Yuugi ground her teeth as she stormed up the tunnel, ignoring the bits of stone and earth that fell from the walls and ceiling in her wake. Satori Komeiji's verdict regarding the most recent, violent troublemaker to enter Hell, harmless in the face of a gang of oni, but disturbing in that he was there at all, looped in her mind like a song verse she couldn't get out her head.
"Someone with this much jealousy in their heart should never have been able to cross the bridge."
She lowered her head and increased her pace, spurred on by the memories of the dark looks her lieutenants had exchanged upon this proclamation, and the way Urara had raised her hand towards the stump of her left horn, her eyes shining with vindication.
The stalactites shook as she landed her foot on the tunnel's entrance. "Parsee!"
No response. The bridge stood abandoned, with nothing even resembling life but the slow drip of water from the ceiling.
She stomped to Parsee's nest next, only to find it equally lacking in bridge princesses. Thus stymied, her anger made way for concern. If Parsee was completely missing, the berserker would never have made it to Hell in the first place: without some kind of aid or trickery, he would have plunged into the abyss attempting to cross the bridge. Whatever was going on was very wrong indeed.
"Parsee!" Her words echoed in the cavern long after she fell silent. No doubt it would reverberate all the way to the Palace of Earth Spirits.
"Yes?"
Yuugi jerked her head upwards. There she was, sitting atop a jutting rock mere feet from the ceiling, smiling down at her.
It wasn't just any smile. It was the smile she had worn when Yuugi had first said her name. It was the smile she had allowed herself upon mastering a difficult kanji. It was the smile she'd bestow upon Yuugi after a kiss, during those blessed moments where her shoulders relaxed and the dull glow in her eyes vanished entirely, if only to return in a flash. It was the smile Yuugi loved seeing more than anything else in the world.
And yet, she found herself assuming a fighting stance. "Why are you here and not at your post?"
Parsee jumped down, descending in half flight, half free-fall, and landing like a cat some feet away from Yuugi. "There was some trouble earlier."
"You can say that again." Yuugi's heart was pounding wildly, and it took her a moment to understand why. The strange miasma she sometimes sensed was back, more overbearing than ever. She could practically taste it. Worse, when previously she had found it impossible to discern its source, this time it was obviously clinging to Parsee.
"You'd better tell me exactly what happened," she said.
Parsee's eyes shone. "Of course." She took a light, carefree step to the left, almost like a child might, moving closer to nearest lantern.
It was in this new light that Yuugi noticed the scratch marks all over Parsee's arms, angry red lines breaking the porcelain-like skin. Her eyes went to her hands, and as she had half suspected, she saw dried blood caked under her fingernails. What it meant, she couldn't tell, but she felt a strange shiver down her spine she had never felt before.
"Once upon a time there were two honest men." Parsee's tone was sweet and warm, lighter but otherwise identical to the one she used during their reading practice. "They were the best of friends, and when one of them had to enter Hell to retrieve a priceless treasure for his fiancée, the other accompanied him for no other reason but the goodness of his heart. Together, they set off on the perilous journey, and eventually found the entrance to Hell."
She tilted her head, smiling sadly. "Though they crossed the bridge between the two worlds, it soon became clear all wasn't as it appeared. In truth, the best friend was drowning in jealousy. He too loved the woman who his friend was to marry, and while he had thought he could push his feelings aside, every step he took only increased them tenfold. The jealousy turned to bitter words, then to fists. And before the bridge guardian could think of intervening, he pushed his friend into the abyss."
"Immediately, he was consumed by his guilt, and threw himself into the abyss as well." She shook her head, sighing. "And to think they got so close, too."
"...That wasn't the incident I had in mind."
"No?" Parsee's smile faltered for a moment before returning at full force. "I suppose you couldn't have known of that yet. What was the other incident?"
Yuugi said nothing for a while. Then, she took a deep breath.
"You can stop pretending now," she said, fixing a murderous gaze on the bridge princess. "You're not fooling anyone."
"Excuse me?"
"You're not Parsee."
Parsee — or the creature in the shape of Parsee — took the accusation with a blink, followed by a warm smile.
Gently, she shook her head.
"I can see why you'd like to think that. You've always had such a wonderful, straightforward way of looking at the world. I wish I could follow your example."
An eerie feeling, like poison dripping into her veins, momentarily stilled Yuugi. She pressed on regardless. "Enough. Reveal yourself."
Parsee continued smiling her inexplicable smile. Slowly, a faint green vapour began to emerge from her pores, enveloping her in a faint, translucent glow. "You really are wonderful. Always the centre of attention, but never boastful about it. You even take the time to acknowledge the little people in your life."
Yuugi reinforced her fighting stance, but the opponent she awaited never emerged. Though Parsee's eyes began to glow with a sickly green so similar and yet so different from the usual colour of her irises, no alien presence made itself known. In fact, the presence, though sickening, was undoubtedly Parsee's own alone.
Which was wrong. If Parsee had been possessed, her spirit would have been annihilated by now. It had to mean...
Parsee must have seen Yuugi's confusion written on her face. Her expression grew gentle, through none of the poison behind it faded. "Do you know what it feels like, witnessing those admiring looks aimed at you? The self-assured smile on your face? The knowledge that no matter what I do, I will never measure up to you, and that those who follow you will always think of me as unworthy of you?" She shook her head. "I tried to run away from how I felt, but it's better to embrace who I am. And this," she raised her hand, coated in jealousy made manifest, "is it."
"No."
Parsee closed her eyes. "I knew you'd say that. I'm sorry." There was no sorrow or regret to be heard in her tone, only a kind of detached glee of a mind far too gone to care. "I can no longer continue working as a bridge guardian."
To her great surprise, Yuugi discovered her fists shook. She forced them still. "That makes you a deserter."
"I suppose so. Can you send my regrets to the Palace of Earth Spirits?" Her smile vanished again. "It's for the best. I was never any good at it. I will never find my purpose, or a real home... even Hell rejects me..."
With a growl that shook the earth around them, Yuugi lunged herself at Parsee. The confused mixture of emotions she felt, aggravated by Parsee's self-pity and the miasma, had turned her blood to fire.
Parsee's eyes flew wide open. She only barely evaded Yuugi's punch, clumsy though it was, and quickly turned tail and fled deeper into the cavern.
Thinking nothing and seeing red, Yuugi gave chase.
She quickly cornered Parsee not far from her home. Though she had reached her boiling point, she had enough presence of mind to find it odd: surely Parsee knew the area better than anyone else and wouldn't be so readily trapped? She had to be panicking.
She pushed her confusion aside and took another stance. "All deserters are to be taken in, or else destroyed."
"I'm sure you're more than capable of both."
Again, Yuugi found herself hesitating. Her opponent's behaviour was at once so similar and so far removed from that of the usual soft-spoken, clever, sweet Parsee, that even knowing possession was unlikely, she had to suspect some kind of an elaborate prank.
"Can you at least tell me why this is happening?" she asked.
"I already told you I decided to embrace who I truly am. Nothing more to it, really." Parsee smiled again. "Didn't you ever wonder why I am a bridge princess?"
She had, on several occasions, but that was of no use now. "Enough." There was no more room for words. If any of what Parsee had said and done was true — and there was very little room for doubt, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise — she was not the person Yuugi had thought her to be. The ache in her chest, therefore, was an illusion, something to be crushed along with the treacherous bridge princess.
There was a chance Parsee would have followed her quietly if given the opportunity, but with her heart bleeding raw and the poison seeping ever further into her flesh, Yuugi didn't even consider it. She went in for the kill.
Parsee dodged the strike much like she had dodged the initial attack, and danced away from all subsequent blows.
Her next attack struck the ground, sending bits of rock flying in all direction. Parsee backed away rapidly, avoiding the debris, then coming to a sudden halt as her back hit the wall. The lingering smugness on her face faded away as she pounced away from the wall and searched for potential escape routes only to find none. For a moment, Yuugi saw the shadow of her former lover reflected on her face, alone and frightened.
It was gone before she could blink, replaced by a deeper glow and an insufferable smirk. Yuugi decided she had tried to fool herself into believing her Parsee had been real after all, and felt an urge to punch herself. Oni had no room for the weakness of self-deception.
As she thought this, a spell whirled by her ear, missing her by a fraction.
She raised her gaze, enraged. Parsee quickly lowered her hands, like she was going to pretend the cavern wall had cast the attack.
Yuugi gritted her teeth. Enough was enough. She generally avoided using her best techniques on anyone other than her fellow oni when she didn't wish to break her opponents, but they were the best way to end any conflict.
With that thought, she began to gather the unnatural energy coursing in the earth and air into her body.
Parsee's eyes widened. She took a step back, in what Yuugi would have earlier called cleverness but now saw was nothing but cowardice, only to hit the wall again and return to her previous position, stunned.
Yuugi ignored her and kept gathering energy. The blind rage she had found herself in gave way to a sense of purpose. She was meant for fighting, regardless of circumstances, and the sensation just before unleashing her attack never got old.
Parsee raised her hands to her forehead and whispered something.
This time, the attack missed Yuugi by a wide berth. A weakling's last-ditch attack with no aim, then. Yuugi didn't acknowledge it, savouring instead the challenge of holding all the energy in one place as it was ready to burst forth in a single chaotic mess.
With a roar, now of concentration rather than anger, Yuugi unleashed Knockout in Three Steps.
Through some miracle, Parsee avoided the first wave of energy blasting over her. The second sent her flying like a rag doll amidst the rocks the attack had shaken loose from the ground. She hit the cavern wall with an unceremonious thud and only slid down an inch before the third wave pinned her back in place.
As the attack dissipated, she slowly slinked down, leaving a bloody smear on the wall behind her. Her eyes had already fluttered shut, with remnants of shock etched on her face as her consciousness rapidly fled.
Yuugi lowered her arms, the contentment that came from battle vanishing, replaced by the grim knowledge she had done her duty.
Suddenly, Parsee smiled.
It was only for a fraction of an instant before her mind gave away and she collapsed into a heap on the ground, but Yuugi knew she hadn't imagined it. She had smiled.
"What—" Equally flummoxed as she was angry, she took a step forward without meaning to. "Why are you smiling?!"
It was at that very moment that the unseen attack blasted through her torso.
Yuugi staggered another step forward from sheer momentum before she could pause to look. The attack — a homing one, she realised now, one that had missed her intentionally on the first pass — had blown a hole through her side. She stared at it with wonderment, feeling no pain even as her vision began to blur. There had to have been something else to the attack, some sort of poison, she realised at length by the time the ground was already rapidly approaching and took her into its firm embrace as her mind sank into the inviting darkness.
With her last glance before the void claimed her, she managed one last look at Parsee. In her unconscious state, she looked just like the Parsee of her memories, with a shadow of the smile still on her face.