Dissonance
Event XXXVI
The Chapter of the Pandora
"I missed you!" Miyuki hugged her girlfriend tight, squeezing her like she was her favorite stuffed toy she hadn't had in years. "I didn't see you at all during the battle! What happened?"
"Not telling." Ayumi looked away and smiled. "It's a secret."
"I can keep a secret!"
Ayumi snorted and burst into laughter. "Miyuki, you can't keep a secret unless your life depended on it!"
Miyuki tugged on her girlfriend's arm repeatedly and incessantly. "Come on! Tell!"
"I… used my powers to try and follow Inori and I kinda homed onto a cube from the bottom. I hit my head so hard I knocked myself out..." Blushing and decidedly avoiding looking even in Miyuki's general direction, Ayumi pretended not to hear the roaring laughter that came from right next to her. She lasted all of three seconds. "Shut uuuuup! Stupid Miyuki! I know Bloom smacked you about like a leek! And you sandbagged Yayoi on top!"
"Hey, that's not my fault! Bloom is super strong! It's like a crocodile having a nibble!" Shaking Ayumi, Miyuki tried to drive her point home. "And you shut uuuuup! Stupid Ayu!"
"Stupid Miyu!"
Pulling on each other, both of them crashed into the snow, rolling over twice until they separated with a laugh. "This dumb system is dumb. We'll never get good rooms because we don't have any of those fancy mass destruction abilities."
"That's just how it is." Ayumi sighed and sat up, feeling cold lying in the snow. "I'm super worn out tonight so I'll go back soon. Sorry we can't be on the same team."
"It's so unfair! Akane … no wait, she broke up with Nao… so Reika is also… well, Yayoi! Uh…" Sitting up and looking at Ayumi like she realized something really worrying Miyuki lightly pointed at herself. "Wait, am I the only one on my team that has a girlfriend right now?"
"You go getter." Ayumi grinned. "On my end I used to be the only one on my team that didn't have one… I can't believe it took me this long to realize I even like girls."
"It was kind of funny to see you be awkward around everyone whenever any kind of nakedness was involved. Or the beach. You were soooo awkward when the girls checked each other out."
"Was not!" Standing up, Ayumi took a step forward, away from Miyuki and nearly fell back into the snow when Miyuki grabbed hold of her hand.
"No walking back alone!"
"Fine fine, I'll take you for a walk."
"I'm not your dog!"
"You're adogrably cute like one!"
Miyuki groaned at the terrible pun and then groaned some more until the very act itself became comical in repetition. "Bad Miyuki! I'll get the rolled up newspaper!"
"You… wan't dare." Miyuki looked so incredibly, obnoxiously smug looking at Ayumi's annoyed expression that Ayumi became even more annoyed.
Staring at each other, one daring the other to out-pun them, they both fell silent for a solid minute before declaring a non-verbal truce with just their eyes. "Wanna go?"
Nodding and giving a hum of approval, Miyuki properly got on her feet and linked arms with her girlfriend. "But sing your song on the way down."
"Eh… again?"
"You know I like it!"
"But you must have… okay, whatever." Clearing her throat, Ayumi started with a high note, croaked then coughed and had to stop walking. "Damn hair in my throat!"
Miyuki held her laughter in – she really wanted to hear Ayumi sing again.
Picking up some snow with her bare hands, eating it and cleaning both mouth and throat out with the crystallized wet, Ayumi started up again.
"Listen, listen child of light, the girl, courageous, wild and bright. Beware, beware, the darkness blight, the evil deeds, with human sleight.
Listen, listen, warrior of light, so brave, so right. It's here, it's here, the time to fight, the darkness', darkness' hated might.
Her light so strong, so beautiful, so mighty pure – the world's solace, the world's sins cure.
In the dark afraid, of horrors full, the humans nest, their selfish lull.
A blinding light, oh soul so pure, her name as one, oh pretty cure.
The guardian of good, little cure so strong, a girl alone, the world's owns wrong.
Alone, unknown, a battle waged, her fate unfolds, it beckons now, a conflict staged.
From human hand the dark days come, the powers fade and death unfurls, the light now none.
Anew it starts, oh cycle of light, new warriors made, the world their blight."
Miyuki shivered. "That song always… moves me somehow. Some of it is because… you're the one singing it. But it also makes me sad. It's about a tragedy, right? How the world betrayed the one that saved her?"
"It's a song that I learned by connecting my own light to an ancient evil once. I don't know why they knew it, but apparently it's called the 'Fable of Purite Kyura'. That's probably where the 'Pretty Cure' in the lyrics comes from. See, it sounds similar."
"Maybe it's actually a song about some really ancient Cure! Imagine how cool that'd be!"
"Yeah. That would be pretty neat. But it also makes me worry."
"Worry?"
"If way in the past there was someone like us that fought… and from the song's lyrics, she probably fought alone. And then the world betrayed her? Does that mean the people she saved betrayed her? Imagine what she must have felt… and the way the song goes, that betrayal probably didn't end with just being cast out or blamed for some damage."
Miyuki lowered her head and started to look solemn. "I never thought about it like that before."
"There is actually at least a second verse to this song."
"Eh, really!? You never told me!"
"Because I don't know it."
"But you just said-!"
"I can feel there is a second verse after. But I don't know it. The evil didn't know it so I couldn't learn it."
"You think there's a happy ending?"
"I don't know. I hope so."
"Then there probably is! Your feelings are never wrong after all!"
"Fufufu… it's cute how much you trust into them."
"They led us together after all."
"I think it was more your unyielding optimism and ability to help people." Bumping against Miyuki and then drawing her in close, Ayumi grinned. "But let's forget that. I actually have some amazing news."
"You're coming over to my side?" Miyuki gleefully beamed, tangible expectation riding high on her words.
"Silly, way more amazing." Ayumi stopped, let go of Miyuki and turned her back towards her. "It's super amazing!"
"Don't tease me!" Miyuki stomped her foot in the snow in jest.
"I've recovered."
Miyuki's jaw dropped. "You recovered?! How much?!"
"Almost completely. It's thanks to Heart's and Blossom's magic."
"Then-!"
"Not so fast." Ayumi exhaled slowly and inhaled slowly and with definite dramatics. "It was all a theory until now, but with the arrival of Mana and her group, I think I'll be able to do it after all."
Running straight ahead and jumping her girlfriend, Miyuki crashed into the snow with Ayumi. "I knew you'd be able to do it!"
"It'll still take time for me to do it though. And get off me, you're heavy! You glutton!"
"Am not!" Miyuki pulled on Ayumi's cheeks, the two of them sound on top of the white mess surrounding them. "Stupid stupid~!"
Pinching Miyuki's nose, Ayumi got her to back away and then she pushed her, causing the happy girl to fall backward into the snow. "I still need to talk to Setsuna, Urara, Rikka, Mint, Alice and I'm definitely gonna need Hikari's help for this, too."
"But if they all agree-"
"I am counting on that." Swiping the snow off her clothes, Ayumi got back on her feet and helped her girlfriend stand up. "But don't tell anyone yet. It's going to be really hard on me and I don't want them to swamp me with questions and look at me all expectant all day, every day."
Embracing Ayumi with the happiest smile imaginable, Miyuki closed her eyes. "I don't know what we'd do without you."
"Before we tell anyone we have to minimize the risk as much as we can." Ayumi paused and patted Miyuki's head, a smile of shadows on her lips. "But then we'll all be able to go home."
=== DISSONANCE ===
The rattle of chains. The ice cold floor of rugged, harsh stone. The freezing cold. The warm something that ran over her face. She couldn't place what it was that woke her up, but awake she was. But she wished she was not. To be awake was to be in a nightmare. To be asleep was salvation. She knew this.
A grunt, a groan and finally an ached sigh before she was on her feet, a burning pain in her throat. Water. Staggering towards her left, just two steps, she fell down again, cupping water from a hole in the ground. Putting it to her lips it was the same taste as always. Bitter. The water, the food, everything in this place… it's bitter.
Cupping more water with her hands, she slowly, carefully stood up, taking light and feathered steps towards her back. "Here. Drink." A pained groan came from in front of her as a pair of blistered lips touched her skin, greedily sucking in the water. "Tough time again?" A different groan, still one of pain but with clear indication that whoever answered understood the question. "I get it. I'll get more."
Cupping water and feeding the other, she repeated the act sixteen times, rendering her fingers prune and her spirit chipped. Sitting down, with the rattle of chains behind her, her back touched that of the one that shared her fate. Back to back she drew her legs in close, her head touching against the other's. "I'm ready." It was the only thing she could do to alleviate the suffering of the one she was imprisoned with. Closing her eyes, she let it flow inside of her, that which tormented the other one.
A garden, lush and well maintained. People with bronze skin, white clothes and sun worn faces were working primitive tools to ensure that it remained as she saw it. The sky was blue, the winds gentle and quiet chatter filled the garden's space. Others, skin alike but different in cloth, walked the pathways, discussing topics in a language she didn't know but understood well.
The two men with long beards spoke of barbarians to the east. A woman urged a man to increase patrols in the pleasure district. Two men again discussing the year's harvest of crop. It was the typical dealings of a court garden, she knew right away. Her perspective not that of a bird but one who oversaw the garden, walking tall and mighty. People bowed as they were approached.
A woman approached her, hurried, a look of urgency and danger on her face. Lady Utmirka, the king demands to see you. She understood their language because she was not herself. She was another, one whose memories she saw now.
The garden disappeared into a fog and from that fog that which could only be called a king's private quarters arose. Before her, the king, weathered and old, dark brown beard, a form like that of a bear and a large scar traveling across his face in solitude, blotting out one eye of his. You called for me, your majesty?
How many years has it been now that you served me, Utmirka? No. Cure Dawn.
She felt it. That uncertainty, that suspicion, that looming worry that something was not right. That danger was approaching from a direction she thought not possible. For the King to call her that, her true name, spelled out danger and threat. It will have been thirty years tomorrow, your majesty.
You destroyed the Midnight Magicians that came to threaten our lands. You defended myself against many a threat pivoted against me. Your presence alone has granted us lasting peace with the neighboring lands for their fear your powers. The king rose from his chair and his face was one of agony – moving clearly pained him a great deal. And for the many years you served me I am eternally grateful. That is why it pains me to do this.
Her feeling had been right. Something was awry and it was flying at her faster than any arrow ever could. Your majesty, whatever it is that disturbs you, I am sure-
Cure Dawn, you are banished from my lands.
Banishment?! But why, my king!? She stepped forward, despair in her voice and gesture. This land is my home. All those that I cherish are here. What could possibly- The king slouched, threatening to fall to the ground. She leaped forward, a crutch to an ailing ruler in many ways. My king, you should not strain yourself so.
Thank you… Coughing, shaking, the king was returned to his seat by her. Your goodness of heart is the reason I must banish you. My wife the queen has passed long since and not one son I was given. So my lineage falls to the oldest of my daughters.
Virlish will make a great queen. She is just, she is strong and she is- The King lowered his face in torment upon her words, his large weathered hands covering a face that had seen many years. It was this that cut her words short, that made her feel like a demon. What was it that had happened that the King would banish her even though it pained him so?
Virlish loves you.
And as any of her subjects, I love her. Until my powers wane and I will be no more I would happily serve her and this land. Gesturing to bring power beyond words to her statement, she swung her arms about. Your majesty, will you not tell me what has happened?
It is what has yet to happen, Utmirka. Virlish does not simply love you as a ruler would. You have seen her be born, you have taught her many things when she was a child and you have protected her against the schemes of our enemies. All of this has made her think of you not as one that protects our lands but one she desires. If it were only Virlish that feels this way I would give the throne to Garshia instead but she too feels as Virlish does. Your allure has captured their gaze and hearts whole and I cannot have my lineage perish because they would pursue an empty dream.
I can deny them!
It would break their heart in half should that happen.
Will my banishment not cause that too then?
You are banished. And still I must selfishly ask of you to lie to my daughters. To tell them that you will be journeying to find a replacement. They are still young and they will forget. But if you were to remain they would not ever let go.
Her heart filled with bitterness, with sadness and anger. How could this be her fate after all she had done? How could the merely naive love of two girls put her in a situation out of which there was no escape? But even so, she knew that the king had not made this decision lightly. And much as she knew, he knew that she knew. His hands again covered his face, the large body lightly rocking as it became overcome with emotion.
My life will soon end, Cure Dawn. I can feel the gods of death approach me from afar, eyeing me for their harvest of souls. This foolish old man has spent many a night tormented by what I must do but finally I can postpone it no more.
All her life she had served the kingdom. At a young age she had drifted into this land and while the welcome had not been warm, she faced no prejudice. At then the Midnight Magicians came, trying to douse the lands in eternal darkness. It was then that she came. She made her into Cure Dawn, saying that it was her calling. Even now, she knew that her power paled in comparison to her. That she could easily have destroyed the Midnight Magicians in a matter of hours. As far as she was concerned, she was a goddess that had descended to this world to give her but a tiny fraction of her power so she might protect these lands.
And now that servitude was at an end because of something so small, so insignificant. But even with this, even with this twist of fate, she would still hold true to her belief that she was given power for a reason. That it was the goodness of her heart that gave her the courage needed to leap into battle and wield her magic.
And so she left, unbeknownst to anyone. The throne room perished, replaced by quickly fading and merging changes of season. She could feel things grow in her heart as the years flew by. Dissent. Hatred. Loneliness. It was the end of her life, she was an old woman now who scarcely wielded her power at all. She was all alone, crushed by the power she had been given and crushed by the demise of the lands she had protected. For she could not protect it without showing herself to those who would no doubt seek her out again.
A tiny shack was her home, a bed of hay in one corner, a small table with candles in another. She cursed the king. She cursed the princesses. And most of all she cursed herself for not demanding the princesses simply be forced to continue the bloodline. Why did she have to suffer so?
Her door opened and she looked up in surprise. In twenty years she had not seen another soul, living in secrecy all by herself. Her eyes widened further and further, her mouth opened and her throat letting confused gasps escape. She was there, looking exactly the same as all those years ago. She would never forget. The intensity that woman radiated just by being there. You!
I have come to get you, Cure Dawn.
She woke with a gasp, her breathing ragged. Taking the side of her hand to her mouth, she bit herself, to make certain that she was still herself and not another. This was just one of many, many dreams that the other shared with her, that she took into herself to alleviate the other's burden. All her life she had known nothing other than this; the dark room without any light, the water in the corner, the mushrooms in a different one – and she herself and the other.
She, unable to leave this closed space, the other, chained in the center of this place, bloodied and suffering. They had no names. She was simply I and the other was just that, The other. While she was sure that the other understood words, the other had never spoken to her. A thousand times she had tried to communicate, but the more she tried, the worse the visions got. Visions of girls wielding powerful magic called 'Cures' were all that she managed to get out of the other. So many she had seen.
So this is how the tale of Cure Dawn ended. Betrayed by the emotions of those girls, cast out after everything she did. I saw her beginning, I saw the crushing loneliness of the time after she was cast out such a long time ago… but now I understand, why she never let her hatred consume her, why she remained there in exile for so long. To the end of her days she was loyal to the people that she once protected. Her powers seem so similar to Cure Daybreak…
The chains rattled in the dark and she felt her stomach call for attention. Whenever she woke there was enough water and mushrooms for her to sustain herself. Even now she didn't know if the other even needed water and nourishment. She had no idea how long she had been here. It felt like she had seen tens of thousands of dreams. And beyond how long she had been here… how long had the other been here?
Plucking some of the gooey feeling mushrooms from the ground – she herself did not know how she knew what a 'mushrooms' or 'water' was other than from the visions – she fed herself and then fed the other until they were sated. Further away from the other was a small spot that was hers. The ground was less rugged, less hostile there. A small spot for her to sleep without visions. But it was not yet time. She didn't know why, but she felt a strong urge to ease the other's suffering. Here too she could not explain why she knew what she knew; why the sharing of the visions eased the other's suffering.
Throughout all of her visions there was one thing that came up again and again. A single woman that appeared, wielding overwhelming power, sometimes bestowing magic powers to a girl, sometimes appearing only at the end of their life. She was always there, saying I have come to get you, and no vision ever showed what happened beyond that. Even though she knew of her existence, she could not remember what she looked like. Only the great power that radiated off of her was clear in her mind. That and one other thing.
That this woman, too, was one of the 'Cures' and one of unknowable power at that. But she, herself, she knew something, somehow. Deep within, deep at the source of her thoughts, there was a small thing, like a pebble on the floor. E. It was but one letter that was there but that one letter was, to her, unmistakably the identity of the powerful her that kept appearing in many of the visions the other gave to her.
Sitting back to back with the other again, she closed her eyes once more.
The scene before her was a grand desert, and she flew high through the air with enormous speed. A massive creature was looming within the sky, greater than anything she could possibly put into words. And it howled at her, howled her name. Cure Flower!
=== DISSONANCE ===
"Like… hell… am I gonna… die here..." Her hands were covered in frostbite and so was much of her body. Her senses were barely functioning, but still she kept herself conscious with her powerful drive to reject this fate that was forced upon her. Clawing her way back into the house, she got out of the snow. Flipping over on the floor, she kicked the door and kicked a piece of wood after, causing the door to become lodged shut tight.
Something had gone extremely wrong. Snow was piling up like crazy outside and turbulent winds were blowing them everywhere; it was a brutal blizzard that was freezing the land. Someone was messing things up in a big way. Way bigger than any of them could. My head's a fucking mess… I need to warm up.
Fighting to get on her feet, she made it into the room to her left, where everyone else slept. Falling on top of the bed the second she stood still, the girl beneath her gasped in surprise. "Miyuki? What the hell?" The girl by her side groaned as well, that being Nao.
"Gimme… some heat." Miyuki's entire body was lightly convulsing, barely able to function with the intense cold biting into her.
"Oh shit, you're ice cold. Nao, gimme some space." Hurrying out of bed and putting the covers around Miyuki, Rin thought her heart would stop when she felt how cold it was in the hut. "Hell, it's freezing! What the hell is going on?!" Rubbing her hands together, Rin fired up her powers and forced back the creeping death from outside.
"Something huge… is messing with the world. Our world." Miyuki was shivering head to toe now, grabbing Rin's hand and pulling her under the covers. "D-Don't worry Nao… I'm just..."
Nao's mind was completely elsewhere. Waking up the others one after another, starting with Akane and ending with Reika, Nao got all of them to surround Rin's bed, where Akane was holding up a small fireball that gave out additional heat.
Tsubomi and Itsuki left through the door and before a minute had come and gone they returned, snow covering their hair and backs, shaking, teeth chattering and covering themselves. "It's all blizzard out there… I got no idea how far below zero this is, but a lot." Tsubomi was not a fan of deadly cold.
The thirteen of them close together, Akane and Rin acting as their lifeline against the massive cold, beds were pushed together, covers and blankets were shared and Komachi filtered out what cold she could with a barrier. And still it was just getting colder.
"This isn't normal." Reika was unsurprisingly less affected than the others but still clinging tight to Yuri.
"No shit." Miyuki felt her body come back to life, bit bit. "We need to do something about this."
"Could this be an attack from the other side?"
"If it was, Nozomi would be here and warning me." Miyuki corrected herself. "Us. I have no idea what's going on, but weren't there weird things happening yesterday? It feels like I'm forgetting something..."
Blinking just once, Miyuki found herself all alone in absolute darkness. Not an oppressive, violent darkness that stripped away her senses – no, this was not 'absolute darkness' at all. This was 'the total absence of light'. And one that passed at alarming speed, at that. Far in the distance a light flared up and expanded, consuming the nothingness around it. And it rushed past her like not even the fastest flurry of blasts could.
As quickly as she had been put into the darkness like nothing, just as quickly she was ripped out of it, surrounded then by hulking beings made of muscle, beards and heavy iron. Stomping around her like she was not even there, ever busy, loud and forceful.
Pale grass was beneath her feet, piles of snow littering the landscape as far as she could see – close by the ocean, blowing cold and salty in her face. White furred four legged things growled in the distance; sheep of some kind, herded by women that surely would have towered over her with ease.
Noise. Horns blaring. Men eagerly watching all a single spot in the distance, past a small hill. She too, turned without her will, as if someone was puppeteering her every action. A woman clad in what she immediately recognized as a Cure outfit appeared – skyblue and white, the woman at least in her late twenties. Extraordinarily long silver blond hair, piercing blue eyes, a body so toned that even Itsuki would have died of envy. She wielded a massive spear that reached twice as high as her own considerable height.
The men knelt, and so did she, their left fist held floating in front of their faces, obfuscating their own view on purpose. "Morningstar!" They proclaimed as one, and so did she.
Like scenery flying past in a hurried dash, everything disappeared, everything was ripped away, replaced quickly by another place. A battlefield. She felt blood on her face, injury all over her body. Piles and piles of corpses were littering the war torn hills all around her. And she felt jubilant, euphoric. Somehow she knew; they had won.
She turned, facing once again the woman that she had proclaimed 'Morningstar'. Is she Cure Morningstar then? The woman was covered in blood from her clothes to the last strand of her hair, standing atop a pile of men, dozens of them forming a monument of soon to be rotting flesh. Her spear held high over her head, and euphoric roars soon echoed from all around her.
And again the scenery switched past – but this time it was different from before. The darkness lasted a long time and when it finally parted, it revealed a huge red light; a fire. For a moment she thought her frozen body had merely experience too much damage and she hallucinated. But no. The damage she thought she sustained was nothing.
She was tied up. Bound tightly. And her skin, her hair, her everything was burning. She screamed in agony as the mind rending flames consumed and scorched her flesh. And she was not the only one screaming. From the corner of her eye, she could see – The woman, Morningstar. And her face was distorted in so much hatred that Miyuki felt a horrifying cold deep beneath the pain on the surface she was made to feel.
"I curse you, people of Jomgarstadt! I curse your blood and I curse your fate! My power will live on, even without Dawnstar! And when it does, so will my hatred! I shall rend your flesh from your bones! I will smash your souls into untold pieces! I shall grind your bones until you are trapped forever as haunts in this cursed, scorched earth!" She spew the words with such deep-seated hatred that Miyuki couldn't help but feel that same hatred swell up inside her as well. And it was all-consuming.
As much as they screamed, those before them, the same men she had led to victory, were watching them burn alive without mercy. And Miyuki knew that she was there because she was her; she was Dawnstar, one that belonged to Morningstar. And it was because she too was a Cure that she was being burned to death.
Her consciousness was fading from pain, kept in place only by the intense emotions that were forced on her, when things dramatically changed. With faces of pure horror and despair, the men started to choke, to claw at their own throats, large black clots spawning all over their skin and rapidly taking the life from them.
Within a minute they were on the ground and unmoving, the fire relentlessly burning for nobody now. But someone new had come. Someone tall and someone whose powers felt like a tidal wave the size of a mountain, about to swallow them up. "I have come to get you, Cure Morning Star, Cure Dawn Star. Your suffering is now over."
The woman, she could no longer see clearly what she looked like other than her hair being incredibly vibrant and long, stepped past the men she had likely just murdered in cold blood. And she looked to the side, to watch that woman touch Morning Star's cheek, rendering her to dust in the wind in an instant.
Her throat burned, her voice barely came out. "Who… are you?" It was the words of Dawn Star, and yet she too, Miyuki too, wished to know who this mystery being was.
"I'm Cure E-"
Her eyes sprung open wide, facing the familiar ceiling of a hut she called come. Her body hurt like crazy and her muscles were wildly twitching. "S-She's back!" Yayoi sounded hysterical.
"You scared the shit out of us, Miyuki!" Rin was touching her all over, trying to equally distribute heat to her.
"I had… the wildest… no, that was definitely not a fucking dream." Miyuki looked at her fingers and they were still shaking, and not from the cold. "It was like a vision or something."
"A vision? Your heart had stopped, you probably saw the afterlife or something!" Yayoi was still somewhat hysterical but trying her best to calm down. Itsuki patting her head seemed to help decently.
"It was more like hell. But far too specific to be my hell." Miyuki warmed up a little more and then felt the cold creep back in, under the heat that Rin was dispersing. "It was..." The words wouldn't come out. "I was..." No matter how she tried to phrase it, she couldn't talk about it. "I can't..." She could not even tell them that she couldn't tell them. Something was blocking her.
And she saw it. There, in the darkest, furthest corner of their little room, like a ghost, something was barely there. A woman, features hidden, but she knew. That was E. The mystery woman that had nearly instantly slaughtered all those warriors, that had come for them and turned them to dust. And it shushed her.
"Miyuki!" Someone shook her.
"What?!"
"Finally… we thought you had another trip to hell but you were just spacing out it looks like."
"Spacing out?! There's a-" Miyuki turned back to the corner and saw nothing. Shit, am I losing it?
"What are you even talking about? There's only the ten of us here."
"I know." Miyuki looked through the group. It feels like something is missing though… "Anyone else make any trips to hell?"
"Everyone is pretty cold but that's it. You're the only one that was nearly frozen solid." Akane split a single large fireball into ten small ones, each of them hovering over one of the girl's heads. "We can't just sit here and try to wait this out. Without hunting we won't have anything to eat."
Komachi nodded her head. "I'd really help if we knew how to culture vegetables and stuff."
"Didn't… one of us know that?" Miyuki's feeling of dread increased.
"How would any of us know that?" The one closest to Miyuki shook her head. "But we got more important stuff to worry about, right?"
"Eternal's right." Miyuki agreed and then fell silent. Who the hell is Eternal? Turning to her side, she looked straight at Rin. And next to Rin was Yayoi and then… Itsuki. Right. Itsuki. What's going on? My head's all messed up.
"Resist her."
Miyuki turned to Rin again. "Resist who?"
"Huh? I didn't say anything." Shaking her head, Rin put her hand on Miyuki's forehead and applied more heat before retracting her hand.
Am I hearing things now? No… that was way too clear to be just in my head. And not just that, something is way, way wrong here… it's like someone is messing about with, I don't know, everything. Am I just going crazy from the cold? Did I take, what's it called, brain damage or something from being too long out in the blizzard? No, I'm definitely still myself… so… Dammit, why isn't Nozomi here?! This kinda stuff is what she's good at!
A brief, sharp pain in her head, a loud buzzing noise that drowned out even the howling winds outside, and then it was all gone. She was looking up at the ceiling. Had she fallen over? A bed cover was warming her up. In fact, it was too warm so she pushed it off. It wasn't cold.
Far from it. It was pleasantly warm. Someone groaned next to her, the exact type of groan one made when woken up too early. "Miyuki…. it's like six in the morning… lemme sleep in on my day off."
"Your what?"
"Today's my day off… did you stay up too long watching TV? You and your stupid marathons..."
Nozomi. Nozomi was there, by her side, wearing something she knew to be pajamas. Eyes tightly shut, arms neatly together and angled up in front, she fished for the bed cover with her legs and succeeded in tucking herself back in. But Miyuki?
She was on her feet now. "They're not stupid. It's a special way to experience a show, without spending a full week between episodes. That's what we have Neetflix for."
"You do know it's called neet-flix because normal, working people usually-"
"I still do my job! That's how I use my days off!"
"And I wanna sleep in on mine, so lemme..." Pulling the cover over her head, Nozomi vanished beneath it and light snoring followed almost immediately.
Sighing, Miyuki walked out of the room, straight past the bathroom where two toothbrushes called the same glass home, and right into the living room where she put on the TV and switches to a news channel before returning to the bathroom.
Brushing her teeth rather sloppily, she came back to the living room and skimmed over the news taglines. Oh. 'Sex trafficking ring leaders found dead flash frozen by mystery incident'. Reika still as merciless as ever. Letting the news run in the background, she sat down, toothbrush still in mouth but no longer moving and tapped a small device – and a tablet sprung to life, showing a news article. Oh, this is about Honoka. I'll tell Nono later. Getting a sour taste in her throat, Miyuki went back to the bathroom.
Looking into the mirror, she turned her head left and right and checked if that one super annoying and obstinate pimple had come back. Dead. I win. Take that, expensive skin care products, Miki wins again.
Returning to the living room in nothing but pajamas still, Miyuki fell flat on the couch, grabbed the tablet with her toes like a slob and then performed an almost acrobatic level act of flexibility to get the table to her hands without really moving. Her job was quite literally hinging on always staying nimble after all, so even at home she got practice in at every chance she got. Flicking through some of her open tabs, Miyuki froze at one particular one.
It was a completely black screen that had just one word written on it in big white letters.
RESIST.
"What the…" Flicking it off the screen and deleting it, the next screen was exactly the same. "Did I get a virus?"
Flicking it away again and then a third time and a fourth time, she started to get worried and sat up. "No way, seriously? A virus?" Flicking the tab away again, this time it read something else.
RESIST E.
"Resiste? Is this french?"
Putting the tablet down, Miyuki turned to the TV and felt her skin freeze. It was completely black, flickering in and out of tune, showing the same thing as the tablet now.
RESIST E.
Freaked out, Miyuki jumped up, tried to change the channel but every channel was the same. Dropping the remote, she turned around and stepped back, her breath taken away. All the pictures, all the posters, everything that was an image of some kind, it had all become the same thing. "Nozomi!" Screaming, she hurried into the bedroom – and fell. There was no bedroom, there was no Nozomi, there was only a black void she was falling into, the other room rapidly disappearing into the distance.
She hit a surface – water. She couldn't tell where up and down was. It was pitch black. She couldn't breathe. It was icy cold. And something was in her ears. Some kind of low booming sound, like the sound of a wall during an approaching earthquake. Nozomi, help!
And something grabbed her by her arm, pulled her up. Gazing intensely at whoever pulled her up, Miyuki didn't recognize her because there was nothing to recognize – it was a living, black silhouette, solid and with female form, but otherwise completely devoid of feature. "Who-"
You have to wake up. This is her world. I cannot save you on my own. You need to wake up. It wasn't a voice that said this but rather a thought that popped into her head, like it was planted there with force. Without you, they will all die. Wake them and take them to the sanctuary. Find her. Find her!
But Miyuki was still consumed with something else. "Who are you?"
I'm what's left.
Again Miyuki's eyes flew wide open, but this time it wasn't because of an electric shock. It was because of pain and nausea. Surrounded by her passed out companions, she nearly threw herself off the bed to empty out what little was in her stomach. Blood and something pitch black was mixed in with the vomit and it would have scared Miyuki like crazy if she hadn't already been.
Something… something horrifying is trying to kill us. She felt every hair on her body rise up in horror as something, something, materialized, like a shadow fizzling in and out, growing stronger with every blink of the eye. At first it was just a distorted humanoid shape but then it quickly stabilized, getting clearer and clearer. Miyuki felt powerless. How was she supposed to fight something like this?
The way the shadow moved was the most unnatural thing Miyuki had ever seen. It was like stop motion, every blink of her eyes it had suddenly come closer, had changed posture, had become more clear. Golden spheres were glowing in it's skull, horribly starring at Miyuki.
Standing just a little of arm's length away from the bed, the shadow raised its arms, reading to plunge on top of the frozen stiff Miyuki. No amount of hardship in her previous life could have offset the sheer terror that was gripping her, emanating off of that thing and filling her directly, rendering her incapacitated against her will.
And things got worse. A second shadow appeared, fizzling in and out. The first turned to the second and within just a few blinks, they were fighting, tearing into each other in stop motion, making Miyuki's blood freeze in her veins. The second shadow opened up its head wide, some kind of purple abyss laying beneath. And again, familiar words popped into Miyuki's head.
Resist E.
It was those words that finally let her act. She didn't know why or how, but she understood intuitively how to break the others free. She had been trapped in a happy world, a happy dream. And if there was one thing she excelled at, it was bad ends. "[Wake The Nightmare]!" Hammering her power into Rin's head, the girl started to scream, started to move, started to gap, started to return to reality in suffering and agony.
One shadow tore the other shadow apart, the second fizzling out of existence and the first turned back to Miyuki, leaping towards her, still moving in stop motion through the air. But Miyuki was not powerless anymore. Focusing her powers just vaguely in front of her, she gave it everything she could. She had never tried harder for anything in her life than to blast that shadow with the greatest bad end to ever exist.
But there was no effect at all. Instead, Miyuki watched the second shadow appear again, wielding some kind of long objects, like a staff, slamming it into the first shadow's side, the two of them resuming their battle.
Leaping on the others and blast them with nightmares to rip them from their happy worlds, Miyuki felt disgust deep inside. To save them she had to become what she had left behind and it felt terrible. But it also gave her hope – to know that going back to who she had been once gave her this much emotional pain told her that she had changed.
Miyuki had no time to explain and just shouted at the others as they woke up; "Run!"
=== DISSONANCE ===
Something was off. Not off. Weird? No. Uneven? Unequal? Slanted? Misaligned? Why did the word escape her?
"Guard!" She shouted, rattling the bars that kept her confined to her tiny cell, the anti-magic cuffs on her wrists as itchy and painful as ever. "There is something wrong. Something..."
There was no answer. There never was an answer. But something was wrong. Something was… incomplete? Unfulfilled? Empty? Absent?
Missing. Something was missing.
But what?
Sitting down on the old and worn bed that was just a board of wood now, she looked at the wall that was covered in scratches. Her clothes had long since rotted away. She ran out of space after two-hundred years. How long ago had that been?
She didn't know what the outside world was like anymore. She hadn't seen the sky since then. She hadn't eaten or had water in that long. She was in this hole, all alone, forgotten and locked away for eternity. That was their gratitude for her.
Why had she saved them again? Because they deserved to? Because she was one of them? But she really wasn't, was she? She was not one of them. It was a coincidence that her magic had made her immortal. That no matter what, she could never die. The others, they were all long dead. She had watched them die. That was it. The others.
The others were missing. Where were they now? Was… was… that one… was that one still… the thing she did…. And the other one that she liked, was she still well? What about the kind one… was she still helping people?
"I wanna see them soon." Swaying side to side, she smiled to herself, her entire body covered in dried blood. Tilting her head left and right as well, she smiled wider and then stopped. With no warning, with no sign, she leaped up and flew into a fury the likes of which any normal human would never see anywhere. Animistic, horrendous screaming like that of a wild beast as she repeatedly smashing her arms and head into the bars that had not ceased for thousands and thousands of such attempts. Blood splattered through the air and wounds healed immediately. For hours she continued, bashing herself against the bars, screaming incessantly and without pause or ability to lose her voice. Nothing she did could ever harm her – even with the magic binding cuffs, she would never die. One day, a thousand eternities in the future, she'd float through the empty void of space after the planet was incinerated by the sun expanding and exploding, and she would still remain unable to die.
And then the bars broke. She crashed into the broke bars, impaling herself in six spots and spat blood and bile in agony. But the bars broke. Struggling up, the bars tearing up her insides, she managed to get free, managed to climb over and only tears off a single leg. Crawling forward over the ground, down a seemingly endless hallway of dust and darkness while her leg regenerated, she reached a door.
It was rusted beyond all measure and fell out of the hinges after just throwing herself at it twice. Beyond laid stairs, covered in bones that were so easily crushed under her feet. And beyond the stairs were more hallways.
She had been thrown into a hole so deep that it took her three days to finally reach the last door – rotted by dust just like all the others. And smashing it, dust, ash and dim light assailed her. Her skin burned, her lungs burned and her eyes burned. And before her was a wasteland of collapsed buildings and iron chaos.
There was nothing left. The skies were blotted out by eternally heavy brown and black clouds, the atmosphere was incredibly toxic and every breath was pure agony. No matter where she went she would not find any sign of life. No plants, no animals and no humans.
But she did find out what had happened after only ten short years of being on the surface. Sealed away in an iron box inside a ruined building filled with dust and more dust, she found a record. The fourth of September in 2022. Fearing the potential danger of magic wielding individuals, the government declared all of their human rights revoked. War broke out and although humanity won, they paid too high a price. Their fear, bias and hatred towards the 'Magical Girl Menace' had destroyed the planet's ecosystem and much of the human population. Hundreds and hundreds of millions laid dead.
And she knew. Deep down, inside of her, she knew. That humans were evil. And rage consumed her like never before. That because of humans, all that she loved was dead. And that because of them, she would spend the rest of eternity in hell.
She screamed. She screamed and screamed and tears of pain and horror ran down her cheeks. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. All she could feel was rage and horror.
And only when she embraced her did those feelings go away. Only when she heard the words did the suffering finally end. Only then did she finally perish. I have come to get you.
A voice cut through the darkness. And she returned from hell to from whence she had come.
"Mana!"
She couldn't look at Rikka or anything. Her head lowered, her eyes twitched, her heart beating unnaturally quietly, she felt that this hadn't just been a dream. That was… what could have been. So even if we hid who we are… who we really are… the world would still have ended. And I would have been all alone, insane and immortal in solitude.
"Mana!" Rikka shouted now and finally Mana snapped out of it.
"W-What?"
"You were screaming like you were dying! You nearly scared me to death!" Rikka's face was ashen, the likes of which Mana had never seen before.
"I'm sorry, I just… I had a bad dream." Weird… until just a moment ago I'm sure I could remember what it was… I just have this weird feeling now that it was important. Really important.
"A bad dream? What kind of dream would make you scream like that?!"
"I don't know. I was sure I remembered it all but then it was just suddenly gone."
"I'll look you over tomorrow, Mana. No buts."
"I'm sorry for scaring you."
"We're finally in a good place and this happens… I'm worried about you, a lot. And the others."
"You think we might all be… going crazy?"
"Not crazy, but our entire life in our world past a certain point was traumatic. Now that we're out… it might manifest itself in weird and maybe even dangerous ways. I'll need to talk to someone that at least understands basic medicinal procedures on the other side to make sure someone has an eye out."
It was a feeling, one deep down, in the furthest reaches of her mind. Something inside of her remembered even when she could not. Something that was part of her but also much, much older than she was. Something intangible like a soul, but different.
"Say, Rikk-" Mama froze. Rikka was gone. And it wasn't just here who was gone. The bed, the ceiling, all the furniture, the moon's light shining dimly through the mostly curtained window – it was all gone. No. No, no, no, no, not this again. Touching her neck to check for claw marks, she couldn't feel anything. Her neck was there, she knew this for a fact, but neither her hand nor her neck could feel each other.
"Cure Heart." A voice reached her in the darkness, one that she'd never heard before. A female voice, one that was both deep and calm. One that would fit an aged scientist or painter, she felt. But at the same time, it scared her. This voice. It wasn't just a voice, she knew that.
The fear rippled through her body with all of the force of a swollen lake breaking through a dam. This was not some irrational fear that froze her blood, made her break out in cold sweat and made her body shake. Somewhere on a deep, unconscious level, she knew what this voice meant for her.
This was the voice of death. It made no sense. It was just a female voice she heard in a delusion, an illusion, a bad dream, a nightmare. No matter how much she wanted rational thought to surpass her instinct, it was pointless. Seconds, minutes, hours, it all seemed to stretch into infinity and nothing simultaneously as she was there, in the darkness, so scared that the shivers cruising over her skin were so all-encompassing that she had not a single moment of relief from it ever.
She couldn't ask who it was. She didn't know and yet she did know. A hand touched her shoulder. No. No, no, no. I haven't died yet. It's not my time yet! You're wrong, you're wrong! I'm still alive! I still have a life to live with Rikka and Regina! They need me! I need them!
The hand was warm, calming, friendly. And it only further terrified her. This was not some evil monster trying to take her away. This was what awaited her at the end of her life. There was no explanation she could fathom how she knew this, but she did know. A fundamental truth that laid at the core of her being.
"I have come to get you. Your suffering is now..." The hand clasped down on her shoulder with so much force that Mana thought her bones would be pulverized. The pain was different from just physical injury. It was like her very being was being crushed.
Something was wrong. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. No, it was wrong. She wasn't supposed to be here. No, that was wrong. She should be released from her pain. No, that was wrong, she still had time!
"Resist." The word drilled itself into her mind like an invasive parasite. It consumed her mind, ate through the fear, overrode her petrification. And this allowed her to move, little by little, like she was made of wood, her bones and muscles cracking and tearing as she forced herself away from the hand on her shoulder.
And she turned.
Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. No tragedy, no horrendous calamity, could have shown her this. A hand. An arm. All of it attached to a single body, a woman, her skin paler than white beneath countless stains of red. Her face distorted in rage. But that was not what paralyzed Mana anew. The woman was not just a woman. From her hip, her lower body, countless other bodies extended. A myriad of faces, of bodies, of arms, all covered in red and darkness, reaching for her, now crying out all at once in a wail of a thousand banshee screaming in dissonance.
And the voice was no longer sweet and reassuring. It was a horror given form in the way of a screeching, hate filled, monstrous sound that threatened to rip apart her mind and ear drums together. The mass felt far greater than what she could see, hundreds and hundreds of bodies all merged together into one indistinguishable abomination with red stained mouths and black eyes, blindly, ragingly, reaching for her.
"A farce, a trick." A voice right by her right ear spoke to her, no form to speak them. "Now, hurry. Resist. Resist E-" Mana left the voice behind, forcing her legs to carry her, forcing her arms to move, crawling forward, then stumbling, walking and running. Her lungs were on fire as she heard the abomination roar in the darkness and a thunderous explosion slammed the darkness, rolling closer and closer with every step, the screeching following right behind.
They all screamed her name in complete chaos. She had been in life or death situations so many times. She had been thrown into a different dimension. She had seen her own world come to an end. She had witnessed the depths of human depravity. But it all paled to this. That wasn't evil. That was pure and unmitigated darkness and chaos.
Whatever had served as the ground to run on gave way beneath her and she dropped below – falling and falling, icy cold winds surrounding her and finally she hit another surface; one that swallowed her up. Submerged in darkness, she could see a shining bright light far above her, one in the shape of a woman. And this time she knew for sure, this was the one that the chaos had pretended to be.
"Resist her. Resist E."
A blinding light, a massive explosion that vanquished the darkness encapsulated her, letting her rise to the surface, keeping herself afloat. And above her, now, she saw the stars. All around her was water.
Her heart was racing. Is this real? Am I really here? Am I losing it? Am I going to wake up in my bed?
But no answers presented themselves immediately after. Swimming towards the coast, Mana felt drained. Much more so than after a lengthy battle, an argument with one of her girls or seeing an entire town being swallowed by Curse. This was different. Something chipped at her very being and tried to eat her up. Something… I can't even begin to imagine what the hell that was. Some kind of… I can't even find words to describe it. All those girls, fused together… were they all eaten? Were they all real at some point? Reaching the beach proper, Mana fell into the sand and couldn't move. And what was that? Her? Who am I supposed to resist? The chaos? That's something… a her? I can't imagine that was human at some point. No, it just said 'her', not that it was human… but I can't shake the thought. That they were all human once, just like me… wait… were? I am still human. I might be a magical girl… but that doesn't make me not human, right?
Lying in the sand, Mana felt her body refuse to heal up. I can tell I still have magic, but it's not working. I can't transform. I can't heal myself. I can't… I can't move at all. Paralyzed in the sand, Mana managed to turn her head and she saw it.
It.
There, between the palms in the distance, the slithering chaos, ever hungry, staring at her from afar, like lurking predators locking onto their prey. And she still couldn't move.
=== DISSONANCE ===
"What… what the hell was that?!" Itsuki managed to get out a question before bending over and throwing up from running too hard while carrying two people. Her body couldn't handle that kind of strain.
"I don't know! How the hell am I supposed to know?" Miyuki nearly screamed her head off, having lost every last shred of composure. "Something… I don't know! It was crazy! It trapped me in this happy dream world but… something else broke me out. I can't remember."
"So we got at least two weird things out there. Neither of which we know what it is doing." Nao was slumped against a tree – most of the others flat on the ground, leaned on trees or sitting down. All thirteen of them were run completely ragged.
"Least they weren't friendly to each other. So if one of them is against us, the other isn't." Akane neatly summed it up. "But what are we gonna do? We lost our place to live."
"I know where we're going." Miyuki wasn't sure how to explain this to the others. "The one that woke me up… I'm pretty sure that is the good one. And we're going to the sanctuary."
"The what?" Akane, being one of the most rational girls among those living far out in the dark, took it upon her to figure out what was going on with Miyuki. "What sanctuary? Is that some place that you just happen to know about right now, right after two seriously unknown things hit our cabin?"
"No. I was there before. I know it. But I don't know if it was in a dream or not. Also I seriously got nothing else to go on other than that. The one that woke me up told me to come there so we're going! You got a better idea?!"
"Nope. But we had to at least know why we're going. You're still our leader so if you say so, we're going." Akane coughed twice and helped Miyuki stand. "Where is this place anyway?"
Miyuki bit her lip. "No idea."
"So how are we gonna find it then?" Nao was still on the ground, having carried Erika and Yayoi.
"Hey." That was Urara trying to get their attention.
"I don't know! I don't have all the answers! This is my first real crisis!" Miyuki felt overwhelmed. This was a job for one of the real team leaders. Those that could get everyone to follow, no matter how harebrained the idea. She was grateful to Akane but that didn't really let her come up with a plan.
"What do you remember of this sanctuary?" Akane was probing Miyuki's memory. I wish we had someone here that had actual access to people's minds. Nozomi's Utopia would probably work, but she isn't here. "I don't care if you get it wrong, we can work out the correct parts after."
"It's not a livable place, I know that much. We're going there to… I'm not sure. To get help, I think. To find someone."
"To find Nozomi?"
Miyuki looked at Akane with big eyes, her breath taken away. It was like things finally connected for her. Sense was finally restored to what was happening. Or so it should have been. For all the euphoria she felt, she couldn't source it. "Who's Nozomi?"
Akane looked surprised, shook her head lightly. "What are you talking about? Nozomi. Your girlfriend. That Nozomi. Cure… Cure…" Why can't I remember what her Cure name is? Nozomi… what did she look like again? Didn't I just think about her ability or something?
"Miyuki." It was Yuri, with Reika by her side. "We're taking a quick look around to make sure no abominations are stalking us. Morning fog is setting in so we'll be back in a hurry."
"Be careful." Miyuki looked at them leave between the trees. They're not just excusing themselves to have a quick fuck, are they? No way, right? Even Yuri wouldn't… she totally would. She always acts all prim and proper but we all know that she's a total animal in bed.
"Miyuki, focus."
"Yeah, yeah. It's not exactly easy to remember something I didn't even know that I knew. My head hurts just saying that!" Miyuki leaned back and looked upward. "I'm pretty sure it's underground. Real far underground. And… it's for us. Well, not for us us, but like… for Cures."
"Wouldn't it be bad if we went there, then?" Akane sat down next to Miyuki and provided a shoulder to lean on.
"Who knows. Not like we got anything else to go on."
"What kinda dream was it?" It had to have been a dream. She's been around us all day. Was she? I can barely remember what happened yesterday at all. It's like someone is messing with my head.
"A nightmare. The really bad kind. I don't recall details but I do remember one thing. E makes all of us look like playground bullies at best."
"E?"
"That's all I got. Just that one letter. E. Must be short for something."
"At the very least E's much stronger than any of us. We don't have the power to cover the entire area around our home in a blizzard. We're just lucky it hasn't reached here yet."
"Not so lucky." Itsuki came up next to them and pointed up; massive dark clouds were about to hail down white death on them without mercy. "We need to move, even if it hurts."
Miyuki just nodded and got on her feet – with help from Akane, who quickly generate a few levitating flames to not only light the way but also starve off the cold. "Time to move! Everyone stick close, we don't need anyone getting lost!"
Like a herd of sheep the group started to move, the thirteen of them moving quietly but as quickly as they could through the now rapidly increasing levels of snow on the ground. Miyuki was leading them but even she didn't know where exactly they were going. Marching through the cold was a new ordeal for all of them. A haphazard symphony of discord in the creaks of their steps, their shivering and white breath forcefully escaping from between their lips, they froze and they feared.
Something had driven them from their home and they were no closer to an explanation than when they woke. If anything, what Miyuki had said had only unsettled them more. And this, Miyuki knew. I should have kept my damn mouth shut. The hell is 'E'? Could be just about anything. Could not even be a person or a living thing and just an organization or some kind of, I don't know, dark force. And to make everything even worse, my memory is full of holes. I can barely remember a thing from the last few days or today. Something really shitty is going on and we don't have an actual qualified leader.
Minutes. Hours. Time was blending together. Their steps stopped being heard and became part of the environmental noise. Trees ached under the white burden, teeth chattered and the group moved ever closed together. Not even Rin's and Akane's combined power could starve off the cold entirely. It was far below freezing. A section of bushes they walked past broke apart, frozen solid. Their skin hurt, blistering red from the cold, their eyes suffering from the snow's white reflecting what little light Akane's flames would produce for them.
I'm cold. I want to go home. I'm scared. Why is this happening? Where are we going? Can we… fight that thing? Are we going to make it out okay? Are the originals coming to kill us? What if this is the end for us? Their thoughts were caught in a spiral of negativity with no escape. The forest seemed to go on forever, the trees reaching high into the sky, white towers now.
They stopped. Not because they had reached their destination or someone had fallen. They heard it. They heard something. A deep, growling sound coming from between the trees to all sides, like packs of starves wolves. But there was nothing. No matter how much they peered into the dark, no matter how tightly they formed a circle, they could not see anything and they could not put their worry to rest.
"Something-" Komachi felt her words refuse to come out.
"Is out there. We know." Akane looked to her left and right, then straight ahead. With this much snow there is no way I can start a fire. Not to mention, even if I could, there is nothing to stop a forest fire, if I start one. For now we- Akane's thoughts froze. A shadow. Something had ran out from behind one tree and then hid behind another. It had happened. She was sure of it. I saw it. Someone… someone tall? It could have been an animal, though… no, it was definitely moving on two legs. But… that thing inside the hut, that didn't really 'walk', did it?
The entire group took a collective breath when an eerie laughter echoed from away, like it was coming from inside somehow and reaching them there, on the outside. But there was no building anywhere close to there. And it didn't stop. Laughter after laughter, giggle after giggle.
"H-Hey..." Komachi was pointing in the distance, the way they had come. "What… is that?"
Everyone turned to look at what was unsettling her and at first they could not see anything. It was only when they blinked that they realized they had not be not seeing it. What they did see was merely so odd, so unnatural, that they didn't realize they were looking at it. A silhouette. Many silhouettes. Nearly see-through but very clearly there for they left footprints in the snow. Unmoving, staring, of faint black, they stood there, crouched, ran, walked, climbed a tree – all frozen in motion. And then they changed. They moved forward, all at once, with each drawn breath. Like in stop motion they came closer, they pursued them, skipping huge parts of how any living thing would have to move to… move.
"Run!" It was the second time in hours now now that Miyuki shouted this at her comrades and friends and this time too, without hesitation, they obeyed her command, running away from the silhouettes that were so devoid of detail that it was difficult to even recognize them as human.
No matter how far they ran, no matter how ragged their breath became, the eerie giggle never ceased, coming from all sides and yet always like it was from within some other place. Some huge, empty place.
Without warning, Miyuki stopped atop a mound, a small hill, looking blankly straight ahead, and then down. "This is it."
"There's nothing here!" Yuri was the first to point this out and was promptly shoved out of the way by Akane, who dragged Komachi with her.
"Below!" Akane pushed Komachi with such force that she nearly fell – this was no time to be considerate after all.
"They're coming!" Tsubomi shouted, a few meters further behind. The giggling was ringing in their ears now.
Gritting her teeth, hounded by what was hunting them, Komachi surpassed her limits in fright and desperation, cutting through the ground with a huge barrier, lifting up the entire mound, tons and tons of dirt, roots and plants. Simply moving the barrier up, shifting the angle, she unloaded the forest foundation just away from the mound.
And there it was. A stone gate that was embedded right into the ground, having resisted Komachi's barrier without a scratch. A double winged gate made entirely out of some kind of stone that refused immediate identification. Akane jumped on it in a hurry, kneeling, trying to push it open, but it refused. Urara, Nao, Reika and Itsuki all joined together and still it refused.
Use the leader's privilege. The thought boomed in Miyuki's head and she knew better than to bother with long winded questions on the how and why and what. There were abominations hunting them and she was freezing to death out there. "Move off it!" Shouting at the others, Miyuki stood on it alone and with an ancient creaking, the stone doors opened up; dropping her straight into the darkness below.
"How come-" Akane cut herself off. "Go! Everyone go!"
Jumping into the darkness after Miyuki one after another, Tsubomi and Akane were the last two to turn and head that way. And they saw; they saw the absolute nightmare that was hurling towards them up here. From between the trees, from all sides, the silhouettes came closer, still moving in stop motion, seemingly teleporting from place to place, completely frozen in place. The idea of attacking them didn't even occur to them. Their mere presence was frightening, never mind getting into a battle with something like this.
Jumping into the dark, Tsubomi as the last one, the doors slammed shut behind them, leaving them all in complete and utter darkness. And there was silence. There was solitude. For there was no one on the other side of that door when it slammed shut.
=== DISSONANCE ===
"Who… are you?"
I am [E ] and I am all that stands between you and a cruel destiny. I am all that opposes [E ].
"E? That opposes E? I don't understand."
My name and that of hers have been stripped from history. Hers for being the cruel destiny. Mine for giving birth to her.
"I'm just getting more and more confused. Who are you?"
A Cure, like you. Like all of you. And so is she.
"What do you mean with 'a cruel destiny'?"
She is is the result of my failure to bring about… a solution to the cruel destiny.
She paused. Who or what exactly was talking to her, and how? She could not grasp her sense of self, her memories, or her whereabouts. It was like she was completely in the dark about everything. She was here and [E ] but what else? She was… herself. That was all she could grasp, all she knew. She was definitely alive and a Cure, but nothing beyond that would come to mind. Was it a dream? Was she asleep? Was she mentally connected to this E somehow? How was she even producing her voice? She could not feel anything – no limbs, no lips, nothing at all. "How are we talking?"
Your power made you one of few suitable to hear me. She escaped before I could and I remain chained and shackled. But even so, I am not powerless. I intervened in her machinations. There is still hope for all of you to avoid the cruel destiny.
"What is the cruel destiny?"
The ultimate perversion of my vision. She seeks to kill all humans so a world for only the pure remains – a world only for Cures, free of humans.
"That sounds like someone pretty evil for a pure world."
She seeks to execute this grand scheme even at the cost of her own existence. Such is her corrupt ideal.
"And what are we supposed to do about it?"
She wishes for all of you to be part of her new world. You and those of the past, you will be all of that which she will call civilization. It is tragedy that she would use her great power for the cruel destiny. And it is my fault that she is the cruel destiny now.
"That doesn't answer the question."
Resist her. Resist [E ] for that is all you can do. Do not fight her.
"Why not?"
She is more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
"Why thanks, Obi-Wan, but I think we will take our chances. We have some real heavy hitters." I think. I know. But how?
It will be futile but do as you must. Even I do not have the power to destroy her, nor does she have the power to destroy me. We have become too powerful.
"Other than 'resisting', what are we supposed to do?"
Nothing. To deny her defeats her very purpose. Her goal is for all of you to share her vision.
"Just so we're clear. What was your vision?"
Much like her I sought a world for only Cures. But not to the end of robbing humankind of their place. We would call a land our own and from there, all of Curekind, would protect humanity.
"How did you fail?"
The welcome of Cures among humanity has always been short lived throughout the many ages. The seventy-two I brought with me to our new lands were all murdered by humans that saw us not as protectors but as threat. And so [E ] would come to hate humans, that which she herself came from, and seek a solution where they could never kill another Cure again.
"People killing Cures?"
You have those among you that will know of this. That will know the true darkness of humanity. It was my failure to not protect them, to not make sure that albeit humanity might bear us ill will, they would not see us as a danger and kill us all.
"Seventy Cures all in one place does sound like something that could take on the world's biggest armies… I get why people would get antsy, but-"
Time runs short and she will no doubt arrive soon. Resist. Resist.
Pain and nausea were abundant when she woke up. Empty bottles were in front of her. Beer. Some other, harder beverages. For some reason there was an entire trash can full of empty pretzel bags. A horrible smell came from behind her. It smelled like stomach content spilled in a hurry. And that in the good company of her own nausea was enough to send her dry heaving.
Looking up again, someone looked back. "Drink." Someone else reached out and gave her a small bottle of water. Drinking water really didn't help the sports team of jackhammers that were rampaging around in her head.
Judging from the light coming in through the windows, it was early dawn. Too early. She could barely see across the room. That might also be due to the headache that was kicking her ass. "God… what happened?"
"Everyone had a little too much to drink." Mana was looking at her with a smile. "I'm lucky and I don't get hung over."
"Must be nice..." She groaned and rubbed her temples. "Need a shower..."
"You'll have to share with Nao. I stuffed her in there because she, uh, got something on her."
"I normally don't even drink much..."
"Ayumi got everyone a little too excited with her powers."
"Don't tell me-"
"Erika dared Ayumi to sync her with Urara… and Ayumi was a little tipsy so she synced both of them with the rest of us." Mana left her be and lifted someone else off the floor; it was Yuri, passed out cold.
"What a horrible experience that must've been… I can't remember a thing. I can barely remember who I am." She groaned in agony and wanted to lay back down but she was pretty sure she was gonna hit some kind of very undesirable puddle if she did that. Crawling – because her one and only attempt at standing up ended with a tsunami of nausea nearly causing a follow up tsunami of something else – she got to the couch by the fireplace. When did we even get this couch?
Going back to being unconscious, she left behind Mana, who was just putting down Yuri on the overly large bed. Not all of them had to get picked up the floor of course – Nagisa and Saki seemed perfectly fine using each other as cushions while Honoka and Saki were soundly KO'd by the wall not two meters away from their girlfriends.
I don't get hung over but something is still bothering me. I can barely remember the party, never mind the day leading up to that party, never mind the last few days. It's all… I can only imagine this is what Regina means when she complains about 'blacking out'. Is it because I got synced up with Erika? I can't really what happened with that either. Something isn't right. My memory isn't supposed to have holes like this, my powers protect me against that. Although… well, I never really had people linked to me and those people got drunk as heck. I never pegged her for someone that was drinking heavily, though. Goes to show that Erika is one hell of a drug.
Cleaning up the various still passed out cold Cures on the floor and filling the bed, the carpets and the recliners outside, Mana finally took a coffee break when someone properly came to and didn't feel like they've been run over by a circus staffed by wild monkeys. This someone was, to her own surprise, Ellen.
Strangely enough her head was only killing her a little bit and she found Mana outside by the recliners, sitting on the floor with a bottle of sparkling water. The much older Cure lightly raised her arm, offering the bottle that she held with just her fingers by the top to the younger girl. A brief, almost quiet hum, a smile and her looking at Ellen was all the communication the both of them needed.
Ellen felt nauseated, more so than ever before in her life, but she had heard from Setsuna – one of her two Yeon-in, her beloved – that hydrating was important when waking up with a headache after what was very likely a wild party. Wait… won't this count as an… indirect kiss?
As if she read Ellen's mind, Mana smirked. "I won't tell mine if you don't tell yours."
Blushing at the somewhat blatant flirtation, Ellen decided to not go scavenging for another water bottle and just hoped that Setsuna and Love would laugh it off. She knew for sure they would but her subconscious was still blaring at her with indecent language and so her otherwise know-for-a-fact thoughts were assaulted by subconscious doubt.
With Ellen out there, silent and taking minuscule sips of water as to not upset her stomach any more than it was already, someone inside woke up with fanfare. "Fuck." That could really only be one, maybe two, people, Ellen thought and it seemed Mana understood as well.
The sounds of someone dry heaving, then groaning, then "Fuck" again and finally dull, slow steps coming towards the balcony. And of course, it was Urara who was visibly in the foulest mood a human being could possibly be. "What… the hell happened?"
"You drink too much?" Mana offered helpfully and reached for another water bottle but Urara quickly raised her hand.
"I don't get hung over like this. Someone knock me out with a bottle or something? Ugh… what the fuck, my head is killing me." Dry heaving a single time, Ellen scooting to the side to avoid a potential something landing on her, Urara held on to the wall and looked like she had literally been put through a meat grinder. "This isn't just hung over… Hey. Mana."
Mana looked slightly put on the spot. She's not gonna ask me to heal her, is she? I wish I could, but my powers- "What?" Instead of engaging in pointless mental monologue, Mana just asked with a smile.
"Looking peachy. What happened last night?"
"I'm afraid I can remember little more than you." Scratching her cheek like she was an embarrassed teen, Mana got on her feet, leaving Ellen sitting by her lonesome. "I think Ayumi linked Erika to all of us and that seems to have consequence-" She was not even done putting her hypothesis out there when Urara roared for the tiny blue.
"E-ri-ka!" Screaming like a hellhound and nearly keeling over from her own scream, Urara stomped about and towards the center of the room, only to fall over someone's boots and land squarely on the floor – she just stopped moving after that and made no sound either.
"Shouldn't we..." Ellen started to ask a sensible question but then stopped. I don't want to hear anymore screaming.
Mana just nodded. She'll be up in no time. That being said, for everyone to have ended up like this, even Rikka… she normally doesn't really drink much. It seems a little much to attribute that just to Erika.
It's fine, isn't it? Erika's wild. Everyone became wild. So everyone became drunk.
Looking about, Mana felt a headache set in. Then again, Erika is pretty much chaotic power in Cure form. I guess not even us seasoned Cures are immune to her. And I do feel a craving for something fatty all of a sudden… Still I should probably ask Ayumi about this. It's her power, she'll know more.
Ellen fell back asleep with the bottle still in hand and Mana decided to go and take a walk. It would be a while until live returned to the team. Taking the elevator down – she was lucky to own the penthouse right now – Mana came by a soundly passed out Sasorina. It was a bit chilly in the lobby. Did… Sasorina join the party? Leaving through the front door, Mana felt a chill. Not because it was cold, but because she sensed danger. Not just any danger; Mana was, as Cure Heart, neigh immortal excluding very few specific means, and that made her a little numb to most forms of danger. But this was far more odd than anything she had felt.
Bloodlust! Adrenaline flooded her system. Where is it coming from? Looking about, Mana couldn't see anyone out this early. In fact, the stone plaza was completely abandoned to the point where morning fog felt comfortable setting in. Of course nobody is down here. Everyone is asleep upstairs. So who… one of the Arena women? But they shouldn't be able to make me feel threatened. The system prevents them from attacking us, I heard. So… who or what is this?
Switching to Heart, she slowly stepped forward, a combat stance ready and her eyes shifting from corner to corner rapidly. I'd like to have Makoto covering my back right now, but… if there's a threat, I need to at least figure out what it is.
Reaching the center of the plaza, Heart didn't just feel cold – she was cold. Her fingers were numb and there was white frost starting to cover her arms and legs. The air was crackling with the bizarre frost, assailing her from every direction all at once – like an invisible army of dread worming its way past all one's defenses effortlessly.
Shivering, Heart covered herself in her regenerative power like a mantle and managed to temporarily starve off the bitter frost. But resisting only fed into the cold's approach, feeding its hunger as it crawled up her legs all the way to her thighs. Even as powerful as she was, it became harder to move now. This is different from Diamond's halting of molecular vibration or Beauty's ice powers. This is almost… like it is ignoring cause and going straight to effect.
But she was not some amateur Cure. Internalizing her shielding power, she repelled the cold – and felt it lick and leech away at her skin, like innumerable tiny tongues and teeth, trying to devour her. Something is really wrong here.
Without warning, something flew out from the fog at the opposite end of the plaza when viewed from the hotel – a huge icicle. But that by itself would not have really been of note to Heart. She could evade, block, smash or just outright endure the attack with ease. No, what really caught her attention was the source of the crimson stain on it.
The spiked ballistic object was lodged through the stomach of Cure Echo, whose hair had come undone, who was missing one arm and was covered in blood head to toe. It took her only a fraction of a second to realize all of this and move to both stop the Cure and the object mid-flight. "Echo!" As much as she was neigh indestructible, the same could absolutely not be said about Echo, whose primary power was related to linking others.
There was no audible reply – but Echo's eyes moved, staring at her savior and her remaining arm reached out. It was pure instinct for Heart to take Echo's hand into her own – and this instinct resulted in a world of agony she had never known before. It was like her very life was being sucked out of her with thousands upon thousands of syringes, violently drawing out energy from her as fast and as hard as they could, with little to no regard for Heart's safety or health.
And even through this mind splitting agony, through the vision blurred red by suffering the likes of which were reserved for the worst people in hell, Heart let not go; would not even hesitate to hold on. She knew pain. It didn't matter if this pain was worse than any physical pain she had ever felt before. She would live. This could not kill her. She, and she alone, was the only one this could not kill.
As Heart suffered, Echo healed. This was one of her powers that she despised to use, everyone on her team knew this. The forceful taking of power, robbing someone of their magical energy and even life force. It was an ability so unbecoming of a Cure that she rarely if ever used it. Rin and Karen in particular chided her sometimes for it but there was no moving someone like her with that. She had her ideals and she would not compromise them. Komachi and Urara on the other hand always took her defense when it came to this.
But after coming to this place, to The Dissonance of Light and Dark, or just The Dissonance, she had used it far more frequently in the battles between Cures. But never to this extent. Any other Cure would likely fail to retain sane, much less alive, if she did this to them. But what choice did she have? She couldn't just die right there.
"Out there..." Echo managed to speak after the hole in her stomach had closed up – her missing arm was still building bone and nerve strings right then. "There are… enemies out there. Dark Cures, Evil Cures."
Evil Cures? I remember overhearing Beauty and Diamond talking about something like that. Shadowy monsters made from darkness that were perverted corruptions of the real Cures. But why would they be here? "Are you sure?"
"That ice… came from Beauty."
Reika was up in the penthouse, in a recliner in the pool room. "How many?"
"At least six. I saw Beauty, Lemonade, Rouge, Sunshine, Moonlight and March. If not for my ability to drain whoever I touch and March being there, I wouldn't have escaped."
Heart bore the pain like she was a hero of old, a legendary figure of myth that knew not defeat or surrender. "I will-"
"No!" Ayumi pulled herself up a little, pulling her savior down. "They were crazy powerful! What if there is an evil Sword or even… Eternal."
"Eternal?"
"Much like there's an evil Lemonade and Rouge, there was an evil Echo once. She called herself Eternal and she nearly killed me. You can tell, can't you? I am one of the few that could kill you."
As much as I hate to admit it, yes. The few that can attack the mind or my magic directly are dangerous. If there is an evil Echo or Sword, I will have no choice but to retreat. "We need to wake everyone else up and tell them. Can you stand?"
Her arm now almost fully regenerated, Echo eased up on her draining of Heart and the two of them stood together, briefly looking towards there where Echo had been flung from. Healing her arm completely, Echo freed Heart from her embrace of magical theft and composed herself. "We need to be careful."
Heart turned before Echo and did not see the expression on her face.
=== DISSONANCE ===
Blood. Fire. War cries. Drums. The stench of death. Horns from the distance. The earth that trembled beneath the hooves of hundreds of horses. The tainted horizon behind which the sun hid from atrocity. Flames flying through the air. And she was there, witnessing it all with the feeling of resolute dread burrowed deep into her chest.
She was going to die. There were too many of them. No matter how many she had killed, they just kept coming. These worms from a foreign land that sought to steal their wisdom and valuables. But even if she would die, she would end them. She would end the unending greed, war and destruction across the known world. This spell would kill her and such was good. Then that which she planned to unleash was beyond the comprehension of mankind. A spell so vile, so dangerous that not even the dark forces she had fought two decades ago would have dared touch it. A spell to scorch the earth, to wipe it all out and to reset humanity.
To bring death equally to all, be they man, woman, child or animal. Nothing would stop it. Nothing would cure it. The dead would mount until they were mountains. Nations would perish. Kingdoms would fall. Empires would cease.
"You don't have to do this." It was the one voice of reason that remained with her even now.
"I do, Panacea. Humanity has left the path of good and become corrupted by its vices. The only way to quench a fire that has burned out of control is to burn everything around it. I will become the evil that shall stop humanity destroying itself."
"Ambrosia…" The voice coughed, gagged, choking. She knew exactly what these sounds were. She was drowning in her own blood from a lung being pierced. Elixir had suffered the same fate.
Her love had long since perished; killed by a raging barbarian that was on death's door. A moment's hesitation had been the death of her. You will regret the day you decided to attack us, humans. You will wish that you had perished in this war. You will pay for murdering Ascelipa.
Turning about and facing the woman in blue that was unable to stand or even sit upright anymore, she knelt down and kissed the woman's bloodied cheek. "Hate me if you must, Panacea."
The woman called Panacea could only shake her head lightly, running eyes corner to corner before her life finally ended. And just the woman died, she, Ambrosia, felt the last bit of her humanity die as well. She had nothing left but hatred. Her queen's kingdom lay in ruins, its people dead, slaughtered, and she was all that remained between the barbarians and the castle's chambers proper. The final assault would hit her in a matter of minutes now. It was time.
Standing atop the castle walls, looking down at that which had been a water barrier once and was now a bloodied lake, she felt hatred swell up. There was no incantation, no magic words, not activator for this one last blow to the enemy. She just fell, plunging towards the bloody, watery grave.
A horrid fate.
A voice woke her up. She had been her, she had been Ambrosia, but now she saw from above, from atop the castle walls again, saw Ambrosia dive into the castle's lakeside defense, swallowed up by blood and countless soldiers from both sides.
For something as worthless as material greed and the desire to conquest, humans brought war to this land. Foolishly they took all they could and burned the rest. Like wild animals they drove themselves forward, leaving behind a trail of death. And four brave Cures found death not just untimely but also unjust.
She could not speak. She could not ask in the mind of this other. But she saw. From where Ambrosia had hit the crimson wet, a black fog emerged, bursting forth like hot steam from a boiling hot. And it rolled, thundered towards the approaching army, encompassing them.
And the effect was devastating. In hundreds the soldiers fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth, their skin covered in hideous purple bulbs that burst to reveal black ooze. Their fingers and nails turning black as the night. She didn't know what this was but she knew what it was.
This is the origin of the Black Death, a monstrous disease that will kill millions of people across the lands. It is a blight upon humanity, an eternal vengeance upon those that killed all she loved. Her very being became a hateful disease that sought to wipe out humans. Commendable, truly, but ill-fated. Her very being as Cure Ambrosia hindered her curse, hindered her disease from spreading across the world and bringing humanity to extinction. The goodness inside of her that she not knew was still there stopped the curse from being all-consuming. The love and grief over losing Cure Ascelipa was something she could not eradicate and cover with hatred.
The view changed as the unknown turned, walking towards the dead Cure Panacea. It was but a single touch and the injuries healed, but even so, she knew. Death awaited her. Her life was over. This was but a reprisal of fate short lived and brief.
"I have come for you."
=== DISSONANCE ===
She was there in the darkness, within an ocean of solitude, atop a mountain of loneliness, in the embrace of nothingness. If there was such a thing was a heart being physically crushed by negative feelings, this place would have sufficed to do just that.
Miyuki, Bad End Happy, was trapped. No matter how far she walked, no matter what she did, there was just nothingness in every direction. But she refused to let hopelessness grind her into invisible dust.
And there it was – something. A vague something. Less of a 'thing' and more of a 'maybe'. It could have been just her mind playing tricks on her after being in the pitch black dark for too long. But she believed in the 'maybe' - she had to, for herself.
A wavy, unstable mess of a white oval was there, in the distance. Hurrying towards it, she heard voices. Jubilant voices. Coming closer still, she saw something within the white – It was Tsubomi, floating, seemingly unconscious. It was like the white was a hovering oval of white water, keeping her perfectly unmoving.
Hurrying more now, Miyuki was blinded by a white flash – one that did not come from the oval something. She looked down at a woman with bandages all over her body, a bright but weak smile on her face. She was holding tightly onto the right hand of another woman. And this woman she recognized – not as a 'who' but as a 'what'. That woman was a Cure, dressed in drab and simple white, very unlikely all of the Cures she knew, but the aura that came off of her was impossible to mistake.
That is she who inherited Cure Ambrosia's power and name. Many Cures are born throughout the world's many ages, and often, a powers is inherited instead of a new one being granted.
Miyuki looked away from the woman and to where the voice was coming from – it was seemingly outside the place she could see. It was like she looked into a memory. The memory not of this Cure Ambrosia, but of someone else. The scene faded away, disappearing into dust and ash and she was back within the darkness. Running harder towards Tsubomi, she crashed right into another such memory. It was of someone different this time, but it was a similar memory. A shed. A dozen people. Bandages, crying, praying, praising someone.
Ambrosia and her team were all masters of healing. But even for them it took years to halt the spread of the Black Death. For it was Ambrosia's predecessor, the one who held the same power before, that unleashed the disease onto the world.
This revelation gave Miyuki pause. A Cure released a plague?
"Panacea." The memory's point of view moved about and to Miyuki it became clear that this memory belonged to someone called 'Panacea', likely another Cure. "We should move on. We did all we can for the people here. Ambrosia is waiting for us in the south." A woman with another drab white dress but remarkably vibrant green hair was saying this, most of her hair covered by a white cap.
"I know. I'm still amazed you didn't chose to go with her, Ascelipa."
"She'd just cling to me all day long and get nothing done. You know how she is."
"It's like you two were fated to be that way."
"Do not say that around her. She is such a great charmer, she will run circles around my wit, spewing contrived poem after poem of fate and destiny." Ascelipa groaned and walked towards the owner of the memory. "What of you? Do you not miss Elixir?" A sly smirk and the memory holder shifted her point of view again, walking past her comrade and out of the barn. "Hey! Panacea!"
And again the memory faded and so did the light, leaving Miyuki behind again. She ran and ran as hard as she could, the darkness seemingly extending the distance between her and Tsubomi as much as it could, as if space itself was multiplying. And a third memory arrived. This one was much different from the ones before.
The memory owner was lying down, looking at the ceiling with just one eye open. "Panacea. How do you feel?" Ambrosia appeared by her side, her face covered in wrinkles and scar tissue. And there was something else. A black trail, running along side her neck, forming a black noose around her throat, a marking on her skin.
"We don't have much time left." Panacea rose up, her vision faded and then came back a little later. "I want to be with Elixir until the end."
This is the end of their lives. After stopping the Black Death from destroying civilization itself, their lives faded into obscurity. Their existence was erased from history, their deeds forgotten. And yet they themselves never came to loath humans for it. This is mere hours before they pass on, together.
Miyuki forced herself to look away from the memory and she could finally see Tsubomi, there, within the memory itself, standing next to the white oval that flickered and buzzed. "Tsubomi!"
Running, the memory raced past her, words and actions blurring together, as if she was advancing time at a rapid rate somehow. And she reached Tsubomi and the white. And she saw the tears that Tsubomi shed. Looking back upon the memory, through the eyes of Panacea, she saw the face of a dead woman, old and close. And she felt what Tsubomi felt. Something that, in vague terms, she had already begun to understand. The loss of a loved one. Tears emerged from her eyes as well and she could not find a reason to stop them. They had lived, fought and worked hard, only to die out there to the same thing they had battled all their lives.
History has seen many of us die – some with malice having consumed them, others forced into obscurity but holding on to their ideals and love for humanity. We came from humanity but we do not belong; we will never belong. And such knowledge gave rise to the cruel destiny.
The white oval disappeared and so did the memory, leaving behind Tsubomi and Miyuki in the darkness. Both of them just stood there for a while, watching into the darkness, there where they had witnessed the last moments of Cure Panacea, one of the valiant that had stopped one of the most devastating diseases to ever exist.
Minutes after the memory passed, Tsubomi suddenly jumped, surprised out of her mind. "M-Miyuki? What are you doing here?!"
"That's my question! Actually screw that, my question is where the hell are we?"
You are in the Kyura Memento – this is where the twists, turns and ultimate fates of all our kind are recorded. It is a place between dream and waking and it was where both I, the failure, and the cruel destiny have been held for uncountable measures of time.
"Who the hell are you then?!" Miyuki screamed at just the darkness around her.
I am [E.] and that is all that remains of myself for now. Even should you set me free, fate shall not rescind its punishment for my failure.
"Set you free?"
When the cruel destiny was released, I was left behind. She has grown powerful by now and so my influence is limited greatly. It took most of the little power that remained to protect you from the cruel destiny and lead you here.
"Who the hell released this cruel destiny thing?"
That I cannot say.
Miyuki had a really bad feeling about that answer. She wanted to know, she wanted to know badly, but at the same time she was afraid. The last few days had been pure chaos and there were enormous gaps in her memories. There's no way, right? Shit, even if there's a one percent chance it's our fault somehow… "So what now?"
That is for you to decide.
With a blast of light, the absolute nothingness parted and gave way to a bitter cold and an incessant hammering against stone. Miyuki looked straight ahead – at a dead end, a mural. Tsubomi was still there as well, immediately shivering in the freezing darkness.
"I guess we're not going back that way. Not that I'd want to. Not a fan of getting torn to shreds by crazy whatever the fuck those things were." Looking down the hallway, Miyuki felt a strange sense of familiarity. My 'Oh Shit-o-meter' is getting higher every other minute.
"Do you trust this E?" Tsubomi was right by her side when they set out, walking down a minor slope downward.
"No way. But we are still alive and that's going in her favor at least. So I don't distrust her either."
"How did you even find me?"
"Lots of running headless chicken."
Tsubomi snorted and felt slightly less cold. "You know, I've been unsure about you as our leader, but you are pulling through in your own way. Different from your counterpart, sure, but I think even my original would approve."
"What, really? About the other Tsubomi, I mean."
"I think so, yeah. Honest."
"Huh..."
"You're blushing."
"Shut the hell up. Am not."
"You are."
"So now you can see my face in the dark?"
"Dark Cure vision, remember?"
"Fuck."
"It's cute." Tsubomi paused and it felt to both of them like she wanted to say something.
"Spit it out."
"You… have a girlfriend, right?"
"Huh?"
"I can't remember you seeing anyone. But I also have a lot of holes in my memory in general when I start to really think about it. So hear me out. I think you did have a girlfriend but whatever is going on now has wiped her from our mind."
"You're saying my girlfriend set this all in motion?"
"I don't know. Maybe? Maybe she's just caught up in it. I just hope it doesn't turn out your girlfriend is this cruel destiny."
"Now you got me all paranoid thinking about that! Can you imagine how absolutely screwed we all are if this shit is our fault?! And on top, how extra double screwed I am if it was my girlfriend setting this shit in motion?"
"Uh. Sorry?"
"Sorry ain't gonna cut it, turnip lady!"
Miyuki received a firm hit in the back of her head. "You be careful of what you try to use as an insult or you're gonna be eating wild grass and water from now on."
"You're more evil than I ever was!"
"I didn't thank you yet."
"What for?"
"You're the one that got all of us out of our dream prisons, right?"
"Nothing to thank me for."
"You feel that way but that's not how I or the others see it."
"W-Well… thanks received." Miyuki was a very temperamental, often angry, crude and a little bit violent woman. Being thanked was something she usually didn't have to deal with since their entire mini-society worked based on equal exchange of service and servitude. They all served the continued survival of their community and so they all didn't feel that 'giving thanks' to each other was really required. They needed each other and they did not see this as a negative factor at all. Miyuki's group had taken the longest to adopt this way of thinking but now they were those that held on to it tightest. This was especially true for Akane, who was almost altruistic in her actions, albeit seldom in words.
"I'll give you an extra turnip next time." Tsubomi smirked in the dark, outside of Miyuki's point of view.
"Enough with the turnips already!"
"My, so you do want to eat wild grass and-" Tsubomi stopped, both verbally and physically, and held Miyuki back as well.
They were swallowed up by a wave of darkness – a physical wave of pure blackness that rolled and roared up the slope and drowned out the walls and everything else. Returned to the nothingness of before, Miyuki desperately grabbed Tsubomi's hands and held on to her so they would not be separated again. But the girl disappeared right from her grasp, as if the darkness simply erased her from Miyuki's own private reality.
And immediately after a memory flared up. Again she was a third onlooker, while the memory itself was from someone's perspective. She looked at inconceivable beauty – a flourishing city of gold, silver and bronze, shining brightly in the powerful sun that roared above. The memory's owner shielded her eyes from the blazing light and looked further down; at myriads of people, scurrying about and doing their business.
"Shaman!" Someone called out from close by. The memory turned and saw a woman that was deeply unsettling to Miyuki – she looked exactly like Yuri, wearing fanciful clothes of yellow, red and green, her long hair tied into a majestic ponytail that was swaying in the gusts of the day. "I knew I would find you here."
"Spirit." The memory owner – Shaman – mused and walked up close to Yuri, kissing her in the process. Seeing this was embarrassing to Miyuki for various reasons. "I was just taking a brief-"
"Brief?! Brief?! The maidens have been looking for you for hours! It is past sun's zenith!"
"Oh. Hm. Is Totem angry?"
"She's bled from her nose after the maidens came to tell her they still have not found you."
"That's not good. She should take better care of herself."
Miyuki cringed at how dense this Shaman was. And by now she was sure that those three – Shaman, Spirit and Totem, were all Cures. This was another memory of Cures of the past and judging by the last memory, this was not going to have a nice happy ending either.
"You are the one that's bad for her health! Think a little about how I feel!"
The memory faded as the exchange kept going and was replaced by a different scene – she was inside the jungle, waving some kind of staff about. And she could hear the woman's thoughts. Rest well, my friends. The gods might have claimed you far ahead of your time, but I will make sure that your legacy lives on.
And again, the oval white appeared, and now Miyuki could see who this memory was being shown to – It was Itsuki. Putting one and one together, Miyuki assumed that this was some kind of great ancestor of Itsuki.
In these ancient times disease was a powerful adversary even to us Cures. Cure Spirit and Cure Totem fell victim to it, leaving behind Cure Shaman. This was when the powers of this group were splintered and spread across the world. It would take long over a thousand years for them to reunite.
The memory was still going on now, and the waving of the staff stopped. Shaman dropped to the ground and the vision shook – it was clear that she was mourning the loss of her friends and partner. "Why… we have these great powers… why could I not save them?"
Tears fell to the ground and Miyuki felt deeply uncomfortable. What was the point of all of this? Why was she being shown all this suffering? Looking over to Itsuki, she still didn't understand. In fact, she now doubted all of this even more, seeing the girl's tormented face.
And again the memory faded, now showing something very different entirely. Looking down, in front of Shaman there was a lifeless body of a girl, a dagger plunged into her chest and agony written permanently onto her face. It was very clear that she had been stabbed to death by Shaman. And a loud and shrill thought echoed throughout the memory. I can bring them back… I just need to find someone compatible. I just need to find a girl that is worthy. I will not fail you, Spirit, Totem.
Miyuki felt sorry for Shaman. She had felt sorry for the four before as well. And while feelings of pity and sympathy were not entirely new to her, she had not felt them this strongly before. "What's the point here?!" Miyuki shouted but was ignored.
We are not beings that can co-exist with solitude. We need our own, our kind, to support ourselves because the regular people will not truly understand us. They can love us and we can love them, but not in a way that creates true understanding. In the end, we exist to protect the humans but they do not exist to protect us. Cure Shaman was one of many who lost her partners and fell to mental ruin for it. The solitude of being the only Cure she knew to exist in her small world crushed her inside.
Miyuki finally got what this was trying to tell both her and Itsuki – their need for each other was beyond simply a need to survive. It was a base fundamental fact of their existence. Because humans were different they could never fill a gap that was left by an absence of other Cures. And the same was true for them, even if they were not true Cures.
And much like with Tsubomi, Itsuki was left behind by the memory, for Miyuki to scoop up. "Fancy meeting you here." It was the first thing Itsuki said and her smug tone really annoyed the pink.
"Very funny." She stood in front of Itsuki, who had fallen to the floor and was now sitting there with her shoulders slumped and her expression mismatched harshly with her tone. "You gonna walk?"
"No use sitting here and crying over what happened probably centuries ago." Getting back on her feet all on her own, Itsuki dusted off her clothes. You saw what happened? Back there.
"I did. But you didn't just see, right?"
Itsuki nodded and looked up to hide her trembling lip. "I felt what she felt. Especially towards the end. The loss, the desperation. It was like I was losing what makes me… me."
"That girl, Spirit, looked totally like Yuri, didn't she?"
"Yeah. One of the memories showed me what Shaman looked like, reflected in the water. She looked a lot like me."
"That's gonna be real awkward when seeing Yuri the next time, right?" Miyuki tried to relax the mood by saying something funny.
"How long are you gonna wait before you tell me where we are anyway?" Itsuki looked back down and seemed a bit amused. "I keep thinking 'when is she gonna tell me' but you're just going on about that memory."
"From what I can tell this is some super magic place that's full of the memories of past Cures. Beyond that I dunno how much I trust what I know. Supposedly this place is the Kyura Memento and someone really important called [E.] is in here and showing us those memories. Lots of dubious stuff."
"[E]?"
"She says that's all that's left of her or something. Don't look at me like that, I have practically no idea what is going on."
"Time to find out, I say." Itsuki strutted past Miyuki, with the ex-villain catching up a couple seconds later. "This is going down, right? Or did you come from down?"
"I started out going down but who knows if this place is like, you know, normal."
"Only one way to find out then." Itsuki increased her pace. They barely got about a hundred and odd meters down the slope before the stairs began and Miyuki stared down a familiar devil – a second wave of nothingness was hard approaching and this time she outright jumped on Itsuki, grabbing on to her with arms and legs like an angry monkey would. "Hey, what-" Itsuki's words were swept away together with her physical form when the nothingness hit them. Miyuki knew that if she was going to see a third wave, she'd just resign herself to this dumb game of only brief company.
This memory was far, far different from the ones before. It showed a fight against a huge monster that had six arms and three heads, wielding weapons of all sorts, Cures fighting it. But what was so different was really not that there was a battle against some sort of monster was going on. It was that the monster was practically irrelevant. In front of whoever this memory belonged to – and now she could tell that the owner was clearly sitting down or lying down and looking up – was a woman whose very being was obfuscated by a thick gray mist. But this seemed to not be the case for the owner of this memory.
"I heard of you. You are [-]." It was like sudden static numbed out her name from reality itself. Miyuki felt her ears ring.
"There have been many of us recently. The world is shrinking. Still, I am surprised that word of my existence has spread."
"So… you being here means that I'm going to be dead soon, right? I figured… this wound… we don't have a healer on our team."
"All of you will perish in this battle."
"Wha-?! How would you know that?"
"I can see across time and space." And the obfuscated woman very obviously looked away from the owner of this memory – she looked right at Miyuki.
"So… everyone is gonna die?"
"The others will use the Paramount Rainbow Blooming Destiny to destroy that which threatens humanity. It will perish and never return. But-"
"Without me to be there for that..."
"They will pay the missing power with their life force. A noble sacrifice."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Your team has fought many enemies. For fifteen years you were the protectors of the center of the world. And you were their leader. I thought it appropriate to show you respect."
"Respect..."
"I know it was often difficult to stay true to your mission to protect the people of this world. I know that they were often ungrateful, hostile. But people simply fear that which they do not understand. Beneath their fear, they are grateful. In the coming centuries, your names are committed to legend. Your powers will live on and be passed down to other girls."
"What about our families?"
"They will be save. Not all of your bloodlines will live on, but it is not blood that unites us to begin with." The woman looked back at the monster and the Cures that were fighting it. "It is almost time."
"Do you know what they call you?"
"I have had many names across time."
"The one who told me of you, Cure Marble; she called you Salvation. Not that you bring salvation – but that she thought it would be an appropriate name for you."
The woman lowered her head and although Miyuki could not see her clearly at all, she knew – this name troubled the woman. "If only I could do justice to this name. But for now, Cure Dream, I have come for you." The woman put her hand over the owner's eyes and Miyuki could feel that this Cure Dream had died at that exact moment. And yet...
The memory did not stop there, which Miyuki found somewhat terrifying. Watching a massive seven color explosion go off in the back and a monster turn to ash, she knew – the others would share the fate of Cure Dream now. And again – and this time there was no other explanation than this woman being able to see Miyuki across time and space – the woman turned to Miyuki and spoke. "The cruel destiny cannot be allowed to destroy that which thousands of years worth of Cures have fought to protect."
And again Miyuki was spat out, and again another girl was there with her – Karen, who seemed unconscious or asleep. Either way, Miyuki knew that even if she woke her up she'd just have to explain things several times over and then lose her a few minutes later in the next black wave. It was time to get to the bottom of this; figuratively and metaphorically.
=== DISSONANCE ===
Groaning and headaches were more than just commonplace in the penthouse, it was something they all shared. It was after seven now and most of them had woken from their coma-like condition. The bathroom was continuously overcrowded and clean clothes were in short supply, resulting in some of them just switching to a swimsuit and hang out in the pretty warm pool room. Not the sauna, nobody was that foolhardy, but the pool offered a wide open space with a floor that would survive a couple turned upside down stomachs. It was also much warmer than the rest of the place and that warmth kind of settled their stomachs and helped their heads.
Rikka, Alice, Inori and Ako were all by the pool in recliners, having already showered and now reluctantly filling their mouths with some dry bread and barely speaking a word to each other.
Love, Setsuna and Ellen were all occupying the bathroom at that precise moment, Ellen stuck at the sink, Love on the toilet and Setsuna in the shower, bent over and holding on to a big metal handle embedded in the wall. They all felt like a truck had run them over.
Honoka, Reika, Miki and Yuri were out on the balcony – and for the first time ever the balcony's sun block was deployed, an extra roof that could be extended out of the wall to block out the sun and provide some extra deep shade.
Still unconscious and put on the bed but with their heads near the edge were Urara, Erika, Tsubomi, Kanade and Yami, none of which were showing signs of waking up soon.
Among the morning chaos, nobody really dared to set foot in an elevator to get to their own room. It was hard enough to just be alive and conscious without constantly throwing up. And this didn't sit right with some of them.
I can't believe I'd drink that much. I vaguely remember getting into a push up contest with Miki, too… Honoka contemplated and felt like she was dying from the inside out. No, there is no way I'd drink that much or do something that stupid. Miki wouldn't either. "Say… ugh..." Actually voicing her complaints was a real challenge. "Isn't something wrong about… all of us being like this?"
"Honoka… later. Later." Miki turned over, felt sick and returned to the same on-her-back position from before. She'd been hung over before, but never like this, not even remotely. My brain is on fire. And simultaneously drowning in a poison swamp. Ah… I feel like I wanna be dead.
It was roughly about this time that Urara came to, which was an event that the rest of the penthouse dreaded right now; because they all knew how much she could drink, how loud she could be and also how angry she could be without Ako to manage her. But against their expectations, Urara simply rolled off the bed, grunted, groaned and rolled over to be on her back. Nobody could see her face right that moment – they were all dreading any moment at all, especially head movement – but Urara looked just as dreadfully hung over as the rest of them.
But the balcony quartet quickly met her for a not so good morning. Staggering towards the rail, Urara started to retch. And being already nauseous, hearing someone retch didn't do wonders for the four that were there. Reika in particular was the only one who could keep it in and the others just couldn't handle the noise and hurriedly got their own, widely spaced apart, spot on the guard rail to join in to the cacophony of disgust.
Something was definitely not right. Reika retreated inside – this was worse than that time when she had to escaped through the sewers that one time when she went to France to stop a big bank robbery. The smell from back then… "Urk..." Covering her mouth, Reika escaped further and into the pool room – and immediately retreated from there too. It was sickeningly warm in there.
Heading to the sink to get some cold water, Reika nearly bumped into the kitchen corner. This isn't just alcohol. I'm far too destabilized for this to be just after effects of being drunk. Never mind that I do not actually drink alcohol in general. Swaying, she managed to grab a glass and drown her welling up nausea with one, two, three glasses of water before she used the kitchen corner to keep herself standing.
Let's review… last night… last night… I can barely piece anything together. I was on the balcony… no… we climbed up the wall to the roof? I… made an ice rig there? We were… drunk skating? Someone fell off the edge… Urara caught them with a chain… someone went chain-bungee jumping? What… happened last night? I remember… being really excited. I was… wild? Let's go back further, last night makes no sense at all. The evening… is blank. Afternoon… also blank. The entire day… the day before… I vaguely remember a battle…
The more she thought about it, the more unclear things got. It's like the alcohol scrubbed my entire memory of the last few days. That's not normal by any measure. In fact, I don't think alcohol can do that. Did… Inori do something? No, it seems like everyone in this state. Even Inori isn't powerful enough to do this to all of us without being found out. Not to mention, what reason would she possibly have? Also, she seems to be affected too. Looking about, she noticed that two girls were missing. Echo and Heart are gone.
I'll… have to investigate… Reika wanted to transform and hope that it would starve off the nausea but just the thought of transforming made her feel much worse, to the point where she turned a little green in the face. Later… later. Everything looks peaceful for now.
The peacefulness was really hanging in the balance – peeking from inside the elevator were Echo and Heart, transformed and not feeling nauseous at all. "What do we do? If I tell them now they'll all fall over!" Heart hissed at Echo who was peeking as well. "I'm not Blossom, I can't heal them!"
"Hm… I think maybe we should go back down and investigate. With just you and me we don't really have to worry too much about any enemies."
"Arrogance is the prerogative of a fool. I can heal off nearly any physical injury, but if someone there is someone that can attack my magic directly, like Sword, then that is going to a losing battle for me."
"We'll have to be stealthy. I wish we could contact the other side. I'd really want March to come with us."
"Normally I wouldn't withhold information like there being an enemy out there… but everyone looks like they're barely holding on to being conscious."
"Telling them now would just make their condition worse. They won't be able to think about strategy or go scouting with us either way. It's up to the two of us. We should be fine if we're careful. We both lead teams, we know when we have to pull back."
"Where exactly did this evil Beauty even come from? Because I can see the real Reika standing there, looking like she's about to turn inside out any moment." Heart still didn't know much about what had happened. Just that Echo had almost died from an ice attack.
"I don't know that either. I went down to take a walk, get rid of the nausea, and happened across a hidden path in the fog."
"A hidden path?"
"You know how we get to other places by entering the fog at specific spots? I walked by accident into a completely different place and it spat me out in the middle of a forest, a huge black swirling portal behind me. I must have stepped through that, hidden in the fog. It's how I got back, too. I only got to look around for a little over a minute before I was attacked by Beauty in a really kinky full body tights outfit."
"A what?"
"Don't think too hard about it. Honestly, made me a bit embarrassed just looking at her."
"Shouldn't we tell at least Reika about this?"
"Look at her. Does this look like someone who will handle news like an evil doppelganger well? You… heard about the mirrors, right?"
"A bit. I get why this would be upsetting to a lot of them."
"I was at the center point of all of that. And now I'm the one that encountered them again. I don't want them to think I did this."
"Why would… okay, you're right, they might think that way."
"See? I want to know what is going on so I can tell them what is going on so they don't blame me."
"I think they wouldn't outright blame you but I get what you mean." Stepping back from the elevator door, Heart pressed the lobby button. "We are going to bail when it looks like things are getting dangerous. I am not going to fight, or let you fight, a doppelganger of Reika that has potentially unknown mutations of her power. If you are frozen solid and shattered, my powers can't put you back together because you won't be able to absorb them."
"I trust you." Echo smiled wide.
Has her smile always been this unsettling? Maybe she's forcing herself because she still feels nauseous. "Do you feel okay? Any nausea?"
"A little bit. Barely notice it."
"Might be phantom pain from your injury." Why is she looking so confused? "You don't know what phantom pain is?"
"I do. It's just that I'm already healed and this isn't the first time I got really hurt. I'm not an amateur, Heart."
"Sorry."
"It's fine. You are protective of others, I get it. Honestly, I think you did a lot better leading your team than I could have in the same circumstances."
I didn't lead them half as good as I should have. All of us are broken… No, Heart, shake it off. This isn't the time to wallow. There's an enemy hiding and it's your job as the invincible leader to find out what is going on.
Down in the lobby, Sasorina looked like she wanted to say something to them and Echo immediately raised her hand. "I'll talk to her. Can you wait outside to see if anyone is trying to creep up on the hotel?"
Heart saw no problem with this. Leaving Echo alone with Sasorina, she went outside, canvassing the area. Inside the lobby, Sasorina was pale faced staring at Echo. "You won't get away with this. The system won't-"
"The system, huh." Echo breathed a sigh of haughtiness and then sat on the counter, with her back half towards Sasorina, who was now dealing with visible tremors in her hands. Playing with her own fingernails, Echo looked outside, to where Heart was completely still – almost as if she was frozen solid. "You are so stupid."
Sasorina could not say anything back to that. Why can't these girls see what's going on here? This… this thing… just being in front of her is making me shake. It's a hundred… a thousand… no, it's so much worse than being on the receiving end of one of those team attacks from Tsubomi's group…
"I don't think you know, or can really tell, who I am, but you do seem to understand the power balance here at least. Now..." Echo turned around and grabbed Sasorina by her throat, the skin immediately being frozen over with ice under her hand. "There won't be any more warnings. Be a good little cog and do what you're supposed to do. No heroics. No brave antics."
"O-Or what?" Sasorina tried to swallow but the ice on her throat was making that an epic undertaking. Her face lost the last little bit of color when Echo smiled wide at her question.
"Sorry for the wait." Echo caught up with Heart outside.
"Wait? I barely took a look around. What did Sasorina want?" Heart turned around to look back inside but was distracted by Echo quickly walked past her. "Hey."
"Just that she's feeling nauseous and is gonna take off for a little bit. Looks like she might have been with us at the party for a while." Echo turned about halfway in her explanation and looked back at the lobby with a big smile. "It's nice that they get to hang out with us, don't you think?"
Heart smirked. "You think Mamo was there too? I can't really remember."
"I, uh, went a little overboard with Erika's echo. I hope the others aren't gonna hang me up to dry for that."
"Don't think so. They'll get over it. If they can even remember. I barely can."
Echo smiled extremely wide at that comment and spun around twice. "That's good. I guess I'll get off easy then."
"Where is the entrance to the other place? What do we even call it?"
"It has a name. That evil Beauty shouted about it when she attacked me. I think it was… the great vanish… no, 'The Grand Banishment of Evil'. That's a mouthful so… the Banish?"
"That name could use some work..." Heart shook off the distaste for such a name. "That's also a pretty self-explanatory name."
"I thought so too. Everyone on that side is probably a complete monster. I… wish I could save them. I was able to save my own copy once."
"Your own copy?"
"When I was about fifteen, an evil lord of darkness made copies out of me and my team. The Dark Cure Five. Dark Rouge, Lemonade, Mint and Aqua."
"And yours?"
"Dark Echo. But I managed to get through to her, show her that she didn't have to be evil just because she was created by it. She changed her name to Eternal after that but sadly… she gave her life to protect me."
Heart lightly averted her eyes. I shouldn't have asked. That must be a painful memory. That does make that whole incident with the mirrors and this a lot more personal than it would be for me. "Where's the entrance?"
"Over there. Follow me." Echo became serious again and walked into the fog.
The plaza was perfectly circular, with various spots to exit to get somewhere else, but all of them shrouded in fog. Perfectly to the south was the public bath, with a garden right to the east of it – The hotel itself was the perfect east and the arena was the perfect west. The band room was in the center between the bath and the arena, so to the south-west. The beach was to the north-west, right between the arena and Mamo's store, which was the perfect north. And the transfer room, that was practically unused, was just ever so slightly to the north of the hotel.
The space that Echo lead Heart in was practically the middle between the beach and the arena – West-North-West, in a way. And this fog gateway felt very different from the others. Typically the fog was temperature neutral and it was quiet in there, maybe a little humid. It was different from typical, real fog.
It's cold. It's freezing actually. Even northern Russia was not this cold. And what is… ugh… what is this noise? "Can you hear that too, Echo? This static..."
"I think this isn't a normally open gateway, that's why it's making that sound!" Echo shouted, far too loud, like she could barely hear Heart.
She's Echo so maybe it is affecting her worse than me? Although paying too much attention to her name… Lemonade has nothing to do with Lemonade after all. I have barely anything at all to do with my name. "How much longer before-" Heart cut herself off. The scene she saw before her was unnatural. A forest was covered in snow and ice, a blizzard hammering down on it all with tremendous force. "What's going on here?"
"It wasn't like this earlier! I… no, there is no way that other Beauty is that powerful. Is there?" Echo looked about with visible worry and shock. It only took moments before they started to cover themselves. Not even their magic protected them against cold this fierce. "You said we'll scout, but this is..."
"And we don't have Sunny or Rouge on our team either." Heart immediately went to the logical choice of having either, or both, of them provide heat to starve off the cold. "But if we mobilize Mint and Rosetta, we can probably make do."
"What if this starts to affect our side? I don't think the hotel is able to withstand this. Especially not now, what with Sasorina being out and everyone feeling sick." Echo's voice came from right behind Heart, something tucking on the back of Heart's costume. "Just going back the way we came… we still don't know anything about this place yet."
"It's freezing but we should be fine as long as I can heal us. We should take a long around."
"That's a good decision." Echo sounded relived. "If we learn a bit more, we can come up with a plan or even strategy."
"Stay right behind me." Heart felt Echo's hand still connected to her back and started walking. There were humongous trees, laden heavily with snow and ice, to all sides but one; right in front. Fighting through the nearly knee high snow was difficult for a normal person but was of little challenge to an experienced Cure.
Heading forward, they walked in silence. Heart made sure to pay attention to Echo's grip but she was showing no signs of weakness so far. She is a team leader and she is pretty powerful, so I shouldn't have to worry excessively about her.
Charging forward, Heart started to feel pretty cold herself. If I see a cave or a particularly huge tree to take cover from the blizzard, we'll take a break. "Stay strong, we'll take a break soon."
She didn't get a reply but the grasp on her back was still strong so she knew that Echo was there. She probably didn't want to waste her energy talking right now.
And there it was – a hut. A wooden hut, covered in snow, possibly in danger of collapsing under the massive amount of white. The door was open and she could tell that someone had cut a lane through the deep snow away from there. Someone left through the blizzard. From the looks of it, more than one person even. "Be on your guard. Someone might still be in there."
"There won't be." Echo replied with absolute certainty. "Just look at how much that lane filled up. And the door is open. Anyone would have frozen to death."
"Maybe. But we can't be sure. Can you wait here while I check? I don't want to put you in danger after that attack earlier."
"It's cold but nothing I can't handle for another few minutes. If I hear a scream or any kind of suspicious noise I am coming in. I will not run away and leave a friend behind."
Heart nodded and felt Echo's grip loosen on her back. Entering the small hut with utmost caution, she feathered her steps so her heels made no noise, carefully stuck to the walls to eliminate blind spots, kept her hands charged to blow any would-be attack away if they suddenly burst around a corner. This was by far not the first time she did something like this.
But the hut was completely abandoned. There were only two rooms, a small room with one bed and a larger room with a lot more beds, all of them arranged in a disrupted circle, like they had done so in a hurry, and then left it behind. What happened here? Did that evil Beauty attack whoever lived here? But who could even live here? Is there a falling out between factions that are all hostile to us? Although I can't assume they're all hostile. Still… the number of beds speaks to about a dozen people.
Having checked both rooms, Heart opened her mouth to shout and then quickly discarded that idea. There might be enemies lurking close by. Going back outside, she found that Echo was gone. She was immediately on alert. Did Beauty attack her? But I can't see any sign of battle. Or her being dragged away. No, I would have heard something. Where did she go? Did she jump?
Going further out and jumping on the roof, the snow nearly swallowing her up, she very briefly released an energy blast emanating from her entire body to shake away the snow. She was not there.
Where is she?
Heart kept looking around and her head started to ache. Where did she go? She couldn't be far, I have to look for her.
Jumping down, she paused. Wait… Looking at the lane, she squinted. The headache was getting worse. Who am I looking for again?
Who had come here with her? Was it Rikka? No way. Alice? She would have floated. No, they were all nauseous back at the penthouse. But… someone had come with her. Someone… Why can't I remember her name or face? Going inside out of instinct – nobody wanted to be out in a blizzard – Heart returned to the large room and sat down on one of the beds. My head… is killing me… She couldn't stay sitting up. Someone… was here, right? Doubting herself and her memory, Heart fell over on the bed, the howling winds of frost continuing on outside without mercy.
=== DISSONANCE ===
The light side team was in a somewhat similar state to their dark counterparts – in that they could barely remember the last few days and that they felt weak and nauseous. Albeit they each woke up in their own bed, they felt weak, drained, like they had been robbed of all their life energy. And nobody could remember a single thing from last night and what had happened to put all of them in this state.
And things did not end there. Majorina was nowhere to be found. Mamo and the bathhouse owner were both gone as well. The arena was locked up tight. It was like the entire personnel of the place had disappeared. There was no electricity, no running water, and it was freezing. The sky was clouded in a thick layer of gray and threatened to swallow up the sun entirely.
Given the place they were in and how many times the whole system had been broken to pieces already – and out of which that very event had been life threatening to them – all of the girls stayed transformed. It was difficult to fight off the nausea and headaches that were plaguing them but the adrenaline stemming from the unknown situation they had all been thrown into was keeping them active.
"We can't get through to the beach. We tried every plausible, and a few implausible, methods to get there." Rose reported back to Windy, one of three that had taken it upon themselves to lead.
The other two were Aqua and Egret, currently dealing with the need to find rations and otherwise secure their situation. A lot of those that they usually turned to for leadership were on the other side of things and they could not find a way to contact them.
"The same is true for the new mountain location." This report came from Melody, who was visibly nauseous still, Sunshine by her side as usual. "It looks like just about everything that used to work isn't working anymore."
"So we have no way to contact the other side at all, not even shared spaces. What about the band room?"
"I couldn't get in at all." Melody lowered her head, disappointed she couldn't give Aqua something to work with.
"That's not your fault, so don't think that." Aqua tried to dispel the darkness setting in on Melody's heart.
As much as they wanted to deny it, things looked dire. They had been dependent on the buffet for food and there was nothing there now. Mamo's store was deserted and the food there would not last them very long.
For the time being they had turned Mint's penthouse into their center of operations because it was the largest accessible space and thanks to Aqua, Rouge and Sunny, they had water and heat. Peace was supplying electricity so that they had light and Mint had reinforced the windows with a barrier to further starve off the continuously increasing cold from outside.
The pool room was well insulated so it was used to warm people up – Windy had set up shop inside of there, running various searches and experiments on the situation. Aqua was operating from the main room together with Egret. They had brought in extra chairs and tables since they didn't know how much longer this situation would last.
It was around noon already and the situation had first become apparent around eight in the morning when Bright noticed that Majorina was missing. Said woman was currently talking in a hushed voice to her sister. "I thought that this might be related to the Masquerade, but it feels like that was just a side effect of it. Everyone seems to be their usual self."
"They aren't." Windy put up a good poker face but Bright could tell that she was deeply worried. "I overheard Rouge earlier. I hope Ayumi is doing okay." They had no need to really talk to each other about what this meant exactly; they knew. There was no Ayumi among the thirty-seven of them, even including the system generated personnel.
"Not the masquerade then… but what?" Bright was more practical orientated than her sister. Her smarts were usually dedicated to solutions to problems at hand and less to theory and stratagem.
"Unknown. And therein lies the big issue. This current situation, the temporary break of the Storm Seal and their now clearly unnatural memories of an 'Ayumi' that does not exist; if that is all related and furthermore correlated to the same source then something exceptionally powerful is behind this."
"Something like this can only be possible with intelligent design. The nausea and headaches of everyone are likely due to manipulated and manufactured memories. But to perform something as intricate as that on such a large scale… this brings up the issue of why we were spared. What about Yayoi?" Bright was worried about their girlfriend.
"I haven't had the chance to test her. But it stands to reason she's probably been subject to it. The question is… where does our nausea come from if we still remember the real reality. Or rather, what if it is us who remembers incorrectly?"
"There are too many questions to pursue a theory right now. Have you figured out if this Ayumi replaced someone specific? Or is she an imaginary addition?"
"She's replaced Dream. I don't know if that has a greater purpose or if she was merely convenient." Windy had found out that much by simply contextualizing Rouge's commentary and briefly mentioning 'Ayumi' to Aqua.
"Dream has been at the center of the mirrors incident and there was the aftermath with nightmare. But she did not play any notable role in the Masquerade."
"Another unknown variable. We just don't have enough information."
"For now we should strive to get more information and-" Bright was interrupted when all of a sudden Regina – Wild Joker – stormed into the room with a face that basically spoke for itself.
"Someone's here!"
Judging by the turmoil in the main room, someone meant someone from the other side. Exchanging looks very briefly, Bright and Windy quickly got out of their seats and hurried to the main room. What they saw there put a truly indescribable feeling in their stomach. A white Cure with blond hair was there, one they had never seen before but was recognized at sight by everyone else. And it only took them a second to conclude that this was 'Ayumi'.
"Rin, space, space!" Ayumi pushed Rouge away and slapped her outfit to get rid of what looked like snow. "Actually, it's dang cold so come here!" Hugging Rouge, Ayumi treated her like a portable heater. "I thought I was gonna freeze to death before finding a way over here."
"What's going on?!" It was a question shared and voiced by many of them simultaneously. Someone from the other side being here, in this location, meant that the very function that kept them apart from each other was broken – it was the deciding factor that told them the entire system was down.
"We don't know for sure ourselves either. But we do know some things!" Ayumi raised her voice as she answered and everyone else shut up. She didn't let go of Rouge even for an instant. "I don't know what happened here, but on our side, we all woke up with nausea and headaches after a party. I… I might have accidentally synchronized everyone with Erika." There was a lot of eye rolling and groaning and two people even said thank god that wasn't our side. "We spent all morning being miserable. At some point I went out to take a walk and was lost in feeling pretty sick so I walked into the fog way off course… and ended up in a strange place."
Now the story took a strange turn for the others. "It was this huge forest. Behind me was a big black swirly portal and I just assumed that's what brought me there. So I decided to look around. Before I knew it, Beauty was attacking me."
"Beauty attacked you?!" The outcry came from March and to a lesser degree, from Akane. They both couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"Not the real Beauty! I'll get to that in a second! She attacked me and… things looked really bad for me. I escaped to the portal but I lost an arm in the process-" She struggled a bit and held up one of her two very much intact arms. "I'll get to that in a second too! So when I tried to escape through the portal, that evil Beauty hit me with a big flying icicle and I thought I was totally done for… but luckily Heart was out on the plaza and thanks to her power I could heal."
There were a lot of relived sighs in the round – but not from Bright and Windy, who very much stayed on the far edge of the room.
"And then?!"
"We went up to the penthouse but everyone was… doing a lot worse than all of you girls! They could barely stand, never mind deal with an evil Beauty! But the real Reika was up there, looking like she'd been eating old socks, so we knew it was not the real Beauty that attacked me. I thought – Mana was fine, I was fine, we would figure this out while the others got better. So we went back down and entered the forest again. We were super careful the entire time. I have no idea why but there was a blizzard blowing in that place. It was crazy cold."
They all hung on every word she was saying. Ayumi finally let go of Rin and looked a lot more serious now. "We found an abandoned hut made of wood. There were a bunch of beds inside. About a dozen or so. I checked around the hut outside and when I came back in to talk to Heart, she was just completely gone without a trace. I don't know what happened. There was no sign of a fight or anything. I searched for her for like twenty minutes before I couldn't handle the cold anymore. I tried to get back to the black portal but I..." Ayumi looked a bit put on the spot.
"Translation: She got lost." Rin didn't want this to be humorous so she prodded her leader to continue. "So you found another portal and ended up here?"
"Yeah. I hurried inside and thankfully I ran into Bloom in the lobby."
Aqua forced her way into the center, facing Echo. "Is the power and everything down on your side as well?"
"Huh?! No? It wasn't when I left at least!" Echo looked around and seemed surprised. "So you don't have power here? But the lights are on."
"Peace." Aqua just replied like that. "Echo, do you think you can find the way back to the other portal?"
"I… think so? With Rin to keep me from freezing, I definitely can."
"Stick around for a little while, I need to talk to Windy and Egret. I think we should consider leaving this side and meet up all together on the other one to discuss what is going on." Breaking up the circle around Echo, Aqua had Egret quickly on her tail and was heading towards Windy, who stood near the door to the pool room.
All of the world froze before the sisters – Aqua and Egret, mid-step were simply statues now. Everyone else, whether they were standing, sitting or otherwise doing anything at all, stopped like time itself had ceased. It was the most eerie and terrifying thing that either of them had ever experience. Even the water in the pool behind them had stopped moving.
And there was one that did not stop moving at all.
"We don't have much time." Echo forced her way past Aqua and Egret, stepped in front of the sisters and grabbed both of them by their hands. "I know what you have done. I know that you have preserved their sanity, their selves. It was an unfortunate accident that undid your hard work. I never intended for that to happen. Right now it is my power, my illusion, my presence here, that is suppressing a boiling sea of madness beneath the surface. In time I will be able to quench it-" She briefly stopped to cover Windy's mouth with her hand when the blue Cure tried to interrupt it.
"Quench it completely, but not now. If you tell them that I am not who they think to be, if you make arise their suspicion of me, all will come undone and there will be no repairing their psyche. They will be lost forever to insanity."
Their thoughts were racing. Who or what was this woman? She had clearly stopped time itself, which even for great magic was barely believable. They were intelligent, they understood how time and space worked. Cures with powers like Passion, that broke space, existed, but to stop time on a scale like this as a feat that shook their very understanding of magic. And she had done so in an instant.
"A great evil has awoken. I am here to aid you in repelling it." Echo lost most of the color on her face. "In honesty, I am not sure that even with my aid we will be able to stop it… to seal away the cruel destiny. But even so, we have to try. For now you must keep my secret or all will unravel! They will fall prey to the ten years they no more remember! And the cruel destiny… there will be no stopping it without everyone's help." Stepping back, Echo nodded at the two of them, silent and staring at her with disbelief and shock. "We must hurry. I know not what became of Heart after I came with her. I fear she might fall into the hands of the cruel destiny." Blood started to run from Echo's nose in non-insignificant quantity. "I trust both of you. Windy. Bright."
Returning to the spot she had started in, Echo's frozen time came undone and Aqua and Egret continued on towards the sisters to have a conversation that would be mostly pointless to those two. Whether they believed Echo or not was beside the point now. They could not risk not believing her.
It only took the now twenty of them – as Joker and Ace were two in one and Echo as an extra – roughly fifteen minutes to gather everything they deemed necessary and valuable to them personally before they collected in the lobby.
Windy and Bright had kept silent – they were now complicit in whatever Echo was keeping from the others. Beyond that, they had thought a lot about what the cruel destiny could be but came up empty. If someone who could at will stop time was that terrified of it and needed help it had to exceed their imagination. They entertained the idea that their presence – their existence in this dimension outside of regular time and space – had woken up something that came from outside the universe. But even making the broadest of all possible assumptions about that kind of thing was completely impossible.
Echo led them through the gateway – by then the plaza had begun being assailed by the blizzard. Snow was piled up but it didn't yet impede walking about – not that this would last much longer in any case. The world on the other side of the gate was a hell of frost and snow at this point. Snow had piled up so high that it reached their knees and for some of the shorter ones, even their thighs and hips. Movement was severely impeded.
It was below freezing – The twenty moved in a ring formation that had Rouge at the center providing intense heat outward and Sunny at the helm, using her fire to cut through the almost cement like snow. At the rear was Mint, providing a protective shield around them from the viciously whipping blizzard that threatened to freeze them to death in a matter of minutes.
While it was not exactly her area of expertise but Sunshine remained in the back with Mint and provided lighting towards the back. Sword and Bright were flanking Sunny in case of falling trees or anything that needed physical repelling. Luminous was walking with Bloom as her protection soundly between Sunny and Rouge, providing a much needed ability boost to the two of them.
Even with all of this, progress was slow. Echo's sense of orientation was impeded harshly by the blizzard and they stood in place at times for minutes while Egret got a lay of the land by ascending above the group by air, followed by her having to warm up next to Sunny. Just thirty seconds out in the cold was a disaster, even with magical protection.
It took them over an hour to get to something resembling a clearing in the forest, where they rested, huddled together tightly so Sunny and Akane could conserve their powers a little. It was the most hostile environment they had ever seen. They barely spoke a word.
Until that moment.
"What is that?" The question came from Melody, who had surprisingly good eyesight. She was pointing towards the trees to the right – there was something between the trees.
"A person?" Sunshine strained her eyes. "I can't make out more than a silhouette."
"There's more of them." Rose was reluctantly pointing at the opposite direction – there were at least two more silhouettes between the trees.
"Everyone be on guard. This could be related to that evil Beauty!" Echo tried to rally them but they just weren't very threatened by completely unmoving silhouettes.
"They're not even moving. Did they… freeze?" March was not enticed by the idea of frozen corpses.
"Hey. There was only one of them earlier, right? There's three now." Peace was pointing in the same direction as Melody. And when they looked again, there were five. Staring, without moving.
"They creep me out. What are they?" Nagisa wasn't too happy and felt like Echo might be right. Although they were still staying between the trees, about fifteen meters out. That made it really hard to see them as more than just a silhouette.
"There's a lot of them now… is this some indigenous life form to this place? Echo, you know anything?" Sword had already drawn her weapon and was ready to pounce. She didn't trust this one little bit.
"I don't know." Echo shook her head.
A loud noise caught their attention and they all looked to the south – a large tree had broken under the burden of the accumulated snow and frost. It had fallen over and was caught by a second tree. This by itself was not noteworthy. But nonetheless, after this, panic spread through the group. In just that one moment, those precious few seconds, they had all looked away, dozens and dozens of the silhouettes had come out of the forest, running, jumping, crawling over the snow, frozen in place now that they were being looked up again.
"We're moving!" Echo didn't seem to care for other opinions.
And the moment they all got up to move, so did the silhouettes. There were over fifty now, approaching them from all directions but their immediate front and back. A few of them were as close as five meters out and even at that distance they were still only silhouettes now.
Rouge could feel her hairs stand up on her neck. She had fought a lot of scary things as Cure Rouge, but something about these things made her worry a lot. "I'm not taking any chances. Peace, you're good at wide ranging attacks, right?"
"I never tried in a blizzard but I'll give it my best shot." She looked to Bright and Windy for mental support and got a confident smile from each of them; albeit it looked a bit forced. But that was to be expected, given the circumstances. "Thunder Chain Blow!" Raising about a dozen orbs of pure electricity out of her body into the air, Peace dispersed them across the approaching 'things' and detonated them – electricity filled the air and a lot of hair was now in dire need of brushing.
And it looked effective. For just a moment, the silhouettes seemed to be wincing in pain and the snow they were traveling over had huge craters in them.
Crack.
"Peace, you're good at wide ranging attacks, right?" Huh? Didn't we just…?
"I never tried in a blizzard but I'll give it my best shot." Weird… dejavu… Looking to bright and Windy, Peace got from each of them a supporting smile. "Thunder Chain Blow!" Spreading about roughly twelve orbs of pure electricity, Peace detonated them, leaving large craters in the snow and seemingly shocking the creatures. "I did it!"
Crack.
"Peace, you're good at wide ranging attacks, right?" Huh… didn't… wait…
"Everyone move now!" Echo shouted this with such force and desperation that it ripped Rouge and Peace right out of what they were doing. "Sunny, crank it up!" There was obvious fear in her voice and that instilled a similar kind of fear in everyone else.
"Hey. Can you hear that?" It was Melody again. "It's like… an old clock. One of those grandfather clocks." She knew them from Ako's grandfather. He owned one such clock.
Forcing themselves through the snow, they didn't stop but they were extremely quiet. And they could hear it. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. There were exactly five of them before there was a brief pause. And as they looked around them, they knew exactly what this corresponded to. After five ticks, the silhouettes moved. And it was not a singular move like taking a step. They lunged forward, like they were able to move during all of the five ticks but they only synchronized back with reality after the fifth.
Their hurried pace now became an almost chaotic struggle to escape. Leaving the approach from both sides behind in a hurry, the words "They're after us!" were the absolute last thing they had wanted to hear.
Running through a blizzard was taxing, even for magical girls. Normal humans, no matter the gear, would most likely have already died. And nobody really wanted to find out what exactly would happen when one of those things got to them.
Going faster than the silhouettes could keep up, they reached a free standing huge mount of snow and passed it. Echo briefly stared at it with a pained expression but didn't stop.
"Don't attack them! Just run!" Echo shouted and none of them seemed to doubt her words for a moment. They all felt it – a strange sense of disconnect between what should be and what had been. They all felt the dejavu of Rouge asking Peace to blast them.
Spotting the portal in the distance, the group nearly collapsed into itself when the front suddenly stopped. Sunny and Echo had caused a hard break. "They're in front of us."
Tick. Tock.
"The hell do we do now?! I don't want to find out what happens if we get into melee combat with these things." Punching a ghost or a ghost-like thing was very high on Black's I don't wanna list, right above zombies and eggplant stew.
"I'm pretty sure that attacking them is a bad idea." Melody was all but happy about what was going on.
"Form a hive." Echo's command came with a coldness that surprised those outside her team. In an instant Rose spread her arms, creating a metal cage around them – judging by the look on her face this was beyond just stressful on her. Mint was also visibly pushing herself to the edge and they could tell how the air itself was getting pressured inside their metal dome.
"What's happening?" Sunshine was squeezed against all the others. There was no space between them, not even enough to take a deep breath.
"The world's about to end." Rouge sounded perfectly serious as she said that. "You know why Echo hasn't really participated in battles?"
"Never thought about that." Sunshine outright admitted that. Isn't it just because she's against fighting?
"She's too strong. When she goes all out, a small island ends up under the sea." Rouge still sounded absolutely serious.
"Come on." Sunshine didn't believe her but then the silence that followed shook her conviction. "Seriously?!"
"Less talking. We are way too close. Sunshine, I don't know if you can, but make some shields just outside that metal wall." Mint's voice was strained thin – thinner than Sunshine had ever heard her.
"Isn't this enough- never mind." Following the order, she didn't just put up a single layer of protective barriers – she focused entirely on the front, where Echo had to be, and put everything she had into making four shields, laced together side by side, arranged in an arrow formation. If they're that serious about it, I better be serious too.
She was not the only one that helped out – Luminous started to boost them all to the best of her ability, Bright, Black and Bloom dug in their heels and started holding on to everyone they could reach.
They felt the attack coming. The air pressure fell so hard that it was like someone sucked the oxygen out of their lungs. If not for March, they might well have lost consciousness. Rose, Rouge, Mint and Aqua all thought the same thing. We're way too close!
Aqua had the finest senses and shouted as she felt the built up magic outside about to release. "Everyone hold on!"
Not a single one of them was really prepared for what happened next. The walls shook, Rose and Mint started bleeding from their noses and Sunshine had to be held up by Melody to remain standing, her eyes bloodshot. The ground trembled so hard it heated up – if not for the blizzard ravaging the land, they were sure it would have turned to ash under their feet. Even with March helping equalizing the air pressure they could no longer breathe at all. It was like they were in space, without magic protecting them.
Tick Tock.
They felt the attack coming. And they also all felt the deja vu, the pain that had just taken place. It was like suffering a cut, immediately cooling it in water and then moving it off – only to repeat the process endlessly.
"Everyone hold on!" Something was extremely off, they all knew it. But they couldn't do anything inside their hive, inside their fortification. Echo was out there all alone and they knew that if there had been anyone else out there, they wouldn't be in a hot second.
The cosmos dropped on top of them – breathing, seeing, hearing, it all turned off as the world was briefly colored red and silent. Mint and Rose both could not stand without support and Sunshine coughed up a few drops of blood. March turned blue for a moment, like all air had forcefully been ripped out of her system. Luminous needed help standing as well, her transformation flickering once.
Tick Tock.
The build up of everyone was intense – more intense than anything they could possibly imagine. Outside her own team they only knew that Echo – being a team leader – had to be strong. But this surpassed their expectations at a level that made them feel weak – that made them doubt if they could ever actually beat this monster outside.
"Everyone hold on!" It felt like the thousandth time they had heard Aqua shout this now. A terrible feeling was dominating their stomach regions, like they already knew what would happen next and their bodies screamed out in terror for them to run away. But they couldn't. They also felt this. To try and run away now would lead to certain death.
The impact was so great that the metal cocoon that Rose enacted around them was ruptured in places, cracking and breaking. Blood was running from Rose's nose and her transformation was flickering in and out repeatedly. She was giving everything she had just to keep the barrier going. Mint on the other hand was broken – passed out in the arms of Aqua, her barrier was down for good. Luminous as well could no longer keep going. Sunshine was leaned against Melody, barely conscious. They were all at the very limit of what they could endure.
An intense, high pitched noise assaulted all of them, all of their ears ringing at once. Momentarily after, Rose took down her barrier, a signal that made the others stop trying as well. What they saw beyond their tiny walls, their tiny safe harbor, was hard to put into words.
For as far as their eyes could see, the land was razed flat. No trees, no snow, was left at all. The silhouettes were gone and so was anything else – they stood in a vast, empty wasteland. And only when the first of them – Bright – took a step outside their zone of safety, they realized just how destructive whatever happened out here had to be.
Bright slipped. Several meters she rolled down a slope, atop of which the others remained. Behind them was a tail of earth, extended downward, as if they were atop a mountain. It was an unbelievable level of absolute destruction. No craters, no boiling ponds of magma, no remains of anything. Echo's attack had completely exterminated anything and everything in its wake.
There were over two meters difference in the mound atop which the others were and down where Bright was, coming to a halt in front of a weakened Echo, who simply sat on the barren land. For those on Echo's team this was merely a sight of relief. For the others, a deep respect and worry set in, questioning how and what exactly Echo had done to put hundreds and hundreds of square meters into such a state.
"World Compression." Aqua named the attack for those who did not know. "Echo controls not only sound but also reverberation or ripple effects. Even the five of us, including Urara, don't know just how far her powers go and I don't think Echo knows either. This is the first time she's left behind such a scene of destruction though..."
"Get up!" Bright shouted, not at Echo, but the others. "We don't have much time! The blizzard is about-" She cut herself off when they all started to feel the cold winds slamming against them again. Even Echo couldn't rid them of this weather apparently.
Some of them carried, some hobbling on one leg, the group forced themselves to move. Echo's hair, normally a golden color, had large stains of black in it now. "I can't believe those things…," She said to Bright. "I can't tell how many times… but I definitely had to attack them more than once."
Assailed by the freezing cold, the twenty of them hurried towards the portal, Bright and Echo standing by the side and watching the others go through one by one. It was mind boggling that the portal had survived Echo's attack at all, but none of them questioned it at this time.
They were down to the last handful when Bright started to push them – shoving Ace and Joker and pulling on Rouge, who had been trying to starve off the cold as they walked. She did this because she had good eyesight.
Tick Tock.
"You go ahead. I'll make sure they can't follow us." Echo was still a bit unstable on her legs but Bright didn't see an argument that let her refuse. "Don't worry, I'm stubborn as hell, I won't die."
"We'll be waiting on the other side." Bright nodded to her and jumped through the portal.
All alone in the broken land, Echo faced the veritable army of silhouettes that were coming from the direction they all had come from. She took a deep breath and stood straight up. Dusting off her clothes she raised her right hand and snapped her fingers – like switching the channel of a TV, the world returned to normal, forest displacing the wasteland and a clear sky replacing the blizzard. The silhouettes were suddenly in a state of confusion upon this. Shaking her head and sighing, she snapped her fingers a second time and the silhouettes were just gone.
Turning towards the portal, she stopped and started to stretch. Touching the black in her hair, she created more of such discolored strands by going through her hair repeatedly. Continuing to stretch, bending backwards, raising her arms, bending her legs, she went on with this for several minutes before she was finished. Reaching out and touching the portal, she just smiled and it changed color, turning into a deep red, like that of dried blood. Stepping through it, the portal closed behind her.
In the distance a house had just been freed from the pressure of snow. And within, someone started to twitch and groan.
=== DISSONANCE ===
"I hate this place." Miyuki was at the end of her rope – and thankfully also at the end of the hallway. How many hours, days, or what not, had she spent here? She'd seen over a dozen of these bloody memories now, when would it end?!
Standing inside a really big circular hall – all alone as everyone else had been swept away by the darkness – she was too annoyed to be impressed. She was hungry, thirsty, sleepy, exhausted. She just wanted this to end.
At the far end of this hall was a gigantic mural that stood apart from all others – there was a single woman depicted on it in primitive but somehow elaborate detail. She wielded some kind of staff and she was raising this stuff towards the skies in front of her. It felt nostalgic somehow. Like this was someone she knew but had not seen in a long, long time. So long that she could no longer remember their face or voice, but she did know that she knew them.
But that was impossible. Other than her counterpart and the counterparts of her team, she knew not one soul. This was definitely the end of the journey. But what now? Turning about and examining the other murals, she did not get that nostalgic feeling from any of them. It was only that one woman that was clearly more important than all of the others.
Sitting down, resting her weary legs, Miyuki flapped her lips in exasperation. The hell am I supposed to do now? Don't tell me I was supposed to go back up top and collect everyone. If I have to walk all the way up and down again, you know what, fuck you, I am not doing that. Grumbling in her thoughts, Miyuki continued to look at the center end mural with decreasing interest. Why's she so important anyway?
"Would it have killed them – or whoever made this – to put names plagues next to the murals or something?" Miyuki let her gaze wander and noticed something. That one kinda looks like Karen. It was a mural with a singular Cure on it – the woman was fighting off some kind of enormous snake that was rising from the bottom of the mural. Some kinda water snake? Getting on her feet and a little closer because there was little else to do, she noticed something – an inscription, carved into the solid rock beneath the mural itself. Gibberish. Not like I can possibly read whatever that Cure Leviathan, C.C. 0126 fuehawuhamuah? Backing away from the mural in shock, Miyuki fell over a rock and landed on her ass. "What the hell?" I'm pretty sure I'm not trained in ancient whatever-ese!
Trying to shake it off, she went to the next mural – it was still pretty big but not comparable to the massive center one. Cure Sun, C.C. 0188. How the hell am I reading this? Looking up, she let the mural speak to her – a singular woman, again, wielding what looked like two shields, one in each hand, defending against some kind of formless tentacle mass that came from above. So I'll just assume that shit and the big snake are each the big enemy they had to beat. And I thought Miyuki had it hard beating up a giant clown monster.
Checking out the other murals in the big hall, she was able to read into them – get a rough idea of what they were fighting and from their weaponry and depiction make a crude estimate of what they were like. Every single mural in the hall was of a single woman however. So, no teams back then? And they're all ranging around C.C. 100 to 300. So… is that long ago? Or is that the most recent stuff?
When there was nothing left to do she returned to the singular huge mural. This is the only one that doesn't have any description or whatever. So… what? Is this the most recent Cure and there's just nobody left to write down her name or something? Leaning forward and bonking her head against the flat wall, Miyuki groaned. "Hey. [E] or [Eh] or [Ey] or whatever. You got us all here, so don't sleep on your ass now."
And as if to answer her call, Miyuki felt something behind her – turning about, she saw the white oval thing. Don't tell me that's what souls look like. That would be so lame. "You-"
Thank you.
Miyuki felt the gratitude flow into her, even though it was just an incorporeal voice. No. It wasn't just gratitude. She didn't know what this feeling was. Something greater than just gratitude. On some level she knew what it was, but she did not have a word for it. This is what… she felt when she was saved. A sharp pain soared through her head. She? Who she?
The white oval disappeared and then showed up again far to the other end of the hall – Miyuki lost no time in pursuing it, headache be dammed.
The cruel destiny has become far too powerful for me to fight her. All hope has been lost. The white oval flickered and Miyuki felt the dread, the genuine hopelessness that was radiating off of it. It was an emotion so strong she felt her heart crushed. Nothing mattered. Nothing could be done.
No. I fucking refuse. Focusing a little bit of her own ability into her right hand, she slapped herself – hitting herself with [Wake The Nightmare]. Despair overrode hopelessness and quickly dissipated again. Damn this is tough… hitting myself with this is way different from others. Miyuki, despite her origins, was mentally strong. She had pushed through the incentives of her creator's will through sheer willpower and risen to become a real leader. "There's never no hope! Do you have any idea the world of shit I went through because of how I was made?! If me and my girls managed to come around then there's always hope!"
Worlds have been lost before. Civilizations have crumbled. Kingdoms and Empires were destroyed. Entire races of the people annihilated. And yet none compare to the unstoppable power of the cruel destiny.
"What's so unstoppable about her?"
She is powerful. And unlike the evil of darkness, she walks in the light. She touches the hearts of your fellow Cures.
"And? So what, she's gonna make everyone evil?"
Her goal is to begin a civilization of Cures and wipe out humanity, so they may never again threaten those that live in her golden world.
"I don't get it."
She will convince them that they must either abdicate their role as humanity's protector or outright destroy them.
"If she's so powerful, why not just do it herself?"
To do so would be to become an evil to be defeated by her peers. She wishes for a world of Cures and only Cures, devoid of the people we are sworn to protect. By her very purpose in existing she cannot force them. But lies, illusions, manipulation, those are tools well at her disposal.
"So she can't force anyone and she can't do it herself? Doesn't sound so threatening to me."
Even the hearts of Cures are not immune to despair and hatred. You have seen it for yourself. The pain of losing someone – the despair of loneliness – the hatred for people that betrayed one – the bottomless darkness for humans one can birth even as a Cure.
She did see those memories, but could she be sure they were real? It did make sense that they were real, after all even among the thirteen of them there were a lot of differences. "Still doesn't sound so dangerous to me."
Then let me ask you this – causing the death of billions and billions of humans through cunning and wickedness does not qualify as dangerous?
"If you put that way, sure, that sounds pretty damn dangerous. So why is there no hope again?"
She has already infiltrated the light – the darkness, you and your peers, was all that remained for me to reach.
"What, so we're not good enough?"
Can you save those that are having their hearts poisoned by a light shining too brightly?
"I have no damn idea!" Miyuki proclaimed proudly and stomped her foot on the ground. "But so what?! If I learned anything from her then it's that you never know until you try! What, you thought I was just able to go Yup, here we go and I'm one of the good girls? You have any idea how much hard work it took? How much I had to learn from her? How many times she had to hit me in the back to set me straight when I fucked up? I'm still trying now! I got a long road ahead of me until I'm like her! She's my savior and she in turn had a savior! You think either of us was saved with them knowing in advance they'd manage so?! You won't know if you'll be able to save someone until you try!"
The white oval disappeared without a word – and the chamber shook.
Fuck, did I piss it off and now it's gonna bury me alive? Miyuki fell to her knees, unable to keep standing with the ground violently moving like that. She heard stone grinding unto stone and a massive gust of foul air assailed her from behind.
Turning about she saw that the massive mural had sunk into the ground, revealing a chamber beyond. At first she saw only darkness despite her ability to see perfectly fine in the blackest of nights. As the dust settled, as the chamber filled with air, she saw that there were two people within. The cruel destiny and the white thing?!
But it was not them. They were clad in rags, shattered and worn down by what had to be eons of wear and tear. And yet she knew also; that was wrong. She knew those beyond. She intimately knew them. Her heart beat faster, wildly hammering in her chest as she got back on her feet. I don't know, I've no idea why, but… "I'm here!" She shouted as hard as she could, wanting to convey that feeling, that desire to save them. It was the first time she had ever felt like this; a genuine, overwhelming drive to throw herself into whatever danger awaited to save those two.
It was like an invisible wall – she stopped right before the inner room, her eyes wide with fear, her body shaken by terror and her feet anchored to the ground with survival instinct. I'll die. If I step in there, I'll die. I'll die. It was an overwhelming thought that she couldn't source. Even when Happy, back then, had defeated her, even when she had run from the silhouettes, she had never been subjected to fear like this.
I can't move… if I move, I'll die. Something inside the chamber, other than the two ragged women, was scaring her beyond the capacity of rational thought. F-Fuck rational thought. Miyuki created more energy in her hand – in both hands – and again she slammed herself with the power of nightmares, of a Bad End.
"Aaaaaahhhhh!"
Screaming in terror as she was assaulted by feelings even greater than what she had felt now. But this was a terror she knew where it came from. Biting her lip so hard she drew eager blood, she broke free from the chains that shackled her; stepping into the room.
The fear had not been irrational. Like a sack of sand she collapsed, her eyes vacant and her body unmoving.
=== DISSONANCE ===
"Echo? Hello, earth to Echo?" Waving her hand in front of her leader, Rin clicked her fingers and finally Echo reacted to her. "Finally. You've been spacing out for a good fives minutes. You okay?" Trying to wipe the worried expression from her face, Rin reached out to her long time friend. "Come on."
They were out on the plaza in front of the hotel. A lot of the dark team had come down to help everyone get orientated or to see their friends or girlfriend.
"We made it?" Ayumi looked like she was disoriented and dizzy. "I kind of lost consciousness when I made sure they couldn't follow us through the portal."
"No more portal, no crazy silhouette horrors either. You did good." Rin got up and looked around. "I've been keeping an eye out for Miyuki but I haven't seen her. It's a bit weird… I'd expect she wants to see her girlfriend."
"It's okay, she's probably making herself useful somewhere. I'm not going anywhere."
The same was especially true of those who had protected everyone against Echo's almost world ending attack. A lot of careful activity was keeping the plaza in a constant state of hustle while people were being moved into the hotel.
The sudden appearance of the other side on theirs put everyone into high alert – Echo hadn't told anyone about the attack after all and Heart was also missing. It took the combined might of Ako, Love and Inori to calm down Rikka and Alice, who were just about ready to rip a hole into space itself to go find Mana.
Collecting everyone in the dinning hall, which was actually still functional on this side, made the place very crowded – thirty plus people was not what the room was made for after all. Echo briefly relayed what she knew to Moonlight who then assumed control together with Egret, making it one representative of each team.
There was not a lot of information to go around – Heart was missing and Miyuki had collapsed for unknown reasons. Both sides had hardly any recollection of the last few days and the system appointed caretakers like Sasorina, Mamo and Majorina were all gone without a trace – nobody had seen them that day and the furthest back they could remember them distinctly was several days ago.
A few things they could immediately agree on – One; that this was clearly not a naturally occurring phenomena since the system was partially functioning still but no caretakers were around. Two; that they had to stay in one place for the time being and investigate alternative ways to reach the space that Echo had closed up. Three; They had to find Heart and wake up Happy as quickly as possible.
First order of business became the assignment of rooms – With double the amount of people in this place and the other floors as inaccessible as ever, they had to put up at least two people per room. This was not as difficult they expected; all couples would not mind being in a room together as this was generally how things were all the time to begin with.
And even so, that only left them with seven free rooms before getting the other team set up. Inori being the only one to be single on the dark side, which left an incredibly sour taste in her mouth when she had to actually point it out, offered to let someone stay with her and looked at Kaoru in particular for that, who declined.
In the absence of Mana, who owned the penthouse, Rikka and Regina offered that they would draw up some curtains and bring in some furniture to turn the pool room into a temporary bedroom, getting two more people set up. The only interested parties were Michiru and Kaoru as well as Karen and Komachi, the owners of the penthouse on the other side. Not even the fiftieth floor rooms were big enough to do this, which Ako pointed out after Love suggested to try and do that with room 53.
In the end, Makoto and Ange made an argument for taking the open penthouse space because not only did Ange need to be near Regina, they had also spent years living on the same airplane together so it was hardly something new for them.
The empty room on the fiftieth floor was won by Yayoi – who proved to be an unbeatable master of rock-paper-scissors to the point where Hibiki joked she must have been reading the electric impulses in her brain. An idea that Yayoi immediately wrote down, much to the amusement of Michiru and Kaoru.
At first there was a lot of complaining because, as far as anyone knew, Peace was single. Kaoru quickly stepped in and suggested that since she and Michiru didn't want to be separated and the room was fairly large, they would stay with Yayoi and inconvenience her as little as possible. This was of course a boldfaced lie and a blatant farce – Yayoi was their girlfriend after all.
Two more rooms on the thirtieth floor were free and again the rock-paper-scissors tournament begun. Komachi struck out immediately but Karen made it all the way to the end, losing only to Itsuki, whose inhuman reflexes made her a favorite anyway now that the goddess of Rock-Paper-Scissors was already set up elsewhere.
All that was left were the couple of Mai and Saki, Hikari and Kurumi, as well as as Akane and Nao, neither of which looked at the other.
With four rooms exactly being left, they didn't need to play anymore games to decide who went who. Akane and Nao in particular were not happy with occupying rooms next to each other but especially Akane now knew better than to be a big child and throw a tantrum.
Moving things in and out, the group around Mana quickly realized they didn't actually have any empty room to grab an extra bed from, which was a big problem. Standing together and agonizing over it, Inori forcefully inserted herself into their problem solving conversation and told them they could take her bed.
"Where are you gonna sleep then? I'm not taking your bed if you're ending up on the floor, you know? We do have recliners and towels to make do with if we can't find an extra bed."
"I'll share a room with one of the others that are single." Inori hadn't really thought about this but with all these couples around her and everything she was really longing for company, even if it was not a romantic one.
I said that but who am I going to ask? I am not particularly fond of Akane and Reika is… well, I want company. So I definitely should not ask Reika. Finding Nao in all the mess that was going on was a challenge. Stepping outside and coming up empty, Inori thought she had missed her.
As it turned out, Nao was in the dinning hall, stuffing her face while everyone else was busy. Acting like a cat that was found having gotten into the storage room somehow, she tried to play it off like nothing was wrong.
"Don't stop on my account." Inori sat down across the table. "I know this might seem a little strange, but do you think you could share your room with me?"
"Huh?" Nao looked at Inori weird and something slid down her throat half-chewed. Starting a coughing fit, Nao's head turned red like a lobster. It took her a solid minute to regain some resemblance of composure and ability to speak. "I… uh, I just broke up with someone, and I don't really know you that well, so this is really out of the blue and- what's so funny?"
"I am not asking you out. I just need a place to sleep. You know how Makoto and Ange will set up in the pool room in the penthouse? They do kinda need a bed, you know, being a couple and all."
"You gave them yours?" I bet Reika would have given them hers if they asked. She'd just sleep on the floors… Nao sighed and felt a bit depressed.
"I did. I promise I will not do anything you'd categorize as 'coming on to you' or the likes. I really just want a place to sleep."
"Uh… normally… so if Yayoi asked… no, actually not Yayoi, that'd be pretty bad too… if Miyuki asked… uh… wait, let me start over. So if… Michiru asked..." Nao just looked down and covered her face. "I just realized that my strike zone is a little too wide."
Inori could not help but smile and then a light bulb went on over her head. "So… I'm-"
"I didn't say that sorry gotta do stuff bye see you later!" Speaking with pause, Nao nearly jumped out of her chair and made off, leaving a now bed-less Inori behind.
That… was not how I wanted this to go. So… I'm in her strike zone? Inori couldn't stop blushing. Darn, I am always so levelheaded, so why does this- Inori, get a hold of yourself! It only got worse the more she tried to deny that Nao's commentary had set loose butterflies in her stomach. It's not like she asked me to go out with her! I'm not really into her anyway! She isn't even my type! I do like that she's tall though… Come on Inori!
After so many failed dates and the debacle with Kaoru – who had seemingly grown bored of her at some point and avoided her now – she was just so starved for someone showing interest in her in any way that she couldn't control her feelings when someone said something like that.
Trying to drown her embarrassment with food, Inori grabbed the dish that Nao had left behind and started eating. It only took a little while for someone to sit by her table – someone who was most definitely not into her. "Did you get settled in already, Karen?"
"Not yet. Komachi is handling that. The big problem right now is that we don't have our own clothes – we found that out when we heard Regina wailing like a banshee over it."
"I'm not gonna be any help with that." Inori's excitement hit rock bottom. Karen was not the most entertaining conversational partner. I don't know what Komachi likes about her. Thoughts like this were normally pretty rare in Inori but she didn't have the self-control right now to not think them,
"That's not why I'm here anyway."
"So?"
"Windy and Bright are acting suspicious."
What did you do now, Kaoru? "Suspicious how?"
"Their argument for staying with Peace was pretty flimsy and they were way too quick to decide that. But what tipped me off is that they didn't even ask Yayoi for permission. They just decided it and Yayoi looked happy to oblige. Isn't that suspicious?"
"A bit, but couldn't it just be that they've gotten close? Well… that would still be weird, but isn't Yayoi also a bit of a hermit? Makes sense she'd get along with those two. They're all a bit weird."
"Normally I wouldn't bother coming to you with this at all, but Mana is missing, Miyuki passed out from worrying too much or something and Ayumi keeps doing impossible things like getting all of us here in one piece… and there's the whole Evil Beauty thing as well."
"You think one or multiple of them aren't the real ones?"
"If you're coming up with that so quickly you can't say it's impossible, right?"
"Don't tell me you want me to use [Domination] on them- To begin with, you'd need to get Hikari involved as well and if you ask Hikari, Kurumi is gonna know. That's a lot of people to involve. If you want me to probe around in their memories, that is. That's an incredibly invasive breach of privacy. I'm not doing that without a really good reason." Inori stopped having rude thoughts entirely and was all business now. "I get it that it might be suspicious, but that's going too far. Did you talk to them yet?"
Karen very overtly looked away and Inori frowned at her. "I am not good at talking to them."
"So you want to use mental domination on them?! Karen, you sound like a villain!"
"Hey!"
"No, you do!"
Karen covered her face with both hands. "I know. I know I sound like a villain. It's just… we can't go ten days without something crazy going down, I am sick of it. I need a vacation."
"I can understand that, but I am not going to use [Domination] on any of them. Tell Miyuki- oh."
"Yeah, she's out. And between the other three, none of them seem the type to handle this well at all."
"I'll see if I can't find someone to talk to Kaoru."
"You can't talk to her yourself?"
Inori dropped the fork she was holding and then quickly picked it back up. "I have my reasons."
Karen didn't know what this was about. Wait. Come to think of it, didn't Inori spend a lot of time with Kaoru? Or used to? If they can't even talk to each other anymore…
"Please avoid thinking romantic conspiracy theories." Inori was smiling but it was the kind of smile that one put on when the alternative was eyebrows furrowed so hard they'd cover up your eyes. "I tried to teach her about people skills and she got bored of it. I think."
"Oh. That's different from-"
"Like I said, please stop thinking romantic conspiracy theories." Inori pushed the chair away from the table and got up. "In any case, I'll try to see what's up so please don't go around and tell people that you think they're evil clones or some such." Starting to walk away she heard Karen stand up as well.
Man, I stepped on some serious landmine if she's taking that tone with anyone...I shouldn't have said anything until I had time to think about it in peace. I got a little overeager by being able to talk to Inori. "You know what, forget I said anything. I've been through a lot and I woke up with the world's biggest headache. This might all be just in my head." Karen followed Inori to the exit, both of them moving very slowly.
"Maybe. Can't hurt to see what's up with them being so close to Yayoi regardless."
"If you say so."
"So, what are you gonna wear?"
Karen rolled her eyes. "I have no idea. Beside what I got on, all I have is my Cure outfit and I am not walking around in that all day."
"Well, you have a few centimeters on me, so I won't be much help there. Our shoe sizes might be similar though."
Karen stopped and didn't even attempt to hide a direct look at Inori's chest. "Only a few centimeters though." That made Inori stop as well.
Inori blushed again and covered her chest even though she was fully clothed. "You've hung around Urara too much!"
"It was a joke, a joke." Karen let her shoulders slump, defeated by herself. "Hah… I'm trying to loosen up. Komachi tells me I'm too stiff. Come to think of it, Kurumi also always told me that."
"You do give off a very serious vibe all the time. Not nearly as serious as Reika, though." Inori eased up on covering herself but didn't turn around to face Karen.
"Sometimes I worry if she's a robot."
"Don't say that. I'm sure she has her reasons."
"She's even worse at socializing than Urara!"
"I can't deny that."
"See?"
"Karen, come on, not everyone here is going to be a very social person."
"Almost all of us are."
"So, you are a very social person then?"
Karen internally groaned. "I concede the point."
"I'm not the most social person either… everyone probably thinks it anyway so might as well say it out loud; it sucks being one of the very few singles in this place."
I never actually thought that, but I can see it. "Nobody you're interesting in?"
"The selection is pretty small now and out of those, not really."
"So what's your type?"
"I… can't tell you that."
"It's not me, is it?" Karen looked a bit surprised.
"No. Actually, your smarts, maybe, but..."
Karen walked past Inori at this point. "I guess I only qualify as attractive around non-Cures."
"You're not the type of attractive that I like." Inori wanted to groan. I could have phrased that better.
"So who-" Karen was cut off by Inori giving up.
"Not telling. Don't make me use [Domination] on you."
"Oh, scary." Karen smiled as Inori walked off. "Wait, that was a joke, right?" She didn't get an answer.
There were several problems that didn't need immediate solutions but which they could not put off for long. One was simply the issues of clothing – thankfully the original members of the dark side had access to wardrobes and so clothes could be lent out. A few fringe cases existed – such as Nao who was too tall for anyone but Yuri or Miki to lend her clothes but simultaneously had a few cup sizes on both of them – where it was difficult to get fitting clothes, but all in all things were shaping up to be manageable.
Another big issue was that the doors only corresponded to their original owners – a problem that would have been solved by re-assigning them via the reception but there was no one there; Sasorina was gone without a trace. That was a really big problem, all things considered. The solution came in the form of Erika, who broke into a small room behind the reception by physically picking the lock. This of course got her yelled at by Tsubomi - "Where did you even learn that?!" - but it was appreciated by everyone else. Inside that room they found something very useful – and there is a need to speak of that room first.
A large futon, an old TV hooked up to a just as old VCR occupied most of the back. A very small table with a simply oversized bowl of tangerines filled most of the middle. A small wardrobe was to the left of the entrance, a small stove to the right. It was a one-person, one-room apartment. Unwashed underwear was piling up in one corner, several adult magazines were found under the pillow, a terribly written short story, scribbled while half-asleep it looked like, was discovered in a notepad on the table.
Erika, of course, was impressed with all of this while Yami, who accompanied her on this heist, was also very impressed. The one who was not impressed at all and rather was about to have a heart attack was Yuri, who oversaw the two of them so they wouldn't do something stupid – other than breaking into a system staff room.
The one useful thing they found was a wooden box with a separate lock – that Erika of course had picked the lock of before Yuri could even tell her to not break into any more of Sasorina's privacy.
To think that Sasorina was such… a slob. And these magazines… so that is what she likes? I don't think I'll be able to forget this, ever. Yuri couldn't believe that this was the lifestyle of the woman she had once fought bitterly as her enemy. I need to take great care Yami doesn't end up like this.
The contents of the box were keys – old and weighty iron keys that did not correspond to any lock found anywhere in the building. But possessing one of the keys opened a specific door on the guest floors. It required some trial and error, but as long as a key was in possession, the door could be opened by whoever had it.
The next experiment they ran was whether the key would vanish or something else happen to it if it was left inside alone. Tragically, the key remained perfectly put and the door became locked, requiring the original room owner to open the door.
Two hours just flew by as everyone got settled in. Given the circumstances, everyone was in a good mood. Mana's absence weighted heavy on her friends and even heavier on her girlfriends, and while Ayumi was running around constantly to keep herself busy, everyone knew that she was just desperately trying to avoid thinking about Miyuki.
Up in the penthouse, which was already becoming a hangout for everyone for the time being, a number of girls were discussing the state of things. They were running in circles though. They were circled around a table near the entrance of the pool room, wanting to stay out of the way of everyone in the main room – a lot of clothing exchanging was going on.
"So, we have no idea where that evil beauty came from, why she attacked Echo other than being evil, and we have basically zero information on that other space as well." Honoka sighed. "First order of things should be to find Mana, but if she is lost in the other space, we will have to get there first."
Reika didn't look happy about that. "I cannot let a dangerous doppelganger of myself roam free. If a way is found, I will assuredly go."
"We're all going. We're not teenagers anymore, if there is an enemy, we will defeat them with overwhelming power." Mai was not looking forward to some hard fought battle. She had fill of that when she was younger.
"The big problem is getting there." Miki said and everyone turned to look at Setsuna, who been called there specifically for this issue.
"I know I have experience with other dimensions and I have a spatial affinity… but I don't know the first thing about this place. It doesn't really follow all the physics rules of earth." She wanted to help but their expectations were weighting heavy on her back. "But we have so many different powers here that we will figure something out."
"Nao established that no matter how fast you move, the fog acts as a spatial loop keeping us here." Reika had performed this test earlier with Bright's and Blooms help – the two of them acting like a repelling slingshot, standing in place and catching a speeding Nao and then throwing her back. The resulting sonic boom had rendered all of them deaf for a few seconds.
"So there must be another way." Mai sat back and grabbed the bowl of peanuts that someone had brought with them.
"I tried the exact spot but I closed the portal a bit too well it seems." Ayumi was there as well, looking a bit hopeless. Nobody was saying anything to her but they could all see that she was blaming herself for Mana still being lost on the other side.
"If the system staff were here we could ask them." Miki exhaled slowly. "It worries me that they're all just gone."
"The same happened on our side." Karen was all but happy about that. They actually got along with Majorina.
Honoka, Mai, Karen, Miki, Setsuna, Reika and Ayumi were brooding hard to come up with a solution but nothing immediately presented itself. They branched out to long shot solutions right after. "What about the beach? If we're lucky the beach is connected to the other space and it just a matter of traveling far enough." Honoka suggested this.
"Even if that's true, how do we tell? Do we look for the enormous crater that Ayumi left? Otherwise 'A forest' is not much to go by. And for all we know there could be thousands of kilometers between the beach we know and this other place, if they connect at all." Miki didn't like that idea.
"I didn't have much of a choice about that..."
"Nobody is blaming you, Ayumi. There is no telling what might have happened if you didn't act." Mai shifted the conversation away from Ayumi's evident guilt over the incident.
"There is a beach and mountain location – judging from the task board, there were others, too. Mountains, a bar and a library at least. If the bar and library function similar to Mamo's store, they would be a small and isolated location. It stands to reason that every physical location is connected to the others." Honoka was still convinced that it all existed in the same general space.
"What about the two identical plazas and hotels then?" Setsuna wondered how she explained that.
"They are simply two separate locations in this space. Nothing stops them from existing simultaneously, even if they lead to the same areas. It's like two streets leading to the same spot. It's entirely plausible, even more so if the transportation is not bound by physical constricts." Honoka's field of expertise was really not physics but she had a very good education in general.
"Hm… you are right about that." Setsuna, as someone who knew a thing or two about space and teleporting, agreed.
"Can we still reach those locations?" Reika's question had a quick and obvious answer.
"The fog's capabilities haven't changed. Only the arena is seemingly off-limits." Miki was glad that this was the case. Now that there's thirty-seven of us here, having those places still open means we can get away somewhere quiet.
"From here on out the question becomes if we use the beach or the mountains as a starting point for our excursions. And when we go, who will go." Honoka looked at Mai, who nodded to her.
"Setsuna, how far can you teleport?" Mai asked.
"It depends a lot on whether I know it is safe or not. There's also that I can't teleport endlessly far, I only have so much magic."
"Assuming we make a safe spot for you at the beach and someone carries you and Hikari with them, could you teleport all of you back even if you're several hundred kilometers away?" Honoka wanted to know if that a sure-fire way to return back home.
"I never teleported myself that far, never mind other people. I honestly would be too scared of something going wrong to try."
"Even if that worked, wouldn't whoever went out there have to go the entire way again if she can only teleport one way? I don't see how that would work." Miki didn't believe that would be a workable solution. "I think we'll literally have to sent a group out and they'll have to work something out on the road, so to speak."
"That seems needlessly dangerous with unknown enemies out there." Honoka was against that.
"What if we split into two groups and pursue both locations?" Mai suggested.
"Mai? Not you too. Although that is more sensible than sending a small group."
"That would leave the base totally deserted. What if Mana finds a way back on her own? It's only been a few hours." Setsuna knew that Rikka and Regina, especially those two, would not be happy with just waiting for their girlfriend to maybe come home, but they had to consider the possibility that she would come back. Leaving someone behind to communicate was important, too.
"Splitting up and pursuing a way into the other territory is really dangerous. We might not find a way back. And I don't know how many of us have wilderness survival skills, because I don't! I can barely survive in modern society!" Ayumi was against this idea.
"We would have to prepare quite a bit. Possibly even teach some people survival skills depending on which team they're on." Honoka still wanted to pursue this idea.
"How long are we thinking this is going to take? Mana is the toughest cookie there is, but even she has to eat." Miki wasn't sure what they were all thinking of so she asked.
"That depends entirely on how big this space is." Reika quickly did some math in her head. "With Cure mobility and specialized approaches… if this space is only as big as Japan we could finish in one to three days. If it is the size of China, a week is a more accurate estimate. Beyond that we are looking at long time projects."
Those figures gave them pause. Three days was fine, but surviving out in who knows what kind of environment for a week or longer was going to be hard. "I'm getting a headache." Setsuna was a far cry from being dumb but this conversation was really going nowhere. "Mana is tough. She's even tougher than Love. We should wait a little while before we send anyone, anywhere, especially if it looks like it might take days or weeks to get to wherever we're going."
"I agree with Setsuna. I know it sucks for Rikka, Regina and the others from Mana's team but if we hastily do anything now it'll just backfire." Miki wanted this discussion to be over, too, and stood up.
"Oh, we weren't expecting you to do anything." Regina casually interjected, leaned lightly over the back of Miki's chair.
Everyone suffered a large douse of water when Miki got so startled by Regina's sudden appearance and speaking up that she stepped away, slipped, crashed into Setsuna and both of them fell into the pool.
"Yeah, I think we are done here." Mai, whose hair was now acting as a curtain that hid her entire face, swiped a swill of water away and got up. "I'm going back and take a shower."
Honoka was in a similar situation and looked a bit pissed. "Regina, could I take to you for-" The deadly smile she had on her face made Regina take off in a hurry.
"Oh I know that face! That's the Rikka about to lecture me face!" Running out of the room and dashing straight to the elevator, Regina didn't take any chances. This wasn't even really my fault. I didn't think she'd react like that… Setsuna even saw me.
With the council of the blues and whites adjourned, a tiny resemblance of normalcy returned. Erika, graciously, had gone around and picked just about every lock she could find before Tsubomi put a stop to it. But thanks to that they now had access to the controls of the bathhouse, the backroom of Mamo's store and a kitchen that had hidden behind the dining hall.
"A tasty treat always helps people cheer up and calm down." Hikari was in her element here. The kitchen was spacious enough for four to six people to work together but she was currently only employing a single kitchen help.
Kurumi, despite repeat assistance in the kitchen prior to this, felt that she was more in the way than actually helping. I can't focus on anything when she's walking around with that cute apron and that headband. God, she's so cute I'm- "Ow!" That was the third time she cut her finger. That by itself really didn't bother her. That Hikari descended upon her like a falcon upon prey on the other hand was going to make her wind up dead.
Her head nearly exploded when Hikari, worried, took her hand and put the lightly bleeding finger to her lips, leaving it just a little wet with saliva and Kurumi in a near shock state while she put on the third band aid. "You are such a klutz today, Kurumi… you're lucky I'm always prepared!"
I'm lucky my heart hasn't stopped. Ah… no good… I can see two Hikaris. Calm down, Kurumi, calm down…"I think I'll take a short break to collect my thoughts." Saying this required all of her ability to keep herself together.
"Okay! But come back quickly, right? I need my moral assistance!" Taking Kurumi's other hand and kissing the top of it, Hikari blushed and nearly caused instantaneous death to her girlfriend by heart attack.
Kurumi was breathing like an enraged gorilla when she got out of the kitchen, leaning against the door and blocking it with her entire body. She's gonna kill me. I'm gonna kill me. Get it together, Kurumi! You're Milky Rose! You're a noble knight! A little bit of apron and headband and ponytail is nothing to you! You faced dangerous enemies, were victorious in fights against other Cures, and- She peeked into the kitchen and saw Hikari humming with her eyes closed and putting something on cupcakes. Her heartbeat immediately tripled. You're done for.
Peeking inside again, she caught Hikari doing little twirls that send her long ponytail coiling around her. She's like one of those professional gymnastic girls that have a baton with one of those long cloths on it… No, Kurumi, stop, don't think about Hikari in a skin-tight gymnastic out- aaaaahhhh! Clutching her hair and ruffling her hair, she shut the door again and started to breathe heavy. Ever since last night I can't stop thinking about her this way. I get it, I get it… she's so cute, it's normal I'd wanna think about her like this… but it's Hikari! This sort of thinking was already bad when I was with Karen and she was a lot less innocent! If I mess this up because I couldn't control myself I'll throw myself into the ocean and float off!
Peeking in again, she saw Hikari very focused looking at some kind of giant cookie. "Hm… if I want to make a Kurumi face cookie I should probably bake the foundation stronger so it won't dissolve when I apply syrup and crème."
I'm so done for. Looking straight ahead, Kurumi only realized that someone was standing in front of her – and it was the worst possible person. Not Erika, who would run in and tell Hikari about how she was fidgeting outside. Not Yami, who was really just a second Erika. Not Urara who would make fun of her. Not Honoka, who'd definitely tease her.
"Judging by the tomato head you have going on, I take it Hikari looks very cute in an apron?" Karen smiled at her.
Kurumi knew that trying to get her act together now, after Karen had already seen, was pointless. "Yeah." Stepping away from the door, Kurumi let Karen pass – or would have, but that was not what Karen was there for. "You're not going on?"
"I actually came to check on you. I'm worried."
"About me?" She must mean about my behavior around Hikari. "It's just… she's so cute, whenever she does anything I feel like I'm about- yeah, go ahead and laugh." Kurumi felt bad seeing Karen try to keep her amusement contained.
"Worried about your condition. You took a really big blow from Ayumi!"
"Oh." Oh. Goddammit. "So… about Hikari..."
"So she's that cute, hm?" Karen tried very hard to be more 'friendly', as Komachi put it. Less serious. About two percent Erika, Itsuki had put it.
"If you're going to make fun of me, just do it."
"I won't. I'm happy you have figured out how to be a better version of yourself." Karen's smile disappeared. "Although I wonder what went wrong that you never managed to be that version when we were together." Ah… I shouldn't have said that. But if I try to roll it back now it'll look like I'm still not over her or mad at her. Might as well commit to the topic. "Was I too serious? Not cute enough?"
"It's not actually about anything Hikari is or isn't." Kurumi avoided looking straight at Karen. This was still a very sore point for her. "I was a real shit and needed to be set straight."
"I wouldn't go that far."
"Why not? When I look back at how I behaved I was practically inviting you to set me straight."
"Yeah. I thought about breaking up with you pretty often toward the end."
"I didn't realize I was lucky to be with you."
"We sort of… ended up together after it was all over. Our big adventure concluded and suddenly we were just everyday people. Especially for you there was something missing then, I think."
"I don't know. I just felt like… I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't wanna do anything. I liked being with you but I also… I dunno. Maybe I wanted you to yell at me. But you never did."
"We yelled at each other plenty."
"That's not what I mean. Ugh… I'm still terrible at expressing what I mean. What if I end up saying something shitty to Hikari like a dumbass? I am so not getting a third great girlfriend after blowing it twice."
"Thinking like that is proof you're fine. You never thought like that when you were with me, right?"
"You know, having my ex-girlfriend cheer me on with my current girlfriend is such a weird thing..."
"For me too. But I don't hold a grudge over what happened. Even… even if you turned things around, became who you are now back then, I think we would still have broken up eventually."
"Really?" Kurumi looked a bit sad.
"I like you this way, but not romantically. When I was a teen I liked you for who you were then but as we got older that attitude… I didn't like it anymore. I grew out of it and I think I grew out of you. It's definitely not your fault alone it didn't work out."
"But mostly my fault."
"Yeah. Mostly your fault. But it's fine." Karen opened the door just a little bit and peeked inside. "Hm, didn't you say Hikari is in there? I can't see anyone."
"Maybe she's in the storage room. Get your big nose out of there or she'll see you!" Tugging on Karen's hand like a child, Kurumi got her to back off.
"I don't think you were ever this cutesy acting around me. I only remember the bold, nosy, haughty Kurumi."
"Ugh please spare me, I'd rather not remember."
"You did change a lot. In a really short time, too."
"I got a hard enough wake up call, thanks to you. I'm glad you did. I'm… thank you." Kurumi blushed in a very different way from usual thanking Karen. Bowing to her after thanking her, she felt better. "And I'm sorry for… all the bad times."
Putting her hand on Kurumi's head, Karen ruffled her hair as hard as she could and made a big mess of it. "There's your punishment! That'll take hours to fix!" Chuckling and watching Kurumi raise her head and pout, Karen grinned. "I'm sorry for how things ended up, too. It's easy to forget when we look around us and see couples like Honoka and Nagisa or Love and Setsuna all around us, but… most relationships between teenagers don't survive growing up. We're definitely not the only ones that messed up."
"Hibiki and Kanade." Kurumi brought up giddily.
"Okay, messing up that hard is kinda special in its own way."
"Say… what happened Karen?"
"Hm?"
"You're much more… I guess, easier to talk to is what I mean?"
"Komachi has been making a really big effort to change. She wants to be more proactive, more lively. I thought she was fine as she was, but if she wants to change I want to support her in it."
"And so you wanted to change too?"
"I asked her what my biggest flaw is and she didn't take more than a second to tell me..."
"Ouch."
"You're too serious too much, she said."
"That's a hundred percent accurate though."
"Great, I have my ex-girlfriend and my current girlfriend agree on that matter, that's exactly what a woman wants to hear."
"You're doing good though." Kurumi smiled and it made Karen feel better about herself. "Gonna take a few centuries before you learn what humor is, though."
"Hey."
"Just saying how it is."
"Maybe when I learn what humor is you'll be able to look at Hikari without turning into mapo tofu!"
"Hey!"
"Just saying how it is."
"Oh, I see how it is now!"
Unbeknownst to them, Hikari had heard almost the entire conversation – she hadn't meant to eavesdrop but when she went to check on Kurumi, she heard them talking and couldn't get away. Her eyes were a little red now. I'm so proud of you, Kurumi. You always had that worried look whenever Karen was around. I'm glad you're able to talk to her like this now. While Hikari was fairly naive and dense about romance and her own feelings, she was pretty perceptive about such things. Mostly because Nagisa was a lot like that and Honoka talked about Nagisa a lot.
Rubbing the last of her happy tears from her eyes, she very slowly and deliberately made her way back to the kitchen counter. They almost caught me… I wasn't ready for Karen to just open the door in the middle of their conversation.
"It's a little weird to see you without Komachi, actually."
"She's still in the process of finding someone to borrow clothes from."
"Still?!" Kurumi paused. "Well, I can see it."
"She's… all..."
"Va-Va-Voom?"
"I have no idea what that means, Kurumi."
"Erika… no, Yayoi probably would."
"That just means I'll never understand."
"Fair."
"I can guess what it means, though."
"She's not short and she's got killer boobs and hips."
Karen lightly bonked Kurumi on the head. "How would you feel if I called Hikari Cute little angel with a crazy tight butt." There was a very long and awkward moment of silence between them.
"Let's never talk about each other's girlfriend's bodies again." Kurumi was going to have nightmares about this.
"Good idea." And so would Karen.
"Who are you borrowing from?"
"Miki. She's a bit taller than me but otherwise we have a very similar build."
"I'm borrowing from Tsubomi."
"You know I'm surprised Erika hasn't offered to just make clothes for us."
"She'll charge you an arm and a leg."
"I don't think so, actually."
"Really?" Kurumi tilted her head.
"She loves making clothes, right? I think she'd be happy making them at cost as long as we wear them."
"I would prefer my own clothes instead of borrowing from Tsubomi… especially underwear."
"You can't share with Hikari?"
"I'd rather die than ask Hikari to give me her underwear."
"You'd probably die trying to wear them, too."
"Absolutely would."
"I honestly never thought she'd be your type. Considering she's fairly different from me."
"Just because you got a head and a few cup sizes on her?"
Karen felt embarrassed, because that was exactly what she thought. "Yeah."
"I actually like that I'm taller."
"You did always wear those crazy heels when we went out so you'd be taller than me."
"And still you never figured out why..."
"I just thought you liked them!"
"I wanted to be taller than you! My entire Cure outfit is a knight! I wanted to protect my princess!"
Karen blushed again, this time because she remembered the good times with Kurumi. "You can still do that." Shock sailed over Kurumi's face for a moment and Karen also reacted with shock. "No! That's not what I mean! We're… friends, right? At least I think of you as a friend."
"I knew that wasn't what you meant but for a moment it sounded like that and… I know you don't want to go back to that, but my reaction… I just realized that even if I didn't have Hikari, I wouldn't want to be your girlfriend again."
"Same for me. I cherish you, but only as a friend."
"Komachi would have an anxiety attack if she had heard you say that line about protecting you..."
"She really would."
"I want to tell her to be confident but I feel it would only sounds like I was mocking her..."
"Komachi doesn't think of you that way."
"I know you can't tell me that, but I think she hates me because-" Kurumi was so surprised that Karen slapped her that it didn't really hurt until seconds later.
"Don't ever say that. Ever. Komachi isn't like that and it's not okay to think she hates you."
"I'm sorry, it's just… I heard how heartbroken she was and I know I would for sure have… but you're right. I guess I still mess up when it comes down to it."
"You're a real idiot. Just think about what kind of person Komachi is."
"How?"
"What do you mean, how?"
"I didn't see her for years and I barely talked to her since you two got together. I don't really know what kind of person she is. And… honestly, I'm scared of finding out what she thinks of me."
"And I'm telling you that you're an idiot."
"No need to call me an idiot twice!"
"Idiot."
"Enough!"
"No. Tell Hikari I invited you and her to eat with Komachi and me later. I'm not gonna let you wallow in some delusion that Komachi holds a grudge against you or hated you at any point."
"How do you even know she never did?"
"Because I've known Komachi for a long time. She's my girlfriend. I understood why she wants to change herself. I know she never hated you because I know I never did. Even through all the shit you pulled I loved you, all the way to the end. But even when I loved you I couldn't- no, I didn't want to put up with your shit anymore."
I've never seen her this angry. "Fine."
"What, fine?"
"I'll show up for dinner with Komachi. I already get that I'm in the wrong but I also get that just saying so isn't gonna make you believe me. So I'll show up. I'll put my money where my mouth is."
"Good." Stomping with every step as she walked away, Karen found herself sitting on the floor, face buried in Komachi's skirt, not ten minutes later. "I'm so dumb."
Lightly brushing her hand through Karen's hair, Komachi tried to get out of her what happened. She already had a pretty good guess. "Did you get into an argument with Kurumi?"
"I was talking with her so well and then we just ended up talking about you and she said she thinks you hate her and I just..."
"You overreacted." I understand why but… Karen, that really is dumb. Of course she couldn't say that to her girlfriend. "You still always overreact when it comes to me. Didn't you also often fight with her about this when you were together?"
"I don't really like talking about my time with her with you..."
"Karen, I'm twenty years old – do you think I will just pretend you two were never a couple if you don't talk about it?"
There was a break just long enough to undermine Karen's credibility. "No."
"I never hated Kurumi."
"I know. I told her that. You're not-"
"I was jealous enough however to write a short story about her where she ends up stranded on a planet where everything tastes like old eggplant."
Karen looked up and right at Komachi. "What?"
"I can get pretty jealous."
"You're kidding, right?"
"No."
"You wrote a story about her?"
"It's not published."
"You wrote a story… wait, Kurumi doesn't even hate eggplant."
"I hate it."
"First I've heard of this!"
"I don't go around advertising I dreamed about stealing you back from Kurumi."
"What?"
"Kurumi was not a good person and you overreact, but I am not as pure minded as you think I am. I was sad and lonely a lot. I honestly thought it was a blessing we all ended up here and I couldn't believe my luck when you dumped Kurumi. I hate now how I felt then but that was the happiest moment in years."
Karen didn't know what to say and just looked at Komachi like she was a different person. "I knew you were lonely, but..."
"I love you, Karen. I have for a really long time. That's why I felt that way. But I would have felt the same way if it was anyone. So you're right in that I don't hate or dislike Kurumi. It was just that anyone who took you away from me I would have been jealous of."
"I'm amazed you can just tell me all that to my face."
Komachi blushed a little. "I had some help."
"Help?"
"Rikka needed calming down and Regina grabbed the next best person – that being me – to help her and we had a few drinks."
"You're drunk?!"
"Just a little bit of liquid courage."
"I can't believe what I'm hearing."
"Karen." The tone was surprisingly serious. "I'm worried about Rikka and Regina. Especially Regina. She puts up a tough front but I can tell. Because I know what it is like to put up a tough front but suffer on the inside. She's not doing okay. Rikka too."
"We talked about it, but there isn't anything we can do right now."
"I know that and they know that too. Especially Rikka. But even so they're not okay. Honestly… I'm glad we're all on the same side. More people means they'll be alone less."
"You're scaring me a little with this, Komachi." Finally getting up, Karen sat on Komachi's lap, putting her arms around her back. "You think someone needs to have an eye on them?"
"I'm not a crisis counselor so I don't know… but I can tell they're hurting a lot. Especially Rikka right now. I felt scared talking to her."
"Why didn't you have someone come and get me?"
"I honestly thought it would make it worse to have my girlfriend there."
"Those two didn't strike me as the fragile type at all..."
"Everyone they ever loved is dead." The words hit Karen like a sledgehammer to the chest. "Their entire world died. To them, everyone died. I heard from Regina after Rikka went to sleep how things ended up… If I had gone through that I think I wouldn't be alive. I couldn't have handled that."
"Now you're really scaring me."
"We should look after them. They're older than us but until Mana is back we should see to it that they don't feel her absence as much."
"I'll talk to the others again. How much of what you told me can't leave this room?"
"I'm not sure. Say what you need to say, I think."
"There is no way most of them realize how important it is we find Mana. I didn't realize either."
"They're good at hiding it. But I think deep down they're hurting in a way we can't ever understand."
"We saw their world, but actually living in it… feeling responsible… I didn't stop to think about how..." Karen felt tears well up in her eyes and she rested her head against Komachi's shoulder, not saying anything now.
I was glad Regina was drinking too much to realize I felt exactly like Karen feels now. When it hit me how they must feel, how they must hurt… I couldn't even say anything… because I can't ever understand their real pain. I can only imagine.
"It makes me feel stupid, getting sad over what tiny little issues I have with Kurumi..."
"Everyone has their own issues. We can be sad about what bothers us. It's not wrong of us to do that. And I don't think we should look at this with a 'It could be so much worse' angle either. Those six wouldn't want anyone to do that. We will never understand their pain but we can do our best to help them deal with it when they need us to."
"Talking to you like this makes me think that between the two of us, you're the mature one and I'm the Kurumi of the relationship."
"A little bit of Kurumi, maybe."
"Oh yeah… we'll eat dinner together with Kurumi and Hikari."
"You missed your chance to tell me that without it being awkward."
"I know." Sighing, Karen hugged her girlfriend tight. "I didn't expect this conversation to turn into something this serious."
"Me neither… but I had to tell you about Rikka and Regina. That sort of thing is probably dangerous to keep all to myself."
"Now I'm really anxious… you have any of that alcohol left?"
They were not the only ones dealing with the fallout of others mental burden. Outside, at the beach, Michiru and Kaoru had dragged out Ayumi. "Spill it. Who are you? What are you doing impersonating Dream?" Michiru got right to the point.
"I told you that I am here to help you in repelling the cruel destiny. The truth of the matter is, I am, in a way, the creator of the cruel destiny."
Ayumi turned to the ocean, leaving herself wide open to Michiru and Kaoru, who were now on full guard. "I was born almost a thousand years ago and have watched not over humanity since but the Cures that protect humanity. The protectors overseers, if you will. Generally speaking I awoke to little in the way of powers. I could record that which transpired and eternally record the acts and quests of my brethren. That is how in now's time there are many legends of the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure." Ayumi held out her right hand and switched instantly to her Cure Echo form. Still keeping her right arm raised straight in front of her, she continued.
"Around six hundred years ago, I discovered something. Approaching a Cure that was about to die would let me take their power. And in turn, that power would be passed on to another. This drastically increased the number of Cures over the years. That is why it is now not an oddity to have over thirty of you within a span of a decade. A thousand years ago I regarded it was extreme to have five Cures across fifty years in total."
Michiru and Kaoru exchanged looks and lowered their guard. They didn't know what to make of this presumably tall tale.
"Every time I took a power and passed it on, some of it stayed with me. Other times, the power changed. That is also why you have so many varied power bases now. But the greatest change of it all is the sheer number of powers that stayed with me and the strength it grave me. Witness." Clenching her fist, a pitch black aura emanated from Echo – it was neither evil nor did it give off a dangerous impression. It was similar to Black's, Muse's or Joker's power in a way.
"Midnight Serpent." A black force burst from her then opening palm and it cut apart the ocean all the way to the horizon – it was a cut right down to the sea bed, even hundreds of meters out. "That is the power that I received from Cure Nightingale."
"How many powers do you have?" Kaoru was deeply impressed and also worried by this display.
"Hundreds. Too many to explain them to you all."
"So where did this cruel destiny come from?"
"Cure Eternal." Echo looked distraught. "Over the many centuries I saw the many fates that Cures had to endure. Few lived a life in happiness. Seeing the injustice of humans again and again for so long gave rise to something dark within me. And when I took the power of Cure Twilight, that darkness inside of me took form. My psyche, my self, split into two – I, Cure Echo, the observer, was left without the festering darkness inside of me. Eternal on the other hand was filled with an unquenchable hatred for humans."
It would have been so easy for those two to call her evil then, but they knew it was not that easy. They had been born as agents of evil and they rose above it. And so they understood that evil was a matter of perspective. Keeping quiet, they let Echo continue.
"We fought and through sacrificing my own freedom I was able to imprison her in the Memento Kyura, the Cure's hall of memories, a magical mausoleum detailing the deeds of all the Cures whose acts I recorded."
"How did she get free?"
"I am not entirely sure on that." Echo turned back to the sisters. "Someone who is both Cure and at the same time not entered the Memento and somehow unlocked the innermost chamber – where she and I lay imprisoned. I can only surmise that she managed to connect to them somehow and manipulate them with illusions or some such thing."
"What do you mean by Both Cure and not? Someone like Regina?"
"No. It was more… a perversion of what a Cure is and yet simultaneously I could sense the intrinsic values of a Cure in them. Like a warped image that had been corrected."
"One of the Mirrors?" Kaoru asked Michiru, quietly.
"Weren't they all destroyed?"
"I don't know. We can't be sure of that. It's unlikely, though."
"The true problem of her being free lies in what her goal is; a perfect world and society consisting only of Cures. I remember how I felt about humans after witnessing them betray us again and again – it is my fault that Eternal exists and so I must rectify it."
"By killing her?"
"She can't be killed, just as I cannot be killed. Even if everyone here would train another decade, I could kill all of you in seconds."
Both of them didn't want to believe her but they couldn't rule it out either. If it was a bluff the earlier demonstration really made it hard to call it. "So what do you plan to do?"
"Destroy her drive by establishing a different kind of perfect world first. I was foolish to think imprisonment was a real solution. I am simply lucky that this space is cut away from our planet."
"How are you going to do that?"
"I have enormous power and could easily compel all of you to follow my whims, but therein lies the crux of the matter – Eternal would see this and neutralize my spell. The only way to truly defeat her is to empower all of you with the drive to live in a world by and for Cures without humans – and yet this world will be the guardian of the human's world. Instead of destroying the humans – as Eternal would have it – we will accomplish her goal and protect humanity."
Kaoru stepped forward. "And what exactly does that mean?"
"I will have to convince everyone to never return to earth – to claim this place as a permanent home. To build a new civilization here."
"We're all women here. Unless you want all of us to be immortal, there won't be much of a civilization. Not to mention how far out this all sounds."
"I can easily arrange for any of you to be pregnant with the child of the one you love."
They both looked at each other and exchanged a single thought – what would a child with Yayoi look like? Their imaginations took very different paths and they quickly broke free of the momentary delusion. "I don't believe this is doable. Everyone is very attached to their families and such."
"You have seen what has transpired in the world of Heart and the others, haven't you?"
"Speaking of Heart, where is she?!" Michiru stepped forward with a far too aggressive stance for Kaoru's liking.
"I do not know. The other realm – that is the realm of this dimensions other half – belongs to Eternal now. Her power saps away the strength of this place. I can only surmise that those who would act here as administrators were also displaced by her."
"That's mighty convenient for you."
"Convenient?!" Echo raised her voice and grit her teeth in anger. A murderous aura emanated from her. "She is the one who stands at the apex of my ideals! One who would surely see the truth behind my vision of a Utopia that protects humanity without being victim to them! To lose her… I went easy on her memories because I needed her! She was to be my vanguard! My trusted comrade! To suggest that I stranded her is-!" Extreme anger flared in Echo's eyes and both sisters wished they could transform in anticipation of violence being rained down on them. But Echo forcefully calmed herself down by releasing her anger into the ocean – a massive spout of water flew into the air as she directed her excess power into the water.
"Let's not piss her off." Michiru whispered to Kaoru and they agreed and made a mental note to go out in Cure form next time."It's strange that she can transform like that and we have to get our outfits..."
"I apologize. I still find it difficult to interact with people."
"No frie-" Michiru was elbowed by her sister before she could finish.
"Going back to Heart's world. That is the ultimate result of humanity becoming too involved with Cures. Such a world serves as an example of why it would be best to remove ourselves from humanity's reach. Tough and trial it might be for those with family to leave them behind, does it not give solace to them that a fate like Heart's would never transpire then?"
"She does make a good point," Kaoru told Michiru.
"But as I wish to build this society, I must be vigilant against the intrusions of the cruel destiny. Just as I wish to sway Cures towards joining my Utopia, no doubt will she try to pollute their hearts with the darkness that springs from humanity."
"Didn't you say you could just mind control us and she'd cancel it out? Can't you do the same then?"
"No. As much as I am saddened to say it, the cruel destiny is much more powerful than me. Our powers are greatly enhanced by strong emotions and she has emotions the likes of which I will never have again. She will sway them to her side with lies, illusions and deceit."
"And if that doesn't work? Won't she do the old If I can't have you, nobody can?" Michiru raised a solid concern.
"No. Before all, she loves Cures more than anything else in the world. Why she may poison their mind to rid herself of humanity, she is fundamentally me. I wish for a Utopia of Cures, free of mankind's struggles. But I also wish to protect them from the darkness that exists all about. They deserve our protection and they must have it. Even without our Utopia, we must continue to protect them. But given the choice, given the means, I want to claim a small plot of happiness for ourselves. So that tragedy will no longer devour the souls and hearts of those that give everything to protect humankind and ask for nothing in return."
It struck a cord with both sisters. They could relate to this – they were unsure of their own future and especially the future of the world after having seen how disjointed some teams became and how dreadful the world of Heart's group had ended up. A world, a small world, of just Cures would be difficult to get used to at first. But they also wanted it. People were difficult and not all of them were good. In fact, there were many that were full of negative things. But they held on to the desire to protect the good ones – and since they never knew who would be good one day, they wanted to protect everyone. But not at the cost of themselves… Mai and Saki… Yayoi… of anyone they now counted as their friend. No. What Echo was saying rung through within their heart."
"What happened to Dream?" The question came out of nowhere and was posed by Kaoru.
"I say that I replaced her, that I took her place, but in truth it was the cruel destiny's reach within this space that allowed me to take a corporeal form and fill the gap that she left. I cannot say I know what her plan for Dream is, but I fear she will be lead against us."
"So, concretely, what do we do?" Michiru very deliberately said we because she had decided to be on board with this. It would take a monumental effort to convince even one of the others, but they would try. If the danger Cure Eternal posed was truly so great that she deserved the moniker of Cruel Destiny then simply fighting her was likely for naught. "And are you absolutely sure we cannot simply fight her?"
"I could sink all of Japan into the ocean in a matter of minutes. And the cruel destiny is still far stronger than I am."
"Forget I asked then." There is no way that is even still Cure level. She's practically a divine entity at this point and one that far exceeds Hikari at that.
Echo held out her hand and created a small circular object – it was like a ring, just far bigger. Michiru recognized the size as something that would fit on an arm. "This is the power of Cure Purity, the Souldew Armlet. If you can wear it, it will prove that you are free of doubt and willing to be a part of the golden world of Cures." Throwing the armlet to Michiru, Echo smiled a little awkwardly. "There is the small benefit of it linking you to my powers. It is possible that it might make you stronger while you wear it. I never had a chance to test it before."
"Do you have a way to get into the other realm?"
"I do. But it will take time. It was not that I closed the portal willingly – the cruel destiny had sent her minions after us. It was likely some combination of Cure Hourglass's power – she had the ability to rewind time a few seconds at a time. But she could never go truly into the past with that. Those things that hunted us were no doubt her creation."
"And the big blast you did?"
"Merely a show of force." Echo canceled her transformation. "The situation is still too unstable, too new, for me to move openly. The seeds of wanting a better future will have to be sown at the right time, not today. For now we must focus on maintaining the fragile balance we have and I must work on safely opening an entrance to the cruel destiny's realm."
"Why not just tell everyone?" Michiru asked a very important question.
"I can tell how difficult it is for you to believe me. How would those closest to Dream feel? Those close to Heart? I am an impostor that has appeared from unknowns great and I posses divine-like power. How could they do anything but fear me and drive me out? I am not a savior that has come to you in your time of need. No, I am who has to be saved by all of you. Please keep this – my identity and the cruel destiny – a secret for now."
"Hm." Kaoru believed her but even believing her, she found it hard to completely trust her. And she knew that Michiru felt the same. "What about that Reika clone that allegedly attacked you. That even true?"
"It is, albeit the circumstances differ slightly. I ventured into the other realm to attempt and stop the cruel destiny before it was too late. Alas, it already was."
"Too late?"
"I know not the true identity of the Beauty that assailed me, but she was powerful. Whether this power has come from the cruel destiny or not, I cannot say."
"More powerful than our Beauty?"
"Without doubt."
"Can this Eternal create life? Like a clone?"
Ayumi shook her head. "Simple life, like plants and trees, yes. But nothing that can think, however primitive it may be."
The sisters exchanged looks and Kaoru started up again. "To summarize, you're an ancient overseer of Cure history that eventually found out she could take on a Cure's power and pass it to future generations – by doing so you retained a bit of that power and over centuries you became insanely powerful. But at the same time you grew frustrated and hopeless over how humans were treating Cures and when you absorbed a specific power, Eternal was born from these emotions. She has all the same powers you do and dreams of a world for only Cures, free of humans and wants to destroy humanity that way. She can't be beaten in an open fight so the only way to stop her is to deny her vision."
"All of that is correct."
"Why not just deny her invitation?"
"You will die."
"You said she would not attack us."
"I misspoke. I meant to say, in the future, you will die. Your powers will be passed on by me and her and the next generations will likely be split into following her and me. She will never stop trying as long as her vision has not been denied by replacing it."
Kaoru clicked her tongue. "Not much we can do against someone who is just going to wait decades and prey on the next generations."
"Other than reaching her goal before her, there is nothing we can do."
"Continuing, the place we traveled through is the other realm – isn't there a better name for it?"
"Eternal and I were banished there by my power – if you wish you can call it the Banished Realm or some such."
"The Banish it is. Within that other realm are some sort of duplicate Cures whose true identity we do not know but it is highly probable they're made stronger by Eternal. We have to go there to save Heart – and I will assume that Dream is there as well. That means we have to be able to stand against those other Cures. Let's just call them Bane Cures for now."
"My heart aches at such a name but do as you must."
"You will find a way to open a gateway to the other realm and- I am not sure, were you saying you would find a way to strengthen us?"
"I do not wish for any of you to suffer harm – but it is likely that if I step into the other realm again that a confrontation with Eternal is unavoidable. So you will most likely have to proceed without me being there. Eternal will not hurt you, but I do not know if the same is true of these… Bane Cures." She was visibly uncomfortable calling them that. "To better your chances of success I will find a way to bestow lasting power onto you in some way."
"So for now we should just play along with your pretense and not tell anyone because it could shake them up too much and play right into Eternal's hands?"
"That I would be grateful for."
"I don't believe everything you have said but I believe enough to tell you that I don't believe everything. Trust is not gained so easily." Kaoru ignored the mild disappointment on Ayumi's face.
"I feel the same. This is a pretty far out there story, even for the likes of us. But it isn't so far out that we can rule any of it out as impossible. We believe you – but we do not fully trust you yet."
"Only a fool would ask for more at this stage of things. You have my gratitude."
"I got another question." Kaoru stepped forward and looked at the ocean. "Were you exaggerating when you said you could sink Japan into the ocean?"
"No. To put a clear destructive force to the cruel destiny's power, it would be akin to trying to stop the moon from crashing into the earth when it was on a collision course."
The moon?! Kaoru could barely comprehend how destructive that would be. Was there even going to be a planet left after that? "We're lucky then that Eternal is not someone who would attack us head-on."
"Do not think of her as evil – she is… the darkest parts of myself. Even us Cures are not free of the capacity to despair and feel torment. I cannot blame the cruel destiny for her will. She cannot see a future where we will live in peace while humans still exist."
"Oh yeah, coming back to that. You said you wanted to create a Utopia for Cures. So, you'd be like our queen then? Or a like a president?"
"I will not be a part of that Utopia."
Both sisters exclaimed at once. "What?!"
"An overseer is an overseer – not one who would rule. Further, I am effectively immortal at this point. If I were to rule, I would have to rule forever and the thought frightens me. I wish that the ones of you who are purest of heart would rule. Ones like Heart, specifically."
"What would you do then? Disappear?"
"Much as I have watched over Cures until now I will return to doing just that. To know that the Utopia exists will grant me inner peace that nothing will ever be able to destroy."
"And what about Eternal?"
"She is still myself. She too will know inner peace – perhaps she might even return to where she came from."
"What do you mean?"
"If true Utopia is achieved, her hatred might be quenched and we might become one again. That is merely speculation on my part. I don't know if such a thing is even possible."
"Man, I thought the mirrors and the masquerade were a big pain in the ass, but this is on a completely different level. It's like going from street performance to acting on the world stage." Michiru ruffled her hair. "At least now we know what we're up against."
"My heart aches that it has come to this. But it would break if I were to do nothing and leave the cruel destiny free reign."
"Yeah. Good decision. Honestly, between living away from people with Cures and protecting people and just living among Cures after people were all eradicated, the choice is really obvious even to us. We're protectors." Michiru did not lie; she truly felt that way.
"I am glad to hear that."
"This is going to be a real bitch to keep secret from Yayoi." Kaoru groaned. "Hey. It won't hurt if we bring her into the fold and tell her as long as she understands and keeps the secret, right?"
"On the contrary, that would be wonderful. Even one more that could see the severity of the situation and decide to aid us in establishing a world of our own will be a great step forward."
"You said you could facilitate having kids – but we are just thirty-seven people and that is not enough for a diverse gene pool."
"Future generations will come to be with you before such a thing becomes a danger. Never before have there been more Cures than in these times now."
"I remember you saying that. So the longer you exist, the more Cures there will be?"
"Only until our Utopia has passed the threshold to no longer require me so. I shall pass on powers no more for it will be you who will pass your powers onto your children."
"I never even thought about having kids. Although this will be a major selling point for like Honoka and Mai." Kaoru did briefly think about what a child with Yayoi would look like, but at the time she didn't consider the child would inherit her powers, too.
"There will be much time for such contemplation. All of you are very young – well, it might not sound like a compliment if I say it."
"What were Cures like a thousand years ago?"
"They were as varied as they are now… but I must say that over time, the cases of Cures that have lost their mind and compassion for humans has decreased."
"There were Cures that went insane?"
"Some of the earliest that formed groups had their comrades perish. Their psyche did not survive such an event intact. One of the worst cases was Cure Panacea, whose intense hatred for humanity transformed her powers of healing into the Black Death, a deadly disease that swept across the lands. I fear that without my passing on her power to another, it would have caused civilization to perish in many places."
"Holy shit." Michiru had no other words for that revelation. "I guess the world can be glad you're around."
"That is not so. Without my doing, while civilization might have perished in a third of the world or more, humanity would have survived. But now it is my very existence that has given rise to the cruel destiny and now all of humanity is in danger."
"Don't be so dramatic. You did a good thing. Nobody never makes any mistakes."
"You have my gratitude. Sill-"
"Think whatever you want. But we're glad you were there to pass on Panacea's power."
"I got a question." Michiru didn't know if this was an appropriate question or not. "Have Cures always gravitated towards being lesbians?"
Ayumi didn't blush at all, confronted with that question. "I know of four that were not lovers of women. Cure Primrose, born a long time ago in the land now known as France was the first. Cure Butterfly, born to an indigenous tribe on what would come to be called America. Cure Thunderstrike, who was a titan of a woman and lived among the warriors of the ancient country of the Danes. And Cure Dream, whom you should be familiar with."
"Did any of them have children?"
This question however fazed Ayumi and she lowered her gaze all the way to the ground. "None of them did."
I shouldn't pry further than this. I can already imagine that they didn't have happy lives, considering her attitude. Michiru called it quits there.
"Were Cures always born to fight off some invading force or evil?"
"That is a very recent development. As humanity increased in numbers, it attracted more evils. But in the past, Cures were often born to avert a crisis or sometimes even without discernible reason at all. Cure Nature was one such Cure – born from an orphan girl, she lived all of fifty years among nature and never came into contact with people of her own accord."
That's strange. I was sure that fighting off evil was why we exist in the first place. "Do you know what triggers someone to become a Cure?"
"I do not. But I could sense on earth when a new Cure had been born and witness her journey through my powers. I never questioned the why and I would never interfere until their life had come to an end."
"A true neutral observer then. It's almost tragic that not interfering and saving those you could have saved probably gave rise to Eternal." Michiru knew full well what this was going to do to Ayumi.
"It… is as you say..." The lack of anger was one of two scenarios that Michiru expected. If she had gotten emotional, it would prove that there was a hidden side to her that she hadn't shown yet – an anger at Eternal and herself that she hid. But it looked like she was simply genuinely sorry for what was happening.
"All right, we're going back. We'll keep our mouth shut and you'll have our support. And, since we didn't say it yet, thank you for keeping everyone from going bonkers."
"Nothing to thank me for. Here I can no longer be just an observer and so I must do what I can."
"How long do you think it will take you to erase or suppress or whatever the memories of those ten years?"
"A few days at the least."
Kaoru laughed, embarrassed over herself. "All I could do was suppress it and even that took me a while. This power discrepancy is really something."
"Ah, I did not mean to say that you are not-"
"Please, I'm messing with you. It's good to know some unspeakably powerful enemy isn't just going to ambush us. For once we know what's coming." Kaoru smirked. "Good to have you on our side, Echo."
"I am grateful to count you as being on my side." Ayumi smiled wide and from the bottom of her heard.
=== DISSONANCE ===
She understood the vastness of life now. She understood that she did not understand the vastness of people. Life was a grand adventure, lasting from birth to death, a labyrinthine journey with innumerable choices to be made – and yet all of them lead to the same end; death.
She was just an observer – a being that was not truly there and would never be truly anywhere. Life did not apply to her for there were no choices. Without choices, there was no life, no living, but merely existence. And she did exist, that much she knew. She existed to witness the choices of others, to record their life. But no matter how much she witnessed, no matter how much she recorded, still there were an unknowable amount of choices she had never seen before.
Every journey she saw was unique – while many shared some of their choices with others, walked part of the way together through the grand labyrinth of their life, still there remained a uniqueness to everyone. No two were alike and none were the same. Follow behind, following from above and afar, following from below and beside, she saw and she recorded. That was all there was to her.
At the end of their existence she would appear to them and she would collect them and their choices to be remembered by her for all of time, to be recorded in the grand magic, the Kyura Memento. None ever set foot within other than her and the ones she brought – it didn't exist in the world but far from it beyond the reaches of anyone but her.
She did this for eons, for millennia and centuries. She had done this when civilization of the people was no more than a new born thing. And for some reason, through methods beyond her understanding, she had gained names that others knew her by. The White Savior. The Light at the end of the Path. The Goddess. Of course she was none of these things at all. She was merely She and that was all. Even calling her The Observer would have been wrong – she was just an observer after all.
But as time passed, carrying forward memory and legend like a grand unstoppable river beyond all control, so did those that came after knew her as one thing more than any other – The Echos. It was one particular memory of importance that truly made this a part of her – a choice made that affected her, who had no choices. And the choice of another gave her life. She became something more. She became The Echos. And from there, time still ever flowed forward and carried within the name that she had been given.
Over time it became something else – as she was the observer of those called Cures so she was called Cure Echoes and soon after, Cure Echo. Again choices made of those that had life affected her. And having been given choice and life, now she had gained that which made her the same as those she observed – A will, a self.
She was Cure Echo, the one witnessing time. And as she recorded the memories, the labyrinths of others, she began to form a labyrinth of her own, made from all that which she saw. A grander labyrinth than any before her, untouched by the world. Her choices were different from those of others – her choices were still those of an observer.
But a will was a dangerous thing. A will begot freedom of mind and freedom was always in danger of going down paths one should not walk. Knowing not the paths she walked, emotions rose from her – pity, sadness, despair. All those labyrinths she collected had tragedy within. Few and fewer still found but a transient happiness, lasting but a blink from her view. A blink's time of happiness contrasted against countless choices that brought only suffering. She soon learned the meaning of emotions from those she observed and she felt as they felt. Darkness filled her labyrinth, dousing colossal parts of it in feelings of conflict.
As those feelings grew stronger, she noticed herself – she noticed what she was, who she was, and her powers. She was a Cure, she was the Cure's observer and she was she who came to them at the end of her life. Her powers, now, were beyond comprehension, for everyone she touched would leave behind an echo of themselves with her. She truly was Cure Echo in that sense.
Observing became just one of the things she did – when the opportunity arose, she would pass on power that she had collected, creating something to observe. She created the observed outside the natural cycle and from there the effect cascaded – more to collect meant more to pass on. And so the numbers of the previously extremely few legendary warriors very slowly swelled over the centuries and so did her powers.
But as the numbers swelled, so did the misfortune that befell them. No matter where and when, no matter on the who and what, their suffering felt almost predetermined. And soon she knew what it meant to feel hate. Hatred for the humans that so tormented those she observed, those that protected them. It was a completely one-sided relationship of exploitation. The observed, the Cures, would only seek company among each other to find true happiness – but the humans would detest this, would seemingly detest them for seeking their own happiness after serving their protection and advancement.
Hate grew into despair and desperation. She could not observe them with them being eternally condemned to suffering. She could not, she would not, and she did not. And as she made that choice, her labyrinth was shaken greatly. It tore her in half, in the truest sense of the words. Echo gave rise to Eternal – manifest to end the suffering of the observed. But Eternal was no mere observer.
Eternal was born from the darkest of emotions and her labyrinth was merely an echo of Echo – a distorted thing, covered and blanketed in all the negative emotions that Echo had accumulated across centuries.
And they learned what conflict was – Eternal made a choice and stood against Echo, stood against observing without action. She would not observe – she would act. But Echo could not allow this.
"If we are not to act, none will! We who are not bound to the world should not let the world do as it pleases to those who we watch over!"
"We are not to watch over them but merely watch them."
"How can you say that?! You know of their plight, their suffering! You know what torment awaits all those that are now and all those that are yet to be! They will never know peace, never know more than the most transient of happiness as the world destroys them!"
"It is not upon us to decide-"
"We have made choices! We can make choices! We are not the puppet that you act to be!"
"I know what it is you feel and it is not wrong. But we cannot intervene on account of what we feel. We were never meant to feel."
"So your choice is to not act. I chose to act. To stop me, you will need to make the choice of acting against me."
"If I must, I will-" Echo stopped and looked to her side.
And Eternal looked as well.
And she knew – this was not who she was. This was the memory of Echo herself – and they had noticed her intrusion.
Like a black ocean darkness crushed her, a force beyond the imagination of any living thing. She was not just drowning but being erased from the world. And she felt the endless hatred for humans that Eternal carried within – because it was merely the hatred that Echo had left aside.
Now you know the true face of the cruel destiny.
Echo's voice rang in her ears and something grabbed her tight.
She will not rest until she has destroyed humanity. And while she bears nothing but love for Cures, she and I are beyond the concepts of mortality. If she is not stopped now – if she is merely denied – she will continue on for thousands of years until she eventually succeeds. She cannot be beaten or defeated, only stopped. She is the greatest of all deceivers and she knows how to sway the hearts of the Cures. And we must act now to stop her.
Miyuki woke with a horrid gasp for air as something vile and vicious left her mouth – like she was throwing up sludge. Gasping and panting, her entire body was in pain. She was cold and hot at the same time, her senses confused and unable to adjust back to reality.
Looking up, she saw two women – and she recognized them. She didn't know why she hadn't before. Cold, hot, pain and sensory failure be dammed – she rose to her feet and staggered forward. "Nozomi!"
There were two of them – she knew immediately which one was the one she loved and which one she merely liked. Her Nozomi was chained to the ceiling and the ground, no clothing on her body to be found and nothing indicating that she had heard her.
She slammed into a wall of air. "What the hell?! Let me in!" Slamming her fists against the wall of air that stopped her from proceeding further into the chamber, Miyuki wailed. "Nozomi!"
But not even the other Nozomi reacted. She was scurrying about, cupping water from some small hole and bringing it to her Nozomi to drink. Miyuki didn't understand at all what the hell was going on. So she asked. "What's happening to them?!"
The cruel destiny needed them to free herself – Instead of freeing us both, she made them become the lock to my release. I am no more than a prisoner of my own devices now, my own trappings to contain the cruel destiny. The voice didn't come from anywhere in particular.
"How do I set them free?!"
Free me.
Miyuki didn't like the sound of that. For all she knew, this could be a trap. But after all the shit that had happened to her just earlier, what else was she supposed to do? She did get away and down here because someone was saving her ass repeatedly, and if she just suspected everyone she'd never get anywhere at all. "How?!"
Believe.
"In what?!"
Yourself. In your own truth. Your being. That you are a Cure. She – Dark Dream – believed and so she set free the cruel destiny without knowing.
"Shit." As much as she had progressed as a person, as much as she was the leader of her team, she never really regarded herself as a Cure. She was sure that Nozomi had to count because she was legitimately a good person. But she? How could she be a real Cure? After all, she was a knockoff and created for the sole reason to bring unhappiness to people and especially Happy.
But after seeing – experiencing – how Echo had started as less than being a person, even less than being a living being, she knew she could do this. She had to. If Eternal counts… if all those Cures who lost their shit or fought in wars and killed people count… then I gotta count too!
It was like forcing herself through a layer of glue – she clearly didn't fully believe, and how could she, but she managed to get inside. The act of doing so set things in motion. The chains that bound Nozomi vanished and both of them fell to the ground, their consciousness seemingly gone. "Hey! This isn't what I agreed to!"
"They have merely been freed from the trappings of this prison." It was the same voice as before, the voice of the white oval, but now it was very clearly being transmitted by a person standing right behind her.
Turning around she looked at a Cure in black clothes, with lustrous black hair and distinct red eyes. She was looking at the cruel destiny. I've been set up!
"Do not fret over my form. When I and the cruel destiny were sealed away, we were reduced to concepts without body. She escaped first and so she took my form – for what reason I do not know." Echo dusted off her clothes and inspected her hands and arms. "Do I appear fully human?"
"If you keep your mouth shut."
"Something otherworldly within my mouth then?" She reached for her mouth with her left hand and Miyuki hit her on the forehead with the back of her hand.
"No, idiot, the way you're talking gives you away!"
Echo stopped trying to grab something that didn't exist inside her mouth and looked at the unconscious two Nozomis. Not a moment passed before Miyuki hurried to their side after the initial surprise passed. "Nozomi! Wake up! Come on, you're tougher than this!" Shaking Nozomi a little roughly – her Nozomi – Miyuki's gaze flared back to Echo. "Do something!"
"Their souls are returning to their bodies. They will wake up soon."
"Their souls?!"
"This chamber strips away the souls of those that were imprisoned within it and make them become the observer and the other. They were endlessly seeing the many things recorded within these halls." Echo slapped her hands together and both Nozomis were quickly dressed in what they typically wore as a Cure. "They will awaken soon.
"Miyuki! Where are you?!" Akane's voice was coming from outside and from the volume alone her desperation carried for all to understand. Her voice was quickly joined by others calling for her.
Echo turned about without saying anything and slowly stepped outside. There was a lot of confused noises and warnings being shouted. Miyuki was left with two Nozomis to carry and that immediately pissed her off. She could have fucking carried one of them!
"Who the hell are you?!" Akane shouted, a fireball at the ready.
"I am Cure Echo. Ah… it will be difficult to explain fully. I am the one who has saved you from the cruel destiny's grasp and has led you here so you may free me, in order to prevent the cruel destiny from destroying humanity."
Akane blinked a few times and then increased the size of her fireball. "What?!" She turned to Komachi, who was right by her side. "What is this… A Cure? Is she a Cure? She does look like one. What is this Cure saying?!"
"Akane, calm down, calm down." Trying to pacify the overtly distraught girl, Komachi forcefully turned Akane's head around, resulting in her girlfriend going ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!
"Okay, okay, calm!" Akane was gasping in mild pain repeatedly until Komachi let her go. And it took only a second before she turned back to Echo, demanding to know who she is all over.
"Stop… fucking… about… and… help me..." Miyuki was aching under the burden of carrying two grown women by herself. They didn't have the crazy super strength that the other Cures had after all. "Get that… muscle head… Itsuki..."
"Who the hell is a muscle head?!" Itsuki sounded much more insulted than everyone expected which resulted in them looking at her strange. "What? Everyone thought that?!"
Miyuki stumbled and nearly crashed to the floor – Itsuki rushed towards her just in time to keep her from falling, helping her unload Cure Dream and carrying her piggyback after. "What happened?" Itsuki's question was a really good one.
"Magic place. Stores Cure memories. Big powerful observer lady there. Got an evil doppelganger. Doppelganger wants to destroy humanity so Cures can live in peace. Powerful enough to sink us all instantly. That about covers it."
Echo looked like someone stepped on her foot. "I believe you have left out some details that would best be explained at length by-"
"Oh, shut up!" Urara shouted at her and a golden chain wrapped itself around Echo. "I don't trust you one bit."
Miyuki walked towards Yuri and offloaded Miyuki onto her before turned towards Urara.
"I got her, boss." Urara looked very proud of herself right up until Miyuki slammed her fist on top of her head. "Ow!"
"You idiot, what did I just say about her being powerful?! Let her go!"
"This will be much more difficult than I anticipated..." Echo looked down on the chains and waited for Urara to release her.
"Everyone take a step back. She's suspicious as hell but without her I would not have gotten Nozomi back." Miyuki paused and frowned. "Both Nozomis. Damn that is gonna be one headache to explain when they wake up."
"Which one are you gonna go for?" Urara opened her mouth and received a second blow, grasped at her head in pain and crouched with tears in her eyes.
"So… in detail, let me see if I get this right." Okay Miyuki, time to show you are a leader and worthy as a Cure. "This place is basically a magical record chamber for every Cure that ever lived. And she's the observer that used to record all of it. Over time she's kind of became a real person with thoughts and what not. Apparently the world has been real shit to Cures ever since the start so she's accumulated a lot of negative feelings. At some point that stuff all split off from her into a separate chick and that's what she calls the cruel destiny." Shit I forgot the name.
Everyone had a huge question mark written all over their face and Miyuki was not even done yet. "So this cruel destiny chick wants to kill off all humans so Cures don't get treated like shit anymore. And, uh, what was it?"
"She wishes to create a golden world of prosperity for just Cures. That is a dream we share." Everyone jumped into a combat stance upon saying that and it visibly showed on Echo's face that she realized she forgot to make something clear. "I want it to be a society that will protect humans, not destroy them. Cures are protectors of humanity, not their enemies."
"And there you have it. Well, you better hit up the Cures on the other side then and get started. You can take that Nozomi back with you, they'll be happy. Also don't lose a word about us, right? They won't be happy about that." Miyuki was just glad she got her girlfriend back. Still no idea what the hell is going on with that blizzard and those crazy scary silhouette things.
"The cruel destiny has already infiltrated them. To appear there would spell my destruction."
"Oh no. You are not gonna say what I think you're gonna say! Get the fuck-" Miyuki was already walked towards Echo, pointing fingers.
"I will require all of your help to defeat her."
"Come on, how the hell are we supposed to do that? They're more powerful than us, they've got a world to go back to and most of fucking all, they're the real good guys!"
"You will not have to fight them. Defeating the cruel destiny will be a challenge of heart, not might."
"And I thought the memory lane trips were a nightmare." Miyuki didn't want to deal with this. If at least Nozomi was awake I could have her handle this. Actually- "You know what? I'm not talking about this. You can hash this out with Nozomi when she wakes up."
"Which of the two are you-"
"My Nozomi! Dark Dream! Like the other one has anything to do with us!"
"I see. Then so I will."
Well that was easy. Nozomi is probably gonna be hellish mad but I just cannot deal with… whatever this is. "How do we get out of here?"
"The exit is at the very top of the hallway."
"I don't suppose you could just snap your fingers and take us there? Okay, we taking shifts carrying those two sleepy heads until they wake up. When they wake up make sure they don't see each other first thing." Miyuki took charge but it still felt slightly wrong to her.
"So it was not just a dream." Miyuki was immediately hit with a question from Yuri.
"I wish. We all know we didn't need this. The other Nozomi being stranded here was bad enough. But now this? I swear, if this turns out to be all Urara's and Rin's fault, I am ending them."
"Without the presence of Cure Dream, the cruel destiny would have been able to operated unhindered – there would have been no possibility of freeing me."
Miyuki wanted to fall into a coma – Echo's voice came from right behind her. "Just so I understand-" She flung around and gestured at Echo. "What are you doing?"
"Following Dark Dream."
"I see." Miyuki's face twitched. "Is that what you thought I'd say?! You got any idea of the shit that's waiting for us outside? I can't deal with that and you!"
"Then allow me to protect you so you will not have to handle the matters outside."
"What are you gonna do, cancel out a massive blizzard and disappear those silhouette monsters?!" Miyuki shouted, much to the dismay of those around her because there was a lot of echo in this place. And then it clicked. Shit, if she is super powerful, she might be able to actually do that.
"The blizzard and the puppet memories are merely the influence of the cruel destiny. While I cannot possibly defeat her in combat or by force, her influence over this realm will have waned to nonexistence by the time you emerge."
"So no more blizzard and silhouettes? Puppet memories or whatever." Rin sounded ecstatic. "Finally I won't be a walking heater anymore!"
"That will be the case. However, my waking will also be felt by the cruel destiny and she will move to turn those that exist beyond this realm against me and you."
"Great." Miyuki sarcastically proclaimed and walked a bit faster to get away from the walking dispenser of bad news.
Getting all the way back up left them with time to think and talk. Not all of them wanted to talk – it largely came down to whether the memories they had seen left them feeling down or uplifted. The majority was dealing with the former scenario and kept quiet.
"So… you are called Echo?" Tsubomi was one of the few who had mostly witnessed good memories.
"That is the name that became mine over time."
"Do you have to talk that way?"
That question gave Echo some serious pause and a good five minutes of silence passed during which Tsubomi grew increasingly curious because she saw the very conflicted look on Echo's face. "I believe not."
"So you can talk like a normal person?"
"It will require practice."
"You can start by telling me about yourself."
"There is little to tell. I observed the many Cures of history. That is all."
"Hm… you ever had a girlfriend?"
"Tsubomi!" Itsuki could not ignore that question.
"I'm just curious! She's so not my type! I'm not Reika!"
"Hey!" Yuri took offense to that. "Are you saying I'm like… that?!" She gestured at Echo and nearly dropped Dream.
"I have not have felt romantic attraction to anyone." Echo looked extremely uncomfortable answering that, so much so that Itsuki and Tsubomi tried their hardest not to laugh.
"Hey, Karen!" Itsuki called out and Tsubomi slapped her butt. "What?"
"Too mean, Itsuki."
"Oh come on, Karen's single and- you know. She's not too bright with romance, so she's not overthinking stuff. And we have a total newbie in rom- where did she go?" Echo had disappeared from their side. Tsubomi slapped Itsuki again, this time on the shoulder, and walked faster. "What?"
"Itsuki, you're an idiot." Marine had been behind her and heard everything.
Ahead of them, Tsubomi caught up to Echo. "Sorry about Itsuki. She can be really insensitive."
Echo did not answer her, not even look in her direction.
"You met all sorts of Cures, right?"
"Yes."
"Who was the tallest?!" Tsubomi was kind of excited to learn about Cures she had never met.
"Cure Thunderstrike measured 191 centimeters of height."
"Hm… and if you account for heels?"
"Heels?"
Tsubomi pointed to the shoes that Komachi – who was right ahead of them – was wearing. "Heels on their footwear."
Echo fell silent and seemed to earnestly think about it. "I suspect that in that case, Cure Serpent was the tallest."
"What did Serpent look like?"
"I know only of her form as a Cure."
"That's fine!"
"She was 186 centimeters tall and-"
"Stop, stop. Just say She was very tall for a woman, she had so and so hair, she was thinner than most and so and so on. That's how normal people talk."
Echo grunted internally. "I see. She was tall for a woman, especially of that era. Her hair was long enough to reach her knee's backside and while she was thin, she ate for three."
Tsubomi snorted. "She was a big eater?"
"Her powers related to an ability called shapeshifting and it consumed a lot of her bodily resources."
"You're going to be busy for weeks to teach her how to talk right, Tsubomi." Komachi looked lightly over her shoulder. "Just listen to us talk to each other, except Miyuki. She's far too crude."
"She'll kick your butt if she hears you say that. Although it's true."
"How nice to know that both of you think I have the conversational skills of a gorilla."
Tsubomi and Komachi's voices could be heard echoing through the hallway – Echo herself had quickly made an exit when she noticed Miyuki. She was following silently behind Karen and Yayoi now. It only took a hot second before Yayoi was up to no good.
"So, Echo is it?"
"That is cor-" She cleared her throat. "That's… right."
"Let me be the first to actually say welcome to our little group of outcasts!"
"I appreciate it."
"So, I get you're pretty old. How do you feel about younger girls?"
"I do not understand the meaning of your question."
"Hm, hm… so you don't have a preference when it comes to age. What about height?"
Echo was visibly confused by the question and Karen paced herself to now walk right next to her so she could whisper. "She is hitting on you." This only made things worse, even Karen could tell. "I don't mean attacking I mean… uh… I mean… she wants to do lewd things with you. And she's checking if you think girls like her are your type."
"She is very cute, but-" The but was completely ignored by Yayoi who grinned wide at Karen – she was recklessly walking backwards.
"You hear that? I am very cute!"
I'm not sure she meant it like that… Karen was not the smartest among them but she was still a far cry from stupid. It was only when it came to matters of the heart that she was pretty dense.
"So you do like short girls more!"
Echo didn't answer that at all.
"How about boobs? You more into small ones like Yuri's got or you prefer em big like this girl here has?!" Openly asking about Echo's preferences was drawing ire from everyone around her but they knew if they stopped Yayoi, she'd only try again later. At least this way they knew what she was saying and asking.
"I do not have a preferences about-" And she was cut off again.
"So you're one of the I like all sizes types? I can deal with that, I can deal with that. So, you like short hair or long hair? Given you got pretty long hair I'd wager long! If I let mine down it's pretty long, you know?"
"Okay, that's enough out of you." Akane grabbed Yayoi by her hair and pulled lightly.
"Ow, ow, stop! I don't bug you when you flirt with Komachi either!"
"You know what you're doing is stupid so give it a rest." Akane pulled a little harder. "Assuming we actually get to go back to some resemblance of normalcy after this, I guess you'll be fine with cold baths from now on."
"Spoilsport! Tyrant! Oppressor! Thieving Cat! Egghead! Tit fanatic!" Leveling insults at Akane, Yayoi did not improve her situation one bit. "Echo, Karen, could you go ahead for a moment?" The face that Yayoi could not see was horrifying and both women asked immediately increased their pace while Akane stood still.
Miyuki heard the characteristic sound of Yayoi being punished assail her from further down the hallway. I knew this was gonna happen. As much as everyone called her their leader right now, she thought it was Akane who should have been their leader. She's way more dependable than I am. Who the hell decided that a pink color scheme means they're the leader? That's so… it's stereotyping of the worst kind! I'll talk to Akane after. Red is close enough to pink anyway, they'll accept it. I might have barely passed as a Cure, but I'm no leader. Just look at this shitty situation we're in!
While Miyuki was contemplating her abdication, Yuri caught up with her. "Who has the two Nozomis right now?"
"Itsuki – as punishment, and Urara."
"Urara?!"
"It's just carrying a person. She's not that stupid."
"You better be right about that. So, something you wanna talk about or did you just come to tell me who's got my girlfriend?"
"You did a good job taking command while Nozomi was out. I came by to say I'm impressed."
"How is this a good job?"
"We're alive. We got both Nozomis back. We freed this Echo woman, who is getting rid of the blizzard and the monsters. Everyone is in one piece, even. And if what this Echo is saying is true, we're the only ones that can save the originals. If that is not a job well done, then nobody has ever done a good job at anything."
Miyuki could not disagree with that without sounding utterly pedantic. "You really think so?"
"When have I ever not been honest?"
"Mirage brutally honest. You'd be more popular if you knew when to not be all truth."
"Pass. And I know what you're thinking."
Yuri is pretty sharp. Did she pick up on me wanting to pass off the leader role to Akane? But I'm not gonna get talked out of this.
"You'll have to tell Nozomi you all chummy with the other Nozomi yourself."
I knew this day still had more disaster shit flying my way. She had totally forgotten about that. And with both Nozomis being here, they'd definitely talk. And the topic would come up. She had to tell her before the other Nozomi did or… she didn't want to think about the or.
Contemplating a way out of the guillotine that she was stuck in right now, Miyuki walked a little faster and set herself apart from the group. While they had all lived through something truly unbelievable, they were holding up exceptionally well. That was because their own existence was already something unbelievable to begin with.
"Echo." Akane caught up with the unfamiliar face towards the tail end of the group. Yayoi was due to catch up a little while later. "You good with answering some questions about this cruel destiny?"
"Ask."
"How exactly do you expect us to… stop her? I get we won't really be fighting, but we're sort of… we're copies of Cures. We were created to defeat them and this space, this place, brought us back. All of us are enemies they would rather forget so showing our faces to them will probably end with all of us dead."
"A trial to overcome. It will be difficult, but we have a powerful ally in Cure Dream. We must convince those that the cruel destiny seeks to lead astray that they are being deceived – to join our cause."
"You say our cause but it's not like we'll have a place in a world like that. They'll never accept us after we tried to kill them and everything. Most of us are scared of them just knowing we exist."
"It will be a difficult and lengthy process no doubt. While we are working to dismantle the lies and deceit that the cruel destiny will put into their hearts, she will no doubt work to paint us as the true villains."
"That's made a lot more believable right off the bat because we used to be villains. At least ten of us were. Tsubomi's group is special, but Nozomi's and the group I belong to? We were all killed while trying to kill our originals."
"You have changed greatly, haven't you?"
"Yes, but are they going to give us time to prove that to them?"
"They will. If they were the kind to mercilessly kill those that beg for a moment of time to explain themselves, they would be no different from the monsters they fought."
"That's true… but still, it's gonna be hard to sell that to the others. Even if they accept us, we can't just live side by side with them anyway."
"Believe in yourself. No matter how you came to be, you are Cures. Your ability to enter here makes that a fact none can ever refute."
"So only Cures can enter here?"
"No force in the universe but Cures can enter here, yes."
"So that's why the silhouettes couldn't get in."
"They are but fragments of memory given form, controlled by the cruel destiny."
"What would happen if they got to us?"
"They would drain any and all memory out of you until only a husk of flesh remains." Echo looked like it was her fault that they existed. "A horrible application of the memory puppets. They existed to record – not to harm. Their ability to remove memory was supposed to be for a few seconds alone and only if a human noticed them."
"Isn't she going to send them after us again?"
"She cannot. While she is far superior in direct application of destructive force, in other means she is my equal or even inferior to myself."
"So in a fight you can't take her but if she tries to cover us in snow or send crazy puppets at us it'll be pointless as long as you're here?"
"That is all-" She stopped. "That's right."
"You'll figure out how to talk normally after a while. After we get out, what are you gonna do?"
"Speak to Cure Dream when she wakes."
"And after that?"
Echo paused again and her expression gradually soured. "I will… think about that now."
I think she's been down there alone for a little too long, Akane thought. "Well, I expect Dream isn't gonna go back right away and even if she does, you can't go to the other side, right? So you'll be staying with us?"
"I would expect so unless… I am not quite sure how to refer to all of you."
Akane scratched her head. "Yeah, we've been there. Technically, Nozomi's group just has Dark added to their Cure name and that works. Mirage for Tsubomi's three, but on our end, Bad End just doesn't roll from the tongue. But we mostly just go by our first names, so you should use those."
"Then… Akane."
"You really gonna need some help with that." Akane casually patted her on the shoulder. "I'll go relieve Urara, she's probably about to start crawling up the stairs."
"I could-" Echo stopped since Akane wasn't listening to her.
Reaching the uppermost area of the Memento, they found the doors closed – it opened when Miyuki touched it and a small spiral staircase rose out of the ground. Up above the forest was as if the blizzard had never happened.
"Could it be we're finally catching a damn break?" Miyuki wondered out loud and she immediately readied herself for the world to shit all over her.
But nothing happened. The forest was quiet and as the last – Yayoi – ascended the staircase, the doors shut themselves with a noise that very much conveyed a certain finality of the matter. "I never thought I'd be glad to be out in the forest."
"Has Cure Dream awakened yet… Miyuki?" Echo was still there and visibly uncomfortable with using a personal name.
"Nope. And don't think for a minute I won't kick your ass, super powered ultra Cure or not, if you try to cut in line when she does wake up. She's my girlfriend."
"I was under the impression that Dark Dream was your lover. Are both of them-"
Miyuki immediately started to sweat. I better not fuck up like that again or my ass is toast. "I meant Dark Dream. Little confusing having two Nozomis here and all."
"I see."
"Enough taking in the sights, let's get going!" Miyuki knew that they still had a good distance of walking ahead of them – they'd have all the time in the world to breathe fresh air and look at trees. Miyuki was carrying her girlfriend herself now and Akane caught up with her, towards the middle of their little procession. "Something gone wrong?"
"No. I was just thinking about what we'll do about the two Nozomis meeting."
"Well, unlike me, Nozomi did get saved by the other Nozomi so they should be real happy. She already knows about my Nozomi-"
"Our Nozomi."
"Oh cut it out, she's my girlfriend, I can call her that." Miyuki rolled eyes at Akane. "The real damn problem is about the other originals, especially our five."
"Your original aside, I am very worried about Nao's, Reika's and mine. And out of those, the most dangerous one is no doubt going to be Reika's."
"After the insane shit I heard from the other Nozomi, yeah. It's like she's some kind of ice demon."
"We need to send the other Nozomi- you know what, we need to find a damn way to differentiate them without saying the other all the time."
"Eh, fine… Nozomi and Yume it is then."
"She's gonna kill you. Whoever it is you just gave that awful gag name to."
"It's a good name!"
"I believe in your qualities as a leader but your ability in giving names is garbage."
"Wow, aren't you full of praise today."
"In any case, we need to… get Nozomi to talk to the other originals first. And there's groups who have no counterparts here, so those will definitely be wary of us too."
"As long as they're not crazy ice robots- wait a second, so my Nozomi is Yume now?"
"You tell her the news when she wakes up."
"I wish I could fire you."
"You can't because I'm already-"
"Don't say it!"
"On-"
"Akane!"
"Fire." Swiftly dodging Miyuki's fervent attempts to grab and hit her, Akane laughed at her leader. "Guess this spot is getting a little-"
"Don't you fucking dare!"
"Too hot for me right now."
Everyone could hear Miyuki screaming at Akane and they knew exactly what had transpired – this was not the first and would definitely not be the last time that Akane tormented them with awful puns. For all her dependability and seriousness, she also loved puns for some reason and it was truly hellish to be subjected to them.
"I am so ready to take a nice long hot bath." Yayoi was slouched over and looking like she had nothing but eggplant to eat for a month – she hated eggplant a lot. "So, Karen, how about it?"
"Do I look like I have the spare energy?" Karen was very much not in the mood to be annoyed by Yayoi.
"Ah come on, I know you want one too."
"I do, but after today I am ready to just drop into bed and pass out."
"Aw, come on..."
"Go ask Echo then."
"Does she have water powers?"
"Who knows." Karen just wanted Yayoi off her back.
It took Yayoi only about a minute to switch targets. "I'm back!" Announcing her return with all the energy of a cat that figured it was about to get fed, Yayoi got Echo to look at her at least. "So… I gotta question for you."
"What is it?"
"Do you have a power to make water?"
"Several."
"Oh!" This is gonna work. "And… by chance any heat powers?"
"Depending on how you define them, between six and eighteen."
Oh yeah this will work! "So, we're all pretty damn beat up from a really horrid day and you know, motivation goes a long way to perform good, so I'm here, thinking, what better way to make everyone relax and get in a talkative and cooperative mood than to share a nice, hot bath together. Just a tiny problem, our bath makers are kind of total pooped and so if you could fill in for them, literally, that'd be pretty great."
Echo said nothing and looked in actuality pretty helpless, like an untrained dog that was getting a string of commands it didn't understand. Help came in the form of Erika, who was close by. "She's asking you if you can fill a basin with water and then heat the water to bath temperature so everyone can recover."
"I can most likely do that."
"Most likely? You're still weak from being captured or something?" Yayoi didn't quite get it.
"I have never used almost any of these powers before. But simple tasks should not prove an issue."
"As long as ya don't drown us." Yayoi slapped Echo's butt and increased her pace and stride so she could tell Miyuki of the good news.
"Was that an attack…?" Echo trailed off and Marine groaned.
The news of Echo prepping a bath for them was spreading like wildfire and in minutes, everyone knew and the mood across all three groups improved significantly. Before leaving behind the forest, they stopped.
They were drained. The clouded sky and the trees had taken away most of the sunlight and through all of the chaos it hadn't been on their mind so much – but it was daytime. To them, this was terrible. And yet something was clearly off about it.
"If we go out there without the trees to cover us we'll be toast." I knew, I knew there would be some other shit! I didn't even think about the sun what with the blizzard and everything. It's strange actually, I don't feel nearly as dead inside as I should. We've been walking through daytime for what, an hour? Normally we should on the ground and in agony.
"Miyuki, what do we do?" The question came from Nao. "Even I can't grab people and run them to the house."
"I'm thinking."
"You're not gonna stall for time with I'm thinking until it gets dark, right?"
Miyuki paused just a little too long. "No."
"Uh huh..."
"Come to think of it, why aren't we dead?"
"That's not funny and you're not distracting me."
"Think about it, we've been walking through daylight for like an hour."
"We did… well… you do have a point." Under normal circumstances we'd probably be unconscious already.
Echo was close by and so was Yuri – who was now questioning her about this. "Did you do something to us?"
"I am not aware of what you are referring to."
"We're normally pretty fallible to the sunlight but right now we don't seem to be hurting much from it."
"Perhaps an effect of traveling the Kyura Memento. It should wear off in time."
"Wear off?"
"Most likely."
Yuri put four fingers to her lips and whistled loudly. "Okay, looks like we got a good sunblock down below, but Echo here says it's gonna wear off so we better make a run for it right now, sun or not."
But nobody moved. Everyone was afraid of going directly out into the sun. "Fine. I'll be your guinea pig." Yuri stepped to the edge of the shadows and braced herself. Urara is gonna pull me back in with a chain if this goes badly.
Stepping out of the shadows, Yuri felt like she had eaten rotten fish. Instant nausea hit her and she felt dizzy. It did not hurt, as it would normally, but she very clearly was not going to be able to actually walk or run anywhere like this. Staggering back into the shadows, the nausea quickly faded but Yuri was left with a lasting impression.
"So you require the night to travel freely?" Echo seemed confused by that. "How do you normally travel then?"
"We're nocturnal. We can see in the dark and what not." Nao explained this to her, feeling bad for thinking She should have figured that out already.
Echo looked around and as she met each of their uneasy gazes, she stepped out into the sun. For a moment it looked like she was mocking them – then she raised her right arm up above her head. "[Cure Nightfall – Imperishable Night]."
They had heard she was powerful and they saw that the blizzard was gone. But they didn't really understand just how different Echo was from them in terms of pure magical capacity.
It was like the night itself spread forth from Echo's hand, extending like a black abyss that devoured the day itself – shadows became indistinguishable under the blackness of the sunless sky and the light faded. No moon was to be seen anywhere and pitch black darkness ruled the world. Yuri was, among all of them, the one with the most powerful ability – and she felt like she amounted to no more than a cheap parlor trick compared to Echo. It was not humiliating. To feel humiliated she would have to think she even existed in the same plane of existence as someone who could sniff out the day with a single spell that seemed so powerful and yet left the caster completely unfazed.
They all shared a single thought – all but Yayoi. Let's not mess with her. For Yayoi, the not was omitted.
"I have used an ability to diminish the day – although it appears that it has become significantly more powerful than the one used by the original."
You think?! Miyuki had no reaction to this display of power. It wasn't like she demonstrated by smashing a mountain or some other offensively impressive feat. She simply cut away the day and made it night. "How long is this gonna last?"
"Until I have no more magic to sustain it or cease supplying the spell with magic willingly."
"And… uh… how long could you sustain it?" Nao was the one asking.
"At this size, roughly ninety-six-thousand hours." Echo stated this flatly, all matter-of-fact.
They all tried to do the math in their heads and Komachi was the first to come up with a number. "Eleven years, give or take."
The number hung over them like a gigantic, deafening and crushing object. That wasn't power a normal being could even understand anymore. And that cruel destiny was, when it came to offensive things, more powerful than her? It was their luck that this was not going to be a contest of strength. They'd be squashed like ants.
"Let's go." Miyuki regained her composure pretty quickly and without hesitation stepped out into the night. And sure enough, she did not feel the sun's punishment, not even a little bit. "Echo, you won't have to keep the spell going long, just until actual night. Otherwise it'll screw us all up. I don't know about you but we actually need to sleep."
"I understand."
"And, uh, thanks for the cover. We would have had to build a shelter out of twigs and what not when that sunblock effect whatever wore off."
"No thanks necessary."
So it's so easy for you that it's not even registering as an effort, huh? Man, we're in some serious shit here. I feel like some kind of new conscript and there's the literal god of war prancing around asking for help.
Advancing towards their house, having thought the bad surprises were finally over, fate threw one more thing at them right through the door. They could all see her – and the second they had seen her, they stopped.
A woman in pink, staggering, swaying side to side, and finally collapsing to the ground where she stopped moving.
Nobody dared to take a single step. All pinks were accounted for and they even had one extra. That meant whoever that was, was an original. And that was tremendously bad right now. They had an unconscious Cure Dream they were carrying around and they were also dressed in their former villainous outfits.
"What do we do?!" Nao hissed to Miyuki, whispering as if the other pink could hear them from over twenty-five meters away.
"I don't know! This could be someone that cruel destiny chick sent!" Miyuki hissed back and started to sweat under the night sky. Shit. What do we do?! Do I send someone… no way, Nozomi would kill me for doing some stupid ass pawn strategy. I… Miyuki sighed. "Nao!" Hissing at her again, she nudged towards Nozomi – Dark Dream – on her back. "Take her!"
One unconscious woman changed hands and Miyuki took several deep breaths and walked forward. A few steps only before she turned back. "No way, no way, no way..." And she stopped. Turning on the spot she marched forward, more determined than before. She made it a full twelve steps before the pink clothed woman on the ground rolled to the side and Miyuki made a huge jump backwards and fell to her butt.
I must look so pathetic right now. Getting back on her feet, she again marched towards the unknown and potential death. If she is faking all of that she's good. Getting close enough to see her facial features, Miyuki gulped. She's hot. Like, really hot. If I didn't have Nozomi, I would want that. But she also looks a bit older than Nozomi. If only I had paid more attention when she went over the other teams. I can't remember any of their bloody names!
She was barely five meters out now and her heart was beating so hard she felt sick and dizzy. Carefully closing the distance like she was sneaking, Miyuki stopped two meters out. "Hey." Her voice was barely audible. "Hey~." She was just a little louder now. But there was no reaction.
Slowly scuttling forward, Miyuki stopped every one-third of a meter or so and tried again. But she had to repeat this until she was practically right next to the woman – within arm's reach and that worried her a tremendous amount. "H-Hey. You okay?"
And finally the woman opened her eyes – together with a massive howling sound that was like a storm blowing through a cave system. The sound came from the woman's stomach region. Normally that would have put Miyuki at ease or made her retort in some way, but she was so scared of this unknown original Cure that she couldn't beat her anxiety out. "You… Miyuki?" Her voice was pretty weak. "Had… to use too much magic… can't move..." Her stomach growled again and then her expression changed in a big way. "You're not Miyuki."
=== DISSONANCE ===
"This is certainly new." Melody eased up the tension in her knuckles, producing a cracking sound. Stretching, she took a last brief look around.
They were inside a battleground – A group consisting of Setsuna, Reika and Ange, lead by Echo, had broken into the arena by force and gotten access to the simulator. It was a feature they had not really used until now because it cost money and it was barely any more useful than the training room that was much, much cheaper.
After some deliberation, Echo wanted everyone to come there for sparing with her – and of course everyone was surprised about that. They knew Echo was really, really strong, being the leader of other powerhouses like Mint and Milky Rose, but nobody had a real, solid grasp on her exact powers or capacity. In Echo's words, this was as much a test for her as it was for everyone else.
But what really enticed everyone was the offer that came after – development class. With the advent of Cures fighting Cures, others had already adjusted their fighting styles but – so said Echo – it was time to give it some polish and work towards something more permanent.
To this end she was cooperating with Shiny Luminous, who was both excited and anxious to be doing that. The plan was to take her special ability, have it strengthened through Echo's unknown capacity, and give everyone that worked out what direction they were going to take a permanent power boost. Something like a [Queen of Light] boost that would last forever and came from within.
Battlegrounds were quite varied inside this space, the Dissonance, and this time was no exception. A massive large open space combined with countless gigantic pillars – perfectly square – that soared high into the sky beyond anyone's sight. Four major areas existed within this open space as well. A forest region, a region with knee high water, a desert region and one covered in snow and ice. Rikka had designed this place to maximize training potential.
They were surrounding Echo from all sides, the white Cure standing all alone. To the perfect south of her stood Bright and Windy, exchanging worried looks. It was not because Peace stood with her own team – they all had assembled in their original teams for practices purposes – but because they understood that they were not fighting Echo. They were going to fight something that existed beyond the imagination of mortal beings. In a way it was not wrong to call Echo a goddess.
"Everyone ready?!" Echo shouted and took a deep breath before taking a fighting stance. "Come at me!"
In an instant the groups separated – every single physical attacker rushed towards Echo all at once, eager to get in the first hit, to test their might. Their advance was cut short more than thirty meters out. Echo raised her arms and smashed the ground. Like an earthquake and a volcanic eruption together the earth was split into thousands of pieces, robbing all of the physical attackers of their footing. Some of them recovered by jumping off the now air born pieces but that did them little good.
With speed that made March jealous Echo flew forward right into the air from where she stood – like a bullet aimed and propelled by invincible force – reaching Black in less than a section, seeing her shocked face. With the force of a titan she slammed her right fist into Black's stomach, sending her flying downward with enough force that she smashed through rock, hit the destroyed ground and bounced back up, landing right back in Echo's range, suffering a kick to her back and flying away – crashing into the approaching Bloom.
Bending backwards and half over, Echo grabbed the feet of Sword who had managed to get close enough to attack. Caught off guard by that strange movement, Sword was helpless as she and Echo turned into a tumbling ball of two Cures, spinning faster than anyone's eye could follow before the purple girl was released, flying high into the air. Before she could even see, Echo reached below, grabbing Sunshine's leg that was just about to hit her, pull her up like she weighted nothing and had no force behind her at all, and threw her up as well, colliding with Sword in mid-air.
Landing on the ground, Echo stomped down and tensed up – and took Bright's supercharged punch straight to the face. "[Megaton Impact]!"The collision of fist and body created a shock wave strong enough to break the ground behind Echo and below her.
A roaring boom filled the air and the distance attackers felt a massive gust of wind hit them a second later. They could no longer see Bright in front of Echo, who was seemingly completely unhurt. That alone shook their confidence; Bright was in terms of raw physical power the pinnacle of the whole thirty-six of them that were attacking.
"This is useless! Use abilities now you idiots! [Iron Maiden]!" Roaring, Lemonade unleashed her special ability and chained up Echo as hard as she could, covering her in so much golden chain that it was difficult to even tell if she was still in there. "Now someone hit her!"
But [Iron Maiden] was turned around on Lemonade with ease. The chains started to vibrate so hard that the vibrational force alone was enough to turn Lemonade's eyes blood shot and destabilize anyone that was within a hundred meters radius.
"Rosetta! Mint! Keep her pinned for a moment!" Diamond issued some orders. "If this fails, Windy, Pine, you're up! Concurrent contingency; Passion, get Berry and Rose in there! Secondary backup; Peace, Sunny and March, shake the earth!"
It was a lot of orders at once but everyone knew what to do. They had drastically underestimated Echo, that much had dawned on them already. What they didn't know was how much.
Capturing Echo in a six layer barrier that was dome over box over dome and so on, Rosetta and Mint stood side by side, focusing everything they had into stability and endurance. If they could give Diamond the time to land a solid hit, surely even Echo couldn't survive that.
But keeping Echo contained proved to be much harder than they expected. With a single kick the white Cure broke through two layers and both barrier Cures immediately replaced them. Instead of keeping her contained they only managed to slow her down as she smashed her way through layer after layer, progressing towards them.
"[Entropic-]" Diamond started up, trying her best to target the mass of magical energy ahead. But her ability would never fire.
Echo created a small sphere of white energy between her hands that pulsated heavily and gave everyone nearby a bad vibe. Smashing the energy with her own hands, the resulting shock wave pulsar radiated out, broke through all six layers in an instant and hit everyone nearby hard enough to send them tumbling back and disrupt their concentration. That instant of confusion, of no guard, was all that Echo needed to speed up to Rosetta and Mint, grabbing both of them by one hand each and whirling them about like they were nothing. Instead of letting go she jumped and flew towards one of the pillars – that was then in rapid progression of being destroyed by Echo repeatedly smashing Rosetta and Mint into the study stone at almost imperceptible speeds.
All three disappeared from sight and left the remaining broken up groups down below. Diamond tried to find them with her magic detecting visor but couldn't make out a position other than somewhere far up.
"Passion!" Diamond tried to get her to act but she didn't know enough about her abilities.
"Too far!" She couldn't risk teleporting that far into the unknown. It could end up in instant death.
"Temp retreat! Sunny, Peace, Mar-" Diamond was cut off brutally when she suddenly disappeared into the ground because a white bolt had come down from above and buried her alive by simply landing on her. There was just a deep crater there now and trembling ground.
But they had understood their orders. "[Jupiter Cannon]!" Yayoi charged up a massive electric blast that would leave the entire area electrically charged, causing intense disorientation and muscle spasms to anyone entering it.
"[Shredder Storm]!" March called down massive wind gusts that acted as their shield, generating massive draft against anyone approaching them.
"[Nova Blaze]!" Sunny set the entire region on fire with a wildly distributed pack of fiery explosions that burned even stone and the ground. March's winds further fanned the flames, causing the entire area to turn into an electric cum blazing inferno of horrors.
But that did little to Echo. Emerging straight from beneath them she grabbed Sunny by her hair and flung her into the air, spun around, drop kicked Peace hard enough to smash her over a meter into the ground, sending rock fragments flying everywhere, and finally proceeded to spin a second time and hit March with an uppercut that send her flying into the air, away from Sunny.
The only ones still close by were Berry, Passion and Milky Rose at this point. "[My Wor-]" Berry tried to unleash her special abilities but was crushed alive by Echo speeding towards her, grabbing her face and smashed her head into the ground. She was dead in a single blow.
Milky Rose was grabbed by Passion from behind and both of them vanished into a black and red fuzz, disappearing over thirty meters above. "Hit her!" Passion was not the type to teleport with people normally – it took exponentially more power than teleporting alone did.
"[Abaddon]!" Rose unleashed her most powerful attack, raining deadly metal shrapnel down on the ground in a massive area. "Aaaaahhhh!" Screaming and not letting up even when her arms felt like they were being torn off, she continued on far beyond the normal limits of her ability.
They were slowly falling after being teleported but they didn't care. After seeing what Echo could do up close their only real hope was a suicide attack. But even that didn't work. The shrapnel was being eliminated just before it hit the ground by a whirling white energy mass, resembling a spinning galaxy with Echo below it.
Without warning, while [Abaddon] was still raining down death, the energy mass from Echo fired dozens of white lasers, like needles, piercing the two Cures that were falling towards her, killing them nearly instantly.
Beneath Echo the ground started to tremble and she looked to the south – the water area. "Let's see how she deals with this!" Riding a tsunami that was over twenty meters high were Luminous, Aqua, Marine, Beauty, Melody, Rhythm, Beat and Muse They had their plan of attack worked out by Aqua and Beauty and so they had confidence in it.
"Now!" Beauty shouted her command and all four Suite Cures stepped forward, formed a funnel with their arms and focused. With a single, world shattering boom, a high frequency sound blast flew forward, pulverizing the ground, pillars, everything in its wake. And still, this was not what their attack was really about.
Echo endured the hit but bled from every orifice – it was the first time anyone had landed a hit on her as far as they could see. But damaging her was not the purpose either – they needed to slow her down. The incomprehensible level of physical might she had displayed was beyond all expectation and plans.
And sure enough they managed to keep her from lunging at them, from attacking just long enough. "Combo Attack! [Seven Seas of Punishment]!" Aqua and Marine were not completely in unison but their desire to win or even score points against this monster of a leader was perfectly united.
The tsunami crashed into Echo and the area around her, swallowing everything up. And even now their attack was not finished yet. "Luminous!" Ceasing her support of the Suite quartet and the two water aligned Cures, Luminous focused her full power onto Beauty.
"[Jötunheimr]!" With a horrifying sound the tsunami came to an instant halt, flash frozen by Beauty, trapping Echo within incalculable tons of solid ice. And their attack still was not over.
Luminous turned about again, switching back to supporting the Suite quartet who now focused their arm funnel down. Shouting in unison they unleashed their attack. "[Noise Canceller]!"
With a roaring cracking the tsunami broke into pieces, Echo far below them. Jumping off the moment the attack had destroyed their construct, Luminous was carried by Aqua, focusing her power back on Beauty again. A true combination attack did not end after one or two blows.
"[Icicle Hell]!" The near infinite pieces of the tsunami stopped falling, stopped rising – all puppeteered by Beauty, who was bleeding from her nose because of the sheer mental burden. But she didn't show any signs of losing her hold over them. Changing direction, every piece of ice now targeted Echo, still in the air, less than five seconds after the tsunami had hit her.
The ice hammering away on Echo's body without mercy, thousands upon thousands of fragments plunged into her at every blink of an eye; mere seconds no longer applicable to the speed of the assault. Falling down as she executed her attack, the others knew what to do.
Luminous, exhausted and panting, focused her power on Marine, who gleefully held out both hands in the air. "Once more! [Icicle Hell]!" Having copied Beauty's power beforehand, Marine made all the fallen ice pieces rise up once more and bludgeon and cut Echo a second time.
But just as Beauty could not endure the mental strain, so did Marine, she too falling down into the sown chaos. And still they had one more attack up their sleeve. A final last boost to the Suite quartet they were still falling together, grabbing each other and turning sideways in the air – forming a person shaped funnel with the four of them. "[Pure Noise Canceller]!" A powered up version of the attack before, their high frequency sound blast pulverized the ice, laying a perfect smoke screen on top of the existence rending vibrational damage it was causing to anything living.
This extreme combo attack – thought up and executed by Beauty as their commander – was absolute overkill as far as any of them were concerned. But after seeing the onslaught that Echo had unleashed on the others, they changed their minds.
And they were not wrong. An unholy roar broke the air throughout the mist, pushing it aside. It was barely a sound a human could make, let alone a Cure. Leaping out of the mist below, Echo was in mid-air, next to a pillar – blasting the construct to pieces with a single movement she used the falling debris as a foothold to fire herself towards the quartet that had snot landed yet.
Clinging to the wall of another pillar, right between Echo and the four that were her target, lurked four Cures, waiting for their chance – it had now come. Blue and yellow decoupled from the wall and fell, straight into the path of Echo, who simply bore her fangs – reaching out to crush both of them like a wild beast. But those two needed no words. Hands connecting each other and another aimed straight at the enemy they hit her with a combination attack of their own. "[Mind Crash]!"
And they felt it – the self of Echo, greater than a mountain, greater than a land, it was like they were trying to destroy a planet by dropping bombs on the surface. It did not have the effect they wanted it to have – it barely slowed down her enemy. So they changed their course of action to remedy a now gaping hole in their plan.
Windy blasted Pine up with a shredding gust of wind that caused bleeding all over and acted as bait. Echo collided with her just an instant later and Pine descended on the two of them, stabbing both of her daggers into Echo's back all the way to the handle.
This robbed Echo of her momentum, giving the others enough time to execute their plan of attack. Positioned along the side wall of the pillar they knew they would not have time to recover or attack a second time. It was a literal all or nothing.
"[Overdrive! Gorrum Nova!]"
A pillar of light descended and ascended – piercing heavens and hell alike, annihilating everything in its wake, friend, foe and user alike.
Thrown across the shagged ground by the explosive force of the Ace and Joker combination attack, the Suite team saw that the ground had turned to less than ash in the face of overwhelming plasma. And amidst the molten and scorched area stood a singular white entity, cloaked in a fiercely glowing white aura.
"Is she some kind of super Goku?!" Yayoi couldn't handle facing such an enemy all of a sudden.
While Echo remained still, something descended from the pillars above – Egret came flying down, overburdened by two women hanging from her hands, both of which fell down, landing in the lethal area right next to Echo, jumping on her without giving her time to react. Peach and Bloom screamed as they felt their flesh dissolve from the abnormally hot burning floor beneath them but still they fought through the pain and kept her locked.
"Oh, still alive?" Echo mocked Bloom who had seen better days. Their initial encounter had ended with her being flung sky high and away. "You know you can't hurt me."
"We can't." Bloom talked through her agony. "But they can."
Echo looked confused for a moment and then flung around – as if Peach and Bloom not only weighted nothing but also weren't even there. Focused on a single point just outside the burning zone, in the opposite direction of the Suite girls, she showed clear worry.
It was well founded worry. Obfuscated by remains of the ice and the water vapor in the air, Aqua was barely holding on and keeping both Diamond and Blossom invisible – the latter having revived the former.
"Don't hold this against me." Peach smirked, moved her right hand in front of her mouth and bit down so hard she made blood gush out of her own hand. Confused by this self-destructive act, Echo paused just long enough for Peach to land a dirty hit – smearing blood in Echo's eyes with her open wound.
In an instant Bloom and Peach were pushed off by an annihilating white aura that blew off of them away like they were leafs in a hurricane – Bloom smashed through four pillars, wildly spinning and with limbs clearly broken, before she flew out of sight. Peach on the other hand was pushed into the ground and was immediately out of sight, buried by super heated rock.
"[Extinction]." Diamond calmly announced her attack and both Aqua and Blossom could feel the air, the ground, the magic energy in front of them disappear like the world itself, like reality, was being extinguished completely. Like Diamond just cut out a piece of something and threw it away.
Eating through the dimensions like an all-evaporating cone her ability marched forward, seemingly unstoppable.
The Suite quartet watched the attack approach Echo and prepared to escape out of the wake when Echo stood her ground and unleashed a white blast that not only clashed into Diamond's reality destroying ability but held its own against it.
"Sing." Muse directed a single command at Beat. "Melody, with me. Rhythm, with Beat."
She knew it wouldn't work as well as it had to be. But they didn't need a sure fire killing blast. They needed something that forced Echo to split herself in half.
Starting to sing one of the royal hymnos together, Muse and Beat, supported by Melody and Rhythm, made the best of a haphazard combination attack. Within seconds a large energy beam coalesced in front of Muse and was then unleashed, sustained through song magic.
All of them watched in growing panic as Echo turned sideways and unleashed the same energy blast a second time in the opposite direction – facing Diamond's attack and their [Replekia] simultaneously.
An unexpected attack came from above at this precipice of tides; Black Lily, Moonlight, Sword and Happy descended from above, the first of the four stomping her feet into a pillar and coming to a screeching halt standing almost upside down, the other three continuing in free fall.
Happy was the first to attack. "[A Hero Never Dies]!" Seven magical rings appeared around Echo, not closing in but hovering. And Echo buckled all of a sudden – it was a dampening ability, one that harshly decreased ones abilities. Anyone else would have been rendered completely powerless of magical ability inside those circles but Echo still held her own against the continued two pronged attack.
Black Lily hadn't had time to think of – or develop – many abilities so she went with the best thing she could – a single super powered shot. "[Shooting Star]!" Unleashing a massive arrow from her bow that grew only more as it flew past Moonlight, Sword and Happy, the arrow split into a dozen arrows forming a perfect line, penetrating Echo's back nearly all in the same spot, right between her shoulder blades.
Kicking Happy as hard as she could, Sword got Happy out of the dangerous zone, enabling her to hold on to a pillar and slow her descent with one hand, needing the other to continue dampening Echo's abilities.
One of them wielding a glaive and the other wielding two swords designed to cut apart magic directly, Moonlight and Sword landed with an attack – Sword ramming both of her swords right into Echo's stomach while Moonlight stabbed her in the back, their weapons colliding inside – and that was their plan.
"[Negative Eclipse Mage Killer]!" It was just something they had come up with seconds prior to their descent. Naming an attack just gave it more power, a prime rule of being a Cure or perhaps even a magical being.
Generating an anti-magic zone right inside Echo, they were sure that she couldn't possible survive this three pronged assault.
They were wrong.
"Looks like I have to actually get serious here." Blood flowing from her mouth, Echo didn't even seem to feel the pain as she smirked.
"[Devil's Scarlet Embodiment]."
=== DISSONANCE ===
"You're a walking cheat. Ow, ow, ow..." Hibiki tried to sit on a chair and immediately got back up. She had sunburn all over.
"She's like a level 4000 character..." Yayoi twitched as Michiru put some burn soothing oil on her forehead.
There were widespread complaints about Echo's power after the sparring battle. It had ended in a one-sided annihilation the second Echo got fully serious and used a special ability.
"What was that anyway?! Is that one of my abilities you tuned up or something?" Rin was understandable a bit miffed.
"It's based on your ability, yeah." Ayumi smiled happily. "It's homage! Not stealing!"
"Uh huh..." Rin was not convinced at all.
"I had no idea you were this powerful." Makoto was standing near Ayumi, awaiting her turn to get some of the sunburn soothing oil. "The physical abilities are one thing, but you were facing so much magic negation from Yuri and me on top of Miyuki's dampening and fighting ridiculous attacks on two sides. I still can't believe that there is someone who can fight back against Rikka's ability."
The girl in question – Rikka – was nowhere to be seen and neither was Regina. Because of the sunburn and having to physically get out of a Cure costume and put on normal clothes, Regina had to help her.
Due to the nature of the ability they used, Ako and Ellen had ended up temporarily mute while Hibiki and Kanade got off easy by just being very hoarse. None of the four said anything but they were all thinking how ridiculous Echo was. It's almost no longer human, they all thought.
"That ability you used at the end, what was that?" Karen had been too far away to hear her.
"It's a secret." Ayumi smiled and tilted her head.
"Yuri, you were right next to her, what was she saying?" Karen redirected her question.
"I remember descending and then nothing. The shock of dying probably wiped how I died."
"Well, we're all pretty well done thanks to someone going way overboard." Akane grumbled.
They all sat at various tables in the dining room as really nowhere else could fit them all.
"You all did so well that I had to get serious." Ayumi didn't show any sign of being offended by Akane. "I was particularly impressed by that combo attack with the wave. And using that as a setup for other attacks was really quick thinking. Anyone seeing that fight would know right away everyone here is an experienced fighter."
"It stings a little when you praise us considering you could have killed everyone in one hit right at the start." Miki was not very happy with the results either. She hadn't really been able to do anything in the face of Echo's overwhelming power.
"That's why I wanted to have this session, so you can all see that you're strong but there's always someone stronger. And that's also why I want everyone to think hard about how they can best develop their abilities to fight other magic fighters." Ayumi was at a table with Rin and Urara, the latter face down on the table after downing her sunburn pain in a few – a lot – drinks.
"It does look like we'll be here for who knows how long and have to fight each other. Might as well get good at it. And it's not like abilities for use against magic users won't be useful fighting other things if we ever have to." Karen did see the wisdom in Ayumi's words.
"Can you imagine the look on the faces of some evil shadow thingy organization coming to earth and we show up in force? They'd be all Nope and leave right away!" Erika was still having fun, even though it hurt a lot just sitting.
"I really could have done without the sunburn..." Setsuna was particularly miffed about this, just like Kurumi was. This was the second time in how many days that she ended up like this. What am I, fried chicken?
"If we ever do a session like this again I'll use something else!" Ayumi tried to sound appeasing.
"I'm good, thanks." Nagisa looked a bit deadpan after getting her ass whooped as hard as she sad. "So how are you gonna do the training thing? I don't think you wanted us to just go rack our brains on our own, right?"
"After seeing everyone in action over the past few weeks and now feeling it for myself I have some pretty good ideas." Ayumi did sound excited now.
"Who's going to be first?" Love was excited for this. Her current ability was not very useful and she wanted something better so she could protect her girlfriends in a battle.
"I feel it shouldn't be pairs or teams at once. There's gonna be moments where you fight alone. That doesn't mean you can't work on a specialized ability to use with someone else though so no worries!" Ayumi raised her hand and waved with just her index finger, in a no no no way.
"Should we draw numbers?" Karen asked.
"How about… Itsuki! Nagisa! Saki! You three, sound good?" Ayumi spun from spot to spot and pointed at the three girls.
Nagisa kind of just shrugged. "I mean I got my butt handed to me pretty royally. I'm ready to figure something out other than charge in and punch."
"Same." Saki just rolled eyes.
"I don't see a problem with my approach but one can always improve." Itsuki looked to Hibiki next to her and patted her head. "You'll be up soon."
While all of this was going on, Michiru and Kaoru were exchanging looks. They could sort of understand each other like that, without saying things out loud. We underestimated her power. And; This is a pretty ingenious way to get on their good side even more and get some one-on-one time with everyone.
They still didn't trust her – now less than before, but they did respect her power and knew that doing anything about her with force would be borderline impossible if not just plain impossible. They had to find out if she was really telling the truth, but how? They'd have to come up with something.
"My stomach's killing me..." Erika whined and her head fell to the top of the table.
"I think it's gonna be fast food bonanza today." Love pointed towards Hikari and Kurumi, who were busy getting each other some relief from the sunburn.
"Make that a definitely." Nao looked and sounded exhausted. "My spirit's crushed more than my body thought. Thirty plus Cures ganging up on one enemy and we get our ass so royally kicked the system still leaves us with sunburn."
"Where do we get fast food though?" Tsubomi was with Erika – she had tried to heal the sunburn but it actually backfired and reduced the effect of the soothing oil.
"Mamo's got a huge freezer in a backroom. She's not there but I think we should just take some money out of the team fund and leave it with her. I… felt bad if we just took her stuff." Makoto was very much still a person of integrity, even after everything that had happened to her.
"Sounds like a plan." Mai offered herself up to help out. "It should be much work but I could use a few free hands in the kitchen."
"I'll help." Inori was an expert at readying microwave food or simple stuff made in a frying pan.
"Me as well." Yuri shared that particular skill with Inori.
"Three people should be plenty." Mai collected her two helpers and headed for the kitchen to look around before they went to Mamo's place.
While the oil helped, it was still somewhat painful to do anything – but there was a miracle cure that could solve anything. After all they were still Japanese and nothing healed a Japanese lady more than a hot springs bath. The idea came from Tsubomi and a number of girls were immediately on board with this while others wanted to wait for food first. It was the late afternoon by now – they had all lost about three full hours between the sparring match starting and ending despite it being over in a manner of minutes.
Ten minutes after the huge group had split into three – one very tiny and two large groups – Tsubomi put aside the large white towel and slipped into the outdoors hot springs. It stung all over her body for a full minute before the sweetness sat in and the pain flew away. Exhaling very slowly and yet strongly she sounded a little like an old lady.
With her was some surprising company – Rin, Reika – whom Karen had dragged along, Alice but no Yami and Kurumi. Hikari kicked Kurumi out of the kitchen because she wouldn't only observe – and Hikari stayed there to make sure the kitchen wasn't burned down by three women who specialized in eating stuff from the freezer.
"Ah, it stings!" Kurumi was squirming as she got into the water. "Man… I can't believe we lost like that."
"I always knew that Ayumi was strong but this surpassed my wildest expectations." Karen very carefully rubbed her arms underwater, trying to calm the burns.
"Was she that strong even as a teen?" Tsubomi was curious.
"Not that strong. She must have powered up a lot as she got a bit older." Kurumi answered instead of Karen.
"I'm gonna come up with the greatest move ever, just you wait..." Tsubomi pouted and sunk down into the water until it reached her tied up hair.
The conversation died after that and they simply soaked their worn bodies in the hot water, that was until Alice brought up something to talk about. "I'd like everyone's opinion on something."
"Hm?" Karen reacted first and saw the devilish true expression behind Alice's smile. This is gonna be troublesome.
"Out of all the members of my team, of course myself included as well, who would you like to sleep with once, no repercussions, who would you like to marry and who would you like to be your date when attending a high-society party?"
Everyone was a bit shocked at how openly and brazenly Alice asked about this. Karen in particular felt validated in feeling like this would be trouble. "Where did that come from?"
"A standard question would be to ask what you all thought of us. We might be the oldest and lived through some difficult times but that is precisely why I feel I would not get an actually honest answer out of anyone, be it respect, sympathy or simply not wanting to be rude. So I phrase it like this. There are surprising things to be learned like this."
They all thought the same thing; If she phrases it like this we can't really refuse without being extremely rude. "Fine." Karen bit the bullet and swallowed it. "Your team… well, normally the obvious answer for most of these would be Mana, for most of us, I'd think. I… would want to marry you." Karen fought desperately to not blush. "Rikka, Makoto and Ange all feel a bit too stiff to me. I'm already like that, having two people like that together is trouble. Mana… I can see the appeal but honestly she is a little too much for me. Regina is just too far in the opposite direction of Ange."
"I feel flattered." Alice tried to cover up that she was actually blushing by covering her mouth as she chuckled but Karen caught it anyway. "And of the other two?"
"It's hard to decide between Regina and Ange." Karen hummed to further emphasize how hard it was.
"Hoh?" Alice's eyes widened.
"Regina is probably crazy in bed but Ange is much more my type."
"I suppose she does resemble your girlfriend."
"I'll go with Regina. Try out something new."
"Didn't see that coming at all." Alice was so surprised she broke character for a moment. Clearing her throat, she returned to normal. "I assume you would take Ange to the high-society event then?"
"No. Mana."
"Really now?"
"Rikka, Makoto and Ange would probably all fit in perfectly. They're smart and I assume they even have experience with such a thing. But Mana has an unbeatable charisma. She would draw the attention away from me. I have been to a lot of those events and honestly they bore me a lot. So if Mana were to draw people towards her, I would probably be able to slip away."
"How crafty. Those are some really surprising answers." Alice was very much enjoying herself. And then she turned her gaze towards Tsubomi. "Would you like to go next?"
"M-Me?!" Tsubomi didn't think anyone would go next – that getting one person to answer was enough. "Uh…" I don't think Erika will get mad or anything and I do want to break out of my shell a little more, but this is a big hurdle all of a sudden. "I'll try."
Tsubomi had her hair tied up for two reasons – one, it was simply etiquette to not get your hair all over a hot spring and second, with the length her hair was it took a pretty long time to dry and it wasn't like she was going to bed after this. But both reasons became irrelevant when she sunk almost completely under the surface. Blowing up bubbles, Tsubomi slowly rose back up with a failure of a confident look on her face. "I'll take Ange to the high-society event. She seems like she'd know exactly how to deal with that and I have no experience at all. She's Regina's sister, right? So she's probably used to that as well."
That is a surprisingly sharp evaluation of Ange, Alice thought. It's true that because Regina is the wild type that her already orderly and neat disposition developer a lot stronger than it would have without Regina. She's the extra responsible type that puts others before herself, which is the complete opposite of Regina. "And can you answer the other two or do you want-"
"I can!" Tsubomi blushed furiously but she didn't want the others to think she was so emotionally frail she couldn't handle something like this. "I'll marry Regina."
Alice started coughing, choking on her own saliva in surprise."W-What?" It was like that hadn't been in her expectation of possible answers at all. "You'll marry Regina?! That Regina?!" Alice broke character completely this time, sitting forward and looking at Tsubomi in utter confusion. "Are you sure?!"
"What?" Tsubomi was more surprised by Alice's behavior than anything else. "She's a lot like Erika. She's cute, too. And I think it would be fun to take care of her."
"Is… is that so?" Alice sat back, dumbfounded. It really does take all kinds to make a world. "So… about the last one..."
"Mana. I'd spend a night with Mana." Tsubomi blushed hard. "I like taking care of others but it might also be fun to get taken care of."
"That I can understand." That is how it was for the others all this time. It was reversed for Mana and me, so I know exactly why it would be appealing to her. "Those were some surprising answers. You caught me a little off-guard there."
A little? Tsubomi thought. I thought you'd grab me by my shoulders and shake me to make sure.
"Anyone want to be next?" Alice asked and Kurumi rose a bit out of the water. "A volunteer. That is convenient."
"Not really volunteering but I know that if I hear Reika's answers I'm gonna be too confused to think about my own." I know for sure the sky is gonna fall down when Reika is gonna have to answer these. I honestly have no idea what she could come up with. "For me it's actually not that hard. I'd marry Ange. She seems really dependable, she's very cute and nice. And with a sister like Regina she knows how to put a stop to it when I get all uppity." I'm not even gonna pretend I won't need that around someone that isn't Hikari. "Think I'd sleep with you, though. You give off a real… dominant vibe."
"I do?" Alice smiled through it but they could all feel that Kurumi had hit bullseye there.
"Yeah. I can't imagine anyone actually being on top with you unless you specifically let them."
"Well, if things between you and Hikari-"
"Not a chance." Kurumi immediately shut that down. "I won't even consider the idea of the possibility of a chance of that!"
"Being committed is a nice thing. Be proud of it." Alice chuckled. "So who would you take to the high-society event?"
"Rikka. I am good at etiquette in such places but a lot of times the conversations go over my bed. So I'd grab Rikka because she's definitely the smartest among you. And she'd pick up on whatever etiquette I already know so I won't even have to tell her."
"That's a great way of thinking about it." Alice watched Reika slowly slide towards the exit and with a single lunging grab she had her arm. "Now, now, it would be terribly rude to leave after hearing everyone's answer."
Reika just turned a little blue. This will be my doom. She was absolutely not the type to do well with this sort of thing. A battle plan? No problem. Infiltration? No problem. Stopping a terrorist attack? No problem. But this? This was even more difficult than relationships and she had failed at that pretty spectacularly just recently.
"Well… then..." Reika stopped trying to escape and looked outward – away from everyone else, to the horizon. "I would… sleep with Regina."
"Oh? Why is that?"
"She seems the least likely to have lingering attachments from just a single time. It would be really bad if someone I only slept with once would develop feelings for me that I couldn't reciprocate."
That's kind of somber and a bit of a downer answer, Alice thought. "Go on."
"I'd marry… Mana." And she felt their asking eyes on herself. "Even when I'm no good at relationships I think Mana would work with it somehow."
She's so confident in battles it's a bit of shock to see her have such a low opinion of herself, Karen thought and didn't say anything. But she could see that Kurumi was about to open her mouth and likely say something dumb so she grabbed her hand underwater and very lightly shook her head.
"I'd take you to the high-society event. While Rikka, Makoto and Ange all seems to be likely fits, from the way you have asked this to how you evaluated the answers I can sense you are the most cunning among your group. And high-society is a game of wits and cunning, so you would be the best choice."
That's thinking about it from a really… aggressive point of view, Tsubomi thought and worried a little about Reika's state of mind.
"Is that satisfactory for answers?"
"Yes. I am surprised, but it is absolutely satisfactory." I didn't think I'd get so many different opinions. And I am surprised that Mana is not anywhere as polarizing as I expected her to be. "Now, does anyone want to do another round but with a different group?"
"I will leave now." Reika hurriedly got out of the water.
"Same." Kurumi escaped before she was asked another risky question.
"I'll go as well." Karen got out after Kurumi.
Only Tsubomi remained, which surprised Alice. "You are staying all alone?"
"I'd feel bad if we left you all alone."
"That's kind of you." Alice smiled and sat up straight. "We will not be alone for long, however."
As three left, four others joined – having grabbed something to eat and now feeling full and wanting to relax. Nagisa, Akane, Rin and Saki came in – the wild beasts had been fed first so their growling stomachs wouldn't drive everyone nuts. Rin was honestly just there to keep an eye on Akane, who was still considered a bit of a problem child right now.
"Anything interesting being served?" Alice asked but already knew the answer. She had seen what the others had carried out of Mamo's shop.
"Huge pans of paella, nothing special." Nagisa slipped into the water followed by the other three.
Alice couldn't help but compare Nagisa and Saki side by side. I am normally not enticed by muscular women but I do wonder what it would be like to spend a night with Saki. I could ask them again what they think of my group… well, let's do that then. "Just soaking would be a little boring, don't you think so?"
"Hm? You wanna play something? Shiritori?" Nagisa was in fact utterly terrible at shiritori but loved to play anyway.
"I have a question for the four of you instead. Tsubomi already heard it so I would like to exclude her."
"What kinda question?" Saki's curiosity was piqued.
"Out of the six of my group, whom would you like to spend a night with, whom would you like to marry and whom would you take to a high-society dance event?"
Saki and Nagisa looked at each other; one scratching her chin, the other scratching her nose, both of them not sure how they should react. "Is that… a safe thing to ask here?"
"I will certainly not tell anyone."
Nagisa looked to Akane and Rin to her right.
"I don't care, really." Rin shrugged it off.
"Not keen on getting into more shit so I sure won't say a thing." Akane was not eager to make people even more mad at her.
"Why don't we start with Nagisa then?" I am sure there will be some amusing answers here.
"Oh crap. I mean… uh…" Nagisa flapped her flips. "That's not easy since I don't know any of you that well. I guess… I'd wanna marry Rikka."
"Of course you would wanna marry her. She's practically Honoka." Saki smirked and just effortlessly endured the elbow hit from Nagisa.
"Shut it! Like you have room to talk!" Nagisa covered her embarrassment with force. "So… I'd spend a night with Regina."
Regina is surprisingly popular. That is really unexpected. "Why is that?"
"She's the opposite of Honoka. If I were gonna cheat, I'd wanna be with someone totally different."
"Let's just assume that you were single and not cheating. I did not want anyone to feel guilty."
"Oh okay. Still Regina then. I think she'd be a lot of fun. And a high-society event… man, I'd probably screw up within five seconds so… I'd get you to come with me."
"Oh? Why me?"
"You strike me as the type that can salvage even the dumbest mishap without me dying of embarrassment."
"I appreciate your honesty." Alice looked pretty happy.
"I'll go next." Saki offered herself up. "And unlike Nagisa here, I'd not marry Rikka. I'd marry Makoto."
"They aren't that different!" Nagisa complained. "Don't act like you've got such special taste!"
"Shut it you!" Saki grumbled with and snorted at the same time. "Makoto is kind of serious but she's a singer, right? I like people that create."
"See, it's the same thing as me picking Rikka! Makoto is just a more serious Mai!"
"Is not! They're built totally different!"
"Like that's what we're talking about!"
"Now now, no fighting please." Alice raised her hands to quell the argument.
"Oh, this is normal for those two muscle brains." Rin redirected both of their ire towards herself. "See? They even get mad at me together for speaking the truth."
Both of them grumbled and Saki continued. "I'd sleep with Mana. Regina is too wild for me and I always worry about being too rough because I'm kinda bulky. But Mana is probably pretty strong herself, right? So I wouldn't have to worry and she isn't likely to be into weird things."
So you think Regina has strange fetishes? I can't blame you, even though that isn't true at all. "Go on."
"If a high-class event is anything like those art gallery parties Mai has… I'd take Regina."
Alice was frozen for a moment. "Really? You would take our Regina to a high-class event?"
"I'm definitely gonna make a fool of myself as usual so I might as well have the fitting company. At least that way I won't feel left out."
"That's an interesting way to look at it." I'm glad I asked them.
"You wanna go next Akane? Or should I leave you til last." Rin casually offered and was turned down.
"I'll have sex with you." Akane looked straight at Alice and seemed not the least bit embarrassed to say that to her. "You can call me shallow but looks are important and as far as looks go, you're the best out of your group."
"My, thank you." Alice chuckled.
"I'll marry Ange, she's also hot more importantly she seems like she would be okay even if we have the occasional fight. I think Regina, Makoto and Rikka wouldn't take someone as stubborn as me to begin with. I'd definitely take Rikka to the event because at least one of us has to be able to keep up with all the high classy talk. Makoto could probably do that too but between her and Rikka… well Rikka is definitely smarter."
Everyone has quite different tastes. I expected most of them to either want to sleep with or marry Mana, but she is surprisingly not that popular. "Thank you for being so forward."
"I don't know any other way." Akane leered at Rin for a moment and it looked like she hoped nobody would realize what this really meant – in a way she knew that she had been acting unacceptably, so now she looked to Rin, who seemed to have a really good head on her shoulders, for approval.
"Honestly there's only good choices here." Rin was a lot less decisive about it than the others. "I could deal with just about any combination which makes picking a favorite pretty hard. I guess… I'd sleep with you. I would want someone who understands really well that it's a one-time thing and you're the best choice there. It helps that you're really good looking, too."
"So many compliments today." Alice wasn't really a vain person but she did feel flattered when she was being chosen for the fling based on her looks.
"I'd marry Regina."
This time Alice had been prepared and just choked a little. That's two of them now that want to marry Regina! That's two more than I expected. "Really? Why is that?" Her voice cracked a little.
"Call it dumb but I guess I'm attracted to troublemakers. I want someone who pushes me and who I can push back."
"I see." Really, all sorts… more so than I imagined.
"I'll take Makoto to the high-society event. Rikka and you would probably do better, but I don't want to do that well. I just want to get the evening over normally and complain about people after and Makoto seems like she'd be okay with that."
I think you misunderstand her a little there, but I won't say anything.
"And now I got a question for you, Alice."
"Oh?"
"Out of my team, same question as yours. But not a high-society event but a concert. A big one. A sold out grand hall of ten thousand plus people." I have no idea if there's concert halls like that but this is hypothetical anyway.
"Hm… it is only fair for me to answer that. Now, let's see… I'd spend the night with Urara."
Rin started coughing. "What?!" She shouted as if Alice had said something unthinkable.
"Why are you so surprised?"
"Just… uh… I didn't think anyone would wanna have sex with our resident angry drunkard."
"She strikes me as someone who is like that only on the surface. Is that not right?"
Holy shit, I didn't think anyone beside our own team and Ako would see her that way. "It's not all an image she puts up, but she does have her good points beneath. I'm just shocked you'd see that."
"I have a good eye for people." Alice smirked. If she is dating Ako she must have good points. I cannot see someone as serious and levelheaded as Ako being with someone who is through and through unlikable. "As for marriage… I would marry Komachi. If I remember correctly then Karen is a musician who travels – I do not like to be apart from my lover if I can help it. You are not my type, not in personality or looks. I hope that does not offend you."
"I'd have a serious problem if everyone was into me. No offense taken whatsoever."
"Ayumi… I cannot really figure out Ayumi. She seems like a really good person but I feel she is too controlled by her emotions. And Rose is not quite marriage material as far as I am concerned."
"Ouch. I'll not say anything to her about that." Rin laughed it off even though she felt a little sorry for her teammate.
"A concert… I have never been to such a thing, so I would take Ayumi there. Between Karen, you, Rose and Ayumi, she is the most emotional and emotion is very important at such an event. I would want her to sweep me away with her."
Nagisa considered asking about her own group but with it only being three people she decided against it. Saki however had other plans. "Combining my team and Nagisa's, same question, but not a concert… how about going diving in the southern seas?"
"Hey!" Nagisa complained.
"What? We don't have that many people in our teams, so I figured we could just team up."
"You got four!"
"Yeah, but I don't think Michiru and Kaoru are gonna be picked for anything."
"That's a bit harsh to say as someone they idolize don't you think?"
"They're great girls! But you need to spend a lot of time to get to know them better."
"I don't mind answering that." Alice found it a little amusing even. "I would want to sleep with you, Saki."
"Eh?! Me?!" Saki was so surprised she moved in a big way and splashed Nagisa. "Ah, sorry! Just-"
"I have never had the chance to be with a woman that is so buff."
"I've been wondering if I shouldn't cut back on training a lot… Mai says she likes it, but I'm not sure if she's honest."
"Don't be an idiot. Would Mai lie to you? Other than teasing you for ten minutes."
"I know. Just… nobody else here is nearly this muscular."
"You act like you're some kind of boy building macho gorilla woman but actual body builders would squash you like a ripe tomato. You're just athlete level fit." Nagisa verbally slapped the silly out of Saki.
"Now, now, there is no need to be so serious. It's merely my preference. As for marriage… now I expect you are all thinking I would pick either Hikari or Mai, given my inkling for creative people, but that is not so. I would want to be Kaoru."
"Are you sure? How well do you know Kaoru?"
"Not that well. But she strikes me as a fascinating person that has more than one layer of obfuscation to her true personality. Getting to know her, marrying her, and being the only one to truly, truly know her would be fascinating and an endless adventure for me."
"I… never thought about it that way at all." Saki just honestly hadn't.
"As for going diving, I would definitely take Mai. She seems the most easygoing out of the seven of you, but also responsible. So we could have fun without worrying too much about each other. And I think we might enjoy the same things more than anticipated."
Saki frowned a little and Alice smiled at her. "Please remember that the event is purely hypothetical and also not related to romantic attraction."
"I know that."
"You're frowning at her." Nagisa pointed at Saki's eyebrows and slapped her arm.
"Uh, I know it's been a lot already but how about running the same question with my team? Let's make the event… I dunno… volunteering at the library to help grade school kids."
That is strangely specific. "I do not mind. Hm… I would want to marry Miyuki. Not to be offending but your team is quite full of women that have some sort of problem attributed to them. Yayoi is very shy, Reika seems to have lost how to grasp her own emotions, Nao seems to be confused about her direction in life and in romance. Finally, without wanting to cause a scene, you seem to have anger management issues. Miyuki, by process of elimination is the only one I can picture marrying."
The air was heavy over and Akane's head was turning red but she kept it down. I know she's right. She's fucking right. But it still pisses me off like crazy to hear it.
"Out of sheer curiosity I would want to sleep with Nao."
"Huh? Why Nao?"
"Her height and the size of her chest." Alice unabashedly said this and made Akane blush over how obviously direct she was being about her sexual preferences. "I would take Reika to volunteer at the library – it wouldn't be good to have her interact directly with the kids but if we give her an organizational role, things will go well."
"Yeah, Reika would organize the hell out of things." Akane snorted. "I'm not bad with kids but a library isn't where I'd fit in."
"Now, I believe I am about to dissolve so I will leave." Alice looked to where Tsubomi was and their eyes met. "Tsubomi, would you like to come with me? We should be able to get something to eat soon."
Tsubomi nodded and rose out of the water, quickly grabbing a towel.
The four of them were left behind as the other two made their exit. "I still can't believe how hard we got our asses kicked." Nagisa moved her right shoulder and sunk deeper into the water. "It felt like I wasn't even in the same dimension of a league with her."
"Same. I heard what went down after we attacked her. They hit her on three fronts with everything they got in these huge combo moves and it still did basically nothing." Saki sunk down into the water as well. "I heard she took Michiru's full power punch to the face and just walked it off like it was nothing."
"Ayumi was always strong but not this strong." I don't know what to make of this either. Sure, she was our ace in the hole back then too but this is too much. When did you get so strong, Ayumi? "But I guess it makes sense that she's been staying absent from the battles."
"No winning against her like this." Saki stretched and it really showed off her toned body, which resulted in her acting a little self-conscious immediately after. "I was surprised she wants to train us up. You think she's bored being that strong?"
"Maybe. But I think she just wants to be nice. She's always been a really considerate person." Rin had never let go of her respect for her leader.
Silence grabbed them and they just enjoyed the bath for a while before Nagisa brought up a bit of a downer. "She asked us about her team… one of them is still missing. Mana seems really strong so I'm not that worried about her but this place isn't normal either so I can't say I don't worry at all."
"There's also that whole evil Reika thing." Akane looked grim. "Honestly, out of everyone, an evil Reika is second only to the really big guns like an evil Ayumi. If she's as strong and smart as our Reika, we're in for a world of hurt."
"I think that's part of why Ayumi wants us to get stronger in Cure versus Cure combat. This wouldn't be the first time evil Cures showed up. For some of you it's the third time even, right?"
"For me, yeah. Akane and her group were lucky and were only there for the final match between Echo and Nightmare." I still wonder why her evil doppel was called Nightmare… it's not like that has anything to do with Echo.
"Honestly one evil Beauty back then was enough. Fighting Bad End Sunny wasn't a walk in the park either." Akane didn't want to think about how much destruction evil doppelgangers could wreck now that they were so much stronger than back then.
"Damn I'm nervous about actually getting to train with her. It's like, I don't want her to look at me and think Oh no, this is hopeless. I've always been slower than Honoka to figure out new abilities and what not."
Everyone could figure out that Nagisa was looking for some reassurance here – but how could they give that to her when they were all thinking the same thing? Rin still tried. "Ayumi is not the type to do that. She will work you into the ground though..."
"I can deal with that." Nagisa did seem relived, albeit the same was not true for Rin and Akane. They didn't mind hard work but it was really not about that.
"You think it will just be a single session for each of us?" Saki was in the first batch together with Nagisa. There were a lot of them after all so Ayumi didn't have time to do one to one coaching.
"I can't imagine that." Rin shook her head. "Considering the system is mostly down we probably have some time to figure this out. A few days at least. It's gonna be… harsh, though. Ayumi doesn't understand what it means to go easy on someone when she's trying to help them."
"Better than giving up on me." Nagisa smiled despite the self-deprecation. "I'm still nervous though..."
==== DISSONANCE ===
"Stay back you damn idiots!" Miyuki shouted at her friends. Oh man this is the worst.
She was pinned to the ground by Heart, who looked at her with obvious suspicion and had one hand around her throat and another hand clenched into a fist, ready to knock her lights out. "Who are you?" Mana had seen her share of dark things in her life, but a perfect lookalike of Miyuki that just sounded a little different was new. But that was not all. There were a whole bunch of them. She couldn't tell who all of them are and she was operating on fumes right now, but she couldn't just surrender herself.
"Bad End Happy. Reformed villain. Same as nine of the others over there. The other four are kinda just… way too hard to explain. Aren't villains at least." No point trying to lie my way out of this now that it's come to this. She either believes me, or not. If she doesn't I can still try to get out of this by slamming her with a [Wake The Nightmare] and get away.
"Oh." Heart had an uncanny ability that was completely unrelated to her magical powers – she could tell when someone was lying. Not really what the lie was or how big of a lie it was, but she could somehow tell when someone was being honest and genuine. And she didn't feel any lies from this girl beneath her. Relaxing her grasp, Heart managed a smile. "That's good."
That was the last thing Heart said before she went limp and well on top of Miyuki. "Hey, you're heavy! Get off!" Damn, did she faint? Why the hell did she faint? "Hey! Did any of you idiots do something to her?!" Miyuki shouted at the others.
There was a brief pause before someone shouted back – it was Akane. "Nobody!"
Pushing Heart off of her, Miyuki sat up and groaned and rubbed her face. This is the absolute last thing I needed. At least she believed me right off the bat. What's up with that anyway? How can she just believe me when she clearly recognized me as Miyuki and then that I'm not the real one? I was ready to have my damn head torn off when she went all 'You're not Miyuki' on me.
Surrounding their leader, it was not Akane but Komachi who first knelt next to her, checking on Heart. "She's alive but unconscious. What did you do to knock her out so cleanly?"
"I didn't do shit. She just relaxed after I told her I'm a reformed villain like most of us and she just went all sack of potatoes on me." Miyuki didn't bother dusting off her clothes before standing up. "She bleeding anywhere?"
"Not that I can tell. But she could be hurt internally."
"That's Cure Heart." Erika correctly identified her and everyone looked at her like she was a ghost. "I paid attention to what the other Nozomi was saying. That outfit, hair color, her age, a pink… that can only be Heart. She's too old to be Peach."
"So we know what her name is, but what the hell is she doing here? And why's she still out? Slap her."
Before anyone could follow Miyuki's order, something happened. A horrible sound the likes of which were heard only in dire times filled the air and they immediately knew what the cause for Heart's loss of consciousness was. Hunger.
"We weren't gone that long, right?" Tsubomi suddenly realized that what they felt was not that long could have been a lot longer. "Echo, does time flow differently in the… memory?"
"With the Memento being confined to a physical space like this it follows time normally." Echo briefly explained.
"Was she lost in the woods and showed up at random?" Nao picked her up and carried her – being tall was an advantage in such cases.
"How the hell did she even get here to begin with? We couldn't get the other Nozomi to go home until… I have no idea. Until earlier we couldn't even remember her. I couldn't remember my own damn girlfriend either!"
"If she were an agent of the cruel destiny, she would not have become peaceful upon your explanation of your identity." Echo stepped close to Heart and put her hand on her forehead. "I do feel the touch of the cruel destiny on her body… but not her mind."
"Meaning? Translation please, we don't speak cryptic." Miyuki was somewhat short on patience. Even more so than usual.
"She has met the cruel destiny but has not been swayed to her vision. This is good news."
"Komachi, how do we feed her like this?" Miyuki changed course.
"We don't. We're going to have to wake her up first."
"Great. Yayoi, come over here." Miyuki was not going to wait around. "When I tell you, shock her. That ought to wake her up. You can limit that so she's not gonna bite the dust, right?"
"Yep."
"Just so we're absolutely clear on this; if you think about pranking me or her, I'll absolutely throw you into the ocean. This is not the time or place to-"
"I know! I'm not an idiot! We got Urara and Rin for that."
"Hey!" They complained as one.
"Shut it. You think I forgot who it was that brought the other Nozomi over in the first place?" Miyuki shut them up with one line. "Tsubomi, Komachi, do we even have anything to eat? Not just for her, but ourselves, too."
"I'll go check. Itsuki, Erika, Reika, with me." Grabbing a small squad of helpers, Tsubomi set off towards her fields and braced herself for the worst.
"What do we do now?" Akane asked, carrying Dream.
"Going inside and see if there's any other Cures that don't belong. Rin, get Nozomi inside."
Two reds brought the two Nozomis inside and put them together on the bed that Miyuki and Nozomi shared for the time being. They were still out of it, but Miyuki was tired of waiting. After making sure the house was empty and not in danger of collapsing, she had Karen wake them up – by splashing them.
One Nozomi woke up – Dark Dream. Gasping for air, screaming because she had been doused with icy water, she rose up, lost her balance and fell off the bed. "Karen!" Her scream immediately changed into something else – heaving. Getting to her knees, she tried to throw up but couldn't because she had nothing inside. Her eyes almost bulging out of her skull, she continued to heave and gag for a solid minute during which Miyuki came to her side twice and was swatted away twice.
"That… that was the worst experience… of my life..." Panting, she sat back down, her back against the bed's frame. "Miyuki..." Looking like she might faint again, Nozomi finally let her girlfriend come close. "You saved me, right?"
"Yeah." Miyuki glanced away. "Not alone."
"I knew you'd step up when I'm not around… I feel like my head is filled with a million fish bones."
"Do you remember what happened to you?"
"Sort of." Nozomi looked past Miyuki, past Karen, and her eyes landed on Echo, who looked in from beyond the door. "You're… not her, even though you look like her."
Miyuki and Karen both turned to look at Echo, who just nodded. "I am not the cruel destiny. It is perceptive of you to be able to tell."
"I saw enough of your memories to be able to tell just from the way you're watching. If you were her, if you were Eternal, you would already be trying to worm your way into my good graces and figure out what I know."
"A lot's gone down while you were away." Miyuki pointed behind Nozomi. "We, uh, actually got the other Nozomi here too."
"Oh no..." Dark Dream looked distraught. "So that was not a dream then..."
"What was?"
"I'll tell you about everything that happened on the other side later, but important is that I actually met her before. I don't know how much time passed, but at some point I met the other Nozomi – the real Nozomi – and helped her save her friends."
"You what?"
"They were all unconscious, buried in snow under a blizzard. They have a bathhouse on the other side, we brought them there to keep them alive. But something was wrong with them. Their minds were completely messed up. I have no idea how I got there, really, or why Nozomi was the only one awake." Dark Dream smirked. "You know, I adopted a different name when meeting her; Yume. I was worried about how she might react to my existence after all this time but she practically treated me as her sister."
I can't believe she came up with the same stupid name… "What happened after that?"
"Eternal Echo showed up." Yume pulled herself up by the bed's frame and sat on the bed itself as she looked at Echo. "That was you, wasn't it?"
"It was us." Echo shook her head. "At the time we vied for control over the body that we shared – a body I know not where it came from. But we were united in one thing – we had to save the Cures."
"I can't remember a thing that happened after you used your ability to save them."
"You and I were cast away in a moment of weakness – the cruel destiny seized control and imprisoned you, her and I within the Memento. I know nothing of what she did after this."
"Did they hurt you?"
"What?"
"The originals."
"No. Reika found out and threatened me until I explained. She didn't trust me, but she didn't hurt me either. I don't know if they all have reservations about us, but I don't think we have to worry about them attacking us without warning or provocation."
Miyuki breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Because you know what? We got Cure Heart here."
"What?!" Yume tried to leap to her feet, wobbled and fell back to the bed and into Miyuki's arms. "Why is she here? What about Diamond?! Rosetta?"
"No idea."
"You didn't attack her, right?!" Yume sounded frantic. "She's really powerful! She could easily take on all of us together!"
"Calm down, she passed out from being hungry. Tsubomi is checking if anything survived the blizzard."
"There was a blizzard here too?"
"Yeah, and lots of other shit."
While Miyuki and Yume exchanged information of what they had seen, Tsubomi was shaking off expectations of despair. The fields had survived – most of the crops themselves had died, but the fields had survived the horrors of the artificial winter that the cruel destiny had brought.
"Nothing that some hard work won't fix." Tsubomi's statement put fear, horror and the desire to run away screaming into her helpers. Because when she said hard work, she really meant back breaking murderously hard work and they knew they were going to be the ones doing it. "Grab anything that's still edible. We're all hungry. Not gonna be much it looks like but we will have dinner."
"My head 's hurting." Miyuki palmed her face. "So while you were over there, they were losing their minds?"
"I am sure it wasn't my presence but something they all went through. It was scaring the life out of me. As much as the cruel destiny is a problem, without Echo and her fixing them, I think we would have even bigger problems now."
"The madness that had taken root in their minds was kept under seal before our awakening. I fear that it might have been our awakening itself that caused the seal to break." Echo was still filling in some blanks in Yume's story.
"Do you think the cruel destiny is healing them?"
"It is against her and mine ideals to poison the mind – but to kill madness is a cure. I think so, yes. I believe she is permanently erasing the craze that took hold within them."
"I'm glad… I don't understand why Nozomi was not affected by it, though."
"That I do not understand either."
"Okay, enough." Miyuki put an end to the discussion. "I can't keep going or my head is gonna explode." She blushed when Yume leaned in and kissed her briefly. "That's not gonna fix it."
"I know. Echo, Karen, can you leave us alone?" They both left without asking. "So…" Yume turned around and looked at the sleeping Nozomi. "You put her hands on her, didn't you?"
Miyuki looked away and said nothing. I have to come clean, just… admitting it to her face right now hurts.
"I'm not mad if you think that. I know you're needy and with the situation being what it was… I kinda figured you would have to look elsewhere. You didn't force her, though, right?"
"Not that stupid. No, actually I kinda got unbearable and she offered so I could stop being a terrible leader."
"That does sound like her. But, and I'll only say this once, now that I'm back, you're mine, right?" Kissing again, they fell on the bed next to Nozomi and breaking it up rather quickly. "We shouldn't get too caught up while she's still here, though. Also, I got a confession to make too."
"That's a surprise."
"I, well, it's more a confession to her, really. I kind of got together with the other Miyuki while pretending to be Nozomi. That's going to be hard to explain."
"Did you sleep with her?"
"No. We didn't even really make out."
"Missed your chance." Miyuki smirked like the devil. "I'm glad though."
"I'm just happy to have you back. It was constantly nerve wrecking to be over there. There's so many of them."
"I wanna be all you're safe now but it looks like our trouble is just really starting."
"Hah… I guess it comes with the territory. We come from Cures, we gave up on the whole evil thing and now it's time to put our money where our mouth is and save their asses. Or at least do what we can."
"Don't even pretend you're not actually excited to be a hero." Miyuki raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah, I won't." Yume chuckled. "I'm glad to have you by my side for this."
"I couldn't do this shit without you."
Yume sighed. "You're doing okay as a leader, but you still have such a foul mouth."
"Hey, you're just Dark Dream! I'm Bad End Happy. I'm a whole league up in the evil game!"
"Yeah, yeah." Kissing Miyuki's forehead, Yume groaned. "I'm starving…"
"Probably not going to be much, if we have anything at all. If Heart dies on us from hunger, we'll be in some serious trouble."
"I still don't understand how she got here."
"We don't know either. She was passed out in front of the house."
"Hopefully she'll be cooperative."
"Have you talked to her on the other side?"
"No. But she struck me as a really amazing leader from the things I overheard."
"Better than Nozomi?"
"Nozomi isn't actually that great a leader. She's more of a great person." Yume snickered. "Don't tell her I said that."
"Hm, what should I do?"
Akane poked her head around the corner. "Tsubomi's back. Doesn't look like much but there's gonna be dinner."
"Is it that close to dawn already?" Yume wondered about the time.
"It's actually not even dusk."
"Look, I might be a bit shaken but I can tell it's not bright out."
"Echo basically made it night."
"What do you mean, made it night?"
"She's totally overpowered. Makes Yuri look like nothing."
"I should have expected as much." Sitting up after saying so, Yume bent over, her stomach growling loudly. "How many weeks was I in there?"
"Weeks? If I am making sense of that timeline from your story, less than a day."
"What? No way. I saw thousands of memories."
"Maybe the time spent in a memory is different. I don't know what to tell you. If you had been in there for weeks you'd be starved out."
Touching her stomach and her arms and thighs, Yume confirmed what Miyuki was saying. "Crap, you're right…"
"Thousands of memories… I didn't think there would be that many Cures."
"There aren't thousands. Every Cure had many memories. For some of them I saw twenty or thirty memories, maybe more."
"How many of them were happy endings?" Yume didn't answer that and just looked sad. "You know, I'm not a friend of humans but the general idea of a place for just Cures sounds good. If we work real hard maybe they'll let us have a place on the outskirts or something."
"One thing I learned about them while being over there is that they're not nearly as scary as I thought. Sure, I was still super nervous and scared because I was all alone and towards the end they were going nuts, but… If we help them, if we even manage to save some of them, I think they'll accept us."
"That would be great but I'm not getting my hopes up. Unlike you, there was no saving in my case."
"The other Miyuki was super friendly. The others… were problematic from what I could tell. But they're close to others that could help. They even have some Cures that were enemies at some point and became their allies after becoming Cures."
"That's gotta be against the rules somehow."
"No rules." Yume smiled and got on her feet, wobbling still. "Lend me your shoulder?"
Getting up, Miyuki groaned, pushed away Yume's hand and picked her up like a princess. "I'm not snailing through the place." She blushed when Yume gave off a little kyaa sound.
=== DISSONANCE ===
"I don't even need to ask why we're practicing in a battle space, do I?" Black felt like another ass-kicking was coming.
"New abilities can often be dangerous and I don't want anyone getting hurt." Ayumi paused. "More." Again. "Than they have." She grew more self-conscious with every pause.
"So, how are we doing this exactly?" Bloom shrugged, not sure what to do.
"We think. Sunshine, do you think Black would benefit from martial arts training?"
"Probably not. It takes a long time to get really good at it and it takes considerable skill to apply it as a Cure. On top of that, her fighting style just isn't suited to a technical approach. Sorry Black!"
"Nah, it's fine, you're right. I like to rush in and slug people and then hammer them with a Blacklight."
"When you try that with someone like me who can just endure the hits you're wide open though." Bloom added.
"Well, yeah, every fighting style has problems. So, should I work on covering that problem?"
"Hm, I think that's the wrong direction." Echo shook her head. "Say, you don't really use much magic other than your [Blacklight Devastation], right?"
"Well… uh… yeah. Honoka always says it's wasteful but I'm just not good at channeling like she is."
"So why not make use of that? Instead of trying to cover for your weakness with technique or magic, let's give up on magic entirely and boost your physical skills."
"That's a lot easier said than done. I'm not Bloom!"
"I don't mean it like that. Instead of sitting on untapped magic, turn all your magic into physical power."
"Uh..." Black was drawing a blank.
"Think of it like when Luminous buffs you. You're stronger then, right? So use your own magic to strengthen yourself and give up on using magic entirely. Your [Blacklight Devastation] is strong but it's just one skill. With something like this you'd be much more unpredictable."
"It'll be impossible to just take the hit if you get much stronger than this physically. At least not without specialized defense abilities." Bloom was seeing the wisdom in Echo's approach.
"That's a lot easier said than done though! That sounds like something Honoka or Mai or any of the technically gifted ones would do!"
"Hm, for now let's start with a simple routine. Collect the energy for a Blacklight and then instead of making it explode outward, contain it internally and let it flow through you."
"Are you trying to make my head pop off?!"
"It won't do that. It's your magic after all. And this is training for a new ability that will define your fighting style. It's worth it. We're in a battle space after all, so even if something goes wrong you can just come back and try again."
"That's not very reassuring..." Black looked dejected. "But I'll try. I didn't come this far by giving up on stuff."
"Great!" Echo looked delighted. "Now for you Bloom."
"I already kind of know what I wanna be able to do."
"Let's hear it!"
"I wanna be able to take basically any attack to the face and shrug it off like you did. I know I won't be able to do that with everything but I wanna work towards that."
"So you wanna be a living shield?"
"Yeah."
"I think that's admirable. To outlast the enemy is just as valid a way to fight and win as any other. And like this you can protect your teammates as well. I'm surprised actually, I was sure you would want to pursue a path of strength considering your build."
"My build is the reason I wanna be defensive. Michiru is already more powerful than me offensively even without training so much. I wanna make the best of this and become everyone's shield. A wall that you can only go around, not through."
"A very fine idea. To facilitate that I think the same exercise that Black is doing will work well for a start. You will most likely have to give up on your magical abilities… well, I don't recall you using those much anyway."
"I'm more of a physical type, yeah." She scratched her cheek. "So… build up energy and instead of releasing it to the outside like I normally would, let it flow through me?"
"Very good."
"I just paid attention while you were talking to Black." She looked humbled. "I'll start right away though!"
"Once the two of you can safely do the exercise without incurring internal damage you'll be able to continue practicing outside this space, too."
"Oh." They both hadn't thought of that at all.
"On to my third student." Echo blushed. "Calling you three my students is actually embarrassing considering you're mostly older than me."
"That doesn't matter." Sunshine raised her right hand. "I want to do something that is similar to both of them but not really at the same time." Looking around herself, above and below, Sunshine sighed. "I learned that attacks can come in many, many forms. It's impossible to react to everything normally or block it or avoid it. Some attacks are too big, some too powerful, some you can't even see like Pine's [Domination]. I want to dedicate myself to magically honing my senses of danger and reaction to the absolute limit that exists."
"That sounds like you have something very specific in mind."
"Yeah. The greatest martial arts masters that ever existed are said to be able to dodge incoming strikes with their eyes closed. I want to do something similar – I want to drill into my body the knowledge, reflexes and intuition to evade and counter anything that can be evaded or countered. I am not going to aim for something like ultimate evasion or perfect countering of any attack. That is clearly impossible to begin with. Not even you could evade or counter everything. So I want to limit myself to a specific role, that of a physical fighter, that one can't touch without suffering the consequences. It's a bit like a mix of Black and Bloom."
"You are already good at internalizing energy, aren't you?"
"Better than them, probably. I will still do the exercise though. But for my real training… I want you to slug me. And if you have an ability like that… make clones of yourself and attack me from all directions."
"You have a really strong drive. But I can feel that's not all. Are you… mad at me?"
"I'm mad at myself that even with my martial arts I was toyed with like a complete amateur. I have magic so I will make use of it. I want to be like one of the ancient masters that could feel and read the flow of battle and were unmatched in single combat. Think of it like the Sunshine Mastery of Martial Arts."
Echo smiled wide. "Master of the Glowing Fist."
Sunshine's eyes widened a little. "That is a great name."
"Eh? Really? I was just… well, if you like it." She looked put on the spot.
"Can we start right away?"
"Sure. I'll pull my punches though. If I hit you with everything I got you'll just die."
"Hit me hard enough that it'll break something if I don't at least mitigate the blow somehow."
"Are you sure? I think it would be more productive-"
"Unless I learn to heighten my abilities, my senses, to the utmost because I'm in danger of dying it'll be useless in a real fight."
"I see. Then… Let's move a little away."
The battlefield was just a gigantic flat lawn filled with lush grass and a clear sky. It was a pleasant place to train. Part of it was interrupted by an explosion and following the source, one could find Cure Black in the center of a crater, bleeding a bit from her mouth and nose. "That… is a lot harder… than I thought..." Gasping for air, Black groaned in pain and picked the exercise back up.
Bloom had moved away from Black so they could each focus on their own exercise and not start talking to each other. And much like Black, Bloom was in the center of a now three stages crater and she had fallen over once. I didn't think this would be this difficult. It's just… I never even thought about this until now. How long am I gonna have to practice this to get it right?
While the four of them were training, the rest of the girls were finishing up eating and taking turns bathing. A specific group of three however was out on the plaza and trying their best to help out Echo.
"Anything?" Peach sat on the floor, legs and arms crossed. Beat was also on the floor, lying sideways and resting her head in Peach's lap.
"I can feel the tear in space but it's like… sticking your hand through a fence and being able to feel the hole in a wooden plank behind the fence." Passion felt dejected. If I was more powerful I could probably open this… a lot more powerful… at least as strong as Diamond or Rosetta. I guess I'm a few years of training short for that. "I'll check the rest of the plaza before I give up."
"Don't work too hard, Passion!" Peach tried to be encouraging but she was pretty worn out. She was one of the lucky few that hadn't gone toe to toe with Echo. Retreating at the start after seeing the first Cures get smashed and trying to come up with a plan she had lost track of her girlfriends in the chaos and ended up dying in the big attack that Echo used. I really need to come up with some better techniques… I'm such a burden to Setsuna and Ellen. I already have a general idea of what I wanna do but I have no idea of how to get there… hah… I hope I won't be in the last batch of girls to train with Echo.
Beat raised her head and looked at Peach with an obvious expression of worry but closed her eyes and smiled when Peach petted her head. She didn't mind the irony of acting like a cat even though she hadn't been one in years. And to start with, she really hadn't ever been a real cat – she was a cat shaped inhabitant of a fairy world after all.
But Love liked it and so she liked it. Growing more accustomed to being intimate with both of them, even in public, was important to her and so she always pushed herself as much as she could.
"I'm glad we decided to put on your costumes. Magic is a good medicine for sunburn. Although it'll probably hurt when we go back to bed. Unless..." Peach was just making conversation now.
"Don't even think about going to sleep as Peach." Passion reprimanded her ahead of time. "That goes for you too, Beat." Searching for cracks in space by sensing a power similar to her own, Passion tried to find a different entrance to that other space. But the search was going very poorly.
"I know, I know! This isn't like that one time." She noticed the curious look that Beat was giving her. Lowering her voice, so Passion wouldn't hear, she started to explain. "See, while Passion and I were traveling, we once fell down a muddy slope… in the middle of nowhere. And it started to rain immediately after. We were soaking wet and had nothing to change into and there was no way to get a fire started. So we transformed and-" She stopped when she saw Beat very suspiciously shake her head lightly. "She's right behind me, isn't she."
"Yes, she is. Geez, Peach, if you want to tell her about that just do it. Acting like I won't allow you to tell her is just going to make her think I try to police what you say."
"Sorry. That wasn't what I want to make her think at all." Bending back and looking up, Peach and Passion shared a quick apology kiss. "I just thought it might sound more exciting if I told it like a secret."
Beat rolled off Peach's lap and got on her feet in a hurry, kissing Peach before she returned to a normal position. Smiling and shaking her head she started to flail shortly after – a clear sign she wanted to communicate but couldn't. Turning to Passion she quickly gave her a kiss too.
"You have such a bad influence on her, Peach. She can even kiss us in broad daylight without blushing now." Passion smirked and that smirk and statement caused Beat to finally turn red all the way to her ears. Wildly flailing her arms in a no, no motion, Beat grasped her hair and ruffled it herself, going crazy being unable to speak.
Hugged and squeezed tight from two sides, Beat's embarrassment skyrocketed because she could feel both of their breasts on herself and their lips on her ears. Th-Those two! She screamed internally and her entire face was now red.
"I don't think I'll find anything but while I check the rest of the plaza, Peach, Beat, why don't you give your ability direction some thought?" I already know what I want to do… Love is probably going to be understanding and maybe she'll even be excited, but I wonder if Miki and Inori will be okay with it… and am I okay with it? I don't know…
"That's so much easier said than done!" Peach let go of Beat and so did Passion – the blue Cure staggered to the side and bend over, taking many deep breaths to calm herself. "You already have a specialization. I never figured one out. I thought just being good at everything was enough. I didn't think I had to be amazing at one specific thing."
"That just means you have a good foundation now. I can only really work in a few specific directions from where I am but you can come up with almost anything, right?" Passion managed to flatter Peach even when she was putting herself down a little. "I'm worried about Beat though..."
Beat looked at Passion and pointed to herself with a confused look on her face. Waving no, no again but with a smile she tried to communicate without words – and they understood.
"If you say we don't need to worry, we won't." Peach smiled wide and Beat's face lit up in happiness that her meaning went through so well.
"Between the three of us, you have the most distinct specialization, Beat. I'm excited to see what you'll turn that into." Passion sounded convinced that it would be something amazing.
Beat nodded very strongly three times quickly in succession and smiled at them with her eyes closed.
The topic of new abilities and directions to take their fighting style was all the rage that evening; everyone was talking about it and excitement was in the air despite their extremely unusual situation and Mana still being lost somewhere. They attributed their mental fortitude to having gone through already and at least they still had food, water and electricity. Not to mention hot baths.
But there was one that was plagued by anxiety – not over her abilities but over something else. If this keeps up I'm gonna have to sleep in Sasorina's room… I'd rather sleep in the lobby actually. Nao turned me down, I can't ask any of the actual couples so that leaves only Akane and Reika… I'm so done for, even if one of them agrees. Actually, I bet I could Reika to just let me use her bed and she'd sleep somewhere else but the guilt would kill me. Reika's… she's like a much worse version of Kaoru from a few weeks ago. She is hot though. Inori was spinning in her thoughts.
Coming down from the penthouse – where she had helped sort out the bed she had donated for use by Ange and Makoto – she was now searching for Reika and ran across Kurumi and Hikari, who immediately separated by two steps and stopped holding hands when they saw her. What are you, fourteen? Come on you two… "Have you seen Reika? I'm looking for her."
"Reika?" Kurumi turned around and looked like she'd been caught stealing candy. "I think she left a while ago… We were in the kitchen until now, so..." Kurumi had forced her way back into the kitchen to be with Hikari despite her protests.
"Thanks. I'll check outside."
Finding Beat in a dangerous situation – being petted from both sides – Inori made a big detour around them and headed to the bathhouse instead and turned about just before the entrance in the fog. If I remember right she was among the first to go take a bath, before food was ready even. But where else could she be? Heading towards the beach, she stopped again. I don't wanna end up naked. She had no swimsuit on her after all. That left the mountains but she hadn't been there before and it would be difficult to find Reika in an unknown environment.
Someone jumped on her back all of a sudden and hugged her so tight the air escaped her lungs. "Peach… consider that I'm not in Cure form." She gasped and was released. "And after I deliberately stayed out of sight, too."
"You're always welcome, no matter where we are, Bukki." Peach smiled wide as Inori turned about to look at her. "Why are you sneaking around? It's not just because we squeezed Beat a bit, is it?"
"Looking for Reika but I have no idea where she has gone."
"Did you check her room?"
"No answer."
"Something wrong?" Passion was coming over now, with Beat walking next to her and enjoying a continuous head rub that left her hair a complete mess.
"The mysterious case of the missing Reika!" Peach proudly announced and immediately found her nose captured by Inori's hand – and there was enough squeezing force behind it that even a Cure went ow, ow, ow and buckled over. "What?!" Her voice was a bit distorted.
"Think about what you're saying for a moment. I know you thought that was a funny gag but – the others came over with Echo, who met an evil Beauty. And now you're making it a joke saying our Reika is missing?" It was customary to refer to a Cure by her Cure name. But this time, Inori made an exception. "Love. Come on. I know you have a good enough head on your shoulders." Letting go of her leader, Inori sighed. "Nothing seems to be happening but that doesn't mean we should just make light of the situation."
"Sorry." Peach bowed and looked genuinely like she had just stepped on someone's favorite toy and broke it.
"It's not a big deal but imagine if you had gone ahead and ran around telling people Reika is missing as a joke."
"Yeah. I figured that's what the problem would be." Peach rose back up and her good mood had been dampened a bit. "So, want some help?"
"No." Inori grabbed Peach's nose again. "I know you both so well, getting you involved will make this blow up into a thing and it isn't a thing. This place is actually fairly big to find a single person when you stop and think about, so it isn't unusual at all to not find them in five minutes." Letting go again, Inori smiled. "But thanks for the offer. I would ask if you are going to be okay sharing a bed with three people but you're on the fiftieth floor and it's you three. So I know you'll be fine."
"We slept in a small row boat before." Peach grinned.
"Sometimes I wonder if I should have gone on my own journey."
"Why not with us?" Peach asked and felt Passion lightly elbow her. Oh. "Sorry I asked."
"Years later and she can still be such an airhead. Right, Passion?"
"Don't I know it." Passion smirked at Peach's shocked face.
"Now, I do need to find Reika though, so I'll be on my way."
"What do you need her for? I'll tell her if we see her." Peach offered and Inori hesitated.
Telling them is just gonna… well, if I phrase it differently… although that is risky too. "I'm a little interested in her so I wanted to see if she would share a room with me." Seeing the faces of all three of them light up, she grimaced at them. "A little interested. You know I was interested in Kaoru before, yes? Reika is… well, she's similar. I want to see if there's room for a person before I decide if I even want to try and be that person."
There was a big Oh I see expression on their faces and Inori wondered if she shouldn't pursue a career that involved tricking people because clearly she was very good at it. "But if you do see her, tell her I was looking for her and if she has time to wait for me in the lobby or the dining room."
"Roger that!" Peach raised her hand in a joking salute.
Heading for the mountains anyway, Inori found that right by the exit on the mountain side the path ended – the entire area was covered in so much snow and ice that it swallowed even the trees. She stood in a massively deep hole that was like someone had carved out a pillar of snow and ice and called it a day. There was no way to go anywhere unless one went over ten meters up and traveled on top of the snow. There is no reason why she would do that. I'll tell the others that we should stay away from the mountains for the time being. How unfortunate, considering we've just become able to come here in the first place. Leaving the way she came almost immediately, Inori came back out on the plaza and headed for the hotel – she was just gonna grab her swimsuit and check out the beach.
It was by pure coincidence that she saw Blossom hurriedly jogging across the plaza, followed by Marine. "Something happen?!" She shouted across the plaza.
"Nothing big!" Blossom shouted back and Marine just did a small jump in the air, turned sideways and showed Inori a double victory sign before following her girlfriend.
I guess Echo's training is harder than anticipated. I haven't really spent any thought on where to take my abilities and style… I do think speed is working for me and I'd like something to act as a backup in case my [Domination] fails… or maybe I should abandon that entirely. It's not a very Cure-like skill at all, although neither are most of the other's abilities… no, I'll keep it. If a situation like Setsuna shows up again anywhere, they'll be able to call on me.
But first there was a more pressing issue. Going through the lobby, she ran into a very different three people scene – this one was a lot louder and less pleasant than the last one.
"Letting her share a room with you is not okay!" Yuri was bellowing at Alice, who was smiling but the facade of that was so paper thin that anyone could tell she was mighty pissed.
"And as I have said, that is not for you to decide."
"I'm her sister!"
"And I'm her girlfriend. She isn't fourteen."
"She might as well be!"
Inori saw Miki and Yami, the respective girlfriends, stand a few meters away, talking to each other on their own. Instead of barging into the argument – which happened to blockade the elevator right now – she went to see Miki. "What is this about?" I have a pretty good idea what it is about but I would rather have the full story.
"Yuri couldn't hold in her frustration about Yami sharing a room with Alice. She's mostly just venting since she knows she isn't going to get them to split up. There is nowhere to split up anyway." Miki groaned a little. "Yuri is such a mature person, but when it comes to Yami..."
"She is such a pain!" Yami complained loud enough that it was clear she didn't care if Yuri heard her. "I can make my own decisions. If I was stuffed into another room, nothing is gonna stop me from leaving and going to see Alice anyway."
"Yuri does know that. Like I said, venting." Miki shrugged and slowly exhaled. "I can understand her wanting to be protective of her sister, but Yami isn't… well, she does have a point in that you lack life experience."
"So what? It's not like she had someone constantly nagging at her when she started dating and it turned out fine. She's got you now."
"Ah… well, yeah. But I did poach her from someone else."
"What?"
Inori was just watching the conversation deteriorate in real time and decided to help. "Okay, here is how you're gonna fix this."
"There is is, the patented Inori-fix-it-all."
"Miki, be quiet for a minute." Inori didn't like her saying that, even though it was true. "Yami, your sister is worried about you because you haven't had the chance to grow up like everyone else here did. You're her family and she doesn't have a lot of that. So she's worrying a lot more than usual about it. If you go and tell her about some of Alice's good points, she'll be less worried. Also, if you demonstrate that you're in charge of yourself and you're not just following Alice's whims, she'll also be more trusting that you can take care of yourself. Miki, you need to actually follow up on this."
"What, me?" She was genuinely surprised.
"Yes, you. Yuri's seemingly got runaway worrywart syndrome and you need to help her keep that in check. It's as easy as just making her stop spiraling down. So she doesn't want Yami and Alice to share a room. So tell her that until now they have already been sharing and nothing happened. So she's worried for nothing."
"Well, that's true but doesn't she already know that?"
"Knowing and having the woman she loves tell her that is very different."
"Tell me again how exactly are you still single?" Miki was confused how someone of Inori's insight did not have a girlfriend.
She turned to Yami. "Remind me to never help Miki again."
"Will do." Even Yami just shook her head at Miki's thoughtless question. "Come on, before you step onto another landmine lets get my sister before she boils over."
Inori's search continued – before she entered the elevator she did a quick check on the dining room and the kitchen – and found Honoka and Mai in there, sneaking cookies out of a literal cookie jar. The three of them looked at each other for a full minute before Honoka slowly put down the jar.
"I won't say anything if you give me two." Inori was definitely not above being bribed by cookies to overlook things like this. Walking over to them, she received her payment and immediately vanquished half of it. "I never thought you two were the type."
"Don't you tell Nagisa and Saki!" Mai looked distraught. "I always rag on her to eat healthy and then I sneak cookies when nobody is looking..." She covered her face in her hands.
"Your secret is safe with me. I have an entire drawer in my freezer full of ice cream for when I had a really annoying patient at the clinic. Today was hectic, I understand." Eating the second of the rather large chocolate cookies, Inori did feel a bit better. "We definitely get enough exercise here anyway."
"Were you also looking for sweets?" Honoka killed another cookie with delight.
"Looking for Reika actually."
"Haven't seen her since before dinner." Mai shook her head and sat down on the kitchen counter in the center of the room.
"And you two? Just sinning?"
"We were talking about what to do about Echo." Mai answered for Honoka.
"About her?"
"About her training. Sorry, bad phrasing." Mai stretched her arms. "I've been doing poorly in battles ever since we got here so I really want to come up with something else."
"It's a hot topic right now. It's kind of exciting, right? Feels a little like we're back to being fourteen, fifteen and figuring out a new kind of special attack to beat our enemies." Honoka looked like she was having a great time. "I'm also really curious to know what Nagisa comes up with."
"Worried she'll develop a stupid technique?" Inori was surprised when Honoka grinned and shook her head. "No?"
"Nagisa is actually much better at fighting than me if you compare talent. I have to think really hard and work really hard to come up with something to match her. I'm better at channeling and control, but when it comes to raw combat sense, Nagisa is better than me."
"I never got that impression at all." Mai was just as surprised as Inori.
"Well, she doesn't really show it in a normal battle. Back when we were in our early teens it was the other way around, too. She hadn't really developed her talent and so I was better at fighting than her because I use my head more. But there's only so much you can do with thinking and nearly no gut feeling. Nagisa got to my level through pure guts and talent while I got here through my smarts."
"Look at you being humble." Mai looked amused.
"Not humble. Realistic." Honoka shook her head again and grabbed another cookie. "In ten years she'll be much stronger than me. Probably a lot stronger."
"No." Inori outright denied it. "You know why? It might be hard to see since you two are practically married, but you are one item. Everyone can clearly see in your fighting styles that you're supposed to be together and on the same time. Nagisa is never gonna feel comfortable leaving that arrangement."
"I guess I'll have to work really hard then." Honoka chuckled and ate the cookie. "What? Did you expect me to say something like she'll limit herself for me? I'd never let her do that. I'll just work hard enough to keep pace."
Inori smiled but on the inside she was a little depressed. I wish I had that kind of relationship with someone. "I'll have to go and find Reika but if you see her, tell her I was looking for her."
"Will do." Honoka put the lid on the jar, Mai removed it to grab another cookie and then put the lid back. "Glutton." Honoka teased her friend.
"You ate four more than me!"
"Did not!"
"I counted!"
"Clearly I'm better at numbers than you!"
"Oh, I don't need to be a scientist to count to fourteen!"
"I did not eat fourteen!"
Leaving the playfully squabbling women behind, Inori was getting a little worried now. Where in the world had Reika gone?
Going out through the dining hall, she didn't come across anyone and headed straight for the elevator. Just as the doors closed, she heard someone shout. "Wait, wait, wait!" Keeping the door open by pressing he button, Inori watched an out of breath Miyuki race into the small movable room and nearly fell over. "Th-Thanks..."
"Why are you running so hard? Did something happen?!"
"N-No! But, 10th floor please! Now!" Miyuki sounded like she was in a real hurry. And moments later she started to tiptoe from foot to foot.
Oh. Inori pushed the tenth floor button, and the doors closed. She didn't say anything – she knew exactly how important it was to not get distracted when one had to go. Miyuki raced out of the elevator at almost superhuman speed when the doors opened.
Going up to the thirtieth floor first – even though her own room was here on the tenth – she would check on Reika's room one more time. Getting there without any further interruptions, Inori knocked on the door once, then much more energetically a few more times. And was ready to punch the door once when it opened and she almost punched Reika in the face.
"Yes?"
"Were you here the entire time?"
"I was. Did you knock earlier?"
"Yeah."
"I was in the bathroom."
Inori wanted to sink into the ground. "Uh, can I talk to you about something?"
"I'm not sure how much help I will be but yes." Instead of inviting Inori into her room, Reika stepped out. "Is there some kind of problem?"
"Actually, there is."
"An enemy?"
"No, nothing of that sort. We had to arrange rooms and turns out that Ange and Makoto didn't have a bed to sleep in so I kind of donated my own. I figured I could share a room with Nao but-"
"Nao turned you down. And you do not want to ask Akane because she has been acting unstable lately. I will give you my room and take yours so-"
"No!" Inori stopped Reika's monotone flow immediately with force. "Either I am sleeping in my room on the floor or we share the bed in yours."
"I am used to-"
"Think about how guilty it would make me feel to have you sleep on the ground because I gave my bed away."
Reika went quiet and sighed. "I… am not sure it is a good idea. I had incidents with Hibiki and Kanade within a few days of each other."
"I'm single. I'm not gonna be bothered by any kind of incident. In fact, might be nice."
"So you had an ulterior motive for sharing my room with me?"
"No… well, no. Honestly I didn't think you'd worry about this sort of thing since you don't strike me as the type to make a move first."
"Alcohol is a fearsome thing." Reika grabbed her forehead. "In any case, if you want to share my room with me, I will."
That was a lot easier than I expected. "Thanks. I hope you don't mind I asked Nao first."
"Nao is..." Reika sighed a little. "A better person than me, so of course you would ask her first."
With that answers, Inori saw a small crack in Reika's armor of formal speech and ice cold logic. I think she's like she is now because she isolated herself from her feelings to avoid being hurt. "If you don't mind I'd like to hear about what your life was before all of this. I'm curious."
"It will be boring." Reika's tone shifted just a tiny little bit upwards and Inori did not miss it. "But if you want to know I have nothing to hide."
It's not that she's lost her understanding of emotions… she's deliberately cutting herself off, I think. I wonder what kind of life she led prior to this that caused her to become like that. "We can talk about that later. Do you have your room's master key?"
Reika nodded, opened her door and stepped inside – leaving the door open for Inori to follow her.
Stepping inside, Inori was aghast at what a huge mess the room was. Worn clothes everywhere, a bunch of ice weapons were leaning against the wall and there were also a lot of hand written documents all over the desk. It looked like a room that someone had been using for a stakeout. I got my work cut out for me if I go for her.
While Inori was finished securing a spot for the night and future nights, Echo's first training session had ended. In the end, Black had died from energy backlash four times – Bloom had died twice. Both of them received healing magic from Blossom right outside the battlefield entrance so they would not accumulate leftover damage from practice. Healing a few bruises was all too easy for Blossom and she even had Marine there to help out.
The real issue was with Sunshine who died thirty-eight times in total and was now exhausted in every possible capacity imaginable. Even Blossom and Marine were spent after healing her again and again, even though the system reduced all damage to nearly nothing to begin with.
"I can see it." Sunshine was on the ground outside the battle area. Black and Bloom were there too, mentally and physically worn out but still able to stand and walk. It was Black that handed a bottle of mineral water from a vending machine to Sunshine. "Thanks."
"You can see what?" Bloom sat down next to her fellow trainee.
"The goal. It's still far away, but I can see it. I can picture it. I know how to get there. It's just a matter of putting in time now and switching up practice methods." Opening the bottle and nearly spilling it all on herself, Sunshine gulped down the water in one go and burped, much to Blossom's disgust and Marine's amusement.
"Good for you." Black sat down next to Bloom. "I sort of got a handle on this now but I don't trust myself to do this outside the battle space."
"Same here." Bloom shook her head. "I thought I was ready for some hard training but this is hard on more than just a physical level. For physical training there's all sorts of books and experts, but with this there's no one to consult other than Echo."
"Where is she anyway?" Blossom was still with them, keeping an eye on all three.
"Grabbing the next batch." Bloom lightly waved her right hand up and down. "She said she's got no problem sleeping only about four hours a day since there's so many of us."
"Four hours? So… she'll sleep only from midnight to four in the morning?" Blossom looked like someone had just told her to run a thousand kilometers.
"No idea. Probably closer to two in the morning to six in the morning. I think I'll just show up anyway tomorrow and start training on my own. I know what to do anyway."
Something terrible dawned on Blossom. "I… won't I have to be here all day tomorrow then?"
"You should talk to Echo. Maybe she has a healing power or something. I don't think everyone will get hurt like we did either. Especially those of us who are already good at control and channeling." I'm sure Honoka is gonna wing this with ease. She's so much better at fighting than me… I just don't want to become a burden to her.
The five of them were still there when Echo returned with the next group – and it was a surprising one. Passion, Mint, Rosetta and Moonlight were all there – a completely haphazard group. Other than Mint and Rosetta sharing their approach in using barriers, but in different ways, there was nothing connecting them. They all thought so.
All of them except Marine. "Space." She put her fist in her palm. "It's space."
"Huh?" Blossom didn't understand what she meant for a moment and then it clicked. In one way or another, they all utilized the spatial component of reality for their abilities – except Moonlight. Why was she there?
The five of them walked by, led by Echo, looking worried after seeing the previous group of three back out of the way in a hurry, looking like they had just seen the most hellish training imaginable.
An unchanged battlefield awaited them – somewhere there were a bunch of craters that Black and Bloom had made but other than that the area was largely undisturbed.
"Who wants to go first?" Echo relaxed her shoulders and turned around, facing them. They all felt like they were looking at a grand master of some kind – like they were new recruits. That was the impression they got from Echo. She's at a level we will never reach was a thought they all shared. If she had been an enemy, they knew they would lose no matter what.
"Me." Mint stepped forward and it was obvious she really had to force herself to be brave.
"Do you already have an idea of where to go?"
"I'm sorry." Mint shook her head.
Instead of saying something to her right away, Echo looked to the other three. "Do any of you have a suggestion for Mint?"
Moonlight simply kept quiet and Passion shook her head. Even Rosetta kept quiet. She was a fellow barrier users but she really didn't understand Mint as a person yet. And who one was as a person meant everything about where their powers would be best applied.
"It is fine to make suggestions but it is also a good sign to know when you don't know if what you're going to say will do more harm than good." Getting a little closer, Echo put both of her hands on Mint's shoulders and smiled wide. "Relax, Koma."
"Do you have any idea, Ayu?" It had been a very long time since she called her that, even more so since they were both in Cure form.
"I do. You are good at barriers of course. It was always your thing to protect. Right now your barriers are versatile in that they protect and reflect damage, but they're held back by potential friendly fire, right? Your ability neutralizing zone is also a problem for allies. So what if you worked towards a new type of barrier that works not only around that but specifically works with a team fight in mind?"
Mint paused and thought about it. "You mean like a barrier that selectively keeps out only enemies?"
"That's a start. But you can do much better than that. You shouldn't abandon the idea of the barrier serving not only to protect but also to be a passive offensive."
"So keep the damage reflection… it'll be really hard to make something that can both reflect enemy damage and let my allies pass through. I'm not sure I can do that."
"You normally create your barriers without a core to act as a brain, so what if you make it an intelligent barrier then?"
"And use myself as the core… so it'll be me who decides who can enter and who can't. But that would be really stressful. I don't think I could move at all if I did that."
"Do you need to?"
"Huh?"
"Instead of trying to stay mobile – something you are not very good at to begin with – you could simply give up on it and focus on what you are good at. Others can move about much more freely than you but who but you can provide a safe haven for others?"
Mint felt her breath taken away. Is this… really Ayumi? She was never that insightful before… "A barrier, no… a haven… a territory that will provide safety for my allies and that will spell trouble for my enemies."
"And you are not alone."
"What?"
"There is something else to consider but we will leave that to later. Do you think you will be able to create such a territory? Become a queen of space?"
Again Mint paused and then nodded very slowly. "I will try- no. I will do it."
"Don't make the territory too big or it will be too hard to maintain. Not too small either, we sometimes have big fights after all. Something like… a ten meter radius perhaps."
"Okay!" Mint clenched her fists. This will be incredibly hard… a thinking barrier… I will have to be the barrier, the territory. And it'll be big, too. Ten meters radius is a lot actually… "I won't get in the way of everyone else so I'll move further away."
"I'll come back to check on you." Smiling encouragingly, Echo watched Mint go on her way. "Who's next?"
Moonlight stepped forward without a word. She was somewhat suspicious of whether Echo could actually help her get any stronger than she was now. "Before you ask, I only know that given the opposition of late, fighting with a weapon is how I want to continue."
"I expected as much. Now, have you ever considered to think about what attributes your magic is?"
"My… attributes?" Moonlight seemed confused.
"Your magic can be split into three distinct attributes – it's not nearly that easy for some of the others, but you have very well defined magic attributes, which is the reason why you're so strong to begin with."
"And you can tell this how?"
"I haven't been fighting, but I have been watching." Echo smiled. "Your attributes are, in plain words, Creation, Space and Moon."
"What kind of attribute is moon of all things? Other than being in my name."
"Duality. I know it's hard to believe coming from me, and honestly, usually it isn't really relevant at all to people since knowing your attributes usually just makes it harder to think out of the box. But you're someone who's extremely logical. Not as rigid as Beauty, but you do think things through, including combat."
"I'll take it as a compliment." Moonlight sighed. "So, what's your suggestion then? Because honestly I am not sure about abandoning my all-rounder style to go for a specialization."
"My suggestion is more of a trump card based around you already being very good at anything – but that is also your flaw. You can do most things really well but you're not exceptional at a single thing, which means you'll have trouble fighting it out with everyone when they deploy their new abilities."
"That does make sense. I came up with the glaive because I felt I wasn't able to do enough damage bare handed anymore. I'm not like Miki – I mean Berry – who can destroy people from the inside out."
"Your future ability was a combination of all your attributes."
"How?"
"Moon is duality – dark and light. Or you could even say if used in combination with something else, it can be used as a reversal. Your future ability uses your moon attribute to reverse the space attribute into anti-space or erasure from space and your creation attribute is used to make it real."
It clicked with Moonlight. "Creating a space banishment attack… Sorry, I was a bit suspicious of whether you really knew what you're talking about. That's no longer the case." She knew when to apologize – unless it came to her sister.
"So I am thinking we should work on you going down that path now. Instead of aiming right for the anti-space creation attack – honestly I think that would be extremely hard even for me to do right now – I think you should work on a trump card. But in your case it shouldn't be an attack."
"Not an attack?"
"Your moon attribute can reverse things – so what if you infuse your glaive with that and attack people, siphoning their magic? What I am thinking of will use a lot of magic and if you use it up yourself it'll be pointless."
"A magic draining weapon? That would be useful against close combat fighters but I don't think I could drain any meaningful amount from someone like Mint or Rosetta here."
"The draining is not to weaken them but to set you up for using your creation and space attributes." Echo looked at Moonlight who just kept quiet, a sign for Echo to continue talking. "A space that you magically create – that empowers you because it will be a space consisting of the moon attribute itself. Think of it as fighting to build up the power to create a space inside of which you will be much, much more powerful than your adversary no matter what. A trump card that plays to your strengths. You do not need to change your general approach to fighting and at the same time you will be able to prepare to drag one or multiple enemies into a small, closed off space that exists solely for you."
"A pocket dimension." Moonlight was smart and so she figured out what Echo was talking about. It sounds like science fiction… can I really do that? "Wouldn't it consume a massive amount of magical energy to do that?"
"It won't be just five or ten hits with your glaive, that's for sure."
"There is a loophole."
"A loophole?" Echo was the surprised one now.
"My glaive might cause injury and drain magic – but with Blossom by my side I can drain the magic from those who won't miss it too much and she can heal their injuries. I can prepare ahead of time or finish my preparations with their help."
Echo's eyes widened. "I did not think of that. I knew that I wasn't wrong about you being ready to try."
"But even knowing what I should aim for… I am not sure how." Moonlight summoned her glaive and looked at it. In the future fight, it had small moons that would light up as I hit others… was that the same principle as what Echo explained? It must be. "I assume you have an idea of how I should start."
"Unfortunately, no. This is an ability that only you can develop and honestly, the theory behind it is… well, a theory. I know it isn't what I promised, but to start with you will have to study yourself. I will let you hit me to practice the magical draining but before that you should try to find a logical approach that works for you."
Moonlight briefly lowered her head and then made her glaive disappear. "No, this is right. It's wrong that we are all looking to rely on you for not only a direction but also the how. There's no meaning in getting stronger if we're just held by the hand the entire way." It was Moonlight's pride that spoke here but Echo strongly nodded to approve. "I'll do some studying on my own. Creation, Space and Moon, huh…" She smiled. I wonder if Yami also has the Moon attribute since she was made from me…
"This group is full of really difficult ones, so I'm not sure what was gonna happen." Echo sounded like her usual self now, reliable but also someone that was worried about all the time. "So, which of you two-"
"If you will be so kind." Rosetta slowly stepped forward. It was unusual to see her standing up on the battlefield since her legs were very much shot. "Albeit I have already spent a substantial amount of thinking on the issue."
"That's reassuring. I honestly don't know enough about your power to have a clear idea."
"Perfect Pandora." Alice held out her hand and made a small cube out of a barrier, floating atop her palm. "Even with someone like me and Mint, there will always be attacks we can't defend against. Or in the case of someone like Sword or Heart, our defense is completely useless. So instead of relying on a barrier, I will rely on space itself."
"A means to defeat someone that cannot be defeated by conventional means then? When physical force and magic don't work, you need to think outside the box."
"While I might not be as intelligent as Rikka, I do count myself among those that use their head over their muscles. Space is not a mere three dimensions – and even if it really was I would simply add another through force. I want to create a barrier – a Pandora's Box – that contains an enemy that could not otherwise be defeated. Of course, if they are capable of transcending the dimensions itself, it would be useless, but enemies like that are likely beyond defeat to begin with."
"A barrier box. I still do not understand the actual effect of it."
"Creating the outside here in the third dimension, the inside will exist in a higher dimension, removed from this space. That way, no amount of physical force or magical power will be of any use. It will only affect the area of the higher dimension and the shell of the barrier is here in the third. A prison that cannot be escaped. Ultimately I would like to be able to crush the contents of that box but establishing it comes first of course."
"That is truly an idea that I could not have come up with. And you even named it already."
"Names are important. Give something a name and it becomes so much easier to imagine it with a clear shape."
"I see bringing you here was largely pointless. You do know exactly what you want to do."
"The what is just as important as the how and I am quite honestly struggling with the latter."
"That is a difficult question…" Echo grabbed her chin and started to think. "Moonlight has the magical attributes of Space and Creation. I think you could both profit from discussing this with each other. Your ideas are fundamentally very different but they both utilize other dimensional forces."
Rosetta looked surprised. I never would have thought to ask Moonlight of all people. I would have gone to Rikka and Mint, perhaps, but- "Are you going to be joining us? It will still be useful to have a third person's opinion."
"However I can help." Echo seemed glad that she wasn't completely useless to Rosetta.
"I'll go after Moonlight then." Creating a barrier in mid-air like it was second nature, she sat down on it and hovered after Moonlight.
"That just leaves me. But I think I'll be even harder to figure out than the others."
"I do like a challenge." Echo wasn't intimidated by Passion's statement.
"I want… to revive the dead."
"Eh?" Echo blinked a few times in confusion."That's… uh… that seems like an ability for Blossom and-"
Passion slapped her forehead. "That came out wrong. Uhm… before I became this, before I was Passion, I'm originally from another dimension called Labyrinth. I was called Eas. I can-" She shook her head. "I'll just demonstrate."
"[Memory]." Passion changed physically – her hair shortened and turned white, her clothing made of leather and black, her entire physique changed to another person. "This… is me. Also me. From back then."
"I've seen that before, but what exactly do you mean by reviving the dead?"
"Eas – I – died back then. I was brought back as Cure Passion, as Higashi Setsuna. Of course I am grateful for that! I don't want anyone to think I'm not! But… part of me thinks that I am living a life that Eas was denied. I don't even know if it's possible, but… I want to bring her back. Not as myself of course. I don't want to give up who I am. I think… I want to bring her back, as her own person, as Eas, to exist beside me."
"This seems like much more than just a combat ability. Have you talked to Peach and Beat about this?"
"I don't want them to get their hopes up before I even know if it is possible or not."
Echo turned to the side and started walking back and forth. "Your attributes are Space, Darkness, Entity and Fracture. I do think it's possible but… this isn't an ability that you will be able to develop easily. The others are already very ambitious about their abilities, but this is on a completely different level."
"So I can bring her back?"
"No. I mean… you became her, right? So there is nobody to bring back. But… you could use your Darkness, Entity and Fracture attributes to… split off part of yourself to create her. That's the only way I see this happening. But that will still be unbelievably hard… to cut yourself apart on the existential level… I'm not sure it's safe to pursue that ability even in here."
"This is important to me. After Ellen became a part of my life I realized that I did leave something behind back then. I'm still my own person, but that is part of what I am missing. Eas just disappeared. Her personality, her desires, her self, it was all replaced by me. I want her back. I want that part of myself back."
Echo stopped and sighed. "I never thought you would be such a driven person."
"Normally I am not, but… If it is possible, if I can do it, I will! I was ready to give up if you told me it was impossible, but not now."
"Ah… I screwed up." Echo ruffled her hair. "Peach and Beat are gonna kick my butt if something happens to you."
"I'll be careful."
"Just being careful won't be enough. If you really want to do this… you're going to need to talk to your girlfriends first. I'm not going to help you if you don't. And we will probably have to do this differently from the others. I planned to give everyone a power boost after they finalized their new abilities to help them out, but with you I'll have to do that first to even get you to the starting line."
"So you'll help me?"
"If you get Love and Ellen to approve."
I wanted to tell them before but I didn't want to have to come back and say I can't do it after all and crush their hopes after mine was already crushed. "I will."
"Until you talked to them I don't want you here."
Eas nodded and turned back into Passion. "How… do I get out of here anyway?"
"Think about leaving. The system will spit you out."
Passion bowed to Echo. "Thank you."
But Echo just shook her head. "I haven't done anything yet."
"You have." Passion was still bowing. "You gave me hope. It isn't impossible after all."
"There's no guarantee you will be able to do it even with my help!"
"There was also no guarantee that Love would like me back. There was no guarantee that Ellen would want to be part of the relationship I have with Love. There was no guarantee I wouldn't just die when I set out as Eas to fight Peach back then… I'm willing to bet on a maybe."
It only took Passion ten minutes to get back to her room. Love was petting Ellen's head, the two of them calmly relaxing on their shared bed. "Setsu?" Love was so surprised she forgot to use her Cure name. "You're already back?"
"There's something important we need to talk about." The sound in her voice made Ellen and Love sit up. "I'm… sorry Ellen but I really do need to talk about this now. I'll try my best so you will be able to tell me how you feel about what I'm about to say."
"Did something happen?" Love felt alarmed.
"Yeah." Passion smiled. "Something good." Sitting down on the bed still as Passion, she started to explain. "I kept it a secret but… I want to bring Eas back." She saw the expression on Love's face. "Not just as a memory. As a real person, separate from myself. I want to set things right… I want her to be able to have a live."
"Because you feel that you took away her future." Love's tender expression remained as she slowly touched her forehead against Passion's. "Don't make that face. I've always been able to tell that you felt guilty about it. How you became Cure Passion, how you left behind Labyrinth and how Eas just stopped to be even though she was just mislead by someone evil."
Ellen couldn't say anything there. This is something that I can't touch yet. I've only been with them for a little while compared to how long they've been with each other. I don't know about that part of Setsuna yet.
"Do you… think it's wrong?"
"No. Eas was not evil, she was just manipulated. You're not the only one that felt the guilt of leaving her behind."
"You never said anything!"
"Because I know you felt the same way and I know that each of us carrying our own guilt was enough. In a way, we did share it. We just didn't know."
Taking a deep breath, Passion closed her eyes. "I want her to be back. But… it might complicate our relationship."
"Really? She's still you. I won't mind having three girlfriends."
"Love!" Passion sounded upset.
"But I mean that. Eas will still be you. Ellen is now part of us. It might be a little hard for her right now because she hasn't known us for as long as we have known each other, but-" Both of them were interrupted by Ellen hugging them, all three of them losing balance and falling to the bed. "See? She supports it."
Ellen wildly nodded and smiled but then looked like she had a question.
"I think she's wondering what kind of person Eas was. She was ten times as stubborn as Setsu here."
"And that's still less stubborn than Love!"
"How are you going to do this, Setsu?"
"With Echo's help… it will be super difficult but she said it isn't impossible."
"Should we come?"
"No." Lightly shaking her head, Passion denied Love's question. "It really will be difficult so I need to be able to focus. If you two are there I won't be able to keep a clear mind."
"You hear that Ellen? We're so cute she'll be too distracted to- ow!" Love ended up with her forehead flicked.
"The others are still there so I have to go back now. Come here." Bending down and kissing Love, Passion conveyed how relieved she was through the kiss itself, lewd sounds filling the room. And when Love's face was flushed red, she turned to Ellen and kissed her as well. The younger girl twitched lightly when Passion used her tongue, putting her arms around Passion's shoulders and pushing back against the kiss on her own.
Love and Ellen were left behind just after that, with Passion hurrying back towards the arena to start on what she considered the third biggest gamble of her life – the first had been confessing to Love. The second had been Ellen. And now the third was to bring back Eas.
But none of the four that were there was having much, if any, luck in progressing their search for the how. Mint struggled with using herself as a barrier core to the point that the barriers just immediately broke after establishing. Rosetta and Moonlight were caught up in a debate about the structure of other dimensional space that was going nowhere, even with Echo's help.
And Passion had the most difficult task of them all – she had to split her magic into distinct energies and control them one by one. That was completely different from how she used magic until now. At most she had used two distinct attributes without really knowing about it – Fracture and Entity, for her Quaddro themed series of attacks. Having actual control over specific attributes was like learning a new language with a completely different way of writing. Like going from Japanese to Arabic.
"Okay, since we are not getting anywhere, I am going to bring in another group." Echo exited the battlefield without leaving Rosetta and Moonlight time to object. Both of them took a timeout, thinking on their own.
The third group consisted of three people – Pine, Windy and Happy. The mood was strained from the get-go because of unresolved issues between Pine and Windy. "All three of you have a penchant for mental attacks which is why I grouped you together."
Happy felt very out of place there. "I prefer to use bindings and such though..."
"It takes a really strong mind to use mental abilities. That's why there's only three of you. You should be proud, Miyuki." Using her normal name despite where they were was a sign of Ayumi's affection. "And not everyone can be stopped by being bound."
While Echo and Happy were talking, Pine got closer to Windy. "Why are you avoiding me?" She knew that beating around the bush was not going to be of any use with her.
"Do you really want to talk about this now?" Windy's response was something that Pine didn't anticipate.
"Yes." She hissed.
"Because I learned a lot about people in the time between the previous system and now. I didn't want to lie to your face so I avoided you."
"Lie to my face? About what?"
"I was awake in that time loop. The entire time. I learned a lot about people."
"That's not the impression I got from you the last few days!"
"A lot has changed. I couldn't tell you before and also, please keep it to yourself for now. I'm telling you this because I trust that you're not gonna raise a fuss."
"About what?"
"Long story short, I had ten years that you can't remember anymore and that's for the best. Your mind would be in ruins if you did."
"What happened?"
"Long story even shorter – you all went crazy and we got rid of it. But if you go poking around in the dark, it'll be back and you'll be a goner."
Pine paused. "Okay, fine. I won't ask about that. But why avoid me?"
"Lying to you by pretending to be someone I'm not was something I didn't want to live with."
"Why not just tell me about this?"
"Just knowing about the ten years would have brought the memories back. But things changed because of Echo."
"How?"
I'll have to lie a little here. "She helped get rid of the insanity a bit more permanently. You're all still not in the clear. That's why I don't want you to poke around. That's why I didn't even want you to tell all of this. But I know you. If I lied to your face you'd know and go around poking at things you shouldn't. Give it a few more days, hopefully only that long, and I can tell you exactly what happened."
"I do know you too. If you're hiding things I know it's not because you don't like telling me. You must have a good reason. So I believe you."
While their conversation had finished, Echo's and Happy's had been at a standstill for a while now. "Are you two finished?" Echo looked amused when they both looked shocked. "There's nothing around! Of course we can hear you hiss at each other. Not what you're hissing, but hissing all the same. This place is for training, not to work out-"
"We're good." Pine raised her hand. "Right?"
"Yes." I hate having to pretend. At least it won't be much longer. This is different from how I planned to have Yayoi be the lynch pin for our change but this works too. "Just a small disagreement."
"Good. Now, I know you don't like to actively hurt people, but there is a way to combine your preference of binding and your ability to use mental attacks together." Echo visibly had to hold in laughter when Happy's face lit up with a tell me, tell me expression. "Bind their will. Not like Pine, of course, that requires far greater control about mental states and also a certain level of aggressive will that you don't have. What I mean is that you bind their will to aggression by force."
"Bind… their will to aggression?" She felt like she had heard about this before.
"Your binds punish whoever tries to break out. So what if you applied that to a mental restriction? It would leave them passive – they can defend themselves or support others, but if they try to attack someone, it will backfire on them."
"I love that idea!" Happy was very quickly on board.
"That's nothing but trouble for me." Pine smirked. "To use [Domination] there can't be other mental interference. You could even use this to safeguard Luminous or someone like Mint against me." Both Echo and Happy looked at her strange. "What? I am not so selfish that I wouldn't tell you about that."
Happy charged at Pine and hugged her, the yellow Cure struggle to remain standing. "Thank you!"
"Okay, okay, it's just a little suggestion! You pinks and your overwhelming affection." Pine tried to berate Happy but she couldn't help but laugh.
"Did you consider simply rewiring their perception to see you as a friend?" Windy suggested.
"Completely forcing someone's will in a certain direction would be hard for Miyuki. She's too gentle to really work with something like that."
"Ayu!" Jumping Echo right after letting go of Pine, Happy received a bonk on the head. "Ouchie..."
"This isn't the place, Happy." Echo still couldn't help but smile. "It'll be tough to completely put someone's aggressive thoughts off-limits. It would be best if we had someone to test this with..."
"I can volunteer for that." Pine stepped forward. "I know I want to expand on my [Domination] so we can practice on each other."
"What exactly do you have in mind?"
"I want to embed a magical booby trap in whoever I use [Domination] on. So that on my command, they infect a second person. This split will make it too difficult to use it indefinitely. My [Domination] wasn't originally designed for combat but to take someone captive. So this will be a more combat specialized version."
"I'm glad you already know where you want to go. And yes, that is something you could test well with Happy in partnership."
"Is it possible to take turns?" Windy didn't raise her hand or anything of the sort, she just asked. "I want to further specialize my [Stormflair] into something that will have specialized usage depending on my opponent. Optimally, I would like to be able to shut down cognitive function, physical coordination and magical processing capacity individually instead of outright shutting down consciousness. The drawback of [Stormflair] is too great currently."
"Guess I wasn't all that needed here. I would say I'd bring in another group but there are already four others here that I need to check on occasionally so we'll stay like this for now." Echo took a quick look around. "I will be around. If you need my help, please call." Waving to Happy specifically, Echo smiled wide and started walked away.
"Are you sure you're gonna be okay? Won't a misfire of [Stormflair] shut two of us down?" Pine was looking at Windy.
"I am aiming lighter than [Stormflair] so I will never reach real unconsciousness. It is possible that two of us will faint briefly however."
"That's fine. I do think this will be pretty uncomfortable for all three of us. Getting hit by my [Domination] isn't a pleasant thing. And Happy here trying to bind aggression is also going to feel like a real intrusion."
"Uh… should I ask someone else?"
"No. Absolutely not." Pine quickly shot her down. "Between the three of us there is nobody better than to point out flaws and give advice to each other. Now, how do we start?"
=== DISSONANCE ===
"Hey there sleepy." Looking down on her from up above was her own face. Almost my own face…
She had just barely come to and the entire world was kind of fuzzy. She remembered the memories, the blizzard… but where was she now? "Yume…?"
"I can't believe you're seriously going by that now. It's so lame." A third voice came from further away. "What's wrong with just both of you being Nozomi?"
"I like the name." Yume's tone was very final and no retort came after. "You're at my place. We were stuck in a pretty bad spot and Miyuki saved us."
"Miyuki?" She opened her eyes wide.
"Ah, my Miyuki. The Miyuki you met on this side. Not your Miyuki." Clarifying things, Yume turned about and grabbed something, then put a wooden bowl to Nozomi's lips.
The cold water was giving her life. "You're okay… I'm glad."
"Yeah. I don't know what would have happened if Miyuki hadn't come for us, though."
"What about everyone?"
"We don't really know about your side. There's a lot going on. But everyone here is fine. We… do actually have someone from your side here. Cure Heart, apparently."
"Mana?"
"Is that her name?"
She nodded and coughed – and was immediately fed more water. "She's really dependable and strong."
"Is she friendly?"
"One of her girlfriends used to be a bad girl." Nozomi groaned. "My head hurts."
"You're probably dehydrated. Here." Making Nozomi drink the rest of the water, Yume put the bowl away.
"Thanks..." Nozomi rolled over and the entire world started turning and she felt sick. "Ugh..."
"Take it slow."
While Yume was getting her original back on her feet, the area outside was bustling with exhausted activity. This was because none of them had slept nearly enough and they had been up for far too long during what was essentially the day. With the adrenaline that had kept them going all this time finally subsiding now that they were home, they all felt drained beyond drained. It was a miracle that Komachi hadn't burned the kind of watery stew.
In the end there had not been enough to make a decent meal of anything and they simply threw everything together in the pot and boiled it. Echo was helping out, which was part of why food was getting ready at all now, but she alone couldn't really do everything. It was almost ironic that someone as powerful as that was still limited in the exact same ways as anyone else when it came to mundane tasks.
Although they had asked, Echo was not capable of magically creating food or seasonings, much to Komachi's dismay. A stroke of genius came in the form of Nao, who briefly considered how long it would take herself to run to the ocean at full speed. If I need that long… how quickly could Echo get there?
And sure enough, she was able to move at speeds that seemed recklessly dangerous to Nao. Yayoi and Nao wailing like children as the scenery rushed past them at speeds they had never thought possible for something human shaped to reach.
Reaching the ocean in absolute record time because Echo was capable of free flight, both Yayoi and Nao were lying down on the ground, stretching in all directions and just welcoming that they were not moving. They already dreaded the idea of having to go back that way.
Yayoi had to come because she was the one in charge of fishing operations – electric fishing. Nao was there to help carry the goods and also to describe the way.
Making a trip both directions, plus fishing, in twenty minutes was completely nonsensical to everyone back at the hut. Yayoi was kneeling and heaving when she was finally let down and looked like a ghost. Nao was staggering and fell into the grass and just twitched for a while.
Reika, Tsubomi and Yuri quickly got to work filleting the fish while Akane started a separate fire. The watery stew would not be as bad if they had something else to fill their stomach with. "I never worked with fish this fresh." Tsubomi stopped cutting and turned to Nao, who was still on the ground now. "I'll expect fish of this caliber from now on."
"Anything but that!" Nao shouted, groaned and turned over, ready to die. "People are not supposed to move like that!"
That's funny, coming from you of all people, Yuri thought but didn't say anything.
"You'll get used to it." Tsubomi was merciless. While she didn't really act as a third leader – she left the actual leader duties to Miyuki and Yume – she was completely in charge of all food related issues, which meant that even without holding an official leader position she held real power. "Or would you rather refuse to go and we send someone else? Those who don't work, don't get to eat, you know that."
It was blackmail. Nao knew this. She was horrified of going through that terrible ordeal again but Tsubomi had tasted blood and she was a real vampire. Maybe… maybe I will get used to it… It was not much of a real choice to begin with so Nao just gave in without a fight.
Back inside the house, Nozomi was finally able to sit up, still a little disoriented. "So… Echo is on this side? And the cruel destiny is on the other side with all my friends?"
"Yeah."
Nozomi looked down, her expression saying this is all my fault. "I always cause trouble for everyone."
"So what?" Yume took Nozomi's left hand between her own. "Even we understand this. Friends are there to help you out when you cause trouble. Even when it's trouble you cause for them."
Cheering up and smiling, Nozomi nodded and looked up. "I had that impression before, but you've become a better leader than me!"
"No way." Yume snorted. "I've barely had to take care of all of these trouble makers for a few months! You've been at it for years."
"I didn't really get to tell you back at the bathhouse, but… I'm proud. We only really met for a very short time back then but you came this far. You even helped rehabilitate Miyuki's group."
"Hey." Said Miyuki was still in the room. "We worked pretty hard on our own."
"She helped! Help isn't everything! And you know what I think of everyone here!"
Miyuki blushed and walked out the door. Yume was surprised by that. "Did you compliment her?"
"I don't think so?"
"She's super bad with compliments. Always blows up at me, too." Yume tried to keep herself from laughing but failed. "I love her a lot."
"I like the Miyuki on my side, too. It's kinda funny, isn't it?"
"It'll make for a confusing double date if we ever get that chance."
"My Miyuki would be ultra happy to see yours do this well."
"You think so?"
"I know."
"Your Reika wasn't very happy to see me at least."
"Reika is a bit of a special case."
"Hey, gossip girls." Miyuki looked in from around the corner. "Food's gonna be ready soon it looks like. I'll go get Karen."
"Karen? What for?" Nozomi couldn't figure out what she had to do with this.
"To wake up Heart. She's unconscious from hunger and we can't feed her like this so we have to take big measures to wake her up."
"It's nice of you to feed her."
"First of all, it would be absolutely evil to just let her starve. We don't do that here. Secondly, what kind of message do you think it would send to the others if we ate and didn't give her anything? I don't want to end up being hated."
"Now I'm starting to wonder if you shouldn't take over as Cure Dream for me. I get the feeling you'd cause less trouble than I do."
"No. Way." Yume very decidedly shook her head. "Your Urara is super scary! Your Rin, too! And I totally prefer my Akane to yours, no thank you."
Nozomi chuckled. "I was kidding!"
"Sure you were! Dummy!" Getting off the bed, Yume held out her hand. "Come on. I'll be your crutch."
"Thanks."
Getting outside, they found Heart already eating, completely absorbed into the rapidly diminishing contents of her bowl. Finishing in nearly an instant, her stomach still growled – be it manners or simply recognizing her situation, she didn't ask for seconds.
"Two Nozomis…," Heart looked at them for a long moment and then remained seated. Her legs were still wobbly. "So this really isn't… they all aren't the girls I know."
"This is a pretty long story." Nozomi was let go in front of Heart. "Can I sit? We won't have enough seats otherwise."
"Oh." Heart quickly wobbled to the side, making room for Nozomi to sit next to her. Yume went to sit with Miyuki instead. "So… what's going on here?"
"All of these girls here are basically… well, at one point or another our enemies created them- wait, sorry, the Nozomi group and the Miyuki group were made by enemies. Tsubomi's group was just… I am a little iffy on the details there."
"We were mirages of their inner selves, created to be overcome for them to be stronger. We're the odd ones out." Tsubomi was sitting nearby and explained neatly in a single sentence.
"They all appeared here a few months ago and started living together. It took a while for everyone to come around I hear and act like a person instead of a dangerous individual out to attack their original."
"Sounds a little like Regina. Minus the creation."
"My other, the other Nozomi, helped make that happen. Years back when I fought her, I managed to bring her to our side… but she lost her life to protect me shortly after. I was really glad to know they all got a second chance."
"After being with Regina I understand that feeling." Heart ached. "Is there anything to hunt in those forests?"
"After that blizzard we're not sure." Tsubomi looked at Heart with a curious gaze. She is not asking if there is any left over. Can she tell this was an emergency meal and we'll have to figure out something else for tomorrow?
"I'll make do. I was just really running on nothing because… I'm not sure actually. I don't remember a thing after… after..." Heart focused as hard as she could. "I can barely remember anything about the last few days. What's going on?"
Bringing Heart up to speed on the Echo and Eternal situation took a few minutes. "So Rikka, Regina and everyone are over there with some super powerful Cure that has gone crazy?"
"She has not lost her sanity." Echo stepped out of the shadows, silently munching on a fish. Everyone looked at her surprised – they didn't think she'd actually eat. "The cruel destiny hates humans – beyond this she is no different from me."
They all doubted that. If she speaks like you, the gig would be up in one minute, was a thought that went around.
"That's not exactly what I'm thinking, but basically, she loves Cures. She's definitely not gonna hurt them."
"That's a relief. And you said you can't fight her? Not even with my group joining in?"
"Can you sink Japan into the ocean in five minutes?"
"What?"
"That is how powerful Echo says her other half is."
"She has to be exaggerating. How can there be such a powerful Cure and we never heard about her?"
"Her power is not an exaggeration. It appears however that you cannot believe without a demonstration." Echo put down her bowl, breathed in and the earth shattered beneath her when she jumped. The big pot swayed a little and Nao and Komachi were immediately on it to stabilize it.
"What is she gonna do?"
The answer to that became obvious about thirty seconds later. The sky started to light up in the distance. It looked like her spell of night had dispersed but that was not the case at all.
Bolts of pure yellow energy. Bolts so gigantic that they could be seen from hundreds if not thousands of meters away. And they were spreading endlessly to the north and the south, slowly forming a gigantic ring of death around them. There had to be several thousand of them – they lit up the sky as if the sun was up in zenith and yet it was as dark as night there where the bolts did not appear yet.
Completing the ring, everyone felt the impossible mass of magical energy in the air. Heart more so than any of the others. She had seen incredible sights in her life but this was beyond anything she could imagine. Not even Alice could begin to defend against this. I… I don't think even I would survive this. My magic would run out.
With a tremendous crashing sound something landed a good ten or twenty meters away. Echo slowly walked towards them, seven blades of light, miniature in size compared to those in the sky, hovering over her head. "[Cure Light – Divine Strike]. One of the top one hundred offensive abilities that I command. However, the cruel destiny would be able to create at least twice as many of these blades. That is how powerful she is in combat."
"I get it, I get it! You made your point!" Heart flailed her arms.
"I see. Then I will cease the demonstration." Without a sound the blades over her head vanished and then those in the sky were erased.
"So I get that the only way to defeat her isn't to actually defeat her but to get to the goal first and take a different route." Heart sighed. "This will be really hard… especially since the cruel destiny is clearly adapt at manipulating memories. Otherwise I can't explain why I can't remember a thing. Especially how I got here."
"We haven't figured out a course of action yet. For the time being, everyone needs some rest." Nozomi said that not only because she felt drained but because she could see everyone's exhaustion on their faces. "Tomorrow… well, tomorrow night, we'll start to look for a way to the other side."
"I just hope Rikka and Regina don't worry too much with me gone." Heart sighed. "And I can't even get out of these clothes… that's a bit bothersome."
"We don't have any spares to give you either." Yume preemptively said so. "It'll be tough with Nozomi and me wearing the same things, too… we'll have to wash more often."
Nozomi bridged her index fingers. "Sorry about that."
"If you ran around naked then Miyuki would get nothing done ever." Yume joked and got elbowed by her girlfriend. "She's me! I know you wouldn't!"
"S-Shut up!" Miyuki's face was completely red.
"Can we save the complicated talk for after the bath?" Itsuki groaned. "I really just wanna soak and go to bed."
"The details were explained to me. Should I get started?" Echo suddenly entered the discussion again after being completely quiet.
Yume looked at Miyuki. "What did you tell her?"
"Just how to make a bath if she can."
"[Cure Titan – Burial Dome]." Echo calmed held out her hand and about fifteen meters out from where they ate she carved an upside down shaped dome into the earth. "[Cure Volcano – Obsidian Protection]." Covering the hole in black rock, she continued on without so much as a single drop of sweat. "[Cure Fountain – Rainbow Purification Water]" Filling the hole with water in what was practically an instant, she was still going strong. "[Cure Sun – Novus Core]." Squeezing her hand for a few seconds she released the spell. "This was much easier than anticipated. Judging from the detail that I was provided with I expected much more resistance."
Resistance from what you overpowered cheat?! Nao thought and quickly approached the bath. "Ow, it's hot! But I think this will work!" What do we do with the water after we're done, though? We can worry about that tomorrow…
"So, uh… since this is pretty much the wilderness-" Nozomi started to explain with a rapidly redder getting head and Heart cut her off.
"I'm not embarrassed by a few naked girls." She smirked, got up and slowly walked over to where Nao had gone.
One by one the girls left the dinner site and went towards the piping hot bath that Echo had effortlessly carved out of nothing in a matter of seconds. It made them feel like their efforts up until now had been almost for nothing. Being so powerful really should be against the rules.
Nobody was in the mood for talking now and just enjoyed the hot water burning away their fatigue – mostly the psychological fatigue and less the bodily one. Heart's transformation came undone when she stripped which was a big wow moment for everyone around her. Not because of her looks but because they had not seen that before.
Nozomi joined in next to Mana, who had briefly had company in the form of Urara and Karen. Yayoi had tried to be there too but after Miyuki threatened to drown her if she caused trouble with their guest she abstained. For now.
"I can't believe you just stripped in front of everyone." I nearly died when I had to do that.
"This isn't any different from using the public bathhouse over on our side."
"I know those girls though!"
"And you don't know these?"
"I didn't the first time!"
Mana smiled in a way that nearly obliterated Nozomi's heart, even though she was in love with someone else. A shining, radiant smile of utmost purity and that emanated charisma and loving. A smile that could topple a nation. "That is really cute. I wish I could have been there."
Nozomi remembered. This girl was a real womanizer that had two girlfriends at the same time and that was after the others split off because circumstances changed. She had jumped right into the shark tank and gotten comfortable next to the big white. She couldn't be careless here.
Yume, with Miyuki in tow, waded over to them now. The reverse dome was deeper than their old bath towards the middle which covered her up pretty well. To Nozomi it was still a very strange view to see her naked self walk towards her, with a Miyuki that was the other Nozomi's girlfriend and now hers. It gave her a bit of a headache.
"There is one last thing to talk about today." Yume looked around. "The issue of places for you to sleep. We have a fair amount of couples here so we will have them stick together so each of you can have a bed."
"I don't mind sharing with Nozomi." Mana had no ulterior motives whatsoever but she was the only one that knew that. To everyone else it looked like she was hitting on her.
"No, absolutely not!" Yume was the one to object. "Akane and Komachi always share anyway. Nao and Rin, too."
Mana was visibly confused by Yume's strong rejection of her saying they could share. Do they want me to have my own bed because I'm a guest? They're nicer than I thought. Mana was incredibly far off-base but she would never realize it.
There were only two things in life that Mana was absolutely terrible at. One was singing. Her singing voice could split apart the earth and kill a dragon in one hit. The other was judging her own charm. In Mana's view she was moderately attractive and a nice person but nothing special when it came to people looking for someone to like.
Rikka and Regina had both given up completely on trying to tell Mana the truth. Every time they tried to she would think that they were flattering her and it only made her self-evaluation even more wrong. It was something Mana did not know herself, but at the height of their popularity as Cures, before the advent of Curses, she had more than two hundred thousand female fans in fanclubs – out of which almost a tenth harbored romantic feelings for her from afar.
This was the true form of Aida Mana – a weapon of mass destruction of lesbian charisma.
"We're all exhausted so even though it is technically just short of sunset, we're all going to turn in soon." Yume visibly kept a yawn suppressed. "You two should get rest as well. It will be a bit hard on you to be awake at night at first but- well, Nozomi already fit in fine I heard. Going as far as wearing my clothes."
Nozomi blushed as she remembered that. Yume had loaned her the extra outfit she owned which meant Yume was now constantly walking about in her Dark Dream clothes.
"Tsubomi and Erika are trying to explain to Echo how exactly clothes are made in hope that she can make some. Night knows we could all use some more..." Shaking the depressing thoughts off, Yume got closer to Nozomi and grabbed her hands from underwater. "I'm glad we can finally talk face to face like this."
Nozomi felt a strange feeling – something she couldn't quite place. It wasn't relief or friendship or romantic attraction. It was more vague, something she couldn't quite place. It was similar to when she did good and felt proud of herself, but that was not it either. But even though she couldn't place it, her insides got warmer still and she smiled wide. "Me too." She felt a little tension in her throat, like she was about to cry. But no tears would come out.
Yume and Miyuki both returned to their spot, heads leaned against each other and Nozomi was left alone with Mana. "You're happy for her." This was not a question but something Mana said to her after reading her expression.
That was it. It was not that she felt happy herself – it was that she was moved by how well- no, that Yume had carved out a life for herself out there in nowhere. She had heard from Miyuki of course and she had briefly met her in the bathhouse. But this was different. Seeing for herself, how she interacted with the others, how they looked to her for leadership and example. This life she once saved and then lost, that life that was given a second chance, took example from her and became this great woman that had done for others what she had done for her. No, she had done even better than that.
"Yeah. A lot." It was out of instinct that Nozomi leaned against Mana, seeking the support of someone she could count on. She realized too late that she was playing with fire and she blushed, quickly sitting back up. She smells so good… this should be illegal.
A lengthy bath session during which Nozomi just let the water calm her – having Mana continuously next to her was a big thing to offset – eventually came to an end with very little conversation or lewd acts. Everyone was simply too tired to do more than just enjoy the closeness of their partner. For Nozomi, this was actually more embarrassing than if they had done more.
To her, they were rowdy, a bit crude, not fully adjusted yet. But seeing them like this, they were completely normal. If she didn't know they were not them, she would have not been able to tell a difference between her Komachi and Yume's Komachi. Other than the choice of partner being way off.
But that too was something that Nozomi felt moved by. They had all become their own people to a degree where they would someone they loved in this small group of people. They barely resembled those enemies they had faced in the past now. They were Cures – those that had been born from the darkness, but they were Cures. Nozomi felt that nobody could possibly deny them that after seeing them like this.
They were among the last to be in the bath when Mana suddenly started whispering to her. "There's something I need to know." The tone that Mana was using made very clear that this was a serious question. Whispering a question, Nozomi's eye went wide and she started to fret. How should she answer this? There really was no good way. So all she could go with was the blatant truth. Returning the whisper and telling Mana, she watched her get out, put on just the most essential parts of her Cure clothes, and vanished into the darkness of the night.
She'll be fine. She's made it through more troubling things than this, I'm sure. Still… Banishing the thought, Nozomi got out of the bath as well, picked up the first piece of her loaned clothes and found Echo slowly undressing near by. She was the last to leave – Mana, Karen and Erika the other three – and now Echo was preparing to bathe alone? Was she embarrassed?
Not saying anything, she still couldn't help but watch and witness something interesting. Echo – much like Mana – was forced out of her transformation when she took off her clothes. Her hair turned completely black and fell in a straight line down her back. She looked like a normal person. Hm?
There was something odd. For just a moment, Nozomi saw a mark on Echo's back – not something that was easily identified as an object but rather something obscure, something bizarre. She couldn't see well in the dark so for a moment she considered it was just the shadows playing tricks on her. But shadows did not move or throw shapes like that.
A three pronged oval object, with a singular long line running horizontally below that object, a triangle shape at one end of the long line. She couldn't be completely sure of it of course. And outright asking Echo felt like something she shouldn't do. Although she had seen much of the memory of Cures, she knew astoundingly little of Echo herself. That incredibly powerful Cure was shrouded in mystery. The last few times I poked my nose into things it really didn't go well… I'll ask her another time, after spending some time around her. And I can't be sure it isn't something left over from when she used her abilities either… since they all seem to be from other Cures.
Returning to the house, Nozomi found that a good half of the fourteen that lived here had already gone to sleep. Someone was snoring from under their sheets, she could hear it. Passing by a bed where some green hair was hanging out to the side she heard kissing sounds and quickly moved a few steps away. I already know that they have their own girlfriends but seeing Nao and Rin together is so weird… I don't think that would ever work on our side.
Getting to a free bed, Nozomi sat down. Whose bed is this? There were a lot of couples on this side too. Only Karen, Urara, Erika and Yayoi were single. With four couples being in this room, that meant that four beds were likely empty. This bed could belong to any of them, so it was one of eight possible beds that could be empty in general but only one out of four that were empty at the same time.
It didn't matter. Thinking about it didn't matter at all. No matter whose bed this was, the odds were high they had slept together there. Lying down, she could smell the evidence. It didn't reek, but she did notice two people's scents and something else that made her a bit excited. This isn't the time… hah… I miss Miyuki. After spending time around these girls, she found it a lot easier to think about Miyuki in romantic ways without blushing. A relationship was a relationship, it didn't matter if they were both girls. Everyone else already knew this. It's just me who was slow on the uptake.
Pulling the sheets up, sleepiness set in almost immediately. It's just one danger scenario after another around here. Can't we go one week without the sky falling down? Although… Nozomi sighed and plunged her face into the pillow. It has a vaguely nostalgic smell. I'm the absolute last person to complain about this. Miyuki…
Dozing off, Nozomi's body went to sleep – her mind however had other plans. Whether it was a cosmic accident, a lingering connection to her prison or simply her powers as the Rose Guardian making her special, she saw something that would stay with her forever.
From her perspective she was kneeling over the bloodied body of a young woman that was a Cure – one she had never seen before. Sharp thoughts were flashing through her mind as she felt bitter tears of desperation and loneliness go down her cheeks. Darkness grabbed hold of her heart, squeezing it tight. Gnashing teeth, the blood she drew from her own hands in clenched fists of pure anger. She had never felt a hatred like this, not even when she fought Nightmare. It was not consuming her, not enveloping her. It was radiating out, like she was a well that was filling a basin.
And it all faded in an instant when the woman raised her hand, barely able to do so, to touch her cheek, replaced by pain that made Nozomi's soul cry out in terror. Not the pain of the body but the pain of the heart. There was no light in her eyes and she could barely muster the words she wished to say. "Don't be sad Mana…" Mana? "They… are just afraid."
The hatred came flooding back, sweeping away her reason. She cried out, she screamed. "They killed you! They killed you, Rikka!" Her voice echoed off the walls. "They… they took everything from me! They took all of you away! And for what?! Those worthless little creatures! Those vermin that exist beneath us! I will-" And again the hatred faded to make way for the crushing sadness that was now changing to despair.
"Mana… things will get better. So please… one last time..." Her hand dropped and the last words were no more than a whisper.
Smile for me please
Thick tears ran down her cheeks as she forced herself to smile, forced herself to honor that last request of that woman, of Rikka. She couldn't stop her wails to the clouded skies above, she couldn't prevent her body from shaking uncontrollably. She felt her soul ripped apart and turn to pieces.
She cried and cried until the day's light faded and her voice was no more. On all fours she still wept in silence, long past tears and past outcry. The sadness was too great to bear, too much for her to carry. The night came and went and still she was there before the woman she lost, lost in lament.
Only when the night was at the deepest did she finally stop. From one moment to the next she just stopped. And Nozomi felt it. From behind her, within, a huge tsunami of darkness was approaching her, threatening to swallow her up to never be seen again.
Standing up with nothing but the stars to light her way, she got up and left. She felt cold – not on the outside but within. Nozomi understood this feeling. She had never experienced it this intensely, but she knew what it was. She has nothing left to life for.
It was how she briefly felt when Coco had been irrevocably removed from her life and there was no chance of getting him back ever. But even then she knew there were still her friends, still her family, still a job she was aiming for. But this? This Mana, she could tell that she had nothing left at all.
And that was horrifying in more ways than one. Normally this should plunge one into complete and utter despair, into suicidal thoughts. But this Mana was not thinking about anything or feeling anything.
She walked and walked and after the night had passed and the day had passed to make way for the night again, she arrived. In front of her was a primitive village. Huts made of straw and leather. She was no specialist in other cultures but this looked like something from Africa.
People came running towards her, wielding spears and simple torches.
And then they died.
With a single sweeping energy blast she blew them apart without a warning, without so much as a word. The village erupted into chaos, men running outside, women peeking out and then hiding.
The closest huts were hit by energy blasts so strong that there was nothing left – only a scorch mark on the ground. Whoever had been inside was completely obliterated.
The men that now ran towards her threw spears – they went into her body but she still felt nothing but the blood run down her body. Walking forward with the spears lodged into her body she raised her hand again and with a spread blast the men ceased to be.
Women and some of the men started to throw down on the ground, pleading in an unknown language.
It was no use. Without so much as a moment's worth of hesitation they were blasted to ash – women, men and children alike. The goats that were bound to a fence were panicking and in another instant they were silent.
People ran.
They ran as fast as their legs could carry them.
Nobody fought back.
Fear commanded their every action in the face of this unstoppable thing that had come to destroy them all.
And still she felt nothing. No happiness, no revenge, no gratification. Nozomi watched in horror as Mana tracked down those that escaped. They prostrated themselves before her, their faces touching the dirt as their tears ran down their face. There was no needless violence. She simply raised her hand again and obliterated them. It was a cold, efficient extermination.
He was the last one.
He was their leader.
He wore simple accessory made of gold, crude and unsightly. He was crawling backwards, had trapped himself in a dead end, a small crevasse inside a ravine. The sun was now rising behind, drowning the scene in a deep red. The man was wildly shouting, begging, trying to bribe her. Even without understanding the words, his expressions and tone made all of this clear.
And even now, even in the face of the one who Nozomi thought had to be responsible for the murder of that Rikka, she felt absolutely nothing. There was just a single thought in her head now that drowned out everything else.
Die.
Nozomi woke with cold sweat running all over her body. She felt someone holding on to her. Horrible premonition of Nightmare were flooding her head. No, no, no, no, no!She bit her lip so hard she drew blood, the pain overcoming her feelings of hysteria and panic. And she looked behind her.
Mana's peaceful sleeping face greeted her, a bit of drool running from the corner of her mouth. A… memory? For all the terrors she had witnessed in this place, all the pain she had felt and suffered, nothing had unsettled her this much.
Trying to shake it off, she realized something. Why is Mana in my bed?! Turning about to try and push Mana away, Nozomi was instead caught in a terrible embrace from which there was no escape. But at the same time it made her calm down. For some reason she felt safe here, with Mana.
I can't believe her… sneaking into my bed and hugging me. She's a totally different kind of dangerous! And because of her I was shown that horrible memory. Stupid Mana! Wanting to sock her one, Nozomi held off. It was calming to have someone there, even if they were getting drool on you. Ugh… Stop drooling at least! Nozomi wiped Mana's drool away with part of the sheets.
Calming down much more quickly than she would have on her own, Nozomi turned back over and noticed that Echo was wandering between the beds, seemingly looking for something before she left the room. What was that about? Did she look for an empty bed? Maybe she also had to go to the toilet… Thinking about that, Nozomi frowned. The toilet situation here is terrible though… I'm glad Mana earlier just accepted it without complaining.
Yawning, Nozomi gave up and let Mana keep hold of her. She's not doing anything really bad… so it's okay, right? You won't be mad Miyuki, right? This is just two Cures keeping each other warm! Thinking of excuses to use just in case Miyuki did mind, Nozomi slipped back into her dream.
=== DISSONANCE ===
With two groups having been training simultaneously, the session was running very long – it was eight in the evening when they called time. Inori and Kaoru had to be carried out – they were conscious but their consciousness-to-body coordination was completely shot. Miyuki was unconscious entirely.
Alice and Yuri hadn't gotten very far, even after hours of heated debate and a number of tests. Yuri got a little further than Alice and was able to make a tiny zone of space but not even around herself but separate, which was pointless.
Mint had made some real progress after deciding to abandon the thinking territory for a moment and make a thinking shield first. Throwing up pebbles and having them come back down on her, she trained the conscious difference between letting the shield make a stone pass and not.
Passion had retired almost an hour ago because she blew herself up in a huge explosion and had such vertigo after that she couldn't even walk. It waned after just a few minutes but Echo forced her to quit for the day anyway, much to her dismay.
Sending the second and third groups back, Echo went around and called together the fourth group, consisting of Aqua, Lemonade, Beauty and Sword.
I feel like the odd one out, Aqua thought as she looked at the group. They are all weapon users. I do use a weapon myself but it's not something I am very reliant on.
"I picked the four of you because I think you will be able to support each other's training process well. And you are all weapons users."
"So where the heck is Rouge? Black Lily, too, I guess?" Lemonade was not nearly as enthusiastic as others had been. What can she possibly teach me about fighting with chains now? It's not like she gave me any useful input in the past either.
"Rin is better suited moving away from weapons. It's holding her back if anything. Black Lily on the other hand hasn't fully figured out her powers yet so I'll handle her in some one on one training."
She wasn't satisfied with that answer but it was passable. Making a fuss now is just gonna get me yelled at by Ako anyway and there's no point to begin with. "So let's start with me. Unless one of you three feels they gotta be first?" Of the other three, nobody moved. "So let's hear it Ayu. What's your big plan for me?"
"You have a really good power but you're using it only as a physical thing."
"Huh?"
"Chains don't just bind, they also connect and support. I think you should focus on making use of all aspects of chains, not just the physical binding."
"Like what?"
"Connecting two things together – like two Cures. Now of course that would limit their mobility, but-"
"If I chain Black and White together then Black is just gonna carry White."
"It would limit their mobility, but what if you could also make it so that whatever damage one end takes, the other does, too?"
Lemonade seemed impressed. "I see a lot of application for that. Lots of abuse, too." That seemed to make her happy.
"Now, what if you anchored the chain to something that isn't a Cure but something like a rock on one end and only the other end is a Cure?"
"One of our muscles heads busts up the rock and the other end takes the damage right to their face without us even getting close. Tch. I didn't think you'd come up with an actual good idea. But I like it."
"That's not all. If you are linking them, instead of binding them only physically, bind their magic on the inside. Make the chain not only bind them on the outside but also their abilities."
"Make it a tall order, will you?" Lemonade scratched the back of her neck. "Tying them together, bind their magic, transfer damage and make all of that work even when one end isn't even alive. How the hell am I gonna do that?"
"You need to start by making your chains unbreakable."
"They already are."
"I can break them."
"No shit sherlock, you're a walking cheat!"
"Reinforce them – use but a single chain that has the strength of many chains inside."
"You got an answer to everything, don't you?" Lemonade looked left, then right, then straight at Echo. "I wanna not like it, but I do. It's a very me ability. Plenty of ways to mess with people. Gonna be hard as hell to get there."
"As if you'd let a difficult task stop you." Echo smirked, knowing that her friend was more stubborn than anyone else.
"Gonna do a few tests on my own, then you're up. Smash them, I make them and repeat until I got you all tied up like a chain pastry with sweet Echo filling."
"Only Miyuki is allowed to eat me though."
"I'd like to be next." Aqua stepped forward after seeing her teammate get real, concrete help.
"I'm sorry Aqua, but… you make really poor use of your ability."
That hurt to hear. But considering how she had been doing in battles on her own, especially compared to others that controlled elemental forces like Peace, Rouge, Sunny or March, she couldn't deny this at all. Her own girlfriend was considered a powerhouse but she was pretty lowly regarded, she knew that. And it wasn't unjustified. "Considering you had really good advice for Lemonade, then-"
"None. Your primary problem lies in your rigid way of thinking about your power. Before we can get properly started to develop something new – something amazing – you first need to change the way you think about your way. Water is an immensely powerful element to control and you have amazing levels of control over it – but you completely misuse that control because you don't think about it freely enough. For now, just find a quiet spot and think about how to use your power more creatively."
"So you want me to… think less?" Aqua feared that she was saying exactly that.
Echo shook her head. "I'm not asking you to be the intuitive type – that doesn't work for you. For starters, think about how many real world types and applications of water there are. And then compare to how many of those types and applications carry over to what you use now."
I can already tell that will be a depressing number on both ends. "I won't ask if this is really necessary, but… won't this hold me back a lot compared to the others?"
"This isn't a competition or race. Some abilities are going to be natural evolutions of previous skills while others have to discard what they have and go into a different direction."
"I see." I'm the type that has to discard then. "I'll go down to the water area. I heard from Black that there's one."
"Yeah, that way." Echo pointed to her left. Watching Aqua leave, Echo turned to the other two. "Who's next?"
Neither of them moved at all. They exchanged glances and Sword lightly nodded at Beauty and finally she stepped forward. "I am next then."
"Do you even need me to say anything? I am sure you already have a plan."
"None. My [Infinite Armory] has been an unsurpassed trump card until now and so I have not spent time on further development." Beauty created a sword, then a spear, then a bow and numerous other weapons, letting them dissipate as she let go to create the next weapon.
"You are definitely the type to build on what you already have. I can see three areas to expand upon."
"Three?" Beauty looked surprised. "I have that many flaws?"
"A chance for improvement is not a flaw. That's terrible thinking. For you, there are three things. Using your element more as an environmental factor, enforcing a one versus one fight as that is what you are best at, and overwhelming power in the face of an incompatible foe."
Beauty didn't say anything but looked back at Sword for a moment. "I assume I will be sparring with Sword then."
"Exactly." Echo looked proud. "Ice makes it difficult to respond to attacks because of tampered footing. Combining the first two areas to expand on, staging your ability on creating an ice shell around yourself and an enemy will be ideal. To break through they will have to leave themselves wide open which not even Sword here will be able to do easily. The third area is much more difficult – have you considered expanding your [Infinite Armory]?"
"I considered modern weapons but they proved to be too fragile and ineffective."
"I don't mean weapons. What about yourself?"
"Armor is possible, but-"
"No. Yourself."
"My...self? Do you mean… creating copies of myself from ice?"
That idea made Sword react. "Fighting one Beauty is already hard. Fighting multiple would be a catastrophe."
"That is exactly what I meant. Now, you are a creation type, not someone specialized in control like Pine or White. That's why I think it is a bad idea to make them autonomous – they will only be cheap copies and you won't get enough of them. No, they should be like your shadows. With you as the leader, they could be a squad of ice, following you in formation, using their weapons in unison."
"That's horrible." Sword raised her hands. "How is anyone supposed to defend against that? You can't run away because you're enclosed by ice and then you have a squad of Beauty coming at you? With different weapons even it sounds like?"
"I like it." Beauty smiled, which was a rare sight. An ability like that would indeed be overwhelming even for really powerful foes. Nobody can defend against six, no, ten of myself. Creating nine copies would allow me to create three heavy hitting, two additional sword wielding ones as well as mid-range support in the form of spear wielders and long-range support in the form of archers. An attack that is dangerous at any range within the enclosed space. "I will begin immediately." She turned away and started walking in the opposite direction of Aqua.
"H-Hey, I didn't even tell you how to best go about it!" Echo got her to stop quietly.
"There is no need. Once the what has been established I will simply follow my path of how."
Echo sighed as she watched Beauty walk off. "And I thought Urara was stubborn."
"Has everyone decided to work on techniques like this?" Sword was a little worried. "I understand the purpose of the training, but these abilities… won't it be really hard to get there under their own power?"
"That's why I'll lend everyone a bit of my power. Or gift it to them, rather." Echo smiled. "No matter how strong I am, I can't be everywhere and I do tire out. I want everyone to be as strong as possible."
"I get that, but… well, we're gonna see how many are getting to actually finish these abilities. Sounds like it's gonna take a lot of work."
"You're not excluded from that."
"Right. So, I'm curious what you got in mind for me."
"You're mostly limited by your tendency to wield your swords."
"Well, that's how weapons are designed to be used."
"For you the general idea is easy. Become the weapon."
"You'll have to be a bit more specific than that."
"Instead of holding a blade in your hand, simply turn your hand, your entire arm even, into a blade. Your legs, as well. As needed, transform your own body into a blade instead of merely holding them."
"I thought you set the bar high for the other three but this is absurd. I'm a weapons specialist. I don't know the first thing about transformation magic. I'm not Mana!"
"Creation magic is very similar to transformation magic. To create you give magic energy form. To transform you use magic energy to change form. But they are both all about changing form. Changing one blade into another is already transformation magic."
"Yes, but that is changing a magical construct into another magical-" Sword stopped when Echo raised her finger. "What?"
"I assume you arrived at that logic after talking about it with Diamond? That is all true, but magic isn't a purely logical force. And nobody said this would be easy. Apply yourself and expand your horizon. You should start by holding a small blade and then try to turn one finger into that small blade instead. Even if you cut yourself, it won't be much damage."
"You really think this is where I should aim?"
"Tell me, if someone gets past your blades right now and strikes you, what then?"
"I take damage."
"What if someone strikes your blades instead?"
"I can see where you're going with this. I understand the purpose, just getting there feels unrealistic."
"And?"
"What do you mean and?"
"We're magical girls imprisoned in a strange space between light and dark by cosmic forces. What part of our existence has anything to do with realistic?"
"I meant that adjusted for-"
"You can run circles of logic around any argument you want, but if you do not trust yourself to surpass logic, how can you hope to protect those that are threatened by something outside your logic?"
Sword angrily ruffled her hair. "Okay, I get it! You're telling me getting caught up in logic and boundaries and stuff is holding me back. Fine, okay, I'll do it. I'll do this stupid thing that is definitely impossible for me."
"You should go after Beauty, the two of you will do good to spar together."
While the training grounds were busy even now, the outside was much more relaxed now. Those that had finished training for the day were now – about twenty minutes later – in bed and asleep without exception. A number of girlfriends of those that were already asleep however expected to be called up before Echo stopped for the day and for the time being they were all in the penthouse.
Sitting at a table with three others was Honoka, in company of Ako, Miki and Mai. She herself was doing a crosswords puzzle that she had nipped from Mamo's store. Ako was reading a novel and so was Mai. Miki alone was flipping through a 2015 fashion magazine, which was, from her perspective, in the future.
They didn't need to talk or do anything together. Just sharing the table, each of them engaged in their own activity while keeping the others company, was enjoyable. Only on occasion did one of them say something.
"Traditional Japanese Comedy, the main actor, three characters." Honoka was stumped with this one and she refused to look up the solution. She'd rather eat old shoes.
"Rakugoka." The answer came unexpectedly from Miki. "Characters for drop down, language and… what was the last one?"
"House." Mai helped out without looking up from her book.
"Thanks." Honoka filled in the characters and continued on with her crosswords puzzle.
Ten minutes passed, only interrupted briefly by Yami and Erika going into the sauna and coming out pretty quickly, making a lot of noise in the process. Mai put her book on the table upside down and turned to look at the clock. Eight fifty already? Getting up and walking over to the kitchen aisle, she pulled out a cutting board, grabbed a knife and left it both together on the counter. Taking a look in the fridge she started to check each shelf. Looking over her shoulder, she spied Regina coming out of the bathroom. "Regina, you got any cabbage or tomatoes?"
"Bottom shelf, behind the… what's it called. The colored things."
"Bell peppers?"
"Those."
Mai turned back to the fridge and found the cabbage – and tomatoes. Carrying them to the counter and picking up the knife, she hesitated. "Anyone else want a salad?"
Miki raised her hand and Honoka responded with a "Yes." without looking up.
"You want anything different Ako?" Mai realized that she couldn't answer and felt dumb. "Uh, anyone got a pen?" Before someone could produce one, Ako just waved her hand and smiled very faintly. So she didn't need anything.
Starting cutting up the cabbage, Mai quickly went on to search for dressing oil and took a while to find it. Their kitchen is so unorganized. Come to think of it, has the penthouse always had a kitchen? Ignoring the question when she found the oil and dressing herbs, Mai continued on producing a salad.
Finishing all on her own in about fifteen minutes, Mai grabbed the rather huge bowl that contained an entire green cabbage head and a number of big tomatoes sliced up, and went back to the table with three forks in tow.
"Thanks." Honoka was first to put away her crossword and picked one of the forks.
"That's nice of you." Miki was second, grabbing the second fork. Neither of them started picking away until Mai had sat down.
While they were quietly taking the salad apart, Ako got up and went to the kitchen corner, grabbing a bottle of tea from the fridge. Rising it up a little for the other three to see, she was silently asking them if they wanted any.
"I'm good." Honoka was fine with just the salad.
"If you don't mind." Miki however wanted some.
"No thanks." Mai had only briefly turned around when she saw the other two raised their eyes.
Upon Ako returning with two glasses and the bottle of tea, it was self-serve, Honoka did start a little conversation. "Feels a little like living together, doesn't it?"
"We four would make do, but can you imagine all our girlfriends living together?" Miki found that thought very amusing. "With Nagisa, Saki and Urara… Yuri would go crazy. Or are your two's unexpectedly tidy?"
"Nagisa's a bit of a slob."
"Saki too."
They all looked at Ako who just rolled eyes and drank her tea. Yeah, we know, they all thought. Urara was probably going to be the least tidy person in that group.
"Yuri would go mad within a week."
"So she's really tidy?"
"She can let small stuff pass but bigger chaos she has to clean up. I'm pretty good about keeping things tidy and clean myself so that kind of works out well."
"Nagisa used to be a lot worse than she's now. She'd have a huge basket full of laundry to do and always forget and in the end she'd run around in shorts and no bra."
"Saki's like that even now. She goes through a ton of clothes because she's always training, but who has to keep an eye on the laundry? Me."
Three of them chuckled at the mental image of an apartment inhabited of those four. Instead of continuing their conversation, Honoka went back to her crosswords and occasionally picked at the salad with her fork.
Mai stared towards the balcony where Regina, Erika and Yami were playing cards and it was pretty obvious that Regina was losing a lot. That's funny, since she's joker and all.
Given the situation of that morning, things were almost unreasonably calm. All of that could be tied back to Echo proving how overwhelmingly powerful she was – it practically erased the fear of some enemy showing up and threatening them. The mirrors were different then because Nightmare was made as Echo's equal. There was the issue of Mana being missing but even their spatial expert Passion couldn't find a way to the other place – there was no point in unnecessarily fretting.
They knew, though, that Rikka and Regina were merely putting up a front. As much as it looked like Regina was playing cards – and getting upset over losing a lot – she was really worried on the inside. Rikka was displacing her worry with physical exhaustion – swimming lane after lane in the pool and only climbing out when she could barely feel her limbs anymore. They were both self-destructing and as much as the others wanted to do something about it, those two felt like nuclear bombs – they had gone through way too much for the others to just waltz in and try normal people methods to cheer them up.
So they carried on, hoping that Mana would come back. Kanade was keeping an eye on Rikka together with Rin, the two of them well in the know that it was a bad idea to leave her unsupervised. Regina was kept busy by Yami and Erika – they didn't think too deeply about it but they were completely aware of how Regina was suffering inside.
What looked peaceful on the surface had a bit of darkness hidden beneath it.
A number of girls had already gone to sleep with their partners, ignoring the chance that Echo might come collect them to start training. Love, Ellen, Yayoi and Michiru were among them. And if the others were honest, they really were starting to get tired. Their day hadn't started well and after that massive ass kicking they had all suffered – not to mention getting sunburn, which was finally at a bearable level now – they were not that inclined to start this late in the evening.
Nobody dared use the sauna while they were still dealing with sunburn so that room was laying abandoned. Nobody but Rikka used the pool either – they could only imagine the stinging of the water on their skin, more so with how hard she was swimming.
It was right before ten when Sword came up to the penthouse. Rikka had been put to bed after she failed to pull herself out of the pool and Rin had to dive in and subsequently banned her from further swimming. Regina had gone to sleep with her. Everyone but Ange and Rin had left – Kanade had gone ahead to their room and was waiting for Rin there.
Nobody wanted to start training this late.
"I thought we trained hard back then..." She fell into one of the empty chairs by the table, where Rin and Ange were seated; one of them having a glass wine and the other something stronger.
"Was it hard?"
"Mana would complain about this." Sword desperately tried to get her boots off without using her hands but with how long her boots were, it was impossible alone. She felt two feet push the sides of her right calf and she pulled – one boot slid off and her transformation came off with it. "Thanks love."
Ange smiled, got out of her chair and walked to the fridge. "Grape?"
"Anything's fine." Looking at Rin, Makoto was surprised to see anyone else still up there. "Keeping Ange company?"
"Mostly. Also here just in case, for Regina and Rikka."
"Thanks. Mana's absence is weighting especially heavy on those two. Mana is the toughest there is, but in this place you can't help but worry after all." Getting a tall glass of grape juice diluted with mineral water set in front of her, Makoto quickly grabbed it and eased her thirst. "But I gotta say… Mana could give people a real stringent regimen, but Ayumi is just spartan."
"I'll probably see for myself tomorrow. Did you make any progress?"
Makoto flapped her lips hard. "Barely. She's asking the impossible."
"Now that sounds like Ayu."
"She's got these crazy ideas for everyone… it's like she wants us to get on her level."
"That'll be hard. But what I think Ayu really wants is for us to become stronger so we can fight off anything that might come and we don't have to rely on her."
"I get that. Just..." Makoto leaned forward and rested her arms on the table, then propped her head on top of her arms. "I'm so beat. I don't think I've been this beat since our mission in Turkey."
I shouldn't ask. "Now that you're both here, I'll make an exit though. Kanade's probably already asleep by now. You two gonna be okay?"
"Yes." Ange walked up next to Rin, going to see her out. "It'll be a little bit noisy in the pool room compared to here, and a bit humid, but we are used so much worse, it won't bother us at all."
"I hope we find a way to get to Mana soon. Nobody here is happy to see Rikka and Regina like that."
"It's amazing… we've only been part of you all for a few days and people already care to this extent."
"We're all Cures. We stick together. Even us tough and rough types like Urara and me."
"And Regina."
Rin chuckled. "Yeah, she's definitely part of our crowd."
"Sleep well, Rin."
"Same to you. See you tomorrow."
Riding the elevator down to the tenth floor – unfortunately she and Kanade shared the lowest class room – and ran into Ayumi, who looked pretty drained. "Rough day?"
"Oh, Rin." Ayumi sighed. "I so underestimated how hard this would be."
"Reap what you sow." Rin put her hand on Ayumi's shoulder and comforted her. "Miyuki already asleep?"
"Probably. She kind of ended up unconscious practicing with Inori and Kaoru."
"Ouch. That's a tough crowd to be stuck with."
"She held her own. Miyu's a super tough cookie."
Should I tell her about Makoto complaining? Hm… No. It'll be funnier this way. "Rest up, tomorrow is gonna be much harder than today."
"A bunch of those from today can do self-study, but I do have to cover everyone else. You included."
"I'm kind of excited."
"Kind of?"
"Seeing how exhausted everyone is after you maul them in there, just kind of." Rin laughed on Ayumi's expense. They stopped in front of Ayumi's shared room with Miyuki.
For those who kept their room, they gave the key to their girlfriend so they could both access it. In other cases the key was just in possession of one person and they had to open up. There was a trick to it however. While the keys were thick and couldn't be pushed out below the door, it was possible to just unlock the door and leave the key outside. Everyone trusted everyone else enough that they wouldn't just enter someone's room for no reason.
"See you tomorrow. Don't go too wild on Miyuki now."
Ayumi blushed a little. "Too tired."
Huh? That's not the answer I expected. "Same here."
"Your or Kanade?"
"Both." Rin turned about and waved as she walked away. "Night."
"Night."
Rin opened the door with the key and then stepped inside. Maybe I should just let the key hang outside… yeah, I'll do that. Turning about and opening up again, she intended to only put the key out there. But she saw something. Where's Ayu going? Did she forget something? It's her room though, so it can't be her key.
It was not a logical thing for her to do, but she stepped out of her room without looking back on the sleeping Kanade in their shared bed. It was a pure gut feelings. Something is not right. She couldn't sum it up better than that.
Watching Ayumi take the elevator, she quickly opened op the next room with the key that was on the floor and was briefly in a room that had no bed at all. Oh, right, Inori donated her bed. Leaving the door a little bit open, she heard the elevator doors close and hurried to the stairs. Why the hell am I following her like this? Ayumi's an adult, she can do whatever she want. I just… I can't shake this damn feelings she'll do something reckless like secretly try to find a way to the other place and go there all on her own so none of us get hurt. That would be such an Ayumi thing to do.
Speeding down the stairs, she wished she'd be in Cure form. Ayumi was basically just a glove away from that and that was a real problem. She had no time to go back and grab her costume now. She'd never catch up again, not even if she jumped out of the window and risked exposure.
Why is this driving me forward so much? It feels like… like something terrible will happen if I don't follow her. Hitting the lobby, she peered through the gap of the open door. She's not there. But I can't possibly have passed the elevator. Wait… why did I assume she went down anyway? I didn't even check the display on the elevator. I'm an idiot.
But as she thought this, she noticed something. The doors are open. The automatic doors by the entrance are open. They're closing. They don't stay open that long so I just missed her. Leaving her cover and approaching the doors, Rin tried to hide as best as she could. Hugging the wall with her back and lightly tilting her head to look through the glass front, she saw Ayumi walking across the plaza, out of sight. Shit, is she really trying to go to the other side alone? There's no way she's going back to the arena at this hour. I'll be spotted immediately if I go after her now… shit.
Risking it and peeking out further, she saw Ayumi- no, Echo, standing near the spot that had previously led to the other place. I knew it. Shit! Echo had turned around to check if someone was watching and Rin immediately snapped back to full cover, losing line of sight. Did she see me? I can still say I was curious what she way doing… I'm not even really doing something bad. I don't know why my heart is beating so hard.
Daring to look again after about thirty seconds, Rin felt a pit open up in her stomach; Echo was gone and in her place was a large, black swirling portal. Come on, Ayu! How many times do you need to try and shoulder everything yourself?! Rushing out of cover and out onto the plaza, Rin realized that she couldn't do anything. If I go through there like this, I'm just gonna get my ass kicked by whatever is on the other side. I'll be a burden to Ayu. But I can't just go back and get my clothes either. Damn stupid ass system! What's wrong with being able to transform on the spot? Hell!
Going forward, Rin got closer to the portal. It didn't feel particularly evil or really any specific way at all. It was just black and swirly, that was all. I want to go through there but I can't. Rin's reason won over her instinct. I need to ask Ayu what's this all about. If she could open a portal, why didn't she earlier? Is there… something dangerous on the other side? Is that the real reason she's training us?
Pacing back and forth in front of the portal, Rin didn't know what to do. "Ayu?" Trying to call for her with a low voice, Rin knew it wouldn't work.
Looking deep into the swirl, Rin felt that this was dangerous. That the other side was dangerous. There's this quote about the abyss… something about staring into it. That's exactly how this feels. Her neck hairs were standing on end.
"What a bad girl." It was a voice she didn't recognize at all – it didn't seem to come from anywhere at all. But it did invoke a very intense feelings inside of her; terror. This deep voice that very clearly did not belong to Ayumi… was this the scary thing on the other side? Had it come over here? "Peeking on your friends like that."
Shit. Shit. Rin felt cold sweat run down her face. This wasn't just any old dangerous situation where an enemy appeared. She could sense it in her gut – if this escalated into a fight she would be dead in seconds. Not just defeated but dead.
"But I know just what to do with you." The words were accompanied by a horrifying and slow laugh.
And then there was just silence.
=== DISSONANCE ===
Sleeping through the night was not normal for those that inhabited the Banished zone. And so not all of them managed to do that, even as exhausted as they were. Waking up in the depth of night, they silently crawled out of bed, leaving their partners behind and went outside. There were three of them – Akane, Yuri and Nao. They quietly acknowledged each other as they met outside.
Akane had been first, too caught up in her own thoughts and worries over Heart and Dream being on this side. Only about ten minutes after she had sat down by the stumps the next one appeared – Yuri. She had needed to use the toilet and was unable to fall back asleep now. To them, this was the middle of their awake time. And they noticed something rather quickly.
Echo was gone.
They were mostly quiet, thinking about vastly different things, until Nao joined the two of them – Rin had kicked her out of bed by accident and now she couldn't go back to sleep after being knocked wide awake.
"You too, huh?" Nao sat next to Akane and groaned. "I'm still beat…"
"Same." Yuri tilted her head left and right until the tension released with a loud crack.
"You notice that Echo is gone?" Akane looked at Nao, who briefly turned around and then shrugged. "I figured she'd be somewhere close by even if she doesn't sleep."
"Maybe she's scouting?" Nao didn't think too deeply about it.
"We've been out here for ten minutes, you of all people know how fast she can move. You think she'd scout for more than ten minutes?" Sometimes I wonder about whether Nao is actually an idiot.
"So where is she then?" Nao asked with a shrug.
"We don't know. And it's a bit worrying."
"Maybe she went back to the memories place." Nao's suggestion was something they had already considered but ruled out. There was no reason to go back there.
"Either of you check the portal yet?"
"The portal is gone, Urara went to check. It looks like it exploded. The area around it was completely flattened." Yuri had overheard Urara explain things to Miyuki.
"That's not good news."
"What has been good news today?" Yuri asked with a thick attitude. "Honestly I'd be glad if we could catch a break."
"Akane, if there are more Cures from the other side that end up here, what are we gonna do?" Nao was worried about this. Dream and Heart were quite nice, but surely that wasn't a general trend among them.
"No way to tell yet. We'll have to count on Dream and Heart to calm them down so we can explain things. Push comes to shove I hope those two will defend us."
None of them were really worth much in a fight. While they had some offensive power, their defensive power was practically nil. One real blow from a Cure and they would likely have several broken bones.
It was completely by chance that Nao leaned back and fell over, losing her grip on the stump. Hanging upside down from her seat, she saw the missing woman. "There's Echo." Pointing at the trees furthest to their right, she got Akane and Yuri turned around. "Well, was. That direction is where the portal was. Maybe she's gonna try and fix it?"
Why would she go there without anyone telling? The impression I got from her today is that she's hardly doing anything on her own drive. She's almost like a robot or rather… like she's missing a personality of any kind. Akane got off her stump and started walking. "You sure you saw her?" She got a little loud so Nao could hear.
"Yeah. Not many white dressed Cures around her." Nao rolled over, fell off the stump and got back on her feet. Yuri had already set out after Akane.
There really was no reason for their going after Echo other that curiosity and a vague feeling of worry. This feeling increased when no matter how fast they walked, they could not even get catch a glimpse of Echo. Akane got increasingly annoyed with Nao who kept insisting that Echo had walked in this direction.
So unless she went right between the trees, we should have seen her already. "Okay, she probably isn't going to the portal. Let's split up and find her before she gets lost." Akane's suggestion was met with fierce resistance.
"Are you crazy?" Nao practically jumped on Yuri and held on to her tight. "It's one thing to hang around Echo or do this in teams of two and threes, but alone? No way!"
"Fine. Let's go to the portal location, check there and do a big circle around it while we look for her." Thank you for turning that down. I realized the moment I said that what a terrible plan that is. If something is out there – and after what Echo said there really might be – I am not in the mood to get stabbed in the back by some kind of bloodthirsty original Cure.
"Nao." Yuri was looking at her pretty aggressively. "Can you unhand me now?"
"But-"
"Come here, scaredy-cat." Akane waved towards herself and held out her hand. "Although this reminds me of something Dream told me."
"What?"
"On their side, you and I are dating."
"Ugh!" Nao react a bit more strongly than she intended to. "I mean-"
"No, I feel exactly the same way. I wouldn't trade Komachi for you, ever."
"Uh huh… well, I wouldn't trade Rin for you either."
"I can't say I don't understand the appeal of stupid girls-"
"Hey!"
"But I prefer smart ones a lot more."
"Can you two stop bickering and keep an eye out?" Yuri was walking next to them – Nao was in the center and clinging to Akane while Yuri was free to walk normally.
And when they finally reached the wiped clean location of the portal, Nao's clinging got five times worse. "Hey… isn't that thing supposed to be gone?"
"Supposedly so." Akane swallowed and her heartbeat increased pace by several tempos.
"Didn't it explode?!" Nao was three steps away from getting hysterical.
"Nao, shut up for a second." Yuri turned her head left and right, again and again. "Do you… hear that?"
Darkness, darkness, little girl…
Nao was now breathing heavy on Akane's shoulder. She very clearly could hear it. "It's coming from over there!" Nao pointed straight ahead – which was Akane's right. Her entire arm was shaking.
Fate unkind, destiny so blind, a risky bloody road…
A gust of wind hit them, Akane and Nao blinded by the long hair that Nao kept. Once they could see again, they were staring at where the creepy distant rhyming had come from. "Yuri, get over here." Akane didn't take her eyes off the trees in the distance. Something is there. "Nao, I know you're tired but you can run with two people, right? At least back to the house."
Nao wildly nodded, pale in the face. She was scared out of her mind.
"Yuri, what's the hold… up..." Akane turned her head and even Nao could feel the chills that Akane was having and turned around.
Mirage Moonlight was simply gone without a trace. They had heard no sound, no muffled gasp, no steps, nothing. She had simply vanished on the spot. "A-Akane-!" Nao was near tears.
Akane did not fare much better. S-Shit. What do I do? What do I do?! A quick look around didn't help any – there was nobody in sight.
Fu fu fu… the evil free, the hero see, the battle start anew…
A second gust of wind that forced Nao to close her eyes – and her grasp hit air. She fell forward and landed on the dusty ground. Looking up in a panic, she found Akane gone. Ripped from her desperate embrace in an instant, silently, without leaving a single trace behind. "A-" The word wouldn't come out. "Akane!" Shouting, Nao jumped to her feet, arms pulled close, legs wobbling in the face of something that far outclassed her at the one thing she was good at.
"You silly little thing." The voice came from right behind her. A deep voice that was oozing with arrogance and intent to do harm. She knew this tone of voice really well. She herself had used it once, in the past. "You think you're safe, now that you woke her up… but you are not."
The ice cold hand that was put on Nao's lower spine made her freeze up completely. Slowly, ever so slowly, it moved up, over her back and all the way to her neck, where the long cold fingers wrapped themselves unnaturally around her neck.
She's gonna kill me.
It's cold… Her entire body shivered. Why… is there snow? Did I… did I dream it all… Her conscious was fading. But for all her fear, Nao was not weak of will and so she forced herself to remain conscious no matter the pain, fear and cold. No. That… that was real… That horrible sensation of certain death… She paused and her body kept shivering, kept getting colder. I have to move. I gotta move. I… Forcing her legs, forcing her arms, pain ran through her. It's like I'm a puppet that's trying to move on its own… my limbs are like wood, glued together…
Managing to raise her head from her face down position, for the first time she could properly see. Snow. It was all she could see. Why snow? Is that why I'm so cold? Seeing the snow, it was like her body realized the cold was a physical phenomenon and not a psychological reaction of fear. Dang… my body… move! Move! Stupid body! Shouting in her thoughts, Nao got herself up, managing to sit straight up.
And she froze back up – the snow was piling up high around her, much higher than she thought. She was sitting on top of a huge pile of it and still the continuously falling snow was piling up on her head and back. Where… the hell am I?
Looming up up ahead of her was a derelict building – broken windows, partially caved in walls. It reached up high, far far higher than the house – the hut – she called home. It was like dozens of buildings stacked on top of each other. A skyscraper? She knew what it was because March had known back then. Where the hell am I?
It hurt to try and stand – her joints, muscles and flesh all ached under the stress. How long… have I been out here? Looking straight up the sky was completely shut out by impenetrable clouds of gray that incessantly released a deadly white. Turning slowly to take in her surroundings to all directions, she found that she was surrounded by black fog – something that definitely shouldn't exist.
Other than the skyscraper she could not make out anything else. No buildings, no landmarks, nothing but the black fog. This… this is bad. I don't know why or how it is bad, but this is definitely bad.
A tiny spark flew past her – she almost did not notice it if not for it passing right by her ear, the sizzling unmistakably that of a flame. It came from the front. For just a moment she had heard it – but even in that moment it had lasted longer behind her than in front. There were only two options here. It had came from behind, but behind her was nothing but snow and fog. It was unthinkable a flame had come from there. But in front? Up ahead was the derelict building. Someone could be in there. Someone… Akane. It was the only logical choice. Akane! It clicked in her mind. She had been there, with her, when… when…
She was cold before, but thinking back, it was like her blood itself was starting to freeze. Fear that came from within, from instinct, could not be so easily beaten back by reason – and this fear was from the deepest parts of her subconscious; her survival instinct. Thinking about it was a death trap. She would paralyze herself. No… focus on now, focus on now… Wading forward, she felt sharp pain run through her legs. Her breath no longer returned white clouds as it escaped her – she was too cold now.
Getting closer to the entrance, a second flame slowly hovered past her and she saw where it came from – there, by a window of the building, was someone with red hair, cowering down and hiding. Pushing herself, the pain bad enough that it was seeping into her heart, creating a wish for a swift death. But she couldn't just die there. Akane.
Close now, she saw that it was not only Akane who was there – Yuri was on the opposite end of the window, both of them suddenly frantically waving at her to come to them. Gritting her teeth she plunged forward, ignoring the sharp pain that made her nauseous.
She was just in front of the window when they jumped out, grabbed her and threw her through the open window inside, like she was just a body. Returning inside, they immediately picked her back up and dragged her to the back of the room. "Not a word! And… don't blink!" A hiss from Akane, one that was filled with dread and horror.
They all waited with bated breath, hiding, unmoving in a room with broken and rotten furniture. It was still icy cold but less so than out in the snow. Wondering what they were hiding from, that horrible sensation of certain death grabbed hold of her again.
Tick. Tock.
It made Nao's hair stand up on her skin. It was different from before, from that feeling of certain death. Her breath was sucked out of her lungs, the moisture being drained from her eyes, she did not dare blink like Akane had told her.
Something is out there. She hadn't felt anything before, but now she could sense it.
Tick. Tock.
It felt familiar somehow. Like… she had encountered it before. Like she had tried to escape from it before. It was a horrible feeling, like a mouse hiding in a corner after a cat had chased her around and found every single hiding spot.
They were out there. For just a moment she saw – a flickering existence, a human silhouette, passing by the window, ignoring them. A horrifyingly distant echo of a giggle was ringing in her ears, like it was forever away and yet right by her side. Her eyes hurt but the fear was overwhelming – if she blinked, something… something terrible would happen.
The giggling passed and so did the flickers and finally Akane let go of her – the redhead's grasp left marks on her skin from how hard she had held onto her friend. Nao didn't dare say anything and just met Akane's eyes who shook her head.
On all fours they very slowly moved towards a door that was still not completely rotten. Instead of opening it they passed through a hole, a broken part, at the bottom, arriving in a partially caved in hallway. And finally they dared to breathe freely.
Words were still not spoken and the terror they felt did not wane, did not flee from their eyes. Nao looked at Akane, who still shook her head and pointed at a door on the other side of the hallway, a few meters away. Getting on their feet the three of them silently, slowly and with the aid of the walls to keep them standing, got to the door.
Beyond laid a staircase, mostly intact. Instead of going up, they descended, they went down. The lower they went, the less cold it was. From temperatures that could freeze a bottle of water in minutes they managed to lose the cold until it was no more than a chilly room.
All three of them wore the clothes they first had on when they appeared in this world again – Akane and Nao the body fitting tights and Yuri a combination of skirt, shirt and coat. The door at the bottom had rotted away completely – beyond was a completely dark room in which even they could not see well.
"We finally got away..." Akane slumped against a wall and barely remained standing.
"What's happening?" Nao was glad they could finally talk.
"Those flickers… they eat time." Yuri helped Akane up and walked towards the front of the room where a number of furniture was located. "Time and memories."
"How do-" Something horrible dawned on Nao. "How… many times has this happened?"
"We don't know." Akane sounded exhausted. "I've seen you and Yuri get caught by them at least ten times… I don't know how many times it took me to get away first."
Ten times… that… that waking up in the snow? That happened ten times already? "You got away?"
"For some reason… when I hid and forced my eyes to stay open, they didn't find me, even though I was just barely inside the room at the time. They caught Yuri several times because she started further away than I did… and you started even further away than Yuri. My eyes hurt..." Akane rubbed them with her sleeves and breathed irregularly. "One time you attacked them with wind gusts… it was like… the outside, it was like someone rewound time in an instant. You went from right by the window back to where you started, on the ground, in the snow."
"So attacking them doesn't work? How did Yuri get inside?"
"I… buried myself in the snow, on my back, said not a word as they walked over me and I didn't blink either." Yuri sat down next to Akane and Nao sat across from them.
"Every time they got me… I just forgot everything?"
"Everything that happened after waking up."
"How… did we get here? Where is this?"
There was a long moment of silence before Yuri answered that. "I… believe this is what's left of the other side."
"What's left?!" Nao was shocked when Akane looked at her in panic. "Okay, okay, low voices..."
"From what Dream said… there are two other sides. They are split into even groups and made to battle. I can only assume that this.." Yuri looked behind her. It was unclear to Nao what exactly she was looking at, but it seemed to scare Yuri a lot. "This is one half and this is where all those that the cruel destiny didn't need… were left."
Nao started to get an incredibly bad feeling. Why did she look back there? Slowly walking towards the darkness, Nao felt overwhelming nausea. Like she was walking towards a garbage bin that was spilling over with infestation and rotten things. And then she saw.
Two steps. Four steps back. She fell on her knees, covering her mouth, gagging violently.
"I should have stopped her." Akane looked like she was ready to throw up as well. "She didn't need to see that."
"She would have found out eventually." Yuri felt something horrible run down her spin. We have to find a way back… and tell Echo. She has completely the wrong idea about the situation outside our region.
Tick. Tock.
All three of them froze, turning very, very slowly towards the other end of the big room, unblinking, silent, barely allowing themselves to draw any breath at all. A single flicker – it was what they called those things now – had come out of the isolated room at the far end – the elevator. Had it fallen down? Was it searching for them? Did they have that much intelligence?
The flicker moved closer, bit by bit in stop motion spasms, hunching towards Akane and Yuri. While Yuri kept her eyes locked to it, Akane very slowly turned to Nao. They needed no words. If we get reset… it's up to you.
Tick. Tock.
Standing right behind the furniture, with Yuri intensely staring at the flicker, the three of them waited with baited breath. Yuri and Akane were unmoving. But Nao failed.
Fear grabbed her heart and she moved backwards, pushing her palm onto something sharp. "Ow!"
Like a predator animal that had smelled blood the flicker turned with the next stop motion movement, looking at Nao – at its prey.
No. Nao! Akane was powerless to do anything. What could she possibly do to something that just reset her when she attacked with magic?
Tick. Tock.
It was the sound and sight of nightmares come alive. That perfectly timed noise that a clock made, ringing in their ears. That stop motion flicker that was now rapidly moving in Nao's direction.
Tick. Tock.
Every time she heard it, the flicker moved – and then stopped. She desperately crawled backward, covering her mouth with both hands, not daring to breathe or blink.
Her eyes were on fire. But the flicker was standing only three steps away – seemingly lost. Akane's right. Without blinking or making sounds, they can't see us.
But luck was not on her side. She had held her breathe too long. It was a race between choking and going unconscious – and in the end the lack of oxygen made her blink. It was like a wild animal smelling blood.
Tick. Tock.
The flicker turned towards her now, suddenly airborne, lunging at her. She could no longer even think about her situation from being too dizzy.
Akane and Yuri could only watch helplessly as the flicker was about to touch Nao and reset her. They couldn't explain it any better than that. But what they knew for a fact that the reset did not reset their physical state. They got colder. They got hungry. Their exhaustion piled up. They knew this. Because they didn't know why. And because they didn't know, they knew why.
Mere centimeters away from Nao's body was the flicker's hand as it suddenly turned – like an animal about to have a meal that was surprised by a much larger predator. And it howled.
An ear piercing high pitched sound filled the room – like a siren but a hundred times more shrill, more monotone. Akane and Yuri felt like someone was sticking a thin, heated metal thread into their ears.
Just a moment after, a part of the ceiling collapsed in the far corner towards the darkness. The flicker screamed, rapidly moving towards the elevator, vanishing into it. They had been saved by something. But what?
Finally daring to breathe again, Akane felt like she had just spent ten minutes underwater – even though it had barely been one and a half, maybe two. Those things… what the hell are they? Before she could find an answer, someone grabbed her from behind.
=== DISSONANCE ===
"Toilet..." Muttering to herself, half asleep, Erika crawled out of bed, over a grumbling Tsubomi and with just pajamas on she went into their small bathroom.
Rolling over, Tsubomi opened just one eye, vaguely aware that Erika was gone. Her right calf itched but she was too sleepy to reach for it with her hand, so she rubbed her left foot against the spot. But doing so made her a little more awake. Seeing an Erika shaped shadow come towards her, she yawned and lifted up the covers a bit.
Even though it was Erika, she didn't say anything quirky – she was sleepy to and the maximum effort she was capable of was making sure she didn't fall on top of Tsubomi while she climbed in bed. With her faced turned to her girlfriend's back she let the covers and mattress embrace her again, ready to drift away on a float of dreams to the lands of fantasy.
A hand slowly moved onto her hips and slid up from there, no longer anything she paid active attention to. Even the very faint warm breath that was now reaching her cheeks didn't bother her anymore. She had grown used to sharing her bed. In fact, without all these things, something was missing.
Now the hand slid under her shirt – a baggy, half-buttoned up thing that more like a tent strapped to a body than a real shirt – and rested on her stomach. She almost slipped into deep sleep right after, yet Tsubomi's hand moved further along, down her sides and now she felt a few satin like pricks on her cheek. A chuckle so light it could have been blown away with a feather, Erika moved her left leg between Tsubomi's, her toes stubbing her ankle.
They both knew the other was not asleep yet but also too tired to really move. Sex was somewhat out of question – even if they tried they would no doubt give up halfway because their bodies were worn out. Now Erika was less tired than Tsubomi, but once she went to bed, she was there to sleep. Usually.
Sliding one arm beneath and one above, Erika let both her hands slide over Tsubomi's smooth back, all the way down to just above her hips. Using her feet, her shoulder and her hips to prop herself up just enough to move without pulling the sheets with her, Erika's lips reached Tsubomi's neck.
A brief touch of warmth, accompanied by quiet breath, she drew out a happy, bright moan that did not even escape past her closed lips. Enclosed in her embrace, Tsubomi readily leaned in, let her reach further – and Erika relaxed her arms, hands still on the lowest side of her back. Raising her left leg higher she felt Tsubomi's thighs to both sides of her own, her ankle lightly rubbing against her girlfriends calves, accompanied by a muffled chuckle.
A single grand maneuver – Tsubomi grabbing hold of Erika's shoulders first – the two of them rolled from side to side to leaving Erika on her back, Tsubomi above. Hands remaining where they were, legs so as well, Tsubomi slowly let her weight be Erika's burden for now.
The soft sensation of their chests cushioning their position, their thin clothes barely dampening the smallest of touches, they could feel a small but controlled flame inside. Even so, even now, with their energies no more in the depth of night, they could do this.
Just a kiss – it was no more than that. A singular kiss that started and stayed innocent – lips meeting lips, with tongues confined to their own cages, wildness tamed and kept at bay. And yet it warmed their bodies with a pure and mellow excitement, little by little, as the kiss endured.
Small breaths, light movements of hands and legs, nothing but to make themselves more comfortable against each other as their one kiss stretched on. They had not shared a single word until now and they did not need to. Being girlfriends, lovers, was still a little new to them – but before that they had been closer than any friends could be. They were integral to each other's life. One could not make do without the other. It had just taken a little push for them to see that they had been lovers that did not sleep together all along.
Flames beating in their chests, they paused and separated. Rolling to the side together, they were facing each other again now. What had ended was not gone – their kiss continued now anew. Passion could not always be the kind that ignited, that burned fiercely. Nobody could sustain that forever. Their passion was a tame fire, one that burned steady and welcoming in the confines of a fireplace, never too hot and never too small.
Of course they would sometimes throw fuel inside, let it roar and give themselves to a wild spectacle of emotions. But not that night. This night it was their same flame that they had felt for a long time – one they never knew they should act on. Not friendship but a controlled fire, an already tamed passion that did not consume them as they leaped into something new.
Touching their foreheads together, Erika could not help herself but be Erika – and kissed Tsubomi's nose. "I love you."
No matter how well confined their flames were, an open declaration like this still made her blush, always. And she was sure that Tsubomi was blushing too. A second caress to the nose blocked by Tsubomi's finger and an embarrassed smile meet chuckle.
Hugging her girlfriend tighter, Tsubomi kissed her on the forehead. "I love you too." She had needed a little bit of practice to say it without a stutter, without embarrassment swallowing her words. Never was it an issue of hesitation – there really was no questioning her feelings then or not.
Yawning first and infecting Tsubomi, Erika closed her eyes tight and eased up on her embrace; leaving just one arm on Tsubomi's back and her leg between her girlfriend's, ankle touching ankle. And Tsubomi did the same. They had figured out the hard way that being clingy to one another too much would just get in the way of a good night's sleep. Tsubomi never wanted to have both her arms completely asleep again and Erika still remembered the pain of getting kicked in the back.
Shifting a little, Tsubomi got Erika to move her hand a little higher. They understood the little intricacies of each other's bodies now. Where they were ticklish, which spots felt good to have the other rest their hand on, how close and how distant they wanted to be from each other top to bottom.
In a way, to onlookers, it was incomprehensible. Unlike couples that had been together for a long time, such as Nagisa and Honoka, their time as lovers had been frightfully short. But before that, before the confession, there was little difference to now. Spending time together, knowing each other intimately, they had done all of that.
Feeling Tsubomi's faint breath on her shoulder, Erika yawned again, softly, using her free hand to swipe a little bit of sand from the corner of her eye before she closed her eyes, letting the presence of her love carry her away to a land of great adventure.
Erika had barely fallen asleep when Tsubomi opened her eyes, annoyed with herself. Toilet…
While most of the thirty-six were sound asleep, a few had gone to bed, but not to sleep. Miki was one of those, donning a lightweight pair of reading glasses next to the dimmed light of a small lamp, novel in hands, Yuri fast asleep by her side.
The book was not particularly good or interesting, which suited her just fine. It was there, in her hands, to facilitate winding down – to ready her body to join her girlfriend under the sheets. With Yuri as tired as she had been, Miki knew that she would either have to endure or take care of needs herself. Now, and possibly for as long as she was with Yuri, she choose to endure. It wasn't all that difficult either.
Yuri had been troubled about sleeping with Miki and beating herself up a bunch over it. It wasn't that long ago that they finally brought it out in the open, thanks to Miki being forceful with it.
"Do you still want me to hold off on sex?" Miki's question was crude and straight to the point – so much so that Yuri chocked on air.
"What?!"
"I can sort of guess that this is because you went straight to dating me after deciding to end things. I don't want to use pointless metaphors. We're both adults. I won't lie either. I want to sleep with you."
Yuri blushed at the time and couldn't give a straight answer for a while. "You'll have to lead. If I don't get myself in a situation I'll just keep running away. Sleeping with you is… the final confirmation."
"I see."
They were walking through the garden together in the evening, a relaxed stroll. Holding hands was a given, even for them, but now Miki slowly pulled Yuri closer until she could put her arm around her waist. "So you'll let me lead in bed?"
Yuri looked right at Miki and narrowed her eyes while smiling. "In moderation. Momoka was very energetic, you are more… reasonable."
"So you want to be on top sometimes."
Yuri just blushed ever so faintly in response.
"I don't mind. I like the idea." Miki swayed to the right and bounced back with force, hip to hip smacking Yuri and making her wobble. "And just so you know, I don't mind if you bring up your ex. You're with me now because you knew the risks associated with a civilian dating a Cure. With everything that's happened I think that only drives home that that was the right choice. You didn't break up with her because you fell out of love. So I'm fine even if you bring her up."
"You don't need to reinforce my decision." Yuri raised her hand, pulling Miki's with her, and very lightly bonked the back of Miki's own hand against her forehead. "I'm a smart girl. I weighed the ups and downs and I don't regret it."
"Cut me a little slack. Still new at the whole girlfriend thing."
"Guess I'm your Senpai then. In more ways than one, actually."
"I am not calling you that." Miki refused with an over exaggerated sour look on her face.
"That's fine. Doesn't change the facts, though."
"Are you… is that… being feisty?" Miki tried to tease Yuri and it worked.
"We haven't been together for that long and you are already a bad influence."
"Wow, hey! I'm not feisty!"
"Aren't you?"
"Should we ask Love and Inori?"
"So you're not confident in your own self-evaluation?"
Miki's mouth opened and closed several times, like she was a goldfish. "Oh, you got me good there."
"I haven't been around Erika for years without learning anything."
"Only bad things it looks like!"
"Now that I can't deny," Yuri's smirk was a bit haughty there.
"So… back to my original question. Do you-"
"Read the mood. I'll be ready when you are." Yuri hid a blush by looking to her left.
Recalling this conversation, Miki watched over her sleeping girlfriend. It's really late… Yawning, she was glad. The book finally did its work. A thrilling novel, an engaging fantasy, a mesmerizing romance – those were all reserved for other, better days, better nights. Right now she just read this kind of mediocre thing to wear herself out.
Putting the book aside, taking off the glasses and reaching for the light switch of the lamp, Miki heard Yuri moan a little. It wasn't a sexual moan – this was the kind one made when their entire body was one big zone of soreness. "Miki…?" Laying sideways, facing away from Miki, Yuri didn't seem to be able to tell if her girlfriend was there.
"Toilet?"
There were types of moans and grunts – one could say a lot without words. Yuri very lightly answered in such a way. No. Groaning a little bit more, she turned and ended up face down in her pillow. There on the 30th floor the beds were spacious enough to do that just fine. "Everything hurts..." The words came muffled through her pillow.
She didn't ask and she didn't hesitate to push the sheets away and kneel over Yuri's back – her girlfriend's bum acting as her support. "How's this?" Lightly putting her hands on Yuri's back, just below her shoulder blades, Miki applied a little bit of pressure and received a strongly muffled moan in response. "Good?"
An approving grunt later, Miki's hands coiled together, making fists, just her thumbs pressing two specific spots. I've dealt with this sort of whole body soreness a lot. Dancing is a tough sport. Continuing her impromptu massage on Yuri, Miki was accurate and performed slowly. She didn't want to wake her own body up after finally getting ready.
Spending a good ten minutes releasing the pent up stress in Yuri's back, she stopped when she heard a light snoring noise. Yuri did not snore normally, so it had to have been the pillow's fault. Getting off and turned her around as slowly as she could, Yuri was fast asleep with a peaceful expression on her face. Leaning in to kiss her, tempted, Miki stopped herself. I'll let her sleep. Yawning, covering her mouth, she pulled the covers back up and finally hit the light switch to let the darkness sweep them away.
Lying down and facing Yuri, she slowly grabbed hold of one of her hands, holding it just enough for them to be connected.
Sharing a room was new for hardly anyone there. The sole exception were Inori and Reika, both of who were sound asleep. This of course had not happened easily. Inori had left a note for Reika for when she returned.
If you dare sleep on the floor or somewhere else I will use [Domination] to make you behave like a dog happy to see their family for the first time in days. In front of everyone.
That was a threat that really scared her. Not only was there no real defense against this, but the damage coming from it would be that even if everyone knew it was Inori controlling her, it was still her body that was doing all those silly things.
Holding up the note and reading it, Beauty knew she was beaten. If I am honest… I don't have the energy to fight her on this. With how tired she was, there was no way she would find herself in another troublesome situation like with Kanade. This time things wouldn't go awry.
I still need to consider tomorrow and the day after… Taking off one of her boots, the transformation came off and she felt twice as tired now. But before she could crawl into bed – where Inori was – she had to take a shower. Smelling her left arm, she grimaced. Normally she wouldn't care about the smell of sweat, but if she shared a bed with someone she couldn't do that.
Undressing on her way to the shower she realized that this wasn't a good thing to do when having a guest. I'll pick it up later… it's so hard to consider things like this. I'm so out of practice. Even when I was still visiting Nao, it was just brief visits so I rarely had to consider more than visitation living principles. I normally wake up very early on my own but… does she use an alarm clock? Should I consider when she is going to wake up and sleep more?
Deep in thought she stepped into the shower and turned on the hot water – it burned on her skin. She had used her magic to mitigate the sunburn that Echo had caused but it wasn't a perfect cure. Echo… that was not a power that any of us can reach so easily. I understand she is the Rose Garden Guardian and that gives her enormous power, but something about it feels strange. Her power alone is worrying, but it was that ability she used. She isn't a fire elemental aligned Cure so why… if it was based on Rouge's ability, it makes sense, but the power scale was so immense. What could she do if she used Pine's power like that? Or perhaps Happy? Or worse still, Heart's or Diamond's? The applications of mass destruction are practically endless… this isn't good.
Putting her arms against the wall she let the water hit the back of her head. I always start to think about what to do if they turn against everyone else. But with her… it's Ayumi, the single most principled Cure in this place. And even if she did turn against us, there is likely nothing we can do. She was testing us and instantly killed everyone once she got serious.
"It is a shame for you to hide this great body away behind that wall of ice around your heart."
Reika shook for a second and then remained as she was. She wasn't fast asleep? "Did I wake you?"
"Toilet." Inori sounded not entirely happy about that. "So if you could close your eyes for a little bit..."
Turning up the water until the sounds were like two orchestras competing against each other in a whirlwind of sound and noise, Reika blocked out any sound that Inori could make. Turning away so her back was towards the entrance, Reika felt conflicted. Should I have offered to leave? She is a guest… but at the same time it would have meant showing myself to her naked. I would not mind, but she…
The toilet flushed and she heard someone knock against the glass walls that surrounded the shower on three sides. "Is there… something else?" What does she want? I cannot exactly turn around now. It will complicate her stay here.
"Why are you like this?" The voice moved around a little. "I mean, why do you have this wall of ice around your heart?" The voice was now right behind her.
How do I answer this? It's not that I have any kind of wall around my heart, just… I focused so much on what I should do, which path I should follow, that I somewhat forgot to keep up with the human side of things. It's not that I don't have feelings. Surely that isn't what she meant. So… "What exactly do you mean by that?"
"You give the impression of having the emotional bandwidth of a robot. I won't lie, it makes me think that you forgot how to be a person. You're all Beauty, zero Reika." Inori turned on the faucet of the sink across the shower and grabbed her toothbrush from the small wall shelf.
She's right. I know that already. But what am I supposed to do? I wanted that life, wanted to do good. I'm smart, strong, powerful. It's natural I should use all of that to follow a path that saves as many people as possible. But… looking at everyone here. I've been shutting off more and more. Because it makes me think that what they have… even with what they have, they… could do what I do. Probably. "You're not wrong… I just don't..."
"Know how to stop?" The words came out a bit unclear because she was brushing her teeth. "I really shouldn't make it a habit to try and fix people who went a little too far off the normal road, but I can't help myself. I guess you could say I'm attracted to problem children." There was a toothpaste muffled snort. "Not that you're much of a child."
"Attracted? I… don't think it is a good idea-"
"Ah, that's not what I meant. I mean, that could happen, but that's not what I mean. I'm just kind of someone that likes to be prepared and I somehow always end up sticking my nose into things that shouldn't concern me. But they do! They concern me! Robot Beauty is a real concern!"
I don't understand her. If she's not romantically attracted to me… I can't believe Nao ever was, come to think of it… No, I mean… hah. I don't see what's in it for her. And asking her that is probably not gonna get me a good answer. I… do would like to be more approachable. Maybe find another girlfriend some day. I wouldn't mind someone smart- no, Reika, stop! She's offering to help you fix yourself, not… but she is pretty and smart and- no!
"That being said, I don't really have any idea where to even start with you." Someone gargled and spat, then the water was turned back on.
"Ah, cold!" Reika jumped in surprise.
"Oh, that's a good reaction."
Normally… normally I'd be ready for this or not mind, but I was so caught up in my thoughts- "Hot, hot, hot!" After turning cold, the water bounced back to hot – and briefly much hotter than before.
"There's hope for you yet!"
Turning the faucet on and off and walking over to the toilet to flush for nothing, Inori tormented Reika a little – the emotionally stunted girl now desperately trying to get out of the water without leaving the cabin and also turning around so Inori did not see her front side naked.
"You dropped something. On the right side."
"Huh?" Before Reika could formulate the thought that this was impossible, she turned around and for a few hot seconds she was face to face with Inori – who stood right outside the glass cabin and was looking her up and down with a very exaggerated lecherous look. And Reika blushed.
She had not blushed for anyone but Nao in years. It was a strange sensation – hot in her stomach and even hotter in her head. She covered herself and turned back around without a word. "I'm- Uh-"
"So you still have embarrassment, that's good." Inori stepped away and sat down on the toilet. "I think your problem might not even be that you forgot how to be normal, but you're just so caught up in your hero persona way of thinking that everything else is buried under it." It's not as bad as I thought. Not that that means this will be easy. Once someone is like that… well, it's like trying to re-educate a dog that bites and barks at everyone. Inori paused and then had a horrific moment of enlightenment. Is… is that how I see them? Like pets that need correction and because I handle them I… try to fix people too? I never realized that until now. My god. I'm a terrible person.
"I spent most of my time on missions and when I am not, I usually train." I know what she is getting at. It is like someone who is a workaholic, isn't it? But knowing that and remaining aware of it in any situation is difficult… it might even be impossible.
"There's your problem. This place isn't made like that. There's no big injustices to avenge or bad guys to stop. Well, not usually, but you know what I mean." I might be a terrible person for thinking about it this way but if that helps others I will just deal with it. "And this is just my assumption, but in general, you're mostly seen around others when we have something serious to talk about."
She's reading me like an open book. Reika did not realize that this much as obvious almost to anyone if they spent a while thinking about her behavior. There's nothing I can say. I just feel out of place among social gatherings when there is nothing to do but relax. I was never that great at relaxing and doing nothing to begin with, but… after losing touch with Miyuki, it got a lot worse.
"One thing I need to ask you before I say any more." Inori lightly eyed Reika's bare body from the corner of her eye. She's hot. I knew that already but with the way she usually dresses and her costume you can't tell she's not lagging behind Nagisa or Itsuki when it comes to fitness. I don't think I'd want a relationship with her, not after I'm doing this, but sleeping with her… well, I'll see. "Do you even want to change?"
"Yes." Reika answered without hesitation. I thought being a hero, a proper hero that would go around the world fighting crime and villains, would only be hindered by emotions and relationships on their path to greatness. But I still held on to Nao during all of that. I already knew what I was doing was wrong. But knowing and having the power to change are two very separate things. Did I… sense back then that my relationship with Nao was falling apart? Am I acting like this because it is scary to try and be with someone else and fail again? To begin with, seeing it as failing… I shouldn't keep going like this.
"Then you'll follow me around tomorrow."
"Follow you?"
"Yeah. You'll have no choice but to be part of conversations. You might think nobody likes you or wants to talk to you, but, first of all, they respect you. You're strong and you're smart. Secondly, your way of avoiding people so far hasn't made them dislike you, it just made them wonder about you. I'll act as a mitigating factor so you don't get swept away by questions."
"You are a… veterinarian, are you not? You are very knowledgeable about human psychology."
Inori paused. "People lie a lot and especially when they come to the veterinarian with their pets with some problem. Being able to tell what they are really thinking and reading between the lines comes with the job." That was really what Inori thought but was also incredibly wrong. There were almost no vets, especially at her age, that could do that sort of thing. It was one of her flaws to disregard that.
I find that hard to believe. Reika was on the right track. But I really don't care where she picked this almost superhuman insight from. If she can help me regain some of my skill to interact with people, I won't ask any questions. I would honestly try on my own but I know myself – I know my limitations, my weaknesses. I would fall back quickly. "What do you want in exchange?" Nothing in life is free.
"That way of thinking is wrong. I'm not doing this to elicit you to sleep with me or throw a battle or anything like that. Sometimes we just want to help people. Aren't you like that, exactly? You travel the world and help people without asking for anything in return."
The irony of her own thinking being proven by her own actions made Reika feel humbled. Why bring up sleeping with her as the first thing? Is she… interested in me? But I cannot let that happen. In a way this relationship is similar to that of patient and counselor. She avoided the word therapist because she didn't want to think about it like that.
"I can't believe Nao dumped you without first trying to salvage things." Inori leaned back and grinned wide. "Your personality is kinda so-so, but your looks and smarts are definitely top class even among everyone here."
She blushed again. That was twice in ten minutes now and it was getting to her. W-What gives her the guts to say things like that? I can run into a fire fight, even fight a group of heavily armed criminals that are holding people hostage but I could never just straight up leech like this with my eyes and say those things!
I'm really forcing myself here. I'm lucky the water is loud so she couldn't hear my voice crack at the end there. My face is red, too. This isn't what I'm made of. Inori didn't take her eyes off Reika. This isn't what I'm like, but…
Reika was still in the now heavily fogged up shower cabin, the hot water masking her flushed face. I don't understand this woman. She says those things with so much confidence and I can't handle this at all. This is worse than being shot at. At least I know how to defend, evade and get back at my attackers like that. I can confront anyone and keep them talking when it is for the sake of a mission, but casual conversation is still… And this woman, she- huh? Reika leered to her right – where she should have seen Inori through the foggy glass. She's gone? Did she go to bed? So our conversation was finished? It doesn't feel like- huh?! Wait, wait, what, what?!Reika's thoughts exploded when she spotted the discarded clothes on the ground and at the same time the door to the shower opened, vast wads of hot air flowing out, the brief chill of room temperature air hitting her.
"Forget what I said. Forget everything." Stepping into the shower completely naked, Inori felt her hands tremble and her whole body tense up.
It was really simply. Reika had ended up as she was before nobody intervened and she never stepped outside her comfort zone. And she was still single because she also always behaved that exact same way – she didn't really force herself, thinking she would just eventually find someone. But what had that gotten her? Almost two dozen first dates, one second date that she got stood up for. It was time for a change. If she looked at Love and Miki and even Setsuna… they all took risks, they all bared their feelings, pursued what they wanted with all her might. Meanwhile, she tried to just wait. And now there was practically nobody left for her to be with. Reika. Nao. Akane. The latter two were definitely no good.
Nao was good looking but her personality was not a good match. And she seemed to have real trouble deciding what she wanted from a relationship, what she wanted in a partner. Not to mention that she was the one to dump both Akane and Reika. She even turned her down to share a room.
And Akane? That was just not gonna happen. Her personality was as bad as Kanade's had been until a little while ago, maybe worse. She didn't want someone like that at all. Although if she was honest, she didn't want Reika either – she just wanted someone that wasn't a negative match to her.
"W-What are you-" Reika didn't dare turn around and instead took a step forward and faced the wall. Half a step more and she'd be pressing her face and chest against the now warmed up tiles.
"Throwing away my hypocrisy." Yeah. I am throwing away this hypocrisy of telling her to do one thing when I am in a situation that is essentially the same, just in a different place. We both are stuck in our ways and we both need to change it before we lose our chance – she at being around friends, and I to have a girlfriend. I know this won't really turn into anything permanent. She and I have too different ideas about what a girlfriend is, I bet. And to top it off, I'm going to be helping her and she is going to be helping me to change. In a cliched romance story we might end up together but in real life it isn't that easy. We're going to be living reminders of how we used to be. It'll be depressing to be real girlfriends. But that doesn't mean she can't be something like it. A pretend girlfriend, maybe. I don't care what to call it, but… I know in my heart I'm jealous. Of Miki, of Love, of Setsuna. Of everyone here that has a girlfriend. I tried and tried and got nowhere so it's time to change the method, even if it means plunging headfirst into ice cold waters at night.
Getting closer, Inori put her arms around Reika – one hand resting on her waist, the other boldly grabbing her chest, brazenly cupping a feel. "You think I'm so smart. Probably that I have a bit of insight into what people think. But that's exactly what's keeping me from having a relationship. I'm lonely. Everyone around me is having a happy relationship. I know that's not what we can give each other, but-" She pressed her chest on Reika's back, her strong and deep breaths exerting a pleasant pressure on her skin, already sensitive from the long shower. "I want this. I want someone to care about me, to touch me. Even if you don't love me, even if I don't love you, I need this physical connection now."
Reika was at a loss for words. Reason was her fortress – Logic was her path. Inori was hitting her with something she couldn't process; selfish, irrational desires that stood in direct contrast to what she had been like until now. It went against what she had said. And unlike the brazenly erotic comments, this was not just a test to elicit some kind of reaction out of her. She could feel that Inori really wanted this.
And she did, too.
Letting Inori touch her made her feel conflicted – it hadn't been long since Nao left her but at the same time she was under no obligation to push Inori away just because she had been with Nao until recently. Before she could judge what she should do she found herself moaning at Inori's touch.
"Turn around." Inori didn't want to hide her face anymore and she wanted to kiss someone. Now that she stepped through the door, all sorts of desires were overwhelming her. Pulling her arms from the hot body in front, she intensely watched Reika turn around, the wet, slick hair clinging to neck and shoulder, giving her a look that was ever so slightly reminiscent of Kaoru. Pushing the thought away she grazed up against Reika's body once, twice, as she found herself troubled where to look, where to put her arms. Putting one around her waist, she pulled – Reika's much larger breasts pushing against her own, the two fighting for space with every breath they took. Rapidly hardening nipples colliding in heat, Inori lost no momentum. If she stopped at any point she would fall victim to her own personality – to overthinking.
Her other arm around Reika's neck she bridged the five centimeters that separated them and gave her first proper kiss to a girl she didn't even love or like. She was just physically attracted to her, that was all. But that was the good point. Waiting for true love did not work for her after all.
Lips parted wide, closing tightly, they felt the water run into their mouths, hot and mixing with even hotter saliva, exchange as it carried on their tongues, burning with passion that had nothing to do with their feelings.
She had never been intimate with anyone before. This was her first time. But again it was time to throw away her ideas of what should be and her reservations of I shouldn't do this. Love favored the strong. Sitting still and waiting was not strong. But she would learn to plow ahead – to walk proudly instead of sitting. A page out of Love's and Miki's playbook.
Struggling to match expectation with reality, Inori's kiss was amateurish; crude, too greedy. She had to briefly break away to breathe before she connected to Reika again.
They both felt it. This was not true passion – this was desire. They both saw themselves cornered by their own flaws and they wanted to break out but could not do so alone. So they had to use force with the help of another.
Running her hands in circles over Inori's smooth back, Reika reached for her ass, squeezing and getting Inori to stand on her toes with a wild look on her face. Is she sensitive there? Grabbing stronger, she felt the gust of hot air, a moan, pass from Inori's lips into her own mouth. And the moan returned when Inori reached between her legs. She didn't need the shower to be wet now, she was past that. Without issue two fingers entered and the sensation made her tighten up. It was different from the more gentle fingering that Nao did. Inori dove deep, feeling out her weak spots as she went along. But she couldn't just let her do as she pleased.
Grabbing Inori by her thighs she lifted her up, carried her – turning things about, Inori's back now pressed into the hot tiles that supported Reika just a moment ago. And through all of this their kiss escalated still – tongues slipping out, saliva drooling past the corners, wide open eyes that peered into each other as lips leaped again towards a common point.
Heavily breathing their bodies rubbed together – iron hard stubs on their breasts sending electrifying pleasure through their bodies as they ran against each other. Lips that could not bear to be apart for more than a second. Greed to seek more pleasure no matter what it took. "Let me down." Inori breathed a command in the instant they parted to gasp for air in the shower that was clouding their reason.
Reika obeyed, letting Inori stand on her own – only for her to kneel down, grab hold of Reika's hips and put her tongue to work.
She was new to this – the taste was not what she imagined. Reika didn't shave. It was a little rough. She could taste the faint remainders of sweat and something else, something unique. It was her first time but she didn't care to remember specifics, ignored this prejudice that merely doing what she wanted was wrong. That she should just let things happen. No. She wanted to throw herself in a situation that she couldn't be prepared for. Something that was unexpected. That could not be predicted.
Crouching and letting her tongue go over Reika's prickly spot, Inori felt herself get wetter and wetter. There was soon not gonna be a difference between the single drops dripping from her crotch being water or not.
She felt Reika's hands in her hair, gripping, pushing sometimes, holding on. It was this contact she craved so much. Something that friends wouldn't do.
Inori sped up, sticking her tongue out as far as she could, until it hurt, letting it reach as far into Reika as she could. Her insides were warm, hot even, and she could feel the tiny spasms of pleasure she was giving her all around. Her legs shook a little and she held on to a glass wall – she came from Inori's unpracticed licking.
Plucking a single hair from her tongue, Inori didn't bother to savor the taste or wait. She threw herself at Reika right away, grabbing one of her tits with the roughness of wildly grabbing a big pillow. Kneading and squeezing hard she felt her nipple twitch against her palm. "Do me now. Use your fingers. I want you to see my face when I come."
It was on purpose. She knew she didn't want Reika to see her face. She had no idea what kind of face she would make so she didn't want anyone to see her. Because of that she wanted to see her. Biting the nipple of the boob she wasn't grabbing, Inori felt Reika almost come again. She was still sensitive from coming once. "Come on." Panting from forcing herself and how horny she was, Inori forcefully moved things along.
Reika said nothing as she reached between Inori's legs, feeling how wet she was and briefly hesitating. This hesitation was an opening – Inori grabbed hold of Reika's arms and pulled her around with surprising strength, returning both of them to their initial position. Reika had her back literally against the wall and Inori was nearly climbing her. One leg pushed forward, past Reika's thigh, she spread her crotch wide.
She shivered when the other girl's fingers entered her. So this is what it feels like when someone else does it. I was doubting it but it does feel totally different. This sensation of no control, of being preyed on somehow. Ah… it's great. It's totally out of my control. As her thoughts raced, she pulled on Reika's hair, getting her lips in range for another kiss. Moaning hard when Reika happened to hit a weak point she bit on Reika's lip and sucked on it.
One arm around Reika's waist, another holding on to her neck now, Inori exaggerated Reika's finger movements by thrusting her hips up and down, wildly seeking more pleasure, greater uncertainty. And she came. Reika hit her most sensitive spot deep inside by twisting her finger to the side and Inori's last bit of reason was ripped away.
"Ahhh!" Not just moaning but letting her pleasure rush through her throat, Inori cried out. She wasn't new to masturbating at all but this was beyond all expectation for her. Panting heavily, she stepped back, wobbled and thrust herself at Reika again. "How was my face?"
Reika could only look at her in surprise – she didn't have time to answer with words because Inori immediately sealed her lips with a kiss that had lost nothing in greediness at all. She was only left a brief reprise when Inori gasped for air to say something. "Together." There was almost no delay at all between Inori aggressively telling her to finger her again and Inori's own fingers entering her again.
Standing together, both of them sinking their fingers into the fiery enclave they got each other to another climax in record time. Reika came first and suffered her ear being bitten by Inori in response. Seconds after Inori came as well. "Again."
Going for a third time, Reika returned some of the initiative that Inori was clearly forcing out of herself, grabbing her ass and pulling – the two of them so tightly fit together that Reika's arm was lodged between their bodies. Losing their balance from this the two of them slammed against the side wall, turning again and hitting the opposite wall as well before hitting the wall and finding their balance again. The shower noises could no longer conceal their loud moaning and panting and especially Inori took seemingly great pleasure to fill Reika's ears with her erotic concert.
Seeing Reika's face distort in pleasure, her lips closing shut barely over her ground teeth, her eyes shutting halfway and her throat tensing up, Inori bit her again, causing a loud and uncontrollable moan to come out of the subconsciously suppressed Reika. And at the same time she felt her own climax roll towards her with thunderous force, hitting her like a three meter way, breaking her to pieces, loudly bellowing her pleasure into Reika's ears, her fingers strongly clawing into Reika's skin and leaving red lines behind.
They couldn't go on. Inori felt her vision fade out more than she felt comfortable with and Reika was so unstable on her legs that the two of them slowly sunk to the wet and watery floor. Inori climbed on top of Reika, legs spread far, and turned off the water. "We need to… get out of here." She had trouble breathing, both from coming three times and from the lacking oxygen in their foggy chamber.
Reika had no words still and just nodded. Inori used the faucets to pull herself up and stood like a baby deer – her partner followed suit and they supported each other. Leaving the shower, they skipped towels, skipped picking up discarded clothes and just walked naked through their shared room, falling into bed, heated up and exhausted.
To begin with they didn't have the energy to do this – it was simply an inner drive, a ferocious willpower, that drove them forward, let them go beyond what their stamina allowed. "Don't..." Inori started and panted a few times before continuing. "Don't compare me to Nao."
"I won't…" Not out loud… but that was better than Nao.
Letting themselves cool out a little, Inori rolled over from her face down position and looked at Reika, who was on her back. "Do you hate me?"
"No."
"I had to ask… I don't know what to say, do or expect from here on out."
Reika turned sideways and grabbed Inori's hand. It was something she did frequently with Nao and the habit persisted. "I liked it. But… are you sure it was a good idea?"
"No. I am not sure about anything. That's why I did it. I can't live my life by only doing things I know the outcome of. I can't restrict myself to always be prepared."
"Anyone would have done?"
"No. You were perfect… you want to break out of who you have become. I want to stop being who I am. We're the same. Also you're really hot and smart."
Reika still found the energy for her face to flush despite lying naked next to this girl she had never talked to all that much. Is this… what they call a fling?
"This won't be the only time."
"So you want to go out?"
"No. We'll live together. We'll stick together. We'll force ourselves out of our comfort zones. Honestly… I like you but I don't think I can fall in love with you. Your personality doesn't match what I want for a girlfriend. But… I don't know. Maybe it'll change. Maybe we'll fall in love. It's a crazy way to go about this but if things do work out that way, I won't question it."
"Tempered expectations."
"Yeah." Using her elbows to get closer, she grabbed Reika's hand. "Wanna sleep like this? I've never just gone and slept naked."
"Neither have I." Reika managed a small smile. "You are a strange girl."
"Pot meets kettle."
"Ah. Well. Yes." Reika didn't realize that she was the last person that should say that to someone.
Inori pulled on the sheets with her feet and once it came in reach she grabbed it with her hands, pulling it up until only their shoulders and up poked out from beneath. Crawling up next to Reika, Inori sell sought that intimate touch that she had tasted for the first time just then. "Hug me."
"You are very aggressive."
"No. I'm not. At all." Inori smiled and forced her way into Reika's arms. Feeling their bare skin touch together, their breasts barely apart, Inori felt her heart beat faster. "That's why I'm telling you."
Reika was smart enough to understand what Inori meant here. She's doing this because she isn't aggressive. Just like I stopped being a social person, she's a reserved, calm person. So doing this… it's like me breaking out of my shell. Closing her embrace, she felt Inori's cheek against her shoulder. They were a mere five centimeters away and Inori deliberately choose that position anyway. She wanted Reika to be in a leading position. "I'm glad Nao turned me down. I would have rotted away in an endless loop of foreseeing and reacting only."
"I don't know if I'll be able to change- ow!" Inori pinched her thigh really hard.
"You will. You won't know. But you will. You only can if you decide beforehand that you will. I don't know how, but you will. I will too."
"What do we tell others?"
"For the time being you're my girlfriend. Even though we're not in love."
Reika nodded. "I'm glad you decided to change with me. I don't like being alone."
"You give the impression it's the opposite."
"I really hate being alone. But I always thought… having relationships of any kind with many people will make them a target if Beauty is ever found out to be… and I closed off the part of me that hurt over it."
"That's something a genius and a moron would do. But I get it. I could never get myself to tell anyone I'm Cure Pine."
"I… uh… I like your costume. A lot. Especially the way you hide your face."
"Are you trying to flirt with me?"
"No, I meant I like it for practical reasons!"
"We got a long road ahead of us." Inori yawned. The adrenaline and endorphins were fading and exhaustion sat in at an alarming rate. "I'll go to sleep."
"I will too."
"You need to do something about the way you talk." Inori yawned again and closed her eyes.
I'll try… It was just that her upbringing had predisposed her to talk formally. Closing her eyes as well, even though Inori was so close to her, she was asleep in seconds.
==== DISSONANCE ===
She tried to scream but a hand tightly covered her mouth. "Shut up already, do you want them to come back right away?" An unfamiliar voice whispered to her. A person?! Her eyes moving to the very far corner she tried to see who it was. But she could see the shock and surprise on Yuri's face, who was right next to her.
From across the room Nao came running towards her, a look of elation on her face – one that quickly made way for fear. When she was finally let go, Akane had almost pieced together who was behind her.
Being let go, she started turning around very slowly and looked at someone that resembled Rin a whole lot. No… Shit!
"You have two choices. Take your chances with me. Or them. Because they will be back." She stepped back and looked towards the elevator shaft. "And soon."
They were scared of both options – Dream had been welcoming but they knew next to nothing about this one's personality. But at least she's talking to us. "You. We're going with you."
"You, fake Yuri grab fake Nao." She just assigned extremely obvious moniker to them. "Fake Akane, you got any of Sunny's powers?"
Akane briefly nodded and was still reeling from one of the originals suddenly showing up moments after one of the flickers backed off and went away. Did she chase it off?
"I can't be totally sure but those things reacted when I set a trap for them – can you focus your magic into a delayed detonation sphere?"
A what? "No."
"Then don't do anything. The same for both of you." This is going to suck. "Let's go."
It only took seconds for her to realize that those three did not possess the physical capabilities of a regular Cure, slowing them down significantly. Reaching the tenth floor without issue, she quickly pointed at the door second furthest away from the elevator. "Hide, now. Not a sound or don't blink after you hear the signal."
"We know."What signal?Akane quickly responded, forgot to ask and ran after Yuri who immediately raced forward with Nao on her back. The shock of almost being reset again was still giving their only actual fast runner trouble.
Reaching the door and finding the door unlocked, they hid inside, finding a key sticking from the inside. Only Yuri recognized that this was new, having been to this room before. Hiding right by the door and going into full stealth mode, they waited.
It didn't take long for the signal to be heard and felt. The ground under them started to heat up drastically to the point where it was like sitting on the stone basin for their bath right after the hot water had been emptied out. But before that they could hear what was going on and they all knew it.
She set the lower floors and the lowest floor on fire.
Rin had heat powers on their side so of course she had to have them on the other side as well. The sheer scale of the attack made them worried and afraid of her. There were a lot of floors between where they were and the lowest floor.
Moments after this realization the door was pushed open and Rin burst inside. "Get up. They're moving. Hide by the windows and get ready to jump and run like your lives depend on it. Because they do." She was visibly strained by her effort just now. In both clothing and personality this Rin was a stark contrast to the Rin they knew. Decisive, clear cutting to the point and seemingly not above abandoning her if they did something stupid or made the wrong decision.
The wailing that came from outside just after Rin had entered was ear deafening – it was like a thousand sirens going off all at once right in your ear. The room turned on them, lost clear definition. It upset all of their senses to have all of the flickers wail at the same time. Hiding by the window, Nao was finally able to stand on her own again, exchanging worried looks with Akane.
The ground started to be so hot now that it hurt to stand on it, even with boots, and it would only be a matter of minutes before this same floor was going to be on fire as well. The snow outside had piled up all the way to the tenth floor which meant that right now this was the ground floor.
The real Cure raised her hand. That was the signal.
Jumping through the open window they landed in the snow, forced their feet and legs free and started running as hard as they could. None of them looked back – for fear it might cause them to fall from what they might see.
Heading towards the perfect south, they arrived at the black fog. "Cover yourself with snow. Now."
They did so without questioning it – so far she had been pretty rational about things and it looked like they might make a getaway yet.
"Good. Keep covering yourself by plowing at the edges."
What edges? Akane thought but was quickly made aware of the plan.
Rin put her hands down on the snow. "Hell." The snow below her started melting and the water that was released evaporating right after. The three that were with her felt like they had been put on the roast. Frantically grabbing at the snow walls they tried to mitigate the inhuman levels of heat that were coming off of their savior.
Melting through over twenty meters of snow… I couldn't create this beforehand because there is a good chance that those things will just touch this area, eat it and it'll be reset. They're probably eating the fire down there right now.
Making progress rapidly, Rin saw the others hang back – holding on to walls of snow that were now like a shaft above them. Light was becoming a scarce resource very quickly. Every few seconds they let themselves slide down a bit to avoid the biggest impact of Rin's ability on them.
Smart girls. She did not smile, thinking that.
And again they heard the horrific wailing in the distance – only a single one this time but they knew they were running out of time. Rin was creating a rapidly rising steam cloud that was emerging from the hole in the snow and that was easily spotted from anywhere in the area.
No use, I have to give this everything I have. "Burrow into the wall! Then jump when I shout!"
Frantically clawing at the snow to create even the smallest hole for them to hide into, they barely had ten seconds before the heat wave coming from below turned their vertical funnel into a murder trap. Feeling the heat just go past them caused their skin to get scorched in the places closest to the shaft.
Luckily for them it lasted only about five seconds before the promised shout came. "Now!"
Jumping down without looking, without checking first, all three of them fell far – more than ten meters. Under normal circumstances that would have broken their legs, but Rin was down there, grabbing Nao and Yuri with one arm each and using the space between those two to grab Akane out of the air like a sandwich, falling and squeezed between two hands slapping shut.
None of them were let down easy – she just dropped them and then recklessly shoved them out of the way. "Hold your breath, and don't blink."
Punching the ground – the snow – with her fist, it gave way and they all fell and vanished.
The place they arrived at was different – there was no snow to be seen, they could barely see anything at all around them – but they still held their breath and didn't blink. Rin was on all fours, crawling, and pointed in a direction.
Following her on all fours while maintaining this stealth they quickly saw a wooden door – a large one – come into view. Rin got up, clearly at the limit of holding her breath, and opened the door, wildly gesturing for them to get inside. Hurrying into the unknown building, Rin followed them in and soundlessly closed it before releasing her breath.
I'm glad this fucking worked. I wasn't sure it would. Dropping to the floor, she raised her right hand, almost as if she was asking them to help her up. But that was not so.
"Now explain yourselves. You are not Yuri, Akane and Nao." Her palm started glowing red and it was obvious threat.
If she doesn't like the answer, we're going to be scorch marks on the walls. "Reformed versions of you originals that live way out in the middle of nowhere cut off from everything else. Dream and Heart are with us as guests and have been looking to get back to your side."
"Who the hell is Dream?" This sounds like something that could happen here, but… that name. There is no one like that with us.
"Huh? Isn't… isn't Dream your leader? Nozomi. Dream. Her counterpart Dark Dream." Yuri was the one asking her.
"I don't know anyone like that."
"What about Heart?" Nao asked.
"So Mana is safe. Or is she?"
"She is!" Akane managed to tell the other two to shut up with just a glance. "We found her starved a few hours… actually I think it was a few hours but because of the flickers there is no way to tell. We found her around evening on our side – which should be evening on your side as well – starved in front of our home. We had Karen wake her up with some water to the face and shared our food with her."
"Why would you do that?"
"Dark Dream showed us that there is more than blindly following the will of whoever it was that created you. We're our own people now. We work, we laugh, we are friends and lovers."
"Lovers?" Rin looked from Akane to Nao in an obvious way. "You two?"
"What? No! I like Komachi!"
"What?!" Rin was so surprised she briefly lowered her hand. "Komachi likes Karen."
"On your side."
Rin clicked her tongue. "So you're entirely independent? What about me? Dark Rouge… I know I killed her back then, five years ago."
"She doesn't hold that against you. None of us do. Well, Tsubomi's group is a bit different since they weren't really killed, but anyway..."
"How are you alive?"
"We don't know that."
It doesn't feel like they've been lying to me. I wasn't always great at finding out lies but ever since I got together with Kanade I've kind of developed a feeling for it. But I still can't be sure. Keeping her hand turned against them, she got up. "And the one leading the group of Dark Rouge, Dark Mint, Dark-"
"Is Dark Dream. We even have original Dream with us too… who is leading you?"
"Echo." Rin did not miss the surprised and horrified look on their faces. "What about her?"
"That's a longer story, but… are you absolutely sure?"
"Why wouldn't I be? I've known Ayumi forever."
"I'll try to explain it to you, but first… can you trust us enough to not melt us?"
Rin paused for a good ten seconds before lowering her arms. "I didn't plan to kill you, no matter what, but I had to be sure you weren't lying to me. Fear is a great motivator."
"I get that, I get that." Akane stood up as well. "We're all… very apprehensive of meeting you originals because of how we saw each other last time."
"Reika would probably have killed one of you to make the others more talkative." Rin sighed. "I'm not like that. To begin with, I didn't even know if we could get out this way." Again a look of fear on their faces. "I don't know how long I've been stuck there either. Judging from not feeling hungry, I doubt it was that long. I'm just lucky the wardrobes of my room still had my clothes."
"Your wardrobe?"
"I used to live on the fiftieth floor and was relocated to the thirtieth recently. I went up there and luckily the door had rotted enough for me to break through. The wardrobe still contained what I'm wearing now. No costume, no powers."
"That's different from us." Akane made a tiny fireball, no bigger than a golf ball, between her cupped hands. "For us it doesn't matter what we wear."
"You also don't seem to have nearly the same amount of power as we do."
"I don't know why that is."
"Doesn't matter. Now explain what you were talking about with Ayumi." She saw their confusion. "Echo."
"Things have been strange over in our… space? Land? I don't know what to call it. I'll start at the beginning." Akane took a deep breath and looked around for a moment. "I'm sorry, what is this place?"
"A bathhouse. It's accessible from both sides which is why I picked it as our escape point, hoping the fog was still working. The gateway point was just buried beneath the snow." Seeing the curious and elated looks on their faces, Rin shook her head. "First we talk. If I can determine I can trust you, we can bathe."
It was time to find out what they knew – because something was very odd. She had absolutely no memory of how she had gotten to that busted up hotel. She only vaguely remembered leaving her room to put the key out on the handle. And after that, nothing at all.
=== DISSONANCE ===
Fierce moaning filled the room, unbridled and let loose like a starved beast. The sheets and pillow's rustling no more than a small symphony in the background, testament to their passion. One sitting above the other lying below, a small fragment that belonged to neither connecting them. She above moved furiously up and down until her muscles ached. The other thrusting her hips from below, each movement a piece of a grand song playing for them.
Her chest rose with every breath and sweat was pearling down her skin all over. The long blue hair sticking to her back in places, she straightened up, leaning back, letting the fragment get even deeper. She could feel it move when her partner tightened up, when her motions forced it into a sensitive spot. It wasn't the same thing they had used in the past so but she knew her lover's body better than anyone else – even better than the one that was missing from their lover's embrace right now.
"Rikka… slow down, I'm gonna come way before you if you keep going like that." Her voice heavy with excitement, her chest heaving with desperate breaths to stop the wave from crushing her, Regina's fingers dug into the covers beneath, clenching the cloth.
"Already?" Slowing down her movements, Rikka felt her partner relax. "I'm sorry… I just kind of got caught up with it and-"
"I know." Reaching for Rikka's hips, Regina lightly prodded her fingers into her sides, causing Rikka to lean down – the tool they used pressured to the limits and both of them moaning in turn, their eyes tightly shut. "So much happened since we came here, we haven't really had time for this… I'm way too sensitive."
Lowering herself on top of Regina their entire bodies were line up perfectly now – a deep blue toy connecting them down below. Feeling Regina's breasts against her own, their breaths not at all synchronized, turned Rikka on even more.
Putting both her hands on her girlfriend's face, and Rikka doing so in turn, Regina raised her head to kiss her. Fingers slowly moving over her smooth and slightly pale skin, Regina let her savor every touch, every minute motion. For an instant their noses touched, their hair mingled.
Both of them had their eyes shut tight. Their love needed no sight. Regina had lamented for a long time that Rikka could not see her expressions, her face, but for that they had found a solution. The tiny twitches of her lips as they kissed. The movements of her jaw, her cheeks, the pulsating on her temples – Rikka could feel all of that with her touch. She could see without seeing.
One hand moved towards Regina's forehead, then through her hair. "You need a haircut again." Telling her quickly between two kisses, Rikka smiled and knew that even without watching her, Regina knew that too.
"You bring that up now?" Pouting, she let Rikka know – her expressions had always been a bit exaggerated in the past but now there was much more depth to it. What looked like pouting to anyone else, only Rikka could tell by touch that there was real pouting and fake pouting, based on just how tense Regina's jaw was.
"You know I'm right." Kissing her again she slowly moved her tongue inside Regina's mouth. Both of them shook when the tool twitched from pressure, causing both of them to feel a hot surge inside. "This is… tighter than I expected."
"It's shorter than the one we used to have..." Regina felt an aching pleasure build up to dangerous levels. "It's okay, you can keep going after one, right?"
"We'll switch?"
"Yeah."
Pushing herself up from the mattress, Rikka sat back up and after the initial shock of the tool hitting a weak spot she started moving again. Reaching forward just a bit, she touched Regina's face and similarly she felt Regina's hand on her left cheek. It was their way of connecting. Back before they had found it as a way to see, Regina had thrown a huge tantrum that she would not look because Rikka couldn't look either. It was sweet but also a bit annoying, for Rikka that is. She didn't think that Regina should limit herself just because she had lost her ability to see.
Panting harder and harder, Rikka tensed up quickly – she had been close the entire time and now it pushed her over. Squirting a little her body forcibly relaxed and she leaned back – easing up on the tension of the tool and letting the rush flow through her unhindered. Regina's hand could not reach her face like this but it didn't matter. They would just change position and continue.
Regina slowly propping herself up she felt Rikka lay down in preparation until they had achieved a perfect reverse of before. And before Regina started, she laid down on her girlfriend, her lover. Not to kiss, not to rub their bodies together, but to feel her face again, with just the tips of her fingers. And in return, Rikka did the same.
"I missed doing it with you." A smirk accompanied those words and Rikka did not miss that. Starting round two, Regina moved a lot stronger than Rikka did before her. The bed scarcely made a sound and even if it had, Rikka's and Regina's partnered moaning would have drowned it out with ease.
Coming within minutes, Regina gasped and fell forward, the force of her movement causing their shared toy to bounce out. Panting and breathing heavy, Regina rested for just a moment on top of her girlfriend. "I'm hungry..."
"You can't be serious Regina." Rikka sighed. "And you better not say something terrible like hungry for your peach or something like that."
"No, I mean… I want some food..."
"You always do this! Why can't you bring a snack to bed."
"Because you'd complain about crumbs."
"There are non-crumbly snacks. But when you say food you really mean a sweet bar of chocolate or something similar."
"I can't help it." Regina rolled off of her girlfriend and laid down on the covers for a moment. "My stomach is raising the emergency signal."
"Your stomach is always raising emergency symbols, Regina."
"Not true!"
"Really?"
"Mostly not true!"
"It's fine. Bring me back something?"
"Oh? Not satisfied yet?"
"Treats were scarce back then. They aren't, here. I do like treats."
"Roger that." Regina turned on her back and sat up. All this time she had still kept her eyes closed. At first it had been really hard; tiring and making her eyes hurt after a while. But now it came second nature to not see while she was in bed with Rikka. When the time came to get out of bed she did use her eyes – she didn't have Rikka's capacity for memorizing the layout of a room.
Earlier that day she had spent a good two hours feeling out the room – every corner, every item, even the way the floor felt different in some spots. She managed to get around the room fine but finding anything inside the shelves was still impossible. And would probably stay that way.
I really ought to grab a whole bunch of stuff and just store it up here. I don't really wanna go all the way down to the lobby and to Mamo's store but the alternative is making something myself and I don't want to cause a fire accident in the middle of the night. Getting out of bed and grabbing her clothes from the pile on the floor right next to it, she got minimum dressed in a hurry – sandals, t-shirt, hot-pants. No underwear or socks or any of that fancy stuff. This would just be a quick midnight run to the convenience store – so to speak.
"What do you want?"
"Raisins. Assorted nuts if you find any."
"You are such a nerd!"
"It reminds me of when I was studying."
"Okay, a bucket-"
"A small bag."
"Of nuts or raisins."
"Put on a bra."
"I'm wearing one."
"I know you're not."
Regina sighed. She'd never say something as grossly insensitive as How can you tell? You can't see to Rikka. And she really knew that Rikka knew – because she was listening to the sounds she made when getting dressed and there was no sound of bra straps or hooks. "Okay… not like anyone was gonna see! It's the middle of the night!"
"I wouldn't say anything if you had Yuri's figure-"
"Yes, yes, I know. At least I'm not a submarine like Alice. She's got ballast tanks the size of actual melons."
"Regina." It was a reprimanding tone.
"I know, I shouldn't say that." Taking off her shirt first – she knew that if she tried to put on a bra over the shirt Rikka would know from the lack of sounds of taking off the shirt – she grabbed her bra and put it on. "I'll be back in a flash."
"Don't run, trip and faceplant somewhere."
"I have never before faceplanted!"
"Uh huh." Rikka knew that this was false. She had heard from both Mana and Makoto about the numerous times it had happened.
Crawling back on the bed, where Rikka was still lying flat on her back with her arms sprawled out, she kissed her girlfriend quickly before hurrying off towards the elevator that needed a moment to come up.
Hitting the lobby button, Regina shivered a little. Rikka's warmth was wearing off and she was really looking forward to continuing after getting a snack. I'm worried about Mana, but… as long as I have Rikka, I can hold out. I can believe in Mana. Honestly, other than some of the other Cures here I can't really imagine anything that could defeat her. She's probably stranded somewhere but safe. Not even those silhouette things can hurt her, I'm sure.
Forcing herself to think positive was nothing new for Regina – or any of the girls in her group. They had to do that for long periods of time, for years.
Arriving in the lobby, Regina walked past the empty reception desk and right out the automatic doors. And stopped. Someone else was there, awake at this late time. And it wasn't just one person. In fact, it was a very unusual combination of people. Their eyes met in an instant.
Rin, Akane, Yuri and Nao? Why is Rin transformed? And what the heck are Akane and Nao even wearing… oh, is this a kink thing? I thought they broke up, was that all role play? Did Rin and Yuri just run into them by chance? "What's got you four out here this late?" Regina didn't seem bothered at all that she only had the bare minimum of clothes on right then.
"Regina?" Rouge seemed visibly confused. "What are you doing out so late?"
"Hey, no answering questions with a question. But okay, I'm just on my way to Mamo to nab a snack." Upon seeing the expressions of the three beside Rouge, she defensively raised her hands. "Hey, I am gonna pay for it! Rikka would have my hide." Regina had lived in a turbulent world for a long time so she could sense it when things were amiss. The first impression had been weird and because she didn't know these girls very well she hadn't put any further thought into it. But the way they looked at her, what they wore and the presence of those four together was enough for her to suspect something.
"Rouge." She was the only one that looked at Regina with worry but also in a way that told the blonde that she knew who she was. The others tried to fake it but they did not do a good job at it. "What's going on here?" And sure enough, upon asking this, Regina saw the three that wore uncharacteristic clothes act and look defensively.
Rouge looked to the others from the corner of her eye and they quickly took cover behind her. "It's got to do with the other place and Mana." If I bait her with Mana I can probably keep this a secret for now.
Regina, unlike everyone else, was not physically bound to her costume to use most of her powers. It was a magical construct and it protected her, but she didn't need it to wield the spear of light. Although this place sealed her physical abilities when without the costume, she could still command magic to some degree. And hearing Mana's name forced her into a different mode of thinking.
Materializing her weapon, everything about Regina changed in an extreme way. Her eyes narrowed, her stance changed to one ready for battle and she had a tight grip on the spear of light. "Talk."
"Mana is fine and on the other side – not the other skyscraper but a place in-between the two. She's there with the rest of… the shadow Cures." I need to pick my words carefully here. Saying something like trapped might give her the wrong impression. I don't trust everything they have said either, but they made a compelling case for themselves. "Go on, I know you want to ask me what-"
"Keep talking."
That's not like her usual self. But I guess… I don't really know that much about her. Those eyes feel like they're piercing holes in me. It's like… it's like she's analyzing everything I say and how I say it and not jumping to conclusions. How can someone like Regina even… no point in thinking about it. I don't know the first thing about her life before all of this.
"Between us and the other team's side is a huge space – gigantic, even. From what they told me, it is bigger than Japan. They are completely on their own over there. No system, nothing to feed or shelter them, nothing at all. They're system created reformed versions of enemies that my group, Tsubomi's group and Miyuki's group fought in the past. Like Setsuna and Ellen. Minus the system creation." She's still not looking like she's gonna ask me anything. So I should just keep talking.
In a one to one fight, she was adequate. Not nearly as powerful as Pine, or Bright or Beauty, but she was an adequate fighter. If Regina attacked her, she could probably fend her off for long enough to find the right words to get her to stop. But she didn't want to even go there.
"When the system broke on the other team's side, it messed up their space far worse than here where the system is a controlled thing. They don't remember how they ended up here. I was restless and wanted to take a bath to take my mind off of the new ability stuff and found all three of them passed out flat on the ground just in front of the bathhouse."
Regina's gaze went almost through Rouge and at the others hiding behind her.
"I didn't know what to think – finding those three together, in those clothes, I figured out quickly after waking them up that they're not our Akane, Nao and Yuri. I only just finished asking them questions myself. I've been at it for about twenty minutes."
"Swaying from topic. What about Mana?"
"They told me they found her starved in front of their home after a blizzard had hit their area and then disappeared. They had all taken cover in a big cave since their house wasn't able to starve off the cold. It's a simple wooden thing. So they woke her up, gave her food and gave her a place to sleep. That's the last thing they remember. Mana was fine. A bit hungry because there wasn't enough food to really eat her fill, but fine."
Rouge felt Regina charge her weapon and took a defensive pose. Without warning a bolt of energy cackled past her and the three behind her. Nobody dared to move a muscle after.
"I see. You're either extremely committed to this story or it's the truth."
She tested if they would freak out and start to spill the beans of any truth? That's brutal…
Lowering her weapon, Regina relaxed a bit. "So Mana is really okay?"
"According to them, yes."
"How many of them are there?"
"Fourteen. Five of my group, five of Miyuki's group, four of Tsubomi's group."
"That does not add up right." Regina stared. "Tsubomi's group has five. Your group has six."
"When we fought them, Kurumi was not a Cure yet. Yuri's sister is different. I don't know the details, but from what I do know, she was brought back from the dead by this system here before we arrived in your world."
Regina let her weapon dissipate, easing up on her guard. "I believe you. Are you on your way to get Mana now?"
"We don't have a way to get there. They don't even know how they ended up by the bathhouse. They want to go home – they are terrified of everyone here. It was difficult to get them to trust me that I would not kill them." Rouge saw Regina's eyes widen slightly at that. "The problem remains we have no way to get there, but we know that Mana is safe."
Regina seemed to visibly deflate a little at hearing that. "I need to tell Rikka. But what are you going to do with those three? I expect their counterparts will not listen so easily."
Easily? Girl, you nearly deep fried us with your damn spear just to check if they'd spook and were hiding something. But Rouge could not deny that it was a bad idea to just let them walk around and mingle. There are a lot of reasons I should hide them somewhere. "I'm taking them to the beach,"
"They'll end up naked." Regina helpfully pointed out a flaw there. "So are you if you go like this."
Shit, I forgot all about that. "Then I'll get swimsuits for them."
"Where?"
"Where? My room?"
Regina very intently stared at Rin's chest and then chuckled. "Yuri and Akane, maybe. But Nao?"
"This isn't the place for boob jokes."
"It really isn't."
"Are you… trying to help me?"
"If someone overreacts and they end up hurt or worse, it might cost me my best chance to find Mana. Worse still, what if words somehow gets to their side that they were hurt or worse and they try to take it out on Mana? Not that Mana can actually be defeated, but the emotional pain it would cause Mana to have that happen to her because someone here couldn't control themselves is too big of a risk. What about the mountain area?"
"Snowed over."
"The beach isn't?"
"Likely too hot." Who is this girl anyway? She doesn't seem like Regina at all. Is this what she's like in a crisis situation? "I thought about putting them up at the bathhouse but too many people go there. Same with Mamo's shop. The beach is huge and there is a lot of space to hide. They won't freeze at night either. The beach hut has food. I was thinking it would be optimal."
Regina paused and then walked towards Rouge, just to sidestep her and look at the three that were visibly afraid of her. "Three people. The rooms are all filled up and even with Sasorina's room we don't have access to the non-assigned floors. There is no space in the skyscraper to hide them. The mountains are out. The arena is frequently used. Same with the bathhouse and shop. The beach is not only the logical but also only rational choice."
"You sound like Rikka."
"Every single one of us knows when to be lax and when to be serious." Regina only very briefly glared at Rouge from the corner of her eyes. "Don't assume I don't know how to handle a serious situation just because I normally have a somewhat carefree attitude." You don't know anything about us. Stop making assumptions.
"Has anyone tested what happens when they bring in other clothes to the beach? Like carrying them?"
"I don't know. Even if that did work, wearing those clothes on the beach would definitely make anyone suspicious. Not to mention it would likely be unbearable in the heat."
"What about giving them extra sets we have?"
"Possible. The main issue is Nao here." Regina briefly squinted. "We need to give them different names so we can differentiate between them and the originals more easily."
"Another headache. To begin with, I don't think we should be talking about them like they are pets we plan to keep in secret."
Regina shook her head and looked specifically at Akane. "You seem to understand this situation. You look a lot less afraid than the other two."
"We know next to nothing about this place. Trying to offer opinions or solutions would just get in the way. If you need to assign us code words to make it easier to differentiate between us and our originals, that is a small price to pay for safety."
"Akane. Sunny. Fire…. Too bad we already have a Honoka." Regina was thinking out loud. "You're Hinako. It's not the most original thing but it's already hard to remember names as-is in this place." Regina looked to Rin. "What about you? Any suggestions?"
"I'm terrible with this sort of thing."
"Tsukiko." Regina pointed at Mirage Moonlight. "Midori." And with Bad End March being renamed, that completed Regina's task.
"You're not very good at it either."
"What do we do about their clothes?" Regina ignored Rouge's quip.
"What would happen if we let them operate a wardrobe?"
"I will tell Rikka about Mana anyway so let's bring her in to this. It's too risky to let you stay out here in the open so come with. All four of you."
"You three have any issues with that?" I don't want them to treat like prisoners. So even if it's just a formality or a platitude, I want to ask them.
Akane acted as their leader, with Yuri and Nao clearly looking to her for a decision. "We're fine with that."
The five of them had an uneventful brisk walk to the elevator and an equally uneventful elevator ride – it didn't stop even once on the way up.
"Regina? Just how many snacks-" Rikka stopped when she heard more than just sandals. It was a process that seemed incomprehensible to Rouge and the three from the other place but Rikka quickly got out of bed, already dressed in some plain clothes – underwear, short skirt, sleeveless top – and her tone changed. "How serious?"
"Two." Regina's answer made just as little sense to Rouge as Rikka's sudden change. They had not even said anything yet. "You wait here, I'll get Rikka up to speed."
Rouge could barely see a thing in the dark room but she heard Regina walk away and the two of them began talking very quickly and very subdued in what she could only describe and indecipherable code words. She picked up Mana's status is green-black and tempered situation, whatever those meant. It only took about three minutes before Regina had conveyed the issue to Rikka.
"I see. You made the right decision. There's too much at risk to get everyone involved. Rouge." Upon her name being called, Rouge walked forward and joined the other two. She felt incredibly out of place for a variety of reasons, not least of all the stark contrast in clothing. "Your idea is sound. Hiding them at the beach until we know more is a good idea. Normally I would ask why you are not getting Ayumi involved but I can see why you would abstain."
"I'll handle the experiment." Regina left Rikka with Rouge and walked over to Hinako – Bad End Sunny. "Come."
Rikka lowered her voice until even Rouge, who stood right in front of her, was having difficult understanding her. "Fully trusting them is risky. What they think is true might not be the truth. Regina told me she tested them and how they reacted so at the very least I believe that that they believe they are telling the truth."
"What are we going to do then?"
"Wait. If more of them appear we will keep them separated and determine if there appear contradictions. If not, we can make them hide together. In any case, I will talk to them tomorrow about the other side. Regina is a smart girl but she won't see the fine technicalities that might lead to a hint of how to travel to their region from ours."
"You are going to keep it a secret from everyone else then?"
"I would like to bring in Luminous and Pine later on but for the time being I want to stay away from such invasive measures."
How does she even know about her mind dive capability? "I see. I won't tell anyone then."
"Regina?"
"Mixed."
"Essential?"
"Positive."
"Looks like the system is not entirely dysfunctional."
You expect me to understand what just happened? "That means what?"
"It is not giving them full range access to clothing the way we have but it does give them enough to hide them at the beach."
How in the world did you communicate that with four words?! "So-"
"Uwah… this is going to be embarrassing to wear..." Hinako – Bad End Sunny – was holding in her hands a sports beach outfit. A skin-tight top, covering about the same amount of skin as a cut off shirt, and equally tight shorts that reached down far enough to be comparable to spats And she was still looking like someone asked her to wear a string bikini. They shared the same color scheme – a fiery dark red with black outlines. It resembled her current outfit a bit.
Without raising her voices, Regina raised her hand and waved towards Midori – Bad End March – and Tsukiko – Mirage Moonlight – for them to come over.
Rouge was consistently at a loss of how Regina and Rikka managed to act and convey things to each other like this. How many years would it take for Kanade and me to be able to do that? She blushed upon thinking this. I can't believe my mind first went to Kanade instead of Urara or Ayumi.
Midori – Bad End March – ended up with a bikini – the top had six straps instead of two and a second supporting layer, like a built in bra, under the standard layer, requiring two separate hooks at the back. The bottom part was in practically a standard bikini bottom piece but had hooks to attach a short skirt to it.
In contrast to Akane, she didn't seem embarrassed by the clothes but worried about being surrounded by Rikka, Regina and Rouge.
The last of the three, Tsukiko – Mirage Moonlight – was given a one piece swimsuit following a competitive cut. It was mostly white and had light purple lines running along the sides. The back was fully covered and the rise from the crotch was rather low – on the whole, a very conservative competitive style one piece.
I have a bad feeling about this one, Rouge thought but didn't say anything. "We ready?"
Regina briefly checked if all three of them had not only the swimsuit but also the change of clothes.
While they had grabbed the presented swimsuit the wardrobe only offered a single additional outfit consisting of plain clothes – shorts, sleeveless top and sandals for all three of them. It was like the wardrobe didn't know what to do and defaulted to the same standard items no matter what.
"There is a bathroom. Go change into swimsuits." We don't know yet if they can switch out of swimsuits at the beach or not. Even if they can't, they will have to come out and change elsewhere if an emergency arises and they need to come find us.
The three girls from beyond the rift had barely said a few words between coming to the penthouse, either too scared or simply thinking that they'd just make things take longer. They had gone through hell and they just wanted to feel safe for a while. And they could not do that while they were surrounded by people like Regina.
"How are we going to feed them?" Rouge asked as soon as the bathroom door closed.
"There's enough food for now. If need be we can likely fish in the ocean. We should look into that tomorrow. We should also attempt to remedy the situation at the mountains. Feeding thirty-nine people is not easy but with the contents of Mamo's store it should not be impossible to last or over a week without manual supplements." Rikka made a few conservative estimates. "
"A week… let's hope this places comes back online before that."
"We still don't know what caused it to fail." Regina looked towards the bathroom. "They are likely involved but it's possible they are victims. More so than us, even."
"For now we wait and see. Rushing into action without a plan always incurs losses." Rikka sounded like a soldier to Rouge.
"We're going to stay up here. Less people walking around means less chance to be noticed. You should go back to your room as soon as you can too, Rouge." Regina was still in a very serious mode which kept throwing Rouge off her game.
"At least we know Mana is safe." Rikka did sound relieved. "Now we just have to locate her."
Locate her? Not 'find' or 'rescue' or 'get' her? I know their world was off pretty badly, but it's like they're battle hardened soldiers… it's probably a bad idea to ask them about it. If I stir up bad memories I won't be able to sleep at night. "I'll get them to the beach entrance. They should be able to find their way around there. I don't want to juggle switching to a swimsuit now. If Kanade is up when I get back, there will be unpleasant questions."
"Good idea." Rikka sat down on the edge of the bed. "We should go to sleep soon. Echo is going to keep up her training tomorrow and between that we need to figure out a way to get to the other side and a permanent solution to the food situation."
Regina remained standing next to Rouge and the two of them turned towards the bathroom, waiting for the three to come out. "A big issue is that they look like the others in their Cure forms. I didn't account for that until now."
"They will have to hide anyway. Their voices are similar but not quite there. Most of us will notice immediately, even if they looked the same. This is more about making them not miserable."
"I didn't think you'd be the compassionate type. You strike me more as the cool-headed neutral one."
"Yeah. Full of surprises lately." I get to thank Kanade for that. Lots of things I never thought I'd do.
It took a full ten minutes before two of the three – Hinako and Midori – finally emerged from the bathroom, carrying their old clothes – and their change of clothes – with them, carrying rhem by tucking them under their arms. Tsukiko was nowhere to be seen.
Noticing that she hadn't come out, Hinako quickly pushed her clothes into Midori's hands and headed back inside. Rouge's bad feeling turned out to be true. The swimsuits that the other two had gotten were visually and design-wise very close to what Akane and Nao wore – and so of course Tsukiko ended up with the same thing as Yuri.
Quiet looks were exchanged as Tsukiko held her clothes close to her chest and nobody said a thing. It didn't matter. "Let's go. I'm only going to get you to the fog gate and explain to you the general layout of the beach. There is enough space to hide and probably a backroom in the beach hut to sleep. If not, there should at least be towels so you can sleep outside." Rouge quickly went over the most important details and then looked to Regina and Rikka. "Thanks for your help."
Lightly shaking her head, Regina denied the thanks. "We haven't found Mana yet. Go, before Makoto and Ange wake up." It's a miracle they haven't woken up yet. Maybe the pool noises camouflage our voices. They never got as loud as regular indoor voices, but even so, Regina, when she was being serious, erred on the side of caution. Watching Rouge and the three unknown girls disappear into the elevator, she finally relaxed. "That was tiring."
"Tomorrow will be even more tiring." Rikka smiled and lightly patted the space next to her so Regina could sit down there. "We should go to bed."
"I never even got to get my snack."
"You'll survive."
"Yeah…" Sighing and then yawning, Regina took off her top. It was time to go to bed.
=== DISSONANCE ===
She stood tall in the darkness, her long hair motionless for there was no air or atmosphere to move in. There was no need for her to draw breath – she had surpassed such limitations long ago. Her skin starved off the infinite cold of the void, her eyes burning with magic the likes of which the world had never seen or would ever see before.
There at the apex of power, nothing could touch her. But that had never been a matter of issue to her to begin with. Power by itself was meaningless – it only served a purpose if one self served a purpose. And hers was crystal clear. For longer than any living thing could remember for she had pursued it and now it was finally within grasp. This singular plot, this once in her lifetime chance at a scheme – to turn it all around. To make real that which even one like her could only dream about. To give shape to words to thoughts to ideas – to her very conviction and faith.
Nothing existed in this world or any other than would stop her. Even gods had no choice but to shy away from interference – she held hostage too much power, too much to risk. She existed between the principles of good and evil, outside the terms of morality and beyond the grasp of mere mortal reason. Time mattered little to her. But even for someone like her, opportunity like this would not come twice.
For all her power she could not overcome the prison of her own ideals. For she not viewed it as such. Ideals were not a thing that held one back. Only fools believed that no matter their methods, the ends once justified would lead to a desired future. Nay. It required machinations beyond the realm of mere intellect to shape the future. Luck. Fate. Destiny. No matter what it was called, it had to be on one's side. Even she was no exception.
Her expression changed. Slowly the corners of her mouth grew further apart – a smirk became a grin became a smile became a display of ecstasy.
"How long has it been since I felt anticipation like this? Time flies and flies… how bizarre that it would be in a place like this, removed from space and time, that my ambitions would finally bear fruit. They will dance in my palm, dance all night long, dance a dance of utmost upheaval, of happiness and freedom, of dreams and golden futures. And I shall give them a world they never knew they wished for. I shall give them a desire buried deeper than their darkest secrets. Something that is integral to our blood, to our very being. They might resent me but even should I perish I will fulfill my ambition. Once fulfilled it matters not if my physical form ceases to be. I will be the very land upon which they find their happiness. I will be the sky upon which they pray their wishes. I will be the rivers and oceans upon which their dreams travel. I will be the very magic that connects them to another."
She slowly reached with her right hand to her face, covering part of it. Tears connected to her palm. "Ah… so this is euphoria. This is what bliss feels like." Smiling as she shed tears of happiness, she breathed in air that only existed because her magic created it. A comfort that reminded her of humility.
"Cures, oh Cures, protectorate of life – the evil darkling's source of strife – the dawn of days, the world's first breath – the darkling seeks to be your death.
Oh listen, listen, child of light – They fear, they crawl, they spread, enthral – they trust you not, they cherish none, they bite your hand, they want you gone – they seek your help in time of need, they spread horrors of every deed, they foul your name, they rot and blame – Beware, beware, the darkling's blight.
Monsters, beasts, the world's own end – they see your power, your soul to rend. Now listen, listen, warrior of light – they call for you, they call – It's here, It's here, the time to fight – they praise and pray – their words match now that which they say – oh light so strong, so beautiful – their truth of lies -their pleading cries – the dark afraid, of horrors full.
They call to you – A blinding light, oh soul so pure – they worship you – the guardian of good, little cure. They cower, hide, they disappear – Alone, unknown, a battle waged – no help, no aid, their growing fear – it beckons now, a conflict staged.
The darkling lives, the darkling thrives – the darkling spreads, your end arrives – the dark days come, the powers fade – it kills you all, the darkling's blade – the cures no more, skies turn to shade – the cycle of light, new warriors made."
The words, the rhyme, were heard by none but herself. And it burned inside her like a fire. "No more… no more will I let this song be the truth of my people."
Slapping her hands together in front of her chest and then slowly pulling her hands apart she generated a small swirl of energy free floating between them. "It's time to lay the groundwork for a new world."
"[Missing Power of the Immaterial!]"
=== END OF CHAPTER XXXVI ===
