Author's note: The following is a bunch of plot bunnies I got while reading the Boundary Effect. These are loose stories that will range from fun little tidbits of Alliance society, what if scenarios, and operative missions that have happened in the background.
Pre-post Edit: Over 10K words, geez I thought this would at least be 5k!
Pre-post Edit2: Ok so I got permission to post this from the original author, Touhoufanatic! They also allowed me to consider this chapter canon… so Yea, this chapter is now canon! Woot! I originally just named this Fic just: 'Boundary Effect: Omakes' but now… So I renamed it to its current title. Keep in mind, there will be chapters that are going to be Omake's, mainly the what ifs, but unless I placed the word 'canon' in the chapter please consider them as Omake's.
The Citadel, an ancient space station built by a once powerful race is considered by most to be the center of all galactic civilizations. From the beauty of the Presidium, that contains the many embassies and governing offices of council space. To the populated wards that hold many of its inhabitants and businesses, where one can get themselves both figurative and sometimes literally lost in. It's truly a sight to behold.
So why in Luna's name, am I here at this archaic and impure station? Thought a very annoyed and unhappy Lunarian Princess.
Here she was about to enjoy one of her small vacations from going over endless reports on the latest and greatest Technological, Magical, and MagiTeknical wonders of the Alliance. When she got a request from the Citadel Council requesting her physical presence for the next trade negotiations meeting, regarding technology. Her, Princess Kaguya Houraisan, the Lunarian Head of the Alliance, to meet with the Citadel Council, in person, to talk trade. She mainly deals with research and development, not negotiating trade that's what Flandre is for! Sure she has the final say on what technology is given to the Council but that's hardly the point. She's guessing the Council is tired from hearing 'no' from Flandre and hoped negotiating with her would give them a different answer.
She doesn't know what's worse that the council thinks she would say 'yes' or the fact that both Yukari and Hacket believe that this is a great idea and that she should go. Sure she knows why they want her to go, but did they have to do this during her vacation. If it wasn't for the fact that she had booked passage on the maiden voyage of the Eternal Princess, she would not have minded coming to the Citadel. But no, here she is, on the Citadel, missing the latest and greatest of Alliance entertainment, with Reisen as her escort.
Right now she is currently being escorted by C-Sec to the Citadel Tower to meet with the Council for these 'important' talks. Looking around she noticed that the Presidium is looking rather bare today, with the exception of other C-Sec personnel and the odd Keeper. Probably to make sure nothing will happen to her on her way to meet with the Councilors. While crossing a bridge Kaguya can't help make a little smile, after today the Council will probably never bother inviting her again. After al-
It was at this moment Kaguya ceased existing as her entire body was engulfed in flames and was instantly incinerated. Only hearing a single word: "KAAAA-GUUUU-YAAAAA!"
Executor Venari Pallin wasn't looking forward to today, he really wasn't. Today they were expecting an Alliance VIP; the Lunarian Head of the Alliance Kaguya Houraisan, on the Citadel. Normally when a leader of a race comes to visit the Citadel it normally comes with little to no fanfare, besides a first contact scenario. However this one is special due to the amount of threats to her life there are on the extranet. The Council, fearing that any assassination attempt on one of the Heads of the Alliance will severally hamper the negotiations today. Decided to close down the Presidium to prevent any would be assassins from getting close to the VIP. To be fair to the Councilors when the Alliance ambassador came to the Citadel she was attacked by Eclipse mercenaries. Today alone they have stopped seventeen people, mostly Batarians, from getting into the Presidium. All of them carrying a mass accelerator and the express intent on killing the Alliance Head.
C-Sec has pulled out all the stops to make sure no one will harm the Alliance Head and to make sure no one gets into the Presidium. They worked double shifts, had an officer at every corner, multiple air cars patrolling round the clock, a lookout stationed at a balcony every kilometre, and constant externet surveillance. Spirits be damned, He even got C-sec officers suspected of corruption to pay off duct rats to keep a lookout. Even with all of this security he nor the rest of C-Sec saw this one coming. When he was told that the Alliance ambassador's bodyguard was coming to the Presidium, he assumed she was coming to meet up with them for extra security. Not to incinerate the Lunarian Head!
So here he was holding his rifle with the rest of C-Sec at the culprit, an indestructible flamethrower, with a very angry look on her face. He knows that attacking her will be pointless, he's seen her survive way worse than this. Maybe the Alliance could help with this as it appears she has gone rogue, he just hopes that Kaguya's bodyguard may know how to deal with her. Ether way a murder is still a murder and Mokou, Flandre's bodyguard, has just committed it on the Citadel. So she needs to be arrested and be put on trial, this time it wasn't self defense. He also believes the Alliance will not protect her this time after murdering one of their own leaders.
"FREEZE!" Pallin shouted at her, "Fujiwara no Mokou, put your hands in the air! Your under arrest for the murder of Kaguya Houraisan!"
"Eh, murder?" Asked Mokou in confusion, "Like something like that would kill her. Get up Kaguya! I'm not done with you yet!"
"I said put your hands up!" Pallin said as he drew closer to Mokou, hoping the Alliance bodyguard had his back.
"Ummmm… You should probably back away this area may not be safe for y-"
It was at this moment that a stream of light shot past Pallin straight into Mokou's chest, right where her heart should be. Mokou coughed up a ton of blood straight onto Pallin's face as she started to fall down to the ground. She managed to somehow stop her fall with her foot and remain conscious despite a lack of a heart and the amount of blood she's losing. She had a very angry and irritated look to her face while holding a hand over the hole in her chest. Believing the bodyguard had just shot Mokou he prepared to move in, only to be stunned by a voice coming behind him.
"Oh my, I'm surprised you still haven't learned proper manners after all this time, Mokou."
At that Pallin slowly turned his head and saw yet another impossible sight that the Alliance produced. He saw the Lunarian Head, Kaguya, standing there as her body and clothes are reforming themselves. While carrying the most beautiful jewel he has ever seen. The flames that had once engulfed her now are quickly fading to embers as if it has lost its fuel source.
"Then again, you have been avoiding me lately and been hanging around with that Vampire. I guess I'll just have to reteach you the proper way to greet your boss." Spoke Kaguya with the most wicked smile Pallin has ever seen.
"KAAAAAGUUUUUUYAAAAAA-" Shouted Mokou as her body engulfed in flames. All the while the blood around her returned into her body as the hole in her chest started to close. Pallin barely had enough time to jump out of the way as Mokou lunged at Kaguya. Only for Kaguya's Jewel to disappear and have pulled out a cloak, seemingly from nowhere, blocking Mokou's attack. Using the momentum from the attack Kaguya jumped back, taking flight. While in the air Kaguya quickly swapped the cloak she was using to block and took out a branch that looked like it had jewels hanging off of it.
With a wave of her arms the jewels on the branch lit up. Causing thousands of multi-colored orbs to form in the air shooting thousands of more orbs at Mokou. Both Mokou and the nearby C-Sec officers jumped out of the way of the orbs. The orbs landed with explosive force causing the C-Sec officers to be blown away and destroyed the bridge they were standing on. Using that force Mokou shot herself into the air, taking flight as the flames around her started to form into wings of fire. The wings then proceeded to shoot out thousands of red orbs that looked like they were on fire at Kaguya, who re-started her own barrage of multi-colored orbs at Mokou.
Pallin and the rest of his C-Sec officers didn't know what to do in this situation. One of them is an Alliance Head so hurting her is out of the picture. The other is an indestructible force that walked away from a burning air car that crashed on top of her and exploded! Even if they did want to try to stop them, they couldn't as they are way too busy dodging the stray shots from both their barrages!
A task easier said than done as they are raining all over the place, flying around at seemingly random directions towards their respected opponent. He's no doctor, but he's pretty sure that the odds of surviving a direct hit are low as he saw a Keeper getting obliterated by one of the stray shots. Judging by the fact that none of his officers have the same ridiculous regeneration as Mokou does, he's not liking those odds. Unfortunately, as time goes on the intensity of their barrages increases with more and more cover getting destroyed.
With his cover destroyed and few left available, his prospect of dodging any more of their barrages looks slim just as he sees one of the stray orbs approaching him at a fast speed. This is no way a Turian should go, if a Turian is to be killed in battle it would be a battle they are fighting! Not in a battle unrelated to them and becoming collateral damage! He closes his eyes and what he believes to be the last few thoughts of his life. He fears for fate for the rest of his team and hopes they survive this onslaught. But the end never came, instead he heard a familiar female voice, sighing.
"And this is why I said inviting her was a terrible idea."
Opening his eyes, in front of him he saw the ambassador of the Alliance, Flandre Scarlet. She was holding a hand out with a circle with weird symbols on it extending from it, blocking the incoming barrage. He noticed a couple of his fellow C-Sec officers are now near him on the ground behind the Ambassador. Before he could ask her a question the Ambassador quickly lowered her hand and grabbed him and the other C-Sec officers. Then she flew them away before her evidential shield collapsed. Whilst in the air she masterfully dodged all the incoming projectiles coming from the two who are fighting. He wasn't sure if he was seeing things or not but he could have sworn that he saw two other Flandres.
Once a good ways away, Flandre landed inside a nearby building and let them go. She then turned to look out the nearest window at the two combatants.
Pallin took this chance to take a look at his fellow C-Sec officers, a fellow Turian and an Asari. The Asari wasn't looking too good in fact as soon as they landed she wobbled to the nearest plant and proceeded to vomit.
Flandre then spoke to them, "You may want to get that Asari to a medical clinic or shower there's a good chance she's contaminated."
Pallin looked up at Flandre after looking over the Asari. "Contaminated? I thought that only affects Alliance citizens?"
Flandre sighs "No, it affects anyone who has Magic or Biotics. Doesn't matter which one the person has as long they come in contact with the opposing element they become contaminated. Judging by how intense those two are going, I'm going to guess that area is now filled with magic. That's not including the fact I flew her here with magic as well."
"Speaking of which, why are those two fighting each other? Isn't Kaguya one of your leaders, why did one of your operatives just attack her in broad daylight? Aren't you guys supposed to be working for her, or did Mokou go rogue?" Pallin said as he was helping the Asari onto her feet. The other Turian C-sec Officer requested to take her to the med bay in the wards, which Pallin granted.
At that Flandre had chuckled, "No, this is what is expected when those two meet. They are eternal rivals, they have a tendency to try to kill each other whenever they meet."
"That doesn't answer my question, why are those two trying to kill each other?"
"Beats me, it's a long boring story evolving some ancient grudge over Mokou's father and becoming immortal or something along those lines. I just know they had this feud long before I was born. Though they have been getting better lately."
"You call that better!"
"If I call that better then imagine what was considered worse."
"I- don't have a response to that one. Either way we need to stop those two and get the rest of my men out." As he said that Mokou seems to have gotten impatient and decided to charge Kaguya. Who responded by swapping out her branch for some sort of shell shaped object and created multiple lasers forming a star-like shape of some kind and started to spin it.
"Do not worry, I've already rescued your men if you don't believe me go ahead and try calling them." At that Pallin looked down to access his Omni-tool only for it to spark up and fizzle out. Before Pallin could speak, Flandre interrupted him. "Oh right, your equipment isn't properly shielded on the Citadel as well. Try the terminal over there and see if you can reach them with that."
As Pallin went to the terminal to attempt to contact his other officers he noticed that one of Mokou's legs got cut off. However it didn't slow her down as she managed to get a good spinning kick into Kaguya's face, having it go to an unnatural angle. She lost the other leg in the process by that weird spinning thing. Causing Mokou to pull back and throw multiple talisman at Kaguya to prevent chase as her legs started to return to her. While Kaguya's face started to return to it's proper angle.
At the terminal Pallin managed to get in contact with some of his C-Sec officers, reporting that they were all fine and that their Omni-Tools were broken as well. He managed to get in contact with one of the lookouts, who was a few Kilometre's out. The Lookout had to change position to get a better view but can confirm that he does not see a non-Keeper corpse in the area. Also apparently all the other lookouts nearby had to fall back and were also experiencing equipment malfunctions.
"It seems you weren't lying, though we still need to stop those two before anyone gets hurt."
"Stop them? Do you think I have the capability to stop those two immortals? Attempting to stop those two during their fights is like trying to convince an Oni to stop drinking. The best thing we can do is to clear the area and wait for them to wear each other out."
"So, you are suggesting to just sit around and wait until one of them defeats the other? What kind of plan is tha- Wait what do you mean by 'two immortals?' Isn't Mokou the so-called 'immortal' one?" As he recalls all the times Mokou survived being killed in every conceivable way possible.
Flandre looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "You don't know? I thought you had done some research on Kaguya before she came here."
"I'm a busy Turian, I rarely have time to read up on people other than the bare basics."
At this Flandre sighed while shaking her head. "Kaguya is also an immortal like Mokou. In fact Kaguya is the first immortal! You could even say that Mokou's immortality came from Kaguya."
"What do you mean came fro-" At this point the true terror of the situation dawned on Pallin. Immortal or not you have two indestructible beings with the same regenerative power fighting each other to the death out there. As such neither of them will give until the other concedes defeat or is worn out. And guessing from their seemingly great hatred of each other, neither will want to concede and thus will keep escalating until one finally gives. Looking back outside he see's Mokou divekicking Kaguya into the ground. As Mokou jumps back, the area they landed erupted like a volcano. Only for a barrage of lasers coming out from the eruption, blasting a bunch of holes into Mokou. As the eruption dissipates he's seen Kaguya severely burnt but was healing fast and soon looked like nothing had happened and so did Mokou.
"If I were you I would start issuing people to evacuate the upper wards to prevent any casualties on the chance that they find themselves there."
At this Pallin immediately started making calls to all C-Sec officers and began moving everyone out of the upper wards. He's seen the things Mokou survived and seeing two of them fighting each other in an enclosed station sounded like a disaster in the making. Yet through all this, he can't help but think he's forgotten about something.
Councilor Laiel Sparatus really wishes he did not have to be in the Council Chambers today. Because today is going to be nothing but a big waste of time and nothing productive will get done. But here he is in the Chambers awaiting the arrival of the Lunarian Head. Spartatus believed that inviting her to the station is not only pointless but dangerous.
However, Councilor Valern insisted they invite Kaguya here to the Citadel for negotiations over technology. Valern suspected that all his requests being sent to Flandre were not being forward to the Alliance. Thus, he wanted to talk to a Head directly, particularly the Lunarian one as she deals with research and development. If Flandre did stop forwarding his request Sparatus doesn't blame her for it as all the requests were the same with different wording.
Even still Sparatus tried to object, pointing out that it will be extremely dangerous while she is on the station. Tevos agreed and suggested closing a part of the Presidium to prevent any assassination attempts. Before he could clarify why it's actually dangerous he was interrupted by Tevos and Valern, talking about the planned negotiations.
Not liking the fact of having Kaguya and her rival Mokou being on this station. He contacted Flandre to see if she or the Alliance could stop either one of them from fighting or the fight itself. She confirmed that she could not and the Alliance stopped trying after an incident involving a Black Hole. At this he took Tevo's order to the extreme and closed down all of the Presidium just in case. Spartacus also ordered Pallin that NO one, besides C-Sec, is to enter the Presidium during her visit. He also sent him a profile of Kaguya highlighting her immortality and great rivalry with Mokou. Hopefully he read and understood that he should do everything in his power to keep Mokou away.
"She's very late." announced Tevos, "It's been more than fifteen minutes since she should have arrived and we haven't heard a word from her or C-Sec."
Tevos is right, Sparatus has been trying to contact Pallin with no luck for the past ten minutes. Two scenarios comes to his mind; he's radio silent while diverting Kaguya and Mokou away from each other or-
"Councilors!" A Salarian C-Sec officer came rushing out the elevator, almost out of breath. "It's the Alliance Head and Ambassador's bodyguard they're-"
As soon as he said that the tower shook violently as an alarm sounded on their omni tools indicating a hull breach in the Presidium. Sparatus looked up out the window and saw Kaguya dragging a struggling Mokou by the neck. She then proceeded to throw Mokou away from the Citadel tower and blasted Mokou while doing so. After the blast both of them reached for the necks as if choking, only to stop a few seconds later resuming their duel.
-They've met.
Sparatus noticed that they appear to be fighting on even grounds. Mokou; however, seemed to be struggling to keep her flames up. While Kaguya, who's holding something he can't make out, was shooting thousands of lasers with ease. It's clear that Kaguya has the advantage in a vacuum.
Sparatus sighed as Tevo's was the first to speak incoherently, "Wh-wha, h-h-how are they, no why are they-?"
"I-i-impossible, living beings cannot survive vacuum, genetic modification- no doesn't explain flames. How are they-" Stuttered Valern incoherently trying to make sense of the situation.
"I was afraid this might happen." Stated Sparatus as he addressed the officer, "Officer, can you head to my office and retrieve the contents out of the 3rd drawer on the right hand side of my desk. It's something that will help me deal with this situation."
The C-Sec officer immediately ran off into the office section just as Tevos turned to Sparatus.
"What do you mean you were afraid this may happen? Why are those two fighting and how? It's a vacuum out there, how are they still alive?"
"According to the information on both Kaguya and Mokou the Alliance sent. They are two immortal rivals who tend to kill each other whenever they meet, over a thousand year old grudge."
"Immortal? Sparatus you honestly can't be telling me you believe that fact. Sure Mokou has shown amazing regenerative ability but that doesn't mean she's immortal! I'm sure there is a limit to her regeneration just like the Vorcha."
Sparatus looked out the window noticing that the two had drifted away slightly and can be seen as two different glowing lights now. Both are flying around each other and whenever the two lights meet a shock-wave of light of some sort blast out.
"Judging by the fact they are fighting in a vacuum without equipment I say there is some truth in their tale. Plus the regenerative ability they both have puts Vorchas to shame as we've seen with Mokou's."
"Putting aside their regenerative ability. What's this grudge that you mention and why didn't you warn us about this possibility during our last meeting?" Introduced Valren before Tevos could speak.
"It's a millennium old grudge that I don't fully understand and I have. However, my concern was misinterpreted as an assassination ploy. When I tried to specify you two decided that it was time to move on." Sparatus said exasperated.
Tevo scoffs at this notion, "A millennium, Sparatus this has already been debated. They're obviously lying about their age to make themselves look wise while they are completely reckless and irresponsible!"
Sparatus wanted to interject, thankfully though it was then the C-Sec Officer returned with a very confused face. "Um, Sir I went to your office and um, was this what you were looking for?" he held up a bottle of Dextro Brandy and a glass cup.
"Yes, that's it, bring it over here."
"What are you doing, Sparatus!"
"What the Alliance recommended for this situation; get comfortable and wait for them to tire themselves out. Besides, one of us has to go to their embassy after this."
"I'll take care of that! Besides I can probably convince those two to cease this small feud of theirs!"
Sparatus chuckled at the idea that Tevos can stop a feud that has lasted long before she was even born. And that's saying something for an Asari Matriarch. He would have wished her luck if he didn't want to offend the two over this nor restart the fight once it's over. Besides he had private Hierarchy business to attend to with the Lunarian head. Lucky he has an excuse.
"Officer, why didn't Executor Pallin contact us when the fight broke out?" Sparatus said as he poured himself a glass.
"Our Omni-Tools ceased functioning by the time we got away from the fight. The terminals we had access to were unable to connect to anyone with clearance to contact the tower during this time. So I was sent up in their stead."
"And the Asari in your team, what's their current condition?"
"They're fine except for the ones that were on the Presidium at the time the fight broke out. They, and our Biotics as well, are all in the Medical bay as they all feel sick."
"I thought as much, I believe the amount of magic that the two have expelled during their fight must have flooded the Presidium with unshielded magic. I believe the area is currently hazardous for all Biotics and is probably causing some strange phenomenons right now." Sparatus said as he drank out of his cup.
"Sparatus, you can't honestly think-"
"Sorry to interrupt Councilor Tevos," The C-sec officer interrupted, "I believe Councilor Sparatus may be right. On my way up here I had to move through the Presidium and felt wind."
"What does wind-"
"Tevos there are no records in the history of the Council that wind has ever been felt on the Presidium with the exception of air cars passing by." Valern Stated, "Wind indicates differences in atmospheric pressure, difficult to perform on a space station, though it's possible. Perhaps more is going on in the Presidium than just wind, research is needed to be performed to study this phenomenon. Agree with Sparatus phenomenon most likely caused by 'magic,' 'magic' is too dangerous for Asari." Valern explained, with a loose emphasis on magic. Valern never liked the word magic but uses it anyways as no good replacement for it ever caught on.
"In that case why don't the three of us contact their embassy once this fight ends. That way we all have a say in this!" Says Tevo's optimistically.
Before Sparatus could chime in Valern spoke up once again. "No, unacceptable if we were to do this over communication it would upset Citadel residence. It would appear we are not taking the situation seriously and possibly cause protests. As such I agree with Sparatus, It would be best to send him to the Alliance embassy. Turians are the Council's military arm, his presence will show that we take this situation very seriously."
All Tevo's can do is sigh and look at Spartacus bottle, probably thinking of getting her own drink. She knows Valren is right in this situation and can't do anything about it. The three of them inquire about the status of the Citadel and what Pallin is doing about the situation from the C-Sec officer.
During this, Sparatus decided to look back out the window where the two immortal's grudge match carried on. While the C-Sec officer drones on about the ongoing evacuation of the upper wards and buildings. During this he noticed that the two of them drifted a little closer to the window. He noticed Mokou appeared to be getting more and more frustrated as she seemed to be looking for something, whenever she got the chance to. After a few minutes it appears she has found what she was looking for just as Kaguya came in and impaled her with something he can't quite make out. At this Mokou wrapped both her arms around Kaguya and flew down towards one of the wards while immolating both of them.
Kaguya appears to have realized whatever Mokou is planning and tried to escape. She had succeeded in ripping one of Mokou's arms off just as the two rammed into one of the towers in the wards. This caused a massive explosion inside it, probably thanks to the sudden influx of oxygen to Mokou's flames. The resulting blast split the building apart as chunks of it flew away from the ward.
At first the Councilors felt dread as no doubt that anyone inside of that building would be dead now. However, Sparatus then noticed what building it was and couldn't help but smile. Now that the eyesore that was the condemned building the Asari love so much is finally gone, today might be productive after all!
Burning, searing intense burning, is all she feels right now. It reminds her that she's still alive… and a reminder she can never escape this cage known as life.
She is cursed to forever spend every waking hour, not that she needs sleep anymore, to forever walk in the plain of the living. A curse that many seek but few can handle.
And the one who cursed her with this is currently burning as well, but will likely do nothing as she has the same cures as her. As the one who made the curse started to fly, likely with the intention of getting back into the damn void. She wasn't going to let her get away that easy!
With a quick charge, Fujiwara no Mokou tackled her longtime rival Kaguya Houraisan into what looked to be a door. They broke though and entered the Citadel Wards area proper. Mokou noticed that the area looked abandoned and only sensing life far off and moving away, except for the insects. Mokou smiled, this means she could go all out in her element without worry.
Kaguya may have the advantage in wide open areas, particularly ones with no oxygen. However, in narrow areas with plenty of oxygen and burnable items like this one, she has the advantage.
Mokou proceeded to throw Kaguya into what looked like a weapon shop. Mokou quickly followed up her attack by blasting the shop which caused a chain reaction detonating explosives inside. Mokou then proceeded to throw hundreds of her talisman at the smoking remains of the shop hoping to hit its occupant.
Unfortunately the talisman never made it to shop as beams of light covered the entrance and disintegrated the talisman. Kaguya emerged from the smoking remains of the shop, holding that stupid treasure bowl of her's. Kaguya proceeded with a wave of a hand that created thousands of lasers filling the area closing in on Mokou.
One thing that Mokou hated about Kaguya was how quick she was at swapping out her treasures. If Kaguya was slow Mokou would have gladly taken advantage of it, just like it was two hundred years ago. However, now she can seamlessly switch them in and out and change up her tactics in a blink of an eye. Thankfully, Kaguya can only use one treasure at a time, otherwise she would wear that damn cloak of hers at all times.
An irritated Mokou decided to charge through the lasers towards Kaguya as she engulfed herself into flames while conducting a spinning kick, resulting in a flaming tornado. As Mokou spins into the lasers she feels parts of her body getting sliced off as she moves closer to Kaguya. With her powers barely holding what's left of her body together she managed to hit Kaguya.
Kaguya staggered from the attack, however she was quick with the counter attack. The bowl disappeared and used her arm to force the leg, the one that hit her, off of Mokou with ease as it was only held on by force of will. She then quickly followed up her attack by hitting Mokou with her palm and blasted out a force of light. Mokou, only being held by magical force, had a tough time holding herself together as she was blown away.
Kaguya was then quick to follow up her attack with a charge of her own. Mokou threw talismans to stall her and to allow herself to heal up from the last attack. The stall worked as Mokou finished regenerating as both of them now engaged into a melee fight.
Mokou may be the better of the two when it comes to melee combat, however Kaguya is no slouch either and can keep up with Mokou with ease. Kaguya attacked her with grace and fluid hand strikes, compared to Mokou wild and reckless kicks. As the ferocity of their attacks grew so did there desperation to find a way to break this stalemate. They both broke off their attacks and resorted to hit and runs as both started looking for something around the area for an advantage. They flew down though dense corridors and even walls at times, farther and farther away from the source of life.
Eventually, Mokou saw something and realized something both of them overlooked resulting in a smile. She once again charged at Kaguya and attacked while angling herself for the perfect kick. Once she had gotten the correct angle she divekicked her towards an air car dealership and straight into an air car. The air car slid against the ground by the moment of her kick and once it hit the wall Mokou quickly jumped away. As she jumped, Kaguya and the air car exploded in her Fujiyama Volcano spell card's eruption.
Once the flames cleared she could see Kaguya with a very pained and irritated expression as the Element Zero from the destroyed air car surrounded her. Normally, this wouldn't affect Kaguya with her repulsion bracelet on. If it wasn't the fact that both of their bracelets were destroyed early on in the fight.
"Pffff- Bhahahaha-" Mokou couldn't help but laugh at that pained expression of a contaminated Kaguya. It's not like contamination can kill them, the parts that get destroyed by the eezo-magic reaction grows back anyways. However, thanks to the constant flood of magic from the Houri Elixir's effect causes the Element zero to constantly react with the magic coming in. Thus making it really, really painful for them until all the eezo is gone.
Kaguya, not liking the fact that Mokou is laughing at her, tried to fire some of her bullets at her. Unfortunately, thanks to the amount of eezo in the air, her spell backfired and exploded in her face causing Mokou to laugh harder.
Eventually, while laughing, Mokou didn't notice that a vengeful Kaguya charged her with another air car. Kaguya rammed Mokou with the rear end of the air car and charged her into a wall. There she shoved a hand into it and started to move it around, while Mokou started to recover. Eventually, seemingly satisfied with her work, she pulled something out and caused the air car to blast a massive mass effect field onto Mokou.
Kaguya retreated while Mokou tried her best to fight off the field with her magic until the air car exploded onto her. At this Mokou felt searing pain throughout her body, clearly contaminated with an even higher degree then what she did to Kaguya. She looked up with a pained expression seeing an in pained yet laughing Kaguya.
An irritated Mokou ignited herself once again, electing to take the hit from the eezo reaction, and charged at Kaguya. The two of them re-engaged in their melee combat though both are still in pain. She noticed Kaguya was looking at something and summoned her damn jewel and blasted Mokou with a concentrated laser before she could react.
She felt herself impacting what felt like glass as a ton of water started coming down on her, dowsing her flames. Regaining her barings, Mokou noticed a lot of fish around her and she looked up and saw a stream of water heading straight for Kaguya. Once Kaguya submerged herself in a swirling ball of water, Mokou realized she was decotamniating herself.
Though the water did help decontaminated Mokou a bit, it evaporated more than cleansed her and she was not proficient in water magic to clean herself effectively anyways. While Kaguya dispersed the water, Mokou decided to risk defeat by using a risky move while contaminated. With a yell the remaining water around her evaporated as her body started to disintegrate as a bluish flame engulfed her.
With small eezo explosions that nearly knocked her unconscious the blue flame formed into a shape of a phoenix. One of the few things that Mokou has mastered over Kaguya in regards to their immorality is maintaining consciousness without a physical body. However, if her flames are disrupted enough before her body reforms she will lose consciousness resulting in defeat. But if she remains conscience long enough for her body to reform, her regeneration aspect will out strip the burning of her blue flames, giving her near invincibility. Fortunately she remained conscious from the eezo explosion and there are few attacks that Kaguya can perform to disrupt this form.
Mokou began her assault by bombarding Kaguya with thousands of her blue fire bolts. At this Kaguya frowned as she summoned her very stupid cloak and covered herself in it as a reddish sphere erupted around her. All of Mokou's blasts were canceled out by this sphere as it hit it. Of all of the treasures that Kaguya has, it's the Cloak of the Fire Rat she hates the most as it blocks most of her attacks. The red sphere charged at Mokou, to disrupt her form, as she started to fly away from the sphere.
While she was being chased small bits of her body started to regain form, credit it was barely a shape and was made completely of ash, but it was enough for Mokou. Mokou compressed a good section of her magic around her barely formed ash arm. She made a hard stop in the air and slammed her arm down, just as the sphere arrived. Mokou barely held onto consciousness as she broke through the sphere and her arm managed to grab hold of Kaguya's covered head and slam it to the ground. This caused the sphere to dissipate and most of her phoenix form regained its shape from the attack.
One of the things Mokou can not do is burn through the cloak but she can still cause physical damage. With that thought she started to accelerate forward while dragging Kaguya's head on the ground. As this went on for a few miles twisting and turning to avoid obstacles while more and more of her body started to regain its shape but it's still mostly ash. During one of these turns however, Kaguya made a counter attack that she didn't expect her to do. Kaguya wrapped Mokou's still ashed body in the cloak and banked into a room.
With most of her body shaped reformed she didn't lose consciousness when she lost her phoenix form but is still vulnerable to attack as it was very weak. She managed to get her head out of the cloak to notice that Kaguya blasted the roof off the room and realized the room is an elevator. While cursing at Kaguya's sudo clarvoice, Kaguya went up the shaft and quickly shot down ethereal chains at the elevator and quickly started to drag it up with her. The force of the pull pushed Mokou's weak body to the floor and she was unable to move.
Thinking that she intends to drag her back into space again and have the explosive decompression tear her ash body apart resulting in Kaguya victory. She had two options before her:
One; dispel her blue flame to allow her body to regenerate quickly to bypass the explosive decompression but return to a stalemate again.
Two; brace herself for the explosive decompression and hope her body doesn't tear apart, if she survives it her body will finish regenerating giving her the edge.
She decided to go with the latter. As she prepared for the explosive decompression she noticed that at the speed they're going, they would have been outside by now. In fact her body is currently regaining more of its function as it's now more 'body' then ash at this point. With more of her body she managed to escape the cloak and was about to blast Kaguya when she banked out of an elevator corridor through a closed door. Dragging the elevator with her out of it's shaft as she swung it in an arc with Mokou still inside and slamming into the ground.
Mokou then blasted the rubble away from her, now with a complete body and blue flames she stood in the steaming basin looking smugly at Kaguya. Wait steam, basin? She then looked around and noticed she was slammed into one on the, now evaporated, lakes of the Presidium. Her wonderment as to why she brought her here instead of the void was answered when Kaguya returned her cloak and held out her Jeweled Branch and Dragons' Jewel.
Mokou remembered she wasn't the only one with a risky sure win strategy just as thousands of orbs were summoned, shooting out barrage of bullets and lasers shooting out of said bullets. The barrage was extremely intense that it was starting to eat away her super regeneration from her blue flames. Looking at Kaguya she wasn't faring too well either, as wounds randomly appeared all over her clearly looking unstable. Any person using just one these treasures will have a tough time controlling its powers without backing firing on them, controlling two… well better left unsaid.
At this point it's a race as to who stays conscious the longest and since they are not in the void, Kaguya regeneration doesn't have to worry about a lack of air. Not feeling confident that her blue flames form can keep up with this constant onslaught she decided to pull one final desperate move. It was a theory she was working on when she felt the heat from that time. She never got a chance to try it but it was now or never.
She charged through the relentless onslaught and grabbed the bleeding face of Kaguya. Whom smiled as she stabbed Mokou's body with both treasures intending to finish her off with a point blank barrage. Before that happened though Mokou made one final yell as her blue flames retreated into her and their world turned to white.
Falling, no floating, that's not right either, it's impossible to explain the feeling Mokou is feeling right now as she hits something hard yet soft. Opening her eyes she sees everything yet nothing, it was a sensation she hasn't felt in a long time. Realizing where she was, she sighed as she didn't think that her last attack would send her here. What she fails and succeeds to perceive around her is the one place she hasn't been to for a long time, over a century now in fact.
But it's no mistake, she killed herself hard enough that her soul was sent to the boundary between life and death. A boundary she can never cross.
In her younger days she tried her best to get here trying to cross that boundary, only to be met with nothing but failure. Every time she made it here it became harder and harder to return here eventually it became impossible for herself to come here. Only when she reunited with Kaguya again centuries later did she find herself here again, and learning the impossibility of crossing this boundary.
Speaking of, if she's here then that means-
"MOOOOO~KOOOUUUUU~" A singsong voice cried out.
She sighed and turned her head towards the source of the voice she saw the only thing she can make out in this place. She saw Kaguya waving her hand towards her with a bright smile on her face.
She never understood why Kaguya gets so cheery when they're both here. Since neither of them can fight here might as well talk to her until their body's reform.
Approaching the cheery woman Mokou can't help but grin as this means it's her victory this time.
"Geez- when did you learn to combust like that?" Kaguya asked cheekly, if anyone were to see her right now they would wonder if this is really Kaguya.
Sighing Mokou responded, "You mean my white flames? Since the Black Hole."
Kaguya chuckled, "Oh I remember that time, still can't remember most of that fight while in it though. Also our science team is still wondering how we pulled that one off. But they are grateful that they can now view a forming star and system."
Mokou smirked, "All I remember is our shapelessness and the resulting heat. At the time it felt far yet attainable so I theorized on how to reach it, today was the first time I tried getting close."
"I'm honestly more shocked we weren't blasted here during that time… But I'm glad you tried it with me, otherwise I would have been all alone here."
"Heh, would have served you right."
"Don't be mean to your friend!"
"SINCE WHEN WERE YOU MY FRIEND!"
Kaguya couldn't help chuckle at that. Mokou forced herself to calm down, no point arguing here. Especially when she speaks the truth that she wishes wasn't. Both of them then turned and stared out at the empty yet filled void.
"Say Mokou…"
"Hm?"
"What do you think they would do to us if they win?"
"I don't know, and I rather not think about it. Killing us is pointless and we will just outlive any prisons they build… Just like everything else."
"Jeez, stop thinking like that Mokou. Just think about all the things we have yet to see! But, you still have a point. They are not eternity like us and they will one day pass one way or another."
"Speaking of them, I still think we should tell Flan of our true mission, she's trustworthy enough to keep this secret."
"I'll think about it. How are things going on the Citadel anyways, figured out why this station is so important to them?"
"Unless our infiltrators reported something I don't know about, we still have no idea why this place is important to them. C-Sec keeps hounding me every time I try to open up a food stall, it's boring to just be a bodyguard at all times. I'm guessing after today no one will even approach the stall, if I opened one." said Mokou downtrodden.
"I'll pull some strings to get you that food stall, won't hurt to try. By the way your restaurant on Earth is doing fine."
"I still don't trust that rabbit of yours running it for this long."
"Tewi is fine, as long as she doesn't get too greedy. Besides, I've already told her what would happen if she were to run your restaurant to the ground."
Mokou chuckled as both of them felt a tugging sensation.
"Looks like our time is up! By the way how long do you think it's going to take for those insects to repair the station?" Asked Kaguya.
"Probably a month, maybe a year I don't know nor care. As long as they are not trying to remove our reactor, again, I just ignore them. Oh, what did the mind reading report say about them?"
"Nothing! They are completely devoid of higher thoughts."
"Strange." Was the last word Mokou spoke as she and Kaguya returned to their bodies.
As sensation returned to her body, Kaguya couldn't help but cough a few times as normal body functions were taking over again. She found herself under some rubble, with a bit of effort she managed to pull herself out.
Taking into account of her surroundings she noticed she was still in the Presidium, though it's darker than normal. The light seemed to be coming from independent sources and the occasional sparks rather than the station lighting system. All the foliage near them is completely gone or burned beyond recognition. The walkways near them were melted and completely unrecognizable. The water in the lakes were gone and just now noticed that it felt like it was raining. Focusing in on the light sources she noticed that they were in fact C-Sec in enviro suits surveying the damage alongside the insects.
When C-Sec noticed her they all looked at her as if they saw a ghost. Before anyone could say anything, some rubble near her started to shake as a blast of fire shot out and Mokou emerged. She then looked around and then noticed her, prompting the two of them to stare at each other contemplating their next move. This prompted the insects to flee, a first she later learned, and the officers unsure as to what to do.
Thankfully for them, a savior came in the form of a loud clap. Everyone's attention was then drawn upon to the source, Flandre, who spoke out.
"Alright you two, you had enough fun for today, let's head to the embassy so I can have a talk with the two of you."
All Kaguya can do is sigh and accept defeat for today while looking at a smug Mokou. Both of them dusted themselves off and started to follow Flandre just as Executor Pallin arrived, also in an enviro suit, to stop them.
"Now just hold on there, do you expect to just let those two go after the amount of damage they've caused!?"
Flandre then turned around and spoke "Yes, that's what diplomatic immunity is for."
"WHAT, you can't just-"
"Did anyone die?"
"Umm… Except for some Keepers, no but-"
"Then what's the issue here executor?"
"The ISSUE!? Look around you! How is this not an issue? Those two caused numerous damages to both the Presidium and Tayseri Ward! Heck that last attack alone sucked up all the air in the Presidium open area!"
Kaguya couldn't help but smile as she was impressed by Mokou pulling that off.
"As I said before these two have diplomatic immunity so it will be up to us to decide if these two get punished or not. This is no longer an issue for you but for your leaders to handle."
"But-"
"Stand down Executor." Came a new voice.
Pallin turned to the new voice enraged, until he noticed that it was Councilor Sparatus in his own enviro Suit.
"Sir, you must-"
"Let them go."
"But sir!"
"She's right the two of them have diplomatic immunity, we can not charge them even if we wish to."
"But-"
"This is no longer in your jurisdiction but mine now, all you can do is assess the damage and send me the bill. It's my job to see to it they will pay for it, right." Sparatus says as he looks towards Flandre, who looks towards Kaguya.
She sighed and waved her hand and said in a disinterested tone. "Yes yes, the Alliance will pay for any and all damages caused by our little… 'disagreement'. The contents of said reparations will be decided upon by both parties at a later day, yatta yatta yatta. Are you happy now, Executor?"
"I-"
Before he can finish Kaguya interrupts him, "If the next words out of your mouth isn't: 'Yes ma'am, this is very satisfactory for me and I apologize for antagonizing you.' I will not even consider using technology as a form of reparations."
Sparatus turned and stared at Pallin expecting him to speak. "Y- Yes ma'am, this is very satisfactory for me and I a-a-apologize for antagonizing you."
At this Flandre perked up, "Excellent, now Councilor shall we head to our embassy or do you still have business here."
"Besides informing Pallin that I will be debriefing him later regarding this incident, I do not have any more business here."
Pallin spoke up again, "Sir I can't just send you alone with-"
"I'll be a fine Executor, besides this is private Council business. Let's go Ambassador."
As the four of them left, Executor Pallin made a vow to take the Alliance much more seriously. He will do everything in his power to make sure something like this never happens again when he hears one is loose."
Arriving at the Alliance embassy the five of them could smell the fragrance of a freshly brewed pot of tea. Kaguya was the first to settle down and sat in one of the couches available to them, followed quickly by Flandre and Mokou, who was still grinning, with Reisen standing behind them holding a case. Sparatus sat down on the couch opposite to them, taking off his helmet. Mei quickly came in with a tray filled with snacks and tea, where Kaguya was the first to reach out and grabbed one of the snacks.
Sparatus can't help but feel a bit uncanny in this situation, but dismissed it as a normal feeling when dealing with the Alliance.
Sparatus deciding to be the one to break the ice here was the first to speak. "No doubt that you're aware, the Council is furious about this situation and both Valern and Tevos are equally displeased. We are likely going to demand heavy reparations for your, well for a lack of better terms, grudge match. However the Council does understand that not all blame is squarely on the Alliance. It was us, the Council, that pushed for Kaguya to come to the Citadel and ignored the Alliance's warnings and risk that came with it. As such do not expect any future invitations to Kaguya as long as your bodyguard, Mokou, is around. Fortunately for the Alliance, with the lack of non-Keeper deaths. The Council decided that Mokou is still allowed to act on the Citadel as your bodyguard assuming there will be no more 'grudge matches.' However, I recommend your bodyguard leave the Citadel for a small period of time as there may be animosity towards her in the coming days."
After finishing his long winded speech he took a sip from the tea and he expected something similar from the ambassador. However, it was Kaguya who spoke up, in an uninterested tone.
"I thought as much, the Alliance would like to apologize for both the inconvenience and damage we have caused and will pay reparations. However, the Alliance did warn this could happen, and personally I'm displeased at the Council for failing to keep Mokou away. As such the Alliance will pay mostly in materials needed to repair the Citadel. For the technology I've promised to consider, it will be compensation for the labor cost. I'll be honest it won't be anything great, probably some construction tech at best to speed things up." Said Kaguya as she took another bit from the snack.
Sparatus spoke up, "I've been wondering though what did C-Sec try to do to stop you Mokou?"
"Surprising nothing, when I've been stopped by a guard I've told him I had a message for Kaguya. He then spoke to his radio, to Pallin I think, then let me through and even gave me directions on where to find her."
Kaguya's frown deepened, clearly more displeased as Flandre spoke up. "That matches with what Pallin told me. In his words he didn't read up on Kaguya's profile and didn't take any measures against Mokou."
At this Sparatus placed a hand on his head as he shook it. "I'll have a word with Pallin about this later. Moving on, I've also come here regarding some Hierarchy business." Sparatus brought up his Omni-Tool and pressed a few buttons then a small disk came out. "The Hierarchy asked me to pass this onto you directly and discreetly, Kaguya." He took out the disk and handed it to Kaguya who proceeded to slide it into her Wristcomp as a back screen spread in front of her that he couldn't see past.
"Hmmm… Yes, I see... This is something I can do, may take a while though. Speaking of the Hierarchy." Kaguya said while closing her Wristcomp, "I'll like you to inform them that as per our agreement for the requested Dextro samples you sent us, we got the required amount of volunteers for project Faith. We are ready to begin once you give the word. Also, I'll like to thank you again for the Dextro samples you've sent."
"I'll let them know." Sparatus had mixed feelings for that project, but remained optimistic as to what it entails. "If that is all, then I'll take my leave then."
As Sparatus stood up and grabbed his helmet, Kaguya spoke up in a cordial tone. "Actually, Councillor I have one more favor to ask before you leave?"
Sparatus looked back and was surprised as this was the first time he heard Kaguya speaking like this. "Sure what's the favor?"
"It's a personal favor really, can you look into the possibility of Mokou opening up a food stall on the Presidium?"
A flabbergasted Sparatus looked at Kaguya as if she grew a second head. He remembered hearing reports from C-Sec of Mokou attempting to open a 'food stall' before. But, due to her Bodyguard status it was always declined. "I can… Though I don't think it's a good idea, do the events of today… But, why would you make a personal request on the behest for a person who not just an hour ago tried to kill you?"
Kaguya just smirked, "Just treat it as the whims of an immortal. Besides, if she has a stand she may avoid future 'grudge matches' and it doesn't hurt to try."
"I'll see what I can do," said Sparatus placed his helmet on, "treat it as a thanks for getting rid of that building from earlier. If there is nothing else you require of me, I better take my leave."
"I better prepare for my departure as well, I'll also check to see if we can give Mokou a 'suspension' for a couple of weeks for today's events. Good day to you Councilor."
"Good day to you too, Alliance Head, Ambassador." With that, Sparatus started to make his way for the door.
While he was leaving Kaguya asked, "What was the deal with that building you charged me though?"
Mokou replied with chuckle, "Ah that building, it was some sort of Asari 'heritage site' that was made when the Citadel was first discovered and designed by some long dead famous Matriarch. However, due to the design it was not properly built for a vacuum and wasn't really that stable for the Citadels… I guess the best word for it would be climate. As such it was condemned and no one was allowed to enter. But due to its 'historical importance' it was never torn down, even though every race besides the Asari wanted it gone. Personally, it was a very ugly building that just had to go."
The girls heard a chuckle coming from behind a closing door as the councilor made his way back to the Presidium.
With that Kaguya floated off the couch she was sitting on, to the couch Sparatus was sitting on and laid back. "Now that business is handled let's move onto the next order of business. Reisen, how did your little raid at the Citadel Archives go?"
"It went really well Lady Kaguya, thanks to your distraction and removal of the cameras I was able to slip away unnoticed. The distraction also caused them to barely have any guards there. With our deep cover agents being those guards, we were successful in all mission objectives. With my eyes I was able to pass through all barriers and hide my presence from any and all sensors with ease. I've successfully installed several backdoors into their system and downloaded a full copy of the archives into the server within this case. I've also taken the liberty of taking several objects of interest."
Reisen placed the case onto the table and opened it revealing that it was much larger inside, a complex and expensive technique used by the Alliance. Kaguya synced her Wristcomp to the server inside it and started viewing the info gotten from the Archives as well as inspecting the artifacts retrieved. As she was inspecting the contents Reisen continued, "I made sure to move a few vaults around, erased the logs for today, and hid a teleport rune in one of them. It will take decades, perhaps centuries until the Council realizes the Archives have been raided and things are missing. The teleport rune is short range but will allow us to easily enter and exit the Archives in case we ever need to return. Plus if the rune is on the verge of discovery it will erase itself removing any evidence that we were ever there."
"Excellent work Reisen. Hm, what's this thing?" Kaguya pulled out what looked like a mace of some kind.
"That was some sort of relic of the Krogan that was taken by an Asari Specter during the Rebellion. Apparently it was the weapon of a famous warlord that led to the formation of several Krogan clans, the most notable being clan Urdnot. The warlord in question was also famous in other clans as well, so in the right hands the individual holding it can gain significant influence within Krogan society. It was due to these reasons that the Asari Specter took it. Upon her death, unrelated cause, she donated most of her spoils to the Citadel Galactic History Museum. However, due to the importance of this particular artifact the Council decided to hide it and store it away to prevent Krogan retaliation."
"Interesting, may have to stage its 'retrieval' or plant it during another operation though." Kaguya placed it back and closed the case, "Anyways, I believe it's time for us to depart this decrepit station and head home. I'll check the backdoors when I get home from vacation. I'm looking forward to going over all the Council's dirty little secrets be it past, present, or future."
As Kaguya and Reisen, who's carrying the case, were heading towards the door Kaguya stopped and looked back at Mokou. "Aren't you coming, Mokou?"
"Eh, I thought my suspension wasn't till tomorrow or something?"
"No, your 'suspension' starts immediately! In fact it just so happens I have a spare ticket for the space luxury liner, Eternal Princess!"
"What!? No way, I'll just head back to Earth and check on my restaurant!"
"Awwww, don't be like that Mokou!" Said Kaguya while approaching Mokou, "Come with me and enjoy your week away from work. Besides I would enjoy the company!"
"Then take Reisen with you! She deserves it more!"
"I appreciate your thought Mokou; however, I've already been awarded a ticket upon the completion of this mission. I do not need a spare."
"T-t-then give it to Erin-"
Flandre spoke up, "She is still on Tuchanka. Come on Mokou I know you don't like being in crowds, but you deserve the reward, so take it."
Kaguya grabbed Mokou's hands, "That's right, plus I've heard Marisa and her new apprentice is going to be on board! You've got to meet her, she's just the cutest thing!"
Mokou seeing herself being tagged teamed by everyone in the room realized that this was a losing battle. Thus she resigned herself to her faith and agreed.
Kaguya on the other hand is ecstatic, she may have missed the maiden voyage, but a voyage with her best friend is worth more than anything in the universe!
A/N: Geez, I didn't think it would be this long! I'll blame the fact that I have a tendency to drag things out. Or the fact that I like to explain small details as well. For example, I didn't intend the thing with the Krogan artifact, however I wanted an example of one of the items Reisen stole. So I've just made something up that she would have taken that would be there.
As for their friendship status, well I've always seen it as the two needing each other due to their immorality. So Kaguya see's Mokou as her best friend while Mokou, who still has a grudge, sees her only as a kind of friend. Also I've always seen Erin as Kaguya's loyal servant who gets along greatly, kinda like Sakuya and Remilia.
Anyways I've taken way too much of your guys time. Don't expect the next story to be this long (or a regular release schedule). Heck some may be as short as a few hundred words. For the next story, I have a couple of ideas: one is 'Arcrus journey to the afterlife', another is 'I'm an alliance journalist ask me anything.' Of course I have a few other ideas but those two I'm confident of writing over my other plot bunnies. And yes I know I suck at grammar. I may look for a Beta reader later, though I do not know when the next chapter will be done.
Till next time.