Boss Rush

IX: Spirit's Invitation

"This is boring!" Anna complained.

"Then go find a Duel partner," Rose reasoned. "Or even go to Queens and challenge the Queen there."

"Good idea," Anna sighed. "But I'll be hated. I forgot to call ahead~"

"Typical," Rose nodded. "So, what shall we do?"

"We should hit the Cubic Area!" Anna cheered up. "We'll go wild there!"

"Very well then. To the Area we go."

"Thank you, guys," Ryuusei sighed. "But, honestly... you don't have to bury my room in flowers."

"It is a sign of your regard amongst the local spirits," Marguerite laughed as she traced a pile of cherry blossoms. "Come, surely you must appreciate their efforts."

Ryuusei nodded his thanks to a smiling Dancing Elf. "I do, it's... well, they could use their power on other things, like staying alive. I had to lie to Shimotsuki about the Ido attack, she might manage to catch them."

"They chose to," Marguerite simply answered. "It is their appreciation for your help in the park the other day."

"I just... might have chased away a few people," Ryuusei sighed as the Dreamsprite gave a bubbling laugh. "Land developers, it was clear that they weren't wanted. What do I do with these flowers?"

"If I could..." Marguerite looked more solid as she pointed for a bunch of plum blossoms to float into her hand, before arranging the bunch to something more presentable. "Perhaps you could claim an interest in flower arrangement."

"Right," Ryuusei snorted in disbelief as she arranged the flowers into a presentable bunch, fishing out an empty glass container he usually kept for spare parts from his work area. "This okay?"

"Excellent," Marguerite presented the completed masterpiece. The smaller Duel spirits cooed and whistled in admiration. "You are learning."

"Thanks," Ryuusei set the flowers on his desk. "I'm going downstairs. Any particular order?"

"No, no," Marguerite waved as the man left. The witch sighed as the door closed, turning to the spirits. "Why are you here?"

"You are undoing the bindings, Witch of the Time Flower," the Dreamsprite intoned, hardly annoyed as much as concerned. "He is protected, but ignorant. The White Witch protected him with those bindings."

"He doesn't know about them," Marguerite stated. "They were meant for him to never come into contact with the spirit world, so she engineered for him to ignore it? What kind of binding needs this? Humans have come into contact with the spirit worlds before, fairy of illusions."

"We cannot answer," the fairy murmured, floating in a bubble of raspberry-red magic. "The sprites are thankful for him, but there are other things that would steal him away. The bindings have protected him as he did not touch our worlds, though we watched from afar."

"You keep him ignorant regardless of his opinion," Marguerite questioned. "Why? He is no child of destiny, that much is certain. He would merely be a human with Sight, and great power, but mortal."

"No," the Dreamsprite confessed. "He will not. He would have been killed young by the Winter-bound gathering by the Winter Queen at the start."

"Then why are the Winter-bound targeting him?" Marguerite groaned in frustration. Even the taste of chocolate from her connection with Ryuusei was not soothing her mind.

The sprites chattered. "That, we cannot answer."

"You were in Titania's service, surely you can answer a retainer of the last Summer Queen," Marguerite pointed out.

"No, we may not, witch. There are far greater obligations to observe."

"To whom?" Marguerite raged.

"That, witch, you should know. Titania has mandated his protection long before he were even born."

To that, Marguerite had no answer.

"Are you alright?" Ryuusei asked the quiet witch as she floated above the aftermath of a gym class with Kajiki Rikuo teaching, that is, stunned.

"That is the most disgusting sight I have ever seen," Revulsion was clear as Marguerite winced at Kajiki-sensei posing. "Humans will never cease to amaze me."

"Oh come on, surely..." Ryuusei reconsidered. "Okay, Kajiki-sensei is one of a kind."

"How thankful for the spirits that there is no one else like him," Marguerite agreed. "I..."

"Yes?" Ryuusei turned to look at her.

"...nothing," Marguerite reconsidered. "When we have time."

The magician remained oddly silent for the rest of lessons, which was unusual but Ryuusei dismissed it as nostalgia. He was not unoccupied; having to reject a few confessions again here and there, and hoping that none of them turned obsessive.

The stress was such that even Rex picked up on it.

"What's with you?" Chase started the ball rolling when the trio that formed Team Black Knights sat down for lunch. "You look like there's something haunting you."

"Did a favour for the Dreamsprite," Ryuusei answered. "They filled my room with flowers."

"Must suck," Rex commented. "Any plans for today? We need to practice for the Stygian Dirge."

"Of course," Ryuusei nodded. "But, it won't be held here, right?"

"Practice, perfect, etcetera," Rex waved. "Team Night Sky got their practice early."

"What are you, obsessed?" Chase joked, but relented.

Ryuusei did not pick up on that. Rex did not like Setsuka much, he knew. For what reason, he could guess. A lot of people did not like the head of the Arcadia Movement. There would be many who would happily say how unscrupulous, unfair and cruel she was... and be at a loss to explain how that was a bad thing.

"Brilliant," Rex was saying once he dismounted from the third run. "Fantastic, the engine."

"Thanks," Ryuusei acknowledged. "I was wondering how much more could we improve on it."

"Ryuusei, get off Calcifer so that I can tell you properly, the engine is fantastic."

"Don't call my laptop Calcifer," Ryuusei sighed but gave in.

"You built the damned thing, it's faster than almost anything on the open market, it's Calcifer," Chase pointed out.

"Dad helped."

"Father-son bonding aside, it's Calcifer."

"Chase..."

"I'm glad you're joking," the voice of Tenjouin Michiru spoke from the stands. "Still alright?"

"Yes, Michiru-san," Ryuusei acknowledged the dark-haired girl with midnight-blue eyes.

Shimotsuki had forced through a promotion for Michiru, given the latter's scholastic and physical ability, plus disciplinary stability under Shimotsuki's watch. This was why Michiru was now in the black uniform in her second year, although she looked uncomfortable without the closest to a friend she had. "I'm... I see."

"How is life with the Movement?" Ryuusei asked. "Tenjouin-sensei finally let you live with the Arcadia Movement, right?"

"Erm, yes," Michiru shifted. "Shimo- I mean, Setsuka, explained to the old man how it might be better if... if I entered the Movement. I still visit every week."

"That's great," Ryuusei nodded encouragingly.

He had pieced together some parts of Michiru's life from snippets here and there, although only Michiru herself, and possibly Setsuka and Nakamura had the entire story. To sum it all up, Michiru was socially awkward and unlucky, and being with the Arcadia Movement given her burgeoning abilities was probably for the best, for the entire family concerned.

Michiru seemed... well, not happy. Not the sickeningly happy Nagatsuki Miyabi had been when Shimotsuki actually paid for her elopement with Abel Kinsman, which Takeshi had not forgiven. Satisfied, yes, but still holding on. Which was probably as close to happiness she could get.

It was proof that Winter was not always cold and cruel, Ryuusei understood. This was the justification of every single person Setsuka Shimotsuki had ever injured, of every unfair law, of every court case challenged and reporters and authority alike put down; for the happiness of its members.

He did not like Setsuka, that was clear. He had to respect her. That was even more clear.

He was mentally debating how much one could hate someone one respected as the spirit chased after the Meteor Stream on the highway. There were cars and D-Wheels and motorcycles alike getting out of the way as he shot like a red shooting star down towards the Cubic area.

Ryuusei coughed under his helmet. "You know, I think being hunted by a dragon is rather new."

"Hunter Dragons," Marguerite identified as she flew along a la her staff. "They are one of the beasts of the skies that serves Winter once more. For such a mindless Winter-bound servitor to be here... means that the Winter Court is experiencing dissention under the Queen."

"What?" Ryuusei yelped, still eyeing the highway as gashes enough to tear through steel barriers appeared about him as he searched for a deserted area.

"Ha!" Marguerite waved a hand. "Cien Fleur: Closed Plant Gate!"

Vines sprouted from the fluttering dark petals as they ran, and the Hunter Dragons roared as they were caught in the tangling makeshift net.

"Clausolas!" a roar sounded as a piercing cry echoed right as Ryuusei made it to the deserted Cubic Area.

"There!" Marguerite cast as the red-winged being in silver armour appeared. "The Divine Fowl King, Alector!"

The bird-like being landed with a thud. "You are the Witch of the Time Flower," it intoned. "I have no quarrel with you, spell-caster."

"Then why are you here?" Marguerite defended, and Ryuusei felt a spark as she shifted to a solid form. Her card was inexplicably on his DuelDisk plate, so she was using the Solid Vision...

"I am a hunter," Alector replied. "One who has allied with the Queen of Air and Darkness for centuries, Summer-bound. I hunt the one who killed my beast."

"He's high up," Marguerite muttered. "And Winter-allied. Trienta Fleur; Blossom Bombardment!"

"That shall not help you, witch," Alector reached out a claw and scratched through the barrage. "You have put down many of our kind. Forsooth; it is only fair play of the Duel that I do not end you here."

Marguerite staggered back from the blast of wind. "Cien Fleur: Grace Illuminate!"

Sparkles flashed as a female centaur knight appeared there, before cutting through to Alector temporarily.

"Come, we both know who has the advantage," Alector reassured. "Simply give yourself to my authority, and I shall merit your memory when I claim the Silver Throne."

"Dissent," Marguerite assured. "It is not unknown within Winter. The Winter Queen will slay you for this."

"Pah, she knows nothing," Alector dismissed. "What need has the Gensokyo have for the two-world queen? She is disposable."

"Is that so?" Even Alector had frozen at the cold pronouncement.

The White Night Dragon groaned as it descended from the darkening skies. It landed with a weighty thump, and its rider dismounted. As a blizzard fell, her braid was loosened to unlock to loose hair, the cold eyes unmatched, her aura implacable as a glacier and as iridescently beautiful as one. Even the standard uniform seemed to take on some air of inhuman elegance on her person.

Shimotsuki Setsuka was here.

"Y- Your Majesty," Alector stuttered. "I- I was going to deliver the head of the witch to you and-"

"Take my throne, was it?" Setsuka pronounced, her eyes alight but without compassion or pity. "You hunt one under my protection, even with the proximity of the Witch of the Time Flower, and you expect me to believe your empty words?"

Ryuusei would have been indignant at the possessive pronoun if the situation were not intensifying.

"You sent a mindless beast to do your work first, that was the first mistake," Setsuka counted. "The second was when you decided to send the Hunter Dragons for this one. The third, was when you publicly declared your intent to rebel against the one on the Silver Throne. You coming here I shall dismiss, but you broke one of the rules of the Herald."

Alector was probably horrified. Ryuusei felt so when faced with her awful power. Not for the first time, it occurred to him that perhaps, just perhaps, the rumours of Setsuka being the most bloodied head of the Arcadia Movement just might be true.

The sound of wings fluttered as the white-winged harpy drifted from the skies overhead, ghostly flesh becoming more solid before the presence of the Queen of Air and Darkness.

"What have you done, Alector?" the Harpie Queen murmured, hardly amused.

"I merely tried for what was fair play," Alector gave a hollow laugh. "Aria, have you forgotten? We are rulers of the skies, and this mortal whelp of a girl dares to call herself the Queen of the Air. She herself cannot fly without allies, she cannot dance on the clouds or see far. Why are we the ones to bow our heads?"

"Because I am Queen, Alector," Setsuka answered. "And I shall fly. This time, I shall rip your wings off and I will use them."

Horror struck his face as bindings of clouded ice formed, even those wings of brilliant plumage bound in hard glacial chains and spiked through. "N- No..."

"Queen Winter!" the Harpie Queen protested. "Surely, it will do well to administer his punishment on a fairer basis? Before the judge of Lia Fáil, you will have satisfaction."

Ryuusei was almost mortified and amused as the boss actually considered it. "But I was going to fly."

"He is not worth dirtying your hand for, Queen Winter," Aria whispered. "Surely it is worth delaying judgement."

"Aria, do not curse me to a greater torment already!" Alector growled.

"I shall teach you not to raise against your betters, then," Setsuka... no, the Winter Queen declared. "The punishment will be the tree and the bower."

it must be horrible, for even Marguerite mimed gagging as Alector struggled to free himself. "No... no!"

"Fudo Ryuusei," Setsuka looked at him, and under that cold gaze, he could only dumbly stare back. "Be careful whom you speak of this about."

With a turn of the heel, the Harpie Queen, the Sovereign of Birds and the Winter Queen disappeared leaving a horrified witch and Ryuusei, staring perplexed where they had been.

"What is that punishment?" Ryuusei asked later as they rode home. "The tree and the bower?"

For a long while, Marguerite said nothing. "In Lia Fáil, you have seen the chained man on the parapet?"

Ryuusei frowned, recalling the sign of a mutilated arm and a man begging to be killed suspended from a tree of ice. "Yes."

"You do not understand his true torment," Marguerite answered. "There is pain, of course. But anyone can inflict pain. Pain is the natural order of the universe, and so it is hardly a tool mete for the Queen of Air and Darkness. She will torture him with kindness."

Ryuusei frowned, trying to imagine. "She leaves him hung up like that. And then she comes and saves him from it."

Marguerite smiled, the expression uneasy. "She heals his wounds, takes his pain. She restores his sight, and the first thing his eyes see is the face of she who delivers him from agony. She will care for him with her own hands, warm him, feed him, clean away the filth. And then, she takes him to her bower. Poor man. He knows that when he wakes, he will hang blind upon the tree again, and can do naught else but yearn her return."

Ryuusei shook his head. "You think he's going to fall for that?"

Marguerite shook her head. "Love," she murmured. "Perhaps, and perhaps not. But need. You underestimate the simple things."

Her eyes glittered. "Being given food and warmth. Being touched. Being cleaned and cared for and desired. Over and over, spinning through agony and ecstasy. The mind breaks down. Not all at once. Slowly, the way water will wear down stone. It is a slow process. A conversion by the smallest steps."

The skin by Ryuusei's limiter itched intensely for a moment, where the onyx met his throat.

"Yes," Marguerite agreed. "She is, you see, patient. She has time. And when the last walls of his mind have fallen, and he looks forward with joy to his return to the tree, she will have destroyed him. And he will be discarded. He only lives so long as he resists."

She closed her eyes for a moment and said, "This is wisdom you should retain. He grew too arrogant with the power he held. He thought he could overcome what stalks us all. Foolish. Queen Winter will have him taught the error of his ways."

Ryuusei suddenly understood. "That's diabolical."

"That is the way it is," Marguerite answered. "Those of power must safeguard it, and those who rule must punish upstarts. Your mortal world has a White Messiah, I think. He will not have faced as much torture as that Alector will for betrayal. Mortals will be hobbyists in comparison when it comes to visiting agony."

"Shimotsuki... she's just cruel," Ryuusei swallowed. "That man... was he human?"

"He is passed," Marguerite languidly answered. "Before your time, or even your father's time, he sold a soul to Exodia for power. He failed; he paid the price. He was gifted to the Queen of Air and Darkness, along with his human woman Echo who was his sacrifice as a coronation gift. He is an impudent one, I have long heard. He will have company, at least."

"We could have saved him," Ryuusei argued.

"How?" Marguerite cocked her head. "You are of those she protects. She has no obligation to hand him over. Your aiding him will mean betrayal on your part. Your are no monarch of the spirits, you have no right to claim him, especially since he is a traitor. He was doomed the moment he declared his intention to seize the Silver Throne without able backup. I would have had to kill him had the fight of powers continued. Like this, he will not pass into the embrace of Doma... although he will certainly wish for it when she is finished. And when he is gone, he will die."

Ryuusei shook his head as the smell of plum entered his room and the Dreamsprite appeared again, smiling faintly. "I... why? She didn't need to hold onto the spirit world..."

Marguerite looked at him. "She is no longer of this world. She is a cursed being here. The Queen of Air and Darkness is a being beyond your comprehension. When we have found the soul of Titania, no matter its container, the monarch of Land and Light will be equally inscrutable."

"But... but that's unfair."

"If everything was fair, then it would be very boring and painful. As it is, be glad that life is unfair. As a mortal, you will enjoy much to come, and much pain as well. Think how immortals must fare. They must jealously guard over the centuries, never knowing peace, for in the end only thyself will live."

"That must be lonely," Ryuusei mentioned.

Marguerite's expression clouded over. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. What does it matter to you?"

"Maybe I don't like to think of something in pain when I can see it," Ryuusei murmured. "It's sad, isn't it? To know loneliness."

"...you are a perceptive one, I submit," Marguerite submitted. "Yet, we are no closer to finding the soul of Titania-sama. Amongst the seeds, none of them have yet to find me, or to succeed in the task set out for them."

Ryuusei blinked at her. "What's the task?"

Marguerite's look could only be categorised as dangerous. "Why, child. To best the Winter Queen."

"Why?"

Marguerite looked taken aback. "...I'm sorry?"

"Clearly, you need to prove that whoever Titania is will be a good Duellist," Ryuusei pointed out. "But, is there a need to best Shimotsuki? Especially given how duelling with Shimotsuki is literally a dance with death."

"They are not worthy of the Summer crown if they cannot stake their lives on it."

"What defines worth? Is it you, or is it Shimotsuki? Clearly the 'seeds' of humans are separate from Titania. Right now, you're assuming that Titania is someone who will hold a 'seed' within them."

"'Seeds' are the mark of the spiritually powerful. To be powerful enough to see spirits is to be one in a million, nay, maybe more so." Marguerite pointed out. "Titania-sama will not be spiritually weak, even after so long. Maeve is the only one who has fought Titania to such a deep level that they can recognise each other almost immediately. Maeve was also the killer of Titania through treachery. If any would recognise the soul of Titania-sama, it would be the one who holds the soul of Queen Maeve, that is, the Winter Queen! It is fate for Summer and Winter to be at odds. Is that so odd?"

"...then it must be wearying," Ryuusei concluded. "That for a monarch, for even their vassals to have to resort to such barbaric methods to find them means that their vassals cannot recognise them, even when they have passed. That their vassals have never known their ruler, or that the ruler never has any true friends."

"It is the only thing I know!" Marguerite argued. "The cold creeps every day to Tír na nÓg. Summer weakens with each blow. The forest is crying out for its rulers, even Ancient Fairy Dragon cannot keep it forever. If it continues, our worlds will be at risk, if not from the Fimbulwinter, then overrun to the mortal worlds as Summer-bound. I want to go back to those lazy days in the sun, where I grew Fleurs de Temps with Titania-sama! I want that warm smile, I want that security of knowing that, no matter what, there is a warm hand and a gentle smile and a watchful eye looking out for us! Is that bad?"

Silence echoed.

"No, it's not bad..." Ryuusei answered. "But, to want, even to the extent of disregarding life in yearning for that precious thing... that warm hand, that gentle smile... would Titania wish for it?"

"...I don't know," Marguerite whispered. "I just need to find her. It will be alright if I can find her and bring her back. It will be alright..."

"You're scared," Ryuusei whispered. "Of facing the possibility where Titania may no longer come back."

"...I'm scared...?" Marguerite whispered. "Is this what it means? To be scared?"

"We all face that once in a while," Ryuusei answered. "I mean, mortals. I don't know about Duel spirits, but mortals face a lot of fears, even fears about tomorrow. Even if we're scared of dying, even with that certainty that, one day, it will be over, we can only forge forward and face it. Once we face that fear... it doesn't seem so terrifying anymore, is it? What happens if Titania is not here, what happens if you disappear before that... you can only face it. Because, even if you... die... well, you tried, right?"

"...I see," Marguerite echoed. "So this is fear... is it this fear that drives the lives of mortals? How do you live it everyday? It must be boring, dull, commonplace. To imagine living with the knowledge that one day, it may all be over, even through no fault of our own, it would be crippling. I... I forgot. I forgot to fear for my own life a long time ago."

Ryuusei sighed. "Well, you're learning, aren't you? Dad always said that it is possible to learn many new and interesting skills in one lifetime."

"...I see," Marguerite echoed. "Yes, day by day... there is something to learn. In that one respect, perhaps... perhaps this is why the mortal-kind lives."

Far away, in the Cubic area, Anna Shiloh groaned as she hit a brick wall, creating a crater where the centre of her body was. Angry, living red marks stretched the length of her skin as she growled to face Kisaragi's grinning face and the lances he seemingly pulled out of thin air.

Beside her, Rose Gonzalez took up a stance, also injured from attacks by a solemn Kiyomi. "Looks like we've found our rebels."

"Yeah," Anna giggled, although she winced soon enough.

"You're affiliated with the Movement, I see," Kiyomi noted. "I am sorry for your impending loss, then."

Anna scoffed. "Rose."

"Yeah," Rose answered, flicking aside a lock of black hair from her face. "Let's do this."

"Let me tell you a story," Anna stretched as she glared at the two. "Long, long ago there was a black dragon that, with her teeth and claws and rage, destroyed everything around her. The only one unafraid of this monster was a medium, whose black eyes could see the spirits of the dead."

"No one would approach the medium out of fear or disgust, and even her own family would have nothing to do with her," Rose took up the story. "She recognized the dragon's similar pain. The medium taught the dragon how to be kind, human again."

"And the grateful dragon promised to never abandon the the medium, or to leave her lonely," Anna growled. "That's why I can't die yet. That's why, even if I die, I'll die with Rose, and I'll drag you guys down with me. We're the strongest. No matter how many times you cut us, we'll never fall!"

Kiyomi merely scoffed under the battle aura Anna was giving off. "Quite the 'seed'... Areadbhair. No... Slaughterer. And your partner... Kisaragi?"

"Drynwyn, the White Hilt," Kisaragi smirked. "Well, I'll be taking those 'seeds'!"

"Duel!"

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