[Log] OSHI- Productions Presents..
WHO: Mai Tokiha, Mashiro Windbloom, oodles of NPCs
WHEN: 08-08-07
WHERE: Fuuka,
WHAT: Mashiro is pulled in an alternate reality by a mysterious individual who has a story to tell.
Such a wonderful week it has been! Sure Haruka's got a li'l problem, but Mai, who was thought to be dead, was actually alive! Or .. had been dead and Kagutsuchi brought her back to life. SHe was remarkably vague about that. Still, the important thing is that she's BACK! YAY! There's a thickness in the air today; the sort of tension that says it's about to rain. Given the overcast state of the sky, this is perhaps all too true. Strangely there are no people on the streets - but maybe they're all just avoiding the impending rain?
On the bright side, a few of the stragglers have come back to school, and the damage is starting to be repaired. Most of the scrap has been hauled away, the bridge is close to reopening, and except for a few scarred pieces of the campus landscape -- and one *really big*, even newer, scar -- things are returning to some semblance of normal. Of course, there's a lot of theories about what happened, but most are simply rumors..only a relative few are left with the burden of what they saw, that night.
One of those people is the chairman's 'European cousin', Mashiro, dressed lightly for summer still, and inside the light forest where search teams still haven't looked too closely. The object of interest is still one of those signs that something 'odd' happened here, a piece of one of the APCs that got destroyed -- but what's remarkable about it is the symbol on it, which one of Mashiro's slender fingers traces the outline of, as he half-closes his eyes. More than anything else, this sign has haunted him, on many levels. 'Searrs.. What were they? And what could they tell me?'
Of course, he's also thoughtlessly out without so much as an umbrella. :|
As Mashiro wanders along, umbrella-less and lost in thought, a ball bounces down the street, slowly rolling and coming to a stop against the boy's foot. There is an owner though! The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps can be heard, until a young girl with short blue hair can be seen. She takes ONE look at Mashiro, gasps, then promptly turns and flees. ..
The heck was that all about? Wait - she forgot her ball! Oh what a shame! Are you going to be the brave soul and return it for her? Well? ARE YOU?
He's pretty lost in thought about the fragment, not noticing most of the general...creepiness that seems to permeate the atmosphere, this otherwise fine day. Something physically striking him is a bit hard to ignore, however, and he can be seen to blink when he feels something rolling to a stop next to his foot. Instinctively, he bends over to pick it up..when he spots the presumed owner out of the corner of his eyes -- of course, prompting him to sit up quickly with it. He's just about to throw it back and return it, when-- --what the--
"H..hey, wait! You forgot your--" And then, just as quickly, she's gone, leaving him standing there holding the ball, and a really round SD head with two dot eyes staring after. "What was that about," he wonders? But..that's not important. Setting the armor piece down where the proper crews can find it better, he starts moving in the direction he saw that girl heading towards, but not so hurriedly that it might be misconstrued as stalking her. ...that's odd, though. Had he seen her before? It was hard to tell, with just that glimpse.
It's a traaaaaaaaaaaap! Oh wait.
As Mashiro follows after the mysterious girl he may or may not feel a sudden sense of vertigo. The area seems a little different too, for that matter. A little more.. washed out, and paler. That blue haired girl is already up ahead, running as fast as her little legs can carry her, straight towards the gate of a large building. But lest Mashiro intend on giving up, she stops at the door and looks back. And if Mashiro himself turns --
The way back is gone. It's just a large spanse of grey.
The young 'princess' can't remember having headed this way before, which must explain the queasy bit of disorientation he feels moving forward. Eventually, however, it's too much to ignore, and as he's starting to feel like he's going to have to drop onto his knees to stabilize and focus, he turns his head around to glance back to where he's been -- maybe get a better sense of his location. That's when his eyes widen, and he gives a sharp gasp. What..!?
Instinctively, he lumbers a few steps away from the grey receding into infinity..which will probably only make even more of it fade, in hindsight. There goes any option to turn back..and so, he again looks to the girl that seems to be waiting, and he tries calling while holding up the ball, "Ah.. ..whoever you are, you lost this!" He'll just return the ball, and then figure out what's going on. That's it..
The girl doesn't make any attempt to approach to take the ball back - instead, she ducks inside the house. THe gate to the building, as well as the door, are left open, to creak open and shut several times. Invitation? or had she just not heard what Mashiro said? What light there is is steadily vanishing, and there is the ominous rumble of thunder sounding perilously close. A big fat droplet of drain smacks Mashiro right on the little button nose. The only sign of shelter is that creepy building, or a path through a forest -- wait, where did that forest come from? :/ How very surreal!
He can't help but stop and rub his head a bit, as the girl once again moves out of sight, once it seems she's convinced he's going to follow. Of course..there might be that inkling that he's read stories like this before, and that he's daydreaming..but for now, there's no real alternative but to move forward. Steeling his resolve with a long breath, he further clenches a fist around the ball -- if it's even still there -- and moves to continue on towards the house, especially now that it seems a thunderstorm is going to add even more reason to follow.
However, as soon as he's inside, the environs seems to change.. ..and this once again causes him to stumble to a stop, and blink in confusion. Even if it's still raining, he'll just stand here for a few moments getting soaked.
There's the sound of laughter. Familiar laughter. Shadowed figures suddenly race past Mashiro, one holding another's hand, pulling them along, and a third scampering on all fours. "Hurry, Hurry! The storm is coming!" Cries one, "You'll get drenched!" One of the figures stops, turns slightly - their features are blurred and indistinct, but there's the sense that they're looking at Mashiro. "Well? Are you going to just stand there? Come on, hurry up!" There's something distinctly -familiar- about that voice..
Any minute now, he'll wake up and find he was daydreaming.. ..perhaps some bad memories brought up by everything that he'd been through in the last week or two. But...it all seems so real now, that he can't seem to dispel the strange visions. His heart skips a beat from the confusion, and trying to make out the details..but nothing seems to quite fall into place, so odd is the setting. And yet..that familiarity. His eyebrows furrow, but..eventually, he nods, succumbing to wherever this bizarre encounter is leading him. "Y...yeah," he mumbles, moving forward to try and find some shelter, like the hard to discern people presumably scrambling for it themselves. He even gets sidetracked from his mission of returning the ball, for the moment.
The water from the skies comes down heavier - impossibly huge droplets smacking into pavement with the force of small rocks cracking against the ground. Hailstones? Likely. But looking up will show a far more disturbing sight - the sky, cracked with black spiderlike lines spreading as far as the eye can see. The wind starts to pick up, just as Mashiro reaches the safety (dubious though it is) of the house, somewhere there's a bloodcurdling scream; the sort of wail that echoes for miles, filled with rage and misery. A second scream follows it, and this one is pure fury.
This dream just keeps getting weirder. Mashiro doesn't notice the strange sights, at first..he's much too preoccupied with getting to relative safety, or whatever qualifies in this strange nightmare world he seems to have fallen into. The smacking of what almost seems like a rain of small pebbles keeps him moving forward, though, and serves to keep him from drifting too much into the 'fantasy'. Once he's under the cover of a house, though...probably abandoned, or filled with 'fuzzy' people too scared to care about his trespassing, he does get a good glimpse. He's run out of surprise now, though, so he just stares..mouth slightly open, but more out of trying to absorb everything than any real fear, just yet. '...this all seems a little familiar, but...' He squeezes the ball for a moment, and he's reminded to start peering around to see if he can catch sight of that girl -- but then the terrible screaming start, and he winces, nearly doubling over as he places his hands to his ears. "Wh..who's there! Are you hurt!?" Though..this kind of screaming.. Is different.
Is it a dream? Or is it reality? Can you say for sure which it is? Once the screaming begins, the blurry figures stop what they're doing and immediately move to corners of the room, huddling there to cling to each other. The laughter stops, replaced by terrified whimpering.
"It's hap -- "
"-e'll never stop -"
"--- ---o cruel, why does s--- --"
"-- ant to go ho--"
THeir voices run together, snippets heard here and there, but it's one voice, small, clear that cuts through the mumbling, that can be heard the loudest.
Even if it was a voice barely raised above a whisper.
"You don't belong here. Hee hee."
There is a figure by the window; lines sharpened, blue hair and a pink dress. She stands at the window, staring out curiously. "They won't make it." She says after a moment, of whatever she sees outside.
Then, "You can't do anything for that pain." The girl turns slightly, "It transcends everything. It is all that person knows. That person hates that pain. That person is that pain. That person brings that pain. Hee hee."
The voices kind of mash together, after a while, leaving Mashiro with a combination of disorientation, frustration, and maybe just a little anger. He looks between the poorly defined, yet hauntingly familiar figures closeby, then back out at the odd landscape outside. That is...before he becomes fully aware of another presence in the vicinity. With this, he wheels about, finally able to experience shock again, and he nearly drops the ball on this one. Even so..his eyebrows furrow, as he's given far more questions than answers. "..that person," he wonders? Somehow, at the back of his head, he feels like he should know..and yet.. He starts trying to step forward to the only other figure that can truly said to appear solid, in this place, "Who is that..and why are they in pain?"
The girl sways a bit in place as she focuses on Mashiro, who apparently is taller by at least a foot. "That person no longer knows their name. That person has lived in anger, rage and pain for an eternity. Since the Dark Times began. That person is in pain because they have nothing. Everything that made that person .. is gone. Destroyed. The rage has consumed them, and soon.. soon it will consume us." The girl pauses. "It comes. We who do not exist here, must go, lest we be consumed by the Rage too." That said, she turns, starting to make her way down a hallway, clearly expecting Mashiro to follow.
However should Mashiro look outside, he will see a small family desperately racing towards the house, only to be consumed by a terrible, monsterous darkness that literally reaches out of the shadows of the forest, closing its jaws around them, and receding. Again, that terrible scream, more of a wail of the pain and distress.
Is this girl, this strange yet unable to be turned away from girl -- actually telling him to run away from these people that need his help? He actually glances in the direction of some family that it's impossible for him to know, and yet, he's surrounded by conflicting emotions about it. He gets a little sick, for a moment, at how he's supposed to just stand by while whatever terrible thing is happening here, and his fist clenches and unclenches around that presumably still-present ball. "..so that's it, we're supposed to just turn and walk away?" Not so long ago, a far more defeated and self-deprecating Mashiro might have agreed, but for now, the least he can do is watch, and not turn his eyes. For some reason, some tears are coming to them, despite himself.. Anger, sadness.. "I spent most of my life running away from my problems.."
"This thing is not your problem." The girl notes. "You are not of this world. You are but a tourist, who by someone's will, stumbled upon this place. Do you mean to co-- t-- rkn--? I-- -- o--- --all."
Something strange is clearly going on; the girl's words become distorted, her figure hard to see. The room ripples, and then .. freezes, as if time itself has stopped. Even the sounds in the room have halted, and there's a momentary breathlessness as if all the air has been sucked out of the room.
His eyebrows once again turn inward slightly, as things are getting harder to see and harder to hear. And then, suddenly, there's nothing. Did he get sucked in, too? To that inky blackness? ...but there are worse conditions to die at. If he'd have run, he'd have only been a coward. At least he didn't just turn away from all that suffering, as hard as it was to take. Experimentally, he tries to move an arm in the inky blackness..if he even has an arm to move, since it's hard to tell. But..any thing he could have hoped to gain insight by doing, there, is cut short as he is suddenly short of breath. Is this..what it's like to die?
A heaviness follows, and a bone tingling sensation. The door slips open, bringing with it a haze of rain and hail - dark fabric whips violently into the room, and a figure garbed entirely in black steps in. The hood is drawn up, the figure concealed entirely in shadow - though from what -can- be told, it's female.
Again, that sense of deja vu hits, but when the figure turns, it is with surprise to see Mashiro there, so clearly out of place. It's like he's the only spot of color in an otherwise almost monochrome room, everything else having gone to various shades of black, white and grey.
"You." The word slips free from a familiar sounding voice, drops heavy like stone, burning with hatred. Whatever had Mashiro done to anger this person so? Ah, but this is That Person wasn't it? "=YYYYYYOU=" A hand twitches beneath the cloak, clenches to the sound of metal clanking. "You. Do not. Belong here. GET OUT."
The sensation of heaviness increases, sharpening, "You dare show your face here. What more would you take - would that I could destroy you, the way you .." Rage builds up, and in the distance there's a loud roar of a hungry animal. "Even though.. I cannot do so permanently.." The figure turns. "Even though it will not last, I should kill you where you stand, YOU MENACE. That you dare to stand there, MOCKING ME.."
If he didn't belong here, then why was he even brought here? He would have been content to just stay there in the coming rain, looking at that odd symbol -- the one that Searrs carries as its emblem. Instead, he was lured here, then unable to turn back, he did the only thing he could..and then, asked to turn away from all of this, he simply couldn't. This is why he must suffer now, apparently, crouched on one knee, so far as he can feel it, drawing in deeper breaths to combat seeming hypoxia. He can't discern whether it's just the feeling of the darkness around him, or a real sensation..such as things are in dream worlds. 'This must be, 'that person', but..what is this feeling..' "I didn't ask..to come here," Mashiro finally exhales, able to force breaths.. "..but now that I'm here..I'm not going to just be another of those scared people." Trying to build his strength to try and stand, he even dares to try to move forward..towards the source of the annoyed voice, and even that of the beast.
That THING is approaching. "DON'T MOVE." And just like that, that hand lifts partially from beneath the cloak - another clank of metal and a flash of gold, and then an invisible wall that Mashiro may come in contact with should he continue forward. "You think these fools are scared now," the voice borders on insanity as the figure draws away, "You've seen nothing yet."
A low chuckle follows, a voice so low it's hard to hear. "Because of them.. everything was taken away. Yes.. it's no one's fault but theirs." A hand traces over the wall, leaving tracks of fire. "You claim that you didn't ask to come here, then why are you here? What world are you destroying now? Who's dreams are you ruining? Murderous soul.. no matter what I have done you are guilty of far more. That's why.. everything must burn. For their sake, I do this. This is what they would have wanted. Because of you, they all.. they all..."
As flames start curling against the wall, a small voice speaks near Mashiro's ear. "Hee hee. Everything's going to burn. But I wonder, do you want to see something more interesting?"
This is all definitely way too immersive to be just any normal daydream..and so Mashiro has long since started paying very close attention. If..it can even be called a dream, anymore. Weakened somewhat by barely being able to breathe in this kind of oppressive atmosphere, Mashiro suddenly finds that he can't move forward..even if he wanted to, despite the command of this -- other presence.
But even if he can't pursue them physically, he can at least *try* to ask questions, to make some sense of this. "..what..do you mean," he gasps out, it might sound demanding if he had actual lungs full of air. "I've never..done anything like destroy a world." It's not like he's ever lived any other lives, and thanks to events in his own world, he remembers...*pretty* far back. Hearing another voice, though..that same out-of-place, haunting one..he listens, then wonders, "What would you show me? That would..change anything..?"
"Where you are now is a reality between realities. It exists, but it doesn't exist. And you were chosen for a very specific reason." A long pause. Is this voice going to say what that reason is?
...
No. No it's not. "Hee hee. Doshioooo.. I wonder if anything would change. Oto! The beautiful one strikes - time to go."
The black garbed figure pulls an arm back, flames gathering - and the surroundings spin, whirle in a dizzying kaleidoscope of color until there's a sudden stop in the middle of a sunny, colorful meadow.
That blue haired girl is present, hands clasped behind her back as she stood nearby, smiling widely. Whatever the location is, it's untouched by the darkness, and by the angry woman back at the building. in the horizon, however, a thick plume of black smoke extends skyward.
"This is where the cycle began."
In some ways that Mashiro doesn't dare admit to himself, just yet, it's starting to make sense..to connect. But surely there's a lot of other explanations for... Regardless, finding himself in a bit more comfortable surroundings, and finally being able to breathe and see a bit more clearly, is a small relief when seeing that trail of destruction, far in the distance. "..the cycle," he responds in kind, as though a seed of realization had been planted, but he still holds some doubts, and a whole lot of questions. "..so you're saying that this will happen again and again.."
--what.
His look suddenly becomes troubled, as he looks to the girl. 'Masaka-- Does this mean that it's going to happen again soon? Then..' He doesn't need to speak his concerns, since it's written quite clearly on his face as he lowers his eyes, and his expression changes into one of disbelief, tempered with concern. That she never bothered to reveal the 'reason' he was chosen seems par for this course, by now.
"Pinpon pinpon!" The girl claps her hands cheerfully, "Brighter than the others, I see. How refreshing!"
"Yes, the cycle will begin again. That Person has few freedoms, but that person, and all those connected to them, is destined for an unhappy ending. It would be interesting to know if that ever changes, but after two thousand years, the cycle has never deviated. Look there," The blue haired girl points at something in the distance.
Several people are sitting on a picnic blanket, enjoying each other's company, laughing and having a grand time. But their faces are indistinct, and any attempt to draw nearer will make them seem to draw further away. Voices can be heard pretty clearly though.
"..ki-chan always gets so frazzled when .."
"..Hahahaha! That's so true!"
"..i! That's not funny!"
"Ne ne, she's so red!"
"Shut up!"
"Aw, Na- ..." A girl with short dark hair gets up and flops against the other, who grumbles goodnaturedly.
"Such happy little times. So wonderful to see, no? What you see is the end of days." She waves a hand, and a shadow passes overhead. "After that.."
To have everything set in stone about you...that hardly seems a fair way to live your life. No wonder 'that person' was angry! That alone causes a frown to come to the corners of Mashiro's lips, as he looks downward. Yet..that's the very essence of a 'cycle', isn't it? But..if this truly is a 'reality between realities', then that might mean..this greater destiny is linked even between their worlds. He's just about to bring his hands to his head again from trying to absorb it all, when he hears his 'outsider' companion's prompt.
This causes him to look up, and while the faces are distinct, and the conversation choppy and hard to hear from this distance..or any other.. They're also frightfully familiar. This is..a nice little picnic. But..certain fragments, cause his eyes to widen all over again, and his jaw to slack open. 'It can't be..' Yet as much as he'd like it not to, again, pieces of the puzzle keep falling. "This is..." As he's about to say something, though, he falls quiet, as things once again begin to change.
"Hmm?" The young girl leans down, "Naninani?" Oh she knows damn well what Mashiro was going to say. But it's half the fun to let things play out, no? The latter comment gets a particularly serious, "Haa.."
And then the rain comes. Well the rain comes but it doesn't really -reach- as far as the pair stand. It seems to go right through them, like they stood between the drops, or were ghosts themselves.
"Something came."
The girl narrates, as several figures can be seen in the darkening sky, silhouetted on the ground and air itselfs, ghosts of the past as they charge against an unseen enemy. "Something unprecedented." Howls against the wind are heard, weapons clashing, guns firing, voices screaming in pain and outrage.
"The thing sought out the weakest first. Those that couldn't fight back. Healers, and defenders."
A voice screams, is cut off - and a body falls, a woman dressed in a nurse's outfit. Beside her, a knight in blue dress uniform.
"Women.. children.. Mothers... Fathers.."
More screams, the sound of metal tearing through fabric and flesh. Multiple bodies fall.
"Sou.. even babies were not spared."
A baby's wail rings out - and just as suddenly, is cut short.
Silence.
Living it, even by proxy as he is now, makes it a little hard to turn away from, much less deny. The youth's eyes are transfixed on the shapes and silhouettes, made more real by the words of the more solid figure closeby -- and even by some of his own experiences. He can't truly be horrified, since this is not of his time or place, and yet..he can't help but feel a terrible empathy, which causes him to hold a hand over his heart, especially as the last heart-wrenching sounds pass into nothing. "But how could something like that exist," he wonders, still not able to completely give in to belief? Even seeing all he has, it's hard to accept; "Something that has the power to touch lives across time itself -- something like that not ought to be real." Little does he know that he's holding just a little piece of that, right inside of him.
"How indeed?" The girl grins faintly, crouching to pluck a flower. "Maa. It would have been okay if it was just that. Humans have that tendency to perservere and grow stronger through things like this. But," she plucks a petal. "Then, it turned to those closest to the protectors."
This time the shadows pass over, clearing the battle field. The figures are a little clearer. Not enough to make out their identities, though guesses can be made of course. Probably correct ones at this point.
A girl with wavy blonde hair strolls down a sidewalk, swinging a baton and chatting on the phone.
A young woman with ash brown hair is busyat the computer, a perturbed expression on her face.
Three men sit around a table, watching sports and chatting amicably.
A young girl and her lover sit on a park bench feeding geese, peacefully.
"One .."
The two women look up, expressions of alarm on their faces. One screams. The other does not.
"By.."
A goose looks up, and cracking bones are heard as its body shifts, mutating. The boy pauses to stare while the girl screams. The mutated goose starts with the hand.
"One."
The three men look up - one in black is the first to his feet, a blonde quick to follow. A door opens and a mass of black.. THINGS.. swarm into the room. None of them have time to even gasp.
".. and then the protectors remained. Angry protectors... with nothing left to protect."
Angry protectors..and this force that is invading their lives. Taking away their simple, happy existance in the process. This hits close enough to home for Mashiro that he keeps his hand where it is, for the moment, since this is painful to watch, to experience -- since it can't be said that this is simple spectating. 'To be doomed to be unhappy forever.. ..noone deserves that.' Especially not those that, somehow, he thinks he now knows the identities of. Even if the dream world still tries to obscure the details, it's hard to avoid it, now. "..an eternity of this..it's unbearable," he utters, hand extending towards some of the visions, but still unable to reach. It's questionable if he could act even if he could, since he's long since been stunned into inaction by all the things he's seen. "Is this also, 'that person's pain?"
The girl holds up the crushed flower in her hand, falls over backwards, spread eagle. "It's part of it." She confirms, in a dispassionate voice. "Think about it. That person's dreams, life, everything is destroyed. Everything that person knows and cared about, any possible chance that they have of any normal life is gone. That person has nothing to protect -- Except, that is, the ones that are left." Her voice is bored, as if she's told this before.
"But by then, there weren't many." In the distance, the scene plays on. By then several women have already fallen in battle, their weapons dropped at their sides. "In the end, only four remained. The four strongest." The figures are familiar now; Two girls with long hair, and two with shorter hair, all standing side by side, glaring at a large shapless mass.
A Sword raises.
A polearm raises.
A pair of Guns and a pair of . . what look like large bracelets.. raise.
"They were unprepared for what lay before them." The blue haired girl glances at Mashiro, "Are you ready to stop now? I don't think you want to see what happens next."
If there were any lingering doubts, it disappears. They were.. 'HiME.' And this is the fate that they shared, and still do..but having all of this linked is going to take some considerable time, since it's still so hard to absorb. The girl's passiveness, her aloofness to all of it, has long since ceased to be shocking. It's almost like she's been appointed usher to this particular picture show, and her callous emulation of amusement probably reflects how many times the tale has been told.
No..it's probably not *wise* to look any further than this, especially with a warning like that, but..
"It's like I said, I'm tired of running away from things," he says, despite his weary body and spirit, his eyes still reflect a certain determination to ride whatever this is out to its end. "If anything I could see here could help me stop this, this time..I want to see it." Of course, he'll probably regret it when he's a vegetable in the hospital..but at least he can look brave, now. And his concern is now real.
The girl sits up to look steadily at Mashiro, "Hhhhnn. Surprises, surprises." But she turns back to the show, where the four HiME have been beaten back repeatedly, but refuse to surrender. "But like I said."
The shadowed mass waves a hand, sending a wave of destructive energy at the four, who gathered close for defense and protection both. The redhead holds her hands up, generating a shield - the energy tears right through it.
The swordswoman is the first to fall, screaming. The two long haired girls seem alarmed - one reaches out to grab the redhead, fails as the girl clutches at her fallen comrade.
"..to!! Mikoto!"
The two long haired women whirl, moving with deadly grace and in perfect unison as they confront the monster. The ash blonde woman leaps impossibly high, polearm in hand, and swipes, no less than eight times.
To no avail. A wave of that things hand and she washes away in a collection of green stardust. The darker haired girl screams the woman's name, distraught, a battle cry of vengeance, and a hail of icy bullets rains down on the monster. She leaps - is caught..
The sound of bones being crushed - and what may be a spine snapping in two ends her agony rather quickly, and she falls bonelessly, only to be caught by the fourth HiME standing.
With a look of horror, the girl drops to the ground. Two words can be heard, even by Mashiro.
".. Sorry..Mai.."
Mai's grip tightens on her friend, until she goes the way of Mikoto and Shizuru. Sparkling green stardust.
The keening, wailing scream that rips out of the last HiME's throat echoes across the sky, and is echoed by the bugling roar of a nearby dragon. Cries that are very very familiar by now, and not just because they've been heard recently.
Everything is gone; no longer a sight of battle, of fallen Ikusahime's, or monsters without faces. It's just Mashiro and the blue haired girl, studying the distant horizon.
"That was her pain."
Considering what he's just seen, Mashiro holds up pretty well.. ..though it might be because he's approaching exhaustion, from a combination of factors. He's long since knelt forward for more stability, though just as he said, he never took his eyes off of the visions, even when they were filled with tears. It was bad enough when they were just faceless people he had an inkling of, but when it all becomes clear through the haze, it's practically unbearable. Rather than responding immediately, Mashiro takes a deep breath to try and calm himself..but it isn't doing much good. His eyes close, as well, perhaps to conserve some consciousness.
This is something, even though he'd like to forget...he knows it's too important to let go of. If this is just a daydream, it'd be all too easy to lose.
"...I understand," he mumbles, voice lower and more subdued, but seeming to genuinely have more of a grip on things, now. "But that leaves just one final mystery." With this, he tries to reach and offer the ball to its owner -- it's a wonder it hasn't been squeezed permanently out of proportion, with how many times his fists have clenched, for myriad reasons. "Who..are you?" She seems familiar, and yet..all those others did too, and he couldn't see them as clearly, right until the last. Yet, this girl has been obvious this whole time.
The ball is accepted. "Just a humble Weaver." The girl winks and twirls the ball. Her smile fades slghtly, "The Ikusahime have a sad Fate. It would be nice to change things no? Shake the cycle up a bit as it were." She turns her head, where the sky is almost entirely red from the flames in the distance, drawing nearer. "Ah, I'm nearly out of time. There's one more thing I must warn you ab-"
"No." The soft voice interrupts; a mirror image to Mashiro himself, except clearly female and with long white hair, and slightly darker skin. "You have meddled enough, and there is naught that this one can do in her reality that will make any difference in ours. Or her own."
"Do you really have the leisure to say that sort of thing? You know as well as I do she's looking for you, and she'll be here any minute."
There are still some mysteries, alas..but somehow, Mashiro thinks he gets the idea. And, as curious as things have been, she's been by far the most helpful of the people on this 'journey'. Accordingly, the 'Weaver' gets a slight nod of his head in return, of silent acceptance. Just as something else presumed importance is about to be imparted, however, there is..another.
It's a little odd to see, but with how many other strange and disturbing things he's been privy to, here, and with his growing weariness, he's perhaps not as fazed as he normally would be. "So..that fire is coming," he assumes, moving to stand up a bit shakily, but managing to force himself. The fire; 'that person' that he encountered earlier, sucking the very oxygen out of the air, it seemed. The blackness that was consuming everything. To the doubter, however, and perhaps in a way to the hopeful Weaver, he has only one reply; "I'll show you that I'm not powerless. If there's a way, I'll find it." ..but there's no way he's going to be able to stand up to this alone, and there's still so many unanswered questions. Questions that, at this rate, it seems he won't be getting an immediate answer for.
The white haired doubter and the blue haired weaver regard Mashiro thoughtfully. "Perhaps." The Weaver muses, "But not now, and certainly not alone." Mashiro needs to go on a few side quests and level up a bit -- wait, sorry, wrong script. "But as for the thing you must kno-"
This is as fara s the Weaver gets, before a wave of fire sweeps forward, and that sense of air being sucked out of the room returns.
"YOU! I've finally found you you --" The black cloaked figure is back, and madder than before. Really, infuriated would be a better description. "You make your stand HERE? On this sacred ground? TRULY you disgust me!"
Oh, and the white haired girl is nowhere to be seen now, meaning Mashiro is aggroing the rage. Good on ya mate!
He's no super genius, but he knows how to do simple math.. And it didn't take much to figure that that breathlessness, that inky blackness, was linked to all this burning. Fire surrounding him, that he's had the unfortunate chance to meet personally, once upon a time. Amazingly...as it is now, it feels even more real than when he was a far younger child. Reflexively, he brings a forearm up to meet the blast, which extinguishes any hope of getting that last fragment of information. A pity..since now, it seems, Beautiful Black is upon them.
The absence of The Doubter is conspicuous indeed, once it's actually crunch time, but she was such a Quitter, too. ..it's also odd that 'that person's zeroed in on him, too. Is he some sort of token for her hatred? Mashiro glances to the blue-haired girl for a moment, almost as if she might have some trace of what he should do here. But..he comes to the realization that he has to look inside himself. And..for that reason, while he doesn't budge, as much as possible given that he's half-choked with the fire-starved air, he doesn't materialize an element to prepare to retaliate, either.
"It's pointless to do anything, now," he has already decided, lowering his arms to his sides, but stares directly at the shadowy harbinger. "Since this is a 'cycle', anything we do to each other doesn't matter, right? The only way to change anything is to attack the source of it." ..and, like the Weaver had noted, he's not experienced enough to know exactly what that means or is, and it'd be silly to try to do it alone. But.. "So whatever reason you're after me, just save it for the proper time."
"Because of you.. everything is gone."
"Because of you.. minna is dead."
The figure tosses her cloak off, letting it land in a loose pile, revealing a very Angry!Mai, the Beautiful Black Demon, dressed in a black and white racing uniform very similar to Natsuki's own, and wearing a cloverleaf necklace. The keen eye might even spot the photos in it; Takumi at the top, Natsuki and Shizuru on the sides, Mikoto at the bottom.
The Tenrei spin, flames lifting her off the ground partially, causing the scarf - a gift from Natsuki - to flutter slightly in the breeze. She pauses at Mashiro's mature decision, nodding slowly.
"You're right. The only way to change anything is to attack the source." She's not stopping. "That is why, I will not forgive you." She raises her hands, pointing, "Cycle or no, no matter how many times I have to kill you I will! Until they -" She can't speak any further, her rage at MAX. Instead, she clenches her hands.
At this point, the Weaver is busily patting out flames on her dress, and casts a glance at Mashiro, "I think it's about time you woke up."
"KA.. GU...TSU..CHIIIIIIIIIIIIII!~~~~~~~"
The dragonwhalephoenix that roars up behind her is a far cry from the one Mashiro caught a glimpse of in Other!Mai's Fuuka. In fact, this one might seem a good deal more like Mashiro's Kagutsuchi, with the black scales and red flame wings, red eyes glowering balefully at the hated one.
Mai doesn't even have to say it. Kagutsuchi.. her only companion for so long .. knows her heart better than she herself did at times. This one particularly.
The dragon inhales, flames building up into a fireblast tearing across the ground straight at the boy, just as Mai is screaming, "I'll *KILL* YOU MASHIRO!!"
..Everything goes white..!! (Is this heaven?)
Mashiro remains unflinching when this Mai reveals herself for who she is, since it's more confirmation than revelation. This reality between realities stuff..things have pieced together in a puzzle that makes disturbingly too much sense. He still can't accept some of it, but..it's too important to forget. "..you're probably right, but..if it will bring her some momentary peace, then.." So sacrificing!
Not that there's much option, if he doesn't leave right the heck now. No matter what form Kagutsuchi takes...it's hard to mistake what he was born for, or his identity. Even so, Mashiro continues standing there. Then..he closes his eyes, and..gasp. Look, Mai, the little bastard actually..*smiled* at you. On top of everything else! "I understand, Mai-san..and we'll sort this out, somehow. Until we meet again." ..and then, she hits her boiling point, prompted or not. He knows it all, surprisingly. The agonizingly telegraphed charge-up sequence, that paralyzes more with fear than anything else. And then..the release. It seems..perhaps he was consumed after all..!? '...this light that's everywhere. I can't see anything, but it feels a lot different than the darkness before.'
Little bastard was probably PROUD of his accomplishments! Murdering her brother, her best friend and everyone she cared about! Death was too good for him!
In the blinding white that follows, red calligraphy letters appear reading: "MISSION FAILED"
Okay now I'm getting sleepysilly cuz that doesn't happen at all. What DOES happen is that Mashiro's vision returns, and the lad is now completely drenched from head to toe, and Mai and Mikoto are standing nearby, with the former shaking Mashiro lightly.
"Ma-Shi-Ro! Mashiro-chan~! Snap out of it! Mou!"
Hey check it out. You're back!
..drip..drip.. It's not from the rain, but rather from Mashiro's own hair and clothing, now completely soaked. He seems to be staring off into space for several good moments after he starts to become aware, and even then he slumps over almost as though he's going to fall. It might have been a dream, but the exhaustion is real enough, it seems. "..ah.." Caught or not, his eyes hazily try to refocus. Mai's face -- but this time it's not an Angry!Mai face. ..what a relief. "..M..Mai-san. Yokatta.." Coughing for a moment, before trying to stand more stably, he glances over to the other person felt nearby, "..and Mikoto-chan." It'll take a few moments for all the wires to link up. Wait for it..waaait for iiiit...
Mai Tokiha steadies Mashiro carefully, "What were you doing, gazing off into nothing in the middle of a storm like that! You're going to catch cold! Come on - Mikoto here, hold onto these - and don't eat them!" Them being the food she'd bought at the store of course. Mikoto ruffles about in the bag a bit, holding up a cup of pudding, "MAI!" :D :D :D
"Later, later!" Mai grins, slipping an arm around Mashiro to lead him away. The dorm isn't far - she can help him get dry and warm, have some soup, and then he can head to Natsuki's when the weather settled.
Neither are aware, or expect, any shocked reaction that Mashiro may be having.
Almost on autopilot, at first there seems to be no issues with Mai leading Mashiro along, and with himself walking under his own power as a result. There's just a light shivering, but that's probably from the cold. But, as he becomes more and more conscious, bits and pieces start flooding back. It's not completely everything he'd wanted to remember, but it's probably close enough -- and he'll have plenty of chances at a replay. Suddenly, his steps stumble to a halt..and his eyes close, as he brings a hand up to his forehead. 'I'll *KILL* YOU MASHIRO!!' '..to!! Mikoto!' Even that terrible screaming.. All comes flooding back at once, "A-aaaaahhh! Noooooo!!" He starts to try and break away and run, but..with his mind and spirit having already been taxed pretty badly by what seemed like daydreams, it's a much better chance that he just finally collapses, completely, perchance to leave a very bewildered Mai and Mikoto.
..just remember, he didn't *have* to look!
La la la lala, off they go to ... watch Mashiro have a holly hallelujah of a fit! Mai stops short when her young little sister/brother stumbles and starts screaming, then breaks away and flees a few steps before collapsing. o_o "M..Mashiro!" Mai stares at first, then glances at Mikoto, then back to Mashiro, rushing over to scoop the boy up.
Mikoto considers these actions for a few minutes and concludes that either Mashiro was terrified of pudding, or should have eaten her pudding, and thus would not have collapsed. Either way, the pudding is somehow connected, "Mai, will it help if Mashiro eats pudding?"
Mai grins, hoisting Mashiro into her arms, "Ah, I think Mashiro-chan needs rest .. I'll have to give Natsuki-chan a call when we get to the dorm."
"Mai?"
"Hai, Mikoto-chan?"
"Can *I* have the pudding?"
WHEN: 08-08-07
WHERE: Fuuka,
WHAT: Mashiro is pulled in an alternate reality by a mysterious individual who has a story to tell.
Such a wonderful week it has been! Sure Haruka's got a li'l problem, but Mai, who was thought to be dead, was actually alive! Or .. had been dead and Kagutsuchi brought her back to life. SHe was remarkably vague about that. Still, the important thing is that she's BACK! YAY! There's a thickness in the air today; the sort of tension that says it's about to rain. Given the overcast state of the sky, this is perhaps all too true. Strangely there are no people on the streets - but maybe they're all just avoiding the impending rain?
On the bright side, a few of the stragglers have come back to school, and the damage is starting to be repaired. Most of the scrap has been hauled away, the bridge is close to reopening, and except for a few scarred pieces of the campus landscape -- and one *really big*, even newer, scar -- things are returning to some semblance of normal. Of course, there's a lot of theories about what happened, but most are simply rumors..only a relative few are left with the burden of what they saw, that night.
One of those people is the chairman's 'European cousin', Mashiro, dressed lightly for summer still, and inside the light forest where search teams still haven't looked too closely. The object of interest is still one of those signs that something 'odd' happened here, a piece of one of the APCs that got destroyed -- but what's remarkable about it is the symbol on it, which one of Mashiro's slender fingers traces the outline of, as he half-closes his eyes. More than anything else, this sign has haunted him, on many levels. 'Searrs.. What were they? And what could they tell me?'
Of course, he's also thoughtlessly out without so much as an umbrella. :|
As Mashiro wanders along, umbrella-less and lost in thought, a ball bounces down the street, slowly rolling and coming to a stop against the boy's foot. There is an owner though! The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps can be heard, until a young girl with short blue hair can be seen. She takes ONE look at Mashiro, gasps, then promptly turns and flees. ..
The heck was that all about? Wait - she forgot her ball! Oh what a shame! Are you going to be the brave soul and return it for her? Well? ARE YOU?
He's pretty lost in thought about the fragment, not noticing most of the general...creepiness that seems to permeate the atmosphere, this otherwise fine day. Something physically striking him is a bit hard to ignore, however, and he can be seen to blink when he feels something rolling to a stop next to his foot. Instinctively, he bends over to pick it up..when he spots the presumed owner out of the corner of his eyes -- of course, prompting him to sit up quickly with it. He's just about to throw it back and return it, when-- --what the--
"H..hey, wait! You forgot your--" And then, just as quickly, she's gone, leaving him standing there holding the ball, and a really round SD head with two dot eyes staring after. "What was that about," he wonders? But..that's not important. Setting the armor piece down where the proper crews can find it better, he starts moving in the direction he saw that girl heading towards, but not so hurriedly that it might be misconstrued as stalking her. ...that's odd, though. Had he seen her before? It was hard to tell, with just that glimpse.
It's a traaaaaaaaaaaap! Oh wait.
As Mashiro follows after the mysterious girl he may or may not feel a sudden sense of vertigo. The area seems a little different too, for that matter. A little more.. washed out, and paler. That blue haired girl is already up ahead, running as fast as her little legs can carry her, straight towards the gate of a large building. But lest Mashiro intend on giving up, she stops at the door and looks back. And if Mashiro himself turns --
The way back is gone. It's just a large spanse of grey.
The young 'princess' can't remember having headed this way before, which must explain the queasy bit of disorientation he feels moving forward. Eventually, however, it's too much to ignore, and as he's starting to feel like he's going to have to drop onto his knees to stabilize and focus, he turns his head around to glance back to where he's been -- maybe get a better sense of his location. That's when his eyes widen, and he gives a sharp gasp. What..!?
Instinctively, he lumbers a few steps away from the grey receding into infinity..which will probably only make even more of it fade, in hindsight. There goes any option to turn back..and so, he again looks to the girl that seems to be waiting, and he tries calling while holding up the ball, "Ah.. ..whoever you are, you lost this!" He'll just return the ball, and then figure out what's going on. That's it..
The girl doesn't make any attempt to approach to take the ball back - instead, she ducks inside the house. THe gate to the building, as well as the door, are left open, to creak open and shut several times. Invitation? or had she just not heard what Mashiro said? What light there is is steadily vanishing, and there is the ominous rumble of thunder sounding perilously close. A big fat droplet of drain smacks Mashiro right on the little button nose. The only sign of shelter is that creepy building, or a path through a forest -- wait, where did that forest come from? :/ How very surreal!
He can't help but stop and rub his head a bit, as the girl once again moves out of sight, once it seems she's convinced he's going to follow. Of course..there might be that inkling that he's read stories like this before, and that he's daydreaming..but for now, there's no real alternative but to move forward. Steeling his resolve with a long breath, he further clenches a fist around the ball -- if it's even still there -- and moves to continue on towards the house, especially now that it seems a thunderstorm is going to add even more reason to follow.
However, as soon as he's inside, the environs seems to change.. ..and this once again causes him to stumble to a stop, and blink in confusion. Even if it's still raining, he'll just stand here for a few moments getting soaked.
There's the sound of laughter. Familiar laughter. Shadowed figures suddenly race past Mashiro, one holding another's hand, pulling them along, and a third scampering on all fours. "Hurry, Hurry! The storm is coming!" Cries one, "You'll get drenched!" One of the figures stops, turns slightly - their features are blurred and indistinct, but there's the sense that they're looking at Mashiro. "Well? Are you going to just stand there? Come on, hurry up!" There's something distinctly -familiar- about that voice..
Any minute now, he'll wake up and find he was daydreaming.. ..perhaps some bad memories brought up by everything that he'd been through in the last week or two. But...it all seems so real now, that he can't seem to dispel the strange visions. His heart skips a beat from the confusion, and trying to make out the details..but nothing seems to quite fall into place, so odd is the setting. And yet..that familiarity. His eyebrows furrow, but..eventually, he nods, succumbing to wherever this bizarre encounter is leading him. "Y...yeah," he mumbles, moving forward to try and find some shelter, like the hard to discern people presumably scrambling for it themselves. He even gets sidetracked from his mission of returning the ball, for the moment.
The water from the skies comes down heavier - impossibly huge droplets smacking into pavement with the force of small rocks cracking against the ground. Hailstones? Likely. But looking up will show a far more disturbing sight - the sky, cracked with black spiderlike lines spreading as far as the eye can see. The wind starts to pick up, just as Mashiro reaches the safety (dubious though it is) of the house, somewhere there's a bloodcurdling scream; the sort of wail that echoes for miles, filled with rage and misery. A second scream follows it, and this one is pure fury.
This dream just keeps getting weirder. Mashiro doesn't notice the strange sights, at first..he's much too preoccupied with getting to relative safety, or whatever qualifies in this strange nightmare world he seems to have fallen into. The smacking of what almost seems like a rain of small pebbles keeps him moving forward, though, and serves to keep him from drifting too much into the 'fantasy'. Once he's under the cover of a house, though...probably abandoned, or filled with 'fuzzy' people too scared to care about his trespassing, he does get a good glimpse. He's run out of surprise now, though, so he just stares..mouth slightly open, but more out of trying to absorb everything than any real fear, just yet. '...this all seems a little familiar, but...' He squeezes the ball for a moment, and he's reminded to start peering around to see if he can catch sight of that girl -- but then the terrible screaming start, and he winces, nearly doubling over as he places his hands to his ears. "Wh..who's there! Are you hurt!?" Though..this kind of screaming.. Is different.
Is it a dream? Or is it reality? Can you say for sure which it is? Once the screaming begins, the blurry figures stop what they're doing and immediately move to corners of the room, huddling there to cling to each other. The laughter stops, replaced by terrified whimpering.
"It's hap -- "
"-e'll never stop -"
"--- ---o cruel, why does s--- --"
"-- ant to go ho--"
THeir voices run together, snippets heard here and there, but it's one voice, small, clear that cuts through the mumbling, that can be heard the loudest.
Even if it was a voice barely raised above a whisper.
"You don't belong here. Hee hee."
There is a figure by the window; lines sharpened, blue hair and a pink dress. She stands at the window, staring out curiously. "They won't make it." She says after a moment, of whatever she sees outside.
Then, "You can't do anything for that pain." The girl turns slightly, "It transcends everything. It is all that person knows. That person hates that pain. That person is that pain. That person brings that pain. Hee hee."
The voices kind of mash together, after a while, leaving Mashiro with a combination of disorientation, frustration, and maybe just a little anger. He looks between the poorly defined, yet hauntingly familiar figures closeby, then back out at the odd landscape outside. That is...before he becomes fully aware of another presence in the vicinity. With this, he wheels about, finally able to experience shock again, and he nearly drops the ball on this one. Even so..his eyebrows furrow, as he's given far more questions than answers. "..that person," he wonders? Somehow, at the back of his head, he feels like he should know..and yet.. He starts trying to step forward to the only other figure that can truly said to appear solid, in this place, "Who is that..and why are they in pain?"
The girl sways a bit in place as she focuses on Mashiro, who apparently is taller by at least a foot. "That person no longer knows their name. That person has lived in anger, rage and pain for an eternity. Since the Dark Times began. That person is in pain because they have nothing. Everything that made that person .. is gone. Destroyed. The rage has consumed them, and soon.. soon it will consume us." The girl pauses. "It comes. We who do not exist here, must go, lest we be consumed by the Rage too." That said, she turns, starting to make her way down a hallway, clearly expecting Mashiro to follow.
However should Mashiro look outside, he will see a small family desperately racing towards the house, only to be consumed by a terrible, monsterous darkness that literally reaches out of the shadows of the forest, closing its jaws around them, and receding. Again, that terrible scream, more of a wail of the pain and distress.
Is this girl, this strange yet unable to be turned away from girl -- actually telling him to run away from these people that need his help? He actually glances in the direction of some family that it's impossible for him to know, and yet, he's surrounded by conflicting emotions about it. He gets a little sick, for a moment, at how he's supposed to just stand by while whatever terrible thing is happening here, and his fist clenches and unclenches around that presumably still-present ball. "..so that's it, we're supposed to just turn and walk away?" Not so long ago, a far more defeated and self-deprecating Mashiro might have agreed, but for now, the least he can do is watch, and not turn his eyes. For some reason, some tears are coming to them, despite himself.. Anger, sadness.. "I spent most of my life running away from my problems.."
"This thing is not your problem." The girl notes. "You are not of this world. You are but a tourist, who by someone's will, stumbled upon this place. Do you mean to co-- t-- rkn--? I-- -- o--- --all."
Something strange is clearly going on; the girl's words become distorted, her figure hard to see. The room ripples, and then .. freezes, as if time itself has stopped. Even the sounds in the room have halted, and there's a momentary breathlessness as if all the air has been sucked out of the room.
His eyebrows once again turn inward slightly, as things are getting harder to see and harder to hear. And then, suddenly, there's nothing. Did he get sucked in, too? To that inky blackness? ...but there are worse conditions to die at. If he'd have run, he'd have only been a coward. At least he didn't just turn away from all that suffering, as hard as it was to take. Experimentally, he tries to move an arm in the inky blackness..if he even has an arm to move, since it's hard to tell. But..any thing he could have hoped to gain insight by doing, there, is cut short as he is suddenly short of breath. Is this..what it's like to die?
A heaviness follows, and a bone tingling sensation. The door slips open, bringing with it a haze of rain and hail - dark fabric whips violently into the room, and a figure garbed entirely in black steps in. The hood is drawn up, the figure concealed entirely in shadow - though from what -can- be told, it's female.
Again, that sense of deja vu hits, but when the figure turns, it is with surprise to see Mashiro there, so clearly out of place. It's like he's the only spot of color in an otherwise almost monochrome room, everything else having gone to various shades of black, white and grey.
"You." The word slips free from a familiar sounding voice, drops heavy like stone, burning with hatred. Whatever had Mashiro done to anger this person so? Ah, but this is That Person wasn't it? "=YYYYYYOU=" A hand twitches beneath the cloak, clenches to the sound of metal clanking. "You. Do not. Belong here. GET OUT."
The sensation of heaviness increases, sharpening, "You dare show your face here. What more would you take - would that I could destroy you, the way you .." Rage builds up, and in the distance there's a loud roar of a hungry animal. "Even though.. I cannot do so permanently.." The figure turns. "Even though it will not last, I should kill you where you stand, YOU MENACE. That you dare to stand there, MOCKING ME.."
If he didn't belong here, then why was he even brought here? He would have been content to just stay there in the coming rain, looking at that odd symbol -- the one that Searrs carries as its emblem. Instead, he was lured here, then unable to turn back, he did the only thing he could..and then, asked to turn away from all of this, he simply couldn't. This is why he must suffer now, apparently, crouched on one knee, so far as he can feel it, drawing in deeper breaths to combat seeming hypoxia. He can't discern whether it's just the feeling of the darkness around him, or a real sensation..such as things are in dream worlds. 'This must be, 'that person', but..what is this feeling..' "I didn't ask..to come here," Mashiro finally exhales, able to force breaths.. "..but now that I'm here..I'm not going to just be another of those scared people." Trying to build his strength to try and stand, he even dares to try to move forward..towards the source of the annoyed voice, and even that of the beast.
That THING is approaching. "DON'T MOVE." And just like that, that hand lifts partially from beneath the cloak - another clank of metal and a flash of gold, and then an invisible wall that Mashiro may come in contact with should he continue forward. "You think these fools are scared now," the voice borders on insanity as the figure draws away, "You've seen nothing yet."
A low chuckle follows, a voice so low it's hard to hear. "Because of them.. everything was taken away. Yes.. it's no one's fault but theirs." A hand traces over the wall, leaving tracks of fire. "You claim that you didn't ask to come here, then why are you here? What world are you destroying now? Who's dreams are you ruining? Murderous soul.. no matter what I have done you are guilty of far more. That's why.. everything must burn. For their sake, I do this. This is what they would have wanted. Because of you, they all.. they all..."
As flames start curling against the wall, a small voice speaks near Mashiro's ear. "Hee hee. Everything's going to burn. But I wonder, do you want to see something more interesting?"
This is all definitely way too immersive to be just any normal daydream..and so Mashiro has long since started paying very close attention. If..it can even be called a dream, anymore. Weakened somewhat by barely being able to breathe in this kind of oppressive atmosphere, Mashiro suddenly finds that he can't move forward..even if he wanted to, despite the command of this -- other presence.
But even if he can't pursue them physically, he can at least *try* to ask questions, to make some sense of this. "..what..do you mean," he gasps out, it might sound demanding if he had actual lungs full of air. "I've never..done anything like destroy a world." It's not like he's ever lived any other lives, and thanks to events in his own world, he remembers...*pretty* far back. Hearing another voice, though..that same out-of-place, haunting one..he listens, then wonders, "What would you show me? That would..change anything..?"
"Where you are now is a reality between realities. It exists, but it doesn't exist. And you were chosen for a very specific reason." A long pause. Is this voice going to say what that reason is?
...
No. No it's not. "Hee hee. Doshioooo.. I wonder if anything would change. Oto! The beautiful one strikes - time to go."
The black garbed figure pulls an arm back, flames gathering - and the surroundings spin, whirle in a dizzying kaleidoscope of color until there's a sudden stop in the middle of a sunny, colorful meadow.
That blue haired girl is present, hands clasped behind her back as she stood nearby, smiling widely. Whatever the location is, it's untouched by the darkness, and by the angry woman back at the building. in the horizon, however, a thick plume of black smoke extends skyward.
"This is where the cycle began."
In some ways that Mashiro doesn't dare admit to himself, just yet, it's starting to make sense..to connect. But surely there's a lot of other explanations for... Regardless, finding himself in a bit more comfortable surroundings, and finally being able to breathe and see a bit more clearly, is a small relief when seeing that trail of destruction, far in the distance. "..the cycle," he responds in kind, as though a seed of realization had been planted, but he still holds some doubts, and a whole lot of questions. "..so you're saying that this will happen again and again.."
--what.
His look suddenly becomes troubled, as he looks to the girl. 'Masaka-- Does this mean that it's going to happen again soon? Then..' He doesn't need to speak his concerns, since it's written quite clearly on his face as he lowers his eyes, and his expression changes into one of disbelief, tempered with concern. That she never bothered to reveal the 'reason' he was chosen seems par for this course, by now.
"Pinpon pinpon!" The girl claps her hands cheerfully, "Brighter than the others, I see. How refreshing!"
"Yes, the cycle will begin again. That Person has few freedoms, but that person, and all those connected to them, is destined for an unhappy ending. It would be interesting to know if that ever changes, but after two thousand years, the cycle has never deviated. Look there," The blue haired girl points at something in the distance.
Several people are sitting on a picnic blanket, enjoying each other's company, laughing and having a grand time. But their faces are indistinct, and any attempt to draw nearer will make them seem to draw further away. Voices can be heard pretty clearly though.
"..ki-chan always gets so frazzled when .."
"..Hahahaha! That's so true!"
"..i! That's not funny!"
"Ne ne, she's so red!"
"Shut up!"
"Aw, Na- ..." A girl with short dark hair gets up and flops against the other, who grumbles goodnaturedly.
"Such happy little times. So wonderful to see, no? What you see is the end of days." She waves a hand, and a shadow passes overhead. "After that.."
To have everything set in stone about you...that hardly seems a fair way to live your life. No wonder 'that person' was angry! That alone causes a frown to come to the corners of Mashiro's lips, as he looks downward. Yet..that's the very essence of a 'cycle', isn't it? But..if this truly is a 'reality between realities', then that might mean..this greater destiny is linked even between their worlds. He's just about to bring his hands to his head again from trying to absorb it all, when he hears his 'outsider' companion's prompt.
This causes him to look up, and while the faces are distinct, and the conversation choppy and hard to hear from this distance..or any other.. They're also frightfully familiar. This is..a nice little picnic. But..certain fragments, cause his eyes to widen all over again, and his jaw to slack open. 'It can't be..' Yet as much as he'd like it not to, again, pieces of the puzzle keep falling. "This is..." As he's about to say something, though, he falls quiet, as things once again begin to change.
"Hmm?" The young girl leans down, "Naninani?" Oh she knows damn well what Mashiro was going to say. But it's half the fun to let things play out, no? The latter comment gets a particularly serious, "Haa.."
And then the rain comes. Well the rain comes but it doesn't really -reach- as far as the pair stand. It seems to go right through them, like they stood between the drops, or were ghosts themselves.
"Something came."
The girl narrates, as several figures can be seen in the darkening sky, silhouetted on the ground and air itselfs, ghosts of the past as they charge against an unseen enemy. "Something unprecedented." Howls against the wind are heard, weapons clashing, guns firing, voices screaming in pain and outrage.
"The thing sought out the weakest first. Those that couldn't fight back. Healers, and defenders."
A voice screams, is cut off - and a body falls, a woman dressed in a nurse's outfit. Beside her, a knight in blue dress uniform.
"Women.. children.. Mothers... Fathers.."
More screams, the sound of metal tearing through fabric and flesh. Multiple bodies fall.
"Sou.. even babies were not spared."
A baby's wail rings out - and just as suddenly, is cut short.
Silence.
Living it, even by proxy as he is now, makes it a little hard to turn away from, much less deny. The youth's eyes are transfixed on the shapes and silhouettes, made more real by the words of the more solid figure closeby -- and even by some of his own experiences. He can't truly be horrified, since this is not of his time or place, and yet..he can't help but feel a terrible empathy, which causes him to hold a hand over his heart, especially as the last heart-wrenching sounds pass into nothing. "But how could something like that exist," he wonders, still not able to completely give in to belief? Even seeing all he has, it's hard to accept; "Something that has the power to touch lives across time itself -- something like that not ought to be real." Little does he know that he's holding just a little piece of that, right inside of him.
"How indeed?" The girl grins faintly, crouching to pluck a flower. "Maa. It would have been okay if it was just that. Humans have that tendency to perservere and grow stronger through things like this. But," she plucks a petal. "Then, it turned to those closest to the protectors."
This time the shadows pass over, clearing the battle field. The figures are a little clearer. Not enough to make out their identities, though guesses can be made of course. Probably correct ones at this point.
A girl with wavy blonde hair strolls down a sidewalk, swinging a baton and chatting on the phone.
A young woman with ash brown hair is busyat the computer, a perturbed expression on her face.
Three men sit around a table, watching sports and chatting amicably.
A young girl and her lover sit on a park bench feeding geese, peacefully.
"One .."
The two women look up, expressions of alarm on their faces. One screams. The other does not.
"By.."
A goose looks up, and cracking bones are heard as its body shifts, mutating. The boy pauses to stare while the girl screams. The mutated goose starts with the hand.
"One."
The three men look up - one in black is the first to his feet, a blonde quick to follow. A door opens and a mass of black.. THINGS.. swarm into the room. None of them have time to even gasp.
".. and then the protectors remained. Angry protectors... with nothing left to protect."
Angry protectors..and this force that is invading their lives. Taking away their simple, happy existance in the process. This hits close enough to home for Mashiro that he keeps his hand where it is, for the moment, since this is painful to watch, to experience -- since it can't be said that this is simple spectating. 'To be doomed to be unhappy forever.. ..noone deserves that.' Especially not those that, somehow, he thinks he now knows the identities of. Even if the dream world still tries to obscure the details, it's hard to avoid it, now. "..an eternity of this..it's unbearable," he utters, hand extending towards some of the visions, but still unable to reach. It's questionable if he could act even if he could, since he's long since been stunned into inaction by all the things he's seen. "Is this also, 'that person's pain?"
The girl holds up the crushed flower in her hand, falls over backwards, spread eagle. "It's part of it." She confirms, in a dispassionate voice. "Think about it. That person's dreams, life, everything is destroyed. Everything that person knows and cared about, any possible chance that they have of any normal life is gone. That person has nothing to protect -- Except, that is, the ones that are left." Her voice is bored, as if she's told this before.
"But by then, there weren't many." In the distance, the scene plays on. By then several women have already fallen in battle, their weapons dropped at their sides. "In the end, only four remained. The four strongest." The figures are familiar now; Two girls with long hair, and two with shorter hair, all standing side by side, glaring at a large shapless mass.
A Sword raises.
A polearm raises.
A pair of Guns and a pair of . . what look like large bracelets.. raise.
"They were unprepared for what lay before them." The blue haired girl glances at Mashiro, "Are you ready to stop now? I don't think you want to see what happens next."
If there were any lingering doubts, it disappears. They were.. 'HiME.' And this is the fate that they shared, and still do..but having all of this linked is going to take some considerable time, since it's still so hard to absorb. The girl's passiveness, her aloofness to all of it, has long since ceased to be shocking. It's almost like she's been appointed usher to this particular picture show, and her callous emulation of amusement probably reflects how many times the tale has been told.
No..it's probably not *wise* to look any further than this, especially with a warning like that, but..
"It's like I said, I'm tired of running away from things," he says, despite his weary body and spirit, his eyes still reflect a certain determination to ride whatever this is out to its end. "If anything I could see here could help me stop this, this time..I want to see it." Of course, he'll probably regret it when he's a vegetable in the hospital..but at least he can look brave, now. And his concern is now real.
The girl sits up to look steadily at Mashiro, "Hhhhnn. Surprises, surprises." But she turns back to the show, where the four HiME have been beaten back repeatedly, but refuse to surrender. "But like I said."
The shadowed mass waves a hand, sending a wave of destructive energy at the four, who gathered close for defense and protection both. The redhead holds her hands up, generating a shield - the energy tears right through it.
The swordswoman is the first to fall, screaming. The two long haired girls seem alarmed - one reaches out to grab the redhead, fails as the girl clutches at her fallen comrade.
"..to!! Mikoto!"
The two long haired women whirl, moving with deadly grace and in perfect unison as they confront the monster. The ash blonde woman leaps impossibly high, polearm in hand, and swipes, no less than eight times.
To no avail. A wave of that things hand and she washes away in a collection of green stardust. The darker haired girl screams the woman's name, distraught, a battle cry of vengeance, and a hail of icy bullets rains down on the monster. She leaps - is caught..
The sound of bones being crushed - and what may be a spine snapping in two ends her agony rather quickly, and she falls bonelessly, only to be caught by the fourth HiME standing.
With a look of horror, the girl drops to the ground. Two words can be heard, even by Mashiro.
".. Sorry..Mai.."
Mai's grip tightens on her friend, until she goes the way of Mikoto and Shizuru. Sparkling green stardust.
The keening, wailing scream that rips out of the last HiME's throat echoes across the sky, and is echoed by the bugling roar of a nearby dragon. Cries that are very very familiar by now, and not just because they've been heard recently.
Everything is gone; no longer a sight of battle, of fallen Ikusahime's, or monsters without faces. It's just Mashiro and the blue haired girl, studying the distant horizon.
"That was her pain."
Considering what he's just seen, Mashiro holds up pretty well.. ..though it might be because he's approaching exhaustion, from a combination of factors. He's long since knelt forward for more stability, though just as he said, he never took his eyes off of the visions, even when they were filled with tears. It was bad enough when they were just faceless people he had an inkling of, but when it all becomes clear through the haze, it's practically unbearable. Rather than responding immediately, Mashiro takes a deep breath to try and calm himself..but it isn't doing much good. His eyes close, as well, perhaps to conserve some consciousness.
This is something, even though he'd like to forget...he knows it's too important to let go of. If this is just a daydream, it'd be all too easy to lose.
"...I understand," he mumbles, voice lower and more subdued, but seeming to genuinely have more of a grip on things, now. "But that leaves just one final mystery." With this, he tries to reach and offer the ball to its owner -- it's a wonder it hasn't been squeezed permanently out of proportion, with how many times his fists have clenched, for myriad reasons. "Who..are you?" She seems familiar, and yet..all those others did too, and he couldn't see them as clearly, right until the last. Yet, this girl has been obvious this whole time.
The ball is accepted. "Just a humble Weaver." The girl winks and twirls the ball. Her smile fades slghtly, "The Ikusahime have a sad Fate. It would be nice to change things no? Shake the cycle up a bit as it were." She turns her head, where the sky is almost entirely red from the flames in the distance, drawing nearer. "Ah, I'm nearly out of time. There's one more thing I must warn you ab-"
"No." The soft voice interrupts; a mirror image to Mashiro himself, except clearly female and with long white hair, and slightly darker skin. "You have meddled enough, and there is naught that this one can do in her reality that will make any difference in ours. Or her own."
"Do you really have the leisure to say that sort of thing? You know as well as I do she's looking for you, and she'll be here any minute."
There are still some mysteries, alas..but somehow, Mashiro thinks he gets the idea. And, as curious as things have been, she's been by far the most helpful of the people on this 'journey'. Accordingly, the 'Weaver' gets a slight nod of his head in return, of silent acceptance. Just as something else presumed importance is about to be imparted, however, there is..another.
It's a little odd to see, but with how many other strange and disturbing things he's been privy to, here, and with his growing weariness, he's perhaps not as fazed as he normally would be. "So..that fire is coming," he assumes, moving to stand up a bit shakily, but managing to force himself. The fire; 'that person' that he encountered earlier, sucking the very oxygen out of the air, it seemed. The blackness that was consuming everything. To the doubter, however, and perhaps in a way to the hopeful Weaver, he has only one reply; "I'll show you that I'm not powerless. If there's a way, I'll find it." ..but there's no way he's going to be able to stand up to this alone, and there's still so many unanswered questions. Questions that, at this rate, it seems he won't be getting an immediate answer for.
The white haired doubter and the blue haired weaver regard Mashiro thoughtfully. "Perhaps." The Weaver muses, "But not now, and certainly not alone." Mashiro needs to go on a few side quests and level up a bit -- wait, sorry, wrong script. "But as for the thing you must kno-"
This is as fara s the Weaver gets, before a wave of fire sweeps forward, and that sense of air being sucked out of the room returns.
"YOU! I've finally found you you --" The black cloaked figure is back, and madder than before. Really, infuriated would be a better description. "You make your stand HERE? On this sacred ground? TRULY you disgust me!"
Oh, and the white haired girl is nowhere to be seen now, meaning Mashiro is aggroing the rage. Good on ya mate!
He's no super genius, but he knows how to do simple math.. And it didn't take much to figure that that breathlessness, that inky blackness, was linked to all this burning. Fire surrounding him, that he's had the unfortunate chance to meet personally, once upon a time. Amazingly...as it is now, it feels even more real than when he was a far younger child. Reflexively, he brings a forearm up to meet the blast, which extinguishes any hope of getting that last fragment of information. A pity..since now, it seems, Beautiful Black is upon them.
The absence of The Doubter is conspicuous indeed, once it's actually crunch time, but she was such a Quitter, too. ..it's also odd that 'that person's zeroed in on him, too. Is he some sort of token for her hatred? Mashiro glances to the blue-haired girl for a moment, almost as if she might have some trace of what he should do here. But..he comes to the realization that he has to look inside himself. And..for that reason, while he doesn't budge, as much as possible given that he's half-choked with the fire-starved air, he doesn't materialize an element to prepare to retaliate, either.
"It's pointless to do anything, now," he has already decided, lowering his arms to his sides, but stares directly at the shadowy harbinger. "Since this is a 'cycle', anything we do to each other doesn't matter, right? The only way to change anything is to attack the source of it." ..and, like the Weaver had noted, he's not experienced enough to know exactly what that means or is, and it'd be silly to try to do it alone. But.. "So whatever reason you're after me, just save it for the proper time."
"Because of you.. everything is gone."
"Because of you.. minna is dead."
The figure tosses her cloak off, letting it land in a loose pile, revealing a very Angry!Mai, the Beautiful Black Demon, dressed in a black and white racing uniform very similar to Natsuki's own, and wearing a cloverleaf necklace. The keen eye might even spot the photos in it; Takumi at the top, Natsuki and Shizuru on the sides, Mikoto at the bottom.
The Tenrei spin, flames lifting her off the ground partially, causing the scarf - a gift from Natsuki - to flutter slightly in the breeze. She pauses at Mashiro's mature decision, nodding slowly.
"You're right. The only way to change anything is to attack the source." She's not stopping. "That is why, I will not forgive you." She raises her hands, pointing, "Cycle or no, no matter how many times I have to kill you I will! Until they -" She can't speak any further, her rage at MAX. Instead, she clenches her hands.
At this point, the Weaver is busily patting out flames on her dress, and casts a glance at Mashiro, "I think it's about time you woke up."
"KA.. GU...TSU..CHIIIIIIIIIIIIII!~~~~~~~"
The dragonwhalephoenix that roars up behind her is a far cry from the one Mashiro caught a glimpse of in Other!Mai's Fuuka. In fact, this one might seem a good deal more like Mashiro's Kagutsuchi, with the black scales and red flame wings, red eyes glowering balefully at the hated one.
Mai doesn't even have to say it. Kagutsuchi.. her only companion for so long .. knows her heart better than she herself did at times. This one particularly.
The dragon inhales, flames building up into a fireblast tearing across the ground straight at the boy, just as Mai is screaming, "I'll *KILL* YOU MASHIRO!!"
..Everything goes white..!! (Is this heaven?)
Mashiro remains unflinching when this Mai reveals herself for who she is, since it's more confirmation than revelation. This reality between realities stuff..things have pieced together in a puzzle that makes disturbingly too much sense. He still can't accept some of it, but..it's too important to forget. "..you're probably right, but..if it will bring her some momentary peace, then.." So sacrificing!
Not that there's much option, if he doesn't leave right the heck now. No matter what form Kagutsuchi takes...it's hard to mistake what he was born for, or his identity. Even so, Mashiro continues standing there. Then..he closes his eyes, and..gasp. Look, Mai, the little bastard actually..*smiled* at you. On top of everything else! "I understand, Mai-san..and we'll sort this out, somehow. Until we meet again." ..and then, she hits her boiling point, prompted or not. He knows it all, surprisingly. The agonizingly telegraphed charge-up sequence, that paralyzes more with fear than anything else. And then..the release. It seems..perhaps he was consumed after all..!? '...this light that's everywhere. I can't see anything, but it feels a lot different than the darkness before.'
Little bastard was probably PROUD of his accomplishments! Murdering her brother, her best friend and everyone she cared about! Death was too good for him!
In the blinding white that follows, red calligraphy letters appear reading: "MISSION FAILED"
Okay now I'm getting sleepysilly cuz that doesn't happen at all. What DOES happen is that Mashiro's vision returns, and the lad is now completely drenched from head to toe, and Mai and Mikoto are standing nearby, with the former shaking Mashiro lightly.
"Ma-Shi-Ro! Mashiro-chan~! Snap out of it! Mou!"
Hey check it out. You're back!
..drip..drip.. It's not from the rain, but rather from Mashiro's own hair and clothing, now completely soaked. He seems to be staring off into space for several good moments after he starts to become aware, and even then he slumps over almost as though he's going to fall. It might have been a dream, but the exhaustion is real enough, it seems. "..ah.." Caught or not, his eyes hazily try to refocus. Mai's face -- but this time it's not an Angry!Mai face. ..what a relief. "..M..Mai-san. Yokatta.." Coughing for a moment, before trying to stand more stably, he glances over to the other person felt nearby, "..and Mikoto-chan." It'll take a few moments for all the wires to link up. Wait for it..waaait for iiiit...
Mai Tokiha steadies Mashiro carefully, "What were you doing, gazing off into nothing in the middle of a storm like that! You're going to catch cold! Come on - Mikoto here, hold onto these - and don't eat them!" Them being the food she'd bought at the store of course. Mikoto ruffles about in the bag a bit, holding up a cup of pudding, "MAI!" :D :D :D
"Later, later!" Mai grins, slipping an arm around Mashiro to lead him away. The dorm isn't far - she can help him get dry and warm, have some soup, and then he can head to Natsuki's when the weather settled.
Neither are aware, or expect, any shocked reaction that Mashiro may be having.
Almost on autopilot, at first there seems to be no issues with Mai leading Mashiro along, and with himself walking under his own power as a result. There's just a light shivering, but that's probably from the cold. But, as he becomes more and more conscious, bits and pieces start flooding back. It's not completely everything he'd wanted to remember, but it's probably close enough -- and he'll have plenty of chances at a replay. Suddenly, his steps stumble to a halt..and his eyes close, as he brings a hand up to his forehead. 'I'll *KILL* YOU MASHIRO!!' '..to!! Mikoto!' Even that terrible screaming.. All comes flooding back at once, "A-aaaaahhh! Noooooo!!" He starts to try and break away and run, but..with his mind and spirit having already been taxed pretty badly by what seemed like daydreams, it's a much better chance that he just finally collapses, completely, perchance to leave a very bewildered Mai and Mikoto.
..just remember, he didn't *have* to look!
La la la lala, off they go to ... watch Mashiro have a holly hallelujah of a fit! Mai stops short when her young little sister/brother stumbles and starts screaming, then breaks away and flees a few steps before collapsing. o_o "M..Mashiro!" Mai stares at first, then glances at Mikoto, then back to Mashiro, rushing over to scoop the boy up.
Mikoto considers these actions for a few minutes and concludes that either Mashiro was terrified of pudding, or should have eaten her pudding, and thus would not have collapsed. Either way, the pudding is somehow connected, "Mai, will it help if Mashiro eats pudding?"
Mai grins, hoisting Mashiro into her arms, "Ah, I think Mashiro-chan needs rest .. I'll have to give Natsuki-chan a call when we get to the dorm."
"Mai?"
"Hai, Mikoto-chan?"
"Can *I* have the pudding?"