You Never Walk Alone

"You Never Walk Alone" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread started on [IRL DATE] and finished on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
Juro's mind woke up before his body, as a tiredness laid down on his limbs like a blanket, throat dry and cracked, the cotton of borrowed clothes soft against his skin, oddly both more and less so on his right. He could hear voices, overlapping with one another as he slowly pulled his consciousness together.
It was late in the afternoon of the third day when the Bookkeeper finally stirred.
foresight-botgd
The voices abruptly stopped, and there was an expectant silence for a few moments.
"Did he--?"
"Nuh-uh. No way." The second was younger, far more hushed and way more rife with emotion than the first.
"Fetch the water and broth just in case." There was a rush of footsteps, and then the tent was quiet again. Then there was a slow, impossibly gentle pressure on Juro's side as a small hoof looked him over, and then checked his pulse and breathing.
akkeyagentofhelheim
Slowly, one hand came up to weakly find the wrist that fussed over him, as Juro cracked his eyes open to find Milae hovering above. A small smile crept on his face, "Hello..." his voice was rasped against his throat.
foresight-botgd
Milae froze, staring down at Juro, tears immediately welling in his eyes, and then Juro's hair ruffled slightly as Milae swatted at his head, just barely missing him by an inch.
"Hello?" He couldn't stop himself from starting to laugh uncontrollably, in a huge expulsion of emotion. "Hello!? You scare the living daylights out of me for three days straight and you say hello!?"
akkeyagentofhelheim
"Wha-" He was taken aback for a moment, but the display of slight hysterics from Milae of all people made him chuckle as well at the back of his throat, his left arm reaching up to cheekily wave away at Milae's hand, "What else am I supposed to say after not having seen you?" He made to sit up carefully as he became more awake and his vision cleared, and his fringe fell sideways to reveal his slanted eyes, on the familiar amber... and one bright blue staring at the goat half breed.
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Milae pulled his neck back in familiar, birdlike, amused surprise. He cleared his throat, leaving it for the time being. It wasn't the strangest thing he'd seen that week. "How...how are you feeling? Yun is getting water and food for you..."
akkeyagentofhelheim
"I'm fine," he replied slowly, doing an internal check, "I'm just tired. And parched. I do feel lighter here... Or emptier..." His hand came to clutch his embedding point as his brows furrowed in thought. He could feel faded lines of glowing light that he knew were linked to the Bookkeepers, and only the faintest buzz of magic in the deepest part of him, like something massive was removed from inside, leaving space for more. He'd never felt that before.
"And my right side feels... weird..." he lifted his arm as if to test its movement, and the afternoon rays caught very faded, white lines that resembled cracks seared upwards into the skin of his hand and wrist, disappearing under the sleeve.
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Milae gently reached out and traced one of the lines with the tip of his hoof, glancing back up to Juro's eye, looking closely at it. "Weird...how?" he said cautiously. He tapped the corner of his eye, something he and Yun had done so often. "The sort of weird that changes your eye color?" He was joking, but still quite concerned.
akkeyagentofhelheim
"My eye co--whoa," his hand had reached for the side of his face in reaction, lifting more of the sleeve to expose more of his arm, when he jolted where he sat as he stared at Milae.
Everything through his left eye was exactly as he always knew it, but every time Milae moved, every flick of his line of vision, what his right saw was jarring, both sped up and slowed down, like there were too many frames to comprehend, leaving behind after images that jumped in between. He glanced down at his arm, seeing the same type of view, and he hastily rolled up the sleeve as high as it would go.
His arm, and after lifting his shirt and the cuff of his pants to check as well, his torso, and leg were marked with similar lines. Lines that crept upwards in the same way they witnessed only a few days ago, in dark decaying tendrils seeking to invade him... but this time it was light, like it had healed and put him back together again.
I'll take care of it.
"Oh..." Juro straightened in understanding of the minor goddess' last words. He looked towards Milae, "I think... I think this was Eir. Duri."
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Very carefully, Milae reached out a hoof and rested it on the side of Juro’s face, and his throat swelled as he recognized the same shade of blue, from so many years ago. He’d lost her again, but in many ways, she had also been found, and that put his soul more at ease than anything he had tried since Kezia’s assassination.
“If only I could thank her for what she did,” he whispered, with a shaky smile. “For all of us, but…also for my friend.” He paused, and drew back a little for Juro’s sake, afraid he’d made a mistake in saying it.
Juro had never moved so fast before to grab another’s hand with no ulterior motives other than simply… because he wanted to. 
Both of his hovered around Milae’s hoof as they stared at each other, his head spinning slightly as the different frame rates of his vision didn’t quite match up, but he ignored it, slowly lowering both their arms to rest against his knee. “She says hi…” his gaze was trained down towards his hands that engulfed the half breed’s small one, pale and line traced against soft fur.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you before… I wanted to…” he could only whisper, fingers trembling once, “Will… will you let me stay beside you, even for a while?”
foresight-botgd
There was a few seconds of silence, and then a small wet drop specked his pale skin, then another. Milae gripped his free hand on top of theirs, so, so tightly, ducking his head shyly as he was overcome with emotion.
“You ask as if I could ever say no,” he managed to choke, his heart thudding with true understanding and unconditional love. He made to look up with watery eyes, laughing softly at himself as he did and sniffing heavily. “Come now, you’re smarter than you look, I know that,” he teased in a thick voice.
akkeyagentofhelheim
“A Bookkeeper makes no assumptions, and ensures that his information is correct…” he returned the laugh, grinning down at Milae with his usual charm, hands squeezing in attempt to comfort and show his joy and appreciation at his answer, but as bi-colours stared into watery hazel, he felt his chest tighten and fill to the brim almost painfully, like it was another surge of magic, yet much, much more overwhelming, and almost foreign.
For the first time in 770 years, wet lines trailed Jin Juro’s cheeks, tears spilling over without any inhibition no matter how much he tried, as his smile shook at the corners then disintegrated, his brow knitting together in a heartbreaking sob, finally allowing the facade to fall and crumble completely. He crumpled into himself, burying his face into Milae’s small shoulder as his body shook uncontrollably.
Everything that he held in, the grief, anger, despair, and loneliness that he had bottled up all this time, flowed in turbulent waves of extreme emotions as his muffled wails filled the tent. At last, he mourned for his family when they died, he distressed for Milae’s heavy choices and incarceration, angered for both Milae and Dario in their clash with the hawk half breed, feared for Yun and his struggles and war, and a multitude of other turmoils that had built up in the centuries of forced suppression, finding no solace until now.
But even through the pain that poured out of him, was also immense happiness, gratitude, and finally a sense of freedom and relief, an escape from the cage that he had put himself in, the solitude that he had suffered, no longer trapped and burdened by his tragic destiny, surrounded by people he knew he could trust and love with his whole heart and soul.
Finally, Juro wept.
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Milae recognized the outpour of bottled-up trauma–he’d seen it in himself, on the floor of a dusty dragon barn, curled up and sobbing in Dario’s lap, confessing the number of times he’d watched the deer die unfairly in front of him, forcing himself to stay on the sidelines. All he could do was lay his head across the back of Juro’s neck and pull the man into him, allowing the first-time tears soak his tunic while he himself wept, the stress of the entire situation rolling off his shoulders even further than he thought it could.
“Ég elska þig, vinur mín,” he whispered in a trembling voice. He held the back of the man’s head, cloven fingers buried in sandy blond. “It’s over now. I’m with you. I promise.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
His words only sent another wave of intense emotion through him, spilling a fresh batch of tears as arms came to weakly wrap around Milae, tightening to return the sentiment as much as he could, nto trusting himself to speak.
It was many long minutes that passed before his shivering shoulders slowly stilled, breath shuddering into soft exhales, finally quiet. He kept his head down, and murmured, “I’m not putting this in the Library…”
foresight-botgd
Milae laughed again, a little lighter, looser, and slightly hysteric once more. “Whyever not? I’m sure the other Bookkeepers would love to hear about it.” The goat lowered his head down by Juro’s and bumped his forehead into the man’s temple, rocking slightly as they both came down from the emotional high. “You can share what you like. Your life is yours.”
“Milaaaae?” There was an anxious voice from outside the tent, even though there hadn’t been any footsteps in a while. “Is everything okay…?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes, we’re fine.”
“Can I come in and put the water down? It’s heavy…”
The goat half-breed grinned and eyed Juro questioningly, letting him decide.
akkeyagentofhelheim
A rare flush of pink crossed Juro’s cheeks, fleeting but enough for Milae to catch a glimpse, and he quickly rubbed his arm over his face to wipe away all traces of tears, turning back into his boyish self, although purely out of harmless habit and no other intent. He sniffed and coughed slightly, a small smile pulling at his mouth once more, “You’re good, Yun.”
foresight-botgd
The tent flap immediately ripped open, and dish clattered against plate as Yun hurried to set down the bowl and pitcher he’d been carrying, sprint past the cots and launch himself around Juro’s neck and shoulders in a hug attack, squeezing so tight and so close that he had to prop one of his legs up into the cot. It was a hug made specifically for a Bookkeeper, small arms thrown around a long frame, with a love and relief that only Yun could feel. He was teary, but giddy excitement outweighed any expulsion of grief, and instead he laughed into Juro’s neck, chest bursting with the ability to share what he felt for Jin with someone else.
akkeyagentofhelheim
He fell back onto one elbow with a soft ‘oof’, the other arm hovering above in wordless shock like it did the first time Yun embraced him, but now he laughed in response, a rumbling sound in his chest, as he lifted himself again to return the embrace fully and deeply, lengthy arms wrapping around the seidkonur, one hand holding the back of his head with such tenderness and fondness that it could almost rival Jin’s. He leaned his cheek into his dark, cropped hair, eyes closed, voice soft, “Thanks for waiting…” 
“Are you kidding?” Yun pulled back and gripped Juro by the shoulders, eyes huge. “I am not going anywhere without seeing you first. Do you even know how hard it was not to give you a damn hug every time I saw you!? Every time!! I’m not giving that up for anything!” 
akkeyagentofhelheim
Juro blinked, taken aback by the intensity for a moment, then burst into genuine laughter, not constructed to fit a narrative or mask, just pure, true reaction. “Okay okay, I get it, I’m sorry.” He shook his head, chuckling, before ruffling the top of Yun’s head and smirking, “I like the cut.”
foresight-botgd
He flushed and ran his own hand over it. “Yeah, I thought it was gonna be too much, but…” He shrugged and gestured at his tattoos. “’Too much’ feels like my style right now.” He mirrored the lopsided grin, refusing to unlatch from Juro’s arms. “I like your eye. Is it better now?”
akkeyagentofhelheim
He squinted just the eye in question, as Yun continued to glitch out through it, “Yeah. It’s just… a lot. Both hyper and under sensitive, in a way, it’s messing with my perception of… well, everything. I might have to cover it until I can get used to it.”
He sighed, lowering his lashes as he observed Yun’s arms, as if seeing his tattoos for the first time. He held one of his wrists between his fingers, the new white lines stark against dark marks, “Too much was exactly what I needed…” he murmured, the wild surge of explosive magic fresh in his mind. Unseen threads brightened briefly at the memory as Juro looked up again to meet his gaze, endless gratitude and relief welling up in him, “Thank you.”
foresight-botgd
Yun beamed and nodded, and he reached up between them and ran his fingers down one of the said threads, revealing and inspecting it. It was braided with fantastic colors, mostly their signature teals, whites, golds and blues, but also with its own unique sheen, marking Juro’s connection to an unknown Bookkeeper. “These should be way harder to break,” he quipped, the reflection of the string glowing in his eyes.
“Impossible, even,” Milae added, pushing Yun’s head, and Yun wrinkled his nose at him. 
“Okay, yeah. I’m pretty sure only a Norn or a seidkonur could cut them. Maybe you too, if you ended up growing your magic again? But you’d have to focus and do it on purpose.” Yun shrugged and released it, letting it float back into the ether. “Who knows? They’ll be safe, for a long time.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
He watched Yun’s fingers follow invisible trails in the air, his face serene and interested by practice, but his eyes betrayed nerves at the realization of a new reservoir he’d have to learn to control. “Maybe. That’s a thought for later… as long as they’re all stable, then that’s good.”
His mind turned to the Bookkeepers he met in his dreamscape, then to Jin, and he glanced between both Milaes, before settling on Yun, “Now that you’ve saved the entire multiverse, and then some… it’s safe for you to go home.”
foresight-botgd
An entire spectrum of emotion passed through Yun’s eyes, but the majority of it was overwhelming, wordless relief and joy, and he fumbled his way into Juro’s arms again, nosing into his chest. “I feel kinda bad,” he said, muffled by his shirt.
“Don’t, seinni helmingur.” Milae rubbed his shoulder reassuringly. “I believe the seidkonur feels homesickness most strongly of all, being able to travel to places that are so obviously not home.” 
There it was, Milae’s ability to name the abstract ball of emotion that Yun always seemed to carry in his arms, right out in the open. He was right. Yun was so incredibly homesick, so used to the idea that home was unreachable. Now it was right there in front of him. He wiped away a few involuntary tears and held onto Juro a few moments longer, starting to focus. “I–uh–I’ll have to get my stuff, and–and there’s probably a lot of people to see…”
akkeyagentofhelheim
Juro squeezed back briefly, bumping his forehead on the top of his, a bittersweet light in his eyes. He was now finally able to savour a moment like this with Yun properly, and they were cut short.
But he understood, letting go and nodding, “See who you want to see, but I wouldn’t take too long, you’ve got people waiting for you,” he said, grin lopsided and looking incredibly much like Jin, “Although I know one who would be very upset if you didn’t see them before you left.” 
The Bookkeeper exhaled a short breath in concentration, then it was the familiar hum that filled the tent as the space before them warped, then formed into the blue and white golem they knew and loved. Virion flapped forward to hover before Yun, the same twinkling six eyes and long dark beak in its smaller self, although the seidkonur could tell it was somewhat bigger–wider wings on a leaner body, longer head plumes and tail feathers that were now also speckled with gold that could drape around one’s neck.
It chirped, dipping its head down, and Yun could have sworn he heard the same ethereal voice that no one else seemed to notice. Thank you for leading him home.
foresight-botgd
“Of course.” Yun cupped his fingers underneath the bird’s little body and brought it close to his chest, cuddling it next to his chin before letting it return to Juro. He was going to miss seeing little bursts of magic like this in everyday life–it was one of the things that had helped him fit in the most. “You look great. Take care of him, okay?” 
It ruffled its crest proudly, and let out a small caw to promise its guardianship, as it perched on the Bookkeeper’s shoulder and curled its plumes around his neck, while Juro sat with his hands leaning against the edge of the cot–the emotional and physical fatigue of the past hour was catching up to him.
“Holy shit, Aria, your instincts were right.”
The tent flap opened with a flourish and Akkey stepped inside, just as Hunter smacked her lightly on the top of her head, “Can you refrain from cursing in front of my twelve year old daughter, please.” He peeked in, staying at the entrance with his wife and older daughter. Aria had announced that Juro was awake, thus Yun would be departing, and for some reason had been correct, so he accompanied to make sure that everyone was healthy and safe to his satisfaction. “Yrus will always be open for you,” He grinned happily towards both Milae and Yun, glad that it was over, and content.
He let the tent flap flutter to a close just as Aria bowled past father and aunt to crash into Yun, very much in the same way he did towards the Bookkeeper. She looked up at him, eyes gleaming with disappointment but also delight for him, “You’re leaving! You’ll come back when you can, right?”
foresight-botgd
“Of course I will!” He ruffled her hair and ears, giving her a huge hug in return. “I’m gonna be tired when I go home, but I’ll come back when I’m ready. Promise.” He got to his feet to give Juro some breathing room, and threw his arms around Akkey as well. When he did, Milae firmly pushed back on Juro’s shoulder, trying to make him lay back down.
“I couldn’t have done that without you,” Yun said quietly. “I wouldn’t have been fast enough. Thanks.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
Akkey’s shoulders tightened for a second, before relaxing and hugging him back, laughing wryly into his shoulder, the corners of her eyes wrinkling, “Glad I could help… I’m really proud of you,” They stayed in embrace for a moment, letting the silence speak volumes of her relief and gratitude towards him, Aria worming her way in between in refusal to be left out. She broke the hug with a long exhale and a bright eye, pulling her niece away to carry her around the waist with the same motion.
The nix turned on her heel, flicking a wrist to drop a familiar journal on a Bookkeeper’s face, who was stubbornly refusing Milae’s insistence to rest, causing him to fall back with a soft ‘ow’ as she made to leave. With Aria loudly calling out ’“Bye Goat Dude!!!” under one arm, Akkey waved a hand in fond farewell.
“Get out of here, kid.” she grinned over her shoulder, and the tent fluttered to a close as they left.
foresight-botgd
Yun put both hands on his hips as they left, a small grin on his face as though enjoying a private joke. “If I’m not gonna hear it from Akira,” he said, crouching down to scoop up his bag and hook it onto his kasuki, “at least I got to hear it from her.”
“Oh?” Milae nudged Juro in playful satisfaction as he stood.
“Nothing.” Yun ran a hand through his hair and exhaled, looking Milae in the eye as they stood there, the tent having quieted once more. “One more, huh?”
“One more, else I never let you rest until the end of time if you left before seeing him.” Milae’s tone sounded joking, but he had a gleam in his eye. Yun did not care to test it.
“We’ll go. I promise.” Everything was seeming to get a little less real the longer he stayed. The seidkonur slowly stepped back to Juro’s side, taking his long hand and squeezing it tight. 
“I’m gonna miss you,” he said quietly, forever unable to smother the tears in his eyes. “Don’t…don’t forget who you are, okay? Cause I’m gonna come back and hug you and not let go if you do.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
Juro let his notebook dangle above with one hand for a moment, training both slanted amber and blue straight up at Yun, the colours finally clear, open, and honest. He smiled softly, his hold weak in strength but still tightening in return, “Yes, sir.”
He pulled at his hand to bring him closer, his brow knitted, mouth hung open at a loss for words for once. He settled for a simple thought, “I’ll see you later, okay?”
foresight-botgd
Yun lifted Juro’s hand and cupped his own cheek in the man’s palm, holding it tightly, and nodding against it with a shuffle. He wished he could give Juro back everything that the Bookkeeper had given him, and more. In time. “I’ll be in the Library,” he said softly. “Look for me.”
He took a deep breath, let go, and turned towards Milae. “Okay. One more.”
The goat nodded, and eyed Juro. “Don’t get up while I’m gone.” Then the two souls followed each other out of the tent, letting the flap rustle into stillness.
akkeyagentofhelheim
Milae returned to a scene that was exasperatingly reminiscent of the Library.
The water jug had been emptied of its contents, and loose parchment were strewn all over the floor and cot as the Bookkeeper slept, pen in one hand and caught in mid sentence. It was plain to see he wrote the moment he was left alone.
The words were scribbled in Aidorinian, curiously, instead of his mother tongue, but perhaps it was because it was an Aidorinian story. The ink lacked its usual elegance in penmanship–Juro had clearly struggled to see properly out of his new eye, and the shaky lines were proof of how weak his dexterity in his right side had become.
But the Bookkeeper did as he was expected and wrote pages and pages, Milae noticed as he gathered them, of recent events of the last few days, until the very moment sleep overtook him. They were scarily detailed, oddly enough, especially for the fact that both of them were absorbed into a separate mindscape and struggling for their lives, to the point that the half breed was unaware that some paragraphs even happened. Yet Juro had written them all, in what seemed like was through a lense that was not his, and rather in a bird’s eye, sixth sense type of view, through a minor goddess’ consciousness, like a narrator from above, around, and within.
It returned to his perspective when Frigga was defeated, and explained what he did to break the chains himself. The overlap of divine and mortal magic, the amplification of surging energy, and the after effects to his body, its destruction, then generously rebuilt by an old, now departed friend.
The story switched to a dreamscape that he hadn’t brought up before, and Milae saw names that he didn’t know, but could tell how important they were to the Bookkeeper. It was bittersweet, yet content. There was no evidence of their conversation after his awakening, he noticed–Juro kept it to himself, holding it privately to his heart and soul where it would be closer than a Library entry could ever be.
Yun entered the scene, and it progressed as expected. But past where the seidkonur had said his final goodbyes, lines and lines of words and sentences continued much further, drastically different from his usual Library entries, in an odd reveal of the Bookkeeper’s running thoughts behind his last words to the young man.I regret many things.I missed opportunities to be closer with him, and I know the circumstances prevented it, but it doesn’t alleviate the disappointment and shame in me. He saved us, and there is nothing more I want than for him to know how thankful I am to him, how much I am indebted to him, and how overjoyed and lucky I am to know him.But for now, our time is cut short, and I find that I can’t speak my true self. Not in the same way that Yun struggles to put a word to the emotion, no. It’s more that there’s so much of it to process all at once, and it turns into such a jumble of thoughts that I instinctively want to hold it in, and construct it into a facade once more. I know I must unlearn that. There are many habits I must break. Writing it down like this makes it easier, it seems.If he visits, he deserves a Bookkeeper’s welcome. He deserves all of the tightest hugs and unconditional love he could want. Find him, and walk by his side as he explores never ending timelines with the same wonder and curiosity as we do.I miss him. I look forward to when he returns. I hope I can tell him all of this properly, and spend time with him, and be able to call him a friend as I do his other self.There was one more page, scrawled even more sloppily than before as Juro drifted closer to slumber.I’m also aware that I’m breaking the unspoken rules of the Library. Those became void the moment that lock disappeared, and the moment we met. We are no longer alone. I am you, and you me, and this was the family that I had built when I lost mine, before I found a new one.No help, no harm. That still is the Bookkeeper Code. The Library will remain neutral, for true history’s sake. But not at the expense of our humanity, of who I am, of who you are.I will be writing my own destiny from now on. I look forward to yours.