it.”

A pause. Belial’s eyes widen. "How do you know?"

At long last, Zero opens his subspace and pulls out the capsule. The shard still sits fully intact, glowing the same shade of purple as Belial’s cracked timer.

"Because I took it before he could see it."

The shard is well presented. The cut looks smooth and clean, the capsule itself is simple and elegant. It was not flashy by any means, and it didn’t need to be. It was clearly customised and prepared with much attention and care.

The very sight of it lit his nerves on fire.

"I knew it was from you. Right from the start.” Zero tightens his grip on the capsule. “You, who wrecked my homeworld twice, who practically handed me a career by invading innocent civilisations every fortnight, who had the gall to cozy up to my old man after spending years trying to kill me and my team and everyone I fought for.”

Belial was always what Zero was compared to, after he tried to steal the plasma spark. Everyone thought you were going to be our second Belial. Zero would then make it his identity to purge Belial and his influence from the universe. Zero cannot say that he was thinking about the safety of the universe, all that time. Zero’s always been selfish.

Zero raises his voice. “It scared the life out of me, when I saw it on his desk. He never even told me about you, you know? I had to practically stalk him to figure it out. If he accepted it, then what was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to just let my former nemesis into my life, the same one who tried to ruin my life? You almost killed my only family, for fuck’s sake!”

Belial carved Zero into a killer. Belial taught Zero how important it was to be strong. Belial put the weight of the universe on Zero’s shoulders, because whenever Belial decided to attack its people, Zero knew he was the only one who could stop him. Belial kept him permanently on edge, because as long as Belial was alive, Zero knew his loved ones would never be truly safe.

Yet, Zero can’t bring himself to hate him now.

“But that wasn’t you, was it.” Zero mumbles, broken. “You don’t have Reiblood in your head anymore. You’ve started your own team that fights for the same things we do. You’ve made amends with Geed. You helped us save Earth and the universe. And you’ve just started cleaning up all the shit your corrupted self did. It’s not fair on you.”

It’s not fair, because Zero knows exactly what it’s like to have to crawl back up the ladder of trust, to prove himself to everyone that he wasn’t some violent unstable orphan kid, or some power-hungry plasma spark thief, or a trigger-happy teenager riding off his old man’s back. He knows what it’s like to not be given a chance.

Zero shuts his eyes before he lets anything leak out. “The fuck am I supposed to do with you, man.”

He crouches down to his knees, unable to stop his mix of emotions from overwhelming his sense of balance. The Belial that caused Zero nothing but pain no longer existed, Geed had taken care of that. He could take out more of his anger on Belial now, and it would make no difference to anything.

Seven could’ve chosen from billions of other Ultras. He could elope with some random alien for all he cared. Why did he have to go and fall for him?

Zero’s too overcome to worry about Belial approaching him. Belial doesn’t touch him, but he feels him crouch beside him an arm’s length away. He’s quietly thankful Belial didn’t say anything – even if he did somehow have an answer for him. They sit in considerable silence, with nothing but the aftermath of Zero’s outburst ringing in their minds.

Gradually, his back and thighs ache too much, so Zero shifts wordlessly to sit properly on the ledge. Belial chooses then to break the silence.

“Your father never wanted anything from me,” Belial begins. “He treated my crew no differently. He stayed by my side, made time for me, stuck with me, and listened. And understood. It was nothing like the Land of Light that left me behind.”

A moment’s pause, heavy. “When he showed up ignorant of the capsule, it angered me. When he agreed to our separation so readily, it angered me even more.”

Another pause, heavier. “I was a fool.”

Zero stifles his surprise with hitched breath. It’s surreal to hear these words from someone who was once corrupted by his arrogance. Although, Zero shouldn’t know what to expect anymore. This Belial has a team of washed-up villains that he doesn’t see as pawns. He’s also told Zero he’d “won” before. And, he’s also just helped save Earth and the universe along with the people he claimed to hate.

“And,” Zero says, quietly, “Are you still a fool?”

Belial nods once. “Despite everything.”

His weapon is worn from casting that beam into the underwater rift. Crusts of salt still coat his shoulders and back, residue from the sea. Streaks of plasma linger on his arms, from where he tried to gather Seven back together. Belial risked facing arrest and hostility by stepping back into the Land of Light. He hasn’t even gotten the crack in his timer fixed.

Most of them end up losing the very ones they swore to protect.

Zero will never apologise for his hostility towards Belial; he holds every right to destroy someone who threatened those he cared for. Didn’t matter to him that Belial wasn’t corrupted or possessed anymore; his memories and goals still remained the same. They’ve done unforgivable things towards each other, and they’ve shared nothing but mutual hate since they met. It would take Zero centuries to move past those grudges, and a millennia more to forget his wounds.

But this was not about both of them.

Zero breathes in, breathes out, and closes his eyes.

“My old man is always going to be a piece of work.” He begins, quietly. “He’s paranoid, awkward, and bad at trusting people. He’s a temperamental ass who acts stone cold one second and fuming hot the next. He hates, hates being vulnerable. He doesn’t tell anyone jack shit.”

Belial looks at him. Zero keeps going.

“That’s not even the worst thing about him.” Zero grits his teeth. “He never holds grudges, he never judges. He is always optimistic about the better side of things, including kaiju, aliens, and even to his stupid former enemies. Assassins, schemers, threats to our planet and to his Earth, people who’ve betrayed him and locked him in a rock in space.” He shook his head. “He’s forgiven them all.”

Zero opens his eyes to gaze at the city below them. He watches the specks of Ultras flying between the buildings. Couples. Families.

“He is the most selfless person I know,” he breathes. “He showed me what it meant to be truly compassionate. The universe has done nothing but throw shit after shit at him, and he still thinks it is beautiful. That‘s just the type of person he is.”

Leave it to his old man to find a shred of light in an ugly mass of darkness. That was what Zero hated and loved about him.

Zero turns to stare Belial dead in the eyes. “I still haven’t forgotten what you’ve done to him or my people,” he declares. “So, I’ll never stop fighting. I’ll keep training, and sparring, and practising, and becoming the strongest, so I can kill you the second you make him upset again.” He glares. “Is that clear?”

Belial gives him a solemn, no-nonsense look. “Transparently.”

Zero lets out a long breath that he didn’t know he was holding. “Good. Good.”

Zero opens his palm, briefly glancing at the glowing purple capsule in it. He looks back at Belial again, and offers the capsule to him.

“Here,” Zero grunts. “Blessings and all that.”

Belial lets out an angry sigh. "Damn it all."

Zero shrugs. "You can beat me up for it, if you'd like."

"What good will it do? I've already given your father hell for it."

“That’s what you get for not asking him in person, you coward.”

Belial grumbles something under his breath, but he does take back the capsule with his claws. Zero suddenly feels lightheaded and drowsy; letting out a torrent of repressed emotions had thoroughly exhausted him. He drags himself onto his own two feet, hoping to head back to the hospital before he fainted somewhere. He’s too tired to care about what Belial’s going to do — it’s all in his hands now, literally.

Before he leaves, something pops into Zero’s head. “Oh yeah, just so you know, I’m not calling you ‘dad’ or anything.”

“I would hope not,” Belial scoffs. “You are no Geed.”

Zero huffs. At least, that’s one thing Belial and Zero agree on.

----------------------

The second Zero’s head hit the hospital bed, he must’ve crashed hard. He didn’t even hear Belial enter their room.

When he wakes up, Belial’s haunting silhouette is already on the walls, a bulbous patch of black against smooth and luminous teal. Fortunately, the rooms are equipped with a ring of opaque screens for each patient, so Belial wouldn’t be able to see Zero nor his neighbouring bed at all. Unfortunately, Zero’s nosy as heck, and he really wants to get a better view than the small gap between two of his screens.

Memories of his rivalry puts him on high alert. Zero feels his blood freeze in his veins. He pins his eyes onto Belial, watching him for any move. From the welts and crusted plasma he can see, Belial still hasn’t sought medical care for himself yet. He doesn’t do anything but stare at Seven and his hundreds of fractures, tubes and machines, staying silent and motionless with an unreadable face even as Seven starts to stir.

Zero realises that he’s never witnessed Belial and Seven share a private conversation up close. Whenever he caught them on those secret patrols, they were always too far away to listen in on. His heartbeat picks up in pace — he remembers just how hot-tempered both of them could be, and how bad they were with non-violent communication. Getting them to talk to each other now might’ve been a serious mistake—

“B,” Seven coughs. “You look like shit.”

Belial gives a short, empty huff. “You should see yourself, red dwarf.”

—nevermind. They’re on a much more familiar level than Zero expected.

“Rude. Right in my room, too.” Seven shifts in his bed. “They’ll throw you out if they see you.”

Belial tilts his chin. “They are more than welcome to try.”

Seven sniffs. “Zero’s on the next bed over. Don’t make a ruckus, or he’ll cut your head off.”

The faintest glint graces Belial’s eye. “He is more than welcome to try.”

“Forget it. I can’t believe you’re here. I thought you didn’t want anything to do with the Garrison.”

“How will I properly conquer this place if I choose never to set foot in it?”

“You know what I mean. How may I help you?”

“You know exactly why I’m here.”

“I don’t, actually. Seeing that you haven’t killed me yet, despite everything.”

Silence falls, and with it, tension grows. Belial’s brow furrows, eyes hardening into a stare. Seven looks at him, eyes darting ever so slightly as he searches.

“I scared you.” Seven realises.

“You do not scare me.” Belial glowers. “You irritate me.”

Seven hums. “And yet you haven’t yelled at me, or threatened my life.”

That sets Belial off instantly. “Do you think so poorly of me and my temperament? You are just as inhibited, if not worse!”

“I know.” Seven replies calmly. “And I’m sorry.”

Zero blinked. Seven was never the type to regret his decisions. He never backed down on a choice made. Never, in his thousands of years of life, would he ever think he’d hear Seven expressly apologise for anything.

Belial isn’t as impressed. “Sorry? Sorry? Cease with any more of your hypocrisy. You still remain as part of the Garrison. How do you plan on giving a apology for every time you sustain a wound or a concussion-”

“No, no.” Seven shakes his head. “I owe you an apology for what I did to you.”

Several machines around them begin beeping rapidly as Seven fights to pull himself upright, wincing as his many cracks start glowing even more in response to movement. Belial doesn’t make any move to help him up. He’s probably just as apprehensive about it as Zero is.

“I’ve been terrible to you.” Seven admits. “I wasn’t attentive enough. I undermined what you thought of me. I honestly couldn’t believe there could be anything between us.”

“You dare?” Belial’s eyes flash, indignant. “After all of our conversations, our gifts, our meetings?”

“How could there be? Your strength and resolve can determine the fate of a planet. Your actions make an impact on a galactic scale. Your presence alone commands armies, strikes fear into civilisations and inspires others. You are a living legend.” Seven gestured towards himself. “Why would I ever think you wanted anything to do with me?”

Belial gives him an addled look. “And yet, you continued to see me.”

“I did.” Seven nods once. “Knowing that I wasn’t as special as you thought I was. Knowing that I would never reach the standards and ambition you hold yourself to. Knowing that, as you expose the weaknesses of your former peers and once-enemies, I am just as worthless as the rest of them.”

Seven lifts a fragmented hand towards Belial, palm outstretched. “I’m sorry. All I ever thought about was when I’d get to speak with you again. You spoke to me, you kept me company, you stayed. I couldn’t wait to see you. That was enough.”

He sucks in a breath, shaky. “Even now, even with all my injuries and aches, I’m happy.” Then, he adds, “I’m happy, because it’s quiet, and you’re here next to me.”

Then, in quiet confession, “I wish this would last forever.”

A moment of silence. Belial doesn’t move. Zero strains his eyes for better focus, but he still can’t read anything from Belial’s face. Seven doesn’t drop his hand, doesn’t look away for even a second. Belial says nothing. Seven says nothing.

Then slowly, Belial moves his hand to rest a claw on Seven’s palm. Zero lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“You wish to be forever confined to a bed with your body littered with tubes,” Belial rumbles. “You really have a horrid obsession with self-inflicted pain.”

Seven’s shoulders relax. “If it gets you to come visit me for once, I’ll take it.”

Belial grumbles. “I always come to visit you. It is because of you and your senseless duties that we had to slink behind asteroid belts like adolescent morons.”

Seven chuckles. “Look at you, trying to make me feel better after a breakup.”

Belial’s gaze hardens. ”Not once did I ever believe you were worthless,” he says, voice grave and somber.

”I certainly feel like it.” Seven sighs. “I just lost you.”

Belial turns his eyes to the fractures lining the palm and fingers of Seven’s offered hand. He traces his claw against one of them, expression tight and furrowed. Seven doesn’t curl his hand around Belial’s claw, but he does shift and twist himself to face Belial fully, regardless of the protruding tubes he pops and bends.

“Speaking of, I never figured out what I lost that made you so upset.” Seven begins. “Would you tell me what it was?”

Belial glances back at him. “There’s no need for that.”

“Is it expensive? I’ll find a way to refund or replace it. I know resources can be hard to come by for you.”

“No, it is not--“

“Please, let me know how I can fix this. Even if we never see each other again. I made you so upset. That’s the very least I could do--“

A firm grip on Seven’s shoulder manages to stop his rambling. “I have it with me,” Belial says. “Your son found it.”

Belial casts his eyes downward and unfurls his free hand, revealing the capsule in his palm. Zero can even see its faint purple glow from a distance. From how Seven’s eyes widens, he knew what it was instantly. He takes one look at the crack in Belial’s timer, then back at the capsule.

“…Oh.”

“He gave me quite a lashing for it,” Belial mutters without looking up. "It was improper to simply leave it on your desk when you weren’t in office, and to blame you when you haven’t even seen it.”

“Oh.”

“I agreed with him. I never talked about it with you. I was never forward with you. But no words could ever describe it. I wanted to express it to you.”

"Oh."

“I could not stomach the possibility of being rejected again, much less by you. I hoped you would understand, like you always did.” Belial’s frown deepens. “Like a fool.”

Seven had not taken his eyes off the capsule, until Belial finished. He hadn’t moved, either. His eyes flicker as he looks up at Belial.

“You just called yourself a fool,” Seven blurts.

“You make me so.” Belial meets his gaze. “Very much so.”

He withdraws the claw on Seven’s still open palm, replacing it with the capsule. “Consider it, if you still think me worthy,” Belial drones, voice low. “I will give you as much time as you--“

Seven curls his hand into a fist. "No need.”

Belial blinks. “What?”

Deftly, Seven unsheathes his slugger from his head with his free hand. Belial and Zero can only watch as, in one solid motion, Seven proceeds to smash the butt of his slugger right into his forehead.

Plasma splurts out of the new crack in Seven’s forehead, as shards of his beam lamp fall onto his lap. Seven grimaces in pain and almost falls back onto himself as Belial gapes in shock horror. Zero has to slap a hand over his mouth to stifle his gasp.

“Are you trying to lobotomise yourself?!” Belial shrieks. “You are demented!”

“Maybe I am,” Seven laughs, picking at the fallen shards of his beam lamp. “Here, this piece should fit.”

“You need proper surgery to carve out a shard from your timer, you fool!” Belial shouts. “Look at you, you are bleeding!”

Seven pops his slugger back on his head. “I won’t die from it. I’m in a hospital.”

Belial glares at him, incredulous. “This is no joking matter! I am serious--“

“I’m serious about this too, Belial.” Seven stares past the plasma on his face. “Come closer.”

With bloody shaking fingers, Seven cracks the capsule open and fishes out the purple shard from its fluids. “There are many things that should be kept in the shadows. You are not one of them,” he declares. “You never stopped giving up on your ambitions for a better life. You remind me to appreciate being alive.”

He slots the purple shard into the gaps of his cracked timer, ignoring how half of his beam lamp is practically gone. “You pave your own path time and time again, no matter if it involves light or darkness, no matter how the universe tries to stop it.” He smiles. “I would love nothing more than to walk it with you.”

He shifts towards Belial and presses a green shard of his beam lamp into the cracked purple timer. Belial doesn’t stop him, not even when specks of plasma smear his chest.

Sevn pulls back. “How does it look?”

Zero doesn’t miss how silent Belial is. He regards his own timer with wordless intensity, reaching to trace the lines where the purple ends and the green begins. He moves to grasp Seven’s head in his claws, bending down closer to behold his beam lamp’s new glint. The shards are a rough fit, and they’re still covered with plasma, but they both know their timers will heal and grow into their new changes in time.

“You do realise that this is permanent.” Belial whispers, reverent. “You realise that I will never let you go now.”

“What a coincidence, Ultraman Belial,” Seven says, voice low. “I have no intention of letting you go, either.”

They draw in closer, closing any gap between them. Suddenly, Zero is very aware of his intrusion. He squeezes his eyes shut and covers his ears with his hands for extra measure, stifling a groan as much as he can. With extreme care and minimal noise, he shifts his entire body to face away from the screens, which are thankfully shielding him from most of whatever’s happening. Now is a really good time for him to miraculously fall asleep, or go braindead.

After a minute, he hears: “B, I’m a bit lightheaded.”

A dark, playful growl. “Oh, is that what I do to you?”

“No,” A grunt. “I feel like I’m about to faint.”

Silence follows. Then, some hasty shifting and shuffling.

“...Lay down. I’ll call for Marie.”

“How bad is it.”

“Abysmal.” A button is pressed. “You’ve split the right of your forehead, and half of your beam lamp is missing.” More rustling. “Your fractures on your arm have reopened. And your shoulder. And half of your torso.”

“Ah. Is that why my bed feels damp?”

“Because you’re bleeding out, yes.”

Even Zero can’t resist a sigh. He can’t deny it anymore, they complement each other. Because they’re the same type of idiot.

He hears Seven groan. “She’s gonna kill me.”

He hears Belial sigh, fondly. “No. She is going to kill us.”

----------------------

The next day is eventful, to say the least.

Mother of Ultra is first to explode in Seven’s face, not much because of Seven’s choice of partner, but mostly because Seven practically mauled his forehead with his slugger and reopened a good 65% of his fractures. Seven gets officially assigned to an extended term of bed rest, and Belial gets subjected to the longest talk that Zero never envied.

Zero hears Father of Ultra visit Seven in his ward – literally, his voice is booming loud. He seems enthusiastically delighted about the news, as he roughly pats Belial on the back: “Now you really do need to come back home!” This almost resulted in Belial setting off his not-battlenizer in the hospital – thankfully, both Father of Ultra and Belial were booted from the building before anything could happen.

Geed visits Zero soon after, immediately launching himself into Zero’s surprised embrace. He insists that they all get together on Earth for dinner sometime, all four of them. Zero wonders what Belial’s human form would look like, and winces at the image.

Ultraman gives Seven a fistbump. Jack immediately invites Seven out for drinks to celebrate once he’s discharged. Ace and Taro are weirded out, as expected, but then they are reminded that Jack is with one of the Mother of Ultra’s sisters, so they are now even more weirded out.

Leo profusely congratulates Seven on the news like he’s choking on something. He then quickly leaves to “train” for a battle that doesn’t exist. Zero only hopes he can console his mentor when the time comes.

Collectively, the rest of the Ultra Brothers agree to not tell Zoffy for as long as possible. Zero doesn’t blame them.

Days pass. They get discharged. Word spreads, albeit slowly.

More of the Ultra Brothers know about it. Mebius is extremely confused, but really supportive, which is expected. Hikari is extremely confused and really unsupportive, which is also expected. Astra seems less concerned about the actual news, and more concerned about how poorly Leo’s taking it. 80 finds the idea of having Belial as a brother-in-law absolutely hilarious.

All of them agree to not tell Zoffy for as long as possible. Zero still doesn’t blame them.

Outside, Old man King refuses to comment about it — he has no parting wisdom on this matter. Princess Yullian’s furious about it, because the union of two of the Land of Light’s former criminals is causing the Council of Elders to throw a collective seizure. Zett, with his ever-obsessive fanboying over Zero’s family, had his most hyper-active fit of his life. Zero was almost worried that he’d start frothing at the mouth, almost.

Zero also hears of an incident in Andromeda Galaxy. Something about some Andromeda swordsman throwing a massive tantrum. Meh, probably not relevant.

Darkness Heels is still as unbearable as ever, hissing their own threats and taunts at Zero’s UFZ. One day, Zero asks Seven to drop by during a skirmish, hoping he’d help settle relations with them. Instead, Seven flashes Camearra with his worst shit-eating grin and calls her “anesan”. It took the rest of Darkness Heels to hold Camearra back from whipping Seven’s laughing head off his neck.

Zero does tell the UFZ afterwards. They probably sustained brain damage after hearing about it.

Weeks pass. People talk. It’s hard not to notice the shard of purple in Seven’s beam lamp, or the sliver of green in Belial’s colour timer. Not that the two of them particularly care. Seven, for one, seemed eternally amused by the fact that his emerium beam is now “practically a rainbow”. Zero doesn’t miss how Belial stands a little straighter now, doesn’t let his hunchback hide the multi-coloured orb on his chest. Everyone still agrees not to let Zoffy know.

Seven and Belial still don’t show up in public together. Seven is still as temperamental as always, and he still doesn’t talk about it much. When skirmishes between Darkness Heels and the UFZ happen, Zero and Belial still go through the motions of shouting insults and trading blows. Geed still calls his old man “Mister Seven”. Zero’s world doesn’t change.

On the quietest of days, Zero would find them back in the outskirts of the satellite galaxies. Just the two of them, arm-in-arm, with their backs against the universe. Sometimes they talk. Sometimes they laugh. Zero finds he doesn’t mind it much as he used to.

A month later, they have that dinner on Earth, and Zero’s surprised at how much he enjoys it. He likes how Geed and Pega repeatedly fields him away from the kitchen. He likes how Seven shows Geed how he holds a kitchen knife. He likes how furious Belial gets when he burns his piece of beef, likes how they fight over the last can of soda. He likes how they huddle to watch a human in a rubber suit awkwardly beat up other humans in rubber suits, in a show called “Donshine”. Zero will never stop feeling weird about all of it. It was weird in the ways it was normal.

Today, back in the Land of Light, Zero watches Commander Melos stride into Zoffy’s office and close the door. A few minutes later, he hears a shout so booming loud that it rocks the whole floating building off its course: “THEY DID WHAT.”

Zero keeps to himself. At least, he knows what really happened.