"Mob…." That was all that Reigen could say. She was still alive. She was there. She was floating right in front of him. She was floating in front of him in a…was that a wedding dress? A wedding dress that was far too big, if the fact that it was hanging off of her so badly that he could see most of her undershirt, but it wasn't the fact that it was too big that drew his eyes to it…or the fact that Mob had, at some point, found a wedding dress just lying around. No. She was…she was covered in blood.
A lot of blood.
"Shigeko!" said Teru. He pushed to the front of the group and practically threw himself into her arms. She staggered back before she held onto him. He didn't care that she was covered in dirt and blood, that her aura burned when he touched her, that the world was ending around them. None of that mattered. She was…she was there and she was alive and that was what mattered.
"You're alive…." Said Mob/Shigeko. Their eyes did not leave Master Reigen even as Teru threw himself into her and held her tight. She, they, neither Mob nor Shigeko could take their eyes off of Master Reigen. Not while he was there. He was there and alive and they didn't know how this could be, they had seen him get incinerated, but they weren't complaining. He was there, he was not a spirit, and that was what mattered.
"Of course I'm alive, give me more credit than that." Said Teru softly. He had her and he was never going to let her go. Ever. She was there and she was his and he…he had let her go and…and all of THIS had happened. He should have been there for her. He should have been there with her. He should have fought alongside her instead of running away with all of the other. He should have-
He was pushed out of the way.
"Sister! Oh my God…you're alright!" said Ritsu. It had taken him a moment to realize that he was seeing his sister, there, alive. Alive and ok. Her aura…it hurt to be near her aura but that was fine. She was covered in blood but that was fine. She was there. He had left her alone to fight that guy but she…she was ok. He had thought….never mind what he had thought. She was ok and that was what mattered.
"All of you…you're alive." Said Mob/Shigeko again. They were alive and ok-ish. They looked tired, they were bruised and a little bloody, but everyone's soul was inside of their vessel where it belonged. Everyone was ok. Everyone was going to be ok. She was not going to let any harm come to them. Mob wasn't. Shigeko wasn't. They…everyone was alive!
Master Reigen was alive.
This was the happiest day of Mob and Shigeko's lives.
She felt something shift around her. Shigeko felt it. She felt it in her part of their aura. There. The man. The man that she had to die…or not. No. Mob…Mob had a point. Master Reigen wasn't dead so that meant that he wasn't dead…which meant that the man who they thought had killed Master Reigen had no reason to die.
Aside from everything that he had done.
But killing people was not something to take lightly. It was one thing to kill someone who had killed the person who mattered most to you in the entire world but it was another to kill someone who had only…well he had ruined a lot of people lives. The city was in ruins. People lived and worked there. This man had tried to take over the world…but that didn't mean…Shigeko didn't think that this man had to live. Mob decided that they wouldn't kill him. Mob…Mob was wrestling for control. Mob was…Shigeko did not want control over the vessel again. Complete control. They needed to be this thing together or they would fail.
So she let Mob have this concession.
A barrier went up. A thick one. A hard one. One that looked like it was made of pink and blue crystal. They didn't move when they put it up. They didn't want to. They didn't need to. They couldn't take their eyes off Master Reigen. They knew that if they took their eyes off of him he might…he might have been…they could not lose him. They could not lose him again.
They strengthened their barrier.
"Mob! Run!" said Reigen. Those were the words that he had found. Only two of them. She was alive and he...he had never been so happy to see her in his life. For a moment he thought that everything was going to be ok…and wasn't that the most ridiculous thing. He was almost thirty years old and he was putting all of his hopes on a teenage girl. That teenage girl. The one in front of him dressed like some kind of killer bride/magical girl. It didn't matter, for a moment, that she was so much younger than he was or that she was covered in blood. She was…she was so much stronger then him. Than them. Than everyone there.
Barring that.
Red. The world around them was red. Red and yellow. Not his yellow, no, a different one. The red was held back by a wall of pink and blue. She was…she wasn't even moving. No, she was just standing there, letting herself be hugged and holding his gaze in hers.
"No." said Mob. She held her barrier up. She had to hold her barrier up. Ritsu let go of her and took a step back. Teru took a step forward. Mob shook her head.
"No. You guys need to run away. All of you. You're alive…and I want all of you to keep being alive. You need to run away." Said Mob. Shigeko said nothing, she focused on keeping their barrier up. She focused on keeping him, that man, away from her friends. From her brother. From some people that she barely knew but had fought to keep the people she loved safe….she had to be the one to keep everyone safe…
"Shigeko…you don't have to do this alone! I can help you! I can-" said Teru
"No. Help them. Teru-" said Mob
"No! I lost you once, I'm not going to lose you again!" said Teru. He grabbed her hands. Her aura hurt. She was pink. She was pink and he was gold and their colors were complimentary and they were complimentary and that…that was what mattered. She was his and he was hers and he was not going to let her die-
"And I'm not going to lose you, either. Teru…this is something that I have to do myself so…just…please make sure that everyone's ok. Teru…I love you." Said Mob/Shigeko. Teru didn't say anything, no, he just kissed them….and they kissed him back. Not for the last time, no, they would be back. They were going to do this for him, for all of them, and they knew that they could win. They had to win. Everyone there, right there, was depending on her and she was going to win!
She pushed back with her barrier.
Then she launched herself into the fray. She launched herself into the sea of red. Not red LCL, no, even though this feels just as bad. Not gross, no, just…it hurt. It hurt her skin and it hurt her soul. Her vessel. Her aura. All of it. It was like getting the worse sunburn anyone had ever had.
But she worked through it.
She worked through the red until she found him, the man, the man that had caused all of this. She found him and she pushed into him. Her hands met his chest and she shoved him backwards as hard as she could. She had to put as much distance between him and her friends as she could. As much space between him and Ritsu as she could.
Shigeko was the one who remembered.
She remembered that danger that Ritsu had been in all those years ago. She remembered how close she had come, all those years ago, to losing him. Those bigger boys, they had been so big and Ritsu had been so small, were going to hurt Ritsu and he could have…she could have lost him. Mob had been so scared, so very scared, and that had been enough to create her. The other Shigeko.
She remembered the fear, the anger, the dep dark cold feeling that grasped at them and broke their vessel apart…and she knew that it was happening again. They could all get hurt. They could all…Master Reigen had almost died. That could have so easily been Ritsu. Mob and Shigeko…they had been such a terrible big sister to him, lately, but this was…this was not going to be the end of him.
Of anyone.
"I won't let you hurt my brother and I won't let you hurt my friends!" shouted Mob/Shigeko as they pushed the man away, far away, from them. From all of them. Her brother. Her Master. Her boyfriend. Her friends. Her allies. This was her fight and she was going to win. She was going to win this for them.
"Just give up already." Said Suzuki. He brought both fists down on her back. Her grip on him broke, thankfully, and she went tumbling to the ground. That would have been the end of it, it should have been the end of it, if not for the tug at his leg.
Oh.
That yo-yo.
There was a yo-yo string tied around his leg. She was taking him down with her. She had taken a page out of Sakurai's book, it seemed, and he had to admire her ingenuity. That had been a yo-yo that had struck him on the side of the head. She adapted quickly, it seemed, and he could allow himself to be impressed with her. Later. Right now all he wanted to do was break this little pest apart. Take her and smash her and end her.
No, not end her.
Because she was too valuable to end. She was such a rare thing. An annoying thing, a pest of a thing, but a valuable thing. Even now he could not break through the string that tied them together. He tried and he couldn't and he knew that he needed to stay calm, stay level, but he just couldn't. Not when she was right there. Not when she just would not give up. She was beaten. She should have known that she was beaten…but still she fought.
"Stop this." said Suzuki as he grabbed the string and pulled. He pulled hard, hard enough to her entire arm jerked forward. He cancelled out the momentum and they stood, still, together in the sky. Him tied to her. The string of fate that bound them was not red, no, it was pink. It was pink and blue and it hurt.
He concentrated.
He could not disintegrate the string like he wanted to but he could untie the knot that bound them together. She called that ridiculous toy back to her and put up her barrier. Not as strong as the one she had put up before, no, but she had awakened before. It seemed like that was her only trick, really, when it got down to it. Awakening. Power without finesse. Without control. Such a waste.
"No, you stop it. I wanted to, we wanted to kill you, but now we don't so we don't need to fight anymore. We can…we can make this better. You did a lot of bad things but that doesn't mean that you're a bad person….there has to be something inside of you that is good. There has to be something inside of you that…that is sad about all of this. The lives you've disrupted and ruined. The people that you've hurt. Your friends, strangers, even your own son…you've got to feel bad about that…at least a little. So please, stop it and say sorry and then we…we can go back and start again." said Mob. She didn't want to fight anymore. It felt like she had been fighting for years and years. She wanted this to be over. If this were an anime or a manga then she would either have beaten him by now or he would have said sorry and started a redemption arc. Or maybe she was the one who was on her redemption arc. For what she had done to the world, the false world Mogami had created. She had been so terrible and-
And she needed to stop thinking about that.
She was saving the world. She was fighting this man, hurting this man, and that was redemption enough. She was giving up everything she stood for, everything that made her who she was, by fighting this man. She didn't want to fight, she didn't want to use her powers against another person, but here she was. She…she felt like she hated this man. But no, the only person…if he could even be called that…that she hated was Mogami. She had every right to hate this man before, when she thought that he had killed Master Reigen, but he hadn't killed Master Reigen so maybe they could just end this in a draw and be friends…even though she would rather be friends with that terrible Asagiri than this guy…
"I don't. I don't feel an ounce of remorse for a single thing that I've done to get here. It has been twenty years, you know, and in those twenty years I have not felt even a shred of remorse…nor will I ever. You've been watching far too much television if you think that you can sway me with some pretty words. You're the one who started this. You don't get to just…just decide that this is over! You're the one who awakened these destructive feelings and now you've got to deal with them! You can't just crawl into your shell and decide that it's over! I will decide when it's over!" said Suzuki. Yellow overtook red in his aura. He lashed out. He slashed across her barrier until it shattered. She just hovered there, limply, with her eyes closed.
Her lips were moving.
No! If she thought that she was going to awaken again then she had another thing coming!
"Open your eyes and face me!" shouted Suzuki. He used his powers to pull her forward and he grabbed her by the front of that bloody dress she was wearing. A child. She was a child. A child….a child thought that she could challenge him. A child…a little girl…a little girl in her school uniform…no, that had been obliterated long ago…a little girl playing dress up thought that she could challenge him…defeat him!?
"No. We're done. We don't want to fight anymore. We're tired. We don't want to hurt you, to kill you, but we will if we have to. We have to do this. We have to win…or at least make sure that you lose." Said Mob/Shigeko. They had been fighting, again. They had to do this for them, the people down there, because otherwise they would all die. Even though they were tired. Even though they were so done with this. They needed to end this sooner rather than later.
They knew what they had to do.
"Is awakening the only trick you two know!" shouted Suzuki as he shook the girl's limp body. They were…they were truly a they. So unstable that girl was. She was trying to make him as she was, as they were. Unstable. He could not let that happen.
"We've got plenty of tricks…ever seen 'around the world'?" asked Shigeko, not Mob, as she put every ounce of strength into the yo-yo on their finger. It moved fast, too fats to see or to sense, and it smacked him right into the side of the head. He let them go.
They put as much distance between themselves and him as they could.
They cried.
Mob cried. She cried because she didn't want this, she didn't want any of this. She just wanted to be back with Master Reigen, that was all. She wanted to be back home with him in that brief and wonderful time before she even knew what Claw was. Back when they had made curry together and watched TV and camped out in the living room and Ritsu hadn't been kidnapped and Claw hadn't started all of this…way back then…that was what she wanted to do.
She wanted to go back.
But to go back they needed to start anew.
"You little brat!" said Suzuki as he regained his balance. That little…how dare she! A toy! He was going to snatch that toy away and destroy it right in front of her! That stupid little girl and that stupid and that stupid-
An unearthly grumbling could be heard.
The sky filled with dust. He coughed. There was so little light up there…and now it was all obscured. The moon and the stars above were all covered by a cloud of dust. The rumbling could still be heard. Rumbling and shattering and groaning, twisting...the twisting of steel….he needed to get away…
But there was nowhere to get away to.
He was trapped. Pinned down. A wall to the left of him…a wall to the right. He smashed through that wall only to find another. Steel cut into his skin as he threw himself through the walls that crashed together around him. As soon as he got free there was another…and another…and another…and he couldn't even see! There was so much dust and it was so dark…he tried seeing with his mind's eye. He saw…he saw only a sea of pink and blue around him. Her aura. She was…she was trying to pin him down! How dare she!? How dare she think that she could-
He couldn't keep it together.
Keeping it together was harder and harder the more he flew. He couldn't tell up from down, left from right, anything at all. He didn't know if he was getting farther in to the labrinth or making his way out…and it wasn't fair! It wasn't fair at all that he had managed to get trapped like this…and by a little girl! A little girl…a girl not much older than his own useless failure of a son…and if this had been his son at least he could have felt some pride in the boy…but no! This was his son's ally! This was…this girl had the nerve to-
She would pay.
Mob knew that the man, Suzuki, had to pay for all that he had done….that didn't make this easy, though.
"I'm sorry….I know that you can't hear me but I am so sorry…." Said Mob. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She was trying to squish him like a bug. She had pulled up whatever she could from the ground and smashed it all together until she could barely make out his aura. He had given her…her and Shigeko…no choice.
This was not victory.
But they didn't have to win, they just had to make sure that he lost.
"The President…lost. I can't see his aura anymore…" said Serizawa. He knew that he wasn't supposed to look up. The man, Reigen, the one that Miss Kageyama held in such high regard ordered them not to…but he couldn't help it. The President's aura had gone out. One minute they had been back to running and then the little girl, Miss Kurosaki Sho's friend had said her name was, told them all to get under their barriers and be very still. So they had.
And then the world shook.
It had been like an earthquake but worse. Much worse. In an earthquake at least you knew that it would be over soon…and you knew what the worst that could happen was. The worst thing that could happen in an earthquake was buildings falling down. Now they were falling….up.
"D-does that mean we won?" asked Ritsu. He could barely see what was happening up there. All he knew was that the entirety of downtown was now in the sky and his sister was responsible for it. To think that he used to want that power….he used to dream of the day that he could match her…eclipse her…that lady with the scar was right…
"This is beyond human comprehension…" said Tsuchiya as she held Mukai close. She had been ready to smash apart any debris that fell…but nothing fell. Well it fell but it fell…upwards. It was dragged upwards. Only the buildings, cars, and debris. Not them. They were rooted firmly to the ground…that girl had…she could do….she was doing this….
"I hope that none of those buildings were important." Said Mukai as she watched the world fall upwards. This was pretty cool, she had to admit it, and maybe she was sort of jealous. It wasn't fair that the big girl could do all of that! Mukai wanted to be able to do that…or at least be friends with the big girl if she made it through all of this. This had been, aside from the part with the sewers, a pretty cool day. Yeah, President Magical Girl was definitely going to be much more fun to work for than President Suzuki.
"So this is what it looks like when two God's fight." Said Minegishi as he took in what little of the scene that he could see before him. He was hiding, cowering, with some kids under a canopy of reinforced plants. He had no idea how well these would hold but he was not starting off that kid's regime on a bad foot by letting her friends die. Suzuki had lost, it was obvious, and now instead of world domination they were going to…what, exactly? He didn't know and he didn't care so long as he didn't piss that girl….that living God…off.
"Somebody finally beat him…" whispered Hatori as he hid beside Minegishi. The President, the man who had seemed so unbeatable before, had lost. He had lost to…to a kid. A kid had done all of this…he looked around as best as he could. Flat. Everything was flat. He was sure that, under the light of day, the city would look like Hiroshima and Nagasaki did after the atomic bombs. Flat. Desolate. All thanks to a little girl….
"Yes! Go Mob! See, I knew that we had this! And you guys doubted me." Said Go. This was….he'd piss himself in fear later. Right now all that mattered was that they were alive! Yeah! Magical Girls were awesome! He knew that they had this. They had both Ritsu's big sister and the power of friendship on their side. There was no way that they could have even had a chance of losing! Everyone…why weren't they cheering? And why was Takeshi holding his hand? And shaking?
"I….I don't know. I don't know." Said Takeshi. That was all the Japanese that he could remember. He didn't know. He didn't know what was happening or what was going to happen or if he was going to be ok or if they were going to be ok or…anything. He didn't know anything. All he knew was that people were not meant to be able to do things like that. The first time he had ever bent a spoon…it had taken over an hour to bend it all the way but he had been so proud of himself…and there was Teru's girlfriend lifting an entire city up into the air like it was nothing…..
"Shigeko….you're already….that's more power than you used when you defeated me…." Said Teru. That was all he could think about as he held up his barrier as best as he could. All could remember was the way she had disappeared into a sea of white until her form, her vessel, was just a scribble. Something that couldn't even maintain itself…and then he had been floating naked in the stratosphere…and it had all happened so fast….
And he thought that had been the extent of her power.
But there she was. Up there. The city was floating in the sky, now, and judging from how much of her aura he was seeing it was all her doing. She was…she was amazing. He wasn't afraid of her, no, and he wasn't afraid that she would ever hurt him. No. He was actually afraid for the other guy. Afraid for what he had made Shigeko do. She would…she had been torn up about stuff that she had done in some made up pocket dimension….what would she be like after this?
He didn't care. No matter what happened after this he would be right there for her. He loved her.
"Mob...run away. I know that you can't hear me but you need to run away. You are not responsible for any of this." said Reigen. Mob was not going to be ok after this. She had been a wreck, an absolute wreck, after what happened with Mogami. She said that she had killed the Asagiri kid and destroyed he entire world. Reigen hadn't fully believed her, believed her to be capable of any of those things, but he had just seen a man's aura go out…as he was crushed by what looked like the whole of downtown. The light was poor and clouds of dust lingered but he knew what he was looking at. They had all been huddled together in the middle of what used to be a road, once, when the buildings around them shook and rose into the air. Now there was nothing but flatness as far as the eye could see…even the trees were gone…
Someone was shaking in his arms.
Mob's friend. Rei. He couldn't put up a shield but he could hold her close. He was….he was everything and nothing at the same time. Or maybe that was just how she felt. She had been barely keeping it together…and he needed her to. She was only thirteen, younger than Mob even, but all of their hopes rested on her and her ability to see the future. To lead them out of this mess. He was shielding her, holding her close, and keeping her safe even though she had been and still was asking for Ritsu. Ritsu was in the back helping keep the shields even…and also this was a lot for a thirteen year old to deal with. One freaked out kid…well all the kids were freaked out….but Reigen was mostly only dealing with this one. If Ritsu freaked out, too, then there was no keeping her together.
Just like there was no keeping Mob together.
She had not lost control, no, this was control. This was her power. This was what she was without her self-imposed limits. Someone back there called her a God. Dimple was trying to start a cult because some idiots thought that she was a God. Maybe she was a God. Maybe she was the avatar of a God or something….something…because that lady was right. What he was seeing was beyond human comprehension.
He had told Mob, years ago, that she was human like everyone else.
He had been wrong.
"You-you're all wrong. My da-dad's aura didn't…it didn't disappear…it just changed…" said Sho. He coughed as he tried to speak, to tell them what they were seeing. To tell them that they needed to get the hell out of there as fast as they could. Sho had seen this once before…when mom left….
There wasn't a house left for her to come back to.
"Sho! You're hurt! Please, don't try to talk." Said Serizawa. He wished that there was more that he could do. He wished that he could sense and heal injuries like Fukuda. He wished that he could at least pour enough of his own energy into Sho to jumpstart his body's natural healing processes like Miss Kageyama could….but he couldn't. All he could do was hold his friend and hope he didn't die of his injuries…injuries that Serizawa knew that he could have prevented if he hadn't been such a coward…
"My d-dad said tha-that he go-got into the hab-habit of only awakening under extreme stress…" said Sho. He could see it, there, yellow. Not the custard sort of yellow that Reigen had or the golden yellow that Teru had. This was different. This was something else entirely. This was dad. This was dad and he was pissed.
"We need to run! Now!" screamed Rei and she tore free from Reigen's grasp. She felt a hand in hers, a big one, and knew that it was Reigen. She knew that she should have waited, then, for the rest of them to link up but there just wasn't time!
The sky turned yellow.
Mob didn't know what happened. One minute she had been watching the red of his aura disappear and the next the sky was yellow.
And it hurt.
And she could feel her skin burning, she could feel bits of the buildings hitting her, cutting her, the force of it all making it difficult to stay in place…even her barrier fell in the face of that overwhelming onslaught.
And then she was grabbed by the leg.
And spun.
And let go. She went sailing to the ground. She broke through falling debris, through the ground itself, and into a crater. A Mob shaped crater. Kind of like when she and Ritsu had been little and made all of those snow angels. She…she was fine. She willed her body to heal. She tried to, anyway. She had already been so smashed up….and now…at least her dress was still together. At least she wasn't naked. Shigeko didn't care if they were naked but Mob did. At least they both cared if their vessel was back together. At least they both could agree on that.
A barrage of power and little hard things, rocks and bits of metal and cement, rained down on their body. They put up a barrier and held it as best as they could. They were not going to die there. They could not die, not when everyone they cared about needed them. They were going to win….they didn't have to win. They just had to make sure that he lost.
The barrage stopped.
And it was replaced by a crushed pressure. They were…the two of them knew this feeling. They knew what this was…what this had been…what it had been the last time they had been so pinned down and powerless…what had happened….
Her hands shook.
Her fingers shook.
She was small.
Her powers didn't work.
The world was white.
She was naked like a doll.
Shigeko reached out. She reached out through their mindscape and took Mob's hand. Not in the physical world but in the world of their mind, their spirit. Shigeko was there, now, and this was different. Shigeko was there and they were not helpless. Shigeko would not be beaten, not be locked away, not this time.
There wasn't enough air.
He was so heavy.
There wasn't enough air.
He was so strong.
There wasn't enough air.
She was helpless.
There wasn't enough air.
But there was. Mob could breathe. The pressure…oh God the pressure…but she should still breathe. She was their vessel. She was in control now and she could breathe. She forced their chest upwards and downwards. In and out. Inhale and exhale. Over and over again. They could breathe. There was air and they could breathe.
She was dying.
She couldn't breathe.
She was dying.
She couldn't breathe.
She was helpless.
She was dying.
She couldn't breathe.
She was pinned down.
She was helpless.
She was dying.
She couldn't breathe
She was pinned down.
She was helpless.
He broke her apart.
She was dying.
But she wasn't. This was…this was not Mogami. This was not then. She could feel Shigeko, feel Shigeko's hand in hers. She could feel the air filling their lungs. She could feel her own power, her own aura, and she could see it too. She was not helpless. She had not been broken apart. She was…they were….they were this thing together.
And they would not lose!
"You can't pin me down!" said Mob as she broke free from the force pinning her to the ground and launched herself high into the air. She looked down as she flew and saw what looking like a giant handprint. She was in that…he had tried to pin her down. No. That was never going to happen to her again. She was not Mogami's prisoner anymore. She was nobody's prisoner. She was not going to lose like she had before.
She didn't have to win, she just had to make sure that she didn't lose.
She stopped short of him. He was there. His eyes were yellow and his aura was yellow and it was just…too much yellow. Yellow reminded her of the people she loved most in this world…and he was not one of them. Shigeko wanted to tear him apart and Mob….she had given him so many chances. Chances on top of chanced on top of chances. She had asked him so many times to show him something inside of himself that was good. He couldn't. He either wouldn't or couldn't, Mob would have believed either. This was…they were both going to end this.
"How dare you! How dare you think that you can just awaken these destructive impulses within me! You're so unstable…and you tried to destabilize me too! You little-" said Suzuki. He would have said more, he had little control over his mouth at this point, when he felt the bones of his vessel begin to bend and twist and snap. She was pinning him down…she was pinning him down and breaking him apart…
She wasn't going to like what was inside.
"I tried, I really did…and now it's over. I don't care if I win or not, I just have to make sure that you lose. I know that you don't believe me and don't care at all either way but I really am sorry. I never wanted it to come to this. I'm not going to kill you, just break you apart…and I am so sorry. So very sorry." Said Mob. Shigeko was not sorry but Mob was. Mob was going to break his vessel enough to stop him but not enough to kill him. Enough to hurt him. Shigeko had wanted to peel him like a grape…but that would have been wrong. This already felt so very wrong…she didn't want to make it worse. This was…this was already so much…
She was done.
She just wanted to be done.
But she wasn't.
"Rei, listen, we're not done yet…ok? So please, please, please tell us which way to go." Said Reigen. He was making it a point not to look up at whatever shonen action sequence was happening up in the sky. No. His eyes were on the little girl in front of him. He was down on her level, he had his hand on her shoulders, and he was making every ounce of eye contact that he could.
"I don't know! It's…all happening and…and I want Ritsu! I want to be with Ritsu! I don't want to be alone! I don't want this! I don't want any of this! I just want Ritsu! And my mom! And my dad! And even my sisters! I want to be at home! I don't want to be here! I WANT TO GO HOME!" shouted Rei. She wasn't even thinking, she was just saying the things that popped into her mind. She knew what was happening, now, she had dreamt it so many times…and now it was happening….and now she knew that she was going to die. She was going to die and…and she just needed to be with the people she loved. Her family and her boyfriend. That was what she needed. She knew that there was no escaping what was coming….and she just wished that the others realized it too…
"Rei, listen to me. You're going to see you family again. Your mom and your dad and all of your older sisters. Ritsu, too. He's right back there and I'm sure that when this is over he's going to hold you and squeeze you and never let you go. If he's anything like Mob, anyway. You and Ritsu are going to have a long and happy life together. You're going to do all the things you've ever wanted to do. Um…travel, university, get married, have some kids…and you'd better invite me to the baby shower and the wedding and whatever else! And when I get there I am going to stuff my pocket with food and write my name on someone else's gift and drink all of your top shelf sake or whatever you guys are going to have and then Ritsu will get the pleasure of kicking my ass and I'm sure that you'll see it coming but of course you won't stop it because I had it coming…but none of that is going to happen unless you start walking, Rei." Said Reigen. He needed to get her to start moving. He needed…Mob always did whatever he said…back when she was thirteen, anyway. Back when she was still a kid…more of a kid than she was now. Why weren't all kids that easy to motivate?!
They needed to move.
Because some serious shit was going down and they needed to get the fuck out of there but Reigen had no idea which path was the safest. The world was…he didn't even know. Shaking. Quaking. Falling. Floating. He didn't know. All he knew was that there was a small, shaking, hand holding on to the back of his suit and another hand holding onto that kid and so on and so forth. A never ending chain of people depending on him to lead them to freedom.
And he was, once again, depending on a little girl.
But this one was not listening to him!
"I…I think….I think….I don't know!" said Rei. She tried to see the future that Reigen described to her. The one she wanted so badly. Her and Ritsu going to high school together and then university and then traveling the world for a while before settling down and having kids and living right next to Mob and Teru and then all of them being best friends…she even added The Shiratori brothers and Takeshi and Go to her suburban dream neighborhood. Sho, too, because he was nice and funny and stuff. They would all be friends and all do adult stuff and have kids and cars and stuff and it would…it would all be wonderful…
But she couldn't see that future.
All she could see was the white thing. The explosion. The end of Akira. That movie had always scared her, since she had first caught it on the movie channel when she was four, but she had been able to take solace in the fact that it had just been a movie. But now it wasn't a movie. It was happening in real life. Espers were real and she was one of them and so was one of her best friends and now she was going to explode and everyone was going to get caught up in it and there was no escape and-
Two hands held her face.
"I think. I can. I think. I can. Come on, now you say it." Said Reigen slowly. He said it in English, like the original song lyrics, and then in Japanese. He had seen that show in it's original run and, apparently, it was still popular with Mob's generation. The song was iconic. I think. I can. A good message, and Reigen was not ashamed to borrow it. He was moments away from death, maybe, he did not have time to think up any of his patented Reigen Arataka originals.
"I…I think….I think. I can. I think. I can." Said Rei. She said it until the words came freely. English and Japanese. The English wasn't easy…she should have studied for her test…the test she had coming up…and she did have a test coming up. An English test. She got ok grades in English…and if she brought them up then mom said that she could have a better vanity table in her room…and that…she tried to look through the future…
No.
She made her own future.
The explosion was going to happen but she…at the end of Akira the guy with the metal arm and all of the old people looking kids went to a higher plane of existence or whatever. Rei didn't know if she was going to die or go to a higher plane of existence or just be fine but…but she had to try. She had to try because she had a test to study for…and pass…and not just for the new vanity table. She needed good grades so she could get into a good high school. The same one that Ritsu was going to. Then she could go to the same university as him. Then they could spend their lives together. She had to do this for him, for Ritsu.
I think.
I can.
"This way!" said Rei. This way was…she felt good about this way. She couldn't see the future beyond the explosion but she felt very good about walking this way. It was dark, it was cold, it was scary, and there was a good chance that they could all die….but she kept on walking. She had to. For her friends. For Ritsu. For everything that mattered to her in this world.
So she led them to safety.
Mob knew that they were not safe.
Shigeko didn't care. They were twisting the man up like a pretzel. They'd stop when he…not when he died but just when he was seriously injured. So seriously injured that there was no way at all for him to keep doing what it was that he was doing. Yes. Break his vessel. As good a plan as any. If they had done this ages ago…or even back when they were fighting Mogami when he had been in Asagiri's body…but that was neither here nor there.
They had to do this now.
"You…you call this victory?" asked Suzuki as he struggled to maintain his physical form. She was trying to break him apart. She was trying to release twenty years' worth of stored up energy at once. Such poor tactics. He would have been ashamed of her if he hadn't been in so much pain.
"No. I don't. I don't think that I won at all. Neither did you. I tried, Mob tried, to show you a better path. Mob tried to see something good inside of you. Mob tried…we both tried…to help you…but now we see that we've failed. We've lost. You've lost. We've both lost at this point." Said Shigeko, mostly. Mob was trying to reconcile this with herself, what they were doing. Shigeko was quite a bit more unscrupulous.
"You…you're right…we both lose!" said Suzuki as he vessel finally broke…and released twenty years of stored up energy. He had used up some in the battle but he had plenty left over. Even after awakening it was enough to take him apart…to set the sky on fire…
He felt like he was going to die.
I think….I think that we're going to die…
No! Stop it! We're not going to die! This is nothing! This is nothing compared to losing all that we have!
Shigeko was right. Mob knew that this…this was just energy…and that was what she was. She was energy and they were all energy and she was not going to break, no. She could…she could take this in to her vessel. She could and she would and she did. It may have been a lot, enough to hurt, enough to make white cracks form along her vessel….but it didn't matter. She could not lose all of them. Her friends. Her love. Her brother. Her Master. This pain, the pain of almost coming apart, was nothing compared to the pain of losing each and every one of them.
This was fine. She was fine.
"We're fine! Everything's fine! That's just the sky catching fire! Heh…you don't see that every day, now do you?" said Reigen as he walked along the path Rei guided them down. He heard screaming, crying, panicked exclamations, and even a few words that he was pretty sure kids that age were not supposed to even know let alone use. He knew that he had to have this under control. If a thirteen year old girl could lead them out of danger, and a fourteen year old girl could fight for them, then a he, a grown ass man, could keep everything under control.
"And that was just the sound barrier!" said Reigen. He had no idea if that had really been the sound barrier or not but he had to keep this whole thing together. He did. He could not freak out.
"And that right there was just a…those are just shooting stars…hitting the Earth…or bits of debris….or even satellites! We're fine, really, everything's fine!" said Reigen as Rei led them around a crater. Thank God that she knew what was happening, even with the burning around them he still would have missed that…when this was over she was getting a raise…
Well, first he would give her a job in the first place….and no he wasn't. No. He was not putting any more kids in mortal danger. He was not…this was enough excitement for a lifetime. He didn't know what he was going to do after this...reopen Spirits and Such? Go back to selling water coolers? Become a P.I.? Dance for hundred yen coins at the train platform? He didn't know what he was going to do but whatever it was it would not involve putting kids in danger.
This was enough danger to last all of them a lifetime.
If Suzuki had been in his right mind he would have been amazed that she had managed to consume what must have been a near lifetime's worth of energy.
But he was not in his right state of mind.
This was the other Suzuki. The one who only came out when he awakened. The yellow in his aura. It did not think, it was not capable of thought, it only acted on instinct. The last time the other Suzuki had come out it had been to destroy the house that he and Masami had shared together. Of course when he, the real Suzuki, came back he had been very ashamed of what he had done. His little temper tantrum, of course, had not brought his wife back to him. He hadn't let the other Suzuki out even once after that.
Until now.
He was not capable of thought. No. The only thing he knew how to do was to destroy the enemy. Her. The girl. Had Suzuki been in control he would have been more careful. He wouldn't have thrown her down into the water pipes. He wouldn't have tried to drown her. He wouldn't have picked her up and smashed her into the walls like a ragdoll. He wouldn't have tossed her into the air and then grabbed her and slammed her back into the ground.
The other Suzuki didn't care if she broke.
The other Suzuki wanted her dead. She was responsible for all of this. She had hurt them. She needed to pay with her life. She needed to be broken into a million pieces and never reassembled. She was small and she needed to be made smaller…but she just would not break! No matter what he did, now he hurt her, she simply would not come apart!
Shigeko knew that this was not how they came apart.
Mob was scared. Shigeko wasn't. This wasn't the place for Mob, anyway. They didn't need a plan, there, no they needed action. Actions. Her actions. He hit her, she blocked it. Even though every single bone in her arm turned to dust, it seemed, she had still blocked the hit. That arm hung uselessly, now, but that was fine. That was just their vessel. It could be fixed.
She was being thrown, now, through this icy cold water.
She didn't care. Her arm was useless, the left one, but the right one still worked. He, that Suzuki, that awful Suzuki…he thought that he was going to win! No! He punched her and she blocked it right back! She didn't care about the blood that came from her bones splitting and breaking through her skin! She would fix it later! Right now she needed to….to stop this!
He threw her.
She didn't have her yo-yo anymore. It had been lost in the fray…and that had been such a good trick Mob had thought up. It was easier to use weapons than her own vessel….her broken arms were a testament to that….but no matter! He may have sent her flying but she could come back down again! and she didn't even need arms, she had her powers! She tore off a piece of wall and rode it down onto Suzuki's head.
Well, if he could still be called Suzuki.
He was on fire, psychic fire, and his skin was blueish grey…also he was naked. Very naked. Shigeko didn't care that he was naked, it was just an observation. She couldn't imagine the man she had been fighting before just showing his naked self off to the world…but there he was. He was a lot more muscular, too, than she had figured…but those muscles might have just been gained through psychic powers…
"Body improvement! Fight on!" shouted Shigeko as the wall came apart and her foot made contact with Suzuki's head. Real muscles were much better. Mob had learned that…and Shigeko had learned it from Mob…and now it was their leg muscles that sent their shoe heel first into Suzuki's face.
And it was his psychic muscles that grabbed her by the leg and sent her flying down into the ground.
It hurt but Shigeko and Mob were used to that by now. They were…a bit dizzy but they were fine. This dress…it had been white, once, but now it was red…despite how many times they had been dunked in water. This dress was stained red…because her vessel had broken. Was breaking. The vessel…they needed to heal the vessel before it broke! But he was still right there and he-
He sounded like…like something was wrong.
His vessel was crisscrossed with white cracks…like hers had been. That…that always preceded an explosion…but he had already exploded…how did he still have so much energy! He was…he was a monster made up of energy!
No matter.
"This time I'll finish you!" said Mob/Shigeko as they forced their energy into him. In an effort to both overload him and do something about the cracks that were forming along their own vessel. The white ones, of course, not the red. The red ones were….they would heal later when they had time to focus. Right now they needed to finish him off and-
A flash of white.
Then a skeleton.
Then flesh grew around that skeleton.
Then more white.
And that was….that was energy. It wasn't either of his colors. Not an aura but instead pure energy….and a lot of it…he had used a lot to heal himself but….but that was still a lot…and he was breaking apart again…and she had no idea if she could…
If that energy made it outside then it could explode.
Mob remembered Rei's sketchbooks. The white thing, the thing from her dreams. The thing that kept her up at night…it hadn't been a dream but a prophecy! The explosion…the world ending explosion! She had seen this before. Not in Akira like Rei had said but…but in herself. That was how she looked before she…before she ended the world. The world of the unreality…
If that explosion made it out then it could have ended the whole world.
But Mob was not going to let that happen….and neither was Shigeko. No. They had already ended one world. It had been a pretty lousy excuse for a world but they had still ended it. They had that kind of power. Well she wasn't going to let this world end. If she, if they, had the power to end one world then they had the power to save theirs. There was no other choice. This was the world that mattered to them. This was the world that had everyone that mattered to them in it. If this world ended then there would be no other worlds for them. They had to save this world. They were a magical girl and that was what magical girls did. They saved the world.
They knelt down beside him.
They put up a barrier.
There was no other way.
"There's no other way…" said Rei as she stopped walking. She had felt it long before she had seen it. The white thing. The explosion. She…no path felt right. There was no escaping this. There was no making her own future. There was only the future that was growing, there, on the horizon.
"Rei, come on, there are a lot of other ways. North, south, east, west…hell! We'll even fly if that's what we need to do! Yeah, we aren't even confined by the two dimensional limits of gravity! Just tell us where to go." Said Reigen. He was shaking her, now. The train had stopped and now they were all just watching the…the whatever it was growing on the horizon.
He knew what that was.
Trouble.
"We can't run anymore." Said Rei softly. Her eyes were wide. She could see…she could see everything. She was surrounded by colors. White and yellow and orange and red and blue and purple and green and some in between and some that she did not even have the names for. They all swirled around her…she reached out to touch them.
"Yes we can! Our legs work, well most of us have working legs, and we'll run in whatever direction we need to! Just….please…show us where it's safe." Said Reigen. They'd trip and fall and break their necks if they tried running for it in the dark. They needed this kid…and this kid needed…she needed…
"Hey! Mob's little brother! Get up here!" said Reigen. Someone needed to talk some sense into that girl. She had no reason to believe any of Reigen's bullshitting. She was not Mob. Mob…Mob have only listened to him for all of these years because she had a crush on him…not something he liked to think about…but if manipulating teenager hormones got them out of this mess then, yes, he would have Ritsu talk some sense into his girlfriend.
"Just go. She needs you." Said Sho as he gave Ritsu the hardest shove that he could manage. It wasn't very hard at all…he was still so weak and Fukuda was drained and they had been running for their lives anyway, something which had not given them a lot of time to stop and take a rest, but he would get better…so long as they got away from that…that explosion. Energy. Pure energy.
Dad.
"You need me." Said Ritsu. Sho looked like crap. He needed….he needed a friend, then, and Ritsu didn't want to leave his side for anything. If there truly was nothing that they could do, he was inclined to believe Rei's clairvoyance, then he wanted nothing more than to be with his friend. He had spent so little time with Sho…and now he wished that there had been more. More time to get to know each other. More time to…to be together. Even if it was just messing around with their powers or eating surreptitiously made pancakes at dawn or even drawing up battle plans to save the world…he wished that he and Sho had gotten to spend more time together….
A hard tug at his sleeve.
"HE is not your girlfriend. She is. Kurosaki Rei. She's your girlfriend and it doesn't matter how you feel, right now, because she needs you. She needs you and we need her. We have no way of containing that explosion which means that our only option is to run. She knows where it's safe to run to and I, for one, don't want to break my neck running around the ruins of the city in the dark. Ok?!" said Teru. He pulled Ritsu in close and spoke as lowly and as dangerously as he could. He was not dying there. None of them were dying there.
Shigeko would never have forgiven him if he had just let everyone die there.
"…right." Said Ritsu. He could not be selfish, no, not then. Rei was their only way out and if she wanted him to be by her side then that was what he was going to do. He reluctantly let go of Sho's hand and made his way to the front. To his girlfriend. He glared at Reigen. Reigen, thankfully, immediately let her go.
"Are you in my dream too?" asked Rei. She felt him. She saw him. Ritsu. Her Ritsu. The only person she had ever truly loved in a non family type of way. She was so happy that he was there…and so happy that she had met him. She was so happy that she had known, even for a few months, what real and true love felt like. She was glad to have been dying or ascending to another plane of existence or whatever with him.
She loved him so much.
"Rei, you're not dreaming. You're here and I'm here and this is…this is reality, ok? Right now this is reality." Said Ritsu. He took both of her hands in his. She liked that sort of thing. Usually she giggled and blushed but now…now she was just staring past him….at the white thing on the horizon….
"I tried…I tried to make my own future…but I knew that this was going to happen. There's no escape from the future." Said Rei in a dreamy sort of voice. This was it. She felt…she felt very free. She wasn't as scared anymore, no, because there was no use being scared of the inevitable. This was going to happen…and she could not run or hide or fight. This was happening right now. Right now in front of her…her and Ritsu.
"Rei, please tell me…which way do we go? Come on, use your powers. You know what to do. I think…I think. I can. Like Reigen said. You think. You can. I think you can, too. Please…please Rei." Said Ritsu
"There's nowhere to go and nothing that was can do. Nothing at all." Said Rei as she pointed, there, to the white thing that was growing off into the horizon. It was over, it was all over, and that was ok…it was ok because there was no way to stop it.
"Rei just…just shut up and run!" said Ritsu. He didn't care if he fell and broke his neck or whatever. He was not going to die there. He was not going to die at thirteen. There was nothing that he could do but run…so that was what he did. He picked her up and he ran.
"Hey! You're going to-" said Reigen but the kid was not listening to him. That wasn't new. The kid had never liked or listened to him. Well then he could either yell at a kid who wasn't going to listen or run, too, and pray that he didn't end up tripping over something or crushed by something or…well anything would be preferable to exploding, he supposed.
So he ran too.
"That's…that's our President's final light…our President who was…was trying to take over the world…" said Serizawa as the people around him started running away. He had no idea…he had every idea what he was looking at. He didn't know how to feel. On the one hand the President had used him, hurt him and countless others, and tried to take over the world…and on the other hand the President had been the one to get him out of the hellhole that had been his life….but he had traded one hell for another…
"Just shut up and run, you're going to die. You're a traitor and shit but I don't want you dead." Said Sho. So this was how it ended. He hadn't wanted his dad dead, he hadn't wanted anyone dead, but here they were. Death was coming and there was nothing that they could do…nothing at all. Nothing but run. Well Sho couldn't run but he could still be carried….great. Just great. All of his planning had gone up in whatever that explosion was. Now all he had to show for it were a dead dad and some cool new scars…and his friend's tears dripping onto his head. What was Serizawa crying for? It wasn't like he was the only person who cared about dad…
"Right….right." said Serizawa. He was going to die if he stood there. He was not only going to die but he was going to take Sho with him. If he died…if he died then….but he couldn't die because he was the only person big enough to carry Sho. Sho had a lot of living left do to. He was just a kid. He shouldn't have had to deal with any of this. Serizawa did the only thing he could do for Sho at this point. He carried him and he ran.
There was nothing else that he could possibly do.
There was nothing else that anybody could possibly do.
"You've made the right decision. There's no avoiding this. You have to sever the energy source before the explosion happens. To do that you'll have to end my life." Said Suzuki. He was back…sort of. He could think again. He was surrounded by the rubble of whatever it was that he had broken. There, before him, was the girl. She knelt before him in that white dress….a little girl playing dress up…she had bested him. He had finally lost…
"I already said that I wasn't going to do that." Said Mob. She was back in control, now, she had to be. There was no sense in kicking this man when he was broken and defeated. There was no sense in killing him. Mob could see it and so could Shigeko. How broken he was. He was coming apart. He couldn't…he was having trouble even maintaining his physical form.
They hadn't won.
Nobody had won.
"What are you doing?" asked Suzuki. There was a barrier around them…and it was strengthening. First from shimmering nothingness and then to crystal or diamond, even. In the middle of it was them. Him and her, there, just sitting. Waiting. Waiting to die. There was no way that he was going to survive this. His physical and metaphysical self were far too broken. He could hardly maintain his own form. If she thought that she could…what? Sit with him as he laid dying? What was…what was she even doing?
She offered him her hand.
"I wanted to kill you because I thought that you had killed Master Reigen. You hadn't so now I don't have to. I want to help you. That's all I've ever wanted to do, Suzuki, all I ever wanted. We didn't have to fight. Part of me wanted to fight you, to hurt you, to make you pay but another part of me knows that…that fighting is wrong." Said Mob. She still offered him her hand even though Shigeko was telling her to pull it back. That he had hurt them and everyone they had ever cared about. They could have and should have ended him, Shigeko thought, but Mob thought different.
She still offered him her hand.
"You have to kill me. If you don't kill me then you'll die. You and all of your friends will die." Said Suzuki. He looked at her, at her hand. It was filthy, she was filthy, and bloody too. He didn't look much better, probably. At least she had clothing on. This was how he died. Naked and alone aside from his mortal enemy standing vigil at his final resting place.
"Take my hand." Said Mob
"Why?" asked Suzuki
"Because I'm going to contain the explosion as best as I can. You can change, we all can. I don't want to kill you…and me letting you die would be the same as me killing you. I'm a good person. That's who I am and what I want to be and a good person…a good person wouldn't let you die and…and take everyone they loved with you. I won't let you do this. I won't let you explode. I won't let you end the world….ok? and I won't leave you here to suffer on your own, either, that would be much too sad. So, please, Suzuki…take my hand." Said Mob.
"So this is your victory?" asked Suzuki as he watched her. She watched him right back. Her face was impassive. So was his.
"No. I would never call this a victory." Said Mob. She knew that if she had won it would have been through showing him a better path, showing him how to be a good person, but she had failed. Now all she could do was make sure that he didn't blow the world up like she had all those weeks ago.
"In the end we both lost. It's such a pity. Someone with your abilities should have been able to handle this better. You would have fared much better if you'd had it planned out." Said Suzuki
"Psychic powers aren't everything. In the end I couldn't show you a better path and I lost…but I can still save you. Please, let me save you. I may have lost but I still have a choice here…so please let me save you. I'm the protagonist, my life if my own, and I choose to use my life to save yours." Said Mob. She watched him. He stared at her and she stared right back. He made a move, a small one, towards her. his arm lifting ever so slightly. She took his hand and grasped it in both of hers.
This hurt.
But she had to do this.
Everything went white and she…she was…who was she? She was in a place which was…a place which she did not know…and there was a woman there. A woman and a little boy…and she cared about both of them. The woman had a cat. It was filthy and skinny and she…she didn't like it? Why? Because it was weak and…and weakness could not be…she thought that? She told the woman to leave the cat and the woman…no. Now it's later on in the-the-the future…of the past…and the woman…she's upset and she's gone and she's….
She doesn't need anyone.
She's complete all on her own.
But that doesn't make sense. People need other people. People need…people need the invisible bonds that they form with others.
Kageyama.
Suzuki.
So this is it.
Yes.
This is how it ends.
Yes.
No one understands me.
You misunderstood everything from the very start.
I don't need anybody. They can all just die.
Then why am I here?
You don't need anybody.
We all need someone.
I never thought that I did.
You thought wrong.
I've been betrayed! I've been betrayed by everyone I've ever trusted! Ever needed!
So you were never complete on your own, then.
I wasn't.
You needed others.
They can all just die.
Is that what you're for?
I was supposed to rule the world.
Is that what you're for?
I was the protagonist of the world.
Is that what you're for?
I DON'T KNOW.
I don't know either.
What do you know?
I don't know.
What don't you know?
I have no idea.
What are we?
I am Mob and you are Touichirou.
What are you?
I am Mob.
What am I?
You are Touichirou.
You betrayed me.
I was never on your side to begin with.
Nobody was ever on my side.
Your side was wrong.
I was wrong.
You were.
And this is my retribution.
It is.
And I am alone.
You aren't. I'm here. We're here for you.
People need other people.
They do.
You almost killed my son.
That was your fault.
It was my fault. Whenever Sho is near me I hurt him.
He scares you.
He needs me.
You need him.
My son is alive.
He is.
Every time I'm near him I hurt him. I should just die.
Is that what you're for?
I don't know.
Are you sorry?
I am.
Then say it.
I'M SORRY.
Not to me. Say it to him.
Why?
Because people need other people.
I don't want to.
Because you're afraid.
I am.
Of the invisible bonds that people form with one another.
Yes.
But you need them.
I do.
Then say it. Say it loud and clear for him to hear.
I have to.
You do.
I do.
When will you say it?
In the end.
In the end. The end and the beginning. The beginning and then end are one in the same. This is my retribution as well. It all returns to nothing. It all comes tumbling down. I just keep letting me down.
Letting me down.
Letting me down.
Letting me down.