"Bye, Grandpa!" Niko said it as she rushed out the door, already leaping onto her bike. Her grandpa in question didn't even get a chance to respond before the door slammed behind her, and Niko was off.
A mental checklist went up in her brain. She needed coffee. Then she would go to school. She'd wing the rest.
There was nothing special about today, just like how the rest of the days had gone. And honestly? Niko was kind of glad about that. It was nearing six months since everything had started, and she just wanted to forget about it all like the rest of Keres had.
Six months since her grandpa got sick. Six months since the sky darkened. Six months since the meteor shower, and six months since….
Since Chikara had disappeared along with twenty-six other teenagers.
Niko shook her head. No, no. She had sworn to herself that she'd push it all back, that she wouldn't dwell on it. For her sake, and for her grandpa's sake. Chikara wouldn't want her to be as depressed as she was almost six months ago.
No, there was nothing special about today. Niko would just head to Luros Preparatory as always, barely passing classes and doing nothing after school but going home, having empty conversations with Madison and Aria.
Was it the future she wanted? No. But it was the future she had, and she didn't need anything different or life changing.
Life could just stay stagnant like this.
"You can't run forever, little messenger."
The voice echoed in Sollari's ears as they ran. People barely looked up as they weaved between human legs, clamoring over leather shoes.
It should have struck Sollari as odd. Messengers were either welcomed or feared, not ignored. But they only cared about getting away. Ritzu would be close behind.
"The Everlasting knows you will never make another Pretty Cure. You are a failure, and you only came here in a fruitless attempt to save a much better messenger."
Creatures of the Vertex didn't have stardrops. There was no point to Ritzu's tauntings. Which meant...which meant….they were all true.
No! Sollari wouldn't believe that. They'd lie to themself over and over again before they believed it. They could do anything. They could, they could…
"Lead me to your new child. Your divine saviour."
They wouldn't. But they could feel Ritzu, they could feel them…was it already too late? Was their soul spark damaged, like a stardrop in a human who had lost their hope?
"Your celestial."
Sollari's rust-red tail twitched. Their nose knew where they were going, even if their brain was preoccupied. The girl with the pink stardrops. Their saviour. The last child who had known Cure Star, even indirectly.
They didn't know her name, but they would know. They had to. It was their duty as a messenger of the Vertex Core.
It was a reach, but it was all Sollari had. Lune was gone. Star was gone. The only one who had known Star's identity was gone.
Sollari knew they were a failure of a messenger. Every Pretty Cure they had had never lasted very long, not even in training. Their power wasn't strong enough.
They didn't know how to make Pretty Cure, but they knew Lune. And they had to...they had to…..
They had to try. For Lune's sake.
It was the future they wanted. Sollari and Lune, the sun and the moon, day and night…
Their best friend was lost, and Sollari would not give into darkness.
So they continued to run.
I will find you, purikyua, ari. For our future, ari.
For the future of the sun above, I will fight, ari.
For the future of the sun above, I will fight.
Niko's head suddenly felt like it had been stabbed.
Her bike wobbled and toppled over, and Niko was crumpled on the sidewalk.
For the future of the sun above.
Without thinking, Niko's hands moved up to unclip her helmet. She had to get it off, off, because it had to be the one stabbing her head like this.
In only a few strokes, the silver helmet slammed to the ground. Alright. Step one done.
The second was to get up. Get up, and then she could walk somewhere, get some advil. Or maybe coffee. She needed something.
She hadn't hit something while she was biking, had she? No, the path was clear. Cars zoomed by, but nothing had stopped for even a second.
It was normal. It had to be just a headache, not anything special.
"No, no, it was weird. I heard it in my head, Ni. In my head - don't laugh! God, this is why I don't tell you stuff. Hey, hey, I don't mean that. It's a joke, alright? I tell you everything."
"I mean, you're like my only friend. Yeah, that is kinda depressing, huh?"
No. No no no no.
Life could stay stagnant. It had to. It had to. It had to.
Niko pushed herself up, legs still shaking.
Just had to get to school. Nothing ever happened at Luros. Aria, and Madison, and everyone...they just rambled on about tv shows or games and it was all mindless nonsense they knew was just to avoid talking about anything real.
Niko liked that. It was normal.
You're wrong. Nothing is normal anymore.
Niko almost screamed.
The whole world pulsed in and out.
Stop it, stop it! She thought. It was telepathy or something stupid like that, right? Just more nonsense that wasn't real. So if she said stop it, it would stop.
I'm at the park. Please help me. I can help you.
The park. That wasn't anything specific, but somehow...somehow Niko just knew. There was a park just across the street, and that would be fine.
Please stop it.
Niko took one step, than another, her entire body tense. If she got a return message, she might collapse in the middle of the street.
A flash of green light started her moving. One step. Two steps. Three steps.
She had left her bike behind. Niko inwardly cursed.
Four steps. Five steps.
Why was this happening? Nothing had done this for six months. Not since the calls for help had resounded in everyone's minds for miles, seconds before the meteor shower.
Even that hadn't hurt so much. It was more subconscious, a simple you have to help, go before everything ended.
No one had made it in time - wherever it was - before everything ended anyway.
Niko was pretty sure the official explanation for the two-week panic was gas leaks, or something equally as stupid.
The teenagers knew what had happened. It was their friends who had vanished from existence, after all.
You know, until everyone forgot.
Niko had lost count of her steps. She was in the park now, tennis shoes sinking in tanbark as she walked through the trees.
"Ari," came a squeak. Niko tensed, hands balling into fists.
Probably just a squirrel. Or a bird. It was nothing, nothing.
There was a cafe stall in the park. Just walk towards there, and get a coffee. It was a stupid idea, but Niko held onto it.
"You can hear me, right, ari?"
That wasn't a squeak.
A tiny white squirrel-like body dropped from a tree to the tanbark below. It raised its head, revealing twin glittering black eyes.
It was more bunny-like than a squirrel, with long burnt orange ears, though they were rounded rather than pointed. The bunny's tail was the most interesting - a rust red trail that seemed at least a foot long.
"Help me, ari. You're the only one that can, ari."
Niko took a step backwards.
"I think you've got the wrong person. I only came here cause I wanted my head to stop hurting." The words flowed out of her mouth too quickly, but they were true.
The bunny winced.
"Sorry, ari. I should have known it would hurt you, ari. I shouldn't have forced the link, ari…but I need you, ari."
Niko held a hand out. Things needed to stop for at least one second.
"Need me for -" Niko cut herself off. First, she needed an explanation. "Who are you? And why the hell can you talk?"
The bunny stood up on two legs, their eyes shining with fear and determination.
"I am the solar messenger Sollari et Al of the Vertex Core, ari. You can call me Sollari, ari. I'm here because my friends have been captured, and you're the only one I know, ari." Sollari's tail swayed from left to right, like a cat ready to pounce.
"But I don't...I don't know you?" It came out more like a question. Sollari's eyes shimmered once more, but it seemed more like tears hidden out of sight.
"You knew Chikara Oshiro, ari?"
Niko paled. Her hands curled into fists once more, nails digging into the skin of her palms.
"Why would you ask that?"
Sollari didn't falter.
"But you knew her, ari?"
Niko nodded. She couldn't think of a response.
"Then you're the one, ari. You have to...you have to help me, ari."
"Why would you..." No one had said Chikara's name in months.
"I'll explain later. Please, ari. They're coming, ari."
Well, the messenger or whatever wasn't going to answer her questions.
Niko, against all better instinct, scooped up Sollari in her arms and walked into the park.
Text message from Aria: Niko?
Text message from Aria: Are you okay?
Text message from Aria: Where are you?
Text message from Mads: dude where the hell are you
Text message from Mads: if you leave us to do this presentation on our own i will drop kick you out the window
You: busy
You: i'll be there
You sent a photo.
Text message from Mads: that's blurry as hell dude
Text message from Aria: Busy with what?
You: chikara
Aria and Mads are typing...
"A mocha for Niko?"
Niko looked up from her phone. The cafe server, a lady not much older than Niko with dark blue hair down her back, held an exceedingly large coffee cup in her hands.
"Thanks," Niko mumbled, and took the cup. She shouldn't have said Chikara. She was going to need a lot of caffeine to deal with the fallout of that decision.
Despite beginning to sip the searing drink, Niko still felt a gaze on her back. She looked up once more to see the server still looming over her.
"Is that...a bunny?"
Don't tell them.
With a pounding ache in her head, Niko looked at Sollari, hidden inside her backpack. The "messenger" didn't show any signs of movement.
Niko took another sip.
"Stuffed animal," she replied, voice flat. The server looked skeptical, but turned to go back to the coffee cart.
Thank you.
Niko held her forehead in her empty hand.
"Don't do that," she muttered. "Hurts."
Sollari squirmed in the backpack, upset. Or were they uncomfortable?
I-
Sollari seemed to realize their mistake as soon as they started, burrowing deeper into the jumble of books in Niko's backpack.
"Hope it's not eating any," she muttered. She really shouldn't feel bad for it. It was basically blackmailing her into helping it through the whole telepathy thing.
But...it didn't know it was hurting her.
Niko sighed. Better not to make an enemy just yet.
Turning behind her, Niko scooped up Sollari and placed them on her lap.
"That better?" she asked.
Sollari nodded, curling up on her lap.
Niko sipped her mocha with one hand, petting Sollari with the other.
Text message from Mads: why the hell would you
Text message from Mads: this isn't funny
Text message from Aria: Niko?
Niko shut her phone off.
"Sollari."
The bunny raised their head slightly, orange ears pressed flat.
"What does this have to do with Chikara?" It still felt so wrong to say her name like that, like it was all still happening. Like everyone had hope they'd find the missing teenagers.
Sollari pressed themself against Niko's lap, unwilling to answer. It was so different than the unfaltering speech of before, or the commanding voice in her head.
"Sollari," Niko tried again, a bit sterner. Sollari only shook their head. "Sollari, please."
"They came after her, ari. They wanted to get to Lune, to Star, so they came after her, ari."
It took a second for Niko to realize that Sollari had said it. They looked so sad, bundled up with their long tail wrapping around them.
"They dissolved her, like they did to everyone else, ari. They took the light of hope from her, ari."
Niko's mocha seemed to taste bitter all of a sudden.
"What do you mean?" Niko wasn't expecting an answer, but Sollari finally met her eyes with their own.
"Stardrops, ari. You humans have them, ari. The light of hope and the power of creation, together as your very essence, ari. The Outer Limits -" that must be who 'they' were, Niko noted, "- extract the light of hope, ari. Without the light of hope, the power of creation means nothing, ari. The human breaks down into despair, ari."
"Then why did no one notice this 'despair'?" Sollari looked grave.
"I meant it literally, ari. The human literally dissolves into despair energy, ari."
Niko wasn't thirsty anymore.
"And that...that's what happened to Chikara. The twenty-seven teens…"
Sollari nodded.
"It will happen to more, ari. The Outer Limits don't just want the light of hope - they want the power of creation, ari. So they will try again, ari. Again and again…."
Niko decided to change the subject.
"So," she tried, feeling a little better when Sollari raised their head again, "what happened to, um, Lune? Or was it Star?"
Sollari's face fell along with Niko's heart.
"Lune, ari…"
Sollari's eyes shimmered with small tears. Were they going to start crying? Niko grabbed one of the napkins she had set next to her mocha.
Sollari sniffed, and rubbed their eyes.
"Lune is...the moon, ari. Bright but gentle, unyielding but kind, ari. A guiding light, ari."
Sollari made a motion to sink back into Niko's lap, but stayed where they were.
"I am the sun, ari. Too bright, ari. Too strong, ari. You look to me as a beacon of hope, and I can only sear in response, ari. I burn people with my own arrogance, ari."
"What...happened?" Niko knew she wasn't going to get a response. Sollari curled around themselves once more.
"We should go, ari."
"Huh?" The park was still abandoned. No one would notice Sollari here, except for maybe the two cafe ladies.
"They'll be coming, ari."
That was all the justification Niko really wanted. She scooped Sollari up in her arms, slid her backpack back on, and pushed herself up from the cafe table.
Holding Sollari to her chest, she walked quickly away. A quick look behind her told her that both the barista and the server weren't looking.
Then why could she still feel a gaze on her?
Wings spread wide.
The fairy couldn't run forever. Even if they had found their so-called saviour, it was nothing but false hope.
Though truly, all hope was false. Ritzu had learned that long ago.
They cracked a smile under their bird-like mask.
Stupid fairy. They had tried to reason with the solar messenger, if not for very long. Ritzu was more patient than their subordinates, but that didn't mean much. Pretty much anyone was more patient than the Trinity.
However, patience in interrogating and patience in stalking prey were two very, very different things.
"Ritzu? Ritzu?" A quick look down told them that one of the Trinity in question, Rune, was currently trying to establish connection between their heart links. The kuriline's face rippled across the surface of the violet heart on Ritzu's chest.
Ritzu wasn't particularly fond of kurilines as a species, much less Rune. She had her merits when it come to gathering the light of hope - particularly with the kurilines' ability to store energy in their antennae - but she was still a petulant little child. A petulant young kuriline with the ability to shapeshift was never good.
Still, they detached the heart from their chest and held it up to their face. Rune's four white eyes lit up.
"Ah, you picked up! That's -" and there came the hissing crackle Rune peppered into her sentences as much as Nebulous did with her human "curses" - "-ing new. Not complaining, though!" Another hiss, though this one was most likely laughter. Ritzu had learned to pick up on the context of each hiss.
"What do you want, Rune?" Rune frowned, though Ritzu didn't know why. She had called them, after all.
"Don't get snappy. Neb and Merc want updates. Are we going after the messenger or not?"
"I am going after the messenger. You are to wait for instructions." Rune's frown deepened into a scowl.
"Oh yeah?" The words came out in an angry hiss, not unlike a earth cat.
"Yes, 'oh yeah.' I am attempting to cut the messenger off before they create a new legendary warrior." Rune's eyes widened at the word warrior. She was still a coward, Ritzu mused. "If I fail, it is up to the Trinity to take them down."
Rune looked away from the heart, shaking her head.
"You're still an asshole...but fine. Get the messenger by yourself. But I get to get the information out of it."
Without a goodbye, or any real sense of professionalism, Rune disappeared.
Ritzu snapped the heart back onto their chest.
They would do this themself. Time to get to work.
