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goingtobeunwell

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From:

goingtobeunwell

Christ.

There's a moment where Crozier looks absolutely stricken. His face pales and his hand balls into a fist, and there's something the old, wrathful Francis Crozier that returns briefly. It fades though, and quickly, and he reaches out to wrap his arms around Kyoko.

It's horrible beyond words, the thing that her father had done. The blame he'd laid at her feet.

From:

mycitynow

And Kyoko takes that hug. She pulls Crozier close, holding him tight as, without even thinking, she starts to cry.

"It's all my fault," she sniffs. "If I wasn't a magical girl, then my family would still be alive!"

From:

goingtobeunwell

"No, no," he says quietly, heart breaking for her. All that grandstanding and self-preservation, and she's just girl missing her family. "I can see why you'd think that, I do. Your wish and your father's reaction -- the connection between them. But Kyoko, you had no control over how your father was going to perceive you, and you certainly didn't make him do anything.

"Whether he accepted it or not, he still chose to hurt himself and your mother and sister. That pain and confusion, that's not on your hands. That's on his, and his alone. Your intentions were good."

From:

mycitynow

Kyoko sniffles, a little pathetically, before her tears continue. It's obvious that she's barely talked about this with anyone. Her tears start to flow even further as she continues to just cry.

"It's still my fault!" she sniffles. "If I didn't make the wish, they'd all still be alive!"

From:

goingtobeunwell

"Perhaps," he says honestly. "Perhaps they would. But how were you to know?"

He pulls her into his chest and begins to rock her gently. It's good of her to cry and mourn, to get this all out in the open. He can't believe she's gone this long holding it all inside.

"You couldn't know, and you aren't a devil. You're good daughter who loved her father, so much that you gave up a piece of yourself to help him."

From:

mycitynow

Kyoko continues to cry. It's obvious that it's been a while since she talked about it and just being with Crozier, hearing him reassure her, having him hold her...it's enough to make her just continue to cry.

After a while, she fades into small little hiccups.

"I just wanted to help my family."

From:

goingtobeunwell

He tucks her head under his chin and continues to rock her, mimicking how his older sisters used to soothe him as a child. "What happened to you was terrible. Horrific," he says quietly. "No person should have to lose their family like that. But you, Kyoko, are a good daughter."

From:

mycitynow

She wants to just sit here in Crozier's arms like this, indulge in this feeling, just break down and cry even more. But a little voice in the back of Kyoko's head points out that she's a big girl now. She can't do this forever.

So she lets out a loud sniffle before wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and continuing the conversation.

"You're my family now, Gramps. I'm gonna look out for you instead."

From:

goingtobeunwell

"And vice versa, my dear."

He pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and gives it to her, rubbing her back with an encouraging, water-sort of smile himself.

"Have you thought of the future, what we'll do?"

From:

mycitynow

Kyoko blows her nose very loudly on the handkerchief. She gives Crozier a small smile before,

"Wherever you wanna go, I'll go with you. England, Japan, doesn't matter to me. I'm fine wherever."

From:

goingtobeunwell

"I'll go wherever, Kyoko."

And he means it. In the days since his conversation with Xie Lian, he's made an important decision about his potential deal with the Admiral.

"The universe is open to us now."

From:

mycitynow

"Then...I wanna see somewhere that's important to you. I don't care where. But wherever it is, that's where we'll start."

From:

goingtobeunwell

Somewhere important to him. It's the sea, of course. The rolling, unpredictable sea.

"You'll need to be more comfortable around water to go where I'd like to travel."

From:

mycitynow

"I can work on that," Kyoko says, without any hesitation. "I'm still an inmate, I've got time! We can go to the Enclosure and you can make it into a boat. And I'll work more on swimming! Promise!"

From:

goingtobeunwell

"Not much, I'd wager," he tells her with a quiet sort of smile. "But we can make it work, you and I."

He finally sits back and picks up his fork again. "How comfortable are you with the cold?"

From:

mycitynow

"I can get used to it," she shrugs. "Japan gets pretty cold at times. Sometimes we even get snow."

She is not ready for Arctic level cold.

From:

goingtobeunwell

He smiles softly, knowing full-well that no one's ever really ready for Arctic-level cold.

"Kyoko..." he mutters, pausing after a moment in his meal. "I think we may need to find a new home together. Not mine, not yours. A new place entirely."

From:

mycitynow

A new place. Somewhere where both of them can make a new start.

"I think that's a good idea," she says, with a small nod. There's a pause before she asks, "Maybe America? I'll still have to learn English but you'll at least know the language. We can live somewhere quiet—not too quiet, though. I wanna live somewhere with an arcade not too far away."

From:

goingtobeunwell

"Maybe Canada," he adds, smiling softly. "There are cities there, but not American cities."

From:

mycitynow

"And it'd be cold enough for you!" she adds, with a smile. "Yeah, I think I'd be fine with Canada."

From:

goingtobeunwell

He laughs softly; it would be cold enough for him, and with plenty of wilderness to explore if they were so inclined.

"So that settles it. We'll need to work on your English."