Chapter Text
It had been a shit day.
Tips were scarce, she burnt her hand on a plate she was carrying and spilled the risotto, and customers had been unnecessarily rude. Must be a full moon, Caroline figured, but the cloudy sky she was walking home under showed no light. Wrapping her coat tighter around her, her heels click-clacked down the sidewalk. The high-tops she'd worn to work that day had split in the sole, so she was forced to wear her work shoes home - and now she had to find money to buy a new pair of regular day-use shoes.
A month ago, things had been better. Caroline had been living with her girlfriend of a year, and had been studying her ass off in nursing classes to earn as many bursaries and scholarships as possible. But then she started a stupid fight with her girlfriend, and they broke up. Now she was trying to pay for an apartment she was barely affording when she split rent, and had bills and groceries to try and pay for. Her grades were suffering from having to take extra waitressing shifts. Worst of all, her ex had taken the cat. At this rate she was worried she'd have to give up on being a Registered Nurse and just try for a diploma.
Last year had been garbage, but this one wasn't shaping up to be any better.
Checking her phone for the first time in hours, she saw a blinking light, letting her know she had a voice mail. It was her father - they hadn't talked in about two weeks, and she'd been meaning to call him. Her battery was low, though, and she resolved to call him in the morning.
It was as she was trying to shove the phone back into her purse that her heel caught in a crack in the sidewalk. Ankle twisting, she fell, plunging towards the sidewalk. The fall seemed oddly long, but nothing seemed truly amiss until her hands and knees met tile instead of cement.
Looking around, Caroline was dumbfounded. She wasn't outside on a dim-lit street anymore. Instead, she found herself in what looked like a school hallway, with weird sliding doors instead of normal ones, and plenty of windows. It seemed to be either sunrise or sunset as well, instead of just after midnight - had she fallen unconscious from her fall? And somehow been dragged into a school by whoever found her? Maybe it was actually a hospital, she considered, but there were small lockers just down the corridor, and it didn't have a hospital smell.
Pulling herself up, she walked down the hall. It was empty, so there was no one to ask for help. When she turned the corner, she saw a sign hanging over a door, but not she could read, as it looked like it was in Chinese or Japanese. She was in one of the Asian language schools in the city, she guessed, as they weren't uncommon on the West Coast where she lived. The door under the sign was half-open, so she poked her head in.
A man was lying on a desk in the room, his head resting unnaturally on the desk. Caroline had finished her second nursing practicum only a few months before, and her instincts told her that something was wrong. Rushing over, she immediately began checking him over. A bloody knot on his head showed that he'd been struck unconscious, and his saliva was drooling onto the desk.
There had to be a first aid station somewhere - in an administrative office perhaps. She kicked off her heels and raced into the hallway, only to nearly knock someone over.
"I'm sorry," she said immediately, "Where is the first aid station?"
But the man who she knocked over didn't seem to understand. He groaned in response, clutching at his head. Caroline began to reach out to help him when his head snapped up, showing dilated pupils and a frothing mouth. The man lunged at her and she threw herself back with a shriek. Turning on her heel, she booked it down the hall, the man following her.
He shouted at her in a language she couldn't understand, but she kept running. Her stamina wasn't the best, and her feet were sore from a full shift before she landed in what seemed like Hell. In fact, she decided, this must be Hell. When she fell, she cracked her head open on the sidewalk, and thanks to her actions throughout her life, she had landed in a Hell where she would be chased by zombies. She'd hoped that whatever god there was would've been sympathetic to actions derived from a rough childhood, but apparently not.
Nearby, there was the sound of men shouting, and metal being crushed, a horrific beating and screeching sound. Panting heavily, she went past a classroom, only to glance in and see a large group of frothing, awful men, and two young girls, one with blue hair, wielding brooms against the men. She moved instinctively.
"Stay away from those girls!" Caroline shrieked, tackling the nearest man to the ground. Her pursuer leapt after her, only to be struck in the stomach by one of the teenage girls. Caroline swung her fist out, managing to hit one of the men in the crotch, but a foot slammed into her shoulder, making her cry out.
The blue haired girl turned towards her, only to be struck across the forehead, falling against her comrade. As Caroline stood, she was shoved towards the girls, and she stumbled into them. The still-standing girl seemed to be begging her friend to wake up as they slumped towards the floor, and the maternal instinct in Caroline had her grabbing a fallen broom, swinging it around to force the middle-aged men back. Being surrounded by all the creepy zombie-like men was the worst Hell possible she could think of, but since she was literally damned whatever she did, she would go down defending the teenage girls with everything she had.
One man, who appeared to be their leader, roared something in her face, but she kept her face placid. It wasn't hard, having worked with mental health patients at their worst hour in her last practicum. She jabbed him in the chest to keep him back, but he pulled the broom away, snapping it in half, and holding up a knife.
"Oh shit!" She threw her arms out, blocking the girls as much as she could.
Behind her, the brown-haired girl screamed out, "Yusuke!" The knife plunged down towards them.
Suddenly the knife dropped to the ground. Around them, the men collapsed, all of them unconscious. Stunned, Caroline and the girl looked at each other, until the blue-haired girl began to stir.
"Keiko-chan…" She murmured, looking up at her friend, before glancing at Caroline, "Daré…?"
"Her head," Caroline pointed to the injury, then to herself, "Nurse? Help?"
"American?" The blue-haired girl asked, her eyes focusing. Turning towards her friend, she said a few words in their language, before standing up. Still leaning on her friend, they made their way down the hall, Caroline following them.
The room they wound up in looked like a nurse's office, which was perfect. The girls helped each other to the bed - the brunette girl looked to have a cut on her shoulder as well. Caroline dug around in the first aid kit, pulling out some gauze and ice. But since everything was in the other language, she couldn't tell which bottles or creams were antiseptics.
The brunette girl came over to help, pulling out the necessary creams. She helped Caroline dress the blue-haired girl's wound.
"My name is Yukimura Keiko," she introduced herself in fairly good English, "This is Botan."
"I'm Caroline Brooks," answered the older girl, "Uh, where am I?"
"This is Sarayashiki Chugakko."
"Cool, cool, so is this like… Hell?" Caroline asked, putting an ice pack to Botan's head, "Or am I still in Burnaby?"
Botan, began to laugh. "You're not in Hell, silly!" Her English was perfect, with a British accent, to Caroline's surprise, "This is the Human World! You're not dead."
Well, that was something of a relief, she figured. But that just left the questions of how the fuck did she end up in this building , and why did the girl specify Human World ? "Well, I guess we should call the police? Then I need to go home, I have no idea how I was out all night."
"All night?" Botan asked, "It's sunset - the night is only beginning."
A chill ran down Caroline's back as she turned to the window. Botan was right. The sky was darkening, not getting brighter. Somehow she had lost an entire day, not just the night, and was stuck in this building - had she been drugged?
"I was walking Marine Way - going home -" She looked desperately between the girls. Keiko seemed lost, but Botan was concerned.
The sound of footsteps rushing into the hallway, and loud voices shouting distracted them. Botan hopped off the hospital bed, grabbing Keiko by her uninjured arm. "We can't be caught!" She said first in Japanese, Caroline presumed, then in English.
Grabbing up all of the first aid supplies, Caroline followed the teenagers out the door and through the school, avoiding the sounds of men, and missing her shoes. They made it out of the school, hiding in the bushes as it got dark, waiting for what appeared to be the police to leave. While they hauled away the men who had attacked them, Caroline continued to fix up Keiko and Botan in the bushes. Luckily, Keiko's shoulder wasn't going to need any stitches, and Botan was getting away without a concussion. By the time the cops had left, she had them both bandaged up.
The streets they walked out onto were nothing like the ones she had been walking on an hour ago. Much cleaner, and filled with more people - all Asian, which was not unusual since she lived in Vancouver.
They took Keiko home first. Her parents were very relieved to have her home, and they seemed to be thanking them profusely, but Caroline didn't understand them. She did, however, pick up 'arigato gozaimasu', and she could at least understand that much. Keiko's mother realized that Caroline was missing shoes and insisted on giving her some sandals to wear as they left.
"So this is... Japan?" She asked Botan after they left, unsure if she even wanted to know the answer.
Now that Keiko was home safe, Botan was focusing all her attention onto Caroline. "Yes, it is. How would you not know where you are? Or what time it is?"
"Wonderful questions. I'm considering a fugue state, or full mental break."
Botan began muttering to herself in Japanese and Caroline frowned. "It's a bit rude to mutter about me in front of me."
"Sorry!" Botan jumped suddenly, "I'm just thinking - with all the portals opening to the Demon World, one must've opened up where you were and brought you here!"
Portals? Demon World? "That's ridiculous. What day is it?"
Now Botan was studying her closely. "Today... is February 21st. What do you remember last?"
Caroline nodded. "Date checks out. So this is probably a mental break." Biting her lip, she thought back to where she was before the zombie attack. "I was walking home after work, as a server, and had just been checking my phone and saw my dad had called. I was planning to call him in the morning, then I tripped and landed in that hallway."
"Your phone?" Botan's blue brows furrowed.
"Uh, yeah?" She dug hers out of her pocket and held it up, clicking it awake onto the lockscreen, "Y'know, a cellphone? Smart phone? Whatever you call them here?"
But Botan was now staring at the phone confunded. "I need to take you to Lord Koenma, now ."
"To who?" But Botan had grabbed her by the wrist and was dragging her around a corner. Caroline wondered if she was going to be taken to a drug lord or something, but the other girl stopped and pulled out what looked like a compact mirror. The mirror part, however, fuzzed over with static, before clearing to show the face of a guy wearing a demon mask.
Definitely going to see a drug lord. She really, really hoped it wasn't a Triads thing. Still, she was impressed Botan could facetime on a phone that old-looking.
Just as Botan finished speaking and snapped her phone shut, the wall in front of them began to waver strangely. A slit in the wall opened up and peeled away to reveal a great white corridor, filled with more of those demon-mask wearing men, except their skin was painted to match the masks, and they were wearing tiny fur loincloths. Caroline touched the edges of the hole, feeling where the cement wall disappeared into the portal.
"Oh, this is definitely a mental break," she decided, "Botan, if you're real, can you take me to the hospital?"
Instead, Botan shoved her in. Squeaking in indignation, Caroline tried to scowl, but was quickly overwhelmed by everything happening around her. Once Botan had come through the portal behind her it closed in on itself, leaving nothing but thin air. The demons continued to bustle about, and there were also elegant women in kimonos pacing the floor, or occasionally floating overhead on boat oars .
Before she could even speak, Caroline was dragged over to a set of massive grand doors by Botan, who knocked, then entered.
Inside was a small desk, featuring an even smaller child. A toddler, with a pacifier in its mouth, and a humongous hat
"Lord Koenma," Botan bowed, "I brought you the girl I reported in to George about." She spoke in English for Caroline's benefit.
"So it's not enough to have had the Demon World spill out into the streets of the Human World, we had to have them transporting humans to and fro." The child sighed, rubbing his brow as Caroline gaped at him. That was definitely a baby beyond the typical developmental cycle. "We'll send her home, and she'll probably just think this was a mental episode."
"Oh, I already do," Caroline promised the creepy eloquent toddler.
Before Koenma could even sigh in relief, Botan jumped in. "The problem is, sir, I don't think she's just from another part of the Human World - Caroline, show him your phone."
Caroline sighed, pulling it out and passing it over. She didn't get why Botan was weirdly obsessed with her Samsung S8. Maybe if Botan was a figment of her subconscious, it could be her brain saying that she was too obsessed with it?
But now Koenma was staring at it in the same shocked manner. He narrowed his eyes at her. "What day was it when you can last remember?"
"February 21st."
"But what year?"
What year? "It's 2021," Caroline said as though it was the most obvious thing ever - which to her, it was.
"Caroline," Botan said very gently and carefully, "It's 1991."
What a weird and terrible mental breakdown she was having. Maybe this was the hospital - it was kind of white and big, and the demons and kimono girls could be nurses and doctors. Regardless, it couldn't be 1991 - she wasn't even born until 2000.
"Can I have the medications, please?" She said firmly, "I would like these delusions to stop. This is stressful. Here," she pulled her wallet out of her purse, "I have my CareCard. My name is Caroline Brooks, and my birthday is April 17th, 2000..."
Koenma spoke. "You are not experiencing delusions, Caroline Brooks. What's happening now is very real." But she decided to tune him out, and instead focus on her senses.
What are three things she can hear? Koenma's voice as he droned on. But that wasn't real so she refocused. Her own breaths - those were real. She began clicking together her nails, then tapping her toes. Those were three things that she had control over.
Three things she could see? The floor, maybe, but she didn't trust her eyes either, so instead she closed them.
Three things she could feel? The sandals she was wearing, her nails as they clicked together, the brushing of her hair on her cheeks.
Three things she could smell? That was the interesting part, as she couldn't smell anything related to the hospital, and it was one of the most recognizable scents there were, not even because she was a nurse-in-training. There was no scent of antiseptic here, or other chemicals. Just what smelled like faded chrysanthemums and sandalwood incense.
The last was what she could taste - her mouth primarily, a little after-taste of the fries she snacked on during her break, and a hint of the soda she'd had earlier to keep her energy up.
Focusing on these things, she didn't hear Koenma tell Botan to take her back to the Human World, to somewhere safe.
They passed through another portal, Caroline guessed, as the air changed from the scent of flowers and incense to fresh mountain air, so she assumed she'd been taken into a hospital courtyard or some such.
A very crabby old voice sounded out through the courtyard, speaking Japanese still. At this point she was starting to get worried, that it might be real - there was no way that in Metropolitan Vancouver people would be speaking so consistently in Japanese and English and not any other languages. She risked cracking open an eye.
Now it was dark out, and she was at what looked to be a very traditional Japanese house, in what was definitely some mountains. The crabby voice, however, belonged to the tiniest old lady, standing at the top of the steps to the house, snapping at Botan.
"This is Master Genkai, a powerful martial artist and reiki practitioner. She's very unhappy about this," Botan whispered to her.
"I can tell." Reiki was interesting - she had heard of it before as a health practice, but never had the opportunity to experience it.
The old woman, who had soft pink hair, made a great 'harrumph' and stalked off, hands behind her back. According to Botan, that meant 'follow me.' It was strange, the people with oddly coloured hair. Keiko, her parents, and the zombies all had natural hair tones, but as the mental break had gotten deeper, the hair had gone more unnatural.
Genkai led them to a sliding door, which opened into a traditional but very empty room. Botan translated that this would be Caroline's room, and there were bed rolls in the small cupboard to the side.
She was very eager to get into bed and fall asleep. With any luck, she'd wake up in the morning with a clear head, her main mental break gone, and able to cope with her circumstances. But first, regardless of whether or not she was in the grip of psychosis, she would be polite.
Turning to Genkai, she bowed deeply. "Arigato gozaimasu." Her mouth stumbled on the pronunciation, but she'd done her best.
The tiny old lady looked at her with an appraising eye, then curtly nodded and left. Botan stayed behind to assist her with setting up the bedroll.
"I'm afraid there aren't any clothes for you - you're hardly Genkai's size." Botan joked as she lay out the flat mattress. "But I'll come fetch you tomorrow and take you into town to go shopping. I'll also find something for you to bypass the language barrier with."
Caroline reached over and took Botan's hand. "You've been so kind to me. I truly hope that you're real."
She laughed, and departed. And so Caroline was left alone to try to sleep. She pulled off all her clothes, casting them into a pile on the floor and crawling into bed in just her underwear. Hopefully pajamas would be on tomorrow's shopping list. In fact, as she lay in bed, she started to work on what she would need to buy, providing she didn't wake up in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. Clothes, definitely underwear and socks, at least two tops and a bottom - she couldn't keep wearing her work dress. And speaking of work clothes, a new pair of shoes, as there was no way she'd be wearing sandals the whole time she was... wherever she was. Toiletries too. She hoped she could get them cheap so that she wouldn't be pressing Botan or that baby's wallet too much.
Though, to be fair, they'd deserve it - telling her she was living in 1991, when she wouldn't even be born for another nine years. What a bunch of weirdos.