Well, that's a statement, right there. It's not, outright, an attack. From a certain point of view, anyway.
But-
She raised her sister's killer. Was that her
Wish? And yet, that's something for you to think over later, because for now-
Mami.
You form words with Grief on the palm of her hand, where she can't help but notice them with the way her attention is
ostensibly focused on the enchantment.
"
Call Homura," you write. "
With your phone, ask her to timestop, and then come get me. Not a combat scenario yet."
Mami doesn't react. Not
visibly, anyway, but you can feel her pulse jump. You wrap Grief around her shoulders in as close to a reassuring hug as you can manage from here. Mami sighs and stretches casually, setting the enchantment down and pulling her phone out of her pocket as if bored.
You meet Rionna's eyes as Mami starts tapping out a message.
"I really,
really don't understand you," you say. "Did you ever come here to negotiate at all? Or were you just here for another Grief controller? I've offered you cleansing, Clear Seeds, collaboration on de-Witching... And you've thrown it back in my face."
Rionna stares back at you, expression twisting to anger. She starts to lean forward, mouth opening to say something.
"I mean, I want to
help," you say, steamrolling her before she can say anything despite the anger on her face. "If you actually
want to break free of all the, the
things tying us to this horrible system,
cycle of abuse from the Incubators and our fellow magical girls, I'd be more than happy to hel-"
"-p." You finish the sentence to a world frozen in grey, the sound sliced away as if by a guillotine. Homura's hand is a warm touch at the small of your back, and you can't help but slump against it. One hand becomes two, her hands going under your arms and hauling you bodily out of the interdiction sphere. Rionna remains frozen mid-snarl.
You squirm fully out of the sphere and off the bed with the help of your friends, Mami's hands joining Homura's. And Rionna... you leave her behind, twice enclosed by the black depths of the interdiction sphere and by Homura's timestop. Safe for now, despite the fear that her shades might be
around, invisible tripwires that might pull her into the timestop.
"Sabrina? Are you alright?" Mami's eyes trace you up and down, looking for irregularities.
"I'm fine," you say, grabbing her hand,
and Homura's. Mami loops ribbon around your wrist to keep you in the timestop, but you don't let go, giving her a warm smile instead. "I just... I'm frustrated. So very frustrated."
"What happened?" Homura asks, glancing at you.
"I..." you look back at the privacy field. "Let's back off a bit before talking?"
Homura nods, and starts for the door.
"No- Homura, stop," you hiss urgently. Homura freezes on the spot, tilting her head far enough to give you a look.
"Rionna controls
shades - for all I know, they're invisible, and might bring her into the timestop," you say, and pull Grief towards you. "Let me try something?"
"I came in through the door," Homura says, frowning. "Wasn't a problem. Follow my steps."
"I-" you blink, and glance back at the impenetrable darkness of your privacy sphere, but... well. You trust Homura. And Homura, of all people, would be good at retracing her path
perfectly.
You trust her.
And so you follow, reluctantly letting their hands go so you can make your way, single-file, out of the hotel room. The moment you're a safe distance down the corridor, you grab Mami's hand again, pulling her into a sidelong hug as you walk. It's a little awkward, but you don't
really want to let go. Not after the sheer, mind-numbing exercise in
frustration talking to Rionna was.
You make your way down to the lobby of the hotel and claim some of the unoccupied sofas. It's a little odd, with the receptionists and the other residents of the hotel frozen in Homura's timestop, but it's fine. You curl up into Mami's side, hugging her close. Homura claims the opposite seat.
Her hand finds its way to your head, anxious little touches as she combs her fingers through your hair, and you lean into the touch, closing your eyes and savouring it for a moment.
"I..." you begin after a few moments. Madokami above, where do you even begin? "Rionna controls the dead. Dead magical girls, which she raises as
shades. I don't... I... I haven't actually
seen them in action, but that's a good thing. Means I haven't fought her, and she scares me a bit."
Mami nods in understanding, something you feel more than you see, with your eyes still closed. You raise a hand to your Soul Gem, drawing off a thick, bilious streamer of Grief which you banish to your dimensional storage. You take the opportunity to cleanse Mami and Homura, too.
"What happened?" Homura asks.
You take a deep breath and open your eyes, collecting your scattered thoughts.
"Mami and I met her at the airport," you say. "She was rather rude, but... rudeness I can tolerate. She mentioned wanting my
Soul, but it felt like a kind of... I don't know, a joke, at the time. Then we came back here to talk, because I didn't want to talk in
public about things that, ah, aren't general knowledge."
You meet Homura's eyes, and she nods slightly. Mami sighs, and wraps her arms tightly around you.
"So we did. The thing is... I offered her cleansing. I offered to
work with her," you say. "I offered her Clear Seeds, too. And she... just wasn't interested. I don't know why. From what I know, she holds Edinburgh alone, so she's strong, and maybe with her shades she gets enough hunting in to not really be
worried about it, but... ugh."
You rub your forehead. "She turned me down. And she mentions that... her Shades
might be sentient-but-probably-not," you say. "More specifically, she said they could think and problemsolve, but weren't really aware, which doesn't really line up for me."
"That..." Mami bites her lip, frowning. "I agree. It's hard to reconcile."
"Yeah," you say. "And then she said she doesn't do it to
good people. 'Most of them are monsters by the time I get there', in her exact words. I..."
You sigh, shaking your head. "Do... do you guys mind if we go and get Sayaka? I... I want to keep her in the loop, too, to come to a decision together. I don't entirely... there's a
lot to go over, and making a decision is better in a group, right?"
You smile weakly at Homura, who nods sharply. She rises to her feet, padding over the soft rug and awkwardly clasping her hand to your shoulder for a second. She raises that same hand a second later, looking inquiringly at Mami.
"I'll be back," Homura murmurs.
"Alright," Mami says, nodding sharply and raising her hand. "Take care, Homura."
You sense Mami release the ribbon around Homura's arm, and there's a
stutter in the world. Homura's suddenly clasping Mami's wrist and Sayaka's shoulder.
Sayaka looks...
Sayaka looks
concerned, peering at you as Mami supplies the ribbon to tie you all into timestop.
... do you look
that bad?
"Hey, Sayaka," you say, smiling at her. "Ah... Homura? Cleanse?"
Homura nods.
"Hey," Sayaka echoes, sweeping her cape out of the way and sitting on the sofa. She doesn't even
glance at Homura when the timetraveller sits next to her. "Erm. Are you OK? You look kind of... I dunno, tired."
"Yeah... I mean, yeah," you say, shaking your head and cleansing Homura's Soul Gem. Sayaka's, too. "Wow, I'm kind of scattered. I'm OK." You smile at her, and then Mami. "Thank you for asking. I'm frustrated and kind of... I dunno, conflicted, but I'm OK."
Sayaka nods. "So what's going on?"
"Well..." You take a moment to go over the situation with Rionna again, just to get Sayaka up to date. She nods along.
"Yeah, I agree," Sayaka says, wrinkling her nose. "Why would she even bring that
up?"
"Exactly," you say. "What possible purpose does that even
serve? I mean, sure, maybe it's true, and maybe she's just honest and blunt to a fault. She sure seemed to be, uh, lacking in social graces, and that's coming from
me. And what even was... I mean, sure, I suppose I looked kind of skeptical, but if she was trying to reassure me, she went about it in the worst way possible. That was... I dunno, the first inkling I got that she was bad news, you know?"
"The first?" Mami asks, having returned once more to running her fingers through your hair.
"Yeah..." you say. "She... I mean, yeah. I was
trying not to show a reaction to her, but when she dropped something like that, well. Or she might have been reading my Soul somehow or someway. She started talking about how I have no
right to judge her. I told her that I genuinely
did want to help, and if she could just..."
"Stop being evil?" Sayaka suggests.
"Not in those words," you say. "But then she started getting
snippy about me
judging her. '
I rip people's Souls out, screaming and kicking. It's not pretty and it's not nice. Who knows, maybe I've done it to some 'good people'. Wouldn't know for sure, I wouldn't. But here's how it is: You don't tell me how to do things, and I don't finish a fight neither of us want.'"
You pause, a sour taste in your mouth. "Her
exact words."
"What?" Sayaka asks, fist clenching. "I...
what?"
"Yeah," you say, shaking your head. You continue onwards, relaying the rest of your conversation with Rionna as best as you can, and you can only watch as Sayaka's fury builds. "I didn't exactly cover myself in glory back there, but for goodness' sake, I don't... I don't
understand her."
You take a breath, rubbing your forehead. "I don't understand why she came here or what she
wants. And then there's... I don't know, she threw it at me as a
parting shot or something. Apparently she raised her sister's killer, in her words."
"As a shade?" Homura asks quietly.
"I don't know," you say. "
Maybe she misused her Wish, considering she said she wanted
vengeance and couldn't get her sister back. But the impression I got is that... she raised her sister's killer and is
torturing her. I don't... I don't have the full story."
"You have enough," Mami says, voice like ice. "She's a monster. And she- she
did something back there, near the end. I'm not sure what."
"I think she tried to summon her shades for backup or something," you say, and make an inarticulate noise. "She couldn't get her shades inside the sphere or something, and I...
think she tried to mind control me or something to let her out, but... I don't even know or
understand her. I just...
Damn it. Damn it
all."
"She tried to mind control you?" Mami stiffens, eyes going wide. She shifts to cup your face with both hands, two fingers over each temple.
"I'm fine, Mami," you say, smiling at her. "I am. Whatever it was, it just... washed off me."
"Let me
check," Mami says, frantic. You can feel the magic pulsing down her fingers, warm and soothing for a moment before she relaxes. "I... you should have
said something earlier!"
"I..." you blink, and slump a little, hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry. I... should have. I really
am fine, though."
Mami nods jerkily and cuddles into your side, all but crawling into your lap. You tighten your hug, drawing strength from the contact, and just to be sure, you cleanse her Soul Gem. And your own.
Sayaka visibly forces herself to unclench her fists, reaching under her cloak. "Want me to antimagic? Just for, uh, safety?"
"I don't..." you glance at Mami, and then Sayaka. "You know what? Hit me, let's be extra sure. Remember that you can target it?"
"Right," Sayaka says. Homura gives her a slightly uncomfortable look, but doesn't even move away.
Sayaka frowns in concentration, raising her hand and gripping her wrist. "Uhh... right."
You
feel the antimagic build, that nauseating, greasy sensation surging at her will, and then it floods out, blasting past you. Homura checks her shield before relaxing slightly, and Mami cuddles closer.
"I... well, thanks, guys," you say, smiling weakly and hugging Mami. "For worrying about me."
"Of course we do," Sayaka says, rolling her eyes. "Now, what the hell are we going to do with Rionna?"
"I'm not letting her go," you say, taking a breath. Mami's hand finds yours, squeezing tight. "I don't... I know
that much. If she goes
free, when I could have done
something here... That makes
me responsible. I'm not going to let that stand. I
can't let that stand."
"She's dangerous," Homura says. Her frown deepens into a scowl. "She tried to attack you."
"She attacked you," Mami says simply. "In
our city."
"Yeah!" Sayaka says. "I mean... is it even a question? Like... whatshername. Anri, or Yuuri, or whatever her name is. Take her down, and
then we talk to her."
"I... ugh," you say, sighing and rubbing your hand over your face. "First of all, was that
really an attack? Some part of me says it wasn't, just the... power equivalent of shoving past me on the way to the door. She
thought she was trapped in my privacy field - she didn't know she could just walk out."
"That doesn't make
any difference," Mami says instantly. "She used her powers on you."
"Yeah," Sayaka says. "That's like saying... she didn't
shoot you, just jabbed you with a gun to make you give way. That's
dumb, Sabrina."
"And..." you sigh. "I'm not really comfortable with... I, ugh. She's a Soul mage. She might be able to operate as just a Soul Gem, and she's dangerous enough that I wouldn't... I'm not willing to leave her able to
strike back."
"We take her down, and... just, the same thing as Anri. Put her in jail with antimagic," Sayaka says, shrugging. "Simple."
"Are you alright, Sabrina?" Mami asks, tightening her hug around you.
"I... yeah," you say, smiling at her and forcing yourself to relax. "Just... it's been frustrating and upsetting. I still don't understand her, and I'm kind of worried about just taking her down like
that." You snap your fingers for emphasis. "She's... she's a
monster, but... I feel like I don't have the right to simply be judge, jury, and executioner."
"Judge and jury," Homura corrects, eyes on you. "You're not killing her, are you?"
"I... well, no," you say. "Just putting her in an indefinite coma."
"Orrrrr put her in jail," Sayaka says. "Not that hard."
"She's a monster," you say, rubbing your forehead. "I mean... yeah. It's so
weird. It was such a
weird encounter and kind of, I don't know... I don't really know what to think."
"Oh, for-" Sayaka rolls her eyes. "Mami, hug her."
Mami does exactly that, wrapping her arms around you, and a moment later, Sayaka joins the hug. "Oi, Homura, get over here."
There's a moment of hesitation and some rustling, and then Homura joins you. Very awkwardly.
"I..." you close your eyes, leaning into the contact. "Thanks, guys."
Mami cuddles closer, pressing against you anxiously, and the entire hugpile shifts a little to enclose you properly.
"You get too lost in that silly head of yours sometimes," Sayaka says, snickering. "Yeah, this one
isn't that complicated. We take her down, yeah? Keep her under suppression, toss her with Miss Tsuruya..." She shrugs.
You exhale, shifting. Sayaka and Homura pull back, the latter looking relieved as she retreats back to the other sofa.
"I... yeah. I guess it
is that simple," you say, and smile. "So... here's the plan? We don't know her abilities, but Sayaka, do you think you could figure out an antimagic box or something? One that targets Rionna's magic, but not ours? We use timestop and de-Gem Rionna, and we stuff her gem into the box as quickly as possible."
"I, uh..." Sayaka looks faintly dubious. "I don't think I know how to enchant that."
"... ah. Damn," you say. And you know better than to suggest bringing
Kirika into Homura's timestop.
"Miss Kure does," Mami says. "Why don't we simply have Sayaka keep up the antimagic over the Soul Gem, and immediately go over to ask her to make one?"
"I..." You brighten. "Yeah, actually. That should be fine, and hopefully they won't mind it despite the time."
"You gave Tsuruya antimagic chains," Homura murmurs. "You could borrow one from her, too."
"... hm, yeah, though I guess they want that for general purposes, but, uh... good point. Temporary solution," you say. "I... We have options. So, um... could I ask you to try copying her magic too, Sayaka? I want to see if we can try to put her shades to rest, and to diagnose Soul maladies. Uh... her body. Homura, I know this is a bit of an ask, but do you think we could store her body in your shield? It'd be frozen in stasis in there, right? If not, I'll just shove it into hammerspace, but then I'd have to worry about decomposition."
Homura blinks very slowly. "It should be fine," she says, expressionless. "You don't intend to... store her indefinitely, correct?"
"
Decomposition?" Sayaka says, looking faintly green. "I, er. Yeah, I get it, but
ew."
Mami hugs you tighter.
"Yeah, ew. And
no, not indefinitely," you look up at Homura, fierce and intent. "I'm
not going to do that, either. That might as well be a death sentence, and...
no. I'm here to
fix things. I
failed to talk Rionna down today, but I'm not
done. When we're in a better position to
help her - when we have a bit more stability, perhaps, or... leaving her with Miss Tsuruya, as mentioned."
"Right, gotcha," Sayaka says, nodding. "I can do that. Antimagic and... uh. Miss Bennouna's power. Right."
Mami takes a breath and straightens a little. "I have my ribbons ready, Sabrina," she says. "As a backup."
"OK," you say. "I... Homura? Are you alright with this?"
"I am," she says simply. "She's dangerous. Take her down."
"Right," you say.
The nervousness settles in again as you head back towards Rionna's room. You
think you're doing the right thing, but... everyone thinks that. The line between a tyrant and someone who...
isn't a tyrant is a thin one to walk.
Still.
"We don't actually need to be in the room," Homura murmurs, her hand hovering near her shield. "Mami can use her ribbons without looking, and so can you, Sabrina. Antimagic goes through physical obstructions."
"Yeah, you're right!" Sayaka says. "If Rionna's as dangerous as she seems to be..."
"So... out here in the corridor?" you say, gesturing down said corridor. Homura nods, walking behind you to clear the path.
Mami exhales, raising her free hand. You can sense the twist of ribbons tied to her fingers, a dense network ready to spring a trap. You...
worry that they might conduct magic, but she's your backup - and she's
Mami. If anyone can fight Rionna on an even footing, it's her.
"OK," Sayaka says. "You'll need to tell me where to aim."
"Yeah," you say, and paint a crosshair on the wall with Grief, lining Sayaka up with Rionna. "Center of that, but it's going to be a moving target, alright? I'm gonna yank her Soul Gem, and then move it out the window." You gesture behind you.
Homura wordlessly moves to open the window.
"Got it," Sayaka says, planting her feet and squaring up with the crosshair. You adjust the position a little, since she moved, and Sayaka gives you a
look.
"You know, I'll just go with a cone," she says. "Just to make sure."
"Probably a good idea," you agree. You already have Grief maneuvering in, retracing the path you'd taken out to hover just a hairsbreadth from Rionna's skin. "On you, Sayaka."
"'kay," Sayaka says, face shifting into intense concentration. You can feel the wave of antimagic building already. "Three... two... one...
zero."
Antimagic surges out, greasy and nauseating. You push past it -it's not even directed at you- and you
close with your Grief, freezing it around Rionna's finger. You feel her jerk, but she has all of a split second to react to your disappearance before the antimagic is bearing
down on her. You slip Grief between her ring and her finger and
pull, Rionna having just enough time to grab fruitlessly for it before it's out of her reach.
Her Soul Gem ring zips past you in the corridor, Mami tensing and hunching slightly, ready for a fight. Rionna spills out of the privacy sphere and off the bed. Sayaka pivots on the spot, locked on to your moving target,
hammering the ring with rapid, staccato bursts of antimagic, and-
Rionna's body goes limp, slumping to the floor of the hotel. You keep her Soul Gem at metaphorical arms' reach, held out over the streets below at the furthest end of your control radius.
"Got it," you murmur. "Got
her."
Sayaka nods, antimagic still pulsing, the ebb and flow a
pressure in the back of your mind. Mami relaxes slightly, but she's still
tense.
"I'll get her body," Homura murmurs, striding down the corridor towards Rionna's room.
"Right," you say, frowning. "I... hm. We'll get her Soul Gem... Sayaka, can you keep this up?"
"Yeah, no problem," Sayaka says. "It's not that much of a strain, just need to concentrate a bit more."
"Right, right," you repeat.
[] Get an antimagic enchantment from the Mikunis
[] Drop Rionna off with Yuki
[] Hang on to her Soul Gem for now
[] Vent to your friends
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
=====
Finally. I'm so sorry this took so long.
