In Time, Death

By Alesyira

Summary: Kagome has a little bit of experience with wells leading to other places, but not quite like this.

Well

- 1660 -

They stepped out of the next portal onto a dusty, well-traveled road. The nearby plants were dried and scraggly, clear signs that this area had been without rain for a while. She wrinkled her nose at the subtle scent of rotting meat curling through the gentle breeze.

"We're pretty close to a settlement this time," Koenma observed.

"The breach is in the same direction," Kagome added on with a frown as they started walking toward the little buildings they could see.

Koenma smiled in anticipation. "At least we might be able to get some quick answers for this one, then."

A short distance away, a young boy sat in a small patch of shade, tracing shapes in the dirt with a long stick. A pile of stones were stacked next to his knee, and he sat up with interest as he spotted them. He took one of the stones from the pile and waited, watching as they approached.

The trace of magic from the nearby breach tingled against her senses and Kagome slowed, her gaze flicking toward the source. She noticed a stony structure that looked like an old well, a frayed rope dangling from the broken pulley system. Its bucket was nowhere to be seen. "It's over there," she murmured, gesturing.

Once the boy realized they were both staring at and moving toward the old structure, he tossed his rock at the well. It clattered against the dusty rim and bounced back onto the dirt nearby. Kagome paused, reaching out to snag Koenma's sleeve with sudden apprehension.

A glistening something erupted out of the well, writhing upwards toward the sky before it flopped down against where the little rock had landed. Koenma jumped back in surprise and watched with muted horror as it patted the ground a few times before quickly retreating into the depths of the well.

"That must be the breach," Kagome murmured. "And I wouldn't be surprised if that has been killing the humans."

Koenma crossed his arms and frowned. "There's no way we're going to be able to get to the other side with that thing in the way. We might have to use another portal."

Kagome tilted her head and propped a hand on her hip. "I'm not so sure about that." She stepped closer to the well and the kid scrambled to his feet.

"No, lady! Lady wait, don't go any closer!" he shouted, hopping from foot to foot with barely restrained panic.

"It's okay," she waved off his warnings. There was the vague outline of a circle about twenty feet from the well's rim, which probably indicated the current limit of the creature's reach. She worried that it would grow larger over time, and if left unchecked, might eventually run the villagers out of their homes.

She sighed and stepped just into its range, and as expected, the moment her foot touched the dirt, another shining watery feeler sloshed out of the well and headed in her direction.

The kid shouted in fright as it slid quickly toward her, but Kagome was ready for it and shook her head with disappointment as it collided with her shimmering barrier. The magic holding the thing together fell apart upon impact, and it turned back into water and splashed harmlessly over her legs.

She turned back to Koenma. "Whatever is on this side doesn't seem to have much substance."

"Oh, oh!" the kid breathed in wonder. "Someone came to help us!" he shouted, running back toward the village with excitement. "Someone came to help!"

Kagome's eyebrows lifted as she watched him dash away. "Is this another one of the bad spots?" she asked.

"You mean lots of death? No, this one is pretty steady. Although, if they have someone keeping watch, you'd think there would be fewer deaths over time."

The boy returned quickly with a small group of adults that displayed a weary relief she'd seen more than once in communities undergoing such rough times. They hurried forward to greet her. "Miko-sama!" the eldest exclaimed with happy welcome. Kagome arched an eyebrow, glancing down at her traveling clothes. She hadn't worn her miko attire for any of this trip. Was it the bow or just a lucky guess? "Oh, thank kami!" he continued. "We have sent out pleas for help with any travelers that have come through here, but we didn't think anyone would believe us or even want to try."

"Eh, you're welcome?" Koenma said, a little frown creeping over his lips at being ignored.

An old woman clasped her hands with teary eyes. "We weren't sure what else we could do to stop it. Taro tried boarding the well so that the monster couldn't come out, but…" she said, turning away to wipe at a wet trail down her face. "Efforts to build up protections have failed. We've lost too many people to this insatiable beast."

The kid nodded quickly. "Some of us hang around to try and warn off travelers from getting too close, but few people believe stories about monsters anymore."

"They probably thought we were hoarding the water for ourselves," the elder muttered with irritation. "There's another spring where we've been getting our water, but it's a long day's walk to the north."

Kagome nodded with understanding. Without an easier way to transport enough water for a village to survive, their struggles here had probably only worsened over time.

"I don't think this is one that we can just leave spells around to spot lost travelers," she muttered, crossing her arms as she looked at Koenma. "If it can't be reasoned with, it'll have to go."

"You mean…" Koenma dragged his finger across his throat with raised eyebrows.

Kagome nodded seriously, rubbing her thumb along the edge of her bow as she peered at the well.

Koenma grinned and smacked a fist into his palm. "Excellent!"

"You are far too excited about this," she grumbled. "You realize that whatever's been killing these people is a creature just living its life, right? It might have a whole family of baby slimes on the other side waiting for their next meal from an unwary traveler."

"Kill or be killed," he said with a shrug.

Kagome turned to the young boy. "Can you hand me one of your rocks?"

He raced to his stack and brought her one with wide eyes. She frowned down at the stone with a thoughtful look. "I probably can't shoot into a well filled with water, but a rock should do the trick."

Her hand flared around the small stone as she approached the well. The villagers gasped in surprise as another water-feeler rose up and flopped against her barrier, splashing harmlessly through the shimmering surface. She shook her head with a grimace. I almost feel bad for it.

She climbed up on the rim of the well and peered down into its dark depths. She could barely see the shimmer of light at the water's surface some ten feet below ground level, but the breach seemed quite a bit further down than that. She held the glowing stone out over the water and dropped it, forcing more magic into it as it fell through the air and landed with a great splash.

The bright pink fire continued to glimmer as it slid slowly through the water, drifting like a shining beacon through anything that hid below the water's surface before it abruptly vanished from sight. That must be the breach entrance, but it's pretty far down.

"If someone were to fall or jump inside this well," she said, turning toward the villagers, "how would they get back out?"

The elder stepped forward cautiously. "There are hand-holds that were chiseled into the rock a long time ago. I was but a young boy when the last child fell in. After his death, the builders made sure it wouldn't happen again so easily."

Kagome smiled and glanced back down at the well's interior. Sure enough, she could see now where spots had been carved to make climbing out a little more manageable. "Koenma, did you ever learn how to swim?"

Koenma spluttered and hurried forward. "Yes, of course I did!"

"Ready to get wet?" she grinned at him.

"What? Jump inside that well?" Koenma balked. "Are you crazy? What if there's less water on the other side?" He wrung his hands with worry. "We could also end up jumping right into the mouth of whatever-it-is."

She shrugged and held out both of her hands lit with bright pink fire. "I'd like to see it try to eat me."

He frowned and arched an eyebrow. "This might be one of those times where taking a portal to the other side is a good idea." She didn't seem immediately convinced, so his brows furrowed with worry and his eyes became suspiciously moist. "If not for your safety, for mine?"

She was briefly reminded of Shippo's earliest begging expressions. She turned back to the well and glanced down into its depths, biting her lip. Swimming down into danger did seem like a pretty bad idea, and just because it was some weird water-based creature here didn't mean it would be just as weak on the other side. "Alright, we'll try it that way."

He sagged in relief and she rolled her eyes before turning back to the villagers standing a safe distance away. Maybe getting a good night's rest had made her feel a little invincible, which could quickly prove dangerous or lethal if things went south. She gave herself a firm reminder of her own mortality as Koenma instructed the villagers to remain out of the creature's reach until they returned with news.

The people were understandably worried, and one of the elders clasped his hands in a brief prayer for their safe return as Koenma summoned a new portal.

When they emerged a safe distance away from the location in the other realm, she was surprised to find a large, dusty clearing scattered with various bits of rubble and broken trees where a town may have once stood. The entire area seemed impossibly quiet, and she wondered if it was because any living creatures simply understood the danger and refused to venture anywhere near.

She shivered in discomfort as she examined their surroundings. Where the well had been was now a dark, gaping maw leading straight into the earth.

Koenma reached down to collect a handful of stones, and his voice echoing through the quiet gloom startled her. "So, is this particular cleanup a delegate task or do we do it ourselves?"

Kagome cautiously approached the edge of the dark hole in the ground to peer into its depths. "How edible do you think your employees are…?"

He paused, looking down at his little stones with pursed lips as he considered the answer a bit longer than should have been necessary. "I mean, they're probably a little edible, but—"

She cut him off with a sigh. "That was a rhetorical question, you know." She shook her head with disbelief. "We should probably take care of this one ourselves. There really wouldn't be a whole lot to delegate for fixing if the creature is just eating stuff straight out of the well."

She tilted her head, trying to get a clear view into the darkness below. Koenma had been right, and there didn't seem to be as much water on this side. If they'd gone through the breach, they might have ended up falling some distance.

"Ah, right. Right…" he muttered in response, looking mildly embarrassed.

"We might need some rope to take a look down there," she said, turning back to him. If any humans fell through into this realm, they'd likely end up in the dark recesses far below. They'd probably need to set Koenma's spell stones both around the well opening and within it, just in case. "Can you send for some while we get your stones prepped?"

Koenma nodded, shifting his attention to their surroundings. "I'll need a minute before I can do that. Grab that stone there, will you?" he pointed by her ankle as he picked up a few within reach.

She hummed and leaned over, hand outstretched.

The creature's arm flashed through the air where her back had been two seconds before, the sharp razor edge of its clawed limb slashing across the curve of her spine. It cut easily through her traveling clothes but slid harmlessly off her protective bodysuit, then looped back through the air to sling its length around both of them. She gasped in surprise as it yanked them off their feet, a second arm quickly joining the first to stab through Koenma's leg as it ensnared them both.

Koenma hissed in pain and Kagome scrambled to grab anything, a shout caught in her throat as they were dragged rapidly toward the dark opening in the ground behind them. Earth gave way beneath their weight and her stomach rose to her throat as light and colors whipped past them, fading quickly into sudden, deep darkness, the wind rushing past her ears as they fell.

She landed hard on a squashy surface that rippled out beneath her weight like a massive gelatin dessert before it crashed around her like an freezing cold wave that swallowed her whole. The icy burn of the creature's magic swam through her senses for a moment until she realized where she was.

She shook free of the stun that had gripped her and unleashed her magic, feeling the rumbling, shuddering vibrations of the creature writhing around her.

The world tilted sideways and she slid to the side in a roiling mess of limbs and muck, barely landing on her feet before she tipped over on the uneven surface. She rolled down a short rocky slope to land in an undignified heap at the edge of a cold body of water.

She left her magic running rampant and coughed harshly as she sat up, trying to clear her eyes, nose, and mouth of the gross gunk that had managed to get everywhere. "Koenma?" she croaked, spitting out more of the foreign material.

She scrambled to her feet, looking around in confusion. The only light came from her magic, casting everything around her in a subtle pink shimmer. The half-melted remnants of a gigantic slime monster remained at the top of the short hill before her, and she recognized what looked like a humanoid arm sticking out of the muck. She rushed forward and gripped the hand, yanking hard until the rest of the limb followed. It ended just past the shoulder, with a few bright white bones and dissolving chunks of meat still connected. She shrieked and dropped it, recoiling in abject horror before she realized it hadn't been Koenma's arm.

He'd been dressed in dark blue, and this arm still had shreds of pale fabric clinging to the limb. Knowing it hadn't been her friend made the reality of death a little less awful, but she turned her face away from the dripping evidence resting before her with a sad sniffle.

Gathering herself quickly, she blinked and looked back at the remains of the creature, searching with her eyes and her senses for anything that might lead her to him. Something twitched within the pale pink gloom, and she lunged forward with flaring fingertips to burn through more of the muck, digging out huge globs of musty gelatin to make a path.

Her hands slid through the material like a hot knife through rancid butter. Globules dripped into her face as she dug deeper within the great center of the creature until she found a foot. It twitched under her grip and she dug faster, pulling at his trousers as he tried to wiggle his way out of the creature's innards. He flopped to the ground in a pile of limbs, his expression shocked and confused as she rubbed her filthy sleeve over his face to clear off some of the muck.

"Are you okay?" she asked, shaking his shoulder.

He blinked up at her and gingerly touched a hand to the back of his head. "Hit my head," he said. "Got stabbed." Both of their gazes fell to his thigh where bright red blood pulsed from a deep puncture wound.

He's immortal. It'll be okay. Probably.

She held out her hand with a grim expression and pressed fingertips to the edges of his wound. He hissed as she focused, reaching with her magic to let it do whatever the heck it did, speeding time or reversing the damage.

She didn't know, and it didn't matter. He'd lived long enough that she doubted it was possible to accidentally give him an old man's leg. All she cared about was to make it stop bleeding. She glanced up from watching the wound seal shut to find his eyes closed with a lax expression as odd cerulean gunk dripped from the end of his nose. She sighed and smiled gently, poking him in the forehead with a bloodied fingertip.

He looked at her and smirked. "This wasn't exactly what I signed up for."

"Comes with the job, you know."

He rolled his eyes. "Maybe you're just as cursed as your jewel," he muttered, rubbing at the bump on his skull with a frown.

She grinned with a shrug as she stood up. "Maybe." She held out her hand. "Think you can continue on for your last few spots? We're well past the halfway point, now."

He took her fingers and let her help him to his feet.

"That really hurt," he complained.

"Does your entire life just revolve around stamping paperwork and telling people to do things?"

He shook his head. "I've trained for combat. Defensive spells, hand-to-hand, a few weapons. I've done my share of dirty work." He glanced at her with a little frown. "Splitting the realms, when Father nearly ruined our plans due to idiotic pandering, I had to stop a few that tried to incapacitate me. I may have been a bit harsh with how I pulled their spirits apart." He looked away with mild discomfort. "Haven't had to work with or against anything that wasn't of the talking variety, though."

They stared up at the monster's remains still looming above them. "Whatever this was… I don't think it'll bother the villagers anymore."

Everything she had was coated in gunk. She sighed and wiped her free hand over her pant leg, then grimaced with the realization that there wasn't a single clean spot available. Not even the magic flaring across her skin was enough to clear off the creature's remnants, and she sighed in mild irritation.

She frowned and wiped a smear of dripping goo from her pouch before fishing out her vesper. She tapped once on the screen to get its surface to light up, then pointed it upwards to cast gentle illumination over the stony cavern where they stood.

A hundred pairs of shining eyes blinked from various hiding spots, many of which turned away in discomfort from the unexpected brightness. Just as I thought. Slime babies.

"I'm not clearing out this place," she murmured quietly, looking around at all the little creatures that peered out at them with wide eyes. "You're going to have to get your new cave friends to try and move this breach, too, so the humans can't fall in anymore and the next slime to get big enough to reach can't use it to fish for the humans." She shook her head in disbelief. What a mess. "Both sides have equal rights to their homes."

He nodded as he prepped some stones to leave detection spells scattered around the area. "You're right. We'll figure out something."

The villagers were, of course, thankful. The day was saved, and their water source would be safe to use once more.

"Never a dull moment with you around," he laughed, and she gave him a sharp frown of disbelief. She couldn't wait to get home and have a few weeks of dull moments before she jumped back into the fray.