Fushigi Yuugi OC AU/Rewrite

Chapter 7. Going Home

I stared at Taiitsukun in awe as she floated before us. Nuriko smiled and came up to her. "Um, hi there!" "Hm? Yes, what is it?" "Are you really... Taiitsukun?" "Yes, I am." "...Really?" "I am. I am indeed the controller of this universe." She shifted her gaze to Hotohori with a displeased look. "Hotohori? What are you doing?" Hotohori was turned away from her with his hands over his face. "I can't stand... the sight of anything that is so ugly." Within seconds he was smacked and knocked out cold with a comically large mallet she pulled out of somewhere. 'I won't question where she got it, magic is weird.'

"I can see that you're all still terribly wounded. I wanted to test you all, just to see how willing you were to help one another." She explained to us. "A test? You mean that other person, that counterfeit me?" I shivered a bit at the thought of that girl again. "Yes, of course. That was my doing." The others noticed that I was still shaken up from the experience. Tamahome held my shoulders gently to try to keep my shivers down. "Stay still, or you might start hemorrhaging again." Nuriko tried to calm me down as well and Hotohori gritted his teeth some. "You're still not in good shape, we have to do something."

"Her devotion surprised me. From what I had seen of her prior she seemed far more willing to keep to herself, even if it meant hurting others because of it. However, it seems my thoughts on her were mistaken." My eyes widened at her words. I knew she wasn't wrong, that did sound like me, but... being around these people changed that. I would do anything for them after they've done so much for me, I don't need to push them away anymore. "I suppose we have no choice, let's go to my palace. We can discuss this more there." Taiitsukun said before holding her hands out in front of us. "Hah!" Suddenly we were lifted off the ground and soared high into the sky.

I looked down over the area, now with a new vantage point to see more of it. "It's incredible..." "So this is Mt. Taikyoku." Tamahome had the same awestruck expression as me. "I just hope we don't fall off this rug!" Nuriko was less impressed and more fearful for our safety. "Hahaha! Only those who are actually chosen to come here can see the mountain. Evil minded people will only find a rocky, barren land if they come anywhere near this area!" Taiitsukun explained proudly.

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"Taiitsukun guided the Priestess of Suzaku and the others to the magnificent palace atop Mt. Taikyoku. Ice... So that means the legendary girl, the long awaited Priestess of Suzaku, is Ice!" She had already realized it prior, but she was still in a bit of shock that her best friend had done all this and achieved so much in this story. "Hm? The boy with a red Ogre symbol on his forehead... Tamahome, that was the boy who saved us when we first got there." She tried to piece it all together as she held her chest gently, a dull pain still throbbing there from the wound shared between her and Ice.

"I feel the same pain and anguish that Ice feels, just like the book describes... All those times. But why? Why do things that happen to Ice in the book, the Universe of the Four Gods, effect me as well?"

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We all stood there before Taiitsukun's palace. "First, we will need to attend to your wounds. Nyan-Nyan." Taiitsukun called upon her servants and a bunch of identical children with tied up green hair appeared before us. "Treat these people immediately." "Yes ma'am!" They responded in happy unison as they brought us inside, then came over to us and began to tend to us. "Treating! Treating! Heal! Heal!" The girls began to pull me away from the others, probably because my wounds were more intense. "Taiitsukun, please treat the others before you administer to me. The only reason they're hurt at all is on my account."

"What about you?" She raised an eyebrow at me. "I'll be fine waiting." The Nyan-Nyan seemed to disagree though. "No! No! Gotta treat you!" They began to take my clothes off so they could tend to all of my injuries. "What? But I only have the wound in my chest!" I tried to protest, seeing it as a bit excessive. "You should stay quiet and allow them to treat you. They noticed you have more wounds than just that one." I looked down at my body at Taiitsukun's words and realized what she meant. I had many scars, cuts, and bruises from the treatment I had faced back home. They were going to try to heal those? While I appreciated the thought, I doubted it would work since these had been here for so long.