[x] Go to the church after Kyouko.
You tap your lips. Yes, Lutecia has a point, and you could see about doing Homura a favor by getting her arm back. On the other hand, it is still raining, and you don't have to go right now … but you want to, and you giggle softly as you nod to yourself.
"Scarlet-san?" Mami sounds wary, and you laugh a little louder when you see her standing loosely, as though she were preparing for a fight. Then you calm down and stick your tongue out at her.
"Hehe! Yes, yes, Lutecia is right, it could be fun! So, I'll be going now, okay?" Homura turns to face you from the railing as Mami relaxes.
"In that case, we should probably head back," she says, drawing a frown from Mami and a worried look from Madoka. "You'll be far enough inside Kyouko's territory that we wouldn't be able to help you much, and we do have school, so at least Mami and Madoka should get some rest soon." You nod then lift your hat so the dragonfly can fly out. It flits around before landing on Lutecia's palm.
"Mm. Yes, I'll be fine. Sleep well, everyone!" You step away from the wall, then leap up to the ruined doorframe. You study the rain for a moment, then turn back and wave to everyone before throwing yourself forward. You retrace your steps to the tower before making your way to the church - on the off chance that something slowed Kyouko, you'll have the best chance of seeing her if you follow her course.
"You know, she's probably trying to manipulate you." You frown for a moment, then nod.
"Oh, Lutecia? True, but she's also probably right. There's not much Kyouko would want from me, and if it's something she wants help fighting, with all her soldiers, it's probably fairly strong." You keep to overhangs and other relatively dry areas; Loki seems to be keeping the worst of the rain from bothering you, but there's no sense in taking chances. "Besides, if she ever does try to really control me, we'll be able to figure it out and scold her properly."
"True. … So, have you thought about a name?" You scowl.
"A little, yes. But I knew about you for a while before I named you, and I don't know her that well." And if you give her a name, then you're responsible for her, and you're not sure you want that. "A little longer." You can feel Headless's disappointment, but she withdraws without further comment. You circle around to the right - might as well enter the church from the front, if you're not supposed to be sneaky about it. You walk, quickly but without hurrying, down the path toward the slightly-ajar doors. Two of her girls are on the roof, and you're pretty sure at least one sees you, but they don't seem to react to you.
You walk through the church into the worship area. It seems like most of Kyouko's girls sleep in the other parts of the church, but some are in the main area as well, though whether they're there because there isn't room elsewhere or because they're just comfortable there, you don't know. Sayaka is in the front row, looking at something in her lap … and sitting on a bench near the wall is a certain pale-haired girl with green eyes, a green-haired girl sleeping on her lap. You frown at her.
"I'd thought I could get away with not telling them that magical girls are, physically speaking, dead," she says as she strokes the mottled bruise around her left eye. "Kyouko was … rather unhappy with me for that." She gives you a small smile. "But you aren't here to talk to me, are you? You're here to speak with Kyouko. Perhaps we'll talk at some other time, but not today, I think. And I'd prefer to let Yuma sleep a while longer." She glances to her left, and you see Sayaka striding toward you.
"This way, please," she says, stepping past you and ignoring Oriko, who shakes her head, still smiling. You eye her once more before you turn to follow Sayaka. Someone to keep a watch on, definitely. Sayaka leads you into the residential area and down into the basement before pausing at the guarded door. The little room has been cleaned up, as if you hadn't fought here. The guardians step to the sides, away from the door, and Sayaka lets out a breath. "Well … you'll be going on alone from here. You shouldn't be able to get lost, so just keep on going until you meet Kyouko, I guess." She almost looks like she wants to say more, then just shakes her head and walks toward the stairs going up. You open the door in front of you and step through.
You take a deep breath as a cold wind blows past you. A glance to your right, however, reveals nothing except a foggy nothing, and the view is similar to your left. Ahead is a simple path, and you inhale deeply once again, taking in the sense of things from the air. Is this a youkai's barrier? You can't tell, though it doesn't feel like something a human would make. Curious, you take several steps to the right, into the foggy nothing - but you don't move anywhere. You're still in the middle of the path, barely a step past the doorway leading into the basement room. With a small sigh, you follow the path. You're only on the path for a minute before everything changes.
"Sorry about that," Kyouko says apologetically as she gives you a crooked smile. "I can't really make the entry any shorter, for some reason. Why don't you sit down?" She leans back in her chair, one that she can sink into, or curl up and sleep in. The chair behind you isn't quite so big or luxurious, but you can lean back comfortably, and you hop into it. Kyouko chuckles, then looks solemn, almost sad. "So, where to begin … well, the beginning, I guess. This church was my father's; he was a priest, a good and kind man. But he started to preach something other than the approved teaching, and people left the church. Things got worse and worse … and then I met Kyubey. He told me I could make a wish, that I could make everything better. I never wanted to control people - the me of a year ago would be horrified at what I'm doing now - but I wished that people would listen to my father. I thought that if they listened, that they would agree, that things would get better. And they did, for a while … until I messed up. My father found out about me. Called me a witch, and I told him he was wrong." She laughs hollowly and gives you a sly look. "Yeah, I know about that. Funny how I know that, but not that I'm already dead, isn't it? Well … I tried to keep going, but my father fell apart. The people left us again. Things got worse than they'd ever been." She falls silent, thinking and remembering, and you wait for her to continue. There has to be a point to all this, right?
"Maybe if I'd been faster, or even slower, things would've turned out differently. But I guess I returned at just the wrong time. My father had snapped completely. He'd killed my mother. My sister was dying, and he was getting ready to hang himself. I didn't let him, and I didn't let him try to explain before I killed him myself. But my sister …." She sighs and stands up, walks over to a window and gestures for you to join her. "I was never any good at healing, but what else is illusion but fooling something into believing something else? I used my magic to try and save my sister." The window shows another room, and on the bed is the sleeping form of a girl, younger than Kyouko but very obviously related. "I did that, and maybe if I'd stopped there, it still would've been fine. Instead, I went out and found a couple more girls. I killed them, too, and made it seem like someone had broken into the house and killed us, stole some stuff. I went to the funeral. No one came. No one cared. But Momo … I'd done something. She wasn't dead, but she wouldn't wake up, and I was … well, I'd paid another price." She holds up her Soul Gem, and you can see the whole thing is riven with cracks, the brilliant red distorted by a sort of sub-surface blackness, different from the black you'd come to expect from an unpurified Soul Gem. She folds it away and looks at her sister, then walks back to her chair.
"I probably should've died. Maybe I used my magic to convince myself I was fine. I know I lost track of a lot around then. So much of what I did was to try and keep Momo alive … but I was running out of Grief Seeds, and if I stayed too far from Momo for too long, she started to die again. So … I started recruiting. I found a girl, introduced her to Kyubey, taught her a bit and helped her out. She died pretty soon, though. So did the next couple." She sighs. "I should've gone to Mami, I know. She'd have been able to help Momo, and things wouldn't have gotten so bad here. But I didn't; I recruited more and more girls. I used my magic to influence them, to direct them. I used them to keep Mami away from here, used them to hunt Witches." She takes out her Soul Gem again and stares at it. "I'm turning into a Witch, myself. That's what I meant about using my magic to convince myself I was fine. I should've turned into a Witch months ago, but I'm still me. We're sitting inside my Barrier, a Barrier that shouldn't exist because I'm not a Witch, and my Familiars are doing my bidding." Her mouth twists again, and she laughs brokenly.
"I can feel it, you know? When I think that things will work out, I hear it mock me. I'll be abandoned again. All my efforts will amount to dust. Oriko's prophecies, Sayaka's healing - they won't matter." She shakes her head. "My Soul Gem cracks a little more each time that happens. I don't think I can last to the end of April. Oriko thinks I can, but I don't know what her plan is. She just showed up one day, her and Kirika … a month ago? Month and a half? It doesn't matter. She's the one who pointed me at Sayaka. Sayaka and Madoka, they shouldn't have become magical girls in the first place - but they are, and if they're useful, I'll use them. That's what Sayaka's been doing for me. She's healing Momo, healing her of her injuries and of months of undernutrition. It's working … it should only be another two or three weeks before she's well enough to go somewhere else, away from my Barrier. I'd been hoping Mami could take her in, but … well. And Sayaka … her reward was to have been a chance to be a real hero. She'd get the first crack at killing me. If she couldn't kill me like this, then I'd stop holding it back and just change, and try to have her kill me like that. She'd be a real hero then - save all these girls, wipe out the evil monster that's been plaguing Kazamino for months, save a little girl, kill a Witch. But I don't think she will. I think she's too soft, and she won't even try. Oriko says that even if she does fight, she won't be able to kill me. And that means Mami'll have to." She sits there, brooding.
"And that's why you want me. In case Sayaka doesn't go through with it, or isn't capable of it, you want me to fight you?" You can see the logic; if you're the most powerful thing around, and one that doesn't have problems killing humans or Witches, you ought to be able to kill her even if she does resist. Kyouko nods.
"Yeah. I … I want to die as me, not as a Witch. I want to die knowing that Momo will be safe from me, that Mami won't have to deal with me - won't have to learn about turning into a Witch at all! I … I want to leave something good behind." She can't meet your eyes … but she reminds you so very much of your sister. Maybe you should help her? Or maybe ….
What do you do?
[ ] Kill Momo.
- [ ] Kill Kyouko and/or her Witch.
- - Any particular method?
- [ ] Subdue Kyouko's Witch. (Roll required)
[ ] Agree to Kyouko's request.
- What reward do you want?
[ ] Decline Kyouko's request.
[ ] Other?
