Crop Destruction [Closed/Rem]

[Shinobu]

"What on Earth..."

The words escaped her without her knowing, a breath of wind in a doctor's office otherwise stagnant with fear and anxiety.  Fortunately for her it was quiet enough not to be heard underneath the child's sniffles and faint cries.  It wouldn't have done for her to give the parents, or the child, even more anxiety after all.

"What was that, doctor?"  The mother jumped onto the words she didn't quite hear, seizing them with the force of a terrier worrying at a bone.  If her husband weren't also there to keep her calm, Shinobu wondered if she'd be assaulted right now simply for not being able to tell the parents what was wrong.  The doctor sighed, continuing to go through the motions of her exam as she moved the stethoscope across the small boy's chest.  There was no point to this, she was certain now, but she couldn't say that.  What was wrong with him wasn't something modern medicine could find.

She called it the sense of life, she simply didn't know what else it could be.  Living beings had it, especially humans.  Even children had it, weaker than adults but still.  This child though...was weaker than every other child she'd ever seen.  Something was drawing on his life force without him knowing.  But his body was fine, every single metric just as perfectly normal as all the rest.  He would be completely normal...were it not for how tired he was or how much pain he was in.  Shinobu didn't consider herself versed in reading people well, but she didn't think he was lying.  No child wanted to visit the doctor's office after all.

She shook her head and straightened up, turning to look at the parents.  She spoke firmly as she looked down at the chart in her hands, "I said I wasn't sure.  His vitals are fine, but he has no energy and he's in pain.  It's possible he's simply been pushing himself too hard, maybe in school...?"  She glanced at the two parents, who seemed to flinch at that statement.  Shinobu shook her head even as she suppressed a sigh of relief.  If that excuse didn't work she didn't know what she was going to say.  How could she convince them?  She tapped the board again before she turned to the boy, crouching down to be at eye level.  Out of the corner of her eye she saw the husband look...elsewhere.  Her eyes glinted for just a moment and then she gave a mental sigh.  Men.  What was sexy about a doctor's uniform anyways?  It got so much...human gunk on it, hardly sanitary.  "Shun.  Tell me, when do you feel the worst?"  She coaxed the child gently, making sure to look at him directly in the eyes.

The boy sniffled and spoke between hiccups, his words coming out trembling, "I don't wanna go home.  It feels so bad there.  It didn't before, not until recently.  Now I just feel bad when I see the door...Mom, Dad, I'm sorry!  I don't wanna go back home!!!"  With a final attempt to suppress it crumbling, little Shun burst into tears as he hurled himself into his mother's arms.

So that's it then.  Home.  Shinobu straightened up and looked carefully at the two parents while they were distracted by their child.  Her keen eye catalogued every detail as quickly as it could- pale skin, bags under their eyes, faint signs of strain, the father hadn't shaved in the last few days....she gave a nod and jotted down another note.  "I'm going to make a suggestion then."  Both of the parents looked up, hope blossoming in their eyes.  Shinobu nearly flinched at the sight.  She wasn't...lying to them exactly but...she tapped the board in her hands with a pen.  "Adults need breaks just as much as children.  The two of you don't look so good either.  Maybe you've been feeling stressed because of work?"  She gave a nod to herself as they glanced at her each other, eyes widening slightly.  "Thought so.  All three of you need a break.  Take a trip out of town and find something you can do.  Tonight, if you can.  Do you have family you haven't seen for a while, or maybe a trip you've been planning on...?"

The rest of the visit went smoothly as she got them to agree to a small vacation.  It would be the weekend tomorrow anyways, they could make it work.  It was a long twenty minutes later when they finally left, thanking her as though their ordeal was already over.  The doctor sighed once they were out of sight, and she turned to the nearest nurse.  "There's been a lot of these patients coming in recently.  That's what, the fifth family from Ichikawa City just today?"

The resulting gossip didn't take long, but it confirmed it for her.  Something was wrong there.  Too many patients so quickly.  She had to go investigate tonight.  Her patients were sick and...no matter what, she didn't want them to be sick.  Especially not the girls and boys like Shun.  Shinobu sighed and tried to forget the matter for the rest of the day, but it kept gnawing at her until she finally finished her shift.

She didn't, quite, peel out of the garage as she left the hospital.  It was already night, the evening hours having long given way to the velvet embrace of darkness, and she found herself thankful for that as she parked her car and walked away from it.  At least the children wouldn't be playing and families were mostly indoors.  That way they wouldn't be too suspicious, right...?

A quiet alcove beckoned and she slipped into it.  A few seconds passed...and a woman with long brown hair and brown eyes stepped forward, sinewy muscles flexing beneath an easy pair of sweat pants and tank top.  Disguising herself, she'd decided, was a must.  She couldn't bear to lose her job because of her other...nightly activities.

A giggle threatened her as the thought passed her mind.  If only her life was exciting in that way!  Things would be far less stressful and dangerous.

She closed her eyes and stretched out her senses, trying to find what was wrong with this neighborhood.  She frowned faintly as she walked, whispers of darkness flickering past her unseen eyes and ears.  Something was out there, something she couldn't find...but she could feel the faint flow of that sense of life through this neighborhood, leading somewhere nearby.  Shinobu followed it, opening her eyes as she jogged, trying to find the menace.  Houses flashed by as she ran at the mere speed of a mortal, resisting the urge to break into a sprint.  Not now, not now.  Her muscles hummed and sang, a fresh flush of adrenaline ran through her as her body seemed to lighten.

Gods be good...
Fingers clenched and unchenched-
Pulse pounding, heart thumping-
The world turned concrete as she ran-
More real, more heavy-
She wanted to defend them.

Finally she found a park where the river of life ended its flow, where she felt her own life going as she ran through the streets.  It had started only once she got closer, a faint tug on her vitality.  She'd locked it down instantly, but the pull was insistent, and she'd followed that to this point.  A small patch of dead, light brown earth amid a sea of grass...and a small black flower rising above the barren soil, pulsing fainting in the moonlight.

Was the farmer nearby?  Was this natural, just a type of spiritual flora she'd never seen before?  Shinobu frowned, eyes glancing about the park, looking for anyone nearby, but for a mercy there was no one to see her reach down and tug on the black stalk.

The frown grew deeper.  It didn't want to budge.  Her lips curled into a snarl, teeth too white and brilliant glowing white in the moonlight.  Well, it didn't want to go?  Too bad.

She concentrated, feeling the desire within her to pluck this harmful rose, and pulled.

[Rem]

Rem lingered.

There were places across the face of the world that the Shinigami did not observe. It was unknown why, perhaps they were just overlooked. Certainly this would make sense, the world was a large place full of countless souls to observe. Who could possibly observe them all?

But no, the thought was probably something else. The Shinigami could have acted but simply chose not to. Why? Well, the idea was this, some were simply offered up. There were countless such places across the world where the Shinigami did not seem to patrol, and in the shadow of their providence was where Rem dwelled.

They were careful, of course. They appear, they plant the seed, then they depart. Some places were vacant of the Shinigami's gaze but not for long. A protector dies and a hole is made but it is eventually filled. The time comes when the seed is found and destroyed and Rem moves on. But when it is not they would return, and plant another, and another.

Humans were not the only ones to leave behind a ghost. There were places all around the world that lingered yet as ghosts. Places where opportunity dried up, where eventually all packed up their things and moved on. How many of them were Rem's doing? It had not kept count.

It was on this return that Rem found themselves observing. They had planted a seed, and it had taken root, flourished, and so in this place bereft of the providence of the Shinigai's watchful eye Rem had returned to plant its crop.

Only this time it found an unwelcome nuisance that did not cloak itself in black.

Mortals. Nuisance. It had a preference of course, for those that did not wield a blade varied greatly. The taste was acquired, infrequently without much more than a spark but this one, oh this one was a feast.

Rem was not taken with gluttony often, but as late its hunger had grown. The vacant emptiness it had hoped might one day sweep it away had demanded more, and so it had come to plant more. And here it found one delightful morsel that threatened to steal away a hard earned harvest. Didn't it know that the deed was done? Ah! Mortals...so curious. Perhaps this was a fortunate twist of fate?

Rem's crop had a pest that threatened it, and like any diligent tender it was dutybound to remove that pest.

The mortal tugged firmly at the flower dense with collected misery, pulled tight at roots which stretched deep within the earth and threatened to steal from Rem its hard earned meal and Rem answered in kind. There was a buzz of noise that heralded Rem's approach, and the swing of a massive dangerous fist which cast a shadow against the light reflected by the moon.

[Shinobu]

Shinobu had looked but predators were not so easily spotted.  She was tugging at the flower's stem, feeling the cursed thing begin to give, when her sixth sense started to scream.  But it was truly something else that warned her first.

Her veins began to sizzle, incandescent ecstasy arcing through her in a flood of warmth that threatened to spill out of her. 

Fight, the call came, surging in her blood. 

Win, a clarion echo, ringing down the long corridors of the soul.

Shinobu's head whipped up and to the side, eyes widening as the feeling threatened to overtake her but not so far gone that she didn't realize the danger.  Fuck me.  A second was all she had time for to see what was coming at her before she needed to react.  A giant fist, gunmetal gray skin, a mask with horns attached to a fucking monster almost three meters tall.  Her pupils constricted as she let go of the flower, arm twisting and churning as its flesh flowed and melted.  Bones reconstructed, altering across the arm to provide greater support, muscles snapped, flowed, reformed, her arm swelling impossibly.  Impossibly.  It kept growing bigger as she hauled it back, finishing her transformation on the fly because there simply wasn't enough time to do anything but throw the biggest punch she had at something far big-

She had the power but no positioning.  Her punch was halfway through its maximum extension when their fists connected and she felt the crunch.  Bones twisted and broke, flesh squished together, blood spraying from her arm as she went sailing.  Bad timing, she thought faintly as her body skipped across grass like a stone across water...albeit with a lot more blood than a stone would have.  With one final thud Shinobu came to a shuddering halt against a tree...

She planted one foot firmly on the ground again as she rose up.  Her limbs were twisting even as the monster watched, fractured bones knitting together again as she bared her teeth.  The words came in huffs, cut short by every breath she drew deep into her lungs.  "I don't know who you are.  What you are.  Monster.  All I know is.  You're hurting my patients."  Her eyes glowed in the shadow of the tree, the black shape of her body rising up and melting even further.  Her arms were finally set, two giant limbs just as bulky and heavyset as the monsters own.  Her arms went back, knees bending as her feet arched.  The ground under her sank slightly under her weight as she looked up at the creature who had hurt her patients.  Why?  What was the reason?  Surely not because he was sadistic, correct?  Or maybe it was.  It would be nice if that's all it was.  Then she wouldn't feel bad for what she was about to do.  "That was a good punch.  Why don't you explain what the fuck you think you're doing while I give you one back?"  Muscles twitched, and Shinobu was sprinting across the ground.  Each step sent dirt flying as she closed the distance to the monster in seconds.  It was only at the last second that her feet planted, a shower of earth erupting as she did so, and swung.

[Rem]

Strange quarry, unusual quarry. Rem would chide itself. Patience was key. But it could accept the risk, not only was the harvest threatened so too was the threat its own kind of harvest. And if this meeting so far was any indication its strangeness did not measure to a threat worth leaving alone.

The mortal's body snapped and twisted before impact, forming its own imitation of Rem's impressive strength but as Rem's power met theirs the snapping and twisting merely increased sending it sailing away. That was good enough. Rem went from the flurry of furious motion to utterly still as it stood near the jet black flower and watched the mortal struggle.

It leaned down to examine the plant. It was growing strong, full of potential. But not yet ripe. It could be eaten but not yet. There was still plenty more left Rem could draw from this one. Its gaze returned towards the mortal. No reason to give up such a thing over one like this.

It watched because while it could seize advantage Rem was not impulsive. It had no reason to hurry when it could observe, and learn. Like that the creature could change itself further, not only the shape but to knit the injury close. How novel, Rem thought.

"Hurting your patients? Hm." Rem rose upright again and stepped towards her as she continued to gather itself. Limbs like its own, such imitation it found in somewhat charming. "In the ticking of a clock, they will turn to dust and return to nothing. I will make use of them before such a time. If you were wise, you'd leave me to it. Cleaner. Simpler. Too late now."

"Besides," it said bending its knees against the earth which shuddered under Rem's weight. "Aren't you more like me than you are like them?" It watched as the mortal rushed with impressive speed towards it, lowered and ready, pivoting and letting its massive form move with precision, sending its own fist to meet.

At impact, it realized that it was stronger than expected, but not by much. The clap was solid as their blows met. She had impressive power, but even if she changed her shape to that of a monster she had a mortal body. Rem's dug-in limbs uncoiled and it sprang forward, driving all of its impressive weight against her to drive her off her balance again and bring her down. From there, provided it worked, Rem raised a mighty fist and swung down attempting to turn the strange creature into meat. Then, again, and again, and again.

[Shinobu]

It was hunting, but rather agreeable in its own way. A pity she was set on defending her patients. The creature had the manners to let her pick herself up...or, she admitted uneasily, the confidence that it would win the fight regardless. Not good.

Her punch went off exactly as she'd hoped. With enough time to prepare she was capable of matching his power...but the push back against her told her plenty about how much he had in the tank. He was strong, one of the strongest monsters she'd fought thus far...which, she admitted uneasily, didn't mean much. It wasn't like she'd fought many!

Not now.

But it was impact of his words that hit her more than the force of his fist. Shinobu blanched, color draining away from her face as she shouted, "That doesn't mean you should reap them before their time though!" She spat the words out as she recoiled to strike again, only to widen her eyes as he charged forward. She'd fucked up. Her body reacted on instinct, parts of the heavy fists melting and condensing. Long black nails stretched before her to meet his charge as her mind whirled. Was he right? No, no she couldn't think like that. Her patients were suffering! "They have most of their lives ahead of them! Just because..." The words were cut off as he hit her, the claws cutting part of the way into his abdomen before the weight of him slammed her to the ground. Blood splatted onto her as he held her down, the woman hissing and spitting back as she forced one of her claws deeper. "Just because we'll die some day doesn't mean you should kill us now!"

....right?

Right. They had so much time. Just because humanity died some day didn't mean they should die here and now.

But her claws felt weaker as his fist slammed against her, and she knew why. His words rang in her head. More like me than you are like them. They echoed in her mind, wailing banshees that screamed at her again and again. She really was...so monstrous. Ugly red flesh, black talons made of chitin bone, her body flexing and warping as he slammed his fists against her. Her body resisted, but his own will was overpowering, hers wavering as the words dug deep into her heart, a dagger far stronger than his fists. Her claws melted, arms changing, a shield of soot-black bone held in front of his attack. She felt it start to break though, even as she tried to increase her density.

Body slipping-slipping-
More like me-
It wasn't, it wasn't-
Than you are like them-
No she was human she had to be-
Monster-
No no she was-
More like me

"NO!!!!"

Flesh boiled as she screamed, a howl of defiance ripping out of her throat as her body shuddered under under the dissolving shield. "I'm not like you! I'M NOT I'M NOT GET OFF OF ME." Her scream intensified, turning into a roar of hate as she flexed her body...and rammed herself upwards, far heavier than she had any right to be and far stronger as her muscles altered to provide force in the right direction. His fists punched her down and her body rebounded again, "I WILL NOT HURT CHILDREN TO LIVE, YOU MONSTER!!!" She screamed the feeling at the bottom of her heart into the face of the monster and she suddenly felt more real as her body prepared; to break past his own and get away.

[Rem]

It enjoyed the sensation of claws sinking deep, ripping away at its form and the feel of its blood as it splattered down atop its prey. The pain reminded it of the ever present promise of oblivion. Yet, for how tantalizingly close it teased itself to Rem, it knew it was yet quite distant. She was capable and strong and mysterious but she was mortal. She had no place here in this conflict as something subject to the whims of entropy's pull. She could howl out all she wanted against the pulse of fate but she was subject to its whims even more than Rem was.

What better example was there of this then the weight of Rem's fist as it slammed against the potent barrier she had formed. Certainly, it was strong, impressive and admirable. But with every blow Rem could feel the quake beneath it. There was flesh behind it that could shudder, and as it shuddered the imperceptible cracks would form. Was it the next blow that would break her? The one to follow? A number existed that would break her.

Survive a few seconds, a few minutes, an hour or longer, what did it matter? She would die eventually. Rem could feel the resolve crumbling, sliding naturally along its destined end. But then, a shift, a flare of anger and indignation. I will not go quietly into that good night, and all that. Rem expression pulled into a sneer as she flexed her power against Rem and threw them clear.

It hit the ground with a tremoring thud and rolled. It extended one hand out and clutched the earth, dragging up the debris and detritus as some kind of anchored full stop and rose back up indifferently. "You don't need to hurt them to live, but they'll die just the same." Its voice droned forth, a deep and rumbling baritone.

Rem rose up and stalked forward unerringly, rivulets of blood on its body drying up as the injury began to fade in the wake of its regeneration. "Destroy the flower if you can, the roots run deep. Slay me if you possess more power than you've shown so far, but you won't find all the seeds, will you? And when the march of time claims them they will become like me and they too will hunt."

It earnestly could not understand the nature of this pointless struggle. A desire to survive, certainly it could understand that. But to fight on the behalf of others? To protect such a limited and futile existence? What could possibly drive such a pointless desire?

[Shinobu]

He got off of her.

She was expecting more push back, more of a struggle. The lack of one for a moment made her lightheaded, swinging a sword and expecting a block instead of a dodge. It made her feel empty, bereft of the clash she’d wanted. But...she was free, wasn’t that good?

She turned instantly, legs shifting constantly in their form as she tried to find a better configuration to move. She tried to ignore the feeling, the satisfaction of shifting. Now wasn’t the time to indulge, now she needed to fight. Shinobu stood still as it walked forward, watching as his body began to stitch up as well. So. He could heal. Well, wasn’t that annoying? “We die to sickness or violence all the time but that doesn’t mean we should fall over dead on a whim,” she spat back. Of all of the things she was sure of, this was the greatest. “Just because it happens one day doesn’t mean we can’t try and put that day off for as long as possible.”

The way he spoke though...was he immortal? Maybe he’d seen generations pass. Was that why he had a different perspective on life? If so that was normal but...but no, she couldn’t. If it didn’t happen in front of her that was one thing but she couldn’t just let her patients die like this. Her eyes flashed and her right arm twisted and churned. A long sharp blade emerged, slender and honed to the bleeding edge. She hesitated as he continued though.

They could become like him? Monsters...were once human? No. No, surely not. That would be ridiculous. The thought of more seeds being out there though…

Shinobu’s lips curled. “There’s more? Simple then. If I beat you, you get rid of them. Everything in Tokyo.” She hesitated, feeling out how she felt, what she wanted...could she kill it? Did she want to? He would kill people but…

But she didn’t know what was right! Did he have no choice? And maybe she couldn’t even win and she’d die for nothing! Maybe…

She shook her head and her eyes flashed. “In the meantime, dance with me. Her feet twitched and she charged forward, sword arm slashing up from the ground. If he was healing so well she’d just have to cut through it, sever the flesh instead of just breaking bones.

[Rem]

Futility. It spoke in the absolute reality of futility. They might scrabble and scrape to survive yet another day. "Yes of course creature, then what happens tomorrow? You struggle for another day? And the day to follow? To what end? You slay me and more of my kind are born. You toil, but your work is undone and more will appear tomorrow. Save them, only to cast them into the same miserable cycle." It cared not for the answers but could help but speak the question. It was intrigued, what did it fight for? The only answer Rem had was its limited capacity to understand, to truly fathom that in the cosmic blink of an eye it would be undone and everything it had ever worked to achieve would mean nothing to anyone. A countless story played on repeat billions of times across the world. The human legacy was a symphony of irrelevance.

Rem envied their ability to cease, and the creature before it would squander it.

It was a small thing to surrender a single harvest but a host? Did it wish to wager? Meaningless, but it made sense. Rem understood its motivations even if it found them trite and empty. It wanted to save the prey Rem had so carefully chosen, simply slaying Rem would mean little if she couldn't accomplish that.

Its maw widened just so as it began to stalk forward. It seemed uncertain with its offer which made Rem salivate with possibility. Rem was certain that there was more to be found within this mortal.

The most delightful meal was one at its apex. "As you wish."

Let me see the height of your potential so I might delight in its devouring.

She charged forth, its limb having shifted to a weapon not unlike that of the Shinigami's trademark. Rem sped up its own approach, juking suddenly to the side with a speed that one certainly wouldn't have predicted from its size. It swung its arm out against the blade, a bold parry which ultimately would serve to give Rem a vicious gash along its arm drawing a spray of blood. It hissed, but was far from deterred.

It utilized the momentum of their approach, pivoting its entire body with a boxer's grace. Rem delivered a full-bodied right hook straight for her center of mass.

[Shinobu]

That was the worst part about the monster’s words.

She didn’t have an answer.

Words caught in her throat, trapped under the weight of logic. She wanted to deny him, but how? With what? It was an unending struggle, to fight without reprieve for a hundred years. To save people who would...die and become monsters themselves? She needed to ask someone. Someone not this monster.

But her heart...it burned in her chest to deny him. She didn’t have the words! She didn’t...she didn’t have….

Shinobu breathed out, closing her eyes for a moment. Foolish in the middle of a fight, but she needed the second to stabilize herself. No, his words could not be true. If they were true, then what was the point of living? She could feel that certainty begin to settle into her stomach. Fighting for the lives of other humans wouldn’t be pointless, she fought for them every day as it was. Her eyes snapped open as he began to approach, and she charged forward with her blade. “Yes, that is exactly what we do.”

He tried to dodge and then parry her, a move which scored her blood across her sword. Shinobu’s eyes practically glowed as she saw that, but it only made her more concerned. It was experienced at fighting battles to the death. She’d had a few, but none that felt like this. Sure enough, it spun with a grace belying its size, far more like a ballerina’s pirouette than a fighter’s deathblow. Shinobu’s own fist shot forward to block it in the most crude way possible. There was no ambush this time, and her fist fully extended before she clashed. She felt the crunch, watched blood spray from her arm, but she did not fly away.

She was hardening, weight increasing with every step, with every word. “We struggle, fragile though we may be. Humans die every day. But we don’t give up. Look around you Hollow, do you see the city? If we gave up, would we have created it?!” Shinobu’s words came out in a rush, in time with the pulse in her veins. Her feet were tapping against the ground as she lashed out again and again with her fist, sword kept back for the moment, and each blow was evenly matched. But that didn’t matter. She felt the momentum building in her fist, in her heart, in her soul. She needed to…had to refute him. And she could.

“I treat patients because I want to see them live! They may die tomorrow, but I will give them another day. And they give someone else a day with them in it. It may be nothing. But it can also change their lives, change someone else’s life!” She pushed back from his body using his fist, her feet slamming into the ground as the blockage loosened. No, she couldn’t deny that...it felt futile. But she treated people with chronic diseases so that they could keep going. So that they could live. That wasn’t worthless. Giving them the chance to change, to be happy, couldn’t possibly be worthless.

“They deserve a chance to be happy!” She roared the words into his face as her legs bent like springs, coiling until they could no longer contain the tension that sang in her bones. She blasted forward, faster than she’d been, and her sword cleaved straight for his own heart.

[Rem]

She was impressive, who could deny that? She had a fire in her that blazed with intent. Rem meant what it said, it was no simple ploy but a stoic reality that lurked directly in front of everything that ever lived, that existed in any tangible way. All things ended. But there was power in raging against it, in fighting with everything one had against that final outcome. Not power in a meaningful sense, she could no more avert her fate than Rem could, but she could still cause a lot of trouble on her way.

Yet.

As she spoke Rem could feel something out there. She didn't speak because she would hope to convince the several feet tall monsters with gunmetal skin and a bright white mask with rows of teeth. No, Rem was certain she wasn't really interested in trying to convince Rem, the one hunting after the people of this town. She was trying to convince herself.

The denial came in many forms. Quiet, rapid, slow and loud. Provide enough noise and you can form a bastion against any uncomfortable reality. She met her, blow for blow, blood dripping out of its wounded arm, slowing as the wound closed as she met against her. She was gaining momentum, Rem could feel it building towards something.

"Deserve? Does any get what they deserve?" It almost laughed. How could any believe there was a natural order which promised just deserts?

She launched towards him with a row, bearing a bladed arm with tremendous force and power. Rem couldn't avoid it without harm, and with her reach, and changing shape it could scarcely afford to give ground.

Rem wasn't here for any complex reason. Its only goal was to feed itself. The flower represented food, but no more than a single meal. But her? Rem could see now, as she was, a tremendous meal all prepared for it. There was potential there, and it could tell, close to something even better. No waiting for it to be tended, or to grow. Ready to be eaten, now.

Rem launched forward towards her suddenly in a short arc with high speed. It braced itself for the pain to come. It pivoted and allowed the blow to land, braced against the thicker part of its torso. It would render its arm unusable for a time, the cost to heal the wound was high but in a grim calculus, it would be worth it if it paid out.

It shifted, digging the sword in just so to make it harder to remove, then launched out to seize her, wrapping a big meaty fist around her torso and squeezing with bone-cracking force as it pulled her away before it could do more damage. A river of blood poured from the wound.

"Do you believe you meant any of that?" Rem's deep voice had a jovial note. "It sounded almost like you did. Do you practice it in front of the mirror when you do your best to pretend to be like them?"

Its maw widened, it tightened its grip. "I bet you do."

"I wonder, do you look in mirrors much? Do you know the real you? Is it the soft face that resembles them? Or is it the monstrous limbs that resemble me? It took my death for me to become this, but look, you have such a head start."

Rem raised her up high towards the starry sky and then slammed her down towards the ground. It was tired of this shell, whatever it took, it would crack it and delight in the meal within.

"I assure you, your good intentions won't save them. Nothing will, when the time comes."

[Shinobu]

She fought with the frenzy of someone unused to battle. A few battles to the death didn’t make up for years of training, nor did they give her the battle knowledge to know what he would likely do next. The result was that when he accepted the blow, using it to hug her even closer to him, she didn’t react for just a moment too long. It wasn’t like she wasn’t familiar with the concept- she’d used it before herself. But there was a vast difference between ‘understanding’ and being able to react. Shinobu froze, unsure of her next step, and in that second Rem’s massive hand grabbed her and pulled her close.

His words were a bitter poison, stabbing through her ears into her mind. They lodged there, spreading their hateful tendrils deeper and deeper into her as she hacked her blade deeper, trying to find something vital, and blood poured out along the blade. Shinobu closed her eyes, desperate to ignore what the monster was saying, but the hollow front she’d put up was exposed for what it was. She wanted to believe everything she’d said. That was...what she really wanted. To believe in what something deep within insisted had to be right.

But...did she?

She faltered, hesitating even as she tried to dig deeper, but his skin was suddenly harder. She gritted her teeth, trying to push the blade deeper, but it felt like it was caught in the monsters muscles and bone. Trapped and weak. Shinobu hissed and pulled back instead, the sharp blade flowing back up her arm as it escaped the trap the monster had created. She couldn’t leave it there- even if that meant she had to abandon some of her flesh inside, his muscle clamping down hard enough she had to cut it off now. It was too hard to retrieve it and…

His last words were a body blow. Abruptly her entire form shuddered in his grasp, wavering like jelly, even as her words rushed out with a voice and lungs no longer resembling the person she had just been. “No! I-” The desperate vaguely human shaped creature he now fought was churning as he raised her up...and slammed her down into the ground hard enough to crack the earth. Blood and bone splattered from flesh, but Shinobu couldn’t feel it over a different agony.

Who was she? The human? Or the monstrous claws and limbs?

I-
Human! Have been, will be-
Why why why why
Not a monster-
My face my body my body my-
Who is looking back at me

“GET AWAY FROM ME!!!

The howl rose into the air like a shot, and suddenly the flesh he had in his hand turned razor sharp and piercing. Blades sprouted in every direction, her body bubbling and popping as it shivered and tried to return to what she had been, every ounce of her being focused rejecting Rem’s words. She felt weak, boneless, spineless, helpless. She wanted to reject his words- he didn’t know her. Didn’t know how she struggled even when she had been powerless. What was he, how could he know? He couldn’t. His words were lucky, poisonous but hitting her weakness without knowing. She knew that. She knew that. And yet they hurt anyways.

Bloodied and hurt, she forced his hand open with a sudden surge of strength and then dashed backwards. Her eyes burned amber, boiling and glowing in the darkness….and filled with hatred. She’d let him in. How foolish of her.

“You don’t know anything, monster. I’ll forgive you that. Once.”

Her body shivered again, flesh melting, and the woman she’d been stood before him again. Her face was slightly off, the dimensions not quite right...but she didn’t know, and didn’t care. Shinobu trembled as her arms continued to twist, unable to decide on a form. But the trembling came from deeper within, and she took a step back towards him, her sweet voice now searing hot, “You know who you are. Lucky lucky you, monster. I hate you for that. But that has nothing to do with my power. You know your face. I never did.”

She still felt...so very weak. There was a core of strength inside but she couldn’t find it. It lay out of her reach, just as recognition of herself did. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m a monster now,” the admission was ashes on her tongue but she bit it out anyhow. Her hands returned, no weapons needed, just a straight human form. Somehow it felt worse. Somehow it felt unnatural, even as her power flooded her with satisfaction. “But I do know, she continued, reaching down into herself. Reaching for something to hold onto.

Why believe an enemy?
Why listen?
Because she wasn’t arguing with him.
She was arguing with herself.
His words a poison.
His words a question.

This time she spoke slowly. No momentum, no haste. She was fording a river, finding a solid rock to set her foot upon. A foundation from with she could counterattack. “I know that the world is unfair. Nothing might save them. But that doesn’t matter. I can try. So why shouldn’t I?

[Rem]

Rem howled in pain as his hand was ripped apart. She had a lot of fight in her, irritatingly but also alluring. This had been a nuisance to end, but now it became a delightful little game. It would have grinned wide as she tore her way away from it, as the blood rolled down to its arm and dropped steadily into the earth below, feeding it.

Rem did not rush forth against her but merely shifted back and moved into a crouched position. Its mangled limbs pressed against the ground and Rem watched her closely. Rem tilted its head just so, observing its strange face. Ah, was it right after all? It liked to play the game, these beings and their natures often bore such strange weakness. Not some critical flaw in power or conflict but within their own mind. Flaws that instead of shedding along with the relevant identities they bore that they clutched tightly to and nurtured.

To what end did such things serve? Of course, Rem understood the uselessness of such things.

She was angry now, did she wish to kill? Had it gone beyond the threat that Rem represented and on to something personal?

"We are all monsters," Rem informed her. "Some of us just have a longer path to recognizing it." She appeared normal again. Rem understood that some reflected an exterior in an idealized way, but it was strange to see someone who wore it like a disguise.

Rem's maw widened just so. "I promise you, child," it spoke in an unusual shift for its deep tone, it sounded almost sympathetic? "You will recognize your face in time, you will know what you really are." It shifted back, grimly and final. "I look forward to it." It let that linger a moment before continuing.

"And so now to the choice. I will kill you if you persist, and your story will end, and all hope of what you might accomplish with your finite existence will turn to nothing, and in turn I will use your power to wreak worse upon that which you cherish. I find you curious so," it trailed off for a moment.

Rem rose up, the blood and cuts had slowed and stopped, a waste of energy surely but it could scarcely help itself from indulgence now. At its full height with clenched fists, it made its thread of violence clear.

"Leave, and scrape away your temporary hope for the rest of your short life instead of wasting it here against me." It would delight in watching the day that hope vanished for good.

"Decide."