The hut was no ordinary hut. She'd imagined a small cramped cylinder-shaped made of dried mud, wood, and grasses found in the surrounding areas. Or something that mimics those in the village circle. But walking out of the enclave was like stepping into another world. The hut was like those she'd read about and seen in history books. These were more like ancient longhouses. They were made of wood and small stones that lined the base of the building and around the doorways. The walls bowed out and looked much like the hulls of old sailing ships. Smoke rose from the mud chimneys that came up through the wooden roofs. She'd counted thirty of them, 15 per row, much like modern houses in subdivisions. People slowed and eyed the unknown visitor as they walked past. Aya and the others waved and nodded.
"They are curious," Aya spoke, looking over her shoulder. "The rumors are flying." She laughed.
Coming to the end of the rows of longhouses, Aya turned around and cocked her head, "this one," she smiled.
It was the last one, but unlike the others, side by side. This one was separate and by itself. The others faced each other, the door looking across to the other. But this one, the front of the longhouse, was looking out onto the path they'd walked on. Thick, heavy wooden doors opened wide with ornate hand-carved Ranmas hung above the front door, and around the stone base. The front area was clean and sparse with vegetation. Wooded tubs filled with water, herbs, and other plants lined the frame of the longhouse.
Mikoto followed, or more precisely, was guided by the hand held by Kea. Her bright eyes and smile led the way. The warmth of the two suns quickly faded as she stepped inside. The inside was dark, illuminated by small beams of light filtered through spaces along the edge of the roofline. This allowed for a gentle breeze to follow her. The floor was simply pounded earth. Wooden tubs filled with growing herbs and water-filled tubs with strange fishes swimming. Wooden benches lined the walls. Animal skins piled high, and the fireplace sat in the middle of the area. And around it, small flat stones formed a mantle surrounding the base and the sitting area. Along the walls, spears, axes, and other assorted weapons were stacked or hung up. Everything said, hunters.
Aya walked over, pulled two benches together, and threw some animal skins down. Gullah went to the fireplace, piled up some dried grasses and branches, reached over to a small ornate carved reddish-brown mahogany-like box, took out two pieces of stones, and struck them. Tiny yellow sparks jumped and faded in the dried grasses. Nya stopped, stretched her back, and started hanging up their gear.
Kea quickly turned, hugged Mikoto, and dashed, disappearing past the front door.
Aya laughed. "She doesn't live here," she said. "she is too young and lives with her family. Farther down."
Gullah walked over and sat on the fur-covered benches Aya had put together. She laid down on her back, with her hands behind her head. "She is a strange one." She said. "She just appeared one day by the door. " She motioned with her head, "and followed us. Those ears don't miss a sound." She nodded. "She is getting old enough." She winked.
Mikoto wasn't sure if she was talking about hunting or something else.
Nya smirked, taking down an old, dented iron pot, filling it with water, putting it into the fire, and adding dried herbs. "She can climb." She added. The others quickly nodded.
"I think she has an eye on a certain someone."
Feeling the aching in her chest, "I really don't need that right now...a sorrowful expression clouded her eyes, I... had..., biting the inside of her lip, have someone very important to me." Closing her eyes.
"That's fine." Aya spoke, walked over, and put her hand on Mikoto's shoulder, "one, two, whatever," she shrugged, "females can have as many as they can support. So..." taking her hand off, she pointed, "choose your side."
"What?"
"If you need to sleep, she quickly smiled. You can just take a couple of benches, put them together, throw some skins, and rest. Or you know." She shrugged.
"Nothing wrong with ruffing it." Little misaka said, "We've slept in our woods." She laughed. "And other things."
(The wolves of the four kingdoms slept and played in the forest surrounding the mountain castle where Anastasia and Mikoto lived. In the deepest part of the woods was the cathedral. Which wolves believed to be the spiritual heart. Where the woods, mountain, sky, and water met, and no construction was allowed. So the young wolves at the time came up with an idea. Digging deep holes and using them as a sort of housing. Yes, they could stay in their wolf form, but many did not like leaving civilization behind. As holes in the ground go, it is a good-sized hole, around 10 feet long and deep enough for Mikoto and Anastasia to stand up and peer over the edge. The bottoms are covered with long, fresh grasses. The walls were smoothed by hand. Many had modern conveniences like refrigerators, blankets, and even cooking stoves and radios.
Mikoto felt her heartache. Those nights, listening to waterfalls and the sounds of the forest, seeing the stars sparkling across the night sky. And the warmth of Anastasia lying by her side.)
"We'll wake you when dinner is ready." Aya nodded. Mikoto's eyes widened. "No bugs," Aya said.
"Thank you," Mikoto said, finding a spot close to the open doorway. Tossing two or three skins on the ground behind the barrels of herbs and water, lied down and pulled the animal skin over her head and hid.
It felt good. A heavy blanket hiding from the reality of the outside. She wasn't home. She remembered. The memory painful and sharp. She'd spend weekend mornings buried under the blankets when she needed privacy. Something she did for herself. Anastasia would just roll her eyes coming into the bedroom, "going to sleep all day?!" she'd say. Like a turtle sticking its head out from its shell, Mikoto would peek out underneath the covers. "I am pretty sure I can." Slipping her face underneath, disappearing back into her shell made of soft blankets. "Fine," Anastasia, depending on her mood, she'd sigh, huff, or didn't care, would answer. Mikoto could hear her dress hitting the floor. Hear her walking to the French doors and slowly closing them just enough to allow for the cool mountain air to filter through the thin fabric of the curtains. Then drop to her knees, slipping underneath the sheets and joining her. "Boo!"
Deep calm breaths, she had no intentions of falling asleep. Being a queen vampire, she could stay awake for days. At the most, a week. Even with the calming hot springs and the nap. She felt drained. And tired. The blazing suns, the long journey, still hit her. "I'll just close them for a moment."
"Famous last words," little misaka said. "I'll keep an eye out." the little avatar nodded, rubbing her chin, "sleepy head."
"Shut up," and Mikoto fell asleep.
Dream. She was alone, naked, surrounded by darkness. Slowly turning around in a circle, looking for a way out.
"Anastasia!" Her voice echoed. "Anastasia!" She cried out, mediating her way through the darkness. She couldn't see or make out anything. Felt her way blindly, even though she could see in the dark as a vampire. She couldn't see. This dark was unnatural, unforgiving. "HEY!" She cried out, "ANSWER ME!" clenching her teeth. "You little pain in the ass."
She waited for little misaka to answer. Nothing. Quiet as a grave. A quick slip of tears down her cheeks. She wiped her eyes, now burning with tears. She called out again. And nothing. Everyone was gone.
"Brym! Astrid!Gundrun! answer me!" she cried out her elites' names, clenched her fist, eyes glowering in the dark. "I'll light this place up." she growled. No longer bound by the perimeters of a level five electro master, the results of her powers could be seen in space and light up the evening sky halfway around the world. She'd light this place up. she quickly smirked, raising her arm up and snapping her fingers. "Huh? What the?"
NOTHING.
Her shoulders slumped, and her stomach dropped. Staring at the tips of her fingers, she snapped them over and over and over. Each time, each snap, nothing.
Mikoto Misaka was a Queen vampire. She was bonded to Anastasia Von Alucard, another queen vampire. She felt her every time she entered the room, entered the country. If she wanted, she could feel her across the world. She was tied to her. Such was the bonding of two queen vampires. To be apart was to feel dead. The emptiness, a timeless void. And she had almost the same connections with her elites. Many of them held the title of princesses. The strength of a queen and loyal to no other. This is done through sharing of blood between the queen and her elites. Naked, holding each other, the queen sank her fangs into their necks, and the elite would bite the wrist of her queen. Blood and venom flow into each other in a complete circle. She'd know them, feel them and love them. And now, the circle had been broken by distance and death. No longer did she hear the constant humming of lives in the background of her mind. No longer did she feel them laughing, angry, even sad. She was lost and alone. An aura of bitterness was becoming.
She heard laughter in the distance. she broke into a run. "HEY!" She could see them, hidden in the dark, getting farther away. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how loud she screamed. Just a fingertip away. She couldn't reach them.
She was exhausted, collapsed on her knees, and buried her face in her hands. She sobbed, her voice choked with tears. Unable to scream. she pulled her knees to her chest and balled like a small child. "I'm alone… I'm really alone…."
"Hey," she heard soft as a petal falling to the ground. She raised her head, wiped her eyes, "Hey," It said again. Swallowed in the dark, an image moved towards her in the distance. It was struggling, barely gaining humanoid form. But it was moving towards her. "Anastasia? Is that you?" Mikoto's heart thumped, balling in her throat, "are you coming back? Anastasia? Are you?"
Rough, wet, and soft, she felt it. A presence unfamiliar. Mikoto moaned, opening her eyes from her nap. She smelled meat and heard it sizzle. "I think that is not a bug?" Little misaka spoke, stretching her arms over her head. She yawned, smacked her lips, and... "what the hell! How did she?"
Kea was curled up, half on Mikoto's chest. She purred as she slept, holding her hands just underneath her chin. A cute variation of a cat sleeping.
Mikoto raised up, looking at Kea as her ears flickered, brushing Mikoto's chin. "Didn't you say?"
"I thought you had that passive electric security system. By the goddess, she's a cat burglar!" She gasped.
Mikoto held the animal skins up and gently folded them over to not wake her. "Oh, sure." Little misaka pondered. "You'll be friendly with the cute little cat person, but all hell breaks loss when someone else sneaks into our bed. Remember those many years ago when that certain pervert who we have sworn never to say her name..."
"You mean Kuroko?" Mikoto sighed.
"Yes, exactly!"
"I never said..."
"You implied."
"She was misled. So..." Mikoto sighed.
(Kuroko Sharai, a teleporter and devoted friend, is a member of judgment with an unhealthy obsession with Mikoto Misaka. Pervert and deviant were among the names given to her by little misaka. Kuroko's memory of the past had been altered by an old god. And Mikoto had realized it before coming on the mission that left her stranded in another realm.)
"Oh sure..." little misaka grumbled.
"Fine, I'll give her a quick..."
"You will do no such thing..." she replied, "do not zap the cute little kitten" pulling out a smartphone from the pockets of her uniform, even though she is an avatar inside of Mikoto's mind. she tended to adlib many things. "right now I am saving the moment under special privileges..so if you..."
"Didn't you just...complain?"
"I have no idea whaaaat you're talking about." She tapped the screen. "There," she smiled. "Now a little video and oops...crap, she waking up...damn it!"
Kea moaned softly, rising up from her sleep and wiping her eyes. Coming just up to Mikoto's chin. Her nose wrinkled as she sniffed. Her mouth grew into a soft smile. She was so close that Mikoto felt her cheeks' warmth, the slight of her breath. Her green eyes sparkled like fireflies in the evening, reflecting across a pool of still water. Mikoto stiffened, eyes wide and cheeks flushed, seeing the beauty in such young eyes. But she didn't pull away. She puffed up her cheeks and puffed a breath of air over Kea's face. Tapping her forehead with her fingers, "I am awake now." She groaned.
Kea took quick breaths, quickly blinking her eyes.
"Oh, shit, did you start something?" little misaka smacked her forehead. Maybe something like initiating some sort of mating phase in this world... I mean, she's cute, but still, she is just a little kitten...and that would make us aaaaa cougar!" Dropping to her knees, shaking her head.
"MEOW." Kea mewed softy, ears slowly folding back, her eyes glistening.
"Did she just?" Mikoto fretted her brow.
"TAKE ME!" Little misaka yelled.
Don't think so.. Mikoto sighed. Time to eat...
We are not going to eat her, you brute!
Shut up. Didn't say that. Mikoto had made it to her knees, putting her hand on Kea's head, and gave a quick scratch between her ears. Sorry, little one... kinda taken right now...
Kea tilted her head slowly, curiously, and sighed.
Mikoto followed the smell to the fireplace. Aye was stirring a large iron skillet, chunks of meats, and what she was going to assume were vegetables. She looked up as she sprinkled spices and grinned. "No bugs," she said. "Just meats and roots." She added.
Nya nodded, taking a large pot, sitting by the cooking fire, and carrying it over to the front. She sat it down, opened the lid of a small clay jar, and poured the steaming hot water inside. A woodsy smell filled the air. Mikoto quickly sniffed with a doesn't smell good expression.
"That is horrible." Little misaka spoke in a nasal tone as she pinched her nose. "We are not eating that, are we?"
Mikoto crinkled her nose, and Nya grinned.
"It is for the little ones," she said, "but we can eat." Making a not so enjoyable face. "It is good for you."
"Oh really, I have heard that one before." Little misaka put her finger down her throat.
"Roots, vegetables, various plant leaves, and herbs. Yum!" Aya bit back a laugh. She motioned to the door. "When the little ones come back to stay." She said.
Mikoto looked confused. "The ones you saw earlier will be coming back. That is for them. So they don't have to go out and forage."
"So that smelly stuff is going to..."
"Yep," nodding her head, she grasped a cloth, took the pot's handle, pulled it out of the fire, and sat it down on the mantle.
"It's ready," she said, tapping the side with her wooden spoon. "And this one smell much better."