Darkness. That was all Rumia could see.
'Am I dead?' she thought to herself.
"You're not dead. Not yet." a voice responded, despite Rumia not saying anything. The voice was a hiss. It stung of hatred.
A ray of light, moonlight, shone down a distance from Rumia, illuminating a broken throne, and a figure chained to it by chains which looked damaged.
The figure was emicated, and had torn wings, made of black material. She wore black rags, and her eyes glowed red. Her blonde hair reached the floor, and was dirty.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked.
"It's not hard to figure out. You're the other me." Rumia responded.
The figure laughed, before she attempted to lunge at Rumia. She actually got somewhat close, and it as clear that only one damaged chain, around her left arm, was still binding her, and the chain looked like it would give at any moment. Remains of broken chains dragged from her other limbs, and her neck, reminding Rumia somewhat of the shackles the Oni wore. Except the chain links left were far longer.
"I'm not the 'other' you. I'm the 'real' you. The 'only' you." she said, stressing the words 'real' and 'only'. Her voice betrayed the fact that she had no hold on sanity, going from quiet to loud, and high to low.
"I think you'll find I'm me as well." Rumia said. "That makes you the other me, and me the other you."
"It dosen't matter. As you've been getting stronger, my power has been allowed out more and more. The seal has been weakening. And now, with the seal so weak and you on the brink of death, it will be mere seconds before I can break out of this wretched seal!" the 'Dark Rumia' hissed, pulling at the chain. Rumia could hear the metal creaking, and noticed one link was giving way.
"And what happens when you're out of the seal?" Rumia asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I'll give you cuddles and let you keep my body." the dark Rumia said, obviously laced with sarcasm.
Rumia sighed.
"You're gonna kill me and take over, aren't you."
"Of course I'll ****ing do that!" the evil Rumia swore. "Then I'll torture and kill your friends, and everyone else! And then I'll kill those fairies again and again and again until I find a way to make 'em stay dead!"
She yanked at the chain a few more times, before she suddenly became calm, and relaxed, and smirked.
"Actually, I won't kill you. Not yet. I'll beat you into submission, and leave you on the brink of death in the corner of my mind, so you have to watch me kill everyone you care about."
"I guess there's no way we can co-exist..." Rumia said.
"Even Yukari couldn't turn my evil into good. I'm pure evil, pure murder. I exist to kill! And one person above all else!" she hissed.
"Who's that? Who did Shinki make you to kill anyway?" Rumia said.
The other Rumia laughed. A maniacal cackle.
"I wasn't made by Shinki. I was made to KILL Shinki! It is my purpose, and I'll kill anyone else who crosses my path too!"
"Then... if you weren't created by Shinki, who did create you?!" Rumia said.
The other Rumia wiggled her finger.
"This isn't a history lesson, fake. Besides, you have something else to worry about..." she said, before she heaved with her left arm, and the chain snapped.
"SCREAM FOR ME!" she roared, rushed at Rumia, her long claws glimmering with Dark Energy.
She was fast, even though Rumia dodged, the claws rent into her side, before the Dark Energy erupted, sending the two flying backwards.
Rumia was in agony, and screamed. A huge section of her side was missing. The other Rumia's forearm was also missing, but regenerated almost instantly, as if the darkness became a new arm.
"What's wrong? I thought you could regenerate like I could... this won't be as fun if it's that easy..." the insane daemon said, walking towards Rumia, before she kicked her in the head.
'I've got to do something...' Rumia thought, as she feebly raised her arm, and grabbed the other Rumia's leg.
"Oh? You can still move, even with that damage?" she cooned, before forming a blade of dark energy in her right hand, and prepareing to swing it at Rumia's arm.
Rumia felt the surge of energy flow through the other her, and into her as well. After all, they were one and the same. She felt the pain go away, and saw her wound was gone.
"What?!" the other Rumia said, shocked.
"I'm you. You're me. Without the seal, what is there to stop me using your full powers as well?" Rumia said. "The flow of your energy, I felt it rush into me when I grabbed you."
The other Rumia just licked her lips.
"Well then, you may have my full powers, but not the knowledge to use them correctly." she said. "Nor the will to kill with them like I do!"
The other Rumia swung her blade down, chopping off Rumia's arm, which regenerated from the darkness almost instantly. The other Rumia continued to swing her dark energy sword, while making use of the chains as whips at the same time, so Rumia couldn't even get up, she just rolled to evade.
"It doesn't matter if you regenerate! If I strike a fatal blow you'll die anyway!" she said. "Should it be your heart? Your neck? Your brain? Decisions~"
'She fights like a wild animal...' Rumia thought to herself, before she had an idea.
When she was the other Rumia Regenerate, the darkness formed the new limb. So... if she wasn't in the darkness...
Rumia fell into the shadows, becoming one with them, and jumped up a short distance away, gathering Dark Energy.
"Dark Blast!" she cried, unleashing a torrent of Dark Energy spheres, which pushed the other Rumia back with a chain of explosions, but didn't do any real damage.
"Got some fight in ya' eh? Good, I'll kick it out of you along with your blood!" the dark Rumia said, diving into the shadows herself, and appearing behind Rumia, before wrapping a chain around her neck.
"I decided... I'll strangle you unconscious, tie you up, and then force you to watch me kill everyone else." she said, as Rumia felt herself going faint, as she reached for the chain with both arms, and pulled.
"It took me 100 years to break these chains... you're not breaking them in a few seconds..." the other Rumia taunted.
"I..." Rumia said weakly, before her hands glowed with Chi, and pulled the chain apart.
She gasped, and turned around.
"Have powers you don't have!"
She slammed her two fists into the other Rumia, winding her as she discharged the Chi for additional force, before she grabbed her rags, and swung her around.
"I gained power from others! Not just yours!" Rumia said, unleashing a barrage of Moonlight Rays, pushing the other Rumia into the throne, and the moonlight.
"My will is stronger than yours, since it carries all of my friends with it!" Rumia roared, flying towards the evil Rumia, glowing with both Chi and Dark Energy, with Danmaku forming around her as well.
"My will isn't just mine either!" the other Rumia spat, rising from the throne, and out of the moonlight, as a massive amount of dark mists flowed from her body. "I carry the will of my..."
She didn't get to finish her sentence, as Rumia slammed into her. The Dark Mists flowing from the other Rumia wrapped around, as if attempting to push Rumia away, but danmaku burst from her body, ripping through the dark tendrils with their light. Rumia's fist slammed into the other Rumia's face, the force strengthed by her Chi, and even moreso by the Dark Energy, and she channelled it all at the point of impact.
The other Rumia went flying like a ragdoll, into the throne, and slumped. She was stunned, and the chains locked her back on the throne.
"Don't think... this is over..." she hissed. "I'll get what is mine one day... one day, I'll be free..."
"I'll be even stronger then. I won because I was more than just what you were. I had everything I had been taught by my friends, something you wouldn't understand." Rumia said, as everything turned bright.
Marisa and Rumia had joined the fight, and at this point, Wriggle, Sunny, Luna, Star, Daiyousei and Mystia were just in the way, and had gone over to Rumia. She wasn't moving, and her ribbon had fallen off.
"She's not transformed..." Mystia said. "Her ribbon's fallen off, but nothing's happened..."
"She's bleeding so much from the back of the head..." Wriggle mentioned, her hands red.
"She can't be dead..." Daiyousei sniffed.
Suddenly, dark wisps flowed from Rumia, and surrounded her, pushing everyone else back, like a cocoon.
"Ah, she's changeing!" Mystia said.
"Usually it's instant... and the darkness vanishes after a second or so..." Wriggle commented. "This is taking longer..."
Ten seconds passed, before the darkness burst open.
Rumia stood there, no ribbon on her head. She looked like an adult, only a little shorter than Yukari.
Star tried to give her the ribbon, but Rumia pushed it away.
"I don't need it anymore. The seal broke. The other me tried to take over, but I beat her. I'm in control." Rumia said.
Rika crashed, Evil Eye Sigma having eaten one too many blasts, and sparking. The scientist looked at Rumia.
"Damnit! I thought I killed you, and now you're big again?!" Rika said.
"Don't worry Rika, I'm sure you'll grow from your half-pint status one day~" Rumia teased, smiling.
Rika pressed a button on Evil Eye Sigma, and it started to glow.
"I think I'll take you up on that." she said.
Author Notes: Don't worry, there's still more development for Rumia, even beyond the breaking of the seal. After all, there's still 4 and a half more arcs. And more questions remain unanswered...
Also this didn't turn out as long as I thought. Meh, I'm not great at writing long fight scenes.