Chaotic Waters Act 1, Chapter 15: Cup-a-soup and the Pit.
-Melinoe's House-
"Damn vision headaches." The Guardian of Pluto grumbled, pouring herself some whiskey into a glass containing a single ice cube. She filled the glass and paused, looking between it and the bottle before shrugging and taking a long drink from the bottle. Closing it up, she placed it in her liquor cabinet before bringing her glass to her chair."I'll need to get more."She mused to herself."I'm running a bit low."She'd been going through her liquor far too quickly for her taste, it seemed like she barely opened a bottle only for it to disappear nearly as quick. She sat down, taking a sip of the smooth whiskey. "When was the last time I had a vision?" She wondered aloud. "Was it the fifth...or maybe the sixth century?" She frowned, taking another sip of her drink. That had been during her time in Britain...or was it Albion back then? Either way, the vision itself had stuck in her mind more than any of the others had.
Nuclear explosions tended to do that.
She shook her head, it would do her no good to remember that day. Even Myrddin had told her that it was best not to think too much about such sad tidings, and the two had never seen eye to eye."Though really, history did not remember us that well."She mused with more than a little amusement."Really, I have one drinking contest with them and suddenly we're bitter enemies and I'm the sister of the king."She snorted."If wehadbeen siblings, than the two of us would never have woken up in bed together, though I doubt they appreciated me waking up screaming and then throwing up all over them. Reminds me of the time Gal..."She froze. How long had it been since she'd thought of that name?
Setting her drink down on the small table next to her chair she stood, walking over to a painting she'd bought from Van Gogh himself. Gently, she removed it from the wall to gain access to a small safe she opened with a practiced ease. Inside was nothing, save an emerald green anklet.
An anklet that was a perfect match to the one once worn by Galyna, the Guardian of Mercury, aside from its color.
Gently, as if it were made of porcelain, she retrieved the ancient jewelry from the safe, cradling it in her hands like one would a flower blossom. Slowly she brought it back to her chair and held it in her left hand, staring at the emerald jewels with a soft smile. It was a beautiful piece to be sure, priceless from age alone to say nothing of the jewels that caught the light or the magic that resided within. With the exception of her staff and her talisman, it was the sole item surviving from the time of the Planetary Realms."How fitting that my most prized possession not be of my home, but of hers."She mused with a smile. Very fitting indeed, for the anklet she held in her hand was a Mercurian tradition, one that had somehow remained even to this day, albeit in a slightly different form.
Engagement rings.
The union between the Princesses of Mercury and Pluto had been the gossip of the realms for months before the Outer Guardians had received word of their duty to the gates. Word of their engagement had spread across the worlds like a wildfire, there hadn't been a single person who didn't know of the event! Both Galyna and Melinoe both had been nervous wrecks as the date of their wedding got closer and closer, the two women praying for the days between to pass more quickly.
How cruel then that time and duty had taken their union from them.
She'd begged and pleaded with the council to let her have one last night with Galyna, but they had refused. In fact, it had taken the combined efforts of the other three Outer Guardians to drag her out of the council chambers as she screamed and cursed at the cruel bastards who had decided that she couldn't spend her last moments of freedom with the woman she loved. She hadn't given up there, she'd tried everything! She'd tried to sneak into Galyna's room, teleporting in, breaking down the walls and door, all of it ending in failure. Truth be told the Council members had been lucky that her love hadn't known about that night being Melinoe's last outside of the Gate. Galyna's temper was legendary once something actually managed to set her off.
In the end the other Outers had spent the night with her, comforting her and sharing themselves in a way that most people of this age would balk at, save for Renata who was never one to participate in physical affection without copious amounts of alcohol.
Carefully, she traced the her planet's sigil on the largest gem with her finger, smiling as the ancient magic within responded in kind, the gems gently glowing with an icy blue hue, the same color as Galyna's mana. Slowly, ethereal images appeared above the gem, memories of the moments they had spent together recorded within her lover's anklet. The two pieces of jewelry were linked, what was recorded in one could be stored in the other.
Galyna had recorded everything. Every single memory of them together was recorded and stored by the Mercurian Princess upon the news that Melinoe would be sent to protect the system from outside threats. Every laugh, every tear, every touch, she held them all in her hands. Indisputable proof that they had loved each other in days long past.
How cruel fate was then that Galyna's anklet hadn't been able to transmit her memories of their time together untilafterMelinoe had returned from the Gate of Time.
Carefully, she set the anklet down on the arm of her chair and selected an image by tapping the air it occupied with her finger. She watched as the other images faded away, replaced by a life size image of her and Galyna dancing in the middle of her living room. It had been the night of the Royal Gathering of Planets and Moons, the one before Nerida and Ziaza had met, where she'd first danced with the woman she loved.
She knew it would only bring her more pain, she knew it would make her want to drink until she couldn't remember, but she couldn't stop herself. She stood and walked over to the image, positioned herself so she was in the place of the recording of herself, and danced with the ghost of her lover.
How very fitting for someone who used to be called the "Envoy to the Underworld".
-Michiru's Dream-
Did the Tendo Dojo always have a giant hole leading to the abyss in the center of the room?
A bead of sweat fell down the side of her face as she looked at the Pit. Even after more than ten years she could never forget that particular hole in the ground. She could feel...something deep within the Pit.
"It's the Neko-ken." The enshrouded girl stated, glaring down into the abyss.
"I figured as much."
"You don't have to this now you know."
"You've said that before." Her hands were shaking. The knowledge of this fact and the knowledge that it was her body going in to fight or flight mode did nothing to stop it from happening. She crossed her arms, gripping her upper arms with enough strength to shatter steel, desperately trying to calm her heart pounding in her ears like a drum.
It did nothing to help.
"Are you absolutely sure about this? There's nothing stopping you from doing this later."
The teal haired girl was silent as she stared at the Pit. "...if I don't do this now then when will I?" Slowly, she moved closer to the Pit, every step feeling like she was wearing lead lined boots that weighed her down. She shuddered, looking down into the Pit from the edge. She could hear the faint screams and cries of a child begging for someone to take them somewhere safe. It took her a moment to realize it was her own younger voice and that the sounds weren't coming from the Pit.
They were coming from her own mind.
"How many times?" The girl asked.
"I don't know. All I know is that I spent so long down there that I lost count of how many times I was thrown in." Michiru replied honestly. With a final deep breath, she jumped into her own personal hell.
"It's larger than I remember." She muttered after hitting the bottom. This place...this place was...nothing special.
And yet her throat was tighter than a vice as panic clawed from within her chest. Where were the furry demons? Where were the hisses and yowls? The claws and fangs digging into her and tearing off her flesh? Where, where, where?!
"ꗞዛ ꞆዛꗛɌꗛ Ꮍꗞꚶ ᕔɌꗛ!" Discordant voices echoed around her, cackling in glee. A thousand thousand whispers all speaking at the same time, reveling in their own madness and manic delight. "Ĭ'ᕓꗛ ᗹꗛꗛᙁ ᙡᕔĬꞆĬᙁǤ ꘘꗞɌ Ꮍꗞꚶ Ɍᕔᙁᙏᕔ!" The voices laughed cruelly, sending chills down her spine.
The loudest voice...the voice at the center of all of them that she could hear even past all of the others, it was familiar, so familiar. "Why...why are you here?" It couldn't be...not them...not here.
"ᙡዛᕔꞆ'ꕷ ᙡɌꗞᙁǤ?" The voice cackled. Black liquid bubbled up from the ground, slowly growing larger and larger before it twisted and jerked with sickening cracks and squelching sounds. It was changing, gaining form and definition into humanoid shape facing away from Michiru. The creature cackled gleefully as it bent backwards to look at the teal haired girl, an insane grin consuming nearly all of it's face.
A face she would know anywhere.
"ᕔɌꗛᙁ'Ꞇ Ꮍꗞꚶ ዛᕔᖘᖘᎽ Ꞇꗞ ꕷꗛꗛ ᎽꗞꚶɌ ꗞᙡᙁ ꘘᕔꞆዛꗛɌ?!" The voices screeched, appearing in front of Michiru in a flash, their fist buried in her stomach.
She gagged, spittle flying from her mouth, feeling herself being lifted off of the ground from the force of the blow. For an instant she felt relief, her attacker's fist removing itself from her stomach only for the other one to smash her face into the ground.
"-ᙡዛᕔꞆ'ꕷ ᙡɌꗞᙁǤ ᙡĬꞆዛ Ꮍꗞꚶ ᗹꗞᎽ?!" The voices roared, slamming a foot onto her ribs. "ɌꚶᙁᙁĬᙁǤ ᕔᙡᕔᎽ ԸĬҜꗛ ᕔ ᙅꗞᙡᕔɌᗫ!" A kick to her side. "ᙁꗛǤԸꗛᙅꞆĬᙁǤ ᎽꗞꚶɌ ꞆɌᕔĬᙁĬᙁǤ!" Another kick, this time with the other foot, lifted her into the air. "ᙅɌᎽĬᙁǤ Ĭᙁ ꕷꗞᙏꗛ ᗹꗞᎽ'ꕷ ᕔɌᙏꕷ!, ᙡዛꗛᙁ ᗫĬᗫ Ꮍꗞꚶ ꞆꚶɌᙁ ĬᙁꞆꗞ ꕷꚶᙅዛ ᕔ ᙡꗛᕔҜ ԸĬꞆꞆԸꗛ ǤĬɌԸ?!" The voices growled, slamming their palm into her sternum.
With a grunt she crashed into the wall, the uneven surface digging into her back painfully. She coughed and held back a wince as her chest throbbed painfully with each breath. "Fu...Fuck you old man." She gasped."Bruised stomach and cheek, cracked sternum, and at least three broken ribs."She counted, spitting some blood out of her mouth. "I haven't turned into anything." Her words came out as a growl, her eyes locked onto this mental copy of her father, watching for the smallest sign, the slightest twitch of a muscle to tell her what he would do. Slowly, she molded her ki around her broken ribs, carefully wrapping her life energy around the broken bones to keep them from digging into her.
"Ꮍꗞꚶ "ዛᕔᕓꗛᙁ'Ꞇ ꞆꚶɌᙁꗛᗫ ĬᙁꞆꗞ ᕔᙁᎽꞆዛĬᙁǤ"? ԸꗞꗞҜ ᕔꞆ Ꮍꗞꚶ! ꗛᕓꗛᙁ Ĭᙁ ᎽꗞꚶɌ ꗞᙡᙁ ᙏĬᙁᗫ Ꮍꗞꚶ ꕷꞆᕔᙁᗫ ꞆዛꗛɌꗛ ᕔꕷ ᕔ ᙡꗛᕔҜ ǤĬɌԸ Ĭᙁ ᕔ ꕷҜĬɌꞆ!"
"Gimme a break! I neededsomethingto keep everyone in Nerima off of me long enough for me to-" Her eyes widened as she ducked and rolled away from the lightning fast blow that cratered the wall where her head had been but moments ago.
"-ꘘꗞɌ Ꮍꗞꚶ Ꞇꗞ Ɍꚶᙁ ᕔᙡᕔᎽ ԸĬҜꗛ ᕔ ᙅꗞᙡᕔɌᗫ!" The voices bellowed, following up with a roundhouse kick, creating enough wind to once again send the teal haired girl flying into a wall. "Ꮍꗞꚶ ᙅꗞꚶԸᗫ ዛᕔᕓꗛ ꕷꞆᕔᎽꗛᗫ ᕔᙁᗫ ᕔᙅꞆꗛᗫ ԸĬҜꗛ Ꞇዛꗛ ᙏᕔᙁ Ĭ ɌᕔĬꕷꗛᗫ Ꮍꗞꚶ Ꞇꗞ ᗹꗛ!"
"And whatshouldI have done?!" Michiru snapped, lifting her head with a snarl. She jumped to her feet and sprinted to the image of her father throwing punch after punch at blistering speed. "Marry Akane who refuses to see me as anything but a pervert?!" Ki burst from her like a tidal wave, crashing against the walls of the Pit without even a semblance of control. "Ukyo who only thought of me as an add on in her life?!" With every punch she threw, the air burst with a thundering explosion of sound, each blow reaching the speed necessary to shatter the sound barrier. "Shampoo who thinks of me as herproperty?!" Now it was the image of her Father that was pinned against the walls as blow after blow landed on the source of the discordant voices. A hundred, a thousand, in just three minute the teal haired girl landed over twenty thousand punches, each one with enough force to rival one of Ryoga's mighty blows. "WELL I. DON'T. WANT. THAT!" She screamed with one final hit, slamming her fist into her father's solar plexus, with every single drop of ki she had left.
A green burst of energy exploded from her fist like a bomb in that moment, separating the two fighters from each other and sending the teal haired girl tumbling, the back of her head crashed painfully into a wall. "...Why did you do it?" She croaked past the pain of her broken ribs. "Why did you promise me to so many people...why doesn't what I want for my own life matter to you?"
"ᗹꗛᙅᕔꚶꕷꗛ ᙡዛᕔꞆ Ꮍꗞꚶ ᙡᕔᙁꞆ Ĭꕷ ĬɌɌꗛԸꗛᕓᕔᙁꞆ. ᙡዛᕔꞆ ᙏᕔꞆꞆꗛɌꕷ Ĭꕷ ᙡዛᕔꞆĬᙡᕔᙁꞆ." The voices said coldly. A hand shot out of the cloud of smoke created from her last attack and grabbed her by the throat squeezing tightly, tearing her breath away ruthlessly. "Ꮍꗞꚶ ᙡĬԸԸ ᙁꗛᕓꗛɌ ᗹꗛ ᕔᙁᎽꞆዛĬᙁǤ ᗹꚶꞆ ᕔ ꞆꗞꗞԸ ꘘꗞɌᙏᎽዛᕔᖘᖘĬᙁꗛꕷꕷ." The voices laughed cruelly as they squeezed, not bothered by the teal haired girl's attempts to pry their hand away from her throat. "ᙁꗞ-ꗞᙁꗛ ᙅᕔɌꗛꕷ ᕔᗹꗞꚶꞆ Ꮍꗞꚶ, ᙁꗞ-ꗞᙁꗛ ᙡĬԸԸ ꗛᕓꗛɌ ᙅᕔɌꗛ ᕔᗹꗞꚶꞆ ᎽꗞꚶɌ ዛᕔᖘᖘĬᙁꗛꕷꕷ!"
Her hands clawed at the Fake Genma's arms as her vision swam, desperate for the breath the fake was denying her."It's not true. Someone...someone has to care about..."Pain burst into her head like someone was squeezing her skull and not her throat. She slammed her fist into the fake's elbow frantically, hoping to shatter the joint and force him to release her, only for the grip on her throat to tighten even more.
Lights danced around her as darkness crept into her vision. For a moment, just a moment she thought of giving in, of letting it just end, the same thought she'd had when she pressed the knife to her skin. What was the point if no-one cared, if no-one would miss her if she died?
"But no-one deserves to be treated the way you were, everyone deserves to be happy...you deserve to be happy."
With a jolt Haruka's words cut through the fog of her mind. At least one person cared about her happiness, no two including Mayu! Both of them had been so kind to her, and even with how little she understood girls, or someone who was a girl some of the time like Haruka, she knew that those two would be sad if she were to die, if she were to give into this monster.
Fingers that could tear steel apart slowly pried the hand off of her throat, as she glared at the fake Genma. "Not...true." She rasped, taking a sharp intake of precious oxygen. "Haruka and Mayu...they care!" She growled out, coughing as her breath caught on the way out of her lungs. The pit was swimming, but so long as she could still breathe she could fight, she wasn't out of this yet!
"ᙁꗞꞆ Ǥꗞꗞᗫ ꗛᙁꗞꚶǤዛ." The hand clamped onto her throat again and slammed her into the ground.
This time, when the darkness came, she couldn't fight it.
She jerked awake, feeling the grass beneath her as she gasped for air, vomiting all over the Tendo's lawn.
"You didn't think it'd be easy did you?" She heard the girl from before say, the one who had guided her in this dream.
"What...the hell...was that thing?" She asked between coughs, wiping her mouth. "Wasthatthe Neko-ken?"
"Yes and no, it'spartof the Neko-ken, but not the whole thing, like the branch of a tree really, and a small one at that." The girl commented. The teal haired girl could hear the stranger walking closer, her sensitive hearing catching the girl's shoes stepping on the grass.
"You're telling me that thing was just a small part of the-" She started, whipping around to glare at the girl only to freeze.
"Congratulations." The young girl said with a smile. "Even if it was a small part, you still faced the Neko-ken, you've taken the first step to remembering."
Michiru could see the young girl clearly now. Short brown hair, warm brown eyes, and a slightly pudgy face in a white dress. The mist no longer hid the girl from her and, with a start, she realized she knew the young child's name. "You're...Chihiro?" She said it like a question, but she knew it to be a fact, this girl's name was Chihiro, and she wasimportantto her. Indescribable emotions crashed into her in waves as tears built in her eyes. "Why...why does seeing you hurt?" She wondered, not sure of she was asking herself or the girl in front of her.
Chihiro smiled down at the teenager watching as the older girl got to her knees and reached out to the brown haired child as if she would disappear if given the chance. "Sometimes when we're really happy, our bodies get confused and make tears instead of laughter." Chihiro explained childishly, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "At least that's what the real Chihiro told you once."
Pain ripped through the teal haired girl at the child's words. This wasn't the real Chihiro, this was just a part of the dream. Her heart clenched with a need to find the real one, to speak with someone who she justknewshe could talk to, even after all this time. Doubt crept in after she thought that, could she really? It had been years after all and it wasn't likely someone she knew all that time ago would remember someone they only knew for a short amount of time...
"What's wrong?" The Memory of her old friend asked.
"It's just...it's been so long. Would the real Chihiro even remember me?" There was a strange vulnerability in her own voice, one that she had never heard before. People forgot each other all of the time, would it really be the end of the world to find out an old friend from before the Neko-ken didn't remember her?
The memory threw back her head and laughed, clutching her stomach as if just the thought of such a thing was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. "There isn't a chance in hell that she forgot about you silly!"
"Then...then after I figure things out, I'll find out where she is and catch up with her I promise!"
"I'm sure the real me would love that. You always were her favorite." The memory of Chihiro said, wrapping her arms around the teal haired girl. "Never forget, that all of us care about you and we always will. Even if you forgot us, we could never, ever forget you." The child whispered in her ear as light slowly took over the dream world. "How could we ever forget our precious si-"
The light cut her off, taking with it the dream, and her old friend's last word and yet, Michiru didn't mind. How could she? For the moment the memory of her old friend had hugged her, she'd felt something shift in her, like a long lost part of her heart had finally come home. "Ogino Chihiro...how did I ever forget about you?" She wondered, closing her eyes and letting the light take her away from the dream.
Somehow she'd need to keep the promise she'd made to the memory of her old friend.
-Nerima-
"Hey Chi...sorry it took me so long to visit, things have been kind of crazy lately." A young man quietly murmured, kneeling in front of his old friend's grave.
His companion, a girl around his age, looked at the name engraved on the stone sadly. "Who was she?"
"An old friend." Was the boy's simple reply. "We used to be close, like siblings really."
"...So you fought constantly and hated each other's guts?"
The boy laughed and shook his head, his shoulders shaking with mirth. "Nah, I got along great with Chihiro, it was one of my other "siblings" I fought with."
"...you've never mentioned them before, I was surprised when you told me you were visiting the grave of an old friend."
"Things...happened that tore us apart. It was right around the time my bastard of a dad left and well...you know how I was back then."
"Right...that was when you turned into a jerk."
"According to you, I still am one."
"Yeah, but you're my jerk." The girl smiled and rubbed her boyfriend's back, looking down at the girl's tombstone. "Only fourteen...I didn't even know you could get cancer that young."
"...Neither did I. We all had to watch as she just...got worse." He chuckled, running his fingers over the engraved name. "You know she kept smiling, the whole time? She'd always tell us not to worry, that everything was going to be okay."
"She sounds very brave."
"Braver than anyone I've ever known." The boy murmured before standing and dusting off his jeans. "It's strange but...I miss the sound of her playing the violin." He smiled and put his hand in his pockets. "She wasn't any good at it, couldn't play three notes before sounding like a cat was dying, truth is I hated being around when she was practicing. But now...now all I want is to hear her play again."
"We'll have to visit again, after you finish up with...you know."
He just nodded and stared at the grave for a moment longer. "Yeah...but maybe nottoosoon. Can't have anyone thinking I'm a softie after all."
"No, we can't have that." His girlfriend laughed, entwining her fingers with his.
-Juban High-
Michiru hummed a small tune as she walked up to her school's entrance, today just felt...good in a way she couldn't explain. The other students were still either glaring or leering at her, she still felt the cramps in her lower abdomen like someone had taken a knife to her insides, she still had no idea what to do about everyone in Nerima, really there was no reason for her to be in a good mood and yet...
She felt better than she had in a long time, better than she ever had in fact. Something had happened inside of her, like a long lost puzzle piece had been found and fallen into place."I wonder what Chihiro is like these days."She thought to herself as she nearly danced around any students that were in her way."Ten years is a long time, so I bet she's changed a lot. She probably even has a boyfriend! I think she was pretty popular with some boys in the neighborhood...neighborhood?"She frowned, that didn't seem right, she'd been on the road with her pops for the entire fourteen years, aside from two or three years they'd spent in a town."No...I definitely remember playing with her in a neighborhood a few times...maybe we were staying there for a bit while pops worked to save up funds?"Ever since she woke up she'd been remembering little things about back then, most of them to do with Chihiro. There were a few other kids that she played with back then too, but she couldn't remember any details."Well, it'll probably come back to me sooner or later."She mused, twirling away from one of her classmates who attempted to grab her wrist, no doubt due to her currently less than stellar reputation."If the others could see me now, I doubt they'd recognize me, though I suppose thatwasthe point."She thought with some amusement, entering her classroom and sitting down at her desk.
"You look like you're in a good mood today." She heard Haruka say from beside her.
"Iamin a good mood." She said with a grin before looking around the room in confusion. "Sasaki-san's not here yet?" That was odd, even though she had only had a few days in class with her, even Michiru had been able to tell that Mayu took school seriously.
"Mm, not that I've seen, I think I heard something about her mom talking to the school board about the rumors."
"Ahhh, that would make sense." The teal haired girl winced, right, the rumors. In her cheerfulness this morning she'd forgotten about that. She turned to look at her blonde friend and looked them over. "...Orange? She asked after a few moments.
Haruka laughed and shook his head, grinning at Michiru in amusement. "Are you always going to ask that way?"
Michiru just shrugged and nodded, giving her classmate a cheeky smile. "It just seems right."
"Well maybe you'll get it right eventually, but this is not that day." The racer smirked, giving the teal haired girl a small push to her upper arm. "Today's an apple day."
"Damnit." Michiru cursed. "So when do you want to do this?" She asked after a moment, noting that her other classmates were staring at the interaction between her and the blond.
"Do this?" For a moment her classmate seemed confused until, with the help of a small head gesture from the teal haired girl at the rest of the class, she caught on. "Oh! That, well I was thinking after class we could meet up, maybe grab something to eat?"
"Sounds good to me." Michiru said, wincing at the slight surge of killing intent she could feel from one corner of the room. "Yeesh, that's if Nishikawa-san doesn't kill me before school's over." She muttered, making her classmate snicker.
"Better be careful, she seems real dangerous."
"Maybe to a teddy bear." She muttered, rolling her eyes. A random high school girl? Please. She could take anything the girl could throw at her with both arms tied behind her back...probably her legs too. Still, it was strange but...she actually felt excited for her fake date with her classmate. Definitely the only time she'd ever been excited to go on a date with a boy, that was for sure. Maybe because Haruka was a girl sometimes it was okay?
Either way, she was looking forward to it.