Chapter 18: Into the Samsara

It didn't take long for nearly all of St. Freya to become a buzz once news about Siegfried returning with Theresa at the end of her solo mission to Nagazora. About an hour, in fact, was all it took for the news to sweep across the campus and reach the members of Squad Five. They had been in the middle of a game that Kiana promptly ditched at hearing her father had returned alongside her "aunt". But what started as an excited mood changed a bit once they also got the news Theresa was still unconscious after whatever had happened to her at Nagazora. Which just made Kiana pick the pace up even more as they headed for the medical wing of campus, practically sprinting ahead of the others to make sure she'd reach the infirmary room first.

"Papa?!" One could almost worry the door would have flown off it's hinges from how hard Kiana attempted to throw it open.

"Well dang, I expected a welcome, but you just brought the whole gang huh?" Siegfried's greeting to his daughter was awfully casual for a man who'd toted back her "aunt" after being gone for a year. A sentiment Kiana made clear as she threw a punch at the man, which Siegfried caught quite easily. "Whoa! A bit too aggressive eh Kiana?"

"You don't just get to vanish for a year and then come back like this and act all casual!" Kiana snapped, not drawing back her caught fist. "Where the hell have you been? Did you just drop off the face of the earth after you ditched me in Nagazora or what?!"

"If she's like this I don't wanna know how Ms. Cecilia is gonna be." Soleil muttered.

"Okay okay, look I can explain a bit, but let's keep it down when we've got an out cold patient yeah?" Siegfried stuck a thumb towards the still sleeping Theresa on the medical cot. "Anyway, nice to at least see my kid's got some good company. Nice to meet the lot of you, the name's…"

"Siegfried Kaslana, current head of the Kaslana household and husband of Cecilia Schariac." Bronya rattled out. "Spent most of his youth operating outside of Schicksal before officially joining 20 years ago on your return to the Kaslana family." Siegfried had a twitching eye as Bronya then bowed. "Bronya Zaychik."

"She's an odd one." Siegfried murmured, Kiana nodding along.

"Bronya-chan doesn't mean anything bad. She just spends a lot of time looking into records." Mei said, putting a hand on the smaller girl's head. "I'm Raiden Mei. I've known your daughter about since she arrived in Nagazora a year ago."

"Soleil Empyrean." Soleil said. He sighed when Mei lightly elbowed him. "Sigurd's kid. But I'm sure you already knew that. I met Kiana when things went sideways back in Nagazora. We bailed each other out a few times."

"Well Sigurd wasn't kidding when he said you took after your mom." Siegfried chuckled. "You barely look like the guy."

"Don't insult him Papa." Kiana said, ribbing her father with a quick elbow. "Soleil-senpai did more than just bail me out either. I'm not sure if me and Mei-senpai would have gotten out of Nagazora without him!"

"You would've been fine, I'm sure."

"I'm trying to hype you up!" Kiana whined. "Don't you want to seem cooler in front of my dad?! How are we ever going to get his approval?!"

"Approval for what?!"

"Marriage of course!"

"Don't go jumping the gun!"

"Can we not have such a commotion?" Theresa growling as she sat up broke the mood in the room, the woman groaning as she put a hand to her head. "Rude way to wake a person up you know? Geez…"

"Aunty Theresa, are you alright?" Kiana darted over, Theresa chuckling as she adjusted herself.

"Fine fine… but… when the heck did I get back to St. Freya?" Theresa looked to Siegfried, her eyes widening. "Siegfried! Right… you and Sigurd showed up, and then… gagh, I can't remember anything after that."

"You might wanna take it easy, Theresa." Siegfried said, putting up a cautionary hand as Theresa rose off the bed.

"I'm fine Siegfried. I can handle a bit of a…" As she took a few steps, Theresa suddenly pitched forward, Kiana yelping as she caught her.

"Amagad! Theresa?! Hey! Don't just pass out all of a sudden!"

"Subject Kiana's vocal levels is adverse to patient comfort." Bronya said as Kiana hefted Theresa back onto the bed.

"Yeah, figures." Siegfried, perked up as the teenagers all turned to him, obviously expecting an explanation. "Look, I'm not sure clear on the finer details or how it happened. But, take a look here." Siegfried gently shifted Theresa over, exposing the Stigmata that had appeared on her neck. Bronya pulled out a data pad quite quickly once she saw it. "This, well… this obviously isn't hers."

"Obviously." Soleil muttered. "So then, how?"

"You ask me kid." Siegfried sighed. "Me and your old man ran into her when we checked out Nagazora. We don't know how she got it, but partway through fighting this brat of a Pseudo-Herrscher, she ended up going nuts. And then Sigurd found that. I'm not the kinda guy to ask when it comes to Stigmata though."

"Preliminary diagnosis from the Bronya concludes that it is the cause." Bronya stated. "Vice-Principal Theresa is unlikely to wake up soon because of this."

"Uhm… sorry to be that one again, but what even are Stigmata?" Mei asked. Bronya then grabbed Soleil by the wrist, holding his hand up to show the Stigmata marking it.

"Stigmata serve as an archive of genetic data. As they are passed from person to person, they accumulate more data, and as such more power. Families such as the Empyrean and Kaslana have Stigmata that go back centuries, and give them great power as a result. But, since the one that has appeared on Theresa's neck is not hers, it is clashing with her body. The Bronya's analysis detected abnormal spikes in dataflow coming from it, and such a flow interferes with the host's physiological and mental functions."

"Ahh! I've never heard of anything like that before!" Kiana shouted.

"Kiana, maybe don't be so loud." Siegfried murmured.

"Continuing…" Bronya said. "To avoid this situation, Schicksal uses artificial Stigmata that are modified to fit the host's physiology. As the one on Theresa is not hers, it is not matched to her body. The Bronya suspects that Theresa's mind is being assimilated. If no action is taken, Theresa will be engulfed by the data within the Stigmata."

"AHHHH! Assimilated?! Aunty Theresa is going to get Assimilated?!" As Kiana kept shouting, Soleil grabbed her and muffled her with a hand, rolling his eyes as she kept deciding to freak out for no reason.

"So then… quit it! Is there anything we can do?" Soleil asked. He did his best to ignore the sudden look boring into his skull coming from Siegfried.

"The Bronya does have an idea. It will be only a moment." Bronya darted out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a couple of boxes in hand. And from them, she pulled out the same HOMU themed headsets she'd used to help give Kiana a more involved history lesson. "These devices will let us link up with the Stigmata's native dataspace. Entering it will allow us to find out what exactly is wrong, and through it hopefully pull Theresa out before her mind can be assimilated."

"That sounds worth a try." Mei said as she took the headset Bronya handed her, Soleil getting the other.

"What about me?!" Kiana snapped, grabbing both Soleil and Mei before they could don the headsets. "I wanna go with them! I did this before, so where's my headset?!"

"The Bronya only made two." Bronya said, holding Kiana back as the girl tried to charge her. "Subject Kiana's user logs also indicate disruptive behavior. You shall remain with the Bronya to help take care of Theresa, Mei-neesama, and Soleil-niisama while they are in the dataspace. The Bronya will keep contact with you through this terminal."

"This is gonna be far from easy, isn't it?" Soleil muttered, placing the headset on and taking a chair. Mei took the chair next to him, giving the boy a reassuring look. "Don't let Kiana do anything to me or Mei while we're out, alright?"

"Affirmative. Give the signal when you are ready." Bronya's hand hovered over her terminal, Soleil and Mei nodding as they made sure the headsets were secure. "Your priority is to locate Theresa within the data scape. You will likely see recreations of the memories within the Stigmata, so be careful. Starting now."

Kiana puffed a cheek out as Bronya started the devices, Soleil and Mei closing their eyes as their bodies soon went slack. Bronya sat down and began plugging away at the datapad, Kiana flopping into another chair as she sighed.

"Talk about acting quick." Siegfried mused. "You've gotten yourself some good friends, Kiana."

"I know right!" Kiana laughed. "Though sucks to be left out of something like this. I wanna help Aunty Theresa too darnit."

"Subject Kiana can help by making sure nothing goes wrong here." Bronya stated.

"Well you've also got me around. Though I'm probably more than enough on my own." Siegfried's loud laugh got Kiana to give him a lidded gaze. "But if it's Sigurd's kid, things'll be fine. Speaking of… may have to hit him after he wakes up. What was it you said back there baby doll?"

"Nope!" Kiana objected. "You're not allowed to hit Soleil-senpai."

"Then why the heck're you talking about marriage of all things?! I go away for a year, and you suddenly meet a guy and then what?! I mean I'm fine with Sigurd's brat but ain't you going too quickly?!"

"I'm going quickly enough! Besides it's not like we've done anything… yet."

"YET?!"

"Please do not cause a commotion." Bronya said, father and daughter flinching as the shimmer of Project Bunny 19C appeared in the air. "The Bronya must maintain focus on the data reads.

"Roger that…"

When Soleil and Mei finally made it through the initialization of the data scape, what they saw perhaps wasn't quite what they expected. They descended immediately onto a shrine ground, one still in burning ruins with the buildings in various states of ruin.

"Well that's a welcome." Soleil muttered.

"Is that Stigmata really storing all of this?" Mei asked. "What on earth happened here?"

"Soleil-niisama, Mei-neesama." A window popped open in front of them with Bronya square in it. "The Bronya hasn't detected any sign of Theresa in this data sector. You will need to head to the next one. Please follow the waypoints the Bronya has designated to get there."

"Yeah, sooner the…" Soleil froze as he turned around, finding two people collapsed amid the flames… people he recognized. "The hell…?! What are those two doing here?!"

Mei followed Soleil's gaze as he shot off. Mei had no knowledge of it, but it was to her own surprise when she saw who Soleil did. A man and woman, the former with a striking resemblance to Soleil, and the latter a near mirror image of Theresa. Logos and Kallen.

"Hey! Are you two alright?! What happened here?!" Soleil had to keep in mind that, even if they were the same people, the two he was seeing now were different recreations, likely memories from within the Stigmata. But then who's memories is the question. Soleil knelt before the two, Mei following as he propped Logos up. "C'mon, say something! Why is this place burning?"

"Something… you could call a demon." Logos coughed, Mei tilting her head as she adjusted Kallen. "Sorry… but the two of us can't move."

"You two… are warriors, are you not?" Kallen asked, slowly moving an arm up. "I know not your names, but please… grant us a boon."

"You shouldn't be talking, just take it easy." Mei paused as Kallen pressed a crucifix into her palm, the white haired woman coughing.

"If you… encounter a miko with cherry colored hair… please, give this to her… that's all we can ask of you."

"The data space is collapsing. The Bronya will forcibly move you to the next sector."

Before they could get another word from Kallen and Logos, the world around Soleil and Mei fell away into shards of data. And when it was restricted, gone was burning shrine and now it was a forest in midday. And they were right over a river in the air. Just my rotten luck… was Soleil's annoyed thought as they were sent plummeting into the water, loud splashes resounding through the woods.

"Freaking… hell!" Soleil growled as he and Mei pulled themselves out onto the rocky riverside, grating his teeth as he shook his head free of water. "Bronya, warn us next time before you dunk us into a river like that! Not cool!"

"The Bronya apologizes. You two had to be moved quickly before the sector collapses, so it was urgent. But do not waste much time. There seems to be traces of Theresa in this sector, so get looking."

"We'll be on it." Mei nodded, wringing some water free of her hair. "Oh my… I just noticed our clothing changed!"

"It did?" Soleil looked him and Mei over, giving a hum. "It did… I look like someone took a brush coated in autumn and slapped me with it."

True to his observation, the very clearly Japanese styled clothing Soleil had been garbed in was of autumnal colors, reds and greys highlighted by black. He'd compared the clothing to that of a wandering samurai, with his arms covered in wrappings and even two swords kept in the sash at his hip. Mei's attire was of whites and greys with blue accents, and some armor plating as well, and a sword of her own at her hip. Yet somehow still with a skirt and thigh highs… Soleil observed. At least we have weapons.

"Oh, right, before we got moved, that woman gave me this." Mei extended her hand, Soleil plucking the crucifix from her palm and letting it dangle by the chain. "I'm surprised it stayed with us. Who do you think she was talking about?"

"No idea." Soleil sighed. "Let's hold onto it for now. Looking for Theresa should be the priority. This river has to lead somewhere."

"Not just a river, look! I can see a town not far off!" Mei tapped Soleil on the shoulder, and indeed, just past the bank a fair way, a village stood raised up on the hills beyond the riverbed. "Maybe we'll find Theresa somewhere in there."

"It's a better bet than anything else we could do. Let's go then."

Hoping to find a road, the two decided to follow the river for a while and keeping the town in sight. Still, for a data space stored in a Stigmata this is kind of impressive. Soleil thought. That simulation Kiana and I fell in was accurate, but this is somehow even sharper… it's like we're really living in the memory that created this space. As a dirt road finally came into view, someone came into view of the two quite quickly.

A young woman, hair the same shade as sakura petals, dressed in the white and red robes of a miko. Blue eyes turned to the two wanderers in clear curiosity at the no doubt unfamiliar faces. But Soleil had another thought in his head. Is she the one they talked about? Sakura… the miko that Kallen and Logos tried so hard to save.

"Travelers?" the miko wondered. "You've come quite the ways if you've ended up at this village."

"We're not exactly familiar with this region." Mei said. "We got a little bit lost on our way through the woods. Seeing a town is honestly a relief." She got into the character for this quickly. Soleil thought with an amused little smirk. Mei gave him a look, and he cleared his throat.

"Though to be precise we're also looking for someone." Soleil stated. "You wouldn't have happened to have seen a young woman with white hair, have you? Probably kind of loud and obnoxious?"

"I can't say I have, no." The miko stated. "I was however heading to the river to check out a commotion the villagers spoke of. Perhaps you will find your friend there? Oh, and by the way, my name is Sakura. I'm the Miko of Yae Village." Spot on. Soleil thought.

"I'm Soleil, and this is Mei." Mei waved as Soleil gestured to her. "And that sounds better than aimlessly looking around. Lead the way."

Sakura nodded and took the lead as they headed further down the riverside. When they got to where the bank gave out to a shallow beach near a bridge leading to another end of the woods, it certainly wasn't Theresa they found washed up at the bank. But, again to the surprise of Soleil and Mei, Kallen and Logos, the former clutching tightly to a purple cube even despite her unconscious status.

"What the… how did these two wash up here?!" As Sakura bolted forward, Mei and Soleil didn't need another word to help her pull the two from the water and onto the grass. Quick checks revealed that both were still breathing, but their time in the water couldn't have done either any good. "They're still alive but… look at these wounds… and they've likely been in the water too long. They'll need to be treated. Soleil, Mei, can you help me get them to the village? I can treat them at the temple."

"No problem, just lead the way." Soleil nodded and hefted Logos up onto his back, grumbling at the dead weight of the unconscious man. "This guy's heavy…"

"The shrine is down this way, across the bridge." Sakura pointed off to the barely visible structure above the trees a ways off. "There will be supplies to treat them there. Let's hurry."

After Mei got Kallen onto her back, the group carefully but quickly made their way down the path. Sakura lead them from the trees and to an ascending stair case marked by torii gates every few feet up to the shrine. Soleil wasn't thankful that within this data space their sensations were accurately being recreated, because by the time they made it up to the shrine, he felt all kinds of sore from lugging the unconscious Logos all the way up there. And Mei was looking similarly winded from carrying Kallen. Sakura guided them to a room of the shrine building, laying out bedding to lay the wounded pair on. Once that was done, Mei and Soleil went to wait outside while Sakura got to work treating them.

"God that was not fun." Soleil rolled a shoulder as he sat on the steps, Mei nodding as she sat next to him.

"A shame this is all just simulated." Mei commented. "Who are those two? They were there in the previous sector… and you looked like you recognized them. Heck, that man looks like you."

"Their names are Kallen Kaslana and Logos Empyrean." Mei had the look of immediate understanding once she heard those two names. "They're mine and Kiana's ancestors from this time period, the ones we learned about in history class."

"The first S Rank Valkyrie and one of Schicksal's finest Knights." Mei said, Soleil nodding. "But then… right, they'd fled to Japan after an incident at Schicksal. Does that box Kallen was holding have anything to do with it?"

"Apparently it's some dangerous artifact." Soleil adjusted so he could lean against one of the poles of the support beams of the building. "If I had to guess it's probably crystallized Honkai Energy, going by the color. As for what it does, no clue. But apparently it's enough for those two to decide to bring it halfway across the world." Soleil reached into his pocket, drawing the rosary Kallen had given them prior. "If I had to guess, right now this data sector is a recreation of a memory encoded into this Stigmata, but one that can play out in response to foreign factors."

"So then, what do we do?"

"Let it play out and hope we find Theresa somewhere in here." Soleil pocketed the rosary. "I've admittedly had a few experiences like this thanks to my own Stigmata, but the memories have been so damn old the data is a bit corrupted. So, I don't think we can expect this to be an accurate recreation of whatever went down here 500 years ago."

"If I remember correctly…" Mei murmured. "Didn't an incident happen where they encountered a Psuedo-Herrscher? And… were claimed to have gone insane for coming to her defense? Was that Pseudo-Herrscher…"

"Sakura." Soleil confirmed. "As for what happened… well, I think I'm starting to realize just who this memory belongs to. And who gave Theresa the Stigmata." As he was contemplating things, Soleil spotted a white cat wander by. Its blue eyes looked between him and Mei, and it let out a meow. When Soleil gestured for it to shoo, the cat narrowed its eyes at him, almost seeming to huff before trotting over and sitting in front of him and Mei. "And what do you want furball?" He got a mewl in reply. "I don't speak cat y'know?"

Now seemingly annoyed at this attitude, the cat leapt up and crashed into Soleil's face, the boy yelping as it jumped off and sauntered down the walkway, giving an indignant huff before dashing out of view. Soleil growled as he prodded a few fresh scratches, Mei stifling giggles at his plight.

"And here I thought cats would like you, what with how affectionate Kiana-chan is." Mei laughed, Soleil growling as he propped an arm on the support beam. The door of the room behind them slid open, Sakura stepping out and shutting it behind her. "How are those two doing?"

"They're sleeping well now." Sakura said. "I bandaged their wounds and dried them off. Their body temperatures also look to be returning to normal. They'll live."

"Well, that's a relief." Soleil sighed.

"Out of curiosity, is the woman the one you're looking for?" Sakura got a shake of Soleil's head. "I see. Do you by chance know them? I only ask because you and the man look quite similar. Are you relatives?"

"It's a coincidence." Soleil said, not wanting to open that can of worms. "Anything else about their states we should know?"

"Well, while they'll live, I'm unsure if they'll wake up soon." Sakura noted. "it's possible they have some internal injuries. I grow a stock of herbs nearby for medicinal use, so I can likely make something to help them regain consciousness sooner. Then hopefully we can learn what happened to them. You two wouldn't mind staying here to watch over them, would you? I can help you look for your friends once I'm sure they'll be fine."

"It'll be faster if at least two of us go." Soleil said, glancing over at that cat, which was now peering out at him. "I'll help you out. Mei?"

"I can stay here and make sure those two are fine. If they wake up before you get back I'll come and get you two." Mei said, Sakura nodding.

"Alright. Well then, follow me. I keep the planters a short walk from here." Soleil nodded and stood up, passing Mei another look before taking off down the path after Sakura. As they passed the remaining trees around the shrine, Soleil turned to see the village just below them, sprawling out across the hills and with some farmland just beyond it. The picture-perfect image of an old-era Japanese village.

"Looks pretty peaceful here." Soleil noted.

"Mostly, yes." Sakura nodded. "However, sometimes we have trouble with the wildlife. They behave… strangely, sometimes. And lately it only seems to have been getting worse." Must be Honkai corruption. Soleil took the mental note of it. The Beasts in this era weren't nearly as advanced as those in ours, so people usually deal with them without too much trouble, so long as their mutations hadn't advanced too much… those were the ones they couldn't kill. "I know I said I'm a Miko, but admittedly my duties extend too more than just the spiritual. I also act as this village's guardian, so it's my duty to handle any troubles. These rampant animals have been making my work a bit heavier than the norm."

"Explains the swords." Soleil glanced to the blades kept in Sakura's sash, and the girl then glanced back at his own weapon. "Though obviously it's not like I'm unfamiliar. Mei and I… I guess you could say we're part of an order. Not quite Samurai, but close enough. We're used to dealing with these… unusual animals ourselves. The person we're looking for is actually one of our teachers."

"I can't say they give me a good feeling." Sakura said, stopping as they reached the planters. "However, there's no need for you to worry yourself with our troubles. Let's gather what we need and head back to the shrine. We won't need much for the medicine I'll make."

"Just direct away." Soleil chuckled. But as he began picking herbs, his look grew somber as he was turned away from Sakura. I know this is just a recreation of data but… something about this feels off. It's too accurate, too responsive to us. The memories I experienced were all like corrupted recordings. But this is… different. And then… then there's what the Kallen and Logos in that other simulation asked of me and Kiana. He stole a glance over his shoulder to Sakura, who seemed almost absent minded as she picked her stock of herbs. As if she had done this dozens of times for the same reason. They wanted us to save her if we could… which means whatever happened five hundred years ago… Sakura never died. If I'm right… part of me really hopes I'm not. If we can find Theresa and get out of here, that'll be great. But if it really is what I'm thinking, this may take longer than we thought.

A/N
And so the Sakura Samsara gets underway! Nice to finally be getting to this segment since I can actually use some of the game's content for this arc. And as for Soleil's look here... think Kazuha from Genshin, heh.