Chapter 80 - Stolen Fire
DEAR SISTER: I FORMALLY INVITE YOU TO THE LIBRARY. THE LIBRARY'S BOOKS CAN PROVIDE YOU WITH ALL THE KNOWLEDGE, SHELTER, AND AID YOU SEEK.
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AGAIN.
- ANGELA
ADDRESSEE
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You had received the first Invitation the next night after defeating Nothing There. Apparently, the Library's functions were not limited by the boundaries of its own dimension. A logical conclusion, considering the Library is practically a dimension unto itself. At the time, you didn't actually know what it was. But it was clearly from Angela, and while she had been an antagonistic presence for most of your life that seemed to have changed at some point. So you signed your name, and you and your sister got to work planning for the future.
You didn't actually speak much. What little discussion there was was merely clipped questions and answers to clarify the state of things on both ends. You're alive, you have a place to live, and you have children now. Angela and the Sephirot left the City. Details were passed back and forth, feeling distinctly unimportant compared to everything that wasn't being said. Conclusions were reached all too soon, and you went back home.
From then on, you had an Invitation on you at practically all times. You'd been somewhat apprehensive about just having an item that could access the City anywhere near Kyubey, but Angela had an answer rather quickly. There was some sort of system in place to "ensure that only those who are intended to receive an Invitation shall do so," which meant the thing disappeared the second the Incubator so much as laid eyes on it. While they've already puzzled out that you're not from this Earth and will almost definitely recognize dimensional travel, the less Kyubey knows the better. You'd expected to have more trouble convincing Mami and Sayaka to keep things a secret, but both were surprisingly amiable to the idea of leaving the little mascot creature out of the loop.
Today, only you and Mami have signed your names on the small slip of paper. You've finally prepared a way to cure the damage to Kyoko's soul, but the cure itself has its own risks. The other kids
don't need to be here, don't need to see this if it goes wrong. Mami… maybe you could have talked her out of being here, if you really wanted to. But it wouldn't have given her peace.
After Homura's transformation, you had brought all of the children with you to examine her. While only Sayaka had been present during your analysis itself, all of them were eventually briefed on what a Distortion is. It was soon after that an idea formed. When a person Distorts or manifests EGO, their body often undergoes some degree of change. As a part of this process, Homura lost her Soul Gem. If Kyoko were to do the same, the damage to her own Soul Gem would either vanish or become irrelevant. If she ended up with EGO, then everything would be perfect. Kyoko would be alive and in good health, both mentally and physically.
Of course, all evidence indicates that Distortion is a far more likely outcome. That… well, it could be worse. As far as you can tell Distortions are still the same people they were before the transformation, just with certain traits over-expressed. The Ensemble had some way to bind a Distortion to a more human form, and between that and the disguises Angela managed to work out Homura was able to appear as a completely normal human. Even if Kyoko Distorts, you'll be able to do the same for her.
Everything has been accounted for. Everything is under control. Everything is going to be alright.
The world swirls around you and your daughter for only a second before you appear in the golden halls of the Library. The room you arrive to is a large rectangular box, empty bookshelves lining intricately-engraved walls made from something that could perhaps be mistaken for wood from a distance. Despite the absence of any clear light source, the whole room is consistently and brightly lit. Another absence of note is the lack of any entrances or exits. This room was specifically prepared for its present use, and once that use has been concluded Angela will likely just dismiss it.
Your sister arrives almost immediately after you and Mami, a reverberating snap and flash of light announcing her appearance. To your surprise, she's not alone.
On one side stands a plain, dark-haired man in a black suit. His steps, his posture, his clothing, everything about him seems casual. Unassuming. Beneath notice. And yet, there's an underlying tension to each movement. His eyes haven't left you since he appeared, scanning you in a way that feels less curious and more cautious. You've never met the man, but you have heard of him. Roland, the first person Angela met since leaving the Facility. If you remember correctly, their first meeting involved her cutting off all of his limbs for asking too many questions. Currently, he's glancing between you and the third resident of the Library to have arrived.
Standing next to them, a measure taller than everyone else in the room, is Gebura. She's wearing the same black leather jacket from her time as a Color, scarlet hair falling along her shoulders and back past her waist. She is also staring in abject confusion at you, a look which Mami mirrors towards her. If she hadn't already met Angela, she'd likely have assumed the legendary mercenary to be your sibling instead.
Right. This is awkward.
"Angela, mind explaining why the Manager looks like me?"
Angela's face remains completely even, although her eyes tell another story. "I believe I informed you that X had produced a new body so as not to look like that man any longer?" Her voice too is perfectly innocent, as if she didn't anticipate this exact situation. You would've appreciated her giving either side some more advanced warning, but you can admit this is somewhat amusing.
You decide to interrupt before the awkwardness can stretch any further. You've a job to do today, and as much as you want to stretch this reunion out it would be wrong to make Mami and Kyoko wait any longer.
"Gebura, it's been a while. I hope everything's gone alright since I left?"
It hasn't. You know it hasn't. But you can't talk about that now.
Fortunately, your old colleague seems to agree with you on that front. She reaches to grasp your outstretched hand, pointedly ignoring the weirdness of how similar you look. "There were a few rough patches, but we made it through alright." She gestures lazily to your daughter beside you. "And who's this with you?"
"Tomoe Mami," Mami answers for you, performing a small curtsy. She's still a bit off-balance from the resemblance, but maintaining composure in extreme situations is a skill Mami perfected long ago. "It's an honor to meet one of X's old colleagues."
"Gebura," returns the mercenary, "and that's Roland. You already know Angela." Her voice is gruff, but not without softness.
"As much as I'd like to continue talking, we have work to do here." Angela says, cutting off any further conversation that could be had. "If you could bring out the Soul Gems?"
One by one, you withdraw the gleaming crystals from your pocket. For nearly all of Nothing There's victims, the only thing preventing them from returning to their lives was a lack of a body. Admittedly, that is a rather large hurdle, but one you have a solution for. Or, to be more accurate, one Angela has a solution for.
Another snap, and the thirty-six Soul Gems you had taken out vanish. Interestingly, you can feel the sudden appearance of new people within your floor of the Library. Each one no longer confined to their crystalline prisons, but slowly awaking in their own bodies. It's truly impressive how versatile Light constructs can be. In time you'll work out how to return them to their normal lives. But for now, the Library can house them as long as it needs to.
"So those were, what, people's brains?" Roland half-whispers to Angela. "Not the weirdest modification I've ever heard of, but-". His tangent is interrupted by an elbow to the stomach by Gebura, who indicates towards Mami tensing beside you. "Ah. Right. Anyways, we'll be here in case things get out of hand. You can never be too prepared, y'know? Would've brought Binah too, but she's not really safe to keep around children."
"She's not really safe to keep around anybody." you grumble as you dig out Kyoko's Soul Gem.
You raise the Soul Gem in one hand and
reach into it with Lobotomy. Since your temporary release of your true form, using Lobotomy has been far more taxing. It's no longer a practical option in combat, and you've lost some speed even in optimal conditions. Attempts to heal what you had thought were only surface-level injuries failed even with Mimicry's insane self-regenerative properties or Sayaka's boosted healing magic. If you want to recover those capabilities, you'll have to look into it later. Thankfully for this procedure, your precision remains untouched.
It takes only a touch of your will to rouse the quiescent consciousness of Kyoko Sakura. You can see the cracks now, bleeding wounds carved into something more fundamental than just her mind. You could fill these cracks yourself, but with what? You don't know what sort of person Kyoko Sakura is. Not intimately enough to fix this, to reconstruct her spirit from what remains. But there is a way forward. The
Light, humming eagerly within her mind. The drifting fragments warp and tint themselves, shaping in accordance with Kyoko's mind. Now that the former Magical Girl has awoken, it seems the Distortion Phenomenon is already near manifestation. Only one step remains for the transformation to begin.
Mami squeezes your arm. You pull her closer and widen the connection between you and Kyoko and let her voice filter in.
"Oh. So you died too. Damn it. Mami was really happy to have you around, you know?"
Her voice echoes through your mind, choked and weak. It sounds as though she's been crying while trying to swallow shards of broken glass.
"Neither of us are dead. You are pretty badly hurt, though. Should be healed in a bit, so just hold on until then."
"Healed? Why are you wasting time with that? I died. Something stronger than me showed up, and nobody's got any right to complain about it. That's just how it goes."
Damn. You'd hoped the last part would be easy, but this is far more in line with your expectations.
Distortions hear Carmen's voice. Homura heard her before she Distorted, Argalia was instructed by her for who knows how long before he finally died, and Angela even spoke to her directly in the Light. Whatever she says, whatever they decide on together, becomes the foundation of the Distortion's new self. The basis of their twisted worldview, a lenses that tints everything they see. With Kyoko so close to Distortion, it's likely that Carmen will appear to offer her "advice". You can't allow that to happen, but you also only know of one way to prevent her from taking root.
You will simply play the part of guide before Carmen can.
Manifestation
[] Write-in
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Der Freischütz's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Porccubus' Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
We return to Human Resources with the start of Act II! Welcome back, and we're jumping right into things with a vote on how to interact with Kyoko as she's manifesting Distortion/EGO. Character Sheet has been updated with completed Saplings accessed.
As for this vote, it's pretty much just deciding what argument you're going to be making to try and change Kyoko's current mindset. The spirit is more important than the wording, and I'll be keeping an eye on thread discussion so that I can get as much of that conversation done in a single chapters as I can.
Also, I've started up a
second Quest to run at the same time as this one. It won't be updated on as consistent a schedule, but it's there. Go read it! Or don't, I can't tell you what to do.