"Are you ready, Sayaka?"
"... Yes," nodded the bleunette. "Let's do this."
Sabrina slid open the glass door.
Together, Sabrina, Mami and Sayaka entered the mansion, stopping a moment to leave their shoes at the entrance.
"Welcome," announced a strange, but familiar voice.
The three girls came face to face with the owner of the manor.
Oriko Mikuni.
Sabrina and Mami startled.
Oriko Mikuni, who had an ugly smile set on her visage.
In an instant, they were transformed and armed, hammer held defensively, musket aimed at their would be host.
Oriko Mikuni, who sported a strange, particular garment.
A confused Sayaka took a second to orient herself, but quickly followed her senpais, sword materializing in her hand in ready position.
Oriko Mikuni wore a coat of black feathers.
"It was not my design to reveal myself so early..." drawled Oriko, unconcerned by the weapons being pointed at her, "but my time is coming to an end. So, if you will permit, I must hurry up and end this charade. I... am Feathers."
Sabrina grit her teeth. "I had hoped..."
Another laugh from Oriko- from Feathers interrupted her. "You and your silly hopes, Sabrina. Your silly hopes that allowed me to lead you around by the nose..." she smirked.
The white haired girl shook her head. She glanced at her companions briefly.
"Leave her to me," she asked them, "this was my mistake."
"S-Sabrina!" protested Mami. "We... we c-can't... can't..." she trailed off, her mouth moving but not managing to form any more words.
"Yeah, what gives?" frowned Sayaka, "she burnt down my home!"
Sabrina grimaced, "I'm sorry, but she is my enemy." As Sayaka opened her mouth to retort, Sabrina plowed ahead, "and I will defeat her!"
She leaped.
Oriko smirked.
"BAN..." shouted Sabrina.
Mami's shook, a warning dead on her lips.
Oriko flinched.
"-HAMMER!"
Sabrina's hammer shone and swung against Oriko's head...
... and connected, snapping the Seer's head aside and flinging her spinning to crash against a wall.
The three girls stared as their would be host turned enemy slid down the cracked wall and thumped down on the ground, her figure sprawled on the ground in a heap of white dress and black feathers.
Green eyes fluttered open with effort, "I... must've known..." panted Oriko, "without my... powers... I... I couldn't... I'm sorry... Kirika..."
"You did well, Oriko."
Suddenly, Kirika was leaning down besides Oriko, without anybody having seen her arrive.
But she ignored the other girls' startled reactions, focusing solely on the girl lying defeated on the ground.
"You did what you could," she whispered softly, a hand caressing the Seer's cheek, "but it's time for me to reveal my true colours."
Oriko sighed, closing her eyes in defeat.
Kirika's hand slid down Oriko's cheek once more delicately, and then grasped the black coat that covered her form. In a single movement, she stood and flung the black cape onto herself, the strange garment fitting her perfectly.
"I... am Feathers."
The declaration took everyone by surprise. Sabrina and Mami looked at each other, baffled. Sayaka looked completely lost.
Kirika smirked. "Surprised? Didn't think I had it in me, did you?"
"Wait," said Sabrina, her hands snapping up to make a 'time out' sign. "Wait," she repeated, "you're saying... you are Feathers?"
The dark haired girl crossed her arms and nodded, a smug smile litting up her face.
Sabrina frowned.
Kirika smirked.
Sabrina pouted.
Kirika blinked.
"Aw..." whined Sabrina, "come on, Kirika. Can you not?"
"Can I not what?" asked Kirika, confused.
"Whatever you're planning!" yelled the white haired girl. "Killing meguca? Destroying the world? I don't know, whatever you're planning, can you not?"
"But..."
"I thought we were friends..."
"F-friends!" startled Kirika.
"Yes, friends," nodded Sabrina, "so can you do me a favour and not do this Feathers thing? As buddies?"
The newly revealed Feathers eyes' shook; she froze in indecision, only the slight shaking of her frame settting her apart from a particularly detailed statue.
Sabrina simply held her stare.
A minute later, Kirika fell to her knees. "Friends... buddies..." she murmured, "... I can't do this. You win, Sabrina."
Sabrina smiled, "that's great!" Hesitatingly, she approached Kirika and Oriko. "Is she OK?" she asked, looking at the Seer.
"Yeah," answered Kirika, trailing a hand through Oriko's hair, "just unconscious." She smiled at Sabrina, who kneeled besides-
Movement-
Swing-
Crack-
An explosion of yellow ribbons.
Sabrina flinched... entirely too late, a figure covered in ribbons crashing against her form.
She caught it by reflex, and after a few seconds, she looked around.
Mami's musket was spent on the floor, and a new one primed on her hands.
Sayaka was halfway in between her previous position and Sabrina's, sword stopped mid swing.
Homura- wait, Homura? Yes, Sabrina's eyes confimed, Homura held a lightly smoking gun in her hand.
And Kirika... had somehow jumped into the stairs' banister, holding an unconscious Oriko.
That left Sabrina wondering what- who was she holding in her arms. She belatedly realized the ribonned body she was holding -tightly- against her chest was moving, struggling to get free.
So she softened her grip on the- the first thing that struck her was the beak.
The second was the head full of back plumage.
The third was the strangely melodic voice shouting outrage and bloody murder at her.
Sabrina used one hand to hold on the girl's shoulder, the other one grabbing onto the beak on her face and pulling-
The raven mask came off, revealing Ono Megane, who suddenly became silent.
Blue eyes met blue eyes.
"A crow mask?" asked Sabrina. "... Wait, did you just attack me? And," she turned to Homura, "where did you come from?"
A cough drew her attention towards Mami. "I called her," explained the blonde.
"Release me!" demanded Megane. "You can't hold me like this! I'm powerful! I'm... FEATHERS!"
Sabrina slapped her.
"Ow!"
"Don't be silly," the white haired girl rolled her eyes, "a silly crow mask doesn't make you Feathers, nor does a cape made out of black feathers," she added, with a side glance to Kirika, still watching the proceedings from the staircase.
"You don't know that!" protested Ono, "you don't even know who Feathers is!"
"Of course I know who Feathers is..." grinned Sabrina, "because..." she pushed Ono off herself -"hey- ow!"- and stood up straight to her full height.
"I..." she looked at her friends, who stared back in confusement, realization, fright, "... am Feathers."
"No..." breathed Mami.
"You can't be..." denied Sayaka, more to herself than to Sabrina.
Sabrina laughed softly. A movement of her hand drew up a cloud of Grief, the dark substance flying to her back, coalescing, taking shape into two long, think rods with a curtain of long feathers hanging from each one.
"So you see-"
"Excuse me," interrupted a soft voice.
"U-uh?"
Suddenly, Homura was standing beside Sabrina, her hands gripping onto her, by her wings.
"I think these are mine," she whispered.
Then she snapped the twin rods clean off Sabrina's shoulders, causing her to... midly grunt in discomfort.
Sabrina looked more confused than anything else, as she watched, Homura let go of the stolen wings, which floated on their own power, moving onto her back and attaching themselves...
"Wait, what!" shouted Sabrina, realization dawning on her face. Her eyes belatedly moved to Homura's ear, noticing a familiar violet earring hanging from it. "You mean to tell me I was right all along?!"
"Fu, fu, fu..." laughed Homura. "Whether you were right or wrong is immaterial, dear Sabrina... For you see... I am Feathers."
Sabrina hung her head down in defeat.
Mami looked between the two girls with a betrayed expression.
Sayaka scratched her head, sword hanging limply in her other hand.
Kirika and Oriko... weren't there anymore, thought movement could be heard from the upper floor.
"So," Sabrina crossed her arms, "what now?"
Homura drew a hand to her chin. "What now? What do you think...?"
Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped themselves from around Homura's back.
"I think it's time I took back what's mine!"
"M-Madoka?!" blurted out Homura, grabbing at the pinkette's hands...
... and trembling, grunting in pain, legs shaking, falling-
"Got you!" exclaimed Madoka, pinning Homura to the ground.
Homura's wings vanished.
Her earring turned back into a normal Soul Gem.
Sabrina pinched the bridge of her nose.
"What the fuck?"
Madoka shrugged. "I'm Feathers," she explained as if talking about the weather, "and..."
Her eyes shone gold.
"I've got my power back!" she smiled. "Good job, Sabrina!"
And Sabrina stared at Madoka's eyes, and so that they shone true.
Her mission was complete.
The curtain drew to a close around them.
[GOOD E-
"Fuck, no!" yelled Sabrina, swinging her hammer at the scree-