Behold the Unfluff!
She stands among the ruins on the ground in front of you, directly below the path of your circuitous patrol as you fly above the downtown area of the latest small-city-turned-warzone; a magical girl, in her transformed state.
Curious but cautious, you land a dozen yards or so away from her and proceed forward on ground, skirting around the remains of a storefront that had collapsed into the street. As you get closer, you're brought to a halt by the expression on her face. The tears of sorrow streaming down her cheeks are a stark contrast to the expression of utter fury in her eyes.
You speak up, "Hello...? Do you need help?", and her face twists to add hate to the myriad of emotions. When she finally begins speaking, it's a perfectly controlled tone despite the passion you're sure she's experiencing.
"I am Magical Girl Dream Heart. I'm here to make you pay for your crime." The flicker of confusion you feel must have shown on your face, because what little control the girl has over her emotions snaps like a spider's thread. "You don't even care about what you did, do you?! I saw it in my dreams! She saved your life, and you
killed her! Candy... Candy's dead." She trails off, head bowed and shoulders shaking in restrained sorrow.
You barely notice, too busy reeling from the strike of her words. As you attempt to regather yourself, your response comes out halting and jumbled. "N-no... there was a demon and sh- the Goddess Red turned her into a- she, I didn't have-"
"No," she interrupts, raising her head and once more staring at you with unbound loathing. "It's your fault, and I am going to deliver justice! You're going to suffer like I am. And then I'll make sure that you can't do this to anybody else, ever again." With that, she pulls an ornate, disc-like weapon from her belt, and you tense, shifting into a stance more conducive to evasion.
However, instead of bringing it to bear to throw at you as expected, she holds it in front of herself with both hands, as if to ward off approaching evil. Then she announces loudly to the heavens, "Nightmare Circus!" and a pulse of golden energy suddenly erupts from her in all directions. Panicking, you immediately take to the air and advance in the opposite direction, but it's rapidly outpacing you.
It's too fast- there's no cover- you need to brace yourself- it's here-
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
You're woken by a light jostling. Drowsily, you raise you head to see that you're being carried piggyback through the ruins of the battlefield by Rei.
"Finally awake, sleeping beauty?" she turns her head to grin back at you. "What made you think that this wasted crater of a town was a good place to take a nap? Out in the open, even."
As you attempt to rub the daze out of your eyes, you answer, "There was a magical girl on my route, she..."
Your fault.
"She...?" Rei prods, but you're too busy scanning the area for the source of the whisper to finish the thought. Instead, "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
The response comes in the form of deep, rumbling growls emanating from the building ruins around you, followed by demon soldiers crawling out of every nook and cranny large enough to contain them. Enough pour out that you begin to wonder where they're all coming from, and how you hadn't managed to notice what's effectively a small army surrounding you.
There are so many demons around you, it's... actually, it's kind of underwhelming compared to the shit you've had to deal with. Not to mention the fact that you have a god in the flesh in your company. As you climb off her back and take position for combat, you glance at her and confirm that there is indeed a less-than-impressed expression on her face. "There is no possible way that this is premeditated," she announces. "It has to be a happy accident for them. There are so many things wrong with this plan that... just... You know what? Why don't you just use this to get some combat experience, Nep? I'll sit this one out and bail you out if one of these mooks somehow gets a lucky hit in." And with that, she unceremoniously flops onto the immediate pile of relatively smooth rubble.
... Right. Time for crowd control, you suppose. Or mass slaughter, if that particular wording is socially acceptable as long as it's demons. You turn to face the crowd and heft your Purifier Beam from your back, drawing it back in preparation for the longest sweep you can possibly make. "
Celestial Severance!" As your swing bisects the crowd, the growth of your power is obvious. The first time you used this spell, you were only able to remove limbs at best, not-
As you're completing the arc of your swing, you suddenly hear a wet thud, accompanied by resistance like you've never felt before while swinging Celestial Severance. You turn to see your blade three-quarters of the way through Rei's chest, having pierced from the side and removing her right arm completely in the process. Her spine severed, the only thing holding her together is a few inches of flesh.
Rei looks down in incomprehension, then back at you and attempts to speak, though she fails due to separation from her lungs and the blood in her throat. Still, you're close enough to read her lips despite the liquid flowing freely and staining them crimson.
Ana-? Her eyes finally glaze over, and you watch in dread as she slips backward off of her perch and collapses to the ground, your Purifier Beam still embedded in her torso, tugged from your slack grip.
You stand there for a few seconds, blind to what's left of the swarm of demons around you, numb with shock. How? How could this possibly happen?! It makes no sense! Rei's faced opponents tens of hundreds of times stronger than you without so much as a scratch!
... This can't be real. It's not real. This isn't happening. You'll wake up and Rei will be fine and please, please be a dream a nightmare YOU CAN'T LOSE ANOTHER SIS-
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
You jerk awake, and realize you're restrained to a seat. You panic for a moment, before realizing that what's holding you is merely the straps of a helicopter seat. The muted flutter of the blades heard above you and the occasional jostling of turbulence indicates that you're currently mid-transit. As you process your surroundings, relief floods you; it was just a nightmare. A horrible, horrible nightmare.
The rest of team GEAR are strapped in around you. The males are deeply engrossed in a conversation about the merits of boxers. Gabriel seems to be catatonic in her seat. Weird. You let the friendly, if somewhat intense debate calm you down, your heart rate slowing back to a slow and steady beat. Seven minutes later they've thoroughly discussed how snuggly they are and how they catch balls, and you still can't tell whether they're talking about the dogs, the underwear, or the sportsmen. God willing it's dogs, because there are less traumatizing ways to stumble upon your team's orientation, and you don't want to believe they would discuss men's private matters with a teenage girl sleeping nearby.
Micheal finally notices your conscious state and announces, "Our glorious leader awakens!", drawing the others' attention to you.
You blush lightly, and grumble out, "Sorry, I haven't been sleeping well lately... Um, where are we headed again?"
James chuckles good-naturedly. "Pretty out of it today, aren't you? Carnage wrecked the face of an army that was raiding and pillaging a city. Lord knows why they were doing it. Base sent us off to help her pick off the stragglers." Ah, that's right. And that's what your dream had been about, before the magical girl. Jeez, the day hasn't even started and you already want it to be over.
The pilot calls out to get your attention, "Alright, we're above our destination, tell me where you want... Whoa." Curiosity piqued, all of Team Gear unstraps and makes way to the nearest windows. Below you, hundreds of demons have gathered into a street, with more pouring out of the ruins every moment... it's an uncomfortably familiar scene.
Samael whistles appreciatively. "Damn. And that's just what left of them. They don't call Carnage an army killer for nothing." That prompts you into action; you snatch the radio from Micheal's belt.
"How do I- Carnage! Are you in range? Where are you?"
It's a few seconds before a response comes, accompanied by stereotypical radio static. "Solid Core? I'm skimming the outskirts right now."
You bite your lip. It'll take a while for her to cross that kind of distance, and though it's unlikely, there might still be living civilians in the area. Grimacing, you make a decision. "They've gathered downtown, I'll buy time until until you get here." With that, you toss the radio back at Micheal, then make your way to the hatch, and throw it open wide.
"Nepgear? What the hell..." What ever he said after that is lost to the wind as you leap out and begin your freefall. You transform in midair, tilting your wings to slow the fall, though only just enough to blunt the impact of slamming into the ground. You absorb the rest the momentum by bending at the knees, and finally come to a full stop in a crouching position. You take a half a moment to savor how badass that probably looked, before finally straightening up to a stand.
"Miss Boheart!" You look to the sky behind you just in time to see Gabriel mimic your previous action, colliding with the ground agilely, massive feathered wings flared behind her and glowing with ethereal light. Around her, loosed feathers drift to the ground, then shatter into nothingness like phantom glass. She looks up to see your pouting face. "...What?"
That isn't fair. Angel wings are so much more majestic than... what would your wings even be called? Rounded triangle wings? Energy moth wings? Lame. "Nothing," you deflect, turning away from a visibly perplexed Gabriel to assess your surroundings.
You've landed about a hundred yards from the nearest demon in the mass of violence and filth. Keeping distance and picking off from afar would probably be best, at least until Carnage arrives. The inaccuracy caused by long range won't really be a problem as long as they stay grouped up like that; after the initial vertical adjustment, you'd have to be trying to miss. And as long as caution is taken not to stray from the straight of the road, no civvies potentially hiding in the surrounding buildings will be caught up in friendly fire.
Course of action decided, you heft your weapon, pull the trigger, and start carving through the demon horde with an unending violet beam, slowly oscillating back and forth to spread the damage along the entire front. As you work, your eye drifting across the regained ground littered with fresh demon corpses, morbidly curious whether or not you'll spot the remains of victims, your gaze lands upon something that shocks you to stillness; an impossibly familiar pile of relatively smooth rubble, splattered with blood.
You're close enough to read her lips despite the liquid flowing freely and staining them crimson. Ana-? Her eyes finally glaze over, and you watch in dread as she slips backward off-
"Ana!" The exclamation jolts you from recollection, and your white-handed grip slackens enough to release the trigger, allowing the laser to taper off and cease. You turn to find that Team GEAR has finally caught up to you. "Starting the party without us, Nepgear?" There's a manly pout on James's face, "I thought we were friends." You open your mouth to retort-
Your fault.
The disembodied whisper sends a chill down your spine, and your eyes widen in panic. Your mouth snaps shut without you uttering a word. You decide that this battle needs to be over
yesterday, and that Team GEAR is leaving this particular area as soon as inhumanly possible—but these demons can't be left to their own devices. Is there any possible way to clear them out faster?
Yes, your instincts say,
just... unleash.
You turn back to the mob. Your Purifier Beam had carved an alley through the center while you had been frozen, first by the concentration of the beam's focus, then by the crowd parting to escape the line of fire. This observation brings the bare bones of a plan into existence. An insanely reckless one, but one that will end this quickly without risking your team.
"Wait here!" you bark, and take off in a run before anyone can respond. As you charge, you recommence fire to keep the sea of demons parted. When you start closing in to the demons, you cease fire and draw your blade back, then
swing mightily as you cross the threshold, shearing in half the demons that had tried striking out in anticipation of your approach. And suddenly, you're amidst them, and it's time to follow the instinctual feeling from earlier.
"Countdown start! Core Purge!" The sound of breaking glass fill the air, and you feel your armor literally
disintegrate. Something inside of you begins rushing out of the metaphysical gap it leaves...
... But something isn't right. You hear gunfire, too close by for your liking, and turn to see Team GEAR at your back, in circle formation and facing outward, firing into the flesh on all sides. They followed you. "What are you doing here?!" you shriek. Why didn't they wait?! They needed to be kept safe! The whisper... Micheal glances at you from the corner of his eye with an expression that screams 'are you an idiot', and opens his mouth to speak,
And then there was
Light, and things within a certain distance start disintegrating. All of the things. It was an instant, too fast for them to suffer or even realize, but for you it was all too slow. They were stripped of cloth, baring them to the world, then of skin, exposing muscle, then of flesh, leaving bone, then there was dust, and finally, nothing. Erased, leaving no evidence of their existence but displaced air. Gone. The same scene is being played out all around you, but you don't notice. You're too busy refusing reality
and why did it do that?! That's not how it works! They—should—still—be—here!
... Except you have nothing to base that thought on. You've never done this before, you have no prior knowledge, it's just instinct which clearly couldn't be trusted. When the light finally fades, you're on your knees at the bottom of a crater. You feel shredded, both physically and not, despite never being touched once in that battle. No living thing, or even dead, in observable range. It's probably better that way.
"Solid Core!" Carnage...? how did she get here so soon?
whoosh, thud thud. Right, dragon. You hear her approaching on foot behind you, sliding down the edge of the crater. "What happened here? Where are the demons? Or your team?" You sit there in silence for a few moments, during which she comes to a stand a few paces behind you. When you finally respond, the words are surprisingly easy. It likely has to do with the fact that you can't muster the will to feel much of anything right now. You answer the questions in order, one at a time.
"I killed them all. The demons... I killed them all. And my friends..." When you turn to face her, whatever she sees causes her to take a step back in instinctual fear.
"I killed them all."
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
Usually, waking up from a nightmare for you is a sudden jolt, lashing out at the phantom cause of your fear, or else a wash of utter relief that it was just a fantasy. As you gaze up at the ceiling of the tent, the world still bathed in the shadows of predawn, all you feel is empty.
After about an hour that feels like an eternity, you feel your bed-mate shift beside you, and you turn your head numbly in her direction. "Rei..."
Eyes still closed, she mumbles, "Mnnn... g'mornin, Nep," and proceeds to let out a jaw-cracking yawn. Finally opening her eyes, her gaze lands on you, and you're suddenly embraced in a soft, warm, protective hug. "What's wrong, Ana?" she whispers, all traces of drowsiness vanished. "Why are you crying?" Encompassed in comfort, concern, and care, the dam that held back everything but silent tears collapses, and everything rushes out in a deluge of wails, hiccups, and sniffles, with nigh-incoherent words of attempted explanation bestrewn throughout.
Displaying admirable fluency in snot-speak, likely the result of being the eldest of four sisters, Rei parses your frankly hysterical utterances adeptly, and begins whispering sweet assurances into your ear, "Shhh... it's okay, it was just a bad dream, we're all here, we're all okay..." This continues on for several more minutes before you begin to gather your composure, wails trailing off to gasps, then whimpers, and finally to silence, though you continue to squeeze Rei close to you like a lifeline, face buried in her chest and legs entangled.
When you finally pull away enough to observe your surroundings, it's to see Team Gear standing around awkwardly in their pajamas, and you twinge with guilt; you weren't exactly quiet during your venting. On the other hand, relief floods you. Extricating yourself the rest of the way from Rei, then pulling up to a sitting position on the side of the bed, you hold your arms out to them in a universally recognized gesture.
They react the way any hardened military warrior would when confronted with this situation; they shuffle in for a god-damned group hug. Gabriel hangs back, unsure whether or not to get involved, before your pitiful, pleading gaze tugs her in by her heartstrings. While you drink in their presence, encased from all sides, you can distinctly feel the core connections to each of them.
... They need to be stronger. Strong enough to avoid any attack, or at least tank the ones they can't. The thought filling you with determination, you focus on the link and will it to be
more. "Woah," James voices as he breaks off his embrace, the rest following suit. "I felt that. Nepgear, what did you just do?"
It suddenly occurs to you that you probably should have asked first. "I, ah, increased the output of my... battery? To all of you," you nervously explain. "Is that alright? I can't think of a way to keep you all safe, this is the best I can do." Your voice had gradually dropped to a murmur.
They look among each other with a shrug and some nods, Gabriel with only slight reservation. Samael speaks up, "Sure thing, Nepgear. Just, give a heads up next time. For a second I thought something I ate was seeking vengeance." That gets a weak giggle out of you.
"How're you holding, Nepgear? Feeling better?" Micheal prods. At your nod, he continues, "Then how about we get a head start on the morning exercises, use that to acclimate to our new performance?"
At that, Rei reasserts her presence. "You have fun with that. I'm going to sleep for as long as it takes the sun to work up the courage to disturb me." Thus decreed, she gives your head a couple of pats and flops into her pillow face first.
After switching to exercise appropriate clothes, Team Gear reconvenes in the tortured land that is the practice field, and begins with some warm-up stretches. "We seem to have the same range of flexibility," Samael notes after some time, "but there isn't the same amount of strain as before." Micheal strikes a ridiculously dramatic pose, flexing every muscle he can manage.
Your fault.
"Yeah, this feels pretty goo-" He explodes in a burst of blood and purple energy, showering the landscape for yards in every direction. You're still staring in shocked horror when James follows suit next to you, thoroughly drenching your right side in viscera. With terrified comprehension, you turn to Samael, your last teammate, and he faces you with resigned acceptance. As he backs away in an attempt to clear you from the blast zone, violet light begins leaking from him through cracks spreading across his skin, at first softly, then with a ripping violence; the only thing keeping him together likely being his direct familiarity with your affinities.
Skin shattering apart as he draws his face into a strained smile, he speaks his final words.
"It's not your f-"
-/MIND BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
"Solid Core~... Sooolid Cooore~..."
Awoken by a light shake of your shoulder, you jerk your head up from the table it was set on to see Carnage smiling coquettishly down at you. "Hard day? The mess hall isn't really the-"
She's cut off by you bolting to your feet, throwing the bench you were sitting on to a clattering topple behind you. "Get away!" you shriek as you smack her hand away. People can't be near you! They'll just keep dying over and over and over and... The look of betrayed hurt on her face makes you realize how she would interpret your action, prompting you to explain yourself. "N-no, not like that. I'm fine with your... It's me, It's not good to be near me..." As you spoke, the hurt she displayed cooled to resignation.
"Yeah, I get it. I'll see you around, Solid Core." Conversation closed, she turns away and strides off to the exit.
"Carnage, wait!" Truth's plea makes you notice her presence for the first time. She tries to intercept Carnage at the door, but she's brushed aside. After a few moments sorrowfully regarding her friend's retreat, she rounds on you, fury in her eyes. "What is wrong with you?!"
"No, it's a misunderstanding! I didn't mean it like that," you implore. "It's bad to be near me! I keep hurting people!"
"Obviously! This is y
yo
ou
ur
r f
fa
au
ul
lt
t!" The Whisper speaks in eerie unison with her voice. She doesn't seem to notice. She begins stalking toward you, prompting you to withdraw a few steps, where you trip over the upended bench.
From the floor you beg, "Please! Please go away..." She continues onward, undeterred.
"No. You're coming with me, and you're going to absolutely grovel for her forgiveness, right now!" With each step she takes nearer to you, the panic crawls further up your throat. Finally, she's standing above you, and when she reaches down to seize you by your collar, you lash out in a desperate attempt to gain enough space to regain your footing and flee.
Instead of retreating as expected, she takes the blow so as to not lose ground. The strength you've never really gotten used to crumples her chest in like a soda can, and her body is sent flying across the room, caving in the opposite wall. "No!", you wail, scrambling to your feet. Taking an abortive step toward her, you bring yourself to a halt. You would just hurt her again.
From her position limply collapsed against the base of the wall, she stares at you with accusation. With what little air remains in her crushed lungs, she speaks her dying words. "You're a monster." Judgement laid, the light slowly leaves her eyes.
Truth never lies.
-/MIND BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
You regain awareness as the golden pulse of energy fades to nothingness in the distance. The
monster that killed your best friend drops from the sky unconscious, crashing into the ground with a dull thud. As you approach her prone form, you begin exerting your influence over sleeping fantasies.
Your fault. She twitches in her sleep.
Your fault. She starts shifting uncomfortably.
Your fault. She audibly whimpers.
Your fault. Tears start streaming from her eyes.
You decide it's time to end it and crouch next to her, taking steady aim for the throat with your chakram to finish it in one strike.
... This happens every time. The hesitation. It's one thing to kill in the heat of battle, demons bearing down on you with crazed eyes and crude weapons. It's another to kill them when they've been rendered helpless by your spell. Even the demons. You were never as good at this as Can-
Candy Heart. This is for her. This is Justice for a committed Evil.
Resolve gathered, you bring your weapon down sharply —
TWANG— only for it to bounce off the golden barrier that flashes into existence in front of your weapon. What...?
You try again, to the same result. Over and over again, you lash out with your chakram, your attacks bouncing futilely off the barrier as She just lays there.
Crying out in frustration and sorrow, you raise your chakram above your head, and bring it down against the barrier hard enough for the rebound to tear it from your grasp.
...There's a stinging sensation in your chest. Looking down, you see your chakram embedded in your torso, right where your heart should be.
The corner of your mouth quirks up and you chuckle mirthlessly. So that's how it is, eh?
As you slump to the ground, you wonder if Heaven will be like a dream, and if Candy will be there. Something to look forward to as you drift off to sleep...
-/LIFE BREAK IDENTIDIED\-
As you wake up once more, you can feel something fighting to drag you back to sleep, but the compulsion is weakening over time. Forcing your way though the exhaustion, you drag yourself to a sitting position, to be met with the sight of a girl staring soullessly into the sky above, metal disc fatally protruding from her upper torso.
You realize that your last nightmare was a reality for once. Just not yours.
