Chapter 51 - The Real Deal

The Real Deal
"How do you mean?" asked Naluri, who seemed genuinely curious. She did not look as smug as before. In fact, she looked a little concerned.

Rokiahi summoned Naluri's helmet, "This yours?" she asked with rather obvious sarcasm.

"Yes?"

Rokiahi ejected the minidisc out the screen, "This yours too?"

Naluri paused, "Yeah?"

"You know, I found them in Doom's Castle," Rokiahi thumbed over her shoulder, "Haruhi told me that's where you went missing this morning."

"Okay?"

"This disc holds your memories doesn't it, Naluri?"

"And?"

"... You not putting two and two together?" Rokiahi jeered, "I thought the Writer would be smarter than that."

Naluri frowned in annoyance, "I don't get why that is important."

Rokiahi stood right in front of Naluri, their faces incredibly close. "What's your name?" Rokiahi breathed.

"Naluri Sihara." Naluri did not falter, keeping her ground.

"Didn't you have a nickname, granted to you for your brilliant deeds last year? Who are you?"

"I am the Daughter of Liberty."

"WRONG!" shouted Rokiahi, headbutting Naluri in the forehead with brutal force. Naluri fell backwards, shocked, but she could not speak before Rokiahi picked her up by the collar, drawing her close to her face again, "You are NOT the Daughter of Liberty!" While Naluri's forehead was very red, Rokiahi's had drawn blood, a testament to the damage Rokiahi had taken that day.

"What?! What the hell are you talking about?" shouted back Naluri, her own fury flaring.

"You think you're the Daughter of Liberty, do you?!" screamed Rokiahi, "Do you?!"

"Damn right! The world owes me for what I did for it!"

"You did nothing, Naluri! You didn't even die!"

Naluri's expression turned to one of confusion, "What?"

"You survived Doomsday's First Anniversary, Naluri," spoke Rokiahi in a normal voice, "You lived with me and your creator for The Second Year."

"I don't think you've got it right-"

"Then you went to visit Doom with a certain minidisc."

"Look, you're mixing it up-"

"Don't you realise?" began Rokiahi, "Doom is the reason you don't remember the past year. This-" she held up the disc "-is the reason you think you you are who you say."

"I- I don't-"

"Why did you get rid of your precious memories with me, Naluri?" cried Rokiahi, tears rolling down her cheeks, "You are precious to me."

Naluri was flabbergasted, unable to say a word.

"The Daughter of Liberty warned you!" continued Rokiahi, "She told you not to mourn her and what do you do? You go and spit on her name. You went to get your memories changed. To become the ultimate heroine. How is it? How are you doing with your new identity?" she jeered.

Naluri was shaking her head in horror, "No.. she couldn't have."

"You!" corrected Rokiahi, "You are not the Daughter of Liberty. You will never be the Daughter of Liberty. I don't want you to be the Daughter of Liberty," she sobbed, "I want you to be with me."

"I-" mouthed Naluri, eyes wide open, "I can't believe it... Prove it! Prove that I'm my past self!" she demanded.

Rokiahi pushed Naluri back, blood running past her nose. She summoned red armour from hammerspace and threw the Super Driver on the floor. "Where's your Super Driver?" requested Rokiahi, "The one you took off Solace when fighting over the DeLorean. No one can access your hammerspace, right?"

Naluri held her arm out in front of her but as time passed with nothing happening, it dawned on Naluri that she could not summon Haruhi's original Super Driver. When the Daughter of Liberty died, she took the Super Driver with her. Panicking, Naluri summoned something else in her hand. Rokiahi could see it was Naluri's glass smashing ring.

Naluri collapsed to her knees, hands on her head, "How could she- How could I be so stupid!" she cursed in desperation. The future Naluri had lost her ring when she used it to smash the window of the spaceship Haruhi was in a year ago. She had started crying as well as she realised who she really was.

"Naluri," coaxed Rokiahi in a gentle voice, "Please stop this senseless fighting. The world cannot cope with this chaos."

"No!" screamed Naluri, standing back up, "The world is mine! The world is mine to control, whoever I really am. I'm not going to give up this opportunity for you!"

Rokiahi grit her teeth and stepped towards Naluri. Drawing back her hand, she slapped Naluri across the face. As Naluri reeled, Rokiahi spoke up, "You need to wake up Naluri. I know you're not really like this."

Naluri growled, holding her cheek, "I hate you Rokiahi. I hate the world. I hate everyone. I hate everything. I hate our creator-"

Rokiahi punched Naluri as hard as she could in the face. Naluri fell backwards, hitting the ground with a slam. Lynette, Yuri and Misaka all aimed their respective weapons at Rokiahi but she completely ignored them. Rokiahi stood over Naluri full of burning anger. She pulled Naluri back up from the ground again, "I don't care who you are. Don't insult my creator."

Naluri, who was now bleeding heavily under her left eye, spat out, "I don't care! You mean nothing to me!"

Rokiahi sobbed loudly for a minute or so. Naluri let out an awkward sniff.

As Rokiahi quietened down, Naluri spoke up firmly, "Are you done?"

"I'm done," answered Rokiahi, "I'm done." She wiped her eyes. "I've learnt a lot today. Sasaki's Will. Naluri's Legacy." Rokiahi sniffed loudly. "I've lived. I've learned. And now it is time to accept." She summoned her trademark rifle, jabbing the barrel at Naluri's throat.

"You wouldn't dare..." growled Naluri, not attempting to move.

"I knew neither the Will or Legacy," continued Rokiahi, "But the one I knew was Marisa's Wish. Trust. It is something I have firmly stood beside. And you know what? I still trust you. Take care of Little One for me." Little One had retreated a little, standing a fair distance behind Rokiahi with fear.

"I don't see where this is going."

Rokiahi turned her rifle around, giving Naluri the trigger and lifted the barrel to her own neck, holding it firmly in place, "There's no rest for the wicked," recited Rokiahi, shutting her eyes, "Until we close our eyes for good."

Silence fell over the area. Naluri was stunned, Rokiahi's rifle's trigger in her control. A few minutes passed as Rokiahi waited for Naluri to pull the trigger, her eyes calmly closed.

Suddenly, Naluri pulled the rifle out of Rokiahi's grip and threw the weapon on the ground, falling to her knees, crying heavily, "Rokiahi, you idiot, I was trying to save everyone," she croaked.

Rokiahi opened her eyes in surprise, as the gun was snatched from her. She stood over the kneeling Naluri with pity, "Naluri, I know you're not the all powerful Writer. Are you working for him?"

"The Writer has nothing to do with this!" called Naluri in urgency, standing up, "Rokiahi, The Three Kingdoms don't exist! Yamaha, Gensokyo, North High, they're all in this together! This is a trap!"

Rokiahi was taken aback, "What?" Lynette immediately flew up at high speed. Yuri suddenly sprouted angel wings and took flight. Misaka touched the broken metal remains of Lil' Slugger, magnetised it and used it to accelerate into the air at an impressive velocity like a bullet train. Rokiahi's rifle was attracted to the chassis and jumped towards it with a thud.

"Reimu, Miku, Haruhi, Sasaki, me, we were never in control from the start!" declared Naluri in a hurried pace, "The AI Director controls Gensokyo! North High's controlled by Yggdr-"

Without warning, a huge grey structure broke through the ground nearby, rising up rapidly with extremely loud rumbling. Rokiahi and Naluri both recognised the alien building immediately. It had a unique shape, similar to a massive horizontal horseshoe held up by a thick tilting pillar.

"That's a Statis Chamber!" despaired Naluri, knowing neither of them could escape the building's special ability's enormous range.

Rokiahi swung round to Little One, "Little One!" she shouted, summoning her Rocket Jumper, "Get out of here!" She fired a single rocket, striking the ground in front of the Alien. The harmless explosion, thanks to Little One's very light weight, flung it an incredible distance. Little One's howls echoed though the air as a gigantic spherical statis field covered the area, the Statis Chamber, part of Doom's Castle and both Naluri and Rokiahi caught inside.

Rulia gasped, her eyes opening in surprise, only to be blinded by white light.