Aaaaand we're back! Finally!
Still no PM... where are you? I need you! *sob*
Anyways, to Sir Bearsalot: Thank you for the review. It helps me write, knowing people actually like my stuff. XD
BokusuKanon: Ey, you're back! I'm sorry, but I'm actually not playing every cliche card in my hand, though that would be pretty fun. Darius has his sword, he has evil mind creatures, but he's not having a harem. Deeeeeefinitely not. Sorry if I stepped on any dreams with that. Also, the mind monsters thing is one of the most frequently used plot devices in Touhou fanfics. Really, almost any of the 100k fics would do. Finally, would you like for me to beta-read your chapters or something? I could lend a hand like that.
I played it pretty fast and loose with this chapter, jerking around the POV to try and get everyone. Writing was probably a little poor (I rushed because I have midterms, the evil bastards), but please enjoy!
– TOUHOU –
The Gap World.
At first, it sounds like an innocent little thing. Okay, maybe not so innocent and definitely not little, but you get the idea. It's known for being Yukari's happy place, madness-inducing if you stay there too long, and eyes that you just can't beat in a staring contest. It's also common knowledge that the gap youkai enjoys using it as a glorified teleport system.
What isn't common knowledge is the system of Border Catacombs. It's less of a network of conjoined gaps and quantum entanglement and other assorted fancy talk, more of the disturbing things that lurk in the corner of Yukari's mind. She's very secretive about it, partly due to sheer blackmail potential (against Yukari of all people!), partly because she has almost no control over it.
Which would explain Ran's predicament.
"Yukari-sama," said Ran as she took a deep breath. "We have to use the catacombs. There isn't another way without her knowing."
"Always a third option," muttered Yukari. Her wounds had closed, but her clothes were ripped, and there was still a crushing pain in her chest. "Wait… near catacombs. She won't come… she will…"
The kitsune was beginning to wonder if her master had finally snapped. "What are you talking about?"
"The miko…" A flicker of a smile came across Yukari's face. "Reimu… she'll find us. Have a backup plan… Always have a backup plan…!"
– TOUHOU –
37 minutes, 12 seconds…
Darius found Byakuren at the gates of Pandaemonium. She seemed miffed about something. He asked her what was wrong.
The magician huffed. "Miko-san and Kokoro-san left earlier with Myouren-kun. He took them to Hokkai!"
"What? Why?"
Byakuren shook her head. "He wouldn't say, but he asked me to stay back and wait for you." She looked at the unconscious witch over his shoulder. "You came out on top?"
"Closely, thanks to–"
Don't you dare tell her I'm here, Damion hissed in his mind.
Darius started. "Well, I got lucky, I suppose. Anyways, what do we do? Do we go to Gensokyo or Hokkai?"
Before Byakuren could answer, however, someone else spoke up. "Oh, there you are!" Sanae flew down to the two of them, dusting off her skirt. "Sheesh, I was looking everywhere for you two."
"Sanae-san!" Byakuren was surprised. "What are you doing in Makai?"
The wind priestess flopped onto the ground tiredly. "That crazy Reimu sent me to drag you back. The spell card rules were broken! Can you believe it?"
"So… someone broke the rules and it's an incident now?" Darius raised an eyebrow.
"No, I – wait, what? – I meant some youkai removed the spell card rules!"
Darius and Byakuren exchanged a look. "… Removed?"
Sanae gestured for them to follow her. "I'll explain on the way. Come on!"
The gunslinger turned back to Byakuren. "Do we go with her or to Hokkai?"
"With her." She began to jog at a brisk pace. "This is too important."
"But I don't understand." He began to follow after the two girls. "Yes, it's dangerous, but the spell card rules aren't crucial to Gensokyo's safety, right?"
"That's exactly how it works," said Sanae. "One of the only reasons youkai and humans aren't in a full-fledged war right now is because the spell card system is there; that's what Reimu-san made them for. On top of that, the rules are completely reinforced by the Hakurei miko and Yukari, so they can't do anything. But!" She added dramatically before they could speak. "The biggest problem here is that the one who destroyed the rules was Yukari!"
In the dream world, Alexa raised an eyebrow. What?
Damion slammed his head against the table in front of them. Goddammit all.
Darius swore under his breath.
"Karin…!"
– TOUHOU –
36 minutes, 49 seconds…
Marisa slowly opened her eyes, all too aware of her many bruises. Groaning softly, she rolled over onto her stomach and sighed.
"Well, well, sleeping beauty's finally awake." A blue-clad leg stepped up to her. "Really, Marisa, you should know how to defeat someone like him."
"With all due respect," Marisa growled, her voice slightly muffled. "Piss off, ze."
Mima laughed. "It is touching that you'd kill for me, though. Then again, haven't you already?"
"I'll be with you in a sec, ze. Good night, Mima-sama…"
"But that's not I'm here for. Get up, Marisa."
Wincing slightly, the witch pushed herself off the ground and went from lying on it to sitting on it. "What is it?"
"You heard those three, right?" The evil spirit jerked her head in the direction that the other three had wandered off to. "About the spell card rules?"
"You know me too well, da ze…"
"Well, whoever did it is playing a dangerous game. Come with me, Marisa." Mima pulled her to her feet and began a leisurely stroll around the destroyed castle. "It's been a while since I've been free. I'd like to walk."
Marisa steadied her breathing and fell into line beside her mentor. "What is it, Mima-sama?"
"How has Gensokyo been?"
"E-eh?"
Mima glanced at her. "You know what I mean. By the way, I heard about your Midnight Spark. Good work, I was starting to think you'd never master it. Well, that's beside the point."
"Well, why bring it up, da ze?"
A smile came to the evil spirit. "I think it's high time we resumed your training."
Marisa stopped. "R-really, Mima-sama?"
The smile grew wider. "Of course. After all, you heard them; because of our meddling new gap youkai, war is just around the corner. I don't want my star pupil's head on a stick, you know."
"Wait, when was this? They didn't say anything about a war…"
Mima's smile grew into a full-fledged crazed grin. "Oh, didn't they? Well, the tension between humans and youkai is already reaching critical point. This is the last straw between them. And you, Marisa…" The witch shivered a little. "You'll be the lightning rod of it all."
"Geez, you can't help but play the villain role, can't you?" Even under her old mentor, she could still crack a joke.
"Whatever else I am, I'm still an evil spirit," she shrugged. Pulling her student over a pile of collapsed bricks, she continued walking.
Marisa cast a worried look around. "Um, where are we going, anyways?" It was almost as if Mima was leading her into the depths of Pandaemonium…
"For starters, your cute little doll-loving friend was still buried under the rubble."
"Alice! Is she–"
"Don't worry, she's fine." Mima shoved a boulder out of their path easily and beckoned Marisa along. "However, I had to leave behind a little something while I was at it."
The witch's face slowly paled as she realized where they were. The charred walls, the ashes of the carpet, the bloodstains on the floor…!
The spirit raised a glowing green hand and flicked to the side. A pile of collapsed brick shifted, revealing a headless body. Picking up the corpse of Shinki, she turned back to the witch. "Well, I have what I came for. Or rather, what I brought you here for."
Marisa ran a hand along the walls edgily. She laughed nervously. "Mima-sama, this isn't funny, ze."
"Well, you'll find it hilarious in a moment, at least." Mima reached down and tore something else out of the rubble, levelling it out beside her.
She pointed the moon staff at Marisa's face. "Nighty-night, Marisa."
– TOUHOU –
"Why'd you even come out in the first place?" Alexa turned to the demon next to her, a frown on her face.
White coat slung over the back of his chair, Damion smirked. "Do I really need a reason?"
Alexa swivelled her chair to face him head-on. "I mean it, Damion. Why are you back?"
"You wouldn't dare." Damion bared his canines with that aggravating smirk of his. "And even if you did–"
Whump.
"… you wouldn't even be able to do anything," he finished. Alexa lowered her fist and sat back in her chair, eyeing him warily. "Oh, calm down, Cagnes. I'm just here because I feel like it. If it bothers you that much, I'll go crawl back in my hole when this is over."
Alexa's eye was twitching. Spinning the chair back around to the table, she tapped a finger against the metal surface. Bright blue lines raced back and forth across it, forming a keyboard. The static-filled screen in front of them sparked to life, showing them a bobbing view of Makai – Darius' vision. As her fingers flew, she spoke. "Don't think this is over. And when this is over, you'd better go back where you came from."
Damion's grin split even wider, if that were possible. She fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. "Of course I will. Then again, the problem is, where did I came from?"
Her hands froze. "… What?"
"Oh, that's right. I never told you what I am, did I?" He leaned back in his chair. "Too bad. Guess I'll be going…"
"Hold it."
Damion stopped, slowly settling back into his chair. He'd won this round, and they both knew it. "You realize I'm still not telling you."
"I'd much rather you didn't," growled the living weapon. Brushing her green bangs behind her ear, she went back to working. "Even so, you and I both know your link to Darius-sama. None of us are happy with it, but you'd best stick around… or we all die."
"Idiot can't even walk through a war and leave alive, I'd bet."
She glared at him. "Not all of us are war demons several millennia old, you know."
"Meh, I could care less. So, you still want me around or not?"
Alexa really, really wanted to get up and punch his lights out. Even so, she took a deep breath. "Stay. Darius-sama has to live, no matter what."
Damion watched the living weapon lose herself in whatever spell she was working on this time. His red eyes flickered. "No matter what, eh? Alright, I'll keep your buddy alive. The only question is whether or not his mind will still be there after…!"
– TOUHOU –
Ruined. That was the first thought that came to Karin when she opened her eyes. She shook her head. "My mind is a mess, isn't it?"
It really kind of was. While everyone's dream world was different and unique to them, Karin probably still stood out like a sore thumb. It was less of a single world, and more of a random work pieced together by hacking apart hundreds photos and taping them together. She was standing in a field of grass that was only about fifty feet in any direction, where it ended with a stitched line. On the other side of that line was a desert, complete with a wavering haze of heat above it. That was to her left. On her right, it seemed to be snowy tundra; it even had ice floes. Just past that, she could just make out a skyscraper. Above all of it was a dark, overcast sky.
"So this is… the dream world…" She breathed. Stepping forward, she shuddered as she passed from the green field to floating over a blood red sea. Another step; and she was drifting over open air. Eventually, she stopped in front of another building – part of a slice of urban city. She knew this place.
The door creaked open softly, letting in what little light there was. Karin was right – she lived here when she was a little kid. Leaving the door open, she walked deeper into the home, not bothering with the lights. The house had a faint scent of smoky jasmine to it, just the way she remembered it.
Her house was fairly spacious, a rare gift in the urban sprawls of her old city. Reaching the end of the main hallway, she climbed the mahogany stairs. She left no footprints. This wasn't her home. Not really.
But maybe…
Just maybe…!
There it was. It really hadn't changed after all. Right at the other end of the hall was the door to her room. Walking quickly, Karin didn't even notice the way her dress caught the lip of a flower pot, sending it tumbling to the ground. But instead of the tinkling of shattered clay, it simply fell apart when it hit the floor silently, turning to black shards and spinning away.
Her hand reached out for the doorknob shakily. Karin's eyes were wide. Was it really still here? And if it was, did that mean…?
The door swung open easily, stopping just an inch short of the wall. The hinge was still broken. Karin stepped into her bedroom, slowly taking it in. "It really is still here… you're really still here."
It was a rectangular room, the door in one corner. Opposite to it was her bed. Beige walls. Drawers along one side of the room, her desk at the last remaining corner, a mirror above them. A single window set above her bed allowed in the faint light. Posters adorned the wall above her desk. There was even that one Pokémon plushy that she never bothered to pick up. Stepping into the center of the room, she spun in a slow circle. "This really is… just a memory, isn't it?"
It was. She knew that it was just a recreation, but for some reason, she truly wished it were real. Karin glanced at the drawers again. She walked over to it and slid one of them open slowly. There it was.
She reached into the drawer, holding it in her hands gently. It was simply a picture – of her and Darius at a park, taken just the year before. A wide grin on her face, a somewhat abashed smile on his. His coat was slung over his shoulder; one of the rare times he took it off.
She looked up at the mirror before her. Gold hair, sharpened eyes, a thin mask of indifference. A sigh. "What the hell did I do to myself…?"
Twisted yourself into a monster. What else?
Karin didn't even bother to respond.
A gap opened up beside her, emerald lights flickering to life behind it. This is new. I thought you and him…
She glanced at it briefly and turned away again. "It's not a big deal."
… Naturally. Why are you back?
A long, pregnant pause. "I… to think. I needed to think."
About what?
She chose not to answer that.
I see. The presence began to fade away, the gap closing back up. All that effort, but in the end, you're still her. However, you still have your own role to play. Bear that in mind.
"Get out," she murmured.
I will leave you to your thoughts.
Karin looked at the window. It crumbled away, and she walked towards it, treading on air over the bleak landscape. "It really is just me, isn't it?"
She stopped, simply floating there. Then again, what was she doing all this for? She was getting soft.
But was she really?
Who was she? She wasn't Yukari, she wasn't even Karin anymore. Hell, she probably wasn't even any single species. If so, it wasn't a question of who is she; it's a question of what is she? Could she really give herself an honest answer?
She looked at her hand, noticing she was still holding the picture. A flicker of irritation as she made to dash it against the ground. But just as she began to throw it, she stopped. Slowly, she brought it back to herself. Maybe, just maybe, she could…!
She ground her teeth. No, that was impossible. She'd let herself fall so far – she could only fall so much further. She'd just enjoy what little of the ride there still was. But she wasn't even enjoying it. Why was she really doing any of it? To prove something? Or was she just another pawn in another's chess game?
No. She'd made her mind. She would follow this blind path to the bitter end.
And yet…
Another look at the small photo. She pocketed it. Karin waved her hand, a stitched gap opening up before her, ready to admit her back into the conscious realm. But as she stepped through, she felt a strange spark as she left.
Hope.