Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was like a scene straight out of a sports anime, what with the beautiful vista of the open field, the light breeze making the short blades of grass dance slightly, a few cotton like clouds drifting on one direction and the rays of sunlight bathing everything in what could only be described as the perfect morning for relaxing, or in the case of the two people currently using the track field, the perfect day to do some training.

“Are those… Senchou and Towa-sama?” one of the two redheads asked as they watched the two figures jog, well, one of them at least, since the other was almost dragging her feet as she slouched forwards in a clear sign of somebody not used to such physical endeavours, in conclusion, it was comical, but that was something that they were used to when both Marine and running in any capacity were in the same sentence.

“Seems like it, I gotta say, seeing that combination of people is not something I was expecting to see this day,” the taller of the two girls currently watching her co-workers was not wrong, since Marine-senpai was not known for spending her day training or doing exercise, unlike the angelic demon that was currently running circles around the ‘pirate’ girl. This was obviously not something that was spontaneous considering that the third generation girl was not wearing her usual coat or hat, but even if she had lighter clothes, something very needed while doing exercise under this pleasant weather, the eternally no-stamina curse that plagued the so-called pirate was infamous, so what exactly was happening?

“Could you do me a favor?”

“Sure chicken,” as a reward for the word, the taller girl just got a bop on the head.

“Not a chicken, but, go and find out what is going on and tell me later, I need to start the stream in like ten minutes.”

“And you’re going to play one hour and ramble on for three in the super chat readings?” The smiles on both faces were a clear indication that everything was just simple teasing and no feelings were being hurt.

“You should know that’s the best part of my stream and my employees love it.”

“Until the moment you send them to the usual room,” truly, being an employee of KFP also had its dangers.

“Whatever you heard is a lie, KFP is a clean and respectable establishment, there are no cults involved, now,do find out why, see ya!” and with that, her companion simply ran in the direction of her apartment leaving the tall hololive girl by herself; changing her bag from one hand to the other, the redhead simply sighed at the antics of her generation comrade.

It was simple, go out with Kiara to buy some groceries and enjoy the beautiful day they had before going back to their own houses and once more entertain the world with their respective crazy antics, but like always, the bird brain had done what she was best known for, have her brain go in a completely different tangent and leave her here; well, Kiara had her stream and she herself was curious about what was going on.
Seeing how Marine Senchou had stopped and was trying to regain her breath… and also not start vomiting on the side of the track by the looks of it, she decided this was the best time to close the distance with her co-workers.

As she got closer, the other jogger also stopped, this one being completely unwinded, in fact, she seemed even more energized, something that had become obvious after getting to know her; Towa-sama was always moving around, the only times that didn’t happen was when she was playing something, instead, her attention and focus was on what she was shooting at, mostly, since she had started to play other stuff besides shooters; still, Towa was someone that reminded her of Subaru, that boundless amount of energy made that duo so unlike most members of hololive.

“Yo, Senchou, catch!” taking something out of her bag, she took out the melon-flavored water, it was slightly carbonated, but it was the best she got at the moment, it was after all the least sugary thing that she had bought and the pirate girl obviously needed it more.

It was very good throw in her opinion as she had simply threw it up instead of directly at the girl so she will have a chance to catch it, alas, something always happened because as she had tried to catch it with both hands, the bottle went ahead and landed directly on her face sending her to the floor much to the surprise of the other two girls, who simply stood in silent shock at what just happened.

“And there goes our resident expert in Touhou,” she was, after all, the expert of bullet hells on the group, so always seeing the bizarre lack of coordination in physical stuff was pure comedy.

“I’m fine,” throwing a thumbs up as she was on the floor at least alleviated some of their worries; sure, Marine-senpai was capable of surviving a lot of punishment, but they weren’t that keen on seeing their friend suffer, at least not when she wasn’t deserving said punishment.

“Well, at least she didn’t die, konyappi!” Ah, seeing someone as energetic and positive as Towa was always something that made everyone’s day much brighter “is a bit weird to see you walking around at this hour of the day,” it was indeed bizarre considering her own condition.

“Towa-senpai, konshinku! (kon+Crimson) Just going to the store with the chicken, but she left to do her own stream, I just wanted to say hi for now, what were you and Marine-senpai doing?” pointing with one thumb to their fallen comrade, they were witnesses to the revival of the pirate as she had finished her melon water in a blink and had finally gotten up.

“Save me! Towa-sama is torturing me!” It seemed as if Marine was trying to get some help from the taller girl, but seeing the way she was leering at her and the squeezing motions from her hands, she quickly stretched an arm and grabbed the shorter redhead by the head as this one was obviously aiming for her chest “aaaahhh, I just wanted a hug,” with the most innocent look imaginable and with a higher pitch, the other two girls knew very well what she had been planning.

“Sure, and I just want to squeeze you somewhere else too,” and with that, the hand holding Marine’s head began to use some force making the pirate girl squeal in pain before releasing, making the girl flop down into the ground once more, this time with less pity from other girls.

“Cannot say I wasn’t expecting that from her,” and people wondered why Towa always kept her own breasts at that size even when she could change her own shape; better to have a modest size than to be the target of perverts like Marine. Sure, they both loved the crazy girl, but sometimes her harassment was a bit much. “I just wanted to train a bit with Senchou, what with her having such horrendous stamina.”

“And I still don’t understand why you wanted to meet here! Why couldn’t have we just done another drawing stream? That one was fun, but this is just punishment Towa-sama!” It wasn’t yet whining, but with Marine’s normal voice, it could very well pass as childish whining “you’ve been behaving weirdly the whole day, so what’s the deal?” The young demon had never been known for being a good liar, something that just baffled them all at Cover Corp considering she was an imp, something was created for mischief, but not even that she could do correctly.

“Is not a big deal,” again, she was lying by the look of her face, every single emotion on Towa was as clear as a mountain spring, just looking at the way she was avoiding their eyes; even if just a moment ago there was a small problem between the other two girls, they simply looked at each other and then at Towa who was fidgeting a little bit; yep, there was something going on. Thankfully, Towa did not have much resistance against pressure and quickly caved in “okay, fine! I just wanted to spend some time with Marine-senpai! Is because of the stream she did the other day!” Pointing at the member of holofantasy, it was clear she was referring to something in specific, but considering the amount of streams they all did on a weekly basis, it would be a little hard to pinpoint the exact thing she was referring to.

“What stream are you talking ab- oh, that one,” Marine-senpai had said that with such conviction that made the taller girl scowl in confusion, what were they talking about? If it was something about both Marine and Towa that was not the drawing stream then… oh, THAT one.

“You mean, when grandma Marine came from the future?”

“Oi! Who are you calling grandma!” It was not a normal occurance to see the pirate captain angry at someone, but mentioning her age was a surefire way to make her seeth in anger.

“She came from like, seventy years from the future Senchou, I’m pretty sure she will count as a grandma considering you are a human being, no matter how weird you are,” seeing the anger tick grow on Marine’s forehead was still funny to see to this day.

“Just because you two are basically immortal does not mean you can talk to your senior in that way!”

“Okay, fine, sorry, still, what does that stream have to do with how you’re behaving right now?” The young imp simply tsked as she tried to keep her composure, but this being Towa, she quickly failed at that.

“Is what she said! That I had left you all!” oh, that part, yeah, she remembered what the old captain mentioned, about how surprised she was to see Towa in the chat and that she had returned to the underworld in the future “how could the me from the future do something like that?!”

“Towa-senpai?”

“The me in the future left her family! How could she leave you all?!” The two girls looked at each other, obviously worried about the young imp, after all, it had been very few times in which they had seen the usually happy little demon in this way, it was clear that what the older Marine had said had affected her deeply; it just… felt wrong to see the energetic demon girl so emotional about it.

“Come on Towa, she said you left because you were turning into an angel, surely you can understand why, right?” Adding a spice of humor into her words, Marine was clearly trying to raise the purple haired girl’s mood, something that she was very good at. For all the buffoonery that Marine-senpai instigated on a daily basis, many still forget the fact that senchou was also incredibly good at social interactions; an ability that the taller girl at her side wished she had at the moment.

“And? Do you really think that is enough reason to leave you all behind!? I left hololive, and my friends… I abandoned the kenzokus… the people that had never abandoned me, who were there for me when I needed them the most… and I just ran away,” seeing her like that, it just made something inside of them want to go to her and hug her, it was almost as bad as seeing a little sad puppy! It wasn’t fair!

“Towa-senpai… the future is not written in stone, yeah, Marine-senchou came from the future, but is just one timeline, believe me, there is a time traveler in my generation, we ended up learning a couple of things about it.”

“Oh right, Watson-chan is a time traveler, I always forget about that, considering how normal she looks,” Towa said as if suddenly remembering that fact about the blonde girl obsessed with tea and ground pounding.

“Believe me, normal is not the word I will use when talking about Ame,” she may look like any other girl, but she was still a member of Holomyth, sure, she looked the most normal from the five EN girls… five…. there were… there w...ere…. fi…. there were fi… fiv…. there… we……
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Six

What are you talking about?

There have always… been six…. five? No…. ALWAYS SIX, this was her, Carmilla Morrison, sixth member of Holomyth, it has ALWAYS been that way.

“Who would have thought that Death would be the most normal one from all of you?” There have been no changes, everything was normal, everything was fine, and Marine-senpai was absolutely right, the most ‘normal’ from the six of them was definitely Callie, even if she was a shinigami that was also a fantastic rapper, but considering the other members of the generation included a girl that had been transformed by eldritch knowledge and constantly talked with the Ancient Ones, a phoenix that was obsessed with fast food and the aforementioned shinigami, a time-traveler gaming salty gremlin, a mini shark from Atlantis that only had one neuron and a several millennia old vampire that was into sarcasm and video games, maybe a woman that was Death’s apprentice wasn’t that weird after all.

“Oh yes, because the rest of hololive is pretty normal,” banter between the tall vampire and the small pirate was a normal occurrence whenever they collaborated together.

“She’s got you there Senchou, but yeah, I suppose you are right, still, I just wanted to spend some time with Marine… sorry if you didn’t like what I planned, I was just thinking that it could be a good idea to get some stamina for the next time we have to sing on stage.”

“So, let me see if I understand what’s going on, you were worried that what Grandma Senchou,” she just ignored the angry redhead after saying that “said would become true and you decided that the best way to avoid becoming an angel was to help her train because you were worried about her health?” at the nod from the purple haired demon the two redheads pointed at her at the same time.

“TMT!”

“I’m not an angel!” The reaction at those letters together never failed to be incredibly interesting and funny; truly, there has never been such an angelic imp around, and as Towa kept saying that she wasn’t an angel, the taller of the three simply smiled, happy that she had decided to be here, even if she had to lie, it was still worth it.

Poor Senchou would have intense pain, but at least Towa wanted to help her get back to her house, something that was obviously good since the tall redhead knew that the pirate girl will crash down in pain and lack of energy at any moment, but just as they were walking away, there was something in the air, something acrid, a presence that set Carmilla’s senses on alert.

“See ya later Carmi-chan!” Senchou’s cutesy voice was still a treasure in some way, but as she waved them goodbye she stomped on Marine’s shadow, and as the two girls walked away, the pirate girl’s dark counterpart on the floor seemed to stretch, before something snapped.

A dark, small creature detached itself from Marine’s shadow, quickly trying to scurry and flee in terror, but it was never that lucky as it was grabbed in the blink of an eye; its slimy skin felt oily and disgusting, truly a creature made out of hate and resentment, its pitiful cries were annoying and nauseating, but she was used to the monsters, after all, it took a monster to know another.

Carmilla’s usual purple eyes began to shine as she took hold of the creature as this one kept trying to escape, twisting its fiendish oozing body, fighting against the grip of the redheaded vampire, but there was no escape from judgement.

“So one of you tried to attack Marine-senpai, you are starting to get annoying, but well, if it weren’t because of this I wouldn’t be here after all, now die you useless piece of hate,” Carmilla’s short hair began to move, as if moved by a non-existent breeze as the ooze in her hands let its final shrilling cry as its body began to shine, and just like that, there were only motes of light where the dark creature stood “tsk, these things are starting to get annoying… guess I’ll have a talk with Yagoo,” but that will be for another occasion, for now she just took a breather after a job well done.

Taking a sit at the very comfy grassy hill at the side of the track, Carmilla took out a classic japanese snack, her favorite tuna mayo sandwich; convenient stores in the country kept surprising with their quality, and as she relaxed with the tasty treat, she took a respite, knowing very well that she will have very little free time after this; who knew being the SIXTH member of HoloMyth could be so exhausting? After all, changing reality itself so it could… remembering her was not easy, but it was the price she will pay to keep all the girls safe.

Chapter Text

It was just echoing, every single step that she took as she went up the street, it was echoing every step; even with people walking around like busy dark suited men walking around, seeing their watches and worrying about their day at the office, young men and women just trying to eat or talk or find their way around the streets, women busy with their shopping or talking with their friends as they walked around after a grueling day at school, there was no sound.

Only her steps could be heard, as every single person turned just into faceless dark shadows; in the world, right now, the sound of low heeled boots on concrete bounced around in this featureless, dark blue world as Carmilla kept her focus on everything and every one, trying to keep herself rooted to the physical world, then, just as if someone had activated a switch, the world turned back into colors, returning from the darkness and into the world mortals resided in.

Shaking her head once, the anomaly known by others as Carmilla Morrison entered once again into the world of the other ones, the ones that were alive and happy and ignorant… and so damn lucky; it was after all, the world of the real, although, real and normal could not be used with reckless abandon, not in this situation, not in this world.

Normal was a world where there were only other human beings, not one that was rift with more than just the other ones, like angels and demons walking hand in hand as if it were just a normal sunday afternoon at the park, or knights and elves ripped apart from their own ‘normal’ worlds and deposited into this one. Normal shouldn’t be a place where Virtual divas and shrine maiden could be more than just pixels on a tv screen and could roam around and sing and interact and be more than just a program.

Normal was not a world where animals could gain a human body and were happy with just playing video games and the ukulele, but here we are, that’s the kind of place this world was… and that’s the world she had been thrown into; not… really belong, just lazily put into a layer, like a drawing hastily made by a kid on a clear plastic sheet placed on top of a masterpiece designed by an artist, but that’s the way it was.

That’s the world she was in, and it was the place she… worked? Hard to say with all the craziness and all the ‘definitely not normal’ everyday one could find, but it was a home for sure, it was hololive, just another building in a sea of more concrete, steel and glass; looking deeply into the glass doors separating the streets from probably the most ludicrous aspects of reality she saw herself, once more impressed about her own job.

Slightly tanned skin, deep red hair lazily falling into her shoulders while other parts of her hair simply had too much independence and gave her a look that was clearly designed to be lazily chic, with deep purple eyes and a pair of fangs that even known could be seen if she moved her mouth, the one thing that clearly showed how little in common she had with the other ones.

She simply pushed forward, not caring one bit about her appearance for once, simply more interested on what could be found inside, which was, not surprisingly, very mundane, with technicians getting ready for new shows, people attending calls or speaking with someone about new merchandise or advertisement, or collaborations with other companies, it was all so mundane and she needed it in a way, because she was in need of the tangible, of the mundane, of the real that could be found in a space like this.

Still, a job was a job and she had to follow on it, just… not in the way most people thought of when they thought of Cover Corp. or the hololive project, because project it was, no matter how much fun or joy it could bring to many across the globe, it was a project and she needed to see the one that envisioned such a thing.

It wasn’t all normalcy, because even with the amount of ‘normal’ that could be found, she could still follow the traces of those that went beyond the normal curtain, small snippets of those that weren’t that ordinary, but she was here because she needed to talk with just one person, someone that had a foot in the world as it was perceived… and the one that many would kill themselves if they even saw a glimpse of it.

Without preamble, she was in front of the door that many in her group simply mocked or made fun of, all in good humor, because it was funny, and… well, because it was Tanigo-san; so here she was, a rather old vampire that was everything except what she looked like and she just, well, opened the door like any other normal person in the world, and there he was… were, since he wasn’t alone at all.

Standing in front of the rather nice black modern desk was none other than the girl that was not an idol and yet the world clamored for her own platform to entertain the masses, but considering the amount of work she already had on her plate already, it was better if she kept being a liaison between the human and the strange in the company.

Turning around at the sound of the door opening, Friend A, better known as A-Chan or Asuka, slightly adjusted her glasses and smiled at seeing the ‘member’ of the english division walk into the office.

“Ah… did I arrive at a bad moment?” with a big smile, showing the inordinate amount of goodwill and patience, no doubt born from spending a big amount of time around the batch of crazies that made a mess in the office almost every week.

“Is fine, I was just updating Yagoo about Sora-chan’s next concert and the sales figures of her CD,” did anyone even call him by name in the company by this point? By how calm he was at hearing that word, the boss himself didn’t even seem perturbed about it, almost resigned in fact “I’ll call Sora-chan and get the last details in order, see ya around Morrison-san,” it felt weird, even the air seemed to glitch as the young woman said that name, but she didn’t notice, only the redhead did… and the man behind the desk.

As the door was closed, Yagoo nodded his head giving her the go ahead and it was as if something had changed, as if the world around them had become more… focused.

“Yesterday was another attack,” she simply said as she presented the small sparkles that had been left after destroying the inky creature, even the world around them dimmed, making emphasis on the dark origins of them.

“Who was it this time?”

“Strangely, it was marine, I thought it would attach to someone at least more… human, but she is resistant, it was only surface deep and I got rid of it quickly.”

“This is the sixth you have found this month,” the man behind the desk reclined on his very comfortable chair as the vampire once more put away the sparks, they’ll be useful later on.

“They were attached to Coco, Rushia, Mio, Coco again, Kanata and now Marine… they’re not following any pattern, but for now they are under control… until the moment they are not which could either mean disaster to everyone, or mildly annoyance to all you humans.”

“The degree in which you worry about people is outstanding.”

“People haven’t given me many reasons to care except for you guys.”

“I’m flattered; so, keep an eye on things for now, but for now, I do have a job for you tonight, you need to make a new stream with someone of my choice.”

“Oh come on, are you mad that I made that hololive AK47 parody ad in my last stream?” For someone with the power to alter most people’s perception, it was amazing how much she could sound like a little child that was being chastised.

“Of course not, you are just going to be part of a cooking stream.”

“Please tell me it is with Choco-sensei, please tell me it is with choco-sensei!”

“HACHAMACHAMA!!!!!!”

“FUCK YOU YAGOO!”

Chapter Text

Many would think that being part of hololive would be a little bit glamorous at least, being showered by donations in extra SUPA CHATTO TIME! Being gifted expensive and luxurious things and just living the life of a superstar.

But the truth is, beyond some luxurious things, among them Coco’s famous ultra comfortable bed… Kanata’s words, not mine, most of the girls were completely ordinary girls, that many of them came from another world or dimension did not matter considering how ‘normal’ they were.

Well, most of them anyways, considering who was right now taking control of the kitchen, or destroying whatever the hell that was supposed to be, it was hard to know considering the viscera and the blood being splattered at every second as the blonde girl kept stabbing the shit out of a vaguely familiar figure; I guess it was supposed to be Haaton? Kind of hard to see as the girl was just enjoying her time.

It was a good thing that the stream had ended, because I’m pretty sure that whatever Haachama is doing right now will get us banned for life… meh, worst things have been shown in there, like a corpse hanging from a branch, so I’m sure everything would be fine; hey, if you cannot trust the person that single handedly brainwashed everyone and made reality her bitch, then, who can you trust, right baby?

“Are you going to take long on… whatever you are doing?” Many would consider Haachama cute and dangerous on equal measures, but as the blonde turned her head a complete one hundred and eighty just to look at me with that cute little grin on her face and eyes that seemed to be high on asacoco… Well, it is hard to have a winning argument at such pure, undiluted display of Haachama “keep doing you then,” I could only say at such antics as I kept taking a sip of my melon soda.

“Cooking will be done when it is done, haachama chama!” Pretty good argument for me, so I just simply got myself a little bit more comfortable as I kept watching the news on the TV, and deciding to be a little bit more comfortable I got my feet up on top of the laid down body on top the little table, that was obviously used by the owner of this apartment to eat while watching the television… oh, did I forget to mention this wasn’t our apartment? Whoopsie! Well, he is comfortable... maybe, after all we put him belly down on top of his table.

Is not such a big deal, I mean, the guy is still alive… mostly, but he’ll be fine, see? He is laughing alongside the joke on the TV, oh… wait, that’s because his body is convulsing… yep, that’s the blood on the nose, ah, whatever, free foot massager!

“Is bad manners to put your foot on the table! And here I am preparing such a nice dinner for the hubby and she is just drinking beer and watching sports.”

“Haato-sempai… how long have you been wanting to say something like that?”

“... since second year of High School,” this would have been so awesome to get on stream, but sometimes we need these moments, these little snippets that remind us we were just two normal girls… at least we could make believe for a little while. So, she apparently had made gyudon since this guy didn’t have much in his kitchen; ah well, typical stalker, not much to say, not much to write about, I don’t think many people will miss him. This is what you get for stalking little Mel-senpai… what? Vampires need to stick together.

So, perfectly normal saturday, eating pork gyudon, watching the news as the person we just destroying mentally looks vacantly into the nothingness as his blood coming from his nose pools slightly on the carpeted floor, life’s good sometimes, at least until the now obvious signs of parasite infestation appear on his body, a black gooey miasma that makes the place look as bad as he does.

An antagonistic apparition weaves its form towards our path, enabling our unctuous forms to engage in unfiltered scuffle.

“What a fucking degenelate.”

“... Groovy” I could say in answer as my fingers snapped and the world changed around me… all in a day’s work as a hololive girl.

Chapter Text

Brilliant light coming from the windows, illuminating the whole place with natural light as a cool breeze moved the curtains in an hypnotizing rhythm that relaxed and cured the stress of days where one worked like crazy, it was the great heal that they all needed, after all, nothing like being amongst friends to talk and play with as you all enjoyed such a great cool afternoon.

The idea that vampires, the perennial monsters of the night and darkness, were weak against light had been disproved with how much the two bat themed girls in the two different groups on the company enjoyed the rays, but while the BAN-pire (oh, how Mel pouted whenever the redhead teased her with the nickname) liked to spend some time in the shade and the comfort of her house, the other vampire always used any excuse to spend time with the others and collab.

Delicately, the redheaded vampire held the long and thin metal spoon on her hand, scooping a small portion of the gorgeous looking vanilla ice cream that was floating gently on the green fizzy melon soda that she loved so very much; Carmilla’s fangs almost glittered as she took a bite at the dessert, enjoying the rich vanilla bean flavor alongside some of the fizziness from the soda. If there was one thing that was better than melon soda in her opinion, it was a melon soda float.

“Is my imagination, or is she, like, taking a bite in the most sexual way possible?” of course, there was only one person that could have said something like that.

“Ugh, that’s Kusotori for ya,” the tall vampire simply chuckled at the comedic timing of her two co-workers and she was not the only one, since the rest of the girls around the table also reacted similarly.

“What? You know it is true!” the chicken *ahem* the phoenix girl didn’t even look ashamed of what she had said, no wonder she had been thrown into the bottom left hole.

“That doesn’t mean you have to say it out loud,” death’s apprentice simply sighed, already tired at the constant banter that she had to go through every single time she met the hyperactive girl, but instead of going ahead with trying to reprimand the phoenix, knowing very well that it will be for nothing she simply took another bite of her cheesecake.

Around the table, the other members of the extremely eclectic group known as Holo-Myth reacted in the same way every time the two ‘shipped’ girls did their comedic routine, with Ame and Ina laughing at their antics while Gura simply enjoyed the enormous vanilla milkshake on the table, well, enormous in comparison with her size since the little Atlantean girl was the shortest one in the group.

Ina went back to her ice cream as Amelia took a bite out of her cheesecake as her tea cup was cooling off at the side; this time the blonde girl was not wearing her usual hat and instead was wearing lighter clothes, but considering the increasing heat around the city, it was a necessity.

“Come on you two, settle down children,” wow, incredible how Amelia was able to say something like that with a straight face.

“Nah, don’t worry, I’ll just enjoy Kiara’s eternal journey to the bottom left,” it was the classic jab at the phoenix behaviour, but it was still so fun, after all, it was THEIR joke, something that they created together, just like this friendship, just like this amazing group.

“Yes, miss ‘cool waves dude’,” Kiara was clearly trying to make fun of Carmilla’s personality as part of hololive, what with her slightly ‘dude’ speech and affinity for chill surf music.

“Hey, those streams are relaxing baby,” to think that the most aggressive looking girls in their group ended up being the dad and the most relaxed members of the group, so this great day of summer just had to end, it just had to be destroyed just like every time she was finally happy, just when they had peace.

She loved them, they were her family, but she knew something they didn’t, they knew something that would make them turn their backs on her, make this family break apart like the many pieces of a mirror, and she couldn’t run away, not now when the threads of time were being broken around her and she could do nothing to hold on to them.

Carmilla moved quickly to the left as time itself seemed to stop, to reverse, it stopped making sense; she moved just as the knife plunged into the chair she had been sitting down. Just a moment ago, they had all been happy, smiling and joking together, now, everything was stopped, their smiles frozen in time as the objects on the table were thrown aside as the person with the knife kept looking at her with murderous rage.

There were no more smiles on Amelia Watson’s face as she took the knife out of the chair and pointed at the tall vampire in front of her.

“From when in time are you?” there was no anger, no pain, just the voice of someone that just accepted the truth of what was going on.

“Enough to know you are a fucking liar!” rage was not something weird in Amelia’s voice, but it was in a jest, the classic gaming rage of someone that was losing patience with the game, something that everyone loved to hear when something went wrong in Amelia’s stream, but this time it was no joke, there was nothing but disgust and anger… it hurt, it hurt so much and there was nothing Carmilla could do against that pain, not even move when Amelia attacked her, allowing the knife to be inserted into her stomach.

It didn’t hurt, much to the surprise of Amelia who looked at her as the true monster in the story, completely bemused about the lack of… anything coming from Carmilla.

“I don’t get it! This was specially prepared to kill any vampire! Why didn't it affect you?!”

“How could it… when I’m not a vampire… well, not completely?”

“Wh-what?”

“Also, It wouldn’t be the first time you try something like this to be sincere,” the vampire could see the strings of darkness sticking to Amelia, the tar and oily scent of rage, hate and misunderstandings, everything that fueled them, so she only pulled the knife out and with the other hand she just touched Amelia’s forehead, calling forth what she knew was there, and just as Amelia began to shiver, the dark shadows fell from her body like drops of oil splattering against the cafe’s floor.

“I… why did I hate you so much? What are these things?!”

“They are pure rage… darkness… even worse than me I guess,” she tried to make a joke, but it was impossible, “like I said… wouldn’t be the first time,” she tried to smile, but she didn’t know if she could do it right now.

“You… you are not the one responsible… oh god… I tried to kill you, what have I done?” It hurt, to see her in pain, someone that was almost like a sister to her, knowing that there was only one thing to do in this case.

“I keep protecting you… and I keep erasing, let us engross ourselves on the endless affray,” Carmilla said knowing exactly what to do, and as her energy made the dark oily abominations twist and hiss in pain and turn into nothing but sparkles, Carmilla raised a hand “...groovy,” and then, with a snap of her fingers, everything turned back to normal, all of them sitting down, being a happy family, ready to go back to Gura’s house to make the Super Smash stream just like they had planned.

She loved them, they were her family, but she knew something they didn’t, they knew something that would make them turn their backs on her, make this family break apart like the many pieces of a mirror.

The fact that all of this.

All this happiness.

Was nothing, but a lie.

She loved her melon soda, and there was nothing better than a melon soda float, but for today… she had lost her appetite.

Chapter Text

There wasn’t much sadness really, after all, the blow had been softened a bit after a couple of days of resting and thinking and crying and dreaming and doing everything she could to make sure the day never came… but alas, the news were in and things, well, things would change that’s for sure.

In front of her, the man that had created the company after a dream of seeing many shine and grow on the stage, and become the best version of themselves, was not smiling like usual. Tanigo-san was known for his cheery disposition, with a huge smile and ready to tackle the day’s troubles as they came with aplomb and haste, but for now, he was not smiling, he wasn’t frowning or being attentive as every time she walked into his office with the latest report of the dark creatures hunting for more energy to feed themselves, to gorge on the darkest aspects of life.

Today, Motoaki Tanigo was not smiling at all, just like Carmilla was not in her usual relaxed demeanor; the usual happy-go-lucky surf rock and chill attitude member of HololiveEN was not happy, nor was she ready to give the latest news to her employee.

“So, you couldn’t find a way,” the words were clear, this was not a question, it was just a statement, no matter how much it hurt.

“Ame says that she couldn’t alter the timeline, everytime she tried it was either Coco leaving even earlier, resulting in the English branch not existing or, she didn’t accept becoming a vtuber and ended up returning to her dimension.” Of course, she couldn’t tell him that she had to fix all the temporal cracks that had appeared every time Amelia had tried to mess with the timeline, at least even more than usual. The panic of seeing what could happen with humanity, everything disappearing in a big ball of fire, made Carmilla work even harder to avoid those endings.

“I see, then I guess there is nothing to do, but wait for now,” many would think that Yagoo would be ecstatic about the departure of someone as controversial as Kaichou, but it was all just a big joke, the truth was that the man in front of her was always affected by every departure, by every member saying goodbye, and this time… well, it was worse.

“I guess… well, we still have a whole month to spend with her, right?” oh, what a fool she was, thinking that she would be fine, that there was enough time and that it was so far away from the final goodbye… what a fool she was.

What a fool, because next thing she knew, they were all playing minecraft, celebrating summer alongside every single member that could be there; Carmilla had been at least able to visit Flare and Noel as the last one was busy taking care of her beloved elf after the operation.

Time went on, they knew it couldn’t last forever, no matter how much the other members begged both Coco to not leave them and Amelia to give them more time to spend with their beloved friend and generation member, but the blonde time traveler knew the effects that tampering too many times with a single event could bring to the whole timeline. Carmilla was afraid she would have to stop her sooner or later.

Carmilla also had knowledge of what could happen, not that other members knew of her abilities; the redheaded vampire knew well that the explosion of temporal energy could create something so terrifying, that she had done everything she could to make sure that the total annihilation of everyone and everything in a huge fireball will never happen.

So here she was, sitting outside of the apartment late at night, looking at the beautiful sky, thinking that it was a mockery, with how beautiful and calm everything was considering the sadness the whole day had brought, it did not mirror the melancholic cloud permeating the whole building, and she knew that even more changes would happen, that maybe Coco will not only stop appearing in the streams, but that maybe she will also find their space too small, wanting to flex her wings and fly off into new adventures, and she won’t stop her.

But she could stop this one.

Light and darkness had to be in balance after all.

So she extended her arm, grabbed something and pulled them in the direction of her open balcony door; the blonde girl being thrown around as if she was just a rag doll, colliding against the floor, scattering the books on top of her coffee table and sending them flying everywhere alongside the small hat on the blonde girl’s head.

Without a smile Carmilla walked inside, not before making sure to stop any sound from the apartment to escape, she didn’t need witnesses to what could be something important, after all, even if Amelia Watson may seem like the most normal girl in Holomyth, her intelligence and craftiness put her way above others in the company and others that Carmilla had met since arriving to this world.

“What were you looking for Ame? This is not a game.”

“I can save them, you know? I can save them all! So why won’t you let me?!” Oh, this wasn’t the Amelia she knew, the one she had just collabed with just a couple of days ago, this wasn’t her friend, this was once Amelia she knew very well, the one Amelia that had tried to stop one ending, just before finding herself at the same bad ending… every single time.

And like that, the fluorescent light of her apartment had changed into rain, the world now only asphalt, glass shattered and death; she could smell it in the air, she could see the terror in everyone’s eyes. Carmilla had to be sincere, every time she saw Ina as a normal human it always seemed off, but looking at her she already knew what was about to happen, she had seen it before, she will see if one more time after all.

It was armageddon, once more.

She could hear Ina telling the ones that had survived that she was sorry, before the dark god that had given her powers were unleashed upon earth, about to destroy the place Carmilla had grown to love, but before she could do something about it, she felt another pull, once more she was pulled around by powers that shouldn’t exist, all because of that stupid pocket watch.

She had been here before, she had seen that old projector, alone in an empty hall, with nothing with soulless corpses, maintaining the status quo, a story that would never end, that COULD never end, a nightmare without end, one that she hated with no end. She had been before, time and time again, just like the blonde girl that had finally seen this ending one too many times.

Amelia Watson was tired, of the fight, of having to jump, of never stopping for a second, all to reach this place, to find the truth, but it wasn’t an answer, it was only more questions, of horror at seeing the multiple corpses filling the screening room, all of them of her, other versions of her, future or past, who knows, probably only the other woman in the room could answer, the one that had been pulled alongside them; the redhead was a girl that she was sure she knew, from somewhere, but why? From where? Who was she?

“Who are you?” She had seen the end of everyone, she had followed her to this room, the last room, and she knew what she had to do, what was supposed to happen to avoid the bad end, so why was she here? The redhead only stood at the bottom of the stairs, her body mixing with the flashing images of the projector, who was she and what was going on? But before she could even get her answer, the room had changed, it was nothing, there was nothing, except a small bench with a bus signpost, sand and hundreds of gears everywhere.

“You can finally stop fighting Ame,” the voice took her of her thoughts, and she could see her now, the redhead, she was… she was a friend?” Is alright, I can protect them from now, I can protect you all… you can rest,” but there was so much to do yet, so much to… and then, she fell asleep, her body heavy, falling as if she had been a puppet that had its strings cut down, but instead of falling into sand, she felt into the arms of her friend, of the one that would keep on fighting “like I said, there is no need of a bad ending, we have already said goodbye to a friend, no need to say goodbye to another… isn’t it right Kronii?” As she put the blonde girl’s body on the bench, another woman appeared out of nowhere, a blue haired woman that was pointing one of her swords at the redhead.

“That girl has been running away for too long, she has destroyed so much in her attempts to ‘fix’ the timeline, so move aside, I have no idea why you are protecting her, but this ends now!” But before she could even raise her hand, everything around her stopped, the world, time and space, everything.

“You take your duties so seriously, dude, like, relax,” Kronii’s eyes were the only thing that could move, showing the complete fear at the way she had been stopped, how so utterly impossible this situation was, but Carmilla only smiled, already knowing what to do, “I prefer the Kronii from the future, that one is so much more funny, so do me a favor, once you and the rest arrive, let’s go and do a fun collab, okay? Groovy,” and just like that, the redhead girl just raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

Kronii was finally free, she pulled backwards and felt her back hit the plushy chair, finally free of… what? What had she been doing? Looking around her she saw the other members of the council looking at her funny, oh right, they had been talking about finally joining the human species and be part of hololive, something about finally stepping down from their endless vigil and just for once relax… that’s weird, Kronii felt as if she was forgetting something, oh well, it was probably nothing important.

Far, far away, on planet Earth, a creature that shouldn’t exist simply smiled, knowing that even if there would be more goodbyes, there would be more hellos to compensate, the only thing left was to look up for tomorrow and wave goodbye to the bad end that would never arrive.