In the Name of Love and Hatred! [PMMM / LoR]

Fight her!

Ai is not human, but she is human enough. A spike of adrenaline hits her system like an electric current. Time seems to slow as her vision narrows. Her jacket shifts unbidden while magic arcs through her limbs; the cloth pushes Izabel's Seed into her bound hand and a pale thumb rubs the black steel. The rifle aligns and its hammer falls. A bang sounds.

The shot never connects.

The girl that must be Mami Tomoe stares at the pink spell circle hovering in front of Ai's face. It appeared just in time to block the shot. Now surprise and confusion give Izabel enough time to react to the stimulus; a sleepy noise sounds, followed by space warping. Ai's expression stays dead as she expands the circle to catch a bullet aimed for center mass. Izabel's barrier catches the noise.

The ribbons grow tighter, biting into Ai's skin where they touch it. They fail to compress her suit further as she wills it to resist. Arcs of pink run down her limbs and explode outward, cutting the ribbons to scraps; her outfit returns to vest and skirt. Paint expands below them, forming earth and sky alike. A small blob of inky black wiggles out of Ai's palm; Izabel floats by her shoulder.

"Hide," Ai tells her friend while another shot slams into her shield. Mami observes them clinically, a new flintlock rifle already in hand. Cracks begin to form by now, but they seal up when Ai's staff reappears in her hand. Izabel glances between their narrow-eyed gazes and wisely dives backward. Mami's weapon snaps sideway, but a second circle covers Izabel's descent into the ground. It ripples where the Witch disappears.

Mami has no time to follow the black current. A pink beam flies right by her head, barely dodged; it fizzles out soon after. Ai leaps back and swings her scepter, a pink slash wave catching the next bullet. Mami deftly dodges to the side, then bends beneath another laser. Ribbons grow from her collar, each forming into a rifle. The blonde races forward while Ai retreats for distance, hounded by a staccato of firing and reforming muskets. Bullets hammer into the ground around her. Some shatter upon her outfit, too weak to penetrate. One grazes Ai's cheek as she barely leans away. She retaliates in kind, but Mami expertly weaves around the shower of light. Arcing shots are sidestepped and smaller orbs shot down before they reach.

Ai takes a swift turn to evade another barrage, only to come face to face with the landscape's edge. She tries to jump over it, only to slam face-first into the 'horizon'. It wobbles, but does not give. Bullets splinter the blue sky before her, revealing the canvas for what it is. Ai swings blindly, deflecting a shot to just tear a chunk out of her temple instead of splattering her brains. She whirls around with the momentum to face the closing magical girl. Mami keeps firing, the sheer number of bullets shattering a hasty shield. One hammers a hole into her arm.

Then Ai leaps at her and swings, only for the blonde to lean aside. Her foot lashes out and takes Ai in the chest. She is pushed back to the wall, a new musket already rising to her face. Just as it goes off she slams it aside with her staff, but Mami moves with her and pirouettes into another kick. This time her boot hits Ai's forehead, slamming her hard against the wall. Her vision grows blurry and red. A trickle of blood runs from her nostril. She ducks under the follow-up, pink light gathering in her palm. But a tug on her arm sends the beam astray, right past Mami's right ringlet.

More ribbons grow from the holes her bullets struck before. Mami's fist crashes into Ai's good wrist, breaking it. She drops her staff with a pained shriek, fixed in place. Her magic gathers, but it is too slow; another musket comes to bear, aimed straight between her eyes. All grows black before she even hears the bang.

When Ai comes to, she lies in a puddle of her own blood. The explosion seems to echo through her skull, now that it was put back together. A shadow looms over her, but looking up reveals not Mami. In fact, as Ai's faculties return she realises the 'echo' is not. Mami is fighting elsewhere. No, the one standing there, pressing down on her head, is the slender Michaela. Their black suit is stained red, a two-thumbed hand urgently pressing against Ai's lips. She stares up at them while their other hand finishes tearing off the ribbons holding her. Thin blue lines of run all over Ai's arms and legs, slowly fading. Her scepter lies discarded by her side.

She slowly gets to her feet, nodding thanks to the subordinate. Then she turns to the noise of battle. Mami is far distant, shooting at the ground.

With the adrenaline now out of Ai's system, probably somewhere in the blood soaking her outfit, she can think clearly again. As much as it rankles, she got defeated; Mami is a good shot and just as strong in close quarters, where Ai is weakest. Maybe if she knew about the wall ahead of time. If she did not know better, she would think this girl was trained by Roland.

A spray of ink finally clues Ai in to what Mami is doing. Her eyes widen as Izabel dashes away in her canvas, harried by explosions. She moves erratically, streamers of paint flying far too slow to ever connect. The other Michaelas are long gone, too.

She has to protect her friend.

Ai's staff snaps back into her hand. Mami may be more skilled, but right now she is distracted. She thinks she killed Ai. She is too far away to notice the magic building up, too focussed to see the pink glow. Not one spell circle appears before Ai, but seven. A large, central one with six more orbiting it. All her fear, anger, and apprehension flow into this spell on a torrent of pink power. It keeps growing brighter and brighter. Just a bit more....

That is when a lucky shot hits Izabel dead-on. She leaps from the canvas and is nailed by two more, popping like a wet balloon. Ai's heart breaks. A tear clouds her vision while the barrier begins to waver, but she wipes it off. She has not failed yet.

Mami only takes a single calming breath before noticing the light. Her head snaps around, eyes widening at the sight of Ai. Slendy stands by her side, hands folded behind their back. The blood-soaked magical girl grits her teeth, racing the barrier. "Wipe clean the slate and burn away the wicked!" she screams, staff rising atop her head.

In turn, Mami responds by leaping high. She can not dodge and knows it. Instead, a giant cannon forms in response, the girl hugging its handle. The distant "Tiro-" answers Ai's own shout. "-Finale!"

"Arcana Slave!"

Mami shoots first.

It does not matter.

The main beam roars against her cannonball while the rest race ahead; for but a moment, yellow and pink rage against each other. But this is where Ai excels, the full force of a magical girl made manifest. Arcana Slave dissolves Tiro Finale and keeps going, diminished but not dispersed. Six more beams scythe through the air, their sheer power making the barrier shudder like a living animal. It bucks and bends, breaking down where the light passes. Reality peeks through and reasserts itself. Mami leaps and weaves along her ribbons, dodging one, two, three beams. But the fourth catches her in the chest, another in the shoulder. The final two take her left leg clean off. Before they can all arc back around for a second strike, the barrier collapses and takes their remnants along.

A shower of blood stains the roof they first stood on. Mami's shocked expression firms up moments later; a ribbon whips forward to snatch Izabel's Seed, but another pink beam evaporates it. That girl hurt her friend enough. Ai leaps to snatch the Grief Seed, but no more attacks come. Mami grabs her leg and leaps away, ribbons forming a crude prosthetic.

Ai lands and is left alone, staring after the fleeing adversary. She could cast Arcana Slave again, finish her off... but no. Not only would people see, Ai does not think that badly yet. Even though Roland's experience with letting enemies live tells her otherwise. A misunderstanding started this. She may not like Mami much at this point, but the other girl is not evil.

But if she comes to fight again....

Cradling Izabel to her chest, she murmurs quietly. "Thank you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me." No response. A few absent flicks of magic remove the blood, but Ai's attention lies on the dormant Seed. It still stands on its singular spike, but the miasma within has receded into a glittering core.

Sirens break her reverie; Ai's quivering eyes stray to the roof's edge. Mami's gunshots were heard, most likely. The police is near, and so Ai teleports away, to the Shizuki residence.

Her arrival goes unnoticed at first; she appears in the guest room she frequents and crawls under the covers about as soon as she can take off her soaked clothes. Another flick of magic cleans them, too. Ai is always loopy after a death, but today she just wants to cry. Cuddling Izabel's Seed as best as she can, she drifts off. Her dreams are inky black and pink, accompanied by the Jester's giggles. They sound oddly feminine. Then a gentle light disperses them all, allowing her to fall into dreamless slumber.

She wakes to the sound of rustling. It has gone dark outside, but light shines from the hallway; enough to cast wide shadows. In the half-dark, Ai spies Hitomi; the other girl is working herself into a familiar vest, pink skirt already on. The clothes resize themselves for her, as they always do.

Ai blinks at what she sees until it truly registers. Then she practically leaps out from under her covers to grab Hitomi. Her friend startles badly while Ai looks her over. "What are you doing? This is dangerous, you can't just wear my clothes! The E.G.O. won't-!"

"?!?=!&%/$(§"

Ai stops, staring at the befuddled Hitomi. The stream of gibberish that came out of her mouth stops her dead. "Um. Oh." A snap reapplies the translation magic her earlier death must have disrupted. "Sorry. Better?"

"Yes. What was that?"

"Nevermind that," Ai deflects, a more stern note entering her voice. "Why are you wearing my clothes?"

Hitomi averts her gaze in clear embarassment. She absently plays with the skirt's hem, trying to explain: "It is just, I, well... I was curious. Your clothes are magical, yes? So I wondered what it feels like to wear them. I am really sorry, I will take them off right now."

Ai breathes a sigh of relief and helps her friend unlace the vest; Hitomi wears her own skirt and shirt underneath, though she acts awkwardly whenever she glances at Ai. The magical girl sees no reason to be. She puts on her clothes piece by piece. Only when her friend took it all off does she speak: "It's not that I don't want people to wear it, okay? It's not safe for anyone but me to wear these."

"O-Oh. You mean, your clothes are cursed?"

"Uh... no."

Before she gets to explain, Saki fetches both of them for dinner. The older Shizuki woman does not take no for an answer. Once at the table however, Ai does have to pick up on the subject again. She hesitates, uncertain how they will take it. "So... the problem is, these clothes are part of my E.G.O., or soul. They're a part of me."

Hitomi gasps while her parents glance between the two. "Oh no, I am so sorry! Are you alright?"

Her abject fear confuses Ai. She just nods. "It's not dangerous. I could make another set for you if it was just that. It being part of my E.G.O. means you can even use some of my powers with it. The same with my staff." Her gaze hardens when she sees it, just for a moment. A glint of greed shines in Hitomi's eyes. "But using my E.G.O. means withstanding its power. If you're too weak, it will consume you sooner or later." The glint vanishes and shock takes its place. Ai holds Hitomi's gaze until she looks away. "And my E.G.O. is strong."

"I see. I am sorry. I just thought...."

She trails off under Ai's disapproval. The magical girl can tell her friend is truly contrite, and smiles gently. "It's okay. You didn't know. Magic is a tempting thing, I know." She hesitates, glancing between the three. "Actually... hold still."

Hitomi does as told while Ai leans over the table. She catches Saki's frown, but neither she nor Reiji interfere. Plucking a small piece of her own essence, Ai drags it outward. A light tap to the other girl's head leaves a gleaming petal; it takes the shape of a heart, pink in its frame and black within. The hairclip sits firmly in place, even when Hitomi reaches up to touch it. Ai smiles. "A gift, from me to you. With danger out there, maybe it will protect you."

She then turns to Reiji and does the same to him. Then Saki. Both let it happen with a certain confusion. It only takes a minute until all three wear the same hairclip. Saki chuckles at her husband for some reason, who takes it off to study. Hitomi is still baffled. "But, this is yours too, is it not? A piece of your soul?"

"You make that sound like I lose it forever," Ai shuts her down kindly. "It always replenishes. And don't worry about side effects. This is such a small piece it will be fine. It is still large enough to give you a little boost, make you faster."

Hitomi blinks and stands. Ignoring her half-eaten meal, she steps back and takes a few short hops. Then, much to Ai's surprise, she delivers a high kick. Her foot stops at head height, then retracts fluidly. Hitomi hops again, throws a punch sideway, and nods. "I do feel lighter," she comments. Upon seeing Ai gaping at her, she averts her gaze. "Ah, I never mentioned, did I? My parents insisted I learn how to defend myself. I am quite skilled at it."

So was Mami. And there goes Ai's mood. She is awful in close quarters, relying on magical power to see her through. Unless the other side is spectacularly weak, Ai can not hope to meet them in a contest of strength or skill. She frowns. "How long does it take to learn?" Hitomi hesitates, clearly curious. Ai elaborates without prompting: "My magic is all I have. I'm starting to realise I need more than that. Is it hard?"

"It is... not easy," Hitomi deflects, thoughtful. "Becoming more than just a novice requires dedicated training. Martial arts are a way of life more than just a discipline to learn. You can learn the basics in weeks, but becoming truly skilled will take years. It is a journey toward perfection, both in your technique and in yourself." She absently touches her new hairclip, smiling. "I am certain you could become great at it. So far you struck me as a hard worker."

Silence reigns afterward. Ai slumps in her seat; she has far less faith in herself. Wherever Hitomi takes it from, she is clearly wrong. The churning of tightly bound anger in Ai's gut attests to that. Not all is her own, some is Roland's, but the moment it is unleashed people will die. She just knows it.

"What brought this on?" Reiji asks in the end. Ai merely shakes her head and refuses to answer. When that becomes clear, he sighs. "Alright. Do you want to push back the heist?"

"No." That, at least, Ai knows for certain. Even with everything else, she is a magical girl; she refuses to let a minor setback delay doing good. "It will be tonight."

"Alright." He leans back while Ai catches up on eating; Hitomi does the same. Once the girls are finished however, Reiji picks up the conversation again: "Say, I've got a question. About magical girls, in general. You said you can manipulate memories. And you have teleportation, right?" Ai nods. "Is that... a thing all of you can do? Or just you in particular?"

That is a good question. Happiness, Justice, and Courage are all able to do the same. But they are Abnormalities like Ai, Love. She only met Homura twice, and Mami once. "I don't know," she admits honestly. Reiji accepts it and leaves her be.

After dinner, the four watch TV together, but Ai feels like she is intruding on their family time. None of the Shizukis seems to mind her, though. Time passes slowly, dragging on and on until midnight finally nears.

Ai slowly sips from a mug of hot chocolate, prepared by Saki 'for good luck'. The gesture is appreciated regardless. Mother and daughter both sit in their nightgowns, Reiji out of his suit. "You really don't need to wait for me," Ai tries once more. None of them seems any more inclined to turn in. Reiji is going over the floorplan again, as well as the route they drew in red marker.

"Are you sure you don't want the walkie talkie?" he asks again, almost hopeful. His wife giggles, but Ai only shakes her head. He sighs. "Alright, fine. Nobody expects you, so you got time. Here." The plan is pushed her way and Ai holds onto it with a smile. Reiji smiles back. "Two minutes to midnight, time to go."

Ai stands, plan in hand. Magic consolidates into a pink circle beneath her feet. "Alright. I'm off then."

She does not hear their response as the spell completes, depositing her on top of Mitakihara Central Hospital. They decided she will start as high as she can, then methodically work her way down. Ai's heart beats heavily in her chest as she passes through the rooftop access; there is no one there. Reiji said something about disabling the cameras for her, so it should be fine.

Dashing through the highest corridor, Ai quietly pushes open the first door and peeks inside. A quick glimmer of light reveals two people. She throws a kiss at each, the gesture turning into a glowing heart shape. By the time they get hit, she already closed the door and moved on.

Like this Ai works her way through the floors. Sometimes she spots a nurse doing her rounds and hides behind corners with a pounding heart. The darkness works in her favour, though magic helps in preventing her steps from echoing.

In the ICU however, Ai has to stop. Entering the second room, she finds herself face to face with a nurse. Both women stare at each other, but only one of them is fully dressed. The other is currently engaged with one of the coma patients. She blinks at Ai like a deer in headlights. "Wha-, who?"

A pink beam hits her square in the bare chest, splattering blood all over the comatose man. Ai stops to listen for reactions from outside, but nothing happens. Sighing to herself, she cleans up the mess with a quiet apology to the victim. She rights his gown too, out of courtesy. The corpse is left without further regard, healing dispensed to the patients. Ai moves on, well aware that she is now on a clock. Someone will look for that nurse, regardless of her awful malpractice.

No further incidents occur. Some patients are awake or woken by her entry, but a quick throw of magical dust deletes their memory of the encounter. Frankly, Ai has no idea which room belongs to the musician; he is one of the countless shapes she tends to that night. And that is okay. The entire hospital is waking up by the time she reaches ground level; nurses and doctors on shift bustle around, lights grow brighter. Ai moves further down into the basement and adjacent buildings, but now she has to use her memory manipulation more often. It is just a minor charm to remove a few minutes' worth, not meant for such heavy duty. But it works out.

The sky is already turning grey by the time she finishes, now stood on a different building's roof. A final exertion calls forth another teleportation circle. Ai vanishes in a wave of pink, only to reappear exactly where she left.

Hitomi flinches up from where she was dozing, a book of some kind in front of her. Saki is reading a magazine while Reiji has paperwork in front of him. All three are immediately with Ai, who barely stands on her wobbly legs. She groans softly, sitting down. "That, uh, that was something. I don't think I ever used that much magic." Her vision is hazy. She instinctively grasps the mug of tea pushed into her hands. The floorplan flutters to the ground, forgotten.

"How did it go?" Hitomi inquires after Ai took a sip.

In turn, the magical girl beams at her. "Complete success. Is it okay if I go to sleep now?"

"Of course," Saki answers gently. "Finish your tea and brush your teeth first."

"Kay."

Everything else is a blur. Ai wakes hours later, an few minutes shy of noon. Instead of Izabel, that odd cross found its way into her hands again. She stares at it thoughtlessly. Soft to the touch, smooth yet hard. Glittering in the sunlight streaming in. It wiggles in response to her idling thoughts, but does nothing else. Definitely E.G.O., but not her own. Whose gift is this, and why does she have it? It always seems to come to her.

"What do you want?"

No response.

Sighing, Ai pushes back the covers. She spends an hour poking Izabel's Seed to get her to wake up. It is just as inert as yesterday. Then Saki ushers her into the living room; the 'miracle' made its way into national news, drawing attention from across all of Japan, as she now learns this realm is called. And it seems she missed a few people when cleaning memories; nobody saw her clearly, but some spotted heart-shaped waves of light, and her silhouette. Their accounts are taken with mild amusement, or so it seems... but nobody seems ready to disregard magic entirely.

"I can not thank you enough," Hitomi tells her once the report ends. Her eyes glitter with unshed tears. "Really, this means a great deal to me." Ai just embraces her.

Minutes later, her friend is assailed by text messages from her friends and acquaintances. She also has homework that was neglected over the excitement before. Which leaves Ai to excuse herself and poke Izabel's Grief Seed some more. After some time, she sighs. Without any further idea, not to mention aware what her stunt last night caused, she calls into the empty room: "Kyubey?"

A moment later, their paw taps against the window. Ai lets them in and hugs them tight. "Hello again, Ai. I assume you are responsible for the incident at the hospital?"

"Yeah, that was me. Sorry, I just couldn't not do it."

"That is alright. I appreciate that you made certain to leave as few traces as possible. Although I do not understand the dead nurse. Could you explain?"

"She was doing evil, so I killed her."

Kyubey peers up at Ai, who looks down resolutely. "I do not understand," they send. "But it ultimately does not matter. What did you need?"

Ai points out the dormant Grief Seed. "I, uh, had a run-in with another Magical Girl yesterday. She just attacked me out of nowhere, and she killed my friend. And Izabel isn't waking. Do you know how I can wake her up?"

Kyubey wiggles in response, winding themselves out of Ai's grasp to study the Seed up close. They push it back and forth with their paw, then tilt their head. "This Grief Seed is in normal condition. As with every other, the dormant Witch will wake once it is filled to capacity with the taint from a Soul Gem. I normally dispose of such Grief Seeds, as they are hazards. You seem to be amenable to the risk, though."

"Yeah, it will be fine." Ai stares down at the Seed, despondent. "But how do I help her? I don't have a Soul Gem, and I don't know about this taint stuff."

"That is simple: you just need to find another, local Magical Girl to request help from."

...they have a point. But at the same time, Ai feels overwhelmed at the prospect. "Except one of them hates me and I don't like her... and the other one I met doesn't seem to like me much, either. How many Magical Girls are around?"

"Hm." Kyubey leaves the Grief Seed alone and settles on their haunches, tail swishing idly. Ai sits in front of them while they speak: "I agree that Mami is not an option. Perhaps I could have prevented a violent confrontation, had I not refrained from informing her of your presence. I determined that further observation was necessary before doing so. This was a miscalculation."

"It's okay, you could not know." Ai is a little miffed, but not with them. "It's Mami who chose violence."

"It is good that you understand. Now, other Magical Girls in the vicinity are Homura Akemi and Kyoko Sakura. Homura lives in Mitakihara, but I know little of her. She is secretive and actively hostile toward me. I can tell you where she lives, if you wish to meet her." Ai nods slowly, prompting the bunnycat to continue: "Kyoko holds Kazamino as her territory, Mitakihara's sister city. The border lies along the channel separating the two. She is a known loner, abrasive, and pragmatic. Her disdain for utilitarism is quite distinct, too. You should be fine as long as you refrain from judging her actions. She blames me for certain unfortunate events, but I can arrange a meeting."

"I see. And that is all the choices I have?"

"Unless you wish to travel a longer distance, yes."

"Okay, thank you. Hm." Ai goes back and forth between the two. Homura is cold, but never attacked her. It may work. On the other hand, Kyoko is a complete unknown; but if she is self-serving like Kyubey implies, dealing with her should be possible as well. She can not quite decide which one and speaks up while musing: "Say, what happened with that anomaly you're observing?"

Kyubey's head tilts a few degrees. "No notable changes. The rate of influence increased by a fraction of a percent, not enough to affect even a toddler. Probes continue to be ineffective, regardless of method. The area in space it covers expands minutely as days pass, it appears to unfold. Do you have any further insights?"

"Nothing but speculation, sorry. But if it unfolds, maybe you just have to wait before you can scan it?"

"While that is a logical assumption, we can not calculate potential risks without knowing what we deal with."

"Point."

Sighing, Ai returns to her own conundrum. Homura, or Kyoko? Which one should she approach to help Izabel?

---

[] Go for Homura
weight: x1

[] Go for Kyoko
weight: x1