infinite_reflection | A couple of days after hanging out with Miho...

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A couple of days after hanging out with Miho...

"Under the weather" was at once an accurate and inaccurate way for Ren to describe herself. She had much less energy than usual, but being stubborn as ever, she refused to let it show. She attended practice even after hurting her ankle, and grumbled endlessly when the team captain forced her to sit out for her own safety. Her volunteering jobs had been stressful as well, and she found herself with less work to do and less people to help. For any other teenager this would have been a good thing, but for Ren, it was a sign that she wasn't needed.

And then the kitchen knife slipped from her hand while preparing her lunch that morning. Ren idly scratched around the bandaid on her finger during class, chewing on the inside of her cheek. For anyone who knew her well, they could tell she didn't look like herself.

... Not to mention the mirrors were driving her up the wall.

Just as the bell rang to signal the end of the day's last class, the sound stretched and echoed in Ren's head and her mind seemed to blank out. She sat there, immobile, for a good number of minutes, whilst everyone around her was already packing up.

"Hey, Miura, are you okay? You look kinda pale."

"Hm... yeah, maybe you should go to the infirmary. Or get someone to help you walk home..."

"Miura? Hey, Miura, are you listening?"

Abruptly, the girl stood from her seat, surprising those standing around her desk. Without gathering her things or even uttering a word, she turned and exited the classroom, staring blankly and dragging her feet.

She heard whispers all around her... or inside her? But she couldn't actively listen to them. She was barely conscious and it was like she didn't find anything strange about walking to an empty girls' bathroom. Once there, she turned to face the mirror, empty gaze setting on the shifting surface.

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The mirror was a fairly large one, spanning the entire length of the wall above the series of sinks. If it had been a hole in the wall, one could easily climb up and walk inside on all fours.

Of course, it wasn't as though it needed to be a hole to be accessed. The surface of the mirror shifted - it almost looked like a pool of water on the wall, and Ren's reflection in it was distorted just like if it had been projected in water. After a moment, the image of the reflection seemed to focus, and its surroundings became dark; Ren's reflection looked as though she had been attacked by a wild animal, with scratches and bruises and her clothes in tatters. The reflection raised a hand and pressed it against the other side of the glass and leaned forward, beckoning Ren to come closer.

Still in a daze, Ren slowly raised a hand towards the mirror...

As the mirror shifted, Seiya felt her heart sink. It was all too familiar. Seiya lunged forward, the door slamming against the wall.

"DON'T!" she wasn't really sure how to go about this. How do you tell someone not to go into the scary mirror fantasy world?

With the sound of the door slamming and Seiya's voice, Ren snapped out of her trance, turning to look at her with a sort of deer in the headlights look.

This was... the girls' bathroom? Huh? When did she get here? Mouth hanging agape, it took her a moment before she remembered she could use her voice. "What's-"

Her reflection's arms shot out of the mirror and grabbed the collar of her uniform. Without leaving her the time to pronounce even another syllable, the reflection pulled her in with tremendous strength. Ren choked out a yell as she was dragged over the counter, kicking wildly and trying to pry its grip off of her, to no avail. Her cries of "Let me go!" and various curse words fell on deaf ears as she was already inside the mirror down to her hips.

Seiya dove forward, grabbing the girl by the sleeves. "I GOT YOU DON'T WORRY!" Though her words sounded reassuring, she began to doubt if they were true. Tugging as hard as she could, her grip began to slip. Herein the real world she was no match for a shadow.

"Look at me! In the eye!" Seiya tried to lock their gazes, "It will pull you in, but I'm coming for you, okay?!"

Through the mirror, the sound almost sounded like it was distorted through water, but they were close enough for Ren to make sense of Seiya's words. She gulped, only managing to look at her for a moment, and nodded, before being pulled inside the mirror completely.

Once she was in, the mirror's surface stabilized and returned to normal, as though nothing happened.

Inhaling deeply, Seiya braced herself before diving into the mirror. Rolling through, she landed on a slick icy floor. Seemed familiar enough. Rising to her feet, she realized two things. One, she forgot a weapon again, and two, she had no idea what the girl's name was.

"Um... Are you in here!?"

It seemed as though the two of them had landed in different parts of the same place. Ren thought she might have heard the girl's voice echoing through the icy hallways, but she was preoccupied with the pain in her ankle. Not only had she hurt it earlier, but the fall only served to make it worse. The wall was covered in spiked ice... how was she going to find something to lean on? Great. She managed to pull herself up and leaned against the wall with her forearm. At least the fabric of her sleeve would shield her somewhat.

As her breath came out in white puffs, Ren looked around. There was a series of dirty, bloodied bathroom stalls that looked like they were about to fall apart. All around the place, there seemed to be signs of struggle, including small blood splatters here and there. Ren shuddered a little. What the hell was going on?

She thought of calling out to the girl who followed her inside, but her attention was caught by someone peeking at her from around the corner, who quickly snuck away. "Hey!" she growled, angrily limping in their direction. "Come back here, asshole!"

That should have been loud enough to echo through the halls.

Slowly inching forward, Seiya was greeted by the faint echo. So that's where the girl was. Picking up her pace, she jogged towards the sound, cautious to avoid the strange creatures lurking in the shadows.

"Keep yelling!!" She huffed, turning the corner, facing an intersection that branched four different directions. Shit.

Keep yelling? Did she hear right? She would do that, although Ren was getting the feeling that besides herself, the other girl and the... thing she was chasing, there were other things around. Lurking, just out of sight. What were those things, and what the hell was this place, and what was she chasing? What even happened? Everything about this offended her rationality. So did that mean the rumors about the mirrors were true and that there was more to it? Ugh. Nothing made sense anymore.

Ren bit her lip. She hoped that girl would be okay... she didn't want anyone to risk getting in trouble because of her. If she could just resolve this and make her way out on her own, then...

A sigh made its way to her ears and her head ached; her instincts told her where to go and followed the source of the sigh. "Come on and face me, you coward! Don't make me find you...!"

The layout looked vaguely like a copy of the school's hallways, only icy and with signs of scuffles, with the occasional misplaced bathroom stall. As Ren sensed she was drawing closer to her "target", there was more and more dirt on the ground... not just dirt, but soil, partially frozen. She cleared her throat, cupping a hand around her mouth to project her voice. "Hey, look for the dirt on the ground!"

Pondering which way to go, she vaguely understood "dirt." Looking down, Seiya noticed a path with tiny sprinkles of frozen soil. Following the branch, she exited the crossroads, keeping her eyes on the floor.

Arthur had prepared her for this. Both he and Igor had instructed her about her power, yet actually using it terrified her. She slid her hand into her skirt pocket, thumbing the little compact she'd kept in there. No big deal, right?

"I think I'm close!!"

Her voice did sound like she was getting closer, and with her ankle in this state, it would only be a matter of time before the girl would catch up. Ren continued until she arrived at a dirty, heavy-looking door that seemed to have been left ajar. She could definitely feel a presence beyond it, and she was certain it was whatever she was chasing down, just waiting for her. She bit her lip. Go inside, or wait for the girl?

She looked at her feet and saw that the ground was completely covered in unthawed soil, and what looked like plants that had tried to sprout out but were frozen before they could get far.

"I'm at a door," she called out, but before she could add anything else, a sighing voice came from beyond the door, just above a mumble.

It doesn't matter... she can't help you anyway. You don't even want her to.

That... that was her own voice...

Seiya nearly tripped over some icy roots, the ground now gradually turning into nothing but dirt. Rolling her mirror in her palm, she felt she was close. Stopping at the end of the hallway, she could see Ren not too far ahead.

"Hey! I'm here!"

Ren was almost a little startled by Seiya's arrival and she managed to tear her gaze away from the door to look at her. "O-oh, hey." Damn, why did she have to get someone involved into this? "Sorry you had to come in here... wherever this is." She gave her surroundings a confused, almost irritated look. It was hard to turn around to face her completely, what with her injured ankle forcing her to lean on the wall.

Ren looked back at the door. "... There's someone in there. Probably whatever pulled me in here."

Seiya watched Ren, taking a few hesitant steps forward. Judging by how she'd first reacted, Seiya could guess this girl was feeling roughly the same.

"Come towards me. I can get you out." She stared at the door, terrified to know what was behind it.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek unsurely. She was pretty sure they had cornered the thing she was chasing, so the idea of backing down and leaving kind of left a bad taste in her mouth... but she also didn't want to risk the girl's safety, nor did she want to have to rely on her too much.

As she opened her mouth to speak, however, the door creaked open with a loud whine. The room was roughly the size of a classroom and the floor looked like a ploughed field that froze over. Scratches, indents and smears of dirt covered the walls, like a wild animal had gone on a frenzy inside. At the end of the room stood a single bathroom stall with its door unhinged, covered in smeared graffiti. A girl perched on the toilet with her knees to her chest, almost like she had taken refuge in the stall to cry.

The girl slowly raised her head to look at them - it was Ren's reflection, dirty, bruised, with her clothes in tatters, and her eyes shining gold. She sighed. "It's no use... you can't help me."

Ren stared, mouth agape. "What the hell...?"

Shit, it looked like the wheel had already begun to spin. Seiya was on guard, taking a defensive position instinctively. "Um..." She didn't know her name. "You should really come with me!"

It was most likely useless, but she had to try.

Before they could react, however, there was a rumble much like an earthquake, forcing the two girls to stumble inside the room. The door swung shut behind them with a loud clang. Losing her balance with her injured ankle, Ren fell on the ground, scraping her knees and palms against the frozen ground.

The reflection in the stall peered at them both through tired, melancholic eyes, heaving another sigh as her gaze fixed itself on Seiya. "How do you expect to help someone who can't even help herself...?" Her gaze then shifted to Ren, who was wincing as she picked herself up the ground. "Useless... after all your reassuring and bragging, you can't even hold your promises. You're so unreliable..." She unfolded her legs, setting her feet on the floor as she stood, but didn't exit the stall. Her shoulders were slumped and her head hung low, like she was defeated. "When people need you the most, you turn out to be incapable of doing anything worthwhile. Why do you even bother...?"

Ren clenched her fists. What... what was she even talking about?! "Yeah right, like you know anything! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

The reflection gave her a dull, half-lidded stare. "You can't even tell? I'm you."

"We really should--" Too late, the doors were shut. Seiya pulled out her compact, rolling it in her palm. Not this again. It seemed that there was a pattern with all this, and Seiya knew where it was headed.

"Don't listen to it."

"What?" It almost came out as a huff as Ren looked at Seiya, confused. Did she know about this stuff? She warily looked at the reflection again.

"Yes, don't listen to me, just as you always do. You never listen to me. Not when you're sick, tired, or hurt... you keep wanting to help people more and more because to you, people can't take care of themselves. Not without you, right?... Yet you can't even help yourself." She paused to heave a long, drawn-out sigh. "And then you wind up like this, with the world's weight on your shoulders." She vaguely gestured to herself, as though she was too exhausted to move much more than that.

Ren chewed on her lip. There had to be some kind of trick. There was no way she was telling the truth... her, helpless? Y-yeah right... She averted her gaze, instead looking down at the ground between herself and Seiya. "You might as well stop talking, because I'm not gonna listen."

"Come on." Her hands rose - it was like she was a mime in an invisible cage, yet it really looked as though her hands had set on something. "Why not just admit it to yourself already? Do us both a favor... you don't want to drag that girl into this, do you?"

"Shut up!"

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Seiya gritted her teeth, stepping closer to Ren. Perhaps she could attempt to comfort her. The situation was dangerous, and to aggravate the girl would probably make her shadow that much more volatile.

"I'm coming closer, okay? Talk to me. Just stay with me. What's your name?" Brow furrowed, she took little steps forward.

Ren licked her lips, unsure of where to look, but she acknowledged Seiya drawing closer. "I'm..."

"Miura Ren, second year," the other interrupted. "16 years old, baseball club. Born August 1st, living with a brother and grandmother... Need anything else?"

She looked at her, bewildered and angry.

"How do I know?" she asked for her, not even needing to look at her expression. "I told you already... I'm you."

"Cut the crap already!" Ren yelled, her stance becoming more aggressive. "For the last time... you're not me!"

The girl in the stall stared and it seemed as though the golden hue of her eyes flashed for a moment. Slowly, she stepped out of the stall, as though her invisible prison had vanished. With her hands twitching as they clutched her stomach, black mist began to form and accumulate around her. "Figures... you're beyond help."

The cloud of black mist exploded forward; the wave blasted Ren backwards, against the wall and onto the ground. As the mist cleared, where the reflection stood earlier was now a large ox buried waist-deep in the ground, with the reflection herself gored through the stomach and hanging from its horn. The ox bellowed, digging its hooves violently into the frozen ground, and the girl looked at Seiya with dull eyes.

"I am a Shadow... the true self."

"Miura-san It's--!!" Seiya grunted, the blast causing her to hit the ground hard. Wincing, a sharp pain shot through her already bruised side. In but an instant the shadow had transformed into some kind of gruesome beast. Watching as it locked eyes with her, Seiya's hands shook as she fumbled with the mirror.

"Miura-san, it's lying!" Or rather, she hoped it was. At this point, Seiya wasn't even sure if Ren was alright.

Ren had crumpled to the ground after the impact. If she was still conscious, she was too dazed to react. The Shadow, on the other hand, was far from dazed; she lifted her hand, uncovering the ox's left eye; the eye flashed wildly and the beast bellowed, summoning a rock spike to shoot up from the ground under Seiya's feet.

Rolling quickly to the side, the spike grazed her side, blood dampening her shirt. Seiya growled, throwing her mirror down on the ground. "PERSONA!"

In a flash of glorious light, Hlin emerged from the glass, eyes opening wide. She glared at the shadow, hand s outstretched. Quickly aiming at Shadow Ren, Hlin cast Garu, a gust of wind picking up and slamming towards the creature.

The gust of wind hit the Shadow in full blast; the ox thrashed its head around and stomped its hooves in pain and the girl tried to stabilize herself on the beast's horn, cringing as she was tossed to and fro. The spell seemed to have been especially effective... maybe just a few more...

The ox's free horn grew in length and it tossed its head, aiming to slam Seiya with it.

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