(Author's Note: This chapter's a bit brief. Hope you don't mind. Next chapter is filler, by the way, so I might be putting up 3 in one night.)
Chapter 12: ShatteredKeine flew through the forest, looking carefully. "She must be here…" She muttered, the pain of the transformation wearing off and giving her a better chance to think. Just then, she noticed Marisa approaching a hooded figure. Undoubtably, what happened next made her very uneasy.
It can entirely copy my shape and voice…..and….it…..oh no….
Marisa ran away, frightened, a bit broken, and above everything else, regretful, as Keine twitched, glaring at the other Keine, who was laughing, and shortly after Marisa was out of earshot, looked towards the sky, and floated up, smiling. Keine immediately flew over, and grabbed the other Keine by the collar.
"Nausicca. Tell me where Cirno is. NOW." She said through gritted teeth. Nausicca only grinned wider, shaking her head.
"Oh, no, that….that wouldn't be fun, would it…." Nausicca chuckled, pushing the sensei away and shooting danmaku at her, Keine trying to graze, and successfully grazing quite a few.
"Your idea of fun is very chaotic….why are you doing this?" Keine frowned, shooting danmaku. Nausicca shrugged.
"Urgh. When you two fought me at the start, I was only trying to find a successful seal for my chaos….I'm sure you know what an 'extra side' is, don't you, Miss Kamishirasawa….or should I say, Miss Hakutaku." Nausicca smiled. "I've only been trying to find….a host, you would say. A host to store my powers in…I'm nothing more than an upgrade to the host. Of course…." The beast chuckled darkly. "Then the host's problems will become more apparent, and she'll need to fix them however she can….the chaos, I feed off of that….and the destruction, the deaths….like a dessert." Keine had flown over behind Nausicca and kicked her roughly, frowning.
"What a horrible thing to be proud of…" Keine frowned. "Why did you take Cirno?"
"She happens to be a….average level host. Though with her connections, I thought she might attract some better ones…"
Keine growled, shooting off more danmaku, as Nausicca smirked, grazing them, yawning lightly, then pulling out a spellcard. "Dream Sign: Detect." A small ball of light flew inside Keine, as Nausicca closed her eyes and smirked. "Dream Sign: Nostalgic Blood of the East ~ Old World." Two daggers flew out of Nausicca's palms as rapid danmaku flew out as well, surrounding Keine, every blow feeling worse than the last. Finally, as the daggers stabbed into Keine, the beast pulled out another card.
"Dream Sign: Plain Asia." This one sent Keine crashing to the ground as the daggers were pulled back roughly, the danmaku trailing after her and impacting quite well, Keine reduced to tears as she looked even worse than before. Nausicca smiled sweetly, transforming into Marisa and smirking.
"Oi, babe. Are you alright?" She extended a hand, sweetly taking it back. "Forget it, you shunned me, I want nothin' to do with ya, and everything to do with Alice and Patchouli, ze." She chuckled, hitting Keine with her broom. "Pathetic. You're broken, beaten down, and powerless. How pathetic….how very pathetic. Tsk, tsk. I'll have to give you an F on your planning skills, sensei. You know what that means." Nausicca drew Keine's head up, and headbutted her roughly, Keine crying louder. "And that's for getting such a low score. I'll see ya later, okay? Alice'll be around my arms by then." Nausicca winked, disappearing, as Keine whimpered, getting up slowly, and finally crying into her knees quietly.
M-My powers are gone….Nausicca tricked Marisa into hating me….Cirno will be taken over soon and everything will fall into chaos….no, no, no…..
W-Wait…Marisa…..Marisa…..s-she has her powers, Nausicca took her form….have to find her….tell her…
Keine stood up weakly, and walked slowly down the path she saw Marisa take, wincing at every step, but going nonetheless.
It was going to be a sleepless night for everyone.