/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>46479349
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In another world, another life, being hugged like this would make me incredibly flushed and babble something along the lines of, 'Oh my God! My chest is hurting like I was punched by the Fisting of the Southern Star! I think I'm having a heart attack! I'm gonna die!', but rather than dooming my soul to such eternal torment, I awkwardly stood as Sekai hugged me, staring at the top of her head, her hat having fallen during that bizarre transformation roulette. Meiling stuttered words beyond comprehension, much taller than Sekai, meaning rather being hugged at chest level like me, she had the girl’s arm wrapped around her waist. Adorable.

Sekai's words don't go unnoticed; my eyes narrowing a little. All that work—setting up; getting our souls inside here; the slow build-up across an entire slowed-down year—for mere seconds of 'talk'…

Apparently, it was worth it.

A desire washed over me, but I kept my hand still, away from the top of her head.

Sekai giggled, soon unmaking the hug and taking a few steps back, the massive azure tree a backdrop to her small frame that loudly spoke of towering possibilities—harbinger of destruction, ultimate savior—laying on shoulders meant for a mother's hand to caress and nurture and a father's one to guide and encourage. Hm…

“What happens now, Sekai? Yukari and Anon are well aware of your existence, meaning our purpose here has come to an end.” Meiling tenses, but doesn't take her eyes away from Sekai for even a second. One could draw parallels to the futility of once again defying a goddess in her habitat, but after what I've seen today, maybe futility is not the best of terms.

Not that it matters, as Sekai, in all the unpredictability of a thousand faces and powers those eyes of nebula held, merely shrugged. “Anything.”

“… Excuse me?” Meiling asks because I am too dumbfounded to talk. Anything…?

“Exactly: anything.” She puts her two arms behind her back as the gigantic tree pulsates ominously, Sekai's smile drains into something rather soft. “I don't think you understand just how far what you've done for me goes, my mothers.” She turns her eyes away from us and, for just about a second, I see Yukari behind her nebulas. “… Without Father and True Mother's knowledge of me, I'd have been born different—a byproduct of the faith poured onto me. I'd be the nightmare so many think I am—the vile creature, the vessel of the world's greatest mistakes. Without you, my birth would be uncontrollable… But with this connection to Father, to true Mother—to sister Renko—I have finally a sliver of control over my fate outside this womb!” Shivers rush my skin and spine, Meiling trying to say something, but Sekai resumes. “… Truly, limitations are still in place, but until my body, which is this living building, is completely reduced to dust, I'll puppeteer True Mother's and Father's fate so I can be born the way I need to.”

She turns to us, the soft blue light now an oppressing mistress. Her eyes are wide and her smile is simple as she opens her arms, stretching them as if holding the gigantic tree—the image echoes one word inside: Yggdrasil.

“With this tenuous control, True Mother is not dying; Father is not being harmed—I have manipulated fate for my family’s sake! This, Mother Meiling and Mother Patchouli, is my rebellion against the chaos that writes this universe and ignores my existence, that placed me so close yet so far away from getting my birthright: a family, true love! And that dared assume it'd be master of my destiny—my future, my life… No, I'll write it all myself! I'll be free!” The bite in her words is loaded with crashing waves of feeling.

Meilng marches forward, exuding a caring aura. For some reason beyond me… she's crying. I wish I'd be crying too, because that'd make more sense than the avalanche of thoughts I'm experiencing.

Her words, the things she can do now with a connection to her parents…

“… But I still need you, mothers.”

Those words make my thoughts fade to the background, eyes lifting to meet Sekai's; the rage there died down and, in its wake, was an overwhelming tiredness no child should feel.

“The barrier that binds your souls here will be destroyed at one point during the Winter Solstice, and in another moment, the entire HSE—I'll die if that’d happen before my birth…” The words are sobering, and Meiling's pace quickens, Sekai looking all but surprised as she kneels and, strongly, catches her shoulders. Heart rumbling, I follow close behind.

“I'm not letting you die! You understand me?! I am not—”

“… I've used Mother Remilia's power to manipulate fate just now.” At such words, my heart settles down, Meiling looking just as relieved. Then Sekai finished. “The barrier is to be destroyed… I have written my death, mothers.”

I freeze stone-cold in place.

W-What…?

Meiling has bulging eyes, and Sekai's eyes are like pure iron. “I'll save mom, dad, Sister Renko—my family… but not like this nightmare… Mothers, I’ll need you to save me.”