/jp/ - Otaku Culture

No, it was her objectivity, again. She could view the memories differently because they hadn't settled into her brain yet. Those last moments...Sekai. Hata no Sekai. She had...Hugged her. And Patchouli Knowledge had accepted it. Physical contact. Ah, of course. Spectral bodies...It did make sense. She'd taken an interest in the child of the HSE. Always a dangerous road to travel down.

The rest of the memories could wait. They could filter in over time. What was important was Sekai, and the promise that her spectral self had made. Over the years, Patchouli had heard many requests. Requests from would-be tyrants for power. Requests from poor villagers for aid. Requests from those deemed heretics for safety from the Church. Most recently, she'd heard Marisa Kirisame's request for absolution. She'd agreed and disagreed to a varying number of those requests.

A request from herself? Well, she couldn't let her down.

Patchouli Knowledge's eyes shot open. She was still in the mansion, in one of the guest rooms furthest from the library. And she wasn't alone. Hong Meiling lay in a separate bed next to her, and she was not in a good shape. Unlike Patchouli, she didn't have the carefully tuned neural pathways to keep her mind safe. She didn't have the same control. She had her ki, but from the blood dripping from her mouth - A bitten tongue, no doubt - and the way her face was contorted in pain, she was close to death. That was the worst thing that could possibly happen at this particular moment. She needed Meiling. She needed her alive and kicking, because they had to save the child of the HSE, and they had to do it together.

"You're awake." Patchouli heard the voice, though it was so faint and barely above a whisper that she nearly missed it. She turned her head to the side. Remilia Scarlet's battered form sat there, in the chair next to the bed. Her head was wrapped in bandages that crisscrossed over each other and left little visible. Her mouth, one of her eyes, some bits of hair sticking out through the bandages...That was all that Patchouli could see. Her arms were unbandaged, and Patchouli would have wondered why if it wasn't immediately obvious. There were no arms. Only bones. Remi's skin had burnt away and left nothing but the skeletal remains of her arms in their place. And yet, they moved. As a youkai, it was no surprise. She held an apple in the bones of her right hand, and deftly carved away the skin with a knife gripped in her left. "We weren't sure if you would wake up again, Patchy."

There was no doubt in Patchouli's mind that the rest of Remi's body was similarly damaged. Her clothes seemed to be held together by prayer alone, if their charred state was any indication. The tattered ribbons of flesh that remained of her arms stopped somewhere around her elbows, and even there, it was blackened and charred. "The library is safe and undamaged, for the most part. I've just about contained the blast, though that room may need a remodel. Perhaps we'll have to call the tsuchigumo in. I hear that the Kurodani family are very good at construction. They could probably have the place back to normal in a single day." Remi raised the skinned apple, holding it delicately between the distal phalanx of her thumb and forefinger. Patchouli would have liked to reply and understand further, but her head was starting to pound already. And if her head was bad, then Meiling...

She didn't bother with a reply. She spun and threw herself out of the bed, collapsing to the floor as her body dimly tried to inform her of all the physical damage she'd inherited from her spectral self. Unfortunately, her body had never been able to compete with her mind, so she told her body to be silent until such a time where she could give it any attention. Forcing her screaming muscles to obey her, she dragged herself up to Meiling's bed and atop it. She straddled the unconscious gatekeeper's form, rolling her from her side to her back. When she pressed her palm against Meiling's forehead, it was burning hot. She had seconds. "Patchy, what-" Remi tried to ask her a question. There was no time for that.

"Shut up, Remi. I don't have time. Do not, under any circumstances, pull us apart." Each word made the pain in her head worsen, but it didn't matter. The damned sentimentality from her spectral self told her that saving the gatekeeper was important enough to bare the pain. "Do you understand?" Remi was silent for a moment, so Patchouli shouted as much as she could. "Do you understand, Remi!?"

"Understood." Remilia Scarlet replied. Her oldest friend. Of course she'd understand. "Good luck."

Patchouli took a deep breath, then rubbed her palms together. This was a dangerous technique at the best of times. This was not the best of times. "Share the burden, Meiling." She murmured, lifting her palms to either side of Meiling's head. "Share the pain with me."

>>44751075
This is an interesting backstory.

I like this. More of this