A Song of Shadow and Flame, Part 3

When Head and Body had playacted Body's death some hours prior, it had been overacted and overly dramatic, to the point where slow violins would not have been out of place.

Her actual death was none of these things. There were no comforting last words, there were no pleas for hope and perseverance, there were no theatrics coming from her at all.

She just died.

Head screamed as her twin turned black and shriveled up like a prune. Grinning, Rumia yanked her sword out and let the desiccated corpse fall.

"Hey Kaguya, you know how you were always saying I was going to stab you in the back?" she taunted Body's dead face. "Turns out you were right! You just got your entry points reversed."

Head started screeching obscenities and promising to deliver unfathomable measures of pain and suffering unto her twin's murderer. This seemed to amuse Rumia, who continued to grin as she turned her attention toward the remaining Kaguya. She opened her mouth, likely to mock the imprisoned girl, but she never got the chance. Because as it turned out, her smoke could be overwhelmed by a sufficient amount of Phoenix Fire.

Glowing like a comet and screaming like a banshee, Mokou hurtled herself straight at Rumia. The murderous youkai glanced in her direction and her mouth dropped in shock. She whirled out of the way far quicker than should have been possible, and even then only barely avoided being bowled over.

"The hell?" she said as she hopped back, putting distance between herself and Mokou. "How'd you get out?"

In answer, Mokou simply conjured up a sphere of blue fire between her hands and threw it at Rumia's head.

Rumia thrust her sword forward to meet the attack. The fireball burst upon contact and writhed around the sword's blade. The metal turned shook and turned red of a moment, but the fire was overcome and absorbed into the blade.

"I see," Rumia said as she examined the smoking blade. "Well now, Phoenix Fire seems to be a bit more potent that I had-Yipe!" She broke off her monologue and ducked as Mokou came after her with a flurry of flaming punches, each one aimed at her face.

"Damn, you are pissed off," Rumia said as she continued to back up, ducking and dodging as Mokou rained one blow after another at her. "What's wrong? I mean, I did you a big favor! You've always wanted to see Kaguya die, haven't you?"

"Shut up," Mokou seethed.

"No? Oh, I'm sorry. Did I kill-steal? Tell you what, you can have the other one."

"Shut! Up!"

"No to that too, eh? Well, fine."

Ducking a kick, Rumia spun around and drove the heel of her foot into Mokou's stomach. Air was forced from her lungs as she was lifted right off her feet and sent sprawling several meters away.

"You know, I should probably tell you this now so you don't waste your time," Rumia called over to her. "You can't win. I mean it. That's not just me trying to put you down. You are outclassed in every possible way. So why don't you save yourself the trouble and just give me what I want? I'll be gone and out of your hair, and we'll all be happier."

"Don't listen to her!" Head screamed from within her cylinder.

"Wasn't planning on it," Mokou growled. She drew her legs back and sprung back to her feet.

Rumia tsked. "Mokou, look around you. Every moment you stay in this fog, your life drains away. Not a lot, but soon you'll start to feel slower and weaker. And with one thought, I can thicken it until you choke on your own dissolving lungs. Face it, Firebird. This is my world, and there is no escape."

That just angered Mokou further. She bore no love for the dream, it was true. Her every moment here had so far been a nightmare, in every sense of the word. But that didn't change the fact that as much as she hated her mental prison, it was still made from stuff taken from her mind and Kaguya's. Their very thoughts, memories, and emotions had gone into its creation. Who then was Rumia to claim any sort of ownership?

"No, it's not," Mokou growled. She clenched her fists, and flame sang through her veins. "It's ours, and you're just a trespasser!" With that, Mokou dropped to one knee and slammed her fist to the ground. She called upon all the Phoenix Fire she could and sent it into the earth, where Rumia's fog couldn't reach.

Free from Rumia's influence, the fire grew. And it spread. Very, very quickly.

The only warning Rumia got was a slight rumbling under her feet. Putting two and two together, she tried to fly out of the way, but there was nowhere to go that Mokou couldn't reach. The first eruption scorched her leg. Rumia screamed in agony and tumbled back down. As soon as she landed, a second geyser of fire erupted right beneath her.

Rumia burned like a torch.

As Rumia's howls filled the air, Mokou took off toward Head's prison. "Sorry!" she cried as she caused fire to engulf the black cylinder. Head burned as well, but she at least could be fixed.

Mokou charged through the pillar of fire, scooping up Head's roasting body as she went. The Lunarian princess was fortunately already dead; otherwise, Mokou would be getting a real earful right about now. She felt a pang of regret at having to leave Body's corpse behind, but there was no time to go after her.

And so they shot straight up through the fog, Rumia's agonized screams following them all the way.

Please end soon, Mokou silently begged the fog. Please end soon. Come on, come on, come on…

They were out! Mokou burst into the sunlight and fresh air. Panting with relief, she called out, "Eirin! Get us out of here now!"

Her cries were answered. The world warped around them, taking them away from the fog, away from Rumia.

…

"Ah, ah, ah!" Rumia cried as she flopped and rolled on the ground in a desperate attempt to smother the flames. But despite her best attempts, they wouldn't snuff out. They just kept burning and burning and burning-

Enough! She reached out to the surrounding fog and had it converge on her, wrapping around her body like a blanket and growing ever thicker. The fire put up an admirable fight, and for a moment it seemed that it was going to consume the fog and win. But, at last, the flames were suffocated.

Snarling and hissing, Rumia rose up onto her trembling legs. Her whole body was seared. It didn't hurt as bad as when that little bitch Rin Satsuki had poured nine years' worth of anger, fear, hatred, and insanity straight down her throat, but it was close. What was it with her and getting burned anyway? Despite the horrific circumstances surrounding her genesis, she didn't fear fire; in fact, she didn't fear anything. It was like her capacity to feel fear had been surgically removed. But even so, she sure as hell didn't like fire, and judging by how often it tried to get her, it didn't like her either.

Rumia started walking. As she moved forward, she brought the fog in thicker, turning it into a true cloud as she tried to soothe the burning away. Mokou was going to pay. Oh yes, Mokou was going to pay dearly.

…

Eirin had come through. As soon as Mokou had burst through the fog, she had transported both her and Head back to the fortress. An impressive feat, considering that both the people from whose subconscious she had been born were dead at the time.

And therein lay the problem.

Head had returned to life in short order. Now she sat on her haunches near the door, staring empty-eyed at nothing. She clutched a blanket around her shoulders and rocked gently back and forth on her ankles. It was clear that she wasn't going to be saying anything for a while.

Just as well, as Eirin was more than happy to pick up the slack.

"Dead," she snarled as she paced back in forth. "Fully dead. Not temporarily, permanently. Finally, something capable of overcoming the Hourai Elixir has appeared, and its first victim so happened to be the elixir's mother."

"I know," Mokou said hollowly. She watched Head out of the corner of her eye. "We're in a lot-"

"No," Eirin said, shoving a finger into Mokou's face. "You do not get to talk right now. This whole debacle is your fault. She was murdered while trying to rescue you, from your stupid plan! Talk to Rumia! Try to reach out to her! Well, where did that idea get us, huh? Where did it get her?"

Mokou looked down. "I'm sor-"

Eirin smacked her hard across the face. "Don't you dare apologize," she seethed. The Lunarian doctor's body was literally shaking with rage. "You…you don't have the right to…How could you even pretend to be sorry when you don't even understand what just happened?"

Mokou stared blankly at her. "What?"

"Body died," Eirin said, her voice a dangerous monotone. "She died back there, Mokou. Rumia killed her good and proper. I felt it happen."

Now Mokou was growing confused. "I know that, I saw it-"

"Sun, moon, and stars, she still doesn't get it," Eirin lamented. "Think, Mokou. Think. Head and Body were not copies of the original Kaguya, they were the original Kaguya. Her consciousness was divided, and the two halves became two complete wholes. They were each fully her." She paused for several seconds before saying, "So you just watched Kaguya Houraisan die."

Mokou got it then. Three hundred years she had pursued Kaguya: hunted, fought, killed, and tormented her in almost every way imaginable. Kaguya had been one of the few constants in her life, and certainly the most central. Despite their mutual hatred, Mokou had simply assumed that Kaguya was always going to be there. And now, just as they had finally buried the hatchet and made peace, Kaguya had been killed.

Her stomach soured. Mokou covered her mouth and doubled over. She felt sick, violently sick. Kaguya was dead. Granted, she still lived. She was right there, in the corner. But even so…Kaguya was dead.

Oh gods.

As Mokou fought to keep from vomiting (and what would come up if she did?), Eirin glowered down at her without a hint of sympathy. "And so the light dawns," she said, venom dripping from every word. "This must be a wonderful day for you. Finally, you saw your enemy take the final fall. And not only that, it came about as a direct result of your actions." She slowly clapped her hands together, each one echoing through the corridors of the fortress. "One down, one to go. You must be so proud."

Slowly, painfully, Mokou managed to get her heaving under control and straighten up. "I…I didn't want this…" she whispered.

"Don't lie."

"I didn't."

"I said don't lie. You might have been able to lie to her, maybe you can lie to yourself, but I see right through you, Mokou."

Mokou shook her head. "I didn't. Maybe before, but not now. Not like that."

"Oh?" Eirin's mouth twisted into a cruel smile. "Then perhaps you regret that it was Body that took the fall. After all, she was the one who had come to have sympathy for you, the one who was starting to show you kindness. If she had lived, if it had been her mind to assert control over Kaguya, it would have been so much easier for you, wouldn't it? You would have liked that, wouldn't you? For her to have lived…and me to have died."

Wait, what? Now Mokou was thoroughly confused. She didn't like this manifestation of Eirin, true, but killing her wouldn't make any difference. She had tried that once already. Besides, once they were out, Eirin would stay behind, nothing more than an imaginary image. What threat did she pose?

Heedless of Mokou's bewilderment, Eirin continued to rant at her. "You would have loved that, wouldn't you? You were probably planning that the whole time, just to get me out of the way! But you screwed up, and Rumia killed the wrong one. Well, now what are you going to do, Mokou? You're stuck with me, and we're still no closer to finding our way out!"

"What in the hell are you going on about?" Mokou demanded.

And then Eirin changed. Her body lost cohesion and became blurry and semi-transparent, and over it Kaguya's form started to come into focus.

"What's next, Mokou?" the Eirin-Kaguya demanded, their two voices overlapping and becoming disoriented. "You're going to tie me up and send me to her as an offering? Would that make you happy?"

"Whoa," Mokou said, staring. "That's, uh, that's new."

She shot a glance toward Head. The remaining Kaguya twin was still in her catatonic state, eyes dead and face blank. Was she the cause of this? Mokou didn't see how it was possible.

Wait a minute, that had to be it. Time and time again, they had been reminded that everyone they encountered were either manifestations of their subconscious minds or figments of their imaginations. And as likelife as people like Eirin or Keine were, they were no different. For all her pretensions at self-awareness, Eirin was a part of Kaguya.

As such, who was to say she couldn't speak for Kaguya when Kaguya was unable to do it for herself?

But as interesting as that might be, Mokou was not interested in dealing with an emissary. Pushing her way past the unstable figment, she walked over to Head and knelt down in front of her.

"Hey," she said softly. "Head."

There was no response. Head continued to rock back and forth,

Mokou tried again. "Head," she said again, louder this time.

Head didn't seem to notice that Mokou was there.

"Head!"

Nothing.

All right, enough of this. The nickname thing wasn't necessary anymore anyway. Mokou clapped her hands right in front of the blanked-out girl and shouted, "KAGUYA! Snap out of it!"

Kaguya flinched. She blinked, and her eyes focused on Mokou. "Huh?"

"Kaguya," Mokou said again. "You gotta stay with me here. We're not done. I need your help."

Kaguya's chin trembled. "She's dead," she said, her voice cracking.

Mokou swallowed. "I know. And that sucks. But Rumia's still out there. And I need your help to bring her down.

Kaguya squeezed her eyes shut. Tears prickled along the edges. "Your fault," she hissed. "It's all…She trusted you. And you got her killed."

"Maybe," Mokou allowed. "Maybe you're right. But I'm not the one that stabbed her through the heart. Rumia was. And she's still walking free, Kaguya. Are you just going to shut down and let her get away with that?"

Kaguya said nothing, but her eyes opened just enough to glower.

"Three hundred years we've been fighting, and you've never forgiven a slight," Mokou pressed. "Every time I hurt you, you made damned sure to hurt me just as much. And nothing I ever did to you stuck. Now someone's hurt you more than I ever could. So what are you going to do about it?"

Kaguya's lips curled away from her teeth, and something not unlike a snarl rumbled out of her throat. Then, still without speaking, she stood up, the blanket falling away from her shoulders. She moved purposefully toward one of the control panels and started doing…something.

Mokou followed her. "So, are you with me?" she said.

Though she still didn't look at her former rival, Kaguya nodded. "Yes. But this time, I call the shots. I make the plan. Got it?"

Mokou hesitated for several seconds before reluctantly nodding. "All right. What did you have in mind?"

"You remember Eirin's original plan? About letting Rumia and Rin Satsuki duke it out while we wait here?"

Mokou started to get a bad feeling. "Yeah?"

"Well, it's something like that." Kaguya threw a switch, several red lights turned on. What that meant, Mokou could only guess. "Except we're not letting Rumia go after Rin Satsuki. We're going to feed Rumia to Rin Satsuki." She gave Mokou a sidelong glance. "She's going to get what she wants, sure, but she won't exactly be in good shape when she gets it."

Well, that was disheartening to hear. Even in guaranteeing Rin Satsuki's victory, they still would be no closer to getting out, and it wouldn't be difficult for Rin Satsuki to backtrack her way to them. Mokou still knew very little about the creature that held them hostage, but based on what she had been told it sounded like she was quite the monster.

But then, who really cared? Like she had pointed out earlier, she had probably lived too long as it was. And if they could bring down the monster that had killed Body and Rumia, her Rumia, maybe it would be worth it.

"Fine," Mokou said. "Let's do that. But before we do-"

Then a bell sounded, and the panel started flashing green. Kaguya frowned down at it. "What's this?" she asked.

Taking a step forward, Eirin (who didn't seem to be acting as Kaguya's advocate anymore) said, "We're receiving a transmission."

Kaguya's hardened. Hate flashed in her eyes. "Oh, are we? Let me guess: it's her."

"Of course. Shall I patch her through?"

Several seconds ticked by, and then Kaguya gave a brief nod.

The glowing orange sphere pulsed, and Rumia appeared in its center. To Mokou's immense satisfaction, she was still covered with some very nasty looking burns. However, she didn't seem to be much bothered by the pain. In fact, she was smiling.

"Hey guys," she said, waving. "I know you can hear me. And let me just say, it was pretty rude of you to just run off and leave me alone. I mean, we had finally just all gotten back together, and you had to go abandon me again? I'm hurt, guys. I really am."

Before Mokou or Kaguya could snap back with something scathing, Rumia perked up and said, "But hey, it's not all bad. I made a new friend! Want to meet her?"

She held up her right hand. On it was a humanoid skull, one with bits of shriveled flesh and hair still clinging to it. "Her name's Dead Kaguya! I call her DK for short. Say hi to the assholes, DK." Rumia then spoke out of the corner of her mouth, making her voice sound high-pitched and scratchy. She used her thumb to move the skull's lower jaw up and down. "Hi to the assholes, DK! I'm a thousand-year-old crybaby with severe daddy issues who still plays with kids' toys. And me and my best buddy Rumia were just talking about how great it is that I'll soon be getting two new sisters!"

Rumia went back to using her normal voice. "Now, now, DK," she said, affectionately patting the skull on the forehead. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I can't turn them into little skeletons too. But good news! I can lobotomize them and send them into a persistent vegetative state! That's the next best thing, right?"

Then the strip of flesh keeping the skull's jaw in place gave way, and the lower half fell to the ground. Rumia blinked in surprise. "Oh. Oops. Guess I should have been watching for that."

Then she shrugged and tossed Body's skull over her shoulder. "But seriously guys, how long are you going to give me the runaround? Have you forgotten that I am still surrounded by your subconscious minds? I don't need to actually be in the same room with you to hurt you. The way I see it, if I tear up enough of the landscape, it'll translate into permanent mental trauma." She paused long enough for that to sink in. "You have one hour. Don't keep me waiting."

Her image vanished.

Kaguya, Mokou, and Eirin all stared grimly at where Rumia's taunting visage had been. Kaguya's hands squeezed into shaking fists, and she murmured to Eirin, "Can she really do that? Hurt us by hurting the dream?"

"I do not know," Eirin said. "But given what she's been shown to be capable of, I do not wish to risk it."

"Neither do I." Kaguya closed her eyes, whispered something under breath, and inhaled a deep breath. Then she let it out and said, "Okay. We have one hour to come up with a way to bring her down. Let's get to work."

As she and Eirin fell into a hushed conversation about the sorts of way they could send Rumia to Hell, Mokou walked over to one of the control panels. She stared blankly down at the rows of buttons, switches, and other science-y doodads. Spending time around Eirin meant that she at least knew what most of those things were called and the mechanics of working them, but beyond that she didn't have the slightest idea how to make the control panel as a whole do what she wanted.

She remembered what Head had said earlier, about how the controls didn't have a set function and instead responded to the user's desires. Working off of that, Mokou pressed a couple of buttons at random.

It worked. A small screen emerged from the panel, and Keine's face appeared in it. Mokou's friend looked drawn and haggard, as she often did while coming off of a full moon. Furthermore, she looked worried. Mokou had a pretty good idea why.

But before Mokou could open her mouth, Keine shook her head and said in a low voice, "Not here. Meet me out in the corridor." A moment later, her image winked out.

Mokou glanced over her shoulder. Eirin and Kaguya were deep in conversation, and not paying her the slightest bit of attention. Taking care not to change that, she sidled her way toward the door.

Keine was waiting for her outside. Again, she spoke first.

"Mokou," she said. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Keine sounded tired. And worried. Mokou wondered if that was more playacting, or Mokou's own emotional state rubbing off on her. Mokou certainly felt plenty tired and worried. In fact, she felt a little scared.

"No," she sighed, shoving her hands in her pockets. "I don't. I don't want to do anything except curl up and sleep for a year. But since that's not going to happen, I'm going to do this instead."

Keine shook her head. "It's madness. Literal suicide."

"I know. Don't care."

There was a long moment before Keine spoke again. "If Kaguya finds out-"

"Big deal. There's nothing she can do to me."

"How do you know this will even work?" Keine demanded. "You tried to reach out to Rumia already, and it accomplished nothing."

Mokou set her mouth in a straight line. "Something Body said to me, when we were talking in the elevator. See, words don't usually amount to much. People can lie, and they can ignore the truth whenever they like. But if they're shown the truth…"

"It's still incredibly risky," Keine said. "What if-"

"No," Mokou said. She held a finger against Keine's lips, silencing her. "No more 'ifs.' No more 'buts.' Anything Kaguya tries will just escalate things to disaster. So I'm doing this."

Keine studied her face, her grey eyes boring into Mokou's. Mokou flinched and looked away. There was just something creepy about being scrutinized by a figment of her imagination.

Finally Keine drew back. "Okay," she said. "If you say so."

Then, seemingly from nowhere, she produced long object and held it at the ready. It was Mokou's father's sword, lost ever since it had been taken from her.

Mokou grimaced. "Uh, does it have to be decapitation?"

"I'm afraid so."

"You sure? Can't you just cut off a hand or something?"

Keine shook her head. "No. But, if you wish, we can speed your resurrection."

"Fine." Mokou tilted her head back and pulled away her collar, exposing her neck. "Make it quick."

Keine nodded, and drew the sword back. But before she could strike, Mokou said suddenly, "Oh, wait. Before you do, make sure you've got a coin handy, okay? We'll need it later."

…

Rumia's storm had become a hurricane.

A massive cyclone slowly spun in the center, and clouds rolled in a gargantuan spiral around the vortex. A network of lightning flashed through the darkness, their sparking claws hungrily reaching out for any signs of life. The howling winds had already ripped apart everything that could be torn loose, and thirsted for more.

And in heart of the cyclone, hovering with her tattered wings curled around her like a protective cocoon, was the storm's master. After that mess with the fiery geysers, Rumia wasn't going anywhere near the ground. But as she would have been even more exposed in the open air, she had poured as much power as she could into the storm and then drawn it around her. Mokou's power was surprisingly effective, yes, but Rumia's was older, stronger, and inevitable. For all of its awesome strength, in the end fire always gave way to the cold. It was the natural order of things.

For now, she was waiting and resting, conserving her strength. She didn't expect Mokou and Kaguya to simply cede to her demands. They were too stupidly stubborn to just give in. Plus, Kaguya was probably going to seek out revenge for the death of her…whatever in the hell the other Kaguya had been to her. In the dark, Rumia smiled. Killing that spare might have been rash, but it had been oh so satisfying.

Unfortunately, that small taste of blood had been enough to send Azrael's voice into a frenzy. Kill them, kill them, kill them, it repeated over and over, not even bothering to inject poetry into its message. And Rumia wanted to indulge it, she really did. But she couldn't.

Soon, she told herself. After I claim what is mine. And then…

Then the fun would truly begin! First, she would devour the strongest and add their strength to her own. Yukari was a must, as was Madam Mima. Rumia couldn't wait to repay some old debts with those two. The knowledge possessed by Kaguya's doctor friend would be useful as well. And from there…well, Yukari would surely know who was the most powerful. Perhaps Rumia would even be able to devour Shinki and Sariel. In addition to the massive amounts of power they would give her, the irony alone would make doing so oh so delicious.

After that, everyone else would die. All of them. She was going to tear up Gensokyo by its roots and break it apart. The current Hakurei shrine maiden was going to be first. Rumia was going to take special delight in savoring her screams while her body was corrupted centimeter by centimeter. What was more, she was going to make Yukari watch.

And when she was done, she could go wherever she wanted! Yukari had sole access to the Borderlands, and with that at her disposal, not even the Angels would be able to stop her. She could be in one dimension in the morning and burn her way through three others by mid-afternoon. The whole of Creation was going to be open to her, and she was going to gobble it up. Her power would grow, until none could stand against her.

And from there, what was next? Well, how about breaking into the Abyss and joining with the real Azrael? That would be something, no doubt. And when they were one, who would be able to stop them? By then, they would have enough power to challenge the Creator Himself, to succeed where the Lightbringer had failed.

Now that was a goal worth pursuing.

But that day was still far away. For now, she needed to working on cowing Kaguya and Mokou into submission. So she remained in place and waited as the hour ticked by.

Under the cover of her wings, her talons twitched impatiently. Damn it, forty-eight minutes had gone by, and still no word! What was taking them so long?

…

"Now that," Kaguya observed dispassionately, "is a whole lot of weather." She glanced to Eirin. "You sure we can crack it?"

"That's entirely up to her," Eirin answered. She nodded toward Mokou. "After all, she's the one doing all the heavy lifting. So how about it, Mokou? Can you crack through?"

Mokou didn't answer right away. She was busy studying the large, bulky machine that had been summoned up. It had a very long and complicated name, but Mokou hadn't paid much attention. She just thought of it as the Ugly Machine Thing, or the UMT for short. Pronounced Umt.

According to Eirin, the Umt would send Mokou's fire anywhere they wished. At least, that was the gist of it. Eirin's explanation had been much more detailed. "It's all metaphorical," she had said. "Obviously this machine is one in name only. But in a place like this, the symbol is the thing. Simply by expecting it to operate as described, it will perform exactly like…"

And right about then was where Mokou had stopped listening. She really didn't give a damn about the whosit or the whatsit of the where. If that piece of junk would let her unleash one of her infernos on a global scale, then that was all she needed to know.

"Only one way to find out," she said at last. She cracked the knuckles on one hand and then the other. "All right. Ready when you are."

"We've been ready," Eirin said. She pulled a lever, and the Umt lit up like a squat, metal Christmas tree. Two circular receptacles opened up, their interior glowing gold. "Send the bitch to Hell."

Mokou smirked. She held up her hands and concentrated. Fire flashed to life, first around her hands and then covering her forearms. But instead of immediately releasing it like she always did, she just let it build in power, until it was pure white. "Okay, but you've got it backwards," she told the Lunarians. "I'm not sending her to Hell."

Kaguya, who was already sweating from the heat, shot her a suspicious look. "What does that mean?" she demanded.

"Simple. I'm sending Hell to her." With that, she plunged her arms into the receptacles and fired.

…

High above the storm, in the cold of space (or a convincing mock-up of it at least) hovered the Weapon.

It was huge, the size of a small moon, and it was shaped like one too. But this was no moon. It was a tool of annihilating force. Its metal surface bristled with artillery, enough to tear an invading force to shreds. But that wasn't what made it dangerous. Its true power was housed in the large crater that sat in its northern hemisphere, just above the equator. And it was this crater that was currently pointed directly down the throat of Rumia's storm.

A command was given, and the Weapon was given purpose. Green lights appeared all along the crater's circumference, and from these lights lances of energy shot out to converge at a point directly above the crater's center; a center that contained a gaping hole.

And from this hole emerged another beam of energy, this one more possessing more than five times the girth of any of the others. It hit where the others had joined and swallowed them up, adding their power to its own. And from there, it shot forward like a spear, racing towards it target with deadly intent.

…

Rumia frowned. Though six minutes still remained, something was wrong. A strange shiver had just gone down her spine, alerting her to some kind of disturbance.

She looked up. Her eyes narrowed. What in the world…

Then she put two and two together and sighed. Oh please, it was this song and dance again. They really were like monkeys with a hammer. Put an obstacle in their path and they'd just hit it over and over again, expecting that alone to clear a path.

And then the beam hit the roof of her storm. She had to admit, for what it was it packed a wallop, but it didn't even pierce the upper crust. This was just getting sad.

Then a troubling thought struck her. What if this wasn't the attack? What if this was just-

…

"Operation Alderaan is underway," Eirin said in a clinical tone. She grabbed a dial and turned it as far as it would go. "Now using the Force."

…

The beam suddenly flared up into bright scarlet, and its output intensified into the triple digits. It started burrowing down through the upper levels of the storm like a drill, plunging slowly but steadily down the throat of the cyclone.

Rumia flinched, but didn't panic. This sort of thing was expected, after all. A big, obvious frontal attack to focus her defenses into a single spot. And once she had fully directed her attention to stopping the beam, the second attack would hit her weakened back.

So she indulged it. She thickened the top of the storm, arresting the beam of Phoenix Fire's descent. And all the while, she kept a wary eye on the ground beneath her.

…

"Bottom of the storm is starting to thin out," Eirin announced. She smirked. "She bought it."

"Good," Kaguya said. She wrapped her hands around the rubber-grip handle of a large lever that extended from the ground. She closed her eyes and imagined that it was Rumia's neck. Throttling her would give her so much pleasure.

Instead, she settled for pulling back on the lever and setting off a volcanic eruption.

…

And there it was! Directly beneath the storm, the ground had exploded, and more of those goddamned fire geysers were rushing up. Except the burst that had scorched Rumia earlier had been nowhere near the scale of these ones. This was a full-on holocaust, and judging by the funnel-shaped hills that were thrusting themselves up from the earth, it had every intention of going prehistoric on her.

Which was more-or-less what Rumia had been expecting. An attack on two fronts, one from below and one from above. Force her to divide her power, therefore weakening her defenses. She wouldn't be surprised if she were to be suddenly assaulted from the sides as well, probably from those stupid spaceships again, only this time supercharged by Mokou's fire.

But while theoretically her mojo could be whittled away until her defenses collapsed, she had no intention of staying in place and letting that happen.

As the fire rose up to meet her from below, her wings unfurled and she flew away from the cyclone to take refuge somewhere else. Once she was gone, the center of the storm opened up, forming a yawning tunnel that allowed the blazing beam to shoot right through and strike the cluster of volcanoes that was forming below.

The results were loud and predictable.

…

"Hey, she's moving," Kaguya said, shaking Eirin by the shoulder. "She's moving! Why are you letting her move?"

"Unfortunately, she neglected to ask for permission," Eirin said as she shrugged off Kaguya's hand. "But the point is taken. Mokou?"

Mokou, whose arms were still plunged into the Umt, shot her a dirty look. "Look," she said, her voice sounding strained. "I provide the heat, you tell it where to go. This is your problem."

"Fine." Eirin worked her control panel. "Just keep that fire coming."

"Thank you, I'll take that under consideration," Mokou muttered. She waited until both of the Lunarians were too preoccupied to pay attention to her. Then she whispered into the tiny microphone hidden in her collar, "Ready?"

"Yes," Keine said sadly. "Mokou, are you sure-"

"Do it."

…

Chortling to herself, Rumia moved away from the inferno, taking her storm with her. That was the problem with her opponents' strategy. Maybe Phoenix Fire could hurt her, but that didn't mean she just had to stay in one place and take it. So long as she kept moving, Mokou was going to burn herself out sooner or later. Using so much fire at once had to be putting a strain on her, and Rumia had the advantage when it came to supernatural stamina.

"Going somewhere?"

Rumia paused. The voice had come right out of the heart of the beam. She turned around and stared.

A huge fiery sphere was now bulging out of the beam like a burning tumor. Though the glare made it hard to see, Rumia could just make out a humanoid shape in the sphere's center. However, she didn't need her sight to tell who it was; her nose was more than sufficient.

Mokou.

Rumia grinned. "Oh, lookie here. Miss Hotpants herself. Run out of fuel already?"

"Hardly," Mokou said, her voice artificially amplified. "But that doesn't mean I'm in a hurry to waste it."

"Yeah," Rumia said, glancing down at the still-erupting volcanoes. "Sure you aren't."

"Blame Kaguya for that idea. Me? I'm not so eager to wear myself out in such a manner."

"Oh really?" Rumia leaned forward hungrily. "And exactly what did you have in mind?"

…

"Wait a minute, what's going on?" Kaguya said in confusion. She motioned towards the viewing sphere. "What's with that bulge? Is she talking to someone?"

Eirin frowned. "It seems that…hang on a moment." The Lunarian doctor examined a display of power readings.

Then her eyes slowly went wide. "It's Mokou," she said in disbelief.

"Wait, what?" Kaguya pushed her out of the way to see for herself. "How's that possible? She's right behind…"

She and Eirin exchanged a glance. Then, with fearful hesitation, they slowly turned around.

…

"It's simple," Mokou said. "You and me, one-on-one."

Rumia letting out a cackling laugh. "And when did you fall off the stupid tree? Mokou, you don't stand a chance! It doesn't matter how much fire you throw at me, I can take it! But all I need is one good hit." She held up her right talon and curved the fingers around. "Why don't you ask your friend Kaguya how well that will work out for you?"

"That's not what I meant," Mokou retorted. "I mean hand-to-hand. No fire, no taint, no storm, nothing. If you beat me until I can't fight anymore, I'll help you get out." She stuck a thumb against her own chest. "But if I win, you go back to where you came from and never bother us again."

"Ha! Well, that's gutsy, I'll give you that. But why go through all this to begin with? Won't just letting me out make everyone's lives a whole lot easier?"

Mokou calmly regarded her new nemesis. "You already said you planned on displacing Rin Satsuki, and I really don't feel comfortable letting you take so much power. I dunno, something tells me you'd be inclined to abuse it."

"Oh, most certainly," Rumia said cheerfully. "But are you really expecting me to trust you to keep your word? Or expect you to trust mine?"

"Hey, what have you to lose?" Mokou said with a shrug. "If this keeps up, neither of us will get anywhere. You'll still be stuck here, and I don't fancy getting lobotomized."

"Uh-huh. And you do realize that even if you win, that still leaves you with the problem of trying to break Rin Satsuki on your own, right? Damned if you do, damned if you don't."

Mokou spread her hands. "So? At least we have plenty of time to work on that problem. You're here now."

"Oh, so true," Rumia agreed. "Alrighty, you've got a deal. Though I would really advise against going back on it. The last person to do that to me ended up as a chitinous shish-kabob, and her home brain got turned into a hand puppet."

"I have not forgotten," Mokou said coldly. "All right, let's do this."

Neither of them moved. The fire continued to blaze while the storm continued to blow.

"…ready when you are," Mokou said at last.

Rumia folded her arms. "Do I look like an idiot? You first."

"No."

"Fine. Then go away and let me vegatablize you in peace."

Mokou shook her head. "Okay, how about this? On the count of three. One…"

Rumia raised her hand. "Question, teacher. Do you mean on three, or immediately after?"

"On," Mokou replied. "Two."

"Okay. And if neither of us backs down? Because that's exactly what will happen."

"Three!"

Rumia was right. Nothing changed.

"Well," Rumia said with a sigh. "It seems that you and I have some trust issues we need to work out."

…

Kaguya grabbed Mokou by the throat and slammed her back into the ground. "What did you do?" she screamed.

Struggling to speak through her blocked airway, Mokou rasped, "Gave us a fighting chance."

"You promised to do things my way!" Kaguya's eyes filled with angry tears. She sounded more hurt by the betrayal than anything Mokou had ever done to her. "You promised!"

"Kaguya, stop!" Eirin said as she tried to pull the younger girl off. "Let her go!"

"Not you too! You're supposed to be supporting me!"

"I am! By acting as your common sense!"

"Why?" Kaguya spun around and gave Eirin a rough shove, sending her stumbling. "Why should I, after what she's done?"

Eirin pointed at the Umt. "Because if you're attacking her, she can't power that!"

Kaguya blinked. "Oh."

…

As if someone had thrown a switch, the holocaust simply up and died. The energy beam thinned out to green and disappeared. Below, the volcanoes ceased to vomit up flames and sulfur. The rivers of lava cooled and hardened. Soon there was nothing left but ash-covered mountains.

As for Mokou herself, she was still covered with fire, but it wasn't a giant ball anymore. In fact, it was now an aura not much larger than twice her body size. She looked around in surprise and said, "Oh."

"Well!" Rumia said. "That's a start, I guess."

Mokou sighed. Ah, might as well. She let her own fires dim and vanish.

"Well?" she said to the storm. "Your turn."

Rumia didn't move to comply. She didn't attack, but she didn't drop her defenses.

Mokou swallowed. Her throat had suddenly gone very dry. "Rumia. We had a deal, remember?"

"I'm thinking," Rumia drawled. "See, this is kind of an interesting situation. Something of an opportunity, if you will."

"Move to attack me, and I'll just vanish again," Mokou warned. "Unless you want to risk killing me."

"True enough," Rumia lamented. "Ah, what the hell. This could be fun."

The storm started to shrink. It was fascinating to watch, actually. It just seemed to contract in on itself, getting smaller and smaller. At first Mokou assumed that Rumia was sucking it into herself, but no, it didn't seem like it was getting pulled into anything; it was simply becoming a smaller version of itself. Mokou found herself wondering if Rumia was going to stick it into a bottle once it had become small enough.

Such proved not to be the case. As soon as it had shrunk down to the size of a small house, it simply popped like a disrupted smoke ring. And out of it came Rumia herself. She hurtled forward, moving faster than any living thing had a right to, burned lips stretched wide in a bloodthirsty grin, talons outstretched and zeroing in on Mokou's stomach.

It was Mokou's sharply honed instincts that saved her. Before she was disemboweled, she bent backwards, avoiding Rumia by mere centimeters. As the youkai passed by, Mokou's hands snapped up to seize her opponent by the wrists. She swung her lower body back and brought it back up, driving her knees into Rumia's middle.

The two spun and tumbled this way and that, each trying to gain control of the other. Rumia was the stronger of the two, but Mokou had the managed to take her off guard and wasn't about to let her get it back.

Then they struck the side of one of the dead volcanoes. Mokou lost her grip and the two of them spilled partway down the slope. Rumia growled and stabbed her talons into the mountainside, arresting her momentum.

"Nice opening bout," she called down to Mokou. "Too bad it's all you're gonna get."

With that, she leapt up like a pouncing mountain lion and came down onto Mokou's sprawled form.

It should have ended there. Rumia was just too fast, too strong, and too savage. And Mokou still hadn't recovered from the hard fall. By rights, she should have had her throat torn out before the spots had cleared from her eyes.

Instead, Rumia's bound was met by an elbow to the throat.

Rumia fell back, gasping. She clutched at her neck, trying to reopen her airways. Mokou stood tall, glaring down at her.

"Three hundred years," she said. "Three hundred years of nonstop fighting, killing, and dying. I deal with those sorts of things on a near-daily basis. But you? I think you're a little rusty."

Then she swooped down and grabbed Rumia by the collar. "But for now, I think we're due for a change of scenery."

And then they were both gone.

…

The first thing Rumia noticed was that the smell of ash and dust had been replaced by that of grass and fresh air. The second thing she noticed was that she was now facedown in the grass.

She pushed herself up on her palms and spat out a mouthful of grass and dirt. It seemed she had developed a discouraging habit of being taken by sucker punches as of late. Though if growing a lawn provided Mokou with some kind of strategic advantage, she wasn't seeing it.

"Turn that shit off."

"Eh?" Rumia looked over her shoulder to see Mokou standing nearby, arms crossed and red eyes flashing with anger.

Mokou pointed. "That taint thing. Turn it off."

Rumia looked down and saw that the grass surrounding her was quite dead. Oh right, the terms of their fight. She sighed and wondered if it was worth it to keep this up. Mokou clearly had something sneaky up her sleeve. Why let her spring it?

"Turn it off right now or I'll vanish and leave you to dig your way out."

Oh yeah. That. Rumia sighed. That was the problem with sacrificing short term advantages for long term gains. There were just too many ways those gains could be destroyed.

"Fine," she said, rising to feet. A small mental tweak, and the taint was reined in. "And where did you-" Rumia stopped talking. Frowning, she looked around.

As it turned out, she really was standing in someone's lawn. The grass was neatly cut and covered a shallow hump of earth, too low to properly be called a hill. A high stone wall fortified with protective charms and enchantments surrounded it, beyond which was a grove of maple trees. A cobblestone path led from the wooden gate to the top of the slope.

At the center of the lawn was a large, three story building with a sloping tiled roof and several rectangular windows. It was very inviting looking, with whitewashed walls, a colorful flower around its perimeter, and a vegetable garden on its right side. Smoke rose from a red-brick chimney.

Rumia stared. She knew this place. Or at least, it was unsettlingly familiar to her. The memory of it danced just out of reach, taunting her.

Then Mokou kicked her in the back of her head.

"Gah!" she cried, stumbling forward and clutching where she had been struck.

"Recognize it yet?" Mokou asked. "You should. It's home."

She tackled Rumia's back and kept going, driving her towards the front door. Fed up with this, Rumia dug her feet into the ground, forcing a stop. Then she reached behind her, snatched Mokou up, and hurled her the rest of the way. Mokou crashed right through the double-door entrance.

Growling, Rumia stalked forward. "So, this is what this is all about? Gonna haul me down memory lane?" She kicked Mokou in the stomach, lifting her up with such force that Mokou's back smacked against the ceiling before she came back down. "What part of 'Your Rumia is dead' did you fail to understand?"

She drove her fist down at Mokou's head. Mokou managed to roll out of the way, and Rumia's hand smashed right through the floorboards.

"I don't buy it!" Mokou shouted as she twisted into a crouch. "I saw the look in your eyes! You remember this place, don't you?" She attacked Rumia with a flurry of punches and kicks. Rumia deflected about a dozen of them before swiping Mokou to the side with her wing.

Mokou flipped around and landed in a crouch on the wall. "You said it yourself! You're made from what she left behind!" she shouted. "There's more of her in you than you let on!"

Rumia glowered at her. "You know, if there's one thing I can't stand, it's insufferable know-it-alls. I am going to enjoy beating the pretentious out of you." Then she smirked. "And hey, I only agreed not to use the taint and the storms. As it so happens, my arsenal is a wee bit larger than that."

With that, she lunged forward. Mokou tensed herself to dodge, but Rumia wasn't targeting her. Instead, she slammed her fist against the ground at an angle. Scarlet energies danced around her fingers to melt into the floorboards.

The effect was immediate. A wave of force rippled out at Mokou, tearing up the floor and walls as it went. Mokou tried to get out of the way, but there was nowhere to go. It ran into her and drove her through the wall.

…

Okay, Mokou thought as she found herself caught up in a whirlwind of debris. Did not know she could do that. That is a problem.

She tried to regain control, but then her hip struck a hard corner and cracked. Damn it, she sighed as she found herself sprawling over some kind of table. That's gonna slow me-

Rumia's metallic fingers grabbed the back of her head. She forced Mokou to bend over the table and held her down. "In case you're wondering," Rumia said. She grabbed Mokou's right arm with her other hand. "I ain't gonna kill you now. I know that's probably just like taking a nap for you. Instead…"

She yanked back, and pain flared up in Mokou's arm. "I know your pain threshold is unbelievably high," Rumia said casually as pulled and twisted. "So let's start small and work our way up."

There was a pop!, and Mokou's shoulder popped out of joint. "Th-th-this is sm-small?" she said with a grimace.

"For you it's practically child's play. But if you're feeling disappointed…"

Something ripped, and Mokou lost feeling below the shoulder. Everything around it was more than happy to pick up the slack though.

"Huh," Rumia said as she held up and regarded Mokou's arm, which was now fully separate from the rest of her body. "That actually took some effort. They really don't make them like they used to."

"Th-thanks," Mokou growled. She tried moving her head around so she could see better. Maybe she could hook Rumia's legs or something.

"Well, one down, three to go." Rumia tossed the arm over her back, where it landed with a wet splat. She looked around. "And hey, what better place to systematically butcher you than the kitchen?"

That took Mokou by surprise and caused her to momentarily forget her predicament. "We're in the k-kitchen?" she said.

Rumia pulled her back just long enough for Mokou to glimpse a cramped, rectangular room filled with wooden cabinets and earthen pottery. There were several vegetables strung up in nets, as well as a full ham hock on the counter. A large, brick oven occupied the center of one wall, while windows to the outside were at the other. Mokou herself was shoved against the fat-legged, rectangular wooden table in the center of the room.

Then Rumia slammed her head back down. "Yup. Kitchen. Hey, this is supposed to be an orphanage, yeah?" She snickered. "So, what say you fill it with actual orphans, and we grind up your limbs into the oatmeal and feed it to them, see if anyone notices?"

One of Mokou's teeth had come loose. Spitting it out, she let out a weak laugh. "Heh. I used to work in here, you know."

"Is that so." Rumia grabbed Mokou's other arm and pulled it back. "Well, then there's a kind of closure to all this, isn't there? Sort of like coming full circle."

"Y-yeah, you and your fr-friends used to c-come in here all the time, trying to st-steal c-c-ookies and the like."

Rumia gave Mokou's arm a sharp wrench, making her gasp. "Did we? My, what a mischievous scamp I was."

"Y-y-yeah," Mokou coughed. "Never did l-let you-ah!" Her shoulder and elbow both separated. She squeezed eyes shut and pressed on regardless. "N-n-never did…let you though."

"Hmmm, well, good for you." Rumia kept pulling and pulling, until the muscles and ligaments were stretched to their tearing point. "Firm discipline is a necessary element in every child's life."

A twist, and Mokou was down to two limbs.

Mokou laughed. Here she was, being systematically taken apart, and her primary concern was talking about their shared past. She actually found herself thanking whatever gods had cursed her life with such misfortune for all the pain and suffering Kaguya had put her through, as without it she would have blacked out or broken down as soon as the twisting had begun.

"Y-y-y-yeah," she croaked. "Y-you r-r-remember th-them, right?"

"What, my friends?" Rumia shrugged. "Nope. But hey, sixty years go by, people drift away, life goes on. You know how it is."

She reached down and gently ran her fingertips over Mokou's thigh, as if inspecting a piece of choice meat. "Oh hey, just FYI? Your first arm is starting to grow back. So that means as soon as I get done with your legs, we can start over."

Ignoring this, Mokou said, "Y-you sure? You g-g-guys were in…insep…" She took a deep breath. "Inseparable."

"Nothing is inseparable. Exhibit A: your arms. Exhibit B?"

More pain. Mokou blocked it out. She had suffered worse, after all. "Yeah, but…Ah! H-how about Keine K-Kamish-shirasawa?"

Rumia paused. "I'm sorry, but who?"

Despite the agony she was in, Mokou grinned. "T-tiny little shrimp o-of a girl. S-silver hair, clothes never f-fit, half y-youkai?"

A few moments went by, and then Rumia said, "Wait, isn't she the schoolteacher over at the Human Village?"

Mokou let out a strangled sound of surprise. "You know her?"

"Of her. Had some…indirect encounters with her. And we were best friends?"

"Yes!"

"Huh." Rumia mused on this for a time, and then she shrugged. "Well, whaddya know? Small world."

She went back to work, causing Mokou to blurt out, "Kohta!"

"Kohta? Well, insofar as cries of anguish go, that's a new one, but eh, whatever floats your-"

Rumia paused, as did her hand. Spurred on by this, Mokou shouted, "Kohta Momoi!"

Rumia's fingers twitched, and given that they were at least six centimeters deep into Mokou's leg, it was not a pleasant experience.

Suddenly Mokou found herself lifted up and flipped around. Rumia slammed her back into the table, with her bloody talons gripping Rumia's throat. "What did you just say?" Rumia growled.

Even though this was the sort of response Mokou had been gunning for, even she was surprised by the look of outright shock and anger in Rumia's eyes. Normally they shone with a menacing red light. Now they were practically boiling with barely restrained fury.

Despite having just undergone double amputation and possibly being moments away from a very messy death, Mokou found herself grinning. Got her. "Oh, remember him? Spiky hair, squinty eyes, cocky grin, always getting into trouble? You were even closer to him than you were to Keine. Everyone thought you two liked each other. Heck, even I started wondering."

Rumia stared at her, her face a stone mask.

Then it happened. If Mokou had not been looking Rumia straight in the eye, she would have missed it. Rumia's eyes seemed to pulse out for a fraction of a second, as if something in her head had sent out a shockwave. Her head jerked back, and her face contorted with anger.

"Oh, what the hell," she muttered, pressing her free hand to her temple. "What the…What are you doing? How are you doing this?"

If it was an act, it was an especially convincing one. Mokou glanced to the side and was relieved to see that one arm had fully reformed while the other was well on its way. "Not me," she said. "It's her. She remembers. And so do you."

"Is. That. So." Rumia's lips curled back. "Well, so what? You think name-dropping some old buddies of hers is supposed to mean anything? Because it doesn't!"

"No?" Mokou laughed. "Then look out the window and tell me that again."

Rumia's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What kind of idiot do you take me for? Like I'm just gonna-"

Mokou vanished.

"What?" Rumia said in shock. She looked around and, finding nothing, yanked the table off the floor and hurled it aside. Pots and cabinets were smashed, but Mokou wasn't there. "Where'd you go?"

"Right here," Mokou said, and she thrust her newly regenerated hands up under Rumia's armpits and clasped them behind her neck. Before the demonic youkai could grasp the situation, she yanked with all her might, turning Rumia sharply to the right.

It wasn't easy. Rumia was still much stronger than her, and those wings really got in the way. Still, Mokou wasn't exactly weak, and she had the advantage of surprise. As such, she managed to wretch Rumia's body far enough so that they were both facing the windows to the outside.

By reflex, Rumia's arms came down, breaking Mokou's grip and pinning her forearms to Rumia's side. At the same time, Rumia's control over the taint broke, causing Mokou's arms to shrivel and fall apart. That was bad. Fortunately, reflex also caused Rumia's head to come up at the same time, giving her a good look at what was outside.

Rumia saw. She froze. She stared.

And everything changed.

…

It is difficult to articulate fully what Rumia experienced in that moment, as she stood as still as a statue, eyes fixated on what lay through the window while unconsciously holding Mokou's arms to her sides as the now unrestrained taint ate away at her enemy's flesh.

To begin, we will need a frame of reference.

Imagine that you are rolling down a hill, caught up in a rush of childlike joy and excitement, only to realize that you are two seconds away from colliding with a very large and very hard tree that has so discourteously placed itself directly in your path.

Imagine that you have snuck backstage in hopes of discovering how the magician performed his saw-a-woman-in-half trick, and upon opening the box in question, you discover the bisected torso of the magician's now very dead assistant.

Imagine chatting away with a friendly stranger at a pub, and as the conversation goes on, you are constantly nagged by persistent sense of familiarity, only to come to the realization that you are in fact talking to your brother, who had died and was buried some twelve years prior, a fact that doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest.

In other words, Rumia found herself bombarded with feelings of shock, wonder, horror, bewilderment, and haunting realization. Everything Mokou had been blathering about suddenly became real. And she hated it.

The first thing she saw was Mokou herself reclining casually against a tree: not the one currently trying to separate herself from her withered arms, but Mokou circa sixty years ago. She looked exactly the same, and yet she was noticeably different, with the harsh lines of her face softened and her perpetually tensed muscles relaxed. Though she appeared to be dozing off, she was in fact keeping a watchful eye on three children as they wrestled and played together in the grass.

The first child was obviously Rumia herself, only this one was around eleven years old and Human. In contrast with that moronic youkai prankster that had been running around in Rumia's skin for the past six decades, this girl lacked the inhuman perfection that youkai all seemed to possess. She was plainer, skinnier, with dull brown eyes and unkempt hair. But even then her eyes had glittered with mischief.

The other girl was even skinnier than Rumia had been, and seemed hesitant about joining her two friends in their rough play. Her shimmering silver hair was cut short and held back by a white plastic headband, and along with her flawless skin and faintly luminescent eyes Rumia marked her as being at least part youkai.

Rumia had no doubt that this was Keine Kamishirasawa, schoolteacher of the Human Village and, according to Mokou, her forgotten childhood friend. But while Keine was setting off all kind of bells in Rumia's head, it was the sight of the boy, the one struggling to put the younger Rumia in a headlock, that had her frozen in place.

Mokou had described Kohta Momoi as having narrow eyes and spiky hair, and this boy certainly fit the description. Furthermore, when Rumia had heard his name for the first time, it was like something had reached straight down her throat and given her heart a sharp tug. Now that she was actually seeing his face, it was being pulled all the way out, and…

"…tears streamed down his face, leaving muddy trails through the ash. "No!" he cried. "I won't leave you! I can't leave you, not like-"

A sharp stab of pain lanced behind Rumia's eyes, and she staggered forward. "What the hell?" she muttered as she brought a trembling hand to her forehead. "What was-"

"'…it's taking me. Can't control it much longer. G-go, get out. Find the others, take them somewhere I can't find. I'll try to hold on as long as I can.'

'Rumia…'

'GO! I'll try to send it somewhere else! But I can't stop, can't stop it from killing…'"

"Argh!" Rumia cried. She lurched back, clutching at her face, heedless of the fact that her talons were cutting into her flesh. It was coming back, it was all coming back…

"'Run! Run, you little fool! And prey to whatever gods will hear you that our paths never cross again. May they show you the mercy they denied me.'"

"Do you remember now?"

Rumia stopped stumbling around. She slowly raised her head, hands uncovering her hateful eyes. Mokou was standing there, her arms fully regenerated and folded over her breast. She was coolly watching Rumia with dispassionately waiting for her response.

"Has it all come back yet?" she asked. "Or are you going to try to convince me that my Rumia is really dead?"

Rumia spat on the ground, which sizzled and burned where the gob of saliva hit. "I ought to tear your spine out through your throat," she growled as she straightened up. "In fact, I think I'll do just that. You've survive worse, after all." Then she frowned, her focus going to Mokou's arms. "Wait…how did those come back? The taint should have…"

"Yeah…" Mokou drawled. "See, about that."

Then she kicked Rumia full in the face. It wasn't enough to knock her down, but it did send her staggering back against the counter. Rumia shook her head and gingerly touched her nose. The cartilage hadn't snapped, but it was rather tender.

Mokou, however, had come off the worse for it. The top of her bare foot was now black with the taint. But this didn't seem to cause her much stress. "See, I figured that since your taint can cut through the Hourai Elixir's effects, it can cancel out our other abilities too," Mokou explained as she hopped back on her other foot. "Like, say, my immunity to fire…"

Her withered foot ignited. The healthy parts were unharmed, but the black bits were burned away. And with them gone, it didn't take long for Mokou's recuperative powers to regrow the lost flesh, making her foot whole once more.

"And all better," Mokou said, standing on two feet again.

Rumia scowled. "Oh, you have got to be kidding-"

Mokou erupted into flames and charged, spearing Rumia in the midsection. This carried the two of them over the countertop and crashing through the window.

The two of them rolled through the grass, each trying to overpower the other. Rumia was the stronger, but the pain from the fire kept her from getting a solid grip. Finally she managed to disentangle herself from Mokou and swat her back several meters.

"What happened to no fire, huh?" Rumia hissed as she regained her feet. She glanced at the tree. To her lack of surprise, the memory of Mokou and the children were gone.

Mokou quickly scrambled up and crouched. "You already used the taint on me, so I figured it was allowed."

"That was not intentional, and…" Rumia sighed. Why was she doing this? "You know what? Screw this. This was all just a big setup anyway."

With that, she rushed forward, cold smoke covering her. Her wings spread wide, and she took flight.

Mokou didn't dodge, and Rumia plowed right into her. Cold met flame once again and the two combatants clung to each other as they sailed back toward the house, each raining blows on the other. Mokou's fists fractured bone and scorched skin, and Rumia's talons cut skin and rotted flesh, but neither could do lasting damage to the other. What Rumia corrupted, Mokou burned away. What Mokou burned, Rumia would snuff out.

They smashed through a third story window and tumbled over the floor. Mokou managed to get her legs between them and shoved Rumia back, sending her crashing into the wall. Growling with animalistic rage, Rumia rose up on all fours, talons digging into the floor and teeth bared. Bloody saliva dripped from her jaws to leave steaming holes in the floor.

Then she saw where they were. It was a room filled with sleeping mats and children's toys. The walls were painted a cheery yellow, and framed pictures of the orphanage's residents hung around her.

And in one corner was a small table. On it was a miniature circus, constructed from sticks, leaves, flowers, pieces of doodled-on paper, and other scraps. It was very crude, with tents that looked like they were about to fall in on themselves and people made from twigs. Still, a lot of work had gone into its creation, and a lot of love.

"Remember that?" Mokou said to her. "You and Kohta spent days working on it. Keine read about them in a book and wanted to go to one, but since she couldn't, you two decided to make her one."

A moment of disorientation swept over Rumia. She bowed her head as her fingers clenched, tearing up long strips of wood. A sound like waves on the shore was roaring in her head. She tried to shake it off, but…

"'Okay, I think we're almost done,' Kohta announced as he carefully tied the final support to the big tent; or at least as careful as a ten year old boy could be.

'About time,' Rumia groused. She was in charge of filling the circus with performers and visitors, and manipulating all those tiny little sticks was hard on the fingers. 'Stupid bark. I am never going to get this sap off.'

'Whine, whine, whine, that's all you do,' Kohta said as he hunkered down to inspect the outer wall. Though it was in satisfactory condition, he frowned anyway. 'Hey, Rumia?'

'What?'

'You think we'll ever get to go to a real circus?'

Rumia rolled her eyes. 'No. Duh. They're never gonna have a circus in Gensokyo. It's always about those festivals, with no proper clowns or acrobats in any of them!'

Kohta thought on this for a moment. 'Well, in that case, we'll just have to start our own.'

'No way!' Rumia yelped. 'Making this one was hard enough!'

'Well, of course not right away! When we grow up. And we'll get lots of help too." His voice grew wistful. "Everyone from the House! I'll be the ringleader, of course…"

"Hey! I want to be ringleader too!"

"Fine, we can take turns. But seriously, just think about it! We can make Haruko, Hayate, Eiko be clowns, Shinji can be the strongman, Melissa can…I don't know, sell tickets or something. But seriously, it'll be great!"

The memory faded. Rumia bowed her head. "Why are you doing this?" she muttered. "What can you possibly hope to accomplish?"

"Bring back someone I failed," Mokou answered. "And get rid of the monster that took her away."

…

"When?" Kaguya demanded. She sounded downright desperate. "When are you going to let us in?"

"When it's too late to go back," Mokou answered simply.

Kaguya stared at her, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You're really doing this, aren't you? You sent yourself to get slaughtered." She took two steps back. "You are insane. Truly, legitimately insane."

Mokou said nothing. She just closed her eyes and continued to wait. It was almost time.

…

Rumia let out a harsh, hissing laugh. "Is that so." She rose up, her head still bowed, her face shrouded by what hair the fire had left. "A noble endeavor, to certain. And are you absolutely certain you can pull this off?"

Mokou tilted her chin. "Yeah. I am."

"Ah. Well, at least you have confidence, foolish as it may be." Rumia raised her head to lock eyes with her opponent. "Allow me to present a counter-argument."

With that, her shadow lunged across the floor like a striking snake. It drew back its dark arm and plunged it through the back of Mokou's shadow.

Though it was her shadow that was struck, Mokou suddenly arched her back, her face grimacing in pain. Her chest exploded outward, as if an invisible spear had been plunged through her body.

Then, though she knew full well what was coming, she smiled with relief. It was finally over.

When the taint finished its job, she was no longer even recognizable as Human.

…

Mokou's eyes snapped open. "Now!" she shouted.

"What?" Kaguya's head snapped up. "You mean-"

Mokou nodded. She snapped to her feet. "Now, Keine! Do it now!"

…

Rumia watched as what was left of Mokou dropped to the floor. She wondered if she should feel happy. After all, her enemy now lay dead at her feet. The voice of Azrael had been obeyed. And it was another Hourai Immortal to boot. Again Death had triumphed over Life. She should be feeling proud. Satisfied. Smug. Instead she just felt tired. Tired and disappointed in herself.

Oh sure, that piece of Azrael that constantly goaded her on was thrilled, but Rumia herself felt like kicking herself. Once again, she had lost control and gone for the kill. Now she had lost easy access to Phoenix Fire and half of her anticipated dose of Hourai immortality. She didn't know if the effects would have stacked, but she was never going to find out now. Plus, killing Mokou while still inside her subconscious was just stupid. She might have just eliminated her only chance of getting out of here.

Still, the facsimile didn't look like it was about to collapse. Perhaps by being bound to Kaguya, Mokou's subconscious would live on even after her conscious mind had been destroyed. But that still left her with the problem of now only having one key to a double-locked door.

Rumia sighed. The problem was that she was supposed to be the harbinger of death and destruction, the Avatar of the most notorious Archangel of Death to have ever existed. And that meant all of her impulses were geared toward, well, death and destruction. Subtly wasn't beyond her, but the more she gave in to her power, the harder it was to keep her eye on the prize. It had been easier when she had been pretending to be a hapless lockpicker, as keeping her Shadow Youkai identity contained also meant that the impulses were easier to control. But by going all out against Mokou, she had also given into the bloodlust. And Mokou's aggravating attempts to dig out the shattered remains of her host hadn't helped either, nor had her surprising amount of success.

Funny though, she could still smell Mokou. Since the taint killed everything, including bacteria, it didn't leave behind a stench. Maybe this whole place was infected with her smell.

Rumia looked down and frowned in confusion. Also, for some strange reason, the tip of a gore-covered blade was sticking out of her chest. How odd, she hadn't even noticed. Granted, the incredible amount of pain she was in right now would disguise the blade's entry, but even so, one would think she would have noticed…

Oh.

Well then. Rumia supposed she really should have seen this coming.

It was measure of how her day was going in that Rumia's primary reaction wasn't rage, but resignation. Now this, she thought wearily, is really going to hurt.

…

Once she had materialized behind Rumia's back, Mokou wasted no time driving her father's sword right through the monstrosity's body. There was a certain karmic poetry to this, considering how Rumia had executed the other Mokou. But Mokou had neither the time nor inclination to think on it, and instead pumped as much Phoenix Fire as she could summon up down through the sword's blade and into Rumia's body.

As it turned out, she could summon up quite a lot.

Again, Rumia caught fire. But this time she burned from the inside out, as Mokou poured more and more fire into her.

Curiously though, she didn't fight back. She didn't call up her clouds or pull away. She didn't even scream. She just stood there and took it. Of course, the fact that Mokou was reducing her to little more than a freestanding skeleton covered with a blackened crush of flesh probably had something to do with her lack of mobility. In fact, she now resembled the withered husks her victims had become. Another score for dramatic irony.

But Mokou wasn't interested in taking chances. She just stood there and kept the heat going. Even as the orphanage was set alight and burned up around them, she stayed still and held the sword in place. Even as the fire spread across the lawn to consume the nearby forest, she kept the inferno going. Even as the whole landscape was caught up in the holocaust and the sky above was choked out by the smoke and ash, she kept right on burning Rumia, with the full intent of continuing until there was nothing left.

Unfortunately, Rumia just wouldn't cooperate with that plan. Oh sure, she burned easily enough, and her flesh was being scoured away, but by rights she should be nothing more than a tiny pile of ash. But she somehow was keeping her shape, and her flesh, scorched as it was, stayed on her bones.

Oh crap.

Finally Rumia moved, impossible as it appeared. She reached down with her flaming hands and seized the tip of Mokou's sword and gave it a hard shove. The force of it pushed the sword back out and sent Mokou stumbling.

Rumia turned to face her. Her face, which was now little more than a blackened skull covered by a thin layer of seared tissue and lit from within by Mokou's fire, still managed to convey her sheer frustration.

"W-w-words…c-cannot…c-convey," she rasped, "how…much…I…h-hate you."

"Feeling's mutual," Mokou hissed. She lunged forward, hacking at Rumia's front three times with the blazing sword in her hand. Which that failed to bring her down, she screamed and leapt up to slam her feet into Rumia's chest.

It didn't break her apart, but it did knock her down and send her tumbling down the hill. Mokou watched her go and shook her head. Good gods, what did it take to keep her down?

Then she glanced at where the other Mokou's body had disappeared. There wasn't anything left of it of course, for which she was thankful. That would just be too damned creepy.

"Well, good job," she muttered. "Be glad you don't have to deal with this shitstorm anymore."

With that, she leapt off the burned out remains of the orphanage's third story and went after Rumia.

Unfortunately, someone else had gotten there first.

…

Rumia lay on her back, arms and legs spread around her and eyeless sockets staring upward. Thanks to certain supernatural advantages, she could still see. She just didn't really feel like moving.

Everything had gone so completely wrong. She was supposed to have been through here and in Rin Satsuki's mind by now, rearranging memories and directing impulses to her liking. Instead, she was lying burned and broken at the bottom of a hill. Clearly not her finest hour.

Still, she could salvage this. The pain was great, yes, but it had been great after Rin Satsuki had poured all those emotions down her throat, and she had been able to suck it up and deal. She just needed to do it again, even if this pain exceeded that one by a significant magnitude.

Then she became aware of other presences, familiar ones. She glanced to the side and realized that she was now being surrounded by a great many ugly, snarling things. Oh wonderful. More Zerg. And these ones didn't look anywhere near as docile as the last lot.

"Hey," someone said. "Asshole. Look up here."

Rumia looked, and her roasted heart fell. The Zerg had brought friends. Specifically, no fewer than five velmicks reared up around her, their stony maws quivering with anticipation.

And sitting on the largest of them was none other than Kaguya Houraisan herself. And she looked pissed.

"This is for Body," she hissed. Rumia had no idea what she was talking about. What body? Or whose?

Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to puzzle it out before the Kaguya's pet monsters attacked.

…

"Wait!" Mokou cried as she charged down the hill, waving her arms. "Stop!"

She might as well have been screaming at a landslide. It was nothing short of a feeding frenzy. Slavering Zerg pushed each other aside and crawled over one another's carapaces in their need to feast. As they ripped and tore as what little flesh Rumia had left, one of the velmicks reared back, its sinuous body a gargantuan silhouette against the red sky. Then it plunged down to seize Rumia and all attached Zerg in its jaws.

"No!" Mokou screamed. "Not now, not when I'm so close!"

Too late. The velmick's mandibles worked its mouthful for a few moments before swallowing the whole mass.

Mokou stared at the grisly sight. Her body was still, save for a slight tremble around the fingers, shoulders, and her right eye. It had been working. Dark Rumia, whatever she was, had been wasting away. A few more minutes were all she had needed. But then Kaguya had to show up and ruin everything.

And speaking of which, Kaguya herself was marching up the charred hillside, looking every bit as furious as Mokou felt.

Mokou ran down to meet her. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "I had her! She was this close to-"

Kaguya struck Mokou across the face, much as Eirin had earlier. Again, it shut her up in mid-sentence.

"You…you stupid, arrogant, selfish bitch!" Kaguya cried as she struck Mokou again and again in rhythm with her adjectives. "Is this what you call following my lead?"

She swung her hand to slap Mokou again, but this time Mokou got her forearm in the way, blocking the blow. Then she twisted her arm around to seize Kaguya's wrist. "It was working, you idiot!" she shouted back. "I almost had-"

Kaguya wrenched her hand away. "You lied to me," she said. Her face was bright red and her eyes wet with angry tears. "You…you promised to do things my way. You promised."

Mokou opened her mouth to respond, but Kaguya didn't give her the chance. "Your plan got Body killed! And then you go and divide yourself? And you send your other self to try that failure plan again? Only this time it was a suicide mission? What the HELL is wrong with you?"

Mokou had to wince at that. "Well, uh, actually I didn't send her anywhere. Not technically."

"What?" Kaguya stared at her. "What are you talking about? She volunteered, is that what you're saying?"

"No, not really. More of she won the coin toss."

The look Kaguya gave her then was primarily disbelief mixed with disgust and just little bit of pity. "She…won the coin toss? You tossed a coin, and she won?" Kaguya closed her eyes and shook her head. "Oh gods. You are a real piece of work, Fujiwara no Mokou."

"Don't I know it," Mokou said wearily. "But look, I'm sorry I lied to you and made everything all…disturbing with the other me. But it worked! Or at least, it was working. Rumia was going down! A little more time was all I needed!"

Kaguya rolled her eyes. "I dunno, I think she's done enough as it is," she said, sticking her thumb over her shoulder.

"No! Fire is the only thing that really works! Trying to tear her apart is just going to piss her-"

A monstrous bellow of pain interrupted their conversation. The velmick that had swallowed Rumia had started to cough. Its body swayed back and forth as it wheezed out small puffs of black smoke.

Then a heavy shudder passed through it. The velmick reared back up and moaned.

"Oh," Kaguya said, her smug certainty leaving her. "Well. Déjà vu."

The velmick's head exploded. A torrent of smoke issued out from its stump, and in it Mokou could see Rumia's limp form being born up. She hung lifelessly, looking like a black skeleton being held up by the smoke itself. Maybe she was; she seemed incapable of moving under her own power.

"Shit, I take it back," Kaguya said. She nervously bit her lower lip. "Uh, Mokou? Change of plans, get back to the roasting."

But before Mokou could comply, Rumia's head lifted. Despite the incredibly amount of punishment she had taken, the two crimson lights of her eyes remained, burning with mindless hate. Her mouth opened and she let out a wailing shriek. The sound of it was inhuman. Even a youkai should not have been able to make that sound. It was the cry of the damned yet defiant. Mokou fell to her knees and clapped her hands over her ears. Even so, she could still feel it reverberating through her bones.

Rumia shrieked again, and multiple tendrils of darkness shot out of the pillar of smoke, each one of them spearing a Zerg or a velmick. In moments, she reduced Kaguya's army to another pile of corpses.

But that wasn't all. The tendrils seemed to be drawing some kind of energy from their victims. Mokou could clearly see silver flashes of energy traveling back up their lengths to be absorbed by Rumia. Given what they were, she doubted that it was actual life force being drained. More than likely she was taking in some kind of psychic energy.

And it was working. Her body was regenerating. Not fully, not even halfway. When she had taken in all she could find, she still looked like something that needed to be buried.

It was enough. Rumia's tattered wings spread, and she swooped down at Kaguya and Mokou, shrieking the whole way. The pillar came with her, trailing behind like comet's tail.

Mokou tried bring her fire to bear, but in time it took to make the decision and send the necessary mental instructions, Rumia had already shot out of the smoke to tackle both Mokou and Kaguya to the ground. As for the smoke itself, it shot back into the sky and expanded. Rumia's storm literally came alive above them. All light was blotted out, all fire snuffed, and her lethal cyclones slammed down all around them, sending the winds into a frenzy.

And Rumia? Well, she wasn't exactly sane anymore. "The perfect plan!" she screamed into their faces. "It was the perfect plan! Just a few lousy days, and I would have been gone! Done! I would have left you alone! But no, you had to go screw everything up!"

She brought her hands up and shoved a talon into each of their mouths. "I am officially done with this! I'll find some other source of true immortality! It's a big universe, there has to be one! But as for you two?" She hunched down and brought her voice to a growl. "You won't be around to see it."

With that, she sent the taint right down their throats.

…

It was a strange thing, dying. Mokou had done it countless times. Depending on the method, it could either be a slow fading away from consciousness or sudden oblivion, or any sort of variation in between. She considered her something of an expert in the field of dying, even moreso than the many youkai and fairies who did it on a daily basis. After all, she was the few who could experience the phenomenon from a Human's perspective.

One common element was the feeling of rapidly descending down a dark tunnel. A cliché perhaps, but that was just because it was true. Of course she never went the full length, but depending on the nature of her death the trip could last just a few seconds or much longer before she lost all consciousness. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to go the full length, to fully sink into darkness. It was never going to happen, but that didn't stop her from wondering.

There was one thing she was certain of though, and that was that when Rumia stole all life from her body, she was sent further down the tunnel than she had ever gone, and at a faster pace as well.

Well, she found herself thinking. Guess this is it. Funny, I never thought it would be so easy. She felt amused. Well, at least Kaguya's coming along to keep me company. It was fitting in a way.

If she had eyes she would have closed them. Instead, she just cast away all regret and surrendered herself to the darkness.

The darkness declined. Before Mokou reached bottom, her descent was brought to a halt.

Wait, Mokou thought. They're not going to-

Then she started to ascend. Horror struck her, and she tried to keep herself from going further. No! It was over! I was done! Don't send me back! Please, don't send me back!

Her pleas fell on deaf ears. And while the way back was much, much slower than her plummet had been, it continued at a steady pace. In time she started to regain contact with her reforming body.

Stop! she cried. I don't want to go back! I don't want to go-

She was back.

The storm was still raging overhead. Not too far off, the desiccated remains of Kaguya's army lay in a pile. Kaguya herself was lying right next to her, eyes staring blankly but otherwise seemingly no worse for the wear for their deep plunge into oblivion.

As for Rumia, she was crouching not far away, her back to the pair. Lying before her were two black humanoid forms, ones that bore a striking resemblance to the two Hourai Immortals.

With a flash, Mokou realized what had happened. Their bodies had become too corrupted to regenerate, so the power granted by the Hourai Elixir had simply created new ones.

Mokou felt like crying. She was truly trapped.

Rumia must have sensed them, because she whirled around on all fours. When she saw the two, her eyes went wide with shock.

"What?" she said. "But I…I killed…Oh, hell no!"

She pounced, and Mokou made no move to stop her. And in moments she was tumbling back into darkness.

…

Time passed. Mokou opened her eyes.

Rumia stared down at her. "Stay dead this time," she said. And down Mokou went.

…

Mokou didn't stay dead.

"Did you not hear me?" Rumia demanded. "Stay dead! Please!"

Sighing, Mokou said, "If saying 'please' was all it took, I would have been gone a long time ago."

"Yeah? Well, be gone now!"

…

This time, the trip to death and back was…unusual.

As was the case the previous three times, Mokou fell swiftly, only to have her passage stopped and reversed. However, before she had gone halfway, she was falling again, without having returned to life. Then she was sent back, only to be knocked back down the tunnel.

Huh, Mokou thought as she bounced up and down the tunnel to the other side. She could practically see the white light approaching and retreating over and over again. Well. This is new.

As she was incapable of doing anything about it, she was forced to wait until her soul stopped doing its slinky impression.

Finally the bouncing came to an end, and Mokou was allowed to return fully to consciousness.

She sat up and opened her eyes. She hadn't gone far. The hill was still there, as was Rumia and the associated bad weather. What was new was the increase in the number of shriveled corpses. Specifically, her own, and Kaguya's. Rumia must have repeatedly tried to abort their resurrection while it was still in process. Clearly it hadn't worked.

As for Rumia, she was crouching hunched over on her haunches with her head clasped in her talons and seemed to be preoccupied with a full mental breakdown.

"Should've worked," she was whispering as she rocked back and forth. "Should've worked, should've worked, should've worked. Can kill anything, mortal and immortal alike. Why didn't it work?"

Someone cleared their throat, and Mokou saw the Kaguya was still next to her. The Lunarian princess looked somewhat shaken by their ordeal, but was otherwise all right.

"Anything except Hourai Immortals," she told Rumia. "Don't you get it? We can't die. That's how the elixir works. No matter what, we always come back."

Rumia paused her rocking to glower at her. "Shouldn't matter," she snapped. "I'm the godsdamned Avatar of Death. It is literally my calling to kill everything."

"Everything except us, apparently" Kaguya said. She sounded as tired as Mokou felt.

"But I did! Those other yous died and didn't come back. Why did you?"

"Because…" Kaguya shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe they got absorbed back into us or something. Maybe it only makes sure that there's at least one of us still around." A small smile tugged at her lips. "Well, I hope so at least."

Mokou didn't. In fact, the very possibility made her feet a little sick. If so, her other self hadn't escaped after all.

Still, they had to deal with the situation before them. "I guess immovable object beats out irresistible force in the end," she said. She slowly stood up and offered Kaguya her hand. This got her an odd look, but Kaguya took it.

"You ready for this?" Mokou asked as she helped Kaguya up.

Kaguya shook her head. "No, not really."

Mokou frowned. "What?"

"I'm done," Kaguya said flatly. "And so are you. She wins."

Rumia's head jerked up. "What?"

Mokou agreed. "What?"

"Mokou, come on," Kaguya said. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "We threw everything we have at her, and she still beat us. And now she knows that going all out isn't going to end us. Even if she can't kill us, she can still ravage our minds. And I for one don't fancy being lobotomized."

"But…" Mokou was quite beside herself. "If she takes over…"

"We can't beat her," Kaguya said flatly. "We can hurt her, we can delay her, but it's only going to delay the inevitable. And in the meantime, she's going to tear our minds apart."

Rumia slowly rose to her feet. "That is quite true," she put in. "I will do exactly that."

"I'm sick of fighting, Mokou," Kaguya continued. "I'm sick of dying. And I'm sick of her. We're going back to Eirin's plan. She's Rin Satsuki's problem now. At least this way, we'll have a little breathing room to think of something else."

Mokou was aghast. This was not way she had seen this going. "But…w-what about Rumia? My Rumia? What about her, huh?"

"Gone," Rumia told her. "I told you already. Digging up some buried fragments isn't going to bring her back."

"I'm sorry Mokou, but I'm not going to sacrifice myself for a girl that's been dead for sixty years," Kaguya said. "It's over, okay? That was way too close." She shuddered. "I…I can't go that far into the dark again. So I'm throwing in the towel. Call me a coward if you want, but…I'm not doing that again."

"Ah, Kaguya, ever the voice of reason!" Rumia cheered. She now looked downright eager. "You know, I have a feeling that Mokou was the reason Kerrigan backed out. If she hadn't started spewing her bullshit, we could have been done with this a long time-"

"Go to Hell," Kaguya snapped.

"That's where I'm headed, Pumpkin. Just waiting for someone to show me the way."

"No!" Mokou seized Kaguya by the shoulders and spun her so that they were looking at each other in the eyes. "You can't do this! We can still win! All we have to do is…"

Her voice trailed off. Her mind raced furiously for some sort of workable stratagem, but she was coming up blank.

"Do what?" Kaguya said. She gently removed Mokou's hands from her shoulders. "Mokou, remember all that Phoenix Fire you pumped into her? She still got up again. She's stronger than us, and if we keep resisting her, it's just going to mean more pain for us."

"Who cares? Our lives are pain! A little more shouldn't matter!"

Rumia coughed loudly, drawing their attention. "If I may be permitted to make a few points in Kaguya's favor…"

"Shut up!" Mokou shouted.

"No. Now look, I've been holding back this whole trip. See, I figured if you took too much of the taint, you would be gone forever, and there goes my immortality. But seeing how we just proved that you'll still come back, well…" Rumia didn't possess much in the way of lips anymore, but she still managed a ghastly grin. "In five minutes, this storm is turning into a hurricane, and a lethal fog will cover everything. I will send it far and wide, until it occupies the whole of the dream. You will both die immediately of course, and will return as well. But then the storm will reach you, and you will die again. Wash, rinse, repeat, until there are no places left for you to resurrect. You will be trapped in limbo, unable to return to life, unable to sink into death. Then, if I have not found a way out, after five days I will let you two return long enough to ask if you're ready to cooperate. If you are not, then back you go." Her blistered tongue snaked out to lick her ravaged face. "Wash. Rinse. Repeat."

Kaguya made a small squeak. She whirled to face Mokou and seized her by the collar. "She goes. She goes now!"

Mokou wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to kill them both. She wanted to keep fighting, to match her inferno against Rumia's hurricane and make her pay for every meter she took.

But to what end? What good would it do? Rumia no longer had any reason to fear for their continued existence. If she truly did go all out, would Mokou be able to stand against her? Mokou didn't know, but she wanted very much to find out.

Except there was one very pressing problem with that course of action. And that Mokou did not fear death. In fact, she would welcome it. And life was at least an acceptable substitute. But to be trapped in between? She had no doubt that Rumia would carry out her threat and hold them captive between here and the hereafter. And that was a fate that Mokou did fear: a continued existence of nothingness, forever imprisoned in limbo.

Besides, refusing Rumia's demands might buy everyone on the outside some time, but in the end it would only delay the inevitable. Sooner or later she would break, and Rumia would have what she wanted anyway. And as she and Kaguya were the only ones who knew what Rumia was up to, playing the martyr was pointless. It wasn't like they would be able to get word out. And while she kept them trapped, Rumia would most likely find a way out without their help.

Mokou was no hero, and she was not an idiot either. This wasn't like her fights with Kaguya. Losing didn't mean some meaningless pain and lost time. Losing meant damnation of the worst kind, with nothing of value accomplished.

She hated it. It went against every instinct she possessed. But this was not a fight she could win. And the thought of losing terrified her. May the gods forgive her.

"Fine," she spat. "You win. I hope she roasts the flesh right off your bones."

"If she did I would have to deduct her points for a lack of originality." Rumia leapt over Mokou and Kaguya's heads and clapped a hand on each of their shoulders. Mokou winced at the touch. There was no taint involved, but that didn't mean the contact was any less repulsive.

"All right, ladies," Rumia said cheerfully. "Let's get moving!"

…

Reaching the center of their subconscious minds was almost disappointingly easy. All Kaguya and Mokou had to do was will a portal into existence and step through. Given how much trouble they had encountered while making the journey on foot, Mokou couldn't help but feel that the dream was once again screwing with them. When they had been determined to reach the center, all manner of obstacles had been thrown in their way. But when going there felt like marching down the green mile, the door just opened up for them.

"Well, okay then," Rumia observed. "Too bad you couldn't do that at the beginning, huh? Would have saved us a lot of trouble."

Mokou glanced at Kaguya, who was staring straight ahead and refusing to acknowledge either of them. Neither of them said anything.

"Oh, come on," Rumia said. She gave them a hard shove, making them walk again. "Personally, I think you're being too pessimistic about all this. I mean, look at all the neat stuff you can do now! After I'm gone, you'll have nothing but fun times! Chin up girls, at least you two will come out okay."

They passed through the portal and at last arrived at the center.

It wasn't Eientei, as Kaguya had predicted. Instead, it was a wild garden, filled with trees, grasses, and flowers growing wherever they pleased. Insects buzzed everywhere, and Mokou could hear a brook babbling nearby. However, the sky overhead was thick with grey clouds, like the mists the elevator had fallen through.

Despite the despair she was feeling, Mokou still found her interest piqued by their surroundings. And as she looked around, she saw that despite looking like it got along fine without being cared for by a gardener, the garden still had a strange order to it. Each plant occupied its plot without intruding its neighbors' territory. It was like the seeds had been carefully arranged, only to agree to respect each other's' borders even after being allowed to grow wild.

But that wasn't the only thing of interest. The garden did double-duty as a cemetery. Grave markers stuck up everywhere, without ordered rows. They were all old but intact, and on them the names of the deceased could still be seen. Mokou recognized far too many of the names she saw for her comfort.

"Huh. Death and life, existing together in harmony," Rumia said as she marched them forward. She shrugged. "Well, as far as metaphors go, it's a bit on the nose, but I've seen worse. Weird though, I expected something more self-destructive."

"Rumia," Kaguya said. "Stop talking."

Rumia smirked, but she acquiesced.

They kept moving until they reached the middle of the garden of graves. There, a crypt rose up above the gravestones. Over its sharply triangular roof rose up a statue of a Phoenix. Its wings curved around a stone Moon.

Kaguya scrunched up her nose when she saw it. "Figures," she muttered. "It doesn't matter how much I try to get away from it, I'm still associated with the freaking Moon."

"Old labels are hard to escape from," Rumia said sympathetically. "Still, it does help point the way." She roughly shoved them forward. "Now. Open the damned door."

Mokou shot her a dirty look. Then she straightened out her collar and walked over to the crypt. It was sealed by a stone double-door, a brass ring hanging on each side. "This is wrong," she told Kaguya as the Lunarian wrapped her fingers around one of the rings.

"I know," Kaguya said with a sigh. "But why start doing the right thing now?"

"Because if she succeeds, a lot of people are going to die." Kaguya had nothing to say to that.

"Hey!" Rumia snapped. "Less moralizing, more door opening. C'mon, we all want me gone." Then, after a short pause, she added, "And oh yeah, this goes without saying, but if this is another ill-advised trap, know that I can take whatever it is, and will then cut up-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kaguya growled. "We get it already."

With that, she pulled on the handle. Mokou sighed. If I wasn't damned already, she thought. Then she pulled on her side.

The door of their shared crypt creaked, and it started to open. Rumia leaned forward, a look of eager glee on her face.

"Yes," she said. "Yes! This is it. I can feel it. Rin's mind is right on the other side. I'm almost there."

Mokou kept pulling. Curiously, the more the door opened, the warmer it got. Even with her natural immunity to heat, she still noticed. Her skin prickled with sweat.

And then the light started to pour out to touch Rumia's arm.

She yanked it away with hiss. Her skin, already horribly burned, was now covered with white blisters. She stared down at the damage in horror.

"Wait," she said. "That's not right…"

Mokou exchanged a look with Kaguya. An understanding passed between them, and they pulled back with all their strength, yanking the door wide open.

Blazing scarlet light tinged with yellow issued forth, striking Rumia full on. She screamed in agony and retreated, her wings instinctively covering her front. "This again?" she cried. "I thought they all drained away! How much rage does this girl have stored up?"

Mokou had no idea what Rumia was talking about, she only knew that Rumia had a highly negative reaction to the light. That was reason enough to get her into it.

Mokou started running. She circled around to get behind Rumia. In doing so, she had to pass through the light.

The shock of it almost made her stumble. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before: a blazing intensity that seared anything that it came in contact with. It wasn't really heat, she realized. She wouldn't be bothered by it if it were. It was rage, pure and undulated, concentrated into a distilled form. Again, Mokou found herself thanking Kaguya for forcing her to build up such a superhuman tolerance for pain. She would have blinded by agony otherwise.

Instead, she was able to push on despite it, to get behind Rumia without attracting the monster's attention. Once there, she leapt up, flattened her body out so that Rumia was unintentionally shielding her from the light, and summoned up all the power she could.

But instead of releasing it, she let it build up, filling her body with energy. A pounding drumbeat resonated in her ears, and pressure built up behind her eyes. The air around her radiated with heat.

It didn't take long, a few seconds at most. But when she was done, her skin was trembling with the restrained power. She focused on spot between Mokou's shoulder blades, crossed her arms in front of her face, and gave the energy the release it craved.

She slammed into Rumia's back like a rocket. Caught off guard, the self-proclaimed Avatar of Death was driven forward toward the open door, the light scorching her from the front while Mokou burned her from behind. She tried to dig into the ground with her feet, but Mokou's momentum continued to propel her forward without slowing down.

Then, just before being swallowed by the crypt, Rumia's hands snapped out to seize the doorframe, bringing them both to a stop. She screamed as the light turned the front of her body to chalky powder, but she hung on. Mokou kept pushing with all her might.

Then a Kaguya came rocketing through the air to hit Rumia in the small of her back. This impact was enough to loosen her grip, allowing Mokou to flip around and drive both feet into the back of Rumia's head.

"No!" Rumia screamed as she fell into the yawning mouth of the crypt. The light now hit Mokou with full force, blinding her. She flailed around until her crumbling fingers grasped one of the doors.

Given how much of her body was wasted away, she should not have been able to move it. And yet it moved anyway. Which made sense in a way. After all, the dream had always wanted Rumia gone.

The light cut off, and Mokou collapsed into the grass and died.

…

No! It wasn't supposed to be like this!

Rumia fell through a world of agony. The pain was identical to when Rin had tricked her into cutting into her emotions. Except in this case the intensity was magnified beyond belief. The previous time had been like being burned by acid. This time she had been flung into the tank.

But she didn't die. Death was her element and her ally, and it wouldn't take her like this. As such, she was forced to endure the torture as she tumbled blindly through the whirlwind of fury that filled Rin's mind.

Suddenly her flailing arms smacked against something solid. Driven by desperation, she dug in with her talons, clinging to what felt like a rock wall. From there she dug in with wild abandon, disintegrating the stone as she tunneled deeper and deeper.

The pain lessened, though her body was still in horrible shape. Once she felt she had gone far enough, she used her remaining strength to carve out a little hollow and collapsed in a miserable heap.

…

Time passed, and Mokou opened her eyes.

She was still in the center of her and Kaguya's subconscious minds. Nearby, the crypt that acted as the doorway out stood closed and silent. Though it was unchanged from before, the Phoenix statue seemed almost smug as it crouched over the door. Mokou stared up into its stone eyes.

Then a ladybug started crawling over her nose. Mokou sniffed and gently brushed it off. Then she sat up.

Kaguya was nearby with her back against a grave marker. Upon seeing Mokou moving, she nodded and said, "Hey. You okay?"

Mokou considered the question. Physically, she had regenerated fully. Whatever power had emitted out from Rin Satsuki's mind was gone now, and it had been as incapable of destroying her as Rumia had. The only discomfort she felt was that annoying itch that came from lying in the grass too long.

But she was not okay. She was far from okay. She felt cold and empty inside. Rumia had achieved her goal of escape, and now both Mokou and Kaguya were left behind. She tried to find solace in the fact that Rumia's welcome had been much more than she had bargained for, but it was hard to find any sort of hope.

Sighing, she leaned back against the crypt. "As much as I'll ever be," she said, drawing her legs up and slumping over her knees.

"I hear you," Kaguya said softly. "That was…kind of rough."

Mokou gave her a look and rolled her eyes.

A small, sad smile touched Kaguya's mouth. "So. She's gone."

"Yeah."

"And we're here."

Mokou nodded.

"So we lost."

"Maybe," Mokou admitted. She stretched out her lets and tilted her head back to look up at the clear, blue sky. "Maybe in a way."

Kaguya sighed. "Well, at least we survived it. Sort of. And I think Rumia got a bit more than she was expecting. So, there's that." She tilted her head to one side. "I don't know, what do you think? You think she's gone for good?"

"No," Mokou said without hesitation. "Things like her don't die. They're too old and too mean to die."

"Yeah, I guess you would know something about that," Kaguya said with a snort. "Still. She didn't look like she was having fun when she went in. I guess Satsuki's mind likes trespassers even less than ours does."

"Guess so."

"Serves her right."

"Yup."

They sat in silence for a time, listening to the insects. Then Kaguya stood up and started walking away.

"Where you going?" Mokou asked.

Kaguya paused. "Away. Someplace to rest."

Mokou blinked. "Wait, you're not heading back to that city, are you?"

Kaguya actually let out a small laugh. "Nah, not in the mood. I was thinking a really nice hotel. But not something too modern. A lodge, maybe. Someplace where I can take a very long, very hot bath. And while that's going on, I'm going call up the city and have my top scientists research how to get some godsdamned sleep. I need a nap."

That actually made Mokou laugh. "You know, I'd argue with you and call you stupid, but you know what? A nap sounds fantastic."

"You got that right." Kaguya glanced at Mokou over her shoulder. "So, you wanna come?"

Mokou rolled her eyes. "Oh, hell. Why not?" She started to get up. "I could use a stupid fantasy right about-" Then she froze. "Wait. Hold on, d-did you just proposition me?"

"Proposition…Oh gods!" Kaguya slapped a hand across her face. "No, damn it! I meant come back to the hotel! I figured we'd get you your own room or something! I didn't mean for…" Then she stopped. A thoughtful look passed over her face. "Why, would you, uh, be interested?"

Once upon a time Mokou would have torn Kaguya limb from limb simply for making the suggestion. This time, she just gave her a steely look. "Kaguya, I am still getting used to not hating you. Don't press your luck."

"Ha. Fair enough."

The two walked down the path away from the crypt. Kaguya snapped her fingers, and a door opened up.

"You're really getting the hang of that," Mokou observed.

"Yeah. Nifty, huh?" Kaguya's face turned sour. "Hey, Mokou? About…about our, uh, other selves…"

Mokou looked away. "I don't know. Don't ask, because I don't know."

They passed through the portal in silence. Beyond, a three-story wooden building sat nestled in a pleasant looking forest. It was early evening, and all the lights were on, bathing the surrounding area in a cheery glow. Inside, the babble of voices could be heard.

Mokou told a long look at the lodge and her shoulders slumped. She felt like such a sellout. After ranting at Kaguya for using the dream to live out a fantasy, here she was about to do the same thing. But damn it, she was just so tired. Too much had happened in such a short time. She just didn't have the energy to care anymore.

They approached the building together. Out of the doors walked a young woman with long, black hair wearing shorts and a jacket. She almost walked right past the pair, but then did a double-take. She stopped, and her eyes widened.

"Oh my gods," she said breathlessly. "It's really…" Her face flushed pink, and she quickly scrambled through her purse.

The next thing Mokou knew, a pen and a small black book opened to a blank page, likely used for keeping track of transaction, was being thrust at her. "I'm sorry, but I love your music," the young woman said. "Uh, do you think I could get, uh, you know?"

Mokou arched an eyebrow. She tilted her head to cast a questioning look at Kaguya.

The Lunarian Princess sighed and put a hand to her face. "Gah, sorry about that. I completely forgot. Give me a minute, I'll fix it."

"Hold on," Mokou said, and she took the little book.

It was probably a pointless gesture. After all, there was no way she was going to let that whole 'idol singer' thing continue. In fact, she was going to have Kaguya get rid of it as soon before they entered the lodge.

But hell, imaginary or not, the girl just looked so excited. And if Mokou was going to start letting go of hate, she might as well be thorough.

Mokou silently signed From Mokou in the book.

…

Deep within shelter of the alcove she had carved out, Rumia lay in a quivering heap. She felt like a piece of charcoal, looked like something a dragon might have vomited up, and smelled like an atrocity. She was broken. She was burned. She was buried in a hole of dust, hiding from angry psychic energies.

But she wasn't beaten. Not yet.

In time, her spasms evened out, and her eyes cracked out. That just got her an eyeful of dust, and she quickly closed them again.

Then she took stock of herself. Okay, so she was having an incredibly shitty day, but she had made it. She was in Rin Satsuki's subconscious. And despite the horrible state she was in, she had a job to do.

Snuff out all that stand against you. Seek out those who flee from you. Tear them from their holes and-

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rumia extended one hand and touched it to the solid wall. From there, she started seeping dark energy into the stone.

Though moving her ravaged tissue just caused agony to flare up, Rumia still found herself smiling. Okay, finally some real progress. She would start with this…rock thing she was in, and work her way down. Before too long, Rin would feel her influence. The girl's impulses would be replaced with Rumia's, and she would have no idea why. Rumia was going to make her incapable of fighting back. Soon she would be as helpless of a puppet as Kaguya's skull had been.

Pull the flesh from their bones and squeeze out the marrow. Lacerate their skin with scorpions, and brand their genitals with-

Uh-huh, okay. And when the time was right, Rumia was going to oust Rin entirely. Then all of the stupid little Kirin's power would be hers. Nothing could hurt her then.

Heartened by the thought, Rumia pushed out with her other hand and increased the energy output. All the while, Azrael continued to drone on and on in her head.

Stab out their eyes with spikes, and yank out their fingernails. Fill their veins with poison and their stomachs with blood.

Fine, whatever. As soon as she could, she was going to get right on that.

You are Death given flesh, so go forth and fulfill your function. Take up my sword, and with it, you shall descend upon the living like a whirlwind.

Preaching to the choir, boss.

Though I am bound by chains and Holy will, through you my great work shall continue. And the sky will grow dark with ash, while the rivers will run red with-

-oh gods, please don't make me do these things anymore. Please let me go. I don't want to be a monster, please stop making her hurt people-

Rumia froze in place. Wait a minute, where in the hell had that come from? It wasn't Azrael's voice, it wasn't Rin's, it certainly wasn't hers…

…except it was. Not her, precisely. But it did sound an awful lot like the other Rumia, the one who had been running around in her skin for the last sixty years.

But how was that possible? She was here, and the other Rumia was far, far away. And she certainly wasn't making her do anything. So where had that voice-

Then a horrible, horrible possibility struck her, making Rumia choke. Oh no. No way. It couldn't be. It was impossible.

Please no. Anything but that.

…

And that my friends is game. Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire is now concluded. Granted, it's probably not an ending that came as a surprise to many, but there's plenty of space for curveballs in the future. As for the story itself, is this the end of Ex-Rumia? Obviously not. What about Kaguya and Mokou? Well, for now. They'll return eventually, but for now they're going to be taking a very long, much needed rest. But suffice to say, anything else relating to RoSD will take place in Imperfect Metamorphosis. Which, by the way, is soon to cross paths with RoSD, hence needing to wrap things up. Anyway, I'll be posting a full look-back on the story on tumblr fairly soon.

Though I should note the irony in that if it wasn't for First Time, RoSD would be the first chaptered fic of mine to actually have an ending. But it still gets credit for being the first major story to get a finale.

Thanks for reading, everyone!