Chapter 48: Chapter 46

“...Hello?”

Hibiki peered around the vacant room she had stumbled into. Her thoughts had been unsettled ever since they left Marlbourne, and the voiceless whispers that drew her here only piqued her curiosity more.

*...*

She saw them once again.

It was faint, but dim lights were swirling around her in the darkness. Any moment she lost concentration they seemed to disappear again, but now she was certain she wasn’t seeing things. They fluttered like snowflakes as they danced through the stillness, and their muffled glow captivated her. They had been with the group since they entered - perhaps even before then, but it was only now in the quiet solace that she could fully sense their being.

“What… are you?”

She reached towards one slowly, but it circled around her hand before flying away suddenly. She tried to turn to follow it, but to her surprise, the walls around her had all changed, and even the ground beneath her feet was different.

She knew this place without a moment’s hesitation - it was the room she had been confined to for almost her entire life, after all.

The claustrophobic space had always been her prison, but standing there at that moment, she didn’t feel afraid. It was as if she was lucid dreaming, and despite being in a place she wasn’t comfortable with, if she simply willed herself away then she would be free once again. In that thought, she felt content, and the sad little room that stole her childhood seemed somewhat pitiful to her.

*...*

The wisps returned, floating through the walls and floor with ease. They swirled around her playfully, and she watched them in turn, holding back the urge to try reaching for them once again.

“They’re adorable, aren’t they?”
“..!”

Hibiki’s eyes opened wide, and she turned around in disbelief. The soft, dulcet voice was one she could never forget, and before her stood a dazzling beauty whose smile could surely move the mountains themselves. The woman wore a pristine miko outfit just as she did, but her full-bodied mature build filled out the clothes to a bewitching degree.

She too stood in awe of the fragile lights surrounding them; her sleek, delicate fingers beckoning any that approached as they frolicked about her palm. The hazy orbs seemed to be magnetised towards her grasp, but she only smiled as they flickered before her, growing ever brighter in her otherworldly presence. 

Hibiki stared at the woman, tracing her features. Her mesmerising eyes shone like amethysts, and her lustrous hair flowed across her shoulders like satin. Atop her head were two large coiled horns that radiated an ethereal purple glow, and from her back extended a slender black tail with a pointed spade tip.

“...Mama?”

Her memories came flooding back to her. Though she had lost her mother when she was too young to remember her face, she knew without a doubt that this woman was the one whose embrace had kept her safe on cold nights, and sung her lullabies as she cried.

“Hibiki… My little girl has grown so beautiful.”
“Mama!!”

She leapt into her embrace, and the woman held her tenderly. Her alluring beauty transformed into an angelic mothership as the two stood motionless in each other’s arms for an eternity before Hibiki summoned the words to speak.

“But… how? Why?”
“My love, you are special. You belong to both sides.”

As she looked upon her mother’s bittersweet smile, she knew the answer. Her heart didn’t want to accept it, but her mind slowly began to win out as reason took hold.

“You aren’t… you…”

As Hibiki watched in disbelief, her mother’s face began to blur, and her features faded slightly. She tightened her clasp in frustration, and her eyes started to shine a brilliant purple in defiance.

“No-! Not yet!”

She spoke firmly, and under her command, the haze withdrew once more. Her mother merely smiled at her all the while, indifferent to the changes in her appearance as her beauty returned.

“I… still have so many questions.”
“There is nothing I can say that you don’t already know deep down.”
“But… but!”
“Always remember that I love you. And that you shouldn’t be afraid of your powers - they are yours to control.”
“Will… will people be afraid of me?”

Hibiki’s eyes misted as she voiced her fears. It didn’t matter if she was speaking to an illusion - she just needed someone, anyone to answer her worries.

“People will always be scared of what they don’t understand, but you have made good, close friends, and they will stand by you as long as you stand by them.”

Her mother’s hand grazed her cheek, the gentle touch breaking through her last shred of will as she sobbed, tears rolling down her face. For so long she had forgotten this feeling, and even if it wasn’t real, it was exactly what she needed as she poured out her pent-up emotions.

She had told herself she was ready to use her powers to help the others, but when the moment came, she felt conflicted. She had never known the life of a demon, but it was in her blood, and the first moment she saw the Marlbourne wraith she felt its anger and pain course through her as if it were her own.

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Seeing things that her classmates couldn’t, and being unable to throw herself into battle with an enemy she felt an indescribable pity for… it gave her doubts that she would be able to stay by everyone's side. That they might think she didn’t belong.

“You will find your own place. If you choose to be by his side, then you may need to fight and struggle, just as I did.”
“Mama…”

Though it was hidden under her clothing, Hibiki could feel two large scars upon her mother’s back. As a child she could not have understood, but now the truth was before her once again, her eyes saw the world in a different light.

She wanted to spend more time with the boy who rescued her, and experience everything that she could only dream of before he held out his hand the night they met. Sometimes he was kind and friendly. At others, he was cold and distant. There was a lot she still didn’t know about him, and much of that he seemed to want to hide, but to Hibiki the decision was clear: there was no way to know what the future held, but she would not give up her newfound life, no matter what. 

Suddenly, the dancing lights that surrounded them flickered rhythmically between each other. Hibiki’s eyes shone once more as she watched them intently, no longer holding back the innate power she had begun to awaken.

*...*

“-!?”

What she saw and felt shocked her, and she quickly glanced at her mother once again.

“He too is fighting his own battle. Against what, only he would know, but right now only you can save him. Only you can show him the answer he is desperately seeking.”
“...Yes.”

She squeezed her mother tight once more, then stepped away. The cramped room around them quickly began to blur and warp, but this time, she didn’t command it to stay. Her mother’s face was slowly swallowed by the mist, and as the peerless beauty slowly faded she spoke wordlessly to her daughter.

“~~~”
“...I will.”

Her heart filled with purpose and eyes glowing a resplendent violet, she strode through the door that kept her from her fate.

******

“Sid, Hibiki, you’re all here!”

As Elis stepped back into the school corridor, her torch flickered back to life, and she was surprised to see her classmates all standing bewildered in the hall just as she was. Thankfully the floor was as solid as when they first entered the building, and there was no trace of the yearning abyss below which they had run from. Her friends also seemed to have only recently returned as well, though each of them held thoughtful expressions - Hibiki most of all.

“Hibiki?”
“Your eyes…”

The horned girl didn’t look at them, and her hypnotic shining eyes darted back and forth along the ceiling before she quickly turned her head towards a closed door beside them. Only as she moved did the group realise there was still one person missing, as Yuuji was still not present.

Without hesitation, she held her palm out towards the door, her usual meek demeanour replaced by a confident stance and determined movements. 

“Break!”

Her eyes flashed for a moment, and her order echoed through the quiet hall. The torches in the hands of each student all flickered in unison briefly, and from behind the closed door, the five of them heard a commotion.

*CRACK*

They stood in silence, amazed at what they were seeing. Hibiki was largely a mystery to them, but it was like there was an entirely different person standing in that hallway, and she grit her teeth and spoke once again.

“Let him go!”

*CRACK*

The sound came once more, and they heard a shattering as if a giant glass pane had burst into a million pieces. Hibiki immediately barged through the doorway, and the others quickly followed behind her once they recovered from their shock.

Inside, Yuuji sat slouched against a table, slowly closing and opening his fist as he held his arm close to his chest. He looked to be uninjured, but exhaustion lined his face, and he watched them wearily as they entered.

“Yuuji!”

Hibiki dashed to his side, and without warning pulled him into her arms. He looked surprised for a moment and his hand trembled in the air behind her, but it wasn’t long before he held her back.

The group had reunited.

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