Date A Re:Live
S3 Chapter 59: Mukuro Space, Part 2
By : Tohka_Yatogami
...
Summary
Even a similar story can take it's own path. Shido and Mana are amnesiac siblings living with their friend Kotori, however the past catches up to Shido when he nearly runs into a space quake, and his world changes as one girl asks... "Are you here to kill me?" (Stronger Ratatoskr, weaker DEM, games & movie are canon to story) [Shido/Tohka/Harem]
Last chapter definitely ended on a cliffhanger, with every one of the Spirits having passed out from Mukuro somehow just locking the probe, not to mention I've yet to elaborate on if Mildred's OK after she went into cardiac arrest. For her sake, let's hope when Mukuro said that she just forgot she had a sister considering she doesn't remember why she's even in space or sealed her memories away.
I'd say for this chapter, we'll essentially be having a breather of sorts, Ratatoskr's gonna be using some time to recuperate, but we're also going to get some big reveals and see a little focus on the DEM as they begin their second and hopefully (at least to Westcott) final wave against Mukuro. This won't be a normal battle between the two organizations, because this battle's going to be a bit more... serious, so to speak.
What does that mean in this case? I'll let you all think on that since I'd rather not spoil the particular behind, but I can say in Volume 14 & 15 that there were some lasting effects from a large-scale DEM attack against Ratatoskr, even though realizers undid most of the damage. Especially the one about... Westcott having his arm... cut off... and reattached. *shivers* That's not very fun to read unless you expect it.
Anyways, I'm pretty excited for when the battle comes up because in-story, this is their first major clash since Ratatoskr's crushing defeat during the Ten-Oh Festival due to becoming predictable after having saved so many Spirits. That defeat left a mark on them, and it won't be long until they'll be able to get their revenge with their upgraded forces, but the resources Westcott has in the Inverse Void has let the DEM forces level up as well, so... *giggles*
With that out of the way... let's begin!
~10 Years ago
Standing in a mysterious location, the sight of Reine Murasame standing between a pair of ovals made of energy, or more actually time stasis fields, was seen. She looked inside as the sight of two children, a boy with short blue hair who was the older of the two, and the other a girl with blue hair in a ponytail, was seen.
"Shido... Mana... this is it, the time you're finally meant to awaken from here." Reine said somberly.
Reine took a close look at the two, preparing to use a pair of devices she had on hand to free them, but when her hands neared the stasis fields...
"...No, I can't do it. I caused my brother, their own father, and my own husband to get killed by sending them on that mission to rescue them. I can't raise them, and I don't have the right to raise them. There's only one thing I can do for them..." Reine stated.
Reine made a pair of calls as she had the time stasis fields holding the Takamiya siblings brought over to Tenguu City. Leaving them in an area of the city where she knew they'd be found by the local orphanage quickly enough.
Once she did that, she resumed her phone call with Kotori's mother.
"They're in place, I just need you to quickly come over. I've already mentioned things to our Ratatoskr agent there. Since their mother's status isn't dead, it doesn't seem right for them to be adopted until we know for sure if she's really gone or not." Reine replied.
"OK, but... Commander, are you really sure you want to do this? You are their aunt... shouldn't you be the ones to watch over them?" Haruko asked.
"...No, I lost that right long ago. If I raised them it would only lead to pain, and maybe their deaths. I can't do it. That's why I'm begging you to watch them for me Haruko, you already have your daughter, they need a friend to mend the broken hearts they'll have when they wake up. Regardless of why they're even broken." Reine answered.
Haruko's voice didn't reply for a bit, clearly taking in Reine's words with sadness.
"...OK." Haruko replied.
Reine soon cried before taking the devices and hitting the stasis fields with them, making them disappear. She quickly ran off the moment the fields vanished, tears streaming off her face as she did.
After a few moments, the Takamiya siblings finally woke up from their two-decade long nap, both slowly adjusting to their surroundings. Shido shook it off first and looked at Mana, but unfortunately, he didn't recognize her like he used to.
Mana soon regained consciousness and turned to the brother she couldn't recall either.
"...Who are you?" Shido asked.
"I don't know, who are you?" Mana asked.
As Mana tried to get out, she felt weakness in her legs, causing a locket she didn't know about fall into view, causing it to open and reveal the picture inside.
"Huh? What's this?" Shido asked.
He read it and noticed some engravings inside, they said: "To my little sister Mana, thanks for being the best sister any brother could have - Shido Takamiya", and the picture inside of that locket?
It was him and Mana.
"What's wrong?" Mana asked.
Shido showed her the picture and the words.
"Look... this is... us." Shido answered.
"Mana... Shido... brother and... sister..." Mana read.
The two looked at each other.
"You're my... brother?" Mana asked.
"And... you're my sister?" Shido asked in return.
"Oh my goodness!"
The two looked to see a woman notice them both.
"What are you two doing here? This is no place for children, let's get you out of here." She stated.
Shido and Mana spent a day or two at the orphanage, but they were always by themselves, something that often happened to newcomers who felt out of place and hadn't found the small bit of joy the other children had.
However, it didn't take long for something to change. They, alongside the other children, noticed a married couple come in one day with a red-haired girl. The young Kotori was as small as Rio used to be wearing the old twin tails she had since dropped in the present, but they were so tiny they seemed like upside down horns.
"Big brother, who... are they?" Mana asked.
"I'm not sure." Shido answered.
After the orphanage keeper and the married couple talked for a bit, the Takamiya siblings noticed the woman of the pair walk towards them.
"Hello there, may I know your names?" Haruko asked.
"Uh... I'm Shido Takamiya, and this is my sister Mana Takamiya." Shido answered.
"Shido and Mana, those are nice names." Haruko smiled.
Mana held her brother's arm a bit fearfully.
"It's OK, you don't need to be scared." Haruko assured.
"W-why are you talking to us?" Mana asked.
"You really miss your mother and your father, you don't even know where they are, do you?" Haruko asked.
The two blinked confused, but they could someone tell what her words meant subconsciously. Haruko held out a hand to them.
"So, would you like to stay with us while we help you find them?" Haruko offered.
"Stay with... you?" Shido repeated.
"Until we find your home, we'll share ours with you." Haruko explained.
Haruko turned to her daughter and motioned her over, a scared Kotori shook a bit before leaving her hiding spot behind her father and walking closer, soon hiding behind her mother instead.
"Don't be shy Kotori, they won't hurt you." Haruko comforted. patting her head.
"...Hello." Kotori said shyly.
"This is my daughter Kotori, she's feeling a bit lost in the world as well. I think together you can help each other. So, what do you say, would you like to come, or would you like to stay here?" Haruko asked again.
The Takamiya siblings looked at her, and then after thinking for a bit... Shido offered out his hand.
"[Remember Shido]"
"Huh?" Shido asked.
"[Remember Shido, you must remember! It still exists out there.]"
Shido gasped.
"Father? Uncle Isamu? Where... where are you!?"
"[Find it Shido, you must...]"
"[...Find the key! You have to save her, no matter what you must save Mukuro!]"
Shido looked around in shock as the memory landscape shattered apart into an endless black, he ran around confused as he tried to find his father and uncle's voices again.
"Dad! Uncle Isamu!" Shido called out.
As Shido kept running, he eventually found himself suddenly stopped as he saw a giant version of the Sandalphon Crystal, staring at it in shock.
One part of the crystal showed a black mass, which branched off to show a saddened Inverse Tohka looking ahead, revealing the mass as the Inversion taint. At the same time, a bright light branched off to show a smiling Ethereal Tohka, reflecting the imbued power that was the Ethereal blessing.
"What is..." Shido asked.
The two versions of Tohka slowly turned their hands towards Shido. At that moment, four voices ran out at once, one being the deeper voice the Inverse Tohka created by Choronzon possessed.
"[You must find the truth Shido, I know you can find the key... and stop Westcott.]"
"I don't... I don't understand-Ah!" Shido replied.
Shido screamed as he suddenly regained consciousness, he felt himself sweating as he looked around to find himself in the med bay, where all the other Spirits were all resting a similar way, only they still had yet to regain consciousness.
Mildred was also there, but in far worse condition. She was borrowing an oxygen mask while a pulse monitor was making sure her pulse slowly returned to normal, no one wanting her to enter cardiac arrest again and dying from it.
"...What was all of that? A dream, a message, something else?" Shido wondered.
"Good to see you've finally woken up."
Shido looked to see Reine wearing the lab coat she usually wore when she was doing her role as Tamae's assistant teacher at Raizen High.
"Aunt Reine? Wait, you're a doctor too?" Shido asked.
"Actually no. Well, now that I think about it... can play the violin at a professional level, act as a foreign translator, land a royal aircraft, and the official medical officer here on the Fraxinus even states that I conduct medical treatment better than he can." Reine mentioned.
Shido gave a shocked face.
"How are you not a doctor if you can do all of that!? Especially the last one!" Shido exclaimed.
Reine shrugged.
"...why are all the girls unconscious?" Shido asked.
"We're not sure. For some reason, when Mukuro locked our probe's functions, it made you collapse and then it spread to the others. While it might be because you were connected to the probe... I'm not sure about the others. Especially Mayuri as she's the only one who's lacking any connection to you, she doesn't give you a passive ability after all." Reine admitted.
"Tell me Shido, did you experience anything while you were KOd? I noticed signs of abnormal beta waves and an increase in rapid eye movement. The latter happens often with intense dreaming, so combined with the former..." Reine asked.
Shido soon looked down at the ground.
"I saw... it began with me seeing a memory of the past, it was around the time you woke us from stasis. Maybe I partially gained part of your memories, maybe it was my mom's or even the bit of dad in me, but... besides the point. After that happened, I heard dad's voice... and then Uncle Isamu's." Shido answered.
"What? What happened, what did they tell you?" Reine inquired.
"It was... to remember, to find the key. I'm not sure what that meant, but I remember when dad gave me the power to seal Spirits, he told me he had a vision of the girls. That I would see Tohka again, and then... they said I must save Mukuro. Then, that's when the strangest part happened." Shido explained.
Shido took a deep breath.
"Tohka's Sephira Crystal appeared to me, but it was huge compared to before. Then, the taint of the Inversion, and the blessing of the Ethereal Shift... both branched out to take Tohka's alternate forms before both of them, dad and Uncle Isamu all said: "You must find the truth Shido, I know you can find the key... and stop Westcott.", and then... I screamed in pain right as I said something and woke up here." Shido explained.
Reine bit her thumbnail as she thought on what that could mean.
"Hmm... I wonder, were they talking about a possible revival like he implied to Rinne while you were all in Nia's Ashufiriya, or is there something about the Spirits we still don't know that my brother knew?" Reine wondered.
"With how the Spirit sealing power was made through something that infused with Isamu's soul during the rescue mission, and how Seigo was in the Spirit Dimension, studying all he could there... no doubt now, we've gotta find a way to save Mukuro." Reine stated.
Right as she said that though, she noticed Shido looked distantly, shaking a bit.
"Shido?" Reine asked worriedly.
"Was I... were we doing the right thing?" Shido suddenly asked.
That got Reine's attention, and it terrified her because she knew why he'd even consider saying that. Mukuro's words seemed to have gotten to him.
"Shido, you-" Reine replied.
"Sealing the powers of the Spirits was to help them, giving them a chance to live normal lives... that's what I wanted to believe from the start. I honestly wanted to believe that."
Shido's right hand starts shaking.
"And yet, the DEM keeps attacking us with all they have. Worse is each time I seal a Spirit, I weaken them, only Tohka's regained her full strength and the others are still missing part of theirs. Not to mention, it nearly killed my mother, and she's still weak even now!" Shido shouted.
"Calm down Shido, you know you've-" Reine tried to interrupt.
"...I've just been a hypocrite all this time, damn it! I can't do this anymore!" Shido screamed.
Shido soon ran out of the room, and Reine stared at him as he left, soon lowering her head.
Back in the Inverse Void, everyone was watching the footage of Mukuro's retaliation against their first wave, which made even the normally calm Ellen feel nervous since her battle hungry nature was giving her a strong feeling she hadn't used her full power.
Though the Westcott's reaction took the cake as his face was actually shown sweating, something he normally didn't do with Spirit matters unless it was Shido throwing a wrench into his plans with them.
"I'll admit it... this is a bit unexpected, this level of strength is nothing like the other Spirits. I thought we saw her full power against [Nightmare] over 5 years ago, but it seems I made a mistake in thinking [Zodiac] had already matured her full potential." Westcott admitted.
"We didn't see any previous [Zodiac] before now, so she might be like [Princess]. The only difference is that our inability to locate her meant she was able to master her abilities without interruption." Jessica replied.
Chinami sweated at this.
"Sir, do you think I may have made a mistake with telling you about Zodiac as early as I did? I think maybe I should have waited or said to prepare better-" Chinami asked.
"Calm down Chinami, no one's made progress without mistakes. After all, if I had always been careful, we'd never had had the current [Angel] reveal the wonder of Inversion to us. We simply underestimated her, we won't make that mistake again." Westcott assured.
Chinami sighed in relief.
Westcott soon turned to Ellen, a serious look on his face.
"So, what do you think Ellen?" Westcott asked.
"Based on what I see, my gut's giving me a good feeling she didn't need to use her full power. My guess is that she's at least an S-Rank. In fact, she might be second only to the First Spirit in her power." Ellen admitted.
"Oh, so she's quite powerful then? Hmm... looks like we have no choice, we'll have to send in everything." Westcott declared.
Everyone gasped at that.
"Sir, are you sure? If we fail then we'll-" James inquired.
"If we don't use our full power here, we'll just slowly chip away are our strength. Not to mention after this, the Ratatoskr organization has to have decided to make a move, Chinami did get this information from them after all. By all means, we will fail if we don't do this." Westcott answered.
James sighed at that.
"I hate to admit it, but you're right. We don't have the luxury of time, circumstance or an ideal situation." James replied.
"The Arbitel's upgrades are finished now, hopefully they'll be enough to push this Spirit onto the defensive." Chinami mentioned.
"Prepare all our ships, Automatons and finish maintenance on our CR-Units. We're going to war." Westcott smirked.
Back on Earth, around the location of one of the Ratatoskr buildings that were owned by the DEM, a strange sight began to form.
A pair of weak but glowing lights.
"R...n...e"
"R...i...e"
The two lights struggled as they tried to form into something else, but after a while, they just compressed away and dissolved.
Back on the Fraxinus' med bay, the sight of Mildred waking up was seen, her condition having since stabilized. She slowly got up and looked around, having a bit of trouble because she wasn't wearing her glasses.
"What happened?" Mildred asked.
"You suffered an intense shock to your mind and body that you went into cardiac arrest."
Mildred squinted she made out Reine's figure facing towards her.
"One second, you broke your glasses during the shock, but we've managed to repair them." Reine mentioned.
Reine put them on, restoring Mildred's vision.
"Ah, thank you Reine. I'm as blind as someone in thick fog without these." Mildred smiled.
"You're welcome." Reine replied.
"Let me guess... that cardiac arrest thing. It was from something related to Mukuro?" Mildred asked.
Reine went silent before nodding.
"Yeah, I won't say what it was because I don't want you to relapse, but I will mention that they were words that no sister should ever have to hear." Reine confirmed.
"...Mukuro." Mildred whimpered.
Mildred soon began to cry, and Reine pulled Mildred a bit closer to hug her, rubbing her head a bit.
A few grunts were heard as the Spirits all began to wake up.
"My head, it's like someone hit me with a tire... twice." Kaguya groaned.
"What happened?" Origami asked.
"I feel like my head's split open." Rio replied, rubbing her forehead.
Reine sighs in relief.
"Good, you're all awake. It doesn't seem like any of you were seriously harmed." Reine stated.
"I wonder what happened to us, did we react to Shido somehow?" Rinne asked.
"That seems to be the most likely explanation." Reine answered.
Rinne soon looks around and sees Shido was missing.
"Uh... Reine, where did my son go?" Rinne asked.
Reine sighs as she turns around.
"...He woke up earlier and ran off somewhere in the ship, and now he's lost his faith if we're doing the right thing. As he is now, I don't think he'll even want to seal Mukuro." Reine admitted.
"What!? No way, you're lying... that's not my big brother! He'd never give up on her, just like he didn't give up on Tohka, on mom... how he didn't give up on anyone!" Mana screamed in anger.
"Mana, I-" Reine replied.
"NO! Say anything more about my brother giving up, and I don't care that I'm in a hospital bed and not at my best, I will get up from it and put you in one of these beds!" Mana shouted.
Mana pants angrily, and Reine closes eyes as she goes silent.
'Shido, please... you need to believe in yourself again. For everyone who believes in you.' Reine thought.
Noticing Reine's troubled face, Tohka gets off her bed, and struggles to stay up.
"Tohka, you shouldn't be up right-" Reine stated.
Reine only needed to see Tohka looking at her to realize what she was trying to tell her with her determined face, and seeing that... Reine couldn't stop her.
"Here, at least support yourself with this." Reine offered.
Reine moves an empty IV stand to help Tohka support herself as she went to find Shido, and soon... Reine thinks before she taps part of the room's wall panels, activating something across the entire ship.
Mukuro was in her usual rest in space, and soon the sudden sound of a portal opening was heard, she opened her eyes and looked as she saw none other than the same portal as before from the DEM's attack... but this time an entire wall of these portals came.
From these portals came the DEM's full army force, over millions of automatons of each kind, and a total of 10,000 ships including the Arbitel and every DEM wizard using a realizer attachment to their CR-Units that functioned like air helmets and oxygen tanks.
"...So, you have come to annoy me once again." Mukuro stated.
- (*Infinite's Theme - Sonic Forces*) -
From the Arbitel, a projection of Westcott from the Inverse Void appeared, and like with Shido she fires a beam at it, only for it to fail.
"It seems you employ the same tactic as the boy, but chose to bring an army to me, therefore I am to assume you are the DEM?" Mukuro asked.
"A pleasure to meet you too [Zodiac], I am Sir Isaac Westcott, the founder and chairman of DEM Industries. Nothing personal... but I want your power, so I'm going to have to kill you now." Westcott answered.
Mukuro summons Michael.
"Your arrogance is without boundaries, or perhaps even sanity, so I believe I must one again show you the futility of challenging me." Mukuro replied.
"Segva - Lock."
Soon all the DEM automatons were instantly shut off, but this time Westcott's projection smirks before it presses a trigger and fades away.
The automatons all feel a shock as their systems are restored.
"It seems you have learned a bit, but I haven't revealed all my cards either." Mukuro stated.
The DEM forces all fired at Mukuro, but the Dimensional Spirit quickly revealed her speed, teleporting away from each shot using a combination of her wormholes, natural movement, and the Spirits' usual teleportation.
As she did this, she secretly created wormholes out of sight and after landing from a certain wave of shots, twirled to make a wall of wormholes.
"Rataibu - Unlock."
Suddenly all the other wormholes sucked up all the debris that was surrounding the planet's atmosphere before using it all of it as a meteor shower against the DEM army.
"Quick, put up defenses, put them-AH!" A DEM wizard shouted.
Many wizards were suddenly flung back as the maelstrom of space debris began pelting the DEM forces. A few hundreds of DEM automatons exploded, while a few dozens of DEM warships all either had small explosions rendering the ships temporarily unusable... or they outright detonated in a fiery blaze.
Westcott looked at the destruction and then at Mukuro who twirled Michael and looked at him as emotionless as ever.
"Impressive." Westcott answered.
- (*insert song end*) -
Mukuro held Michael high as the Angel glowed brightly.
"This is only the beginning." Mukuro stated.
Westcott smirked, having a good feeling that Mukuro would be quite an entertainment opponent to challenge...
...and his entire army would gladly take that challenge.
Shido was in part of the Fraxinus, sitting on a chair and all curled up on it while in the form of Shiori, mimicking the same position Tohka had felt almost a whole year ago when she blamed herself over him slightly getting hurt by Origami when the lock on her powers vanished.
She slightly looked up as she stared out the windows to the outside.
"...Just what have I been doing?" Shiori asked herself.
"The right thing, and being sorry for no reason."
Shiori's eyes widened as she turned to see Tohka struggling to walk towards her, still in the hospital gown and using the IV stand to support herself, she was about to fall over when Shiori rushed sprinted towards her, catching her mid-fall.
"Tohka, what are you doing!? You shouldn't be walking right now!" Shiori shouted.
"Says the girl who ran out of the med bay first!" Tohka countered.
"...OK, guess I deserve that." Shiori mentioned.
Soon Shiori helped Tohka sit down, and resumed sitting herself.
"Why are you Shiori right now anyways?" Tohka asked.
"I dunno, I guess I handle stress better in this form due to what I had to deal with before we sealed Miku. Then again since the Spirits were an all-female race going by my mom's words..." Shiori chuckled.
She sighed soon after.
Tohka looked at her worriedly, and put a hand on her shoulder.
"...I thought we were doing the right thing, but how can that be the case now?" Shiori replied.
"Shiori, look at me." Tohka asked.
Shiori did, and then...
...Tohka punched her in face, surprising the former greatly as she fell to the floor.
"YOU IDIOT!" Tohka cried.
Shiori held her cheek as she saw Tohka crying, shedding tears as she stared at her.
"How can you be... so incredibly... stupid!?" Tohka asked.
"Tohka?" Shiori asked.
"Don't you "Tohka" me, not as you are right now! You've saved 9, no... 15 Spirits and you let the words of one make you question yourself now!?" Tohka screamed.
Shiori didn't know how to respond to that.
Back at the med bay, everyone wondered what Reine had just done.
"What did you just do?" Rinne asked.
"It'll make sense in a moment, but first... Mildred, I want to hear the story behind how Mukuro joined your family and why she ran away. If you don't mind me asking, and I mean the full story. Don't leave anything out... I'm hoping it'll reveal something about why she's this way now." Reine asked.
"...OK, I guess I'm already feeling bad enough, it can't make things any worse than what I just heard." Mildred answered.
Mildred breathed as she began to tell her story.
A younger Mildred was seen with her parents at an orphanage, and they told her something.
"Eh? Really, you mean... I can choose my own little brother or sister?" Mildred asked surprise.
She stood before her parents, a black-haired Japanese woman that was her mother, and a blonde-haired American that was her father, as the tow of them both gave her a smile of approval.
"Of course, since we're adopting someone, it's only fair that you get to have some say, you are going to be his or her big sister after all." Mildred's mother answered.
"My parents wanted another child, but my mom wasn't in the mood to get pregnant again, and she wanted a child a bit older than a baby without being too old. So, we went to the orphanage, they let me decide who my new sibling would be."
Mildred smiled at that, and soon the orphanage caretaker walked to Mildred.
"Come on, let's show you all the children." The orphanage caretaker smiled.
"OK." Mildred replied.
She soon brought Mildred inside, and she saw all the kids inside, playing a bit, they all noticed her as she came in.
"Everyone, this is Mildred Fujiwara, her parents have come to adopt a child. She'll be picking one of you, but promise not to influence her decision, OK?" The orphanage caretaker explained.
"OK!" The children all replied cheerfully.
Mildred looked around as she saw everyone play, and it was amazing at what she saw, but then... she noticed a long child in the corner. That child had blonde hair that she had tied in two buns. Mildred stared at her before looking at the caretaker.
"And then... that's when I saw Mukuro for the first time."
"Who's that girl over there?" Mildred asked, pointing to her.
"Oh, that's a recent addition here. Her name's Mukuro Hoshimiya. We... don't really know much else about her except she apparently came from China, but somehow eventually ended up here. We can't get any more information from her." The caretaker explained sadly.
Mildred turned back to look at her, and then... something in her clicked. It was as if she and this girl were meant to meet each other.
And with that, Mildred made her decision, walking over to her.
"I'm not sure why, but... I saw Mukuro and my heart told me "she needs me", and she looked so sad and lonely. As a result, I walked over and introduced myself."
"Hey there." Mildred greeted.
Mukuro slowly looked at her, not saying anything.
"I'm here because my family wants to adopt a child, so... would you like to be my little sister?" Mildred asked.
Mukuro's eyes widened slightly, and Mildred kept smiling.
"And I said it right there and then."
At that moment, Mukuro slowly reached out her hand to Mildred's, who took it in return.
Years went by, and Mukuro had grown happier, starting to talk more. Though she was always closer to her parents and sister than others, not that her family minded since she was at least attempting to be social.
Currently, Mildred and Mukuro were sitting in the former's room where she was braiding the latter's hair.
"You've got pretty hair Mukuro, I wish I had hair like yours." Mildred smiled.
"But your hair's pretty too sis." Mukuro replied confused.
"Well... yeah, but it isn't a lush waterfall like yours is. That's what I'm a little jealous over." Mildred admitted embarrassingly.
The two sisters laughed at that.
"We got along so well, I knew I made the right choice in choosing her as my sister... but even though I was her sister, I... I never truly understood her own feelings."
Mukuro waited on one certain day, the day Mildred promised to take her to Tenguu Tower.
Soon enough, she noticed Mildred finally show up, though with a few friends by her side. Mildred saw Mukuro had a worried face... but she ignored it because she just assumed Mukuro had thought she'd arrive too late for them to go.
Not to mentioned despite she kept making that face, Mukuro didn't say anything, so she just assumed Mukuro might be having a bad day or a problem she felt she couldn't tell Mildred about, with the older sister being oblivious the whole time.
"Hey Mildred, your sister's hair is a bit long, isn't it? Wouldn't it be better to make it a little shorter?" One of Mildred's friends asked.
"Uh... yeah, I guess it's a little long. Maybe I should take Mukuro to have it shortened soon?" Mildred answered.
Neither of them, or any of Mildred's friends, noticed the look on Mukuro's face, it was wide, and her eyes were filled with horror...
'This is... the hair big sis told me she loved! Why would she say otherwise now, why... what have those people done to my big sister!? She's mine... why are they taking her!? She's mine!' Mukuro thought.
"How could I have been so... stupid! She loved her long hair, because I had told her I loved it. That was the day everything went wrong... because I bet it was only shortly after this event that she became a Spirit."
An upset looking Mukuro was seen in another part of the city, and a shining sound soon entered her ears as she turned to see a golden light.
"Huh?" Mukuro stated.
Before she could react, the Michael Crystal flew into her hands, soon being absorbed into her body as Mukuro gasped and her pupils whitened. Her outfit transformed into a lilac and white Astral Dress.
The ends of her skirt, which were adorned with constellation patterns, were divided at the edge. Additionally, she had transparent purple gloves that were also engraved with constellation patterns. Lastly, she wore purple shoes with flat pink soles that were attached to metallic greaves resembling the leg armor once used by medieval knights.
"What just... what just happened?" Mukuro asked worriedly.
[Hello there, what is your name? I'd like to call you by such rather than by Master.]
Mukuro looked at a large... staff/sword-like key? (She wasn't sure) As it materialized before her, surprising her a bit.
"Uh... m-my name's Mukuro Hoshimiya. W-what are you?" Mukuro asked.
[Ah, I see. It's nice to meet you Mukuro, I am the Angel Michael, and I am here to protect you and help grant your greatest wish.]
Mukuro gasped as she heard that.
What I wish for is..." Mukuro replied.
The next day, Mildred walked by one of her friend's homes, and seeing them outside she decided to say hi.
"Hey, how's today going Suzuki?" Mildred greeted.
The girl however looked at Mildred funny.
"I'm sorry, but... who are you?" Suzuki asked.
"Huh?" Mildred replied.
Mildred went around, looking for everyone she knew... but only her parents and Mukuro seemed to still know who she was.
Everyone else she ever knew... it was like she had never existed to them. She rushed back home, and panted as she found her mom and dad sharing the same worry.
"Mom, dad... what about you? Does anyone remember you either?" Mildred asked.
"No, not a single person... is this some new phenomenon like the Spacequakes?" Mildred's mom wondered.
"This is terrifying!" Mildred's father whimpered.
Mukuro soon walked closer to her family.
"Don't be scared, you still have me." Mukuro replied.
However, the look she gave her family didn't match what she felt, what she was hoping was warm and comforting... was suddenly terrifying and cold. Mukuro had yet to realize what she had become, or the aura she was giving off.
"And that's when Mukuro said the words that made me and my family cause our greatest mistake..."
"...Mukuro, what are you saying?" Mildred asked.
"You are my family... now no one can take you from me." Mukuro smiled.
And that's when it clicked to Mildred and her parents, Mukuro herself had somehow done this... she made everyone forget them.
Mukuro had expected a happier reaction, but instead?
"...How dare you." Mildred growled.
"Huh?" Mukuro replied confused.
"How dare you! What gave you the right to do that!?" Mildred shouted.
"That mistake was... we yelled at her, not understanding she might not understand what she did was wrong. We treated her like she intended it... and tore into her with some very hurtful words."
Mukuro backed up a bit, a little scared now.
"What in the right mind make you think it was right to take away our existence to everyone who ever knew us!?" Mildred's mother exclaimed angrily.
"Do you know how much agony this has brought us!? I can't believe you'd be such a selfish hoarder! You can't share us, so you do this!?" Mildred's father screamed.
"B-but I... I..." Mukuro whimpered.
"Don't try to excuse yourself young lady! I never knew you could be so... so... so cruel!" Mildred screamed.
And with that word, Mukuro's eyes shook before she started crying, she sniffled before running upstairs. The sound of a door closing was heard, and then... then Mildred and her parents realized what they had done.
"That word, that one... dreaded word... oh how much I wish I could take it all back."
"...Oh my god, did we actually just yell at her?" Mildred gasped.
"We did, I feel so stupid. Mukuro's never tried to do anything bad to us before... and yet we treated her like she wanted us to suffer... I don't think she ever realized what she did was wrong. We should have just explained that to her." Mildred's mother sniffled.
"Damn it, I can't believe we let our anger get the better of us!" Mildred's father growled.
"...I'll go check on her." Mildred replied.
Mildred soon went to Mukuro's room and knocked on the door.
"Mukuro? Hey, it's me... I didn't mean to yell at you. Please open up-" Mildred asked.
Her knocks opened the door on its own, as if it hadn't been closed.
Mukuro, suddenly feeling worried ran into her room, and soon saw an open window, but what ended up being the most painful thing she saw was a lone note.
"She left a note, a single worded note... and it was the worst thing I could have ever read."
The note said: 'Goodbye' on it, nothing more... noting less.
"No... NO... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Mildred cried.
Mildred's parents both heard her screaming and ran up, soon finding her in Mukuro's room and the absence of their younger daughter.
"...Where's Mukuro?" Mildred's father asked.
"She's... she's gone! Mukuro ran away from home, and it's all my fault!" Mildred cried.
Mildred soon teared up a bit, having finished her story.
Needless to say, everyone was a bit saddened by it, even the normally tough acting Marina couldn't fight shedding any tears because of how heartless she felt it would make her look if she hadn't.
"That's... that's so sad." Rio cried.
"Mildred, I'm... I'm so sorry." Rinne replied.
Mildred wipes her tears, with Reine handing her a tissue.
"That's why... that's why I went so far to try and find her, I wanted to apologize, but... now she doesn't even see me as her sister anymore. I pushed her to this, if only I had paid more attention, she was in an orphanage for god's sake! I should have considered she was fragile, that's gotta be how she became so emotional when we adopted her!" Mildred cried.
Reine hugged her close, letting her cry while the other Spirits all shed tears, sympathizing with her pain.
Shiori's eyes shook as she and Tohka heard the story from where they were on the ship, Reine having turned the speakers on so the entire ship would hear it. To learn Mukuro had suffered like that, to hear how Mildred was still suffering over it... she wasn't sure how to process it.
"Don't you see Shiori?" Tohka said suddenly.
"Huh?" Shiori replied.
"That story you just heard... that's why you can't give up on Mukuro!" Tohka cried.
"But... but she threatened to, she told me that...
Tohka screamed and grabbed Shiori as she shook her, soon doing it enough times that Shiori got nauseous before Tohka let go of her.
"Mukuro ran away because she was crushed by how her family reacted, right?" Tohka asked.
"Well... yeah, Mildred did imply that." Shiori answered.
"Then... then..." Tohka stuttered.
Shiori soon saw Tohka making the saddest looking face she had ever seen on her.
"If that's the case, and she locked away her memories... then don't you think the reason she did that was because she felt so lonely, she couldn't bear the pain? That it took locking away everything that could make her said to escape it!?" Tohka exclaimed.
Shiori's eyes widened at that.
It all suddenly made sense, why Mukuro couldn't remember the reason she sealed her emotions away, because no one could live in solitude. No matter what... all species strive for communication, and a lack of it can be a huge mental strain.
Mukuro... wanted to be saved, but she couldn't realize that because she didn't have the emotion to feel that way!
"She wants to be saved... she really does!" Shiori gasped.
"So, will you do it Shiori? Will you... will you save her?" Tohka asked.
Shiori breathed before punching herself, surprising Tohka.
"Thank you Tohka, thank you for waking me up. I've been so stupid... and now I know what I have to do!" Shiori declared.
Shiori's eyes glowed as she summoned her false Uriel, and Tohka soon cried happy tears.
"Come on, let's go and save a Spirit!" Shiori smiled.
"...Yeah!" Tohka replied.
Suddenly the alarms go off, alerting everyone.
"Everyone, the DEM's left the Inverse Void! They've begun an attack on Mukuro and it's in progress right now with a massive army! We're requesting reinforcements as we speak, all personal prepare for the worst... because we're going to war!" Sakura exclaimed over the speakers.
"Alright, no going back now... it's time to end this, to save Mukuro from the DEM!" Shiori exclaimed.
We can have our doubts, but sometimes facing them makes us come back stronger. Now with the DEM's attack on Mukuro, Ratatoskr's got only one chance to rescue her, and now... they've gotta fight the DEM in an all-out war! Will Shiori, the Spirits and Ratatoskr be able to come out of this in one piece, just what will everyone need to do to achieve victory against the DEM who's gotten stronger despite Ratatoskr adapting to their previous defeat in the Miku arc?
Finally, we get at least a small peak at Mukuro's backstory through Mildred, but you still haven't see everything. Mukuro has her own part of the story that we still don't know and it'll be a while before I reveal it. Also, just what is this "key" that Seigo and Isamu told Shido about? Is it an answer to them reviving like he hinted to Rinne in the last arc, or is it related to another mystery about the Spirits?
Either way, it looks like Mukuro's holding her own against the DEM for now, but this time Westcott's partially present and already seems to have a counter to her locking the Automatons, we don't know how much longer she'll be able to hold up though. Not to mention, the Adeptus trio hasn't shown up in the fight just yet and the Arbitel's third incarnation hasn't revealed any of its powers yet. Next chapter is the first stage in a fight to remember!
Until next time everyone, and stay awesome! ^^
-Spirit Bond Levels & Passive Abilities-
Tohka - 100%, MAX (Form a mana barrier automatically)
Origami - 99% (Teleport Dodging)
Yoshino - 99% (Dampen enemy territories)
Kotori - 99% (Healing from fatal wounds minus losing his head, doesn't work on wounds caused by blunt force)
Kurumi - 99% (Hide in his shadow, and only his)
Rinne - (Summon a weakened copy of Uriel)
Natsumi - 99% (Transform into Shiori)
Kaguya - 99% (Flight)
Yuzuru - 99% (Weight Manipulation)
Miku - 99% (Pain Reliever)
Maria - (Restore dying/withered/dead vegetation and plant life)
Marina - (Remove toxins or other harmful substances, either from a living creature or an object)
Rio - (Create a soothing aura of Reiryoku to reduce a sealed Spirit's anger)
Mana - (Allow Mana to use Spirit Ascension at its weakest level without Angels)
Nia - 99% (Photographic Memory)