Reality

"Get down!"

Before the princess could ask what was wrong, her mentor had seized her by the waist and tackled her to the ground. Moments later, a blazing ball of flame whizzed right through where her head had been to explode in the dirt.

The princess stared numbly at the crater. She and her mentor had been out for their early evening walk through the forest, just like always. They had been chatting about the latest gossip from the rabbit tribes, her mentor's current projects, and whatever hobby the princess had most recently taken up to keep herself entertained, just like always. Those they passed nodded and greeted them cordially, just like always. By the time they had finished their customary route, they expected to return to their hidden home and sit down to the supper that had been prepared for them, just as always.

Except today someone had decided to disrupt tradition by lobbing a godsforsaken fireball at them.

"Princess!" her mentor cried. She wretched the stunned girl from the ground and bore her away over her shoulder. Behind them, more fireballs devastated the area they just occupied. Many of the nearby bamboo trees caught fire and started to burn.

"What's going on?" the princess shouted, still bouncing on her mentor's shoulder. "Who's attacking us?" Then a horrible thought occurred to her. "Is it the Lunar-"

Before she could complete her question, her mentor dove over a small rock outcropping and scampered into the relative shelter it provided. "Quiet," she said, slapping a hand over the princess's mouth.

The princess pushed the hand out of the way. "But who-"

It went right back. "Shhh!" her mentor hissed. "I don't know, but I soon will."

The two sat in silence, listening to the sounds of destruction. Whoever it was that had attacked them, it seemed that they had either not noticed that their quarry had disappeared or simply liked setting things on fire. That ruled out the princess's original supposition, at least. For all their faults, her people were at least efficient in their assassination attempts.

Finally the assault came to the end, leaving nothing but the sound of burning. The two women remained still, straining the limits of their hearing. The princess found herself glad for the heat, as it gave her an excellent excuse for the sweat.

And then an unfamiliar voice shouted, "I know you're out there, Moon Princess. Come on out! Unless you're afraid of getting burnt?"

The princess sighed. "Well, that rules out this being a random hit," she said. "Do you know that voice?"

"No," said her mentor. "But it doesn't matter. My lady, with your permission-"

"I don't think so," interrupted the princess. "This isn't the Lunarians, so that means it's just some Gensokyian toughie looking for a fight." She cracked her knuckles and twisted her neck, popping the vertebrae. "Well, she's found one."

Her mentor seized her arm in a tight grip. "Princess, don't. This person knows you. She has to be prepared for anything you can do to her."

The princess pulled herself away. "What's she going to do, kill me to death? Let her try." Her eyes narrowed. "And no matter how much she knows me, she's about to learn more about me than she ever expected."

With that, she stole out of the stony shelter and crept through the forest. The whole area had been set ablaze, with the fires continuing to spread. That just made the princess angrier. This forest was her home, and the home of the rabbit tribes that had given her shelter. Who did this idiot think she was, to cause such destruction so indiscriminately?

Well, someone who didn't believe in stealth, apparently. The idiot in question was in plain sight, floating above the epicenter of her attack. The princess didn't recognize her; it was some Human with shoulder-length white hair and sharp features. She appeared to be wearing a simple farmer's outfit, but it was hard to tell, given that she was completely covered with fire. What was more, she was entirely unharmed by it.

The princess stopped and blinked. Well now. While it was true that she had seen many strange things in during her many years, this was a new one.

As for the burning woman, she had her back to Kaguya and was looking back and forth, no doubt in search of her prey. "Come on, princess! Stop hiding! I'm just going to find you sooner or later."

Not if you keep facing the wrong way, the princess thought as she considered the problem. This woman was out for blood, so danmaku wasn't going to be of much use. Perhaps she could make use of the bamboo? Maybe a sharpened spear thrown hard enough would be able to penetrate the flames…No, they radiated too far out. Which left…

The princess glanced down at her feet. The woman's attack had torn up the road, leaving the smooth stones in shattered pieces. She picked up a piece with especially sharp looking edges and tossed it from hand to hand, testing its weight. Then, satisfied with her new weapon, she floated up until she was a ways over the madwoman while still behind her.

The princess was no magician. Despite the many hobbies she had picked up and discarded, she could only claim a minor proficiency in magic. The physical arts were far more fun, after all. However, she did know a thing or two. Rolling the stone in her palm, the princess imbued it a healthy helping of kinetic energy. Soon it was trembling with its own explosive potential.

The princess eyed her target, took aim, and drew her arm back. "Yoohoo!" she shouted.

The madwoman whirled around, her blazing maroon eyes searching for the source of the challenge.

"Up here, you fool!" the princess called. Then she hurled the stone.

It could not have been timed better. The madwoman looked up and her eyes widened with delight when she saw her quarry. But then they took note of the glowing stone hurtling toward her face and her smile withered.

The stone cut straight through the fire and blew up the madwoman's face. The fire disappeared and her body fell.

Well, that was easy. The princess dropped to the ground next to the corpse. Her hands had gotten some ash on them. She wiped them off on her skirt.

"Princess!" Her mentor ran out of the devastation to join her. "Are you hurt?"

The princess shrugged. "No. And even if I was, what of it?" She crouched down to examine the body. Now that she had the chance to examine the madwoman up close, she had to admit that she still had no idea who it was. The fact that the face was now a ruined mess didn't exactly help in that regard, but even so, nothing about the woman struck her as recognizable. The only thing of note she noticed was that her hair was a very pale lavender rather than white. Beyond that, nothing.

"Do you recognize this idiot?" the princess asked.

Her mentor frowned. "At a glance? I'm afraid not. But a full autopsy might reveal something about her origins."

"Do it." The princess started to straighten up. "If there's more like her, then I want to-"

The dead woman's hand snapped up and seized the princess by the neck.

The next thing the princess knew, the supposedly dead woman was standing to her feet, her fingers, horribly strong at that, curled around her foe's throat in an iron grip. The princess's mentor tried to intervene, but the madwoman caught her with a kick to the stomach. It wasn't enough to knock her off her feet, but it did send her stumbling back a couple of meters. And then a wall of fire erupted from the ground, surrounding the princess and the madwoman and preventing anyone from interfering.

"Nice try," croaked the madwoman. She lifted the struggling princess up with one hand and grinned through the horrific ruin her face had become. And to the princess's shock, she started to heal: the shattered bones of her skull reconstructing and becoming whole, muscles and sinews returning to their proper places, blood flowing back and sealing itself up in new veins, and, at the very end, flawless skin growing back to cover it all. Soon her face was complete once more. "But you of all people should know that death is not always as final as it seems."

The princess tried to speak, but the madwoman's grip was too strong. "How-" she managed to choke out.

"How?" The madwoman threw her head back and cackled. "How did I survive, you mean?" She touched two fingers to her cheek. "Oh, surely you can't be that dense. After all, you possess the same kind of…durability."

The princess boggled at that. No, that was impossible. The madwoman couldn't be suggesting that. After all, the princess was the only one of her kind, wasn't she?

Though come to think of it, wasn't there supposed to be at least one other-

Then the madwoman set the princess on fire.

The princess threw her head back to scream, but if any sound came out, she was too deafened by agony to notice. The pain was immense: every nerve in her body had been set ablaze. Her skin was starting to crack and peel, and she could feel the fat underneath…By the gods, she was feeling her own fat melt!

"In case the pain is too great for your brain to comprehend what is happening," the madwoman said in a conversational tone, "you are currently being burned alive. I am told that the process is excruciating." She shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't know firsthand. I have an extremely high tolerance for heat, you see. But the screams of those I have roasted have given me enough information to go off on."

Then she brought the princess in closer, so that their faces were separated by only a few centimeters. "And you know what, oh exalted Princess of the Moon? You burn just as prettily as the rest of them."

With that, she hurled the princess's charred body through the wall of flame.

By then, the princess couldn't even feel the pain; her nervous system had been entirely burned away. In fact, she couldn't even remember anything after sailing limply through the fire, so she supposed she had died. But then her so-called gifts rectified that, and she awoke in agony.

She was lying in the dirt, with the madwoman standing over her. Though she had returned to life, her skin was still regenerating, leaving her in incredible pain.

"Wasn't fun, was it?" The madwoman shrugged. "Best get used to it, because it's going to be happening to you much more regularly from now on."

The princess found her voice. "Who…who are you?" she rasped.

"Oh, haven't you figured it out?" The madwoman laughed in scorn. "Come on, I thought the Moon people were supposed to be smart."

The princess looked around but saw nothing but burnt and broken bamboo. Where was her mentor? "You're…you're that…that bandit who stole the…the Elixir we gave to the Emperor. Centuries ago."

The madwoman looked offended. "A bandit? Really? I…" Then she reconsidered. "No, I suppose in that specific instance I was one." She then crouched down and started to doodle in the dirt with one hissing, white-hot finger. "You know, people always make such a big deal about immortality, about how it's some sort of wonderful prize. But you and I know better, don't we?" She pressed her burning finger against the princess's leg, making her vision explode with pain. "Honestly, I found it to be rather overrated."

Then she stood back up. "But I have to admit, when you're after revenge, it really comes in handy. And when the person you want revenge on is also immortal, even better! That just means you can do whatever you want to them and not worry about them expiring before you've had your satisfaction!"

Grimacing, the princess clutched at her seared leg. Still, she managed to glare defiantly at the madwoman. "What the hell did I ever do to you?" she demanded. "Is this about making you immortal? That Elixir wasn't even meant for you! You have no one to blame but your stupid self!"

Then she gasped in pain as the madwoman kicked her in the ribs. "Is that what you think this is all about?" the Madwoman roared. "No! No, this is about what you did to my family. To my father." She thumped herself over the heart. "To me!"

"What the hell are you-"

The madwoman kicked her again. "You wouldn't remember, of course. I doubt you even learned his name. Just another hapless suitor to be disposed of by your so-called quest!"

The princess gaped up at her. "Is that what this is all about? Your father was one of those fools trying to win my hand? Sun, moon, and stars, that was centuries ago! Get over it!"

That appeared to be the wrong thing to say, as the madwoman suddenly snapped. She reached down, seized the princess by the collar of her restored robe, and screamed, "You RUINED him! You destroyed my family; you destroyed me! And now I, Fujiwara no Mokou, daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito, swear that I will deliver you, Kaguya Houraisan, Princess of the Moon, into a world of endless torment! And nobody will be able to stop me: not you, not your mentor Eirin Yagokoro, nobody! I swear you will not have one moment of rest that is not filled with-"

The rest of Mokou's rant was suddenly cut of as a jagged piece of bamboo was jabbed through her neck. Her eyes popped with surprise, she coughed up blood, and fell over onto her side, dead.

Before Kaguya could process what had happened, Eirin was at her side. "Princess!" she cried, grabbing her under the armpits and hauling her up. "Get up now!"

Kaguya nodded, and soon the two of them were fleeing over the forest. "That's her, isn't it?" Eirin shouted as they flew. "That's the missing Hourai Immortal!"

"Yes, and she really, really hates me!" Kaguya shouted back. "We need to-"

A shriek of pure fury interrupted them. Kaguya looked over her shoulder and felt an icy rush of fear. Mokou was alive again and was now flying in hot pursuit; quite literally, as she was now blazing brighter than a comet.

"Oh gods, she's after us." Kaguya grabbed Eirin by the arm. "Quickly! Before she gets in range, we need to…"

"Get down!" Kaguya cried out. She dropped down, dragging the two originals along with her as Mokou's tumbling body whizzed right past where their heads had been. Mokou kept going, smashing right through Eirin's desk to bounce down the stairs until she finally came to rest in the shattered remains of a glass case and the priceless burial urns it had contained.

Unperturbed, Eirin simply strolled around the ruin and made her way toward where Mokou lay unmoving, surrounded by blue steam. She snapped on a pair of thick rubber gloves and reached into the mess. From there, she hoisted Mokou's body out. Head and Body blinked. Mokou was now frozen stiff and covered from head to toe with blue frost.

"Yes," Eirin said. "I am aware of her immunities." She threw Mokou's body onto the floor and shook her head in disgust. "Kaguya? Please see to the mess; outside first, and then the one in here. Head? Body? If you would be so kind as to join me, please."

"Right," Kaguya said, sounding annoyed. "Okay." Shaking her head, she rolled up her sleeves and thrust her hands out at the city.

Before the twins' startled eyes, the city seemed to kick into reverse. The fire and smoke swiftly retracted, gathering into a single backwards-moving explosion that was sucked back up into its point of origin and disappeared. The damaged buildings reconstructed themselves, the broken pieces of rubble simply flying back to their original places and the breaks healing themselves away. The panicked crowds changed direction and charge back the way they came, all the while moving backwards. Then they dispersed and settled into whatever they were doing before Mokou had entered their lives.

In less than five seconds, it was done. Houraisan had forgotten the wound Fujiwara no Mokou had inflicted upon it.

"Girls?" Eirin said, jolting Head and Body out of their surprised stupor. "I know it's a wondrous sight to behold, but I really need you down here."

Wordlessly, the Kaguya twins headed down to where Eirin stood over Mokou. Behind them, Kaguya started repairing the damage to Eirin's office, all the while muttering, "Ten minutes. She isn't here for ten minutes, and she blows up a city block. We should have just made her a terrorist, it would have simplified things."

Regaining consciousness after having suffered a messy death was nothing new to Mokou; she did it on a near-daily basis. And being in great pain while her body regenerated was also dull routine by that point.

But waking up to find her body stiff with bitter cold? That was a new one. Usually her internal furnace was enough to warm her whenever Kaguya decided to use frost magic against her. But in keeping with the horrible day she was having, this time she rose from the dead with her teeth chattering.

Fortunately, that at least she could do something about. Deciding that her current state would not do at all, she swept her body with fire.

To her satisfaction, it worked. The frost evaporated in an instant, taking the cold with it and replacing it with soothing warmth. Mokou breathed out a sigh of relief.

Then she fell about half a meter and landed on her back. Apparently whatever she had been lying on had not been fireproof.

As Mokou blinked in surprise and tried to take stock of her surroundings, a very familiar voice said, "Well, that does it for the couch. Told you we should have stuck her somewhere else."

This complaint was answered by the exact same voice. "So? Just make another one. You just rebuilt a city block, for crying out loud!"

Head and Body. Well, at least she had found them without too much trouble, though she was going to have some words with them over that ice comet. Unfair of them to sneak attack her like that, especially after all that crap they gave her about their stupid truce. Plus, they still had to answer for that incident in the home and gardening shop. Shaking her head, Mokou sat up and looked toward the direction the voices were coming from.

As expected, there they were: two Kaguya Houraisans, both wearing those dumb uniforms and sitting side by side on a couch. Mokou glanced at the one with the tie hanging undone around her neck. "Body," she said in a dull voice. Then she looked at the one whose tie was still neatly knotted. "Head."

"Hi," Head said.

Then Mokou glanced at the person standing behind the couch with her arms folded. Her eyebrows shot up, and she squinted.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," said the Kaguya in the neatly pressed suit.

"Ah," Mokou said. "Well." She looked back at the twins. "One," she said, pointing at Body. Then she pointed at Head. "Two." Then she moved her finger to the third Kaguya, took a deep breath, and just said, "Why?"

The third Kaguya smirked. "Because the world hates you. Haven't you figured it out yet?"

"Hey, don't blame us for her," Body said with a shrug. "It wasn't our idea."

"Yeah, but…whyyyy?" Mokou whined. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. One Kaguya was a blight upon the world. Two was a cruel trick straight out of Hell. Three made her long for oblivion. "Did she come from that foot I cut off or something?"

Head blinked. "Huh. You know, I forgot about that." She turned in her seat to look at the third Kaguya. "Did you?"

"No."

"Mokou, chill," Body said. She leaned back against the armrest and crossed her legs. "She's not real."

The third Kaguya looked offended. "Hey, I'm standing right here!"

"You know, if you want to get technical about it, you actually aren't," Body drawled.

Mokou stared. "What?"

Head rolled her eyes and sighed. "Look, she's like that teacher friend of yours, the one that visited you earlier. Another dream person, but one with a working personality." She glanced up at her doppelganger. "Albeit a kind of annoying one, but hey."

"Those who live in glass houses, sweetie."

Mokou twisted her face up in confusion. She stood up and brushed the ash from the destroyed couch off her clothes. "Wait, so she's a dream representation of…yourself?"

"Uh-huh."

"Oh my gods." Mokou closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Godsdamnit, Kaguya. You just got done sexing yourself up, and now you're dreaming about yourself? Why don't you replace those stupid posters of yours with self-portraits and coat your ceiling with mirrors?"

All three Kaguyas sighed in synchronization, something that made Mokou's skin crawl. "Right," Body seethed. "Because that joke isn't getting incredibly old."

Then Mokou was struck by a thought, one that made her perk up. "Wait, if she's not really you, can I kill her?"

The third Kaguya glowered. "No!" she said at once. The twins, however, looked torn. That gave Mokou a measure of satisfaction. It seemed that Kaguya was just as annoying to herself as she was to her.

However, that was when a fourth voice broke into the conversation, one that wasn't Kaguya's but no less familiar. "No, you may not," it said sternly. "Instead, you will restrain yourself and pay attention. We have much to discuss."

Oh, fantastic, Mokou moaned internally. Her. She turned around and saw that, yes, Eirin Yagokoro was right there.

Out of the few people that had remained present in Mokou's long life, Eirin was one of the few that she would admit to fearing. Though the Lunarian doctor stayed mostly on the sidelines of her war with Kaguya, there had been a few occasions in which Mokou had earned her wrath, usually unintentionally. And those occasions had been enough to convince her to focus her hatred on Kaguya and Kaguya alone. Eirin may not be a full immortal the same way Mokou and Kaguya were, but she was plenty powerful in her own right. What was more, she was smart, and despite her cool demeanor, she had a real mean streak that was best left unprovoked.

Mokou locked eyes with Eirin for a moment before asking, "So. Did this…" She frowned, and glanced over her shoulder at the Kaguya trio. "The hell was her name again? The person who ate us?"

"Rin Satsuki," Head answered.

"Right." Mokou turned back to Eirin. "So did Rin Satsuki eat you too, or are you another dream person?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Eirin said in a clipped tone. She nodded toward an empty chair. "Sit and listen."

Mokou thought back to what she had been told, about how Kaguya had been betrayed by her own mind. As entertaining as the thought might be, it did put her in a dangerous position. If this was the real Eirin, she would have said so. That meant that this was another highly realistic fake, one that was working with Rumia. She was in enemy territory. Caution was now essential if she was going to get out of this with the twins intact.

"I'll stand," she said, though not disrespectfully. "But I'll listen."

Eirin frowned, but nodded. "Fair enough."

Deeper down, in the shadowed underbelly of the shared subconscious mind of Fujiwara no Mokou and Kaguya Houraisan, Rumia Yagami was growing bored.

She sat on the withered husk of…some ugly Zerg-thing whose name Kerrigan had told her but had been swiftly forgotten. Surrounding her were more dead Zerg, all of them in pieces, all of them shriveled by the taint. There seemed to be no lack in their numbers or variations, but killing them had swiftly grown dull

She speared one of the little ones with her sword, watched it writhe and squeal until it turned black, and flicked it away with a sigh. "So," she said. "Is this partnership actually going to go anywhere, or is this some sort of diabolical plan to kill me with tedium?"

Across from her, Kerrigan's golden eyes flickered with annoyance. The self-proclaimed Queen of Blades stood among the bodies of her brethren, but if their deaths affected her, she had yet to make any sign. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, sounding anything but. "Do you find the entertainment we've provided for you to be…lacking?"

Rumia slipped off the dead beast and marched over toward the dream's emissary. "I don't want entertainment, I want to get to work," she said, stopping when she was less than a third of a meter away. "I've got a date with a little amorphous bitch that I'm already late for, and sitting around swatting bugs isn't improving my mood any."

She poked at Kerrigan's chitinous chest, sending a spiderweb of the taint over the surface. Kerrigan retreated with a hiss. "You promised me an exit. You promised to speed me to Rin Satsuki's subconscious. Where's my godsdamned exit?"

Kerrigan glowered, but retained her composure. "Patience," she said. "We have Kaguya already, and are in the process of securing Mokou. Soon you will have your exit."

"Damn right, I will," Rumia hissed. She turned to walk away, but paused.

"Oh, by-the-by," she said over her shoulder.

Kerrigan cocked her head quizzically.

Rumia smirked. She pressed the tip of her sword into the ground. The stone hissed and crumbled around the blade. "Do anything stupid like stab me in the back while screaming 'Here's your exit,' or some other ill-advised attempt at karmic irony, and I kill you." She pressed the tip of her sword into the ground. The stone hissed and crumbled around the blade. "Do note that I don't mean something so trite as kill this sapient lobster; that's just burning off empty calories. I mean rendering Kaguya to a drooling idiot, unable to so much as visualize a gnat." Her nail-teeth parted, and her tongue snaked to run over her blood-red lips. "See how many overgrown worms you can conjure after that."

With that, she stalked away, leaving Kerrigan to fume in her wake.

"No," Mokou said.

The dream's (or fantasy; Mokou wasn't bothering to keep track) representation of Eirin Yagokoro had just finished outlining their plan to deal with Rumia. As was to be expected by any plan birthed in the mind of Kaguya, it was stupid, short-sighted, and unforgivably self-indulgent. Mokou found herself wishing that she really was talking to the real Eirin, as she at least would be able to come up with something smart. She also noted the irony in that she was giving Eirin more respect than Kaguya's mind was. Having her embodiment voice such a ludicrous plan was nothing short of insulting.

The twins looked hardly surprised at her refusal, and Kaguya simply rolled her eyes and said, "See? I told you so."

As for Eirin, she looked annoyed by Mokou's answer. "Well, we weren't exactly holding out for your cooperation. However, perhaps you'd like to voice your specific objections?"

Mokou shoved her hands in her pockets. "No, not really," she said, rocking back and forth on her heels. "I try to not make a habit of debating with imaginary people."

"Except when they look like dead members of your family?" Body snickered.

Mokou felt a familiar rush of rage, but beat it back down. "Yeah, about that," she said, turning toward the twins. "See, while you two were skipping about in your little fantasy land here, I got to relive the night that the orphanage got destroyed and had a chat with my father." She shrugged. "Let's just say I hope you've been having a better time than I did, seeing all those scorched bodies and getting talked down to by ghosts from my past."

To her credit, Body actually looked a little abashed. Kaguya, however, wasn't sympathetic in the slightest.

"Oh, so sorry to hear that Daddy was in a bad mood," she snapped. She laid a hand on each of the twins' shoulders. "Tell me: did he chop your head off? If no, then you got off lightly."

"Kaguya, enough," Eirin ordered. Mokou arched an eyebrow. She wasn't sure if that argument represented actual mental dissonance on Kaguya's part or if it was just an elaborate puppet show, but it was interesting nonetheless.

As Kaguya backed off with her palms held up and a mocking sneer on her face, Eirin said to Mokou, "Is it Rumia? Is that why you object to this course of action? I know you still must feel responsible for her."

Mokou's eyes grew cold. "Excuse me?"

"Don't think we don't understand. You cared for the girl; we know that much. And having to stand against her after believing her dead for so long must be hard. You fear that sending her into Rin Satsuki's clutches will end her life in spectacularly painful fashion, therefore causing you to bear the same sin that you hated those men for." Eirin lightly touched her hand over her heart. "Believe me, I know how hard that must be. But you must face the facts, Mokou. The Rumia Yagami you knew is gone, and whatever connection the current one might have to the original, it doesn't change what must be done."

"Is that right," Mokou said, her voice dangerously low.

"It is," Eirin said, nodding. "Sometimes, for the greater good, sacrifices must be made."

Sacrifices. Mokou thought back to the world that existed within her mind. Burning cities, withered wastelands, vengeful ghosts, and dead children. She thought of her father's cold eyes, Satoko's scornful words, and Umakai's open contempt. She thought of the charred remains of that crucifix and the pleading whispers of the orphans. She thought of Rumia.

Then she looked around at Eirin Yagokoro's office, with all of its comforts, priceless artifacts, and displays of self-congratulation. She looked out at the city beyond, a tranquil utopia that had been set up with Kaguya as its ruler.

"Nice city," she said at last, putting her hand on her hip.

This took the three Kaguyas and Eirin off guard. Head and Body exchanged sidelong looks, and Head leaned over to whisper in her twin's ear. Eirin frowned suspiciously, her grey eyes probing Mokou's face.

Not surprisingly, it was Kaguya, the fake one, that recovered first. "We like it," she said as that infuriating smirk crept back up her face. "Guess what it's called."

Mokou frankly couldn't care less. "And say I do agree to go along with this, would there be a place for me here? You know, while we wait."

"What are you doing?" Eirin demanded. Mokou ignored her, focusing her attention on Prime Minister Kaguya Houraisan, who was now walking toward her.

"Oh, absolutely," she said genially. "In fact, you're quite the celebrity here! No doubt you've noticed how many adoring fans you have. You know, right before you set them on fire."

"Mmmm-hmmm. And hey, what exactly was that…thing they thought I was?"

"What, you don't know?" Kaguya produced a magazine seemingly from nowhere and displayed its cover to Mokou. It again showed her in that ridiculous skimpy get-up, only this time she winking seductively and blowing a kiss at the camera. Mokou, who never blew kisses at anyone for any reason, found the whole thing to be unforgivably obscene. "Why, you are none other than Mokou Phoenix, the world-famous idol singer!"

The explanation just made Mokou stare uncomprehending. She was struck with the mental image of a chorus of stone deities. "I'm a what?"

Over on the couch, Head cleared her throat. "Uh, it's a type of musician. Sort of. A singer that's usually promoted as being equal parts sexy and innocent, and specifically marketed toward young girls."

"Exactly," Kaguya said, nodding. "We felt it would be the best role for you. You know, since you're so good with children."

Mokou raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is that so?"

And with that, she fired a column of white-hot flame so dense that it almost had physical mass. It struck Kaguya in the chest, disintegrated her on impact, and launched her remains through the glass wall. Her ashes were then scattered all over her city.

The twins cried out in shock and scrambled over each other to get away from the heat. Eirin took a step forward, likely with the intention of breaking Mokou in half, but she was stopped when Mokou turned and covered the Lunarian doctor's face with her hand.

Eirin's body froze in place. Her fearful eyes stared out from between Mokou's fingers, mutely pleading with her. That just angered Mokou further. Kaguya had lived with Eirin all her life, and this was the best imitation she could come up with?

Speaking in slow and measured tones, Mokou said, "Now, I know Eirin Yagokoro. I was created by Eirin Yagokoro. I had some very nasty run-ins with Eirin Yagokoro. Eirin Yagokoro scares me more than anyone alive." She brought her face closer, her breath reeking of brimstone. "And the thought that you could be her just fucking disgusts me."

When Mokou turned away, there wasn't enough left of Eirin to fill a dustpan.

Across from her, Head and Body had pressed themselves so tightly against the couch that it looked like they were trying to melt into the fabric. Their already pale faces had gone white with shock. Mokou was pleased. If ever she wanted Kaguya's undivided attention, this was the time.

Heat radiating out from her like an oven, Mokou strode purposefully toward the cowering twins. Adding to her satisfaction, they actually looked intimidated. "Wait," Head said as she tried to get her limbs to move. "We have a truce, we have a truce, we have a-erk!"

Dialing down the heat at the last second, Mokou seized both Head and Body with a hand to each neck and shoved them down against the cushions. "Listen to me, you…you…" Mokou tried to think of an insult heavy enough to convey her contempt but for once came short. "Well, just listen. Now, I've never credited you for having a lot in the way of brains. Sure, you can stumble into something clever every now and then, but for the most part, I'd say it's pretty obvious who does all the thinking for you."

Body struggled and growled. "Let go of me, you-"

Mokou tightened her grip, shutting her up. "But even so, this 'idea' of yours is a whole new level of stupid. Just let Rumia go and hope she takes care of Rin Satsuki for us? Did being cut in two make your brain stop working so you decided to start thinking with your ass? If not, maybe you should try it; it'll probably be an improvement!"

Head grabbed at the fingers around her throat and tried to get them to loosen. "Not…our…idea…" she managed to get out.

"It still came from your mind, and you were going to go along with it, so it counts," Mokou shot back. She gave the twins one last shove before releasing them and walking away.

As Head and Body choked and gasped for breath, Mokou looked out the window at the vile city sprawled out before her. Sure, it looked pretty, but it was nothing more than an ornate trap, specifically designed to ensnare a certain immortal Lunarian nitwit. And she had taken the bait, hook, line, and sinker. Mokou was tempted to just leave Kaguya, both of her, to their own devices and go off on her own. They deserved it at this point, and she would make better headway without them.

But she couldn't. Even with the pesky problem of needing them to be the other half of the key out of here, Kaguya was still her arch-nemesis. Mokou despised her with every fiber of her being, but that didn't mean she longed for a life without her. A life as long as her own needed some sort of purpose.

Without turning around, Mokou said, "If we just pit those two against each other and stand back, we're screwed. If Rin Satsuki wins, so what? We're still her prisoners, and she has absolute power over us. Doesn't matter if she'll be hurt or not, Rumia is the only one who knows how to actually fight her from within. And after Rin Satsuki kills Rumia, you think she won't figure out who let her loose?"

Though the Kaguya twins were still coughing, neither of them moved to argue with her. Mokou spared them the briefest of glances over her shoulder to see that they were watching her warily. Good.

She continued: "If Rumia wins, that's even worse. Be like burning down a house while we're still in it. You know, if we weren't immortal or fireproof. And even if it doesn't bring this whole dream nonsense crumbling down around our heads, Rin Satsuki will be dead. Who the hell will let us out? Her brain will be burned out from the inside. We'll be stuck here, forever. That what you want?"

"Well..." Head started to say.

"Oh, so you do want to be stuck here?" Mokou turned around and leaned backed against the glass, arms folded over her chest. "Is that what this is all about? You found your perfect little utopia. Finally, a whole world that revolves solely around you!" Her eyes got that dark look again. "One where everyone bends over backward to serve your every want while I get put in silly outfits and humiliated. Must be nice."

A flash of annoyance crossed Body's face. "Actually, we're not so hot on being stuck here either. I mean, it's pretty, but it isn't home."

"Don't say 'hot,'" Head muttered. "You'll give her ideas."

Mokou tilted her head. "Is that right? I didn't hear you voicing any complaints back when those wannabes were trying to fill my head with crap."

Somewhere in the hospital, an alarm had gone off. Red lights start flash from the corners of the room, and she heard sirens in the distance. Sighing, Mokou walked away from the window and sank into one of the chairs. Full credit where it was due: this city may be a ghastly menagerie of plastic temptations, but those temptations were certainly comfortable.

"Turn that damned alarm off," she said wearily.

"How?" Head frowned. "We didn't turn it on. How are we supposed to turn it off?"

Mokou closed her eyes and briefly muttered under her breath. When she was certain she had forestalled the headache, she said, "Were you not paying attention? This is your imagination, dumbass, not your subconscious. If you can't control your own godsdamned imagination, then there is no help for you."

Both of the Kaguya twins got that surly look that the original always wore whenever Mokou had scored a verbal barb that she had no answer for. Body turned to Head and asked, "Can we?"

Head shrugged. "We started to control the dream a little bit earlier. Worth a shot, right?"

Setting her mouth in a straight line, Body turned her head toward the bulk of the hospital, furrowed her brow in concentration, and thrust her hand forward.

The alarm shut off at once.

"Huh," she said. "That was easy." She looked to the shattered windows that her arrogant doppelganger had been sent through and made the same motion. The broken shards of glass flew back to their original positions and the cracks disappeared.

"Good work," Mokou sneered. "You fantasized about fixing a broken window." Part of her worriedly pointed out that teaching Kaguya how to exert godlike control over their surroundings was probably not in her best interests, but at that point she was too tired to care about such things as their temporarily halted rivalry. In light of the circumstances, that whole thing just seemed unimportant and petty.

With a sigh, she pushed up on the armrests and stood up. "Well, let's get out of here."

With a resigned nod of acknowledgement, Body moved to follow, but Head remained where she was. "And do what, exactly?" she said, bringing both Mokou and her twin to a stop.

"Excuse me?" Mokou said, looking over her shoulder.

Head hunched over her knees, a dark look in her eyes. "What exactly do you plan for us to do now? I mean, you said it yourself: we don't have the slightest idea how to attack Satsuki and make her do what we want. Only Rumia did, and differences in opinion on how to deal with her aside, I think we can all agree that she has either gone rogue or soon will. Both of our rebellious minds already confirmed that, along with confirming that she can kick both of our asses." She tilted her chin up. "So, what now, Mokou? We're trapped inside one monster and being hunted by another, and we can't beat either. You got some brilliant idea how to get us out of this mess? Because I don't mind telling you, I'm not all that eager to test how far our immortality goes when it's just our minds doing the fighting."

And that was the rub of it, because the truth was, as much as she had ridiculed the plan concocted by the manifestations of Kaguya's imagination, it was still better than anything she had in mind. She had no idea how they were going to deal with Rumia, whether to destroy or redeem her, and when it came to the problem of their omnipresent captor, she was even more out of her depth.

When Mokou declined to answer, Head's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Thought so," she said. "Well, I hope you can think of one soon, because I for one don't fancy finding out that Rumia can kill us after all."

"You really think she can?" Body said, sounding worried.

"Yes," Head said bluntly. "Or at least, I don't know the full extent of what she can do, only that it's apparently a lot. For all we know she can 'kill' our minds and leave us braindead."

Mokou slowly exhaled. "Kaguya, you think that maybe, all things considered, we've lived long enough as it is?"

"No," both twins said at the same time.

Mokou wasn't surprised by the answer, but she wasn't deterred by it. "I don't know," she said. "I mean, we're going on, what, a millennium plus now? That's a long, long time. You still want to be around when Gensokyo falls? Hmmm? Watch everyone you know grow old and die? Not even youkai live forever." Even as she said it, Mokou realized just how old it made her feel. Now, perhaps more than ever, she truly regretted her decision to have taken the Hourai Elixir. By rights she should have been dead, buried, and forgotten over a thousand years ago, and the time she had gained thanks to her decision had not been exactly pleasant. Enduring another thousand years felt stifling.

However, it seemed that Kaguya was not of the same mindset. "Yes," Body said without hesitation. "Yes, we do. I do." She stomped over to Mokou and jabbed her finger into her rival's chest. "Look, if you're started to feel the burden of your years, fine. Go talk to Eirin once we get out of this, she might have a way to unchain you from the mortal coil. But I for one intend to keep right on living. See, I like life, and ever since Eirin and I had our cover busted and got to join the rest of Gensokyo, I've realized just how much of it I've been missing, and how much of it is still out there. I love Gensokyo, but if I live to see it's end, then there's a great big universe out there to explore."

"And after you've seen the whole thing?" Mokou replied.

Body smirked. "By then the universe will probably have collapsed on itself anyway, so it's a moot point." She folded her arms. "And you still haven't answered Head's question. What do we do now?"

Mokou frowned. She gnawed on her lower lip as she thought. "All right, we do need to confront Rumia sooner or later. And both since you've gotten your imagination under control, and both your subconscious and mine agree that she's bad news, it'll probably be best to see if we can't get their help."

"What, you mean get the dream to work with us instead of against?" Head sounded incredulous. "Mokou, I don't know if you've read up on how the subconscious mind works, but I don't think it'll be that easy."

"Look, the whole reason it's been trying so hard to take us down is because of Rumia, right?" Mokou shot back. "So if we're the ones trying to stop her, the dream won't target us anymore."

Body let out a sigh. "Mokou, stop being naïve. It doesn't suit you. Dreams are dreams. They do what they want, reason be damned. Just because it wants Rumia dead doesn't mean it won't stop working to make our lives miserable."

That was true enough, but Mokou wasn't about to step down in this. "Hey, I got my subconscious to back me in this, and my subconscious hates me," she argued, pointing at herself with her thumb. "Surely someone who loves herself as much as you two do can get the rest of your noggin to cooperate."

With that, she started walking away again, calling over her shoulder, "Either way, I'm confronting her, with or without you. Stay here in fantasy land until she comes for you if you want."

To the twins' credit, Mokou had almost reached the exit before they gave in and ran after her. She said nothing, but still smiled in satisfaction.

As for the exit itself, it did appear to be a door of some kind, but damned if Mokou could figure out how to work it. While advanced technology didn't really faze her, that didn't mean she had the slightest clue how to work a silver double-door that had no lock, handle, or knob. There were a bunch of buttons set into a sort of metal rectangle to its side, but Mokou wasn't about to go pushing to see what they did.

"So…" she said, gesturing toward the door. "How's that work?"

"Oh Mokou, you're hopeless," Head groused. She whacked one of the buttons, which lit up at her touch. In response, a bell rang and the door slid open. Beyond was a small room with a red velvet floor and walls that were made from polished silver inlaid with Lunarian symbols up to waist height, and spotless mirrors the rest of the way up. Mokou's face twisted up in confusion.

"Wait," she said. She stuck her head through the door and looked around. "What's this, some kind of closet?"

The twins gaped at her. "Seriously?" Body said. "You don't know an elevator when you-Gah, never mind." She shoved Mokou into the small room. "Get in already."

The door slid shut, and Mokou's hackles rose. "Wait a minute, what is this this room?" she demanded. "This isn't going to turn into some kind of torture chamber, is it?"

Head and Body exchanged a look. "You know," Body said. "All of Rumia's complaining about us being paranoid is starting to make sense." To Mokou, she said, "Mokou, it's a freaking elevator. It's a box that pulled up and down by machinery. It lets you quickly get from the bottom of a building to the top if you don't like stairs."

Mokou frowned. "Well, that sounds incredibly lazy. And what's wrong with flying?"

"Most buildings don't let you zip around indoors, sweetie cakes," Head answered in a cloyingly sweet voice. "And sometimes you just need to get your ass to where you need to go as fast as possible."

Mokou shrugged. "Okay, fair enough." She motioned with her hand. "So get our asses to where they need to go."

This was greeted by blank stares. Head cleared her throat. "And…how would you like us to do that, exactly? Because unless where we need to be happens to be on-" She shot a quick glance to the panel of buttons. "-floors one through eight, then we're out of luck."

"You've got godlike control over this city now, don't you?" Mokou retorted. "So fix this thing so it goes where you want to!"

Body looked startled by the idea, while Head just looked dubiously at the rows of buttons. "Well, I guess we can try," she said. "Though you still haven't told us where we're going."

That part at least was easy to answer. This whole journey always had but one destination. "The place we were heading for anyway," she said. "The center of our subconscious minds. That'll give us the best chance of controlling things if things turn violent."

"You mean 'when,' but okay," Body muttered. The twins turned toward the panel and started to point, but Mokou quickly interjected: "No, wait. Not the center, or at least not the exact center. Not the place she wanted us to go to open the exit. Make it…somewhere along the edge, out of sight."

The twins nodded. "Okay." They started to point at the button, but then Mokou had another thought.

"Oh yeah, and make sure wherever we go doesn't have anything nasty waiting for us," she instructed. "I don't want to open the door and see another velmick waiting for us."

The twins looked a little annoyed, but nodded again. But before they could go through with it, Mokou thought of something else. "Oh yeah, and make it some place that has everything we need if we're going to war. Weapons, defenses, minions, that sort of thing."

"Okay, fine!" Head snapped. She and Body thrust their fingers at the panel, and a new button materialized beneath the others. Beneath it was some kind of written description that Mokou had to lean in close to read. It said:

"Some hidden, out of the way corner of the center of our joined subconscious minds where it would be real hard to find us that doesn't have anything nasty sneaking around trying to kill, maim, eat, or regale us with annoying lectures targeting our self-esteem, and comes equipped with some kind of super fortress thingamajig with all the crap we need to kick Rumia's ass should it come to that. And throw in a godsdamned decent sushi bar in while you're at it, because I swear that wine was the only thing on this godsforsaken trip that didn't taste like crap."

Mokou resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands. "Yeah, okay," she said in a weary voice. "Close enough."

"Good to hear," Head said. Then she whacked the button.

Kerrigan's head jerked up. She looked around, brow furrowed and glowing eyes narrowed. It seemed as if she were sniffing the air.

Rumia, a predator born, noticed immediately.

"What is it?" she said as she stopped her murderous entertainment and dropped into a defensive crouch. "What's happening?"

The answer was long in coming. Kerrigan didn't even look like she had heard the question. She just kept her gaze focused upward, as if she were watching for something.

"Well?" Rumia demanded at last.

Kerrigan shuddered. She slowly dropped down and looked to her impatient guest. "They're coming," she said. "Mokou and Kaguya. They're on their way and should be here soon."

Rumia's burning eyes bore into Kerrigan's, as if trying to ascertain the fictional creature's sincerity. Apparently she was satisfied with what she saw, as she bared her steel-nail teeth in a wide grin and said, "Good. About time too."

"Yes," Kerrigan said. She twitched again, tearing her gaze away. "It is." Then she stalked off into the darkness.

Upon reflection, it was a good thing that Kaguya had never actually ridden in an elevator. Oh, she knew what they were, how they worked, and had them described to her a number of times, allowing her to recreate one perfectly in her imagination. But had she been just a little more familiar with certain features they offered, she might have accidentally added one of the more annoying ones simply because she expected it to be there: namely, preppy elevator music.

Fortunately, this elevator was burdened with no such thing, making the trip down to be one of silence. Head and Body stood side-by-side, watching the numbers on the floor indicator above the door descend. Mokou had sat down cross-legged in one corner, and was concentrating on something.

After stealing glances at her for about seven floors, Body's curiosity got the better of her. "Okay, fine," she said. "What are you doing?"

Mokou spared her the briefest of glances before focusing back on the floor. "Trying to remember everything I can about the orphanage. Most of it's coming back, but I have a feeling I'm going to need all the memories of it I can get."

That drew Head's attention. "So, you think you can reach her? Make her remember you, and make her stop being so hellbent on evil?"

Mokou shrugged. "I can try. At the very least, maybe it'll throw her off her game."

Which was fair logic. The twins nodded and looked back to the floor indicator. Floor three went by, followed by floor two. And then they hit ground floor.

The elevator stopped.

Head and Body were on their guard immediately. Mokou noticed, and stood up, her eyes darting about warily. "What's going on?" she said. "Why are we stopping?"

"No idea," Body said. "But I don't like it."

"In that, we are of one mind." Head pressed her back against the wall. "Okay Mokou, keep your eye on the ceiling. If any panels start to open, melt whoever's on the other side."

Mokou gave her a look, probably out of irritation at being given orders by Kaguya, but she nodded and turned her attention upward.

"Body? You've got the floor. You see so much as a crack, holler."

"Got it," Body said as she looked down.

Head took the door for herself. Silently she stared at the slit, just waiting for it to slide open and reveal something horrible.

Come on, she thought. Don't keep us waiting. If this is going to happen, then make it-

The elevator shook once. Mokou's hands flared up, and she almost fired off a fireball on instinct.

Five seconds passed, and the three immortals exchanged puzzled looks. "So…" Body ventured, "what was-"

The elevator shook again, more violently this time. It kept on shaking, and a grinding, screeching sound accompanied the tremors, like steel being dragged across rough concrete.

"The hell is that?" Mokou demanded. She winced as the sound assaulted her eardrums.

"I don't know!" Head shouted back. She wanted to cover her ears with her hands, but didn't dare for fear she would need them to defend herself. The sound was torture though; it grated her nerves like sandpaper.

And then, just like that, it was over. The racket ceased, and the elevator gave one last shudder before going still.

Head frowned in puzzlement. "What in the name of the Great Bear was-"

And then the elevator simply dropped straight down as if the hospital's foundations had disappeared and its cable had been cut, which for all they knew had been the case. Taken by surprise by the sudden drop, Head, Body, and Mokou fell over each other, and Head slammed her forehead against the wall, making her see stars.

For those of you who don't know, the "Taker" part of my screen name comes from my being a huge fan of professional wrestler the Undertaker. And you know what? I think it was well chosen, because I feel like the Undertaker sometimes, in that I regularly disappear without warning for several weeks/months, make a triumphant return in which I stir things up for a short while and make it look like I'll be sticking around this time, only to vanish again. But I had good reason this time. Er, not to say all the other times didn't have good reasons, but…anyway.

If you'll recall, at the end of the last chapter I said that in order for Imperfect Metamorphosis to continue, I needed to wrap up Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire. Like, immediately. But as I still had some work to do, I decided to get it all done in one go. At the time, I predicted it would take about two chapters to finish things up.

I was wrong. But then, I usually am.

So what was supposed to be two chapters ended up being five. So yeah, next time I make a prediction for how long something will take, just multiply it by three.

Roughly around the same time, I started coaching angel0wonder (the author of A Happy Dream, Resonance Days' sister fic) in how to write faster (yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Breathe in the irony). And to motivate her, I promised that if she finished her chapter by the end of that month, I would write a romance-themed RD spinoff. She kept her promise, so I kept mine. Unfortunately, there's been some kind of hold up with her beta-reader…to the tune of several months…so yeah, that's a thing. I don't know the full situation so I won't comment on it, but I really hope she gets it back soon, because I need my AHD fix, dammit!

But anyway, my end of the bargain ended up being three chapters long, which I wrote in concurrence with the remaining RoSD chapters. As such, I figured that since I'll have eight chapters worth of material, why not release it all over the space of a month? And just to remind the spinoffs who's boss, I decided to throw an IM and a RD chapter in there as well.

So yeah, that's ten story updates that'll be going up over the course of October, the full schedule of which is on my profile. The rest of RoSD is all done and ready to roll out, the RD chapter just needs to be edited, the RD spinoff (First Time) just needs a few finishing touches on the individual chapters, and while I haven't started the IM chapter yet, I'm going to make damned sure it's ready to go when it's time comes. As such, I hereby declare of October to be the Month of Taker! Yeah, I know it's narcissistic, but I'm releasing ten freaking chapters! I get to call it whatever I want!

Oh, and if you're wondering, yes First Time is going to be exactly what it sounds like. Full explanation will be posted when it goes up.

You also may notice a new link on my profile. Yup, I finally got with the times and started a Tumblr. It'll mainly be a place for me to babble about whatever I feel like, and that mainly will be story business: progress reports, commentary, reflections, that sort of thing. As such, after it gets rolling, I'm going to be posting most of my post-chapter thoughts there, and mainly leave the author's notes for current news. Those will be going up about a day after the chapter's been posted, and the added space will let me go into greater detail about the chapters in question. I'm thinking of eventually doing a look-back on IM and RD's older chapters, but that's something for the future. So yeah, feel free to drop by, ask questions, offer suggestions, or whatever you please.

But that's for the future. As for this chapter, you'll probably notice that it's…kinda short and not all that exciting, especially considering the long wait. Sorry about that. It was originally supposed to just be the opening scene for the next chapter, but that grew to become its own thing, and this one didn't really mesh well. So I beefed it up a bit and made it its own thing. In hindsight I should have just made it part of the last chapter, but what'cha gonna do? Next chapter should make up for it though.

But speaking of the last chapter, many of you noticed that I snuck in an Oktavia cameo (the mermaid with short, blue hair) from Resonance Days. It was intended to just be a short, cute thing for those who read both stories to giggle at, which is what happened. But then, a week later, the demo for DDC came out, which debuted a new character. Specifically, a mermaid with short, blue hair.

I'm a prophet! :D

As for DDC and HM and how they will or will not be worked into IM, I'll put that up on Tumblr later on today. Hey, I gotta keep some stuff exclusive to get you guys to follow.

Anyway, I think I've covered everything. As such, I hereby declare the Month of Taker to be officially open!

Until next time, everyone!