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People say time heals all wounds.
People are sometimes wrong.
After all, it was years, millenia, lifetimes ago, and Rio Kamishiro still had trouble sleeping when she heard it rain, or when the wind was too strong.
It was stupid, maybe - she was Rio, she was Merag, she walked with the monsters made of ice - but ice was cold and static, and not the heavy rain, that made her think of the waves crashing together over her head, they weren’t loud like the wind blowing in her ears as she fell.
Maybe it was stupid, but when it was rainy and stormy, she’d find herself awake, huddled in the window, watching the raindrops crash against the glass, looking at her own, faint reflection, distorted by the lights of the city below her.
Yeah.
Maybe it was stupid.
She definitely would have made fun of Ryouga. She expected Ryouga to make fun of her for it. She made fun of herself for it.
Wasn’t it just stupid?
Both of her deaths that were connected with water and wind were so long ago, she should have gotten over it already.
Instead, when Ryouga found her, he sighed, an annoyed expression on his face.
“It may have happened a long time ago - but you only just remembered it. So it’s fresh in your mind isn’t it?”
Since when was Ryouga the smart one?
(He wasn’t, and she could see it in his eyes. He was trying to convince himself as much as Rio was trying her best to.)
They say time heals all kinds of wounds - the wounds she retained after the fire did indeed fade, but as more years passed one by one, the nights still found Rio by the window, when the weather was especially hostile to her.
So really, eventually…
Eventually it just wasn’t enough, sitting there in the window, staring outside.
At first, she just ran outside.
She would put on a change of clothes, and she would run outside, the rains soaking her completely, and the wind tried to knock her off her feet, and she just ran through the empty street, and laughed.
Of course she had laughed since. Her brother was ridiculous and worth laughing at. She would laugh at jokes Kotori had made. She laughed on movies and books and cartoons.
But there, in the middle of the empty street, where nobody was outside, because the weather was that hellish, Rio just stood there and cackled, to the point where she couldn’t tell if there were any tears mixing in with the rain or not.
It felt like nobody would see her and hear her, just like she disappeared in the depth during her first death, but now she could move and run and laugh.
And nobody was going to take it away from her.
To be fair, nobody tried. Ryouga looked at her like she sprouted a second head, not like he had any right to judge. He was tremendously stupid, when it came to his issues, so really, it was truly a pot-kettle situation.
But eventually even that wasn’t enough.
Years had passed, and people obviously acted weird seeing someone like Rio on the streets, soaked in water. Because she’d go out even when the storm wasn’t terrible, and then she wouldn’t be alone.
Men would laugh and whistle and call out for her, and she’d smile, looking at them.
“Sure. I’ll go with you.”
It was… intoxicating.
These men, who thought she was easy prey, falling on their knees, screaming, as Rio stood over them, a grin distorting her face, as Ragna Zero towered over them, her blades in their hands.
“What’s wrong? Can’t put up a fight? Come on now.”
“Damn. Remind me to not piss you off.”
The voice was familiar, and Rio glanced back, and there was—
“Should I call you IV? Or do you prefer the name Thomas these days?”
“Call me what you like. Should I call you Rio or Merag?”
“Do I look like Merag to you?”
“You never looked like Merag, and yet you were,” IV walked closer to her, so the umbrella he was holding covered her. Suddenly she felt cold, as the steady downpour of the rain didn’t hit her body anymore, only the cold wind was reaching her, as she shuddered. “You’ll catch a cold.”
“I never do,” Rio grinned slowly, reaching forward, ignoring the goosebumps on her skin. The cold was familiar, like she was crafted from it. “Maybe I’m still not fully human. And I was the sword of ice, after all. I do not catch a cold.”
“If you say so.”
He sounded amused when he looked down at her, and Rio contemplated what she should do to wipe that smirk off his stupid face.
Kick him?
That would be so obvious.
There was a less obvious opinion, and part of Rio wondered what expression would he make if she—
The moment passed.
Rio turned on her heels, and walked off into the storm, allowing the downpour to completely envelop her again in an embrace.
She figured she should have been terrified of fire.
She did remember the fire and the smoke, and the pain, but it was like, as the burn marks on her skin started to fade, she remembered the heat much less.
For some reason, the water that she couldn’t control was more terrifying.
It didn’t make sense - fire melted ice after all. And yet—
And yet, next time there was a storm, she went out again, and she wondered if she’d run into IV again.
And she also wondered—
When he looked at her, what did he see?
Ryouga struggled when looking at her, just like she struggled, looking at Ryouga - where did Nasch and Merag end and where did Ryouga and Rio start. Who could tell the truth of that, if neither of them could?
They came into their lives together. They should have always left together.
Well.
Maybe fourth time's the charm?
She knew that for Kotori, for Yuma, they looked at her and saw Shark’s sister.
Durbe, Mizael and all the other Emperors looked at her and saw Merag.
Who did IV see?
Did he see the young girl he tried to burn there, in the alley?
Did he see the sister of his rival?
Who did he see?
As luck would have it, she met with him in a different alley again, and he was once again holding an umbrella, and she was once again being soaked.
“Duel me.”
“...what?”
“Are you afraid that you would have to put down your umbrella and your little outfit would get ruined?”
“This outfit costs more than your tuition,” IV sneered, before nevertheless letting his umbrella fall to the ground.”
He did not pull his punches. If he was haunted by his past decisions, he did not let it show during their duel.
But she did make sure to ruin his outfit, tackling him to the muddy pavement by the end, straddling him and pinning him down, and she found herself laughing again.
“I win.”
And IV looked up at her, and slowly grinned.
“Did you?”
Rio reached down, the only warmth coming from IV’s breath reaching her lips.
“Yes.”