Work Text:
When Raiden Mei was little, her father used to spend a lot of time with her as if making up for the mother she had lost. They used to visit a shrine in Nagazora city quite a lot after they moved here, go on trips, and celebrate each other's birthdays and other holidays. He used to teach her Hokushin Ittou-ryuu style of sword fighting. During this time when Mei look into Ryouma's eyes, they were filled with warmth and happiness. When there was work that required him to pay more attention to it rather than to her, there were servants to stay with her, she rarely was lonely.
But that started to change after Mei was kidnapped. She was traumatized by what had happened that even years of therapy couldn't fully stop nightmares about it and getting scared of some noises. It didn't help that the closest person to her paid more and more attention to work than her when she need it the most. They didn't visit the shrine or go on trips. He would only send her birthday presents, which disappointed much the younger Raiden, she wanted to see him rather than have a present. Ryouma hardly ever was home and when he was his eyes didn't show that warmth and happiness, but a bit of cold tiredness with a hint of pain which made Mei wonder if her father stopped caring about her. Although servants were still with her, she rarely wasn't lonely.
When Mei's father went to jail for fraud, she didn't know what to think. At first, she thought there was no way he would have done this, but the more she pondered about this, the more she realized that she didn't know anything about him.
The rest of the world felt to Mei like it was going against her. All whom she once thought as friends at first just distanced themselves, and spoke ill of the Raiden's household behind her back. Mei realized that all the girls that had spent time with her and all the boys who had confessed to her never were her friends, but people that came to her because of her family name. But that soon turned into insulting her or her family directly, calling her a criminal even if she hadn't done anything bad. She just wanted to live like an ordinary girl, but because of ostracization and bullying, she couldn't. Even Raiden's family servants, whom she knew her whole life, turned their backs on her, she began to hate the world and she truly became alone.
At the start of her second year of high school, a brown-haired girl wearing bandages on her arms and neck and almost a head shorter than Mei approached her. "An anime cosplayer?" she thought to herself. After she got closer look noticed that she was wearing the first-year Senba uniform under her coat and became a bit wary. The weird girl talked to her, but her words were really incoherent, almost as if spoken in some code. Raiden wasn't able to understand anything but her name, which made her unsure whether the odd person had good intentions, so just to be safe, she simply chose to ignore the shorter girl and continue to walk. After a few tries at getting Mei's attention again, she gave up and walked away, but since that day she had been approaching Raiden every few days with the same results.
Days passed and the feeling of detestation of the world only grew along with her unwillingness to live. Mei stared at her reflection in the mirror in her room, she was pale, and her eyes showed painful lifelessness, which made her feel even more depressed. She covered the mirror and glanced at her forearm. Where more and more cuts had been showing up since the unfortunate scandal. Young Raiden looked at a knife and back at her arm, fighting the urge to add another. Mei knew she shouldn't be doing it, but somehow the physical pain and the red liquid called blood made her feel calmer.
All of a sudden, she started to feel uneasy. "Don't you want to make them pay?" she suddenly heard a voice and looked around, but no one was there. "I will help you, but you need to give in to me," the voice continued. "Call me when you're ready. I will always be with you," after those words, there was complete silence, and the feeling of uneasiness disappeared. "I think I'm going crazy," Mei said out loud and looked at the watch on her arm. It was time to go to school..
She was about to open the door to her classroom, but she overheard a conversation between her classmate, or more like their plan to bully her. Mei had enough, she didn't want to deal with it anymore, she wanted them gone and wanted to have someone to help her, and then, she remembered the voice she thought she imagined. "Maybe it's worth trying, maybe it will help," she thought and tried to reach out to it. "Smart choice, I will help you, you don't have to worry about anything, you just need to give in to me," the voice responded and Mei did as it told her.
Raiden heard a clap of thunder and everything became muffled to her. She wasn't sure what was going on, whether it was a dream or not, but she had flickers of images, like the destroyed classroom, some classmates dead, and some turned into zombies, "It got to be a dream, zombies don't exist, right" she said in her thoughts, as other sceneries appeared one by one. There was a different one as it had two alive girls, one she recognized as the weird freshman and the other a white-haired girl, whom she had never seen, but she gave her an odd sense of familiarity.
Mei ignored them because she knew this place would end up like the other in her "dream". The dark-haired girl mumbled her thoughts, and unlike in the previous scenes, she could hear their distanced voices as if they were responding to her. Mei only could catch some words, "Savior? You can't understand my pain. You don't know anything. There is no one like this in this world... even if there was---" she didn't want to finish.
"Herrscher?" That's a word Mei hadn't heard.
"World destruction?" she had thought like this, but she didn't actually want this to happen, and it's also what made her reconsider whether it really was a dream. The black-haired girl started to feel guilty after realizing what she had done.
The placed changed, and the brown-haired girl showed up again, but Mei couldn't hear what she was saying, and neither could her words get through like before. "Be quiet!" Raiden heard the voice and couldn't do anything but watch, even if she wanted to stop it.
Soon the white-haired girl also showed up behind Mei's controlled body, starting a fight. As it went on, she slowly began to break through.
"Get.... out.... of my body!"
"Shut up! You should have just quietly given me your body! You wanted to get revenge on this world, right?"
"It... is... enough, just let me die..."
"You! What are you trying?"
Mei heard the other two yelling something as she walked to the fence, but right now, she just wanted to die because of what she did and because she couldn't have anyone now. She jumped, but the weird freshman caught her. The brown-haired girl struggled to hold Mei with both hands, not wanting to let go and asking for help from the other girl, even if Raiden begged her to let go. The white-haired girl reached out her hand. Raiden looked into her eyes, they were filled with confidence and reassurance. She grabbed her hand, it felt warm and made her feel safe. She pulled her up without any problem, which shocked Mei a bit.
"Thank you...." she was really grateful, for saving her, for showing her to someone is there for her, for telling her to live.
"It looks like your personality completely came back! I'm a bit late with the introduction, but I'm Kiana Kaslana, a transfer student! From today I'm going to study at the Senba Academy, nice to meet you!" somehow Kiana's name sounded so familiar to Mei even if she hadn't known anyone with this name.
"Isn't this completely different from what you told me before!? I'm this world's savior, Houraiji---"
"Houraiji Kyuushou, we meet again!" this time she was sure Kyuushou didn't mean anything bad but was just a bit weird girl.
"Eh! So you remember me!"
"At the start of the school year, next to the school's gate you said things that I didn't really understand. But your unusual appearance left a strong impression on me," she was afraid that she was pulling some kind of cruel joke or someone else would do it to both of them.
"So why didn't you say anything to me?"
"Sorry, I didn't understand what you meant... If I replied, it... Others could misunderstand and...." she didn't want to tell the reasons directly.
"....What kind of a devil's doing," Kyuushou said with tears in her eyes.
"Hehe," Mei laughed awkwardly. "Hey, "can I call you Kyuushou-chan?" she added to lighten up.
"C-Call me as you as you want!" Houraiji said flushing.
"Kyuushou-chan is interesting, somehow kind, and really cute," Mei said what she thought. Kiana seemed to be a bit annoyed at this. "Cute? There is no way. Okay, maybe from the outside, but inside she's a chuunibyou! I think Mei-senpai is a lot more beautiful! I also want to be called with chan."
"Beautiful" now it was Mei's turn to blush, she felt her heart beat faster. The black-haired girl felt like this for the first time, she hadn't felt like this when boys confessed their feeling to her before. She calm down a bit, smiled, and added " I understand, Kiana-chan, nice to meet you."
"So... what had happened? After hearing thunder, I don't really remember anything... You two saved me, right?" Kiana was about to answer, but a phone rang, and instead, she picked up. While she talked on the phone, Mei pondered much about what had happened, what is she and who exactly is Kiana. The signal was cut off. The transfer student explained that they needed to go meet with her acquaintance on the city outskirts.
On their way, Mei was looking at the destroyed city, making her feel guilty after all, she brought it upon it. What is honkai? What is herrscher? Was she still human? Those thoughts occupied her mind. The first-year students said they think of her as a human, which relieved her a bit.
Armored robots approached them, and Kiana fought them off, leaving Kyuushou in Mei's care. Although she wasn't injured, the older girl still was worried, but the warrior brushed it off with a bit arrogant tone. The next topic of their conversation made her bothered. It was her father and his connection to this organization called Anti-Entropy. She really didn't know what to think. She always thought that his work had been odd. And then the scandal and imprisonment and now this. "Could he do something bad." she thought to herself.
"Thank you for telling me," Mei said conflicted.
"Nah, we're friends now, although there are some things I can't talk about."
The word "friends" made the older student happy. She was very glad to have friends again, but there also was a bit disappointed, she wanted something more than just a friend with this particular girl. "The comment from earlier definitely meant that she was interested, right?"
They encountered another enemy, a girl with a rifle, who also made Mei feel some familiarity, but she was dangerous. They engaged in combat in which Kiana got hurt. The older girl forced Kyuushou to give her bandages, which was a cruel thing to do to a chuunibyou, and left her in tears. It was the first time Mei was irritated with her.
Mei saw the enemy's backup coming when she was about to yell, "Watch out!" she felt a hit on her head, and her vision blurred.
When she woke up, she felt someone's hand on her breast. Mei got scared and hit the person, she later realized it was Kiana. The black-haired girl somehow didn't mind if it was her. "It does confirm that she is interested in me like this, right?" her track of thoughts was interrupted. They needed to not get caught and find a way out.
They met one of Anti-Entropy's executives. What she told them about Raiden Ryouma made Mei relieved that he was framed, but also worried about his work, and for what purpose he built armored mechas with the organization whose logo she recognized from the time she had been kidnapped when she was a kid.
Kiana's acquaintances came to pick them up, taking them to St. Freya where Mei began a new life free of ostracization and bullying. She finally could live happily, almost like an ordinary girl, if it weren't for honkai.
She felt safe, loved, and wanted, she didn't think of cutting herself again, but her concerns about being a herrscher didn't go away. She couldn't hear the voice, nor it responded to her. There even was a moment where she thought it was gone, but she felt its presence when she was in a place with higher concentrated honkai energy. She knew it hadn't gone anywhere and never will.
Some time passed, Raiden and Kaslana had gotten closer to each other. Mei liked looking into the blue eyes, they were almost always full of life, filled with confidence, energy, and kindness. The black-haired girl was usually showered with attention by the other, pecks on forehead, cheeks, lips, embraces, constantly spending time with her, even if she did something the young knight found boring, which often resulted in napping next to her, looking extremely cute. But this time was a bit different. Kiana smiled slightly mischievously and had Mei pinned to a tree, kissing her passionately for the first time. The taller girl blushed as their tongues tangled. Her heartbeat got even faster when she felt the rank B valkyrie's fingers on her stomach under her shirt, going upwards.
"Kiana! Mei!" They heard Kyuushou calling them. Kiana quickly pulled away. Mei was disappointed that it ended, but at the same time, also glad that Kyuushou interrupted them before it went too far. She felt that things were progressing too rapidly.
"Are you ill, Mei-senpai? Your face is red." Kyuushou innocently asked after she had gotten closer. Mei looked at shuddering Kiana, who was just slightly pink. Somehow she was grateful that the brown-haired girl was stuck in her childish fantasy, and what they were doing didn't cross her mind. "I'm fine. It's just too hot." It wasn't completely a lie.
"So, what do you want?" Kiana cut in with an aggressive tone, which Mei disliked.
"W-We, as the chosen ones, have summoned to meet the marquess," Kyuushou said scared. Her way of speaking was hard to understand at first, but after some time and willingness, It wasn't so bad. Mei understood that, but Kiana was only annoyed.
"Ok. Could you go first? We will be there soon." The tallest girl said before the knight said something cruel or worse hit her. Even if she knew Kiana did like Kyuushou and wouldn't actually harm her. Raiden sometimes felt Kaslana was, at times, out of control, she really didn't like that rare side of her.
Kyuushou ran first. Kiana and Mei calmed down, but from different things, and went in the direction where the chuunibyou had gone.
Mei knew from Kyuushou that they were going to meet the headmaster, but she didn't expect her to be so young, if she hadn't known it was Kiana's mother, she would have assumed she was her sister.
Cecilia tested them all together and after wanted to show them something, but for whatever reason, it felt like she didn't want Kiana to come with them. It made Mei have a bit of a bad feeling.
As they went through the corridor, the headmaster was revealing dark secrets behind Schicksal and the valkyries. Mei and Kyuushou didn't want to listen or to become valkyries anymore. They wanted to leave, but it turned out that Cecilia in-secret planned to take the fragment of the second herrscher's core from Mei and Kiana's stigma from Kyuushou, so together with the main part of the herrscher of void's core make Kiana a herrscher. Raiden understood what was it like to become one so she wanted to protect her partner from it.
The S-rank valkyrie saw that convincing the students was futile and decided to take a more forceful measure. Both of them were fighting with their whole strength, but the difference between them was so overwhelming that it didn't take long for them to start losing. Kyuushou passed out, and Mei was close to.
Raiden saw shocked Kiana with her father getting closer, "Ugk, Kiana-chan... Don't come closer...". Mei's vision blurred, and she wasn't able to hear what they were saying. Then the pain came from the core's removal and stronger gravity, waking her up a bit.
"I'm sorry... Mei-senpai.... It's my fault." She heard Kiana's painful voice next to her, "It's okay... As long as we're together.... There is nothing to be afraid of." Mei said quietly, trying to smooth her. She was glad that she had met her, that she would spend her last moment with her.
Raiden accepted her death and waiting for it, but it didn't happen. Kyuushou somehow was able to resist the strong gravity and pushed out Mei and Kiana, but for her was too late. She became a herrscher.
Out of guilt, Cecilia decided to help Houraiji. They were able to stop the herrscher, but Kyuushou fell into a coma. Himeko arrived and took the kids to Hyperion as the main forces of Schicksal launched another attack, which consumed the ruins of St. Freya and the headmaster. Kiana watched in pain, betrayal, sadness, and anger, all combined.
"Mei, how is the situation?" Himeko asked worryingly.
"Kyuushou-chan is still unconscious, Kiana-chan locked herself and refuses to see anyone. Himeko-sensei, what should I do...? What can I do...?" Mei felt useless, she wanted to comfort her knight and help her calm down, but she didn't know how.
"I'm not able to understand what happened! St. Freya was reduced to ashes! Everyone.... It's the same as with my father.... I don't want to feel like that again!" she had tears in her eyes, this felt too similar to her.
"Mei! There is no time to be in despair! You're the only one who can be with them! So get a grip and give them support!"
"But.... Nothing will change with someone like around...." she remembered the awful words from her time in Senba Academy. "Mei, you're one of my students that I'm the proudest of. You're gentleness and kindness are your biggest strength. I'm sure you can do it," those words created a conflict in Mei's mind.
While Raiden was figuring things out, Anti-Entropy forces made contact with Hyperion. But her track of thoughts was pushed aside when she heard that Himeko had decided to join forces, for now. She wasn't sure whether it was a good idea. But Kyuushou desperately needed help, and this should be her priority.
They were transferring Kyuushou to the Doctor. Kiana also came out, which made Mei a bit relieved, but then the name "Welt" woke anger in Kaslana, making her aggressive, wanting revenge, and even having murderous intentions. Raiden started to worry even more she understood that her partner was in great pain, but they should help Houraiji first. Mei tried to stop her, but it didn't really work. Himeko took action and knocked her out.
Raiden once again felt useless, there was nothing she could do now to help, and there was nothing she could have done for Kiana. She needed to do something, anything. She saw the mess the Doctor had in her laboratory and couldn't help but start cleaning and listen to Yssring's scientific mumbling while she worked to help Kyuushou, which gave the herrscher some ideas that might help. She really hoped Kiana and Kyuushou would be alright.
Kyuushou state was stable but still sleeping. Kiana calmed down, but her eyes lost the energetic and cheerful feeling, instead they showed great pain. Mei tried to be there for her as much as she could.
With time Kiana was happy again, maybe not as much as before the incident, but one could tell she was doing alright, which made Mei very glad. The black-haired girl really thought that from now everything would be going well, her young knight was doing better, there was a big possibility that they found a way to wake up Kyuushou, they just needed to study it more.
The relationship between Raiden and Kaslana also changed. Kiana was less affectionate and didn't try to rush things like before. They usually just cuddled or gave each other light kisses. Although Mei preferred taking it slow as they were doing now, she missed their older type of relationship.
What she didn't expect was Schicksal finding out where the base of Anti-Entropy was and their timing when they were getting close to waking up Houraiji, they attacked. Mei, Kiana, and Cocolia's kids were doing everything they could to defend the base, but it wasn't going so well.
After some intensive fights, two ex-St. Freya students were called by Welt. Kiana wasn't aggressive towards him anymore, which made Mei relieved. He wanted them to go to the stigma world and take back their stigmata. They agreed.
In the stigma world, they saw Nagazora city, but it wasn't like the one they knew, it looked older and even more destroyed, the sky had weird markings, and where the Senba Academy once was, was a huge tower. They wondered if an era like this really existed and what would have happened to them if it had happened to them.
"I'm sure we were 'one flesh' like we are now." Mei blushed when she heard those words.
"Yeah... But this world was destroyed by honkai, we probably had become skeletons by now," Raiden had an awful thought.
"Come on, don't say that. We're still alive, and I won't let our world become like this," Kiana said with full confidence.
"Um, sorry."
Continueing their search for Kyuushou. They reached the tower and found Houraiji, but it seems like she was in some trance, mumbling "I'm sorry."
They heard someone coming. When they turned around, they saw another Kiana, but she had different clothes and yellow eyes instead of blue, which were full of sadness and pain and a bit of softness when she looked at Raiden.
Mei listened closely to the conversation between the two Kianas. About what this world was, who the other Kiana was, what was going on. Raiden blushed at the words "including mine and your beloved Raiden Mei's" and pondered at the possibility of another Kiana and Mei being 'one flesh' like her Kiana suggested. The topic shifted to Kyuushou.
"There isn't any other way of saving her?" Mei asked worriedly.
"There is, and that's why you're here. Kiana, Mei, you need to give her hope and use your powers to help her break the illusion." They understood and came up to Kyuushou and started to encourage her, mentioning all the good things she did, all the ways she had helped them, to believe in herself, that she was the savior.
Houraiji's mumbling changed from the depressing "I'm sorry" to "I want.... to save... the world". The scenery changed from destroyed Nagazora to white space, it seemed like the final battle had begun for her, and they needed to go.
"Kiana, from now you will face your destiny. If you're willing to accept it take me back into your body."
"No matter what it is... I will break it! Because I want my own future!"
"Heh, good resolution. I hope you in this world can see the scene I desire. And Mei, this is your stigma that I've kept. Thank you for sticking with me for so long... I'm really glad that I met you again" The other Kiana looked at Mei with softness in her eyes that Raiden had never seen in her Kaslana.
"Go back to your world... You will create the rest with your own hands. Goodbye... Kiana, Mei."
Everything went completely white and then black. When Mei woke up Kiana was gone. Welt informed her that she already had gone to a battle. Raiden decided to go find her, but she didn't expect what she saw when she got there.
The battle was already over, she saw Kiana standing next to a lifeless body on the ground, with blood everywhere. Mei couldn't believe what she saw. "K-Kiana-chan?"
"She killed sister Kira..." Kaslana said with anger and somehow expected Mei to understand.
"Kiana... What have you done?" her voice trembled, still not wanting to believe, she really thought Kiana was doing alright, but now it wasn't the case.
Kaslana finally turned around. Her face showed mostly anger and a bit of pain, it was completely different from before, even from when her mother was killed. Her now yellow eyes were cold and resentful. They didn't have the softness that Mei expected for unknown to her reasons. It was the first time she was scared of Kiana. First her father, then people she thought were close to her and now her partner, the closest to her person, also became cold, which pained her heart the most.