章 26: Chapter 26 Why are we here?

"Well, in the long term we continue on to meet Grandmother, we need her for a few things now, sanctuary from the Beast King, the cloning technique and maybe a little bit to stop our combined minds falling apart rendering us comatose and unable to think. But I mean no rush" said Minor

"Minor, that sounds like a very good reason to rush" said Kat

"Eh, I say we take a nap right now, come, sit next to me and wrap me in your wings, I bet that's nice and warm" said Minor

"Minor focus, you just outlined all the reasons we do need to rush" said Kat

"Kat, we are hours, days, weeks maybe from Grandmother's house. We cannot run for that long. Plus, I'm very tired, piloting the body is hard and it was already tired when Major collapsed, it's really not easy for me to stay awake here" said Minor

"Fine, I understand" said Kat as she sat down. She placed Minor on her lap and wrapped her tail and wings around the pair of them.

"I could get used to this…" said Minor as she drifted off to sleep.

*What sort of problem have I found myself in. What am I supposed to do about this. Is any of this my problem? I get the feeling that breaking a contract is really bad for everyone involved but how does it work with Major and Minor. The Queen contracted me to protect 'her daughter'. Does this count? Does Shizuka count as one daughter or both now?* These questions rattled around Kat's mind as she to drifted off to sleep enjoying the fluffy tails that surrounded her.

When Kat awoke, she felt extremely refreshed but in need of a good stretch. She refrained however on account of the sleeping girl on her lap. Kat managed to hold of the urge to snuggle into Minor's fluffy tail until the girl began to stir.

"Who do I have the honour of greeting this fine morning" said Kat

"Still me of course, I think when Major takes over again my hair should go back to being blue, I said that already. And who boy if it was Major you asked that question to, I worry over what would happen" said Minor

"Of course, I'll take that into consideration" said Kat with a grin

"Anyway, let's get moving Kat, we have no food and no water, now I don't know how long demons can survive without it, but I'm going to need some soonish. And sadly I don't have Major's ice powers so I can't conjure up water" said Minor

"Um, is conjured water safe to drink?" asked Kat

"Nope. But Major is smart enough to pull it out of the air and get it that way which is safe to drink" said Minor as she started marching along, swinging her arms and legs wide

"Um, Minor, is fine to generate so much extra movement as you walk, you will tire more quickly" said Kat

"Bah, tell me something I don't know. Moving the body is hard Kat. I was hoping it wouldn't be this bad but it is. I guess that's what happens when you're a disembodied voice inside your sisters head for a decade but who's counting" said Minor. Kat sighed at Minor's back with a wry grin

Not even five minutes later Minor spoke up "So Kat, let's talk as we walk, do you have any questions for me. We have hours to kill and I'm going to make the most out of having a mouth for the time being"

"Hmm, a few things I suppose. Why is it that you only think you are Haruka?" asked Kat

"Well, I'm not sure how it is for Major, remember she boxed a tonne of this stuff, where as I was the box so it wasn't really an option. Anyway, despite the fact that I have most memories from both of us somehow Haruka's memories sort of feel like mine, you know? And the name as well. It feels like my name, like it belongs to me. Though of course not as much as Shizuka, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms to open up" said Minor

"Well since you brought it up" said Kat

"Yup, I did, I was hoping you'd ask. So remember how I said that Major was a little broken after the ritual, well one of the things that really helped stabilise both parts of Shizuka was actually taking that name. Despite being Haruka and Shizuru before, whatever we were afterwards it wasn't either one. We were both so changed from the experience even though we did actually both stick around nothing was correct.

"When Major took Shizuka as her new name something shifted in both of us, like an out of alignment puzzle piece had just slotted in. Somehow, we both knew that Shizuka was our name now. So in the order of names, Shizuka ranks the highest for both me and Major, Minor is my designation, or at least that's the one I gave myself for now, Haruka feels like it was me, but wasn't, and Shizuru feels like it definitely isn't me and never was despite having quite a few of those memories"

"I see" said Kat. *Though I'm not entirely sure I do. Well I guess I must because I could actually say the words, but even still, how can you just think of yourself as a minor addition, and yet she's so cheerful. Minor even says that she wants Major to get the body back in the ideal scenario. I wonder if that's all talk or if she really prefers being a passenger*

"Do you really want to go back to just being a voice in Major's head once she wakes up?" asked Kat

Minor stopped "Honestly Kat, yes, yes I do" turning around Minor had tears running down her eyes "I'm not supposed to be here you know. She sacrificed so much of herself to keep me around, and honestly I'm not even sure I want to stay. I'm somewhat glad to be able to talk to a person for once, that's been a great joy to me, but it all feels so wrong.

"This fur may have turned red but it isn't mine and I can feel it, the wrongness of it all. I hope, that if Major creates a clone, I can move my mind into it for short timeframes. I don't quite like existing for a lack of a better term. Not that I want to go away completely, I'm not ready for oblivion, I refuse to go that far, but this isn't right" Kat ran up and wrapped her wings and tail around Minor, releasing her calming aura into her as she sobbed.

In between chocked sobs Minor continued "Please, keep the aura on" said Minor as she came back to herself "I can already feel it calming me, and it seems to help with the wrongness I was describing" Minor tried to pull away to keep walking but Kat tightened her grips

"It's ok Minor. It's ok Shizuka. It's going to be alright" said Kat as she stroked Minor's head

After Minor had calmed down Kat reasserted her grip on Minor before speaking "Now, I'm really sorry I have to ask this after what just happened, but your… episode… reminded me of a question that needs to be asked. What is going on with the enchantments and why are we stuck in a straight tunnel"

"Oh, that's actually easy Kat, and no worries the crying helps. So, um, I think Major was completely wrong. I think the real reason is because Major didn't want to go to that prepared house in the city. I'm not quite sure what she wants, my thoughts aren't quite her thoughts and vice versa but our subconscious might be, or at least I think they are more closely linked then are, um main minds, I guess, are.

"I have two guesses, one is that she wanted to go to Grandmother, not the house, and the other is that she was trying to find me and the tunnels, maybe they did something to help with that, I'm not sure if they are advanced enough for that but if they are I think it's the more likely option of the two" said Minor

"What do you mean she was looking for you?" asked Kat "I thought you said she locked those memories away and she couldn't hear you"

"Well, those things are both true, but she hasn't completely lost her memories just, let's say put them in long term storage. I think her subconscious must know I'm still in there, I mean it must be, considering I think mine and hers chat quite a lot, noisy buggers they are, and that because she wasn't wholeheartedly set on the fake house, I prepared so things went astray. The enchantments on these tunnels are powerful and very old, I don't know how they work, but I can almost believe they wanted to help us" said Minor

"If that really is the case, and the tunnels help us go where you subconsciously wanted to go, would that at least mean we aren't likely to starve to death or run out of water" said Kat

"Yes, I think that it is likely, but that is only if my gut feeling is correct, I have no proof and no real knowledge of enchanting. It used to fascinate me, still does but obviously Major dictated what we read so I didn't keep up. Honestly Kat, even if it's a 95% chance we don't starve I think that's still a risk we don't take, might as well continue as fast as we can, and hopefully major wakes up soon so that water doesn't become an issue. How much do you need Kat?" asked Major

*Good question*

USER KAT REQUIRES AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF WATER PER DAY, FURTHER STUDY IS REQUIRED

*Perhaps you can make a guess? What about normal demons*

DEPENDING ON HOW USER KAT DEFINES NORMAL, THE ANSWER CAN EITHER BE ALMOST EXACTLY AS MUCH AS A HUMAN, OR ALMOST NO FOOD AND WATER. GLUTTONY DEMONS HEAVILY SKEW THE DEMONIC AVERAGE OF FOOD CONSUMPTION, HOWEVER THE D.E.M.O.N.S WOULD LIKE TO INFORM USER KAT THAT USER KAT HAS NOT YET COMPLETED AWAKENING. D.E.M.O.N.S ADVISES YOU CONTINUE TO CONSUME FOOD IN THE NEAR FUTURE

*Good to know, good to know.* "No idea, Minor, I have no idea at all" said Kat as they strode of into the continual darkness

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