Chapter Four: The Red Queen

"Do you prefer coffee or tea? sugar and cream?" Saya stood by the counter inside the counseling room, a box of instant coffee in one hand.

"Tea, please. Plain." Yomi sunk down into the couch, feeling more comfortable than she had in two days. She had never been to a guidance counselor's office before, and from what Yomi saw, this was nice.

The machine-spider stopped. Dead Master continued to slide, just barely managing to keep her balance. She had been pushed through several walls, but seemed not to be too badly hurt overall.

The space she found herself in was a wide and open clearing. Around the edges, she could see the entrances to other parts of the maze. The creature had pushed her into some sort of central hub. This was good; it gave her more room to fight.

The Chariot-creature lunged forward and began to charge again. Dead Master struck the ground with her scythe, sending a shockwave along the ground and through the air toward the creature. It struck the face, crushing it. If only she could get in one good swing, she could end this. She gripped her scythe tightly, preparing for the charge. All around the clearing Her chains wove themselves into intricate patterns; a spider's web of metal links.

She grabbed onto one of her chains at the last moment, pulling herself to the side. The Spider creature charged past her. This time she had enough room to avoid the legs of the monster. Dead Master struck the ground twice, sending two shockwaves at the creature's legs. She smiled as she saw the spider-monster's legs buckle from the impact. Success.

"I'm sorry that I barged in on you like that," Yomi began, "I'm not normally like that. I've just been having a difficult time lately."

Saya set down a cup of tea in front of Yomi. "It's no trouble. Your name is Yomi Takanashi, right?" Yomi nodded. "Well, Miss Takanashi, That's why I'm here in the first place." She then walked back over to the microwave and began pouring coffee into a cup, then adding cream and sugar

"What are you making there?"

"Café-au-Lait. I feel in the mood for it right now." Saya put the cup into the microwave. as the slow drone of the microwave began, Saya turned back to Yomi. "Now, what seems to be troubling you?"

Dead Master walked over to the remains of the Spider Chariot. Most of the actual creature was a wreck, the last of its twitching dying down. Only the cart in the back was intact, as it had been largely outside of the blasts Dead Master had shot at the thing.

The blonde girl from the back of the chariot stood. She had pulled a sword from somewhere, and raised it in a challenge to her opponent. What struck Dead Master first about the girl were her legs; in place of feet, the girl had what appeared to be a pair of enormous wheels on the ends of braces. There was something else about her; something familiar, as if from another life.

The girl rushed at her. At a thought from Dead Master, the net of chains around the clearing closed in on the blonde girl. Two wrapped around the girl's legs, another around her sword arm, and yet another around the girl's torso. The girl struggled on, trying to fight off the chains that even still surrounded her. Finally, she collapsed at Dead Master's feet, unable to go any farther. She was pinned to the ground, unable to move.

Dead Master began to swing her scythe back and forth, slashing at every exposed part of the girl's body. A few of the cuts the other girl was able to parry, but most of them connected. Dead Master smiled. How the tides had turned.

How could she phrase her problem in a way that Saya would understand? Even she was not quite sure what was going on with the world around her. And then Dead Master; how could she explain that to Saya? The only ones who even knew about the existence of Dead Master's world were herself and Mato, and as things stood Yomi had her doubts about Mato. She had to try, though.

Yomi took a sip of her tea. "What if I told you I woke up yesterday morning and everything was different? That people I'd known for years suddenly acted as if the didn't know me, and people I've never met act like we're the closest of friends. That I know for a fact that everything around me changed, but no one around me even acknowledges that anything is different from the way it was before. I feel like I'm out of place; that I don't belong here."

"Why don't you just kill yourself then? That would solve all of our problems."

Yomi blinked. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just ignore me."

"I'm pretty sure you just said—"

"It was a joke! That's all! Just a really bad joke!"

"That really wasn't very funny. Are you sure you're really a guidance counselor?"

"Just forget I ever said anything. So back to your problem; you're feeling like you're out of place?"

"What do you think I should do? I don't know what's happening to me or what to do about it."

Saya took her cup of Café-au-lait out of the microwave. "What you're talking about sometimes happens after a big transition in your life. It can be really disorienting if you let it get to you."

"That doesn't explain why I keep seeing Dead Master, though" Yomi murmured to herself.

There was the sound of breaking china. Yomi looked up just in time to see Saya violently grab her by the shoulders. The calm expression on her face was completely gone, replaced with one of shock and anger. "How do you know about Dead Master?"

"Saya-chan-sensei?"

"Tell me! How did you find out about your other self?"

"After what happened, how could I not know about Dead Master?" A flood of images began playing through Yomi's mind.

Dead Master raised her scythe a final time. A look of absolute glee played across her face. Yellow blood dribbled from dozens of slash wounds on the helpless other girl's body. The other girl's sword lay just out of reach. This would be the end.

There was the clanging sound of metal on metal as her scythe stopped in midair. Dead Master turned to the side to see that the red-eyed girl had returned. She had caught Dead Master's swing with her enormous sword, preventing the final blow from landing.

Dead Master snarled. She pushed off from the interloper's sword, then readied herself to attack again. At that instant there was a rumbling sound, and the two girls sank into the ground, leaving Dead Master alone in the clearing.

The door slid open. Standing in the doorway was a diminutive, brown-haired figure that Yomi knew all too well.

"Yuu!"

Yuu looked at the counselor, a serious expression on her face. "Saya-chan, we have a problem."

Saya let go of Yomi's Shoulders. "I know." She stood and walked over to where she had dropped her cup. She grabbed a small dustpan and a handful of paper towels off of the counter and began to clean up the mess. "Dead Master is acting strangely. Something's gone very wrong with her."

Yuu shot a look over at Yomi. "Saya-chan, is it alright to talk about this in front of her."

"She already knows—or knows something at least. I haven't had time to get details from her." Saya dumped the shards of porcelain into a wastebasket along with the used paper towels. She then made a fresh cup of café-au-lait for herself and sat down next to Yomi. "Now I want you to tell us everything. Start at the very beginning."