Youmu Konpaku, Keeper of Hakugyokurou, reached for the third deck and drew.
Damocles Raw energy crashed across the field.
Spell cards. Reimu had been so proud of them.
Gehenna Spidery metal limbs twisted and shattered.
They had rules. For the beauty of the duel.
Jericho
This deck had no rules.
Jaws of the Beast
Her first deck was her own, made when she was still young.
Mjolnir
The second they had made together. Him through his continuous probing of the rules, her through the application. We had quite the run, didn’t we?
Ouroboros
The third deck was his. The deck that broke the rules. The deck of last resort.
Skyfall
In all her centuries, she had never drawn on it once.
Armageddon
Now, it won’t be enough.
Ragnarök
Not with a whole world against us.
Loki’s Children
But I can still buy them time.
One by one her spell cards crashed into the waves of metal flooding down upon them.
* * *
Tired, so tired.
The things had finally stopped. Kanako must have done it. Youmu was too drained to celebrate yet. Later.
Hakurouken was the only thing that held her even remotely upright. Not at all proper, but you never complain, do you, old friend? Roukanken had not even that dignity. Though she still held fast to it’s grip, it’s full length sprawled in what had been grass, but was now just the mire churned up by every battle. Yet wonder of wonders, even that preening dandy was quiet. Found enough glory, even for you? You old rascal. Well, you wanted an adventure, didn’t you? Still, not right to let you two rust. I’ll get you cleaned as soon as I can catch my breath. At least things didn’t hurt anymore.
“Hey.”
Komachi? Yama Eiki’s ferryman, women, whatever… One of these days…“Long way from home.”
“Had a special pickup.”
“‘Fraid I forgot my fare. Sorry.”
“This one is on me.” The diminutive Yama emerged from her ferrywoman’s shadow. Which was odd. She never travels…
The Yama quirked a smile. “After all these years, you did not think I was going to leave you in the hands of a stranger, did you?” Then to Youmu’s surprise, the judge, normally so prim and proper, hugged her fiercely. “It has been so long.”
She looked back at her old shell still kneeling in the mud, supported only by her loyal swords. “Ah, I never sorted the shrine…”
“Oh, don’t you worry. Tam bought it out. Ken’s taking over the old Sawatori plot.” Which made sense. The Sawatoris had no children and were getting too old to work it, and Tam really was the right one…
“But where did he get the money?”
“Never you worry. They worked it out. It was very clever of them. They’re grown, and don’t need their mother to solve every problem, you know.”
“Huh. Good luck getting her to believe that,” but Youmu smiled anyway, then paused, a thread of fear winding down her spine. “I guess it’s time, isn’t it?”
The Yama just squeezed her tightly. “Oh hush. It’s already done. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll show you the way. He’s been waiting.”
It was an odd feeling, a lightness, as though a burden she did not know she was carrying was unexpectedly lifted from her shoulders. “Really? Now?”
The Yama smiled softly. “Yes, now.” And then she was there, and he was there, and as she buried herself into strong warm arms enfolding her they wept in joy.
She was home.
So this is a combination of a couple of possible endings I was playing with for the Girl in Green/Stories/Strange Thread stories. While it is nominally set in the Touhou universe, Strange Thread was set somewhere between 200 to 300 years after present day. This is old Youmu. Konpaku can live a very long time, but not forever.
The third deck was always going to be part of the last spider fight, but the second sequence hadn’t always been part of that. I sot of figure she would either keep fighting monsters until one got her, or she would die in bed. But I’d think regardless of when or how she goes, it always plays out sort of like that. By this point she’s done everything she really wanted to do, and while there’s always more to do, it doesn’t have to be her, and she misses her husband.
So if you ,dear reader, wish to read the second half as many years alter, in a quiet place surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and even a few greatgrandchildren, that is just as likely as this version, and just as true to the character. Though, she would probably have her fare in that case.
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