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Chapter 10 - Lucky Girl, Lucky Lady
Pale, beyond porch
and portal,
Crowned with calm leaves, she stands
Who gathers all things mortal
With cold immortal hands;
Her languid lips are sweeter
Than love's who fears to greet her
To men that mix and meet her
From many times and lands.
- Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Garden of Proserpine
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The back room of the Time Castle was larger than Ulala had
expected. A narrow hallway led into a round area with dark curtains on the
walls and a single lamp hung from the ceiling. It took her eyes a minute to
adjust to the low light as she walked forward warily. The space was clean and
neatly kept, containing two reddish-brown chairs on the right side and a long
white table on the left. Her footfalls became dampened suddenly, and when she
looked down she saw that she was standing on a beautifully intricate oriental
rug.
"It's priceless," a female voice said from somewhere ahead of her.
She looked up sharply, squinting to see into the darkness. There was a soft
creaking noise, and a young woman stepped forward to the edge of the light.
"Nice, isn't it?"
Ulala took a step forward. "Are you Mai Ogawa?" she asked, deciding
that the direct approach was probably the best one.
The girl gave a funny laugh and nodded. "Yeah, that's me. Who are
you?"
"I'm a friend of the Count's," Ulala said with a smile.
"Like hell you are," Mai said. "The Count doesn't have
friends."
Well, at least she's not deluding herself. Maybe she thinks that she's the
one using him. "I'm glad you realize that."
They stood there in silence for a long moment, sizing each other up. She
looks older than I expected, thought Ulala. And more self-assured.
"Mai," she finally said. Her voice sounded thin, like it was losing
itself in all the empty space of the room. She hesitated, then squared her
shoulders and stood as straight as she could. "My name is Ulala Serizawa.
I'm a private mansearcher, and I was hired by your family to find you. They're
very worried, and they would like you to contact them as soon as
possible." There it is, she thought, holding her breath. Now
we'll see how this is going to be.
* * *
"Well, can you get through?"
Katsuya closed his cell phone and shook his head. "Her phone must be off.
I'm not getting anything."
Baofu cursed and smacked his hand against a light post. "I can't believe
that woman! What did she think she was doing, anyway?" His body sagged and
he rubbed his temples, hiding the frustrated expression on his face. Katsuya
watched him patiently while he tried to straighten out his thoughts.
Where the hell is she? Maya had said she went after Mai and Ichirou on
her own. Is it possible that she actually found them? If that were the
case, it was as good as over. He'd been searching fruitlessly for those two all
day, and if he couldn't find them then, he sure as hell couldn't find them now.
He squeezed his eyes shut. I'm not giving up. There has to be a way.
"There is," he said aloud. He looked over at Katsuya with sudden
earnestness. "There is a way."
The young detective, who had been leaning against a wall, looked back at him
evenly. "To find her?" Baofu nodded and he stood up, brushing off his
shirt. "Alright, so what's your idea?"
"I have to talk to Prometheus," he said somberly. "I have to go
back into the dream."
* * *
The girl nodded and turned to face the back wall. She disappeared for a moment
and returned pulling an old leather work stool, which she wheeled over to the
edge of the rug. The fluffy cushion wheezed as she sat down and crossed her
legs. Now that she was in the full light, Ulala could see that she was really
quite attractive. She was the type that if you only looked at her once, she was
plain at best, but if you looked again, you'd notice something about her hair
or the way she moved her hands; she had a sleepy sensuality that didn't make
itself known, but was potent nonetheless.
She was wearing something black and matte, something that bled into the
darkness behind her so that Ulala had to look at her exposed skin to define the
shape of the garment. Her shoulders were bare except for two thin straps and
her arms also so; her legs were naked to the knees, where the darkness hung in
a way that suggested a loose skirt. She produced a cigarette from somewhere and
let it sit loosely between her lips.
Almost by habit, Ulala turned to dig in the purse that hung at her hip. She
found her lighter and took a step forward, flicking it on and holding it out at
full arms' length. Mai arched her eyebrows and shrugged when she realized Ulala
wasn't going to come any closer. She leaned forward from the waist until her
cigarette connected with the flame, the ensuing flicker briefly illuminating
her face as she inhaled. She sat back, twin ribbons of smoke curling around her
head and bits of glowing paper still hanging in the air.
Ulala waited patiently while the girl burned through almost half of her
cigarette, occasionally flicking ashes onto the Count's priceless rug. When she
finally did talk, it seemed like it was only because she was getting bored of
the silence. "I never used to smoke," she said, looking thoughtfully
at the business end of the cigarette. "Why do you carry a lighter? You
don't seem like the type."
"I'm not, but I have friends that are."
"You have friends?" Mai said, in a disinterested voice. "You
don't seem like the type."
Ulala bit her tongue. Be cool, she coached herself. Be professional.
"What makes you say that?" she said diplomatically. "You only
just met me."
The girl shrugged and stood up from her seat. She paced restlessly to the side,
a thin trail of smoke following behind her. "I may be young," she
said over her shoulder. "But I'm not stupid. You didn't come here looking
for just me; why would you have any reason to? I don't care about cards or any
of this old-timer crap." She finished her cigarette and flicked it away.
"So you must know about Ichirou."
She turned and smiled coldly at Ulala. "I bet you think you know
everything there is to know about me. Maybe you even feel like you can relate
to me. You figured I'd be hanging out here, clinging to my man, because that's
what you would do." She caught a laugh in her throat. "The disgusting
part is that you were right. Maybe we aren't so different. I certainly don't
have any friends. So why should you?"
Ulala looked at her for a long time, her expression still calm and unreadable.
"I do have friends," she said quietly. "I have friends who love
me and take care of me, even when I'm too wrapped up in myself to love and take
care of them."
Mai looked around the room pointedly. "Funny," she said. "I
don't see anybody else here." Her expression grew serious and intense.
"You know I'm dangerous, and yet you're here alone with me in a dark room.
Yeah, really great friends you have."
Ulala clenched her hands into fists, running the tips of her fingers along the
palm edge of the taping. "I chose to come alone," she said, slowly
and deliberately. "I thought I could work better that way, and they
respected my judgment." Well, Maya did, anyway, she thought. I'm sure
the others would have agreed to it, too. Eventually. She relaxed her
posture and crossed her arms over her chest. "They taught me what real
friends are like. Real friends have high expectations of you, without
expecting anything from you."
"Oh. Right," the girl said sarcastically. Her dark eyes glinted
behind a harsh expression. She crossed back to her stool and sat down heavily.
"I'm glad for you, really I am. But we can't all be so lucky with our
friends." Her lips curled into a sardonic smile and she gestured to the
room around her. "I make do with what I have."
This isn't going well, thought Ulala, as she tried to contain her
frustration. She's too bitter, too defensive. She tried to remember what
Big Suou had told her once about the interrogation process. "One of the
best ways to get through to someone who is resisting," he had said, "is
to convince them that you've given up, that you don't care about them anymore.
Try and walk away, and nine times out of ten they won't let you."
It hadn't made sense to her at the time, but she had since seem him make it
work against countless people, demon and human, young and old, good and evil.
Katsuya may have had his share of issues, but she couldn't deny that he knew
how to do his job. Well, she thought. Might as well give it a try.
* * *
Baofu sat down cross-legged on the dusty pavement. Katsuya watched him from a
few feet away, his expression mildly confused. "I'm not sure I
understand," he said. "You mean to say you can access these...
premonitions... anytime you want to?"
"Maybe."
He rubbed his forehead. Maybe I should call the police, he thought. We're
wasting valuable time here. "And how exactly do you go about doing
something like that?"
"I don't know," the older man said, closing his eyes. "I've
never done it before."
Just great, thought Katsuya, slumping against the wall again. He pursed
his lips, turning his head to scan the dark street. A few people ducked in and
out of businesses or walked on their way to somewhere else, but no one seemed
to take notice of the young detective and his friend. But there's nothing
else to be done, is there? A skeptical frown settled on his face and he
resigned himself to waiting.
* * *
There was a long moment of silence in the wake of Mai's admonition. Ulala stood
where she was, ignoring the unspoken dismissal. "Oh well," she said
lightly, and shrugged. "I guess there is a difference between us, then.
Not much I can do about that." She turned away, brushing a piece of hair
out of her eyes. Play it cool, be nonchalant, she thought, and patted
herself on the back for what she considered to a stellar performance thus far.
Mai shot her an impatient look. "What?" she asked, scowling.
"Nah," said Ulala. "It's nothing." She straightened her
clothes and started to make her way back out to the store. "If you don't
want to contact your parents, I can't make you. I'll tell them that I found you
here and collect my fee. And since you were so charming, I'll wait until Monday
to tell the police about your little hideout." She got to the edge of the
circle of light and turned to face the girl. "Do what you want, but I
don't recommend sticking around here for very much longer," she said
coolly. "It was nice meeting you."
"Wait!" Mai jumped up. "Wait, tell me what you were going to say
already."
Ulala paused and gave her a small smile. It worked, she thought
gleefully. Katsuya, you are a genius. "Mai," she said.
"You just sit around, waiting for luck to fall into your lap, don't you?"
She shook her head gently. "It doesn't work like that. The difference
between you and me isn't good luck or bad luck. It's that I make my own luck,
and you just whine about your lack of it."
Mai said nothing, just screwed up her face into a pout and looked to the side.
Ulala took a breath and continued. "One of the boys you attacked is dead,
did you know that? He killed himself." She shook her head. "I know
what they did to you was disgusting. They're sleazeballs and I can think of
some very creative punishments that would be perfectly fitting for them. But
none of them involve the pain you inflicted on them. No one deserves
that."
The girl stepped back, clearly surprised by the reproach. For a second she
looked infuriated, as though she were ready to fly at Ulala and start ripping
out her hair, but it just as quickly gave way to a much sadder, worn
expression. Her body seemed to deflate, and she shrank back to sit gingerly on
her stool. For the first time Ulala felt that she might be seeing the real Mai;
the person behind the persona, who looked so much smaller and more fragile than
she first seemed.
"I didn't mean to hurt them that bad," she said softly. "I read
about the suicide in the paper, and -" she choked back tears. "I
never wanted that. It wasn't supposed to be like that, but Ichirou joined with
me somehow, and... we just annihilated them. It felt so empowering at the time,
I was so happy to see them suffer." Her face twisted into a grimace.
"But I can't stop thinking about how empty they looked. Like we were
leaving two husks of people there on the roof."
They both fell silent for a long moment. "Um," the girl said at last.
"Will you really... are the police really looking for me too?" Her
eyes shone with sadness and fear. "Do you think that I would be okay at home?"
Ulala tilted her head, and smiled warmly.
* * *
Baofu took a deep breath and tried to empty his mind. Prometheus, he
whispered to himself. Persona, persona, persona... over and over again,
the familiar mantra ran through his head. The wind picked up and stirred his
hair.
For a long time he felt nothing, or rather, he felt enough to assure him that
he was still firmly rooted in reality. He was aware of the rough pavement, the
sound of Katsuya's pacing, the dusty smell in the air. He sighed; although it
was comforting, none of it emulated the dizzying void that always preceded his
visions.
Damn it, he thought bitterly. You plague my life, you disrupt my
sleep, I can never escape you... and then the one time I need you, you're nowhere
to be found. He clenched his teeth fiercely. Is this all some kind of
joke to you?
Anger and frustration swelled in his heart, and just as he was about to jump up
and punch the wall, he felt himself paralyzed. A familiar voice danced through
his mind. How interesting, it said. I never thought I'd see this day.
Baofu reflexively struggled against the voice, then forced himself to relax. I
need your help.
Soft laughter echoed in his skull. You need my help? Tell me. Why do you
need my help?
I can't see her. He found it hard to think the right words, like his
mind was slowly unraveling. I need to know where she is. Please, show me
where she is.
There was a long silence, and then Baofu felt as though the ground dropped out
from under him. For the first time in his life, he didn't resist at all; he
just let himself slip into the dream, sending back thoughts of utmost
gratitude.
This time, he paid attention to his surroundings.
* * *
Ulala smiled to herself. Did I really get through to her? she inwardly
rejoiced. If they could get Mai safely returned to her family, they could help
her, start her on a path to recovery, and surely she would know where to find
Ichirou. Everything was going to be alright. She had done it, and more
importantly, she had done it on her own.
I really did it! And I can't wait to see the look on Baofu's -
That's when it happened. A familiar tingling at the back of her neck, the
sudden panic on Mai's face, and the faintest sound of breathing all hit her
awareness at once. She had no time to react, however, before she felt a brutal
punch in her right shoulder. She cried out, her eyes wide with surprise and
fear, before sinking to her knees.
She shuddered and gasped, trying to block out the pain that was tearing through
her body. Got to move, she thought. Move! She threw herself into
a sidewise roll, turning twice before coming up against the curtained wall. Her
shoulder screamed and she had to bite her tongue to keep it from screaming too,
but she knew that another blow would have been worse.
Her attacker, a young man in black that she could only assume was Ichirou, was
thankfully distracted for the moment by violent protestations from Mai. Ulala
winced as she reached around with her left hand to test the wound. Blood,
she thought, surprised to feel the growing dampness on her shirt. The
bastard stabbed me! Her right arm felt dull and heavy, and she could barely
move the fingers of that hand.
Shit, she cursed silently. What the hell do I do now?
* * *
Baofu jumped up. "I know where she is," he said.
Katsuya turned. "Where?" he said, his eyes narrowing behind his
glasses.
"The Time Castle. There's no mistaking it." He gritted his teeth.
"She was in bad shape, Suou."
The two men nodded to each other, and Katsuya rolled his sleeves up to the
elbows. "That's not far, only two blocks north and a cut across the empty
lot," he said. "Want to run?"
"Let's."
* * *
The two kids were yelling now. Ulala could see that Ichirou was waving a long
switchblade, probably the same one he had just stuck in her shoulder. The pain
was dull now, almost numb, and shock was starting to give way to anger. She
struggled to her feet. I don't need any working hands to kill this boy,
she thought fiercely.
Mai and Ichirou were so absorbed in their dispute that neither of them even saw
her stand up. "What's wrong with you?" Mai demanded shrilly.
"Attacking an innocent person, are you out of your mind? We can't cover
this up anymore! I don't want to be involved!"
"You wouldn't be anything without me!" the boy shouted. "I don't
want to hear you complaining about how I do things, alright?" She shook
her head and started to respond, but before she could say anything he raised
his hand and slapped her brutally across the face.
She cried out and stumbled backwards, touching her cheek gingerly with the tips
of her fingers. For a moment it looked like she might cry, but by the time she
straightened up all fear and hesitation had fled from her face. The terrible,
hateful expression she wore now could only mean one thing. Ichirou laughed; it
sounded like a series of low staccato barks. "You wouldn't," he said
with a snarl. "You couldn't take me."
"Maybe not," said Ulala from behind him. He whirled to find that she
was standing between him and the exit with a sadistic grin on her face.
"But there's something my partner always says. Never get between two
women. Because no matter whose side you start out on, you always end up in the
gutter."
The boy sneered and slowly moved towards her, his switchblade still dripping
with her blood. "Stupid bitch," he growled. "I'll make you wish
you'd never opened your ugly mouth."
Behind him, Mai raised both of her hands. "Persephone," she incanted,
her voice even and calm. "I need you now. Show your fair face and bring
this boy the humble taste of mortality." There was an incredible flash and
the avatar of pale light that was both Mai and not Mai surrounded her and rose
above her head.
Ichirou spun to face her, his eyes darkened by anger and fear.
"Hades!" he shouted, fighting with the din of light and sound that
was already filling the room. "Ruler of the dead! Come, punish these fools
that dare to challenge your authority!" Ulala felt a sick dread wash over
her as the dark turmoil of Ichirou's persona clashed with the stark brilliance
of Mai's. She shielded her face and closed her eyes.
"Asteria," she whispered, and it was all she needed to say.
While both Mai and Ichirou's personae were strong and powerful, they were also
uncontrolled. Ulala's discipline and experience with Asteria simply outclassed
both of them. Her warmth washed over the room like the sea lapping at sandy
shores on some distant island. Ichirou clapped his hands over his ears and
dropped to the floor, the sickening presence of Hades diminishing and then fading.
He resisted the effects of the sleep-spell long enough to scramble to the back
wall of the room, where he huddled against the dark curtains. Mai and
Persephone were unable to resist, and they strayed in the dream; when the tide
had ebbed the young woman was fast asleep on the priceless Oriental rug and her
persona was dormant once more.
The room quiet and normal again, Ulala fell to one knee, panting softly.
Summoning her persona had taxed her more than she expected; she was having a
hard time even seeing straight. Dizzy. Her mind spun as she turned to
crawl back out to the store. Need to... get out now. Slowly she made her
way through the dark hallway, dragging herself along with her left hand. Her
right arm was now completely limp, and the entire back side of her shirt was
heavy with warm, sticky blood. She began to understand that despite her
victory, her current situation was not so good.
The door presented a problem, and she ended up sitting on her butt and kicking
the damn thing open with both feet. The store was dark, and appeared to be
locked up for the night. Stupid Count, she thought dumbly, and then
turned her mind to the more productive idea of finding a phone.
Ulala had almost made it to the desk when the door shuddered twice and then
flew open. Two pairs of feet came in, paused, then ran over to where she lay on
the ground. She was dimly aware of voices, and one of the owners of the feet
slapped her face lightly. "...up... stay with us... -lala..."
I know that voice, she thought with sudden clarity. Her eyes blinked open and
she found herself staring up at two very concerned and soggy-looking
detectives. She giggled.
"My god, what happened to her?" It was Baofu.
"Silly," she said, her voice slow and sticky in her throat. "I
came, I saw... I conquered." A raspy laugh escaped her lips. "And
then, I got stabbed. Isn't that... always the way?" She closed her eyes
and finally, blissfully, everything went black.
