towerofanimus | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Characters: Yuri Tsukikage & anyone who happens by.
Setting: Room 1-11, Dorm Halls, Floor Three/Library
Format: Prose, but can roll with anything in replies.
Summary: Yuri wakes up. Let's try and fight depression, shall we?
Warnings: None yet, besides Yuri probably being sort of emo at first, will add more if anything crops up.

*Room 1-11

Yuri knew what her friends would expect of her, and that they wouldn't want to see her shaken. They wouldn't want to see her cry.

Resisting all of that was pretty difficult as she sat on her bed, pouring over this letter again and again.

After everything they had done, after rescuing their world when it had been reduced to nothing more than a literal desert... To think that it all could have been for nothing, and everyone - her friends, her mother, and everyone they saved - could just be gone in a snap, just like Cologne and her father...

She folded the letter up, sliding it into her jacket pocket alongside the Heart Pot's lid.

She took several deep breaths, trying to compose herself. She recalled Tsubomi's words when they faced Dune. She tried to focus on that, and draw strength from it. If she was going to figure out what was going on here, she would have to keep control of herself and her emotions.

If she lost it, then she might as well have no hope, and then where would she be? She couldn't let herself become that person again.

She refused to.
-
*Dorm Hallways

Once she had a better hold of herself, Yuri left the room to explore. Not knowing what she might possibly be facing, she kept her transformation items within quick reach.

This could easily be a trick, or some type of trap. She wasn't naive enough to think Dune's defeat meant the responsibility of the Precure had also left. There could always be another enemy.

A situation like this certainly rewarded that paranoia.
-
*Library

Inevitably, after mild exploring and a trip through the cafeteria - where she consumed her oatmeal without complaint - Yuri instinctively gravitated towards the third floor Library.

It was a small comfort to find something like this, honestly. She quickly took to exploring its contents, more than anything looking for a means of distracting herself while she pieced her mind together.

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Yuri went positively still, and looked more than a little pale. Eyes wide as saucers, the book she was holding slipped from her fingers and flopped onto the floor.

That voice.

By all rights, she was pretty sure she just heard a ghost.

She stayed still, not yet dare approaching the voice, and listened. Her head was already spinning from arriving in place, and now it was going in a million different directions.

Seconds later, she came stomping out into view, an annoyed look on her face. "What is their game?!" she exclaimed to no one. "How can they not have any informa-"

She froze, having noticed something in the corner of her eye.

And she spun around to face it.

"Cure Moonlight," she hissed, looking directly at Yuri.

For many moments, she gazed at her opposite number like a deer caught in the headlights. Then slowly, she asserted her stance, and gave her a tense and wary look.

"Dark Precure," she said as evenly as she could.

She was alive.

How on Earth was she alive?

"So you were brought here as well," she said, summoning her Dark Tact. Better safe than sorry.

Hn. The hatred was boiling in her veins. She wanted to bring this... this imitation to her knees. Defeat her. Claim her rightful place.

But that Nanoha woman's words still rang true in her mind.

"... It appears we are in the same predicament."

Yuri did her best to maintain a steady gaze and not waver. Which was ... difficult, to say the least. In response to the Tact, she flipped her Precure Seed out between her fingers.

She did, at least, make a good point. Dark Precure had a collar just as she did. By all looks of things, they appeared to be in the same boat.

That wasn't enough to let her guard down, emotionally or physically yet, though.

Instead of saying something defiant, though, the next thing out of her mouth was anything but.

"You're alive..."

Edited 2012-08-12 02:17 (UTC)

"... Yes, I am," she said, crossing her arms but not putting her tact away.

"How that managed to occur, I have no idea. Are you truly that disappointed?"

Edited 2012-08-12 21:52 (UTC)

"Disappointed...?"

Yuri trailed off, her expression wavering. Her hand dropped, Seed still held between her fingers. She frowned at Dark Precure.

"No... I don't understand it, but I'm not-"

She clenched her eyes shut for a moment.

This place... What was this place? How on Earth could Dark Precure be alive?

"I don't understand it," she murmured, and opened her eyes back. "And you don't know what happened after you died, do you...?"

"My guess is that whatever force brought us here repaired the damage done to my body," she replied.

At this, she raised an eyebrow. "How can one know what occurred after their own passing?"

"Right," she breathed quietly. "Of course not..."

Her shoulders slumped, and she shivered. This was so surreal, and yet here she was. As if that last attack had never done its damage.

Yet she remembered dying...

"Dark Precure," she said, after a moment. "You are right that we're in the same predicament - there's no need for us to fight any longer, but there wouldn't have been any need for that even if we weren't here..."

Dark Precure's eyes widened.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?!" Yuri's opposite spat, the implications of such a thing obviously not being lost on her.

Yuri averted her gaze. She couldn't bare to look into Dark Precure's eyes as she spoke what she did next, having to force herself to get the words out.

"He killed him," she murmured, and wrapped an arm around herself. The memory was still vivid in her mind, and she shuddered. "Dune killed Father..."

Dark Precure's eyes widened even further, and her Dark Tact clattered to the floor. Her hands shook, and for a moment, a look of absolute despair appeared on her face.

"... why...?! All... all father ever did was serve him dutifully...! Why would he...?!"

Yuri clenched her eyes shut. She stood like that for several seconds, trying to calm herself.

"He was being controlled," she said, slowly, trying to keep her voice from cracking. "The whole time, by that mask. After you died, Dune arrived, and they fought..."

She opened her eyes, still attempting to keep her expression solid.

"Tsubomi and I, we tried to fight with him, but it wasn't enough..."

"... Controlled...?"

Her expression grew more confused. "The mask... then that means, when he created me..."

The implications of what Yuri was saying hit her hard. Her father... the being she was completely dedicated to... had his creating her, his love...

"... was it all a lie...?"

Yuri gazed at her. Even as shaken as she was, she could only imagine what Dark Precure must be feeling.

She swallowed hard, and in that moment it was like swallowing her own pride as she forced the next words out.

"He still... he held you when you died. He spoke of you as if you were a daughter... The same as me..."

"..."

That was right. He had... even though... even though he had only created her because of Dune... without the mask...

"... what... what was father doing when Dune killed him...?"

Yuri wanted to look away, but she forced herself not to.

She had a good idea of how Dark Precure might take what she had to say next, but she also knew she had no choice but to face it.

"He ... was protecting us. Tsubomi and I..."

Dark Precure's body went absolutely still. She stood that way, staring at Yuri, her eyes as wide as dinnerplates.

Then, slowly, her expression turned into a snarl.

"So this..." she said slowly, "... this... is all your fault...?"

To that, Yuri couldn't really defend herself. If just because it had fallen in line with her own thoughts in her darker moments these past few months.

She closed her eyes and bowed her head.

"You think I haven't thought the same, Dark Precure?"

"You've taken everything that should have been mine!" Dark Precure erupted, reaching down and picking up her Dark Tact. "And now you're responsible for our father's death?! Do you have any idea what it's like to have nothing?!"

Yuri didn't flinch as Dark Precure retrieved her weapon. If anything, her expression hardened. Everything from that battle to this day came crashing together in her head, and something seemed to momentarily snap.

"What do you think I have an idea of, Dark Precure?" she asked. "I spent years of my childhood with my father having just disappeared. Not knowing if he was alive, or dead, or if he had just abandoned my mother and me. Spending all of that time watching my mother quietly suffer, unable to even tell her what I was doing or the danger her only family was being put through every day. I finally then found my father, only for him to be murdered before my very eyes minutes later by a monster!"

Her hands gripped into fists, and she started walking towards her opposite. Tears stung her eyes, but she kept her expression hard.

"I can't even tell her. Mother can't even know what happened to Father. I have to bury that down every time I see her. You, who were at his side all that time, then ask me if I know what it's like?"

She paused for just a second.

"And then I come here, where I'm told everyone - from the other Precure to Mother - are gone... Tell me, Dark Precure. Do you really think I don't know what that feeling is like?"

Dark Precure just stood there, shaking with anger. Each thing Yuri said hit her like needles, and once the other girl finished talking, she exploded herself.

"You... you... I NEVER HAD A LIFE OF MY OWN! I SERVED FATHER - I SERVED DUNE, AND NOW YOU TELL ME HE'S THE ONE WHO TOOK THE ONE THING I HAD IN THE WORLD... EVERYTHING... EVERY BATTLE...! IT WAS WASTED!"

The dark-haired magical shrieked, and gripped the sides of her head.

"WHAT DO I DO NOW, YURI TSUKIKAGE?! TELL ME THAT! WHAT THE HELL DO I NOW?!"

Yuri flinched, but only a little. She stopped short of Dark Precure, and held her stance.

"Then you must ask yourself, Dark Precure... Do you want to continue on and find something worth living for, or do you want to sit here and wallow in your own self-pity, and destroy your self in the process?"

Dark Precure snarled again, looking up at Yuri with hate and anger in her eyes.

"Something to live for?! What do you live for then?!"

"My mother and my friends," she said, surprising even herself that she didn't skip a beat. "The responsibility I have to protect and safeguard everyone's hearts. And now ... to hold onto some level of hope that all of that isn't gone. Many of those things weren't given to me. I had to learn to be friends. I had to re-earn my right to be a Precure. But everyone must have something, and for everyone there's something out there worth fighting for."