Ark 12 Episode 24: A Soul Bared in Wisdom

Taken by Zheren to do the trial to receive "Chie Rokku", Michiko endures the Soul Labyrinth, a place within her very soul lifted up by Zheren's enigmatic powers so that she may find the answers to creating the "Chi Rokku", or the Wisdom Lock.

Participants
Michiko and Zheren

The Soul Labyrinth: The Pit
{ http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=jqVORJ7uthE }

 Michiko had wound up in a place of utter and total darkness. When Zheren had taken her with him, she had fallen into a deep sleep and she didn’t even remember falling into such a slumber. There in this place of emptiness she was alone and yet the world felt like it had more to it than met the eye. The world around her felt absolutely brimming to the edge full of something, /something/, but what?

 “This place is known as the Pit.” Zheren said, as he appeared with his hands behind his back, standing about ten feet from Michi. She turned quickly to look at him and would nod, not yet noticing her appearance.

 “What is supposed to be here, or is it supposed to be empty?”

 “There is something most definitely here Michiko. But you need to find it. And more than just finding it- you need to sort it, and find your way through it.” Zheren took a single step backwards and as he did he began to fade from perception, disappearing altogether.

 “Well, great advice…” She mumbled softly, turning around. She could see though- that was a great starter. Michiko raised her hands up and touched her face, feeling her warm hands and her dark nails. She was wearing her old half-framed set of glasses, and her hair was tied up in a messy knot on the back of her head. She wore a simple black blazer with a business-casual appeal over a white tank top and black pants that fell into her studded and strapped four-inch heeled boots. She looked human in skin color, and suddenly she was far more comfortable than she could’ve been otherwise. “I’m me again…”

 “Are you?” Her own voice echoed back at her, but as she turned quickly to see what doppleganger mocked her, she could find nothing. Only empty blackness.

 “Who is there?” She retorted politely.

 <p class="MsoNormal">“No one. Everyone. All but you. Only you.” Multiple voices echoed out.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko turned fast this time to be faced with countless images of herself. She stared upon them all, each and every one. And as she looked they would come forward and try to hit her. Every single Michiko copy would move to attack, and yet their attacks never actually- physically- landed. But as they came, emotions rolled through her. Anger. Love. Desire. Worry. Bliss. Sadness. The attacks of each of them took what felt like hours. Agonizing hours of being happy and sad, in love and fueled with hatred. All in all, it was tiring her out. She finally buckled and dropped to one knee. It was nearly too much for her as she clutched her chest with one hand and her left temple with the other. So many emotions, and now there was only one left.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“And… which one… are you?” Michiko peered up at a version of herself wearing a long pale gown, her midnight blue hair let down and wild, her glasses nowhere to be seen. No make-up, nothing.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Apathy. That which you cherish; I am the power to conceal all other emotions under the strong façade, the guise, of a powerful calm.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“It’s not a façade though.” Michi commented. “It’s real. I really do possess that calm. Come here… I’ll show you.” Michiko pushed against the ground and wavered a bit as she stood up tall and strong, letting out a slow pressured breath. She then held out her hand to Apathy, and would nod with a serious expression. “Come on.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Apathy smiled and would take Michiko’s hand with one hand, and with the other she waved it through the darkness. A door opened, filled with light.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“You’re right. It’s real, sometimes. And other times…” The light would devour Apathy, and soon Michiko as well.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">/''Sometimes it’s a lie. Sometimes, you’re scared Michiko… Everyone gets scared…''/

The Soul Labyrinth: Blackened Wastes
<p class="MsoNormal">{ http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=T8nJGX19YpQ }

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The light faded. Michiko was kneeling on the ground with her hands on the floor, feeling the cold tiles beneath her fingers as she panted. Surely she’d just crawled out of a massive washing machine on the elongated rinse cycle, because surely that’s what she felt like. She tried to catch her breath as she felt a slew of emotions fading until she started to at last find normalcy settling back into place. She squeezed the ground as if to kill her vertigo, which soon it did. She began to stand on her own as she blinked in the bright fluorescent lights overhead to see what or where she was.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The world around her had changed. There were gray ceiling tiles up ahead and stark white floor tiles in smaller squares that ran outwards from her point of origin until the dark edges of her horizon grayed them, and eventually dimmed them into the darkness. A ceiling high above, and a floor, but no walls? All around her was a rather large circle made of hospital beds. Each one had a patient in it, each in a mint green hospital gown with small diamond designs on it. Each one, she would soon come to recognize.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The first bed was a familiar one and the person lying in it was the massive and bulky White Tiger. Then in the second bed, there was a man who had police gear folded upon his hospital bed stand. An unknown man rested in the middle of the circle of beds. Another was a teacher- Mr. Obvious, and then Keyth’s mother. Lastly there was an unknown man.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The first bed she went to was White Tiger. His muscled form almost didn’t fit in his gown. As she walked around to his bed, she’d pull up the clipboard with his chart from the slot on the foot of his bed.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">''“White Tiger. This man has been in countless fights with Keyth. Attempts on Tasanagi’s life have continued onwards, with no regard to stop. But worse than attempting to kill Keyth Tasanagi, White Tiger has crippled Keyth’s pride multiple times and humiliated him to no end.”''

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko frowned as she flipped the clipboard shut quickly and shoved it back into the slot. Her azure and amber eyes fell on White Tiger with disgust across her features as she turned to the next bed.

<p class="MsoNormal">The second bed beheld a tagged patient named “Colt”. The man had short brown hair, pale skin, and a stocky build albeit being tall. The gear beside his bed had KPD written all over it. Out of curiosity, when Michiko took his wallet and opened it, she’d see a badge that showed he wasn’t just a KPD officer, he was the head of the KPD. She turned and then took out his clipboard with some worry of what she’d find.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">''“Steven Colt. A man who claims to be of lawful nature and fighting for justice. But for Keyth, he is a man who has put him in a frightful and ugly predicament. Pinning Keyth into a hostile scenario, where he would either work for the KPD as an undercover agent within the Yakuza, or he would never see his children again.” ''

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko slowly folded the clipboard shut and placed it into the bed’s footboard slot. She shook her head. There was no way that could be true, could it? How horrible a thing to do- and Keyth did so love his children. It was nearly unforgiveable… She turned away and moved on to the next bed…

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The third bed was an unrecognized man, though his wrist tag read “Raphael”. He was an older muscular man with a mustache, nothing really greatly definitive features. He looked almost militaristic by first glance. She knew the drill now and reached for the clipboard hesitantly.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">''“Raphael Graziano. A member of the potent force, The Grimoire. He is responsible for the death of Keyth’s grandfather, Keyvin, to whom Keyth was greatly attached by the end of his prison sentence.” ''

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Keyth had been in prison- she believed he’d mentioned this to her before. But never his grandfather. It was a horrible crime to take someone’s family from them. By this point in time, Michiko was enraged. She felt the anger building in her gut hatefully. On to the next one.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The fourth bed’s patient tag read “Mr. Obvious”. This man looked a lot like Densuke, only with blue hair and quite a bit older. He had an apple on the bedside stand that read “Number 1 Teacher”. As Michiko rounded to the foot of his bed, she would pick up a clipboard.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">''“Mr. Obvious. A teacher who betrayed his so-called love to teach when a young wild boy entered his class. Keyth Tasanagi became the butt of Mr. Obvious’ jokes and while normally a teacher would encourage a student to learn, all he did was belittle and ridicule the young Keyth until he dropped out of Mr. Obvious’ class.”''

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko was clenching her jaw as she would squeeze the clipboard before sliding it back into the slot. No time to waste- on to the next one.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The fifth bed was tagged “Unknown”. But Michiko recognized the person as Michiko’s mother. She looked so much like Keyth… It was so very much her, and Michiko didn’t need to read the file before she knew that Keyth’s mom had hurt him very, very much. Michiko picked up the clipboard hesitantly.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">''“Keyth Tasanagi’s mother. A woman who raised him to be an animal- a monster. She forced him to slaughter his siblings, his brothers and sisters. She would convince him that what he was doing in their murders was right, and that it was pleasing her pagan god. In the end, she had only brought him great hurt when he realized the crime of his own actions, having slain every single last one of his siblings when he was still nothing but a child himself.” ''

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko was biting the inside of her cheek, her eyes moist. She slung the clipboard and it disappeared into the darkness with a faint clicking against the tiles. At that moment she heard a cart rolling into the middle of the open room. When she turned, she saw an IV cart with ten syringes formed into two groups on the top of the cart…

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">{ http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=DTNxcR1QRG0 }

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">She slowly approached the cart to see what was on it. Five syringes were of an intravenous dose of naloxone. It would wake someone from a medical induced overdose or a narcotic-induced coma. Suddenly she realized why they were all sleeping so soundly. The other five syringes were of potassium chloride- an agent that caused the heart to stop and induced cardiac arrest.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Her eyes lifted to the others as she hovered her hand over the potassium chloride injections, thinking of killing them all- just like that. But after a long moment of thinking, she grabbed the five syringes of naloxone in a wide sweep that seemed to knock the other syringes in disarray. She went around, starting with White Tiger’s bed, and ending with Keyth’s mother, and injected the naloxone into their IVs, causing them to slowly wake up into a weak but alert state. They chattered loosely, looking around. Some pulled and found that they were held by medical restraints. She glanced between them all and then to Keyth’s mother, before glancing back. She walked towards the first bed as White Tiger stared at her- recognizing her.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Don’t speak. Any of you.” Michi said in a cold, commanding tone that made them shut up as she approached White Tiger. “I’m starting with you. Don’t you ever raise a fist to my beloved again. To terrorize him is worse than to want him dead, and if you toy with him and his pride again, I will reap you of your own confidence as swiftly as you often attack his.” She turned to the second bed.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Steven Colt.” She shook her head and scoffed loudly. “You call yourself a man of law, and yet /this/ is what you’ve done to him? Is he so bad?! Has he not changed?!” Michiko was suddenly raising her voice, ferocious as she hovered over him, intimidating and cold. “You’re a bastard, trying to take someone’s family from them. If you want to see the beauty of change in a grown man, then let him be with his kids, so that he can flourish in their innocence. He will teach them maturity, but they will teach him purity and kindness. And you… You’re robbing him of that!” She clenched her fists and took a deep breath, glancing up to the next bed as she made her way to it.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Raphael.” Michiko loomed over him once she stopped by his bedside. “You slayed someone of his family. Someone he loved. You’re as bad as Colt, but worse! You robbed him of the opportunity to be inspired by another, to have a friend to love. To lose someone is horrible, and you are the cause of that. And you’re part of the Grimoire, just like that White Tiger piece of shit!” She snapped. “How dare any of you think you can just waltz into his life and make it hell. I promise you, Raphael, if you try to take someone else from him, even if it’s me, I will pop your rib cage open like a creaky kitchen cabinet and rip your heart out for my own keepsake.” Her eyes burned with rage as she turned and moved to the next bed. The fourth bed.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Mr. Obvious- what a fucking name.” She was livid. “How dare you do what you did. He was a kid! He /needed/ a role model, and instead you had your head too far up your own ass to see that! How dare you ridicule a child! How dare you! If that was my child you’d exiled and made a fool of like so, I would’ve made sure to torture you in the most indescribable and medically unsound ways you’d ever believe impossible. You’re a sorry waste of space and oxygen, and you should not even shame the title ‘teacher’ by wearing it.” She then spit on him, making him sink back in the bed but he was too weak to do anything, and too shocked to say anything. Then Michiko rounded to the last bed.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“And you…” Michiko shook her head. She glared at Keyth’s mother for a long time, surely ten minutes of awkward, deafening, potent silence that intoxicated the area with dark anger and rage. The woman stared back, but said nothing. “You’re not a mother. You’re not /his/ mother. A real mother wouldn’t have been such a foolish, selfish, delusional /cunt/, as to have one child slay the rest in the name of a false idol. You are a betrayal to your son, and also to mankind. You are a hound that deserves nothing more than the treatment of such. And today, thank my GOD, I’m going to euthanize you like the sorry, pathetic /bitch/ you are, and have been, to my sweet Keyth.” She pulled up her hand to reveal she’d snatched one of the potassium chloride syringes and slung it down, stabbing Keyth’s mother in the chest through the gown. The needle plunged straight into Keyth’s mother’s heart, and the mixture was injected with a sharp push of Michi’s thumb.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">In only a matter of seconds the woman gasped and writhed, the beeping of an invisible monitor showing her heart rate had dropped off. The heart stopped, and soon the mother stilled. Dead.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko dropped the syringe and turned away, her eyes damp.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“No one… hurts the ones I love… Hurt me- but not those close to me. For that… I will kill if I must.” She would begin to walk into the darkness, and soon a light appeared to devour her…

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">

The Soul Labyrinth: Desirous Ballroom
<p class="MsoNormal">{ http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=9p6yWWchVwo }

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko opened her eyes and she was standing in a black and gray checkered ballroom, with dark edges just like the room she’d just been in. There were no walls, and this time no ceiling though a beautiful ruby crystal chandelier hung from the unseen ceiling. Tendrils of red silk hung down from unknown places and as she walked around she would sometimes reach out to find them in her grip. She rubbed the silks against her cheeks and found herself relaxing. She dried her eyes upon them and after ten or twenty minutes, Michiko was calmed.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Now what…” She whispered as she would hang her head. This trial had already worn her out. Emotionally she felt tired and drained, and it was hard to shake the horrible things she’d realized and learned about Keyth’s past from her head. That was until…

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Mmm…” A familiar low growl, territorial and pleasant. Callous and equally familiar fingers brushed aside the few loose tendrils of her messy hair along her neck to reveal a hickey that was only belonging to Keyth. He leaned in to kiss it, causing her eyes to flutter shut and her cheeks to warm. His teeth dragged across the sensitive mark, and his tongue twisted in pleasant reminder of his oath to her. Michiko sank back into the firm musculature of his chest and his other arm tangled around her.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“I… I missed you Keyth…” She whispered. He didn’t say anything, only dragged his lips wantonly down to her shoulder, then to her collarbone. “God I’ve missed you. And I worried. I didn’t know- those horrible things… You really have been through so much… And I… I admire you so greatly.” She closed her eyes and sank her head back and to the side. Her pain was unraveling and warmth began to flood her as she felt more hands across her thighs and stomach.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko opened her eyes suddenly, unsure of who else was touching her. But it appeared to be… Many many Keyths. A sea of Keyth Tasanagis, all with wild long hair and naked. She blushed as she covered her eyes. Oh no- it was the wet dream of her soul. Pants on, she wanted them to have pants on… When she opened her eyes again- nope, they were still beautifully butt-ass naked.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Kill me… Kill me dead…” She muttered weakly. This must be the place of weaknesses revealed, she thought. They kissed over her body and made her melt. For an hour or two she just got lost in it. Letting the Keyths pull at her clothes, touching her over the fabric and picking away her blazer only to leave the tank top beneath and her pants. She had countless little marks all over her body. Tiny hickeys worked down her arms, along her collarbones and breasts, at her neck and shoulders. They were lined along her navel and ribs, swept up the curve of her back, and touched down upon her hips. The marks of Keyth Tasanagi, she loved it being so obvious and plain. Most would think she’d been beaten with all those little purple-red bruise marks, but she felt it was a colorful and attractive trait- though she’d never wear so many out in public willingly.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">They tugged and kissed and pulled and touched and grinded along her body, as she was lost and lifted into the sea of Keyth. She opened her eyes and peered unto the ceiling as she saw a thick black drape being cast across the dark expanse as the chandelier was withdrawn. On it, a movie began to play in beautiful definition and lights.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko, a doctor with her lab-coat. She had a tag on her coat that read ‘Medical Director Akasawa-Tasanagi’. She blushed at such a title and name attached to it, as she would watch it play. She ran her own set of hospitals, did her own medical research with her own nanomedical laboratory. All these things made her feel so at peace, so accomplished. The movie continued to reveal hundreds of smiling people. Each one, she knew by the way they were looking at her through the projection, were patients she had saved the lives of.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko closed her eyes as she reached out, tangling her hands into the hair of two different Keyths, tightening her digits until she heard them sigh pleasantly.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Lord I am in Heaven…” Michiko whispered to herself with a chuckle. “But I only need one Keyth…” She continued gently. They all disappear but one, who held her firmly in his broad arms and bare chest. She nuzzled her cheek against his chest. She paused for about ten minutes, listening to the strong prosperous beat of his heart. “And if I sit here all day, laid against you like this…” She whispered, tilting her head up to look into the gorgeous golden eyes of Keyth, “-why, I’ll never get all those hospitals going. Right?” She leaned her head up and Keyth tilted his head down to kiss her. His kisses were always so passionate and consuming, like lit matches thrown to an oil spill. He ignited her like so- and she loved him so greatly.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“We’ll be together, always, right?” She whispered. Keyth smiled and nodded. She would press her face to his chest then as she wiggled, trying to stand on her own. He let her. “Good. Then we have an eternity of time to be like this. And when I wake up- really wake up…” She laughed softly while cradling his face in her hands, looking up at him from her shorter height. “I am going to take you, my way. Because, it has been /waaaay/ too long and this trial is nothing but a tease…” She smiled and Keyth reciprocated, and oh how she loved his smile. She leaned up and kissed his lips and turned, glancing up at the ceiling once more. The images flickered on by. /Her/ hospitals in the background, her patients alive and happy.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m going to change the world. I’m going to lead a life of love and happiness…” She breathed easy. Her anger had washed away, and she would glance forward. Another door had opened and Keyth was leaned casually against the archway as light poured out. She shook her head as she nodded. “You finally put pants on. Thank goodness…” She chuckled as she began forward. The light soon swallowed her up…

The Soul Labyrinth: The Soul Clock
<p class="MsoNormal">{ http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=2SWssDUUUAw }

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The light waned and she was in her condo. It looked just like how she’d left it, and she felt comforted. Without anyone to watch her, she raced over to her couch and jumped on it, landing face down and mumbling pleasantries into the cushions. Michiko wanted to lay there forever until she heard a familiar voice.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“What’re you doing lazing around like that?” A woman spoke, laughing with a bit of a smoker’s rasp.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko jumped up and glanced outwards to see a face she hadn’t seen in a long time.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Miss Aida!” Michiko swung her feet over the edge of the sofa and stood up, walking over to her. She hugged the slightly shorter Japanese woman who wore a modernized but conservative kimono that looked elegant but aged. “How have you been? I have missed you- I’ve just been so busy you see…”

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“No need to explain dear, I understand how life gets.” The woman smiled and her wrinkles deepened with such a warm and lively expression. “Look at you… You’ve always been older and wiser in heart than any other, but now you’re really a woman. I mean, look at all those hickeys.” She poked a bit of fun at Michiko as Michiko quickly looked at her bare arms only to see there were no hickeys. “Kidding doll, don’t knot your knickers.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Miss Aida walked back and would sit on the sofa, patting for Michi to sit beside her. Michiko did so and the TV flicked on by itself. It was playing memories of Michiko’s past idly like old home movies in poor quality.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“So what am I doing here?” She whispered as Michiko felt Miss Aida almost pawing at her shoulder for Michiko to lay her head over. Michi did so, putting her cheek on Miss Aida’s shoulder like a child. And just like that, Michiko was a child. An androgynous and young little scrawny teenager with round glasses and long dark hair to her hips. She wore old Chuck Taylors with the soles worn almost out of them and knee-length corduroy shorts, all topped off with a two-tone long-sleeve. It was fitting for the nerdy young Michiko, as on its front was a picture of a periodic table element square, only inside of it it read “123 Ah! [230]”, and below it it read “The element of surprise”.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“You’re here to reflect, and look forward. You remember where you came from, don’t you?” Miss Aida chuckled.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The TV flickered as if changing channels, and a hazy memory played. Two shadows were seen, but they had their backs turned to her and she couldn’t see who they were. The young Michi on the sofa whimpered.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“My real parents…” She whispered.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Yup.” Miss Aida replied as she pushed on an imaginary remote, causing the channels to change. “And look, it’s me! You remember the cathouse, don’t you?” She snickered. The TV displayed a series of half-naked women strutting around to get ready for men to come in and pay for their delectable and dirty services. Michiko sat in the back of Miss Aida’s office, the only woman other than Miss Aida herself that was fully clothed. She had a college level textbook in her lap, doing biology homework while women only came near her to pull condoms out of the condom machine over Michi’s head.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“That was forever ago…” Michi chuckled. The image on the TV changed again, this time to the Yakuza man patting her head. He was smiling as he shook his head and would make a soft ‘tch’ sound.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“You’re a weird one MiMi. I swear, can’t tell if something’s wrong with you, or if you’re going to save the world. But you’re going to do something one day- something big.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“I remember them too…” Michi said, just as the TV changed and she heard a gunshot echo from the surround sound speakers that made her jump. Miss Aida held onto her. The scrawny girl pushed her glasses up closer to her face as she watched the image change to the Yakuza man’s dead wife, as he screamed in anger and rage, telling her to get out. Run. Just leave…

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“You’ve seen hard times too doll… But we all have.” She would comb her fingers through Michiko’s hair. Michi glanced up at Miss Aida, and she was suddenly back to herself. Her long hair was down until she tied it back into the messy knot on the back of her head, and she was still without her blazer lost in the sea of Keyth earlier encountered.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah. We all have.” She straightened up and cleared her throat, settling down from the sudden jitters the memory had given her. Michiko stood up and just as she did she heard banging pots in the kitchen. Her eyes cut over to Miss Aida quickly as if in question.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“You’ve got guests silly girl.” Miss Aida waved her hands in the air. “Go see who it is.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko slowly ascended the steps towards her kitchen, seeing someone in the kitchen but they had their back turned. When she really looked, she saw it was Keyth only with a bit more youthful haircut. A sigh of relief escaped her- God help her, /why/ was he in the kitchen? She snickered as she reached out and touched the labcoat resting over one of the kitchen table chairs. She twisted it in her palms and spotted the nametag. “Michiko A. Tasanagi, MD”. Her lips curled into a pleasant, at peace smile. Then suddenly…

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Hey Mom, can you grab me some napkins off the table?” The male voice spoke out. Michiko dropped the labcoat and turned her eyes up suddenly towards the male figure in the kitchen, but the room went dark as if someone had cut off all the lights.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Wait, wait! What’d you call me?! Little Keyo, is that you? You know, I’m not your mom right?” Michiko said almost panicked.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Mom… don’t be so silly. It’s me… It’s… -muffled-“

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The light appeared, and this time she turned away from it.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">“I can’t hear you, what’s your name?!” She called out. She heard the whisper again, but couldn’t decipher it. “Just a little louder!” But the light had grown too great, and she was taken into the doorway…

Gates of the Soul
<p class="MsoNormal">{ http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=vWjbW-JD23k }

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko was standing outside of a massive citadel, a giant cathedral really. Outside the winds were whipping wildly and it was a dry, dark wasteland. She would stare outwards trying to see something, only to hear Zheren beside her. She didn’t need to look to see that he was there, she knew that he was there.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“You did good. You had a lot that needed to be realized. What emotions you truly face, and how you do tend to hide them sometimes for the wellbeing of others. You needed to see the agony of knowing what it is to have a loved one hurt and discriminated against. And you also needed to see what it was to pick and choose where vengeance is to be applied. You needed to realize what your true desires are in this life. And you needed to remember your past- how you got here… And maybe what the future entails for you as well.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Zheren paused and from the dark stormy winds in the distance emerged a shadow.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“This is the final step. After this, you’ll wake up. You’ve done good so far, I expect nothing but the best from you.” Zheren reached out and pushed a hand into her back and suddenly he channeled his energy into her. The Chie Rokku was being pushed into her, multiple chi frequencies being locked into her soul and woven around it. Into it. Her raw soul revealed to him through these trials, he now etched her vulnerable state with his essence. It hurt at first, but it felt good too. Like being wrapped in warm blankets fresh out of the dryer, or knowing the sun on your skin in the spring. When he removed his hands from her shoulders, she looked up to see a shadowy doppelganger of herself standing in the distance.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Is that my enemy?” She whispered.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“It is time to face your greatest nemesis of all Michiko. Yourself.” Zheren disappeared.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The doppelganger approached slowly, dark piercing eyes as she spoke with a clearness and fluency that bit at Michiko.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Look what the cat dragged in. An insecure, falsely emotionless ‘doctor’ who runs from her problems and only tends to others issues so that she avoid her own.” Michiko almost cringed- but her expression remained steadfast. “A woman who claims she knows love, but all she has is desperate, weak, dependent attraction to a man who could at any moment find satisfying pussy in any other wanting woman who comes crawling his way.” The doppelganger laughed coldly. Michiko flinched and felt the ache of her words.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“He does not love me for what’s between my legs, wretch.” Michiko snapped as she would clench her fists and step forward. They began to circle each other like vultures. “He loves me for who I am, for what is in my heart. I am good, and yet I am necessary. He is wild and untamed, he is hope. Keyth Tasanagi is Life… And I am Death. I am the rebirth of the cycle, I am the one who chooses who lives and dies, and makes room for new souls to take place. I am a peaceful intervention, of a horrible continuation of time that needs interrupting. I am a chance to change, a warning that life is not forever. And I am a helping hand, I am a teacher, in the blackest of nights that offers the most grave and yet wise of lessons…”

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Then what are you, silly girl…” The doppelganger scoffed.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Michiko Akasawa. The beast. Death’s entourage. The lover. I am the doctor, and I am the Vanguard of Life.” A single Vitality Blade appeared in Michiko’s hand, and somehow she could hold it with one hand. Michiko squeezed its pommel tight as she began forward, rushing towards the doppelganger who summoned a slender and sleek black katana.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">CLANG! The swords collided. The doppelganger expressed great skill with a sword, twisting it and deflecting Michiko back, causing her to stumble onto her behind. The doppelganger came forward slowly, pointing the sword at Michi’s throat. Michiko scoffed in reply, as she would kick the sword away from herself, roll onto her side, and then scramble up to her feet. She swung the Vitality Blade quickly and their blades connected again.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">CLANG-CLANG, CLACK! The more Michiko fought her doppelganger the faster and stronger she felt. The more the blade felt comfortable in her hand. CLACK, CLANG, TSSSSSSSK!!! The blades hissed against one another metallically as their barred confrontation caused them to slide along one another. She pulled her sword black and then thrust it out, trying to pierce into her doppelganger. But the doppelganger dodged. And in that moment of vulnerability, the doppelganger’s blade came forward and pierced into Michiko’s shoulder of the arm wielding the Vitality Blade.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Aaaagh!” Michi cried out briefly as she dropped the Vitality Blade. It hit the ground and dissipated into bright flecks of dust and glassy shards. The doppelganger pulled the sword back in that moment.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">{ http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=PfjyrX4B06A }

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Pitiful. Pathetic. Did you really expect you could save anyone but yourself? Hell, you cannot even save yourself. Some doctor, who cannot even save people.” The doppelganger twisted in a quick clockwise turn and tilted the blade so that it would sever through Michiko. But as she came back around and the blade shot outwards, Michiko was standing and held out a hand.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The blade’s edge cut into her palm, but as Michi wrapped her fingers around the katana blade, it would seem to be stopped- held- by her grip. Michiko glared into her doppelganger’s dark eyes as her lips formed a tight, dissatisfied line.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“I’m not pitiful. I’m not pathetic. I’m greater than you will ever be. I am made of silent confidence, and you are a collective of weak, chattering insecurities. I was meant to win against you, before you even phased into feeble, illusory existence.” Michiko’s eyes flashed with dark promise as she would suddenly release the blade and dodge to the side, pushing forward.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The doppelganger retreated back a step, pulling the blade away. But by the time this had happened Michiko had reached up and cupped her hands, slamming them into either side of the doppelganger’s head. Boom, and the eardrums ruptured.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t need a blade to fight you!” Michiko exclaimed. “Because I am smarter than the average opponent. And I will beat you with nothing more than my very existence!” She then shot out a knifehand firmly fixated in its position as she let the tips of her horizontally aligned fingers strike just below the cricoid cartilage of the throat as to hit the beginning of the trachea and possibly collapse it. The doppelganger stumbled back. Michiko did not stop.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Her other hand came forward and she struck a pressure point in the crook of the neck, causing the doppelganger’s head to tilt to the side. Just in time, her other hand came over and struck the revealed side of the neck along the jugular artery. Without sharp nails she did not puncture, but with a hard enough blow she knew she had damaged the muscle tissue and put a brief pause to blood flow to the brain. The head tilted to the side recently attacked as the doppelganger fell to the ground and dropped the katana.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko stood over the doppelganger, picking up the katana. As she did so, the katana erupted from its dark state, black feathers drifting off of a now bright, potently glowing silvery white blade. The handle was solid white with an accented tassel of dark blue and a matching glossy crystal guard.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“When you, or anyone for that matter, underestimates me, is when you’ve lost. Forgive me for this, but I am the victor today.” Michiko twisted the blade in her hand as if it knew her will. It danced through the air in an elegant dance of reflected and refracted light, as it seared through the throat of her doppelganger.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The doppelganger melted away as she heard a distant set of cries. Michiko turned, still holding the blade as it shifted shape slowly. Staring into the storm she saw Keyth’s face. Along with Densuke, Akuma, and Zheren. Others were there too- but they seemed hostile and dangerous.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“MICHIKOOOOOO!!!!!!” Keyth’s voice echoed so loudly into her dreamscape that it ruptured the ground and distorted the dark whirling clouds around the stone pedestal she stood up. She backed up as the sword had slowly warped into a set of solid white chains that darkened with her natural fabric covering. The animate black fabric covered the chains’ true color and nature as Michiko began to go blind.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">/''I’m waking up… I’m waking up… I did it. I got it. Chie Rokku!''/

The Wisdom Lock!
<p class="MsoNormal">{ http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=Kpm2RONuUgo }

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko’s lashes began to flutter. She heard distant voices, and felt a cool, muscled body holding her. It immediately made her pale and shimmering skin prickle up with goose bumps. She let her lashes open, revealing sightless opal eyes. Her lashes closed. A flash of heat and the cries and sounds of battle were gone. She heard a strange, dark voice giving a low snicker of victory.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Ah, bout time. Done finally lost them raggedy warriahs… Tryin’ ta keep me from ma’ bounty. Fools! But it ova’ now, yessss it isssss.” Laruq sneered.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko realized she was in the arms of a captor, who’d stolen her away. It made her feel a brief moment of panic, but she remembered the doppelganger and how she defeated it. She remembered her desires, her hatred, and all of it tied together to make her eerily calm. Michiko even had to bite back a smile as she played to be limp in his arms.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Cute thin’, time ta’ see Grimaldi.” The man was walking with her, though it seemed they would have some way to go. But far distance was not to be achieved today.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“I’m not feeling quite up for visitors.” Michiko whispered. He paused and looked down at her, smiling.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Look who be awake!” He laughed harshly. “Ya’ pretty thin’, oh them boys fought ova’ ya like gold.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“My friends.” She chuckled softly. “But I can handle myself.” Michiko said. Just as she did this she reached up, as if to caress the man’s cheek. He grabbed her hand harshly with his own, squeezing her wrist until she felt pain. It even started to crack. But she would smile in his gesture.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Chie Rokku. Do you know what that is?” She whispered.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Na, don’ sound familiar ya’ jabberin chit.” He was suddenly agitated by her ease.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“It means the Wisdom Lock. It’s a new skill I’ve learned… Would you like to see it?” She spoke ever so gently.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Not taday girl. Behave.” He waited five minutes and she did nothing. So finally Laruq let her hand go after having cracked her wrist in several places before he began to walk again. The skulls clattered at his side and the hematite pieces clicked together like heavy chimes around his neck.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“You can see nothing else when you look in my face…” Michiko began. The man suddenly paused as she reached up, this time too quick as she touched his jaw and held her fingers pinched into his skin. He snapped his hand out to grab one of his skulls, but her other hand was holding them back out of his reach. “I will look you in the eye…” Michiko began, her blind eyes locked perfectly, eerily, onto his, “And I will never lie.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Searing white chains appeared, glowing as they raced from her body around his, and as they rolled up her wrist and along his face, they would shoot into his eyes. The energy chains disappeared into his orbital sockets, and as they plunged into his eyes, the dark orbs would begin to go pale and soon the pupils would white out. She had used the Wisdom Lock to make Laruq blind.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“AAAAGH, WHAT YA’ DOIN GIRL! QUIT IT!” Laruq dropped her to the ground and her body struck it roughly. But she jumped to her feet and listening to his voice, feeling his dark life presence, she would send out a leg and kick his knee in. He fell to the ground and she would then bring a knee up fast to knee him in the face. His nose broken, she would drop an elbow on the back of his head. He fell to the ground groaning, but she felt him gathering his chi. He was preparing to hurt her- bad. But he would be a few minutes recovering and trying to cope with sudden blindness.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Michiko began to ran. She was smiling as she took off, her staff summoned into her hand as she hovered across the ground allowing her to run at a rather extreme and graceful speed as she disappeared into a forest not far from them, perhaps the Bamboo Forest though not near where the battle had been.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">And as she escaped, she thought of Keyth. Her handsome, wonderful Keyth, envisioning his face as she sent a message to him clear as day.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">/”Good morning baby… I’m coming home.”/