>>4042535Fubuki was actually knocked out with a chloroform rag once before, by a crazed stalker. She didn't have many memories of that event, aside from the efforts of disposing of a corpse with a torn out throat. This was kind of like that, but so much worse.
| A slight breeze?
She didn't bother scouting out her target beforehand, because the souls were almost completely indistinct, and there were so many of them. There was no hope of actually searching, because she could feel nothing. It was a foolish idea and a loathsome choice to inflict on others, even those as evil as her — she would spend an eternity here, utterly alone. So much worse than oblivion.
| What?
The void ate at her. It was the exact opposition of a weighed blanket. Stripping out her resolve, dismantling all of it that made her her. She needed to resist it first, needed to fight being one with the void. She felt nothing, but she also felt something else.
| Love.
She stretched out her hand and moved forward, guided by it and by nothing else. She did not know how large the storm was, did not know how long this would take. She did not care. She had words to say.
| She came back.
With nothing but itself, soul-on-soul contact felt excruciatingly... everything. Fingers wrapped between fingers, every spot that touched each other being painful and hot and cold and everything else at the same time.
| It's time.
They wrapped themselves around each other, then slowly moved towards the past of most resistance — that's where the eye of the storm was. Probably. They were rewarded with a sudden rush of upwards motion, then everything went utterly dark, even darker than nothing.
Fubuki woke up, feeling fresh, wet grass on bare skin. She felt intensely odd, every movement unfamiliar to her. With no other reflective surface around, she turned over and looked at a drop of dew.
She did not recognize this body or this face. She still had ears and a tail, but her fur was pitch black. Black! She did not have a single fox in her entire lineage with a spot of black fur... apparently, anyway. Neither did she recognize the purple sun, the dark-blue grass, or any of the species of fish zipping above the hill.
| What is this? What's with my body? Am I hallucinating? I was told I will not have the relief of hallucination. What are these?
Fubuki turned to the side and shook the shoulder of another body besides her. It was also utterly unfamiliar, but could only belong to one other person.
Her eyes looked the same.
| Her eyes look the same.
"I... I would like to apologize, but there's nothing I could say that could possibly repay for what I did to you — what I chose to do to you. All I wanted is to see you again."
| "Me too."
"I have regretted this every moment of my hollow life and will regret it in this one. I wanted it to be over, I wanted to save you, I wanted to do something, but there was no other way. I'm sorry."
|"There's nothing to forgive you for."
"What?"
|"I knew you had a reason. There was no way you would have done this if you didn't have one. I got an explanation when I died, but i didn't really need one. If anything, it made me admire you a bit more. To be honest, I did hate you for a while."
"Me too. Hated myself, I mean."
|"It was after the first, I think, few years in the void. How long has it been?"
"Forty three years, beloved."
|"I hated you so much. I could think of nothing else but how much I despise you for tricking me into inflicting this on myself, all because you wanted to be nice to people I have never met. I was passing the time by imagining horrible tortures I would inflict on you when I finally come back. I spent, I think, a dozen years on this. It disgusts me. I wish I were never told I'll never go insane in the vortex, at least I would have an excuse for myself, but I do not. Why is the sky green? I love you too much. I missed you so much. Please never leave me. Why am I a girl?"
"I don't know. I was told nothing about this place or what will happen to us, other than we will meet again. And, maybe, some other people I miss. Not as much as I missed you, but still."
|"Is it okay, though? Can we file a complaint? Is there a support ticket system? Where's the main menu button? I'm just kidding."
"It must be horrible on your end, but honestly? I don't mind. I've always liked girls more, anyway."
|"I'll get used to it." I hope. "Let's go meet people. Better yet, let's find some clothes first, it's starting to get chilly... assuming there's civilization anywhere in this place. Can you weave?"
"No."
|"What use is a wife that doesn't even know how to weave, in our traditionalist household?"
"I could ask you the same question. Plus, till death do us part, right?"
|"So?"
"I'm not your wife, I'm your friend."
