Hare of Misfortune

Sitting beside her, Nia reached out to take her hand in support, feeling her spiritual quakes that transferred emotions that were not her own. ”What happened?”

”I welcomed him after that endless, horrific battle against myself, beaten and ravaged...” Nia experienced a quiver from the goddess’ ruined wings to the tip of her own tail and ears. ”I thought I would receive succor and aid... Instead, I was impaled by my own weapons, stained in the blood of my own doubles. He was not the gentle boy who looked up to my mistress.”

Seeing the torture and bewilderment in Nike’s watery eyes, leaking liquid gold, Nia tried to comfort the personification as she went in and out of consciousness. Eventually, she asked to be shown the events of the tournament, yet her constitution was too weak to finish, and Nia let her slip back into blissful sleep two hours from the point she’d awoken.

She fixed the woman’s sheets again, glad that much of the initial confusion and shock was dying down. Once again, she had no clue what Rachel wanted to do with the poor woman, but that would come soon enough, now that she had pulled her inside. For now, all she could do was make them both comfortable. Her gained levels would be done with her partner.

Leaning back in her chair, Nia reflected on her own inexperience. Outside, she listened and observed Molly, Sam, and Scarlet, along with the host of nurses, doctors, and soldiers who came in from time to time. Apparently, she’d caused a bit of an upset when a nurse tried to undress Rachel and put her in some kind of terrible gown; naturally, she’d acted unconsciously and crushed her fingers.

Nia fussed with her hair, breathing out her stress. There was so much she needed to learn, and now she saw how much more of a burden she would be to her major when the curse returned. There were bits and pieces she knew about the world from her connection to Rachel, but it was far from perfect, let alone personal experience. She did know it wasn’t her place to interfere with Rachel’s family or do anything other than protect her leader.

In the hours that followed, Nia analyzed their connection and made a few troubling discoveries that would severely affect how they moved forward. It was thanks to the Synchro Points being put into their personal spiritual bond, rather than to items such as the hammer, that it was possible to bring Rachel into this space in the first place, bringing her closer to Nike to share in her restorative properties.

Her focus drifted to a clock as Rachel’s ears twitched, a low, exhausted groan passing through her lips. At least, she was regaining spiritual cognizance; it would still be quite a while before that translated to physical cognizance, however.

[Counter Curse Pool: 23%]

[1:23:00 Hours Remaining]

”Welcome back, Major. Feeling like shit?”

Rachel’s eclipse-like eyes opened and lowered to appraise her. A weak smile lifted her lips as she fell back against the pillow, ears draping against the backboard.

”Nia... You look good. How long?”

”Roughly the fourth day. I hear they’re moving you to a place called DC to meet someone called ’The President.’ That good, or do I need to break you out of this ’hospital,’ and find a safer location?”

”Mmm. No, it—should be fine,” she mumbled, coughing a little. ”What happened to us, and why am I in such a shitty state?”

”Thank her for your swift recovery.” Nia jabbed a finger at the resting personification in the bed beside her leader as Rachel’s weak gaze opened to take in the kiddy room. ”Can I suggest something, Major?”

Vision closing again, the hare’s chest shook with faint laughter. ”I don’t think I’m going anywhere soon. We’re still in this spiritual place, aren’t we?”

”Yes.” Letting the statement hang for a few seconds, she leaned her cheek against her fist while staring at the totally drained young woman in front of her, utterly defenseless without her. ”We shouldn’t use the Unique Moons. Not unless we absolutely have to.”

”Mmgm-haaa.” Resituating on her bed, Rachel puffed out a hiss as she forced herself to open her eyes again. ”Okay. I’m all ears. What’s on your mind, Soldier? You have something to get off your chest.”

Nia’s focus flicked to the resting, silver-haired goddess beside her leader. ”I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and studying in the past few hours regarding our spirits, these Seeds, and the effect these moons have on us, and I’ve come to a few conclusions.

”First, without Nike’s ichor sustaining us, we would have long been torn apart by the mess of energy flooding us, and part of that burden you shared with me, lessening the strain. Let’s not forget the Hell Moon restricting itself to the lowest state it could go.”

A slow nod came from her major as Rachel’s eyes fell to her stomach, internalizing everything she was expressing, yet Nia knew the hare could see everything in perfect focus.

”We are worsening Nike’s condition and slowing her recovery by putting so much stress on her by using all of this Negative Lunar Energy, such as the Hell, Blood, and Greater Harvest Moons. Your soul cannot sustain itself under their pressure for long. That kind of Force is counter to Nike’s nature as a Positive Energy being.

”In short, your goal was to protect Nike and give her a safe place to stay. Using Negative Energy moons will not accomplish that objective. Furthermore, our souls are not capable of sustaining that level of output, and only by pure luck, splitting the stress, and the specific types of moons used allowed us to go this far.”

Rachel followed her gaze to the resting woman. ”I see... So, that’s why Chang’e recommended that we try more Positive Unique Moons. We were hurting Nike, and I’m not suited to handle the Negative ones for long.”

”...Not exactly,” she whispered, drawing the hare’s attention as Nia straightened in her chair. ”Secondly, you actually do channel Negative Force rather well, which is something I obtained from our spiritual synchronization. You are very adaptable, Major, and I’m sure Izanami and others took note of that, but I am still catching up and have relied heavily on Nike’s ichor to keep pace.”

A thoughtful hum rumbled in the hare’s throat as she looked off to the side. ”Interesting... Eldritch is neither Positive nor Negative, as I understand it. Is that why Cerridwen chose me, and how does the Black Moon affect Nike?”

Not having an answer, Nia shrugged. ”These Unique Moons are extremely powerful, and the Black Moon is...unorthodox, is all I can say. If we were to study it during the transformation, then I’m sure we’d be able to learn more, yet that is also a risk.”

”It is,” Rachel said with a short sigh, forcing her hands onto her belly while recalling the experience. ”There was a point when we were turned, where I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back if I kept diving deeper into those enigmatic, misty layers, and I’d lose myself. Alright, we’ll limit it to only used when necessary; our pools of energy are finite anyway.”

Big ears shifting to the side, the hare rolled to stare at Nike and her, clearly restless. ”How will the energy affect me if you swap my Pool out and we don’t use [Lunar Spike] to simulate the moon’s presence? Can I still utilize certain aspects of being under the Unique Moon?”

A frown touched Nia’s face, crossing her legs the opposite way and looking at the clock again, gut tightening; she did fear the haze of childhood dampening her mind again. Clothing compressing around Rachel’s body outside their spiritual room with the sudden spike of discomfort, Nia had to force herself to relax a bit before giving her honest response.

[1:15:00 Hours Remaining]

”It’s...hard to say right now. From what I’ve observed, you’d probably have a very minor reaction, depending on the levels I give you, but I can’t mix Pools at this point. I can separate but not combine. It’s all or nothing. Rachel?”

”Mmm...” Head lulling to the side, the lunar hare jerked and opened her eyes again after twenty seconds. ”Hmm?”

”You’re fading again. If you keep forcing yourself to remain awake, then it might worsen your fatigue.”