The Day of Thunder

[Nozomi]

Nozomi's perfect, ideal world is a nightmare. It is a cruel, sick joke because it is something that feels like it should be possible. In it, she sees Togashi Satsuki and the young, one-armed Ryoshun shugenja standing firm and tall, utilizing their combined mystical power, as Matsu holds back her husband at the head of the force. They wound him, they fight him and they even bring him to his knees, but at the end, the spell is cast and he is ... cleansed of the taint, of the presence of Jigoku.

She sees a world where it is perfect, idyllic, where the taint of Yume-Jigoku no longer plagues the peasantry, where hope springs eternal. She is able to spend her remaining years in his company, learning at his feet, receiving the occasional letter from...

"ENOUGH!" she shrieked as she crushed the false letter from Mayumi. "Damn you for mocking me! I have hope, but I know how unlikely this is! Don't mock me, you bastard. I've seen too many pretty lies in my life." What was one more lie on the path to enlightenment?

[Nozomi]

But it was possible, no matter how remote. It could be done.

She could gain the power to do it herself.

She just had to take it.

[Nozomi]

Her eyes narrowed as she visibly folded in on herself. She had hope. Ukyou had insisted that she keep hope. Her fingers flexed and she scowled. She wanted to reach out, to take hold of it. But she also ... knew better.

"If you're out there, old friend, don't taunt me. Whoever, whatever you are? Go find another. I have already refused you once." She didn't even know how to refer to the lying darkness, only that it existed. And, by now, in a way, it was as much an old friend and a hated enemy. "I am only what I am. I will do what I must when the time comes."

[Nozomi]

A tall woman appeared in her dream, smiling. She was elegant, but all stone and green flame. A figure she knew. "You're saying you don't want him back?"

[Nozomi]

She turned her gaze towards the woman and raised an eyebrow. There was a sigh and she regarded them with as level an expression as she could, a pained element in her tone. "You're not who I expected, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." She focused herself, folding her arms. "What I want is not important. My desire is not important. I have grown used to putting to the side my desires. I trust him, but I am not beholden to those desires. Not having him back hurts, but I know him well enough to know he would not forgive me caving into desire just to have that."

[Nozomi]

"Ah yes, the trouble that plagues poor Shosuro-chan. She's doing her best," she said, amused. "You think he wouldn't forgive you just for wanting your husband back? Or thinking the world still needs Shinsei? What a dim view you have of him."

[Nozomi]

"It probably says as much of my dim view of myself," she said, her eyes narrowed. "So, you are aware of it. I am surprised it has not involved itself. I imagine you are aware of all that he is aware in that case? That's useful to know." She had assumed that if he became the Champion, he would without question end up revealing their many secrets that he knew. It was the price of him becoming the Champion.

"My desires are the desires of one person. A mere drop in the water of the ocean. It ... clouds the vision. And yes, mine is clouded. I'm honest enough to say I might want it. You didn't give me something I didn't want." Her fingers flexed. "But I won't seek it on your terms. He would not wish this." Not if he was himself.

[Nozomi]

"I've just been watching the dreams of the people here," she replied with a smile. "So you will seek it on your own terms? You only have... hmm... Day and a half left?"

[Nozomi]

"Since when do any of us ever have much time?" she growled with a shrug. "You'll have to forgive me, but as dangerous as you no doubt are and as much danger as I might be in right now? It dawns on me." Her gaze locked with the Harbinger.

"Why would you be trying to convince me to take an offer if you were confident that your master would finish his task in two day's time? Are you afraid that it will fail, as it did a thousand years ago, and a thousand years before that? Do your kind know fear?"

[Nozomi]

"We know fear very well. That's the beauty of our new home. I was once a human, so I have known fear," she said with a smile, walking forward toward Nozomi. "Most people don't know how to use their own fear. We're part of the Realm of Nightmares, after all."

She touched her chin lightly. "Of course I'm worried that my beloved may come to harm. It drives me to protect them. You let yours go to waste."

[Nozomi]

She grunted. The barb didn't sting coming from the Harbinger. She didn't regret the time she'd spent with him. "Well, you will see soon enough how well he fares. Taking the one who would have led us, who we've relied on this long? It was very cunning. Perhaps this time he will win. There is no need to hurry it along. Enjoy your last dreams before you attempt to bring nightmare to this world."

Fuck, she hoped the Thunders would be ready. He had trusted them...

[Nozomi]

"Will do, sweet cheeks," she said with a grin and lightly kissed Nozomi on the lips. "See you around..."

The dream ends.