After months in the desolation of Trump, Makoto's eyes shone when she saw the feast in front of her, a plate of mulberries, roasted apple, rice balls made by Yuko, lettuce, plums and walnuts. Iona did not look nearly as excited, but she ate gladly, too, though unlike Makoto she had taken many sorts of bread and meat for herself. That was far more than their fair share, Makoto knew, but the rest of Last Light thought they should be allowed to over-indulge this one time, after everything they had been through. Sword was certain to make the most of it. Whenever she found herself almost questioning if she should be eating so much, she remembered Mana, her body withered and small, and all her guilt was gone at once.
Komachi had a similarly rich meal, but the way she ate was far slower and more deliberate than everyone else. She examined every morsel before eating, and though Iona would roll her eyes at that, Makoto couldn't really blame Mint. Komachi had been at the hands of the enemies of the Precure, so it was no wonder she had become paranoid. In times like this, Makoto reflected, everyone changed, and not always for the better.
Around the mess hall, the Precure seemed to be grouped up, all of them close to their friends. Reika was by Yayoi's side, both their eyes red, and though Komachi was a bit far from them, by Nozomi's side, Beauty and Peace would often ask questions to her, to try to get to know her. Makoto felt a sting of jealousy, wishing that she could have her own friends by her side, but she tried to ignore that thought, lest it make her bitter. Soon, she knew, she would make her own friends here. When she was younger, immature, she would have probably refused to, but now she knew she could not be alone. Solitude, too, would make her bitter, and she had to save her hurtful feelings for the Selfish, let her hatred brew so that when she returned to Trump, she could find the strength to taste her vengeance. She licked her lips, thinking of it.
"Did you like the rice balls, too?" Iona asked her, suddenly. "They are the best."
"Oh. Right, yes. They are," she looked at her plate again. "I haven't had a meal like this in ages. I almost feel a little guilty, because it makes me think of all the people in Trump who are starving."
"Guilt won't feed them," Iona was quick to remark.
"I know that," Makoto found the remark almost patronizing. She didn't know if Iona meant to sound like that, so Sword didn't press the issue. "But knowing a feeling is stupid doesn't stop me from having it. Only makes me feel worse, really."
"Right," said Iona. "I also feel bad when I think of the Blue Sky Kingdom. Or, rather, when I think of the way it is now. When I think of the past, before things went wrong…"
"Makes you smile, doesn't it?" Makoto felt the same about Trump, back when it was beautiful, when Ange and her friends still graced the city. She knew she shouldn't think of it so much, knowing that Trump would never be like that again, and she was only clinging to a ghost, but those memories were all that kept her going on. Memories and revenge.
"Yeah," she didn't sound entirely convinced, but was clearly trying to make herself smile. She went back to her food, then, and Makoto chose to do the same.
Makoto finished her meal rather quickly, and was pleasantly full at the end. Iona had picked more than she could eat, but Nozomi was glad to clean her plate of the few scraps left. Afterwards, Dream invited them to sit closer to her and her friends. Makoto didn't have a great interest in doing so, but for the sake of politeness, she agreed, being soon followed by Iona, but, to her surprise, she was soon smiling, laughing at the stories they shared. Nozomi spoke of her time studying at the Cinq Lumières; Komachi tried to do the same, but had to apologize halfway through her tale as she forgot the rest of it. Yayoi and Mai showed the first few pages of a comic they were on, together, and asked Mint for some help with the writing, which she agreed to, blushing. The way the art styles worked together impressed Makoto, but Yayoi was quick to insist that it was mostly Mai's work.
Everyone exchanged plans, too, their ideas for the future. Makoto then understood that she had no idea what to do, now that she was out of Trump. She listened to everyone's plans: Reika's intentions of travelling south to rescue her friend Miyuki and to free Märchenland; Nile's wish to establish a new team with Ayumi and Orina, who planned to delve into the Thornwood and investigate the nature of its curse; Mika and Kaede worked alongside Yayoi and Mai to create a map of the region that properly depicted the changed landscape; Megumi was in talks with Hosshiwa to expand Last Light and to bring some well-needed developments to improve everyone's life.
Everyone had their own goals, and Makoto felt herself adrift, regretting her own lack of direction. She promised Reika that if they journeyed south to the lands held by the Bad End Kingdom, she would accompany them. Iona was quick to remind them that they would need Mirage's permission for an expedition of that sort, and after their failure at Trump, they were unlikely to be allowed, but Nozomi suggested that didn't need Mirage's leave to get moving. Makoto herself didn't particularly care about Mirage. It was clear to her that she had ascended to power because of the lack of anyone better. She had always been scholar who stayed away from the politics and bickering of the Red Rose's inner circles, preferring to study the past and to learn about the religions of isolated lands. She had never shown herself to be either ambitious or imaginative, so Makoto didn't pay much mind to the Rosehearted.
"It's all long term, anyways," said Reika, punctuating her words with a shrug.
"Doesn't have to be," said Nozomi, always bold. "And I know you want to act soon, don't you?"
"Right," Reika admitted. "Yes. I fear - No, I know that Miyuki is in danger. It may very well be too late at this point, but… There's always the chance that it's not."
"When I heard about Akane, I-" Yayoi said with a weepy voice,and suddenly shrank closer to Reika when she noticed that all eyes were on her. "I was devastated. And now that I hear this about Miyuki… If I could, I would go right now. I would get up and take the road to Morgenluft while it's still hot and snow hasn't started falling."
"I don't think snow will fall," said Kanade, "not with the way these past days have been so hot."
"We never expected the red sun and its rain either," Reika replied. "The snows of Märchenland were sudden even in normal days. Even after the mildest autumns, the first days of winter always brought strong blizzards. Always, without fail. It's an old curse on the land."
"It's superstition," Kanade insisted.
"If you lived in Märchenland, you would do well to believe in superstition," said Reika.
"Soon it'll be winter," said Peace. "It's just a few months away, but months go by quickly if we don't expect it, and Märchenland is far from here. I want to go soon. If we linger…"
"We'll go," said Nozomi, who then looked at the rest of the people nearby. "Right?"
"Okay, okay," said Iona. "If you go, I'll go with you. I think Mirage will understand…"
"Nagisa and Honoka would probably want to go, too," said Nozomi. "I'll write them a letter and ask Ekaterina to deliver it to them. We'd do well to use their help. Anyone else?"
"Sorry," said Nile, "we will be staying here," she said, and was followed by nods from Orina and Ayumi. "Echo needs some experience, and so do we, really. Takes a while to get used to new teammates."
Tell me about it, though Makoto. She remembered how awkward Mana had been when she approached her, and felt the urge to laugh. It took them all so long to start fighting together, Makoto and Mana, Alice and Rikka. There were times Sword wanted to give up, and Diamond too, but Heart and Rosetta were always insistent.
"That's fine," said Nozomi. Then she turned at the two girls who had been silent all along, so quiet that Makoto had hardly noticed their presence: Hime and Yuko, side by side, on the opposite side of Iona, at whom Hime's eyes seemed to shift to pretty constantly. "What about you two?"
"Ah!" Hime began, but her voice was too soft for anyone to hear, so Yuko spoke up instead.
"We'll stay here to protect Last Light and help its people," she said, "as we've been doing for a while now. It would not be safe for so many of us to go and leave the village undefended."
"That's fair," said Nozomi, who then turned to Makoto, who said yes before even hearing the question.
"Of course I'll go with you. I can't bear to allow our enemies to hold yet another country hostage. I've seen all too well what can happen when they're allowed to run wild. I wouldn't wish for anyone else to have to suffer as I've suffered at Trump."
"Oh, right," said Nile. "You came from the Trump Kingdom. I had almost forgotten. And I don't mean to sound like I'm questioning you guys, but… I think we'd all like to know what happened there."
Everyone had that right, Makoto presumed. She began with her part of the story, telling of the first attack on Trump and the appearance of the Selfish King, the loss of her princess, the resistance inside Trump, fighting for almost an entire year before the Death of the Stars. She spoke of her time there with Akane and the other Precure, of the blows she struck against the Selfish. After that, Reika recounted their journey across the Trump Kingdom, the crossing of the Amethyst Sea, how they met with Akane and the few Precure still remaining, their struggle to cross the Bridge of Hearts and how they reached another group of Cures in the poorest districts of Trump, but were overwhelmed by Regina. Nozomi and Iona contributed as well, filling in the details that Reika missed. The listeners would offer shocked reactions and further questions, and Makoto and Reika did their best to answer.
"You said Akane was lost there?" Orina asked. "I knew her, if not too well. It saddens me to hear this."
"Too many Precure were lost at Trump," Reika said with sadness. And all in vain, thought Makoto. That had to be what hurt the most.
"I lost my friends there, too," said Makoto. She could feel the pity well up in everyone's eyes. She hated that pity, but didn't let it make her angry, as she knew there was no malice behind it. "I was looking for something with them," that was not, strictly speaking, entirely truthful, but she had already explained what had happened to Nozomi and the others, and did not feel like telling this part of the story in detail, "and we got in a fight over it."
"What were you looking for?" Hime suddenly made herself heard.
They all seemed to hesitate to answer, but eventually Reika spoke up.
"The Eternal Golden Crown," she said. "A companion of ours, Cure Diamond, was seeking it, and thought she had located it. In the end, it turned out to be a fake, a trap, a replica filled with Starfire that razed much of the palace."
"Oh," Hime seemed to know something. Her lips trembled, anxious. "How do I say this… Yeah, the Crown isn't there. I, er, I was visiting Trump when the Selfish attacked, when Marie Ange rushed off to fight the enemy legions," yes, Makoto recalled hearing that a foreign princess had come to visit the royal family.
"And you ran away," Iona said between teeth, softly enough that only Makoto could hear it.
"Er, um, well… Ah… Then, I… Well…" By then she was tripping on her own words, but, gently, Reika urged her to keep going. "Ange. Marie Ange, she came to me, and she gave me the Crown. She said it was dangerous for it to remain there, that it had done a great deal of harm, and I didn't really understand what she meant, but she sounded serious, and Trump was filled with those terrible Selfish, and, ah, well, I did as she told me. I took the Crown, boarded a ship, and got the hell out of there," she saw that everyone was still paying attention, so she continued. Makoto look to Iona at her side, and saw that she was scratching the table with force, scraping off thin strips of wood until her fingers bled. "I hid the true Crown in the Blue Sky Palace."
Everyone was silently nodding, Reika looking like she tried to see where this piece could fit in the puzzle, but her grimace showed her frustration in failing to do so. Nozomi let out a wow that Komachi was quick to imitate, though with less enthusiasm, and when Makoto looked again to her side, Iona was gone. She had jumped up her seat and ran towards Hime, stopping ominously right in front of her, fingertips red, her eyes dark. Hime looked like she'd rather be somewhere else, anywhere. Her wary eyes seemed to ask for help, and Iona seemed so angry that Makoto feared she actually would be capable of hurting Princess.
"So what you are saying," she said, caustic, "is that you decided to keep this crucial piece of information hidden? Just like how you tried to hide what you did with the Dream Collet? Are you trying to hide something else, Your Highness?"
"I-I-I…" She shied away from Iona, but Fortune's face neared hers. Hime could barely speak, her teeth chattering violently. Her hands were shaking, and so were her shoulders.
"Do you know how much trouble could have been avoided if you opened your mouth to say something useful, for once? We almost died at Trump, you know? And-"
"Iona!" Nozomi shouted, and walked towards her. "We weren't even there to look for the Crown, in the first place! Have you forgotten that? Are you really that eager to blame Hime even when she hasn't done anything wrong?"
"N-no, it's not that," Iona said, her tone suddenly changing. She stepped back, avoiding all the eyes that now stared at her. "I didn't… No, I didn't do anything, I was just…"
"Iona," Nozomi approached her, gentler now, and tried to make Fortune look at her in the eye, but she avoided her, and before Nozomi could say anything else, bolted off, wordlessly, but as she passed by, Makoto saw that her face was not just anger but guilt, the two feelings entwined, feeding off the other.
No one seemed to know what to say, so no words were spoken. Hime's face was red, and she had to stay close to Yuko for comfort. Nozomi sat by Reika's side with a sigh, and they whispered at each other, but Makoto could not hear. She wondered if this was a frequent occurrence. Still, Iona's expression did not seem like common guilt. It seemed far more pained than that.
"I'll go talk to her," said Makoto, knowing all too well that she was one of the least qualified people there, but also knowing that she was the only who had the courage to do so. Nozomi and Reika nodded at her in silent blessing.
Still unused to Last Light, Makoto tried her hardest to retrace her steps back home, a task that took her longer than she hoped thanks to the similarity of all the houses, all using the same type of wood, the only one available in the dead, withering forests nearby. As such, they were all of dark, bland shades, and were all alike.
Eventually she found the only house with its front door left open, and she recognized its interior, and stepped inside. There, she found Iona, sat on a corner, playing with a deck of cards, grunting as she looked at them.
"Iona," Makoto spoke, calling her attention.
"Oh, it's you," said Iona. "I heard your footsteps. Thought that it would be Nozomi or Reika to scold me."
"I'm not here to scold you," she said. "I just wanted to ask if you're alright."
"Of course I'm not alright," she said. "I made an ass out of myself in front of everyone. Again," she sighed. "I let my anger cloud my thoughts, and let it force the words out of my mouth."
"Why were you so angry? Do you dislike Hime, or something of the sort?"
"Dislike?" She let out a harsh chuckle. "You could say that. I can't bear to look at her," she blurted out.
"How so?"
"The sight of her fills me with anger," she said, "like you saw. Because it's all her fault. Everything that happened… It's all thanks to her. You know what she did, don't you?" Makoto shook her head. "Oh, right, you were at Trump when it happened. Shortly before the Death of the Stars, news got out that Hime lost the Dream Collet. She let it be stolen from her by the enemies of the Precure. They used it to… You know."
"I do," said Makoto. "But-"
"I lost my sister that day," she said. "The most precious person in the world to me. All because of Hime's foolishness. I cannot ever forgive her for what she took from me in her stupidity, thinking she could set all wrongs right so easily. I always knew she was a spoiled little princess, I never liked what little I knew of her, but I didn't expect her to be so stupid, so incapable of understanding that her actions might have consequences that she does not wish to face. I can't forgive her for imposing her desires on the whole world. Did she not realize how much she was risking? She had to, but she did it anyway, because she is a child who thinks she can do anything. She robbed me of my sister."
"Iona…"
"Yes, yes, I know," she said before even listening to Makoto. "I know everyone lost someone they love with the Death of the Stars. You did, too. It's probably self-absorbed of me to feel the way I feel, isn't it? Blaming Hime for what happened to my sister when she lost her family too, when so many people lost people who are dear to them. I know my feelings are wrong, but I can't stop myself from feeling them, can't stop myself from justifying them in my head."
"I know," Makoto said, disturbed by Iona's words, because they could very well be her own. She hadn't been the only person hurt by the Selfish, yet most citizens of Trump weren't going around beheading them. But they should. She put her arm around Iona, fearful that she might lash out, but Iona allowed it, and let out a sigh.
"How do you cope?" She asked. "With all these bad feelings, if you have them. I'm not the only one, right?"
"No," she admitted.
"How do you deal with it, then? How do you not fall apart?"
I don't really deal with it, she thought, but left those words unsaid.
"Vengeance," she said. Each time she said the word, she found that she liked the sound a little bit more, and could almost feel its taste when she felt the word on the tip of her tongue. "Ange is dead, and Trump is probably beyond saving. It won't ever be the same again. Even if we free it, we'll have to live on with the burden of sorrow, of mourning, and even if we pretend that life could be normal, Trump will always feel empty. That brings me no joy, but…" She should not admit these things, but in this, at least, Iona seemed trustworthy enough. "Whenever I killed the Selfish who had ruined my home, who had taken away everyone I love… That brought me joy. When I cut down a Selfish soldier exploiting the people of Trump, of course I felt good for doing justice, but I felt even better to rid the world of a monster. It's not what Ange would have wanted, I know. Yet… I cannot bring her back, but I can punish all those who have taken her away."
"Ah," said Iona. Her eyes asked for more, and Makoto obliged.
"I killed one of the Selfish generals, an unpleasant man named Lust. I got some information out of it, but that was not even the most important thing. He had stolen ancestral treasures of Trump, our very culture, and twisted it. So I chopped off his head. Some time later, I fought another of the generals of the Selfish in single combat. Goma, she was called. She too was a terrible woman, a coward who couldn't even face the consequences of defiling my home. Before she died, I learned from her the true killer of Ange. Bel. I know him. I've seen him before. If I close my eyes, I can remember his face perfectly, nearly as well as Ange's."
"Did you…?"
"Hm? No. We had to leave Trump before I could find him," said Makoto.
"But if you return?"
"Yes," she said. "I will avenge my princess. I could not protect her, I failed at that, I always fail at protecting the things that are dear to me. All I'm good for is hurting others. That is why I am Cure Sword. Swords have a single purpose, and that is inflicting pain and death. I've always been like this, you know. I killed my own mother to come into this world," Iona's eyes shifted, not with pity but with something closer to understanding. "The same thing happened to Ange. She too has never known her mother. Of course, mine was the wife of a fisherman, nobody of importance, whereas the queen had been loved by all, so of course Ange knew much about her. But that's not my point. My point is that we bonded over this when I was a child at the palace, under her care. It made her feel closer to me. It's almost funny, how she and I bonded over pain, the way we're doing now. Heh. I guess it really is all I know in life."
"You know that isn't true," said Iona. "You've spoken of your friends, and how much you love them."
"You might be right," she said, "but you were also right when you said that even when your feelings are wrong, it's hard to abandon them. The worst feelings are the ones we cling to the most, sometimes."
"Yeah," said Iona, thoughtful. Makoto wondered what was going on in her head. "I had never thought much about vengeance," she said, in the tone of a confession. "Really, I hadn't. The thought crossed my mind, but even after I learned from Mirage that it was Phantom who… Who defeated my sister, I didn't think about him. I blamed Hime instead. That was stupid of me, wasn't it?"
"It's not stupid to be wrong," said Makoto. "From your perspective-"
"I'll never like Hime, you know," she said, her voice full of a surprising softness that Makoto had never heard. "I don't think I'll ever be capable of truly forgiving her. But… I think you have the right idea," she picked up one of the cards scattered around the floor, and smiled at it. Makoto could not see which one it was. "We Precure are said to fight for love, told not to use hatred as our strength, and yet… And yet we hate, don't we?" Makoto nodded slowly. "So I should hate the right person," she began to close her hand into a fist, "focus it all on the person who was actually responsible for my loss. Phantom is not too far way from here, according to Mirage and Megumi. I will not hide from him. I will find him. And then…"
And then what, Makoto thought, but she didn't need to ask as she saw Iona open her hand and revealed a card, its form crumpled and ruined, barely recognizable, crushed in anger.
The fence's gate swung open with a loud whine, slowly making way so that Rikka and Yuri could pass and set foot on the now-withered garden of the Blue Rose's shrine. The flowers had shrunk and had become so dry that they crumbled when Rikka touched them. They had been rainbows when she left, but now that she returned, they all had the same color, an ugly, lifeless brown.
Rikka walked gingerly across the dead garden, eerie in its silence now that butterflies, bees and hummingbirds no longer came, their wings fluttering, to kiss the flowers.
She slid the front door open, letting sunlight in, tinging the empty rooms with red light. All windows were closed, and Rikka feared that Aguri had, indeed, been slain by Regina, but as she explored further inside, she heard the sound of boiling, bubbling water, and she noticed the soft scent of white tea coming from the kitchen.
Aguri awaited by the backyard porch, comfortably seated on a gently rocking chair, eyes closed as she slept with her hands on her fairy Ai's head, she too asleep. Aguri's face was a mess of still-red scars and white bandages that left little of her skin visible. Her chest rose and fell constantly, with urgency, but her visage was peaceful. Rikka stepped lightly so as not to disturb her, and didn't alert Aguri of her arrival. Yuri returned to the kitchen, to bring them some tea, while Rikka took off her shoes and sat down on the floor, close to Aguri, putting Raquel on her lap. She pet her fairy, and looked at the sky as she tried to relax, slowly growing more aware of the exhaustion that had taken her body.
A moment later, Yuri was back, her hands full as she did her best to balance three cups of tea, steam rising from their tops, atop plates carrying some pieces of hard bread, butter, old cheese and tiny grapes. She set a plate by Aguri's feet, too, for when she woke. Raquel nibbled on the cheese as Rikka took the cup to her lips, taking a sip that almost burned her tongue.
She set the cup down, and looked at Yuri, her eyes closed as she drank her tea. When she opened them, they met Rikka's, curious.
"Hm?"
"It's nothing," said Rikka, a bit embarrassed that Yuri noticed her stare. "I'm just… I thought that I'm almost glad to be here."
"Only almost?"
"I'd rather be with… You know," Yuri nodded. "Not because I don't love you, because I do, but… I miss them so much, my friends. And yet I know that this is the best possible place to be, all things considered. You and Aguri," she hesitated. "You'll find this stupid if I say it."
"No."
"Alright. We are all alone save for one another. We have all lost everything. After all the time we spent together, here, talking, eating together, even having fun, despite the state of the world… There were times where I'd find myself thinking of you two as…" It really was embarrassing. "As sisters, almost," she said, then remembered Dark Precure, and regretted her words at once. Yuri winced, too, and Rikka began to mumble an apology.
"It's fine," she said. "Really, it is. It just brings me bad memories, that word."
There didn't seem to be a great deal of things that brought her any good memories, a fact that always filled Rikka with sorrow. It didn't look like it would get better any time soon.
"If you dislike it, then I-"
"No. I like it if it's you," she said. "I'm happy to have you by my side. I'm lucky," her smile was gentle, subtle. "You and Aguri. I haven't told you why Aguri and I had such a strong understanding."
"You did tell me that-"
"No," she interrupted. "There is… Another reason," she lifted her head to look at Aguri, her eyes still shut. The chair was too big for her, and she looked so fragile, with all those bandages and wounds, her skin like brittle porcelain, already breaking. "I want to tell you. And why Blossom and I distanced ourselves from one another."
"Alright," said Rikka, surprised at how forward Yuri was being. It was unlike her, so Rikka took that as undeniable proof of the trust and the bond between them.
"When we were fighting Dune, and Dark Precure stood on our way, she nearly killed me. My father was freed from Dune's grasp, then, and he explained what he had done," Yuri's voice began to break. "He said that Dark Precure was a copy of me. And he called her my little sister. Why did he have to say that? Did he expect us to love each other? I think he was desperate to justify his actions, to try and make something good of it. Perhaps he felt so sorry for that girl that he meant to make her part of our family, so that he could convince himself that there might be a happy ending to it-"
"Yuri…"
"But there couldn't be. The possibility never existed. Dark Precure wanted me dead, but I defeated her. She died in battle, and as she stared at me, unblinking, I couldn't stop hearing those words. She's your little sister. Did he understand just how guilty he made me feel, when the guilt should lie with him, and Dune, and the Red Rose? Was that his intention? Dark Precure was not my sister. She could never love me, nor could I love her. Her sole driving force was her desire to kill me. I feel sorry for her. Truly, I do. The life that was imposed on her by the Red Rose was a crime, and so were Dune's cruel intentions to use her as his soldier. She was a child nourished by venom and bile, weaned on hatred, a puppet of the Red Rose, and later of Dune. I don't blame her for becoming a monster. But I cannot love her, cannot see her as my sister."
"And Tsubomi?" Rikka almost didn't want to ask. Yuri had never looked so hurt, even when nightmares plagued her, when she cried, unable to wake up but forced to relive her terrors.
"She has a kind heart," she said, "too kind. Kindness has made her frail. She believe in my father's words without question. She herself had a little sister, you know. Futaba, only a few days old. Surely you can imagine the burden she carried, and the stress it caused her," Rikka gave a curt nod. "She wasn't just fighting for the sake of the world, but for her newborn sister. She was emotional and, like I said, frail, easily-hurt. And she broke when I killed Dark Precure."
Yuri stopped talking, as if waiting for Diamond to say something, but Rikka just listened. Raquel's ears had lifted up, as he paid careful attention,. Then, Yuri continued.
"She was horrified by what I had done. Her heart always beat full of sympathy, even for our enemies, but she had never broken like that. It scared me, the things she said then, the way she looked at me. Her eyes… They made me feel alone. Overwhelmingly alone. She told me I had no right to take the life of someone who had suffered for so long, my own sister. She wouldn't listen to me. She had always been so understanding, always was the one person I could depend on when I was at my lowest. She abandoned me. Even as we fought Dune, even as we performed our Floral Power Fortissimo, I felt a great distance to her. At the end, she walked away, not saying a word, and I haven't seen her since. No one had."
"What of your father?"
"He lived, despite the rumors," said Yuri. "But he had to run, of course. He knew the secrets of the Red Rose and their plan to create artificial Cures, like Dark Precure had been. He said he wanted to atone. Then he left, too, taking Dark Precure with him, to bury her, and I was all alone."
There were few sights as painful as Moonlight's tears. Rikka cringed, wanted to look away, but she knew that far too many people had looked away from Moonlight, so she looked at her, even when it hurt the most, seeing such a proud and strong person weep like that. Yuri put her head on Rikka's shoulder. She stroke her head, while Raquel took her hand. When Yuri let go of Rikka, she insisted on putting Raquel on her lap, to pet him, for comfort. Rikka remembered that she lost her fairy, too, another blow to her heart. With the way she cried, Yuri looked like the most lonely person Rikka had ever seen.
Diamond sat closer to her, refusing to let her ever be lonely. Yuri seemed to appreciate it. She winked insistently until her tears were gone, and looked into Rikka's eyes.
"Thank you," she said. "Though I think there's still one more thing I must tell you. Regarding Aguri."
"Yeah," said Rikka.
"We both have had, how do I put it…? Similar experiences regarding people we were expected to see as sisters."
"Shouldn't we wait for her to be awake?" Rikka asked, suddenly thinking that perhaps it wasn't too polite to speak about a person who was asleep right in front of them.
"I am," she said, slowly opening her eyes. She stretched her arms, and Ai woke, too. "I just didn't want to interrupt."
"Moonlight has told you this before?"
"Mh-hm. I hope this does not offend you. It doesn't mean that she trusts me more than she trusts you. It's just that we know similar pains."
"No offense taken," said Rikka. Of course she wouldn't be bothered by that. Everyone had the right to keep their secrets, though Aguri had too many of those. She had, however, promised the truth, so Rikka was suddenly anxious to hear it.
"I had a sister, too," she said, "and I told Yuri about it. I heard her talk about a sister when she was having a nightmare, so I approached her. I told her of my sister. A terrible girl, whom I so greatly despised. She wasn't even my sister, really. We weren't bonded by blood, but by something more painful, that hurt me when we were close. We were raised together, for a while, but she always caused everyone pain, yet she was spoiled, while I was full of virtue that was always chastised. I was forced to call her sister even though I was certain that she always wanted to kill me. I wanted to kill her, at least."
"Ah," said Rikka. It was harsh of her to say that, but she appreciated the honesty. After saying those words, Aguri reached down to get her tea, and drank from the cup. When she was done, she directed an apologetic stare to Yuri.
"I'm afraid, however, that I have omitted a detail from the story I told you. I am deeply sorry, but I could not trust you with the truth, then, only with my task. You don't have the Crown, do you?" They shook their heads. "I figured so. If I had the Crown, you would be able to see my story. As it is, you'll have to hear my words."
"Can we trust you?" Asked Yuri. "You have hid so much from us, and now you say there was more you hid even from me, when I opened up to you…"
"Like I said, I'm sorry. My past has made me paranoid. I will give you all the truth, if you are willing to hear, and I will confirm that you can trust me by telling you the secret I've kept from you. I had a girl I had to call sister, like I told you. That part was no lie. I hid only her name: Regina."
"R-Regina? The Regina?" Aguri nodded.
"You cannot believe it, can you?" She said with a sad smile.
"No, I believe you," said Rikka. "It's just… I had not expected this. And I don't understand…"
"But I will explain," she said. "I'm sorry for everything I hid from you, but you'll understand I had my reasons. Now make yourselves comfortable. It's a long story, and I must tell you all of it."
Mana had said nothing when the Selfish found her lighting the Starlight Flame atop the royal palace of Trump, and she maintained that silence even as she was dragged in chains to the dungeons, even as Bel asked her a thousand questions. She did not say a word when the Selfish laughed at her in her captivity, and she was determined not to say anything now that they dragged her away, even though she did not know where she was being taken to. It didn't matter, anyway. The Selfish kept moving her to a different cell each day just to torment her, to make sure she could never get used to this, but they failed miserably, as she had gotten used to pain a long time ago, all thanks to them and to what they had done to her home and her friends. She didn't care about what they did to her, now that she had given her life, her freedom and her well-being to save the ones she loved. Her eyes got used to the darkness, her arms to the shackles, and her lips to stillness.
They took her up a long flight of stairs, sighing all the while at the lowly task they had been given. There was no prestige in watching over the prisoners, no glories to be earned, and it actually took effort, a combination that left the Selfish discontent. Mana knew she could take advantage of that, somehow, and she also knew that she would have done that, once, but now she could not see the point. If she managed to escape the dungeons, where would she go, what would she do? She just did as she was told, and followed the Selfish as they guided her through the damp corridors of the basements of the palace, now turned into a prison. Mold gathered on the corners, and broken pipes appeared here and there, drops of water dripping non-stop, on the floor, on her hair.
She was stopped in front of a door, and made to walk inside. There, the room did not stink, and light shone through a small window. It captivated her eyes, but she could only admire it for a few short moments before she was made to sit down on a small, uncomfortable chair. A Selfish took scissors to her messy, tangled hair, and though Mana couldn't see the work being done, she felt significantly lighter. They rubbed something on her hair, then violently combed it into something presentable, soaking it in rosewater when they were done. She was told to open her mouth, and sweet-smelling fennel was shoved inside for her to chew. It wasn't a true bath, but she felt clean enough, better than she had been for months.
Once finished, Mana was made to get up again, and to follow the Selfish. She already understood what the purpose of this had been, of course. They were taking her to someone who was important enough that it would be unacceptable for Mana to speak to them in such a sorry state. Regina, she presumed, and feared. She had heard of the deeds of the one they called the Selfish Princess, of her love for battle and her subjugation of all the resistance in Trump. Mana could only wonder what a girl like that could possibly want with her.
She passed by one of the palace's courtyards, the one next to the glasshouse built by a queen long dead, ages ago, a woman who loved exotic flowers and great monuments. She looked above, and saw the sun, and felt its warmth. When she had gotten used to the cold of her prison cell, it was easy for her to stop caring about her life, her fate, but now that she felt the sun's shine again, she began to fear what Regina might want with her.
The path she was guided through was long, twisty, thanks to all the burned down rooms and corridors that were now inaccessible, that looked as if they would take years to be rebuild, and even so would never look as beautiful as they once were. Where she passed, Mana saw that the walls were peeling off, and the stench of ruin was unbearable. Defiant, she smiled, in spite of all else. Trump's palace was as ugly as the rest of the city, now. She wondered how Regina felt about that. She hoped it left a bitter taste on her tongue, to know that she was a princess of ashes and dust.
Then she remembered that those ashes were her home, that dust had been her dreams. After that, it was hard to stay smiling, so she only looked down and did whatever she was told to. Soon she was ascending one flight of stairs after another, and she knew that she was nearing her destination. She looked at a massive door that led to the royal chambers of old, wherein countless kings and queens of Trump had spent their nights. The current king, lord of the Selfish, was quite oversized, so it did not surprise Mana to see that the chambers had been taken by his daughter.
"Wait here," said a Selfish guiding her. The others let out relieved sighs and cheers, and began walking away. The last one knocked on the door, waited for a few seconds, and then ran off to join his friends, leaving Mana all alone.
To her own surprise, she stood there. She could not will herself to run away, as she remembered that it would do her no good. Some moments passed before the door opened, but when Mana tried to see who it was that greeted her, she saw no one until she looked down. There, opening the door with great difficulty, was a small stuffed bunny dressed in pink, her red eyes far too tiny for her massive head, larger than the rest of her body. Its weight made her walk awkwardly as Mana followed her inside.
The room smell of cotton candy and strawberries; all along the walls were huge pillows and cushions. Over the floor, board games were scattered, and amidst them were knives, maps, books and letters, thrown with seemingly no order.
"The princess will see you soon," said the bunny. Mana nodded as politely as she could.
When Mana gazed upon the Selfish Princess, she was, admittedly, more than a little disappointed. She was jumping on her huge bed, all the while a boy talked to her. Mana recognized him as General Ira, trying to make himself heard by Regina, but to no avail, as she was too caught up in her little game, jumping as high as she could, falling as hard as possible. She stopped only when her heels poked holes on her mattress, and at once she gestured at Ira to make him shut up.
"Have Marmo deal with it. Bring me a new mattress. This one is ruined."
"I… Marmo isn't in Trump!" Mana almost laughed at the distressed Ira, even though it would probably have endangered her life right now. "That's exactly what I was saying to you! I've been trying to contact her, but I can't! I don't know what she's doing, and-"
"Then you deal with it," her voice stopped being simply playful, and made Ira take a few steps back immediately, "and go get me a new mattress or you'll be enjoying your new rank as target practice for my Glaive."
He obeyed without question, walking with haste. Regina jumped back on her bed, letting all her weight fall on it at once, sinking into its mattress. She then regarded Mana with curiosity.
"Oh, right," she said, "you must be the Precure. I had almost forgotten. Usapyon!"
The bunny came running awkwardly, waddling on her short legs. She gave Regina a quick but polite bow.
"Yes, my princess?"
"The Precure is here!" Said Regina, with excitement that Mana could not identify as being honest or mockery. "We ought to greet her, right? Did you introduce yourself to her?" The bunny shook her head. Regina's eyes were unamused. "Then go do it."
"I, um," the bunny extended her arm in an invitation to shake hands, and Mana promptly accepted, careful not to use too much strength. "My name is Usapyon."
"Go on," said Regina. "I'm sure she'd love to hear about your past. Tell her where you came from."
"I used to live in the Land of Toys," she said, and put a hand on her chest. Mana saw that inside, a heart was beating. Mana had heard the tale of how Flora had bloomed an unique flower into existence, a red flower that pulsated strongly. When those flowers were placed inside toys, they began to move on their own, began to think, to live, and for that gift they worshipped her to this day, even after she locked herself away in her Rose Garden. "And then…" She looked at Regina, whose face had now changed, her lips curved, entertained. "Regina brought me here."
That alone said everything that Mana needed to hear.
"I wanted toys, you see," Regina explained, "and not the boring ones we have here in Trump. I had to look elsewhere," she made a grand gesture as she pointed at her open window, "to the Land of Toys, where I brought back a great haul of the most incredible playthings I've ever seen. They are so lifelike, you know? They cry when they are sad, they scream in pain when they are hurt. Could you imagine a regular toy doing that?"
"They are alive," said Mana. She put herself between Usapyon and Regina, and the bunny began to hysterically say that there was nothing wrong, that Regina wasn't hurting her, but Mana doubted it. Still, she let go, and kept staring at Regina.
"Whatever! I got another toy when I attacked the Bad End Kingdom, too," she said, "a much better toy. The Miracle Dragon Glaive."
"You're lying."
"I'm not. I already knew where it was. That terrible man, Joker, he had stolen it from me. But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that you're here, so I have a new plaything!"
"I'm not your plaything."
"Bzzt!" She yelled, childlike, her hand reaching out for her spear. "Wrong answer! You get no points, and only one chance left," she pointed the darkened tip of the weapon at Mana, who tried to pretend it did not terrify her. Regina's look made it evident that she was failing. "I'm just joking with you! I wouldn't hurt my new toy so soon. Especially when it's one as entertaining as you."
"I don't follow."
"Look," Regina crossed her legs and put the Glaive on her lap, "I'll give you the short of it. All my past toys have been terribly boring. I wanted friends, you see, so I sought people from Trump, but they were always disappointing. They always did everything I said, the way I commanded."
"I'd expect you'd love that."
"I already have everything I want. A loving and all-powerful father, an entire kingdom to play with. I've led armies to victory and controlled all rebellions in Trump. As you may have noticed by now, I have won. There are no challenges anymore, no fun games. No one to defy my will, no one who can surprise me."
"And you want me to do that?"
"But of course! There is one thing I have not accomplished yet. I have not yet corrupted a Precure. I have turned many into Jikochuu, but I have never had one by my side, a true Selfish. And that's what I want. When I heard we had captured a Precure, I was so excited! Some excitement, finally! So that's why I brought you here. What do you think?"
"I think you are the most childish person I have ever seen. You take pleasure in horrible, cruel things. Why do abuse your power this way, when you know it makes you a monster?"
"Don't you Precure have a saying about it? A crown in the Garden of Thorns is more precious than all the flowers of the Rose Garden. Yes, I may be a bad person. But I'm full of happiness, and I do things the way I want, not the way I'm told."
She failed to mention that the saying was spoken by the cruel Cure Winter, a Precure who had been a perfect example of what a person should not be.
"I will not do what you want."
"That's the spirit," she said. "Your name is Mana, right? Mana, Mana, Mana! A fun name to yell. Oh, we'll have so much fun together! You'll be my friend, won't you? You have to be. I want a real friend, not a servant. You'll do it, right?"
Mana said nothing. This was too much, it was madness. Regina was far more erratic than she had feared. She was a child acting exclusively on her whims.
"Oh, and by the way, if you say no, I'll turn you into a Jikochuu."
"Fine," said Mana. Yes, she remembered, I'm already doomed anyways. I knew it all too well when I stayed behind to save everyone. If this is to be the price I pay, I will suffer it.
"Good! More than good, it's great! No, more than great, it's… Usapyon, tell me something that's more than great."
"It's excellent," said the bunny.
"I do love that word," she said. "What an excellent friendship we'll have. You won't disappoint me like the others, I know it. You will be a real challenge, but by the end, you'll be as rotten as I am."
"I doubt it," said Mana. She wondered if she could perhaps make Regina a bit better, but she seriously doubted it.
"We'll see. Well, we'll need to make arrangements for your quarters, right? Can't have my friend sleeping in a stinky prison cell. You can have my old bedroom."
"Thanks," Mana said with no enthusiasm. "Where would that be?"
"Oh, it's the old bedroom, empty now, except for my old safe, the one I can't get rid of for some reason."
"Your… Your safe?" This was a joke, or a mistake. Regina was just playing a game with her.
"Oh, right! You don't know! Since you're my friend, I think I can tell you."
She jumped on her feet, standing tall on her bed, Glaive in hand. She paused, thinking of her words.
"I'm Marie Ange," she said, finally. Mana didn't say a thing; she just stared. "Or rather, I'm the good half of her."
"The… The… No… What are you even talking about?"
"When Trump fell," said Regina, "did you ever wonder what happened to your dear princess?"
"She died, Makoto told me."
"Makoto can't tell her head from her ass! She's a child. No, someone like Ange would not simply die. What happened was way cooler than that! Do you know who the Selfish King really is?"
"A monster."
"Watch your words," she said in a sinister tone. "While Ange was ill, dying of a terrible curse, Papa despaired," Mana began to wonder if perhaps she was saying the truth. She did not want to accept it. "He had lost his wife when Ange was born, and he could not let go of his sole treasure. I don't remember very well what happened, my memory's kinda spotty, but he made a pact with the First Selfish, giving his soul in exchange of a cure for his daughter. Blah, blah, blah, he became the Selfish King, Trump fell, don't need to tell you how that happened. But I do need to tell you that Ange had a chance to kill the Selfish King."
"You're lying," said Mana. "He's alive."
"Is it so hard for you to understand that she might have hesitated to kill her father? He gave his soul in exchange for her life. That's kind of a big sacrifice, don't you think? She couldn't do it. She was torn between the duty to betray the person who loved her the most, and the feelings she still had for her father, who had risked everything for the sake of her life. So Ange did not finish him off, and instead she simply cursed him, turning him to stone, in hopes that she might one day be able to save him."
"The king… He would not do that, would he?"
"Love is selfishness," said Regina, "which is why selfishness is the most beautiful thing in the world. For the love you feel for one, you would doom many others. As Papa did. As Ange did, by sparing his life. But she never had the chance to find a cure for him. She was approached by Bel. You know him, don't you?"
"Yeah," said Mana. She knew he was dangerous, perhaps the most dangerous of the Selfish generals. She didn't think much of it, still trying to make sense of Regina's words.
"He did kill Marie Ange, as you may have heard. Well, kind of. He found her lying in the streets, weeping, her heart divided. Her Psyche had began to corrupt itself with the darkness of the Selfish. Yes, I remember it. It's one of my most vivid memories of being Ange. She took her own Psyche, and broke it in half. Do you even begin to understand what that means?"
"N-Not really."
"It is dangerous magic. Theoretically impossible. Ange did it because she was a coward. She was afraid of the selfishness in her Psyche. She was ashamed of the love she felt for her father. She hoped that by tearing her Psyche, she could get rid of the darkness. Instead, she made a miracle with her own hands. Each half became its own Psyche," she pointed at her heart, "and became a person. Myself, born of love, of loyalty, of the desire for happiness, safety, friends and all the joys in life, and my sister Aguri, her heart cold, uninviting, more concerned about what she called duty than her own family."
"H-How?"
"Beats me," said Regina. "I'm not a scholar, and I don't care to learn why we were born. Aguri said it was because a Psyche cannot exist without a host. Whatever. We lived as sisters for a few months, here in the palace. We quickly learned that we had been the same being, that Ange's memories had been split between us, imperfectly. There are holes in my mind, you see, things I could not remember, and yet Aguri could."
"Do the Selfish know about, er, the circumstances of your birth?"
"Nah," she said. "Well, Papa does. And Bel too, of course. Papa… Was not too happy. Marie Ange was the daughter he loved, he told us, not these two children, imitations of the girl he sacrificed himself for. Aguri didn't care, of course. She just stared at him, defiant, and I knew at once she wanted to destroy him. I, however… I knew what he had given away to save me, when I was still Marie Ange. I promised him I would be a good daughter, that I would make him love me, I would make him proud, just as he had been proud of Marie Ange."
"Ah," said Mana. She shouldn't feel sorry for Regina, and yet… "And Bel?"
"He's the one who defeated Ange, who saw her split her Psyche. He wanted to kill us, you know, Aguri and I. He spent nearly a week looking for the two halves of Ange's Psyche, to make sure there were no loose ends."
"Clearly it didn't work."
"Right. The two Psyches spawned Aguri and I, in a dirty street of the baker's street. We were the way we are now," she pointed at herself, "and our minds were clear. We understood what we were. She despised me from the start."
"While you were full of love," Mana knew those were risky words, but she had nothing to lose, so she spat them out.
"I did not hate her," said Regina, "not until she did this," she pointed the bandages on her face. "I wanted Papa to be happy, so I never hurt Aguri. I thought that maybe he'd be happy with us. We're each half of Ange, after all, so I hoped… I hoped that he'd be happy to see us," her unbandaged eye betrayed sadness even as she turned her face away from Mana. "He was disappointed, like I said. He didn't love me. Aguri, however, he hated. Once he understood what she was, he knew she was danger. But his heart is still full of love, so he decided to raise the two of us, together. Do you understand? He gave us a chance to be the daughter he always loved."
Somehow Mana could not see the king loving Regina the way he loved Marie Ange. Suddenly Mana felt a chill. She had no idea who this Aguri person was, and she hadn't seen her yet.
"This Aguri, did she…"
"She ran away," said Regina, "she refused our father's love. More for me, really, so I don't mind, but I really did try to make her love me. I wanted her to love me. I wanted her to call me sister. I want a family all my own, a family that will stay with me and give me gifts and all of their love. All of it, unconditionally."
"How did she escape?"
"Oh, some servant took one of the boats and sailed across the Amethyst sea," said Regina. "I never liked the woman, she gave Aguri more attention than she gave to me. Anyways, for the longest time, I thought they had died, but I guess I underestimated Aguri. She gave me these wounds," she pointed at them again, "but don't think I just took it without resisting. No, I gave her a mark so that she would remember me."
Mana took a deep breath, and tried to comprehend all she heard. It was a lot to take. Too much. She glanced at Regina's eye, large and striking, full of life even as she stood still. From what she heard about Regina, Mana knew she should not show her any sympathy, but she found the girl pitiful, pathetic.
"So," said Regina, "your job starts now. You will keep me company so I won't have to be alone with my useless generals. Any questions?" Heart shook her head, not for lack of questions, but because she did not know where to even start.
"I…" Mana put a hand on her forehead, still half-wondering if this was a fever dream, but her brow was cold. "I think I need to sit down."
"Well, do it on the floor," Regina said casually, spinning the Glaive. "My mattress is messed up enough already."
"I am Marie Ange," said Aguri, and Rikka could not even decide if that was the most astonishing thing she had heard this night. "Well, not quite. I am the unblemished half of Ange's Psyche, one of two remnants of the heart she split when she realized she was lost."
"So the other half would be-"
"Regina, yes," Aguri spoke with haste, "which is why I was expected to call her my sister, to love her. I never could. She is an aberration born from the weakness in Ange's heart that drove her to betray her country and forsake her duty."
Rikka didn't say anything. She wanted to doubt it, but when she asked for proof, Cure Ace was quick to tell her things that only Marie Ange should have known.
"I don't really feel like Marie Ange, to tell the truth," Aguri continued, and as she told her tale, she leaned closer and closer to Yuri and Rikka. "Though I was born of her heart, though I have some of her memories and some of her powers, she feels like a different person entirely. An abhorrent person," she said, spiteful, "for what she did."
"You can't blame her for hesitating to kill her father," said Yuri. "It is a hard thing to ask of anyone."
"Being hard doesn't make it any less right," she said, "and the easy way, the one more comfortable for your spirit, may very well be rotten. She chose love over duty, family over country, one over many, and in doing so she allowed the Selfish King to consolidate his power. She did it with a heavy heart, yes, but she did it anyways."
"So," Yuri said, "Regina was born of that love?" Aguri replied with a nod. "Does that mean there is good in her?"
"No," Rikka noticed that Aguri clenched her fist. "There is nothing good about the love she has in her. When we were raised together, she wanted to be loved, she craved it, its absence made her ill. But she wished only to take love, never give it, save for the monstrous father Ange gave her life for. She is half a person, with half a heart."
"Aren't you the same?"
"Yes," her eyes seemed a bit sad, but she carried on, "the two of us, the way we are now, are incomplete beings. We've inherited half of Ange's essence. Her memories, her thoughts, her loves and ideals, all spilled randomly into two girls. But only half for each. I can feel the emptiness, you know. At night I'm kept awake by bitter longings and nostalgia for that which I cannot even remember experiencing. I knew that I had once been Marie Ange, and I knew that I was born from half of her Psyche, and therefore I am only half a person, and the rest of me is emptiness. Yes, I know it. Regina knew, too, but never cared. She was happy the way she was. Because she wanted love, and that she could find easily. I, however… I remember the duty I have, a duty I can only fulfil when I am whole again."
"So you need Regina's half?" Rikka had trouble understanding.
"Of course not," she said, "her Psyche is rotten. She is a being that is purely selfish, incapable of good. And Marie Ange, in the end, knew that she had done a great evil in letting her father live. It is why she tore her heart in half, rather than just let herself be killed. So that her selfless half, reborn within me, could undo all the harm she had caused. Fate conspired to allow my birth, do you understand? I was born a Precure, fit to lead the Blue Rose. When Ange failed to finish off the Selfish King, she did so because he knew her father had done that sacrifice for her. Her selfishness convinced her that his good intentions could redeem his soul, somehow, so she gave him a chance. But I was born free of that taint, and I know that evil done with good intentions is still evil. Mari knew it. She was the one who helped me escape from Trump, the one who brought me here. I called her grandmother even though we had no ties of blood. When Regina tormented me, she was the only who would defend me. She was a good woman. The most painful thing I have ever done was to tell her to leave, as I knew it would not be safe to be by my side once I revived the Blue Rose. And she understood I had to."
"I wouldn't say the Blue Rose is really revived…" Rikka had read about the glory days of the Blue Rose, when it was the fiercest enemy of the Red Rose, and had hundreds of Precure in its ranks, almost all of them chosen by the god Blue.
"Not yet, of course," said Aguri, "and it may take a little longer now, thanks to recent troubles we've both had. But it will happen once I fill the emptiness in me, the missing half of my Psyche. You understand why I was mistaken about the Crown, right? I remembered that I had put a crown in the room I had mentioned to you, but had forgotten that it was a fake, a trap. This is my curse, of not knowing which of my thoughts are real, which ones are missing pieces, which of my memories I can trust. I felt I could trust this one. It was more vivid than others. I apologize for my mistake."
"I-It's fine," said Rikka, lying, wanting only to avoid further talks about that subject. It still hurt to remember, and her only way to cope was to forget.
"I must regain Ange's memories and knowledges," said Aguri, "and then I will become what I was always meant to be."
"How exactly is that possible?" Yuri's tone was doubtful.
Aguri only smiled, the smile she always showed when she knew something no one else did, which, Rikka reflected, must be quite common, given her past. She set Ai on the floor, and got up, stretching her arms as she looked above, eyes focused on something that Diamond could not see.
"What do you know about the Eternal Golden Crown, exactly?"
"It holds infinite knowledge within it," Rikka was quick to answer, "but I have my doubts about that."
"Your doubts are appropriate. Yes, that is what the world is told about the Crown, but the truth is a bit different. I don't know how familiar you are with the Sacred Treasures of the Precure," as a matter of fact, Rikka considered herself rather familiar, but didn't want to interrupt, "and how they came to being, but I feel like you need to know.
When Empress, Priestess and Magician lit the stars, so many thousands of years ago, and the Pledge was made, they felt the need to organize the Precure, so as to better protect the world. The Phoenix Tower began to be built, then, and the Precure Dominion was established, with its seat at what is today the Blue Sky Kingdom. Priestess ruled from the Blue Sky Palace, while Magician organized the Cures of the Phoenix Tower, and assigned them to where they were needed. Empress, it is said, first offered counsel, mostly, but eventually she set out on her own journey.
Magician, as commander of the Precure in case of war, made herself a weapon, the Miracle Dragon Glaive. She and her closest companions spent over a year working on it, forging it from starsteel, revesting its blade with dragon's tooth, taken from the dead dragon god of Harmonia, who threatened to attack the Dominion and was slain by Magician herself. The Glaive is a fearful weapon that makes its wielder essentially unbeatable in battle. Regina, somehow, has gained possession of it.
Empress, who had been close to the god Blue, was fascinated by prophecy and fate, and as such she created her Crystal Mirror. When you gaze upon it, it shows images. Any kind of image, with no way to control. It may be an image of the past, a prediction of the future, a scene still in the present, but distant. Thanks to Empress' disappearance, it was lost, and we know little of it and its prophecies.
And Priestess, first queen of the Dominion, knew that for the Precure rule to last, they would need a great power. Magician had her weapon and her soldiers, but those are found anywhere. Priestess, then, created the Eternal Golden Crown. She had her mind set on establishing a dynasty that would last forever, so the Crown was not made for her, but for her successors. When she wore the Crown, she imprinted upon it all her memories and knowledges, and when she died, her heir, upon wearing it, gained access to all the wisdom that Priestess had stored there, and added her own. And so it went, on and on and on for thousands of years. The Crown does not have infinite knowledge, but instead the knowledge of all those who have worn it."
"And how would that help you?"
"Ange wore it," said Aguri. "When the Dominion crumbled, after the Axia Crisis, the treasures of the Precure were divided, taken to faraway lands, and that included the Crown, which ended up in Trump. It was rarely worn, however, and instead was kept safe and secret. It was worn for the first time in a hundred years by Ange's father, when she fell ill. He hoped he would find a way to save her life, and he did. He learned from the Crown that the Selfish knew powerful magic that could keep Ange from death. So he sought them, and paid the price asked of him."
"And Ange wore it afterwards?" Rikka imagined that was where the story was going.
"Yes, when she was saved, and her father was possessed by the First Selfish. From the Crown she learned the truth, and much more. You see, the Crown has been worn by countless Precure, and of course they have stored within it all their knowledge and notions of what it means to be a Precure. Just wearing it is enough to grant someone the power of the Pretty Cure."
"So Ange was…"
"Only for a few brief moments," said Aguri, "but yes, she was a Precure, shortly before death. It is why I was born a Precure. Like I said, fate conspired to grant me this chance. However, I have not inherited everything she knew. My powers are, sadly, limited. I can only remain Cure Ace for five minutes at most. It is incredible power, but not very useful, given how short-lived it is. With the Crown, I would regain it all, not only the powers but the knowledge and secrets of the Precure, of the Red Rose. And I would share them with you, with everyone. The Blue Rose had always been opposed to the secrecy of its Red sister. Though the Blue Rose was rather selective about who they would chose, it showed much greater care to the ordinary people than the Red Rose did. The Blue Rose maintained orphanages, temples, and always exerted great efforts to help the world whenever catastrophes happened. It is why Blue and his Rose were so well-loved, and for so long."
"So… We have nothing?" Asked Yuri. "We don't have the Crown, and the Blue Rose seems to be just the three of us."
"I have told you that there is another," said Aguri, "champion of the Blue Rose. I don't try to control her actions, but I know she is still fighting for us. I hope I can reach her, someday. Regardless, I feel like once the world hears of our Rose, we will find those willing to fight with us. I remember this girl, a close friend of Ange. Makoto Kenzaki, Cure Sword."
"She was my friend," said Rikka, surprising Aguri. So she really is missing half of what Ange knew. There was little doubt about it now. "She was at Trump, but she escaped with the Red Rose," she remembered the way they ran, cowardly. Yes, the Red Rose and its soldiers did seem very keen on running away.
"She will come to me," said Aguri, "once she learns that I am the princess she was so loyal too. I will seek her, soon. Her and others."
"Others?"
"But of course. I have the utmost conviction that more Cures will fight for us once we open their eyes. In a time like this, surely the Blue Rose can make an exception and allow even those who were not chosen to be Precure. In fact, if they do come to us, then is it not fate that has guided them to fight for the right side? In the absence of Blue, fate is good enough. Maybe it is why you were brought here. You could have gone anywhere else, but instead you stumbled upon these woods, and I have found you."
"I don't believe in fate," said Rikka.
"But do you believe in me?" Asked Aguri. Yuri was looking at her, too, her eyes begging for an answer.
"I do," said Rikka, after a pause. "After everything I've heard and everything I've seen… The Red Rose is not worth fighting for."
"I'm happy to hear that," she said, smiling. Rikka just stared, and realized that it was the same smile that Ange would give them when they came to the palace to pick up Makoto. The same smile, but not the same eyes. She wondered if Regina had gained those. "Happier still to have the two of you by my side. It was very lonely, here, before you came," Ai pouted at those words, but Aguri only giggled, and even Yuri had to laugh at the fairy's angry face. "Now let us rest for today. Tomorrow is uncertain, and we may not know what fate has in store for us, but I do know that today I have tea and a great amount of food, and there's nobody in the world I'd rather share it with than the two of you."