Chaotic Waters Act 2, Chapter 5: Discovery and a Threat.
Time won't free me, it binds me like a chain,
Centuries gone by, but the heartache remains.
Drinking the pain away, drowning in the dark,
Longing for your icy touch, your love left a mark.
"You wanna tell me what all that was about?" Haruka asked as he helped Melinoe stumble across the streets of Juban, one of the emerald haired woman's arms slung over his shoulder. The both of them had transformed back into their civilian clothes, not wanting someone in the media to catch wind of two "new" senshi.
"Not really." The woman muttered, pressing a hand to the side of her temple. "What I really want is a strong drink."
"Sorry, fresh out, but what youcanhave is a shot of "give me an answer or I'll drop you right here and now"."
"...doesn't sound like a storng drink to m-OW!" The woman complained, Haruka having let her slide off of his shoulder, letting the ancient warrior fall on her face. "You bastard, I fell on my nose!
"Ididwarn you." His tone couldn't have sounded more dry if he'd been living in a desert for days without water. "It's your own fault for not listening."
"Asshole." The woman muttered, gesturing for the blond to help her back up. When he had done so, and they had resumed their trek to her house she started speaking, her voice weary. "Being a demigod isn't all sunshine and rainbows...there's a cost if I tap into my heritage too much."
"And that is?" He asked, holding her up as they came to a stop, waiting for the light to tell them they could cross the street.
"My soul." Melinoe answered, getting a startled look in response. "What people these days consider to be "humanity" is a byproduct of the connection between their soul and their mortal body."
"Are you telling me you're damaging your soul when you do that?!"
"No, a soul can't be damaged." She paused, wincing before she amended what she had just said. "Well, it can't bepermanentlydamaged. You can twist and corrupt it until it's unrecognizable, but it can never truly break. Using my" She stopped, waiting until a man that had been walking towards them passed them before continuing. "unique abilities attacks theconnectionbetween my soul and my body, not my soul itself."
"And that means?"
"I become...less human, closer to one of the divine in how I think and act."
"You gonna be okay?"
"I'll be fine." The Guardian of Pluto said with a sigh. "The connection between the soul and the body might be fragile, but it's also resilient and I wasn't...like that for very long. A week without using those abilities should be enough for it to recover."
"Should?" He asked, giving her a sharp look.
"Should." Melinoe repeated. "That barrier I put up might complicate things, might not, too many possible factors to give a definitive answer."
"Factors?"
The emerald haired woman sighed and shook her head, fishing out her keys from her back pocket as they reached her house. "Unless you want a ten day lecture on the effects of divine power influencing a mortal body and how utilizing internal mana affects the fifth fundamental force of the universe that might make animal features spontaneously form on your body while you praise the existence of kinky plant aliens, don't ask."
"...that's a very specific example."
"There's a reason for that. The safer version lasts three months and will still make you feel inhuman for a week."
"...noted."
-Michiru's Apartment-
"Note to self, Michiru has a tendency to fall asleep during romance movies."Mayu thought in amusement, having put on another movie after the previous one ended. Pulling a small blanket up to the teal haired girl's chin, she smiled down at the gently snoring girl."I'll have to make sure we watch one every now and then, if for no other reason than she's cute when she's sleeping."
A knock at the door startled her and, with a glance at her girlfriend("We're girlfriends!")currently using her shoulder as a pillow, she carefully shifted Michiru so she was laying on the couch. The teal haired girl grumbled and let out a small whine before settling, curling up into a tight ball and nuzzling her nose into the blanket."Oh. My. God. She is soadorable, she's like a little kitten!"
Shaking her head, she walked to the door and looked out the peephole. There, waiting in front of the door, was...a middle schooler dressed as a shrine maiden holding a cardboard box?"The hell?"She opened the door, raising her eyebrow at the younger girl. "Can I help you?"
The girl started, her brow furrowing in confusion. "I'm sorry, I thought this was someone else's apartment. I'm looking for Kaioh-san's place?"
Did Michiru know this girl? "Thisisher place, I'm-" She paused, did the other girl want people to know about them? "-a friend of hers." She finished simply. "Is there something you needed from her?"
"Oh!" The miko said in surprise. "Good, grandpa did give me the right address. I'm here to give Kaioh-san this." She nodded at the box in her arms. "It's..." The girl hesitated, her expression telling Mayu that she wasn't sure if she should tell Mayu or not.
"Hino-san?" A groggy voice asked from behind her, she turned her head and saw the teal haired girl sit and rub her eyes before walking over to the two of them. "What are you doing here?"
"Kaioh-san!" The young girl exclaimed, a slight flush forming on the girl's face at the teal haired girl's state of dress.
"Awwww, baby gay."She thought in amusement. "You know her?" She asked, looking at Michiru who was covering her mouth as a yawn escaped her.
"Yeah." The cursed girl responded, rubbing her eyes. "My boss is her grandfather, not sure why she's here though."
"Grandfather asked me to deliver this to you." The girl, Hino, once more nodded at the box in her arms. "It's..." She hesitated, glancing at Mayu before looking back at the cursed girl. "It's that stuff grandpa said he'd get for you."
For a moment, Michiru had no idea what the younger girl was talking about until, like a lightbulb going off, she understood. "Oh, you mean the research your grandpa and his friends did about Jusenkyō?"
Hino's eyes widened. "She knows?!" The girl whisper-yelled.
She sighed and nodded her head, waving the girl inside and taking a step back into the room. She gestured for Mayu to close the door, sitting back down on her couch. "Yeah, she knows." No matter how she felt about being in a relationship with her two classmates, it still rubbed her the wrong way that the two had found out at all."I'm still not even sure if agreeing to date them was the right choice."
"Is this about your curse?" Mayu asked, looking at the box with a interested look.
"Yeah, Hino-san-" She waved her hand. "-not her, her grandpa and his friends were looking into the curses because..." She sent Rei a questioning look.
"My aunt was cursed." Rei explained, getting a look of understanding from the class president at her words.
"Makes sense, this isn't making your life seem any less like a manga you know." Her girlfriend said, amusement dotting her tone.
She groaned, putting her head in her hands. "Don't remind me..." The words were muffled, but not impossible to hear.
"Riiight, anyway grandpa asked me to drop this off for you, it's everything him and his friends ever managed to dig up." The shrine maiden set the box down, pulling the top open with her fingers. "Grandpa said most of its history of people who've been cursed before, or old legends and their translations."
"More than I knew before." She muttered, pulling out a manilla file and flicking through the papers within. They were all slips of paper with two photographs paperclipped to them and, after coming across one with pictures of her own two forms, she realized what they were.
This was a list of people who had been cursed.
"Those old guys don't mess around." She muttered, sliding the paper with her pictures back into the folder and looking at another one."Name, their age at the time of being cursed, what curse they got, how they got it, the date they got cursed, it's all here."She thought in amazement.
"What's that you got there?" Mayu asked, looking through another folder that, according to the writing on it, was a catalogue of every cursed spring.
"List of people who have been cursed and their info." She answered, her eyes scanning over a detailed report of a woman in the 19th century who had fallen in chiwanīchuan, the spring of drowned frog. "Pretty detailed too." She turned to the next sheet of paper and stopped when she realized she'd heard of them.
HikawaAkiraAsami.
Date of Birth: 08-19-1953
Date of Curse: 12-28-1973
Date of Death: 06-21-1975
Curse: Nyannīchuan (Spring of Drowned Girl)
Cause of Curse: Losthisher balance while attempting to acquire a sample of Nyannīchuan.
Cause of Death: Extreme blood loss from complications of childbirth of which neither her nor the children survived.
Additional Note: The children were posthumously named Pa Fum and-
The folder fell from her numb fingers, scattering papers all over the floor.
"It can't be..."Again and again she read the damning words on the paper in her hands. "Hino-san..." She licked her lips. "Your aunt...she died in childbirth right?"
Rei frowned, obviously not liking the question. "Yeah, why?"
"And her kid, they didn't make it either?" She continued, her eyes darting back and forth between the paper in her hands and the younger girl.
"No, both of them died, why are you asking me that? Grandpa already told you that when you two spoke."
Offering the paper to Rei, her thoughts raced like an out of control train, it was impossible, it couldn't be.
But if it was...
Rei took the paper looking it over and nodding at the information. "This seems right." the girl said after a moment. "I didn't know that Aunt Asami had been pregnant with twins, but other than that everything matches what I know."
"Look at the name of the second kid." She stressed, her fingers twitching.
"Michiru-chan, what's going on?" Mayu's voice was like a bam soothing the nervous energy that was building in her body. She shuddered as she felt the girl wrap a thin arm around her waist, hugging her lightly.
"Why does the name of my dead cousin have to do with anything?" Rei muttered, looking down at the paper. "It's...actually I'm not sure how to pronounce it, Exean puh?"
"It's pronounced Xian Pu." She corrected, a shiver running down her spine. "And unless there's another 17 year old girl who looks like a younger version your aunt-" She pointed at the picture paperclipped to the paper. "-she's not dead."
"Another day, another failed search."Nodoka thought with a grimace. She set her suitcase next to the futon and sighed, she wouldn't get anywhere just walking through town. "It's not like I can call the police either, Ranma is out here hiding and I don't want to get them involved if he's done anything...less than legal to do so." She ran her hand through her shortened hair, delighting in the odd thrill it sent down her spine.
Shaking her head, she sighed and started to undress, unbuttoning her shirt and, with a groan of relief, removing her chest wrap."Gods that feels so much better."She mused, rubbing her aching shoulders. It wasn't like she minded her breasts, they were a decent size she supposed, though they could be a little smaller...
She shook her head, no use dwelling on her weird self-image issues. "Where could he be?" She wondered. "Kuonji-san and Konatsu-san certainly believe he's here, but I suppose he could have let them think that and hid somewhere else."
"Unfortunately he picked up a bad habit of doing small little schemes from his father, so I can't be sure of whether or not he'd do something like that."Once again she sighed, laying down on the futon without bothering to take off her pants. For a moment she lay there, just looking up at the ceiling, before a small chuckle rose in her throat. "How did mother put it? Coinnigh do mhisneach?" The language her mother had taught her so long ago spilled from her lips easily even though it had been many years since she'd last had the opportunity to speak it."I wish you could have met Ranma, you would have loved him mother."She snorted,"Then again, maybe Ranma got his use of schemes from you and not Genma."She mused with a chuckle, remembering her mother's penchant for childish pranks. "A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book A stór" That was what her mother would say to her whenever the woman had pulled a prank on her father.
Whether or not any of them had been sick or in need of a "cure" at the time was besides the point.
"If it weren't for the fact that mother was the first of her family to leave Ireland in a few hundred years, I'd've thought she had kitsune blood in her with how much she loved to cause mischief."A brief image of her mother, with her fiery red hair, snickering with fox ears and a fluffy tail appeared in her mind, sending her into peals of laughter. She knew, without a doubt in her mind, that her mother would have dressed up as one just for the fun of it.
"If you can't figure out how to solve the problem in front of you No-chan, break it into smaller pieces." It was her father she quoted this time, a man just as stubborn as her mother had been playful. "Okay...okay." She took a deep breath and crossed her arms as she considered the task before her.
"I'm trying to find my son, when he doesn't want to be found, in a ward I've only been in a couple times, and all the while he may or may not even be here."That was the problem so to break it up, she'd need to...
"I need to look at each part of it." She muttered, tapping her fingers on her arm. "He doesn't want to be found, meaning he's probably in disguise." She frowned. "And he has twice the number of disguises available to him, though his cursed form's red hairispretty distinct, people would remember something like that."
"He could have dyed his cursed form's hair like I did."That was a definite possibility, though from the stories she'd heard her son tended to prefer wigs over hair dyes.
"I'm looking for him in a ward I don't know that well."That was a big part of the problem and not one she could just solve by walking around."I need help from someone who's lived here a while."Did she even know anyone like that? "Saeko-chan!" She exclaimed, jumping to her feet."She's lived in this district for the last eight years! I could ask for her help!"
"You can't keep doing this Melinoe." The words fell from Haruka's lips as he watched the ancient woman open a new bottle of vodka after downing the first.
"Like hell I can't." The Guardian of Pluto muttered. "Last I checked I've been an adult for longer than most civilizations have existed, if I want to drink, then I'm going to drink."
"That's not the point and you know it!" He snapped, glaring down at the seated woman. "Look I understand-"
"You don't understandanything." The woman hissed, her crimson eyes glaring into his own with a coldness and cruelty he had never seen before. "Do you have any idea how long I've been alive?"
He waved his hand dismissively. "Couple million years is what you said."
"Yes." Melinoe growled. "Two and a halfmillionyears. I saw the Ice Age, I've walked through the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, I helpedbuildRome!" She stood, stalking towards Haruka like a predator hunting it's prey. "I have seen nations rise and fall and become nothing butmythonly to be forgotten." She spat the word myth out as if it were a curse, causing him to step back until he came in contact with the wall of the emerald haired woman's living room. "I have walked through the streets of Atlantis, marveled at the beauty of Shangri-La, stepped upon the ground of Hy-Brasil, and have found the secret entrances to Xibalba, Avalon, Tír na nÓg, Kur, and Valhalla."
Though there was only five centimeters of difference in their height Haruka felt as if the ancient woman towered over him as she spoke. Her words were cold and clipped as she continued her tirade. "I have fought gods and demons, made deals with the fae, and watched as the last dragon took it's final breath. I have seen more, done more than any being on this or any other planet that was known to the Solarin Empire, and none of it-" Her hand flew out, sending the bottle flying from her grip until it crashed into the opposite wall, shattering and spilling the spirit all over her wall and floor. "-none of it compares toher!" Melinoe's chest heaved, her eyes ablaze with grief and something Haruka could only describe as controlled madness as she spoke. "I would give all of it away, undo everything I have done in my long life, and burn this planet to the ground if I could just hold her for one, single second more, but I can't!"
A sob tore from the woman as she fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around herself tightly. Fat tears fell down her cheeks as a wail of pain and sorrow tore itself from her throat unlike any Haruka had heard before in his 17 years. "I arrived from my Gate just in time to watch the woman I love...the woman I wanted to spend my life with fall to the ground after beingtorn in half." Her head shot up to glare at him as he stood there and in that instant, Haruka understood.
Melinoe wasn't some drunk who drank to feel a buzz, she was a woman in pain. She had lived thousands upon thousands of lifetimes carrying the grief of losing her loved ones every single second of herlonglife. She didn't drink just to drink, or for social situations, or to forget.
The woman drank to make her loss easier to bear.
"Every single person I've ever loved isgone! My friends, my family...my love, they're all gone and do you know what the worst part is?! I have the power to see them whenever I want, but I can't-" Her hand slammed into the floor with a loud bang and somehow he just knew something underneath the carpet had broken. "-because of a stupid."
A chill ran down his spine while fire burned in his veins. His vision spun as pain lanced through his head, feeling as though something in his brain had burst. That word, there was something unnatural about it, something his mind couldn't make sense of. "Banana pants tuna bigot?" He paused and frowned, that hadn't sounded right.
For a moment, Melinoe looked at him in rage before her eyes widened and she let out a curse. Standing, she reached her hand out and placed it on his head releasing a pressure he hadn't even noticed until then. "What...what was that?"
"Me being an idiot." Melinoe muttered with her eyes closed. She sighed and took her hand off of the shorter blond, muttering angrily to herself. "I said a word in the divine tongue and it gave you a stroke." The woman explained, walking over to her liquor cabinet and removing another bottle of Vodka. "I did say that getting your brain turned to mush from hearing it was an accurate description, it wasn't made for mortals." Twisting her wrist, she cracked open the bottle and took a long swig, ignoring the look she got from the blond. "Look," She started, after she pulled the bottle from her lips. "in case you forgot, I'm a Plutonian, not a Terran. My body is different from yours and everyone else's on this planet. I'm not going to get into details, but it's physically impossible for me to die of alcohol poisoning." She took another long drink from her bottle, giving her old friend's reincarnation a side glance. "Believe me, I've tried."
"...and how is that going to make things better when you get me or the others killed?" Haruka asked sharply, getting a surprised look from the ancient woman before it shifted into annoyance. "Just because you can't die from it doesn't mean that it doesn't have an effect on you, I've seen you hungover enough to know that's the case! What do you think is gonna happen if you're here getting plastered and there's an attack? You think the others, most of whicharen't even in high schoolI'll remind you, are just gonna stand by when there's a threat to this city or the world for that matter?! You're older than all of us, with more experience and training than we could ever get on our own, yet those girls have done more for this city and the world than you have, by your own admission, in centuries!"
"They don't need my help." The woman muttered, putting the bottle to her lips once more. "They're doing just fine on their own."
"The hell they are!" He snapped, slashing his hand in front of him. "Every single battle they've faced they've nearly died! The only reason I've lasted as long as I have is because you taught me how to channel my powers correctly and even then I'm still struggling, they're flying blind!"
"Well what do you want me to do about it?! Should I just go up to them while my heart gets torn apart because they aren't my friends, my family?!" Melinoe snapped, slamming the bottle down on the counter, thankfully not hard enough to break a second bottle. "I can barely look at any of them without wanting to throw up! Aglaia and Kapheira's reincarnations are so obsessed with getting a damn boy toy that they never train, Andronika's is wasting her time at that temple instead of teaching the others how to channel spiritual energy, Eirene's is a klutz who doesn't take having the powers she does seriously, and Galyna's-" The emerald haired woman hesitated before scowling and continuing where she left of. "Galyna's couldn't fight her way out of a paper bag."
"So teach them, teach all of us for fucks sake! I just found out today that the best friend I have ever had was beaten and abused to the point she barely even remembers me and on top of that she's wrapped up in all this magical girl bullshit too!" Growling, he jabbed a finger into the taller woman's chest. "If I lose her again because you can't get your head out of your ass, so help me I will end you!"
It was quiet when Rei walked up to the doors of her grandfather's temple, the cool night air creating goosebumps on her body."Alive. At least one of Aunt Asami's daughters might be alive...I might have a cousin."It was an odd thing to think about, even finding out that she could throw around fireballs didn't compare to this revelation.
Idly she felt Phobos and Deimos land on one of her shoulders each and she reached up a hand to gently stroke the feathers on their chests. The crows had always been there for her ever since her mother had died and she loved them like they were family. Even to this day she couldn't say how she knew their names when her and her mother had visited the shrine when she was younger. Phobos on her left nuzzled her neck while Deimos preened under the attention she was currently giving the crow.
She didn't try to get the two off of her as she walked into the shrine, both her and her grandfather had long gotten used to the two birds using her as a perch and it was simply a normal occurrence for them. Without thinking, she walked into the kitchen and pulled out the container of cherries her grandpa had gotten for her and offered a berry to each of the crows.
"Decided they needed a treat?" Her grandpa asked as he walked into the kitchen.
"Mmm." She murmured, nodding in assent."Should I tell him? Do I dare get his hope up?"
Her grandfather turned, looking at her oddly with a slight frown marring his wrinkled face. "Something wrong?"
"I...maybe." She shook her head, stroking Phobos' neck. "Someone told me something and I want to make sure they're true before I do anything about it"
"Hmmm...can I help?"
"Not this time grandpa...I don't want to get you involved until I make sure she was telling the truth."She shook her head and giggled as Deimos nipped her ear gently for another berry. "I don't think so, girl stuff." She lied, offering more berries to the birds before putting the container away.
The two crows let out a chirp of disappointment before taking off, their wings brushing against her cheeks as they took off towards the open kitchen window.
"I have never understood those birds," Her grandpa muttered, his eyes dancing in mirth. "but I am always thankful for them, they've helped you a lot over the years."
"They really have." She murmured, images of the worst day in her life, her mother's funeral passing through her mind.
Together they watched, together they waited.
They had seen their lady get hurt time and time again, they had seen her grow, and they had seen her start the path to becoming a Guardian again with her friends from so long ago.
And still they waited, for a time where they would be needed once again, for a moment where their sin of failure could be redeemed.
So they watched, containing their crimson and amethyst flames of fear and panic, of dread and terror deep within their breasts.
So they yearned, for the moment where they could spread their true wings and incinerate their lady's enemies sonot even ashes remained.
_Translations and other notes_
Coinnigh do mhisneach: Keep your courage (Keep your chin up)
A stór: my treasure
: Law
Atlantis: The lost city that sunk into the ocean spoken of in Plato's works Timaeus and Critias. In CW it served as the capital of the Terran Kingdom in the Solarin Empire.
Shangri-La: Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains, described in the novel Lost Horizon by author James Hilton. It is said to be a mystical, harmonious valley where those who live there are almost immortal, living hundreds of years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance.
Hy-Brasil: A phantom island said to lie in the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland, it is said to be cloaked in mist except for one day every seven years, when it can be seen but never reached.
Xibalba: The name of the underworld in Mayan mythology.
Avalon: A mythical island featured in the Arthurian legend where King Arthur is said to have been taken to recover from being gravely wounded at the Battle of Camlann.
Tír na nÓg: One of the names for the Celtic Otherworld, or for a part of it, said to be as an island paradise and supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy.
Kur: The ancient Mesopotamian underworld described as a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground, where inhabitants were believed to be neither punished nor rewarded for their deeds in life.
Valhalla: A place in Norse mythology where half of the Viking warriors killed in battle go into the afterlife, the other half are chosen by the goddess Freyja to reside in Fólkvangr.