towerofanimus | (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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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."

"..."

She clutched the breast of her dress, and stared at the ground, shaking.

"I have no idea... no idea what to even look for... everything I ever believed... everything I ever had... is either gone, or nothing but a lie..."

She looked up at Yuri, simply crying now. Her hatred hadn't disappeared, but she was tired. So very tired - and it showed in her expression. Her eyes. Everything.

"You tell me I have a choice, but... what do I have to choose between?! Especially... especially here...!"

Yuri gave a breath and knelt down in front of her.

"I never claimed it was easy, but you must find... something. It's not for me to decide what that is."

She paused and swallowed a bit.

"And here, with everything that's happened, there's no need for our past conflict. I'm willing to help you find whatever that may be, Dark Precure."

Dark Precure looked up, actually trembling.

"You'd do that...? After everything I've done...? After how much... after how much I still hate you...?"

She drew away, like a frightened animal.

"Why?!"