Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 14: Dreaming Again

April 25th, 2012

The witches ended up staying at the Louisville Base instead of going to Fort Knox. Fort Knox suffered too much damage from the neuroi attack. Most of who were there are relocating to the Louisville Airbase as well.

By the time everyone was settled, night had fallen. The witches had to bunk with each other, in groups of three to four, but that was no problem. Yoshika, Lynne, and Perrine took one room. Kye, Rei, and Mio took another. Minna, Erica, and Trude took the third. Lucchini, Shirley, Sanya, and Eila took the fourth. Yusu, Kaylie, and Layla took the fifth. And Louise, Yoko, and Mei took the sixth.

After the others fell asleep, Yoshika snuck out to go meet Kye, Rei, and Mio in their rooms.

"Yoshika has done this with me before, but Rei and Mio, I have a couple warnings before we proceed." Kye said. "The trip to the Dream World will not hurt, but it will feel... odd. It's hard to describe. Your powers and abilities will be intact, but you will notice that your Air Bands will not transfer with you. Your swords will remain, as will mine, although I will have only one after the transfer. Your clothing will be different as well, as for what it will actually be... you'll see when you get there."

"Sounds fun." Rei said.

"There are two important things to know while we are there." Kye said. "If we happen to come across any... enemies, whatever they may be, you will notice quickly that my own abilities will be different, to say the least. Yoshika has yet to see my Dream World powers, and I hope it stays that way, but you never know, so I wanted to put that out there. The other important thing is you must obey me while there. Stay near me at all times and do not argue with me, at all. In the Dream World, my identity is that of the Crown Princess Kye Akari of the Kingdom of Light. I'd rather not have to beat up any overreacting guards."

"I see." Mio said.

"If you are ready, join hands." Kye said as she sat down on the floor, followed immediately by the other three. After everyone had joined hands, Kye counted down. "Dream World sync in three... two... one..."

Their vision was overcome by a flash of light. After the light faded, they found themselves in Kye's room in the castle.

Eila's vision was somewhat cloudy, but she knew one of the two figures standing in front of her. It was Kye, but she didn't look the same. Her hair wasn't in the usual ponytail; it was just sprawled out every which way, unstyled. She wasn't wearing her usual Fuso Nava Officer's Uniform either, but a purple and black kimono with shortened arms and legs and a black sash. She had a single sword, the sheath held at her left side by her sash and the sword itself, with a purple silk hilt, held in her hand. She had an aura active, but Eila didn't recognize it. This aura was silver colored. Her eyes were the most notable feature, however.

Kye's normal, relaxed silver eyes had a dark look about them. She wasn't angry, she wasn't upset, she wasn't herself.

"I'm tired of the games." Kye said to the other figure. Eila couldn't make him out as he was shrouded. "It's time to end this."

"Is that so?" The shrouded man responded. "Let's just see you try, girl."

"You're a fool." Kye said as she charged in toward the shrouded man.

Eila couldn't make out anything else they said. Her hearing deafened and her vision grew more clouded until it was gone. She woke up with wide eyes. 'What was that?'

She rolled her covers off and floated up out of bed, wearing her Air Bands and her usual bed garments. She left her room and lazily floated down the hallway until she found the lounge.

'I haven't had a vision like that in years.' Eila said to herself as she pulled a cup out of the cabinet and whispered to herself. 'Maybe some water will help.'

After drinking a full cup of water, Eila wondered around for a bit before making her way outside. 'I'll probably be on night patrol with Sanya again soon.' She looked up at the roof after her foresight ability allowed her to see that somebody was about to call her name.

"Eila?" A familiar soft voice called quietly to her. It belonged to Sanya, who was sitting on the edge of the roof.

Eila floated up to the rooftop and sat down beside Sanya. "Hey."

The two sat in silence for several minutes, leaning on each other. Somehow, just being together comforted them. Their company was soothing.

"I miss them, Sanya." Eila said. "I know it's only been a few weeks for us, but I miss them."

Sanya immediately understood what Eila was saying. She also missed her daughter, and was sure the other witches were feeling the same way.

"We don't even know if they are alive." Eila said. "But Ayame was in her sixties. I'm sure Aina and Anna are, too."

A few tears rolled down both of their faces as they remember their young daughters' faces.

"I can't help but wonder what all of this is really about." Eila continued. "What is so important that one of the gods had to transport us through time just to be here? I know you are wondering this, too."

"Yes." Sanya muttered.

"It can't be just for a neuroi war." Eila said. "We could have grown old and just trained witches to handle it. No, I think there's something more."

She paused and sat silently for a few minutes before continuing, this time her voice much softer, but at the same time more serious. "I had a vision. A real vision."

Sanya's eyes widened and what little attention that wasn't already focused on Eila suddenly switched over to her.

"Kye was there this time, too." Eila said. "She was different, though." Eila explained the details of the vision, making an emphasis on Kye's appearance, especially the eyes.

"I've never known Kye to have such an expression." Sanya said. "Regardless of her mood, her eyes are always calm. To think she could have such a dark look in her eyes."

"I don't know what it means." Eila said. "I think I need to confront her about it."

"I don't know if that would be the best thing." Sanya said. "But at the same time, I don't think there's anything else to do about it, aside staying silent."

"I don't know." Eila said.

The two girls sat together for a while, just gazing out at the night sky. Sanya was leaning her head on Eila's shoulder most of the time, but suddenly, she moved her head and turned her eyes to Eila. This caught Eila's attention, so she also met Sanya's eyes. Their gazes were locked for a few moments before they leaned in to kiss.

"I love you." They said together. After a while, they jumped off the roof and headed back to bed.

Mio and Rei looked around the somewhat large room. The group arrived in Kye's room in the castle upon traveling to the Dream World. They were surprised to see how decorated the room was.

"Wow." Rei said.

"Look at your clothing." Kye said. "You'll notice that it's... different."

The two of them held out their arms and took a look at their attire. Rei was now wearing a light yellow kimono with yellow daffodil flower embroideries, and Mio was wearing a medium dark red kimono with red tulip flower embroideries.

The two looked up to see what Kye and Yoshika were wearing. Kye was wearing the same purple kimono with purple rose embroideries outlined in black as before, and Yoshika was wearing a light blue kimono with light blue Delphinium flower embroideries.

Their kimonos matched the color of the silk on their sword hilts. Rei's Tenraimaru and its twin had a yellow silk hilt, Yoshika's mortal Jouten and Tenshimaru had a light blue silk hilt, and Mio's Reppumaru and its twin had a red silk hilt. Kye's original Jouten had a dark purple silk hilt.

"Odd." Kye said, having noticed something out of place.

"What?" Yoshika asked curiously.

"The three of you have two swords each this time." Kye said. "Last time, the two of us only had one each."

"Oh, I do have both." Yoshika said after realizing the number of swords on her back. "And your eyes are a different color. They were your normal brown last time, now they are silver."

"Something changes every time." Kye said, brushing it off as she headed toward the door. "No matter. Let's go."

The group followed her out of the door and started walking down the hallway to the left.

"What are we doing this time?" Yoshika asked.

"Well, first thing is first." Kye said. "We need to check on the king. We don't have to talk to him; I just want to see what he's doing before we go to the royal library."

"What are we looking for in the library?" Mio asked.

"Not sure yet." Kye responded simply.

After they found King Akari in the throne room tending to his people, the group headed straight to the library.

When they entered the library, everyone noticed a girl sitting at a small table next to a window reading a book. She had knee length white hair, silver eyes like Kye, a single sword on her back with white silk, and a body almost identical to Kye's in size covered by a white kimono with white rose embroideries.

"Who's that?" Yoshika whispered to Kye.

"Don't know." Kye replied. She did seem familiar. "Just leave her be, she's reading."

Kye handed the girls a list of books and told them which ones to retrieve. After they gathered the books at a large table, Kye opened the first and started looking for relevant information. After checking the appropriate chapters of each book, they came up with nothing.

"Damn." Kye said. "Nothing as usual."

"What are we looking for exactly?" Mio asked.

"Information on the queen." Kye said. "I haven't seen her at all since the Dream World opened to me."

"Why don't you just ask father?" The grouped was startled by the white haired girl. She had walked over without any of them noticing.

"If your father knows anything, I'd like to visit him." Kye said. "Who is he?"

"You're silly today, Kye." The girl giggled. "You know who he is."

"I don't." Kye said. "Tell me, please."

The girl face palmed with a sigh. "What did you do to yourself? You really have lost your memories."

"How do you..." Kye started to ask, but was cut off.

"Because we grew up together." The girl said. "I've been around you for your whole life, after all."

"How much about me do you know?" Kye asked. "I need to know."

"I'm not telling you anything unless you tell me what my name is." She said.

"I'm sorry, I don't know." Kye replied.

"That hurts." The girl said. "We were inseparable as kids and you don't even remember me." The girl turned and started heading for the door. "Come find me when you remember my name."

Kye jumped up from her chair and ran after the girl. She caught up to her in the hallway outside of the library. "Wait! Please tell me who you are!"

"Telling you who I am would be pointless if you don't remember yourself." The girl said. "I would just be a person with a name." She never turned around as she spoke, she simply kept walking.

"Fine then." Kye said. "Duel me then."

The girl stopped, but still did not turn around.

"Are you sure about that?" She said.

Yoshika, Rei, and Mio caught up to them just in time to hear about the duel.

"If I win, you tell me who you are." Kye said.

"What if I win?" She asked mischievously.

"What do you want?" Kye shot back.

"I'm pretty sure I'll get what I want either way." She replied calmly. "Meet me fifty kilometers to the east of the city."

"Why outside of the city?" Kye asked.

"Do you want to destroy the place?" She replied. "I'd rather not." She turned around, showing the smile on her face. "You might want to change into your battle outfit. See you soon." She vanished.

"Wow." Rei said.

"This won't be easy." Kye said.

Kye went back to her room and changed into her battle outfit. It consisted of a black, skintight suit with no sleeves and legs that extended only a few inches down her leg. Over that, she wore a mostly purple kimono with small black borders around the edges, sleeves shortened to only a couple inches from the shoulder, and legs that reached only a few inches below the tight leggings, but still a few inches above the knees, and a black sash tied around her waist. She tied her long hair into a ponytail before strapping Jouten to her back.

After changing, Kye and the others went to meet the mystery white haired girl. When they arrived, they found the girl standing alone in the middle of a barren rocky area. The city was barely visible in the distance from the air.

The girl was wearing an outfit identical to Kye's in all but color. Her battle outfit was white and silver instead.

The mystery girl drew her sword from her back and stood at the ready. Kye drew her sword as well and approached her opponent.

Yoshika, Rei, and Mio watched as the two met gazes. For what seemed like hours, the two stared each other down.

Finally, the two moved. Rushing in toward each other, they clashed. Everyone could feel the power generated by their attacks. It shook them to their very core.

The mystery girl raised her sword in a slash from down to up, blocked only by Kye's sword, who then pushed her sword up quickly to knock the other girl off balance. Kye intended to get a strike in, but was completely dodged. The girl had teleported behind Kye and attempted to hit her in the back.

Kye blocked the attack and teleported rapidly around the girl, attempting to land a blow each time. Kye moved so fast from each teleport that it seemed as though she left illusions of herself.

The girl countered with a high speed spinning technique and parried every single attack. For a split second, it looked as if she had a dozen swords instead of just one.

After the exchange of blows, the two backed off from each other. Their onlookers were in awe at the techniques they just witnessed.

"How is it that you know Genken?" Kye asked. "That was the Hinerigen that you used to counter my Gensuto."

The girl laughed before answering. "How I know Genken, you ask." She pointed at Kye. "It seems I'm going to have to beat your memory back into you." She vanished.

The girl ran in a circle around Kye at such a speed, that she left afterimages. As she ran, she fired five blasts of energy from her sword, similar to the Reppuzan.

The last was fired within a split second of the first, making it seem as though all five were simultaneous attacks. Kye responded with a similar attack, but spun in place instead of running in a circle. She met the five blasts with five of her own.

"You met my Genataru first stance with the Genataru second stance." The girl said. "I'm surprised you remember Genkenjutsu at all, seeing how you don't remember the person who helped you develop it."

"Genken no Kami Hikari-ryu." Kye said. "I remember somebody helping me with it, but I don't remember who. If you tell me your name, that might help me remember!"

"If you want to know so badly, you have two ways to find out." The girl shot back. "Remember it on your own or defeat me and I'll tell you." She pulled her sheath from her back and placed her sword inside, then held her sword at the drawing position on her left side.

"Battojutsu." Kye said as she removed her own sheath. "If you know Genken no Kami Hikari-ryu, then you must also know Batto no Kami Hikari-ryu."

The girl did not respond with words, but with her sword. She drew her blade at an astounding speed while simultaneously launching a wave of energy, reinforced by the momentum of the draw. She didn't stop there, however. She continued with a spin, with energy building up in her sword as she spun, and launched another attack after spinning in a complete circle. The first wave was diagonal from low left to high right, and the second was diagonal from high left to low right. The second wave moved much faster than the first, as it had the momentum of the draw and the momentum of the spin. It caught up to the first and merged into an x-shape.

Kye responded by quickly sheathing her sword, but held it on her right side. She infused energy not into her sword, but into her sheath as she drew the sheath from the sword in a stabbing manor. The closed tip of the sheath rammed the x-shaped energy wave and shattered it.

"Senkou no Batto and Jiten no Batto." Kye said. "Impressive."

"You countered well with the Atemi no Saya." The girl said. "Bring any memories back."

"I'm afraid not." Kye said.

"Then I'll end this with one final attack." The girl said as she sheathed her sword again. She crouched down slightly as in ready to jump.

"I recognize that stance." Kye said as she did the same.

"Senkou Suto!" They said together.

All in a near instantaneous move, the two jumped forward while drawing their swords and pouring energy into their draws. Dust and dirt was blown up from the shockwave generated by their clash.

As the dust cleared, their onlookers immediately noticed that both had traded places, each crouched slightly from their landing. Both of them were in the same position with their left foot out front and their swords held high in the air, as usual result of a draw cut.

Neither had any cuts or bruises.

"Draw." Kye said.

"We're evenly matched." The girl said.

"Did you get what you wanted out of the fight?" Kye asked.

"I'm about to, but first, you must know something." She said. She turned to the other three. "I know of your identities. Not your Dream World identities, but your real world identities, Yoshika Miyafuji, Rei Miyafuji, and Mio Sakamoto." She earned a shocked expression from each of them.

She turned back to Kye. "And I know of yours as well, Kye Miyafuji."

"How?" Kye asked. A mix of curiosity and anxiety were on her face, but also a hint of worry.

"Just like you, I have a past that can be visited in the Dream World." The girl said. "We happen to share a past. Your past is that of Crown Princess Kye Akari, and mine is of her younger sister of two years, Princess Yami Akari. Although, unlike you, I never lost my memory."

A realization dawned on Kye's face as many of her memories suddenly came rushing back to her. She fell to her knees with her hands on her head as if she was in pain.

Yoshika, Rei, and Mio immediately ran over to her.

"Mom!" Rei said as she crouched down to her.

"You three... have to go." Kye said. "Now!" She waved her hand at the three, leaving a silver glow around the three. In mere moments, they vanished, having been sent out of the Dream World, back to reality.

"It's about time." Yami said as she approached Kye. Her voice softened as she spoke. "Your memories are flooding back, sister. I hope your friends can keep your body safe this is done. I'll guard your spirit here."

Characters Introduced

Yami Akari

Techniques Introduced

Gensuto (Illusion Strike) - Kye
Hinerigen (Twisting Illusion) - Yami
Genataru (Illusion Lash) First Stance - Yami
Genataru (Illusion Lash) Second Stance - Kye
Senkou no Batto (Flash of the Drawn Sword) - Yami
Jiten no Batto (Spin of the Drawn Sword) - Yami
Atemi no Saya (Blow of the Sheath) - Kye
Senkou Suto (Flash Strike) - Kye and Yami

Note - the names are the person who used the technique in this chapter. Both Kye and Yami know all of the techniques.

Kami Hikari-ryu - The Divine Light Style

The Divine Light Style is a martial arts style that was developed by the original Kye Akari from the original story. I have recently started using it in my fanfiction works. The Divine Light Style uses a variety of hand to hand combat techniques, sword techniques (although some techniques can be used with other weapons as well), and energy techniques (including energy discharge techniques such as the Light Wave or energy projection techniques that enhance the physical techniques of the style). Of the various techniques, there are subsets of sword techniques. Most sword techniques fall under one or both, but there are a few that are neither. Two of these subsets are Genkenjutsu (Illusion Sword Techniques) and Battojutsu (Sword Drawing Techniques). The category that combines both aspects is Genbatto-Jutsu (Illusion Drawing Techniques).

Genken no Kami Hikari-ryu (Illusion Sword of the Divine Light Style) - techniques in this category are advanced techniques performed at such a speed that they seemingly generate optical illusions.

Batto no Kami Hikari-ryu (Sword Drawing of the Divine Light Style) - techniques in this category are augmented draw cuts. They always start with a sheathed sword. Some are single step attacks, some are two step attacks.

Genbatto no Kami HIkari-ryu (Illusion Sword Drawing of the Divine Light Style) - there is one technique (thus far) that falls under both categories, and that is the extremely advanced Senkou Suto (Flash Strike).

I spent several hours coming up with the names for the techniques and styles introduced in this chapter. Although these techniques and styles have existed for awhile now, most of them did not have names. How do you guys like the names? Translations are sometimes difficult and may not always be correct, but correct or not, that's what they will be called and translated as. There have been incorrect translations in the past that have been accepted.

Kye's past memories are coming back after her battle with Yami. Yami, by the way, is a character from my original story as well, and is Kye's younger sister there as well. Yami also appears as Kye's younger sister in another of my fanfiction stories (The Legend of Light, which is a Legend of Korra fic).

We also saw a little Sanya/Eila love, which I felt was way overdue. You may wonder something like "how do they have daughters, but still be lesbian" and well that is simple. They each had one night stands between the end of 1945 and 1950, resulting in a pregnancy for each of them. While their daughters, Anna and Aina are not related by blood, they are considered sisters as their mothers are together. Yes, I said it, Sanya and Eila are a thing in this story AND they both have daughters. How about that?

The person Kye confronts in Eila's vision IS NOT the same person (Yami) she met and dueled in the Dream World.

Edits

4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.

If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).