Chapter 19 - False Freedom

False Freedom
Naluri slowly opened her eyes, her vision murky. She could see a bright light in front of her face, with the silhouette of a person's head in her view. Blinking, she made out the foggy image of a yellow headband.

"Ah, I'm sorry," apologised the person, "Did I wake you?"

"... Haruhi?" mumbled Naluri.

"Haruki. Suzumiya Haruki."

Naluri suddenly snapped back to her senses and rubbed her eyes frantically before looking again. She was lying down and there was a florescent light above her. The person sitting by her side was a male wearing a male North High School uniform but was sporting a yellow hairband like Haruhi. She sat up quickly and glanced around urgently. They were in a baby changing room, Naluri sitting on the changing table. A mirror on the opposite wall showed Naluri had a plaster on her forehead and her face had been cleaned off but her clothes were still dirty, though her jacket had been dried of the Alien Queen's drool. She turned her attention to Haruki to her left.

"... You're Haruhi's genderbent form, aren't you?" Haruki greatly resembled Haruhi but was noticeably taller.

"Who's Haruhi?"

Naluri looked forward blankly, her thoughts all over the place and disorganised. But there was something else on her mind. Her helmet adjusted to her new location and its current time, the monitor displaying the information. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 5pm on 21st December 2013. At this time, she was back in her apartment in South Africa with Sasaki and Santiago, the local time being 10pm. Her thoughts suddenly changed to Haruki and his attire. Summoning a piece of paper and a pen, she began writing, chewing the pen lid. "...Did you just come from school?"

"Yeah."

21st December 2013 was a Saturday. It was currently morning in Japan but was still Sunday, a day with no school. It was clear he had came from a different universe. "When did your weird experiences start?"

Haruki blinked with confusion. It was clear he had a lot of questions but Naluri could tell the questions she were asking were related to his concerns. "About a minute ago. I was at school with my club. Then everything suddenly changed. I have no idea why."

This was the exact experience everyone had on Doomsday. Naluri recalled seeing Haruhi's changed body fly out the spaceship. "Did you fall out a window?"

"I think I did, I felt as though I was being pulled out a window. And then I began falling towards Earth. It surprised the heck out of me."

The Hand Canon had worked. Partially. It had replaced Haruhi with Haruki and seeing how they did not share memories, it was likely it wasn't a simple body switch. It had pulled Haruki straight from his universe. But happened with Haruhi? Naluri remembered seeing Haruhi's limp body lying on the floor when Sasaki released Naluri's grip of the ship. Once again leading the conversation, Naluri noted the Sonic Barrier was directly below the spacecraft. "And you survived?"

"Well, yeah. I saw a car falling and then it, like, imploded." The DeLorean had been destroyed by the Sonic Barrier. "For some lucky reason though, I was falling in some other direction and I saw you following me. We landed in Rio de Janeiro. You were unconscious and looked a mess so I brought you here." Rio de Janeiro had been Haruhi's Doomsday location. "You also look really tired."

"'Landed'? By the way, do you have the feeling you have... superpowers?"

Haruki paused, "Actually, I know this sounds stupid but... I felt as though I could fly. Even through space." It had been the supernatural nature of the Doomsday conflict that had awakened Haruhi to her powers. "I sort of landed on the ground. Sort of like, you know, a superhero. But I couldn't reproduce the result." Naluri put the lid back on the pen. "Do you know what's happening?"

Naluri turned to Haruki, "I'll be honest. I accidentally brought you into this world to save the life of your female equivalent, Suzumiya Haruhi."

Haruki nodded his head slowly, somewhat lost, "Did it work?"

"... No. I came from the future to save her. But I failed," Naluri was clearly depressed and looked very emotional. "I'm sorry. I have no idea how to send you back. I dropped the object that brought you into this world, most likely destroyed like the DeLorean."

"... Can't you go back in ti-?" Haruki realised the car he saw was the DeLorean. "Are there any other ways to time travel?" Naluri couldn't tell how seriously Haruki was taking the situation. Seeing as he didn't overreact about time travel, it seemed as though he was having reservations about it.

"If you have any leads, go ahead, because I don't."

"What were you writing?" Naluri looked at the piece of paper before handing it to Haruki:

Haruhi X Reimu ? Konata ? Miku Len Sora White Black Marisa Rin Ritsu Solace ? Gumi ? Yuki ? Cirno ? Santiago ? Nitori ?

Haruki looked up at Naluri. "It's a death list, in chronological order," she explained bluntly, "Question marks are unconfirmed cases but before I travelled back in time, these people lost their lives... all within an hour."

"What? Shouldn't we help them?" reasoned a firm Haruki, "They're alive right now aren't they? Well, apart from Haruhi but..." His motive had changed. "I can't go back to my world knowing I could have helped save lives!"

Naluri had not been expecting this response but she was still disheartened. "We changed the past. Who knows how much of the future we've changed."

"We still have to try though, right?" urged Haruki. He looked down at the list, "Where's Reimu?"

"Don't know about her or Konata. No one else is within one hour's reach." Just then, Naluri's earpiece buzzed to life. Energised by curiosity, Naluri stuck her finger in her ear and turned up the volume, to hear a familiar transmission. Then realisation set on her face. "Wait, I do know... Haruki, we're moving out. Now!" She jumped up and ran out the door into the ouside area, Haruki following, ignoring all the confused looks from the natives.

"Can I have an explanation?" asked Haruki as Naluri summoned her hoverboard.

"I'll explain on the way," Naluri stepped on the board, "Get on and hold on tight." Haruki obediently stepped onto the board, amazed at it. "... And watch where you're touching," she reminded with annoyance as the board hovered northwards at high speed. Once Haruki had readjusted his grip to her shoulders, Naluri continued, "I intercepted a transmission reporting Reimu and Konata had been captured. I can trace the origin of the transmission which is another small spacecraft. I remember that the transmission ended before it reached ground but the path the ship took left it above South America. Keep an eye out for it in the sky."

"You do realise South America is a huge continent, right?"

"I going to where the signal's strongest on the ground so just keep a look out." Naluri decided not to mention the capture of the SOS Brigade as it would lead to far too much explaining to do. She actually had another thing on her mind.

History was repeating. Naluri and Sasaki had clearly changed the past, interrupting the meeting between two of the Empresses. And now, with her powers unleashed, Sasaki essentially owned High Gensokyo. But yet, Reimu and Konata had been captured again, the transmission was exactly the same with no mention of Sasaki. Back on the observation deck of the spacecraft, Reimu and Konata were over Haruhi's body, completely ignoring Sasaki and Naluri. And also, where did Haruhi's dead body come from? Naluri remembered Haruhi's body changing into Haruki, who had been sucked out the window. So where did Haruhi really go? Did the Hand Canon really work properly on her and sent her back to her world? If so, did she get moved out before Cirno wrote in the Death Note? If not, would The Inconvenience Theory prevent the Death Note from affecting Haruhi? Clearly, by the rules of the Death Note, and the fact he was alive at the moment, Haruki was unaffected.

Naluri frowned. Sasaki was forcing history to repeat. But why? How would Sasaki benefit from history repeating? ... The Sonic Barrier. It was lowered not long after Haruhi's death for the attempted trade between Yamaha and High Gensokyo. If it lowered, Sasaki would own the entire universe. But was that a good or bad thing?

Sasaki did not help Naluri up back on the spacecraft, instead releasing Naluri's grip, plummeting her to her potential death. If Sasaki was attempting to repeat history to save the lives, dropping Naluri was not a good start. Naluri had absolutely no trust in Sasaki any more. Maybe Haruki was right, maybe Naluri had to take matters into her own hands. And fight against a goddess. Again.

Naluri thought about her past self, currently in District 9. She remembered that she had protested against reviving Haruhi back then stating abuse of her powers. It seemed her fears played out but in the form of Sasaki. Come to think of it, it was the prospect of the Hand Canon returning her to her own universe that convinced Naluri to bring Haruhi back. But in this new future, Haruhi was still gone regardless. Was using the DeLorean right? People sacrificed themselves to allow use of the DeLorean, most likely expecting to be saved, something Naluri was completely incapable of doing in her current condition. Was the risk worth it?

But she had Haruki with her. Could he be an asset? Being essentially Haruhi's male equivalent, he was exactly the same, with the exception of certain hormones. He would have, mostly, the same thought process, the same ideas, the same attitude... the same powers. The biggest difference was that Haruhi was exposed to extreme supernatural events almost immediately on Doomsday, awakening her to her powers. Even then, it took months for her to reach her full potential. All Haruki had been exposed to was space travel and a hoverboard. He wasn't going to awaken any time soon.

Wait. Gensokyo imprisoned Sasaki on Doomsday. Did Sasaki reach her full potential? The source material did state that Sasaki was at least aware of her powers, and her potential, back in her world. But was that enough? Would Sasaki's powers even affect Haruhi, or Haruki? Could Sasaki recreate Haruhi? If the Hand Canon sent Haruhi back to her home world, would recreating her be the right thing to do? Would Sasaki even want someone to compete with? Could Haruki possibly compete?

"Hey."

What could they do? If they saved Reimu, they could use her ability to fly to find something fast enough to get to London to save Miku. As far as Naluri recalled, the Thunder Child was currently off the north coast of South America, which would likely be fast enough. Intercepting the Thunder Child would also prevent Sora's boarding of helicarrier, saving both Black and White, and hence the broadcast of the time travel plan, thus stopping permission being granted to break The Unwritten Law. In fact, it would also mean that there was no need to time travel. But this still left the problem of Sasaki...

"Hey."

Sasaki would be in supreme control and nothing would be able to stop her. Naluri suddenly felt a longing for Haruhi. Naluri admitted life under Haruhi's rule wasn't as bad as she initially argued and there was a, somewhat, legitimate reason for Haruhi's maltreatment of Naluri. She'd rather live under Haruhi than anyone prepared to drop her to her death.

"Hey!"

Would Sasaki end up being a bigger threat than The Three Empresses? Naluri felt nauseous at the thought that she helped Sasaki to power. Maybe it was better to think positive. Maybe Sasaki had planned this all along. Maybe she was just pretending and this was all a joke, repeating history to make Naluri panic for a quick laugh, just waiting for the right time to jump out and shout, "Surprise!" Naluri smirked, unconvinced.

"Hey! Can you hear me?!" shouted Haruki.

Naluri's not-so-serious last mental image suddenly made her aware of Haruki's calling. She had been unable to concentrate on the journey itself, having been deep in random thoughts as the hoverboard raced onwards. She had completely forgotten to explain anything to Haruki. "What?"

"Are we meant to be heading towards that cliff?"

"Cliff?" Naluri looked forward just as the hoverboard shot off the top of a rocky cliff, descending towards seawater and sharp rocks far below.

As the two fell, Naluri's helmet changed the location displayed: Arkham Island, Gotham City, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.

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