🔥 Fires of Hokkai – FinalA

Enough is enough – with the burn festival on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to finally get some answers.

Characters: Diana, Isa, Tonantzintla, Id

Warnings: Characters are unaware they have plot armor and are fully expecting to die

Wordcount: 2,289

Vibe: ID IS GOING TO BEAT OUR ASSES (unless…?)

i still feel rusty but!! i figured out how i wanted to end side a while i was falling asleep a few weeks ago and just now was finally able to get  the energy to word it out :’D very tense and dramatic though ooOOOOooooOOOO (what else can be expected from id though lets be real)

it feels nice to finally bring everything together in writing for this arc hehe

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As everyone had agreed on the plan, Arael quickly summoned up a wormhole for Isa and Diana – presumably leading to the space center. She and Beck gave and duo a thumbs up, which only Isa returned – as Diana seemed to be wringing her hangs in a worried fashion.

Still, Diana tried her best to swallow her fear and jumped through the wormhole alongside Isa.

It took the duo a moment to come to their senses after reaching the other side, but once they did, they could see they were inside of an enclosed outdoor area with concrete underneath them.

“Is… this it?” Diana asked, looking around.

“Can only assume so. Maybe she got us to a backlot area?” Isa replied warily.

“There’s probably cameras everywhere, but at least it feels a bit more discreet.”

“…Cameras?!” was all Diana responded with.

Isa looked around a bit, before pointing upwards after spotting it – a security camera.

“Well, yeah. It’s a government facility.” she nodded.

“Not as brutal as the stuff in station, but figure they’ve gotta have someone on watch. Though, considering alarm bells haven’t started blaring… I can only hope whoever’s watching things missed us arrive.”

Diana didn’t seem to look any more reassured.

Tonantzintla seemed to pick up on this, and quickly slipped back into perception.

“I’m sure I can make whoever is watching things unaware for a few hours.” they said.

“You do seem to forget I’m on the highest level of operation for the Station’s government, Isa. I’m sure an impromptu video call from me is all it’ll take.”

“Oh, shit, you’re right. That’d be awesome.” Isa nodded.

“I don’t have an issue with getting caught on camera, but I got the feeling it was freaking Diana out.”

Diana was facing the other direction as she was scanning the backlot, but quickly flushed up from Isa’s words – though she was able to collect herself before Isa could notice.

“Right! Um, okay!” Diana said in an abrupt manner.

“I, uh, think if Tonan’s got us covered… we can go in now?”

“Sounds solid to me.” Isa replied.

She fished the keycard that Arael’s grandmother had given them out of her hoodie’s pocket.

“Here goes nothing, I guess.”

Diana and Isa approached the back door, and with a sharp inhale, Isa hovered the card over the lock…

Beep, click! The door unlocked.

Isa and Diana took a moment to express their relieved shock in silence, before Isa lifted open the heavy door and the two slipped inside.

It was dark and quiet.

Though the facility had a generous amount of windows to let in natural light, the twilight of the evening hour was fading into the silence of night.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar situation for Isa – having spent the past 3 years with her aunt in the Station’s Underdeck had led to her becoming familiar with the sinister energy that being in places you weren’t supposed to be would carry.

But to Diana…

Her nerves were on end – and unintentionally, she huddled closer to Isa as the two carefully padded through the dark hallway.

“Hey.” Isa said, her voice hushed.

“You okay, Diana?”

Even with a gentle inflection, Isa’s voice breaking the silence was enough to make Diana flinch.

“I’m… fine.”

“You’re pretty clearly… not.” Isa huffed.

“You can hold my hand if you’d like?”

Diana flushed up again, and this time, Isa was there to notice.

For all intensive purposes, Diana figured that she’d gotten over her highschool crush on Isa when she moved away… but it seemed that wasn’t truly the case.

Diana could barely squeak out an answer, and went to grab Isa’s hand – which she proceeded to grip rather intensely.

Isa didn’t seem phased, though. She could understand that Diana was seriously on edge already.

Together, they crept through the dark facility, not quite sure what they were looking for.

Archives? An executive office? Neither of them really had a clue.

That was, until Diana abruptly stopped upon noticing something. She tugged on Isa’s arm, causing Isa to stand by as well.

“There’s energy over there. And I can see the glow of a keycard lock.” Diana whispered.

“…Energy?” Isa responded, confused.

Diana shook her head.

“Look it’s… a long story. But I figure there must be something important in there.”

Isa nodded. She was willing to accept whatever Diana meant by ‘energy’, really – considering her connection with Tonantzintla, and all – who wasn’t to say she had her own weird thing going on.

The duo approached the door, and, lo and behold…

CAPTAIN’S OFFICE

The plaque couldn’t have made it any more obvious.

Surely, there had to be something in here.

The beep and click of the keycard accepting felt piercing in the silence, and Diana and Isa practically had their breath held as they scrambled inside the office.

With an exhale and a click as the door shut behind them, the air finally felt still.

Stagnant, almost.

“Where should we look first?” Diana said with a hushed voice – while the two had finally found their destination, her nerves were still getting the better of her.

There were quite a number of bookshelves and filing cabinets in the room… even with all the time in the world, Diana couldn’t imagine trying to sift through them all to find something useful.

Thankfully, Isa had other plans.

“The computer, obviously.” Isa nodded.

“Everything has a digital copy nowadays.”

“Hold on…” Diana piped up as Isa started to make her way to the center of the office.

“There’s no way that wouldn’t be password protected, right?”

Isa shrugged, and pulled out the rather grand looking swivel chair to take a seat at the desk. She fished her wallet out of her hoodie, and dug around in it for a second – before pulling out a flash drive and waving it around a little.

“Was told to keep this on me at all times by, uh… my aunt’s… partner’s… sister.” Isa explained – though her words seemed a bit unsure as she was explaining however the tangential relationships of the Oni’s Den worked in a way that made sense.

“Can’t believe it’s finally coming in handy, maybe.”

“What is it?” Diana asked.

“Well, I know it’s a flash drive, but…”

“No idea.” Isa replied with a shrug.

“Just was told ‘if I ever needed a backdoor’…”

Isa plugged the flash drive into the computer, and powered it on. As the PC tower hummed to life and the bright monitor illuminated the dark office, the unsettling atmosphere only seemed to intensify as Diana kept watch.

The log in screen appeared, but quickly after it loaded, multiple terminal windows opened and closed in quick succession. One of these windows kept open though, and proceeded to start automatically executing some kind of command list.

Diana and Isa kept their breath held as they watched, until eventually…

password crack installed, admin permissions granted ^w^

hoshikuma waz here!!

The screen went black for a second, before the desktop loaded.

The background was a picture of Arael and her grandmother.

“…Holy shit.” Isa said under her breath.

“What kind of people are you related to?!” Was all Diana could follow up with.

“…Long story.” Isa replied, shaking her head.

“Well, I guess the world’s our oyster now… if we even know where to start.”

The desktop was relatively clean – outside of the usual suspects one would expect to find on a desktop, there wasn’t much else.

There were a few benign-looking folders, but it would seem a specific one caught the duo’s gaze at the same time…

diary.

It seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. Still, just clicking into it felt… intimidating. If whatever they were looking for was in here… what if it wasn’t something safe?

Isa opened the folder, and inside were a collection of text files with relatively unassuming names, similar in format to that of the folder itself.

anew.

darling.

canyon.

stray cat.

…

revenge.

That file stuck out as well. The other text files had names that seemed to reflect a positive or neutral tone, but revenge…

Isa peeked at the file stats before going to open it, and was briefly hit with a chill when she realized it lined up closely with the date her aunt had been attacked. Too closely.

Considering Isa’s hunch on the matter… it couldn’t be a coincidence.

With a double click, Isa opened the file… and a popup informed her that the file was encrypted with a secondary password.

Fortunately, when the password’s entry was requested, the same rapidly vanishing terminal windows came up again, and the input for the password suddenly filled itself.

Pressing the enter key, the file finally opened.

maybe ibaraki isn’t as stupid as i figured. she agreed rather adamantly to keep her nose out of things further… that woman is a liar at her core, but i could tell she was being honest. kind of laughable, how her tail was tucked between her legs the moment she realized i wasn’t someone worth fighting LOL.

though it’s disappointing the recursion anomaly got away. that one seems like she will be harder to corner if she decides to continue her interference.

daichan showed me the stockpile being kept in the outback yesterday, though. it’s quite amazing and concerning how far destructive technology has come… especially for a province that’s so decided on being a peaceful mediator.

apparently they were commissioned as experiments by the station, which is ideal for the plan.

everything is falling into place, almost perfectly. it makes me a bit disappointed, i wanted to have more fun… but can’t be getting distracted now LOL.

she’ll pay. soon enough.

lunaires, can you hear me? pay attention.

Isa was completely speechless. The way her gut dropped was indescribable.

Suika…

Though… Isa didn’t quite get the second half.

“What the hell is ‘the stockpile’…?” Isa mumbled to herself.

While Isa’s question was rhetorical, Diana’s horror seemed to offer an explanation.

“Weapons… weapons of mass destruction.” Diana hissed.

“They’re weapons of mass destruction that are sometimes tested deep in the outback. They’re the reason my mom… er, left her position working for the government.”

Isa wanted to say something, but her ears perked at a sound that made her go silent.

Without a word, Isa pushed Diana under the desk before diving under its cover for herself.

Diana wanted to protest, but Isa threw up her hand to fully cover Diana’s mouth – though by Diana’s expression, she seemed to realize it too when she heard it.

The door to the office had opened and closed.

It seemed like forever, though the moment of silence that followed was likely only a few seconds.

Until…

“It’s ironic. A cat is supposed to get rid of rats… not bring them in.”

Diana couldn’t recognize it, but Isa could.

That was definitely Id.

A cat…

Tonan… oh no. Did Id already pay them a visit?

Did… they fail to stop them?

“Get out from under the desk. You’re both adults now, aren’t you? You can deal with this like one.”

How did…

While Isa was completely frozen, Diana sharply inhaled and slowly moved to exit her cover.

“Diana…!” Isa hissed – but she was powerless to stop her.

Diana turned to face the one who’d caught them – and indeed, it was Id.

They had the same sly, resting smile they always had – but given the circumstances… it was terrifying to see.

“What, is your friend there a coward?” Id said, cocking their head.

“I suppose she’s an Ibaraki, too. Perhaps it runs in the family.”

Diana was silent, but her terror was evident. She wasn’t sure what she was trying to achieve by standing her ground.

If Id had already gotten through Tonan… there was nobody to come and help.

Which wasn’t even touching on the anxieties over how Id knew and got here, and what happened to Arael and Beck…

This was truly a nightmare.

“It’s a shame.” Id started, shaking their head.

“You’re high-profile, aren’t you… Diana, right?”

Diana flinched at hearing Id say her name.

“You’ll be more difficult to cover up. Maybe I’ll have to get creative with it.” Id continued with a huff.

“Don’t take it personally… this is just what happens to those who get too nosy.”

Nobody was coming to help.

It was dizzying… Diana stumbled, and caught herself on the chair.

But… the dizzy shifting around her didn’t stop. Diana’s heartbeat grew louder in her ears, to a point where she swore it almost could’ve felt like an old steam train…

Then, everything seemed to snap.

Initially, Diana thought that it was Id’s final blow – that it was all over.

But she kept breathing, even if everything around her felt like it was in slow motion… and then, she felt it.

The feeling of being firmly grabbed by her sweater’s scruff, and being lifted up… Diana reached out to grab Isa, before looking upwards and realizing who it was – and quickly, her spark of hope reignited.

The room became warped, and was dyed a bright pink hue. The boundary between reality and unreality had collapsed in on itself within the office – a thoroughly unexpected move that had caught Id off guard completely.

Diana and Isa were passed off to a man with a cane, who seemed to guide the two into a steam locomotive that had manifested into the room – though really, the room was completely gone… at this point, the group had fully entered unreality.

It was beyond confusing and overstimulating in every way for both Diana and Isa, but Diana knew she was safe now – because as she looked out from the train, she was there, clear as day…

Her mentor.

Her guardian angel.

Her best friend.