A/N: well, now we can get into the meat of the story….here's the first full length chapter.

Chapter 2

"A duality, such as the past and forthcoming future, are little more than pompous renderings of a moment in time. Two paths, one distinctive answer. One path laced with hope, the other drenched in sorrow. It mattered not where a person steps. Oh, not at all, because in the end, the mere assumption that fate could indeed be changed is redundant at best…completely asinine at worst. Isn't that just delightful?"

It was a laugh filled with spite that haunted her. That self-indulgent, and often entirely twisted view of the world that tormented her. A web so tangled, it was worse than a widow's deadly coil that trapped her. This was a voice she'd heard before, calling her, bespeaking horrible things that would leave only the vilest of people on the planet wanting more…and yet, there was a strange kindness as well.

…gentleness in that distant, unknown voice, who so sought her…
…who prodder her, as one might while trying to stoke dying flames…
…and who remained unreachable, unattainable, and entirely unbelievable…
…that distant voice, who was fierce as the hells, and as impossibly frozen as such a place…

"Fire princess, hear my call." That selfsame enchantress said in the distance of a dark emptiness. It spanned all around. "Allow my words to reach you, to guide you, and to show you the way. You will not regret it, I assure you."

The woman who heard the voice looked around, but found nothing. The area was as black at pitch around her, and her vision was hindered by the absence of light. "What way?" She asked, trying to see through the thick nothingness. "Where are you?" It was stifling, a thick madness dipping into her gut every time she took a breath. The air was like molasses. "It isn't like I can actually see anything." She added, not that she felt it would help her case.

"Heed my warnings, girl. Do that much. Understand the wisdom that is not yet at your fingertips. Reach for it, and grasp hold." The voice was clearly an advocate from the devil himself…or a she-devil hell bent on making havoc. "Do not fail." It spat curtly, as if the order was a command of nature itself. It was this duality that frightened the girl who heard the creature talk. "Follow thy own spirit beyond the fog of doubt. Journey into the precipice of eternal emotion. Defy that which binds you, and see purely truth." The voice said without missing a beat. "Only then will you understand."

"I…don't understand I don't think I can, or, even if I will." Mai called out. "That's the problem."

"Find the light, HiME." The voice told her. "You are bearer of the fire dragon, Kagutsuchi. You are the princess who shall be named the queen of the obsidian throne. You fought to earn it. You are precisely where you need to be, fear not."

"No, you're wrong." Mai murmured in disbelief. "We won…"

"Such a trite belief, if I do say so myself." The voice laughed.

She couldn't believe otherwise, she wouldn't let herself fall into the pit of such doubt. "We won against the obsidian lord, and things went back to normal. Everything's okay now." She bit the inside of her lip, believing this had to be a horrible dream, but she tasted blood.

"Maybe…" The voice said cunningly, as if she didn't particularly care about the redhead in her clutches. "Maybe, everything is as you say it is. I wouldn't be bothered. Even if I were to be, it changes nothing." The creature that blended in so perfect in the darkness merely laughed.

"I have hopes and dreams for the future." Mai said, her hands curling into fists. "I can almost sense that this isn't the place I belong." If biting into her cheeks didn't work, maybe digging into her palms would. "I can tell that I'm someplace I shouldn't be."

"There is no victory where fate demands the flow of time." The female apparition concluded after a moment, as if it had considered Mai's words. "It was fruitless, mind you, to assume that you would find solace by destroying the guiding star of your power."

"But we did beat it." Mai shot back, but to whom, she had no idea. The voice, one shrouded in darkness, was undefinable, and yet, seemed to be kindred spirit somehow. So close, and yet, so very far away. "I know that we overcame the fight…that everyone came back. I remember it clearly."

"If only such an auspicious joy was the fate of the HiME." The voice chuckled softly, a gentle admonishment slipping from its lips. "Open your eyes, and see the world that is before you…take a look at your kingdom, and your domain. With this such gift, scornful though it is, you are indeed a queen."

"No…I'm not..." Mai said, but now, she started to doubt herself. "I'll never be anything of the sort."

"Dear girl, if it was so easy to avoid such a fate, isn't it also presumable that others have shared your plight? That others have dreamed and desired the same?" The sultry voice chuckled, clearly like that of a woman. "Others have forged this path before, there is no escape."

"But, that can't be right." Mai protested, as if fighting with the disembodied voice in the absolute darkness would change anything. "Mikoto has the stiches on her side to prove it, and Takumi went to get his operation, so I know everything's okay…it's got to be." She shot back, as if arguing would prove that this was a dream. A hallucination from some spoiled food, and nothing more.

"If only it were so simple to achieve such happiness." The voice said softly, as if admonishing a mere child. "Let's play pretend. Let's say, your delusional beliefs actually happened. Let's say that truly is the matter at hand."

"It isn't a game." Mai said defiantly. "I know it's the truth!"

"If it were true, wouldn't you believe that we of the past have also thought to destroy the star?" The voice asked without a hint of venom. "Don't you believe that the plight of the battle princesses would be over and done with, if that were indeed the case?" In fact, the voice seemed almost sad. "It is merely a ruse, girl. Little more, little less…tell me, girl, what is your name?"

"…Mai." The carrot top said quietly. "That's my name, Mai Tokiha." Her words were murmured, nearly drowned by echoes she could hear in a faraway place. "I was born on July twenty-second. I have a little brother named Takumi, and I go to Fuka Academy." She had to believe those things. She couldn't throw it away. "I have best friends there, like Mikoto, Natsuki, Chie, and Aoi…Nao too. That's how it is. It must be true."

"Open your eyes, Mai…" The voice said, drenched in a strange sort of disgusted pity. "Then, you will see."

She awoke with a jolt, a near silent scream tearing through her as her muscles constricted painfully. A cold sweat and a dry mouth made her gulp at the tea she had next to the bed. She was so very tired, but restfulness wouldn't come. Not after visions such as that.

It was a dream she'd had many times before, and as she woke up for not the first time since the horrific battle of the HiME, she stood from her place and gazed out of the large picture window. Ashes as far as the eye could see colored the world in an ugly obsidian. The sky was muddied by dark clouds, and no light seemed to shine. The sun was glowing an angry, bloodied red, and it was such a color that her senses had been filled with moments ago.

Black ashes, staining red blood, with no one in sight.

It seemed as if time had stopped, because though she had looked for quite some time, she found no people in this place…no redemption in the hollowed out shell of a place she used to call home. Her dorm was all but empty, and the people that she once thought of as class mates where nowhere to be discovered. The church sat in shambles, and the classrooms collected dust.

How long had she been like this, waiting for someone to come find her and wake her up from this hell?

She hadn't the slightest clue, but she couldn't leave either. Reito needed her, and without thinking beyond that, she forced herself to carry on with her day. The sordid routine was the only thing left for her anymore, and even it didn't quell the deepest desires in her heart. If only her friends were around, if only she could call back the dead, she wouldn't be so lonely anymore.

Maybe, just maybe, if the dead called to her, she could join them.

As sick and twisted as it made her feel, it was the only thing she could cling onto. The halls protected remnants of those that once lived among these walls. It was almost as if their ghosts echoed in the otherwise stagnant and putrid air. A stray spelling test here, a love note scrawled haphazardly there, everywhere she looked there was something to remind her. She could not avoid it, the evidence was much too difficult to disprove.

This had once been her world, her school, her happiness, and her life.

Even in her own bedroom, Mikoto's belongings were exactly as she left them. Mai hadn't found the strength to move anything. As dust covered as the books seemed to be, as dry as a bone her toothbrush was, and as crumpled as her clothes were, Mai couldn't find the strength in herself to box together the broken pieces. It was as if she would wrong Mikoto somehow to even do that much.

There was one room in the girls' dorm that had been vacant, and Mai came to a stop as she neared the door, knocking once on it, and entering the threshold. There, the sight that graced her was the same one she found every day. She wondered when she might see a different one, but feared that all the same. "Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked weakly, unable to even muster a hint of joy.

Like every day, the man smiled. He was sickly and pale, his lips thinning into a thin line as he looked up from his reading. "As well as every day." He said, trying to offer her some measure of comfort, but even that merely skittered across his face in an eerie way. "You haven't found anything, have you?"

"No." Mai said quietly. "I haven't." She came to sit at his side on the bed, and proceeded to undo the buttons of his shirt. She needed to change the bandages across his torso. They continued to weep blood every day from Mikoto's old sword. It was unfortunately another reminder of how alone they were now. "We're running out of time. Most of the food has gone bad, and we're almost out of medical supplies."

Reito chose not to say anything to that, and instead, he swallowed down his words with a drink of gritty water from his glass. It had sat by him over night, and it began to taste just like the bitter air around them. "What happened to us, Mai? Why are we trapped like this?"

"I don't know." The dark queen murmured, void of any true emotion. "It shouldn't be this way."

"It is." Reito said simply, even his fingers had turned bony and drained of vigor. "It shouldn't be, but, it is." He had come to that conclusion. The reasons why eluded him, but, he was willing to take note of the horrific truth. He endeavored to figure out what went so terribly wrong. He had to ponder it, he needed to figure it out, and there was simply no other way. "What do you recall from the final battle?" He asked, knowing it was a tired old question.

"I don't." Mai answered all too quickly. "That's the problem." She rid him of his bandages, and redressed his wounds, her fingers idling over the markings that would forever bleed. "I remember winning. I remember something else...something other than this." She shook her head, it hurt, pounding like a jackhammer. "Normalcy, and…I-I think maybe it was too good to be true."

"It was a dream." Reito said then as he nodded. He felt the same,that his memories were perfect, and had to be a fabrication. "A dream, Mai. This is our reality, I can feel that." He offered an angry grin. "You are my queen, the person who will stand by my side as we build this world anew."

Mai just smiled at his cruelty, his willingness to overlook the truth astounded her. "I won't be your queen." She told him pointedly. "What do we have to rule over? We're not gods, we can't just make a new world. We never could. It was impossible from the start." She went to the kitchenette to get some food, but only can goods were left. "We have nothing, you fool."

"We can make something." He said, though even he knew how slim a chance that was. He clutched at his shirt, feeling the angry pulse of his desire flow through him. "We can build this world into our image yet, you'll see Mai. You'll see what my power can do, what our joined strength can accomplish. I'm sure you'll see reason in it!"

"Only an idiot would think like that in your state." She opened up the can of tomato soup, warmed it with fire from her palms, and plunked a spoon into it. Handing him the meager sustenance. "You're on a sickbed for god's sake." She scolded him, a distant prayer from long ago lingering in her eyes. "Don't you understand? There is nothing left. Nothing!" Mai barked, her violet eyes glimmering in her anger. "In spite of what you may think, we are powerless. The ties that bind us, the things that made us happy are gone."

"How can you possibly know that?" The man said with a shake of his head. He was weak, he was ill, but he refused to be thought of as daft by anyone, especially the woman he intended to marry. He was sure that if she would at least give him the courtesy of seeing things his way, he could prove that to her. Instead if charming her into an agreement, he accused her. "Don't tell me, it was that friend of yours…the one who has no name."

"The voices say so themselves." Mai said, not giving him the luxury of an argument. "They're omnipotent to some degree, and we speak in the depth of my sleep."

A loud screech cut through the air just as Reito was about to retort. Kagutsuchi was calling, and as he landed deftly onto the ground, his large head struggled to get through the window. Inside of his gaping mouth and dagger-like teeth, he held a bottle on his tongue. He waited expectantly for his master to take it from him. Mai welcomed him and rubbed his snout, giving the gigantic beast one of her true, pleased smiles before it fell into sadness.

"Couldn't find anyone, could you boy?" She asked, knowing that to be true. He chirped sadly, once the bottle was removed the dragon turned into his glowing spirit form. He seemed to favor the smaller, silvery spirit body. Mai knew it was because he could fit inside of the dorm room that way. Mai closed the window after the dragon entered and turned to Reito. "This is why I think the voices are right…there's nothing out there, no one."

"Did it ever occur to you than if anyone ever really looked at him, they'd run fleeing for the hills?" Reito asked pointedly, finished with his soup. He set the can down on the night stand, and the fire phoenix nudged table in reply.

"You're hungry." Mai said, patting the side of the creature's face. "Go back to your world and eat, I'll summon you later, I promise." When he chirped again, almost sad to leave, Mai shook her head. "Go…I'll be fine here."

Shooed away as if it were an innocent creature, unlike the rabid beast that it truly was, he tried to cuddle up to his master. Mai would have none of it, and sent him on his way. Truth be told, she loved the mythical creature with all of her heart, as he was often her only solace anymore. He belonged in a much different, spiritual world, but often lingered at her side. However, even as she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he worried, the fire beast was the one bright companion, in a sea of loneliness.

Every time she dreamed, it was the same pattern, the same routine on repeat…an endlessly maddening cycle of torture and lectures from that disembodied voice. It seemed to have nothing better to do, no better existence, than within the depths of a person's sleep.

"I know you do not understand. The parable is tantamount to forsaken scripture." The voice laughed after Mai had exhaustedly fallen asleep early in the evening. As always, the voice, the demonic spirit of something…or someone, saw fit to tease her. "No mere human, battle princess or not, would ever be able to understand the complexities of their nature. Not a woman like you, who would be the owner of that fire monster."

"He's not a monster." Mai said indignantly. "I want to go home." Inwardly she was crying out for what she remembered, and what she thought she knew. The things that had once warmed her heart, and offered joy and comfort. "I know home is someplace…and this isn't it. It wasn't just a lie…it wasn't fake…and it wasn't a dream."

Well, isn't that interesting…such blind faith, even now. That is such a boring way to go about one's life." The unseen female chuckled. "Alright, Mai, I'll level with you. There is, indeed, a way out of this mess you're in. However, you won't find it through conventional means."

"So, then how would I find it?" Mai asked, her fingers pushing through the thick emptiness as she tried to blindly walk in the direction she faced. She had no idea where she was, or where she was going.

"Find yourself." The voice quipped, not seeming to mind.

"I know who I am." The carrot top said. "It's everything else I'm unsure about."

"Pathetic creatures, humans. They believe they understand so much, it's a pity they have no idea. They don't even have an inkling of the truth." A loud click sent a wave of unbearable sound crashing around Mai, and then, the darkness dissipated to a clear, bright world. A world Mai remembered, and, perched in a tree branch was the person she'd been hearing.

A black endless void, in the shape of herself, sat comfortably as if all was right with the world.

"Well, now do you understand?" The voice asked. "I am you, and you are me, we are one in the same." Saying it was easy, getting Mai to believe it was another story. "I am the shadow of your soul. All of the things you hate, everything you despise, everything you fear…it finds a place of rest within me." She hopped down from her place, their heights were exactly the same. "This is the dream you thought was real…but, it is merely a fantasy."

It was just another bad dream...

She promised to look out for him…swore to her mother that she would take care of her little brother. That wasn't a lie within the pit of her heart. It was an honest vow, made to a woman lying on her deathbed. A shared confidence between mother and daughter. It was everything growing up, her entire life became devoted to that one important thing. Takumi was the only reason not to mourn, she never had the time. She had to take care of him.

He was little, confused, and afraid.

Their father worked endlessly to give them some sort of future, because in the eyes if the tormented and distant man, that was the only thing he could do. He couldn't take the pain away, and his soul was too weak to offer any sort of replacement. He would not seek love again. All he could do was work, get money to keep a roof over their heads, food on the table, and pay off the lingering debt caused by medical bills. He thought that he could do at least that much for them, he wouldn't have failed his children entirely as a father.

Even so, Mai was perceptive as a child. Her violet eyes saw the impossibility. She could see his long hours taking their toll, his hopelessness as he struggled to maintain a house, a small boy, and a full time job. His inability to mourn, or even take time for himself…sometimes, she had wondered if he could even stand a few hours with nothing to do, or to worry about. Occasionally, it crossed her mind that her father wouldn't be able to get by like that…that if their lives continued down that road, he could die too.

Regardless of her age, in spite of the fact that she was still so young herself, she refused to think of that possibility.

Takumi was on her shoulders, she had promised her mother that. So, instead of just babysitting him, dressing him, and bathing him, she took to other responsibilities too. She was on a stool scrambling eggs and tossing hash browns before she knew it. She was doing the laundry, and helping Takumi every night with his homework, even whilst doing her own. Somehow, without really thinking about it, she had become the mother that was lost to him when he was far too young.

It was those memories, distant and cherished though they were, that reminded her that she was real…her past was real…and, this world was part of that reality. She was sure it wasn't a dream…but, rather something else. Something different and more tangible.

"So, what do you think?" She asked her companion who floated beside her bed every night. The dragon that was both as gentle as a soft breeze, and as dangerous as an inferno. "Do you remember everyone too?"

The dragon cocked its head to the side, making a soft but contented clicking sound. It blinked a few times before deciding to hover over a stray sock of Mikoto's. He seemed almost sad as he nudged it and chirped again.

"Kagutsuchi, I…I'm okay, I think." Mai said quietly. "Because, I know that they were real…that they were my friends and family." She sighed away a great deal of pain. "You don't have to stay. Maybe, if you left, this place would finally end. Maybe it would go away."

The gentle beast shook its head. Though he could not speak, his large soft eyes told her everything. Even if he left, it wouldn't provide the answer she was really looking for.

"I know." Mai said weakly. "I know that it doesn't change anything." She rubbed her eyes, unwilling to let sadness enter them. "But, I just…" Pulling her lower lip between her teeth, she huffed out a heated breath, angry, confused, and tired. "I don't understand the point. Why make a world when there's no one you love in it?"

The dragon spirit seemed equally confused as he gazed out to the slowly rising red sun, another chirp coming from him as if to question that very fact.

"I just don't think that's the reason, Kagutsuchi." Mai told him, though, she wasn't entirely sure. "That can't be why the HiME exist. If it's been going on for as lost as history says, then why are you still fighting? I know I wasn't the first one you chose…so why are you still here?" She shook her head. "There's something we completely missed, something I think we should have seen."

The dragon was uneasy, but he didn't make any other noise as he curled up at the foot of Mai's bed. His eyes closed innocently enough, and he rested there unmoving. Mai wasn't sure if he actually needed sleep, or, if he just took to doing that out of habit, but either way, she moved a pillow to his end of the bed and rested beside him.