Lunarmercury Presents:

Collision

Chapter Two: Reawakening

The boy sat up with a gasp, chest heaving, sweat plastering his gold-streaked, spiky black hair to his forehead. His bright blue eyes were wide as they frantically darted about the room. His eyes lit upon the girl standing next to him, and he immediately calmed. The former sleeper carefully slid off of the tablet, and immediately, his legs buckled under him. Kaguya instantaneously caught the slender, weakened form of the boy – but even thin as he was after years of a magical coma, he was too heavy for her to support. Her own knees buckled, and she barely managed to shift his weight off of her and onto the stone slab. She hopped up next to him, then looped her arm around his shoulders, pulling the raven-haired figure to lean against her. His form shook, fine tremors wracking his body as he gradually regained control of his body.

The first thing he noticed, when he had calmed down, was that his senses were greatly heightened. In fact, had he not been in such a dim, quiet, bare cavern, he probably would have been reeling from the sensory input. As it was, he could easily make out the cracks in the walls, the small sounds of underground springs and dripping water, the faint, almost metallic scent of stone, the bitter taste of a long, deep sleep, and the feel… the feel of air, yes, heavy, thick air, but cool and refreshing in spite of that. The feel of soft, draping cloth. The feel of a slight form that securely held him, gently rubbing her fingers across his shoulder and whispering calming words and rocking him ever-so-slightly.

"Ka… Kaguya?" he rasped, his voice thin and soft from the thick layer of sleep blocking his throat. "How long…?" He allowed his sentence to trail off, knowing Kaguya would understand what he meant.

"Fourteen years," she whispered in response, her voice nearly as soft as his. To the boy's heightened senses, her voice was clear – though no louder than it would have sounded to another – and almost musical, his hearing able to pick up the slight nuances and lilts that normal people could not hear. "Fourteen years, you've been asleep… a lot has changed." A small smile graced her lips. "Seeu and I have a son. Akeno. He's really quite sweet…"

The youth smiled, his tremors all but gone now. "What does he look like?"

"He's nine now," Kaguya replied. "He has his father's hair and build and my eyes… we want to have another baby soon, but… things have been in such disorder…"

"They have to have been," the young man declared. "If they weren't, I'd still be sleeping."

"Kagami…" Kaguya whispered, speaking her brother's name for the first time in years. "Kagami… the universe is coming apart." She looked up, tears shimmering in her eyes. "I don't know what's going on… but I think we're responsible somehow. I think… I think what we did to fix it was only temporary, and it triggered something big…" She swallowed thickly, before continuing, her voice stronger, a hint of the steel she had had when she was still Princess of the Ananai creeping into her voice. "It's our fault. People are in danger. We have to help them! I won't stand idly by as innocents die due to our foolishness! We have to do something, and soon!"

Kagami smiled at her, then said, "All right… I think I can walk now. Shall we return?"

Kaguya smiled and nodded. She slid off the flat surface, then helped her brother down. He wavered a bit once his feet hit the ground, but managed to keep his footing. He and Kaguya laboriously trudged towards the exit.

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They made it home about half an hour later. Kaguya had just stepped onto the small stone in front of the door when it swung open. Seeu stood in the doorway, soft light diffusing from the candle he held in his hand.

His first reaction was to stare at Kagami. And then to stare some more. Kaguya was just beginning to think he'd frozen in that position when one of his… less fortunate habits from before resurfaced.

Seeu crumpled to the floor.

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Seeu, as always, regained consciousness very quickly. Almost immediately upon snapping open his eyes, he was fully awake and ready for action. His gaze lit upon Kagami, and a strange expression crossed his face, before the ripple disappeared under the calm countenance of his typical expression.

"Kagami," he murmured, barely able to believe it. Kagami smiled that bright smile Seeu remembered so well, the smile that endured wars and horrors and even… even the end of the universe.

"Seeu!" he chirruped. "It's nice to see you again."

Seeu said nothing, but only rose gracefully from the couch upon which he was seated. He expertly struck a match with a mere flick of his wrist, then lit several candles, all arranged in a semi-circle. When he was done, the light level of the room was about equal to that of three evenly spaced lamps – more than enough for clear viewing.

"I need to make sure everything is normal," he intoned. Kagami moved into the light of the candle, easily removing the thick yet light fabric draped over his slim figure.

Kagami's figure had changed since he was a doll. Though his height and weight were about the same, as was his eye color, his formerly black hair now had liberal streaks of gold running through it. A magnificent golden dragon, looking much like the Chinese dragons of lore did, wound its way around his body. The detail was breathtaking, each scale clearly visible, the whiskers fine and the eyes deep and captivating. It began at the juncture of his neck and right shoulder, with a tiny bit of its whiskers trailing up onto his neck. It then wound down around his back, across his abdomen, with the arms falling naturally as they would were the dragon to crawl. It wound around back one last time, then its tail wrapped itself around his left leg until, in a fine, pointed tip, it ended just above the foot. His left hand still sported Gold, sprouting from the back of his hand, but instead of it being completely retracted, it instead wound back, reaching midway up his forearm. He seemed to radiate an aura, golden light pulsing around him, and it was clear in the way he moved that he was physically stronger than before.

"Incredible," a voice breathed from behind them. Kaguya whirled around to find Bambi standing in the threshold of the den, a doused lantern in her hand. "I thought he had died."

"No," Kaguya corrected softly, "as you can see, he is very much alive. How will be saved for another time… we have others to pick up, do we not? And it is a long story, so I do not wish to retell it many times." She gave a soft smile, then added what Bambi's expression clearly stated she wished to hear. "The tremors are a result of our actions… I know it. I can feel it. We must stop this, and set it to rights, before many innocent people die. That is why Kagami was revived… we need the living weapons in order to fix this, I believe, and Kagami can revive the living weapons. However, we first need to find their wielders."

"But Idou is dead," Bambi pointed out with her typical dead-pan expression. "We do not have all the owners."

"I know," Kaguya informed her. "We shall simply reform his weapon, and then… then we shall find its wielder."

"It is late," Seeu interrupted. "We should sleep. We can start in the morning."

With soft, assorted mumbling, the others agreed, and headed off for bed.