Boss Rush

VIII: Sinister Seeds

For the fifth time in as many days already, Ryuusei awoke to see the Witch of the Time Flower seated by the window ledge.

The smell of flowers had weakened, no longer an overpowering stench so much as a pleasing bouquet reminiscent of dry leaves in autumn along with wilting flowers. The plum blossoms stil perfumed the air, of course, and the commissionaire of the apartment block still kept the tree covered in bad weather because of personal reasons. Still, the sight of Marguerite looking at the narrow sunrise was surprising, the bewitching magician watching the progression of the sun.

"There is no concept of time in Tír na nÓg," Marguerite whispered. "Nor in the Gensokyo, not in the Cold Plains of Niflheim. It is always noon, or midnight. To see the sunrise... tell me, do mortals see this every time?"

"Yes," Ryuusei answered. "It's change. It'll come. A place where it's always day? Seriously?"

"The night is bright," Marguerite shook her head. "There is merely very little difference, but it is always summer. Some call the land Alfheim, because further south it becomes barren, deserted, the burnt forests of the Laval and Flamvell."

"It sounds wonderful," Ryuusei honestly answered.

"The mortal world has its charms," Marguerite waved. "But... perhaps, not so much advertising. No, what am I saying... there is more out there, that we know, and there is therefore no need to hurry, that is the mind of spirits. Why we do not write, why we have books on little else except magic, and even then incomplete, why there are ciphers and such things lost to time. Mortals are that; mortal. They therefore have to do what they can in their short time, and leave the rest to future generations. In a way, that is admirable."

"What is?" Ryuusei asked.

"That a man might, in one brief candle-flame of a mortal lifetime, amass such knowledge and then gift it to the rest of his kind, to be passed from hand to hand through the generations, studied and added to," Marguerite elaborated. "There is a power to it, a stubborn will to learn and grow that one never sees amongst spirits."

"I'm glad that there is some appeal of mortals to you," Ryuusei answered.

Marguerite turned to study him. "...How interesting. You are getting mouthy. If I were of a mind you would be one of the Fleurs du Temps right now."

"And are you?"

Marguerite gave a tinkling laugh. "No. Not at all. It is refreshing."

"Breakfast?" Ryuusei offered.

"I cannot eat," Marguerite amusedly replied.

"I can, and you can taste through me. I wonder if there's chocolate in the spirit world."

"Oh, chocolate?" Marguerite leaned in. "Do tell."

It was early in the morning, and Kaido had just delivered the verbal report.

"Cheryl Madison," Setsuka repeated to Kaido in the Arcadia Movement's infirmary.

Kaido cringed her her cold, implacable gaze. "Yes. And someone else, I had no idea who."

"In front of you and Shinamori," Setsuka repeated. Needling Shinamori had become a favourite pastime, ever since she had returned from the other world. Kaido had never really thought about it, but the Boss could really hold a grudge. Perhaps it was best that she was on the side of the angels... somewhat. Kaido had, after all, seen the result of the late Mr and Mrs Worthington after Mr Worthington engineered a mass ploy to discredit psychics. They were still in the Clubs House intensive treatment wing.

"Gae Dearg," Setsuka identified as Kaido rubbed at the bandaged wound. "It shall take a while to heal... or maybe not. We need to find the user. He was male, you said?"

"Er, yeah," Kaido coughed.

Setsuka smirked. "How fortunate then, that we have Diarmuid here."

Tsugare woke up with a pounding headache. The words of his younger cousins and younger brother seemed mixed within his head, and for a moment he thought the words of his grandfather were involved somewhere.

Well, that would certainly suck.

He opened his eyes and came face to face with that guy. Bone-deep tiredness, that feeling that could be nothing like scratching an itch and more of throwing it out altogether-

Boss was going to kill him, was his first conclusion.

Despite the good-natured verbal abuse, Shimotsuki Setsuka was protective of her psychics. Even Tsugare had to respect how she had rescued kids from abusive households, how she championed the rights of psychics for job and education opportunities, and that she was actively preventing any potential governmental control of psychics with the Arcadia Movements worldwide, not to mention actively subverting attempts by psychics themselves to take power. Having to walk the fine balancing line could not have been good for her, especially as a teenager, or for her mental health. Tsugare appreciated it, he really did. Still, if the guy pulled the rape card, Tsugare was so screwed.

Even if the NDPD didn't charge him, the Boss was going to get shirty with him. She could even use irony. And then the three spears... oh, wait. As he stood with the boss, he'd get hit by Brionac at most. Not too bad, still manageable. Just a few months of pain and numbness in the extremities, if he was lucky.

Wait... he looked down. Okay, he was bottom. That cleared one thing out. Now for the other thing.

"I thought you were a girl," that guy mumbled as he awoke, running a hand through ice-blue hair. "Oh god. How? I'm straight!"

Tsugare very carefully did not look at him. "I've been told that I'm more feminine than most girls. Erm... this is awkward, isn't it?"

"No shit," the guy groaned. "This is the last time I'm drinking on the job, dammit..."

Shirt, jeans, socks, and Tsugare was tugging the wrinkles into submission close enough. "Well... nice to meet you. It was... great. Don't worry, I tested clean just last month."

The guy gave him a searching look. "Why?"

Tsugare shifted. "It... wasn't an option. My Boss made me. She makes everyone." How true that last statement was...

"That's a small comfort," the man nodded. "I've been celibate for a year, and I tested clean last time. This... never happened. Got it?"

Tsugare shyly smiled. "Okay. Most likely we'll never meet again."

Alexianna was there when Takeshi got the call about a missing Kaname.

They were in Takeshi's apartment, having met together for activities of a conjugal nature that were frankly none of our concern, and therefore Alexianna was still awake. Even basking in the rush of endorphins had not lulled her away from the nagging worry.

"What's wrong?" He asked in a tired, breathy voice.

"Nothing. Just having a little trouble sleeping." She replied quietly out of respect to Takeshi's state.

He nodded, too tired to investigate further. "You look good," he softly complimented as he went to kiss her neck.

She smiled, coupled with a soft giggle as she felt his lips against her skin, enjoying the feeling as much as before but starting to find a familiarity and comfort with the action as well. "You smell good."

"Really? That's weird, I don't think we've ever been in such proximity before," he joked, inserting the lines in little breaks between his kisses he placed along her neck.

She laughed and mentally applauded him for being able to conjure up sarcasm in the morning. Even with the sun rising over the horizon and imminent lateness, it was no longer going to matter... "Alright, come on."

The phone rang as she was preparing orange juice, eggs and bacon, along with some herb sour-dough she had pulled from the bread-bin.

"Moshi moshi, Ishihara." A moment later, she almost dropped the plate. "What d'you mean, she's missing? Have you called the police? I see... thank you."

"Who was that?" Alexianna asked as she set the table.

"The Clubs House," Takeshi distractingly answered as he kissed her. "I'm sorry you had to cook."

"It's no problem, mon chérie," Alexianna shrugged. "What about Kaname-san? Is she missing?"

"You heard, huh?" Takeshi distractingly muttered. "Yes. There was no way she could have gone, the staff assured..."

The nagging feeling returned. "Are we going to call the gendarmes?"

"Lex, I need to search for her," Takeshi groaned. "There are very few places Nee-chan could have gone. This is one of them. I... I have no idea what to do."

Alexianna remained silent. "And Odin?"

Takeshi gingerly touched his left eye. "No response. So there's no danger, presumably. But... Nee-chan has been cooped in there for five years, without money, or a means of transport, and they say she didn't take her cellphone either. I'm worried."

Alexianna sighed as seeing her love worry. "Could we ask Shimotsuki-san to conduct a search...?"

"No!" Takeshi's answer came immediately. "It's... Alexianna, she expects any service to be repaid. If Nee-chan causes her trouble, she'll be repaying it for the rest of her life, and I suspect beyond it. I can't do that."

Alexianna deflated. Setsuka's even-handed treatment of everyone was legendary; even a distant cousin would gain no favours. "But then, why would someone kidnap Kaname-san?"

"The nurses said that Nee-chan never made a sound," Takeshi corrected. "The question should be, why would Nee-chan suddenly decide to leave?"

"You look like hell," Setsuka told Yamamoto Koichi as he came in later. Kaido was sitting opposite her, also giving details on things Koichi did not care about.

Koichi groaned as he sat down, dispensing tacitly with ceremony since Setsuka had opened the conversation between friends, and not as an employer. "Chatted up a nice girl in the bars. Found out in the morning she was a guy. I mean, how did I not see it? I was drunk, but... he was so feminine!"

Kaido's shoulders were shaking with silent laughter.

":0 Shut up!" Koichi roared. "Don't tell me that never happened to you!"

"Well, a man who clearly wasn't in drag yet looked like a girl seduced the infamous Spirit Detective," Setsuka remarked. "That does call into question your sight, Yamamoto-san."

"My Sight is perfectly fine!" Koichi groaned. "Cheryl Madison escaped prison. I think she's headed here."

"Yes, Kaido spotted her," Setsuka answered. "Along with another man, who managed to injure him."

Kaido held up his injured forearm.

"Either way, Cheryl is clearly attached to a group, and we can flush out a group," Setsuka reasoned. "Or, rather, you can flush out that group. I presume that it is for this purpose that you came to Japan?"

"Yes," Koichi answered. "I'll help you... if you pay my fees, and give me a lead. I don't want to be haring off to nowhere like last time."

"Done," Setsuka nodded. "I will provide you with a connection to the local underworld. Misawa Tsugare is the eldest son of the Misawa family. Even though he was disinherited in favour of his younger brother, he is under my care as a psychic and he has connections, as a member of a legitimately dark family. Is that acceptable?"

"Fine," Koichi replied as the door opened.

"You called me, Boss?" That voice caused the Spirit Detective to take pause.

"You!" he accused to the beautiful male in his bed last night.

Tsugare gaped at him. "You!"

Setsuka glanced from him, to Tsugare. "Do you know each other?"

She deduced the chain of events as Kaido broke out into raucous laughter. "Oh, my. This is rather awkward."

"Ariyashi Kaido," Kiyomi was pacing frantically. "The Seer of Urd. You said he has the 'seed' of the cauldron, Kisaragi?"

"No doubt," Kisaragi lazily affirmed. "My Gae Dearg almost missed him completely. He has the Coire Dagdae, yes."

"Claiomh Solais is out of reach for now, that much we know," Kiyomi traced. "Sleá Bua? Lia Fáil? Unknown. Ariyashi has the Coire Dagdae, the Morrigan must know. But the Fianna Fáil being a professional Duellist places a wrench in our plans, since tacitly, such protection must extend to the Winter Queen, the Morrigan."

"So we have one large hurdle?" Cheryl asked.

"Yes," Kiyomi nodded. "How is your plan with Fudo Ryuusei?"

"He's too strong of a psychic," Cheryl scowled. "I've got flunkies tailing him, but someone's protecting him, because all my flunkies never see him. There's no way but to do it the old-fashioned way."

"No," Kiyomi assessed. "A month ago, a younger student of Kings was arrested for first-degree attempted murder, second-degree attempted murder and attempted kidnapping over Ryuusei Fudo."

"It's always the good ones," Cheryl mumbled.

"He's bisexual," Kiyomi corrected. "Or celibate. The series of accidents that involves his paramours certainly ruins any prospects."

"Series?" Cheryl gaped.

Kiyomi coughed. "Starting from age five to now, including the most recent case, we have five stalkers all fitting a variety of profiles and genders. This also marks sixteen attempted kidnappings, ten attempted rapes and, in one case, a forced marriage, though that was never granted. In middle school, he dated one girl, but another got jealous and we had a double stabbing right there. In the most recent case, Ryuuga Satonaka and Rex Atlas were noted victims."

"Okay, I don't get the Satonaka bit, but the Atlas I get," Cheryl nodded. "So, no relationships?"

"It is conceivable that such bad luck affects only any potential paramour rather than friends, since the Fudo family still enjoy relative peace."

Compared to before, Cheryl was lost in space for only a few moments this time. "Oh. So do I force the whammy?"

"If you want to be pulled in by Setsuka Shimotsuki, then very well," Kiyomi waved. "The plan is to hit the Movement itself."

Cheryl shifted. "And the objective is to defeat Shimotsuki, right?"

"Yes," Kiyomi distantly affirmed. "Or kill her."

The doors of their new base crashed open as the two Duellists snapped to attention. "Who's there?" Kiyomi questioned.

"I..." staggering through, a wearied Kaname in hospital flats groaned. "Ishihara... Kaname... Caislean."

Then her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fainted.

"Oi!" Cheryl groaned, running a hand through her green braids. "What do we do?"

"Caislean, the Castle," Kiyomi muttered. "A 'seed' as well... the blankets, Madison. And the first-aid kit."

"You are very sure that the threat is dealt with?" Setsuka demanded the next day at the cafeteria of Queens. Most of the compound seemed to still at the sight of the head of th Disciplinary Committee in Queens.

Ryuusei looked away from that piercing gaze. "Probably."

Her eyes flicked to the Dandylion. "Yet Tanpopo-san remains out."

"He likes to play."

"And in the first two years of school he never came out."

The boss was too perceptive. "Could I... tell you after school?"

Setsuka fixed him with a look that was inscrutable. "I see. Unfortunately I am held up after school. If it is not something that can be addressed here, then at four pm, the Disciplinary Committee room."

"Okay," Ryuusei shrugged as Setsuka left him.

Marguerite's ghostly form appeared only when Setsuka was well away from them. "She's on to us."

"She can't really do anything, right?" Ryuusei asked in trepidation.

"Winter magic, especially the Unravelling, will undo our contract," Marguerite answered. "Which would then render me at her mercy. I have it on good authority she has none."

Ryuusei nodded. "So what do we tell her?"

"We blame the Ido you killed a few days previously. It is powerful enough to awaken weaker creatures' instincts, and it is a creature of fear, no matter how uncontrolled or beastly. She will say nothing; it reflects badly upon the Winter Queen if her vassal is responsible."

"Oh," Ryuusei considered. "That could work."

"What's with Shimotsuki?" Rex asked as Chase and he sat opposite Ryuusei.

"The results of the investigation," Ryuusei relayed. "Shimotsuki wants to know progress."

"Why are you still working with the slave-driver?" Rex shook his head.

"...Good question," Ryuusei agreed.

He had joined at first when the head of the Arcadia Movement had been a woman with a bright smile and dark hair like Shimotsuki's own, but worn loose. Madame Seiran Shimotsuki, or Madame, had preferred halter tops, and loved her husband with some air that Ryuusei had seen in his mother regarding his father and envied their bond for it.

Well, Ryuusei? You and I will have some time together here. Shall we see this through? For the sake of the future, will you lend me that power?

The Madame had been bright in all the right ways, but her daughter cold. Yet, both of them had sought the same goal; equality.

Do not listen to the words of others. Look with your own eyes. Do you see monsters that terrorise the populace, or do you see instead children with no understanding of the powers they hold? I see both, and neither. Look with your own honest eyes, and accept what is different.

So, why had the Madame bound him?

"You are wondering," Marguerite guessed. "Why do you remain." It was a statement, not a question.

"I... I joined to ensure equality for psychics and humans," Ryuusei confided. "It's more or less achieved, but... there is still so much fear and hatred."

"There is an element of envy there," Marguerite whispered. "Mortals are afraid of the abnormal. It is the curse of the powerful to be distinct, different. And yet it is this same power that gives them the advantage to lord it over the worlds. It is power that rules, but also power that determines. That is why, even when it is warped, unclean, disgusting, mortals will still seek it, because they wish to determine themselves. And in the case of people like your Arcadia Movement, people who are born with magnificent power are targeted because of luck."

"I don't understand," Ryuusei admitted quietly.

"Of course not. I would not expect you to. It is one of those truths that only time can teach," Marguerite answered. "I have lived longer than you, and I will outlive you by far."

"I don't understand, but I will try," Ryuusei answered. "Because to try is all I can do. So I remain with the Movement, because Shimotsuki, for all her unjust treatment and lack of scruples, has the vision and power to make it closer to that ideal time."

"To pursue a thing even if the present world is lost," Marguerite nodded. "Even to abandon comfort, knowing the importance of the thing to be lost and the pain it brings though, still yearning for it, existing for it... true determination as proven by mortals. Willpower... I suppose that is mortal-kind's only advantage. Well, they have used it well."

In life there is a delicate balance. Trite, but true nonetheless.

It can be seen in a million of tiny ways. The blooms of flowers in spring changing, the flourish of summer, into the brown of autumn, seemingly dead trees sleeping only to flourish once winter's icy grip passes. From the minuscule bacteria that keep our bodies functioning, the ever-continuous workings of our bodies to keep themselves healthy, healed, happy.

There's the other side. The faint electrical traces that have been found, biochemistry and faint aura discolourations that can even be photographed, but which cannot be completely explained... these both helped to make up who we are, and how we see things.

Say, there was a third issue. A component that was only present on a fraction of people. Not a gene, or a mutagen, not a reactive disorder... but a whole new type of energy that infused the body.

Then... let us call these people magical.

This automatically destroys the balance of the natural world. Nature had things pretty much sorted, then these magical beings came about. So they need to be balanced. Imagine then that for centuries of being unbalanced, all the chaos that should have erupted in the natural world was being absorbed by another plane, another unseen level of existence, one which had all the same composition and elements of the world they had originated in.

Then, let us say that the constant influx of bio-information forced this 'other' level, this separate realm to manifest an almost duplicate copy of the DNA and Magical codes of the worlds that was sending the excess unbalanced magic through. These factors combined to birth creatures that were a warped version of the first, normal, creations. But since they were trapped in this other place, no-one could find out.

Then, one day someone did find out. Someone over six and a half thousand years ago searched for a way of boosting his magic, and stumbled onto this warped, blackened, dark, twisted plane, filled with magic for the taking.

Only it was unnatural magic. Shadow magic. Chaos Magic. This wizard changed, his own natural magic becoming unstable. He died, leaving the gates to this dark realm wide open.

Creatures emerged and were set free. Vampires, a dark reflection of Elves fled, taking all traces of themselves and disappearing, night-mares, the dark versions of unicorns did the same. Ogres, the dark reflections of the giants were unable to comprehend what was happening, so they stayed in their realm, only a scarce handful managing to make their way into the outside world. Soon, hundreds upon thousands of creatures had escaped. Most stayed in the area they were freed in, wanting to either stay close to their only source of Chaos magic, or too weak to flee.

The wizards in the area tried their best to subdue the creatures, new spells and enchantments being created continuously to stop the threat of the Shadows. Soon, the best wizards from around the globe managed to congregate and seal the gate.

Or so they thought... What they actually managed to do was set a temporary seal on the passage between the worlds, but with the chaos inside running unchecked, they knew it wouldn't last. Their own magic was also changing, they were not wizards any longer, their magic warping into something new, something completely unseen before.

Thus the race of mages and sorcerers, priests and clerics was born.

Soon they found ways of harnessing the power they'd trapped, and they became ever cockier with each generation being born. The newer generations forgetting the huge number of their kind which had perished trying to seal away the magic. They had been warned that there were none strong enough to seal the Shadows again, should they be released.

Warnings were forgotten and they carried on, the wizards eventually hiding themselves away when it became apparent that they were no longer working on the same wavelengths, their basic philosophies and beliefs slowly changing, their entire way of magic evolving into a darkness unprecedented. The chaos magic was trying to find a balance. Dark creatures bred and half their offspring were of other types of magic. Light, Wind, Earth, the magics born ad infinitum.

The Darkness was finding it's strength, and becoming balanced within itself, it's creatures and inhabitants increasing in strength as time progressed. It wasn't until a battle, nearly a thousand years later that the Realm of the Shadows was finally sealed for good. With it gone, the mages and sorcerers, priests and clerics disappeared, searching for other conduits of power.

With the only way into the Chaos realm blocked, the wizards were forced to change too. Their magic beginning to balance itself. Darker magics, curses, blood rites and even death curses started to be created, the chaos having no other outlet. Light and Dark clashed, as opposites had done. War began, and lasted for seven hundred years. When it ended, only a tiny number of wizards were left, those of the non-magical persuasion now outnumbering them a thousand to one.

The rest is history. The wizards fled, and hid themselves, magically wiping all traces of their existence as they licked their wounds and recovered. Eventually, they became mere myths. They became forgotten as the years passed, and they were never seen again.

Time, as it usually does, moved forward. The passages of her books losing all remembrances, the actions of the wizards and mages, sorcerers, priests, clerics and magical beings were lost forever, the seeds of potential awaiting the epoch of magic once again.

The last part was adapted from Vacation Blues by Shi-koi.

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