ｆｉｒｓｔ ｓｏｎｇ

[leekspinning]

She now found herself in a very dark place. At first, she had only looked around, trying to see if maybe, just maybe, she could get an idea of where she might have been; it was for naught, though, it seemed. She couldn't recognize anything. It was just dark.

It was then that she began to panic, frantically reaching her arms out (and being met with very limited arm mobility) and touching the sides of her current location, feeling around for a possible exit to the place.

When she couldn't seem to find one, that was when she started screaming.

Despite her lack of true humanity, tears poured from her eyes and ran down her cheeks; her voice, though synthesized, held the emotion of fear as she screamed for help, pounding on the sides of the place she found herself trapped in. Nothing she did seemed to help.

No, she needed to calm down and think logically about this. It was the only way she would find her way out, right? If nobody was around that she could depend on, she had to depend on herself.

Calming down was not something that was happening easily, though. Every time she tried, she couldn't help but return to the blubbering mess she had been only moments before.

It was now that she had to try the one thing that always managed to calm her down.

Softly at first, and then growing in volume as she continued, a song started to come from one of the sarcophagi.

Comments

[sakedrinking]

Haku didn't come to the sarcophagus room much anymore. It just depressed her more than anything. She had convinced herself somewhere along the way that she would never find her family in there, waiting for her with open arms as they had been the day she arrived at Crypton. Having friends there was good enough, even if she missed her siblings so much it hurt some days.

But today something pulled her towards the large chamber again after so many weeks of avoiding it, even after all that had happened the day before. The closer she got, the more her ears picked up. What started out as just an odd, dissonant noise that wasn't normal to the sounds of the castle quickly became identifiable as... singing.

Very familiar singing.

"... M... Miku-nee?!" Haku called out from the doorway as loud as she could. She held an unneeded breath, wanting more than anything for the sound she was hearing to not be an illusion like the memories that had been so vivid the day before.

[leekspinning]

There wasn't much that could interrupt Miku's singing, but in this instance, the voice of a family member was one of the few. As soon as she heard that familiar voice, though it was faint, Miku paused in her singing, tearful eyes widening as her internal processors worked their magic and recognized the source.

It was then that she balled her hands into fists and placed both of them on one of the sides of the sarcophagus, softly at first.

"HakuHaku ...?"

It was quiet, at first. But then she started banging her fists on the side of the sarcophagus, tears spilling from her eyes once again as she tried to make sure Haku could hear her.

"HAKUHAKU!"

If it hadn't been obvious that she was scared before, it was becoming pretty obvous now.

[sakedrinking]

She could hear her sister. The banging, the frantic, almost pained sounding voice. Except...

That damned chamber and it's echoing. She could hear it and had a rough idea of which row it was coming from, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly which sarcophagus it is. And the longer she took to find Miku, the more the poor Vocaloid was going to just continue panicking, potentially damaging herself in the process.

"I--..." her voice caught, her own fears rising. What if she couldn't get Miku out? What if she really was damaged? Too many what ifs. She shook her head sharply.

"I'm going to find you, Miku-nee! K... keep singing! I'll use your voice, okay? Just... just try to stay calm and I'll find you!"

[leekspinning]

Miku stopped at that suggestion, but she slowly nodded her head (even though she knew Haku couldn't see her) and slumped forward against that wall a little, resting her forehead against it and closing her eyes.

She started to continue singing Lilium again. She'd sing it as many times as she needed to if it meant that Haku would find her.

[sakedrinking]

Haku moved slowly. Slower than she wanted to, but she couldn't accidentally pass up Miku's location and have to double back. That would only cost her more time.

The sound became clearer the further along she went, though, echos fading in to the background behind her and the actual voice reaching her ears. She rested her hand on each sarcophagus, feeling for the faint vibrations Miku's voice would have caused against the stone, just to make completely sure that no, this wasn't the right one, keep going down.

And then... she was there. Both hands on the outside, on her tiptoes to peek in to the darkness, seeing the barely visible green pigtails within.

"Miku-nee!"

[leekspinning]

It was only when she heard Haku's voice closer than it had been moments ago that she stopped singing, looking over in the direction where she thought her sister's voice was.

"HakuHaku! What's going on?! How did I get in here?!"

Once again, she was frantic. But at least she was no longer pounding on the sides of the stone walls that still entrapped her.

[sakedrinking]

"I-I'll..." Haku swallowed hard, trying to calm her own frayed nerves for Miku's sake. "I'll explain when you're out!"

Not that there was much to explain. No one really knew WHY they were there.

"J... just..."

She fumbled around the edge of the lid. Unlike her own stone tomb that had fallen from the ledge and broken open, Miku's seemed set properly in place and unmoving as any of the others, which meant the lid would have to be pulled aside.

Her fingers hooked in to the tiny gap between lid and back, robotic arms pulling with all their strength. She groaned and grunted, and had she been human a sweat would have broken out on her brow.

But it only budged enough for there to be a wider crack, and soon enough Haku fell back on her rear with the exertion of it.

"Uwaah..." she whined, rubbing her lower back.

[leekspinning]

Miku caught what Haku was doing, and, with a sudden burst of determination on her part, dried her tears and set her gaze on Haku through the slightly wider crack she had made.

"HakuHaku! I'll push if you pull?"

See, sometimes even Miku Hatsune could think with logic.

[sakedrinking]

And sometimes together they could have even more logic!

Haku had looked around after falling back and spotted one of the many random wooden sticks that seemed to be scattered about the castle, likely from people using them as temporary weapons against the shadows.

"Okay, just a second!" she called out, getting up to run and grab it. She returned with the stick in hand, happy to find that it just barely fit in to the crack she'd made.

"Alright! On three... push! One... two... three!"

And as soon as Miku started pushing, Haku began pulling back with the stick, hoping that it would get more than enough leverage to get the damn lid open.

[leekspinning]

Miku pushed at the stick as Haku pulled, and, though it was slow, they seemed to be making progress with getting the lid to the sarcophagus open. Miku pushed as hard as she could manage, and kept it up until finally, the lid was open enough for her to make her way out.

She stopped pushing and poked her head out over the stick.

"HakuHaku, I think I can get out now," she said, indicating that Haku could stop.

[sakedrinking]

"You ca-- ACK!"

Haku squeaked as she fell back again, having let go at just the right moment to have all the momentum come back at her. She bounced this time, hard enough that her nerve receptors let her know just how hard she had toppled.

She shook it off quicker this time, though, jumping back on her feet so she could give Miku a hand out.

[leekspinning]

Miku's eyes widened as her sister stumbled back.

"Ne, are you all right?!" she asked, but before she could squeeze her way out of the sarcophagus to rush to her side, Haku was up and offering her a hand. Miku blinked at the hand a few times, then took it and pulled herself out of the sarcophagus, instantly taking the opportunity to tackle her little sister in a tight hug.

She didn't know what was going on, but for now, she was glad to be out of that ... whatever it was, and with someone she was familiar with.

[sakedrinking]

"I'll be--"

She was stopped mid sentence by the glomp, but right then she didn't care. She just hugged her sister back tightly, feeling how real and solid she was. This wasn't a memory. This wasn't a hallucination. Miku was really there.

"I'll be fine, Miku-nee..."

[leekspinning]

If Miku were more human, she might have been trembling as she clung to Haku. She didn't let go for several minutes, but finally, she pulled away slowly, looking around at the room they were in. She was quiet for a while afterward, just looking around the room in disbelief.

This wasn't Crypton ... this wasn't a stage, this wasn't a hotel, this wasn't anywhere she knew. But then, where was it?

The fact that Miku didn't know frightened her.

[sakedrinking]

"It's... a castle..." Haku said once Miku was looking around. She knew that confusion, that look of concern coupled with her best attempts to hide just how worried she was.

"We don't know where... or how we got here or why. Just... that it's a castle, and we're trapped."

[leekspinning]

"Ehhhhh?!" Miku said softly, hints of awe and wonder evident in her voice along with the standard worry and confusion.

And then, another one; this time, more panicked.

"E-Ehhhh?! Ne, but-!! We need to get back! We have a concert to do--ah!" Miku had started flailing in her own panic, and had to stop what she was saying and wince at a sudden feeling in her nerve endings. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked to where her signals were saying the damage was.

The synthetic skin on her hands was torn in a few places, and a few bits of metal and wiring could be seen from the torn places. Some of the metal and wiring had even been smashed a little; not enough to give her any horrible damage, but enough to make things painful, and make it a little harder to use her hands. Her panic from earlier must have done this ... she had been hitting the stone walls pretty hard. It must have been their equivalent of a fight or flight response that had pushed her through helping Haku push away the lid of the sarcophagus.

[sakedrinking]

"But we can't-- ... what's wrong with your hands?" Haku said, taking her wrist carefully to look at the damage. A frown pulled on her lips. She couldn't do anything about this here. There weren't any tools for her to work with.

"This isn't good... how much does it hurt?"

[leekspinning]

Miku tried to move her hands and winced again. Pain receptors were telling her it definitely hurt. But it wasn't so bad that she couldn't keep functioning, right?

No, she had to get it fixed. If it got worse, it could be pretty serious.

"I-It hurts," Miku responded.

[sakedrinking]

"I can't do anything here..." Haku admitted after a bit. She knew that's not what Miku wanted to hear, but she couldn't lie to her sister. She lowered Miku's hands down carefully, then bent and began ripping the bottom of the white skirt she was wearing. She would have to shorten and hem it later, but she didn't mind.

"Here..." she said, taking Miku's hands again and wrapping the strips around the damaged parts. It was a temporary fix, but it would keep dirt and other things from getting in and aggravating her nerves more.

"There's some one here that might be able to help us... but I have to find him first..."

[leekspinning]

Miku nodded. She believed every word Haku said, no doubts at all. She took the opportunity to look around their current location again, the idea of being somewhere else completely still trying to work it's way through her mind.

It seemed to be way too much to believe. And yet, she couldn't deny that this was real. She knew Haku wouldn't lie to her.

She didn't know what to do, now. Some part of her was subconsciously hoping that Haku would take the lead.

[sakedrinking]

"We'll... we'll be okay..." Haku said quietly, though it was hard to tell who she was reassuring - Miku or herself. But the reassurance was there. She trusted the people there, they had been nothing but kind to her so far, and Ratchet had made a promise after all.

She smiled at Miku faintly.

"Let's go."

[leekspinning]

Miku returned her gaze to her sister, then nodded, holding out her hand despite knowing how messed up it must have been. Haku was leading. She didn't want to leave her side.

"O-Okay," she said, mirroring the faint smile, and then smiling a little bigger. Maybe if she smiled a little more, it would help both of them feel better about the situation.

It had always worked before, right?

[sakedrinking]

Haku carefully took Miku's hand, making sure to not aggravate the damages more. She pulled her along, navigating the castle as if she'd been there forever. Really... it was just a familiar route to her now. More than she wanted it to be.

[leekspinning]

Miku could tell. She was simply too shell-shocked herself to say anything about it. She couldn't help but look around at their surroundings as Haku pulled her along.

[sakedrinking]

It didn't take long to get the the common area with the modifications Toph had made to the harder to climb areas.

"I'm not sure if we're going to wind up rooming together... but you can visit me any time you want. Oh, and... don't go anywhere alone, okay?"

[leekspinning]

Miku nodded to Haku's directions. "Okay. How do we know where our rooms are?"

Wait, they give us rooms? She made a face before echoing her thoughts.

"They give us rooms?"

And then.

"Who's 'they'?"

So many questions.

[sakedrinking]

"Uhm."

Haku paused, blinking a few times.

"... the... people who brought us here, I guess? We've never seen them, though..."

Wait, was the other questions?

Oh.

"The door will open if you stand in front of it."

[leekspinning]

"Really? It will?" Miku blinked confusedly, then moved away from Haku curiously, standing in front of the doors to try them all out.

[sakedrinking]

"Yup! And the other doors will open if you have another person with you. It's... weird. No one really understands why, but it keeps unwanted people out of your room."

Haku watched her, waiting for one of the doors to respond to her.

[leekspinning]

It took a while, but one of the doors finally opened for her. Miku's eyes widened in awe, and she jumped up and down excitedly, pointing inside the room.

"Waii! It really opened!!"

[sakedrinking]

Haku just giggled quietly at that behind her hand, smiling back at her sister. A part of her was afraid of what Miku being there meant, but more than that feeling she was just happy to see the familiar smiling face once more.

[leekspinning]

Miku took a peek inside of the room, looking around for any other signs of life within it. There were three beds, and only one seemed to be claimed.

"Helloooooo?" She called in there, just in case. Upon receiving no response, though, she stepped back and wandered back over to Haku.

"I guess nobody's in there, waiii ..."

[sakedrinking]

"People like to explore a lot. They go out in pairs or groups," Haku explained, "Though you could have one of the empty rooms, too."

/takes all Vocaloid CR.

[kaderp]

Was that a sarcophagus. Singing?

No, Kadar, of course not; it was someone INSIDE the sarcophagus singing. As the realization hit, he dropped the hem of his robes that he'd been fussing with, barreled halfway across the room and then freeran over until he could pinpoint the sarcophagus it was coming from.

"Hello?!"

/aaaaaa CR! sorry for the slow, work and other things have been zapping my brain

[leekspinning]

It was a voice that stopped her from singing. A voice that was unfamiliar, but a voice nonetheless. Perhaps this voice could help her get out of here?

No, Miku. But perhaps the body attached to that voice could.

Miku began pounding against the side of the sarcophagus frantically again, trying to lure whoever it was to her current location.

"Hello?! I need help!"

[kaderp]

"I will help you! The-- the only way out is to break the sarcophagus," Kadar said, reaching up to grab on. "Try to rock your weight back and forth!"

He hated this part. Hated having to do it for others and hated having to do it for himself; it was uncomfortable and so frequently resulted in head wounds, but he started trying to rock the sarcophagus enough to set it off balance.