Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

Pacifica ran down a street she had no familiarity with, even if her body moved as if she did. The cold rain pounded on the flimsy raincoat, the chilling water slowly seeping through the cracks in her plastic defense. A single flashlight carried by a second was the main source of visibility. Cars drove by and splashed water on the sidewalk, their headlights offering brief glimpses of her surroundings. The thunderclaps from above shook her to her core, but that only served to hasten her pace.

She stopped in front of a park she couldn't claim memory of. Her lungs burned, the chill in the air nothing compared to the fear that crept into her heart. She couldn't sense her, and it was far too dark out. This park wasn't made to be enjoyed in the dead of night or in the middle of a severe thunderstorm.

If sight and rhythm were out of the question, then there was one other sense Pacifica could rely on to find her.

"MILA!"
"MILA!"
"MILA WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"MILA PLEASE!!"

Thankfully, Pacifica was joined by a second. Anguished calls were only answered by the skies, which smashed their distressed cries with claps of indifferent thunder.

They delved deeper into the park, and checked every spot they knew Mila frequented. As they pressed on, Aura's faith they'd find her wavered.

"She's not here!" Aura cried.

"I know she is! Keep looking!" Pacifica barked back. She couldn't tell if she was crying or if it was simply raining that hard. Her throat stung, and protested every frenzied shout. By now, the raincoats they had donned when they left home were a formality, both were completely soaked underneath.

"We can't find her..." Aura grabbed Pacifica's shoulders.

"I'm not giving up! She HAS to be here!" Her voice cracked, entirely out of her control. She broke free from the older girl and pressed on.

One final spot remained. Pacifica wished this was a joke, she so desperately wished this was a dream, but her heart plummeted into the soil as they came across the finality of their search.

Shrubs were shredded, branches lay rend from the once proud trees, the ground torn asunder by forces long departed. Lightning revealed further devastation in personal effects. Books they had gotten for Mila were entirely destroyed; their pages scattered to the winds, as the rain ensured they wouldn't last the night. More lightning revealed other possessions of hers strewn about, toys, food items, other little trinkets they had gotten for her, all discarded as if trash. Pacifica knew better, Mila absolutely cherished all of these things--gifts meant the world to one who had known none before.

The only conclusion was a heartbreaking one. Pacifica fell to her knees "MILA!" She scratched and clawed at the dirt, looking for any trace of her. All she found though was a lone scrap of cloth--part of Mila's shirt. The red stain on the once blue garment could be only one thing, though Pacifica did not want to admit it.

"S-she's gone..." Aura squeaked, her own voice betraying her as Pacifica's already had.

CRACK BOOOOOOM

The two were shook by a massive bolt from the sky striking the nearby playground. The two were shook by such a powerful release of energy nearby.

As Pacifica sat in the dirt, grasping the lone remnant of Mila, she found herself suddenly grabbed by the larger woman. "Shouri, we gotta get out of here!"

W-wait… I'm not Shouri…

The illusion began to crack, and suddenly Pacifica found herself moving outside of her control. She smacked Aura's hands away.

"I AM NOT LEAVING! MILA IS HERE! I KNOW IT!" Shouri screamed.

The elder sibling glared hard. "Shouri! She's gone! Let it go!"

"I WILL NOT! I CAN STILL DO SOMETHING! I CAN HELP HER!"

"THERE'S NOTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE!"

Pacifica's eyes snapped wide open, her face entirely soaked by tears. Her breath hitched for a moment as her brain desperately tried to put together what in the world just happened. Her room was dark, but even so, in her direct line of sight was Shouri, his expression a mirror of her own.

"Did you--?" they both started to speak, but quieted upon the implicit confirmation.

The two slipped out of bed, their thoughts jumbled, but synchronized. Rebecca and Taika thankfully remained asleep, so they escaped the room with but one tuner in hand.

The living room was still dark, the tuner reported it was 6:32 AM; the sun had yet to rise, yet no other in the home did. Ignoring the hour, Shouri tapped through the phone app and Pacifica hit the call button on Vince.

A tense moment passed while the ringer chimed through the speaker.

"Mmmuh? Shouri? What's up man?" a groggy voice asked from the other end.

"Is Mila there?" the pair asked together.

"Huh?" If he wasn't woken up by the phone call, the strange voice was. "Yeah? Why wouldn't she be?"

"Can I talk to her?" asked the pair.

"Uh… sure?"

"Hey Mils, wake up. Yeah. It's Shouri and Pacifica… I think?"

There were sounds of shuffling and then finally she spoke.

"Hello?"

Hearing her voice brought the two relief. "Sorry. I had a really bad dream," they told the cat.

"Who the fuck is this?" Mila asked, not able to separate the voices in her mind.

"Shouri," they both said.

"Wait, what?" Mila was confused.

Pacifica only then realized what they were doing and shook herself out of the trance. "Sorry Mila," the otter tested. When she spoke alone, she allowed herself to continue. "We did an à deux thing last night, and I guess we were a little too linked up," Pacifica admitted to her fellow Resonator.

"The fuck does that even mean?" asked Mila.

"I think I re-lived one of Shouri's memories," revealed the water element.

A cold silence fell upon the line.

"Which one?" the fire element asked quietly.

"The night you were taken," Pacifica replied, trying to keep her tone even.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

" à deux can do that?" Mila questioned skeptically.

"I guess so," Pacifica's voice remained low, contemplative.

"I see. Well I'm fine. Life's good, so just go get some sleep or something," the cat tried to assure the two.

"Thanks Mila," they once more spoke in unison.

"And stop doing that creepy twin thing, it's weird," the cat chided the pair.

"Sorry." They looked to one another before Shouri spoke again.

"We'll try," he decided.

Rebecca awoke a tinge colder than usual. It wasn't because she was actually cold, but the lack of warm bodies that normally greeted her in the morning. Only Taika remained in bed with her--Shouri and Pacifica were both absent from the comforters.

"Hrm." The Renard furrowed her brows. It wasn't unusual for any of them to sneak out of bed before the others awoke, but something just felt off this morning.

"Sorry Taika," Rebecca whispered, before she slid out of bed. Leaving Pacifica's cave of darkness saw the poor fire element getting flash banged by the light of day. The rest of the house was quiet. As she stepped through the home, Rebecca's ears stood tall, twitching as she scanned for any other signs of life.

But it was just her and Taika.

"Hrmm…" Rebecca's hum carried more worry this time. She couldn't sense her two absent beloveds. Surely nothing happened to them, especially after last night's display.

Before she could drop into a panic spiral, a sound finally graced her sensitive ears. The tumblers of a doorknob turning. Without thinking, she rushed to the foyer to be met with those who were missing.

"Sho, Paci!" Rebecca cried out without realizing it. She arrested her relief and calmed herself. "Went out for a morning jog?" asked the fire element.

"Something like that," Shouri replied, looking to Pacifica for approval.

"We uh, shared a dream last night," the otter said. The way she held herself felt very reminiscent of Shouri's typical mien.

"à deux things?" guessed Rebecca.

"à deux things," confirmed the pair.

"What was it?" Rebecca's curiosity couldn't help itself.

"I saw the night Sho lost Mila," Pacifica revealed.

A cold silence that followed.

"Oh," was all Rebecca managed to utter. "Are you okay?" she threw out.

"We'll be fine," Pacifica said.

"We just have to get used to this stuff," Shouri continued her thought.

"Like not talking together," Pacifica chuckled, though her smile was clearly strained.

Rebecca wanted to offer herself up to try and link with Shouri as a re-centering activity; but a thought occurred to her: if Pacifica saw and felt everything Shouri did that night, what was to say Shouri wouldn't experience everything she felt with her previous Maestros?

They didn't have a guide or anything on à deux or its inner workings. It was clear as they delved deeper into the phenomenon, the barriers between one another would erode further. It wasn't that Rebecca was scared of getting closer to Shouri.

No, she didn't want him to suffer as she had--it was bad enough she had to go through it once already.

"How about some movies to take your mind off of it?" offered the fire fox.

"Yeah, that sounds good," said the two in tandem.

Taika was the last up that morning. Nothing different from usual. Though…

"…Perché mi sento così solo?"

She pushed herself out of bed and journeyed into the light of the hallway. In the distance she could hear the television playing some show or movie, she couldn't be quite sure. No other direction in mind, Taika stepped towards the source of the noise.

As she crossed the threshold of the familiar kitchen, she found her loved ones scattered among the couch and love seats, watching TV, as suspected.

"Che st-?" Taika stopped herself before she could speak any louder. Why was it so hard to speak Maelish all of a sudden? The words were hazy.

"What is going on?" she asked, though the words came out stilted and unnatural.

All seated turned to her.

"You okay?" Rebecca asked.

Shouri and Pacifica sat close to one another, while Rebecca occupied the recliner separated from them.

"Maelish is being hard?" Taika furrowed her brows. That's not what she wanted to say. What was going on?

Both Pacifica and Shouri shared visible, open worry. The exact same concern. The way their brows perked, the curl of their lips, even the rise and fall of their chests were in harmony. They both opened their mouths to speak, but quickly closed them, looking to one another.

"Keep watching, I'll see what's up with Taika." Rebecca hopped up and took hold of the confused lunar element and guided her into the other room.

As Rebecca's hand interlinked with Taika's the fog surrounding her speaking ability cleared. "I didn't think Cunei's Grace could fail like that. You really don't know Maelish naturally, do you?" Rebecca asked, as they shut themselves in the guest room.

"I guess not," relief percolated Taika's heart as that felt right. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Remember the à deux thing they did last night?" Rebecca quizzed back.

"Yeah." Taika nodded.

"There are side effects," stated the Renard.

"We knew that. Right?"

Rebecca averted her gaze, holding herself as her tail wrapped around the inside of her leg. "Pacifica relived some of Shouri's memories. Like vividly."

"Okay, it can't be that bad, right?" Taika asked, her breath hitching in her chest, ears folded back as she wanted to deny the implication.

"We don't know if it goes both ways."

The possibility hit the lunar as hard as it did Rebecca. "Non," she shook her head. "Non posso permettergli di vedere cosa c'è dentro di me," she spoke quickly and fearfully.

"You think I'm cheesed with the idea? I've been through some shit!" Rebecca barked. She uncurled her clenched fists, allowing her shoulders to relax. "We both have…" the vixen trailed off. "Haven't we?"

"…sì…"