Fandoms: SRMTHFG, Kamen Rider Gotchard

Summary: With Geryon dead, Houtarou having turned against the Alliance with the Citadel of Bone fragment now fueling him AND having exposed Chiro's true past to the Hyperforce, Otto confronts Chiro about it on his own, wanting to find out what truly happened to his friend, and Chiro tells him the truth of his story. 

"Chiro?"

"O... Otto?" 

He was curled up onto his bed, and Otto could see out of the corner of his eye a small backpack lying on the ground beside the bed. Had he thought they would kick him out for what had happened? Sure, Antauri had told him to stay in his room while they all recovered from the fight against Geryon, with the Alliance being given space to do their own things, but the fact that Chiro would think they would hate him when Sparks had gone against them once broke his heart a bit. 

Said kid looked sincerely small. Red eyes looked at him as he whimpered, "Why... why are you here? Did the others decide-"

"No! None of us would think that!" He cut him off straight away. "Don't even think about it!"

"But I..." he murmured. "I was Skeleton King's spy. I sabotaged our early missions and..."

So Antauri had guessed right all that time ago. "Chiro, Antauri... he had his suspicions at first when we started out as a team, you know. He couldn't stop wondering why you had such a guarded mind around him the moment you realized what he could do, so... we didn't think about it. We accepted it."

"I..."

"I just wanna know one thing, Chiro."

"I don't-"

"Please. Just answer me this one question," he pleaded. 

"I... Okay." He sat back up, meeting his eyes for just a while. 

Otto inhaled. "When... when were you planning to tell us about this?"

"About... my past with Skeleton King? I... I guess after we got rid of him, but I chickened out cause we got busy with the Worm and all that, and then the ghosts in Shugazoom, and... I guess I decided it wasn't worth telling. And then he came back and there WAS no time..." he murmured. "Honestly, if it were up to me, you wouldn't have had to find out the truth. I would have carried it to my grave and kept it there. I... I was scared of how you would react."

He pulled his knees to his chest. "I don't remember how I ended up with Skeleton King. All I remember growing up was the pile of toys I had in the Citadel. I was told that I had to blend in, to be the perfect pawn for Skeleton King, and so I did. I didn't fight much, but I learnt the basics on my own and went from there. I just... it just felt so suffocating, but also felt like it was all I had."

"Then... suddenly I was sent to Shugazoom to find the Robot, and I found him, and you guys. I... I said I didn't believe in destiny and stuff when I locked you guys up, right?"

"Was it because..."

"Because I knew I had come to Shugazoom to find the robot. Nothing about it was a coincidence. And even then, Skeleton King told me to sabotage things, to make things easier, and I did, but... it felt wrong. I was suddenly a hero and a liar, and it made me feel weird."

"So how did you get free?"

"Skellion..." Chiro had a bittersweet smile as he said, "He figured it out early on. Hard not to put things together when he had been living in the Wildlands with his parents for a long time and knew everyone who grew up in Shugazoom. He confronted me, and truth be told... every time I tried to 'convince him to see the light', he knew I was only trying to convince myself I was doing the right thing. He just... let me speak on my own during those conversations."

"The last thing he said, before he and his parents left Shugazoom... it was 'Skeleton King has NOTHING on you. Make your choice, and be proud of it. You know the choice you want to make, take it before it's gone.' Skeleton King told me, in the first dream I had after I defied him, that Skellion... his family was..."

"But he died with a smile on his face?"

"Are you... suddenly Antauri?" He asked with a soft laugh. "Y-Yeah, I cut off ties with Skeleton King the day Skellion left, and even though he made sure to torture them, he died a hero's death."

"Skellion... he was a good person, and you are too, Chiro."

"H-Huh? What do you mean?"

"Because only a strong person would have said no to Skeleton King and remain proud today about it."

"Otto..."

Suddenly the doors opened, and Chiro jumped to see the rest of the monkeys, all wearing various looks, but none of them were of anger.

Nova joined them on the bed. "We don't blame you, Chiro."

"You made your choice in the end, and it was the best one you could have taken," Antauri said with a smile. "Also, if you were still his henchmen, you wouldn't have fought so hard to bring me back, even in a feral state."

"Or dragged me back from his influence. Still hurts, by the way!" Sparks mumbled, making the rest laugh before Gibson added, "As much as it was surprising to hear it from Houtarou with his consistent lies, we were mostly stunned by the shard and the revelation. We knew that you were still our leader, as much as you have made your mistakes."

"So hey, we'll break that fragment and save Houtarou. We won't let anyone be Skeleton King's pawn like you were! That's what we do, right, Leader?" Sparks held out a fist to them.

Otto grinned while fistbumping, and Nova, Antauri and Gibson joined the circle as even a small robotic wire followed in. 

"Even the Super Robot..."

Another wire nudged him, as if beckoning him to join in. 

Chiro finally looked up, to see their grins and determined looks. No trace of betrayal were on their faces, and the former spy, the former villain couldn't help tearing up even when a small smile formed, and he held out his fist too. 

He can't turn back the clock, but he could step forward and stop more people from falling to Skeleton King's tricks.

All he could do, was let tomorrow come and win the battle. 

"Hyperforce, let's go save an alchemist," Chiro said with conviction in his tone.