Yune walked back home normally. She transformed back to normal. She didn't want to rush back. She still had a lot of thoughts. She wanted Jack to confess and suffer for it. She was sure that Jack did it. There was so much evidence already pointing to her. The cauterized wound that could have come from her blade. The large footprints. The fact that Jack has been hunting Light Guardians in pursuit of looking for one of them. It was obvious. But Yune still wanted to hear it from her own mouth. 'I killed her' was all Yune wanted. Nobody would turn out like Schmetter. And even if Jack, who was already a revived Light Guardian, came back as a Night Demon, Yune would have no quarrel with killing her a second time. Or a third. Or however many times, she wanted.
A shadow came over Yune without her noticing. But the shadow did nothing. Nobody else saw it, but it was there. Always there. Then, it was gone.
She came up to the house she lived in. She didn't even consider it as home, anymore.
And there she saw Mary and Jack breathing heavily as if they were running around. And then they came up on Yune.
"Where the hell were you!? We've been calling and texting," Jack yelled.
"Hello," Yune said coldly, "Sorry. My phone ran out of battery."
"Oh, then let me see your phone," Jack said.
But the tensions were already high as it is.
"It's alright. It's alright," Mary said as she went in between them, "I can't believe I'm the one doing this. Usually, it's you, Yune, you who has to get in between fights. Sorry, we were worried that something might have happened to you."
"Of course nothing happened to me. I was just visiting a friend," Yune replied.
Mary could think of which friend it was, but didn't want to say anything.
"For somebody who is so worried about sticking together, you really know how to actually do it," Jack complained.
Yune was sick of Jack's words, but she didn't show it. Not yet. She couldn't do anything, yet. Instead, she practiced what she learned from Eli a long time ago. To smile.
Yune smiled and replied, "I'm sorry, Jack. Won't happen again. Why don't I prepare us some grilled cheese sandwiches? That should make it up."
Jack sighed, "I'm sorry, Yune. I'm sorry I shouted like that."
"Oh, it's okay. I would have been worried, too," Yune lied as they went inside the house together. Tasha was there on the couch sleeping.
"Well, I'm glad that went well. I'll just go watch my 'Bojo's Magical Adventures' while dinner is prepared," Mary said as she ran to turn on the TV. The news was the first thing that played.
The reporter said in a worrying tone, "A giant lightning storm has been sighted over two cities. On it's current course, it seems to be heading straight for Janken City. However, our meteorologists can't seem to figure out why it is moving against the winds and going in a straight line. We urge our viewers to stay indoors when the storm hits. Our source indicate that during the storm many people seem to go missing in those areas. We suspect that the storm may have swept off some people and their bodies just haven't been found, yet. However, some of our other viewers who were in the storms claimed to have seen some kind of strange shadows within the clou-"
"Boring," Mary said as she changed it to her magical girl anime.
She looked for her show on the program and pressed play.
"Hahahaha! You cannot defeat me, Bojo," one of the villainous female characters said with long blonde hair, "My powers are double that of your usual magical girl."
"Good grief," Bojo replied, "That may be so, but my powers are triple."
The main character, Bojo, looked like a Light Guardian or a magical girl with a blue baseball cap.
"WHAT!!?" the villain exclaimed before Bojo began to punch her.
"Bobobobobobobobobo!!!" Bojo yelled she repeated to punch the villain.
Mary watched and commented aloud, "Now, this is entertainment. This is so much better than anything my court jesters could come up with."
As Mary watched, Yune decided to interrogate Jack.
"Jack, sit down and relax. I'm sorry for making the two of you run around looking for me," Yune said as she dragged back a seat. One that looked away from the kitchen.
"Alright. I really am sorry for snapping at you like that. I've been trying to keep my anger issues at bay, but clearly it hasn't been working. Usually I only get that way after I transform, but after thinking that something might have happened to you like Kira, I just began to get angru," Jack said.
Yune ignored Jack and looked around the cabinets for a pan that would work. Mary was focused on watching her show. Yune then started up the stove and began to cook grilled cheese sandwiches. The smell of toasted cheese glided through the air.
"I understand. It's alright," Yune said without trying to smile. Her face was cold and dead.
Yune continued, "Your full name. What was it again?"
"Jacqueline Unique. Why do you ask?"
"No reason. Just wanted to make sure. We are a... family, right?"
"That's what you said we are. A family. Which I don't mind. I don't mind calling this team a family. We are basically going through the same things," Jack replied.
"Maybe, not exactly the same. Doesn't matter. I've been remembering some stuff about my past."
As soon as Mary heard that, she began to listen in to their conversation. She didn't know where it would lead, but was curious. Yune gave Jack the sandwich on a plate when it was done.
Jack said, "Oh, good. You remember anything important? This food looks pretty good. I think I'll dig in."
"Yeah. I did remember some important stuff. But I'd like to ask you some questions before I go into my own past."
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Sure. Go right ahead," Jack replied.
"You told me that you killed other Light Guardians. That you basically hunted them."
"Yeah. I believed that all of them were in it just to get black coins. I know I'm wrong about that now. People in general are more complex than that."
"Right. Do you remember any specific ones?"
"Not really. I remember a couple."
"Any details about them?"
"Why are you so curious?" Jack asked as she turned around to see Yune. Yune quickly put up a fake smile. It wasn't the greatest, and it was a pain to maintain, but Yune needed to keep the appearance of somebody that was friendly.
"Just wondering. I think a family ought to know more about each other."
Mary thought Yune's behavior was strange, but mostly because Yune never really asked her about her life experiences. She felt a little jealous, but thought about sharing some of her stories as well. Although, most of her stories would have been about being a queen. There weren't many stories where she had to transform and turn into a Light Guardian. She would just make others do the work for her.
Jack continued thinking that Yune was just being curious. She knew that Yune was more of the thinking type, and thought that there was a good reason for asking.
"Well, I remember a few of them. Most of the ones in the middle become a little muddled. I definitely remember my first. A Light Guardian with flintlocks. She seemed like a nice girl, but she was more interested in killing Night Demons that saving people."
Yune didn't care about that one.
"Anybody else?" Yune asked. She wanted to hear it. She needed to hear it.
"Well, as I said, the ones in the middle of my hunting spree got all muddled together. Can't quite remember specifics. I do remember fighting Anne, Kira, and Nina before, but as you can guess, I didn't kill them. They actually got me. They're the ones that put me in the grave. And subsequently got me to become this thing."
"Is that all you can remember?" Yune asked.
"Yeah. Sorry. I haven't thought about keeping a record of who I killed," Jack replied.
Yune was disappointed, but she was still sure that Jack did it. She was about to cook up another sandwich for Mary. Before Yune put another piece of bread and cheese on the pan, she remembered that Jack was fighting Anne, Kira, and Nina before. That means that Jack was in Jankens City at a point. But Yune was unaware of when they fought. She was going to ask Anne or Nina what day Jack fought them. They probably don't remember, but Yune would even accept a month or year. If it was at least on the same year, then Yune would be one hundred percent sure. However, Yune never needed to do that to confirm her suspicions.
Jack continued while chewing her food, "Oh, yeah. Before I fought those three girls, I did fight some other girl who led me to them."
Yune froze and put the bread away.
"Really? Was she wearing pink? Or maybe she used some kind of golem powers?"
Those questions were very specific, Mary thought. Were they related to Yune's memories, she wondered. However, Jack was too busy enjoying his food to think about why Yune's questions were that specific.
"It was dark, but yeah. I think she was able to bring out some kind of rock creature from an orange circle. I remember she even used attacks shouting things like 'Obsidi-"
That was all Yune needed to hear. She grabbed the still-hot frying pan and hit Jack over the side of her head. Yune was sure. There was no doubt in her mind. No chance of getting it wrong. Jack was referring to Mizu.
Clang! Jack didn't feel the blow, but she was pushed away to the side of the wall. She fell to her sides dizzied and confused. She wasn't sure what happened, but her head was bleeding.
Mary jumped out of the couch, waking up Tasha in the process.
Yune dropped the frying pan and walked up to Jack slowly. There was anger and hate burning within her eyes. She couldn't think straight. But she didn't need to. Mizu's killer was right in front of her. She didn't care for making Jack suffer. Just to kill her and end it.
Yune transformed in a cocoon of chains. She held up hook-blade and as it swung down to finish off the dizzied Jack, Mary came in between them to stop it.
Mary transformed, but this time it was different. Red spikes grew around her and she came out of them. She furiously slashed herself out and as she did so, her mask didn't come with her. She no longer needed it. This time, she didn't transform to kill. This time, she transformed to protect. She still had her purple eyes and black scleras. She was fast. Faster than the blade dropping down.
As Yune's blade was about to strike Jack, Mary's claws defend her. The clash between the dark red claws and Yune's almost grey hook-blade sent sparks flying.
"Get out of the way, Mary. This doesn't involve you," Yune said.
"Like hell it does. Now, I'm surprised that I have to try and breakup a fight twice in one afternoon. Never thought I'd see the day where I wouldn't want to see my vassals fight between each other," Mary said.
"You talk too much, Mary. I won't hurt you. I don't have any problem with you. You even decided to go out of your way to go in between us. I didn't expect you to do that, so I feel you really are improving yourself," Yune replied, "But her! She doesn't deserve to live after what she did!"
Jack began to stand up slowly as Mary and Yune were in the middle of a clash. Jack didn't understand why Yune would want to fight her.
"Why, Yune? Was it because... did I do something that upset you? Did I kill you in my previous life?" Jack asked.
"Don't flatter yourself. I wouldn't mind getting killed. But you're nothing but a monster. And I'll put you down for what you did," Yune said before a series of chains began to surround Jack. But the chains didn't reach her.
Tasha grew out just as many, if not more, tendrils to hold the chains back from Jack.
"Even you, Tasha?" Yune asked, "I do admit that I would have killed you if Jack didn't say otherwise. But after meeting Schmetter, I don't want to hurt you either."
"Then, why, Yune? This isn't like you?" Jack asked as blood was still seeping out. She began to get a heavy headache. She couldn't even concentrate hard enough to transform into her guardian form.
Mary pushed Yune back.
"Talk, Yune. I know you got your memories back," Mary said as she was ready to protect Jack. She did feel like she owed her life to both Jack and Yune. They did come back for her, but she didn't think she'd ever get into a situation where she had to protect one from the other.
"Talk, huh? Is that what you want to do, Mary? Jack? Jacqueline Unique? You didn't kill me, but you might as well have. You're the reason our life got so damn distorted," Yune said as she tried to hold her head together. She was thinking of a way to kill Jack without getting Mary or Tasha hurt. But her chains were all tied up and Mary was fast enough to parry her hook.
And Jack just looked in confusion. She had no idea what Yune lost nor know how she was the reason for it.
Mary said, "Yune, I'm sure we all have had our differences. But you were the most adamant about us being together. And, like you put it before, we're a family."
"NO! We are not! We are not a family!" Yune yelled angrily, "I just wanted a family. All I had was a void in my heart that I thought that I could fill with the two of you. But neither of you can fill that hole. Nobody can! Even though I didn't remember it at the time, I subconsciously wanted a semblance of a life I had before. But, Jack, you killed any chance of that. You killed Mizu. I'll never forgive you for that."
"Mizu?" Mary and Jack asked. Mary heard that name before as she was following Yune. She was aware of Yune's meeting with Eli, and listened in from outside.
"Why did you do it, Jack?" Yune asked as tears began to flow down her cheeks. Her arms and legs were trembling, but she was still quite furious.
"I..." Jack began to speak, but she had no answer. Jack killed Light Guardians because she thought that all of them were just as rotten as Night Demons. Now, that she knew better, she had no answer. And Yune knew exactly what Jack thought. There was no answer. Mizu's death was pointless and had no meaning. It was just a random act of violence committed by a Light Guardian who couldn't control her own rage.
Yune saw that there was no point in arguing, but she didn't want to hurt Mary or Tasha.
When Yune looked at Mary, she really did see somebody who was improving as a person. If it was the same Mary she first met, she would never have gotten between them. She would have let the two of them fight and kill each other for her own entertainment. But Mary didn't do that. She stopped the fight because she really did believe in being a family.
She transformed back into her regular human form. There were no more tears. Just anger and hate. Jack saw those same eyes before. The same eyes as Anne.
Yune walked away from the house as Mary, Jack, and Tasha watched her.
"Where are you going, Yune?" Mary asked as Yune opened the door outside. Rain had just began to set in.
Yune looked back with darkened eyes. She felt only hate and anger. She directed it at Jack. And now, she directed it towards the world in general, as well.
"We're not a family. My family is dead," Yune muttered just before transforming once more from a cocoon of chains. Mary thought that she was going to try and attack again, but the attack didn't come. Yune leapt away into the shadows.
Yune wouldn't have minded staying with Mary. But the thought of sharing the same bedroom with Jack was disgusting and horrid. And so, she left.