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"This is new." Yuuki was floating in a strange void, not unlike the one she haunted once. And yet, it was different. The darkness wasn’t a lack of existence, it was darkness. An inky black texture that surrounded her from every direction. She tried to remember how she got there, what she was doing, but came up with only a faint feeling that everything was normal, nothing was out of place. Which, considering the circumstances meant that nothing was normal and everything was out of place.

"Murderer." She heard a low whisper, almost like a growl. The cold air that carried the voice made her skin crawl.

"I prefer the term ‘able hunter’." Yuuki said, without showing any emotion.

"Murderer." The first voice was joined by another, this time a higher pitched, feminine one.

"How original, let me guess, you’ll call me ‘murderer’ next?" She sighed in both annoyance and boredom.

"Murderer." A child’s voice, no more than six years of age.

"Really? I thought my psyche would be more creative when it came to tormenting me. This could hardly be called a nightmare at all." A bright violet flame began dancing in her palm, which she held out to illuminate her surroundings. What she saw were massive black pillars with thousands upon thousands of faces carved into them, all contorted in agony, all screaming 'murderer'. A few of those she recognized as people she had killed in her previous life. She paused for a moment and narrowed her eyes. "Alright, I take it back. Nightmare it is. Eight out of ten."

"Look at you. Quite the body count. You really are my greatest creation"

She snapped around, recognising the voice. It belonged to a man wearing a lab coat, and an arrogant smirk.

"Miss me?"

Yuuki's shock faded, her eyes closed, and she began laughing. "Is that really it?" She eyed the person whom she thought she hated the most out of anyone in existence… and was disappointed. She wanted to blame him for everything, but she couldn't. He didn't matter. "I could find your soul, make it go through inconceivable torment, I could even trick you into letting me in your soul so I could shatter it. You're nothing. You can do nothing to me. Not anymore. As for the rest of you? I'm sorry. I'll try to make up for it, even if it will never be enough."

With a wave of her hands, the nightmare around her dissipated like smoke. In its place, she was once more in her garden.

With a tired sigh, she sat down and enjoyed the texture of the grass. "I wonder…"

She focused for a brief moment, and Igraine appeared next to her. "Eh? Weren't we fighting a giant crab just now?" The half-elf seemed confused and disoriented.

"Oh? Do tell me more." Yuuki leaned in and brought her girlfriend into a tight hug.

"Well, there were these starfish pirates, and they were attacking the marshmallows, so we jumped in to help, but they summoned a giant crab, then it began breathing fire and… oh, it was a dream. Wait, is this still a dream?"

"Afraid so." The vixen replied, slightly taken aback by the absurdity of what she had just heard.

"Oh. Wow. I mean, it makes sense that even in my dream, you'd be aware of everything, because that's how I know you, but still… ahh, Yuuki is really yuuki."

Hearing her name being turned into an adjective brought back memories. As her mind wandered off, she felt a surprisingly powerful yank, as she was pulled into Igraine's embrace. "Eh?"

"Well, Yuuki or not, it's my dream, my rules." She said confidently before gently patting the vixen's head.

Yuuki was shocked at first, but quickly regained her composure. She smirked happily at Igraine. "If you want to pamper me, you could always just say so."

She stopped, staring into the violet eyes of the kitsune. "This isn't a dream?"

"It is. It's mine, but I brought you into it. It's reassuring that even when you think you have unlimited power, you use it to comfort me. I have to apologise, my estimation was way off." Yuuki said as she reclined in the embrace of her love.

"Oh? And just what was your estimation of me, honey?" The half-elf had put on an ominous smile.

"Oh you know… stuff." The vixen broke eye contact and began inspecting the nonexistent clouds.

"I think someone is projecting a bit~." Igraine teased.

"It's not my fault my species has a high libido." Yuuki said, defensively.

"Oh, as far as I've seen, your family is doing just fine. Maybe it's just you?"

"Whaaat? I'll have you know I'm a paragon of virtue and all that is wholesome. To even dare insinuate-" Her rant dripping with sarcasm was cut short by a small nibble on her ear.

Suddenly, reality around them disappeared, and they were back in their bed, cuddling. Igraine opened her eyes, and Yuuki was already grinning at her.

--

Arthur was pacing back and forth, waiting for news. Except his sense would know if a courier had entered the city. No, he was waiting for a different bringer of news.

"Pacing back and forth doesn't compensate for being cooped up in your room all day."

His head whipped around, looking at just the person he had been waiting for. "Any news?"

With a slight smirk, Yuuki placed four papers down on the table. Arthur took it as his cue to begin reading.

The first was on the churches denouncing all the nobles associated with slavery. Then, an announcement of an investigation into the inner workings of the Curyn dynasty, led by the Church of Mystra. These two had the stamps indicating that it was all the churches in unison who agreed to this.

Two more were stamped by what appeared to be the night sky. First, the church of Mystra would announce Arthur Pendragon as the official heir to the Curyn dynasty. Then, a document waiting to be signed, detailing the creation of a public school within the Curyn dynasty.

Arthur was grinning widely and turned to Yuuki. "I'd say this has gone just about perfectly."

"More or less. Now there is just the simple matter of all that national debt."

"But you have a plan for that." Arthur said, having known her long enough. He waited for an answer a bit and then looked at the impassive vixen.

Yuuki summoned a cushy armchair in which she sat down. Arthur sat down in the one that appeared behind him. "I do." She seemed conflicted, like she would have to say something she really didn't want to.

Arthur waited patiently for the continuation.

"I have told you how I can see future possibilities, right?"

"You have." Arthur was already dreading where this was going. He wasn't the only one.

"As I see it, there are two options. One, I break the rules I set, and help you more directly, erase the debt, and so on." Her voice was quiet. Her eyes wandered around the room, never looking at Arthur for more than a second.

"And the other one is the treasure, right? The one you told me about?" He realised what she was too afraid to say. "What are my chances?"

Yuuki met his eyes. "I don't know."

"Oh." Not what he expected. "Well, it is a trial created by the gods, it's only natural."

She said nothing, only stared.

"Alright, how about without your future predictions? Do you think I can do it?"

"I don't know." She answered robotically.

"Seriously?" He was a bit shocked. "Alright, not that it matters. If I fail, you can just bring me back." No answer. "You can bring me back, right?"

"I don't know!" Her outburst shook the foundations of the world. Not that anyone not attuned with space magic would notice. She slumped back in her seat. "I don't know."

Arthur had never seen Yuuki so… vulnerable. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Regardless, I'm still going. I'd be on this path even if you didn't nullify most, if not all negative consequences. I want to lead people. I want to inspire them. And most of all, I want them to lead the best lives they can. For that, I can't turn back just because it's not easy anymore." He sounded resolute, his eyes burning with determination.

"You come back to us, alright? Igraine will kill me if you don't." Yuuki said with a gentle smile. "Good luck." She then reached towards his forehead and began preparing the teleportation."

"Thanks, mom." Was the last thing he said before he disappeared from the room.

She seemed shocked, but happy. Then, she let out a long sigh and almost melted into the armchair. "If you ever ask me to lie to my family again, I will… I don't even know what I'll do but a few new words will have to be created to describe them, that's for sure." She said to no one in the room.

Then, a feminine figure made of pure light appeared with a small pout. "Hey, it turned out well, didn't it? The trials would have no point if he knew the outcome."

"Which is why I'm still unsure as to what your punishment will be." She stared at the goddess, who, despite being more powerful, took a step back. If she could, she would have started sweating.

"You're going to be one scary deity…" She said weakly, and was ignored.

"Hmmm… maybe force you to… nah, too light." The kitsune muttered. "Hmmm…" Yuuki was completely submerged in thought.

"Maybe I'll just leave, talk to you later!"

"No." Yuuki said while staring at the goddess. "I think I have just the punishment in mind, Lucy." She stood up with a wicked grin and began approaching the much more powerful entity. The much more powerful entity hadn't felt this intimidated in… ever.

"M-maybe we can talk about it? I mean, the trial will be fine, he won't be hurt, I assure you." Her protests turned into whispers as she shrank back. Then, she looked around and saw that they were in the middle of an empty field. Empty empty. The ground itself was just dirt, the sky above was a homogenous white light source.

"This place has a barrier, which prevents us from using too much of our powers. If we use too much at once, it collapses and so do the universes around us." Yuuki stated matter of factly. Her clothes changed to simple form fitting black clothes. Her hair was collected in a ponytail, and she had a pair of black wristbands. "Summoning magical items is against the rules, and if you do so, the barrier collapses. Trying to teleport away will result in the same thing. Trying to prevent the barrier from collapsing, same thing."

The goddess of light was shocked. "You're blackmailing me with billions of innocent people?" She was not even angry. Just dumbstruck.

"This is the only way I can force you to accept my terms. This is your punishment."

"What, you just want to beat me up?"

"No. I want to train against you. Not your power, but your skill. And mind you, I'm also heavily limited. If you lose, it's on you. Ready?"

Lucy swapped her loose clothes to something a bit tighter and got into something close to a stance.

--

Yuuki in the living room with a limp figure on her shoulder.

Most of them were confused, Mystra was baffled. "How did you…?" She didn't even feel like finishing the question. Yuuki. Yuuki was yuuki.

The limp figure recognised the voice. "Mystra, your priestess is a bully." She whined.

"The circumstances were as equal as they could get. It's not my fault you can't fight." Yuuki placed the Goddess of Light in Mystra's care. "She's trying to cut the training short by refusing to heal herself."

Mystra stared at her fellow goddess, curled up against her.

"If I heal, you'll beat me up again!"

"I was going easy on you. And you were ignoring all my comments on how to improve. You're worse at this than Rose was."

The seamstress was confused as to who the newcomer was, but she was happy that she wasn't the "worst at fighting" anymore.

Mystra gently patted Lucy's head, who affectionately got closer and closer. Then she suddenly understood. "Don't worry, the big mean Yuuki can't bully you anymore." She cooed as she tightened her hold. Lucy relaxed, seemed to calm down and let out a faint glow.

"That's great back to training." Yuuki said and stepped closer.

"I cleaned up the barrier you left. Okaybye." Mystra said quickly and teleported out, Lucy in tow.

Yuuki just sat down and took Mystra's position in the game they were playing.

"So… explain?" Alice asked. The fact that even she was confused confused the rest of them even more.

"Mystra has a crush on Lucy. So, I got Lucy to train with me. She didn't even fight, she just threw up a bunch of barriers and curled up on the floor. I had a hunch that Lucy had a crush on Mystra as well, so I told her I would snitch if she didn't fight. She tried to fight, it was really sad, I told her my plan to get her to act hurt to make Mystra protective, she got excited, we played it out, and now they are off, somewhere, hopefully finally confessing to each other." Yuuki summed it up.

"So… you didn't punch a poor defenseless goddess?" Alice asked, just to make sure.

"I did not hurt her. Either she played me, or she really can't fight. At all. It was a bit sad. And also funny. I have a recording."

Just as she said that, two pouting goddesses reappeared in the room, staring at Yuuki who didn't even turn around.

"You spent one entire minute together? Wow. How was the honeymoon?"

Without saying a word, they just walked up to her, crouched down, and submerged themselves in fluff.

Two ancient and powerful beings were bumbling around like a pair of schoolgirls for eaons, and were tricked into confessing. What a story. One could write a book about it. Though, such a book would most likely substitute a lack of plot or good writing with fluff and yuri.

So... This chapter was a bit all over the place. But I didn't want to keep putting it off, because I already feel horrible about it.

So... If you want to stick around a read my rambles, feel free, if not, just click next. If there's no next yet, feel free to yell at me.

Onto the rambles. I'm lazy. Worse yet, I use lazyness as an excuse to be more lazy. I do things I don't enjoy and isn't productive (like watching hours worth of dumb videos or listening to hours worth of music for the sake of doing something) so that I procrastinate even the procrastinating (like doing what was described above for 10 hours, because if I start playing a video game, I'd keep going for like 3-4 hours, and that's too big a commitment) and get nothing done.

Basically, as above: yell at me. If I don't feel like I have to do something, chances are, I just won't. Even if I enjoy it, even if I think it's worthwhile. So... Yeah. That's it. I'm back to writing, writing regularly, because I have the time and I'm trying not to come up with excuses anymore.

One thing I did realise over... 10 months... Is that I tried too hard to turn this into a drama, or a character analysis. It's fluff. Fluff with some other things, but mostly fluff. So expect more of that.

Also, this chapter may be bad. Because I just wanted to write something to get the ball rolling again. If it's bad, please give me feedback.

Potato out.

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