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.

68. Fires of the Sun, Part 5

Fires of the Sun, Part 5

Utsuho may never have been the brightest ember in the fireplace, but she was strong. Ever since she had been coerced into devouring that old sun god (not her fondest memory, but a very bright one), she had consistently surprised herself with the sort of stuff she could do. All of a sudden she had gone from being the runt of the Palace of Earth Spirits to lifting enormous boulders with ease. She was able to fly incredibly long distances at high speeds without being winded (not that she often got the chance to). Her firepower was off the charts, something that she wasn't exactly thrilled about. And her constitution was incredible.

As such, despite being choked out by someone who knew what she was doing long past the point that would be fatal to mortals, Utsuho was surprised to find that, after clawing her way back to consciousness, her mental clock tied into the control rod on her arm told her that she had been out for only a few seconds.

Apparently that was still enough time for another one of those giant toothy flowers to sprout up right under feet, wrap her legs in vines, and start dragging her into its maw.

In a flash all of the haziness evaporated from Utsuho's mind as white-hot terror roared through her body. Screaming, she swung her control rod around and started blasting the flower with fireball after fireball. It writhed as it burned and blew apart, but she didn't stop shooting until there was nothing left but scattered smoking pieces.

Utsuho hastily pulled the now limp vines from her legs. Just the feel of them made her feel sick. She had been this close to getting eaten. This close. A few more seconds and…ugh. She supposed she should be grateful that it had been one of the flesh-eating flowers that had gone after her, and not those poison thorns.

As she straightened, she looked around and realized that she was alone. "S-Sakuya?" she called. There was no answer. Part of her was sort of scared that she was alone, but the rest of her…

Utsuho shivered. Why had Sakuya done that? They were supposed to be on the same team! Okay, so things had gone all sorts of rotten, but that hadn't been Utsuho's fault, had it?

Maybe Sakuya was mad that she had to save Utsuho from that other flower. They had brought her along specifically for her firepower, after all. Maybe she felt that if Utsuho couldn't do the job she had been brought to do, then the dumb bird-brain would just slow her down.

Utsuho's wings wilted at the thought. Yes, that made sense. People kept telling that despite all her power, she just didn't have a killer's instinct. Well, she did once, but they had yelled at her for that too, so she wasn't really sure what they expected from her. Either way, Sakuya probably was sick of having her team die on her and felt that she would do better by herself. She was probably right.

But what was Utsuho supposed to do then? Go find the maid and convince her not to go alone? That would just slow her down even more. Keep looking for Satori on her own? She didn't even know if Satori was in the mansion at all! Help Rin Satsuki fight Yuuka? She would just get in the way. Go back and save the kids?

Yes. Yes, that was the only thing that made sense. Someone had to save those children. They were trapped and helpless now. Besides, Utsuho had promised Rin Satsuki that she would keep them safe, and wasn't about to let her down.

Then something came crashing up through the ashen crust she was standing on, knocking her down.

Utsuho rolled onto her back to see more of those horrible plants. Waving vines, thorns dripping with poison, and no fewer than three of those carnivorous flowers. From the look of things, they had seen what she had done to their comrade and had come to deal out vengeance.

As Utsuho watched them rear up over her, something sort of snapped inside of her. She was getting sick of this. Sick of the plants, sick of getting knocked around, sick of watching people she cared about get hurt and die. And she was really sick of being unable to do anything about it.

It also occurred to her that now that she was alone, there was no one she had to be careful about not hurting.

Utsuho stood up. Her control rod let out several jets of steam and then extended, its external flaps opening up around the barrel. She let her fear, frustration, guilt, and uncertainly melt away from her, to be replaced by only cold resolution and burning ruthlessness. And she did it with two simple words, spoken to the core of her being.

Falken's Maze.

There was a gentle buzz, and her core responded in a calm, soothing voice.

Password "Falken's Maze" accepted. Spellcard System overridden. Removing Safety Locks…

Please standby…

Caution! Safety Locks removed. Lethal Force…Authorized. Please be cautious.

…

Deep Within

Three to go, Rin thought ruefully as Yuuka's sharp heel dug into the back of her neck. Three to freaking go. Me and my big. Freaking. Mouth.

She supposed that it was her fault for getting cocky. After all, she had overcome and summarily defeated one of Yuuka's…whatever they were, and had come out of it no worse for the wear, her various wounds completely healed. What was more, she had robbed Yuuka of whatever religious power she had been using to negate Rin's adaptability. Rin still wasn't sure what that had been all about, but she wasn't about to question it.

Unfortunately, her victory had a predictable, yet problematic, side-effect. It had really, really pissed Yuuka off.

For once, the inhuman abomination from who-knew-where had nothing to say. No taunts, no insults, no whining, no laughing, nothing. Just cold, precise violence.

And there were still three of her.

As Yuuka continued to crush Rin's face into the ground, Rin lost form and slithered her gelatinous mass up Yuuka's leg. She got as far as the knee before Yuuka's entire lower leg detached from the whole, leaving Rin with a gross limb in her body and nothing else.

Rin tried to expel the thing before her body started to absorb it. The last thing she wanted was any of Yuuka's essence in her. But before the thought was able to translate into action, Yuuka hit her.

She didn't actually touch Rin. No fist, foot, or tentacle made contact with Rin's viscous mass. She simply hurled her will at her opponent and Rin was bowled over like a tin can in a hurricane.

She was swept off the floor and sent tumbling through the hallway. At the far end was a broken window, and she might have passed right through had not a thick, black tentacle lashed out from the wall to smack her down.

Rin started to rise up, her body reforming its shape, when she was hit again. And again, Yuuka's boneless limbs striking her like a slave-master's whip. It wasn't exactly what she would call fun, but still pretty light, all things considered.

The tentacle drew back and lashed forward again, but this time Rin was ready for it. Her arm shot out, and instead of smacking her body down again, the tentacle ended up cracking around her forearm. Another lashed out from the opposite wall, and Rin caught it with her other arm.

To most people, Rin's predicament would be a dangerous one, probably fatal. She had both arms caught by the appendages of an otherworldly monster. All they had to do was pull, and she would be ripped in two.

But Rin wasn't most people. She never had been.

Before Yuuka's tentacles could apply even the slightest bit of pressure, they burst into flames, starting with Rin's arms and running down their length to set everything on the wall alight. Rin yanked her arms free and sprayed the wall with an extra helping of liquid fire, just for good measure.

Then several black spears shot out from all other directions to impale her body. Rin went stiff as her mind registered intense pain.

The spears withdrew, and she slumped down to one knee.

"Rin?" Flandre whispered.

Grimacing Rin waved her off. The pain was already receding, and was no worse than anything else she had endured.

But then a horrible, twisted hand grasped the back of her physical head and drove her facefirst into the ground.

Rin groaned as Yuuka started to squeeze. As withered and frail as her fingers may have appeared, they had lost none of their strength. Rin felt her head started to bend like the flesh of a squeezed grape.

Naturally she responded with fire. This time, however, Yuuka had been expecting that. She immediately withdrew.

And then Rin was smacked with something that felt like a chunk of marble. As she was reeling, Yuuka grabbed her again and resumed squeezing.

"Okay," Rin muttered, her face contorted, hands grasping at her temples. "She is really pissing me off."

"Then kill her!" Flandre said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"What do you think I've been trying-" Yuuka applied even more pressure. "Ah! All right, that does it."

It was sort of funny how often people forgot that Rin's body was made of a weird gelatinous substance. Sure, magic allowed her to take on forms based on those she had absorbed, and the abilities her current hostages had gave her even more control over her appearance. But it was all still goo. Cut off her arm and it dissolved into slime, not flesh, bone, and blood. Hit her hard enough and whatever form she was wearing would temporarily lose shape and color. In fact, Yuuka had done just that many times during the fight, but had still forgotten that squeezing Rin's head did no more damage than twisting her pinky. It hurt, yet, but nothing important was being damaged. And it came with the problem of actually touching Rin.

As Yuuka sunk her fingers into Rin, Rin responded in kind. The back of her head literally leapt up to envelop Yuuka's hand and lower arm, grasping it tight.

From there, Rin had a number of options. She could try to absorb what she had, but that wouldn't accomplish anything useful, and again, she didn't want any of Yuuka's essence to stay with her. She could make with the fire, but Yuuka would just leave the arm with Rin like she had with the leg and retreat before anything important got burned. She could take advantage of the closeness and do unto Yuuka as she had done unto Rin and start stabbing, but other than feel really good, what would that accomplish?

So she went with something she didn't use very often.

Kaguya Houraisan may not have been the most talented sorceress or the most practiced one, but she knew a thing or two. And she did possess a neat bag of tricks when it came to combat magic. One had to, if one had to deal with Fujiwara no Mokou and her fire on a regular basis. Among those was proficiency in destructive energies other than fire. Ones that were quicker than heat and, well, electrifying.

Before Yuuka could free herself, Rin sent an untold number of magical volts up her arm and into her body. Hot pink lightning danced across her shriveled skin and sank its fangs into her heart.

Yuuka froze, her eye widening. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. However a bit of smoke did. Her body twitched as her dead-looking skin turned black and flaked off.

Rin chose that moment to whirl around to face her. Still caught in Rin's grasp, Yuuka's lower arm snapped off at the elbow. Rin plucked it from her head, tossed it aside, and baked it with a quick jet of flame. Then she seized Yuuka's neck with both hands.

There was a game Rin had seen a few times at festivals, back before she had changed, when Reisen would lead her by the hand to go visit the booths and help her pick out the treat of the night. It was a box with nine holes, with a fairy doll in each of the holes. Inside the box was a machine that would cause the fairies to pop up and down out of the holes at random, and the paying customer would try to whack the fairies on the head with a rubber hammer before they ducked back down out of reach. Rin had tried playing the game only a couple of times and hadn't really done well. Her reflexes had been pretty bad back then, and was never able to win any of the prizes. However, here she had was a chance to try again.

What Rin had in mind operated under very similar principles. There were no moving targets to hit and no large stuffed kitties to win, but the general idea was the same. She had an entire mansion made out of solid marble to be her fairy, and one ugly creep to act as her hammer.

Rin spun around and slammed Yuuka's face into one wall. Yuuka's body jerked, her arms sticking straight out at her sides. Then she turned and drove the back of Yuuka's head into the opposite wall. Yuuka made a sound like a strangled cough and bits of broken teeth popped out of her mouth.

"That was for what you did to Flandre!" Rin shouted at her, her voice sounding a whole lot more intimidating on the other side of the screen. "And this is for Rumia!" She drove the top of Yuuka's head right through the crater her face had made. Then she seized Yuuka by the ankles and hauled her back out again. From there, she started flinging her back and forth like a whip, striking each wall in turn. "And this is for Wriggle! And this is for Cirno! And this is for Daiyousei! And this is for Mystia! And this…"

She grabbed Yuuka's limp and crumpled form by the waistband of her tattered skirt and the back of her collar and ran her into the adjoining hall way. There, the devastation was much the same as it was everywhere else, except this hallway still had a line of stone pillars still standing. They were cracked and blackened from all the heat being thrown around, but they were at least intact.

Not for long.

"This is for every other little girl you've ever hurt," Rin seethed through clenched teeth. She took off running, her powerful legs propelling her forward like a charging bull, Yuuka's battered body held to one side.

Specifically the side with the pillars.

"One!" Rin cried as they smashed the first pillar into dust. She continued counting off each one in line. "Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven! And…" A hail of marble chunks, ash, and fine dust scattered everywhere. "Twelve!"

She hurled Yuuka to the ground. By now she was little left to her except a mess of twitching, broken limbs and hair that didn't resemble a person in the slightest. Rin looked down at her in contempt. Next to her, Flandre started laughing.

"And this," she said as she drew up heat. The screen brightened as her physical body lit up. "Is for me."

She raised her glowing hands above her head. All right, she thought in grim satisfaction. That's two dow-

Then something seized her by the neck and yanked back. Rin gagged and reflexively released the heat she had been storing up. Flames washed harmlessly across the roof.

Staggering back, Rin had just enough time to take in the sight of the two other Yuukas standing side-by-side and looking quite put out before one of them rammed her fist into Rin's stomach. Rin doubled over with a gasp, and the other slammed a slab of marble into Rin's back.

"Not this time, dearie-o," said one of the Yuuka's in a cold voice. Then they seized Rin by the arms, hoisted her up, and hurled her head-first right through the wall.

…

Yuuka stood beside herself, the two of them silently watching as the dust cleared from around the large hole in their once-beautiful marble wall. Apparently they had thrown her harder than expected, because she had gone through at least one other wall and a door as well, leaving even more destruction along the way.

She sadly shook her head. What a waste. What a terrible, terrible waste. Their lovely home, all of their wonderful friends, now gone. The mansion could not be saved. The plants were almost all dead. All thanks to one murderous child and her awful friends.

The two Yuukas exchanged a solemn look. Then they turned their attention to what was left of their sister-self.

She was in poor shape. Better than the poor Yuuka that had been tortured by faith and fire alike, but not by much. Rin had broken everything that could be broken and mashed the rest. Only her heroic will was keeping her alive.

"Hush, sister," Yuuka murmured as she and the other knelt down next to her. They each placed a hand on the pulped flesh. "You did well. Now, rest."

The broken Yuuka shuddered. A harsh, rattling sound came out of what was left of her throat, thanking them for the small comfort.

Then her body split apart, the flesh, bones, hair, organs, and everything else rushing in two directions, absorbed into the hands of her sister-selves. Her body melted into their own, adding her essence to the two that remained.

Once the deed was done, the two Yuukas rose in unison. "That girl is a serious problem," one said. "And the relics have turned against us. We have little time remaining."

"Indeed," said the other. "Well now, if the belief of mortals will no longer serve, perhaps we should look to the opposite."

Yuuka nodded in understanding. Then she smiled. After all, there was a certain poetic beauty to what her sister-self was suggesting. "I agree," she said. "Get the knife."

…

Target locked on. Firing.

Target destroyed! Acquiring new target…

Target locked on. Firing.

Target destroyed! Acqui-

Target locked on. Fir-

Target de-

Locked o-

Fir-

Fi-

Fi-

Shot after shot after shot of nuclear fire flew out of the barrel of Utsuho's control rod, blowing flower, vine, and thorn to flaming pieces. As soon as one shot left the barrel, she was already taking aim at her next target and firing before the previous two were destroyed. It didn't matter what it was or how scary it looked. If it got within fifteen meters of her, it burned.

Fi-

Fi-

Tar-

Fi-

But it didn't do Utsuho much good. She was still steadily losing ground. It didn't matter how many blossoms she blew apart or how many vines she severed, they just kept coming and coming. And unlike the angry arboreal defenders she had helped destroy on their way in, these weren't simply resisting a violent gang of invaders. These were out for blood. Her blood.

Even through the haze of digital calm that entering BattleMode gave her, Utsuho was starting to feel a slight bit of concern.

As the attacking plants slowly drove her back, part of Utsuho took note that her surroundings had become somewhat familiar. She was once again in Yuuka Kazami's private quarters, or at least what was left of them after Rin Satsuki had passed through. That same part also noted that if that was the case, then she wasn't far from that room with all the big flowers they had rescued the kids from. This was furthered into the realization that if the kids had been taken back to the same room, Utsuho wasn't going to have to go far to save them!

Goody.

Still, even with her current predicament, it gave her a goal to focus on. The fork was coming up. One of the branching hallways would take her to the room with the flowers, while the other led to a locked door that Rin Satsuki had pointedly ignored. Once she reached that point, all Utsuho had to do was let the plants back her towards the right door, and-

Hang on.

Warning. Confusion detected. Compensating for sub-routines.

Which way was it, left or right?

Recent memory requested.

Error.

Left or right? Which way was it, damn it!

Error. Unable to process request.

Why the hell not?

Error. Due to increased traffic of BattleMode routines, we are unable to process your request. Please try again later.

That meant Utsuho was going to have to decide for herself.

Warning. Panic levels rising. Increased stress on combat routines.

No. No. She couldn't afford to lose herself to fear, not now. Calm down, Utsuho. Just stay calm, and let BattleMode assess the situation…

Caution. Multiple threats detected from new direction.

Utsuho had reached the fork. Branching off to her right was a relatively empty corridor, as devastated as the others. There was nothing really of note down that direction. However, to her left…

Caution! Caution! Extreme danger!

To her left was a veritable jungle of death.

They were clustered as thickly as she had ever seen, the vines black instead of green, the flowers a nauseating display of bright, venomous colors. There was all the ones she had been fighting, plus several new ones. Toothed, predatory blossoms, acid-filled pitchers, thorn-covered puffballs, and plenty of those glittering blue ones that gave her a headache.

Death was waiting for her in that hallway. As she approached, the vines twitched and slithered while the flowers rose up, some of them hissing warnings.

But they didn't attack. They weren't there to kill her like the ones still pursuing her were. They were there to keep her out.

And just beyond them she was able to glimpse the vague outline of a door.

Utsuho wasn't an especially bright thinker. She knew it well. After all, everyone had spent years reminding her. And she was honestly okay with that. There were smarter people with her she could rely on to do the thinking for her.

But even so, it seemed to her that if she wanted to find the place where a bunch of captives were being held, then the way that was the most strongly defended was her best bet.

That decided, Utsuho sent a single command to the program that was guiding her movements.

Acknowledged. Reprioritizing targets.

The jungle writhed and hissed with agitation.

FireSpray mode engaged. Targets locked on.

Despite herself, Utsuho found herself smiling.

Firing.

…

When Yuuka's plants snatched the children away from their rescuers and hauled them back into captivity, they did not go quietly. Those who could scream did so, and loudly. Those who didn't have the strength for that cried to themselves, certain that the nightmare was only just beginning. A few even fought. Cirno personally left two frozen bramble thickets in their wake before on especially thick vine clubbed her senseless for what had to be the third time that day.

It didn't matter. There was nothing they could do.

This is it, Wriggle though numbly as she was hauled along. It's over. Yuuka had them. There would be no further rescues. And once she finished with Rin, Yuuka was going to make them pay for defying her. Make her pay. After all, Wriggle had been the first to hurt her.

Wriggle didn't care. She couldn't. She was just too tired. Please, let it be quick, she begged to anyone that might possibly be listening. I don't care what she does. Just let it end.

As the vines carried them through smashed walls and ruined corridors, she kept expecting them to take a sudden turn toward Yuuka's private quarters, to bring them back to her old room, now the Tulip Room. They would then be put back in their flowers. It didn't matter if the old flowers were dead, Yuuka would just grow new ones. Then, trapped in their horrible softness of their prisons, they would wait for Yuuka to return.

And return she would.

Wriggle's head lolled back and forth as she was carried along. She wasn't half-unconscious like Rumia was, she just couldn't summon up the will to straighten up. What was the point? They were dead, each and every one of them. Even if they lived for a hundred years more in Yuuka's mansion, they were still dead. Just corpses with beating hearts, their lives rendered pointless.

She closed her eyes and waited.

Then a warm hand fell upon her shoulder. Jerking in surprise, Wriggle twisted around to see the girl with short blue hair and only one eye open. She still didn't seem to be able to open her mouth, but the look in her pale blue eye conveyed her earnestness. She shook her head, silently telling Wriggle not to give up.

In answer, Wriggle could only stare back, as silent as the other girl was. What good was hope now? No doubt the girl had long hoped for rescue, all through that time spent trapped half-naked in a monstrous flower, the terror and monotony broken only by Yuuka's evil visits. What good had hope done her then? Her rescue had come after all, only to fail. And now she was trapped again.

It was then that Wriggle noticed that they had stopped moving. The plants had brought them to a circular room with a domed roof all right, but it wasn't the Tulip Room, the room that once had been Wriggle's own. Instead, it was the room Yuuka had given to Team Nineball for their sleeping quarters, back before everything had gone sour. It was curiously untouched as well. Their possessions were still lying where they had left them, almost as if the last few days had not happened.

Wriggle gazed blankly at her surroundings without reaction. Well, whatever. One room was no different from another. A prison was a prison after all.

The vines curled around the room, wrapping around the walls and the lower part of the dome like a large, leafy anaconda, the captured girls whimpering in its grasp. Smaller tendrils crisscrossed through the center of the room, adorned with angry looking flowers. Their wardens, no doubt.

"DESPICABLE!"

A cry of surprise and dismay rose from the girls. The voice wasn't Yuuka's. It was much too shrill and grating, like a rat with throat cancer. But it didn't seem to have an owner. Those not quivering with fear glanced nervously around, trying to find the speaker.

"Despicable, despicable, DESPICABLE!" the voice hissed. "You are the property of the master, HER PROPERTY! Nothing more than toys. TOYS DO NOT RUN AWAY! Terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE! Such bad behavior, such insolence!"

The other girls murmured nervously. Then the one with the horns and smart mouth shouted out, "Screw Yuuka! We're not her toys!"

Wriggle wasn't sure if the loud show of rebellion was an expression of her actual feelings or if she was just being contrary like usual, but it was the first thing to come out of her mouth that the firefly wholeheartedly agreed with. And judging by the timid but still defiant cries that went up, it seemed that the others agreed.

Unfortunately for the horned girl, all that did was earn her a tendril around the neck. It snaked over her throat and tightened hard. Her eyes bulged, she made a strangled squeaking sound, and then slumped unconscious.

The rebellious cheers died instantly.

"See?" demanded the voice. "See, see, see, SEE? That's what misbehavior gets you! Oh, you've all been so naughty. The master is going to punish you for sure. So we're just going to hold you here until she gets back. And we she does, you'll be sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, SORRY!"

Too late for that. Wriggle had been sorry ever since she had been stupid enough to come back.

What an idiot she had been. Sure, it had been Cirno's stupid idea, but Cirno was already known to be incredibly dumb. What excuse did Wriggle have? She had known better, had known what Yuuka was like, and she had come back anyway. Not only that, she had led the rest of her friends into the same trap!

She deserved whatever Yuuka had in store for her. This was all her fault. This was-

And then a miracle happened.

"Hail, Ascended One! Rejoice, for your salvation is at hand!"

Wriggle paused. This new voice was different from the one that had been taunting them. It was high-pitched, yes, but nearly as shrilly grating. Rather, it was cheerful buzz, full of joy and optimism.

Wriggle turned her head ever so slightly to the right. There, a small, black fly was perched on her shoulder.

No way.

"At this very moment our brethren from unknown worlds are laying waste to the Cursed One's dark domain," the fly happily reported. "Her foul creations have provided a feast beyond imagination. However, we, Gensokyo's faithful, were charged with a sacred duty from the most holy creeping ones, the insect lords themselves!"

Wriggle blinked. "They got my message?" she whispered. It was very hard not to shout with joy, but she couldn't allow the fly to be discovered.

"Indeed, and their response was unanimous! Under the cover of chaos we managed to infiltrate the Cursed One's nest. Many doubted that you could be found, but none turned away from our mission." The fly's wings fluttered proudly. "The fates must have been smiling upon us, for here you are!"

"Can you save us?" Wriggle said. "Can you get us out of this?"

The sound of the fly's buzzing wings very much resembled a laugh.

Meanwhile, the shrill voice continued to rant on and on. "Never again will you so much have a cross thought about the master! In fact, you're never going to have another thought at all! You're toys, and toys shouldn't be thinking! Stupid, stupid, STUPID! You should do nothing but…YEEARGH!"

Acting on some unheard and unseen signal, the room suddenly filled with thousands of skittering black dots. They rushed in from under the rugs, under the furniture, through the door, and down from the room. They swarmed through the air, the sound of their wings a loud, thrumming percussion.

Many of the girls cried out in fear, anticipating another new horror. They needn't have worried though. They weren't the targets.

The plants, however, had reason to be concerned.

It was sort of fascinating to watch, in a rather horrifically beautiful sort of way. The vines, leaves, and flowers simply seemed to dissolve away like they had been dropped in acid. The swarm descended upon them en masse and ripped them apart in seconds.

Suddenly free of their restraints, the girls all fell to the floor, where the insects had helpfully moved cushions and couches to break their fall.

The shrill voice spoke no more.

"Mmmm, spicy," buzzed the fly Wriggle had been speaking to. "Ascended One, is there anything else you and your friends require?"

Anything else? Well, yes. Help getting everyone out of there. Making sure Rin successfully defeats Yuuka. A place to hide. And diplomatic immunity would be nice as well. Being rescued from Yuuka only to get executed by Yukari Yakumo would sort of ruin her day.

But before Wriggle could voice her requests, a second miracle happened.

It started off as a hum, barely distinguishable over the sound of the insects' wings. But then it quickly grew louder and louder until it emerged fully as a distorted scream of panic, coming from the hallway.

Then the door was smashed in.

A flying body was hurled into the room at an angle, causing all the insects to take to the air in alarm. It hit the floor and skidded hard enough to leave burning tracks before smashing right into the fountain in the center of the room. Apparently the body had been coming in hot, because as soon as it touched the water a cloud of steam immediately hissed into the air, filling the lower part of the room with warm fog.

Eventually the fog began to clear, and when it did they were all treated to a strange sight. All of the water had evaporated, leaving the bottom of the fountain empty. The body was lying at the base of the marble statue of a woman holding a water pot that served as the fountain's centerpiece. The base had been heavily cracked and the statue was now tilted at an angle. However, the water continued to pour out of the stone pot, its arc leading it to splash down right on the body's butt. There, it instantly evaporated as well, creating a tall pillar of steam.

Everyone stared without saying anything. Even with as many strange things they had seen, this took the cake.

For a long moment the body didn't move. In fact, it appeared to be dead.

Sensing a need, Cirno broke the silence. "R-Rin?"

For a moment nothing happened. Then Rin let out a very pained groan. She slowly pushed herself up on her palms while the water from the fountain continued to pour onto her ass.

"Oh man," Rin grumbled as she rubbed her head. "That was-"

Then there was a loud crack, and the statue broke from its base to fall fully on top of her, shoving her back down.

Again Rin lay still for a time. Then she sighed and maneuvered the statue off of her, where it fell to pieces. "Okay," she whispered as she eased herself around into a sitting position. "Okay, okay, okay. That hurt. But I was close. I was real close to-"

Then she caught sight of all the eyes watching her and froze. She looked around, her hellfire eyes widening in shock.

"Oh, for crying out loud," she said as she leapt to her feet. "Why! Are you guys! Still! HERE?"

…

Utsuho had chosen wrong.

She realized her mistake the moment she had shot her way through the lethal jungle and blasted the large doubledoor off of its hinges. The room beyond was most definitely not the circular prison where the kids had been trapped in fat, colorful flowers. Instead, she had found herself in a bedroom, and a very nice one at that. Pretty furniture, a very large bed surrounded by a canopy, bigger than even Satori's bed, tasteful knick-knacks, and large picture windows opening to the battle going on outside.

And surprise, surprise, it was filled with plants. Not as many as were outside, but more than enough to pose a serious threat. They reacted to her entrance, rearing up like startled snakes.

Utsuho wasn't bright, but she could at least see what was right in front of her. She had gone the wrong way and somehow ended up in Yuuka Kazami's bedroom, a place she most definitely did not want to be.

She turned go back the way she had come, but that way was now blocked. Unlike before, the halls she had cleared of plants didn't stay clear. Why was that though? Whenever Rin Satsuki swept a room clean, nothing grew back.

Maybe this small gathering was all that there was left, and this was their last stand. Maybe the other rooms had been written off as beyond saving and left alone, while Yuuka Kazami's bedroom got top priority. Or maybe (and Utsuho had a sinking feeling that this was the real reason) Utsuho just wasn't as scary as Rin Satsuki was, and they thought that they had at least a chance of taking her down.

Whatever the reason, Utsuho now found herself surrounded.

She lifted her control rod to fire, but they were already lunging. She was shoved back and sent staggering against one of the big bed's posts. She tried to straighten up and regain her bearings, but a vine swatted her like a fly.

Utsuho was sent flying backward to crash into a delicately carved pink dresser. The heavy piece of furniture was smashed by the impact, scattering skirts, blouses, and underthings. Makeup and jewelry boxes tumbled to the floor, their contents falling all over the place.

For a brief moment all of the plants froze. The vine that had struck her cringed a bit, as if actually bashful for accidentally breaking one of its master's possessions.

Then Utsuho blasted it to pieces.

That got the others going. They came at her all at once, vines whipping and flowers hissing. Again Utsuho was beset from all sides, and it was all she could do just so stay alive.

Target locked-

Tar-

Targe-

Firin-

Tar-

Fi-

They kept coming and coming. Utsuho tried to keep a cool head, to lose herself in the clinical detachment of BattleMode, but her own fear kept pushing her out.

Utsuho fired and fired and fired again, but it wasn't doing any good. They were getting closer.

Target loc-

Fi-

F-

Tar-

ALERT! SATORI DETECTED!

Target lo-

Tar-

Fi-

Wait, WHAT?!

Utsuho's eyes snapped to the ground. There lay the tumbled remains of a white jewelry box, its glittering contents scattered all around it. That in itself wasn't of any interest. As much as Utsuho liked pretty baubles, this was far from the time to go trying on necklaces.

But one particular piece had caught her attention. It was a gold ring, set with a round, multi-faceted crystal the size of a golf-ball. Normally a gemstone that large would seem overly garnish and tacky, but was of note was that it was literally glowing with a soft lavender light that no mere rock should have been capable of. What was more, Utsuho's sensors had detected faint traces of living energy emitting from the stone, an essence that Utsuho knew all too well.

Utsuho was not a quick thinker, but now that she had an actual computer installed into her body she was capable of putting together the pieces for her. And it quickly assessed that that the crystal was identical to the one Yuuka Kazami had taunted her with as she had proudly bragged about murdering Utsuho's master and sealing her soul up in a-

Realization struck Utsuho like lightning bolt. In less than a second she was on her feet, legs spread in the ready position, control rod out and glowing. All of Utsuho's fears and doubts were gone, replaced by nothing but determination to win. Her eyes glowed bright as she sent a brief mental command to her core.

Command accepted. Engaging DeathBlossomMode.

And the room lit up with the fires of the Sun.

…

Deep Within

Rin was getting mad. Well, okay, she had been mad already, but there was a difference between the fury of battle and the sheer frustration that her instructions hadn't been carried out.

She had told Sakuya to get the kids out of the mansion, told her over and over again! They had a deal! And okay, so maybe Sakuya wasn't going to get what she wanted after all, but she had no way of knowing that, and that had been Flandre's call to make anyway! Rin had done what she had said she was going to do. Why hadn't Sakuya done her part?

Come to think of it, where the hell was she anyway?

"Rin," Flandre said as she stared at the screen. "Who're they?"

Rin shot the vampire an annoyed glance. "Flan. C'mon. You know them."

"Not them," Flandre said, sounding as irritated as Rin felt. She waved a hand in the direction of their mutual friends. "I know them. But who are all the others?"

"Oh." Right, Flandre had yet to meet their fellow escapees. "Uh, remember those flowers in that room Yuuka caught us in?"

Flandre's brow furrowed in puzzlement. Granted, her memory was pretty sketchy, and she had been through a lot since then. "Sort of?"

"Yeah, one of them had that girl with the red hair whose head kept falling off…"

"Oh!" Flandre said, her eyes widening with realization. "Right!"

"Cool." Rin nodded toward the screen. "Well, they were in the other flowers." She pointed to the redhead in question, who was still passed out, her head resting on her stomach. "See?"

Flandre gaped. "She's alive! That's great!"

"Yup." Rin turned her attention back to the outside. "Okay guys, what's going on? Why are you all still here? And where the freaking hell is Sakuya and the others?"

Nobody responded to her question, but it was clear by the uneasy glances they were sending each other that they all knew the answer. Rin's irritation grew. "Well?" she demanded. "Where's the big, bad killing expert, huh? And where's Utsuho and…those other two? Did Yuuka finally scare them off?"

"They're gone."

Rin blinked, her anger giving way to sudden chagrin and discomfort. "Uh, when you say they're gone, do you mean-"

"Gone," Wriggle said flatly. "The plants got them. They brought us here for Yuuka."

Rin honestly wasn't sure how to react. Okay, okay, so she still really didn't like Sakuya Izayoi, much as she had despised Patchouli Knowledge. Back during her long years of confinement in that crystal box, when she was at her angriest, Rin would often pass away the time by concocting revenge fantasies, about how she would make those two pay for what they had done to her. In her imagination, she made them scream, she made them cry, she made them feel like absolute trash and beg for her forgiveness. Sometimes, when she was in a particularly malicious mood, she even killed them, ended their worthless lives as easily as they had ruined hers.

It wasn't something she was particularly proud of, but hey, nine years is a long time to harbor a grudge. And isolation does strange things to a mind. But even if Rin wasn't the vengeful murderer she had fantasized about, she still hated them, and would not weep for any downfall that overtook those two.

But now they were gone, and Rin felt…conflicted.

She ought to be happy. She got her revenge, and hadn't needed to soil her own conscience in doing it. After all, it was their own actions that had led to their deaths. The Satsuki Experiment had indirectly led to this moment. If they hadn't ruined Rin's life, they would have never needed to be here. And in the end, it had been Yuuka and Elly who had taken their lives. Rin's hands were clean.

Why, then, did this feel so wrong?

Because I didn't want them to die, the answer came from somewhere inside of her. Not really. I just wanted them to say they were sorry.

And now they never would.

As Rin sat frozen by the whirlwind of contradicting emotions raging inside of her, she heard the sound of a strangled sob. Turning her head, she saw Flandre staring at the screen, mouth hanging open in shock.

And tears trickling out of her nightmare eyes.

Rin had no idea what to say. For a moment she had gotten so caught up with her own conflicting feelings that she had forgotten that Flandre would react even more strongly. After all, Sakuya had been a part of Flandre's life for who knew how long. And despite her earlier expressed anger toward the icy-eyed maid, Rin realized that she really didn't know how Flandre had felt about Sakuya Izayoi.

Had she feared her? Resented her for being her jailor? Or had there been respect? Love? Friendship? Tenderness? Kindness? A weird combination of them all?

Who could really tell what was in the mind and the heart of a broke immortal child trapped forever between death and life? Who could even begin to conceive what went on inside a creature like Flandre Scarlet? Rin certainly couldn't. She had been through horrific experiences of her own that in many ways mirrored Flandre's, and had perhaps been the first person to ever get a glimpse of what was inside of the vampire's soul, and she still didn't really understand her.

But she at least knew what Flandre needed.

She needed a friend.

"Flan," Rin said softly. "Are you okay?"

Flandre let out another choking sob and shook her head. She knelt down, arms wrapped around her chest, hugging herself tightly.

After a moment of hesitation, Rin reached out and touched Flandre's shoulder. When the vampire didn't shake her off, she gently drew the other girl into her arms and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"I'm sick of this," Flandre responded as she cried into Rin's shoulder. "I'm sick of death. Everywhere I go is filled with death. Everyone I care about dies. Everyone I hate dies. Everyone I don't even know dies. Either I kill them or something else does." She sniffed. "I…I died. And Remilia died. And everything else keeps dying and dying and dying…"

"I know."

"And now…now you're gonna die. And I'm gonna die again. And they're gonna die, and-"

"Flandre," Rin said in a firm tone. "We are not going to die."

"Yes we are," Flandre said bitterly. "Yuuka's gonna kill us. Her, or that meanie Miss Yakumo. They all hate us."

"Yes, they do. But, uh, Flan? I don't know if you've noticed, but I am kinda hard to kill, you know?" Rin separated from the little vampire to look her square in the burning furnaces of her eyes. She still remembered how terrifying Flandre had looked when she had first absorbed her days ago. The vampire had materialized in the darkness of Rin's mind like a Demon summoned straight out of Hell, her eyes a burning inferno, her wings scorching flames, and her scarlet aura filling the void like hellfire being spat out of the Abyss. In appearance she still looked pretty much the same, that weird hybrid of hellish power and childlike innocence. But after having looked into Flandre's soul, Rin couldn't find much scary about her anymore. The vampire was just like her, after all, and just like Rumia. A little girl forced into becoming a monster. That sort of made her like Rin's sister.

"And I am not going to let them kill any of us," Rin told her in a tone that brook no argument. "We are all getting out of here alive. The only one that's gonna die is Yuuka, okay?"

Swallowing, Flandre wiped her nose and nodded. "Okay. Okay."

"Just hold on for a little longer, all right? Can you do that for me?"

Flandre nodded again. "Sure."

"Rin?" Rin heard Cirno's slightly distorted voice say. "Uh, Rin? Helllloooo! Are you listening?"

"Right," Rin sighed. Back to business.

The two girls turned back to the screen and the multitude of staring eyes on the outside. As they did so, Rin couldn't help but wonder why there were so many bugs around. She certainly had never seen any in the Garden before. "Sorry about that, guys," she said. "Had to take care of something. So, you said that they're all dead? Like, are you sure?"

"Pretty sure, yeah!" Cirno chirped, a little too cheerfully for Rin's taste. "I mean, those flowers got them pretty good."

Rin winced and shot an apologetic look to Flandre. Fortunately, the vampire seemed to have descended into a world of her own and didn't react to the fairy's careless words. "Oh. Well, damn."

"Well, actually…" said another one of the girls that Rin didn't know yet.

"What?" The view on the screen swept around and zeroed in on the girl as Rin focused on her. "Actually what?"

The girl flinched back in fear, and Rin felt a brief stab of guilt. She really needed to remember just how frightening she looked at the moment. The last thing these kids needed was something else to fear. "Sorry," she said. "I don't usually look this scary, I promise. But what were you saying?"

"Uh…" the girl said, still looking rather unsure of herself. "Well, the mean fish lady and the big dog man…I mean, we saw them get killed. But the scary cold lady with the hood and the nice bird woman were still fighting when the plants dragged us away."

"What?" Flandre's head jerked up. "Sakuya's still alive?"

"Could be," Rin mused. Sakuya may be a total pile of crap of a person, but she was scarily good at fighting. And Utsuho, well, Rin hadn't seen much of her in action, but could already tell that the beautiful youkai was packing all sorts of heat. It would be cool if she at least made it out. Rin still didn't care much for Sakuya, but she liked Utsuho. If that story she had told Rin earlier was true, then she was also cut from the same cloth as Rin, Flandre, and Rumia. "I mean, it's not super likely, but it's possible…"

"Um, anyway, that was that, and we haven't seen them since," the girl finished.

"Personally, I think they're goners," Cirno said with a shrug. "I mean, that bird lady was like this close to getting chomped when those stupid plants got pulled away, and-"

"Yeah, okay, I get the picture," Rin said crossly. She liked Cirno well enough, but the fairy had a really dumb mouth sometimes. Okay, most of the time. "But what happened to those plants anyway? I mean, you guys are pretty much all free."

"The bugs ate 'em," Cirno said.

Rin blinked. "Excuse me?"

Then Wriggle stepped forward. In contrast to her normal dour self, the firefly looked rather pleased with herself. "That was me," she said proudly. "I got a message out to the insect lords right before Yuuka caught us, and they sent them over to rescue us."

Rin blinked again. That…raised far more questions than it answered. Rin honestly would have liked to know more, but they were sorely pressed for time. So she filed her curiosity away for a better time and simply responded with, "Okay. Neat."

Then the reason for their lack of time made itself known. "Riiiiiiiin," Yuuka's voice sing-songed through the mansion. "Oh Riiiiiiiiiiiiin! Where are you, darling?"

Rin tensed up as the other girls quailed back in terror. Well, most of them did anyway. One still stood near the center of the room and stared out through the broken door with bugged eyes. "Wait, you haven't killed her yet?" Cirno said.

"It's a work in progress," Rin snapped. "In case you haven't noticed, she's kinda tough, you know?"

"Well, hurry it up! We can't leave with her still there!"

"Look, I'm doing the best I can! You wanna try fighting her instead?"

"Maybe I should! She can't be all that-"

Rin placed a hand over Cirno's head and gave her a hard shove, sending the fairy stumbling back to where the others were cowering. "Shut. Up! Cirno!"

Then she looked around to those with better sense or lack of consciousness. "Okay, I'm gonna go finish this. You all stay here until I get back, okay?"

Taking the terrified murmurs for assent, Rin straightened her back and slowly strode from the room.

The hardened layer of ash and ceramic crunched under her feet as she walked. There was nothing but desolation in the halls and she marched forward. No plant barred her way, no flower rose up in threat. Maybe they had gotten them all, but Rin largely suspected that this was deliberate. Yuuka had claimed her for her own.

Rin lifted her right hand and snapped her fingers. Her doppelgangers flashed into existence around her. With no signal given, all three fell in step to her sides and right behind her, forming a diamond formation.

This was it. Rin could feel it in her soul. The climax of her ugly war with Yuuka Kazami was about to take place. No doubt it was going to be as painful and violent as the rest of the fight had been. But that was okay. She could take pain. And she sure as hell could do the violence.

Another turn of the corner, and she found the End. Yuuka was there, waiting for her.

More than two-thirds of the hallways walls, ceiling, and floor was coated with the inky black slime Yuuka had been employing so liberally as of late. It dripped down in long, slimy stalactites from above. It formed bubbling bulges below. It oozed down the walls in big, gloopy lumps.

And there were things, things reaching out of the slime.

Sinuous tentacles, some the size of a baby's arm, others so large that they took up almost the entirety of the hall with their bulk. Grasping skeletal limbs with knobby, overlong fingers. Contorted faces formed in the globs of ooze drifting down the walls, their visages twisted into screams of agony.

And then there were the eyes. Everywhere were red, staring eyes, all of them focused on Rin, all of them mocking in their gaze.

And in the middle of it all, standing ankle-deep in their own scum, were the two remaining Yuukas.

They stood side-by-side, holding hands like a pair of badly decomposed schoolgirls. Their features were as cadaverous as ever, their grey, dead skin shriveled against their skeletons, their clothing in rags. They wore identical rictus grins, their yellowing teeth bared in delight. And like the original Yuuka, each bore an empty cavern where one eye used to be while the other burned with barely restrained malice.

Rin and her doppelgangers slowed to a stop just before reaching the slime. She looked around at the profane mess and shook her head. "Wow," she said. "You really are going all out with the disgusting crap, aren't you?"

Rin wasn't sure how, but the Yuukas' grins somehow managed to stretch even wider after that. It didn't seem like it was possible. Maybe the last remnants of their lips had fallen off. "Oh Rin," they said in perfect unison. "I'm so glad to see you. There's been far too much foreplay between us. My whole body is simply aching for the climax."

Rin frowned. Weeks of spending time with Rumia had trained her to pick up when someone was dropping a double entendre, but the specifics of this particular one escaped her. Well, whatever. "You sure about that?" she said. "I mean, I've only won every round we've had, and I'm still fresh. While you…" She shook her head and tsked. "Yuuka, you're really not looking too hot."

The Yuukas tittered, a dry, rasping sound that sent fingernails down Rin's back. "And I have no doubt that you intend to change that. You, and that filthy fire of yours."

"Yup." As demonstration, all four Rins let the aforementioned flames sweep over their arms, shoulders, and backs. What was more, multicolored lightning crackled around their fingers. "It's worked out pretty well so far."

"That, I will not deny. But how much longer will it last, Rin? Even stars die. Sooner or later, you too will feel the icy hand of Death wrap around your throat."

"Whatever," Rin muttered. She was too weary to keep up the banter. Not physically, of course. Her bizarre physiology meant that she never actually grew tired, but all the constant fighting was really starting to wear her mind out. "Let's get this over with."

And with that, all four of her leapt into the hallway of horrors.

For a few moments, things progressed much as they had before. Tentacles snapped toward her, and were left in sizzling pieces. Hands grabbed, and were cut down to size. Huge swaths of slime were burned away.

As for the Yuukas though, they instantly melted away into the slime the moment Rin entered the hallways.

That almost brought Rin up short. It's a trap, her common sense whispered to her. She's up to something. Run.

Well, duh, it's a trap, Rin responded. It's always a trap. But nothing's she tried worked so far, so why should this-

Right about that time one of the tentacles lashed out at her. She cut it down almost absent-mindedly, but it managed to lunge forward that last few centimeters to stick something into her, something small, sharp, and black, barely discernable from the tentacle itself.

Rin didn't think much of it. She had been stabbed more times than she cared to count in the last hour or so. What was one more pinprick?

But then the blade slid in, piercing through her chest.

And in that moment, Rin realized what true pain was. But she wasn't the only one.

…

Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire

Pain is a simple thing, but most people's reactions to it are very interesting.

Most of us view pain as a negative force. And in a way, it is. It is certainly not at all pleasant. People talk about being paralyzed by pain, about being unable to move through the haze of agony that had shut down their limbs. Pain is seen as something to be avoided, or if that impossible, then something to be endured. People talk about growing stronger through pain, while others are broken down by it.

It doesn't really matter what kind of pain it is either. Physical agony: sharp or dull, blistering hot or freezing cold, stabbing lances or throbbing aches, they all torment us in their own ways.

Emotional anguish: the grief of tremendous loss, the throbbing ache of guilt, the lingering weight of failure.

Mental distress: the stifling weight of depression, the persistent chaos of insanity, the wearying weight of paranoia. Each with a different cause, each with a different embodiment, but all of them the same for one specific reason.

Pain, regardless of its form, demands immediate attention. Because what most people forget is that pain is, in of itself, not the problem. Rather, it is the indication that there is a problem, an emergency alarm that sounds whenever something is wrong. And like all emergency alarms, it is loud, insistent, and difficult to turn off until the problem has been dealt it. It has to be like that. We would destroy ourselves otherwise.

In that moment, Kaguya felt more pain then than she ever had in her long, violent life. And true enough, it was an indication that something was very wrong.

She screeched as daggers of frozen poison cut through her flesh and wormed their way through her organs. She flopped out of her lawn chair onto the hot sand, hands gripping her temples as her veins frozen while her blood boiled.

The agony…Kaguya was used to pain unimaginable. Mokou, for all of her mental limitations, was admittedly very creative when it came to inflicting torment, and she had literal centuries to hone her craft with Kaguya as her favorite subject. Kaguya had suffered such excruciating tortures that things most people would consider barbaric tortures were a slow Saturday afternoon to her. She could be choked to death with her own liver in the morning and be prepped and ready for the yearly harvest dance in the evening without so much as a care in the world. She had run over her plans to surprise Eirin with a birthday party in her head while being skinned alive and disemboweled.

But this…this was something new. This forewent punishing her flesh and instead dug deeper, sinking its talons into her immortal soul. And against it, all of Kaguya's legendary tolerance for pain was nothing more than a paper shield, and she could do nothing but break down at its touch.

Sweat dripped into her eyes and misted her vision, but she could still see bulging black veins erupting all over the pale ivory of her skin. She could feel her teeth crack from the cold. She tried to inhale, but it was like trying to breathe in broken glass, a sensation that she had some experience in.

Unable to do anything else, Kaguya flopped onto her back and stared up at the sky. She couldn't make out much, but it seemed as if an apocalypse of one kind or another was taking place. The sky was now red as blood and crisscrossed with black lightning. Great pillars of flame were erupting out of the ground and the ocean, and the sand beneath Kaguya's diseased back was roiling like a waterbed.

Her ears were failing, but she could still hear screams. Screams from her harem as they burst into flames and melted. Her own screams as they tore through her ravaged throat. But most of all, she heard Mokou screaming: shrill, desperate cries for help. Kaguya barely had the strength to turn her head, but she managed to flop it to one side. There, she saw a writhing black thing crumpling up like a piece of paper that had been set on fire.

Unwilling to watch anymore, Kaguya closed her eyes. She didn't have a clue what was going on, she just knew that she wanted the pain to stop. One way or another, she wanted the pain to stop.

…

Deep Within

Compared to the two imprisoned immortals from which she took most of her power, Rin Satsuki was a rank amateur, but she still thought she had known what true pain was like. After all, in her short, tormented life she had undergone a very thorough crash course. She had been beaten to a pulp by some of Gensokyo's strongest beings, dismembered, beheaded, and ripped to literal shreds. She had been scorched from without and within, blown to pieces by highly advanced technology, frozen, and squashed flat. She had been sliced, diced, and blown up several times in quick succession. The best Gensokyo had to offer had done their best to destroy her, and had made a good showing in doing so.

Rin had thought that she had known what pain felt like. Pain was one of her most constant companions, just behind isolation. She had swam the rivers of pain and drank it deep. As such, she had grown to believe that pain held no new surprises for her, that she had already experienced the worst it had to offer.

How wrong she had been.

This was different. All the other hurts, as awful as they had been, had been superficial. They had punished her surface, but no more. But this…this reached deeper, carving through her being with cold, dispassionate precision. Her adaptability means nothing to it. Her immortality is a curious thing to be tested. It enters the body, mind, and soul of Rin Satsuki swiftness and ease. And once there, it filled her with frozen poison.

No, wait, that wasn't right. It didn't fill her with anything. Rather, it sucked all the warmth from Rin, greedily drinking the life right out of her. She could feel it draining away like blood from an open wound. And when all heat is gone, well, there is only one thing that can replace it.

Cold. Bitter, biting cold. More than just a drastic drop in temperature. Rin could handle that. This was more than a simple absence of heat, it was the antithesis of the warmth of life. It was the cold of the void.

And the worst part was that Rin couldn't honestly say that she had never felt anything like it. But she had, at least once before. When that living embodiment of Death known as the Shadow Youkai had torn her mind apart, it had felt very similar to this. After all, the icy breath of Death still felt the same regardless of who was blowing.

But at least then Rin had been able to fight back, to battle against the cold with the furnace of her rage. Here, she had no such option. There was nothing to direct it toward. She could do nothing but lie still and freeze.

And she did. Rin lay on her side, her mental body trembling as the black void of her mind somehow grew even darker and the red of her screen froze to blizzard white. Her mouth was open, yes, but she couldn't scream. Couldn't move. Could do nothing but remain still and hope that her immortality broke and let her die.

"R-Rin?" she heard a scared voice whimper.

It took a mountain of effort, but Rin managed to twitch her head and lift her eyes just enough to see that Flandre had also collapsed. The little vampire was lying on her side, curled up into the fetal position, limbs drawn in close around her trembling body. Apparently whatever it was that was destroying Rin was affecting her as well. Her enormous scarlet aura was fading away to pink, and her skin was frosting over.

"Rin," Flandre whispered. "Wh…I don't…"

Rin wished she could do something for her, but she couldn't even speak.

But she could hear. And in that moment she heard the sound of laughter.

Rin's eyes twitched toward the screen. Despite freezing to white, images still appeared on it, meaning that her physical eyes were still intact at least. And on it, she saw a pair of hard-toed boots, standing directly in front of her.

Then the view jostled, and she found herself looking up to Yuuka's smiling visage as the monster held Rin up by the collar. Through the haze of the screen she and everything around her appeared frosty white, almost as if she had been carved out of ice.

The burning red of her eye remained, though.

"There is a certain poetic beauty in this," Yuuka told her, her voice sounding faint and crystalline through Rin's failing ears. "This blade was fashioned to end my life, and now it becomes instrumental in saving it. Whereas you, the monster who has laughed in the face of Death, now fall before its power."

Rin tried to respond, tried to make a display of defiance, but as soon as her mind tried to focus on what she wanted to say, it was gone, drifting away in pieces down the river of pain.

"Do you know what your problem is, Rin?" Yuuka said. "You have become so accustomed to your invulnerability that you have grown sloppy. Complacent. But Rin, there are still ways to hurt you that you cannot protect against. Right now, this little blade is poisoning your soul, wearing down the supposed immovable object of your regeneration with its irresistible force. In the meantime, I think I'd like to see what your mind is made of."

Her mind? What? Rin tried to wrap her head around what Yuuka was saying, but it was all she could do just to understand the words themselves.

"You are probably wondering what I mean by that. Well, my little blisterwort, the answer is simple." Yuuka laughed that dead, rasping laugh of hers. "Do you remember the day we first met?"

And then, as Rin and Flandre lay side by side, shivering in agony, the fire of Yuuka's eye started to grow, swelling larger and larger until it engulfed the whole screen. And then it kept on growing, filling the space inside Rin's mind with its presence.

"Now then," spoke the flame. "Let's take a look at you girls, and see what you're really afraid of."

FLASH

Cold steel encircled my wrists and ankles, holding me in place. The restraints were too tight, and their sharp edges bit into my flesh.

I was held naked against a tilted metal table, as cold as the manacles around my limbs. The cruel, unrelenting surface was torture against my back, as was the air around me. It was far too cold, and I had nothing to protect me from the chill. I could see minute clouds of white vapor forming with every panicked breath.

"Please," I begged. "Please let me go. It hurts."

There were others in the white, sterile laboratory, others that I knew. They were all dressed in clean hospital scrubs and wore anti-bacterial masks over their mouths. Despite my desperate pleas, they were all ignoring me, their attention focused on another steel table, this one lying perfectly horizontal in the center of the room.

And, just like the one I was strapped to, on it was a restrained, naked little girl.

Rumia stared with wide, unblinking eyes at all of the faces looking down at her. Her bounds are as tight as mine, and she has a leather mask fixed over her mouth. They probably didn't need it though. She isn't resisting at all. In fact, if it weren't for the terror in her eyes, I would have thought that she was asleep.

"Ah, good," said Doctor Eirin Yagokoro. She has slipped on a pair of surgical gloves. She stretched the end of one as far as it will go and then lets it snap back loudly against her arm. "The subject is now properly sedated. We can begin."

As I watched in horror, Dr. Yagokoro reached toward a nearby tray and picks up a small, metal instrument. My heart almost stopped when I realize that she's holding a scalpel. A small one, yes, but wickedly sharp.

"Now, pay close attention," Dr. Yagokoro said to her onlookers as she lowered the blade over Rumia's body. "In order to extract the soul of a Shadow Youkai, the first incision must be made…here."

"No!" I shout. "Please, no! Leave her alone! I'm the one you want! I'm the one that's dangerous! Please, don't hurt her!"

Dr. Yagokoro continues to ignore me. I might as well not have been there.

Desperate, I turned my attention to one of the others. Surely she would listen to me. She was my sister, after all. "Remi?" I called. "Remilia! Please, stop her! Don't let her hurt Rumia. I'm begging you!"

Remilia merely leaned in closer for a better look at what Eirin was doing.

I tried again, this time focusing on someone who had been my only friend and protector. Surely she would listen to me, right? "Reisen," I called out. "Reisen, hello? Please, do something to stop this! Don't let her hurt Rumia!"

Reisen moved her large, floppy ears aside with one hand and peers intently over Eirin's shoulder.

Why weren't they listening to me? Could they even hear me at all? "Hello? Someone? Anyone? Somebody stop this! Don't hurt her, please! Hurt me! You can hurt me, but she didn't do anything!"

Then the blade touched Rumia's naked, pink flesh. And with a gentle push, it slid in.

FLASH

"…violent, unpredictable, and completely without empathy," Prosecutor Kaguya Houraisan announced to the court. She stood before the judge's podium, dressed in a smart, dark blue suit, looking the living embodiment of calm rationality as she spewed venom at me. "Given the lives she's ruined, the damage she's caused, I do not believe I am at all exaggerating when I say that the defendant is a pitiless monster, unworthy of our mercy and compassion."

The Lunarian princess's dark eyes swept over those assembled in the jury box, never pausing but somehow managing to lock gazes with each of them in turn. "Gentleladies of the jury. I need not extrapolate further on the defendant's crimes. They are self-evident, as obvious as her guilt."

Then she swung one arm out to jab a finger directly at me. I flinched at the gesture, but given the heavy chains that bind my limbs and the stifling mask that gags my mouth I couldn't do anything about it.

"Look at her!" Kaguya all but roared. "See for yourselves! She sits before you on a mountain of corpses, trophies of all the lives she's taken. To allow her to continue uninhibited would be unforgiveable negligence. In fact, to allow her continued existence would be sheer stupidity. My friends, I believe I speak for all of her victims when I say this: please do not allow her to add another skull to the pile. It is your civic and moral duty to find her guilty and put an end to her miserable existence."

From the shadows that surround the impossibly tall judge's podium I hear the sound of a pounding gavel. It echoes throughout the cavernous courtroom and assails my ears, making me cringe back further. And in the shadowy silhouette of the one presiding over the trial, malicious golden eyes burn.

"Does the defense have anything to add?" mocked the cruel voice of Yukari Yakumo.

I shot a desperate look at my defender, but to my despair the shrine maiden refused to meet my gaze. She simply sat with her head bowed, her brown eyes tired and defeated. "No, your Honor," Reimu Hakurei mumbled.

The shadow of Yukari Yakumo nodded. She turned her head to the jury. "I think we've heard all that we need to hear. The jury will now take a recess to-"

Then one of the jurors stood up. A jolt of shock shoots through me when I recognize my sister's personal servant, Sakuya Izayoi. "That won't be necessary, your Honor," she said. "The jury has already come to a decision."

"Then let's hear it."

Then Sakuya turned her head away from the judge. She didn't look toward the prosecutor. She didn't look toward my pathetic excuse for a defense.

Instead, she looked straight at me, right into my eyes.

And then she smiled.

"Guilty," she said. "On all counts."

A cheer rose up from the juror's box as I slumped into my restraints. They had all turned on me. Everyone I had ever cared about were now my accusers. My friends hated me. My family wanted me dead. Not even Reimu Hakurei was willing to speak in my defense.

And I cannot blame them one bit. God knows I deserved their hate, deserved their condemnation.

I was guilty.

Please. Please kill me.

FLASH

"No!" I cried as I was carried down endless winding stairs, down, down, down deeper into the earth, deeper into the dark. "Not this!"

The mob that had hoisted me above their heads didn't listen. They just continued marching, calling out angrily for me to be punished. The mob was all formed from people I knew, people that had once been friends. Reisen is gripping my shoulders, Cirno my legs, while Remilia marches out in front, holding a torch above her head.

There are others. Kaguya Houraisan, of course. She had never liked me. Sakuya Izayoi. I had always been a burden to her. Eirin Yagokoro. I'm an embarrassment to her. Patchouli Knowledge. She thinks me a pest and a danger. Tewi Inaba. Cirno. Hitomi. Reimu. Father LaCroix. Fujiwara no Mokou. Hong Meiling. Nue Houjou. Mamizou Futatsuiwa. They were all there to see me get what I deserve.

And bringing up the tail was Yukari Yakumo herself. The judge of my fate. She was smiling, pleased with the knowledge that her world will now have one less monster in it.

I wasn't going to resist. I mean, I deserve it, you know? Deserve to die. Wanted to die, even.

But they weren't going to kill me.

This was worse.

"NO!" I screamed again, my voice rising above the sound of their chants and jeers. "Please, just kill me! Don't put me back in the dark!"

They carried me all the way down into the deepest dungeon. And there it is, waiting for me. A child-sized coffin, carved from hard lavender crystal, its facets gleaming in the torchlight, the last light it will ever see.

"No, please!" I cried out one last time, but it did no good. They hurled me inside.

Looking up, I saw for the last time the glowing eyes of Yukari Yakumo. I saw her smile.

"Goodbye," she said, and slammed the lid shut.

And then they were gone, and I was alone. Trapped in a stiflingly small space. Trapped in the dark.

Forever.

"Do you understand now?" Yuuka's voice boomed from all around. There was no weird distortion as was often the case when outside voices were filtered into that weird space deep within the girl's mind. Nor did it have the alien tones it seemed to adopt whenever Yuuka felt like being especially creepy. It was simply Yuuka's voice, only larger, louder, far more powerful than anything the girl had ever heard, filled with confidence and authority. And it was everywhere.

As for the girl herself, she was lying on her side, shivering from what she had just experienced. She couldn't even remember her own name. Everything else was so fuzzy, so mixed up inside her head. Names, faces, and voices all drifted past her eyes, but though they had been so crystal clear to her just moments ago, she now had trouble telling them apart.

All she knew was that they were people that had hurt her, or people she had hurt.

Only the name of Yuuka Kazami remained.

But the girl wasn't alone. There was someone else there, someone she could barely see through the haze that clouded her vision. Squinting, she could just make out the form of naked little girl, huddling in the fetal position. A girl with blonde hair and red eyes and…wings? Yes, skeletal wings from which were hanging multicolored crystals.

Flandre Scarlet, a small voice whispered. This brought on a moment of confusion for the girl. Wait, wasn't she Flandre Scarlet? She was certain that she was…

No.

No, that wasn't true. She was Rin Satsuki. She and Flandre were different people. It was strange that she had to make that distinction, but those shared visions had been so strong.

"Has it finally dawned on you?" Yuuka said to the pair. "Has realization finally cracked through that fossilized lump of salt you call a brain? I am not just another local pest to be knocked around for stirring up trouble. I am not a primadonna goddess, an uppity youkai, or a demon with delusions of grandeur."

Suddenly Rin and Flandre felt themselves rising. Rin's vision had cleared a bit, and she looked down to see that they were lying on something soft and pink and unusually warm, something that rose up and down and-

A jolt of shock actually got Rin to sit fully up. They were being held on the palm of a hand, an enormous woman's hand the size of a room, the fingers curling up around them like pillars. Which meant…

Rin looked up. And then she screamed.

Yuuka towered over the pair, a monolith the size of a mountain. Unlike the rotted cadavers Rin had been fighting, she was now whole and healthy. Her skin's color was vibrant and strong, her clothing clean and neat, and her posture straight and strong. She stood against a backdrop of stars, all of which acted as her spotlight. Her hair blew loose and wild, though there was no wind. And her whole body seemed to shimmer with an angelic aura.

But as awe-inspiring as the sight might have been, it wasn't what Rin's attention was seized by. Her gaze was trapped by Yuuka's face. Or rather, the lack thereof, because she didn't have one. No pearly white teeth gleamed down in a triumphant grin, for she didn't even have a mouth, or a nose for that matter.

Just an eye.

One single gigantic eye that took up the whole of where her face should be, glowing with hellfire and staring contemptuously down at the insignificant children in her palm.

"So now you see," Yuuka's voice said, despite her lack of a mouth. "Only now do you comprehend just how little you mean when compared to me. Foolish little mortals, so sure of your tainted power." She drew the pair in closer to her eye, causing them flinch away. "Oh, you made a good showing of yourselves, but so what? Many people have, and they all lie dead, while I remain. Soon you will join them. I will rip immortality away from you and cast you into the cold embrace of Death. Just as will do to Yukari Yakumo. Just as I will do to Reimu Hakurei. Just as I did to Marisa Kirisame-"

"YOU DID WHAT?"

The roaring answer was so sudden and so loud that it knocked Rin over. She fell to her side, clutching her ears.

What in the world was that? So huge and overwhelming, full of grief and rage. Not even Yuuka's omnipresent voice could match its power.

Though come to think of it, it did sound sort of familiar. The strength of it was new, but strip away the volume and almost tangible force behind it, that new voice had sounded a whole lot like-

Suspicion struck Rin, and she shot a sudden glance to where Flandre had been.

The vampire was gone.

Then the sky started to turn red.

Yuuka's gaze was no longer on the diminutive girl in her palm. Rather, it was now focused on something behind Rin, something that seemed to surprise even the celestial monster Yuuka had become. There was fear in her godlike gaze. Fear and disbelief. Hesitantly, almost fearfully, Rin turned to see what was going on.

The star-filled sky had become consumed by a monstrously powerful scarlet light. It was as if a door into Hell itself had been ripped out of the fabric of space and all of its fire were now spilling out.

Rin could feel the heat of it on her skin. But it wasn't the warmth of fire. No, this was something different, something far stronger, something that burned with more intensity than even her own Phoenix Fire. What was more, the heat was familiar to her. After all, she had once been cooked alive in it, consumed by the inferno of her own rage.

But it wasn't her anger that was burning before her. Silhouetted by the light was a dark figure, as large as Yuuka, with ripping claws and protruding fangs. Crimson energy swirled around the black void of her body. And her eyes were open wounds in her face, from which poured even more of her rage and hate.

"YOU KILLED HER?" roared the monster Flandre had become. "YOU KILLED MARISA?"

FLASH

"If you're interested, I know a shrine maiden I can introduce to yah!"

Shrine maiden? What shrine maiden? What was a shrine maiden? I'd never heard of a shrine maiden. Was that like a maid? I don't think I would want to marry someone like Sakuya.

Wait, married? She wanted me to get married? But I wasn't ready to get married! I was too young, too-

Married to a maid? Did that mean she wanted me to marry a girl? Could you even do that? I don't think I would mind as much if it were a girl. Men were big and scary, but girls were nice and pretty and soft. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad-

But wouldn't Remi be mad? She always gets mad when I try to go outside. I don't mean to, but it just gets so boring in the basements, and sometimes I forget! Would the wedding be in the basement? Would my wife stay with me in the basement? Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. At least I'd have someone to talk to.

But what if I forgot to be gentle? What if I hurt her? I was usually good about remembering that most people can't be fixed for a little while, but if she stayed with me forever and I forgot, then I'd be all alone again and everyone would be mad at me and-

Then, as I knelt on the floor paralyzed with questions about my future, a warm hand lay upon my head. I stiffened. When people touch your head it's because you were naughty and they wanted to pull your hair and yell at you for being bad. Or they hated you and wanted to tear your head off. And I had been trying very badly to hurt this black-and-white witch just a little while ago. I hadn't really meant to, but I always forget to be careful when I'm playing. But she had beaten me, and now she was going to-

Then she rubbed the top of my head, tousling my hair. "Hey, take it easy there. I was just joshin' yah. You're way too young to get married anyway. And Reimu sure as hell doesn't deserve someone as cute as you."

I stared with my mouth hanging open as the black-and-white witch gathered up her broom and floated up in the air. "Oh yo, I was kidding about the hanging yourself bit too. Just trying to finish the rhyme, y'know? Don't do that neither. Gensokyo needs more girls with a wild side, ze!"

Then she grinned, saluted me, and flew off. As for me, I just kept staring.

She had…she had been nice to me. We had fought, and she wasn't mad at me for forgetting myself. She said I was cute. She had patted my head. She…she said that she didn't want me to die. But I always thought that everyone wanted me to die, that everyone was scared of me. Remi was the only one that wanted me to stay safe. Okay, maybe Sakuya and Meiling and maybe Patchy too, but she just looked after me because Remi told her to.

But the witch hadn't done any of those things. She hadn't been scared. She hadn't been hateful. She had been nice to me. And she had been so pretty too. I liked the way her hand felt.

I felt…strange. Warm. Happy, but confused. No one had ever really been that nice to me, not even Remi.

I didn't know what this meant, but I did know one thing. Maybe I wasn't ready to get married, but if I ever did, I knew who I wanted to be married to.

"What?" Yuuka gasped. She lurched back, desperate to get away from the thing now reaching for her. "Wait! No! Get back!"

Snarling, Flandre lashed out to seize Yuuka by the neck. "YOU DID! YOU KILLED HER! JUST LIKE YOU KILLED SAKUYA! YOU MONSTER! I'LL RIP YOU TO PIECES!"

At that moment, Rin was still reeling from the power of that memory. She hadn't really known Marisa Kirisame all that well. The first time they had met had been as enemies. The second time as unlikely allies, but not in a manner that would really build much of a rapport. And honestly, she doubted that Flandre had really known her all that well either.

However, Rin understand perfectly well how she felt. As someone who had been rejected by all and consigned to isolation for what had felt like eternity, she knew exactly how much that small act of kindness had meant to Flandre. She knew why the vampire had cherished that memory so dearly.

If Marisa Kirisame was truly dead by Yuuka's hand, then there was literal Hell to pay.

And it occurred to Rin that the overwhelming agony that had paralyzed her earlier was gone. Whether that meant that Yuuka had pulled out that cursed knife of hers or if this strange state was somehow shielding her from it, she neither knew nor cared. What she did know was that while she may not possess the raw reserves of power that Yuuka Kazami or Flandre Scarlet were packing, she really had about enough of Yuuka tramping around her mind. She had no intention of cowering while the two behemoths did battle over her. And true, she may not be a god herself, but this was still her damned mind, and in her mind, what she said goes.

It was time that Yuuka learned this.

Pulling her scattered thoughts together, Rin focused on her body. There was a dizzying rush, and suddenly she found herself standing next to Flandre and Yuuka rather than under them. What was more, she was now the same size as the pair.

Rin grinned. All righty then.

As Flandre throttled Yuuka and Yuuka tried to tear herself away, Rin reached over to tap Yuuka on the shoulder. "Hey, excuse me?"

The battling giants paused in their struggle to stare at her, and Rin was treated to the very lovely sight of Yuuka's overlarge eye growing even larger in surprise. "What?" she said.

"Yeah, hey," Rin responded. "Look, that was a cool speech and all, but you're still kinda trespassing, you know?" She grinned, and felt her body change from that of a powerless little girl into something nastier and more intimidating. Around her, the world started to rumble. "So I think it's time for you to leave."

And with that, she seized Yuuka by the neck as well.

She and Flandre locked gazes. No words were spoken, but they understood each other perfectly. Rin smiled, and Flandre returned it.

"Get out," Rin snarled to Yuuka, and working together, she and Flandre shoved Yuuka back, shoved her mind out of Rin's, shoved her power back and broke her will, turning it back on her until-

FLASH

I couldn't…

I couldn't believe…

(strange sensation. tingling. hitting my…my…)

They had done it. He had done it. I hadn't really believed that he would go through with it, that he wouldn't be able to…

(what's this? what's wrong with me? i feel…i feel…)

I felt.

I was feeling. I was feeling…oh no.

I wasn't supposed to be feeling anything. I existed in a place beyond primitive concepts such as sensation, beyond physical contact, beyond…everything. I was one of the cornerstones of creation, the multi-dimensional manifestation of a fundamental truth. I affected other, lesser beings when it pleased me to do so. I was never…

Oh please no.

My mind was awash with…what? This…this…this feeling of…what was the word? Cold. Yes, I felt cold. Cold on the outside, but cold within, deep within me…heart? Yes, heart. My heart and my head. I felt my thoughts racing in all directions, and that made the coldness more bitter. I felt...

Fear.

Oh, so that was what fear was.

Confusion too. Confusion I was used to. Confusion had defined much of my existence as of late. That's why He had done this, right? To remove the sickness. To cure me.

(it's me. i'm the sickness)

Then there was a third feeling too, one completely alien. It covered me all over, persistent and pulsing and paralyzing. I tried to banish it, to push it away, but I couldn't. It was bigger than me, stronger than me, weighing me down. I was helpless against it, and that scared me even more. I was Yihdra! I was the Green Lady! Nothing was stronger than me, especially not an insignificant mortal sensation!

(i found out later that this third sensation was pain)

Fear. Confusion. Pain. A vile cocktail if there ever was one. They belonged solely to the world of the weak, of the prey, of the inferior!

But here I was.

In time, I became aware of other things. This one was easier to figure. I had, from time to time, taken on mortal form whenever it had suited me to do so, so I was able to recognize that was again wearing my customary guise of a tall, handsome woman with green hair. However, this was no façade, no false form adopted to make myself more pleasing to the eyes of mortals.

This was now me.

I opened my eyes. My vision was dim to the point of blindness, and to my horror I was restricted to only seeing the physical. All of the delicate intricacies of the higher dimensions had been shut off to me. Once my gaze had pierced through the threads that held the universe together. I had looked into the souls of galaxies and saw the stories of black holes. Now all I could see was what was in front of me.

I was lying prone atop a sharp shelf of stone. The touch of it felt harsh against my brand new flesh, scraping my ungainly limbs every time I moved. The mortal world was hard and rough, and it amazed me that they were not driven mad by the constant friction.

Above, millions of droplets of dihydrogen monoxide were caught within the thrall of the tidal force known as gravity. It was raining. A storm, mortals called it. I often found it amusing that something so arbitrary as minor matter displacement could send mortals into such a frenzy. It was nothing more than a temporary alteration of temperature, condescension of gas, and transfer of oxygen. One would think their tiny worlds were ending by the panic it inspired.

But, as I lay there, freezing cold rain sloughing my newborn body, I understood at last.

I tried to rise up, but my awkward limbs did not yet know how to coordinate and I fell back down. The shock of it made my eyes moisten, and I involuntarily let out a cry. It had been done. I was a mortal.

I looked up. I could see them before me, feel their presence in my teeth. To my new eyes, one appeared as a black spot hovering in the air. Time and space seemed to warp around it, curving into the void as if drawn in by gravity. Extending from it were an innumerable number of sinuous black limbs, starting off seemingly solid but becoming more and more transparent the further away they got from the core, as if they were plunging beneath the surface of reality itself. The air around was cold, deadly cold, as cold as the vacuum of space.

The other was a brilliant halo of light, emerald green tinged with red. Just as the void seemed to draw all that surrounded it into its vortex, this looked as if it were pushing it out, chasing mere, mortal matter away by its sheer presence. The heat coming from the light as thick and sickly as a rain forest, where the air was thick with disease. Within its center I could just make what looked like a red orb, slashed down the middle with black.

It was an eye. Of course it was an eye. In fact, it had been my eye until about ten seconds ago.

"IT IS DONE."

It was the black void that had spoken. Despite my new limitations, I knew exactly who it was, and a fierce well of heat opened up inside of me. Rage was yet another sensation I was unfamiliar with, but unlike the others, it was not at all unpleasant.

So it is, spoke the Eye. You have my thanks.

"IT HAD TO BE DONE. YOUR ILLNESS HAD TO BE DEALT WITH BEFORE IT SPREAD TO THE OTHERS."

The cure was unpleasant, yes, but necessary. Shall we leave?

"WE SHALL, YES."

"No," I snarled, my voice rattling harsh. "You…you dare…"

Then the Eye finally focused on me. And what of this new creature?

"LEAVE IT. IT CAN DO NO FURTHER HARM. WHO KNOWS? PERHAPS IT WILL ONE DAY PROVIDE SOME FLEETING ENTERTAINMENT."

"Leave me?" I spat out at both of them, at ones known as the Crawling Chaos and the Green Lady. "I am one of you! If you think just by cutting me out-"

But they were gone.

I stared at the place they had been as the magnitude finally hit me. I was nothing to them, just a cancer to be cut out and discarded. I wasn't even worthy of being addressed directly.

I had been cast out, abandoned to the world of mortals.

FLASH

"Wait!" I cried as I braced my back against the door of my little hut. "Stop! Why are you doing this?"

Outside, the night was filled with the light of torches and cries for my blood. It seemed that the whole of the village was gathered right outside my door, a sea of angry faces and bared weapons. Those in front were shoving themselves up against the frail, wooden door, trying to break in.

I knew them all. I had lived among them for the last two years, had settled among them and considered myself one of their own. I had chatted with their wives while washing my clothes at the river, laughed with the baker and butcher in the marketplace, and flirted with the young men when they came home with the day's catch. I had danced with them on their feast days, drank with them in the evenings, and played with their children in the fields.

I thought I was fitting in. I thought I had found a home, here among this small mortal community. Clearly I was wrong.

"Why are you doing this?" I screamed as I held the door shut. Even with as many bodies as were pushing back, they could not match my strength, and the door didn't budge. However, it wouldn't be long before they sought out some other way in. The hut wasn't especially strong. "It's me, Flower! I'm one of you!"

"You're a monster!" I heard one of them shout back.

"Bitch! You'll pay for what you did to my daughter!"

"We were just playing!" I protested. That's all it had been. I had just been playing with the child, showing her what it was like to be a grown-up. Why were they so angry with me?

"Come out, Flower! We're going to send you back to the Hell you crawled out of!"

I was starting to shake. I look down at my hands. Glistening white veins were standing out against my skin, surging with energy. My vision was starting to grow red, as if a misty haze of evaporated blood were settling over my eyes.

NO. I squeezed my hands into fists and shoved the power I felt rising up within me back down. I wasn't going to do it, wasn't going to touch it. I wasn't one of the Ancient Lords of the Void anymore, wasn't an Outer God. They had rejected me, cast me out like a picked scab. I was a mortal now, and mortals didn't have that kind of-

Then there was a crash as one of the windows shattered. A torch had been flung in. It rolled across the bare, wooden floor before coming to rest against one of my table's legs.

As I watched, the flames spread from the torch to the table, climbing up the leg to engulf the whole.

Two more crashes, and more torches were flung in. I screamed and huddled down against the door, clutching my head as the flames spread. I could hear them tearing at the walls. My neighbors. My friends. All of them coming to kill me.

"Stop!" I shrieked, but no one paid any heed. "Why are you doing this? I'm one of you! I'm one of-"

FLASH

It cannot be! It cannot be!

I was locked in a deadly embrace with Yukari Yakumo, who was all but raping my mind and soul. Not content in the excruciating torment she had subjected my body to, the immortal youkai had gone so far as to plunge her very essence deep into my own, to seek out the core of my being and stab into with a blade fashioned by her own soul.

And when she did…oh, sweet mercy. Lights and images all but exploded into my mind, burning their way through my brain like comets falling through the atmosphere. I was transported to a place beyond reality, beyond eternity, beyond anything I had seen even when I had been the Green Lady, digging my roots into the matter of the universe itself and nourishing my petals with stardust.

I thought I had known what it meant to see beyond the mortal dimensions, to exist above the constraints of time and space. I knew nothing.

I saw it all, saw not just the deeply stacked layers of my own universe, but all of them at once. Every possible reality lay bare before me, each of them branching off of the other like the tangled limbs of an ancient oak. There were an untold number of them, all of them sharing similarities, but by the same token different.

Names, faces, and places all flew by my eyes. I saw myself, reborn time and time again in a hundred different ways. I saw people I knew, people that had died but lived on in other universe, people who I knew to be alive but were dead elsewhere. I saw Elly lying dead in a ship's hold, having missed the call of the Shinigami. I saw Yidhra floating free, having never separated herself from me, and yet a being known as Yuuka Kazami still existed. I saw many, many worlds where Gensokyo had turned out to be a land of debauchery, where sex was handed out as readily as Good Mornings. I worlds where Gensokyo had never been created, where the gods had withered and died with no refuge to take them in. I saw worlds where the gods never came into being, where the terrified mortals prayed to the air. I saw worlds where the gods never lost power and continued to reign as they had before.

I saw worlds that held no Outer Gods, no Old Ones, none of my former kind. I saw worlds where we had consumed all of reality, devouring whole galaxies until nothing remained but each other, leading us to devour our own. I saw worlds where we were jokes: silly, harmless beings that held little influence over reality.

And at the center of it all…I saw them.

A world directly to all those other Gensokyos, where we all did not exist but still had a sort of life in words and images. A world where many knew the name of Yuuka Kazami, where my face was scribbled onto loose-leaf notebooks and painted onto dolls. And a world where I, the Yuuka of this world, was having my exploits transcribed at that very second.

I was a character in a story, my life just words on a paper. It was all just paper. And not even real paper!

FLASH

This wasn't what victory was supposed to feel like.

Victory was supposed to bring a feeling of accomplishment. Of satisfaction. Knowing that you had plied your skills against another and came out ahead was supposed to warm your heart with sweet relief, to energize your tired body and nourish your soul.

It was a sporting way of doing things. In every contest there is a winner and there is a loser. The winner was the one who was proven superior and have cause to celebrate, while the loser took their place off to the side, out of the winner's way. To deny the winner their rightful glory was just plain rude!

Such as was currently the case.

"So…get used to seeing this face," Marisa hissed out. Because…every time you try…to sleep, I'll be there. Every time…you look into the sky…I'll be there. Every time you try to have…a moment of peace…you're gonna see me. Looking at you. Laughing. Me. The mortal that beat you. That showed you for the pathetic liar that you are."

I could feel the blood leaving my face. How dare she? How. Dare. She? I had beaten her! Me! I won, not her! She was the loser, and I was the winner! Where did she get off robbing me of my rightful victory! Sure, maybe I had bent a few rules here and there, but it served her right for being such a dirty cheater! She ought to be pleading for what remained of her short, pathetic, mortal life!

But as if that were not bad enough, the arrogant little slut decided to insult me further! She lifted her one good hand, the one I had not crushed, fingers curled into a shaking fist, all save for the middle finger, which was lifted high in a salute. The gesture wasn't especially common in the eastern lands, but I had traveled enough to recognize the magnitude of the offense. "So, see you in hell…you unbelievable cunt. ZE!"

I wanted to kill her right there and then. I wanted to crush her fragile throat like a paper cup, to feel her flesh crumple between my fingers. I wanted to show her just how little a mere Human like her mattered when compared to-

-a what?

For the very briefest of moments, I froze. It was the strangest of all times to have an existential crisis, but in that moment, as a tiny, insignificant mortal girl blatantly disrespected and insulted me, I found myself wondering exactly what I was. I wasn't an Outer God, not really. Oh, pieces of that existence still swam within me. You don't get chipped off the soul of something like Yidhra and not take something from it. But Yidhra yet remained, whole and in full ownership of her Name and her Majesty. She and the rest would never accept me as one of their own.

Not a mortal, as much as it pained me to admit. Oh, I had enjoyed most of my time among the funny little creatures, learning their quaint ways and immersing myself in their culture. But facts were facts. Everywhere I went, mortals turned on me. I would try to learn the local customs and conduct myself as a good neighbor would, but things would inevitably go wrong. Time and time again I've been chased out of one community after another, and have never really been accepted as one of their own.

It's not a pleasant feeling, knowing deep in your heart that you didn't belong. I had no species, no homeland, no people to call my own. As of late, I've found that reveling in my outsider status made things easier. I was the beautiful anomaly, an affront to nature. And I was proud of it. I could taste freely of the pleasures that mortality had to offer like delicacies at a buffet, secure in my knowledge that I was still superior. I could carve out a niche for myself in the middle. To Hell with Nyarlthotep and his ilk. If they didn't want me, then I didn't want them. If the mortals didn't want me, then that was just too bad. What were they going to do about it?

It had been a nice compromise, and I had almost let myself start to believe it. But lately, the illusion had become harder and harder to maintain. That little glimpse behind the curtain that Yukari Yakumo had unwittingly (and rather painfully) provided me had brought so many of those old questions back to the surface, questions that I had thought long since buried.

What was I?

Who was I?

What was my place in the universe?

But oddly enough, my strange, in-between existence wasn't a factor for once. Rather, I found myself preoccupied with the concept of roles. Was I hero or villain? Savior or destroyer? I had glimpsed the crowd only briefly, just enough to know that they were there. It changed things, having an audience, a collection of unseen voyeurs, peering down on you from across the stars. Suddenly every secret was laid open, every private moment became anything but. My life had become a performance before a host of judges, with my every action counting toward my score.

What was worse was that my audience was one that I couldn't see. Oh, sure, I had enough clout with time and space to address the viewing public, but that wasn't the same as receiving any sort of feedback. I sometimes feel like a comedian on a stage surrounded by a one-way window, working my routine to panes of black glass. What sort of reaction was I eliciting by those on the other side? Laughter? Cheers? Boos? It was impossible to tell.

Maybe (and I am loath to consider it, but the truth of it cannot be denied) that was a greater reason for seeking out this battle with Marisa Kirisame. Oh, certainly I had a legitimate grievance to settle with her and a promise to pay back to Yukari Yakumo, but I could not help but wonder if there was some other purpose to this. Maybe, just maybe, I wanted to prove something, to show that such arbitrary terms like "hero" and "villain" were pointless and obsolete. That when it came down to it, my role was that of the star. Love me or hate me, I was the one that everyone came to see! It was my face on the posters, my name on the marquee, not Marisa Kirisame's, not Reimu Hakurei's, certainly not Yukari Yakumo's. I was the most central character in this damned story, and it was time that everyone came to realize that!

Why, then, after so thoroughly beating her, when I held her literal life in my hand, was Marisa Kirisame refusing to acknowledge that? She ought to be going out with grace and leaving the spotlight to me. Instead, she was ruining the moment with her profanity and obscene gestures! It wasn't right! I had won! Me! Sure, okay, I had bent rules here and there, but she had plagiarized my spells, so it was only fair!

It.

Wasn't.

Right!

All of this went through my mind in less time it takes to sneeze. I stared into Marisa's angry, insolent face, made note of her cuts bruises, the glisten of sweat on her cheeks and brow, saw the dribble of white fluid leaking out from the eye I had just crushed. Despite all the damage I had done to her, she was still wresting the spotlight away from me, through the simple action of refusing me the satisfaction.

I decided to do the same.

My shock and anger were wiped from my face as thoroughly as dirt from a stained-glass window. I smiled at her, letting her know that her words had no effect on me, that I was still the star of the show. ""Ah, a fighter to the end." I said, showing her all of the sportsmanship that she had denied me. Then I laughed, as if her last gasp of bravado were nothing more than mildly amusing. "Good for you! Go out with defiance." I then lowered my voice to a soft, yet dangerous, purr as I said the last two words Marisa Kirisame would hear in this mortal life. And in doing so, I was rewarded with a widening of her remaining eye. It wasn't much, but enough to show that she at least felt some apprehension. For her, the end was now.

"Now then."

Then…I did it. All it took was a simple squeeze, and she crumpled like a discarded party cup. I felt her vertebrae of her neck shatter, saw her jaw tighten and her tongue thrash about in her open mouth. I heard her make a strangled gurgling sound, trying to force air through her destroyed throat but being unable. It was a very distinct sounds. Mortals called it the "death rattle," and I found the name to be quite fitting. One last attempt to cling to the breath of life: panicked, desperate, but ultimately futile.

And then the light in her eye went out. That spark of defiance died, leaving nothing more than an unfocused, glassy stare.

Sighing, I let her drop to the floor. I had done it. I had won. I was still the star. All it had taken was a simple flex of my fingers, and my place spotlight had been secured.

In that moment, I could feel their eyes upon me. I still couldn't see them of course, but I knew I had their attention. They were probably booing, cursing me out for vanquishing the plucky underdog hero, but it didn't matter. What did matter was I was still the center of attention. All eyes on me, the queen of the stage!

It felt curiously warm in that moment. Looking up, I saw that I now indeed stood in a literal beam of light, shining down on me from above. In its glare, everything else faded away. The cave, the lifeless body of the shrine maiden, the corpse of the witch, all of them vanishing while I stood triumphant. I smiled, and spread my arms. Finally, I had taken my rightful place, basking in the glow.

The spotlight was strangely intense though, and very hot. I could feel sweat prickle on my skin. It didn't matter though. All success came with pain. Let it tan me red. The spotlight was mine, the center stage was mine, the top billing was mine!

I stood there, my arms outstretched as light bathed down on me. Yes, this was my place. Among the Outer Gods, I had been a cancer to be removed. But here, among the mortals, I was a being of legend, beyond their paltry gods and puffed-up heroes. I was the center attraction, and they were mere bit players in the story.

My story.

It was truly all about me.

But then, as I let the world drink in the gift of Yuuka Kazami, I caught a strange scent. Something was cooking. There was a faint sizzle, like the kind that came from roasting meat when Elly made dinner. I frowned, and opened my eyes to see what was going on.

Then I saw the smoke rising from my arms. Furthermore, I also realized that it was now very, very hot.

This…this wasn't quite right. It made sense for the spotlight to be warm, yes, but not blisteringly hot. My pale skin had already turned bright red, and I was started to grow dizzy from the heat.

Still I remained where I was. This was still my spotlight, and I wasn't giving it up for-

Then two pairs of strong hands seized me by the arms shoulders. Before I could react, I was slowly forced down, my back bending as my surprise assailants continued to press down on me.

"What?" I said as I whipped my head up to see, sweat flinging from my damp hair. Standing on either side of me were two strange glowing figures, one of them shining with a pure white halo, while the other burned fiery red. Beyond that, I could make out no other features.

"What are you doing?" I demanded as I struggled to free myself. "This is my moment! Get out of my spotlight, you idiots!"

But instead of removing themselves, they began hauling me away, away from the light.

"No!" I shouted as I tugged and kicked my feet. I was being dragged away into the darkness, the spotlight now remaining transfixed on an empty stage. I grasped at it with my hands, trying to make it return to me. "It's mine! It's my place! This is my story! You can't take me away from it! Get off my stage! This is my story!"

NO.

I gasped as the words filled my head. It was a child's voice, young and sweet, but full power and authority.

YOU HAVE NO PLACE HERE.

GET OUT.

"No!" I screamed back. "Let me go!" I was being dragged further away, and it hurt. "Let me go! I won't leave! This is my story, this is my-"

And then, all of a sudden, before the spotlight disappeared and I was cast fully off the stage, the curtain was once again lifted, and I heard the audience's reaction.

They were laughing.

Each and every one of them, they were all laughing at me.

…

Acquiring targets.

Target locked-on.

The barrel of Utsuho's control rod swung upward. There, clinging to the ceiling, was one last cluster of blue Mykr's Sirens.

Firing.

The flowers burst apart in a spray of ash and flame.

…

Their companions all but consumed, a final cluster of glowing blue dots took to the sky, the last of the rainbow guard that Yuuka Kazami had sent out to defend her land. Once they had blotted out the sky, an impenetrable veil against which magic energies broke against like waves against a cliff.

No more. In the mood for one last appetizer, four thousand locusts flew up as one. And with a few snaps of their mandibles, the air was cleared.

…

In a relatively undamaged corner of Mugenkan, a ghost hovered, examining a silver medallion in her hands.

Mima had to admit, though her revenge ploy hadn't exactly been without its hiccups, it had still yielded fruit. This cage of religious symbols Yuuka Kazami had constructed to hold Rin Satsuki was fascinating. And if the extraterrestrial reject had indeed found a method to overcome Satsuki's adaptive abilities, then it certainly-

Then she felt a fainting buzzing at the back of her head. Looking up, her brow furrowed as she searched the room for the source.

She found it behind the broken remains of a couch. A cracked flowerpot, in which were stubbornly growing a cluster of those irritating Mykr's Sirens.

"My, still clinging on, are you?" Mima said. "Oh, but you are annoying."

She pointed a finger at the flowers. A jolt of electricity shot out, and they were crisped to black ash.

"There," Mima said in satisfaction. "That should be the last of them.

…

Deep Within

Rin fell to her hands and knees with a startled gasp. She was back, back in her headspace, back to being herself. The red screen was before her as if nothing had happened, Flandre was jumping up and now and laughing, and on the screen…

"Look, Rin!" Flandre giggled. "Look!"

The black slime that had filled the hallway was collecting itself, gathering together into a Yuuka-shaped lump right in front of Rin. Yuuka was reeling back and forth as her substance thrashed and boiled. She clutched at her temples with ooze-covered fingers and screamed in terror and agony.

That was interesting enough, but what was stranger were the glistening golden threads that extended out of her body. They seemed to be made out of light and moved with her, jerking around when she did. And though they shot out in all direction, they one and all came together at a single point, collecting in Yuuka's heart.

And over that heart was what appeared to be a golden eye.

"It's her Eye!" Flandre cheered. "Grab it, Rin!"

Rin, it should be noted, was still trying to process what was happening and doing an altogether poor job of it. "What? Grab…"

"Her Eye, Rin! Take it in your hand!"

Rin had no idea what she was going on about, but what the heck. She reached out with one hand, and saw her physical body mirroring the movement.

Suddenly the golden threads all swept around to wrap around Rin's hand and bind her to Yuuka's heart. What was more, the eye was no longer contained within Yuuka's chest.

It was now sitting in the palm of Rin's hand. It didn't seem solid, but she could still feel a strange heat from it.

What was more, it now looked terrified.

"Crush it!" Flandre all but screeched. "Crush it and say 'kyuu'!"

Rin looked at her in bewilderment. Then she looked down at the…thing she was holding and shrugged. "Uh, okay."

She squeezed her hand into a fist. There was an odd sensation, like squeezing warm honey.

"Kyuu?"

…

Acquiring Targets…

No targets detected. Threat neutralized. Disengaging BattleMode.

There was a rush of steam from the control rod's jets, and the weapon retracted, its extended barrel compressing while the shield-flaps folded back into place. Soon the deadly device was now nothing more than a meter-long hexagonal steel cylinder on Utsuho's forearm.

As for Utsuho, she was still standing frozen in place, the control rod pointed out at the remains of Yuuka's bedroom. She was covered with ash and sap, her clothes were torn, and she was bleeding from half-a-dozen places. Her limbs were trembling and she was breathing hard from the battle, but she still didn't lower her aim. Another plant could jump out at any moment.

No targets detected.

No, there had to be something. There was always something out there. Any second something was going to jump out and-

No targets detected.

Seriously.

You're good.

Utsuho slowly released a long, deep sigh and lowered her arm. She didn't remember her control rod ever feeling heavier than it did at that moment. She tried to relax her legs, only for her knees to buckle as soon as she moved.

She fell down to her hands and knees as the shaking grew worse and her breathing more ragged. She couldn't remember ever being this exhausted. The fatigue felt like an actual weight strapped to her wings and bearing her down. It was a miracle that she had managed to remain on her feet as long as she had.

But despite that, despite how drained and filthy she was, Utsuho still felt a furious joy building up within her. And the reason for that was just left of her thumb.

The gold of the ring had melted away and now formed a sizzling puddle on the floor. The crystal, however, was unharmed, and continued to shine with a strong lavender light.

Utsuho picked it up. It felt warm to the touch. Cradling it in her palm, she managed to rise fully to her feet. She needed to lean back against the wall to keep her balance, but she stayed up.

She laughed a bit, the only sound she had the energy to make. She felt like she should say something, but the words wouldn't come to her.

But that was okay. Because the computer tied to her mind came up with the perfect thing to say for her.

Satori acquired.

Mission accomplished.

…

Almost there. God, it's almost there! Just a little more…

Until next time, everyone!