Thank you MizuKaji, GretchenMichelle, Shadow Ice Maiden, Oakensheild, Wolf-Maiden Mitsuki, and the anonymous reviewer for reviewing the last chapter! Here's my speedy update :P
"We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment."
—Hilaire Belloc
Last Resort
Yusuke bolted across the arena to catch Kurama as he stumbled and nearly fell, and slung one of Kurama's arms over his shoulders. They made their way slowly, Kurama feebly trying to walk—but his feet were dragging on the ground. Yusuke made it to the edge of the arena and Hiei stepped forward, helping Yusuke lower him out of the ring. I could only stare, disbelieving and rooted to the spot.
Then, several things became apparent.
Kurama needed help. He was in so much pain—he couldn't even walk. When his half-lidded, glazed eyes met mine, I snapped out of my stupor, and acted.
"Get him to our room," I ordered, starting to roll up our sleeves. "Someone get Botan and Yukina. Now."
Kuwabara didn't question me, but scrambled up into the stands as Yusuke all but carried Kurama into our medical ward. Kurama winced and let out a small yelp when Yusuke put him on the bed. After peeling off my gloves, I yanked my hair up out of my way and snatched a pair of scissors, cutting up his sleeve. There was so much blood everywhere I could barely see what kind of shape he was in. I heard Koto start to speak, and Yusuke frowned and left the room.
"I… I'm sorry."
I glanced swiftly up at Kurama's face. Blood vessels had broken in and around his eyes, and flecks of blood peppered his cheek. He was almost unrecognizable, with his face twisted in pain and his eyes glazed over.
"I lost, Reina." His chest heaved from the exertion. "I lost."
Outside, I could hear Koto announcing just that, and the crowd roared appreciatively. I could hear Yusuke venting his frustration as well. I sliced off Kurama's sleeve and set it aside.
"Doesn't matter," I managed. I scraped my palms raw as I washed my hands in a nearby sink. "You're alive. He's dead. Nothing else matters."
"He… he will kill you." Kurama, I saw, was staring at a point somewhere over my head. Blood bubbled out of his mouth. "The deal, the blood-oath… I lost."
He was delirious. I worked faster, barely slowing when Yukina and Botan rushed into the room, their hands glowing with healing energy. They took care of everything internal while I cleaned his wounds. The salve we'd gathered together less than an hour ago went into the gaping holes in his skin, which sizzled slightly and started closing before my eyes. All the while, Kurama murmured things, words that I couldn't understand except for two: "I lost."
When everything was bandaged, Botan silently pulled out a new shirt and tunic and we eased it over his arms and torso. He was sleeping now—hopefully a dreamless slumber. He didn't act like he was having nightmares. The others left to return to their seats, as I methodically washed his blood from my hands and arms. The room shook, dust falling from the ceiling, as the next match went on—Hiei versus Bui this time. I couldn't find it in me to care who was winning.
It was in this hell that I slid down the wall next to Kurama's bed, sitting on the cold tile floor. The lights overhead quivered and shook, sending fleeting shadows across his still, pale face. I must've been exhausted, because only a few minutes later, my eyelids slipped shut, and I dreamed.
It was cool and quiet.
This place again.
"...So you're back."
"Mhm," I muttered, not opening my eyes, frowning at the voice. For a second, I was hoping that maybe I was jumping to conclusions... but this darkness was too familiar. I knew this place, and the people therein. Somehow, I was dreaming about Kuronue again.
Silence.
"Reina...?"
I sighed. "What, Kuronue?" My voice was flat.
"What did I do?"
My eyes snapped open at that, and I rose into a sitting position, staring confusedly into his aura-ringed features. The red haze around him made it difficult to focus.
"Nothing," I said after a moment of puzzlement. "What makes you think that?"
Nothing you did, Kuronue. All me. A dull lance of pain sliced through me. Kurama was alive. Alive and recovering. But he'd suffered—suffered and almost died because of me.
Kuronue lowered his head to look me straight in the eye. His ragged hat cast his eyes into shadow. "You don't look right... you're different. What happened out there?" His voice was quiet, gentle even.
Instead of answering his question, I replied with one of my own, distracting myself.
"What do you mean by that... 'out there'...?" I queried, pulling my knees to my chest and blinking up at him.
Kuronue shrugged, and waved vaguely. "Out there. You keep disappearing from here... so I'm assuming that you somehow exist outside the amulet..."
I nodded. Amulet. Right. "Yeah, I do. I use the Barrier Stone to suppress my spiritual energy."
What a weird dream. But it was a welcome distraction from my guilt, so I played along.
"Yeah, I did that too," Kuronue supplied. "When Kurama and I would break into places... I used it to conceal my energy. Worked pretty well too, until the damn chain broke."
My brow furrowed. "What happened...?"
Kuronue snorted, and sat down beside me. "Kurama and I had just stolen something—naturally—and we were escaping..."
Oh. I knew this story.
"...The chain broke, and I had some energy stored in the pendant… quite a bit, actually," Kuronue said, shrugging and lifting an eyebrow at me. "You know how that works, right?" (1)
I nodded. "You can store spiritual energy inside the stone," I recited. "And retrieve it when you need it."
"That's it. Well, I wasn't just going to leave that kind of investment lying on the forest floor... and, though I realize now that it really wasn't a smart move on my part, I turned back for it."
"Kurama always wondered about that," I blurted then. "I could tell that it still bothered him... he never knew why..."
Kuronue didn't look at me.
"You didn't meet Masuyo last time," he said finally, changing subject and rising swiftly to his feet. He held out a hand to help me up, and I took it without thinking, not noticing how easy it was for our auras to be close to each other, how I didn't fry him, how I could control it in here.
I didn't bother... because it didn't matter anymore.
Kuronue slung me over his back, spread his wings, and we were flying again. I didn't bother to protest; I didn't even feel a faint rush of fear. I was too spent, physically and emotionally, to feel much of anything anymore.
And when we reached that indigo dome, that swirling mass of familiar energy, and when he set me down, I strode forward and hesitated at the edge of the bubble-like surface.
I turned and glanced back.
Kuronue nodded to the aura behind me. "You should go," he hinted. "If you want to find out anything. You're always disappearing."
I shook my head, and chuckled wryly.
"I have a feeling that I'm going to be here a while."
And with that, I turned, and stepped forward, into the swirling, familiar miasma.
There was light here.
The dome created it, illuminated it.
But there was nothing for it to shine on.
Except for me, as I strode further, towards the center. My shadow flickered and seemed to dance on the floor-like substance... which, as I could now see, looked more like smoke than anything. It was intangible... but it stood firm and my footsteps echoed because of it.
"Halt."
I did, more out of surprise than anything.
The voice was soft, yet commanding. Gentle, breezy... but had an air of authority that had been fixated there by many years of use.
"Your name," it commanded softly.
"Reina," I replied to the voice. I crossed my arms, refusing to be subordinated. "And yours?"
The voice took a second to answer.
"You already know that, Reina."
And, as quickly, as quietly as a whisper, she drifted into sight.
It was like looking into a mirror.
A pale, rounded face stared at me from behind a fringe of mahogany hair, eyes deep blue, like the aura that surrounded both of us—the exact shade of mine.
She was a bit taller than me, and her presence was a powerful thing; I knew that in her time she had been respected. Revered, even.
Her clothes were white. Her stance was regal.
"I am Masuyo."
The declaration rang in the dome, echoed and then faded into silence.
I stared her straight in the eye.
"Your aura's like mine."
Her lips quirked upwards slightly.
"Actually, Reina... I believe that it is your aura that replicates mine," she said simply. "It is obvious that I have preceded you... and you have inherited what I once wielded."
I frowned, trying to work out what she had said.
"So... what?" I mused, brow furrowing. "You think that you're... my ancestor or something...?"
"I think about things," Masuyo allowed. "when I'm uncertain. I only state them when I am certain that I am right. You are my descendant."
There was a silence.
"This is a dream," I muttered.
Masuyo shook her head. "It is not. I am here, in the amulet. As is the one who killed me. You have visited this place before, several times… briefly."
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. "The one who killed you?" I asked. "You don't mean... Kuronue?"
Masuyo nodded. Her eyes tightened. "I did not allow him to take my life, though. I converted my life energy into spiritual energy, and transferred my soul into this place. The demon," her voice seemed to spit the word, "apparently did the same, when his time came."
"Life energy... so you committed suicide?"
Masuyo frowned at my choice of words. "I spared myself from humiliation. No demon would take my life."
That's probably what Kuronue did as well, I mused to myself. Saved himself from being killed by the demons that were chasing him and Kurama... all those years ago. Maybe he thought that he could somehow get back out…
As I thought about that, my surroundings began to dim, to blur.
An arm shot out and took mine, holding me in place.
"Masuyo?" I gasped, not out of surprise of her holding me down...
But the fact that she had to.
I was literally hovering over the smoky floor, like I was at the mercy of some freakish reversed gravity.
Masuyo's eyes pierced mine. "Wear the amulet when you sleep," she ordered. "That will prove it to you. This is real."
"O-okay..." I replied.
She nodded solemnly, and let me go.
I drifted upwards, defying gravity, and faded.
My eyes snapped open.
It was oddly quiet.
I was leaning against something warm, something alive. My legs were stretched out on a bench-like thing... something familiar...
With a startled jerk, I whipped up into a sitting position.
"Puu."
I blinked several times, down at the creature, who was staring innocently up at me from my lap.
"Oh good Reina, you're awake."
"Eh...?" I asked stupidly, lifting my gaze. I had to rub my eyes to get them to focus.
"Botan?" I asked stupidly.
She smiled tiredly, stretching the shoulder that I had been leaning against. "Feeling any better?"
"S-sure..." I muttered, moving my legs off the bench, peering around me. Puu fluttered over to Keiko.
I was back in the stadium.
And there was a blue dome surrounding us, much like Masuyo's...
But no, now was most definitely not the time to be worrying about some figment of my imagination...
"Kurama!" I gasped, making to rise fully out of my seat. Dread closed around my heart—was he okay? Was he awake now?
Botan's hand steadied me.
"He's okay. That stuff in the room worked well—he's the one who brought you up here, actually."
I stared at her blankly.
"It's true," Yukina added helpfully, leaning forward, peering around Botan—and, as I now could see, Keiko and Shizuru. Shizuru spared me a glance, but Keiko was rigid, literally on the edge of her seat, clutching Puu, eyes trained on something below.
"He's okay?" I managed groggily, twisting uncomfortably on the bench, stretching my limbs. They were tight, sore. I grimaced.
"See for yourself," Shizuru put in, flipping her lighter open and snapping it shut in a nervous, staccato rhythm, not looking at me. She nodded down at the arena, and I looked.
Kurama was standing down there with the others, his back straight. He didn't seem to need anything to lean against… and I couldn't see any blood showing through his bandages. Why the everloving fuck did he exert himself carrying me up here, though? Was he absolutely insane? I shook it off, releasing a sharp sigh.
"What's with this thing?" I asked, trying to gather my wits about me, lifting an eyebrow at Botan and pointing to the dome.
"Puu," she replied. "The younger Toguro's energy was killing off demons... so he set up an energy shield."
"Toguro?" I asked confusedly.
"You missed the other fights," Botan explained, flashing a look at me, and training her eyes back on the ring. "This one'll end it... if Toguro wins, so does his team. If Yusuke wins, we win."
I followed Botan's gaze.
Yes, there was Toguro. There was no mistaking that hulking figure.
And Yusuke.
Hunched over, broken and bleeding.
I peered through the dome—Puu's shield—and searched the arena.
Well, what was left of it. The ring was only rubble... and the gaping hole in the side of the stadium that Karasu had created had been widened dramatically, hunks of twisted metal and concrete hanging down from it.
In fact, half of the stadium was gone.
I shook my head in disbelief. How did I sleep through that?
I heard Yusuke cry out, a battle cry, and strained and twisted shriek, and saw him as he threw himself across the ring at his opponent, fists flying, slamming into Toguro's discolored, grossly muscled body...
And not having any effect on it.
As my companions and I stared in horror, a casual flick of Toguro's wrist sent Yusuke flying into the air...
And he slammed into the stone stands, scattering shrieking demons and sending up a billowing cloud of dust.
"Oh, wow... Toguro's knocked Yusuke up into the third level..."
Somehow, Koto was still commentating. She should be dead by now. It was only fair.
"Yusuke..." I hissed, peering at the place where he had been thrown, not able to see anything from the smoke.
It wasn't the end, though.
Because, as soon as the demons around us began to collapse, I knew that it was far from over.
"Toguro's absorbing the souls of the audience!" Koto's voice pierced the air, frightened, tight, and completely, utterly helpless.
As soon as that message permeated the air, a swelling roar—the demons crying out in fear—replaced the echoes of Koto's voice.
Puu's energy increased, adding to the shield. Botan lifted her hands and offered up some of her power as well.
The ground began to shake with the force of a thousand panicked footfalls. The demons were fleeing.
Botan and I glanced worriedly at each other, her eyes wide, tears brimming. I could see my reflection in them—there was a dull hopelessness in my eyes, as if I had already given up and didn't know it yet. Like I knew that it was going to come to this.
Of course, it could only get worse.
The ground began to tremble, but not in a way that made me want to jump up and join the running throng...
But in a way that made the ground beneath us snap like a flag in the wind, that made the earth buckle, throwing us from side to side, nearly making those of us who were standing fall to the ground.
And everything went dark.
I stared in transfixed horror as the walls—hundreds of them, metallic and impenetrable—rose up around us, blotting out the light, casting a dark and final shadow over us all. The hole in the side of the stadium was completely blocked, and the few lights that remained offered little in the way of sight.
Trapped.
We were all trapped.
Heart pounding jaggedly, I looked up at Puu. He was still holding the protective dome, wings sparking with spiritual energy.
How long would it last?
We were captive here. At Toguro's mercy.
My hand, on its own, clutched the Barrier Stone, and my teeth set.
As soon as Puu's strength gives out, I'll take over, I told myself firmly, not allowing me to think of the inevitable—when my energy would be drained completely, when all of us would die.
A demon—a child, really—took several stumbling steps on the seats below us and fell to his knees. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he was still.
Bile rose in my throat.
After this, I wondered if I would be able to zap a demon again.
"Yusuke, let's go home. This... this isn't real..."
Keiko sagged forward, eyes overflowing and wide, faded and hopeless. I grabbed one of her arms to help her stay up, and she tried to pull away, thrashing weakly in Yusuke's direction. Trying to get to him.
"Yusuke...!" she wailed, voice cracking with sobs, breaking off into a low moan, a sound so deep in despair that I felt helpless at what to do. I patted her back awkwardly, feeling a knot forming in my chest.
What if Yusuke didn't win?
That musing already had an answer, I knew... but I didn't want to think about it.
It crept up on me anyway.
We'll die. We all will...
I felt nausea make my head whirl. I swallowed the sickness with a dry throat and thought angrily:
I'm not going down without a fight. Hiei can outrun Toguro, and he can take Yukina with him... and at least we don't have to worry about Karasu anymore...
Contingency plans. I was sick of them. Tired of all of this.
When would we be free? When would we be able to live without death hanging over our heads? It was one thing with Karasu—for him to threaten me? That was fine. But everyone else… they should be safe. It wasn't right.
"Carefully, now..." Botan said gently, taking Keiko's other arm and helping her slump to the floor. She looked at me, and I could see the fear in her eyes.
"No!" Botan cried forcefully, randomly, surprising me. She shook her head violently, whipping it from side to side, eyes squeezing shut, hands covering them. "Yusuke can still win this... he can still—and then we can go home!"
She was probably reacting to the expression on my face. I was glad that I couldn't see myself.
I turned my head, averting my gaze.
Denial. I wish I could delude myself that well.
There was no time for that, though. The fight below was still just as vicious as before. Yusuke was obviously reacting to the death of the spectators—even if they had been against us this entire time. He was fighting again, back from the third level and absolutely livid.
I could see his image flash as he threw himself across the ring at Toguro, driving crippling blows into his opponent's face.
Useless.
A bone-crushing kick from Toguro sent Yusuke careening back across the arena, his already battered body leaving a scar in the ground, connecting sharply with a large piece of rubble. He crumpled to the ground. Facedown.
Yusuke didn't move.
There was a long silence, punctuated only by the screams of the dying demons, of the terrified as they watched their weaker companions succumb to Toguro's power, knowing that they would be next, sooner or later.
Then Toguro moved.
I flinched, sure that this meant more torture for Yusuke, and fought the urge to cover Keiko's eyes.
It wasn't like she would see it anyway. She didn't seem to be aware of anything anymore, kneeling in the rubble, eyes blank, lifeless.
But then Toguro's head turned.
Straight towards us.
Staring at us.
Even from this distance, it was easy to see the leer he cast in our direction, his lipless mouth curving a sadistic scar into his hideously deformed features. It was too clear as his arm lifted over his head.
As he began to glow.
And with a flash of indiscernible movement, his arm dropped, and demonic energy careened in our direction, flowing jaggedly over the stands as it demolished them, coming at us like a hungry animal.
Botan screamed.
Shizuru and I jumped simultaneously, lunging for our friends, to pull them out of the way.
And, in a terrifying whoosh, it roared past us.
Missed us.
The explosion was shattering, I could feel it vibrating somewhere deep inside me, taking my breath away. Rubble flew into the air and rained down, like a filthy, frightening hailstorm.
I stared wide-eyed into the gaping hole that Toguro's attack had left, not believing our luck, and released Yukina. Shizuru let go of Keiko, and we stared at the destruction.
We looked back down at the ring.
And Toguro spoke to us.
"Next time," he called in a guttural, feral growl, the amusement clear in his voice, the bloodlust apparent, "I won't miss."
Botan made a small moaning noise, and shook with fear. I gritted my teeth and fought the urge to do the same.
But still, Toguro had nothing on Karasu.
And that was a little empowering. Just a little.
Because I knew that I had already faced my greatest fear. So, what could scare me now?
My gaze flicked from Toguro's features, over to where the rest of the boys were. Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei—all inside a protective bubble that Koenma seemed to be invoking.
They were all looking in our direction.
Kurama.
A swell of relief washed over me as we locked gazes, and, suddenly, nothing mattered at the moment.
No, no, no, I thought, chastising myself almost embarrassedly. I looked away from Kurama, back down at Keiko, but didn't see her.
The surge of relief was most definitely not appropriate... not with Keiko acting like a vegetable and people dying and...
But, incessantly, nagging at me, the relief refused to leave. It was inescapable, like the walls that surrounded us, closing in on me. Suffocating.
Time for that later. If there is a later.
So stop it stop it stop it.
Then, a voice broke through my tangled thoughts.
'Yukina.' A voice demanded, inside my head.
Hiei's mental voice was seething with anger, but, in his own way, he sounded completely consumed with potent concern for his sister.
She's fine, Hiei, I replied shakily, not bothering to antagonize him.
That was all he needed to know. His mind separated itself from mine, and, realizing that my knees were starting to hurt, I rose out of my kneeling position and stood next to Botan.
Right. No time for relief. Protect the others.
I chanted those words in my head, and the relief fled, clearing my thoughts.
"Hmph. Just past twenty and it's all over. I should've gone on more dates."
There was that infamous Shizuru pessimism...
"Don't say that, Shizuru!" Botan cried indignantly, voice quivering from fear and anger. "It's not over...!"
Shizuru shrugged and didn't reply. We all fell into silence.
"Yukina. Botan. Combine your powers and create a barrier while I'm gone."
Botan, Shizuru, Yukina, and I gaped stupidly at Puu.
He... he had just talked to us—and not in a male voice, either... it was most definitely a woman, ancient and worn.
"Eh..." Botan said helplessly. "E-everybody did hear that, right...?"
"You hear the voices too?" I replied shakily, giggling nervously.
Yukina stared.
Shizuru's cigarette dropped from her mouth.
Puu turned in midair to look at us, with eyes that were not animalistic and cute—but frowning, full of purpose and weighted by it.
"That's... the voice of Genkai..." Yukina murmured.
Genkai.
Then...
What the hell was she doing in Puu's body? Wasn't she the Masked Fighter? I had seen her before... and she was most definitely not Yusuke's spirit beast. She had her own body...
Puu's—Genkai's—eyes flicked over to me, and her beak turned down into an irritated frown.
"Don't even think about it, kid. You're our last resort. Save your strength."
I blinked, a little bemused. For someone who I had never really met, she knew me well.
She knew that I had instantly thought of helping with that barrier.
"Understood," I replied.
And with a semi-satisfied "harrumph," Genkai whipped around in midair and beat her wings, propelling herself down to Yusuke.
"Genkai?" Botan said confusedly. "But... I brought her to Spirit World..."
"Well, someone must've brought her back," Shizuru said logically. "She's possessed Puu's body..."
Spirit World. Where the souls of the... the...
"She died?" I blurted out, looking back and forth between them all, incredulity obvious in my tone.
Botan gave Shizuru a helpless look, and she shrugged.
"Yes," Yukina said quietly.
I felt staggered. "How? When?" I fixed my gaze on Botan, who looked extremely awkward, unsure of how to answer me.
"...Toguro," she replied after a silence. Her face was drawn, brow furrowed. "The... the day that you woke up... Genkai went to meet Toguro... or he lured her there... and Yusuke went after her. But he was... too late."
As the words hit me, I remembered.
"Hey! Kurama, Sparky…!"
That day... that was when...
Kurama and I glanced up, as Kuwabara came lumbering into view, out of breath, worry furrowing his brow.
Yes, he was worried. But for the wrong reasons. He thought he was missing something... being excluded from some escapade of Yusuke's...
"'Bout time I found one of you guys! C'mon, tell me you saw Urameshi run by…" He wheezed, bent double, looking up at us.
...But in that moment, Genkai was dying.
Dead. That's what I would've been... if it hadn't been for her.
Botan and Yukina swept in front of us, obscuring my view of the fight below. Their hands lifted, and a glow surrounded us.
"NO...!"
My head jerked up. Yusuke.
"You're nothing but a STUPID little hypocrite!" I heard him shout, voice livid, furious. "You told me to commit to something all the way and I chose my friends...!"
What? What on earth was Genkai doing to him? I'd never heard Yusuke sound so desperate...
"And now you say killing one as MOTIVATION is OKAY?"
Shizuru and I shot startled looks at each other.
What?
I moved to one side, staring over Botan's shoulder.
Motivation? Killing?
Genkai had told Toguro to kill one of us?
Genkai flapped back into our midst.
I didn't pay her any mind.
I simply couldn't, was not capable of paying attention, as I stared down into the arena.
Because my blood turned to ice; my heart stopped beating as Toguro's grotesque, muscled arm lifted into the air, and leveled off, pointing...
Straight at Kuwabara.
Another cliffy :D. There is one chapter left before the epilogue, I believe. And then the sequel, With the Tide returns!
Unfortunately a lot of my chapters from the sequel didn't get recovered, so I'm going to have to re-write from scratch :/. But that'll give you all more time to review, eh? :D
Thanks for reading!