Today's crossover takes us to an anime no one's heard of! To set up a peaceful atmosphere, play "The Night Goes On" from Kuro no Kiseki.
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Kids Next Door mission…
Operation:
S.U.N.D.A.Y.
Sheltered
Ulla
Never
Departs
All
Year
Loading transmission…
The great walled structure cast a cold shadow against the twilit horizon. Sector IC feared bringing their ship close, instead choosing to carefully approach the wall on foot. The wall was dense with brick and had several towers connecting around it. A great building with rounded layers loomed within the wall's center, its top chunk broken. "Wow! What is that place?" Juki asked in awe. The sector's icebender had messy black hair with bits of frost. Her eyes were a frosty white-blue on her pale face. She wore a black open jacket over a light-blue shirt with white tie, a vanilla skirt, and her boney legs were bare.
"Whatever it is, it's not listed on the map." Ruford Stork answered. "And all roads leading here are forbidden." The sector leader had brown and violet eyes. He wore a light-blue T-shirt with his initials in thin dark-blue letters, short enough to show his belly, and dark-blue shorts that matched his short cape. His sneakers were blue with white soles and laces.
"It gives me a bad feeling…" Hiyuki King said. She had white skin with sunset eyes, no pupils. The bangs of her smooth brown hair covered her forehead. She wore a soft purple sweater with black jeans and shoes and a clock necklace, but was more defined by her scythe with a clock and orange ribbon on the blade's base. "I feel… death."
"Pretty sure that's how you always feel." Loki shrugged. The tan-skinned boy had icy-blue eyes and silver hair in corn rows. He wore a yellow sleeveless hoodie with baggy orange pants and teal shoes with laces. He had a gold necklace of a pyramid.
"Maybe, but it does give me the creeps." Lucina Stork said. She had sandy-brown hair, dark-blue eyes, and had defining bat wings against her midnight-blue shirt. She wore a webbed black skirt, indigo stockings, and black ballet flats.
The only distinct feature outside the wall was an ordinary, pale blue truck. A man with wavy black hair, a blue fur coat, and scarred face sat in the trunk, wearing a passive smile as he smoked a cigar. "Are you the one who sent the mission request?" Ruford asked.
The man opened his pale pink eyes. "My friend went missing in there, you see… It's the place where the dying go to live."
"This place?" Hiyuki observed. "I did feel a chill from it."
"Really?" Juki cocked a brow. "I don't."
"I don't think she meant it like that." Loki remarked.
"If you go inside, you might not come out." The smoking man said. "All I want… is to deliver this letter to him." He handed a simple envelope, marked with a golden butterfly, to Ruford.
The five stared at it for a moment before Ruford tucked it in his Infi-Cube. "Well… what's this friend look like?"
"He's a scrawny fella… and he always keeps a gray hood up. Probably blending in with the locals somewhere. Good luck…"
The kids raised brows in suspicion. There was certainly something unsettling about this town… and about this man. But they felt trying to question him would get nowhere. Even so, they had a contingency.
There was a hole broken into the wall behind him, small enough for the kids to crawl through. "Ladies first, Lucina." Loki bowed.
"What, because I'm wearing a skirt, right?" Lucina glared reproachfully.
"Fine, if you're gonna be sensitive about it." Loki crawled in before Lucina.
"GROSS, there's crud on your shoes!"
"Yeah, it was from that field. Now you see why I offered."
"Can you two not fool around just yet?" Ruford sighed. "We need to stay on guard. We don't know what this place is."
They exited out of a back alley and peeked out at the street. The town was full of normal-looking people, walking and going about their lives… but their faces were pale and eyes a milky dark. Lucina glanced at the group of kids lazily playing kickball further up. "Somethin' ain't right about these dudes…"
"Hey, excuse me." Ruford approached a man in a white shirt. "Um…we're visitors. Can you tell us about this town?"
"Found your way here already? That's nice. Enjoy your stay." The man walked past them.
"Uhh…" A confused Hiyuki approached a woman in a blue coat. "Hey, have you seen a… scrawny man in a gray coat? We think he… came through here recently?"
"Is that a…" The woman noticed the scythe on Hiyuki's back. "Are you… a Reaper?" She turned and ran from the group. "Everyone, look out." She "yelled" at everyone in a toneless fashion. "There's a Reaper here."
"Aaaaahh." One of the kids moaned as the people scrambled. "Someone alert the Phantom Guard."
"Well, that wasn't ominous."
"If I were you lot," Loki shrank and morphed into a gold squirrel, "I would take that as my cue to hide." He scampered up a gutter and hid on a roof.
Lucina became a bat to hide on a different roof while the other three hid back in the alley. A platoon of yellow-green, armored guards marched past. "This is definitely more than a delivery mission." Ruford said. "And whatever it is feels too dangerous to just let slide."
"And I'm willing to bet whatever's behind it is up in that big structure." Loki pointed. "For all we know, the guy we're looking for is there, too."
"What makes you so sure about that?"
"I mean, if I was a tourist, the first place I'd go to is the big obvious tourist attraction in the center of town. Like, why would you go to Paris if you didn't want to visit Notre Dame, eh? Plus for all we know, the mystery behind this place and the guy we're looking for are all connected."
"Yeah, you're probably right. I'm gonna fly up to investigate. Hopefully the guards won't be too suspicious of a bat flying around the sky."
"I'll race you there, bat cheeks!" Loki poofed out two Ventus cards and threw them down, blowing the flying squirrel up in a burst of wind!
"Well, they'll DEFINITELY notice a flying effing squirrel!" Lucina hurriedly flapped after him.
"At least they shouldn't be too noticeable." Ruford said. "Hiyuki, why don't you put that scythe in the cube for now. We still have a chance to gather info from-"
"Wait, that looks fun!" Juki surfed an Ice Road up the roofs and across town, flying after the animals. "I'm gonna beat you BOTH!"
". . . . ." The timebenders could only stare dumbfounded. "Ruford, our teammates are kinda stupid, aren't they?"
"Sometimes…sometimes…"
The view of town was incredible as the three ascended higher toward the fortress, warm in the soft twilight. "…?" Juki vaguely noticed a shape in one of the many windows. It almost looked like someone in a dress. Juki blinked a few times, trying to focus her gaze, but the shape disappeared. "Bonk!" Loki bounced off her head and made the final glide to the roof of the building, outside the base of the ruined chunk. Once Juki and Lucina landed as well, they walked toward the inner edge and gazed down the center.
"The parts where they break off look so… cleanly cut." Lucina said. "Like it was some kind of precise explosion or something."
"What do you think it was?" Loki asked.
"HALT!" A trio of red guards marched over from the left. "Civilians are not allowed up here!"
"Now hold on!" Loki raised hands. "We ain't just civilians! We're the, uh…repairmen! Here to repair your roof! 'Cause it sure looks like it could use it."
"SEIZE THEM!" The guards drew flaming swords and charged, only to be hit with an onslaught of magic, Spank Hands, and icicles. One of the guards lunged through and chopped its sword down, slicing a wave of fire that prompted the kids into jumping sideways. "Whoa!" Juki slipped off the edge and fell about two floors before landing. That guard jumped down to her level while the other two stayed up to attack her friends. It slashed a storm of fireballs at the icebender, who conjured a blockade of Snow Umbrellas. While the Phantom wasted its efforts melting the umbrellas, Juki had already retreated into the building under its supervision.
Juki's bare steps were silent as she ran through the dark corridors; she ducked into a left passage when she saw the shapes of some guards coming. She backed firmly against the wall and watched until they passed. Perhaps her mostly-dark attire helped camouflage her in this environment. Juki kept walk-running down the hall quietly, cautiously glancing either direction. "?!" She halted when something past her right peripheral vision. It was an open door… and past it was a tall figure in long, wavy black hair, a red flower on the right of her head. She was behind some black bars with flower patterns between them. She seemed to be facing another window, open to the violet sky.
Juki walked in. "Um…hello?" The girl flinched. There was a voice she didn't recognize. She turned around, and Juki was taken aback by the bandages and brown mask over her face and the brown straps wrapped around her blue dress, which covered her whole body. "W…What happened to you? Who put you in there?"
The girl never expected to have direct company. She turned left and stretched her arms, covered in oversized sleeves, to feel around for something. She picked up a pen and notepad. The girl wrote something and showed it to Juki. The writing was very scribbly and hardly legible, so it took her a moment to decipher it. "'Who are… you?' My name's Juki, Juki Crystal." The girl wrote, Yookee Cristal. "Haha! No, it's spelled 'J-U-K-I.' Some people pronounce it with a 'J,' but Mom says it sounds like 'Y' because that's how some countries do it. I'm sort of weird because my grandpa was born in France, but had a Japanese mom, then moved to Iceland, and then my dad was from Glacia… so my mom wanted to pile on the culture mixtures, haha."
"…" She stayed silent, trying to process all the info. "Uh, never mind about all that. Just… what are you doing in there? Why?"
"Ulla! Ulla, are you alright in there?!"
Juki flinched hearing a man's voice. Looking hurriedly, Juki ran into an empty closet-like room, tucking behind the doorframe. A young man with blue hair, white shirt and pants, and greenish poncho entered. "Ulla, there are intruders in the palace. Two kids are fighting guards on the roof, and a third one who went missing. Has anyone been by here?"
"…" She shook her head. She picked up her notepad and wrote, Are they alive?
"We… aren't entirely sure. But I heard something about 'Reapers' from the town guards. I think I should rearrange the palace."
"…" She bowed hesitantly. "What's wrong?" the man asked. "It's alright. If they are living people, we'll have them put in the town prison with that other intruder." Juki perked up. "Just stay put in here."
…She wrote, Okay, Kiriko. Kiriko smiled, leaving her be.
Juki walked back out. "Who was that man?"
My guardian, Kiriko. He brings food and organizes the guards.
"But… why are you locked up in here?"
I can't leave this place. I'm a living corpse… and this town is my tomb. I can't spread my death to the world outside.
"I don't get it…"
"Juki, come in, Juki! Do you read me?"
Juki raised her comm. "Lucina, I'm alright. I found a girl in here, trapped in a cell."
"Ooo, how lovely." Loki swooned. "Is she good-lookin'?"
"That's not important! But I heard this other guy say there was another intruder in a town prison. I wonder if it's the guy we're looking for?"
"Copy that, Juki." Ruford responded. "We'll try to look for the prison. Meanwhile, we just learned something on our end…"
"The people in this town are dead…" Hiyuki said.
"D…Dead?!" Juki gasped.
Hiyuki stood in the shadow of a tree at the edge of a playground, watching children lazily push each other on the swing. "Ruford slowed time and listened to somebody's pulse, but there was none. His body was cold. With the way everyone's moving, we think they're all zombies or something."
"Zombies…" Juki glanced behind her, recalling the girl's words.
"Juki, we'll try to head to your location." Lucina said. "Did this girl tell you anything?"
"Um, she said that-" The palace began to rumble. The window behind the girl sealed up, and Juki peeked outside to see the halls rearranging. "Hey! The walls are moving around!"
"W-What? Juki, can't-…breaking up-…"
"Lucina? Loki? Hello?" Juki faced the girl. "Hey, what's going on here?"
I'm sorry. Kiriko can transform the layout of this palace. You should probably go.
"Don't you want to come, too? You look trapped."
I can't. You shouldn't be around me… unless you want to die.
"You've gotta tell me what's going on."
There's no time. Guards will be here soon. If you want to live, you should leave.
Juki glared. She was certain this girl was connected to these zombies… but more importantly, Juki felt she was lonely. Isolated and afraid. "Then let me try something else." Juki touched the sides of her head and focused streams of Ice Chi between them. She shot a beam straight from her forehead to the girl's, knocking her out on the floor. A body of flurries materialized above the girl's head. Her beady eyes opened in shock, looking over her giant body in panic. "Hahaha!" She was even more stunned to see Juki's massive frame beyond the cell bars. Her body was dark and pale, yet her expression was full of life. "It's a trick Mom taught me. I separated your conscience from your body. You'll go back if that snow body melts, so you need my bending to keep you together. You also can't talk this way, but… I guess you couldn't talk anyway?"
"…!" She was beyond speechless. This was her first time seeing a living person in… ages. And she wasn't dying. "Come here!" Juki gestured. "I can make you bigger. And you'll probably want this, too." She reached in to grab the notepad and pen. The little snowperson walked out, growing ever more awestruck by Juki's towering stature. Juki cast some snow from her finger and stirred it around her, growing the snowperson to half Juki's own size. "Still wanna keep you kinda small so you'll be lighter. But you can still write with this." She handed over the writing equipment. "Now will you come outside with me?"
She hadn't expected a solution like this. Her body could be safe in here while she gets to look at the world, other living things in safety. "That guy called you Ulla, didn't he? Is that your name?"
She nodded, writing it down. Ulla Euleus Hecmatika. "Wow, THAT… is a mouthful. But I can pronounce the Ulla part at least. Get on my back." Juki picked up and set her on there. "I'll take you to meet my friends." Ulla put her snowy arms around her new acquaintance's chest, curious by the prospect.
Loki and Lucina KO'ed the guards on the roof, watching them disperse into energy. "What's your business here?" Kiriko marched out of the shadow of the broken chunk of the palace, a sword drawn at them.
"Don't you know some repairmen when you see them?"
"Drop that, dude!" Lucina smacked Loki's head. "Why's this town full of zombies? Do you know who's behind it?"
"I think you should answer my questions first!" Kiriko cast and wrapped them with Soul Ropes.
Loki shrank to his squirrel form to slip out. As he grew back, Loki threw a string of cards interlinked with magic, striking Kiriko with intense force and blasting him back. "If you're gonna play riddles with us, I'll use my own tricks!" Loki flipped a stack of cards from one hand to the other. Kiriko willed a forest of icy fractals to grow around Loki and pierce cut him, the mage going squirrel to dash under them, but as soon as Kiriko saw him, he struck Loki with neon bubbles to dizzy him. Kiriko swung the blade, but Lucina clapped it in giant Spank Hands, throwing Kiriko several yards. Loki grew to normal. "That bloke's using energybending attacks and it smells like a Zanpakutō. But his body is physical!"
"So, like a Gigai or somethin'?"
"You can't use Zanpakutō in Gigai. He don't smell like a vampire either."
"Loki, Lucina, do you read?" Ruford called. "I think we found the prison, but I think getting in would go a lot better with one of your skills."
"Why don't you take care of it, love?" Loki asked. "This guy doesn't seem tough. And I'm sure Juki will be out soon, anyway."
"I'll take a repairman's word for it." Lucina batified and soared down the city.
"Where's she going?!" Kiriko tried to shoot electricity at her, but Loki threw a card with a Rubber Spell to cut it off.
"Worry about yourself, mate!" Loki slid several cards around Kiriko, who unwarily stepped on one, causing his teeth to grow huge.
Hiyuki and Ruford were crouched behind a bush outside a walled prison. They sent a frequency with their comms to attract Lucina to their location. She surveyed the prison from high up before flying down to then. "I saw a bunch of prisoners in the yard and more of those armored guys walking around. The tops of the walls have these weird, propeller-y eyeball creatures. The prisoners were all uniformed, so how am I supposed to find our guy?"
"Did they look like zombies or living people?" Ruford asked. "Because I would guess our guy is alive and under tighter security. I should've practiced my Spirit Shift more, 'cause then I could Go Ghost and phase my way in!"
"Yeah, and it sucks you don't have Mario's cape so you could fly in epically."
"Exactly! We really should visit Mushroom Kingdom after this." Hiyuki slapped her face at her cousin's obliviousness.
"Uh, right. Just give me the letter and I'll try to look for the dude."
"Cool. I'll throw Chrono Bombs at those eyes so they'll be slow to spot you." Ruford whirled pale blue orbs in his hands and used his exceptional throwing to hurdle them at the towers. They burst into large spheres that slowed the Phantom Eyes in time.
Lucina flew along the walls of the prison and peeked into the windows. …There were lots of dolls in frilly dresses chained up in the cells. The purple-dressed one with white hair and mismatched eyes was especially tied down. But through one of the windows, inside a deeper dungeon, there was a figure in a gray coat and skinny legs pinned in an electric chair. The bat slipped through the bars and morphed to human form upon landing in the room. "Hey. You alive there, bud?"
"Huh? Are you… my executioner?"
"You sound like a kid. Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm just like the folks outside… only a phantom. Or at least I hope to be. People come here when they neither want to live nor to die. They come to live under the blessing of the Idol of Murder. It's a peace better than living or the afterlife. I've lost that desire to live."
Lucina smacked him in the hooded cheek. "Sorry, my mom just said I should smack anyone who says that. But seriously, you sound way too young to be talking about things like that." She used to her fangs to pick open the cuffs holding his arms and fingers. "A friend of yours wanted me to give you this."
"Why… it's from Harwood." He took the envelope. "Ah, that old fool… when no one else would buy my matches, he would buy the whole stack. Could never keep his mouth off those cigars, he couldn't."
"What are you, the little match girl?" And she thought Ruford fantasized too much. "Anyway, I guess I should help you get out of here."
"Leave me be. I want to read Harwood's words in peace."
"Fine. It's too soon to stage a prison break, anyway." Lucina batified and flew out the window, returning to her friends. "Well, I delivered the letter. He sounded like a kid, but I couldn't get a look at his face. He said something about an Idol of Murder."
"Let's try to regroup with Loki and Juki." Ruford suggested. "Then we can unravel this mystery together. To the big central building," he dashed off, "and BEYOND!"
"Heh." Hiyuki smirked. "And he called the rest of you stupid."
Carrying Ulla on her back, Juki had to sidle a thin ledge with some high-powered vents, having to wait for them to turn off before going. The following room had a path indented several feet into the ground. Juki had to press a switch to make an energy ring appear, and passing through would make another ring spawn and so on. Juki had to cross all the rings and make three laps around the track in 1:30, an easy feat once she froze the ground and skied across quickly. In the room after that, she had to ride a platform over a spiked floor, swinging her Frost Scythe at whatever Phantoms tried to ambush her from the walls and shooting icicles at switches to open gates. "Who built this crazy temple, anyway?!"
This palace used to be an Arceist Cathedral. My mother came to live here about 25 years ago. Kiriko's power allows him to change the alignment of rooms. And make ring puzzles.
Juki reached a room with four platforms around a central large platform. By pushing the button in the center, a ring would appear on any random platform, guarded by either a flame wall, strong vent, water spout, or ice block, but Juki's bending could freeze or move either obstacle and allow her to pass each ring. Doing so opened the next door. She then had to go through a straight hall with incoming spiked walls. She used Ice Pillars to leap over each wall, though said pillars shattered against them, and reached the end. The hall turned right as she would need to race over a round, rotating pipelike bridge. She leaned rightward to stay atop the bridge, her manner of running frantic as she wound up tripping at the end.
She flipped as Ulla fell off her, the icebender laying and panting on her back. "I guess Arceists really liked to stay in shape…"
Ulla would've giggled if she could. Juki's posture was silly… and she had never seen anyone draw breath in such a heavy, repetitive manner. After Juki recovered, they proceeded into a tall room. Water would pour in from several doors and flood the room, Juki quickly forming an Ice Boat to carry them. There were electric rods stationed on parts of the wall, so she quickly shot icicles to destroy them. Once the water reached the stairs on the surface, Juki was free to run up.
Loki tossed three cards at Kiriko that would release magical birds, the blue-haired using Soul Lightning to zap them all down—one of the birds actually carried a Reducto Card that exploded against the lightning. Loki pounced the soot-covered teen and lay a combo of fists. Kiriko cut him in the hip, Loki flipping off and zapping him with a Mustache Spell. Kiriko cocked a brow at the facial hair and asked, "What's this supposed to do?"
"Just thought you'd look good with a mustache. By the way, have you seen my shrunken Engorgio Card? I think it got stuck on your lip when I was punching you."
Kiriko's mustache suddenly enlarged, weighing the boy like wads of thick rope. Loki approached, training his pyramid wand on Kiriko's face. "You want to surrender or do I have to turn you into a sasquatch?"
"Loki!" Juki sprung to the roof. "Man, I'm glad I made it out of there. This is my new friend, Ulla!" She pointed at her head.
"U-Ulla?!" Kiriko gasped. "What've you done to her?!"
"Loki, what did you do to Kiriko?"
Ulla quickly scribbled something and waved the paper. Juki took and breezed it to Loki. "'Stop fighting, you two. This is a misunderstanding,' with two S's. 'We can talk this out.' Can we talk about your bad writing then?"
…
Sector IC regrouped at the stairs on the base of the palace. "To summarize it, we're KND operatives sent here on a delivery mission." Ruford said. "We're not Reapers or Spirit Ops. We only just learned the 'conditions' of this town as we arrived, but it was too concerning to not investigate."
"Yeah, so what's the deal with you and that snowgirl?" Loki asked.
Ulla, standing near Juki's waist, looked to Kiriko for an answer. "Ulla… possesses a curse. Anyone who looks at, touches, or is spoken to by her will die."
The kids jumped at the sudden info, three of them tumbling partway downstairs except Hiyuki and Lucina. "B-But I looked at her in her room!" Juki said.
"She was fully clothed, wasn't she? Only the hair is safe to look at. Everyone in this town perished by looking at her, and even this cathedral was destroyed the minute she received her curse."
"I could verify that…" Hiyuki knelt and lay her hand on the pavement. She focused and saw the whole structure rewind to a state when it was whole. There was a sudden explosion of black chi that cleanly destroyed a chunk of the palace. She was only good enough to see brief visions with this technique, but that was all she needed. "It looked like… Death Chi."
"It isn't just Death Chi. It's God Chi. That belonging to Thanatos the God of Death."
"What?!"
"During that time, the heathen gods were imprisoned. But keeping them all in the same prison was too dangerous… so one day, a mortician of this cathedral was asked to be Thanatos' vessel. She was already granted deathbending, a power that's very rare, but she had good control over the art. But the townsfolk still feared her power… and that fear grew when she agreed to become a vessel. She needed permanent residence inside the cathedral for sanctuary. She became very sickly and cold, but was otherwise stable with her chi. …That was, until, the last time she 'slept' with her husband. He died because of her chi. But she still became pregnant with Ulla."
Juki glanced at Ulla. Though her beady eyes couldn't communicate it, her head was downtrodden. "It was a miracle that Ulla was born healthily, but her mother was already branded a monster and social outcast. She was physically and mentally unwell. So, when Ulla turned 3… she ultimately decided to impart Thanatos' soul unto her, along with her vengeful desire for humanity to perish. Ulla, too small to handle the powerful chi and feelings… became the Idol of Murder."
The friends could only wonder what was going through Ulla's mind now. "I was 15 when it happened. I was an attendant for this place and helped care for Ulla's mother. But Ulla's special chi had another effect: it controlled the nonliving bodies, let them speak with intact vocal cords, and they acted out their old routines and hobbies based on latent mental or muscle memories. Police officers and GUN agents who tried to come to Ortus wound up perishing as well, so they ultimately built a wall to seal it and mark it off the map. Eventually, I came back inhabiting a Gigai, but even Gigai would die to her curse, though I could get replacements. I managed to make some outfits for Ulla to put herself in. I brought her food, taught her how to write despite her blinded state, basic education, and tended to her every need."
"That's… insane." was all Ruford could say.
"Later, I was able to hire Phantom Guards from the Ghost Zone to help defend Ortus from potential threats, including certain spirits or Reapers who wanted to hurt Ulla. I even recently purchased this Zan-Gigai from an underworld broker, a special Gigai that lets me use Zanpakutō. All I can do with it is manipulate the palace interior, which works thanks to its spiritual connection."
"So, it really was that." Loki affirmed. "Still, it don't feel like you've had much practice with that thing."
"Well, I've never had to deal with someone so unpredictable."
"I wasn't gonna lose to no guy with a mustache."
"You're the one who gave me the mustache!"
"Ulla, I'm so sorry." Juki walked up and hugged the snowgirl gently. "I can't imagine how that feels. I don't know what to say…"
She let her go so Ulla could pick up her pen and paper. Kiriko was my only friend for 15 whole years. I didn't remember what the sky looks like until today. Even though I stand by an open window for air, I'm afraid to look outside and curse someone far away, or the Nimbi looking down from the sky. I forgot what color was the sky. I forgot what a living face looked like. But in this body… I can't feel the pain or the weight. Seeing your face and the way you move for the first time was so magical. When you were talking about your name and your family… it felt like the only time someone talked to me like a normal person. Is this what… living feels like?
Juki was so warmed by the words that her chi paths nearly melted. "I can barely read it, but… it feels like the nicest thing I've ever read…"
"If she learned how to Spirit Shift, she could have even more freedom." Ruford reasoned.
"I did consider that, but even having her like this feels too dangerous." Kiriko said. "A vessel with unstable God Chi will be even more unstable without the soul present. I'm glad she's able to be here like this, but we shouldn't be too long."
"You sure you ain't just jealous Juki brought the solution and you didn't?" Loki asked.
"Certainly not! But you all didn't have any idea what you were doing!"
"Maybe not, but things feel okay right now." Lucina reasoned. "I get she needs to go back soon, but… why not let her hang out and socialize? She's probably tired of just having you to talk to all the time."
"No! She… Are you?"
Ulla was still for a minute before writing. Aren't girls supposed to have girl friends, anyway?
"HA HA HA HA HA!" They burst out at the surprising answer, drawing Kiriko into a blush. "Well, Lucina, are you thinking what we should do first?" Loki asked.
"I almost thought we wouldn't get to use it."
…
"GREETINGS, young Snowchild and fair Mustachio!" Loki exclaimed, twirling his wand and wearing a top-hat. The five kids were sitting on the ground, lined up with Ulla in the middle. "I am the Amazing Lokini! This here's my lovely assistant, Jester Lunycina!" He flicked his wand at the bat as she poofed into a jester uniform. "Jesters and magicians go together, right? I mean, we're both tricksters."
"Even though he's the bigger fool here." Lucina remarked.
"Maybe, but at least my arm ain't full of spaghetti." Loki drew a rubber knife and "cut" (triggered the card in) Lucina's sleeve.
"SPLUUUUUH!" A wave of spaghetti spewed out. "Well, at least I ain't burping out of my belly! Ahem, bur-" As Lucina burped, Loki flicked his wand at her throat, then tapped it on her forehead. "-URRRP! OW!"
"Pretty sure that ain't where it's supposed to come either."
"That ain't what we rehearsed, you were supposed to tap your belly!"
"It's your gas, not mine."
"Oh, THAT'S IT!" Lucina opened the top of her jester hat, springing out a jack-in-the-box with a hammer and bashing Loki's head.
"Fine, you wanna stick to the script, let's skip to the dartboard act." Loki set up a spinning board and strapped Lucina to it. "Can she survive my aimless throwing? Let's find out!" He put on a blindfold and threw two handfuls of darts. Every dart had a Redirect Card that caused them to U-turn back and stick Loki. "D'OOOOWCH! And I thought I sucked at dodgeball!"
"They come up with a new routine every week or so." Ruford smiled.
"And it gets cringier each time." Hiyuki smirked.
"I think she likes it!" Juki thumbed at the little, clapping Ulla.
…
"Then Danny flies in," Ruford dashed and thrust his fist, "and PUSHES Vlad right outta his dad's body! Then they start shooting ecto lasers, like pssh," he shot actual Chrono Beams, "and zap, then a KICK to the jaw!"
"Dude's got a superhero obsession if you hadn't noticed." Loki whispered to Ulla. "He can go on for hours, so when he offers the next story, politely decline."
"But enough about Danny. Wanna hear the story about how Sandman saved the giants?"
Ulla raised hands in excitement! The others groaned.
…
Juki created a miniature, snow-made amusement park for the little snowgirl to play around. She surfed the roller-coaster shaped like bunnies, spun around in teacups, and rode a snow pony around all their feet. But Loki wanted to step it up a notch by taking Ulla on a glide over Ortus in his flying squirrel form. She had forgotten what her hometown looked like… forgotten all the people going about their undead lives, acting only on muscle memory. Right now, their souls were probably more free than hers…
Ortus Prison
The young man peeled the butterfly sticker off the envelope. He was awed as a real gold butterfly fluttered out… and morphed into a woman with golden hair. She wore a black and dark-purple dress with purple roses on her hat and waist and funeral veil on her eyes. "Uuuugh…it was so stuffy in there. I could've easily gotten here on my own and tricked those kids a different way. They would've investigated this town, anyway."
"I'm wondering if they've met the Idol of Murder by now." The boy smirked. "Will they perish, attempt to kill her… or try to put her in their own custody?"
"We might as well go see for ourselves. After all, it's my duty to end the gods. But what does your group intend to do?"
"I only do as the King commands. For now, I believe it's in both our best interests to go after that idol. You can call me E."
"Letter codenames? Well, I'm sure no one will crack that. Call me Butterfly."
Near the cathedral
Juki set up a snowy swingset on Hiyuki's laying chest, Ulla swinging to and fro. "Why's it have to be on me?"
"'Cause you haven't played with her, yet!"
"Well, this is my special activity: laying and resting after a hard day."
"Well, Ulla's already stuck in her room all day. Do something better!"
Ulla flipped off the swing and gestured Juki to make her bigger. Juki did so, so Ulla could write on her pad. You have pretty eyes. Why do they look like that?
"I don't know. It started with my mom and Aunt Suki."
Why is your skin white?
"Albinism on my dad's side. Our hair is still normal though. Which is funny because Mom has white hair."
My skin is pale, too. I don't get much sunlight.
"We don't get much sun where we're at. We live near the only place in Iceland that's not hot."
Iceland is supposed to be hot?
"Yes, it's weird."
"At least she's good at small talk." Ruford said. "Still, that brings up a good question… it's been twilight ever since we got here."
"This is one of few areas in the world with an eternal time of day." Kiriko replied. "Lots of these people used to be shadowbenders."
"So, like Twilight Town. That's pretty cool."
"By the way, you said you were here on a delivery mission. What were you delivering, to who?"
"There's like some smoking guy in a blue coat who wanted us to give his friend a letter." Lucina answered. "His friend was the gray-coated kid you had locked up in that prison. Apparently, he wanted to join the rest of these zombies."
"Wait… you mean the intruder who invaded last week?!"
"Invaded?"
"He came leading this army of mobile dolls. They tried to make their way to the cathedral; we wasted about a hundred guards to detain them!"
"Uuuuuuhhh…that would've been cool to know before I cut him free."
"MASTER! MASTER KIRIKO!" A Phantom Guard rushed up the stairs. "The prison is in ruins! A woman in a dark dress freed the prisoner and destroyed all the guards! They escaped in town somewhere!"
"Hurry!" Kiriko yelled. "To the top of the cathedral!"
They raced a flight of outside stairs up to the ruined chunk of the building. Their arrival was simultaneous with that of two others across the gap. "The prisoner!" Lucina gasped. "And… someone else?"
"More importantly, there's a bunch of dolls down there!" Loki directed their gaze down in the gap. Dozens of dolls divided into the cathedral while half stayed outside.
"Are they after Ulla?!" Kiriko gasped.
"HEADS UP!" Ruford and Hiyuki pulled them aside when the two culprits flew over; E tried to slash them with a knife and Butterfly a glaive.
"Golololol!" Butterfly laughed. "So, you're still alive. You haven't fell victim to the Idol of Murder's curse."
"Where did you come from?!" Lucina asked.
"Why, you brought me here, of course. But you could've carried the envelope a little gentler."
"My dolls are in the process of searching for the idol." E said. "Now, why don't you make things easier for yourselves and leave?"
"You're the ones who invited us here." Loki glared. "I bet that other guy is in on it, too."
"We hoped you would make things easier by clearing out some of the guards and maybe testing the idol's curse." Butterfly said.
"What do you want with her?!" Kiriko demanded.
"That needn't concern you, boy."
"Well, it concerns us." Ruford glared. "So, I think we'll take you in for questioning."
"Funtomtomtomtom! Good luck with that!" E laughed.
"Funtom?" Lucina cocked a brow.
"Kiriko, Loki, Juki, go down and take care of those dolls. Hiyuki, Lucina, can you handle these two?"
"Sure, but what about you?"
"I'm going to go back and get the ship. We might need a quick getaway." Ruford clapped hands and focused. "Load State!"
"Wait a mo'!" Loki grabbed onto him, both vanishing.
Ruford and Loki reappeared in the field in the same standing poses they were at that time. "L-Loki?! Why'd you come, too?!"
"You know that Save State trick eats a lot of power. Going back by yourself was too dangerous. Besides, Kiriko can control the inside of that palace, so they should be fine."
"Then let's hurry and get the ship rea…dy?!" They both turned and gaped in shock.
…
"They teleported?" E asked. "I didn't know timebenders could do that."
"We can warp back to positions we were recently in." Hiyuki affirmed. "Doesn't matter. We don't need them to deal with you. You two, go on and help Ulla."
Juki and Kiriko nodded and jumped down. "Golololol. The two of you won't be enough to challenge us." (Play "Moebius Battle" from XC3!)
Butterfly clashed her glaive with Hiyuki's scythe, the metal sparking fiercely with pinkish-gray light. Butterfly stabbed the glaive from above, Hiyuki dodging and gasping as the pierced ground became a void instead of a normal hole. She spun the glaive to scratch Hiyuki's sweater, that tiny space becoming a void as well. "Spacebending!" Hiyuki swung at Butterfly's legs, the woman flipping and stamping Hiyuki's face. Hiyuki slowed time when Butterfly began to thrust the glaive with swift speed, dodging each jab and the spatial rifts that followed. Hiyuki resumed normal speed and went for the legs, focusing her other hand to slow Butterfly's speed and landing a cut. The scythe's Memory Recall forced Butterfly to re-experience her many cuts from training. Hiyuki used the distraction to land some good cuts on the assassin before she Shaved away. The timebender then cut the spatial rifts and used timebending to Rewind them back to normal.
Butterfly Shaved rampantly around Hiyuki and slashed X-shaped rifts, Hiyuki slashing each one to close it, and barely dodging when Butterfly swung an upward slash up the middle of her face. "DWUH?!" Hiyuki's golfball nose got lose in the void. "By dose!!"
"Be glad Loki ain't around now." Lucina remarked.
Butterfly Moon Walked in the air and flung a string of Finger Pistols, but Hiyuki's scythe would Rewind Deflect them back to hit the woman. She then threw the scythe to knock Butterfly out of the air, Rewinding the scythe back like a boomerang. Butterfly recovered and stabbed at Hiyuki—except it was an illusion of Hiyuki from seconds ago, while the real one landed two more strong cuts. Butterfly then used Paper Art and fluently dodged Hiyuki's cuts. Hiyuki tried to Rewind her back, but the assassin withstood the art and dealt a jab to Hiyuki's naval, creating another void! "Ew! Man, I'm gonna be a laughingstock because of this!"
E called up three of his dolls, connecting strings to them as they zipped around Lucina to wrap her up. E crossed his arms and clenched his fingers to tighten the strings, but Lucina bit a string in the collar of her jester suit to inflate it. The strings were pushed apart enough for her to become a bat and quickly escape the string trap. She belched Sonar Rings at E, hoping to dizzy him, but the effect was menial as he leapt with a knife. Lucina barely dodged back and suffered a small cut, disgusted as E licked it. "KUH! PYUH!" He spat it out. "This tastes repulsive!"
"WHAT," Lucina clapped his head between large Spank Hands, "don't like demon-vampire blood?" His voice though… there's something familiar about it, but what?
E's dolls opened and released miniature dolls. He flicked his fingers to make them leap and latch around Lucina, crawling into her clothes. "Okay, this is weird, ew!" She shrank into bat form, the clothes temporarily vanishing but the dolls still clambering on her. "SONAR 'SPLOSION!" She burst a spherical sonar to blow them off, but she was wrapped in E's strings and slammed onto the floor. He jumped and aimed his knife at her throat, but she puffed to normal and managed to snag it in her teeth, flipping a Spank up to send him flying and losing hold of his knife. "There's a reason kids grow up from playing with dolls! They're no good in a real fight!"
"You're just lucky I don't have my best doll here!" E summoned up the broken remains of the dolls from down below, merging them into giant constructs. They blasted cannons with needle-balls that Lucina avoided. They stretched hands to grab her, to which she countered with heavy spanks. She assumed bat form and surrounded herself in a Sonar Shield, zipping around like a heavy bowling ball to knock the giants off their feet. "But who are you to judge me for playing with dolls… after making it big with that toy company. MY company!"
"What are you talking about?!"
"He never told you about me, did he? He truly forgot me. Killing you will be the perfect way to remind him!"
Inside the palace, Kiriko rearranged the rooms in a way to quickly bring himself and Juki to Ulla's room while diverting the dolls' direction. "Ulla, I'll send you back to your body now." Juki said, dispersing the snowperson. Ulla's laying body awoke. "Hey, Kiriko, I'm wondering… do you think we should try to hide Ulla somewhere else?"
"What do you mean?"
"Even after we beat these guys, what if they have allies who might try to kidnap her, too? If they do, maybe we should relocate her. I'm sure the KND can find some place…"
"But my ability only affects this palace. If more enemies find us, I won't be able to protect her as well."
"I'm sure we can think of something. What do you wanna do, Ulla?"
She picked up her writing equipment. I don't really know. But I don't want you to get hurt protecting me. Maybe if I really die… they won't be able to use me.
Juki threw a snowball at her. "Juki!" Kiriko yelled.
"That's not gonna happen! We'll protect you AND we'll find a way to lift your curse! Then you can talk to us for real!"
"…" Ulla bowed her head in guilt and gratitude.
"AGH!" A large axe chopped Kiriko in the back. He fell, leaving Juki shocked and Ulla confused, as the white-haired doll with mismatched eyes and purple dress entered.
"That must be the idol." She smirked. "She almost looks like a doll! I wonder if E will keep her in his room?"
"A talking doll?"
"I'm Lapis, the strongest doll. And I'm too smart to get lost in that silly maze. Now, will you let me take the idol or do I have to-" Juki pelted her with icicles that Lapis defended, but she followed with a Snow Cannon that blew her out of the room. After chasing her, Kiriko mustered his strength to rearrange the rooms, so when Lapis tried to burst in, she wound up in a large laundry room. Lapis growled cutely and violently swung her axe, which Juki countered with an Ice-Made Baking Whip. "That's not a weapon!"
"It is if you have imagination!" Juki snagged Lapis' axe between the whip's bars, spinning it to yank the weapon away. Juki froze it against the floor, but Lapis simply reached down her gut and pulled out a backup axe. It had Fire Crystals embedded in it, making bursts of flame to destroy Juki's mixer. Juki dodged the explosive blade, finding herself backed against a washer. Lapis took the next swing and chopped the washer, causing a gush of water full of half-washed Phantom Guard armor to spill over her. Lapis decided to don the mismatching armor, so Juki put herself in a chubby Santa Claus suit! "Ho ho ho!" She formed a reindeer horn weapon to clash with Lapis's axe, which lost its explosive heat from the water and wound up freezing to Juki's weapon.
The knight and Santa began wrestling each other, Lapis shoving Juki toward the dryers while Juki tried to bring her to the washers. "HOY!" A band of half-naked Phantoms burst in. "That girl's wearing our armor! And it wasn't finished washing!"
"I know, I was trying to push them into that empty washer!" Juki answered. "Can you help?"
"What?!" Lapis gasped.
"YAH! Thank you, Santa!" The Phantoms gathered behind Juki and helped push Lapis to the washers. They hoisted and shoved Lapis, armor and all, into the open machine and sealed it tight. Once it was set to a long, high-speed rinse, the doll was trapped in a maelstrom. "Phew! Our armor gets pretty smelly, so we need to leave 'em in there a while."
"That's fine by me. Just make sure they stay in there!" Juki ditched the Santa suit and skied out. When Kiriko saw she was safe, he reorganized the palace to return her to Ulla. "So, Ulla, what do you want to do? Stay here or find someplace new?"
…I want to know what the sky looks like in other places. Will you still be there to help me see it?
"I'll visit you whenever I can! So, you ready to go?" Ulla nodded. "Good! Kiriko, can you put the window back in this room? I wanna check on the others first."
"Okay." Kiriko returned the view of the twilit horizon. Juki's communicator now had reception. "This is Juki to Roof Crew! How's it going?"
"We could… use a little help." Lucina answered.
Butterfly shrank and became a golden butterfly. Hiyuki (who had gotten her nose and naval back by undoing the voids) tried to slice the small insect, but not only was she evasive, she left a streak of gold that was dispersed by the blade. When Butterfly flew between her legs, Hiyuki wound up tripping and cutting her own hip with the scythe. "OW!" She was dazed by a memory of herself laying with Perry. The butterfly Shaved rapidly around and carved up her clothes, and though Hiyuki was able to Stop her, her hands kept stumbling trying to pick up the scythe. This gave Butterfly time to change back and chop her shoulder, Hiyuki immediately focusing chi to Rewind herself back. "The Golden Butterfly manipulates the flow of fate along precise strips." She smirked. "In short, if you touch its streak, things may not go how you plan."
Lucina had dug her way into the giant dolls and drank the blood from them, causing them to drop and stay immobile. "So, you have little blood capsules inside the dolls. It's probably your blood, and it needs to be inside them for your power to work. And here I was thinking you were an expert puppeteer. And when you drank my blood earlier, I wonder if you were trying to control me?"
"Well, aren't you the smart one?" E grinned. "But I wonder how much spare blood YOU have?" He drew three needles between his fingers and tried to slash her. Lucina became a bat and emitted sonar as she zipped around, her soundwaves making afterimages. When he was confused enough, Lucina shot past and ripped off his hood. (End song.)
She landed and spun, determined to get a look at his face. "…?!" He was a handsome young man with peacock-blue eyes and smooth, blue-black hair. "Y…You're…" He looked exactly like her dad, or rather a picture of him in his youth. The only thing missing was the eyepatch.
"I am E – The Earl. But I'm sure he can tell you my real name. I'm sure he can tell you… about the brother he left to die. My so-called niece."
"N-NIECE?!"
"Golololol! What a strange development." Butterfly giggled. "But as curious as I am, I'd like to finish…hm?" She heard something and looked over the edge. There was an Ice Road, streaking across Ortus. The blue-haired man was sliding across it, carrying someone in a blue dress. "Is that… the idol?"
"Juki must be helping them escape!" Hiyuki exclaimed.
"I don't think so!" Butterfly quickly Moon Walked after the fleeing duo, the Ice Road steadily crumbling behind them. Seeing her coming, Kiriko cast an array of energybending attacks, jumping down into Ortus for cover.
Lucina went to Hiyuki to help her stand. …Both girls shared knowing looks. They knew their ship wasn't in that direction. "So, tell me, Lucina…" E approached slowly. "What else did Ciel do to become so-"
Lucina grabbed Hiyuki and lunged off the roof, the latter dropping a Chrono Bomb she had formed to envelope the area and slow E down. They landed right on a giant snow mitt. Juki pulled them inside, and once he sensed they were in there, Kiriko willed that room of the palace to rotate to the opposite side. Juki then cast an Ice Road from the window, sliding the four of them over Ortus as fast as they could. "Wait, is this… the real Ulla?" Lucina asked, the girl in question locked in a large ice cube.
"It's a tiny bit cold in there, but it's the safest way to bring her without touching. We dressed a Snow Clone up in a spare set of her clothes and Kiriko used it to lure them away."
"Good plan." Lucina said. "We were in a tight spot there. Hey, Loki, Ruford!" she yelled in her comm. "What's taking so long with the ship? We're on our way back."
"No! Head to the nearest town or something, the ship is destroyed!"
"No, please! Come here and join us. You can still save them if you bring the Idol of Murder." A man's voice said.
"W-What?"
"That was… You're that man from before!" Hiyuki yelled.
"You have her with you, don't you? Bring her here in the next two minutes or these two die. It's just a little… heart-to-heart."
The girls landed in the field outside the wall. Juki unfroze Ulla. "Um…Ulla? We've got another problem."
…
The four girls made it thanks to Hiyuki's Fast Forward. Ruford and Loki were heavily panting, the blue-coated man standing with his back against their destroyed ship. "So, that's the famous idol… the vessel of Thanatos."
"What do you want with her?" Hiyuki glared.
"Relax, children… I only want to help her. To set her free of her curse. Then I will punish the heathen god who cursed this innocent child. I will destroy him. That is my oath… as an agent of CP0."
"The God Killers…?" Ruford gasped.
"Yes. Thanatos was among the lucky few to survive the God Killing. I managed to learn about this Idol of Murder because someone from Ortus purchased a Zan-Gigai."
"What?!" Loki gasped. "Don't tell me you're the one who made it!"
"No, but I know the factory that does. I keep tabs on outgoing sales and try to learn nifty info. Ah, but let's not get off topic." He blew from his cigar. "I'm impressed you managed to shake off my subordinates, but even more that you got the idol right out of that dungeon. So, allow me to take her and I'll let the rest of you go." (Play "Moebius Interlink" from XC3!)
"Liar!" Hiyuki raised her scythe. "You were trying to trick us and have us killed! You wanted to test Ulla's curse on us! If you wanted to punish Thanatos, you wouldn't let him kill us. How do we know you're really CP0? What if you want her power for yourself?"
"And besides, we'd never let you have Ulla!" Juki declared. "She's our friend!"
He flicked his cigar away. "Then defend her to your last breath!" Harwood mustered a black ball and threw it, Hiyuki deflecting it, only for him to dodge. He cast a wave of black that Juki held back with an ice wall, but Harwood swung a Tempest Kick to shatter the ice and blow them down.
"He's a deathbender, too?!" Ruford gasped. "Before, he was only using martial arts!"
"And I bet he's tougher than those other two." Lucina panted. "This ain't good."
"…" Ulla bowed in guilt. Her new friends were too exhausted fighting for her sake. …But she only had one way she could help. Would it work on another deathbender?
Juki encased herself in snow and made several Snow Clones, all skiing circles to confuse Harwood, but he swiftly flicked Finger Pistols to break them. Hiyuki leapt to slash her scythe, leaving Juki to cast a blizzard from behind, but he blocked the blade with his arm and swung a Tempest Kick laced with death at Juki. Juki dodged the wave, but it exploded the Death Chi out to its sides, a maneuver she barely avoided by a dead hair's breadth. At the same time, Ruford ran to kick him in the pelvis, Harwood thrusting his other hand—he hit a Paradox Clone as another Ruford threw a Chrono Bomb to slow him down, followed by a third to jump and kick his head at the same time Hiyuki redirected her scythe at his hip. Loki would also run up as a squirrel and crawl up Harwood's pants, planting Reducto, Incendio, and Reducio Cards around him. The kids jumped away as the cards went off, but the shrink spells couldn't pierce his willpower while he otherwise tanked the explosive/fire damage.
Harwood jumped away, mustered deathbending in his hand, and cast seven large serpents. The kids fled the Death Snakes, frantically throwing whatever attacks they could until they dispersed. During this distraction, Harwood pulled out several cigars, lit them, and smoked. He flicked the cigars with great force and speed as they exploded, riddling the kids with soot. Hiyuki and Ruford tried to Rewind and fix the damage on their friends, but Harwood would Shave to each one and pierce their backs with Finger Pistols. Juki burst with ice when he zipped near her, skiing around to freeze her friends' wounds. When Harwood Shaved near Loki, he surprised him with a Tongue Spell to his fingers, turning them into tongues.
The silver-haired mage whipped out two sets of Force Cards that would thrust at Harwood's front, side of the jaw, pelvis, and lower jaw, all while Lucina smacked his arms against the waist with Spank Hands. Hiyuki then leapt for a clean cut at his neck… but the scythe wouldn't pierce his resilient body. Harwood zipped around and punched all five kids to the ground. The area seemed to grow dark as he mustered a huge demon of Death Chi with red eyes. The demon dove at the laying group… but Ulla, feeling the powerful chi, jumped in its wake. "ULLA!" Juki screamed.
The demon dispersed upon impact, but Ulla was still standing. "She survived!" Hiyuki exclaimed.
"We can't give up now!" Loki yelled. "He'll get tired eventually! Let's keep trying and…?" Ulla approached the villain.
"Ulla, what're you doing?!" Juki asked.
"Heh heh…surrendering?" Harwood smirked.
Why did he need to trick the KND to begin with? Why did he need accomplices to do his dirty work? Perhaps because he wasn't sure how her cursed worked. He was afraid of entering town himself because he would fall victim to it. Ulla would prove this true. With one arm, she held her notepad behind her, giving them a chance to read it. U RUN FORWARD, IRN BACK.
"!!!" The operatives bolted, and with her other hand, she ripped off her mask. "NNGH!" A powerful wave of Death Chi swept over Harwood, projecting a barrier over himself with his own chi. "Heh…it's stronger than I expected!
As the operatives ran, they spared the carefullest glance down and back to confirm Ulla was following them backwards. "Y-Y-You think it's working?!" Lucina asked.
"If he was dead, she'd probably cover her eyes!" Hiyuki said. "How're we gonna get out of here without a ship?!"
"Shouldn't he have come in something, too?!" Ruford asked.
"I'll try to look for it!" Lucina batified and flew skyward. She skimmed the surrounding field for anything suspicious… and saw a distant black car, shimmering in the twilight. The others watched as the bat flew that way.
"Ulla, turn this way a bit!" Juki stretched large snow hands to block Ulla's head from view and rotate her body. "Yeah! Keep following us backward!"
"Tch!" Harwood used his right arm and leg to throw more waves and balls of death. Hiyuki used the reflection in her scythe to see them, the friends dodging, jumping, or ducking when necessary. They kept the pace up for several minutes before they reached the car. "Heh…go ahead and start it up." Harwood said. "I rigged it to explode in case someone tried. It was only a rental."
"He left the keys in the ignition!" Ruford beamed. "Quick, let's-"
"Wait." Hiyuki stopped him. "I got a different idea."
"Snow Shovel!" Juki mustered a large plough-like shovel to lift Ulla and keep her blocked from their view. "Just keep looking at him, Ulla!" She froze her feet to the car's roof while the arms remained attached to the shovel. "We're almost ready to go!"
"Buckle up, gang, we're backing out!" Ruford and Hiyuki channeled every bit of bending they had left to Rewind the car! It zoomed across the bumpy landscape, following a reckless route that would go around the closed-off road and back onto a main road. Any incoming cars would honk horns and swerve around them as the car backed up for miles. "Ulla, put your mask back on! I think we're safe!"
Ulla did so to stop the wave of death. She sat nervously and patiently in the seat of snow, cold from head to toe… and yet, warm. (End song.)
Moonbase
The car would finally stop in a retailer parking lot. What followed was an arduous process of police coming to question the ongoing backing car, the group proving their ID as KND operatives and explaining that they were saving a kidnapped girl from the forbidden Ortus region. In time, Sector IC was able to get a call to Moonbase and be picked up, along with a S.P.R.A.Y.S.H.I.P. to safely contain Ulla from any contact.
"But it seemed like the car wasn't his." Hiyuki said. "He must've borrowed it to cover his tracks. I heard that's a strategy assassins use."
"Unbelievable…" Perry rubbed his forehead. "Either way, we should probably keep Ulla's curse between ourselves for the most part. It'd sure make a lot of operatives afraid… and it could get out to other villains, too."
"Yeah…" Juki sadly approached the S.P.R.A.Y.S.H.I.P.. "But I really don't like having to treat her like this."
She slipped a note out. It's okay. I don't want to hurt any of you. Besides… I've never felt happier in my life. I just hope Kiriko's okay.
"If he managed to escape, I'm sure he'll come find you soon." Ruford assured.
"That was pretty awesome though!" Loki grinned. "The way you held that blowhard back! With you around, we'd be unstoppable!"
"Don't say that!" Ruford stated. "We may've been in a pinch there, but we can't just use her to kill every villain! That'd be wrong in so many ways!"
"We need to get Thanatos out of her or something." Juki said. "Then she can come play at the playground, and laugh at Loki's magic tricks, eat food with us, and hugs us, and…"
I really hope that day comes. But for now… I don't mind being your little snowperson. As long as I can look at your lovely face… and rest in your arms… If I can still be with all of you… that's all I need.
Touched by her words, Juki hugged the ship. Ulla, feeling this gesture, hugged her side of the door. Though their arms didn't connect, their warmth not shared… they felt each other's friendship.
Ortus
"Uuuuuuugh!" Butterfly groaned, returning to her boss in a battered dress. "I can't believe I fell for that dumb trick! Stupid spirit even got away!"
"Hm hm…it seems we underestimated them." Harwood smirked. "I would've thought the idol would hesitate to use her curse around them. But we'll track her down in time. Where's the boy?"
"E seems to have left. Probably returned to wherever your other base is. Won't you be joining him?"
"I think I'll visit the Garden first. Make sure my students are doing well."
"Gololol…they're better off without you as a teacher." She smiled teasingly.
"Hey now, I at least teach them not to do drugs." The Oathbreaker withdrew another cigar and smoked.
Amphitheater
A pair of young twins frolicked freely in the garden. They sang "London Bridges Falling Down." They shared in wonderful meals and desserts prepared by their cook. They stayed up late to play games in bed. On their 10th birthday, they were told to wait in their room their servant, Tanaka would come to get them. They waited…and waited…they waited too long. The boys traveled downstairs… to find their parents and servants murdered.
E bowed his head from that part. On his right, Lapis was squeezing the soapy water out of her dress. "Adults are filthy creatures, aren't they?" a British voice asked on his left. "They'd even stoop to killing their own to ensure misery for us."
"Positively!" E answered spiritedly.
"That boy… Is that your brother?"
"He was… until he left me to die. But thanks to His Majesty, I'll always have the good times with him! I'm sure you feel the same." E teased, proud of his pun.
"Yeah…" The fellow Brit smiled as he watched his own pleasant memories replay. "As long as I have them… I never want to grow up. No matter what I have to do… I will preserve this Endless Now."