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[shadowed-god.livejournal.com]

Who: Sei, Mu
What:  Another talk
Where: Grounds

Once again, Sei finds herself surrounded by books. Time has allowed her to expand her collection, and she’s surrounded by small mountains of them now. At first glance, any resident of Shin Gensokyo would scoff at the covers. After the extermination of all deities, it would be impossible for there to exist so many books covering the topic of the Four Gods.

Precisely the reason Seiryu wrote all of them herself. She could not bear the thought of simply letting all those lives, as well as the world they used to live in, in the past. She wanted people to know. Not because of the desire to be known, but because she wanted her world to go back, even if, deep down, she knew that was impossible.

She did not have all her memories back. She knew that much from the fact that many of her feelings were completely unfounded. She felt an intense need to dispose of so many things, but she didn’t know why.

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[hungering-god.livejournal.com]

The meeting time had been decided on by Sei, but this was an odd choice for a training session of all things. Regardless, Mu came to the decided spot only wanting to tell her teacher to take it easy for a while. She had, after all, fainted just a little while ago. Being the only person Mu could ever call a friend from Shin Gensokyo or wherever else, Sei is a very dear person to her. The appointed time had nearly come and Mu was as punctual as ever. For all her negative traits, it was this where she excelled at as an operative... aside from the brutal execution of her missions, of course.

She was just about to call for Sei until she noticed something peculiar... or rather, many things peculiar. These stacks of books all around the same area... Sure, Sei was a bookworm, but even Mu didn't think she'd bother bringing these outside all by herself. They looked heavy too, so how could she have with such minimal physical strength? An uneasy tension filled Mu, but regardless, she managed to make a smile through the situation. It was a grimace than a “smile”, though, and an awkward one at that.

“H-hey, Sei?” Mu finally called out, looking for her friend. It was difficult to really walk past this makeshift forest of books. “Where are you?”

[shadowed-god.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Mu." Despite the bizarre nature of her surroundings, Sei was more than capable of letting out a smile in response to Mu's expression.

"What's wrong? You're not still worried, are you?" she asked. Sei's smile was not similar to the one she usually carried around her friend. Being the reserved person she was, Sei never allowed herself anything more than half-smiles. The wide one she carried right then was indicative of a much deeper relationship than the one they had, going back entire lifetimes.

"Come on. Sit down." It was like trying to assemble a puzzle with only half of its pieces. She knew the general outline of the image, but she didn't know the context. Her happiness at seeing her, as well as her current duty were beyond her comprehension. She knew who they were, but she didn't know what they did.

She felt the need. The uncontrollable need to end this once and for all. So why couldn't she hate her?

[hungering-god.livejournal.com]

    Mu has already let down all of her guard around Sei. She doesn't notice the subtle changes around the girl and merely treats this meeting like any other. Forcing a chuckle out of her lips, Mu then pulls up a chair and sits in front of Sei who barely peeked out between all the text. "It hasn't been that long since they let you out of the infirmary, so of course I'd be worried," she says, "and god, how'd you even bring all of these out? You'd probably need ten people to help you out,"
    
    Mu took one of the books from the stack. The book lacked a title and usually, when one opens a book, she would notice a description or some information about the publisher, but this one completely skipped all that. Mu didn't mind this, but it seemed completely unorthodox. It wasn't as though this was a personal diary or journal either. Mu gives a frown and turns over to the next pages, but doesn't read into it quite yet. She isn't much of a fan of reading to begin with.

[shadowed-god.livejournal.com]

"No. Did it all by myself." Sei says. It didn't sound completely unreasonable, what with her not going on missions recently. Still, with the amount of time it would have taken, and the bizarre nature of the whole affair, it sounds extremely unlikely Mu wouldn't have heard about it.

As the operative keeps flipping the pages, she will eventually come to find out there is no ending. Blank pages plague each and every one of the books gathered, stopping right after a collection of fragmented, non-linear memories.

"I want to fill them out." the teacher says once she notices Mu arriving at the nonexistent ending. "I suppose you could say it's my job as a teacher."

[hungering-god.livejournal.com]

    Sei's sudden upbeat voice takes the tortoise god by surprise. Looking at her in an odd manner, she returns her attention to the books. She realized something while skimming through the text. Words familiar to her appeared including names of the gods Mu mentioned to Sei just before collapsing and the domain where they resided in, the Ryugu Palace. Mu's eyes widened, but she couldn't quite put two and two together at the moment. Turning up to look her friend in the eyes again, she gave an awkward smile.
    
    "You've written... all of these based on a topic you just heard about? That's... pretty impressive, Sei, but... how? All this in just a few weeks... and you couldn't find too many sources in the library either, could you?"

[shadowed-god.livejournal.com]

"I couldn't. I still think I could have gotten more information back then." Sei lets the implications of that sink in for a moment, but then continues.

"You already taught me all you could though, didn't you?"

[hungering-god.livejournal.com]

Slowly, the awkward smile Mu made fades away and her face hardens. The memories of that place should have been all but eradicated in Shin Gensokyo. The only people who should've known about Mu's continuing existence are a handful of people related to the original rebels. Even Gensokyo and Confuto Ordinatio lacked the majority of texts that specifically pertained to the Four Gods. Nothing adds up. Sei shouldn't have had any source to begin with. Mu, while arrogant, headstrong, and lonely, was not dim-witted enough to believe anybody she trusts could have a few dark secrets to them.
    
    "Who are you?"

[shadowed-god.livejournal.com]

"Hm? What do you mean?" she sounded confused at Mu's worried tone. Why worry? They were together, and she once promised she wouldn't have to worry about surviving, so why worry?

Ah. Right. She wouldn't be able to keep that oath anymore, would she? Not when that world they had sworn to create had ended a failure.

"I'm Sei. Always have been, always will be." Despite her playful tone, Sei was not lying. She kept every single one of her memories and emotions. Were it not for all of these fragments, they would still be the only thing dictating her personality.

But she was sick of lying. She did not wish to continue this charade any longer. Closing her eyes, she gives an honest smile, happy at being able to break another barrier of lies they had constructed around them.

"Who are you, Genbu?"

[hungering-god.livejournal.com]

    "Genbu"... Only one other person knew that name in this compound and Mu was confident he wasn't the type to tell others considering his own agenda. She knew this name without ever being told by anybody else and this is what scared her the most. At this point, everything that was happening in front of her eyes started to become far more transparent and painfully obvious.
    
    "... At this point in my life, even I can't answer that question. It'd be much easier if I was 'nothing', huh, old man?"

[shadowed-god.livejournal.com]

Any entrance or exit to this valley of books is quickly covered by white branches sprouting from each of the tomes. Though Seiryu was not more proficient with it than with any other, this was the element of wood. Nature. In short, the basis for all of Seiryu's powers. Her new creations are certainly not perfect, considering how paper is still quite separated in composition from normal wood. However, it's close enough to fulfill its purpose.

Her powers were not as strong as before. So many lost lessons and experiences dull her senses, diminish her range. However, Genbu's not in her element, either. Without a word, the white branches start infecting the insides of the dome, ink surging through them like the sap of a normal tree.

"Is that really what you believe?" she asks, a faint expression of almost infantile disappointment on her face.

[hungering-god.livejournal.com]

Mu gave her "old man" a bitter smile. "I didn't like being Genbu, the god who befriended then killed her only friends. I don't like being Mu, the brutal, but lonely operative living in the crap world she helped create," Mu admitted, "Who am I...? I'd like to be nothing. If I was nothing, you guys'd still be alive... or at least, that's what I thought. What the hell are you doing up and kicking, old man?" Even when meeting a very old friend, Mu isn't the type to kneel and suddenly start bawling. Although, in her mind, she knew she would've loved to cry right about now... in happiness? Perhaps, but also partly out of fear. The past had returned to her at full force. It seems depending on how this conversation goes, everything Mu did to repent to the god standing in front of her may or may not be validated.

[shadowed-god.livejournal.com]

Seiryu lowers her head, black hair momentarily covering her eyes.

"I don't know." she said. Words that had never sat right with her, especially in front of her pupil, but true nonetheless. "I remember countless different lives, but no transition into this one." By now, the surrounding area had steadily started to shift into a forest of white wood, with different symbols steadily bleeding and disappearing in the form of ink. A knife, wielded by the residents that had grown to hate her... smoke, quickly degrading the land she had fought so hard to preserve... and sometimes, simple utter blackness, the last thing she saw before it started all over again.

And yet, her smile had returned. It all came back to times she knew were happier. In the end, she was still with Genbu. It was like old times, if only for a few seconds.

The branches don't stop approaching, now covering most of the space surrounding them. Despite their serenely slow speed, it becomes obvious that they carry lethal force once they start clashing with each other. They are not only approaching Genbu, but Seiryu as well. She knew her desire to end Genbu's life was only the beginning. To hate things without knowing the reason for doing so... Seiryu would rather restart things all over again rather than suffer through such a fate.

[hungering-god.livejournal.com]

In the end, Mu wouldn't mind dying if it's by the hands of Seiryu. She killed him and so, it's only right for him to kill her back. An eye for an eye is clearly one of the woman's philosophies... and yet, she couldn't accept it. As the branches came at her, Mu summoned from all around her a spiralling pattern of bullets to act as a shield. The bullets were special ones that were in some ways "reverse-engineered- from her old ones. Rather than carrying the water-attribute, these bullets acted to sap away the liquid of those it hit. Throwing a strong kick at the direction behind Mu an escape route. She couldn't find him again. It wasn't in her.
    
    Mu ran as quickly as her legs could manage.

[shadowed-god.livejournal.com]

Seiryu expected that. She had been thankful for Genbu's ability to know the best course of action countless times before. If she wanted to kill her, it would have to be through an attack that allowed for no chance of survival.

She tries to make the branches keep going. Even if Genbu left, she could still finish herself off. She tries to increase the speed at which her own attack approaches her, having held back on trying to kill Mu a few moments ago.

And fails. A part of her mind, the one still plagued by memories of feelings without reason, still demands that she accomplishes her duty. She wouldn't allow herself to die until she destroyed all traces of the corrupted world that killed her. Not for revenge, but for mercy.

Revenge... Revenge for what? Seiryu keeps asking herself just what is so important that it would demand of her to kill.

Having been soaked in water, the ink starts dripping through the walls of the lily-white trees. As the skirmish comes to an end, they quickly begin to revert into the all-too-familiar pile of papers.