Welcome to Gaia! ::

It wasn't long after jumping into the television world - with basically no hesitation at all - that Rednal landed in a place that could only be described as... disturbing. Aside from the thumping sounds of a beating heart - which he realized seemed to be moving in time with his own - the countless candles, offering plates, and general gathering of tiny items told him all he needed to know about who had created this space.

"...Ga-chan." he said quietly. "I know you're here."

Laughter echoed off of the walls as a feminine figure strode forward, smiling widely as she put her hands to her blushing cheeks.



"Finally! I've been waiting for this day for so long!" she said, a chuckle coming out of her lips. "Those filthy, skanky harlots can't reach us here. It's just you and me, alone, the way it should be!"

Rednal slowly clenched his fist as Yidhra caressed his mind. Persona - the mask worn to face the trials of the world - was the thing he needed most right now. All right, think about this rationally... the Shadow was the true self... and in that case, these were Keira's true feelings. The feelings she'd been wanting to speak for so long, pushed out to the surface despite her will.

"Ga-chan, I..."

"What is it, darling?" she asked, slowly moving closer. Her bright golden eyes were fixed upon him, unblinking. "You're happy, aren't you? I know you're happy - you must be happy, so happy that you can't even talk! I understand. After all, the two of us have a special bond that nobody else shares, right? We kept each other alive. I already decided to give you everything, so you don't need anybody else!" she strode forward, pausing by what looked like a dirty gym uniform and bringing it up so she could inhale its scent.

"This isn't the place you should be. You belong at home."

There was a loud crashing sound as one of the stands fell down, knocked over by Yuno's sudden movements as she turned around, then marched forward, grabbed Rednal, and slammed him into the wall.

"Home!? THIS is our home!" she cried, eyes bulging slightly. "There's nothing the outside world can give you that I can't! Not unless..." her gaze drifted down to the small collection of stabbed portraits, and her gaze narrowed just a bit as she pulled Rednal just a fraction of an inch away from the wall before slamming him in again. "Is it them!? You think they're better women than me!?" she growled.

"That's not what I-"

"LIAR!" Yuno hurled Rednal across the chamber, then darted forward and leaped through the air before landing on top of him, a knife in her hands. It just barely missed slamming into him as he twisted to the side. "Rednal... Rednal would never lie to me! I'm the most important person in his life, not these... these WHORES!" she screeched, stabbing the knife towards Rednal's chest. It never connected - for the form of Rednal's other self had appeared, hand-outstretched, and caught the blade with ease. "Stay out of my way!" Yuno howled, shadowy arms whipping up behind her and grabbing onto Yidhra. "Then let's talk about those sluts, shall we?" she asked, panting heavily as she stood up and returned her attention to Rednal.

"Aselia is a ****ing mute! She says one syllable, and yet people adore her! Oh, she's so cute, so kind, so sweet, so loyal! You've got to be kidding me! And yet she has the nerve to accept being called Rednal's girlfriend! Ahahahaha... I've pretended to look the other way while she flirts with the only one in this world who matters, but come on! She can't make Rednal happy - only I can do that!" A twisted figure rose up behind Yuno, darting forward to clash with Yidhra as Rednal's persona twisted in space, moving in a direction that didn't exist in order to escape from the grasp of the arms.

"Or maybe it's Asuka, who walks around like she owns the place!" Yuno shrieked as she began wrestling with Rednal, slamming his head into the floor. "She thinks she's so great just because she has a bunch of monsters to do her bidding, but she's nothing more than a filthy masochist! She's not even dedicated to Rednal!" Yuno slammed her face down, headbutting Rednal as hard as she could. "I mean, it's obvious, isn't it!? She likes girls - and probably more than she likes guys! She may have caught Rednal's eye, but she's never going to make him happy as long as she's chasing skirts! She's out of the house now and good riddance - because she doesn't belong in Rednal's life!"

Rednal pushed back as hard as he could, forcing Yuno's possessed body away from him as he scrambled backwards. "You don't understand."

"Understand!? You're the one who doesn't comprehend a thing!" A weapon - some kind of cleaver, it seemed - formed in her hand as she slashed out. Yidhra appeared again, but the weapon simply went straight through her and cut into Rednal's shoulder, drawing a sharp cry of pain from him. "Like that crazy cultist he allowed into the house! She practically worships the ground he walks on, all the while professing dedication to a deity nobody's ever heard of! Well, I know what goes on in the house, even if Rednal's not paying attention! She's just using him - and ****ing Asuka, too! She certainly doesn't love Rednal, so where does she get off trying to butt into his life!? The only thing she's doing is trying to distract him so she can hurt him!" A few tears trickled down Yuno's face before she screamed and stabbed down again, red blood splashing across the floor as she tore open another wound in Rednal's body.

"Korina doesn't love him! Asuka doesn't love him! Aselia doesn't love him! Nobody loves Rednal but me! Nobody understands him but me! Well, I'm tired of turning away and pretending that nothing is happening! He goes out to fight and comes home injured and exhausted, but he's always smiling the next day! Why? For people who don't even appreciate him or realize how far he'll go to help other people!" A surge of power flowed through the room, crashing against both Rednal and Yidhra. "I'm putting a stop to all of it! Any girl who so much as glances at Rednal... I'll murder them with my own hands!" Her weapon barely missed this time as Rednal pushed forward, instead of to the side, moving out of the weapon's trajectory.

With no hesitation, Rednal bent forward and kissed her. The resulting scream surged louder and louder as magical energy crackled through Yuno's body, then exploded outwards and tossed Rednal aside like he was no tougher than a limp noodle - this, happening to a boy who prided himself on determination and resilience. More blood splattered the ground as he coughed and pushed to his feet, then wiped the red liquid off of his lips.

"None of that is your decision!" Rednal cried, focusing his powers. Yidhra reappeared behind him, looking more serious than she ever had before. "Yes, I love them! I love them all, and I wouldn't have it any other way! Nobody has the right to dictate my feelings to me or say that I can't care about anybody else! I don't care if society thinks it's wrong! I don't care if my friends think it's wrong! I don't even care if you think it's wrong, and you mean more to me than anybody else on this planet!" he cried hoarsely. "You girls... you girls are what makes every day so much fun, and no, I don't want to lose any of you!" Yidhra shot forward, kicking Yuno's manifested energies in the face before opening up three of the mouths in her hair and spewing out nuclear devastation.

"I'm scared, you know! I've seen things that should have driven me insane... maybe they already have! Back when this school year started, I wasn't even expecting to be alive today because my heart was so weak! Even the best pills and medicines could only do so much, and now... now Yidhra's constant healing is the only thing that's keeping me going at all!" He fired a series of explosive nuclear spells right into the shadow form's body. Yuno cried out, feeling the pain despite the separation between her and the mass of energy. "The only thing I could do was wait to die, and now I have more than I ever imagined I could! No, I don't want to give any of it up, and maybe that does make me selfish! I don't care! I like it when I get home and see Aselia miming everything that's happened in a day! I like it when I hear stories of Asuka's adventures with the Yatagarasu, and I even love it when Korina's teasing me as much as she can! And... and the others... I love them, and I LOVE YOU!"

"THEN WHY DIDN'T I HAVE A CHILD!?" Yidhra shot backwards as the dark mass of power behind her reformed. "I mean... ha ha ha... a child from the future, really!? And it's Aselia's, not mine!? That's not funny. That's not funny at all. If anybody's going to give you a child, it's going to be me, and I won't let anybody else get in the way." She threw her head back, laughing madly. "I'll do anything for Rednal... whether you like it or not, I'm going to make you happy!"

She darted forward, bringing her weapon around and slamming the blunt end against Rednal's head. He cried out and staggered backwards even as Yuno dropped her weapon and grabbed his neck, squeezing tightly. "Right? Right!? Everything of Rednal's belongs to me... EVERYTHING."

"I... won't... give you... a kid..." Rednal gasped out with the air that remained in his lungs. Yuno's eyes widened as she staggered backwards.

"No... no... Rednal wouldn't say that. He wouldn't deny my love, he'd never do that." she whispered, the blood draining away from her face.

"A child... wouldn't make... you happy..." Rednal panted out. "I know you, Keira. You're the most loving, loyal, dedicated, talented, and beautiful girl anyone could possibly ask for."

"Then why can't I have a child!?" she shrieked, darting forward and grabbing him again. "TELL ME!" she slammed him into the walls again.

"A child would just distract you! Your problem is that you care too much. You care WAY too much, and you can't hold yourself up to the standards you've set! You don't need to be perfect, Ga-chan! You just need to be yourself!" he pushed forward and embraced her as Yidhra and Yuno's manifested powers continued to clash, shaking the entire floor of the tower as they unleashed all of the power at their disposal. "What I feel for anyone else is never going to change the way I feel about you. I said it before, didn't I? I'm selfish - and no matter what, I'm not going to give up on you. I'll accept all of your feelings. You don't need to hold back anymore, or fear my responses, or anything like that. You just need to be yourself, Keira. I already gave you my heart... so I can't exactly complain if you're giving yours to me."

More tears began to flow out of Yuno's eyes as she slumped down, sobbing.

"That's not fair..." she whispered, sniffing. "How... how am I supposed to fight against that?" she stiffened as she felt Rednal hug her even tighter.

"Would you believe me if I said I'd rather be a lover than a fighter?" Rednal asked softly, brushing some of Yuno's hair back. Slowly, she nodded... then hugged Rednal back.

"I'll always believe you." Yuno muttered. "No matter what." her words were a quiet murmur, and Rednal looked up to the manifested darkness that was still there, damaged but willing to keep fighting.

"Then watch me." he said, holding out his hand. Yidhra reappeared behind him, one of her hair-mouths moving around and opening wide so he could retrieve his gun from it. Its form twisted around as he brought it towards his head, becoming something even more eldritch than before - and that was actually saying something, considering the normal form of the gun made more bullets - of the same size - by rearranging the pieces of the standard bullets like they were a jigsaw puzzle. It made absolutely no sense, but neither did many of the things he'd seen.

In a movement that would have done S.E.E.S. proud, Rednal pulled the trigger, and Yidhra's power blew free of his mind. Out of the opposite side of his head, tendrils of darkness surged forth and wrapped around his body, forming a sturdy layer that was covered over by a faintly green-tinged suit. He shot forward a moment later, kicking into the monstrous amalgamation before it shot out a tendril, grabbed his ankle, and slammed him into the ground.

Yuno barely had time to cry out before Rednal raised his gun again and began pulling the trigger as fast as he could. Each time he did, the eldritch weapon sent out a different burst of power, eclipsing even the powerful Dyne series of spells in their potency. He had no control at all over what happened - not the piercing ray of light that shot through the beast's torso, nor the heavenly thunderbolt, raging gust of wind, or massive spear of ice. Still the beast thrashed around, given form and power by Yuno's thoughts... and nobody was likely to underestimate just how powerful her feelings could be.

"Gurk!" Rednal coughed out a pile of blood as he was whipped through the air and slammed into the wall before being unceremoniously dropped to the ground. He staggered up again, though, bleeding heavily from all the wounds he'd accumulated... and he simply glared up at the beast. "My masks... represent growth." he said, staggering forward and raising his gun. It shifted back into the more familiar form of Regulus EX as he aimed down its sight.

"Sekai no Kami, Goddess of the World. My world, the world of fantasy and illusions." A spew of nuclear fire shot out of his weapon and flung his foe across the chamber. "Sola Invictus, the Unconquered Sun. A light that broke free to shine on not just my world, but the worlds of everyone in my life." he forced down the urge to vomit as he fired a second nuclear bullet through the air, right on the heels of the first. "And Yidhra, Goddess of Dreams and Paradoxes. An unknowable creature from beyond all of space, yet surprisingly mundane and fun. Making less sense than anyone, but still the greatest partner I could have. I don't... even understand... where my power comes from, you fat freak." A third nuclear bullet roared out. "So go ahead and give me your best, because one way or another, you're going to die here!"

The mass of power darted forward, enveloping Rednal and stabbing inward with countless blades of power. It was a wretched, cursed power... and from the inside, Rednal simply screamed, letting his emotions rush towards their peak. Yidhra disappeared from the air beside him, but only because she was fusing with his body. His outfit changed again, becoming like a male version of what Yidhra wore, even as his hair lengthened and sprouted mouths in a way very reminiscent of Yidhra's own tresses. Unlike hers, though, the eyes in his hair glowed orange with nuclear power, and his willpower alone formed the sphere of green energy that wrapped around his body, pushing the shadow away.

Before it could even finish reforming, Rednal darted through the air, wrapping the monstrous shadow in a net of green energy and pinning it to the floor as he whirled around in mid-air, three mouths in his hair opening wide. "Yidhra's patron is Azathoth, the blind idiot god. I suppose the first two parts there describe me pretty well... but he has another name as well, and I borrowed it for this technique. This is the Nuclear Chaos." Three streams of brilliant power, magnified by Rednal's nature, shot outwards and slammed into the screaming mass of emotions that had forced its way out of Yuno's body. The girl could only watch, trembling slightly, as she saw the side of Rednal that only his friends and enemies had witnessed before now.

A wave of almighty power shot through the net and crashed into Rednal as Yuno's powers continued to fight for all they were worth, though there was a distinct tinge of fear in their movements even as they earned a scream of pain from the boy. Rednal held his hands out a moment later, as if cupping a sphere, and two more mouths in his hair opened up and pushed forward. Rays of energy shot out from each, meeting in the middle of the imagined sphere and quickly forming an actual mass of power. "And in the... aftermath of... devastation, a horror... that plagued the world! It's called the Nuclear Winter!" he plunged his hand into the sphere of power, grabbing its core, and hurled it downwards. The resulting shockwave turned half the floor into nothing more than one giant crater, even as what was left of the shadow's body burned as the power of the spell ignited it.

"Haaaaaaate... yoooooou..." the beast moaned, even as it pulled itself together.

Rednal simply held up two fingers, looking at his frightened foe. "This is my greatest power, though." he said quietly. "I don't like using it, because it pulls up every bad feeling inside of me... but you're a good outlet for that, aren't you? I mean... I like it when my enemies are afraid of me! I want them to be afraid, and it's freaking incredible when they are! So many of them are monsters no matter what species they call themselves. They hurt my family, my friends, and everyone I care about... and I'm not a f***ing saint! I'm happy when they're afraid of me, because that's the criteria for this!"

Dozens of mouths formed in his hair and shot downwards, grabbing every piece of Yuno's manifested shadow and gathering it together as he began chanting. "That is not dead... which can Eternal Lie." Rednal whispered as Yidhra turned her full attention to the shadow, paralyzing it in place. "And with strange aeons, even death may die!" The mouths bit down, ripping at the darkness and shredding its power until nothing remained except a glimmering plume, captured and held within the darkness to give it power. Rednal dropped down to the ground a moment later, then collapsed, panting heavily as Yidhra pulled back from him and kept her powers going. A small, weak smile managed to make its way onto Rednal's face as Yuno rushed over to him, an indistinct glowing figure visible in the air behind her.

"Hey, don't worry..." Rednal said weakly. "Yidhra's good at patching me up. I'll be... better... in no time."

"As if that matters!" Yuno cried out, grabbing him and hugging as hard as she could. She didn't even mind all the blood that coated her clothes. "Is that... is that what your world is like now?"

"...Yeah. This is pretty normal." there was no point in lying, but even Rednal wasn't prepared for the look of determination in Yuno's eyes... nor for the faint reflection that appeared as she stood near the wall.



"...Then I'm going to fight with you." she declared softly. "If there's a risk, Rednal, then we'll risk it together. Just promise me that whatever happens... at the end of the day, we'll be together. You gave me a life... and I'm deciding what to do with it."

"...Deal." he said weakly. Yuno quietly knelt down, pulling his head onto her lap... and waiting for whatever else might happen. He'd be gone soon enough, off to do whatever he needed to do in this place, but at least in this moment she'd give him all the comfort she could.

Keira Gayuno

All of this was still so strange - but it didn't seem like she could follow the path Rednal had taken. With that, Keira quietly exited the Shrine to Love from a different way, occasionally bouncing off of an invisible wall as she made her way through the area. It was impossible to say what drew her in any one direction, nor why one particular glow caught her eye more than the others... but Keira eventually bent down, picking up a feather and looking curiously at it before it disappeared in her hand. What had that been all about...?

???

There was a small bit of movement from the end of the hallway, like a figure ducking back out of sight and apparently trying not to be seen. On the other hand, pink was a fairly vivid color - something Misha probably understood more than most - and in a place like this its cheerfulness stuck out all the more. There was one more point of interest, though - the sound of somebody trying to hide further down the hall, but not doing the best job of it. At the very least, it seemed Misha wasn't alone here...

???

Around the corner, a number of desks had been piled all down the hallway - not blocking it, but definitely making navigation a bit tricky. Peeking out from about halfway down was the figure that had fled, just barely visible past all the debris... but she didn't seem like she was running away at the moment. Rather, she was just shyly watching Misha, seeming a little too afraid to approach the other girl. That wasn't a very common feeling in the world... and who knew what madness had lead to it happening here?

???

Somewhat surprisingly, the other girl didn't run away again. Instead, as Misha got closer and closer, she simply waited where she was... and when Misha was finally close enough, her hand rose up and came to rest on Misha's head, gently rubbing back and forth. A tiny smile - so faint it almost wasn't there - crossed the quiet girl's face. At the very least, she didn't seem to be one of this place's enemies... and it was much better to have two people here than one, right? So many things were less scary when a single other person was around... that was just how people tended to be.

???

The quiet girl accepted the hug, gently continuing to rub Misha's head and help her understand that she wasn't alone. Her tiny smile widened just a little bit more as Misha let her feelings out - it seemed she was willing to accept them, at least for now, without reservation. "...Shall we look for a way out?" she eventually suggested, her sweet voice gentle and clear.

???

The other girl reached down and gently gripped one of Misha's hands, then quietly began walking through the corridors and searching for a route that both of them could take. Meanwhile, if nothing else, she could offer Misha the warmth of her hand... a small comfort in this place of dread and despair, but a real one nonetheless. Besides... she, too, was scared. She didn't know where she was, she barely knew who she was, and there was a faint voice in the back of her mind...

I am the True Self...