Chapter 37: Collision Course
Satori stared at the newspaper on her desk in mounting despair.
She didn't know how it had happened, but once again, Aya Shameimaru had gotten her claws into a new story. Beowulf's blurry image snarling back up at her, she looked despondently up at the man himself, fidgeting uncomfortably as he stood on the other side of her desk.
The past few weeks had been much kinder to him than it had been to her, she reflected. With not much else to do, she had assigned him to assist in the reconstruction effort, and left it up to Yuugi and her compatriots to introduce him to his new home. He...well, he hadn't quite integrated in the way she had hoped, to put it bluntly.
Once word had leaked out that he had singlehandedly fought Old Hell's resident all-stars to a near standstill, and had even gone far enough to wound Hoshiguuma Yuugi, the Rumored Unnatural Phenomenon herself, literally every single denizen of the city had wanted to take a try at the Steel Beowulf, the moniker he had somehow picked up in the aftermath.
After several days of nonstop battle royales, with Yuugi and Suika jumping in gleefully to help themselves to their own fair share of the opponents, he had been left standing atop a mountain of the defeated alongside them. Exhausted, battered, and having experienced far more danmaku patterns in three days than most residents of Gensokyo merely witnessed in four weeks, the Steel Beowulf had successfully established his credentials as a figure worth respecting.
With that done, he'd blended in surprisingly well, the denizens of Old Hell cheerfully waving off the damages he'd done with their typical easygoing nature. A fight was a fight, after all, and wholesale property destruction was always par for the course where the daily life of this underworld was concerned.
During that time, he'd traded his rust-red outfit in for some material Yamame had managed to get ahold of during one of her forays out to check her web traps. The earth spider was still a bit skittish around the reformed Einst, but his naivete in some of the most basic aspects of everyday life, and his occasional volunteering to help her with transporting some of her heavier items had gone a long way towards helping with that.
One one of her trips, she'd found a particularly unique bolt of cloth stuck in one of her webs. Heavy and coarse, it wasn't anything she could particularly find a use for, so when Beowulf had surprisingly asked her for it, she had given it to him.
With some help from the Earth Spider's skilled tailoring, she had managed to turn it into the outfit he had in mind. Wearing it now, it was deep blue where his prior ensemble had been rusted red. Trimmed with silver plates on the shoulders and wrists, his new bomber jacket hung easily on his broad frame, open at the front to reveal the loose red vest beneath. He'd gotten her to make a pair of long cargo pants to match as well, and finished it up with a pair of combat boots Yuugi had helped him find in one of the downtown markets.
Even Satori wasn't sure how, but once he'd gotten his clothes in order, some degree of comfort seemed to have returned to Beowulf as well. It was as though it was somehow familiar to him, in some small way. For Satori, who had seen glimpses of a similar outfit in the shards of his memories, it was no surprise in the least. Beowulf had few enough memories as it was already, she supposed it was only natural he cling to the ones he could still hold on to.
Plus, even she had to admit, it fit him quite well.
...well enough, in fact, that she had been forced to let him stay with her in the mansion after Yuugi's offer to let him stay with her and Parsee had resulted in...some kind of incident in the shower that neither he nor Parsee were willing to speak about, and then Yuugi had gotten involved. Once the fires had been put out, and apologies made, Satori had grudgingly allowed him to move back in to the mansion.
And that had been interesting enough on it's own, but that wasn't why she was here now.
"...and you're SURE you never saw anyone flying around with a camera?" She sighed.
"Er...no, I don't believe so, ma'am..." Beowulf scratched his chin awkwardly. "In fairness, my memories of the fight are still rather unclear. Even if there was something out of the ordinary, I don't think I would remember it now."
"I assumed as much..." Grumbling, Satori threw the paper back down and leaned back in her chair, swiveling it slightly to the side as she stared grimly into space. Crossing her legs, she picked up the teacup of black coffee and barely flinched at the first sip, ignoring the ache in her head.
Sensing an opening, Beowulf cleared his throat.
"Er...ma'am..." He started hesitantly, "If you don't mind me asking...why aren't you dressed?"
The dark circles under her eyes deepening, Satori looked back at him dispassionately. Clad only in a loose robe, lounging back in her executive chair with tea on her left and several neatly arranged bottles of wine on her right, and lit from behind by red-draped stained glass windows, the master of Old Hell was an exquisite display of ordered disorder.
And Beowulf wasn't quite certain how or why it was even possible, but she was making it look damned good.
Looking down at herself with a deadpan expression, Satori seemed to think for a moment, before casually tugging her top so that it hid more of her chest than had accidentally been showing.
"Before I answer that, mister Beowulf, wouldn't you like to first ask why I haven't simply plucked the question from your mind in mid-sentence, and answered it before you've even finished speaking, as you've no doubt noticed I do with everyone else around me?"
The Einst frowned, suddenly realizing the truth of her question.
He had been rooming at the mansion for a little more than two weeks, and as a result, had been in close proximity to the overseer of Old Hell on a daily basis...and yet not once had she ever shown any signs of using her particular gift on him. On everyone else he'd seen, or anyone around him, maybe...but never on him. In fact, now that he thought about it, he had actually managed to surprise her once or twice by accidentally coming up on her from a blindspot or two.
...but that made no sense, Satori's third eye should have prevented that sort of thing!
"...why haven't you?" He asked, eyes narrowed in puzzled suspicion. A game of some kind? Some subtle means of emphasizing her position as overseer?
"Because I can't." Satori replied matter-of-factly, and knocked back the rest of the tea with a wince and a full body shudder that made Beowulf look away briefly before the impact of her words whipped his head back towards her.
"You...can't?"
The master of Old Hell gave a bitter laugh, one finger idly toying with the teacup on her desk.
"That's right...I can't. It seems I should have thought things through a bit more clearly before I decided to try patching your psyche back up, hmm?"
"My psyche...?" Beowulf's eyes narrowed. "...Lady Satori, what exactly are you saying?"
"Ah, there we go, he finally drops the stuffy old 'ma'am'..." She remarked to empty air, looking away from him. The Einst's rigid posture finally broke, and he took a step forward, fists clenched.
"Lady Satori...!"
"All right then, I'll tell you." Satori whirled back to face him, her expression contorting with a mixture of emotions Beowulf couldn't identify.
"When I patched you up after Yuugi defeated you, it seems I may have put a little too much into my efforts. I cannot read your mind, Beowulf, because it is wired like that of a satori...more specifically, it is wired like mine!"
Hesitating, Beowulf rolled that thought over in his mind for a bit.
"What...exactly does that mean?"
Satori stared at him for a moment, before dropping back into her seat with a sigh.
"Normally, one satori can still read another satori's mind. We can read the minds of all creatures, including those of our own species, something I should have considered before I set about trying to knit your psyche back together."
Pouring another glass of tea, she avoided his gaze as she continued talking.
"I will admit, I am skilled in what I do...but never before have I ever had to do what I did to restore your sanity. For a human, things would likely have been simple enough, as the human mind is extraordinarily flexible, capable of 'inventing' it's own material to replace gaps in memories, and healing on it's own..."
"But I am not human." Beowulf replied slowly, his thoughts racing. "Not completely."
"...correct." Satori replied shakily. " And that's where the problem begins. While you have parts of a human mind, you are also something...alien. And it seems that while I was trying to piece you back together, the Einst part of you was trying to regenerate itself faster than the human part of you. And because I was within your mind for so long...it seems that my own mind left an 'imprint' of sorts on it. It became confused, during the repair process, finding two very different 'selves' present, and so, after identifying you as it's real 'self', it simply tried to assimilate mine."
She broke the silence with a harsh laugh.
"As you can see, it did not succeed, or I would not be standing here now...but it took enough of a bite out of me that it incorporated part of my 'mental wiring' for lack of a better word."
Looking down into her teacup, at the reflection in it, she grimace.
"You're no satori. Not even close. But because your mind is partly based off of my own psyche now...trying to read you is like staring into a mirror. A sheet of silver metal, and all I can see in it is my own reflection. It's as though I'm trying to read my own mind, for lack of a better word...and that's something not even a satori's third eye can do." She took a deep breath. "On a certain level, that scares me."
"I...I see." Beowulf replied awkwardly. "I'm...sorry I've caused you such trouble."
"Don't be." Satori clasped her hands on the table, looking down on them. "It's not that I am afraid of you because I cannot read your mind, rather...I am afraid of myself."
"I...don't think I follow."
She gave him a small smile.
"For my entire life, I have lived being hated and reviled for my ability to read even the deepest, darkest parts of a person's mind. It doesn't matter who they are, or what they are, I can see their every thought, their every opinion, their every memory. Even the great Border Youkai herself is but an open book before my third eye. It drove my sister mad, to the point where she closed her own off instead. I have lived my life seeing through the eyes of other people, and now for the first time, I am faced with a person I cannot read, a person who literally shows me as I am with every glance. No masks, no reservations, none of the facade I have to maintain in public, or even among friends, as the administrator of Old Hell...and Ryuujin help me if it doesn't feel liberating."
"...liberating?" Beowulf raised an eyebrow. He was no expert in these things, but even to him, that did not sound like the appropriate reaction.
"Strange, isn't it?" She barked a laugh, that peculiar mix of shame and hope written across her features again. "For the first time in my life, I no longer have to CARE what someone thinks of me! I can do whatever the hell I want, and you can think whatever you want about me for it, but I won't hear it! And more than that, regardless of how I act, or how cold I present myself, you instinctively know the real 'me', and you don't act any differently."
The gears clicked behind Beowulf's eyes.
"...ah." He said. "I think I understand now."
He tilted his head.
"Is this why you have been in the habit of dressing so much more..." He struggled for words, before gesturing vaguely at her robed body. "...informally?"
"...It's how I normally act when I have the mansion to myself, yes." She sniffed, taking a dainty sip of her tea. "I simply forget your presence from time to time because I can't sense you."
"Ah that would explain the times I ran into you with just a towel on." He nodded sagely. "You were on your way to the baths."
"Er...yes, of course." Satori averted her gaze.
A silence fell over the room, the mistress of Old Hell suddenly very interested in the contents of her teacup, Beowulf folding his arms with a faintly satisfied air, proud of himself for putting to rest a persistent conundrum.
Then, he blinked.
An odd look crossing his face, he turned to look back at the door behind him, mentally placing the location of his own room all the way on the complete opposite side of the mansion, and then back to a suddenly nervous Satori, and the room he was in now.
"...doesn't that door there lead down to the baths?"
The lavender haired satori turned to look at the door in the corner of her chambers, which did indeed lead down to the baths...and was a far more convenient choice of path than the one two floors down and across in the entirely opposite wing of the Palace, which also happened to be next door to Beowulf's assigned room.
"..."
"..."
"...Closed for repairs." Satori said with as much dignity as she could muster, and turned her back to him, ending the conversation.
"So, you finish up your business with old Three Eyes?"
Looking up as he descended the steps of the Palace, Beowulf nodded distractedly as Yuugi pushed herself off the column she'd been leaning on, walking over to join him.
"Yes, I think so..." He mumbled. "She simply wanted to find out what I knew about that report."
"Gah, I told her it was a waste of time trying to track down a leak where that damn crow's involved." Yuugi sighed. "It doesn't matter what avenues you close off, she'll just find two more...did you ask about heading upstairs?"
"Hm?" Beowulf started. "Oh...er...no, I'm afraid it slipped my mind...Why are we going up to the surface again?"
"Eh, because we can, mostly...and also because I think you need to maybe get out and see the sunshine every now and then. You've been locked up in rock for what, a couple bajillion years, that shit can't be healthy."
"Er, you know I don't remember that, right...?"
"It's the thought that counts." Yuugi grinned, and slapped him on the back.
They walked in companionable silence for a short while longer before the oni spoke again, a curious tone in her voice.
"I gotta ask, though...considering this was your idea to begin with, what happened up there to make you forget to mention it?"
"I'm...not sure, to be honest." The ex-Einst's brow wrinkled for a moment as the meaning of Yuugi's words hit him. "Wait, my idea?"
Giving an exasperated sigh, Yuugi stared at him.
"Yes, your idea! You said you weren't satisfied with the way you were fighting now, especially after that huge brawl a week ago. I said I knew somebody who might be able to help, but that they were on the surface. And then you said-"
"That I'd ask Lady Satori about it, yes, I remember now." Beowulf interrupted, nodding. "...very well, let's head out."
"Oho?" The Rumored Unnatural Phenomenon raised an eyebrow as the blue metal of Beowulf's armored mode emerged around him. "What happened to 'asking Lady Satori'?"
"...we are currently pursuing the source of the crow tengu's report, are we not?" The mask slid open after a few moments, the flat metal face choosing it's words carefully. "Doesn't that imply that we should go to the surface to get that information from her directly?"
Yuugi stared at him, dumbfounded.
"...er...did I say something wrong...?" The bronze eyes flicked from side to side nervously.
And then the gold-haired oni threw back her head in delighted laughter.
"Ha haaaa! Oh, I like that one!" Giving him a playful punch in the shoulder that almost knocked the blue Alt Eisen Riese clear off his feet, she dusted herself off and rose into the air, still chuckling.
"Yeah, we'll definitely make an oni out of you yet! C'mon, let's get going then."
"Quite." The ex Einst replied dryly, verniers whining to life. "Though if you don't mind, I shall stick to the ground for now."
A flash of white, a surge of power, and he was gone, a blue and white figure charging across the rooftops of Old Hell. Shaking her head at his continued refusal to fly, she darted after him, heading for the exit.
"So," He shouted back, when he was convinced she had caught up to him. "Where exactly are we going?"
"Well, you remember how you said you weren't satisfied with your combat capabilities, right?" Yuugi yelled back. "I think I know why!"
Vaulting across an alleyway, Beowulf landed with a crunch, boosters flaring as he barreled across another rooftop.
"And that would be...?"
"'Simple'!" Yuugi replied. "Down here, that word pretty much sums up oni fighting in a nutshell! You just keep on swinging until somebody goes down!"
"I see what you mean...!" Grunting as he dodged around another tower, he looked back at her. "Yes, when you put it that way, there hasn't been very much thought involved in most of my fights in the last week. I will admit, however, that despite that, you oni seem to possess a natural instinct for brawling that can be...difficult, to counter."
"Don't I know it!" Yuugi laughed. "But let's be real here, unless it's another Deva like me or Suika, you can outclass most of the tough guys down here punch for punch. Or at the very least, you're good enough at it that you don't really need to worry about THAT particular area of expertise. It's kind of like how because I have you inside me, I don't need to worry about any of the complicated details of how my mastery over Phenomena works. It just does!"
"Ah, and because I have you inside of me, I have a natural affinity for brute force fighting?"
There was a long pause as Yuugi's brain caught up with the wording of his and her statements.
"...yeah, sure, let's go with that." She looked away awkwardly. "...anyway, yeah...so I figure if your problem is too much of the same thing, day in, day out, then I might as well throw you at something completely different."
"...oh?"
"You're too used to fighting people with raw strength, right?" Yuugi grinned. "So I'm going to take you to pick a fight with someone who relies purely on SKILL."
Beowulf blinked.
"...an oni that uses skill instead of strength? You know of such a person?"
The Rumored Unnatural Phenomenon chuckled.
"Ohhh, she ain't an oni...but she can definitely wreck one if they're not careful." She grinned, a nostalgic look crossing her face. "Heh, she was the first person before you to really give me a proper fistfight! She's no oni, but when it comes to raw fighting skill, and pure technique, she can keep up with ME in terms of physical combat."
The ex-Einst raised an eyebrow, leaping down two stories to the next building.
"You've faced her before?"
"Yeah, she and I used to go a few rounds every now and then, back before the boundary was put in place. She can't hit as hard as me, of course, but hot damn did she make up for it." She glanced across at Beowulf. "She actually managed to get behind me a few times."
"...interesting." Beowulf's eyes narrowed, contemplating that new tidbit. To be able to outmaneuver an oni, much less one with mastery of impossible phenomenon to that extent...
"And you believe that by encountering such a person, I may be able to 'improve'?"
"Yeah...plus, let's face it, you kinda need to get out more." Yuugi shrugged. "Down here's good and all, but the surface is where humans really belong...even half-alien oni ones like you."
Catching her grin, Beowulf felt his metal lips twitch in a faint smirk of his own.
"...when you put it that way, I suppose it couldn't hurt."
"Besides, that other Outsider the newspaper mentioned works at the same place she does, so you can probably introduce yourself and see what they're like."
"They do? Really?" The Alt Eisen Riese looked back, surprised. "That IS convenient...I've been looking forward to a chance to meet this other Outsider you all keep mentioning, especially since he seems to be a machine like myself."
"I...wouldn't quite say he's LIKE you..." Yuugi replied carefully, "But yeah, I think he'd be interested to meet you too..."
As the edge of the city began to draw nearer, Beowulf gunned his engines, and leapt from the last rooftop, boosters howling as he sailed through the open air.
"So, who is this mystery woman you wish to introduce me to, then?"
The sound of faint snoring near the newly rebuilt gate to the Scarlet Devil mansion was abruptly cut off by a sneeze.
Blinking blearily in the bright light of the sun overhead, Hong Meiling shielded her eyes, looking up at the bright blue sky overhead.
"Hmm...must have dozed off again." She yawned. "Warm days like this really do a number on me...but then again, staying awake on cold days is just downright miserable."
Looking around, a troubled look crossed her face as she tried to track down the source of the disquieting feeling that had awoken her.
"Did Sakuya catch me again...? No, I'd've known about it by now." She frowned. "Still, she was pretty mad the last time...better be more careful."
Working the kinks out of her shoulders, the gate guard exhaled, readying herself for another morning of defending the sanctity of the mansion gates.
Five minutes after that, the faint sound of snores could be heard once more, drifting in the warm morning air.
A/N: I know, I know, 'WHY U LEAVE OUT NINEBALL AND CIRNO AGAIN' etc etc etc.
No worries, this is part of the lead in to the combined arc. One for Nineball, one for Beowulf, and from next chapter onwards, it's going to finally be both the characters of the Nineball route, and the Beowulf route are going to be together at last on the same field.
And as the title of this chapter, and the ending scenes should hint, that's going to be an extremely...interesting meeting.
Also, you probably should have figured it out by now, but yeah, Hong Meiling is one of my favorites, and does not get nearly enough love in the fandom. So if you thought her judo-throwing an entire Armored Core into a lake was the height of her capability, get ready, because there's more where that came from.
And yes, she and Yuugi have a bromance. Because really, Suika aside, there's very few other really 'fighter' type Touhou girls who could believably cross paths with Yuugi, or be willing to spar with her on a regular basis.
Then again, as we've established, my knowledge of the details of Touhou canon are sketchy at best, so I'm just winging it. Hopefully it doesn't annoy too many people in the process, but what the hell.
On that note, I have no idea where any of that Satori and Beowulf scene came from. Interpret it as you will.
Going on vacation for two weeks in the next few days, but as we're starting to get to the good parts again, expect my writing speed to pick up (hopefully).
See you soon!