#what if we were a pair of friends from different alien species who got kidnapped by klingons. and we were thyla. and also we are both girls

[chicafinal]

[writingpaperghost]

Like Father, Like Daughter (Part 12)

Chapter 12: Kill the Doubt That's Always Paralyzing

Zero returns to Earth.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22967815/chapters/81766423

Zero’s made his way back to Earth as quicky as possible. The things that had been making it hard for Moroboshi, Masami, and Booska to leave had been some kind of barrier. He wasn’t sure what exactly it was or how it got there, but it had been pretty easy to disable. He just had to hit it hard enough. Still, he wanted to make sure the trio got to somewhere that was definitely safe, which meant it took him a while to get back to Earth.

Now though, as he’s entering the planet’s atmosphere and searching for Mayu, he’s found something’s very wrong. She’s not in any of the places that she’d normally be, nor can he really seem to find her at all. Maybe she was just preoccupied elsewhere and he was missing her? He didn’t really think so, but he needed a host, so he supposed it was time he paid Leito a proper Ultraman Zero visit.

“Hey, Leito,” At Zero’s sudden words, Leito jumped. Thankfully, he’d been home and not holding anything, otherwise he probably would have dropped it.

“Z-Zero?” Clearly, Zero had startled him quite a bit. Or maybe it was just because it’d been a bit since they’d really spoken. “What are you doing here?”

Zero thought the answer was pretty obvious, he knows that Mayu explained why he was here. Though, Zero figured that Leito could have meant why he was in his head and not Mayu’s. Yeah, Zero decided, that was probably it. “Well, I need a host,” He answered simply, “And I couldn’t find Mayu, so…”

Leito seemed terribly concerned by that, “What do you mean you can’t find Mayu?”

There probably wassome cause for concern there, not that Zero was going to pretend he wasn’t concerned, he just didn’t want Leito to know that he was concerned. “Uh, yeah, I looked in the normal spots and even some other places, though obviously pretty quickly.” He wondered if Leito was concerned just because Zero couldn’t find Mayu, or if there was some other reason there. “What, haven’t you seen Mayu today or something?”

“Well, yes,” Leito sighed, “But she’s been acting a bit… odd lately. Every time Lumina or I ask, she says it’s fine but…”

“You’re worried,” Zero finished. Leito nodded, an action that Zero thought was a bit pointless, since Zero was, more or less, in Leito’s head.

As much as Zero would love to say that it was probably nothing, with the looming threat of Emari and whatever he had planned, he couldn’t exactly say it with any confidence. “Er, maybe Noa might know something? She’s Mayu’s friend. Or Kurow, though I don’t know if they’ve talked since the whole Alien Pitt thing.” He chose to offer instead.

“I don’t know about this Kurow,” Leito says, “But you might be right that Noa could know something. Or at the very least have different observations…”

“Well there’s a plan,” Zero says, “Ah, but first I need to talk with Riku about some things.”

Leito walks over to grab his jacket, “We’ll head to the Nebula House, then.”

When the pair arrived at the Nebula House, they found that they weren’t the only ones who had come to see Riku. Moa and Zena were there too, with Moa looking a rather concerned. Pega looked between everyone, a bit worried like, and Laiha stands with her arms crossed. Don-shine could be heard playing in the background, with the sound of light breathing coming from the pile of blankets on the couch.

“Um, Zero had some stuff he wanted to talk to you about, Riku,” Leito says, once he takes in the scene in front of him.

Riku frowned, “He’s with you?”

The concerned expression on Moa’s face deepened and it looked like she wanted to say something. Zena nudges her, but neither said anything. Leito wonders if he should be worried. Regardless, he answers Riku with, “Yes, apparently he couldn’t find Mayu,” Now, Moa really looked like she wanted to say something. Leito couldn’t help but be a bit concerned.

“Right,” Riku says slowly, “So, Zero, what did you want to talk about?”

In a manner that Leito was still somehow used to, Zero takes control and removes Leito’s glasses. “There was some kind of barrier outside of the planet, limiting entry and exit from the planet,” He told Riku, “Obviously I took care of it, but I bet it was put there by Emari.”

Moa speaks up then, “About, Emari,” She said, hesitantly, “That brings us to why Zena and I are here.”

“Have you gotten any leads on where he is or what he’s up to?” Zero asked.

She got a funny look on her face as she tried to decide the best way to say whatever it was she had to report, “So, we know he has some Alien Magmas working for him, but more importantly…” She glances at Zena, almost hesitantly, “For some reason, he-had-the-Magmas-kidnap-Noa.” She says the last part so quickly Leito can’t really follow, but Zero can.

So did Riku, too, given he sputtered, “Kidnap Noa?” out loud, then added, “But why?”

“We don’t know,” Zena shook his head ever so slightly, “There’s… someone looking into it.”

“So much for asking Noa about Mayu, after this,” Zero muttered, “Well I guess it can’t be helped. Hopefully whoever you have looking into it finds something out quick.”

“Hopefully,” Moa mumbles, then looks up and squints at Zero, “Wait, why were you going to ask Noa about Mayu?”

Leito took control to answer the question, returning his glasses to his face, “On top of Zero not being able to find her… Mayu’s been acting a bit odd lately.” Moa looked very uncomfortable.

She looks at Zena, who does the Zena equivalent of a sigh. Which isn’t really anything, but Zero had a weird way of interpreting what Zena did. “We have reason to believe that Emari might be controlling her in some manner,” He said, “It’s certainly a possibility.”

“At least,” Moa adds, “That’s what Kurow thinks.”

Zero takes control again, “Why would he care what happens to Mayu? Last I checked he was pretty solid in the department of not caring about others.”

Moa shrugged, “I don’t know? When we asked he pretty much just dodged the question.”

Laiha shakes her head, looking concerned, “Why he’s helping or whatever doesn’t really matter right now. We have a lot to worry about,”

Riku looks around the room at everyone, “She’s right, we have two people we have to find, one of which is definitely kidnaped.”

Crossing his arms, Zero nods, “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” He agreed.

It was about then that someone new enters the Nebula House. Given that mostly everyone who even knew about the place were already there, it brought the question of who was coming. Zero notes how Riku tenses slightly at the unexpected visitor.

Standing in the doorway was Kurow, hands in his pockets, doing his very best to look disinterested, despite how he looked around the room. He gives a little wave when he realizes he’s caught their attention.

“So this,” Kurow says, “Is where you all meet?”

“Kurow,” Moa notes, “How’d you find here?”

Kurow shrugged, “I’m good at these sort of things.”

“Right,” Zero said, crossing his arms and doing his best to sound unimpressed, “What brings you here.”

“I’m helping,” He responds, putting clear effort into stressing the fact that he was “helping”. How he was helping exactly, Zero didn’t know, at least not until Kurow continued, “After all, someone had to go check the Alien Magmas’ base. Which, by the way, was actually just deserted. Looks like they all hightailed it to Emari, or something.”

“Wait, wait,” Zero shakes his head, “You’re actually helping? This much?”

“Yes,” Kurow says sharply, “Not for you or anyone else in this room, of course. Emari succeeding in his plan, whatever it is, is probably bad for me too.”

Zero didn’t exactly buy that answer, but so long as Kurow actually helped them, he supposed he couldn’t complain. Behind him, Moa says, “So then, we know that Noa is with Emari.”

Zena adds, “Were you able to find anything about why they kidnapped Noa in the first place?”

There’s something that might be interpreted as a smug look on Kurow’s face, and definitely leaking into his tone, when he answers, “Oh, they left that place so fast the computers were still on,” He pulls a scrap of paper out of his pocket and looks at it, “Let’s see… Does alien weapon absorbed in childhood answer your question?”

The room is quiet after he speaks as everyone takes in Kurow’s answer. It wasn’t impossible, alien weapons had a tendency to end up unattended in a lot of weird and sometimes easy to get to places. They were also known to often react in odd ways when coming into contact with some species. It wasn’t beyond belief that Noa, as a child had stumbled upon something of the kind and had somehow absorbed it. It would explain the strange energy she sometimes had.

“I don’t suppose,” Riku begins, “That they mentioned where Emari’s base was?”

Kurow shakes his head, “Nope, nothing of the kind,” There’s something in his tone that doesn’t quite seem right, for Kurow at least, but Zero doesn’t worry much about it. “I haven’t a clue in that department.”

“I think,” Zero begins, “We’re going to need to start our search for Emari, asap.”

“Yes,” Zena agreed, “The AIB can start searching for his base,”

While finding his base would probably find Emari and Noa, it had no guarantee to answer as to where Mayu was. Which Zero wasn’t exactly enthused about. “I think Leito and I should look for Mayu, especially if Emari really does have something to do with her strange behavior.”

Taking a step towards them, Kurow adds, “I’ll help,” He places his hand and the paper back into his pocket, “I have a few places I think they might be.”

Riku looked between the five, then nodded, “Right, Pega and I will help Moa and Zena look for the base. Laiha can help you three.”

With their plans made, the groups of four set out searching.

---

Zero quickly recognized the path that Kurow was taking them down. It led towards the garden that Mayu liked to spend her time at. Zero had obviously checked for her there earlier, but, now that he knew that Emari could be doing something, it was possible that he could have hidden her. Actually going there on foot would most likely yield better results.

He’d let Leito have control while they traveled, which resulted in Leito awkwardly trying to make conversation with Kurow. This went about as well as anyone could expect it too, as Kurow wasn’t feeling particularly talkative. Laiha didn’t say anything as Leito spoke to Kurow.

“So you’re a friend of Mayu’s?” Leito had asked.

“We’re not friends,” Kurow responded, his voice almost neutral. But Zero could hear something in it. He was pretty sure Kurow was lying, “She’s just too nice for her own good.” Now that wasn’t something Zero could really argue with, though he supposed even his own opinion of Mayu’s niceness might be a bit more harsh than really necessary.

Leito was a bit unnerved by Kurow’s response, but still said, “That isn’t… always a bad thing,” In some respects, Leito probably wasn’t wrong. In others, Zero could admit that different perspectives would probably cause a difference of opinions on matters like this.

“Let’s just keep going,” The conversation hadn’t exactly gotten far before Kurow had shut it down, but that was more or less what Zero had been expecting. Leito had got about as far as he’d imagined he would.

Soon enough, they arrived just outside of where the clearing was. Except, there was something very clearly wrong. Zero could feel it and so too could Kurow, it seemed, as Kurow had stopped just in front of the strange thing. There wasn’t anything visible there out of the ordinary but…

Zero takes control and walks up. “What’s this…?” He wonders aloud.

Kurow seems almost too relaxed when he answered, “Probably Emari’s doing, that-“ And then a colorful string of swears in several different languages, from several different planets, some of which Zero barely even recognized. Zero couldn’t help but wince slightly, not even he or Glenfire usually swore that much.

“Geez,” Zero can’t help but comment, “You really don’t like the guy.” More so than Zero, it seemed.

“He’s annoying,” Kurow responded, deadpan, before hesitantly putting a hand up to the strange sort of barrier. “Seriously, though, how do we get through this?”

It was probably safe to say that trying to hit it hard probably wouldn’t work this time.

But there was something about this barrier that didn’t quite feel right. More than the fact it was there at all. Zero thought that it felt more like it was supposed to keep very specific things in and out. So maybe if they could just figure out what.

Oh, wait. Emari had to get in or out somehow, and he could project his consciousness. That was how he controlled people. Despite physically looking like a short little gargoyle creature, Emari was capable of projecting his consciousness from his body for up to several hours at a time. So that probably meant that this barrier would only let something like that in and out.

“Maybe,” Zero began, “I might be able to get in there.”

“How do you plan to do that, Zero?” Leito sounded very concerned. Zero didn’t blame him, he was worried about Mayu too.

“I’ve… fought darkness out of peoples minds before, so maybe I can do it again,” He said, “I don’t know for sure but…”

“That sounds dangerous…”

“If you think it’ll work,” Kurow said, “I won’t stop you. But if you die and Mayu ends up upset about it, I’ll bring you back and kill you myself.”

“Wow, Kurow,” Zero said, “It sounds like you care about Mayu.”

“Shut up.”

Laiha shakes her head, “If you’ve got something you think might work, Zero, than it’s worth a shot.”

Zero reached his hand forward and soon felt himself separate from Leito. Soon enough, his hand was passing through the barrier and he was entering this new place.

---

It was safe to say that Zero didn’t know what he expected to see when he crossed the barrier, but he wasn’t surprised at the dreary version of the garden he’d saw. There was a layer of fog floating just above the ground and in the air, giving the whole place a dreary feeling. Though it brought back memories as equally dreary and depressing places, he had more important concerns. Mayu.

Who he found rather easily, holding her knees to her chest, sitting on the ground with her back against the rock. There was something that was ever slightly familiar about it, but he couldn’t place where. Not that it mattered. He just needed to get her out of here. Something that he hadn’t exactly figured out, since he doubted he’d be able to just bring her out.

“Mayu?” He called out, hoping to gain her attention.

She definitely heard him, given she looked up from where her head was resting on her knees, towards him. In her eyes, he can see surprise flash, before something hopeful, and then replacing them each as quickly as the one before, it finally settled on something that was like dejection. She places her face back down into her knees and, quietly, he can hear her mutter, “Have I really been here long enough to imagine things?”

Zero’s heart wrenched at her tone. Like she’d already accepted she wasn’t getting out of here. How long had it felt like she’d been there, to her? Long enough, it seemed. “Mayu,” He repeated, “I’m really here.”

She looks up again, and squints, “What are you doing here?”

“What do you think?” He asked, then adds, “I’m here for you, obviously.”

“Why?” There’s something in the way she said it and something about the fact that she said it at all that makes Zero hurt.

He takes a step towards her, “Do I really need a reason? You’re in trouble, I’m going to help you.”

Mayu considers that for a moment, “Okay,” She says slowly, “But… How?”

“How what?”

“How are you going to help me?” She asked and slowly, stood up and gestured to their surroundings, “Look around, Zero, you think I haven’t already tried to leave? I’ve gone through those trees over and over and only found myself back here! Do I look like I wantto stay here? There’s doesn’t even seem to be a way out, and for all either of us knows, there isn’t! I don’t even know how you got here!”

“Mayu,” Zero starts, moving closer to her. She glares at him when he gets within a foot of her and he stops. “We’ll figure something out. Okay? I’m sure there’s some way-“

There’s something alarmingly cold in her voice when she cuts him off, “Some way that I can’t have found? Despite all the time I’ve spent searching.” She frowns and turns away from him, looking down, “I’ve looked and looked, but sure, if you think there’s something I must have missed, then be my guest, look. It’s not like I can stop you.” She sounds terribly bitter with her last comment. Zero can’t help but think all of this is taking a toll on her.

“That’s not what I was trying to say,” Zero begins again, “I just meant that maybe there’s something that needs more than you, or just to wait a little while longer…”

“I’m sick and tired of that,” Mayu says, her hands tightening into fists at her side, “I’m tired of it needing to be more than me. I’m tired of waiting for things to happen so I can move on with things.”

Zero thinks that, perhaps, he had underestimated the effect of having him around on her. His previous hosts had never had this kind of problem, not that Ran was conscious for it, but Taiga, while certainly not wanting him around, hadn’t reacted like this at any point, neither had Leito. But those two were not Mayu, and Mayu was, by default, quite different from any of his hosts. Mayu was a teenager who wasn’t overconfident, not by a longshot. She was a teenager who seemed to barely have any confidence at all, sometimes.

So it could be, that having a really cool person like himself, who fought monsters on a regular basis and could do a whole bunch of things, might not be the best for the confidence of someone who already had it rather low. He could see why she’d think that people had, recently, only ever needed her for him, and not for her. He could understand why she felt like she had no control over everything. Really, a lot of times she didn’t.

“I… get where you’re coming from, Mayu,” He responds, “I don’t know the feeling personally, but I can understand it…”

“Do you?” Her voice was still harsh.

He needed something to prove to her that she’d done something on her own, throughout this entire thing. And he had just the thing in mind, which he was certain would help her see, “Do you know who came with me and Leito to look for you?” He asked.

Mayu turned a bit, and looked over at him, though she still wasn’t exactly facing him. “Who?”

“Kurow,” Zero answered, “He’s been worried about you, it seems, he came to Zena and Moa for help, he found his way into the Nebula House to help, he came with us, he was the one who suggested to search here first.” He left out the part where Noa got kidnapped. Mayu probably wouldn’t feel better with that knowledge. “Do you think the Kurow you met before would have done that?”

After regarding him for a moment, Mayu responds, “Okay,” and then turns towards him, finally. She raises her arms, slightly, and takes a small step forward, hesitating. Then, seemingly throwing caution to the wind, she runs towards him and wraps her arms around him. Zero stiffens slightly, before returning the hug. “But how do we get out of here?”

“Well…” Before Zero can finish, he sees something across the garden. A dark shape emerging from the darkness of the trees.

Soon the shape had appeared enough that he knew there was no denying who it was, “Looks like we have a guest here,” Emari spoke, “How rude of you just to enter.”

Mayu unwraps herself from Zero and turns around to face Emari, standing beside Zero. In what was most likely an intimidation tactic, both sets of Emari’s wings spread, casting even more shadow into the already dark area.

Seeming tense beside him, Zero spares a glance at Mayu, who’s shoulders are raised and her fists clenched. Her’s jaw’s tight as she glares at Emari with something that was mixture of primarily contempt and annoyance.

After a moment, she reaches down and grabs something off the ground, then throws the rock she picked up at Emari. It hits him square in the face causing him to hiss. Annoyed, Mayu growls, “For god’s sake go away!”

Seeing an opening, Zero runs forward and jumps, kicking Emari. The trees around then shimmer slightly and the fog begins to lighten. Zero follows up with a couple punches and sunlight begins to peak through cracks in the darkness.

“Whatever Emari’s done here,” Mayu remarks, “Doesn’t seem to stand up well to violence against him.” Zero spins around and kicks Emari again, sending him flying back. All at once, the darkness and the dreary garden shatters, being replaced with the true visage of the garden, with vibrant greens and bright colors. Emari staggers back as Zero, in a flash of light, returns to Mayu, settling in a bit like a coat that used to be too big for you, but you’ve now grown into.

Hissing, Emari’s wings expand again, “It seems it’s time I go…” He begins to take flight, his wings heaving and sending him into the air, “But I still have a couple plans left.” Soon enough, he was gone.

Then, Mayu hears footsteps running towards her and Zero.

“Mayu!” Whether due to his calling her name, or something else, Mayu sees her dad first. Leito looks positively relieved to see her.

Laiha is right behind him, “What was that leaving?” She asked, “And is Zero with you?”

Kurow trails the farthest behind and Mayu almost doesn’t even see him, were it not for the fact that he was the one to answer Laiha’s first question, “That was Emari,”

Mayu nods, “Yeah, that was,” Then she answers, “And yeah, Zero’s here, now.”

“Then,” Kurow begins and Mayu still can’t quite believe that he’s even here, that he even went through the trouble of trying to help her. “Let’s hope the others are having better luck with Noa.”

Hold up. “What do you mean, ‘with Noa’?”

Laiha glares in Mayu’s general direction, “Zero,” She began and now Mayu knew that Laiha was glaring at Zero, not her, “You didn’t tell her,”

Zero takes control, “There wasn’t a good time-“

Mayu takes back control, “Tell me what?”

“Um,” Zero begins, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant, “So about Noa…”