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Chapter Text

                  If anyone ever told Yuuri that afterlife is where you join your loved ones and move on with them, he would have addressed that person with such colourful words even Yurio would applaud. Or maybe it is true for anyone but Yuuri. After all you never tell a reincarnator that the afterlife is a peaceful endeavor. When he died of old age as Katsuki Yuuri surrounded by his niece's family and his grandchildren, he thought the moment he stepped into the afterlife he will be smothered by Vitya's hugs and kisses and in return he will smother Vitya in hugs and kisses. 

                       But he opened his eyes to the gaze of a man who was looking at him like the life's greatest miracle. Yuuri stared into the pair of blue eyes with a confused curiosity. But his trance was broken by a loud cry of a baby. Yuuri turned his head to look for the baby because who leaves a baby in the afterlife. He soon realized that cry was coming from him but how could that be. He wasn't a baby. He was an old man who lived 85 years and waited to reunite with his beloved husband. He was about to panic and his cries got louder and more distressed. 

                 Then he heard the man who was holding him coo at him. Yuuri turned incredulous eyes to stare at the man who had the audacity to coo at an old man. His cries stopped as he glared at the man's audacity. Noone but Vitya has the right to coo at him. Not this man eventhough he was handsome with his golden platinum hair, blue eyes and his porcelain like skin. The man had sharp handsome features. But what stopped Yuuri was the two trails of tear tracks down the man's face.

"Don't worry. I will take care of you, Athanasia," the man murmured to Yuuri who gradually noticed some very wrong things. 

         One, he was not an old man. Two, he was a baby. Three, he has reincarnated. Four, he was certainly not a he. He was a she. Five, he won't see Victor in afterlife ever again. He (yes, he was a he, no matter what anyone said) felt his heart shatter into million pieces at the last thought. His gut filled with dread. 

"I will raise you like my own daughter. I promised my sister that her daughter will be taken care of, my star dust."

The man was telling him of his sister who probably was Athanasia's mother. Now isn't that weird? To call himself Yuuri in his head while others addressed him or her as Athanasia. Yuuri had no idea what to do as he lived as Athanasia. At first he thought it was a dream. But he was proved wrong when he attempted to hit his nanny with his incorporating small hands for daring to prod at him rudely. She even pinched him. Who pinches a baby hard enough to leave red bruises. A heartless sadist is. 

                     He was in so much pain because of his baby skin. When Malcolm ( Athanasia's uncle who adopted her as his own ) got home from work, he was crying so loud that his cries were echoing in the manor. Malcolm had run across the manor to Athanasia's nursery so fast, even Olympic runners would have been put to shame. Yuuri stopped crying only when he was in Malcolm's arms. He would start to cry again when that sadistic nanny tried to pry Yuuri from Malcolm's arms. It didn't take Malcolm to figure out what had happened. 

     That was how Yuuri got his first nanny fired. Well to be honest, she was the one who made her own bed. When Yuuri confirmed that this was indeed not a dream, he hoped it would end and one day he would wake up in afterlife and an angel would apologise because god selected the wrong person to be reincarnated. But no. Yuuri soon realized it was for naught. So the only thing he could do is live as Athanasia and accept who he had become. That's how Yuuri accepted that he was indeed a she now and Yuuri's name is Athanasia. 

If Yuuri thought that would be his last life, he would regret it for the many lives that were to come. He wasn't in any control over his reincarnation cycle, so the least he could do was adjust to them and live them as if they were his last. As he continued to live those many lives, his memory got better. He was able to remember things easily. So it wasn't a surprise many people called him a genius in those lives. Yuuri has been loved and hated, he was respected and envied. But it didn't deter him in the slightest. After all, he was also the man who married Victor Nikiforov in his first life. Or was the man who stole Victor from the world. 
     
                  If he learned anything from living with Victor, it was to enjoy the every bit of life he was given. So he became a world renowned author, a prodigious pianist, a multi talented idol, a famous danseur, a well-respected multimillionaire who dominated the world with his company, an insightful politician, a one of a kind genius scientist. Above all he was always a figure skater in every life. If he didn't become a professional figure skater, he kept skating as a hobby. Nothing in any universe was able to quench his passion for skating, the thrive to become the best at skating.
                 
                    But most of all, it was what brought Yuuri to Vitya. No matter which universe he lived in, which relationship he was part of, he never forgot his Vitya. Yuuri always knew Vitya would always be special to him. So it was a disappointment to him when he realized that there was no Vitya in any life Yuuri lived. So Yuuri buried Victor in the deepest part of his mind, protected the precious memories he shared with Vitya with walls of iron and made a special place for the love he felt for Vitya in his heart that no lover of his will be able to touch. Then he opened his eyes to the 72nd life to find a very familiar and affectionate pair of eyes arrested on his baby body. 

Chapter Text

Mari had been apprehensive when her parents told her that she was about to get a younger sibling. Don't get her wrong she absolutely loved her younger sibling even before he was born. Her parents had told her it was a boy after the baby's gender reveal. But she couldn't help feel wary. She had been an only child for her whole 7 years of life. 

No matter how much her parents loved her, she couldn't help but have doubts. She was worried whether her baby brother even like her, whether she would get along with her brother. She wondered anxiously whether her parents would forget her when they fussed over him or whether they will love him more. Mari knew she wasn't the most adorable or the most prettiest child. She was nervous that they would realise that when they had another child. Mari knew her parents loved her and they hadn't given her any indication that she was ugly. But she was only a 7 years old child. 

So now here was Mari on her way to her mother's hospital room with her father to meet her baby brother for the first time. Well, well. 

"It seems like her baby brother had the lungs of a grown man."

She thought a little amusedly trying to curb her nerves. Toshiya and Mari stepped up into the room just in time to see a nurse pass a bundle of blankets to Hiroko. The moment the baby opened his eyes and saw Hiroko, he stopped crying. Mari saw how his adorable wide eyes grew bigger and melted both her parents' hearts. The baby let out happy baby gurgles as if he recognized his mother.

Mari stood frozen still as her father crossed the room with utter delight radiating from him. She knew she was kind of being dramatic but she was a 7 years old girl. So she can be as dramatic as she wants. Her father had joined to coo at their son over Hiroko's shoulder and the baby raised his arms towards Toshiya as if he wanted to be held by him. Mari knew her parents had already fallen head over heels in love with the baby. 

Mari slowly crept towards the bed as silently as she could so she wouldn't disturb their contentment. But it was all for naught as the baby laid his eyes on her. With that all her doubts disappeared. Because the baby looked at her as he looked at their parents. With pure and unadulterated fondness and affection. She had a passing thought about how can a baby look like that and show such love. The next second she was beaming at her baby brother, who was also beaming at her, if it could even be called that. Because she was sure you can't beam at someone without teeth. Oh well, there's always a first for everything. 

So Mari watched as her brother, Yuuri slowly grew up. Yuuri had always been a quiet child even as a baby. Don't mistake her, Yuuri maybe silent but he was by no means antisocial. He was always smiling and charming the hearts around him left and right with his wide adorable chocolate brown eyes and his squashable chubby cheeks. He had learned to crawl faster than an average baby, learned to walk early than an average baby. Katsuki family had chalked it up to Yuuri trying to imitate them walking. 

But one day they came home to see, Yuuri who was supposed to be sleeping, very much not sleeping. Instead he was reading a book that was about twice his size and very much advanced. The Katsuki family could feel the floor rushing up to meet them when they looked at 2 years old Yuuri. That was the day they realized their son was a genius. Mari observed the progress Yuuri made as he advanced in reading and writing more than his peers as the years flew by. 

When it was the age for Yuuri to attend the elementary school, Mari observed her brother from sidelines as he sat for an exam under skeptical gazes of the principal and the teachers of the elementary school when they told them Yuuri was a genius. Minako sensei had crackled evily that shivers had run down the spines of the people in the immediate vicinity when Hiroko had told her about the teachers' reactions. Not even Mari had been spared. Minako sensei had been a family friend but she had become close to them when Yuuri was born. 

Yuuri had been fond of the wild ballerina just like he was with his family from the moment he met her. Yuuri had gotten to call her 'Auntie Minako'. She had become more of a nuisance when Yuuri had started to walk, begging them to let her teach little Yuuri muttering under her breath about a protege like a crazy woman. To be fair to her, little Yuuri had more grace in his tiny pinky finger than some adults. That's how Yuuri had started getting free lessons from the ballerina at the mere age of 3 years. But Yuuri had been firm in telling Minako sensei that he was going to become a figure skater. He had proved how sincere and determined he was being by starting to skate on ice at Ice Castle in Hasetsu. Little Yuuri had taken to the ice as if a fish taking to the water. 

Now where was Mari. Right. Minako sensei had been cackling like an evil witch. She had called the teachers and the principal 'poor bastards'. Indeed, poor bastards they were. Yuuri had obliterated the exam paper. Figuratively, of course. Her little brother was too polite to do it literally. If only she knew what he would do in the future. Yuuri had scored full marks in the exam paper and had shown a proficiency in many subjects that not even some adults had. He had gained the attention of many well respected people in the whole country. 

He received recognition throughout the whole of Japan and lots of prize money or investments to his future as Yuuri had taken to calling them (He had told so to Toshiya. Sometime Mari had to wonder who was the adult between the two like her father had been doing back then.) for placing first and in the exam rankings. Yuuri had bought a laptop and a phone with that money. He had given the rest of the money to his parents and Mari after dividing it between them. He had told Mari to save the money for her college with such conviction after blinking at her with wide innocent eyes as if he had no doubts she would qualify. Then he had continued with his studies online because he had said it would be awkward to sit between elder students as an elementary sized kid.