In Time, Death
By Alesyira
Summary: One way or another, they'll never escape
Oubliette
- 1660 -
"Last destination, coming right up!" Jorge said cheerily. He turned away from their view and heaved a long sigh of relief, the tension easing in his shoulders as he scribbled something just out of sight. "We will be so glad to have you back in the office, sir."
Koenma sighed and nodded, motioning for him to get back to work. His assistant waved farewell, wiping away tears of relief before they disconnected the call and he vanished from sight.
Koenma rolled his eyes with fond exasperation.
Kagome glanced over at him with a small smile, glad that they'd been able to work together. "These have been some interesting stops. I've seen and learned a few new things."
He nodded, returning her smile. "I have as well. I look forward to the next time you show up to lure me away from the endless busywork of Reikai."
"You obviously didn't come close enough to death for it cure you of this ridiculous need for danger," she teased.
He scoffed in reply, turning his attention to the last portal as it appeared with a gentle swell of light. "Sooo," he began nonchalantly, his toe nudging at a loose pebble by the otherwise-pristine path. "You really don't need to stick around for this next one."
She cocked an eyebrow and watched him for a moment, feeling a bit taken aback. Wasn't he just saying he was ready to go on more adventures with her?
Any time?
She wondered if he'd only just realized how personal it had sounded and was trying to backpedal. He'd clearly wanted her to understand he was interested, but maybe he didn't want to seem too interested.
She knew some people lured in potential partners by playing hard-to-get. (She wasn't really sure if she fell under that category or if he understood more of the dating game than she did.) Was that his intention, now? Feign indifference and see if she'd ask for his company?
They'd been through quite a bit together over the last few days. This last adventure had been unintentionally eye-opening, even if he'd made clear that the lady's magic shouldn't have (and most certainly did not, because reasons) affect him like it did the other males they'd seen fawning over her unearthly beauty.
Perhaps he felt a little bit too exposed by the sort-of revelation. She felt a little bad, but—
"I feel a little bad," he murmured, interrupting her train of thought. "I've been dragging you all over the place to help me with these problems that aren't your responsibility."
She lifted one of her shoulders in a half-hearted shrug. "If you're handed a tool to help fix a problem and you turn it away to use your bare hands instead, that seems a little stubborn and very counter-productive," she reasoned.
"But you're not a—" he started before she interrupted him with a stern look and a lifted finger.
"I'm definitely ready for a break, but some of these things just need to get done." She smiled and sighed, stretching a little as she eyed the next portal with curiosity. "Even if they're exhausting and dangerous, I'll sleep better knowing I've helped save lives."
He huffed a short laugh. "If you get a chance to rest," he muttered, rubbing a hand over his face.
She grinned mischievously. "I got enough last night, and so did you, if I were to judge by your puddle of drool…" she trailed off, casting him a sideways glance as he sputtered. She had to press her lips together to hold back a chuckle as his cheeks flushed pink.
"Anyways," he said, clearing his throat awkwardly, "I only meant that if you're ready to go home, I can just grab some extra stuff from here to use at the last stop."
She arched an eyebrow and eyed him with a growing smile. "You'd risk going on alone? Do you even know what the last problem will be?"
"Nothing too crazy, I'd imagine. The death rate there has stayed mostly the same."
She narrowed her eyes with mild disbelief. "People have been dying there under possibly mysterious circumstances, and you'll be fine by yourself?"
He pursed his lips and shrugged, his hands spread wide. "Couldn't be worse than anything we've already seen," he said with a sigh. He threaded the fingers of his right hand into his hair and ruffled the soft brown locks into a fluffed mess with a grimace. "An angry dragon, a giant man-eating slime, and cliff-diving into the unknown? It's been an adventure I won't soon forget."
She shook her head. "You know, it has been my experience that as soon as you think something can't get any worse, it does."
Sometimes, she hated being right.
She immediately decided that the smell should be ranked at the very top of their final destination's worst features, but less than a few minutes later she knew it would be the least of her complaints during their (hopefully brief) stay in the gloomy depths of wherever-they-were.
Koenma's first step audibly squelched against the ancient stone floor, and he lifted his foot to examine a fresh smear of greyish-brown. "Delightful," he muttered.
"This looks like…" Kagome wrinkled her nose as she trailed off, peering around at the vague outlines of narrow stone doorways along a barely-lit hall. "…a dungeon."
He hummed with consideration. "I think it's something worse."
"What makes you think that?"
He paused for an entire minute as he weighed the words to describe his impressions. "The remnants of death here feel starved." He swallowed heavily and rubbed a hand up his arm to ward off a bone-deep chill. "Forgotten," he added on in a whisper. "We don't often process spirits from places like this. There isn't much left by the time they manage to detach from their mortal shells."
This place just reeks of neglect and bone-deep despair." (an oubliette. I don't think guards come down here at all.)
As her eyes adjusted to the low-light conditions, she got a better sense of where they'd ended up. Scraps of ancient, dingy linen lay in neglected heaps amongst a scattering of rotting straw littered the stone floor.
It was definitely a dungeon, but she was surprised at lack of any doors. Each of the small cells leading off the hall where they stood was open for anyone to come and go as they pleased. There was room for many, yet she hadn't seen a single prisoner.
The dungeon was frighteningly still and empty. The quiet sounds of their boots tapping and scraping against the occasional empty patches of stone echoed painfully loud against the cold stone surfaces.
The only entrance into the dungeon they could find was a sharply inclined shaft leading up about thirty feet. She could see hints of pale light beyond a thick metal grate that blocked off the opening far above. A prisoner coming down that slide of doom would probably avoid any broken bones, but climbing back up the shining-slick surface seemed impossible.
A small sound caught her attention, and she startled in surprise when she noticed they were being watched. A haggard, bone-thin human peered up at them from their spot slumped against the wall, a long leg sprawled out across the hall. There was a hazy glint of partial awareness as they blinked languidly, as though they didn't have the energy to do much more than stare quietly at unfamiliar faces.
The person watching them tilted their head with vague curiosity, then shifted slightly at a noise down a neighboring passage. They curled their limbs inward with sluggish movements, making themselves as small as possible.
A moment later, Kagome heard the quiet shuffle of bare feet along stones. A mumbling, gravelly voice rasped out an unintelligible phrase that cut off in a brief, dry chuckle. "Fresh meat," he said once he drew close enough to be visible in the barely-present lighting.
"Not likely," she scowled at him.
He cackled brightly before it broke off into a wheezing cough. "You'll be meat once you fade. They always fade, and then it's meat for those of us that can still chew."
He cracked a wide grin, showing off his few remaining teeth as he slid backward into the shadows with mumbles about blood and softened guts.
Kagome gripped her weapon with a quiet curse and crossed her fingers that she wouldn't have to hurt anyone in this awful place. "What kind of hell is this?"
"A place to throw away problems and forget they exist," Koenma muttered, his lips firming into a disappointed scowl. "Bastards that use these kinds of dungeons are—" he cut himself off with a grimace. "Why not just kill them and be done with it? Prolonged torture with starvation like this is so barbaric." He blew out a long sigh.
"So, let's set everyone free while we're here," Kagome suggested.
He gave a firm shake of his head. "We can't meddle in the affairs of mortals."
"You can't," she clarified with a pointed glare.
He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Are you sure you're supposed to be doing such extreme things while you're in a time that isn't your own?"
She pursed her lips in consideration and then shrugged. "If I shouldn't be doing these things, then time will find a way to stop me."
Kagome didn't know how they got food or water in a place like this. She'd heard a few drip-drips of water in the quiet gloom, so maybe there was something, but the space around the entrance to the dungeon seemed abandoned. When had the last prisoners been dropped down here? When had food ever been sent down?
What did these poor people eat?
She glanced around at some of the visible debris lining the floor. Maybe a rat, if they had the strength to catch a ravenous ball of fur with sharp teeth and claws.
She shuddered, glancing around with renewed suspicion. She didn't mind rats, but she did mind starving critters that would indiscriminately bite the unwary.
She rest her hand on the pale yellow fabric of her pouch and pressed her lips together in a sharp frown. She had enough food for several days, even longer if she were to seriously ration for extreme cases. There was so much neglect to be found here, and a little effort on her part could go far to help more than one poor soul. If this was the last place she would be visiting, perhaps she could leave most of her supplies behind.
She bit her lip.
Unless she could figure out a way to set them all free.
Her sight fell upon a thick metal grate covering a wide, dark hole in the center of the main room. The awful odor that had assaulted her nose when they'd first arrived had slowly faded into the vague background of her thoughts, but approaching the hole in the floor brought it back to the forefront with horrific clarity.
She absolutely did not want to know what was down there.
She swallowed nervously and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "So, any clues about what's been killing the humans here?" After what she'd already seen, she didn't really want to know the answer to that, either.
Koenma shook his head. "I have a few guesses, but it's probably not the smell," he said with a wry smile.
They wouldn't know until they'd found and passed through the breach. She forced the rest of her concerns to the back of her mind and focused on finding her target. It was strangely subtle this time, the sense of it fleeting and minimal. She squinted in her thoughts, sticking her hands out like she had at the first location to try and get a better feel for which direction they needed to walk.
She huffed in frustration and then headed off in a direction at random, hoping an impromptu game of hot and cold would help her find the source. She felt her tension wane as the tingle against her mind grew slightly stronger.
The entrance to the other realm was at the end of what felt like the longest dark hall she had ever walked. It seemed fitting that the prisoners' only escape from this horrible place (into a possibly more horrible place) would be found at the end of such a bleak passageway.
The light dimmed considerably as they neared, as though the last shimmering bits of hope slid away, sucking with it the scant remnants of warmth from the few humans that had huddled against the agonizing wait for death.
No one looked up or tried to stop them from heading toward the mysterious gateway. Perhaps they had seen one too many people take the plunge into the unknown. She wondered how long she'd be able to hold out before risking everything to vanish into the void.
Did these people think of it as a quick death?
An easy way out of their endless suffering and starvation?
Anything that might be better than this horror?
The gateway to the other realm shivered in the stillness. A chill breeze puffed along her skin as she stepped as close as she dared, feeling the magic of the other side brush against her with an odd sense of warning.
"I don't like anything about this," she breathed, turning slightly to look at Koenma.
"It's our last stop," he replied with a casual movement. If this place or the extra-bad vibes she was picking up bothered him, he didn't show it. "I can go first," he offered, placing a warm hand on her arm. His nonchalance about their surroundings morphed into concern as he recognized her unusual trepidation.
She shook her head with a small smile, gripping the bow slung over her shoulder with a steadying hand.
She knew whatever was on the other side might be dangerous, and as chivalrous as the demigod wanted to be, she couldn't just let him take the brunt of whatever might be lying in wait. If the other side had a similar dungeon filled with starving magical creatures that had been dumped away into the nothingness to be forgotten, she didn't want Koenma (with his apparent lack of defenses) to be the first one through.
She had seen him get hurt and bleed, and knew he was at least a little susceptible to offensive magic, but she wasn't entirely certain how immortal he might be.
She had plenty to worry about when her seemingly indestructible friends found reasons to say 'Ouch'. Wasn't pain the body's way of telling you to avoid damage? Was it a clue that someone could be killed or wiped from existence?
She cast a quick glance over her shoulder at his worried expression. Maybe she should ask…?
She shook her head quickly, banishing the thought. She had never met someone that was completely indestructible, and assuming any of her allies couldn't be seriously hurt could have disastrous results. Better to protect everyone equally. She wanted to get the job done and over with, and a quick barrier should be sufficient to get them through the next hour.
She braced herself and took a deep breath before she stepped through.
The passageway blasted her with cold air.
As she stepped out into the equally dim interior of the magical realm's dungeon, she was struck by a sudden sense of wrongness. Grasping fingers of something intangible and unidentifiable slid across her skin like rain-drenched earthworms. She shivered and recoiled in revulsion.
She crossed her arms and her gaze darted in the gloom as she waited for Koenma to join her, but there wasn't much to see beyond a few scraps of cloth, unidentifiable lumps casting creepy shadows, and the same scattering of old straw. She moved half a step backward, expecting to feel the cold brush of magic as she neared the breach, and paused with sudden realization.
The gateway had vanished.
She held her breath and cast her senses wide for wherever it may have gone. The glowing caves they'd visited had a moving gateway, so this wasn't entirely unexpected, but…
It was gone.
If the gateway had vanished entirely, then Koenma wouldn't be able to join her to set up his spells. She sighed quietly, fishing her hand through her pouch for the vesper. She'd just have to call the Reikai to get them back on track.
Problem solved.
She withdrew the device and squinted with one eye at the overly bright screen as it burned through her dark-adjusted vision. Ouch, she thought, waiting for her eye to adjust enough to see what was on the screen. The display flickered ominously, odd bands of color sliding across the tiny icons as text randomly popped in and out of view. She stared in disbelief, dread creeping down her spine.
She was certain the Reikai would be coming after Koenma if he was away for this last stop too long, but how long might that actually be? She paused, chastising her errant thoughts. Koenma could go back to Reikai at any moment, by creating his own portal home. And he could easily come for her at any time once he'd realized he couldn't go through the same way she had.
It took her a moment to recognize the vague sensation of her magic being drained away. It felt similar to the day Angara had exposed her to the cursed teddy bear. She clammed up and held tight to her reserves. She'd had enough practice at the mountain to know when to rein in her freely leaking magic.
She clenched her fingers, tilting her head at the feel of this place. She glanced back down at her vesper, wondering if whatever was wrong might interfere with portals in and out. Koenma might possibly be delayed in joining her.
She had enough supplies if she ended up caught on this side of the barrier, but that was assuming nothing in here wanted to murder her for merely existing.
She grumbled quietly but the sound died on the tip of her tongue as she met a pair of dimly glowing eyes peering at her from across the room.
"Another human looking for an easy escape," a harsh voice muttered out in the darkness.
She stood taller. "No," she denied quickly. "An other looking to fix things that are broken."
"Not human," came his gravelly reply, followed by a chuckle of derision. "Sure."
Kagome heard a wet sound that immediately reminded her of a carnivore licking its chops.
"The only thing your kind comes to fix," he said, the curl of sarcasm clear as the voice picked up strength and volume, "is our hunger."
Kagome frowned. "I'm afraid not this time," she replied.
He laughed. It was a loud and deep sound, rolling through the darkness with hints of anger and desperation. "I've been here too fuckin' long," he muttered, once the amusement finally faded. "Nice to hear someone make a joke for a change."
She took a single step closer, her barrier staying strong despite the very noticeable drag against her magic. Something here was trying very hard to leech away her power. "Why are you here?"
A shadow shifted against the nearly impenetrable darkness. "Me? Pissed off some lord's mistress," he said. "Some of the others complained about working conditions. A few just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
A low growl rumbled through the damp darkness. "Doesn't matter why we're here. We are, and we can't fuckin' get out. It's some bullshit, this is," he grumbled. The shadow slid closer, his glowing eyes showing a flicker of blue-grey in the dim. "Sometimes the humans stumble through that wall like they're little gifts from heaven, and we sup on the sweet spill of their blood and gnaw on the marrow of their bones for days." His voice trailed off into a delighted shudder.
"Like I said, not dinner," she scowled, glaring at his vague outline.
The stranger barked a laugh and drew close enough for her to see his thin face framed with wild black hair. A long tongue slipped out and slid across his lips as he gazed at her with sharp hunger. "So you say." His voice curled in amusement as she noticed the sharp tips of claws at the ends of his long fingers.
She wasn't surprised when he threw himself at her, claws outstretched and lips pulled back in a sudden snarl to expose his sharp teeth. He bounced off the shimmering pink surface of her barrier with a muffled thump and a growled hiss. He curled in on himself defensively, smoking hands barely covering his shocked expression.
He recovered after a moment, his head shaking with disbelief as he peered up at her through the gaps in his matted hair.
"What's wrong with this place?" She asked, her voice a whisper as she tilted her head.
The stranger's gaze flicked down to her pale throat as his pupils dilated. His mouth fell open and his answer slipped out with sudden distraction. "Stolen magic," he muttered. He caught his lip between sharp teeth as he fixated on the thrum of blood beneath her skin.
A tiny thrill leapt through her at the stark desire etched into his expression, although she was pretty sure he'd be more likely to bite her arm off than do anything else. "What's stealing the magic?" she asked, pushing her advantage with his distraction with a gentle tug at her shirt to expose a little bit more of her neck. She could see the bob of his throat has he swallowed reflexively.
She felt wretched for using his hunger against him for answers, but if it worked…
"Dunno," he rasped out, inching closer. "The hall of skulls, maybe."
This answer was better than what she'd been expecting, and gave her a direction to start investigating. She warily watched him as she dug into her pouch. "Can you eat human foods?"
"Can eat you," he whispered, sliding forward another step, but not close enough to brush against her barrier again.
"I'm off the menu," she reminded him, fishing out a sizeable piece of dried meat. "I can share this and then figure out what's so wrong with the magic here."
His eyes flicked from her neck to the offered morsel with furrowed eyebrows. "It's only fair to share some of that blood you have," he said with a scowl. "You have a lot you don't even need."
She kept her eyes on the youkai poised stiffly before her. "I'd rather not unless it's a life and death situation."
"How 'bout my life and your death kinda situation?" The stranger suggested with a subtle leer.
Kagome squinted, staring hard at the male as she tried to figure out if he was joking with her.
He rolled his eyes and relaxed into a loose crouch. "Fine, gimme that and I'll show you the weird shit that we try to avoid."
She held the jerky just outside of her barrier and didn't flinch as he bravely snapped out a hand to take the offering. He eyed her as he took a quick bite, his sharp teeth slicing easily through the tough fibers. He slipped the last of it into a hidden pocket and chewed quietly for a moment.
"C'mon," he muttered, turning in his crouch to silently creep along the floor. "Don't make a lot of noise if you don't want others coming for a taste."
She followed quietly behind him as he trailed through the darkened hallways of the dungeon. This one was just as gloomy as the last, with the bonus creepy-magic-stealing sensation that swept through her with ravenous tendrils.
The hall of skulls, he'd called it. She stared around them with wide eyes at hundreds of skulls and countless bones lining the walls of the large room. In the other realm, this was the room where prisoners would emerge from the slide of doom for their endless stay in the depths of damp starvation hell, but she hadn't seen any bones there.
Here, she could feel magic being drawn away. Not just her magic, either. She had a growing suspicion that the only reason these youkai could be kept in a dungeon with such a short entrance chute was because whatever spell had been set here had probably done a number on the denizens that had been left here to rot.
Youkai could be physically strong creatures capable of great feats even without their magic, but this… she stepped close to a wall and reached out with trembling fingers.
This was something she'd never seen before.
The skulls felt familiar. Not like someone she'd known, but like a long-lost relative met in passing, with a feeling of some inexplicable connection.
Her eyes slipped closed and the sounds around her became white noise as she pressed her shivering fingertips to the yellowed skull screaming at her from the blackened mortar.
A glowing net of silvery blue, yellow, and pink magic lined this room and slid out along the halls and walls, out and out and out, enveloping the entire dungeon from top to bottom, end to end.
The light was ravenous
forever hungry
It wanted more, more, more.
It had started taking her magic while it was there and (briefly) unguarded, but it snapped up the youki from the male crouched behind her as quickly as his body produced it. She wasn't sure there was anything he could have done to prevent the theft.
The smudges of color from other youkai elsewhere in the dark halls were like dim vestiges of whatever they'd once been. She shivered in discomfort at the grasping pull of the spells lining the walls, fueled by the hate and despair of the captured creatures living within the dungeon and the murdered souls that had been used to decorate its walls.
"Stranger," she said, turning back to the youkai. "What is your name?"
He shrugged, glaring up at her with suspicion. "Kai," he offered.
She didn't believe that was his name, but it was better than stranger.
"Would you prefer a mediocre dinner of my flesh and bones, Kai, or the real chance of breaking this spell and a possible escape?"
He growled and leaned closer, his gaze flicking between her eyes, lips, and neck. She wondered how long he'd been trapped in this dungeon. He was starved and clearly torn between the options she'd presented.
She frowned and waved a hand around them. "These walls, lined with the bones of others of my kind, hold vast power. The spells oppressing your people use this old, dead magic to steal away yours."
"And you would be willing to help us break down this oppression? Hah!" He snorted with derision, narrowing his eyes at her. "What's in it for you?" He arched an eyebrow, leaning back on his heels with deep suspicion as he stared her down.
She shrugged. "I don't like seeing others suffer." She didn't want to mention that she wanted to get the hell out of there, and she suspected the spell had probably broken her methods of escape.
"I'll pass. Whatever bullshit magic you have going on there isn't worth the risk." A thin line of smoke curled from his hair as though to punctuate his refusal.
"Really? You'd rather stick it out here, being sucked dry by whatever's going on in this dungeon than trust that someone might want to make things better?"
He scoffed and scratched at his chin. "Nope. You're one of those weird magic humans that I did my best to avoid back when things were different. Even worse, you're a girl. Females are nothin' but trouble," he muttered, glancing away.
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Is there anyone else here that might be willing to help?" She could try to fix this herself, but having another magical creature boost her magic would probably make it a hundred times easier.
He crouched on the floor and stared up at her for a long, silent minute. "Maybe Haru. Dunno what they eat or how they're still alive down here, but if you kill them it'll be one last thing I have to worry about."
Perplexed and a little wary of what he might mean, she nodded. "Where can I find Haru?"
He pointed at a hall that had bone fragments and unidentifiable debris scattered in its entrance. "Down that way. First left, then last cell on the right."
She knew Kai wouldn't be concerned about her safety. He thought of her as some kind of threat to him, which made sense after he'd made the mistake of underestimating her, but could Haru be a danger to her?
She followed his directions, taking her time to feel out any other prisoners between the main room and Haru's cell.
Very few people lived down this way, and the only one she managed to spot looked like a spooked rabbit, shivering in the corner of a cell with a wide, blank stare. Kagome wanted to break down the walls of this pit and give sunshine back to the poor people huddled within.
She paused at the entrance to the last cell. The very air seemed thick with humidity and a noticeable warmth. She peeked inside and spotted a figure sitting near the center of the room, its back to the doorway and face turned up as though beseeching the heavens for mercy. The ragged, crusted stump of its tail peeked out from beneath their torn and deteriorating clothes, and Kagome winced in sympathy.
"Excuse me," she murmured quietly, hoping to catch their attention.
The silence rolled on as they ignored her. Eventually, a single droplet of water fell from a spot on the ceiling and landed between their lips. They shuddered and stretched, then tilted their head backward far enough to look at her waiting in the doorway. Wide, bulbous green eyes blinked once as they looked her over.
"Haru?" She asked, and they nodded once. "I've been told you might be able to help…" she hesitated. "Ah, I'm Kagome," she started over, hoping to get off on a better foot. "I came with someone because of—"
"You," Haru interrupted her. "You came here? Willingly?" Their voice was a bit croaky, although Kagome wasn't sure if it was from disuse or its natural sound.
She nodded. "There were some people going missing…" she trailed off as Haru chuckled.
"In a place like this, that doesn't sound like such a bad thing," Haru murmured quietly. "You think I can help with something?"
Kagome stepped a little further into the room, glancing once over her shoulder to check if anyone had followed her down the oppressively creepy hallway. "Yes, maybe. There's a weird spell clinging to the walls of this place. It feels like it's draining everyone that's trapped here, but it's also affecting my magic and what my friend and I had been meaning to do."
Haru hummed in thought. "And what can I help you with? I have not been spared from this draining spell. About the only thing I can do is kill anyone that tries to take a bite out of me." Haru motioned at their tail. "Every so often, someone forgets what happened to the others and risks death just to have a morsel between their teeth."
It was then that Kagome noticed a tall pile of bones in the corner of the room, carefully and meticulously stacked. She imagined Haru must have spent hours perfecting the balance of weight to attain such height.
Failed attempts on their life, or something darker?
Haru motioned her closer, patting the stone at their side. "Don't worry. My teeth are sharp but small, and I prefer my food incapacitated because they've tried to eat me first."
Kagome edged closer and then slid to the floor just barely out of reach. She withdrew a bottle of water from her pouch and offered it to Haru, who stared at the shining container like it was a priceless treasure. It was more water than they'd seen in the last few years combined. Between careful sips and a trembling lip as they struggled to contain their bubbling emotions, Kagome tried to explain how Haru might be able to help her break the spell.
"I'm not an expert in these things, but I do know that a brief connection with you should help me get a better grasp of what's going on. I'll try what I can to break whatever is in place along these walls. It's everywhere here, and it's so wrong," she grumbled. "Whoever built this place and then left you all down here with nothing is the worst kind of monster."
Haru nodded, cradling the bottle with reverent fingers. Their hands were long and bony, covered in dried skin that peeled away in great patches from the rest of their mottled grey flesh. With the general salamander-like appearance of Haru's face, limbs, and tail, Kagome wondered if their skin was supposed to be damp and shining instead of dull and rough. She tentatively reached out a hand for Haru's, and was surprised at the warm, spongy texture of their finger pads against her palm.
What she wanted to try would leave her exposed, which was incredibly risky with a stranger. She hoped she wouldn't have to explain herself later, just as much as she hoped she wasn't making a terrible mistake.
She lacked the ability to both contain and repel with a single barrier, so she placed a stationary barrier around the room where they sat, hoping it would keep out curious (and hungry) denizens while she worked with Haru. Then, she set a second barrier around the two of them and tightened down her control to contain their magic within her protective sphere.
This one mattered the most, because she wasn't sure how easily the weird dungeon spell might draw away her magic once she removed the seal, and boosting Haru's magic to aid her own would be useless if it vanished as soon as it appeared.
It would be terribly counter-productive if the spell drained either of them dry as soon as she tried to do anything against it. She hoped that the spell was basic enough that it simply surprised new prisoners before they could fight back. When she'd initially stepped into the realm, she might not have had the chance to avoid losing more if her magic hadn't been of similar alignment.
"Okay, so far this seems like it's working. Do you feel any different?"
Haru tilted their head, looking thoughtful. "I feel a bit better than I have in a long time, but it might just be the water."
Kagome nodded, then fished against her clothes to catch hold of her seal. "This part will definitely be something to talk about," she muttered. "If you can remember how to, please hold back if your magic starts to rise unexpectedly."
Haru arched a brow but nodded hesitantly.
The seal dissolved into dust.
Haru had a sharp intake of breath as life around them came to a momentary standstill, followed by an endless sigh of relief as their youki expanded to fill the previously hollow shell and they became whole once more.
The taste of something awful teased at the back of Kagome's throat and she swallowed reflexively, nearly gagging at the sudden flood of a strange, burning metallic liquid.
Echoes of tiny chirps and chitters danced around their crossed legs, like a crowd of young amphibians finding their voices for the first time. Haru croaked a short laugh, and the tightening clench of warm fingers against Kagome's kept her grounded against the startling sensation of knowing another so intimately.
The sudden heated moisture rushing around their bodies was like midday in a rain forest or a wet sauna at the spa. The slick substance oozing from Haru's skin tingled against Kagome's fingertips with a vague prickling of pain, but the connection between them swept away the injuries to her flesh as quickly as they occurred.
Haru gasped in dismay once they realized what was happening, and the hand holding hers quickly dried and stopped burning her skin. Quietly murmured apologies became a distant background noise as Kagome dropped her focus into the stones of the dungeon, tracking the lines of the spell back to the main room.
The skulls lining the walls had old traces of magic like hers. Over a hundred priests and priestesses had been used to build this place, and she wondered if they'd been killed specifically to make the spell, or if some had been commissioned to cast the spell and then their bodies had been used to maintain the magic. She didn't want to know the truth, but the blackened corruption within the magic whispered hints of a dark, cruel tale.
She smoothed the darkest spots with her brightness, overlapping the hate and anger with compassion for the broken and forgotten. As the darkness burned away, she plucked at the remaining threads, tugging at the fibers of the spell.
It felt like some of the people that had powered the spell hadn't wanted to participate. They desired freedom, and Kagome pulled on those until they came loose and followed her presence back to Haru's cell where they thrummed up her spine and shivered in her hair.
She wondered if these were trapped and weakened souls, or if they were just the echoes of ghosts that had managed to escape long ago.
As the spell weakened, she recognized Koenma's presence suddenly within the realm. Either the gate had reappeared, or he'd opened a portal to find her.
With the time slowed outside of her barrier, it felt like watching life slide by in painful slow-motion. She appreciated some of the advantages provided by her broken time, but it became a lot less fun when she had to wait. She wanted Koenma's help, but she didn't have enough control to push time back into balance while she worked to unravel the threads of the spell. She wouldn't risk letting go of her progress to see it revert, so she gripped her patience with both hands and continued with what she'd been doing.
Koenma rushed in her direction (so, so slowly), chasing whatever it was he could sense from her vesper. She guessed he must have made an effort to sneak, because no one seemed to follow him. He pushed his way into her barrier the same way he had discovered the night before, managing to not tumble to the floor this time when the resistance finally let him pass into their time-broken bubble.
"Fucking hell," he exclaimed with a harried expression as he glanced between the two of them holding hands. "What happened?"
She shook her head and held out a hand. "Join now, questions after."
He plopped to the floor at their side and completed the circle, and Kagome breathed a tremendous sigh of relief at the new boost in magic.
Haru's quiet hum grew in strength until they were nearly singing, and Kagome didn't have space in her thoughts to do much more than feel vague appreciation for the sweet harmony of sounds echoing through the damp, dark space.
Koenma quickly realized what she was trying to do, and with the aid of his greater experience, the oppressive spell fell to pieces.
Kagome opened her eyes and looked around at the dark cell, feeling a little disappointed that the place still sucked, dark and damp and miserable, but she felt a little better knowing that they'd eradicated the evil spell that had been drawing out the energies of those trapped inside the walls. She wasn't quite sure why her heart was racing, and she took a deep, shuddering breath to try and calm herself.
Haru was still singing the strange song, odd lyrics flowing like water between the interesting warbles emanating from their throat. The song continued for a few more minutes as Kagome and Koenma watched, and then Haru shivered from head to toe with a smile of delight.
A weird ripple of joy slid through Kagome's limbs and fizzled out somewhere near her heart. She blinked and realized they hadn't yet broken the circle, then dropped their hands. Haru was almost glowing with joy as contentment dripped from their languid slouch.
Koenma stood and offered his hand to help Kagome up.
"Haru, are you alright?" She asked, watching with curiosity.
Haru nodded slowly, a hand resting on their abdomen. A fully-regenerated tail swung lazily through the air behind them, and their skin glistened with a healthy (gross) shine in the scant illumination from the lingering magic. Haru tilted their head with a mysterious little smile and peered up at Kagome, but said nothing more.
"What was all that about?" Koenma asked, waving his hands back in the direction of the barrier's breach.
She did her best to explain as they left Haru behind and walked back to the main room. Kai still crouched in the same spot, though he looked a little more frazzled than he had before she'd left him to find Haru. He bounced a little on the balls of his feet as they drew close, then paused to watch them with a sharp, predatory gaze.
She spared him a glance and said, "You might want to try an escape, soon. The spell that had been stealing your magics is gone, but I don't know how long it'll be that way. It's possible that whoever put the spell down here to begin with might try to replace it if they discover it missing."
She was startled as he stood suddenly, his matted dark hair fluttering with a sudden, weak burst of his magic. He glared at her with irritation and then dashed down a darkened hallway, a muttering growl on his lips as he hissed out what sounded like someone's name.
Koenma asked her about the traces of souls clinging to her hair, and Kagome was in the middle of describing the sensation she'd experienced while feeling her way through the echoes of the dead when a sudden flash of light blinded them both. A rumbling through the floor made them stumble through their disorientation as a crashing BOOM echoed from the direction Kai had disappeared.
"What the heck?!" Kagome exclaimed, reaching out to grip Koenma's sleeve to wait out the temporary blindness. She blinked as the brightness faded into discernible shapes, and then recognized figures gingerly moving from hallways and alcoves toward a spill of steady daylight coming from the same direction as the explosion.
"Oh," she said, realizing what must have happened. She wasn't sure what all the prisoners in the dungeon had been capable of, but she wouldn't be surprised to discover one of them had the ability to easily break the rest of them out once their magic wasn't being stolen. (Kai had made friends with a dragon.)
Haru was one of the last to make it to the doorway, escorting the still-shivering rabbit by an elbow. They turned and smiled serenely at Kagome, haloed by the pale light of the nearby exit. "I shall name one of our children in your honor," Haru promised.
Kagome was confused. Was the rabbit youkai their mate? She was glad to help them escape such an awful place, though, and waved with a smile as they turned and slipped out of sight.
"There's not enough youki here to use anything for the spells," Koenma observed. "We might also need to step outside and see what's close by."
She nodded and followed him to the brightening exit, surprised at the amount of destruction that spread outward from the dungeon wall. A hole had been ripped through the stone, edged with great, smoking claw marks. The scent of sulfur twisted with something burnt and sweet made for a noxious combination of smells.
Kagome wrinkled her nose with distaste as she approached the sun-drenched exit. On the other side of the hole through the thick stone wall, several feet of dirt had been cleared away with explosive force. Her eyebrows disappeared under her bangs as she leaned forward to peer up through the crater that had been left in its wake.
She strained her ears for any sound of alert from the explosion or subsequent mass escape, but all she could detect was the chirping of a single bird. Kagome and Koenma exchanged a glance, then carefully began climbing the slope of dirt.
About halfway up, he tugged at her sleeve and slowed their progress. "We really shouldn't go out there," he said, motioning around them. "There are some stones right here that weren't affected by that magic and will work just fine."
Kagome was curious what might be visible outside of the exit, but he was right. She slid back down the slope and waited for him to grab a handful of rocks to use before joining her.
There was some awkward silence as they spelled the stones and walked back to the barrier breach. "We can't just leave the humans like that on the other side," she murmured, rubbing her hands together as she hunched her shoulders. If she had a way, she'd break down walls in the human realm, too. She peered at him from the corner of her eye and saw him heave a sigh.
"We can't save every human that's suffering from the decisions of others," he said, a frown on his lips.
"I know, but… can you really ignore the ones you've seen firsthand? When doing something might be as simple as just opening a portal to Reikai and giving them a job?"
He furrowed his brows in consideration.
She pressed forward, wondering if he might be swayed to help the humans. "Those people have been thrown away. Forgotten. They'll eventually starve and rot in the bowels of that awful place, and they'll end up coming through your offices, anyways."
He pressed his lips together. "But they aren't dead yet."
She scoffed. "How hard would that be for you to make happen?"
His eyes widened. "Not saying that I couldn't do such a thing, but are you suggesting that I kill those prisoners so they can come work for me in Reikai?"
She shrugged. "Ask them if they want to get out of there and do something in the afterlife, instead. I bet their responses will surprise you."
He puffed out a long sigh, considering her suggestion. "I can ask them." He nodded after a moment. "I'll ask. We need some new volunteers for the processing offices, anyways."
She clapped her hands in brief delight before realizing she was cheering about rushing death for suffering prisoners. She really didn't want to leave anyone behind in this awful place if it could be avoided. And maybe one or two that didn't want to go with Koenma might decide to test their luck with the breach in the barrier. The wall had been blown out on this side and would at least give them a chance at freedom.
(If something didn't eat them first.)
He tossed his spell stones around them and gave her a long look at the edge of the breach leading back to the mortal realm. "I guess this is it, then."
He wouldn't need her to step back through to the other side and drop his spell stones in place.
She nodded and took a deep breath, then coughed at the sudden reminder of gross scents permeating everything. The clean air trickling in through the torn out wall would take some time to filter this deep into the dungeon. "Yeah," she said, coughing again and making a face. "I'm going home to scrub like my life depends on it." She picked at a sleeve with a curl of her lip. "It might actually depend on it."
She fished the vesper from her pouch and glanced at the screen, thankful for the now-clear interface. She didn't want to think about what kind of wait she'd have if the glitches remained after the spell had broken.
Mindful of unexpected sneezes or tripping that might result in a jump somewhere (or some time) she didn't want to go yet, she carefully typed in her return destination.
She would come back to the well house at the nearest hour after she'd vanished from the elevator heading back to Shippo's apartment. Her stomach did a tiny flip in excitement.
He bit his lip and eyed her carefully. "Can I have a kiss goodbye?"
She chuckled and shook her head. "No."
He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.
She pulled the bow from her shoulder and moved to hand it back to him, but he shook his head. "Keep it, just in case. You might end up in trouble before you get your usual weapon back."
She hummed in agreement and tucked it back into place, considering him thoughtfully as he turned to leave. "How about a handshake, instead," she offered. He looked back at her with a little frown but nodded, pulling his sleeve up to reach out for her hand. The way he slid his palm up her forearm to grip in farewell was nice.
Intimate without being weird.
Close without being uncomfortably so.
"I look forward to our date in the future," he said with a returning smile as they let go.
She shook her head in amusement. "Koenma, there are many years ahead of us both, and countless souls to catch your attention. Don't let your sights get stuck on a vague maybe in a few hundred years."
He nodded in agreement, a thoughtful and faraway look in his eyes. "So you're saying there's a chance."
She groaned with exasperation. "Go find another adult to play with, Koenma. I'll see you around!"
And then she tapped the vesper's screen to get back to some kind of normalcy.
(Haru's first clutch of offspring hatched later that year, the eldest of which was named Kagome. Haru merely smiled when others asked why their youki sparkled with hints of pink.)
AN: Is Kagome a momma, now? Yes and no, not really? But kinda. But not. Thanks, magic. Lol.
Anyways, does that matter? In this storyline? Probably not. If I ever do a sequel, though, maybe. Lolllll.
The next chapters will probably be a while unless my muse is extremely cooperative. I have a lot to do to get the biggest points worked out and really figure out my time jumps that feed into this final arc. I am pretty sure we're in the home stretch, so to speak, but there's still a lot ahead.
Please for the love of all fic authors writing for free, feed me with feedback. it's treasured. it's muse fuel. This crossover fandom is pretty dead TT_TT