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Dissonance
Event XXVI
Love Infection
Her head hurt. She couldn't quite make out where she was because her eyes refused to work properly and that wasn't all. Something heavy was making it slightly difficult to breathe, something was tickling her nose, likely waking her up in the first place. Feeling around, she realized what tickled her was a lot of long hair. Moving further down, she felt something soft and she recognized that feeling.
It was just Mai. Finally seeing something in the dark, she was able to make out the outline of her own room. The uncomfortable bed was made bearable by Mai being there with her. Laying her arm around her love, she pulled her in closer, briefly smelling Mai's hair, something that soothed her.
But she had moved around too much. Mai was waking up, unable to see anything and only half awake. "Nagisa? What are you doing?" Rubbing her cheek against Nagisa's shoulder, Mai closed her eyes again. "It's the middle of the night."
"Sorry. I just woke up and couldn't resist. You always smell nice after a shower, so I just..." Smirking, Nagisa quickly kissed the other cheek of her partner. "Go back to sleep."
"You too." About to slip away, Mai briefly remembered something. "I had a bad dream just now... can I talk to you about it?"
"Have I ever said no to that?" Caressing Mai's cheek and kissing her lips, Nagisa recalled that she dreamed of something unpleasant as well. But she didn't want to burden Mai with it. Bad dreams happened occasionally when eating heavy before sleeping.
"I was... in this room. And when I woke up, you were gone. When I wanted to go and look for you, I was suddenly assaulted by Saki... that way." Taking Nagisa's hand, Mai felt a little bit uncomfortable telling her partner about it.
Nagisa smiled softly, moving a few strands of Mai's hair out of her face. "She would never do that. You know how loyal she is to Honoka. Your dream must be because of... that one time after the party." Something Nagisa wasn't proud of at all. She had ended up sleeping with Honoka, betraying her long time partner.
Clinging to Nagisa a little more, Mai turned slightly, kissing her partner. "You're right. Let's go to sleep, I want us two to be in the battle tomorrow."
Nagisa laughed as quietly as she could. "As your highness commands."
Hitting Nagisa's shoulder gently, Mai pouted for a second before trying to go back to sleep. "Geez, you!"
Both of them didn't realize that someone had observed their conversation. Nao and Akane, just barely fitting into the same bed, just like Nagisa and Mai, had coincidentally been awake and witnessed something they thought was the single most odd thing they had seen since coming to the prison.
Noticing a sound, Nao put her hand on Akane's mouth."Akane, stop!" Listening again, stopping Akane from continuing, she hadn't imagined it. Looking at the door, she saw Black and Egret walk in, both of them supporting each other. That alone wasn't too odd, but what happened afterward certainly was. Just short of going to their own beds, Black laid down and Egret with her.
"They're a couple?" Akane was completely confused. "Are they cheating on their partners?"
Nao slowly shook her head, covering her mouth and whispering as quietly as she could. "I... can't imagine that. But it looks like it."
Only a few seconds passed before Black woke up after laying down.
Akane had lost all desire to go on making out with Nao now. The way they had talked made them seem crazy. It was freaking her out a little. "What is going on with those two?"
Nao shook her head. "I don't know. But at least for now, we didn't see or hear anything." Turning over slowly and embracing Akane, Nao was quite happy she didn't have to sleep alone that night. She felt a little scared of Black and Egret. "Don't leave tonight."
Akane returned the embrace and kept Nao close. "Wasn't my intention."
Neither of them slept well that night.
=== Dissonance ===
Being cold and out in the dark that late at night had not been on Miki's wish list but Yuri knew how to drive a bargain. Letting Miki stay with her for the night, they would get Tsubomi when she returned from exile, putting her to rest in Miki's bed, assuming she wouldn't be able to open her own room.
Sitting side by side, wrapped in the blanket of Yuri's bed to work against the cold, Miki warmed the silver Cure by hugging her tightly. "If I ever end up out there, are you going to wait for me, too?" Miki knew Yuri would, but she still wanted to hear her say it.
Yuri could see a mile away what Miki was hoping for and she wasn't as cruel as to deny her that little thing. "What kind of partner wouldn't?" Taking Miki's hand under the blanket, Yuri sighed. "It should be about time for-" She paused when a sphere of light appeared in front of the battle gate. It was so bright, the two Cures that had waited in the dark couldn't see anything for a few seconds. As the light vanished, Yuri could make out Tsubomi, who was just sitting there, eyes open, her expression like stone.
Getting up, taking the blanket and walking over to Tsubomi, Yuri was worried just what kind of effect the exile might have had on her. What happened next surprised Yuri. Tsubomi stood up on her own, patted some dust off her costume, saw Yuri and Miki, lowered her head to hide her face and walked straight past the two, as if they didn't even exist.
"Tsubomi, wait." Yuri grabbed the pink Cure's hand. When the girl turned around, Yuri could not even see her face because Tsubomi was staring at the ground.
"Can... I help you?" The way she spoke reminded Yuri of the past. She had heard from Erika that Tsubomi used to be an extremely timid and shy person. Had the exile forced her to revert back to that? Having no answer for her friend, Yuri just stood there, baffled, unsure what to do. "Can I... go?"
"Tsubomi, don't you remember me?" Yuri wasn't sure what she should do. There was clearly a lingering effect of the exile and from the looks of it, it was quite powerful, too.
"I'm sorry but... I don't think we have met before. I'm really sorry!" Bowing deeply, Tsubomi slowly backed off, unable to even look at the tall girl that somehow knew her name.
Walking up to Yuri, Miki watched the pink Cure turn heel and run away, only to trip after a few meters. "Did she lose her memories? At least she isn't a total wreck or going on a rampage, like Setsuna."
Yuri felt depressed, seeing Tsubomi like that. "If this doesn't fix itself, I'm going to ask Erika and Itsuki to come over." It wasn't going to be easy to ask Erika for a favor, especially not since she had decided to leave Momoka. "I'm worried about her..."
"That may be, but we should go back to your room. Standing around in the cold and guessing what is wrong with her isn't going to make her better. Sleep, get a good rest and tomorrow we'll see if she is still like that." Miki wasn't cold-hearted and she did feel sorry for Blossom, but what she said was true. Taking Yuri by her hand, Miki slowly pulled her away.
=== Dissonance ===
Miyuki woke up with goosebumps. Someone was touching her butt. Her memory was a little fuzzy, but she immediately recognized whose hand it was on her butt. Because she recognized the leg that was sprawled over her chest. She was in Nozomi's bed and her friend was sprawled out in one of the most awkward positions she could imagine. Trying to get out from under her, Miyuki only made things harder on herself.
Suddenly turning and grabbing Miyuki's waist, Nozomi started to grin and drool. "You were so cool back there, Coco..." Dirty giggling to herself, she had quite the hold on Miyuki. The younger Cure trying to push her friend away wasn't met by much success. Nozomi was in her Cure form and quite strongly holding on to her.
Pulling her cheeks, in an attempt to wake her up, had no result whatsoever. "Nozomi!" Shouting into her ear, only made the pink Cure blush. "Wake up!"
Finally letting go and rolling over, Nozomi grabbed the pillow. "Only one more hour..."
Miyuki was amazed how someone so strong and energetic could be such a sleepyhead. Getting out of the bed before Nozomi could grab her again, Miyuki felt like she had just escaped the clutches of staying in that bed for another few hours.
She was incredibly thankful to Nozomi for taking care of her despite the horrific sleeping situation. The time between getting out of exile and the late afternoon of the day before were a massive blur but she didn't even want to remember. That she could recall what the exile had made her believe was bad enough all on it's own.
Trying to leave posed a new problem. She couldn't get the door open. It was one of the mechanisms that prevented others from coming and going as they pleased. Looking back at Nozomi, who had by now halfway rolled out of bed, her head hanging over the edge. Just as she thought dropping her out of bed would be enough, Nozomi started to kiss the air.
Getting her coin bag, Miyuki wished for a thick story book, so she could pass the time. Leaning against the foot end of the bed, she sat down on the ground and started reading, laughing out loud when Nozomi suddenly burst out "I'm not fat, Coco!"
In the room right above them, Urara just woke up, pulling herself out of bed, trying to ignore her horrible bed hair. Noticing that Kurumi was still asleep, she remembered their argument from the day before. It was time to pay her back. She already knew just how. With a sinister smile, Urara summoned her coin bag, not shying away of using a bit of money for this.
Grabbing her own comb and leaving the room, Urara couldn't wait to see the result of her payback. Going into the bathroom, she was going to take a shower before going anywhere. Seeing Beauty leave her room just as she headed into the bath, Urara briefly wondered what the blue Cure looked like normally. The vocalist doubted that the cool beauty would be as hot as Ako through. Cringing at her own pun, she went for a shower.
Reika, at the same time, headed downstairs, seeing Honoka just pass around the corner. Taking a few stairs at once, she caught up. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?" One look at Honoka's face answered that question. "My, you look very exhausted. Did you not sleep at all?"
Exhaling like she was trying to breathe out smoke, Honoka's expression got even worse. "Whenever I fall asleep, I have the same stupid dream. And five minutes later, I'm wide awake, again." She really needed to have Nagisa back. It was starting to negatively affect her day to day life now. And it wasn't really the lack of sex. It was just having Nagisa not by her side.
Honoka noticed that Reika was showing no signs of stress at all. "Are you fine without March?" She was a little jealous if that was the case.
Reika smiled a little. "Of course not." Looking up at the ceiling, Reika considered telling Honoka that the fact she was unable to be with Nao for weeks at a time in some cases had almost made her quit her work as vigilante several times. "I miss her a lot. But it isn't the right path to become all depressed over it since I made the decision myself."
"I understand what you mean." Honoka yawned loudly, the black rings under her eyes giving her a scary look. "I've been with Nagisa for so many years now, I can't imagine a life without her." Sighing, Honoka wanted a coffee strong enough to dissolve her tiredness. "And I didn't expect being away from Nagisa would affect me so badly."
"You should attempt to switch teams in that case." Reika felt that she would only complicate things if she switched teams to be with Nao right after Akane did so. "I believe it highly likely that today's race will have a high level of competition."
"And then it ends with Nagisa and me switching teams, just like Saki and Mai did. I'll talk to her before I sign up, in any case." Both of them heading towards the kitchen, they spotted a group of three. Peach, Pine and Berry. Reika had known about Yuri letting Miki stay in the room, and against all her expectations, Miki had behaved herself. Or they simply had managed to be extremely quiet, as Reika had a very light sleep.
"You spent the night with Moonlight? How did it go?" Love was all sorts of curious about how Miki's, as far as she knew, first serious relationship was progressing.
"I would be in pieces if I hadn't kept my hands to myself. But I must say... it's really nice to spoon with Yuri." Blushing just a tiny bit, Miki earned a small applause from her friends. "What about you, Love? Aren't you going to try and get on the other team? Setsuna hasn't been in any races."
"I was thinking of trying the race today. I really want to see those two again." Looking at Inori, Love was already aware of the fact that she had spent most of yesterday with Windy. She just couldn't entirely make sense of it yet. Windy was too much of an oddity.
Miki grinned. "It's been a while and I still have trouble thinking of Beat as part of you two. But if there is anyone who can work this out, it's you."
"Ellen is incredibly nice and caring. She can be a bit of a klutz, too, though." Passing around the corner and heading into the kitchen, they were early. Nobody else was there, and no breakfast had been made. "I should have slept in." Love stretched, thinking the empty dining room was a little bit bleak.
"Meet back here in an hour?" Miki wanted to go and wake up Yuri in case she was still sleeping. Seeing Blossom like that late at night had kept her awake, apparently.
Inori wondered if Kaoru had woken up yet. "I'm fine with that. I think I'll just grab a book and wait here, though. I'm still a bit sore." The last evening with Kaoru had been interesting but at the same time not very productive. It wasn't often that she didn't know how to continue with something.
"Then..." Love turned around, "I'll go shower. Maybe take a nap, too." Walking back the way she had come, Reika greeted her with a smile while Honoka just continued to head towards the kitchen. All of them separating, Reika greeted both Miki and Inori with the same smile before following Honoka. She tried to avoid coffee whenever she wasn't working. She much preferred tea.
Entering the kitchen, Honoka's mood took another blow. Saki was there, baking, much too early in the morning for Honoka's tastes. And if she was honest, Saki was the last person she wanted to see right now. The last night, dreams of her night with Saki had started to haunt her, there was no other way to say it. No matter how hard she tried to think of other things, it always came back to that night. Not being able to sleep was a secondary concern. What irritated her more was that one single mistake was tormenting her.
Saki didn't say anything either. She had managed to sleep, with the exact same dream continually being shown to her, but it didn't improve her mood any over Honoka's. Trying to stay out of the white Cure's way the best she could, Saki kept kneading dough.
Reika waited at the door, noticing the tension in the air. She didn't know what was happening between Honoka and Saki, and she didn't want to pry. As soon as Honoka had made coffee, she took the whole can with her, out on the table.
"Sorry about that." Saki apologized to Reika, while putting some of the finished dough on a metal plate. "Had a pretty tough night." She didn't want to get into details. It had already become a much bigger issue than she wanted. Saki had hoped to forget about it.
Reika was considering spending her own money on ways to prepare real tea and not the teabag variant that she was forced to use. But for now, it had to suffice. She didn't want to make any big deal out of it while the atmosphere was so tense.
Seeing Pine and Kaoru come into the dining hall, Saki wondered what their relationship was. She didn't want to pry, but anything that distracted her from the foul mood her dreams had gotten her into would be a welcome change of pace.
One floor up, Nozomi was finally waking up, after Miyuki kept shaking her pretty hard. Still half asleep, she looked at her friend. "You're... not Coco." Yawning loudly, Nozomi was about to roll over and go back to sleep, Miyuki pulled the sheets away. "Ah..."
Finally waking up proper, Nozomi yawned again. "Morning... Miyuki. Where is Coco?" She wasn't quite awake enough yet to put things together in a way that made sense.
"Nozomi, can you open the door please? I need to pee!" Miyuki had tried to hold on but she was at her limit. Thankfully, her own room was right next door and that meant her bath, too, was right there.
"Sure..." Walking over to the door and opening it, Nozomi kept yawning, still somewhat sleepy. The last day had been really exhausting for her after all. She didn't even register Miyuki leaving, because of how fast the girl ran, and promptly went back to bed, ignoring the sheets on the chair and just laying on the mattress.
Returning from the bathroom, Miyuki almost jumped up in the air out of fright when an incredibly loud and powerful scream echoed through the base. "U-ra-ra!" It didn't take more than two seconds before a yellow Cure came running down the stairs.
"Dash, dash, dash!" Urara kept saying to herself while laughing so hard that her stomach hurt badly. Kurumi must have gotten into the shower, or bath, and used the lotion she had swapped. Her roaring laugh could be heard over furious screaming and ranting from above.
A good thirty seconds later, Rose showed up, jumping down the stairs, looking around like she was hunting something. With a very, very big gun. "Happy! Where is Lemonade?!" Shouting down the hallway, Kurumi didn't get an immediate answer and rushed towards the now frightened pink Cure. "Where. Is. She?" Her burning anger was ridiculed by what had happened to her hair.
All of her long hair was stuck in a messy ball of tangled up hair. She looked a lot like she was carrying a massive beach volleyball on her head. A purple one. "Downstairs." Miyuki could only get that one word out. She was both scared and about to laugh herself into the ground, which scared her even more.
Jumping down the stairs, Kurumi simply smashed against the wall with one of her adamant abilities to avoid running into it. "Urara! Come back here! I'm gonna kill you!" Running past Berry and Moonlight at full speed, both of them not quite sure if they weren't seeing things, Kurumi collided full force with Komachi, who had just come down the stairs.
Sliding over the ground, Rose got up and walked over to Komachi, helping her up. "Kurumi, what... what happened to your hair?" Komachi had to try hard to not laugh. She thought of Kurumi as a friend, despite what had happened between her and Karen, and she didn't want to laugh at her.
"Urara. She messed with my hair lotion and I only noticed when I couldn't get them apart! I'm going to kill her!" There was an insane look on Kurumi's face. She took great care to keep her hair in a good condition and now it was completely ruined.
About to storm off, Kurumi almost ran over Hikari, who had come to check what was happening. Slowing down and hoping Hikari wouldn't laugh at her, she didn't want to see her boiling with rage either.
Grabbing her hand and pulling her away with a stern face, Hikari didn't need an explanation for what had happened. "Hikari, where are we going?" Being pulled around, Kurumi was surprised that Hikari could even do that, Rose was embarrassed that so many others had seen her in this state.
"Fixing you." Hikari had her own problems with hair. Her braid had turned into a mess more than once already. She knew how to fix hair with minimal damage and hopefully no permanent one. "And you'll tell me who did this to you."
Komachi, remaining on the bottom floor, saw Urara slip out of the room that led to the activity grounds. Putting up a barrier in front of the stairs to stop her from sneaking up, Komachi stopped her from getting away. Walking up to the imprisoned Cure, Komachi had a very serious look about herself. "Urara. You went too far."
"I didn't think she'd use that much. But it's still completely hilarious." Kicking one of the barriers and suffering the backlash, Urara walked past Komachi.
"If Luminous hadn't taken her away, she would have smacked you to kingdom come. I've never seen her so angry." Grabbing Urara by her arm, Komachi held her back. "You should think before you prank people like this."
"Do I look like I have a time machine to go back and put a 'only use small amounts' label on the damn bottle? And I can beat her in a fight if it comes down to that." Forcing her arm free, Urara was starting to regret the payback. It was turning into a bigger mess than she thought.
"If you are seriously considering fighting someone from your own team, we're going to stop you." Miki had heard the whole thing. Yuri was right by her side. "That's no way to treat your friends or teammates."
She was strong but she wasn't arrogant enough to think she could beat both Berry and Moonlight in a two to one fight. Especially not if others joined in, against her, which looked rather likely. "Fine, fine, I'm gonna lay low for a while." She didn't like to back off like that, but she realized that she had gone a bit too far.
=== Dissonance ===
"You're so silly, Michiru." Mai laughed and let Nagisa fed her another piece of bread. Sitting next to each other, the black and white Cure were the center of attention that morning.
For the past twenty minutes, Michiru had tried to make sense of what was going on. The way they talked, acted, looked and sounded... there was no doubt they were the real Nagisa and Mai. But what made no sense at all was that they acted like Nagisa was Mai's partner. When she asked them when they had started going out, both of them gave her the date Saki and Mai had become a pair.
Hibiki was intrigued by the situation about as much as she was weirded out by it. "Itsuki.. what's going on with those two? Did they dump their partners and decide to hook up?" She was sitting next to her partner and Peace, who was talking to Marine next to her, at the end of the table.
Shaking her head, Itsuki couldn't make sense of it either. "I don't know. I can't imagine both of them deciding to suddenly start going out. And from what they've been saying, they think they've been dating for a while." Biting in her bread, Itsuki looked at Hibiki. "How did things go with Kanade last night?"
She didn't like to talk about that. Not even with Itsuki. "Okay, I'd say. I told her that she hurt me and that I need more time to trust her again."
Itsuki decided against teasing Hibiki on the subject matter. There were certain lines she didn't want to pass. The whole ordeal with Kanade was the biggest one. "Want to go running again after breakfast? Just the two of us? I'd rather not take Nagisa when she's like this."
Finishing her breakfast egg, Hibiki looked for the butter. "Since the pool is gone, I need the exercise. I'll go." Finally spotting it, she would have to get up to get it. Seeing who sat right in front of it, just close enough to pass it, Hibiki sighed. "Kanade!" Calling out to her, the white Cure interrupted her conversation with Rin. "Pass me the butter?"
Grabbing the small dish with the butter on it, Kanade passed it over the table to Hibiki. Smiling at her, Kanade quickly went back to her conversation with Rin. "So you want to participate today? I'll go with you!"
Shoving the last bit of cheese into her mouth, Rin nearly choked from being too greedy and eating too fast. Coughing a few times, she patted Kanade on the head. "Thanks. I'll count on you to have my back." Rin ignored the issued with Black and Egret. She really didn't know either of them well and she didn't want to stick her nose into something that could blow up badly. She was keeping Kanade from being too interested in it as well.
A few Cures were still missing. Beside the two short Cures and the two couples, Michiru, Mai and Nagisa were at breakfast. Erika and Yayoi had more or less gotten a ready-to-go breakfast. Nobody was too hungry after the plentiful dinner the night before. Everyone had greatly enjoyed those moments. Coming together as a team, talking over good food and listening to some soothing music in the end, many would have liked to continue if not for being very tired.
One of the exceptionally exhausted girls was still in bed and just waking up. "Setsu...na?" Yawning softly and covering her mouth, Ellen was gently hugged from behind. "Morning..." Still sleepy, Ellen was just wearing a black bra and panties, finally able to sleep not naked, thanks to Marine.
Setsuna kissed the back of Ellen's shoulder before groaning just a tiny bit. "Let's stay in bed..." Even though they had gone to sleep after Ellen finished playing for everyone, Setsuna was still tired. Moving one of her legs between Ellen's, she played with her lover's foot.
"You're tickling me..." Reaching over the girl next to her, Ellen poked Setsuna's side. Snuggling up to her partner, Ellen closed her eyes, ready to slip away and get a bit more rest. Setsuna's arms around her waist were really comforting for her.
Nibbling on Ellen's ear for a few seconds, Setsuna was really happy to have not completely rejected Ellen a few weeks ago. "I loved to hear you play. I'd like to listen again..."
"Next time I want Love to listen with you..." Smiling, very happy that Setsuna had enjoyed the music, Ellen slipped away, back to the land of dreams. Setsuna followed her shortly after, both of them snoozing a little longer.
In the room above them was Ako, wearing a very large t-shirt that served as whatever people were expected to wear at night, attending to a book she had been meaning to read but had completely forgotten about for a while. Just staying in bed and reading a book was a welcome change from being around people all the time. She didn't mind mixing in and talking to them, but after last night, she had realized that time alone had started to feel like a privilege lately.
Just as she thought that, someone knocked on her door. "Muse? Do you feel like handling negotiations today?" It was Karen's voice. Getting up, switching to Cure form and opening the door, Ako was still holding the book.
"I'll take care of it. There is still time to read up on the rules, am I right?" She thought about participating in the battle today, if there were enough free slots. "Have the combatants been decided? Or is it still up for negotiation?"
Karen stepped out of the way, watched Ako fling the book across the room, making it land perfectly on her pillow, and then answered her question. "In a way, the number is still open. But two people have already been predetermined as participating. Melody and Rhythm. Rin will be volunteering due to Rhythm participating and I assume the same is true for Sunshine."
"Nothing too unreasonable. I wish the system would stop arbitrarily assigning people to the fight and the number of battle slots itself." Ako knew that she wasn't going to get that wish. "It wouldn't surprise me if it told me 'Insufficient Funds' now. Because I said 'I wish'."
"I think it isn't quite that pedantic." Karen smiled a little at Muse's sarcasm. "If you need something, I'll be in my room. I'm still feeling tired from yesterday." Leaving the black Cure behind, she yawned briefly. The sleepiness that was going around had to be contagious. Karen wanted a nap.
=== Dissonance ===
"Before we start, there is something I'd like to talk to you about." Sitting in front of the console, the silver Cure hadn't talked to Muse in a while. "More specifically, I'd like you to tell Marine what I'm about to tell you."
Ako was smart enough to put two and two together. If it was something that concerned Marine, and Moonlight was a member of her team, paired with the lack of an exile on the dark team, there weren't too many options that would warrant a discreet relay of information like this. "This has something to do with Blossom, I assume?"
Nodding, Yuri felt like this would be easier than she had thought. "She was the exile after yesterday's battle." Taking a deeper breath, Yuri hoped that Erika wouldn't completely go bonkers after hearing about the state Tsubomi was in. "I was there at midnight when she was released. From the looks of it then and after checking on her earlier this morning, she has reverted back to a personality that would indicate she has lost all her memories of being part of a team or other Cures."
Ako crossed legs and put her index finger to her chin. "That does sound like an effect particularly unique to the exile. So she knows who she is and where she is but she doesn't recognize anyone?" So far, all the exile victims under the new system had been from the light team. Beat, Happy and Blossom. "Are the exile effects permanent unless counteracted?"
"We don't know. I would say no on the mere assumption that both Beat and Happy have returned to normal after being cared for by friends or partners. That is why I want Marine to switch teams, as it will be impossible to convince Blossom to do so. With her personality the way it is, both Sunshine and I would likely be unable to get through to her. What made her change was Marine."
"I'll pass on your message. Should we start then?" Ako had memorized a fair bit of the rules and a clear image of what she was going for. Rouge, Kanade, Hibiki, and herself. If possible, she would like to have Peace and Sunny in it as well. Convincing Sunshine not to participate despite Hibiki being there hadn't been easy, but with the rules she wanted to force, she would only be dead weight.
Yuri looked at the console and leaned back. "I owe you for talking to Marine. I'll let you take the lead this time. If there is anything I particularly disagree with, I will argue the rule and we will have to find a compromise."
That was more than Ako could have hoped for. Remaining composed, she flicked through the terrain options. "Lake and Storm. A simple but efficient terrain." Ako didn't want to run into another catastrophe like the battlefield Urara had created.
"The bonus of this is merely fifteen percent. There are far more beneficial options available. Shouldn't we try to maximize the possible gain?" Yuri wasn't sure yet if she was going to participate. It depended on the outcome of the rules. The only two people that were already obliged to fight were Luminous and Windy. They would lend themselves well to rules that enforced their strengths but it would be difficult to create a large group of people that primarily used energy attacks, a likely choice if rules were chosen that benefited those two.
"I won't concede on the Lake, but I'm willing to switch to Super Cell and Tornado if you're set on maximizing the coin gain. In exchange for conceding, I will unconditionally be allowed to pick two rules." Crossing legs and sitting back, the black Cure leered at Moonlight. Ako drove a hard bargain.
Yuri realized that it had been an error, telling her to pick the options. She couldn't tell if she was bluffing about the terrain or not. Considering both of them had made it through the battle two days ago, she had to be well aware how dangerous those conditions could be. "No need. I suggest a middle ground. Lake, Lightning Storm and Natural Phenomena. If we are lucky, the phenomena will merely be an unnaturally thick fog." She couldn't let the younger Cure dictate all the conditions after all, being in her debt or not.
"You're not expecting to see the monster of Loch Ness, are you?" Ako was impressed with herself that she remembered a silly rumor like that. "I will concede on the condition of choosing rule fifteen." That was the single most important rule she wanted to pass. With that in play, it would be very much possible for the dark team to win again.
"We have Rose, Mint, White, Luminous, Lemonade, Dream, Happy and myself. Even with close combat ruled out, we're well capable of defending ourselves." Yuri wanted to see if it was merely a bluff. The condition came with a minus attached to it, so the other options had to be worth their time. If Muse backed off now, Yuri knew that she was confident that they could win and that she would push for rules that supported her choice.
Ako shrugged, her expression unchanged. "I know the composition of your team. Rose, while having a very powerful special attack, relies mostly on physical attacks in close combat. Mint, too, is more efficient in close combat. Of course, we have our issues as well. The condition is a requirement for one of the most powerful bonus rules, so I'd like to use it while the conditions for it are favorable."
Yuri could see the logic behind her reasoning. She still believed that Muse had to be planning to assemble a team completely composed of Cures that specialized in non-physical combat. In that case, she would have no choice but to do the same. And just as she mentioned, she did have enough people for it. "Before we continue to decide the rules, we should finalize the number of combatants." Yuri didn't want to leave that for the end when all the rules were known. Forcing the issue now would stop Muse from completely dictating the rule set.
"Seven people." Ako didn't actually want seven. Six would be optimal. A team composed of Hibiki, Kanade, Ellen, Rouge, Sunny, herself and optionally Peace if any of the previous would decline the right to participate.
"Four." Yuri replied. What Muse had said was bothering her a little. Mint and Rose did have some shortcomings when it came to the complete lack of physical combat. Even if she had to concede on a higher number eventually, as many as five or six people would still be within the boundary of allowing them to win. After missing out at sixteen-hundred coins from the last battle, she wanted to at least get in a thousand this time.
Trying to judge what Yuri's real intentions were, Ako found that to be a lot harder than she expected. It was true that some of the Cures on the light team were very powerful but handicapped if locked out of using physical attack. But she knew little about Dream and Happy, not to mention the full extent of Luminous' abilities. Was she being presumptuous in thinking that forcing rules advantageous to energy users would benefit her team more than the other side? "Seven." Being strong and unwavering would give her a better position in the long run. If she forced Moonlight to concede on this, she should be able to take control of the flow.
But Yuri had no intention of simply abandoning the case. "I see we won't be able to find a common ground. I will concede on seven in exchange for unconditionally picking two rules." Taking the first step beyond the bartering, Yuri already had one step in the door. If Muse rejected her proposal, she would be forced to give in on the number of participants. Remaining stubborn would simply prolong this.
Ako knew that as well. "Five then. Five people. That is closer to your original offer so I will be proposing the first two rules." Saying that she would merely propose them was but bait for Yuri to relax, thinking she had effectively conceded when she had gotten almost what she wanted. If possible she would try to cut Rouge from participating. Sunny was a greater asset when it came to pure energy fights, she knew that much.
"Agreed, for now." Sitting back and waiting for Ako to make her first two picks, Yuri had two rules of her own in mind. She would superimpose them on the dark team, if possible, in agreement for accepting the other rules if, and that had only a moderate chance, she was going to concede on the initial pick.
"Number twenty, Life Link Enemy, and number thirty-two, Multiply." There was one more rule she wanted but she needed to see how Moonlight would react. One rule essentially connected every light fighter to a dark fighter. In the event that one of those suffers damage, the linked enemy will, as well. Multiply served to provide a powerful boost to energy based abilities depending on the number of people participating. At ten fighters, the rule doubled all energy based effects.
"I see no issue with Multiply. But Life Link Enemy severely shortens the battle and diminishes possible gains. Why choose that?" She didn't mind either of the rules. If anything, Multiply was something that had slipped her radar and she would have brought it up eventually if Muse had not.
"With the loss of close combat, there are few Cures, including myself, that would be extremely difficult to even attack due to their abilities. Mint is another one of those. I picked this rule to avoid the battle dragging out indefinitely in a stalemate." That was a boldfaced lie. She simply wanted an insurance against the more powerful Cures on the light side. A suicide charge would provide plenty of coin and take out a dangerous enemy in the process.
Yuri figured as much but didn't object. That tactic would work against both sides. Considering that both Beat and Muse had very powerful abilities that, demonstrated during the reflection's assault, could wreck havoc over long distances, requiring not even line of sight, she didn't rule out abusing that rule to take them out. "I'll agree on the use of rule twenty under the condition of bringing in rule twenty-eight." It was a rule that seemed to be specifically made for Mint. Due to her barriers reflecting damage, not only was she near immune to the downside of twenty-eight aka Double Edge, but her damage output was doubled as well.
Ako could figure out that much with ease. However, it also benefited Ellen, Hibiki and Kanade greatly as their abilities don't rely on being in close proximity to the enemy. Sunny was likely to profit from it as well. "Agreed." Ako moved her fingers over the console and picked an additional rule. "I would like to introduce rule six, Energy Siphon."
It was one of two rules Yuri had wanted as well, but now things were going almost too well for her. Appearing to be unhappy with what Muse picked, she browsed the rule list and picked another one, something that could make or break a battle, depending on who it affected. "Thirty-seven, Lethal Risk, is what I request in return."
Ako found no issue with that rule. It was a gamble, but if Ellen or Sunny were the beneficiary ones on her team, things would become very dangerous for the other side. Quadruple damage, without factoring in the increased power due to Multiply, would devastate the field. "Fine with me. What about the Dive rule? We should pick one."
"I suggest the Pandemonium Dive. The higher instances of this provide a significant bonus and work alongside with the terrain bonus unlike many other advanced Dives." At this point she was merely looking to increase the score higher. There was no deeper logic behind it.
"That should be all then." Collapsing a menu, Ako finalized the rule set and acknowledged the decision from her side. Yuri did so as well. The final cumulative bonus came to plus twenty five percent due to terrain, sixty-five percent due to rules, with a solid hundred percent for the affected by Lethal Risk, and a final fifteen percent bonus due to Pandemonium Dive. A total of hundred and five percent. Yuri was more than satisfied with that. "I will see you in battle. I recommend not going easy on us." Ako typically didn't bother to flaunt her power, but it served a distinct purpose. To cause stress for the light team.
Yuri silently disregarded the bluff and walked away, vanishing through the gateway.
=== Dissonance ===
"I'm sorry it hurts but they're really sticking together." Hikari's finger hurt from continually holding one of three different combs. There had been no way around tearing a little bit of Kurumi's hair, but she had managed to keep it to a minimum. What had been a massive ball of hair, resembling a tumbleweed glued to her head, looked now, over two hours later, only like incredibly terrible bed hair. Trying to smooth out a small part, she desperately needed a break. She wasn't saying anything, knowing that the longer she let Kurumi's hair remain like that, the harder it would be to get it smooth again.
"Hikari, stop." Sitting on her own bed the whole time, Kurumi had already asked what would happen if she turned back into a civilian or even a fairy. The answer to that was that she probably shouldn't try or it might make the mess unresolvable. Reaching behind herself, she took Hikari's arm and forced her to stop.
"Does it hurt that much? I'm sorry, I'll be more careful." Waiting for Kurumi to let go, that moment didn't come. "Kurumi?"
"I can feel your hands shaking, Hikari. You're taking a break now." Turning around and taking the brush from the pink Cure's hands, Kurumi put it next to the others. She could see how exhausted Hikari was. Constantly taking care not to hurt hair by pulling too hard, unraveling the mess her hair had become because of Urara's idiocy, she had to be at her limit.
Just sitting there and not doing anything was already a relief. "Can I lie down for a bit?" Now that she stopped concentrating, she could really feel how the exhaustion was catching up to her.
Giving Hikari a gentle push, Kurumi smiled at her friend. "Feel at home."
Laying flat on her stomach, Hikari just wanted to fall asleep and rest. But her feelings of friendship didn't allow her to be that selfish. Kurumi was trusting her and she wouldn't hurt her feelings. Noticing some vibrations on the bed, she looked up and found Kurumi sitting right next to her, undoing her braid with great care. "You're so gentle, I can barely feel your fingers." It was a bit pleasing, even though she couldn't quite explain why.
"I always wanted to see what you look like with your hair down or a different hairstyle. Do you mind?" As skilled as Hikari was with a brush and comb, Kurumi's skill was no less. It was one of the few things she was really good at due to a lot of practice on her own person.
Giggling at some of the ideas that went through her head when she thought of Kurumi giving her a different hairstyle, Hikari saw no reason to refuse. She even looked forward to it. "I'll finish smoothing out your hair after a short rest. I'm looking forward to my new hairstyle. But!" Looking up and raising her finger, Hikari made a very important point. "No afro!" Both of them giggling for a bit, Kurumi kept smiling.
"No afro, I promise." She wouldn't do that to her friend's beautiful hair. Not to mention, it wasn't that easy to create an afro in the first place.
Laying back down, her face halfway sunken into the soft pillow that smelled very pleasant to Hikari, she felt completely at rest with Kurumi watching over her. Dozing off, Hikari only woke up when something tickled her neck. "Kurumi...?" A bit dizzy, Hikari got up, noticing that her hair felt a little heavy at the back of her head.
"Here." Handing the blonde a hand mirror, Kurumi was quite happy with her work. Undoing the long braid and putting the hair into a long ponytail that was kept up by several hair ties, she looked a lot more like an energetic person now.
"I like it. It feels a bit strange but I think it looks good. Thank you, Kurumi." Hugging her friend, a strand of hair tickled the purple Cure's nose and made her sneeze. "Oh, sorry." Laughing, Hikari felt a lot better now. "How long was I asleep?"
Rubbing her nose and smiling, Kurumi held out three fingers. "Maybe thirty minutes, tops. I wish I had a cellphone. You look so cute when you sleep." She thought that Hikari resembled a sleeping squirrel in one way or another but she didn't want to tell her that. Hikari would wind up thinking it she was teasing her.
"Turn around." Slowly pushing Kurumi to the side, taking the brush for delicate hair and holding up part of the messed up hair, Hikari started undoing the mess as carefully as she could.
"Hikari?" Sitting there, facing the mirror near the wall that had the hallway on the other side, she kept completely still. She liked to watch Hikari work.
"Yes?" She didn't need to look up.
"Let me brush your hair and braid it after you're done." She had enjoyed that much more than she would have thought. Hikari had really long and silky hair, so it was a lot of fun to work with.
"Sure." Hikari didn't mind at all. It would save her the effort of brushing her hair by herself, too. "This is gonna sting just a little bit." Forced to pull apart two small strands that were so thoroughly intervened that it was impossible to get them apart with just a brush, Hikari felt bad for hurting Kurumi. "I'll be in the battle later. I don't know who is handling the negotiation but I hope you can come with me."
Kurumi felt happy that Hikari relied on her. "I'll protect you." Just as she thought that, someone knocked on the door. "Yes?" Kurumi didn't bother getting up yet.
"It's Moonlight. The negotiations are done. Luminous is one of the predetermined fighters so I will inform her of the rules." Yuri, standing just outside the room, was also just shoving Miki away. Lowering her voice, she gave her partner a stern look. "Restrain yourself or I will." It didn't take any great insight to know where Luminous would be if she wasn't in her own room. And the emblem hadn't been lit.
Deciding to tease her a little, Miki was about to approach her from behind and tickle her sides when the door opened. Rose's hair had significantly improved but was still in a messy state. "Are we interrupting something?" Miki's grin was so incredibly obvious to Kurumi and Yuri that both of them groaned.
"What do you mean?" Hikari's innocence caught Miki so heavily off guard that the blue Cure only opened and then closed her mouth, shrugging, looking to Yuri with a smile.
Explaining the rules to Luminous, Yuri wasn't too happy that Rose was adamant about participating too. Her special move would be absurdly powerful but that was likely all she could do. But by the way she acted, she didn't doubt that, if necessary, she would shield Luminous with her body. "Fine then. Rose is the third volunteer. Windy and White are first and second. Pine is participating as well."
"An all-star energy specialists team." Miki wondered if there would be a turn when the opposite would happen. An all-star close combat specialists team. She'd certainly like to go head to head with some of the others, especially with Yuri backing her up.
"Speaking of White, have either of you seen her?" Yuri had tried to look for her but after she left the breakfast table, supposedly going back to bed according to what she said to Reika, nobody had seen her. And she was not in her room.
"Maybe she is spending some quality time with Bloom somewhere." Miki liked to poke a bit of fun at how similar Black and Bloom looked. She wouldn't have said those words if she had known what was happening at the same time.
Working out in the labyrinth, practicing techniques and keeping fit, Saki could not shake the feeling that someone was watching her. Intensely. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find anyone or even a sign of there having been anyone.
"I should probably get back. I don't want to miss the race. I need to get back to Mai before the look Honoka is giving me gets any worse." Talking to herself to simply get the issue out of her head, Saki did a last stretch and turned around, not quite remember which entrance to the room she had come from. But she remembered passing down some stairs to the room so she would recognize that.
She had barely turned her back towards the wall when she got goosebumps. There was someone there after all. She could sense someone's presence. Waiting, standing completely still, she felt whoever it was coming closer. Was it the mysterious assailant she had heard about from the others? Whirling around when she could feel the steps of whoever it was on the ground, Saki was immediately thrown across the entire room, brutally smashed into a wall and blinded. Coughing up blood, she couldn't believe that there was someone other than Michiru who had so much power. She had been in Cure form, wearing her full armor, and still got nearly knocked out in one blow.
Falling off the wall and hitting the ground, someone kicked her in the face, hard enough to make her vision go double. Trying to grab the leg of whoever it was, she managed to do so just for a brief moment. A corded boot. But she didn't need to make any guesses who it was who attacked her.
"Whitelight Blast." The explosion was far stronger than she had expected. Smashed into the ground, pieces of her armor showing cracks, Saki spit out blood yet again. Had Honoka completely lost her mind now? "Honoka, what are you-" Her head was smashed face first into the ground, forcing her to be quiet.
Sitting down on Saki's back, Honoka stomped on her hands. "Be quiet, dear." Her voice was a bit deeper than what Saki remembered and knew. And what did she mean, 'dear'? "I'm so sick of Nagisa. You'll be my new partner. Who needs that worthless idiot. You're much cuter."
Saki felt rage surge through her veins but trying to push Honoka off her was met with a feeling of being powerless. Her body wasn't obeying her. "Now, lets have some... fun."As Honoka stomped on Saki's hand, the pink Cure screamed out in pain. Being a Cure or not had become meaningless. She had no power, no defense, no chance to resist. "More!" Another stomp, another outcry. "That's it... ah... it's making me wet." Sliding one hand under her skirt and pantie, Honoka started moaning right away, still sitting on Saki's back. Stomping on her foot again, Saki started to space out. She couldn't make sense of what was happening anymore.
=== Dissonance ===
"What do we do? Those two have gone completely insane." Karen was more than just worried. She felt threatened. "I talked to Komachi about it. She said that White and Bloom have been in bad moods the whole day. Not only that, but as I just explained, the mysterious attacks seem to be getting worse quickly." Having gathered a few of the others in the small room that contained the three gateways, she wanted to discuss the matter of Black and Egret.
"It's the same thing that kicked Dream down the stairs. That's the first instance of an attack happening I can think of." Ako was present, along with Michiru, Itsuki and Setsuna. Getting together a few people to try and think of a way to stop whatever it was from spreading, the atmosphere was tense. "The explanation with the highest likelihood of being correct is that whatever this is, it came from the reflections or the destroyed area."
"I believe we can rule out an organic infection." Michiru wasn't in good condition. Seeing Mai openly betray Saki like that, even if she was under the influence of something, which they couldn't be sure of yet, was quite the shock to her. "That leaves something that could affect the mind alone, particularly memory. From what they have said, it seems to be that both of them believe that Nagisa has taken Saki's place."
She really didn't like the idea but it seemed rather obvious. "A lingering effect of the reflections?" Setsuna really hoped that it wasn't Nightmare trying to resurrect herself or anything similar.
"But why manifest like that? What purpose could it have to split those two couples apart? Worse yet, what is the purpose behind simply mixing them up?" Itsuki had asked Hibiki to stay away from Black and Egret until it was clear what had gone wrong.
"We were overlooking something very obvious." Sunshine's talk of splitting couples up had made Ako realize something. "After Nightmare was killed, there was one reflection still remaining. Eclipse." She didn't wait for any great moments of realization. "When Moonlight and Eclipse became one, the mirror burst after a horrible scream hurt several of the Cures present pretty badly. What if Eclipse didn't truly merge with Moonlight? What if the scream and the force that hurt the others was actually Eclipse?"
"You're saying Eclipse was evil and simply went to hide in someone's mind?" Itsuki absolutely couldn't imagine that. "The reflections all had personalities opposite to ours. Eclipse was never showing any signs of being conscious or having been. I don't think she had time to develop into a monster."
"That is not what I am getting at. I dislike revealing personal information about people without their consent but this could very well be the cause of what is happening. Moonlight was tormented by her choice of dating a regular human. She was worried about her being in danger because she was a Cure. By the time Moonlight was exiled, she had to be very emotionally unstable. Her personality may have been the opposite of Moonlight's, but Eclipse's memories were the same. What if a portion was split from her then, when the mirror burst?" Looking around, Ako hoped that someone got where she was going with this.
"You're saying a part of Eclipse implanted itself in someone else and is affecting their mind? But neither Black nor Egret were present when Yuri's mind was mended. Not to mention, you do know how ridiculous that sounds, don't you?" Michiru wasn't sure that something like that was even possible.
"Do I need to remind you of where we're standing? I think we shouldn't think of anything as ridiculous at this point." Ako had an uneasy feeling. "If we assume that this is really Eclipse, or at least something, taking over their mind, what should we do?"
"Something that can free up their minds..." Setsuna wasn't sure that there was anyone that had an ability like that.
"There is Kaoru's Stormflair to render someone unconscious. But I'd rather not try that outside of a battle on a living person. Pine's domination to take over their mind. But I believe it is unlikely she is powerful enough to continuously control two people. I don't know about the abilities of the new Cures." Michiru was a walking encyclopedia of information.
"Muse, do you think that Ellen would be able to use her hymn to get rid of whatever is affecting them?" Setsuna knew that there had been some traumatic experiences with that hymn for Ellen, but using it to help people might actually be good for her.
"In theory? Maybe. It isn't one of my hymns, which means I don't know all that much about it." Ako really wished she was older and had already been taught the effects of the hymns that existed in major land. She didn't want to admit in front of everyone that it was just a school of study she hadn't been allowed to take part in, yet.
"I believe it's our best shot. Kaoru and Pine are on the other team so we would have to bring Mai and Nagisa forcefully into the dome and hold them there." She didn't have to spell out to anyone that she wouldn't approve of using force against Mai. It was a last resort she wasn't willing to consider yet.
Karen could feel that there was someone eavesdropping on them. She just couldn't tell where from. It was hard to tell one was being watched, but Karen had some experience with people stalking her. She was a bit of a celebrity after all. Raising her finger to her lips and signaling the others to be quiet, Karen committed a grave mistake. All four of them could hear that someone was running down the hallway, but by the time they looked, nobody was seen.
"I have a feeling that we're going to have a hard time finding Black and Egret now." Karen hadn't anticipated that they would be smart enough to watch how everyone else was reacting. To anticipate that other Cures would try to remedy whatever was affecting them.. to them, it must sound like everyone around them had turned against them. That everyone thought they had gone crazy. The sad truth was that the ones that had lost their mind could never tell. "Passion, I think it's worth trying. Muse, can you go with her? Bright, you stick with me please. Black is a formidable enemy, and I don't know what she might do if she thinks we're her enemies."
"I'm stronger than Nagisa so she shouldn't be a problem. I just hope Mai won't attack us. I'd hate to hurt her." Cracking her neck, Michiru took a deep breath and exhaled equally deeply. She was more tense than ever, facing the uncomfortable possibility that Mai was her enemy.
None of the four knew that they were looking at a much larger problem than they thought.
=== Dissonance ===
Hikari had finally finished cleaning up Kurumi's hair and was now sound asleep, resting her head on the purple Cure's lap. Slowly caressing her cheek, Kurumi hadn't felt so thankful in a long time. The blonde was really looking out for her. When Karen ended their relationship, she had felt a bit lost. But being around Hikari had helped her move on. And now, she was thinking how lucky she had been to have ever met her. "She looks so incredibly cute when she's asleep." Smiling to herself, Kurumi slowly started to doze off, exhausted from tensely sitting still for so long.
Both of them would not witness the commotion that was going on outside. Bloom, beaten to a pulp, had returned to the base, carrying an equally beaten White on her back, not allowing anyone as much as to touch her. When Kaoru witnessed the state she was in and tried to force an answer out of her, grabbing onto White, Bloom had hit her hard enough to launch her across the room, yelling loudly that nobody shall touch her love.
Only a minute later, Bloom had been surrounded by other Cures. Miki and Inori were among those that took the most offensive stance towards Bloom. They knew how horrid mind control and brain washing could be. It woke up bad memories of Labyrinth, seeing Bloom like that. "Bukki." Thankfully, there was a painless and absolute surefire way to take down Bloom. At least momentarily.
"Domination!" Trying to take control of Bloom's mind, Inori immediately got goosebumps. There was... something else affecting Bloom's mind. Something that warped her memories and emotions. She could just barely tell that much before she broke through whatever else there was and assumed total control. "Can someone find Mint? I want to keep them suspended until we know what's going on." She suspected that the exile effect was somehow leaking out, but that didn't explain the physical injuries.
"I'll take care of it!" Being present by coincidence, Miyuki found the situation at hand to be perfect for her ability. Standing up in front of the dominated Bloom, she made a fist and only extended her index finger from it. Tipping Bloom's head, the others could have sworn that there was some kind of dust being emitted by Happy's finger. "Once Upon A Time!"
Both Pine and Bloom slowly sunk to the ground, a satisfied and peaceful look on their faces. "If you don't disturb them they'll wake up in a few hours!" Miyuki was quite content she was able to be useful. Her ability was very peculiar but it came in handy right there. "I... didn't want to put Pine to sleep, too. I wonder why that happened?"
Ignoring Miyuki completely, the pink Cure pouting as soon as she realized that, Miki turned to Yuri. "We need to talk to the other team. I have a bad feeling about this. You should probably tell Marine about Blossom, too."
"Happy, can you take them to the dining room? If White wakes up, do the same thing you did to Bloom." Looking back to Miki, Yuri grabbed her hand, pulling Miki along as she headed towards the stairs that run up to the dome.
They were up the stairs by a fair deal before Miki said out loud what she had been thinking for the past minute. Yuri's hand was a bit damp and cold, a clear sign that she was under a lot of stress. Well, that was to be expected. Meeting Marine for the first time since she had accepted Miki as her partner would be hard on Yuri. And then telling her about Blossom... "I'll be with you the entire time, don't worry. I don't shy away from my responsibilities.
The two of them had barely entered the dome when they saw four other Cures already present, one of them nervously walking around. While Passion and Muse were talking to Beat, Aqua was scanning the distance in hope that someone from the other team would show up. She was in luck. Quickly walking over there, almost running, Miki and Yuri found the four Cures tense and stressed.
"I can tell by your face that there is a situation on your side as well." Yuri's words didn't have the desired result.
"As well?" Ako was now starting to become worried. "I'm just taking a wild guess here... White and Bloom?"
"Yes. They're-" Miki didn't have to finish her sentence. Karen stopped right in front of the barrier.
"They're thinking they are partners, correct? The same thing is happening to Black and Egret over here. They overheard us talking about them and took off. We can't find them anywhere." Swiping sweat that wasn't there off her forehead, Karen hoped that March, Sunshine, Rouge and Melody was enough to bring them back, by force if necessary.
"Have you found out what is causing it?" Yuri was seriously concerned about the situation. If something like that spread, it could have disastrous results.
Looking to Muse, Karen wasn't sure if she should be that honest. "Well..."
But Ako didn't see any reason to hold back. "We believe it's some kind of mental inflicting leftover from Eclipse, or you, that burst out of the mirror when they brought you back. I don't intent to play the blame game here, I just want to do something about it." The plan she had come up with after talking to Ellen was risky but they needed to do something about it before it all spiraled out of control. Taking in a Hymn from someone else was an extremely advanced technique and she had never learned how to do it, only read about it in books.
Fact and problem at the same time was that Ellen had too little control over the fine tuning of Purger. Ako had received some training and learned on her own, but she was still worlds apart from the skill level her mother had.
"As soon as we find Black and Egret, I will try to use Ellen's Purger Hymn to destroy whatever is affecting their mind. Sound and light seem to be the only things the barrier in here allows to go through so we need you to bring White and Bloom up here." Ako was nervous. She had dealt with things on her own so many times, but for some reason she was just a lot more nervous now than before. And seeing Miki and Yuri, she realized why. She didn't want to look stupid in front of Urara. Feeling silly for thinking that, she calmed down just a little.
Miki felt relieved that the other side had already come up with something. That left the problem of them not being able to find Black and Egret "Can you call Marine up here? We need to talk to her about Blossom."
Karen took it upon herself to go and call the short girl. Coming across Melody and Rhythm, both of them looking for Black and Egret together, she realized that the entire base was tense. Nobody was in their civilian forms, everyone was ready to be attacked or attack at any moment.
Yuri was uneasy, waiting for Erika. That Muse was focusing solely on Beat, talking to her about things Yuri couldn't quite grasp, and Passion just watched over them like a guardian, didn't help at all. Miki was holding her hand still, but she still didn't feel comfortable facing Erika. It brought her face to face with the fact that she had decided to abandon Momoka, no matter the reasons.
"Stop fretting. You thought long and hard about this, haven't you? You didn't just leave your old girlfriend for stupid reasons. If Marine isn't a moron, she'll eventually understand." Miki had come head to head with Marine before and she wasn't going to leave Yuri all on her own. If necessary, she'd take the initiative and defend her.
It only took a few minutes before Marine came running up the stairs, a worried look on her face. If the other team called her to talk about Tsubomi, then there had to be something wrong. She didn't want to think that, but given the place they were in, it was the only thing she could think about. Seeing Berry together with Yuri pissed her off immediately, but there were more important things to talk about. "So?" She was still pissed after all. And it was extremely obvious just from the way she looked at Yuri.
"Tsubomi ended up as the exile yesterday. Miki and I were waiting for her at midnight out in the hallway. Physically, she seemed completely fine. But when I talked to her, she shied away from me, not even realizing who I was. Just by that... I think whatever happened in the exile suppressed her memories." Yuri didn't even want to think about the possibility of her memories being gone entirely.
Erika spun around, grabbed Passion and almost yelled at her. "When is the next exchange race?!"
"It should start any moment now. I don't think you'll be able to-" Setsuna, Ako and Ellen were almost knocked over when Erika dashed off at maximum power, kicking herself off the ground and basically flying down the stairs.
Gripping the corner of the wall, the impact on the ground shaking her whole body, Erika turned and rushed into the hallway. What she saw in the distance was surprising. Black and Egret stood over Aqua, the latter on the ground, not moving. There were no obvious injuries or puddles of blood so she was likely just unconscious.
Realizing that Marine was rapidly closing in, Nagisa took a battle stance. But she underestimated the power of the short Cure. "Tidal Wave!" Nagisa instinctively took a step back when the entire hallway behind Marine turned into one massive wave, rushing at them even faster than the blue Cure. "Mai!" She wanted to tell her partner to take cover, but there was nowhere to go. Going out into the hallway, they would meet the force of the wave head on and staying inside the room, the force of the wave would create enough of a whirl to throw them for a loop. Grabbing Mai, hugging her tightly and turning around, Nagisa used her own back to shield her love. "Hold your breath!"
Erika's expression had rarely been that serious. She didn't care about Black, Egret or Aqua at this point. She only wanted to make sure that nobody but herself got into the exchange gate. She had to get to Tsubomi right away and if she had to move heaven and hell for that to happen. "Marine Royal Blast!" Repeating those words as fast as she could, Erika launched an array of blue energy blasts, the space in front of her hand appearing like the nuzzle of a machine gun.
Nagisa took several of the hits straight to the back, protecting Mai as if her life depended on it. Hearing the gushing sound of the wave approach, she took as deep a breath as she could. The impact was more than she had expected. Barely able to keep hold on to Mai, the two were thrown around in the room, now completely filled with water, as if they were inside a pinball machine.
Just as the gate opened, Erika swam inside, only she capable of moving anywhere on purpose in the chaotic current. Just as she vanished, she reversed the power of the wave, flooding Aqua, Black and Egret out of the room. "Tsubomi, I'm coming."
=== Dissonance ===
"This is more of a puzzle than it is a race." Urara looked at the area before them. A room without any exists and two glowing portals, at opposing ends. "The beams go out in patterns, so it's a test of memory? Shit." She wasn't good at memorizing seemingly arbitrary patterns. "Where the hell are those from the other team?"
The room was shaped like the letter I, roughly eighty rows and twenty columns of plates, beams of lights going horizontally and vertically between each plate. Making it through the artificial labyrinth would mean winning. The beams went on and off without any warning. There was no danger in staying on a plate but when moving, one had to be quick. The beams covered the entire airspace of the room, making it impossible to fly over the contraption.
Komachi looked at Peach for a moment and then decided to just leave Urara to her devices. She had a great idea on how to win the race but she didn't want the other two to follow her. She wanted to get back to Karen already.
"Maybe there was only one? Since only one can be the winner, they don't have to participate." Love trusted her gut instinct and stepped on the center plate in the first row. Waiting a few seconds, she moved to the second row, then to the left, advancing again and realizing she was in a dead end. Going back and going left again, she advanced twice. Another dead end.
Urara now joined the fray, starting from a corner. Komachi remained behind, watching the patterns and the paths the other two took. Arriving at the tenth row, Love had to go back to the eight row again. It was becoming difficult to remember which way she had come. Urara managed to get to the fourteenth row and had to return all the way back to the eight.
"This is bullshit! How many goddamn rows is this?" Wildly whipping the beams, Urara found that they were completely undistorted by her attacks. The chains simply went through the beams as if they didn't exist. After the last and previous race, she didn't dare to try and touch them, in fear of being instantly disqualified. Was that what Komachi was going for? Wait until everyone else ran out of patience and got disqualified? Peach didn't seem to be the type for that and Komachi should know. So what was she planning?
Peach had advanced to the twentieth row in a hurry and was now trying to decide which direction she should go next. The path split into four directions, with each of the adjacent plates splitting into two more yet again. She really wished she had Bukki's memory right now.
It wasn't until Urara had managed to get to the twenty-fourth row that Komachi started to move. Making sure that both Cures were occupied with finding the right path, she stepped all the way to the back of the room. "Clear Zone." A barrier-like sphere extended in every direction around her, just barely touching the first beams that simply ceased to be as soon as they touched the zone.
Speed wasn't exactly her forte, but she would make do. Making the Zone as small as possible, only a few meters in every direction, Komachi started to run, the beams unable to penetrate her zone that rejected most forms of pure energy. Rushing straight past Urara and Love, both of them too surprised to instantly act on on every single beam around them vanishing for about a second, Komachi was more than halfway through the contraption before either of the other two realized that she had cheated.
""Komachi! You dirty cheat!" Shouting after her teammate, Urara cursed and stomped on the spot. It only took a few more seconds before Urara and Love found themselves back in front of the gateway they had entered a while ago. "Fuck!" Shouting and kicking the gate, Urara stormed off.
Noticing that the ground was littered with small puddles of water, Love wondered what if they had started another water fight. Following the puddles, they led her to her own room. Thinking about it, whoever had come from the other side would have switched with Komachi, taking her place. About to open the door, Love could hear someone crying on the inside.
Just a few minutes ago, Erika had entered the room, finally seeing Tsubomi again. The pink Cure had been reading a novel, sitting in silence on her bed. Upon seeing Erika, she dropped the book, her eyes going wide. "Erika...?" She knew the name of the girl. And more than that. A thousand images ran through her mind, of Erika laughing, pouting, shouting, working without rest, of every possible situation she could have imagined. There was no doubt that this was the one person she knew best. But she couldn't tell how or why. Backing off a little, Tsubomi was scared by the sudden onslaught of memories she had no recollection of ever making.
"Stay... stay away please. Who.. who are you? Why do I know your name? What... what are all those memories?" Trying to get off the bed and flee to a corner of the room, Erika grabbed Tsubomi by her wrist before she could get anywhere.
In Erika's mind, the situation was just like one straight out of a fairy tale. A kiss of true love would wake her up, surely. Pulling her in close, Erika's lips met those of her partner. Tsubomi had not the confidence to defend herself. And as she started to feel Erika through her fright, she started to recall who the short girl was.
The person who made her life worthwhile. The girl who had helped her become a much better person. The center of her life. The girl she would give everything for. The one person she loved more than anyone else.
How could she have ever forgotten the day Erika had entered her life? At first, she had disliked her, but as days became weeks became months, she learned to love her. Back then, it wasn't the same kind of love she felt now. She saw her as best friend, someone that she would support in everything she did.
Only later, when she had finished middle school, she had started to see Erika as more than that. Not just a friend, but someone that made her life bright and warm. Someone she couldn't live without. Feelings changed and while she wanted to be more than just friends, she couldn't risk saying it out loud.
And finally, the moment when her desires had become fulfilled. That moment Erika told her she felt the same way as she did. It was the same kiss, the same feeling she felt now, that had turned a life she was satisfied with into one she felt joyous to have.
Hugging her partner and falling to her knees, taking Erika with her, breaking apart their passionate kiss, starting to cry loudly, Tsubomi realized that if by chance Erika had not come to get her, she might have never managed to regain her memories. She could tell they were truly hers and not just an illusion. This was who she really was. "I'm... I'm so sorry Erika... I didn't... want to forget... I just..."
Being able to say what she felt was one of Tsubomi's good points, according to Erika. Petting her head, Erika just let her cry. She didn't speak up until Tsubomi had calmed down a little. "I knew a kiss of true love would wake you up. I'm your knight in shinning armor after all."
"You're too short to be a knight... and you're all wet... great knight you are. And what would you have done if kissing me hadn't worked?" Resting her head against Erika's shoulder, Tsubomi felt a little weirded out by Erika's slick hair because it was sticking to her.
"Kiss you again. It'll have to work eventually. And even if it didn't, I'd just have to make you fall for me all over again!" Confident that it was all within her power, Erika grinned. Tsubomi just sighed. Confidence in herself was the one thing Erika never lacked.
"A knight shouldn't be so full of themselves." Reprimanding Erika, Tsubomi kissed her on the cheek. "You're ice cold, you should take a shower. I'll wait for you."
"You're not coming with me?" Tugging at Tsubomi's skirt, Erika hoped for a chance to get some more loving care from Tsubomi. And of course provide some of her own.
"The showers are really small so we'd have to really squeeze ourselves in there." Tsubomi didn't know if she could handle being naked right next to Erika right after being ripped out of her delusion. It was all a bit much.
Clicking her fingers, Erika created a small sphere of water right above their heads. Tsubomi could only gasp before the sphere hit them, thoroughly soaking both of them. Tsubomi's face was quickly turning red, not from embarrassment but because of shallow anger. "Erika!"
Her outburst could be heard all the way out in the hallway. Love was leaned against the wall next to the door. She felt happy for both of them. She didn't quite know what had happened, but there was no doubt that they had made up in some way.
She did feel a little disappointed that she hadn't made it to the other side. She really wanted to see Setsuna and Ellen. "Next time."
Walking down the hall and checking the dining hall, Love found Bloom and White still soundly under Happy's spell. The pink Cure was sitting on a chair close to them. "What are they seeing?" Love was a little curious about how Happy's ability worked. She had asked Inori a minute ago, but she didn't remember anything. Which wasn't surprising, considering they had woken her up right afterward.
"I don't really know. Everyone sees different things. It puts them into a fairy tale that suits their inner selves and they remain there as long as they're undisturbed." Smiling wide and looking at Peach, Miyuki scratched her cheek. "Sometimes I just use it on myself and have an alarm clock wake me up."
"Makes me wonder what kind of fairy tale I'd be in. I hope I'll be the hero that saves two princesses from the clutches of an evil wizard." Love liked to imagine herself like that. Riding on a white horse, in shining armor, to the aid of Setsuna and Ellen, saving them from the evil wizard Moebius.
"Want to try it out? It's really harmless and if you want, I can wake you up in ten or twenty minutes. I only need to shake you a bit to make it wear off." Miyuki was always eager to have people experience fairy tales for themselves. Once Upon a Time, her ability, was the result of wanting to bring fairy tales to people.
"Don't you miss having an offensive ability like Beauty or Sunny?" Love wasn't exactly one to talk as all her ability did was shuffle abilities around. Not very offensive either.
"I trust my friends to handle that. I focus on defense. We all used to work together, but Reika said it would be better if each of us specialized in the one thing we're best at." Looking a little bit embarrassed, Miyuki looked at the ground. "When the others focused more on fighting, especially Reika, I really fell behind at some point. When I looked what I'm good at, I ended up with this." Raising her index finger and creating a pink magic circle around Love's right wrist, she moved her finger and the bind forced the same movement. "Defense and locking up others."
"That's impressive in it's own right. I only know of one other Cure here that specializes in defense. You have a rare talent!" Love really thought so. While being able to attack and take out the enemy was important, being able to protect your friends from being attacked wasn't inferior in any way, shape or form.
Laughing awkwardly, Miyuki wasn't sure if Peach was being honest. At times, she felt like she was lagging behind everyone else. "Miyuki!" Hearing Nozomi's voice, Miyuki got up and looked past Peach, waving her friend. "Are they still out of it?"
"Dreaming and completely harmless." Miyuki was proud that she had been useful to everyone. "Do you know who came over in the.. exchange?" She wasn't entirely used to the process yet, but she was starting to get the hang of it.
"Marine came, Mint left." Love filled them in quickly. "Come to think of it, isn't White signed up for battle later? She isn't gonna be able to fight like that..." Leaning forward, Love gave White a close look. They didn't actually know if she was in the same state as Bloom, but it was highly likely. "We'll need someone to substitute for her. I remember that being part of the rules."
"I'll go." Miyuki wanted another chance. She hadn't really been able to do much in the last battle, not knowing what to expect. She wouldn't get pushed around like that this time.
"Looking at them like this, they do fit together." Love was a little iffy on the details of what was going on between those two. With both of them in the land of dreams, she couldn't really ask them either. "I wonder what their actual partners on the other side are doing."
=== Dissonance ===
"Let me go! What did you do to Mai?" Shouting as loud as she could, Nagisa was trying to get out of Itsuki's hold, something she should have known was impossible for her. Itsuki was an expert in martial arts. But she wouldn't have to keep her locked down much longer.
Not using any kind of special technique, Bright simply punched Nagisa in the stomach, hard enough to make her violently gasp for air. A second punch was all she needed to knock Nagisa out, at least for the moment. "I hate hurting Saki's and Mai's friends but she is too strong to just let her go wild." Picking up the body, Michiru hoped that things would be back to normal before the fight.
When Komachi had arrived at the base, she found Black unconscious, with Egret on the ground, violently coughing up water. The walls were all slick, as if the entire part had been submerged. Before Egret could even get up, Sunshine and Melody showed up, yelling at Mint to restrain them. A minute later, things had come to what they were now. Peace was helping Mint with restraining Egret inside a movable sphere and Bright was carrying the knocked out Black.
Considering how violent they had gotten with Aqua, who luckily had not drowned in Marine's attack, there was no telling how far they would go. Restraining them or knocking them out had been the best option. Rouge had already gone ahead and told Berry, who had remained in the dome, that they captured the infected.
Ellen and Ako were unsure how it was all going to go. Setsuna and Love were both there for Ellen, even though Love was unable to do anything but talk to her partners. The barrier was relentless in that aspect. Of the four, only Mai was still conscious.
"You need to wake them up." Ako was talking to Miki, almost successfully concealing how nervous she was. She thought that this must be what people felt like when they went on stage the first time.
Urara restrained both White and Bloom with her chains very thoroughly before they were woken up. Nobody quite expected what followed. The moment White and Bloom woke up, they saw their real partners. And they scorned them with contempt. Unwilling to even look at them, they glared at their captors.
Waking up Nagisa was proving to be more difficult. Only after being slapped and being soaked in ice cold water did she finally come to, only to be restrained by both Itsuki and Michiru, forcing her on the ground, paying detailed attention to her every move. Mai and Nagisa both shared the reaction of their real partners. Contempt for Saki and Honoka.
"You'll be fine." Setsuna pushed Ellen forward, next to Muse, who stood in the center point between the two captured parties. Taking a deep breath, both Ellen and Ako looked at each other for a few seconds before joining hands. A blue magic sphere extended from her, becoming bigger and bigger, penetrating the energy barrier without any trouble. Only when the sphere stopped growing did it start to change. Golden spots littered the sphere until they had taken more than a third but less than half of it.
Ellen opened her mouth but no voice could be heard. The rings of a bell rung through the large dome at first, followed by a brief silence and more ringing. Ellen was Ako's orchestra. Giving her the design, blinking twice, Ako started to sing, able to tap into Ellen's knowledge of Purger as long as they were connected.
"I sing this song for you who are soiled. Evil spirits, leave!" As soon as she started, blue and golden notes started to spring forth from the sphere, dancing around the two girls, settling into the empty score one by one. "I – turn – into – the – song." Ako could feel the power rushing through her as both she and Ellen were slowly lifted off the ground, levitating a meter in the air. "I sing this song for you who are soiled. Evil spirits, leave!"
The notes in the scores assembled, forming small spheres. "Dressing myself with the twilled darkness and light –" Ellen's voice finally came through, supporting Ako's."Oh, child of sin" "- I land on this world, the space between the sky and the ground"
"Now awake-" "Now awake-" "Return back to me," "Return back to me," "From the faraway prison" "Now awake – along with your true soul mate." The ground was trembling beneath them, the notes amassing into even larger spheres, their singing voices intervening, their faces growing closer. They were surrounded by sixteen spheres, hovering in place. There was no visible effect or change in attitude on the infected.
"Now awake-" "Now awake-" "and raise your voice" "and raise your voice," "in joy and despair" "Now awake – live!." The sound sped up and Ellen's voice faded to the background again. "With that burden on you now" "A sin it is, the worst sin to ever commit." "given to you by a cursed spirit, viler than all!" "A sin it is, the worst sin to ever commit."
Sixteen spheres had become four, each at least as big as Muse and Ellen together. "I – turn – into – the – song." The spheres started to shift form. ""I sing this song for you who are soiled. Evil spirits, leave!"
"Embracing the love and sin engraved on me, by you, I go back and forth between the endless dream and reality!" "Oh, child of sin" Ellen's voice rose up again, joining Ako in a duet.
"Now die-" "Now die-" "be released" "be released" "from these chains of false belief!" "Now wake from your eternal sleep, along with your soul mate."
"Now die-" "Now die-" "come out" "come out" "and beg for forgiveness" "Now wake from your eternal sleep, live!"
By now, the spheres had shaped into what Reika recognized as lances, each aimed at one of the infected. They had already sung for over three minutes and the purification process was still on-going. She was impressed by the power and stamina those two displayed. But it was showing on their faces. Ellen was breathing hard and starting to turn a little pale and Muse was looking even worse, clearly in pain.
"What does it take for me to save you?" "A sin it is, the worst sin to ever commit." "The road to salvation shall be opened by my song." "A sin it is, the worst sin to ever commit." "The burden placed on you" A sin it is, the worst sin to ever commit." "I will smash it to pieces." A sin it is, the worst sin to ever commit."
Ako could feel a thin stream of blood running from the corner of her mouth but she didn't want to falter when she had come this far. The next part would be much harder on Ellen, so she couldn't give in. While Ako's part was slow and clear, Ellen's was convoluted and rapid.
"At the bottom of my heart - " "My words and melodies shall reach you, for they come from the bottom of my heart!" "I can hear your voices." "Your nightmares and reality, breath deeply and return to yourself."
They were at their limit. The song was incomplete but neither of them had the stamina or expertise to completely sing it. Ako looked at White and Bloom while Ellen looked at Black and Egret. Both of them exclaimed at the same time. "Purger!"
Four lances, each composed of the hymn's energy, launched at the targets, piercing their chests, passing through matter and energy alike. For a moment, nothing happened. What followed was something quite a few of them recognized. That horrible, ear piercing wail, as if a banshee was inside them.
Itsuki and Michiru had to back away from Black, their ears ringing so hard that they could see the others wildly opening their mouth but not hear what they were saying. Reika was the first to actually arm herself and go into full battle mode. Her intuition for danger was top notch and it was ringing every single alarm bell possible. Using her powers to push everyone on her own side away from White and Bloom, the captured now started to writhe in pain as some kind of dark mist started to rise out of their very skin.
At first it failed to make any coherent form but after several failed attempts, the dark mist mixed with the one that was coming from Bloom, finally forming something recognizable. Yuri instinctively stepped back. It was a distorted version of her own face, she could tell. On the other side, the same thing was happening, but here it was Aqua, Rouge and Mint who put themselves between the shadowy creatures and the other Cures. Setsuna was looking after Ellen and Ako, both of them horribly drained.
"Why... why do you interfere... you... you... Dream! How dare... how dare you still... live!" The shadow form on Reika's side was glaring at Yuri, the featureless face distorting as it let out another horrifying wail, the creature on the other side mimicking it's actions, seemingly searching for something.
The four captured were rendered completely unconscious, the black mist that rose from their body getting less already. "I.. won't forgive you.. won't forgive you... You shall pay for your actions, Dream!" Sucking up the last bits of shadow energy from the bodies of Honoka and Saki, Reika was already right in front of it.
"Zero Celsius Divider!" Slashing with two swords right through the shadow form, Reika jumped back, realizing that it wasn't a corporeal being. Physical attacks wouldn't work. She wasn't too well versed in energy attacks, that was more Akane's and Yayoi's domain.
The next wail made Nozomi take a step back. The shadow form screamed her name so loudly that the ground shook. Emerging from the two bodies and flying up into the air, it headed straight for it's target, Cure Dream. Materializing a scythe made of black energy, it was suddenly locked down by dozens of pink energy binds.
Miyuki had jumped in front of Nozomi. "I won't let you!" Tightening her binds, the shadow form was struggling to come free of it. Just as she was sure she had it under control, the creature on the other side wailed, finally having found it's target. Rising from the bodies the same was as it's other part, it headed straight for Ako and Ellen, the origin of the attack that had forced them out. "How dare... how dare you interfere!" The wail was powerful enough to force several of the Cures to cover their ears. Without summoning a weapon, the shadow was already halfway there. Standing up and withstanding the scream, Setsuna hadn't been able to pay attention to what was happening on the other side. "Quattro-" Readying her stance, Setsuna wouldn't let anyone hurt Ellen. She couldn't hear the screams of Love, warning her that it wasn't possible to hit the thing with physical attacks. "Assault!" Attempting to hit the shadow's face, or the part that resembled one, Setsuna realized on contact that she had committed a grave error.
In one go, the shadow went right into Setsuna, not emerging from her back. On the other side, Miyuki had managed to keep control over the situation by locking the creature down. It continued to scream Dream's name, cursing her, yelling how it won't forgive her. And Nozomi knew. She knew what had caused the shadow to target her. The shadow knew that she was the reason the reflections had come to life. That Yuri had become trapped in exile for so long. Frozen by that knowledge, she watched helplessly as Miyuki kept protecting her.
Looking at Miyuki's back, the girl trying her hardest to protect her friend, she remembered something from years ago. Seeing Miyuki like that made her think of Coco. He would have jumped right in front of her as well. And she would have needed to save him.
Looking over her shoulder, Miyuki grinned. "I'll protect you just like you helped me." But that one moment of taking her eyes off the enemy would become her undoing. Wriggling out of the binds by completely giving up it's form, the shadow flew straight at Miyuki, who, alarmed by Nozomi's outcry, only turned around in time to have the shadow jump straight into her.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Setsuna started to tumble, covering her eyes with her hands, screaming out in terror. Her mind was being flooded by something she very much recognized. Something she didn't want to feel ever again. The exile was rooting itself into her mind. "Ellen... Ellen... run!" Yelling as loud as she could while she was still in her right mind, Setsuna's form violently changed. Her costume flashed, her hair shortened, she was turning back into Eas, denizen of Labyrinth. "Get... out... of my... head... Moebius... I'm... not... not..." Screaming out again and turning back into Passion, she changed right back, the violent make over happening several times. Blood started to run from the self-inflicted wound her fingernails caused on her face, her voice echoing through the dome. With an outburst of dark energy, Eas took her hands off her face, breathing hard, her teeth grit hard for everyone to see, her eyes hatefully glancing at every single Cure until she found Peach behind the barrier. "You!" Taking one step, she reverted back to Passion, trying to force herself away from the barrier and everyone else.
Ellen could see now what Setsuna had been talking about when she told her about the past. That was Setsuna's original form, Eas. The short, silver hair, the black clothes, the red eyes. Rapidly switching forms back and forth, it was taking a horrible toll on Setsuna's body.
Ignoring her own pain, Ellen started to sprint towards Setsuna, tacking her and forcing her on the ground. Sitting on top of her, she had surprisingly little trouble keeping Setsuna's arms occupied, even as she turned back into Eas and hatefully glared at the blue Cure. "You can fight it, Setsuna! Love trusts you! I trust you! You're not Eas anymore! You're the girl I fell in love with! The girl that cherishes both Love and me!"
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I'm... I'm... Eas... servant of... Moebius... no... that's not true..." Her mind was split apart by pain.
"Fight it!" Ellen leaned down and kissed the struggling Eas. Even as she returned the favor by violently biting her lips, Ellen didn't budge. She would bring Setsuna back, no matter what.
With a final wail, Eas' mouth opened wide, the dark mist pouring out of it in one big stream. Struggling to regain it's form outside, it left Setsuna unconscious as Eas. "Stay down!" Ellen couldn't make out who yelled but she held on tightly to Setsuna.
A massive stream of fire hit the shadow form right above. The flames were too wild and hot, burning Ellen's costume off her back. The flames were joined by a powerful electric blast, the shadow form wailing in agony and rage until it dissipated into thin air.
The situation on the other side was even worse. All but a few Cures that had realized the danger were bound by Happy's pink rings, denying them any movement at all. "You will pay for what you did, Dream." Her voice was oddly distorted, as if she was speaking from far away. "You'll pay for what you did to me!"
Nozomi wasn't the brightest but she could put one and one together. What she was facing was the resent, grief and anger that Yuri had felt for the one that caused her to be stuck in exile. And it was possible that Eclipse knew who had brought them about. It seemed like the logical decision. But even if Yuri's rage was justified, she wouldn't just stand there and be punished. But she found Happy's binds to be surprisingly difficult to break.
Reaching out to Dream, the possessed Miyuki grabbed her throat, only to stop there. "I... won't let you... hurt her..." Miyuki was fighting the shadowy creature inside of her. She had never experienced negative feelings this powerful before. It was tremendously difficult just to stop her from hurting Nozomi. "She... she... is... dear..." Miyuki took a step back, her right arm trying to choke herself, her left trying to prevent the same.
The binds weakened just as Miyuki started to struggle against the shadow and that was enough for Nozomi to break free. Shattering the binds all at once, she relied on an attack she had come up with after becoming the Rose Guardian but never truly got to use it. "Nightmare Shatter!" Focusing an energy blast in both of her hands, Nozomi rammed them straight into Miyuki.
With another ear piercing wail, the shadowy creature was forcing out of Miyuki's body, raising into the air, trying to attack Nozomi again. But this time, she was ready. Tapping into power she wasn't supposed to draw from without being aided by either the Rose Garden or a lot of other Cures, she turned into her Rose Guardian form. "Rose Starlight!" Shooting a single focused blast straight upwards against the shadow, it eradicated it almost instantly. Despite being a blast attack, a short range energy beam, it traveled all the way to the ceiling and still caused a lot of destruction.
Turning back into Dream, Nozomi's eyes went blank as she fainted and fell forward, right into the arms of the heavily exhausted Happy. Feeling her pulse, Miyuki had sighed with relief. Silence covered the dome as everyone looked around, making sure that the entities were truly gone.
"The hell was that?" Urara kept looking around while walking to where Nozomi and Happy were. "Why the fuck was it so dead set on making Nozomi pay? Hey Moonlight, it looked like you, got any ideas?"
Yuri couldn't imagine that the little grudge she kept against Dream over putting her through hell in that one battle more a week ago would blow up like that. There had to be something else. Shaking her head slowly, unable to give an answer, she was slowly pushed away from the scene by Miki.
"Let's get all the injured out of here first." Reika didn't trust the silence. Stepping towards the barrier, she was met by Nao. "Are you hurt, Nao?"
"I'm fine. I don't think the same can be said of Muse, Beat and Passion... she is still looking like that." Nao obviously wasn't aware that Eas and Setsuna were the same person.
"Dream and Happy seem to be injured. I would very much like to know what happened." And Reika was not the only one to think that way.
=== Dissonance ===
Honoka woke with a splitting headache. Her memory was somewhat fuzzy as she couldn't quite place what she had done in the last twenty-four hours. "I didn't get drunk again.. did I?" Checking around, she was relieved to see that there was nothing to worry about. Saki was right next to her, gleefully passed out. "Hey, sleepyhead. Wake up." Something felt odd. She couldn't quite put it, but there was something different about Saki. Had her hair always been that spiky? "I must be seeing things." Poking her partner's cheek, Honoka tried to ignore the splitting headache. "Hey, sleepyhead. Wake up."
Just groaning and refusing to come to, Saki tried to turn around. A little annoyed at how sound asleep her lover was, Honoka leaned down and kissed her, finally waking up Saki. "How long were you planning on sleeping?"
Just as Saki looked at Honoka, smiling, taking her hand and kissing it's back, someone came into the room. Honoka had expected that much. There were four beds in the room, and the one they were in belonged to Saki after all. She could tell by it's smell. "Don't worry, you're not interrupting anything, Miki."
She didn't know what to say. While they didn't seem to be aggressive anymore, they still thought of each other as lovers. Had Muse and Ellen failed to drive all of the miasma, which was the name the others had given the shadow forms, out of their bodies?
"Are you feeling alright, Honoka?" Miki didn't know if she should bring up the issue of her being with Saki.
"Physically, I think so. But I have no recollection of the last twenty-four hours, give or take a few. What happened?" Getting out of bed and standing up, Honoka felt a little weird.
"Complicated. Most of the others are in the dining room so we should probably discuss this there." She definitely didn't want to handle this alone. Miki wasn't bad at explaining but this was a little beyond her.
After getting to the dining room and hearing from everyone what had transpired, Honoka and Saki looked at each other, not sure what to say. There were obvious errors in their memories. Saki knew that she lived in the same town as Mai. Honoka knew she lived in the same town as Nagisa. So how exactly did they end up a couple? Not only that, but their names obviously made it look like the story Miki and the others told was the truth.
Saki couldn't shake the feeling that what they were saying was the truth. But at the same time, her feelings of loving Honoka felt real as well. "Even believing you... what are we supposed to do?" Saki didn't know if she could handle changing teams and pretending to love Mai, even if it was how things were supposed to be. "When I think of Mai... all I see is a friend."
"Whatever possessed you isn't gone entirely. We got rid of the main body, I think, so... I hope it's just a matter of time before you go back to normal. I talked to Sunshine and they should be explaining the same thing to Black and Egret when they wake up." Miki felt a headache coming. "Honoka, I hate to bring this up, but do you think you can participate in the battle later?"
"I'm physically fine so I see no problem with that." Standing up, Saki following her, Honoka excused the two of them and left. They were barely outside the dining room when they stopped. "I'm surprised I found it this easy to believe them. But what they're saying is true. There are some obvious clues that our memories were adjusted. So... we should stay away from each other, Saki." Honoka didn't want to return to her old life eventually only to find that being with Saki had ruined her relationship with Nagisa.
"Is that really alright with you?" Saki couldn't handle that idea very well. "What if we don't get back to normal? What if we stay like this forever? Will we just avoid each other until we die? Go back to our supposedly real partners and pretend the feelings we have for each other right now?"
"Stop it." Honoka wasn't happy about it either. In reality, she just wanted to turn around, tell Saki she was joking and kiss her. If Saki had merely taken Nagisa's place, and there were many clues to that being the truth, she couldn't forgive herself if she cheated on Nagisa. But there was some truth to what Saki was saying, as well. What if things would stay this way? To begin with, if Nagisa and Mai felt the same way, wasn't it better to just let things stay that way?
Honoka was scared that she thought that way. Walking away from Saki, she felt completely drawn to her. She never had that much trouble telling apart what she wanted to do and what the right thing to do would be. She was a chemist. She knew emotions and desire were all just chemical reactions. Trying to make a science out of her attraction to Saki sadly didn't help her ignore it. Just walking away from her partner was painful.
She managed to get up to the stairs before Saki came running after her, grabbing Honoka by her wrist, holding her back. "If... if we go back to normal.. would it really be that bad if we followed what we feel right now? If Mai couldn't ignore her feelings either I think I'd understand. If we have been together with them as long as we think we've been with each other, we should be able to see past this."
"Why do you want to make this harder on your-" Honoka felt the grip on her wrist tighten.
"Because there is nothing I can do about what I feel for you!" Shouting, wildly shaking her head, Saki pulled Honoka back. "Right now, right here, I love you! Even if I'm really supposed to love Mai, even if I'll return to loving her someday, I still have feelings right now!"
Honoka couldn't face Saki. Why did she have to be so emotional? She had tried really hard to do the right thing, but if Saki wasn't able to cooperate, how was she supposed to stay strong all alone? She remembered the time when Saki... or Nagisa... had been mind controlled and it had been a hard fight to get her back. This was different. Their memories and feelings were altered but their minds were their own. "Saki... You know how I feel. But if these feelings really belong to Nagisa... I shouldn't give in to this."
Honoka was completely caught off guard when Saki forcefully pulled her back, embraced her, kissed her gently. She couldn't deny that what she felt right then was genuine. Ever since listening to the explanation, she had longed for this. Her self-control had always been top-notch, but right now, she couldn't manage to overcome her desires. She wanted to be with Saki, with her partner.
The other side of the tragedy was experiencing a similar breakdown of morals. Having listened to the truth, Nagisa just couldn't accept it. In her mind and heart, Mai was the most important thing to her on the planet. She had gone to hell and back with her. And Mai didn't have the strength to completely deny what she felt. Both of them stood silently in front of the room they shared with March. "We.. shouldn't..."
Nagisa was behind Mai, holding her in her arms. The white Cure was torn on the inside. If not Nagisa but Saki was her real partner, she was committing a horrible sin. But the touch of the black Cure, her scent, her voice... they all reached out to Mai's heart, breaking down her reservations and self-restraint. She loved that girl so much that she couldn't put it in words. "If... if we go back to normal... won't we regret this?"
"Would you blame Saki or Honoka for not being strong enough to simply shut away what they feel for each other?" Nagisa knew that she wouldn't. If they ever returned to what was supposedly normal, then they would still know that back then their feelings had appeared genuine. For all four of them to put blame on each other, that would accomplish nothing.
Mai couldn't deny that she wanted to just follow her feelings on this. There was no way to tell if they ever got back to normal in the first place. And given how strong their feelings for each other were, it wasn't simply a matter of going back to their real partner and trying to rekindle feelings, in the case of never returning to normal. It would ruin both relationships.
Taking Nagisa's hand, Mai gave in. There were too many uncertain things for her to try and ignore Nagisa. She remembered Nagisa being gone for just two days once, a memory that was supposedly about Saki, and she had felt horrible. If it took weeks or months for them to go back to normal... she couldn't even imagine what it would be like to be without the girl she loved. "If we notice there are signs of us going back to normal... we need to stop being together."
"I know." Kissing Mai's neck, Nagisa breathed a sigh of relief. The situation was incredibly screwed up, but at least it wouldn't get any worse. She didn't realize that she was being watched. Michiru, biting her thumb, was hiding around a corner, listening in and spying on them. She didn't like to do that to Mai, but she couldn't stand by and just let Mai betray Saki.
She was aware that what they were saying was the truth, that they felt that way about each other now, but why couldn't they just put their emotions aside and go their separate ways for some time? At least until things returned to normal. Michiru wished that she could talk to Kaoru about it and see if Saki was committing the same error. If walking blindly into a trap was what it meant to really understand their own feelings, Michiru could do without that. Surely, her sister would think the same.
On the contrary. Inori was there with Windy, watching the unlikely pair from the distance. And Kaoru had asked the same question Michiru had kept inside her. "Because they might regret denying their feelings more than following them. Even if what they remember and feel right now is a fabrication, rejecting those feelings would almost be like rejecting the love they feel for their real partner."
Kaoru hadn't thought of it that way. There really was no way for Saki and Mai to reject what they felt for each other. If Honoka had taken Mai's place in Saki's eyes, then it would be impossible for Saki to ignore her. Even if she knew better..." Kaoru felt a little sad. "There... is no right answer to what they should do." It wasn't a question. She was stating it as a fact, derived from her own conclusion.
"Following your feelings often means following your desires, your heart. But that isn't always the right choice. But it never is the wrong choice either."
Trying to argue her choice of semantics, "If it isn't always the right-" Kaoru only got a few words in before Inori shook her head.
"Choices aren't limited to right and wrong." Grabbing Kaoru by her arm, Inori coerced her to leave. "I think we violated their privacy enough." Looking back at White and Bloom, Inori feared that their hardships were only still beginning.
=== Dissonance ===
It would be a good chance to stop thinking about Saki for a while. Honoka was waiting in the room that contained the gateways. Two of the four other participants were already with her. Windy and Pine, talking about the battle itself. She didn't pay a lot of attention, trying to simply clear her mind from everything that had happened in the last hour. Ending up cuddling with Saki for almost an hour in the end, Honoka was a little bit depressed that she couldn't master her own feelings and just stay away from her.
Luminous and Rose showed up together, both of them having heard about everything that had happened from Berry. Lemonade was still staying out of Kurumi's sight, for now, and Kurumi didn't want to make the situation any more complicated than it already was. She had already asked Hikari to spend the night in her room. By morning, surely she would have cooled off and be able to face Urara without taking off her head. If she hadn't done it out of malice, she would even have felt a little thankful since she got to experience Hikari combing her hair and play around with Hikari's silky smooth blond hair as well.
"Everyone aware of the rules?" Inori wasn't too comfortable with the rule that prevented close combat. Both Rose and herself were specialized on that. "I'll summarize the rules briefly for everyone." Inori cleared her throat. "Close combat is prohibited. A percentage of damage taken is negated and taken from our energy reserves instead. Everyone of us is linked with someone on the other side. If we take damage, they do as well. All attacks are doubled in strength but energy consumption and damage taken is also doubled. Energy attacks are additionally twice as strong, giving them a total of quadruple strength. The lethal risk rule is in play. One of us will receive triple damage, someone else will cause double damage to the enemy. On top of all of this, the Pandemonium Dive is in play, which will spawn creatures we have previously encountered. I don't know how extreme this will be, so be on guard." Clearing her throat again, Inori hoped that her theory was right, regarding the close combat prohibition.
"Stay by my side, Hikari." Kurumi grabbed her friends hand just as the gate opened, the red light greeting them.
Stepping through, it only took a second for all five of them to be thoroughly soaked. They stood at the edge of a lake, thick forest right behind them, an unnaturally thick fog obscuring the view. Far above them, thunder rolled every few seconds, a lightning bolt hitting a tree somewhere in the distance. The intense rain and and fog made it impossible to see anything but a few meters around them.
"We need to figure out the link system first." Honoka tried to make out where the other team could be but that was a waste of effort. It was completely impossible to make out anything in the fog they were in. "Most of us have tremendously stronger abilities in here, so we have to beware of friendly fire. Don't fire randomly."
The other team was thinking of the same thing. "We don't know who we're up against. It'll be a disaster if we walk right up to Moonlight, Dream or Luminous." Ako was vary of those three the most. With close combat being forbidden, they had to beat any of those three at their own game. In the worst case scenario, they had to beat Luminous with energy attacks. Something she wanted to avoid at all costs. Even if it meant sacrificing someone from their own team, it was still a better choice than trying to go head to head with her.
Hibiki and Kanade covered the back of the team, both of them equally worried about Ellen and Ako. They had been in a bad state right after incident with Black and Egret. Ellen was in an even worse state than Ako since she was worried sick about Passion. "Ellen! Snap out of it!" Hibiki had to call out to her, seeing that she was spacing out in the middle of a battle.
"Sorry." Trying to get her act together, Ellen materialized her guitar and played a powerful accord, trying to break apart the fog all around them. "Why isn't it working?"
"One of the terrain conditions is Natural Phenomena. This fog isn't going to go away, no matter what we do." Ako flinched. She was still hurt from earlier. The battle wasn't going to end very well for her, she knew that much. Her best choice was to be the sacrifice. Charge in, cause a lot of damage but not knock anyone out, and get taken out. "Considering the system picked out two people, we can assume that the other three are their strongest energy users. White, Blossom, Windy, Luminous, Dream and Moonlight are the top candidates for it I believe."
"White got possessed. I think its safe to rule her out, don't ya think so?" Akane was walking circles around the other four. She specialized in large scale energy attacks like her Solar Rain, but it was going to be difficult to target anything with the visibility as is. "The heck is that?" Pointing at a massive shadow that was looming over the trees behind them, Akane had her question answered by the object in question.
"Nega!" Something that four of the five recognized. "It didn't come as a surprise. Out of all the things they associated with evil, the weakest and most common ones in memory were the Negatones created with the energy of Noise. But to their surprise, this particular Negatone was completely white. Ako quickly concluded that it was created from light energy.
"Solar Detonation!" Launching several fireballs, each the size of a human body, against the monster, Akane turned several dozen meters of the forest to charcoal with the follow-up explosive burst. "What was that?" Akane looked at her hands. She knew about the two rules that quadrupled all energy attacks in damage but she didn't expect it to be that powerful.
"It's pretty clear who is benefiting from the Lethal Risk rule now." Ako had no doubt that power like that was more than just four times. "You should probably refrain from using attacks up close. Move into the forest, that attack just now gave away our position." Ako was worried about the fact that most of the energy users on the other side were also the ones that fought more strategically.
Running, Ako noticed that Hibiki was staying behind. "Melody! What are you doing? Move!" She couldn't wait for her to get going. Taking off on her own, with Sunny and Beat, Rhythm fell behind, waiting for Hibiki.
"Hibiki, what are you doing?" Taking her teammates hand and trying to pull her away, Hibiki just stood there. "Hibi-" The blast came completely out of nowhere and caught Kanade completely off guard. The pink Cure had put enough energy into it to lift her several meters into the air. Jumping up, Hibiki coldly stared at the injured white Cure. "Glory Crash." Firing a three phase blast against her former best friend, the pressure from the attack smashed Kanade into the ground.
The moment Hibiki landed, a stream of blue notes exploded in her face, flinging her right into the lake behind. Ellen had come back, smelling a trap. Grabbing Kanade, she pulled her up. "Glory Fall!" Shooting several bullets up into the air, Hibiki fought without concern for her own safety.
There were too many unknowns to decide what exactly was going on. Pulling Kanade with her, Ellen barely managed to avoid the massive explosions Melody's attack was causing the moment the projectiles rained down on them.
Further into the thicket of the forest, Ako and Sunny had been ambushed. White, Rose and Luminous had surrounded them. There was no fourth and fifth member in sight. Ako miscalculated. She didn't expect White to be in any condition to fight. Back to back with Sunny, she considered trying to force their way out of the situation. But if any of those three was the benefactor of Lethal Risk on their side, that could go both ways. That Luminous and Rose were both there was just really bad news. Her body was still acting up from singing Purger so she couldn't pull out all the stops.
Hikari and Kurumi looked at each other. They would follow the plan to the letter. Creating a single metal fragment, Kurumi threw it to Hikari, who caught it and cut her palm slightly. Throwing it back, Kurumi didn't bother to catch it and let the shard cut her cheek. At the same time her wound started bleeding slightly, Sunny suffered the same wound. That established all five. In just a few attacks, the light team had managed to completely confirm who was linked to whom.
"Rise of Dawn!" Raising her hands above her hand, Hikari spawned a massive sphere in the air, emitting a dazzling light. By the time Muse and Sunny had settled on a course of action, the three enemies were gone.
Beat and Rhythm were running as fast as they could. They couldn't tell if Melody was still chasing them, but for now, they needed to regroup with Muse and Sunny. "I think Pine is here." Ellen had heard about Inori's ability from Setsuna. "She can take over someone's mind and make them her puppet."
"Why Hibiki?" Kanade hid behind a large tree. She could hear several loud growls in the distance, one of them coming closer quickly. "Are there more Negatones out there?"
"That doesn't sound like a Negatone." Ellen's chest hurt, just from running and breathing a little harder than normally. She wondered if Ako was feeling the same kind of pain. Just as she tried to relax, she felt a stinging pain from her hand. There was a thin cut going through her palm. "Is this what Ako meant by sharing our life energy with an enemy? They can hurt themselves to hurt us?"
"I hate this rule already." Kanade realized that the only reason Hibiki had been possessed to attack was to find out who she was linked to. At this point, they probably knew most of the links. While she didn't even know who the enemy was. Looking up, Kanade stared right into the massive head of a gray colored monster. "What is that?"
"Zakenna!" Whatever it was, it was just another Negatone-like enemy the Pandemonium Dive was creating. Kanade focused, took aim and prepared an attack.
"Serene Lance!" Kanade launched a single, massive projectile, a white glowing lance, right at the monster, obliterating it's head. With a burst of energy, the creature vanished altogether. They were hardly enemies they had to take seriously.
"Down!" Jumping on top of Kanade, Ellen barely managed to get her out of harms way. With the sound of a dragonfly swarm rushing over them, trees were cut into the tiniest pieces, completely shredding them. If that had hit them, they would've been cut clear in half. "That attack gave us away. Run!"
Inori was hidden inside a tree top, keeping Melody under control. Honoka had quickly met with her and explained their next step. Based on the powerful fire attack that destroyed the forest, they ruled Sunny the benefactor of the Lethal Risk ability. Melody and Rhythm both didn't take significantly more damage than they should have, leaving only Muse and Beat as the possible candidates for the victim of the same rule.
Taking out Muse would also take out Pine, which would in turn free Melody, so they had to adjust their initial plan. The best course of action would be for each link to take each other out to avoid a lack of score. Their first target was Sunny while Windy would keep Rhythm and Beat on the run, simply scaring them around.
If she had wanted, Kaoru could have concealed her presence entirely, cutting both her enemies in half. But that would have destroyed Luminous and White as well. The rule they had chosen was very difficult to handle. Thankfully, everyone on their team was smart enough to follow the plan exactly.
Chasing the white and blue Cure away from where Muse and Sunny had last been, Kaoru did her job flawlessly. It was a gamble, but according to White, it was very possible that destroying the Pandemonium creatures would net points as well. Flinging attacks into the directions of the beasts whenever she could, she could feel from the distance that Luminous was doing the same. Seeing colossal explosions in the distance, it was pretty obvious that the pink Cure was the benefactor of Lethal Risk on their side.
Ascending beyond the tree tops, Kaoru could see dozens of shadows in every direction, slowly making their way towards specific points of convergence. The locations of Cures. Hunting Muse and Sunny from the cover of trees and fog, White launched another series of energy pillars at them, finally forcing them apart. Sunny had to evade to the left while Muse found herself encircled by energy pillars erupting from the ground. But she wasn't quite as defenseless as White thought her to be. "Silent Symphony!" With a single violent extension of magical power, Ako overrode White's attacks in her immediate surroundings, trying to run right after Sunny.
"Whitelight Illumination!" Spawning another dozen pillars from the ground, Honoka glared at Muse in an intimidating way. "You will run out of stamina before I do."
Ako hated to admit that what White was saying was true. She had little choice but to fight her if she wanted to get away. But could she really beat one of the most experienced Cures? She couldn't get close and use physical attacks and fighting her at long range would but her at a significant disadvantage. It didn't surprise her in the least that she was simply stalling for time. Someone else was going after Sunny.
"Solar Detonation!" Launching a dozen projectiles in the direction she believed Rose to be in, Akane obliterated the lower half of a monster she hadn't seen before. But she could tell that Rose hadn't gotten hit. Sensing something behind her, Akane was shocked by how brazenly close Rose had gotten. She was practically right behind her. About to kick her, the red Cure realized that she would be immediately disqualified doing that. "Solar-"
"Metal Hazard!" Jumping back, Kurumi raised her right hand towards the sky. The ground itself was torn to pieces when innumerable metal fragments burst forth, relentlessly cutting Akane. The attack lasted only for a little more than three seconds but was damaging enough to force the redhead on her knees. She was bleeding from over a hundred small wounds all over her body, her costume having taken significant damage and her hair shredded short. Looking at Rose, she was bleeding just as much, but clearly superior in terms of stamina and physical strength. Only realizing right then that even if she burned Rose alive, she would likely pass out before her. "Adamant Eruption!" Coating her right arm in metal, Rose hit the ground as hard as she could, a large section of the rock beneath them rising up and pushing Sunny into the air. Kurumi withstood the damage but she wasn't going to last much longer. Playing tough only got her that far.
"Solar Rain!" Akane didn't care if she had to burn the entire forest to the ground, she would get Rose before she was taken out by her. They would both be knocked out anyway, so she didn't need to hold back at all.
"Rose Abaddon!" But while Sunny's ability profited from the rules, Rose's did not, being mainly a physical based attack. The fragments were incinerated in the near infinite hail of fireballs that originated from right above Sunny. The forest around them turned into a hellfire of destruction. Screaming out in pain, the flames trying to burn her alive, Kurumi passed out and immediately vanished.
A few seconds passed before Akane's outcry could be heard thorough the forest. Countless horrible burns appearing on her skin instantly, she lost consciousness and vanished even before hitting the ground.
That was the signal for Kaoru and Inori. Melody was linked to Kaoru, so until now, Inori had kept her out of danger and just defended against any creatures that showed up. With Melody's power, it was easy enough to utterly destroy them. She was nearing the time limit for taking control over Melody as well, so the signal didn't come any second too early.
Beat and Rhythm, hunted and paranoid, were hiding behind a particularly majestic tree. There were no more wind blades flying in their general direction. It was easy to look back and see what path they had followed, a lane of destruction depicting their route.
While Ellen was simply out of breath, Kanade's breathing had become rapid and irregular from being hunted by someone she couldn't even see. Scanning the surrounding area with her eyes repeatedly, she couldn't find any rest. "Is she gone?" Kanade didn't want to run into another trap. "She might just be hiding out there." She didn't deal well with situations like these.
"Rock Dimension!" Ellen fell on her knees and coughed up blood as soon as she used one of her more taxing abilities. Her body couldn't handle the stress. But at least they were safe. Countless blue notes, well hidden in the fog and never ending rain, surrounded them. If anyone tried to get close, they would be blown to pieces. "I'm sorry, Kanade. I don't think I'll be a lot of help today." Launching into a regular coughing fit, Ellen disliked the taste of iron in her mouth.
Near the lake, Kaoru had returned to Inori's side, the two showing an excellent display of teamwork. Kaoru hadn't gained significant amounts of points yet. "Release her. You should get ready to fight Muse." Standing on the ground, Inori still hiding on a thick branch in the tree's crown above Kaoru, the blue Cure was completely focused on their plan and mission. Her long, blue hair that stuck to her back was no more than a trivial annoyance, the rain that kept obscuring her vision not even that.
Closing her mental link to Melody, Inori jumped down. "Don't take her lightly." Inori didn't feel it necessary to warn her but she did anyway. She enjoyed being around Kaoru, even though it was a little headache inducing at times.
"Muse is weakened but still powerful. Don't take any risks." Kaoru found herself unusually concerned about Inori's well being. The yellow Cure was exceptionally smart and a very fast fighter, so she should have no problems. It seemed illogical to worry.
With a single nod, both Cures started to head in opposite directions. At the same time, Honoka was still pushing Muse around. Ako still didn't know who she was linked to and how many of the others were still in the battle to begin with. She knew that there had to be at least two of the others as she kept seeing massive domes of light, explosions caused by Luminous. It also meant that it was entirely possible two others were already taken out. Which two was the big question.
She tried to calculate who was linked to who by going over the order of attacks their team had faced. But it was all but easy to think when White kept chasing her around. One moment she was merely toying with her, the next she was genuinely aiming to take her out.
"Whitelight Essence!" Clicking her fingers, she created twelve hovering spheres of white energy around Muse, each sphere linked to the next by a thin thread of energy. The spheres would follow her and slowly close in, until they came together and detonated. There was only one way to escape the delayed blast.
"Symphonia Forza!" Ako slammed her hands onto the magical keys she summoned in front of her, creating a very loud and powerful sound wave that broke apart White's ring, leaving the spheres levitating in place. Taking the chance and hoping she would catch her off guard, Ako first ran towards White, seemingly to attack, then jumped against a tree, turned and catapulted herself off into the distance.
She hadn't anticipated what happened next. Each of the twelve spheres was following her on it's own, rapidly closing in. "Sound Guard!" Creating a solid wall of magic keys, two of the spheres detonated with the force of several pounds of explosives, the shock wave alone throwing Ako higher into the air.
Down on the ground, Honoka was long gone. Heading towards the meeting spot, she came right across Pine, both of them not slowing down at all. Inori only had to nod into a specific direction to tell Honoka what she needed to know. Honoka responded by pointing up. The sound and force of the next detonation of her essences was very easily to follow for Inori.
Both of them changed directions, on track with their targets. They felt no remorse for completely trapping and taking advantage of the terrain and rules. Back at the lake, Melody and Windy faced four monsters at once, two of them a variety they had never seen before. Attacking them without giving each other any openings, Hibiki knew exactly what was going on. Having her body dominated didn't mean that she couldn't see, hear or feel what was going on. Defeating the sole Negatone of the group by blowing it half, Hibiki jumped into the lake, the near ice cold water chilling her to the bone.
No matter how powerful Windy was with the current rules, the water would drastically decrease the power of her attacks. Hibiki needed a little time to come up with a plan. Considering she was more of a attack-first think-later type, that was much easier said than done.
Kaoru on the other hand had no trouble adjusting her plans. "Storm Slash!" Unleashing a series of wind blades against the trees, she left most of them intact entirely, only cutting them off from their stump. She wasn't as strong as Michiru, but lifting a tree and throwing it was a small feat for a Cure. Kicking and throwing tree after tree into the lake, she was creating a deadly labyrinth for Melody. Eventually, she would need to surface, and by forcing her into certain directions, it would be easy to catch her off guard. "Storm Vanquish!" The weaker but more widespread version of her Storm Slash. "Storm Atmosphere!" Raising her hand, all of the felled tree's rose high up into the air. Manipulating the air around them, Kaoru found herself surprisingly strained for energy. "I see.. not a bad plan. But too late." She had used up a lot of power so far, but the battle would be over soon. For her, at least.
Having moved all of the trees over the lake, Kaoru ceased the use of her ability and started running. Based on her point of entry, the first assault and the impact point of the second assault, there were only two points of exit that were likely.
The only decent plan Hibiki could come up with was that she had to make Windy use up all of her energy. But she was nearing the limit of how long she could hold her breath. And being crushed by a tree the moment she surfaced to breathe would be disastrous even for a Cure.
Swimming in the opposite direction of where the trees were falling from, Hibiki was finally able to surface. Breathing in as hard as she could, her lungs hurt from staying underwater for too long. She only managed to get a little bit of air in before something brutally hit her face. Kaoru had easily predicted where she would come up and waited for her. Violently grabbing Melody by her hair, Kaoru pushed her down underwater. She wouldn't drown her, but she might as well weaken her before finishing her off.
Struggling to get away from Windy, the pain in her lugs was getting worse with every fraction of a second. Her head hurt and she felt sick. She could feel herself choking. Using an attack while underwater would be a one-time make or break thing. But she didn't see any other choice. "Brutal Melody!" Firing a massive blast of energy right where the hand was coming from, she managed to get away and surface, hastily breathing in as much air as she could.
But Kaoru was sure that she had enough points by now. "Storm Blast!" Firing into the water, the resulting explosion forced Melody out of the lake, making her an easy target, helplessly thrown into mid-air. "Stormflair."
White was hiding just outside a zone she perceived to be extremely dangerous. By coincidence, a creature that continued to scream "Sorewatase" had passed by her, entering the zone just before Honoka. There was nothing left of the monster or the forest. The crater reached several meters deep, as if someone had simply dropped a powerful missile on it. Spying into the crater, Honoka could see blue notes floating around, multiplying constantly. It was a trap. She wasn't impressed but she had gained just a little bit of respect.
The blue notes belonged to Beat, there was no doubt about that. And if they kept multiplying, there was no way to get through. Passing through the air was not an option. She would need to land eventually and jumping into a deadly minefield was far from being a well thought out plan. "Whitelight Illumination!" Firing several pillars into the crater, the notes didn't care about the energy attacks. That confirmed her suspicion. They only reacted actual beings, Cures and the creatures.
Noticing that she could no longer hear the massive blasts going off in the distance, it meant that Luminous was on her way back. The plan had been for her to keep most of the creatures at bay until they had hit the last phase of the plan. Honoka already had a plan for how to get past the minefield.
Several kilometers away, Ako was at a complete standstill. Having created a small clearing in the forest by pure force, she was paying minute attention to the forest around her. She knew that they hadn't just left her. If not White, someone else was out there, waiting for her to let her guard down.
And time was running. Having noticing the lack of explosions as well, Ako was now seeing gigantic shadows all over the place. She really wasn't allowed to get a break. Being constantly chased around, it didn't take a master of strategy to figure out that the other team was vastly superior in terms of strategy. Both their abilities and team composition were more suited to the rules of the battle. If not for the life link, they would have surely lost five to zero.
"Akan... Akanbe..." One of the creatures was coming closer. Ako had three choices. Attack the creature, avoid the creature by leaving the clearing, or simply try to defend against it until it gave up. She was tired of being pushed around and she didn't know how much longer she could hold out. The longer the battle dragged on, the worse the side effects of singing Purger got.
"Grand Symphony!" Several dozen magic keys formed the barrel of a cannon, releasing a rainbow colored blast, shredding the upper half of the monster to pieces, the leftovers dispersing. Ako was completely ready to be assaulted at any time now, but nothing happened. That was worse than being attacked as she started to doubt herself. Was she being paranoid? Was there really someone watching her?
Scanning the edge of the clearing, Ako got more worried with every passing second. The rain was hitting her hard, with no trees to lessen the downpour. She was cold, tired, hurt and badly on edge. Turning around constantly, expecting an attack from behind, Ako only then realized that it wasn't just a clearing. The shape of the ground resembled a small crater, and the rain was filling it up. The water already reached to her ankles. She couldn't stay there forever. Picking a spot that gave her a more safe feelings than the others, she rushed towards it. She barely moved a few meters with over a dozen diamond formed shards flew straight past her face, two of them grazing her cheek. Stopping immediately, turning around and heading for the opposite direction, the same thing happened again.
She was trapped. The clearing had worked against her. If she couldn't get out, then she had to force her opponent to come out. But how? She didn't have the energy left to unleash any of her greater attacks. The constant damage she had taken from being pushed around by White had depleted a lot of her reserves.
Just as lightning struck nearby, Ako realized that no matter what she did, she was doomed. The sky above her was filling with the same diamond shards that had just prevented her from leaving. It was a death trap. Keeping her inside the clearing, without any cover to take, her enemy had just slowly prepared for this. Covering her face, Ako realized that she had already lost. The shards descended.
Muse's and Pine's outcries could be heard in the distance. Hikari disliked that sound but being in a battle, it really couldn't be helped. Rushing through the forest, she was leading literal horde of creatures that kept following her. She was aiming to obliterate them all at the same time as her link, Beat. By this time, not many of the others could be left.
Firing a single sphere of light into the air, Hikari did exactly as Honoka had instructed. It took over a minute before she was joined by the sole remnant of her team. "Pine, Windy and Rose are already finished. Beat and Rhythm have barricaded themselves inside a impassable minefield that regenerates. I scouted the area and it's a large ring surrounding them."
Explaining the follow up plan to Hikari, she wasn't too happy with it, but it was better than dragging out a fight that wasn't doing much good at all. Both of them kept running, moving at much less than their maximum speed, both to keep the creatures on their track and because it was impossible to react fast enough in the thick forest. Moving at several hundred kilometers per hour would simply result in crashing into tree after tree.
Closing in on the mine field, Honoka and Hikari ascended to the tree tops. Honoka knew the rough layout of the size of the ring but she didn't know much safe space there was in the center. With the fog and the thunderstorm above them, it was impossible, even for her, to accurately predict where to land. They had to clear a path through the ground. Watching the steadily growing horde, both of them waited on top of a large tree. "Ready?"
They could start hearing the mindless noises of the creatures when they jumped as hard as they could. The scenery flew by in a blurry, both of them taking a straight route right over the minefield. "Be ready." Honoka was tense. It would drag out the fight a lot more if the plan failed. It all came down to their timing.
Ellen and Kanade, believing themselves safe, got immediately on high alert when one side of the minefield once again started to violently explode. But that wasn't all. There wasn't just a single incident. Ellen immediately ascended to the tree top and took a look at the situation. One of the edges of the field was completely covered in gray, a horde of creatures approaching them. She would need to reinforce the field, but she wasn't sure she could even do that.
The much safer decision was to escape. Run into the opposite direction of the creatures. While one was easy to defeat, Ellen was already at her limits and Kanade alone would have problems with them if they all attacked at the same time.
"We're making a run for it." As Ellen jumped down, Kanade was already running slowly, just waiting for Ellen to catch up. She wouldn't leave her friend and teammate behind. Ellen simply removed a small part of the field with a click of her fingers. Passing through it, she didn't slow down at all. "We need to get away from here. They'll no doubt find our position from the explosions.
Kanade realized too late that they had overlooked something quite important. Those things followed other Cures. Why were they all coming towards them? "Ellen, we're-" Kanade couldn't even finish her sentence before a pillar of white energy launched her high into the air.
Ellen couldn't see where the attack had come from. But she could see White, flying through the air, right towards Kanade. That was the smallest of her problems. The horde of creatures, a few of them having died in the minefield, had just passed the center point. Even if half of them died in the other half of the field, that would still leave over a dozen or more. And the problems didn't end there. Noticing a faint glimmer in the distance, the same direction they had been running towards, Ellen knew that there was someone else, ready to attack.
With her body as exhausted as it was, she had no chance to fight someone else off. But at the least, she could help Kanade. "Blast Tune!" Releasing a stream of notes towards White, Ellen realized too late that Kanade would get caught in the blast as well. Trying to change the vector of the attack, she lacked the necessary focus.
Honoka knew that she had no way to avoid the attack. But she didn't have to, anyway. Rhythm was high up in the air and an easy target. Even without having any solid surfaces to launch her energy pillars from, Honoka wasn't out of options just yet. Putting both of her hands together, Honoka used her own palms as a launching pad for her attack. "Whitelight Ray!" A single, high speed and high precision, blast erupted from her hands, badly damaging them but going straight through the chest of the blond Cure. At the same time, Beat's blast hit both of the Cures. Both of them vanished in the explosion cloud.
Hikari was almost finished with her preparations. Focusing her power into four large spheres, one in each cardinal direction, she was done charging them. Considering that it took a long time to prepare the attack, she had never been able to use it in a battle yet. When she had developed it, the plan had been for Nagisa and Honoka to stall the enemy or keep them in check. "As Queen of Light, I declare judgment on my enemies! Royal Luminario!"
The spheres unleashed their power, combining into one massive beam that simply eradicated the forest and ground alike. It consumed Ellen and traveled through the minefield unhindered, obliterating the horde. Her most powerful attack, something that would always use up all of her remaining energy, the beam illuminated the forest, breaking through the magic fog, lighting up the area if it the sun had come out.
A cone of absolute destruction, nearly a hundred meters wide and several kilometers long. Hikari was on her knees, exhausted. She closed her eyes for a brief second, just as the scenery around her started to change.
=== Dissonance ===
"Please come again!" Greeting and seeing her customers off with a smile was just part of the job. Looking at the shelf, there were so many products unsold, a lot of them her own. It wasn't that people didn't like them anymore, or that they were too pricey. They just didn't sell.
It wasn't a bad job by any means, and she had her family to support her. Spying on the little calendar behind the register, she sighed. It was cold outside, and earlier in the morning, a bit of snow had fallen. The twenty-second of November used to be a day she enjoyed. But nowadays, it was just another day of work.
Business was even slower than normal around this time of the year and day, especially with the sky low and gray as it was. People didn't want to leave their houses. Kanade didn't want to either. "It's been four years..."
Four years ago, Kanade had confessed to Hibiki, while they were imprisoned in the dimensional gap. What a disaster it had turned out to be in the end. Driving her back to Sunshine, Kanade had spent the better part of her time there with Rin and even fallen in love with her. It wasn't until the day that Rin decided to try and find a job as a player in a club close to Kanade that things started to really go downhill.
Something had happened to Dream, something that must have been eating away at her mind for months. Nobody knew exactly what happened. All they ever found of the rest of her team were pieces. There wasn't enough left to bury anything. She wasn't the only one that was devastated. Ako didn't talk to anyone for weeks. Rose just wandered off one day, never coming back. Happy spent days in her room, depressed.
And she? She cried. And she realized. That she just wasn't meant to be happy. Trying to get close to Hibiki had hurt her badly. Getting even closer than that to Rin, and she had died the day right after. All the progress she had made toward being a better person had been lost that day. She couldn't even look at Hibiki or Itsuki anymore. Jealousy was eating away at her inside. She would never forget that look that Hibiki had given her a few weeks later.
"Don't ever talk or show your face to me again." There was nothing but contempt in her eyes. Kanade had lost her nerves and seriously attacked Itsuki, breaking her arm. And it wasn't just those two that shunned her after that. She had to make her own meals, eat alone, and she could never count on anyone else. In battles, she was always the first to be targeted. There was no more exile at that point but every day she spent there felt like she was inside it.
Spending her days in solitude, knowing that it all boiled down to her first screw up with Hibiki... if that hadn't happened, Rin might have been somewhere else that day and she would still be alive. She was tormented. And when the day came they could go home, Kanade asked herself what was even waiting for her?
Hibiki moved away, leaving behind family and friends. Ellen stayed behind for a few days, rarely walking past the shop and checking if Kanade was there. But eventually, she left when Peach and Passion came to get her. Ako returned to major land. She never heard from her again. All of that was four years ago.
She had graduated from school and started working at her familiy's shop. A few months later, a large chain bakery opened nearby, taking away a lot of their customers. Since then, they had been losing a lot of customers, gradually over the years. It was at the point where they all tried to keep the shop going together but didn't know how much longer they could hold on.
Closing up shop, Kanade was in charge of making dinner that day. She used to enjoy it, but with Souta attending a boarding school after being granted a scholarship, it was just herself and her father, who spent his evenings brooding over bills. Her mother had taken up a night shift job in a service center, to help support the family through the rough times.
"Here. Eat it before it's cold." Putting his dinner on the table, Kanade washed her hands and left for her room. Her father didn't say anything.
Kanade's room was her last refuge. Sitting down on the chair at her desk, she simply stared at the mirror. She had grown just a little since then. But she had lost that glint in her eyes that made a person attractive. No matter how pretty she was, her eyes told people that she had already surrendered her heart.
Pulling open a drawer, she slowly took out a cheap locket. A gift from five years ago. Hibiki had given it to her, the twenty-fifth of May, Kanade's birthday. Opening the locket, she looked at the image. Hibiki, fifteen years old, smiling and waving.
Looking at it for a long time, the sun set completely outside. The house was eerily silent. She did this every year, to remind herself to never feel anything for anyone again. It would only drive them away. But the one feeling she couldn't lock away was her loneliness. As long as she sat there and looked at the image, she silently cried until her eyes hurt and she could no longer bear looking at her lost love.
She didn't even have a picture of Rin to mourn. Putting the locket back into her drawer, Kanade stood up and sat down on her bed. If she could have traded the rest of her life for spending just one more night together with Hibiki or Rin, she would have done so.
She was scared of falling asleep. In her dreams, she relived the days her life still had meaning. Attending school with Hibiki. Trying hard to become a better person with Rin at her side. Those dreams scared her. They always ended in the same way as reality. With her being left alone, either inside a school that felt empty, or inside a dark room, a puddle of blood and shreds of red cloth and hair the only thing that remained.
Especially today, on Hibiki's birthday, she knew she would dream of her. And she knew she would wake up hating herself a little more than today. But she couldn't avoid it. After everything that had happened, Kanade believed that it was simply her punishment. That she was meant to suffer no matter what she did.
The next morning was no different than any other. Outside, snow was falling. Getting dressed, taking a brief shower and going downstairs, Kanade found that the shop was still closed, even though it was past opening time. Seeing her mother and father in the living room, she already knew. Entering the room, both of her parents looked up at her. "Kanade, we need to talk about the shop."
"I know. We can't afford to keep it." Kanade could feel herself tear up. "I knew this would happen. But don't worry, I have a friend I can ask for a job. She runs a bakery in another town."
"I'm really sorry, Kanade. I wanted you to take-" Her father didn't finish the sentence. He could tell from the look in Kanade's eyes that nothing he could say would make her feel any better.
A few days later, Kanade's dad had started working in the very same bakery that had run them out of business. Her mother continued to work in the service center at night. Kanade, having packed a large bag, sat on her bed, the house cold and empty.
Standing up, going to the desk, she opened it and took out the locket. Leaving her bag behind, she slowly descended the stairs, the locket's chain in her hand, swinging slightly with her every step. Looking at the empty shelves of the shop, she walked up to the counter, standing behind it, smiling happily. "Welcome!"
But her smile vanished as quickly as it had come. Leaving through the front door, Kanade walked through the snow that was piling up. The sky was as gray as her life. Looking around town, she visited all the spots that she held dear, where she had shared happy memories with Hibiki.
It was already late in the evening, the street lanterns shining their dim light through the dark that had covered the town now, when she finally stopped at the last location. The now frozen lake. It was here that Hibiki had given her the locket, where her happiest memory was. Facing the ice, Kanade knelt down and slowly took off her shoes, then her socks. Stepping barefoot onto the ice, it creaked loudly. Holding the locket with both of her hands, Kanade slowly walked towards the one spot she remembered. Rowing over the lake in a small boat, Hibiki had surprised her there, handing her the locket.
Her feet were red and swollen by the time she got to the spot. "Hibiki... Rin..." Twice had she loved. Twice had she lost them. And now, the little that remained of her life was falling apart. The ice creaked dangerously now, right beneath her feet. Opening the locket, she looked at the image. Leading it slowly to her lips, at the very moment she kissed it, the ground beneath her feet gave in and an icy and unforgiving world of water surrounded her.
But she didn't mind. Pressing the locket to her lips, thinking of Hibiki and Rin, the pain was fading away. The pain of losing Hibiki, the pain of losing Rin, the pain of losing her future. The pain of being alone. The single kiss she shared with Hibiki's picture continued as she sunk deeper and deeper into the lake, her silhouette disappearing into the solitude of the lake.
=== Dissonance ===
After hearing from White that Ellen had been in the battle, Love kept waiting in the dome, in hope that someone would show up. She was worried about both of them. It took almost an hour of patiently waiting before Bright came up the stairs, hoping to find someone that could bring her up to speed on what was happening with Saki.
"They still think of each other as partners." Love could tell that much easily after seeing how worried Bloom had been after White came back from fighting. She was fidgeting all around her and only calmed down when White kissed her on the cheek. "Bright, I have a favor to ask. Can you bring Beat up here?"
But that wasn't necessary. Just as she asked, Love saw someone with silvery hair coming up the stairs. "Setsuna!" Calling out to her partner, Love jumped up, hitting the barrier. If only they were on the same team! She calmed down somewhat when she saw a very exhausted Ellen following her. Seeing that Love was already waiting for them, Eas grabbed Ellen's hand and pulled her along. "Are you two okay?"
Walking up right to the barrier, Eas got a little embarrassed. She knew how to turn between forms but after Ellen had come out and said that she really liked how she looked like that, she had just stayed like that. "Beside me having a splitting headache and Ellen being really drained, we're both fine."
Ellen thought it was a good decision to not let someone substitute for her in the fight. She had woken up more exhausted than ever, but she didn't feel in pain anymore. The after-battle healing mechanism had taken care of all the damage singing Purger had caused. But she felt a little guilty. After hearing that Black and Egret were still all over each other, she knew that it was because they had failed to sing the full hymn. Even if they tried to use it again now, the infection was too trivial to target.
Love sunk to her knees, incredibly relieved and all of a sudden feeling very tired. " I want to come over but there are still some others that want to switch. I don't know if I can go another week without kissing either of you." Complaining, Love sighed. She was a bit sick of sleeping alone. And she was even more sick of not being able to cuddle and kiss her lovers.
Ellen blushed a little hearing that. "We could come over instead. There is no risk of exile, so I don't mind trying." The blue Cure didn't mind leaving her current room for something else and Setsuna was all the way down in the worst room, too. "I think only Aqua tried to switch and Mint came to our side, so there probably won't be any volunteers tomorrow."
Taking Ellen's hand and kissing her cheek, Setsuna liked the idea. "You'll have to pick who you want to see first. One of us tomorrow, the other a day after."
"You super tease." Pouting a little, Love pointed at Ellen. "I'll pick Ellen in that case. She smells better than you do." Saying the first thing that came to mind, both Love and Setsuna laughed over how much Ellen blushed at the supposed compliment.
Bright had long left, leaving the three love birds to their own devices. Coming across Nagisa and Mai, the two just entering the dining hall, holding hands and looking rather happy together, Michiru felt annoyed. Annoyed with herself that despite seeing how happy Mai was, she couldn't accept it.
Most of the team was trying to be considerate and not say anything about Black and Egret showing up like any other couple. Most of them were already eating, dinner prepared by Aqua and Mint, who, according to March, had been virtually glued together.
But not everyone was in good spirits. Beside Bright, who was depressed over Mai's memories still being screwed up, Peace and Rouge looked very unhappy. Melody wasn't in the best mood either. "I know I'm not at fault here but I still feel guilty that someone from my team ended up in exile. And of all times, this happens right when I was starting to make up with her." Hibiki played with her salad instead of eating it. She didn't have a lot of appetite.
"Beat is on your team too and she was in exile a few days ago. She looks fine to me, so Kanade will be okay. Stop moping, your face is gonna stay like that." Grinning, Itsuki had a nice idea . "Actually, never mind, make your face stay like that, you're even cuter than normal when you mope."
Rouge was in an even worse mood and on her own. Being Kanade's current partner, she was really worried about long lasting negative effects the exile might have on her. Trying to chow down as much as she could before feeling sick of it, Rin left her food almost untouched. Getting up and leaving for the labyrinth, she would try to take her mind off worrying by training.
Nobody could quite put their finger on why Peace looked so depressed. If Nao or Akane knew about that little accident with Marine at the pool, they might have had an idea. Yayoi didn't know about Blossom having been the exile. The only explanation for Erika suddenly leaving was that she had come on to her.
Seeing Akane and Nao actually having sex.. she hadn't been prepared for that. She found a kindred soul in Erika and after being around her for just those few days, she had gotten pretty close. Drawing them and being as horny as she was, her mind just short circuited. Before she knew what she was doing, she was trying to imitate the scene she had been watching so intently.
Erika was funny, cute, smart and a lot of other things. Shaking her head, Yayoi really needed to get that idea out of her head. She was taken! She couldn't just fall for someone's girl... that would be netorare. She didn't like that genre. She wasn't even sure if she was actually falling for Erika or just confused. She felt kinda ridiculous. Considering how much she talked about shipping, yuri doujinshi and other related material, she never even had a girlfriend of any kind before.
She absolutely wouldn't mind having Erika take that role. But that was more of a pipe dream. But that only made her want it more. She needed a shower, a really cold one. Or maybe just a lukewarm one, she didn't like cold water. In any case, she had to get that idea of wanting Erika out of her head. Getting up and heading to the showers, she wondered if Erika would mind if she made a doujin of Miracle Peace and Cure Marine. The dirty grin mixed with the confused expression looked exceptionally weird, but thankfully nobody could see it.
The dinner was far from lively. The couples kept to themselves, those who were in a bad mood did as well. But at the very least, there was no longer any danger.
=== Dissonance ===
"It's... my fault." Nozomi was alone in her room, sitting on her bed, her expression a mask, fear and despair hiding beneath it. "It's my fault... again... I hurt them.. created the reflections.. and now I've destroyed two relationships... and almost got four others killed... Happy... Passion... Beat.. Muse... they all tried so hard to remedy the situation... and I caused it all."
"You bring nothing but misfortune on those you're close to."
Nozomi jumped up, her eyes hastily scanning every bit of the room. Nothing was there. But she was sure she had heard her voice. Her voice. "No.. I killed you... with my own hands... I ended the terror..."
Something hugged her from behind, a tongue licking her neck. Looking down on herself, she could see two transparent arms holding her. Something was breathing on her neck. "No welcome back? You're so cold... Dream." Breaking out in laughter, the voice was high pitched and undoubtedly up to no good.
"No! No! No no no no nonononono..." Nozomi wildly shook her head, trying to claw the transparent arms off, her hands going right through it. "Get off, get out, get away, leave me, leave us, just leave!" Screaming hysterically, Nozomi threw herself against the wall, over and over, until her back hurt so bad that she could no longer stand.
"You can't get rid of me. I am you." The laughter grew louder and louder in her head until it completely filled her mind.
Pulling herself off the ground, Nozomi's eyes were wide open with terror. She had to get out. Get away. Far away from everyone else. Trying to open her door, she found herself locked in. "Why... why won't it open?"
"Because I don't want you to leave."
Nozomi started to pull on the door as hard as she could, punch it, kick it. "Dream Blast!" Nothing happened. She couldn't even user her abilities. Her breathing was racing, she couldn't control what she was doing anymore. Suddenly feeling sick, Nozomi knelt over, puking on the ground. Covering her mouth, she felt a sticky, slimy substance, very much unlike blood. When she looked down, she saw black, boiling mud smeared all over the ground.
Backing off into a corner of her room, Nozomi didn't understand anything anymore. In her entire life, she hadn't been so afraid. "What.. what are you doing... what are you doing to me?" But her question remained unanswered. Feeling sick again, she looked at her arms, out of instinct. The pink cloth of her gloves was slowly turning black, as if it was being infested with the mud. Trying to get them off, she couldn't even tear the cloth. "Nightmare! Answer me!" Her eyes were rotating, wildly twitching, switching from one corner to another.
The transparent arm started to caress her cheek, while another was simply laid around her shoulders. "Silly, isn't it obvious?" Nozomi could feel wet, cold lips on her cheek. Cold sweat was running down her body.
Nozomi couldn't even get a single word out when a transparent copy of herself, with her costume swapped to black and an insane look in the eyes, slowly materialized before her. Wildly swinging her arm at it, her couldn't touch her at all.
The apparition knelt down, continuously caressing Nozomi's cheek until she forced a deep kiss on her. Nozomi almost choked when she felt the apparition's tongue inside her mouth. And her body was no longer obeying her. Playing with the evil copy's tongue, Nozomi could feel one of the transparent hands ripping her chest piece off with ease. It turned black immediately as soon as it was touched.
Having her breasts fondled against her will, Nozomi had never felt fear like that before. Finally, the kiss ended and the apparition licked her lips suggestively, a small amount of black mud dropping from her chin. "You're so cute, Dream. You still don't realize?"
Kneeling down and whispering in Nozomi's ear, the pink Cure opened her mouth wide and tried to bite her own tongue, but she was denied even that.
The apparition laughed and laughed at her despair, at her fear. She laughed until Nozomi could no longer hear anything else. And finally, she looked at her with contempt.
"I'm taking over."
=== Event of Event XXVI ===
