Walking the streets of a former capital

[Summer]

In the blackness, visions. Silhouettes of those she recognized, faces turned away so she couldn’t see. Little but faint outlines in the dark. Voices drifted forth from the void. Voices she knew, vague and muffled, speaking words she couldn’t hear. Rin opened her mouth, desperate to speak, to call out and to be acknowledged, yet no words came. Cheery conversation, laughter, cut easily through the fog clouding her mind. Yet even still, she couldn’t understand.

A word, resolution, flowed from behind, followed by more laughter. A party, a bombardment of noise from the figures surrounding her on all sides. All turned away, yet all conferencing amongst themselves. Isolation. Even in the center, no one noticed her. Even as she desperately tried to speak, to cry out, to reach for them, anything. No acknowledgment. No sound. No movement.

A cold grip clasped her hand suddenly. Smooth like metal, and yet not. Rin’s mind jumped, even if her body couldn’t, as one of the silhouettes was just... There. Doremy? Recognition flashed in her eyes. Even if she could still only barely make out the outline, that hat was unmistakable. Still, no face. Was... Was this a prophetic dream? For a brief second, hope stirred in the Kirin’s heart. And then.

Something sharp pierced her hand, in all directions. Her eyes snapped open, a squeal flying through her lips, red-hot pain coursing through her arm. She lashed out instinctively, throwing her free hand across her body.

CLANG

Rin’s fist made contact, and immediately a whole new pain flared up. She scarcely noticed the cold bite letting up, nor the robotic yelp, as her eyes clenched shut. “Okay!” She cried out, voice echoing over the lonely landscape. She rolled over onto her side, body curling up as the Kirin nursed both of her hands. “Okay!” She shouted again, rolling from her side to her front, knees on the ground beneath her, forehead resting on the grass. “First a loss, then a nightmare, now this!?” She lamented, yelling indignantly into the uncaring earth. Her eyes opened, focusing right on the familiar ground beneath, the shock of it all wearing off somewhat quickly.

Flesh mended, bruises faded, and pain slowly ebbed away. The faux nurse shifted, lifting her body up, still sitting on her knees. Her eyes widened. From the familiar earth rose unfamiliar ruins. Strange buildings, constructs of stone rather than wood, towered around her. Half destroyed as though they used to be much larger. Through the wreckage, massive vines and towering trees twisted, grown into the foundation itself, and holding what remained in place.

“Oh...” Her voice, soft, fell over no ears. “Did I miss the apocalypse?” And then her tone was much the same as always, echoing into the empty city. Well, that was just fine. She was used to it anyway.

Rin planted her hands, no longer injured, onto the grassy ground. Her mind all clear once again, she pushed herself up, finding her feet. She dropped her eyes, scanning around, hoping to at least find her erhu. But first, a gleam caught her glance, and her gaze flicked over, settling on an animal-like shape lying on the ground. Like a fox. Except metal. And bigger. The Kirin’s first thought wasn’t ‘what is that’ or anything. Rather.

“Oh jeez I’m sorry!” Her heart skipped a beat, and she reached out an arm. “Oh no!” Her mind raced, and she whipped around. “Oh no I didn’t mean it!” She scrambled for her erhu, finding it nestled in the grass just feet away. “I got this I got this just please stay alive!”

 

[Yuuka Kazami]

The ringing in her ears wouldn't stop.

Lips curled up in a snarl, she clawed and wrenched her way out of the wreckage. Pain coursed through her body as she dragged her legs behind her, each limp and useless- the explosion hadn't been kind to her, in the infirmary. She didn't dare look back. For all she knew, one of those legs was totally gone.

It was illogical, and it was fallacious.

But the light in her eyes said it all-

I won't die. Not yet.

Maybe that was why the world around her melted away. Why what little logic and sense she'd had in the first place left her mind. Her senses failed her. There were no real thoughts in her mind, not anymore. There was only will to live left.

The world was blank, white, and soundless as she crawled onward- the only thing keeping her grounded the searing, pounding pain that smothered her like a blanket, seeping into her limbs like blood itself.

I won't just fade away.

-In her desperation, she was the most monstrous.

It was in this state that she found herself. Half-dead. No, more like mostly. Her uniform had been almost entirely shredded by the blast, and the rose-red blood that seeped from her wounds caused countless flowers to bloom in her wake as she slowly, slowly pulled her corpselike body forward. Her hair, singed and torn, blossomed profusely.

Unconsciously, her power leaked out into the world around her.

So no, she wasn't consciously chasing the sound of the erhu.

But she did slowly awake to its distant, healing melody- eyes still out of focus, hands still clawing herself forward, body still mostly torn apart.

Maybe the kirin hadn't had the displeasure of laying eyes on her just yet, too focused on the other thing she'd injured to bother looking in the direction of the mean-ass plant youkai dragging her way over there.

With a pained groan, her vision returned-

Red eyes seeming to glare daggers directly at Rin.