- TOH SHIN DEN IV: Legends Never Die - The Pleiades Chapter -

a Toshinden Subaru fanfiction by Athena Asamiya


this reality we choose
is a long long way from the dream

CHAPTER THREE: Choice



Translations:
Suzaku no Yumi - Phoenix's Bow


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"There, finished!" Puella Marionette declared proudly, shutting her stuffed suitcase closed with a flourish. She surveyed her small bedroom at the orphanage for any other items of importance (not that anything else could even fit in her bag), and decided that she was truly ready to go. A huge, bright smile broke across her cute face, as she picked up her bag and spun in a circle happily. The petite blue-haired girl was unable to keep still, the knowledge of where she was headed exciting her too much. Japan! I can't wait to go!
But you need to keep your mind on your goal, she reminded herself, her usually cheery personality fading away slightly. This won't be a place to go to have fun. This tournament will determine everything. A few strands of hair that were not pulled back by her thick pink headband slipped down her face, and Puella pushed them away hastily. Just remember, Puella: why are you going? To stop THEM. You know you have to, and this is the only way. If you can win here, it'll be all over, and everything will be fine again. So I have to win. I HAVE to.
Puella paused for a moment, thinking about what all had led her to this mission. She had been at the church-orphanage in Switzerland for almost thirteen years, at least, and had no parents to speak of, let alone remember. The sisters at the orphanage had told her that she had been brought in when she was a very small baby, by a beautiful blond-haired woman. Her mother, apparently, but Puella wasn't even sure herself. She had been far too young to remember anything. So she had been raised by the sisters at the orphanage, among many other children, most of them younger than her. And when she had gotten older, grown up a little more, Puella decided to give something back to her "family" by helping out, cooking, cleaning, and playing with the younger ones whenever she could.
Puella shook her head. If only it was all that simple...if it was, I wouldn't be going to this fighting tournament, and I wouldn't have this either. With that thought, she picked up the beautiful weapon off her bed. A bow, shining and golden, with green jewelled patterns coupled with little pink gems and a pair of tiny white wings attached on either side of the handgrip, the bow itself strung with a single gold thread. Puella held the bow to the noonday light, watching the way it caught the beams and reflected them back -- in almost a strangely holy way.
And The Angel...
She again saw that day, as she had many, many times before. Only three years old, praying in the adjoining church like a good little girl, proud of herself for being able to give her thanks to God without any of the sisters there with her -- and then The Angel appeared. Puella remembered having her eyes closed, whispering her prayers in a tiny voice at the altar, and seeing a bright golden light suddenly shine down upon her. Opening her eyes in surprise, Puella saw a beautiful winged angel-woman, enwrapped in a golden aura, descend down from above her. She wasn't quite afraid; after all, she remembered all the preaching and stories she had heard about the heavenly angels, and knew not to be frightened. But even so, the young Puella HAD been very shocked to see this - angel - appear before her. With small feathers made of light trickling down from her body, The Angel held out both hands towards Puella. And Puella saw that she was holding a golden bow. Taking it in her small hands, it suddenly glowed red and gave off a blinding amount of crimson light. As Puella winced and shut her eyes, she heard a voice.
Suzaku has accepted you.
When she opened her eyes again, the red light had disappeared, The Angel was gone, and she was left alone again in the church, holding onto a magical bow.
"Suzaku no...Yumi?"
She still couldn't figure out how she had known its name.
After Puella had received the Suzaku no Yumi from The Angel, everything remained as normal as it did -- for a time. The sisters believed her story fullheartedly, and claimed that Puella was a "miracle child" for having seen this celestial vision. They didn't even take the bow away from her, fearing that it would anger God to do so. But it was after then that Puella developed a beautiful singing voice -- and not only did she conquer the church choir with it, but she also was able to heal the sick with her singing. Another miraculous event indeed. Puella was happy and proud of her gifts, but never wasteful of them. And while the healing song was quite useful for the elderly and sick, she had never used the bow. Never seen a reason to. Puella had even ended up taking archery lessons, just in case, although it seemed that the Suzaku no Yumi needed no arrows -- at least no normal ones. She had often puzzled over the strange weapon, and the fact that she could feel it often give off some sort of strong power. Being what it was, a weapon, and therefore could be used for hurt, Puella often left the Suzaku no Yumi hidden in her room. She didn't want anyone else to get ahold of it, and its power, much greater than anything she had ever felt.
She had continued with a normal life, despite these gifts that had been bestowed upon her. She lived at the orphanage as she always had, helping out where she could, and praying at the church regularly -- although she never saw The Angel again. Sometimes Puella wished she would; she wanted desperately to know why The Angel had "chosen" her, as the sisters put it.
...Exactly. Why choose me?
Maybe it was because she pretty much had a pure heart. Puella had always been a caring, selfless girl, always happy and cheerful, putting others before herself. She only used her power for good, and never considered the trouble it could get her into -- and being in possession of the bow had turned out to be a double-edged sword.
About a year ago, when she was fifteen, THEY came.
In the present, Puella screwed her eyes shut tightly, feeling a wave of emotions overcome her, and the horrible memories returning. The scene replayed in her mind again, as it had numerous times before.
I'm washing dishes in the kitchen, singing some little tune to myself, when I hear a scream...I sneak to the doorway of one of the main sitting rooms and see a group of dark-clothed men, men with GUNS, herding a large group of the children into a corner. The sisters are doing their best to keep the children calm, but it isn't working too well. One of the braver ones stands up and says, "What are you doing here, and what do you want?" I hear one of the men reply, "We're looking for a little girl named Puella Marionette. And we have to see her, NOW, or else we kill the lot of you." I'm frightened, terrified, but not so much for myself -- for the younger children, who were all practically in tears as they shook their heads no, Puella isn't with us. My heart pounding, I race silently to my room, and take out the Suzaku no Yumi, knowing that this was the time that I may have to use it. I dash back to the sitting room, and walk out into clear view, holding the bow in one hand. The children start crying, "Puella! Puella!" and the gunmen all turn to look at me. One of them sees the bow, and says to me, "Well then, it WAS true. You are the holder of the Suzaku no Yumi. Hand it over to us now, brat, or you'll see these people die." I stand perfectly still, knowing that I have no choice but to give them The Angel's bow. I don't want to, since I know that these men are evil and will use its powers to hurt people...but then I realize that I can use it. I have to, to save my family, to protect them. I slowly raise the Suzaku no Yumi, and it starts glowing red, just like it did the first time I touched it. The gunmen are all surprised, and start backing away. With tears running down my face, I scream, "NO!!!!" and pull back the string on the bow. All of a sudden, the red light gathers in the string, and when I let go, a shining arrow made of sparkling energy shoots out of it. It strikes the closest man, and he falls backwards, clutching his arm. I realize suddenly that I hadn't put enough power into it to actually KILL anyone. But it was enough. The men retreat from the orphanage, but not before yelling, "This isn't over! The Gerard Foundation WILL have that bow!!" They leave. I drop the Suzaku no Yumi, shocked by what I had just done -- used the bow for the first time, and witnessed its power. I realize that the children are all staring at me. I look back at them, smile, and go to help them up.
Puella shook her head, thinking of all that followed. The men never returned, but there were the threats, the letters, and the plain, painful knowledge that SHE was responsible for what was terrorizing the orphanage. And who was behind it all? Something called the 'Gerard Foundation', she knew that much. But Puella had no clue as to who they were, other than being some malicious organization, and what they wanted, other than her Suzaku no Yumi -- but for what purpose? There had been too many unanswered questions in the past year. Puella hated knowing that it was all her fault, and wanted it stopped, the sooner the better. So, a year later when she was sixteen, she received an invitation to a martial arts & weaponry tournament called the Toshindaibukai, hosted by that very Gerard Foundation. She made her decision: Puella Marionette WOULD go to this tournament, find out who was behind this madness, and make them stop. And they would never have the Suzaku no Yumi.
And maybe...I can find out why I was chosen by The Angel. What my true purpose is.
But if she wanted to fulfill her goal, she had to win. And win she would.
Picking up her suitcase in one hand and the Suzaku no Yumi - the first time she had carried it out in the open - in the other, Puella left her room and shut the door behind her, turning to the door of the bedroom next to hers. She knocked on it quietly, and a boy's voice answered, "Yeah? Who is it?"
"It's me, Fen."
"Oh, hey Puella! Just a sec..." The door swung open, the knob being held by a young boy. He was a teenager, but just barely, with wild purple hair and huge blue eyes that gave him more of an innocent look than he deserved. Dressed casually in shorts and a t-shirt, a bit underdressed for April but not where he came from, the young Brazilian, Fen Barefoot, gave his friend a huge grin. "`Sup? We heading out soon?"
Puella nodded, smiling back. "Looks like it. I'm ready to go, how about you?"
"A...haha...not quite." Fen motioned to his suitcase, with clothes strewn all around it in different directions. At the center of the mess was a cute, potbellied pink pig with a red ribbon tied around its neck. The pig made a happy grunting noise, and scooted towards Puella, jumping up towards her. Puella bent down and scratched behind the pig's ears, giggling. "I see being here in Switzerland hasn't taken anything out of you, Wolfy."
Fen put one hand behind his head, embarassed. "Yeah, he thinks it's some sort of game. I put the clothes in, he takes `em out. That kind of thing. Can't get through to him sometimes."
Puella nodded understandingly, knowing of Fen's extraordinary ability to befriend animals, and his close bond with his pet pig, Wolfy. Puella hadn't known Fen Barefoot for very long, three months at the most, but the two had become good friends in that short amount of time. They had first met when Fen and Wolfy had arrived at the orphanage, Wolfy being quite sick and Fen worried to death over him. The staff of the orphanage quickly brought this to Puella's attention, her having the healing powers that she did. She managed to heal Wolfy just as easily as she healed humans, and she had made two new friends, just like that.
Still, there had indeed been a reason why Fen had been so far from home, alone, at such a young age -- revenge. And Puella knew the motivation behind Fen's vengeance all too well. Being only thirteen years old and still quite open to people, Fen had told her the first time they met that he was on a journey, to avenge the murder of his only family, his grandfather. The story behind that was that Fen and his grandfather had come across a man one day, a Japanese warrior with a long spear, who had been severely wounded somehow. The two had tended to the man's wounds, and he had stayed with them until he was well enough to go on his way again. While recovering, he had taught Fen many of his powerful fighting moves, him with his spear and Fen with his favorite harpoon that he used for fishing, and Fen became quite a skilled fighter under his teaching. The day came when the man was able to leave, and Fen and his grandfather wished him well as he set off. One year had passed since that day, and while Fen was out fishing, a strange-clothed man came to their small house in Brazil. The man had demanded to know where the warrior they had helped had gone, but Fen's grandfather couldn't say. That hadn't made the strange man too happy...and Fen arrived home just in time to see the man brutally murder his beloved grandfather.
Fen immediately rushed to his grandfather, but it was no use -- he was dead. The young fisherboy then apparently tried to fight the murderer, but he had simply disappeared into thin air with an evil laugh. Mocking, as if he wasn't even worth the effort. Ever since then, Fen had been on his journey to find his grandfather's killer, and extract his revenge.
Meanwhile, before Fen and Wolfy had arrived at the orphanage, Puella had received a pair of invitations to the Toshindaibukai tournament. She knew that she could probably hold her own in a fight, thanks to the power of the Suzaku no Yumi; however, she didn't really know of any other good fighters who could be on her team. When she met up with the pair, Puella immediately gave Fen one of the invitations. She figured that there was a good possibility that the evil man was going to be at the tourney, and although Puella was never one for vengeance, she wanted to see her friend happy again.
Puella stood up and picked up her suitcase. "I'm just going to go quickly pray at the church for a minute or two. Meet me out there, okay?"
Fen nodded, winking. "Sure thing. Put in a good word for me, huh?"
The blue-haired girl giggled as she left, crossing the orphanage's sun-bathed yard to the large white church that stood right next to it. It was out of habit that she tried to make herself look presentable before she entered; smoothing the wrinkles out of the dress she wore, a light pink one with a dark pink heart design on the front, and scuffing the late April mud off of her ornate white-and-gold boots. There was no one currently inside the church's chapel, and Puella was secretly glad. She wanted to be alone for a minute, with her thoughts. But as she walked up to the front, looking up at the bright stained-glass windows-
-beautiful, with a gown made of light, long wings shedding glowing silver-white feathers-
-she couldn't help but remember the event that had started it all.
As Puella knelt in a praying position, she closed her eyes and quietly spoke. "Thy Heavenly Father, I am thankful for the valuable gifts you've given me, my voice and the bow. And I am also grateful for everything you've done for me. But I have to ask you for something more, God. Please protect me, please give me the strength to win at this tournament, and to find my true purpose. Because I still don't know why The Angel chose me, and why I'm meant to fight with the Suzaku no Yumi. I know nothing. And I need to know, in order to realize why I was given this power, and what I can do to help with it. Please, God, I know that if I can win at the tournament, I'll know my answers. So I'm humbly asking you to grant me the strength, so I can discover the truth about myself."
Puella knelt for another moment, eyes closed, the silence and calm of the church ringing all around her. However, her eyes flew open when she heard a slight cough behind her, breaking the stillness. She stood up quickly, whirling around to see who was at the church door.
And the young boy that stood there looked a tad embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Pue-chan, I didn't know that you were still-"
"LAN-CHAN~!!!!" Not waiting for him to finish, Puella raced down the aisle and flung her arms around the tall, blue-haired boy. "I can't believe it's really you!! It IS really you, isn't it?"
He laughed, hugging her back. "Yes, it's me. Nice to finally meet you...or I guess that what you'd say."
Puella stepped back a bit, taking in his appearance for the first time, outside of the photos he'd sent her. Lancelot Lakeknight was quite tall and thin for a fifteen-year-old boy, and had facial features that would more be at home on a young girl -- dark-blue hair tied in a ponytail at the back, and a small face inset with large, luminous green eyes. Even his soft, English-accented voice betrayed his age, and almost his gender as well. Lancelot seemed rather nervous to be there, although quite excited at meeting his Internet friend for the first time. Indeed, Puella and Lancelot had met on the Internet, at a public chat room. Since then, they had become good friends over the computer, close enough to even exchange their stories: Puella's being all about the orphanage, The Angel and the Suzaku no Yumi, Lancelot's about his championship fencer status, his rich but oppressive family, and his stayings at the French castle of the esteemed Duke Rambert. After she had received the invitations to the Toshindaibukai, Puella remembered how good a fencer Lancelot was, and immediately e-mailed him, asking if he wanted to be a member of her three-man team with herself and Fen. Lancelot had accepted right away, quickly agreeing to fly over to Switzerland to pick her and Fen up, and the three of them would go to the tournament together. Strangely, it seemed as though Lancelot already knew about the Toshindaibukai that was being held. Puella assumed he knew of the tournament from the tales the Duke had told him -- for he had been a contestant himself, many years ago. But she was unclear on Lancelot's true motivation behind entering the tournament, other than for the prestige and family honour, reputation and all that. All she knew was that it had to do with some Scottish girl, a young swordswoman who had defeated him a while back...
Puella fairly jumped up and down with happiness. "Wow, Lan-chan, this is so great! I'm so excited about the Toshindaibukai, how about you? Did you bring your rapier with you?"
Lancelot nodded, holding up a long, thin case along with another bag of luggage. "Right here. I'm ready to fight. It'll be just like all the championships I was in, and they were easy. But..." here his eyes took on a worried tone, "I don't know what it's going to be like at THIS tournament. You think there'll be a lot of scary people there, Pue-chan?"
"Aw, come on, Lan-chan, don't be such a wuss! It'll be fun, and I don't care WHO's there, because we're going to beat them all!" Puella put on her biggest, cutest grin. "So be happy!"
Her friend smiled weakly. "I guess you're right. And I have to find--"
"Who? Find who?"
"Um..." Lancelot paused, and Puella swore she could see some red creep into his pale cheeks. "Nobody. I'll tell you later, once we get there."
"Oh...okay." Calmed for only a second by confusion, Puella soon perked back up, picking up her suitcase and bow from where she left them by the church doors. "Now that you're here, we can all get ready to go-"
"Yeah, and thanks for letting ME know!"
They both turned, and Fen, holding his stuffed suitcase and followed closely by Wolfy, appeared at the door. He grinned cockily at them. "Not thinking of leaving us behind, were you?"
Puella giggled, shaking her head. "No, of course not! Oh, I have to introduce you two. Fen, this is Lan-cha--Lancelot Lakeknight. He's a fencer from England, the other member of our team. Lan-chan, this is Fen Barefoot, a spear - or I guess harpoon - fighter from Brazil. Add me on, and there's our whole team!"
Lancelot bowed formally, and held out his hand to Fen. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Barefoot--"
"Call me Fen, dude." Fen, instead of shaking his hand, slapped it happily. "And this here's Wolfy, my running buddy."
"Oh..." Lancelot looked down nervously at the pig, then back at Fen. "Does he - bite?"
Fen looked surprised, then laughed loudly, causing Lancelot to jump. "Bite? My pig? No way! Ha ha...hey, I like you, man. I think we're going to make a pretty good team, the three of us."
"Right!" Puella chimed in, raising a hand in anticipation. "We're going to win this tournament, and no one's going to stop us!"
The two boys added in their approval, and the group of young fighters headed out to catch a taxi to the airport, to get their flight to Japan - and the Toshindaibukai tournament.


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