Keine Quest (Part 6): Broken History (Complete)

[Hello Purvis]

>"It, more or less, is you. As I hinted at, you've been, well, ripped to pieces. In a very literal sense. I think this is why you can't see or move much, you've not go the aspects of yourself you need to do it anymore. I was hoping just the two of you coming touching would be enough to put you back together."

[DracoOmega]

>"It, more or less, is you. As I hinted at, you've been, well, ripped to pieces. In a very literal sense. I think this is why you can't see or move much, you've not go the aspects of yourself you need to do it anymore. I was hoping just the two of you coming touching would be enough to put you back together."

>She shakes her head slowly. "But I guess it isn't so. Perhaps it was too much to hope for. Consciousness wasn't meant to be taken apart and put back together like a jigsaw puzzle. I don't know that if it can be done at all."
>"We're not going to leave you this way," Maribel says. "This is my dream; I make the rules. And if I say we can put you back together, then we can."
>Gengetsu smiles faintly. "You are very kind. I know not if you are right, but I thank you for your spirit."

[Hello Purvis]

>"In the meantime, let's move on. I'm going to pick you up again. This time I shouldn't have to just sling you over my shoulder."
>Gather her up into our arms.
>"You make the rules, Maribel. Where are we going next?"

[DracoOmega]

>"In the meantime, let's move on. I'm going to pick you up again. This time I shouldn't have to just sling you over my shoulder."
>Gather her up into our arms.
>"You make the rules, Maribel. Where are we going next?"

>"Very well," Gengetsu says. "Although don't trouble yourself to be too gentle. I... can't feel it very clearly in any case."
>You learn down and pick Gengetsu up in your arms.
>"Do you know how many pieces of her there are?" Maribel asks. "You mentioned two others. Do you know if there are more?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I have no idea. But it wouldn't surprise me if there were."

[DracoOmega]

>"I have no idea. But it wouldn't surprise me if there were."

>Maribel leans over and whispers quietly in your ear: "I know I said that I make the rules here, but I still don't know how I'm supposed to fix her. She isn't something I just made up, like the rest of this place. What am I supposed to do?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Quietly: "Let's find them, for now."

[DracoOmega]

>Quietly: "Let's find them, for now."

>Maribel nods. "I'll try."
>She walks over and closes the door you came out of, then takes a deep breath. "Ok, I can do this. If I were a fragment of consciousness who'd forgotten who and where she was, I'd be..." She turns the handle and pushes. "Here!"
>Beyond the door you see an expanse of violet, dotted with twinkling points of light, like stars. Through it drift rounded black forms, almost like curiously geometric clouds. It reminds you of the sky, were you to gaze up at it from some alien world.
>"Wow..." Maribel says. "It's... strangely beautiful, isn't it? I... don't think I came up with this one myself, somehow."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I've not seen anything like it..."
>Enter.

[DracoOmega]

>"I've not seen anything like it..."
>Enter.

>"What is it like?" Gengetsu asks. "Can you describe it to me?"
>You step inside, or rather float. There doesn't appear to be anything you would describe as ground, although the atmosphere feels normal. In the distance, you think you can see hints of motion; small blue wisps, drifting and circling.
>Maribel peers out, noting the lack of ground herself.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Test it with your foot, Maribel."
>"It's all purple, with stars in the distance. Not quite an evening sky, but sort of like a children's picture of it. There's black things sort of like clouds drifting all over the place. I can see some wisps in the distance, sort of circling around."

[DracoOmega]

>"Test it with your foot, Maribel."
>"It's all purple, with stars in the distance. Not quite an evening sky, but sort of like a children's picture of it. There's black things sort of like clouds drifting all over the place. I can see some wisps in the distance, sort of circling around."

>With a little wariness and a firm grip on the doorframe, Maribel puts a foot outside the door, waving it through the open air. There is quite clearly nothing solid for her to stand on.
>"That's... I think that sounds like where I used to live. With my sister," Gengetsu says. "I can't remember it clearly, just fragments. But something about it feels... nostalgic."

[Hello Purvis]

>"We'll be back, Maribel. Hopefully this one won't take as long."
>Head toward those wisps.
>"Do the blue wisps sound like part of it, as well?"

[DracoOmega]

>"We'll be back, Maribel. Hopefully this one won't take as long."
>Head toward those wisps.
>"Do the blue wisps sound like part of it, as well?"

>"Sure," Maribel replies. "I'll be waiting."
>You fly out towards the wisps. Their motion reminds you a little of ghosts or evil spirits. Even their appearance is broadly similar. You can see a few small groups clustered together, and others spread over a wider area. They don't appear to be reacting to your presence yet.
>"I don't really recall, I'm afraid," Gengetsu says. "I think I only remember this place at all because of the memories I hold of my sister. Outside of her, I recall little."
>As you get close to one group of wisps, several of them break off towards you and spread out from each other.

[Hello Purvis]

>Observe the wisps, do they seem to be taking any violent action?
>"Hello?"

[DracoOmega]

>Observe the wisps, do they seem to be taking any violent action?
>"Hello?"

>They seem to be approaching at high speed. A couple of them shift and angle out to either side of you, forming something of a u-shape. Oh, wait, they're firing!
>Each of the wisps starts shooting an angular spread of blue danmaku in your direction. It isn't particularly fast, but the wisps' positioning causes some of their shots to intersect with each other and makes reading them more difficult as well as closing several safe spots. There are about a half-dozen in firing range. You can see a few stragglers moving in behind them.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to rise above it, and see if we can see anything around that is not a blue wisp.
>"The wisps are shooting at us. I don't suppose you had a way around that kind of thing back home?"

[DracoOmega]

>Try to rise above it, and see if we can see anything around that is not a blue wisp.
>"The wisps are shooting at us. I don't suppose you had a way around that kind of thing back home?"

>You ascend, moving clear of much of the fire, though some of it also extends vertically. The wisps waste no time in adjusting their shots to compensate. Looking around, you see little but sky. ...wait, is that a white-ish dot in the distance?
>"I don't... remember," she says. "I don't remember anything hostile. Maybe I've just forgotten?"

[E-Nazrin]

>Is Maribel still close enough to see us, or at least see the fight?

[DracoOmega]

>Is Maribel still close enough to see us, or at least see the fight?

>Glancing behind you, you can see a door-shaped hole in the sky, fairly far away. You think you see a form standing in it, but it's difficult to tell at this distance. She can probably make out something happening, but it mightn't be clear what it is from where she's standing. Especially if one were unused to watching danmaku.

[Hello Purvis]

>Move toward that dot, maneuver around the shots in that direction and hope that simply running away is enough to put a sizable dent in their pattern.

[DracoOmega]

>Move toward that dot, maneuver around the shots in that direction and hope that simply running away is enough to put a sizable dent in their pattern.

>You continue to ascend and dash forward, hoping to maneuver around the cloud of fire entirely and move towards the form in the distance. The wisps shift fire to follow you, but you manage to avoid most of it, although the web of intersecting bullets follows close behind you. Several of the wisps up ahead open fire with similar spread patterns. If you cut momentum more than small amount, you risk getting hit from behind, which doesn't give you enough leeway to safely swing around their volleys entirely.

[Hello Purvis]

>"This might hurt a bit. I'm sorry.
>Keep going forward and try to weave through the oncoming stuff. Open fire if we can with Gruegetsu eating up our free hands and without slowing down. Also try to get above or below the storm behind us, whatever feels more likely to work.

[DracoOmega]

>"This might hurt a bit. I'm sorry.
>Keep going forward and try to weave through the oncoming stuff. Open fire if we can with Gruegetsu eating up our free hands and without slowing down. Also try to get above or below the storm behind us, whatever feels more likely to work.

>"If I can feel it, I will accept it," she says. "Do what you think is best."
>You continue forward, slipping between the rows of danmaku as they intersect each other and ascend further. Fortunately, there are fewer wisps ahead of you, and they're spread wider apart, but the pattern still becomes quite difficult to navigate as you get closer to the wisps themselves. Carrying Gengetsu significantly hampers your fine-grained mobility, and you're forced to accept several impacts you would have otherwise been able to avoid. One catches your leg, and two an exposed arm, but you're too focused to let the pain slow you. Gengetsu herself absorbs a couple more; she frowns vaguely, although it's unclear how much is stoicism, and how much is her simply not feeling the force of the impact.
>Unfortunately, direct danmaku would be impossible with both your hands occupied as they are, and conjuring familiars would require you to break your stride for a few moments.
>Several more wisps remain between you and the white figure, and you can see another cluster moving in from some distance to your left.
>Now that you're closer, you can make out some more details of the figure, or rather, you can make out why you couldn't earlier. The entire form is enveloped by its white wings. You think it may be curled into a fetal position; you can see only a hint of its legs extend below the wings.

[Hello Purvis]

>If they're coming from the left, then they'll not be ahead of us by the time they catch up.
>Keep going toward the winged person.
>Are the wisps ahead keeping pace with us, or are we passing them up or at  least gaining on them?

>_

[DracoOmega]

>If they're coming from the left, then they'll not be ahead of us by the time they catch up.
>Keep going toward the winged person.
>Are the wisps ahead keeping pace with us, or are we passing them up or at  least gaining on them?

>They are also a small distance forward, but it does seem likely that you can reach the winged figure long before they could intercept you.
>You continue forward, closing on the winged figure. Another wisp to your right opens fire, although it is easy enough to evade on its own and you start to slip around and past it. You are probably close enough to try speaking with the figure if you call out.
>The wisps ahead are also closing on you. In general, your flight speed is appreciably greater than the wisps, although your maneuverability is hampered at the moment. You're pulling away from the group behind you, although they continue to pursue.
>You think you see the wings shift a little.

[Hello Purvis]

>Keep going, keep dodging but keep speed up as well.
>"Hey! You there, with the wings!"

[DracoOmega]

>Keep going, keep dodging but keep speed up as well.
>"Hey! You there, with the wings!"

>You keep moving forward, skirting around the next wisp as it fires at you. You're gathering quite a crowd of follows at this point.
>You call out to the figure and see it stir slightly. There is no other response at first. Then you feel words ring out through you, seeming to come less from the figure before you than the air all around you.
>"Why are you here? Why are they all here? Why won't you leave!" The voice is dissonant, but forceful; you feel it reverberate through your body.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Because I am not going to let you sit here and mope after all the trouble Mugetsu went through to get us here and get you healed up!"
>Keep going. Worse comes to worst we'll sling Gruegetsu over our shoulder again and drag Wingly Gengetsu out by the pinions.

[DracoOmega]

>"Because I am not going to let you sit here and mope after all the trouble Mugetsu went through to get us here and get you healed up!"
>Keep going. Worse comes to worst we'll sling Gruegetsu over our shoulder again and drag Wingly Gengetsu out by the pinions.

>"You are not supposed to be here," the voice echoes. "None of them are supposed to be here. You will be gone!"
>You try to keep pressing forward when you feel a wave of force lash out against you, knocking you back several feet before you can catch yourself. It feels almost like trying to fly against a hurricane, although the wind issues from only one direction.
>"What are you doing?" Gengetsu calls out weakly. "She's trying to help us get back to her. Nothing is more important than that. You must remember!"
>"I remember when my mind was my own!" it cries. "It will be my own again!"