In The Afterlife

Summary: Shitara told Kyūma he’d kick his ass in the afterlife
Warning(s): Spanking; MAJOR spoilers for seasons one and two of Alice in Borderland; AU; references to canon violence and character death
Author’s Note: This is written for the Snowflake challenge #4: In your own space, add something to your fandom’s canon. The finale of season two of Alice in Borderland reveals something major about the world the characters find themselves in. But what do the players find when they die in the games?

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Dying didn’t hurt.

Before Kyūma opened his eyes, he hadn’t been sure what he was going to find. None of them had known what the games were when they’d first found themselves in this strange world. They’d played and fought for their survival; and somehow, in spite of everything…in spite of the worst games pitting friends and lovers against each other… Kyūma had kept them all alive. That was why he’d ultimately become the ‘face card’. The King of Clubs.

Really, any of them could have become one of the face cards. King, Queen, or Jack. They’d all been given the option, after they’d completed the series of games and chosen to stay here.

But if more than one of them had chosen to become a face card, they would have had to separate. And they’d been through so much together, seen so much together, that separating wasn’t an option. So eventually, Kyūma had been the only one to take on the role of a face card. And it had worked.

And now, his entire team…his friends…had lost the game. And Kyūma had accepted it; been resigned to his fate. Because there had only been one way the game could end. And after Shitara had died, Kyūma couldn’t be upset about losing. Arisu and his team had been worthy opponents. In another life, in another world, they could have been friends.

But the world had demanded sacrifice for its citizens to stay. And in a way, Kyūma was relieved that his team had lost. It wouldn’t have felt right, continuing on without Shitara. He would have felt like an important piece of him was missing.

Those thoughts went through Kyūma’s mind in a matter of moments, between the end of the game and the laser hitting him in the head. He felt it, but it didn’t hurt. And he could feel the change, could feel that he was no longer in the Borderlands. Instead, he was…somewhere else.

As he opened his eyes, Kyūma looked around the garden he found himself in. Around him, he could hear his friends…talking and exclaiming. None of them sounded angry or upset with him. He thought he could hear relief in their voices, as they pointed out the different area they’d found themselves in; and wondered aloud if this really was the afterlife, or if it was simply a new stage in the game they hadn’t learned of.

Kyūma didn’t pay much attention to them. His focus was on the man who stood in front of him. The man he’d had to sacrifice so that they had the chance to beat the game.

Shitara.

“You lost.” His friend’s voice was calm. The look on Shitara’s face was one of faint disappointment, but also a sort of resignation. He wasn’t surprised.

“We lost,” Kyūma agreed. “But we did really well to get as far as we did. We beat the games. And now we’re….” He paused. Saying they were in the afterlife didn’t feel right. Surely there would be more than just the five of them here, if they were in the afterlife? He took a deep breath in, inhaling the heady scents of the plants around them, and decided not to worry about where they were right now. Instead, he spoke quietly. “We’ve been together ever since we entered that version of Tokyo. It wouldn’t have felt right to carry on living when you were dead and gone.”

Shitara nodded slowly. “I can’t say I would have made the same choice, but I do understand. We’ve always been equals in your eyes. Even after you became the King of Clubs.”

“But you’re still going to kick my ass.” Kyūma had a faint note of humour in his voice.

“Yeah.” Shitara glanced behind Kyūma, apparently looking towards the others, and held his hand out. “Let’s take care of this in private. Then we can figure out where we go from here.”

“Yeah.” Kyūma took a deep breath and put his hand into his friend’s, smiling slightly as Shitara led him towards an area of the garden partially hidden by some trees. He hoped they didn’t have to fight for their continued existence here. He didn’t think he could risk being separated from any of them again. Not after how hard they’d fought and worked together to get to the point they had.

The area behind the trees wouldn’t afford much privacy, but then again, it wasn’t as if they didn’t know what was about to happen. This wasn’t the first time Shitara had done this. And since they were still living, in a way, it likely wouldn’t be the last time either.

When Shitara took a seat on the ground and stretched his legs out, Kyūma carefully lowered himself in place across his friend’s lap. He breathed in deeply and shifted enough to get comfortable, or at least as comfortable as it was possible to be when laying across his best friend’s lap, ready to get his ass smacked.

“You let your guard down, Kyūma. I told you to use my sacrifice to win the game and you didn’t do it.” Shitara spoke in a quiet, low voice. “You got too cocky. You believed you’d won.”

“There was no reason not to believe that.” Kyūma shifted slightly as he felt Shitara raise his hand; couldn’t help the hiss of breath that escaped when his friend’s palm smacked against his naked backside. “We had won. There was…no way they could have beaten us.”

“But they did.” Shitara continued to swat, each smack landing firmly, spread out evenly over Kyūma’s entire backside, from the crest down to mid-thigh. “You grew overconfident.”

“It wasn’t…overconfidence.” Kyūma winced as Shitara began a second circuit of smacks. His bottom was stinging, but in comparison to the grief he’d felt when his friend had died, the pain barely registered. "We lost you.” A hoarse note crept into his voice. Tears blurred his eyes; not from the pain of the spanking, but because of the remembered grief. “We got through the entire series of games, we reached the end, and I…I thought it was over. And then we had to make the games and I….”

“You figured, win or lose, we’d do it together. Just like we always did.” Shitara increased the force and speed behind the smacks.

Kyūma’s body slumped over his friend’s lap as the first tears began to roll down his cheeks. “I know…we talked about the sacrifice. But I didn’t really believe….” His voice hitched and broke on a sob. “I’m sorry.”

“We made that decision together, Kyūma. You took on board what the rest of us told you to do. Just like you always do.” Shitara didn’t raise his voice, just continued to smack firmly to emphasise what he was saying. “Your mistake was in not following through. In thinking that your opponents were broken.”

“I don’t think I could have anticipated one of them breaking his wrist to get the bracelet off,” Kyūma muttered.

“Perhaps not,” Shitara allowed. “But you needed to be prepared. Remember when we fought through the games? When we won and were given the option to stay? We were desperate enough to try anything in the last games. Those people who survived as long as they did? They were in the same position as us.”

“It wasn’t worth it,” Kyūma confessed, as he felt Shitara’s hand smack down on his sit spots and thighs. “I realised that. When you died. When you were taken from us. I went through the motions because I promised you I would, but…winning would have been worthless without all of you there along with me.”

“I get that,” Shitara replied. “We’re a team. We’re all equal. But we all made that decision. Each of us who acted? We knew that one of us would die. And we were all willing to make that sacrifice. If something like that happens again….”

“I won’t sacrifice you.” Kyūma tensed, expecting another, harder round of smacks.

“Yeah. Okay.” Shitara sighed. “Maybe it won’t happen now. Maybe we don’t have to sacrifice ourselves and each other. Maybe this is a new great adventure where no one has to die. We’ll find out, I’m sure.” He tightened his hold on Kyūma. “Just a few more and then we’re done.”

Kyūma was already crying, releasing the stress and pain from the months, perhaps even years, they’d been fighting for their lives. At his friend’s words, he reached his hands behind his back, relaxing a fraction when Shitata took hold of his hands, squeezing them gently.

The next several smacks were harder and faster and caused Kyūma to begin sobbing harder. He slumped in place, his backside throbbing and stinging, but his heart felt lighter and freer than it had in a long time.

Finally, the spanking stopped and Kyūma was sobbing quietly as Shitara gently rubbed low down on his back. It took quite a while before he was able to calm down, but it was comforting to be held and touched by his friend. He didn’t need to worry about fighting for his life, or for the lives of his best friends.

Finally, Kyūma’s tears slowed and stopped. He lay in place for a few more moments before he finally pushed himself up. He didn’t move far, though, instead turning so he could wrap his arms tightly around Shitara, holding onto his best friend.

In response, Shitara hugged Kyūma just as tight in return. They stayed like that for a while, just holding onto each other. Kyūma didn’t know if Shitara was needing to let go of emotional wounds as well, but he knew that was what he needed. He needed to forget all of the people who had to die so that he could live.

Finally, though, Kyūma had to let go of his friend. They were in a new world, about to go on a new adventure. And the rest of their friends were waiting for them. So slowly, reluctantly, Kyūma let go of Shitara and stood, holding his hand out to his friend. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“Any time you need it.” Shitara gripped his hand tightly and climbed to his feet. “Let’s go and see what lies ahead for us now.”

Kyūma nodded and bumped shoulders with Shitara as they walked back to join their friends. His backside stung and he knew that the others would be able to see the effects of the spanking, but he didn’t care. He had a friend who cared enough to act to draw him back when he felt it was needed. And if it was necessary for the other way round to happen?

Well, they were equals in every way.

The End