False Advents (Chapter 6: Decency)
Thirty minutes into taking Mokou's "shortcut", Reol almost collapsed.
Mokou turned around and noticed that Reol was leaning on a nearby bamboo stalk. His face was unusually pale, and his breathing was getting heavier.
"Hey, you alright?"
He shook his head, "I think I might've… lost too much blood."
She sucked her teeth. "Well, I can't exactly help with that right now…"
He gestured for her to come sit next to him, which she did, and then proceeded to conjure a small clear tube. Attached onto the tube were needles at each end
"And what's that supposed to be."
"A tube for blood transfusion." He explained, "Giving it a try."
Mokou watched as he inserted his needle into a vein in left arm.
"Where am I supposed to put this?"
"Look for a blue-sh line."
She took a good look, then jabbed the needle into a vein in her inner elbow.
"...You're a real handful you that?"
"Sorry."
"I don't mind. How long is this gonna take?"
"About an hour or so." He estimated. "Two hours maximum. Also, try not to move too much."
"Got it."
She leaned back against a bamboo stalk while Reol proceeded to lay down and stared into the sky. Although he couldn't see the sun right now, it was just significantly above the horizon line when he had left Eientei. He estimated the current time to be about half past six.
"Hey, Mokou?"
"Hm?"
"What's the situation between you and Kaguya?" He asked, "There seems to be more to it."
Her face darkened significantly, "So you could tell, huh. Do you mind if we started with my past?"
"Go ahead, we have all day."
She closed her eyes and began to speak in a clear, melancholic tone about her past. About her history some dozen centuries back as an unwanted child. About her father's death due to an impossible request. About her deep-seated hatred for Kaguya, and the regret that came long after consuming the elixir, all the while Reol listened with an indifferent expression.
"And that's how I got to where I am today." She concluded with an empty laugh. "Morbidly humorous, isn't it? We could go at each other for the rest of eternity, and nothing will change."
"While that is true, haven't the two of you… mellowed out recently?" He argued.
"You mean that little truce we're currently having? That won't last."
"I see…" He blinked a few times and continued to stare up towards the sky. "Perfect immortality, huh…"
"Well, since I told you about my past, won't you share yours?" She asked.
"...Alright, I'll tell you what I know."
He took a deep breath, exhaled, and began to recount what he could recall, about the strange island he grew up on, his equally unusual siblings, his day to day life…
Every now and then, a memory would resurface, and he would add that onto his monologue, but it seems to have made less sense the more he added.
"So… You grew up somewhere in the sky that isn't in the outside world." She summarized.
"Yes, but my other memories tell me that I grew up in the outside world."
"Good grief, what a contradicting response."
Reol raised his right hand and stared into it. His skin was no longer ghostly pale, and had returned to its original shade of pale ivory skin tone. Strangely enough, he also began to feel something within his body changing. He simply passed it off as his body functioning again, removed the needle, and sat back up.
"You can remove it, I'm fine now."
She pulled the needle out of her arm and handed it to Reol, who converted it back to energy, which he absorbed.
"You won't get sick from getting my blood, will you?"
"I'll be fine." He reassured, "My memories tell me that I'm a universal recipient."
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.
"Basically someone who can receive blood from others without worrying about dying."
The two of them got back up and continued to traverse through the forest. About five minutes later, they emerged from the forest and came face to face to a rather scenic view of the countryside environment. There were two roads; one from the forest, and another from what he assumed was the Hakurei Shrine, both leading to a large village slightly to the northwest. Beyond the village were two separate forests.
"We're heading that way, towards the Forest of Magic"
She pointed somewhere towards the forest to the left, beyond a small building in the distance. Walking over would probably take hours. Unbeknownst to Reol, a troubled expression was beginning to replace his usual indifferent demeanor, which Mokou noticed.
"Want me to carry you over then?" She offered.
He thought about the offer, then nodded, "Go for it."
She picked him up by the armpits then propelled herself off the ground and towards the Forest of Magic. He looked down and calculated that they were at least two hundred or so meters off the ground.
"Not screaming in fear, huh?" Mokou joked, "Are you not afraid of heights?"
He shook his head, "After all, I did grow up in the sky."
"What a weird kid…" He heard her mutter as they began to pick up speed.
About half a minute later, Mokou was speeding along at about twice his top sprinting speed, totaling at about sixty-five kilometers per hour, or roughly forty miles per hour. He could barely hear his own thoughts over the wind rushing against his face. On the plus side, he'd expect himself to arrive in the next ten to fifteen minutes.
And indeed about ten minutes later, they arrived at a small, relatively rundown house somewhere within the forest. Other than the fact that most of the house's front was covered in moss reaching up to the second story, the place looked relatively normal. Upon landing, Reol immediately sat down on the doorsteps and began massaging his temples. Whatever Eirin injected him with hours ago clearly didn't help with nausea and tinnitus.
Through the ringing which he was attempting to cease, a multitude of zapping noises and several explosions could be heard originating from within the house. Mokou simply disregarded the noises and stepped up to the door then proceeded to pound on it about half a dozen times.
"Comin'! Just gimme a sec! Man that didn't go well…"
The door opened, revealing Marisa, who has likely seen better days. Most of her outfit was covered in soot and grime, with its hems and edges visibly singed by something. In her left hand was her mini-hakkero, and in the right was a pair of safety goggles that seemed worse for wear. The person in question was still displaying an aloof smile despite the situation that she was in.
"Oh hey there, Mokou, and Reol was it?" She began to dust off her outfit. "What're you here for again?"
"You told me to swing by earlier, remember?" He said while rubbing his forehead.
"Ah yes, that. Let's make a little deal, alright?" She put on a smile, "You help me out, and I'll help you out. Capiche?"
"I… have a mild headache right now, but give me the details."
She reached behind the door and pulled out a broom, "So here's the plan, I wanna go over to the Scarlet Devil Mansion to return and borrow some books. You're gonna accompany me, and in return, I'll help you out with your issues."
Reol couldn't help but noticed that something was off about that statement, but decided to dismiss the thought due to his headache. He figured that since had to visit the place anyway, why not just get it over with?
"Sure, why not. Grab your books."
She sprinted upstairs to the second floor and came back down with about half a dozen books, which seemed to have disappeared after she tucked them behind her. She then tossed the broom onto the ground and hopped onto it.
"Alright Reol, how good are you with heights?" She asked.
"The kid's fine with heights." Mokou interjected. "Just don't go too fast."
"Top speed? Got it." She turned towards Reol, "Get on, man!"
"One second…"
He quickly conjured two pieces of apparel; a pair of soundproof headsets and a black scarf, and put them on before getting on the broom. He wasn't about to risk rupturing an eardrum.
"Alright kid, hold tight!"
He clung onto her as tightly as he could and much to his expectations, Marisa instantly cranked her speed from "stationary" to "breakneck" and immediately took off. Mokou, who had been left behind, simply flew off into the opposite direction, looking for something to kill her boredom.
As Marisa continued to crank up the speed, Reol found himself clutching onto her tighter and tighter. About two minutes later, he noticed that the broom was beginning to shake.
"You're not supposed to experience turbulence at this height, right? How does she even keep her eyes open like this?"
"Sweet mother of Mima, calm down kid!" Marisa yelled. "You're not tryna break me are you?"
"You won't, but the broom might."
"Good grief… Take a look behind you. Should be a testament to it's durability."
He loosened his grip and turned around. Trailing out from behind the broom was a rainbow colored beam.
"That would explain the turbulence, but that isn't reassuring in the slightest." He thought.
"Hey, on the plus side, we're almost there!"
He turned back and peeked out from behind her. Surprisingly enough, there was little to no wind rushing against them. He extended his head the full way out and looked towards where she pointed.
In the distance was a large lake, and on the opposite side of the lake was a large, crimson colored mansion. He could just barely spot someone leaning against the gate's entrance, keeping watch. He waited for Marisa to slow down, but she was showing no signs of doing so.
"Hey, Marisa? You're overshooting the gate."
"Who said we were gonna enter via the gate?"
"Wait… What?"
"Here, take this."
She pulled out a brown playing card from one of her outfit's pockets and handed it over to Reol.
"Just stick it into the back of the broom." She instructed.
"Hold on, can't we enter normally?" He reasoned, "I just got out of the infirmary."
"Do. It." She demanded, "Or I'm kicking you off right this instant."
"...Fine."
He inserted the card into the back of the broom, which immediately emitted a strange explosion-like sound effect. The broom was shaking even more violently now.
"Alright, hold on Reol, we're breaking through. "BLAZING STAR!""
The broom's throttle instantly increased by two to threefold as they began to rocket toward the side of the mansion, and within the next three seconds, crashed straight through the mansion's brick wall.
Reol, thanks to his muscle memory, managed to break his fall, while Marisa simply floated down towards him seconds later.
"So, how was it?" She asked, "Fun, right?"
He shook his head and stared at the two meter wide hole they had made. "Get me back up there…"
She gestured for him to get back on the broom, then lifted him back up to the gaping hole which he proceeded to repair.
"Pretty handy ability you got there huh." She said.
"Takes a toll on me though."
He looked down and surveyed the surroundings. They were now in an extremely large library, with bookshelves upon bookshelves of… just books that stretched from the floor to the twenty meter tall ceiling. The area where Marisa had chosen to crash through was also the location of a bookshelf, which he immediately repaired. Other than the rubble and various books strewn about on the carpet, the damage should have been more or less restored.
"How many times must I tell you to stop crashing through the walls, Marisa?"
Reol turned around and spotted a purple haired girl wearing pink, pajama-like clothing and a nightcap of the same color with a crescent moon-shaped accessory attached onto it. Her purple eyes seemed to be scanning him.
"Well, the wall isn't broken this time around, Patchouli."
"Yes, I've noticed, and that boy is to thank for it." She gestured for them to follow, "I'm quite certain I know what you're here for."
They followed her to a table in the center of the library, where she had already prepared a plethora of vials and other organic and inorganic materials.
"You, sit down over there." She pointed to a chair next to the table. "Marisa, load this into that device of yours."
She handed her a vial of blue liquid, which she poured into her mini-hakkero. While she was busy mixing vials upon vials of liquid and pulverized materials, Reol seated himself at the table, while Patchouli sat near the opposite end and began reading a nearby book.
"Marisa." He said.
"Yeah?"
"About what you said back in Eientei…"
"Oh that whole statement?" She stuffed some roots down the mini-hakkero, "Forget it. I was just jokin'."
"And about kicking me off?"
"That was just to scare ya. Didn't actually think it'd work though."
He thought about her response for a few seconds. He couldn't quite tell whether they were kidding or not.
"Y'don't actually think we were gonna kill you back there, do you?" She asked.
"Given the atmosphere, it's probable."
She sighed, "Look, I understand what you're going off of, but me and Reimu just aren't that type of person, ya hear?"
He simply nodded and continued to listen to what she had to say.
"The bloodsucker, Yukari; albeit indirectly, and the maid; given that she was ordered to, would likely do so. They have special backgrounds." He reached for a vial of dark green liquid and poured it into the hakkero, "Reimu and I, however, we're normal, good-hearted people. Even though she gets kinda hostile at times, cut her some slack. She's been through a lot, at least far more than I have. You listening?"
"Yeah."
"Well, bottom line's that we're sensible people. It's half the reasons's to why Reimu came up with the spell card dueling system to begin with."
"I see…"
"Sure hope you're seeing before it's too late. Just keep in mind that if you do happen to become a potential threat, we're gonna make an effort to stop you, but it ain't gonna be us who's comin' to headhunt you. Too much trauma does a person no good."
"Noted."
"Well, it's ready now. Last thing we're missing's a drop of blood" She turned towards Reol, "This part's on you."
He conjured a replica of Sakuya's dagger then quickly cut a small gash on his right arm and fed a few drops of blood into the hakkero.
"That's not going to affect overall performance right?"
"Appreciate the concern, and no, it won't."
She pointed the mini-hakkero at the scrying ball and fired directly into it. The ball shuddered for a couple of seconds and immediately began to change into a shade of white.
"Huh… didn't think it'd actually work." She muttered in a surprised tone. "Patchouli, mind taking a look?"
She leaned forward to take a look at the scrying orb and made a puzzled expression.
"That's rather strange."
"Yeah, I kinda thought so too."
"Did something go wrong?" He asked.
"Not exactly, better if ya come see for yourself, Reol."
He stood up, walked over to the scrying orb, and stared into it. Somewhere in the center of the orb were words that he could barely make out.
"Manipulation and creation…" He read aloud, "Bottom… text?"
Author's note: Not too sure why I decided to choose "bottom text" of all things when I first decided to draft out the chapter, but now that I think about it, it sounds better than most of my other options, being "unknown", or "Lorem ipsum", or whatever sorry excuse of a placeholder I could have chosen at the time.