Hello everyone~!
I have just moved back into college, so luckily, I have enough time to post the next chapter! This one is going to be a good one - we're back in the past again!
Also, 880 views? Y'all are so sweet. I swear, Precure fans unite.
Enjoy!!
Episode 4: In D Minor - Endless Devotion
A convenience store was cold and unfeeling, the business for the day being shut down for closing in the night. As the owner left, he left behind products that were still as rocks, and a single mirror in the middle of the store.
However, the mirror glowed pink, blue, yellow and purple as suddenly, the empty store became occupied. Every Precure stepped out of it, including Seiji who exited while holding Megumi's hand. Nagisa was at the front of the march, holding onto Honoka's hand tightly in comfort.
"He's in the city, it seems…" Megumi mused out loud. "But you'd think he would want to go somewhere more discreet."
"Discreet my ass," Nao barked, her voice nearly echoing across the store. "If his main objective was being 'discreet', he wouldn't have kidnapped a child."
Honoka walked the best she could - she'd be faster if she didn't just get out of surgery - towards the window and gazed out of it like a hawk stalking it's prey until she finally found it.
There was a brief, but clear blue light going from mirror to mirror, windshield to windshield, through dozens of cars.
"…OVER THERE!"
"In that case, there's no time to lose! C'mon everyone!" Hibiki commanded as they dashed out the door and poured onto the streets, ready to chase the god-turned-desperado.
Mana raced through the streets, whipping out her Lovely Commune and frantically sliding her finger on the screen.
LOSE
Wrong passcode. Please try again.
"Shit, come on…!" She kept swinging her finger and different words came out.
LICE
KOVE
OVEL
KOBR
DAMN
"Mana, slow down." Rikka gently advised as she pulled out her own. "Wait until we stop at an intersection."
"But I gotta do it now! We gotta find him and beat him, tonight! Damnit, how hard is it to spell 'LOVE' on this thing?!" Mana argues.
Rikka sighs and from the corner of her eye, Hibiki and Kanade were flailing their Cure Modules in the air, drawing treble clefs so utterly horrendous that Beethoven would cry.
Thankfully, a red light stopped them all at the street crossing. They were all panting, trying to catch their breath.
Rikka smiled patiently as the light turned red.
"How about we all transform…slowly~?" She said as she took out her own Lovely Commune and drew carefully across the screen.
LOVE
Mana took a deep breath and managed to properly spell "LOVE" on her Lovely Commune. "Alright, all good for me!" She exclaimed as Alice, Makoto, and Aguri did the same. Hibiki and Kanade also got their acts together and properly drew their treble clefs.
The light turned green.
"PRECURE, LOVE LINK!"
"LET'S PLAY! PRECURE, MODULATION!"
Meanwhile, the Hugtto team aided Nagisa, Honoka, and Hikari as they chased down the rapidly moving beam of light, heading from anything that resembled a mirror it could get its hands on.
"This is no good!" Honoka shouted in desperation. "We need to transform if we're gonna get faster!"
Mipple seemed to have a different opinion on this, as she could tell from her bag making frantic motions. "Honoka, you'll rip your stitches, mipo!"
"She has a point!" Saaya agreed. "I don't know if you'll be able to last long as White in your condition! Are you willing to take that risk?"
"But if I can't do it, then neither can Nana..." Honoka sighs, looking up at Nagisa. "Don't you want to fight alongside the others?"
"I…"
Nagisa had options here. Of course she didn't want to put Honoka in danger when her child already was. But at the same time, she wanted to knock some sense into that criminal who's supposedly in charge.
She looked at her wife's desperate expression and she sighed. "…okay. But promise me you'll be careful."
"As her birth mother, I must protect Sora..."
"But nothing too grand. We use ordinary attacks without each other anyway. I know the others can cover for us."
"Alright then…" She nodded in agreement.
The two pulled out their flip phones and tightened their hold on each other.
"DUAL AURORA WAVE!"
"LUMINOUS SHINING STREAM!"
As soon as they were transformed, Cure Black sped up her pace and leapt into the sky with White in her arms, trying to get a Birdseye view of where Blue was hiding. Meanwhile, Shiny Luminous aided Hugtto, all 6 women jumping into different directions to cover more area.
Cure Whip jumped up and assisted Black. As she stared to fall, Whip's bunny ears twitched. "That way!" She exclaimed, pointing towards the woods.
Her direction was instantly changed as Whip redirected her. Black gained momentum and jumped farther across the skies, wishing she had enhanced hearing.
…well, she didn't have to have enhanced hearing to hear WAILING all of a sudden, distant and far in the deep and darkest woods.
"Oh God…" White choked and tried not to scream.
"EVERYONE! THAT WAY!" Black yelled down at everyone. "FOLLOW ME!"
How could you take a baby into such an unforgiving place? I'm going to kill you, Blue. What you've done is unforgivable.
Meanwhile…
The swine himself walked through the oak trees of the woods, quite annoyed by the constant, ear piercing wailing that was in his ears as he carried the poor preemie.
"You'd be considered lucky that I don't have a weapon on me, Marble." He said with bile in his voice. "Otherwise I'd shut you up right now." He gazed into the distance, staring at the ominous moon above.
"Fascinating, isn't it? A moon you will never see…"
The child stirred, not understanding his words. All she knew at this moment was that the air was cold, the sky was dark, and a bold outline of a scary man loomed over her, visible with the help of the moonlight.
Blue chuckled a little, malicious intent underneath his unchanging gentle demeanor.
"You should consider yourself lucky, Marble." He said, heading for the edge of a cliff. "No one is here but us. No Precure…not even your precious, precious mamas…are going to see the end of your existence."
Before he could drop her off the edge of the cliff into the sea, though…
BANG!
A blood-curdling scream filled the air, but it wasn't from Sora. Blue collapsed onto the dry grass and screamed even longer, letting go of the baby in the process. Instead of being thrown off a cliff, Sora landed onto the ground Blue was standing on from a height of a mere few inches. She was swaddled in a blanket thick enough to absorb any potential injury from impact.
White shoes landed on the ground, the owner kneeling down and scooping the baby up in her arms. She stared coldly at the monster on the ground, who groaned and writhed in agony as he held his endlessly bleeding crotch.
"Jesus…CHRIST…!"
More and more of her comrades appeared by the second, and once the majority were there, Cure Fortune only had one thing to say.
"…why the actual fuck did you think this unforgivable SHIT was a good idea?!" She hissed, nearly barked out.
"AUUUGH!! FUCK WOMAN, WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Blue pathetically cried, dodging the question.
Fortune waved her hands and practically manifested a sparkly purple bazooka out of thin air. "Oh, you mean this? You're a real fucking card, you know that, Blue? You really thought you were doing something, giving us makeup to hinder our abilities with real weapons." Fortune aimed the bazooka at Blue again, but he was too weak to even flinch. "Happiness Charge Big Bang's got a whole new meaning to it now," she smirked. "Now spill about the baby before I decide to use this again."
"She's…agh damn it…!"
It took him moments to get his pain down to at least start talking pathetically.
"You don't understand, you bitches!" He shouted in pain and agony. "She's the whole reason… the laws of this universe …are disrupted! I-If it weren't for her…the world would… still be in balance!"
Rouge snaps immediately. "Oh, I'm a real bitch, WATCH ME...!"
"Does Sora truly knock the world out of balance? Or does she only keep it out of your favor in particular?" Aqua steps forward with Rouge.
Two very different approaches to calling Blue out on his vile nature, yet both spark fear within him as he continued to writhe on the ground in pain.
"She's not supposed to exist!" He barked, pathetically scooting up against a tree. "I swear, she's the only thing keeping me from…!"
"From what? From performing your 'duty to all earth's creatures'?"
That voice in particular wasn't female at all, as the vast majority of Sora's family was.
"Seiji…"
The once boy, now a man, stepped forward and gently pushed Lovely behind him.
"Leave this to me."
Seiji stepped forward and looked down. He held the power to truly shut Blue down.
10 years ago was just the beginning...
"What does Sora mean to you?" Seiji begins, fixing his gaze on Blue's eyes. This speech had been bubbling up inside him for YEARS.
"I'm supposed to love all living creatures on Earth," Blue says through clenched teeth. Some key words in that statement were "supposed to."
"I see Sora as my family! From the second she was born, it's been my duty to love and protect her endlessly!" Seiji yells, his voice cracking out of heartbreak and disgust.
Blue decided to finally drop the good Samaritan act.
Because what will he do?
He wondered.
He'll still be that helpless young boy, even in front of a crowd.
"If you're such a loving, protective uncle..." Blue pauses to wince. "...then how the hell did you allow her to end up in my hands?"
"…you've got to be kidding me…"
"Seiji…!"
Lovely moved forward to stop him, but Honey gently took her hand, shaking her head.
"No. He has to, Lovely."
Seiji clenched his fist, tears entering his eyes.
He didn't notice a bright light manifesting within the palm of his hand.
Finally, he bellowed out in a strong voice. Fortune had to skillfully cover Sora's tiny ears so she wouldn't be disturbed.
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME." He screamed in tears, tears of pent up anger, pain and humiliation let out here and now. "YOU ARE THE ONE WHO KIDNAPPED A FUCKING PREMATURE CHILD, WHO NEEDED MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO EAT AND BREATHE. YET WHEN YOU DO THE SHITTIEST THING A HUMAN BEING CAN DO AS A GOD, YOU BLAME IT ON ME?! HOW COWARDLY OF YOU. I COULD SPIT ON YOU RIGHT NOW. WHAT THE FUCK?!"
"Your tears are an ultimate sign of weakness," Blue sneered. "You can't call me a coward without admitting that you are one yourself."
"I AM NOT A COWARD!" Seiji roared. "COMING BACK TO STAND UP TO YOU A SECOND TIME IS THE BALLSIEST THING I WILL EVER DO!"
Seiji looked at his hand and realized that the intense glowing was coming from his wedding ring. The center stone was the pink crystal Megumi had given to him after they had saved the world. It turned from pink to silver, and the light grew stronger than the full moon.
The silver light got so bright, everyone had to shield their eyes. However, Blue's own eyes widened at how such powerful energy - the energy of a PRECURE's…
Came from that same young boy…
"Seiji…!" Lovely cried out in fear as the light started to die down. When she could see, she spoke again.
"Seiji, a-are you alright-…"
She nearly dropped her weapon.
"Sei…ji…?"
"PRECURE... KURURIN MIRROR CHANGE!"
.
.
.
As the light lifted, Seiji turned to face Lovely. Her eyes went so wide she could've activated her beams for maximum damage. Instead she took in the sight before her. Silver, almost white hair, and silvery eyes to match. A dark blue vest with short, satiny sleeves. silver shorts and white half-kilt, with high white boots with silver ribbons tied around them. And to top it all off, a long, sleek, silver cape was around his neck.
"The requisite to love, yielding endless loyalty!"
Seiji turns to face Blue once more.
"CURE DEVOTION!"
"Devotion…?!"
Princess gasped and covered her mouth at the sight, the rest of her team gazing in utter shock. If Fortune was holding anything else that wasn't her niece, she would have dropped it audibly. There was that much of a pin drop.
Because the whole woods, save for a collective gasp or a soft 'What?!', was utterly SILENT.
Cure Devotion, A MALE Precure, was born.
Blue looked up at Devotion in utter shock and disbelief, wordlessly. Never, in his 300 years of living…!
Lovely was about to weep in nothing but joy and pure surprise as she fell to her knees.
"D-Devotion…!"
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
The sharp gasps were now directed towards Blue and not the magnificent silver man that stood between everyone.
"This..." Devotion started, "is something that could not have been born out of cowardice."
"This...this is exactly what I was talking about. This is all her fault!" Blue pointed to Sora. "This shouldn't be happening! She's defying the-"
"SO WHAT?" Devotion snapped. "This can't be an accident. If I'm granted powers like these...if Sora truly did give them to me…then I will use them!"
"You've got some nerve-!"
He was off like lightning, and the girls could not believe their eyes.
Devotion hurled Blue up in the air, delivering several punches to the mouth at a quick speed before roundhouse kicking him into a tree nearby.
"Woah…!" Peach had to choke on her own breath. He'd just transformed for the first time ever, but he looked like a damn natural!
"All those martial arts classes really paid off..." Lovely swooned, fondly remembering when Seiji defended her and Princess from a wave of Choiarks.
"Well shit, he's got nice form!" Sunshine awed.
Blue groaned loudly as he slammed into the tree, but Devotion wasn't nearly done yet.
"YOU'VE GOT SOME TALENT, Y'KNOW? YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO TURN LOVE- SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL - INTO SOMETHING ABSOLUTELY SICK!" Devotion practically dragged his foot across Blue's mouth.
White could have sworn she'd seen some teeth fly from his mouth as his foot slammed him against tree after tree, one final roundhouse sending him hurling down into the ground. A large crater was formed which shook the earth, the girls all fighting to stay on their feet.
But since Black still held White, she got weighed down to the ground regardless. Sora started crying at all the commotion, and Fortune had to compose herself, heading over to where the child's parents were and handing her to them.
"Here they are, little one…" she said, swaddling her in White's desperate arms. "Things are about to get messy, I can already tell…"
Both nearly sobbed as they held their child once again.
"Thank goodness…!"
Devotion smiled as he watched the happy reunion from the corner of his eye, but still kept focused on Blue for one final grand attack. The issue was, he didn't have a PreBrace like Lovely or Princess. He became a bit worried, but decided to keep focused on hitting harder...
Just when Devotion was about to lunge forward again, a sliver of light formed in front of him and took solid form. It was a staff, with a lovely silver ribbon and a sliver heart at the top. It was beautiful. And perfect for ending his first battle.
He smiled a little bit, twirling around the staff like a baton before a ring of silver light shone.
"PRECURE, DEVOTIONAL BURST!"
The ring became a surge of energy, shooting the false God while he was down. He screamed in agony as he got sent several feet back, hitting a large tree as he was shaking, getting roughed up from head to toe.
Lovely cried in joy as she applauded.
"GO, DEVOTION! I LOVE YOU~!"
"LOYALTY, RISE UP TO THE HEAVENS! ...and you..." Devotion points to Blue,"...should go the opposite way. Right where you belong."
This aftermath of the silver blast left all the cures speechless, but Lovely, who was bawling and cheering. Black and White looked up at Devotion and smiled wide.
Devotion landed on the ground, and the first person to greet him was none other than Fortune, who ran up to hug him.
"How did you not even break a sweat?!" She gazed at him in awe, parting from the hug.
"Devotion, that was AMAZING!" Princess squealed as Honey nodded proudly with a gentle smile.
"Well done."
"DEVOTION!~"
Before Devotion could turn around properly, he was tackled in a hug by his wife. She sobbed and laughed wholeheartedly, clinging onto him tightly.
"Y-You are insane! You're c-completely insane! I love you! This is my husband, you guys...!"
Devotion was stunned by the hug, but he smiled a little embarrassedly and combed through Lovely's hair with care.
"And, this is my wife..."
While the others congratulated Devotion on his epic debut, Ange approached Black and White, examining Sora. She seemed to have stopped crying for now.
But it was like she was suffocating in the air, if just a little.
"...we need to get her back to the hospital. Now."
Sora's parents wasted no time in heading back to the hospital immediately once they heard this. The others soon followed suit, not noticing the victim of the previous massacre grumbling while barely even rising off of the ground.
"This isn't over, Cure Devotion."
It was around 4:45 AM. But no one was going to be sleeping after THIS.
As of right now, Sora was back into her cot safe and sound, and fast asleep. But even so, she still seemed to be so disturbed, the poor thing. And still so small too…
Saaya and Nodoka made extra sure that she was warm and protected by her family at all costs, as well as back on her health support until she could learn to breathe on her own. After what just happened, it was clear NO ONE was going to let their guard down.
Everyone was silent in the hospital room, no one uttering a word. Honoka looked down in deep distress, while Nagisa squeezed her hand for comfort. But even her wife's hand couldn't calm her down.
She knew it. She knew that Sora was going to be in danger, somehow…!
Finally, Tsubomi broke the silence worriedly.
"…why does he even want her dead anyway…?"
Nao looked at Sora and grimaced at what Tsubomi just inquired. "What could he have against a literal child? What kind of "rules" and all that talk about preserving balance make it alright to blacklist a baby?! What the hell?!"
Elena put her hand on Nao's shoulder and sighed. "I wish we knew. If Blue is willing to take away her innocent smile then...then...oh god...why?"
'…help me…'
A soft voice rang out through the room, causing everyone to gasp and look around in wonder. The voice sounded so…young and bright…
"Who's there?" Nagisa asked in caution before she heard it again, this time, freezing.
'Mama…help me…!'
Nagisa's head snapped to look at Sora. She was fast asleep. Was she already going crazy? A little too much adrenaline?
Then, something caught her eye. Right at the foot of Sora's cot was a lovely hand mirror with a silver frame and pink and blue gems.
"Nagisa, look…!" Honoka pointed towards the mirror, seeing it starting to shine and vibrate.
Immediately, everyone was on edge, thinking it was Blue. But instead of the eerie blue light, the mirror started sparking in black and white electricity, creating a portal.
The child's parents were in utter disbelief.
It looked just like a Marble Screw…!
"…woah…" Was all Akane could mumble.
The portal looked so tantalizing, so much that Nagisa practically stumbled into it.
It's calling...for us? What awaits in here?
Honoka followed and the rest of the party poured in, wondering to where the flashes of black and white would take them…
Another cliffhanger! I'm quite the evil person, am I not? ;) Next chapter, we're back to Ju Lan's story. Why does Tenebris want the Stone Heart so badly? At least now that Black and White remember, the journey to find it will be quieter.
Thanks for reading! Please leave a review on the way out!
- Sweet
...
P.S. - DEVOTION IS GOATED.