Ga Rei: Exodus Nine (IC)

[Airen]

Suzume Oshino
Original Aoyama ~ Liane's Residence
Sunrise

"...Towards the future, huh?"

After all of that, it seemed that these words were the ones that she had latched onto the most. Perhaps it was due to the scenario, of the revelation the previous night that time was something that could in fact be rewound, that had given those words greater significance than even you had thought about...

But going towards the future...

That was right.

It had to be right.

Constantly yearning for the past, trying to make things better, getting lost in could have beens and what ifs...

If you lived life like that, then you weren't truly living at all; nothing would change from lusting after the past, you can't protect the future if you're constantly looking behind you...

That's how you fall into holes in the road.

It sounds right, and it must be right, but...

"That's right... I can't change the past, but there are things I can do for her now."

She had already known this, thought she had learned it ages ago but...

Sometimes you forget.

Sometimes someone else just has to say it out loud...

Sometimes you have to hear it, so you can remember why you're here...

It might not make the guilt go away, but-!

"Geez, we're getting too sappy too early in the morning..."

Rubbing her eyes with one hand, that woman that was clearly doing her best not to tear up...

"Get your shoes and stuff on... We've got a bit of special training to do."

Seems to have had...

A sudden fire light up inside of herself...

[I3uster]

Suzume Oshino
Original Aoyama ~ Liane's Residence
Sunrise

It feeels a bit like a burden has been lifted from me. I don't think it's the time to say my "thank you" right now...sometimes it's better to just stay quiet. She's right, there's no reason to make it more sappy than it already was.

So all she gets from me for now is a smile, a nod and another knuckle cracking.

If she can face her future after having experienced far more harrowing things than I did, doing so myself should be a cakewalk.

[Airen]

Suzume Oshino
Original Aoyama ~ Fields
Noon

The more you stayed within the confines of this so-called ghost city, the more you started to think that you might have actually died and wandered into the afterlife by accident. With the perfectly replicated Aoyama from eight years ago being exactly as it had been then, right down to it's ghostly residents being most of those who had died in that place on that day, it was a place that certainly felt almost exactly like a purgatory.

Even so, you knew it was not.

Despite that, the sheer beauty and peace of the fields that lay outside of it gave off the feeling of a sort of 'other-world,' a place that was just a bit too untouched by humanity to truly be a real place.

Nevertheless, here you were, sitting in your most casual clothes alongside a Liane sporting only jeans and a white t-shirt.

A part of you thought that you had been dragged here for physical training, after all, she had been joking about it with her sister only a few hours before, and yet so far the only thing you've really done is sit across from each other amidst the grass.

"This isn't the sort of thing I'd normally do early... But well, I guess we could give it a shot early. It's the best shortcut to power I know."

Finally speaking up, and raising a single finger as she does so, the woman keeps a single eye closed as she regards you with a smile.

"First off... Eight years ago you got hit by a crimson spear-like object right? Where did it hit you?"

...Somehow this felt ominous.

[I3uster]

Suzume Oshino
Original Aoyama ~ Fields
Noon

Shortcut to power certainly sounded attractive to a slacker like me, but generally a shortcut tend to be a steeper climb. The ominous atmosphere of the place does nothing to ease my nerves either...

This place brimmed with spiritual energy, as residual as it is. Not "living", but not "dead" either. It feels weird to on one hand feel the pressure of their presence and on the other to receive emotions that are clearly not those of human beings.

I can't say I feel too comfortable in the moment as I point to my intact eye.

"It hurt a lot. I remember it taking out my sight entirely for a minute or two, must have overloaded the senses..."

After all, when it struck me it added an entirely new one.

"So...you're not going to poke me with a needle or something there, right? I can take injections and all but not in the eye...." I squirm just a little at the thought.

[Airen]

Suzume Oshino
Original Aoyama ~ Fields
Noon

"Oh I'm sure it hurt, it was a Bane Stone shard."

Having conveniently chosen to ignore your rather apt question about the possibility of a needle going into your eye, the woman that has moved a bit closer to you now, leans forward a bit, as if to peer into the eye in question, saying something rather alarming with a voice that doesn't rise above her 'normal' in either volume or tone of voice...

"But right in the eye? That's an unlucky shot... Mine went right through my heart."

So saying, she raises her hand slightly in front of your face; not close enough to touch you, but enough that you couldn't quite see anything other than the palm of her hand.

"But regardless... That's where our powers come from, the shard serves as a sort of repository for spirits I suppose, a link to a certain part of the Soul Sea; to put it another way, we have powers because we're all technically possessed by spirits already."

That disarming tone of voice nevertheless continues to say these sorts of things without faltering.

"Of course it's a rather complicated relationship, not quite like normal possession; but suffice to say that there are certainly other people in that body with you right now. But they're inactive, it's not exactly sleep, but I guess you could call it dreaming..."

Her hand glows ever so slightly.

"The shortcut I'm talking about involves waking them up and getting to know them. For most people it's not so easy; they normally 'wake up' if the host is going through a real life or death situation, but with the way your powers are, well..."

Her voice lightens.

"You might just be able to do it on your own after a little push."

[I3uster]

Suzume Oshino
Original Aoyama ~ Fields
Noon

"I can feel the signals of other spirits like that Wendigo but in this case it kind of feels like...nothing actually is there..." Even as I strain myself, trying recall the sensation from when it happened I don't really feel a signal. As expected it isn't that easy. Much like eyesight, my emotional sense is more sensitive to changes rather than constant emissions. Background noise is filtered out as to not tax me too much. But it is still perceivable...there is nothing I can feel in this case though.

"There's gotta be some trick to this, right?" I demonstratively rub my eye as if to coax the spirits out of it.

[Airen]

Suzume Oshino
Original Aoyama ~ Fields
Noon

"There are tricks to everything; in this case, they normally respond pretty well to trauma, physical or otherwise."

While she says that, it also seems like she doesn't have any real intention of causing you that sort of trauma, at least...

Not yet...

"Sensing them would be rather complicated, as right now they are the same thing as you, they just go along with whatever you decide is best. It's a passive synchronization that they've had a few years to get right... Really, it'd be like trying to sense specific parts of your own spirit."

So saying, the glow of her hand gets brighter.

"So I'll give it a bit of a push. If I target the stone directly we should get a response out of it but..."

She pauses.

"It might hurt a bit, and they might get a tad upset."

Or in other words...

There was an element of danger to this.

[I3uster]

Suzume Oshino
Original Aoyama ~ Fields
Noon

I feel my stomach turn just a bit. I still remember the pain I had to endure just recently, and I can't say I have gotten used to it yet. I'm no hardened veteran, and even if this body of mine comes with a significantly higher threshold, I doubt it is relevant in this case.

"Exactly how painful is this..."

And then I stopped myself.

I'm looking for an easy way to do things again. What am I going to say if she tells me how awful this is going to be. No? Am I just going to let what future-me showed me happen? Just like that? Because I can't take a bit of needling?

I exhaled.

"Okay. Let's do this."

My hands were shaking ever so slightly, but as I tightened my fingers into a fist even that subsided.

[Airen]

Suzume Oshino
Original Aoyama ~ Fields
Noon

*Bang*

It was perhaps, a bit of a mercy that she hadn't warned you about when she was going to 'give you a push.'

Fingers forming out a gun the moment you give your consent, the woman had bit back on her distaste for this particular method of awakening, and fired something straight into the one eye you had that continued to function as an eye.

The result had been a blinding flash of pain, a white-light that had swallowed up everything within your world, only to then be consumed by a shower of scarlet lightning. It's a fight to maintain your consciousness; aware that it was pointless if you passed out before you 'sensed' whatever it was you needed to sense, you cling to the visage of that crimson storm even as something inside of you flares to life at the pain.

It was only noticeable because you were looking for it.

It's a small pulse, a subtle helping hand; like a fan activating whenever a system was about to overheat, the feeling of your body automatically trying to repair the damage done to it is kick-started by the 'something' that flares up within your eye. It's certainly there; while a part of you had had it's doubts, there can be no doubts about the foreign 'voices' that reverberate from that place as dull emotions.

You prod it.

Because there is little else you can do with it, you prod it with your power, as if meaning to get it's attention, and in that moment...

The image before your eyes changes.

No longer within the confines of a grassy field, the place in which you now stand is atop the surface of a clear blue lake. Aogami is here, sleeping contentedly atop the surface nearby as if this is where it went when it wasn't being summoned, and down below, separated from you as if by a pane of glass...

You can see the dull shapes of people.

Like Liane had said, they seemed to be 'sleeping;' however...

There is a general feeling of 'unrest' here.

While their forms are transparent, their features are so dull as to render them nonspecific and they do not appear to be moving; they do seem to be aware of your existence, however...

While they are looking at you, it's not with a real acknowledgement of what they're seeing no...

Staring as if drunk on sleep, they look at you without looking at you; hints of confusion lying alongside their general melancholy.

[I3uster]

Suzume Oshino
Original Aoyama ~ Fields
Noon

Not only my surroundings seem to have changed. I can't quite describe it, but its as if don't really "exist" here. As if a part of me has split off.

It feels a bit like a dream...but that's not quite it. All my senses seem to have dulled, my sense of touch feels like my fingers are wrapped in cotton and the very few sounds I hear are muffled, as if my ears are plugged. Slowly however, I sseem to acclimatize to these new circumstances.

Still, it never starts feeling real truly real.
I can't tell if it's an aftereffect of the painful impulse or part of this whole ordeal. Nevertheless, I guess I have to...wait, what do I have to do anyway?

For now I just moved over to Aogami and ran my hand through its fur. But he is not the reason I have come here.

What I want are those below.

I crouch, and try to push my hand through the surface that separates us.

[Airen]

Suzume Oshino
???
Noon

The feeling is similar to that of breaking the calm surface of a lake with your hands.

Having been vaguely instructed to awaken those who are sleeping, it is only natural for you to attempt to reach down to shake them awake in the most literal sense. While Aogami had awakened at your touch, the cat was being a cat -lazy but watchful-, and it does nothing to stop you from experimenting as you will with your surroundings. While things are certainly strange this whole area also feels eerily familiar; the best way to describe it is simply that it feels like you, like you had wandered off into an old room of yours that you had simply forgotten about at some point.

The surface lets you breach it because this lake belongs to you, or rather, you are a part of the lake.

Your life force and spirit power are not just your own, but also that of this collective.

Your strength? Not just your own, but also that of this collective.

Of course, it also doesn't seem like simply waving your arms around will be enough to awaken the dreamers. While some of them drift by close enough for you to touch them with your hands, they don't seem to regard it as a 'contact' at all, slipping past your fingers as if they were nonexistent. They were aware but also unaware, while they could see you, to them, watching what you do is the same thing as seeing a dream; something they continually observe without realizing that they also hold the potential to interfere with it.

To them, physical contact is meaningless in this state, if you want to awaken them, you'd have to 'jar' them awake in a different way.

Lightly pondering the answer to this light conundrum, the feeling of something grabbing at your submerged arm is one that brings you back to 'reality.'

Down below, there is someone who has a face even amongst the faceless.

It's the weather reporter you always saw on the television, smiling at you from down below.

While the other figures seem 'familiar' the feeling you get from her is that of an 'intruder.'

If the others belong in this lake because they've lived directly here with you ever since the incident eight years ago, she is someone that somehow managed to 'sneak inside' of you.

Even so...

"Hello there, Oshino-san. Can I come up?"

Talking to you from the other side of the pane, her voice is both friendly and familiar in a way that implies she knows you, but...

The moment it sees her, Aogami makes a noise reminiscent of a hiss.

[Airen]

Jonathan R. Black
???

"To put it simply, the Creator is my enemy, one who demands absolute obedience and perfection, and punishes those who fail to manifest it. A tyrant that fancies itself as benevolent, it is an enemy of freedom and almost all of it's avatars are unflinching in it's beliefs."

Expressions failing to betray whether or not this question was one that would lead you to the proper path, the crimson-haired woman also shows no signs of fear at making such absurd statements about one who had likely created it as well, to the point of chuckling a bit at her own words.

"Free will certainly causes evil, nevertheless, everything is meaningless if you are not allowed to make your own choices and mistakes. However, it would certainly save you if you bowed to it and stayed down on your knees... Although one of it's avatars is being uncharacteristically helpful to your kind and mine in this space; another thing that can be chalked up to the rarity of this world I suppose."

Eyes close, then:

"As for humanity? They are interesting but foolish; the weakest of all the Creations, but bearing the potential to be the strongest of them all as well; strong enough to even overthrow the divine order one day... They are interesting, no more, no less... Even when they single-minded drive themselves towards their own doom. At the very least, they are worth observing simply to see what they do when faced with eternal conflict."

Quick, blunt answers.

Tilting her head slightly at you, she waits for more inquires to appear without a change in expression.

[Snax]

Jonathan R. Black
???

"So, the Creator is your enemy. Then, enlighten me - what is your ultimate goal? It's just that I'm interested in what you want to do, aside from helping me stop the Time Witch. What's in it for you, aside from promoting free will and allowing humans to continue being themselves?"

Jonathan was interested in her motives, after all - even if she looked as if uninterested in most of what was going on, perhaps she still had a spark of passion somewhere.

[Airen]

Jonathan R. Black
???

"What's in it for me? Isn't is obvious?"

This question is answered with a laugh, as if amused by the very fact that you had to ask.

"This world has the potential to overthrow the Divine Order. The number of human souls that immigrated here from other realities is immense; it's the last bastion of humanity left in the Sea of Amala, and also the one with the most experiences and connections to demon-kind... If the Great Devourer is going to be stopped, then it is going to be stopped here; if humanity falls here, then so too do the Angels, Demons, and the Divine."

Resting her head on one hand, the woman smiles to herself amidst the firelight.

"But even beyond simple survival for myself, I suppose you could say it's a test? I want to see if Humanity can challenge and defeat an opponent as strong as that 'God.' If they manage to do so, then this world becomes..."

A thoughtful pause.

"Useful to me. Regardless of how it develops itself."

[Snax]

Jonathan R. Black
???

"Overthrowing God."

Jonathan mumbles to himself.

"Overthrowing Divine Order, enemy of the Creator, an advocate of free will. I see."

Jonathan flicks his fingers.

"My guess then. You are Lucifer, the Morning Star. Enemy of God, associated with Satan by some, called Satan by many - the Tempter and the Serpent that brought the Fruit to Eve."

Jonathan had no qualms in dealing with the Devil itself. If it would help him bring what he wanted to the world...all was fair game.

"Now then, was I correct?"

[Airen]

Hitoshira Nagi
Inside of Ananta (?)

The removal of the barrier had led to an absurd release of spiritual power.

Heavy.

So heavy that it becomes a tangible weight on the shoulders of everyone, human or demon alike within the confines of Ananta, it is a spiritual power so vast that it can no longer be sensed beyond the scope of infinity.

It's a familiar power.

The Kyuubi's power, flowing out from the darkness that lay ahead; while the weight is similar to that of the world being placed upon one's shoulders, those that had chosen to go further into the darkness to face it do not relent from it's presence.

The further along you walk, the thicker all of it gets. The source is obvious, because Yagami bears the same curse as you do, or rather, because he had been bearing it for far longer than you, it is easy to come to the assumption that he must be responsible for the sudden flow of crimson spiritual force. Unlike the Yagami from before, the flow is erratic and uncontrolled, as if the metaphorical sink had been smashed open rather than simply turned on, and stepping out into a crimson light, stepping out into the room that your opponent certainly must exist within...

"..."

The impaled form of Nakamura Auron is thrown against the far wall; a massive hole torn open in his chest from the fist of the deranged ESPer that has seemingly, finally, lost to the power that he had been branded with eight years ago. Facing the entryway with one bloodied arm outstretched into a fist, the man that stands before a pulsing crystal of fire, Ananta's heart, is almost certainly Yagami; however, crimson marks running up and down the left side of his body, the manifest curse no longer seems able to be kept in check by his willpower.

Wounds open alongside the marks, crimson lightning erupting from them only to close them again, and the sheer agony of being constantly broken down and repaired must certainly be doing a number on the young man's mind; indeed, looking at the unconscious body of the friend he had just impaled himself, the young man shakes for a moment, but...

Looking up at your group as you emerge, eyes drawn first to Mary...

"Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh...?"

The sanity in his tone is questionable at best, and it's with a paranoid energy that the eyes flick from her to Lilith-

"...The Mother..."

-And then-

"...You."

Finally, it lands on you and stays on you...

Even as Mary, looking at him with saddened eyes, turns to ignore the upcoming fight completely and move to Auron's side instead; the snowman and fairy remaining at your side.

[I3uster]

Suzume Oshino
???
Noon

It feels...it's not quite pain. Discomfort would be more like it. Like knowing you have eaten something you shouldn't have. There's something that has intruded somewhere very private.

The dreamlike state I am in seems to almost snap back to reality. The meditative calmness of this place, as if united with something within me that's not quite in tune with me, but still part, is ruined upon her appearance.

I probe her as best as I can with my powers. Maybe it is this place that short-circuits my inhibition, maybe this whole situation just made me impatient. Why I give her such an unfiltered response I can't tell. I guess it's just fairness since soon enough I'll know as much as I can about her, with no respect for her privacy.

"You shouldn't be here."

[Airen]

Suzume Oshino
???
Noon

"Yes."

Agreeing with you, the woman nevertheless climbs out of the 'water' of her own accord; the movement is purposefully slow and careful, done in a way so as not to alarm anyone, and even though she is aware of your attempts to probe her, she just accepts it with a calm that borders on the unnatural, failing to instinctively flinch away as others were prone to do...

She was calm.

So calm it was almost completely and totally apathetic, stopped from being robotic only be the smallest twinge of eagerness that runs through her as she eyes you. It is almost creepy; while her smile and eyes seem warm and friendly enough, the lack of genuine emotion behind them is disconcerting...

At the same time... That apathy...

Seems to extend more from fatigue than anything else, a sort of sense that this person has seen and done so much that little of it actually matters to her anymore...

"But we often wind up in places we don't belong, no?"

She laughs.

Aogami keeps hissing, tail shooting up, but at the same time...

It doesn't approach; it's instincts declare...

That such a thing is the worst possible idea when dealing with this person.

"Besides, aren't you being a bit too cold to me? I did as you wanted me to do," leaning forward, the smile deepens, "I brought all of those 'memories' back with me, just like you wanted me too... Is it not working out?"

Admitting to something that implicates her quite a bit, her head tilts slightly to the side.

"Did you realize you and your little friends can't save the world? Ready to give up and come work for me? World peace and all that?"

[Airen]

Makoto Fujioka
Nakamura Residence
Night

"W-What-?!"

The commencement of battle had led to the immediate sabotage of Kyoko.

Having been in the midst of figuring out who was messing with her feet early on, the realization that it was you that was doing it, had caused the girl to let down her guard for one second too long, and the others had mercilessly cast her down for it the moment the battle entered it's opening stages.

Or rather, the moment she showed weakness, one of her chair legs had mysteriously been swept right out from underneath her. She was the obvious target; bearing a super-speed ESP, and thus the most unfair of advantages when it came to assaulting a buffet table, it was obvious that she was going to be the first one to be targeted by the others.

It almost seemed like Sensei had done it, a certain steely glint in her eye for a moment as she reaches forward to grab at the closest bit of ham, but...

Surely a teacher would never trip a student-

"Never let your guard down-!"

Never mind then...

While a part of you certainly pities her, the more pragmatic part understands that a stun for her was a 0.5 second gap at best, and thus your hand automatically snakes out for the chicken, sensing it to be the least guarded of the main meals when:

"So how was your day, Fujioka? See anything interesting?"

Sensei, strangely enough, offers to strike up a conversation with you even as she duels a now guarded Kyoko with a single hand and a plastic fork.

[I3uster]

Suzume Oshino
???
Noon

Whoever she is...she's clearly not alright.

Is this even a human being? I mean I clearly kind of am some soul container so who am I to judge preferred forms of whatever unholy demon this might possibly be? After all I just had my "myths are real and we're all going to die" speech given to me so why not? She might just be some trickster god trying to take my face.

The other alternative is even less pleasant I'd say. Because it means there's some merit to what she is saying.

No matter what, I'll trust Blues for now. God, demon, human, whatever she might be, there will be no fighting inside my...head?

"Did you realize you and your little friends can't save the world? Ready to give up and come work for me? World peace and all that?"

"It seems there's some part...or version of me that disagrees on that."

I refocus from her on myself. I try to become aware of my own emotions, and try to induce an artificial state of calm. Like taking a deep breath and visualizing every step of that simple action, I am becoming aware of my own emotional ebb and flow.

There's only one thing I could rely on in here and it is my mind.