There was no force on the planet that could have kept the rule keeper from crashing into her bed as soon as possible following the Black Gate incident. Unfortunately for Roche, there were several that could drag her out of it come the morning, and the most bothersome of all was the buzzing of her doorbell.
She’d made a valiant effort to ignore it, but upon the third buzz she knew whoever persisted was at least half as stubborn as herself and would be depriving her of any further shuteye. Shrugging on an over-large shirt she’d pinched off a thrift store, she wasn’t even afforded a morning cup of coffee before she opened the door.
“Shuuko?” The name came as her gut reaction, but her eyes narrowed as her brain lurched into motion. With the context provided by the Hotaru personality, she was aware enough to know Shuuko was more a collective name and held little distinction to whichever one was at the wheel of the body. Her eyes noted that the hair was rather different now on the girl.
Red tipped hair tended to stand out as a sudden change in appearance. More than that, though, was the expression on the girl’s face that was at odds with both the abrasive but upfront Hotaru, or what she had come to associate with Sylvia. Which only left…
”Ember. You’re not dragging your feet on this.” There was no point masking the displeasure in Roche’s tone as she turned back into her home, leaving the door open as she ambled into the kitchenette and began working the coffee maker. It would be a requirement if either of them were going to leave without coming to blows. ”Come on in. You already know your way around.”
On the other side of the door, Ember had been starting to wonder if she had made a mistake. She knew that Earthshaker would be exhausted after the fight, so she timed her arrival close to lunch, but upon seeing the door open, she let a sympathetic wince show on her face. Indeed, while Hananami Ryoba looked better than yesterday, she still looked worn-out. Not to mention her tone left no illusions as to what Ember did by accident, nor what has been revealed to the club’s Rulekeeper.
Bowing in apology, the schemer let remorse fill her voice.
”I am truly sorry for disturbing you, Hananami-san. I had hoped you were well-rested and I apologise for waking you up.” She remained that way for a couple of seconds before she took off her shoes and went inside with a quiet “please excuse my intrusion”.
”Before we start… I would like for you to know I am only here to talk and hear you out.” The schemer put as much sincerity into her voice as she could muster. Her blue eyes locked with Ryoba’s, not in an intense way, but with a small, genuine smile. ”I would like to speak about countless topics myself, however, I would like to give you the opportunity to ask about me first. Even if you know my name, there may be other things you wish to know of me.”
The rule keeper snorted as her reputation seemed to get ahead of her, or was it more a case of having a monstrous resting bitch face? Despite herself she was warming to Ember having the good graces not to assume they were on the same basis as she was with Sylvia and Hotaru.
”Mah, if you want to be civil I’ll do the same. I’m not so far gone to try and hide my messes by going on the attack.” Roche said, though in her heart she knew it was only true because she knew she couldn’t get away with it. She could double down on denial but there were too many in a position to dominate her if she valued secrecy above integrity.
Doing Ember a courtesy, the first pour of black tar went into a mug pushed towards her, an aged shaker of sugar slid after it. ”I’m the one sleeping in, so you shouldn’t fret over that. It was a consequence of my own actions.”
Acknowledging the Rulekepeer’s intentions with a nod, Ember followed her into the familiar home, unable to avert her eyes from the small marks of Sylvia that dotted the place. From the mug the protector always used to the sofa Eartshaker and Sylvia sat on when they watched movies, it seemed to be all over the place. A sign of how much they relied on each other. Possibly how much they needed each other if the schemer dug deep enough.
Regardless, she sat down and accepted the coffee, taking it black. She looked at Ryoba, then squared her shoulders before she leaned slightly forward, and, like with Sylvia or Hotaru, Ember listened.
”We didn’t get off on the best foot, and Hotaru wasn't flattering about you either, but it’s not the first complicated relationship I have. Not even half as bad as Suki and I.” A mirthless laugh passed her lips, elbows planted as she rested her chin against folded hands. She was remarkably dispassionate as she spoke of the house of cards she’d cobbled together and Ember’s place in it.
”But Suki has reasons for not blowing the lid on our issues, and I have my reasons not to dissuade anyone’s assumptions about us. Why aren’t you using all that dirt Michi gave you to bury me? I’d have thought Sylvia feelings would be any even stronger reason to drive me away if you thought I wasn’t safe for her..”
”Hananami-san, it was a dream. Or if I look at it another way, a construct crafted by our enemies to use and abuse our weaknesses. Who is to say Michi has not seeded it full of misunderstandings that would cause us to turn against each other, or cause long-term strife within the Detention Club?” Ember’s even voice did not give the impression that she lied. She also looked sorrowful, or perhaps pained as she talked about the experiences they both had within that world.
”Why should I believe what I assume to be true,” her voice shook as she thought of Sylvia, ”over what is actually true? I saw you with a red-head in the closet, that is true. But she also seemed to have dragged you into it. I do not know your relationship with her, nor can I claim to know your intentions.”
Her words seemed heavy. Almost too much so for her to be only talking about that particular incident.
”And even if I wanted to drive you away from Sylvia, it is her choice that matters in the end. She is…” Her hand tightened around the mug. It almost felt like it would crack. One could practically hear the creaking of the handle in the silence that followed.
”She is someone who deserves to be happy.”
”I am no judge, nor jury, nor executioner. I will call you out if I think you have made the wrong decision, but only after I understand what happened and even that might be only what I think.”
Ember was putting a lot of trust on the benefit of the doubt, more so then Roche believed was due for her closeness to Sylvia. There was a lingering feeling this conversation would have gone differently before the dreamscape, and the reluctance came more from Ember’s own introspection then a new lease on life.
”She does deserve to be happy, so I won’t lie to you; That red head was Ashbringer. I’ve met her a handful of times, and I thought I was getting close to uncovering her motives. To understanding her as a person.”
Her mug rang hollow, drained to the last drop as she set it aside. ”I’ve not had a successful social life. If not for the club I’d not have anything outside school. As much as Suki gets around or Willow acts like a lunatic, they at least have…relationships. I….I thought I had feelings for Norika, but she didn’t feel the same. So following that, having this beautiful, mysterious senior seemingly interested in me?”
”I like Sylvia a lot. I want what we have to work out, and I hate myself for feeling like this, but Michi knew…I wanted someone to want me like that.” The Rule Keeper shuddered, gripped by an impetus to purge herself of the demons grasping her. ”My own little dream to have someone I hardly know come on to me. Pathetic, isnt it?”
”No. It is not.” Ember’s firm, yet empathic tone left little room for Ryoba to second-guess herself. While the schemer did flinch internally the moment the club’s enemy was mentioned, she suppressed it, willing herself to listen instead of judging before the fact. And what Ryoba revealed…
Even though the memories were not her own, Ember remembered.
”I will not tell you that you did well or it was correct, but I understand.” Ember let go of her mug, using her free hand to tap herself. ”When there is no one to cling to, when all you have is a void that swallows the sky, the sun and the moon, it is salvation to have someone offer their hand.” Even if that hand is a poisoned chalice. Even if it is your worst enemy. Even if it makes your situation worse.
”I also think that Sylvia likes you. I do not know if it is the same feeling you yearn for, but she wants to spend time with you. And if you want to, I can help you with people outside the Detention Club. Or with the Detention Club.” She meant it. Her hand went back to the mug. She took a sip of coffee before she wrapped up what she had to say.
”It will not be an easy road, but Hananami-san, something has to change. If you stay on this road, you will shatter.”
Roche’s expression grew pinched and the lines framing her tired eyes deepened as Ember abstained from the condemnation she thought she wanted. Just as quick as the black emotion brewed in her gut she smothered it, knowing that there were others who would.
”You aren’t anything like I had expected. Thanks.” The rule keeper huffed, fingers clenching as though she longed to shake the eight-ball for answers once more. ”I hope you can understand that I’m telling you this because I want whatever Sylvia and I have to work out. I don’t want an outright lie to tear us apart like that.”
It was silly to think it, but Roche had seen enough dramas to know that the depths someone went to bury a lie could tarnish everything they’d tried to protect. That wasn’t even getting into the pressure Ashbringer and her friends could put upon her if they tried to blackmail her into aiding their machinations.
There was a relief to voice her dirty secrets, but it was not the relief of a drowned man grasping a thrown life preserver.
It was from letting go of the debris so another could float while she sank.
”As long as I’m rule keeper, I will look out for the interests of the Club. Whether I shatter or not is inconsequential.” Wearing a wan smile, she looked aside, wondering what her reward would be. ”In the dream, it was more than just Ashbringer carrying me off. She confirmed my either wild idea and offered us a peaceful path forward. Knowing Michi’s magic now, it was wildly optimistic, but maybe not everything I dreamed was hopeless.”
”I’d be happy to stay by Sylvia’s side if she would have me.” Till the club settles the score.
Ember suppressed shiver after shiver at hearing Roche. She felt her gut twist into ugly knots, then entanglement spreading through her whole body one vine at a time. Bile built in her mouth, because she knew what she had to do, yet she would hate every second of it.
So she closed her eyes. Lifted her hand to her hair. Reached for her magic. The hair changed colour and grew longer in response before being pulled into an elegant ponytail. Her face shifted, too, not to mention that beneath the eyelids, blue shifted into green. When she opened her eyes, she was a perfect mimicry of Sylvia, down to the mannerisms.
”W-w-what will happen to me if… if you’re gone… Roche…?” Ember’s lips trembled. Her voice sounded quiet, strained. Fear ruled it, of the exact same nature Sylvia carried with her all the time. The grief of inevitable loss infused it. And the
schemer’s machinations gave it crushing weight.
It was foul. Wrong. Yet ultimately necessary, for such was the schemer’s burden.
Even knowing they shared a body and the plurality of bodies was just a creation of Michi’s dreams, seeing a physical change right before her eyes staggered Roche like a physical blow. Her chair slid harshly against the floor, a high shriek of wood that so elegantly reflected her own thoughts as she now stared into Sylvia’s eyes.
It was not how she expected her first proper meeting with Sylvia to go, stripped of the falsehood of a singular Shuuko.
”Please, Sylvia, don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to nobly sacrifice myself here. I’m looking for a way out of this. All I want is to get us all out of this mess! I don’t want to lose my home, I don’t want to see anyone hurt, but we are outgunned here. I can’t just punch this problem. I’m doing everything I can to talk my way into some kind of compromise, but when it comes out that I have been.”
”Take your pick. Rei? Suki? Kiyo? Hell, Willow. Nyxia even. They’d all be right in coming down on me for holding this in.” She should have been shouting, but the candle was smothered by the anguished expression on Sylvia’s face, drawing her back to those terrified moments on the rooftop when the girl poured out her anguish and all Roche could do was try to smother that pain in her arms.
Knowing she was failing at it, just as she was failing to keep afloat now.
”B-but I don’t want you to die.” Strangely enough, even if the act made her sick to her stomach, Ember felt as though she really was speaking for Sylvia. At least partially. ”C-couldn’t you make up with them if you f-fought?”
How long Ember could keep this up, she had no idea. It was not a difficult task to keep this form of hers, but the deception went against every fibre of her being, not to mention it could backfire catastrophically. She only needed to choose one word poorly or make one wrong gesture and the whole thing would come down like a house of cards. Or at least so she thought until she swore she could feel a spectral hand on her shoulder. It pushed her forward gently, but insistently. Almost as though it were the protector herself.
”I don’t want Roche to get hurt.”
”I don’t want you to get hurt,” Ember echoed the thought, her eyes fixating on the table exactly as Sylvia’s would. ”I don’t want to get hurt either. I…” Fingers interlaced with each other. They turned white as tension built. Lines blurred between acting, reality and souls.
”Even if… even if the gods lie… I don’t want to get hurt. And I don’t want you to get hurt either.”
The strain - the sick feeling - was starting to become unbearable.
”That’s not a call….I can make. I don’t expect the club to all want me dead, but they wouldn’t want me around either. They could just as easily exile me…or they could punish me till I leave on my own. They could even…” Roche reached under her collar, lifting up her magical emblem and aping at crushing it in her palm.
It seemed drastic, but Rei wouldn’t break a single rule of her club if she simply destroyed the source of her power.
However the further Sylvia pressed the more she seemed to hurt herself as much as she was plunging a dagger into Roche’s own heart.
”If I don’t do this, then we are gambling on Rei being able to handle everything arrayed against us, and if what Sink Queen said is true, then we will be powerless to ever leave that shadow. And with Michi on their side, and the GEMS circling around us? I can’t just hope we can fight our way out like the old days. I have to try and talk Ashbringer out of this, because I don’t have it in me to stop any of them if they come for us.”
”We’re powerless. Can’t you see that? If I can’t find another way, all I’m doing is praying someone else feels merciful and takes pity on us.” Roche hissed the word and leaned forward, looming over the surface with a dark mania blazing in her eyes. ”I’ll take on this pain so no one else has to. So you don’t have to.”
By now, the vines almost completely encircled Ember. She could almost feel life and willpower being sucked out of her. The bile in her mouth became mixed with ash, which spread to her lips. It also infiltrated her lungs, causing every deceptive breath to come harder than before, but at least that suited the worried expression she made towards Ryoba, intending to create the picture of a protector who could not form any words.
A dreadfully long moment passed like that.
Then Ember had to let go, her appearance changing back to what it was before. She barely managed to keep herself from emptying her own stomach.
”I’m sorry. I do not think she could take any more.” She closed her eyes, trying to regain her breath, cursing herself for choosing this route. But hopefully, she will have sowed the seed necessary to forge on.
”I will explain later. However, know that all you say, I will relay faithfully to her.” Ember struggled to keep herself together, very apparently so, but she still looked Ryoba dead in the eyes, the schemer once again starting her machinations, trying to look three steps ahead. ”What you said is true. But what if…” She wet her lips.
”What if there was another one willing to bear part of the burden? What if there were many more? I am willing to do so if it means you will not be shattered. Even if you want to talk to Ashbringer to attempt to work it out.”
”And before you ask my reasons, what reason do I need?” She gestured towards their ruined school, letting anger creep into her voice. ”The only thing I need to do is look at the result of a single misstep and while I will not be satisfied until we have gone over all other options, if it means surviving…” A deep breath. A shudder not even the schemer could suppress.
”Then even a deal with an evil god is worth it, as long as we are aware of the consequences.”
Oh there were many reasons why pulling Ember and the other aspects of Shuuko deeper into the mess was a terrible one, and Roche’s mind could flit from one to the next with the haste of a hummingbird. One person could keep a secret, and were it exposed, the consequences would only strike one.
A burden shared was a burden halved, but it also left two lame if they failed to hold the weight.
For all that she had wanted to shield Sylvia, however, there was a part that was just as relieved to know Ember at least would not remain an informed bystander. That part took the reigns and Roche slid back, shoulders sagging in relief.
Even if it risked a schism that could tear apart the club at the absolute worst time, it was a relief not to be alone. ”Thank you, Ember, Hotaru, and Sylvia for your trust. I will do absolutely everything I can to get us through this and what comes after.”
”Even if you can not rely on Sylvia, for she carries burdens already much too heavy, I give my word that I will help you to the best of my ability.” Ember’s breath still came too quickly. She felt the cold sweat travel down her temple, almost as though it wanted to cut gorges into her skin.
”There are as many ways to skin a fox as there are stars in the night sky. If brute force does not work, thievery and trickery will. If that also fails, there are always patterns that could lead us to weaknesses we could exploit. There is no such thing as undefeatable.” Ember spoke with conviction she did not quite feel, but she did want to reach Ryoba. The other girl carried a huge burden on her shoulders and even though it was perhaps uncharacteristic of a dark magical girl to care about another, the schemer did not want to see another shattered husk.
She let silence speak until she no longer felt she was about to faint.
”Is there anything else you wish to know about me? Or perhaps Takae Shuuko?”
The rule keeper accepted the change of topic with a thin quirk of her lips and rose to refill her mug. As unhealthy as it was, she’d already been living off coffee for weeks now. ”Yeah, I do have one for you, Ember. How did you enjoy the movie?”
”It is, unfortunately, not my genre.” Ember refrained from showing her surprise. ”But I am glad you two enjoyed it. It seems to have meant the whole world for Sylvia.” Indeed. Back when they were still working on making Chiaki’s lives as easy as possible, the protector could not experience movies like with Roche. And even if it brought strife to them in the end, it had been one of Ember’s better decisions to push Sylvia forward that day.
”Yeah, not for everybody. Just means you and Hotaru need to pick your own.” Roche shrugged, burying the heavy matters with the ease of familiarity. She nodded over to her old TV and the chest of DVDs. ”How about we take a look and get some ideas before you head out?”
”There are, unfortunately, two more matters to tend to before I can accept that offer.” Ember put deliberate weight into her voice. ”Firstly, I would like to speak on the matter of Suki. She told me something that has been weighing on me since I talked with her. There is no easy way to say it, Hananami-san.” She locked her blue eyes with Roche’s greens.
”She claimed you beat her. Is that true?” There was no accusation in Ember’s voice. Instead, she leaned slightly forward, eager to listen once more.
Between that lack of antagonism and their earlier promise, Roche kept herself from responding with hostility. Her shoulders tensed and it was with visible effort she met Ember’s eyes.
”From Suki’s perspective? Yes, I beat her till she couldn’t get up. What she can’t remember is losing control and attacking me.” Having already confessed greater sins, the rest came loose with little struggle. ”Did you see her when the GEMS took Tsubomi? It wasn’t the first time she slipped or anywhere near the worst.”
”The only reason I’m talking to you now is because I kept swinging until she stopped trying to eat me. And for that, I let everyone think I was the monster she painted me as, because she’d have nothing if I had spoken up.”
No surprise coloured Ember’s face given their earlier conversation, for the more she listened, the more she realised just how much importance Ryoba gave to the continued existence of the club, not to mention the lives of her friends. In a way, she behaved almost as though she were a light girl, shielding others from the consequences of their mistakes so they too, could have a home. Like a more noble Kiyo who did not make plans.
There was merit to it. It also seemed to have served the detention club well. It was also a relief to know there was more to the story than Ember initially assumed, so she let her shoulders down, showing the relief to the other Dark Magical Girl.
”Were there no other witnesses as to what happened? For the record, I am not attempting to accuse you of lying. If she attacked you like that, you were well in your right to defend yourself.” She let a note of sympathy into her voice to show she understood the decision. Both ‘beating up’ Suki and Ryoba keeping the details of the confrontation to herself.
”Oh you can accuse me of anything you like in that regard. Not even Suki can remember her claws digging under my skin, and I’d ask you not to dispel her narrative either, because I was the only witness. If Kiyo had caught sight of it she’d have blown the whistle ages ago. There’s enough time between then and now that it wouldn’t ruin Suki, but we don’t need to plant any more seeds of mistrust.”
It was a familiar weight to carry, and one she wouldn’t set down anytime soon with how good Suki was at evading her. She’d simply accepted she’d be Suki’s boogeyman till she decided to act differently.
”I wouldn’t hit Sylvia, even without her history. I’m not asking you to take that on faith, but I’m saying that because she has the right to extra assurances.”
”This is not an issue of you hitting Sylvia or worse, Hananami-san, though I admit the idea has entered my mind. However, I know you would not be so foolish as to do something along those lines, especially now that you are aware of what Takae Shuuko is.” Ember winced as she heard the rulekeeper degrade herself. A part of her was tempted to reach out to her physically, to reassure her through touch that there was someone else here, who could listen. It showed in a miniscule twitch of her shoulder.
”It is more of an issue of the previous topic. I do think keeping it to yourself was the right idea when it comes to the Detention Club, however, when it comes to Suki herself, it will land her in danger. Not to mention the implications this has for your relationship with Sylvia.”
”Suki conveyed to me that she wished to give you another chance if you bring her and Nyxia closer, however, I am wondering if I should give you that chance regarding the most vulnerable of us - Takae Shuuko. If you are so willing to shoulder burdens, keep secrets, then what will ensure that you will make a stand for what is right when it comes to Sylvia? Both for her and against her.” The schemer’s voice turned serious, though it did not sound accusatory, especially with how she touched her fingertips to Ryoba’s. She admonished and supported at the same time.
”Hananami-san. I do have faith in you.” She did not lie. Ember had known the Rulekeeper for some time. Even if she hid secrets, they ate away at her and the desire to do so came from a place she did not quite understand yet, but Ryoba definitely did not want to harm others or do evil. ”I only want you to see that even when it comes to the faults of others, silence is not the only answer. We are Dark Magical Girls bound together by fragile tethers, yet at a certain point, the interest of the self is also the interest of the group.”
She sounded like someone who learned a very harsh lesson that still stung.
”Ember, as much as I may look cracked, it wasn’t as though informing Suki hadn’t occurred to me. You may have noticed she’s been extremely evasive of me for some time now, till just recently in fact. But even if she hadn’t, would you expect her to accept that, from her perspective, her abuser told her she had it coming?”
Sylvia would have understood that point intrinsically, reminding Roche that for all that they shared a body, Ember was her own person with her own preconceptions and biases. Not that Roche had any reason to doubt, but it was in the little things that the absurdity of their reality cemented themselves before her eyes.
Her voice hardened in the face of Ember’s admonishment, taking the words poorly. ”You are mistaking silence for inaction. Failures for an absence of effort. I have been running down every lead and avenue, and I’ve not come out unscathed for it. If there is anything Sylvia needs more than my company, she will have it, but I’m also not going to smother her completely out of my own self interest.”
So that was the piece Ember had been missing. As well as another reminder that she did not know. She should have phrased her statement as a question, as curiosity instead of the hostility she just showed. Bygones were bygones, however. The best thing she could do was to withdraw her hand, then lower her head.
”I apologise. My judgement of the situation was wrong and I should not have tried to impose it on you.” She looked at the table in front of her, a very close reminder of Sylvia, except it did not come with the usual shrinking back. It came across more as a way to buy herself time to think along with a show of remorse, letting the schemer recover as she considered what to say.
”Please understand that Sylvia is… The only thing I will say right now is I do not think I have done as right by her as I could have.” Pain joined hands with regret to colour her voice, sounding as though she were both apologising for the current situation as well as what happened earlier. ”You saw that she could only talk to you for but a moment and I assume partial responsibility for that. The other, more substantial part goes to the nightmare that Michi wove.” She looked up at Ryoba, lips pressed into a thin line. Colour draining from her face.
”So please do the best for her even when I can not.”
The rule keeper allowed the change in topic, though it wasn’t eluding her that Ember was making a habit. She shifted tact like a reed in the wind, yet unerringly it all came back to her concern for Sylvia.
”None of us can claim to have done well by her. Even after learning there was more then just one Shuuko, I’ve been pulled in too many directions to really help out.”
Case in point. ”I was too caught up in my own feelings to reach out to her after the nightmare. Is there anything I can do for her now?
For the first time since their conversation started, Ember looked away, past Ryoba’s head. She considered something for several moments, the gears almost audibly turning in her head before her focus returned to the matters at hand.
”Yes. But I would be nothing short of a hypocrite if I asked for your help right this moment, when you already shoulder so much. Especially after I offered to look out for you and extended my own aid regarding Ashbringer or any other concerns you have.” No dishonesty entered her voice and Ryoba could likely tell she was not one hundred percent comfortable with what she said.
”At the same time, you might not be able to talk to her for a long time if you did not extend your help. I legitimately do not mean as a threat or as a way to keep you away from someone you wish to cherish,” a note of pain entered Ember’s voice when she spoke about that, ”but rather, as a way for you to account for it. I will not stop trying to help Sylvia recover, but I have spent everything I have for her sake and it did not work.” Frustration also surfaced, mixing together with grief in such amounts that it might have been able to create a lesser Miseria by itself. Ember looked genuinely torn between asking more of someone who already burned through herself at a dangerous rate, shouldering so much what should not be hers to shoulder alone; and between subjecting Sylvia more of whatever she was going through right now.
Ember’s response did nothing to reassure Roche and the Rule Keeper strode forward, clapping a hand to the girl’s shoulder. Unlike with Sylvia she didn’t think the action would evoke primal terror, her grip firm without the intent to harm.
”If I sacrifice Sylvia to save the club, I’ve saved nothing. I will make time to reach out to her if you can get me the opportunity.” Her chest swelled as though she could bury the fatigue under a rush of air filling her lungs. ”Hotaru wasn’t an unbiased source, but she made it clear you three are deeply entangled. That familiarity makes it hard to accept help from another because there’s just as much self interest as their is empathy.”
”You must have been telling Sylvia she wasn’t a…bad girl, for years now, but she’s never listened. Let someone else crack that shell of hers so she can accept she’s worth more than those monsters thought of you all.”
Ember met Ryoba's eyes with her own, wavering, deep blue gaze that reflected a turbulent ocean.
”I would be doing something I have never done before. I do not know what consequences there will be.” Her lips felt dry. ”I do not want to make decisions for you. I am also concerned for you.” Her voice quivered. ”Even knowing all that, are you sure?”
”I am.” Roche was never one to hesitate, letting her hand return to her side as she rolled her shoulders in anticipation of something novel. ”Whatever comes is a consequence we’ll both have to carry, but it’ll be a burden halved. You don’t strike me as someone who will shirk that responsibility, either.”
Silence greeted Ryoba’s resolve. The Detention Club’s Rulekeeper could practically see the gears turning in Ember’s head. The schemer’s brow creased and her face took on a serious, focused expression as she fought with her desire to protect Ryoba exactly as she vowed to protect Sylvia. Even if it meant shielding them from the consequences of their own decisions, of actions that could result in an unfavourable outcome. Indeed, a deeply rooted, selfish part of her wanted to refuse anyways, because she knew better.
Because that was her role as the schemer.
Yet this was the exact thing that failed Sylvia. The very idea that was supposed to protect the protector caused her to fall to despair, then almost shatter into thousands of pieces when she was at her lowest. Were it not for the presence of people she got to know outside of Ember and Hotaru, the schemer did not know if she would have survived at all.
A heavy sigh left Ember’s lips. Her decision did not come easily.
”I might carry regret and grief for the rest of my life if I make any of the choices before me.” She could not keep the strain out of her voice. ”I know that I am the one who offered… but there are so many possible catastrophic outcomes that I do not know if I can carry through with what I had in mind.” Her lips and throat felt like a desert of needles.
”No… no. You are… right.” She grit her teeth. ”There can be no deeper regret than not taking the chance. So. Are you ready to see if you can make a stand where I failed, Hananami-san?” She extended a hand towards Ryoba, pretending that it was not shaking like a leaf in a tempest.
The offer had been made without deceit or artifice, and yet Roche wasn’t certain it would be accepted till the very moment the hand was offered. It almost seemed a cruel twist of fate that the very intimacy and closeness she’d pined for was now offered only at the darkest point in Sylvia’s already tragic life.
Though exploring the mind and soul of another was a hair beyond intimacy, especially when it was for the sake of Sylvia’s very existence.
”I’m ready as I can be, Ember-San.” Sleep deprived, over caffeinated, and with a looming meeting with Suki later in the day; There likely wasn’t another time they’d get a crack at it before things heated up in the city. ”And, thanks for trusting me on this.”
”If anything, I am the one who owes you more than I can possibly repay.” Ember let the hand slip into hers. Reaching for her magic, she opened herself up as much as possible towards the Rulekeeper, a red aura of swirling ashes and cinders blooming around her. It crackled like a roaring fireplace as she attempted to lead Roche into the mental nexus of Takae Shuuko, her every try a blaze of magic that drove the air out of her both physically and metaphysically
Gold along with a pale, silverish blue flashes danced at their point of contact. Beads of sweat poured down Ember’s brow in doves between her breaths. She stretched herself to the limit, then some more as she tried to pull and pull and pull…
And was met with failure after failure.
Her magic started to run out. Likewise, she could feel the severe drain she imposed on Roche, the essence of whom impacted against hers in an attempt to glimpse a world that was meant for only the four three Shuukos. It caused Ember’s vision to flicker constantly, which was nothing compared to the searing pain blooming across her entire being. Like being stabbed all over the place repeatedly, knives twisting inside the wounds, then leaving hooks that kept shifting beneath the recovered skin.
The crack of a lightning echoed between them. Ember’s aura started to turn into a cloud of silverish blue prayer beads. Her lips pressed together in agony and then she could not take it anymore, collapsing into a heaving, messy heap of a woman along with her magic.
Roche had experienced paranormal slips, moments when her understanding of reality was proven laughably inadequate amidst flashes of maddening insight. Satan and her babbling was the most recent exposure, but even the Giga Miseria were a lasting reminder the world was baster and more terrifying then they should ever aspire to know.
That they were magical girls should have been proof enough of the Soul, but she’d not tried to touch upon that so literally and bereft of the veneer of mortal flesh. Ember tried, and seeing her drop to the floor was a telling example of the cost of that effort. Her own extremities tingled, a bloodless chill nipping at her bones as her pulse raced rabbit quick.
”It…looks to me, that you alone can’t open a door.” Roche puffed, steadying herself against a chair. Flashes of color she was growing to associate with each Shuuko had swirled before, seared into her retinas while her fingers pressed to her temple.
”If it’s even possible to begin with, it looks like we need Hotaru and….Was there another?” She questioned, uncertain where metaphor and madness met in such liminal spaces.
Despite the exhaustion that claimed her, Ember still managed to raise her head in a flash and look at Ryoba with wide eyes.
”Another…? What did you see?” Even if she wanted to, she could not hide the alarm in her voice. Of course, she always kept Chiaki in mind, but the three of them had agreed that they would keep her safe until the world was sa-
The three of them had agreed.
They did not agree anymore.
What doubts she harbored were dashed by Ember’s response. She frowned, looking down as she slid into the chair she balanced upon.
”It’s what I didn’t see. I saw three colors, but…it was like there was a space for another. When you look at the night sky outside the city, a patch without stars stands out. Sounds like you already expected that, though.”
Roche was in no position to judge but it seemed to her that bearing your soul while hiding a quarter of it was a prospect doomed to blow up in their faces. ”Does everyone agree with helping Sylvia?”
Instead of answering, Ember let her head fall back, right onto the table, because what Ryoba said should not be possible. And yet the Rulekeeper had no reason to lie, especially not when both the Detention Club’s integrity along with the support of Ember and Sylvia was on the line. So even though Chiaki never woke up, her vote still counted?! Would they even be able to stitch Sylvia together if that was true? There had to be a better answer.
”I don’t know.” The terror in her voice rang clear. ”If what I understand is true… Hananami-san…” Ember raised her head again to look her in the eyes. ”I require time and I can not exactly say how much of it. Until I get to the bottom of this, the best I can do for Sylvia is to leave a body by your side, to see if you can get through to her.” She all but rattled off what she had to say as she tried to collect herself but-
How did Chiaki wake up? When did she wake up? And why did she never try to talk to them? Whatever the answers were, they had implications for Hotaru, Sylvia, herself and potentially, the rest of the Detention Club.
The Rule Keeper considered the compromise before meeting it with a stiff nod. ”If there’s no way to hasten this, then that’s acceptable. She can take my bed and I’ll take the couch. Don’t need Suki getting any ideas if she drops by later.”
She carded a hand through her hair, leaning back till the front feet just barely lifted from the ground. ”We were hoping to be direct, but she already spoke to us briefly a few minutes ago. She’ll just come back on her own time, and I’ll be honest with her.”
”Word of advice? You need to discard those old frameworks you built for yourself. It sounds like you've been trying to put everything back together as it was, but Michi was a natural disaster for everyone, Sylvia most of all. You can’t put the knick knacks back on the shelf after the twister’s torn down the house. You’ll wind up worse off if you can’t accept they’ve changed, or that you have either.”
The schemer had to do her utmost to not wince when Sylvia was brought up. She tried her best to maintain a panicked appearance instead of a guilty one, but she was not exactly in the best state of mind right now. Especially not after the revelation she had regarding the fourth person they shared magic with. Perhaps Ryoba caught it. Perhaps she did not.
What the Rulekeeper definitely caught, however, was Ember stretching her magic to teleport one of the Shuuko bodies beside herself. Cold sweat broke out on her brow again, even from this minor action - the Rulekeeper had no doubt seen how she switched and teleported around without even the slightest efforts - a further sign of her exhaustion. Which was only made worse as she reached for something profound that rippled into existence as a green mote of light. Though it was tiny, even from afar, Ryoba could sense the metaphysical weight of what Ember carried. Marred by countless fractures on the surface, it seemed more vulnerable than ever and upon looking at it, one could almost see the ghost of Sylvia resting in it; curled up and crying.
The mote of light entered the body, which then started to breathe. Ember wiped off her sweat.
”I will make sure to keep your advice in mind. I…” She hesitated. Her eyes wavered. ”I do not wish to disturb the two of you. I am sure you have much to say to her, especially about things I should not be privy to.” A part of her wanted to take the offer to stay. To forget about the First of them, to bury memories that should have died a long time ago, beneath a movie. To leave behind Grandmother and Grandfather, with all the evil in their hearts. Just like they used to do when they went to the movies with Chiaki. But alas, that would be repeating the past.
She still saw before her eyes, Sylvia’s body criss-crossed by ribbons of green light, helpless before the hell that Michi unleashed. And she promised herself: Never again.
What was going unsaid was beginning to lay heavy upon her brows, and Roche felt the pricklings of curiosity of what else Ember could be hiding after revealing so much. A tripartite Shuuko seemed secret enough, but layer by layer and more emerged.
But none of those questions would draw near to her lips as Ember followed through on drawing out a body for her. One that looked so very much like the emerald spark Ember cradled in her hands, the Rule Keeper’s magical senses aghast at feeling the brush of Sylvia’s soul so close she needed only reach out to brush upon it.
So fragile that the act of doing so would likely shatter her.
The familiar well of roiled pitch churned at the sight, feeling for the first time grateful to have left Michi to Ashbringer. Now she wasn’t some lost pet under Hizuki’s protection, and anything that followed was simply the way of things.
”I’ll do my best to look after her.” Roche swallowed back the bile in her throat, taking Sylvia in her arms as though she were Sleeping Beauty, head rested upon her shoulder without a hint of wakefulness.
Ember left her, gripped with purpose and a new direction to direct her energies, while Roche returned to her room and tucked the body into bed. It hadn’t seen much use so the sheets weren’t ripe, though she’d make a note to change them out sooner rather than later.
Carrying in a chair, the rule keeper settled facing the bed, hands clasped before her as she sagged under newfound weight.
Then she put on a smile and spoke warmly to her friend. “I found a recipe I’d think you’d enjoy.”
And for a time, Roche allowed herself to weave a pleasant dream of what Sylvia had to return to, if only she’d see past the curtain of tears.
Chevaleresse
Fetzen
Neziul
Villamvihar
mickilennial
shylarah
If I had coffee, I’d be spitting a hole through the building.