Yuri Worlds

[75] Dogwood

She was going to die. The notion should’ve terrified her. She’d been at the razor’s edge, with Death literally about to greet her. But that was all that this monster could threaten her with. The actual fear came from the flailing, weakening little girl at her feet, wounded in so many places she didn’t know how to patch.

She didn’t deserve to hurt. After such a life of bitter struggles and weeping in the darkness, she deserved a night with her friends after such a joyous accomplishment and celebration of the uncertainty and possibilities of history. Misaki put pressure on a rapidly growing spot near her leg. Maharu whimpered with a shallow breath and softly gurgled. That had more strength behind it than the last few minutes of struggling, but it still didn’t sound right.

“You can’t save her. Nor can you save yourself. But feel free to try. Sometimes the most delicious, savory fun is in the chase. Can you find it in yourself to run away and leave her to trickle out drop by drop?”

Shit. She’d already wasted so many first-aid moments that might’ve meant life or death for Maharu. Misaki started to tear another length of pink cloth from her sleeve for a tourniquet. There was so much bleeding, but she remembered from some vague, distant health class that she actually wanted to forget that there were several vital locations in the body. Aorta, carotid artery, jugular. Names that popped into her head.

No cuts or slices around her neck; no fresh blood there. That had to be a good sign. Maharu was so messy, so full of holes, but maybe they weren’t the worst kind of holes. She had to hope.

And she was an animal girl? That had to be what the ears meant. Had she somehow been hiding them all this time? Misaki had no idea what to think. It wasn’t a vital issue; keeping her conscious and breathing was. Could Ayame help stabilize her? Were there any other medical services nearby? They weren’t at the remote resort, at least.

"You really need to worry more about yourself than the kid on the way out. Really, I think I’m doing you a service. You have no idea what’s actually happening, do you? I wonder, how much of you is really you? How much will I find when I carve you open?"

All those words shivered down Misaki‘s spine like the knife was a millimeter away from passing through her flesh. She didn’t want to care what that meant, but she had seen the blackness in her hair and the darkness in her eyes.

Like something was eating her, rotting her from the inside out. Not that she trusted the words of this monster, but it seemed to know something. It drew closer.

Misaki tore off another length of cloth from her other sleeve and secured it to a wet spot on Maharu‘s leg above the rope. The poor girl clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. Hang in there. Please. Hang on. It’s gonna be okay. She had to believe that. The monster infesting Chika took another step.

She backed away from Maharu. At least, she attempted to. But it was like pressing up against an invisible, impossible-to-resist wall. A stark laugh curled around Chika.

"I didn’t say you could leave. That’s not nice. Just running away. Don’t worry; I’ll give you the chance to scamper off. But you have to play by the rules. I hate the rules personally, but they make it fun for everyone! There’s going to be a count, and I’m going to close my eyes, and then you can head off in any direction if you like. But I can smell you, and I can feel your desperate heartbeat, little one. No matter where you go or how deep you hide, I can find you. Reeaaaadddy? Here we go!"

She wasn’t ready. And she wanted to scream out. But it was like a fist clamped down in all directions, and she could barely breathe. Her ears buzzed, like a swarm of bees were about to erupt from within her. She couldn’t do anything. The monster’s blade tilted up, ready to strike and bleed her out too. But a sound whispered in the distance with urgent footfalls and a voice that filled her with relief but also panic.

"There you are. Lost? You just have to follow one shack after another. What’s taking the three of you so long? This better not be a game. Everyone’s waiting and worried. Come on…" Yuka, as promised, had come after her. And stepped right into the monster’s lair.

Misaki panted, desperately trying to will her voice to warn away the girl she loved. But she got closer and closer, until she was too close. Yuka had a hand on her hips with a finger rubbing at the edge of her eyes, brushing away the weight of the day. She was still blissfully unaware of the darkness about to swallow her up. Misaki whipped her head the other way, toward the shack. Chika had vanished.

Before she could process that or begin to understand where she had gone, she heard Yuka release a breath, then slowly gasp as she said, "What are you…? You… why? Oh my Goddess! No no no no no no… what happened? Did you trip?…You’re hurt. Oh, Goddess! You’re bleeding!"

Yuka’s voice rose with sharp, jagged fear, whimpering and crying through her strangled words. The rambling cries became frantic, flowing tears. Her hands reached and flew across the girl’s body as she looked up and all around.

"What happened?! Why is she tied up? What’s on her head? Misaki! Please, help me! You have to help me, please, Goddess please! She’s bleeding. We need to apply pressure. I don’t know if we can move her. There’s so much blood. We need to stop the bleeding. Come on, come on…"

Her voice shrank so much, sounding more like a desperate child’s as she fought through her tears to form words. So many tears—a flood to drown the world, a shattering with every drop breaking Misaki‘s heart.

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Yuka clenched her teeth and ripped band after band of cloth from her sleeves, tightly securing them to whatever soft spots she could find. But the tightness of the tourniquets was starting to leech the color from her limbs, along with the continuing blood loss.

“Mommy… Mommy… Mommy… Mommy…”

She heard Maharu’s softly repeated plea. The words were a little louder and clearer than when Misaki first arrived. Misaki knew people healed in this place; they were kept naturally young, and all the little things that bothered her quickly went away.

She could believe that this poor little girl, who’d just started living, who had just begun to dig herself out of the deepest darkness, deserved every ounce of life and strength that this world could provide, that she could share, and that she could beg whatever Goddesses out there to lend her. They had to; they just had to!

Panting desperately, Yuka bowed over Maharu and sobbed. “It’s okay. Stay with me. I’m here. I’m here. Mommy’s here…mommy’s here….” Hot, blinding tears ran down Yuka’s face as she squeezed Maharu tight in her grasp.

Slowly, quiet comfort came over Maharu. Her limbs relaxed. Her body settled against the soft, mossy ground. Her breathing eased as she clearly spoke, “Mommy… thank you, mommy. Thank you. I love you…”

Brushing Maharu’s bright blue hair, tears still overwhelmed Yuka, and she barely registered those words. "Mommy’s here. Shush… you’re gonna be okay. Shh shhh. It’s gonna be all right. Just hold on. I love you too. Just hold on, sweetie. Mommy’s here…"

"…Thank you…" Those words softly whispered out, like the last air freed from a deflated balloon. Maharu’s arms settled at her sides, and her breath ceased. Yuka could sense it the moment it happened. She grabbed her tighter, fumbling with her hands.

“No no no no no no NO NO NO NOOOOOO! Come back, come back! Please, Goddess, please!”

She was gone. Maharu was gone. Misaki sank to her knees.

“Daughter like mothers, with the same poetic, delicious fate. Round and round it goes. And I just can’t get enough. Hi…”

That wasn’t Chika’s voice, but Misaki still knew it. Out of the shadows emerged Chika’s limp, dragged form, held by a girl still cloaked in darkness.

She tossed her body to the ground like a neglected doll and stepped forward. Yasha emerged into the meager light with a twisted smirk channeled through her harsh features.

”So much for that. I could’ve kept it up. I could’ve played you all. But this moment is so precious, so scintillating. I can’t resist…” She reached up to her face and touched her eyes, as though gently clawing them out. When she looked over again, they were bright, demon red.

Yuka still desperately clung to Maharu’s body as it slowly cooled. The tears practically steamed away, leaving burning, hot flesh aimed directly at Yasha.

Every muscle in Yuka’s face twisted so tight that Misaki almost feared they might snap in half as she said a single word infused with all her hate, “…You…”

“Me. But do you know who I am? Do you really know? I was there before, at the beginning, and now at the end. Koharu and Yuki. They did everything to make me think their little girl was gone or dead with them. But I never had eyes for her back then. Not ripe yet. She needed to be savored. And my feast is finally complete.”

Yuka clenched her fists so tight that it was a miracle her hands didn’t start bleeding. “I’ll kill you… I’ll fucking kill you…”

The red-eyed blonde cackled. "How eloquent. Exactly what I expected from something like you. Come on, I thought they socialized you better."

Misaki hopped up and scrambled over to Yuka’s side. She swiftly stretched an arm in her direction. But it stretched too far—way too far.

Her limb pulled out like ashen taffy, spreading and contorting bonelessly. Yuka looked on in horror as her arm seemed more like a diseased tree trunk. Yasha released a fresh round of laughter.

“There you are. The real you beneath the mask. How disgusting. How delightful. I’ve always wanted to see if a dark entity bleeds. So, yummy one, what will you show me?”

A strange radiance of gold blended with ethereal blue twisted in gnarled vines around Yasha‘s body like a spiritual exoskeleton. Her teeth seemed sharper, and her form swelled like she was hovering.

Misaki wanted to move between the two of them and be the wall that protected all that she had left. It didn’t matter what was happening to Yuka. They would figure it out. They would fix it.

But that monster, could do something horrible to Yuka as easily as it did to Maharu. Please don’t fight; please don’t face it. But Misaki knew in her heart that there was no way the girl she loved was going to back down from this monster.

Yuka kept her eyes locked on Yasha. She gently bent down to embrace Maharu and plant loving, tender kisses on her cheek and forehead. Her right arm still dangled like poisoned oil in a broken bag.

She kept it away from Misaki and used her other hand to touch her on the shoulder, pulling herself close with a kiss on her forehead followed by an insistent one squeezing her lips. She looked her in the eye and just gave a quick nod.

Standing on wobbly legs, Yuka flared her nostrils and took one step after the other toward the blonde. Her entire body quivered, but her mind and soul were firm.

She stretched out her other arm, and it spread like the same black taffy. It twirled and twisted, reached and flowed, just like what they found inside the wristbands. A dark entity. She, somehow, was like them.

Yuka squeezed as much air into her lungs as she could hold. Her voice was heavy—not deep but leaden with the moment, emotion, and so much more. She spoke harshly without growling, "My name is not dark entity or yummy one. Or Sasaki Yuka. Not anymore. My name is Cerberus, and I will send you back to Hell where you belong."