Work Text:
The sun hung low on the horizon, resting between the mountain peaks like someone after a long day of hard work, tiredness overtaking their eyes and wishing for night time to arrive already, such a feeling being transmitted in the orange rays bathing the land in front of it. And yet it seemingly stood in place, not moving an inch, not wanting for this moment to pass. Those brilliant warm rays carried with them the same worry that had managed to choke the life out of the very land that stood before it. Not a single bird chirped, not one leaf dared to fall, not a bug wished to show its face. It's like nature itself knew the horror that would soon follow, not wanting to move a single finger in mind numbing anticipation and dread. The celestial body seemed to wish to stay longer, to greet its night time siblings in the sky and keep the darkness away, but just like that same tired worker that wanted nothing more than to rest on their pillow, the star slowly descended into the earth, its orange body turning a brilliant red before being snuffed out by the cold blue around it. Gross, pitch black shadows fell onto the trees and buildings, as their time had finally arrived, spreading further and further as they consumed everything into a void of dark blue and black, their luminous gods arriving high into the sky not long after. Even in this new dark paradise, though, nothing moved. Only the faintest of breezes whispered worry racked words above the canopies of trees and between branches that crisscrossed with their neighbor's, almost like they were muffling each other to not dare speak.
Inoshima Town's gates, once a welcoming sight with their hanging lanterns, now stood as a dull and mute guardian, just as black as the sky above it and the forest stretching before it. An unnatural silence, stagnant and all consuming, minutes being stretched to a seemingly eternal length.
It seemed like everything would remain frozen in place and only silence would dominate this night, until a deafening voice made its presence known loud and clear.
”WEEEELCOME, EVERYBODY!!! ^-^” boomed with a force that could shatter glass, destroying the tomb-like atmosphere that had settled only a few moments ago.
”It is with great pleasure to have you all here!” the chipper voice echoed once more, its source making itself visible as stage lights of unknown origin danced in the air.
”I hope you brought all your friends and even family members, because this will be a once in a lifetime concert!”
Pirouetting almost like after a magical girl transformation, the DD stretched out her arms, ready to meet the waiting crowd, pointing forward with her right hand, mic close to her mouth and wide smile on her face
”We are The Ebon Sirens! And this is our!! -uh…”
The previous hype and excitement dissolved like a fizzy tablet in water, the stage lights vanishing as they revealed themselves to be coming from one of their members. The four DDs looked on to see no one around, their leader appearing to be the most shocked, still maintaining her pose and smile despite one of her eyes twitching in annoyance. The whole town was dead silent, not a single light anywhere, it almost seemed like everyone had just up and left everything behind. Clenching her teeth, anger now overtaking the wide circles on her face, she screamed as loud as she could in her mic, the speakers on her wings reverberating with feedback, causing the other three to flinch a bit.
”HEEELLOOOOOO!?!? IS ANYONE HERE?”, yet the only response she got was silence and a small breeze fluttering her pink dress.
”Guess you scared them off with your voice, eh Laki?” a nonchalant voice called from behind her.
”Zip it, El!!!” Laki barked back, but El kept her modest smile.
”Hey, me and Piika were the ones that suggested we spread our pamphlets first like before, but you're the one that insisted on doing an “Instant Concert”.” El said.
”Y-Yeah! Nils even had them prepared in advance.” Piika spoke with a weak voice, clearly afraid of Laki turning her gaze at her.
Half an hour earlier
The once lively town of Sinshei was now just a ruin, buildings crumbling into ashened piles, streaks of oil painting the landscape along with the body parts of the ones that once housed the dark fluid. A massacre had occurred here, those lucky enough to reach the underground network of caverns hunkered down in fear, praying that the death angels wouldn't find them. Yet as harrowing of a sight as it might've been, there were those completely unbothered by it, more specifically those that had been the culprits of it. Perched on top of a house, El stood vigil over the landscape, having been the first to wake up, watching as the last bits of sunlight faded into oblivion and the sky turned dark, all while tinkering with one of her synth devices. She was the “DJ” of her group, being the one that constructed and remixed all their songs, adding any missing instrumental in their shows by using a myriad of samples she had collected over time. She knew their “band” was incomplete, yet her mastery in sound editing made it seem like she could fill in any gap. A yawn could be heard coming from her left, turning to see that Laki had also returned to the waking world. The leader of their group and the founder of The Ebon Sirens, she wore a bright pink and magenta dress, befitting for her role as an “idol” and in stark contrast of El’s monochromatic attire, providing the main voice for all their songs, putting as much passion in her performances as she could. Her hair, fashioned in two side drills, fluttered ever so slightly in the air as she stretched her arms upwards.
”Had a nice beauty sleep, Laki?” El said with a playful tone as she kept working.
”Yeah, can't say the same about you. Working on your equipment all the time, jeez El, do you ever sleep?”
”Ey, I wouldn't be this good at music if I didn't make sure my stuff was in tip top shape all the time.” she cooed as she jumped off the roof, wings spreading to break her landing.
”You’d think you and Nils are related with how immersed you are in your work.”
”And that's a bad thing?”
”Not at all.” Laki said as she brushed off one of her drills.
”That is precisely why we're the best of the best. No one is better than our band!”
”That's cuz there is no one better since we're the only band on this side of the world. And probably the entire planet.” El’s words drifted off as kept staring at Laki.
”Pre - cisely! Everyone else was so intimidated by my talent alone that they didn't even bother to try and form a rival group. Leaving us to take all the spoils!” Laki began laughing like a stereotypical anime girl, complete with bellowing oh oh oh’s and the back of her hand near her mouth.
El just looked at her with mild embarrassment, still holding onto her synth device. After savoring the moment, Laki checked her HUD’s clock, seeing that it was late enough in the night, a smile forming on her face.
”El, go get Piika and Nils. We're leaving for our next destination in a few minutes.”
El raised an eyebrow.
”Shouldn't we first send those pamphlets? Nils woke up early just to start working on them and me and Piika already know where to-”
”Nah. Tonight, I want to do something special. As our 15th pitstop in our world tour, I want us to do an Instant Concert! No pamphlets, no word of mouth. Just a live performance out of the blue!”
El just kept her eyebrow raised as she blinked slowly.
”What?” said Laki, “It'll be great! Everyone's jaws will drop in awe and they'll be so shocked, they'll have no choice BUT to watch our show! It'll be great!” she then wrapped her arm around El, tracing the path of a shooting star with her other arm.
But El kept looking at her like she just told her that she's stupid. Laki’s previous chipper expression dissolved into a frown.
”Just go look for Piika and Nils, ok?”
”Ye got it.” El said now with a more chill expression, leaving Laki behind as she walked towards one of the town hall buildings.
”Although…” she stopped mid stride, her back at Laki while downing a more serious tone.
”I do wonder how long are we gonna be able to keep this whole thing up before we really get in trouble.”
”Oh come on, you're still worried about that? We haven't gotten a single message back from those corporate bozos since we landed on the planet.”
”For all we know, they just left us here to die, so there's no reason to do what they want their way and instead our way!”
” Your way, Laki.” El then continued her walk, leaving behind a clearly annoyed Laki to cross her arms in annoyance.
Reaching her destination, the DD opened the large doors, letting out the blaring music inside to infect the chill air outside. It was quite surreal, the four of them hadn't been there for more than a day, yet Nils had decorated the place like it always was a secret hideout for them. Entering the main hall that was dotted with various paints and stickers along with deep claw marks and indents in the concrete, El opened the first door she landed her eyes on on the right, a faint sound of electric piano being discernible through the blaring music. Her intuition was right, finding Piika practicing on her trusty keyboard, clearly struggling to maintain her melody. She was quite the skittish DD, far more withdrawn than her outward colleagues, yet her pink garment struck quite the contrast with her gloomier self.
”Oy, Piika!” El tried not to raise her voice too much, but enough to still be discernible through the noise pollution, yet even that was enough to startle the black licorice flavored bubble gum, slamming her fingers into the keys in shock to make a hideous sound.
”O-OH EL! I didn't see you enter!”
”It's fine. Let's get moving.”
”Wait! What do you mean?”
”Laki’s being a diva again and wants the show to start tonight.”
”B-But we didn't even start putting the pamphlets and I haven't fully practiced for our next piece!”
”It's fine, you'll be as great as always, now let's go.”
”Wait! Do you know where Nils’ room is?”
”Judging by the music, I have a pretty good hunch.”
”Alright. Guess I'll-...OH GOD NILS! She's going to be so mad!! El, wait!”, but El was gone, having leaped to the second floor, already zeroing in on the wide opened door.
The room looked completely trashed, everything was strewn about with little abandon, streaks of paint everywhere along with entire piles of paper, some crumpled, others with highly detailed drawings, from mundane things to landscapes and even drones, Worker and Disassembler alike. In the center of it all was a DD that was dressed like a rockstar, hair coalesced on one side while the other stood baren, fully exposing her eye bandana, bright colors giving life to the otherwise dull white.
”And that should be the last of it.” she said as she put the final pamphlet on the massive pile she had made.
”Nils.”
”Although I wonder if I should've used more magenta this time.”
”Nils!”
”Meh, they're gonna be torn up by the end of it, it's not gonna mater.”
”NILS”
”Although it feels like the logo is too high up.”
But while she kept pondering, the once blaring music was reduced to silence. Snapping in a blink of an eye at her boombox to see what had happened, she was shocked to see El pressing the off button on the ancient device.
”El, why!?”
”We've leaving. Pack your stuff and let's go.”
What, are we gonna be plastering these things as we go along?” Nils said as pointed at the stack of pamphlets.
”No. Laki's ego got to her head again and now she wants to do the concert pronto.”
”....she wot?” she said, now clear anger forming in her eyes.
”I woke up as early as I could, barely getting a wink of sleep just to finish these bloody things as fast as I could, and that pink fokin whore now says that I can throw them all in the trash!?”
”Nils, calm down a bi-” but it was too late as she was already storming towards the door, cracking her knuckles in the process.
”Nils please wait!!” a panicked Piika blocked the entrance, trying in vain to diffuse the ticking bomb.
”Out of my way, Piika, unless you want a dent in your face too!”
”Nils, you know punching her won't solve anything. You've done that way too many times to keep trying.” El said with her usual compassionate, yet paradoxically disinterested voice.
Stopping in her tracks while gritting her teeth, Nils turned her head to look at El with her side eye, all the while Piika looked like she was ready to collapse into a ball. The two DDs stared at each other, seconds feeling like they lasted an eternity as the two were locked in place.
”Fine.” Nils said, a clear displeasure resonating in her voice.
”But I get to dropkick her after the show is over while stealing all her kills, ok?”
El simply returned an ok sign, a small smile forming on her face.
Nils gave a thumbs up before calmly picking up her guitar and leaving the room, making sure to not bump into the shivering Piika. El’s simple smile turned upside down, however, as she began thinking the same thing she had been for the past few months.
”How long are we gonna resist like this?”
A memory then flashed in her head. It was the strange message Laki had gotten on her phone.
“And who even sent us here?”
Present time
Despite trying to keep her composure, Laki’s inner turmoil began surfacing as an overheating sign appeared in the corner of her visor, a whirlpool of thoughts clouding her mind.
”How DARE they not show up to her special 15th concert?!” she thought.
”How DARE they humiliate her like this!?” she pondered as her teeth attempted to slide side by side.
”Talk about fragile ego, jeez.” Nils whispered.
”I'm not gonna let this go that easily!” Laki spoke more to herself than to everyone else.
In a flash, she turned back to face the ghost town, but right before she could let out another shout into her mic, a figure appeared from the shadows, slowly making their way towards the gates as she mindlessly swept the dust on the road with her broom.
”Huh, so this place isn't as deserted as we thought.” said El.
The red warning sign vanished as Laki regained her composure, her smug smile replacing her previous hate filled grin.
”So I see.” she cooed
”Hey you, purple hair!” she pointed at the singular resident of this empty town, passing the gates and heading straight for them before stopping in place, only a few meters away from the DDs.
The Drone then lifted her head, locking eyes with Laki, a clear look of disdain burrowing holes in her before turning into a more neutral expression.
”I see that at least you decide to join our show. Well then, I suppose tha-”
”What brings you here?” Megumi spoke with a confident, yet monotone voice, taking all the DDs by surprise.
Usually Worker Drones shook in terror at their presence, yet this one lonely hunk of metal dressed like some Japanese priestess stood unflinching before them. Laki, a bit annoyed that the miko cut off her carefully crafted words, put up a confident mask once again, descending towards the WD as she giggled a bit.
”If you had any business here, then it's best that you simply left. You won't find anyone here anymore.” Megumi continued, clenching her broom to the point where a faint snap in the wood could be heard, clenching her teeth to not erupt in a clacking mess.
”Hmm, quite the bold words you've got there. And how do I know you're not lying.” said Laki as her left hand turned into the signature claws.
”A shrine maiden never lies. For it is a sin to the gods.”
Laki couldn't help herself from escaping a laugh, now having closed the distance between her and Megumi.
”Oh, and did these gods also tell you to stay behind?”
”A shrine maiden’s duty never ends. Even after those around have departed to lands unknown.”
“Ha ha, I heard stuff like this from someone similar in the previous town, how the “gods” would protect them.” Laki’s eyes turned into a yellow X.
”Before I silenced them for trying to stop our concert.”
Megumi’s hands clenched even harder on the broom, but this time it wasn't out of fear, but out of hate. The X reformed into two eyes as Laki took on a more chill disposition.
”Such a weird land this is, all these traditions and ceremonies, gosh how do you guys live like this?”
”But I guess it doesn't really matter.” Laki slipped one of her claws under Megumi’s chin.
”By the time our tour is done here, there won't be anyone left to carry out these mumbo jumbos.”
High in the Inoshima Tower, one figure, masked in darkness, watched the entire scene play out down below. And in their hand they held an arrow, its sharp edge glinting in the moonlight.
”The ones that won't be left will be your kind, Disassembly Drone.” Aigami said as he fired the arrow, slicing through the air at dangerous speed, closing the distance in mere seconds as it embedded itself into one of Laki’s bandana eyes.
The DD reeled in pain as yellow fluid splashed everywhere.
”Laki!!” El, Nils and Piika all shouted in unison, dropping the act and deploying their claws to aid their leader before another arrow flew, this time hitting Nils.
El tried to find its source, but yet another arrow flew, this time embedding itself into Piika’s leftmost eye, followed by one more, hitting El square in the face. The arrows had all been shot from completely different directions, and they wouldn't be the last as four more descended from the heavens, but they didn't embed in the DDs, for that wasn't their purpose. A cylindrical device was taped to each of them, a red beeping noise acting as a warning sign as they each detonated, but instead of a fireball, a thick cloud of smoke choked the entire area. Disoriented and trying to pull the arrows from their heads, the DDs called for each other, but only seemed to get more lost in the impenetrable haze. El managed to remove the arrow, but to her shock she was struck by something hard, knocking her from the air.
Rearing back up, she found that she was hit with a broom handle, the object now laying beside her as she could hear footsteps from ahead. With an anger uncharacteristic to her, the signature X appeared on her visor as she raced forward to catch that little shrine maiden. Going past the gates and into the town, she surveyed the area, trying to find where Megumi could've potentially hid, but no luck. A sudden creaking noise made her pounce towards its source, but it was revealed to just be an unlocked door. Another sound echoed from around a house, then another further down the street. The sounds felt almost deliberate.
Like they were trying to lure her further into town.
This made her want to sprint back to her teammates, realizing the potential mistake she had made, but out of the blue four arrows shot from four different angles, all aimed at her head. This time, however, she didn't let any of them connect, deflecting them with her wings before throwing pipe bombs in two of the directions. The explosives detonated, reducing stone roads and walls to rubble, yet no yell came from either direction, no Drone crawling with only half their limbs attached. Thinking she had misjudged, she prepared another round, but a sudden sensation in her back caused her to falter. Yet another arrow, but this time she was able to see who had shot it. It was Megumi, waving at her with a clear look of satisfaction on her face before slowly beginning to move backwards. Having realized that this was most certainly a trap, El deployed her gun, ready to turn the miko into target practice, yet this action only made the Drone's smile increase. Eyes turning into wide circles, she tried taking off, but it was two late as a blinding slash severed one of her wings at the base before returning to cleave the other. She fell to the ground, confused and now almost terrified. In all her time spent on this planet, not one single Drone had managed to land a finger on them, yet here she was, collapsed on the ground and oil leaking from her back, her wings splayed out on each of her sides. Next thing she knew, a figure stood before her, cyan eyes glowing with intent before turning orange as another set of eyes, these ones cyan Xs jumped towards her.
Back at the entrance, Laki, Nils and Piika had managed to find each other as the smoke finally vanished, pulling each other's arrows out and snapping them in half.
”These little…” Laki shouted.
”Gotta give it to them, that was a pretty good ambush.” Nils cocked an eyebrow and smiled a bit, all while looking at Laki slowly losing her marbles.
”Although I wonder what was the purpose of it? Just to inconvenience us for a bit?”
”Don't know, but I think we should call the night off.” Piika expressed meekly
”NO!” Laki barked at both of them.
”I'm not going to let some tin cans that can't appreciate good music ruin my moment like this!” Laki then deployed a rail gun from her left arm.
”I’m going to hunt every single one of them down and force them to praise my concert while I torch this stupid town to the ground!!” she said as she angrily pointed the rail gun at the front gates, ready to fire.
”H-Hey, where's El?” Piika asked.
At that moment, Laki’s fiery demeanor vanished, looking around to see that El really wasn't with them.
”What the…”
”Oy, El! Did Laki’s tantrum make you leave? Cuz she's fine now!” Nils shouted, fully expecting El to appear from behind the trees, yet she wasn't anywhere to be seen.
”Hey, who's that?” Piika pointed at the gates.
Turning around, Nils saw the same scene her teammates had noticed, weird cyan lights making their way from deep within the town. It wasn't until it came close to the gates when it revealed itself to be El, momentary relief being instead replaced with weird looks.
”Yo, El, what's up with those lights? I almost didn't recognize you!” Nils shouted, but no response came.
El kept marching forward, a monotone expression plastered on her face. Laki was the first to approach the seemingly spaced out El, snapping her fingers in a vain attempt to bring her back to her senses.
”Hello? Is anyone there? What's with the zombie-like attitude? Did you get lobotomized over there or something?”
El kept her silence.
Piika then noticed the dried up oil on her shoulders.
Laki kept waving in El’s face.
”Come on, if this is about those stupid papers I already apologized to Nils.”
”No you didn't.” Nils bit back.
Piika slowly approached the entranced El, a thought forming in her head before manifesting as words.
”El….what did Nils tell you that she wanted to do after the concert was done?” she asked.
Laki raised a bewildered eyebrow as she looked back at Nils and then at El. El's facial expression changed a bit, clearly trying to come up with an answer. It was then that Piika noticed El's right hand struggling to make a sign. A V followed by an L.
The sign they usually make when something bad happens backstage.
Her eyes widened in realization, but it was too late as El kicked Laki in the chest, sending her tumbling on the ground a few feet from where Nils was. She then grabbed Piika, keeping her in a vice grip as she turned to face the gates.
”NOW!” El shouted, but it wasn't in her voice.
Like a bullet, Haruka bolted from the shadows, blade glowing an incandescent red as she was ready to strike. It all happened in an instead, one wide slash and Piika’s head was sent flying, Aoi then let go of the body, allowing Haruka to stab it right through the chest, a downward slash cleaving a large opening in the chassis from where oil sprayed like a fountain. One more slash and the upper and lower torso were separated from each other, falling limp on the ground. Nils looked on in horror at what just happened, Laki raising on her hands and knees, still reeling a bit from the kick before she too saw the scene. El turned around to look at Nils and Laki, but the two could now see the two cyan Xs that replaced their teammate's eyes along with a strange aura around her and what looked to be a halo above her head, a gear hologram nestled in the center and slowly rotating. Haruka raised her head to stare the two DDs in the eyes, her blade slowly cooling as streaks of smoke swirled around it.
”This is for Sinshei.” she exclaimed as her blade began glowing once more.
To be continued.
