Since Ishwada seemed extremely confident that it was the Cryptid after looking at data produced by the scientists at NexGen, he grabbed Pitch and the two headed off to take on the creature causing the problems. Once in the Humvee traveling in a caravan of armed Black Eagle personnel, the group discussed their mission. “Yuki-onna can be tricky because of their mastery over cold, ice, and snow. However, our suits are weatherized for things like this.” Pitch grumbled. “I'm guessing you assumed that I can handle extreme cold since I wasn't given a suit. I actually never tested if extreme cold bothered me.”
One of the other men spoke, ignoring Pitch. “I just hope nothing happens after we capture it. The two previous transport trucks were hit.” Pitch's head swung so hard that it might've given him whiplash if he were human. “Excuse me but what? Did you just say both transportation trucks were hit? By what, and why wasn't I told.” Ishwada sighed. “I didn't want to stress you out more than you already were. Reports indicated that both were hit by an unknown Cryptid. The first one was reported to have a dog-like body and the second was said to have flown.”
Pitch growled for a moment before speaking. “Vance. I'm not sure how but he's been stalking us, letting us do all the work, then hitting the trucks when we're done.” Ishwada nodded. “Maybe he managed to get his hands on one of our helmets and is listening to our radios. We may have to start using code to avoid future issues. Anyway, the Yuki-onna has set up shop at the edge town. It set up shop in the Brier Lake area.” Pitch went through his mental map of the city, knowing it like the back of his hand. “There is a park on one side and log cabins used by hunters on the other. The next closest landmark of note is Bedlam Asylum.”
Ishwada looked at Pitch. “Is there any significance to that?” Pitch shrugged. “Possibly. If you've heard the rumors you'd have probably sent men to investigate. If any place in this city had a Cryptid living there it's Bedlam Asylum. The place is allegedly a relic filled with outdated equipment from the fifties. We're talking black and white horror movie Asylum. Electroshock therapy, lobotomy… all illegal today but that doesn't stop the rumors. Also the place is said to be haunted. You know, the usual local stuff that you'd find anyplace with an Asylum that uses a building that old.”
Ishwada chuckled. “Well we haven't gotten a call but that doesn't mean there's no activity there, just that nothing that's happened has stood out enough for someone to call someone about it. If nothing strange is being reported then we simply won't hear about it.” Pitch nodded. “Brier Lake may not exactly be a mountain, but as far as places in the city it's the closest to the natural habitat of the Yuki-onna. Relatively isolated, only buildings are log cabins, and it's mostly woodland besides the cabins.” Ishwada nodded once more. “It's a solid spot for us as well as the chances of being seen or collateral damage is low.”
The group pulls into the lake park area, driving into what looks like a blizzard. The entire area already looked like a winter wonderland with the lake fully frozen over. Pitch lets out a whistle. “Damn, maybe I should have brought my thermals.” Ishwada couldn't help but ask: “Do you have body heat?” Pitch shrugged. “I can produce heat to mimic natural body heat but I don't do so unless I'm actively worried about someone touching me long enough to realize I'm room temperature, just like the average I.Q. of one of your soldiers.”
One of the soldiers immediately responded. “You know we can hear you, right? We're not deft.” Pitch quickly retorted: “After the Banshee fight, some of you might be.” Ishwada opened his door letting a blast of cold air in. “Let's spread out into teams of two checking cabins. If you find the target, call for backup and do not engage unless it engages you. James, you're with me.” Pitch grumbled as he got out the Humvee. “Everyone at Black Eagle knows I'm a Cryptid, I'm pretty sure you don't have to keep using my old name.” Ishwada nodded. “Yeah, but then they'd ask questions and you might end up having to show them your true form and who knows how they'll react to that.”
Pitch followed Ishwada to a cabin, seemingly unbothered by the cold. “You know there's one minor detail that's been bugging me about this case, you know besides the location.” Ishwada checked the door, finding it to be unlocked, and checking inside. No lights, no sign anyone has been inside in a while. “Yeah? What's that?” Pitch checked inside a window not far from the door. “Well in the stories I'm familiar with, the Yuki-onna isn't actually hostile. Its abilities are something they deal with and oftentimes rescue hikers who are about to die.”
Ishwada hummed before closing the door of the cabin. “This one's clear. As for the stories, I've never encountered a Yuki-onna personally. I'm familiar with the stories myself and they seem mixed. Some stories have them rescue people, but in others they show up before you die so they can relish in your last moments as the cold takes you.” Pitch hummed as the two started making their way to the next cabin. The snow continued to grow more intense making it difficult to see one's own outstretched hand. Ishwada found the second cabin locked so they checked the windows. Occupied by humans. Likely out hunting.
The two tried to go to a third cabin but that quickly became nearly impossible as Pitch lost track of Ishwada. He tried shouting for him but the wind cut down his voice. “Jiryu! Jiryu!” Pitch quickly found himself disorientated and lost, his walking slowing as it got harder to focus. “I guess cold does affect me.” Eventually, Pitch's vision got blurry and he collapsed on the ground. He was awoken to a small beeping noise and the feeling of a warm wet cloth on his forehead. He smiled weakly and chuckled. “Kinda pathetic, huh? I'm immune to poisons and illnesses, have taken on some of the scariest Cryptids… and what does me in? A fucking blizzard. I was born in this state, you'd think I could handle some cold, especially considering my condition.”
Pitch then hears some distant cursing in Japanese causing Pitch to laugh. “It's not that bad, I'm sure you can handle things just fine without me. Especially considering you got that fancy sword now. Hehe. Raitoburingā~ You know, it's kinda fun to say.” Pitch heard a small jump from the distance followed by a voice speaking Japanese. “Raitoburingā?” It is at this point Pitch realizes the voice was female and becomes extremely worried.
Pitch started to sit up and attempted to take the cloth off when a cold, pale, and somewhat frail looking hand pushed him back down into the bed. The voice said something in Japanese. “Damn it, I don't speak Japanese. I'm fine by the way, I'm not human. Uhh…” He gestured to himself. “Yokai.” He then gestured to the Yuki-onna. “Yokai.” The Cryptid gasped and backed away a bit allowing Pitch to get up and look at the Yuki-onna properly.
She was beautiful, with her snow white skin and hair, ice blue eyes, and a snow white kimono with sparkly ice blue snowflake designs. Her body looked somewhat sunken and frail like she's not been outside or seen the sun in ages. “You're…. Stunning. But… something is wrong. Are you sick? Uhh Byōki?” Pitch gestured to her trying his best to get through the language barrier.
The woman shook her head. Pitch wasn't sure how to continue the conversation so he simply got up with the Yuki-onna keeping her distance. “I'm not going to hurt you, as long as you don't try anything.” Pitch checked his pockets to find his phone was still there. The device turned on and Pitch looked at it for a moment before looking out the window. The snow was so bad that the window might as well have been a wall. He then called up Ishwada. The phone eventually picked up. Ishwada spoke over the sound of wind. “Pitch? What happened? I lost track of you hours ago.”
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Pitch looked around. “I passed out, I guess. I woke up in a cabin with the Yuki-onna caring for me. She can talk but unfortunately everything she says is Japanese. Any chance you can translate?” Ishwada shouted over the wind. “Give me a sec to find a better place to talk from.” Pitch listened to wind over the phone when eventually he heard a door shut and the wind stopped. “Alright, ready to translate.” Pitch nodded and swapped the phone to speaker mode and spoke. “Hello there, I go by Pitch Black. I'm a Cryptid like you. I have no intention of harming you.”
Ishwada translated what Pitch said, replacing Cryptid with Yokai. The Yuki-onna jumped slightly before speaking back with Ishwada translating. “She says her name is Shiro, she pulled you out of the snow when she saw you unconscious without the proper clothes on. She rescued you thinking you were just a human that got caught in the sudden snow storm.” Pitch hummed. “So what's the play here Jiryu? Wouldn't she be protected under the non-human citizen protection agreement?” Ishwada hummed. “Yeah, probably. That means our best bet here is to offer relocation.” Pitch nodded. “Okay, let's offer to move her somewhere safe then.”
Ishwada spoke in Japanese to Shiro, explaining that her capture was likely a mistake and that she should have been relocated somewhere where she was unlikely to accidently harm someone. She then responded back with Ishwada conveying her words. “She says that rescuing lost people in the snow is how she lives. I'm guessing she gains some amount of necessary sustenance from the interaction. So we can't put her somewhere no human would go. I'm sure I can figure out something. If not in America then perhaps return her to Japan.”
Ishwada then spoke back and forth with Shiro before speaking to Pitch again. “I think she's ready to be moved. I just need the cabin number.” Pitch opens the door to check the cabin number. “Thirteen. Cabin thirteen.” Ishwada lets Pitch know he's on his way. Pitch hangs up and sits on the bed, waiting. Shiro walked over to him and looked him over, getting a little too close. “Are you observing me now, trying to figure out what I am?” Pitch lifted his arm and Shiro curiously looked at it, touching it. Pitch then dissolved the mask over his arm showing his true self to Shiro who jumped back a bit.
“Kage?” She said in the tone of a question. “Not exactly.” Pitch responded. He then slowly reached out and touched her hand with his tendril. She moved her hand through it a few times. “Kage no suna?” Pitch chuckled. “Close enough.” Just then her face became less sunken and filled out. Shiro now looked healthier. Pitch was taken aback by this and when she looked in the mirror so was she. Shiro patted her face a few times in awe. After saying several other things in Japanese she looked at Pitch and said a word he recognized. “Raitoburingā.”
Pitch tilted his head, unsure of why she was using that word. Then there was a knock on the door. Cautiously Pitch checked it. It was Ishwada in normal winter gear. Pitch let him in and he introduced himself to Shiro who took several steps backwards pointing at his katana. “
Ishwada shook his head. “No, it's Akuma no hametsu or Demon's Bane. I'm not sure why Raitoburingā was my daughter's last words.” Shiro then started gesturing at Pitch. “Kage no suna. Raitoburingā no Kibó? Raitoburingā no Pandora.” Pitch looked a bit confused. “Did she just say Pandora? But that's a Greek myth.” Ishwada put his hand to his chin and started talking to Shiro. They talked back and forth before Ishwada started talking to Pitch again.
“Apparently there's a legend among some of the older Cryptids and Yokai. According to this legend the events of Pandora's Box actually happened. In the story we know, when Pandora opened the box it let loose all the evils of the world. Illness, fear, aging. According to her, this event led to the opening between worlds, allowing the physical embodiments of these things into our world.”
Pitch knitted his eyebrows. “But we dated that mural of the Umbrans back to the earliest days of man. Cryptids have been around since neanderthals still walked the earth.” Ishwada talked to Shiro who responded. “She says according to the legend there were people before that. That this is not the first time humans reached an advanced stage. But when Pandora's Box was opened the civilization was destroyed leaving only fragments and plaguing the more primitive cousins of this advanced people.”
Pitch hummed. “So what, we're talking about Atlantis here basically? So she's suggesting that Atlantians created Pandora's Box and it's responsible for Cryptids being able to enter our world. So what's that got to do with this Lightbringer?” Ishwada and Shiro exchanged a conversation for a moment. “Like with the story of Pandora's Box we know this one ends with them shutting it in time to “keep hope inside”. Some believe that one day a Lightbringer will appear and bring hope to the lands ending the nightmare these ancient people started. The legend ends with the line: Hope shines brightest in the absence of light.”
Pitch hummed. “So she thinks I'm this Lightbringer because I'm an Umbran that's actively trying to help? As much as I'd love to end the problems caused by Cryptids, what would that mean for all the ones that are non-hostile? I also have no idea how to prevent the interaction between our world and the other world. We only confirmed it existed a little over a month ago.” Ishwada shrugged. “I don't know. This also makes me question why my daughter used that as her last word. She wasn't a Cryptid and wouldn't know the legend.”
Pitch hummed. “Well she said it as she handed me the key to your sword so maybe it's a coincidence.” Ishwada shifted back and forth. “I did tell her the key was a totem of protection. So maybe she was trying to protect you? Though since she had been grabbed it was clear it didn't protect her.” Pitch looked at the sword on the table. “Let's say that somehow your daughter knew the alternative version of Pandora's Box that released monsters and needed the Lightbringer to close the connection. Maybe given the context the sword is a key?”
Ishwada knitted his eyebrows. “That's… an idea. The sword does seal away monsters but it's limited to five. I doubt it could seal off an entire world. Also would open up a lot of questions.” Pitch thought for a moment, shifting through his memories. “Well she did manage to slip away at first, there was something about her Abe was after. He targeted her and everyone else was a bonus. Maybe her mom's a Cryptid and just didn't tell you.”
Ishwada sat in a chair for a moment. “Okay, let's assume you're right for a moment. This would mean my daughter thought you either were the Lightbringer or would find them back when you were in first grade. Before you got attacked by Abe. She trusted you with the key to my sword thinking it's connected somehow… if we took this and the legend as a prophecy at face value then everything that's happened and is happening is all predetermined.”
Pitch did a so-so gesture. “Not exactly. I remember there always being a trick to prophecy when it came to Oracles. They would speak in vague terms or riddles that could be interpreted a number of ways to the point where odds are eventually something would happen to fit the bill. So it was more like them betting on patterns or people actively or unintentionally making it a self fulfilled prophecy. Also she could have thought the sword was the key and not me. She probably handed it to me because you knew my dad. Not because she thought I'd be this Lightbringer.”
Ishwada grumbled. “Well even if we took this at face value it's not doing us any good now. Let's table it and get Shiro here to migrate somewhere safer.” The two get ready and help guide Shiro to a Humvee where they sit her in the back explaining that they're moving her someplace safer where she won't unintentionally cause problems. Shiro accepted the move and simply remained silent during the trip. They drove to the local airport plus flight school that supported small personal craft and not commercial planes.
The three boarded the plane and flew Shiro to an airport near a mountain range and helped her up the mountain to an abandoned cabin up in the snowy areas at the top. “This should be perfect for you. No one's lived in this cabin for years and people hike this mountain regularly. You'd be surprised how many get lost here considering it's far from the tallest mountain in the world.” Shiro thanked the two as she settled in. Before Pitch and Ishwada left she offered a warning that she felt a negative energy from an area she passed on her way to the lake, indicating there may be some Cryptid activity in Bedlam like Pitch suspected. She blew into her hands creating an ice blue snowflake and giving it to Ishwada as a necklace as a thank you gift. Pitch and Ishwada then left her in her new home. She gave a final goodbye and some extra words to Ishwada before they left and the two took the long trip back to New Arkham.
“I kinda wish she would have been hostile, having ice powers for my sword would have been cool. Though I guess not every case can be a fight for our lives with a monster looking to kill us.” Pitch chuckled. “Well you've got three slots on the sword left so who knows what we'll encounter that'll give it cool new modes. Plus a cool new necklace. I on the other hand am glad this case went smoothly after all the difficult ones lately. I had two in a row that actually affected me. I got so used to the idea that I couldn't be touched outside a set small number of weaknesses that I got sloppy. A humble reminder that I am still mortal and still have human emotions. I should definitely be more careful from here on out.”
Once home Pitch took little time resting and booked a moving truck. He wasn't going to wait any longer. Kathryn and him would live in the same house together. His house would quickly feel more like a lived in home again with her presence being more regular and permanent. She already spent more time at his house then her own so it only felt natural for them to move to the next step.