Renascence: A Homura Quest

There is a light shining in the distance.

Ruki braces her feet, her Wrench held before her in both hands like a sword. It gleams in the bloodstained moonlight, and your soul sings, demanding you rise and battle. Your student is your defender, and she will surely die if you do not intervene.

There is a light shining in the distance.

Nanoha, your one-time idol, is too far away still to protect Ruki. She is also not the invincible hero you had hoped for. The needle wound is still there, a gaping hole near her collar. Though she still stands, you know she cannot bear the weight of your duty for you.

There is a light shining in the distance.

Your Soul Gem is approaching saturation. You can cleanse, and you will, but you do not know if it will matter. The abomination seems immortal--even as you turn your head to regard it in the distance, you can see its ravaged parody-flesh knitting back together, the unholy doll unwilling or unable to die.

There is a light shining in the distance.

You cannot do this on your own, but there is a light shining in the distance.. You turn towards the window, turn your shield, and hurl yourself into motion, your crimson blood soaking the still-grey earth in your passage. The window is not close, but you can reach it. You will surely reach it.

After what seems an eternity, imprisoned between these two moments, you reach the base of the building. The window gleams overhead in your sight, and you leap for the second story with all of your might and all of your magic.

You have no abdominal muscles, right now, but you do not allow that to stop you. What flesh cannot do, your soul will do without fail. The whirring of clocks fill your ears as the works of your ancestors spin through your blood and spirit, mechanisms unknown and mysterious to you revealing themselves to your mind as they shine forth into the world beyond, glowing gears and motors snapping into place around your legs to grant them the strength your body cannot.

You leap, no, you are thrown upwards by Magic and Clockwork, and suddenly you are crashing through the window.

Kyouko's room is exactly as it always has been. Neatly kept, carefully loved, and sorely lacking in any mark of her current self--in this room, she still keeps what remains of the girl who once lived with a hero's heart. You remember the days when she walked again, but those days are not today.

Those days are here again.

The light is shining above her bed. The beautiful, ornate cross that she had once given you, and which had vanished from your possession upon arriving in this loop. It is here, you are here, and she is here.

You reach out with a heart full of love and desperation, dreaming of a hero you once knew, of a beautiful girl who had finally remembered her own heart.

You grasp it, and she is standing there beside you, smiling softly.

"Hey, Homura. I told you we were still watching, didn't I? Well, the time for watching is over. Today, we get to be a hero again."

She offers you her hand, and you ignore it, rushing towards her as tears burst from your eyes, feeling all too much like that girl you once were, so long, long ago.

As you wrap your arms around her and hug her close, she returns the embrace with gentle words, "Don't worry, Homura. You don't have to carry the world alone, now. Just...leave this one to me."

You nod.

Magic burns the world around you, a warming flame that sears painlessly across your flesh. Pale, weak limbs vanish under those flames, replaced by the fruits of years of battle. The quiet ticking of clocks in the back of your mind goes silent, and you hear choir-song fill the air.
Whirrr. Click. Name. Click. Kyouko. Click.
The fallen walls have faded from sight. Homura has finally offered her hand, and you will catch her. Witch though you might become, Heretic though you are, you know God is with you today.

You leap from the window, crimson magic engulfing your body and filling the air with overwhelming heat, and streak down towards the Demon below. Homura's student's putting up a good fight, but she's nowhere near ready for this sorta fight.

You thrust out your spear, and a burst of crimson Fury pierces the Demon through the chest. It reels away, staring at you in what you think might be shock as it screams at you in German, "LIAR! LIAR!"

It twists to thrust the needle at you, and you knock it aside with a flick of your wrist before kicking it back across the battlefield.

"Who are you? Where's Homura-senpai!?" The girl, Ruki, asks from behind you.

Keeping an ear out for the Demon's movements, you smile, popping a stick of pocky into your mouth, and glance over your shoulder at her, "I'm Kyouko Sakura, Homura's too beat up for this, so I'm gonna clean house. You stay safe and watch closely. Might learn a thing or two."

Turning back to the Demon-doll, lying on the ground as it is, you call out, "So, you gonna get up, or should I just kill you while you're down?"

The doll jerks upwards at the waist, then lurches upwards back onto its feet, a tomato in one hand and a needle in the other.

You brace yourself, and prepare for battle.



















Calendar





[H] Protect Ruki and Slay the Demon
-[ ] Engage it in melee. It's got some kinda weird Time Stop variant, but it seems to be time limited, and you're the better fighter.
-[ ] Swarm it with spears. Homura's guns seemed to work, but you're pretty sure you can do more damage if you conjure and enchant some spears.
-[ ] Write-In.

[QM Note: None of the red text in this post is a Red Truth.]