The World Within And Without


Disclaimer:
Sheo Darren does not own Guilty Gear or any of the games, anime, movies, books and the like that are the property of other people. All original characters in this story are his creations and property. All insert characters are copyright/ owned by their respective represented real-life entities.


Makiling Arc

Second of Three Parts


P4 Reborn


"I am Maria of Makiling. I am the Lady of the Mountain."

April and Jack stared. "Wow," the latter managed.

The legendary faerie queen of Mount Makiling smiled benignly. "Indeed. As I have said before, welcome to my home, Jack, April."

"Ah, thanks a lot– hey, wait a minute," Jack realized. "How'd you know our names?"

"I know. Your very presence alone sings your name out to the winds. And the winds of my homeland tell me everything they know."

"Wow."

April bit her lip. Sure, she was just as impressed as Jack. Not everyone could say they met a legendary nature spirit on a nature hike. (Two, if you count Nakoruru patrolling the outskirts of Mak-Ban.) But something about Maria was bothering her. It wasn't that the faerie struck her as evil. April had encountered enough evil people to develop a sixth sense when detecting them. (Okay, Sousuke Aizen fooled her that time, but that monster fooled everyone except Sho Tsuzuku.)

Then she noticed that Maria was looking over Jack most intently. Intensely inspecting every external physical aspect of the Brit boy. Poring over every square inch as if looking for something. But what?

The subject of scrutiny realized it as well. Jack blushed. It feels real creepy to be ogled yourself, the ex-part-time perv realized ironically.

Pangs of a feeling April couldn't quite identify, accept or admit gripped her like a vice.

"You are so much like him," Maria mused absently to Jack.

"Eh?"

"My last human lover from so long ago, before I forsook selfish mankind and dwelt in the Emerald Dream. He was so much like you. A stranger from a distant land, blonde and blue-eyed, tall and strong, yet gifted with a kind heart absent in his people."

"Maybe he was a Spanish explorer," Jack suggested. He shifted into encyclopedia mode. "Probably the Legazpi expedition, from what I remember. They were the first ones to make it into mainland Luzon. What happened to him?"

Maria's beautiful face saddened even as April's elbow dug into Jack's ribcage. "He was killed by his folk. He died protecting my home and me from his own people."

April coughed diplomatically and elbowed Jack. "We're sorry to hear about that."

Jack didn't need his friend's glare or nudge to say "Sorry."

"But there is more," Maria added almost hopefully. "Sometimes the spirit does not depart this world even after the death of the vessel that holds it. It will wander the world until it finds another vessel it can dwell in."

"That sounds a lot like reincarnation," April posed. Then the implication hit. "Woah! You're not saying–"

"–That I'm the reincarnation of your boyfriend from a million years ago?" the equally astonished Jack finished for his friend.

"Not one million. Around five hundred years ago, more or less. I'm not very good with time."

"That's ridiculous!" both April and Jack declared. But the latter's protest was weaker.

"Have you ever had any dreams," Maria posed, "That struck you as lifelike? Dreams so vivid that you couldn't tell which was real and which was the dream?"

Despite the situation, April grimaced. "That sounds like a rephrased version of a line from The Matrix."

"They named something after your best friend?" Jack asked.

"God, but that is an old joke."

"Whatever." He thought about Maria's question. "Well, come to think of it–"


Yuuki Darren blinked.

"Oh. A flashback scene. That's nice."

Then she went back to her work.


He remembered.

He remembered the all-encompassing sea he traversed for what seemed like many lifetimes before he and his comrades set foot upon the unspoiled archipelago paradise that had no name. He remembered the endless canopy of green that covered the land from one end to another, the crystal clear springs and mighty waterfalls, the towering mountains and deep valleys, the pristine beaches of shining white sand. He remembered the people, dark-haired and brown-skinned, their eyes lacking even a speck of guile or greed, childlike and curious. He remembered the cheerful birdsong in the day and the haunting murmurs of night creatures and the strange but beautiful tongue of the native folk. He remembered summer days, warm and welcome, and winters mild and nippy, and those memories kept him going during stormy times.

But most of all, he remembered her. Her exquisite, alien, elfin beauty, unlike anything he'd ever seen before, eternally youthful, forever old. The sweetly intoxicating fragrance of her presence that passed Time away so quickly as if a fleeting sea breeze and not the master of all mortal and material. Strong arms and dexterous hands wrapped around him in loving embrace. Those soft delicious lips and the singsong voice that issued from them.

"Mahal kita."

I love you.

He loved her. Fought for her. Died for her.

Promised her he would come back.

And he always fulfilled his promises.


"I remember." Jack shivered and hugged himself. "I remember everything."

Maria smiled, a sad but triumphant smile.

"Just wait a minute! You can't just grab Jack and marry him!"

Not for once, April's vehemence startled Jack. That it was in his defense was even more surprising. Even though they were friends now, even after everything they went through, it still surprised him, the fact that she really cared for him.

"Why not?"

April face-vaulted. Maria really sounded like she didn't know. Oh, God, the most powerful faerie in the Philippine islands is an airhead the equal of Tsukino Usagi or Sonsaku Hakufu…

Regaining her composure, the girl grasped for a straw of logic that would suffice. "Well, um, ah– because he's only fifteen! He's not of legal age, you know!"

"Human laws hold nothing over me. Besides," Maria added rather shyly, her blush faint but present, "in the tradition of the ancient human folk I lived with, fifteen was a rather late age to get married."

"But you can't! You just can't!"

"Who are you to forbid me?"

"I'm his friend! I get to say something in the matter!"

"Do you have any personal hold over Jack?"

That stopped April in her tracks. "Personal– hold?"

"Are you his lover?" Maria innocently asked.

Both Jack and April gagged.

"WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?" April screeched.

"It was a legal question, very warranted," Jack began rather weakly.

"Shut up, Jack. I'm trying to save you from a ridiculous fate."

"I was only trying to help."

"Who? Her?" With a rather rude gesture towards Maria.

"No, you."

"Then don't. If you want to help, don't."

"Whatever you say." Jack sounded hurt.

April bit her lip.

I like him. But I can't say it. Not here. Not now.

Not ever?

Goddamn you, Sheo Darren! This is YOUR fault! You wrote this freaking fan fic! You started everything by tossing us here! Why couldn't you just have slept that night like any normal human being instead of–

"April! Jack!"

The two human teens spun. "Jackie?"

"Nazareth-kun!"

It was, indeed, Blackheart ZERO and TRUE Unknown's created characters. April thanked God and Sheo Darren for the timely interruption. Maybe now, in the company of sane people, she'd be able to formulate a logical argument. "How'd you get here?"

"A girl led us here," Nazareth said.

"A girl?"

"Yeah." He turned. "See? Miss Murasame here–"

Maria froze.

The girl was moonlight pale clothed in midnight black. Bracelets tinkled musically. Green eyes glittered feral. Flanking her were the tall, thin, slightly menacing youth and a ten year old redhead bearing a staff wrapped in gauze.

"Hello, Queen of Mount Makiling, Jack of all trades and the PLANT colony that the Earth Alliance nuked in CE 67, killing off Athrun Zala's mommy and thus kicking off Gundam Seed and in extension Seed Destiny, the last meriting an 'Ugh'." The singsong voice chuckled at its self-perceived cleverness. "I know my greetings and designations do not make sense. Please put up with me. It's a kernel32 error. Happens to me all the time whenever I connect with the 'Net. He never did really upgrade my OS right."

"Who the hell are you?" Jack demanded.

"An abomination," Maria answered. The faerie was grim. "One who should not exist in this World."

"Ah, but before you go harping on things that should not exist, this entire World and all who live within it– you yourself included– is such a thing. But I get ahead of myself." The dark girl tipped her head to the side cutely. "This here tall, dark and handsome on my left," she gestured at the black-clad young man, "Is Revelation."

Nazareth's eyes widened. Revelation! Testament's son! An incredibly powerful and terrifying Gear! So that's what I sensed in him earlier!

"And this here on my right is Negi Springfield, boy wizard, teacher at Mahora Gakuen and heartthrob with few equals."

The redhead boy blushed at the faint praise (or what sounded remotely like praise). At least she isn't lampooning me anymore.

"And I," curtsied the dark girl, "Am Four Murasame."

Maria recoiled. April, Jack, Nazareth and Jackie, however, exchanged looks and simultaneously went "Who?"

Four laughed. "I forget that the four of you have been tossed this way and that way around in this fan fiction for so long, you haven't been in touch with the latest news. Let me explain. I'm The World Within And Without's new primary bad guy."

That, they understood. Nazareth's wings flung outward. Jack drew his shotgun while Jackie took out her yoyos. Maria prepared to summon her innate mystic power r. And April took a step back–

–as the Will And The Word slammed into them.

It was as if a vast, invisible had suddenly grabbed them. It froze them where they stood, paralyzed their arms and legs, kept them from trying anything that could remotely be translated as resistance. Even Maria, mighty amongst the faerie that still walked the World, couldn't begin to match the immensely powerful Will rooting them in place.

"Stay," was the verbal command that backed the imprisoning effect gripping them. And they did. Four was pleased. "Good boys and girls. Maybe we can actually talk things out like reasonable people."

"You call this reasonable?" spat April.

"Given our circumstances, the reception you were about to spring for me and the difference in our power levels, I'd say, 'Yes'." Complete with cute shrug of shoulders.

"What do you want?" Jack demanded.

"I came here for one thing." She smirked at him. "You."

"Me?" mumbled the astonished boy in question.

"Smart boy. Exactly."

"Join the club," April muttered beneath her breath.

"What for? As a hostage?"

"Oh, don't be silly," Four pooh-poohed. "Aside from your brother and April and Maria, no one cares that much about you."

"That's not true!" Then he paused. "What was that about April?"

April blushed like mad. Everyone else, especially Maria, stared at her in a new light. Four gaily chattered on.

"Of course, silly boy. It is what I call 'the opposite polarity effect'. Basically, positive and negative sorts attract. Kind of like a magnet or the reverse of the 'birds of the same feather' saying. The Romancers call it 'the love-hate relationship'.

"Now, let me summarize the theme of my existence. For the past twenty eight chapters– Sheo does not use the number 13 in ordering his chapters, you see, so this chapter is not 29, but 28–, I've been causing minor havoc throughout The World Within And Without. My goal is to summon Sheo Darren from wherever he is right now back to this World.

"The previous times, I distorted the reality of The World Within And Without by undoing key twists to the characters, like S-Ko's state of undeath, indirectly causing Hikki to go crazy and siccing Dark Chii on Chipp. No creator worthy of the title can accept another person fiddling with the World he or she made without his or her express permission. Certainly Sheo's been proven to be very protective of the things he holds dear.

"But I realized that it was Sheo's intent to let this World run on its own without undue interference from himself. He believes too much in free will and self-determination despite having being burned by same all too many times." Four sighed. "He was always a hopeless romantic," she airily admitted.

"But this time, I'm going to do different. I will remake an original character he made. I will distort a person he made. Sheo Darren will respond to this travesty. Why?" The childlike smile was cruel. "Because, more than anything, a person– a human being– is now involved– and endangered."

April fought to suppress the waves of hopelessness and terror surging through her. "You can't destroy Jack!"

"Who said I was going to? I sad, I'm going to 'remake' or 'distort' him, not destroy him." For the first time since she'd upstaged the scene, Four sounded rather petty. "Will you guys at least listen carefully to what the bad guy says when it matters?"

"Why should we?" Jackie demanded.

The dark girl didn't even bat an eyebrow. All the same, Jackie and Nazareth suddenly found themselves just in their underwear and entangled with each other in a most sexually-suggestive position.

Beside the dark girl, Negi shuddered. He'd been in that kind of position one too many times back in Mahora Gakuen, so he commiserated with them.

"You don't have any choice in it," Four chirped. "But don't the two of you look so cute like that?" She grinned. "You're enjoying it."

Jackie blushed but didn't make any move to end her situation.

"Now, where was I?" Four made a show of pretending to think it over. "Oh. Right. I remember now." She twirled in place as if dancing, only to face her victims once more, hands tucked behind her back and wearing a knowing smile. "Do you know that in Sheo Darren's initial sketches, Bridget's sibling was supposed to be a girl?"

"WHAT?" went everyone except Jack, who mumbled, "Oh, God, not this."

"But it is, Jack! Only later did he learn that Bridget had a brother and not a sister, and so made you. Well, I am simply going to implement his original plan. I will turn you into a girl. Who knows," she posed, "Maybe Sheo will thank me for this."

Jack groaned. "Kill me now. Please."

"Does seeing Sheo Darren again matter that much to you?" April demanded. "Just what did he do to deserve this?"

"I love him."

The admission stunned them all. But April would not be silenced so easily. "How can you say that when you're attacking everything he holds dear?"

"I love him," Four softly reiterated. "None of you can ever understand it. But I love him. I love him more than anyone in this World or outside of it." Negi's head dipped into a slight bow. "I may act this way, attack the things he love, but there is no changing the feeling in my heart. I love him. Because he is family."

She looked up to the limitless night sky, exultant, invigorated. "Do you understand now, Lone Wolfie-chan, Person-kun, and all you Authors out there who follow this World? Do you see it coming? Is it clear now? My identity?"

Turning to the humans and Gear hybrids and faerie: "My last name is Darren," she said without preamble. "My full name is Four Murasame Darren. Daughter of Sheo Darren. Younger sister of Yuuki Darren."

A halo of blue light surrounded her. Weird synthesized electronic music started playing even as electricity danced in her green eyes and around her. Four smiled.

"I am the P4 Reborn."


TSUZUKU