Co-written with Zeni
Night One: Onboard the Cassandra The Great, Imperial Flagship of the Invasion Fleet,
She didn't know how long it has been since they left her there to burn....minutes? hours? days? Every tortuously agonizing moment felt like an eternity as her body was incinerated in the fiery black flames of purified yaoi energy, her vampiric regeneration barely keeping up, all the while keeping her from dying and ending the pain once and for all. The yaoi-fangirl-ification dark-energy generator has lived up to its name...and then some. How ironic that it was built using reverse-engineered Crimson Moon technology.
Any sane person would have lost their mind within minutes in the intense blaze of unadulterated yaoi energy. Zeni didn't, however....partly because her mind was already fractured in three with one part of it already purely insane anyway....and partly because there was one raging, half-insane thought that gave her a purpose and kept her, in her entirety, going....
...it was the thought of her sister....and her (latest) betrayal...
Curse her! CURSE HER!
She didn't know how long ago it was. It had started as a relatively normal day. The twins had decided that a day out in the commercial district was in order upon finishing their term exams.
They had settled on eating popcorn in the local mall....or rather, Eterna had settled on it and dragged her sister half-screaming for an extra-large bowl of the rancid cardboard-tasting rubbish.
Just as Eterna finished force-feeding Zeni her first bite, it happened.
A violent tremor coursed through the entire building before the roof suddenly gave in under the force of an inconceivably huge explosion.
The conditioned reflexes of that part of her she just could never rid herself of, her Executioner self, immediately thought, 'Command Directive, Protect the Innocent, Punish the Guilty.' Her human side seconded the imperative, 'we've got to protect those people!'.
"Eterna! Blood Fortress Omega, now!" Zeni shouted, offering her hand to her sister...
...which she did not take.
"Eterna! Stop daydreaming! We need to activate the blood fortress, n-" Realization struck her as, in perfect slow-motion, her world grinded to a halt as a haze of darkness fell over her vision and mind. The last thought that went through her dimming mind was '...Eterna....how could you....with popcorn no less....'
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Zeni felt a dull throbbing in her head as she slowly came to. Before she opened her eyes she decided to test her limbs to confirm her suspicions. Arms? Legs? Yep, she was perfectly immobilized by what seemed like metal fetters in what she assumed was a crucified position. Now she could feel safe in the knowledge that she may expect the very worst when she opened her eyes.
'I hate it when I'm right...' She sighed as she opened her eyes blearily to find herself in a cylindrical metal chamber, surrounded by four figures dressed in black.
"Oh, she's awake." a familiar voice noted. Zeni recognized it instantly. It was the voice of her treacherous twin sister. "Please leave us for a moment. I will join you on the bridge momentarily."
"You two go on ahead." Another dark-clad figure said. Yet another familiar voice... "I and Zeni have plenty to catch up on..."
"...GrandMaster....why am I not surprised...?" Zeni sighed wearily as the double-plated blast doors to the chamber shut noiselessly behind the two retreating figures.
"It has been a while, Zeni." The Grandmaster smiled a weary, yet sympathetic smile. "I suppose we owe the fortune of our meeting to the services of your dear sister." She gestured over at Eterna.
"....I have nothing to say to her." Zeni muttered.
"I won't try and justify my actions, sister." Eterna sighed. "I can only apologize. But this attack was not entirely unprovoked. The uneasy peace we've had so far was breached by none other than an anti-yaoi assault from the other side. They've been launching skirmish after skirmish at our holy works.....and I cannot stand by and watch our sisters suffer. An eye for an eye."
"....give me back my sister, Dark!Eterna..." Zeni glared down in reply.
"Think what you will." Eterna shrugged. "The Empress herself has offered to reinstate you and return you to your former position in our ranks. You will, as before, report directly to her and will be given full autonomy in pursuing the interests of the empire."
"Ok." Zeni answered without a moment's hesitation.
".....off course, the Empress isn't that foolish. She knows how cunning and wily you are and has decided to take precautions. You will be granted her merciful grace by virtue of this machine."
"....what machine?"
"You're in it."
"...ah..." Zeni gave the metal chamber a quick scan. Nothing remarkable.
"...Up." Eterna hinted.
Zeni looked up. And she didn't like what she saw...
...it looked like a huge alien ray gun, grossly blown out of proportion. "Let me guess, it's a variation on the yaoification cannon?"
"We know that doesn't work on you." Eterna said. "So we reinforced it with Crimson Moon technology to produce ultra-refined yaoi energy. We call it the Yaoi-Fangirl-Ification machine."
"....I can see your lame naming sense still holds strong, GrandMaster." Zeni remarked, trying to seem calm and collected, though the slight tremor in her voice gave her away. She had only been exposed to near-purified yaoi energy once during the Halloween incident and she barely survived.
"To put into perspective for you, Haruhi only managed to withstand the effects of the ray for 4 seconds on its lowest settings. She is now a proud high-ranking member of the imperial forces." The GrandMaster said. "Just for you, we will let you experience the full potential of this glorious advancement in yaoi-tech. Try not to die within the first second, ok?"
"Good luck, Sis." Eterna nodded encouragingly. "We'll be monitoring your conversion. Once you're 100% converted to our cause you will once again be a proud commander of her imperial majesty's forces."
"Oh, whoopee for me..." Zeni sighed as the two left the chamber and sealed the door behind them.
No amount of preparation could have prepared her for what came next. The jolt was probably enough to reawaken her Crimson Moon ancestors. Her entire mind was drowned in an oblivion of fierce and unadulterated pain...
...which lasted almost an entire week until one day...
...She didn't know how she had managed to do it. There she was, lying on the cold stainless steel floor outside that accursed chamber, wheezing and panting weakly, her burned lungs gasping painfully for fresh air. The chamber's metal doors had sailed straight across what seemed like a huge warehouse-like room containing the machine, straight through what looked like a safety-glass-covered control-room overlooking the entire warehouse.
Thankfully the flying door seemed to have killed whatever fail-safe alarm system they had installed.
She didn't know how she did it. She was literally at her wit's end when it happened. Her bindings became surprisingly loose...and before she knew it she had ripped the crucifix off its base with her arms and tossed it with every ounce of force she had left at the door...which promptly gave way, causing a huge blast of energy from inside the chamber to propel her right out of the chamber and into a roll across the cold steel floor.
She slowly tested her limbs...and found, quite to her dismay, that she couldn't move her lower limbs at all. She could still distinctly sense them, however, and the dull throbbing numbness coursing up through them. Thankfully her upper limbs were very much intact and functioning. She raised one up in front of her face for visual inspection.....and found to her surprise a small, rather pudgy child's hand greeting her, one fit for a five year old.
...So that's how she got loose....her body must have shrunk...
She could faintly recall a fail-safe mechanism installed in her body to deal with extreme damage. It had something to do with reducing her body size to better conserve metabolic output and concentrate resources on recovery...
...Wait, she's been LOLIFIED?!
Great....now how on earth is she supposed to escape with no legs and a shrunken body?
Well, she could rely on her vampiric regen to rectify the situation soon. For now, she had to escape.
Gathering what little physical and mental faculties she had left, she heaved herself onto her front and began to drag her limp body across the freezing cold floor towards the remains of the control room. She could think about solutions when they presented themselves to her. For now she had to make progress with escaping.
After a tedious journey across half the length of the warehouse she finally managed to pull herself up the steps to the control room...which turned out to be more of a research lab. Thankfully it was quite empty. It seems they had decided to just leave everything to the computers. Yippeee for automation.
Her attention was immediately drawn to a very ornate wooden frame bearing a beautiful and elegant black dress uniform, laced in silk and silver lining, edged with the finest velvet and tailored to utter perfection. So they really were intending on making her rejoin their ranks. The nostalgia almost brought her to tears. It was a perfect replica of her old dress uniform from the time she served in the realm of fangirls, far before the time it fell to the yaoist scourge. It had obviously been tailored to fit her exact measurements....or at least, her measurements before she had shrunk.
...which brought her attention back to her current predicament. Her vampiric regen should have fixed the problem by now. Or....was her body that badly toxified and damaged? That it was beyond her vampiric regeneration's repair?
The thought filled her with dark despair. There would be little chance of escape for her....and even if she did manage to escape, what then? She would be of little use to TFF. No place would be safe. And she wouldn't be able to defend herself if circumstances demand it. Was there a life to expect beyond this with her body as it was?
Tears welled up in her eyes. All strength and forbearance left her. There really was nothing left for her. Her last remaining relative had betrayed her. And the world had no need for a crippled Executioner, a weapon without an edge. Was this it? She slumped down onto the cold grated floor as her tears disappeared under the metal grating.
"Hello there? Is there someone there?" She heard a voice. Perhaps it was one of the yaoists? Well, at least they can dump her back in that machine and be done with it. She was already half-wishing she hadn't escaped in the first place.
"You there? You don't look like one of them. Could you please let me out of here?" It was a male voice, quite gentle and flowing, yet strong and confident.
Zeni slowly looked up to come face to face with a young, silver-haired man in a neat crisp suit. He was watching her intently through a pair of smart spectacles, a glitter of hope in his eyes. A forcefield barrier stood between them, keeping him confined to a cell of sorts.
"...very well then." Zeni said before heaving herself painfully towards the panel controlling the cells' forcefields. It was a ways taller than she was, however. But thankfully there were many robotic arms attached to the ceiling, perhaps to aid in experiments. She summoned a small bit of mana around her index finger and spun a 'thread of fate' around one of the robotic arms and, with the dexterity fitting for a puppeteer, manipulated the robotic arm into operating the panel. Thankfully there was no password protection and the forcefield lifted itself without much trouble.
"Thank you very much." The man said with earnest gratefulness as he drew himself to his full height and strode out of the cell. Zeni noted how his head almost brushed the ceiling of the small cell. He was certainly disproportionately tall. "I believe they were planning on making me another one of their yaoi pets. I still shiver at the very thought. For a true gentleman lives only in the service of good ladies." He said, straightening his already crisp tie.
'...he must be some sort of idiot...' Zeni sighed inwardly.
"Well then, shall we begin our escape, kind lady? I assume escape is on your itinerary too?" The man offered. "My name is Justice, by the way."
"...no." Zeni decided after a moment's thought. "I would rather die here. I have...nothing left."
"Nonsense. You still have your life, do you not?" Justice pointed out.
"And what can I do with it? I'm paralyzed from the hips down and I can no longer fight. The one person I hold dear has betrayed me. I'd rather die than survive and be a burden, to be a fragile bit of luggage to be protected by others." Zeni muttered.
"That's not true. You wouldn't be a burden. You just saved me, didn't you?" Justice asked, kneeling before her.
"And I'm happy I was able to help at least one person." Zeni said. "But there's nothing left for me out there. Good luck with escaping."
"Unfortunately I won't be able to escape by myself, kind lady." Justice sighed. "My strength barely matches that of their weakest minions. I would be walking to my death out there. Thus I wish for more of your help."
"....me? Help?" Zeni scoffed. "The best you can do with me is toss me at them and hope I may distract them for a bit."
"No...rather, I will carry you...and you will use your magic to get us out of here. I believe you used magic earlier to move that robotic arm, no?"
"....oh...that...but I don't think my more powerful spells are still usable...but..." A sudden thought struck her. "Wait...If I use my puppet-manipulation skills on you....you'll have all my strength, and then some...."
"May I have your name, kind lady?" Justice asked, offering his hand to her.
"Zeni. My name is Zeni." Zeni smiled as she took the proffered hand as her usual expression of airy confidence once more graced her face.
"Very well then, Lady Zeni. I, Justice, owe you my life and freedom, and thus shall henceforth be thy humble servant."
"I-I don't need you to be my servant. I'll help you escape and..." Zeni began, blushing hotly as Justice scooped her up into his arms.
"No, I insist. Besides....you need a body to continue on fighting and living, right?" Justice winked. "My mistress, I shall be thy body for thy life, thy shield to protect thee from harm, and thy sword to smite down thy foes."
"...." Zeni couldn't help but smile a small smile. "Thank you, Justice....to show you my appreciation, I promise I will do my very best by your side."
"...."
"Before that, can you get me clothed?" Zeni asked.
"Excuse me, m'lady?" Justice raised an eyebrow.
"....in case you haven't noticed, you're holding a naked loli in your arms." Zeni said, matter-of-factly.
"....point well noted, m'lady." Justice nodded.
.........
After about half an hour of watching a dress uniform tumble inside a washing machine at maximum heat settings....
.......
"Perfect!" Zeni declared triumphantly as Justice raised her up to a mirror to allow her to inspect her new garbs. The dress unform had shrunk to a perfect fit in the washing machine and now fitted her snugly like a glove. Why there was a washing machine conveniently placed there was anyone's guess...
"Now....we need a weapon..." Zeni noted. "...but before that...." Zeni looked up at her newfound servant. "...err...could you please not carry me by my shoulders like that?"
"How should I carry you, m'lady?" Justice asked.
....
"Like this." Zeni said, sitting on Justice's left forearm, resting her back against his chest. "Now, inspect those storages over there...I have a feeling there will be conveniently-placed plot-device experimental weapons stored there ready for our use."
"And behind door number 1...." Zeni announced as Justice opened the first door, "...a broomstick..."
A number of succesive doors yielded a yellow scooter, a pair of x-ray goggles, a baseball bat with nails in it, a toy hammer, an over-sized plasma cannon, an 16th century cannonball cannon, a cat, an avalanche of popcorn, before.....
....
"I like this one." A smile slowly widened across Zeni's visage.
"....but...mistress...." Justice began. "...it's...a guitar."
"Correction. It's an electric guitar, my dear Justice." Zeni said. "Pick it up."
"But....how do we fight with a...."
"We're about to find out." Zeni said, pointing out a convenient horde of yaoibots entering the room, presumably for a rather belated inspection. "And off course, as plot device weapons go, the inexperienced user gets to kick plenty of ass on his first try...." She said as she raised both hands. Small orbs of mana gathered around each finger as 'threads of fate' slowly spun out to attach to Justice's limbs. "...let's...RUMBLE!"
KABOOOM....
CRASH....
"...M'lady...?" Justice asked as the two flew in a wide arc across the corridor outside.
"Be quiet for a moment. This is rather complicated." Zeni muttered as she pulled another random thread...this time causing Justice to sommersault in mid-air into landing on his head...
"...M'lady, I believe we should just try and escape...." Justice said, rubbing a bump on his head as he picked up Zeni from where she lay upside-down against the wall.
"Nonsense." Zeni muttered, reactivating her threads of fate. "I know I haven't done this in a while....but I'm sure I'll get a hang of it soon." Zeni said, manipulating Justice into facing the oncoming horde. "Now...URYAAAAAAAAA!" She yelled as Justice launched forwards, guitar raised. With a deft, powerful swing, he managed to land a strike on the frontmost yaoibot's head...
...which barely shuddered under the assault...
A brief silence filled the corridor as both sides watched the shuddering guitar with ernest interest.
"Oh?" Zeni noticed a red chord dangling from the electric guitar. "...what happens when I pull...." She pulled the chord.
A loud, menacing screech came forth from the guitar as a multitude of small, rapidly spinning blades burst forth from within, straight into the yaoibot's metal plating, cutting straight through and eliciting a painful screech of tortured metal. Smoke and steam wafted up as the metal practically melted under the heated blades.
"...." Justice and Zeni looked at one another, just as the yaoibots looked at its stricken comrade before looking up at the one responsible....
"RETREAT! RETREAT!" The yaoibots chirped in unison as they drunkenly whizzed back up the corridor in the opposite direction.
"...."
One yaoibot came nervously back, sweeped up the remnants of its stricken comrade, before rushing off once more.
"...that was easy..." Zeni smiled. "We make a good team, Justice."
"Indeed, M'lady." Justice smiled encouragingly back as the chainsaw blades slid back into the recesses of the guitar.
A menacing shadow suddenly loomed over the victorious duo.
"...don't turn around..." Zeni hissed. "If we turn around, it'll attack us. If we don't, it might go away..."
"....what if it doesnt' go away, m'lady?" Justice hissed back.
The two sighed before looking around....only to find a huge plague carrier yaoibot towering over them, with the army of yaoibots that retreated earlier clustering around behind it.
"....run..." Zeni breathed.
And the two ran...
A few minutes of haphazard running later....
An explosion on one side of the ship spat out two incandescent figures into the darkness of the upper atmosphere...
"Why'd you have to run into the knights' changing room?!" Zeni shouted over the roar of the explosion.
"...b-but...m'lady...you were controlling my body..." Justice protested weakly as the two entered free fall. The wind whistled past their ears, whipping repeatedly at their clothes as they plummeted earthwards towards the light-webbed cityscape below.
"Behind us...." Zeni muttered, climbing onto Justice's back and hanging on tightly onto his neck as an entire platoon of winged warrior yaoi fangirls and their yaoibot minions flew down in pursuit. "They're firing at us!" Zeni shouted, pulling the chord on the electric guitar once more. This time, a blaze of light enveloped the body of the guitar, forming what looked like a scythe. "COME ON!" Zeni roared. With surgical precision, Justice's arms raised the guitar up and deflected the oncoming bullets.
"They're coming!" dozens of warriors charged down towards them, discarding their rifles in favour of blades of various description. Zeni and Justice only barely managed to deflect each charge, being entirely incapable of evasion in their weightless state of free fall. The warriors circled around after each charge, systematically timing their attacks to allow no time for respite for the desperate duo.
"No...MORE!" Zeni declared, tired of the incessant barrage, pulling on the electric guitar's chord once more. A set of letters dashed across a convenient analogue display on the guitar's body.
"What does it say?!" Justice shouted over the roar of the wind around them.
"LOVE-Sign....MASTER....SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK!" Zeni roared as little flecks of light gathered around the tip of the guitar.....before a disproportionately huge beam of light exploded out into the dark sky, subsequently lighting it up with the fireballs of many fiery explosions as Justice dragged the beam in a horizontal streak across their oncoming targets.
"Well done, M'lady!" Justice shouted over the dull roar of the explosions above.
"Wait! What's that!" Zeni shouted as a shadow came plummeting down towards them.
"It's that robot from earlier, m'lady!" Justice shouted back as the charred remains of the plague-carrier yaoibot came down towards them. "....there are words dashing across its chest display..." He noted.
"Let's see...." Zeni said as she began reading the words. "...Self-destruct activated...if you can read this you are....too close..." Zeni finished. "Oh, that's nice of them, giving us a warning like that...."
....and the sky lit up with one more, rather brilliant, fireball. The two small specks of dust that it spat out were rather insignificant in comparison and almost passed unnoticed....
Night One, TFFA City, Commercial District, 10:00 PM
"Come on, you fuckin' hosers! It's GAME TIME!!" a demonic enraged hockey-nut in red roared at a horde of 'sharp'-looking individuals. And then, rather abruptly, she made a deft swing with her stick...and almost instantly a burning, melting puck was shuddering in the brickwork an inch away from Xaosite's head.
"....whoah, there, friend." Xaosite smiled. "I personally believe in fortune in chance meetings so you may feel at ease."
"That's lousy reasoning there...'friend'." Legacy-ko replied without lowering her hockey stick. "Sneaking up on me like that will only lead you to a slow, painful, and definitely embarrassing death."
"...don't I know you? Hmm...you seem to remind me of an old friend..." Xaosite began. But before he could continue....
Another explosion in a nearby street heralded the arrival of yet another party of retreating yaoists. Unfortunately, the aforementioned 'thorny jerks' were sitting right in the middle of their retreat route. The meeting of the two groups wasn't a pretty one.
"Ouch...ok, there WASN'T much fortune in THAT chance meeting...." Xaosite winced in sympathy, watching as the yaoist zombies impaled themselves on the nasty-looking thorns.
"Oh, how convenient...." Vex observed, spinning yet another lamppost he had obtained on the way across his shoulders before planting one side of it firmly into the asphalt.
"This is not all too sporting, is it?" Serena muttered as her armoured boots kicked up sparks as she screeched to a halt in her pursuit. "What fun is there in slashing that pathetic lot up?"
".....well...just BECAUSE they are a pathetic lot, perhaps? And besides, slashing is fun, no matter what you slash..." Vex shrugged.
"Let's just clean this up and get on with it." Lyon said, reloading and cocking her handguns. "We still have a ways to go, don't we?"
"...perhaps we won't have to. My sensors are picking up two incoming heat sources, one heading straight for....ah, I would advise all present to step back a little..." Rijin said, taking 10 huge cyborg strides backwards.
Everyone present, including Xaosite and Legacy-ko, promptly heeded the warning and took many generous steps backwards.
And sure enough, a timely flaming fireball came blazing down straight towards the center of the mass of yaoists....
...and what happened next could easily be described in terms of blast radius. Thorns and meaty bits flew out in every conceivable direction, smashing through the surrounding buildings.
"....That couldn't have been nice..." Legacy commented from the comfort of the recesses of their shared body as Legacy-ko wiped slime off her eyes and mouth.
"Don't make me come in there and slap you...." Legacy-ko muttered as she spat goo out of her teeth.
"Are we there yet?" Xaosite asked from behind the shelter of Legacy-ko's broad hockey suit.
"You creep! How dare you stay dry at my expense!" Legacy-ko yelled at a rapidly retreating Xaosite.
"More importantly...what was that? Another attack?" Serena asked.
"Doubt it. That one had no purpose and was too poorly aimed." Ray said, pointing out the smoking crater left behind by the explosion that had blown the remaining yaoists into oblivion. "It looks more like the weather forecast was off....it's raining lolis..."
"Hey, lookee what we have here....it's another yaoist...and a high-ranking one at the looks of it..." Vex smiled rather gleefully at the sight of the lightly-singed dress-uniform-clad figure in the middle of the crater.
"Oh really? There's a high price on those heads." Rijin observed. "I saw...or rather, detected her first so she's mine."
"What shall we do with her?" Lyon asked, gesturing at the unconscious figure with her glock.
"Well, they didn't say they want the yaoist commanders in ONE piece, so first we can..." Vex began.
"HOLD IT!" A figure, armed with a guitar, shouted from atop a nearby tall pile of rubble. "How dare you attempt to harm a poor defenseless unarmed young lady?! Even if she were not my mistress I'd still fight to protect her! But as she IS my mistress, you shall all know PAIN!"
"....is he an idiot?" Serena asked aside to Ray.
".....let's ask him, shall we?" Ray replied.