The rest of the table had been polite enough to ignore the silent conversation you'd been having, but they all looked over when you slumped forwards, rubbing your face and sighing.
Why couldn't you have told me this before I reassured my sister that she's going to be fine? [I was going to, but I can't predict the future.] You sit up in your chair, glancing over at the still sleeping girl before looking back to the table and clearing your throat. "Well, Gaia has finally decided to inform me of something." You narrow your eyes at her as heads turn. "Why don't you tell everyone?"
She nods, nonchalant as always. "Willow is going to die in three days, there is no way of stopping it." Against your will, your eyes move to your sister and you can see the exact moment that the words register. She freezes, hands tightening into fists as she looks down, her face hidden from you behind a curtain of hair. You reach over and take one of her hands into yours, hiding your wince as she does her very best to crush your hand. When she stops, her shoulders slump and she lets out a long sigh, clearing her throat as she looks up again.
"Does she know?" The edges of her eyes are a little wet, but when you think she might start crying, she just shakes her head and grunts, fingers tightening around your hand.
"No, but she knows that something is wrong with her." You ignore the fleeting urge to strangle Gaia for making your life more difficult, instead just letting your sister process, silently impressed by her composure.
Eventually she nods, taking a deep breath before looking up at you and swallowing roughly. "We should tell her." You nod, a quick glance across the table at the sisters also availing agreement, though not from Sabina. You can see her open her mouth to object, but you just narrow your eyes, silently warning her to stay silent. She sits back with a quiet grumble, and you look back to your sister.
"We will. I'm just... not sure how." You really don't want to just wake her up and say 'hey, you are going to die', that would be...
Your sister nods, taking a deep breath before forging on. "I'll do it." You try to object, but she copies your move against Sabina, narrowing her little eyes up at you. "It's fine, I know her best, I'll do it." You try to say something again, but Daiyu reaches over the table and grabs your shoulder. You shoot her a heated look, but her grip doesn't waver, slightly shaking her head. Cuifen offers you no safety, a slight shake from her seat.
Ugh. You reluctantly sit back in your seat, quickly rubbing your face before nodding.
"Fine, just... if you need me to do it, I'll be here ok?" She nods, hopping up from her seat and giving you a fierce hug, squeezing tightly before turning away to the sleeping girl. You follow her for a moment before sighing, turning your gaze onto Sabina. "And what was
that?"
She grunts, not meeting your eyes. "It'd be kinder to let her have a good last few days before killing her in her sleep, this way is just harder for everyone." You grit your teeth, glancing at the slowly awakening girl, making sure to keep your voice down.
"Don't you dare say something like that again." She grunts, looking like she wants to reply, but is mindful enough of your mood to keep quiet. "I don't give a shit if you think it's kinder, she deserves to know." She shifts uncomfortably under your gaze, only settling down when you look back to your sister, who is coaxing her sleepy friend up in her chair. "Alright..." You look back at the table and stand up. "Make yourselves scarce, she doesn't need us all crowding her."
The table quickly disperses, most of them going inside. You stay, taking a moment to grit your teeth and push down any wayward emotions.
Ok, calm and comforting. I can do this. You move over to the two, taking a seat in the lounger next to them, your sister kneeling next to the waking girl.
Everything will be alright.
You rest your elbows on your knees, leaning forwards slightly as Willow finishes waking up, your sister shooing the flickering screen out of the way as she worms her way into the girls lap. Willow obviously realises something is wrong, frantically glancing up at thin air before looking back to your sister, reaching forwards to hug her. "What's wrong?" You feel something twist painfully as your sister shakes her head.
"I'm fine, just... bad news." Willow makes a questioning noise, still worriedly glancing at something not visible to either of you. Una visibly steels herself, grabbing both of Willow's arms until she's looking at her. "Gaia said, that you are..." She pauses, taking a deep breath, swallowing through a lump. "She said that you are going to die in three days." Willow stops, looking down at your sister with blank eyes, a chirp that you can half hear prodding her back into motion. She slowly lifts a hand, flicking through the air a few times before stilling, her hand falling into her lap. You remain silent, hands clenched tightly over one another as you let her process.
The first thing you hear is a quiet giggle, a shaky hand quickly covering her mouth. Your sister wraps her arms around her chest, burrowing as deeply into it as she can and Willow lets her hand drop onto her head, idly stroking it as she stares into the air, discerning something from the silently fuzzing screen in front of her face. She snorts, a tiny smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. "I guess... it wasn't meant to be?" Your toes curl in your shoes as you force yourself to stay still, your sister making quiet humming sounds into her chest.
Willow takes a deep breath, letting it out shakily before nodding. "Right, ok..." She sits up, one arm cradling your sister as another fiddles with a screen. Something beeps and she suddenly turns her head to look at you, not having noticed you before. "Oh..." She stops, looking down at your sister and then you. "Yeah, that's appropriate." You remain silent, rising with her as she stands, your sister awkwardly shifting to stay clamped onto her. "Makes sense, you always kill off the side character to make the protagonist hate the bad guy." Her words are so casual that you have no doubt that it has really hit her yet. "It was nice knowing you, I guess."
She's rationalising. You resist the urge to grab her and shake her, just resting a hand on her shoulder as she stares into space.
Should I make her stop? You bite your lip, quickly hiding it when she looks back at you. "So, I've got a countdown now."
Oh that's just... "Two days, seventeen hours, twenty one minutes and seven seconds." She nods. "What can I do in two and a half days?"
Uhh. "We
are right next to Tokyo."
Go with it. If she's determined to keep her composure, the least you can do is keep yours.
She hums and flicks through the air a few times. "Alright then, I hope you don't mind, but I'll be taking a trip to the city." You shake your head. "I have so many things I want to see..." She trails off for a moment, quickly shaking her head and starting forwards. "No time like the present." You keep pace with her, Una peeling herself off of her stomach but sticking by her side. You catch the eye of everyone else as you pass through the kitchen, nodding your head at Willow.
I'll keep an eye on her. [I'm here.] You purse your lips.
Yes, you are.
The walk out of the village passes in silence, none of you finding the words, but when you see Tokyo come into sight down the mountain, an idea comes to mind. "It'll take ages to walk." Willow nods, but doesn't look back at you. "You want me to fly you down?" She pauses at your offer, then nods, a wide smile pulling her face. "Don't drop me." You force a smile and lift her in a bridal carry as gently as you can, floating a few metres off of the ground before glancing down at your sister and shaking your leg. It takes her a second to understand, and she floats up to you slowly, her ability shaky.
It'll do. She grabs a hold of your leg and you start accelerating, not going too much faster than the cars below.
You can't hear Willow over the winds, but you can see the small smile on her face, something that stays glued to it even after you set down in the middle of a park, ignoring the curious stares of the children, their parents quickly shepherding them away. "Alright then, where do you want to go?"
She hums, and you can just about make out a map on her screens. "Akihabara."
"Akihabara?" She nods.
"Akihabara." You glance at your sister, who nods at you.
I guess that's a good place then? You follow her, a stern look sending the few remaining people scattering. A car squeals nearby and you resist the urge to expand your sense.
Too many people. "Shortcut!" She leads you through a dirty alley, completely ignoring the people loitering in shadowed corners. They look at you and you look back, keeping a close eye until you are back on the street.
She guides you through a maze of streets, tall buildings surrounding you on every side until eventually you arrive at your destination, a sign proudly proclaiming so.
Many, many signs. They are everywhere you look, lining every possible surface but the floor. It's such an overload of colour that your eyes just glaze over.
A spike of magic from your sister pokes you, drawing your eyes. "You know the best part about this place?" She forces her best grin, spreading her arms wide as her transformation flashes over her. "No-one cares if we go about transformed!" Her flashy display draws the eye of several passers-bys, but they just quickly take a picture and move on, disappearing into the crowd. "'Cmon Cerys!" Her eyes beg you to go along with her, and despite your reservations, when you see her flick her eyes to Willow, you understand.
Ah.
You bite your lip, nudging Willow several times, sighing internally when you see her just staring into space.
She probably doesn't even know where she is right now, going on autopilot. You clear your throat loudly and she responds, looking vaguely in your direction.
Fine. You take a deep breath, reluctantly reciting the words you know by heart and slowly letting the flames flicker to life across your body.
"I AM THE BEGINNING, I AM THE END! MAGICAL GIRL IGNITION KNIGHT!"
It feels odd, making your transformation as slow as possible, keeping your flames from exploding out of you. But your words do their job, catching her attention, and everyone nearby. She watches as your armour forms, clamping down over your body and smothering the flames beneath them, starting low and rising up your body. When the final piece settles, you intentionally flare your fires, threading a little magic through them to make it shimmer.
You cross your arms and hold the pose, biting your tongue as people gather around, crowding excitedly. You do your best to ignore the black hole in your stomach that forms with so many people looking at you, waiting until Willow blinks, looking up at you somewhat confused.
You here now? Good, I'm never fucking doing that again. Restraining your urge to share your thoughts, you step forwards, carefully bending your fire around you and clap your hands on her shoulders.
"I don't know my way around here, why don't you show me?" You know she doesn't either, but giving her something to do should help.
Hopefully.
She blinks, smiling strangely at the air for a moment before flicking, her map appearing again. "Yeah, sure, there should be an event over here..." She looks up, noticing the excited crowd of people.
Mmm. You let your fire brush close to them, but they just smile, taking more pictures.
Umm. A woman wearing a frilly dress and a tail of some sort walks through the thin wall of fire, gently brushing the burning embers off of her hat and smiling at you.
She says something in Japanese, and you stare at her blankly, barely able to understand some snippets. Before you can say anything, her smile grows even wider and she nods to herself. "Staying in character? That's really hard!" She sways a little, her tail flicking from side to side.
Spirit, must be. But they do this in public? "That was very detailed, what show was it from? Kanna didn't say that there were any new Mahou Shoujo this season..."
You want to get this Spirit away from you, but she seems to be so... happy about talking to you that you don't want to risk provoking her, not today. "I'm Ignition Knight." Her smile is practically beaming, not helped by your sister quietly laughing to herself. "Please don't bother us." Thankfully, she does back away from you a little, but her amused look does not fill you with confidence.
"Going all the way? That's cool too." She glances at Willow and her face scrunches. "Oh, ah, I'm sorry." She dips her head. "I won't interrupt what time you have left with your Human." Your slightly good mood is suddenly yanked back, the harsh grip of reality taking hold again.
The Spirit turns away and your sister makes a whining noise, reaching out and grabbing her wrist. "Wait!" For a brief moment, you feel a terrible weight press down on you, but it passes just as quickly as the Spirit blinks, turning back to you. "Can you... stay?" You frown, reaching for your sister and turning to the spirit, tugging her arm back.
"I apologise for her, she acts without thinking sometimes." You gently shuffle her half behind you, facing the Spirit. "Please, go." She nods again, but before she can even start to turn, Willow speaks up.
"Wait Cerys, I recognise her."
What. You keep an eye on the similarly curious Spirit, speaking out of the side of your mouth.
"How?" The silent 'from the war?' is heavy, but Willow shakes her head, a disbelieving smile on her face.
"Anime, I've seen her in an Anime before."
What. You turn your eyes to the Spirit, who is watching Willow intently, letting out a long
Ahhh after a moment.
"You don't come from here do you!" The Spirit beams, mouth stretching just a little
too far to be natural. "It's been
ages since I saw another traveller, where did you come from?"
What.
Willow shrugs. "I don't know, a pair of Goddesses dragged me out, we didn't know about all of
this before." The Spirit clicks her tongue, nodding comfortingly.
"I can understand that, those stuffy gods are just the worst." She closes in, looking Willow up and down, hissing at her inspection. "Well, nothing to be done for you now." You grit your teeth, moving just within striking distance, just in case. "That's a shame, it would have been nice to get to know you." She shrugs, a quick glance backwards dispelling the flimsy sheet of fire you'd been holding. "I'm sure Kobayashi would love to meet you too..." You clear your throat and she looks up, apparently having forgotten you were there. "Sorry sorry, your Human, I just got carried away." She scratches the back of her head in an obviously learned manner.
Has she been living with people then?
Again, before you can clear up her misconceptions, your sister speaks up. "We aren't really doing anything." Willow nods. "Kinda just... wandering. We just got the news." The Spirit hums, looking between the three of you.
"Hold on-" They turn pleading eyes to you, even the Spirit tries her best.
Damn she's good at that.
[] Resist, you aren't just going to follow this
Spirit around at her whim.
[] You're kind of curious, she doesn't seem to have bad intentions...
