A massive explosion rang through Renko's ears. She quickly tossed up an umbrella spell and wiped the blood from her eyes. The sticky fluid was hard to get off, but fortunately it hadn't had time to dry. She opened her eyes, and was stunned by the chaos.
Space was rent open throughout the clearing, as dozens of Maribel's strange gaps hung randomly about. Throughout them Lunarians and youkai - and Lunarians turned youkai - swooped and danced, each firing off deadly spells. She watched Marisa chase a Lunarian who had spouted angelic wings through a portal and end up crashing into Shou, while her angel winged foe found herself flying out a different portal into a crossfire between Eirin and some Lunarian defense system.
And right in front of her was Maribel, laughing madly at the chaos in a voice that wasn't her own, while the Lunarian leader stared down in fear and hatred.
“Oh 'Lord' Tenshou, just so you know, you were right about this being a self fulfilling prophecy. I'd have never returned if you hadn't attacked the humans.” Maribel sidestepped an errant bolt from the melee before continuing. “Oh and another thing I should thank you for. Now that humanity's civilization is mostly gone it'll be much easier to set up the youkai nation. If you hadn't killed so many people needlessly we youkai would have had to integrate with society slowly. That would have been quite difficult.”
“Shut up!” The man's composure finally snapped and he drew some kind of gun. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” he yelled as he fired.
Maribel hopped lightly out of the way of the attacks. “What are you so mad about? It's not like your petty obsession with revenge led you to destroy your nation, your world and your race, while empowering everything you hate. Oh wait. Sorry that is exactly what happened, isn't it?”
Something was wrong with Mary. Something was dreadfully wrong. But Renko couldn't deal with it until the battle was won. She had to finish this quickly.
First she tossed up an umbrella spell over where Maribel was. Mary had been using some boundary trick to dodge the rain, but Renko didn't want to know what would happen if she stopped. Then she flipped out her Hakkero and fired a laser right at Tenshou.
The shot reflected off his shield into space. Renko swore. She didn't have enough power to defend and attack at the same time.
A feeling of danger made Renko leap forward. The ground behind her exploded with a sharp crack as several ice bolts impacted behind her. The transformed Lunarian with angel wings fired a few more blasts at Renko, forcing her to jump away.
The woman turned her attention to the main fight. “My Lord! The devices are still partially working. I can still help you!” The desperation in the woman's voice tore Renko's heart up. The disdain that covered Tenshou's face at the sight of his transformed friend only made it more pathetic.
Ran spun out of nowhere and slammed into the woman. The two tumbled to the side in a mad grapple. Tenshou didn't even spare them a glance before firing at Maribel again. This time Maribel just held out her hand and a octagonal border blocked the attack. Renko started to feel like she was totally outclassed in this fight.
“You're rather quick to abandon your allies aren't you?” Mary taunted again. “Did you care about any of the people you've sent to their deaths? Do you care about any of the people here? Or are they just pawns for your advancement?”
Tenshou started charging a magical shot. “Shut up beast! You don't seem to give a damn about your minion either!”
“Ran can take care of herself.”
Renko could see Tenshou was about to release his magical attack. She called upon her training and reached out. The magic was odd, mixing magical lines and binary. But with her limited coding experience from college and Patchouli's training she understood enough of it. She wormed past the binary and ripped the heart out of the spell.
The magic fizzled as he threw it.
Her reward was a wave of exhaustion. Renko forced herself to start moving, but Tenshou managed to snap off three shots at her. She started to reform her wards when a tombstone fell out of nowhere and absorbed the blasts. Renko made a mental note to thank Mary and hid behind the gravestone's cover. From there she surveyed the battlefield.
The main fight was pure chaos. Shou and her opponent were only visible as blurs of light that occasionally clashed. One of the robots was letting out blinding fireworks and electrical shorts as it slowly died. Eirin was on the ground with a small smoking hole in her chest. Marisa was leaning over Eirin and casting some sort of spell on her, but the magician was missing a foot. Chen and another girl were fighting another Lunarian and – wait, when the hell did they get here?
The only thing that made any sense was Ran's battle, where the kitsune was slowly crushing the woman she'd intercepted to death. Renko had wondered why the analytical youkai used such a brutal style. Now she understood. Ran was simply eliminating all the unnecessary variables from the fight.
Renko glanced back at Maribel. Her friend was easily dodging the Lunarian's attacks, though Tenshou looked like he was recovering from his blind rage. Renko needed to find some way to tip the scales. Then she recalled the Lunarian woman's words before Ran took her down.
Looking back at the battle she saw them. Three machines that weren't contributing to the fight. Renko lined up a shot at one and tossed her biggest star bullet at it.
The machine exploded. Then a lance of energy flew out and blew the tombstone Renko was hiding behind to pieces. The impact sent Renko tumbling as her wards tried to compensate. As she picked herself off the ground she wondered if Eirin had tried something similar and gotten caught by the trap.
Well hopefully the trap was stupid. Renko summoned up a magical familiar and sent it off. The magical circle skittered through the air between the two towers, then exploded into a stream of bullets that attacked one of them. In a flash the machine retaliated and struck the other tower. The resulting string of counterattacks turned both of them into rubble.
Renko started as a wave of power rolled over her. She turned back to Maribel's fight.
Tenshou unleashed another futile barrage into the octagonal barrier Mary had somehow managed to conjure. Maribel's expression twisted into an alien smirk as the attack ended. “It's amusing. You actually had a chance you know. Even after all your stupid leaps of logic and poor decisions, you still had a chance. If Renko hadn't thought to shatter those devices that were chaining my full abilities one of your allies might have been able to get a lucky shot in. If you hadn't doubted your own powers those extra forces of yours might have stopped one of my allies from interrupting our battle.”
Mary pointed at the man. “But the time for what ifs has passed. Die.”
Gaps opened above and below Lord Tenshou and immediately began vacuuming up everything in the area. The suction dragged Renko three feet before she got a good grip on the ground. Debris started flying as the forming whirlwind started to howl.
And Tenshou's screams were sucked into the void as the winds started pulling him apart.
“Mary!” Renko called out to her friend, but the wind swallowed her words.
As Tenshou spasmed Maribel continued. “Oh right. I'm not sure which gap your soul will be sucked into, but don't worry. It's far far away from where the Shinigami can reach, so you won't have to spend your afterlife with any impure souls. Your own private hell, to rule over by yourself. Won't that be nice?”
The Lunarian didn't seem to respond at all. From the way his eyes had rolled Renko was certain he was unconscious or dead.
Renko forced herself step by step through the winds towards her friend. A stray rock hit her and made her stumble, but she pulled herself to her feet and continued on. Finally she managed to reach Maribel and get a hand on her shoulder. “Mary!” she screamed over the wind. “You need to stop! He's dead! It's over!”
Maribel turned towards her, eyes blazing gold. “I'm sorry Renko, but I'm Yukari now. And it's not over until he pays for his insolence.”
The words stabbed into Renko like a knife. Mary was gone? No....
Renko shook her head, then hugged her friend close. Maribel stiffened at the embrace, but Renko didn't pull back.
Renko took a deep breath. “Mary. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't see how much this was hurting you. How the hatred was eating at you. I'm sorry I couldn't help you move past that.” Renko squeezed Mary a little tighter before continuing, “But you can't run from this Mary. I know that it hurts. I know you don't like the part of yourself that hates, that kills, that burns for revenge.”
“But I love you Mary. All of you. Even the parts of you that get angry, or even the parts that hate. Those aren't the parts that make you a monster. Those are the parts that make you human.”
“I...” A shudder ran through Renko's arms. “I told you Renko. Your friend Mary is no more. I am the youkai sage.”
Renko shook her head. “Even without my eyes, I can see the truth Mary. I know that's still you.”
Maribel froze in Renko's arms, her eyes glazing over. The winds died and the gaps faded away. Renko closed her eyes and whispered, “Please, Mary. Come back to me.”
----
Mary opened her eyes.
Around her the space was dark, just like the gaps that she had come to call her own. Still, it took her a while to realize where she was. The boundary of consciousness.
Before her was a woman. Their blond hair matched, as did their violet dresses, but the other woman was older. More regal and composed. She had all of Maribel's physical qualities, except she was inhumanly perfect.
Maribel knew who she was immediately.
Yukari seemed oblivious to Maribel's arrival. She simply stood in the mindspace, reading a book with no title.
“You!” Maribel winced as the shout echoed loudly, then forced herself to continue. “Who the hell do you think you are?!”
Yukari looked up from her book. “Me? I'm just a distant memory. One that should have faded away long ago.”
The words stopped Maribel in place. This... wasn't what she was expecting. She fought off the confusion. “I want my body back.”
“Good.” Yukari smiled softly and closed her book. “This is your life. I'm glad to see you taking control again.”
Maribel gaped at the spirit. “That's... it?”
The woman nodded her head. “You seem to think I'm Yukari. I'm not. I'm just fragmented memories, combined with what you think Yukari should be like. A shadow of the youkai sage, who you gave control to because you didn't want to become a monster.”
“But,” Maribel looked at the floor. Her eyes began to swim with tears. “But... I... I don't want to be a killer. I don't want to hate... to hate this much. I... I....”
“Sh....” A gentle hand patted her on the head. “I understand. It's hard for you. You aren't the type of person who can accept the need to kill.” The woman sighed. “And I gave you problems too. These memories that compose me confused you. Made you question what was real.”
Maribel sniffed and wiped her eyes. “I... Renko is right isn't she. You're right aren't you.” She looked up at the woman. “I'm sorry for trying to make you a scapegoat for my anger.”
Yukari's shadow shook her head. “It's alright. I'm part of you after all.”
“Mhm,” Maribel nodded weakly. She sighed, then managed a weak smile. “I made you act like a total bitch didn't I? Half of that stuff was made up too. All just because I wanted to hurt him.”
“Like I said, it's all right.” The woman winked. “And well, you should remember by now Yukari didn't care about looking like a total bitch.”
“I suppose not.” Maribel bowed to the woman. “I'm ready to accept myself now. Thank you kindly for acting on my behalf.”
The woman bowed in return. “It was my pleasure.” As she began to fade into the darkness she stepped forward. “Oh and Mary?”
“Eh?” Maribel blinked in surprise.
The woman placed her hat on Maribel's head. “Please watch over Gensoukyo for me.”
And then she was gone.
----
Maribel opened her eyes to find herself in Renko's embrace. She sighed in relief then hugged the other girl in return. “Renko....”
“Mary?” Renko pulled away just enough to look Maribel in the eyes. Then the woman let out something between a laugh and a relieved sob. “Mary! You're back!”
Mary's eyes teared up again. “Yeah. I'm back.” She smiled. Then then she started sobbing. She was alive! Renko was alive! It was all over, and they were both alive! There was so much she wanted to say, to do, to explain. But all that came out were sobs.
She clung to Renko for dear life as the emotions she'd tried to bottle up poured out. Renko just hushed her and held her, alternating between holding her close and patting her hat back into place as sobs wracked her body.
As the sobbing slowly stopped she saw the rain had at some point changed to water. A steady deluge that slowly washed away the blood.
Maribel buried her head in her friend's shoulder, and let the rain lull her to sleep.
-----
Only the phoenix arises and does not descend. Everything Changes
And nothing is truly lost.
Maribel sighed in contentment as the tea warmed her stomach. Sipping tea in the fall was one of life's greatest pleasures.
Renko sat down on the walkway beside her, then waved to the young girl sweeping the steps. “Kuroko, that's enough for today. People expect a few leaves in the fall.”
“Okay, Miss Renko,” the girl replied. She flicked one last leaf down the stairway, then went to put the broom away in the shrine's storage room.
Well technically it wasn't a shrine anymore, Maribel thought as she took another sip of tea. There was no god for the Hakurei Shrine after all. But when they'd bought the land they'd rebuilt the shrine mostly the same as it had been before.
Maribel had been a little worried when Renko'd suggested they take over the shrine. But most of the youkai who had stayed in Gensoukyo had seemed perfectly happy with it. And once Kanon had shown up to insist that the Hakurei shrine should be run by humans the few hold outs caved in.
Now it served more as a tea house. A place at the boundary of the Tengu's new capitol city and the village of Gensoukyo. Between the magitech world the kappa and humans had built, and the pure magic of the wild youkai. A place where steam fairies and flower fairies could meet up and plot mischief, though Maribel was going to make them sorry if they tried anything here.
Maribel's introspection was cut of as Ran flew in over the rise. She reached through a gap and grabbed another cup of tea as the kitsune landed and bowed. “I see you three are doing well.”
“Ah hello, Miss Ran,” Kuroko said. Maribel nodded her own greeting and handed Ran the tea. Ran accepted it and sat down on the shrine's back porch.
The four sat there for some time, just sipping tea. After a while Ran asked, “Has Kanon dropped by recently?”
“Apparently Utusho's been having problems with the generators again,” Renko replied. “Kanon's been busy helping with her barrier powers.”
“Ah. That's too bad. I know she said she wanted the watch them finish the radio tower,” Ran nodded towards the structure that now rose above the expanding city. “I have to admit, it is impressive.”
“She'll be there for the shrine consecration at least,” Maribel replied. “They need three miko after all, and she's better trained then the triplets or the Kochiya.”
“Oh! Can we go to the opening ceremony Miss Maribel?” Kuroko asked excitedly.
Maribel smiled. “Of course Kuroko.”
“I'm still not sure why they had to make it a clone of Tokyo Tower,” Renko said. “You'd think the kappa would want to create something new.”
“Just because we youkai aren't bound to tradition any more doesn't mean we don't appreciate it. And it was a nice building.” Ran stretched. “I imagine they'll rebuild the original in Tokyo too, though Momiji will probably focus on getting a road open for the humans first.
“Should you really be treating the shogun so familiar?” Kuroko asked.
Ran smirked. “She's not my shogun. Gensoukyo is the 'ancestral homeland of the youkai, now and forever.' Momiji was smart enough to realize this land can't be ruled by any one group. You humans might like having a government, but we youkai don't.”
“Though I'm surprised by you humans,” The kitsune said as she looked over the city. “This is supposed to be the age of youkai, but humans are the ones driving the expansion now. The tengu and kappa are just keeping up, really.”
“It has been seven years,” Renko pointed out. “People are surprisingly good at bouncing back.”
“Hm... Perhaps.” The kitsune stood. “Well I'd love to stay a bit longer but I need to talk to Alice about those Makai tourists. Do you have magic lessons at the SDM today Kuroko? I can fly you over.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.” Kuroko hopped to her feet, then gave Renko and Maribel a questioning glance.
Renko smiled and nodded. “We'll pick you up for dinner. It's beef stew tonight of course.”
“Great!” Kuroko's happy smile turned into a frown. “Though Patchouli said we're supposed to be going over bio magic....”
Renko chuckled. “I know it's no fun, but it's very helpful. That regeneration spell she's teaching you is the reason Eirin's still alive. That and Reisen's medical skills.”
“Right, right.” The young girl rolled her eyes at having to hear another 'war story.' Maribel smiled herself as their young ward followed Ran into the sky. It was a good sign that Kuroko could brush those stories off. Especially since that war was the one which had taken Kuroko's own family.
Maribel leaned against Renko and watched the wind play with the leaves. “Hey Renko, do you think Kuroko would mind if we adopted another kid?”
Renko laughed lightly. “She's old enough that you could ask her about that you know.” Maribel pouted until Renko relented. “But I did overhear her talking with the Kaenbyou kids about how it might be nice to have a sister, so I think she'd agree.” Renko shifted causing Maribel to plop into her lap with a surprised squawk. “Now, when were you going to ask me about this Mary?”
Maribel frowned. “It was just a thought. You know I'd ask you before I seriously thought about it.” Her further protests were silenced when Renko bent over and kissed her on the lips. Maribel relaxed and lifted herself into the kiss. When Renko finally pulled away Mary growled lightly, “You're insufferable sometimes.”
“Yep!” Renko replied cheerily.
Maribel was considering how to respond when the sound of someone coming up the steps caused them both to start. Maribel sat up as an older man in worn but very beautiful archaic robes crested the hill. Maribel wondered if he was from one of the villages or cities on the outlier areas of the tengu shogunate. While the new capitol of Japan was the most technologically advanced city in the world, places that were further away tended to actually be a lot closer to the human village in Gensoukyo. It was much easier to help the locals rebuild a preindustrial city that could survive the winter and expand later then to get a postindustrial city running all at once.
The two bowed to the man as he approached. “Welcome to the Hakurei Shrine,” Maribel said. “Can we get you some tea?”
The man smiled and bowed in return. “Ah, thank you for the offer, but I'm just passing through. I need to get to the village before dark I believe.”
Renko nodded at the mans words. “That's a good idea. The spellcard rules should protect you if you stick to the village and major roads, but wandering around after dark is always dangerous. Still it is a long walk, if you want you can take a break here and Mary here could teleport you to the village later.”
The man's eyes widened a little bit at that and he turned towards Maribel. “Ah, I see now.” The man hestitated for a moment before bowing deeply. “Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Sareseno Watatsuki. I've come to visit my aunt in the Bamboo Forest, and my cousin in the Netherworld.”
Maribel's started in surprise. “Oh!” She realized she had no idea what to say. “I... that is.”
The man chuckled lightly. “You need not worry about justifying yourself to a failed poet. Besides I know the truth of events.”
“I see.” Maribel shook her head to clear it. She still wasn't sure what to think of the man, but she didn't sense any malice from him. Quite the opposite in fact. “Well, I can teleport you to Eientei directly if you like. It's hard to get there by foot. Do you want to take a break here or...?”
“No, but thank you. I'm very eager to meet with my family, and I wouldn't want to impose on you more then I needed to.”
Maribel nodded at his words then opened one of her gaps to just outside Eientei. “This should put you by the front gates. I hope your reunion goes well.”
Renko spoke up softly from her side, “You may also want to visit Muenkuza. You might be interested in talking with one of the Shinigami there.”
A somber look flickered over the man's face. “I see. Perhaps I will. Thank you again.” He moved towards the portal before hesitating and turning back to them. “Ah yes. I think you should have this.”
He handed her a tome from his travel pouch. Maribel hesitantly took the well bound book. The title, in strong but simple letters read. 'The Rise and Fall of the Lunar Civilization.”
“I wish you two good fortune,” he said as he entered the portal.
“Safe journeys,” Maribel replied hastily. The boundary closed with his passing and her eyes quickly returned to the book. She felt Renko move to look over her shoulder as she opened the tome and skimmed through it.
Before her appeared stories. Tales of victory and defeat, of reason of madness, of hatred and forgiveness. But one story called to her more insistently then the others. She quickly flipped to the back. To the moment everything changed.
Ignoring Renko's surprised hum, she scoured the page looking for the answer to the one question that had plagued her since the battle. She scoured the chapter, looking over it twice, then moved on to the next section to check there.
She repeated this process five more times before sighing and giving up. Renko squeezed her shoulders as she closed the book. “What were you looking for?”
Maribel bit her lip. She didn't want to worry Renko about this. Finally she sighed. “I wanted to see if what I said was true. If that really was Yukari talking though me, or I was just lying to hurt people.” She closed the book. “But it doesn't say.”
“Are you still worried about the connection you have with her?” Renko asked softly.
Maribel grimaced. “I don't know. I think I just wanted to know why things turned out this way. What Yukari's plan was. And, well... I suppose I wanted to know more about the person I was. Or wasn't.” She reached up to touch the hat that the shadow had given her.
She closed the book. “But I guess we can't get all the answers.” She patted Renko's hand and smiled. “Anyways, we should get started on dinner soon. Otherwise Kuroko will lean how bad you are at staying on time.”
“Hey, I'm never more then a couple of minutes late!” Renko protested as they headed towards the kitchen. “You're always exaggerate these things Mary.”
"I give our story to dreams, so that as long as the world lasts, it is not forgotten."
