You Are The Future, Little Extremophiles

“You are all going to grow to do such amazing things,” he whispered, as if they could understand him. “I’m rooting for you.”

“Are… Are you talking to the extremophiles?” Hanzo suddenly asked, and Kuai stood back up, turning on the spot.

“I just want our children to know I’m proud of them,” Kuai said with a pout and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Hanzo chuckled, and walked over, putting his hands on Kuai’s waist and pulling him close. “You really are so soft hearted.”

“Maybe,” Kuai replied with a shrug, smiling ever so slightly. “But you love that about me.”

“I do.” Hanzo lent in to kiss him, and Kuai Liang happily reciprocated. He wrapped his arms around Hanzo’s shoulders, standing on his tiptoes to better reach him.

Becoming a titan had the added bonus of making him slightly taller than he had previously been. Unfortunately that also applied to Hanzo, so their height difference had pretty much stayed the same. Which seemed incredibly unfair to Kuai Liang, he finally knew what it was like to be six foot tall, but then Hanzo had to ruin it by being a fucking giant.

“Everything is ready to- oh.”

They broke the kiss to turn around, finding Geras stood off to the side, seeming incredibly flustered. This wasn’t the first time he’d walked in on them having an intimate moment. It probably wouldn’t be the last either. That didn’t mean Kuai didn’t feel bad for him every time it happened.

“Sorry, Geras,” Kuai chuckled, pulling away from Hanzo, as much as he didn’t want to. “I assume you wanted to tell us we should be ready to go?”

“Yes, you are free to go ahead,” Geras replied, walking up to stand next to them. He still looked a little frazzled, but as he took his place beside Kuai Liang, he looked at the rock and smiled. “All you need to do to turn this into a comet. Hitting the central point should make it split up and cause the formation of the realms.”

“And if it doesn’t do that?” Hanzo questioned, rubbing the back of his neck. “For example, if we miss our target?”

“Well…” Geras tilted his head ever so slightly. “If that happens, you could just rewind time and try again.”

There was silence between the three of them for a couple of seconds, before Kuai began to giggle to himself. Hanzo gave a dramatic sigh, running his hand down his face.

“Right, of course, the whole… Titans of Time thing.”

In Hanzo’s defence, it was still a strange thing to get used to. When they had first taken down Kronika, only Kuai Liang had absorbed the power of the hourglass. Hanzo had initially urged him to reset time, start again and make a new world. But Kuai couldn’t let things end between them like that. After everything the universe had put them through, didn’t they deserve their happily ever after?

So, he had worked out how to give half of his power to Hanzo, and together they had vowed to create a better universe.

They were surprised though, upon resetting time to its very beginning to find Geras, confused and unshackled from his attachment to Kronika. In the end, they were grateful he had been there. Having done everything thousands of times before, he knew exactly what they had to do. Kuai wasn’t sure they’d have been able to figure things out without him.

“Well, we won’t know if we don’t try,” Kuai announced, holding his hand out.

The rock began to glow blue as he channelled his new powers in it. Hanzo took a hold of Kuai’s free hand, before using his other hand to do the same. Slowly, the rock began to rise off the ground, and was floating in front of them.

“Three, two, one.”

As Hanzo’s count reached one, the pair of them threw as much of their energy at the now comet as they could. It went hurling off, out into the stars. Kuai watched with bated breath, holding his fist to his chest. He felt Hanzo’s grip tighten, the comet getting smaller and smaller as it flew away into space.

There was silence, then all of a sudden, a bright flash that made Kuai cover his eyes with his arm. Followed moments later by a very loud bang. He slowly lowered his arm, just in time to see the bits of the comet flying off in different directions.

“We did it?” Kuai questioned, glancing towards Geras. He was wearing a proud smile on his face, so Kuai could only assume that was a good sign.

“You’ve done it,” Geras confirmed, looking back out to the universe. “Expertly done, might I add.”

“You are too kind,” Kuai giggled, before turning to look at Hanzo. He was also smiling looking out at the world that was unfolding before them. “Hanzo?”

“I know the path ahead will be a long one, things will not always play out how we hope.” Hanzo once more squeezed Kuai’s hand. “But there is no one else I would want to traverse it with.” Hanzo lent in to kiss Kuai on the cheek, before moving his head a little to look past Kuai Liang and at Geras. “That includes you too, by the way. You’re stuck with us now, I’m afraid.”

Geras chuckled, before sighing “I think I can live with that.”

Kuai Liang held out his free hand to Geras. The other man shyly accepted it. All three of them turned back to witness the beginning of all life. It’d be a while before the realms would begin to resemble those that they knew, but Hanzo was right. Kuai Liang could think of no two people he would want to share this journey with.

Together, they would do their best to make this timeline a good one for everyone.

⊰ Last Fic ≛ AU-Gust 2024 ≛ Next Fic ⊱
⏎Return To AU-Gust 2024 Masterlist⏎