Kurai was used to walking her realm with Noise’s steady presence at her back
\n like a tether that kept her from flying apart from all the different directions
\n in which her land, her people, her responsibilities pulled her. But today
\n she walked the length and breadth of it alone. She did it to reminder herself
\n that she, and her land, and her people, were not part of Assiah though they
\n were so achingly close to it. Close enough that it rubbed against the softest
\n skin until it broke and bled. She did it to remember that they were not angels,
\n or demons—no matter how individual members might theorize or debate; that
\n they were their own, a people apart. The forgotten and despised children
\n of God. <\/p>\n
\nIt was the Witch’s shattered realm that eventually drew her—with all its psychic
\npain and loneliness like a blackened mirror for her own. <\/p>\n
\nShe stood where she had stood that first time, the first time she had fallen through
\nits silver borders. The first time she had seen Anthy as she really was, or was
\nmeant to be. Kurai knew the Great Angels, lords of Hell, Lucifer and the Messiah,
\nand knew a fair number of their psychic reflections, but she had not—at least
\nnot yet—meet anything like Witch. Or like Utena.\n<\/p>\n
Kurai placed her hands against the smooth dome of silver and leaned her forehead \nAnd it wasn’t fair that she would fall in love, with one or both of them, when It just wasn’t fair<\/em>. She wanted to know when she would find someone \n"One thinks that one’s lord’s Royal Wife is somewhat … distressed," \nKurai looked up to where se sat, lounged insolently really, on a twisted tree \n"Is it not enough that perhaps one wished to look upon Her Majesty’s beauty \nKurai made a face. "I’m not beautiful."<\/p>\n \n"Oh, there you are very wrong." Hatter appeared before her. Clasping \n"Stop it!" Kurai smacked hir fingers away. "Stop it…" <\/p>\n \nHatter might have been angered and offended had it not been for the naked pain \n"You don’t love me, or think me lovely, Hatter-san. You never have," \n"This one does not always lie, Kurai. This one is honest and tells the truth Hatter placed one hand upon the border of the other realm thoughtfully. It \n"What are you then, and what is our little Queen to you?" Se asked.\n<\/p>\n \nFor a moment se saw the image of a girl with wild purple hair and emerald, inhuman Mine <\/em>\n<\/p>\n ~~~<\/p>\n \n It had not been one of her wiser ideas, Kurai determined in retrospect, plunging \n Witch’s realm was one of psychic eminenations. A maelstrom of seething emotions \n She was rocking on the barren ground, hands pressed so hard against the sides \n "You should have run from the swords."<\/p>\n \n Kurai resisted the urge to check herself for wounds. Somehow she knew that \n Witch shook her head. Pulling away from Kurai’s grasp she walked a little \n It was the same answer that she had been given before, but now it made more \n Witch turned back to her. They were so close that whispers sounds like ringing \n The air shivered around them, hinting at the return of the maelstrom. "We’ll \n Witch’s smile bloomed, blazing and fierce. It was the last thing that Kurai \n She went to stand next to Mad Hatter, who glanced inquiring down at her. Kurai is depressed and Hatter is curious.
\n against it, careful to avoid thinking about going through<\/em> the silvered
\n glass-like stuff.\n<\/p>\n
\nshe couldn’t have one or both of them. Just like last time—just like Setsuna.\n<\/p>\n
\n who loved her the way Setsuna loved Sara or Utena loved Anthy. Because she
\n was tired of being in love, when no one loved her back.\n<\/p>\n
\nMad Hatter commented, hir voice sliding through the darkness like whiskey through
\nrich coffee. <\/p>\n
\nbranch that she was fairly positive had not existed there moments before. "Hatter-san,"
\nshe sighed resignedly. "What do you want?"<\/p>\n
\nand spend pleasant moments in her company?" Hatter asked sweetly. Cocking
\nhir head to one side she managed to look both coquettish, innocent, and sly. <\/p>\n
\nher chin with two fingers, se stared into Kurai’s black and silver-blue eyes.
\n"Her Majesty is quite lovely, and will only grow to be more beautiful with
\ntime."<\/p>\n
\nand distress on Kurai’s face. So se dropped hir hand without further comment as
\nse waited for the inevitable explination. Kurai wrapped thin arms about herself
\nand looked away.<\/p>\n
\nshe said without looking at her shadowed companion. Hatter’s face was unreadable.
\n"It was only ever a pretty lie to get the promise that you got." Kurai
\nturned to lock eyes with Hatter, and despite the tears her face was hard. "You
\ncan stop lying to me now."<\/p>\n
\nwhen it needs to be said—and you are lovely…" Hatter stopped as Kurai
\nshook her head violently, denying all se said. Se was not, perhaps, entirely sure
\nwhat se would have said to Kurai, to make her believe. But it did not matter.
\nStill shaking her head, and not looking at the demon, Kurai turned and plunged
\ninto the swirling silver mists.\n<\/p>\n
\n hardened underneath hir fingers, and se got the very clear sense of no<\/em>.
\n Se could probably force hir way in, but it was not hir way to do so. Se cocked
\n hir head to one side.\n<\/p>\n
\neyes in a dirty and torn smock. Hir eyebrow arched. The girl mouthed only one
\nword to hir.\n<\/p>\n
\n into the silvered mists that were steadily encroaching into her territory.
\n But she had to get away from the Mad Hatter and all the pretty lies that
\n simply were not true, no matter how much she wanted them to be. Ever since
\n Setsuna had gone back to Assiah the weight of those lies—the ones she had
\n told herself, the ones other people like Akane had told her—pressed against
\n her until parts of her cracked from the strain. <\/p>\n
\n that shivered and changed, nearly physically tangible things that could rip
\n and tear. It was an unsettling place to be even when Kurai was able to control
\n herself, but when she was feeling shattered and beyond all protection it
\n was unbareable. Emotions like shining lances, like glistening swords, speared
\n her. Cut her open and left her to bleed.<\/p>\n
\n of her head that her ears rang, trying to block out all the endless screaming
\n that was as much her own as it was the the centuries of bottled emotions
\n left in this place to howl. Kurai had the disconcerting feeling of falling
\n and the sound of rushing wings. Then gentle fingers that were cold to the
\n touch pried her hands from her head. Witch knelt next to her, emerald eyes
\n bemused.<\/p>\n
\n nothing here could hurt her body unless she believed it could. Rather than
\n being reassured by the thought, she was terrified. She gripped Witch’s slender
\n arms. "Where are we?"<\/p>\n
\n ways away from the kneeling Dragon Queen and stared out at the endless horizons.
\n "We are in the place inside my head that is larger than the place outside
\n of it."<\/p>\n
\n sense—and less. Kurai stood up slowly, as if pushing through heavy water.
\n As she stood the decision she had start to make when she first stared into
\n Anthy’s strangely hopeful eyes clarified and solidified. "Come away
\n from here."<\/p>\n
\n bells, too loud, too likely to be heard. "Would you lead me from here?"<\/p>\n
\n lead each other."<\/p>\n
\n saw before the darkness claimed her and the rushing wind. When she awoke
\n Noise was peering down at her with anxious concern. Past her worried retainer
\n she spotted Mad Hatter who was staring not at her, but at the opalescent
\n dome of Witch’s domain. Kurai sat up, everything in her body screamed in
\n protest, but her head felt strangely clear. As if she had been cleansed of
\n the paralyzing depression. In its place was a hard determination. <\/p>\n
\n Without saying a word Kurai placed her hand against the silvered surface
\n and thought: "Soon." It was enough.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"