Another time, another place.
Four puella magi in a comfortable, if small, living room. Two sitting in place of honour on the sofa - a blonde healer with green eyes, and a whipcord thin, brunette teleporter. On foldable chairs, the positions of supplication, the other pair - a slim, desperate-looking redhead, and a worried looking black haired girl beside her.
"I-it's an illusion," the redhead stutters, swallowing hard and groping for the hand of the girl sitting beside her - her girlfriend.
"Ah," Rin says evenly, peering over her glasses at the redhead. "Well, Miss Gaikotsu, I'll need to see the extent of the damage if I'm supposed to heal it." A frown flickers across Sakura's face at that comment, but she refrains from saying anything, choosing to frown heavily instead.
Masami nods jerkily. "A-alright," she says. "Can we m-move to the bedroom?"
Rin rises to her feet, fussily smoothing her skirt down. "Of course. I assume you will want Miss Wakahisa with you?"
The red head just nods again, standing, as does Hiroko. The couple moves to the bedroom, Rin following behind them.
Sakura scowls, and wiggles against the sofa, burrowing deeper into it. Something's bugging her about this whole deal, about Masami. She needs healing, but she covers it up with an expensive illusi-
"Fuck!" the teleporter swears, bouncing off the sofa in a single explosive motion. Light blazes as she transforms midair, landing in a flurry of jackets and skirt, and she sprints for the room that Rin had moved into.
Too little, too late.
Rin crashes
through the door in unthinking terror. Her eyes are wild and terrified, and she runs for the bathroom, unheeding of the sharp splinters from the door stabbed into her skin. She doesn't make it there, though, noisily emptying her stomach out in the middle of the corridor.
Sakura takes a moment to stare at the ruined form of Masami.
And looks away.
The teleporter rushes off to tend to her friend.
A heavy thud as Masami drops to her knees, arms hanging limp at her side. Hiroko, fluttering at her side, goes unnoticed.
=====
The pounding of bare feet on pavement in a mad rush, carelessly shoving through the crowds.
A tiny voice, screaming at the back of her head
no no no this is not how it ends.
And a single, desperate hope that maybe, just
maybe that girl who feels like a Witch could help...
