Chapter 15 - There's No Place Like Home

There's No Place Like Home
Rin entered the bridge of the Thunder Child just as the transmission ended, surprising all the occupants apart from Sora, who detected her incoming and knew only select Vocaloids could open the door from the outside but was surprised anyway by Ritsu's presence. She lay Ritsu down on the floor. Ritsu was not in a good condition, blood streaming down her face and arms, with stains all over her shirt and hands from trying to wipe the blood away. Her eyes were half closed.

Alice stepped on the other side of Ritsu to Rin, with a scared look on her face as she knelt down, "L-let me... me help."

"Are you okay?" asked Rin to Alice, genuinely concerned, "You look sick."

Alice gulped, staring at the cuts across Ristu, "I-I have a fear of blood. B-but it's fine. I can- can deal with it." Her angel wings sprouted, giving off white light, her hands glowing white in turn. She drew her fingers across each cut in turn, clearly uncomfortable with coming in contact with the red liquid. The cuts closed with her touch, leaving no scars. The entire time, the vessel remained silent. Alice eventually finished with the cuts, the blood on her hands giving off a red tint. "W-was there any other injury?" Alice asked, placing her hands behind her back.

"No," replied Ritsu, managing to muster the energy to answer the question herself, her breathing still heavy but stabilising, "Thanks."

"Hey, Alice," offered Naluri, presenting a cloth and a bottle of water, "Let me help you clean up." Noticeably, she did not offer the same to Ritsu.

Sora approached Rin, "You watched the execution, right? They'd never execute you. You know far too much about Yamaha as the second in command. Who and why did you have replace you?"

Rin did not move her sight from Ritsu, "Len gave me no choice..."

"That was Len?" expressed Lynette with confusion.

"...Humans are so inefficient..." sobbed Rin.

"What does t-" began Santiago. Solace raised a hand in front of him to stop, indicating she knew where this was going.

Rin cried a little longer, Ritsu reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder, "Len was my creator."

"Tha-" started Santiago. Solace once again raised a hand, this time turning her head to glare at him.

"But then he went and died on me," continued Rin, "Before I had even gained my consciousness. Years later, I created a Vocaloid in his image. And then what does he do? He goes and dies on me again. And then there's Miku..." Rin just shook her head, unwilling to carry on.

"Sorry if this sound insensitive," commented Naluri, looking over from floor edge. Alice was washing her hands on the edge of the tilted back wall, letting the water run onto the lower floors instead of the bridge. "But both of you are most likely wanted people. You're putting neutral folk like us in danger." Naluri looked up to think. "Actually, I doubt they consider Sasaki as neutral."

"Yeah, Sasaki," spoke up Ritsu, still laying on the floor, "How come you haven't broken your Barrier yet? Once you do that it'll all be over."

"I haven't really been given permission to," answered Sasaki rather sourly.

"We're not really prepared to let loose another god," argued Naluri, "It's a last resort."

"An ideology like that could make you regret taking the chance earlier," retorted Ritsu.

"I'll take my chances when I want."

Suddenly, Cirno's phone rang. Cirno looked at the caller ID and then at Alice, "It's KC."

Solace squinted in recognition, "Kacy?"

Alice shook her head, "This KC and Ælious are from a different canon." She took the phone, looked at the caller ID herself before deciding to answer it, "KC?"

"What a relief," exclaimed KC, "We were afraid that something happened when you weren't answering and then went out of my detection range."

"Yamaha portalled us somewhere-" explained Alice.

"Barbados," corrected KITT.

"Barbados. But we're free and fine."

"Barbados?" repeated KC, "If you intend to go back to Arcania City, we can come pick you up."

"... How? I thought transport was shut down."

"You might not know this but Victor von Doom took over Yamaha and Ganondorf took control of Gensokyo and North High. They just formed an alliance of sorts and are attempting to repair all the damage done by the three kingdoms. The Sonic Barriers are being dismantled and all the barren damage caused by it is being reversed as much as possible. Infrastructure of former Gensokyo territory, including transport and communications, is being restored. Internet in Africa has been reconnected so we intend to head to Barton City."

"Wow, sounds like a lot," noted Ilse.

"That's just a small portion of what they're doing. Instead of establishing their own power over the territory, they're restoring monarchies and governments to every country back to the natives as they were before Doomsday. They're helping newcomers who were separated from their friends or family by the Barriers get back together. Then they're also moving newcomer locations to climates more like their original places or out the way of native locations if necessary. An international free week has been established where everyone can take time off including military personnel. An attempt is ongoing to find a replacement for the moon. Attempts are also being made to reduce global temperatures caused by Yamaha. However, they're unable to revert an artificial Arctic back to its original natural form." Rin frowned, looking at Sora. "They're looking for a specific Vocaloid who was once a member of the Black Squad." Lynette and Solace also turned their attention at Sora. Everyone else gathered the situation from their reactions.

"What do you mean by 'looking for'?" asked Alice.

"They insist it's on friendly terms. In fact, most military groups that participated in the conflict were pardoned. Only the top of the top major units were punished like the Black Squad, UTAU, Stray Posse, SOS Brigade, Lucky Corps, HTT. Ayu, the Enforcer of Law of North High was completely let off because she did absolutely nothing wrong, she didn't even fight on Doomsday. Gensokyo's a little different. Shikieiki and The Law was let off, as they essentially followed actions from Reimu, so Cirno should be fine. The Scarlet Devil Household, the Youkai Mountain residents among others were confined for their actions on Doomsday."

"Aren't people worried about being ruled by villains?" questioned Ilse.

"Well, they aren't really in power, though they do have a lot of influence. However, their reversal of the damage caused by the three kingdoms have given them immense support including from their former enemies." Santiago and Solace shook their heads, unconvinced.

"That's great," replied Alice, "I guess we'll meet up with you and Ælious in few hours?"

"Right. We'll meet you there." KC hung up.

Sora pulled her Black Squad card out of her pocket. She looked at her image on the card. "The Arctic, huh?" she murmured, taking the card in two hands. With one strong wrench, she snapped the card in two and dropped the pieces on the floor. Stamping an ignited rocket boot on them, Sora burnt the card to cinders. She sighed, "Maybe it is too dangerous without a god..."

Naluri was shocked, "Wha- Sora! Don't give up on our own abilities now! We can report whatever Doom and Ganondorf are planning to good guys and then-"

"Start another conflict," interrupted Sora, finishing Naluri's sentence her own way, "The Arctic stays closed. As long as I still function, I will make sure of it. I would much rather lose my identity than witness the release of ultimate evil on the world."

Naluri grit her teeth with anger before shaking her head, "No. I've had enough. I'm leaving. I just want to go." She reached the bridge doorway and opened the door.

"Naluri," called Ritsu, still on her back. Naluri stopped. "Have you ever wondered why Haruhi and Konata treated you so badly?"

"Because they hated me?" responded Naluri, her interest piqued.

"Only partly correct, I guess," laughed Ritsu. She suddenly coughed strongly, Rin rubbing her torso to help her recover. "I've already risked my life for this. Now I'm risking the fate of everything in this world by talking to you about it. Do you want me to continue?"

Naluri paused to think before turning around, "Tell me." Ritsu pulled the pistol at her waist on her right out of its holster. She slid it on the ground, closer to Naluri. It was a top heavy pistol with the top coloured with a North High blue colour strip. Naluri looked at it, "It's a Hand Cannon."

"Only on the outside," pointed out Ritsu, "We call it the Hand Canon, with only one 'n' in Canon."

"... Explain."

"I will admit on Haruhi's behalf," began Ritsu, "The reason we started this project was purely selfish. Since you were immune to her powers, Haruhi wanted to find a way to control you as we didn't know if you were good or evil. Our theory about you is that you constantly change canon so Haruhi's control over you always resets. We wanted to make something that stops your changing canon so a project was started to monitor you. As progress continued and evidence you weren't evil after all, the project's aim changed. To send us home."

"... And break The Inconvenience Theory?"

"If our suspicions are correct you already break The Inconvenience Theory. We have been afraid to test, it just in case anything goes wrong, so we've waited until we've completed our monitoring of you. Ironically, Sasaki was the one who stopped our research."

"Why didn't you tell me?" questioned Naluri, clearly annoyed, "I would have cooperated if you told me what this was for."

"The problem is, we required a complete monitoring of you, including your emotions," sighed Ritsu, "If we told you, you'd know and your emotions and thoughts would be influenced. This is why I hesitated to tell you just a moment ago. Now I've told you, it might be impossible to finish the Hand Canon off. We tried to make it easier on you by joining the North High military to cover all combat research..."

"... But I refused..."

"Indeed. That's why Haruhi had you outlawed earlier. To force you to fight."

"... So the Hand Canon can't be finished?"

"Assuming I didn't tell you, this Canon couldn't be finished because it's tuned to Haruhi's own design. Similar to the Super Driver, it follows her own code. However, that means Sasaki would be capable of creating one from scratch. But now I've told you... I'm really not sure."

Sasaki stepped forward, "Naluri, your friend, Rokiahi. She has the same condition as a divine power sink. She could be a potential substitute subject for the project."

Santiago asked stepped forward, "Didn't you mention that back before Doomsday, you always changed universes? The Canon could solve all your problems as well as move every newcomer back to their original worlds."

Naluri could tell they were forcing a decision from her. "... I..." She wavered a moment longer. "Fine." She summoned pliers holding one of blade tips and held it out to Sasaki, "Cut your damn Barrier."

Sasaki stared at it, "... What's that?"

"It's the tip of The Subtle Knife," answered Solace, recognising immediately, "The knife could cut through anything including thin air to create dimensional portals." She looked at Rin who shook her head.

"We tried," noted Rin.

"Anyway," continued Naluri, "It's what the Thunder Child used to get through the Hakurei Barrier."

"I'm going to find it difficult to cut the Barrier round my neck," pointed out Sasaki, "Could you do it for me?"

"Fine," Naluri walked up to Sasaki who stretched her neck to the side. Naluri cut through the solid section of the Barrier, cutting into the metal choker and pulled the blade back. However, the Barrier repaired itself. "Wait. Didn't you say to me that the liquid Barrier could be used to pass through the solid Barrier?" Sasaki and Santiago realised the problem.

"The liquid Barrier lets the Knife through the solid Barrier..." mumbled Santiago in disbelief, readjusting his hat, "That means Sasaki's Barrier can't be broken... Not without Reimu."

Sasaki fell to her knees, "... But we don't know where Reimu is... Or if she's even alive..."

"Ritsu!" called Solace, "Where's Mikuru?"

"The Normandy has her prisoner," answered Naluri, "... Is time travel our only option? And do we know where any of this stuff is?"

"Umm..." began Ilse, "If you're thinking of rewriting the universe with time travel, I'd rather not get involved. Actually, I'd just like to find my friends."

"To be honest, I don't like this idea either," cautioned a troubled Lynette, "I don't want to keep running away."

"... I want to give this world a chance," input a worried Alice, stepping towards the open door.

"Alice!" cried Cirno, "I want to rescue my friends and undo my mistake... please? I need you with me."

Alice took a moment to gather her opinion, "... Sorry Cirno, time travel is too much... Best of luck, Cirno, Solace, everyone." She left the bridge, leaving Cirno close to tears.

"I will also take my leave," declared KITT, hovering and reversing to the deck door. Lynette left the bridge, carrying her rifle and a Striker Unit.

With no attempt to stop them, Solace sighed, "Well, what do we have? The TARDIS, The Time Machine, Ocarina of Time, Time-Turner, the DeLorean, the Sands of Time, the-"

Ilse, holding Lynette's second Striker Unit, interrupted while about to exit the door, "I might not like what you have planned but I don't want to see you fail." She turned to face the remaining eight people. "I'll tell you where the DeLorean is."

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