Chihiro
It had been a long day.
Rin led me around, gave me the full tour, so I knew what services the Bathhouse offered. Haku stayed in his office, sorting through all the paperwork Yubaba had left for him. Sha're and Miranda went to the practice hall, to spar.
Finally, Rin took me down to see Kamajii.
"Well it took you long enough, Rin." He said to my friend as we shared a hug.
"I was told to give her the full tour. It's not my fault!" Kamajii only snorted.
"Well, well... Lady Chihiro has been making quite the name for herself recently... how are you Chihiro?"
"Young and in love. How are you Grandfather? Has Yubaba managed to find you an apprentice?"
"Why would she do that?"
"Guarding against the worst case scenario. I'll talk to Haku about it." I said around a jaw cracking yawn.
"You need to go to bed Granddaughter. We'll have time to speak more later."
So Rin took me back to the penthouse, and told me she had a day off sometime next week, and asked me if I wanted to make it a picnic with all the gals. I thought that sounded like fun.
It was hours before Haku came to bed.
How she stayed in business confuses me, the state her books are in. he muttered. I only wrapped him in my arms, and held him with all the love I had for him.
Are they bad?
They jump around... It's very confusing.
It sounds like you just need sleep, I told him. He scoffed and showed me an image of the ledgers he'd been studying that afternoon. The numbers were actually jumping around the page. I'll help you tomorrow with them, then.
Thanks, Chihiro. Good night.
Sweet dreams, love.
Aeris
I watched my best friend through the eyes of my reincarnation, and felt the love I remembered for him, not diminished after all the eons we had been apart. Soon Chihiro and I would be able to talk to each other, weather or not she became a spirit.
I had seen first hand the anguish Ebony and Kason had suffered skipping through time together, and prayed that would not happen to Haku and myself. Understanding Chihiro as I did, I knew when she would want to complete her spell, and I would work to that goal as she did.
To that extent, I stood guard. Through Chihiro's eyes earlier, I scanned the room She and Haku would share, and saw only one dreamon ward, probably one Yubaba had made herself. I shook my head at that. If it was left from Yubaba, she could say how to shut it off, or at least work around it. So this wasn't going to work, and Chihiro needed her sleep.
So, around her mind, I stood guard. Not surprisingly, after Chihiro's almost too convenient memory earlier, and her conversation about dreamons with Sha're, we were attacked in dreamon fashion by none other then Paxned, he who defeated Chihro in the final round.
It was an area of misty space where we were, though it didn't actually exist. He appeared confused. We stood there for a while blinking at each other, finally I took pity on him; "Can I help you?"
"I was looking for Chihiro."
"Well, yeah... She is a lot deeper than we are, but she is sleeping. I can help you if you'd like."
"No, I just want to kill her."
"Yes, I figured that... That is simply unacceptable. So, then... Shall I stop you, or will you leave peacefully?" I asked.
"Chihiro lost to me in five seconds in the tournament. Who do you think you are?"
"Well, my name is Aeris... My brother, Rexxan, he taught me about dreamons when we were young. Not that he is actually my brother..." I looked away from him, and Paxned took that opportunity to attack.
Without much effort, I sent him into the ground with the force of an ocean. He was ten feet away from me and he couldn't stand up.
"So... Killing a dead woman might prove challenging for you. How are you going to go about it? Unlike Chihiro, I don't have any physical weapons, just my magic, and my will. Which reminds me... you seriously hurt her in your fight. Broke her nose and her collarbone. Let us make this fair." I said, and inflicted the same injuries to his psyche. He repaired them within moments.
His one arm tried to gain the purchase to lever himself back up, but I had no intention of allowing him to go just then.
"If you want me to let you retreat, tell me about Yubaba."
"Kill me."
"I am innocent... But I am not that nice." I visualized a cage around him, and allowed him to stand, and then made the cage white hot, and shrank it until all he could do was stand there. In the real world, when I was alive, I never had a hang for dreamon battles, Haku had placed so many dreamon wards around his house it wasn't funny, but at least I didn't have to fight. Rexxan taught me the basics, but I've had... time to think since then. Hundreds and thousands of ways to make an intruder injure themselves. Really, that's how to best make them doubt themselves.
I turned my back on Paxned for a moment, and drew a circle, and sent my magic pulsing away from it, a shield around Chihiro's mind.
"Here is the entrance. Make it past me, and you have to deal with her... not that I would worry about you facing her there... but just the same, everyone is counting on her. She should be at her best."
He walked through the bars without touching them; truly an accomplished dreamon. From his empty shoulder erupted a serpent that charged straight at me. I backhanded it, and caught the punch he aimed for my gut, and twisted his arm around on itself. Onto his psyche, I applied the greatest weapon in my arsenal; the moment of my own death.
He was strong, but death is not to be seen by the eyes of the living, be they humans or spirits. He would have retreated, had I left for him the chance to do so. The shield had surrounded us in a sphere, and so he just stood at the far end.
"So now you know one member of the team you'll be facing tomorrow... And I know all of yours; Yubaba, the Nightmares, and Madame Falana."
I saw a glimpse of absolute shock before he disappeared.
Probably shocked from the dream state dreamoning requires. That could sting.
Yubaba
"Aeris knows about Falana." Paxned said when he got over the nausea, halfway through the headache, and caught his breath.
"And just who is Aeris?"
"I'm not sure... she said her brother's name was Rexxan."
Just as the members of the Five, all knew of Master Dakota's fifth child, Rexxan. None were ever named after him, so he had a sister?
"So a ghost knows of a walking flame, does this change any form?" Falana asked.
"None... Unless you know Aeris?" I asked her.
"Who knows what I know? Not me." She said, and walked away.
"Aeris..." I said tasting the name.
"They looked surprisingly alike." Paxned said.
"Who?"
"Aeris and Chihiro. Aeris' hair was longer, but they both have those absolutely defiant eyes. May they draw the wrath of the ocean."
"Unlikely, considering Haku is Lady Nile's first son." I stated.
"Lady Nile!" He gasped and looked at me. Then I remembered he was part water, and cursed myself for my mistake. "I'm out. Il won't wage war against my goddess."
"This is Haku, blaze you!"
"Lady Nile's son. I'm out." He said, and left.
Lahndis had never joined us, out to get a new weapon, and with Paxned gone I am down to Kenshan, Erebus, Barock, and Falana. Summoning those nine wolf dragons... hurt. I was left almost dead when the backlash hit me. Maybe only three next time.
Chihiro
The next morning, I was on watch. Good thing too, anyone else might have panicked, I recognized Falana in a moment.
We stood feet from each other on the center of the bridge. She towered two feet over me easily. She wore dark red pants and shirt, a Black tunic with a long brown jacket over all.
"Madame Falana." I said with a small nod, not daring to break eye contact.
"The benevolent Lady Chihiro. Where's your master...?"
"Haku is sleeping still. Everyone but me and Melanie are asleep."
"For the moment..." She said, and looked over the Bathhouse, "Haku... Sha're, Ebony? Rexxan... Zaniba? Interesting. Your Rin. Selene... and Nacht. This is what you bring against me?
"Where is Aeris?!" She suddenly screamed.
"I'm Aeris." I told her confused.
"You," she said with scorn. "Aeris was a mage worthy of calling herself Dakota's Daughter. You can't even fight off a Dreamon attack without a dead woman guarding you."
"Not that you would know, It wasn't you she fought."
She threw a fist at my face. Lullaby connected solidly. When it began to boil, I took a step back.
"Nile's work... nice. Don't assume it can protect you from me." She turned tucked her hands in her pockets and walked across the bridge. "Dawn tomorrow," she said in parting.
"You are either the craziest person in the known universe or you're just stupid." Melanie said softly from where she stood. "To give you credit, you could be both."
"Thanks, Melanie." I said with a chuckle.
"Well, she won't be back 'til dawn, what about Yubaba?"
"Yubaba won't make a move without Falana. Fortunately, I think I know what's wrong with her."
"And what, my dear Lady Chihiro, could be wrong with her that you might be aware?"
"She's sick... in both mind and body... Gonna take some time to heal."
"You won't get it. She's well into the seven hundred mark on the one to ten scale."
"Seven hundred?" Melanie nodded. "But Miranda said eight..."
"Go tell Haku and Lady Miranda. She's with Sha're. I'm sure you can find Haku on your own." She said with a sly grin.
"Who do you want down here with you?"
"Rin." I nodded and went inside.
Sha're
"That's impossible. Melanie must have been misreading it." I stated.
"Not impossible, simply illegal. Normally legalities annoy me, but this particular one is one I hold dear."
"What is it?" I asked her.
"... You can make yourself stronger by taking... stealing, for lack of a better word, the power of another... but if they live, the power just goes back to them. In order to add their magic into your own, you have to kill them." A moment of silence followed this declaration. "Gramma would not have done that."
"But Lord Pyrate would have." I said.
"How many lives?" my friend asked.
"You don't even want to guess." Miranda said. "I knew he had her... Why put her in my way now?" She wondered as she walked out of the training hall.
I stood there, wondering, and Rin came in. Chihiro asked her friend to go onto sentry duty with Melanie. They left, and I took a seat by the wall.
Within my mind, I walked into the opal that Chihiro had placed in my forehead. Within the opal was a room with a finite number of Mirrors all around the room, some had beautifully ornate frames, some looked as if they were polished silver, and some were just polished glass. Each of those mirrors showed a different face when I looked into them, but each face in them was mine. In the center of the room there was an assembled gem that allowed the lone occupant of the room to see into the world outside. She sat in a poofy brown recliner, reading a book.
Ebony looked up to see me enter, and gave me a warm smile. A tall woman, skin as black as the tree after which she was named, she had kind eyes, a loving smile, and a body that looked as though she could have danced for decades.
"The gentle Falana. Lovely woman, her mother looked like a spirit, but was actually descended of dragon, spirit and, the real taint on the woman, human. After she gave birth to Falana, and he realized who she was... Well, she escaped to the real world with her daughter, and the father pursued. When he returned with his daughter, we had to assume that he had killed the mother, but could one, never prove it, and two, not bring him up on charges anyway, the crime happened outside the jurisdiction of the Five.
"You may not remember, but considering how many times I've had to sit through that trial, I'll never forget how much Pyrate hates humans. Most spirits have, at worst, a passive dislike for humans. They see what humans do to their world. However, very few spirits will go out of their way to actively cause them harm... Pyrate is one of the few."
"How much of that is official history?"
"Most of it. Pyrate's attitude towards humans is well documented. He felt he was deceived by Falana's mother. I always meant to look up what happened to her... She was part dragon and part spirit, so if she hadn't been killed, she might even still be alive... more or less, today."
"What do you mean more or less?"
"There are ways to survive eons passing, we've done it in one manner. Even science is looking for ways to keep people alive longer, cryo stasis for instance."
"She could have put herself in a state of suspended animation?"
"Or she could just be living in her natural form. That could be dangerous. But as Chihiro can tell you, having Magic on that side is painful, but using it is even worse. But to the matter at hand."
"Dealing with Madame Falana." Ebony nodded.
"Miranda stands within five generations of three members of the Five; as humans would call it, Nile is her grandmother, Kason her great-grandfather, and Pyrate is her Great-great-grandfather. All of Dakota's children call each other siblings, but there is no blood shared between them. Kason and I had a son, who had a son with Nile, who had a Daughter with Falana's granddaughter, that daughter was Miranda. She was one of the first Storm Spirits created, though her father was probably the first. She was the first to mix fire into a storm though. Had she been left to Pyrate to raise, the human world would have been destroyed long ago. Thankfully she had loving parents, all those grandparents and aunts and uncles. She was raised to respect life. In my mind, she is one of the finest works of art in this, or any, world.
"Master Haku is the first son of Lady Nile, she has always had a soft spot for him, always will too. With the sword that was a birthday present, he ranks with Miranda as the strongest spirits in the universe. With Chihiro at his side, he has the potential to rise even stronger.
"Chihiro, the reincarnated Lady Aeris, but unlike her predecessor, who was right about fifty-fifty between her two affinities, Chihiro is closer to seventy-five percent Life, twenty-five percent power. As far as I can tell she can still resurrect people, but she seems to be interested in crafting catalysts, so even if she can't do it naturally, she'll be able to in short order.
"Rin and Nacht I don't know much about. He's eight out of ten storm spirit, and she is currently limited by Yubaba's spells to three out of ten, cold affinity. Without those spells, she might reach twelve.
"Melanie and Selene work best together, with Melanie keeping Selene in the dark, and casting support spells on her friend. Teamed up, they can take on anything of average difficulty.
"Zaniba should concentrate on keeping her sister from escaping. She's got the best chance of doing so.
"Rexxan should NOT be included in battle, but should stand above and watch, maybe protect the bathhouse. He's valued by the five for his impartiality. If this goes down the wrong way, he needs to be able to testify.
"You and I can have some fun in this fight, and most likely will do so," she said holding her hand out to me. Without thought, I extended the Wind's Talon to her, and she gripped the weapon like it belonged to her. At that thought, she shook her head and spoke to my mind; It belongs to us. We smiled at each other.
Haku
Chihiro sat next to me and told me of her morning meeting.
Madame Falana, wonderful.
It is though! You just need to get close enough to touch her, and I can heal her through you.
You said she's sick, how?
Well, her mind is in absolute turmoil. I was rather surprised that she could walk in a straight line. But I think that it might be a symptom... encouraged...? by the virus. A virus causing insanity? Not impossible. No, not causing, simply preventing absolute stability. She can be quite close to sane, but then the virus would attack it again, that prevents sanity, but does not discouraging the unconscious from operating the body. So I'll have to excise the virus first.
Last time you did that, you got Sickle... What might come of this?
It's an old virus... Thoughts of ancient and powerful forms flew across her mind. Eventually she settled on an Image of Cereberus. Once it's out, holding it in place shouldn't be hard.
What if Yubaba gets more to bring against us? I asked.
We have a lot of help... and we have a lot of friends. Have faith Haku. I smiled at Chihiro, and brought her close to me, so I could hold her, sharing her faith.
She stole a kiss, and then got out of bed, laying out a clean set of clothes for me. "I'll meet you with breakfast in the lesser dining hall, all right?" She asked with a smile, and then turned before I could answer. I could only smile and shake my head.
Miranda
I met Chihiro on her way to the kitchen, and took her to the lesser dining hall where I had the workers set up breakfast for those of us on day watch. At Haku's place I set the folder I had removed from the office.
"It's Rin!" Chihiro said as she looked at the folder.
"Yeah. I figure we're going to need her help, unbound. I hope it doesn't hurt her too much... she's a good friend." I said as I sat myself across from Chihiro.
One at a time all my friends came in. Melanie stayed on guard at the front gates, but everyone else came up. Haku was last to enter.
He still wore his cloak, the limit on his own power, beneath that, his crest showed from beneath the edge on the left shoulder. His tunic was black, his pants were grey, and the short sleeved shirt was white. His sword completed the ensemble.
"I'm glad that worked out so well." Rin commented.
"We put all of Yubaba's things in storage. We sent Boh to visit his uncle." I said.
"Yubaba's got a brother?"
"Several as I recall..." Haku replied to Chihiro as he sat down. He picked up the folder in front of him and frowned first at it then at me.
"The sooner the better, right?" I asked him.
"True. Rin, would you like to continue working here, for me?"
"Sure, but it's not like I have much of a choice in the matter, though, do I?" He held up the folder, and took out her contract.
"This is your signature?" She nodded.
Chihiro plucked it out of his hands, and studied it. "Yukiko," she said with a smile. Rin frowned. "Your name is Yukiko, Rin!" How did Chihiro know that?
"And should you choose to, Madame Yukiko," Haku said, taking the contract back, and, in an impressive display of hydro-magical control, destroyed the contract. "You're free to leave the Bathhouse."
She was numb for a few moments.
"My name... is Yukiko?" Rin asked, looking between Haku, Chihiro and I, a blank expression of confusion present. I used the lightest voice I could, and told her that the confusion was normal, but none the less was braced to move should she try to hurt herself. That's right... I was looking for him... my son. I felt her including Chihiro and Sha're in this broadcast. His father took him one night, and so I followed, but I lost the trail... Yubaba convinced me I could watch for them from here... Then that back stabbing piece of slag took my name! I forgot... She would not cry in front of everyone, but she wanted to, badly.
Instead, she threw her most piercing gaze at the new head of the Bathhouse and asked; "Do you intend to collect names as well?"
"If I had... I certainly would not have returned yours." he replied coolly.
"And I'll work for you to ensure that." He nodded.
"I will ask you to sign a contract though... I just have to make up a new template."
I withdrew a sheet of paper and set it next to Haku as I scooped up some oatmeal for my own breakfast.
"This isn't your handwriting..." Haku commented thoughtfully. But he wouldn't ask, and I wouldn't tell him. Finally he nodded, and so I gave a second copy to Rin, the MadameYukiko, and she signed her name.
"So what should I call you now?" Chihiro asked her friend.
"You can call me Yukiko... Chihiro." Rin smiled shyly at her friend, who just grinned.
"So is that what you are planning for all the workers Haku?" Rin asked.
"Yes. I want as little of Yubaba left here as possible." He stated, and then corrected himself, "Unless she wants a job."
"Are you sure that's smart?"
"I offered her a job. I won't withdraw that offer."
"Your call Haku. You might find it's not worth it."
"True... I'll have to make sure to add an ejection clause on her contract." After that we all settled down to our own breakfast.
Yubaba
Falana came in, and stated with no preamble; "Contact my father, and tell him if he wants this Bathhouse so bad, he needs to invest more in it. At least two. Just who shouldn't matter..." She then wandered away in her mind.
I drew out my contract and re read it once more, and then sent a spell hurtling through space to my Employer.
What is it Yubaba?
I was asked to relay a message to you, Lady Falana says that two more will be required to secure the Bathhouse.
I felt him in his mind repeating my statement with outrage.
My daughter demands two more? Did she request specifics?
No, sir.
Very well then, I'll put them on the train as soon as I can manage. And tell her she should have been able to handle this by herself. He said and slammed the connection closed.
"And you can tell him that he can do it by himself next time." She said. I blinked when it seemed that she had caught his final comment. "You were considering it in your head, you know that spell is almost impossible to break in on. Anyway, sure I could do it myself, but that would be costly to both you and my father... I'm just trying to be a good daughter..." She growled out, and then winked out of the space near me.
I frowned. Teleportation... serious magic. Well, they know what they are doing... WE know what we're doing. The Bathhouse is mine.