Ok, I think a warning is needed here. The story will include girls love, yuri, shoujo-ai, lesbians if you will. No, it won't be a RIGHT ON YOUR FACE type of thing, but it will be present for at least a couple of characters. Fair warning for those who dislike such; for those who don't mind, don't worry, there will be nothing explicit and certainly nothing mature rated beyond the fight scenes.
Also, since this is the Ova-verse, you can be sure at least four girls will appear. You can imagine who.
Also2, do remember that the opening scene of the OVA ended with Black Gold Saw skewering Black Rock, with VERY clear amounts of blood and gore flying out of Rock's body. I'll keep the strongest violence around those levels at their strongest points but ONLY for the fight scenes.
Hope you enjoy my interpretation of Dead Master and Black Rock's fight.
Black Rock Shooter: Honest Hearts
Chapter 2
The Black Queen
It wasn't the largest among the other cathedrals, nor the most luxuriously decorated, but this was the one. They forced the huge wooden doors open and made their way down halls with checkered floors, passing by beautiful glass windows, knocked down pews, and large crosses until they reached a set of large black iron doors. They stood in front of the barrier, looking up at the seemingly innocent-looking doors and tried to push them open.
Sadness, betrayal and hopelessness, so many feelings in their minds, just give up and it will end... They shook their head harshly, making their long hair wave whip around and then soldiered forward. Those weren't their feelings, they wouldn't hold them down. The metal groaned with a ghastly sound and they made their way into a great hall, seeing more checkered floors and walls, and columns in different states of decay covering almost every surface, but the giant stained glass miraculously remained untouched, able to show beautiful and sorrowful images.
At the end of the hall, atop a throne of black steel and velvet, sat a girl with metallic horns growing out of her hair and a pair of bone wings sprouting out of her back. A giant scythe rested on her metallic claws, perfectly at ease despite its size and wicked edge. Wavy black hair cascaded down to her shoulders, seamlessly blending with the black of her lovely dress, with a white ribbon and a skull pin on their hip to finish her beautiful looks.
Bored eyes of an acid green color stared them down. Complex and glowing pupils seemed to shine brighter with a candle-like light for a moment when she noticed their presence but she didn't acknowledged them beyond that.
Like silent guardians, two giant skulls made out of black metal floated around the throne, a neon green light pouring out of the eye-sockets and their maws.
"Is... Yomi...sh-she's Yomi!" Mato gasped, looking up at what could be Yomi in a couple years. The same regal stance, the same fine and lovely looks, in a body that no middle-school girl could have.
"She is not... is she..." Shooter whispered and closed her eyes.
She may look different now, but that didn't mean she wasn't her Princess. She stepped forward and reached out an outstretched hand towards the Black Queen of this domain.
The other girl simply lifted a sardonic eyebrow and did nothing more.
"Come on... let's go home, together," Rock said in a growl of a whisper.
The winged girl looked down for a moment. "I... I am not going back," Yomi replied in a lofty tone.
"Please..."
"I have nowhere to go back to," Yomi said in a harsh voice, eyes narrowing dangerously. "Nowhere I belong to."
"You can belong with us..."
"I tried... I tried so hard but you... no, no more pain... No. More!" she lashed out with her scythe and the skulls rushed forward!
Rock managed to dodge the first one but the second... she groaned, picking herself out of the crater caused by the impact of her body being pounded into the ground. She could hear Mato whimpering in pain in the back of her mind, but right now she couldn't deal with her, Mato would have to endure.
Yomi stood atop her throne, staring down at Shooter with a stony look.
"Will you accept my feelings? My desire?" she purred. "Will you?"
Something within Rock stirred at that voice. It made her chest swell and an "eagerness" rushed through her veins. It was something animalistic, something basic that called out for Rock to answer Yomi's request.
A blue flame flared out of Rock's left eye and the dark Yomi smiled pleasantly.
Black steel shrieked, blue flames roared, sparks licked their skin, and Rock knew she wanted this not-Yomi. She desired her in a way she couldn't desire Yomi. The feeling rushing through her veins made her want to pin this dark Yomi to the ground, keep her close and- and... what then?
Wanting Yomi in this way felt... twisted. Not right. But not this dark Yomi... this Queen... she could take everything and give just as much...
Spear tipped chains with barbed and bladed links, black scythe and metallic skulls flew through the air in a dizzying dance that promised death with Yomi's lithe body waltzing in the middle of the whirlwind of death, moving with a majestic precision in Rock's direction. But Rock never backed down, she faced everything head on no matter how many times she was knocked down and slashed open, she kept launching herself into the middle of it all to be closer to her Queen.
This dark Yomi noticed and smiled. She smiled in a way Yomi would never smile. A simple gesture that made Mato gasp out and flinch away, deeper into Rock's mind.
It was twisted, cruel, sadistic, promising only pain.
It almost made Rock's heart beat hard enough to burst out of her chest.
She raised her cannon against the dark Yomi and Mato screamed, begging Rock to stop, but the other girl ignored her. With a simple twitch of her fingers she opened fire, firing hundreds of energy encased bullets in Yomi's direction. Rock could see the winged girl smiling widely and then outrun the incoming attack, and she jumped, bounced, cartwheeled around the bullets, letting the projectiles destroy the ground, walls and everything around her. Rock even forced the bullets to change their path in mid flight, but that wasn't enough to even graze Yomi. She ran until she was forced against a wall and then she just stood there, her smile growing an inch wider facing the approaching bullet hell.
The side of the cathedral started to crumble, giant bullet holes -big enough to drive a bus through- weakened the structure enough to collapse on its own weight. Dust clouds raised all over the place as debris started to rain down, making it impossible to see anything two steps away.
Mato was screaming, begging Rock to stop, to not hurt Yomi, but the other girl ignored her. She knew there was nothing to worry about, after all Rock could feel Yomi's excitement...
The two black skulls floated around her, hissing a guttural sound and then there were the sound of steps. Light, deliberate and confident, she walked out of the dust clouds seemingly without a care, lazily twirling her scythe with a single hand as if it were weightless. The boring look Yomi gave them clearly said: "Is that all?"
Rock simply lifted her cannon again, ready to keep on firing, but Yomi didn't give them time to even get started. She swung her scythe and Rock and Mato had but a blink to see the dust parting and the ground, walls and ceiling warping outwards before they felt a crushing force trying to tear them apart. They endured, Mato doing everything she could to not scream in agony while Rock kept their body in a single piece but the place wasn't as resilient. The floors fractured and cracked open at their feet, making them plummet to the darkness below.
They dodged the falling stone blocks and righted themselves, preparing to fly up again when they noticed Yomi already dropping on them. Yomi quickly overpowered Rock and forced her to the ground like a black missile, but the blue eyed girl recovered immediately and opened fire at the approaching black skulls. Even when she landed gently on her feet she kept on firing, the roar of the cannon deafening every other sound but those skulls simply shrugged off the bullet hell; it was too late to dodge and the skulls once again flattened Rock's body against the ground, causing the underground passage to groan and shake with the impact.
Stubbornly she got up and aimed her cannon at the returning skulls but even Mato was telling her to change tactics by now. "We still have that sword, right?"
Rock seriously doubted that frail looking sword would do them any good... but...
"It changed before, why not again?" Mato pointed out and Rock blinked. "Like a hero's weapon in anime or something."
"How?" Rock muttered, charging up a bullet with as much of their blue fire as possible, even though it wouldn't do them any good.
"... There, there is something burning inside us..."
Rock blinked. She knew which something Mato meant, the same flame that had given them the body they now occupied, the one that had flared when that black blade first showed up. The blue fire that had been gathering around the bullet was violently released, flooding the cannon with the otherworldly energy, changing the cannon into a giant and warped blade, just as big as their previous weapon was.
The skulls were already upon them but this time Shooter charged right back at them, letting the blue fire burn through their arm and into the black blade. Two swift slashes and the skulls were cut in half, their remains breaking and burning into blue and white cinders in an instant.
They heard a metallic jingle and looked up. The whole place looked like gigantic catacombs, with several chains of titanic sizes tied to the walls, floors and ceiling. Yomi was standing on top of one of these chains, looking down at them with an odd expression on her face. The twisted smile that made Rock's heart flutter was gone, replaced by a look that didn't suit her at all.
"Enough?" Rock asked, looking up at the Queen of the domain.
"I thought... I thought I had done enough... but I could never reach you, didn't I, Mato? I could never be at your side," Yomi asked, much to Mato's and Rock's surprise. They knew, they thought... they had always been together with Yomi, hadn't they? Even when there was other world keeping them apart, they had been together.
Right?
"Yomi...?"
The winged girl jumped off the chain, soaring above Rock to reach a side corridor and escape. Rock and Mato immediately gave chase, determined to get their Princess and Queen back.
They kept on battling, trading blows that could have torn the other apart if the area they were fighting in was any indication. Deep gouges running over the every surface, warped corridors that tried to expand outwards, chains bursting through the concrete and mortar as if the world were made out of sheets of paper.
Mato was trying to keep her mind from blanking out despite being terrified out of her mind, stubbornly determined to be there for Rock and Yomi. Rock for her part was doing everything she could to keep up with Yomi's sudden frantic and almost uncanny battle skills. Yomi called forth ton upon ton worth of black chains in a final attempt to keep Rock and Mato away, but the blue eyed girls never stopped pushing forward. They would never stop trying to get their Princess and Queen back, breaking every chain that tried to hold them back.
The battle took them deeper and deeper into the catacombs, until they finally reached a large chamber with a pillar made of weapons, twisted metal and many more. All pilled together in a mockery of a monument, bound to the chamber by black chains and on top of it all, Yomi stood tall, a Queen above everything in the domain, ready to keep on fighting.
Several spear-tipped chains shot down at Rock, punching through the stone with ease. The long haired girl managed to dodge but only had a moment to recover before Yomi ran down the length of chain, spinning her scythe with the intent of decapitating Rock.
Rock looked at the taller girl and for a moment tried to convey her desire for her, causing Yomi to stagger back for an all too brief moment, before the fight started again. Far more brutal for their shared amusement and Mato's mounting terror.
After a particularly vicious exchange of blows, Rock put some distance between them but Yomi immediately gave chase. Seeing the green eyed girl closing in, Rock morphed the black blade back into the black cannon and opened fire, knowing once again it would be useless as Yomi started to dance around the giant blue shots. The winged girl gave her a mocking grin before jumping high to the chains running over the hall and Rock trained her sights on her. She knew she wouldn't hit Yomi, she didn't want to, but at least could deny her the advantage of the chains, blasting them to bits.
That was when Yomi came back down after her and the world slowed down.
Yomi swung the blade down after Rock's head, the black scythe barely missed her. The blade buried itself deep into the ground, but using her momentum, Yomi threw her body forward, spinning forward to dislodge the scythe, and in the process bring it down once again at Rock, all in a single movement that lasted less than a heartbeat. The shorter girl deflected the blow using the black cannon, somehow managing to remain unscathed but Yomi immediately spun low, lashing out her leg.
Rock had a moment to blink as their legs were kicked off from under them. She could hear the sound of the black scythe slicing the air and she looked up at Yomi. An excited smile grew on the green eyed girl's face as she brought down the scythe one final time, intending to cut Rock apart.
"Stop!"
A bang and then a clank caused the three girls to stop and stare.
Mato had taken control for just a moment and fired, somehow managing to blow the blade on Yomi's scythe clean off. The three stared at the melted off part on top of the ruined weapon and blinked.
Yomi tossed the scrapped weapon away as if it were so much trash and then licked slowly... loudly... shamelessly her clawed finger, staring intently into Rock's blue eyes.
Rock felt her mouth going dry.
The green eyed girl jumped high and Rock and Mato had only a moment of rest before chains grew out of Yomi's back, instantly coming to life and going after Rock, punching through the concrete with monstrous strength before coming to life and moving like living creatures. Rock did everything she could to dodge, following Mato's frantic directions whenever an attack tried to sneak up on them.
A flash of green made Rock dodge blindly, barely managing to toss their head to the side and just getting a glancing blow to their temple instead of getting their head punched off by Yomi. Mato shouted a warning but Rock couldn't keep up! She could see Yomi sneaking through the living chains, dodging under Rock's wild swept with their cannon and then the wind was knocked out of their lungs as Yomi kicked them off the ground.
Dozens of living chains fell on them from every direction, coiling around their arms and legs, their torso and their neck and then started to crush them! Mato couldn't handle the torture and blacked out almost immediately, leaving Rock to try to break free, but any chain she managed to break was just as quickly replaced by three more, squeezing their body, trying to grind their bones to a fine dust!
The tightening chain around her neck was causing black spots to dance in front of Rock's eyes and she barely noticed Yomi walking closer, chuckling to herself and then everything went black.
Mato blinked.
Her body felt numb all over, everything was tingling and aching and she wanted to move but anything she did made her body scream don't move! She thought dropping on her back from the basketball's hoop had hurt, man she had no idea!
She tried to rise a hand to block that white light that was drilling into her skull but that only made things worst.
Mainly because instead of an arm what rose was a "bunch" of more light and fire...
She tried to scream and put off the flames of her arm but nothing came out of her mouth other than a sound that wasn't a sound, a sound that reminded her of her guitar, and her arm... just made the light and flames move around.
"This, no, nono! I'm not burning!"
The flames and light suddenly snuffed leaving in their place flesh and bone... and bruises and cuts and scrapes and injuries all over!
"Ugh!" Mato curled in herself, clutching her stomach and pulling her knees to her chest. "Wh-what happened?" she gasped, feeling vile rushing up her throat. She tried to look at herself but the tears blurred her vision and they just didn't stop coming out!
Everything burned! Every single movement made everything hurt!
She gasped for breath between sobs of agony, not understanding why everything hurt so much and what was this place and why was she floating on nothing and why was she... naked?
That was enough to derail her train of thought and she forgot the pain for a moment. The lack of witnesses eased her embarrassment but did little to explain what was going on here. The last thing she remembered was Yomi about to...
"Yomi!" she gasped, uncurling her body and wildly looking around.
She had found her, she had found her Yomi! In that strange cathedral and Yomi... Yomi had been trying to kill her... no, Yomi had been trying to kill them both and Rock liked to fight way too much. Like in a scary creepy way.
Mato covered her face with both hands, letting out a pained sigh. Teaming up with Black Rock had been such a good idea at first, the whole being two in single body had been odd at first but they just hit it off well without problems. But the taller girl kept getting distracted with the oddest things and Rock wanted to keep on fighting and fighting with Yomi for some reason. If Mato didn't know Rock wanted Yomi back with them she would have been worried.
Only... Yomi didn't want to go back. She had said she didn't want to be hurt again, hadn't she?
Somebody had... hurt... hurt Yomi... Mato clenched her fists without realizing it, bitting her lip so hard it started to bleed. Somebody had hurt Yomi and Mato was going to make sure that person paid for it!
… Well, if she managed to get out of this place anyway.
She looked around but couldn't find anything that could tell her where she was. It was all white and blue, and there were a few stars in the fog-like whiteness but beyond that, nothing... except for a little touch of green. Blinking, she focused on her left hand, finally noticing a little something.
Around her left wrist was a little green star attached to a little chain... Yomi's cellphone strap... the same one Mato had given her, man, it felt like so long ago. Back in her world, Mato had received a missed phone call from Yomi and somehow she just knew she had to look for her right then, else she would never find Yomi. She had gone to their special place but instead of Yomi, she had only found the little strap. It had let her know Yomi needed help, but she never thought it would be this kind of help...
A new pillar of flames came to life in front of Mato and she shielded her eyes with her arm... but she lowered it pretty soon noticing something weird. The fire wasn't even hot...
"What the hell?" she muttered and the "fire" snapped in her direction.
"Mato?"
The short haired girl recognized that voice, so new and so nostalgic at the same time. "Rock?"
It was so weird watching a girl made out of light and fire "nodding". Rock must have noticed she was on fire too because she started to "look" down to her "hands" and "body".
"Don't worry, you're not really burning," Mato reassured her and the flames disappeared.
Rock "stood" stiff like a board for a moment and then sort of... twitched. "O-ow..." Mato winced in sympathetic pain; she totally forgot she hadn't felt pain while she was a flame.
"Sorry," she floated next to Rock and rubbed circles on the other girl's back. She hadn't really noticed before, but Rock was tall, at least a head taller than Mato, and had long, long hair... and she was very hurt too, just as hurt as Mato, except for that big scar on her hip, running all the way around her leg. It almost looked as if it had been cut and then brutally sewn together. "Any idea where we are?"
"... Here," Rock said. Mato waited and waited some more.
"...And?"
"Here we are."
"... and where is here?"
"I have no way of knowing, Mato, you are the one who was here before I arrived," Rock said in such matter-of-factly tone that the shorter girl simply shut up her mouth. She knew Rock wasn't trying to insult her, but Mato really wasn't used to a person of such few words.
"We still need to find a way to get out of here, though," Mato muttered, looking around and trying not to focus on all the wounds covering Rock's body. "Yomi is out there and I have to get her back."
"Yomi..."
"Somebody hurt her," Mato muttered to herself and she started a little at the sound of Rock's knuckles making cracking sounds. "Yeah, I'm gonna find whoever hurt her and they are going to be sorry."
"Yomi..."
"Hmm?"
"Yomi was hurt... in your world," Rock said simply, looking away.
Mato recoiled as if Rock had struck her on the face and she swallowed thickly. She... she knew what Rock was trying to say and... it hurt... because she knew Rock was right. There was no way she could deny it. Mato had promised to protect Yomi, to always be there for her and she... she...
"I fought...," Rock whispered and Mato turned away.
She couldn't face the other girl now, feeling like the lowest. She hadn't really done anything to help get Yomi back... She had only caused problems and acted like an idiot in front of the only person who could help her. The only person who had really tried to help Yomi. Rock... Rock had every right to be angry at Mato, right? She had every right to blame her for doing nothing at all...
"I failed."
Mato whirled around and stared in disbelief at the tall girl. Mato was extremely upset with herself but it was nothing compared to the sheer hate in Rock's voice at her own failure.
"Ro-Rock?" Mato tried to get the other girl's attention and then gently took her by the shoulders when that failed. "Hey, hey Rock, no you, ah, crap, don't say that..." she finished lamely. What could she say to cheer up her only ally here?
"I... failed..."
"Rock... you... yeah, you screwed up," Mato said bluntly and Rock looked up. Mato had to fight down the urge to take back her words at seeing the look in Rock's eyes. She remembered how emotionless yet so incredibly strong Rock's eyes were, so unlike the naked pain she was showing now. "Yes, fighting Yomi didn't solve anything."
"Yes..." Rock tried to look down but Mato forced her to keep the eye contact.
"Fighting her doesn't work, so we have to find a new way to do this, right? Look!" she raised her left hand, showing Rock the little cellphone strap. "Yomi left this where I could find it. She was asking for our help, she wants to be saved!"
Yeah, Mato was sure of it! They just had to find-.
"A new way," Rock muttered, nodding slowly. The taller girl looked intently at Mato and the smaller girl did her best to not fidget when she noticed Rock's pupils glowed, just like Yomi's had done in the cathedral. "Giving up-."
"-won't solve anything, so we just have to keep on trying, no matter how many times it takes! Yomi needs us so we can't stay here moping around! We will find a way to save Yomi and we will take her back home!"
Mato looked into Rock's eyes, finding now comfort in that glow that reminded her so much of a flame.
"Never give up."
She smiled, feeling that burning fire in her chest coming back to life, beating in harmony with her own heartbeat.
"Can't give up!"
Then the side of their chest split open.
Mato saw a large, deep wound appearing over Rock's left ribs, pouring so, so much blood and she knew... she knew a wound just like that was the cause of that horrible pain on her own side...
The world went from white and blue to red and black in a moment and Mato only managed to whisper one thing.
"Yo...mi..."
Then she mercifully fainted.
To be continued.
There we go, finally Mato gets to have her own narration.
I hope I did a good job making Mato's and Rock's perspectives different enough. They may have the same goals, but they are very different.
Big thanks to Geo Fighter for the review and all the people who fav'd and follow the story. I would thank you even more if you leave a little review, though. Just want to know what you're liking so far or what you would like to see or if you have any question, etc. You know the drill.
Next chapter, the conclusion of the beginning.