Chapter 8.2 - No Strings Attached

No Strings Attached
Cirno was not in a good condition. Her breathing was heavy and irregular. Alice could feel liquid soaking through the back of her clothes. She was sweating herself as she continued flying over the Atlantic, faster than the sun could descend over the horizon. Yamaha's air was hot, humid and devoid of any air currents. However, the amount Cirno was leaking was far too much for any ordinary person.

"Cirno?" asked Alice, deeply concerned, "Are you okay?"

Cirno coughed hoarsely, observing the passing Sonic Amps with half-opened eyes, "I'll be fine. I can see an island ahead."

"Let's land there," offered Alice, "You don't sound good at all. It feels as though you're melting."

"... I am," groaned Cirno, "I'm a ice fairy... I can cope with summer but... this is just too much..."

"Let's hurry," urged Alice, flying faster. She began descending to hopefully enter cooler air, "Cirno, please, look for an empty space where we can land so you can get help."

As they reached the island, Cirno spotted a grass filled park directly underneath, "Right here... we... land..." Alice performed a vertical loop to kill all momentum before slowly descending to ground. She felt her feet land on stone and immediately realised that landing was not a good idea. The surface was irradiating strong heat.

"Stay on my back, Cirno," requested Alice, holding up Cirno's legs. Cirno just murmured in respond.

Then suddenly, another female voice spoke up in front of Alice. "Hi there, are you two alright?"

Alice faced forward, taken by surprise, "Uh, hello. It's really urgent, do you know somewhere that's much colder than here?"

"Sure I do," answered the female, "Here, let me lead you." She grabbed Alice's arm and pulled forward. It was not long until they came to a stop. "Be careful, there's stairs here," warned the female. Alice gingerly raised her legs up to walk up the steps. Then was the slam of a door closing behind her once she reached the top.

Alice froze, "... Hello?"

"Excuse me, down here," called another female voice, coming from the ground, astonishing Alice for the second time. This voice was not the same as the earlier one. "... Can you see?" asked the voice, seemingly troubled by the thought.

"No, I can't," answered Alice, "Sorry, I'm in a hurry to get somewhere cooler."

"While I cannot help you directly, I might be able help you another way. Could you open your eyes for me?" Alice paused before doing so. "Yes, it looks like I can help you. However, I am strapped to the floor. Could you please untie me?"

Alice was feeling weak, having to rely and trust people she had no idea about but she didn't have much choice. She knelt down and felt around, her hand coming in contact with cloth and then a strap. She followed the strap and found the buckle, undoing it with a single hand, the other keeping Cirno on her back. Once it was undone, she felt a hand cover her left eye. Immediately, she felt a sensation she hadn't had in a year. Her sight was back. She saw a white hand move away from her left eye and looked down to see a white female figure, her limbs, head and neck strapped down to the floor. Alice had managed to undo the strap tying down the girl's left wrist. She was dressed in grey and white and had a deep blue right eye. However, her left eye was missing her pupil.

Alice closed her own left eye to realise her right eye had not been restored. "Did... you just give me your eye?"

"My name is Ilissia Reverie, though Ilse is fine," introduced the girl, "I am a doll and can give others my parts if need be. Sorry for changing the topic but I think your friend needs help."

Looking at Cirno's head perched on her left shoulder, Alice saw her for the first time but could tell things were going badly. Cirno had passed out, her eyes closed and looked as though she was deflating, clear water freely flowing down her hair and face. Though Ilse did not ask, Alice began frantically undoing the rest of her straps. "I really need your help. What can we do?"

With all her upper body straps undone, Ilse sat up and undid the others herself. "I am not sure how much we can do. We are in a UTAU prison van." Alice looked around to realise that they were indeed in the back of a van, the evening light coming in through the windows on the back doors. "Teto personally escorted the two of you in here, which means they are still around. Well, I could not see but I would recognise her voice any day."

"UTAU? Teto? Sorry," apologised Alice, "I've been in imprisonment in Gensokyo since Doomsday. I don't know much about the world's events."

"You are from Gensokyo?" Ilse was shocked but decided to prioritise, "Put her down first, your body heat will speed up her... melting." Alice set Cirno down on the ground, the puddle quickly getting bigger. "In short, UTAU is Yamaha's Guard, Kasane Teto is the leader of UTAU. She personally lead you in here. If she noticed your friend's condition she would have done something about it."

"Why? Why would someone from Yamaha help someone from Gensokyo?"

"I know Yamaha follows The Unwritten Law, which basically says, no one should die." Ilse stood up and looked outside the window. Three Sonic Amps could be seen in the distance, the rainbow coloured Hakurei Barrier a little further. "Yamaha, ruled by androids, considers dolls like me as a threat. We do not feel pain nor can we be hacked so we are immune to their methods of control. I have managed to stay away from them until yesterday but the worst they will do is put me in stasis. Though come to think of it, why would Teto just let you in here untied? They know I would ask for you to untie me."

Suddenly there was a loud screech from outside, followed by the sound of slowing whirring that echoed throughout the area.

"... What was that?" asked Alice, noting she had been asking a lot of questions lately.

Ilse was confused, "I am pretty sure that the sound a Sonic Amp makes when it deactivates. But Yamaha would never open up the Sonic Barrier... Would they?"

And then the colours dancing across the horizon faded away.

"The Hakurei Barrier is disappearing too?" reported Ilse in disbelief. She kicked the back door as hard as she could. The doors sprang open, indicating the door was already unlocked.

"Wait!" called Alice in alarm. She sprang forward and closed the doors before Ilse could step out.

"What are you-" Ilse was abruptly interrupted as the van was struck with a strong wind, the cool air of Gensokyo flooding under the hot air of Yamaha. Outside, they could see trees bending and waving wildly. Anything not heavy enough or pinned to the ground was tumbling away from the border, a bicycle striking and bouncing off the back doors of the van. As the wind dissipated, Alice opened the doors again, cool air filling the inside of the van. Cirno suddenly choked, coughing up water and immediately sat up, her form recovering.

Alice knelt next to her, rubbing her back, "How are you doing, Cirno?"

"Much better," answered Cirno, her voice hoarse but steady. She looked up at Alice, "Ah, you have your eyes... eye back!" she exclaimed, noticing Alice's deep red left eye.

"Well, it's actually Ilse's eye," corrected Alice. Ilse raised a hand in greeting. "But thank you for your help," she smiled.

Cirno was about to reply when her waterproof mobile began ringing in her pocket. Flipping it open, Cirno answered, "Hello?"

"Cirno," hailed the caller, loud enough for Ilse and Alice to hear, "This is KC. I'm detecting you in Newfoundland. Is that true? Is Alice there?"

Confused, Cirno looked at Ilse who nodded, "Yeah, we are. She's here and she can see!"

"That's great news! But how did you get into Yamaha? Aren't you in danger?"

Cirno looked at Ilse again, who shrugged, "Err... Maybe?" Ilse stepped outside, followed by Alice. Cirno stepped out too. Alice took off her jumper and wrung out the water.

"I recommend you come back to Gensokyo. There's a nearby security bunker that might be able to help. I'll lead you to it."

Cirno and Alice took off, Ilse on Alice's back, Cirno once again carrying her backpack. They kept an eye out for UTAU but there was no sign of them. Following KC's instructions they came to a Sonic Amp. Alice flew over it while Cirno stopped.

"Wait," Cirno exclaimed, "Is the Sonic Barrier down? And what happened to the Hakurei Barrier?"

KC answered first, "Gensokyo and Yamaha just allied, opening up their borders with each other, purely for military matters. A ship in the Atlantic managed to smash through both Barriers so they're cooperating to take down the ship."

"The Thunder Child, right? That's how we accidentally got into Yamaha."

Cirno explained their experiences to KC, including the introduction of Ilse. As they flew through what used to be the Sonic Barrier they could see a very distinctive long strip of brown soil across the land, with absolutely nothing else, all dissolved by the Sonic Barrier.

"Sorry for interrupting, Cirno," began Ilse, "The Thunder Child came from Yamaha?"

"Yeah," nodded Cirno.

Ilse gave a worried look, "... I can attest that Yamaha is never careless in their own Kingdom. They are androids for one. They know everything that goes on." After a moment of thought, she shrugged, "Well, if setting me free is part of their plan, I guess I cannot argue."

"Oh," brought up Alice, "About The Unwritten Law you mentioned, Ilse..."

"The basis behind The Unwritten Law varies from person to person. The purists say that absolutely nobody should die, native or newcomer, as that is just the right thing to do. The unsure that say that nobody knows what will happen if anybody dies. Maybe some newcomers will disappear, or at least some aspects. While the creations of newcomers obviously comes from natives, no one wants to find out what happens if a newcomer dies. Then there are competitors, who do not want to be the first to cause a death. No one has died from a newcomer action, not even on Doomsday. But I can only talk from Yamaha's perspective."

"Gensokyo follows The Unwritten Law too," added Cirno, "And that's also what we call it."

"North High has no reason not to follow it given Haruhi's powers," pointed out KC. Naluri was not a well known anomaly.

They crossed back onto mainland Canada and reached another city. They landed in front of a wide but innocent looking garage next to an unused car park.

"You should be standing in front of a secure Yamaha bunker," explained KC, "On Doomsday, Yamaha had the habit of confiscating property, in this case, cars, and locking them up to prevent people from using them. I believe Black was given the Black Beauty, a rather special car. However, Gensokyo managed to push Yamaha out of this area of Canada but had no clue about this bunker so it's been dormant for a while. Only Vocaloids can gain proper access but Cirno should be able to force it open. No doubt Ilse knows that Yamaha monitors everything in the Kingdom. As long as you stay in Gensokyo and stay out of the air, you're unlikely to spark off Gensokyo authorities. But if they do have a problem with either Alice regaining her sight or Ilse coming into Gensokyo, you could probably use the cars inside to help gain their support."

Cirno went up to the plain green personnel door next to the garage's shutter. It was completely featureless with no handle, lock or window. Cirno ran her fingers down and froze the edges of the door. As she increased the strength of the ice, the hinges strained before snapping, the door falling inwards. The three walked in, Ilse switching on the light. The garage was full of cars, some of which they recognised. The view was rather unimpressive. Many of the cars looked odd, old or dirty and several looked unfinished or featured upgrades that were cosmetically ugly. Had not some of the cars looked familiar, this would look like any slapstick garage.

Cirno ran up to one particularly red and cubic van. It was the tallest out of all the vehicles but was also the shortest in length. She pulled open the door with excitement and got in the driver's seat, putting her hands on the steering wheel. "Let's take this one!" she called, unable to contain her enthusiasm.

Ilse looked up from examining the Compact Pussycat, "Is that Postman Pat's van?"

"Sorry, Cirno," smiled Alice, weakly, "We can't all fit in it. And we ought to have a vehicle with three pedals."

Cirno's eyes widened, "There're cars with three pedals?"

"This car is the biggest one here," stated Ilse, patting the Ecto-1, its roof covered in equipment. Alice sat in the driver's seat, finding the key already in the ignition. Ilse opened the garage shutter using a console while Cirno took a backseat in the car. Once Ilse got in, Alice started the car and drove out the garage.

"You should be able to stop over at our house," continued KC.

"That might have to wait," noted Alice, looking in the rear view mirror, "A black car just followed us out of the bunker."

Statistics
Count
 * Words: 1008
 * Characters: 4960