Witch Country
Common sense tells us "any port in a storm." Common sense doesn't belong in Gensokyo.
Some days, you wondered why you bothered getting out of bed. Other days, you were too busy desperately trying to keep your insides on the inside to spare a moment to wonder at such trivial things.
Kallen was experiencing the latter.
"Come on! Just a bit farther!" Ohgi called from up ahead. "We've got to be getting closer by now. Hang in there!"
Of the other Black Knights, the only one with enough breath to complain that this was the third time he'd claimed they were 'almost there' was Sugiyama, and he was too busy pointing his gun at every stray movement to comment.
Kallen, for her part, could only let out something between a sigh and a wheeze as they all struggled onwards. By rights, they were all in prime physical condition. Fighting a war against the elites of a world-spanning empire was fairly taxing work after all. But everyone had their limits, and she knew that they were all rapidly approaching theirs.
She really should have known they were in for it when they all woke up in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but their weapons and a small amount of supplies on hand, and no memory of how they got there in the first place. They'd run through the possibilities, ranging from some kind of chemical attack, to some new form of psychological weapon deployed against them, to a dozen other equally outlandish ideas. Nobody could make heads or tails of it, but everyone agreed that they needed to regroup with the rest of the Black Knights and Zero before they made any rash decisions.
Which led to their next problem. Namely, being out in unfamiliar territory with no maps, no radio, and no way of navigating other than rough guesswork. It hadn't been so bad at first. Even without their Knighmares, they were still hardened soldiers, and had enough ammo and sense to keep them safe from any potential enemy patrols in the area. At least, that's what they had thought.
It had all started in the early morning, when the sun was just starting to rise. Tamaki had decided to do a bit of forward scouting on his own, and had stepped away from the group for a short time. It wasn't more than three minutes later that they heard the gunshots.
Kallen knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the scream that followed would be haunting her dreams for years to come. She hadn't known the brazen young man was capable of making a sound so filled with pain and terror. There hadn't been time to think then, only a desperate rush forwards to try and save their comrade, but no amount of preparation could have readied her for what they found.
Tamaki was on the ground, mouth opening and closing in silent panic as he clutched madly at the bleeding, ruined, chunk that was missing from his thigh. Crimson pools were steadily flowing from between his fingers despite his death-grip, and his face was getting paler by the second. A split-second wave of horror had struck her as she'd wondered just what could have made an injury like that.
That is, until she noticed the figure standing over him. A little girl, probably no older than nine or ten years old, wearing a black dress and a small red ribbon in her hair. The innocent curiosity in her gaze would have been adorable, were it not for the gruesome dribbles of blood oozing from her mouth. Tamaki's blood.
The next minute had been a frantic mess of action as their entire squad had opened up on the kid, guns blazing. Kallen still didn't fully understand what had followed, but something like a wall of darkness had opened up around the girl, which took to the sky like a rocket, apparently deciding against fighting them head on. She could have sworn the orb of black… whatever it was... had slammed into half a dozen trees on its way out, but it was gone too fast for her to be sure, and there was a much more important matter distracting her.
Luckily, it seemed Tamaki's injury wasn't as bad as it looked. He wasn't going to be walking on his own any time soon, Yoshida was practically carrying him at this point, but they'd managed to stem the bleeding and bandage him up. His rifle was gone, apparently lost somewhere in the scuffle, and they were all too shaken to think of looking for it until they'd left it far behind.
That was their first encounter with the locals. It wasn't their last.
These creatures, because she was absolutely certain there was nothing human about them at this point, were numerous. Several more attacks of varying severity had hit them since the early morning. Something that looked like a feral mix between a person and a wolf had managed to claw up Inoue bad enough that she was limping, and both Kallen and Yoshida had been battered to high heaven driving off some kind of blue winged girl who'd started shooting balls of ice at them when they'd stopped for a drink by a lake.
They'd effectively spent the whole day wandering aimlessly, slowly coming to realize that wherever they were, they weren't going to be getting home any time soon. Before long, night had begun approaching, and if the old adage of predators coming out at night still held true in this place, they couldn't afford to be caught out in the open when the sun went down.
Thankfully, Ohgi had managed to bring in some good news when, after climbing a particularly large tree to get a better vantage point, had actually sighted a cottage of some kind in the distance. None of the monsters they'd run across so far had seemed smart enough to build houses, though the ice girl-thing had certainly been shouting something at them the whole time, so it could be another human. Maybe one who could lead them back home. Even if they couldn't, it would be a place to stay until morning.
She was grateful for his find. She really was. She just wished he'd been better at judging the distance. What should have been a short hike had turned into a three-hour march through decidedly unfriendly forest terrain, which wasn't helped by the countless mushrooms that dotted the area. None of them felt like testing whether the unfamiliar fungi were poisonous, so their task had become that much more difficult.
"There! Is that it?" Kallen's head snapped up at Sugiyama's voice, a wave of euphoric relief washing over her as the sight of a rickety, but solid wooden building peeked out at them from between the trees.
"That's it all right!" Ohgi confirmed, grinning for the first time since they'd set out. "Told you we were getting close. Come on. Let's go introduce ourselves."
In the back of her awareness, the part of her mind that still held some tactical foresight warned her that houses like this should be thoroughly scouted before being approached. The part of her mind that was fully and utterly done with this place told that part to shut up.
As the Black Knights staggered their way towards the structure, Kallen half knocked, half fell, against the door. Her fist pounded against the wooden frame, doing her damnedest to convey the urgency of the situation as she shouted. "Hey! Is anyone home? Please open the door! We have people in need of medical attention out here!"
Several moments passed, and no sound answered her calls. Not even the slight shifting of someone on the inside deciding whether to make themselves scarce or not.
"Hello?" She tried again, beating against the door harder this time on the off chance that the person inside was just really, really, hard of hearing. "If you can hear me, please! Open up! We've got injured and need a place to stay for the night! We can pay if that's what you want!"
Technically, that last part wasn't accurate since none of them had any money when they'd woken up, but she was sure they could think of something if it came down to it. Unfortunately, it didn't make a difference, as the house remained devoid of life.
A quick glance around was enough for them to all agree that they'd rather have to explain an unauthorized entry than brave the night outside. With a small nod, Kallen made way as Ohgi stepped up.
"Hang on a second. Give me some room here." He requested as they backed away from the door. He spent several moments looking over the wooden barrier for any obvious signs of weakness before drawing back.
In one lightning quick motion, he reared up and slammed his boot into the door. The heavy impact cracked across the clearing like a thunderbolt, quickly followed up by yelp of pain as Ohgi was sent tumbling backwards, holding his now-injured leg. The door remained entirely unmoved.
"Damn it!" He hissed through clenched teeth, rocking back and forth lightly. "That thing's a lot more solid than it looks."
"Just shoot it open…" Tamaki groaned, having recovered enough from his earlier maiming to speak up.
"If we do that, we won't be able to fix it afterwards." Inoue countered, though she didn't sound particularly happy about it either. "Won't do us any good to get inside if we don't have a way of keeping the other things out."
Tamaki grumbled something in response, but Kallen wasn't listening at that point. She'd already decided that, no matter what, they weren't remaining stranded out here, and had begun to circle the building for other possible entry points.
As it turned out, there were several windows at irregular intervals around the house that looked like they'd never known the touch of a cleaning rag. Even when she wiped away at the glass, it remained too smudged to get more than a vague impression of what the inside rooms looked like. Still, it was a possibly entryway, and that was all that mattered.
Kallen grinned as she hefted a moderately sized rock she'd found nearby. They could always board up the window afterwards, which would be far easier than barricading a broken door. The thought of a well-earned rest had completely overridden any concerns she had about vandalism at the moment. She spun on her heel, bringing the rock up in a pitcher's throw and hurled it at the glass with everything she had.
The moment the rock left her hand, a tiny thought occurred to her. If the person who built this house in the middle of a monster-infested wood had added something as breakable as windows... what was stopping the creatures from breaking in the same way she was?
Her answer came a moment later as, the moment the rock hit, the air erupted with a bolt of electricity and the sharp smell of ozone. Kallen gave a shout of surprise and fell flat on her back as the rock exploded in mid-air, showering her with bits and pieces of her former tool.
She just stared at the unscathed window, somehow a lot less surprised by this turn of events than she'd have expected otherwise. By the time she picked herself up and dusted off the worst of the rock shrapnel, Sugiyama had rounded the corner with a look of concern on his face.
"Hey? You all right back here?" He asked, pausing when he saw the remains of her attempt. "We heard a noise, and-"
"I'm fine!" Kallen insisted just a bit too quickly. "The, uh… we're not going in through the windows. It… it doesn't work."
Thankfully, he knew better than to ask. With a small gesture back, he said "come on. We should really stay together. I don't trust this place at all."
She couldn't argue that point. As they made their way back to the front of the house, the sound of a hefty impact and cracking wood filled the air, causing both of them to jump. Guns at the ready, they dashed back into view expecting another attack from the hostile denizens of this place.
This time however, they weren't under threat. Even better, a grinning Ohgi and Yoshida looked back up at her, both nursing their shoulders from where they'd impacted the door, which now hung open just enough to peek inside. Tamaki had been handed off to Inoue, and looked about ready to pass out from exhaustion.
"You got it open!" Kallen exclaimed, her face lighting up as she ran back to their side.
"Part of the way, at least." Ohgi answered, rolling his arm a few times to work out the soreness. "Could use your help though. Something heavy's keeping it blocked in place."
She didn't need to be told twice. Handing off her weapon to Sugiyama, she braced herself against the door beside both Ohgi and Yoshida. After a few moments of awkward positioning so that all three of them could push at the same time, they were ready.
"All right. On three. Ready? One. Two. Three!"
Kallen heaved against the wooden barricade, the promise of shelter giving strength to her battered limbs as she put the full weight of her body behind it. Slowly, painfully slowly, their efforts were rewarded by the gradual shifting of weight as the door began to move, punctuated by the groans of something grinding against the floor inside. The gap expanded a little at a time until, finally, it was large enough for them to pass through without too much difficulty.
"That's… more like it…" She gasped out, retrieving her weapon. "Hang tight for a minute. I'll go in first and make sure it's safe." It paid to be careful, and she'd learned her lesson from the window trap.
Though it took a bit of maneuvering to line up properly, Kallen pushed her way through the gap, gingerly stepping into the house while keeping the barrel of her gun trained ahead. After giving her eyes a moment to adjust to the dark interior, it became immediately clear what had been holding them back.
"This place is a mess…" She remarked out loud, scrunching up her nose as something distinctly unpleasant hit her. "And.. uah! It stinks in here!"
A repugnant odor, like a mix of several different kinds of rot, month-old fungus, and a dozen other unidentifiable other sources, hit her like a freight train. Maybe that was why this place had survived out here in the wilderness. She doubted many monsters would be interested in breaking into a place that smelled so… decayed.
"Aw man, what the hell?"
She turned to find Yoshida poking his head in the door, which as it turned out, had been holding them back due to a large dresser-like object that had been knocked over in front of it. At least, she assumed it was a dresser. It was difficult to tell given the sheer amount of miscellaneous junk that had all but buried the thing.
"Yeah." Kallen said with a sigh. "It's not pretty, but it's all we got. Looks like there's nothing waiting to kill us in here just yet, so could you call in the others? Oh, and make sure to warn them that they should brace themselves."
He gave a quick nod before ducking back out for what was likely to be the last bit of fresh air he got that night. She was tempted to follow after him, but setting up took priority.
If nothing else, at least this would help keep them from getting eaten.
A couple hours later, and the Black Knights had set up shop in living room, which was to say, the-second-room-that-they'd-all-decided-to-refer-to-as-the-living-room. It was surprisingly difficult to tell what any of the interior spaces had been designed for given they were all buried under heaps and heaps of whatever all this stuff was supposed to be.
After the initial high point from having found shelter, the general mood had dropped again, and Kallen quickly found herself wishing, not for the first time, that Zero was here to lead them. At least with his guidance, the discomfort would have been tolerable. As it was, they'd all settled into an uncomfortable silence, occasionally broken up by a bit of chatter that died as quickly as it started.
"It looked so much bigger on the outside…" Inoue said sadly, sifting through the piles around them. Despite how dilapidated most of the stuff looked, they'd actually found a few useful tools among the heaps, and even some edible food in the cupboards to make a meager dinner with.
"Yeah, that's because we didn't know it was packed with junk." Tamaki remarked with a bitter tone on the couch they'd cleared off. Kallen hoped that his being able to complain was a sign that his injury wasn't life-threatening. "What idiot set this place up anyway?"
None of them had an answer for that. Whoever owned the home had yet to make an appearance, and it was looking less and less likely that they were hanging around.
"They might have left." Ohgi chimed in. "But I guess if they had, there wouldn't have been food lying around."
That was true. Aside from several flasks of strangely colored liquid that they all avoided, the food and water had been in relatively good condition.
"Maybe they died…"
Sugiyama's morbid observation shut the conversation down instantly. It wasn't hard to imagine after all. With so many dangerous creatures in the nearby woods, one would only have to get a bit unlucky and that'd be it. After all, it wasn't like the homeowner seemed to spend all day shut up in here. Even if they did, Kallen could easily picture them being buried alive under a pile of garbage in a freak landslide. In fact, that might have been what happened. The corpse of their temporary landlord could be mere yards away, and they'd be none the wiser…
Shuddering and shaking her head to dispel the unpleasant thought, she stood up. "I'm going to take another look around." She said, needing something to keep her mind off their situation. None of the others spoke up to stop her, so she took that as her all-clear.
Ultimately though, there wasn't a whole lot to explore. The house was pretty simple in its layout, and aside from a massive stack of books in the bedroom, so declared due to the fact that it had a visible bed, most of the odds and ends had a habit of blending together in one giant mess.
Ultimately, that was where she found herself, sitting at the foot of the bed and leafing through the pages of the first books she'd managed to grab. Though night had fallen outside, she'd picked out a couple candles and used them brighten things up enough to read, while being exceedingly careful to only place them where they wouldn't be easily knocked over. The flickering light they gave off didn't help her dour mood, but it was enough for her to work with.
The books themselves, unfortunately, were not so cooperative. The language they were written in was similar enough to almost be legible, but just different enough to give her a headache. It didn't help that half the stuff seemed to be referring to something that sounded suspiciously like magic, a topic she knew very little about. She might have to hang on to a couple of these to decipher at a later date. If they were just the mad scrawlings of a crazy person living in the woods, at least she'd have confirmation. If not…
She flicked herself in the forehead. Look at her. One day chased by strange and weird predatory monsters, and she was already starting to seriously believe in magic.
As Kallen turned the next page, keeping up her reading more for the sake of going through the motions than anything else, a dried leaf fell out from between the paper and drifted to the floor. She frowned, reaching out to pick up the fallen piece of nature and stash it someplace where it wouldn't catch a stray spark, when she noticed a groove in the flooring. The leaf had landed just next to a small indentation at the foot of the bed.
It's probably nothing.
Even as she thought that, she found herself gently crouching down next to the tiny gap. Her fingers brushed the surface, before putting down a bit of experimental pressure. Much to her surprise, she actually felt it give, and was rewarded by a soft click and the sound of rolling gears.
Before her eyes, the wooden panel the bed was resting on shifted to the side, slowly revealing a stone staircase beneath that led down into some kind of dark cellar.
For a full minute, she simply stared at the newly made opening without truly processing what she was seeing. By the time her mind caught up to her actions, she had picked up the candle she'd been reading with, and had begun to descend.
This was stupid. Incredibly stupid. Indescribably stupid. She knew that, but she kept going anyway. It was like she felt compelled to see through her act of poor decision making. In an almost dreamlike state, she reached the bottom of stairs and raised her candle to see what was had been hidden down here.
She didn't know what she'd been expecting. Maybe more monsters. Some evil pentagram dripping with blood. Corpses chained to the wall, being eaten by rats the size of her head. There were a hundred different cliché horror movie tropes that had been running through her head as she ventured down.
She hadn't been expecting an ICBM.
As if to spite the world of mystical and unexplained nonsense above it, a warhead was resting beneath the floorboards of this… cottage… storehouse… whatever it was. A literal warhead. Complete with metal fittings, a rear engine, and a faded paintjob that didn't quite hide the deadly purpose of the thing it decorated.
She just stared. Nothing else. She didn't reach out to touch it, or pinch herself, or call to the others. She just stared. And, after a bit of time, something happened.
A black metal dot near the nose cone, which she'd assumed was some kind of oddly colored bolt suddenly contracted, before expanding back to its original size. It repeated this effect three more times before she realized that it wasn't contracting. No. It was blinking. Blinking, because the black dot wasn't a black dot. It was an eye. And it was looking right at her.
Kallen eyed the eye for a little while, her face unreadable as she let the candlelight play off the missile's body. Eventually, calm as could be, she turned on her heel and began strolling back up the staircase. She remained perfectly calm as she closed the hidden panel up again, and as she made her way back to the living room where the others were just laying down for the night. Finally, it was with the utmost cool-headedness that she delivered her statement.
"We're leaving."
Ohgi looked up from the space he'd cleared to lay down, giving her a questioning glance. "What was that, Kallen?"
"We're leaving." She repeated.
"Are you joking?" Yoshida asked, frowning at her. "It's already dark, and we all agreed that-"
"We're. Leaving." She insisted, more forcefully.
"Listen…" Ohgi said, rising up and trying to act as a mediator. "I know this place isn't the nicest we've stayed, but right now we need to focus on-"
"WE! ARE! LEAVING!"
Maybe her statement resonated with them. Maybe they sensed some of the dark things that were lurking in this house. Maybe the near-hysterical tone of her voice left them worried that she might start shooting if they didn't do what she said. Whatever the case, they seemed to get the message, and silently began packing up to delve back into the dangerous world they'd just escaped from.
The next morning, the sun rose to find a black and white clad witch descending from the air. Her fee touched down lightly on the dew-covered grass as she kicked up her broomstick and made her way back home. It was a routine she was intimately familiar with, but this time, something was different.
The door to her home was broken. At first she just kind of assumed it was something she'd broken and forgotten to fix, which happened more than she cared to admit, but it wasn't the only thing out of place. As she made her way into her house, she found far more out of place. Her carefully collected belongings were in even more disarray than usual, and her pantry had been raided. Several noteworthy items were missing too, like the old screwdriver that was just bent enough to be really aggravating but not enough to throw it out, and the radio-thingy Nitori had given her as a present last year.
"Oh my god…" Marisa gasped, as the gravity of what had occurred slowly dawned on her.
"I've been robbed!"