Chapter 19: Linked Nodes
He felt as if he were back in the heart of the Abyss all over again, being torn and scratched at by the cacophony of sounds. Yet now he perceived them differently, the thousands of dead at once. Humans and Seruva souls alike, obliterated by the rage of Sujata Raka but unable to escape. Nothing remained but their tormented cries.
Shrieking for so long they'd lost all form.
They were everything and nothing.
They were the Noise, trying to draw everything into their abyss with them. They could never truly rest, going mad as they shrieked and cried from the endless torment.
He'd rendered his first judgement of the guilty and now he felt those souls drawn into that mass as well.
He heard the melody dancing in his ears, the melody that would draw everything into the Noise for eternity. Rendering all life into nothing.
And with every ounce of himself, he fought it, even as the Noise wore against him, constantly flooding his mind.
Sing the ballad. Summon the guardian. Render the final judgement.
He refused… how many innocents could be standing in its path? How many guilty? Surely he could sort through the innocent and the guilty on his own?
Arbiter. Perform the final judgment!
He watched as the wind blew his discarded jacket to him. He caught it and slipped it on. Something about this garment gave him comfort as he contemplated the steps he needed to take…
"Why hasn't he summoned Sujata Raka?!" Luka exclaimed as she watched Kaito hovering over them.
"… that's how hard he's fighting," Gakupo said, "This is Kaito fighting back. And this is what the Noise did to him… to try and force his hand."
Miku pulled up her sword. "Miku… he will most likely focus on you…" the warrior added, "If this is like… the Harbinger's experience… then it wants to break him. Your death would do that."
Luka felt unnerved at how Gakupo had begun to separate his actions under the influence of Noise from his own. While it was good that he wasn't blaming himself any longer, it still kept drawing him back even when he was free of the dissonance. If she freed Kaito and he sang the ballad of Sujata Hama again… perhaps she could free Gakupo of the Noise's guilt forever…
"Like HELL we're letting anything happen to Miku!" Len shouted, "We just gotta break that chip on the back of his neck and he'll be back to his old self, right?!"
"Yea! We're gonna save Kaito-niisan!" Rin cheered, "Right guys!?"
Kaito turned his head to the sky and Luka frowned as she saw it filling with black-winged creatures. "The CVs are being drawn by the dissonance…" Oliver explained, "Even our best units would get pulled in if there was enough Noise… hovering around the source like moths…"
The boy began to have another coughing fit. "Ollie!" Ann shouted.
"…Miku," Avanna spoke.
Miku turned her head back to look at the raven-haired priestess. "We'll create a barrier around this space, so they can't interfere with you rescuing the Spirit Caller."
Big Al flexed his arms. "That won't be enough…" he said, "What if they just punch their way through?"
He smirked at his partner. "Indeed… we'll hold back all those wacky birdies!" Sweet Ann said.
"NO! It's… suicide…" Oliver choked out, clutching at his chest.
As he doubled over, Cul ran forward and grabbed him. "I'll keep the child alive!" she said, "The rest of you, just create the shield! You two… you better know what you're doing!"
Seeing a victim of the Hearts trying to save one of the people responsible for their imprisonment gave Luka hope that perhaps their cherished wish of the Seruva and humanity reconciling was not impossible…
"I'm out of grenades…" Gumi said with great disappointment, "You guys… you gotta fix this. I'll record all of it."
She gave a broad thumbs up. "The world's gotta know who saved it, right?"
Before the dome closed around the Vocaloids, Big Al and Sweet Ann leapt into the sky at a group of approaching CVs.
Kaito watched the dome and his gaze shifted back to the Vocaloids. "Attempting to interfere with the Final Judgement results in immediate execution," he said.
Miku glanced at Gakupo, hoping the warrior had some kind of strategy. "Unfortunately, we need to get close to him and stab the circuit that should be behind his neck…"
"We have to get close to… that…"
Already she hated this plan. "You'll know it when you see it," Gakupo continued, "If I get there first, I'll take care of it. But the rest of you need to give me and Miku a path to… the Arbiter… so one of us can break the circuit."
"Then what?" Len asked nervously.
Gakupo smiled wryly. "We just have to hope Kaito can do the rest…" he said.
"Don't worry Gaku-niichan!" Rin said, pumping her fist, "Len and I can handle him! Sempai, you work on shielding Gaku-niichan and Miku, we'll handle all the attacks!"
"Excellent strategy, Rin," Luka said with a small smile.
Miku glanced up at the dome as she saw it crackling. Someone was assaulting it from the outside, just as Al and Ann had predicted. She cringed as she saw some familiar black-winged figures. Meiko's forces wanted Kaito too.
She'd made such an innocent promise that day in the hospital. "I'll always protect you!" That was just how she was, wasn't she? Not wanting to see other people hurt, wanting to prove that her miraculous survival on that horrible day meant something. Kaito meant so much more to her now than he had when he was a stranger in the park barely clinging to life.
She just wanted to set him free. So not another soul could hurt him.
Kaito raised his hands in the air as black balls of energy formed around him. He flung them outward from his body. "Here he comes!"
A pink shield formed in front of Gakupo and Miku as the spheres exploded on contact. Rin and Len darted around the shield, forming their yellow wings and taking flight. Bolts of lightning shot through the air towards Kaito. He zipped between them with blinding speed, but now his attention was on the twins.
The next wave of energy attacks flew straight towards Rin and Len. Miku gritted her teeth as she pressed forward with Gakupo, his sword at the ready, Kaito in her sights. At least he wasn't wearing his scarf… she'd be able to see what she needed to break…
Kaito suddenly swung around and hurled several black spears towards the sword-wielding duo. Gakupo leapt in front of Miku, twirling Miburi in front of him to knock each one of them away. "You're not getting me with that old lark again!" he laughed.
'Gakupo… you really do thrive on a battlefield…' Miku thought to herself. Apparently the end of the world was a blast for him.
"Harbinger…" Kaito whispered.
Gakupo's smile vanished almost instantly.
"You were to bring the end… you were to destroy this sinful city…"
"I am not the Harbinger," Gakupo said as he flew closer to Kaito.
"But you did allow these events to take place…" Kaito continued, "Ignorance is not a defense for your crimes."
"Gakupo, don't let him psyche you out!" Miku shouted to the purple haired warrior.
A smile returned for just a second. "If he's resorting to taunts, then clearly he's already frightened of me," Gakupo quipped.
He stayed ahead of Miku, his sword drawn and ready to strike. Kaito prepared another wave of spears when several yellow arrows of light fell in front of him. He seemed to recognize the need to fight more efficiently and formed a massive scythe out of pure darkness.
Miku jumped towards him, trying to control the shaking in her hands as Kaito swung his scythe towards her. As Kaito's blank eyes turned towards her, she felt a chill. "Human… your actions are inscrutable…"
Miku saw him clench a ball of energy tight in his hands. She held up her sword, expecting to take the brunt of it… when Kaito suddenly turned and slammed it into Gakupo at point blank range.
The Seruva went flying like a rocket, sliding on the sliding on the ground so hard he smashed the tiles on the floor of the exposed lab. "GAKUPO!" Luka shouted.
"GET AWAY FROM MIKU!" Len screamed.
Several bolts of lightning crashed towards Kaito. They tried to throw their shields up as Kaito flung several more explosive energy spheres. Miku took the momentary distraction as a chance to run towards Kaito again. Yet again, he effortlessly met her blade with his scythe. "You fight for Seruva and you fight for humanity… you fight purely and without regard for self…" he continued, "Your actions are inconsistent."
"I'm fighting to save you, Kaito!" Miku shouted, trying to parry as he took a few more swipes at her.
She heard a loud impact on the Seruva's dome around the building. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Big Al sliding down the dome. He merely laughed as he sprung away from it to deliver another series of blows to his attackers.
"You were concerned for him, your foe," Kaito spoke as he jumped towards Miku, forcing her to move back into a defensive stance. She was still looking for an opportunity to get behind him and break the circuit…
"They are self-made monsters," Kaito continued, "Yet you pity them."
"You would too," Miku said quietly, "Kaito… is so kind he can't hate anyone. Even the people who hurt him. He would be afraid for them too…"
She wished she could see any kind of reaction from the Arbiter's face, but he remained emotionless.
Her words kept trying to pierce his mind. He did feel sorry for them – broken and scrapped as he was, bent to a tool. Converted into weapons and discarded at a moment's notice.
All because those he judged as guilty feared him.
Sing the ballad and render the final judgement.
'I must understand her first,' he thought, 'If there is even one without sin… I must not render the end. I must bear witness.'
You cannot abstain, Arbiter.
'I am not abstaining!' he protested, 'I am taking her testimony!'
He swung his weapon at the pigtailed girl that tore at his heart. The dissonance, the chaos, it focused so heavily on her. It wanted to destroy her most of all.
He merely wanted to understand her.
The flow of Noise in his mind kept trying to overpower him, but he was the Arbiter. He had defined his role as an impartial overseer. He would not simply destroy because it asked him too.
Arbiter…
At once he was the person he was supposed to be and he was also the Noise. Two beings merged yet engaged in constant struggle against each other. He perceived the Noise as what it was, and what it needed him to do. Yet while he couldn't stop it from controlling him… he could shape how it expressed its will.
For he was the Arbiter of Noise.
"Human!" Kaito shouted, "Why do you struggle so for those who fear you? Why do you show mercy to those with wings?"
Was Kaito asking these questions? Was it the Noise? Was it the "Arbiter?" Fine, if he focused on her, perhaps it would give Luka time to get Gakupo standing again. Maybe even give him a chance to strike and break the circuit. He began a ferocious assault on Miku, forcing her back as she blocked each swipe of the scythe.
"Why do you not fear them, as they did?"
"I could never be afraid of you, Kaito," Miku said softly as she fought back, "You saved me. All my life… I chased after the boy with wings that spared my life. And… and I could never be afraid of someone with wings because of that. Because someone that selfless was someone I wanted to trust."
As another barrage of light arrows plunged towards Kaito, he tilted his head only slightly as he cried out a dissonant melody. A series of blades rocketed through the air, forcing the Kagamines to fly quickly to avoid them as they crashed against the inside walls of the battle dome. Miku rushed towards him, her sword outstretched, but Kaito no longer seemed interested in her as he lifted off, chasing the twins.
"Neither human nor Seruva…" He murmured, "Constructed only to kill. What do you fight for?"
"We… we're fighting for our friends!" Len said, though Miku heard the hesitation in his voice.
Rin apparently had no hesitation. "We make our own choices, and we're choosing to save you Kaito! And save everyone we love too!"
Kaito seemed to hesitate – where he seemed to have no qualms "judging" Gakupo, the twins seemed to give him some trouble. As he hovered in the air, Miku finally spied her true target. A raised piece of metal which seemed to be protecting a small chip on the back of Kaito's neck.
Reaching that would be another ordeal all together, as now Kaito was zipping around the dome doing battle with Rin and Len…
Could he truly judge pure innocents for their crimes? They'd been created to destroy, but they'd not chosen that path of their own will. Even now, they did not appear to have destruction on their minds.
They are guilty. They created you.
"Kaito-niisan, you have to fight back! You're so strong!"
He wasn't strong. He'd always been so weak. She'd always called him weak.
She was guilty. But she wasn't here. They were.
And they'd allowed him to become the Arbiter. Intent mattered not. If he judged the Harbinger, he could judge them as well.
He picked up speed, hurling a dark wave of power at them. He needed to break their synchronized harmony to render them useless.
He closed in and fired bolts from each of his hands. They connected with their targets – the pair fell from the sky, crashing into the ground and leaving indents from the force.
"RIN! LEN!" Miku shrieked.
She closed the distance between them, nervously watching the dome above her as she saw it growing weaker. She could still barely make out "Big Sweet" doing their best to protect it with their endless stamina, but their opponents seemed to only grow in number.
And she saw her.
Meiko.
Miku was running out of time – if Meiko got to Kaito, she couldn't predict what would happen next.
A pink arrow flew through the air, drawing Kaito's attention.
'Sempai!'
Luka just needed to get Kaito to stop focusing on the twins. Whatever had happened to him, he clearly intended to kill them. And as Gakupo had said, destroying any of them would likely destroy Kaito as well.
As his blank eyes settled on her, she steeled her bravery. "Gakupo…" she whispered.
"I… I'll take care of myself…" he said weakly. She heard his voice trying to sing the healing ballad.
Kaito hurled a wave of spears towards Luka. She projected a wide dome around her body. "Kaito! You are the Spirit Caller, the savior of our people! You can control this power!" she cried out.
He seemed to be appraising Luka before throwing another round of projectiles at her. She began to run, trying to keep the dome around her body to draw his projectiles away from Gakupo. She barely heard Rin and Len starting a healing ballad of their own as Miku stood over them.
Luka glanced into the pigtailed girl's eyes. She looked to Kaito, then back to Miku, hoping she'd get it. Miku nodded her understanding.
With that she began to run towards Kaito. "You never think anything through…" he murmured.
Luka's pace quickened as he flew towards her, his scythe drawn. He quickly impacted the barrier, cracking it so fast Luka couldn't safely detonate it. As one ferocious swipe after another flew her way, she started to sing her force melodies, wielding small bursts of wind with her arms to counter the blades.
"You set these events in motion by your failures," Kaito whispered.
So now it was her turn. She smiled wryly. "And what are my crimes?" Luka asked.
She heard several large cracking sounds and glanced up for just a second to see the dome the Seruva had constructed weakening. She spied, out of the corner of her eye, the sight of Meiko approaching Big Al and summoning a series of chains that wrapped around his limbs. She thought she heard fragments of him singing as Meiko tugged at the chains…
Luka tried to focus only on Kaito as she tried to ignore the horrible sight. She hoped Oliver hadn't seen it. She heard a woman's shriek a few moments later and suspected Ann had met a similar gruesome fate. The cracking of the dome signaled how little time they had.
"The Executioner would not exist had you not abandoned her to their mercy," Kaito continued.
Luka's blood froze. She'd never even thought of her role in what happened to Meiko. "I… I was trying to fulfill my duty and protect you…"
One of the slashes of the scythe came dangerously close to her chest, so close to where Gakupo had impaled her. "You failed to protect your charge… you failed to protect your mentor… you failed to protect your friends and you failed to protect the man you love…"
Now was not the time to linger on such thoughts. Right now, fighting the Arbiter was protecting the people she cared about. Because it was preventing him from hurting them.
She saw a movement close behind Kaito and stopped her assault of wind. She switched to a shield. He broke through it, as she expected. "I'll take your punishments, Kaito," Luka said, "If it means sparing others… then I'll gladly suffer it."
She stood still as the scythe came her way. But she had faith she was safe.
Kaito moved to bring his weapon down at her… but then stopped and shouted as he was stabbed in the back of the neck by Miku.
The Noise began draining from his perception. He fought to retrieve his identity, but it did not wish to give him up so easily. Even without the constant supply of Noise in his head, he still felt the connection he had to it.
Arbiter! Your role is in bringing the world's final judgement!
"I… I can't make choices like that! Innocent, guilty?! Would you doom everyone to have vengeance!?"
The scythe vanished from his hands as he tried to identify the melodies playing in his head. One of order, one of chaos. One of salvation, one of devastation.
Somewhere between was him.
Arbiter, you cannot abstain!
He couldn't forget the pain of being altered but he didn't want to take vengeance… but it wanted him to… against everything alive…
The multitudes screeched out for an end to their suffering and he finally understood. The end of all life, as they saw it, would destroy them as well. Ending their existence.
He wanted a way to free them and ferry them to the world beyond… but could he?
Kaito collapsed to his knees, clutching at his head and shouting to a voice she couldn't perceive. Miku knelt down in front of him. He looked like he was in so much pain…
"Sempai… you sure had a lot of faith he wouldn't hurt you…" Miku murmured.
Luka chuckled. "No, I knew he would try to hurt me," she said, "I simply had faith that you would stop him first."
She looked to Gakupo who was standing up as his ballad finished. "You preyed upon his need to render judgements on people to force him to lower his defenses?"
The Seruva warrior let out a laugh. "And you called him reckless?!"
Miku tenderly placed her arms around Kaito and drew his body closer to her. His hands fell to the side as he trembled. "I… I can't… choose…" he whispered, "I… I must pass a verdict but I… I…"
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Kaito," Miku whispered into his ear in her most soothing voice.
"Kaito!" Gakupo called out, "You had a different plan, remember? To summon Sujata Hama and end the Noise?"
Kaito twitched in Miku's arms, but said nothing. "Kaito-niisan!" Rin shouted as she seemed to recover next, "You're not just going to give up on Vocaloids, right?"
"Yea, Kaito!" Len piped in, "You're one of us, not some crazy Arbiter! We stick together to the end!"
Arbiter…
"I… I'm a Vocaloid…" he whispered.
He slowly raised his arms and embraced the woman he loved.
Miku.
Miku was human.
He would not destroy humans because Miku was human and he loved her.
He centered his thoughts around this concept, trying to ignore the songs and just focus on his feelings.
Miku… Miku drew him from the abyss. Miku saved him when he thought himself lost.
…and Kaito had saved Miku.
"M…Miku…" Kaito said as his voice shook, "I… I knew… you'd come…"
She tightened her grip on him, feeling the bumps along his spine where the Advanced CV equipment jutted out. "Kaito… don't worry… we'll find some way to get rid of all this… we'll fix you…"
The white marks faded from his body, his wings brightening to the purest white.
He was back. She hadn't lost him.
But before she could say anything else, the dome over the building shattered. Miku glanced up as Meiko's forces advanced on them.
In moments, Gakupo and the Kagamines were back in the air. Luka closed around Kaito, erecting a barrier to protect him. Miku didn't want to let him go… she didn't want to lose him… but she wanted to protect him…
"We need to get him to safety but…" Luka saw the same difficulty as Miku – there was no safety. Nowhere to retreat.
Black chains smashed into Luka's barrier, breaking it apart. Before Miku could react, the chains wrapped around Kaito and roughly ripped him out of her arms. "NO!" she screamed, leaping to her feet and grabbing her sword.
Meiko hovered a few feet over them, pulling Kaito close to her. In his weakened state, he couldn't fight her. "Let go of him!" Miku shouted in vain, but earthbound as she was, she couldn't reach her.
Luka tried to fire on Meiko, but she soon found herself overwhelmed by the attacking Seruva she'd brought with her as they recognized her as a threat.
The priestess touched a hand to Kaito's forehead and Miku could hear the horrible melody she sang. Black energy crackled around her fingers and Kaito cried out. "If you will not serve your purpose, Spirit Caller… than I will do your job for you," she said coldly, "Humanity will end tonight."
"M…Meiko…" Kaito protested, "The Noise… it doesn't care about humans or Seruva… it… it wants to destroy everything… you won't be able to stop it…"
The energy left her hands and Meiko simply dropped Kaito to the ground. Miku ran to his side as Meiko withdrew into the sky.
"Miku…" Kaito said, trying to stand again, "The melody… Meiko… stole my memories of the Hymn…"
"The… Hymn?" Miku asked in fear.
He stared towards her as Miku became aware of a chilling, dissonant song in her voice. Her body pulsed with black energy. "Sujata Raka..." Kaito explained, "She stole the power of Sujata Raka…"
As the ballad built, Meiko's heart briefly swelled with triumph. She had done what no other Spirit Caller had dared do. Call down their birthright and save their people forever.
And then she felt it – the unbelievable power of the Noise rushing through her body. Where it once flowed under her tight control, bubbling beneath the surface, her mind suddenly felt as though a damn had burst and with it came the clanging, screaming, distonal force to drown out everything she was.
Sujata Raka. The bringer of the End.
She was nothing before it as her body merged with the great power of the Noise. Its progenitor and its tool.
She was never free, she realized too late. She'd never broken her chains. She'd simply shackled herself to another keeper.
And now… it wanted to destroy everything.
He was right.
Nothing would survive.
Where Meiko once flew a blast of Dark Notes exploded out of the sky. Kaito clutched Miku close as he tried to focus on retaining the identity he'd fought for in the wake of the power pressing against them.
He recognized the melody from his visions. He turned his eyes to the sky and saw the enormous black bird in the sky.
As it shrieked out its distonal melody, it tore across the sky. He could actually sense where reality was ripped apart as a rift formed in the sky, drawing everything towards it.
The first wave of Dark Notes obliterated the possessed Seruva and CVs in seconds. Kaito felt it trying to pull him in, but he fell back on his vows that saved him only moments before. He tried desperately to recall the melody that would draw out Sujata Hama. He had to – otherwise they would all die.
"Blue! You better come up with something before she blows us up next!"
Gumi was crouching with the remaining Seruva, who huddled around Oliver. "Come on, go all giant bird on 'em!"
But the horrible sounds kept fighting him. He wasn't the Arbiter anymore – even the Noise found him weak and useless. As he stared at the form of the world's destructor soaring through the sky, he began to lose all hope.
"Kaito, can't you sing the ballad!? We need Sujata Hama!"
"Luka… I… I can't…" he said weakly, "To take that melody from me… she stole my memories of the other as well…"
Kaito had been given the means to save the world, and he'd instead become a conduit for ending it.
As the next wave of Sujata Raka's song burst past, Kaito watched as hundreds of Mirror's soldiers on the ground vanished, consumed by the Noise. His powers actually let him feel all of their souls twisting and joining with it.
"Not to forget the intangible feelings, I deleted the routine layout…"
Miku sang softly to herself. She'd picked the song she'd written. The song he'd inspired her to write. He suspected she was trying to calm herself down and keep her identity in the face of the Noise.
"Kaito… is there truly nothing left?" Gakupo asked.
Kaito tried to wrack his brain for some answer, some way to reawaken the melody in his heart. There had to be something he could do! Some way to summon his power, to use his spiritual connection, some way out! He couldn't let everyone die!
"Grasp the phrase I happened to be humming, spread secret words of the heart into the sky…"
The memories of the visions the Noise had shown him flashed through his head. When Sujata Hama and Sujata Raka first appeared, summoned by the Spirit Caller, Haku. He tried to think of the melody she sang, but the notes wouldn't come… he just couldn't work them out…
"I want to tell you, I want to give you…"
… but he did recall the other song she sang.
'All of the other Seruva sang with her, in perfect Harmony…'
Not a ballad with any magic in it. Just a children's song. In the chaos of reliving the past, the torture he'd endured from the Hearts, and the madness of becoming the Arbiter, he hadn't had time to process why the first Spirit Caller chose to have every Seruva close to her sing a song with no magic…
"Nodes of feelings form a link, echoing to the faraway distance…"
'… because every one of them would know it!'
Kaito rose to his feet and turned to the others. "Everyone! Sing with Miku! Sing the song she wrote!"
Miku stopped right there. "Wait, WHAT?!" she exclaimed.
Kaito placed his hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "I can't sing my ballad but… we all know your song, right? It was our song. The Vocaloids song."
He felt a flower of hope budding in his heart. "Kaito-niisan… are you sure this will work?" Rin asked.
He surveyed his friends, all bearing the wounds and marks of battle. Some of them he'd inflicted himself as the Arbiter. Others inflicted by their own attempts to rescue him.
"Awwww, come on!" Gumi shouted, "It's totally one of those crazy ideas you guys get where you don't have a plan and just wing the hell out of it! Of COURSE it's gonna work!"
Miku placed a hand over her chest. "It's not like we have anything else, is there?" she asked, "At least… at least we tried, right?"
She took a deep breath and tried to pick up where she left off.
"Words I want to tell you, sounds I want to give you…"
Kaito joined her on the next line. "Links of feelings form a world, connect everything, connecting to everywhere…"
"The pure white light feels like you…" "The voice flows through my hand held against the light…"
Luka and Gakupo came in next.
On the rhythm my fingertips suddenly make, Spread all words of the heart into the sky!"
Rin and Len completed the group. All six Vocaloids singing at once.
Miku tried to keep her voice steady as she heard Sujata Raka screeching. She looked towards the open rift and to her horror a black, shadowy form began to emerge from within. Like a foggy, liquid creature reaching out and spreading even more Dark Notes with its presence.
'Is this… is this the true form of the Noise!?'
But she kept up her song, the one that she'd put all of her heart and skill into. The one that linked her to her friends, that represented all the feelings she had towards the bonds they'd shared. Six people, so different and yet so similar. Some human. Some not. But all united by a common goal.
"I had been playing the tune without a doubt about the rhythm of my days!"
As their voices began to blend together, Miku felt an odd sensation – as though her heart beat with another.
"I had thought the coming of mornings is a given..."
And another… as though not just their voices were blending, but their souls.
"The sounds I believe in even for a second, shift my sceneries…"
With every heartbeat, Kaito felt the strength and energy of the people he cherished, all focused on just one goal. Saving the world they loved. Stopping the Noise from tearing it apart. As he watched the very entity that nearly consumed him, he felt defiant.
Gakupo's strength.
Luka's will.
Rin's cheer.
Len's courage.
Miku's determination.
And he finally felt it – the power welling up inside of him. As the lyrics of Miku's song left his lips, his second voice began a familiar melody. The one that would save them all.
"Tell your world!"
The ballad surrounded him, the familiar sensation of unfathomable energy surrounding him. A brilliant white light shone as he became aware of the power of creation using him as a conduit. But he made a choice this time – he remembered how difficult it was to control so much of it for himself, and for Haku as well. He couldn't risk being overtaken by Sujata Raka.
As he felt his body drawn into the light, he reached for the spirits of those who sang with him and drew them in as well…
Gumi held her phone steady, trying to record everything. Which might have seemed pointless if the world was about to end… but if it didn't, she'd be the one to have the exclusive on how it was saved, right!?
As white light surrounded Kaito, she knew something big was going to happen. Which she hoped would be soon because that big ugly blobby thing was getting closer and closer. 'Leave it to Blue to tick off something like that!'
But the light began to spread around him. A beam shot around him, hitting Miku, then Luka, then Gakupo, then Rin, and finally Len.
And suddenly none of them were there anymore. A massive pulsing ball of light shot into the sky, shining with a multitude of colors – blue, green, pink, purple, and yellow. Finally it took shape into a massive white bird with a long feathered crest upon its head consisting of feathers colored with those same shades. All that remained where they stood was a pile of metallic CV attachments.
"Sujata… Hama…"
Gumi turned to Avanna, who looked upward with tears in her eyes. "Sujata Hama has come to save us again…"
Gumi ran across the ruined lab, trying to keep the bird in sight as it flapped it's enormous wings. It had to be seven stories tall, and it showed no signs of fear.
As it flew towards the gigantic rift and the entity within, the emerald-haired blogger watched as a streak of black shot towards Sujata Hama. "Oh crap, it's that black one! Uh… Sujata Raka, right!"
Its horrible melody created a black laser from its beak, firing upon the white guardian with such strength Gumi was push back from the shockwave. Sujata Hama took the blow, tumbling through the sky. "Oh come on you guys! You can do better than that!"
The white bird recovered, flying further skyward with Sujata Raka in hot pursuit. As it did so Gumi became aware of a beautiful melody, filling her with a sensation of utmost tranquility and peace. Finally it turned to face Sujata Raka, releasing several white balls of energy in its direction. Sujata Raka found itself knocked back, plunging towards the ground. As it seemed to recover Sujata Hama hovered in the sky watching it.
"It's like… it doesn't want to fight…" Gumi murmured.
It knew she was an innocent. Driven to madness by those who tried to abuse the power of Noise.
It didn't want to kill her. It wanted to release her.
It turned its attention to the Noise itself and it could hear the voices crying out to it.
You cannot end this!
It didn't hesitate as it flapped its wings towards the Noise entity. The being tried to retreat into the rift, preventing it from being destroyed.
'No! If it does that… we're going to lose our chance!'
When a black laser struck the Noise entity, the creature let out a cry like the sound of broken, screeching static. Sujata Raka clutched at it with its claws, trying to keep it in place.
'Meiko… you're going to get hurt too if we destroy it now!'
Sujata Raka turned to face its counterpart, as if goading it to attack. It was now… or never.
The melody rose within its throat, a purifying light forming into a massive ball. With one flap of its wings, the multi-colored ball shot towards the Noise entity, engulfing it entirely.
Gumi tried to cover her ears to block out the horrible sounds reverberating around her, but she dared not lower her camera at the most important moment of her career! She kept her eyes on the prize as light began to blast out of the entity, blowing holes throughout its massive form.
Soon it was engulfed entirely in that light, which began to shine from the rift. Slowly Gumi became aware that the dissonance she'd been hearing was fading as the creature began to break apart, disintegrating as the pieces fell…
Finally a massive explosion filled the sky, blocking her view of the action… but when it was over, she saw nothing. "Oh crap! Mystery Squad, where did they go!?"
She saw no signs of any of the battlers… but the rift in the morning sky was closed.
"…what is the meaning of this!? How did I get up here?"
Gumi slowly turned to see she and Seruva companions were no longer alone. A confused squad of Mirror shock troops were returning to consciousness… and she immediately recognized four of the people that had just appeared in front of her.
Leon and Lola Heart… and Flower and Mayu.
"Blue… you did it… you really did it…" Gumi whispered.
She turned her phone off and motioned to the other Seruva. "Hey! You wanna know who was responsible for all this crap!?"
She pointed to the quartet of executives and their staff. A large smile crossed her face as a look of horror appeared on the faces of the Hearts. "These are the bums who started everything! Don't let em' get away!"
Before a single weapon could be drawn, Avanna and Cul released a powerful force melody to separate the troops from their weaponry. Another group of them quickly surrounded the unarmed civilians. "Hang onto em'!" Gumi ordered, "I've gotta find Mystery Squad! But those guys… they're in a heap of trouble after all the dirt I got."
"You can't do this!" Lola protested.
Gumi clicked her tongue. "That's what you get for becoming a devious foe of TRUTH!"
The first words Miku heard as she returned to consciousness came from Len, who seemed to sum up the feelings of the rest of the group.
"…did we just turn into a giant bird and then back again?"
She opened her eyes to see the morning sunrise in a clear sky. She sat up and slowly recognized her location.
Shirasagi Park. The Vocaloid practice grounds.
The events she'd experienced still felt fuzzy around the edges. She'd remembered being drawn into the power of Kaito's ballad, then being one with the others. Of commanding all the powers of creation. Fighting the Noise and the Sujata Raka and…
She held her head as she still felt woozy. Was this what it felt like for Kaito when he saved her?
"AH! Len, Len!"
Miku looked to Rin who was happily patting the back of her neck. "Len, that stuff Flower installed! It's gone!"
Finally she saw Len, who placed a hand to the back of his neck and let out a cheer. "All right! We're finally free!"
She searched the park until she finally saw Kaito, lying motionless a few feet from her. Miku crawled across the ground to his side. All the horrible attachments were gone, not leaving so much as a scratch on his body where they were once grafted to his skin.
He was still breathing… he must have just been exhausted. Miku lightly touched his shoulder and gently rocked him.
Slowly his blue eyes opened again. As he settled on Miku's face, he gave her a broad smile. "Miku… you're okay…"
She laughed and ruffled his hair. "That crazy plan of yours worked!" Miku said, "We beat the Noise!"
Kaito sat up, brushing himself off. Free of the equipment, he looked the picture of health as he flapped his wings. "S….Sempai!"
Miku and Kaito turned to face Rin, then looking at where she was pointing to see Luka. She was standing stone still, tears running down her face. "Luka…" Gakupo whispered, approaching her tenderly.
Upon Luka's back were a pair of large white wings, shimmering in the morning sun as a few stray feathers tumbled around her body.
As everyone took a few moments to comprehend what had happened, Kaito finally broke the silence. "Luka… try them out. Just a short flight. You won't believe how wonderful it feels."
She nodded her head, not speaking. Her wings spread behind her, hesitantly at first – as if she'd almost forgotten how to use them.
And then Luka lifted into the sky. Her flight path started out unsteady as she circled over her friends, but she seemed to gain confidence as took a wider path around the park. She began to laugh as she released the years of suffering bound to the earth flew behind her. She finally alighted close to Gakupo, still crying but with a smile as radiant as the sun beneath her tears.
"Well! I guess I won't get to be your wings any longer!" Gakupo quipped.
She laughed and gave the Seruva warrior a large hug. "I… I think I'll need to build up my wing strength again…"
She tapped him on the cheek. "Of course I don't know if my bed is big enough for two sets of Seruva wings…"
Gakupo's voice grew lusty. "There's only one way to test that…"
Miku coughed to remind them where they were. Luka wiped the tears from her face, though clearly the sudden emotional rush affected her deeply.
"Meiko!"
She spun on her heel in fright when she heard Kaito say the name of the priestess. Miku reached for her sword out of habit… but stopped when she watched Kaito running towards a familiar brunette woman lying on the ground.
Miku followed him as he knelt down at Meiko's side. She appeared pale, her breathing shallow. "K…Kaito…" she said slowly.
"Meiko… I'll heal you… don't worry…"
For the first time, Miku saw the priestess give him a genuine smile. "The dissonance… it's gone… you did it…"
Miku could barely hear Kaito's voice as he tried to sing the healing ballad for his fallen former foe. After a few moments though, her condition didn't improve. "Meiko, why isn't it working?" Kaito asked, his voice filling with fear.
Miku tried to think of the fight with Sujata Raka… she remembered sensing Kaito's fear that attacking the entity with her holding it could harm her… she herself had become a being of Noise because of what the Elders had done to her…
"I'm so sorry…" Kaito said, clearly coming to the same conclusion.
Meiko raised her hand up to Kaito's face. "I've no regrets… for the first time in so long, my mind is finally free… my heart is at peace…"
She began to glow with a familiar light that Miku recognized always appeared when a Herald died in the past. "Kaito… the last and strongest Spirit Caller of all… they'll sing your praises for centuries…"
Kaito held Meiko's hand tightly. "I won't let them forget you either…" he said.
"Yes… they should remember the Daughter of Noise that nearly doomed the world…"
"No!"
Kaito's outburst startled the dying priestess.
"I… I'll make sure they know what happened to you… and that you sacrificed yourself to stop the Noise forever… I'll make sure nothing like this ever happens again!"
As the light began to consume her, Meiko chuckled. "If anyone can fix things… it's you, Kaito."
In seconds, Meiko's body dissolved into nothingness, not even leaving a single feather in her wake. Miku tried to come up with something to comfort Kaito when she twitched on hearing the familiar sound of a scooter. And this time… a helicopter propeller?
She looked into the sky and saw a news chopper hovering above them. A news van streaked through the streets. Before any of the reporters could say anything to her… Gumi blew past them on her scooter and hopped off, spreading out her arms wide.
"Back off you clowns! This story is ALL MINE! I got the exclusive!"
A/N:
And there you have it. The penultimate chapter, and everyone's okay at the finale. Well I guess except for Meiko, Big Al, and Sweet Ann.
I always knew how this series would end, and I chose Miku's song that she would write with that in mind. I had a few candidates, but "Tell Your World" kept coming to mind since it's a song about the ways that people connect even without meeting. The theme of connecting was really important to the ending, so I stuck with it. Another factor was that most Vocaloids have covered it at some point! Though I can't find a decent Gakupo solo cover :P
So more bad news – Chapter 20 is going to be one more week out. I just haven't had time to finish writing it. My current job ends on July 7th, and I've been pulling massive overtime as well as using my spare time to take employment tests for future employers. However, after the 7th, obviously my time will free up :P I really appreciate everyone's patience in me having to take these unplanned weeks off. Your support throughout this project (and it's been a HUGE undertaking!) has kept me going even through the rough spots. So if you're American like me, enjoy your July 4th weekend and celebrate our country's freedom by blowing up a small piece of it. Come back for the final chapter, which will be completed in a post-employment drunken haze I assume.