Chapter 169 - The Triumph of Living
As Homura crawls back to where Mami, Sayaka, and Kyoko have set themselves up for the coming battle, trailing sand in her wake like blood, you stand between her and the Adult Who Tells Lies. Argalia is at your side, the ever-present hum of his presence risen to a new intensity. His azure blue glow mingles with the shadowed emeralds that rise up in ridges encircling the ruined city street, casting up a faint aurora around the two of you. Blackened buildings form a perimeter around the rubble-filled clearing. Above, the scars left by your fight with Winchester stretch across the cityscape. An otherworldly glow trickles through the holes in the Emerald City's ceiling, providing an approximation of sunlight. Off to the right, a quarter ways up the wall of the Emerald City where its floor has pulled upward and closed off the horizon, you can see the aftermath of the Abnormality's battle with Isabeau. A titanic calcified structure, layers upon layers of frozen Grief-flesh forming a massive blooming flower, looms on the wall, reminding you exactly what force you are threatening. Across the rubble-filled clearing, the Adult Who Tells Lies stands up. You are reminded again of how truly massive the Aleph-class Abnormality is. Its head reaches just above the rooftops of the smaller houses that surround the arena. The emerald layers encrusting its body, running up its arms like gloves and over its torso and legs, look more like armor than the elegant garb you recognized them as at first. Their surfaces swallow up every trace of light that reaches them, barely shimming a murky green within their shadowed depths. At every edge and angle, it sharpens into a lethal blade. Unfiltered hate glows in the Abnormality's viridian eyes against its chalk-white face, which is now covered in a spiderweb of thin cracks extending from the side where Homura struck it. The air around it is thick and dark, forming a curling silhouette of cloudy shadow that brings further contrast to its glistening body. Feeling the way the air presses against you to mirror its undivided focus, you understand perfectly that in a straight, blow-for-blow fight, you have no chance of victory. Of course, a straight fight was never your plan.
You plant Justitia's sheathed blade into the ground in front of you, standing proudly before the Abnormality with an unbothered expression. Lamp hovers just over your shoulder, dim yellow glow overwriting the ominous light of the Emerald City. Sound of a Star lingers further back, tracing aimless patterns of silver in the air.
"Finally come to face me yourself? I suppose you must have gotten bored of watching your pawns die for you." the Abnormality muses. A hissing undertone joins its normally smooth and controlled voice as the only reflection of its damaged state. Only half your attention is available for its words. The rest of your focus is instead operating Lamp, sifting through the endless list of sins that the Adult Who Tells Lies has committed.
In opening the fight, you could have attacked with any weapon. Mimicry would have been more damaging, its sheer force unmatched by all but the truly unnatural weapons you possess, but that damage won't matter in the grand scheme of things. You need a larger advantage than that, and to that end you chose to begin with Justitia instead. The sword, joined with its partners Beak and Lamp, is not so much a weapon as it is a tool of the Black Forest. It's meant to judge a person's sins and deliver an adequate punishment upon them. Personally, you're less interested in the punishment and more interested in the process.
You mentally trawl through sin after sin, gathering what information you can in the process. You flick through the details of her fights with Homura and Isabeau, then further back. It's not a fast process, so you'll need to stall for time if you want to get to everything recent. Finding out where Sayaka's parents, and possible additional hostages, are being kept would be ideal. More information on the Emerald City's creation and the intent behind it would be helpful. For a creature so vile, you doubt a single one of its actions was motivated by something other than malevolence. Right now, that fact is very convenient for you.
The issue with stalling is Homura. You need to end things fast enough to wind her again, which puts you on a hard time limit of a few minutes. At the same time, you need to delay the fight long enough for her to get to a safe distance. You already signaled Mami over Kyubey's now-active telepathy network to intercept her, so they should be able to both get to safety and be in position soon. For anyone else, a balancing act of this nature would be practically impossible. You, on the other hand, have expertise like no other in manipulating the behavior of Abnormalities.
It's what you were made for.
"You say that, but I haven't incurred a single casualty since stepping into your city." you begin, remaining perfectly rigid in your posture. Argalia's eye flickers in surprise and then understanding, and he shifts from standing ready for combat to a more conversational posture. "I must admit, I had expected much worse. You even let Homura walk away. I thought for sure you'd try and finish her off."
"Finish her off? Oh, there's hardly anything left for me to finish off." the Abnormality jeers, rising to her feet. The motion is too fast, too fluid for anything that large. The ground behind it cracks and green light trickles out, spreading and hardening into layers and layers of jagged emerald that settle into another gargantuan throne. The Wizard does not sit down. "It's far more entertaining to watch her wither. It's a shame you won't last long enough to see it too."
"You're awfully confident for somebody who's been such an utter failure recently." Argalia muses, his scythe swinging back and forth and scoring lines into the pavement. The gleam of his eye curls playfully, contrasting the vitriol in his words.
"Failure?" the Adult repeats playfully. "Why, I haven't failed at all. My city remains intact, my plans remain unimpeded, and the remains of your little attempted coup are sitting just a few blocks over."
Argalia does not appear swayed by this logic. "That's the spirit! It's always important to keep a positive attitude when going through harsh times."
The Adult Who Tells Lies sneers and very pointedly turns her head away from Argalia to focus solely on you. "Today's sessions have been ever so productive and entertaining. It's truly tragic, darling, that we'll have to bring it to a close so soon. I'll make sure to leave that little wind-up doll of yours behind, though. Tell me, how long do you think it'll take her to tear out her own clockwork? Call me optimistic, but I don't think she'll make it to the next sunrise."
Your grip on Justitia tightens. "You're heavily underestimating my Agents if you believe that'll happen at all. Homura's stronger than you think- and stronger than she thinks, for that matter."
"Stronger than they think? That's precious, but strength alone isn't enough to prove oneself in my trails." the Wizard declares proudly. You stand at attention while mentally picking through the latest of its sins that you have fully identified. It details storing some people from Kamihama's borders somewhere as part of a backup plan of some sort, though the exact nature of that plan isn't relevant enough to the sin for you to see it. It's still a lead on where Sayaka's parents along with other hostages might be held, so you pursue it regardless.
Otherwise, you keep up the conversation. "Your trials. I wasn't fortunate enough to have you join me in the central Facility, so I'm afraid I only have second-hand accounts of how they function up until now. If what I faced on my way here was supposed to be a trial, then I'm afraid I was expecting much worse."
The Abnormality laughs, a hollow but jubilant noise that echoes through the air. You watch her step to one side and tear a crater in the ground under her feet in the shape of a footprint.
"Oh, you'll get to see soon enough. My tests always reveal such beautiful truths about people. Nothing you don't already know, I'm sure, but letting your dear Agents really confront themselves does them wonders." the Adult Who Tells Lies muses, its voice dripping with eager cruelty. That happiness sums when it tilts its head to see your uncaring expression.
"Tell me, then: how did they do? Do they pass or fail? I think we both already know the answer, but I would prefer you say it aloud."
"We find far more than merely success or failure, Manager dear." the Abnormality answers. You flick to the next sin in its list.
"And what have we found?" you press further, raising one eyebrow. You already know what each team you sent in faced thanks to a quick briefing, but giving the Adult Who Tells Lies excuses to talk about itself is a very simple way of stalling.
"What was always there, naturally. Loneliness, self-loathing, naivety… there are so many wonderful things to learn." the Abnormality answers. You can't deny that there's some truth to those words. It's right in all accounts, that those emotions do exist within the children you have taken under your care. You're not blind to how Kyoko is so quick to assume that something she's done has hurt her sisters. To how quickly Mami accepted your role as her new parent. To the stars in Sayaka's eyes as she looks at you. To Homura's… to Homura. To how she is like you in too many ways. But you would never consider those things to be who they are. Just like you wouldn't be right to take the worst things you've done as who you are.
Saying all that out loud, though, would break character. The last thing you want is for the Adult Who Tells Lies to decide you genuinely care for the kids outside of their roles. Fortunately you have Argalia here to answer for you.
"What a uselessly vague answer. Are you dodging the question because you're unhappy that all your tricks were useless?" he says, affable and polite as always. For his effort, the Adult turns her gaze from you to the Blue Reverberation for a moment. Her smile sours.
"I wouldn't be so quick to make that claim. After all, your little rescue mission didn't go quite according to plan, now did it?"
A flash of green light washes over the crater, leaving a thin frost of emerald over every surface it reaches. The layer thins in shadowed corners and thickens out in the open, but the result is the same no matter where you look. Everything in the vicinity has become a mass of rough, jagged green stone.
…everything, that is, except for you and Argalia and the ground a few meters around you. It's a spell that the Adult Who Tells Lies has used recently in her fight with Isabeau, so you've already seen it in your reviewing of her sins. It's a light-based curse that transmutes everything it touches into emerald. Simple, effective, and difficult to defend against. Fortunately, Lamp is a near-perfect counter to such a thing. Its properties don't allow any light other than its own within its radius. You normally thought of that feature as more cosmetic than anything else, but now it's found some use.
"It's true that I didn't predict everything that's come about today," you admit, finally taking on a smile. "but plans rarely ever go perfectly. While I can't claim I'm totally happy with the results, I can carry on with them easily enough."
"Oh? Even though your darling little superweapon has met with a terribly unfortunate accident?" the Abnormality jeers, hoping that Madoka's fate will strike you deeper than its words alone could. Again, you'll have to disappoint it.
"I never intended to use Madoka as a weapon. If anything, she was more eager to fight without my guidance. It was you who turned the people who chose to follow you into weapons, not me."
"It's just like I said." the Abnormality replies, its grin returning in full. "I simply show people who they truly are. If that makes them weapons, it's only because that's all they ever were."
"You keep talking about revealing truths, and all I can think is how disappointed I am that you weren't placed in my Facility. I'm sure you would have been excellent for training my Agents." you say, dismissing the Abnormality's ranting. You're not even lying. With the benefit of both Qliphoth Deterrence and the TT2 Protocol as a safety net, exploiting the poisoned gifts that Abnormalities love to give out is just a standard managerial practice. Under the current circumstances, without any of the normal protections in place, you wouldn't consider taking the same risks that you would've attempted then. You simply don't have enough control over the situation. Still, the reminder helps you meet the gaze of the Emerald City's ruler without hesitation.
"And I would've loved to be there. Oh yes, I had plenty to see back in that stuffy old place they kept me, but from what I hear all the real excitement happens under your attention." the Adult says. Her face has settled into a confident smirk, less overtly hostile than her earlier leer. You tilt your head to one side, face neutral.
"How much have you heard about my Facility? I doubt Angela was telling you anything back in the Library." Your former assistant may have some odd sympathy towards Abnormalities, what with her setting them up in their own little personal pockets of reality and the way you've heard her speak of them back before the Library formed, but you doubt she would ever strike up a conversation with one. Yourself excluded, of course.
"She might not have said a thing directly, but that little machine certainly didn't make it difficult for me. Your dear Agents have been borrowing my powers so carelessly, so I took the liberty of taking a peek at them." the Adult reveals. You repress a sigh. At least you'll have something to tease Angela over when this is done. If you recall, Nothing There was able to see through the Agents they lent their abilities to as well. At the time you had had other issues to deal with, though, so you hadn't given it much thought. It's not as if there are a lot of Abnormalities who can and would act on the information they got in that manner. The Wolf, maybe? They haven't breached yet, but you know they're smarter than they look. The Magical Girl Abnormalities wouldn't plan around anything they spied, and in their manic states they wouldn't have the capacity to. WhiteNight… would be a problem if One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds wasn't contained in the same floor. Though what information it does and doesn't have wouldn't matter if that thing actually got out. The Snow Queen, which you know is still breached out there somewhere, you're not sure on. It's an intelligent Abnormality, yes, but not a very proactive one.
"You're very forthcoming for an enemy." you note with a raised eyebrow. "Aren't you worried that I'll have that vulnerability closed up now?" Strategically speaking, it's not very sound to just tell people how you're spying on them. You'd suspect that the Adult was lying to throw you off-course if you didn't have an unrelated account to corroborate.
The Adult narrows its eyes. Its smile doesn't waver, instead thinning and sharpening into something more animal than human. "It hardly matters what gets back there now. I don't plan on ever going back."
"That's quite confident of you. Haven't you ever heard of always being prepared for failure?" Argalia replies. The Adult Who Tells Lies glares at him.
"Failure isn't acceptable at this point. I'd rather devote myself to the moment at hand fully instead of failing to truly commit to my victory." it says.
While the two stare each other down, you speak into the telepathy network. "Mami, can you see Homura? Is she outside the danger zone yet?"
"I see her, mom." Mami returns. She sounds breathless and tired even speaking in your mind. "She doesn't look well. I don't believe she's far enough yet."
That's an issue. You're still on a time limit, and you need to hurry. There's one more thing to stall for if it comes down to it, but Homura might not last that long. "Get her to safety. I'll try and draw the Abnormality away from you. Is the perimeter completed?"
"It is. I've used the majority of my reserves, though. Only one of the Grief Seeds I brought remains unspent."
"We'll gather more later." you assure her. Hunting Witches with so many people, many of whom don't even need the Grief Seeds, is easy with how many of them are flooding into Mitakihara recently. You take a step to the side and Argalia steps the opposite direction, slowly moving to encircle the Adult Who Tells Lies. "If nothing else, I can clean your Soul Gem manually."
"I'm on it." Mami says, and then hesitantly adds "I love you, mom."
You nearly stop moving. It takes conscious effort to keep the shock from showing on your face. When the Adult Who Tells Lies glances towards you, you're not sure if you even succeeded. That… what are you meant to do with that? What are you meant to say? How many times in your thousands of years of existence have you heard those words?
"I love you too."
But your eyes aren't on your daughter. You stare over a blasted-out crater sunken into a landscape of murky green crystal, your emotionless face and blood-tinged eyes reflected in every glint of light that catches against the smooth surfaces. You look past the jagged emerald knives rising up from the earth like flower petals, growing larger and larger in the distance until they mingle with the city skyline. You stare past the kaleidoscopic trickles of light falling through the weeping cracks in the Emerald City's ceiling. You stare into the center, where the Wizard stands before its gleaming throne and stares back at you with a wretched smile, and raise your sword.
"I think we've talked enough. Time for you to back up your words."
And with that declaration, you charge the Adult Who Tells Lies.
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Homura stumbled through the forest of crumbling buildings. With no more time to repair herself, her damage had only worsened. Her chest rattled with every step. Something had been crushed when the Abnormality grabbed her. Her left leg had lost all feeling below the knee and didn't bend properly anymore, turning her steps clumsy and slow. Her right arm was hanging limp from her shoulder. The hard porcelain shell that had served as her fake skin was broken in more places than it was intact, revealing the mangled gears underneath. It brought back memories buried by years and years of repetition, of when Homura's body was still frail and useless. Of when Homura was still frail and useless. Lying in bed alone, wondering every moment if she would die without warning. Homura knew exactly when she would die now. Ten minutes, thirteen seconds left. That was all that remained of her life.
It occurred to Homura that she didn't know how the other girls would react to her death. For as much of them as she had seen over her many attempts, this was unseen territory. It wasn't hard to imagine, though. Madoka would be- would've been. Madoka would've been devastated. She mourned everyone, whether they deserved it or not. But she would've moved on just as surely. It was just the way she was. No matter how deeply she cared, Madoka never succumbed to despair when she was hurt for it. She would have moved past Homura's death. Kyoko and Mami would likely mourn her too, especially considering they had been allies this time. They both formed attachments quickly. They both had each other, though, and that would be enough for them to go in with their lives. Sayaka would- would Sayaka care? They had always been set against each other in the past. The Sayaka of this timeline was oddly supportive of Homura, though. The points where she should've died had all passed safely, save for Walpurgisnacht's descent. It was bizarre. Somehow, Sayaka's hatred of Homura was the most consistent relationship she had. It never changed no matter how many loops Homura underwent or what she did.
Everything was different now. The cycle that Homura had lived under for so long was over, relinquished for a hope and a prayer that guttered and died the moment Madoka was killed for the last time. X had sworn that everything would be alright, but how? This was the end. At least for Homura, her story was over.
The mechanical girl stumbled into a clearing, nearly crashing against the ground in a messy clamor. She was caught, however, by a pair of bright golden ribbons wrapping around her body and keeping her aloft. Homura's head snapped up to see Mami standing over her with one hand extended, a horrified look on her face.
"Homura!" she cried. The ribbons lifted her up and set her back down on one of the smoother crystals protruding from the earth. Homura tried to push herself back up from the platform, but was immediately seized by a fit of coughing. Purple sand spilled from her wounds onto the ground, mingling with blood. She blinked and looked around. Who was bleeding? Was Mami hurt? Why wasn't she healing herself?
"Just stay there, I'll-" Mami's voice, already strained, faltered. "I'll get Sayaka. She'll help." Homura watched the older Magical Girl run out of the cleaning, occasionally glancing back at Homura. Why was she so panicked? Homur tried to sit up again to follow her, but her body refused to respond. She tried again to stand, but nothing. Only disorganized clicks and clangs answered her attempts at movement. Homura tried again, and this time she reflexively curled inward as she seized before letting out a horrible cough that wracked her entire body. Something cold and uncomfortably wet spilled out of her lips.
Seconds slipped away like grains of sand running through her fingers as Homura laid on the rock, still and alone. Would Mami be back before she stopped moving entirely? Homura checked her remaining time. She had nine- Eight? - Seven? - Eight minutes? It was hard to tell. She had been so precise just a moment ago.
Movement. Mami stepped back into the small clearing in the crystals. Homura couldn't make out the details, only the blurry shape of her soft yellow and brown uniform and the yellow-orange glimmer of her Soul Gem. Two blobs of color trailed behind her, one red and one blue. Kyoko and Sayaka, but they were even blurrier than Mami. Some odd texture was wrapped around them, shimmering and shifting and illuminated by something other than the eerie gloom of the Emerald City. All three moved into the open area in a disorganized rush.
"Homura! I brought help!" Mami leaned over the broken Distortion, concern written in her face even in Homura's failing vision.
"Holy shit, are you- No, that's a dumb question." Kyoko said. Her bravado was shaky and thin as she trailed after her sister, glancing back to the other Magical Girl behind her. "Sayaka, can you..?"
"I… I can try. I'm already pretty close to my limit, though." The fuzzy blue silhouette that must have been Sayaka pulled away from where it was standing, loosely leaning over Homura's wreckage. The words settled slowly, taking far too long to understand. But she understood enough. Sayaka couldn't waste the last of her magic here. Not on Homura, who was already dead.
"No." she rasped, just barely forcing the words past her lips. The exertion brought forth another fit of coughing, and another splatter of grainy purple and thick red stained the slab where Homura sat. The other three girls recoiled from the firmness of the word. Her eyes, failing at last, didn't catch their expressions. The fear, their concern, their care, were all lost in blurs of color and shape.
Kyoko was the fastest to recover. "Hey, none of that self-sacrificing bullshit. You're not gonna just lie down and die on our watch."
Why not? Madoka was dead. Homura wanted to scream. To cry out and tell them how Homura failed her. If they knew, then surely they would hate her for it they way they should have. She could've said it at any moment. But she didn't. X had told Homura that everything was going to be alright. That was a clear enough order, and Homura would not fail another mission. She would preserve the stability of the plan no matter what.
"No." Homura repeated, straining her body to try and sit up to eye level with the girls crowded around her. Again, it refused to move. Instead, she devoted her focus to turning only her head and fixing the healing inching towards her with a cold stare. "Don't waste your energy, Miki Sayaka."
"N-no, it's not that hard! I just might be a little tired is all, I can definitely-" Sayaka began. She didn't understand. It didn't matter how easy it was to repair Homura's body. It would still be a waste.
"It won't matter. Even if you repair my body, I will still not survive." Homura corrected.
"Then tell us what we need to do. There must be something we can do to help." Mami asked. She was always too naive, growing too easily attached. She didn't get it, none of them did. It wasn't a matter of possibility.
"The key!" Sayaka shouted suddenly. "I just remembered, Homura has that key that X sticks in the back of her neck! She just needs that to be wound up, right?"
"I… yes, I believe that's correct. But would the key even work for us? I can't recall X's exact explanation, but she was always consistent in performing the winding herself." Mami observed.
"Who cares? It's worth a shot. We just need the key."
Immediately, Homura pulled her key away from the three girls. The ribbon holding it was torn and dirty, but it still wrapped tightly around the untarnished winding key. Didn't they understand?
"That would be a waste. X has already decided that I will not be wound again. It would be a waste. The minutes I have remaining are already too much." Was that true? Homura didn't remember X saying it, but it made sense. X was a logical, goal-oriented person. She would have made the logical conclusion that Homura had worn out her usefulness. She didn't deserve more of other people's time, of their lives wasted on her.
The reaction was not what Homura expected. "She said WHAT?"
The air warmed in answer to Kyoko's sudden anger, becoming dry and thick with heat. A moment later the heat was smothered by a cool breeze washing it away.
"Hold on, that can't be right! There's no way X would do that!"
Kyoko turned and glares at Sayaka, not that Homura could see it. "What, you think Homura's just making things up?"
Before the disagreement could grow into a real argument, Mami cut in. Her gaze was stern but not yet harsh, the only sign of her uncertainty the moment's hesitation before she stepped forward.
"Homura," she began, voice oddly soft. "Did X actually tell you that she thought it would be a waste to keep you wound?"
"It's the most reasonable conclusion." Homura tried to explain. She finally manages to push herself up into a sitting position, braced against a pillar of emerald behind her. Its dim light silhouetted her mangled body. "I've failed. There's no reason for X to keep me around any longer. I don't deserve it."
"Did X say that?" Mami asked again.
"She didn't, but it's obvious to both of us. I-"
"I thought I said I didn't want to hear any more of that shit from you." Kyoko interrupted. "Whatever. Just get that key and we'll sort this out after you're not in danger of dropping dead any second."
Homura shoved the key further away. "No. You still don't understand. I can't let you use the key."
"Why not?" Sayaka asked.
"Winding the key drains your lifespan. Repairing myself once would take a year of life at this point. To refill my reserves would cost twenty-six years." Homura paused as the girls stepped back, exchanging nervous glances that her ruined eyes couldn't pick up. Quiet replaced the nervous chatter from moments ago. "That's why X would only ever wind me herself. As an Abnormality, her lifespan is infinite. Anyone else would lose too much."
The weight of Homura's words settled over the small clearing. Then, before she could react, Sayaka reached out and snatched Homura's key from the ribbon that held it. She inhaled deeply as Mami and Kyoko stared at her in shock.
"So do I need to do it all at once? I could spare ten years, but I'd rather just wait until X gets back to fill things up." She chuckled weakly, hands shaking as she held the key. Homura didn't understand. Sayaka? Why would Sayaka of all people choose to give up her life for Homura? Didn't she know how quickly Homura would waste whatever time she gave up?
"Wait." Kyoko said, placing a hand between Sayaka and Homura. "I should do it. You're still a newbie, I'm not lettin' you take the lead on something like this."
"If so, then I must take responsibility for this. I was the one who brought you into… into all this. I won't have either of you as the ones carrying this burden when I should be instead." Mami said solemnly. She was staring off into the distance as she spoke, focus drawn away by memories both recent and years old.
It was Sayaka who spoke up to contradict her. "Hey, we all chose this. You didn't make anyone's decisions for them. Besides, it's smartest for me to do it. With my healing, I'd probably have a longer lifespan in the first place, right?"
Mami didn't appear convinced. Homura watched the scene with detached, faded disbelief as the girls debated.
"Perhaps, but it could be just as likely that having your support would extend our lifespans as well. Now that I think of it- Would Sayaka's healing be able to restore expended time from somebody?"
"While I can't say for certain, it doesn't seem likely. Our current analysis is that Akemi Homura's ability to store and expend a person's lifespan is a representation of the process of engaging in a Contract to become a Magical Girl, which converts one's Karmic Potential into magical ability. Without the ability to directly interact with one's remaining lifespan on a conceptual level, restoring what's given away would be totally impossible based on this model."
Sayaka and Kyoko both made half-aborted glances around the pocket of the Emerald City they were hidden in, wondering if the speaker was watching them somewhere. Homura would have joined their search but was too stunned by the saccharine sound of the Incubator's voice.
"Great. So now that that's out, what's the plan?" Kyoko said.
"…I suppose it would be most fair to divide the time evenly between the three of us? That way none of us are losing too much." Mami concluded. The other two nodded while Homura stared in shock.
"Nine years each, then? Alright, now Homura just needs to-"
The mechanical girl leaned forward, her gaze no longer holding to the girls standing in front of her. She let out a choking cough, though nothing new spilled from her throat. A single tear, nearly invisible against the dust and sand and blood, rolled down her cheek and landed in the dirt. Another followed, and then another, and quickly tears were streaming down her face and carving trails through the dust. Another cough wracked Homura's body, forcing her to lean further forward. She couldn't move enough to sit back up straight. Three people cried out at once, but the voices sounded distant and muffled to Homura. She felt numb. Everything was too far away, too blurry and indistinct to make out. Finally, she fell forward.
Something cool and clean flooded Homura's body as hands seized her and hauled her back up onto the chunk of rock. A soft, gentle touch, something warm and bright, wove through her and pulled her back together. Clockwork set itself back into place and porcelain molded over it. Fabric wove back over- into- the false skin, restoring the impression that Homura was human. Awareness flooded back into her and she looked up to see Sayaka's face, clammy with sweat and eyes wide in with panic.
"Are you okay? Did it work? Say something, I-" The other Magical Girl stammered, out of breath. With her eyes repaired Homura can see the ways Sayaka looked changed. Her typical Magical Girl uniform now sported spots of bright silver armoring, dented and scratched but still shining. Her cape had become a hooded cloak that moved more like water than fabric, its lining reminding her of seafoam. More shocking was the patches of scales dotting her exposed skin. But what took Homura most by surprise was the mix fear and half-formed relief on the Magical Girl's face.
Another year rolled down Homura's face and fell to the ground. "I don't get it. Why?" she managed to say past the next choking cough. "Why are you trying so hard?"
"Why wouldn't we?" Mami answers, perplexed.
"I don't matter. Not to you, not at all. I was never-" Another fit of coughing cut her off. Homura nearly fell forward again, only to find Kyoko's hand holding her up. "I was never good for anything as a Magical Girl. I couldn't help anyone when we fought together. I couldn't fight on my own. I'm not brave, or strong, or smart, or-"
"Okay, I've heard just about enough of that." Kyoko said. Her voice was low and simmering with anger. Homura felt a wave of heat roll over her as the red-haired girl laid her hands on Homura's shoulders. "Not strong? Not brave? Not smart? What the fuck are you saying? I guess ya managed to miss it somehow, but you're one of the strongest people I know. D'you think I'd've been able to handle however many years it was living the same days over and over again?"
"I was only doing what I had to. And it didn't matter in the end. I always failed." Homura replied. Her normally cold and restrained tone was now choked by sobs and coughs.
"And so you believe that you are weak because of it?" Mami asked. "While I know that, taking all things into consideration, you have been a Magical Girl for longer than I have, I have still met many Magical Girls in my time. You are without a doubt one of the strongest I have ever met."
Sayaka spoke up next, looking embarrassed but still oddly genuine. "I know we didn't get off on the right foot. I might've judged you a bit too quickly just 'cause you were all quiet and broody." When Mami and Kyoko fixed her with a pair of disapproving stares, she quickly continued. "But I was wrong, okay? You're not exactly a classic magical girl, but you're pretty cool in your own way and you obviously care about us. And we care about you too, alright? You're our friend. We aren't just gonna leave you hanging here. You've just gotta let us help you."
Homura stared at Sayaka, tears still marking lines down her face. Then, without another word, she leaned down and brushed her hair out of the way of the keyhole on the back of her neck. Sayaka reached forward, key in hand. She moved slowly at first, uncertain as to what would happen. Then, all at once, she shoved the key into its slot.
Like Homura had said to X before, the process of being wound had no particular feeling. Other than the awareness of time flowing back into her, refilling her depleted reserves, there was nothing but the sound of clockwork moving with each turn of the key. When a third of her stores were filled, she raised a hand and Sayaka pulled the key back.
Mami took the key next. She spoke as she placed it into its keyhole and turned it slowly. "I have to apologize too, Homura. I was premature in my judgement of you when we first met. If X hadn't convinced me to work with you, I would have one less friend today. Even if we didn't speak often, it was nice to have another veteran Magical Girl around. I wish we spent more time together."
"You taught me how to shoot. It was years ago, when I started using firearms." Homura admitted despite not really knowing why. But seeing the way Mami's face lit up, it felt like the right decision. Homura hadn't felt that way in a long time.
A comfortable quiet settled over the four of them before Mami's turn finished. She handed the key to Kyoko, who placed it into its slot without any hesitation or ceremony but stopped short of turning it.
"If we're really doing this touchy-feely crap, then I-". She sighed, then turned the key. It was less careful than Sayaka or Mami had been, not that it made any difference to Homura. "Homura, I think I- I don't know what it was like for you. Being a Distortion, I mean. It wasn't the best for me." She laughed, though the sound was hollow and empty of humor. "But it was a little easier not being the only one, y'know? Not being like that alone. McKinnley and Argalia were there too, I guess, but I don't really know them. I'm glad that I got to know you."
Mami and Sayaka reach out, but Kyoko waves them away. "No getting all mopey about it now, alright? I got better, after all." A second laugh followed, lighter and more genuine. "So you'd better keep up, alright? I'm gonna feel bad otherwise."
A soft click echoed through the air, signaling Homura's reserves being completely refilled. Her ribbon retrieved the key from Kyoko, who stepped back and Homura got back on her feet.
"So we're all down a bunch of years of our life now, right? I don't really feel any different." Sayaka observed. Unfortunately, Homura didn't know any more than her regarding what was supposed to happen. X had always been the one to wind her, and her endless lifespan left her totally unaffected by process. Before any further questioning could begin, the Incubator's voice rang out again.
"You should hurry. Your preparations need to be completed and you need to get into position before X moves to the next stage of the strategy." it said, bizarrely helpful for the second time that day.
"Right," Mami agreed, though her voice held an undisguised bitterness towards the Incubator after everything that had been revealed about it. "We need to finish establishing the perimeter around the battlefield."
"Alright! Let's get to saving Madoka!" Sayaka cheered. Homura was taken back immediately to the one fact that she couldn't forget. No matter what encouragement the others gave, she had still failed. She had watched Madoka die, again. But it no longer held the same inescapable weight it had before. Maybe Homura had failed to save Madoka again, but maybe not. X had promised her that everything would be fine. Mami, Kyoko and Sayaka, were working towards a new plan X had set into place. Argalia and Leonie, the other Distortions, were following along as well. All of them had hope that Madoka could be saved.
Madoka would've hoped too. If it had been Homura instead of her.
So maybe Homura would have hope as well. No matter how impossible it seemed.
"Yes. Let's go save her together." she said, smiling in a way she hadn't in what felt like years.
And then she blacked out.
—————————
Far away from where the children are huddled, the battle rages on. The ground peels up toward you as a wave of grasping fingers shaped out of earth, and you dig Mimicry's point into the wave and lever yourself up over it. At the apex of your leap, a row of grinning emerald skulls fly through the air to intercept you. Gunfire cracks as the soldiers you've positioned on nearby rooftops fire and turn the skulls to splinters of false bone. The clouds of black smog that pour out burn your skin as you soar through them before you swing one of your swords and disperse them. Your own rifle appears in your hands as your feet hit the ground, finger already on the trigger and firing at the Adult Who Tells Lies. She doesn't flinch as the rounds impact her body and waves a hand to call up another spell. Across the battlefield, Argalia swings his scythe in wild arcs to cut down the layers of magic boxing him in. Thanks to the perimeter the others have set up, none of the Wizard's forces have been able to reach the battle. It's only you, Argalia, and the Adult Who Tells Lies, and none of you have survived unscathed. The Adult Who Tells Lies' skin is dotted with cracks and missing a few small chunks. Argalia's fabric-flesh is frayed and unraveling in places, leaking cold blue light and white smoke. Every movement sends fresh jolts of pain through your unhealed wounds. Half a dozen curses press against you, weighing on your body and rotting you from the inside out. Sound of a Star's light burns behind you, repairing the damage as quickly as it's made. You and Argalia can keep up, but this is a losing battle. Neither of you can take as much punishment as the Aleph-class Abnormality. Argalia's abilities have turned away the Wizard's more direct attacks and they've been focusing more on disabling you than actually going for lethal attacks, but you're still both being worn down. If you're going to be in good enough condition to act when the time comes, it needs to come soon.
"X," Mami calls out in your head. Her voice is strained but steady. "Homura's unconscious. What should we do?"
Unconscious? You didn't even know that was possible for her. If her body isn't rewinding itself any more, she must be either extremely short on time or…
There's no use in considering that possibility. You recall Homura's state when she first Distorted, after the fight with Nothing There. She had been unconscious then, only waking up after you rewound her for the first time. So it's something she's capable of and that can be recovered from at the very least.
"I'll fix it when I get back. Just keep her stable until then. Are you to a safe distance?"
"…Yes. We're all in position." You can practically hear the moment Mami sets aside whatever hesitation she still has. There's no more room to hesitate now.
"Kyoko, how are you feeling?"
"Free to fire any time!" You can practically hear the wide grin and crackling flames along with your younger daughter's voice. Everything is proceeding as planned so far.
"Then be ready." you command, flinging a spear of red light toward your opponent. The Abnormality easily bats it aside. Another row of spears appears in the air around you and fires to similar effect. Still, you stand your ground. It's nearly done now.
"I believe I've seen enough. My original judgement of you was incorrect." you declare, drawing Beak for what feels like the first time. The pistol is compact, simple, plain white but for the splotch of red around the barrel too bright and clean and uniform to be a bloodstain. You haven't found much use for Punishing Bird's weapon in the time you've carried it, not aligning well enough with its innate property to use it to its full potential. But circumstances have recently changed.
"Judgement? Does the high and mighty manager see fit to pass judgement on me now?"
Beak's normal ability is to deal more damage depending on how much the target "deserves" to be hurt. Against the opponents you've been facing, this isn't of much use. Enemy Magical Girls have always been victims of circumstance. Witches are practically animals, you've picked more than one apart to see how it works and found only tangled traces of human thought. They're just acting on impulse, and they need to be stopped from hurting people with whatever means necessary. You could ascribe blame if you wanted to, but you don't. Abnormalities are maybe even worse off, because even animals can learn. It gets murky with Abnormalities with more humanoid thought process, but even the vilest of them are still beholden to their nature. Even if they have free will and are responsible for their own choices, you can't align that so well with the idea of deserving to be punished. All that aside, even if you could make Beak work to its fullest extent it's the lowest-rank EGO weapon you have by a wide margin. There aren't a lot of situations where it's your best option.
"I believe that you're a failure and disappointment in every sense." you deliver with all the cold conviction of your first life, and pull the trigger.
The three weapons of the Abnormalities that make up Apocalypse Bird are meant to work together. Justitia confirms a person's sins, Lamp explores them, and Beak punishes them. And even if you don't have much desire to make evildoers suffer, you do know full well that punishment is necessary to prevent any more sins from being committed.
The Adult Who Tells Lies' body cracks. You pull the trigger again and again, delivering the requisite punishment for each of the sins you've looked over. The cracks spread further, ruining the illusion of humanity that the Wizard is wrapped in. Her skin fractures and chips away in spots, revealing more jagged and misshapen crystal underneath. The Adult hisses and shrinks back, fixing her venomous glare solely on you. Behind her, Argalia cuts away the last remnants of her attacks and pauses, careful not to draw the monster's attention back to him.
"Your tests are an utter farce. Your city is a hollow husk. You have lost every ally you had gathered, two of which chose to join me. You have set a new record of the number of EGO manifestations in a single conflict- three within a single hour when I can count the number of total personal manifestations on my hands." you berate. No emotion fuels your words. No pride or superiority to raise you further up. No anger or spite coloring your judgement. No angle or aim guiding your words. You allow only the callous dismissal of Lobotomy Corporation's founder.
You do wonder if she'll notice the detail you let slip. Even if she does, there's no way to act on the information- and no way to know what it means in the same way you do.
"Those aren't failures." the Adult growls. The amused, reserved mask she had worn is shattered into irreparable pieces along with her body. The vitriol in those three words is so thick and heavy that you think it might have smothered a regular person just hearing it. "They never mattered. None of it did. All those things you've listed were disposable. They've served their purpose."
"Then you have failed on another level entirely." You walk slowly to one side, circling around the Wizard with your gun raised. Neither of you strikes, not yet. "You could have cared about these things, about these people. They mattered whether you acknowledge it or not. The fact that you did not is a failure in itself. It's why you will always remain as you are."
"I am-" she begins, but you cut the Abnormality off before she can say anything more. The Emerald City shakes and a horrible, groaning roar echoes through the air. The monolithic buildings lining the city's inside loom over the battlefield, looking from where you stand almost like they're leaning over you. No, it's not that- they are leaning over you. The whole Emerald City is shifting towards you, creaking and groaning as its foundations are bent inward. You push the sight out of your mind. This is what you wanted.
"You are an Abnormality. That's it. You are not a ruler or a schemer or whatever else you think you are. You are exactly what you were made to be, and that is a thing meant to sit in a box and charge batteries." you say. You stop walking just a few steps in front of Argalia, the Color Fixer's unnatural gleam shiny from behind and casting you in a thin shadow. Fragments of Light swirl invisible in your hand, ready to take shape. "And you will never be anything other than that. Not because you cannot, but because you will not. Because you will always choose to be what you are rather than than to be better."
"And I suppose you're so much better than me? You're an Abnormality too, in case you've forgotten. Every one of those things you claimed- you're just as guilty of!" The Adult's words trail off in into a burst of manic laughter, mockery and malice twisted together in equal parts. You have no doubt that not long ago, those words would have stung. Not enough to stop you, of course. You would have buried the hurt like all the rest and moved on, and it would have sat with you and ate away at your hope from the inside for all the days that came after. Now, they're just meaningless words.
"Are you completely prepared, Kyoko?"
"Yeah, just say the word and I'll go!"
"I'll find out just how different we are in time. Unfortunately, you won't be there to see it. You're done." you declare, and the creaking of the world pauses just for a moment as your decree settles in. Then the moment of silence is shattered by a horrible, howling scream.
The world goes dark. The Wizard's eyes gleam in the expanse of black as something vile masses above her. It pulses and shifts, somewhere between meat and fluid, dripping and folding into itself and bit by bit hardening into a writhing mess of jagged edges. The whole Emerald City leans gently toward it, trapped in its awful gravity. This is the power that made that city, you know. This is the force that could turn a place once called home by millions of people into a hollow necropolis. This is the Wizard's hate shown in full as it has been before, and it is exactly what you were waiting for.
"Go. Do it now." you order, and Kyoko obeys without hesitation.
———
Far in the distance, the monsters of the Emerald City lie tangled in an intricate web of golden ribbons. Kyoko's fire, channeled through Mami's magic, drains away from them. The flames are pulled from across the city, concentrating into a single point. It settles into the familiar shape of a spear and hardens in Kyoko's hands. From her vantage point atop a nearby building the Wizard is a single spot of green in the blackened cityscape. An easy target.
As she hurls the javelin forward, Kyoko takes a moment to think. In some twisted way, she's grateful to the monster in front of her. If it wasn't for that thing… she'd never have gotten to be like this. This warmth. This weight, lifted off of her shoulders. Maybe she should be saying thank you.
Eh. On the other hand, there were much better people to thank. There was only one sort of message Kyoko wanted to send to that thing.
———
The missile streaks across the city skyline, a pure white comet trailing swirls of red and orange and yellow in its wake. Kyoko falls backward, her EGO gear shattering for the second time that day. It's only for a moment, though, before two pairs of arms catch her. Mami and Sayaka hold her up just long enough for Kyoko to fight the wave of exhaustion dragging her to the floor. She stands there, panting and leaning against them in her borrowed sleepwear, but smiling as she watches the false sunrise in the distance.
Kyoko's spear hits the Adult Who Tells Lies and erupts in front of you. You feel the absorbed heat explode outward along with a white-hot flash that melts the ground into a soup of liquid crystal. Argalia steps in front of you and raises his coat between you and the explosion, sheltering you from the burning air and searing fires. Then, in barely the space of a single breath, the heat starts to fade and the Distorted Fixer pulls back. His scythe catches under your foot and flings you forward through the remnants of the explosion towards the still-reeling Wizard. Justitia forms in your hand and melts away in the same motion. Its bandages fall away and reveal the nothing under them, darkness first spilling out from the forming gaps and then erupting out and overwhelming the raging fire. Twilight forms in your hands for a second time, a gaping empty column of dark filled with gold-ringed eyes. It trails through the air as you move in a creeping stream leading up from where you stood to the emerald-hued Abnormality looming over you.
In a few short steps, you close the gap and hurtle through the air towards your enemy. The sound of Twilight in your hands cutting through the air reminds you of the Beast's roars. Every moment you hold it it feels just a little heavier. You'll have enough energy for two swings, but after that you'll have nothing left. No strength to respond to any failsafes the Abnormality might have set up, no way to clean up the loose ends. No, you can only afford a single strike.
The weapon moves in a clean horizontal arc and bites into the Adult's side. It sinks into the cracks you formed throughout the fight and then further through them, howling as it moves. Her eyes snap down to you, furious but too slow to respond. Too committed to her assault to defend herself, too stunned by Kyoko's surprise attack to retaliate. All she can do is watch as Twilight sinks further through her body. All you can do is push further as the sword tears further and further. It feels like it takes an eternity to part the crystal flesh and through to the other side. Minutes or hours or even days of cutting with a weapon growing heavier and slower with every breath. But then all at once, with one final wrenching motion, the blade tears free from the other side of the Adult's body. A horizon of black spreads out behind the Abnormality's body, slicing through her arm on the other side and casting out a spray of emerald shards like splattering blood.
You land unsteadily, Twilight still rippling in your hands. Behind you, the Adult Who Tells Lies, the false Wizard of Oz, the ruler of the Emerald City, falls with you in pieces. Its lower body tumbles over and breaks into shard while its torso crashes to the ground and cracks. You turn and watch the twin pinpricks of emerald light in its eyes, still fixed hatefully in you, slowly fading.
"Argalia?" You call over breathlessly. "Would you mind making sure our friend here stays down? I'd do it myself, but I'd rather not exert myself again so quickly."
"It would be my pleasure. I've got some choice words for the one who took the care of bringing me back to the world of the living." he replies, obligingly stepping forward with his scythe raised. Your gaze doesn't leave the Adult's shattered body. The Sapling hasn't appeared yet, so it must not be completely dead. You aren't letting your guard down for a moment until you're absolutely certain that this is over.
"Mami, Kyoko, Sayaka, how are you? How is Homura?" you ask.
"Feelin' a little tired, but other than that I'm all good!" Kyoko answers. She sounds more than just a little tired. Two EGO manifestations in one hour obviously has some consequences.
"Homura's still asleep, but she looks better than she did a couple minutes ago." Sayaka adds. You sigh in relief. As long as she remains stable, you can handle everything afterwards.
"In that case-"
You don't get to finish.
As Argalia raises his scythe, shining an eerie electric blue and trailing a swirling pattern behind it, the Adult Who Tells Lies' body lights up. Not with the usual sickly glow of its magic, but with light. The Light. Your Light. Argalia brings the scythe down a moment too slowly. A familiar glow explodes from the Abnormality's corpse, catching you halfway through raising Twilight and encasing your body in a thick block of emerald, leaving only your head and one of your arms free. Argalia is thrown back and caught by a mass of grasping shadowy hands. The Adult pushes herself up first with her intact arm, then further as her missing body parts are filled in by a bright green glow expanding from the gaps and stumps left behind. She rises to her newly-hardening feet, the regenerated parts distinguished from her original body by their smooth surface and curling silver filigree. This isn't the Wizard's crystal at all, but it is something you have seen before. Just the same way you've seen the murky shadows already forming a film over the surface of the Adult's new body.
"Kyubey." you begin, voice flat and empty. "Why did the Abnormality I was just fighting suddenly repair itself with a Soul Gem?"
The material is the same. The way it fills with Grief is the same. But how? Setting aside that a Contract would require the Incubators' assistance, wha you know about the process of becoming a Magical Girl doesn't align with the structure of an Abnormality. Extracting and crystallizing the soul would be impossible for something that doesn't have a soul in the first place. So what's going on?
"It appears to be a system we found while Tomoe Mami was dismantling traps in the Emerald City near the court which produces Soul Gem material and through a reverse reaction of burning gathered Grief by exposing it to Light. It was assumed that it had been rendered nonfunctional, so I hadn't planned on discussing it until you were more available. The system is actually quite fascinating." the Incubator replies.
"Great. What is it doing now?"
The Adult Who Tells Lies stalks across the shattered battlefield to where you are imprisoned. She takes a moment to glance over to Argalia, pausing her march to consider dealing with him first instead, but the flicker of hesitation ends as quickly as it arrived and she turns back towards you with a broad, sharp smile.
"The system's intended function was to use prepared receptacles as artificial Soul Gems in a reversed reaction that would eventually swallow the whole universe. The process of burning Grief with your Light results in a reaction similar to the conversion of karmic potential into magical energy. The Barrier that the Emerald City was built in would be burned up and is shaped to collapse outward, absorbing nearby Barriers to continue to fuel itself. At this volume, the Abnormality can functionally grant itself small Wishes." the Incubator says, chipper and unbothered as always despite the horrible implications of what it's claiming. "The Soul Gem material produced is abnormal, since it was formed from a process I've never seen before, but it appears to function just like a regular Soul Gem. Since there's no Contractee soul incorporated into it, the Abnormality must be using a substitute of some kind."
"So it'll be more fragile than the Abnormality's body is normally. Did you manage to interfere with it at all?" you ask, glaring back at the Wizard. The fight might not be over, but you still have enough left in you. And more importantly, you can feel something else coming. A new presence somewhere above the battlefield, slowly forming while the Adult Who Tells Lies is focused on you.
"The reaction is still happening, but it's too slow to perpetuate itself. If you force it to keep using that ability, it'll burn out and collapse. Plus, it's really inefficient and can't grant anything beyond extremely simple Wishes towards itself, so don't worry about that."
"Good to know. Expect to have to talk about this later." You relay Kyubey's explanation over the telepathy network and make a few performative struggles against the crystal encasing you. The Wizard's smile widens at the futile gesture.
"Now that was clever, I will admit. You almost managed to trick me." Almost? You baited her and she fell for it completely. You shoot the Adult an unimpressed stare. "You should be proud. It's rare for anyone to be able to compete with me, let alone to find themselves ahead even for a moment. But you overplayed your hand."
A joyous, chilling laugh spills from the Abnormality's mouth and echoes across the husk of the city. "Oh, that fury? That fire? That protective rage? I should've known from the beginning!" Her laughter continues. "You care about them, don't you? You actually care."
Your eyes narrow, and your next attempt to shatter the bindings around you contains more force than is strictly necessary. "What are you implying?"
"Those dear little agents of yours- they actually matter to you! Oh, if only I'd known sooner…" Her cackling trails off. The Wizard's gaze is no longer fixed on you. She stares off into the distance, imagining something vile with a jubilant grin. "But there's still time! And how wonderful, they're all still mostly intact! Ah, there's so much to do… Tell me, how should I start? Should I make them kill each other? Or kill themselves in front of each other? We have plenty of time to experiment!"
"You don't have any time at all." you state, only cold fury in your voice. You aren't going to sit by and allow those under your protection be hurt. Not by some jumped-up illusionist with delusions of grandeur. Not by an Abnormality that should have been your responsibility from the beginning. And thankfully, you won't have to.
"That threat would mean a lot more coming from somebody who had more than one usable limb." the Adult teases, leaning over you.
"And your threat would mean a lot more coming from somebody who can count." you spit back. The Abnormality's jubilation is pushed back by confusion for a moment as it tries to decipher your reply.
"Count? What do you mean-" Her face is once again devoid of amusement as she realizes. "You said three. Who was the-"
But it's much too late for what you've said to be of any use to her. The sky splits open, and light rains from the heavens.
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Porccubus' Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Schadenfreude's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
CENSORED's Sapling - Observation Level EXPUNGED/REDACTED
———————————————
Mark of Qliphoth - Samael Active
