At the mention of the word 'azure', Richie's dragons perked up. He awoke.

"Damn you, Kokumo!" Richie jumpscared himself awake, frantically spitting out and wringing his tongue clean.

The circle of loose... allies? Sure, why not... - exchanged glances.

"Who's Kokumo?" Cuppy scratched his head.

Richie, moving to answer, froze, thinking intently. "...who the hell is Kokumo?"

The only Kokumo he heard of was that hot-shot MMA prodigy.

"Were you dreaming?" Freyja cracked an amused smile.

"Well, whatever." Richie entered the yard, eyes widening at the sight of the regenerated lawn and fence. "Wasn't this place... you know, fuckin' destroyed?"

Holly raised an eyebrow. "Are you... alright?"

Her teacher persona and attached responsibility was showing, despite herself. He seemed to be an asshole, but he was technically a child who had just been blatantly sexually assaulted by an apparent contract killer.

Who ate souls, no less.

Richie, though subconsciously keeping Cuppy between himself and ice-thot, blinked.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

The group collectively realized that Richie had been cootie'd straight into selective amnesia and denial. Among them, Cuppy knew enough to note that blatantly forgetting scary things seemed to be a pesky habit of Richie's.

"Moving on." Holly shrugged. "I'll fill you in where we left off, I'm-"

"Yeah yeah, ancient alien. Yawn." Richie scratched the inside of his ear. Perhaps his dragons had overheard and intuned the news?

Holly crossed her arms. "How come nobody's impressed by that?"

Chikita snapped her fingers. "Four eyes, focus."

Holly blinked indignantly, swallowing the urge to sass Chikita back. After all, the chance that she might teach her how to acquire a small chunk of spacetime for herself was too good to risk losing out on. "Sorry. You have my undivided attention."

Cuppet popped out of Cuppy's bag, approaching Richie and reaching for his hand slowly. If he had a tongue, it'd be poking out from the puppet's sheer focus. Cuppet's other hand was concealed behind his back. Richie eyed the wooden automaton suspiciously, still a little creeped out by its whole existence. He reluctantly let the wooden hand clasp around his own, and the puppet slapped a small gift box into his hand. Almost more suspicious now, and gazing with narrowed eyes at the giddy-looking splinter imp, he flicked the box open to reveal assorted chocolate bars. Cuppy glanced over to translate. "A sign of trust. Bro likes how you fight." The blonde boy says with a grin.

Richie blinked, a lopsided expression on his face.

"Uhh, thanks, Cuppet." Richie pat the carved moppet's head awkwardly.

That's right. I guess this is the first time we all really fought together.

Richie smiled faintly.

"Ahem," Freyja gave a fake cough, then poked her finger into Richie's chest. "I don't. You shot me." she narrowed her eyes.

Richie averted his eyes. "Yeah, sorry... about that."

Freyja shrugged and thumped his shoulder. "We'll call it even for you cheering me on in the Backyards against the edgy parrot."

Richie perked up. "That's right, the Backyards! We have questions for-"

He turned and saw that Chikita was gone.

"THE FUCK DID SHE GO?!" he tore at his hair.

"Quit yelling, sheesh." Chikita said from on top of the roof. She sat, cross legged, a dish of sake in the palm of her hand, rippling like pond water. "I can guess what's on all your minds. You want to know how to use the Backyards, right?"

"That would be ideal, yes." Holly nodded.

Chikita gulped down the sake, throat contracting like a snake's gullet. Streamers of the fragrant booze spilled down the corners of her mouth.

"Damn that's good. Been forever since I've had real alcohol and not just empty mirages." she wiped her chin, then regarded the group. "I'll pass down everything I know - for the right price~"

Richie's stomach immediately backflipped, though his mind scrubbed out why. "Hergh, oh god." Holly glanced over with concern, patting Richie on the back to ease him. "If it's got anything to do with more snu-snu of the younglings, I don't think that's a good idea, clearly." she said, pointing at the green-faced Richie. Cuppy hummed. "Maybe more fermented rice water will do the trick." he guessed. Freyja nodded in agreement. "Yeah. How's a barrel of booze sound?" she asked the rooftop drunkard.

Chikita threw her head back and laughed heartily for a good solid ten seconds or so. "Deal."

she pointed her pipe in the direction of the sunset. "I'm not just up here for dramatic effect. It's a beautiful sunset. Why not come up and take a peak?"

"The hell does that have to do with anything?!" Richie spazzed again.

Bob the telescope dragonfly made little clicking noises as its eyes surveyed Richie, trying to decide if he was a feral or not.

Probably.

Chikita frowned. "You want my insight or not? Less questioning me, more getting your asses up here."

"Go fuck yourself!" Richie flipped her the double bird.

"Fuck me yourself, coward." she stuck her tongue out at him.

"We don't need her help!" Richie whirled to Cuppy and Freyja.

"I don't accept cancellations." Chikita raised a hand, using the same tone one would over a checking issue at the bank.

"You're such an imp." Freyja moved Richie aside.

She rotated her shoulder cuff, then fell into a deep squat. Her thighs engorged with wolfen muscle before she bolted up onto the roof, perching next to the assassin on all fours.

"It's certainly a sunrise." Freyja said.

"Yes. But what do you see?" Chikita asked.

"Uh, orange clouds, some pink, kind of like cotton candy," Freyja rattled off.

"I see romanticism and the allure of the horizon. You guys seem aware of the drifting nature of the apertures into the Backyards. This static gateway at your feet is an exception. Yet, none of you can freely enter. It's always been by chance. Why is that?"

Freyja shrugs. "Don't ask me, I'm pretty much just couch surfing." Richie begrudgingly clamors up the wall and lifts himself onto the roof, reaching down to help Holly up as well. Cuppy shoots a few steel cables out of his hands to lift himself up and sit beside Freyja. Cuppy clears his throat. "Is it cause we can't see the doors until we're through them?" he piped up.

Chikita held her chin a moment, digesting the guess. "You're not wrong, exactly, but that wasn't what I was getting at. Here, this may be easier. As far as you recall, how did each of you first find the Backyards?"

Cuppy raised his hand. Holly poked him. "Cuppy, we aren't in school anymore, you don't have to do that."

Cuppy smiled. "Ok."

"Well, to be perfectly blunt, I lost my shit, turned into a hellhound, ate my terrible parents, then ripped the city a new one. Then an angry bird descended from the heavens and attacked me. This was with me too, somehow." she pointed at Richie.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Richie frowned. "...I'm not a 'this'..."

Cuppet shoved a handful of chocolates into Richie's mouth, pacifying (choking) him.

"You have an idea of how I showed up." Holly said. "I dropped in on you while you were working out your differences with a serpent. Before that, I was in the school rabbit pen-"

Cuppy's eyes looked watery.

Holly put her foot in her mouth. "I'm sorry, Cuppy!"

Chikita nodded. "Dropped in literally, I take it. Can we say you fainted?"

"You could, but I'd be mildly upset about it." Holly said defensively.

"Uh huh." Chikita blew a cloud in Holly's face.

"Knock it off!" Holly sputtered.

Richie finally managed to choke down the mass of melted chocolates, their truffle cores commingled in a fruity, carmaly, marshmellowy sugar aggregate. He thumped his chest, his esophagus painfully stretched out.

"Uh, I kinda blundered my way here-" he pat the roof, indicating the complex, "- and saw a tunnel grow into the closet. Actually, it was more like the wall just faded away, and the tunnel was already there. No, wait," Richie thought more. "Scratch that. First encounter was a tunnel of ivy through the fence. I didn't remember at first, but you were the one who told me that was just cognitive dissonance. It's since come back to me. Freyja and I found each other in the... past? Flashback? Dream?"

"Yes." Freyja said.

Chikita nodded. "And again, when the three of you wandered into my hot spring."

"Don't remind me." Richie shivered.

"Lot of sass for someone in snu-snu distance." Chikita put her hand on her hip, childishly pouting. "You peeps walked in on me, remember? Anyway, the common thread in each instance was that none of you were fully awake, nor fully asleep. You daydreamed upon the openings each time. That's no coincidence. You can't find wandering corridors by looking for them, not directly. It's like a riddle you can't figure out till you stop thinking about it, only for your mind to seemingly conjure the knowledge out of nowhere later, all at once."

They all mulled this over.

"So, basically, the sunset-" Freyja gestured theatrically to the majestic backdrop, "is analogous to the sights and sensations that give people pause and touch on their sense of wonder."

"Yes. You get it." Chikita said.

Cuppy nodded, smiling. "Miss Chikita?" he raised his hand again.

Holly pinched the bridge of her nose; darn perpetually polite muffin.

"Yes, puppet thing?" Chikita asked.

Cuppy looked like a lightbulb had gone off.

"You found the corridors because you were dizzy from drinking a bunch of rice water, didn't you?"

Chikita's face fell. "Uh, no. That's... no." she looked away, blushing.

Richie and Holly snapped simultaneously. "YOU DRUNK!"

Holly sighed, trying to recenter herself. "Moving on! I'm gathering you need to be essentially unconscious or subconscious to access these places. Is the exact method different for everyone or should we all just get sloshed until we fall into wonderland?" she asked, half serious.

Chikita perked up. "That could be fun."

Holly pinched the bridge of her nose again. "That was rhetorical..."

She turned to the others, as if looking for backup, but Freyja had gotten out what appeared to be a beer stein. "Oh." the demon goth said, sounding genuinely disappointed.

"Well, there are less fun options. Really it's variable. You can correlate your aptitude to how well you handle your own dreams, for example. If you can overturn a nightmare, you can challenge a malevolent force that otherwise controls or influences the environment. For example, Luchesi-Kun." Chikita elaborated.

"Haven't seen him in a while. Getting anxious." Richie said, eyes darting around the complex.

"There's a small chance the Faceless Man killed him." Holly shrugged.

"Somehow I doubt it." Richie said.

"By the way - where did you go when you got flushed?" Cuppy tugged on Richie's sleeve.

"I still don't remember. But, this dagger feels important to me." Richie held up Leon's knife.

"You mentioned a Kokumo in your half-sleep too." Freyja said.

"Only Kokumo I know is a prize fighter chick." he said. Then, he looked as though something had clicked.

"Hey, you both came from what are possibly alternate histories, right?" he asked Chikita and Holly.

"Possibly, yes." Holly nodded.

"And time got fucky in the Freyjaverse too." Richie said. "The analogy of chaotic backyards undergoing reconstruction helped put it into perspective, but that made me realize something else. There are still set distances between them and a front yard. Or, several blocks between houses at either end of the suburb. Maybe that's why things closer to this reality-" Richie gestured to Station Bay, "have turned up so far instead of lovecraftian giants or abstract cartoons or some shit. If worlds are endless, it's pretty lucky I managed to come back from whatever world I washed up in. It should have been like Russian roulette with a barrel that's got trillions of chambers for all we know."

"Where are you going with this?" Freyja asked, smiling faintly about 'Freyjaverse' - it had a nice ring to it.

"Cuppy, paper." Richie asked, and an unfurled piece of parchment wrapped around him like a scarf.

He snagged a pencil and started drawing a kind of chart or map.

"Here's Station Bay. We'll call it Earth 1." Richie drew a few towers.

"How original of you." Freyja snarked.

Richie flicked her nose like a bad dog.

"Here's where the cunt came from," he drew a pagoda.

"And maybe here's where I went." Richie drew a big question mark.

Then, he started drawing lines between them, interconnecting them.

"And here are some random possible worlds." Richie drew a glacier, a saucer,

"Do a cowboy one." Cuppy chirped.

Richie looked like he wanted to argue, but decided there was no reason not to humor his friend. They were supposed to be nice, right?

He drew a corral.

"Thanks." Cuppy looked happy.

Then Richie expanded the webs until all the worlds, established and hypothetical, were linked. He boxed off the lines into closed geometric shapes, marked by tufts of grass - Backyards.

"Some are farther away than others. And some -" he drew a padlocked gate. "- may be sealed off."

Holly nodded. "The institute is a few steps behind, but we have similar guesses. Albeit with neater diagrams. So, if you're saying this neighborhood is a backyards echo of an earlier, burned down town, we should technically be able to modify it like a lucid dream, right? Or at least, one of us. Which of you owns this place anyway?" Holly asks, preparing to criticize their sense of decor but praise their landscaping skills. Self-healing grass was a neat feature.

Richie slowly rose his hand.

"Me, I guess. I was the first one to find the place and set up shop. Cuppy's the one who warded it against intrusion though. When I failed to get back into the true Backyards on the first attempt, a phantom pain attacked me and beefed itself up by eating a bad memory of mine. Questioning it at the time was a dead end, but I superimposed the form of King Arthur's Excalibur on a metal bat I had brought with me."

"Dean's badge shielded me from my own fireworks too, like a barricade talisman." Cuppy said.

"Both instances were in the woods. I'm not sure to what extent we can reshape the complex itself. It's not fully Backyards proper. We still need water, and electricity, for example."

Richie widened his eyes. "Fuck, the pond."

He grabbed Cuppy and darted into the forest.

"Y'know, it'd be pretty cool if this place was better fortified. Go read some medieval history and dream up a castle or something." Holly suggested, not yet having noticed the duo were gone already. "Shit, asocial turds, where'd you go?" she muttered, glancing out the window to see the two dashing for the treeline. "That can't be good." she grabbed her microwave pistols and headed out after them, leaving the door open for Freyja, who chased close behind her in full-wolf form. "Let's hope the tar pit's still frozen, or at least, not leeching death into the wildlife." Freyja said, hating the idea of that muck infesting the deer she liked to hunt in these woods, if it could even do that.

Chikita blinked.

"Ok, I guess we're on break. Bottoms up, Chiki." she toasted herself, then guzzled down the rest of her brew.

Yukihana began rattling in his sheath.

You haven't tried to kill any of them yet. Are you feeling well?

Chikita, having no way to injure or punish her katana for this sass, merely echoed Richie's trademark glare.

"You make me sound so psychotic."

My apologies, I thought you knew.

Chikita pouted. "Fuck you, Yuki. What's psychotic is heading into a demonic cave of undead to avenge the fallen of a centuries' old war to get a sword's approval, if anything."

And still you haven't internalized your lesson.

Chikita groaned and clutched her stomach. She had been hoping to sleep off the internal bleeding a bit longer.

"Are you really doing this now?" she sighed.

You almost died. You owe your life to Holly, and those others now too. What happened in the sewer should be proof to you, finally.

"Proof of what? Quit lect-"

The sword glowed blue.

That you can't do everything alone. Human beings aren't solitary, Chikita. Your mother didn't give her life so that you could kill your-

Chikita's empty sake dish shattered in her grip, slashing her palm.

"Just shut the fuck up. Don't talk like you were there. Be a good sword and stay quiet."

I could feel your heartbeat when those three kids visited you. You were happy. You can't hide it inside the Backyards. And I'd rather not gather dust in another nameless grave for a few more centuries because my partner rushes off into Hell.

Chikita laid down on the lawn and lit a fresh pipe.

"When did you get so nosy?" Chikita grumbled.

We'll talk later. When you're more inclined to listen.

"Whatever." Chikita grumbled. "I'm taking a nap."

-

Yukihana began rattling again.

Oh no.

-

Richie, Freyja, Holly, and the Cuppy Bros stood before the frozen black pond, spiderwebbed with cracks.

Freyja was clutching her ears, eyes squeezed shut and teeth grit. Her sensitive nose was left unguarded, and assailed by the putrid stink of despair, hatred, jealousy, a terrible, hungry longing. She removed a hand from her ear to cover her nose, but this left her ear exposed to the subliminal drone of the forsaken unborn. Cold - no, freezing whispers pierced her eardrum like needles.

Richie's dragons were coiling too, and the very fabric of Holly's suit, embroidered with the genetic memories and psychic residue of many creatures, contracted around her as if for warmth and comfort.

From the cracks, tiny, inky black lines of seeping 'elixir of life' oozed up, forming first fingers, then whole hands, curling around the ice and trying to claw their way free.

This was not the worst thing happening.