I don't own Hanazuki: Full of Treasures.
This edgy little chapter here...
"So..." Hanazuki starts, warily dusting herself off from her fall, "you're my despair?"
Why did it look like her?
The lookalike scoffs.
"You actually thought you could get rid of me," the malevolent doppelgänger spat, even her voice an echo of the Moonflower's, "but those other emotions are only giving you false hope. After all, you're only talking to yourself, trying to cling to things you've already lost. Maybe you're just going crazy."
"What?" Hanazuki steps back, hurt and confused. "But-"
"It's all a bunch of lies," Despair snaps, turning back into the inky darkness for a brief moment and lunging at Hanazuki, causing her to flinch, "not reminders. All lies. All you have left is me, your despair, like the Moonflowers before you. They all realized the bitter truth and reality that enfolds them and they wilted, spreading their sorrow throughout the galaxy as the Big Bad."
"Th-the Big Bad is... other Moonflowers?" Hanazuki asks, trembling. She didn't think that her feistiness' outrageous theory would actually be correct. Or was it?
"All flowers have only a short time to bloom, before wilting. Moonflowers think that their life and purpose is hopeful in the beginning, but then they discover that the bright and colorful worlds they live in are destined to become wastelands and they themselves are destined to become the thing they fought against." Despair takes a moment to observe Hanazuki's traumatized face, smiling maliciously as she continues,
"If a Moonflower's flower turns black too many times, they wilt and die. They crumble away into dust and become part of the Big Bad, and fulfill their inevitable destiny of spreading the seeds of Despair. Little Dreamer is stupid enough to think creating more of you would defend the moons against the Big Bad, but it is merely a vicious cycle that never ends. Over half of the moons in this galaxy have been ravaged beyond salvation. They look just like Kiazuki's, you know. Ironic, isn't it? All thanks to Moonflowers."
"No," Hanazuki looks at her hands, "that isn't true! Moonflowers are the righteous guardians of their moons and would never-"
"It is true," the lookalike cuts the Moonflower off again, smirking, "and do you know that the residents of your moon only want to use you? Your love- if she even was your love- was wrong. Your Hemkas tried to abandon you more than once. Sleepy Unicorn never really wants to help you, even when the moon is in peril. Even when Twisted attacked. Kiazuki sparked the first time you felt despair and did so much as to steal your Treasure Trees to leave you vulnerable to the Big Bad and countless other dangers. If you didn't grow Treasure Trees, they would exile you just as they did Kiyoshi. You'd be completely useless to them. You're nothing now. Worthless to them. Now that you can only grow the unhelpful black Treasure Trees, you don't any other purpose left than to spread hopelessness throughout the galaxy. They don't want you anymore. They'll discard you like an empty Treasure. They were never your friends to begin with. How sad that you fell for their selfish ruses..."
She holds out her hand to the shaking little Moonflower, smiling viciously. Her teeth almost looked pointed.
"Now is the time to accept the fate of all Moonflowers. Get vengeance on those who lied to you. It is your destiny, Hanazuki. You are despair itself."
Hanazuki felt that her heart would break as her Despair's harsh words stung like a thousand sharp thorns. Her highlights turn to black almost automatically as she tries to stand up, but merely falls on her knees. She felt that if she said anything, her Despair would cut her off again with something even worse to say.
But she does not take the hand of Despair.
"Give up, Hanazuki. Your time to bloom is finished. All flowers have to wilt when it gets too cold," the doppelgänger urges, "you can't get rid of me with what you've so foolishly forgotten."
The Moonflower looks up in realization.
An emotion she forgot... Something positive.
A last reminder?
Getting to her feet, she stares her Despair in the eyes.
"I won't be giving up. If I can remember this forgotten emotion, I won't fall to you."
Her Despair watches her, a nasty smile on its face. So certain of failure.
Hanazuki takes a deep breath, pointing accusingly at her unimpressed lookalike.
"You are the liar. Kiazuki is reformed now. She fixed her mistakes and grew the first Treasure Trees of her own. Sleepy is just stressed. He's had such a rough past and tries to sleep away that guilt and panic. And the Hemkas... They're my closest friends. They trust me better than back then. They don't have any kind of magic aside from shapeshifting, but they made me a home! How dare you," Hanazuki turns red in a flash, "tell me they don't care!
"If you ask me," she resumes, turning orange, "you're the one who's crazy! You actually expect me to listen to your lies and just give in! You're my Despair! You are only trying to make me fall, but I refuse-" -she turns yellow now- "I can defeat you. I know I can. And even though I'm afraid of you-" lime green, "I know I'll be okay if I just treasure my other moods." This is followed by a calming sigh and the lime fading to a darker green.
Despair merely watches this definition of mood swings, frozen in a bewildered expression.
"I'm actually doing this...?" Hanazuki looks at her bracelet and dress, watching it turn a cool teal color. The feeling of pride washes over her.
"I will prevail! I've gotten this far, and I desperately want to wake up," she turns a pale blue, "I feel like I've been sleeping forever now, but this dream has inspired me-" it changes to fuchsia, "to overcome the negative things in life, things like you. If I keep this up, I have no reason to be afraid of you anymore."
Standing up towards her Despair, whom is now the one traumatized, Hanazuki turns a dark purple, the color of courage.
"And," she adds, to finish her rant, "I am a Moonflower and protecting my moon is my duty. Even if I were to wilt, I couldn't possibly stop loving my friends."
Completing the rainbow, Hanazuki turns pink.
A bright light begins to shine through the darkness. Her despair turns back into a shadowy blob, frantically trying to escape as the light begins to spread, banishing away the gloom and causing it to shatter with a deafening, inhuman screech.
Hanazuki curls into a ball, enduring herself to get hurt from the impact of the explosion.
But it's quiet. She is left untouched, her despair gone.
Opening her eyes, she sees that the scenery has changed again.
Surrounded by bright, sparkling colors, she gazes around in amazement.
Then she sees a figure coming towards her from the distance. To her relief, it was Hemka-shaped.
But as it came closer, the ground actually began to shake, just like the Mazzadril in inspiration's part.
Hanazuki braces herself again, just in case the Hemka shadow she saw was merely another illusion and it was actually something else.
But then she heard a friendly voice, a touch of sympathy in its tone.
"Hanazuki..."
The Moonflower uncovers her eyes, to come face to face with the massive Rainbow Hemka, who smiles warmly at her.
"We really like this new perspective," it says in a joking tone, the tip of its tongue sticking out slightly, "hey, Hanazuki, what's the weather like down there?"
"It... It's all of you? My emotions...?" Hanazuki asks, eyes wide, reaching out towards the giant colorful Hemka, which promptly lifts her up off the ground with both ears.
"Yes, it's us," it replies kindly, "like your real Hemkas, we can also combine to form something -or someone, if you will- entirely different."
It graces the Moonflower with a comforting hug. Warm and soft.
"You've banished your despair. We knew you could do it. But before you wake up, there's still one last little thing we want to remind you of."
Rainbow Hemka starts back in the direction it came from, carrying Hanazuki along. She peacefully leans against it for support. Even within a dream, she felt exhausted.
But she still had a question for this fusion of emotions.
"So who are you now?"
It just laughs warmly in response.
"We'll tell you when we get there."
I want to draw a parody of the "My Neighbor Totoro" rainy bus stop scene (that meme) with Hanazuki and Rainbow Hemka because there is nothing I want more, but my art skills are crap. Save me.
Edgy chapter ended in a really sweet way. Hanazuki's dangerous mood swings saving the day, wooooooo!
By now there's only two chapters left...