Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune VI

Being Meguca is suffering

Fish speaker proberb

Leto’s vision had darkened, there was a bit of light at the end but the how was entirely obscure. At this moment in the way to his citadel there were hidden two Bene Gesserit. Homura had not expected Madoka to drink the water of life, she had it in her pocket this whole time.

Madoka stared at Ghanima’s body, if there was any chance to return things had changed now, they had killed the Empress and her concubine. Madoka pulled out the vial from her pocket, she had been keeping it from the start, this lack of decision had messed with her plans for long enough.

This was her plan, it had to be complete then.

Madoka drank the entire vial. Homura rushed to catch the bottle but it was too late, she could only catch Madoka as her consciousness started to unfold. The catalysis happened almost immediately, every mind in her genetic memory jumped out as if released from a cage the moment the spice entered her body.

Homura knew now there was nothing to do, in her vision she could see a white path covering the blood soaked golden one. A tall angelic figure loomed over humanity as it died slowly, not starvation, not war, slow acceptance. Only the blood of the Atreides soaked this path, not the blood of millions.

Madoka the martyr who will release the world from the God Emperor. Every voice took a hold of her body, the scream held more than one tone as consciousnesses were forced to merge, this was different from other awakenings, the memories stayed somewhere else, a council of sorts. Madoka was susceptible to those memories, spice would empower them to near abomination.

Madoka rose, she smiled at Homura, her expression was back at normal, it had been fast, too fast. Inside of her mind a million arrows were shot, Madoka had instead eaten all those personalities, engulfed them and forced them into her cells.

“The worm awaits for us” Madoka said “Do you trust me?”

Homura nodded and took Madoka’s hand.

At this point time had passed, but it didn’t matter. Homura still had a lasgun on hand, and she was crazy enough to not have any survival instinct. At this point Madoka’s voice rang in their ears, she was not like Leto, a figure of greatness they could bow to.

Madoka was no different, she had taken a bow on display from one of the rooms. With Homura nobody was willing to wear a shield, Madoka did not give them any chance to even get close. They arrived at the throne room, blood covered those who were trying to stop bloodshed.

Sayaka and Kyouko stood in front of him, willing to protect this tyrant, after all he was the key for humanity’s safety. Leto’s golden path had almost vanished from his view.

Desperation crept into his mind. Madoka had already turned her shield on, she knew that no amount of fighting would end this, it had to be here, it had to be decisive.

Though why had their genes be discarded for the Kwisatz Haderach?

“I guess she is as invisible to you as she is to me. How do you know what will happen?” Leto forced his voice to be calm, this was the last bit of control he had.

“I trust her” Madoka said “I planned more than she knows, I had to put myself in danger, yet I knew Homura would be here for me. Not prescience, just trust”

This message was something Leto already imagined, but she had answered, they were having doubts. This was why their lineages were not considered. It was love, not like the one where Lady Jessica decided to birth a son for her husband. It was closer to Lady Jessica willing to blow up Arrakeen the moment Duke Leto had passed. They loved each other more than they loved humanity, more than they loved their plans. This was why they had waited, when waiting even a second meant Leto could do something to stop them.

He could do something.

“Perhaps you have demonstrated your skill as warriors. I need that for myself, yet my presence will change your plans” Leto laughed, he was terrified but he had to make it seem like he had planned this. He was blind to these two. Homura hid very well and Madoka obscured her vision, she was even worse than Alia, she was worse than her father.

“If you’d prefer I could send you to Salusa Secundus, train an army of women there. You are free to do as you please in the planet, I trust you” Leto smiled “I shall keep your friends here as my bodyguards. Now that water is plenty they will be my fish. They speak for me, my fish speakers” He laughed.

Homura still held up her lasgun, but her finger was no longer in the trigger. Madoka could still see her white path, but her way ended here, the Golden Path took them to those dreams in Salusa Secundus. Leto himself was offering that planet for them to rule. Madoka could not see the fear, but she knew he was afraid, he was appeasing.

Madoka turned off her shield. She knelt and started to cry, she wanted to save everyone in the Golden Path. But she couldn’t bring herself to end the happy future she had. Homura would do it if she asked, but she clearly was tempted as well. Homura in fact was willing to end humanity as a whole because Madoka had asked her to.

Leto could now see his path again, so this was it. Madoka didn’t want to be selfish, but she also knew what both paths entailed. She was forcing herself to follow the white path, painless. Perhaps seeing her friends on his side was what chipped the armor, perhaps it was not her decision to make.

It was not Leto’s decision either, but he had put that burden on himself, he would happily take Madoka’s burden. She was allowed to be happy, she hated that she loved the idea.

With time Madoka and Homura became the basis for what Salusa Secundus became, for what the fish speakers became. Madoka looked and acted friendly, but her prescience made her as aware as the Emperor himself, she knew what would come after, she knew what to prepare for, Arafel was a threat in her eyes.

Homura at least got a happy ending

Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune V

I won’t forget the promise we made
I’ll close my eyes and ascertain it
Shaking off the darkness that closed in on me

I advance on

When can I see again here
The future that I lost?

Akemi Homura- Collection of personal chants

Farad’n at least had the decency of a quick death, Homura used the sword just as a distraction, when he noticed the grenade on his belt it was already too late, the shield enclosed most of the explosion, this would be considered a dishonorable way to end one’s enemy, Homura considered leaving things to fate or pride to be the true dishonor.

Ghanima lacked a similar fate, Fremen do not give up even when wounded, Madoka at first tried to incapacitate her. Ghanima had trained under Duncan Idaho, but only under Duncan Idaho, Madoka had trained under several Ginaz battle masters, it was like fighting a Duncan that did not hold back.

Madoka in the end did not end it, Homura had pierced the shield with her pistol and delivered the coup de grace.

On yet another entrance of the Citadel Kyouko and Sayaka were standing before a fully armed Duncan Idaho. His metallic eyes reflecting back Sayaka’s own fearful face. She expected soldiers but not the Weapons master of House Atreides.

“We can take him” Sayaka said more in question than a statement.

Kyouko scratched the ground with her spear “Of course”

Duncan bowed “I shouldn’t allow you to tarnish your honor in such an unfair match”

Kyouko shrugged “Of course, 2 on 2, as it should be”

Sayaka shivered, she feared this would happen, it seemed Kyouko was more of a Ginaz fighter than a Reverend Mother.

Out from the corner came out Duncan’s support, with a spear in hand, her metallic eyes with a warm expression. Now Kyouko started to shake, this was Mami, a ghola of her.

“The God Emperor was expecting you” Duncan said with a smile “Awakening her was surprisingly difficult, turns out she was only afraid of her own death”

Mami sighed “I asked you to keep that a secret”

“I WAS EXPECTING GURNEY HALLECK!” Kyouko yelled from sheer shock.

Sayaka instead screamed and attacked Duncan right away, he barely had time to activate his shield, Sayaka was fighting without one which made it easy for Duncan to slid an artery below her armpit.

This didn’t stop Sayaka, she continued for long enough for Duncan to see that the wound had healed, her body didn’t seem to be tired while his was starting to ache, after all actual close quarters combat lasts for an extended period of time, it is a short game.

Sayaka’s sword broke though she managed to deactivate Duncan’s shield with the broken blade, she shook it and slowly the sword started to grow again to full size. Duncan’s muscles were screaming, no wound he had done lasted on Sayaka, she wasn’t trying to win but to tire him out.

Mami stared at the fight “Kull wahad!”

“Tleilaxu stuff… I thought you’d knew about this” Kyouko extended her hand “Let’s call it a draw?”

Mami nodded “Sure” she had trained Kyouko, she knew what kind of demon Kyouko would be if actually fighting. Perhaps this was why the Emperor had requested for a Ghola of this Bene Gesserit, they’d listen to her.

“Explain it like I’m dumb” Kyouko said, at this point Sayaka was just toying with Duncan whose hits no longer had any strength to them.

“Leto II wants to ensure humanity keeps on living, it’s not exactly a painless process. Madoka and Homura are here to stop it. Walpurgis was just a pawn in Madoka’s game so she could obtain something, what, we don’t know yet, she’s invisible to the Emperor”

Kyouko tossed her spear at Sayaka’s feet “Humanity lives but suffers, or we die a slow death?”

Sayaka frowned “We live of course, everything takes effort!” She placed her blade next to Duncan’s neck.

“We are on the same side then” Mami said “Madoka wants exactly the opposite”

Sayaka looked at Duncan, she wouldn’t trust this Atreides man, but Mami spoke no lie, this was the Mami they knew, a face dancer or an unawakened ghola would be easy to dismiss, Mami had always been their mentor, she always knew better.

Duncan fell on the ground sweating “I… I will catch you in a minute”

Kyouko shrugged, she had held back for this guy, not for her, well Duncan had not really tried to kill her, he could have gone for the neck instead of the arm, it wouldn’t have made a difference for Sayaka, though it would have made a difference for Duncan, Leto would soon need another Ghola if he wanted to keep that guy in his employment.

They were given a new set of clothes, which both denied, though Kyouko took the food, sweetmeats made with ground up pistachios and spice.

Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune IV

Someday the light of love that you will share in your eyes
Will transcend time
Surely it will break one of the fleeting dreams
Rushing towards destruction

Casting aside hesitation
What is it that you desire?

Kaname Madoka -Magia Prana Bindu

Bene Gesserit assassins usually are what remains of the acolytes. Those whose results are not satisfactory to be archivists, truthsayers or marry into the Landsraad. Killing is not exactly difficult for a well trained Bene Gesserit. Though those who actually have training to kill, on top of the skills taught by the sisterhood, they end up working with Reverend Mother Bella in building QB.

Homura joined knowing she’d end up here, after all she had dreamed it. She also knew mentioning her dreams would only make the sisterhood assign her somewhere else. Prescience is a rare trait in the sisterhood, that is more a Guild type of thing.

The Atreides were all prescient, this is what made them terrifying, but other than that the sisterhood had few seers. Homura was a trained Sardaukar, not exactly bad for other tasks but the sisterhood could not waste the training of a soldier that way.

Homura was already a Reverend Mother when she joined, her prescience blown wide open, and she knew this was the place to be. The main reason was an obsession over another sister.

Kaname Madoka, she had requested to be here, yet another prescient sister, not a Reverend Mother yet but her potential was a match for St Alia of the Knife, this also terrified them. Would Madoka emerge a savior or a witch?

Homura did not know the answer either. Homura didn’t know Madoka’s face nor who she was she just knew here was the place to be, that Homura would be home here. Madoka was indeed it, she also had come here expecting something.

Madoka spoke of an old tale, the Wizard of Oz standing at the end of the yellow path, yet he is a liar and the path is full of suffering, the witches hid in fear of his gaze. Madoka had the strong belief that whoever wrote that had no idea his message had a hint of truth, prescience in old Terra, not like a legend but something that was just discovered to be a prophecy. The world was full of such things.

Madoka would believe her insane, but she had seen it, she had seen hints of it. Homura would not let her see the whole thing, she was afraid, at that point she saw only darkness. Madoka would trust Homura with her life, she had in several occasions.

Sayaka and Kyouko were less strange. Sayaka was in an arranged marriage with a musician that would play for House Corrino, the Jihad happened, the man married someone else and Sayaka had given up her humanity to become something closer to a face dancer.

Tleilaxu had tried before, all subjects developed cancers and died a painful death, their last attempt was with Sayaka, if a Reverend Mother came out of it unscathed it meant the process was unfit for anyone but Reverend Mothers, only they had the proper body control to keep the change stable. Sayaka being a success proved the efforts of the Tleilaxu were futile, the only way to attain immortality was through cloning.

Kyouko lost everything to the Jihad, the daughter of a priest in Ginaz, he was among the first to fall, he hated the Bene Gesserit and outright called Emperor Muad’Dib an abomination of nature, the proof that the sisterhood were seeking the end of civilization as they knew it. He called his wife and child witches, infiltrated agents to skew his religion, they were infiltrated indeed, but they were there to make sure others heard his message, slip bits of the missionaria protectiva in his discourse.

Kyouko never saw the Jihad as a curse, in fact it released her from a duty she heavily disliked.

She didn’t like the job as assassin either. In the end she left in her last assignment, fulfilled it but she did not return for a new one. Bella knew Kyouko would remain in Arrakis, she needed a Reverend Mother with no sense of self preservation to retrieve her, that was Sayaka.

Homura stood in the hall, pistol in her right hand and blade in her left. Sardaukar were trained from birth in their non-dominant hand, the weirding way of the Bene Gesserit basically made her ambidextrous. Madoka hid behind her, their shields produced a faint ozone smell.

In front of them yet another Sardaukar, just like Homura his uniform was changed, it held the Hawk of the Atreides, his robe was a jubba cloak, a fremen robe. Homura in the other hand wore the dark cloak of the Reverend Mother, her uniform bore a Bene Gesserit symbol.

Farad’n Corrino, yet another semi-prescient of the whole Kwisatz Haderach program, his hands sweating, every future in his eyes ended the same way, a dark shadow looming over Leto’s Golden path. A witch in a field of lillies holding a scythe.

“I’ll deal with the one behind” Ghanima said holding her crysknife, she switched on her shield.

Farad’n unsheathed his own ceramic blade, he could tell Ghanima how this was a bad idea, how the one behind was worse than the lillie witch, yet she probably knew already.

Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune III

Neko Miko Reimu ai shiteru
Neko Miko Reimu nani shiteru
Neko Miko Reimu shuran yurari
Neko Miko Reimu muron furari

Ginaz battle chant

Kyouko stared at Sayaka while she mended her clothes, it was not the first time she saw someone heal quickly but not this quickly.

Sayaka put on her robe “Tleilaxu did something at the request of Reverend Mother Bella, I cannot have children. I still choose to age”

Kyouko smiled as she took a spiced date and ate it “Of course the Tleilaxu did something and no Reverend Mother would allow that to enter the genepool. A face dancer and a Reverend Mother, Bella really is desperate”

Sayaka unsheathed her sword, stared at its reflection “After the Rossak pain wounds stopped mattering, you know, nothing compares to it. I was to marry, he played the violin”

“The Zensunni Jihad?” Kyouko asked in a low voice

Sayaka laughed, it was forced, painful “I wish, a tragedy would sound better. He married someone else, after I gave myself to the Tleilaxu for their experiments. He had lost a hand, the Tleilaxu gave him a new one, I never told him I did it. I even wonder why I’m telling you this. I’m supposed to be better, I am Bene Gesserit!”

“We are still women” Kyouko ate another date, she offered one to Sayaka.

Sayaka took it, took a small nibble of it.

“Though, is this pain for the loss of the idea of the life you’d have? Or for him specifically?” Kyouko noticed pain in Sayaka’s story, but the pain was not when she mentioned him, the pain was when she mentioned someone else, Kyouko was observant enough to notice how Sayaka stared at her, quite normal for some Bene Gesserit, many of which never even considered breeding with men.

Sayaka blushed, she now considered the idea of having mended her clothes in another room. “Are you hitting on me?!”

Kyouko chuckled “So our plan is to storm the citadel?”

Sayaka shrugged “Homura just sent a quick transmission, I barely speak Sardau. Any ideas?”

The Sardaukar receiver was still strange to Kyouko, it basically received a message in morse code and printed it in a small iron needle. Kyouko stared at the markings, Homura had not encrypted it, but she used a lot of slang.

Kyouko shrugged “I thought you knew her better”

“I know only what Madoka tells me about her, though it sounds like an entirely different person” Sayaka rested against her chair “Any ideas then?”

Kyouko nodded “In a month there will be a large pilgrimage for the death of Muad’Dib, security will be tight but we can enter the citadel then”

Sayaka had expected more pushback from Kyouko, though she was a far better Reverend Mother than herself, she was quick to realize the trouble they were in, the odd idea of following orders from Homura’s prescience, it appeared to make no sense, she had saved Madoka putting her life at risk.

Homura’s motifs always seemed strange, in fact she always stopped Madoka from drinking the poison, perhaps she knew Madoka’s potential, she couldn’t be wasted to the Rossak poison. They needed the water of life. Perhaps this is what they needed to do, probably Kyouko had already come to the same conclusion.

Sayaka sheathed her sword “We have little time, we need little time”

Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune II

Hondara handara tsukadoroba

Leave me alone if you want to survive

I’ll burn you and crush you

Survival of the fittest for generations to come

Salusan lullaby

Madoka woke up gently to the flap of the ‘topher, there was no muzzle, no handcuffs, somehow Homura always ended up saving her right in time, she had been captured and sedated but she was safe now.

“Not yet” Homura said

“Telepathy?!” Madoka cleared her head, she started thinking of nursery rimes.

“I just knew what you’d ask” Homura landed the ‘topher “We need to leave”

“Back to Wallach?” Madoka was still a bit hazy, the men of Walpurgis had used a strong dose of sedative knowing how quickly Bene Gesserits metabolized them.

“Arrakis” Madoka wondered why they’d be going to the Imperial capital, what was she thinking?

Homura checked her pockets, Madoka never fully knew how well armed she was, even for a Salusan, Homura always overprepared. Homura was trained to become Sardaukar, then a few months before she’d formally join the army the Padisha Emperor was overthrown, instead she got recruited by the sisterhood.

Madoka noticed what Homura was muttering.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

She was just as nervous as when they met for the first time. She has mastered hiding her emotions but she had not mastered her emotions yet, perhaps she never would, at this point Homura had risked too much.

Madoka had dreams, she knew they could become reality, dreams where right then and there they would go to a different place, Salusa Secundus, where they’d find a nice house in the jungle and hunt for their food together. Dune was also in her dreams, the harsh sands of Arrakis, this was a different possibility. Homura perhaps saw the same images, perhaps she had seen a different dream.

Arrakis right away brought a bad taste to Madoka’s mouth, Arrakeen was still the only city with a port, the Emperor made it this way so he’d know who came in or who didn’t. Madoka shuffled a deck of cards she kept in her pocket, a cat tarot, a replica of a relic from old terra. Kitty White was a symbol of calmness, of an idyllic future, so Madoka preferred to use that old deck instead of the Dune tarot.

The devil, the king of cups, the king of swords, the king of pentacles, the king of wands. “Sayaka and Kyouko are here too” Madoka didn’t need to think much on who the devil was, his palace was right there.

“This is what Walpurgis wanted” Madoka muttered “Four bene Gesserit assassins trying to dispose of the Emperor”

Homura sighed “Every other future ends with her, unless we go directly to the Tyrant. We need to prepare Madoka”

Madoka shook her head “I doubt weapons will make any difference”

“We are prescient, we have that advantage” Homura rested in the shade, she was starting to feel her body losing too much water.

“We need to leave the open quickly” Madoka didn’t want to say a thing but if the desert alone could kill them what chance they stood against Leto II Atreides?

Homura nodded, they walked through the streets of Arrakeen until they reached a grilled meat place, Homura knocked on the backdoor with a strange rhythm, the door opened right away, at the other side a guy who was clearly washing dishes with sand, he stared at the two women in front of him, barely adults.

“You want the water?” The man said in Sardau

Homura replied almost instantly “Tradition dictates we do”

The man stepped aside and let them in. The guy cleaning the dishes, the one cooking and the one cutting meat were too corpulent to be common folk, these clearly were former Sardaukar who had been left in the planet after the fall of House Corrino.

“Bene Gesserit has Sardaukar now?” the butcher placed his knife on the board and served some raw meat on a plate, he added some salt and spice and mixed it with chopsticks.

Homura took the plate and ate a piece of meat, she handed the plate to Madoka who forced herself to do the same. “My options were mercenary work or the Bene Gesserit, at least now I have sisters”

The butcher nodded “More honorable than cooking for a living” He laughed.

Their only allies, three old and rusty soldiers who had lost a battle long ago. Their bodies had gone fat, their muscles had atrophied, yet they knew Arrakis, they survived it in their own way. Madoka somehow knew to trust these people, after all societies survive harsh planets when they have a strong sense of community and religion. Homura’s own strength came from this very sense of community, she would die for Madoka just like these men would die to protect them.

Madoka began to feel the effects of the spice in her body, a golden highway covered in blood, forcing humanity to continue through pain, Homura was there to cut down the way and allow humanity to die peacefully. A slow yet comforting end, a nice sleep unlike the other where humanity fought like a wounded animal.

Homura was given a small box, a lasgun pistol and a rifle, five energy cartridges, smoke grenades, shields and slow pellet throwers. She took out the throwing knives from her sleeves and instead placed the grenades there. They didn’t ask Homura what she was planning, they had learned that asking too many questions slowed things down, this way they also lacked the knowledge of the plan to truthsayers.

Madoka saw herself cleaning the blood off from the road, the blood itself was the road. Homura stood over protecting her, lasgun in hand. Somehow Madoka wished more for the future in which they eloped to Salusa Secundus.

Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune I

Frogs go mlem mlem

Snakes go pbbppbpthpbthppth

Thanks for coming folks

Ginaz child song

Sayaka found the restaurant in a rundown neighborhood of Arrakis, this was far enough from the shrine of Leto, from Leto II’s citadel and construction projects. Inside the smell of spice attacked her nostrils, out of Arrakis spice would be used very sparingly in food, in Arrakis spice was rather common for food, Fremen cuisine had such large amounts of spice one had to remain grounded to reality itself to stay sane.

She sat at one of the tables, Sayaka took a date from a plate over the table, she found even this was spiced. Courtesy over a table was a sure sign that the owner of the establishment was not Arrakian, they had lived through such scarcity that no Arrakis business would give something for free unless it was charity.

Sayaka looked around, the waitress looked back, she bobbed her head once, Sayaka nodded. A few moments later Sayaka had a flat bread wrapping some spiced meat, it looked like a cigar.

“Can I order something else?” Sayaka asked to the waitress.

She smiled and chuckled “Burritos, spice beer and water, that’s all I sell”

Sayaka sighed and took a bite “I’ll have some water”

“That you’d need to pay upfront, 100 solaris for a glass” The waitress waved at a Fremen who had just sat down.

“What?! 100 for water?! How much is the food?!”

The waitress sighed “1 for a burrito 2 for a beer”

“How does that make any sense?! For all I knew I could distill the beer and drink that water”

The waitress shook her head “You have no idea how spice beer is made right? Seriously is that who they send for me? I was expecting more!” The waitress crossed her arms.

Now Sayaka started to notice a few things, this waitress looked too calm for such an environment, not out of apathy, she was aware of how many of her patrons were armed, she had received Sayaka as an important guest.

Sayaka noticed the shield generator at the waitress’ sleeve, even considering to attack would put this woman on edge. Sayaka instead started to eat “Bella knew you’d run if anyone else came”

The waitress relaxed “I’ll bring you a beer… I’ll tell you how it’s made after you eat”

Sayaka imagined something like the old processes to make sake, mikos chewing rice. The spice didn’t help. The image and the spice mixed in her head, she was aware the shrine was not there, but she could still see it. The blessing of the swords, this was not a genetic memory, this was not enough spice.

Sayaka was not the miko, her mother had forced Sayaka’s hand into a box that made her feel pain, in exchange she received a sword, she would have received it either way, but Sayaka would have been buried with it if she jerked away from the box.

Ginaz had adapted to the Bene Gesserit rather well, after all many forgotten techniques for weapons were perfectly remembered by Reverend Mothers who had actual memories from the times of old Terra. Sayaka’s sword was concealed under her robe, this was probably something this waitress had noticed, it was easy to hide it for the naked eye, not to another Bene Gesserit.

Sayaka waited until the restaurant was empty, it required hours but patience is a trait every member of the sisterhood had to learn. She left the solaris for her food over the table, then unsheathed her sword.

The waitress got out of the kitchen holding a spear. This was why this waitress wouldn’t run, it would be dishonorable to run from combat. Reverend Mother Bella knew that it required someone brash like Sayaka.

“Still the food is too cheap, and nobody here buys water” Sayaka’s sword had a slight blue tinge, ceramic, very light.

The waitress bowed “There are other ways to make money in Arrakis. The tyrant pays his bounties well”

“Miki Sayaka” She bowed, if two battlemasters of Ginaz fought it was customary to give their names, of course in a war nobody did, but in instances like this they followed tradition.

The waitress attacked, Sayaka moved out of the way though the spear detached into different segments linked with chain, the momentum hit Sayaka with the edge of the blade cutting deep into her chest.

“Sakura Kyouko” the spear became solid once more.

Sayaka started getting up, Kyouko was not expecting her to get up “Don’t push yourself, we can fight again when you are better”

Sayaka though was already getting better, the gash was quickly closing, until nothing remained.

Kyouko took a step back and readied herself. She wondered what monstrosity had the Tleilaxu done to Sayaka.

Kyouko’s spear wrapped around the sword, a tug was enough to break it, though just like Sayaka the blade fixed itself, it turned liquid and quickly made a new one. Kyouko dropped her spear, Sayaka stopped.

“Geez! What lab did you escape from?!” Kyouko smiled as Sayaka sheathed her blade again, then picked up the pieces that had broken, they had turned soft and gooey, Sayaka put them somewhere under her cape.

“Bella needs you. One of our acolytes got kidnapped by Count Walpurgis”

Kyouko picked up her spear and rested it on her shoulders “Send Mami then, she has you and she has Mami”

“Unless you want to wait for a ghola, an abomination named Charlotta took her out” Sayaka sighed “Or we wait until her daughter grows up and awaken those memories, but I doubt we have the time”

Midir the other half

Daiyousei, or better said, the fairy known as Daiyousei has a secret, a secret she keeps from everyone. Every time she feels down she goes home and dresses up as Kazami Yuuka, she curls her hair using rollers and puts on clothes exactly like hers, she flies around the house acting entitled and sits to have a cup of tea, then tosses the teacup on the ground and complains about the quality of it.

A few of those times she goes outside with some gold coins, gold coins she gets from Larva and expends them on flowers and desserts in the human village. It is not the fear humans show towards her, but the respect, the way they see her is entirely different. Even those who had dealt with Yuuka personally, such as Kasen or Reimu, do not notice the difference, of course they would not, there is no difference in their face, just the eye color, and even that is not entirely true. Daiyousei could also use magic to turn her eyes red, then her and Yuuka would look just the same, just as how Yuuka turned her eyes green at times to make herself look less intimidating, something that of course, did not work.

Nobody looked down on her, even when she was sitting down, physically people would not look at her directly unless she looked at them first. Daiyousei at first did it for just a few minutes, Cirno flew away scared the time she showed up dressed like that. Daiyousei was actually afraid someone would come to attack her, so she returned home and dressed again as herself.

Though with time, Daiyousei realized that she could go out dressed like that and nobody would even attempt to harm her. Suika or Yuugi had met her in that form, though when they tried to punch her in the shoulder “lightly” to test her strength all she had to do was glare at them with a serious expression. Even the big Deva of the mountain would prefer to laugh at their own actions than probably bothering the Sleeping terror.

She met Aya one day, taking pictures while she drank tea, Daiyousei boldly asked “How tall am I?”

“About 1.80m I imagine” she said then continued working, Aya did not lie, she indeed saw Yuuka as that tall, when in fact Yuuka was about as tall as Daiyousei. She did not even try to change her voice, she spoke normally, yet Aya did not hear any difference in the voice, even when Wriggle or Rumia told her that her voice was more acute than Yuuka’s.

Physically there was no difference between them both, Daiyousei had the same height, the same voice, the same hair, though people could not help it but think of Yuuka as an entirely different person. Daiyousei loved that feeling, not being Yuuka, but being respected, being treated with such care, she had to often overpay restaurants, her endorsement was more than what they could ask for.

After the fairy wars, Daiyousei felt particularly depressed, everyone had ignored her in the entire affair. She was just seen as another fairy while Cirno got all the attention. She wanted to be seen as someone important again, so she got dressed as Yuuka and walked out of her home to the human village.

She went and bought herself a big bouquet of flowers, so big that she even doubted she could carry it, of course she made sure to pay the florist well, after all she was not a thief, Yuuka may get mad at the idea of Daiyousei dressing up as her, but she would be livid to hear that she ruined her image.

An elven child approached Daiyousei and tugged at her skirt. She turned around to see him, then gave him a couple of flowers. Then continued without uttering a word, though he did not let her go. With tears on his eyes he dropped the flowers to kneel before her. “Please help me!” he cried out “We cannot stand it anymore, we need you!”

Daiyousei gave him a coy smile “Child I cannot answer every call for help I hear. There are more heroes around the area”

“None of them want to help us! They say they cannot face an army” He continued still kneeling “Please I beg you lady Brighid, we need you”

Daiyousei narrowed her eyes, nobody around here knew Yuuka’s actual name, much less pronounce it. She replied in sylvan “Kid, Derg should take care of your kingdom for all I care”

“We are not in his kingdom, our lord is dead, our land has been conquered and we had been enslaved by the undead”

Daiyousei wanted to help, but what could she do? Throw stones at the army? Blind them with a flash of light? Maybe make them trip with grass. “Accept your fate then child, I already have to take care of my own land” she turned around

“They said you would be afraid… The Litch King let me go, he said you would never come to face him” He said that in Sylvan, that language was odd, you could never lie in Sylvan, if you tried to the words themselves would not allow you to.

Daiyousei had been careful not to lie in Sylvan, she had to take care of her land, even if her land was just the small place, she called home. She shivered internally, and smirked at the kid with a prideful expression “That bastard thinks he can talk about me like that? Show me the way, carry my flowers”

The kid held the bouquet and guided Daiyousei out of Gensokyo, through Makai then towards a far away kingdom west from their home. One could not even call that land earth, this was a different world, even Daiyousei did not fully know how it worked, she just accepted the fact that there were other worlds.

The land was desolate, burned homes and starving farmers carrying stones to build a great wall. Daiyousei thought for a minute, of course she had to be careful because undead were hard to fool. After thinking of many plans, she decided on the most outlandish of them all, because it is exactly what Yuuka would do. She flew all the way up to the highest tower of the castle in which the undead army resided, and modified their flag using magic to have a green and red flag, with a yellow harp in the green side and a sunflower in the red side.

She then did the same with every flag and began ordering the farmers to stop carrying stones and tend to the gardens, the undead armies were baffled at the actions of this tiny woman, ordering their own slaves, completely ignoring them.

Daiyousei had to keep breaking so her nervousness would not show, luckily the undead who she was ignoring were more afraid of her than she was of them. They saw the flag; they recognized the symbols in the banner and the fact that she began treating this place as her own made them doubt their own orders and so they decided to run towards the castle.

“My leash our flags had been changed to the Dannan coat of arms!” They ran screaming to their master.

The undead necromancer tilted his head “What do you mean by that? Change them back!”

“Milord they had been changed by a fairy clad in red” they said “As red as her eyes” They could not refuse a direct order, though they knew changing the flag would put their master’s life at risk, that was their only fear.

The litch rushed out to a window and looked at the green and red banners flapping in the sky, then down at the farmers carrying soil and seeds, watering the fields. He rushed out to meet Daiyousei sitting calmly in the fields, overlooking the operation.

“Greetings good sir, sorry for the intermission but I consider such an insult to the land offensive in a personal degree. Thus I will be claiming this land as mine, any questions?” She turned to face him with a wide smile

“We leave your lands alone lady, let me grow my empire in peace we pose no threat to you” he said

She laughed “Yes but what you do to the earth is disgusting”

“Then we will make sure the land remains fertile, but we need protection, we need the souls of this farmers to survive. You know how cattle farming works; we can come to a compromise” He sat besides Daiyousei looking at the ground as he spoke.

“You had lands what happened to them?” She asked

“A demon army came and took it away from us, their capital was destroyed and thus they needed resources, resources they decided to take from us. We could not fight them back, so we conquered this place to claim it our own. I know you are reasonable lady; we ask to be allowed to live here if we can meet your demands”

Daiyousei waved away the king “Sir you had your chance and lost it, why would I buy the idea of a demon army anyway?”

The litch looked up, the purple lights in his empty sockets looked deep into Daiyousei “Because you are the one who destroyed their capital. But you do not know that…” He began to laugh

Daiyousei floated up laughing “I know that but why would I care?!”

The litch looked around “Moreover… I made a threat and your only response was laughter. I see it now, you are not Brighid, you are someone else”

She gulped, he used a dispel on her flight and made her plummet to the ground “So lady this is how it is, you are not the princess of the Dannan”

“I am a Dannan princess!” She yelled out loud “I am the eldest of the children of Dagda second king of the fairies, twin sister of Brighid herself. I am Midir and I will have no mercy upon you!”

He chuckled “I don’t need your mercy child, I know of you, the little disappointment of the Dannan family, the one who always lived in Brighid’s shadow”

“If you hurt me she will come back to do to you what you did to me tenfold”

“That is if she finds out” He laughed “But I guess she does not know you are here impersonating her, or else she would had not let you tarnish her image like that”

A stone was thrown at his head, three farmers then launched at him using their tools to attempt to hurt him. The king quickly killed them though this short distraction allowed Daiyousei to fly up again.

She then looked at the castle, its doors were opened, and under the throne a large trunk, she turned herself invisible and flew towards that trunk, she began hitting the lock with her umbrella, the lock was unscathed at the first hit, though the umbrella was not, of course not, it was a replica.

Daiyousei though took one of the wires from the umbrella and began picking the lock, she opened it to find a large skull filled with jewels on it, she punched it, then felt the pain of hitting precious stones with her bare hands.

She thought for a moment, then remembered something, fairy blood can heal, she used the same wire to sever one of her wrists and began to pour said blood upon the skull, a curdling scream came from the outside, the king rushed back inside, though he did not even manage to take more than two steps before his body began to decompose and turn to dust. Daiyousei turned visible again, her wound slowly healing, though she was too harmed to keep the illusion.

The guards inside the place looked at her and dropped their weapons, they rushed out screaming. It was already clear she was not Yuuka, but she had just killed their leader, self-preservation was the only thing driving them now, and Daiyousei was a threat to them.

The flags returned to their former dark colors, her eyes turned green again, she was drained. Outside the people began to cheer they poured into the castle and lifted Daiyousei up into the air cheering her name, her actual name.

II Feathered snake

It was a rather large dragon, white as marble and hair green and shiny with red tones. A water breathing dragon, as dangerous as a fire breathing one but a lot more reasonable since they found treasure in alliances and wisdom and not just gold like the others. I took out a small honey cake from my bag and left it in the ground before the dragon, he smelled it and licked it off. He was rather young, about twice my size, honestly, he could still eat me if he so wished but he liked the cake.

I didn’t speak Deva, neither he spoke Sylvan, there was a slight bow from his head, and I retorted, it was clear his intention wasn’t consuming me as a snack. Water dragons were rarely seen in this lands and the fact he didn’t speak Sylvan, like all dragons in the area was reason to believe he was traveling. He also carried a pouch, but it had almost no food, which made me realize his intentions, he didn’t want me to become his supper, but he needed help for it. I was running low on food as well, bread was beginning to get moldy since it was full of cream and eggs, I tossed it out, but the dragon found it to be quite tasty.

Even if I could explain that it was spoiled perhaps, he didn’t want to know, how bad was the food he ate if he considered a spoiled cake was good? Or how good was the food I ate? We stacked in berries and acorns, some squirrels he managed to catch became part of our goods, I skinned them and laid the meat as straps around his pouch so they could dry, I did the same with mine.

This young dragon never tried to attack me, so I kept the Suryan seal to myself. He invited me to ride on his back and fly across the sea, it was clear we both sought to do that, and neither could do it alone. He could soar through wind currents but the wind itself would prove dangerous in the open sea with no mountains to hold it. Swimming was not an option for him either, sea dragons are extremely territorial, they would tear him to pieces, same case as mine.

Though me as a fairy I could control wind, speak to it and make it carry us to any direction we wanted, this is the simplest of spells, so much so that even our children use it to fly, it comes to us as naturally as it does to dragons to spit water. But to fly in the open sea, for someone who can control wind is difficult since we are not large, we cannot pierce through the clouds and ride the wind, dragons do that, we float in the wind we create.

Many love the idea of riding a dragon, but dragons are not rides, I was allowed to do so because I would keep him on air, he needed me as much as I needed him, dragons only allow you to ride their backs if they receive something in return. Perhaps in modern times tales would tell I had a pet but in ancient times the tale would tell it the other way around, after all dragons were way more respectable than fairies, we were created to serve them but some of us escaped and hid in mounds. Wild fairies were seen as savage creatures and to be honest we didn’t make it any easier on them, I knew what dragon meat tasted like and probably this dragon knew it. I assume he didn’t try to eat me for the same reason I didn’t attack him either, we knew we had to work together to travel. I doubt I could had attacked him even if I wanted, later on he actually admitted he was afraid of me when we met, I reeked of blood and was covered in leaves, he was afraid I would vanish into the forest and hunt him down from there, he was amused I was afraid he would try to attack me too, after all it wasn’t cooperation, but fear that kept us safe from each other.

I Our skinned lord

Father told me the day I was born mother passed, he never told me she did it herself when she saw me. It was a blessing though, it allowed him to marry into the Dannan family, considering he was a simple fairy with a sick child, being married to Boann, younger sister of Nuada allowed us to become part of their family. He never stopped loving mother, in fact he never forgot her, he married because he wasn’t sure I would even be able to survive.

The moment I was born I cried and had to learn to live with the pain from that moment, the world’s mere existence, the wind, the sun was all pain to me. Mother could only last for three days after she gave up, father though, decided to raise me, he was unsure the small skinless baby would be able to even grow up to call him father, yet he tried. He held me in his hands so small that I would fit in them, gasping for air to cry, fully knowing the touch of his skin hurt less than the blankets.

Using his sorcery he made the worms produce a filament so thin, so strong it could make a strong fabric soft enough to hold me in without causing that much pain, he weaved it himself and wrapped me in it, the white fabric turned red the moment it touched me, but it was the first time I stopped crying.

Most of my childhood I expended indoors, reading along with father which made my brothers resent me. When left alone they wouldn’t waste a chance to simply spit on me, their saliva being particularly hurtful in my body. I learned later on that to make them stop I had to retaliate, Derg, my older brother had taken one of my notebooks and began to make fun of the way I write, how messy and bloody the pages were.

His mother tried to separate us, but she was thrown away by accident, something I never fully understood, had she tripped on me? Why was her arm bruised? One of the guards came and gripped me wrapping his arms around me, I tossed and turned, I kicked but ultimately, he had me. After cleaning Derg they were outraged at the fact that some of the blood that covered him was in fact his own.

Father tried to tell me why what I had done was wrong, it wasn’t about defending myself, it was about losing myself to rage. Apparently I had grabbed Boann by the arm and tossed her away, something she did not expect, Derg was in pretty bad shape too, we fairies heal quickly but he had sustained major hits, I expected that, he was younger than me but Boann?

It was worth the punishment, being locked away for a month did feel great, I had nobody to bother me, nobody to hurt me which to me was a reward. The same went with the rest of my brothers. Honestly, they could have retaliated, but Boann had made them promise not to try to harm me directly, which was why they were bothering me in the first place. Perhaps she would had chosen her words differently if she knew the outcome.

Boann was in any form of manner my mother, neither did she try to be, though she genuinely tried to maintain me in a rather safe environment, or what she considered safe to be honest. To avoid me the pain of going to war, she arranged a marriage with the Fomorians, that way I could remain neutral in the current conflict.

With father I found a way to cover myself with leaves, using them as skin of my own, it wasn’t as resistant, it hurts all the time, but it made the world more bearable. That made my late childhood a time I fondly remember, no fear of my brothers, no fear of touching anything. Which allowed me to go out more.

I loved going out to find new types of flowers and collect their seeds, categorizing them and writing about them in my own made up language. One day I found lotus flowers in a pond, something rare as I came to learn later, it was the first time I saw one of those, a miracle considering I was in a planet where there had never been a Lotus.

It was out here in the open for a reason, even when it shouldn’t be, it should have died in this environment yet there it was. I brought father to see the flower, he in turn brought Boann, they agreed my idea of going out to see the world was for the best, but they also handed me a seal of the royal Suryan family, this way I could act as an envoy and nobody would dare to attack me. Father crafted me a staff with copper casings on the edges, I was not old, or capable enough to gain my own weapon so this was the most they could do.

Father handed me a silk cape, which was already colored red, as all my clothes were so my own blood wouldn’t show as a stain. Still as a child but not old enough to gain my weapon I decided to leave and see the world, find a cure for my own illness or a way to survive.

I thought they had given me a great amount of food, later I learned all of it would quickly spoil, in fact Boann nor father expected me to actually leave. Knowing that out in the open I would just bait dragons I decided to travel through the forest, when it ended, I was met with the sea. I had never seen the sea, it was majestic but the wind it brought over made me feel particularly uneasy. I’d ride a kelpie to cross it but from old tale a kelpie would feel tired and fall asleep during the way, I wasn’t willing to become a fleshy bait in the sea either.

Tripura Bhairavi, Bright fairy princess

Their civilizations were at the brink of war, Brighid was one of the main pieces on said war, so was Rudra. They were enemies in many regards but they had decided long ago to remain friends at the personal level, they were born into their species for a reason and so they had a duty to ensure the best for each, there was nothing personal on their actions against each other. Brighid had promised to kill the Indra though Rudra would have done the same if placed in her situation, he often asked her for council, fully knowing her advice would affect her negatively she gave it honestly, so did Rudra. After all Rudra saw much of him in the fairy, more than what he saw in the other Mahavidya.

Brighid scared of death for the first time in her life asked Rudra for advice. Rudra the dark-skinned Deva, the pelts covering his body did not hide the fact that it was well toned and athletic. The strongest of the Mahavidyas, he had skill with fire that rivaled that of the Indra but his ability with wind was better than anyone, he could even summon wind in space, using dust as medium, his physical strength and skill in combat made him a great warrior, something he taught Brighid and in turn she taught to Amaterasu. He did not teach how to fight but how to develop your own form of fighting.

Seeing Brighid in fear was uncharacteristic, the woman named “Bhairavi” or the terror by Krishna, Rudra did not even doubt her capacity to dispose of the Indra, he knew she had not done it because without him the Suryan army would attack and they weren’t prepared for it. Rudra knew that whatever troubled Brighid he could help, if anyone could, it would be him.

“What troubles you sister?” Rudra said while she sat to rest on a rock.

“I am married to a man who takes pleasure in killing his wives. They made me vow to not harm him”

Rudra smiled “Is that everything? Remember that you are not a fairy with the power to destroy, we are not forces of nature but nature itself. Our magic is different from other Deva in that we do not absorb mana from the universe from our chakra, our chakras feed the universe”

“Yet my body is a vessel that can be broken” Brighid said, she had heard this before, she had even tested it and it was true, others could do cast stronger spells if she was around, they would be even stronger if they were in good terms with her. Derg usually could only cast minor illusions, though when she was around he could make it seem as if the illusion was real, if she were actively trying to help him the illusion did turn real.

“So is his, you promised not to harm his body, what about changing it?” Rudra laughed “They always forget something in those contracts”

Brighid remained silent for a moment, she then began to smile “Thank you brother” she then stood up and left.

It was not long after their marriage when Bres, her husband, did try to harm her. She was sleeping, he had tried to cut her throat, he even succeeded at it though he failed at actually taking her life. She woke up while her magic passively healed her wound, there was a wide smile on her face.

“I think you had suffered a great deal when a child for you to treat your loved ones this way” Brighid said “You could not have a childhood so here is my gift to you” she came closer while Bres shook in fear, he stumbled against the wall and closed his eyes, all while Brighid leaned forward and gave him a kiss.

He knew the kiss wasn’t it, the transition was not painful, not physically, he saw how his clothes began to grow along with everything else. He looked at the knife, too large for him to handle. Bres had become a child, though his expression became that of despair when Brighid spoke again “Eternal youth and eternal life!”

He was trapped in a child body, unable to harm anyone, even if he tried he couldn’t try to subdue Brighid any more than the wind subdues the grass. Bres took the knife and ran it through his throat, he though woke up a few minutes later alive, unharmed.

“That is not a gift! This is a curse!”

Brighid patted him on the head “Dear husband it is a gift, you will need time to appreciate it though”

When word came out of what Brighid had done the court slowly began to include her more and ignore her husband not out of respect but out of fear, none of them had any idea she could do something like that, before she had only used her spear and her ability which was already intimidating, though now they learned something else, her magic was powerful. Bres was not a simple prince, he was a powerful fairy whose magic could even control life, though to Brighid he was just a toy.

Elatha did not fear her though, he was the king of the Fomorians, Elatha found his son to have twisted ways and blamed himself for his atrocities. When he saw his son trapped, he thanked his new daughter, she had given him a punishment that to many would be a beautiful blessing, many complain about the pains of adulthood something Bres would not have to deal with anymore. So thankful he was that he promised a favor to Brighid, fully knowing what she would ask for, it was then when the Fomorians officially reunited with the Tuatha de Dannan. When they became an unified force that to the surprise of many lend their forces to work for the Deva.