The Pyre on Which We Burn
by amiwakawaiidesu
(Based on characters and situations from "Witch Hunter Robin", created by Hajime Yatate and Shuko Murase.
Note: This is a slightly revised version of the story originally posted 2-13-06, with changes inspired by a review posted by stella.)
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After the collapse of the Factory, the STN-J was forced to curtail its operations because it only had three experienced hunters left (Karasuma, Doujima and Sakaki). Robin and Amon both eventually returned to Raven's Flat, though. Like Amon, Robin was feared lost in the Factory collapse, but she actually survived and hid out with the help of Nagira until she was satisfied that Solomon HQ was no longer trying to hunt her. Amon, meanwhile, had returned to service with Solomon HQ, but only long enough to complete one final mission; for several months he spied on the operations of the STN-J until Solomon HQ was satisfied that the Japan branch was no longer a threat. Then, after Robin returned to the STN-J, Amon also asked Chief Kosaka if he could return and was accepted, though he offered no explanation for his activities during the months since the collapse.
Still, the STN-J was short one hunter, so a sixth hunter named Alice Hoshiwara was soon recruited; paired with Doujima, they would form a third team to supplement Amon and Robin, and Karasuma and Sakaki.
As STN-J hunters went, Hoshiwara was fairly old at 26 (the same current age as Amon), but she had more in common with Robin than most of their fellow hunters. Like Robin, Hoshiwara had been raised as an orphan next to a place of worship, but in Hoshiwara's case the place of worship was a Shinto shrine in Okinawa rather than a Catholic church in Italy. At the shrine, Hoshiwara had been trained as a miko, and therefore - just as Robin continued to wear her convent dress every day - Hoshiwara likewise wore a traditional white kimono and red hakama trousers when she went to work at Raven's Flat.
"How cool," Sakaki said, taking in Hoshiwara's slim build and long black hair, "just like Sailormars."
"Not quite," Hoshiwara replied. "I'm afraid I can't conjure fire, although I am a craft user."
"What is your craft?" Doujima asked.
"Mesmerism," Hoshiwara said. "A type of psi-craft."
"Ah," Karasuma said. "Hypnotism, and conjuring illusions."
"That's right," Hoshiwara said. Then, with a smile, she added: "I can also exorcise demons, although that's not part of the craft."
"So, Hoshiwara," Amon said, "are you sure you want to get involved with these people? You might be happier if you went back where you came from."
"Amon!" Doujima said. "That's not a very nice thing to say!"
"That's all right," Hoshiwara said. "Amon and I have known each other for a while, and perhaps he's just thinking of the work I've done - unofficially - for the STN-J in Okinawa. Once Solomon certified that I wasn't a witch, I was allowed to use my power to hunt witches in the southern regions of Japan."
"And you were very good at it," Amon said. "So why leave now?"
"Well, Chief Kosaka asked me; and I'm not the only 'auxiliary' you have working out in the field. I'm sure the people of Okinawa will be fine without me...
"But what about you, Amon-san? Do you want me to leave?"
Amon paused a long moment before responding.
"That's your decision, of course," Amon said, before turning away from Hoshiwara.
Amon's strange antipathy toward Hoshiwara notwithstanding, Hoshiwara soon impressed all her other fellow hunters with her abilities. Although a conventional sidearm was available to Hoshiwara (with a mixture of tranquilizer and hollow-point ammunition to replace the orbo no longer used by the STN-J), Hoshiwara preferred to rely on a combination of her craft and a bamboo kendo sword to knock out most of the witches she hunted with Doujima. Most of those witches were then safely conveyed to a state mental hospital set aside for the rehabilitation of witches.
Robin was no less impressed by Hoshiwara than most of her colleagues, but her partnership with Amon placed her in a difficult position. At a time when Robin was trying to draw closer to Amon and discern what - if anything - he felt for her beyond their partnership, Amon was increasingly unwilling to share any of his personal feelings with her, and Robin sensed that this was somehow related to the presence of Hoshiwara.
"You never seem very friendly toward Hoshiwara-san," Robin finally said to Amon one afternoon, while they drove through Tokyo in his black sedan. "Has she done something to offend you?"
"We had some contact in the past," Amon responded, ambiguously.
"I know that," Robin said, "but was she like your girlfriend or something? She is very pretty."
"No, it's nothing like that. Just forget about it; it's not important."
Robin remained curious, though, and thus spoke to Hoshiwara privately after work that day. After Amon and most of the other hunters had gone home, Robin took Hoshiwara aside and asked her how Amon had known her previously.
"Well," Hoshiwara said, "Amon was the person who was sent to assess my craft when I was first considered for duty as an unofficial witch hunter. Thankfully, I wasn't considered dangerous, and I was allowed to use my craft for the good of the STN-J and the people of Japan."
"That's interesting; but why is he so cold toward you? Were you his girlfriend?"
"No," Hoshiwara said with a smile, "I wasn't his girlfriend. Amon hated witches - or at least he did back then- and I'm sure he would never have considered having a relationship with a craft user. But there was one thing I did do for him; after I mentioned that I could help people learn about past lives through hypnotic regression, I offered to help him recover memories from an earlier lifetime."
"From an earlier lifetime? He's never mentioned that to me..."
"Well, Amon is very secretive, as I'm sure you know."
"Can you tell me what he learned?" Robin asked.
"I'm afraid I couldn't do that," Hoshiwara replied. "That sort of information is very personal."
"I see," Robin said.
Robin then thought for a long moment.
"Okay then," Robin continued. "Could you help me remember one of my past lives?"
Hoshiwara lifted an eyebrow, giving Robin a critical look.
"Do you want to see what Amon saw?" Hoshiwara asked. "It might not work like that; Amon might have seen a past life that you have nothing to do with. Plus, too, you might not like what you see in the past; my understanding is that you're a very unique person – the so-called 'Eve of Witches', and embodiment of the Arcanum of the Craft – so it's very likely that your soul has suffered greatly on its path to its current incarnation."
"Well, if I'm so special, that's all the more reason I should know about myself...
"Will you do this for me, Hoshiwara-san?"
Again Hoshiwara smiled, very slightly.
"Yes, I'll do this for you. Do you have anywhere you need to go tonight?"
Robin shook her head.
"Then meet me on the ground floor of Raven's Flat in an hour, and perhaps you'll find what you seek."
X O X O X
When Robin arrived on the ground floor of Raven's Flat it was quite dark, but she could still make out the figure of Hoshiwara sitting in a chair and illuminated by the light of a single candle. Another chair sat opposite Hoshiwara's, and a circle of protection was drawn around both chairs and the low table upon which the candle stood.
"Sena-san," Hoshiwara said, "join me if you will."
Robin did so, settling into the empty chair.
"Do I need to do anything?" Robin asked.
"No," Hoshiwara said. "Just relax, close your eyes and focus on my voice..."
Hoshiwara then led Robin on a focused concentration exercise, inviting her to relax her body and mind, but not actually fall asleep. As it happened, Robin was a very good subject for hypnosis and was soon induced into a hypnotic trance.
"Now," Hoshiwara said, speaking in a steady monotone voice, "I want you to imagine you are standing on a beach on a sunny day, and before you stretches a vast and boundless ocean. This is the beach of time, and the sea before you is the endless sea of life and consciousness; you have been here before, and you shall be here again...
"In the sky you see your name written in the clouds. Now let the wind blow your name away into the blue; names are not important. Just continue listening to my voice, and relaxing more deeply...
"You turn, and there is a door open just as you left it when you last were here. Beyond the door is a bank of fog, obscuring your view. Begin walking toward the door...
"You walk through the door, but all you can see is the silvery fog. In a moment I am going to count to three and snap my fingers, and you will begin to move rapidly back in time. You will feel the fog rush by you, indicating the passage of time. One, two, three..."
Hoshiwara snapped her fingers.
"When I count to three and snap my fingers again, you will be in a past lifetime in which you were very happy. One, two, three..."
Again Hoshiwara snapped her fingers, and a very slight smile came to Robin's face.
"The fog has lifted, and you can now experience this lifetime; what is your name?"
"My name is Seona," Robin said, continuing to speak in the Japanese she and Hoshiwara both understood. "Seona Blackburn."
"Who are you?"
"I am a maiden girl."
"Where are you?"
"I am on my father's farm in Galloway, in the lowlands of Scotland."
"How old are you?"
"I am 16 years old."
"What day is this?"
"It is Sunday, the Lord's day."
"What is the date?"
"I cannot say for certain; I do not read, nor keep a calendar. But it has been a year, they say, since the restoration of the king; June it must be, then, in the Year of Our Lord 1661."
"Look around you," Hasegawa continued; "observe the details, the smells, the colors...
"What are you wearing?"
"I am wearing my good black Sunday dress, and my bonnet; I've just come home from church, you see, with my father."
"Is anyone with you?"
"Yes, someone is coming down the lane...coming to see me. He is a handsome man, tall and dark, with flowers in his hands. Angus, he is, Angus Kilbride; his father owns all the land around my father's farm."
"Are you a friend of Angus?"
"He is my love...though we cannot tell anyone. I'm just a peasant girl, you see, and his father would not let him marry me..."
Robin then went on to relate how she and Angus spent the rest of that Sunday afternoon together, walking past a briar patch at the edge of her father's farm to a stream that was well-concealed from anyone who might chance to walk by. There Angus wooed Seona with freely-translated verses from a book of French poetry he had upon his person, and Seona was much impressed with his book-learning and courtly manner. When Angus suggested that Seona convince her father to sell his lands, however, Seona perceived that Angus had an ulterior motive in his wooing.
"'Do not be offended,' Angus tells me, 'there are many that covet your land, and note your secretive ways. Even my father thinks you are a witch for the power you have over me, and this is a dangerous time to be thought a witch...
"'But Father is not much longer for this world; when he passes on, then I will marry you and be able to provide for you and your father the rest of your days.'"
Robin chose to volunteer no more information about that day, so Hoshiwara then gave Robin new instructions.
"In a moment, I am going to count to three and snap my fingers. When I do, it will be one year later. One, two, three..."
Hoshiwara snapped her fingers again, and now Robin's aspect changed entirely. Where she had seemed happy before, now she frowned and sagged as if burdened with a great weight.
"Where are you?" Hoshiwara asked.
"I am...tied to a pole..." Robin said. "The men of the village mean to burn me..."
"What has happened? Why do they mean to burn you?"
"Well, I am a witch, you see; witches must be burned..."
Hoshiwara kept her voice neutral, but even so felt a sense of inner anguish as she asked Seona how she had come to be in this circumstance. Earlier that year, Seona's father had died and Seona tried to seek comfort from Angus; but Angus was suddenly cold and told Seona they must never meet again. Hurt and confused, Seona then returned to her house and tried to sleep, only to find herself surrounded by flames; as she ran from the house, she realized she could conjure fire with her thoughts, and also realized that Angus' father must be right: she was a witch!
Terrified, Seona then went to the Kilbride estate and pounded on the front door until Angus finally opened the door, though he remained aloof and unwilling to touch her. When Seona pressed him why, Angus revealed something even more horrifying than the fact of Seona's demonic power: after their last meeting in June, Angus' father confided that he was Seona's true father, so that Angus was the half-brother of Seona and obviously too close to her to marry. Further, Angus' father had confided to Angus that Seona was conceived after he had lain with a Highland sorceress who had cast a seductive spell upon him, and thereafter abandoned the child after she was born; the witch-child was then given to a widowed tenant farmer to raise, with the gift of a small plot of land in exchange for the farmer's promise never to reveal what he knew.
Seona then ran from the Kilbride estate, intent on drowning herself in the River Annan, but it was too far to run without resting, and she pausedto take shelter in a barn along the way. There her fire flared again, enveloping both the barn and a nearby house, and it wasn't long before Seona was taken into custody by officers of the local magistrate. Preparations were made to torture Seona as customary to extract a confession of witchcraft, but Seona confessed immediately to her crime and surprised the magistrate by asking to be burned alive as soon as possible.
And so Seona was where she was now, in a field not far from her home, lashed to a pole with kindling heaped all around her. Men stood by with torches lit, and a minister of the church - clad all in black - was speaking prayers now, though Seona heard the prayersonly vaguely in her suicidal despair.
Then suddenly there was fog all around - most unnatural on a clear sunny afternoon - and Seona was startled to see that the landscape all around her, and all the people nearby, had disappeared. One figure did emerge from the mist, though: Angus, clad all in black, with a dagger in his hand.
"He is speaking to me," Robin said; "he is cutting at the ropes and telling me I must go with him...
"But I can't move; we have no future together, I tell him, so I might as well die...
"He is struggling now, coming closer to me; 'I am a witch too', he says, 'but I'm not ready to die yet...'
"Then the men are upon him; the fog is lifting, and men with swords are advancing. Angus turns on the men, and wounds one with his dagger, but the other stabs him in the side...
"'Forgive me, Seona,' he says, slumping at my feet. 'I have been cruel to you, but this day, we shall be together in Paradise...'"
Hasegawa then looked on with awe as a reddish glow surrounded Robin, and flames began to form around her body.
"For this there is no forgiveness..." Robin exclaimed, looking at the suddenly frightened Lowlanders through Seona's eyes.
"Now there is fire! FIRE TO TAKE YOU ALL -!"
"Robin!" Hasegawa said suddenly, snapping her fingers. "Wake up! Open your eyes!"
Robin did so at once, snapping out of her trance immediately, and both the glow and the flames disappeared.
"Oh my God," Robin said, looking at Hasegawa in the dim light of the candle, "did that really happen...?"
"Maybe you should ask Angus," Hasegawa suggested, looking over her shoulder.
Then, emerging from the shadows, Amon stepped forth.
"Amon," Robin said, "it was you! You were Angus!"
"Yes," Amon said, "it was me."
Then to Hasegawa, he said: "Was this really necessary?"
"You asked me to help you explore your past," Hasegawa replied. "Is it fair to deny Robin the same privilege?"
Amon frowned, saying nothing.
As for Robin, still startled by the horror of what she'd experienced, it was almost too much to believe.
"Why didn't you tell me any of this, Amon? My God, you were my brother..."
"Yes, I was your brother," Amon said, moving to sit on the lip of the well-like entrance to the tunnel leading away beneath Raven's Flat, and looking away from both Robin and Hasegawa. "My mother told me when I was very young that I would meet my sister one day, and that I must protect her, but I didn't take her seriously at the time. Mother was always having visions – even before her craft awakened – and I thought this was just another result of some half-baked séance she was involved with…
"When I met Hasegawa, though – and she helped me to see the past – I realized my mother was right; I felt a connection to the peasant girl Seona, and Hasegawa foretold that would know Seona when I met her again in this lifetime, for we are bound together by our very souls. And indeed I did recognize you, Robin. I recognized you from the very first time we met."
"Then, why...? Why didn't you tell me?"
Again Amon was silent.
"Amon is not like us," Hasegawa said to Robin, after a moment. "Amon is a lone wolf, and nothing is more important to him than his own independence. But he discovered that he could never act independently again, after he learned of his connection to you. You two are bound as closely as any two people can be bound, and both of you carry the burdens of many lives lived together, and much sorrow and misunderstanding."
"That may be so," Amon said to Hasegawa, "but all the same, would you mind giving us a moment alone here?"
"Yes, of course," Hasegawa said, rising from her chair. She paused just a moment to glance at Robin, then headed for the stairs and disappeared into the darkness. Even after Hasegawa was gone, though, neither Amon nor Robin spoke for a long while afterward.
"So now you know," Amon said, still looking away from Robin.
Robin remained seated a long moment, unsure what to do or say. Then she rose from her chair, crossed to Amon and embraced him from behind, resting against his back.
"Is it so bad," Robin asked, "to have a little sister?"
Amon lifted a hand and placed it on Robin's arm.
"I think one sibling is enough..." Amon replied, thinking of Nagira.
"Anyway, it's getting late; may I walk you home, Robin?"
"Yes, you may," Robin said, letting Amon up. "I think we have a lot of catching up to do..."
Robin paused to pick up the candle Hasegawa had left behind, then returned to Amon's side.
"So," Robin said, "I get the impression there are many more lives we've lived together. Aside from the lifetime in Scotland, are there are any others you've tried to learn about?"
"No."
"Hypothetically, would you be willing to learn more about those lifetimes with me?"
A pained look came over Amon's face, exaggerated in the darkness. But after a moment, the pained look subsided.
"Yes, of course," Amon said, offering Robin a hand as he reached the stairwell leading down to the garage level exit. "I think I owe you that much."
Then, together, illuminated only by the single candle, they left the vast chamber and darkness again reclaimed the space they left behind.
THE END