Doors
She drew her arm back and hurled it forward, sending a smooth, flat stone skipping across the lake. Ripples spread out from each of the places where the stone hit the water. It leapt forward a good five times before disappearing beneath the water's surface. The girl picked up another stone and threw it over the lake with all her might and watched as it followed in its brother's footsteps.
Only three skips. She shrugged and reached for another but paused when she felt someone approaching. A brief glance to confirm the newcomer's identity, and the girl sighed, picked up a new stone and tossed it at the lake. This one lasted for six skips before coming to rest.
"You're getting pretty good at that," said her brother as he walked up to stand next to her.
The girl nodded but otherwise didn't respond.
Her brother picked up a rock of his own. He jiggled it from one palm to the other, testing its weight, before sending it spinning across the lake. "So I guess you've heard?"
"Yes," the girl said.
"So, what do you think?"
"Why do you care?"
He shot her a sidelong glance and rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't give me that. You've been the biggest supporter of him marrying that princess ever since she showed up. In fact, weren't you the one who convinced him to go on that quest thing in the first place?"
"Don't remind me," she said harshly. "And what do you want me to say? Okay, I'm disappointed that he failed. There, I admitted it. Does that make you happy?"
Her brother actually looked remorseful. "Sorry, sorry," he said. He picked up a smooth stone and passed it to her. "It's just I've never really got why you wanted him to marry her so badly. Hell, you've never even met her."
She turned the stone over in her fingers, feeling the coolness of it hard surface. "What does it matter? He failed, she's rejected him, it didn't work out. End of story."
"Hmmm." He put his folded his arms and looked out to the lilypad-covered water. "Is that why you're out here, taking your anger out on an innocent lake?"
She shot a sidelong scowl at him before tossing the stone across the water, sending it skipping seven times and scaring the wits out of an old toad that had been napping on a half-sunk log. "He deserves better," she said.
"Eh?" Her brother cocked his head to one side. "Better than her? Little sister, I know you actually haven't seen the princess, so I'll forgive your ignorance. But speaking as…as a fully functioning man-"
She snorted. He ignored this.
"-who has seen her, let me assure you: this impossible task she has her suitors embark on to earn the privilege of her hand is nothing short of ridiculous; and yet, if I thought I had the slightest chance of succeeding, and if I weren't afraid of offending Father, I would gladly go looking for whatever legendary pottery or magic rodent pieces she wants."
"I get it," she said irritably. "So she's pretty."
"Pretty?" He gaped at her in mock-offense, his hands clutching at his heart. "My gods, how far your words fall from reality. Why, if you weren't my beloved sister, I would feel obligated to challenge you to a duel to the death to uphold that splendid creature's honor!"
This earned him another dismissive snort. "Just as well. You'd lose."
"Well, maybe," he said, his cocky grin never wavering as he playfully ruffled her nut-brown hair. "But all things considered, being burnt to a crisp would be a small price to pay for possibly earning a night in her bed."
"You have a strange way of looking at things," she said dryly. "Especially considering that you'd either be in too much pain to enjoy it, or unable to feel at all."
"Positive thinking, little sister, positive thinking. Just being there would be enough."
She rolled her eyes. "Thanks the gods I am not a man. And that's not what I meant anyway."
"Oh?" He knelt down to find a new stone and gave it a flick but made a face when it only skipped two times. "Then by all means, enlighten me."
She looked skyward, collecting her thoughts. "He deserves better than what he's gotten. Mother wasted away in front of his eyes, and he couldn't do anything for her. And then those damned Sonozikas took Umakai away. That's almost half of the family, gone in five years."
Her brother sobered immediately. He waited for her to continue, the twinkle gone from his grey eyes.
"And, well, you know what's going to happen to me," she said with a shrug. "Sooner or later, it'll just be the two of you. And we both know the Sonozikas would love to take his other son." She shook her head. "He deserves better than that. A man like him shouldn't have his family taken away. He deserves better."
"So you wanted him to take a wife that couldn't die," her brother said, understanding dawning on his face. "Someone he would never lose."
She grunted. "Pretty much, yes. Maybe it was a long shot. I mean, they are called the Impossible tasks. But still, if anyone deserved to win…" She shrugged again. By her foot was another stone, worn perfectly smooth by the lake. She knelt down and picked it up. "Well, it just didn't seem fair to me."
"No," her brother said, nodding. "You're right." He stuck his thumbs into the sash around his waist and sighed. "It isn't fair. But then, is anything?"
She didn't answer. Instead, she tossed the stone from one hand to the other as she looked over the water and calculated her shot. Then she drew her arm back and…
…hurled it forward, releasing a ball of flame so hot it was blazing white down the hallway to obliterate another door which had been blocking her way. The door melted into dripping bits of silver liquid metal, which disintegrated even further when the inferno that enveloped Mokou blew past.
At another time, Mokou might have taken amusement from the knowledge that she was burning a fiery trail through what had to be an important part of Kaguya's subconscious, coupled by the sincere hope that she was causing at least temporary brain damage in the process. But now, the only thing she could concentrate on was finding Kaguya before Rumia did.
Rumia Yagami. It sounded impossible, but so was most everything about Mokou's life. She just didn't understand how she could have missed it. It wasn't as if Rumia had been using an alibi. Were Mokou's memories of that time so repressed that she had failed to find that name at least a little familiar? As much as she hated to admit it, that did seem to be the case. And it was bitterly ironic, in a way. She could still remember all the faces and names from her mortal days, despite everyone from that time having been dust longer than most modern civilizations have existed. But she couldn't recognize someone she used to see every day only a few short decades ago.
Granted, there was no reason she should have expected to see Rumia again. That girl was supposed to be dead, along with so many others. And while Mokou had not witnessed the event in person, she had seen the grisly aftermath. There was simply no way a Human, much less a child, could have survived. Had she become a youkai right before death? That would explain a great deal, though Humans who became youkai tended to stop aging. And it also didn't explain why Rumia hadn't recognized her either.
Mokou scowled and pushed that puzzle from her mind, resolving to solve it later. There were too many things to figure out and she had too few pieces of the puzzle. Her current priority was to find Rumia and Kaguya as quickly as possible, preferably before the former caught up to the latter. In fact, she probably should concentrate on finding Kaguya quickly anyway. She had been gone too long, and who knew what horrible things the dream was visiting upon her? Torturing Kaguya was Mokou's privilege, and she did not care for others trying to muscle in on her monopoly.
…
In the darkened chamber of the Lunarian High Court, Kaguya talked to herself.
"You know what the funny thing is?" she said as she paced excitedly back and forth. "We probably have Mokou and Rumia to thank for this?"
"How do you figure?" Kaguya said from her place on the floor. She back on her elbows and stretched out her legs.
"Because of how dreams work," Kaguya replied. She stuck her finger into the air to emphasize her point. "They're like a big mish-mash of our memories, thoughts, fantasies, and expectations, right?"
"So?"
"So if Mokou hadn't gotten her stupid head cut off, and if Rumia hadn't suggested that something like this might happen, the possibility would have never occurred to me, so I might have never expected it to happen, so it would have never happened."
Kaguya wrinkled her nose. "I hope you don't expect me to thank them. I'd rather have knitting needles shoved into my eyes."
"Oh, no arguments here," Kaguya agreed. "It's not like they made it happen on purpose. And hey, even if they did, screw 'em."
She stopped pacing and walked over to sit down in front of herself. "And hey, speaking of which, what do you want to do now?"
"Now?" Kaguya sat up and crossed her legs. She scratched her cheek as she thought. "Well, that's a good question. I mean, we don't have our Gamecube with us…"
"Which sucks," Kaguya said. "I mean, to finally have a challenge that isn't Tewi's button-mashing!"
"I know, right?" Kaguya agreed, her face darkening. While taking on an amateur button-masher wouldn't normally be a problem for a veteran such as herself, Tewi was a literal avatar of luck, a fact that she exploited shamelessly. "And while we're on the subject, no tabletop games, no models to work on, not even a godsdamned jigsaw puzzle. We can't even team up on Mokou, as she's not here."
"There's that truce thing getting in the way of that anyway," Kaguya reminded her.
"Yeah, I know," Kaguya said in disappointment. "So, despite this possibly being the most awesome thing to me…us…whatever since forever, it unfortunately happened in a really lousy place at a really lousy time. I mean, all we got is us."
"True," Kaguya agreed. "But fortunately, we still have the two most important activities that encountering a perfect duplicate of yourself would allow. Namely, the two F's."
"Of course, of course," Kaguya nodded, a sly smile creeping across her face. "The two F's. First, there's fighting…"
"And then there's the other one."
Kaguya grinned at herself. "First one and then the other?" she suggested.
Nodding her approval, Kaguya started to unbutton her collar. "Kaguya, I like the way I think."
…
Given how cussed the dream world had been toward her thus far, Mokou had feared it would doom her efforts by turning the palace into an inescapable labyrinth. Not that she would let something like that stop her, but the delay could prove costly. However, she needn't have worried. The corridors had not reshaped themselves while she had been locked up, and it didn't take long for her to find the central path, the one they had led Kaguya down.
Before tearing through this one as well, she stopped and considered the other branching hallway, the one Rumia had been taken down, and wondered if she should go down that one instead. She had liked Rumia once, she really had. But she had lived long enough to learn that things that had once been Human with deceitful tongues and a complete disregard of danger were not to be trusted. This new creature was dangerous, and so long as her ulterior motive was unknown, Mokou was going to regard her as an enemy. The trick was not to superimpose the face of the Rumia she had known over the one she was dealing with now.
However, whatever Rumia was planning, she had made it clear that she needed both Kaguya and Mokou to accomplish it. Which meant that Kaguya was the person she needed to find first. Rumia would come on her own without needing to be found.
With that in mind, Mokou shot off down the large passageway, which ended in a proportionally large door. She would have blazed her way right through that as well, but something caught her attention, making her hesitate.
Mokou had not been born a predator, but she had had a long time to learn how to become one. Decade after decade, century after century of living in the Wilds, of fighting off any number of vicious supernatural threats, of hunting, stalking, battling, and killing one of the deadliest beings when it came to close-quarters combat had honed her skills and instincts and sharpened her senses, and the occasional magical upgrade didn't hurt either. As such, even when running off high emotions, she still noticed things others would miss, especially things she had specially trained herself to notice.
Such as, for example, the all-too familiar sound of Kaguya fighting for her life, coming from right beyond the door.
That told Mokou two things: one, she had found what she was looking for; and two, she was very close to being too late. She threw herself forward, slicing through the silvery metal like a blade through paper and shooting into the room beyond. Once there, she hovered in midair, twin suns around each hand, ready for anything.
"All right!" she shouted as she searched for the battle. "Get away from…OH, WHAT THE HELL!"
The room she had entered was impressively large and ornate, with three levels of walkways cut into the walls, a ground floor large enough to host ballroom dances, and some kind of floating crystal chandelier thingamajig floating overhead with no visible means of support.
That, however, was not what Mokou had reacted to.
Scattered over the floor was an outfit that, had Mokou paid any amount of significant attention to it, would be recognized as Kaguya's Slithering (or whatever the hell she called it) uniform. However, it seemed to have increased since last she saw it. Doubled, in fact, to the point where it possessed exactly twice the articles of clothing necessary for one person.
This was technically related to what Mokou had reacted to, but was not the thing itself.
No, Mokou's attention was focused on Kaguya herself. Her lifelong rival was indeed in the middle of furious activity, but not the kind Mokou had been expecting, and not with the person she had thought it would be. Rather, Kaguya was busy doing something that Mokou had accidentally caught her doing before, and would be quite happy never seeing her do ever again. Furthermore, the person she was doing it with was not Rumia or one of the dream's monsters, but herself, in the most impossibly literal sense.
Mokou's avenging fire snuffed out and she hovered in place, staring.
The two Kaguyas paused in their masturbatory to look up at Mokou. True to form, neither of them looked happy to see her.
"Oh perfect, of course she shows up," said the one. "Godsdamn it, Mokou! Don't you ever knock?"
"Bwuh," Mokou responded, her brain too frozen to articulate anything else. "Mebah."
The other impatiently swung her arm out. "Hey, some privacy? Please?"
Mokou made a small whine of acknowledgement but didn't move.
"Move it, charcoal brain!" the first snapped. "We'll be out in a minute!"
"M'key," Mokou said meekly. She turned and floated back out the smoldering hole she had made. From there, she continued down the hallway until she was finally out of earshot, sat down on the floor with her back to the wall, and put her head between her legs. She rocked back and forth, moaning.
It took the two Kaguyas significantly longer than a minute to come out, indicating that they decided to finish what they had started. During that time, Mokou covered her ears with her hands and did her best not to think. To do so would be to realize, which was too horrible to contemplate.
Finally, she sensed someone approaching. She looked up to see Kaguya, all two of her, walking her way. They had both dressed in matching uniforms and were actively healing from the injuries they had given each other. Furthermore, they wore identical looks of annoyance.
Mokou took one look at them and closed her eyes with a moan. Since coming here, she had encountered nightmares aplenty, from monsters to mind tricks to ghosts of her sordid past. But this was like something straight out of Hell.
"All right, we're done," one of the Kaguyas snapped. "Thank you so much for waiting."
"Seriously, you had to show up then?" said the other. "Is that one of your powers? Showing up at the worst possible moment?"
Mokou took a deep breath and waited until she was sure that her stomach wasn't going to start voicing its protests. Then she looked up at the two identical Lunarians and said, "There is two of you. Are. There are two. Of you."
The Kaguyas looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "You know," said the one on the left. "I do believe you're right."
"Why?" Mokou said. "Why are there two of you?"
"Don't you know how long it's been since I had a mirror? I could be covered with pimples and never realize it. I had to do something."
Mokou closed her eyes again and counted to ten three times, each time in a different language. When she was done, she said again, "Why. Are there. Two of you?"
They both snickered. "You think we should tell her?" said the one on the right.
"Oh, I'm not sure," the other responded. "This is kind of fun."
"Yeah, but tick-tock," the first reminded her.
"True, true," the second said wearily. She shook her head and looked back at Mokou. "Okay, here's the short version: your asshole of a father cut my head off."
"I guess it really does run in the family," the first added.
Mokou stared at them, her face twisted in confusion. "So? I got my head cut not too long ago."
"Yeah, but I put it back, didn't I? But seeing how no one was around to do the same for me, and seeing how our powers have been acting really weird…" Both Kaguyas shrugged.
"What?" Mokou sputtered. "So, both parts grew back?"
"Yup," said the one on the left, a cheery smile on her face. She raised her hand. "Head."
"Body," said the other. They exchanged high-fives.
Mokou muttered something incomprehensible, even to herself. Then she took another deep breath and exploded. "And the first thing you decided to do was to have SEX with YOURSELF? What the HELL is WRONG WITH YOU?"
"Hey, we don't know how long this is going to last," said the one on the right. "We had to make the most of the time we have."
"And we never got to the fight part," the other muttered. "Told you we should have done at once."
"You were having sex with yourself!" Mokou screeched.
"Oh, and like you wouldn't?"
"NO!"
"Hmmm," said the one on the left as she rubbed her chin. "Maybe you have a point. We can't all be…Well, you know."
"What?" Mokou said testily. "I know what?"
Kaguya shrugged. "Well, I'm just saying, at least at you don't have any self-illusions about your appearance, that's all." The other Kaguya snickered.
Mokou squeezed her hands into fists. Smoke was starting to rise from her clenched fingers.
"What? I'm just pointing out that you have some measure of taste. It's a compliment."
"This is too much," Mokou growled. She pushed herself to her feet and faced the two smirking Kaguyas. "All right. Flip a coin. If you don't got one, do Rock-Paper-Scissors or Eenie-Meenie-Minie-Moe."
"What? Why?" said the Kaguya on the right.
Both of Mokou's fists ignited. "Because I am going to burn the loser."
Rather than being threatened, this just made the Kaguyas laugh. "Oh, please," said the one on the right. "You know as well as we do that that won't work. We both heal just the same as always, thank you very much."
"Then I'll burn both of you!" Mokou shouted. "I burn you both, squeeze the ashes together, and make sure only one comes back!"
That sobered them up immediately. "Will that work?" one asked the other.
"I think we're better off not taking chances," came the grim response. To Mokou, she said, "We have a truce, remember."
"I do not care," Mokou said. She drew her right hand back. "I am not dealing with two of-"
When the attack came, there was no warning. One moment the two Kaguyas were standing side-by-side. The next, one had slammed her fist into the underside of Mokou's jaw. The force lifted her up off her feet. Before her body could complete its arc, the other Kaguya appeared at her side and drove her forearm into Mokou's middle, driving her back to the ground. Mokou's head smacked against the metal floor and she saw stars.
"If you think you're tough enough to take us both on, by all means go ahead," said the Kaguya with the uppercut. "But you'll lose. Then you'll try again and lose again. Then we mash your body into a liquid and go finish this adventure without you."
"Or you can grow the hell up and accept the fact that from now on there's going to be double the Kaguya, double the fun," the other said. "And the sooner you do that, the sooner you'll-"
Mokou seized the ankle of the Kaguya that was talking and twisted, driving her off balance. The other quickly leapt to defend her other self, but not before Mokou managed to wrap her legs around her captive's middle and brought her hands up under Kaguya's arms to clasp behind her neck in a full nelson. "Move, and things get hot," she warned. "And I gotta tell you, the metal everything around here's made of? It had a real low melting point."
Both Kaguyas froze, which gave Mokou a small measure of satisfaction. The hardest part about threatening Kaguya was that there was usually very little she could be threatened with. Pain and death never did the trick, the people she surrounded herself were off-limits, and the last time Mokou had gone after all those stupid toys, she had destroyed a figurine that had turned out to have been a personal gift from Eirin Yagokoro to Kaguya. The rage the doctor had flown into and her ensuing vengeance had convinced Mokou that the risk that came with wrecking Kaguya's personal possessions just wasn't worth it.
But now, it seemed she finally had something to work with. Kaguya, being the narcissist she was, was obviously thrilled with having another of herself around, and wasn't willing to risk having the situation changed. Excellent.
Once she was certain that she had both of the Kaguyas' full attention, Mokou said, "Okay girls, here's how things are going to work. If you want to keep living out this schizophrenic fantasy of yours, this stupid truce of ours is getting a few amendments. Mainly, you do your damnedest not to annoy me. Being stuck here with you is six degrees of unbearable, and if you make it twelve I swear to the gods I will use any excuse to try to fix that. Got it?"
Kaguya, the one not currently being held hostage, glowered at her, smoldering eyes filled with hate. And though Mokou couldn't see from her position, she had no doubt that the other Kaguya was wearing the same expression. But they both nodded their acceptance.
"Good," Mokou said, though she didn't release her hold.
"Well?" said the Kaguya in her grip. "We agreed! Let me go."
"Gimme a second," Mokou said. At the moment, her usual mix of homicidal impulses were exceptionally strong, and it was taking a great measure of will not to snap her captive's neck. She focused on untwining her fingers first, though their obedience was stiff and reluctant. However, as soon as she felt Mokou's grip loosening, Kaguya wasted no time in breaking the hold and squirming free.
Even though she no longer had a Kaguya (and wasn't it just a measure of how profoundly screwed up the world had become that she now had to think of Kaguya in the plural?) at her mercy, Mokou didn't get up. She didn't even change position. She remained sitting with her legs crossed and her hands held before her, as if she still had a warm body ready to mangle. Though she had just grabbed that Kaguya up to make a point, her body had been expecting to make a kill, and it wasn't used to having its expectations denied. Mokou was struck with the sudden realization that, despite having traveled with Kaguya for what had to be at least a few days now, the only time she had killed the Lunarian princess was that one time when Kaguya had asked her to so as to fix her glitching regeneration, and that time didn't really count. She desperately needed a fix.
Kaguya, the one who hadn't been grabbed, looked down at her in disdain. "So," she said. "You planning on getting up, or did you develop a cramp?"
Mokou took a deep breath and forced her muscles to relax. It wasn't easy, but she did manage to bring her need to kill under control. "Right," she said as she straightened up. "Okay. Deal with this later. For now, we've got a major problem."
The two Kaguya looked unimpressed. "No," said the one on the left.
"Really?" added the one on the right.
It was funny how difficult it was to make her mind refocus on the Rumia problem. A moment ago it had seemed so important; now the fact that there was now two Kaguyas was demanding precedence in her mind. "It's Rumia," Mokou said.
"What about her?"
"She's not who she says she is."
One of the Kaguyas laughed while the other rolled her eyes. "Brilliant, Conan," said the latter. "You're just now noticing? I've been saying that ever since she showed up."
"Except I know it for certain," Mokou said. "I knowher. Well, actually, knew her, back in the real world."
Now the Kaguyas were starting to pay attention. "You did? Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I didn't remember until now," Mokou said. "The last time I saw her was…what year is it again?"
The Kaguya on the right told her.
"Right. Sixty years exactly." Mokou's expression darkening as equally dark memories surfaced. "And one thing I am sure of, the last time I saw her she was twelve years old and Human."
"Really!" said the one on the left, eyes widening. "Well, I don't like her any, but I have to admit, she's in good shape for her age."
"Seriously, she doesn't look a day over twenty-five," said the other.
"Save your compliments," Mokou growled. "Because the reason I haven't spoken to her since is because she's supposed to have been killed back then. Horribly." When the two Kaguyas gaped at her in shock, Mokou quickly added, "And no, it wasn't me. I didn't find out until after, and would have saved her if I could." A hard lump was starting to form in her throat. Returning to that specific memory hurt, and talking about it made it worse. Mokou hid it the best she could and pressed on. "But here are the facts: all reports agree that she died. But if that's the case, why is she alive? Why is she a youkai? Why is she older? And why is she here, with us and clearly more powerful than she's letting on, lying her ass off and acting like she doesn't know me, all the while steering us where she wants us to go?"
The two Kaguyas exchanged a long, solemn look, and Mokou felt another surge of satisfaction. Certainly, Kaguya had managed to duplicate herself, which was horrible. But as a result, Mokou now had the leverage she needed to keep the Moonbitch, both of them, in line. And with the information she had, she had managed to get Kaguya to shut up and take things seriously. It wasn't enough to offset just how bad things were, but Mokou was going to take her victories where she could find them.
"All right," said the Kaguya on the left. "We're listening. Who the hell is this girl Rumia anyway?"
…
When the dream had first sensed the dark intruder, it had registered as an annoying trespasser and responded to as such. As the dark intruder proved to be harder to kill than initially believed, the attempts to remove it had escalated, only for each one to fail in its turn. All the while, the dark intruder's status as a threat had been upgraded accordingly.
But now the cat was out of the bag, and it was becoming apparent that the dream was horribly outmatched.
"What, was that it?" the dark intruder purred as it slithered through the corridors of Palace Houraisan, shrouded in the field of cold black that destroyed all life it came in contact with. "One deformed bunny? Come on! At least the velmick looked impressive!"
Of course, the dream didn't rise to the challenge. For one, it lacked the self-awareness to do so. For another, it was already using a different tactic. While it lacked the power to meet the dark intruder strength-to-strength, it could at least control which way it went. And where.
The dark intruder turned a corner, and suddenly found the corridor opening to a place other than Palace Houraisan. For one, it was oppressively dark, not unlike the kind the dark intruder was emitting. For another, it was searing hot. Furthermore, it was filled with the sounds of agonized screams, cracking whips, rattling chains, tearing flesh, and demonic laughter. The smell of sulfur and burning flesh rose from the opening.
However, rather than be repulsed by this horrific change in direction, the dark intruder seemed delighted. "Ah, the flames of perdition, is it? Wonderful! Granted, not especially original, but the dramatic irony is delicious."
The dark intruder crouched on the edge of the opening, its wings outstretched and its crimson eyes burning with anticipation. "Well, this could be fun. Let's see how it measures up to the real thing."
With that, the dark intruder dove into Hell.
…
Mokou finished speaking. She wasn't much of a storyteller, but she hadn't intended to entertain. She sat back against the wall and rubbed her throat. Even keeping to nothing but the most relevant events from those two years had been tough; her throat now felt thick and raw.
As for the Kaguyas, they just stood there, solemnly watching her. Mokou got the impression that her story hadn't been what they had expected.
Finally one spoke. "So, that's it then?"
Mokou nodded. "Yeah."
"Ah." The Kaguyas exchanged a look. The one that hadn't spoken cleared her throat and said, "You know, I always wondered why it took you so long to show up after the party. Eirin said you'd only be gone for a few days, so I started wondering where you'd gone to."
"That's it?" Mokou said with a frown. "Just a 'Oh, so that's where you were'? That's all you have to say?"
"What are you expecting?" asked the Kaguya on the left. "For us to make fun of you? We already said we wouldn't."
"Besides, as much as we hate your filthy guts and love to mock your miserable life and amazingly screwed up family, even we know where the line is," said the other with a shudder of revulsion. "Some things are just off-limits. I mean, sun moon and stars. Those were kids."
Which was probably as close to sympathy as Mokou was going to get from Kaguya. She accepted it with a nod. "So, now we both know. Question is, what now?"
The Kaguya on the right quirked an eyebrow. "Why are you asking us? This is your show."
"Mine?"
"Sure," said the one on the left. "You're the one who knew the kid. It's your call."
Mokou let out a bitter laugh. "Seriously? I'm still trying to wrap my head around them being the same person. I mean, I…" Her already tight throat tightened some more. She swallowed noisily and continued. "I liked the kid, you know? Sure, she was an annoying brat most of the time, had a real mouth on her, and kept getting Keine in trouble, but I kinda liked her attitude. And like you said, she was just a kid."
She stared at a point beyond her legs as dark and confusing thoughts swirled through her head. "When we found out what had been done to her, the first thing I wanted to do was go chase down those sons of bitches and spit-roast them over an open fire. Hell, if it weren't for Keine, I probably would have. I don't remember ever hating anyone that much, and I'm taking my very long history with you into that account. Just as well that someone else got there and did the job for me." Her fingers twitched. "It was almost a year before I saw Keine smile again after that. And I know for a fact that some of the other kids ended up profoundly fucked up as a result. That night…there weren't a lot of survivors. Even the ones who lived through it, I wouldn't say they survived."
She turned her head to look up at the Kaguya twins, her lips twisted into a humorless smile. "So you want me to make the call? I couldn't save her then, and now you want me to decide if we should kill her now and finish the job? Is that what you're suggesting, Princess Selfcestuous?"
To her surprise, the two Kaguyas had different reactions to her words. The one on the left actually looked somewhat bashful. She shuffled her feet and muttered, "Well, when you put it that way…" The one on the right, however, wasn't nearly so sympathetic. "Oh, give us a break," she said, a scornful scowl on her face. "Come on, Mokou, think! It's not like the only options are instant forgiveness and trust or burn to death. We don't even know for sure if they're the same person. I mean, it's like you said, it's been sixty years and you've done your damnedest to not think about that mess. Maybe your subconscious message was making connections that weren't there."
Mokou's smile thinned out, though it didn't wither completely. "Yes, because Rumia Yagami is such a common name."
"Hey, a name being rare don't mean there can't be at least two people using it. But even if it is her, that doesn't mean we gotta be stupid about it. So here's a crazy idea: what say we find her and make her tell us what the hell happened and what she's really up to?"
"You mean torture her," Mokou said, her voice and face neutral.
"Did I say torture? I don't remember saying torture." Kaguya whirled to face her twin. "Kaguya, did I say torture?"
The other Kaguya shook her head. "No, you did not say torture."
"There, you see? I never said torture. I said we confront her and get the truth."
"And if she lies to us?" Mokou said. "Because she will."
Kaguya shrugged. "Hey, sometimes you can learn as much from a lie as the truth. At least, it shouldn't be too hard to find out if they're really the same person or not. Beyond that, well, like I said, it's your call."
Her call. Right. Because that had always worked out so well for her in the past. Mokou thought back to her conversation with Rumia, the current one, back in the cave while they had waited for Kaguya to resurrect. Unfortunately, what she had said then was true: she really wasn't good at much beyond fighting, killing, and messing with Kaguya's head. A situation such as this fell just a bit outside of her experience.
With a grunt, she pushed herself to her feet. Kaguya, the one that had recently done most of the talking, quirked an eyebrow.
"So, that would be a yes then?" she asked, folding her arms.
Mokou brushed off her sleeves and straightened her suspenders. "Whatever we end up doing, you're right about us needing to find her." She stuck her hands in her pockets and started heading toward the corridor Rumia had been led down, her back curved in her usual slouch. "So let's do that first and worry about the rest of it after the reunion, okay?"
"Fair enough," said the Kaguya on the right.
"All right," said the one on the left.
"And by the by," Mokou said as they turned the corner. "So long as you're planning on staying like that, we have got to figure out a way to tell you two apart. I mean, I can't keep thinking of you as 'the one on the left' and 'the one on the right,' especially since you're going to keep switching places."
The two Kaguyas looked at each other. One of them shrugged. "She's got a point," she said.
"Fine," the other huffed. She reached up and undid her tie, leaving the two ends hanging loosely around her collar. "There, that work for you?"
"There's still the name problem," the first Kaguya pointed out.
"Dibs on Kaguya!" said the one with the undone tie. "You can be Houraisan."
The other wrinkled her nose. "Hell no. That just makes me think of when Tewi starts playing drill sergeant with the Eientei Guard. You know, when she starts calling every by their surname, barks at them to do the stupidest, and yet funniest, drills, and looks for any excuse to slap their asses."
"Yikes," said the first, also wrinkling her nose. "Now that you mention it, it kinda does."
Mokou stopped walking and turned around. She looked from one Kaguya to the other. "Hmmm," she said, rubbing her chin and pursing her lips. Then she pointed at the one with her tie undone. "Fine, you can be Moon."
"Moon?" came the bewildered response.
"Yeah," Mokou said. Then she pointed at the other. "And you can be Bitch."
"No," the twins said in unison.
"Ass and Hole then?" Mokou suggested.
The one with her tie still neat and in place folded her arms in irritation. "Look, we're willing to work with you on the whole 'no taunting' rule, but don't think that gives you a free pass."
"All right, all right, fine." Mokou put her hands on her hips and thought for a moment more. "Which one of you came from the head again?"
The two Kaguyas glanced at each other in confusion. Then the one with her tie still done reluctantly raised her hand. "Uh, me?"
"Great," Mokou said. "You can be Head then."
"What?" came the flat response.
Mokou nodded at the other one. "And you're Body."
The two Kaguyas stared at her for a moment, neither of them speaking. Then they looked at each other.
Then the one Mokou had deemed "Head" tried to snort back laughter, only to fail miserably. That set Body off, and soon they were both cracking up.
"Okay," Body said when she could. "Deal."
Mokou was disappointed. "You actually like it?"
"It's so stupid it's hilarious," Head snickered. "So sure, why the hell not?" Then a thought seemed to strike her. "Though it's also kind of ironic, in a way…"
"Yeah?" Body said. "How so?"
"Well, I mean it's a little ironic that I'm the one called Head, when you were the one giving-"
Body smacked her twin upside her namesake. Rolling her eyes, Mokou turned and continued down the hall, careful to hide the grin that was forming. She had to admit, while it had failed to tick the Kaguyas off, the name thing was pretty funny.
…
Laughing and twirling as it plummeted further and further, the dark intruder used its shroud of darkness to ward off the waves of Hellfire that were sent her way, robbing them of their heat and snuffing them cold.
"Come on!" it crowed. "You've got the mind of someone who uses Phoenix Fire on a regular basis and the mind of someone who gets burned by Phoenix Fire on a regular basis to work with, and you can't even put together a decent inferno? Are you even trying?"
In response, a gaggle of yellow-eyed, potbellied demons swarming in to challenge her, all of them brandishing pitchforks.
The dark intruder tsked. "Once again, you fall to tired cliché. Real demons don't look like that, and you know it." Multiple smoky black tendrils shot out to tear the demons to pieces.
The dark intruder sighed. "This is getting boring," it complained. "Look, if you want to waste my time and keep me distracted, by all means, go right ahead. But at least act like you're giving some effort!"
A bout of deep, throaty laughter rose up in answer. The dark intruder paused in its plunge. The lights of its eyes flickered back and forth, though more out of curiosity than uncertainty. Then it slowly turned around.
Looming out of the smoke and sulfur was the hazy silhouette of a monstrous creature, one that was humanoid in shape but definitely not Human. It was well over thirty meters tall, with the bulging muscles of a bodybuilder, the curving claws and hairy forearms of a wolf, and the membranous wings of a bat, not unlike the dark intruder's own. Its horned head was bald, though it wore a thick, pointed beard, and its eyes glowed yellow in the shadows, in response to the red gaze of the dark intruder.
Stunned, the dark intruder stared as the Prince of Darkness advanced, chuckling as he came. Then its eyes narrowed with irritation. "Again with the sacrificing accuracy for cliché. He looks nothing like that! For one, no horns, no beard, and he has hair. For another, he also has class."
The Prince of Darkness reached out with one massive hand toward the dark intruder, presumably to crush it. Unimpressed, it let him get within arm's distance before reaching out and wrapping its hand around the tip of his pointed fingernail.
He stopped short.
Though its face was invisible behind the swirling shroud, there was no doubt that the dark intruder was smiling. "Oh, and that's another thing the real article has that you don't: the ability to intimidate."
The shroud suddenly sped up and expanded, becoming a spinning whirlwind. And the Prince of Darkness's laughter turned into a scream.
…
"Hmmm," Body said as she examined the door before them. She tapped her knuckles against the stained wood of its frame. She glanced down at her twin, who was kneeling at her side. "So, what do you think?"
"I think our subconscious is either trying for creepy symbolism again or running out of ideas," Head remarked as she ran her hands over the door's lower half.
They had come up to a new door, one that did not match the rest of their surroundings. This one was made from the same dark wood as Eientei and featured a plain brass handle. Furthermore, it seemed to be locked.
"I don't see a keyhole," Head mused. "How are we going to pick this thing if there's no-"
"Move."
The two Kaguyas looked over their shoulders. Then their eyes widened and they quickly leapt out of the way, just in time to avoid being hit as Mokou's foot came up to slam into the door's center. The frame splintered as the door slammed open.
"Hey, a little warning next time?" Body growled in irritation as she straightened her outfit.
"I gave you one," Mokou said. She walked up to the door and leaned inside to look around.
"Half a second doesn't count as a warning!" Head snapped.
"It's enough time for you, wasn't it? You should be flattered that I think so highly of your reflexes." Mokou ignited a small ball of flame over her hand and progressed inside. "Now, stop whining and follow me."
Head watched her disappear inside. "Give her a little leeway, just a little bit, and she turns the bitchiness into overdrive," she muttered to her twin. "You'd think maybe she'd cool down a little, but nooooo, she-" She then noticed that Body was glaring at her. "What?"
"You know, putting her in charge was your idea," Body accused.
Head groaned in exasperation. "Oh, come on, not you too. You went along with it, remember?"
"It was a show of comradely support!" Body said indignantly. "Coupled with a moment of uncharacteristic sympathy! That doesn't mean it was a good idea!"
"Then you should have said something when-"
"Ahem."
The two of them stopping arguing and turned to see Mokou leaning against the doorframe, arms folded and an amused twinge of a smile on her face. "You know, even when your clothes are on, watching you two do anything together still looks strangely masturbatory." She looked from one Kaguya to the other. "This really does take arguing with yourself to a whole new level. Having a moment of personal conflict?"
"Shut up, Mokou," came the unified response.
"Heh. Well, that's still the same at least." Mokou straightened, entwined her fingers, and stretched her arms over her head, cracking her back. "Though I guess it's kind of telling that you can't even get along with yourself. Maybe that's the reason you won't let your pet doctor remove me for good. Letting me keep killing really is an innovative form of suicide."
Body's vision went red. She took a step forward and opened her mouth, fully intending to unleash a blistering torrent of verbal abuse, but Head put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. "Let me handle this," she said in a low voice. Body fumed, but she nodded.
Turning her attention to their smirking rival, Head said, "Mokou, dear, we know you're under a lot of pressure right now, and we are willing to cut you some slack because of it. But please try to remember what I said earlier: the same applies to you. So if you want us to give you a break but aren't willing to give us one in return, then frankly my dear, you can go to hell."
Mokou's half-smile melted and became a scowl. She looked like she was about to fire off some kind of retort, but managed to rein herself in. "Fine," she said through clenched teeth. "Have it your way." She turned around and stormed back inside.
The two Kaguyas looked at each other and they both shook their heads. "That girl," Body said as they moved to follow. "She's got some crazy issues."
"Tell me about it," Head shrugged. "Well, let's go see what weirdness awaits us."
The weirdness turned out to be a fair sized room with eight sides. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made of black marble, polished so fine that their reflections were clearly seen. Painted into the floor were representations of Shinto gods. And, most interesting of all, standing in a ring around the room's perimeter was a series of freestanding doors, each one of a different color, design, and composition.
"Well, hello," Body said with a low whistle as she walked around the room, inspecting each door in turn. "This is new."
Head tapped the frame of a heavy steel door that was bound in chains and possessed an unusual number of locks. "Kind of cool, though. Mokou, this mean anything to you?"
Mokou, who had been standing by herself near the entrance, looked surprised at being addressed, but she said, "No, not really, not as a whole. That one though," she nodded at a crude door made of splintery wood, "that's the door to my house." She pointed at another one across from it, this one in considerably better shape. "And that's the door to Keine's school." Then she glanced at a double-door made from burned wood that sat directly opposite of the room's entrance. "And that one…" She frowned. "Well, it's kind of familiar. Can't put my finger on it though."
"Hey, some of these are ours too," Body said, focusing on a sliding paper door decorated with a swirling floral pattern. "Isn't this the door to my…our room?"
"Is it?" Head jogged over to join her. "Well, I'll be damned, it is." Another door caught her eye, this one made of bamboo. "And hey, that's the door to Eirin's office!"
"And we all know where this one came from," Mokou said, tapping a door made from a now very familiar silvery metal.
Now that they knew what they were looking for, it didn't take long for the three of them to identify the majority of the doors and their origins, though a few remained unrecognized.
"Well, this has got 'crossroads' written all over it," Head said. She stood in the room's center and slowly turned in a circle, looking from one door to the next. She focused her bedroom door. "You think that one leads back to that cave, the one that looked like our room?"
"It could go either way, honestly," Body said. "For all we know, just the doors are the same. Open the one to our room, and you could find yourself-"
"Falling through open air," Mokou finished for her. She looked uncomfortable about something, something other than their bizarre situation. "Hey, uh, guys. Look, about earlier…"
The two Kaguyas turned to look at her. "Yes….?"
"About…about the whole suicide thing…" Mokou rubbed the back of her neck and looked away. "Ah, forget it."
"Forget what?" Body said. She looked to her twin in bewilderment. "What's up with her?"
Head shrugged. "Got me."
"I said forget it!" Mokou snapped.
"All right, we will," Head said with a contemptuous roll of her eyes. She returned to her inspection of the doors. "Moron."
The three of them continued the rest of their work in silence, with Mokou conspicuously keeping her distance from the Kaguya twins. However, their search turned up nothing that wasn't immediately visible upon entering.
"That settles it then," Body said as she stepped back from the silver door. She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "We're going to have to start opening them."
"Duh," said Head. She walked to the center of the room and floated a meter off the ground. Her body became stiff and straight, with one arm held at her side and the other extended fully out.
Mokou stared. "What the hell are you doing?"
"You ever play 'Spin the Bottle'?" Body asked. She leaned back against the wall and folded her arms.
"No."
"Figures. Well, you know how it's played, right?"
Mokou shrugged. "The basics, sure." Then she scowled. "She's not going to choose one of us to kiss, is she?"
"As if that would be a contest," Body snorted. "No, forget the juicy parts at the end. I'm just talking about the actual bottle spinning."
"Huh?"
Body nodded toward her twin. "Just watch."
Her arm still outstretched, Head started to spin in a circle, starting off slow but gradually picking up speed until she became a dizzying blur, one that was almost mesmerizing to watch. This continued for about thirty seconds until Body shouted, "NOW!"
Head immediately started slowing down, reducing her speed until she came to a full stop. When she did, her finger was pointed to one of the spaces between two doors.
"Fail," Body said.
Looking annoyed, Head turned a few centimeters to the right until she was pointing at one of the doors, this one made of steel and covered with so much rust that its primary colors were brown and orange.
"And we have our winner, ladies," Head said, putting her arm down. She smiled at Mokou. "Care to do the honors?"
"No," Mokou said. "You chose it, you open it."
"Fine, be that way." Head dropped to the floor and walked over to grab the door's handle. "Just stand over there and let us all the-huh?" She frowned when the door refused to budge. She gave it another tug, to similar results.
"What, is it locked?" Body said as she came in for a closer look.
"No," Head growled. She kept pulling. "Rusted tight."
Mokou cleared her throat. "Ah, that door giving you girls trouble? Need some help?"
"Shut up, Mokou," Head said. To Body, she said, "All right, grab the handle. Both of us at the same time."
The door squealed horribly on its ancient hinges, but working together the Kaguya twins managed to get it open the third of the way. Then a meaty hand pressed against it from the other side and gave it a push, effortlessly swinging it the rest of the way.
Surprised by the unexpected assistance, the Kaguya twins stumbled back and tripped over each other in an untidy heap. As for Mokou, she made no move to help them. She was too busy staring at the…thing standing in the doorway.
It appeared to be Human, though Mokou had never seen any Human that looked like this one did. It was well over seven, perhaps even eight feet tall, with a filthy body composed of heavy slabs of muscle. It wore a leather apron that might very well have been made from tanned Human skin. In one baby-sized fist it held a massive meat-cleaver, and over its head it wore a very uncomfortable looking pyramidal helmet with six sizes, the foremost one sticking out so far that how the thing managed to keep its balance was a thing of mystery.
The Kaguya twins stopping untangling themselves long enough to stare up at the newcomer, perplexity all over their faces. Head said something in the Lunarian language that needed no translation.
Mokou, however, didn't waste time being surprised. As soon as her mind registered that this thing was probably not friendly, she launched a sphere of flame directly at its chest. Whatever the hell it was, it must have been using some very flammable cologne, as its whole upper torso was immediately set alight. It staggered back through the doorway. Not interested in giving it the chance to recover, Mokou charged forward, leapt over the still-gaping Kaguyas, and hit the thing's chest feet-first, sending it tumbling back the rest of the way.
"A little help!" she shouted as she slammed her back against the door. That galvanized the Kaguya twins into action, and the three of them hastily forced the door shut.
"Okay, what in the hell was that thing?" Mokou said as she used a white-hot fingertip to weld the door to its frame. "Another one of your Lunarian monstrosities? Or was it from your stupid games?"
Body stalwartly ignored her, while Head shot her a dirty look. "Yeah, I'm not answering that."
"Surprise, surprise," Mokou said. She knelt down to finish sealing the door in place. "And is it just me, or is the worst shit we're facing come from your head? Heads. Whatever. I mean, sure, I'll claim responsibility for the sailors and those assholes back at the town, but-"
Kneeling saved her life. The ugly thing's cleaver suddenly burst through the top of the door, cutting right through the metal and passing through the space where Mokou's head had been mere seconds ago. Body, however, wasn't so lucky, as the cleaver retracted immediately only to burst through again in a different spot, this time cutting through Body's chest.
"Wha…" Body said, staring down at the blade now protruding from her left breast. She reached up to touch it. "Where did…"
"Body!" Head screamed as she lunged forward to yank her stupefied twin off the cleaver's bloodied blade. She then dragged Body by the armpits to the center of the room as Mokou engulfed the door in heat, melting both it and the cleaver down to scrap.
Head gently laid Body down. "Body?" she said urgently. "C-come, stay with me now."
Body, her face ashen from the blood loss, shuddered. She coughed weakly, a small trickle of blood coming out of her mouth. "Head?" she whispered.
"I'm here." Head took Body's hand and held it tightly. "Look, just h-hold on, okay? Focus on me now."
Body's eyes were starting to glaze over. "I…I don't think…I'm gonna…"
"Stop talking like that," Head said, her voice cracking. She forced a comforting smile. "You're gonna be okay, got it? I'm going to go find help, and you'll b-be back on your feet in no time."
Body let out a hissing laugh, which was swallowed up in another fit of coughing. "Liar," she rasped. "Head, listen…"
"I'm here," Head said. "I'm here."
"You…you got to keep going. See this…to the end." She reached up with one shaking hand to caress her twin's cheek and managed a small smile. "Promise me, okay?"
"O-of course," Head placed her hand over Body's and held it to her cheek. "And you're going to be there too, with me."
Body laughed again. "It's okay. Don't…don't worry, it's okay." Her eyes started to close. "So long…as there's one Kaguya left…I don't mind…"
She let out one last breath and lay still.
"Body?" Head said. She grabbed her twin's shoulders and shook them. "Body?" she said again, this time with greater urgency. "K-Kaguya? No. No, no, no, no, no!"
As Head collapsed sobbing over Body's prone form, Mokou, who had been watching the whole display in absolute befuddlement, chose that moment to speak up. "Uh, exactly what the hell are you guys doing?"
Furious, Head whirled around to face her. "Excuse me, this woman just gave her life in your place! Is it too much to ask that you show some damned respect?"
"But you said your immortality still works!" Mokou protested. She motioned toward Body. "So what's up with this charade?"
Body cranked one eye open to glower at her. "It's called roleplaying," she said, pushing herself up on her elbows. "Do it at the right time and in the right manner, and you can get some extra experience."
"Seriously Mokou, would it kill you to not ruin the scene every once in a while?" Head said as she helped Body to her feet.
Mokou's right hand twitched. "Okay," she said, mostly to herself. "See, it's because of bullshit like this that having two Kaguyas around is a back fucking idea. So, truce is off in five, four…"
"Oh, give us a break," Head said, giving an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "Like you'd really do it."
"Uh, Head?" Body said, eyeing Mokou nervously. "I think she's serious."
Both of Mokou's hands ignited. "THREE! TWO!"
"All right, all right!" Body said, holding up her palms. "Calm down! We'll ease up on the LARP! Forgive us for trying to inject a little sensitivity into this bitchfest!"
"Good," Mokou said. She snuffed out the fire and tried not to smile. Who would have thought that having Kaguya duplicating herself would finally give her the key needed to keep her in line?
"Okay, so your choice was a big fat failure, now it's my turn," Mokou said. She walked over to the door to her shack and yanked it open. "Let's see what-"
A raging flood gushed out of the door, knocking all three of them over and wasting no time in filling the room.
…
In a place without light, a burning slash appeared in the darkness. It cut up, then to the right, then down, and then to the left, forming a rectangular shape. Then someone kicked the rectangle through, opening a door to a world filled with smoke and screams.
The dark intruder stepped out of Hell. It sighed, brushed off its ragged dress, and picked the rectangle up to shove it back into place. The cries of agony cut off immediately.
"What a disappointment," it muttered. "That weak, whining little idiot Rin Satsuki provided me with the second greatest struggle of my life, but the conjoined imaginations of the two most accomplished killers in recorded history can't even provide me with a decent opponent." Sighing, it looked down at the knives it had in place of fingers. "Okay, granted, I may be the incarnation of themost accomplished killer of all of history, but the principle still stands. Where am I, anyway?"
Its burning eyes swept back and forth; then they rolled in annoyance. "Fan-freaking-tastic. Back in the big, empty room. I have to give you credit: what you lack in creativity, you complement with a lack of originality. What's next? Another velmick? Two? A bunch of mindless sailors riding two velmicks?"
A low snarl told it that it wasn't far from the mark. Another pair of glowing eyes appeared to join that of the dark intruder, followed by another, and then another. Soon dozens of them were present, all of them staring directly at the dark intruder.
A few heartbeats passed as the dark intruder stared at the army arrayed before it. Then it threw its hands in the air and complained, "The Zerk! Zerv. Whatzerevers. I rest my case. If first you don't succeed, keep right on recycling your failures, is that it?"
"Recycle?" said a voice. It was low and female, but definitely inhuman. There was a strange buzzing quality to it, almost as if it had been recorded multiple times and then played over itself. "I wouldn't call it that. Think of it as…an upgraded version."
The speaker stepped out from the ranks of monstrosities to stand before the dark intruder. It was a woman, or had been at one time. Her body was covered with the same chitinous exoskeleton that armored the monsters, though in her case it was much more feminine in shape. Her "hair" was really more of a forest of segmented antennae, giving it the appearance of dreadlocks. From her back extended two wings that closely resembled those of the dark intruder, though lacking the membranes.
Unimpressed, the dark intruder looked her up and down once before saying, "Upgraded, huh? Big deal. You can upgrade a pile of shit all you want, but it'll still just be a pile of shit."
"Interesting way of putting things," said the newcomer. She spread her arms, indicating the creatures that stood at her beck and call. "Because a pile of shit is exactly what these fine fellows want to reduce you to."
"Heard that song before, insect." The dark intruder stuck the point of its sword into the ground and leaned on the pommel. "You haven't forgotten what happened the last time your gang tried to come at me, have you?" It chuckled in amusement. "And FWI, with those insufferable twits no longer around, I really don't have any reason to hold back, do I? Who the hell are you, anyway?"
"The speaker for your hosts' subconscious minds," came the answer.
"No shit. But I asked who you were, not your job description."
"Oh? Then you can call me the Queen of Blades."
"That right?" the dark intruder laughed. It swung up its own blade for all to see. "And this would be, what, a defector? But enough of the meaningless titles and evasiveness. Just give me a damned answer already."
A wry smile twisted the Queen of Blade's lips. "But the only name I can give you is 'Kerrigan,' which is unfortunately just as obsolete as 'Rumia Yagami.'"
The creature going under the name of Rumia Yagami stopped laughing. "Well, you seem to know a thing or two about me," she growled. She pointed at the newcomer's skeletal wings. "Oh, and that's just being a copycat."
"I don't recall seeing your name on the copyright," Kerrigan said in an even tone. "And it's true, if you wanted, you could reduce this place to a charnel house, no one's arguing that. But let's face the facts: nothing we throw at you is going to pose any kind of threat, so why bother continuing with the violence?"
"I dunno, because it's fun?"
"And here I thought you were growing bored. Or were your complaints mere bravado on your part?"
"Good point," Rumia admitted as she drove the point of its sword into the armored head of one of the bladed-arm snakes. It hissed and gurgled as its body withered. The others took no notice. "And hey, can I just say that's it's really refreshing to encounter someone with more awareness than a typewriter?"
"What of your former traveling partners?"
Rumia shrugged. It tugged its sword out of the dying creature. "My case. I rest it." She again scanned the rows and rows of drooling monsters. "Well, if you're not here to fight, mind explaining why you showed up with a huge army of slimy beasties?"
"We do not like you," came the blunt response. "And we want you gone."
Rumia blinked. "Uh, okay. Well, I appreciate your honesty, but that kinda conflicts with everything you just said."
"We want you gone, but clearly trying to stamp you out isn't working," Kerrigan clarified. "So we're trying a different tactic: tell us why you're here, what you want, and what we can do to get you gone as soon as possible."
This response brought forth a burst of surprised laughter. "Is that so!" the dark intruder gibed. "Well, color me surprised! This is a lot more rational than what I'd been seeing…or expecting…from what's supposed to be a cesspot of those two idiots' primal urges."
"Hmmm, let's just say that all this violence has stimulated a great deal of mental activity. And let's face the facts: your traveling companions want you gone too, and their deepest desires are ours."
Rumia clasped her hands over her heart. "Aw, you're hurting my feelings! But fine, you want me out? I want to get out. So, if you want to give me directions to the exit before I wreck more of your stuff, sure, I'll deal."
"I'm glad to hear it," Kerrigan said dryly. She looked like she was about to begin the promised conversation, but then paused and frowned. "Wait, are you not going to demand that the Zerg be removed for this discussion?"
Rumia cocked its head in amusement. "Is that what they're called? I had forgotten. And does a monarch demand that all the ants in the room be removed before holding council?"
This response was rewarded with a dark glower, but Kerrigan nodded. "Point…taken."
…
The tsunami knocked Mokou off her feet and sent her tumbling almost to the other end of the room. Her back slammed into the far door and she was held pinned by the force of the water, still incredibly even from all the way across the room. She could feel her body starting to flatten under the pressure.
She thought she heard one of the Kaguyas, she could not discern which, yell something, but it was incomprehensible over the roar that pounded her ears. However, she did note that the water level was rising; it was already up to her knees. How so much water was able to come out of such a relatively small doorway so quickly was not something she understood, nor did she consider the answer relevant. She only knew that this had gone on long enough.
A thought, and Mokou was suddenly surrounded by heat. No fire this time, just a shell of superheated air that extruded about a meter from her body from her body. The pressure lifted immediately as the water was turned to steam before reaching her. She still felt it slam into her front like a raging (and incredibly humid) wind, but it had lost enough of its bone-crushing power to allow her to move away from the door.
However, she was still left with the problem of the flood itself. Closing the door again would be impossible so long as the flood held it open. Mokou face the place where the force was the strongest, lined up her power with the precision that comes from eons of practice, and hurled a wave of heat in response.
Steam hissed and billowed. Mokou walked forward, keeping up the counterattack and moving the pressure further and further back until she reached the door itself. Then, with hand devoted to keeping the wave of heat alive, she reached out with the other to grab the door and pull it shut.
The torrent ceased immediately.
Sighing, Mokou allowed the air around her to return to normal. The room was still filled with thick steam, making it impossible to see.
"Kaguya?" she said. "Head? Body? Hello?" After enough moments had passed without an answer, she added, "Legs, Arms, Knees, Kidneys, Shoulders, Intestines? Anyone there?"
Still nothing, and Mokou was starting to grow uncomfortable. Any number of things could have happened while she was dealing with the water. Someone, or something, might have snuck into the room and snatched them away or torn them to pieces. Usually that would be no great loss, but the current circumstances necessitated having at least one Kaguya around.
Slowly and cautiously, Mokou said, "Rumia? Are you here?"
She hadn't been expecting an answer, and thus was not disappointed when she received none. Mokou felt her way around until she found the wall. Then, putting it to her back, she stood and waited warily.
In time the steam lifted, clearing her view of the room. When it did, it didn't take her long to see that Head and Body were still in the room. They were both sprawled on the floor and quite dead, charred almost skeletal.
Confused, Mokou stared at the two red-and-black husks of meat, wondering how in the world that had happened. Then, with a flush of embarrassment, she realized the cause. The wave of heat may not have been directed toward them, but she had still filled the room with superheated steam. Whoops.
Not seeing what else she could do, Mokou sat down, crossed her legs, and waited. Before too long, Head and Body's hideously burned flesh started shift and regenerate. Pearl skin covered healing burns, and ash knitted together and expanded, reforming their clothing.
Head was the first to recover. She sat up, blinked several times, and looked around. Then her focus landed on Mokou and her face twisted into a scowl.
"Hey!" she said. "Way to charbroil us! The hell happened to our truce?"
Mokou shrugged sheepishly. "Didn't mean to."
"Bullshit!" Body snapped. She propped herself up one elbow and rubbed her eyes with the other hand, still managing to glower at Mokou while doing so. "So you just turned into a walking furnace by accident, is that it?"
Mokou sighed. "Look, I was trying to get rid of the water and forgot the steam would hurt you, okay? It was an accident. Sorry."
Head stumbled to her feet. "Sorry? You're 'sorry'?" she said as she helped Body rise. "Oh, that makes everything better, knowing that-" Then her eyes snapped wide open. "Sun, moon, and stars!"
"What?" Body said. Mokou tilted her head. She frowned.
Pointing a shaking finger at Mokou, Head said, "D-did you just apologize to us?"
Body understood then. She took a reflexive step back, her already pale face losing a few more shades of color. "Sun, moon, and stars," she gasped, in the exact same tone as her twin. "She did!"
"Oh, son of a bitch," Mokou moaned as she buried her face in both hands. "Really? This is happening now?"
"My gods," Body said, staring. "She's blushing. She actually blushing."
"Hold up!" Head said suddenly, her body stiffening with realization. "Earlier! You were trying to apologize then too, right?"
"Huh?" Body said. Mokou just moaned.
"You know!" Head told her twin. "When she got all embarrassed and evasive?"
"Oh yeah. Wait, she was!" Body let out a disbelieving laugh. "And don't forget, she also said sorry for burning us before us. You know, when Rumia cut our legs off and they wouldn't come back."
"Three times," Head said, shaking her namesake. "Fujiwara no Mokou, apologizing to us three times within twenty-four hours." She laughed as well. "Hey, Body?"
"Yeah?"
"Pinch me, I must be dreaming."
"Okay," Body said. She reached down to grab a handful of Head's behind.
"Hey!" Head said, indignantly slapping Body's hand away. "I was joking!"
"Then mean what you say next time!"
"All right!" Mokou said, now fully fed up with the nonsense. She rolled to her feet. "Enough! Yes, I said I was sorry! Deal with it!"
The twins stopped bickering and refocused on her. "Oh, we're trying," Body said with a grin. "It's just that this is such an unprecedented occasion that it's hard to take it."
Mokou growled. "Let's make something absolutely clear, bitches of the Moon. I don't like you, either of you. You were insufferable as one person, and now you're doubly so. But I keep my word, and I own up when I fuck up. So grow the hell up and get over it."
Head glanced at her twin. "She makes a decent point."
"I guess so," Body said. She sounded somewhat abashed.
"Glad to hear it," Mokou said, her voice icy cold. "Now that we've got that nonsense out of our systems, can we get back to-"
A drop of cool moisture hit the back of her hand. Blinking in surprise, Mokou looked up. The drop was soon by others.
"It's raining," she said flatly.
"We noticed," Head said as she pulled her robe up and over her head. "Guess all that steam cooled down."
"This quickly?" Body asked as she covered herself in the same way.
"Dream," her twin reminded her. "Sense. Nothing makes any."
"You can say that again," Mokou said darkly. She shoved her hands into her pockets and turned the heat back up. It wasn't enough to do any damage, but it kept her dry. "So, can we please continue before some horrible happens?"
"Right," Body said. She cracked her knuckles. "All right, my turn."
Marching up to her bedroom door, Body carefully looked it over with a critical eye. Then, standing at its side and out of the way of anything that might come out, she reached out and gave the door a hard push, making it slide open.
Everyone flinched as she did, with Body actually ducking and covering her head. However, this time nothing came out, no monsters or forces of nature. Still, it was nearly half a minute before anyone dared to move.
Body was the first to get up. Still maintain a safe distance between herself and the door, she moved around it until she could see inside.
"Whoa," she said. She looked over her shoulders. "Hey guys, come check-"
And then she was gone, swallowed up so thoroughly it was like she had never been there.
Before Mokou or Head could react, the reason for Body's abrupt disappearance made itself known. Much as Mokou's door had spewed out water, Kaguya's had started doing the opposite, pulling everything in with such powerful suction that Mokou was nearly swept off her feet. She grabbed onto the frame of the nearest door, the burned double-door that had grabbed her attention earlier, and held on for all she was worth.
Something seized her legs. Mokou felt panic rise, but then she looked down to see that Head had clasped her arms tightly around her knees.
"I hate this place!" Mokou called, her voice barely audible over the powerful suction.
"I'm starting to agree!" Head shouted back. She reached up with one hand. "Come on, give me a-"
Her grip slipped. She tried to grab Mokou's feet, but failed, and soon she was following her twin through the door.
"Crap, that's not good," Mokou muttered. She tried to pull herself behind the door, but then her fingers slipped as well, and soon she was hurtling through the air, heading straight toward the open door.
A moment later, she was waking up with a massive headache. She was still in the room of doors, sprawled awkwardly against the wall behind the hungry door. However, it was now closed, but with a large, ragged hole in its center.
The cause was easy to figure out. The door had closed right before Mokou had reached it, cutting off the suction. However, her momentum had remained the same, and she had sailed right through the flimsy paper to crash against the wall. Apparently smashing holes through these doors didn't grant access to the rooms beyond.
"Oh, hell no," Mokou said as she staggered to her feet. "No, no, no!" She rushed over to the door and pushed, trying to get it to slide open. It wouldn't budge.
"Hey!" she shouted. She gave the frame a hard kick. "That's my mortal enemy! Give her back!"
In answer, the door frame collapsed and fell apart.
Mokou's eye twitched. She stared down at the pile of wood and paper, wondering if it was now time for a blazing holocaust. If nothing else, it would make her feel better.
But it would also potentially destroy her only way of finding the Kaguya twins. Mumbling to herself, Mokou sat down, crossed her legs in front of her, and planted her chin on her fist as she stared down at the remains of Kaguya's bedroom door, which was quickly being ruined by the rain.
Then she jumped to her feet. Something had rattled loudly behind her, and was continuing to do so.
Turning around, she saw that the source was the burned door. Now that it held her full attention, there was something very disquieting about it. It was definitely familiar, and not in a good way. She just couldn't remember where she had seen it.
However, the way it was shaking and rattling was certainly noteworthy. Someone was on the other side and trying very hard to come through, though either the door was locked or something else was preventing it from opening. That didn't seem to discourage them any, as they kept right on shaking the double-door.
Mokou frowned. Remembering the colossal monster with the pyramid helmet, she approached slowly, balls of flame held at the ready. "Kaguya?" she said carefully. "Head? Body? That you?"
No answer. The door kept right on rattling.
Mokou took a deep breath. "Rumia? Are you there?"
The shaking paused, and for a moment Mokou thought she was going to get an answer. But then it just started back up again.
And then the whispers started.
"Help us," said a hissing voice. "It's so hot."
"Save us, Miss Mokou."
"Why'd you leave, Miss Mokou?"
"Why did you abandon us?"
"She's coming."
Okay, never mind. Fuck that. Mokou turned right around and stomped toward the door to Keine's school. Without a hesitation, she pulled it open and went right in, closing the door behind her, cutting off all but one last whisper.
"The shadows are coming."
…
"It's like that old joke," Rumia said as she idly speared a Zergling that had wandered too close. "You know the one. 'Why did the chicken cross the road?'"
"To get to the other side," Kerrigan said. "Yes, I know."
"Well, in this case, think of me as the chicken."
Kerrigan regarded her with calm eyes, an amused smile tugging at her lips. "Are you sure that's the metaphor you wish to use?"
Rumia bared her spiked teeth. "That's the burden of being me. I know full well what I am, and I know full well what you are. Trust me, my pride is in no danger."
Kerrigan's smile disappeared.
"And getting back to my point, I'm the chicken, and all this," Rumia spread her arms wide, "is the road. And I have most urgent business with the other side." She looked around for any Zerg within arms' distance and, upon finding none, walked over to the nearest rank and proceeded to amuse herself. "Unfortunately, the actual act of crossing has been a royal bitch, as you just seem bound and determined to get in my way. Sociopathic sailors, giant worms, soldier rabbits with over-enthusiastic pimp hands, these jokers here, and anthropomorphic personifications of those two morons' Oedipus complexes. Honestly, if you want me out of here so badly, maybe you shouldn't do your damnedest to slow my progress?"
"You're an invader," Kerrigan said as she watched Rumia carve up a big, burly Hydralisk. "A foreign body. We wished to eradicate you."
Rumia grunted. "Is that so. But since that obviously has gone nowhere, can I count on something resembling cooperation?"
"Tell us what you need."
"Access to the core of Fujiwara no Mokou and Kaguya Houraisan's subconscious minds," Rumia said without hesitation. "It's the only place an exit can be created. And, of course, I'll need the girls themselves to unlock the way out."
"Ah, that poses a problem," Kerrigan said. Her yellow eyes narrowed. "The core is, after all, our most vulnerable area. You understand if we're hesitant to grant access to such a destructive individual."
Rumia started laughing. "Finally, someone with a brain! And look, I'm getting there one way or another. You keep getting in my way, and I'm guaranteed to leave a trail of devastation behind me." She paused before a hulking behemoth-like beast, one that combined all the worst traits of a Goliath beetle and an elephant. She placed a single hand on one of its two curving tusks and watched as the spreading darkness worked its way up to the body. "And I feel compelled to let you know: one I find my groove, the results tend to be…uncontained."
As the struggling Ultralisk sank dying to the floor, Kerrigan said "And their cores are, in fact, the only way out?"
"For me, yeah."
"Explain."
Rumia shrugged. "It's what I am. Think of me like a virus."
"We already do," Kerrigan said, her voice lowering to a dry hiss.
"Good, then we have something to work with. But in this situation, I'm not talking about the plague variety as I am the mental kind." Rumia pressed the tip of one talon against her own temple. "Once I infect a host, things start off small. Minor influencing of their emotional reactions, thought processes, decision-making, that sort of thing. Over time, it gets bigger and bigger, until they finally give in and accept what I have to offer. And when that happens, well, it's like the good book says: the two shall become one flesh. Their minds are mine, wholly and completely, from that moment forward."
Kerrigan spread her hands. "And your point is…"
"I came from a place not too dissimilar than this. A world of dreams and fantasies, formed from the parts of my mind I share with my host. And unlike my woefully idiotic traveling companions, I was able to leave it from any place I bloody well wanted, without so much as touching the core." Rumia glanced around at the large, dark room and sighed. "But here, not so much. Sure, I got in easily enough, but getting out and reaching my goal is a different sort of beast entirely. A way can only be opened from the center, the core. And unfortunately, I don't have the keys, which is why I need Kaguya and Mokou."
"So we've gathered," Kerrigan said. "And let's just say we're willing to provide you with you want. When this door opens, you will do what?"
"Leave," Rumia said simply. She held up her gore-slicked blade and stared at it. "I have no interest in this place or the minds from which it sprung. Once I'm gone, I'll be sure to lock up on my way out, and you can return to driving your wards insane and need not fear my interference in the future. You have my word."
"For all that's worth."
Rumia smiled. She flicked the sword to one side, sending Zerg ichor splashing against the monsters that stood at the ready. "Like I said, I'm getting what I want one way or another. How I get there, and what condition I leave this place when I leave, is entirely up to you."
"You do leave us without much of a choice," Kerrigan admitted grimly. She extended her right hand. "All right, oh despised trespasser. We have a deal."
"Was there ever any doubt?" Rumia snickered. She extended her own hand, and the two monsters clasped talons.
Then Kerrigan jerked her arm back, yanking Rumia forward so that they were almost nose-to-nose. "Just so we're clear," Kerrigan drawled, "We still don't trust you. And while you may be our superior in terms of raw power, this is still our world. Cross us, and when you do make your inevitable exit, you'll do so bleeding."
Rumia blinked in surprise. Then she grinned. "You really do come from Kaguya's head, don't you?"
"As if Mokou had the imagination necessary to conjure me." Kerrigan released Rumia's hand and stepped back. "Well now, despised trespasser. Let's go make you someone else's problem."
…
Body didn't really remember much after being sucked through the doorway. She had rushed forward through some kind of corridor with the wind roaring loudly in her ears, and then everything had gone black.
Now she was inching her way back to consciousness, and her body was not happy about it. Everything ached, from the throbbing headache that assaulted her cranium to the sharp pains lancing through her ankles. Fortunately, being who she was, what would be a debilitating condition for most people was only mildly inconveniencing for her, and the pain was fading fast. As such, once she had started to reach some level of wakefulness, it didn't take long for her to open her eyes and look around.
She was outside and most definitely not on the Moon, which was a welcome change. She was lying in soft grass with her back against a heap of moss covered stones. Surrounding her were several bamboo trees, through which bright sunlight was shining. Though her senses were not as sharp as Mokou's, she could still hear water babbling nearby and the sound of voices further off.
"Hey, the sleeping princess awakes," she heard her own voice say. "Glad to have you back."
Blinking, Body turned to see that Head was nearby, sitting on the mossy stones. The stones surrounded a small pool, which was fed by a trickle of water too small to be properly called a waterfall that dripped down a rocky hill.
"Feeling okay?" Head asked.
"Gimme a minute," Body muttered as she straightened up. "Until then, not really."
Head nodded. "Yeah, you pretty much have the worst luck ever. I faceplanted in the grass, so I was able to wake up pretty quickly. But you hit these rocks back-first and snapped your spine. Ouchie."
"Figures," Body muttered. She gingerly ran her hand over her back and winced at the telltale splintery feeling of healing vertebrae. She looked up at her twin. "Mokou?"
"No sign of her. Guess she managed to hang on."
"And she didn't come after us, the cowardly bitch." Body carefully rose to her feet. "So, where the hell are we anyway?"
"What, you don't recognize it?" Head said. She touched the surface of the pool, sending ripples across its surface. "I'd think that bamboo at least would be a tip-off."
Body's eyebrows rose. Her twin was right. She did know this place. Very well, in fact. "The Bamboo Forest? We're back home?"
"Well, not really," Head said hesitantly.
Body nodded. "Still in dreamland, eh?"
"Ayup."
"But even so," Body pressed. "We're in the Bamboo Forest. That means Eientei has got to be close by. That means the center of our subconscious or whatever. That means we're almost done here!"
Head looked skyward and grimaced. "Well, not exactly…"
Body knew that look. It was one of her own, after all. "Head, what's going on? What aren't you telling me? Is Eientei not there or something?"
"Again, not really, but…" Head shook her head. "Look, I can't really explain it. You need to see it for yourself." She stood up and levitated off the ground. "Come on."
Mystified, Body followed her twin up above the treeline. Once there, she was able to get a good look at their surroundings.
Head had been right. This wasn't the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. Rather, it was more like the Bamboo Park of the Happy People Enjoying the Lovely Afternoon. Carefully maintained concrete paths now cut through the stalks, paths that were lined with wooden railings and lampposts. Large sections of the forest had been cleared away to make way for large expanses of perfectly cut grass. It was only in scant few areas, such as the one the Kaguya twins had woken up in, that the area bore any real resemblance to the forest they knew, and those areas were only a hop, skip, and a jump away from one of the paths or a grassy area.
And everywhere, there were people. Couples wandered the paths, holding hands and chatting away. Families gathered together around picnic spreads. Children and teenagers played in the grass under the watchful eyes of their elders. And, unlike the forest from Kaguya's memories, the population was not restricted to rabbits and wild fairies, though the former did seem to make up the majority. Rather, youkai from a dozen different species rubbed shoulders with Human and fairy alike, and did so without complaint. In sharp contrast to the old-fashioned and eclectic outfits preferred by native Gensokyians, the general fashion here leaned more toward that of the modern Outside World that Kaguya knew from her many black market goods.
But it didn't stop there. Beyond the park was a city, one unlike Kaguya had seen since being exiled from the Lunarian society. Large, multi-story structures loomed against the sky, all elegantly carved from white stone and glittering in the sunlight; Body could see everything from places of business to large shopping centers to a gigantic museum. Silvery vehicles zoomed to and fro through the streets. Statues, monuments, fountains, and other such decorations were everywhere, suggesting the city's population at least had refined aesthetic sensibilities. And again, they were everywhere: walking the sidewalks, coming in and out of the shops, dining at the open-air restaurants, or standing around talking.
It was still Gensokyo, that much was certain. Body was still able to pick out familiar landmarks, urbanized as they might have been. And the city didn't go on forever, just to where the border of the Bamboo Forest used to be. Beyond, the more familiar Gensokyian landscape could be seen, albeit crisscrossed with streets and dotted with wealthy estates.
Gaping, Body looked at her twin, who simply set her mouth in a straight line and nodded, as if to say, "Yup, this is happening."
Body closed her mouth. Unexpected change of surrounding or no, they still had a job to do. "Okay, this may or may not be bad. But no point in floating around staring. We still need to find the psychopath-"
"Which one?" Head drawled.
"Both. First the pyromaniac and then the liar. And then," she shrugged, "well, figure that out when we get to it."
"A capital idea," Head said, nodding. "And as it so happens, I know the perfect place to start." She turned and pointed.
The place where they had ended up was not too far from where Eientei would have been, back home. And, as it turned out, it was still there. Body knew it was Eientei, given that there was a large block of white quartz in front of its entrance with the word "EIENTEI" inscribed with gold letters. And unlike the white stone of the rest of the city, this was still made from the dark woods of the actual place.
However, this Eientei was larger, much larger. And unlike the actual place, it didn't seem to be a place of dwelling. Rather, given the official look of the place and the number of sharply dressed people coming and going, this Eientei served as the city's center of government. Okay granted, the actual Eientei did as well, but only in the sense that Kaguya represented the forest's interests to the rest of Gensokyo, and Eientei happened to be where she lived.
Head nodded to the building across the street. Hourai Clinic was there. Except here, it was now Hourai Hospital. And unlike Eirin's clinic, the only bamboo to be found was artfully arrayed in the grassy area between the sidewalks and the building itself. This was a fully modern, four-story structure, made from the same stone as the rest of the city. Like Eientei, this one also had a large sign out front, this one bearing a carved representation of a medical cross bordered by two bow-shaped constellations, the same sign Eirin wore on her hat.
The Kaguya twins looked at each other. "So," Body said.
"Yeah."
"Is this good or bad?"
"I have no freaking idea," Head said. "On the one hand, hey, Gensokyo's gotten all urbanized and industrialized. So, bad. On the other, it is a pretty city, and the people here seem happy. So, good."
"So it could go either way?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Head grabbed Body's hand and started to move toward Eientei. "Come on, let's go find out."
…
Okay, maybe I did get a little kookier than normal. But hey, I needed to let off some steam, and let me tell you: working on this chapter was the perfect therapy after fixing that bloody mess over in IM. So yeah, things are good. :)
And it should be pointed out that the characters actions and beliefs are their own. Neither this story nor its author advocates having sex with yourself should the opportunity present itself. Unless, you know, you really want to.
Until next time, everyone!
