A/N: Greetings, fellow Mai-HiME fans! I'm here with another update to help you waste some time. Apologies with the bigger gaps between the new chapters, but I'm kinda behind schedule with the story. I want to write so many things and include a lot of plot-relevant details and conversations, that I often find mysef just sitting and wondering where I should start from.
Thank you for the reviews and the follows/favs! I'll make it one of my main goals to finish this story by this time next year (seems most realistic... T_T), so keep checking once in a while for an update. Also, I'd like to thank the kind offers from some of the reviewers to help improve the story by pointing out some mistakes. One of the best things about fanfiction, methinks, is that the author (in most cases) is never alone in their writing. Every comment makes an impact on the future of the story and in some way the readers are also responsible for the ending. Most of the time, anyways.
So, here we have another chapter. It's a bit... gruesome (such scenes are the only reason Jump Drive is labled as M), so if you're sensitive towards unlpeasant images of maimed beings of the same biological species, I suggest you skip to the last few sentences. I personally, don't know if it's too graphic, if judging by my own standarts. In fact, to me it's not. Anyway, you've been warned.
Having said all of this, please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Mai-HiME/Otome.
"Isn't that...?"
Shizuru choked on the lump in her throat.
It was one of them, but it was somewhat... different. Incomplete. The green skin, covered with platings, was there and so were the malicious yellow eyes. Its limbs were gripping the edge of the wooden boat as it hissed with its toothy mouth at their slowly rocking ferry from a safe distance.
"Are those... fingers?" Tomoe leaned forward and narrowed her grey with weariness eyes in an attempt to take a better look. "The ones I shot down were more monstrous-looking. This one is also kind of smaller."
"Indeed," Natsuki agreed and pulled out her sniper-rifle. She took aim. "But make no mistake – this poor bastard is one of them."
"Wait!" Midori flung herself at Natsuki and latched onto her back, provoking an irritated growl. "Maybe we can still save him!"
"Save him?" Haruka inclined her head in question. "Isn't that an Orphan?"
"Don't you see?" Shizuru whispered in sad realization. She didn't want to believe it, but it was hard to deny what was right in front of them.
Beside her Mai was shaking, angry tears brimming her usually smiling eyes, now dulled by the newly discovered truth.
Were they blind all this time, or had they noticed, but just chose to lie to themselves? Shizuru had thought about it quite a few times, actually. The attack back in the university, during which she was about be killed in a most gruesome manner, caused nightmares about those creatures every time she closed her eyes. Thus, she had begun thinking quite a lot about them. Why were they so different from the other Orphans, but similar between themselves? Why were they humanoid? All her musings had lead her to one conclusion – they were modelled after humans. A very frightening thought had occurred to her when the HiME began noticing the disappearances. She had tried sharing it with Mai not too long ago, before they departed from the island.
The missing people hadn't just left. They were taken. Before seeing this incomplete creature in front of her, Shizuru had hoped with every part of her being that her suspicions were wrong. Now, however, the fact that people were abducted with a purpose hit all of them square in the face.
Haruka was about to ask her something, but paused with her lips parted. Her head slowly turned towards the fishing boat.
"No. This can't be!"
"Natsuki," Midori was continuing with her pleas. "Maybe we can reverse the process, don't kill him!"
Natsuki didn't even look at the archaeologist. Her eyes were focused on a hard stare ahead, her whole body tensed and ready to do what needed to be done.
"Midori, I'm afraid we don't have the knowledge to do that," Youko attempted to convince her friend to step back this time. "From a medical point of view that can no longer be considered a living being with human physiology."
"But all the data we have," the scientist weakly argued back, "all the things we can learn-"
Three consecutive shots cut through the thin morning mist, interrupting Midori mid-sentence.
"Natsuki!"
But Natsuki hadn't moved. She kept staring ahead with infuriating passivity at the still struggling creature as it wailed at them, while its boat was sinking, a part of it blown away.
"Not worth the risk, doctor Dimwit," Tomoe lowered her shot-gun, its barrel still steaming. "Right, Nina?"
Shizuru turned around to look at the other person who had fired at the boat. Judging from her elevated position, it was Nina who had taken the shot at the Orphan, while Tomoe had sunk the boat.
"Though I see you didn't have the guts to kill it. Next time aim for the head."
Nina regarded her fellow agent with guarded hostility, but said nothing. She strapped her own weapon to her back and silently retreated back to the deck's cabin. Shizuru wasn't surprised at the lack of a response from the girl – she had barely heard her talk over the past few days. She turned to look at her other comrades.
None of them moved for a short while. The air was heavy with tension and unspoken regrets. A lone lighthouse stood white on the edge of the deserted land, its purpose defeated by the desolation of the port town. Nothing much else could be seen besides the mute guardian.
Were there more of these creatures on the shore? None of them could be certain – the Orphans had become smarter than ever.
"Well," Midori spoke at last. "Nothing to see here. Get to your duties, ladies. We've got a world to save."
Shizuru briefly observed how the improvised crew dragged their feet, all of them headed to do one thing or another. They needed to prepare to get on shore. Finally red eyes stopped on Natsuki's form.
What are you thinking? Shizuru tucked a lock of long hair away. She fingered through her pockets for a rubber band. What do you see?
For a few long moments Natsuki stood like a statue; silent, contemplating. Probably regretful and angry, too. Shizuru remembered what Mai had told her before they had left for Hokkaido. Could that cold person still be her Natsuki? Could that expressionless woman still love her, or was she so full of hatred? The one thing that had drew Shizuru to that lone girl all those years ago was the desire to help her smile. And she had done everything she could; in the end successfully.
A grown person now, it was solely Natsuki's choice whether to keep her hatred or let it go. Shizuru knew the crushing feeling of self-loathing far too well. With the assistance of the Natsuki from back then she had somehow managed to start forgiving herself. Of course, the events around the second Searrs attack had managed to nearly obliterate her progress, but due to tremendous efforts she managed to survive. She found herself happy at times, as well. Though she was not ready to feel love yet. Unlike a kind heroine from a novel, she didn't carry a heart that was a boundless green and sunny field of forgiveness, full of flowers and promise of love. She was bitter. All that was left on the bottom of her empty cup were dry tea-leaves, waiting to be thrown away.
Finally, while tying her ruffled hair, she decided to go and check the condition of her naginata. After all, if she didn't take care of the weapon, it wouldn't take care of her in return. It was all she had against the might of the unknown.
"What about this river?"
Natsuki pointed a spot on the map, under the small town they were headed. It was located southern from their departure point, making their journey longer than originally anticipated. But they had chosen this location nevertheless, as they were sure they would be ambushed at their previously planned checkpoint – it was too obvious after the events in Hokkaido.
The new course they set was for this town, known for its lead-smelting in the past, however now famous for being one of the most polluted places on the planet. With a known population of a less than two thousand, it was better than most of their other options.
Nina shook her head, denying the suggestion.
"It's still frozen at this time of the year. We don't have the means to sail up the stream in such an environment."
"I doubt that there will be a sufficient supply of gas in that cesspit of a village, even if we do have the opportunity to search," Tomoe remarked, her eyes focused on the ferry's course. It was tricky navigating in the mist, even if it wasn't that thick. None of them were professionals. "Also, we won't be able to take it with us, if we find some tanks. There's simply no more place in the Orion."
"There will be, if we leave you somewhere in that cesspit of a town, as you've put it," Natsuki said to herself and cracked her neck. She flinched.
Tomoe threw her a nasty glance.
"Until now I've done nothing but cooperate and be of help," the Searrs agent said between her teeth. "I'm really trying here, Kuga-san. You're not giving me much to work with."
"You don't seem to get it, do you? In the end you're both Searrs," the Ice HiME regarded the other two she was alone with in the cabin. "It's inevitable you'll stab us in the back eventually. Let's just use one another to the fullest, no need to be friendly."
"Kuga-san, this time it's different," Nina protested, a spark in her dark eyes. "We also want to protect this world and the people in it..."
"That's not what I recall when you summoned the Star last time."
"What?" Nina's hands, which were resting on the map's table, clenched into fists and crumpled the brown with age map. "Nonsense! We did nothing of the sort!"
Natsuki lifted a brow. The girl did seem appalled at the notion of Searrs summoning the Star. Could this meant that...?
"You didn't know?" She asked and turned towards Tomoe, who was conveniently looking ahead, pretending to be busy with navigation. "Your bosses didn't tell you that they purposefully brought the Star back to study it and use the Orphans to destroy the HiME?"
"I-," Nina gulped and also glanced at Tomoe. "I... was suspicious, but... Did Arika know?"
"Of course she didn't!" Tomoe finally turned to regard them both, hands arrogantly crossed in front of her. "That idiot wouldn't have cooperated one bit, had she known that the appearance of the Star wasn't a mere 'accident'."
"We were told it was part of the cycle. We needed to capture the HiME, so that we could study them and maybe prevent the appearance of the Star again," Nina defended, her lower lip now trembling.
Natsuki shook her head.
"See? That's why Searrs can't be trusted," she turned towards the other agent. "Why are you leisurely leaning against the window? Shouldn't you be watching our course?"
Tomoe shrugged.
"We're here."
"No signs of Orphans."
"Yet."
"Are you complaining?"
"I'm being careful and vigilant."
"Be happy and optimistic for a change."
"Happy gets you killed."
"Better dead than living all your life with a stick up your a-"
"Will you two drop it already?" Midori snapped. "Let's focus on finding gas and getting out of here. Now search! Quietly!"
She stomped off, leaving Mai and Natsuki alone, staring at her angrily retreating back.
"Didn't think she had that word in her vocabulary," Natsuki dryly remarked.
"She used to be a teacher."
"A very lousy one."
"You're not being very kind."
"While you're being very annoying."
"Does my desire to be nice to people seem that annoying to you?" Mai glared, as the two walked down the frozen streets of the abandoned town.
Biting cold coloured their exposed faces with pink frost-burns and they struggled to breathe, as their lungs also felt to be begining to form a coat of ice. If it wasn't enough that they were threading through deep snow, the wind also didn't spare them. Grey thick-walled stumpy houses went along what was supposed to be a street and there seemed to be no sign of a place where they could get gas from. Unless they resorted to breaking in every single home. Mai thought that in the end, if nothing else worked, they would be forced to do just that.
"No, it's just you," Natsuki replied while shivering. She was rubbing her arms in order to fool herself she was warm.
"Don't you know any other form of communication that doesn't involve verbal abuse?" Mai continued their banter, more focused on finding a way to distract herself from the fact that she wasn't feeling her toes.
"Actually, I prefer physical abuse, but you keep making me talk."
Mai blew some relatively hot air in her cupped hands before retorting. But her well-thought reply was out-done by a scream that managed to freeze what little of them remained untouched by the weather. They shared a worried look, during which Natsuki managed to masterfully convey the smug message that she had turned out to be right.
"Now, just because we heard a blood-curdling scream, doesn't mean there are Orphans nearby," Mai tried to be more positive. Natsuki looked back the way they had come from.
"Sounded like the doc. Let's go back."
They threaded with determination through the path they had opened in the blindingly white snow.
"What happened?"
The only one guarding the Orion was Nina, who greeted them with a curt nod.
She had put on a jacket bigger than her normal size, due to the fact that no equipment was prepared for her in advance; Searrs probably had assumed that she would be in full gear when picked up. Her hair was loose and keeping her neck warm, but it was obvious she wasn't faring any better than Mai and Natsuki.
"The doctor went off in that direction to check for any remaining supplies," she answered with urgency, and pointed them towards the path Youko had taken.
Natsuki didn't waste time in heading that way, Mai close behind her. She was glad that due to their bantering they hadn't gotten too far from the place they had left their vehicle. The trail left by the doctor led towards a rather impressive in its size, despite run-down, pharmacy, its blinds lowered and sign fading. The two couldn't read the plate, but the snake twisted around a goblet gave away the identity of the place.
It seemed Youko had managed to break the lock, but the question of how remained unanswered. And the woman herself was sitting shaking in front of the entrance, eyes wide with what Natsuki could only recognize as horror.
"Doc?" They approached her. "What's wrong?"
Mai knelt next to the mute Youko and put a hand on her shoulder. What possibly could have gotten the always level-headed woman so distressed?
"Don't enter," she whispered when she saw Natsuki approaching the door. "Stay away."
Natsuki looked over her shoulder, her left hand already pushing the door open a flash-light in her right. Mai met her eyes and shook her head. A glance was spared at the two in the snow before their heeds were ignored and Natsuki took a few steps inside.
The first thing that alerted her was the smell. No, the stench. It was so familiar that her free hand flew to her face to cover her mouth and nose. Her eyes began watering and she hastily retreated. However, her heel bumped into something, making her stumble backwards and she dropped the flash-light. In a reflexive act to catch it, her fingers caught on something and she accidentally pulled the rusty blinds to the ground with a clatter. She was able to ascertain that her suspicions were right. The sticky floor, the choking miasma... the bodies. Or at least what remained from them.
Something fell from the ceiling on her shoulder, making her jump in her spot and swat it away. The disgust she felt upon contact twisted her insides; she willed herself to lift her eyes. The once white tiled ceiling was the same as all the rest of the enclosed space – stained red and brown with sticky blood, along with what could be safely assumed ripped organs. She didn't want to imagine what could have transpired in order for such an atrocity to occur. The front counter, the shelves with bottles and boxes, the accountant book, left open – all was smeared or layered under what had not too long ago been alive.
Natsuki was immediately thrown into places of her mind she never wished to visit again. Her boots sluggishly moved forward on the viscid floor, her only desire to find the reason behind this atrocity and then get away. The only places free from staining were a couple of black burnt circles, expanded in what looked like traces from small explosions.
Screams and gunfire echoed in her ears. Her first reaction was to try blocking the sounds with her shaking hands, but she quickly realized that this wasn't going to help. Images of dead Searrs agents clad in stained lab-coats or black suits flashed in front of her eyes, appearing and then gone after every blink. It was hard to concentrate when her whole being wanted to turn around and run away from the scene. However, something much stronger than her fear was pulling her in, forcing her to stay. The presence she was feeling wasn't human, but neither was it Orphan. It didn't give off an aura of anything alive, either.
In a most likely futile attempt to get rid of the plaguing memories, she pulled out her bottle with pills. She hadn't realized how much she was shaking until the container slipped out of her trembling fingers and dropped to the floor. It rolled a few steps away and stopped when it bumped into a piece of peculiarly shaped metal object.
"Natsuki!" She heard Mai's alarmed call, but couldn't reply. In a half-trance state she approached the object. It was an elongated sphere and what seemed like thick steel wires were sticking out of it.
The panic and fear eating at her were hardly ignorable as the image she was seeing kept shifting between the foreign object and a severed arm. Nevertheless she quickly erased the distance and knelt in front of what she assumed was some Orphan device. Or was it something Obsidian?
She heard a final call of her name before her sweaty palm brushed the pulsating with energy surface of the object.
Now the shouts from the Searrs agents and the flaring firearms were drowned and eventually consumed by what had become the familiar screams of the visions. The noise was so intense she feared that her ear-drums would burst. Only the thought that this wasn't actually happening in front of her physical self was what kept her standing. She looked at her feet with her blurred with tears eyes.
The Hime star almost managed to blind her. Her spot had changed when compared to the last time she had entered this... place. What hadn't changed was that she wasn't alone; the Orphan hordes and the giant shining red eyes above were here to keep her company. For the first time during a vision Natsuki found herself in a favourable position – she didn't need to move closer to get a better look. And that made her notice something she had overlooked the previous times. She had assumed without a second thought that the Orphans were gathering around the Star, while in fact this was wrong. They were coming out of it.
With every monster stepping on the ground out from the enormous pink orb, the Star's surface seemed to liquefy for an instant and emit a brighter light. As she watched hundreds and millions of Orphans gathering, Natsuki's knees buckled under the her weight.
Her eyes darted, searching the surrounding area. What was this place? Was this happening now, in the future, or the past? Where on Earth...?
Before any more questions could appear she was rudely reminded that, as always, her time here was restricted. This time in particular, it was the burning pulsations from the glowing shard that notified her she was to 'wake up'. Though her gut feeling hinted that it wasn't going to be as simple like before. She closed her eyes and re-opened them, only to find herself in the same place.
The grip of fear around her heart tightened when she remembered how she had entered the vision. If her physical body was still in contact with the object, then there was no way for her to gain consciousness.
More eyes flashed in the void above her lowered in defeat head. Cold sweat ran down her temples as the up until now neglectable headache worsened together with the air-splitting screams and the intensity of the Star's light.
Her mind knew that it was unreasonable to worry – her friends would pull her out and save her before it was too late. Though right now all rational thought was leaving her, even if she struggled to cling onto sanity for a short bit longer.
Unbearable.
Was this the sound of a whole world dying? Was this what awaited them?
"Natsuki!"
After the blinds had fell to the ground Mai saw through the daubed windows her friend disappear further into the building. Just when she jumped up to follow, she heard voices approaching. She didn't look back at Youko when she bolted inside, knowing that her comrades would soon be here and assist if needed.
What greeted her was a scene she had never seen in her worst nightmares; she had caught a brief glance through the windows, but thought it to be a play of light. Her hands flew to her mouth and she barely kept herself standing, exhausting her will just to stay inside. She had come with a purpose.
Mai saw her purpose kneeling not too far from her, next to a piece of metal and was inspecting it. She called her name. Natsuki didn't respond, her head lowered as if she had passed-out.
"Natsuki?" Mai tried again as she told her body to approach the young woman. She gasped when her large with worry and shock eyes landed on Natsuki.
Her friend's right hand was resting on top of the unknown object, but was apparently trapped by a couple of metal wires wrapped tightly around it. The shard was emitting even pulses of light and, what Mai discovered when reaching for it, heat, which had managed to burn a hole in the leather glove. The stone's surface rippled barely visibly. It now looked like it had always been there – the skin around it had healed completely.
Natsuki was staring unseeingly at the floor, her expression was petrified in what Mai could only imagine was dread. Not just anything could make the stoic Ice Princess make such a face.
Seeing that Natsuki wasn't going to respond any time soon, Mai took up the task to pull her friend out of the trance. Literally.
Her fingers enclosed around the wires and while with one hand she pulled in an attempt to loosen them up, with the other she was gripping Natsuki's wrist. Trying to wring away the wires wasn't an easy job and even if she was huffing with exertion, Mai managed to do little. And in her endeavour to free Natsuki, her fingers accidentally brushed against the shard.
Next she knew, she was standing next to her slumped friend, who didn't seem to even notice her. Mai almost fell backwards when it occurred to her that the two of them were suspended in the air on an invisible field and that the Hime star was shining brightly under them. Maybe it was because of her being used to flying that Mai was able to keep her footing and take a steady look around.
It was exactly as Natsuki had described it to them, however she had missed on a few details. Like the fact that the desperate screams splitting the air were enough to drive anybody to the edge, or that the feeling of being observed by those eyes was so overwhelming. When she began choking, Mai realized that she had stopped breathing.
She coughed and wheezed, surprised by her own body's reaction... Or was this her body? Where were they?
They were close to a big lake, she figured out. What was curious was that while the sky was like a starless, black lid, while the water reflected a beautiful night sky... with two moons. She wasn't mistaken, she found out after blinking a few times. This sky's reflection did not belong to anything from their planet.
As if just now becoming aware of her presence, Natsuki lifted her head and fixed her strained eyes on her.
"Why... are you here?" The shaky words didn't sound like anything Natsuki had ever said to her.
"I-"
"What are you doing here?" This time Natsuki shouted at her, her attitude taking a complete turn towards aggressiveness.
"I came to save you," Mai answered without thinking. She couldn't just tell her hysteric friend that she had failed to free her from that object's clutch and that they were now both stuck inside the vision.
As the intensity of the screams' noise increased, Mai found it more difficult to concentrate on anything else besides them. No wonder Natsuki wasn't being herself.
"Are they insane?" Nao exclaimed after recovering from the initial shock.
The next ones to arrive were Nao and Shizuru. Neither of them expected to witness such a gruesome sight, even though they were prepared to be unpleasantly surprised after seeing Youko. They found the doctor horror-struck, sitting in the snow, staring at the entrance of some kind of a run-down shop.
Shizuru wasn't sure at all about what she was observing. In the midst of what was once a pharmacy, now painted with a few-days-old blood and further decorated with singed black circles, were kneeling two people. Mai and Natsuki appeared as if frozen in time, both of them unresponsive to their calls. There was a low hum in the air, which Shizuru suspected was coming from the piece of metal the two HiME were touching.
She didn't hesitate in rushing to their side, but her action was stopped midway by Nao's clawed hand tightening around her elbow. Shizuru's eyes flared angrily at Nao for daring in stopping her. The younger woman didn't budge.
"As much as I'd like to see you end up like those two idiots," she lowly drew out, "we must figure out what got them in that state."
"We don't have the time to stand and argue, Yuuki-san," Shizuru switched to a cold demeanour and yanked her arm away, albeit not the small effort. "This is not natural and if we don't do something quickly..."
"Gosh, Fujino! Have you lost your marbles again?" Nao raised her voice to a shout. "If you just listen for a second-"
Shizuru also felt the need to match the tone, despite herself.
"No, you listen! Who knows what's happening to them right as we speak! The thing that caused this room to become like this is most likely related to that object. Every second we waste-"
Shizuru stopped. Shouting wasn't her, so why was she...? Then she realized the reason why they both had to argue in such a loud manner. What was the hardly tangible hum of the device had gradually increased to loud rumbling.
Her body moved too slow, as her mind raced ahead of her. She needed to pull Natsuki and Mai away from that thing before it...
All sounds ceased for one excruciating moment. Shizuru was mid-step, her hand reaching for Natsuki's shoulder, which was just too far. It was as if the device sucked in everything around it for a instance as short as an electric impulse and then it imploded. Of course, not without its consequences for the HiME in direct contact with it.