13
Uncreative
...
Chapter 12: "Take my hand."
"Come on Sakuya, at least try and hit me!" I taunt her as lightning narrowly misses me. "What's the fun in a final boss that can't hit anything?"
"Just stay still!" Sakuya yells as she unloads everything she can at me. Lightning fries the air, hard light tears through the room, shadows claw at me and icy breezes blow through the room. I dodge every single blast that I can, ducking and weaving through the projectiles. Considering how dense the air was, there was simply no way for anyone to dodge all of them. Well, I say that but I seemed to be having an alright time avoiding her almighty peashooter. "What is happening?! I keep hitting you again and again but you just won't stay dead! What, is life lagging out and not registering all the times I've killed you?"
*ZAP*
"Like there!" Sakuya says. "I just saw your body get completely charred by lightning, and now you're fine!"
"Noooooo you didn't," I taunt in a sing song voice. "At least, I don't seem to remember something like that happening. Are you sure you've done anything?"
"Shut up!" Sakuya yells at me.
"Okay," I say, still smiling. "But first, you like games, don't you? How about we play another one right now?"
"What kind of game?" Sakuya asks warily.
"We're going to keep fighting, and I want you to guess what my magical girl ability is," I tell her. "I haven't worked out what you'll get if you guess right, but I'm sure I can think of something. Oh, I almost forgot! I have to make if at least somewhat fair, and tell you my 'weak spot' so to say."
I tap a finger against my chest, above where my heart would be.
"Here you go," I say. "My soul gem's a little hard to notice, since it's under my outfit as opposed to being on top of it. All you have to do to kill me is score a good blow through my heart. Seem good? Just find a way to worm past my defenses and hit my weak spot. Want to play?"
"Oh I get it," Sakuya says. "You're taking my game metaphors and trying to turn them around, make yourself the final boss. Okay, I'll play."
"Great!" I say. "You get three guesses. Hmmm, make it two guess. If you can't get it right after two guesses, you aren't going to get the third one. I suppose if you get both guesses wrong I'll just tell you. Ready?"
"Ready," Sakuya says right before she unleashes a hailstorm of ice and lightning. I dodge and duck between the projectiles and attempt to find a pocket of safety.
"I appreciate you only using a few abilities instead of all of them," I tell Sakuya. "That's awfully ice of you."
"That almost caused me physical pain," Sakuya informs me.
"Not a fan of puns?" I ask. "Perhaps you simply need to lighten up a little?"
"… My disdain for you is slowly growing personal," Sakuya says.
"Oh, don't be like that!" I say, offering her a smile. "Anyway, think you have enough information to make a guess, or do you want to hold off a bit?"
"Hmm… Probability manipulation?" Sakuya offers. "You simply put the odds in your favor, allowing you to happen into extremely lucky situations?"
"Bzzt!" I announce. "Incorrect guess! Want to go again, or shall we resume the fighting?"
"What if I simply asked you to tell me?" Sakuya asks. "Would you give me and answer?"
"Hmmmmmmm nope!" I tell her cheerfully. "Where's the fun in a game that just gives you what you want? You have to work for it!"
"I suppose," Sakuya admits. "Honestly though this farce is annoying and I wish it to end."
"Boo," I say. "Who knew Remi hung around with such a buzzkill."
"I'm the boss of the magical girl yakuza, I don't get payed to have fun," Sakuya says. "I don't get payed at all, but that doesn't really matter. Nonetheless, I'll humor you and use my second guess. Perhaps it's illusion magic? You actually are simply messing with my senses and either making me only think that I'm hitting you when I'm actually hitting thin air?"
"Interesting guess, really interesting," I say. "Too bad it's completely wrooooooong. Oh, shoot!"
"What's with you?" Sakuya asks.
"I just realized this is horribly unfair!" I explain. "It must be really hard for you to guess what my magical girl ability is when you don't even know what I wished for! Okay, I'll fix that. Don't think about the consequences of the wish, those got cancelled out by someone else's wish. Just focus on the wish itself. When I contracted to become a magical girl I wished that the incubators never came to Earth in the first place."
"… Ah!" Sakuya has an epiphany. "You can't be suggesting-"
"Hey, you got it!" I say cheerfully. "You're completely right. My ability as a magical girl is to make it so that any event in history never happened!"
"T-that's insane!" Sakuya says. "You can't honestly expect me to believe you can change history on a whim, can you?"
"Weeeeeeeeell not exactly," I say. "There's two particular hangups. First: The event I'm negating can't be any more than five minutes in length. I can't just snap my fingers and say 'oh, this entire day didn't happen' and suddenly have the day just vanish in a puff of smoke. Second, and this is the important one: the event I'm negating has to have happened in the last twenty four hours."
"And why is that important?" Sakuya asks. "I highly doubt that you'll be caught in battle lasting more than a day."
"No no no, you're missing the big thing," I say. "Think for a second. If I could negate any moment in history more or less by thinking about it, why would I have any issues with you? I could just snap my fingers and Yoko, Yagami, Inko, Ui and my parents would be alive. Unfortunately for you, I can't do that. It's been too long since those events happened. However, anything you throw at me, from lightning to ice to shadows, is happening just right now. That's child's play for me to negate. There really isn't any way for you to beat me. So what do you say?"
I fish into my pocket and bring out the grief seed Sakuya gave me. I press it to my chest, where my soul gem is, and cleanse my soul gem. Turns out using a lot of magic in a short amount of time can really corrupt your gem quickly. The seed has another use, I think, so I shove it back in my pocket.
"Ready to start the actual fight?" I ask Sakuya with a smile.
Sakuya seems… not nervous, more like she's confused. I suppose she's still trying to wrap her head around the fact that all recent history is little more than my plaything. Well, she'll figure out exactly what fighting me entails pretty quickly. And I plan on ending this as quickly as possible, so she won't have to wait long.
I take the initiative and charge for Sakuya. She swings her spear at me and I vault over her head and land behind her. Sakuya turns around and swings her spear at me, but I negate my vaulting putting me back where I was, though Sakuya is now facing away from me. I slash her across the back and she creates a large wind to blow me away. I attempt to jump right back into the fray, but shadows grab onto my ankles and keep me from moving.
"All right, I'll be the first to admit," Sakuya begins. "I've got a lot of abilities that are just slight variations on others, and a lot that are useless in a battle. I don't need five different ways to shoot lightning, and what good is speaking to animals or being able to breathe underwater in a fight to the death? However, do not for a second think that that means I don't have many different ways of making sure you aren't a problem anymore."
"Wait, were you just using double talk when talking about your abilities?" I ask. "Over a hundred different abilities, but that really only means like ten different abilities. Wow, that's disappointing."
"First, shadow control," Sakuya says, gesturing to the shadows grasping my legs. "Second and third, lightning and ice."
A storm cloud forms over my head and starts sparking. Little snowflakes start raining down on my head.
"Fourth and fifth, fire and control of light."
A circle of fire lines the ground around me, and beams of light start shooting near me, just barely grazing my skin. Sakuya must be a killer at parties.
"Six, seventh and eighth, weapon creation, metal manipulation and telekinesis."
Three swords, two axes and about six orbs of metal are formed and start encircling me, blades constantly pointed at me. I cover my mouth to be polite and hide the fact that I'm yawning. Geez Sakuya, get to the point.
"Ninth, Tenth and eleventh, enhanced strength, enhanced speed and self-healing. All those are just a fraction of all the abilities I have. Admittedly many of the abilities I have are similar, but that only serves to strengthen their potency."
"… And?" I ask. "That was a pretty demonstration and everything, I'm sure you're a riot at the group's christmas parties, but what's the point? I just told you that I can make anything not happen. Why would you think that you can do anything to actually stop me?"
"Because you're bluffing," Sakuya says. "There's no way such an ability could ever actually exist. I was right before, you're just using some weird illusion thing to try and confuse me. An ability as stupid as negation of history simply can't exist. And what's with those completely arbitrary restrictions? Five minutes? Twenty four hours? You're clearly making things up."
"It's more of a self-imposed restriction than anything," I explain. "I can mess with stuff beyond the twenty four hour limit, but it puts way too much of a strain on my soul gem. Two days is my absolute limit. Same for the only five minute events being negotiable. If I really push it than I could perhaps remove a ten or fifteen minute event from history, but I would need a grief seed immediately."
"Of course, of course," Sakuya says. "Well, keep up the act, I've already called your bluff. Also I appreciate you telling me where your soul gem is so I know where to aim."
"Aww, you're not going to play fair and tell me where your soul gem is?" I ask. "You're just going to take my gracious gift and run? You're not a very fun person to play games with."
"Sadly this is hardly a game," Sakuya says. "This is me choosing to kill you."
"Well, it doesn't matter," I reply. "I've already destroyed your soul gem about seven times by now."
"Wh-what?" Sakuya asks.
"Yeah! I found your soul gem, broke it, then negated that event so I could keep fighting because I didn't think you were properly punished. This will be the eighth time I've killed you, and I'm still not entirely certain that's enough."
Sakuya seems unnerved and starts rubbing the back of her neck. I grin, but she doesn't seem to notice. Thank you Sakuya, for being nervous enough to tell me where your soul is.
"R-regardless," Sakuya works to regain her composure. "That hardly matters. I have you completely at my mercy. The second I do so much as blink you have all these different magical abilities tearing into you."
"And the second I blink, none of that ever happened," I tell her. "So I don't quite see-"
*SLASH*
*BURN*
*CLANG*
*BLAST*
"What you're hoping to accomplish," I finish.
"Wh… What the… What the hell is with you?!" Sakuya asks. "I just saw you… I just saw you get torn to pieces! There was blood and organs and… you were in pieces. What the hell are you?!"
"I'm Scarlet, I'm a magical girl," I tell her. "Or would you rather, I'm Alessa, Remilia's little sister. Or perhaps Tepes, the witch who nearly ended the world? Which one best answers your question?"
Sakuya simply looks at me like I'm a monster, which I am, admittedly. I dismiss my spear and start walking towards Sakuya. She burns me alive, my skin becomes charred and my blood starts evaporating in my veins. I negate the event, and the flames disappear, along with my wounds. Shards of ice tear my body to shreds, exposing bone and poking holes through my body. I decide that's not something I like, and the ice storm stops and my holes are sewn up. Creatures of shadow rise up and begin clawing at me. One cuts through my ankles, another shoves a hand through my stomach, and a third tears out my throat. The event is once again negated, and my health is filled back up to full. I take another step towards Sakuya, and she takes a step back. She steels her resolve and moves forward, swinging her spear. It cuts clean through my neck, decapitating me. Sakuya abuses her super speed and cleanly slices off my limbs as well before moving to stab my body through the heart. I negate this entire process, placing myself in front of Sakuya, right as she prepares her stab. Her spear moves forward and knock it off course with my hand. I step forward and attempt to punch Sakuya in the face as hard as I can. She raises both of her swords in an "x" shape to block the punch, but my fist breaks right both swords and connects with her face. Sakuya retaliates by igniting her fist and attempting to hit me with the flaming punch, but I grab her fist before it can hit me.
"How utterly useless," I tell her.
Sakuya lights her spear up with lightning and attempts to stab at me once again. I swing my hand and it collides with the spear's hilt. I grab the hilt with my other hand and tear the spear free from her grasp. I toss the spear away and grab hold of her head and shoulder. I bite down into her neck and begin feasting. Sakuya screams in pain, but remains calm enough to attempt retaliation. Shadows gather around her hand and form claws. She attempts to swing at me, but I grab her hand, stop the swing and continue feasting. Sakuya keeps struggling, attempting to knock me off of her, but I keep my teeth at her neck. Once I've had my fill I let go of Sakuya. The bite wound is already healing, but Sakuya is still reeling. She takes an unsteady step back. How useless. I step forward and punch Sakuya hard. I punch her again, and again and again, hitting a little harder and a litter faster each time.
"USELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSU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Sakuya's body is continually beaten and bloodied by my blows, but she constantly heals herself thanks to her various abilities. Thanks to that I was able to hurt her as much as I want without worrying about her expiring a little too early. I punch Sakuya a few more times, and then stop, letting Sakuya fall to her knees before falling flat on her face. I reach down and grab Sakuya's soul gem from its place on the back of her neck. I face away from Sakuya and hold her soul gem up towards the light, observing it carefully. It's not colored like Ui's or Yagami's, the glass is completely clear. It'd be rather pretty if it weren't for all the corruption swirling around inside of it. I imagine she would have used a lot of magic in that fight.
"So, that's it?" Sakuya asks, attempting to pull herself up. "Time for me to die? Time for me to pay for all the sins I've committed?"
"…"
"Well?" Sakuya asks, shakily getting to her feet. She's not wounded, her magic made sure of that, but I imagine she's still a little shaken up from how much damage she's taken. "Go on! Crush it! Kill me already, make me pay! Damn thousands of innocent magical girls to die, or become a witch or worse!"
"… How useless," I mutter.
"What?" Sakuya asks.
"It's funny," I say. "Even with all the things you've done, all the lives you've taken including my friends and family, even with all the sins that only happened because of the group you created-"
Sakuya leaps towards me, spear drawn and a myriad of magical girl abilities firing off behind her. I toss her soul gem into the air, wait for it to fall in the right spot and then spin around and kick Sakuya in the face. Sakuya's soul gem is crushed between my foot and her head. Glass flies everywhere as the soul gem shatters, and the force of my kick knocks Sakuya on her back. Her spear and magical girl outfit disappear, leaving her in her casual clothes. All the magical attacks she was preparing simply disappear, leaving me alone with nothing but silence and Sakuya's corpse as company.
"Even with everything that's happened, I still can't bring myself to hate you," I tell her.
I transform back into my casual clothes and walk away. I exit the room and immediately fall to my knees. I work on keeping my thoughts in order and shift into a more comfortable sitting position. I turn my ring into its gem form and look at it. God, I'm close to witching out. I used a lot of magic in that fight. Its hard to keep my hands from shaking, but I'm still able to reach into my pocket and pull out the grief seed Sakuya gave me earlier. I put seed to gem and let out a sigh of relief as my gem is cleansed. The seed's beyond any usefulness now, so I toss it into some corner. I'm supposed to give overused seeds to Kyubey, but I really don't care at the moment. If he wants it so badly he'll pick it up.
I'm exhausted. The adrenaline's wearing off, I suppose. Plus it took way too much conscious effort to act like my old self. It shouldn't be as hard to act like myself as it was, but there it is. I feel completely drained right now.
"Scarlet!"
I look up and see Yukari running towards me. She rushes towards me and as soon as she gets close enough she gets on her knees so she can properly hug me.
"Thank goodness," Yukari says. "You're okay. Does that mean-"
"Sakuya's dead," I tell her. "It's all over now. Everything's fine now."
"Are you fine though?" Yukari asks, looking me in the eye. "I know you won, but do you need any healing? Deus is really tough so-"
"I'm perfectly fine," I tell her. "I'm really lucky too. By all rights I shouldn't have won that fight. If I had been any other magical girl she would have killed me. Good thing I was a pretty good counter to her magic. Ah, that's not important, we can talk about that later. Are you okay Yukari? What happened with everyone else?"
"The pink archer was still fighting Yami and Alice when I got there," Yukari says. "She beat Marymary fine, but was having trouble with those two so I had to help her. Partyway into the fight, Alice apparently caught wind of something interesting, because she said the fight was pointless and left. Yami ran off right after since she didn't feel like fighting a losing battle."
"So where is the pink girl now?" I ask.
"She's working on healing Marymary," she says. "She's got some healing abilities, so she's making sure Marymary is at 100 percent while I came by to make sure you were okay."
"And she certainly appears to be okay," Kyubey says as it walks into the room. "How interesting. I hadn't expected you to survive fighting Sakuya, much less actually defeat her."
"What, did I ruin some grand plan of yours?" I ask.
"Not at all," Kyubey tells me. "We incubators didn't care which side won, so we stayed out of the conflict. We simply took interest in the battle between the anomalous magical girl and the most powerful magical girl in Japan. And what do you think you should do now?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Yukari asks.
"Sakuya is dead, her group is disbanded, and Alessa has avenged her friends and family," Kyubey begins. "And because of that, many magical girls are doomed to have a very short career."
"Sakuya talked a bit about that," I reply. "She said that without her the group would fall apart and thousands of magical girls would die."
"I do hope you don't think she was lying," Kyubey says. "She's never been one to lie. For every incident her magical girls cause that results in people dead, they also save a number of lives that more than equals the people they've killed. Now without structure many of the magical girls in the group will fight amongst each other for grief seeds or power. Many won't get what they need and will inevitably become witches. Thanks to your actions, much of Japan's populace may have been doomed."
"It doesn't sound convincing when you say 'may have,'" I tell it.
"True," Kyubey concedes. "Honestly I can't predict what will happen. Perhaps nothing will happen, all arms of the group will operate as if nothing happened and life will go on. It is highly unlikely, but possible. In any case, this situation has resolved itself. Until we meet again, Alessa, Yukari."
Having said its piece, Kyubey turns and walks away, pausing to pick up the grief seed I tossed earlier before leaving me and Yukari alone.
"Scarlet do you… do you feel like we did the right thing?" Yukari asks. "Killing Deus and all that. Do you feel like that was the right choice?"
"I don't really feel anything right now," I tell her. "I just feel kind of empty right now. Yukari, what exactly did I accomplish?"
"I don't know," she tells me. "I don't have those kinds of answers."
"Is that so…" I mutter.
"Hey Scarlet… This may not be the best time, but there is something I've been meaning to talk to you about," Yukari says. "It's about Deus' group."
"Oh? What is it?" I ask.
"It's kind of related to what Kyubey was just talking about," Yukari says. "See, while you were recovering at my house I talked with Nina a bit about what would happen if Deus died. About how the structure of the group would collapse, everyone would start fighting, blah blah blah. I was thinking… I kind of want to stop that before any of it happened."
"Is that so? How do you plan on doing that?" I ask.
"I was going to leave this city with Nina," Yukari tells me. "She helped run the group, she should know about most, if not all of the various groups stationed around Japan. I was going to travel with her, meet up with the group and try to diffuse any incidents before they happen. Now that Deus is dead and future deaths are now a very real possibility, I feel like that's really something we need to do."
"Really? You're going to just start walking around Japan, see if anyone needs help?" I ask.
"No, no, we'd have specific targets and destinations," Yukari says. "Nina said she already had a preliminary list of all the cities and places most likely to have serious problems. We'd go and make sure everyone has what they need so that no one else has to die as a result of what happened here."
"I see," I respond. "Good luck with that."
"Scarlet, I wanted you to come with us," Yukari says. "I don't want to leave you alone, and… well, I thought it would be best if we stuck together."
I choose silence as my response.
"Just think about it, okay?" Yukari asks. "… Hey Scarlet. Are you okay?"
"What's with that?" I ask.
"You seem really down," Yukari explains. "Are you feeling okay? … Oh, it's about… well, everyone, isn't it? Our friends, your family, and everyone else, isn't it?"
"No, why would I be sad about that?" I ask. "The past is long gone, I couldn't do anything about it then, and I can't do anything about it now. No point in feeling bad about it."
"Liar," Yukari calls my bluff.
I look down at the floor and don't respond.
"Do you want a little time to yourself?" Yukari asks. "Some time to sort your thoughts out?"
I nod slowly. Yukari gets up and walks out of the room, leaving me by myself. Here I am, a girl with no memories, and the power the change anything except for the things I actually want to. My parents aren't coming back. Remilia's not coming back. Ui, Yagami, Inko, Yoko, Yuki, they're never coming back.
I held my head in my hands and just… started crying. I just sat there and kept sobbing.
*One week later*
Yukari's gone. She and NIna left a few days ago to make sure the fallout of Sakuya's death didn't cause too much trouble for everyone else, just like she said they would. I doubt I'll be seeing them anytime soon. I'm still here, cleaning up witches in this city because someone has too. I haven't seen the pink girl, so she's probably off in some other city, doing her own thing. As such, I'm the only magical girl in the city, so I'm the only one who can keep witches in check. I have no other social commitments or competition so it's a pretty easy job to throw myself into.
I had just finished up a witch fight, and breathed a sigh as the labyrinth dissolved. It wasn't a difficult fight, they never are. When you have an ability like mine, witch fights are trivial. I had picked up the grief seed that the witch had dropped and was preparing to leave when I heard a sound. I turned and saw a small girl, lying on her side, curled in a ball on the ground. She had short, dirty blonde hair, and she was small and extremely thin. I'd say she was maybe nine years old at most. It sounded like she was crying. Was she trapped in the labyrinth? … Haaaaaaaah. Another sigh. I've been doing that a lot recently.
"Hey, are you okay?" I ask, as I walked over to her. She didn't seem to hear me, so I kneeled down and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Aah!" The girl exclaims. She rolls over and tries scooting away from me. She briefly pauses and starts examining the alleyway. "Everything's… normal? The monster is gone?"
"The monster's gone," I confirm.
"Did y-you stop it?" she asks.
"I did," I tell her. "Were you stuck in there?"
The girl nods.
"I got s-stuck in there, and there were lots of monsters and the big m-monster and I thought I was going to die," she tells me.
"You don't need to worry about that anymore, I took care the monster," I tell her. "You can go home now."
I turn around and start walking away, only to be stopped by the girl grabbing onto my sleeve.
"Miss, where should I go?" she asks me.
"I just told you, go home," I repeat. "I'm sure your parents are worried about you if you're out here like this."
"Mama and Papa are d-dead," the girl tells me.
"What?"
"One of those m-monsters killed them," she explains. "I found this weird black thing so I took it home. It turned into a monster and ate my parents. That was a week ago. I got away from that monster, but then that other monster found me, and that's where I was for the past two days."
"Is that so?" I ask.
I think about what the girl just told me. This poor girl has had the misfortune of being trapped in a witch's labyrinth, and she saw her parents get eaten? I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like. I think a little more, and come to a conclusion.
"Hey, what's your name?" I ask her.
"Y-Yui," she tells me. "Yui Nekoyama."
"Nice to meet you, Yui. My name's Scarlet," I tell her.
"S-S-Scarlet?" Yui asks. "I-It's a pleasure to meet you."
I stand up and start walking away. I don't hear anything, so I turn and look back to see Yui still sitting on the floor, not having moved an inch.
"Well?" I ask.
"W-well what?" Yui asks right back.
"Come along now," I tell her. "You look hungry. Let's go get something good to eat."
"R-r-r-really?" Yui asks.
"Really, now come here," I say, holding my hand out towards her. "Take my hand. I don't want you getting lost."
Yui seems uncertain, but eventually she stands up and walks over to me on shaky legs. She hesitates, but eventually grabs my hand with hers. She looks up to me, looking a little uncertain. I simply smile down at her and start walking. She keeps pace with me, and I'm pretty sure she's smiling as well.
"Okay, it's your choice. Where do you want to go?" I ask her.
Okay, question for the people here. Originally this chapter ended with Scarlet crying, the scene immediately before the one week time skip. The stuff after the time skip was supposed to be part of next chapter, but I moved it to this chapter. The question here is: Should I leave this chapter as is, or should I chop off the end and have it end with Scarlet sobbing? I don't know, I really like the chapter as it is, but I almost feel like if we moved that last part to the next chapter it would leave a stronger impact.
Oh, and thanks again everyone for sticking with the story all the way through!
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