Imperfect Metamorphosis

by TakerFoxx

It's the first day of spring, and Cirno and her friends are once again up to no good! But after stealing a strange box from Marisa's house, they soon find themselves over their heads as they discover some things are meant to remain locked up.

63. Insects

Insects

AN: As a rule I don't do content warnings for my stories, and given how dark IM has gotten before this may be pointless. But certain parts of this chapter were really uncomfortable to even to write, so as a precaution I'm going to let you know that it does take a closer look at types of abusive relationships than we've seen before. Nothing too explicit, but I still feel I should send out a head's-up.

…

Then

Eyes open.

…huh?

Wait, what is…

Whoa. WHOA. What's going on? I'm…I'm big! Big and…and weird looking! My…my legs. They're all thick and…pink! And they've got little legs on the end. I can move them too!

Oh wow, I'm so soft. Where's my shell? Wait, where are my wings? Where are my-WHERE ARE MY MIDDLE LEGS? WHAT'S BEEN DONE TO ME?

Okay, okay, I've got to just calm down. Calm down and think, and-

Oh wow. I'm thinking. I'M THINKING! I HAVE…THOUGHTS! WORDS! But how? What did I become just-

Youkai.

I am now a youkai. I was a…a firefly. But now because of magic, I am now a firefly youkai. I am a firefly youkai of Gensokyo, the country of magic.

The hell is a country?

The hell is magic?

The hell is hell, and why am I using that word in that way?

Oh wait. My brain is…answering my questions? A country is a piece of land that lots of people…own I guess. Hell is…someplace nasty. And a bad word, I guess? Magic is…okay, I'm not even going to try to figure that one out. Sparkly though. Where is this information coming from though? I mean I'm just thinking, and it's coming into my head!

Wait, those…those lights. Those tiny lights. Those are fireflies? That was me? Was I really that small?

Okay, okay. Lot to take in. Let's try these new legs first, and see where-

Ah! Ah ah ah ah, wow. Wow. WOW. Look at me! I'm like…a superbeing! Wow, this size, and this power! Ha ha, this is great!

No, brain. I don't care about danmakky and spellcards or whatever. Let me enjoy this!

Wait, there's something nearby. Something's coming. Leaves crunching. Bushes rustling.

I wonder if it's another superbeing, another youkai. That would be awesome! We could be…friends! Yes, that's the word! Two youkai looking out for one another and being friendly! Wow, so many new concepts, and they all have names! This is so neat!

There they are! I should go say…Wait, they don't look happy to see me. They don't look like they want to be my friend at all. Actually, they just look…

Scary.

Oh no.

…

Now

Snip-snip-snip

The blades of a silver pair of scissors opened and closed, severing strands of mossy green hair and letting them fall in clumps. Neither the holder of the scissors nor the owner of the hair was especially happy about the process. Both wore wooden expressions while the former worked and the latter sat as still as she could. Save for the snipping of the scissors and the gentle poofs as the hair hit the ground, there was no sound. Both were silent, barely tolerating the other's presence and wishing that the ordeal was over.

Snip-snip-snip

The one holding the scissors raked her fingers through the other's hair, gathering it together to form another clump. She grimaced while doing so. So far, the haircut had been going on for more than fifteen minutes and would probably go on for another fifteen. The hair was as tough as tree roots and just as filthy. She felt defiled just by touching it, and she regularly worked with dirt and bloody pieces of meat. Visions of hot water and entire baskets of soap danced in her head as another layer of grease rubbed onto her fingers.

Then something crawled out of the tangled green forest onto her middle finger and she lurched back. "Oh gross!"

Wriggle flinched visibly, her hands jerking up to protect her head. "What? What?"

Shaking off her hand, Elly glowered at the firefly and snarled, "There are vermin living in your hair!"

Wriggle turned to look at her in bewilderment.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Elly let it out through her nostrils and slowly reiterated, "A bug just crawled out of that green rat's nest on your head. Your head is probably infested with the things!"

Sighing, Wriggle turned her back toward her. "Well, excuse me for living in a forest and sleeping in a cave for the last several years. It just comes with the territory."

"Comes with the-No it does not! You can talk to bugs! You could've told them to leave your head alone at any time, but instead you just let them crawl all over you like a-" Shivering, Elly shook her head out, trying to banish the feeling of tiny legs crawling over her skin. "Ugh!"

"Whatever," Wriggle sighed.

That just made Elly's scowl darken even further. "Don't you 'whatever' me. It's bad enough that I got to go running my hands through your filthy hair, but now I have to put up with bugs crawling out of the roots and getting their nasty little-"

"All right, all right!" Wriggle snapped. "Fine, I'll clear the freaking way for you! Sheesh." Lowering her head and placing her hands on her temples, she murmured a few short buzzing noises.

Then to Elly's disgust, several more tiny critters came crawling, slithering, and, dare she think it, wriggling out of the firefly's partially cut thicket. They made her way down Wriggle's arms to disappear into the pockets of her shorts.

"There," Wriggle said as she lowered her arms. "They're gone. Now, can we please get this over with?"

Elly's shoulders and spine tensed up as her mouth thinned out to a thin line. She looked at the scissors in her hand and briefly contemplated driving them right through the back of the youkai's head. It would serve her right for making her have to go through this, along with a great many other things.

"You guys have been here for weeks," Elly said. "We have baths. We have soap. We have scrubbers in twenty different sizes. My God, Wriggle. Is basic hygiene such a foreign concept to you that you still have vermin living in your-"

"Oh, give it a rest, Elly," Wriggle groaned. "I hate this as much as you do, but it's not going to get done if you keep standing there whining at me."

Yes. Yes it would serve her right. And Yuuka need not know either. Wriggle would resurrect soon anyway, and a little soap and hot water would take care of the blood quite easily. It wasn't like Wriggle was going to tattle on her either. The firefly was terrified of Yuuka, and rightly so. One quick thrust, and this ordeal would become a whole lot more bearable. In fact, if she did it just right, she could probably paralyze Wriggle without actually killing her. Which meant that Elly could hold her down and shave that whole disgusting mess off her head without resistance, and then she could kill her and let her resurrect. Little mess, her job would become easier and be over more quickly, and she would get lots of personal satisfaction to boot.

"Well?" Wriggle said.

Sighing, Elly pushed her homicidal urges away and walked over to continue cutting Wriggle's hair. It didn't matter how well she hid it, Yuuka would know. Yuuka always knew. And even if she didn't find out through supernatural means, having a bald firefly sulking about would be sort of difficult to explain.

For a time they settled back to their previous routine of Elly cutting and Wriggle sitting and bearing it. Then, practically out of nowhere, Wriggle said, "I don't get why we have to do this."

In that Elly was in complete agreement, but as she was in no mood to concede any sort of point to Wriggle, she merely shrugged and said, "Yuuka said your hair was an unacceptable mess and wanted me to give you a more ladylike cut before she gets back."

"Right," Wriggle groaned. "It's practically the same as it was before."

"No, it's not. It was boyish, sure, but now it's an atrocity. Seriously, do any of you even possess a pair of scissors?"

Wriggle shrugged. "Well, Mystia gives us a trim every now and then. She's the only one any of us trusts with sharp objects, so she usually gets the job."

Elly almost smiled at that, but caught herself in time. "I'm surprised she's able to even use them. You know, considering those big talons of hers."

"Well, it took a little getting used to," Wriggle admitted. "The first time around was kind of disaster. Rumia's neck got all scratched up and she got mad and started biting Cirno."

"Cirno?"

"Well, yeah. Mystia's too nice to bite. But the great thing about Cirno is that she always deserves it, even if you don't know why. You just know that she's done something."

This time Elly did let out a small chuckle at the truth of it. Wriggle laughed a little as well. But then they both realized what they were doing at the same time and stopped immediately. Elly cleared her throat and resumed snipping.

Then, before she could think about what she was doing, she blurted out, "Why did you leave?"

She could feel the firefly stiffen beneath her fingers. Letting out a sigh, Wriggle said, "Elly. Do you really want to do this?"

Actually, Elly really didn't. In fact, she would have greatly preferred it if Wriggle had stayed completely out of her life or, lacking that, had never left in the first place. But it had been eating away at her ever since the firefly had come back and filled the once-peaceful garden with idiots and monsters. And she had rehearsed the confrontation so many times in her head in the last few days that she might as well get the real thing. In fact, she had been rehearsing since the day Wriggle had run away.

"Yes," she said. The hand resting on Wriggle's head tightened its grip. It was just a little bit, but she had no doubt that Wriggle felt the added pressure. "I want to do this."

"Oh, ferthegodssakes," Wriggle groaned. "Elly. Look. I didn't want to leave you, okay? It tore me apart to do that."

"But you did it anyway."

"Well, yeah, but what was I supposed to do? I mean, Yuuka had pretty much-" Then Wriggle's head snapped up, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. Fortunately Elly hadn't actually been cutting at that moment, or she would have ended up with a nasty gash. "Hey, wait a minute," Wriggle said, eyeing the flowers on the walls, hanging from the ceiling, and sprouting up from the floor. "She's not listening in on this, is she? Trying to get me to, uh, confess or something?"

Elly waited a good long time before responding. In that time, she counted to ten in her head as well as recite the alphabet forwards and backwards. "Wriggle, if Yuuka wanted any sort of confession from you, she'd just take it. Yuuka's gone, probably for the rest of the day, and the flowers only report to her if she tells them to watch out for something in particular. Which she hasn't. This is me asking you."

To her credit, Wriggle actually looked a little abashed at the reprimand. "Sorry," she muttered. "It's just…Look, I couldn't take it anymore, okay?"

Elly scowled. "Take it anymore? What, being her lover? Being the one she turned to for comfort? The person she valued more than anything in the world?"

Wriggle snorted. "Elly, you know it wasn't like that. You were the person she cared about. I was practically her slave. She just kept me around as a way to get off."

Elly's teeth gritted together. "It was not-"

"Oh yeah? Remember that collar she made me wear? Remember the leash? Remember all those…those things she kept around to shove up my-" Wriggle's voice cracked. She growled a bit, and forced herself to continue. "Remember all those times I had my face all bruised up because she was in a bad mood? All the times I tried to tell myself that it was my fault, that I had made her angry and should have known better? All the times she'd freak out anyway, no matter how careful I was?"

Elly's thumb ran along the back of one of the silver scissor blades. "No. It wasn't like that at all."

"The hell it wasn't! You noticed, remember? Hell, you wanna get on my case about me leaving you? If we were such great friends, how come you never tried to stop her from hurting me?"

The color on Elly's cheeks heightened. "B-Because it wasn't any…Yuuka was just…I didn't think it was my to…Hey! Don't try to turn this around on me!"

"Heh," Wriggle said bitterly. "Thought so."

The thumb pressing against the scissors was starting to shake. Elly snapped the scissors shut before she had an accident. Keeping her voice as calm as possible, she asked, "Then why'd you come back then? If you hated it so much here, why'd you come back?"

At this, Wriggle just looked confused. "I…I'm not sure," she admitted. "Rumia was in trouble, and we needed all the help we could get, so…"

"So you went to the monster you hated?" Elly practically spat. "How does that even begin to make sense?"

Wriggle shook her head in bewilderment. "I don't know," she said. "It…it just seemed like the thing to do."

"The thing to do," Elly repeated under her breath. Louder, she said, "She cried the day you ran away. She cried and cried and there wasn't anything I could do to make her feel better. She said-" Now it was Elly's turn to have her voice crack. "She accused me of helping you! She still thinks I did! It was days before she would even speak to me!"

Wriggle stared at her for a good long time, guilt and shame all over her face. Then she slowly turned her back to the Shinigami and muttered, "I-I'm sorry, Elly. I didn't want her to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" Elly scoffed. Wiping her eyes with her arm, she said, "Is that what you think? She never laid a hand on me."

"She didn't?" Wriggle sounded surprised. "Really?"

"Yes, as it turns out, she's not the violent lunatic you've deluded yourself into believing her to be," Elly said with a slight sneer. Walking over to the firefly, she resumed snipping away at her hair. "Though judging from the surprise in your voice, you probably went this whole time thinking that she had beaten me unconscious for your actions."

Wriggle flinched a bit at that. "Elly. I'm sorry. I really, really am. Not for running away, but for not trying harder to get you out too."

"Hmph," Elly muttered. "Well, it's your fault for thinking she would ever do something like that to me. I've been with her for three decades, and she's always been nothing but gentle." Her wrist twinged a bit, but she ignored it. "So maybe you're right. Maybe she just cared more about me than she ever did for you."

She meant it as an insult, a way to drive the stake deeper, but the firefly didn't seem as wounded as she ought to have been. Instead, when she responded, she sounded almost contemplative. "Then what happened to your hand?"

The scissors froze. "What?" Elly whispered hoarsely.

"Your wrist," Wriggle said. "How'd you hurt it then?"

Elly looked down to her wrist. It was still bandaged, and she had to be careful how she moved it, as twisting it the wrong way sent sharp pangs shooting up the side of her hand.

"Yuuka did that, didn't she?" Wriggle said.

Elly gritted her teeth. "It was an accident," she seethed out.

"And accident," Wriggle said, not sounding like she believed her at all.

"She was asleep at the time. She was having a nightmare. She didn't know what she was doing."

"Right," Wriggle said. "And do you know what's she's doing? Like, ever? Because you know as well as I do that she's slipping-"

As it turned out, that was exactly the wrong thing to say to Elly, and a moment later Wriggle was sitting alone in the room with a partially finished haircut, a lump in her throat, and one of her antennae now only about a fifth of the length of the other.

…

Then

The first thing she noticed when she came to was just how soft, warm, and comfortable she was.

Naturally, this was quite frightening. Comfort was an alien sensation to her. Softness was a luxury in short supply. And warmth was a scarce resource that had to be fought for. To wake to all three in abundance was a sure sign that something was wrong.

Her eyes snapped open, and what she saw made her wonder if she was still asleep. She was in a place like none she had seen before in her short life. There were no trees. There was no grass. The sky was obstructed by a curiously flat ceiling, though holes in the wall let the sunlight through. It was a little like that cave she had spent her second night in, only that one had been much smaller, darker, and a great deal more hard.

What this one had was a lot of were flowers. Lots and lots of flowers, all over the walls and hanging from the ceiling. White flowers, yellow flowers, red flowers, even blue flowers. The walls themselves were as flat as the ceiling and too proportional to each other to be anything but deliberately carved out.

But the strangest part was the thing she was in. It was big and rectangular and incredibly soft, like wild grass in the morning or a pile of dry leaves, only without the scratching and sticks found in surprising areas. But despite this, it was horrifically strong. It covered her entire body from the neck down in its tight embrace, the touch of its hide like feathers against her skin but with a grip as hard as stone.

A rush of panic drove the last linger remnants of sleepiness from her mind, and she started to panic. She was being eaten. Some great fungus monster had brought her back to its den and was eating her. She had to get out before she was swallowed completely and-

All of a sudden, that other part of her brain started to wake up: the part that told her things that she had no business knowing, the part that knew the names of things she had just seen for the first time and gave her words to use. It was something all wild youkai were apparently gifted with when they came into being, a working knowledge of the world that they were now taking part of.

It was that part of her that quietly informed her that she wasn't in a cave, but a room. That those holes on the walls were called windows, that the strange wooden objects were furniture and pictures, and that she wasn't being eaten by a giant fungus, but was lying in a bed, albeit one with the covers tucked in real tightly. Furthermore, she then realized that beds were completely harmless and she should just enjoy being able to sleep in something soft without worrying about-

"You're awake!"

Wriggle's head jerked toward the voice. Someone else was in the room, another girl. She looked very young, with a round, cherubic face; dimpled cheeks; large golden eyes; and curly hair of the same color. She was sitting next to the bed and watching Wriggle with a mixture of relief and concern.

"Oh good, you really had me worried," the girl said as she rose from her chair. She reached out toward Wriggle. "How do you-"

"AH!" Wriggle cried, jerking away from her. She tried to flee but the covers were wrapped so tightly around her that her legs became tangled and she ended up tumbling over the other side of the bed and crashing in a very untidy heap on the floor.

Fortunately the floor was covered with something soft and fuzzy (a rug. It's called a rug) so she didn't really hurt herself, but it still stunned her. "Oh my God, are you okay?" the other girl cried. There was the sound of soft, frantic footsteps, and the next thing Wriggle knew soft hands were helping her untangle herself from the bedcovers.

"Get away!" she yelled as she tried to scramble away. Her back bumped into a hard piece of furniture, and she found herself in the vulnerable position of having a wall to her right side, the nightstand to her back, the bed to her left, and a ceiling overhead, with the strange girl kneeling right in front of her, cutting off her escape.

Two pairs of eyes locked gazes with each other, one wild and terrified and the other worried and uncertain of how to proceed. Wriggle stared at her captor, her mind racing as she tried to calculate her chances at fighting her way out. Thus far, she had been in exactly two danmaku duels, and had gotten the stuffing beat out of her each time. Fortunately, her opponents in both instances were content to simply walk off with the bit of food that they had been competing for and leave her alone, but that didn't meant that it was an experience she was in a rush to repeat.

This girl didn't seem as vicious or angry as the others had been. However, she wasn't displaying any sign of fear either, which wasn't good. If she didn't fear Wriggle, it meant that she was confident in her ability to defeat her. And why wouldn't she be? She had Wriggle practically helpless in her lair.

"No," Wriggle moaned. The word twisted in her throat and came out as a sob. It wasn't fair. She had only just changed, and now it was all over. It didn't matter that she was bigger and stronger than all the other fireflies now, she had still been caught by a predator. "No, no, no," she continued to cry as she curled up into a ball, her arms covering her head. It was a poor defense, but it was all she had.

She braced herself, body trembling as she waited for that painful end. But instead of tearing out her throat or slashing out her guts, the girl simply sat where she was and said in a bewildered tone, "Um, are you okay?"

Wriggle paused. Then she slowly lowered her arms just enough to stare at the other girl through the crux of her elbow. Her captor didn't look hungry or triumphant. She just looked confused. "It's okay," she said, stretching out a hand toward Wriggle. When the firefly cringed back, she hesitated and then withdrew it before saying, "I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe."

Wriggle didn't believe that for one second. Why go through all the trouble of having someone at your mercy and not do something horrible to them? So she just remained where she was, glowering suspiciously at her captor. "Who are you?" she growled.

"Me? Well, my name is Elly."

Elly. Right. Well, a name was just a name. "Where am I?" Wriggle said. "What do you want with me?"

"Well, we don't really want…Uh, you're in Mugenkan, which is in the Garden of the Sun. Th-that's the home of Yuuka Kazami."

Wriggle's head swam with all those new names, none of which were the slightest bit familiar to her. "Who?"

"My master," Elly told her. "You were chased into the Garden by two other youkai. Do you remember?"

Wriggle did, and quite vividly. Unlike her previous two other challengers, these ones had made it quite clear that they were interested in more than just taking food from her. And so she had flown away as fast as she could.

The chase itself had sort of blurred together in her mind. She just remembered being nearly blinded by terror, to the point that it must have been a miracle that she hadn't hit any trees. She had fled screaming from the forest, looking for some kind of refuge, some place to hide. But no matter how many bushes she had thrown herself into or rocks she had cowered behind, their leering faces and pawing hands had always found her.

Then she had come to a very odd place, a meadow of nothing but huge yellow flowers, larger than any she had ever seen. Without a second thought she had dove between their stalks and ran as deep as she could, praying that she would be able to hide there, that they would not find her.

She remembered huddling down, making herself as small as possible while listening to the sound of their loud breathing and gleeful snickering as they searched for her. She remembered one of them calling out to her to come out, that they just wanted to play with her. She remembered just how close they had seemed, and being completely certain that she was about to be discovered.

Then she remembered another voice, one that was not that of her pursuers. She hadn't been able to make out what it said, but they had sounded surprised by the other's appearance. One of them had threatened the newcomer, she was able to recall that.

Then there had been a high-pitched whine.

Then there had been silence.

Wriggle couldn't recall much after that.

Her face still scrunched up with suspicion, Wriggle at least allowed herself to lower her arms. She turned around so that she was sitting with her back to the nightstand. "What happened?" she said hoarsely. Her mouth was dry and her throat felt swollen with thirst.

"Uh, well, my master took care of those youkai that were chasing you," Elly said with a shrug. "Then she found you in the flowers. I guess you had passed out or something, but she brought you here. We've been waiting for you to wake up."

Wriggle tilted her head to one side. She didn't say anything.

"Listen, I know you're still really scared and confused right now, but you don't have to be! Yuuka's really, really nice, and she likes helping people. You don't have to be-"

Then there came the sound of footsteps, and someone else walked around to stand behind Elly.

"All right, Elly. All right. The poor thing just woke up. Let's not overwhelm her."

Elly wilted a bit. "Yes, master."

Wriggle's jaw dropped. From her perspective, all she could see were a pair of legs that just went up and up and up, seemingly forever. They wearing tight, tan-colored pants and a pair of bright red boots. Then the longest arm she had ever seen reached down to affectionately tousle Elly's golden curls.

"For now, why don't you get our guest a glass of water? She must be parched."

"Yes, master!" Elly bounded to her feet and scurried off to obey. Wriggle's eyes tracked her until she had disappeared through the far entrance.

Chuckling, the owner of the legs knelt down so that Wriggle could see the rest of her. She was incredibly tall. Even when standing up, Wriggle's face would only come up to her navel. Her skin was flawless and creamy white; her hair was mossy green like Wriggle's was, though it was much better cared for; and her eyes were bright red.

She was beautiful. No, she was more than beautiful; she was perfect. There was not a misshapen edge, no blemishes on her creamy skin, not a strand of hair out of place. But she was also dangerous; Wriggle could tell that immediately. There was something about the way she moved, and the gleam in her eyes that denoted her as someone that was not to be taken lightly. And for some reason, it scared Wriggle almost as much as those two cruel youkai had, though in a different way.

"You'll have to forgive her," said Elly's master, whom she had called Yuuka Kazami. Her voice sounded strange. She had the same odd accent that Elly had, but in her case it didn't sound natural, as if her voice were on a slightly different frequency. "It's been so long since Elly's had another girl her age around to talk to. The little dewdrop just gets so excited!"

"Uh, her…her age?" was all Wriggle could think to say.

"Mmmm-hmmm! Well, maybe not her age specifically, because that's all been a muddle since she became a Reaper, but such things are technicalities anyway. Though given how things seem to work in this funny little world, you two may very well be matched in years!"

Wriggle was starting to feel curiously lightheaded. She tried to look away from Yuuka's eyes but found that she could not. "Er, I don't think I am…"

"No? Then how old are you, darling?"

"Uh, how long have I been asleep?"

Yuuka laughed, a tittering sound that sent shivers down Wriggle's spine. Was it just her, or was the room becoming warmer? "Oh, not that long. About nine hours, I'd say."

"Oh. Well then, four."

Yuuka blinked. "Four? Four years? My, my, my, my, they really do grow up so fast!"

Wriggle shook her head. "No, I mean four days."

For a brief moment, Yuuka displayed no reaction. Then she inhaled sharply through her nostrils, her scarlets eyes growing wide. "Four…days?" she whispered. "You're only…and already you're…" Drawing back, Yuuka stood up to her full height and put her hands on her hips. Wriggle had to crane her neck to keep her face in view.

Laughing to herself, Yuuka said, "I think I'm going to like it here. I really will."

"Huh?"

Still smiling, Yuuka leaned over and extended her hand. "Well then. Welcome to the Garden of the Sun, my little friend. I just know we're going to be the best of friends."

…

Now

Wriggle was in a foul mood as she made her way through Mugenkan. That was nothing new. She had been in a foul mood ever since this whole mess had started, but her spat with Elly had hit all sorts of sensitive spots and blackened her thoughts even further.

Everything was wrong. Ever since they had opened that stupid, stupid box, things had just been bad. Sure, they had managed to keep their heads above water and avoid hitting rock-bottom. They had even managed to get Rumia back, something that, by rights, ought to have been completely impossible. Given the forces working against them (and with them), the darkness youkai should have been written off as a permanent casualty. But as great as it was to have her back, that still didn't change the fact that everything else was suck-ville. The whole of Gensokyo hated them and wanted their blood, Rumia had returned seriously damaged by her ordeal, and to put the suck-cherry on top of the massive suck-cake they had been gorging themselves on, the only thing standing between them and being totally annihilated by their ridiculous number of enemies was Yuuka Kazami, AKA the very last person Wriggle wanted to be spending time with.

Hands shoved into her pockets, Wriggle floated her way through the halls of the mansion, making her way toward the front entrance. As she passed by, all of the many, many flowers that covered the walls, grew up from the floor, and hung from the ceiling turned their dials in her direction, as if they were making note of her passing. That gave her the creeps like nothing else. Despite what Elly had said, Wriggle was certain that Yuuka was using them to spy on her and the others. And she was all too mindful of how dangerous those things could be should she step one wrong step. Should Yuuka wish it, Wriggle could end up at the bottom of a massive pitcher-plant, being slowly digested while she ineffectively tried to claw her way out. Or torn apart limb-from-limb by the vines. Or stabbed by poisoned thorns, the sort that make you vomit up your own intestines while your liquefied brains ooze out of your ears and nose.

She remembered what it had been like when she had first arrived. It had been frightening then too, though back then it had been due to the alien nature of the place. Back then, all she had known had been the savage world of the wild forests and plains. A place like Mugenkan had felt like another world entirely, and Wriggle had learned to fear the unknown. But once she had gotten a little used to things, she had been in awe of its beauty and rejoiced in its luxury. She ought to have listened to her initial instincts and hauled ass. Now, knowing what she knew, she saw nothing beautiful about it at all. Just a bunch of eyes, watching her every move.

She arrived at the curving stairwell that took her to the lower floor of the foyer. Over it hung the room's centerpiece, a massive painted portrait of two young girls, embracing one another and smiling happily. One of them was herself, and the fact that Yuuka had kept the painting on display made Wriggle's skin crawl. The girl she was holding was Elly. Yuuka had painted it herself, back in happier times, when Wriggle had considered the place a paradise and she and Elly had been inseparable. Back before she had known better.

Wriggle cast a bitter glance at the picture. She didn't regret running away one bit, but she did wish things hadn't turned out the way they did between her and Elly. As loyal as the Shinigami was to Yuuka, leaving her behind had felt an awful lot like breaking out of prison and leaving her cellmate behind, one that had been her only true friend. Even when she had been out having fun with the rest of the gang and not missing Yuuka one bit, she had still missed Elly.

Well, maybe she had missed Yuuka a little…

Shaking off the chill that line of thinking had sent down her spine, Wriggle quickly flew outside through the double-doors.

Thanks to the setting of the Sun, the sky was now a gorgeous tapestry of orange, blue, and yellow. That was no surprise. The sunsets at the Garden of the Sun were always stunning. Even if the rest of Gensokyo were in the grips of a thunderous rainstorm or frozen solid by a blizzard, the weather over the Garden would always be perfect, because Yuuka liked it that way. And within the Garden of the Sun, her will was reality and her word was law, something that Wriggle knew all too well.

Supposedly her friends were playing nearby, or at least they had been when she had been called away for her trim. Since she hadn't run into them in the mansion, it stood to reason that they were still out there. Wriggle floated down the steps and hovered, listening. If they were anywhere nearby she would be able to hear them.

She did, though it wasn't the sound of laughter and merriment that she had been hoping for. Instead, she heard yelling and snarls. Two voices in particular stood out: Rin and Flandre's, with the former doing the yelling and the latter doing the snarling.

Wriggle's heart fell. Though she had been among the first to advocate inducting the two super-monsters into the ranks of their little gang, she had to admit that she still felt more than a little uneasy about keeping them around. She didn't blame Rin for what had happened anymore. She used to, sure. She had considered Rin an irredeemable monster that had to be destroyed. But actually meeting her had changed things. It was hard to hate someone so obviously miserable and guilt-ridden, especially after learning why she had been in that box in the first place and how long she had been kept there. But that didn't change the fact that Rin really wasn't dealing from a full deck of spellcards, or that she was easily more powerful than all of them combined. And there was that little habit she had with eating people whenever she got upset, which she didn't seem to have kicked just yet. After what had happened to Mystia (and more recently Rumia), Wriggle and the others were understandably wary about that sort of thing. Still, it was obvious that Rin felt terrible about what had happened, and was doing her best to make things better. That counter for a lot in Wriggle's book.

Flandre, however, was a different bag of tricks altogether. Apparently, the stories about her had not been exaggerating about her power and viciousness. Even if she was blocked from destroying things with a thought, that didn't take away her incredible strength. Being ripped to shreds freaking hurt, and her instability meant that having that happen was a constant probability. Sure, having Rin root around in her head (or whatever the hell she had done in there) had changed things a bit, enough for Wriggle to feel sympathy for the vampire. The details were vague; not even Flandre or Rin could really explain what Flandre had gone through, save that it had been really bad. And okay, so Rin had managed to introduce some sort of stabilizing force to Flandre's psyche. That didn't change the fact that only one of her personalities was safe. Two of the other three were downright dangerous, with one inclined to tear apart everything in her in vicinity in a maddened frenzy and the other geared toward stalking and eliminating anything deemed as prey. Even the third was a problem, because while her "Child" aspect wasn't actively malicious like the other two, she often forgot her own strength and could wreak serious injury just by accident.

Yes, Flandre was definitely their biggest problem at the moment. But she was one of them now. And Team Nineball looked after their own.

Wriggle just wished that this particular member didn't require quite so much looking after.

She moved cautiously toward the sounds, hovering right over the sunflowers. Like the flowers inside the mansion, they moved their dials toward her, watching her pass over. She ignored them. If they weren't going to help then they were no concern of hers. Her business was with her friends.

"Wriggle! Pssst!"

Wriggle just about leapt out of her skin. However, when she saw who it was, she calmed down. Daiyousei was crouching in the sunflowers below her, her back against a large boulder. She was clearly hiding from something, and Wriggle was willing to bet that hide-and-seek wasn't involved.

"Hey, what's going on?" Wriggle said as she dropped down next to her.

Daiyousei cast an uneasy glance in the direction Wriggle had been heading, though it seemed to be more concern than actual fear. "Flandre," she said simply.

Wriggle nodded. She had thought as much. "Another fit?"

"Uh-huh. We were playing football when she just flipped out. Rin's trying to calm her down right now."

Well, that was no surprise. It had hardly been the first time Flandre had lost control in the last few days. But the scary thing was how used they were getting to her violent behavior. They had even fallen into something a routine when things went bad. Flandre would start exhibiting signs that the crazy side was emerging, everybody would scatter, and Rin would quickly jump in and restrain her until it passed. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was all they really had.

"Where's the others?" Wriggle asked.

Daiyousei shrugged. "Not sure. We all flew off in opposite-" Then her cut herself off in mid-sentence and leaned in closer toward Wriggle's face, her brow furrowing in puzzlement.

Wriggle drew back instinctively. "What?"

"Uh, Wriggle? What happened to your hair?"

Wriggle sighed. "I…look, it's a long story. Where's Rin and Flandre now?"

"Um, over there. B-but why? You're not going to-"

"I just want a look," Wriggle muttered as she rose up again.

"A look?" Daiyousei's voice raised a bit in alarm. "But why? You're not-Wriggle, come back!"

But Wriggle was already gone, heading in the direction of the Rin and Flandre's shouting. From the sound of things, their altercation was already winding down. At least, Flandre's snarls were starting sound more ragged and exhausted, and Rin's pleas for her to calm down were less frantic cries and more soothing tones. That was one thing that worked in their favor. As powerful and unpredictable as Flandre might be, she still did not have a lot of stamina, and more often than not her frenzies would be halted by mere exhaustion.

Wriggle followed the sound until she reached a point where three grassy hills met. At the bottom was a shallow indentation filled with windflowers. And in the middle of it was Rin and Flandre.

Since she had sort of become Flandre's official minder, Rin had been forced to get creative with her abilities, both stolen and otherwise. Since she couldn't use fire or eat the girl every time she acted out, she instead had learned how to take advantage of her body's natural elasticity combined with her stolen shapeshifting. According to her, absorbing people caused her body to automatically take their shape, and absorbing many people led to some truly bizarre hodgepodge of all of their features when she wasn't using some of her stolen abilities to regain her old form. Furthermore, while returning to a gelatinous state was possible, it put her under incredible strain, which in turn led to intense pain, so she didn't like to do it unless absolutely necessary. However, as it turned out, the shapeshifting abilities she had acquired from some bounty-hunter Tanuki provided a bit of a loophole, and combining the two led to her being able to do some really interesting things.

For example:

At the moment, Flandre was being held suspended a full meter off the ground, legs kicking and sharp-nailed fingers grasping for flesh to tear. Over her head orbited those three weird lights that Yuuka had given her to protect her from the sunlight. But despite her strength and determination to kill somebody, she was prevented from moving due to the fact that Rin had a very solid hold on her. From the look of things, it had started with her shoving her arms under Flandre's armpits and bringing them up around her neck in a full-nelson hold, but had sort of continued from there, growing and stretching and wrapping around and around the vampire until she had created a makeshift straightjacket, binding around her chest and tethering her arms in such a position that Flandre couldn't actually reach her with her fingers. As for Rin's legs, they now more resembled the roots of a tree, sinking into the ground and spreading out to provide support.

Admittedly it had taken them a couple tries before Rin had figured out the most effective way of keeping Flandre restrained, and she had gotten pretty roughed up in the process. But she was a fast learner, and so whenever Flandre started skirting around the edge of madness, Rin would simply slide up to her, lock in the hold, and hold her in place until it passed.

Remaining within the cover of the sunflowers, Wriggle watched as Flandre's snarls and growls slowly gave way to frantic panting as her energy spent itself out. Behind her, Rin looked a bit harried and put-upon, but continued to talk to Flandre in hush, soothing tones, slowly calming her down. It was working. Flandre's eyes, which had been pulsing madly like a flickering fire, were starting to cool. That was the sure indication that the fit was leaving her.

Wriggle really didn't get the whole multiple persona thing Flandre had going. She understood things like mood swings; Yuuka had them all the time. But having four distinct identities that she could shuffle between at any given moment was beyond her ability to comprehend. However, she had seen enough to believe that it was true. There was something about her eyes and the way they changed whenever a different personality would take control. Her "Child" identity seemed to be her default, and when she was in that state her eyes were bright red, but without any sort of malevolent energy. When the madness claimed her and the "Lunatic," as Rin called it, took over, they would take on an eerie fiery glow, one that would pulse in and out in rhyme with her screaming. And when she had calmed down, usually the "Adult" would take over until her strength returned. During this time, she was much more lucid, albeit still a bit childish, like a young youkai. In those times, her eyes would dull to a dark maroon, one that was almost brown.

That was what was happening to her right now. "It's okay, Flan," Rin said. "It's me. Rin. You remember me, right? We're friends, you know? So there's no reason to be angry."

Flandre had stopped snarling and now was panting with exhaustion. The light in her eyes gave once last defiant flicker and then snuffed out. With a sigh, Flandre slumped limp in Rin's grasp.

Even though the little vampire's rage had burned itself out, Rin still waited a full ten seconds before venturing, "Uh, you good to go?"

"Yes," Flandre said with a nod. She sounded very tired. "I'm good. Let me go."

Rin gingerly set her down on the ground and unwound herself from Flandre's arms and neck. Instead of taking the opportunity to attack her, Flandre simply plopped down on the ground and yawned.

Sensing that it was now safe to announce herself, Wriggle dropped to the ground and walked out of the sunflowers' shelter. "Hey, is everything all right?" she called.

"Hey, Wriggle," Rin said with a nod. "Yeah, we're good." She patted Flandre on the shoulder. "Flan just had a bad attack."

"Sorry 'bout that," Flandre murmured as she rubbed her eyes with her palm.

"S'kay," Rin grunted. She sat down next to her and crossed her legs. "I didn't think this was gonna be an overnight thing." Then she brightened a bit and said, "But hey! This time you calmed down way quicker than the last time!"

"Well, that's good," Wriggle said, walking over to the pair. There were chunks of medium-sized rocks lying here and there that looked like they had recently been one large rock, likely Flandre's handiwork. She sat down on one, close enough to be part of the conversation but with enough distance to give herself some time to react should the crazy come back.

Flandre frowned, her lower lip sticking out in a pout. "It's…it's weird. It's like, like when things get bad, there's this part of me that's telling me to calm down, not to be so angry and that everyone's gonna be okay. And…it wasn't there before, so I would just get madder and madder. But now…" She shrugged. "Well, it's harder to stay mad than it was."

Rin nodded. "Well, that sounds like good new to me. It means you're getting better."

Flandre's frown deepened into a scowl. "Still hurts though," she muttered.

Rin sighed. "It always hurts, Flandre. That part never goes away. You just learn to handle it better."

"Ain't that the gods' own truth," Wriggle muttered.

Flandre looked from one to the other. "How?"

Since she wasn't being directly asked, Wriggle stayed silent. She didn't have a working answer anyway. As for Rin, the question seemed to take her off guard, and she her face scrunched up a long time before she spoke. "I guess…" Rin said, taking her time to think about each word. "I guess you just got to think about the things that make the pain worth it, and how much better the world is with them in it."

Flandre's scowl loosened up a bit, and she looked thoughtful. "Like Rumi?" she asked.

Rin started. "What?"

"Don't you like her?"

Wriggle's head jerked up. The question had been asked in innocence, and she truly doubted Flandre was even capable of that sort of teasing yet. She shot a glance at the vampire. Flandre was watching Rin with calm simplicity, seemingly ignorant of the implications. Her eyes had gained some color, suggesting that she had regressed to her Child self, so it could be she really didn't understand such matters and only meant "like" as if in as a best friend. But then, Wriggle really had no idea what Flandre understood or didn't understand.

She glanced over to Rin, who had broken out into a cold sweat and was nervously looking anywhere other than her companions eyes. "Eh…" Swallowing, she agitatedly scratched the back of her neck while stammering, "W-well, it's true, Rumia is a very precious…friend to me, and she helped me through some hard time. So…so yeah, I g-guess she would be."

Flandre blinked at her in confusion. "Why are you getting so nervous all of a sudden?"

"I…" Rin glanced around, as if hoping that a very convenient catastrophe would choose now to strike. "Heheheh, don't be ridiculous, Flandre. I'm not nervous at all!"

Wriggle slowly breathed out. Ho boy. Regardless of what Flandre had meant, it was clear that Rin had taken it the same way Wriggle had. And the answer was very much "yes." Wow, that complicated things by a whole lot. Wriggle liked Rin, she really did. And she knew that Rin was also fond of Rumia. But having the somewhat unstable science project gone horribly wrong developing an actual crush on the girl whose life she had ruined was probably not a great idea.

The gang's rules about such things were a little hazy. Technically, there was nothing saying that two members couldn't hook up, seeing how unlikely it was in the first place. Cirno and Daiyousei were both fairies, which meant that the capacity for romance and sexuality was, well, simply not there, something that Wriggle sort of envied them for. And aside from the odd joke and playful teasing, Mystia had never really expressed any sort of interest in other girls, her own teammates or otherwise. Which left Wriggle and Rumia.

Unlike the others, Wriggle did have a preference for other girls. Whether it was natural or had been molded into her by Yuuka, she neither knew nor wanted to find out, but that was how it was. As for Rumia, though she had never indicated any sort of interest in that sort of thing, since she was a wild youkai born of a concept (darkness) and not from an animal, that meant that she went both ways simply by default. However, after the whole Yuuka thing, Wriggle had pretty much sworn off hooking up with anyone in that manner under any sort of circumstance. Besides, she didn't like Rumia in that way. Rumia was her buddy, and Wriggle loved her dearly, and would fight to the death for her if it came to it, and she knew Rumia would do the same for her. But that was as far as it went. And since Rumia had never once expressed any sort of interest in that sort of thing with anyone, the subject had never been brought up.

However, since their gang's numbers had just been expanded by two, it opened things up for some problematic possibilities. Wriggle didn't know how vampire's sexualities worked, Flandre was still highly unlikely to go for that sort of thing. But Rin…Rin was a definite problem. As much was Wriggle sympathized and wanted to help the girl, that didn't change how dangerous she was, and that her developing that sort of attachment toward Rumia could lead to some really bad things, especially if she decided to act on them.

"Wriggle?"

Wriggle snapped out of her worried ruminations to see both Rin and Wriggle frowning at her. "You okay?" Rin said. "You went all blank on us just now."

"Oh. Sorry," Wriggle said. "Just been dealing with some stuff."

Rin tilted her head in a quizzical manner. Then she shrugged. "Er, okay. Fair enough."

Wriggle sighed. Then again, maybe she was just reading too much into things. After all, sometimes a crush was just a crush. No need to jump to conclusions just because she had had one incredibly screwed up experience. With the lady whose house they were now staying at. Yeah.

Then a shrill, piping voice called from over one of the hills. "Hey! Are you guys still fighting, or can we come out now?"

Oops. It seemed all three of them had forgotten about that. Well, at least it made for a great subject changer. "Sorry!" Rin called back. "You can come out now!"

One by one they emerged from their hiding places in the tall grass and behind rocks. "Friggin' finally," Cirno groused as she flew over. "I was starting to think you ate her again or something."

"Not funny, chillybutt," Rumia muttered, giving the fairy a rough shove. To the exhausted monsters, she said, "You guys okay?"

"I'm better," Flandre said. Which was true enough, but Wriggle had to admit, it was sort of eerie how calm she was about it, as if fits of murderous rage were of about as much importance as a sneeze. "Sorry."

"Hey, we all knew what we were signing up for," Cirno said as she plopped down. Per usual, Cirno was an overflowing well of optimism. Which was necessary, Wriggle supposed, but man it got annoying sometimes. "Baby steps, you know?"

"Sure."

Mystia and Daiyousei were lagging behind their bolder friends. Neither of them were saying anything, but the fact that they were coming back was at least a positive sign. Mystia even flashed a small, relieved smile at the gang's new members, as if to say that she was glad that they were okay.

Daiyousei even sat down next to Flandre. Not exactly within arm's distance (though it wouldn't have made a difference if the vampire had another homicidal episode), but close enough that it was evident that she was sitting with Flandre as opposed to sitting down within the general vicinity of her. "You got a lot better that time, Flan," she said encouragingly. "Whatever Rin did to you, I think it's working!"

"Eh, little bit," Flandre said with a toothy smile. "Still a little hard, but thanks!" Wriggle had to admit, her fangs looked a lot less threatening when her smiles lost their bloodthirsty edge and she wasn't actively trying to tear out anyone's throat. In fact, they were kind of cute.

Then Cirno had to go and ruin the moment by turning her focus toward Wriggle. Her face lit up with shock and she cried, "Holy banana-flavored hellsicles! You're hair! It's all-"

"Shut up," Wriggle sighed.

"But it looks like-"

"Yeah, I know," she snapped. "Elly was cutting my hair but we got into a fight partway through, and she took off. So now I look like this. Deal with it."

Cirno blinked. Then a slow grin spread across her features. "So now you-"

"Shut up, chillybutt," Wriggle groused. "Yes! I know it looks stupid! And yes! I know you really, really wanna give me a hard time over it. Fine. I would too. But don't. Seriously. I am in no mood."

"But it looks like-"

Wriggle turned sharply toward her, her eyes blazing. "Remember Halloween, three years ago, when you played that prank on me with the pumpkin and the rats?" she hissed. She leaned forward, so that she and the ice-fairy were practically nose-to-nose. "Remember what you woke up covered in the next day?"

That shut Cirno up in an instant. While they had all been through a lot since then, that particular memory wasn't exactly one of her fuzziest ones. Unless one counted the caterpillars involved, then it which case it was very fuzzy indeed. The others, however, started snickering, which indicated that the memory was a very vivid one for them as well, though not at all unpleasant as it was for Cirno.

Well, everyone except for Rin and Flandre. Looking around at all the laughing faces, Flandre shook her head and sighed. "I am so very lost right now."

"Ditto," Rin said.

"Tell you about it later," said Wriggle. "But trust me. It's a sucky story with a great ending." Now that the subject of her ruined hair was out in the open, she might as well deal with it. "Anyway, hey Mysty," she said, turning to the night-sparrow and pointed to the disaster on her head. "I don't suppose you can do something about this mess?"

Squinting, Mystia tilted her head to one side as she examined Wriggle's hair. "Uh, maybe? It looks like she was almost done, so it shouldn't be too hard."

"Why not have Rin do it?" Cirno chimed in.

Rin stared at her. "Why me?"

"Because you can do anything, that's why!"

Judging by the look on her face, that was not an assessment Rin was at all comfortable with. "No, I can't!" Rin said hastily. "Look, I can do anything that the people I ate could do, and right now I still got four people in me…knock it off, Rumia. I get it now…and none of them know anything about cutting hair!"

Rubbing her chin in thought, Flandre asked, "Elly's the one with the big knife on a stick, right?"

"It's called a scythe," Wriggle told her morosely. "And yeah."

The vampire scowled, her eyes flickering worryingly. "I don't like her."

Wriggle's mouth set in a straight line, but said nothing.

Mystia fidgeted a bit. "She's not that bad once you get to know her," she said quietly.

"Well, I don't want to get to know her," Flandre huffed. She sulkily folded her arms. "Every time we're in the same room, she's always trying to cut me in half."

Rumia cleared her throat. "You gotta admit, that is a good reason not to like someone."

This earned her a sour look from Wriggle and Mystia alike. Sighing, Wriggle turned to Flandre and said, "About Elly…look, she and I have a lot of history, some of it bad. A lot of it was…well, she thinks that it's my fault, and she's still mad at me for it. I know she gets real cranky sometimes…and would burn down a stinking orphanage if Yuuka asked her to…but most of what she is isn't really her fault. Sort of."

Flandre's scowl deepened, but fortunately the gleam in her eyes dulled. "Most of what I am isn't my fault," she said. "That doesn't make the people I kill any less dead."

Wriggle winced at that. As much as she hated to admit it, the vampire did have a point. "Well, Elly hasn't killed that I know of," she said lamely, though she knew full well that that could have very well taken place during the many years Yuuka and Elly had traveled together before coming to Gensokyo. "So I don't think she…" Then she sighed in defeat. "Oh, forget it."

Things became very quiet and very uncomfortable after that, with a lot of uneasy glances and fidgeting. Naturally, it was quickly broken up by the energetic fairy with a short attention span. "So," Cirno said suddenly, making Rin and Wriggle both jump. "We still got a few hours to kill before bedtime. What'cha all wanna do?"

The sides of Flandre's mouth dipped down. "Why does Yuuka always make us go to bed when it gets dark? I'm a vampire! I'm supposed to be up at night! Sleeping at night's hard, and I'm always nodding off during the day." She cast a dark look at the three glowing yellow lights orbiting over her head. "And it gets so hot, and it's way too bright."

"I'm…not sure," Mystia said. "I mean, me, Rumia, and Wriggle are all night youkai too. I get that she's a flower youkai and likes the Sun, but the Moon's nice too!"

"And Rin doesn't sleep at all," Cirno chimed in. "And hey, I don't mind staying up all night so long as nobody bugs me when I'm napping. So yeah, I don't get it either."

"Well, there you go," Mystia shrugged.

Cirno scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Y'know, maybe if we go talk to her, we can get her to loosen up a little? I mean, we're supposed to be looking after Flandre, but if Flandre can't really handle the day, it don't make a lot of sense to-"

"NO!" Wriggle, Rin, and Rumia said, all at the same time.

"What?" Cirno said, bewildered by their reaction. "Oh, come on! It's not like she's-"

"No," Rin repeated through clenched teeth. Her voice was lower but there was definitely greater emphasis.

"But-"

"Have you seen her recently?" Rin demanded. "She's in a terrible mood. Something's happened, and she's pissed about it. You really wanna get her even more upset?"

"I don't know," Daiyousei mused, mostly to herself. "I mean, we were all worried that she would get mad at us for wrecking all those plants, but she never said anything about it."

"That's because something else had got her occupied," Rumia countered. "And I for one don't want to remind her how we wrecked her garden!"

Rin coughed. "Uh, that was actually mostly me and Flandre. You guys are in the clear."

"We did?" Flandre said.

"Yeah. You remember that fight we got into?"

Flandre frowned. "I remember…I remember smoke, and being scared, and…"

Rin swallowed, apparently realizing that if Flandre had blocked out that particular memory, it should probably stay blocked. "Uh, never mind!" Rin said hastily. "Don't worry, we made up! It's fine now."

"Er, okay…"

Cirno folded her arms and sulked. "Well, fine. If guys wanna be all paranoid just because she's in a bad mood."

"It's more than that," Rin whispered. "Something's…something's not right."

"Well, duh, something's not right. Everyone out there wants to kill us."

"I mean beyond that," Rin said, a touch of irritation in her tone. She glanced around at the grass and trees, wondering if she really should be voicing her thoughts out loud.

Rumia frowned at her. "Rin, this have anything to do with that time you ate her?"

Wriggle's head jerked up. "You did what?"

She wasn't alone. Daiyousei and Mystia were both now looking to Rin with expressions of shock of their own, while Flandre merely cocked her head to one side, her brow furrowed in puzzlement. Great.

Shooting a glare over to Rumia, Rin muttered, "Thanks, Rumia. Thanks a lot."

"What, was that a secret?"

"You…ate Yuuka?" Daiyousei whispered. "Why? How?"

"Seriously, how are you still alive?" Cirno wanted to know.

"Was she having an episode too?" Flandre said out of curiosity. "Did you go into her head to help her?"

"No, no, no, it wasn't like that!" Rin said in exasperation.

"What, she wanted you to eat her?" Cirno said.

"No! It-"

"You just said it wasn't like that!"

"Well, okay, it was like that," Rin admitted. "But I was really upset at the time and she had spent most of the day attacking us with a giant…" Rin winced a bit. "Er, a giant…metal…plant…spider robot thing."

Silence.

Looking from one confused face to the next, Rin opened her mouth to explain but evidently changed her mind and ended up closing it again.

Finally Cirno voiced the question everyone was thinking. "What?"

"I…wasn't aware she had one of those," Wriggle said as she stared.

"It's…a really long story," Rin said wearily.

More silence. Even Flandre looked more stunned than confused. Then, one by one, they all turned to Rumia, silently asking her to offer some sort of explanation.

Sighing, Rumia said, "Yes, that really did happen. Now, if you could all forget that you learned that it happened, we'd both really appreciate it."

"You fought…a giant spider robot plant monster…and never told me?" Cirno whispered. She honestly sounded betrayed.

"It really wasn't that cool," Rumia said. "Seriously."

"Hey, I did some cool things during that fight," Rin said, perhaps a little too defensively. "Remember when I absorbed all that fire and-"

"Okay, fine. Yeah, you did do some cool things," Rumia admitted. "But it was still a very sucky day, and I really don't wanna talk about it any more than we have to."

"True."

Her face screwed up in bewilderment, Daiyousei chose that time to hesitantly raise her hand like a shy student in a classroom that unfortunately was the only one that knew the answer. However, in this case, she had a question. "Uh, getting back to the part where you ate Yuuka…"

"Actually, I kind of want to hear more about how you kicked the ass of a giant plant spider robot," Cirno said eagerly.

Shaking her head, Rin looked up and corrected, "Actually, that was someone else. The robot actually beat me."

"Awwwww," Cirno said in disappointment. "Really? How?"

"Giant laser," Rumia told her.

"Ouch," Mystia winced. "Been there."

"Master freaking Spark. Yeah, we all have," Cirno grumbled. She patted Rin on the shoulder. "No shame there."

"Glad to hear it," Rin said dryly.

"Whoa, hey," Wriggle cut in, visibly annoyed at the tangent. "Can we forget the robot and get back to the part where you ate Yuuka once?"

Before anyone could answer, Cirno's face lit up and she blurted out, "Wait, hold up! Was this like right before I met you?"

Rin nodded. "Yeah, that was it."

"So was that why she was naked?"

Daiyousei, who had fallen into her usual habit of listening to everything while saying nothing, just about fell over then. "Huh?"

"Wait, that day?" Wriggle said, also recalling that chaotic first meeting. "She wasn't naked!"

"She got dressed again before you guys showed up," Cirno said.

Mystia coughed nervously. "Um, can someone explain to me how Rin was able to even pull it off? Because even if she was mad at Yuuka, it's still Yuuka."

"Well, I was a lot stronger then," Rin said, sounding a bit hurt that her ability to defeat one of the country's most notoriously powerful and violent denizens was being questioned.

"Ooooh, right," Cirno said, snapping her fingers. "Because of that evil Rumia thingamajig."

"Yeah," Rin sighed. "That."

Mystia looked at Rin, her face troubled. "Was it really that scary?"

Rin shivered. "Yes. Yes it was."

Wriggle couldn't help but shiver as well. While part of her was curious for details, something in Rin's face and voice told her that she was better off not knowing. She glanced over to Rumia, who was staring down at her lap with a haunted look in her eyes. It was hard to imagine that her snarking, mischief loving friend that she had spent so many years running around with had been carrying something like around in her head. It made Wriggle wonder what other secrets might be hidden right under their noses, and what they had to do to keep from uncovering any others. It seemed that every time that they did, it ended up being something that should have stayed buried.

Then she glanced over to Rin and Flandre and made a quick mental amendment. Okay, so two of them probably shouldn't have been buried in the first place. Or rather, the series of event that had necessitated them being buried shouldn't have happened, even though both came about through very complicated circumstances that no one could have foreseen or…

Wriggle let out a soft moan and rubbed a palm against her forehead. She felt a killer of a headache coming on. Man, no wonder those high and mighties that led communities and made important decisions were always so damned cranky, if they had to work their way through that sort of crap all the time.

As for Flandre, she was still playing catchup. "Evil Rumia thingamawhatnow?" she repeated, glancing back and forth between Rin and the youkai in question.

Rumia shrugged. "I apparently used to be a super-monster," she said wearily. From the sound of it, she really needed a nap. "Then I wasn't."

Flandre's face twisted. "Uh…okay?"

"It's okay," Rumia assured her. "I don't remember it anymore."

Flandre stared at her for a bit longer. Then her shoulders sagged and she sighed. "Four hunnerd something years. I missed a lot."

"Don't worry," Mystia told her. "It was a surprise to us too."

Then all of a sudden, Wriggle's patience snapped. "Okay, okay, okay, okay! Forget the other stuff. It'll take too long." She turned toward Rin. "So, on the day you came here, you and Yuuka apparently fought, you won, and you ate her, right?"

"Pretty much," Rin shrugged. "I spit her right back out though."

Cirno raised her hand. "Like literal spitting, or-"

"No, Cirno," Rumia said irritably. "Not literal spitting."

Flandre blinked. "How many people in this garden have you eaten?"

"Way too many," Mystia muttered.

It was a small observation. A bit on the bitter side, but not as hostile as it could have been. But even so, Rin reacted as if she had been slapped. She didn't say anything, but her head still whipped around to stare at Mystia with wide eyes, the color draining from her face. As for the Night-Sparrow, she just stared down at her lap and said nothing.

Fortunately, Wriggle sensed the need to move forward and provided the reason. "Okay," she said, the sound of her voice making Cirno and Daiyousei jump a little. "So, if you hated her then, why'd you spit her out?"

Rin shivered. "There's something…" Her tongue twisted up in trying to explain, so she tried again. "Look, when I absorb someone, I get a real good look at their…I don't know, their soul I guess." She grimaced. "And hers was seriously messed up."

"Even more than mine?" Flandre asked.

Judging by the way Rin's face twisted up, it was clear that that whole incident was one she still felt pretty bad about. Turning toward the little vampire, she laid a hand on her shoulder, looked her in the eye, and said, "Flandre, when I brought you in and saw what you really looked like, I felt bad for you and wanted to help you, okay? Yuuka…scared me more than anything I've ever seen."

Flandre honestly looked surprised by her response. But then, someone who had been told that they were a monster their entire life would be taken back upon being told that someone would react to them with anything but fear.

"Uh, th-thanks," she said, and then smiled. Wriggle blinked at the change it brought. It was the first she had seen her smile in a way that wasn't deranged, sadistic, or overly childish. It was just a smile, and it looked good on her.

However, there were still important matters at hand, and Wriggle was growing a little fed up with the subject being derailed. "Why, what'd she look like?" she demanded.

Sighing, Rin turned back to the firefly. "I…I didn't really get a good look. It was more of what she felt like. It made me feel…sick." She shuddered. "Real twisted, you know?"

"Yeah," Wriggle said with a slow, knowing nod.

Daiyousei frowned. "I don't get it," she admitted.

Rin frowned. Wriggle could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to puzzle out what had to have been an incredibly bizarre experience, even by her standards. "Look, I don't know what I saw or felt, I just knew I wanted it out of me immediately."

Wriggle knew exactly how she felt.

"But she's just a youkai," Cirno protested. "A real powerful youkai, but-"

"She's not a youkai," Rin said, her tone firm. "I don't know what she is, but it isn't a youkai."

Cirno blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Rin admitted. "I don't know what she is, I just know it isn't a youkai. It's something…older, I guess."

Mystia finally looked up then, the mystery luring her out of her funk. "You're not making a whole lot of sense, Rin."

"Welcome to my world," Rumia groused.

As for Cirno, she was growing more and more frustrated. That wasn't a surprise. Out of all of them, she had always been the one most trusting of Yuuka and the least likely to look their gift horse in the mouth, which just further proved that she was an idiot. And all of the badmouthing of their host was really agitating her. "Oh, you guys are just being paranoid," she whined. She clapped her hands together. "C'mon! She lets us live in her mansion and went to war with Yukari Yakumo for us! Remember when she came home and was all burnt up? She did that for us!" She scanned the faces of her teammates, hoping for some sign of regret and repentance. But when everyone just looked uncomfortable and glanced away, she scowled and turned her attention to Rin. "And don't forget how she helped you get rid of that…that evil Rumia thingy even after you ate her! So don't go sounding so ungrateful!"

Rin didn't say anything, but Flandre was more than willing to offer her own opinion. "I don't like her," she said, a noticeable snarl in her voice. "She messes up my head."

"Jeez, you guys are impossible, I swear," Cirno declared as she threw her hands up in exasperation.

Rin sighed. "Look, don't think I don't appreciate all she's done for me, but there's something wrong with her." She glanced around and lowered her voice. "The last few days especially. She's been acting real weird."

Mystia started fidgeting again. "Um, maybe we'd better not have this conversation here? I mean, she can see everything the plants see."

Flandre sat up abruptly. "Wait, she can? How?"

"She's got this weird connection to all the plants in the Garden," Cirno said with a casual wave of her hand, as if using plants to spy on people were of no importance. "She can literally talk to them, and they tell her if there's a problem."

"Oh," Flandre said.

Rin shook her head. "I doubt they're going to be telling her anything about what we're talking about. I'm masking our conversation."

"You can do that?" Flandre asked, her scarlet eyes widening in surprise.

"Yeah, I've been testing out that whole Nue and Tanuki combo thing I've got going," Rin said, pointing at her own head. "Turns out mixing them together has some interesting results. Trust me, nothing but us can hear what we're saying."

Rumia slowly breathed in and let it out. "Rin, you are incredibly scary sometimes."

Rin looked like she had no idea how to react to that.

"Well, even if you weren't, it wouldn't matter," Wriggle said darkly. "Yuuka's gone."

Cirno jerked. "Uh, say what?"

"Yeah, apparently she had someone she needed to see or something she needed to do, I don't know. I just know Elly was really upset about it."

The ice-fairy's brow furrowed. "I thought you said she was mad at you."

"She was mad about a lot of things," Wriggle said in irritation. She reached up to finger a lock of her unevenly cut hair, as if she needed the reminder. "Whatever, doesn't matter. Point is, Yuuka's gone for the rest of the day."

"Crap," Cirno muttered. "That means we can't ask her to change our curfew." Nobody bothered to question her priorities, though Flandre did give her an odd look.

Mystia cleared her throat. "Why would she even leave? Every time she does, she gets hurt."

"Not when she went to go get Rin," Cirno said.

"That's because she had the robot spider to get hurt for her," Rin said.

"You guys sleep in the mansion, right?" asked Flandre suddenly, fortunately cutting things off before the conversation could wander off again.

Cirno grinned. "Yeah, we got this really cool room that's got a fountain and a bunch of really comfortable couch-bed things and-"

"How do you sleep?"

It was an odd question, but most of the conversation had been pretty strange, so Rumia just sighed and said, "With great difficulty."

"Pretty much never," Rin added.

Mystia looked to the vampire Flandre, having apparently caught something additional about her inquiry. "What do you mean?"

"I don't get how anyone could sleep in there with all that noise," Flandre shrugged.

Now Wriggle was very interested in what Flandre was getting at. "What noise?"

"You don't hear it?"

Wriggle shook her head. "Our ears aren't as good as yours are."

That was when Rin's face snapped toward the two of them, all the color draining from it. Wriggle blinked. While Flandre's questions made no sense to the rest of them, it was clear that Rin had a fair idea about what she was talking about. "Wait," she said hoarsely. "What noise?"

"The crying," Flandre replied. When everyone except for Rin just stared at her blankly, she asked, "You never hear the crying?"

"No," Wriggle said, a dark look in her eyes. She slowly turned her attention to Rin, who was starting to look all kinds of uncomfortable. "But it looks like you do?"

Rin grimaced. "I've…" She hesitated for a moment, and then sighed. "Well, yes."

"Crying?" Cirno said, scratching her head. "Who's crying? You mean Elly?"

"No, not her," Flandre said. "I know what she sounds like when she cries."

An image of a broken and sobbing Elly lying at Flandre's feet popped into Wriggle's mind. Judging by the uncomfortable looks on everyone's faces, they had all come to the same conclusion as Wriggle but did not want Flandre to explain what she meant by that. To move things away from that subject, Rin quickly asked, "Then Yuuka?"

"Nah," Flandre shrugged. "I only heard it a couple times, but it wasn't them, and it wasn't you."

Something not unlike anger was starting to stir in Wriggle's gut. "Rin, is this true?" she said.

Rin actually looked a little intimidated by the glare Wriggle was sending her, which was kind of funny. If she wanted, Rin could burn Wriggle to the bone with a thought. But then, guilt made for a fantastic field leveler. "Kind of," Rin said in a small voice.

"Whoa, hold up," Rumia broke in. "Wriggle, what are you getting at?"

Ignoring her, Wriggle kept right on interrogating Rin. "Can you tell me anything about them? Like, did it sound like a boy or girl, or-"

"Girl," Rin said. She glanced away, unwilling to meet Wriggle's gaze. "It sounds like a little girl. Not always the same one though."

Wriggle's lips curled into a snarl. "So let me get this straight: you've been hearing little girls crying to themselves from somewhere in the mansion this whole time, and you never brought it up?"

Rin's refusal to meet her eyes was all the answer she needed.

Even Cirno was starting to squirm. "Hey, what are you getting at, Wriggle?" she asked.

Then Wriggle stood up, towering over Rin. Her fingers kept curling and uncurling into fists. It was clear to everyone that she was now absolutely livid. "Take me to where they are," she ordered. "Right now."

…

Then

"Banzai!" Wriggle cried. She wrapped her arms around her legs and let herself fall from five meters up. Her body hit the surface of the pool and sent water spraying in every direction.

Elly, who had been floating by on a purple inflatable raft, shielded herself as the small wave washed over her. "Hey, watch it!" she protested.

Grinning, Wriggle's head surfaced just enough to expose her face, her normally wild hair now plastered around her scalp in wet streamers. She tilted her chin back and sent a small spout of water out through her teeth to splatter over Elly's stomach.

"Hey, quit it!" the sunbathing Shinigami said. She tried to reach out with one leg and kick water in Wriggle's direction, but it was of limited effectiveness. "You'll wash off my sunscreen!"

From her seat beneath one of the poolside umbrellas, Yuuka turned the page of the book she was reading and called out, "I doubt that little fountain would be enough to do that, pumpkin. The bottle says it's water-resistant."

"There, you see?" Wriggle swiped another spray Elly's way and got an earful of anger for it. "Come on, you can work on your tan anytime! Get in the water already!"

In response, Elly just raised her sunglasses enough to glower at the firefly youkai. "Jerk," she muttered as she lowered them again and settled back down.

Taking it as a fresh challenge, Wriggle just laughed and dove down. She focused on the violet rectangle of Elly's raft and came up beneath it with full force. "Shark attack!" she cried as she shoved up against the rubber, sending the blonde Shinigami shrieking into the water.

It had been little over two months since Wriggle had first come to the Garden of the Sun, and she now considered being chased by those two dumb jerks to have been the happiest accident that could have happened. Now, while most of her kind had to scrounge and fight to fill their growling bellies, she got three square meals a day and all the sweets she wanted. While most youkai had to make do with tree branches, piles of leaves, or just plain grass to sleep on, she had big honking feather bed with piles of blankets and enough pillows for three people. While most youkai lived in constant fear of the strong and the cruel, she lazed about in luxury, hanging out with Yuuka and Elly and enjoying every second of her wonderful life. She wanted for nothing, because Yuuka was stinking rich and extraordinarily generous. She was afraid of nothing, because Yuuka was stronger than everyone and looked after her. She lived in a mansion, and it cost her nothing, because Yuuka asked for nothing in return save for her companionship. What more could Wriggle ask for?

"Yuuka!" Elly gasped as Wriggle wrapped her arms and legs her and tried to pull her under. "Yuuka, help me!"

"Hmmm," Yuuka said, cocking an eyebrow at the struggling pair. Then smirked and looked back down to her book. "Sorry, dear. I'm going to have to side with Wriggle in this one. You're on your own."

"No! Master, don't abandon meeeeeeeeeee!"

Eventually the two tired of the fight and both ended up with their upper bodies sprawled over Elly's upturned raft. Wriggle was having trouble keeping from sliding off, partially because wet skin against wet rubber didn't provide much traction, and partially she was laughing so hard that it was hard to keep a grip. Defeated, Elly turned her head to glare furiously. "Wriggle, I swear to God, I am going to kill you," she growled. She lifted her sunglasses up and pointed at the water dripping from them. "You got my sunglasses all wet!"

Snickering, Wriggle raised her head to shoot back a snappy response, but the sight of Elly's cheeks puffed up in anger just caused her to start laughing all over again.

Elly's scowl deepened. Her cheeks inflated even further and she started breathing loudly in and out through her nose. She always did that when she wanted to look intimidating, but it never worked. It just made her look like a constipated squirrel.

To her credit, she managed to keep from cracking for a good half a minute or so before her mouth started to waver. Then she snorted loudly and gave up.

"Okay, yes," she sighed around her own escaping giggles. She playfully shoved Wriggle in the shoulder. "I hate you."

"No, you don't. You love me!" Wriggle pounced, wrapping her arms around Elly's shoulders as she tried to drag her back into the water. "Love me, love me, love me!"

"Oh, my, my, my, what do we have here?"

The two laughing girls looked up to see Yuuka peering intently at them over the rims of her own sunglasses. There was a rather odd smile on her lips. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but do I detect the scent of burning hearts, the hint of young passion? The warmth of friendship growing and evolving into the heat of romance? Why I do declare, that very well may be the most adorable thing I've ever seen!"

Wriggle just stared. She recognized the words Yuuka was using and knew what they meant, but that was just from the magical repository of knowledge she had been created with. Without any sort of experience in such matters, she didn't have the slightest clue of what Yuuka was talking about. But judging by the way Elly flushed bright scarlet, she had an idea.

"No, you've got it all wrong!" she cried, her voice rising in pitch and finally cracking hilariously on the last word. "We're just messing around, it's not like that at all!"

"Like what?" Wriggle said in puzzlement.

Obviously flustered, Elly motioned wildly at Yuuka. "Well, you know!"

Wriggle just gave her a blank stare.

Seeing Elly's discomfort mixing with Wriggle's bewilderment, Yuuka tittered softly and said, "Oh Wriggle, come now. I was just teasing, but surely you are familiar with matters of love and attraction."

"Huh?" Now Wriggle was even more confused. Of course she knew what love is. She loved her friends. She loved the kindness they had shown her by taking her in and she loved spending time with them. She loved her easy life at Mugenkan and all the fun she had there. Why would Yuuka be questioning that?

"Master, she's only a few weeks old," Elly said in exasperation. "Of course she doesn't understand!"

"Yes I do!" Wriggle said indignantly. "Who doesn't know what love it?"

"Not this kind," Elly mumbled out of the corner of her mouth.

"Huh?"

Elly's eye gave a little twitch, which just confused Wriggle all the further. What was she being so weird about? "I'll explain later."

"But-"

"Later!"

Tsking, Yuuka placed her book aside and stood up. "Now, now, Elly. Let's not be coy about such things. If Wriggle wants to know, we should show her."

"Show me what?" Wriggle said. She looked to Elly, who only averted her gaze. "Elly, what's she talking about?"

To this, Yuuka only grinned.

…

Now

"Okay, this is a really bad idea," Mystia whispered nervously as they slowly floated along through Mugenkan's dark halls.

"Shhhh!" Wriggle hissed back.

"Yuuka's going to catch us," Mystia said, ignoring the warning. "The flowers see everything that goes on. They're going to tell her and she will…I don't know, cook us or something!"

"Shut up!"

"They can't see us," Rin whispered over her shoulder.

"Yeah, but are you sure?"

Rin sighed. "Look, I've got us shrouded pretty good. We're practically invisible and inaudible. She couldn't see me when I did it to her last time, so we should be safe."

"But are you sure?"

"Shhhh!"

Getting into Mugenkan wasn't an issue. They were guests there, after all. Sneaking through Mugenkan was a different problem entirely, especially after curfew. The place was full of her flowers, and they reported on anything that was amiss. A gaggle of children poking around in places they had no business being in was sure to attract their attention.

Fortunately, Rin's captives had come through for them again. Thanks to the Nue, she was able to hide her presence, rendering her undetectable to the senses and magic alike. And combined with the power of the Tanuki, she was able to expand the effect to cover those close to her. It had taken a little practice, but Rin claimed that she was fairly certain that she had managed to cover everyone.

Fairly.

The downside was that they had to remain in physical contact with one another during the whole trip. According to Rin, those blue flowers that Yuuka had hanging from the ceiling disrupted most magical fields, so she needed some sort of conduit to keep the shroud up. As such, they were all holding hands: Rin in the lead, Rumia grasping her left, Cirno holding onto Rumia's, followed by Wriggle, Mystia, and Daiyousei, in that order. Flandre was at Rin's right with no one holding onto her free hand, for obvious reasons.

At any rate, nothing had leapt to stop them so far. The flowers remained closed and indifferent to their presence, and the vines clinging to the walls did not react as they passed by. Still, they certain to remain in the air so as not to accidentally tread on a root. And though Rin's shroud theoretically hid the sound of their voices as well, she would rather they not take chances.

The fact that they really wasn't sure where they were going was another problem. Only Rin and Flandre could hear the children crying, and that only told them which general direction they were going. It wasn't of much help when it came to navigating the halls.

Still, they pressed on. Wriggle was resolute that they find the source of the cries and brooked no argument. Not that she got much in the way of contradiction. Despite all her kissing of Yuuka's butt, Cirno was always up for an adventure, and if it helped clear Yuuka's name in the process then she was down for the ride, no problem. Daiyousei had reservations aplenty, but she then she always did, and in the end she followed Cirno's lead. Mystia was far more vocal about her belief that they were dooming themselves, but that was fine. As far as Wriggle was concerned, Mystia was damned well entitled to her fear. In fact, she would have been fine if the night-sparrow had sat out entirely. But in the end, Mystia was there, gripping tightly to her hand. Wriggle had been the one to find her ravaged remains in the forest years back and had brought her home. As terrified as she was, Mystia had her back.

As for Rin, one of the two big guns they were bringing along, she hadn't protested Wriggle's orders at all. Wriggle got the feeling that Rin was feeling more than a little guilty about not bringing up the whole "Hey FYI, Yuuka's got some kids locked up somewhere and is probably doing something terrible to them! Just thought you should know" thing and was making amends. Wriggle didn't have much of a problem with that, because to be quite frank, she was more than a little pissed that Rin hadn't said anything until Flandre had practically dragged it out of her. Mainly because Wriggle had a pretty good idea what that "terrible thing" was. After all, she had been the one that Yuuka had practiced on.

As for Rumia, she was there with them, holding Rin's hand and joining her to the rest of the Team Nineball chain. She hadn't put up much in the way of protests, but neither had she really thrown in any sort of vote of confidence. She just seemed sort of resigned to whatever everyone else wanted to do and went along with the flow with a sort of melancholy acceptance of the inevitable consequences. As hot as Wriggle may have been at that moment, she still noticed. Back in the day, Rumia would have been the first to point out exactly how harebrained their latest overly-dangerous caper was, and exactly how badly it was going to backfire. And yet tonight, she had been noticeably silent.

That all changed when Wriggle observed Rumia taking the time to sidle up to Rin and murmur, "So, you got any idea about how you're going to handle Yuuka when she catches us?"

Rin shot her a sharp look. "'When'?"

"Yes. When. Because Mystia's right, you know."

Rin gritted her teeth, visibly on edge. "Look, we can deal with that if it happens, but for now, just be quiet and stop distracting me!"

This earned her a sidelong look that conveyed no confidence whatsoever, but Rumia didn't press the point.

Wriggle quirked an eyebrow. Rumia had said nothing at all during the initial planning of this caper, but now that it was well underway she decided to voice her doubts? And in a private whisper to Rin no less. Granted Rin was one half of their muscle and should things get hairy, they were going to have to rely on her a great deal, but even so it was strange. The hatchet might have been buried, but Wriggle would have expected the still-recovering Rumia to be drawn more to the friends that had been by her side for years and had gone through hell and high water to get her back than the one that had taken her away from them and subjected her to her own personal-

Realizing that she was once again reading way too much into things, Wriggle cut that line of thought off at the knees and refocused at the task at hand. Okay, she had personal issues that were influencing her thoughts, yes. And maybe there were in-team problems that probably needed to get dealt with, sure. But now was definitely not the time.

Then suddenly Flandre said entirely too loudly, "But do we-"

"SHHHH!" everyone hissed at her at the same time.

Flandre quailed. "Sorry!" she said in a loud whisper.

That was yet another problem. Flandre had insisted on coming along for the ride, and most of the others hadn't been sure if they could trust for her sanity to hold long enough to keep her from giving them away. If she were to have another fit now, it would spell disaster. Fortunately, aside from a couple of minor slips, she had remained in control of herself so far. However, Wriggle was just fine with the vampire's addition, just so long as the more volatile aspects of her psyche remained dormant until the time was right.

Because when it came down to it, Mystia was absolutely right. Gone for the day or not, they had a Cirno's chance in Hell of pulling this off and escaping without Yuuka taking notice. And when the wrath came, Wriggle wanted as many big guns in their corner as possible.

As they pressed on, Wriggle decided to ask a question of her own. "Can you hear them?" she said to Rin.

Rin shot a brief guilty look. "Yeah," she said.

Wriggle raised an eyebrow, waiting for more.

Grimacing, Rin slowed the procession down just a bit. "Uh, I can hear two of them. One's just sort of crying to herself, while the other's, uh, praying."

"Praying?"

"Yeah. To some goddess, I think." Rin sighed. "She's praying for someone to save her."

You've been hearing this the whole time, and you just ignored it? Wriggle thought bitterly. Out loud, she said, "Well, I guess we'll have to be the one to answer it. I mean, you're the closest thing we've got to a goddess anyway."

There was a long pause. And then Rin said in a low voice, "I'm no goddess. Sort've the exact opposite, you know?"

"Well," Wriggle said. "It'll still do."

Rin grimaced, but she nodded.

They followed the sound toward the back of the mansion. As they moved forward, Rin tensed up a bit. They were heading toward the part that had been forbidden to them: Yuuka's private quarters. That wasn't a surprise, but she really would have preferred to have been led to some kind of underground dungeon or something. It probably would have been considerably easier to break into, not to mention less hazardous to their health.

Halfway down one hallway they came to a tall double-door, shut tight. Coming to a stop, they looked up at the door's imposing height and sighed.

"Okay," Rin sighed. She glanced over to Wriggle. "So. Now what?"

Frowning, Wriggle thoughtfully rubbed her chin as she examined the obstacle. "Well, it's definitely locked."

"We can break it, can't we?" Cirno said.

"Not without bringing every plant here down on our ass, we can't."

"Yeah, we definitely want to avoid that," Rin muttered. She took a deep breath. She didn't need to, of course. This just was the sort of situation that called for a deep breath. "Okay, everyone keep hold of each other's hands. This is gonna get weird."

"Weird how?" Rumia asked, an edge of suspicion in her voice.

"Well, I'm going to shrink us," Rin said matter-of-factly.

It was a measure of just how strange their already strange lives had gotten that the biggest reaction this pronouncement got was Cirno twisting up her face and asking, "You can do that?"

"Apparently. Never tried it before, so I don't really know what it's going to be like." She turned to Flandre. "Hey, uh, Flan. You're okay with this, yeah?"

Flandre frowned, looking a little nervous. Then she squeezed her eyes shut.

Good enough. Taking a deep breath, Rin concentrated.

And then they began to shrink.

A small chorus of surprised squeaks rose up in response, but it wasn't as loud as it might have been. This was Gensokyo, after all.

"Cool!" Cirno said, looking herself up and down. "We're like bugs!"

"Excuse me?" Wriggle growled.

"Cool it, you two," Rumia snapped. "Rin, get this over with. Everything's too damned big."

That was true enough. The door had been intimidating before, but now it was like the side of a mountain. Fortunately, that also meant that the space beneath now made for a convenient tunnel. Even so, they all moved rather quickly on their way through, as if expecting the door to fall from its hinges and squish them flat at any moment.

Once they were on the other side and their proper sizes again, they continued on, moving nervously through Yuuka's private quarters. As they did so, Wriggle couldn't help but shiver. She hadn't been in this part of the mansion since she had first run away years ago. And she would have been perfectly happy to never come back.

It didn't look like how she remembered though. There was a great deal more velvet, for one. Curtains, tapestries, and other articles of cloth hanging from the walls and ceiling. There also seemed to be numerous of portraits hanging on the walls. What they were of, Rin couldn't tell, as each one was covered by a heavy curtain. Heavy white sheets covered the furniture. For some reason, it made Wriggle's skin crawl.

"What's up with this?" Rumia muttered. "Doesn't she live in here? Why's everything all covered up? It's creepy."

"It's like a furniture morgue," Flandre observed.

"A what?" Cirno said.

"Place where they keep dead people before they bury them," Rin told her. "And yeah. It really does."

As they pressed on, Wriggle did her best not to look too closely at the covered portraits. For some reason, it felt like there were dark eyes hovering behind those curtains, watching their every move. She wasn't even sure that they were even pictures of people and not just landscape paintings. They still made her feel exposed.

They came to a fork, and Wriggle noticeably winced. "What is it?" Rin asked.

The firefly nodded down the path to their left. At the far end was another double-door, this one covered by vines. "That's Yuuka's room," she said quietly.

The others cringed. In the eerie luminescence provided by the blue flowers, Yuuka's door looked like some sort of ethereal gate to a ghostly land of the dead. Which, should things blow up in their faces, it could very well end up being. "This way," Rin said, tugging on the others' hands. Fortunately, she was leading them away from Yuuka's room.

From there, it wasn't long before they were hovering before yet another large door. This one looked the same as the one that led to their sleeping quarters, though like the door to Yuuka's room, it was thickly covered with vines.

"That's it," Flandre said, looking the door up and down.

"Yup," Rin agreed. Whoever it was that was making the sound, they were definitely behind that door.

Wriggle took one long look at the door and shivered. "Shit, I was afraid of that," she muttered.

"Huh?"

"That's my old room," Wriggle said.

Rin started. "Your old what?"

The sides of Rumia's mouth twitched. "A long time ago, before she met us, Wriggle lived here. And apparently, she pretty much was Yuuka's toy," she said.

"Toy?" Rin blinked. Then suddenly, realization began to dawn. "Wait, you mean-"

"Yes," Wriggle said. Her head was bowed and her mop of hair was falling over her eyes, so Rin couldn't see the look in them. But the way the muscles in her cheeks were contracting made the storm of emotion boiling away inside of her plain to see. "She said…she said that after I left, th-that she hadn't, you know, replaced me with anybody, but if the crying's coming from here…" Her voice choked, and she looked away.

There was a long pause, and then Flandre ventured with, "But I'm sure she still loves you."

Rin winced. She exchanged a pained look with Rumia, who was openly grimacing. Even Cirno was openly rolling her eyes while Daiyousei sighed. Taking a deep breath, Mystia said, "Ah, Flandre? Th-that's not exactly why she's-"

"Heh," Wriggle said, her head still bowed. "Hey, crazy story? I'm not sure she's wrong."

Mystia frowned at her. "What?"

Wriggle's head lolled back, and through the curtain of stiff, green hairs her eyes were wet with tears, though her lips were twisted into a rictus grin. "Maybe Flandre's right. Maybe…maybe I'm not mad that Yuuka's gone and hurt some other poor kid. Maybe…hey, what if I really was jealous that I'm not her lover anymore? What if…what if she messed me up so badly that I want her to take me back, that I want her to, her to…"

Wriggle's grin collapsed, and her head fell forward into Mystia's shoulder. The night-sparrow put a hand around her shoulders and held the firefly close while she cried, a troubled look on her face.

Rin stared. "What did she do to you?" she said in a small voice.

Rumia sighed. "Real classy, Rin. Real classy."

Wriggle raised her head to shoot Rin a bitter smile, tears streaking down her face. "Open the door. Find out for yourself."

"How?" Cirno wanted to know. "Those vines are sort of in the way."

"Let me," Flandre said with a hiss, her fingers curling into claws. "I'll get rid of 'em in a hurry."

"No," Rin said sharply. "You touch them, and Yuuka'll know we're here."

"Then can you shrink us again?" Daiyousei said.

"I…" Rin sighed. "Doesn't look like we have much of a choice. Okay, everyone brace yourselves."

Soon they were through and in the room beyond. Wriggle looked around and shivered. It was completely different from what she remembered. All of her old things were gone. The bed, the dresser, the chairs, the toys, all of it. Now it was just a circular room with a mosaic tiled floor in the form of a purple flower and a ring of soil around the room's perimeter, from which grew twelve exceptionally large tulips.

And from them came the sound of children weeping.

Wriggle stared at the flowers, her eyes empty and haunted. "I can hear them now," she said.

"You can?" Rin said.

"Yes." Wriggle inhaled sharply. "Well. Here we are." She turned her head to look Rin directly in the eye. "Open them up."

Rin started, and she almost accidentally released Flandre and Rumia's hands in the process. "What?"

"The flowers." There was something in Wriggle's eyes that made Rin very uncomfortable, something hard and resolute and even a little crazy. "They're in there, aren't they? So let them out. Free them."

Rin squirmed in discomfort. "Wriggle, they're in Yuuka's flowers. There's no way I can do that without tipping her off. She's gonna come for us."

Wriggle's eyes narrowed, just a bit.

Then, to everyone's shock, she released Mystia and Daiyousei's hands alike. Without the chain, the shroud Rin had cast over her shuddered and collapsed.

"Wait!" Rin cried. "You can't-"

"You were locked in a tiny box for nine years before we let you out," Wriggle said. "Doing that brought down a world of pain for all of us." She paused for a good five seconds, letting that sink in. "Would you prefer it if we had just left you there? Because that would have saved us a whole of lot of trouble."

Her words hit home. Rin inhaled sharply. She looked over to Rumia, the one that had undoubtedly suffered the most from Rin's release, and had been made a prisoner as well for it. Rumia didn't turn away from her gaze. She simply stared right back, mouth thinned out into a straight line.

Her face turning red, Rin broke eye contact. She glanced over to Flandre, who also knew a thing or two about imprisonment. For once, the little vampire didn't seem at all bewildered by the proceedings, nor had she gone into that vacant state where everything would just wash over her. Instead, her eyes were clear and focused, displaying a level of lucidity that was actually kind of disturbing. She held Rin's gaze for a long time. Then she turned her head to look at the flowers. She didn't say anything, but the message was clear.

Wriggle watched as Rin closed her eyes, her mouth twitching as her fear of Yuuka warred upon her feelings of guilt and empathy. The firefly understood why she was hesitating. Yuuka was an incredibly scary person, and Wriggle was no one to throw stones when it came to fleeing for one's life while leaving someone behind. However, that didn't mean she was going to put up with the Kirin holding back any longer.

"If you don't," Wriggle said coldly. "Then I will."

That did it. Opening her eyes, Rin released Rumia and Flandre's hands. "Okay, get ready to fly," she said. "We're going to have to do this quick."

The others didn't say anything, but the looks of determination in their eyes told her that they understood.

Rin then turned toward the nearest tulip, this one fat and yellow. It was the one from which the prayers were coming from. Approaching it, her right hand twisted and morphed, her index finger elongating and becoming a scythe-like blade.

A few quick swipes, and the flower fell to pieces. From its petals fell a girl's head, which rolled to a stop at their feet.

Everybody screamed.

…

Then

Wriggle had never been in Yuuka's room before, so she wasn't sure what to expect.

If it wasn't for the enormity of the moment, she might have been disappointed. The décor was in line with the rest of the mansion, with a lot of bright colors, antique furniture, pretty knick-knacks and other ornaments, and more flowers than most actual gardens. Truth be told, she had expected a little something extra, like a small but complete forest, where the furniture grew directly out of the trees and the bath was fed from a living waterfall. Or lacking that, at least something with lots of gold and jewels. Youkai were renowned for their fascination with shiny things, and Wriggle was no exception.

The bed was notable though. Both Wriggle and Elly had exceptionally large four-poster beds that could have fit three people apiece with there still being room for the family dog. Both of their beds could have fit in Yuuka's with there still being room for the family lion. Wriggle couldn't help but wonder why Yuuka needed so much room. True, she was a very tall woman, but she wasn't that tall. Maybe she rolled around a lot in her sleep.

But either way, despite it not living up to her expectations, Wriggle was still thrilled to be there. She had no idea why Yuuka had asked for her to meet her there, but she was excited to find out. Yuuka herself had seemed like she was looking forward to it, so it had to be something good.

Curiously though, when Wriggle had told Elly about the personal invitation, she had reacted without much enthusiasm. That was odd. She couldn't possibly be jealous. Elly went to Yuuka's room every day, so it wasn't like Wriggle was being granted some special favor. Still, Wriggle had gotten the distinct impression that Elly was less than happy for her. In fact, she had seemed a little worried, though of what she wouldn't say. She had just told Wriggle to go do as she was told, and no matter what happened it was for the best.

That had made Wriggle a little nervous, but she couldn't think of anything that could have gotten her in trouble, and Yuuka's invitation had sounded friendly enough. Maybe Elly was just jealous.

Sure enough, when Wriggle got there, the door was wide open, and Yuuka was sitting cross-legged on a red velvet couch, with a full tea spread out before her on a low table. She was wearing a comfortable looking wooly green robe tied at the waist. As Wriggle entered, she greeted the young youkai with a welcoming smile.

"Come in, Wriggle," she said, beckoning with one hand. "Come in. And welcome to my little private space. It isn't much, but-"

"It's lovely," Wriggle said without hesitation.

Yuuka chuckled. "Oh, sweet girl." She patted the spot on the couch next to her. "Well, sit ye down, sit ye down."

Well, it seemed that her misgivings had been unfounded. Wriggle scampered over and sat down next to her and smiled up at the considerably taller woman. She almost crossed her own legs, but realized that doing so might be a little improper, so she held them stiffly before her, hands on her knees and legs dangling over the edge with her feet not quite reaching the ground.

Yuuka laughed again. "Oh, relax dear. There's no need to be so formal."

"Right," Wriggle said sheepishly. She tried to relax a bit, moving her body into a more comfortable position, but just ended up twisting her lower legs together and clasping her hands together in her lap in a manner that was just a hairsbreadth away from wringing them in agitation.

Yuuka's mouth lifted in amusement, but she didn't comment on the younger girl's fidgeting. "Thank you for coming, my dear." She lifted a white ceramic teapot. "Tea?"

"O-oh, of course." Yuuka poured her a cup, which Wriggle eagerly accepted. "Thank you!"

"Not at all." Yuuka sipped from her own cup, her nostrils flaring in appreciation. Then she set it down. "Now, I suppose your little brain is overflowing with questions."

"Well…"

"It's all right, it's all right," Yuuka said with a reassuring pat on Wriggle's shoulder. "My invitation was rather sudden. Now Wriggle, how long have you been with us?"

"Huh?" Wriggle blinked. "Oh, I don't know, I haven't really been keeping track…"

"Oh, of course. One day is much like the other, isn't it?"

Wriggle nodded enthusiastically. "And they're all wonderful!"

"Indeed they are." Yuuka draped an arm around Wriggle's shoulders, hugging her to her side. "Well, you should know that it's been four months, two weeks, and three days since those mongrels chased you into my arms."

Wriggle didn't think much of the arm resting behind her neck. Yuuka was a natural cuddler, after all. "Oh. Eh, is that so?"

"Indeed. Now, this might surprise you, but much as you fled into my garden for protection, so did Elly and I come to Gensokyo in search of sanctuary."

Wriggled blinked. "Wait, you mean-"

"Indeed. We are not native born. We both came from worlds far from here, and journeyed long until we made our home in this place."

That was interesting news. Wriggle knew that Yuuka had incredible power, but she had always assumed that she was simply an upper-tier youkai. But knowing that she was actually not native-born was sort of exciting. It made her feel like some sort of exotic envoy, a noble from faraway lands. "Well, I'm glad you did!"

Yuuka leaned over to kiss Wriggle's forehead. "Me too, pumpkin. Me too. Living as a mortal would has been such a lovely experience. Such joy I've found, such beauty." Her hand than slipped off of Wriggle's shoulders, moving down to her side. "And pleasure."

Wriggle frowned. The way Yuuka's arm was moving was strange, and she wasn't entirely sure that she cared for it. "Ah…"

"Every day an adventure," Yuuka said. "Every day I learn something new. And it is wonderful. Your experience must be very similar."

Now Yuuka's hand had wandered down to Wriggle's waist. The firefly still had no idea what she was doing, but it was making her feel very uncomfortable. "O-oh?" she said, squirming a bit away from the roaming fingers. "How so?"

"Believe it or not, Wriggle, I was once something much, much larger. Greater. More powerful. Beyond the ken of mortals. The cosmos themselves formed the soil in which I spread my roots, and my leaves took in the nourishment of a thousand suns."

Wriggle stopped fidgeting, her discomfort forgotten. "You…you were?" she said in surprise. She had known that Yuuka was powerful, but holy wow.

"Yes," Yuuka said with a satisfied smile. "And let me tell you, I don't miss it one bit. Beastly excuse for an existence, no fun at all. I am well quit of it. No, I much prefer the life of an exile. You mortals really know how to make the most of your tiny, insignificant lives."

"I'm…not really a mortal…" Wriggle pointed out.

Yuuka chuckled. "Semantics, dear. Semantics. But the point is, as much as I've learned and experienced, there is still more to this new life I've chosen for myself. There is more to the mortal experience, and I really rather not limit myself. Much like your own situation."

"Huh?"

"Well, consider: I was a being of might and power, and now I've been brought down a few pegs to this, and find the change to be quite agreeable. You were a tinny little insect, and now you've become something much greater. Still nowhere near my level, but we at least inhabit the same spectrum now."

Wriggle frowned, not because of what Yuuka was saying, but because she was disliking how high Yuuka's hand was starting to roam. She placed her hands on her thighs, blocking Yuuka's from moving any further. "Uh…"

Yuuka continued on, unaware or ignoring the other girl's discomfort. "And yet, though we've both been gifted with a facsimile of humanity, there is one very important aspect that neither of us have had the, ahem, pleasure of experiencing." Then she turned her head to look down at Wriggle. As usual, there was a smile on her face. However, Wriggle didn't like the way it looked, not one bit. "In that regard, I think we can help each other."

"Oh?" Wriggle said, drawing back a bit. "And wh-what's that?"

Yuuka smiled, and for the first time since she had arrived Wriggle felt an icy rush of fear. She had never seen that sort of look on Yuuka before. Oh sure, her host smiled constantly, but it was always warm and full of laughter and kindness. This smile wasn't like those at all. Wriggle found herself remembering those creeps that had chased her into the Garden of the Sun in the first place. Those creeps had been smiling as well, their grins full of hunger and cruelty.

That was the way Yuuka was smiling at her now. And only on her it was a hundred times scarier.

Then Yuuka stood up and walked away from the couch. Wriggle gasped at the suddenness of it. Then she blinked and sat up to peer over the velvet cushions.

Yuuka walked over to the door and gently shut up. It clicked as the latch slipped into place. Wriggle gulped at the finality of the sound.

Then Yuuka turned and walked around the bed to stand before the windows. She softly drew her palms together, and the drapes suddenly slid shut of their own accord, blocking out the sunlight. She snapped her fingers, and a fire suddenly roared to life in the fireplace, sending dancing

"There," Yuuka said, turning toward the quailing firefly. Her eyes gleamed like twin flames in the dark. "That's the proper mood."

Wriggle still had no idea what sort of mood Yuuka thought she was creating or what it was for, she just knew that she was steadily growing more and more scared, and she wasn't even really sure why. After all, it was Yuuka. Yuuka was the nicest person Wriggle had ever met, which, granted, wasn't saying much, but the tall woman had shown her nothing but love and kindness since she had shown up. And while Wriggle knew that Yuuka was very dangerous to unwanted trespassers, she had never once suspected that she would ever be a threat to her.

And yet her youkai instincts were screaming at her to get out, and to do it now. It was like when she had been forced to fare for herself in the Wilds, where everything was an enemy out to get her. Her heart was racing and her eyes were reflexively scanning the room for some way of escape.

There was none. She was trapped.

"Now then," Yuuka said, her voice a low and throaty murmur. "We can begin."

She started to move toward the couch, her hands reaching down to untie the fuzzy belt that held her robe closed. Now too scared to move, Wriggle could only cower and shake as she came closer.

"Don't worry," Yuuka said, her teeth gleaming in the firelight. "Just relax. And do exactly as I say."

…

Now

There is a cavern that reaches far beneath the earth, all the way to the center.

It sounds absurd, yes. The earth goes so far down that even the deepest of holes barely scratch the surface. There may be hollow pockets found at lower levels, ones with no connection to the planet's skin, but even these only form in the relatively shallow parts. Any deeper, and the immense pressure would simply cause it to collapse on itself.

But this is true: there is a cavern that reaches far beneath the earth, one that extends beyond the crust, the mantle, and beyond. Most of it is simply the throat: a long, narrow shaft, traversable only by the steep stone steps. At the bottom is the cavern itself, a room created for a specific and cruel, though necessary, purpose.

In it are its three inhabitants: the man, the woman, and the snake. The man lies naked upon a stone stab, his arms and legs bound tightly by ropes made from entrails, torn from the gut of his own son. The snake is coiled above him, clinging to a stalactite. From its mouth drips a constant flow of venom, burning and maddening.

The woman is the man's wife. She need not be there; goodness knows that he does not deserve her loyalty. But still she remains, standing over him with a wooden bowl, catching the snake's venom before it hits his face. And so she protects him from the pain, until at last the bowl is filled, and she must leave to go empty it out. When that happens, the venom is free to drip on his face. Then the earth quakes with his agony.

And so it has been going on for a very long time, with only one interruption. Not too long ago, the man managed to escape, to trick and deceive his way to freedom. The immediate results spoke of the necessity of keeping him imprisoned, and he was soon returned, only now with his eyes gouged out and his neck broken. Neither were enough to kill him, but the venom burns far more potently in his empty sockets than it ever did when his face was whole.

And so they remain: the man, the snake, and the woman, in the cavern that lies far beneath the earth. Or rather, it did lay. It's still there, but it is no longer located beneath our earth. It has been moved to another world, another realm, one that has become the home of beings that our world no longer has need of but still remembers fondly. It matters not to the cavern's inhabitants though. They remain there still, waiting for the end.

Waiting for Ragnarok.

Few can enter the cavern without its lord's leave. But then, few had the unique heritage of the tall woman that made the long journey down the steps on that day. She didn't belong there. She was from another world entirely, inhabited by beings of a wholly different faith and legend. But then, she really didn't belong in that world either, so it evened out. Either way, when the dark guardians saw her make the descent and realized what she was, they decided to leave her be.

Needless to say though, when the woman made her way down those final steps, the bound man's wife was very surprised to see her. She straightened up, her withered face lighting up with shock and fear and maybe just a little bit of anger. A bit of venom spilled over the side of the bowl, burning into the man's chin, and he cursed her for her clumsiness.

"Now that," Yuuka Kazami said as she approached the stone slab. "That was very ungentlemanly of you. One really ought to treat one's spouse with more respect than that."

The man froze. Though he could not see her, her voice gave her away immediately. "Angi?" he whispered, his voice rattling horribly through his mangled throat.

Yuuka smiled. "The one and the same, albeit altered to fit the times. I go by Yuuka now. It means essentially the same thing, and is actually feminine this time. Hello, Loki. You're looking miserable."

Loki Lie-Smith, sword brother to Odin Allfather and child of the frost giants, turned his head in the direction of her voice. The manner in which his lips twisted may have been a hateful grimace but also may have been a smile. "What…what are you doing here then, Yuuka. Has your new sanctuary tired of you so quickly?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. Just a little bit of disagreements with the locals concerning property lines and cultural faux pas, you know how it goes." She nodded toward Loki's wife and smiled. "And hello to you too, Sigyn. Now, loath as I may be to intrude upon your matrimonial bliss, there is something I must discuss with your husband. So would you please be a dear and give us a little privacy?" Her lips peeled back from her teeth in a rictus grin. "If you are worried that my intentions are carnal, I assure you that you need not fear any infidelity. You may even watch, so long as you give us a bit of space."

Though Yuuka could crush her with ease, Sigyn drew herself up to her full (and unimpressive) height and looked the intruder in the eye. "I cannot," she said, her voice rasping. Unlike her husband, there was nothing wrong with her throat; she just did not speak often. "I must stay here and catch the venom. If I don't, he will suffer. You cannot ask me to leave."

"Ah yes." Yuuka looked up at the snake, her eye narrowing. "The venom."

Suddenly she thrust her hand up at the ceiling. From her fingertips green tendrils lashed out. They struck at the snake, wrapping around its body and pulling it from its perch. It was then yanked right into Yuuka's grasp.

"You know, I've never been fond of snakes," Yuuka said as her fingers closed around the serpent's throat. It reared its head back and hissed, preparing to strike. But then the tendrils reached up and snapped into place, sealing its mouth shut. "There is just something about them that bothers me. Loathsome creatures, really. No wonder the Creator dislikes them so."

And with that, she began to squeeze.

Moments later, after the serpent's limp body had been cast off the stone pillar that Loki's slab rested on, Yuuka again nodded toward the dumbstruck Sigyn. "There now," she said. "You should have no more objections."

Sigyn stared. Then she quietly moved to sit by the stone steps at the cave's entrance.

"She's a real keeper, that one," Yuuka said to Loki. She sat down on a nearby boulder and crossed her legs. "Loyal to the end. You should treasure her, oh lord of mischief."

Loki's head lolled back and forth, his shattered vertebrae grinding loudly together. When no venom touched his skin, he said, "The snake?"

"Gone," Yuuka smiled. "Your living conditions have now taken a turn for the better. You're welcome."

Loki's laughter was harsh and grating, like slabs of granite rubbing together. "What do you want, oh cast off aspect of Yidhra? Don't tell me your exile has been ended already."

"Hmmm, no. Unfortunately I am still forbidden to walk the paths of reality." Yuuka shrugged, unconcerned. "Just as well. It is a rather dull place, all things considered."

Loki coughed. "And Nyarlathotep will kill you if you do."

"That creep can go bugger himself with a rusty fork," Yuuka said pleasantly.

"Brave words for one in your position."

"So speaks the broken, naked man tied up in his own son's guts," Yuuka responded. "But I'm curious: exactly what sort of position do you speak of?"

The sound of Loki's laughter again echoed through the cavern. "You're different. Lesser. I can feel it in my teeth. Someone has taken power from you."

"Ah, that," Yuuka said, shrugging again. "As I said, troubles with the locals. I plan on taking it back though, so it's all right." Smirking, she reached up to tap a finger against the eyepatch she wore. "You can't see it of course, but I too have lost an eye. Just the one though, so the resemblance favors your sworn brother more than you. Like him, I even gained a bit of knowledge from the loss."

"Oh?"

Yuuka nodded. "That's why I came to see you, actually. There is something I wish to ask you."

"Ah. I'm disappointed. And here I thought you just wished to enjoy the pleasure of my company." Loki coughed painfully. "And what exactly are you prepared to give me in return for my answer?"

"Killing the snake wasn't enough?"

"You did that of your own accord. I didn't ask you to."

"Fair enough," Yuuka shrugged. "Then if that is not enough, does this interest you?"

Yuuka then produced the item she had brought to barter with, though where she had stashed it couldn't be told, as she had neither bag nor sheathe. It was a long, wavy rod of black metal, made from two curving half-ovals joined together in the middle. At both ends it was pounded into a flat, sharp pointed head, like a spade from a suit of cards.

As soon as she brought it out, Loki's whole body stirred in response. "Is that-"

"It is indeed," Yuuka confirmed. "Your old wand, Laevatein. I figured that when the time came to face your old friend Heimdall, you'd want whatever edge you could find."

"How?" Loki demanded. "It was supposed to be locked up in Hel's keeping!"

"I haven't the foggiest idea. It was in the possession of a vampire when I found it."

"A vampire? That bitch must have-"

"Hush, Loki," Yuuka murmured. She reached over to caress the bound god's fiery orange hair. "It's not worth straining your throat over. The wand is here, and I will leave it with you when I leave. I just wish to have a single question answered."

"Fine," Loki said. "Ask already."

Yuuka smirked. Settling back onto her seat, she crossed her legs, clasped her hands over her knee, and said, "How do you cope?"

"Eh?"

"How. Do you. Cope?" Yuuka said again, speaking slowly and enunciating each syllable. "You Norse types are set apart from your mythological competitors in one very distinct aspect. Your endgame has been written out for you. It is not simple prophecy, it is practically a reversed history book. You have been given the script, have had your roles designated to you, down to who is going to kill who and in some cases how. Ragnarok is one of the most carefully plotted out apocalypses there is, and despite your best…or worst…efforts, you can't do a thing about it. You have no choice in the matter. You will remain here until the fireworks starts, then you will be slain by Heimdall while slaying him in turn. So tell me, Loki Sky-Walker. How do you cope with this knowledge?"

"Cope…" The noise that came out of Loki's ravaged throat might have been a snarl and might have been a laugh. "Does this look like coping to you?"

Yuuka shrugged. "Pain is pain, son of giants. Life is full of it. But it's one thing to try, fail, and suffer for it. It is another to have your suffering determined beforehand by another, and the transgression that caused it. Your choices, your thoughts, all of it decided by someone other than you. And though you rave and cry at the unfairness of it all, you still are obliged to go along with it. Because to do otherwise…" She smirked. "Well, I supposed your empty sockets and creaky neck answer that far better than I ever could."

"That…that has nothing to do with it."

"Oh, does it not?" Yuuka chuckled. "Word has it that you tried to do in Dream of the Endless, and your current, ahem, lesser state came courtesy of his assassin."

Now Loki was definitely snarling. "Got him. Dream. Got him, I did."

"And yet here you are, and there he is, albeit with new hair," Yuuka retorted. She idly twisted a few strands of his hair around her finger. "You got your freedom, and it was brief and costly." A quick yank, and Loki hissed as the hair was yanked out of his scalp. "So answer the question, Loki Lie-Smith. How do you cope with knowing that, for all your cleverness, for all your daring, you march to the tune of another's fife? Your fate is written, and you cannot leave the page."

Despite his lack of eyes, Loki still somehow managed to gaze at her shrewdly. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I have recently found myself in a similar situation," Yuuka answered honestly. "The specifics are unimportant, but suffice to say, it seems that I may not have as much control over my actions as I had previously believed."

"What?" Loki's cackle was like a mortal's death rattle. "You?"

Yuuka could not fault his disbelief. After all, the "people" she had previously belonged to had a reputation for altering the fates of lesser beings and perverting the very fabric of reality with their very existence. No doubt the trickster god found the idea of someone like her being on the receiving end of some other beings machinations to be hilarious. Fine, let him laugh. All that mattered what that she got her answer. "Yes, me. So tell me, oh sightless one. How does one cope? How do you deal with knowing that someone out there is bound and determined to tear down all you have worked so hard to build for their own sick amusement, and you can do nothing but wait until the music starts and your strings start to move?"

"Why ask me?" Loki demanded. "Why not go to my sworn brother? He's the one sitting on his ass all day obsessing over Ragnarok. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not given much of a chance to ponder philosophy."

"Oh, I considered it. No doubt he could give me a more educated answer." Which was also the truth. No doubt old Odin would be willing to trade an afternoon's worth of conversation in exchange for a certain spear that was also currently in her possession. "Unfortunately, after that mess with Baldr, I fear I am not as welcome in his hall as I once was. Which is to say not at all. So you'll have to do."

Loki tried to laugh again, but this time the pain was too much. Yuuka found herself chuckling as well. A good long while ago, before Loki had found himself in his current predicament and she had been forced to take refuge in the Twisting Nether, she had spent a few memorable months there in Asgard, among the Norse pantheon. Or rather, she had spent them in the forests bordering Asgard, as even then she had felt a close affinity for plants. During that time, she had befriended the notorious trickster Loki Lie-Smith, and had assisted him with a couple of his infamous practical jokes. Unfortunately, while tricking Odin's meatheaded son into believing that he had given birth to a feces-covered squirrel had been a royal hoot, a certain misadventure involving her transfiguring herself into a sprig of mistletoe had gone terribly awry. Terribly, terribly awry.

To make a long story short, Yuuka had been forced to flee Asgard and Loki had ended up in his current predicament. Which really went to say that there are some people who just did not have a sense of humor.

Unfortunately, the fondly shared memory did not last, as Loki ceased his attempts to laugh and all but snarled up at her, "Then…then you want to know how to cope, how to deal? You don't." He hacked up a wad of blood and mucus and spat it out. "You can't. You rage and hate and cry, but you can't change what has been written. Because everything you do to fight back is also written. You're stuck playing out some bullshit post-modern joke, and everything you do to escape just makes it funnier." This time he did manage a rattling chuckle. "So dance, puppet, dance. Your audience wishes to be entertained!"

Yuuka's face darkened. "That isn't exactly the answer I was hoping for."

"No?" Loki sneered. "Then choose your questions more carefully. Something like, 'May I please bend over and fellate your cock and fondle your balls?' Because then you'd get an answer more to both our liking!"

Yuuka's eye narrowed, and the hand holding onto the shaft of Laevatein started to shake. Sensing her ire, Loki let out another agonized chuckle.

"What, not to your liking?" he said. "Shame. You…you never were one to take good advice."

He started laughing again. Yuuka watched in displeasure as hissing cackles forced their way through his ruined throat.

"Stop laughing," she said.

Loki took as deep a breath as his condition would allow, and let loose with another fit of cackling. He wheezed and coughed up blood, but he didn't stop laughing.

Yuuka's head jerked a bit. "Stop it. Right now."

Loki kept right on laughing.

And laughing.

And laughing.

Grimacing, Yuuka covered her ears with her palms. Her eye twitched as that horrible laughter echoed throughout the cavern, redoubling and assaulting her from all sides. Laughter through a crushed throat.

Loki was laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing, and before her eye his already twisted face collapsed in on itself, features squishing and reforming, his shock of orange-red hair bursting out in golden locks, contemptuous yellow eyes forcing their way into his empty sockets, even his laughter becoming distorted, because it wasn't Loki laughing at her, it was Marisa, still laughing and still mocking, she and Yuuka's ghastly audience, watching her every move from where she couldn't reach, watching her failures and scorning her helplessness, laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing-

"STOP LAUGHING!" Yuuka screeched. Madness in her eyes, she lifted Laevatein high and brought it down with a shrill scream.

"Die!" she shrieked as she stabbed Marisa through the heart. It plunged right through her soft flesh, and the laughter turned to screams. "Die! Die! Die! Die!"

With each punctuated cry, Yuuka shoved the wand deeper and deeper down, until it not only had pierced right through Marisa's body but had been driven far into the stone slab beneath, pining the wretched thing like an insect in a display case.

It was fitting though. Compared to her, all were little more than insects.

Panting, Yuuka stood hunched over the slab, hand gripping tightly to the end of the wand. Sweat dripped down her face as she tried to calm the storm howling through her mind. No, it wasn't Marisa, it was just Loki. Marisa was dead. She had killed her already. There was no need for her to kill her again.

At last she managed to regain her composure. With a soft sigh, she straightened up and ran her fingers through her hair, tidying it up the best she could.

"Well," she said, brushing her hands off on her skirt. "That was undignified."

Then she cast a glower at the thrashing man before her. The cavern filled with agonized howls. Yuuka watched without remorse as he writhed and screamed, bound hands ineffectively trying to grab at the wand's shaft.

"You know, had you displayed just a little humility and tact, you might have avoided this," she told him. "You would have ended the day without the snake and with your wand lying safely by you. But you just had to be the clever one. The Dream King's vassal ought to have taken your tongue instead of your eyes. You might have actually learned something from the experience." Shaking her head, she showed him her back and walked away. "Either way, this trip was clearly a waste of time. Farewell, puny little god. I leave you to your torment."

As Yuuka moved towards the foot of the stairs, she found herself confronted by an obstacle. Loki's wife Sigyn had placed herself in her path, both hands holding the bowl of venom, her crusty and yellowed eyes staring at the other women with naked hate.

Yuuka paused. "What?" she said. "Don't give me that look. You heard what he said. Really, he has no one to blame but-"

With a hiss, Sigyn hurled the whole bowl at Yuuka's face.

There was a hiss as the venom bit into organic matter. Steam rose up, carrying with it bits of vaporized flesh. But it wasn't the scarring experience Sigyn had hoped it would be. After all, Yuuka regularly traded blows with gods and monsters for the simple sake of passing the time.

"You know," Yuuka said as she slowly lowered the round shield of bark she had thrown up. "Any other day I might have forgiven that. Your love and dedication to your idiot husband certainly makes such an outburst understandable. But I am in a really foul mood." The fire in her eye flared up, fueled by malice and barely restrained madness. She beckoned with one hand, and Sigyn was yanked off her feet by invisible force and thrust into Yuuka's grasp.

Yuuka's fingers closed around the woman's slender throat, cutting off her air. She chuckled at the familiarity of it. "And it occurs to me that come Ragnarok, your name is conspicuously absent."

It only took a moment to finish up, and when Yuuka took her leave of the world of the dreams of the Norse, she left the room with its original inhabitants: the man, the woman, and the snake. However, only one was still moving.

…

Then

Bath times were normally noisy affairs, filled with splashing, laughter, and jokes. Even when Yuuka's two wards were too tired to goof off and just wanted to luxuriate in the warmth of their marble tub's embrace, there still was a lot of chatting and giggling. It was a time of peace and comfort, where the two of them would just hang out and enjoy the bliss that was their lives.

Not so much anymore.

Wriggle sat slumped on the short stool next to the tub, arms resting loosely on her thighs and practically dangling between her legs, head bowed and wet green hair hanging around her morose face. She had been that was all day, with not even the promise of a hot, cleansing soak managing to lift her spirits.

Elly was kneeling behind her, silently rubbing soap into a washcloth. Per usual she was helping Wriggle clean up, but today she doubted that the firefly would return the favor. And she knew why. She just didn't know what to do about it.

Wriggle flinched away when the cloth touched her skin, the first time she had ever reacted that way. Elly froze, unsure of how to respond. But then Wriggle's shoulders relaxed and she sat still. Taking that as permission, Elly continued as she was supposed to, though this was the first time it felt like a duty rather than a favor.

After silently scrubbing for almost a minute, Elly said softly, "You've been really quiet lately."

Though she couldn't see the firefly's face, she could still feel the wince. But when Wriggle spoke, her voice was almost at its usual level of cheerfulness. "Oh, have I?" she said, turning her head just enough to shoot Elly a sheepish smile. "Sorry, it's just…"

Then her voice cracked a bit, and her smile faded. The façade broken, Wriggle turned her head away and settled back into her funk.

Elly's lips thinned out. She tried again. "Look. I know this whole thing is probably very new to you, but you really are very, very lucky! I mean, becoming Yuuka's lover? That's a huge honor! You…" She sighed. "…just have to get used to it, is all."

It was a long time before Wriggle spoke, and when she did, she didn't sound at all cheered. "How long?" she said hoarsely.

Elly blinked, and her scrubbing paused. "Huh?"

"How long does it take to get used to?"

That made the little Shinigami wince. "W-well, I don't really know," she admitted.

"How long did it take you?"

Though it was a simple question, it still hit Elly hard. That, after all, was something that had been weighing heavily on her mind as of late. "Me? Wait, you mean…" She sighed. Well, there would be no point in lying. Wriggle would know immediately. "Uh, actually, Yuuka and I were never liked that, so…"

That bit of information actually managed to draw Wriggle a bit out of her melancholy state, at least a bit. Granted, it didn't cheer her up at all, but curiosity was better than depression. "You weren't?" she said, straightening up a little and turning to look at Elly in surprise. "Never?"

Elly sighed again. "No." Then, realizing that a more detailed response was called for, she added, "Our relationship is…different. Companions, you know? I'm…I'm her sidekick, and you don't date your sidekick. It's just weird!" Apparently that wasn't enough logic for Wriggle, as the look of surprise on her face was started to devolve into a frown, so Elly quickly amended, "B-but that's fine! We all serve her in our own way, and just because she loves us differently doesn't mean one is better than the other."

Wriggle let out a very unladylike snort. "Love?" she said, turning away so Elly couldn't see her face. "Is that what this is?"

Despite already knowing that Wriggle was very uncomfortable with her how relationship with Yuuka had changed, Elly was very surprised by the question. Of course it was love. What else would it be? "What do you mean?"

Wriggle didn't respond.

Now thoroughly confused, Elly wracked her brain to figure out what had to be wrong. "Doesn't it…feel good? I've read that it's supposed to feel really good."

There was another long pause, and for a moment it seemed that Wriggle was going to ignore her again. But then she sighed and said, "In a way. But afterward I don't feel so good."

"Oh." Well, maybe those books had taken a few creative licenses for dramatic effect. She resumed washing Wriggle's back and said, "But like I said, you just got to get used to it, and-"

Right about then, as she was working around Wriggle's mid-section, the cloth brushed against her stomach and the firefly all but jerked away while letting out a very pained, "Ow!"

Elly froze immediately. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean…" Then she noticed something.

There was a dark purple spot on Wriggle's stomach, just to the left of her navel. Despite their lack of clothing, Elly hadn't so much as seen it before, mainly because Wriggle had kept her back to her since disrobing. Elly had just assumed that the firefly was simply feeling down and didn't feel like talking. But now it seemed that she had been trying to hide a very telling piece of evidence.

"Wait," Elly said, her voice rising in pitch. "Where'd that bruise come from?"

Wriggle looked down at her stomach, her expression a virtual cocktail of emotions. It seemed to be equal parts horror, embarrassment, guilt, anger, all smothered with a healthy dose of fear. She quickly covered it with her hands and turned her back to Elly.

"Wriggle?" Elly said, hoping that her intuition was off.

She heard Wriggle say something angry sounding under her breath. Then when the firefly spoke in response to her question, her voice was choked with tears. "It was my fault."

"What was your fault?" Elly said in bewilderment.

"It was my fault. I said some things…"

"I don't understand," Elly said in all honesty.

Suddenly Wriggle fixed her with a cold look. "Do you ever?" she snapped.

Elly stiffened. "That's not fair," she said.

To this, Wriggle didn't even bother to respond, and Elly felt a sudden rush of guilt. Her friend was hurting, and instead of trying to understand what was wrong and helping her she was going on the defensive.

Biting her lip, Elly looked away as she tried to figure out what to do. She supposed that Wriggle and Yuuka had gotten into some kind of fight and it had escalated out of control. "L-look, Yuuka's…she's been through some stuff, and doesn't really get how we…well, she's trying. I know sometimes she does thing that…"

Wriggle's face scrunched up in an ugly way. She turned her face away, though not before letting out a choking sob.

"Wriggle?"

Wrapping her arms around her own shoulders, Wriggle crouched down and slid to her knees. Her back heaved as she cried, her hair falling around her face like a veil.

Elly's breath caught in her throat. Oh no. Not this. She couldn't handle this sort of thing. "Oh Wriggle," she said, trying not to panic. "Don't cry. I'll talk to her, explain how you feel. Maybe-"

Wriggle kept crying, and Elly stopped talking. It wasn't doing any good anyway.

The runaway Shinigami bit her lower lip. What in the world was she supposed to do now? What was she supposed to say? She didn't fully understand what was going on, but she still wanted to do something.

For lack of a better idea, Elly tentatively reached out with one hand and touched Wriggle's shoulder. When the firefly didn't shake it off, Elly got down on her knees and slowly drew Wriggle into her arms. The firefly buried her face in the Shinigami's shoulder, and Elly silently held her as she cried, her tears dripping down to mix with the shallow pool that swam around their ankles.

…

Now

The head had short red hair and red eyes. It was wet with sap, causing the hair to cling tightly to its scalp. Its eyes were wide open and staring at up at the gathered youkai in abject terror. Furthermore, there was no body attached.

"Holy crap!" Rin cried, leaping back. "I didn't mean…oh gods, I killed her!"

"Uh, Rin?" Rumia said. She was staring not at the severed head on the floor, but at the remains of the tulip it had rolled out of. "I'm not too sure that you have…"

Everyone looked. And then they all went pale. From the tulip the rest of the body was emerging, crawling on all fours and one hand grasping blindly at the ground. The children watched in horror as it staggered weakly until it reached its head. Then it sat back on its haunches, grabbed the head with both hands, and raised it to place it back in place.

It was a Rokurokubi, Wriggle suddenly realized, a type of youkai known for having detachable heads and extendable necks. The realization brought a purging sense of relief. Okay, the girl wasn't dead. Her head was supposed to do that. She was fine.

Then she glanced around at the other flowers and mentally amended that thought. She was alive. "Fine" wasn't something that could be used to describe anyone at that moment.

"Whoa," Cirno whispered. "Wish we could've pulled that trick off back when we got decapitated."

The new girl froze in place, hands still on her temples. Her body trembled with fear as her eyes jumped from one unfamiliar face to the next. She was wearing a tattered blue-and-red cape and little else, which more-or-less confirmed what Wriggle had been hinting at. "Wh-who are you?" she whispered.

Wriggle felt like her heart was tearing in two. On the one hand, she had been right all along, and the realization that they had the chance to rescue no fewer than twelve of Yuuka's victims filled her with an overwhelming sense of relief and determination.

On the other hand, she had been right all along.

And that made her angry. Angry at Yuuka for being the monster that she was, angry at Elly for helping her, angry at Cirno for being the one to demand that they go to her for help and continuously standing up for her, and angry at Rin for not saying something about this earlier.

But most of all, she was angry with herself. Angry that she had allowed Elly to remain in Yuuka's control. Angry that she had gone along with Cirno's stupid idea despite knowing better. Angry that she had essentially brought all of her friends to this house of horrors. Angry that she done nothing to stop Yuuka in the years since her escape despite hearing many stories of Yuuka's debaucheries. Angry that she hadn't investigated her suspicions since they had arrived. And angry about being so weak that even if she had tried to do anything other than run and hide, it would have made no difference.

Well, no longer. Pushing past Rin, Wriggle slowly approached her, hands raised in a non-threatening manner. "It's okay," she said softly. "It's okay. We're here to help you.

The girl stared at Wriggle with a mixture of disbelief and hope. "You…you are?"

"Yeah, don't worry," Wriggle told her. "We'll get you out of here." Then she glanced quickly over to the rest of the flowers and a flash of anger passed over her face. "We'll get you all out of here."

The girl blinked. She tried to stand up, but her legs were still shaking too badly to allow for that. "Th-then let's go!" she exclaimed. "Quickly, before she-"

Then her face paled, and her eyes widened even more. "Oh no," she whispered.

Wriggle froze. The girl's eyes were not focused on her, but at a point beyond her. Furthermore, she could feel a new presence there, someone that had not been there a moment ago.

From the looks on their faces, it seemed that the others felt it as well. They all slowly turned toward the room's entrance, dread on their faces.

Sure enough, the door was wide open, and in it stood Elly. The young Shinigami was clutching the pole of her scythe with both hands, her knuckles turning as white as her face. "What are you doing?" she whispered.

Everyone's faces dropped in dismay. While Elly wasn't as bad as Yuuka, caught was still caught. Taking a step forward, Rin said, "Okay, look. We don't want any trouble, so-"

"Don't want any trouble?" Elly said in disbelief. "You break into Yuuka's private quarters, violate her privacy, and destroy her flowers, and you don't want any trouble?"

"Oh, we're in for it now," Mystia moaned.

"Violate her privacy?" Wriggle cut in. She stomped over to stand next to Rin, her face contorting with fury. "Violate her PRIVACY? Hey, I don't think we're the ones doing the violating here!" She swung a finger over to the terrified girl they had rescued. "Or is Yuuka just keeping them around for the pleasant conversation?"

"That's none of your business, traitor," Elly snarled back.

"Traitor? So I'm a traitor because I didn't want stay as her little love slave for the rest of my life? I'm a traitor because I didn't want to keep being her punching bag every time she had a bad day?"

"She took you in! You were nothing, and she gave you a home, gave you a name, gave you her love!" Now Elly's voice had risen to a shriek. "She took you all in! You came to us for help, and we gave it! We protected you, fought for you, hurt for you, and almost died for you! We forgave your insults, cured your ills, and rescued you from your abusers, and this is how you repay us?"

"Abusers?" Wriggle let out of a bark of laughter. "You wanna talk about abusers?" She pointed at the terrified redhead girl again. "Look at her! Look at her, Elly! You can't seriously tell me that what Yuuka's been doing to her isn't abuse!"

"Well, maybe if you hadn't run away, she wouldn't need to-"

"ENOUGH!"

The roared command was so loud that it felt like the mansion's foundations shook under its force. Wriggle and Elly shut up immediately, and everyone turned to stare at the person responsible.

Flandre was standing tall and straight in the center of the room, scarlet eyes burning with rage and focused with laserlike precision on Elly. "You are," she declared, "a very, very bad person."

Her eyes. They were different from before. Instead of the nauseating pulsing of the Lunatic, the bright cheerfulness of the Child, or the dull muddiness of the Adult, they now burned like furnaces, a deadly and focused flame.

Wriggle's heart skipped a beat. The Predator was now awake. And she had chosen her prey.

No, Wriggle thought, her anger at Elly forgotten. Not her. You were supposed to go after Yuuka, not her!

Elly looked dumbstruck, as if she were only now noticing that the vampire was there. Maybe she was. "You," she said, though not to Flandre. "You…you let that psycho in here?"

"Well, we are sort of her babysitters," Rumia muttered.

Flandre's eyes narrowed. "Oh, psycho am I?" she said. She started to advance on the Shinigami, fingers curled and ready to seize Elly by the throat. "Well, better a psycho than a monster!"

Squealing, Elly retreated several feet. She held her scythe out in warning. "Call her off!" she shouted to Rin. "Call your vampire off!"

Wriggle pleadingly looked to Rin, the only one of them capable of saving Elly. But to her dismay, Rin didn't look all that concerned about the Shinigami's safety. She stood between Elly and Flandre, one hand on her hip and the other thoughtfully rubbing her chin. Cocking an eyebrow, she looked at Elly, then over to the redheaded girl cowering behind them.

"Huh," she said.

Then she stepped aside, giving Flandre a clear shot.

"NO!" Wriggle cried, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of Flandre's gleeful roar.

Elly screamed as Flandre lunged for her throat. She swung her scythe, only for Flandre to duck the blow. The mad vampire seized the pole as it passed over her head, stopping its momentum cold. As such, the Shinigami found herself in the very unfortunate position holding onto the same length of indestructible wood as an angry, psychotic killer vampire, one that was now standing a fraction of a meter away with a bloodthirsty grin on her face.

Wriggle desperately looked around for some way to stop the fight. Rin was watching it happen without expression, while the others were wisely putting as much distance between themselves and the fight as possible.

Wriggle gritted her teeth. Then she ran up to Rin, whose eyes had now focused on the ceiling above them. Grabbing the Kirin's arm, she shouted, "Rin, you have to stop this!"

Rin regarded her with about as much concern as she had to Flandre's attack. Then she looked back to the confrontation. Both Shinigami and vampire were still gripping the pole of the scythe, but Flandre was slowly marching forward, forcing Elly back toward a wall. "Must I?" Rin said.

Then she spun around and thrust out her hands. Thin blades of flame shot out from her palms at the walls and domed ceiling. There was a hiss, and several vines fell to the ground in smoking pieces.

Wriggle gaped. Then she looked up to see several moldering black spots where the vines had been clinging to the ceiling. They had probably been right about to strike when Rin had cut them down. In all the excitement Wriggle hadn't even noticed them.

"There," Rin said. "I've stopped them."

Then she turned and went to go see to the girl they had rescued from the tulip.

"B-but she'll kill her!" Wriggle cried.

Rin kept walking. "Call me crazy, but I'm not in a real big hurry to save someone who would take part in this," she said. "I got this thing about people who lock up little girls. Kind've a complex, you know?"

Wriggle stared at her in dismay. Then her face hardened and she stomped after her.

Behind them, Elly and Flandre were still wrestling for control of the scythe. Or rather, Elly was. Flandre was simply standing in place and laughing at her attempts. Terrified for her life but still unwilling to give up her weapon, Elly tried to kick Flandre in the stomach.

Moving quicker than most eyes could follow, one of Flandre's hands released the pole and snapped down to snatch Elly's foot before it even got halfway. Elly's eyes widened as she realized that not only was Flandre now moments away from tearing her leg off, but she was having absolutely no trouble keeping control of her end of the pole with only one hand.

Flandre's grin grew, her fangs protruding from either side of her mouth.

The redheaded youkai was still kneeling on the ground, with Daiyousei seeing to her. Her shaking hands were clutching the sides of her ragged cape around her body, and she stared at Rin like she was some kind of advancing demon.

"Wh-what…" she stammered as she tried to scoot back. "Get away!"

"It's okay," Rin said as soothingly. She knelt down in front of the girl. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She started to reach out to touch the girl's hand in a reassuring manner, but suddenly Wriggle seized her by the wrist.

"No," the firefly said. "We've got this. You stop that fight. Right now."

"Oh?" Rin said with a cold look. "Give me one good reason why I should."

Giggling, Flandre slowly started to squeeze her hand. Elly screamed as the pressure on her foot built

"Listen," Wriggle hissed. "Elly may be a psychotic Yuuka-loving nut, but that's because Yuuka's been brainwashing her for years. Yuuka took her in when she was alone and desperate, and you've already seen how she can get to people. She's Yuuka's first victim, okay?" She swallowed. "Plus, she was my first friend. My first real friend."

Rin stared.

"Please, Rin. Don't let Flandre kill her."

Rin's mouth thinned out to a straight line. Then with a muttered curse, she turned back around.

Right before her foot was crushed, Elly managed to twist it around and slip her shoe entirely. Flandre's fingers closed, crumpling the bit of leather. "Oh," she said, looking at the ruined shoe in her hand. She looked disappointed. "Oh well." Then with a shrug, Flandre tossed the shoe aside. She gave a little twist of her other wrist, and the scythe was wrenched from Elly's grasp.

Elly looked down at her empty hands in shock. Then she glanced up just in time to see the pole of her own weapon swing around and hit her in the stomach, sending her tumbling into a corner.

Elly screamed and cowered as Flandre slowly advanced on her. The mad vampire idly swung the scythe back and forth while giggling in deranged fashion.

"Bluebird, pretty bird, flown away from its cage," Flandre singsonged as she lifted the scythe high over her head. "Watch it fly, watch it cry, watch its wings get torn off by the rain."

But before she could bring the scythe down, Rin snapped her arms under her armpits and wretched her body to one side. Squealing in surprise, Flandre dropped the scythe and tried to dart away, but by then Rin's arms, hands, and fingers had already morphed and twisted around her upper body, locking her in place. Not one to question her good fortune, Elly quickly scampered out of the way.

Wriggle breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to the petrified Rokurokubi and said, "Don't worry. The vampire and the rubber girl are on our side."

"Oh," said the Rokurokubi. "Uh, good to hear?"

"Easy, Flandre!" Rin shouted from behind Wriggle as for the second time that evening she tried to hold the thrashing vampire still. "It's over! Let her go!"

"NO!" Flandre shrieked. "I'll kill her, I'll kill her, I'll kill-"

"Oh, you're going to kill me?"

Wriggle stiffened. She whirled around to see that, rather than take the opportunity to escape with her life, Elly had apparently decided to take advantage of her enemies' momentary distraction and take them both out, which had led to the razor-sharp scythe blade now being swung at full speed directly at them. Taken by surprise, Rin and Flandre froze as their death charged toward them.

"Not if I kill you first!" Elly screeched.

Wriggle's heart leapt into her throat. They were about to die. Or at least, Flandre was. Rin would probably survive, but there was no way the vampire was going to avoid being cut in half. Even if Rin started swinging her out of the way at that very second, the best she could hope for was to have half of Flandre's stomach split open rather than being cut all the way through, which was no less lethal.

Then there was a sound like a howling gale, and the temperature dropped drastically. Wriggle's vision filled with white.

When her sight cleared, Elly was standing in place, hands still holding her scythe out in mid-swing, face contorted in rage. However, her attack had lost all of its lethality, thanks to the fact that she was now covered from head to toe by a layer of ice.

"Uh," both Flandre and Rin said at the same time. Rumia followed it up with, "What?"

"HA!" Cirno suddenly cheered. Everyone turned to see the ice-fairy jumping up and down, pumping her fists in victory. "Did'ja see that? You guys were like this close to getting sliced in half, and I still got her before she could touch you!" Looking around at all the stunned faces, she grinned and waggled her fingers expectantly. "C'mon, who's got the skills? You can say it."

Still tied together, Flandre and Rin exchanged a bewildered look. Then they sighed.

Her face scrunching up with disappointment, Cirno said, "Oh, come on! That was cool! You gotta admit that was cool!"

"Um, yeah, about that," Rumia said, clearing her throat. "You…mind telling us why you didn't just do that at the beginning?"

"I…" Cirno's expression fell, and she started scratching the back of her neck in chagrin. "Er, well, you know. I thought Rin and Flandre had it, and I didn't wanna get in the way…"

"You didn't want to get in the way?" Rumia repeated. "You?"

"Hey, every time Rin and Flandre start fighting anyone, things get wrecked or set on fire. You think I'm dumb enough to get in the middle of that?"

Rumia buried her face in her palm. "You still could've-"

"And hey, you could've turned out the lights any time you wanted, so don't go acting all high and mighty with me!"

"What good would that do?" Rin said. "Sounds like a good way for everyone to get killed."

"Oh, don't you start on me," Cirno said crabbily. "I just saved your butts and you know it."

"I…fine," Rin sighed. The fairy was right after all. "Thanks, Cirno. You did good."

Cirno beamed.

Wriggle let out the breath she was holding. That had been way too close. If she weren't sort of busy at the time, she would have been seriously tempted to grab Cirno and kiss her full on the lips. As annoying as their so-called leader may be at times, when push came to shove, she always came through for her team.

Next to her, the redheaded girl with the detachable head was observing the exchange with a look of complete bewilderment. "Who are you people?" she said.

Grinning, Cirno winked and flashed her a thumb's up. "We're Team Nineball, best youkai gang in the world!"

"Team what?"

"Don't question it, it's a long story," Wriggle muttered as she took the girl by the arm. "Here, can you stand?"

She could. Once she was sure that the girl was all right, Wriggle left her in Daiyousei's care to rush over to the frozen ice-sculpture that was Elly.

The Shinigami wasn't going anywhere, that much was certain. She was strong, sure, but the ice encasing her was stronger. Furthermore, she was alive and not trying to kill anyone, which was the important thing.

"Elly, I'm very, very sorry about this," Wriggle told the frozen girl. "But we're going to leave now, and we're taking all of these girls with us. I hope you can forgive-"

Then Wriggle's breath caught in her throat as she made a sudden realization. Elly was trapped, literally frozen solid. She was incapable of fighting back, running away, calling for help, or anything really. Which meant…

Wriggle felt a rush of excitement. They could get her out! They could save everyone, Elly included! Rin was strong enough to carry her once they broke away some of the ice, and if worst came to worst, she could always just absorb her long enough to make the trip. Granted, Elly herself probably wouldn't appreciate it, but they could work on that later. She had to know that Yuuka was a monster, deep down. They just had to make her see it. Hell, maybe Rin could go rooting through her head like she had with Flandre. That way, she could find and kill whatever hold Yuuka had on her.

Then Rumia cleared her throat. The darkness youkai was helping the newly freed Rokurokubi to her feet. "Hey! How about you all stop standing around and open the rest of these flowers?"

Right. One thing at a time. "Uh, hang on. I'll get back to you in a second," she said to Elly. Then, after taking a deep breath, Wriggle rushed over to Rumia. "Come on!" she called to Rin.

Rin nodded. She then looked to Flandre, who was still strapped to her front.

"Are you good?" she asked the vampire.

There was a worrisome pause, and then Flandre said, "Yes. I'm good. You can put me down now."

Wriggle frowned. "Okay, but you gotta promise not to try to hurt Elly again."

Flandre sighed. "Okay. I promise to leave her alone, even though she really, really bugs me and I still wanna break her face. Is that okay?"

Rin frowned. She shot a brief glance over to Wriggle, and then one to where Elly was imprisoned. Then she turned and walked Flandre over to the opposite end of the room, well away from the frozen Shinigami, before setting the vampire down. "Sit," she said as she unwound herself from Flandre. "Stay."

After shooting her a glare, Flandre sat cross-legged on the floor, folded her arms, and pouted. Wriggle sighed. Good enough.

"Hey!" Cirno called to her. She and Mystia were trying and failing to tear apart a bulging yellow tulip. "Give us a hand with this? These things are tougher than they look."

"Okay, okay," Rin said, walking over. Her right hand reformed itself back into a blade. "Stand aside, I got-"

And then the door slammed shut.

…

Then

"So. That's it then."

Yuuka's tone was as cold and stabbing as an icicle, and Wriggle found herself glad that her head was already bowed in submission. That way, the veil of her messy bangs already hid her face.

The two of them sat across from each other in Yuuka's private study. It was a nice room, one that Wriggle had visited a few times before their relationship had shifted and, at the time, found it to be a warm and cheery place, with lots of sunlight, pretty antiques, cozy chairs, and the usual assortment of flowers. Of course, her opinion on all of the rooms in Yuuka's private quarters had soured by a considerable amount since then, but today it was going to be the setting of what could either be the start of a painful but ultimately liberating experience or a hell that few could even conceive. She had resolved to tell Yuuka that she was leaving.

Naturally, given her master's delicate sentiments, she didn't have high hopes that she would take it well. The best that she was hoping for would be to be forcefully ejected from the Garden of the Sun, but that would be fine. But if Yuuka resolved to extend her vengeance, Wriggle's situation would worsen by a significant measure. She was walking on a knife's edge, and she knew it.

The only thing to do was break the news as gently as possible, and hope for the best. She said, "I-I really do appreciate all you've done for me, and I'll never forget your…kindness and your hospitality-"

Unfortunately, Yuuka was in no mood to be buttered up. "You're talking like I was just an innkeeper," she said coldly. "I'd say we were a bit more than that."

Wriggle grimaced. "I, er, well…"

"Oh, stop stuttering and mumbling, you're making me sick," Yuuka snapped. Uncrossing her legs, she leaned over so that the glow of her scowling eyes was visible even through the curtain of Wriggle's bangs. "Call it for what it is, Wriggle. You're breaking up with me and walking away."

It was a good thing that Wriggle hadn't drunk much that day, because if she had gone into this conversation with a full bladder, then its contents would have relocated themselves to her pants by now. "I…I have been doing a lot of thinking-"

"Have you." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. And-"

Yuuka snarled. "Well, I hope you didn't strain anything, because there is one thing you seem to have left out of your calculations."

Wriggle felt the blood in her veins run cold. "Huh?"

Then Yuuka stood up to her full intimidating height. All Wriggle could see were her knees, but she could still feel the weight of her master's stare bearing down on her. "Wriggle, if I decided that I did not wish for you to leave, do you have even the slightest bit of doubt that I couldn't make you stay?"

"I-"

"Because if not, well, that is really quite funny. Or do I need to remind you that you are, quite literally, an insect, whereas I am…something significantly greater?" Yuuka took a step forward, and Wriggle, forgetting for a moment that she was trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible, lurched back. She ended up sprawled back over the couch she was sitting on, arms and legs splayed out and eyes wide and terrified as they stared up at the fearsome visage glowering down at her. Never before had Wriggle felt so much like the insect that Yuuka had just declared her to be. "And not only that, but we are currently sitting in the heart of my domain, where my will is law and my word gospel?" Yuuka lifted a hand, and as one all the flowers in the room turned their faces toward Wriggle. "Why, if I wanted, I could make you strip down right now and lick the mud off my boots. One word, and you would do it, and you would love it, because I said so."

Oh no. No, no, no. Not this. This was exactly what she had feared the most. "Yuuka, I-"

Then Yuuka sighed, and the rage seemed to leave her. But what entered to replace it was somehow worse. "But to think I would have to resort to such barbaric tactics in order to secure your affection. One would think that all that 'kindness and hospitality' you just mentioned would be more than enough to keep you with me. After all, I did pluck you out of the wild like a stray cat and not only gave you a home, but wealthy, luxury, and companionship that most of your kind can only dream about."

Wriggle felt her gut twist inside of her. Because as much as she hated what Yuuka did to her, as much as she hated how she made her feel, she wasn't wrong about that. Her life in Mugenkan had been far above anything any other youkai could have imagined. Heck, if Yuuka hadn't saved her from those two youkai that had been pursuing her, there was every chance that she would be in the exact same situation she was in now, only considerably less comfortable, such as a cage.

But Yuuka wasn't done. "But fine. The call of the wild still beats in your heart. It is the nature of animals after all. Even so, I had hoped that something else would keep you here, such as our deep emotional connection." She paused, the anger in her eyes melting away, revealing nothing but pain. "I thought you loved me."

If it were possible for Wriggle to feel any more wretched than she did at that moment, she didn't want to know how. This was worse than a hundred beatings. Elly was right. Yuuka was right. She had just been a lowly wild youkai, just one of hundreds, but they had still treated her like a princess. So what if there was a downside? Nothing was perfect.

She should have kept her mouth shut. She shouldn't have been so ungrateful. Who did she think she was, after all the love and affection Yuuka had shown her? She should have just sucked up the uncomfortable part and gotten used to it. No, she shouldn't have come to the Garden at all. It didn't deserve someone so selfish, someone so-

"Well, fine. Fine!"

Wriggle snapped out of her feelings of wretchedness and regret. "Huh?"

Yuuka was standing at the window, her back to her and she gazed out at the Garden of the Sun, her tall form casting a long shadow over the miserable insect. "If that's how it is, then that's how it is. You want to go, then leave." She lifted an arm, one finger pointing at the open door. "The door's open. Return to the wild from whence you came! Enjoy your rock beds and acorn meals! Give my regards to the cold and rain." She turned to glower down at Wriggle, her form a dark silhouette framed by sunlight, the two scarlet lights of her eyes burning like hot coals. "And when the first monster sinks his teeth into your flesh, remember that you chose to give up love and security in exchange for a life of pain and danger."

Wriggle cringed back. "I don't-"

"What are you waiting for?" Yuuka demanded. She stomped over and, before Wriggle knew what was going on, had seized the firefly off the floor and tossed her toward the door like she was a throw pillow. "Get out already!" Then, as Wriggle tried to gather her bearings, the rage and indignation melted away from Yuuka's face and her eyes cleared, to be replaced with her usual sunny smile. "Oh, best of luck though. If you're ever in the area, do look me up for brunch."

That was it. Wriggle could take no more. She all but galloped out the door on all fours and leapt into the air. Like that, she was off like a shot, tearing through the halls that had been her home for practically her whole life. It felt like there was a growing shadow behind her, and if she didn't go fast enough it would catch up and consume her.

She zipped this way and that through the mansion. As she did so, enough worry broke through her terror and grief to make her start paying attention. Was it her imagination, or were there more hallways than there should be? And she could swear that they were lengthening as she shot down them. As she thought this, her fear only increase. Yuuka wasn't letting her go. It didn't matter how fast she flew, she was never going to escape. She was trapped like a bug in a jar, forever doomed to fly through an endless maze of marble and flowers. Then, when she wanted to, Yuuka was going to appear and gobble her right up like a-

Then suddenly, she was out.

Wriggle didn't even remember passing through the foyer. She just knew that all of a sudden, she was bursting into open sunlight. She blinked a few times and realized that she was standing on Mugenkan's doorstep, overlooking the path that would take her from the Garden of the Sun.

Wriggle stood still for a moment, staring out at a sea of green, brown, and yellow, overset by a perfectly clear blue sky. Once the place had been a paradise, a sanctuary from the cruel, hard world she had been fleeing from. Now she was running the other way.

Wriggle slowly took a deep breath, filling her lungs to maximum capacity. She held it in for a bit and then let it out. She managed to release about half of it before she starting crying. It wasn't much, just a little shaking of the shoulders, a bit of wetness in her eye, some sniffling. But it still hurt.

Then she steadied herself. She needed to leave now, before Yuuka changed her mind. Wiping her eyes with the back of her wrist, Wriggle readied herself to take to the air.

Then she was interrupted. "So," said a voice behind her. "Thought you could just leave without saying goodbye then?"

Gasping, Wriggle whirled around. Elly was there, standing in the shadows next to the door. The Shinigami girl was leaning against the wall, arms folded and eyes burrowing a hole into Wriggle's face. "Elly!" she cried. Then she tried to compose herself. "Elly, look. I didn't want-"

"Save your breath. I heard the whole thing," Elly snapped. She looked at the ground between their feet, their face sullen. Wriggle did so as well, waiting for Elly to speak. When she did, her voice was angry, hurt, and confused. "I don't understand. After all she's done for you, after all we've done for you-"

Then something in Wriggle just seemed to snap. Elly had been there the whole time. She had seen the bruises and the bleeding. She had known full well what had been going on, and had even been disturbed by it. So where did she get off saying that she didn't understand? "I can't take it anymore!" Wriggle cried, her eyes welling up again. "I can't take the beatings, I can't take getting told it's my fault she hit me, I can't take…can't take being used like that when she wants sex, I can't take it anymore, Elly!"

A bit of pink touched Elly's cheeks. "So, you're just going to leave me then? I thought we were friends. I thought you cared about me."

Wriggle was about to snap at her about how friendship shouldn't come with such a steep pricetag, but then she was struck with a sudden thought. "Come with me!" she said, grabbing Elly by the hand.

Elly immediately jerked her hand back, her face now pale with shock. "Beg pardon?"

Wriggle tried to calm herself down and get her thoughts in order. "Elly, you know what's she's like. If she treated me like that, then she'll do the same to you. Come with me before-"

In hindsight, Wriggle really ought to have known better. Elly was her friend, yes. She may have been sympathetic toward Wriggle's situation. And she may have expressed discomfort over how Wriggle had been getting treated.

But she was still Yuuka's creature through and through.

The slap wasn't hard, and didn't do much more than leave a stinging mark. But it hurt more than anything else Wriggle had experienced that day. She jerked back a bit, and her hand went to her cheek. Elly stared back at her, hand still raised. She seemed as surprised at what she had done, and for a moment her eyes filled with guilt.

It lasted but a second though, and her face hardened. She lowered her hand and stared at Wriggle, as if silently daring her to try to take her away from her home again.

Wriggle didn't. She just returned the stare for a few moments. Then she turned around and flew, leaving Elly, Yuuka, and the Garden of the Sun behind.

…

Now…

The Tulip Room was shaped like a giant bell, so when the doors slammed shut, the sound of it reverberated off the walls and assaulted the children's eardrums. Wriggle doubled over, hands pressed to her ears and her face twisted into an agonized grimace.

"What was that?" she shouted as the echoes faded away.

"Something closed the door!" Rumia called back.

"No, I got that. What I meant was-"

Then she shut up and stiffened, as did the others. There was a change in the air. It was hard to define exactly what it was, but suddenly it felt…thicker. Muggier. More oppressive. It was as if the air itself had become heavier and was now bearing down on them.

For a moment, Wriggle feared some new surprise. A booby trap. A hidden spell. Maybe some sort of plant monster. But the moment was fleeting. She knew what it was; to suppose otherwise would only be deluding herself. They all knew.

What they felt was presence.

Her presence.

"Well, well, well, well," said the voice of the master of the house. "Now, isn't this interesting?"

"Oh crap," Wriggle whispered, speaking for them all.

Yuuka's voice wasn't coming from any visible source. It came from the walls, the ground, and the dome above. There was a strange quality to it too, a haunting etherealness that couldn't have come from a living throat.

And it was then that Wriggle remembered what Rin had said about the brief glimpse she had gotten of Yuuka's true self, that night she had eaten her. And she was afraid.

"Now girls, what is this?" Yuuka continued. Her voice was calm, level, and almost casual in its chiding, but Wriggle could feel the rage behind that silk curtain. The very air hummed with barely restrained fury. "I'm gone on a personal errand for only a few short hours, and here you are, barging into my personal chambers and upsetting my property."

The Rokurokubi quailed.

"And that's not even touching on what you've done to poor Elly! Goodness, she was only doing her job."

There was a sharp crack, and the ice surrounding the Shinigami shattered. She dropped to her hands and knees and started trembling violently.

"Ma-" she tried to say through blue lips, but seemed unable to get her facial muscles to do as she bid. "M-massher, I-I'm s-s-sor-"

"There, there, my sweet," Yuuka cooed. "I have this. Go and warm yourself up. We will speak later."

Elly suddenly looked stricken. Wriggle knew why. Despite Yuuka's kind tone, there was no chance that their private conversation was going to be at all pleasant.

"M-master…" Elly stuttered. "I-"

"NOW."

Elly squeaked and scampered for the door as quickly as her still-thawing legs could take her, one hand practically dragging her scythe behind her. One of the doors opened just a crack, and the little Shinigami disappeared so quickly through it that it looked like she was pulled through.

"Now girls," Yuuka said once Elly was gone. "I must admit, this is…very upsetting. When I brought you all here and gave you shelter from your enemies, all I asked was that you follow a few very simple rules. And one of those rules was that you respect my privacy and not trespass in my personal chambers."

While Yuuka spoke to them, the room started to creak and groan, as if its foundations were being squeezed. The circular walls seemed to stretch higher and press in close. Black vines slithered out of the columns and crawled across the walls like thick, leafy snakes.

A thin veil of sweat broke out on Wriggle's forehead. Her vision blurred a bit, and she started to sway as fever muddled her head and made her shiver. It was Yuuka's presence, she realized. Though they couldn't see her, the room was filled with it.

"And yet, here you are," Yuuka said. "Not only in my personal chambers, but within my private playroom, hurting my friends and pulling my possessions out of their boxes." The room started to rumble, the ground beneath their feet shaking with the weight of her displeasure. "I am disappointed, girls. Very, very disappointed."

Wriggle's eyelids fluttered. She felt like curling up on the floor and going to sleep, which would be a neat trick, considering that she couldn't sleep. Steady, she told herself. She shook her head in a swift, hard motion, sending beads of sweat flying. Violence was probably imminent, and she couldn't afford to be fuzzy-headed when it happened.

She shot a glance over to Rin, who among them had the best chance of taking Yuuka on. The mutated Kirin looked like she was also struggling against the weight pressing down on her mind, though she was doing a better job of it than Wriggle was. Gritting her teeth, she slowly straightened to her feet, hands clenched and shaking.

Curiously though, she was not the first to offer Yuuka challenge. Somehow shaking off the effects of Yuuka's presence quicker than anyone else, Cirno had taken her place in the center of the room. Her fists were bunched up into fists and planted firmly on her hips. Her posture was straight, her back arched, and her face turned upward at the dome with a resolute scowl of pure defiance.

Wriggle had to admit, she was a again impressed. Dismayed at her stupidity, yes, but impressed. She often found herself wondering why they had allowed what was easily the dumbest member of their group act as their leader, but in that moment, she found herself remembering. Cirno was the leader because she was the first to throw herself into danger and the last to flee. Daiyousei was the heart, Rumia the brains, Wriggle the muscle, and Mystia the soul, but when the chips were down, Cirno was the one who took point. It was who she was.

That didn't change the fact that she was probably about to get blown into teeny tiny pieces though. Wriggle tensed up, ready to tackle her out of the way.

Too late. Before she even took the first step, Cirno had drawn in a deep breath and declared, "Okay, so first of all-"

Then she lurched back, her eyes and cheeks bulging in surprise. "Cirno!" both Daiyousei and Mystia cried in terror. Wriggle moved to leap at her, but Rin was already in motion. She slammed into the fairy, tackling her and driving her to the side of the room before Yuuka could hit her again.

"Cirno, are you okay?" Rin said frantically to the fairy pinned beneath her. "What'd she do to you?"

"Mmmmphhh!" Cirno replied. Wriggle ran over to the pair and looked down. Cirno's mouth was stuffed with some kind of tuber, one that was covered with green goo. It covered her lips and filled the cavern of her mouth, gagging her more effectively than any piece of cloth.

"Um," Rin said. She and Wriggle exchanged a look, neither of them sure of how to get rid of the stuff without tearing the fairy's lips off. Rin shrugged and said, "Okay, hold still-"

She tried to grab the goo and give it a tug, but it had already set in place and solidified. The stuff was tougher than glue and a lot more gross. Cirno let out a muffled cry of protest, this one considerably more distressed than the last one.

"Let her go, it's not working," Wriggle said.

"Yup," Rin sighed, releasing her grip. "Maybe I can burn it off, but that's gonna hurt like-"

"Rin," Yuuka said, her voice gentle but insistent. "Your attention, if you please."

Grimacing, Rin got off of Cirno and turned around. The black vines now formed thick rings around the walls and domed ceiling. Flower buds were forming along their bodies. They were of a purple so deep that it was almost black.

"You know, I always knew you were trouble," Yuuka said to her. "But I took you in anyway. Because Rumia was their friend, and you were hers. Though God alone knows why, considering how appallingly you treated her. But I forgave all that. I overlooked your violent tendencies and deplorable attitude problem and gave you a second chance. Why, I even went out of my way to find help for your spiritual problem. But despite my unfailing patience and practically saintlike charity, you still found it within you to-"

"Oh, shut up!" Rin snapped back. "Gods, you're just like the Dark Voice, with the going on and on and on. Do you just love the sound of your own voice or are you trying to talk me to death?"

There was a noticeable pause, and then Yuuka said softly, "Now that…was very rude."

"Like I care!" Rin spread her arms, indicating the room around her. "How the hell can you act like you're the good guy when you got this going on? You kidnap little girls and…just keep them? The hell do you do with them?"

The Rokurokubi sucked in a short, sobbing breath.

Yuuka chuckled. "Ask Wriggle. I'm sure she can provide you with a detailed description."

"Oh, hell no," the firefly seethed. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and build courage, and stomped over to stand next to Rin. Her hands were clenched into fists and trembling with a mixture of fear and anger. Baring her teeth, she shouted up at the ceiling, "I don't care what sort of stupid rules you're obsessed about. So what, I decide I want a life of my own, th-that I don't want to be hurt anymore, and you go collecting sex slaves?"

Again there was silence. Even the tulips had stopped moving, the captives still contained within the remaining giant flowers now still and silent. No doubt they were listening very intently.

Then all at once, the dark purple flowers growing from the vines turned their heads downward and opened their petals. And Wriggle found herself staring up at nearly a hundred glowing red eyes.

Before she could process this, there was a very familiar whine, followed by a flash of green light.

Wriggle knew full well what that meant. She also knew that Yuuka wouldn't be so foolish to use it on Rin, considering that she could probably just shrug it off. However, Wriggle certainly wasn't, and she had just insulted someone who took her pride very seriously.

All of this flashed through Wriggle's mind in a millisecond, and stiffened, fully expecting to be vaporized.

Then the light cleared, and she was still there.

"Um," she said as looked at her hands, feeling baffled by her own survival.

Then Mystia screamed, and Rin's feeling of dread returned. Steeling herself, she turned around.

Wriggle had survived, yes. The Rokurokubi, however, had not been so lucky.

It was exactly Wriggle had been expecting to end up as. The girl simply gone, as if she had never been there to begin with. The mosaic tiles she had been huddling on bore scorch marks and there were a few stray scraps of burnt fabric fluttering in the air, but nothing else. Wriggle's nostrils filled with the smell of burned ozone and roasted meat.

"She's gone!" Mystia shrieked. The night-sparrow had fallen to the floor and was pointing at the spot the Rokurokubi had been. "She was right there, and now she's gone!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you saying something?" Yuuka snarled. Her multitude of flower-eyes started to descend on their stalks, each and every single one of them burning with malice. "Wriggle, let me make one thing absolutely clear to you, you insignificant, simpering little whore! You do not get to-"

Alas for Yuuka, she never got around to establishing that one thing's clarity, because at that moment a sharp, predatory snarl filled the room, and everyone suddenly remembered the other monster present.

To be fair, ever since Yuuka had shut the door and sealed off their escape, Flandre hadn't exactly drawn much attention to herself. Her vampire ears were second only to Rin's, and the sudden loud noise had terrified her into seeking shelter behind one of the tulips. After that, she had continued to cower in its shadow, her fragile psyche probably switching to her Child aspect while Yuuka's presence had born down on her.

But the death of the Rokurokubi had changed that. Given how strongly she had reacted to Elly, it was probable that the vampire had, like Wriggle and Rin, considered the Rokurokubi to be something of a kindred spirit, though from her perspective the Rokurokubi had been another girl who understood what it was like to be locked up and left all alone. And with her newfound rationality and moral code, perhaps she had wanted to rescue the girl, to rescue all those Yuuka had imprisoned.

As such, seeing Yuuka so casually eliminate the girl had caused her to switch personas. Once again, the Predator ruled. And neither Wriggle nor Rin were at all inclined to stop her.

Her fear forgotten, Flandre shot into the air faster than even Rin's eyes could follow. Yuuka seemed surprised by the sudden attack, as if she had also forgotten that Flandre was there. The flower-eyes jerked back. There was another sharp whine followed by a flash of green, but this time it was shot off out of instinct instead of a carefully aimed execution, and Flandre was too fast for her. Yuuka's shot went wide, and a piece of the wall was blown to powder.

By then, Flandre was already seizing an entire length of black vine. With a bestial scream, she wretched it from the wall and tore it in half.

Again Wriggle was impressed by the vampire's strength. And since it was now being directed toward someone she didn't like, she had no problems with appreciating it.

Go, go! she cheered inwardly as Flandre torn another vine in twine. The only thing that could make this better if she were doing it herself.

"Oh, this ain't good," she heard Rin mutter.

Wriggle looked at her in surprise. "Huh? Why? Look at her, she's wreaking havoc!"

Rin shot her a surly look. "She's also a vampire. Powerful or not, they're kinda fragile, you know?"

Crap, that was a good point. The longer Flandre went berserk, the more likely she was to get shot out of the sky. Yuuka had yet to appear in the flesh, so tearing apart her plants would probably just made her angrier. And despite all of her amazing power, she was easily the most vulnerable member of their group.

Wriggle didn't know if the Rokurokubi was going to come back. She was a youkai, so theoretically she should be fine before too long. However, if Yuuka wished to prevent that, she most certainly could. But Flandre was a vampire, not a youkai. As such, in the case of her demise, she definitely wasn't going to come back.

"Can you do something?" Wriggle asked.

Rin frowned. "Well, restraining her is now out of the question. That'll just get her killed." She sighed. "Well, this was inevitable anyway."

With that Rin changed. She abandoned her original, Kirin body and adopted a form better suited for combat, with swift, muscular limbs; tearing claws and teeth; and a few other nasty bits. Then she burst into flames.

Wriggle let out a cry of alarm and leapt back, but the Kirin ignored her. "Hey, Yuuka!" she called to the ceiling. "Forget the vampire! It was my idea to come here, so I'm the one you-"

Then there was a blinding flash of light. It wasn't Yuuka's usual attack though. For one, there was no telltale whining sound as it charged up. For another, it was bright yellow instead of green. Wriggle blinked, clearing away the spots in her vision. When she could see, she saw that Rin was now lying on the floor, screaming and thrashing in agony as a needle-thin beam of yellow light sliced down from the ceiling directly into her temple. It spread over her body in crackling arcs like urine-colored electricity.

Wriggle's heart hammered away, but she forced herself to calm down. Okay, it was some kind of energy attack. That sucked, but dealing with those was sort of Rin's thing. Give her a few seconds, and Yuuka might as well be attacking her with a gentle spring rain.

Except…except that wasn't what was happening. The beam remained strong and steady, and Rin continued to scream.

"What's happening?" Daiyousei whispered, clutching at her Wriggle's arm. "Why isn't she adapting?"

Bewildered, Wriggle shook her head. "I…I don't know."

As for Mystia, she surprisingly hadn't broken down at she had in times past. Maybe the fear had gotten so great that she had forgotten how to panic. Maybe her concern for her friends had overcome her desire to flee and hide. Either way, she was standing next to Wriggle, watching Rin suffer with wide eyes. "She's killing her," she whispered.

"Well, we have to do something!" Daiyousei said.

"Mmmmph!" Cirno said through her disgusting gag. Then with a determined scowl, she thrust her arms out.

Again the temperature dropped, and a dome of ice sprung into place over Rin, shielding her from the beam. Wriggle blinked. Again Cirno had decided to ignore how massively out of her league she was and went for the obvious solution to save her friend. And again it had worked. If she kept this up then Wriggle might actually have to start respecting her.

Then the beam slashed through the ice and hit Rin again before she could get up.

Before anyone could react, they all heard a shrill shriek coming from above. Looking up, they saw that Flandre had been caught. Black vines encircled her wrists and ankles, and more were snaking in to entrap the rest of her. She pulled and screamed, but she was quickly becoming overwhelmed.

"Oh, Flandre," Yuuka sighed in regret as the vampire continued to fight. "You just never learned. That was always your problem. You just refused to learn."

Suddenly the yellow beam stopped, and Rin flopped over to her back, her body smoking.

"That is the problem with you kind," Yuuka said to her. "The problem you and her share. You just never bothered to learn."

Despite the agony she was in, Rin's face still twisted into a look of rage. "She…she did," she managed to whisper. "You just…you just…"

"No."

This time, Rin couldn't even scream.

When it passed, Yuuka said to her in a scornful tone, "I, on the other hand, have learned a great deal about you, Rin Satsuki. My time since our initial encounter has not been spent idly, and I have made a point to learn as much about your peculiarities as possible. And do you know what I've learned, Rin?"

The vines lowered themselves from the ceiling, the flower-eyes clustered together to stare smugly at the mutated Kirin. For her part, Rin could only lay where she was and stare back.

"I've learned that there is a way around your vaunted adaptation. I have found a way to make you vulnerable. And as it turns out, all I needed was a little faith."

Once again Rin was writhing in pain. Unable to watch any longer, Wriggle called out, "Come on!" and rushed toward her. She didn't stop to see if any of the others were following, mainly because a moment later a wave of invisible force exploded out from the center of the room and sent them all flying back.

The next thing Wriggle knew, she, Cirno, Mystia, and Daiyousei were all snatched off the ground and lifted into the air. Vines had thrust up through the earth between the tulips and grabbed them from behind. Immediately they began yelling and screaming and firing off every trick they had, but it was pointless. Not even Rin and Flandre could stand up to Yuuka. What chance did a handful of lower youkai have?

Yuuka continued torturing Rin and enveloping Flandre as the founding members of Team Nineball were held high. Glowing bits of danmaku shot every which way as the panicked children shot them off at random.

"And so the expedition crumbles," Yuuka said. "Though honestly, girls. Did you really expect this to end any other way?"

Her face contorting with the effort, Wriggle pushed herself up as much as she could and called out, "Why, Yuuka? Why'd you do this to them? Why'd you do this to me?"

The vine holding her suddenly paused, its slithering tendrils coming to a full stop. Then it lifted Wriggle high into the air, so that she was held in the exact center of the room, all of the flowers' eyes staring directly at her, their scarlet gazes dripping with malice and contempt.

"Why?" Yuuka repeated back to her. "You of all people dare to ask me why? You left me! You claimed to love me, and you abandoned me, you traitorous, selfish, backstabbing, heartbreaking-"

Even though Wriggle knew that it would probably get her head twisted off, she still found the courage to shout back, "That wasn't love! You don't even know what love it! You just used me because you liked how I made you feel! Then you beat me because you knew I couldn't fight back!"

The vines twisting around her started to tighten, making her gasp in pain. "How dare you?" Yuuka demanded. "After all I've done for you, you have the gall to complain about a little roughhousing? Where do you get off, you-"

"You raped me!" Wriggle shrieked.

Save for the hum of the beam used to pin Rin to the floor, everything fell silent.

"You…you did," Wriggle seethed, her terror and rage empowering her to finally say what she had wanted to say for far too long. "Just like you raped those girls in those flowers. And I bet you've done worse too, stuff that you're proud of. You're a monster, Yuuka. You just act nice to get people to like you, so they'll do what you want them too. But you only care about yourself." She let out a sound that was half a laugh, half a sob. "All your talk about how we outcasts gotta stick together, that you're on our side, that was all bullshit, wasn't it? Just a bunch of talk. Hell, you probably half convinced yourself. But you never really cared about us. I don't think you can. It's all about you, that's how it always was."

Finally Yuuka spoke, and when she did, her ethereal voice was dry and full of scorn. "Well, of course. After all, who else matters?"

Then the vine holding Wriggle reared up and slammed her into the ground.

Wriggle almost passed out them, the pain was so great. But somehow she managed to fight against the darkness that spotted her vision and clawed at her mind, enough to hear Yuuka say, "You're wrong about one thing. I was actually fond of your little family of head-lice. However, I must give you props. It really is all about me, as it should be. After all, I am Yuuka Kazami. I saw this galaxy form from dust and chance. I have tasted the hearts of stars and sipped from the cup of creation. You, however? You're just insects, that's all you ever were."

"So you think you can do what you want to us because you're so superior or whatever?" Rumia shouted.

There was a long and very noticeable pause. Then Yuuka said in a cold voice, "Why, yes. That's exactly it. I am the single greatest entity to grace this corner-pocket of creation. My will supersedes all. Welcome to reality, insect."

"You have no-"

"SILENCE!"

The vine hold Rumia swung back, smacking her against the wall. The blonde youkai's eyes bulged and she slumped down into its grasp.

"How dare you?" Yuuka demanded of her comatose captive. "How dare all of you? What do I have to do to make you understand? This is my world! This house, this garden, this whole country, it's mine! I am greater than anyone is capable of comprehending! More than a god, more than a demon, I am the main character in this damned story, and no one, not you, not Yukari Yakumo, not that damned Marisa, and especially not YOU, is going to change that! This is my story, mine! And it's time you all stopped laughing all the goddamned time and came to accept it!"

Then the vines started to withdraw, dragging their captives toward the soil. By then Flandre was so covered with them that she looked more like a cocooned moth than a vampire. Still she fought, struggling against the black tendrils that held her. It did her no good though, and soon she was dragged down into the ground.

The others soon followed. Rumia kept clawing and biting all the way down until the dirt closed over her head. Cirno shot off so much ice that even when she sank into the ground a solid layer of ice formed over where she disappeared. Over and over Daiyousei cried out for help, but those stopped when she was pulled under. Mystia had gone comatose, and didn't move at all as she went down, her winged hat remaining behind.

As for Rin, she looked like she was almost unconscious, so when a black vine speared her through the head and lifted her off the ground, she didn't move one bit. Unlike the others, she was actually lifted up into the rustling darkness of the ceiling, the leaves and flowers moving to embrace her limp body.

"I've got something special in mind for you and Flandre," Yuuka told her. "Since you don't seem to appreciate my having rescued you from darkness and isolation, then you can go right back to it. As for the rest of you, I'll deal with you when I have the time. Suffice to say though, since you were so eager to poke around in this room, I'll see to it that you never leave it again."

As for Wriggle, her legs were already disappearing beneath the soil. It was over. The vines were too strong, and she was just a tiny, low-level youkai. There was nothing she could do.

Or was there?

Before she could sink anything further, Wriggle thrust her hand into her pocket. When she drew it out, all of the creeping bugs Elly had found in her hair were crawling around her fingers.

Bringing them close to her mouth, Wriggle whispered, "Go! Get help! Get everybody! Yuuka's got us all! Save us!"

With that, she tossed them into the air. She couldn't see what happened then, because seconds later her entire upper body had been pulled down into the dark, and she could see no more.

…

Then

Freedom wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Wriggle shuffled her way through the Forest of Magic's gnarled paths, the piles of decaying leaves and sticks coming up to her ankles in places. One hand hugged a thin sheet around her shoulders, stolen from a farmhouse, while the other held a stale crust of bread. She had been gnawing on it for most of the day, trying to make it last, but now she was down to a half a mouthful at best. Then she would have nothing.

The going was slow, partially because her left ankle was developing a twinge that was getting worse with every step, and partially because she had nowhere to go. She had to keep moving though. The Forest of Magic was as unkind to lesser youkai like her as it was to Humans and dumb beasts. So she marched on, putting one foot in front of the other, concentrating on finding a way out or at least some sort of shelter in which to spend the night and trying not to think of how much her body ached; how tiredness was sucking the life from her bones; how pangs of hunger were biting away at her insides; and of things like warm beds, hot baths, being able to stuff her stomach until it had bloated up like a balloon whenever she wanted, and Elly.

One foot in front of the other. One foot in front of the other.

Wriggle raised her hand to her mouth to take another nibble, but found that all she had were crumbs. Disappointment made her stop for a moment as she looked down at her hand. She also felt betrayed by it for being empty.

"I shouldn't-" she found herself mumbling as her arms and shoulders started to trembled. She sniffed. "I shouldn't have…"

No. She couldn't afford this now. She had to keep moving. Forcing the tears away, Wriggle licked away the crumbs and started walking again. One foot in front of the other.

An eternity later (twelve minutes) Wriggle had to stop. The pain in her ankle was becoming too great. Sitting down on a rock, she gingerly eased her left leg up and pulled off the hard shoe she was wearing. It was hardly suited for stumbling around through the woods, but the alternative would be to go barefoot. Once it was off, she carefully massaged her ankle with her fingertips. It didn't help much, and it just meant that one more part of her body was exposed to the cold.

Sighing, she pulled her shoe back on and let her leg fall. This was so stupid. What had she been thinking? She had traded comfort and security with some pain for nothing but pain.

Maybe if I lick the mud off her boots she'll take me back, Wriggle thought bitterly. Maybe it won't be so bad. Better than this at-

Then she smelled it. It was faint and faraway and hard to pick out. The closely gathered trees didn't allow for much airflow. But it was there.

Food. Delicious hot food. And it was nearby.

Wriggle stood up and started marching toward the scent. She didn't have a choice in the matter. Her stomach was now fully in control and her legs were its unresisting accomplices. She even managed to increase her gait to a near-jog, she was so hungry.

Then the trees parted and she saw it.

She was out of the forest, near where one of the roads wandered in. And set up next to the road was some kind of stall. It looked like it had been converted from a wagon into a small but functional restaurant. Seats were arranged in front of the counter with a couple of tables a bit further off. Round lamps dangled from wires strung in the branches overhead, basking the area in a warm, welcoming glow.

And from the stall came the most heavenly scent Wriggle had ever experienced.

Freshly baked bread dripping with butter and honey. Roasted potatoes smothered in herbs. Sizzling chunks of pork slathered in some kind of honey sauce. And a sort of salty meat that Wriggle wasn't familiar with but really wanted to introduce herself to.

Wriggle almost staggered right up to the stall there and then, but a problem presented itself. There were people there.

Most of them were fairies. Three of them occupied one of the table, two blondes, one honey and one strawberry, and a girl with straight black hair. Two more were sitting at the counter, a spunky one whose hair and wardrobe all seemed to be centered on the color blue. Her wings were odd in that they were made from crystalline spikes. The other had green hair and golden wings, though she also had on a blue dress. They seemed to be friends, if they way they were talking and laughing together was any indication. A youkai was working behind the counter, this one some kind of bird girl. She had short brown hair tied back with a bandanna and a red-and-white checkered apron, and a pair of wings sprouted from her back. She carefully watched over sizzling skewers of meat and vegetables while she conversed with the fairies.

Wriggle paused, staring at the scene. Her hunger was all but demanding that she throw caution to the wind and go forth and eat already, while her fear was urgently insisting that she turn around and get her ass out of there immediately. She licked her lips, wondering if she could get away with one of those skewers if she flew fast enough and how harsh the punishment would be if she failed.

"Hey, you okay?"

Wriggle let out a yelp of surprise and whirled around. Another youkai was there, this one a girl with short, golden hair, decorated with a red-and-white ribbon. She wore a black skirt and vest over a white shirt and was watching Wriggle with a look of bemusement.

But most noticeable were her eyes. They were the color of freshly spilled blood, just like Yuuka's.

"What's up?" the girl said, tilting her head to one side. "Did I scare you or something?"

"Get away from me!" Wriggle cried as she hastily backed away, both hands held up to ward the other youkai off. Unfortunately in doing so, the sheet slipped from her shoulders and ended up tangling her feet. Wriggle went down hard.

The next few moments were a confusing blur of activity. The bird youkai and her customers all rushed over to see what the commotion was, and Wriggle stared up in terror as they clustered over her.

"Rumia, what'd you do to him?"

"Nothing! I just asked what was wrong, and he started freaking out!"

"Boy, he looks like he's had a bad time."

"Uh, Sunny? I don't think that's a 'he.'"

"Oh hey, you're right. My bad. What is she, anyway?"

"Some kind of bug. Hey, bug! You okay?"

Wriggle stared up at all the faces looking down at her. She wanted to scream at them to leave her alone, but for some reason, the words became twisted up in her throat, and instead she ended up sobbing out what she really wanted to say.

"Please…please help me."

And so they did.

…

Welp, that was the most uncomfortable chapter I've ever written. Good thing the Christmas special is right around the corner, because even I feel the need to detox.

Until next time, everyone.