Date A Live: Broken Ice

Chapter 12: The Monster Inside Her Head Part 1


"..."

"Wake up…

"..."

"Wake uppppp….."

"..."

"Wake up little Hermit…"

"Hermit…?Me...?"

"Can you hear it hermit? The sound, that wonderful sound?"

"Who are you?"

"It'll never stop now...we won't let it!"

"You sound like...Yoshinon?"

"Her song rang in your ears and woke us up!"

"Is that you Yoshinon?"

"It sounded like bells….Or maybe a organ?"

"Where are you Yoshinon? Why are you talking like this? I can't see anything!"

"Organs! The organs being torn to shreds inside our teeth! Bones too; if we are lucky!"

"I-I don't under-understand..."

"The blood also! So much blood! Your friends will bleed much; of that I am certain!"

"My friends…? Is someone coming to hurt them?!"

"Lock the doors! Lock them tight! Bolt them down! Board them up!"

"I don't understand what you're saying Yoshinon!"

"What you're keeping out is on the wrong side of the door!"

"Yoshinon where are you?! I don't understand you but I don't want to be alone!"

"Oh you won't be alone! TeeHee! I'm not going anywhere!"

"Where are you Yoshinon?!"

"Time to start running! Hermit shall either be prey or predator! Maybe a bit of both?! Yes...the others will consume her if she lets them..."

"Wait...you're not Yoshinon are you?

"KeKeKe! Hermit isn't a big dumb dummy after all! If Hermit can figure out this much maybe she can figure out what Hermit needs to do!"

"What I need to do? What's that?"

"LET. US. OUT."


As Yoshino began to stir she continued to ponder over what had just occurred. The voice that had spoken to her in the dream or whatever it was had sounded like Yoshinon but while the signature squeak was the same the tone had been all wrong! The way it talked was with a manic cheerfulness; constantly blabbering on to itself as if it was caught between sounding angry, happy, and crazy. Her hero could be excitable but while he always pushing her to be more assertive and less frightened that other voice was telling her to kill!

'Who was that? Yoshinon would never say such things but...Huh…? Where am I?'

With feeling coming back into her body Yoshino found herself waking up not laying in her warm comfy bed but rather standing in someplace that was most definitely not the quarantine zone. With a soft yawn she took control of her semi-numb body and rubbed her eyes only to be confronted with a grotesque sight once she opened them again.

"Hu?-Huaahhh!?"

A hoarse scream escaped her lips for in front of her was a colossal icicle jutting from the ground upon which a young girl with long blue hair was fully impaled, her maid outfit and clover hairpiece were both spattered with blood from the sheer force of the ice bursting through her chest.

As if the sight of a dead girl wasn't bad enough Yoshino knew who it was and that this wasn't a girl…

"Shido?!"

Yoshino had her eyes locked on Shidori's frozen face mounted above her as a trail of blood dribbled out of her mouth and pooled below the spirit's feet on the stage.

"But Tohka! The ship!" glancing around the stage and surrounding stands Yoshino could see the packed seats filled with a silent brainwashed crowd as well as a quietly weeping Tohka up on the stage with her but no twins or Diva "No, no, no, no! I can't be back here! This can't be Shido! He was ok! This can't be real!"

A soul crushing terror had gripped Yoshino. Had everything just been a dream?! A trick of the mind to placate Yoshino while the Diva's magic caused her body to rob Shido of his life?!

'This-This can't be happening!'

The horror of what she was witnessing drove Yoshino desperately looking for anyway to lessen the impact of her apparent murder of the boy she loved "Shido! You can't be dead! I-I know! I'll go get help! Yes! Y-You'll be ok Shido! I'll run and get Reine or Kotori and we'll get you to a h-h-hospital! I'll b-b-bring you there myself and e-everything will be f-fine! Trust m-me!" Yoshino reasoned.

It was obvious the person on her icicle was clearly dead but the slight glimmer of false hope she gave herself was the only thing keeping Yoshino from going insane with guilt.

"Liar..." A cruel hiss joined the sound of a heavy metal blade being dragged across the stage

"Toh-Tohka?"

"How dare you say such things after what you did. To lie after doing this to Shido, do you have no shame?" Tohka spoke with a quiet rage, her face seemed dull and lifeless as she shambled over with the angel Sandalphon dragging behind her. It was like she couldn't care enough to even lift the blade as it tore into the wood

"He begged...He pleaded with you and those other traitors to stop..."

"I wanted to stop!"

"We all came out here to be happy...to eat yummy foods...to have fun in cute outfits...to help Shido win...how could you?"

"Tohka I-I didn't…"

"But you didn't stop did you?"

"We couldn't! The Diva…"

"Why didn't you three stop?! You did everything that terrible girl asked and-" an enraged Tohka attempted to cleave Yoshino in half with a overhand slice "-MURDERED HIM IN COLD BLOOD!"

Yoshino was forced to dodge as the blade sailed by her head and sunk into stage below with a deafening crash; a testament to the sword's weight. In the moment between looking at Tohka and sidestepping the sword there was a gust of wind mixed with a flash of dark purple energy. By the time Yoshino looked back she found herself face to face with a familiar and terrible sight

"You killed him! I saw you rush forward and slay him without any hesitation! Did his kiss mean anything to you?!" challenged the inverse form of Tohka with her black blade angled at Yoshino's face

Rather than the cool bitterness and dark regality that was on her face during their first encounter (or maybe this WAS their first encounter; she honestly didn't know right now) this version of Dark Tohka had a look of utter madness that reminded Yoshino far too much of those Yandere characters she saw in her anime "Kaguya...Yuzuru...Yoshino...All traitors...All shall die!"

"I-I didn't want to hu-hurt him! Please be-be-believe me! It was that an-angel! I couldn't stop myself!"

"Liar! Don't you dare say you didn't mean to hurt him! If you and those other defectors truly cared about him she would never be able to sway you like that! You're at fault! You're to blame!"

"Tohka p-p-please! We can still f-fix this! We can get Shido somewhere where they-they can fix h-him and-"

"No excuses and no mercy! I have no time for the words of betrayers! Shido is dead and soon you shall head into the bowels of hell by my blade!" Yoshino could feel the wind kicked up by the sword as it sailed in front of her face on the final word.

"I'm not a betrayer! Tohka please snap out of it!"

"That's what he said to YOU THREE!"

"You have to stop please!"

Dark Tohka didn't let up and continued to attack; getting closer with each swing "Stop moving and let me take your head!"

There was no time to figure things out anymore, Tohka was completely out of it and determined to kill Yoshino for her betrayal and if she stayed here any longer there was a good chance she'd succeed!

With an unsteady hop Yoshino lept over Tohka's sword after she had gotten it stuck into the stage and fled behind the curtains, crying as she left "I'm sorry Tohka, Shido! I don't want to leave either of you like this but I can't fix this on my own! I'll get someone help and everything will be fine I swear it!"

"GET BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T RUN FROM THIS!"

"Waaah! It has to be fine! Everyone has to be fine!" Yoshino cried while dashing through the darkness blindly, never even checking if Tohka was actually giving chase

"Let the fear chase you! Surround you! Corner you! Don't stop! Stopping would be bad! HaHaHa!'"

Yoshino attempted to pay the voice no mind despite not knowing where it was coming from; her mind was preoccupied elsewhere

'I'm sorry Tohka! I didn't want to leave you alone like that but I need to go get help! Shido has to live! I won't let it end like this! I don't want to be a murderer! I don't want to be Shido's murderer!'

Tears streaked Yoshino's cheeks and dripped to the floor below her; she was confused, scared, and just wanted this all to stop! How could a nice trip to the festival to cheer on her friends come to this?!

'Her…That new spirit! She's the one who made me hurt him! I'll never forgive her!'

Yes! The Diva! She was the one who forced Yoshino to attack Shido, she was the one to blame for all of this!

'All because she didn't want to lose! How could anyone use friends as a weapon?! I don't care if Shido tells me to stop and says that we should all be friends when I find her I'll...I'll...I'll do something really bad to her!'

"Yes…! Good…! Rage! Hate! Anger! More hate! We need blood and hate!"

It was this anger that distracted Yoshino from the trap she was walking into laid out by a pair of agile predators.

"Hostile detected. Kill"

"Here comes our prey!"

From out of the shadows a gust of wind side checked Yoshino's tiny body into a wall with the force of being hit by a car. She didn't even have time to scream as she bounced off and fell to the floor in pain; if a spirit's body wasn't more durable than a human's a blow like that would likely have broken a more than a few bones but durability did little to dull the pain

"Owwwwwwwwwwww"

"Status. Target Alive"

"Shame that didn't kill her..."

When the darkness mysteriously parted Yoshino could see that she now stood in a nondescript gray room with the twins glaring at her; the locks on their maid cafe uniforms and the roaring winds around them showed that both were primed and ready for a fight fight.

But the hostility made no sense to Yoshino "Kaguya? Yuzuru? Why did you attack me like that?" she asked while getting to her feet

"How dare you upstage the Yami's in proving their obedience to big sister! Shido was our Mark, not yours!" Kaguya shouted

'Upstage? They're upset that they didn't get to hurt Shido and I did? So now they're trying to kill me? They want her love that much?!' Yoshino recoiled as she came to realize both girls were still under the angel Gabriel's spell compelling them to treat the Diva with absolute devotion.

"Kill? He-He's not dead yet!" Yoshino denied confusing the twins

"Odd. I swore being impaled like that was fatal my sister..." pondered Yuzuru

"Big sister was certain Yoshino had eliminated him when she rushed forward to sever his lifeforce with her ice as she did. Our beloved even gave Yoshino orders to dispose of the body before his foul stench contaminated this place"

"He-He's not dead! I-I would n-never kill Shido! He has to be alive still!"

"You keep telling yourself that..."

Yoshino refused to believe Shido was dead and despised the way the twins described what she had done while the Diva's solo messed with her head "I'm going to go get help! He's going to be ok!"

"Help him? Why help the one that made big sister sad?"

"Agree. If he is still alive we must follow her orders to vanquish him and remove his taint from the world!"

While Yoshino recoiled at the prospect Kaguya actually seemed excited! "Sister! We no longer need to eliminate our competition for Big sister's love! Yoshino failed her task so now we can eliminate the one onesan despises so much!"

Each word from the brainwashed duo drove Yoshino mad with bitter rage, they were his friends too but because of that that...demon both continued to decry his suffering "Shut up! Don't talk about Shido like that! He's the one you two are supposed to love! Not that terrible girl! She's the bad guy!"

"Deny. You could say such things about our most beloved one?! She is a paragon of virtue and beauty! She has a pure and innocent-" Yuzuru autonomously began to praise the Diva drawing rage from her freed companion.

"The only reason you like her is because of that angel she has and what's it's done to your heads!"

Yoshino wouldn't take it; brainwashed or not she wasn't about to let the twins keep acting like that miserable idol was a nice person! "The Diva is a evil! She's nothing more than a monster in a nice dress who makes people fight their friends! She makes me want to puke! She should just die!"

In retrospect insulting the one who the twins now worshiped wasn't the smartest idea…

"What was that you worm!?"

"Rage. Yoshino uses words other than those of praise to describe Aneue-samma?!"

Both twins were now glaring at her and the small tornados wrapped around them increased in power.

Yoshino could see they were primed to attack but didn't care. She needed to let all the anger bubbling up inside of her out!

"That angel of hers lets her control people and forces them to be nice to her and say good things about her! She doesn't deserve anything you say! I'd rather die than let her control me again! When I find her I'm going to make her pay for all of this!"

For the second time since she woke up Yoshino found herself being attacked by a friend. Unlike Tohka who missed with her first blow Yuzuru's chain found it's mark and cracked against Yoshino's chest hurling the small spirit against the wall, forcing a pained hiss from her lips before both twins were upon her. What followed was much less a fight and more of a beating with both Kaguya and Yuzuru tossing Yoshino around with their winds interspaced with random weapon blows . It seemed unfathomable that the two could show anyone such cruelty to anyone let alone a child but any sense of morality was being blocked by the hard coded desire to serve the Diva that now controlled them.

'Was I like this to Shido? Oh how is he ever going to forgive me after all this?!' thought Yoshino who somehow, despite being brutally beaten by the twins, managed to worry about how she was going to make things up to Shido after he "recovered".

Yoshino could have easily summoned a ice wall to block the sister's attacks or blasted them back with torrents of cold air but she did nothing of the sort; only defending herself by using her hands to protect her head from any further blows.

'Not again! I won't hurt another friend because of that terrible girl and her angel!' Yoshino was determined to not lay so much as a finger on the two even as they continued to toss her around and land painful blows across her body.

Yuzuru used her chain to viciously whip Yoshino's limbs 'I can take this! If I hurt them then the Diva wins!'

Kaguya came crashing down on the small of Yoshino's back, driving her heel down as hard as she could 'It just hurts a little! They'll say they're sorry when they wake up!'

Yoshino swore she could hear something break as she got to her feet but never had time to dwell on it as both sisters flew in from the side to kick her in the stomach dropping her back down to her knees 'Just-khe!-have to hold on! They'll wake up before they hurt me too bad just like I did with Shido!'

"Ahhhh!" another flying kick to the face sent Yoshino to floor again followed by another 'Kaguya! Yuzuru! Please come back!'

A viscous slice of Yuzuru's chain cracked against Yoshino's back opening up a deep gash and drawing blood. With a thud she fell to the ground, weak and beaten, but the attacks did not let up. While the twins continued to rain blows down upon her Yoshino retreated into her mind so as to try and block out the pain. There she found the voice from earlier waiting for her; encouraging her to fight back.

'Ow...it hurts...'

"Those two looked filled with blood! We would like to see that blood; yes we would like to see it very very much!"

'I can't! They're my friends!'

"Hermit's friends are trying to kill Hermit; is this what friends normally do?"

'They're just confused! They'll stop!'

"OhHoHo! Hermit thinks that friends can't kill each other? That friendship or love can overcome all like one of those cartoon shows for kiddies?!"

'In the end everyone always saves each other even if they lose control! Kaguya and Yuzuru will stop just like I did-'

"Hermit did not stop! Hermit killed! Hermit's love means nothing!"

'That's not true!'

"Those "Friends" of yours are going to kill you here! Their friendship is worthless! All friendship is worthless!"

'S-Stop it!'

"Hehe! Me or them?"

'Both!'

"Make them stop Hermit! Show them that you can cast off the shackles of friendship and love! LET. US. OUT."

'Ow ow ow! This hurts so much! I don't want to die!'

"You don't have to! Hermit can live if she just fights back! LET. US. OUT."

'But I don't want to hurt them!'

"They want to hurt you though! Friends cause hurt...friends cause pain...friends cause DEATH!"

'I'm not sure how long I can take this!'

Kaguya and Yuzuru weren't stopping as Yoshino and the voice spoke; in fact it looked like they were about to finish her off!

"Sister end her!"

"Confirm. Elimination of threat to big sister in progress!"

Yoshino found her voice and breath cut off as Kaguya restrained her allowing Yuzuru to wrap her chain around Yoshino's neck to try and crush her windpipe

'They're actually going to kill me!' Yoshino quickly realized as the angel tightened around her throat like a garrote 'No! This isn't right! They're supposed to stop! Whenever someone gets hypnotized in anime they always break free once they remember their friends! They're supposed to break free and turn back to being good!'

"You need to watch better anime, might I suggest Code G***s?"

Yoshino tried her hardest to utter a few more honest pleas for her life despite the suffocation but every word out of her mouth was merely met with Yuzuru tightening the chain.

"Yuzuru-Ack!-fight it-Ack!-I'm your-eugh!-friend!"

"Reject. All threats to big sister must be purged! Your life is forfeit" Yuzuru didn't even flinch as she continued to coldly stare down at her while strangling her to death

"Just a bit more...We're so close now! Rip em' apart!"

Yoshino's vision was fading, her head felt numb, and her heart surged with adrenaline. This was it! She was going to die!

'I can't hurt them! I won't do it!'

"No! No! No! This is no good! Hermit refuses to stop dying when I want her too!"

'No more! I can't take this!' Yoshino managed to break her arms out of Kaguya's grip and struggled to loosen the chain but it was no good; Yuzuru's grip was too strong and she couldn't break an angel with her bare hands!

'Friends don't kill friends! Friends don't kill friends! Friends don't kill friends!'

She attempted to thrash around like a caught fish to dislodge the angel enough to breathe but just couldn't get the chain to budge!

"You saw that video and what became of your "friend" Tohka! Friends do kill friends! You can't deny what you did Hermit! You can't pretend friendship or love is some unbreakable thing! The song could break it! The darkness could break it! LET! US! OUT!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

With terror in her heart and the voice's words in her head Yoshino at long last lashed out at the girl on top of her all the while screaming. Manifesting long claws of rigid, sharp ice on her hands she swung with all her might at Yuzuru's chest. With her full weight behind the attack Yoshino sent the crystalline blades deep into the Yamai sister's torso in one swift movement.

"Pain. Fatal...Damage…" Yuzuru called out to her sister one last time before keeling over in a bloody heap

"Sister! What have you done to her?!" roared Kaguya with a retaliatory thrust of her lance that was deflected with Yoshino's other bladed hand

With the lance flying past her Yoshino didn't even think as she used her free claw to viciously jab Kaguya in the stomach hard enough to stop the wind spirit's charge dead, soon to be followed by the spirit herself who looked horrified as she realized her wound and dropped to the ground on top of her sister.

For a few seconds there hung an unusual smile on Yoshino's face while in her heart she felt an unnatural warmth. In her hands the cold ice and hot blood mixed and, despite everything she knew about herself, the sensation just felt so...right!

"Ah...Glorious…" moaned the voice with undeniable pleasure like it had been waiting for this feeling for a long time.

Eventually Yoshino fell out of this blood haze and snapped back to reality when she saw both twins lying at her feet "Huh? Kaguya? Yuzuru? No!" When she fought back she didn't mean to do this! How could she even manage to fight like that?! She had gone from practically dead at their hands and too weak to resist to slaughtering both with such frightening ease!

Where did that power come from?!

Why did it feel good?!

"Please be ok! I'm so sorry!" Yoshino was uncontrollably sobbing and shaking as she turned Kaguya and Yuzuru onto their backs so she could inspect their wounds

Both girls' maid outfits were stained with blood and neither was breathing; Yoshino used what little she knew of first aid to check their pulses anyway but of course none was found.

"Just...ugh...maybe mouth to mouth!? I need to get them breathing again! Just long enough to get them to a hospital or something!"

"You mean like the totally not dead Shido back there?"

Yoshino was keenly aware of just how much sarcasm that sentence had been dripping with and ignored it in her desperation "Yes! They need to be brought to Reine or to a hospital or just to anyone!"

"I know someone who can help Hermit with that!'

"Help...? Yes! Help! I need help! I'll take anyone!"

"YOSHINO?!"

'That voice...' though Yoshino in disbelief as she slowly craned her neck to look at the source of the fearful yell...


During the course of merely looking up from the floor the world around Yoshino seemed to change; without any explanation she was standing on some random street in the same market district Shido often took her to shop. It was sunset and all around her the shops and stalls were shuttered for the evening leaving only herself and a terrified looking Shido holding some bags standing in the street.

'He's alive?' Yoshino thought back to seeing him "injured" back on the stage by her attack and rejoiced 'Shido's still alive!'

Yoshino didn't question the how or why of it; all she cared about was the fact she didn't hurt him! It had all been a terrible dream! "Shido! I'm so glad you're ok!"

"Stay away!"

Yoshino recoiled "Sh-Shido...?"

"What did you do Yoshino!?"

"What did I…(gasp!)" Yoshino looked towards her feet where Shido was now pointing at

Still underneath her was the corpses of both Kaguya and Yuzuru. The difference was now they had no sign of any maid outfits or astral dresses on them; only their normal school clothes now stained with crimson blood adored the twin's bodies. For all intents and purposes it appeared Yoshino had attacked them while shopping with Shido and brutally cut down both with her claws. She was still splattered in their blood and the murder weapons now hung low on her hands lightly dripping specks of red onto the ground with each step she took.

In short Yoshino had traded in dealing with her killing Shido back at the festival for the situation she now found herself in with both the twins dead by her claws.

"Shido I…"

"How could you?!"

"I didn't mean...they attacked and I...Shido I'm scared!" after failing to excuse herself Yoshino found herself pleading with Shido to help her

At this point she didn't know what was real and what was just a dream:

Had the first version of the festival been real...?

The second...?

Was what she had seen aboard the ship all been a nightmare...?

Was she still stuck under the Diva's control and all of this was just a way to keep her mind from becoming free; a mental prison of sorts to trap her in confusion and nightmares while her body acted upon the idol's wishes?

Could her body be out in the real world killing Shido right now!?

Did she just wake from Diva's control after killing Kaguya and Yuzuru who she wanted dead for some reason!?

Perhaps she just died and gone straight to her own vision of hell?!

Where did reality end and the dreams begin?!

In her cloud of confusion and fear all she knew for certain is that she wanted Shido to help her. She wanted to go crying to him and have him make it all better like he always did! He was the one who helped her when she was sealed! He was brave, strong, and always knew how to fix even the worst problems! She needed him right now!

The problem was that Shido was backing away from her in fear as she shambled in his direction looking for any scrap of comfort he could give the confused spirit. Every time Yoshino called out to him begging for help he took another two steps back before finally turning tail and fleeing down a dark alleyway forcing Yoshino to go chase after him.

As he fled Shido yelled "Get away from me!"

Yoshino melted and cast away her claws "Shido! I need help! I don't know what's going on anymore! Please Shido help me!"

It was pathetic and sad to be crying out for help like some sort of baby but after all she had been though all Yoshino felt like doing was crying. This nightmare (if that's what it was) just wouldn't end and she couldn't take it anymore!

"I want to go back to the ship and wake up in my bed! I want it to stop! Please! Someone make it stop!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" In her ears came a harsh cackling worthy of the mad hatter from that story about the Alice girl Yoshino liked. It sounded exactly like Yoshinon but the cruel laugh told her it was the other voice; the one who told her to lash out like she did against the twins.

Yoshino held her head and begged the voice to leave her alone as she ran down the alley "Huunghh! Out of my head! This isn't something to laugh at!"

The voice ignored her and continued to laugh at her pain; it's constant cackle caused Yoshino's head to hurt but she had no way of forcing the voice to stop leaving her with no other options but to grin and bear it until she caught up with Shido who continued to stay just out of reach. Eventually the hurtful shrieking compelled her to try and block her ears only to discover it could reach her still; it was as if the voice was inside her brain!

'If it's inside me then...'

"Ooaf!"

Before Yoshino could put the pieces together her thoughts and body where both blocked by her slamming into something barring her path; sending her falling back onto her bottom rather clumsily.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you and-" Yoshino's habitual politeness was cut off "Diva!"

Before her stood the one who had so coldly manipulated her mind; the one to blame for all of this. The Spirit Idol still wore her yellow astral dress and gave Yoshino a dismissive frown that gave the impression she didn't consider her worthy of even breathing the same air as her.

"What are you doing here?!"

"..."

"Where is Shido?!"

"..."

"Are you after him again?!"

"..."

"Did you hurt him!?"

"..."

"Answer me!"

"..." Diva attempted to disengage with Yoshino and simply walk around her without a word

"Don't walk away from me!" yelled Yoshino extending her arms to block the path

"..." All the girl did was continue to glare at Yoshino

"It's all your fault...all of this...nothing makes sense anymore because of you and your angel..."

More cold stares were the only response. Ironically the Diva's refusal to so much as speak was driving Yoshino's anger almost as much as seeing what happened when she did use her "voice"

"Is this the dream?! Is this real!?"

"..."

"Whats going on!? Am I awake or am I dreaming!? Did I hurt shido!? Tell me what you made me do!"

"..."

"Raaaaghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" reaching the end of her rope and already full to the brim with anger and confusion Yoshino lept towards the Diva with every intention of beating the answers out of her!

"Yoshino stop! That's what it wants you to do!"

That voice! It was Yoshinon! The real one! The shock stunned Yoshino mid-flight as the Diva vanished before her eyes making her crash against the ground face first…