Anime of You - Part 5 ~Finale~ (Story)
Sep. 20th, 2009 01:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_kerinaI really enjoyed finishing this. It was far tougher than I expected but I'm glad I made it. A long-ish story in a little over a month. I enjoyed creating it. Next up...Medley! ^_^V
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
(Feel free to follow on DeviantArt for stories and parts)
Dark sounds surrounded me in the blackness. Gnashing and beating. Wet and thick. My imagination shuddered. There was roughness all around.
Finally, I was thrown into a wall and something shut behind me. My teeth vibrated a bit and my nose felt crushed. I coughed in the bag and fumbled for it.
My hands hadn’t been tied. I had to figure that was next. But the soldiers…or whatever they were…roared amongst themselves and thundered away.
When a moist, dripping silence returned I fumbled for the bag around my head. After a good bit of tugging, I was able to split the seam. That only got me so far before I worked at the knot. It was complex but I didn’t really have anything else to do.
Even with the split seam, there was only enough light to know there were stone walls all around with only the dimmest of torch-light filtering in from somewhere far away. A rancid smell filtered through the torn seam.
My Yuji side was plotting my escape. My Kyoko side wanted to cry and be back in bed. My Neil side fretted over what Mayu had become. Together, we feared the worst. Neil remembered that Mayu sometimes kidded about killing. It was always silly. Feeling menace behind to those words was like a cold stab in my legs.
With the arms of the outfit, it was easier to get a grip on the knots without cutting into my fingers. It still took a long time before I was finally able to get the bag off my head. Even with the low light, I was able to see a little.
I was in a small dungeon room. The door was iron with narrow bars. A flicker of torch-light caught an artful shadow. The walls were all heavy stone. With the bag off, I pulled off the sleeves of the outfit. The projections on the sides bumped against me but I was glad to have my hands free.
I felt around. There seemed to be no clasp in the back of the outfit nor anywhere else I could look. Good thing I didn’t need to pee. It sure looked stylish but it was a pain to wear. My entire lower body was already full of my sweat.
I rested my head against the rough, hard stone wall. I sat there and waited. I rested a little. Mostly, I let my mind race. In the darkness I could see half-visions of black terrors creeping into my vision. I thought I saw a rat once and I was sure I heard a squeak. Time trickled till I heard slow footsteps nearby.
I wondered, like with my cat-ears, if they were further off than I figured. They were coming closer. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing but it at least broke the drone of silence.
I braced myself in the darkness. A burst of torch-light appeared through the bars. Two red-eyed solders crossed the bars. The lock creaked slowly in the door and A.L. appeared through the opened door holding a torch.
Her face looked fierce but not nearly so fierce as the soldiers just outside. Their teeth glimmering through their helmets looked ready and hungry. A.L. set the torch in a mount on the wall, spreading what felt like bright light all around the room. It didn’t look any more pleasant.
A.L. waved a hand to the soldiers and said, “Leave us till I call. Stay at the steps.”
The soldiers grunted and stomped off. When the last whisper of them faded, A.L. turned. Then she burst over and hugged me. My arms froze at my sides. A.L whispered quietly to me, “I have your papers.”
She produced the sleeved papers from her dress and said, “Get out of here. Get some place safer.”
I held the papers. They were sure to be recharged soon, if not yet. I asked her, “Why?”
She bowed her head. “I’m not sure how much you know. But I made a mistake…in another life. I don’t want you or…Mayu…to make the same mistake.”
I held the papers in front of me and asked A.L., “What about Mayu?”
A.L.’s eyes flicked up. She paused a moment and shook her head. “The Mayu you know doesn’t exist here. He only wants to destroy you. And the name ‘Mayu’ will only inflame him if you say it.”
I clutched the papers tightly. “And what about Mayu’s papers?”
A.L. answered simply, “He still has them.”
I looked down at the papers. I knew I only had to look at school girl one and all this would be gone. But I would be right back where I was before.
I asked A.L., “Does Mayu remember anything of before?” She sighed and asked, “Does it matter? You can change all of this easily. Just look as your papers.”
I pursed my lips and asked, “Did it work for you?”
Her shoulders drooped. She shook her head. “I never got the chance. My way out just became a loop…my thread is wound in a figure-eight.”
I felt a bit ill at that prospect and whether I was doomed to create it. I looked down at my papers. I could’ve followed what she said. I could’ve just looked at the pleasant image of a happy school girl and escaped from all of this. But I tucked the papers away safe.
I was going to take the hard way out and Yuji had a plan. I whispered to A.L. Her eyes widened but she nodded and said, “I don’t know if it will work. But okay.”
I slipped one arm back in the sleeve and brought it around her with the pointy parts threatening. She yelled, “GUARDS!”
The hissing, red-eyed guards watched as I backed A.L. out of the cell and made my demands. “Take me to, Fujiwara. NOW!” I quivered inside with each strong word.
I moved slowly amongst the soldiers. I picked out one with a green and a red eye. I worked A.L. upstairs as she flailed convincingly.
Back in the grand hall, it didn’t take long before I had Fujiwara’s attention. His eyes narrowed at me and he stepped close. He asked, with what sounded like excitement, “Do you wish to die already?”
I shook my head and said, “I want only you…Mayu.”
I could feel A.L. grimace in my clutches. Fujiwara’s face flushed with emotion and fervor. And, for a moment, I thought I saw something softer in all the horrific anger.
I edged A.L. to the side. Yuji had a plan and hopefully enough training to pull it off. I proposed to Fujiwara, “You want me dead? I’ll give you the chance. A sword-match. If you win, you can kill me. If I win, I want your papers and a truce.”
Fujiwara picked up his scabbard and drew his sword from it. He aimed it right at me and said, “I should slice your head from your shoulders for invoking that name before me.”
I clutched A.L. a little closer and asked, “Do we have a deal?”
He snorted and said, “I can kill you so many ways with just a flick of my finger. But running you through with my sword would be the most satisfying of all…Deal.” He picked up another sword by him and threw it to my feet. I pushed A.L. away and quickly picked up the sword.
It looked frail and small compared to Fujiwara’s sword but it was better than nothing. Yuji remembered sparring with a wooden one a long time ago for fun. His brother beat him soundly.
In that moment, I was utterly terrified. I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I should’ve just pulled out the papers, looked at them, and escaped this terrible place. But I didn’t. I approached the center of the hall as a roar of delight went up from the soldiers in the darkness all around us. The red eyes undulated.
As soon as I entered the center, Fujiwara rushed at me. I turned away and just barely dodged his first swing. I swung my sword up and pushed aside his blade. He brought it back up and across. I held my sword up and pressed his blade back. The sound of metal on metal shuddered through me.
I parried and turned his blade aside as quickly as I could. He kept roaring at me with his slices. I dodged around a chair and, in his haste, he caught his blade in the wood. I raised my sword at him.
He glared right at me, his teeth clenched tight. I looked at him and said, “I’m sorry.” He looked back at me with even greater anger and said, “Your words only further my dishonor.” Roaring, he yanked his sword from the wood and pushed aside my sword.
I blocked his fast, uneasy moves. He seemed to wrench his wrists out with each turn of his blade. He seemed intent to hack to pieces everything that stood between us. He sliced off the end of a table as I dodged behind it.
I held in all my quivers and asked him, “Why do this?”
He gave a sinister smile. “Because I want to see you bleed…” He sliced at me again and again. He seemed to get even angrier when I didn’t attack him. I held down his sword against a stone column and said, “You don’t hate me. These aren’t your emotions, Mayu. You’re my friend…” He grunted between the words as though I was applying a shock to him. He turned his sword so roughly that it flew and clattered on the ground.
He grunted through his nose and held his arms out. “I’d rather die than hear one more of your loathsome words.” I lowered my sword and shook my head.
“We’re connected by a thread. No matter what….”
Fujiwara bared his teeth and ran back for his sword. He raised it high and I tossed mine aside. He looked at me and asked, “Finished already?”
I took a breath and said, “I won’t fight you, Mayu. I’d rather die than hurt you. You’re…you are the person I care for most in any world, no matter what.” They were words that reached across me. They came from a young boy for his brother. They came from a girl for her sister. They came from a man named Neil who always wished for a girl named Mayu to have a smile on her face.
Fujiwara shook his head and took a step towards me. His sword looked quite ready. His muscles tensed. He swallowed. But still he held his sword up and at the ready. He looked to my sword and yelled, “Pick it up!”
I shook my head and said, “No.”
He took a step closer and said, “You and your lies mean nothing to me. I will run you through without a second thought.”
But there was something familiar on his face. It was like Mayu poking through. I knew it. It had to be. And, in that moment of tension, a particular memory returned to me and I spoke it as it came, “I remember. Your cosplay was Kairi from Kingdom Hearts.”
Fujiwara’s eyes widened with confusion. But bubbling out of the confusion was a moment, a sliver, of recognition. I could see and feel it. Then he tightened his eyes and growled, “Nothing but nonsense…”
I shut my eyes and said, “I trust you, Mayu.” I heard him panting. I heard the horrible sounds all around. I heard laughing. I hoped I hadn’t made a mistake.
I didn’t hear Fujiwara’s sword swing. I didn’t feel the air disturbed by a strike. I heard the sword clatter against the stone of the floor and tumble end over end. I opened my eyes. He had his fists clenched and his head bent. He hissed through his teeth, “I’ll kill you!”
He ran at me and slammed me into a pillar. His blows shuddered into my side. Everything blurred when he punched me across the face. I could feel blood quivering through me. Yuji and I deflected every blow we could but he was as good as Yuji’s brother. We knew this would end badly.
I swept Fujiwara across the legs and lay on his chest. He kicked and punched back with full fury. I tried to pin his arms, to speak through the blood beginning to trickle in my mouth. He shoved me away and back into the pillar.
I rolled away as his legs came up to step on me. I tugged him down. I wasn’t intending to slam him into the pillar. But it bought me a moment as the blow stunned him. I apologized silently to Mayu and whispered to him the name of the plushie I’d bought Mayu.
In that stunned moment, I heard one word from Fujiwara softly said, “Neil…” Then the intensity returned as he head-butted me and yelled, “You will kneel before me…then I will take your head from your shoulders!”
Splayed out on my back, I looked up at Fujiwara and said only, “I trust you, Mayu…”
With a snarl, he pulled me up by the neck of my bodysuit. I coughed and his grip loosened. His eyes fluctuated. They darted across me. He shook his head a little as he said, “What sort of spell is this…”
I bowed my eyes. “It’s not a spell. It’s your memories of the truth.” I felt I was close. I right there at breaking through to Mayu. But I had no idea what we would do if I made it through. There was no way these soldiers would just let us go. I could already sense they were aching for blood and were unsatisfied with the fight so far. Some had their daggers out and turning in their hands.
Fujiwara reached down, as if to strangle me, but his hands trembled at my shoulders. His breaths shot through his clenched mouth. He turned away and pulled his images out from his leather tunic. He held them up in their sleeves and said, “Mystic A.L. Give me his spell papers.”
Flanked by the red-eyed soldiers, A.L. bowed her head and looked towards me. Fujiwara smiled after a moment. “So…looks like my ally isn’t quite the ally I expected. No matter…”
His hands went right to my breast and, before I could tighten around his arms, he had both my papers. He pulled a torch from one of the mounts on the pillar. He held it aside the papers and said, “No more magic. Just you and me.”
Yuji told me just the move I could do to prevent him from lighting the papers. But I didn’t know if I could get there fast enough. Fujiwara circled around me and picked up his sword. He didn’t give me an opening.
He smiled and I relaxed my hands. I knew this would end…one way or another. He held his sword straight at me but he had to set the torch down on the ground. It flared a bit on the stone. In front of it, he set down all four sleeved papers.
He kept his foot on the torch, bent slightly forward, and asked me, “What’s your move…Count Drake?”
I took a breath. My entire body calmed. Clarity rung through my thoughts like a deep bell. I answered, “Sacrifice.”
I knew what I had to do.
I turned and launched myself at the papers. Fujiwara’s sword swung around. I knew I only had a moment. I knew which papers were mine. I ripped the sleeve off the top one. It was the girl in the bodysuit. It was the opposite side of this world. The only reality of mine I’d never seen.
I almost stretched an arm down to touch it. But I knew that Fujiwara’s sword would take my hand if did that. I kept my hands back. I didn’t touch the paper. No one did.
I took a deep breath.
I looked down at the artwork. I looked down at her. In my ear, I heard a sound gasping between vile curses from Fujiwara. It was the word “Neil”.
His sword swept down.
I held my eyes open. I stared at the paper. I fell into it and it swallowed up everything.
Then…
A metal support beam fell on Dr. Fujiwara. It caught me in the shoulder but I deflected it with the hard part of my bodysuit.
Pain shot through me. I crawled over to check on Dr. Fujiwara. He was unconscious but alive. I cursed under my breath. He muttered something but I didn’t listen. I had to get him out of here before the whole area collapsed.
I activated the adrenaline pads on the side. My heart raced. I lifted the doctor up on my good shoulder. The ground quaked all around. I knew that tons of earth would soon fill the room with those monsters to follow.
I looked down. On the ground I saw those four, black-sleeved papers that the doctor always carried around. They were from Colonel A.L. The doctor always said they were important. I grunted and slipped them into the satchel wrapped around the doctor.
I’d have to ask for an explanation some day. For now, I had to save the doctor’s ass.
The domed lockdown doors were shutting. I ran with the doctor through the opening and stumbled on the other side. Behind us, one of them dashed through the cascades of rushing soil and vaulted for the slim opening. Setting the doctor down, I turned, braced myself, and slam-kicked it right under its fanged maw. Its red eyes shuddered and it staggered back just as the doors sealed right in front of it.
I panted and leaned back against the concrete wall.
Just another day at work…
I tugged the doctor along.
I’d been doing this for ten years. Ten years as the government’s (what remained of it) golden girl against the monsters. Ten years training in experimental weaponry and close quarters combat. Ten years since the invasion.
They ate people from the inside out, devouring their souls before their bodies wasted away in hopelessness. That was the way my mother went.
The troops finally caught up to us and took Dr. Fujiwara away. I kept the doctor’s satchel.
My eyes lingered after the doctor. I felt like there was something tickling in my mind. The further he got from me, the stronger the sensation. I decided not to shrug it off. I followed where the troops took the doctor.
The halls had seen better days. The lower levels looked more like a dungeon than a refuge for a metropolitan city.
The infirmary was full, as always. I hovered by Dr. Fujiwara’s side, nursing this strange feeling I had around him, till a young nurse shooed me away. I still lingered and checked myself in the mirror.
The shoulder which had been hit still had a dark mark where the suit was doing its job fixing my injury. The painkillers and lingering adrenaline had taken the edge off.
I felt so tired. I scuffed my blue and black boots. I ran my covered fingers through my red hair. I felt like I’d been beaten up and run for a mile. I leaned my head back.
I had one of the nurses put down a roll-out bed for me near the doctor. I looked over at him. I was sure he’d be awake before long. I clutched the doctor’s satchel to me like a pillow. The Colonel was sure to be pissed that I didn’t report in.
I didn’t care. I needed this.
Sleep didn’t come easily. The glimmers of the monsters flashed in the blackness. I’d gotten used to that. I kicked as a reflex.
I never usually dreamed but pictures came into my head like when I was hooked into the battle weapon interface. One was of an old dungeon from ages ago. There was a forest. An old village. A city with a school. People laughing and smiling. And a hotel with people dressed up as the strangest things.
The images made no sense to me. But, in every image, I felt Dr. Fujiwara nearby. Dr. Fujiwara administered my training. At most, he was my friend. But they said my focus was better when he was near. He always treated me fairly, like his equal, and not just a kid who was good at killing monsters.
I opened my eyes slowly and looked down at the satchel. The pictures in my head made me think of the images in the satchel.
The Colonel recently drew up the images for us as some kind of ‘tool’. I’d never looked at them but others told me what they were. I thought it was silly to keep images of me as a schoolboy and a dark ruler or something. They were both things I would never be.
The communication officers laughed about it and everyone else forgot. The doctor’s images were ridiculous. A busty girl in a Chinese dress and a catgirl. The Colonel said they were part of a secret project. I kept them because those were the orders, at first. But the doctor liked them, so that made keeping them easier.
I rummaged through the side pockets and found some food. I apologized to the doctor and ate one of the drier rolls.
The dark mark had faded. My shoulder felt fine. A familiar voice coughed. I didn’t have to look to know it was the Colonel. Her long, black hair shimmered at the edge of my vision. Before she could ask me, I reported back to her on the incident. I expected she already knew all the important details.
She folded her arms in front of her. Her face was as cold and still as always. She nodded once and said, “And I’m glad you have the papers and Dr. Fujiwara. You’ll need both when the time comes.”
I stood and stared her down. “What’s so damned important about these papers?”
She looked back at me and asked, “How much do your remember of your life before you came here?”
I related to her about my mother at first but she cut me off. “Nevermind.” I narrowed my eyes, just speaking without thinking, and said, “And I remember a hotel with people dressed up.” It was just a dream but I felt like saying it.
The Colonel whirled around. Her eyes were wide as she asked, “Was it a convention…an anime convention?” I shrugged and admitted, “Actually, I just saw it in a dream…” And I recounted the other images.
I felt ready to apologize but the Colonel waved her hand. “But you know it. That’s the point….it could be time. Yes. And exposure to the paper. Could be. What else?”
I told her that was all I really remembered. But an image flashed in my head of the Colonel in a black dress. It was such a random and silly image. Sure her uniform was black but I could never even imagine her in a dress.
The doctor groaned and I rushed over to his side. I squeezed his hand a little. He softly said the word, “Neil” as his eyes fluttered open. The name didn’t really mean anything to me but the Colonel gasped and leaned over the bed. I watched the Colonel carefully.
I spoke to him. “It’s me, Norna. Are you okay, doctor?”
He looked up at me in a way I’d never seen before. He tried to say something. But then he shook his head and blinked. He cleared his throat and said, “I guess the experiment was a failure.”
The Colonel leaned over the bed and said with a slight, strange smile, “No. The experiment is right on track. When you feel up to it, doctor, I need to show you something.” She glanced over at me. “Both of you…”
It wasn’t long before the doctor’s head injury was taken care of by the nurse and we were both on our way with the Colonel.
She led us towards central command, the heart of the military operations against the monsters. Between the gray consoles moved technicians not much older than I. The one we all called CT, because of the Christmas tree-colored lights on his console, hummed about his work with a classical music record spinning on his desk record player. He told me once that it was something his friend saved when humanity had to retreat underground. CT’s fingers danced to the music.
The Colonel led us to her office. It looked the same as always…sparse. I noticed there was a single sheet of paper spread out on the desk. I helped the doctor over to a chair. The Colonel sat at her desk. She folded her hands in front of her mouth and said, “Let’s get down to it. I know the both of you just arrived here from a parallel realm. Your names were once Neil Drake and Mayu Fujiwara.”
I narrowed my eyes at the Colonel and asked her, “I was…a female version of the doctor?” I looked over at the doctor. His eyes were prying at the Colonel like she was a scientific riddle in his lab.
The Colonel raised a finger from her folded hands. “I don’t know which of you was which before. But I assure you that you just arrived in this universe, despite all the memories you may have to the contrary.”
She gestured with her finger to the doctor’s satchel. “If you look at the images that I made, you will travel to another universe. But, until now, I had no idea if my creation would bear fruit. I wonder if the other Norna and Dr. Fujiwara merely traded places with the two of you…well…no matter.”
One of her hands slid over to her desk and she came up with a gun. I took a step back and Dr. Fujiwara froze as she set it on the table. She continued, “My skill as an artist on normal paper is tolerable, at best. But with the special paper those images were created on, my skills are amazing. And it’s all for not…because I can only draw for others and never myself.” She turned the gun on the table and set it aside.
She looked right at me. “Only someone else can make an image for me. That could be any someone else. But it takes an innate skill combined with exposure to the energy of the paper for someone to make images that will send the owner of the image to another universe. And that’s what I want from you. I want out of here.”
I rushed ahead when the Colonel looked down. I reached out for the gun but she was a little faster. I brought my padded arm around and across her neck. I used my leg to pin her. Her coughed hoarsely as the gun smashed against the concrete wall.
I told her bluntly, “Want whatever you like…but no weapons.” I looked back to the doctor. He winced. The Colonel coughed and said, “You don’t know what I’ve been through…and I don’t ever want you to have to.”
I glared back. “I know enough…”
She shook her head and looked at Dr. Fujiwara. “No…you don’t. But fine…no weapons.” I let her up and she picked up the paper on the desk. She showed it to me. “This is my ticket home. One of you just need to draw it.”
I set my feet. “How?”
She pulled open a drawer. I tensed my muscles, ready to move if I had to. She laid out a set of colored pencils, paints, and pens. A low vibration shuddered through the ground.
I turned my head and asked, “What’s that?”
The Colonel answered, “Motivation…the creatures must be challenging our defenses. From what I saw…the base may not last an hour before we are overrun.”
I shook my head slowly. “I can fight them. We can hold them off until the others launch a strike.”
The Colonel pressed her face against her hands. “There are no others. Not for the last week. I’ve kept the news quiet but that’s why you two were attacked. They were testing our defenses with greater numbers. There’s no stopping them. There is only escape.”
I clenched my fists. “Escape for you. What about everyone else?”
“You may immerse your images in water and redraw your fate. But I don’t know if it’ll work.”
I looked down at the Colonel’s blank paper. I felt strange around it. I felt like it was whispering to me in words I couldn’t quite hear. I turned away. “There must to be a way to fight back.”
The Colonel sighed. “There is no fighting. No matter how many you destroy, more and more will just keep coming.”
I clenched my covered fists. “So long as I have breath, I will fight for humanity…and those I care about.” I only glanced in Dr. Fujiwara’s direction. I thought I felt a memory but it seemed to pass somewhere far from me.
The Colonel bowed her head and said, “You draw an image by focusing on the paper and asking it to create what the recipient has in their thoughts. That links the artist to their goal.”
Her eyes glanced up and she added, “I shall immerse your images in water while the mine is drying. It will take you an hour to have images that might…perhaps…take you home. Once created, the images must not be looked at for thirty minutes. I’d give you more advice…but failed paths are not worth emulating.” The Colonel’s eyes looked so worn and tired. Every shadow clustered in them.
I felt for her but also felt for every person left. Their lives were entrusted to me and my machines. I felt the darkness tighten a little around me. I flexed my shoulders and told the Colonel, “I’ll try to do what you ask…then I will fight.”
I stared into the blank image. Dr. Fujiwara was invited to join me. He shook his head a little. I smelled the fear and confusion in his gaze. I didn’t understand any more than he but I knew I had to move forward if I wanted to survive.
I looked deep into the blank image.I listened to the Colonel. I looked into her eyes as she told me, “I want to go home.”
I listened to her words. They rippled through the air and through me. The doctor seemed to shudder as well. We both went for the art supplies. Unconsciously, our hands flew at the paper. I blanked out for a bit. The doctor’s hand motions never clashed with mine. We worked together like when he gave me instructions in my fighting machines.
In what seemed like a moment, the image was done. I looked down to assess it but the Colonel swiftly covered it and hid it in a black sleeve. She clicked a timer in her desk and nodded to me.
I handed over the four images to her. Using a stored supply of water and two pots, she slipped the four images in. Despite being immersed in water, the paper seemed to remain dry. The edged glowed a little and the art wavered but the works were otherwise fine.
“Go,” said the Colonel. “Get as much time as you can.”
Dr. Fujiwara first went to work ordering the non-essential workers and refugees to evacuate to the lowest section of the complex. It was hardened and was sure to buy the survivors at most two months survival time with the supplies and a nice big bomb to seal the main shaft. And there was drilling equipment if anyone wanted to try to get out the back door.
Not that there would be anywhere left to go.
The technicians clamped me in to my machine. I took a breath and waited for the systems to sync with my brain. The machine had been so beaten up the last time that the repairs weren’t finished and I only had twenty minutes of batteries.
Not that I needed more than that to make sure the bastards begged for mercy.
I fired the rockets and rose through the opening bulkhead doors in the ceiling. Just behind me, the first ones were sliding shut.
I swung my arms back. I took a long breath. I could hear Dr. Fujiwara in my ear.
“Don’t be reckless, Norna.”
“I’ll be fine. Trust me.”
Dr. Fujiwara’s voice softened. “I do. Come home safe...”
I burst through the top bulkheads. The monsters were swarming all over the opening. I swung my arms through them and launched them in all directions. Those that fell through were torched by the defense systems.
The whole outside was ravaged. The skies were reddish-black with them everywhere and the sharp glow of their eyes. Vicious teeth reached out. They consumed everything and their hunger never tired. Ever.
I clenched my jaw, bowed my head, and went to work.
The primary rockets took care of some of the little ones. The big ones dodged. I hit the thrusters and pounded them against each other until they were a black, inky mess. The energy cannons tracked them as they darted away and tried to sink their jaws into my main jets. I smiled as my spike launchers cleaved through them.
And they kept coming. They poured over everything like an erupting ant hill I’d seen as a kid. They bit and clawed and fought to get their empty mouths into me. I shifted the jets down and roared past the ground. I extended the front blades and sliced my way through the dense lower level of them.
I could see them gnawing the ground like a mighty blob of blackness with angry eyes as I pushed past them. I could feel they were clinging. I tried to shake them. I rolled and pushed the engines.
For every one I threw off, three more seemed to latch on. I skimmed the ground closer than I usually dared at speeds which made me wince. In the passing I turned to my left. The display flashed a pale red light and a purple one.
The rushing of the landscape seemed to slow. As I sat there, I felt like I was remembering something from long ago. I felt like it was returning to me all at once. It crushed me like a tide falling from all directions.
I couldn’t breath. I braced myself in the capsule and shifted the jets the other way. Flailing beasts spiraled into each other. I knew they were just dazed but it was no less satisfying.
The memory that flooded me was just images. I had no context to give it. It was like my dreams. I hoped it meant something good.
I checked the battery timer. I’d been hitting for long enough. I was about to go to emergency batteries. I launched all my remaining weaponry except for one last salvo of flash projectiles.
I turned and pushed the machine high and through the swarm. I cursed the bastards one last time and leaned back. I cut everything and aimed my landing like a diver. I kept a streamlined position.
I waited to hit the button that would signal the doors to open until the last moment. The half-heartbeat before, I launched the salvo right into the doors. They exploded like the sun around it and I dove right through the brightest part. Computer warnings screamed about the batteries and the heat.
I signaled the doors to close in the next instant. In front of me, one bulkhead opened. Behind me, they sealed. The sealing doors were getting closer and I was running out of batteries.
I brought the arms and legs close. I didn’t want to push the jets. I wanted to save them for the very end. I tried to think heavy thoughts.
Closer closer…
The door sliced through a creature held the end of my leg. That was too close. I gave one press of the jets. I just slipped through.
The last bulkhead loomed. It was almost shut. I used the last of my batteries, held my position, and braced myself.
The last door separated the legs of my machine. The lower half sealed instantly with a rush. I spun through the launch bay and slammed into the wall.
With satisfaction, I noted a last, screeching creature flattened between me and the wall.
The systems took care of the fires. After setting the self-destruct and giving the machine the kiss goodbye, I blew the escape bolts and tumbled to the ground. I ran for the door and sealed it behind me.
It was all I could do. I hoped it would be enough.
Chaos and klaxons echoed through every room. I ran back to central command. The Colonel was there with his sleeved image. His eyes were shut. He said, “Thank you….” He looked to the doctor, who was standing near CT. They both looked nervous.
The Colonel told me that his office had a hidden vault and how to get in. “If you and the doctor stay there, that might buy you some time. The door is heavily reinforced. Remember. You must wait thirty minutes before you can use the images. Here…”
He handed me the timer.
I asked him, “What about you?”
He shook his head and noted, “You won’t see this version of me ever again. Hopefully…farewell.”
Red dots spawned all over the sensors. The Colonel left through a side door with his sleeved paper.
The doctor stayed a moment to help CT with outer defensive cannons but we were losing them fast. CT smiled at Dr. Fujiwara but shooed him away and said, “You two get somewhere safe.” He slipped an LP of Wagner on his player.
I could hear the melody still vibrating in my ears in the Colonel’s room. The papers were immersed but the images were gone. There was no trace of ink or pigment in the paper or the water. Everything was just blank. We took all four pieces of paper, the sleeves, the pens, and the other drawing materials with us into the vault.
The inside was sparse with just a bed and some supplies. I sat on the bed next to Dr. Fujiwara. He shook his head and looked down at the papers. “I wish I could understand all this…” He stuck out his tongue a little, a nervous gesture.
I nudged him and whispered, “Me too.”
He looked me in the eye and said, “We’re supposed to remember something. Our past lives. But I just get little glimpses.”
I nodded but offered my little memories, the little incidents I could recall. He listened to each of them carefully, doing his usual, mental dissection like after a particularly bad or particularly great mission.
We looked into each other’s eyes.
I tried to focus on the images but they did nothing as they flashed by in my head. I clenched up. I felt like crying but I grit my teeth.
“What if this doesn’t even work…what if the Colonel is wrong…what if we…what if I…lose you? I don’t want to lose you.” They were words that made my face flush. I loved the doctor. But it wasn’t like the schoolgirl crushes I’d long tossed aside. This felt like a binding of us together. I felt his teeth clench and his eyes narrow. I felt him and I knew he felt me.
He lay his hand together with mine and said, “You…won’t lose me. No matter what. You won’t. I promise. I’d stay here, if I had to, for you. You’re my friend, Neil.”
His eyes blinked and, at the same time, mine did as well. Something flashed between us and the doctor softly said, “I remember…a plush thing. You bought me it.”
I answered back, the thought flowing out with my words, “You had a star thing to go with your cosplay.”
We nodded together. It felt so close. I could remember a hallway so similar to ones here. A stone hallway. A hallway made of trees bending in. A hallway in a school. A hallway in a hotel. I felt like I was running down it with…Fujiwara. I was trying to get to the end. I could almost see the end. It was right there but I couldn’t touch it.
The ground vibrated. That had to be the explosives in the last level of defensive turrets. Their detonation would seal many of the levels but I knew the monsters wouldn’t take long to get through that as well.
I tried to focus what memories I had but I just couldn’t grab hold of them. I pushed myself. I tried to…
I paused.
I stopped pushing myself. I took a breath. I looked to Dr. Fujiwara and I gently squeezed his hand. I felt a great calm come over me as I looked at him. To be here, to be with him…meant everything.
In the quiet of my mind, the torrent came rushing back. I remembered the castle and the fight. I remembered the forest and the catboys. I remembered Kyoko and Mayu…
Mayu…I remembered Mayu. And I remembered myself. All of me.
I tugged on Mayu’s hand a little. He seemed to relax as well. His eyes settled. Then they widened he looked at me in surprise and breathlessly asked, “Neil?”
I nodded and hugged Mayu. The hug lasted only a moment. I knew I had to ignore my awareness of how my clinging outfit now felt. And I knew we had to get out of here.
I held the papers up. Mayu looked over at them. I had some inkling of what to do because of A.L. But whether it was supposed to be me or Mayu…
I looked down at the paper. I felt a wish that I knew what A.L. knew in some universes. I wished that I had that kind of knowledge to know what to do, no matter if it meant going back...maybe even in time.
But I pushed aside my wish and looked to Mayu. I asked Mayu, “Do you have any idea what to do?”
Mayu took one of the papers. He sighed. He looked at me and I looked back at him. I wished with all my heart that there could be a place where Mayu was happy. Mayu’s lips moved a little as though he was saying something to himself.
A sensation suddenly flooded me and Mayu at the same time. We seized the art supplies and worked at the papers. Our hands flew. Before me, I could see a female form developing. She had Mayu’s red-dyed hair. She had the cosplay uniform from the convention. She had Mayu’s smile.
When the burst of action finally stopped, I looked down at an amazing visualization of Mayu. Unlike the anime shapes and colors all around us, the image felt like there was another dimension to it. I hoped that was a good sign.
I turned over my image. Mayu did as well. We clicked the timer. Only thirty minutes. An eternity in a place like this.
I held Mayu’s hand in mine. We sat on the bed together with our finished images hidden before us. We’d both drawn what we were like in the original reality. I wasn’t sure what it meant or how we’d done it.
The minutes passed achingly slow on the timer. We were so tense, so ready for anything. But we soon had to relax. I smiled at Mayu and asked him what his favorite anime scenes were.
He smiled and rattled off a list of scenes and moments that we both agreed were awesome. But then he came to one in particular. I knew it well. It was on my list too.
I smiled gently. I knew why it was there. I had it on my list for the same reason.
Mayu told me, “I love it because I was watching it the day you joined the anime club and we first met.”
That moment returned to me. I could remember every sense as I walked into the club room. I remembered Mayu turning and smiling gently at me. I remembered my first question to her because it was the same question I’d just asked.
Then a long vibration rattled the floor. It knew it was the end of my machine. We didn’t have much time. We gathered up everything I could and wedged it against the door. It was as secure as we could make it. All we could do was wait.
Mayu stared at the papers and pushed them down as much as possible. I didn’t want to reset the time either. We were halfway there.
Cautiously, we talked about animes we loathed. We laughed a little at the worst scenes. Little sounds pressed through the heavy walls. They increased like a rising symphony.
I squeezed Mayu’s hand tightly. Our voices quieted. I whispered to Mayu, “Thank you for being my friend.”
Mayu softly said the same back with the beginnings of tears around his anime eyes. My eyes felt moist too. I felt scared. I wanted to go home and I wanted to be with Mayu.
The minutes creaked past. Finally, it was the last five minutes. We set our hands on the papers. The noises outside were agonizing. They felt right on top of us.
I could hear the edges of roars and screams. I thought I could hear the loss of CT’s symphony. I knew they were close. Something burst open just beyond the door. I could sense the flood on top of us.
The heavy door gave the faintest creak. Then, it shuddered and slammed and banged.
The noises crushed all thought. The door moved a tiny bit. The bracing helped but I knew that monsters were flooding the Colonel’s room to all ram the door. They knew we were here and I knew from Norna that they would never stop trying to get in.
I shuddered at what they would do to us. What they were already doing to everyone outside.
I felt bile in my throat. I panted and squeezed Mayu’s hands. We were so close but I knew they were coming. We had minutes to go but, with the progress they were making on the door, I knew it would only be moments before they compromised it.
I reached over for Mayu’s paper. I placed them so the one she made for me could be easily turned and she could hold it at the same time I did and the same for hers. The spares were underneath.
Mayu shivered and asked, “Should we go now? Should we even have two?”
The monsters pressed even harder on the door with her words. I shook my head. I didn’t know.
I could feel the roars. The door curled.
A black claw and snarl of teeth wedged through the heavy door.
A dozen more pressed around it.
We had no more time. I looked to Mayu and she looked to me. We had to try it now and hope.
As the door peeled away and a thousand horrors streamed in, we turned out papers to each other. We held each other’s paper like a loop of thread between us and looked at them.
The young man before me felt like a stranger from long ago. But his face looked up at me, as real as anything. I held a breath. And everything released…
Light sailed through everything. It burst through every shadow. Together, we could imagine anything.
We imagined countless monsters evaporating like shadows blasted by the sun. We imagined the people underground bursting out in joy and freedom. We imagined two friends ending their fight with forgiveness and peace. We imagined a mother looking out at her daughter and son. We imagined thieves making amends with a protector they secretly admired. We imagined a crossdressed boy and his sister and two sisters having a beautiful day at school. We imagined the happiness of two lovers…two best friends…and then…
The floor felt hard as we fell out of bed and onto the carpet. Mayu’s elbow nudged me as we looked up warily. We were in a hotel room. The bed sheets collapsed all around us.
Mayu was dressed in her Kairi cosplay. Her red hair looked as adorable as ever. I felt my face in the mirror and smiled back at it. We hugged and cheered till there was a knock on the door.
I opened it cautiously, hoping against any sudden, horrible surprises. A.L. stood in front of the doorway and smiled as she said, “Not bad.”
I had to ask her, “Are we home?”
She wobbled her hand a little. “All except for one difference…but I don’t think you’ll mind it.”
We had to know what it was. A.L. directed Mayu to look in her room. When she came back, she was wide-eyed and carrying the cosplay award trophy. Mayu marveled at it with light in her eyes but also concern.
A.L came inside and picked up the papers which had fallen on the floor. She turned them around and said, “What you two did is something that few instances before have done. Because of you two, a cycle has been broken and several entire universes are better off for it.”
That was staggering to hear. But I had questions. I asked her, “Who are you…really?”
A.L. shrugged. “Around here…I’m just your average artist…who’s a weaver of threads on the side.” She winked.
“How do you know all these things?”
She smiled lightly. “I get around.”
Mayu set her trophy down and asked, “Why did we make it when others didn’t?”
A.L. sorted the papers. “There are always so many variables but I believe you two succeeded because you listened to me…and others like me…but also didn’t listen to us. You listened to each other.”
She gestured to the papers with images and said, “The two you just made have been neutralized due to how you used them but, if you wash them, then you’ll be able to use them again. If you so wish.”
I took the papers from her. I wasn’t sure if I wanted them. I set them on a table.
A.L. clutched her hands and noted, “The convention is winding down. It’s Sunday afternoon. So you might want to hurry if you’d like to have any more fun this weekend. And my booth will be open right to the end…if you need anything.” She winked and quietly walked out, leaving us with still so many questions.
We sat together at the hotel room table. I looked over at Mayu and she looked back at me. I asked her first, “Are you okay?”
Mayu glanced over at the trophy and noted, “I figured I would’ve been happier to see this but I feel like I didn’t really win it.”
I smiled a little and noted, “Next year. You’ll conquer the cosplay competition next year with your super spells.” She narrowed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at me. We both laughed.
Mayu tugged on the end of her cosplay dress and said, “Well, I need to get changed out of this…again. You know…Norna would’ve looked really cute in my costume. Heather too. Kyoko…probably too tight. And Katsuko…your boobs would be spilling out for sure.” We snickered and I shook my head with a smirk.
I noted about how ‘sexy’ her catboy looked and her Katsu. Mayu laughed and noted, “I kinda liked Dr. Fujiwara too. But he didn’t get to kick any ass like you. I saw you on the view screen. Awesome!”
I stretched my hands out on the table and said to Mayu, “Thanks. I’m glad we’re back though.”
She set her hands on the table as well and smiled. “Me too. No more living anime…just watching it. In fact, I may not be able to watch anime for a while after a weekend like that…”
I raised my eyebrows at Mayu and asked, “Really?”
She paused a moment, then answered with a smile, “Not really…in fact, I know that there’s a movie preview showing before the end of conference. And I’ve been bouncing off the bed each time I see art for it online. Must see!”
My eyes widened. “’That one’, you’re sure? I thought it was just a rumor.”
Mayu turned up her hands. “I had a very good source. And besides, this is the universe we made together. I have a good feeling they’re going to show it for sure now.”
I smiled and slowly nodded. But I looked at the papers. I asked her what she wanted to do with them.
Mayu tapped her lip and picked them up. “Well…considering these two can’t be used…why don’t we just keep them as momentos?”
“What about the blank two?”
She held one up in each hand. “Well…like the other two, they still have twenty-three uses left each…”
“How do you know that?” For some reason, I had the same intuition by looking at them.
Mayu paused and looked them over. “I…don’t know. Weird. I just kinda knew. But…I was thinking we could give them away.”
It wasn’t exactly the kind of gift I would wish on anyone else. I noted that we could burn them as well but we both knew that would be a waste. For the moment, Mayu tucked them all away in their sleeves and gave them to me.
Mayu went back to her room to change and I waited in the hall with the papers under my arm. As I waited, CT, with his original red-and-green-streaked hair, walked down the hall. He was humming a familiar piece of classical music. Without thinking about it, I smiled at him.
His eyes widened. He cautiously raised a hand and asked, “Uh…hi?”
I waved a hand. “Hi. I’ve just kinda seen you…around.”
“Aw…cool.” He paused and his eyes lingered on the sleeved papers. He asked, “Custom art? I’ve seen a few and my friend Aleena does a few sometimes. Can I see?”
I pulled out ours and he marveled at them with great awe. He looked disappointed at the blank ones. I just told him we were trying to get rid of them. He seized on that and asked, “Can I have them? Aleena is always looking for paper with this quality. If you’re okay with that…”
I passed both blank ones to him. He looked as giddy as a kid at Christmas. As I gave the papers, I asked him, “What’s your name?”
I expected a weird look but he just put out his hand and said, “Chris Travers.” I felt a rush of peace but I felt a little concerned for him and where the papers would lead him. I gave my name, shook his hand, and told him, “Hope your friend likes the papers. Nice to meet you.”
He turned but paused a moment. He looked me over one last time but cleared his throat and said, “Thanks” before walking down the hall.
A little later, Mayu joined me again. She had the plushie I bought for her under her arm. I showed her the two remaining papers and explained. She smiled a little and noted, “Well, I hope it works out as well for him and his friend as it did for us. Come on, we need to get to dealer’s room before the feature. Don’t want to miss it”
Mayu reached out her hand to me. I reached out my hand to her.
We walked through the hall together.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
(Feel free to follow on DeviantArt for stories and parts)
Dark sounds surrounded me in the blackness. Gnashing and beating. Wet and thick. My imagination shuddered. There was roughness all around.
Finally, I was thrown into a wall and something shut behind me. My teeth vibrated a bit and my nose felt crushed. I coughed in the bag and fumbled for it.
My hands hadn’t been tied. I had to figure that was next. But the soldiers…or whatever they were…roared amongst themselves and thundered away.
When a moist, dripping silence returned I fumbled for the bag around my head. After a good bit of tugging, I was able to split the seam. That only got me so far before I worked at the knot. It was complex but I didn’t really have anything else to do.
Even with the split seam, there was only enough light to know there were stone walls all around with only the dimmest of torch-light filtering in from somewhere far away. A rancid smell filtered through the torn seam.
My Yuji side was plotting my escape. My Kyoko side wanted to cry and be back in bed. My Neil side fretted over what Mayu had become. Together, we feared the worst. Neil remembered that Mayu sometimes kidded about killing. It was always silly. Feeling menace behind to those words was like a cold stab in my legs.
With the arms of the outfit, it was easier to get a grip on the knots without cutting into my fingers. It still took a long time before I was finally able to get the bag off my head. Even with the low light, I was able to see a little.
I was in a small dungeon room. The door was iron with narrow bars. A flicker of torch-light caught an artful shadow. The walls were all heavy stone. With the bag off, I pulled off the sleeves of the outfit. The projections on the sides bumped against me but I was glad to have my hands free.
I felt around. There seemed to be no clasp in the back of the outfit nor anywhere else I could look. Good thing I didn’t need to pee. It sure looked stylish but it was a pain to wear. My entire lower body was already full of my sweat.
I rested my head against the rough, hard stone wall. I sat there and waited. I rested a little. Mostly, I let my mind race. In the darkness I could see half-visions of black terrors creeping into my vision. I thought I saw a rat once and I was sure I heard a squeak. Time trickled till I heard slow footsteps nearby.
I wondered, like with my cat-ears, if they were further off than I figured. They were coming closer. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing but it at least broke the drone of silence.
I braced myself in the darkness. A burst of torch-light appeared through the bars. Two red-eyed solders crossed the bars. The lock creaked slowly in the door and A.L. appeared through the opened door holding a torch.
Her face looked fierce but not nearly so fierce as the soldiers just outside. Their teeth glimmering through their helmets looked ready and hungry. A.L. set the torch in a mount on the wall, spreading what felt like bright light all around the room. It didn’t look any more pleasant.
A.L. waved a hand to the soldiers and said, “Leave us till I call. Stay at the steps.”
The soldiers grunted and stomped off. When the last whisper of them faded, A.L. turned. Then she burst over and hugged me. My arms froze at my sides. A.L whispered quietly to me, “I have your papers.”
She produced the sleeved papers from her dress and said, “Get out of here. Get some place safer.”
I held the papers. They were sure to be recharged soon, if not yet. I asked her, “Why?”
She bowed her head. “I’m not sure how much you know. But I made a mistake…in another life. I don’t want you or…Mayu…to make the same mistake.”
I held the papers in front of me and asked A.L., “What about Mayu?”
A.L.’s eyes flicked up. She paused a moment and shook her head. “The Mayu you know doesn’t exist here. He only wants to destroy you. And the name ‘Mayu’ will only inflame him if you say it.”
I clutched the papers tightly. “And what about Mayu’s papers?”
A.L. answered simply, “He still has them.”
I looked down at the papers. I knew I only had to look at school girl one and all this would be gone. But I would be right back where I was before.
I asked A.L., “Does Mayu remember anything of before?” She sighed and asked, “Does it matter? You can change all of this easily. Just look as your papers.”
I pursed my lips and asked, “Did it work for you?”
Her shoulders drooped. She shook her head. “I never got the chance. My way out just became a loop…my thread is wound in a figure-eight.”
I felt a bit ill at that prospect and whether I was doomed to create it. I looked down at my papers. I could’ve followed what she said. I could’ve just looked at the pleasant image of a happy school girl and escaped from all of this. But I tucked the papers away safe.
I was going to take the hard way out and Yuji had a plan. I whispered to A.L. Her eyes widened but she nodded and said, “I don’t know if it will work. But okay.”
I slipped one arm back in the sleeve and brought it around her with the pointy parts threatening. She yelled, “GUARDS!”
The hissing, red-eyed guards watched as I backed A.L. out of the cell and made my demands. “Take me to, Fujiwara. NOW!” I quivered inside with each strong word.
I moved slowly amongst the soldiers. I picked out one with a green and a red eye. I worked A.L. upstairs as she flailed convincingly.
Back in the grand hall, it didn’t take long before I had Fujiwara’s attention. His eyes narrowed at me and he stepped close. He asked, with what sounded like excitement, “Do you wish to die already?”
I shook my head and said, “I want only you…Mayu.”
I could feel A.L. grimace in my clutches. Fujiwara’s face flushed with emotion and fervor. And, for a moment, I thought I saw something softer in all the horrific anger.
I edged A.L. to the side. Yuji had a plan and hopefully enough training to pull it off. I proposed to Fujiwara, “You want me dead? I’ll give you the chance. A sword-match. If you win, you can kill me. If I win, I want your papers and a truce.”
Fujiwara picked up his scabbard and drew his sword from it. He aimed it right at me and said, “I should slice your head from your shoulders for invoking that name before me.”
I clutched A.L. a little closer and asked, “Do we have a deal?”
He snorted and said, “I can kill you so many ways with just a flick of my finger. But running you through with my sword would be the most satisfying of all…Deal.” He picked up another sword by him and threw it to my feet. I pushed A.L. away and quickly picked up the sword.
It looked frail and small compared to Fujiwara’s sword but it was better than nothing. Yuji remembered sparring with a wooden one a long time ago for fun. His brother beat him soundly.
In that moment, I was utterly terrified. I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I should’ve just pulled out the papers, looked at them, and escaped this terrible place. But I didn’t. I approached the center of the hall as a roar of delight went up from the soldiers in the darkness all around us. The red eyes undulated.
As soon as I entered the center, Fujiwara rushed at me. I turned away and just barely dodged his first swing. I swung my sword up and pushed aside his blade. He brought it back up and across. I held my sword up and pressed his blade back. The sound of metal on metal shuddered through me.
I parried and turned his blade aside as quickly as I could. He kept roaring at me with his slices. I dodged around a chair and, in his haste, he caught his blade in the wood. I raised my sword at him.
He glared right at me, his teeth clenched tight. I looked at him and said, “I’m sorry.” He looked back at me with even greater anger and said, “Your words only further my dishonor.” Roaring, he yanked his sword from the wood and pushed aside my sword.
I blocked his fast, uneasy moves. He seemed to wrench his wrists out with each turn of his blade. He seemed intent to hack to pieces everything that stood between us. He sliced off the end of a table as I dodged behind it.
I held in all my quivers and asked him, “Why do this?”
He gave a sinister smile. “Because I want to see you bleed…” He sliced at me again and again. He seemed to get even angrier when I didn’t attack him. I held down his sword against a stone column and said, “You don’t hate me. These aren’t your emotions, Mayu. You’re my friend…” He grunted between the words as though I was applying a shock to him. He turned his sword so roughly that it flew and clattered on the ground.
He grunted through his nose and held his arms out. “I’d rather die than hear one more of your loathsome words.” I lowered my sword and shook my head.
“We’re connected by a thread. No matter what….”
Fujiwara bared his teeth and ran back for his sword. He raised it high and I tossed mine aside. He looked at me and asked, “Finished already?”
I took a breath and said, “I won’t fight you, Mayu. I’d rather die than hurt you. You’re…you are the person I care for most in any world, no matter what.” They were words that reached across me. They came from a young boy for his brother. They came from a girl for her sister. They came from a man named Neil who always wished for a girl named Mayu to have a smile on her face.
Fujiwara shook his head and took a step towards me. His sword looked quite ready. His muscles tensed. He swallowed. But still he held his sword up and at the ready. He looked to my sword and yelled, “Pick it up!”
I shook my head and said, “No.”
He took a step closer and said, “You and your lies mean nothing to me. I will run you through without a second thought.”
But there was something familiar on his face. It was like Mayu poking through. I knew it. It had to be. And, in that moment of tension, a particular memory returned to me and I spoke it as it came, “I remember. Your cosplay was Kairi from Kingdom Hearts.”
Fujiwara’s eyes widened with confusion. But bubbling out of the confusion was a moment, a sliver, of recognition. I could see and feel it. Then he tightened his eyes and growled, “Nothing but nonsense…”
I shut my eyes and said, “I trust you, Mayu.” I heard him panting. I heard the horrible sounds all around. I heard laughing. I hoped I hadn’t made a mistake.
I didn’t hear Fujiwara’s sword swing. I didn’t feel the air disturbed by a strike. I heard the sword clatter against the stone of the floor and tumble end over end. I opened my eyes. He had his fists clenched and his head bent. He hissed through his teeth, “I’ll kill you!”
He ran at me and slammed me into a pillar. His blows shuddered into my side. Everything blurred when he punched me across the face. I could feel blood quivering through me. Yuji and I deflected every blow we could but he was as good as Yuji’s brother. We knew this would end badly.
I swept Fujiwara across the legs and lay on his chest. He kicked and punched back with full fury. I tried to pin his arms, to speak through the blood beginning to trickle in my mouth. He shoved me away and back into the pillar.
I rolled away as his legs came up to step on me. I tugged him down. I wasn’t intending to slam him into the pillar. But it bought me a moment as the blow stunned him. I apologized silently to Mayu and whispered to him the name of the plushie I’d bought Mayu.
In that stunned moment, I heard one word from Fujiwara softly said, “Neil…” Then the intensity returned as he head-butted me and yelled, “You will kneel before me…then I will take your head from your shoulders!”
Splayed out on my back, I looked up at Fujiwara and said only, “I trust you, Mayu…”
With a snarl, he pulled me up by the neck of my bodysuit. I coughed and his grip loosened. His eyes fluctuated. They darted across me. He shook his head a little as he said, “What sort of spell is this…”
I bowed my eyes. “It’s not a spell. It’s your memories of the truth.” I felt I was close. I right there at breaking through to Mayu. But I had no idea what we would do if I made it through. There was no way these soldiers would just let us go. I could already sense they were aching for blood and were unsatisfied with the fight so far. Some had their daggers out and turning in their hands.
Fujiwara reached down, as if to strangle me, but his hands trembled at my shoulders. His breaths shot through his clenched mouth. He turned away and pulled his images out from his leather tunic. He held them up in their sleeves and said, “Mystic A.L. Give me his spell papers.”
Flanked by the red-eyed soldiers, A.L. bowed her head and looked towards me. Fujiwara smiled after a moment. “So…looks like my ally isn’t quite the ally I expected. No matter…”
His hands went right to my breast and, before I could tighten around his arms, he had both my papers. He pulled a torch from one of the mounts on the pillar. He held it aside the papers and said, “No more magic. Just you and me.”
Yuji told me just the move I could do to prevent him from lighting the papers. But I didn’t know if I could get there fast enough. Fujiwara circled around me and picked up his sword. He didn’t give me an opening.
He smiled and I relaxed my hands. I knew this would end…one way or another. He held his sword straight at me but he had to set the torch down on the ground. It flared a bit on the stone. In front of it, he set down all four sleeved papers.
He kept his foot on the torch, bent slightly forward, and asked me, “What’s your move…Count Drake?”
I took a breath. My entire body calmed. Clarity rung through my thoughts like a deep bell. I answered, “Sacrifice.”
I knew what I had to do.
I turned and launched myself at the papers. Fujiwara’s sword swung around. I knew I only had a moment. I knew which papers were mine. I ripped the sleeve off the top one. It was the girl in the bodysuit. It was the opposite side of this world. The only reality of mine I’d never seen.
I almost stretched an arm down to touch it. But I knew that Fujiwara’s sword would take my hand if did that. I kept my hands back. I didn’t touch the paper. No one did.
I took a deep breath.
I looked down at the artwork. I looked down at her. In my ear, I heard a sound gasping between vile curses from Fujiwara. It was the word “Neil”.
His sword swept down.
I held my eyes open. I stared at the paper. I fell into it and it swallowed up everything.
Then…
A metal support beam fell on Dr. Fujiwara. It caught me in the shoulder but I deflected it with the hard part of my bodysuit.
Pain shot through me. I crawled over to check on Dr. Fujiwara. He was unconscious but alive. I cursed under my breath. He muttered something but I didn’t listen. I had to get him out of here before the whole area collapsed.
I activated the adrenaline pads on the side. My heart raced. I lifted the doctor up on my good shoulder. The ground quaked all around. I knew that tons of earth would soon fill the room with those monsters to follow.
I looked down. On the ground I saw those four, black-sleeved papers that the doctor always carried around. They were from Colonel A.L. The doctor always said they were important. I grunted and slipped them into the satchel wrapped around the doctor.
I’d have to ask for an explanation some day. For now, I had to save the doctor’s ass.
The domed lockdown doors were shutting. I ran with the doctor through the opening and stumbled on the other side. Behind us, one of them dashed through the cascades of rushing soil and vaulted for the slim opening. Setting the doctor down, I turned, braced myself, and slam-kicked it right under its fanged maw. Its red eyes shuddered and it staggered back just as the doors sealed right in front of it.
I panted and leaned back against the concrete wall.
Just another day at work…
I tugged the doctor along.
I’d been doing this for ten years. Ten years as the government’s (what remained of it) golden girl against the monsters. Ten years training in experimental weaponry and close quarters combat. Ten years since the invasion.
They ate people from the inside out, devouring their souls before their bodies wasted away in hopelessness. That was the way my mother went.
The troops finally caught up to us and took Dr. Fujiwara away. I kept the doctor’s satchel.
My eyes lingered after the doctor. I felt like there was something tickling in my mind. The further he got from me, the stronger the sensation. I decided not to shrug it off. I followed where the troops took the doctor.
The halls had seen better days. The lower levels looked more like a dungeon than a refuge for a metropolitan city.
The infirmary was full, as always. I hovered by Dr. Fujiwara’s side, nursing this strange feeling I had around him, till a young nurse shooed me away. I still lingered and checked myself in the mirror.
The shoulder which had been hit still had a dark mark where the suit was doing its job fixing my injury. The painkillers and lingering adrenaline had taken the edge off.
I felt so tired. I scuffed my blue and black boots. I ran my covered fingers through my red hair. I felt like I’d been beaten up and run for a mile. I leaned my head back.
I had one of the nurses put down a roll-out bed for me near the doctor. I looked over at him. I was sure he’d be awake before long. I clutched the doctor’s satchel to me like a pillow. The Colonel was sure to be pissed that I didn’t report in.
I didn’t care. I needed this.
Sleep didn’t come easily. The glimmers of the monsters flashed in the blackness. I’d gotten used to that. I kicked as a reflex.
I never usually dreamed but pictures came into my head like when I was hooked into the battle weapon interface. One was of an old dungeon from ages ago. There was a forest. An old village. A city with a school. People laughing and smiling. And a hotel with people dressed up as the strangest things.
The images made no sense to me. But, in every image, I felt Dr. Fujiwara nearby. Dr. Fujiwara administered my training. At most, he was my friend. But they said my focus was better when he was near. He always treated me fairly, like his equal, and not just a kid who was good at killing monsters.
I opened my eyes slowly and looked down at the satchel. The pictures in my head made me think of the images in the satchel.
The Colonel recently drew up the images for us as some kind of ‘tool’. I’d never looked at them but others told me what they were. I thought it was silly to keep images of me as a schoolboy and a dark ruler or something. They were both things I would never be.
The communication officers laughed about it and everyone else forgot. The doctor’s images were ridiculous. A busty girl in a Chinese dress and a catgirl. The Colonel said they were part of a secret project. I kept them because those were the orders, at first. But the doctor liked them, so that made keeping them easier.
I rummaged through the side pockets and found some food. I apologized to the doctor and ate one of the drier rolls.
The dark mark had faded. My shoulder felt fine. A familiar voice coughed. I didn’t have to look to know it was the Colonel. Her long, black hair shimmered at the edge of my vision. Before she could ask me, I reported back to her on the incident. I expected she already knew all the important details.
She folded her arms in front of her. Her face was as cold and still as always. She nodded once and said, “And I’m glad you have the papers and Dr. Fujiwara. You’ll need both when the time comes.”
I stood and stared her down. “What’s so damned important about these papers?”
She looked back at me and asked, “How much do your remember of your life before you came here?”
I related to her about my mother at first but she cut me off. “Nevermind.” I narrowed my eyes, just speaking without thinking, and said, “And I remember a hotel with people dressed up.” It was just a dream but I felt like saying it.
The Colonel whirled around. Her eyes were wide as she asked, “Was it a convention…an anime convention?” I shrugged and admitted, “Actually, I just saw it in a dream…” And I recounted the other images.
I felt ready to apologize but the Colonel waved her hand. “But you know it. That’s the point….it could be time. Yes. And exposure to the paper. Could be. What else?”
I told her that was all I really remembered. But an image flashed in my head of the Colonel in a black dress. It was such a random and silly image. Sure her uniform was black but I could never even imagine her in a dress.
The doctor groaned and I rushed over to his side. I squeezed his hand a little. He softly said the word, “Neil” as his eyes fluttered open. The name didn’t really mean anything to me but the Colonel gasped and leaned over the bed. I watched the Colonel carefully.
I spoke to him. “It’s me, Norna. Are you okay, doctor?”
He looked up at me in a way I’d never seen before. He tried to say something. But then he shook his head and blinked. He cleared his throat and said, “I guess the experiment was a failure.”
The Colonel leaned over the bed and said with a slight, strange smile, “No. The experiment is right on track. When you feel up to it, doctor, I need to show you something.” She glanced over at me. “Both of you…”
It wasn’t long before the doctor’s head injury was taken care of by the nurse and we were both on our way with the Colonel.
She led us towards central command, the heart of the military operations against the monsters. Between the gray consoles moved technicians not much older than I. The one we all called CT, because of the Christmas tree-colored lights on his console, hummed about his work with a classical music record spinning on his desk record player. He told me once that it was something his friend saved when humanity had to retreat underground. CT’s fingers danced to the music.
The Colonel led us to her office. It looked the same as always…sparse. I noticed there was a single sheet of paper spread out on the desk. I helped the doctor over to a chair. The Colonel sat at her desk. She folded her hands in front of her mouth and said, “Let’s get down to it. I know the both of you just arrived here from a parallel realm. Your names were once Neil Drake and Mayu Fujiwara.”
I narrowed my eyes at the Colonel and asked her, “I was…a female version of the doctor?” I looked over at the doctor. His eyes were prying at the Colonel like she was a scientific riddle in his lab.
The Colonel raised a finger from her folded hands. “I don’t know which of you was which before. But I assure you that you just arrived in this universe, despite all the memories you may have to the contrary.”
She gestured with her finger to the doctor’s satchel. “If you look at the images that I made, you will travel to another universe. But, until now, I had no idea if my creation would bear fruit. I wonder if the other Norna and Dr. Fujiwara merely traded places with the two of you…well…no matter.”
One of her hands slid over to her desk and she came up with a gun. I took a step back and Dr. Fujiwara froze as she set it on the table. She continued, “My skill as an artist on normal paper is tolerable, at best. But with the special paper those images were created on, my skills are amazing. And it’s all for not…because I can only draw for others and never myself.” She turned the gun on the table and set it aside.
She looked right at me. “Only someone else can make an image for me. That could be any someone else. But it takes an innate skill combined with exposure to the energy of the paper for someone to make images that will send the owner of the image to another universe. And that’s what I want from you. I want out of here.”
I rushed ahead when the Colonel looked down. I reached out for the gun but she was a little faster. I brought my padded arm around and across her neck. I used my leg to pin her. Her coughed hoarsely as the gun smashed against the concrete wall.
I told her bluntly, “Want whatever you like…but no weapons.” I looked back to the doctor. He winced. The Colonel coughed and said, “You don’t know what I’ve been through…and I don’t ever want you to have to.”
I glared back. “I know enough…”
She shook her head and looked at Dr. Fujiwara. “No…you don’t. But fine…no weapons.” I let her up and she picked up the paper on the desk. She showed it to me. “This is my ticket home. One of you just need to draw it.”
I set my feet. “How?”
She pulled open a drawer. I tensed my muscles, ready to move if I had to. She laid out a set of colored pencils, paints, and pens. A low vibration shuddered through the ground.
I turned my head and asked, “What’s that?”
The Colonel answered, “Motivation…the creatures must be challenging our defenses. From what I saw…the base may not last an hour before we are overrun.”
I shook my head slowly. “I can fight them. We can hold them off until the others launch a strike.”
The Colonel pressed her face against her hands. “There are no others. Not for the last week. I’ve kept the news quiet but that’s why you two were attacked. They were testing our defenses with greater numbers. There’s no stopping them. There is only escape.”
I clenched my fists. “Escape for you. What about everyone else?”
“You may immerse your images in water and redraw your fate. But I don’t know if it’ll work.”
I looked down at the Colonel’s blank paper. I felt strange around it. I felt like it was whispering to me in words I couldn’t quite hear. I turned away. “There must to be a way to fight back.”
The Colonel sighed. “There is no fighting. No matter how many you destroy, more and more will just keep coming.”
I clenched my covered fists. “So long as I have breath, I will fight for humanity…and those I care about.” I only glanced in Dr. Fujiwara’s direction. I thought I felt a memory but it seemed to pass somewhere far from me.
The Colonel bowed her head and said, “You draw an image by focusing on the paper and asking it to create what the recipient has in their thoughts. That links the artist to their goal.”
Her eyes glanced up and she added, “I shall immerse your images in water while the mine is drying. It will take you an hour to have images that might…perhaps…take you home. Once created, the images must not be looked at for thirty minutes. I’d give you more advice…but failed paths are not worth emulating.” The Colonel’s eyes looked so worn and tired. Every shadow clustered in them.
I felt for her but also felt for every person left. Their lives were entrusted to me and my machines. I felt the darkness tighten a little around me. I flexed my shoulders and told the Colonel, “I’ll try to do what you ask…then I will fight.”
I stared into the blank image. Dr. Fujiwara was invited to join me. He shook his head a little. I smelled the fear and confusion in his gaze. I didn’t understand any more than he but I knew I had to move forward if I wanted to survive.
I looked deep into the blank image.I listened to the Colonel. I looked into her eyes as she told me, “I want to go home.”
I listened to her words. They rippled through the air and through me. The doctor seemed to shudder as well. We both went for the art supplies. Unconsciously, our hands flew at the paper. I blanked out for a bit. The doctor’s hand motions never clashed with mine. We worked together like when he gave me instructions in my fighting machines.
In what seemed like a moment, the image was done. I looked down to assess it but the Colonel swiftly covered it and hid it in a black sleeve. She clicked a timer in her desk and nodded to me.
I handed over the four images to her. Using a stored supply of water and two pots, she slipped the four images in. Despite being immersed in water, the paper seemed to remain dry. The edged glowed a little and the art wavered but the works were otherwise fine.
“Go,” said the Colonel. “Get as much time as you can.”
Dr. Fujiwara first went to work ordering the non-essential workers and refugees to evacuate to the lowest section of the complex. It was hardened and was sure to buy the survivors at most two months survival time with the supplies and a nice big bomb to seal the main shaft. And there was drilling equipment if anyone wanted to try to get out the back door.
Not that there would be anywhere left to go.
The technicians clamped me in to my machine. I took a breath and waited for the systems to sync with my brain. The machine had been so beaten up the last time that the repairs weren’t finished and I only had twenty minutes of batteries.
Not that I needed more than that to make sure the bastards begged for mercy.
I fired the rockets and rose through the opening bulkhead doors in the ceiling. Just behind me, the first ones were sliding shut.
I swung my arms back. I took a long breath. I could hear Dr. Fujiwara in my ear.
“Don’t be reckless, Norna.”
“I’ll be fine. Trust me.”
Dr. Fujiwara’s voice softened. “I do. Come home safe...”
I burst through the top bulkheads. The monsters were swarming all over the opening. I swung my arms through them and launched them in all directions. Those that fell through were torched by the defense systems.
The whole outside was ravaged. The skies were reddish-black with them everywhere and the sharp glow of their eyes. Vicious teeth reached out. They consumed everything and their hunger never tired. Ever.
I clenched my jaw, bowed my head, and went to work.
The primary rockets took care of some of the little ones. The big ones dodged. I hit the thrusters and pounded them against each other until they were a black, inky mess. The energy cannons tracked them as they darted away and tried to sink their jaws into my main jets. I smiled as my spike launchers cleaved through them.
And they kept coming. They poured over everything like an erupting ant hill I’d seen as a kid. They bit and clawed and fought to get their empty mouths into me. I shifted the jets down and roared past the ground. I extended the front blades and sliced my way through the dense lower level of them.
I could see them gnawing the ground like a mighty blob of blackness with angry eyes as I pushed past them. I could feel they were clinging. I tried to shake them. I rolled and pushed the engines.
For every one I threw off, three more seemed to latch on. I skimmed the ground closer than I usually dared at speeds which made me wince. In the passing I turned to my left. The display flashed a pale red light and a purple one.
The rushing of the landscape seemed to slow. As I sat there, I felt like I was remembering something from long ago. I felt like it was returning to me all at once. It crushed me like a tide falling from all directions.
I couldn’t breath. I braced myself in the capsule and shifted the jets the other way. Flailing beasts spiraled into each other. I knew they were just dazed but it was no less satisfying.
The memory that flooded me was just images. I had no context to give it. It was like my dreams. I hoped it meant something good.
I checked the battery timer. I’d been hitting for long enough. I was about to go to emergency batteries. I launched all my remaining weaponry except for one last salvo of flash projectiles.
I turned and pushed the machine high and through the swarm. I cursed the bastards one last time and leaned back. I cut everything and aimed my landing like a diver. I kept a streamlined position.
I waited to hit the button that would signal the doors to open until the last moment. The half-heartbeat before, I launched the salvo right into the doors. They exploded like the sun around it and I dove right through the brightest part. Computer warnings screamed about the batteries and the heat.
I signaled the doors to close in the next instant. In front of me, one bulkhead opened. Behind me, they sealed. The sealing doors were getting closer and I was running out of batteries.
I brought the arms and legs close. I didn’t want to push the jets. I wanted to save them for the very end. I tried to think heavy thoughts.
Closer closer…
The door sliced through a creature held the end of my leg. That was too close. I gave one press of the jets. I just slipped through.
The last bulkhead loomed. It was almost shut. I used the last of my batteries, held my position, and braced myself.
The last door separated the legs of my machine. The lower half sealed instantly with a rush. I spun through the launch bay and slammed into the wall.
With satisfaction, I noted a last, screeching creature flattened between me and the wall.
The systems took care of the fires. After setting the self-destruct and giving the machine the kiss goodbye, I blew the escape bolts and tumbled to the ground. I ran for the door and sealed it behind me.
It was all I could do. I hoped it would be enough.
Chaos and klaxons echoed through every room. I ran back to central command. The Colonel was there with his sleeved image. His eyes were shut. He said, “Thank you….” He looked to the doctor, who was standing near CT. They both looked nervous.
The Colonel told me that his office had a hidden vault and how to get in. “If you and the doctor stay there, that might buy you some time. The door is heavily reinforced. Remember. You must wait thirty minutes before you can use the images. Here…”
He handed me the timer.
I asked him, “What about you?”
He shook his head and noted, “You won’t see this version of me ever again. Hopefully…farewell.”
Red dots spawned all over the sensors. The Colonel left through a side door with his sleeved paper.
The doctor stayed a moment to help CT with outer defensive cannons but we were losing them fast. CT smiled at Dr. Fujiwara but shooed him away and said, “You two get somewhere safe.” He slipped an LP of Wagner on his player.
I could hear the melody still vibrating in my ears in the Colonel’s room. The papers were immersed but the images were gone. There was no trace of ink or pigment in the paper or the water. Everything was just blank. We took all four pieces of paper, the sleeves, the pens, and the other drawing materials with us into the vault.
The inside was sparse with just a bed and some supplies. I sat on the bed next to Dr. Fujiwara. He shook his head and looked down at the papers. “I wish I could understand all this…” He stuck out his tongue a little, a nervous gesture.
I nudged him and whispered, “Me too.”
He looked me in the eye and said, “We’re supposed to remember something. Our past lives. But I just get little glimpses.”
I nodded but offered my little memories, the little incidents I could recall. He listened to each of them carefully, doing his usual, mental dissection like after a particularly bad or particularly great mission.
We looked into each other’s eyes.
I tried to focus on the images but they did nothing as they flashed by in my head. I clenched up. I felt like crying but I grit my teeth.
“What if this doesn’t even work…what if the Colonel is wrong…what if we…what if I…lose you? I don’t want to lose you.” They were words that made my face flush. I loved the doctor. But it wasn’t like the schoolgirl crushes I’d long tossed aside. This felt like a binding of us together. I felt his teeth clench and his eyes narrow. I felt him and I knew he felt me.
He lay his hand together with mine and said, “You…won’t lose me. No matter what. You won’t. I promise. I’d stay here, if I had to, for you. You’re my friend, Neil.”
His eyes blinked and, at the same time, mine did as well. Something flashed between us and the doctor softly said, “I remember…a plush thing. You bought me it.”
I answered back, the thought flowing out with my words, “You had a star thing to go with your cosplay.”
We nodded together. It felt so close. I could remember a hallway so similar to ones here. A stone hallway. A hallway made of trees bending in. A hallway in a school. A hallway in a hotel. I felt like I was running down it with…Fujiwara. I was trying to get to the end. I could almost see the end. It was right there but I couldn’t touch it.
The ground vibrated. That had to be the explosives in the last level of defensive turrets. Their detonation would seal many of the levels but I knew the monsters wouldn’t take long to get through that as well.
I tried to focus what memories I had but I just couldn’t grab hold of them. I pushed myself. I tried to…
I paused.
I stopped pushing myself. I took a breath. I looked to Dr. Fujiwara and I gently squeezed his hand. I felt a great calm come over me as I looked at him. To be here, to be with him…meant everything.
In the quiet of my mind, the torrent came rushing back. I remembered the castle and the fight. I remembered the forest and the catboys. I remembered Kyoko and Mayu…
Mayu…I remembered Mayu. And I remembered myself. All of me.
I tugged on Mayu’s hand a little. He seemed to relax as well. His eyes settled. Then they widened he looked at me in surprise and breathlessly asked, “Neil?”
I nodded and hugged Mayu. The hug lasted only a moment. I knew I had to ignore my awareness of how my clinging outfit now felt. And I knew we had to get out of here.
I held the papers up. Mayu looked over at them. I had some inkling of what to do because of A.L. But whether it was supposed to be me or Mayu…
I looked down at the paper. I felt a wish that I knew what A.L. knew in some universes. I wished that I had that kind of knowledge to know what to do, no matter if it meant going back...maybe even in time.
But I pushed aside my wish and looked to Mayu. I asked Mayu, “Do you have any idea what to do?”
Mayu took one of the papers. He sighed. He looked at me and I looked back at him. I wished with all my heart that there could be a place where Mayu was happy. Mayu’s lips moved a little as though he was saying something to himself.
A sensation suddenly flooded me and Mayu at the same time. We seized the art supplies and worked at the papers. Our hands flew. Before me, I could see a female form developing. She had Mayu’s red-dyed hair. She had the cosplay uniform from the convention. She had Mayu’s smile.
When the burst of action finally stopped, I looked down at an amazing visualization of Mayu. Unlike the anime shapes and colors all around us, the image felt like there was another dimension to it. I hoped that was a good sign.
I turned over my image. Mayu did as well. We clicked the timer. Only thirty minutes. An eternity in a place like this.
I held Mayu’s hand in mine. We sat on the bed together with our finished images hidden before us. We’d both drawn what we were like in the original reality. I wasn’t sure what it meant or how we’d done it.
The minutes passed achingly slow on the timer. We were so tense, so ready for anything. But we soon had to relax. I smiled at Mayu and asked him what his favorite anime scenes were.
He smiled and rattled off a list of scenes and moments that we both agreed were awesome. But then he came to one in particular. I knew it well. It was on my list too.
I smiled gently. I knew why it was there. I had it on my list for the same reason.
Mayu told me, “I love it because I was watching it the day you joined the anime club and we first met.”
That moment returned to me. I could remember every sense as I walked into the club room. I remembered Mayu turning and smiling gently at me. I remembered my first question to her because it was the same question I’d just asked.
Then a long vibration rattled the floor. It knew it was the end of my machine. We didn’t have much time. We gathered up everything I could and wedged it against the door. It was as secure as we could make it. All we could do was wait.
Mayu stared at the papers and pushed them down as much as possible. I didn’t want to reset the time either. We were halfway there.
Cautiously, we talked about animes we loathed. We laughed a little at the worst scenes. Little sounds pressed through the heavy walls. They increased like a rising symphony.
I squeezed Mayu’s hand tightly. Our voices quieted. I whispered to Mayu, “Thank you for being my friend.”
Mayu softly said the same back with the beginnings of tears around his anime eyes. My eyes felt moist too. I felt scared. I wanted to go home and I wanted to be with Mayu.
The minutes creaked past. Finally, it was the last five minutes. We set our hands on the papers. The noises outside were agonizing. They felt right on top of us.
I could hear the edges of roars and screams. I thought I could hear the loss of CT’s symphony. I knew they were close. Something burst open just beyond the door. I could sense the flood on top of us.
The heavy door gave the faintest creak. Then, it shuddered and slammed and banged.
The noises crushed all thought. The door moved a tiny bit. The bracing helped but I knew that monsters were flooding the Colonel’s room to all ram the door. They knew we were here and I knew from Norna that they would never stop trying to get in.
I shuddered at what they would do to us. What they were already doing to everyone outside.
I felt bile in my throat. I panted and squeezed Mayu’s hands. We were so close but I knew they were coming. We had minutes to go but, with the progress they were making on the door, I knew it would only be moments before they compromised it.
I reached over for Mayu’s paper. I placed them so the one she made for me could be easily turned and she could hold it at the same time I did and the same for hers. The spares were underneath.
Mayu shivered and asked, “Should we go now? Should we even have two?”
The monsters pressed even harder on the door with her words. I shook my head. I didn’t know.
I could feel the roars. The door curled.
A black claw and snarl of teeth wedged through the heavy door.
A dozen more pressed around it.
We had no more time. I looked to Mayu and she looked to me. We had to try it now and hope.
As the door peeled away and a thousand horrors streamed in, we turned out papers to each other. We held each other’s paper like a loop of thread between us and looked at them.
The young man before me felt like a stranger from long ago. But his face looked up at me, as real as anything. I held a breath. And everything released…
Light sailed through everything. It burst through every shadow. Together, we could imagine anything.
We imagined countless monsters evaporating like shadows blasted by the sun. We imagined the people underground bursting out in joy and freedom. We imagined two friends ending their fight with forgiveness and peace. We imagined a mother looking out at her daughter and son. We imagined thieves making amends with a protector they secretly admired. We imagined a crossdressed boy and his sister and two sisters having a beautiful day at school. We imagined the happiness of two lovers…two best friends…and then…
The floor felt hard as we fell out of bed and onto the carpet. Mayu’s elbow nudged me as we looked up warily. We were in a hotel room. The bed sheets collapsed all around us.
Mayu was dressed in her Kairi cosplay. Her red hair looked as adorable as ever. I felt my face in the mirror and smiled back at it. We hugged and cheered till there was a knock on the door.
I opened it cautiously, hoping against any sudden, horrible surprises. A.L. stood in front of the doorway and smiled as she said, “Not bad.”
I had to ask her, “Are we home?”
She wobbled her hand a little. “All except for one difference…but I don’t think you’ll mind it.”
We had to know what it was. A.L. directed Mayu to look in her room. When she came back, she was wide-eyed and carrying the cosplay award trophy. Mayu marveled at it with light in her eyes but also concern.
A.L came inside and picked up the papers which had fallen on the floor. She turned them around and said, “What you two did is something that few instances before have done. Because of you two, a cycle has been broken and several entire universes are better off for it.”
That was staggering to hear. But I had questions. I asked her, “Who are you…really?”
A.L. shrugged. “Around here…I’m just your average artist…who’s a weaver of threads on the side.” She winked.
“How do you know all these things?”
She smiled lightly. “I get around.”
Mayu set her trophy down and asked, “Why did we make it when others didn’t?”
A.L. sorted the papers. “There are always so many variables but I believe you two succeeded because you listened to me…and others like me…but also didn’t listen to us. You listened to each other.”
She gestured to the papers with images and said, “The two you just made have been neutralized due to how you used them but, if you wash them, then you’ll be able to use them again. If you so wish.”
I took the papers from her. I wasn’t sure if I wanted them. I set them on a table.
A.L. clutched her hands and noted, “The convention is winding down. It’s Sunday afternoon. So you might want to hurry if you’d like to have any more fun this weekend. And my booth will be open right to the end…if you need anything.” She winked and quietly walked out, leaving us with still so many questions.
We sat together at the hotel room table. I looked over at Mayu and she looked back at me. I asked her first, “Are you okay?”
Mayu glanced over at the trophy and noted, “I figured I would’ve been happier to see this but I feel like I didn’t really win it.”
I smiled a little and noted, “Next year. You’ll conquer the cosplay competition next year with your super spells.” She narrowed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at me. We both laughed.
Mayu tugged on the end of her cosplay dress and said, “Well, I need to get changed out of this…again. You know…Norna would’ve looked really cute in my costume. Heather too. Kyoko…probably too tight. And Katsuko…your boobs would be spilling out for sure.” We snickered and I shook my head with a smirk.
I noted about how ‘sexy’ her catboy looked and her Katsu. Mayu laughed and noted, “I kinda liked Dr. Fujiwara too. But he didn’t get to kick any ass like you. I saw you on the view screen. Awesome!”
I stretched my hands out on the table and said to Mayu, “Thanks. I’m glad we’re back though.”
She set her hands on the table as well and smiled. “Me too. No more living anime…just watching it. In fact, I may not be able to watch anime for a while after a weekend like that…”
I raised my eyebrows at Mayu and asked, “Really?”
She paused a moment, then answered with a smile, “Not really…in fact, I know that there’s a movie preview showing before the end of conference. And I’ve been bouncing off the bed each time I see art for it online. Must see!”
My eyes widened. “’That one’, you’re sure? I thought it was just a rumor.”
Mayu turned up her hands. “I had a very good source. And besides, this is the universe we made together. I have a good feeling they’re going to show it for sure now.”
I smiled and slowly nodded. But I looked at the papers. I asked her what she wanted to do with them.
Mayu tapped her lip and picked them up. “Well…considering these two can’t be used…why don’t we just keep them as momentos?”
“What about the blank two?”
She held one up in each hand. “Well…like the other two, they still have twenty-three uses left each…”
“How do you know that?” For some reason, I had the same intuition by looking at them.
Mayu paused and looked them over. “I…don’t know. Weird. I just kinda knew. But…I was thinking we could give them away.”
It wasn’t exactly the kind of gift I would wish on anyone else. I noted that we could burn them as well but we both knew that would be a waste. For the moment, Mayu tucked them all away in their sleeves and gave them to me.
Mayu went back to her room to change and I waited in the hall with the papers under my arm. As I waited, CT, with his original red-and-green-streaked hair, walked down the hall. He was humming a familiar piece of classical music. Without thinking about it, I smiled at him.
His eyes widened. He cautiously raised a hand and asked, “Uh…hi?”
I waved a hand. “Hi. I’ve just kinda seen you…around.”
“Aw…cool.” He paused and his eyes lingered on the sleeved papers. He asked, “Custom art? I’ve seen a few and my friend Aleena does a few sometimes. Can I see?”
I pulled out ours and he marveled at them with great awe. He looked disappointed at the blank ones. I just told him we were trying to get rid of them. He seized on that and asked, “Can I have them? Aleena is always looking for paper with this quality. If you’re okay with that…”
I passed both blank ones to him. He looked as giddy as a kid at Christmas. As I gave the papers, I asked him, “What’s your name?”
I expected a weird look but he just put out his hand and said, “Chris Travers.” I felt a rush of peace but I felt a little concerned for him and where the papers would lead him. I gave my name, shook his hand, and told him, “Hope your friend likes the papers. Nice to meet you.”
He turned but paused a moment. He looked me over one last time but cleared his throat and said, “Thanks” before walking down the hall.
A little later, Mayu joined me again. She had the plushie I bought for her under her arm. I showed her the two remaining papers and explained. She smiled a little and noted, “Well, I hope it works out as well for him and his friend as it did for us. Come on, we need to get to dealer’s room before the feature. Don’t want to miss it”
Mayu reached out her hand to me. I reached out my hand to her.
We walked through the hall together.
