Legacy of the Forgotten

by Gryphon117

(Fantasy AU) An elsewhere story; A redheaded adventurer arrives at the distant and exotic land of Yamato with an objective. A purpose that will get her far more than she ever bargained for in a country fraught with conflict and political deceit, as the encroaching darkness of ages past looms on the horizon.

10. Revelations

A/N: It's been a while since the last time, and I've got work and a lack of a proper amount of time to sit down and write to thank for it. It doesn't help that I'm not the fastest writer in the block, either; Nevertheless, no, I'm not dead and neither is this story.

Still, the last update was back in January, which kinda shocked me when I actually went to update this. Time sure does fly, but I'll try my best not to take two months and a half on the next update.

Special thanks go to Strypgia, MisterHalt and Ranma-Sensei for their counsel and timely checking, and to Dragonjek for taking the time to review the last chapter. But without further ado, on with the show.

---

The first thing that caught her attention was the music.

Powerful, loud and vibrant, composed with a kind of heavy percussion that was far harsher on the senses than any drum. The melody that was struck was simple and repetitive, hitting the same three notes over and over and over again with very little variation.

Her vision came to, and she found an obsidian wall all around her.

No, not a wall; rather, a shadowy barrier with holes in it. Holes that slowly became wider and wider, until the surrounding shadow began to take shape, turning into tens of vaguely humanoid figures.

Their heads, arms and legs moved in time with the music, as if they were dancing. They slowly circled around her in tireless activity, always keeping her at the centre of their congregation but paying her no further mind.

Her own arms and legs were bound to some sort of vertical pole, but she didn't try to break free.

...

She felt no desire to do so.

From behind, the crimson cloth that covered her body was delicately removed, and her field of vision veered downwards, far enough to determine a severe lack of clothing on her.

...

She didn't care.

Meanwhile, the shadows kept on obeying the music's commands, howling as they came closer and screeching as they ran away.

She suddenly blinked, and the world shifted.

...

Eight robed shadows had now joined her, surrounded her within the inner circle that had formed, while the music faded away into a more lethargic cadence. Their clothing shared a palette with the one that she'd had, and gleaming, silver masks covered their faces.

As one, they took out ornate and identical daggers. They then began to circle her in the opposite direction of the outer circle, slowly, very slowly, coming closer and closer.

Until one of them stopped directly in front of her, and pointed their dagger at her neck.

...

She felt no fear.

The outlying shadows took on a golden hue, and their dance intensified. The rhythmic percussion assaulted her senses once more.

The blade before her remained immobile, but not for long. It moved upwards, and the masked one made a small incision on her forehead.

From the sides, two others performed four more cuts, along her shoulders and wrists. The back of her thighs and feet were slit, as well.

Finally, the first dagger moved southwards from its position. It passed between her eyes, over her nose, mouth and chin. It continued on until it arrived at her abdomen, where one, final, incision was made.

...

The blade was pulled back, before it was then thrust into her collarbone.

Fire ran through her body, and the world shifted once more.

...

Everything around her fell into eerie silence.

The masked shadows no longer flanked her, and the ones that had been dancing further away had now fallen onto all fours, their heads kept down. They remained unmoving, almost deathly so.

Her vision veered downwards. A small, black symbol had appeared on the flesh just below her neck.

She blinked, and then saw her chest covered in obsidian tone; she did so once more, and it was her entire torso and arms that were suddenly blanketed.

...

She blinked one final time, and saw only black.

-]LotF[-

Asuka awoke with a start, eyes wide and barely holding back a scream.

Her upper body shot up from where she had previously been lying, and she looked around her frantically, with unfocused eyes that had clearly spent a long time without being in use. Different shapes and forms blurred together in an unrecognizable mess, and a hellish ringing reverberated inside her ears, turning the otherwise simple act of keeping her eyes open into a veritable test of her endurance.

Through her failing senses Asuka could tell that she wasn't alone, the far-away echoes of voices barely managing to make it through the ringing. The brush of her feet against something soft also told her that she was probably on a bed of some sort, both facts that would have probably served to ease her worries had Asuka been in any way capable of rational thought at the time.

Four hands firmly grabbing her shoulders and trying to push her back down didn't help in alleviating the redhead's bout of panic.

Asuka fought back out of pure instinct, lashing out and striking everything within range with as much strength as she could muster and managing to hold off the attacking limbs with surprising effectiveness; but eventually a strong feeling of nausea and intense, fiery, pain overcame her, and the young woman could do little to prevent the hands from pushing her onto her back once more. Eclipsing the already overwhelming ache that afflicted her body, the inside of her head felt as if a million angry people were stabbing white-hot irons into her brain from both outside and inside.

Needless to say, the sensation was far from comfortable. Asuka's eyes closed shut almost immediately and, although she wasn't able to tell through her failing ears, she was certain that she must have been screaming her lungs out in agony.

It was in the midst of it all that the redhead's mouth was forced open, and something pressed inside of it. It was spherical and the size of a fairly sizable bite of meat, but way too hard for it to be meant to be consumed, as her teeth quickly found out.

Whoever had forced it on her didn't seem to mind that fact, however. They were adamant about Asuka ingesting the thing in her mouth, completely ignoring the young woman's weak protests and attempts at breaking free.

Asuka's eyes shot open again, and her blurry perception became dominated by a big spot of brown.

"Don't fight and swallow it whole. It'll help against the pain," the blot commanded, before speaking away from her. "Ko-chan, hand me the water, please."

A shuffle of hands and the sound of a person reaching for something, before a cup was pressed against her lips and water started to flow inside; normally, Asuka's dry mouth would have welcomed the refreshing relief that the liquid provided (and it still did, to some extent), but her feelings on the matter were vastly overshadowed by the imposition that she was being subjected to.

In spite of the redhead's best efforts, the foreign sphere inside her mouth ended up making its way towards her throat with the help of gravity, and she had no choice but to swallow or risk choking on it. It was a tight and somewhat painful fit for her sore gullet but the ball still managed to go through, and the uncomfortable sensation that it caused her was honestly nothing when compared to the pain every single other part of her body was in.

The very moment that she complied the hold on her shoulders lessened, shifting from tight and controlling towards gentle and comforting, a change that Asuka was more than happy about as she distinctly felt the object that she'd been forced to swallow travel through her oesophagus and into her stomach.

The darned sphere didn't seem to do much of anything at first but, before long, the voice's words started to ring true as a warm sensation began to spread from the pit of her stomach and outwards. It was slow and weak at first, but quickly started to gain in intensity, reaching far into every corner of her body and bringing her convulsions and anguish to a stop wherever it passed, leaving instead a blissful feeling of relaxation, not unlike the one that Hikari had produced a few times before.

Soon, the loud ringing within her ears stopped. Shortly after, her thundering headache turned into a pulsating but much more manageable pain. She still felt sick in her stomach, but the nausea probably wasn't enough to topple her anymore.

Not that the final point mattered, though, as in the wake of her pain's relief, the young woman could feel a sudden need for sleep start to claim her. Little by little her breathing relaxed and her eyelids fell, as her painful and momentary bout of consciousness started to give way to slumber once more.

Witnessing her reaction, one of the pairs of hands that held Asuka in place momentarily let go of her shoulders. A soft rustle later, and the redhead could feel something cold and soothing travel along her cheeks and neck, before being firmly pressed against her forehead.

Curious, Asuka managed to focus on her vision enough for it to clear slightly, and afford her a better, if brief, view of the details before her. Among them, chief was the face of the person that was softly caressing her face, and gently cleaning her sweaty face with a wet cloth.

She looked like an older Rei, had the girl been capable of smiling, and the look on her face was a familiar one. One that told the young woman without any need for words that everything would be all right, and an expression that quickly brought back memories of better times to the forefront of Asuka's feverish mind.

'That looks l-like... Like M-Mama's?'

And with thought, she fell back down into blessed unconsciousness.

-]LotF[-

The second time Asuka opened her eyes, it was to heavy shaking; heavy shaking and someone screaming right to her face.

"Asuka! ASUKA! ASUKA!"

More out of deeply ingrained combat instincts than anything else, Asuka quickly snapped her eyes fully open and pushed away the offending voice, before hastily and efficiently rising to her feet without a single wasted movement.

A manoeuvre that she managed to carry out with surprising ease, she realised. All of the aches that she remembered plaguing her body before seemed to be just gone, for some reason.

...Which was a more than welcome development, as far as the redhead was concerned.

Nevertheless, and still focusing too much on her training to question the less important issues of a missing ail, Asuka promptly turned her attention to the spot where she had thrust whatever it was that had just been on top of her. The spot from where a small, surprised, grunt reached her ears...

...and the spot from where a little girl was now rising back to her feet, under the hawkish gaze of an uncomprehending Asuka.

"...What the...?"

The little girl in front of her had shaggy shoulder-length red hair, much like her own albeit far darker in tone, close enough to almost be called auburn. A pair of greenish-brown eyes stared upwards at Asuka's blue and, despite having just been rudely shoved backwards and being subjected to an icy stare that would have spooked grown men, a wide smile still parted a thin face that met all of the requirements for belonging to a child.

The girl wore a familiar-looking red dress made of wool, of the sort meant for young children to wear, and her legs and feet were bare. There were no other accessories on her that Asuka could make out, either, strongly suggesting that the woollen cloth was the only item in the girl's possession.

She was also no one that Asuka recalled ever having met, which is why the taller redhead was quick to step back when the child tried to approach her.

"Who're you?!" the redhead demanded, before taking a quick look around her. Adding to the young woman's confusion, a nondescript ivory whiteness surrounded her as far as she could see, completely empty save for the ground, which was akin to white marble. "And where the hell am I now?!"

"It's me, Asuka!" the little girl happily exclaimed, jumping into her field of vision once more. "Maisie!"

Asuka's body stopped its searching as if it had suddenly been covered in ice. She then slowly turned to throw a wide-eyed stare at the smiling child.

"...What."

"I'm so happy that you woke up! I-I was really worried for a moment there, you know?" the little girl continued, missing Asuka's reaction and running over to hug her. "I shook you and called out a lot of times but-"

The young girl cut herself off when Asuka forcefully allowed some air to come between them. Confused, the smaller one of the two made to ask her counterpart what was wrong...

...but her non-spoken words were replaced with howling laughter when Asuka mercilessly sunk her fingers into the girl's sides and belly.

"S-Stop that, Asuka!" the small redhead managed between snorts. "That tickles!"

Asuka complied with the child's demands, stopping in her tickling just as suddenly as she had started. Going one step further, the redhead then let go of the girl as if she was on fire, turning the little one's mirth into confusion.

"...Asuka?"

"W-What's going on here?" Asuka muttered, her voice betraying a noticeable anxiousness. "You're just a figment of my imagination Maisie, we established that, remember? You're not supposed to have a body, let alone be ticklish!" a less than pleasing possible explanation suddenly made it to the taller redhead's mind, turning her expression sour. "Unless I've seriously gone off the deep end, or something."

Asuka's words finally seemed to shake the girl off of her happiness induced trance, and the little redhead refrained from trying to force her way into her arms for a third time. Instead, her expression turned into a mimicry of Asuka's, her eyes looking at the barren landscape around them.

"I-I don't know what happened or w-where this is. I don't remember any changes from before. I just suddenly... was here, but I don't remember how." Clearly struggling to remember something, the child's face crumpled at the edges of her eyes. "I c-called and called like I usually do but you didn't answer, so then I started to explore a bit, b-but it was all the same! And one of the times I turned around you were just- just there! But you didn't answer, and I shook you but it didn't do anything, so I got s-scared and tried harder but-!"

Quickly identifying the speech patterns of a very familiar weeping phenomenon, the taller redhead decided to literally take matters into her own hands.

"Okay, okay, I get it! Sheesh! You're Maisie, all right, if I needed anymore confirmation." Asuka hurriedly knelt down and embraced the little girl tightly, if a bit awkwardly. Maisie returned the gesture with no reservations. "Clearly you know as little about what's going on as I do, so just calm down, will you? I'm all right and you're all right. We'll figure everything else out in time."

Massaging the little girl's back and neck while holding her tight proved to be enough to accomplish Asuka's objectives, because while she was sobbing, at least Maisie wasn't openly crying. And Asuka would pat herself on the back for that sort of success in the weeping department any day of the week.

But, much to the taller redhead's chagrin and fading feeling of accomplishment, Maisie felt the need to live up to her cry-baby reputation, anyway. It took what felt like an eternity for Maisie's quiet sobs to finally become rare enough for Asuka to venture a tentative separation.

"Better now?"

Asuka could feel the little girl nod her head against her shoulder. She stubbornly refused to let go, though.

Foreseeing that she was going to be stuck like that for a while, Asuka made a face. She then decided that she might as well try and make sense of the situation while she was at it.

It didn't take Asuka long to make her first breakthrough in the baffling circumstances.

"Now that I think about it, you sound a bit different."

"D-Different?"

"Yeah, that must be why I didn't recognize your voice at first," Asuka reasoned, staring at Maisie like an interesting puzzle. "It's kinda hard to put my finger on it, but you sound... older, somehow?"

"Older? I-I don't know..."

"Yeah, I think you do; in any case, let's leave the matter of your voice and sudden appearance for another time. You're Maisie and that's all that matters right now," staying true to her words, Asuka shifted the focus of her deliberations to more important stuff. Namely, her current location and situation. "...I wonder... Could all this be happening because of my Blue intolerance?"

"...Your what?"

"You know. That thing about me not having mana resistance that she mentioned," the taller redhead elaborated. "She did hit me with a pretty bad case of it when we were inside that prison, and..."

Noticing by her wide-eyed expression that her friend wasn't following her, Asuka's explanation trailed off into silence.

"...You don't remember that?"

Keeping her clueless face, Maisie slowly shook her head from side to side.

"That's weird," the young woman's brow creased, as she tried to make sense of such a development. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Mmm..." the short redhead put her head between her hands and closed her eyes tightly, making a big show of trying to recall her memories. "Oh! I told you a number, and I guessed right!"

"The combination for that weird door?" Asuka mused loudly. "But a lot of stuff happened afterwards. You don't recall any of it?"

"Really?" Maisie tilted her head cutely to the side and tried to remember something more, but she quickly gave up. "N-No, I don't remember anything else... I'm sorry."

"Oh well, whatever. It's probably not important, anyway."

'And it's probably a good thing that a little kid didn't end up hearing all that stuff too, I guess,' Asuka considered. 'Huh. I wonder if Maisie can have nightmares?'

"Hey..." Maisie's usually cowed words, and the relaxing of her vise-like grip brought the taller redhead out of her musings. Something over Asuka's shoulder seemed to have grabbed the little one's attention. "W-What's that over there?"

Making excellent use of the opportunity that the distracted Maisie had just provided her with, Asuka managed to quickly extricate herself from the girl's grip before she had a chance to reinforce it. She'd half expected that her friend would audibly whine the moment she realised that she'd been had, but funnily (or worryingly) enough no such thing came to pass.

Now really curious, Asuka turned around.

And what she found was a small construction in the distance, built of what looked to be the same material that coated the ground. Within an area guarded by four tall and classical-looking pillars, some sort of white furniture lay in the open. It was too far away to properly tell exactly what the items were, but one of them looked suspiciously like an oversized bookcase to Asuka.

'Not that magically appearing furniture makes much sense, but I guess that logic went out the window a while ago.'

"...How should I know?" the young woman voiced, narrowing her eyes in annoyance at the latest development. "I'm positive that it wasn't there before, though."

"No, you're right, Asuka. T-That wasn't there before..." Maisie replied, clearly confused.

"Good to know that I'm not imagining things. Then, if you're feeling better, I say that we get moving," leading by example, Asuka started to confidently stride forward towards the mysterious area. "Fortune favours the bold, and that's looking like an invitation to me. I think that I'm overdue some answers by now."

Staring in wonder at the ivory pillars like she was, it took Maisie a moment to turn back towards her friend. A friend that was quite a few steps away from her, already.

"Eh?! W-Wait for me!"

Her tiny legs quickly taking off in pursuit, it didn't take the little girl long to catch up to Asuka. The moment Maisie was beside her friend, she quickly slipped her right hand around her left, tightly latching onto it.

The redhead's entire body immediately stiffened in response and came to a stop, much to Maisie's confusion.

"What's wrong, Asuka?"

Rather than answering, Asuka stared at their physical connection with a look that bordered on shock for a few moments. She then shook her head and shot Maisie a small smile, before locking her eyes forward once more.

"...It's nothing," the taller woman deflected. "Don't let go, okay? I've got to keep an eye on you."

Smiling herself, Maisie tightened her hold slightly and nodded her head enthusiastically, keeping pace with Asuka's long strides without a word of protest.

Unfortunately for the both of them, the landmark they were heading towards seemed to be much further away than they had initially expected. A few minutes of walking had yielded little reward and, while they were making progress, Asuka calculated that they had already trekked long enough to cover the distance three times over, much to her chagrin.

There was clearly some sort of foul play at hand, but what it was she obviously couldn't tell.

Maisie, for her part, had been content with following along and trying to spot any other sudden landmarks for the first half of the trip, but had since grown bored of it. The little girl then decided to occupy herself with covertly looking Asuka all over, and failing spectacularly at it.

"What are you looking at?", Asuka asked her friend, amused.

"Nothing!"

"Yeah, right. I'd buy that if you were looking pretty much anywhere else, Maisie. Out with it, is there something on my face?"

"N-No. It's just..." Maisie turned to look back at her friend, smiling shyly. "You're so pretty, Asuka."

"...That came out of nowhere," the taller redhead blinked in surprise. "What's with the sudden compliment, Maisie? I'm as I've always-" Asuka cut herself off mid-sentence, the realisation of a recently apparent fact coming to her mind. "...Oh, right. I guess you've never seen me, either."

Smiling broadly, the child shook her head in the negative.

"Hold on a moment, then. How'd you know it was me that you were trying to wake up?"

"That's because you kept muttering about 'Mama' before I started to shake you, Asuka."

"...Oh." Asuka's expression turned sombre for a fleeting instant, but the young woman quickly forced herself to push through her worries. "Okay then. I guess there weren't a lot of possibilities out there, anyway."

Maisie good-naturedly voiced her agreement with that statement and the two of them continued on, hand in hand and in amiable silence. Progress, however, remained as slow as it had been before, to the point of seriously starting to grate on Asuka's nerves.

She had managed to hold on to her temper for so long by pure virtue of Maisie being right next to her but, in light of the situation, her friend's presence was quickly starting to lose a lot of its appeasing power.

Thankfully for them both, Maisie chose just that moment to rekindle their conversation.

"What do you think that this is, Asuka?"

"No idea," the taller redhead responded, allowing her eyes to roam the desolate ivory landscape one more time. "Last thing I remember is falling asleep on some sort of bed, and it's not like I was in any shape to have gone anywhere. This could all be just a weird dream I'm having for all I know."

"...I-I don't think that I'm dreaming, Asuka," the little girl tightened her grip on Asuka's left hand, as if looking to prove her point.

"Well... To be honest, I don't think so, either. It would be one hell of a realistic dream if that was the case, and I haven't had one of those in a long while; hopefully we can find out what's going on and get everything back in order." Asuka turned her focus back towards their current target and narrowed her eyes in aggravation. "Once we manage to get to that damn place, anyway."

Unseen to Asuka, her young friend's face saddened at her words. Slowly but surely, the little girl's feet sagged and she began to lag behind, her pace now dependent almost completely on Asuka tugging on her hand.

The taller redhead failed to notice both Maisie's troubled expression and her lack of cooperation, focused on marching briskly as she was. Up until, eventually, Maisie gathered enough courage to speak up.

"...I don't want to go back to how we were before, Asuka..."

In spite of all her preparation, Maisie's words could have been compared in volume to the squeak of a little mouse, but they had, nevertheless, no trouble at all in reaching the ears of her friend. Maisie could tell by the way in which Asuka suddenly stopped her charge forward, the look on her face being one of surprise.

"Huh? Why's that?" Asuka questioned, her eyes jumping to the girl by her side. "Isn't that how we've always been?"

"...Well, yes, but... But it was so dark, and the only thing I could do was listen and talk to you..." Maisie's melancholy then shifted in tone, gaining a bit of cheer and intensity. "It's weird, but I... I t-think I like this better. I like seeing and having a body, and I don't think here is dangerous."

"I wouldn't call this place 'not dangerous' just yet, but I guess I can agree on everything else. Maybe we can find a way to get me back to where I'm supposed to be while keeping all your newfound abilities?"

"I guess, but..." the voice of the little redhead went down to the volume of a light breeze once more. "...Do you have to go?"

"What do you mean, Maisie? We're heroines, remember? Of course I have to go!"

"I-It's just-" Maisie let go of her friend's hand and stopped walking. She could feel her cheeks burning hot as she directed her gaze towards her unmoving feet. "...I like that Asuka is here now, too..."

The little girl's small ears could make out a pair of legs shuffling to a stop slightly ahead of her. Feeling a small surge of bravery at the fact that she must have had Asuka's attention, Maisie continued on.

"I-If we find a way to go back to normal, can you stay for a little while more? I don't want to be alone..."

Maisie had expected many and varied results out of her small confession, some far more preferable than others. Chief among them, however (and much to the girl's sorrow), was Asuka telling her to stop being childish and get a move on.

But, surprisingly, neither the most likely scenario nor any of the others her youthful mind had concocted came to pass.

Instead, all the answer the little girl received was a heavy silence.

"...Asuka?" Maisie tested, eyes still glued to the ground. "A-Are you angry?"

Once more, no response.

Now more than slightly fearful that she had somehow managed to set off her friend's infamously short temper, Maisie slowly and tentatively brought her head back up, expecting a light slap at the back of it at any moment.

But no such thing came, and the reason why became crystal clear the moment Maisie's eyes finished their journey.

Because just like that, and with no warning whatsoever, her old friend was nowhere to be found.

"A-Asuka!" the little redhead cried out, desperately looking all around her. "ASUKA! ASUKA!"

But even though Maisie's voice travelled far into the distance without interruption, no answer came.

She was alone.

"No way..." the girl breathed out, feeling the beginning of fresh tears coming up. "What happened? W-Where did Asuka go?!"

Without any need for additional input, Maisie's imagination kicked into overdrive, thinking of terrible scenarios that would explain the situation one after another; had her friend somehow found a way out and left Maisie behind or, even more terrifyingly...

...had something happened to Asuka?

"Sh-She's all right, she's all right. She's got to be all right." Maisie encouraged herself, shaking her head to rid herself of the unwanted thought. "Y-You wouldn't be here if she wasn't all right!"

The small redhead paused for a moment, thinking her theory over for a few seconds.

"...I-I think..."

Her tear-filled eyes found their mark in the construction in the distance, a construction that she could swear looked somehow bigger than the last time she had laid eyes on it.

The little one wasn't sure whether she should thankful or dread that fact.

"W-Well..." the little girl did her best to control her sniffles and gulped audibly, hard enough that she almost heard the noise echo. "F-Fortune favours t-the bold, right?"

And with unsteady steps, Maisie slowly made her way forward.

-]LotF[-

The third time Asuka awoke, it was to a familiar ceiling. Wooden supporting beams crossed her vision from side to side, and a pair of unlit paper lanterns hung from them, dancing slightly to the tune of a light breeze; this was a sight that had greeted the redhead quite a few times as of late.

She was in a room, Asuka quickly realised. Her room.

Or the room that she had been assigned during her stay in Akuro, anyway.

As the young woman blinked her way towards full consciousness, vague flashes of a dream quickly flew through her mind. Each subsequent batting of her eyes further erased those fading memories, however, until only the fleeting recollection of a white expanse and a little girl remained.

Soon enough, not even those two images were deemed important enough for her roused mind to dwell on.

'Just a weird dream.' The redhead quickly decided, dismissing the remnants of her dream in favour of other ideas almost instantly. After all, she'd always had a... special relationship with the realm of Morpheus, so it wasn't like a bizarre dream every now and again was worthy of too much of her attention; Asuka was sure that some of those people who interpreted dreams for a living would have had a field day with this last one, though.

Not that she'd ever put any stock into that hogwash whatsoever. Still, bizarre and hard to interpret was far preferable to some of the other stuff her dreaming mind had concocted during the years.

"Maisie?" Asuka weakly whispered as she tried to push herself up from the comfort of her bed, her voice coming out hoarse. "Are you there?"

No answer came, to Asuka's slight surprise. She'd half expected Maisie to be expectant of her waking up, as she often was, but it looked like her friend was being a bit of a sleepyhead herself this time around.

The young woman's words, however, were unexpectedly successful in earning the attention of someone else.

"Oh. It looks like she's finally awake."

Asuka's eyes swiftly changed targets and a middle-aged brunette woman entered her field of vision. She sported a gentle smile and a somewhat worried flicker to her cobalt, blue eyes, as she sat on a chair a pair of steps away from her bed, an open book in her hands. The woman carefully put down the manuscript that she'd been reading (a book by one Viktor P. Valshanaar that Asuka recognized as having been on her room's shelves) before standing up and walking towards the edge of the redhead's bed.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," the woman said, helping the struggling foreigner rise up into a sitting position. "Do you feel better now, Sohryu-san?"

"Who are-?" Before she could say anything more, the redhead doubled over in pain, tightly clutching at her head. "Argh! Dammit, I've got the mother of all headaches..."

Eyes shut tight, Asuka started to massage her head in an attempt to assuage the pain as much as she could. Her efforts were far from fruitful but, the moment her hands made their way to the top of her head, a new discovery made the young woman momentarily forget about the pounding within her skull:

There was a pair of something on her hair, something that she certainly didn't remember being there before. A tentative caress with her fingers revealed that they felt hard and smooth to the touch. Conical in shape.

The light smacking of a rope against her face at the motion also revealed her hands to be tightly bound together, for some reason.

"W-What the-?!" Asuka exclaimed, staring in shock at her hands and the thick cord of fabric that shackled them together. "Why am I cuffed?!"

"Calm yourself down, Sohryu-san," the woman spoke, putting a comforting hand on Asuka's shoulder. "There's a good reason for your bondage, I assure you."

A hand that was quickly swiped away by an angry redhead.

"Oh, yeah?! I'd love to hear it, then!"

"I'm afraid that said reason pales in comparison to the much more important matter of your health, my dear. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," Asuka bit out, glaring at the stranger beside her as strongly as she could. "And worse than I'd be feeling if my hands were free, that's for sure."

The woman stepped back and allowed Asuka some more breathing room. Her actions were not born out of any feeling of intimidation, though, as the older brunette merely giggled and raised an eyebrow in amusement at Asuka's fury.

"So you claim, but I'd say that your brazen words and actions are a marked improvement over the last time that you woke up."

The woman's words gave Asuka pause. A part of what she'd said had made the redhead's instincts flare up in response, clearly signalling the young woman that she was missing something. Something important.

'...The last time?' Asuka mused, searching her memories and managing to recall bits and pieces of a time past. 'Oh, right. I think I remember waking up and someone being there.'

Slowly, very slowly, Asuka took in the features of the woman before her, mostly focusing her attention on the short hair and how the brown strands framed the person's face. She also carefully inspected the bridge of her nose, the spacing between her eyes, and the overall structure of her countenance, as a sinking feeling of familiarity and déjà vu quickly gained ground the more that Asuka looked.

It didn't take the redhead long to remember just who the woman in front of her reminded her of. And, more importantly, what social standing said young woman held.

All of her fury vanished in an instant, her realisation leaving Asuka with a terrifying feeling of impending doom, instead.

"...Who are you, again?", Asuka questioned, her words ringing slightly hollow to her ears.

"I'm Yui Ikari, ruling Lady of Akuro," the woman responded, smiling gleefully but somehow managing to bring chills down the redhead's spine. "Surely you've heard of me by now?"

"...Crap." Asuka muttered under her breath, fighting hard not to make a face at her mess-up. Her head fell down into the most respectful bow that she could muster soon after. "I'm sorry, your Highness! I didn't know!"

'Stupid, stupid, stupid! You and your big mouth!' the redhead mentally berated herself, waiting the ensuing long seconds of silence without daring to move in the slightest. 'Why do you always speak without thinking, Asuka?! The actual ruler of the town you're staying in is the last person that you want to piss off right now!'

And Asuka had good reason to mentally kick herself, as far as she was concerned. After all, the woman knew her by name, so the idea of Ikari being aware of her past less-than-ideal brushes with Blue wasn't at all out of the question. If so, her latest lack of proper respect could easily become the straw that broke the camel's back.

...Especially if the woman turned out to be anything like her daughter.

But much to Asuka's good fortune, the mother seemed to be much more tolerant than her nemesis.

"It's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about the pleasantries for the moment, dear." The Lady of Akuro giggled once more, putting a hand on Asuka's shoulder and wordlessly asking her to straighten up. "I didn't expect you to be fully cognizant of your surroundings after such a painful and disorienting awakening. Besides, I'm more interested in your full recovery at this time."

When the young woman rose her eyes from the floor, she found Yui smiling gently at her. Not really knowing what to say in response, Asuka averted her gaze to the side.

'That was... unexpected.'

"Thank you, your Highness," the redhead eventually managed, fighting through her speechlessness after a few seconds. "You are... most generous."

"Think nothing of it. And do let me know post-haste if you start feeling uncomfortable," the Lady kindly commanded, before breaking contact and walking over towards her chair, sitting down once again. "Now, since we have established that your health has markedly improved, I can only imagine that you have many a question plaguing your mind at this time. Am I correct in thinking so, young lady?"

Asuka wordlessly nodded her head. Yui's smile grew wider in response.

"Well then, it would be my pleasure to answer them as well as I am able, Sohryu-san."

Without missing a beat, Asuka's eyes jumped to the rope binding her wrists together.

"Except for that," Yui softly interrupted the unasked question. "The current state of your hands is no doubt going to be a long topic, so why don't we save that for last?"

The side of Asuka's face that was hidden from Yui crumpled in annoyance at the sudden correction. She was further aggravated by the knowledge that she could do little to influence the decision.

"...As you wish, your Highness," the redhead sighed inwardly and did her best to calm down. She then pointed a finger towards the foreign additions to her head. "Well, I guess we can start with these things on my hair, then?"

"Of course, my dear," Yui agreed with a placating smile. "Those hairclips are meant to help with your lack of resistance to foreign mana, a problem that I hear is causing you no small amount of grief. They are full to the brim with my mana and, even if it might be a slightly brutish way of tackling the problem, I can assure you that they won't be harmful to your person in any way. Please don't take them off for the time being."

"They contain mana?" Asuka parroted, turning the information around in her head. "Is that why my head is hurting so much?"

"To an extent, yes. Foreign mana can be nothing short of toxic if absorbed in high quantities by an unprepared person, as you are no doubt aware of by now," the redhead's troubled expression very much confirmed Yui's words. "An unprepared body, however, can be made to gradually accept a mana flow if exposed to small amounts of it over an extended period of time. Providing a gradually increasing mana flow is the purpose of those hairclips, and they also happen to be a fairly elegant accessory at the same time!"

Asuka blinked in surprise at the Lady's sudden shift of tone, seeing as it had unexpectedly gone from lecturing to lively. The sight of Yui suddenly falling into a fit of giggles as if she had just told a good joke didn't help matters, either.

Probably because Asuka couldn't help herself from picturing Rei doing the same thing, due to the uncanny resemblance between the two.

'And my brain just can't handle it. I mean, it's Blue smiling and freaking giggling, that's gotta be up there with staring first-hand at Fell beasts of the Abyss or something.'

"Yeah... I'll reserve judgment on these things until I can see myself in a mirror," Asuka spoke out loud, shaking her head to rid it of the disturbing thoughts going through it. "Anyway, long story short: the mana thing works kinda like building up a resistance to sickness, then? I guess that makes sense if it does."

"That is indeed a fairly apt comparison, especially for someone unknowing of the ways of magic." Yui nodded, a note of praise to her voice. The redhead visibly puffed her chest a little at the commendation, much to the woman's amusement. "That said, I'm afraid that you'll have to withstand some minor uneasiness for some time, Sohryu-san, but the worst part of the pain should be almost gone considering that you've been wearing the hairclips for the last three days. Your body should be getting used to the changes by now, and-"

"Wait! T-Three days?! I've been asleep for three whole days?!" Asuka cut in disbelievingly, almost jumping out of the bed.

"I'm afraid that you have," the brunette confirmed with a sad smile, standing back up and walking over to Asuka. "Your condition wasn't at all good when we arrived back at the castle, dear. It's no exaggeration to say that you teetered between life and death for the entirety of the first day."

"...Oh, wow," Asuka softly commented, more than a bit unnerved by the news of her near demise. "No wonder I feel like shit, then."

"Quite," Yui agreed. She then put a comforting hand on top of Asuka's head, before continuing on. "However, and at risk of dwelling further on this dreadful topic, I must ask you to make an effort, dear. What's your last memory before waking up?"

"My last memory?" Asuka's forehead creased as she both tried to recall what had been requested of her, and expressed some covert annoyance at being pet like a child.

The redhead made no actual effort to shy away from the hand, though.

"Well... That would be watching... I think it was you and that giant orange thing save the day. I was sorta out of it, but I remember that much," Asuka recounted, before her expression became troubled once more. "Oh, and the pain, of course, hard to forget your whole body burning up from inside, really. Worst thing I've ever felt."

A deep sigh escaped through Yui's lips and the older woman slowly made her way back to the chair with heavy steps. Once there, she sat down to face Asuka one more time, but her countenance was a far cry from the kind and welcoming visage that she had been showing until then.

Her expression was now one of forlorn regret, eyes downcast and all previous traces of a smile completely gone; it reminded Asuka of the worst moments of a certain idiot, much to the girl's chagrin. Clearly, Blue wasn't the only one who took after her mother.

"I must apologize for that, Sohryu-san," Yui eventually spoke, adding in a small bow of her head to the words and promptly shocking Asuka out of her musings. "I was unaware of both your presence and lack of resistance at the time. And even if the situation might have demanded my actions, that doesn't excuse the fact that I came dangerously close to killing you; still, I'm afraid that your current soreness isn't only due to my own efforts, dear."

Yui's last words brought a confused look to Asuka's face, but the woman offered no time for interruptions, fixating a somewhat inquisitive stare on the girl.

"But I must insist: do you not remember anything else, apart from what you've just told me?"

"Not really. I must have blacked out from the pain." Asuka shook her head in the negative, after giving the question some thought. The redhead's eyes then widened, her mind focusing on a detail she didn't know about just yet. "Wait, are the others all right?!"

"There were no further fatalities after my entrance, Sohryu-san," the Lady responded, smiling thinly. "You can rest easy knowing that yours was undoubtedly the most critical of the conditions among the survivors. Rei, who was arguably your only competition, was on her feet after a full day's rest."

At the news, the young foreigner let out a deep breath that she didn't realise she'd been holding. She then brought a hand to awkwardly scratch at the back of her head, somewhat ashamed.

"Well... I guess I should have started with that one. But it's good to know that everyone's fine, anyway."

"That's a feeling shared by everyone at the castle, my dear." Yui smiled back in agreement. "They were also overjoyed to hear that you managed to push through your first day of recovery, as well."

"...R-Really?"

"Really. There was quite a crowd of worried people flocking to the door during the first hours of treatment, as a matter of fact. A steady supply of visitors have been taking turns with keeping watch over you since then, too. It's actually quite the ironic coincidence that you chose the one moment in which none of them are here to wake up!"

The Lady of Akuro lost herself in her mirth after that, leaving a contemplative redhead to acknowledge her words. To say that Asuka was surprised at their content would be putting it mildly.

...Her brush with Death must truly have been something to behold if it managed to worry the most opinionated members of the militia. Or maybe Akuro was a more close-knit community than she had initially thought, willing to spare more than a fleeting thought to a mere passerby.

'Well... Katsuragi and Hikari are a given. Maybe Hikari brought Meathe-... Suzuhara by the ear as well. I'd bet an arm on Shinji floating around here too, considering how much of a worrywart he is.' Asuka considered, running all the most likely candidates through her mind. '...I guess I'll have to thank them at some point, then.'

After she was done with her careful and methodical work, and making sure that she wouldn't forget about double-checking on her candidates (Asuka Sohryu wasn't one to leave a debt unpaid, after all, no matter how insignificant), the young woman began the process of puzzling out what little information the Lady had offered her so far.

And to no surprise of hers, it didn't take the redhead a long time to find a weak point in Yui's explanation.

"...There's one thing I don't understand, though."

"And that is?"

"You said that you nearly killed me down in... whatever that place was. But how did we make it all the way back to the castle, then?" the redhead questioned, rather baffled. "It took the scouting party hours to get down there, and it's not like you could stabilize my condition right there in that room, and then lug me back through the narrow tunnels that we used, either. If I was really as badly off as you say I was, your Highness, there's simply no way I could have made it out of there alive."

Yui threw the young woman an enigmatic smile before replying. Asuka responded in kind by slightly narrowing her eyes.

"That's a question with a simple answer, dear: we merely used the entrance that was meant to be used as our means of exit."

Asuka levelled a deadpan stare at her only companion, clearly not amused with the content of the answer.

"...Care to be a lot lesscryptic, your Highness?"

"Gladly." Yui reclined a little bit in her seat, and crossed her arms in front of her. "Tell me: Captain Katsuragi reported that you and Suzuhara-san were the first to explore the room just before the main chamber. Is that correct?"

"Yeah. We came face to face with a weird automaton, too. It was a bitch to take down." The redhead responded, nodding her agreement. "...And it looked like a smaller version of that giant that you showed up with, now that I think about it."

"That would be because the two of them are related," the Lady elaborated, before waving a dismissing hand. "But I'm afraid that I won't be going into details on that topic just yet."

"Why not?!"

"Because of that, Sohryu-san," Yui responded, throwing a pointed look at Asuka's bindings. "In any case, and going back to your initial question, do you remember a sizable statue being present in the room, dear? One that looked like an altar of sorts?"

"Yeah," Asuka confirmed, having no problem recalling the item in question but feeling slightly annoyed at being refused answers. Again. "I remember the sphere it had glowing before the automaton attacked us. What's with it?"

"That statue is called a Terminal. A vestige of ancient technology, and one of the few survivors of its kind."

"Another ancient artefact?" Asuka shrugged, unimpressed. "Well, I already assumed that much, looking at everything else that we saw that day. What's so special about it, though? It didn't do anything when I touched it; other than calling in the automaton, I mean."

"That would be because none of you who were present were attuned to the Terminal network. In truth, Terminals like the one you saw were meant to be transportation systems back in their prime, moving people and objects from point A to B almost instantly."

"...Almost instantly?" the redhead parroted, now somewhat more interested in the ebon statues. "How?"

The Lady fell silent at that, deep in thought. It was clear that she was trying to put the workings of the system into words and having some trouble with it. Eventually, she frowned slightly and began to speak once more, obviously not satisfied with what she was saying.

"It's not at all accurate, but I suppose that you could claim the system to work via teleportation."

"...Bullshit."

"Such a crass word, my dear," Yui reproached, somewhat amused at the incredulous face Asuka was making. "Hardly the kind of language that a pretty young lady should be using. And unwarranted, too, especially considering that you sit today as living proof of what I just claimed."

"...What do you mean?"

"You just asserted that it was impossible for us to carry you all the way back to the castle before you expired, Sohryu-san, and you are completely right. I merely used the Terminal down in those caves and the one that resides in the depths of Akuro castle both to omit the arduous trek that you undertook, and to provide a quick means of escape, thereby providing you a chance at survival."

One more time the redhead was struck silent, her mind greedily devouring the facts that it was offered with astounding speed, even if she was more than a bit miffed about being presented with yet another absurd scenario; nevertheless, and if she had to be completely honest, a sizable part of her was revelling at all the otherworldly information and tales that she was being told, and at the chance of acquiring knowledge that very few people in the entire world could possibly have.

She'd be lying if she claimed that scholarly pursuits weren't a major motivation behind her initial journey, after all.

But much to the young woman's chagrin, her curious side was vastly overshadowed by an opposing force. One that thought that Asuka was in no shape whatsoever to be debating about ancient relics and impossible feats at the moment.

It was that latter part of her that brought a hand to the young redhead's forehead with a pained hiss.

"Are you all right, dear?"

"...Yeah," Asuka pinched her forehead with two fingers and drew a few deep breaths. She then carefully rose back up until she was sitting straight once more. "It's just that this is... This is just too much to take in right now, I guess."

"I know, Sohryu-san, but this is sadly something that must be told. Time is not on our side." A moment of silence followed, before soft giggles started to unexpectedly reach Asuka's ears. "If it makes you feel better, though, you're taking these developments much better than many of the others did."

Poking an eye out of her sheltering hand, the young redhead smiled wryly at that.

"...I must be getting used to the crazy, then."

"That you are. I would like to mention that these sort of bizarre events are not a common occurrence in Akuro, however. You just... seem to have a gift for timeliness and some very rotten luck, if you'll pardon the expression."

"Yeah well, tell me about it. It actually helps quite a bit with finding jobs, though," Asuka shrugged. "You don't really find a lot of people in need of aid in the idyllic villages, you know?"

"I would imagine as much, Sohryu-san," Yui agreed. Her face then turned amused, and her smile impish. "Speaking of which, I've heard that you've forged yourself quite the reputation during your short stay in our lands."

"Ack."

Asuka made a face at the reminder. Not because of it being unexpected, but rather due to it bringing her thoughts back to Yui's previous announcement of the militia taking turns in watching over her.

After taking into account their brushes with each other in the past, Asuka honestly didn't think herself too deserving of that kindness. Even if she was far from being the only one to have done wrong, the redhead was almost certain that she wouldn't have responded in kind had the roles been reversed, a fact that she didn't feel all that proud about.

...For the second time, she quietly resolved to pay her dues.

"Oh, did I worry you, dear?" the brunette eventually questioned, having somewhat misinterpreted Asuka's rueful silence as fear. "Fret not, Sohryu-san, there have been some... less-than-ideal incidents involving your person, but the overall appraisal of your efforts has been largely positive!" Yui joyfully added, before her voice took a slight turn towards seriousness. "It's gotten to a point at which I've started to consider formally hiring your services for the foreseeable future, incidentally."

And, just like that, the redheaded girl almost instantly shook away her gloom.

"Really?! That's...-" Seized by her excitement, Asuka almost jumped out of the bed. She managed to catch herself right before she did so, however, very much aware that she was breaking pretty much every rule in the book regarding decorum; instead, the girl quickly corrected her efforts and straightened up as much as she could, bowing respectfully shortly after. The furthest that she had allowed herself to do so for anyone, even. "I-I mean... I'm honoured and really grateful for the opportunity, your Highness."

"I can see that much," the older woman agreed, raising an eyebrow at the redhead. "Of course, there's still the matter surrounding your bondage to resolve, but..."

Yui continued speaking words of reassurance but, unbeknownst to her, Asuka wasn't really paying any attention to them. The young woman was more focused on the opportunities for the future that Ikari's statement could entail.

This was the golden opportunity for making a name for herself that she had been looking for, after all, because (even if it annoyed her to no end) a noble's word of honour opened the door to many places in the world; admittedly, though, Asuka would have preferred to garner the favour of a more influential Lady within Yamato, but Ikari was still a pretty solid start, nonetheless.

Having reached that conclusion, Asuka began to think. Her head and gaze fell to the side as she busied herself with plans and timelines for the coming weeks, seeking to find out the most efficient way of increasing her renown in the area and mumbling along under her breath as she did so.

First would be Akuro, she decided, followed, whenever her coming contract with Ikari was up, by the three or four important towns that were around the north of Yamato. She would focus her efforts on the centres of trade and work her way south and towards the capital, making a priority out of offering her services to any travelling merchants that may trade in the Tokyo area. With a bit of luck (and assuming that Yui only intended to hire her until things calmed down in Akuro), Asuka would have made a few contacts and a name for herself by the time she herself arrived in Tokyo, just before the first snowfalls of winter.

Which, hopefully, would prove helpful both in business and with helping her track down her true objective.

More than a bit satisfied with her planning, Asuka smiled and gave herself a mental pat on the back.

It was at this point that the redhead remembered that there was another person keeping her company, and then realised that the noise of said person's speaking had long since fallen silent; curious, and somewhat dreading that her social skills might have let her down once more, the young woman promptly raised her head from its thinking position...

...Only to find the face of Yui Ikari a palm's length away from her own.

Asuka instantly recoiled back with a startled yelp. Yui responded by calmly moving in close once more, head tilted forward and eyes hidden by the fringe of her hair.

"Uh... Y-Your Highness?" Asuka asked, more than a bit taken aback by the Lady's strange actions and sheer proximity. "...Are you all right?"

Yui didn't directly answer, instead pulling back slightly and allowing the redhead a bit of much needed breathing room, before dipping her head to the side and bringing a thin hand to her chin. The woman then continued on being confusing by visibly mulling some sort of perplexing question and throwing pointed glances towards the room's door, muttering something that was too silent to properly make out but that sounded suspiciously like Ikari was arguing with herself.

Eventually, and after what felt like one very awkward eternity, Yui retreated with a deep and morose sounding sigh and sat back on her chair. The woman was pouting slightly, like a brat that had been denied the right to play with a new toy, arms crossed in front of her and apparently quite unhappy.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just considered that the way you held yourself as you reflected on things was simply adorable," the Lady spoke wistfully, her eyes turning dreamy soon after. "...Those cerulean eyes trying to gaze far into the future, the alluring image of a countenance trying to find a way through uncertain and troubled times, all of it framed by a lavish mane made from the finest strands of a beautiful sunset..."

The Lady sighed deeply once more and hugged herself a bit more tightly, her features creasing even more. If she had looked like a moody child before, it now looked like Ikari was a hair's breadth away from throwing a tantrum.

"...It's too bad that I can't take you home..."

"...Ookaay...?"

Asuka, for her part, blinked at the bizarre display that she was being subjected to and instinctively moved a little bit further away, not really understanding what Ikari was saying and not being entirely sure about whether she actually wanted to understand; hurriedly (and not intending to dwell on the topic for any longer than absolutely necessary), she resolved to pass the Lady's actions as some weird Yamese custom that she was unaware of.

...

Never mind the fact they were entirely out of touch with their ultraconservative society. It was still preferable to several of the scenarios that were flying through her mind's eye, that was for sure.

'...Is this even the same woman that was talking to me two minutes ago? What the hell's this all about? And here I was thinking that she looked to be more sensible than her offspring...' Asuka mused, watching in stunned silence as Yui continued talking about pictures, comparisons, and her two children in such quick succession that it made it hard to follow. At one point, the redhead could have sworn that she heard Ikari mutter something about babies of all things, but the young woman hurriedly and mercilessly squashed the idea, certain of the fact that she must have heard her wrong. '...At least she has good taste and an eye for beauty? Sure, it may be all sorts of creepy, but it's kinda hard not to feel flattered at the same time.'

Ikari's colourful words had eerily reminded Asuka of a lot of stuff that Kaji used to say, after all, and the roguish man always had a gift for making her feel special. That bit about 'the finest strands of a beautiful sunset' had definitely been up the man's alley, that was for sure, to the point that if the voice had been deeper and the lights had been out, Asuka could have easily pictured herself being back at home and not on the other end of the known world.

...

A small fantasy that the young woman very much regretted the moment that a familiar feeling got hold of her body.

'Oh, damn. Now I'm feeling homesick,' the redhead secretly lamented. 'Great going, Asuka!'

Or so she thought. Asuka's melancholy probably wasn't as much of a covert affair as she imagined, or maybe Ikari was simply good at reading people and inferring feelings.

"Is something wrong, Tulip dear?"

Regardless, the redhead was far more interested (or rather, horrified) by the words that said woman ended up saying.

"T-T-Tulip?!"

"Indeed. Isn't it a pretty moniker?" Yui questioned with a wide smile. "Tulips come in a wide variety of colours, but I personally like the ones with an orange-reddish tint to them the most. Just like your gorgeous hair, Sohryu-san!" the Lady then turned her gaze away from a heavily blushing Asuka, her expression turning dreamy once more. "My dearest, on the other hand, is a cute and hard-working Bluebird!"

Uncertain of what she should say in response, or whether she should even say something at all, the redhead's mouth imitated that of a fish for a far longer span of time than she would be comfortable admitting to. After all, Asuka had been called many things in her life, from Precious with Kaji, to Maggot and Harlot during military training, to the many heroic titles that she had gathered during her travels, and finishing with the obnoxious nickname of Red Devil that Suzuhara and his cronies in the militia had labelled her with.

This had to be the first time that Asuka had been termed after a flower of all things, though, and she wasn't sure about how comfortable she was with the idea; flowers, in spite of their overall beauty, were inherently fragile and at the mercy of almost everything around them and, while Ikari probably didn't mean demeaning by it (the woman honestly didn't look like the sort to be offensive for no reason), Asuka honestly felt a bit insulted by the comparison.

She wasn't certain on whether calling the Lady out on her random nicknaming would be a good idea at the time, however.

One thing was fully clear to the redhead, however: Asuka had been equating the name Ikari with annoyance for a while now, and the matriarch of the family wasn't helping matters with her antics. At all.

It was also pretty obvious that she wasn't getting used to the crazy, after all. Much to her chagrin.

"Yeah... Too much information, your Highness... So! Moving on!" Asuka called out more loudly than absolutely necessary, both to fully clean her mind of the last minute of her life and to make sure that she had Ikari's attention. The redhead then raised her arms in front of her when the Lady's eyes moved towards her person. "Can we finally talk about this? My wrists are starting to feel like the rest of my body!"

'To say nothing of my patience.'

"Very well. I suppose that there's no point in delaying your main topic of interest any further," Yui acceded, shifting in her seat until she was comfortable in her position; there was no trace of her previous, eccentric, persona when she was done, much to the young redhead's continued bewilderment. "Tell me, Sohryu-san: since we've established the end point of your recollections, I gather that you don't recall jumping up and assaulting me shortly after your fall?"

"...Wait, what?"

"I'll take that as a 'no'," the Lady concluded after taking in the redhead's shocked expression. "I expected as much."

"Now wait just a damn minute!" said redhead immediately protested. "What do you mean I attacked you?! Wasn't I supposed to be unconscious and on the verge of death at the time?!"

"Calm down, my dear. Patience and due process are the keys towards enlightenment."

"I'm calm! So get going with the damn process, already!"

"As you wish..." Yui concurred with a droll tone, taking in Asuka's words with only a raised eyebrow. "Like I just mentioned, you sprang up from your position on the floor a few moments after hitting it and came straight at me. Busy as I was channelling for my attempt to hold Matarael back, I could do little to protect myself against your assault until Captain Katsuragi came to my rescue. She overpowered you and the mad flailing of your fists with little difficulty, although maybe a bit more forcefully than necessary."

"...So that's why my body aches all over? Damn that overpowered idiot," Asuka muttered under her breath, before shaking her head and focusing again. "Okay, fine. But what you're saying still doesn't make sense. Leaving aside the fact that I shouldn't have been able to stand up on my own, why would I attack you? I didn't even know you! And how come I don't remember any of it?"

"It is an interesting conundrum, isn't it? Thankfully for us, I've got one major theory in regards to it." Yui then paused for a few seconds, carefully mulling over her next words; or trying to be dramatic, Asuka couldn't really tell anymore. "Tell me, Sohryu-san: have you ever felt like a choice you made wasn't your own? Or had a sudden and irresistible urge to do something that would be rather removed from your zone of comfort?"

Asuka's brow furrowed noticeably as she blinked, perplexed. That wasn't what she had been expecting at all.

"...What kind of a question is that?"

"A strange one, I'm aware. But please, humour me."

Asuka answered Yui's lightly spoken request with a severe narrowing of her eyes, to no effect. With a sigh, the redhead then decided to play along, not really understanding where Ikari was going with her questions but seeing no reason to refuse.

It wasn't like refusal was going to get her unbound, anyway.

However, it barely took a few short moments of recollection for the girl to start feeling very frustrated. After all, Asuka (and most normal people out there, she surmised) didn't really go around analysing the hidden motivations behind her actions. If the redhead wanted something done she went and did it, plain and simple.

"...I don't know. Maybe? I guess my deciding to go on a journey around the world would count as moving outside of my comfort zone, but it's not like I didn't have any reasons to leave," Asuka eventually bit out, feeling more than a bit aggravated. "How would I be able to tell whether a choice I made was mine or not, anyway?"

"A fair point. It's not like they would be sloppy enough to leave a trace, in any case," Asuka's ears perked at Yui's statement, but the Lady continued before she could speak up. "What about voices in your head? Thoughts and feelings that intermingle with your own?"

Those words did give the redhead pause, for they actually struck close to home. In a way that she didn't find pleasant at all.

'...No way. Is she talking about Maisie?'

In light of this sudden development, Asuka hurriedly tried to contact Maisie in the same manner she usually did, taking care to put on a thoughtful front lest Ikari grow suspicious. But, once again, her oldest friend offered no answer, a fact that was now actually starting to worry Asuka.

Had something happened to Maisie, after all?

Nevertheless, and resolving to get to the bottom of her friend's lack of communication at the first available opportunity, Asuka was absolutely clear on one, simple fact: Maisie couldn't possibly have had anything to do with the events Ikari had described.

'Yeah, no. Maisie of all people looking to hurt anyone? And flailing like mad, at that? That's about as likely as Yuri not trying to rip-off a customer or that wuss Shinji not stuttering through a sentence.'

The young redhead's belief was further strengthened by a sudden memory; a picture of a child grabbing her hand and smiling brightly at her, which Asuka quickly identified as remnants of that weird dream she'd had before.

Feeling further reassured by the memory Asuka responded resolutely, speaking clearly and without the faintest hint of doubt in her voice.

"No. None of that."

And thus, Asuka lied to the face of a very important woman, but she was confident that it was the right thing to do. Whatever theory that Ikari was concocting, there was simply no way that her friend could possibly be a part of it. It simply wasn't in her nature, and Asuka would be willing to wager an arm on that.

Ikari, on the other hand, didn't appear to be too satisfied with the redhead's response.

"Are you sure about your answer, dear? You took an awfully long time to speak up..."

"I was just making sure. There's isn't anybody talking to me in my head. Why would there be, anyway? I'm not crazy."

A few tense seconds followed, in which Yui scrutinized the redhead before her to the smallest detail and Asuka tried her hardest to appear nonchalant about it. An effort that honestly wasn't quite that herculean for the young woman, used as she was to bluffing and intimidating her way through many situations already.

Eventually, the Lady's expression noticeably relaxed, and she signalled with a thin hand towards Asuka's bound hands.

"May I see your wrists, dear?"

"What for?"

"Why, to free you of your bindings, of course!" Yui responded, producing a small knife from the pocket in her left sleeve. "There's no more need for them, now that we've proven you innocent of the charges pressed against you, Sohryu-san."

"Innocent?" Asuka repeated, somewhat confounded. "Not that I'm unhappy to hear that, your Highness, but what are you basing that verdict on? We didn't really clear up anything about the assault, right?"

"I cleared more than enough to ascertain that your will wasn't your own at the time, Sohryu-san. You were being influenced by a third party, one that's probably been subtly directing you and your actions for a long time now."

"Influencing? Me?!" the redhead scoffed heatedly. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm afraid that I have more than enough reason to believe so, and Rei's testimony of your actions prior to the prison's sabotage further reinforces my theory."

"...S-Sabotage?" Asuka parroted, putting together all the pieces she'd been given and coming to an unpleasant conclusion. "…Are you saying that I was the one who let those things free?"

"The definition of 'you' is fairly loose in this scenario but, yes, 'you' did," Yui then reached into her other pocket and produced a familiar golden object, keeping it aloft by the thin chain attached to it. "By the use of this, incidentally."

"That's my pendant!" Asuka exclaimed, quickly recognizing the object as the trinket that she had been recently wearing pretty much everywhere. "What's it got to do with this?"

"Everything, dear. Take a good look at it," the Lady carefully passed the pendant onto Asuka's waiting hands, before making the most out of the motion and using the knife to cut through the girl's bindings. "Is this pendant the same as you last remember it?"

A short, cursory glance revealed that not to be the case.

"...No, it's missing the centrepiece. A cheap jewel."

"Can you describe that jewel, dear?"

"Sure, it's not like it's hard. Just a dark red sphere that didn't even sparkle in the sun..." as she spoke, Asuka's eyes filled with a sudden realisation. "Wait a minute! It was just- It was just like the two thingies that were floating inside that tube! It didn't glow like they did, though..."

"I see that you already drew the connection between the two," the Lady praised with a small smile, before her voice turned serious again. "That should make our next point fairly simple to explain: the crimson spheres that were inside the tube, and the one that used to be part of this pendant, are indeed one and the same. They are called 'Cores'. You could think of them as-"

"As the fuel keeping that place working. Yeah, I thought as much. Go on."

The smile returned to Yui's face, now a little bigger and more impressed than before.

"Very well. Cores are a very efficient, lasting and powerful source of energy, with no comparable alternative available today anymore. Cores, however, are also very fickle: a system utilizing cores needs to be calibrated to severe lengths, as drawing less energy than the core requires will cause it to go inert, forcing a complete redoing of the calibration process at the very least; attempting to draw more energy than the core was designed for or trying to feed energy into a system past its safety limits, on the other hand, will generally end in a very violent detonation with the cores at its centre. Most core-powered energy grids possess emergency shut-down procedures to avoid the latter scenario, however. The one that set Matarael free after your unwilling sabotage is one such example."

The first part of her explanation completed, Yui relaxed her posture and focused her eyes on the redhead once again, finding her thoughtful and apparently struggling with the sentences she'd just heard. It was then that the Lady realised with a bit of a frown that her technical wording might not have been at all comprehensible for the young woman before her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I confusing you, dear?"

To the brunette's surprise, though, Asuka merely waved her concerns away.

"...No, I think I got the gist of it," Asuka responded, leaving her thinking aside and sitting upright once more. "Basically, you have to work things out so that the energy that the cores will give out will be just right. Too small of a quantity or too much of it and things go to hell, right? Like someone trying to walk a tightrope." The redhead looked at the older woman for confirmation, and continued once she received an affirmative nod. "When 'I' inserted a third core in a system that was designed for only two, the system stopped working in order to prevent a huge explosion, setting the freaky, big spider and its flunkies free. Did I get everything okay?"

"Perfectly so, Tulip dear! Your analogy was also very on point, as well." The Lady's complimenting words filled Asuka with equal measures pride and annoyance. "Now, I gather that this short explanation will suffice as proof of your innocence? I would have preferred some actual solid evidence, of course, but the fact remains that you couldn't possibly have known what the jewel within your pendant truly was, and the same stands true for the workings of the chamber's energy grid. The only sensible explanation is that someone familiar with the system engineered the whole affair. It is not unreasonable to think, then, that the friend that first handed you the core was probably an unknowing pawn, as well."

Asuka's expression morphed into a smirk following Yui's extended elaboration, a funny image suddenly coming to mind:

'Of course, it stands to reason that Yuri wouldn't gift anything under normal circumstances, after all. We needed the efforts of a weird, mind-controlling entity for such an impossibility to happen.'

With a shake of her head, the redhead dismissed the amusing line of thought from her list of priorities, focusing again on what was most important. Namely, Ikari's so-called 'Manipulator', the mere idea of which still sounded completely ridiculous and alien to her structured mind.

...

...Like most everything else in Akuro, really. Honestly, the fact that she had been already embroiled in all sorts of ridiculous situations was the only thing keeping Asuka from disregarding Yui's claims outright.

That, and knowing that this convenient Manipulator was her key out of an otherwise fairly hairy situation.

"Right. I don't think that your definition of 'sensible' and my own truly match up, your Highness, but it's not like I have a better argument than yours," Asuka admitted with an exasperated sigh. "So. Who's this mysterious and powerful entity that pretty much raised me from the dead supposed to be?"

Irritatingly enough, Ikari chose that exact moment to stop being forthcoming with her answers. The woman smiled coyly, leaning back on her seat and speaking in a tone that bordered on mocking.

"That is for me to know and you to find out when the time comes, Sohryu-san. You shouldn't worry about losing control of your faculties in the future, however. I have taken measures to prevent that."

"So you do know who they are?"

"I suspect," Ikari corrected, before her expression lost all playfulness. "But I must insist that you don't worry about such details for the time being."

"Tch. More cryptic answers. Awesome," the young redhead scowled, her annoyance steadily increasing by the minute. Yui paid it no mind. "You know, I get the feeling that I should have asked this before, but how do you know all this stuff, anyway? Who are you?"

"I am Yui Ikari, ruling Lady of Akuro, of course," the Lady answered, matter-of-factly. "Suffice to say that I come from a lineage dedicated to preserving the peace of Yamato, one that has been doing so for several centuries, and that I see you as a valuable asset to keep close at hand in the face of the coming crisis. And I'm afraid that there's no need for you to know anything more than that at this time either, Tulip dear."

Asuka's eye twitched noticeably at the last sentence, but the girl managed to keep herself from making a face at what was looking more and more like Ikari's catch-phrase.

"Coming crisis? You're talking about the thing that was imprisoned down there and the bastard that messed with my head, right?"

"Among others, yes."

"Others? Well, that sounds ominous," the redhead scoffed grumpily. "Anyway, I guess that I won't be doing menial jobs under your contract, huh? No finding lost possessions, rescuing kittens or hunting down lawbreakers?"

"Indeed, I am interested in your abilities for far more practical matters," Yui affirmed nonchalantly. "For example, repelling the army that is currently heading towards us."

Asuka grunted off-handedly at that. Having already fallen into an involuntary habit of only paying Yui half a mind whenever her voice took on an unprofessional tone, it took the redhead a few seconds to fully understand what the Lady had just said.

"A-An army?!" Asuka exclaimed, jumping out o the bed and standing next to it, alarm clearly written on her face. "An army's on its way?!"

"That's correct, a fighting force that I estimate to be around three thousand troops strong. They'll be surrounding Akuro within the fortnight."

"Three thousand..." the foreign girl repeated, running the numbers through her head. "I-Isn't the militia only about a tenth of that?"

"Yes, although there have been recent efforts to conscript and train as many able-bodied citizens as possible," Ikari elaborated, still sounding far more composed about the idea of a siege than Asuka would expect anyone to be. "We foresee that number to have doubled when the day of the attack arrives."

A few mental calculations did little to assuage Asuka's unease, but she tried her best not to let it show or impair her analysis.

An analysis that she wasn't finding all that positive, to say the least.

"Five-to-one odds still aren't something to be overly happy about, even with the advantage of our castle walls. Especially if half of our bodies are going to be badly trained and suffer from poor discipline," the redhead fixed Yui with an inquisitive stare. "I guess that you've already asked your neighbours for help?"

"No."

The Lady's response was succinct, and as blunt and with as much room for interpretation as Blue's usually were. Which is to say, not much.

Nevertheless Asuka, in her logic-driven line of thinking, was certain that she had to have heard that wrong.

"...E-Excuse me?"

"Did I not speak out loud? I said that we didn't ask for assistance, my dear. There would be no point to it."

"What?! No point?!" Asuka exploded, her temper having finally reached a boiling point. "You're going to be facing a vastly superior force in a small castle with barely proper battlements! The hell do you mean that there's no point?!"

"There is hardly any need to shout, my dear." Yui chided, with more unspoken force behind her words than readily apparent; it did little to daunt the young woman before her. "To answer your first question, however, we are better prepared than you imagine and Captain Katsuragi is further reinforcing our defences as we speak; in regards to your second question, we sadly have no proof that this attack is going to happen. No Lord with the opportunity to help us would accept our plea for aid without it."

Asuka frowned at Yui's words but, in clear contrast to what she had been feeling up to that point, it wasn't at all due to aggravation, but rather a sense of incomprehension.

Back at home, after all, regional nobles and Lordlings would have veritably jumped at the chance of having their peers on their debt. The bitter historical rivalries between the different Lords of Yamato must have truly been something else for them not to think in the same manner, to the point that Asuka honestly found it somewhat hard to believe.

Then again, it wasn't like her input on the topic would matter at all. She promptly decided to let it go.

'Better prepared than I imagine...?' the redhead wondered, thinking about the other topic touched upon by Yui's words and what they could mean. It wasn't long until the realisation of their most likely significance hit her like a ton of bricks. 'Oh, right!'

"You're talking about that orange giant of yours, aren't you? The one that you made fight the giant spider? What is that thing anywa-" Asuka quickly caught herself and clicked her tongue in annoyance. She then rolled her eyes before carrying on, her voice an irritated monotone. "No, no, no! Wait, don't say anything! 'There's no need for me to know that', right?"

"You're such a quick learner, dear." Yui smiled approvingly, further getting on the redhead's nerves.

"Yeah. Another one of my talents, you see," Asuka agreed drily, resigned to letting go of yet another interesting topic. "And that other thing you said doesn't make sense, either: how can there be no proof? You can't just hide a marching army!"

"Oh, but this army can very well do just that!" the brunette refuted airily, not missing the look of irked disbelief that her counterpart was wearing. "Don't worry, dear. You'll understand when you see it."

"Right," Asuka let out, crossing her arms and allowing the side of her that handled business to take the reins. "If I see it, you mean."

"Oh?" Yui blinked and raised an expectant eyebrow, clearly not having foreseen such an answer.

"I haven't signed any contract with you yet, your Highness," the mercenary elaborated, taking a bit of wicked pleasure in being the one to surprise Ikari, instead of the other way around. "And, to be honest, you've just made me seriously consider not doing so anymore."

"Is that so? Woe is me, that would be a terrible shame indeed! I was certain that the gallant Asuka the Red would stop at nothing to aid us in our time of need!"

Asuka's delight was short-lived indeed, when faced with the Lady's ham-fisted performance complete with bringing the back of her hand to her forehead. The redhead didn't take kindly to the slightly mocking tone of the lamentations, either.

"...Seriously? Are you attempting to guilt-trip me into staying? And pretty terribly, at that," Asuka replied, trying mildly successfully to keep her own timbre from turning biting. "Not that you'd need to, anyway. I do owe you my life, so I can't really say no if you actually decide to force me to help in your heroic defence. Even if there's a huge difference between being heroic and being suicidal."

"Oh no, no. Forgive my little joke, my dear," the brunette returned somewhat gaily, motioning in reassurance with her hands. "I'm very much aware of the dangers involved, Sohryu-san, and it wasn't my intention at all to coax you into our defence. I wouldn't dream of demanding you to stay, either. There's hardly any need for that, after all."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you forgotten? The woods around Akuro are not safe at this point, and they probably won't be for a time still considering our situation," Ikari threw a knowing smile the redhead's way. "You should know that better than anyone."

The warning did little to lessen Asuka's resolve, however. It actually did more to further embolden her to the possibility, instead.

"Yeah, sure. That didn't stop me before and it's not going to stop me now if I decide to leave," the mercenary shrugged dismissively. "I've got things to do and places to be, and they don't include being cooped in a tiny castle while unnoticeable armies come knocking. If I have a say in the matter, anyway."

"Dear Lady, such bravery! Or is it recklessness?" Yui replied with a dry answer of her own, her thoughts on Asuka's idea clearly audible. "You should make sure to look after yourself to some degree, Sohryu-san. Us mothers worry greatly for our children, I assure you."

"And you should mind your own damn business!"

The young woman's reflex answer caught both parties by surprise, Asuka's biting words stunning the Lady into silence and the redhead being rendered mute by what could very well have been a grave verbal faux-pas.

"...Is that so? My apologies if I happened to stumble onto a thorny topic, dear." Much to Asuka's slight irritation, Ikari's apology seemed sincere, making her feel further ashamed of her outburst. The Lady mortified her even more by maturely and expertly side-stepping the topic and any possible additional blunders with nothing but a smile and an airy tone. "In any case, may I suggest that you take a bit of time to have some lunch and think the circumstances over, Sohryu-san? I'd expect you should be quite hungry by now."

"I-" the redhead made to respond but the midst of her body suddenly did so for her, letting out a guttural growl that would have done a wyvern proud. What scraps remained of Asuka's anger promptly left her face, being replaced by a pinkish tinge of embarrassment instead. "...I guess I am, yeah." A flicker of remembrance then passed through the girl's expression, the topic of food reminding her of another detail that she hadn't yet questioned Ikari about. "Speaking of, I think I remember you force-feeding me something weird."

"I did indeed. But that, as well, can wait. Suffice to say that it wouldn't be wrong to think of it as medicine. Your improvement certainly wouldn't have been nearly as smooth without it." The Lady evaded, waving her hand in the familiar dismissing motion that Asuka was growing to hate before turning towards the door and calling out in a louder voice. "Ko-chan! Please accompany our dear guest to the canteen. I'm sure that she'll appreciate some nourishment."

A female in her early twenties with long, brown hair tied into a ponytail promptly opened the door to Asuka's room without any further announcement. She was of standard Yamese complexion and with above-average looks as far as beauty was concerned, dressed in the same kind of light armour that Katsuragi wore around the castle, hinting at some kind of relationship with the Watchers.

She also looked sort of familiar, but the redhead was honestly more concerned with the pair of daggers that the woman kept sheathed on her lower back and the stern frown that was drawn on her face. All things considered, Asuka wouldn't have been surprised if this woman turned out to be a high-ranking member of the militia, considering her apparent familiarity with the Lady of Akuro and that she certainly appeared to play the part of the hard-nosed commanding officer far better than Katsuragi did most of the time.

With a polite nod but nary a word, the familiar brunette silently beckoned Asuka over from her position at the door. Seeing no real reason to refuse (and that Ikari herself was seemingly deeming their meeting over), the young mercenary bowed to Yui in the same manner she'd done before and walked over towards the waiting militiawoman.

Only to stop in place when Ikari addressed her one final time, the Lady's words caught somewhere between her business and playful tones.

"I obviously believe it would be better for you to stay, my dear, but should you decide to brave the dangers outside you will find your equipment cleaned and ready for combat over at the blacksmith, and your horse ready for departure at a moment's notice. I've been told that he's been missing you."

...Which was more than Asuka could have said, much to her embarrassment, as she had pretty much entirely forgotten about Emil, her trusty steed and unwavering companion. She had not visited the proud equine even once since her arrival in Akuro, and she was certain that Emil was going to make her pay for it in his own special way whenever the redhead decided to resolve that state of affairs.

It was funny how the little things could slip one's mind when faced with unthinkable scenario after impossible development in quick succession, really.

"...He better have, the blockhead." Asuka ultimately said, a small smile tugging at her lips. She then shook her head good-humouredly and followed the militiawoman out of the room, the sound of their footsteps quickly becoming lost to the distance.

Yui, however, remained in the room a little longer, her eyes attentively scanning the quarters both to make sure that she wasn't forgetting any of her possessions within, and to try and piece together any remaining scraps of information about their unforeseen guest that the chamber could provide.

And more than once did the Lady's eyes happen upon an old-looking doll resting on top of a drawer, that was nevertheless as well preserved and cared for as its age would allow. A childish keepsake that Yui, even after having laid eyes upon it numerous times before, still thought looked largely out of place amidst Sohryu-san's possessions.

Like all of the previous times that the woman had wondered about the item, however, the brunette quickly dismissed the toy as unimportant. Focusing her attention on more pressing matters instead, and confident in the knowledge that she wasn't forgetting anything important, she walked out of the room shortly thereafter.

Everyone needed hobbies, after all. And who was she to judge, really?