1.19
James was halfway across the South Street Bridge when his phone rang for the second time. The phone lay on the floor of the passenger's seat, well out of reach.
Decisions, decisions.
Brauer might be calling back with an update. If he was lucky, it'd be Taylor. Or would it be Runechild? Would Taylor find it awkward to use a phone? James still wasn't sure exactly how the girl's power worked, but it seemed like she'd have to outsource any phone conversations to that… thing of hers. The specter. Michael or whatever.
Frankly, James wasn't keen on hearing Michael's eerie choral voice over the phone. On the other hand, Taylor might need him to pick her up. He'd be able to get things back on track with no more nonsense about Runechild's fucking sister.
The phone rang again. James sighed.
He jerked the wheel to the side, veering into the opposite lane for a moment. The phone slid across the rubberized floor mats, still ringing. James fumbled for it; one hand on the wheel and one eye on the road.
After a few tense grabs, his fingers closed around the phone and he smiled triumphantly, inordinately proud for such a stupid thing.
"Hello?"
"Krieg."
The voice on the other end of the line was female, heavily accented and unfamiliar. She sounded… Chinese, maybe? Definitely foreign though. Meaning that a stranger had his number and knew his cape name. More than enough red flags for him to hang up.
James tried to sound politely embarrassed.
"Ah sorry, I think you've got the wrong number. There's definitely no one by that name here."
There was a pause, and then some muffled noises that sounded like someone talking in the background.
Curiosity over who had his phone number only went so far. He'd give it another minute and then he was hanging up.
The road hooked right onto North Harbor. He'd go a couple blocks west, change to the left lane, and then on to the storehouse. If Brauer was still there, James was going to beat the man three shades of blue for wasting his time.
'Someone killed the whole storehouse.' Right. Not only was that not the ABB's style, but the ABB hadn't even made their move yet. He knew for certain they were going to come to blows over the territory the Merchants had vacated, but not yet, and not like this.
No, more likely that Brauer had gotten wasted and imagined the whole thing.
James worked the horn as someone cut him off. He considered blowing out the other car's tires with his power, but decided against it. Trish had been after him to keep his blood pressure down lately. Power-assisted road rage would only exacerbate it. He satisfied himself with a long stream of four-letter words.
"Krieg." The woman's voice returned to his ear. "I've got someone here who assures me that you are Krieg. Would you like to speak to them?"
James rolled his eyes. What kind of call was this? If it was some kind of threat, it needed work. He'd spoken to more frightening telemarketers.
"Go ahead." He said magnanimously.
There was another pause, and then…
"Hello?! Uncle? UNCLE?!" A girl's voice pierced into his ear; made shrill and raw with terror.
James hit the brakes so hard that he left a black streak in the road. Traffic flowed around him, honking loudly, but he barely heard.
Amanda.
They had Amanda.
She was sobbing.
"Uncle, oh- oh God, p-please, you've got to come. She's- oh God, everyone's dead. You've g-got to-"
Amanda's voice cut off as the stranger pulled the phone away from her.
"Krieg." The stranger said. "I'm calling each member of the Empire. Rune seemed to think you'd know, so I called you first."
He had to think. Where was Amanda at today? She was doing guard duty somewhere, he knew. Another one of the storehouses.
"I'm listening." He rasped.
"I want Valkyrie, Krieg."
He couldn't tell her. He wasn't supposed to know Valkyrie. But Amanda- he had to- but if he did, and Kaiser found out- but- God dammit- he had to!
Finally, he managed a single, strangled, "yes."
"So you do know her." The voice sounded slightly less stoic. A hint of… was that joy?
"I want you to send her over to the Empire storehouse on Oakhill lane. Tell her Black Kaze is waiting."
"And if I don't?"
"That's your choice to make, Krieg. Just like I'll let you choose for Rune: left or right."
"Left or right what?" He said, grinding his teeth now.
"Everything, Krieg. Left or right everything." Black Kaze paused. "You shouldn't keep me waiting."
Amanda's voice hit him like a punch in the chest.
"No no no no- oh God no not that- don't- UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE-"
She was still screaming when the line went dead.
James sat there; staring numbly out the windshield for almost two minutes before another driver nearly rear-ended his car. Mechanically, he started driving again. He took the first right turn, drove until he found an empty lot, and then pulled in.
He popped the trunk and dug into the contents. Roadmaps, blankets, and the folding chairs he and Trish used at Mark's soccer games hit the ground around him. And there, in the bottom, in a gym bag beneath his spare tire, he found what he wanted.
The bag's contents were musty; rarely used.
His spare costume.
James pulled on his coat, leaving the mask and cap for later. They were too obvious for just driving around. The sense of clarity that settled over him as he settled the coat on his shoulders was palpable. He didn't just feel safer; he felt more together. Focused. Ready.
Krieg got back in the car. Gravel sprayed behind him as he pulled out. He drove one-handed, dialing with the other.
If Black Kaze wanted a war, she'd get a war.
She'd get the whole fucking Empire.
We crossed the city in bursts, sticking to the rooftops. There was something mind-boggling about being able to cross whole blocks in a matter of moments.
It was a big change from what I was used to. With Runechild, teleporting was a rapid-fire slideshow. She was so fast that the scenery was barely a blur before the next jump. Oni Lee was slower, more deliberate.
I couldn't say whether he was actually slower than Runechild was, or if it was just a consequence of the way his power worked. He had to stop and look for his next destination before he teleported. We'd teleport, Oni Lee would drag me along by the sleeve for a few feet, and then we'd teleport again.
The only constant as we jumped was the rush of air. The wind across the rooftops whipped my costume about wildly. If I concentrated, I could actually feel it move through me. It was an eerie sensation, feeling every shift in air pressure as it passed through the gaps in my costume. You shouldn't be able to feel wind on the inside of your skin.
I tried not to concentrate on that too much.
Oni Lee didn't say anything as we traveled, and I said nothing back. He was cut from the same cloth as Black Kaze. Just being near him made me nervous. He couldn't teleport more than one person, so I didn't have any ghosts to back me up. And even if he couldn't stab me, I wasn't keen to find out what would happen if he teleported me off a skyscraper.
My only real contingency against that was the stack of runecards I had in my free hand. Every time we teleported, I dropped a card on the ground. If Lee tried anything funny, Runechild would be able to pull me out instantly. And if nothing happened, we'd still have a nice little line of runecards for future use.
On my left was the Protectorate base behind its shimmering shield. It was visible from nearly any rooftop in the city, and I used it to orient myself as we went.
From the top of an insurance building to the broad roof on an apartment complex. From there, a sloped church steeple. We slid alarmingly on the grade, and I nearly called Runechild before Lee moved us onward.
Church to office, office to Brockton Bay Memorial. Pigeons scattered as we strode across the helicopter pad. A few hospital staff were smoking below us on a subroof. Lee jerked my arm as I lagged behind, but I pulled away, looking at them.
That subroof was the hospital wing where Dad was. Guilt surged like bile as I realized that he'd been in the hospital for over a week now. I needed to get a hold of Panacea. She'd had plenty of time to make her choice. Letting Dad waste away down there; stuck full of wires and tubes… No. No, I wasn't going to let that happen. Panacea would come round.
I let Oni Lee take my sleeve again. From hospital to office, office to office to office. The streets stretched out below us in a busy web, thrumming with daytime activity. We were separate from all the hustle and bustle; two shades passing through a sea of air conditioners and water towers.
I wasn't sure how long it took us to cross the city. Things faded away into a rhythm of teleports, and I devoted most of my attention to watching Oni Lee. My already healthy sense of paranoia wore thin the longer I spent around him. Our jumps got faster as the buildings thinned out, turning into houses and small apartments. We could cover an entire neighborhood in moments.
Oni Lee gave no warning that we'd arrived. There was only a jump to a sunken, rotting rooftop, and then he stopped. There was nowhere left to go. We'd run out of houses.
From my vantage point, I looked down at the expanse. There was only one house on the entire block; dead center. The rest looked to have been abandoned and then torn down. Nature had reclaimed the empty lots and turned the former suburban neighborhood into a sea of tall grass. The waist-high, yellow stalks shifted in the breeze, rustling faintly. Here and there, the field was broken by a tree or remnant; old fence posts, mailboxes, even an oddly surreal basketball hoop, rusting away.
The solitary house was a forlorn, turn-of-the-century Victorian; a remnant of better days. Its windows were dirty, and the cars in the driveway ill-maintained. The ominous feeling it gave off didn't matter so much at the moment.
What mattered was the song. It had grown steadily as we got closer; from a whisper on the wind to something almost symphonic. Wordless, endless, like a chorus of voices raised in wonder. It echoed out of a gaping hole in the wall of the house's second floor, spreading across the field.
I felt it. Like I felt nothing else. As though I was alive again, and the song was wending its way through me like blood. It was hope and joy made into music, undercut with a sweet-edged desire. Deeper than intimate; settling over me in burning spirals that brushed my lips and then settled at the base of my spine.
The sheer want that rose in me was almost painful. The want to live- the want to help- the want to be. I heard and I wanted because I knew what the song was telling me. Completing contracts wasn't going to be some empty quest.
This was my salvation, my hope.
Just as my other ghosts were.
"Valkyrie?"
I jerked back to attention. Oni Lee was looking at me, his head cocked.
Stupid. Stupid of me to get distracted. A supervillain had me by the arm, and I was soliloquizing about ghosts and-
With a roar, every window on the ground floor of the house exploded outward at once. Shards of glass showered across the field like crystal rain. A few errant slivers whizzed by us; one even slicing a tear through my arm wrap. The sound of the blast echoed back at us like distant thunder.
I didn't need Oni Lee's look of confirmation to tell me where Black Kaze was. I nodded to him, he caught my sleeve again and we moved. He teleported us not to the house, but into the grass. We were still a good ten yards away from the house. I turned to ask him why, but he crumbled into ash. I stared as the little pile of ash blew away in the wind; Oni Lee nowhere in sight.
He'd ditched me.
Fucking Oni Lee. Allfather and I were going to have words with him later. In the meantime, there was a slight chance I'd just gone head first into a trap.
With a sigh, I waded through the grass toward the house. The stalks prickled and caught at my costume, and when I went to pull free, I noticed that there were little spots of red on the grass.
It smeared across my glove as I touched it.
Blood.
There was blood in the grass.
A few feet later, I came upon a matted patch, with a bent trail marking a path from the house. Blood painted the grass in glistening swathes, and the ground was muddied where it had soaked in.
That was a lot of blood. But there was no body. As I looked closer, I could see red smeared along the path leading to the house.
I stepped carefully around the bloody path and continued on to the house.
The stairs of the front porch creaked under my weight, and broken glass shattered with each step. The porch was packed with old, overflowing trash bags, with only a narrow path between them to the door. I skirted the trash as best I could. Too many bad memories about garbage.
The screen door dangled off the wall on broken hinges, and the front door was ajar. I reached for it slowly and pushed it open.
It opened on an empty foyer, and more blood. The floor was tiled in black and white, with a long, vivid red streak of blood slashing across the neat squares. Rivulets traced along the cracks in the tile and pooled in the depressions caused by years of traffic. Spots of it had lain long enough to dull into rusty streaks. Flies were already gathering; their manic buzzing the only sound in the house.
A staircase ran up the left side of the room. There was more blood staining the risers.
I shut the door.
"Fuck this."
There was no way in hell I was going in there alone. With a thought, Allfather and Runechild flickered into being at my sides.
"You okay?" Runechild asked.
It was nice of her to worry, but she was just as freaked out as I was. The line of freckles across her nose stood out in stark contrast to her pale, nervous face.
"I'll be okay." I said weakly. "Allfather, you want to go in first?"
Allfather nodded his assent and drew his sword. He pressed a hand to the door, but then hesitated, looking down at Runechild.
"Maybe you should stay outside." He said.
"Because I'm too Asian to come into your Empire clubhouse?" She shot back.
"Because you're twelve."
Runechild's mouth twisted bitterly. "I've seen my sister's work before. I'm coming in."
They both looked to me then. What, was I supposed to decide?
I sighed. "Runechild comes. We're here because of her, after all." I dropped one of the cards she'd given me onto the porch. "If anything happens, I'm trusting you to get us out, okay?"
Runechild nodded to me, still looking a little green. She had another stack of runecards in one hand, held so tightly that the papers were crumpling.
Allfather drew back his foot and kicked the front door off its hinges. The door bounced across the foyer and came to rest across the blood smear.
We filed in, Allfather leading the way. He was covering me, and I was covering Runechild. Covering her lost some of its meaning because she was a ghost, but I wasn't letting anything happen to her on my watch. She had too many bad memories already, and we were walking into a slaughterhouse.
"Upstairs, I think." Allfather mused.
"Should we split up to search?" Runechild said. "There might be survivors."
Despite the veritable waterfall of blood staining the steps, I wanted to go upstairs with Allfather. The song originated up there. But I also had a strong sense of how these things worked. The ghost wasn't going anywhere, and as much as I wanted to rush, rushing was a really, really stupid idea.
"Let's search together." I said. "If we split up, things are going to go all horror movie on us."
Runechild paled visibly. "Y-yeah, I think you're right."
Allfather readied his sword, and we congregated around the set of pocket doors on the right side of the foyer. Another hallway led back into the house, but the doors were closest. One of the doors was lopsided; hanging crookedly out of the wall.
Allfather pushed the undamaged door open, his sword at the ready. He stepped in first, motioning us to stay back. Runechild and I stood tensely, waiting for the all-clear.
It didn't come.
"Krieg!" Allfather's shout tore through the house.
Runechild and I bolted through the door. We entered a dining room in disarray. The long table was split in two; caved in where the chandelier had fallen on it. The floor glittered with hundreds of glass shards from when the windows had exploded earlier. Dusty curtains rippled in the spare breeze; every one shredded to bits by the glass.
And there, on a pile of shattered furniture at the other end of the room, was Krieg.
I stared in disbelief for a moment.
The Nazi cape looked far different than he had the last time I'd seen him. Now he was in costume; a heavy black greatcoat, a peaked cap emblazoned with a death's head, and a half-skull mask. One side of his mask was cracked, and dust and dirt had been ground into his costume, turning the dark material an ugly brown-gray.
"Allfather… Valkyrie." Krieg's voice was thick; drawn taut and hoarse with pain.
Allfather moved faster than I'd thought possible. He was at Krieg's side in seconds, clutching at the other man. I ran to them, slipping slightly on the blood-slicked tile. I knelt down beside the two men, Runechild close behind me. My hands had already started shaking, but I pushed on.
"What are you doing here?" Allfather said.
"Had… to." Krieg gasped. A bubble of blood bloomed at the corner of his mouth, and he spat before continuing. "Black Kaze… here. She… has Amanda. Had… to."
"Where are you hurt?" Allfather cut in.
Krieg laughed wetly. "Damn near everywhere."
Allfather pulled his hand back; the palm of his glove was slick with blood.
"Shit! What were you thinking? How long were you like this?" Allfather yelled.
"Lost track of… time. Not… too long. We… fought." Krieg's hand drifted up to indicate the wrecked room. "She's… too fast. Got hit… she left… left me for dead."
I could see now that the side of Krieg's coat was soaked through; glistening wetly. Allfather slipped his hand beneath the coat, probing for injuries. Beneath his coat, Krieg wore the same white button-down he had when I last saw him. It was stained a horrible, bright, arterial red now.
"Here." Allfather said, pointing with his free hand to a spot just below Krieg's ribcage. "You two- find something- a medical kit- anything to stop the bleeding or put on the wound."
I stared down at them, transfixed by Krieg's shirt.
Bright, arterial red.
No pressure.
It was only a man's life in my hands, and I had no medical training and no idea and holy crap there was blood everywhere. On the floor, on the walls, on Allfather's hands. The whole house stank of copper and garbage.
It smelled like the locker.
Krieg was going to die, and I had no idea what to do, and… frankly, I didn't want another Nazi ghost. One racist asshole was enough, and Krieg lacked Allfather's charm.
And that was what clinched it. It was stupid, but it snapped me out of my little freak out.
One step at a time.
Something to stop the bleeding.
Curtains, bandages, cloth, rags… Cloth!
I ripped off my cloak, laying it out flat in a clear space of floor.
"Hurry." Allfather interjected.
"I know!" I snapped.
"W-what should I do?" Runechild said squeakily. She was hovering; her hands over her mouth.
"Medical supplies." Allfather muttered distractedly.
"Where?!"
I pointed down a long hallway. "Try the bathroom or the kitchen. In my house we kept them under the sink." I eyed my cloak. I could start cutting apart the rest of costume if I needed to, but… "Bring back clean towels and dishrags if you can find them."
"Gotcha!" Runechild called over her shoulder; already running down the hall. She vanished through a door at the far end. Shit. I should have gotten her cloak too. I'd have to replenish her shard if I did, but not until later.
My hand shook badly as I drew my knife, enough that I had to steady my cutting hand with my free one. Thankfully, the blade was sharp, and I had no trouble cutting through the cape.
Krieg moaned with pain.
I finished the first strip with such force that my knife gouged into the floor.
"Here!" I shoved the strip into Allfather's hands. Buttons flew as Allfather tore Krieg's shirt open. He wadded up the makeshift bandage and pressed it against Krieg's side.
"Krieg," Allfather said gently. "I need you to put pressure on this."
"…yes." Krieg gurgled.
He fumbled blindly before Allfather directed him; holding Krieg's hand over the bandage. Allfather didn't release his hand though. Krieg was too weak to hold the bandage down.
I made another strip bandage; this one crooked where I'd fumbled the knife. It joined its fellow on Krieg's wound; turning red with frightening rapidity.
"Christ, James. Why did you come alone?!" Allfather said hoarsely.
He hadn't stopped looking for wounds. Twice more he pointed to a gash, and twice more I soaked my hands trying to staunch the flow.
"Called… for help." Krieg said. "And… you came. Empire's… coming." He coughed, and then spoke through a mouthful of red froth. "Get… Othala… healer."
Over the next few minutes, I shredded the rest of my cloak. What was taking Runechild so long? Unless…
"Krieg, what happened to Black Kaze?" I said.
His hazy blue eyes came to rest on me. "Black… Kaze?" He said slowly. "We fought… Beat me… She's… here, Valkyrie. Still… here."
I grabbed Krieg's shoulders. "Why didn't you mention that?!"
"He can't hear you." Allfather reminded me. He relayed the question to Krieg. The injured cape just chuckled wetly before laying back and closing his eyes.
Noriko! I'd sent her running off with her murderous sister still in the house. What were the odds that Black Kaze wouldn't make a second go of things?
I pulled on my connection to Runechild; beginning to sever it. Her intent pulsed back to me immediately. Rapid, desperate flashes. She wanted me… to stop? What the hell was going on with her?
"Shit- I'll get her." I said, already scrambling to my feet.
"Forget her!" Allfather barked. He pressed two fingers to Krieg's throat. "He's still alive but not for long. We need to get him to a hospital. Krieg, I need you to wake up. Where's your car?"
"That's easy," A voice cut in; electronic and grating. "Just look for the kubelwagen, ya?"
I spun.
A woman stood in the doorway to the foyer. A cape stood in the doorway to the foyer. My first thought was 'Black Kaze,' but my second dismissed it immediately. I knew what Black Kaze looked like, and this woman wasn't her.
The woman facing us wore an elaborate respirator; red lenses peeking out through her long, black bangs. Her costume reminded me of Oni Lee's; basic and functional. Black pants with knee boots, and a double-bandoleer of what I thought were grenades over a combat vest. The only ornamentations were the braided cords twined around her shoulders. And unless Hollywood had failed me completely, I was pretty sure that she had a grenade launcher hefted over one shoulder.
"This is where you say gutentag, you Nazi fucks." The woman said. Her mask turned the words into a robotic monotone.
A huge hand reached through the doors and shoved her roughly to one side. The man that followed the cape woman had to stoop to fit through the doorframe.
Metal dragon mask, a chest full of tattoos, and arms thicker than my legs. I recognized him in the same way I did Black Kaze: The local news. As in, 'responsible for all the horrible things that happened on the local news.'
Lung.
He had presence in a way that Oni Lee didn't. The kind of presence that came from being able to rip apart everyone in the room with your bare hands. The kind that came fighting the local Protectorate to a standstill and walking away. No, Oni Lee had rep, but Lung? Lung had infamy.
The ABB leader was already starting to hulk up, and I could see the air around him rippling with heat. He was already head and shoulders above even Allfather.
Oni Lee slipped in behind him to complete the trio, flanking Lung opposite the woman.
Lee had run off to get reinforcements. And they'd picked up a new member.
God damn, he was a prick.
"Valkyrie, get Krieg and go." Allfather growled. "I'll handle this."
Lung surveyed us for a moment before turning away dismissively.
"Bakuda, Lee, kill the men." He said. His voice was inhumanly deep; distorted by his power. "Take the Valkyrie for later. I'll find Kaze."
The woman- Bakuda made a flat, repetitive noise before leveling her grenade launcher at us. It took me a moment to realize she was laughing. Oni Lee just raised a gleaming sub-machinegun. Lung turned down the hallway that Runechild had gone down.
I couldn't let him get to her.
So I did something really stupid.
"Allfather, taunt him." I said. "Stall him. Anything to keep him away from Runechild."
Allfather glanced at me. Then he stood, stepping over Krieg to guard the man with his body.
"You, dragon." Allfather called, his voice raised arrogantly. "What's the matter? Afraid to face a real warrior?"
Lung stopped.
And then he turned slowly.
"What did you say?" Lung rumbled.
Allfather chuckled at Lung's question. "You heard me. Got a name, dragon? Or should I just call you Lee too?"
Lung's flames suddenly intensified, bathing the room in an orange glow. Bakuda and Oni Lee were forced to move back by the heat. It didn't mean a thing to me or Allfather, but Krieg wouldn't survive a cape fight.
The ABB leader's next words were so mangled with anger and transformation that they were barely comprehensible.
"Rhunng. Rrlll krrll yrrr."
Allfather looked at me questioningly.
"Lung," I supplied. "He's the leader of the ABB. Gets stronger the longer he fights. Dunno what Bakuda does. Can you handle them while I get Krieg?"
Allfather jerked his fist downward, and swords the size of ironing boards slammed into the floor in front of Krieg and me, shielding us. More swords rippled into being around Allfather. Dozens of them; more than I'd ever seen him use. He nodded to me before stepping forward, his stance all jaunty confidence.
"Well then Lung, I guess you can call me Saint George."
Lung's roar shook the last remaining shards of glass from the windows.
I dove for Krieg at the same instant Allfather leapt forward, his swords whirring into motion.
SPEAKSPEAKSPEAKSPEAKSPEAKSPEAKSPEAK
Noriko dashed into the hallway so fast that she nearly tripped. Panic thrummed through her, sending her skinny limbs shaking. Krieg was hurt. People were dead.
And Oni Lee had said Setsuna was responsible for this.
Guilt joined the fear in queasy waves.
There were two doors at the end of the hallway; one straight ahead, the other on the right. She paused there, and peered in through the right door. It was dimly lit, illuminated only by the grayish light coming through the broken window pane.
Metal fixtures gleamed in the gloom. A bathroom. There might be medical supplies in the bathroom. That had always been one of Setsuna's policies. Every new place they stayed, Setsuna would always set up the same things first. A lock on the door, their medical kit in the bathroom, and Noriko's bear on the bed.
Noriko scurried in without hesitation. The hand-towel holder hanging crookedly next to the sink was empty. She flipped open the mirror. A half-dozen pill bottles greeted her. Her frantic grab scattered the bottles, sending them into the sink.
She checked all of them, her clumsy fingers barely able to hold the bottles. They were all empty. Nothing to use as a bandage, nothing to help Krieg with the pain, and nothing remotely resembling a medical kit. She shut the mirror and turned to the towel rack by the shower. Two stained towels hung there, and she grabbed for them without thinking.
Ew ew ew ew-
Noriko dropped the towels to the floor, wiping her hands on her cloak. The towels managed to somehow be stiff and moldy at the same time, and what wasn't furry with growth was oily and foul.
Krieg needed a clean bandage or he'd get sick. Not that she'd mind if Krieg got sick. But... she also didn't want Krieg to die. No one deserved that. Even if Krieg was a stupid Nazi jerk. She'd be the bigger person and help him. And how funny would that be? Krieg getting his life saved by a Japanese girl. She knew Taylor would laugh herself silly over it.
She checked under the sink and found nothing, so with one final glance, she left the bathroom. The bathroom door clicked shut behind her just as she pushed open the other door.
The room beyond was a kitchen. A pale yellow light played out of the open fridge, illuminating the kitchen surfaces. Even at a glance, she could tell that the kitchen made the bathroom look pristine.
But she didn't care about that at the moment. Noriko had eyes only for the person rummaging around in the fridge, silhouetted by the light. She stepped forward, peeking around the door. The person had to be either Empire or…
She shifted, trying to get a better view. The kitchen door creaked as she brushed against it, and the stranger stiffened. Noriko drew back, but the damage was done.
"Back for more already, Krieg?" The stranger- a woman, spoke without looking away from the fridge.
That voice!
When no answer came, the woman sighed.
"I didn't stab you in the mouth." She turned. "What happened to-"
Noriko gasped.
The woman standing in front of the open fridge had a brown bottle in one hand, and a katana in the other. Wisps of hair escaped her long ponytail, hanging across a face that Noriko knew. Her face was older, frighteningly lined and careworn, but still the same face she'd seen every day of her life. Brown eyes a shade darker than hers looked back.
The name came as barely a whisper.
"Setsuna."
Her sister's mouth fell open.
The bottle hit the floor with a crash. Acrid smelling beer pooled around Setsuna's feet.
"Y-you…" Setsuna choked. "Nori."
Noriko slid out from behind the door, letting it close behind her.
They faced each other across the filthy kitchen.
It was bizarre, seeing her like this. The memories of Setsuna that were for her barely two weeks old carried a weight, a blurring of age. Noriko hadn't lived the years in between, but she somehow instinctively knew that time had passed. It didn't feel like time travel. More like… returning home after a long time.
"I've missed you."
Saying it aloud crystallized it for her. She was scared of what might happen, of what Setsuna might be about to do, but she had missed her.
"How can you say that?" Setsuna responded in Japanese. The words twanged something unfamiliar in Noriko; resonating bone deep. Their mother tongue.
Noriko slipped back into it without thought or effort.
"I don't understand, Setsu."
Beer sloshed across the floor as Setsuna moved forward. "You missed me?" Setsuna hissed. "After what I did to you?!"
Hands like iron clamped down on Noriko's shoulders. There was blood caked under Setsuna's nails. Her sister glared down at her.
"You're still my sister." Noriko replied.
"I don't- I can't even- how can you possibly-?!" Setsuna spluttered. "I'd imagined it. What you might say- what I might say if I had another chance. But not once- not ever did I imagine you wanting to see me again."
Slowly, she reached for her sister's face. Setsuna jerked back like she'd been burned.
"Nori, don't. I don't deserve-"
"Don't tell me what you deserve!" She snapped. "I got a second chance, and I'm using it to see you."
"Why?!"
"Because you're my family! Who else would I come back to see, stupid?"
"That doesn't explain anything! Noriko, I-" Setuna's voice dropped to a whisper. "I… it was my fault you died. I… killed you."
"I came back because I need to know why." Noriko said quietly. "Setsu, what happened that night? How could you do that? It was like… it was like I met a stranger wearing your face, because the things you did were so… not-you that I couldn't believe it."
Her sister's face contorted with anguish, and Noriko felt a sick swooping sensation in her chest.
"Please, sister." Noriko finished. "Just tell me why."
A pulse came down the bond; Taylor signaling her. Their bond frayed, and Noriko pulsed back instantly. Not now. Not when she was finally getting answers.
Finally, Setsuna nodded. "Yes… I'll tell you, and then…" One of Setsuna's hands clasped hers and closed Noriko's fingers around something hard. She looked down to find Setsuna's sword in her hand. The weight of it was terrifying. She was holding the weapon that had killed her.
Setsuna's grimace twisted into a broken-edged smile.
"I'll tell you, and then you can kill me."
SPEAKSPEAKSPEAKSPEAKSPEAK
Minor edits from the original, changing all the Japanese dialogue to italicized, where in the original it was bracketed instead of quoted.
Just glancing over it while editing... oof. The rally was the point where I really started struggling with the writing, and it definitely shows here. It's so rigid, and you can tell I didn't quite know where I was going. It all feels off, and looking back on it is really frustrating at how much better it could be.