Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
Finally finished this chapter. Probably could have made it more detailed and better, but idk.
Natsumi sighed after what seemed like a few hours of questioning Kululu. Tamama had long since given up on rehabilitating Kululu against the enemy, but Giroro still seemed to believe there was good in him, and that he was a double-agent.
"I'm done." Natsumi threw up her hands in defeat. Kululu wasn't telling them anything. He was just laughing and blowing them off, just as he had twelve years ago.
"Done? What do you mean?" Giroro asked.
"I mean, we aren't going to get anything useful out of him."
"Then what do you want us to do with him? We can't just release him," Tamama reminded her.
"We were asked when we came into this city to bring him to the empress when we were done with him. I'm going to go visit her and bring Kululu. There's nothing else we can get out of him, after all," said Natsumi.
"Ku. So you're turning me over to whoever this empress gal is? I bet it'll be easier to escape from her than you." Kululu was fine with this.
Giroro frowned. "I'm sure if you give me three more minutes I can change his mind..." he insisted.
"Giroro." Natsumi glared. "He's not nice. He's working with the enemy. He might have helped you out a few times but it's obvious he's not going to betray them. I might as well see who this empress is, and see if this city can help Tamama's revolution. That way, at least we benefit out of this kidnapping a little bit," she said.
"This empress hasn't revealed herself to me before... I'm worried that this hypothetical utopia might be just as bad as what Fukki has. I mean... why else would it be so secretive?" Tamama spoke up.
Natsumi nodded. "Well... there's only one way to find out about it. And that's with Kululu. We'll use him as a negotiation chip, so that at least we come out of this with something."
Giroro wanted to complain, but he knew her plan was sound.
Natsumi smiled and picked up the tied-up Kululu, throwing him over her shoulder. "You coming?" she asked the two others.
They nodded.
The castle in the middle of the city was huge. It was like a beacon of light or hope, except elaborate.
"This architecture..." Tamama whispered.
"Huh?" Natsumi asked looking at him.
"Oh nothing...It's just the design is a bit nostalgic." Tamama grinned softly. Natsumi paid him no mind, and soon they found themselves at the castle gates.
"I've brought the prisoner Kululu. I'd like to see the empress," she said.
In less than a minute, the doors swung open to an empty castle.
"She's in the room at the far left," a robotic voice directed. Natsumi nodded and followed the hallways to the far left. The castle looked elaborate, but mostly empty.
She kept her eyes glowed to the floor, instead of the paintings all over the wall.
Tamama gripped Natsumi's pant leg. "I... I think this place might be something Fukki made," he whispered, hopeful not to get overheard.
"Why?" Natsumi asked.
"The pictures. There's pictures of Fuyuki everywhere," Kululu pointed out. He was only able to see the picture frames from over Natsumi's shoulder.
"So... you think this city was built to lure refugees out?" Giroro asked.
"I've never heard of this place, so it's likely it doesn't have a connection with Fuyuki. Of course, Mois and Fuyuki don't share all their plans with me... So it is a possibility... Ku, ku, ku," Kululu laughed to himself.
Giroro swallowed and got a gun ready.
Natsumi knocked gently at the door on the far left.
The door swung open immediately for her. A girl in a dark blue dress with long, light blue hair sat on a sofa waiting for her, sipping a fancy tea cup.
"Welcome, Natsumi," the girl smiled.
"PUT THE GUN DOWN, GIRORO!" Tamama yelled. Giroro hesitantly put his gun down, his eyes adjusting to the person in front of him.
"Ku, ku, ku. Well, if this isn't a surprise!" Kululu laughed.
"M-momoka? Y-you're the empress here?" Natsumi seemed flabbergasted. Momoka looked much older, but she was still clearly Momoka.
"It's nice to see you!" Momoka smiled and gave a small giggle. "And Tamama! I thought I'd never see you again! Come here!"
Tamama ran over to Momoka, not even considering that this could be a hologram or a trap. Instead he threw his arms around her, crying.
"Momocchi! I thought... I thought you were dead!" he cried. Momoka pat his head.
Natsumi just looked confused. She sat down on the couch across from Momoka, ready for an explanation.
"So... are you working for Fuyuki? Or independently?" Giroro was still confused. He hadn't exactly ever been told that Momoka died. He had kind of assumed she was off doing her own thing.
"Ku. I knew someone was taking money out of the Nishizawa funds. I assumed it was your parents, who had gone off wandering the wilderness, living alone, but it was you all along? I suppose that makes sense... The body from your suicide was never discovered. Your parents just said it had been cremated." Kululu put the pieces together. He had always found something suspicious about Momoka's death, but he hadn't ever questioned it at the time.
"My parents built this city for me, so I could live in safety. I wanted to use this city for people other than me, though, to aid Tamama's revolution. So I let refugees enter it, too," Momoka explained. "I'm sorry for not telling you I was alive, Tamama..." she whispered. "If I could have, I would have, but it was important I stay dead. At least in Fuyuki's eyes."
"Why?" Natsumi asked, confused. "Wouldn't it tip Fuyuki more off the edge to think you were dead?"
"I can confirm that the kid lost it even more. Ku, ku, ku," Kululu laughed.
"Well, it wasn't my choice to die!" Momoka defended standing up. "You think I wrote Fuyuki a suicide letter? No! I wouldn't be that cruel... I may have needed to leave him, but I didn't want to cause him pain... It was my parents who devised the whole scheme. Not me. Once I told them about the Harvest and what Fuyuki was doing, they deemed our engagement unsuitable. They faked my death and whisked me away to this city to hide me away from him. I've been living here in this fake utopia ever since." Momoka wiped away a tear from her cheek.
"So... you're a prisoner... And you haven't seen anyone from the past since you were brought here?" Natsumi asked.
"Bullshit," Kululu called. "I've seen the security here. You are no prisoner. You pretty much control this city. Your parents might have tipped you into faking your death, but nothing's keeping you in this city except yourself. You don't want to see Fuyuki. You don't want to face what he's become. You want to live in the past of your love for him back when he was not nearly as wicked. Going outside means facing reality, and exposing to him that you lied. That's why you didn't contact Tamama, either. You were afraid of anyone telling Fuyuki about you being alive. Ku, ku, ku," Kululu wickedly told her.
Momoka stood up and glared at him. "How dare you tell me what I'm doing is wrong?" she demanded. "You... You might be right... I am staying in this city of my own violation. But... I don't love a fake version of Fuyuki, the version of Fuyuki from the past! In... In all these years. I've stilled loved him loyally! I... I'm frightened by what he's doing. I want him to stop, but... no matter what I do, I'll always love him," she explained.
Natsumi grinned, getting a gleeful look. Tamama had said that using her to try to talk Fuyuki out of these Harvests would be impossible, that he'd stick to trying to resurrect Keroro, but what if Momoka and she tag-teamed him? If all his important people just tried to talk him out of it, perhaps he'd listen.
"You have to talk to Fuyuki," she insisted. "If you talk to him, maybe he'll stop this stupidity. I know he cares about you - "
"You're wrong!" Momoka screamed, covering her ears. "Talking to Fuyuki wouldn't do any good. You don't understand. If just talking to Fuyuki would fix things, I would have done it long ago. But... he doesn't care about me. Coming out of this city and seeing him won't do any good. He doesn't love me."
"I'm sure Fukki loves you!" Tamama insisted, still snuggling up to Momoka, and trying to stop crying.
Momoka shook her head. "He's... He's..." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "...having an affair with Mois."
"What?" Almost everyone was silent and awkward from that news. All except Tamama.
"HOW DARE SHE? ONE MAN WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER? That woman had to steal YOUR man, too? Let's destroy her together, Momocchi!" Tamama was ready to kill. His eyes went beady.
"What the heck are you talking about?" Kululu asked, narrowing his eyes. That wasn't the least bit accurate, to his knowledge. "I suppose he did try to sleep with her once, but that was after your supposed death. So how do you know about it?"
Momoka looked sad that Kululu had confirmed that Fuyuki and Mois had been a thing.
"Wait... Wait a minute, you mean Fuyuki is sleeping with Angol Mois? My brother is?" Natsumi was so sickened. "Why would he do that?"
"He... was experiencing a bout of grief over Momoka," said Kululu. "While you were gone, he had been dressing Mois like you sometimes, Natsumi. Calling her his doll and sister... So after Momoka left, he tried the same thing with her. They would have gone through with it, too, if I hadn't awkwardly broken it up... Ku. Those are some memories I do not need." He shuddered.
Natsumi also shuddered, but at the image of Angol Mois being dressed up as her.
Momoka tilted her head, confused. She hadn't heard anything about that. "I wasn't talking about that time!" she insisted. "It was before I left that I saw their affair. And... And I realized that Fuyuki cared nothing for me..." She clenched her fist, trying not to cry.
"I don't ever remember them having an affair while you were alive," Kululu said. "I suppose Mois could have not told me about it, but Fuyuki loved you, so I highly doubt they were together."
Momoka shook her head. "I know they were! I went to Mois to ask her to keep her hands off Fuyuki and when she opened her door, she was... Well, she was barely dressed and you could pretty easily tell that, well... she and Fuyuki had just been... involved." Momoka blushed at the words.
Natsumi covered her face. "Now I have two reasons to beat up my younger brother."
Giroro frowned. "How dare he put you through that."
"I HATE THAT WOMAN!" Tamama growled.
"Did you see Fuyuki there?" Kululu asked again. He was beginning to suspect Momoka's problem, and that she had been so willing to fake her death over a terrible bout of miscommunication. He was pretty sure he knew what had gone on.
"Well... no... I didn't see inside the room," Momoka admitted. "But it was obvious! Fuyuki was the only one living in the fortress with her! He was the only person who could have been there!"
Kululu coughed awkwardly. "Was... Was he really the only one living in that fortress with Mois? Now... think carefully before you answer, because I'm very sure your tiny brain will miss something big in front of you. Ku ku ku... Maybe a third person who's very obviously working with them."
Momoka looked at him. Her eyes grew wider and wider in shock as she began to understand. "Wait... Wait a minute! It was you! You were the one with her that day... Not Fuyuki?" She felt humiliated and confused.
"Wait... you mean that woman couldn't even deal with just Fukki AND Mr. Sergeant? She needed Kululu, too?" Tamama looked grossed out.
Natsumi looked like she didn't believe Kululu. "Maybe... Maybe you were right that he's trying to be nice, Giroro. I mean, he's trying to help out Momoka's worries for us," she said.
Giroro grinned. He knew he had been right.
"Ku. Geez, do you need hand holding. I even remember what you're talking about, I think. You left crying, and Mois was all confused what you needed. Ku, ku, ku," Kululu laughed.
Momoka grinned hopefully. Did that mean Fuyuki DIDN'T try to cheat on her?
"Good job, Kululu. I knew there was a part of you that was some nice." Giroro slapped his back.
"What do you mean? Sex with Mois is a perk of the job," Kululu said honestly.
Giroro paled. Kululu was lying, right? He didn't know anymore.
Momoka just smiled and looked at one of her Fuyuki pictures. Was it true? Was there a chance Fuyuki loved her?
She had been mad at him all these years, thinking seeing him again would do no good... But perhaps there was a chance.
"I'm so glad you're alive, Momocchi," was all Tamama said, snuggling up to her blouse. All that mattered to him was that his friend was alive.
Momoka smiled and snuggled back.
Dororo carved a small talisman out of wood as he remained in his large cage. Fuyuki and Mois weren't talking to him much, but that didn't matter to him.
It gave him more time to carve the talisman out. It needed true love to work, and Dororo didn't know if he honestly had that for Keroro. Sure, he was his friend, and he wished he was alive and he'd always admire him, but there was still a part of him that would always be traumatized over what Keroro did to him. A part that would always be dark and hate him.
I'm sorry that I couldn't devote myself to saving you like Tamama did. In Keroro's last moments, he had been a true hero, a true friend and he had honestly been sorry for all that he had done to Dororo.
Yet... Dororo still couldn't let go. And that was part of the reason he hadn't helped Tamama. He had been focused on his own life, not Keroro's.
The lights flickered on and of all around him.
"It's time. The Harvest... It's finally upon us, Fuyuki!" Mois grinned, coming into the room. Dororo could see his dead friend floating in the tube.
Fuyuki drained it.
"I've got the blood... We'll have to retrieve his other platoon mates while he's awake," she smiled. She took off the jar from a ledge with the firefly-like spirits that would let him live for a week instead of a day this year.
"Good," Fuyuki grinned. He was ready to see Keroro again. Working quickly, he wrote out the designs on the floor. "Feed him," he ordered. "I'll say the ancient ritualistic words."
Fuyuki begin chanting, his voice sounded like he was speaking in tongues, saying things about how his soul would anchor Keroro's, and how the demonic spirits could give him life once again.
Mois lovingly fed her dead boyfriend, and soon enough, Keroro's eyes snapped open. Dororo could feel himself shaking as Keroro gave a toothy grin.
His eyes were red. Not black and fun-loving like the Keroro he knew.
Keroro licked his licks and fingers and dived into a bag of guts that Mois had brought him. "Delicious. The best part of being alive again is eating delicacies like these!" he huffed.
"Sarge... it's good to see you again." Fuyuki gave a soft, kind smile.
"Quiet, worm," Keroro ordered. Fuyuki looked hurt for a moment, and Keroro's expression softened. "I shouldn't yell at you. You were the ones to give me life again, after all... Although you did screw up again! I don't have the soul I so desperately crave." He approached Fuyuki and glared straight into his eyes. "Stop screwing up. Don't I deserve better?"
Fuyuki nodded. "I'm sorry. But this time you can aid in the search for the soul you desire."
"Good. Hopefully I'll kill a few Pekoponians, too. Their screams are so amazing! Better than that stupid show I used to watch, even! I love to hear it especially when their bodies snap in half. Music to my ears!" Keroro hummed.
Dororo held himself, trying not to let himself be seen. He was good at being forgotten. And now he truly knew what Tamama had spoken about when he talked about the evil Keroro. This was not his old friend.
"It's better even than Gundam?" Mois was surprised.
"Millions time better." Keroro stretched his arms. "I have a long day ahead of me... Now tell me, did you at least bring me my platoon? I've been waiting for them for what seems like eons. I need my platoon. I'm their leader, after all."
Fuyuki took off the curtain from Dororo's cage. "We'll find the rest soon. But we brought you Dororo. You can reunite now! Just like you wanted so much." Fuyuki smiled.
Keroro looked over at Dororo, his eyes pinning on the ninja. He approached the cage and unlatched it.
Is... Is he going to be merciful? Kind? Dororo wondered.
"Dororo... Dororo..." Keroro thought for a moment. "Would you all laugh if I said I couldn't remember you?"
"No. Nobody would laugh, Uncle. We know you can barely remember anything, except for a few vivid memories of your last moments. I'm sure your feelings for Dororo are there somewhere, but nobody would laugh, don't worry." Mois tried to be soothing.
"Shut up, Mois." Keroro shut her up, quickly. Mois quickly piped down.
He then looked over at Dororo. "I've thought about you a lot in purgatory. About my platoon... How they abandoned me. But don't worry, I'll always be your leader. Till death do us part after all!" Keroro laughed. His hand reached over to Dororo's arm and twined itself around the bone. His hand gripped around it like a claw.
Dororo was shaking. He felt almost like a child again, Zeroro, shaking in the face of what Keroro had become. Keroro's red eyes trained on him again.
"There's a part of you that hates me, isn't there?" Keroro asked.
"Of course not!" Dororo denied. "You're my friend! I cried so much when you died!"
"I'm not dead! I will overcome death!" Keroro proclaimed. "Friend, huh?" His face leaned closer to Dororo's, their lips almost touching.
"Keroro..." Dororo didn't know what was coming. "Please... Return to your old self..." He begged. He slipped the talisman around Keroro's neck. Keroro barely noticed the gift.
"I don't want to be my old self. I want power. I want my platoon back. But seeing you... I've realized you are unneeded. Expandable," Keroro told him.
"I wonder how pure you are." He grinned. His mouth widened, and Dororo saw the pits of death itself inside Keroro. There were no organs, or the insides of his mouth. Just darkness, like a cavern.
His jaw unhinged and, like the wolf from little red riding hood, he swallowed Dororo whole, and Dororo gone in a matter of seconds.
Keroro made a crunching sound as a few of Dororo's disembered fingers popped out of his mouth. "Look, Fuyuki and Mois! Finger food!" he snickered.
Fuyuki and Mois looked at each other with horror at what Keroro had done.
They had thought he wanted to befriend his old platoon members again... But he had eaten Dororo! He'd just quickly eaten him.
"Why aren't you laughing? You two are important to me, aren't you?" Keroro asked. "I'm not sharing, but if you find fingers of your own, you're welcome to have them."
Mois started laughing, like she was ordered to. Fuyuki, taking her cue, started laughing too.
I need to find the soul that will bring him back to normal... Sarge... I'm so sorry.
Blood from where Dororo had been moments ago pooled on the ground. Keroro barely noticed. He just turned away, giving no attention to his old friend.
Dororo was gone.
Please review!