Voices From Beyond: A Skullgirls Quest

[Small Nerd]

What time is it? Where am I?

Dark, dark, dark, that's what this place is. Quiet too. Well, it would be if someone didn't keep yammering at me. This lady whose head I'm stuck to is crazy. I'd be too if I got revived out of nowhere. No, wait, I was revived out of nowhere too. That's the trouble with this state I'm in, I can't keep track of time properly. And I've got an awful itch I can't scratch, right where our heads are joined. It's driving me crazy. I guess I'm the right partner for this "Fukua" woman after all. Just a pair of crazy people, heads squished together but still not truly united in any way that matters. It'd be poetic if I wasn't living it. Oh, a noise. Shrill, but that's all I can say. And the darkness is lightening. Maybe we're being let out of our prison?

Metal, metal everywhere, and a few people standing over us. Fukua fell on a floor, I suppose. She fell forward, though, so I can see them. A couple of women, a man, and a mountain of muscle. They all seem surprised to see me and my "partner." Maybe they're breaking us out. I should probably thank them, Fukua's yapping was getting to me, and she's actually shut up for once because of these people.

"Thanks for letting us out," I say. "My friend here was getting antsy. It's lucky I don't have ears or she'd have talked them off a long time ago."

"You're... welcome?" The man says. He seems nervous. Which is fair, we must make a pretty bad sight.

"What are your names?" One of the women asks, one with red hair and a face that screams "Do what I say or you'll regret it."

"I'm Fukua," the lady in question says as she stands up, finally remembering how to speak. "And the Parasite on my head is Shamone. Who are you?"

"I am Princess Parasoul of the Canopy Kingdom," the redhead says. "These three are part of my... retinue, the Black Egrets. We have been investigating the man who summoned your spirits from the afterlife for unrelated crimes and learned about you. Do you wish to be returned to rest? If not, I will do whatever is in my power to help the two of you make lives for yourselves in the current day."

"Current day?" Fukua asks. "How long have we been dead?"

Parasoul pauses. I can't see her face now, but I imagine she looks unhappy about what she's got to say.

"We don't know for certain," she says. "But it seems to have been several centuries since the two of you died. Possibly even millennia. I'm honestly surprised we can understand each other."

"What?" Fukua says. Or I do. Maybe both of us. Centuries after our death? That- How- What do we do? All either of us knows now is... each other.

Huh.

"As I said before, if the two of you wish to continue living, I will do whatever I can to help you both get adjusted to this time," Parasoul tells us. "And as the princess of one of the most powerful countries in the world, 'what I can do' is very broad."

"And the fact that both of us were famous warriors in our time has nothing to do with your generosity, I'm sure," I say. Whatever this new age is like, the people in it probably haven't changed much from the ones I knew before. Royalty loves having pet warriors, the stronger the better.

"I would be lying if I said that wasn't a factor," Parasoul admits. "But I do also think it's only right that I offer my aid to you. The man who revived you was supposed to be working for my government. I failed to make sure he wouldn't commit an outrage like necromancy of the unwilling, so I need to make amends."

Well, that's interesting. A royal project that had the resources to revive two spirits and smush them together? There can't be many problems they'd do that for. As a matter of fact, the only thing I could think of that would demand the resources for necromancy and decide to revive a pair of warriors with complementary skills would be...

"You need someone to fight the Skullgirl," Fukua says. Quick on the uptake, she is. That's my partner!

"We always do," Parasoul says. "But we're not so desperate that we need to stoop to necromancy. If you want to return to your rest, we'll do that for you."

"Well, I can't speak for my other half," I say. "But I'm not opposed to going up against a new Skullgirl. Though seeing as how I'm a Parasite, I know that'd be tricky without a host. If Fukua wants to go back to the big sleep, I'll go too. I won't keep her from it."

"Thanks, Shamone," Fukua says. "But I think I'll stay alive for now. I haven't felt this good in a long time. If we have to fight a Skullgirl, well, I think the two of us can manage."

"All right, then, partner," I say. "Let's see what the new times are like, and then..."

Fukua and I speak as one.

"Let's go hunting."

A/N: Fukua and Shamone don't have very defined personalities, at least nothing that can be taken entirely seriously. I'm doing my best to give them personalities that fit what we can see of them in-game, but half of Fukua's stuff is a rip-off of what Filia's got, and Shamone doesn't even have any lines except for stuff recycled from Samson, so I'm very much winging it. Also, if any of you all have ideas for how Fukua and Shamone could look in this quest (since Brain Drain doesn't have any reason to clone Filia specifically), feel free to offer them. I've deliberately left their appearance vague (aside from Shamone being on Fukua's head) because I don't have any firm ideas for it myself. And don't worry about when you might run into them, they need a while to catch up with the modern age first.

 

[Small Nerd]

Spoiler: Winning Vote

[X] Words then a small timeskip.
-[X] (Voice 3) No problem Marie. We'll get started on the communication part from our end, so that we should be ready to go as soon as the Avery Unit is installed. You should also talk to Squigily about Double, after all it was Double who gave her mother the Skull Heart, and told the Medici's that she had it at the same time, you know, just to get them to cause another Skullgirl.
-[X] (Voice 4) Also, just letting you know, Double was definitely here, she lost your trail when you put on the clothing, pretty sure she left now, but it doesn't hurt to check yeah? Either way, she's probably off on a wild goose chase looking for a new Skullgirl, or more accuratly the Skull Heart with which to make one.
-[X] (Voice 7) Well partner, I hope you had a good rest and a celebratory YEHAAA! Frome us on making Double lose sight of you and retreat. I think you should talk to Squigly and war her that Double was here but retreaded when she couldn't detect you.
-[X] (Voice 8) "Ah'm thinkin' we sha'd probably staht traini' wit' our abilities. Bettah ta know how ta use 'em and not need 'em; then need 'em, an' have no clue 'ow ta use 'em."
-[X] Timeskip to Squigily finding out about Double or meeting Patricia.

May 26th, late in the morning, somewhere in Anti-Skullgirl Lab 8

There are moments when it's easy for Squigly to forget that Marie is anything but a normal girl, but right now, it feels impossible.

"So let me get this straight," she says. "You've been trying to get away from the shapeshifter behind the Skull Heart - man, it's weird to think the Skull Heart has a boss -, and you think you've managed it because..."

"The voices in my head told me she was in the Lab but left once I was able to hide from her," Marie says, nodding.

"Right," Squigly says. "And these voices in your head also told you that she gave my mother the Skull Heart and set things up for the Medici to attack us and make another Skullgirl."

"They did," Marie agrees. "I don't know how Myriad can know these things, but they do. I wouldn't have known how to help you if they hadn't said anything."

"And that's the only reason I'm willing to believe your words," Leviathan chimes in. "Life Gems aren't common things. I wouldn't expect you to have heard of them outside of a few very specific circumstances. Ghostly voices from... elsewhere would be one of them."

"Wait, does that mean you've known people who could hear voices like Marie's before?" Squigly asks. Marie perks up at the question.

Leviathan nods and says, "It's never been very common, but when you live as long as I have, you see many strange things. The last person I encountered who could hear ghostly voices that weren't delusions... that was a long time ago. I don't even remember their name anymore."

He looks sad at that last part. Squigly can't imagine what it must be like to live so long you can't remember all the friends you've made. She wishes there was something she could do to help him, but she'll have to think about it later.

"I'm glad I'm not crazy," Marie says. "I'm not sure where the abilities I've gotten from Myriad would have come from if I was crazy."

"Wouldn't any special powers you have be from being a Skullgirl?" Squigly asks. It seems like the obvious answer.

"I don't think being a Skullgirl would make me able to do this," Marie says. Then, something about Marie shifts, and she says, "Hey, Squigly, Leviathan, long time no see. You two look better than the last time we met."

Squigly knows it's Marie she's looking at, but even so, for just a moment, she forgets that fact. Nothing about Marie looks any different from her usual Skullgirl-y appearance, but her posture, the look on her face, the rhythm of her words, the gestures she makes... all those things and more add up to give the impression that this isn't her new friend Marie, this is an old friend she hasn't seen in ages. It's...

"That's really cool!" Squigly tells Marie. She smiles at that and seems a bit relieved. But why would Marie be worried? That kind of acting is something Squigly's always respected. You don't do very much of it in opera, but she knows it's hard.

"Still," Leviathan says. "Cool as it may be, acting convincingly is indeed not something you should be able to do simply because you became a Skullgirl. I'd say your voices were using your dreams to teach you, but Skullgirls don't sleep. This is very strange."

"Another thing that's strange is why you're telling me all this," Squigly adds. "I don't think you're lying, and with what Leviathan said I don't think you're crazy, but... knowing all this doesn't help me with anything. Whether it was bad luck or some monster's plan that got my mother to become a Skullgirl, she's dead now, and I helped kill her. That's the important thing. It's good to know that there is that monster out there, but I don't know what I can do with that fact."

"You can watch out for her," Leviathan says. "If she ever figures out Marie is hiding rather than dead, she might very well come here and seek out her 'property.' If that happens before we can get the Skull Heart out of Marie safely, we'll have to fight."

"I mostly wanted to warn you in case you saw someone acting suspiciously," Marie says. "Though if you see Annie with her companion Sagan, that's probably the real thing, even if she does act oddly. As far as I know, Double doesn't seem to split herself into pieces, so she only impersonates a single person at a time."

"That's good to know," Squigly says. "Thanks."

Before anyone can say more, Squigly's stomach growls. Loudly.

"I guess I know what I'm doing next," Squigly says sheepishly. "How about you come with, Marie? We can talk about something that isn't..."

Squigly moves her hands around in a vague way, trying to think of something better to say than "everything you just told me." Luckily, it seems her meaning gets across anyway.

"Sharing a meal with a friend?" Marie says with a smile. "I'd like that."

A/N: If you all want to say something to Marie now, feel free. If you want to time skip some more, feel free to do that too. As for Squigly not knowing about Double already, at the end of Squigly's story mode the two meet and Squigly has no clue who Double is before the blob reveals that she arranged for Selene to become a Skullgirl. Leviathan doesn't chime in with information like he does for when Squigly meets Filia and Samson, but in that specific sitaution he could've just not had time to, so I'm not sure if he already knew about Double or not. I'm going to leave it ambiguous for the time being, and if I find anything that confirms what he does or doesn't canonically know about Double, then that'll decide what Leviathan knows in the quest too.