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hug-kiss-marry-kill · 8 months ago

Text

List of already polled characters:

2b/YoRHa No. 2 Type B - Nier: Automata: Hug

A.B.A - Guilty Gears: Hug

Abe - The Oddworld Series: Hug

Abed Nadir - NBC Community: Hug

Aborto - Filler Bunny: Kill

Abramar - The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood: Kill

Abuela Claudia - In the Heights: Hug

Adam - Hazbin Hotel: Kill

Adonis “Donnie” Creed - Creed movies - Rocky franchise: Hug

Adrian Andrews - Ace Attorney: Hug

Adrien Agreste - Miraculous Ladybug: Adopt

Aeryn Sun - Farscape: Hug

Ageha Hijiri - Hirogaru Sky PreCure: Hug

Agnea Bristarni - Octopath Traveler 2: Hug

Aidan - The Illuminae Files: Kill

Aiden Clark - School Bus Graveyard: Hug

Aiden Sousuke - Bleach: Kill

Aigis - Persona 3: Hug

Akane Sonozaki - Higurashi: Kill

Akira Kenjou - KiraKira PreCure à la Mode: Hug

Alan Wake - Alan Wake: Hug

Alexandra Trese - Trese: Kiss

Alex DeLarge - A Clockwork Orange: Kill

Alex Taylor - Good Game: Kill

All Might - My Hero Academia: Hug

Almalexia - Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind: Tribunal: Kill

Alphonse Elric - Fullmetal Alchemist: Hug

Alucard Tepes - Castlevania: Marry

Amanda Ripley - Alien: Isolation/Alien franchise: Hug

Amane Momose - MILGRAM Project: Adopt

America/Alfred F Jones - Hetalia: Kill

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader - Star Wars: Kill

Anacostia Quartermaine - Motherland: Fort Salem: Hug

Anders - Dragon Age 2: Hug

Andrew Minyard - All For The Game: Hug

Andy Knightley - The World’s End: Hug

Angela - Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruin: Hug

Angelica Schuyler - Hamilton: Hug

Angoramon - Digimon: Hug

Anthony "Tony" Prince - Grand Theft Auto: Kill

Antonio Madrigal - Encanto: Pat on the head

Applejack - My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Hug

Apple White - Ever After High: Pat on the head

Aragorn - The Lord of the Rings: Marry

Archer - Pokemon: Kill

Argan - Winx Club: Hug

Aristotle - Billie Bust Up: Hug

Arthur Dent - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: Hug

Arthur Lester - Malevolent: Hug

Arthur Morgan - Red Dead Redemption 2: Marry

Arvin Russell - The Devil all the Time: Hug

Ashe Bradley - Witch's Heart: Kill

Ashley Graham - Resident Evil: Hug

Ashley Williams - Mass Effect: Hug

Ashlyn Banner - School Bus Graveyard: Pat on the head

Astarion - Baldur's Gate 3: Hug

ASTRA - The Entropy Centre: Pat on the head

Astro Boy - Astro Boy: Pat on the head

Atlas - Cryptid Crush: Hug

Atropal Scion - Dungeons & Dragons: Kill

Atsushi Nakajima - Bungo Stray Dogs: Hug

Augustus Sinclair - Bioshock: Kill

Avicenna - Some Desperate Glory: Kill

Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity - The Locked Tomb: Kiss

Aya Maruyama - BanG Dream: Hug

Ayame Sohma - Fruits Basket: Kill

Aziraphale - Good Omens: Hug

Baba - Baba is you: Pat on the head

Babe - Pit Babe: Hug

Bai Wuchang - Word of Honor: Kill

Bandit Heeler - Bluey: Hug

Barbara Kopetski/Barb Wire - Comics Greatest World/Dark Horse Comics: Kill

Barbra - Night of the Living Dead: Hug

Barnaby - Billie Bust Up: Hug

Barney - Barney and Friends: Kill

Barry Klemper - The Boys Next Door: Kill

Bart Simpson - The Simpsons: Pat on the head

Basil - Omori: Hug

Basil Exposition - Austin Powers: Kill

Battler Ushiromiya - Umineko: Kill

Bayonetta - Bayonetta: Marry

BD-1 - Star Wars Jedi (Survivor / Fallen Order): Adopt

Beatrice - Umineko: Marry

Becka - Scarlet Hollow: Hug

Beebee - Adventures with Anxiety: Hug

Benoit Blanc - Knives Out: Hug

Bernd das Brot - KiKa/German TV: Kill

Bernkastel - Umineko: Hug

Bibble - Barbie: Kill

Bierce - Dark Deception: Kill

Big Hill - Reservation Dogs: Hug

Bill Cipher - Gravity Falls: Kill

Billy Coen - Resident Evil 0: Kill

Blazer - Stray: Hug

Blitzwing - Transformers Animated: Hug

Bloaty - Invader Zim: Kill

Blood Pet - Magic the Gathering: Kill

Bob Newby - Stranger Things: Hug

Bob Pancakes - The Sims: Kill

Bog King - Strange Magic: Hug

Bolt - Disney's Bolt: Adopt

Bonnie - In Stars and Time: Hug

Boyfriend - Friday Night Funkin: Kill

Bradley Nicholson - Milo Murphy's Law: Pat on the head

Bradley Uppercrust III - An Extremely Goofy Movie: Kill

Brad Meltzer - Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: Pat on the head

Brahms Heelshire - The Boy: Kill

Brainy Smurf - The Smurfs: Pat on the head

Breezepelt - Warrior Cats: Pat on the head

Brian Flanagan - Cocktail: Kill

Brian Robeson - Hatchet: Pat on the head

Brian The Prethinker - Toontown Corporate Clash: Kill

Bridget - Guilty Gear XX: Hug

Brooklyn - Gargoyles: Hug

Bruce Wayne - Batman: Hug

Bucky Beaver - Shipwrecked 64: Hug

Buffy Summers - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hug

Buggy - One Piece: Kill

Cale Tucker - Titan A.E.: Hug

Camila Noceda - The Owl House: Hug

Camille Saroyan - Bones: Hug

Candace Flynn - Phineas and Ferb: Hug

Captain Pip Bernadotte - Hellsing Ultimate: Hug

Captain Haddock - Tintin: Hug

Captain Takeo Masaki - Call of Duty: Zombies: Hug

Carlos the Scientist - Welcome to Night Vale: Hug

Castiel - Supernatural: Hug

Catherine - The Gregory Horror Show: Kill

Catra - She-Ra: Hug

Cecil Palmer - Welcome to Night Vale: Hug

Celty - Durarara!!: Hug

Cerise Hood - Ever After High: Pat on the head

Cersei Lannister - Game of Thrones: Kill

Charlene "Charlie" McGee - Firestarter: Pat on the head

Charles Calvin - Henry Stickmin Collection: Hug

Charlie Cutter - Uncharted franchise: Kill

Charon - Hades: Hug

Charon - John Wick: Hug

Chelsea - Royal Scandel: Hug

Chibiusa/Sailor Mini Moon - Sailor Moon: Pat on the head

Chikai Kuji - Sarazanmai: Kill

Chilchuck Tims - Delicious in Dungeon: Hug

Child - Young Justice: Kill

Chloe Bourgeois - Miraculous Ladybug: Adopt

Chloe O'Brian - 24: Hug

Chococat - Sanrio: Pat on the head

Choi Chul-woong - Oasis: Kill

Chrom - Fire Emblem: Marry

Chrome - Dr. Stone: Pat on the head

Claire Fisher - Six Feet Under: Hug+Kill

Claud - Fire Emblem Genealogy of the holy war: Kill

Clay Puppington - Moral Orel: Kill

Clea - Doctor Strange: Kiss

Clint Barton/Hawkeye - Marvel: Hug

Clive Handforth - LittleBigPlanet/LittleBigPlanet2: Hug

Cloud Haetae Cookie - Cookie Run Kingdom: Pat on the head

Cogimyun - Sanrio: Pat on the head

Clyde ‐ Dreams of an Insomniac: Hug

Coco - Witch Hat Atelier: Adopt

Cole Brown - Martin: Hug+Kill

Colette - The Thea Stilton novels: Hug

Conan Edogawa - Detective Conan: Pat on the head

Coraline - Coraline: Hug+Adopt

Cordell Walker - Walker 2021: Hug

Cormag - Fire Emblem: Kill

Coro chan - Sanrio: Pat on the head

Crash Man - Megaman 2: Hug

Cream the Rabbit - Sonic: Hug

Crow Strider - Homestuck/Crow Strider AU: Kill

Crying Child - Five Nights at Freddy's 4: Adopt

Cully Barnaby - Midsomer Murders: Hug

Cynthia - Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: Marry

Daijin - Suzume: Pat on the head

Daisy Johnson - Agents of SHIELD: Hug

Daisy Tonner - The Magnus Archives: Kill

Dale Cooper - Twin Peaks: Hug

Damian Wayne - DC Comics: Pat on the head

Damien Darhk - Arrow: Kill

Damon Salvatore - The Vampire Diaries: Kill

Dana Scully - The X-Files: Marry

Daniel - Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope: Kill

Daniel Matthews - Saw: Pat on the head

Danny "Danny Boy" Archuleta - Predator 2: Kill

Danny Butterman - Hot Fuzz: Hug

Danny Fenton - Danny Phantom: Hug

Da Quing - Guardian: Hug

Darcmon - Digimon: Hug

Darkiplier - Who Killed Markiplier: Kill

Dash Parker/né Arkadin - Minority Report: Kill

Dave - Total Drama: Kill

Daxter - Jak and Daxter: Hug

Dean Winchester - Supernatural: Hug

Death - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: Kiss

Death the Kid - Soul Eater: Hug

Delenn - Babylon 5: Hug

Desmond Hume - Lost: Kill

Detective Noel/Charlie Dowd - Malevolent: Hug

Dewey Duck - Ducktales: Pat on the head

Dexter Morgan - Dexter: Kill

Diana of Themyscira | Wonder Woman - DC Comics: Marry

Dib - Invader Zim: Pat on the head

Dick Grayson - DC comics: Hug

Dieter - Monster: Kill

Digby - Dead Estate: Pat on the head

Doctor Strange Supreme - Marvel's What If...?: Kill

Dogday - Poppy Playtime: Adopt

Dominique de Sade - Vanitas no carte: Hug

Donald Duck - Ducktales 2017: Hug

Donald Trump - Real Life: Kill

Donald Trump - Real Life: Fuck

Donatello Splinterson - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003: Hug

Don Ramón/Seu Madruga - El Chavo del Ocho/Chaves: Hug

Doorstopper - Animatic Battle/Object Fool: Kill

Dorana - Winx Club: Kill

Dr. Boris Habit - Smile For Me: Hug

Dr. Claire Finn - The Orville: Hug

Dr. D Light - It's Not Me, It's My Basement: Hug

Dr. Flug ‐ Villainous: Hug

Dr. Herbert Lankmann - Dreams of an Insomniac: Kill

Dr. Loboto - Psychonauts: Kill

Dr. Ludwig/The Medic - Team Fortress 2: Kill

Dr. Temnova - PAFL/Parties are for Losers: Kill

Dr. Two Brains - WordGirl: Hug

Dragon - Shrek: Hug

Draco Malfoy - Harry Potter: Kill

Dream of the Endless - The Sandman: Hug

Dylan Lenivy - The Quarry: Hug

Echidna - Fire Emblem: Marry

Echo - Star Wars The Clone Wars/The Bad Batch: Hug

Ecolo - Puyo Puyo: Hug

Ed - Shaun of the Dead: Kill

Edd - Eddsworld: Hug

Edie Finch - What remains of Edith Finch: Kill

Edward Elric - Fullmetal Alchemist: Pat on the head

Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate - One Piece: Hug

Ego Core - Meet the Cores: Kill

Eileen Leahy - Supernatural: Hug

Eisen - Sousou no Frieren: Hug

El Chapulín Colorado - El Chapulín Colorado: Hug

El Chavo/Chaves - El Chavo del Ocho: Kill

Elena Shimabara - THE iDOLM@STER Million Live: Pat on the head

El Huachimingo - 31 minutos: Hug

Elias - Noli Me Tangere: Kill

Elias Bouchard - The Magnus Archives: Kill

Elizabeth Swann - Pirates of the Caribbean: Marry

Emily Kauffman - Gylt: Hug

Emperor Belos - The Owl House: Kill

Emu Otori - Project Sekai: Pat on the head

Ena Shinomome - Project Sekai: Hug

Entrapta - She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Hug

Eowyn - The Lord of the Rings: Marry

Eri - My Hero Academia: Adopt

Eric Foreman - House M. D.: Hug

Ericht Samaya - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury: Pat on the head

Eric Matthews - Saw: Kill

Eric Wynn - Cube Zero: Kill

Erik (The Phantom) - The Phantom of The Opera: Kill

Eucerin - Object Fool: Kill

Eva Ushiromiya - Umineko: Hug

Evan "Buck" Buckley - 9-1-1 TV Series: Hug

Ezio Auditore da Firenze - Assassin's Creed: Hug

Ezra - On Air Island: Hug

Fan - Rockman Strategy: Kill

Fantoccio - Billie Bust Up!: Hug

Felix Fathom - Miraculous Ladybug : Pat on the head

Felix Kranken - The Walten Files: Kill

Feng - Balls of Fury: Kill

Fernando Vera - Mr. Robot: Kill

Fezzik - Home Movie: The Princess Bride: Hug

First Aid - Transformers Animated: Hug

Fitz Vacker - Keeper of the Lost Cities: Pat on the head

Five Pebbles - Rain World: Hug

Flowey - Undertale: Pat on the head

Floyd - Trolls Band Together: Kill

Flynn - Shin Megami Tensei IV (Apocalypse): Hug

Folca - Pathfinder: Kill

Fox Mulder - The X-Files: Hug

Francine "Fran" ("Flygirl") Parker - Dawn of the Dead: Hug

Francis Mosses - That’s not my neighbor: Hug

Frank Fontaine - Bioshock: Kill

Franklin Saint - Snowfall: Hug

Freddy Fazbear - Five Nights at Freddy's: Kill

Frisk - Undertale: Pat on the head

Fubuki Shirou - Inazuma Eleven: Hug

Fukase - Vocaloid: Hug

Furina - Genshin Impact: Hug

Future Edd - Eddsworld: Kill

Fyodor Dostoevsky - Bungo Stray Dogs: Kill

Gabe Ugliano - Percy Jackson: Kill

Gabriel - Ultrakill: Hug

Gale Hawthorne - The Hunger Games Franchise: Kill

Gamzee Makara - Homestuck: Kill

Garden of Thorns Gregor - Limbus Company: Marry

Garfield - Garfield: Pat on the head

Garry - Ib: Hug

Garu/Karu - Nu:Carnival: Hug

Gary King - The World’s End: Hug

Gelus - Death Note: Pat on the head

General Sarah Alder - Motherland: Fort Salem: Kill

Geno - Super Mario RPG: Hug

Gideon Nav - The Locked Tomb: Hug

Giles - The Shape of Water: Hug

Gilgamesh Wolfenbach - Girl Genius: Hug

Ginpachi-Senpai - Gintama: Kill

GLaDOS - Portal: Marry

Glenn Close - Dungeons and Daddies: Kill

Godzilla - Godzilla (Monsterverse): Hug

Gomamon/X-Antibody - Digimon: Pat on the head

Gonta Gokuhara - Danganronpa: Hug

Gorōbei Katayama - Seven Samurai: Hug

Gosha - Beastars: Hug

Grant Ward - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Kill

Gray Wing - Warrior Cats: Kill

Gray Yeon - The Weak Hero Webtoon: Kill

Greg Heffley - Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Kill

Gregory - Five Nights at Freddy's, Security Breach: Kill

Gretchen - Scarlet Hollow: Pat on the head

Grillby - Undertale: Marry

Grimora - Inscryption: Kill

Guardener - Undertale Yellow: Hug

Gummigoo - The Amazing Digtal Circus: Hug

Gundham Tanaka - Super Danganronpa 2: Hug

Hal 9000 - Space Odyssey: Marry

Halsin - Baldur's Gate 3: Marry

Hal Stewart/Titan - Megamind: Kill

Haruhi Fujioka - Ouran High School Host Club: Hug

Harrowhark Nonagesimus - The Locked Tomb: Adopt

Hau - Pokemon (Sun/Moon, Ultra Sun/Moon): Hug

Heath - Blackstar Theater Starless: Hug+Kill

Heathcliff - Heathcliff Comic Strip: Hug

Heather Mason - Silent Hill 3: Hug

Heinz Doofenshmirtz - Phineas and Ferb: Hug

Hello Kitty - Sanrio: Pat on the head

Helob - Cult of the Lamb: Kill

Hernan Alvarez/Shades - Luke Cage: Kill

He Who Gets Slapped - He Who Gets Slapped: Kill

Heywood Floyd - Space Odyssey: Kill

Hideyasu "Sōki" Yūki - Onimusha games: Kill

Hikaru Sulu - Star Trek Continues: Hug

Himiko Toga - My Hero Academia: Pat on the head

Hinata Shouyou - Haikyuu!!: Hug

Hiro Hamada - Big Hero 6: Hug

Holston Becker - Silo: Hug

Homelander - The Boys: Kill

Homer Simpson - The Simpsons: Kill

Homura Akemi - Puella Magi Madoka Magika: Hug

Horrid Henry - Horrid Henry: Kill

Howard "Bunny" Colvin - The Wire: Hug

Huey Duck - Ducktales: Pat on the head

Hug Kiss Marry Kill Tumblr blog - Tumblr: Hug

Husk - Hazbin Hotel: Hug

Hwoarang - Tekken 7: Kill

Hyuk Lee - Sweet Home: Kill

Hyun Cha - Sweet Home: Hug

lan jingyi - The Untamed/cql: Pat on the head

lcb Sinner Gregor - Limbus Company: Marry

Ignatz Victor - Fire Emblem Three Houses: Pat on the head

Igor Grom - Major Grom: Hug

Ilya Oblomov - Oblomov: Hug

Indika - Indika: Hug

Inosuke Hashibira - Demon Slayer/Kimetsu No Yaiba: Pat on the head

Inuyasha - Inuyasha: Pat on the head

Invidia Bat - A Little Vice: Hug

Iris Black - Countdown to Countdown: Hug

Iron Giant - The Iron Giant: Hug

Isaac - The Orville: Hug

Ivan - Alien Stage: Hug

Izaya Orihara - Durarara!!: Kill

Jack Horner - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: Kill

Jack Kline - Supernatural: Hug

Jaime Lannister - A Song of Ice and Fire: Kill

Jaime Reyes - Blue Beetle: Hug

Jak - Jak and Daxter: Hug

Jake Carter - The Marine movies/WWE: Kill

Jake Holling/Megaforce Black/Super Megaforce Green - Power Rangers Megaforce / Power Rangers Super Megaforce: Kill

James Wilson - House MD: Hug

Janet - The Good Place: Hug

Jason Todd - Batman: Hug

Jason Voorhees - Friday the 13th: Hug

Jax - The Amazing Digital Circus: Kill

Jay - Beyond Two Souls: Kill

Jeanne - Vanitas no carte: Hug

Jedah Diamond - Tokyo 7th Sisters: Hug

Jeff Whitman - The Devil in Me (The Dark Pictures Anthology): Kill

Jerry - Undertale: Kill

Jessica "Jess" Riley - Until Dawn: Hug

Jester Lavorre - Critical Role: Hug

Jiang Cheng - Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Untamed: Hug

Jim Phelps - Mission Impossible: Kill

Jiro Yamashita - The Idolmaster SideM: Hug

Jobin Higashikata - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Kill

Joe Biden - Real Life: Kill

Johan Liebert - Monster: Kill

John Coffey - The Green Mile: Hug

John Crichton - Farscape: Hug

John Doe - Malevolent: Hug

John Gaius - The Locked Tomb: Kill

John “Soap” MacTavish - Call of Duty - Modern Warfare series: Marry

Jonathan Sims - The Magnus Archives: Hug

Joshu Higashikata - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 8: JoJolion: Kill

Josh Washington - Until Dawn: Hug

Jotaro Kujo - Jojo’s bizarre adventure: Kill

Joyce Barnaby - Midsomer Murders: Hug

Juan Carlos Bodoque - 31 Minutos: Hug

Judy Hopps - Zootopia: Hug

Julian - Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja: Pat on the head

Juliette - Mushoku Tensei: Pat on the head

Kabru - Dungeon Meshi: Hug

Kagamine Len - Project SEKAI: Pat on the head

Kagome Higurashi - Inuyasha: Hug

Kakashi Hatake - Naruto: Marry

Kaladin Stormblessed - The Stormlight Archive: Hug

Kanba Takakura - Mawaru Penguindrum: Pat on the head

KAngel/Ame-chan - Needy Streamer Overload: Hug

Kankri Vantas - Homestuck: Kill

Kanta Higurashi - Zom 100: Hug+Kill

Kaoru Hakaze - Ensemble Stars: Kill

Karkat Vantas - Homestuck: Kill

Karma Akabane - Assassination Classroom: Hug

Kasane Teto - UTAU: Hug

Kata Akuna - Star Wars Jedi (Survivor/Fallen Order): Pat on the head

Kat Neese - Raising Dion: Hug+Kill

Kayne - Malevolent: Kill

Kazuya Kinoshita - Rent a Girlfriend: Kill

Keiju Tabuki - Mawaru Penguindrum: Kill

Keine Ron - UTAU: Pat on the head

Kel - Onori: Hug

Kellyn - Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia: Pat on the head

Ken - Barbie: Hug

Kendall Roy - Succession: Hug

Kensuke Kurosaki - Corpse Party: Pat on the head

Kermit the Frog - The Muppet: Hug

Kestrel - Wings of Fire: Kill

Kevin - Welcome to Night Vale: Kill

Kevin McCallister - Home Alone: Pat on the head

Keyleth - Critical Role: Hug

Khalida - Motherland: Fort Salem: Pat on the head

Kikunojo - One Piece: Marry

Kikuchiyo - Seven Samurai: Kiss

Kikyo - Inuyasha: Hug

Killua Zoldyck - Hunter x Hunter: Pat on the head

Kim - Kinnporsche: The Series: Hug

Kim Dokja - Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint: Hug

King Andrias - Amphibia: Kill

King Randolph - Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses: Kill

Kinito - KinitoPET: Pat on the head

Kinzo Ushiromiya - Umineko: Kill

Kira Seijirou - Inazuma Eleven: Kill

Kirby - Kirby: Pat on the head

Kitty Jones - Bartimaeus Trilogy: Hug

Klaus von Reinherz - Kekkai Sensen: Marry

Klavier Gavin - Ace Attorney: Hug

Klutzy - Club Penguin: Pat on the head

Kohaku - Dr. Stone: Pat on the head

Kokichi Oma - Danganronpa V3: Kill

Korosensei - Assassination Classroom: Hug

Korra - Legend of Korra: Hug

Kotoko Yuzuriha - Milgram: Hug

Kou Minamoto - Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun: Hug

Kris Dreemurr - Deltarune: Hug

Kurokumo Clan Captain Gregor - Limbus Company: Kiss

Kuzco - The Emperor's New Groove: Pat on the head

Kyle Drako - Milo Murphy's Law: Kill

Kyubi - Puella Magi Madoka Magika: Kill

Kyungsoon - Purrgatory: Hug

L - Death Note: Hug

La Chilindrina/Chiquinha - El Chavo del Ocho/Chaves: Pat on the head

LadyDevimon - Digimon: Kiss

Lady Eboshi - Princess Mononoke: Marry

Lady Sio - Afro Samurai: Kiss

LaFawnduh Lucas - Napoleon Dynamite: Hug

Lance - Pokemon Special Edition: Pat on the head

Lance Serrano - Voltron: Hug

Langly (X-Files): Kill

Lantern Gregor - Limbus Company: Hug

Lara Vega - Minority Report: Hug

Lee Doo-hak - Oasis: Hug

Lee Everett - Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Hug

Lenore "Lenny" Busker/The Breakfast Queen - Legion: Kill

Leo Valdez - Heroes of Olympus: Hug

Leshy - Inscryption: Hug

Lestat de Lioncourt - Interview with the Vampire: Kill

Lev Myshkin - The Idiot: Hug

Licorice Cookie - Cookie Run Kingdom: Hug

Lila - Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022: Hug

Lili Zanotto - Psychonauts: Pat on the head

Lisa Simpson - The Simpsons: Pat on the head

Liu Qianqiao - Qord of Honor: Hug

Lloyd the Lion - Indigo Park: Kill

Logan Fields - School Bus Graveyard: Hug

Luke Trapper - The Marine movies/WWE: Kill

Lonely Wizard - Inscryption: Hug

Looks to the Moon - Rain World: Hug

Luan Loud - The Loud House: Kill

Lucia Villanueva - Snowfall: Hug

Lucifer Morningstar - Hazbin Hotel: Marry

Luigi - Super Mario Brothers: Hug

Luisa Madrigal - Encanto: Hug

Luke Carder - Inscryption: Hug

Luke Skywalker - Star Wars: Hug

Lumine - LUMINE: Pat on the head

Luna Lovegood - Harry Potter: Adopt

Luz Noceda - The Owl House: Hug

Mabel Pines - Gravity Falls: Hug

Mademoiselle Anastasie "Tasi" Trianon - Amnesia: Rebirth: Hug

Madoka Kaname - Madoka Magica: Hug

Madotsuki - Yume Nikki: Pat on the head

Mafuyu Asahina - Project Sekai: Pat on the head

Maggie Simpson - The Simpsons: Hug

Magnificus - Inscryption: Kill

Magolor - Kirby: Kill

Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter - Sailor Moon: Hug

Malak - Dark Deception: Kill

Malcolm Merlyn - Arrow: Kill

Mallow - Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars/Super Mario RPG: Pat on the head

Manny Heffley - Diary of a wimpy kid: Kill

Man with the yellow hat - Curious George: Hug

Marceline Abadeer - Adventure Time: Marry

Marge Simpson - The Simpsons: Hug

Maria Ushiromiya - Umineko: Adopt

Marie Whitman - The Devil in Me/The Dark Pictures Anthology: Hug

Mark Beaks - Ducktales: Kill

Marnie - Stardew Valley: Hug

Martin Blackwood - The Magnus Archives: Hug

Martin Payne - Martin: Hug

Martyn InTheLittleWood - Life Series: Kill

Mary Schmidt - Five Nights at Candy's 3: Pat on the head

Master Kohga - Legend of Zelda: Kill

Matcha Cookie - Cookie Run: Hug

Matsudappoiyo - UTAU: Hug

Matt - Eddsworld: Kill

Matty - Witch's Heart: Kill

Max Goof - An Extremely Goofy Movie: Hug

Max Madigan - True Jackson, VP: Kill

Medkit - Phighting!: Kill

Melchior - Riot Kings: Hug

Mia Dolan - La La Land: Kill

Miae Hwang - After School Lessons for unripe apples: Pat on the head

Michael - The Good Place: Hug

Michael Afton - Five Nights at Freddy's: Hug

Michael J. Caboose - Red vs Blue: Hug

Michael Kaiser - Blue Lock: Hug

Michael "Mike" Munroe - Until Dawn: Kill

Michonne Grimes - The Walking Dead: Hug

Mike Horvath - Saving Private Ryan: Hug

Miki Sayaka - Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Hug

Miko Nakadai - Transformers Prime: Pat on the head

Millennial Tree Cookie - Cookie Run: Hug

Millie Fitzsimmons - FNaF Fazbear Frights: Hug+Pat on the head

Min - Parallel City: Hug+Kill

Mina Harker - Dracula: Hug

Mini Yaemori - Rent a Girlfriend: Kill

Minish Cap Link - The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap: Pat on the head

Mion Sonozaki - Higurashi: Hug

Miorine Rembran - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury: Hug

Misa Amane - Death Note: Hug

Misaki Ayuzawa - Kaichou wa Maid Sama: Hug

Miss Circle - Fundamental Paper Education/Basics In Behavior: Kill

Miss Kobayashi - Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Hug

Miss Piggy - The Muppets: Hug

Mithrun - Dungeon Meshi: Hug

Mitty - Made in Abyss: Kill

Miwako Sakurada - Paradise Kiss: Hug+Kiss

Miyo Takano - Higurashi: Kill

Molar Boatworks Fixer Sinclair - Limbus Company: Hug

Momo - Stray: Hug

Monika - Doki Doki Literature Club: Hug

Mono - Little Nightmares: Adopt

Monsieur Tidbits - The Who Was? Show: Kill

Moonwatcher - Wings of Fire: Hug

Mo Ran - The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha): Hug

Morgan Yu - Prey: Hug

Mothwing - Warrior Cats: Pat on the head

Mr Bean - Mr Bean: Hug

Mr Peanutbutter - BoJack Horseman: Kill

Mr. Puzzles - SMG4: Kill

Mrs. Asahina - Project Sekai: Kill

Mr. Scratch - Alan Wake: Kiss

Munehisa Iwai - Persona 5: Hug

Murmukusmon - Digimon: Kill

Mustache Girl - A Hat In Time: Pat on the head

Mylene Farrow - Bakugan Battle Brawlers: Kill

Narrator - The Stanley Parable: Hug

Naruto Uzumaki - Naruto: Adopt

Nastasya Filippovna - The Idiot: Hug

Nastya Rasputina - The Mechanisms: Hug

Natalia - The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls: Hug

Nate Wright - Big Nate: Hug

Natsukage Suoh - 1bitHeart: Pat on the head

Natsuki - Doki Doki Literature Club: Hug

Natsuki Shinomiya - Uta no Prince-sama: Hug

Near - Death Note: Hug

Ness - Earthbound: Pat on the head

Newton Pud - Little Big Planet: Hug

Nicholas Angel - Hot Fuzz: Hug

Nick - Zootopia: Hug

Nick Valentine - Fallout 4: Marry

Nico Robin - One Piece: Marry

Nicumond the Red aka Santa Claus - Violent Night: Kill

Niffty - Hazbin Hotel: Pat on the head

Niki Sanders - Heroes: Hug

Niko - Oneshot: Hug

No.96 Dark Mist - Yugioh Zexal: Kill

NOAH - Lancer TTRPG: Hug

Nobara Kugisaki - Jujutsu Kaisen: Hug

Noe Archiviste - Vanitas no carte: Hug

Norma Jennings - Twin Peaks: Hug

Norman - Honey I'm Home: Hug

Nurgle - Warhammer: Kill

Nurgling - Warhammer: Pat on the head

Obi - Akagami No Shirayukihime: Hug

Obscurum/Dark Argan - Winx Club: Kill

Oh Jung-shin - Oasis: Hug

Omnimon/Omegamon - Digimon: Hug

One-One - Infinity Train: Pat on the head

Ongsa - 23.5: Pat on the head

Onion San - Undertale: Pat on the head

Orel Puppington - Moral Orel: Adopt

Oroboros - Honka: Star Rail: Kill

Oscar - Malevolent: Hug

Ozen ""The Immovable"" - Made in Abyss: Hug

P03 - Inscryption: Kill

Pal Percy - Playtime with Percy: Kill

Patrick Star - Spongebob Squarepants: Hug

Pavel Yudin - Fear and Hunger Termina: Kill

Peacock - Skullgirls: Pat on the head

PearlescentMoon - Double lifesmp/Traffic life series: Hug

Peter Washington - Dawn of the Dead: Kill

Phaya - The Sign: Kiss

Philippines - Hetalia: Hug

Phillip Price - Mr. Robot: Kill

Phoebe Spengler - Ghostbusters: Pat on the head

Phosphophyllite - Land of the Lustrous/Houseki no Kuni: Hug

PicoDevimon - Digimon: Pat on the head

Pink - Everhood: Hug

Pinkie Pie - My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Hug

Playtime - Baldi’s Basics: Kill

Pomni - The Amazing Digital Circus: Hug

Popeyes Employee - RDCWorld1: Hug

Poppy - Poppy Playtime: Kill

Portgas D. Ace - One Piece: Hug

Princess Leia - Star Wars: Marry

Priya Singh - Tenet: Hug

Prospera Mercury - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury: Kill

Qifrey - Witch Hat Atelier: Hug

Quark - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Hug

Quico - El Chavo/Chaves: Kill

Rachel Green - Friends: Kill

Radahn, Consort of Miquella - Elden Ring: Kill

Raelle Collar - Motherland: Fort Salem: Kill

Rainbow Core - Portal Stories: Mel: Hug

Rambley the Raccoon - Indigo Park: Hug

Ramona Flowers - Scott Pilgrim: Hug

Randy Random - Rimworld: Kill

Ranko Mannen - Akiba Maid War: Hug

Ranma Saotome - Ranma 1/2: Hug

Ranpo Edogawa - Bungo Stray Dogs: Hug

Rantaro Amami - Danganronpa: Kill

Rasputin IV - X-Men: Kiss

Rasta Beast - Everhood: Hug

Ray - The Promised Neverland: Hug

R.B. Sous-chef Gregor - Limbus Company: Kill

R. Daneel Olivaw - The Robot Series: Kill

Red Harvest - The Magnificent Seven: Hug

Reese Kelly - Scarlet Hollow: Hug

Regina - Dino Crisis: Hug+Kill

Regina George - Mean Girls: Kill

Reigen Arataka - Mob Psycho 100: Kill

Reimi Sugimoto - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Hug

Rei Sakuma - Ensemble Stars: Hug

Rem - Death Note: Hug

Ramy Hassan - Ramy TV show: Kill

Retsuko - Aggretsuko Anime: Hug

Riamu Yumemi - The iDOLM@STER Cincerella Girls: Hug

Rider - Centaurworld: Hug

Riku - Kingdom Hearts: Hug

Ringo Oginome - Mawaru Penguindrum: Pat on the head

Roadhog - Overwatch: Hug

Robert E. O. Speedwagon - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Kill

Robert Freeman/Granddad - The Boondocks: Hug

Robin - Honkai Star Rail: Hug

Robin Scherbatsky - How I Met Your Mother: Kill

Rod Sullivan - Ice Scream: Kill

Ronald Novikov - Jackson's Diary: Hug

Rory - Morgana and Oz: Hug

Rosa Ushiromiya - Umineko: Kill

Rose Quartz - Steven Universe: Hug

Rozy/Rozana - The Guy Upstairs: Hug

Ruby Rose - RWBY: Hug

Runaway Kid - Little Nightmares: Adopt

Ryland Tate - Good Game: Hug

Ryo Akizuki - The Idolmaster: Pat on the head

Ryotaro Dojima - Persona 4: Hug

Ryuji Sakamoto - Persona 5: Hug

Saburo Yamada - Hypnosis Mic: Pat on the head

Sakuna - Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin: Pat on the head

Sakura Haruno - Naruto: Pat on the head

Samantha "Sam" Giddings - Until Dawn: Hug

Sam Drake - Uncharted Franchise: Marry

Sammy Lawrence - Bendy and the ink machine: Kill

Samuel J. Stuhlinger - Call Of Duty:Black Ops 2 Zombies: Kill

Sam Winchester - Supernatural: Hug

Samwise Gamgee - Lord of the Rings: Hug

Sanetoshi Watase - Mawaru Penguindrum: Kill

Sans - Undertale: Hug

Sarah Lynn - Bojack Horseman: Hug

Sara Lance - Legends of Tomorrow: Marry+Kill

Sasara Nurude - Hypnosis Mic: Kill

Sasha Nein - Psychonauts: Hug

Sasha Waybright - Amphibia: Pat on the head

Satoru Gojo - Jujutsu Kaisen: Marry

Saturday Tasogare- vivid/stasis: Hug

Savannah - Milo Murphy's Law: Kill

Sayori - Doki Doki Literature Club: Hug

Scissors - Paper Mario the Orgami King: Kill

Scrappy Doo - Scooby-Doo: Kill

Scrooge McDuck - Ducktales: Hug+Kill

Scylla Ramshorn - Motherland: Fort Salem: Kill

Seliph - Fire Emblem: Hug

Senku Ishigami - Dr. Stone: Kill

Sergei Dragunov - Tekken: Marry

Sergey Razumovsky - Major Grom: Hug

Serial Designation N - Murder Drones: Hug

Sesshomaru - Inuyasha: Kill

Seungha - Odd Girl Out: Hug

Severus Snape - Harry Potter: Kill

Shaggy - Scooby-Doo: Pat on the head

Shannon LaFae - Heart Fragment: Hug

Shauna Shipman - Yellowjackets: Hug+Kiss+Marry

Shaun Riley - Shaun of the Dead: Hug

Sheryl Luria - Evil: Kill

Shigaraki Tomura - My Hero Academia: Hug

Shinobu Sengoku - Ensemble Stars: Pat on the head

Shinra Kishitani - Durarara!!: Kill

Shin Sato - The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls: Hug

Shion Sonozaki - Higurashi: Pat on the head must

Shirogane Ryo - Tokyo Mew Mew: Pat on the head

Shouko Komi - Komi San wa komishou desu: Hug

Shouto Todoroki - My Hero Academia: Hug

Shrek - Shrek: Hug

Shu Itsuki - Ensemble Stars: Kill

Shuji Ikutsuki - Persona 3: Kill

Shuya Nanahara - Battle Royale: Pat on the head

Siffrin - In Stars and Time: Hug

Simon Keyes - Ace Attorney: Kill

Sir Pentious - Hazbin Hotel: Hug

Six - Little Nightmares: Pat on the head+Adopt

Skull Kid - Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: Pat on the head

Skyler White - Breaking Bad: Hug

Slate - Outer Wilds: Hug

Slaymate - Dungeons & Dragons: Pat on the head

Snow White/Red Shoes - Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs: Hug

Sojiro Sakura - Persona 5: Hug

Soldier Boy - The Boys: Kill

Solomon - Obey Me: Marry

Sonya - Fire Emblem: Marry

Sora Harukawa - Ensemble Stars: Pat on the head

Spamton G. Spamton - Deltarune: Kill

Sparkle - Honkai: Star Rail: Kill

Spencer Reid - Criminal Minds: Marry

SpongeBob SquarePants - SpongeBob SquarePants: Hug

Stanley Poole - Bioshock 2: Kill

Stan Pines - Gravity Falls: Hug

Stardust Cookie - Cookie Run: Kingdom: Hug

Star Flower - Warrior Cats: Pat on the head

Starscream - Transformers Prime: Kill

Stephen "Flyboy" Andrews - Dawn of the Dead: Kill

Steve Harrington - Hug

Stokely Mitchell - The Faculty: Hug

Stonemover - Wings of Fire : Hug

Strider Hiryu - Strider: Kill

Subspace - Phighting!: Kill

Suletta Mercury - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury: Hug

Sypha Belnades - Castlevania: Marry

Taichi Fujisaki - Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls: Hug

Taiga Kagami - Kuroko No Basket/Kuroko's Basketball: Hug

Takuto Maruki - Persona 5 Royal: Hug

Tali'Zorah - Mass Effect: Marry

Tally Craven - Motherland: Fort Salem: Kill

Tamaki Suoh - Ouran High School Host Club: Hug

Tangerine - Bullet train: Kill

Tarvek Sturmvoraus - Girl Genius: Hug

Taylor - Simulacra: Hug

Taylor Hebert - Worm (Parahumans): Hug

Taylor Swift - Real Life: Kill

Teddy - Among the Sleep: Kill

Terry - Deltarune: Kill

Teruki Hanazawa - Mob Psycho 100: Pat on the head

Teruteru Hanamura - Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: Kill

Tessa James Elliot - Murder Drones: Hug

Testament - Guilty Gear: Strive: Marry

Tetsuya Kuroko - Kuroko no Basuke/Kuroko's Basketball: Pat on the head

The Collector - The Owl House: Adopt

The Dud - The Simpsons: Kill

The Emperor - Baldur's Gate 3: Kill

The Goose - Untitled Goose Game: Pat on the head

The Grim Reaper - The Sims: Marry

The Maker/Reed Richards - Ultimate Marvel: Kill

The Mask - The Mask Animated Series: Kill

The Ninth Doctor - Doctor Who: Hug

The Nowhere King - Centaurworld: Kill

Theodore "Teddy" McDonald/Reed Thompson - Snowfall: Kill

Theodore Peterson - Hello Neighbor: Kill

The Once-ler - The Lorax: Kill

The Princess - Slay the Princess: Hug

The Puppeteer - Five Nights at Candy's: Kill

The Second Coming - Animator vs Animation/Animation vs Minecraft: Hug

The Shade - The Longing: Pat on the head

The Shapeshifter - Odd Squad: Kill

The Snatcher - A Hat In Time: Kill

The Stalker - Stalker: Kill

The Survivor - Rain World: Pat on the head

The Test - Baldi's Basics: Kill

The unnamed salesman who recruits participants for the Game - Squid Game: Kill

The Wandering Trader - Minecraft: Kill

The Works - The Works: Kill

Thomas Richardson - The Apostle: Kill

Thorn - Wings of Fire: Hug

Tien Shinhan - Dragonball: Hug

Tifa Lockhart - Final Fantasy VII: Hug

Tippi - Super Paper Mario: Hug

Titania - Fire Emblem: Marry

Tom Barnaby - Midsomer Murders: Hug

Tony Tony Chopper - One Piece: Adopt

Tord - Eddsworld: Kill

Toya Aoyagi - Project SEKAI: Hug

Trevor Belmont - Castlevania: Kiss

Trevor Garbo - Smile For Me: Kill

Tsubasa Yuunagi - Hirogaru Sky PreCure: Pat on the head

Tsukasa Okino - 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim: Hug

Tulio Triviño Tufillo - 31 Minutos: Kill

Tulip Olsen - Infinity Train: Pat on the head

Turbo - Wreck It Ralph: Kill

Twelve - Zankyou No Terror: Kill

Twice - Boku No Hero Academia: Hug

Ubel - Frieren: Beyond Journey's End: Kill

Ukitake Jushiro - Bleach: Hug

Umi - Sharkgirl Umi: Pat on the head

Uncle Iroh - Avatar: The Last Airbender: Hug

Unpleasant - Regretevator: Kill

Uraume - Jujitsu Kaisen: Hug

Usami - Danganronpa: Hug

User Friendly - 3DV: Kill

Uta - One Piece: Hug

Vanessa - A Hat In Time: Kill

Vanitas - Vanitas no carte: Hug

Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko - Servant of the People: Hug

Vee - The Owl House: Hug

Vegas Theerapanyakul - KinnPorsche: Hug

Vertin - Reverse: 1999: Hug

Victoria Best - Wordgirl: Pat on the head

Vigilante - My Friend Pedro: Hug+Kill

Vinegar Doppio - Jojos Bizarre Adventure: Hug

Virgil - Portal Stories: Mel: Hug

Vriska Serket- Homestuck: Kill

Wabuu - Wabuu the cheeky raccoon: Kill

Wade Wilson - Deadpool: Hug

Wallace - Pokémon ORAS: Hug

WALL-E - WALL-E: Pat on the head

Wally Franks - Bendy and the Ink Machine: Hug

Warren the Eagle - Don't Hug Me I'm Scared: Kill

Wednesday Addams - The Addams Family: Pat on the head

Wes - Pokemon Colosseum: Hug

Wheatley - Portal: Kill

Whitty - Friday Night Funkin: Hug

Will Solace - Heroes of Olympus: Hug

Winry Rockbell - Fullmetal Alchemist: Hug

Winfrey/Speciment 02 - Dreams Of An Insominiac: Hug

Winston Byrd - Toontown Corporate Clash: Hug

Wombat - Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!: Hug

Wooly - Rune Factory: Pat on the head

Wu Xie - Daomu Biji: Hug

Xavier - Xavier: Renegade Angel : Kill

Xavier Riddle - Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: Pat on the head

Yadina Riddle - Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: Pat on the head

Yagami Eiji - Danball Senki: Kill

Yamato - One Piece: Hug

Yang Xiao Long - RWBY: Hug

Yato - Noragami: Kill

Yellow - Malevolent: Hug

Yellow/Amarillo del Bosque Verde - Pokemon Special Edition/Pokespe: Pat on the head

Yoda - Star Wars: Hug

Yoo Joonghyuk - Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint: Hug

Yor - Yor, the Hunter from the Future: Kill

Yor Forger - Spy x Family: Marry

Yoshino Himekawa - Date a Live: Pat on the head

Youhei Sunohara - Clannad: Kill

Yui - Sakuna: of rice and ruin: Pat on the head

Yukito Ayatsuji - Bungo Stray Dogs: Gaiden: Kill

Yuki Yoshikawa - Horimiya: Pat on the head

Yura Beletsky - Pafl: Kill

Yuri - DDLC: Hug

Yurika Hakonaka - Yuri Kuma Arashi: Kill

Yu Shu Lien - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Hug

Yusuke Urameshi - Anime House: Hug

Yuugo Tennouji - Steins;Gate: Hug

Zenkichi Hasegawa - Persona 5 Strikers/Scramble: Kill

Zeus - Greek Mythology: Kill

Zhang Chengling - Word of Honor: Pat on the head

Zhou Zishu - Word of Honor: Hug

Zim - Invader Zim: Pat on the head

ZombieCleo - The Life Series: Hug

Zuko - Avatar The Last Airbender: Hug

#hug kiss marry kill #hug kiss marry kill results

30 notes · View notes

morally-grey-girlbosses · 1 year ago

Text

Bracket is up! Matchups are in text form under the cut. Reminder that all of these matchups were chosen randomly, and that this bracket will be run in a double elimination style, so a character failing out in round one does NOT prevent them from proceeding into the tournament.

Ursula Boulton (Merge Mansion) vs. Betty Grof (Adventure Time)

Evelyn Wang (Everything Everywhere All At Once) vs. The Coin / Boss (Blaseball)

Morgan Le Fay (Fate) vs. Edelgard Von Hresvelg (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

IMOGEN (Stellar Firma) vs. Amalexia (Elder Scrolls)

Maeby Funke (Arrested Development) vs. Manon Blackbeak (Throne of Glass)

Taylor Hebert / Skitter (Worm) vs. GLaDOS / Caroline (Portal)

Cleo DeNile (Monster High) vs. Nico Robin (One Piece)

Helen Richardson / The Distortion (The Magnus Archives) vs. Calanthe (The Witcher)

Irving Braxiatel (Thieves & Tardises) vs. Nefera DeNile (Monster High)

Alina Starkov (Shadow & Bone) vs. Lady Barbrey Dustin (A Song Of Ice & Fire)

Eclipsa Butterfly (Star vs. the Forces of Evil) vs. Jennifer Check (Jennifer’s Body)

Moira O’Deorain (Overwatch) vs. Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Carribbean)

Iron Maiden Jeanne (Shaman King) vs. Artemis (Greek Myth)

Tomie Kawakami (Tomie) vs. Dame Obsidian (Murdle)

Rachel (Animorphs) vs. Juri Han (Street Fighter)

Shego (Kim Possible) vs. Asajj Ventress (Star Wars)

Tabitha Scarlet (Scarlet Hollow) vs. Morte Asherah (Sands of Destruction)

Theresa (Fable) vs. Morgana Pendragon/Le Fey (BBC Merlin)

Nailgun Sue (IRL) vs. The Witch (Into the Woods)

Chara / The Fallen Human (Undertale) vs. Nimona (Nimona)

Klaasje Amandou (Disco Elysium) vs. Margot “gottiewrites” Garcia (An Unauthorized Fan Treatise)

Prince Ianthe Naberius the First, the Lyctor Prince, the Saint of Awe, previously known as Ianthe Tridentarius, the Princess of Ida, heir to the House of the Third, Mouth of the Emperor, the Procession, House of the Shining Dead (The Locked Tomb) vs. Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade Series)

Anna Croft (Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint) vs. Sailor Galaxia (Sailor Moon)

Ms. Pauling (Team Fortress 2) vs. Lady Alcina Dimitrescu (Resident Evil)

Charlie Magne/Morningstar (Hazbin Hotel) vs. Vriska Serket (Homestuck)

Willie Jack (Reservation Dogs) vs. Gretchen Klein (The Wilds)

Rachel (Tower of God) vs. Galadriel (Lord of the Rings)

Charlie (Don’t Starve) vs. Pomegranate Cookie (Cookie Run)

Rose Quartz / Pink Diamond (Steven Universe) vs. Filo (Shield Hero)

Tokiko Shigure (Ai: The Somnium Files) vs. Sandy (TokiDoki Cactus Friends)

Shion Sonozaki (Higurashi When They Cry) vs. Banica Conchita (Evillious Chronicles)

Mima (Touhou) vs. Yūko Ichihara (xxxHolic)

Yuno Gasai (Future Diary) vs. Laerynn Coramar-Seelie (Critical Role)

Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs. Granny Weatherwax (Discworld)

Catherine Earnshaw (Wuthering Heights) vs. Susie Haltmann (Kirby: Planet Robobot)

Lae’Zel (Baldur’s Gate 3) vs. Starlight Glimmer (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Rocky Horror Picture Show) vs. Angela (Library of Ruina)

Miranda Vanderbilt (Monster Prom) vs. Jinx (Arcane / League of Legends)

Rose Thorburn Jr. (Pact) vs. Eva (Umineko When They Cry)

Empress Phillipa Georgiou (Star Trek) vs. Shiv Roy (Succession)

Paige Duplass (The Silt Verses) vs. Akua Sahelian (A Practical Guide to Evil)

Poison Ivy (DCEU) vs. Nickel (IDW Transformers)

Joyce Messier (Disco Elysium) vs. Reagan Ridley (Inside Job)

Kalina (Fantasy High) vs. MegaGirl (Starship)

Sloane Parker (Eidolon Playtest) vs. Power (Chainsaw Man)

Marcille Donato (Dungeon Meshi) vs. Raiden Ei / Beelzebul (Genshin)

Patty Bladell (Insatiable) vs. Remy “Thirteen” Hadley (House MD)

Tanya von Degurechaff (The Saga of Tanya the Evil) vs. Fang Runin (The Poppy War)

Nomi Malone (Showgirls) vs. Han Sooyoung (Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint)

Wu Zetian (The Iron Widow) vs. Lariska (Bionicle)

Teresa Agnes (Maze Runner) vs. Emma Perkins (Hatchetfield Series)

Lucrecia Mux / Maligula (Psychonauts) vs. Nadja of Antipaxos (What We Do In The Shadows)

Akako Koizumi (Magic Kaito) vs. Junko Enoshima (Danganronpa)

Blackberry (Chicory: A Colorful Tale) vs. Malva (Pokemon)

Vermouth (Detective Conan) vs. Kumoko / Shiraori (So I’m a Spider So What)

Eleanor (Do Revenge) vs. Bryony Halbech (Red Valley)

Asuka Langley Soryu (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs. Terezi Pyrope (Homestuck)

Leliana (Dragon Age) vs. Archbishop Rhea/Seiros (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Grimora (Inscryption) vs. Anthy Himemiya (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Audrey Redheart (Wandersong) vs. Kyoko Sakura (Puella Magi Madoka Magic)

Fujiko Mine (Lupin III) vs. O-Ren Ishii (Kill Bill)

Anne (WOE.BEGONE) vs. Gwendolyn Poole (Marvel Comics)

Lappland Saluzzo (Arknights) vs. Avrana Kern (Children of Time)

Harley Quinn (DCEU) vs. Cassandra Jones (Rise of the TMNT)

Faith Lehane (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) vs. Rosalyne-Kruzchka Lohefalte / La Signora (Genshin Impact)

Revan (Star Wars) vs Rue Kuroha / Princess Kraehe (Princess Tutu)

Eve (The Bible) vs. Prospera Mercury (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury)

May Angelica Jones Goodwin (It Takes Two) vs. Elle Williams (The Last of Us)

Marina (Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas) vs. Naksu / Mudeok (Alchemy of Souls)

Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) vs. Sucre (OFF)

SHODAN (System Shock) vs. Cocolia (Honkai: Star Rail)

Alana Bloom (NBC Hannibal) vs. Halea Haumea (Phantomarine)

Delirium of the Endless (The Sandman) vs. Arcee (IDW Transformers)

Morganthe (Wizard 101) vs. Wu Zetian (History)

Jude Duarte (Folk of the Air) vs. Miranda Pryce (Wolf 359)

Perihelion/ART (The Murderbot Diaries) vs. Kanamori Sayaka (Keep your Hands off Eizouken!)

Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum (Adventure Time) vs. Anais Watterson (The Amazing World of Gumball)

Croix Meridies (Little Witch Academia) vs. Lady Macbeth (Macbeth)

Harrowhark Nonagesmius (The Locked Tomb) vs. Big Mama (Rise of the TMNT)

Katherine Pierce (The Vampire Diaries) vs. White Gladys the Orca (IRL)

Doctor Carmilla (Doctor Carmilla & the Mechanisms) vs. The Handler (Umbrella Academy)

Catra (She-Ra & The Princesses of Power) vs. Liliana Vess (Magic: The Gathering)

Jasnah Kholin (Stormlight Archive) vs. Liraz (Daughter of Smoke & Bone)

Lilith Clawthorne (TOH) vs. Medea (Greek Myth)

Odin (The Bifrost Incident) vs. Enma Ai (Jigoku Shoujo)

Mordred (Fate) vs. Nana Daiba (Revue Starlight)

Beatrice (Umineko When They Cry) vs. Hester Shaw (Mortal Engines)

Balalaika (Black Lagoon) vs. Any Female Praying Mantis (IRL)

Veronica Sawyer (Heathers) vs. W (Arknights)

Angelica Pickles (Rugrats/All Grown Up) vs. Eleanor Guthry (Black Sails)

Asha Rahiro (Kubera One Last God) vs. Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

The Administrator (Team Fortress 2) vs. Shadowheart (Baldur’s Gate 3)

Noi (Dorohedro) vs. Leopardstar (Warrior Cats)

Sue Miley (Your Turn to Die) vs. Beatrix Kiddo (Kill Bill)

Juliette Cai (These Violent Delights) vs. Rat God (Mad Rat Dead)

Petra Solano (Jane the Virgin) vs. Kycilia Zabi (Mobile Suit Gundam)

Franziska Von Karma (Ace Attorney) vs. Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

Anne Boleyn (History) vs. Cinder Fall (RWBY)

Kokomi Teruhashi (Disastrous life of Saiki K) vs. Major Margaret Houlihan (M*A*S*H)

Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd) vs. Enyo (Granblue Fantasy)

Claudia (Interview with the Vampire) vs. Essun/Syenite/Damaya (Broken Earth Trilogy)

Lady Eboshi (Princess Mononoke) vs. Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower (Bloodborne)

Entrapta (She-Ra & The Princesses of Power) vs. Ilsa Faust (Mission: Impossible)

Princess Azula (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. Dahlia Hawthorne (Ace Attorney)

Samantha Groves / Root (Person of Interest) vs. Charlotte “Lottie” Matthews (Yellowjackets)

Shanoa (Castlevania) vs. Sally Reed (Barry)

Evil Lynn (He-Man) vs. Makima (Chainsaw Man)

Mabel Pines (Gravity Falls) vs. Raphaella La Coginzi (Doctor Carmilla & The Mechanisms)

Edalyn Clawthorne (The Owl House) vs. Yennefer of Vengerberg (The Witcher)

Toriel Dreemurr (Undertale) vs. Monaco (Hetalia: Axis Powers)

Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Carribbean) vs. Vala Mal Doran (Stargate)

Wanda Maximoff (MCU) vs. Adelina Amouteru (Young Elites)

Mapleshade (Warrior Cats) vs. Amy Dunne (Gone Girl)

Gertrude Robinson (The Magnus Archives) vs. Hornet (Hollow Knight)

Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) vs. PearlescentMoon (Double Life SMP)

Lady Bone Demon (Lego Monkie Kid) vs. Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson Series)

Jung Sun Ah (Devil Judge) vs. Muu Kusonoski (Milgram)

Romanadvoratrelundar (Doctor Who) vs. Electra (Starlight Express)

Rouge the Bat (Sonic the Hedgehog) vs. Akane Kurashiki (Zero Escape)

Wen Qing (The Untamed) vs. Yubel (Yu-Gi-Oh)

Ponyo (Ponyo) vs. Renata Glasc (League of Legends)

Aubrey (OMORI) vs. Menou (The Executioner and Her Way of Life)

Olivia Octavius (Into the Spiderverse) vs. Anna Limon (Mabel)

HG Wells (Warehouse 13) vs. The Shapeshifter (Odd Squad)

Miles “Tails” Prowler (Sonic the Hedgehog) vs. Isabella (Promised Neverland)

Riley Grace Davis / Bonesaw (Worm) vs. The Fairy Godmother (Shrek 2)

Misty Quigley (Yellowjackets) vs. Nami (One Piece)

Olivier Mira Armstrong (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs. Lucretia (The Adventure Zone: Balance)

#poll #tournament poll

43 notes · View notes

arsenicpanda · 1 year ago

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me explaining how Angel Tabitha existing at the same time as 50s Tabitha and 50s Heaven Jughead existing at the same time as Angel/Guide/Narrator 2.0 Jughead make perfect sense if you're familiar with the way witches work in When They Cry Higurashi and When They Cry Umineko

#it does make sense I swear #(yes I'm going to write the fic)#(or at least try)#Riverdale #Riverdale season 7 #Riverdale spoilers #my thoughts on Riverdale let me show you them

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construingseacats · 1 year ago

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Umireread: Legend of the Golden Witch - Chapter 15: Besieged

Sun, Oct 5 1986 - 8:00PM

The following contains spoilers for the entirety of Umineko. Please do not read if you are yet to finish it.

I like the use of the word “human” here. It really shows that Kanon managed to forego the shackles of furniture in his last moments.

Back at it again with the beatings! It’s really pervasive in episode 1, huh?

I’m glad that we’ve been getting more tempering of the use of fantasy as a coping mechanism in the latter half of Episode 1. Overall there’s been a good job of presenting this theme, and promoting it, but ensuring that it’s nuanced.

Oh this is a STELLAR line. Sly confession from Battler that he knew his logic against Eva was horseradish, but he went through with it anyway to defend Natsuhi. In a way, I guess you could even chalk this up to the use of fantasy to protect someone else, directly juxtaposing the untempered use a moment ago that was to the detriment of others.

Either way, this is Battler at his best, and I wish we got more of it in Episode 1.

I think there’s something to be said about how doomed the cast of Episode 1 is by the existence of Probatio diabolica - without something like the Red Truth to guide them, they get bogged down in the unknowns, and they’re unable to overcome the trials before them as a result.

Oh we’re still getting Kanji references? Ryukishi really wants you to re-examine the Epitaph, huh.

Kyrie from the past telling Battler why rotating the chessboard 360 degrees is getting him nowhere. They don’t really stress it, but the statement put forward here that “the opponent is acting emotionally, not rationally” is HUGE. It can be difficult gleaning what’s important and what isn’t on a first read through of any book - Umineko is an entirely different ballpark when it comes to that.

And the next line is literally talking about what if the opponent isn’t going for victory! We do a phenomenal job of sussing out what’s going on here, but since we don’t actually have any knowledge of the reasoning by the culprit, it all gets muddied and we continue to drown in dread.

Just like right now!

Interesting comment on Kinzo here - does that mean Maria’s sudden personality shifts are a reflection of her grandfather?

I get the impression that a lot of the stuff regarding apparent dual personalities will be recontextualised by future phases of Ciconia. Given how significant of a plot point it is in Phase 1, I feel like there are breadcrumbs here that will become more apparent or take on new meaning once Ryukishi dives into the concept in more detail, kind of like how the concept of gameboards helps to recontextualise Higurashi.

Interesting remark to make - I wouldn’t necessarily say that Yasu is influencing Genji, even if they are in cahoots, but rather Genji is acting on his own accord out of penance. But I suppose that could still be considered influence even if, to him, it’s of his own volition.

Once again, it’s shocking how many times Umineko tells you the answers but covers it up as a joke. I suppose there’s a joke to be made about how truth is stranger than fiction.

Great metaphor for the story as a whole - directly representative of the moment where it stops registering as a murder mystery horror tale, and instead is perceived as one about love. It’s actually kind of funny how, once you’ve uncovered the heart of the tale, the horror aspects seem to be completely non-consequential, yet they’re one of the most prominent things that new readers have to face.

Magic is when other people engage in fantasy with you; a special concept where you mutually share a fabrication more palatable than the truth, where you can find comfort and solace in others in a way that makes life more tolerable. There’s an old saying that magic is just science that we don’t understand - but in this sense, magic is what we choose not to understand.

This scene also further emboldens my opinion that Maria is insufferable for the latter half of Episode 1. The “kihihihi” persona is extremely obnoxious and arguably dehumanising - I can understand the concept of retreating to a happier mindset to avoid confronting realities, but there’s not enough slipping through cracks for me to believe it here. You can’t convince me that Maria, as emotional as she is otherwise, can somehow turn it all off at a moment’s notice and flawlessly play an entirely different character who is unaffected by it all. I just don’t see it.

I have to say, there’s a few choice decisions made in Episode 1, but leaving this one so late as a “reveal” is by far the most insane. I don’t think there’s a single reader who makes it past the first twilight without going “oh, this is just like the epitaph”, so the fact that we’ve spent almost a third of Episode 1 between then and now before a character goes “WAIT A MINUTE” is absolutely crazy. I get that the scene as it is here gives a chance for the letter to be planted on the table, but surely we could have had this earlier (in either Chapter 11 or 12), modify the reactions to the other murders as the characters see the Epitaph progressing, and then maybe have them talk about it again here? I just find it unbelievable that we’ve gone so long without anyone picking up on it.

There’s something to be said about how, once you hit the endgame in chess, your moves are limited. Unfortunately, our party continues to make blunders even at this crucial intersection.

I’ve gushed a little bit about it before, but especially here, I love how the solution is entirely obvious but you’re STILL doubting yourself. Like yeah, there’s literally no other option here, someone in the room planted it while the backs were turned (or Natsuhi is lying about it, I suppose). But your mind is scrambling to find some alternative answer that’s there. Maybe magic is real, after all…

We’ve had Eva give Natsuhi the “what are you gonna do? Shoot me?” treatment, and now she’s getting it from a literal 9 year old as well. What a day!

This line hits a lot harder with the knowledge that Kinzo is dead. Natsuhi absolutely feels remorse for what she’s doing - Genji should have retired years ago, but he had to stay to perpetuate the lie of Kinzo’s wellbeing, and now he’s being sent to his death despite remaining loyal after the curtain call. Good scene.

Oh yeah Battler? You’d never do something like that? I bet you’d never break a promise either, huh?

Thirty minutes to midnight - thirty minutes until everyone’s demise. Let the golden butterflies fly free.

#umireread #umineko #umineko spoilers

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thewhitefluffyhat · 3 years ago

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What is a witch?

In Higurashi Sotsu Episode 8, Eua defines a witch as the above. This both is and isn't the same definition as we've seen in When They Cry before!

Indeed, the reason why it's so hard for Umineko fans to give a straight answer to "what is a witch?" is because the definition often changes depending on who is saying the word. But while the exact uses vary, they're often circling around a collection of related concepts.

So let's take a look at some other examples in the series of what it means to be a witch!

Rika’s Definition of a Witch

In When They Cry, the first use of the term "witch" comes from the original Higurashi. Rika uses the word early in Minagoroshi to describe herself as a being who has experienced multiple worlds, and therefore can predict events before they happen.

Note that Rika here isn't describing a specific kind of magic being that exists, with established rules and specific powers and whatnot. She's using the term as a label she made up (or possibly heard from Hanyuu) to try to make sense of her own experiences.

Throughout Minagoroshi, Rika continues thinking about herself in these terms - herself as a tired, cynical witch who has lived for a hundred years, versus the emotions and hope she hasn’t completely left behind.

Eventually, Rika comes to the conclusion pictured above. That thinking like a witch - that seeing herself as separate from the events around her - has made her forget her own agency in those events.

Saikoroshi takes Rika's thoughts from Minagoroshi and Matsuribayashi and expands on them. This is the first arc to explore the idea of Rika's "Frederica Bernkastel" witch side as a separate being from "Furude Rika," the human who lives in a Fragment.

It's... kind of heartbreaking, actually. Rika eventually comes to believe she (the witch Rika) has replaced the Rika that was supposed to be in the Saikoroshi world, and she starts to want to erase her own personality in order to give the body "back."

But would such a thing even be possible? If so, did the witch Rika possess Saikoroshi Rika and make her kill her mother? And at the end, did Rika actually separate her witch side into a being that exists on a higher plane? Who knows! Turns out the scenario was just a dream Hanyuu made Rika have to teach her a lesson.

Still, within just these Higurashi scenes, we have all the seeds of what witches are in Umineko. We have the idea that witches are something no longer human, and specifically inhuman because of their perception of multiple worlds. We have the idea of a witch as a spectator distantly observing events, rather than a human participating in them. We have the idea of the witch as a shattering of one’s psyche, and of internal conflict brewing between the “witch” and the “human” sides of one’s personality.

And we have the idea that being a witch is fundamentally not a good or happy thing. It is power and psychological distance at the cost of one's emotions, agency, and humanity.

But so far, we only have one "witch." What happens when there are multiple witches?

Lambdadelta’s Definition of a Witch

The short story “Memoirs of the Lambdadelta” is looking more and more retconned with each episode of Sotsu, but even so, I think it’s still valuable in this context. While Rika defined witches as passive spectators, the following excerpt has Lambda define them as beings that exist in between two extremes.

(Also note the intriguing flip in perspective - in Higurashi, Rika attributed agency to the humans, while gods like Hanyuu were incredibly passive. But Lambda - and arguably Umineko as a whole - see it in opposite terms.)

The ones tossed about by fate are the humans. Fools, helpless, can’t create anything.

…...However, they have a ground to firmly step under their feet. And that ground will never betray them, thus, they can live their whole existence without the fear of the terror of falling to hell.

The ones who create fate are the gods. And the Creator.

......However, the fact that they create everything and are freed from all restrictions means they don't even have a restriction such as the ground under their feet.

Beings that have completely lost all constraints... In exchange for gaining everything, they have lost even the limitation of their own 'meaning'.

...When even the notion of life and death and the meaning of existence has been lost... they reach the level of zero. Or rather, they fall down to it. Crash down. Crumble. Vanish like mist.

I think the ones placed in the middle are us, the witches. We create fate and play with it. We move around in that interstice. However, we accept certain restrictions and limitations, leaving ourselves some footing so that we won't tumble down.

To the witches who are not afraid of it, the ones who are far, far ahead of me... these restrictions don't exist.

So the emphasis is a little bit different, but we’re still circling the idea of a witch as a being caught between planes, a being that has ties to the physical world but isn’t quite as bound by its rules.

Now, that’s all well and good, but it’s not very close to Eua’s description, is it? After all, Satoko has been dipping in and out of the Sea of Fragments and playing with fate ever since Satokowashi.

Indeed, there isn’t anything in Umineko that perfectly matches Eua’s definition. But there is, however, this exchange with Lambda from Umineko Episode 6:

Beatrice: "Th, there's no need to say 'so long'...! We'll... we'll think of a trick right away, and the game will resume! We won't take up your time...! So stay here a little longer...! Please...!!" Lambda: "...We've heard those same words from many witches in the past. And I've heard of hardly any who've actually managed to resume their games. As far as I know, the only two are me... and Bern." Beatrice: "Why... why would a person who knows about that hell [the logic error] throw another person into it?! Just because you're bored? Is that all?!" Lambda: "...Yeah, that's all. It's to escape from boredom. Because when we get bored, we remember. We remember that hell. And, you know, by throwing someone else down into that hell, we realize that, oh, we're the ones on the throwing side, and that means we aren't in that hell ourselves. If we don't keep doing that, then the fear of that hell will overwhelm us..."

Here, we finally have the idea of a witch as a creature wallowing in self-pity, and hurting others to do it. And it’s interesting, isn’t it? That Lambda, of all characters, is the one who ultimately sees witches the most similarly to Eua…

(Also this has nothing to do with anything, but while rewatching the scene to get the screenshot, I just noticed that what’s translated as “so long” here is... “gokigenyou.” That sure hits different now!)

Witches As Internal Conflict

[Warning! This section contains major Umineko spoilers!]

So much for Lambda. What about the other witches in Umineko?

I have a feeling that in the coming weeks, we’re going to be seeing a lot of arguments that Satoko is being possessed by her witch self and that the real Satoko is innocent. And I really don’t like that interpretation.

Because while Higurashi briefly flirts with that idea in Saikoroshi, Umineko comes down very hard on the side that witches are not an excuse, but a metaphor for internal conflict.

There are a few minor witches in Umineko that take the idea from Saikoroshi of the “witch” as a separate being and go even further. Eva, for example, personifies the ambition and determination of her younger self as a witch. That younger self even has her own sprite and dialogue arguing with the adult Eva. Maria, meanwhile, conceptualizes the abuse she experiences as a “Black Witch” that possesses her mother.

But the thing both these witches have in common is that they’re metaphors and externalizations. Maria’s big epiphany at the end of Episode 2 is her coming to understand and accept that both the good and bad sides of her mother are one person. And as far as I know, there is not a valid solution to Episode 3 where Eva isn’t a killer - which means Eva’s arguments with her younger self are representations of her inner struggle and guilt over the murders she commits.

...Of course, Eva and Maria pale in comparison to the queen of this example, Beatrice. One of the most brilliant aspects of Umineko is the way that in hindsight (or on re-read) all of the conversations and magical battles between Shannon, Kanon, and Beatrice can be read as externalizations of Sayo’s arguments with themselves. Sayo’s different personas don’t just have separate sprites, they even fight and kill each other in spectacular fashion!

But as much as Sayo tries to cordon off parts of their personality into separate characters, they’re all still fundamentally Sayo. And the struggle of being forced to choose one, and only one, “self” to live as while discarding the rest - that’s part of what makes them self-destruct so badly.

Perhaps we may eventually see Rika and Satoko split off the witch side of their personalities into fully separate consciousnesses. But if so, I suspect it’s going to take some serious, non-metaphorical magic to make it happen.

(...And it would explain why Lambda and Bern are such a mess, if they’re half a person set adrift...)

(Also yes, I am aware of the CPP characters in Ciconia. They are not the same thing as witches. Though your guess is as good as mine at what’s going on with that alternate Miyao…)

[end major spoilers]

Erika’s Definition of a Witch

Now, while many witches in Umineko are metaphors for internal conflict, not all of them are. In particular, Erika and Ange come at the idea of a witch from a slightly different angle than the characters discussed above.

This is an exchange between those characters in Episode 8, so obviously some minor spoilers, though nothing about Beatrice or the main mystery.

(Ange’s narration) From the theatergoer's perspective, our individual lives are hardly worth anything at all. If they're writing down an entire world in a single volume, then my life probably isn't even worth a single line.

Ange: "But we're the main characters. I am, and so are you."

Erika: "That's right. Even if the tale of the gods doesn't mention us, the main character in the story we write for ourselves is always us. Becoming aware of that fact is the first thing that separates witches from humans."

Yeah, remember how I said that different characters have different definitions?

As it turns out, Erika’s definition of a witch is almost exactly the opposite of Rika/Bern’s. While Rika considered the witch to be the side of her that retreated from her own story, Erika sees becoming a witch as confirming her importance to her story.

For what it’s worth, other characters in Episode 8 note how rare it is for Bern to actually participate in events herself rather than remaining as a spectator. So yes, Umineko’s Bernkastel is still implied to have the same mindset as Rika did in Higurashi.

The point is, witches as a concept are very much tied to a character’s perception of their agency within their life. But how they see that relationship can vary!

Ange’s Definition of a Witch

One last excerpt, and perhaps the most telling one of all.

This is a continuation of the scene in the previous section, so the same spoilers apply.

Ange: "...What?" Erika: "So, you really did make a deal, to throw away your life to learn the truth." Ange: "...I had nothing to gain from life. It was easy for me to trade away the time I had left." Erika: "My master really does take to idle whims. To think she would make a contract for the meaningless life of a powerless girl." Ange: "...Heh."

Ange chuckled, not bothering to argue. That was exactly right. How incredible that Bernkastel would lend her power to a worthless life that was trying to throw itself away.

Erika: "Well, my master is the witch who controls miracles. ......So, it makes sense that she'd appear even for a worthless girl like you." Ange: "Good point. Even if Bernkastel hadn't appeared, I would've still taken that step off the edge that day." Erika: "...You really are a cheap woman, aren't you?" Ange: "Well then, just how much are you worth?" Erika: "Me?! Hahaha, ahahahahahahahahahaha..."

The way Erika cackled was disturbing. Still, Ange realized that this was her way of answering the question. People don't become witches of their own choosing. If they're capable of living, all people want to live their lives as humans.

...When something comes along to trip up that life, that's when the road to living as a witch opens. Even Furudo Erika, who calls herself the Witch of Truth, must be like this. The two Witches of Truth, sitting here drinking tea without even looking at each other, are exactly the same.

And there we go. This, as far as I know, is the most straightforward definition of a witch in the series. And it exactly describes what happened to Satoko.

Once again, a witch is not a happy existence. Much like in Madoka Magica, a witch is the end point of (often suicidal) despair.

Indeed, I’d argue that the term "witch" almost implies too much freedom, in a sense. With Voyager Witches especially, they're more like timeline-juiced ghosts, endlessly repeating and re-inflicting their traumas on themselves and those around them.

(The Sea of Fragments is beautiful, but oh so very haunted.)

In Conclusion

"What is going on with Satoko's breakdown in Tataridamashi" is something I've been worried about how the anime would handle ever since the reveal that Satoko was the culprit. I never in my wildest theories suspected it would be used to finally drop the W-word!

But honestly, I think I do like the scene. As ambiguous as it is.

Because the contrast between Eua's cruel laughter, compared with Satoko's sobbing for someone to save her and for it to stop...

The contrast within Satoko herself, the tormentor and the tormented...

That juxtaposition, more than anything else, is what it means to be a witch.

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murasaki-murasame · 3 years ago

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Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep6

Let’s just file this one under “top 10 shittiest anime deaths” *badum-tish*

Thoughts under the cut.

I feel like in a lot of ways this episode kinda highlights the highs and lows of the new series, and how it feels like it’s trying to be like three different stories at the same time and usually only succeeding at being one of them.

This episode, and this arc in general, as a standalone part of the franchise was actually really good, and delivered on the promise of ‘what if Mion actually became the culprit in one arc’, but as part of the answer arcs for the new series it just continues to feel kinda pointless and predictable. I still think that a lot of this has to do with them trying to be both a sequel and a remake at the same time, but unlike with the Rena answer arc, I honestly feel like even new fans could have guessed everything that happened in this arc, since it didn’t actually go into anything that wasn’t already discussed in Gou. So even on that level it doesn’t really feel like it’s providing essential answers that couldn’t have been worked out in advance.

It’s kinda weird how little this arc actually explored anything about Mion and Shion that wasn’t already shown in Gou, considering how much stuff from the VN related to them hadn’t been covered. A lot of their backstory stuff ended up not exactly being relevant to how this arc played out, but it just feels like a weird thing to gloss over when they’ve spent so much time going over stuff from the VN as it is.

Though on that note, I’m really curious about how they’ve made absolutely zero reference to the fact that Mion and Shion swapped places as kids, or anything about Mion’s tattoo. At this point I have to wonder if maybe Ryukishi just doesn’t actually like that plot point in hindsight, and is choosing to effectively write it out of the story here. I can see why, though, since from what I remember it kinda verges into being a twist for the sake of having a twist, and doesn’t actually do much for them as characters that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

The lack of basically anything to do with Shion’s backstory and her relationship with Satoshi still feels a lot more iffy, but at least some of this stuff feels like intentional revising on Ryukishi’s part. Which I think is a really interesting aspect of the new series as a whole. It feels like he’s taking the chance to look back on the VN and show us how he feels about it after all this time. The stuff with characters like Teppei and Rina seems to be his way of making up for them being shallow villains in the VN, and Satoko being evil here seems to be in part inspired by how little agency or control she had in the original story. I guess the big issue here is that a lot of people probably just straight up disagree with the things that Ryukishi thinks of as being problems with the VN that he’s trying to ‘fix’ here, but I think it’s really interesting to see him do this sort of thing, even if it’s messy and overly ambitious and doesn’t fully work.

For the most part I agree with all the criticisms about these arcs feeling like a bit of a waste of time as we wait for the story to eventually loop back to the Nekodamashi cliffhanger. Even from the perspective of this being mainly for the sake of new fans, it feels kinda strange to see such straightforward ‘this is what was happening behind the scenes in the question arcs’ style answers, with lots of reused footage and basically zero twists or reveals. The VN’s way of designing separate arcs that provide answers for the question arcs was more satisfying, and Umineko went even further with that by just vaguely going over the basic keys to figuring out all the how-dunnit mysteries of the question arcs, and everything else about the answer arcs there was just a continuation of the meta plot. So it feels kinda weird to see him loop back around to the opposite end of the spectrum here.

It makes me wonder if there’s some sort of larger meta mystery going on here that’ll become more apparent in the next arc, and will reveal that we didn’t actually know everything that was going on like we thought we did, but at this point I feel like it’ll probably all end up being a lot more straightforward than we predicted. But there’s still the looming specter of the meta plane stuff, the hints dropped about where this series fits into the wider WTC universe timeline, and the fact that the whole point of the new series in the first place seems to be guiding Rika and Satoko down the path toward becoming their Umineko counterparts. So all of that stuff makes me think there might be some curveball twists going in the future that expand the scope of the story, but I have no real idea what to expect from that, and if it’d even feel satisfying. As much as I’m a diehard Umineko fan who loves the idea of this being a Lambda and Bern origin story, I still worry that the execution might not work once we get to the end. I also don’t really think that anything the series does in the final arcs will completely make up for how predictable these first few answer arcs have felt on a week by week basis, lol.

In general it gets me thinking that in spite of how predictable the answers have been thus far, I’m largely clueless about how I think they’ll actually wrap up the overarching story with Satoko and Rika. It feels like there’s still a lot of different directions they could take it in, and a lot of it depends on just how far Ryukishi wants to go with tying this into other WTC works.

For one thing, I’m not even sure how to expect them to follow up on the Nekodamashi cliffhanger. It’s at least hard to imagine how they could stop Satoko from shooting Rika then and there, considering how this episode in particular went. And one way or another, we’ll have to see how Rika and Satoko handle being in a situation where they both know what’s going on with each other. I think it’ll then just depend on what Satoko’s mental state is like at that point, and also what they plan on doing with the whole looper-killing sword thing. I think Ryukishi’s implied multiple times now that the next arc will start to test Satoko’s resolve, and going by her attitude during the infamous gut-ripping scene, as well as her traumatized reaction to the punching glove box prank, I think she’ll be much less confident in her goals by that point, and probably more willing to talk about what’s going on.

I don’t think it’ll be as simple as ‘she just gives up and everyone forgives her’, or even ‘Rika beats up Satoko while everyone cheers and they all move on and abandon her’, though. I think there’ll be some kind of balancing act between redemption and punishment, but I also think that ultimately it’ll also tie into the Lambda/Bern origin story stuff they seem to be going for. I think I’ve said this before, but my best guess for how this will end is that the looper-killing sword will be used to separate their ‘meta selves’ who are aware of the loops and stuff, while leaving behind their regular physical selves who thus lose most/all of their memories of the loops. At least that way they can have their cake and eat it too by showing how Lambda and Bern became witches, while also having separate versions of them that get to stay behind and mend their relationship or something. But I’m not even confident about all of that, lol.

It’s also worth noting that the key visual for Sotsu features Satoko and Rika as teenagers, and the OP also features that pretty heavily, along with an ominous scene of the other main characters as teenagers. So that makes me think that the story will somehow get back to that whole time period, which makes me a bit more unsure how the last arc will go. One option is that the final Nekodamashi arc will just keep going until they become teenagers again, but the way those scenes are presented in the promo material makes it seem like Satoko and Rika’s relationship is still bad then. So maybe on the other hand we’ll just go back to the original Matsuribayashi timeline where Satoko first met Eua, but I feel like that’d probably be the happy ending where everything goes back to the original timeline and they all end up reconnecting again, so I’m still not sure how the ominous presentation of the teenage characters might play into that.

Either way, I think all of that stuff will probably just come up in the final arc. The next one will probably be covering Tataridamashi and Nekodamashi from Satoko’s perspective. The next arc should be where things start to shake up, but I still think they could easily cover both of those arcs in just five episodes. Nothing much seemed to be happening with Satoko until the final days of Tataridamashi, and I can’t imagine there being much to explore with how she set up the rapid-fire loops in Nekodamashi.

With what’s been hinted at about the next arc not going according to Satoko’s plans, and her resolve being tested, I think that this will probably be where things go entirely out of her control and she starts to doubt whether or not she should continue with her plans. Specifically I think that being in a new loop with Teppei being nice to her, and watching everyone else try to save her from her [perceived] abuse, will start to sway her toward thinking that maybe that sort of timeline is worth staying in, even if it means giving up on controlling Rika.

One way or another I think Ooishi went crazy all on his own. I think Ryukishi explicitly said in an interview that Ooishi went L5 naturally, and I think the manga version of Tataridamashi made it clear that Satoko was genuinely thrown off by how things went there, so she probably didn’t want Ooishi to kill anyone. I can see how he might have gone off the deep end by interrogating Teppei and realizing that there was basically a witch hunt going on against him, but I’m not sure how he would have ended up specifically blaming Rika unless Satoko pushed him into it. Either way, Teppei probably really did attack Keiichi at the end of the arc, and we know that Satoko just has one syringe to use, so at most she probably injected Teppei and then Ooishi went L5 naturally.

I’m also curious to see if/when Satoko learns about Rika being given the power to remember her deaths, since that’d also go a long way toward explaining what her intentions might have been with how that arc ended. I think Satoko is at least aware that Rika doesn’t remember how she dies, so I’m at least not sure what she’d try and accomplish by setting up a loop that only goes to shit at the very last second. It feels like it wouldn’t do a whole lot aside from making Rika confused in the next loop. But Rika only gets her ability to remember her deaths after that loop already ends, so Satoko could have only known about it if there’s some sort of conspiracy going on about Hanyuu. Which there probably is, since her whole presence in this is weird and her deciding to give Rika a new set of powers was always super suspicious, but still.

I’m also curious to see if we get any real payoff to the idea that Satoko’s looping is causing more and more people to remember past loops. Especially when it comes to the main club members, since there’s various moments in Tataridamashi and Nekodamashi, both in the anime and manga, that seem to imply that most of them are starting to remember things.

Even though the execution of this whole new series makes me a bit more wary about how any sort of new anime for Umineko along these lines might pan out, I can’t help but still really hope this is leading to something like that. For one thing I just think that if he’s going for a Lambda/Bern origin story with this, at the risk of alienating lots of existing fans, I think there should at least be a more concrete payoff to that than just ‘ok now you can go back and read the Umineko VN’. But I think there’s a lot of potential to be had with some sort of remake or sequel to Umineko where he gets a chance to revisit it after more than 10 years. One of these days I should still just make a whole post about my hopes and predictions for what could be done with any sort of new Umineko anime, lol.

Anyway, this got longer than I planned, but all in all I enjoyed this more than it probably comes across like I did, lol. Even if the plot’s been kinda boring, I think Sotsu has done a great job of elevating it with good direction and visuals. The moment to moment pacing can still be kinda choppy, and sometimes the presentation of flashback scenes is confusing and ambiguous, but in general it still feels entertaining to watch unfold, and the brutality has a lot of impact. I’m just hoping that the rest of Sotsu is more ambitious and surprising than these first two arcs have been.

#murasaki rambles #higurashi #higurashi sotsu

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tarhalindur · 3 years ago

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Higurashi Sotsu Ep. 14 Thoughts

Mahou shoujo episode mk. 2: DBZ edition (or possibly Nanoha edition). Which doesn’t mean the obvious comp doesn’t also apply, Alexa play Agmen Clientum and/or Absolute Configuration. But the usual source of Parallels(tm) never went as flashy as this visually.

More under the cut:

- I have to retroactively lower my grades for the pacing of last week’s episode: if you’re going to resolve the gunpoint cliffhanger with Satoko just shooting Rika, then my pacing instincts say that *that* is where they should have put the episode break for maximum anticlimax factor. (Two caveats: you’re losing some metatextual trolling depth, and I’m not sure how well that “Satoko just shot her” episode ending would have gone over after how fucked the rest of Sotsu’s pacing has been.)

- This episode... I think I’m landing on “good, but not good enough to redeem thirteen episodes of bad-to-terrible pacing”.

- The absolutely hilarious thing about this episode is just how many of the English fandom memes it managed to hit, and I can’t tell whether or not it’s intentional. “REEE I refuse to learn”? Check. Chair? Check. Giving us a nod to how thoroughly we’ve been getting tired of the festival dance this cour by having Satoko burn it down? Check. And the absolute funniest one, because I have on good authority that a few weeks back somebody was either accidentally or intentionally posting DBZ (well, Dragonball Super) threads on the Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy except the first posts had When They Cry images instead of proper DBZ images... and now the universal response to episode 14 is “we’re going full DBZ”. Was Ryukishi07 actually that good at predicting the fandom reactions ahead of time? (If so, Endless Eight lesson still applies.) Did the creative team keep the episode 14 script flexible enough that they could edit it to react to the memes? Is the Seventh Dragon Knight actually shitposting about his own franchise on the English-speaking Internet to try to guide the fanbase reaction in a desired direction or something? Or is it just one of those mind-boggling coincidences (the kind that make me eye the *other* thing I hear about When They Cry on the Wretched Hive, namely the way that it’s apparently gotten some absolutely *massive* gets over the last year or so)?

- Speaking of which... gotta increment the counter by one.

- In unrelated news, PMMM parallels are old hat, it’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull reference time now.

- Which admittedly does not mean that the PMMM parallels are gone, mind. In particular, while the rooftop scene may be straight out of Tsumihoroboshi-hen the size of the full moon is not - it was reasonably sized in DEEN’s version. Here, not so much:

Rebellion, of course, had exactly this kind of ridiculously large moon for the first three-quarters of the movie. My “Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni: the Rebellion Story” cursed brain noise take after episode 7 continues to age like fine wine.

(- *nervously eyes plot point for a certain fanfic that hasn’t come into play yet and that I actually hadn’t pieced together until well after I started writing it, eyes something about the context of Rebellion’s moon, then eyes the counter warily*)

(- Also: is Ryukishi07 trying to pull an “explain everything in excruciating detail” as a potshot towards the Japanese fans who hated Umineko’s VN ending *and* another Umineko VN end both at the same time? Because I very much doubt that this episode is actually happening per se - this has metaphor written all over it. And I was already seriously entertaining “we are being lied to, everything involving H173 is Witch bullshit and therefore did not actually happen” as it was. And that would be Ryukishi07′s style, he’s always been a very me kind of author in certain ways, though perhaps more me circa a decade ago than me now, and that kind of metatext would be a very me sort of thing to do. The Wretched Hive has been joking about Battler showing up, but the real joke may be that you, the viewer, are now in Battler’s shoes.)

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moonlightreal · 4 years ago

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Fate episode 6

When last we left Elemental Academy, I was seeing doomful parallels to every Bad Ending arc in Higurashi. And sadly, I like the three adults and my genre-savvy tells me they won’t all make it through this last episode.

How much of a downer will the ending be? Who will end up screwing everything up? (my money’s on Bloom.) Who’s for the chop? (my guess is Silva and one out of Dane, Riven or Beatrix.) Will we finally learn the red truth of what happened at Aster Dell? Will we ever get the skinny on what the heck Burned Ones are? Will the show finally give me the lowdown on changelings that I’ve been whining about since episode one? Will we get the full story on Bloom’s destiny? (My money’s on no to at least three of the four.)

And I suppose we’ll finally answer the question we started with: Good, bad or irredeemable?

One last time, let’s dive in!

We pick up right where we left off, Bloom having a mental chat with Rosalind! Rosalind says, ‘Do you have any idea how special you are?”

...waitwaitwait, is there gonna be a prophecy? There’s always a prophecy! A prophecy that the Chosen one would be born in Aster Dell and that’s the real reason Rosalind nuked the place. Only she didn’t know which of the babies it was, she guessed Beatrix and she guessed wrong.

Am I right? Sorry, I barely let the episode start, let’s get back.

Rosalind encourages Bloom to bust her out. Bloom flames her eyes up.

Aaaaand we cut back to the girls in the corridor. Terra wonders what they could be talking about and Stella teases that she once heard Terra talk about dirt for two hours. I’m liking friendly Stella, but she faceturned faster than Tinx at the end of WoW!

Terra’s also worried Beatrix may recover from being frozen and come after them. Sensible, Terra! But no, Beatrix will be gone when you get back, off getting the mysterious “him.” I know how these shows work!

Ahahahaha! I’m right! Beatrix is gone! I swear I type these things while I watch, all guesses are genuine!

And then Dowling, Harvey and Aisha bust in. Yeah girls, you might’ve not done this during a Burned One attack! Harvey says “Not another word!” which nobody listening is why y’all gonna get the bad ending, and the girls follow him. Stella resurrects her inner witch to tell Aisha, ‘Hope the brownie points you get from this will keep you company when you’ve got no friends.” simmer down Stell, she was trying to protect people’s lives… Aisha goes with the girls leaving Dowling to go after Bloom alone.

Rosalind is coaching Bloom on how to burn through the barrier. Bloom’s grinning, because magic feels hot and dangerous and you just want more. Then the barrier goes down and Bloom has a moment of worry about what she’s done before she… has a very caring moment, she grabs Rosalind assuming the older fairy will need water and food after being trapped for so long. That is really sweet, Bloom. But Rosalind says, ‘No. I need magic.”

And here comes Dowling! I assumed Rosalind would steal Dowling’s magic, but when the headmistress gets there everybody’s gone.

Opening!

Bloom and Rosalind come out a door in the graveyard out in the forest. Secret passage! Dowling doesn’t know about it. Dowling doesn’t know about lots of things, according to Rosalind. Bloom really should be having second thoughts here. Rosalind has an evil face!

Harvey reads the girls the riot act. He’s wearing his army coat, the same kind Rosalind wears, from their soldier days. He’s horrified about all the girls have done. He turns to go.

And Terra jumps up, “You lied again! About Rosalind, about everything, and you’re angry with ME? You can’t punish me for not knowing something you didn’t tell me!”

Yes! Get ‘em Terra!

Stella and Musa tennis-match look from daughter to father.

Harvey just says, “I suggest you all cool down!” and leaves without facing his daughter’s very sensible argument. And he magics the doors locked.

Terra: ‘I’ve caught him in a logic trap and he’s used his magic to ground us.’

Stella: “That means you won.”

Then aisha heads for her room to “deescalate the situation by removing myself from it” and Stella calls her a rat of a teacher’s pet and Musa asks for a brief pause so she can get her headphones. She flees into her room as Stella and Aisha get into it.

There’s Sam! Hiding in Musa and Terra’s room!

Stella says everyone over five knows not to snitch, even terra knows not to snitch, and Terra gives her a look. Aisha brings the logic: burned Ones, outside! Bloom, kinda single minded! Rosalind, an extra problem we don’t need right now!

Dowling checks the stone circle. Nobody there.

When she leaves, Rosalind and Bloom appear. So Rosalind is mind/light at least. Rosalind puts her hands over the center stone and absorbs magic.

Bloom asks what happened at Aster Dell. Rosalind makes a very evil face. ‘Everything Farah told you is true. I lied to them. I told then Aster Dell was evacuated. It wasn’t.”

Bloom starts to wonder if maybe she released a baddie.

But rosalind has more to say. ‘One of the fundamental tenets of the Otherworld is that only fairies can do magic. The settlers of Aster Dell were the exception. They were humans who drew on sacrifice and death. Blood witches.”

Gee it’d have been nice to hear that fundamental tenet sometime before the last episode! 9_9

So Rosalind saw an opportunity to wipe out the totally unforeshadowed witches along with the Burned Ones. And Bloom was a fairy baby kidnapped by the witches. Her fairy parents are still unknown. Bloom’s freaking out, but Rosalind just says, ‘You weren’t safe in the Otherworld, the power inside you was too great. that’s why the witches wanted you, to use your power.” and the Burned Ones can sense Bloom’s power and want to get rid of it before it’s used on them.

Yikes! Bloom realizes her presence is putting everybody in danger!

Rosalind: ‘Sucks to be special sometimes, doesn’t it.” But now they can go after the Burned Ones! And Rosalind has another trick to teach Bloom…

Hmm, so these Burned Ones were just… around? And gathering because they sensed Bloom’s magic? I assumed someone summoned them back after not being seen for 16 years.

We go to the fighters at the barrier. Remember how last episode Bloom drugged Sky and left him passed out at the stone circle? Well Aisha found out somehow and told the teachers so Silva is giving Sky the “why did I find this out from Aisha?’ and Sky hits back with, “Why’d I have to find out about Aster dell from Bloom?” But they’re in the middle of a siege situation here so Silva logically suggests they talk about that later.

Another few specialists including Riven and a girl named Kat who knows Stella are watching Noura’s last video. Kat thinks she knows where it was shot. Silva says, “Let’s go.” Just him and five students. Riven says, ‘Without fairies? that’s fucking stupid, there’s six of them!” and Sky shuts him down; order’s an order. That’s the most twit-ish thing Sky has done this whole show.

They hear Burned Ones growling… but it’s coming from the direction of the school! Yikes! Everyone rushes back!

At Alfea, the lights, that were never bright anyway so we’d remember this is a dark show, flicker out! Terra says the electricity runs on magic and there are energy wells… Sam says he’ll go check it out. He Kitty Prydes it through the door, unbothered my the sealing spell. So if he can phase, can Terra learn it too?

Spooky empty corridors! Flickering lights! Sam all alone! Y’know Sam probably can’t do that trick Kitty does where an enemy launches at her and goes right through, because he can only phase through earth-y and plant-y stuff.

Yikes! It’s a jump scare! Burned One right in Sam’s face! It claws him and he goes down yelling in pain!

But he manages to get back into the girls’ suite to tell them there’s a Burned One loose in the school!

Back with Bloom and Rosalind, Rosalind’s encouraging Bloom to channel lots of magic. “More! Let the fire consume you! Control limits you!” bloom says she’s scared and Rosalind encourages her to embrace that feeling, to enjoy it! “And with the right people around you...”

Bloom unflames. “You mean with you.” Bloom’s realized it! “You want me to listen to you and trust you and let you guide me? I just met you.’ and that’s not all! Bloom realizes Rosalind left her on earth a danger to everyone around her, to hide her from Dowling. “Without any guidance.”

Rosalind: ‘The guidance you needed was love. Farah couldn’t give that to you. Vanessa and Michael could.” Ugh, so their names are canon. And Rosalind knew about their baby and “gave them a second chance. And I gave you a hiding place from the monsters that wanted you dead.” And rosalind says she’ll always look out for Bloom, and when this is over they’ll find Bloom’s birth parents.

I dunno Bloom, maybe ask a whole lot more about how she knew about an Earth couple whose baby had a heart defect?

It had occurred to me that Beatrix might be the other half of the changeling swap, if there’s healing magic that can fix things like that.

But no time for that, Burned Ones are in the school and the girls are stuck in their room! Bloom has to go help. She asks Rosalind if she’s charged up enough to help help. Rosalind says she can’t, “But you don’t need it. BS, Rosalind, you could totally help. But Bloom runs off leaving the lady with the evil face all alone.

In the suite, Sam is getting worse, they can’t get out, and cel phones are giving up.

Bloom races toward the school. She hears noises from every side… but there’s Sky! At least bloom seems relieved he’s ok after she spiked his drink. He doesn’t seem nearly as upset as he should be over that, but I guess we gotta save the school first!

Inside dark halls there’s Riven and Kat with flashlights. They hear noises, but it’s just some students led by a male fire fairy with a handful of flames. Kat goes with them to the “courtyard” which I’ve been calling the cafeteria, I guess it’s outside? The big set with the arches and walkway overlooking it.

So Riven’s all alone to get the rest of the students from this area! He goes into the greenhouse… and there’s Dane! And Beatrix lying asleep on a table. Dane brought Beatrix here but she’s still paralyzed from the spell and Dane doesn’t know how to help her.

Riven just says it sucks for her and she’s not worth it. Which true we’d be better off without her but also yikes, heartless much Riven?

Dane: “She cares about you and I know you care about her. Don’t act like you don’t.”

Riven shrugs and turns to go and Dane grabs him. Riven says fine, he’ll help. Dunno why they don’t just carry Beatrix to where the students are gathering, that’d be safer for everyone.

Sky and Bloom are having the “you drugged me.” conversation. And the “I trusted you, I told you things.’ and “you trusted me but you’d still have stopped me.’ and “you were gonna release a murderer and a crazy ex-headmistress.” and Bloom starts realizing everyone had reasons for what they did and Sky wraps it up, ‘just because they’re doing what they thought was right doesn’t mean that it is.”

Back with the girls, Sam’s getting worse and something is banging on the door! it’s Sky! Did he just kick his way through an enspelled door? Badass.

Sky and Stella look at each other and say hey.

Then we all head for the courtyard and comparative safety!

Dowling is magically sealing the beautiful arched doors with trees in them, she tells the boy fire fairy to get his compatriots to weld them shut, and everyone to start making barricades. Silva’s handing out armor to fairies who want it. Harvey has a whole chemistry lab set up with a lunch lady helping him. Badass Marco is still getting treatment for his injury when the girls bring Sam in for help. Sam’s in a bad way. Harvey asks why they didn’t bring him immediately and Terra reminds him they were locked in their room. Harvey flinches.

Dowling stands on the stage where we saw Luna before, as behind her fire fairies weld the doors. She tells them the situation: Burned Ones in, power out. But she got word to Queen Luna and the army’s on the way! Everyone looks at Stella when she says that. They’re safe in the courtyard… but if the Burned Ones get through before the army comes, they’ll have to fight. Dowling does her best to be inspiring, “Let’s show them what it means to be Alfeans!” But I just feel… the lack of history. And I know, we have history. Feels like we don’t.

Sky and Stella have a moment. Bloom told him Stella ran away from home. Stella: “Home’s on its way here, so that’s fun.” Sky offers to help her hide but Stella says she’d love to take him up on it but… ‘Breaking up was the right thing to do, we never should’ve gotten back together. We are codependant at best, toxic at worst. This time I have to deal with it myself.” yay Stella! Grow into a better person! Sky says she sounds just like Bloom and Stella jokes that that’s what he’s into these days.

Meanwhile Bloom is following Dowling trying to convince her not to be mad. ‘Rosalind isn’t the monster you think she is.”

Bloom, you just met her you said it yourself!

“She had a reason to lie. The settlers of Aster Dell weren’t innocent. They were blood witches. And my birth parents weren’t even there.”

Dowling just sighs and says “She certainly has a way of winning people over doesn’t she.” Dangit, I wanted her to just kill the retcon and say, “there’s no such thing as blood witches, Bloom.”

Bloom goes with, ‘is your ego so fragile you can’t even consider for a minute you might be wrong about her?” Dowling says Rosalind is just manipulating, Bloom says you’re doing that too, and Dowling sensibly points out Dowling could be here defending herself and also defending the school.

Bloom flinches from that logic but says Rosalind is still too weak.

Dowling says the stone circle is the conduit to the magic of the land. It supplies everything… like the electricity. And the barrier.

Yup. Nice job breaking it, hero! Bloom singlehandedly brings about the bad ending!

Bloom says the Burned Ones are after her, and Dowling had figured that out. Bloom says she knows how to fight them now, but Dowling points out, ‘you’re he reason we’re in this mess, you’ve done enough. Help the other fire fairies weld the doors if you want to.’

And she strides off, pausing to suggest to Aisha that the other water fairies could use her leadership.

Aisha had been coming to talk to bloom I think, but she changes her mind.

In the greenhouse Dane and Riven are making a medicine to revive Beatrix. Turns out Riven is good at potions because he used to hang out with Terra. ‘Look, I’ll deny saying this but she’s not the worst.”

Ok, that makes Riven’s nasty remark to Terra in the first episode way worse.

Riven: “I might’ve led you astray this year...’

Dane: “you didn’t. Beatrix is special.”

Riven: ‘You are gay, right? I’m not blind? I know when someone wants my dick.”

Dane: “I think you’re hot. She is too, in a different way.”

There’s nothing like a cute threesome! ...and this is nothing like a cute threesome. But now the problematic element sits up and says, ‘You made the right choice. Rosalind will be impressed. When this is all over, you’re going to want to be on our side.”

Burned Ones growl! Rosalind pulls magic from the stone circle!

And Sam is in a bad way. There was a splinter of Burned One claw near his heart. Dang, I should’ve put him on the list of people for the chop! Musa tries to use her mind magic to take some of his pain, but it’s too much for her.

Harvey starts falling apart, stuttering that he can’t get the splinter out. Terra encourages her father, and Harvey manages to pull the claw splinter out. sam’s alive, but until the Burned One that tagged him is dead it’s only a matter of time!

The fire fairy boy says he heard they have the rest of the night and a whole day before the army comes. Too long for Sam, and if the Burned Ones get through the doors too long for all of them. Bloom, who’d been watching in horror the results of her bad choices, sets her lips and strides out.

Bustle of students putting up barricades. Sky is working with Badass Marco, then he turns and there’s Bloom with an apology. “I should’ve been honest with you like you were honest with me and I’m sorry.” And she reassures him that the kiss was honest, and gives him another one for emphasis!

Sky: “If I still say I don’t believe you, can we do it again?”

Well Sky is the most sane and stable person here, he’ll be good for Bloom! And immediately her catches Bloom’s glance and says, ‘whatever you’re thinking of doing… I’m here.”

And Aisha knows Bloom’s gonna try something, because Bloom always tries something and this time she thinks it’s her fault. Stella tries the, ‘If only her friend hadn’t turned on her..” and Aisha feels bad and she’s sorry. And here’s Bloom, come to get them! It’s the last episode, we all get to go fight!

Sky’s not with them, he’s with Silva and Silva has a final confession to make. Because he thinks they’re all gonna die tonight, he wants to tell Sky the truth about what happened at Aster Dell. Because that was where Sky’s father died. But Sky thought he died in battle…

Flashback! On the plains. Silva is yelling that there were still people, the town wasn’t evacuated. He wants to run and tell Rosalind. This must be while the magic users are up on the cliff ready to call down lightning. Silva says his friends think they’re only killing Burned Ones, but Andreas says Rosalind knows the truth. And he’s going with what Rosalind said.

Silva says ‘I know Rosalind gave you a sense of purpose, I know you’re indebted to her.” backstory there, but surely Andreas wouldn’t be on side for nuking hundreds of people?! Silva says, orders or morals? And Andreas… yep, he’s Team Rosalind. he’s not gonna let Silva warn the others.

He does not say, “They’re evil blood witches, we’ll show you the evidence and then come back.” which is really the only correct thing to say here.

Punches are thrown! The two warriors scuffle. Then Andreas goes for his sword. Silva draws his own. And a few swings in, he runs Andreas through. And races to the top of the bluff to stop his friends being accessories to a massacre.

Oof! What a thing for Sky to learn! And before that, Silva says, Andreas really was a great hero. Just… flawed. As we all are. That’s not much good and sky snaps, ‘What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?” But he’ll have to work it out later because now the Burned Ones are breaking in!

Dowling and the specialists move to the front, Dowling saying, ‘Keep your emotions in check. Runaway fear leads to runaway magic.”

In the clinic Harvey and Terra battle to keep Sam alive. Terra goes to get help and finds Musa zoned out with headphones. Terra begs for help and Musa says she can’t bear to feel somebody she cares about die, not again. This Musa’s mother dies last year, and Musa was with her and felt everything. Oof! The two girls hang onto each other and cry for a moment then Terra says, ‘It’s ok. I’m not gonna let him die.” And, understanding, leaves Musa to her music. But headphones can’t shut out the sound of the Burned Ones banging on the walls!

In the courtyard terra walks right up past everybody and starts dismanteling the barricade! ‘We’re hiding when we should be fighting.” Silva tells her they’re gonna be fighting soon enough and indeed, here comes a Burned One through the roof! The boy fire fairy blasts it and Kat is ready to skewer the thing when it… passes them?

It’s looking for Bloom! Who was last seen sneaking out a trapdoor with Stella and Aisha! The banging stops, and Dowling figures out Bloom has left to draw the enemy away!

The girls emerge from the secret passage in the graveyard.

Harvey calls Terra over as she is clearly headed out to fight, but he says she needs to stay with her brother, to help him hold on until the Burned One is destroyed. Then Musa appears and takes Sam’s hand. She’ll help him as long as she can.

Outside Stella points out that her mom is on the way with a real live army, but Bloom says there’s no time for that. Rosalind taught her how to stop the Burned Ones but she has to do big magic and she’s not sure how that’ll work. She needs help. Aisha will be there with her water magic in case the forest catches fire, and Stella can hide them.

Bloom: “Rosalind wants me to believe that she’s the person I need to get through this. But she’s not.

Aisha pulls the water from the pond into a cyclone around Bloom. Bloon lights up her eyes and lifts off the ground and… transforms. Transforms-ish. Flames spiral around her arms and legs, and around her body. Bloom’s clothes don’t change but fiery veined wings open behind her, first very large then dwindling as Bloom lands back on the ground.

The designers definitely could’ve watched PGSM to get this, if they then decided to tone things way down. And why not change her clothes? I’m sure they could’ve managed something. As a live action transformation sequence it’s… ok. They were trying for something cool and they had some good ideas how to get there, the fie spirals were good, but they needed to really run with it and they didn’t. So it’s just ok.

And how the night did Rosalind know the long lost secret of how to transform?

Burned Ones advance and Bloom blasts them with fire one after another. When the last one is down, her wings go out. And where the Burned Ones fell are… specialists? People, anyway.

Dowling arrives and Bloom collapses in her arms, then Aisha and Stella rush over to help. “We did it.’

Inside Sam suddenly feels much better! Terra hugs Musa. The lights come back on.

In the greenhouse too, where Beatrix and the boys are ready to bring the bad ending! I still smell a bad ending, because we just had a good ending but there’s twenty minutes more to go! The boys say they should rejoin their classmates but Beatrix says they should wait to meet Rosalind and her dad, who have a plan. ‘The two of you can be part of it. This doesn’t have to end.”

Dane asks if it was her dad who sent her to Alfea and B says he’s technically not her dad… and here’s Rosalind coming in the greenhouse doors. She and Beatrix recognize each other though they can’t have met. B says the boys are her friends and Rosalind reads their minds. I wanna say the boys are wondering what they’ve gotten into but… no, they don’t seem to be seeing anythuing wrong with this at all.

The girls are putting Bloom to bed, talking about the good ending they think they have. Sam will be fine, Terra’s great at doctoring and she’s sad she missed seeing Bloom’s wings. Tinkerbell is mentioned and I can just hear my friend cringing as they say Bloom’s wings were cooler than Tinkerbell’s. Bloom’s parents call and Aisha talks to them, covering for Bloom. She calls it her ‘one allocated lie of the week” which is weird. Bloom’s awake and fine, she could talk to her folks. Aisha says they’ve been having killer exams and the girls giggle.

Nobody says, ‘ohmigod the secret of wings was lost ages ago, what exactly did you do? help us all learn it!” which seems like a very obvious thing for everybody to be saying.

Also being all happy and going to bed while Rosalind and Beatrix are unaccounted for is a weird choice!

Silva and some specialists are scouting for her. No luck. They find Dowling with the bodies of the ex-Burned Ones.

Dowling: “Bloom transformed, Saul. She spent one night with Rosalind and unlocked ancient fairy magic, magic we thought was lost. She told Bloom the settlers of Aster dell weren’t civilians, they were blood witches.”

And Silva seems to believe it. Which of course means he killed his friend for no good reason. If it’s true. But if it’s true why didn’t Rosalind and Andreas tell the others, present evidence of the blood witches’ crimes, and make a plan to deal with things aboveboard? So why does Silva believe it now hearing from Dowling who heard from Bloom who heard from Rosalind well after the fact? But he does believe it and this is his awful moment of guilt.

Sky too is grappling with what he’s just learned, pacing on the lawn outside the school as the night ends.

Bloom finds him as the sun rises and I gotta say, I was not expecting the night to end! Everyone heard Bloom “went full fairy last night.” Bloom says it was the first time she truly felt like herself. She says, “I belong here.” but she realizes Sky is in the same clothes as last night and asks if he’s ok. He says he’s fine, which he isn’t.

Then Dowling comes looking for Bloom. The two fairies go into the headmistress’ office. Bloom’s feeling ok after her big magic, and suddenly she apologizes for all the awful things she’s said to Dowling. “You found me when I was lost, brought me to a safe place, gave me guaidance. Surrounded me with amazing people. And I’ve been...’

Dowling says, ‘It’s forgiven.” And Bloom hesitantly asks for a hug, or maybe offers one. Dowling looks like she’s never heard of hugs before, then she stands up and she and Bloom hug. Dowling totally gets teary-eyed.

Dowling: “When I became headmistress I made a decision. To become a figurehead. To project strength. It’s what students your age need. Admitting mistakes invites uncertainty...but not admittng them means people you care about have to ask you if you hug.”

Awwww, that was sweet! Dowling says she should have been more honest and Bloom says she maybe needed time.

...are we maybe NOT having a bad ending? I mean if Stella confronts her mum that would take up the time and we could end on a good note! Nobody’s dead yet! But all that bad-ending buildup...

‘Cause suddenly we’re back on Earth and Bloom is going to tell them the truth! Which, what good will that do them? And do you even know the truth? People told you lots of things. And the rest of the girls are here to hang out over the weekend! They head upstairs so Bloom can drop the “changeling” bomb in peace.

Music plays, Bloom speaks and her mother cries and looks at a baby book, ultrasounds and a newborn hospital bracelet. They believe it too, the whole mad story of fairies and magic. Of course Bloom summoning double handfuls of fire probably does a lot to convince them.

Sweet family montage, Bloom hugging her parents, the girls at the kitchen table, eating pizza.

Back at Alfea, Silva asks Sky where Riven is. Sky just says he and Dane are probably off getting stoned. When is this? Did y’all not do a full headcount after the battle? Sky is of course not happy with his mentor. Silva just says, ‘one day I hope you’ll see everything I did was for your benefit Sky.” Which, if Silva’s parenting produced Sky the paragon of decency and Andreas’ parenting produced Beatrix the occasionally charming also slutty obsessed murderer, good point there!

Here come some doomful black SUVs! They pull around and out hop a bunch of soldiers who surround the two confused guys.

Queen Luna gets out and… arrests Silva for the attempted murder of Andreas of Eraklyon!

Yow! Poor Silva looks most confused. But there he is, Andreas gets out of an SUV still wearing his specialist vest thingy. Sky looks at his resurrected father in shock!

Dowling is looking over some graves. Rosalind suddenly turns up! Turns out the Burned Ones are a sort of zombie, they were human once so when Bloom turned them human again and dead Dowling buried them. I hope she tried to find their next of kin and stuff too. Rosalind knew about them.

Dowling: “Are there more out there?”

Rosalind: “Shit ton.”

Rosalind must’ve already met Riven, his speech patterns are rubbing off on her!

And then Rosalind delivers the prophecy. There always is one. Or in this case, “There’s a legend. It’s a thousand years old. That’s how old the Burned Ones are, by the way. They were soldiers from an ancient war. The legend is about the magic used against them. It created them. it’s powerful. It’s primal. The Dragon Flame.”

Whaaaaaat? Really? Come on.

And that’s what Bloom’s got and that’s why she could transform. Rosalind let the Burned Ones into the school to see if Bloom could do it. Dowling’s upset about the danger to, y’know, everybody.

Rosalind: “there’s a war on the horizon. The Burned Ones are nothing compared to what’s coming.”

And Rosalind says she’s taking over the school, pretty much. We go back to the front yard where Silva’s getting hauled away in handcuffs and Queen Luna is giving the ordersy and there’s Beatrix watching and inside someone’s taking down Dowling’s portrait and putting up Rosalind’s.

Soldiers march into the greenhouse and Harvey and Sam smile weakly, smart enough not to try anything against six big dudes.

We learn that Andreas has been in hiding all these years because “I needed someone to raise Beatrix.” Uh, wow Andreas is one obedient guy! He also looks a little nutty. I dunno, the very regal beard… it’s too much somehow. Next to him Beatrix smiles at Riven and Dane who are I guess her loyal retainers now.

And then, infodump over… Rosalind straight up MURDERIZES Dowling! Well first she suggests Dowling might want to run away and take some time off, but Dowling is having none of that so Rosalind kills her! And then angry rock music plays as Dowling’s body sinks into the ground and flowers come up over her, making one more grave.

The girls return from their weekend on earth wearing the awful clothes from the trailer and discover… not the three adults they were expecting!

Well that was… something. You got the bad ending all right!

So lemme scroll up and see how good my guesses were…

Nobody but Dowling died, so my death guesses were wrong. And if she’s an earth fairy she might be able to heal herself under the ground or something, I mean weirder things happen in this kind of show. Bloom did indeed doom the school by releasing Rosalind.

We learned what I guess is the truth of Aster Dell, but... unforeshadowed blood witches? Reeeeeally!? That’s what you’re going with? And we found out Burned Ones are ancient zombies created by the unforeshadowed Dragon Flame which Bloom has for some reason. You’re supposed to foreshadow the important stuff for the night’s sake! That’s how things have weight in your story, that’s how you make the world feel real like the parts of it are connected to the other parts of it! The lack of worldbuilding has been bugging me more and more, can you tell?

Anyway we get a season two. I’m pleased because I’ve enjoyed plenty of aspects of Fate, but on the other hand… Fate has turned the already weird Winx fandom into a pit of radioactive rage-bees, and I won’t be sad to put that behind us!

So what about the big question? Good, bad or irredeemable?

I expected to judge how Fate lines up as a Winx Club show, but it… just doesn’t. At all. None of the characters are the same, none of the worldbuilding is the same. It’s apples to oranges.

But as just a show… I think I’d have to go with “bad.” The way the world feels so flimsy, all the really obvious bits of Otherworldbuilding that just aren’t there until the end, or aren’t there at all. All the Earth popular culture references. Beatrix being stuck in a slut stereotype role. All the drugs. All the everyone’s lying to everyone about everything, it got really tiresome. Those things knock the show out of the “good” category.

But there was a lot to like. I have to say, all the actors did a really good job. Given the semi-mess they had to work with, they gave it all they had! Stella was so awful but put across that she’s terrible because she’s terrified. Sky was a truly good person. Beatrix and Riven are objectively terrible people but both had moments of being so charming it was hard to hate them. And Dowling, Silva and Harvey managed to hold up this flimsy worldbuilding and almost make it work. The magic was flimsy but pretty and the castle and the forest are absolutely stunning.

So it’s not good, but there’s something there. So it’s not irredeemable, though there’s a lot we have to wallpaper over with it. I’m’a go with “Bad. The show has charms but is in general bad.”

At least that’s what I think after a five-hour marathon of the last episode! We’ll see what occurs to me in days to come!

#fate the winx saga #you get the bad ending

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connan-l · 5 years ago

Text

Cleavered

Fandom: The House in Fata Morgana & Higurashi: When They Cry

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Relationship: Rena Ryuuguu & Morgana (The House in Fata Morgana)

Summary: Rena was lost, all alone and far away from her village and country. But while trying to find her way back, she gets herself involved into a sordid story of blood and witch…

Content Warnings: A few graphic depictions of violence, including slashing, blood, blood draining, attempted murders. Panic attacks and vomiting towards the end. Briefs kidnapping and slavery mentions.

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Link on Archive of Our Own

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Notes: I promise this initially started as a silly joke. I only wanted to write a ridiculous crack one-shot with ‘what if Rena Ryuuguu saved Morgana’ as a premise, and for some reason it ended up as this giant taken-too-seriously mess. It was actually pretty hard to write though — took me months before finishing it, and it was a real challenge to find a way to fit Higurashi’s plot in FataMoru’s setting. Rena was also pretty difficult to write, and I wish I would’ve been able to reread Tsumihoroboshi before that, but oh well.

Again though, it’s principally just a self-indulgent crack fic, so don’t try to think too much about it if there are some details that don’t makes sense and roll with it haha.

I’m thanking Ried (@kosongnonsens) too given I started writing this after we joked around about this idea.

Spoilers for the entirety of The House in Fata Morgana and A Requiem for Innocence, and for Higurashi: When They Cry’s sixth arc Tsumihoroboshi-hen/Atonement Chapter.

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She was definitely lost by now.

Whether she looked right or left, behind or in front of her, none of the landscapes and surroundings had one once of familiarity. She had been walking for hours now, at least — but she was pretty sure she had just managed to get even more lost than she initially had been.

Disheartened, she let out a long, heavy sigh, and sat down on a rock in the shade of a tree. Her big satchel that she’s been dragging around since she first came into this country was starting to really hurt her shoulder and back, so she also put it down on the ground. The soil was probably going to tarnish it, but it didn’t bother her much. It already was an old, deteriorated bag anyway, and there wasn’t anything of value in it — just a few clothes, some fruits and bread, and her cleaver.

She wished her father was here. And her friends. She wished she could just go back to her village, which she hadn’t seen in months now. What was she even doing out there in this foreign land she knew nothing about? People only looked at her weirdly, as if she was some sort of exotic animal, and she felt terribly uncomfortable and unwelcome.

(But maybe this was part of the curse of Oyashiro, too…)

As she unconsciously sighed again, she suddenly heard something. It sounded like footsteps. Then, after a while, she was sure she could feel a presence — a human presence. She always had a good instinct for stuff like that. She instantly grabbed her satchel, ready to welcome anything, but the person who showed up in front of her emanated absolutely no danger or suspicion whatsoever.

“Ah, as I thought! I truly had seen someone coming here!”

It was a girl, a bit younger than her, with long wavy blonde hair and sparkling sunny eyes. Her first thought was that she looked really cute, and she if wasn’t feeling so tired she probably would’ve loved to try squishing her round cheeks. Her second thought was that on the other hand, her pale face, chapped blue lips and dark circles told her she wasn’t in the best of health. Still, the girl bounced towards the newcomer like a rabbit, smiling from ear to ear.

“That’s so rare to see people!” She exclaimed. “No one ever come around here.”

“Really?” A part of her still felt suspicious, but the girl’s smile was contagious so she couldn’t help but mimic her friendly tone. “I got lost in the forest… I’ve been walking for hours trying to find my way back. Do you think you could help me?”

Th blonde girl grimaced. “Well… I can try, but… Honestly, I don’t really know my way around here either…”

“Oh… I see…”

Well, of course, that would’ve been too easy. At least she wasn’t lost in the middle of the woods anymore, she supposed. She had never been afraid of forests or dark, isolated places, but those were still tricky areas when you knew nothing of the surroundings.

“Um…”

The girl cleared her throat, getting her attention back to her, before smiling shyly with a hopeful gaze.

“Uh, well, I don’t think I can help you find your way back, but… you said you’ve been walking for hours, right? So you must be tired. If you want, I can invite you at my home!”

“Y-You would? I-I mean… it’d be very kind, but I don’t want to bother,” she stuttered.

“It’s okay! I’m all alone right now, and I’m sure the Saintess wouldn’t mind either!”

“The Saintess…?”

“I know how to make excellent tea, with rose petals! I promise you won’t regret it if you come!”

The blonde girl took her hand and begins to pull on it excitedly. She seemed oddly happy at the idea of sharing her afternoon with this stranger she knew nothing about. Maybe it wasn’t a really prudent decision to follow her, but honestly, at this point she felt too tired to refuse such an alluring invitation. Plus, she felt pretty charmed by that girl, and she didn’t think she was dangerous.

“Okay!” She replied. “You lead the way then.”

The girl’s face instantly lit up and her smile got even wider as she saw the stranger rose up from the rock and grab her satchel.

“Aahh, that’s so great! We could bake together too! Ohh, and chat about all sorts of things! Ah, by the way, I’m Nellie. What’s your name?”

She smiled at her new acquaintance, her hand still intertwined with hers.

“I’m Rena! Nice to meet you.”

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Nellie hurriedly guided her to her home all while making little mindless talks (“You’re ‘Rena’? It’s the first time I hear that name! It sounds so weird!”), and it only took them five minutes to reach it. The place where she lived looked more like a little cabin than an actual house, to be honest, but Rena thought it’d be rude to say so she kept quiet. The interior was fairly cozy, and with all the adorable, tiny decorations put all around the walls it wasn’t hard to guess that Nellie was the one who was spending most of her time here.

“Do you live here all alone? Do you?” Rena asked tentatively.

“No, I live with the Saintess… Ah, the Saintess is a nun who works at the church up there! Before that, I lived with my brother in another house, but we moved here a few months ago.”

Rena nodded while the younger girl ran up to the kitchen. She had spent enough time in this country to know that ‘saint’ and ‘nun’ were religious figures here, though she wasn’t sure what were their roles exactly. She sat at the table and waited patiently for Nellie to reappears a few minutes later with a plate in her hands.

“Haoo, those teacups are so kyute!”

“Hehe, I know, right? They’re ones of the only things I was able to bring back from home.”

“From where you lived with your brother?”

“Yes— Ah, I mean, no, even before that. Initially, we didn’t even live in the same country. We used to be rich, you know? Living in a huge mansion and all.”

“Ohh, it sounds nice! I’ve never been in a mansion.”

Well, she supposed her friend Mion’s big house could count as one, but from what Rena had seen it was still very different from what Western people called ‘mansions.’

“Well, if you want, there’s a mansion not far from here, so I could show you. I mean, it’s technically a church, but it still looks more like a mansion than a church.”

“Aw, really? I’d love to see that!”

Nellie giggled. “You’re funny. I like you. I wish I could show you my own manor too back in my country, but… I probably will never be able to go home…”

The blonde girl sighed, and a sad expression spread on her face. Rena guessed it was a touchy subject and that it was better to just change the topic rather than push the issue, but at this moment Nellie stared straight into her eyes, her smile back in place, as if it had never disappeared.

“What about you?”

“H-Huh?”

“You’re a foreigner too, aren’t you?”

“Oh… yes, that’s true… I come from the Far East. Um, well… I came to this country some months ago because of my father’s work. He’s a trader and came here for a new business opportunity… but then we got separated, and I got lost, and so here I am.”

It was a pretty simple summary of her situation and she left out a lot of complicated factors, though. No matter how cute Nellie was, she still didn’t felt like telling her whole life story out of the blue like that.

“You speak the language really well for someone who only came here months ago,” she noticed.

“O-Oh… thanks… I still don’t know how to write it though…”

Nellie seemed to ponder her words for a moment in silence, and Rena thought she was going to keep questioning but instead she just grinned and rose up from the table.

“Well, whatever! It doesn’t matter where you come from if I like you. Hey, what do you think about baking with me? I feel like eating sweets!”

Rena didn’t get the time to reply that Nellie grabbed her hand and dragged her in the kitchen, but she didn’t try to complain and instead just let herself be subjugated by the other girl’s cheerfulness.

“I love cooking, actually!” She only added. “What do you want to bake?”

“Hmm…” Nellie crossed her arms and frowned. “I dunno… Something with sugar. Lots of sugar.”

Rena giggled, then looked around the room to quickly catalog the ingredients at her disposition. “All right, then I have a proposition: how about I try to make some sweets from my country?”

As she had expected, Nellie’s eyes brightened with enthusiasm and curiosity. “Yeah! You do that! I’ll help out too.”

And thus they started to bake together, spreading flour and butter and sugar all around the house. Rena thought she felt a little bad about the so-called ‘Saintess’ if she were to come back home and see all this mess, plus all the food they squandered. But to be honest, she was having so much fun right now that she didn’t even care.

Nellie reminded her a little bit of her friends, and especially of Satoko. Maybe it had to do with the way she spoke about her big brother with so much love and admiration. Either way, it had been a long time she hadn’t had so much fun. For a moment, if she closed her eyes, she could even pretend she was back home in Hinamizawa…

The sun was starting to set and they were almost done with their cooking when the door from the house suddenly opened. Nellie seemed surprised — she apparently wasn’t expecting anyone to come home so early. When they both went to look, Rena saw a young man with the same blonde hair as Nellie standing in the room.

“Dearest Mell!” The younger girl exclaimed, and all of a sudden it was as if Rena’s existence had been completely erased from her mind.

She ran in the room and jumped in the boy’s arms, who caught her as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Hello, Nellie,” he said gently.

“What are you doing here? I thought I wouldn’t see you at all today!”

“Yeah, I, uh… I forgot my bag here, and I felt the need to check on you. But, I won’t be able to stay long… maybe half an hour, at most…”

Nellie’s happy face instantly fell upon hearing that. “Are you sure? We were baking some sweets together, stay at least to taste them!”

“‘We’?”

At this moment, the boy ‘Mell’ finally noticed the other person at the end of the room. Rena smiled in a friendly way and waved at him, hoping to make him understand she wasn’t anyone suspicious, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on him as he instantly tensed and glared at her.

“Nellie, who’s that?” He asked in a stiff voice while grabbing Nellie’s arms in a protective manner.

His sister didn’t seem to notice his unease, though, because she just replied happily: “Oh, it’s Rena! Rena, it’s my big brother, dearest Mell!”

“R-Rena…?”

“Yeaaah, that’s a weird name, right?” Nellie added.

“No, that’s— I mean, who on earth is that girl, Nellie? What is she doing here?”

“She’s a foreigner I found outside. She told me she got lost, so I invited her here to play together.”

“Nellie!” Mell exclaimed, his voice firmer and almost panicked. “You cannot do that! Didn’t I tell you a lot of times to never let inside any strangers and to open the door to no one?”

“But… she’s not dangerous. I like her, she’s really nice. We baked toge—”

“It doesn’t matter how nice she is, you just can’t do that!”

Rena listened to the siblings’ argument from afar, and the more she observed the more… off, it seemed. Of course Mell had every reason to not want his little sister to interact with a stranger, but his reaction still felt wrong, somehow. He looked almost desperate, and Rena clearly wasn’t the only one to think he was acting weird.

“Dearest Mell,” Nellie said in a softer voice. “It’s fine. She really didn’t do anything but bake with me…”

Maybe his sister’s calmness and reassurance managed to cool him down a little bit somehow, because he blinked, looked at Rena, and took a deep breath.

“Yeah… uh, sorry. I’m just… a bit tired. That’s all.”

“Oh, it’s okay!” Rena replied. “I understand being tired.”

She also understood what it was like to feel paranoiac as if the entire world was against you, and to lash out at anyone as a result. And maybe that was why she couldn’t help but find Mell’s behavior more than suspicious.

“I… I need to get back my bag,” the boy blurted out, before heading towards the end of the cabin.

As soon as he had turned their back to them, Nellie’s expression darkened, and she looked down. Her eyes were shining so much Rena thought she might start crying. She didn’t, though.

“Could it be that… you two are not getting along well?”

Nellie shook her head. “We get along fine, usually. But these last months, Mell has been… so distant. First, he’s wanted to move here all of a sudden, and then he spent all of his time at that mansion… I know it was because I got sick, but…”

“Because you got sick?”

Rena didn’t need to read mind to guess the girl wasn’t healthy. She saw her cough quite a few times during their afternoon together, and there were moments where she even had to sit down because she felt dizzy. But she wasn’t sure how that was related to them moving. Nellie looked up and stared at Rena for a while. She seemed to hesitate, then nodded.

“Not long ago, the church up there started giving out a miraculous medicine that can heal everything, called ‘Saint’s Blood’.”

“Everything…?”

“Yes, and it really works! I was extremely ill, but after I started drinking it, I started to feel better. It’s temporary, though, so Mell has to get me some of it every once in a while. But…” Nellie bit her lip. “Well… you probably won’t believe me if I tell you…”

“Try me. You’d be surprised.”

Nellie looked at her once more, then finally made up her mind. “This medicine — it’s actually real blood from a real saint.”

“You’re drinking real blood?”

“Yeah, from the nun who lives with me. But it’s not like my blood or yours! It’s special, because she’s a saint. The real deal.”

Rena tried to register everything Nellie had told her with the little of what she knew of this country’s culture and religion. ‘Saints’ were some sort of divine figures here, weren’t they? Were they similar to the priests and shrine maiden serving the gods, like Rika? Maybe Rika would be considered a ‘saint’ here too then. So it wasn’t surprising that the blood of such a being could realize ‘miracles.’ She wondered if Nellie would believe her if she were to tell she also probably knew a ‘saint’ of her own…

“It’s good that I was able to get better… But if it comes at the cost of my brother… then it’s not worth it…”

Nellie’s small voice sounded so defeated and sorrowful. Rena looked at her with sympathy. She might not have known her for long, but seeing her like this was still painful. She wanted to try to say something to comfort her, but couldn’t find the words, and at this moment footsteps got her out of her thoughts.

“All right, I have it,” Mell declared.

Nellie’s sad expression disappeared, and a wide smile replaced it. For some reason, seeing this made Rena even sadder for her.

“Does that mean you’ll stay here then?”

“Just for half an hour,” Mell reminded her strictly. “But yes. I will.”

“Aha, yay! Thank you, dearest Mell!”

The girl jumped at her brother’s neck. Mell patted her head, then turned around towards Rena, his suspicious look back on.

“Do you… intend to sleep here?”

“Oh, no! Don’t worry, I will not bother you like that! Actually, I was just going to leave.”

“Eh? Already?” Nellie exclaimed disappointedly. “That wouldn’t have bothered me for you to stay sleep here…”

“No, it’s okay! I’ll find another place to stay the night. But thank you.”

Mell kept staring at Rena with distrust, but hearing her affirm she was leaving now seemed to put him a bit more at ease.

“Plus, I need to do my best to find my way back.”

“But…”

“Thank you for helping me, Nellie. But I can’t abuse of your kindness any longer. Oh, and of course I’ll leave you the sweets! I hope they’ll be good.”

All while talking, Rena took her satchel. She gave a tight hug to Nellie, smiled at Mell who just stayed quiet, then headed towards the door.

“Bye!”

The last thing she saw before closing the door was Nellie waving her hand sluggishly at her. Once outside, Rena sighed. The sky was orange, and it wouldn’t be long before the night fell. The smartest thing to do would be to try to find a place where she could sleep. She actually came around a small abandoned ranch earlier in the woods, so if she finds nothing else that would be her last resort, but it was a few hours away from here and far from being ideal.

But apparently today Rena didn’t feel like being smart. Instead, she thought about Nellie’s sad face, about the shady story of saints and blood she had just heard, and about the growing, insatiable curiosity that was starting to form inside her. And so, after a few moments of hesitation… she decided to hide in a bush next to the cabin, and wait here.

As Mell had said, it was about half an hour later when he finally went out. She looked at him say good bye to his sister, and when Nellie went back inside the cabin, he finally started to walk off.

Rena hesitated. She had a bad feeling. She knew she shouldn’t meddle. But her curiosity was stronger than any common sense she might have right now.

So, she tightened her grip on her satchel inside which resided her cleaver, and as discreet as a cat, she started following Mell.

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The house started to get into sight a few minutes later. It was a huge, intimidating building — and just like Nellie had told her earlier, this looked more like a mansion than a church. Mell stopped for a few seconds in front of the door, manifestly hesitating to go inside. He sighed, shook his head, then pushed the door and disappeared behind it. Rena waited a few seconds, then followed him.

The interior made her stop and gasp. She had arrived inside a giant room, with two rows of benches and a big, beautiful stained-glass at the end of it. Was that what the natives called an angel? She heard about this, too, but the one on the stained-glass looked so beautiful and dignified. The entire place seemed magical, and she couldn’t help but stop to admire it. She had already visited a ‘church’ once since she arrived in this country, but it was far from being as grand and pretty as this one. It’s only after some time gawking at the architecture that she heard the sound of a door opening, which brought her back to reality and reminded her of her original goal for coming here. Obviously, the boy hadn’t waited for her, and so she hurried to run in the direction of the noise. She arrived just in time to see Mell’s flaxen hair, then instantly hid behind the wall and froze in place when she heard a grave, severe voice roars.

“You’re late.”

“I-I’m sorry… I had to get back home because—”

“I don’t give a damn about your reason. Next time you are late, I’ll order the dog here to cut off your head.”

With all the precaution she could muster, Rena leaned very slightly from behind the wall and took a glance of what was going on. Mell was there in front of another closed door, looking like a lamb that had just been cornered by a pack of wolves, and she distinguished two adult men with him. Both of them had peculiar appearances that made them stand out from the majority of the people of this country, and Rena wondered if maybe they were foreigners — the first one because of his dark skin, and the second one because of his unusual features. She also was quick to notice the threatening long sword hanging at his belt. Was that man from the Far East like her? Maybe in other circumstances she would’ve felt a sense of kinship with him, but right now she could only feel suspicion and confusion.

“Then let’s go now, we’re not going to spend the night here,” the man with the wavy hair ordered, while the other one silently stood behind him like a shadow.

All three of them then took out a key from under their clothes and inserted it in the heavy lock that hanged in the middle of the door. After a loud click resonated, the man with the most expansive-looking outfit removed the lock, opened the door and started to climb the stairs, swiftly followed by the other two.

Rena frowned, and hesitated once again. She felt that keeping on trailing them would be making a mistake, and she still had time to go back. She could just leave the mansion right now, and forget about everything. She knew it was the most logical, safest course of actions. But for some reason, her body refused to listen. With uncertain and quiet steps, she opened the door which they thankfully had not locked behind them, and started climbing the stairs.

The circular area seemed infinite, as if this tower leaded directly to heaven. Each of her steps resounded abundantly inside the staircase, no matter how quiet she tried to be, which made her feel anxious Mell or anyone would spot her presence at any seconds. Yet, she managed to reach the top without anyone stopping her, to her surprise.

“Hurry up and go feed her,” was the first thing she heard upon arriving.

“Y-Yes,” Mell squeaked, before quickly hobbling towards the door.

His hands were shaking and he struggled a bit to open the door, which only served to aggravate the annoyance of the disgruntled wavy-haired man. When finally the door opened, Mell reached to take a tray on the ground, then penetrated inside. At this moment, Rena tried her best to get a glance of what was in there without getting noticed. At first, she couldn’t see anything — then she caught sight of a chain on the soil… and she gasped.

At the very bottom of the small room, shackled and curled up on herself, was a girl. Rena couldn’t really tell much from how far she was, but she seemed young, clothed in a dark robe and with long, braided red hair. Her head was bent and hidden in her knees, dissimulating her face. The most noticeable thing was the way her right sleeve was sloppily hanging to her side, completely empty, indicating her missing arm. Rena’s brain shut down, as she felt unable to comprehend the situation that was happening in front of her eyes.

What? What? Why is there a girl chained up at the top of this tower? Why are those three men bringing her food? What on earth is going on here?

Mell approached the girl with shaking steps, and kneeled in front of her.

“It’s… uh, it’s time to eat,” he muttered weakly.

The girl didn’t react. In fact, she didn’t even seem to calculate his presence at all. Mell sighed.

“Come on… You almost didn’t eat anything yesterday either…”

He took a piece of bread and handed it to the girl. As she seemed decided to ignore his very presence, the boy awkwardly tried to push the bread on her mouth, which finally managed to get a reaction out of her. She raised her head and turned it towards him, before glaring at him. Her eyes were so full of hatred that it made even Rena want to step back, but it wasn’t the thing that was the most surprising. The girl’s face… was covered in some weird scars. It looked as if her whole face had been burned, the only exception being her pale golden eyes. Rena felt unable to stop staring at her, as if hypnotized.

Hao… She’s… She’s so kyute! I wanna take her home!

“If she really insist for not eating, then leave her be,” the wavy-haired man said, getting Rena out of her daydream.

“B-But…”

“If she doesn’t eat, she’ll die though,” the swordsman replied, but there was no hint of sympathy in his voice.

“She’ll eat tomorrow. For now, we need to take care of the blood.”

Rena didn’t understand what he meant by that, but judging by Mell’s livid face, it wasn’t anything good.

“I… I can’t—”

“Hmph. You have a lot of demands for someone in your position. But be reassured, I had no intention of asking you to do such a task.”

Instead, he looked at the other man, and made a sharp chin movement.

“As you wish, lord.”

And with this, the swordsman entered the room, while Mell hurried to get up and go away. Just like the boy earlier, he kneeled down next to the girl — but it was not to give her food. Instead, he took out a knife in one hand, and a bowl in the other. Seeing this, the girl had this time an extremely intense reaction. She shrieked and tried to get away as much as she could from the man, almost crushing her body against the wall.

“No! No! Go away!” She screamed, almost hysterically. “S-Stay away from me!”

But the yells didn’t seem to faze the man one bit. He continued to approach her and firmly grabbed her shoulders. The girl started to struggle and scream and scratches at him like an insect caught in a spider’s web. Despite this, the swordsman had no problem immobilizing her, as if he was made of stone, and then plunged the knife in her arm. As red, shiny blood started to flow, he quickly put the bowl under her wound and simply waited. The girl kept on screaming and twitching, but no one reacted to her cries. The swordsman simply drained her blood in silence, the wavy-haired man looked at the scenery with arms crossed and a frown, and the boy seemed to want to run away from the place and forget about all of this. But none of expressed any guilt or sympathy for the girl that was being tortured under their eyes.

Rena also watched in silence, her whole body frozen by the surreal experience that was happening in front of her. Her eyes just couldn’t register what was going on. Or rather, she could understand, but her mind had way too many questions about it. Why were they doing this? Who was that girl? Who were the other men? But the questions felt minimal compared to the screams that were lacerating her ears. Her first reflex was to come in and put a stop to this, but she was well aware that it would be suicidal. Mell probably wouldn’t be too much of a trouble, but the other two were well-built adult men, one of them holding a sword at his waist. No way a lone young girl like her could just overthrow the three of them all at once… not like this, and not right now, at least.

As she was still lost in thoughts, she suddenly felt a gaze pressed on her and her blood froze in her veins. Slowly, she turned her head, and her eyes suddenly crossed the ones of the wavy-haired man. Her body reacted by reflex, and she instantly turned around and ran down the stairs as quickly as she could. Once she reached the chapel, she hurried to join a corridor and hid in the first room she saw. She stayed there in the dark a few minutes, to calm herself down. Then, she slowly opened the door, and glanced outside.

Nothing. There was nothing. No voice, no footsteps, no sounds. That was… odd. She was sure that for a brief instant, that man had seen her. That their gazes had crossed. Rena remembered how the swordsman had called him ‘lord,’ and it indeed had seemed that he was the mastermind behind this whole mess. If this man had noticed a stranger spying on them, surely he would have instantly ordered someone to go take care of her. She couldn’t believe that them draining the blood of a girl was public knowledge, so it certainly must’ve been a secret they didn’t want anyone to know. So why…? Did she just imagine him staring at her, after all?

Voices and footsteps reverberated from the chapel, and she instantly tensed up again. She tried to hear what was being said, but she was too far away to manage to grasp anything. After a while, the silence returned, so she glanced once again from behind the door. Upon looking at the end of the corridor, she noticed someone walking. The place was dark, but the fluffy blonde hair that shined in the obscurity made no doubt that it must’ve been Mell. She saw him stop in front of a door and enter a room. Rena returned inside the chamber she had taken shelter in, and collapsed on the bed.

She had two options. She could just sneak out of the mansion in silence, forget everything she had just saw, and move on with her life. Or… Or what? Infiltrating herself in the tower and save that girl she knew nothing about? That sounded like some silly fairy tale. To begin with, the door was locked. She had seen earlier the men use three keys to open the lock, which each had one. That meant she would need to steal their keys to open the door, gets the girl, and ran away with her, all of that without getting caught. That sounded… pretty much impossible.

She knew what the logical decision should be. This whole thing was none of her business. She knew nothing about this girl, about these men, about this entire affair. For all she knew, maybe they were even doing a good thing! Putting her nose into this would only mean trouble for her; and she was a lone foreigner who barely knew anything about the country. But…

But when she started to think that way, the girl’s screams resonated inside her head. The oppressive atmosphere of the room, the heavy scent of blood. Nellie’s sad face… Did Nellie even know about this? No, probably not. Rena might barely know her, but she couldn’t imagine that girl would agree to keep silent about such an inhuman thing. Once again, those scars-covered face and shining golden eyes flashed into her mind. Rena sighed, and smiled very briefly against the pillow.

“I can never abandon a kyute thing, after all.”

She stood up, grabbed her cleaver with her two hands, then got out of the room.

________________________________________________________________

With all the delicacy of a feline, Rena approached the door behind which she had seen Mell disappears. Nellie had told her that her brother didn’t sleep in the cabin with her, so she guessed it must’ve been his room in them mansion. The lights were turned off. Best case scenario, he would be asleep. Otherwise, well… She tightened her grip on her cleaver, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

The room was dark, but thanks to the light from the corridor she had no troubles to distinguish the bed, nor the boy who suddenly sat up on the mattress. So, he was not asleep. Well, it wasn’t a big deal. Unlike the other two, the boy looked quite spineless, so she shouldn’t struggle too much with him.

“Y-You…!” He exclaimed, recognizing the strange orange-haired foreigner. “Wh-What are you—”

But Rena didn’t let him the time to make any more noise. She didn’t want him to alert the other two right now, if they were still around. So she instantly brandished her cleaver and put it just under Mell’s neck. As soon as he saw the blade, the boy paled and stared at it with wide eyes.

“Keep quiet, and you’ll keep your head,” Rena ordered in a firm voice.

It took a few seconds for Mell to regain his spirits, and when he did, he raised his eyes towards Rena and glared at her.

Oh? Then maybe he’s not as spineless as I thought… Unless he underestimates me?

Well, it didn’t matter what he thought of her. She still objectively had the upper hand here.

“I knew it, you’re trouble after all,” he said, but he was pretty bad at hiding the tremor in his voice. “What did you do to Nellie?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t play innocent! You couldn’t have gotten close to her by coincidence!”

“It was absolutely by coincidence,” she replied genuinely. “And it’s also completely by coincidence I found you three draining this girl’s blood at the top of the tower. What would you little sister thinks of that, I wonder…?”

“You… You don’t intend to tell Nellie—”

“I saw you enter the tower by using three keys. I want the one you have.”

Rena’s tone didn’t vacillate in the slightest and her voice was as threatening as she could, but Mell was completely bewildered. He looked at her as if she had just told him she was a ghost or something.

“You… want to go save her…? Th-That’s impossible!”

“I don’t care what you think. Give me the key.”

“You don’t understand! You can’t open the door without the two other keys that the lord and the swordsman have! M-Maybe you can get the key from me, but those other two, they definitely won’t let you do! They’ll kill you without hesitation, and me too—”

“The. Key.”

She took a step further, putting more pressure on the cleaver’s blade. Mell gasped.

“You… You wouldn’t do that… I did nothing wrong, I’m innocent…”

Rena snorted. “I don’t care. I’m not afraid of killing.”

All while speaking, she gently slashed the blade against the white neck of the boy, and a thin trail of blood trickled on his skin. He shrieked, then instantly reached in one of his cloth’s pocket, before taking out a pretty, golden key.

“I-It’s there! It’s there…”

“Thanks!”

Rena smiled at Mell, her threatening aura instantly vanishing while the boy still stared at her with an astonished face.

“Y-You’re still making a mistake,” he added shakily. “You don’t stand a chance against—”

But he didn’t had the time to finish his sentence that Rena swinged her cleaver and hit him on the head. It was only with the back of the blade, so there was no way it was a fatal hit, just hard enough to knock him out. She still checked just to be sure, and while his forehead was bleeding a bit, he would survive.

“Sorry, I just don’t want to take the risk of you getting in my way…”

All while talking she took the key and put it in her satchel. She’d probably usually think it is a kyute thing she could bring back home, but she wasn’t in the mood for that. After she saves the girl, maybe.

Before stepping out of the room, she glanced one last time at the boy. She didn’t have strong feelings towards him, but she still hoped he’d be able to get out of here alive, if just for Nellie’s sake.

“‘I’m innocent,’ huh…”

She chuckled, then got out and closed the door behind her.

No matter how pitiful Mell’s claims had been, he had actually been right about one thing: it would be a lot harder to obtain the keys from the two other men than from the boy. She had guessed just upon seeing them that threatening their lives wouldn’t be enough — and her instinct was telling her that the swordsman was a lot more skilled as a fighter than she was. She would need to think about a plan to get them, then. The question was what plan. Hopefully they still mustn’t be very far from the house yet, maybe were they even still inside, so she shouldn’t have troubles finding them. She tried to think about the possibility of other people being here too — the ‘Saintess’ came to her mind, but from what she had understood she lived with Nellie so she probably wouldn’t be here this late at night. Unless she was also involved, which made things more complicated. She also remembered the third man was supposedly a ‘lord,’ so shouldn’t he have some guards posted around? But she couldn’t recall seeing any on her way here…

Once again, she really wished her friends were with her right now. Together, they would certainly have come up with a good plan in just a few minutes… But, no, maybe that was too naïve of her. She shouldn’t rely like that on people. She was all alone now, and even if she wasn’t, it was more certain to take of serious matter by yourself. Not even ‘friends’ were always reliable and trustworthy allies, and they could just as much become betrayers who stab you in the back, after all.

“Hey, you there!”

Rena froze. When she turned around, she found herself face to face with the swordsman. Apparently, fate refused to give her a chance to elaborate a plan before having a confrontation. She thought about acting innocent for a moment, but with her cleaver in her right hand, it would be difficult to swallow.

The man narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re… a foreigner, aren’t you?”

His expression told her he mustn’t have seen someone akin to him since a long time. Which wasn’t surprising; in the ten months or so since she’d arrived in this country, she didn’t think she had come cross anyone from the Far East like her.

“I am,” Rena simply answer, seeing no reason to lie here.

The swordsman contemplated her for a moment, then his gaze slid towards the cleaver in her hand.

“What were you doing here?”

Rena tried to think up something to get her out of this situation. But no matter how much she ransacked her brain, nothing came to her. So in the end, she just sighed, and smiled at the man.

“I’m here to save the kyute girl in the tower.”

The swordsman had no reaction at all to her arrogant nonchalance. He just stared at her coldly, before an odd, distorted smirk slowly stretched his lips.

“I see. Then I’m sure the lord won’t mind if I kill you in that case.”

And then, before Rena could retort anything, he drew his sword and ran up towards her. Rena’s body reacted instinctively, and when he raised his weapon to cut her she instantly managed to parry it with her cleaver. The two blades clashed in a metallic ringing, but she didn’t have the time to catch her breath that the man went on with his next attack. He assaulted her with a strong rain of hits, one after another, so swift and sharp that the girl could barely see them at all. She greeted her teeth and glared at him, but the man didn’t seem unsettled in the least.

Rena gave the sword a hit more forceful than previously, and managed to get away momentarily before starting running in the mansion’s corridors. The man instantly chased her down, of course.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” He shouted at her from behind. “Are you really running away after talking so big? Let me hear you beg for your life and maybe I’ll consider letting you live!”

Rena stayed quiet, not falling for the preposterous provocations. She wasn’t trying to escape, just to buy some time. She knew that man was stronger physically and more skilled than her, by a large margin. There was no way she could beat him in a face-to-face fight. So she had to find another solution, somehow.

In her dash, she inadvertently ended up finding herself in the chapel again. The stained-glass angel was shining of an ominous light thanks to the moon behind it. However, Rena didn’t have the time to admire it this time, as the swordsman quickly caught up to her, chasing her down like a beast towards his prey. Finding herself cornered, she had no other choice but to yet again fend off his sword in the middle of the bench rows. Right under the angel’s impassive gaze, they kept on exchanging hits after hits.

The girl was defending herself quite well, but there was no doubt as to who had the advantage in this fight. In fact, Rena was pretty sure the man was holding himself back against her, maybe just for his own amusement. She groaned, trying to find the slightest opening she could use… but in her impatience, she let her guard down, which the swordsman didn’t hesitate to profit off. He swung down his sword, and the blade mercilessly cut through the girl’s shoulder. She screamed in pain, then lost her balance and fell down on the ground, letting go of her cleaver at the same time.

Despite the vivid pain and the blood already soaking her clothes, she still had the reflex to rush towards her weapon, but at the last moment the man crushed her hand with his heel. She moaned then threw a glare at him. The only change in his expression was now the clear sick pleasure he had to have the girl at his mercy.

“You run quickly and you do know how to use that weapon, I will give you that,” he said, his voice vibrating with sadism, and Rena was pretty sure it was the first emotion she had felt coming from him since earlier. “But it stops here now.”

She said nothing; not letting an ounce of fear transpiring through her blue eyes, not a single hesitation shaking her body. Just anger. The man narrowed his eyes at her curiously; maybe was it because he had expected her to beg and cry for her life. But Rena would never give him the satisfaction.

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t play much more with you sadly, otherwise I could in troubles. Well then—”

He raised his sword, his eyes shining like a predator’s, while the girl was still lying on the ground, bleeding and gasping painfully. And then he struck it down—

“Wait.”

—but stopped at the last moment. Both he and Rena turned around in surprise, to see the shadow of a man drawing near them — the last one of the three, of course.

“Lord…”

The swordsman seemed almost irritated to have the other man barge in, but he still managed to stay courteous enough. The ‘lord’ didn’t seem to notice or maybe care about it though, he just stared down at the teenage girl on the floor.

“Who is she?” He finally asked. “What is going on here?”

“She is an intruder who knows about the witch,” the swordsman replied, his monotonous, indifferent face back in place.

The witch…? Rena repeated in her head, but didn’t have time to ponder much more about it.

“She knows?”

“She told me she was here to save her. This is why I decided to take care of the problem before it could reach you.”

“And since when a dog acts without his master’s orders? The least you could have done is consulting me about it before making that decision.”

“You’re right… I apologize, lord.”

The swordsman politely inclined himself in front of the lord as a sign of excuse, as Rena watched the scene in silence. The wavy-haired man then eyed her with disdain, and crossed his arms.

“Well, it doesn’t matter much either way. We can’t keep her alive if she knows. So just get rid of her.”

Right at the moment he finished his sentence, Rena seized her chance. With the arrival of the lord, the swordsman had stopped paying so much attention to her, which meant it was the only opening she could have. As quickly as she could, she grabbed her cleaver, got back on her feet and almost jumped on the lord. Before the two men even had the time to react, she was already tightly holding the lord’s arms and had her cleaver’s blade under his neck.

“Don’t move!” She yelled, as the swordsman was reaching for his own weapon. “Don’t move or I cut off his head!”

As if to show she was not kidding, she pressed the blade against the skin of the lord even more. The swordsman frowned. He didn’t try to reach for his sword anymore, but he didn’t seem particularly distraught either.

“Do you think I care even slightly about what might happen to this man?” He asked.

Rena smiled. “Probably not,” she admitted. “But he is your boss, isn’t he? You must be working under him because only he can offer you something. So his death would be pretty inconvenient to you. Am I wrong?”

She certainly wasn’t, because a slight annoyed scowl formed on the swordsman’s face.

“I want you to put your sword on the ground, and make it slide towards me,” Rena ordered. “Or else…”

“Don’t listen to her,” the lord finally spoke. “I doubt a girl like her actually could kill anyone. She’s just playing tough.”

However, the swordsman seemed less certain than his employer. He eyed the girl suspiciously, deliberating her order while staring at her in the eyes. Rena sustained it with determination.

“I don’t want to offend you, lord,” he finally said. “But I think I disagree on that one.”

And then, just as he had been told, he put the weapon on the ground and slides it towards Rena, while the lord sighed heavily. She quickly retrieved it, then threw it as far away as she could without letting go of her hostage.

“Now I want you to come towards us.”

They were about three meters away from each others. The swordsman looked at her once again, then stepped forward. Two meters. One meter. And before he could get even closer, Rena suddenly slashed the lord at the waist, and then with a slick movement of the wrist, she cut the swordsman’s throat with great precision.

Blood splattered. She heard the lord groan in pain and fell on his knees, while the swordsman put both of his hands on his neck in an instinctive attempt to block out the blood. But it was fairly vain, as only a few seconds after he collapsed on the ground. Before it, he glared at the girl, an inhuman shine lurking in his eyes, and she thought his lips parted to say something, but she couldn’t tell what.

She looked at his agonizing body drenched in blood on the floor with an emotionless gaze, then she turned around towards the last man, her cleaver still in hand. He was still on his knees, breathing heavily and holding his wound. Rena stared at him in silence for a long time, before finally speaking out.

“You saw me earlier, didn’t you?”

The man only lifted his head towards her.

“When I was in the tower. You clearly looked at me in the eyes.”

“That… must’ve been your imagination…”

“No, I know you did. You saw me. And yet, you said nothing. It would’ve been easy to chase me down and kill me at that moment. In fact…”

She took a step forward, her gaze not letting go of his.

“It would’ve been easier to just let him kill me earlier too, instead of stopping him. Or to try to disarm me when I was holding you. Even with my cleaver at your neck, you’re still stronger than me physically.”

The man sustained her stare, but he said nothing back.

“Could it be… that you did that on purpose?”

His expression didn’t change at her accusation, as if his face had reverted to a mask of stone. But no matter behind which kind of layers and facets he would hide, Rena was still exceptionally good at reading other people.

“Did you want me to do this? To get the keys and free that girl?”

Finally, a haughty grin formed on the man’s lips.

“Hmph. Don’t be ridiculous. I am the lord. There’s no way on earth I’d ever want to do something as ludicrous as this.”

Rena kept on staring at the lord in silence, her eyes as cold as ice. She knew he was lying. But she also wasn’t exactly interested in getting him to say the truth. Her only goal was to free that girl. The rest didn’t matter.

“Well, I suppose so. Either way, it is none of my business.”

And so, she raised her cleaver once again, and gave the man one final blow. He didn’t try to protest or resist, and just collapsed on the ground like his subordinate. Rena then quickly kneeled besides the two bodies, searching them, and finally retrieved the two last keys, as well as another one which she guessed was for the chains.

The young girl was standing here in the chapel in front of the angel, her white dress all drenched in red, with two barely-alive bodies at her feet.

If she were from this country, she would probably find this to be quite the profane picture.

But she wasn’t, and there was only one thing she was interested in.

________________________________________________________________

She took out the three keys one by one, and slowly inserted them. Her hands were greasy because of the blood — both her own and others’ — but she still delicately handled them. The lock opened right away, she barely had to force at all, and then she pushed the door.

Climbing the circular stairs almost felt ceremonious, and the steps seemed a lot longer than the first time she had came here, as if they had suddenly grown infinite during the instant she was dealing with the three men. It took a few minutes for her to reach the top, and when she did she stopped in front of the closed door. As if nervous, she grabbed her satchel in which she had put away her bloody weapon. Her cleaver wasn’t the only thing covered in blood — her dress, her hair, her entire body were completely dark scarlet, and even if she had managed to stop the bleeding, her wound was still hurting quite a bit. She looked as if she had just been out of a war battlefield. She definitely was far from looking like a brave knight rescuing the princess.

But well, she wasn’t a knight, and that girl wasn’t a princess.

With hesitation, she grabbed the handle and stopped. For some reason, she felt… anxious. Why, she had no idea. She had done all of this just to save this stranger, and now that she was so close to her goal, it felt wrong, somehow. She knew she had to hurry before anyone notice something was off inside that mansion, but her feet refused to move. She didn’t even know how she should greet that girl or what to tell her. What if freeing her was a mistake, after all? What if the best choice was to just run away right now?

Rena shook her head, then breathed in forcefully. That wasn’t the time to hesitate. She couldn’t go back now. So she opened the door.

The dim luminosity hurt her eyes, and it took a few seconds for her to adapt to it. Once she did, the familiar, pitiful scenery she had seen earlier appeared yet again before her, in the exact same state, as if nothing that had just happened had been real. The girl was still there, chained, slumped against the wall. Her eyes were closed. Was she asleep? She seemed to be barely alive, to be honest. She looked more… like a corpse.

Wouldn’t that be funny if Rena had done all of that just for the girl to die at the least moment? But she pushed that thought away and took a step further. At this moment, and to her relief, the girl twitched. She suddenly opened her golden eyes and stared straight through her, making Rena almost jump out of surprise. But with the shook cooling off, she was just glad the girl was definitely still alive.

“Hi,” she said in a friendly tone, smiling gently. “I’m Rena.”

The girl replied nothing. She just kept staring at her vacantly, as if she wasn’t really seeing her.

“Ah, d-don’t worry! I’m not here to hurt you, or— or anything like that,” Rena added hurriedly, waving her hands in front of her. “I’m here to save you!”

But her reassuring words seemed to do nothing for the captive. Rena quickly started to grow uncomfortable, and she tilted her head.

“Can you… hear me? Can you?”

No answer. Rena sighed. Well, she seemed to be really out of it. It probably shouldn’t be surprising given what she’s been through until now. Rena didn’t know since when she had been detained here, but she guessed it must’ve been quite some time. Well, it didn’t matter much if she could speak or understand her or not. She just needed to get her out of here as soon as possible. First, she needed to—

“—el…”

Rena suddenly stopped when a hoarse, barely audible voice resounded inside the dark tower. It took some time for her brain to understand that it was coming from the girl.

“—gel…”

“Huh?”

Her murmurs didn’t even sounds like words, more like some background noises that struggled to get out of her mouth. Rena slowly approached the girl, and kneeled in front of her, putting herself down to her height and staring at her in the eyes. But the girl acted as if she didn’t even see her.

“—angel…”

“Angel…?”

“Are you… angel…?”

Rena blinked with surprise when she realized the question. She wasn’t sure if this was addressed to her exactly. Maybe it was addressed to no one. Even so, she slowly took her hand in hers — a tattered, dirty, covered in scratches small hand.

“I’m sorry… I’m not an angel. I’m just some foreign girl who got lost and wandered around here by mistake.”

The girl became silent again, her golden eyes empty.

“But I’m still going to save you.”

And with that, she searched for the keys she had retrieved on the lord’s body, and freed the girl from the chains. As she expected, this got no reaction out of her, so she then grabbed the only remaining arm, and then, after struggling for a bit, she managed to hoist her on her back. It wasn’t easy to carry another girl of the same age while wounded, even if she was extremely light, but Rena could handle it. She had no other choice.

With fumbling steps, she hurriedly get down the steps, walked through the chapel without doing so much as glancing at the men’s bodies spread there, and finally got out of the mansion, not even the stained-glass angel daring to stop her.

________________________________________________________________

She was bleeding.

Red liquid poured out from her wounds, trickling on her bare skin, sullying her body and the ground. It seemed as if the flow was endless. She felt no pain, though — the throbbing and aching had left her a long time ago, and in its stead there was only numbness and emptiness. Her vision was a blur, her mind a haze. She could only perceive shadows moving in front of her, vague laughing and chuckles, joyful voices rejoicing in her torment, like demons dancing in front of her. If someone had told her she was in Hell, she would have believed them.

But she wasn’t in Hell — this was earth, and those were humans, and maybe this was the most disgusting of truth to face for her. The chains around her wrists bounded her to the altar, preventing any escapes she could have.

Suddenly, the shadows stopped moving, and her surrounding began to scramble. Before her mind could understand what was going on, vivid pain reached her arm, lacerating and pitiless. All sorts of landscapes scrolled in front of her eyes — a carriage full of bloody corpses, a cottage in front of a lake, a mansion, a tower.

And finally, the figure of the lord, always standing in her way.

Despair, agony, betrayal, anguish all agglutinated inside her heart at the same time — but the most powerful of all, the one that overwhelmed everything else—

—was hatred.

She rose up, clutching sorely at the sheets as her eyes darted right and left around her. She felt like she was lost inside a fog, the walls around her waltzing and shrieking as if they had a will of their own. As she painfully tried to regain possession of her broken five senses, yet another shadow took shape to her side, producing sounds.

“—ke… —p…”

But she didn’t even try to decipher what it was saying. There was only one and unique shadow that appeared both in her dreams and reality, after all. The lord.

So she pushed him with all of her forces, making him fall on the ground, and then, desperately groping blindly around her, she was able to feel the cold touch of a blade brush her fingers. Without waiting, she grabbed the handle of what looked like a cleaver and jumped on the silhouette before it could move again. She wasn’t strong enough to actually stand up, but she could still hold a weapon. Or stab someone with it.

“Die!”

That was the first word that escaped her mouth. The most precious wish she had cherished during all these months, the only thing that had kept her alive all this time — her voracious hatred.

“Die! Die…! I’ll— make you pay…! You… You—!”

The lord she was straddling caught the blade with his bare hand, unbothered by the blood that soon trickled down his hand. She tried to get back the cleaver, but his grip was too strong.

“Let… go! I will— I’ll kill you!”

“Given how weak you are, I doubt you’ll be able to even kill a fly like this.”

The voice made her stop instantly. Because this… this wasn’t the lord’s voice.

That person didn’t sound like the cruel man who had haunted her nightmares since she was a child… but like a young girl she didn’t know. No, that wasn’t true, she had heard that voice before—

“—I’m still going to save you.”

She felt completely lost, and the shadow took the occasion to push her away and get back the cleaver. She collapsed on the ground, and all of a sudden it was as if she was a puppet whose strings had been cut off. She had no strength anymore, and just lay there on the floor, her whole body hot and aching. She heard a few slow steps coming towards her, and soon a face came into her view.

Blue eyes like the sky, and orange hair like the sunset. A sweet smile.

“I’m glad you’re awake! Please wait here, I’ll bring you back something to drink.”

________________________________________________________________

The girl came back in the room a few minutes afterwards with water and bread, and helped Morgana get back into the bed. Well, it wasn’t actually a bed, more like something that looked like an old mattress with some blankets thrown on it. As the other sat next to her, she took the glass of water and stared at it absentmindedly.

“I promise it’s not poisoned,” the girl said in a joyful voice. “It’s just water.”

There was a part of Morgana that felt silly of being suspicious of a simple glass of water… but then she remembered that given she had no idea where she even was, it was only natural. So she still didn’t try to drink it.

“I’m really relieved you woke up and seem well! You slept for almost two days, you know? So I was worried. So, um, well, anyway, I already introduced myself before but you probably don’t remember so… I’m Rena! Hey, what is your na—”

“What happened?”

“Wh-What? What? About what…?”

Morgana let out a big sigh and looked away. She could already tell that girl was going to be hard to deal with.

“About everything.”

“Oh… um, um…”

The girl, Rena, fidgeted with a flustered face, as if she was about to tell a very embarrassing story. After a while, she finally managed a small friendly smile.

“Well, it’s a bit, uh, messy, but I’m a foreigner who got lost, and I found out this church by coincidence. I saw you and those… men in the tower, and so… so… I thought I should do something, you know? You know?”

Morgana stared blankly at her, somehow expecting more. But there was nothing else.

“You make absolutely no sense,” she finally declared. “Why would you randomly decide to help out a complete stranger at the risk of your own life?”

“I-I know it’s not very logical! But, well, I just…” Rena closed her mouth. Looked down. “I just couldn’t do nothing.”

“Yes, you could have. That wouldn’t have been very difficult.”

“Are… Are you actually angry at me for saving you…? Are you?”

“So how did you do it? How did you manage to get past the lock and get me out of the tower? I can’t believe these men cooperated willingly.”

“Oh, that. Well, I just cut them with my cleaver, retrieved the keys and got out of here with you as soon as I could.”

She said all of this with a wide smile, as if it was no big deal at all. Morgana stared at her, expecting her to tell her she was kidding, but nothing came afterwards.

“And?”

“Th-That’s all…?”

“That can’t be all. There’s no way a single girl could overpower three men with just a cleaver.”

“Well, it wasn’t easy, it’s true, but it’s possible. As proof, you wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

Morgana felt the urges to yell at her, but managed to stay calm. She didn’t believe her, but she had the sensation that even if she kept asking questions she wouldn’t get another answer. So she breathed in deeply, and tried to gain the most knowledge possible.

“Where are we?”

“Oh… um, I’m not really sure to be honest. I think it must’ve been an old ranch to keep cattle or something, but it seems to have been abandoned for a while. It’s in the middle of the forest, about an hour away from the city. It’s not ideal to hide in, but for now we’ll have to content ourselves with that.”

“What happened to them?”

“The men? Oh… I just knocked out the flaxen-haired boy, so he should be fine, but I dunno what must’ve happened to him afterwards. As for the other two…”

Rena grimaced and looked away. She seemed hesitant to continue speaking, so Morgana had to push her.

“Are they dead?”

“I, uh, I’m not sure? I cut them pretty badly and they were bleeding a lot when I left, but I didn’t actually, um, checked if they were still alive or not…”

“So there’s a chance they’re still alive?”

“Yes… I think.”

“I see… Good.”

“Are you… relieved they’re possibly still alive?”

Morgana snorted at this, which quickly morphed into full on chuckles.

“I suppose you could say that,” she finally blurted out. “Yes… these men, they can’t just die like that… Not after what they did to me…”

She clutched the blanket and her long hair fell in front of her face, darkening her usually pales eyes.

“Dying would be a way too easy fate for them… They need to suffer… Suffer just as much— no, even more than me…”

A fate worse than death. A fate worse than being locked up in a tower and having their blood drained.

A curse — she wanted— needed to inflict a curse upon them, watch their lives slowly get torn apart, one by one—

“Do you intend to take revenge on them?”

Morgana turned her head towards Rena at the sound of her question, and their eyes met. The orange-haired girl was staring at her without saying anything, her face unreadable. She didn’t appear disturbed by Morgana’s grudgeful words in the least, and her question had a surprising innocuous tone to it, as if she had just asked her what was her favorite food.

“Aren’t you… scared of me?”

“Huh? Why?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Because of… my scars.”

“Oh, those!” Rena chuckled. “Not at all! In fact, I think they are really kyute! That was why I wanted to take you home, you know?”

Morgana felt as if she had just been hit with a rock. ‘Cute’…? Did she just call her scars ‘cute’? Was that girl completely insane? Maybe it should’ve made her feel happy, to hear someone call her hideous face ‘cute’ for the first time, but it actually ended up have the opposite effect.

Instead, she felt angry. Like that girl was mocking her. Mocking her suffering, her struggles, and entire life.

She tensed up and grinded her teeth.

“What are you going to do with me now?”

Rena blinked ingenuously and tilted her head. “What?”

“I’m not an idiot. If you saved me, it must’ve been because of personal interest. So what do you want of me?”

“Wh-What? No! Did you think I was lying earlier?”

“Of course. Who would believe such an inane story? I’m betting you must’ve heard about my blood and came here to profit off it.”

Rena frowned, and she seemed to think for a while before replying:

“Your blood… I saw the men drain it from you in the tower. It’s what the church is giving out as medicine, isn’t it? I heard it was called ‘Saint’s Blood,’ but… it’s actual, real blood. Yours.”

Morgana narrowed her eyes, but stayed quiet.

“Did these men kidnap you? I mean, I can’t believe you would’ve ended up in this tower willingly…”

“This is none of your business.”

“I wasn’t lying earlier. I told you the truth, I promise. So the least you could do is told me your story as well, right?”

“Please. Do you honestly want me to believe you just randomly decided to save me, out of the kindness of your heart? What a generous person you are.”

“Is that something that sounds really so impossible to you? That people just do kind things sometimes?”

Of course that was impossible to her. Everyone in her life had only thought of her as a tool and acted kind as a way to profit off her, even her own mother.

And the only people who hadn’t… well, they were dead now. She had absolutely zero reasons to trust this suspicious foreign girl. For all she knew, she wasn’t even the one who had saved her.

And then, suddenly, Rena started to giggle, which made Morgana even tenser.

“You know what? You’re not wrong, actually. I didn’t save you just out of kindness. I’m not a kind person at all, really.”

Her voice sounded a little off, and Morgana felt a chill goes up her chine. Rena stared at her, but there was an odd shine in her blue eyes, something unwell.

“I just thought you looked kyute and wanted to take you home. So I did. That’s all.”

“What… What are you…?”

“But for now, I don’t intend to do anything with you.”

She suddenly stood up, her smile not leaving her face. “After all, you can barely get out of the bed yet, right? I am also wounded, to tell you the truth, so for now we’ll have to stay here for at least a few days. We won’t be able to stay too long, though, because I can’t believe people won’t do anything after what happened to their lord, so afterwards it’d be safer to just leave the region…”

Morgana couldn’t bring herself to say anything as that girl seemed to plan her next few weeks all by herself. She definitely felt irritated and wanted to shut her up and tell to stop taking all these decisions by herself… but the fact was that, she wasn’t wrong.

Morgana could barely walk, she had one arm missing and had lost a huge quantity of blood during the past few months. There was no way she could just go off on her own.

As if she was reading her thoughts, the girl smiled again and told her in a light voice:

“So in any case, it seems we’re stuck together for now, that you like it or not.”

And then she left the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Morgana all alone in the dim room.

________________________________________________________________

It took Morgana at least three days before starting to feel like she was regaining some strength. She still almost couldn’t get out of bed though, so she was spending most of her time in the arranged room, in that bed that wasn’t one, staring at the ceiling and counting the spider webs while she was lost in thought.

Her thoughts, of course, usually came back to what had happened to her. A lot of her memories felt fuzzy, and trying to think too much about it would give her a headache, but she still had managed to retrace the events she had been through in the last few months. Her encounter with the flaxen-haired boy. His betrayal. The beast cutting off her arm and kidnapping her. And finally, discovering it was the lord, out of everyone, that had been behind all of this, for some disgusting greedy plan of using her blood yet again.

Just recounting all of this made her hatred feel stronger than ever, but at the same time, it all felt surreal, as if she had dreamed everything up. As if it was a story she had read somewhere and not something that had actually happened to her. But her missing arm was a sore reminder that all of this was true.

She wanted revenge. That was the thing that had been on her mind all these long, insufferable days inside that tower. She wanted to kill them. Tear out their eyes. Stab their stomachs and watch them bleed to death. Just made them suffer, as much as possible, and by her own hands.

But despite how overwhelming her anger and hatred was… she still felt that slight pang of guilt at this. Not because she pitied the men, but because wishing harm upon others would just go against her very identity as a saint. Saints were martyrs. It didn’t matter how much humans could hurt them, they had no right to retaliate in any way, because they were pure and selfless.

But could she really call herself a saint, after how much she had been mutilated and tainted and mangled?

(Had she ever been a saint to begin with, though?)

“Hey! Lunch’s ready!”

Her door brusquely opened, and a smiling young girl burst into the room with a tray full of food.

“I tried to make something new today, I hope you like it! Sorry, I’m not too used to the food of this country yet, so hopefully it’s not so bad…”

The girl kept babbling happily while sitting next to Morgana, not seeming bothered in the least by her glare. She had acted like that for the past few days, as if the two of them were friends and not strangers clearly suspicious of each others.

Rena was a weird girl. She was a cheerful, friendly person, and despite how coldly Morgana treated her or how much she tried to ignore her she kept talking and taking care of her with a sweet smile on her face. From time to time, she’d have odd reactions like getting flustered about the most ridiculous of things or getting lost in thought and fawning about things that escaped common sense. She wasn’t afraid or disgusted by her scars, either. She loved cooking and pampering her and ran around the abandoned ranch energetically despite her own wound.

She had told her some vague information about her, how she came from a country in the Far East and had been here for business with her father and how they got separated, but she never gave any details about it.

In a way, Rena reminded Morgana a little of her time at the brothel, as a weird mix of the blonde woman who acted as a big sister to everyone and the exhaustingly cheerful dark-skinned girl. (But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t remember their names, or even their faces.)

And all of this, actually, made Morgana more uncomfortable than anything. She actually would’ve preferred that Rena treat her coldly rather than that, it would’ve been less tiring and unpredictable. Because she was sure these acts of kindness and friendliness would end soon enough, at any moments.

There was something… dark lurking in Rena’s shadows, in the deepness of her blue eyes, and that darkness couldn’t help but make Morgana suspicious of her whenever she’d smiles at her.

“You don’t eat?”

Rena asked her with a worried look, as she was biting into her own piece of bread.

“I’m not hungry.”

“No, that’s not good! You have to eat, otherwise you won’t get better.”

“Maybe I don’t want to get better. Maybe I just want to stay here and wither away all alone.”

Rena’s happy smile fell from her lips, and instead a frown darkened her face. This was a serious expression she would take sometimes, when Morgana acted a bit too cold towards her.

“No, you won’t,” she said, and it almost sounded like an order. “You will eat now. I didn’t prepare all of that for you to waste it, and I didn’t save your life for you die now.”

“I never asked you to prepare this, or to save my life, for that matter.”

“So you would’ve preferred to stay in that tower and die all alone there?”

Of course not, who would want that? Morgana almost spat out, but she restrained her tongue.

Certainly, she wasn’t content with her situation right now and it was more than frustrating to be at the mercy of this weird, suspicious stranger… but she knew there were still worse fates. Like being chained up on that altar under the cruel mad eyes of a lord. Or dying little by little in a tower without anyone even knowing about it.

She sighed, then after a few moments, finally grasped the fork Rena was holding out to her and piqued inside her plate. She made a point to not look at the other girl, but she could still guess her satisfied smile on her face, which pissed her off. She had the reflex to want to use her second arm, before having the painful realization she could never do so ever again. She still wasn’t used to this, and with the pain having fading away, she sometimes had the sensation to still have it.

Her life would never be like before ever again. She already knew that of course, and it wasn’t the first time she had experienced that feeling, but right now she felt even more lost and disoriented.

She had her hypothetic revenge to keep her alive, sure. But then what? What was she supposed to do after that? She couldn’t go back to being the witch of the lake selling herbs to whoever would dare to come. She just…

“Do you want me to help you eat?”

Morgana glared at Rena. “I am not a child,” she dryly replied. “Don’t treat me like one.”

“A-Ah, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just, uh…”

Morgana angrily started eating her food while Rena fell quiet, her cheeks as red as a tomato. Their meals were generally just a handful of vegetables and bread, or sometimes potages. Which was comprehensible given they were technically in hiding, so Rena couldn’t go in town often to buy supplies. Furthermore, they had no money.

Well… I don’t have money. I actually don’t know about her… That’s right, how did she even get the flour for the bread? And the dishes?

“So, um, don’t you think it’s time for you to tell me now?”

Morgana stopped eating, and looked up at Rena strangely.

“What?”

“I want to know your name,” Rena specified gently. “And, well… I’d like you to tell me a bit more about you, too. Like, what were you doing before getting… in that tower? Don’t you have any family?”

“You don’t need to know my name.”

“But I told you mine. You can’t risk much by telling me your name, right?”

Well, she had a point. But the last person she had trust with her name had betrayed her and she found herself with one arm missing locked up in a mansion.

“I… don’t have any family,” she finally decided to say. “Before that, I lived by myself in a small cottage near a lake.”

“Oh. That sounds… lonely.”

Rena grimaced while saying this, and the idea of being pitied by that girl felt incredibly insulting for some reason.

“And then those men kidnapped you?”

“Yes… Well the beas— the swordsman did. The flaxen-haired boy lured me in so he could have my arm. It was all under the lord’s orders.”

“Hmm…”

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to tell her all of that, but those were all things she could’ve guessed by herself anyway. More than anything, Morgana still expected her to ask her information about her blood, and then to give some to her… But apparently that wasn’t even something that crossed Rena’s mind.

“Don’t you have any friends either?”

“What? No… Why would you demand that?”

“Well, for nothing? I did have a nice group of friends back in my village, you know. We were pretty close, I think… I think.”

For some reason, her gaze became a bit vacant, as if she was doubting her own words.

“Then what happened to them?”

“Nothing… They’re still back in my village.”

And then she stayed unusually quiet. Not like Morgana was all that interested in knowing more about this girl or her so-called friends, anyway.

“So, so! You finished eating, right? Let me bring all that back, then!”

“Ah— Wait—”

Morgana tried to grab Rena to stop her, but she missed her and instead fell on the ground. She heard Rena gasp loudly and run towards her instantly.

“A-Are you okay? Are you? O-Oh, wait, I’ll help you get up, I’ll—”

“I’m okay! I’m okay…”

Morgana raised herself up with her only elbow, and grinded her teeth at how difficult it was without her other one. Rena stared at her worryingly.

“How did you fall so bad…?”

“It’s… my arm, I think…”

“Huh?”

“I’m… still not used to it, so I lost balance… It’s nothing.”

“Oh…”

Morgana instinctively brought a hand to her shoulder, where the rest of the arm should have been. It felt so off. So wrong, to have just an empty space here, and it made her stomach turn. They both sat on the ground face to face, without saying anything for a moment. It felt too awkward, for some reason. Then, suddenly, Rena broke the silence:

“You want me to bring it back to you?”

Morgana almost strangled herself.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You said the one who took it was that boy Mell, right? Then I could go ask him to give it back.”

“Y-You want to bring me back my arm?”

“Yes? That’s a bad idea?”

“D-Do you even hear yourself? That’s insane. Even if you were to get it back somehow, what would I do with it now?”

Rena put a finger on her lip, and tilted her head innocently. “Sew it back?”

“You’re completely crazy!”

Morgana shouted at her, and the process made her whole body hurts. She coughed a little, and then heard a giggle. When she raised her head, the other girl was laughing softly.

“It’s the first time I see you getting angry like that,” she simply said, smiling. “Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I see you having any kind of emotion at all… Well, except for glaring at me. Does that count as an ‘emotion’? Does it…?”

Wait. Could it be… that she said all those inane things on purpose? To makes me react?

Morgana stared at Rena blankly for a moment… then she snorted.

“You are really weird,” she mumbled.

“Hmhmm, I know.”

Maybe… being at the mercy of this strange girl wasn’t the worst of fate. Maybe it was something she could actually survive, this time. She sighed, then looked up at Rena.

“I… am Morgana,” she said softly.

Rena blinked at her in astonishment, her mouth opening so wide an entire apple could fit in it.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t trust you in the slightest. But like you said, it would be pretty awkward if I was the only one knowing your name…”

A big, silly smile brightened Rena’s face. She giggled yet again and nodded happily.

“Your name ends just like mine,” was the only comment she made.

________________________________________________________________

“—ou think?”

“Huh…?”

Morgana gasped, and looked around her with agitation. Rena was in front of her, looking strangely at her.

“Morgana? A-Are you okay…?” She asked warily.

“I-I… ah…”

The first thing she saw was a blinding light. There was a soft wind brushing her skin. Her eyes stung and it took her a few long seconds to make sense of her surroundings. She was outside, in front of the ranch. The entire area was covered by enormous trees, so the place felt fairly dark, but some sunlight still managed to pierce the foliage. In a way, it gave her a sense of security, as if no one would ever be able to find them here.

Morgana was drowsy and numb, her mind a mess, as if she had just wake up from a particularly deep slumber. The sudden light made her feel a bit dizzy and she quickly sat on a rock nearby to not stumble, under Rena’s worried gaze. What was she doing here…? She remembered waking up this morning, eating lunch, and then… then nothing came to her mind, like she had just blanked out.

“Hey, what’s going on…?” Rena asked again.

“I’m… fine,” Morgana blurted out, massaging her temples. “What… uh, what are we doing here?”

Rena blinked, a clear confusing sprouting on her face. “What? What do you mean?”

“I… mean what I mean. Why are we outside?”

But her precision only seemed to worsen the situation. Rena looked at her as if she had told her the world was going to get destroyed.

“We… um, u-um, th-that’s… I mean, well, uh, you— you don’t remember?”

“Remember what?”

“Ah, a-after lunch I proposed we go outside for a bit, and you accepted, and we were just talking about what we would do if it started raining…”

This time, it was Morgana who was confused. She stared at Rena as if expecting her to explain the situation, but manifestly the other girl didn’t understand any more than her.

“You… really forget?” Rena asked again. “Y-You were talking with me normally up until now though…”

“I… was?”

She had no recollections of such a thing, though. After lunch, she had no recollections at all. What had happened? Had she really just… blanked out? She breathed in, trying to regain her calm and reflect about this logically. Now that she was thinking about it… this wasn’t really the first time this happened. She had vague memories of experiencing something similar as a child during her time at the brothel, but she was pretty sure it had stopped after she started living at the cottage. Or, well, maybe it did happen again, but given most of the time she was alone it was hard to tell…

“Morgana…?”

But in any case, it wasn’t something she needed to tell Rena about.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing important.”

“Are you sure…?”

“Yes. Forget about it.”

Rena stared at her for a while. It was obvious she wasn’t convinced at all, but still one of her usual smile blossomed on her face and she nodded.

“All right! Well, I’m just glad you’re able to walk and go out by yourself now. I’m sure you’ll be full of energy in no time!”

“I have… never been ‘full of energy’…”

Rena laughed light-heartedly and started to spun and bounces on her legs, as if practicing some sort of weird dance. Morgana sighed. Just watching her move like that was tiring to her. But… in the last few days, she had managed to get used to it. Sort of.

“What about you?”

Rena stopped moving and looked at Morgana interrogatively.

“What?”

“You were wounded too, right? At the shoulder, if I recall.”

“Ooh! That! Haha, I’m okay, I’m okay!”

“It seemed like it was a pretty severe injury, though…”

“It did hurt quite badly, but I’ve always recovered very quickly! I’m tougher than I look, you know? You know?”

“Is that so…”

“Were you worried about me?”

“Don’t be stupid.”

Rena laughed yet again, and Morgana rolled her eyes, and it seemed it had pretty much been their relationships since at least their first conversation.

“And…” Morgana started again, a bit hesitantly. “What do you intend to do now? Didn’t you want to find you way back? To search your father?”

“Hmm…” Rena crossed her arms, a pensive look on her face. “I guess so. Yeah, that’s probably what I’ll do, once you’re completely fine again.”

“You don’t seem convinced… Aren’t you worried about your father?”

“I think he’s fine… He’s a bit clumsy, but he’s still a grown up, you know.”

Even so, Morgana thought she was talking about him in a weird detached way, like he was some random neighbor or distant relative she didn’t know well.

“Aren’t you very close?”

“We are! Of course I’m worried. I’m just… I dunno. Maybe it’s just better that way, because I can’t really go back to him, or to my village…”

“Why? What about your mother?”

“My mother’s gone.”

A smile was still on her face, but it was a cold one. It made Morgana uncomfortable, and she understood she wouldn’t be able to get anything more out of her about this. The more she tried to learn about Rena, and the more mysterious she felt. It was almost frustrating…

“Anyway, how about we play a game?”

Morgana felt startled at Rena’s sudden change of mood and proposition. At the very least, she couldn’t say she was bored with that girl…

“A game?”

“Yeah! Look, I have this with me…” All while talking, she began to look through her satchel and pulled out what looked like a deck of cards. “One of my friends, you see, is a big game collector, and she gave this to me before we come here. The rules are really easy! Wanna try?”

“I don’t like games.”

Rena looked suddenly horrified, as if Morgana had given her a death sentence.

“You’re kidding, right? Right? There’s no way anyone dislike games!”

“Well, I do,” Morgana added. “I never even played one.”

Back in her village, the other kids would never approach her. At the brothel, maybe some of the prostitutes had proposed her to play some simple games with them at times, or the slave man had tried to get her to play with other children her age, but she had always refused. As the daughter of God, she couldn’t let herself be associated with such baseless entertainments.

“N-Never?” Rena sounded even more shocked. “Not even when you were a child?”

“No, I never had any interest in that. It is just meaningless.”

At this moment, Rena’s expression changed. Her face grew serious, and she frowned, as if Morgana had said something particularly offensive.

“It is not meaningless,” she declared, in a tone so serious Morgana wasn’t even able to retort anything. “Games are so important. They can bring so many things to people. So many things! If you have never even played one once, then there’s no way you could be able to understand that.”

Morgana felt bewildered. Why did she seem so angry about something ridiculous like that? Wasn’t that just a game? But before she could say anything, Rena fiercely grabbed her hand, forcing her to stand up, and dragged her inside the ranch.

“I’ll show you!” She said with determination.

“Wh-What?”

“We’ll play together! Whether you want it or not!”

Morgana felt like yelling at her, but for some reason the strength of Rena’s hand holding hers and the firmness of her steps felt undefeatable. So she let herself got dragged inside, sat on a bench and watched the other spread the cards in front of her without saying a word.

Rena explained the rules to her in a confident voice, as if she had done this her entire life (maybe she had, after all). The rules were, indeed, fairly simple: the cards had all different colors with some cute animals drawn on them. There was also a few characters on them which Morgana guessed were in Rena’s country language, but she told her it was just the names of the animals and not necessary to the game. To win you had to get rid of all the cards.

She was given one mercy round to get used to the game, but when things actually started Morgana quickly realized behind her sweet façade, Rena was extremely ruthless. She may be an airhead, slow girl in appearance, but she was in reality pretty shrewd.

“You have to cheat,” Morgana suddenly said after losing for the eighth time. “It’s not possible to win so many times.”

“I did not! I’m just really good at this game, and you’re not.”

“You liar. I refuse to play against you again until you tell me your trick!”

At this moment, Rena smiled maliciously, and looked at her with a mix between amusement and endearment, which felt incredibly condescending.

“Wh-What?”

“You know, despite the fact you act so composed and mature most of the time, you’re actually a really sore loser.”

Morgana felt her cheeks flare up, and never did she felt as glad that her hideous scars were there as now to cover up that fact.

“That’s quite the accusation, I am certainly not a sore loser. I think this is fair of me to ask for a proof that you are not cheating.”

But Rena simply starting laughing and Morgana suddenly felt like a flustered child trying to deal with a bully.

“S-Stop making fun of me!”

“Haooo, you’re so kyute! I wanna take you home! Ah, but I guess we’re already home, huh… Then can I hug you? Can I?”

“No. Stop that, you are grossing me out.”

“H-Hao… How mean…”

“I already told you to stop treating me like a child.”

“S-Sorry! You’re just… really making me think of one of my friends right now. She was also quite the sore loser.”

“Like I said, I am not—”

Morgana stopped, and let out a deep sigh. Evidently, Rena would not listen to her no matter what she said. The other girl giggled a little, and then an odd, nostalgic smile stretched her lips.

“My friends and I, we used to play these games all the time. We would gather everyday and play together like that… It was fun.”

For a few seconds, she seemed lost in thought, as if thinking back about her hometown. Then she looked up at Morgana, this time with a gentle smile directed at her.

“It felt a little like when I played with them right now,” she admitted. “It was fun too. Thank you.”

Morgana only looked away while restraining another sigh. She couldn’t say she had ‘fun,’ — she even felt quite annoyed she hadn’t been able to win even once — but… it had not been a bad experience. She would never bring herself to say this to Rena, though. Or to anyone, for that matter.

“You sounded close,” she suddenly blurted out, without looking at Rena in the eyes. “With your friends.”

“Yeah… I guess…”

“You ‘guess’?”

This time, it was Rena who looked away — not out of embarrass or shame, but in a contemplative way. Her face was neutral, as if all emotions had left her.

“I think… other people are quite weird, you see. I like my friends, but we were only just playing around together. We were close while laughing, joking, messing around… But…” She stopped. “When things actually started to get rough, I still was unable to believe in them and ask for their help. I couldn’t help feeling they’d betray me anyway. I was stabbed in the back like that in the past, you see.”

Morgana almost felt like Rena was more talking to herself than anyone else, so she simply listened to her in silence.

“I wanted to be… happy. And I thought I was happy, in my village. I was around people I loved and who loved me. But sometimes I just wonder if it all wasn’t just some façade. A factice happiness, maybe. Or maybe it’s just all part of Oyashiro’s curse too…”

She turned her head towards Morgana, and smiled at her in an odd self-deprecating manner.

“What is happiness, though? How do you know when you are truly happy?”

Morgana was unable to answer to that.

________________________________________________________________

The lord was laughing.

His voice was strident and raucous, rasping her ears, piercing her mind. But she couldn’t do anything, couldn’t stop listening to it. The ground seemed to get loose with each chuckles, and the walls appeared to want to swallow her alive. Everything was hurting, aching, crashing. She wanted to scream, but her throat didn’t even allow her that.

“No tears — now that’s a good girl. Dignified and saintly — that’s what I need you to be.”

Mangled words resounded in her head, but she couldn’t make any sense of them. The only thing she could feel were the chains around her ankle, and the vivid, unbearable pain in her arm.

It hurts, it hurts, it all hurts so much — and it was all their fault — those three disgusting men. The lord.

That’s right, she had swore to get her revenge against them, to get their heads, for what they had dared to do to her. They locked her up — she who was a saint, the daughter of God — and treated her even worse than cattle — made her a witch, draining her blood day after day until nothing was left of her…

Everything was hurting her, this whole world was worse than Hell itself — and the only way for it to end was to finally kill her torturers.

I wasn’t born to spend my whole life suffering—

She woke up with a start, gasping for air and feeling nauseous. Her entire body was trembling and she couldn’t breathe. She felt like a fish out of water and her mind, still trapped inside that tower, could see nothing but blood and chains and death. Her surroundings was spinning around her, but in a desperate attempt to make a term to her suffering, she jumped out of bed and ran outside the ranch.

It was pitch dark outside, even barely any stars shined in the sky, and the giant trees in front of her looked more like demons ready to tear out her soul at any moment. Yet, she kept running into the woods, bare feet, not caring about the way her long red hair got caught in the branches or how her skin got scratched. The feeling felt familiar, like an odd sensation of déjà-vu, and for a moment she thought she was back to being eleven years old in the slums, running without any goal in the middle of the narrow streets.

(Except this time, no kind young man would come calm her down and carry her on his back to show her the sunrise—)

She only managed to stop when her legs stopped supporting her and she collapsed on the ground. Leaning on the trunk of a tree, she kneeled down, coughed, and finally threw up everything she had in her stomach. It was as if she was trying to evacuate all the horrifying events she had gone through, trying to purify herself from all the pain and suffering and hatred. When she finally stopped, she felt empty — both in her stomach and in her heart. With no strength, she simply lay down against the trunk and stopped moving, before slowly closing her eyes.

Suicide was a sin and she would never even consider this an option, no matter how tainted she was, but in this very instant… she honestly wished she could just die. Just slowly fall asleep here, and never open her eyes again…

Unfortunately, fate wasn’t on her side, as instead she heard noise that instantly got her out of her slumber. She immediately turned around, and in the horizon, she saw some vague small lights. There were footsteps, too. And voices.

Who on earth could be out there in the woods this late at night? The will to know the answer to this question was stronger than her exhaustion and numbness, and she gathered all of her strength left to stand up and slowly approach the lights. After a few moment, she noticed apparently a group of men — at least four of them, on horses, with torches.

Actually, those weren’t simple men. They were wearing heavy armors, and swords — which meant they were likely knights or guards. At first, she didn’t think much of it. These men were working for the Church generally after all, weren’t they? Anyone serving God was deserving of respect. But then she suddenly remembered that actually, there was another authority they listened under other than the Church: the lord.

At this moment, a chill ran down her spine and she instantly backed away. A part of her wanted to believe it was only a coincidence. But it would be too naïve a way of thinking. Why would a group of guards wander in the middle of the woods at night? If the lord had survived, then there was only one answer…

They were searching for the witch that had escaped the lord’s clutches.

Panic grasping her, she started to run yet again despite how much pain her legs was in, but this time in the inverse direction. She traversed the forest with even more speed than earlier while her heart was beating so strong in her chest she thought it was about to explode and that her mind was only focused on one thing: that she didn’t want to go back there. She didn’t want to go back in the tower, not back to being chained and getting her blood drained. She’d rather get killed horribly than this.

The ranch appeared in sight rather quickly, but it was barely a relief at all, and she entered it before slamming the door behind her. There, she had only the strength to fall on the floor, gasping painfully.

Why was this happening? How did these men manage to arrive there? It had been about two weeks since her escape, but still, it felt too early. How were they able to find them in the middle of these lost woods? Had someone told them? Had someone—

“Morgana?”

A sweet voice got her out of her thoughts, and when she raised her head, Rena was here, in a pink nightgown, holding a candle.

Rena.

“Is everything okay? I heard noise…”

There were only the two of them here, after all.

“Morgana…?”

With some strength she didn’t know she still possessed, Morgana stood up, grabbed the cleaver that rested against the wall, and jumped on Rena. The candle crashed onto the floor, plunging them in darkness — only the dim moon through the window lightened the room. It was like a reenactment of their first meeting, except this time Morgana was fully aware who she was threatening with the blade.

“What are—”

“Shut up! You’re the one who warned them, right?”

Rena’s blue eyes, shining like jewels under the moon, widened like saucers.

“Them?”

“I knew it! You were suspicious from the start! Of course you’d do something like that!”

“I have no idea what you—”

“Stop lying now! I knew you’d betray me!”

An odd expression spread across Rena’s face that Morgana couldn’t exactly identify, but she had no intention to anyway. Anger and panic and fear all overwhelmed her mind and reason, and flashes of the flaxen-haired boy and of his kind smile and sweet words turned in a circle inside her head.

This girl was just like him, after all. Her smile was only there to trick her, and all of her words were honeyed poison.

“Calm down, you don’t make any sense,” Rena talked again. “Think about it, why would I—”

“I told you to stop lying!”

Morgana raised the cleaver and lowered it towards the other girl’s neck, but she managed to block out the blade and kick her in the stomach with her knee. Morgana momentarily coughed and lost balance, giving Rena enough time to got away from her and stood back up, but she didn’t let this rattle her. Quickly getting back on her knees, she yet again swung the cleaver at Rena, who avoided it by only a few margins.

“Stop that! You might be better now, but there’s no way you can win against me with my own cleaver!”

But Morgana couldn’t care less about Rena’s words. That girl was just like the three men. No, maybe she was worse — because she had actually tried to save her and gain her esteem before throwing her back into hell.

She wouldn’t forgive her. Not Rena, not the lord, not the three men, not anyone—

She kept swinging the cleaver at Rena, again and again, destroying quite a few of the woodwork in the process, but the girl was as agile as a cat and managed to get away from her hits with only a few cuts.

She couldn’t forgive, because that was all she had left now.

Everything else had been taken from her.

Her identity, her life, her possible happiness and future… everything had been crushed at the hands of humans.

Everything was just unfair and cruel and disgusting.

“Just… disappears!”

For some unfathomable reason, her Father had just abandoned her.

No… maybe he had never been at her side from the beginning.

Maybe her mother had been right. Maybe she was not the child of God, but of some devil.

Maybe she truly was a witch, after all—

“Die!”

Finally, blood splashed onto her face and dress. It looked black under the moon. She had hit Rena on her left hip, which made her let out a constricted moan while glaring at Morgana, before putting her back against the wall and letting herself fall on the ground. Morgana looked down at her coldly, taking slow steps towards her.

The girl was completely at her mercy. There was no way she could defend herself with such a wound. She would probably bleed to death if she left her like that too. Yet, Rena’s eyes showed no fear. It was as if death wasn’t something that even crossed her mind… or maybe it did, but it wasn’t something she cared about. Well, it was fine either way.

She raised the cleaver one last time, her eyes glaring down at the gasping girl.

She saw the flaxen-haired boy figure in her stead. The beast’s. The lord’s.

Her hands tightened around the handle, and she lowered it.

But the blade didn’t hit Rena at all.

Instead, it planted itself inside the wooden ground next to her.

Morgana was shaking. Her trembling hands let go of the cleaver, and she fell on her knees, her long hair scattering around her like a veil. A long silence swallowed the room, where even barely their breathing could be heard.

“What are you doing?” Rena suddenly asked softly.

Morgana shook her head.

“I have… no idea…”

She plunged her face in her hands.

“I have… honestly no idea at all. I don’t know what I should be doing anymore… I lived all my life being so sure of who I was and what I should be doing, but now… I have nothing of that anymore… The only thing I desire is revenge, but I don’t even think I have the strength to get it…”

She didn’t know why she suddenly bared her heart like that. Maybe she wasn’t really talking to Rena. Maybe she was just letting out feelings that had been swarming inside her head for the past days… no, maybe even for the past months and years.

“I really… don’t know what I should be doing from now on anymore… I feel—”

—like the entire hate me. Like God Himself hates me. Like fate and the universe have just decided to make me miserable for the rest of my pitiful life.

‘I wasn’t born to spend my whole life suffering,’ she had yelled in her heart, as hatred and anger and despair boiled inside her…

But what was she born for exactly?

“I feel… cursed.”

Another silence — no sounds, no noise to disturb her intimate monologue. Until a giggle break the moment. Morgana lifted her head slowly, and stared with confusion at the girl who was chuckling heartily as if she had just said the funniest joke ever.

“What a coincidence,” she finally said. “I am cursed too.”

Morgana blinked, her eyes stinging. She wasn’t crying, though — she felt as if all of her tears had left her a long time ago already, maybe when she had been brought inside that tower — and now she was just completely empty.

But in this moment, the girl in front of her looked just as empty and lost as her.

“I might… have lied to you a little,” Rena suddenly admitted. “I didn’t actually come here with my father.”

Her gaze lifted up towards the moon behind Morgana, as if to help her focus.

“There’s a deity called Oyashiro in my village, you see. She protects it and its inhabitants, and prevents any strangers to come in. But, on the other hand, there is also an unspoken rule you are not allowed to leave the village or you’d trigger her wrath.”

“A… deity?”

“I know in your country there is only one God who rules everything, but in mine, we have different faiths. Our ‘deities’ are not really the same as yours, but at least I know Oyashiro is real. She spoke to me, quite a few times. And she also cursed me.”

Morgana restrained her instinctive envy to say this was nonsense and that there was only one God in this universe, as stating the contrary felt like a personal insult to her. But she felt too exhausted to fight Rena on this, and just wanted to keep hearing the rest of the story. Maybe Rena guessed her train of thoughts, and Morgana wondered if maybe denying her village’s ‘deity’ would feel like an insult to her too, but she made no comments about it.

“Why did she curse you? Oh… Because you left.”

“Yes, though I was cursed before that. As a child, my family left the village to find jobs in a bigger city. I’ve lived there a few years, but then my mother… left,” she said, spiting the word, and Morgana felt there was a lot of grudge in that sentence, but she didn’t ask about it. “So my father and I came back. And then I thought it would be okay. It was, for some time. I met my friends. I thought I’d be happy again. But… Dad was still jobless, and in the end, he attracted the attention of some bad people.”

Her eyes darkened, and she clenched her jaw.

“These people wanted to use him. They wanted to take away my happiness. So I had to do everything I could to prevent this. I had to.”

“What did you do?”

Rena stared straight into Morgana’s eyes, her gaze resolute.

“I killed them.”

This should’ve come off as a surprised. This should’ve shocked Morgana to her core. But for some reason, it didn’t. Maybe she had already understood, somewhere deep inside, that this girl was a killer.

“But… I suppose I made a mistake. Or maybe that was just the curse. I think, some people related to the two I killed discovered it, and tried to come after me. I was knocked out, and when I came back to myself I was inside a boat’s hold, chained up, with a lot of other people.”

The blurry image of the aftermath of the brothel’s raid flashed through Morgana’s mind, as she was tied up inside that carriage with all those other strangers… just before the beast slaughtered all of them.

“Slave traders?” She asked.

“I’m not sure,” Rena added. “I was dragged around for quite some time, in boat and carriage, and thankfully none of them thought of checking my satchel. So when I got the occasion, I slashed them up and escaped. And that’s how I ended up here.”

Morgana sighed. She could understand why Rena would make up that lie, it certainly wasn’t a story she could to tell to everybody.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get back to my village, and even if I do… with what I did, I don’t know if I’ll be able to ever gain my happy life back anyway.” She chuckled. “Well, that’s something I’ve always known. Happy days never last.”

That was something Morgana could relate to all too well, and she hated how much similarities she could find in Rena’s words. The girl in front of her had just admitted to her she was a killer, a sinner of the worst category. It was disgusting and almost above salvation. And yet… she felt no disgust towards her at all. Only…

Maybe only something akin to sympathy.

That just illustrated how far she had fallen. But right now, she didn’t care all that much about it.

Without saying a word, she rose up, disappeared in the other room and came back her hands full of bandages. Rena watched her kneel besides her and starting to clean up her wound.

“What are you doing…?”

“Isn’t that obvious? I’m treating you. We can’t stay here any longer. I spotted some guards afar from here, and I bet they’re working for the lord. We need to get out of here before that.”

“Oh… so that’s why you suddenly panicked.” Rena chuckled. “Do you not think I betrayed you anymore?”

Morgana stopped her treatment, her eyes staring fixedly at the ground.

“I don’t know,” Morgana admitted. “You’re a killer and a sinner. I cannot trust you.”

“I bet,” Rena said, and there was clear amusement in her voice.

Morgana wondered how she managed to use a joking tone with such a heavy wound, but then again, she had been able to narrate her entire life story without so much as flinching despite it.

“But,” she added, still without looking at the other girl in the eyes. “I… can’t let you die here.”

“Really?”

“Take this as thanks for you saving me from the tower.”

“It’s you who inflicted this wound on me, though…”

“I won’t apologize for that, if that’s what you’re expecting. I still think my suspicions were fair enough.”

Rena opened her mouth to reply, but instead she just let out a moan as Morgana started to apply the bandage.

“You’re really rough,” she complained.

“I’m more used to handle dead bodies.”

“You what?”

“It’s nothing… For now, this should okay. We can’t spend any more time here anyway.”

All while talking, she helped Rena to stand up by handing her a shoulder and letting her lean on her body. Morgana was far from being a strong girl, so supporting the other weight of another human was quite the struggle for her. She thought about how Rena must have carried her all by herself from the tower to here, and wondered how on earth she managed to accomplish such a prowess. She certainly didn’t look any physically stronger than her.

Am I really starting to trust her words now? Stop being silly, Morgana.

But despite lecturing herself, she still gathered all of her strength to help out support the other girl as best as she could. As they slowly passed by the window, they could see a few lights twinkling in the distance. The guards had probably noticed the ranch by now, and were starting to approach dangerously close to it.

“They seem to be quite a few…”

“I’ve seen at least four of them earlier. Let’s hurry.”

In spite of these words, they couldn’t exactly run with Rena in this condition, and Morgana could hear her hiss and groan with each steps they took. She knew her wound was still bleeding too, but now was too late to regret her hysterical episode from earlier. She still thanked God that the ranch had a back door, and they managed to reach it after a few minutes of hobbling, finally leaving behind the dilapidated habitation they had occupied for the last weeks.

Once outside, they staggered a little in the middle of the forest, then took a pause against a large trunk. Rena was already gasping heavily, and they hadn’t even been walking for five minutes.

“How’s your wound?”

“Pretty bad,” she groaned. “I… doubt I’ll be able to run away from them like that.”

“We don’t have a choice, though.”

“You have a choice, however. You could just leave me here.”

“Not interested.”

Rena chuckled. “You really are a sore loser.”

“Shut up.”

Morgana sighed and sat down next to Rena, and the two of them stayed quiet for quite some time.

“You’re really okay with taking the risk to get back inside that tower because of me?”

“Then what about you? I just tried to kill you, and you seem completely fine with putting your life in my hands.”

“That’s right. That’s really weird, huh.”

“It truly is.”

Rena giggled yet again, and if Morgana didn’t felt so exhausted, maybe she would’ve let herself laugh with her.

“If we do manage to get out of these woods…”

Rena started talking again, her voice a whisper.

“What do you want to do?”

That was a question Morgana had asked herself ever since she had been out of that tower. How ridiculous that she’d spent the last few months wish for any kind of miracle to free her, and now that she was free, she was even more lost than she’d ever been in her life.

“Do you still intend to take your revenge?”

“Probably…” She hesitated a little, trying to search for the stars behind the heavy foliage of the trees. She found none.

“That’s the only thing I have left.”

“I see…”

“And you?”

“I still have no idea either. Healing that wound would be a start. And then maybe I’ll be able to find another kyute thing to take home.”

“We really won’t have much to look forward to then, huh.”

“I guess.”

They shared another moment of silence. Behind them, the sounds of the guards breaking open the door resounded brutally, but this put neither of them into a panic.

They just kept staring at the sky, entirely camouflaged by the trees.

Until, Morgana finally stood up again, and handed her hand to Rena. The girl smiled, neither a gentle or cruel one, before grabbing it.

Morgana had no idea where they could go, and they had very little chance to be able to run away from the guards.

But, in this instant, putting aside all of her complicated and complex feelings, she swore to herself they’ll manage to escape this place no matter what.

This was her gratitude for the lost girl who had saved her from the tower.

A mean for both of them to find their ways back.

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