Like an Open Coffin

“This time I met an interesting lady, she was like a grown adult or something I think. She was really nice, and she really seemed to get along with the little girl. Almost in a big sister kind of way. She tried her best to help her learn girly stuff too. Though what made me the happiest was that we were finally a squad, Raftilia told us that we were ready. I can't wait for our first mission as a team!”

Bunberry twisted and turned in her sleep. She was having a horrific nightmare. A nightmare of the past. She was home, she was warm, she was safe. She had everything she wanted. Then, while she was talking and laughing with her family, it happened. He appeared. The rest was a series of flashes of remembered events. The door exploding, his flash of light obliterating her parents, his hand holding her sister in the air as he slowly purified her. Then with her alone, he walked over to her and as his hand reached for her face…

She woke up with a gasp and looked around left and right, scanning the area. She was in her room, her twisted bizarre room. She wasn’t there again, she was safe. She slowly picked herself up from her bed. Not being able to walk without support was going to take some getting used to. She wished for a cane, and one rose from the floor of her room.

She next asked for a hot tub, and the floor bubbled and shifted as a hot tub rose inside the bathroom, the room expanding to incorporate it. She stripped out of her night clothes then settled into the hot tub. The warm water soothed her muscles and allowed her to think. Or she would have been able to if she hadn’t sunk out of the hot tub and into the void. Behind her, a sword poked at her. She turned to face it, and of course it was accompanied with a black wand with a blueberry for the bottom, and a blue heart shape with blue bunny ears at the top. She sighed. It still existed.

“Of course I’m still here, you dummy.” The wand's voice was so disgustingly sugary and sweet. Just like her.

“We’re both still a part of you, whether you like it or not.” The sword said, a much gruffer tone just like Bunberry used.

“What do you two want now?” she asked.

You’re not doing well, Bunberry. We know you aren’t,” the wand said.

“Of course I’m not!” Bunberry snapped. “I saw him and I wasn’t able to do anything! If I wasn’t protecting that stupid kid then I’d have finally got my revenge!”

“You really think that’s how you feel?” The sword was stern. “You’re a fool.”

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t just protect Cherry because you were ordered to,” the wand stated. “You genuinely care for him, just like you cared for your sister. You're becoming attached, Bunberry.”

Bunberry was furious. “No one can replace my sister, no one! Especially not some snot-nosed kid that… that…” Bunberry’s face fell as she realized the truth. She was lying to herself. “It’s not fair. He’s so much like her. So innocent, such a little churro. It’s hard to not want to get attached.”

“He doesn’t have to replace her. He is his own person,” the sword said, bobbing knowingly.

“Y-You’re right. Damn it, you’re right. Still, I doubt he’d want to be friends with someone like me. I’m incredibly dangerous and a loose cannon. I don’t know what I’ll do if I see that man again.”

“You’ll be fine,” the wand said. “I think Cherry is good for you. He’ll keep you stable. You didn’t just fight that man alone, after all. You called for help. You never call for help. Not even once since… you know.”

“I-I-I…” Bunberry’s words were cut off by her own thoughts.

“Well, we’ve got to be going now, be more honest with yourself, also, stop swearing so much. You never used to. You were such a kind girl.”

“There’s a lot of things I never used to do, there’s also a lot I lost. This is part of who I am now, so get used to it, you children’s cartoon reject,” Bunberry shot back.

The wand looked hurt at her words then disappeared.

“You didn’t need to be that cruel to her, Bunberry. Perhaps more time with that Cherry boy will soften some of your edges,” the sword said. Even though she knew better than to disagree, she found herself falling back into old habits.

“Excuse me there is nothin—” Bunberry’s words fell on deaf ears as she was back inside the hot tub and no longer in the void. “Typical.” She huffed, then finished her bath.

She dried herself off and headed to her closet. Once inside she was surprised to find herself clothed in something other than a girly dress and heels. Instead it was tight jeans, sneakers, a jean bolero jacket and a black top with a blueberry bunny in the middle. It was different from her usual, leaving her genuinely surprised but not displeased.

Fully dressed, she reached onto the counter and picked up a familiar photo. 4 girls and one boy were all smiling and hugging each other. It was bittersweet. With a melancholic smile she set it back down, then went out the door.

Bunberry hadn’t seen Cherry today, but she figured he’d still be in the infirmary with Dragon. Interrupting her thoughts was a young girl she hadn’t seen yet. She was quite short with pale skin, silver hair, and black eyes. Her Transformation seemed to be a bat aspect, possibly vampiric. Bunberry wasn’t sure. She also briefly wondered if this girl was an Adaption or not. And if so, did she actually want it?

“Are you Princess Bunberry?” the girl asked. Her voice was a little shrill but not in an annoying way. It was actually kind of cute, like you might hear from a little girl. Bunberry wondered how old she really was. Was she taken in at the youngest, twelve years old? She decided she’d table that for later.

“Yes, I am. What of it?” Bunberry responded.

“Oh, good. I’m supposed to be training with you. The pink dog thing said so.”

Bunberry winced at that. This kid was going to have to learn not to say things like that in Raftilia’s presence. “First off, since when am I your trainer? Second, I’d advise you to just call her boss. Not ‘pink dog thing.’ She’ll get pretty angry at you if you don’t address her right.”

“Oh, well the boss said that I’m part of someone named Cherry Sparkles’ squad? And that you also are part of it? And that you are the veteran that’ll train us?”

Bunberry ran her hand down her face in frustration. She forgot that she was now part of Cherry’s squad. Despite all that had happened, the habit of being a lone wolf hadn’t gone away overnight. “Fine, what’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m Coffin Flower—woah.” Bunberry felt a jab of pity as the girl’s face flushed. The name thing could be very uncomfortable at first. “I still can’t say my name. I wonder what else it can do to me. Can it suppress my personality and make me into the perfect Umbra Girl? That’d be sooo cool!” Bunberry’s brain felt like it had hit an unexpected bump. Apparently the girl was excited, not embarrassed. But why? And why had she just described a horrifying scenario with the enthusiasm of a kid going to an amusement park?

She decided that there was no way she had heard her right and that the best thing she could do was change the subject. “Pleasure to meet you, I go by Bunberry. Now let’s go.”

Bunberry walked Coffin Flower towards the arena. She seemed to ooh and ahhh at all the training equipment and the very large training area. Bunberry felt annoyed but remembered the time she herself had felt the same. Those thoughts started to bring her down memory lane so she shelved them for later.

“Okay, how much do you know so far?”

“Literally nothing.” The girl was rather direct.

“Okay, then we’ll start with the basics. Though now I’m wondering if Dragon showed Cherry this part. He usually jumps straight into the action. Oh well, I’ll address it with him later. Close your eyes and envision your Night Crystal,” Bunberry instructed. “If you don’t know what I mean, then think of that dark crystal that Raftilia put inside your body. Focus on it. It’s a bit impossible to describe what’s going to happen after you do, but just go with it.”

Bunberry watched with amusement as the girl closed her eyes and stood still. Meeting your Night Crystal was always a bit surreal. Bunberry remembered her own words she’d said to her own Night Crystal, and grew embarrassed. It was best that she was saying this all internally, the kind of things that the Night Crystal shows you is an experience that can’t very easily be explained.

“Hey, Miss Bunberry, can you hear me?” Coffin Flower’s voice echoed in Bunberry’s mind.

“Figured out how to use the calling function, I see. Good, I like a fast learner. Also, don’t call me Miss, it’s weird.”

“Oh, would you prefer Mistress?”

“The fuck…? No. Hell no, please never call me that.”

“Okay.” Her mental voice was far too jovial. Bunberry shivered at the thoughts going through this girl’s head. “Anyway that nice Crystal taught me how to do it. It’s so kind.”

“Yeah, it does that, as long as you are good to it.” Bunberry was reminded of someone from her past, someone who had to be taught how to use the Night Crystal properly. He didn’t really appreciate it as others did.

“Yeah, I gave her—Him? It?—a hug and then it showed me how to do it. It, like, gave me this mental image and everything. Isn’t that cool?”

“Yeah, it’s definitely an interesting experience. I still can’t help but feel like a proud mother when talking to mine.”

“M-Mother?!”

“Well, it is essentially born from us, so naturally that’s probably the reason it loves us so much.” It was an unusual function of the Night Crystal, but it most definitely was at least partially sentient. It was an overwhelming experience at times, the amount of love it felt for you was immeasurable. “Anyway, I’m ending the connection.”

Bunberry severed the connection. Then watched as the girl took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

“Wow… that was… you weren’t kidding, it was indescribable.”

“Told ya. Anyway, now that’s over, let’s move on. Time for the boring part of training.”

“Okay, I’m all ears.”

Thankfully the odd girl was curious. Some Umbras were impatient to get into swinging their weapons. “Every Umbra Girl has something called a Diversion Field. The Diversion Field makes everyone that is affected by it see you as only a normal non-descript girl. They will ignore you and pretend as if you are unimportant. It doesn’t work on Luminescent the same way though, but we’ll get to that later. Also, as long as you have Night Energy to spare then it will remain active. If you use up too much Night Energy, your transformation will fall and you will lose your Diversion Field. That’s highly frowned upon, just letting you know. Raftilia might punish you if you do that.”

“P-Punish me? Really? Like how? Will she make me her servant and force me to wear a maid outfit and clean for her?” She had a dreamy look in her eyes

Bunberry was beginning to sense the pattern of the girl's odd reactions, but she still couldn't make sense of them. “Just don’t make her mad, it’s a bad idea. It’s not… whatever the hell you think it is.”

“If you say so,” Coffin Flower said glumly. But her eagerness returned a moment later. “Anyway, what is Night Energy?”

“Night Energy is the lifeblood of an Umbra Girl, it allows you to transform, use your special magick attacks, it keeps up your Diversion Field, and it keeps you alive. If your Night Energy ever fully drains, your Night Crystal explodes and essentially turns you into an atomic bomb.”

“The fuck?! How do I keep it from doing that?”

“You do good deeds, and also kill Luminescent. It’s the two most effective ways. Well, most of the time.”

“God, that’s terrifying. I’d be okay if it, like, drained my lifeforce and turned me into a human doll, but exploding? That’s definitely not desirable.”

How was that scenario any more desirable? No, Bunberry decided, she was not going to contemplate that now. Just keep going with the lesson “Oookay, next section. The Luminescent, you need to know the types.”

“Th-there’s more than one?” At least Coffin Flower seemed to be easy to distract from…whatever was going through her head.

“Yes, four in total.”

“Four?!” She was clearly taken aback. It always seemed to shock newcomers once they found out the truth of how diverse the Luminescent were. Also how much more complicated and deadly they could be.

“First is the Grunts. They are the ones that act like rabid animals. Though do not underestimate them, they can think on the fly and will look for a weakness in your defenses. Then is the Generals, the ones who are capable of that weird gurgling speech thing they do. They are smarter than the Grunts, and if found in a large quantity they are likely accompanied by a Royal. Royals are something you should never mess with. If you see one, you need to get the hell out of there immediately. They are fully capable of human form and are capable of normal speech. It’s a running theory that they absorb the memories of the people they purify and use that to mimic human speech. It’s near impossible to tell one from a normal human, but there is one way. If they talk to you, they are a Royal. Grunts and Generals can see your Diversion Field if you get close, but if you stay away it’ll fool them just like any other person. Royals, unfortunately, are immune to your Diversion Field. If a human talks to you, and your Diversion Field is up, get the fuck away from them and call for help immediately. Absolutely do not engage, you will be purified.

“Okay… and the fourth?”

“The Fourth is the Glimmering Queen herself, legend has it that only the first Umbra Girl ever saw her, and her abilities are unknown. If you somehow see her, then you must contact us immediately. If you live to tell about it.”

Coffin Flower swallowed. “Okay… that’s a lot to take in. Is there anything else?”

“Yeah, we’re getting to the more active part now. Summon your weapon.”

“Summon my what?”

“Your weapon. Just, uhh, like before, close your eyes and concentrate on it. It should appear to you, and tell you how to summon it.”

“Oh, right, okay.” She closed her eyes and suddenly four black coffin flowers shimmered onto her back. She twisted around to look at them. “Oh wow, they’re so cute. I wonder what they do.”

“That’s what we’re here to find out. Hmm, I won’t be able to train you much like this, but I can do one thing.” Bunberry wasn’t a fan of using this, but it was quite helpful when it was necessary. She walked over towards the training arena, and looked for a certain spot on the wall. Once she found it, she pressed into it and a panel came outwards. It had a big, red, cartoonish button. She pressed it then the entire Arena began to shift. The ground opened up and brought forth training dolls in the shape of the Luminescent. They also glowed a bit thanks to some LED’s.

“Oh, wow, it’s so pretty. So… what now?”

Bunberry facepalmed. “You attack them, practice using your weapon and your abilities. We need to drain your magick so you transform back. Then the real training can begin. For now, though, just attack the dummies.”

“Oh, okay.” She concentrated and suddenly bolts of light fired from the four floating coffin flowers. It seemed they were like hovering machine gun turrets. The training dummies took heavy hits, but then mysteriously healed the damage. Despite this, Coffin Flower seemed impressed by her own attacks. “Woah…”

Bunberry smiled. “Good, now try other things. See if you can move them individually, to attack multiple targets.”

Coffin Flower nodded, then attempted to do so. The turrets unfortunately seemed to only be able to focus on a single target. “I don’t think that’ll work.”

“Hmm, not like Amethyst then. That’s unfortunate, but still seems quite strong,” Bunberry mumbled to herself. “It’s fine, now, use your magick on them.”

“My magick?”

“Just close your eyes, and look for the words deep inside you.”

She closed her eyes but for a moment, then shot them wide open as her orbital spheres began to glow. “Coffin Wraith Beam!” The moment the words left her lips, her coffin flower turrets flew high into the air above the stadium, then like Voltron combined together into one large orb. In a matter of milliseconds the end of it began to glow and it fired a gigantic laser. It crashed into one of the training dummies and erupted into an explosion, devastating a handful of the puppets.“Oh wow! I did that? That was so cool! Can I do it again?”

Bunberry immediately held her arms outward. “No! You are too new, your Night Energy reserves are still too small. You can only perform that once, so make sure to make it count. Nice magick, by the way. It kicked ass.”

Coffin Flower smiled slyly. “So if I use it again, will the pink dog, or—err—the boss punish me?” She shivered with excitement.

Bunberry looked at her in horror. “No, you’ll drain your Night Crystal, and eventually explode with the force of an atomic bomb.”

“O-Oh, right, the atomic bomb thing. So that’s how it happens? If I use my magick twice?”

“That’s one way, but as I said before you can just incur it naturally, too, if you don’t replenish your Night Energy. You have to kill Luminescent, or do good deeds, or else...” She didn’t want to mention the third method as this girl might misunderstand and get herself hurt or worse.

“Okay, is there anything else? Wait… why do I feel so empty.”

“That’s your excess Night Energy leaving you. When you first transform you get a special pocket of Night Energy. Once that leaves, then you will be in danger of exploding. Think of it like training wheels on a bicycle. You get your first day of training wheels, then you have to ride your bike without them.”

“Wow, that makes a lot of sense, actually. You’re a pretty good teacher, Miss Bunberry.”

Bunberry blushed at the compliment. Was she really? Could she really be a teacher to these two? She didn’t really have much choice, at the moment. She couldn’t really fight Luminescent like this. Well, not without that anyway.

The girl yawned. Then swayed dangerously, nearly falling to the floor as the transformation faded. “That really takes a lot out of you.”

“Yeah, it does. Let’s get you to the infirmary. Cherry’ll be there. You need to meet your other teammate, after all.”

Coffin Flower seemed to perk up at the news. “Then let’s go there immediately!”

“Okay, just don’t go too fast, this cane is a pain in the ass.” Bunberry winced.

“Oh, sorry. Okay, I got an idea then.” She leaned up against Bunberry and Bunberry turned to her bewildered. “I’ll let you lean on me so you can walk easier. I’m still a bit tired, and feel a bit sore, but I can still help.”

“Oh, umm, thank you.” Bunberry had never had someone offer this before. She was quite confused, but also a little happy. Was it really possible to make friends like she had before? She wasn’t sure, so instead she decided to focus on the task at hand. “Well, let’s get going then.”

Coffin Flower helped Bunberry out of the Arena and down the hall. She seemed very focused on the task at hand, and didn’t make any more of her comments. Though even with her weird behavior she was quite kind. Bunberry knew she’d have to be careful not to judge this girl too harshly. She might say some off-putting things but there wasn’t actually anything wrong with her. She was a curious case.

After making it to the outside of the infirmary, they walked in on Cherry and Dragon making conversation. Bunberry gave a gruff ‘ahem’ and interrupted them. They turned to her and Coffin Flower.

“Cherry, good to see you. Cherry, this is Coffin Flower. Coffin Flower, this is Cherry,” Bunberry said, pointing to Cherry, then she waved to Dragon. “Also, Coffin Flower, this is Dragon. Dragon, this is Coffin Flower.”

“Nice to meet you, Coffin Flower. I’m Cherry Sparkles.” Cherry said politely and held out his hand in a feminine manner for her to shake. Coffin Flower walked over and gently took his hand in hers.

“Awww, you’re so polite and precious! Wow, you’re so young too. Are you an actual child or a transformed adult like me?”

“I was originally thirteen, almost fourteen. My birthday is in a few days. Now I’m, like, eleven, almost twelve, though.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I was twenty-five. I hope that’s not too off-putting.”

“Kid, I was in my forties before I joined this mess.” Dragon said and Coffin flower blinked twice.

“F-Forties? Wow, that must be a huge change. Also, love the tomboy look you got going on.”

Dragon’s demeanor changed. “Look, there’s something you need to understand about this place. Not everyone here is a woman or a girl. I’m a man. Call me a guy, or else.”

Bunberry immediately looked to Coffin Flower in horror, was she going to say anything?

“Normally I’d ask ‘or else what’, but... I’d never misgender someone, not even for a punishment. Though… why would you become an Umbra Girl then? Or, err, Umbra Boy in your case?”

“I was tricked, and wanted revenge. My daughter and wife were purified by a Royal. I’m did it so I can have the power to eventually bash his fucking skull in.” Dragon said, then did a double take. “Wait, did you say not even for a punishment?”

“I see. Wait, did you say the opposite of me?” Uncharacteristically, she seemed to ignore his last sentence. Bunberry noticed that she seemed genuinely concerned for the first time.

“Yeah, I’m a trans guy.” Dragon shrugged.

With that Coffin Flower’s face fell. “T-Trans guy? Why would she do this to a trans guy?” Her demeanor had taken on a dark turn. She looked unsure and uncomfortable. “Hopefully you weren’t needing to transition, right?”

“Eh, she detransitioned the hell out of me. Sucked losing those years of hormones and surgery but this power is worth it for now. At least, that’s what I tell myself anyway. I can endure this suffering for the sake of my revenge.” Dragon clenched his fists tightly.

“It’s okay, though, Mister Dragon is really nice and a kind man. He’s kinda scary sometimes, but he really means well!” Cherry said.

“Yeah yeah, Cherry, you’re going to make my face red. Stooop.” Dragon was too late, he had already blushed.

Coffin Flower remained unmoved. She looked deep in thought, horror in her eyes.

“Great, we traumatized her,” Bunberry sighed. “Anyway, Dragon, are you feeling better? Coffin Flower has exhausted her excess Night Energy. She will need to rest a bit.”

“Yeah, I can do it. Here, kid, lean on me. I’ll get you into bed.” Dragon said. Coffin Flower, however, refused to look him in the eye. Not like she hated him, but more as if she had wronged him in some way. Regardless, he picked her up with ease and helped her onto a bed, then got back into his own. “Damn that stupid quick portal. Should be okay tomorrow, at least.”

“It’s good to see you again, Bunberry. Dragon was teaching me girly stuff. Was my handshake good?” Cherry asked, and Dragon nodded.

Bunberry was confused. “Girly stuff? Why was he doing that?”

“I… umm, decided I want to try out being a girl. Not because of my body or anything but just because I never really knew what my gender was. I don’t know if I’m a boy or a girl or something else. I’m confused so I want to test stuff.”

“I see. Okay, I guess I’ll try to call you that.” Inwardly Bunberry’s mind was a mess, despite her confident tone. Was Cherry really just a replacement for her dead sister? She shook her head to get rid of the intrusive thoughts. Right now she needed to be supportive to Cherry, no matter what he—no, she said she was.

“Dragon told me his life story too. It was really sad.”

Bunberry was taken aback. “You told her your story?!”

“Yeah, kid really was confused about her gender and asked me how I knew mine so I told her. Kinda hard to explain it without, ya know.”

“I see, that makes sense.” Bunberry gave a deep sigh, she wondered if she should do the same. One part of her didn’t want to, the other part wanted to tell everything. Both sides of her bit at each other like ravenous wolves. It felt like ages of war in her head, but was only a matter of seconds in real time when a victor was finally crowned. “Since you’re going to be here another night, Cherry, maybe I should give my own. I am going to be your instructor and it might give you some insight into what goes on here.”

“Really?! You’ll tell me your story.” Cherry’s demeanor changed to an excited little girl. The side of Bunberry that won smiled.

Coffin Flower was roused from her stupor and turned over towards them. “Story? Did someone say story?”

“Bunberry, you sure about this? It might not be a good idea for a kid to hear about that,” Dragon warned.

“Maybe hearing the whole story will help them understand just how dangerous this all is.”

“Okay, go on, I’ll keep quiet.” Dragon said, and was silent.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you both but just let me explain it, don’t interrupt at all. Got it?”

“Don’t worry, I’m a good listener.” Coffin Flower said.

“Me too! I’m so excited, I can’t wait to hear how you became so cool!” Cherry said excitedly.

Bunberry’s face turned sad at her words. “Well, then I guess we better start at the beginning. It started in a small human settlement in California…”