Try to talk her down? But first off, ask her if you can move this to another location where you aren't disturbing the dead.
Explain that she's justified in hating you and for what little it's worth you want to make it up to her. However, she plainly can't kill you permanently, and even if she could, you won't let that happen until you've at least tried to make it up to all those you killed. You won't tolerate her attempting to hurt other people for your actions either.
If she's willing to talk, explain that you had an epiphany, and you realized what you did wasn't right. But it's too late for the dead, and you have for them is words. But she isn't dead, so what can you do for her? That isn't dying for her or taking over the area or anything. We're trying to be better here. Does she have a place to stay? Someone to help her? Because we know people that will help.
Ai grows slack for a long second, then shakes her head with a deep frown. "Before we do this," she begins, but her distraction took too long. Hana melts into the shadows and reappears from beneath Ai. The mace slams into her thigh, tearing flesh and splintering bone. Ai transitions to flight while her opponent dashes away. But the retaliation Hana expected never comes. "Could we go somewhere else?" Ai finishes. "I'd rather not disturb the dead."
Hana stares at her, dumbly looking from Ai to the gory mess left of her leg. Moments later, a healing spell attaches it once more. And although she grits her teeth at the sight, her gaze flickers to their surroundings. Hana lowers her mace. "Fine," she spits, then points her weapon south. "This way."
"I know a-"
"Not a chance. How dumb do you think I am?" Without even giving Ai a chance to speak, she marches away. The other magical girl has to follow quickly. A quick charm cleans her blood off the ground. Meanwhile, Hana keeps monologuing: "Wherever you'd want to go would be a trap!"
"...you're showing your back to me." Not only that, but her murky Soul Gem sits on the back of her neck. She has no idea. Killing her would be so simple, if only Ai wanted to.
Hana freezes mid-step and whirls around, but Ai keeps her distance. The clear befuddlement only makes her realisation more painful: this girl is not a warrior. Not even close. She never fought anyone in her life. Magic and unstable E.G.O. are all that make her dangerous. She has no idea about strategy, the do's and dont's of battle. She is innocent, yet oh so clearly hurting.
"I don't want to fight you," Ai says, even when Hana vanishes in another shadow. She reappears behind Ai, pressing something sharp into the small of her back.
"That makes it easier for me." After hissing the words at her, Hana pushes. The blade fails to even nick Ai's E.G.O., but her demand is obvious. Ai begins to walk again. Her assailant keeps quiet for a minute as she directs her over a fence and through deserted streets. "I don't know how you block my powers, but it doesn't matter. I don't care what you are. I will avenge Father today."
That is curious. Ai perks up. "Your powers?" she ventures carefully.
"Information magic. I can't figure out more than your name. Probably whatever Witchy stuff you're doing." Hana snorts. "Not that I need it. If I didn't know it was you, I'd wonder how a wet towel like you had the guts to kill anyone."
"I'm not a-" "Shut up."
Ai grinds her teeth. The anger she feels is now her own, familiar and alien at the same time. Easier to contain, but no less annoying. No longer is there a voice telling her to act. Only her own impulses urging her forward. To turn around and do something. Hana speaks like a villain should. Ai slowly shakes off the cobwebs of her old, lingering thoughts. Even though she understands better now, it is still hard.
They venture into a small park and past, then further downtown. Hana maneuvers the backstreets with clear experience before stopping in front of a dilapidated apartment complex. Just as they approach the door, Ai decides to try once more: "I'm sorry."
"I said... wait, what?"
Ai sighs and turns around to face Hana, whose narrow-eyed gaze lies straight on her. "I said I'm sorry. I did wrong and you suffer for it."
Contrary to her hope, Hana's expression grows darker with every word. She leans forward, having to tiptoe so she can press her forehead against Ai's. "You're sorry?!" she snaps, then pushes Ai back against the door. Hinges break and the old wood collapses, sending Ai onto her butt. "You're sorry!" Hana crows. "And now you expect me to forgive you because you said you're sorry? Who do you think you are?!"
She follows up and Ai forlornly raises her staff. The mace hammers against it, pushing her back onto the floor. But Hana is nowhere near as strong as Kyoko or Mami, let alone Roland's memory. "I don't," she answers while Hana vanishes in the building's darkness. "I have to do much more to make up for what I destroyed, the many people I hurt."
"Then do so by dying!" Hana shouts. It is painfully easy to make out her position from the sound of her voice. Ai floats off the ground to evade another swing; the mace grows spikes, resembling a morningstar more than anything. Splinters of morose wood fly everywhere.
"It won't work," Ai retorts, floating further into the room to evade an upward swing. "I can not die. However often you kill me, I will just revive."
A derisive snort answers her. Hana vanishes in shadows again, only to reappear with a squeak when bright pink light banishes them. Glowing orbs line the walls, cutting off her advantage without much issue. Ai looks down at her sadly; she can not muster the will to fight. "Please stop," she pleads. "I'm sure there is a better solution. Isn't there anything else I can do to make it easier?"
If anything, Hana's anger grows stronger. "Stop belittling me!" she rages. A wave of liquid darkness floods the corridor, snuffing out Ai's lights. Then the morningstar hammers into her chest; Ai floats back a metre with a quiet oof, but her clothes caught most of it. She shakes herself while the bruise begins to heal on its own. Before her stands Hana, panting heavily. But also crying. "Why won't you die?" she whispers before lunging again.
Ai steps aside; Hana's mace only demolishes the wall she stood at. Then the other magical girl shrieks and backpedals. The Jester was inside of it, staring out of the hole with his usual grin.
From where she stands, Ai can see the last specks of light fade from Hana's Soul Gem. She knows what is going to happen with sudden clarity. There is no time to run and get a Grief Seed, any Grief Seed. She has none on her, either. All she can do is watch. Kneeling, Ai takes Hana's hand; if nothing else, she will not let her die alone in the darkness.
"I'm sorry," Ai whispers. Tears blur her.
Then Hana's Soul Gem shatters, so reminiscent of glass. The Jester giggles... and the world shifts. A sudden storm tears at her, pelts Ai with rubble. She is too dumbfounded to acknowledge the bumps and bruises. All she can do is stare at the gleaming black metal right in front of her. The cage and gleaming internals are unmistakable. They absorb the shadows and expand, shifting reality slightly to the left.
Ai begins to fall and clutches Hana's corpse on instinct. The abyss beneath whirls around a thousand tendrils before calming. It solidifies into a humanoid figure kneeling on top of a humongous statue. Ai floats atop it while fog hides the ground from view. The Witch kneels in silent prayer.
Nothing happens for a long time. It may be seconds or hours, Ai can not tell. She feels simply numb, the dead weight in her arms far heavier than it should be. This should not be, but it makes oh so much sense at the same time. The reason no one knows about the origin of Witches. A secret, just like the Wings' cruel machinations.
She slowly descends to the Witch, who perks up and turns. Even with Ai's light, she is no more than pure darkness given form. Curiously, she does not attack. If anything, she bows. "A visitor," the Witch greets warmly. "Be welcome. Is your companion alright?"
Ai's attention falls once more to the dead girl in her arms. She sets her down with a heavy weight in her gut. Even a cursory examination ascertains what Ai already knew: no pulse, no breath, no nothing. Healing magic has no effect, seeing how her body is in perfect condition. There is just no spirit left to live in it. "She's dead," Ai says tonelessly.
"Oh." The Witch bends forward to examine Hana's countenance, but displays no sign of recognition. She reaches out and closes Hana's eyes, then folds the dead girl's hands. "How unfortunate, a flower plucked too soon. I shall pray for her immortal soul first today."
Ai can not bear to tell her. She feels she should... but at the same time, would that not just hurt her? If she even believes it. All that makes it past her lips is a quiet "Thank you". She can not muster her usual cheer.
As the silence grows longer than the shadows surrounding them, the Witch clasps Ai's hands. "I am certain she is happy, knowing that a friend stayed with her in her final moments. Be welcome to my demesne. I am Elsa Maria." Her words only hurt more, despite how well-meaning they are.
"Ai," she murmurs, then falls into Elsa Maria's arms and begins to cry. The shadow Witch gently cards through her hair, comforting Ai for long minutes. "It's not fair," the magical girl blubbers at some point. "She was innocent!"
"It often is not," Elsa Maria responds sagely. She holds Ai until the other Abnormality calmed down, then helps her stand. "Will you be alright?"
"I, yes. I will be, in time." Ai wipes her face again and takes a deep breath. "Thank you, again." With her emotions slowly back under control, she can not help but indulge her curiousity: "How long have you been here?"
Elsa Maria sways from side to side. She glances left and right, then up at the unchanging sky. "Oh, I do not know," she responds with a chuckle. "It does not quite matter, either. I pray for the salvation of all, even in the pits of despair."
"And... if someone else came to visit? A human?"
"Why, I would love for others to join me in prayer. I thought of inviting them, really. Though there do not seem to be any nearby."
Ai winces at that. She knows exactly where it is going. "Please don't," she tries. "Being in here is bad for humans. They can get hurt or even die."
Thankfully, her words do not provoke anger. The Witch nods slowly. "I see," she says. "I will keep that in mind. Thank you for the warning, kind Ai. I shall pray for your wellbeing as well."
Ai wants to flee just about now, run far away and stare at nothing until the world stops being awful. But at the same time, she realises something: Hana, she could not save. But Elsa Maria is her remains. If nothing else, she can try to help her. "Say, I know a place where you won't be disturbed. Maybe even make a friend. Is it okay to take you there?" She silently apologises to Kyoko for what she plans..
Elsa Maria seems taken aback, going by the hand touching her chest in surprise. She soon recovers and nods. "My, that sounds lovely. Please do so. I will await your call." And with that, she collapses her own barrier. Ai barely has time to pick up Hana before she lands back in the dark building.
The Jester stares at her from up close, face to face. Ai does not even twitch. "Did you know?" she asks, only to receive a nod. "Why didn't you say?" The Jester shrugs and she sighs explosively. "Nevermind. You don't talk, I know." He points at the corpse next. Ai clutches her closer, but ultimately does not know what to say. "I didn't want to leave her there," she explains.
The Jester nods and grasps the body. He cradles it to his chest and vanishes, leaving Ai alone with her thoughts. She will later learn that Hana Kurosawa was found in her bed, apparently having died in her sleep.
Right now, she scowls at the empty doorframe. "Kyubey!"
"You called?" The bunnycat appears right there, illuminated by what little light shines inside. While Ai picks up Elsa Maria's Grief Seed, they study her. "I take it you have questions about what you saw?"
"Yes. First off, why? Why did Hana turn into a Witch?"
Kyubey tilts their head. "Hana Kurosawa was unstable. Her mental state deteriorated rapidly after forming her contract. I assume that facing you when she never even saw a familiar before did the rest. Both in regard to your greater power, as well as the realisation that her greatest desire was unachievable. Maybe if she wished for the power to kill Abnormalities, but I am uncertain if she had enough potential for that."
The calm analysis is agitating. Ai has half a mind to blast Kyubey to pieces. Actually, remembering they revive infinitely, she stomps down on the bunnycat. A satisfying crunch follows. "That's not what I meant," she says while a new one appears. "I meant: why did she turn into a Witch at all?"
The new Kyubey starts eating their old body in the meantime. "That is what happens when a Soul Gem darkens fully," they say. Ai wrings that body's neck as well. A third Kyubey appears right after. "Could you stop doing that?"
"It's therapeutic."
"Understood. Feel free to kill more bodies, assuming that helps your recovery."
So Ai does just that for a few minutes. All her frustration, anger, and sadness she pours into exceedingly creative ways of killing something that will not die, just like she. Except Kyubey is everything but an Abnormality. She is not even particularly mad with the bunnycat; they clearly engineered it, but at the same time Ai is friends with far worse people. She calms down after a while and settles outside, looking up at the clouded sky. "Why do Magical Girls turn into Witches?"
"I don't know." These words are unexpected. Ai glances to Kyubey, who is still busy eating through the small mountain of weirdly smiling bodies. "Even after all this time, we have not figured out why the black substance filling Soul Gems turns them into Grief Seeds at a hundred percent saturation. We know that it does, and that strong surges of emotions quicken the process. We know that Witches absorb the same substance that creates them."
Something niggles at Ai's mind, but she does not feel like puzzling it together. "So why not stop it?" she asks instead. "Why do you still make Magical Girls? What is the goal here? Why don't you tell them beforehand?" She pauses, then sighs. "Nevermind the last question. I can guess the answer."
Kyubey paused by then, perking up to study her in turn. "You are surprisingly calm. The usual response is overwhelming anger directed at me."
"I don't like it, but I also know and like worse people. Right now it really depends on why you're doing this."
"I see. Explaining requires me to reach out a bit. May I?" Ai nods and Kyubey begins: "Are you familiar with what humans call the first and second law of thermodynamics?" She shakes her head. "I see. The first law postulates that energy can be neither created nor destroyed. This is true, with one exception I will get to in a moment. The second law postulates that as energy is transformed from one state into another, let us say electricity to light, some of it is wasted. There is no perfect transformation, so some byproduct always comes to exist. Generally this is heat, which is lost. Over time, this loss of energy means less and less is available for use. Until eventually, all energy is spread across the universe in an unusable state, which will end existence. The process is known as entropy, and the result was named the Heat Death of the Universe."
Ai nods along slowly. She gets the basic idea behind Kyubey's explanations. "So sometime in the future, there is just no energy left for use. And then nobody can do anything anymore?"
"Correct." Kyubey scampers over, slightly bloated after their meal. They sit down by Ai's side and she absently pets their head as they explain: "Our work here on Earth is to counteract entropy. The exception to the first law I mentioned before lies here, in human emotions. Never before have we found a race that managed to coexist on such a scale while plagued with what, to us, is a mental disease. Originally, we decided on a more simple and less efficient strategy. That is, to simply offer a single wish in exchange for power. The creation of a Soul Gem somehow creates a certain amount of energy. The emphasis here lies on the word 'creates'. New laws had to be postulated in response. Then the first contractee became a Witch, releasing far greater amounts of new energy. Grief Seeds continue to generate such energy while in contact with humans and the same substance that creates them in the first place.
"Therefore, we adjusted our plans accordingly. Magical Girls are contracted, fight Witches, and ultimately become Witches. The amount of energy their contract creates is proportional to the strength of their emotions and their potential. As I told you before, potential was found to correspond to the potential influence on their surroundings a given candidate possesses."
Ai's brow furrowed somewhere during the tale. She wants to hate Kyubey, but their goals themselves are noble. To ensure tomorrow. To... build the future. Ai's train of thought derails momentarily and she smacks her forehead. "I'm so dumb!" she exclaims as it finally clicks. Then she looks down at Kyubey. "That energy Witches create, it's the same as Enkephalin, right?"
"Correct. Our analysis is not complete yet, but the energy types match. Did you already know?"
"I just figured it out. And besides, why girls? Why not adults?"
"On average, the emotional strength of human females in their second stage of growth is deemed the greatest of the entire species."
Now this? This has Ai snort in barely contained mirth. "Not a chance," she manages before devolving into laughter. "I've seen an adult man hate with such fervour that the world bent under his will."
"Roland, I believe?" Kyubey was there for her tale, so of course they got it. Ai nods and they return the gesture. "I did say 'on average', though. There are some outliers, which we do approach for contracts as well. Most figures of human legends were such outliers. Gods and heroes, they all rose when their Soul Gems shone."
Ultimately, Ai's grin remains. She falls back over and laughs. "It's Lobotomy Corporation all over again!" Energy creation for a better tomorrow. Monsters eating people for the future's sake. An unstoppable grinder. "But thank you for telling me. If this is actually the truth."
"I have no reason and lack the ability to lie, Ai. Quite literally. For the last three thousand years, my race could not lie directly."
"Why is that?"
"One of my predecessors made an error and contracted a candidate agitated by their lying about a lack of consequences to their friend. She wished it so. Candidates throughout the ages made similar wishes, though they only reinforce the original one. All we can do to obfuscate is use the exact meaning of words, or to omit details. Therefore, I will say that the only goal our presence on Earth serves is to stave off entropy. We possess no other design or desire for humanity."
"Okay." Ai's head turns to watch the bunnycat, who started grooming themselves. "I still don't like it, but I get it. I think. You have no emotions, then?"
"Correct."
"And if a better option had been found, you'd have done that instead?"
"Obviously."
"'Kay, just asking." She really can not hate Kyubey. Somehow she feels she should, but their goals are not worse than those of others. Not to mention, they do offer something that no one else can give: miracles. A single wish, no matter the kind. Anyone in the City would give their firstborn for such a chance. She does not need Roland's memory to tell her that. He is gone from her though, Ai's mind strangely empty without him and the Queen.
"Although," Kyubey adds into her musings, "after your tale of Lobotomy Corporation, we are calculating the viability of a similar institution in this age on Earth. I will be the first to admit that the attrition rate of regular humans and Magical Girls is inefficient. Previous attempts led to great amounts of human superstition and strife, but perhaps they have matured enough at this point."
Ai nods slowly, trying to parse their explanation. "Just to make sure I get it right: you're still working on a way to lower casualties?"
"Yes."
"Alright."
Ai sighs and looks back up, trying to figure out how to proceed. She needs to visit Kyoko and introduce her to Elsa Maria. She needs to talk to Sayaka about her tendencies, which is now more urgent than ever. But what does she do with this new information?
The only part Ai really dislikes is that Kyubey hides the truth. Her friends will become Witches in exchange for their wish fulfilled. They should be told. But maybe now is not the best time?
[] Tell everyone, they deserve to know
weight: x1
[] Keep it to yourself for now
weight: x1
[] write-in
-Unlocked Character Sheet: Elsa Maria
-Gained Elsa Maria's Grief Seed
Of note: the 'keep it to yourself' vote is about delaying the revelation; Ai will tell them sooner or later, you can not directly stop her from doing it at all.
