Work Text:
A long, slender gloved finger ran along the windowsill. A glance at it revealed a thick layer of dust. It was a melancholic feeling; the inhabitant of this room hadn't come back, even for a visit, since she'd left. The woman currently standing within it had ordered the room untouched by the cleaning staff, in case said inhabitant came back, but it wouldn't do for the room to be completely abandoned, either.
Mima Kazami rubbed her pointer finger and thumb together idly, watching as the dust dispersed. "Four," she called. Within a few seconds, she felt a presence appear in the doorway behind her.
"My lady." Four, the acting head of the current cleaning staff, appeared exactly identical to his four other siblings. They were a set of quintuplets that Mima had hired as permanent additions to her household-- they ate, slept, and served unquestioningly. Perfectly eccentric staff, she thought, for a perfectly eccentric woman.
Mima turned to Four, who stood ramrod straight with a neutral expression on his face. "Dust and clean this room, but do not alter the placement of anything within," Mima said. "I would like it to be exactly the same as it was when Megumu departed."
Four bowed. "As you will it," he said, as stilted and formal as ever.
Satisfied, Mima moved out of the room and allowed her servant to enter in her place. She adjusted her robe-- it was her favorite casual wear, for days she stayed indoors alone-- and made her way to her bedroom. There were many spare bedrooms throughout her manor. Each had been occupied, at some point, save for a few she still had in reserve. Mima had a habit of taking in "strays," as they had been called before. Lost children, orphans, teenagers with something to prove... In her unnaturally-long life, she had tempered many prodigious children into intelligent adults who could take what they wanted from the world. This town, spawned around her home, was both riddled with them and living proof of her efforts.
Megumu Iizunamaru was not the most recent to fly the nest. She had been succeeded by individuals such as Marisa Kirisame (who had made a name for herself in the criminal underworld), Meira Hakurei (head of the fastest-growing PMC in the world), and even young Rika, the most recent to choose to adopt herself fully to the family and assume the surname of Kazami. There were myriads of children between Megumu’s departure and the present, and there would undoubtedly be myriads more to come.
Megumu, though, was the first and only one of Mima's wards to have so thoroughly cut herself off. She still lived and worked in the city, that much Mima was aware, but Megumu had effectively gone no-contact. Mima wasn't particularly concerned, at least; she knew Megumu, with her physical prowess and mental ability, was in no danger. Still, though, it wounded Mima's heart to be so lonely again. Perhaps I should scour the orphanage for any promising children again, she thought.
Mima paused in front of her room. Noises from inside alerted her to the presence of someone. For a moment, she thought perhaps someone had come to visit. One of her children, maybe, or her darling wife Yuuka. After a moment, though, she stowed her hope and concluded it was just the cleaning crew. Only they moved with such mechanical efficiency.
Mima felt a deep, piercing pang of loneliness. She missed her wayward sons and daughters, who no longer needed her. She missed her many pets, who had lived and died over centuries. She missed the treasures she had lost over that time. Most of all, though, she missed her darling, her ageless beauty, her precious flower.
Clearly, Mima decided, she needed to rectify that final issue before anything else. Turning away from her bedroom, she instead made her way to a small, unmarked side room, where only the quintuplets and herself were allowed. Even if others tried, they would find it quite firmly shut and, should they somehow enter anyway, would behold a room so violently uninteresting they would be compelled to leave without investigating. In truth, both the door and room bore heavy enchantments to ward off the uninvited, for within were Mima's finest creations and experiments. Within this room, seemingly sequestered away from reality itself, was Mima's workshop.
Magic was a well-documented thing. Some rare individuals had a natural talent for it, levitating objects or lighting fires or even creating energy from seemingly nothing. Psychics, mystics, shamans, magicians... though most were charlatans, some had the power. The most powerful were often taken in by the wealthy or influential, nurtured and raised into weapons of devastating potential.
Mima, too, bore this talent. Her key difference, however, was that she was both frighteningly intelligent and terrifyingly powerful, in equal measure. Shortly after her birth, before even a year had passed, she was speaking full sentences and honing her talent to a keen edge. The townsfolk, terrified of her potential, took her and her family from their home and sought their execution. It was the sight of their deaths that pushed Mima past the brink. In a fit of rage, she summoned all her power and pushed past humanity. The villagers did not survive. Mima did, though no longer human. It was this inhumanity that allowed her such longevity; indeed, these events had transpired nearly six hundred years ago.
The gateway she activated was a simple theory that required immense power in practice. As it swirled to life, space itself bent in front of Mima, and she stepped through between an uncertainty in the continuum's fabric to emerge within her darling's home.
It was equally extravagant, a mansion like her own, and staffed with equally eccentric servants. Mima drifted past an indoor waterfall that poured down to an oasis, surrounded on all sides by brilliant, vibrant plant life. Vines and mosses lined every inch of exposed wall, and hangers hung from the ceiling containing flora that overflowed the edges and reached down low to the ground. Outside, a beautiful vista of jungle expanded before Mima's eyes, framed by an ornate window.
Though the view never failed to bedazzle Mima, the true beauty lay within the room whose door she now beheld. She opened it, gently; the occupant would be certainly be asleep on a gorgeous, sunny day like this, as she so often was. Mima shut the door behind her quietly, and glided over to the gargantuan, plush-looking bed where her darling Yuuka was comfortably cocooned within a deep sleep.
Mima discarded her robe. It was designed to be something she could sleep in, but she longed for the intimate closeness of feeling her skin against her love's. Slipping under the covers, Mima wrapped both arms around Yuuka, who stirred slightly. "Lonely, dear?" Yuuka asked sleepily after a moment.
Mima nodded. "Dreadfully."
Yuuka smiled. "You should have come sooner."
"I know. I was a fool to hope for Megumu to come back after so long."
Yuuka began removing her own nightclothes with a familiar, comforting deliberateness. "It was certainly optimistic, and improbable at best, but you are no fool to hold out hope for family." She finished undressing and tossed her clothes to the side of the bed before nestling deep into Mima's embrace. "I love you, my darling. Now and forever."
Mima let herself be lost in the feeling of closeness. "And I you. More than words."
The two slept through the day soundly, together joined in a bond deep as could be.