Title: The River
Author: jordannamorgan
Fandom: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
Characters: Takumi and a ghost from the past.
Setting: Between episodes 10 and 11.
Rating: G.
Length: 841 words.
Summary: Takumi gets a second chance—in return for a request.
Notes: Also for the prompt of “Resurrection” at genprompt_bingo.



The brightness that filled Takumi’s vision was dazzling.

Reflexively he raised a hand to shade his face, blinking until his eyes began to adjust. Flickers of movement slowly resolved in the white radiance, at last taking shape as ripples: the brightness was sunlight reflected upon water. With that realization, he became aware of the soft lapping of a current at his feet, and looked down to discover that he was standing at the edge of a riverbed. Myriad smooth, colored stones sparkled just beneath the water’s surface. Some of their shapes and hues were oddly familiar, but he couldn’t quite place where he had seen something like them before.

He raised his head to look farther. A short distance beyond him, there stood a footbridge that spanned the river’s narrow breadth. On the opposite bank grew a well-kept orchard, while behind him rose the stone and wood buildings of an unfamiliar station. The embankments on both sides of the river were dotted with wildflowers. A warm sun shone overhead, and a gentle breeze caressed his face, threatening to lull him into drowsiness.

Where am I, and how did I get here?

The sudden sharp prick of those questions was enough to jar Takumi back to alertness. His memory was strangely murky, but as he wracked his brain, ugly disjointed fragments trickled into his grasp.

The failed revolt of the Kotetsujo’s crew against the Hunters who held them prisoner. The crack of a gunshot, the impact of a bullet. Ikoma clinging to him in tears.

…Oh.

A lump rose in Takumi’s throat. He drew a shuddering breath and looked around him at the idyllic setting once more, taking in its tranquil beauty with a somber new perspective.

So this is…

Before he could complete the thought, he felt a squeeze of his left hand. Small soft fingers wrapped around his own—while at the same time, a mysteriously hard rounded shape pressed into his palm. He started and turned, to find that a brown-haired young girl had somehow appeared at his side.

She tilted her head like a bird, smiling brightly. “So you’re Big Brother’s friend!”

The statement without context left Takumi baffled. He blinked and gaped at the child, frantically searching his memory for any recognition of her face, but there was none.

“…Wha?”

“I’m so happy to get to see you! Brother has only stayed alive this long because of you—and I want to thank you for that.” Still attached to his hand, the girl playfully skipped around from his side to face him head-on. She beamed up at him, her brown eyes shining… and from that more direct angle, something about the lines of her features stirred echoes of familiarity. Not really with her, but with someone like her.

It was a family resemblance that Takumi was seeing.

His breath caught, and his fingers impulsively tightened around her hand. From the heartbreakingly solemn stories his best friend had told him, the small object he felt in her palm suddenly made all too much sense.

“Wait, you’re—?”

“I wish you could stay and play with me, but Brother needs you. He’d be too hurt to keep going if he lost you too—and he still has lots of important things to do.” Her smile grew impossibly wider. “Someday he’s going to fix it all, so the world you’re going back to can be safe and free again. So that’s why you’ve got to take care of him for me, okay?”

Takumi tried to give voice to an astounded question, but the sensation of a dizzying pull abruptly swept over him. Although he couldn’t tell whether it was an external force or something within, it was so strong that it staggered him. The colors began to drain rapidly from his vision, spiraling back into the blinding brightness he had first opened his eyes to; but for one moment more, he still felt her hand in his.

“Tell Brother he shouldn’t hurry to join me. Tell him to keep his friends safe and live a long happy life, so I can be proud of him.”

As her face disappeared into the unbearable luminance, the grip of her fingers slipped away at last.

“Someday, I’ll see you both again.”



…And then Takumi crashed down into darkness and pain, the sheer weight of the tangible world closing around him like a massive, suffocating fist. He sucked in a compulsive breath that hurt like nothing else ever had in his life, and distantly heard his gasp echoed by a small cry.

“He’s still breathing! Somebody, help us!”

That shrill voice was Kajika’s. Takumi couldn’t yet pry his eyes open to see her face, but he felt it when she desperately seized his right hand, clinging to it like a lifeline.

Yet in his left hand, cool and smooth and impossibly real, there still nestled the shape of a small river-polished stone.

In that moment, he knew that he would live.

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2020 Jordanna Morgan