Janice had spent more time inside a hospital than she would care to name. The rest of that time...
Witch Symphony (PMMM)
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Gertrud
somewhatLazy
Serial Procrastinator
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Janice had spent more time inside a hospital than she would care to name. The rest of that time, she was within home. Mother cooked for her, and father worked elsewhere, for the family. Her parents had loved gardens, hence the one behind the mansion. It was filled with blood-red roses.
They were beautiful. Janice relaxed on the crouch, rewatching Dr. No. Mother had called it cheap trash, but she didn't care. If she wanted to pass her time watching James Bond movies, so be it! She reached for the remote, but instead felt something fluffy and light. Turning towards it, she saw a… bunny-cat?
It cocked its head. Greetings, Janice! Do you want to make a contract with me and become a magical girl?
Janice screamed like a girl. "What!?" She tried to reach for the vase, to drive the alien away. "Go away, go away." Calm down, Janice. I won't harm you. I'm Kyubey, and I grant wishes! "What are you talking about?" Janice said, blocking her ears. If you make a wish with me, you will become a magical girl! But, magical girls must hunt witches: terrible monsters who hurt and kill people.
She held up the heavy vase, ready to strike with it. "Just start at the beginning! Before I drop this." Witches are creatures born of curses against the world. They inspire anger and hatred, causing many suicides and murders, and hide in labyrinths, making them unfindable. Its tail swished in the air. That's where you come in! I can grant any wish you desire, no matter how miraculous it is. In return, you hunt and destroy witches. "I… why me?" Because you have the potential to become a magical girl! "But, I'm so weak." Her stays in the hospitals only attested to that fact. If you become a magical girl, you will become stronger and healthier.
She placed the vase and the fake flowers within it back on the endtable. "This… it's so sudden. Can't you come back later?" Kyubey hopped off the couch and walked away. Don't worry. We can wait.
A wish… for anything she could want… she fell in the couch, thinking about the surreal events that just happened. "I won't. I won't get involved in something like this. I'm fine, I don't need to be in whatever the hell this is."
Janice screamed as she was thrown against the wall by the bladed tendrils of the witch. Clutching her pike tightly in one hand, she shakily got up again, turning her spilled blood into spears and throwing them against the witch. They hit its chest, causing its crudely sculpted head to shake in a frenzy. The tendrils that made up its dress-like cage moved, surging towards her. Her weapon deflected some of the hits, but yet more sailed past her guard.
She stared at the metallic witch, ignoring her wounds, a male shadow imprisoned inside its cage and hummingbirds made of cut-out newspapers flying around it. Could she win this? No, she couldn't flee. She needed to finish this! The witch's form had cuts and slashes in it, revealing the tarnish underneath the pale gold that made its form. She lifted her weapon, and leapt into the air, kicking off a familiar and hacking the witch's head off.
Gasping for breath, she turned back towards the witch, its tendrils trashing about. Three of them turned towards her, and thrusted towards her location as she dodged. One snaked behind her, striking her back and plunging within it, cutting inside it. Her pike cut off the tendril, even as she coughed blood. "Don't, don't think I'll give up…" She wouldn't surrender, wouldn't run, wouldn't show weakness.
Before she charged once more, a resounding bang sounded throughout the labyrinth. Another magical girl, dressed in something like a school uniform and her orange soul gem connecting to a red necktie, lowered her shotgun. She looked at Janice, and then back at the witch. "Um, I've fought this one before." She said, dodging what tendrils she could and shooting the rest. "You have to—!" Running towards the witch, she raised her gun near its dress and shot in, felling the shadow. "Shoot the thing inside its dress!" She finished.
The labyrinth fell apart, dissipating and showing reality once more. "Um, hi…" She spoke, extending a hand towards Janice. "I'm Maria. What's your name?" Janice let out the breath she'd been holding, and shook the hand, though she remained on the ground, healing her wounds. "Janice," she finally muttered once she felt well enough to speak. "Thanks." She untransformed, falling to the ground with an "oomph!"
Maria nervously smiled, before dismissing her dress. "Ah, are you new? I haven't seen you before." Janice stood up, leaning on the wet wall. "I've been here for three weeks, mainly hunting near the hospitals. Maybe that's why?" She didn't like them, but she knew where they were and the areas around them fairly well. And they always had a good supply of witches. "That's why! I mainly stick to the older sections of town." Maria picked up the grief seed. "Do you want this? You were fighting it longer than me, and you looked pretty hurt."
She shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine. In the end, I wasn't the one who killed it. It was you. You should have your reward." Maria walked closer to Janice, and held it up for her to see. "I insist! I have a few extra ones lying about, and I didn't use that much magic in that fight. If you can block the tendrils, that witch is pretty easy once you know the trick."
Well, it wasn't as if she had any good reason to deny it beyond that. Janice took the seed and held it to her soul gem, watching it drain the darkness out. "If you insist." She smiled, looking at the other girl. "Thank you for your help." Maria nodded, then breathed in. "And! I had a very stupid idea but I'd still like you to hear it, even though we barely know each other! Do you want to be in a team with me?"
"What?" Janice asked. She had entertained that thought, but to be asked it just after meeting the other girl… Maria laughed and scratched her head. "Yeah, it's pretty sudden, isn't it? But I thought that would be safer. And there was another team I knew. They weren't very nice, but we're different."
"Oh," Janice said, "sure. Do you want to come over to my home, first, though?" Maria blushed slightly. "Yeah, that would be a nice idea. And getting out of this smelly alley, too!" Janice's hands rubbed her soul gem, currently in the form of a ring, as the two of them walked out.
She had nearly gotten lost on her walk towards her home, but she reassured herself with the fact that she didn't know the neighborhood that well. Opening the door, she called out for her mother. "I'm home! I brought a friend, too."
The smell of chicken and her mother's favorite tomato soup, which she continued making even by the time Janice had gotten well and truly sick of it, greeted her. Kyubey rested on top of the refrigerator, his tail swaying. "Oh! That's nice, Janice!" Mother smiled, before turning sprinkling some spice on top of the chicken. "What's her name?" They took off their shoes, stepping into the dining room with only their socks. "Maria. She's rather nice." Maria smiled at the praise. "Yeah." Showing her around, Janice pointed at the DVD shelf. "Do you want to watch one while she cooks? Most of them are old people stuff," a DVD titled A Guide to Birdspotting was pointed to, "but we've also got some documentaries and movies."
"Um. Citizen Kane! I haven't watched it before, but I want to learn why it's so famous." Janice took the DVD and placed it within the player. "It's a bit depressing," she said. "I don't like the depressing ones." Maria sat on the couch and leaned back. "Why not?" Janice walked over to a switch and flipped it, turning the lights off as the DVD started playing. "The purpose of movies is to entertain, not leave you feeling all gloomy."
"That's still entertaining," Maria retorted, "just a different type of entertaining. It, like, kicks your brain into action as you, uh, analyze the characters and themes of the movie." Janice scoffed. "I see you trying to sound smart." Maria blushed, using the remote and hitting the play button. "I'm trying to sound smart. I am smart! Really." Janice smiled, sitting next to Maria near a pillow. "Sure."
Twenty minutes into the movie, dinner had finished and the two were called to eat. "Where's your father?" Maria asked. "He's in Germany, for the company." Janice answered. "Ah," Maria said. "My father's a carpenter, and my mother stays at home caring for me and my siblings."
Janice sipped the soup. "Can't you make something different for once?" Mother tapped her fork on the plate. "It's my special recipe, to make you feel better. You loved it when you were younger. I noticed you came home a bit late. What were you doing?" Janice shoved her chicken around her plate. "I don't really think six is that late. All I was doing was talking with Maria." Maria waved. "She's very nice."
"Yes," mother said, "I must thank you for being friends with her. She's a very special girl, you know. She was sick for most of her childhood, but she never lost her vigor and will to live. She kept begging me to let her travel to Paris, help in this charity, all these things! She even went to the hospital a few times, but she didn't give up."
"Mother," Janice said, "stop bringing that up every time you speak with someone." She shoveled salad into her mouth. "It's embarrassing!" Mother finished chewing and swallowing her food, and spoke again. "Really, I don't see what you're embarrassed about. Are you afraid of being different than your peers?"
"Of course not."
"Then I don't see what you have to be embarrassed about." Mother finished. "Sure, sure." Janice continued eating, concentrating on her task. "So, after that, do you want to finish the movie and do something else?" She asked several minutes later. Maria made some odd gestures with her hand near her eye. "Something else and more important. We can finish the movie later." She looked askance at Maria. "What did you just do?"
Maria blushed. "Adjusting my imaginary glasses. It focuses me." Having finished her plate, Maria stood up. "Um, are you done?" Janice aggressively slurped soup. "Soon!"
She'd never remembered to compliment Maria's map and hunting route. Following it, they regularly found witches. Of course, finding witches came with its own problem: fighting them. Together, they were able to defeat most of them. But not all witches were made equal.
Janice cursed under her breath as she dodged another salvo of heart-headed arrows shot by familiars with string-thin arms. The witch, a gross cupid with grey skin, bulging eyes, and a distended stomach drew its bow, burning with a white flame, and let loose. Cutting into the palm of her hand and running along the castle walls, Janice used the blood as a shield. "Maria! Can you reach it from here?"
Maria turned towards her, shooting down a burning heart falling near her. "I think so! Let me get closer, though." Janice turned the blood shield into a rope leading near the witch. "Don't fall off," she stated, looking at the endless expanse of sky under the witch. In the square area between the walls, there was only sky. "I'll never forgive you if you do!" She said, only half-joking. "I won't."
Maria held her shotgun at the ready and ran along the rope, shooting any familiars that came near her. "Ah—now di—" Arrows flew into her, and the witch's plunged deeply into her chest. The point of the arrow could be seen through her back.
Maria untransformed and fell backwards, into the sky. "Maria!" Janice screamed, the blood rope losing cohesion and falling apart once more into base blood. Her mind, panicked, tried to turn it into a net, but there wasn't enough blood—not enough blood, that could be solved! She took her pike and dragged it across her arm, before sending the new blood to beneath Maria, catching her.
Breathing deeply, she brought the net containing her friend nearer her, trying to dodge the flurry of arrows. Kneeling down near cover, but still watching the net near her, an arrow plunged into her eye. She screamed with pain, pulling it out. Couldn't break her concentration! Yes, Maria was coming nearer. The net was nearly there. It dumped Maria out before collapsing back into a pool of blood, and Janice dragged her prone body nearer her. "Maria, are you alright?"
Maria did not move. "Maria? You survived losing most of your abdomen, you can't die now!" She shook her, waiting for a response. Maria did not move. Janice pulled the arrows out of her, dragging the witch's out with all her strength.
Maria's soul gem was crushed. Janice couldn't breathe. "Maria! Are you alright?" Even if she lost the source of her magic, that wouldn't result in her dying just like that, right?! But it was in her lungs. That was lethal, wasn't it? And without her magic to heal her and strength her… She shook Maria once more. "Wake up!"
No. Maria was dead. "You're an idiot… you know that, right?" She was the worst partner, wasn't she? Failing to protect her friend. She looked between the body and the witch, and choose the body, taking it in her arms, like a bride, and running. Something wet was in her eyes.
This wasn't fair. She'd only known Maria for two months.
She ran, into the darker depths of the labyrinth, past rusty chains binding gigantic hearts, past intestines winded around a pillar, until finally she was where they had entered. Sprinting past that, she broke back into reality, gasping for air and clutching Maria—no, the body.
She collapsed in the abandoned building, looking up at its ceiling. Kyubey walked out of the shadows, circling her and the body. "Go away," Janice whispered. He climbed on top of a decayed cabinet and watched her, tail swishing. She closed her eyes and waited, staring at her darkened soul gem. She couldn't leave Maria here. She needed to put her elsewhere, where she would be found and would be given a good burial.
With that thought, she took Maria once more, walking in the shadows of the building until she saw a nearby park. You're not going to untransform? Kyubey asked. "I'll do it later." A small part of her was amused at that thought. What would any passersby think? A teenager in an elegant ballgown adorned with roses carrying a dead body?
She put Maria's body on a bench, kissing her goodbye before leaving and untransforming. She trudged back to her home, feeling like her brain was on autopilot. Walk. Left. Walk. Right. Bus stop. Pay. Sit. Sit. Get off. Walk. Right. Right. Unlock. Open.
She quietly walked into the kitchen, watching mother make her signature tomato soup, before kneeling down and taking a bottle out of the cabinet and sprinkling it inside. "Oh," she said, walking nearer. "What's that?" Mother nearly jumped at the sight of her. "I—how come you're so late, Janice Mary Loret! You said you'd always call if you'd come home later than nine! And look at it now! Ten!"
"Sure," Janice sighed. "Can I help you?" Mother screwed its cap back on, before putting it in her pocket. "You don't put it in your pocket," she said dully, "you put it where you got it from." She grabbed it from her mother's hands, and went to the couch and collapsed in it, playing with the bottle. "Oh. Isn't this poisonous?" She went up to get a DVD to watch—poisonous?
She turned towards mother. "What is it?" Mother sputtered. "It makes the soup taste better," she offered. "Tell me, mother!" Mother glared. "It's nothing!" This couldn't be happening. "Gloria!" Mother wouldn't answer. "Stop worrying about it, Janice!" Was she in some labyrinth? This couldn't be true. "Why!? Is this some mistake?"
"It's not as if you died."
Ah.
She saw now.
Something heavy was in her hand.
"Janice? What are you doing?"
This was simple. It was her duty, her price in exchange for her wish. Strength.
"Killing witches, who bring despair and pain to this world."
They were beautiful. Janice relaxed on the crouch, rewatching Dr. No. Mother had called it cheap trash, but she didn't care. If she wanted to pass her time watching James Bond movies, so be it! She reached for the remote, but instead felt something fluffy and light. Turning towards it, she saw a… bunny-cat?
It cocked its head. Greetings, Janice! Do you want to make a contract with me and become a magical girl?
Janice screamed like a girl. "What!?" She tried to reach for the vase, to drive the alien away. "Go away, go away." Calm down, Janice. I won't harm you. I'm Kyubey, and I grant wishes! "What are you talking about?" Janice said, blocking her ears. If you make a wish with me, you will become a magical girl! But, magical girls must hunt witches: terrible monsters who hurt and kill people.
She held up the heavy vase, ready to strike with it. "Just start at the beginning! Before I drop this." Witches are creatures born of curses against the world. They inspire anger and hatred, causing many suicides and murders, and hide in labyrinths, making them unfindable. Its tail swished in the air. That's where you come in! I can grant any wish you desire, no matter how miraculous it is. In return, you hunt and destroy witches. "I… why me?" Because you have the potential to become a magical girl! "But, I'm so weak." Her stays in the hospitals only attested to that fact. If you become a magical girl, you will become stronger and healthier.
She placed the vase and the fake flowers within it back on the endtable. "This… it's so sudden. Can't you come back later?" Kyubey hopped off the couch and walked away. Don't worry. We can wait.
A wish… for anything she could want… she fell in the couch, thinking about the surreal events that just happened. "I won't. I won't get involved in something like this. I'm fine, I don't need to be in whatever the hell this is."
Janice screamed as she was thrown against the wall by the bladed tendrils of the witch. Clutching her pike tightly in one hand, she shakily got up again, turning her spilled blood into spears and throwing them against the witch. They hit its chest, causing its crudely sculpted head to shake in a frenzy. The tendrils that made up its dress-like cage moved, surging towards her. Her weapon deflected some of the hits, but yet more sailed past her guard.
She stared at the metallic witch, ignoring her wounds, a male shadow imprisoned inside its cage and hummingbirds made of cut-out newspapers flying around it. Could she win this? No, she couldn't flee. She needed to finish this! The witch's form had cuts and slashes in it, revealing the tarnish underneath the pale gold that made its form. She lifted her weapon, and leapt into the air, kicking off a familiar and hacking the witch's head off.
Gasping for breath, she turned back towards the witch, its tendrils trashing about. Three of them turned towards her, and thrusted towards her location as she dodged. One snaked behind her, striking her back and plunging within it, cutting inside it. Her pike cut off the tendril, even as she coughed blood. "Don't, don't think I'll give up…" She wouldn't surrender, wouldn't run, wouldn't show weakness.
Before she charged once more, a resounding bang sounded throughout the labyrinth. Another magical girl, dressed in something like a school uniform and her orange soul gem connecting to a red necktie, lowered her shotgun. She looked at Janice, and then back at the witch. "Um, I've fought this one before." She said, dodging what tendrils she could and shooting the rest. "You have to—!" Running towards the witch, she raised her gun near its dress and shot in, felling the shadow. "Shoot the thing inside its dress!" She finished.
The labyrinth fell apart, dissipating and showing reality once more. "Um, hi…" She spoke, extending a hand towards Janice. "I'm Maria. What's your name?" Janice let out the breath she'd been holding, and shook the hand, though she remained on the ground, healing her wounds. "Janice," she finally muttered once she felt well enough to speak. "Thanks." She untransformed, falling to the ground with an "oomph!"
Maria nervously smiled, before dismissing her dress. "Ah, are you new? I haven't seen you before." Janice stood up, leaning on the wet wall. "I've been here for three weeks, mainly hunting near the hospitals. Maybe that's why?" She didn't like them, but she knew where they were and the areas around them fairly well. And they always had a good supply of witches. "That's why! I mainly stick to the older sections of town." Maria picked up the grief seed. "Do you want this? You were fighting it longer than me, and you looked pretty hurt."
She shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine. In the end, I wasn't the one who killed it. It was you. You should have your reward." Maria walked closer to Janice, and held it up for her to see. "I insist! I have a few extra ones lying about, and I didn't use that much magic in that fight. If you can block the tendrils, that witch is pretty easy once you know the trick."
Well, it wasn't as if she had any good reason to deny it beyond that. Janice took the seed and held it to her soul gem, watching it drain the darkness out. "If you insist." She smiled, looking at the other girl. "Thank you for your help." Maria nodded, then breathed in. "And! I had a very stupid idea but I'd still like you to hear it, even though we barely know each other! Do you want to be in a team with me?"
"What?" Janice asked. She had entertained that thought, but to be asked it just after meeting the other girl… Maria laughed and scratched her head. "Yeah, it's pretty sudden, isn't it? But I thought that would be safer. And there was another team I knew. They weren't very nice, but we're different."
"Oh," Janice said, "sure. Do you want to come over to my home, first, though?" Maria blushed slightly. "Yeah, that would be a nice idea. And getting out of this smelly alley, too!" Janice's hands rubbed her soul gem, currently in the form of a ring, as the two of them walked out.
She had nearly gotten lost on her walk towards her home, but she reassured herself with the fact that she didn't know the neighborhood that well. Opening the door, she called out for her mother. "I'm home! I brought a friend, too."
The smell of chicken and her mother's favorite tomato soup, which she continued making even by the time Janice had gotten well and truly sick of it, greeted her. Kyubey rested on top of the refrigerator, his tail swaying. "Oh! That's nice, Janice!" Mother smiled, before turning sprinkling some spice on top of the chicken. "What's her name?" They took off their shoes, stepping into the dining room with only their socks. "Maria. She's rather nice." Maria smiled at the praise. "Yeah." Showing her around, Janice pointed at the DVD shelf. "Do you want to watch one while she cooks? Most of them are old people stuff," a DVD titled A Guide to Birdspotting was pointed to, "but we've also got some documentaries and movies."
"Um. Citizen Kane! I haven't watched it before, but I want to learn why it's so famous." Janice took the DVD and placed it within the player. "It's a bit depressing," she said. "I don't like the depressing ones." Maria sat on the couch and leaned back. "Why not?" Janice walked over to a switch and flipped it, turning the lights off as the DVD started playing. "The purpose of movies is to entertain, not leave you feeling all gloomy."
"That's still entertaining," Maria retorted, "just a different type of entertaining. It, like, kicks your brain into action as you, uh, analyze the characters and themes of the movie." Janice scoffed. "I see you trying to sound smart." Maria blushed, using the remote and hitting the play button. "I'm trying to sound smart. I am smart! Really." Janice smiled, sitting next to Maria near a pillow. "Sure."
Twenty minutes into the movie, dinner had finished and the two were called to eat. "Where's your father?" Maria asked. "He's in Germany, for the company." Janice answered. "Ah," Maria said. "My father's a carpenter, and my mother stays at home caring for me and my siblings."
Janice sipped the soup. "Can't you make something different for once?" Mother tapped her fork on the plate. "It's my special recipe, to make you feel better. You loved it when you were younger. I noticed you came home a bit late. What were you doing?" Janice shoved her chicken around her plate. "I don't really think six is that late. All I was doing was talking with Maria." Maria waved. "She's very nice."
"Yes," mother said, "I must thank you for being friends with her. She's a very special girl, you know. She was sick for most of her childhood, but she never lost her vigor and will to live. She kept begging me to let her travel to Paris, help in this charity, all these things! She even went to the hospital a few times, but she didn't give up."
"Mother," Janice said, "stop bringing that up every time you speak with someone." She shoveled salad into her mouth. "It's embarrassing!" Mother finished chewing and swallowing her food, and spoke again. "Really, I don't see what you're embarrassed about. Are you afraid of being different than your peers?"
"Of course not."
"Then I don't see what you have to be embarrassed about." Mother finished. "Sure, sure." Janice continued eating, concentrating on her task. "So, after that, do you want to finish the movie and do something else?" She asked several minutes later. Maria made some odd gestures with her hand near her eye. "Something else and more important. We can finish the movie later." She looked askance at Maria. "What did you just do?"
Maria blushed. "Adjusting my imaginary glasses. It focuses me." Having finished her plate, Maria stood up. "Um, are you done?" Janice aggressively slurped soup. "Soon!"
She'd never remembered to compliment Maria's map and hunting route. Following it, they regularly found witches. Of course, finding witches came with its own problem: fighting them. Together, they were able to defeat most of them. But not all witches were made equal.
Janice cursed under her breath as she dodged another salvo of heart-headed arrows shot by familiars with string-thin arms. The witch, a gross cupid with grey skin, bulging eyes, and a distended stomach drew its bow, burning with a white flame, and let loose. Cutting into the palm of her hand and running along the castle walls, Janice used the blood as a shield. "Maria! Can you reach it from here?"
Maria turned towards her, shooting down a burning heart falling near her. "I think so! Let me get closer, though." Janice turned the blood shield into a rope leading near the witch. "Don't fall off," she stated, looking at the endless expanse of sky under the witch. In the square area between the walls, there was only sky. "I'll never forgive you if you do!" She said, only half-joking. "I won't."
Maria held her shotgun at the ready and ran along the rope, shooting any familiars that came near her. "Ah—now di—" Arrows flew into her, and the witch's plunged deeply into her chest. The point of the arrow could be seen through her back.
Maria untransformed and fell backwards, into the sky. "Maria!" Janice screamed, the blood rope losing cohesion and falling apart once more into base blood. Her mind, panicked, tried to turn it into a net, but there wasn't enough blood—not enough blood, that could be solved! She took her pike and dragged it across her arm, before sending the new blood to beneath Maria, catching her.
Breathing deeply, she brought the net containing her friend nearer her, trying to dodge the flurry of arrows. Kneeling down near cover, but still watching the net near her, an arrow plunged into her eye. She screamed with pain, pulling it out. Couldn't break her concentration! Yes, Maria was coming nearer. The net was nearly there. It dumped Maria out before collapsing back into a pool of blood, and Janice dragged her prone body nearer her. "Maria, are you alright?"
Maria did not move. "Maria? You survived losing most of your abdomen, you can't die now!" She shook her, waiting for a response. Maria did not move. Janice pulled the arrows out of her, dragging the witch's out with all her strength.
Maria's soul gem was crushed. Janice couldn't breathe. "Maria! Are you alright?" Even if she lost the source of her magic, that wouldn't result in her dying just like that, right?! But it was in her lungs. That was lethal, wasn't it? And without her magic to heal her and strength her… She shook Maria once more. "Wake up!"
No. Maria was dead. "You're an idiot… you know that, right?" She was the worst partner, wasn't she? Failing to protect her friend. She looked between the body and the witch, and choose the body, taking it in her arms, like a bride, and running. Something wet was in her eyes.
This wasn't fair. She'd only known Maria for two months.
She ran, into the darker depths of the labyrinth, past rusty chains binding gigantic hearts, past intestines winded around a pillar, until finally she was where they had entered. Sprinting past that, she broke back into reality, gasping for air and clutching Maria—no, the body.
She collapsed in the abandoned building, looking up at its ceiling. Kyubey walked out of the shadows, circling her and the body. "Go away," Janice whispered. He climbed on top of a decayed cabinet and watched her, tail swishing. She closed her eyes and waited, staring at her darkened soul gem. She couldn't leave Maria here. She needed to put her elsewhere, where she would be found and would be given a good burial.
With that thought, she took Maria once more, walking in the shadows of the building until she saw a nearby park. You're not going to untransform? Kyubey asked. "I'll do it later." A small part of her was amused at that thought. What would any passersby think? A teenager in an elegant ballgown adorned with roses carrying a dead body?
She put Maria's body on a bench, kissing her goodbye before leaving and untransforming. She trudged back to her home, feeling like her brain was on autopilot. Walk. Left. Walk. Right. Bus stop. Pay. Sit. Sit. Get off. Walk. Right. Right. Unlock. Open.
She quietly walked into the kitchen, watching mother make her signature tomato soup, before kneeling down and taking a bottle out of the cabinet and sprinkling it inside. "Oh," she said, walking nearer. "What's that?" Mother nearly jumped at the sight of her. "I—how come you're so late, Janice Mary Loret! You said you'd always call if you'd come home later than nine! And look at it now! Ten!"
"Sure," Janice sighed. "Can I help you?" Mother screwed its cap back on, before putting it in her pocket. "You don't put it in your pocket," she said dully, "you put it where you got it from." She grabbed it from her mother's hands, and went to the couch and collapsed in it, playing with the bottle. "Oh. Isn't this poisonous?" She went up to get a DVD to watch—poisonous?
She turned towards mother. "What is it?" Mother sputtered. "It makes the soup taste better," she offered. "Tell me, mother!" Mother glared. "It's nothing!" This couldn't be happening. "Gloria!" Mother wouldn't answer. "Stop worrying about it, Janice!" Was she in some labyrinth? This couldn't be true. "Why!? Is this some mistake?"
"It's not as if you died."
Ah.
She saw now.
Something heavy was in her hand.
"Janice? What are you doing?"
This was simple. It was her duty, her price in exchange for her wish. Strength.
"Killing witches, who bring despair and pain to this world."
Gertrud
Charlotte
somewhatLazy
Serial Procrastinator
- Location
- lurking
Mom had closed her eyes and went away to the hospital, losing her beautiful hair, which was a pure and silky white. Nagisa visited her at least thrice a week, sometimes more. She didn't want Mom to leave the home. She didn't want Mom to die. But that wouldn't happen, would it?
"Hi," she said, closing the door behind her. "Are you feeling alright?" She put her backpack down and opened it. "I brought some candy! It's green tea KitKats! I know they said you're not supposed to, but you can have just one."
Mom smiled. "Thanks, Nagisa, but I don't need them. And in any case I never liked tea that much." In response to Nagisa's crestfallen face, she said "You can eat them, if you want." Nagisa shook her head. "No! I purchased them myself, just for you! They're my gift." Mom insisted, though, and Nagisa gave in.
Chewing on the candy, she started talking. "Naito got a Pokemon game. She let me play it, but she kept telling me what to do! It wasn't very fun. And Ban's got a kitty now. He's named Chat." She sagely added "it's French." Nagisa dug in her backpack once more, and fished out a card. "Ban made this for you!" She showed it to Mom. It was drawn in pen and colored with pencil, showing a badly drawn anime version of Mom resting under a tree near a lake. "Get better soon!" was written in yellow marker on top of it. "She gave it to me after school."
Mom smiled, holding it in her hand. "Tell Ban that she's a good artist, alright? But my eyes are more orange than that." Nagisa beamed. "Sure! And Kuroba said he wants you to get better too, though I don't really know him well. How's life here? Are you bored?"
"Sometimes the days are so long I fall asleep," Mom admitted, "but I love seeing you." Nagisa smiled, popping another KitKat into her mouth. "Yeah! Dad said when you come back he's gonna make your favorite cheesecake, even though he's a horrible cook!" She finished chewing and swallowed. "Nagisa…" Mom said.
"When will you come back?" Nagisa said. "I know they say you might die, but that won't happen, right?" Mom grew melancholy, and pulled Nagisa into a hug. "They say it's not looking good. The chances… it's only 13% of me surviving."
"But you'll make it, won't you? You're so strong." It was impossible that Mom would die. Nagisa knew that somehow, she would fit into that 13%. Mom sighed, and Nagisa could smell her breath, the scent of medicine on it. "Nagisa, you can't deny it. I may die. Y—you need to make your peace with the possibility."
"…" Nagisa said nothing and continued embracing her. "Naito's grandfather died to cancer too…" she murmured. "But he was so old." Mom was forty-two. Mom chuckled weakly. "I'm old too! Look at me—a hag who eats children!" Nagisa laughed as Mom embraced her tighter. "More meat for the stew!" Mom said, giggling.
It was sunset when Nagisa and Dad arrived. It felt appropriate, in a way. "She's barely hanging on," the nurse said. "You should make your final peace now." They were walking through the hospital, led by the blonde nurse, but it didn't feel truly real to Nagisa.
Until she saw Mom in the bed, her eyes closed. Then it felt all too real. She broke from Dad, running towards her, holding her hand desperately, hoping that at any moment a miracle would arrive and save her. Dad walked towards her and took Nagisa's small body in his arms, hugging her and stroking Mom's cheek. "I'm sorry. For the time I lost your phone. For the time I triggered the fire alarm. For not loving you more." He wept, but Nagisa could only stand there, staring at Mom.
After a while, Dad left, collapsing into one of the hallway's chairs, leaving Nagisa alone with Mom. She leaned her head down on Mom's chest, feeling her slow breaths heave her chest up and down. "You're still alive… aren't you?" Yes, she is still alive, though I do not believe she will live much longer than an hour. Nagisa jerked her head up, looking towards the window, where a stuffed animal sat. It leapt off. I can grant you a wish, any wish you want, if you become a magical girl.
Nagisa didn't think about that. She thought about her mother, dying, her breaths and when they would depart her body once and for all. She thought about all the moments she would never share with Mom again. Her hands gripped Mom's wrist. "I want to eat cheesecake with her again. One last time." It was real, now. Tears flowed down her face.
Granted. Nagisa felt something rip out of her chest, with a pure white color, and coalesce into an egg-shaped jewel. She didn't care about that. Mom opened her eyes, and saw the cheesecake Nagisa had wished for. Strawberries topped it. "Oh," Mom smiled with faint strength, "Nagisa. I'm sorry."
"Don't be…" Nagisa took one of the sets of a fork and knife, and cut a piece of the cheesecake, giving it to her mother. "Let's just eat together, one more time."
"No," Mom said, "I'm sorry. For leaving you behind so soon. When you're still so young. I guess we won't be able to go to Okinawa for summer like we wanted." She quietly ate the cake. "I knew you were excited. I was, too…"
"Yeah. I wanted to go to Belgium and eat waffles. And the USA and see Disneyland. And!" Nagisa said, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "And skiing, too, like you did."
"How about it? Ask your father… one day…" Mom's wrist slumped down, her strength starting to leave her. "Have some more cheesecake," Nagisa pleaded. "Let's just finish it first."
Mom continued chewing the cheesecake as Nagisa fed it to her. "I'm going to be a, a, fashion designer when I grow up. Then—then I'll have two kids… I'll name one after you. I'll have a dog, too. Or a cat…" Her voice broke a bit. "And I swear I'll get good grades, and into a good school."
"And I'll never forget you," Nagisa finished, the cheesecake gone. Mom smiled. "I know you won't, Mo-chan." She closed her eyes, and her wrist fell down.
"I won't," Nagisa said, crying. "So don't die. You have to see my future, Mom!" There was only silence in reply, and Nagisa broke down sobbing. "You can't be dead…"
So why didn't you wish to save her?
Nagisa stared at the animal. "What…?"
"Oh."
"Hi," she said, closing the door behind her. "Are you feeling alright?" She put her backpack down and opened it. "I brought some candy! It's green tea KitKats! I know they said you're not supposed to, but you can have just one."
Mom smiled. "Thanks, Nagisa, but I don't need them. And in any case I never liked tea that much." In response to Nagisa's crestfallen face, she said "You can eat them, if you want." Nagisa shook her head. "No! I purchased them myself, just for you! They're my gift." Mom insisted, though, and Nagisa gave in.
Chewing on the candy, she started talking. "Naito got a Pokemon game. She let me play it, but she kept telling me what to do! It wasn't very fun. And Ban's got a kitty now. He's named Chat." She sagely added "it's French." Nagisa dug in her backpack once more, and fished out a card. "Ban made this for you!" She showed it to Mom. It was drawn in pen and colored with pencil, showing a badly drawn anime version of Mom resting under a tree near a lake. "Get better soon!" was written in yellow marker on top of it. "She gave it to me after school."
Mom smiled, holding it in her hand. "Tell Ban that she's a good artist, alright? But my eyes are more orange than that." Nagisa beamed. "Sure! And Kuroba said he wants you to get better too, though I don't really know him well. How's life here? Are you bored?"
"Sometimes the days are so long I fall asleep," Mom admitted, "but I love seeing you." Nagisa smiled, popping another KitKat into her mouth. "Yeah! Dad said when you come back he's gonna make your favorite cheesecake, even though he's a horrible cook!" She finished chewing and swallowed. "Nagisa…" Mom said.
"When will you come back?" Nagisa said. "I know they say you might die, but that won't happen, right?" Mom grew melancholy, and pulled Nagisa into a hug. "They say it's not looking good. The chances… it's only 13% of me surviving."
"But you'll make it, won't you? You're so strong." It was impossible that Mom would die. Nagisa knew that somehow, she would fit into that 13%. Mom sighed, and Nagisa could smell her breath, the scent of medicine on it. "Nagisa, you can't deny it. I may die. Y—you need to make your peace with the possibility."
"…" Nagisa said nothing and continued embracing her. "Naito's grandfather died to cancer too…" she murmured. "But he was so old." Mom was forty-two. Mom chuckled weakly. "I'm old too! Look at me—a hag who eats children!" Nagisa laughed as Mom embraced her tighter. "More meat for the stew!" Mom said, giggling.
It was sunset when Nagisa and Dad arrived. It felt appropriate, in a way. "She's barely hanging on," the nurse said. "You should make your final peace now." They were walking through the hospital, led by the blonde nurse, but it didn't feel truly real to Nagisa.
Until she saw Mom in the bed, her eyes closed. Then it felt all too real. She broke from Dad, running towards her, holding her hand desperately, hoping that at any moment a miracle would arrive and save her. Dad walked towards her and took Nagisa's small body in his arms, hugging her and stroking Mom's cheek. "I'm sorry. For the time I lost your phone. For the time I triggered the fire alarm. For not loving you more." He wept, but Nagisa could only stand there, staring at Mom.
After a while, Dad left, collapsing into one of the hallway's chairs, leaving Nagisa alone with Mom. She leaned her head down on Mom's chest, feeling her slow breaths heave her chest up and down. "You're still alive… aren't you?" Yes, she is still alive, though I do not believe she will live much longer than an hour. Nagisa jerked her head up, looking towards the window, where a stuffed animal sat. It leapt off. I can grant you a wish, any wish you want, if you become a magical girl.
Nagisa didn't think about that. She thought about her mother, dying, her breaths and when they would depart her body once and for all. She thought about all the moments she would never share with Mom again. Her hands gripped Mom's wrist. "I want to eat cheesecake with her again. One last time." It was real, now. Tears flowed down her face.
Granted. Nagisa felt something rip out of her chest, with a pure white color, and coalesce into an egg-shaped jewel. She didn't care about that. Mom opened her eyes, and saw the cheesecake Nagisa had wished for. Strawberries topped it. "Oh," Mom smiled with faint strength, "Nagisa. I'm sorry."
"Don't be…" Nagisa took one of the sets of a fork and knife, and cut a piece of the cheesecake, giving it to her mother. "Let's just eat together, one more time."
"No," Mom said, "I'm sorry. For leaving you behind so soon. When you're still so young. I guess we won't be able to go to Okinawa for summer like we wanted." She quietly ate the cake. "I knew you were excited. I was, too…"
"Yeah. I wanted to go to Belgium and eat waffles. And the USA and see Disneyland. And!" Nagisa said, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "And skiing, too, like you did."
"How about it? Ask your father… one day…" Mom's wrist slumped down, her strength starting to leave her. "Have some more cheesecake," Nagisa pleaded. "Let's just finish it first."
Mom continued chewing the cheesecake as Nagisa fed it to her. "I'm going to be a, a, fashion designer when I grow up. Then—then I'll have two kids… I'll name one after you. I'll have a dog, too. Or a cat…" Her voice broke a bit. "And I swear I'll get good grades, and into a good school."
"And I'll never forget you," Nagisa finished, the cheesecake gone. Mom smiled. "I know you won't, Mo-chan." She closed her eyes, and her wrist fell down.
"I won't," Nagisa said, crying. "So don't die. You have to see my future, Mom!" There was only silence in reply, and Nagisa broke down sobbing. "You can't be dead…"
So why didn't you wish to save her?
Nagisa stared at the animal. "What…?"
"Oh."
Charlotte
somewhatLazy
Serial Procrastinator
- Location
- lurking
Relax, the next one won't be as 100% depressing as these two. After all, if everything's depressing, then nothing is!
It'll still be kind of depressing, though. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it right now, but am going to edit it by myself later.
I'm also looking for one more beta reader. If anyone's interested please reply or PM.
H.N. Elly Kristen
somewhatLazy
Serial Procrastinator
- Location
- lurking
The sky didn't even have the decency to be suitably gloomy on the day of the funeral. No, it was a cheerful blue, with clouds scattered in picturesque locations, and the sun shining cheerfully down. At least the air was reflected her thoughts. It was nearly spring, but the chill bit at her despite the coat Mikami wore.
"It's not your fault," Her father said a few days before the funeral. "I know that you think it was. That you should have watched her better. But… we need to move on. That was what Ere would have wanted. And, when I said that hurtful thing about… if not for you… Ere would still be alive… I'm sorry, for hurting you."
"No," she'd replied, "it is my fault. You shouldn't deny that just to make me feel better." They'd trusted her with that duty. They hadn't said it out loud, but they had. And she was so selfish. She'd walked away with a boy for a few minutes, telling her sister to stay where she was.
Her father had tried to tell her that she should stop blaming herself. That he didn't want his only daughter left to fall into depression.
In truth, she knew, they all blamed her. Or perhaps they didn't, and that was horrible as well in a different way. She didn't want to escape justice.
Kyubey, she asked, how much longer until the funeral ends? She saw his shadow standing atop a grave, ominous as ever. I can't stand this any longer. I can't stand here and do nothing! When can I hunt witches?
Twenty more minutes, Kyubey replied. You're so impatient.
Her expression didn't change on the outside, but her fingernails dug into her palm. You said one of them killed my sister. For her, and for everyone else who died to them, I'll kill them all.
He smiled. Mikami Chisa, it is very unlikely that you will ever do that. You are a magical girl of only average—a bit lower than that, in fact—potential.
Then I'll just deal with those I can finish, she retorted. She'd contracted only a few days ago, practicing her skills in her spare time. She knew it was dangerous, but she would accept those risks. How much longer now?
Twenty-nine minutes. Make yourself comfortable.
Mikami was under no illusion that her teammates were good people. They'd waylaid her at her school, asking her to join them. She wasn't quite sure what would happen if she refused, but she doubted it would be pleasant.
Nimue was narcissistic, Elicia uncaring, and Rios ruthless. Indeed, they kept a pet killer: Saffron, who Mikami had only seen personally once, but was assured was a master at fighting other magical girls. It was not a policy of the group to hunt familiars, meaning that the deaths of dozens of people were upon their heads. Mikami alone had done so, her soul gem noticeably darker than theirs. Rios had asked her to stop, that she was wasting too much energy.
So why did she stay with them? Because she was too weak. Because she didn't have enough power to resist. Because she couldn't find the courage to voice her thoughts about them. Because the thought of belonging in a team, no matter how vile, entranced her. The thought of allies always ready to aid her, to save her life if need be, mesmerized her.
She sighed, staring into the entrance of the labyrinth. "Come on, get in already!" Nimue said. "I can't wait." She closed her eyes and nodded. "Fine, fine." Mikami stared into the entrance, and leapt in, summoning her scalpels and throwing them at the first familiars she saw, giggling blonde-haired birds.
Rios hovered in the air above them, her dark crimson hair swaying in the wind. Her weapon, levitating iron blades forming wings, sliced into familiars. "Saffron has fought this one before," she stated, without the fact that it was Saffron's magic that most likely damned the magical girl in question, "the witch will be an easy fight with all four of us here. It lurks in the ground, and when it first appears will try to swallow anyone in the area. There's a blue depression from where it'll come, and a rumbling noise just before." Despicable. They were all despicable. Working with psychopaths willingly, just for more witches.
"Saffron, Saffron. What, are the two of you best friends? I don't trust her!" Nimue said, blasting away at a group of familiars. Rios ignored this. "Elicia and I will lure it out, with Mikami nearby to freeze the witch once it bursts out of the ground. We'll dodge a few seconds before it strikes. Nimue will charge her attack and let loose once Mikami stops it. Then, we'll strike it, get everyone to safe distance, and see if it dies from that."
Elicia waved her greatsword of energy in the air, before reforming it into a rifle. "Sounds good, as always." Sycophant. Mikami's wasn't sure who whispered that, herself or Nimue. "Though I do wish you'd give me something lower risk. Nimue never does anything dangerous."
"Relax. If I didn't trust in this, I wouldn't be there with you." Rios smiled. Elicia still looked slightly worried, but turned back to attacking familiars. "Don't mess up," Elicia ordered absently.
Mikami frowned imperceptibly, leaping out of the way of an attacking familiar. It was a hideous thing, a great and twisted charcoal worm with doodled bird wings. "I won't." With a tap on its oily body, she froze it in time, before throwing her scalpels through its neck. "I'm not that new." She unfroze the worm, watching it collapse with satisfaction.
Elicia nodded, accepting that as proof. "Sorry," she murmured, but she said the word so much it had lost all meaning. Killing or dodging the last of the familiars, they went deeper into the labyrinth, past electricity lines with familiars nested on them, judgingly watching the magical girls, past cotton clouds made from crayon scribbles, and finally into a door with a smiling sun painted onto it.
Rios flew near the door while the others stood on a cloud. "Places, people." Elicia changed her weapon into a rifle instead of the sword it was before, and Nimue smirked. Mikami summoned ten scalpels, ready to throw them at any moment. "Remember the plan. I'm not explaining again." Rios continued. Elicia shyly looked away. Rios didn't acknowledge it, her iron wings contracting before expanding as she kicked the door open and leapt inside.
The witch's lair was the sun, with thin yellow paper streamers erupting out of it. Rios landed on the surface. "Saffron said it's alright to walk here. Oh, and to look. It's not the real sun." She sent one of the blades that made up her wings through a nearby familiar. "That's obvious…" Elicia lightly stepped on the ground near Rios, while Mikami and Nimue watched on a nearby cloud.
Mikami had to admit, the two of them were skilled at their art. Elicia and Rios teasingly moved near the familiars, before retreating, fighting all the while.
A blotchy dark blue color stained the surface of the sun, underneath them. Rios tensely flew higher into the sky, and Elicia leapt to the edges. No doubt, it was coming. Mikami stiffly walked closer to the circle, her hand reaching out towards the witch.
The sun's ground crumbled, a sound like a volcano about to explode, and the witch burst out. It was worm-shaped, but with a mouth shaped like a shattered diamond soul gem, fish-like eyes ringing its shape, and its skin was construction paper. And it was, much, much, faster than Mikami—or to look at the expression on her face, Rios—expected.
She touched its paper skin. She hesitated for a split-second. No. She couldn't just let them die. She released her anxiety, and touched the witch, feeling its dry skin. Pause! Rios screamed in pain and horror. She looked upwards, at Rios trapped in the witch's mouth. But where was Elicia…?
It… it wasn't her fault, it didn't matter. She was a monster, who let innocent people die for her own greed. Despite that, Mikami's mouth hung open. They'd trusted her to protect Elicia. "I'll kill you!" Rios shrieked. "What are you two waiting for!? Kill the witch!" Nimue stared at the sight, face pale. "My." She muttered, before looking upwards at her circles, arranged above the sun to vaporize the witch from the air. Mikami wasn't sure how long she stood staring at the circles before Nimue finally spoke again. "Don't worry, Chisa. I'll finish what you started."
Mikami spun around to face her. "Rios would have exiled us, or sicced her pet killer on us." With an exhaled breath, Nimue's circles eliminated Rios, vaporizing her in their overwhelming heat, and went through the witch with the same brightness. Mikami unpaused and the witch collapsed, its head blown off as the labyrinth began to fade. "You killed her. You killed her!"
"Don't be stupid!" Nimue ranted, picking up the grief seed. "We can't be all wishy-washy idealists here. Like it or not, reality demands that we need to have enough grief seeds. They were hoarding them. Nothing for me, even as I gladly blasted apart witches and familiars for them. Here, in this world of witches and magic, there's no room for compassion!" Her fist clenched. "I know how they saw me. I know how you see me. Fine! Sooner or later, I won't be trustworthy. Then what? Saffron comes for me? I become just another grief seed! And you, too! How long before you say that you're a 'brave hero' of justice or whatever it is, that you won't tolerate them and their activities? Would you like to be a grief seed as well?"
Mikami shook her head. "You're no better than them! You're just as selfish and corrupt! I… no matter what you think, it was an accident. I didn't mean to let it kill them. It was an accident, a mistake."
There was something dark in the other magical girl's eyes. "I saw you! You were going to freeze that witch, until you saw. That this was an oh-so-very-convenient opportunity to get rid of them. We're all horrible people! Why else would have Kyubey chosen us?" Her hands clutched the grief seed.
"You're wrong. I'm not selfish. I made this wish for my sister, to avenge her!" She glared at Nimue.
"Or maybe you were just trying to make yourself feel better." Nimue said. Mikami summoned a scalpel and threw it at the wall near Nimue. "Shut up!"
Nimue threw her hands out. "Was I right?" She left the skyscraper, walking away from Mikami. "Speak with me again or not if you want. I'm not ruthless. You can live, if you just stay out of my business." Mikami let out her breath, before walking away.
Mikami stared at the girl, nearly dropping her phone. "Um, as I was saying, can I be your pupil?" Celeste said. "I saw how you killed it! That monster! You were so cool!"
"No!" She said. "You don't want to get involved in this. Don't talk to Kyubey, no matter what he says. Trust me. And I'm not mentor material." She wasn't even sure if she was hero material. She'd let Nimue leave. Leave, after she proved that she didn't care about anything other than herself. Leave, after she killed Rios.
Her refusal did not deter Celeste. "Why? I already made my wish. I want to be a brave hero, like you! I want to be someone strong, someone who can keep my friends and family safe."
Upon hearing that, Celeste nearly choked on her milkshake. Coughing, she shook her head. "What? You reckless girl! Do you think this is some sort of game? That I do this for fun? What did you wish for? It'd better be worth it!"
Celeste recoiled. "For my friends and family to be safe and healthy. I know it's a bit selfish… but please! Teach me how to be a hero!"
Was this girl serious? No one could be that naïve. "Look… how old are you? I can't believe you here! Wishing for the health of your loved ones, selfish? I've seen people wish for beauty, skill, revenge… aren't these all much more selfish than yours?"
"Umm, thirteen? But I don't think revenge is that selfish compared to beauty?" Ere would be that age if she was still alive. "You're making your wish for someone you love, to honor their memory."
"It's inherently selfish. You wish for the power to avenge those you loved, even if they're not living anymore. All it does is make you feel like a hero." Mikami turned towards Celeste. "Even if you're not!"
"Oh," Celeste said, averting her eyes, "I'm sorry," she looked back up at Mikami with a determined expression on her face, "but you are! You saved me! Mikami looked away from her disgusting admiration. "You were so amazing. So please, please, can I be your student?"
"I…" Why wouldn't she go away? "Fine. You already made your contract. I'd rather not you died. Just…" She looked away from Celeste. "Don't expect me to be very good at it. I stay in my home most of the time! I'm not the most social person."
Celeste smiled, squeeing with joy. "Thank you, senpai!" Mikami shielded herself from the sight. "Don't call me senpai!" Celeste nodded. "Sensei, then?" Mikami said "I'm not old." Celeste smiled and took Mikami's hands. "Alright, senpai. Thank you!"
Celeste's soul was dark and corrupted, with storms of inky blackness swirling around in its pale orange luminance. Her body was bleeding from a thousand cuts, her arms twisted at unnatural angles. "Ah," she weakly laughed, "I'm so sorry, senpai!" In any occasion, Mikami would be angry at her for letting herself get hurt, even if she could heal herself. "I guess it's a miracle I'm still alive, isn't it?"
Mikami wordlessly picked up Celeste's soul gem. "Yes, a miracle." Why hadn't she told Celeste the truth? No matter how much it may have hurt her, she still needed to know it. Was she really that afraid that Celeste would be corrupted by it, become yet another magical girl obsessed with grief seeds? "The witch was pretty tough, senpai. And I ignored the familiars and their scissors, even though… I thought they weren't strong enough, that they weren't important enough. I… I think my back's broken, too. I guess I might've bitten off more than I can chew."
"And yet you were strong enough to escape." Mikami stared at the rapidly darkening soul gem. Just how much magic had Celeste spent in that fight? "Celeste." She bittersweetly smiled. "I couldn't admit it. But I loved being with you. Having you as my friend. In a way, you remind me of my sister." It was so dark. A tempest of despair. "I'm sorry."
Celeste's eyes widened. "What?" Mikami ignored it, and shattered her soul gem, shooting with a blast of magical energy. Celeste slumped back to the floor, her eyes dull. "I really am a coward… I tried telling you. That I'm a failure. That I'm not a hero. That I'm a murderer. And yet, each time, you excuse it, like it's nothing. Less than nothing. I tell you about Ere, and you say that I was still so young, that it's not my fault. I tell you about Elicia and Rios, and you say it was just an accident. I tell you about Nimue, and you say I'm not a murderer. You should have listened to me. Found someone else to be your hero. Someone strong, someone brave, someone who would never compromise. Because I failed you. Why didn't you listen to me?"
She embraced Celeste, eyes staring skyward, at the impossibly cheery clouds. "Ere… I love you. Maybe, sometime in our next life, we can be sisters again." Even if I don't deserve it, can I see you one more time?
"It's not your fault," Her father said a few days before the funeral. "I know that you think it was. That you should have watched her better. But… we need to move on. That was what Ere would have wanted. And, when I said that hurtful thing about… if not for you… Ere would still be alive… I'm sorry, for hurting you."
"No," she'd replied, "it is my fault. You shouldn't deny that just to make me feel better." They'd trusted her with that duty. They hadn't said it out loud, but they had. And she was so selfish. She'd walked away with a boy for a few minutes, telling her sister to stay where she was.
Her father had tried to tell her that she should stop blaming herself. That he didn't want his only daughter left to fall into depression.
In truth, she knew, they all blamed her. Or perhaps they didn't, and that was horrible as well in a different way. She didn't want to escape justice.
Kyubey, she asked, how much longer until the funeral ends? She saw his shadow standing atop a grave, ominous as ever. I can't stand this any longer. I can't stand here and do nothing! When can I hunt witches?
Twenty more minutes, Kyubey replied. You're so impatient.
Her expression didn't change on the outside, but her fingernails dug into her palm. You said one of them killed my sister. For her, and for everyone else who died to them, I'll kill them all.
He smiled. Mikami Chisa, it is very unlikely that you will ever do that. You are a magical girl of only average—a bit lower than that, in fact—potential.
Then I'll just deal with those I can finish, she retorted. She'd contracted only a few days ago, practicing her skills in her spare time. She knew it was dangerous, but she would accept those risks. How much longer now?
Twenty-nine minutes. Make yourself comfortable.
Mikami was under no illusion that her teammates were good people. They'd waylaid her at her school, asking her to join them. She wasn't quite sure what would happen if she refused, but she doubted it would be pleasant.
Nimue was narcissistic, Elicia uncaring, and Rios ruthless. Indeed, they kept a pet killer: Saffron, who Mikami had only seen personally once, but was assured was a master at fighting other magical girls. It was not a policy of the group to hunt familiars, meaning that the deaths of dozens of people were upon their heads. Mikami alone had done so, her soul gem noticeably darker than theirs. Rios had asked her to stop, that she was wasting too much energy.
So why did she stay with them? Because she was too weak. Because she didn't have enough power to resist. Because she couldn't find the courage to voice her thoughts about them. Because the thought of belonging in a team, no matter how vile, entranced her. The thought of allies always ready to aid her, to save her life if need be, mesmerized her.
She sighed, staring into the entrance of the labyrinth. "Come on, get in already!" Nimue said. "I can't wait." She closed her eyes and nodded. "Fine, fine." Mikami stared into the entrance, and leapt in, summoning her scalpels and throwing them at the first familiars she saw, giggling blonde-haired birds.
Rios hovered in the air above them, her dark crimson hair swaying in the wind. Her weapon, levitating iron blades forming wings, sliced into familiars. "Saffron has fought this one before," she stated, without the fact that it was Saffron's magic that most likely damned the magical girl in question, "the witch will be an easy fight with all four of us here. It lurks in the ground, and when it first appears will try to swallow anyone in the area. There's a blue depression from where it'll come, and a rumbling noise just before." Despicable. They were all despicable. Working with psychopaths willingly, just for more witches.
"Saffron, Saffron. What, are the two of you best friends? I don't trust her!" Nimue said, blasting away at a group of familiars. Rios ignored this. "Elicia and I will lure it out, with Mikami nearby to freeze the witch once it bursts out of the ground. We'll dodge a few seconds before it strikes. Nimue will charge her attack and let loose once Mikami stops it. Then, we'll strike it, get everyone to safe distance, and see if it dies from that."
Elicia waved her greatsword of energy in the air, before reforming it into a rifle. "Sounds good, as always." Sycophant. Mikami's wasn't sure who whispered that, herself or Nimue. "Though I do wish you'd give me something lower risk. Nimue never does anything dangerous."
"Relax. If I didn't trust in this, I wouldn't be there with you." Rios smiled. Elicia still looked slightly worried, but turned back to attacking familiars. "Don't mess up," Elicia ordered absently.
Mikami frowned imperceptibly, leaping out of the way of an attacking familiar. It was a hideous thing, a great and twisted charcoal worm with doodled bird wings. "I won't." With a tap on its oily body, she froze it in time, before throwing her scalpels through its neck. "I'm not that new." She unfroze the worm, watching it collapse with satisfaction.
Elicia nodded, accepting that as proof. "Sorry," she murmured, but she said the word so much it had lost all meaning. Killing or dodging the last of the familiars, they went deeper into the labyrinth, past electricity lines with familiars nested on them, judgingly watching the magical girls, past cotton clouds made from crayon scribbles, and finally into a door with a smiling sun painted onto it.
Rios flew near the door while the others stood on a cloud. "Places, people." Elicia changed her weapon into a rifle instead of the sword it was before, and Nimue smirked. Mikami summoned ten scalpels, ready to throw them at any moment. "Remember the plan. I'm not explaining again." Rios continued. Elicia shyly looked away. Rios didn't acknowledge it, her iron wings contracting before expanding as she kicked the door open and leapt inside.
The witch's lair was the sun, with thin yellow paper streamers erupting out of it. Rios landed on the surface. "Saffron said it's alright to walk here. Oh, and to look. It's not the real sun." She sent one of the blades that made up her wings through a nearby familiar. "That's obvious…" Elicia lightly stepped on the ground near Rios, while Mikami and Nimue watched on a nearby cloud.
Mikami had to admit, the two of them were skilled at their art. Elicia and Rios teasingly moved near the familiars, before retreating, fighting all the while.
A blotchy dark blue color stained the surface of the sun, underneath them. Rios tensely flew higher into the sky, and Elicia leapt to the edges. No doubt, it was coming. Mikami stiffly walked closer to the circle, her hand reaching out towards the witch.
The sun's ground crumbled, a sound like a volcano about to explode, and the witch burst out. It was worm-shaped, but with a mouth shaped like a shattered diamond soul gem, fish-like eyes ringing its shape, and its skin was construction paper. And it was, much, much, faster than Mikami—or to look at the expression on her face, Rios—expected.
She touched its paper skin. She hesitated for a split-second. No. She couldn't just let them die. She released her anxiety, and touched the witch, feeling its dry skin. Pause! Rios screamed in pain and horror. She looked upwards, at Rios trapped in the witch's mouth. But where was Elicia…?
It… it wasn't her fault, it didn't matter. She was a monster, who let innocent people die for her own greed. Despite that, Mikami's mouth hung open. They'd trusted her to protect Elicia. "I'll kill you!" Rios shrieked. "What are you two waiting for!? Kill the witch!" Nimue stared at the sight, face pale. "My." She muttered, before looking upwards at her circles, arranged above the sun to vaporize the witch from the air. Mikami wasn't sure how long she stood staring at the circles before Nimue finally spoke again. "Don't worry, Chisa. I'll finish what you started."
Mikami spun around to face her. "Rios would have exiled us, or sicced her pet killer on us." With an exhaled breath, Nimue's circles eliminated Rios, vaporizing her in their overwhelming heat, and went through the witch with the same brightness. Mikami unpaused and the witch collapsed, its head blown off as the labyrinth began to fade. "You killed her. You killed her!"
"Don't be stupid!" Nimue ranted, picking up the grief seed. "We can't be all wishy-washy idealists here. Like it or not, reality demands that we need to have enough grief seeds. They were hoarding them. Nothing for me, even as I gladly blasted apart witches and familiars for them. Here, in this world of witches and magic, there's no room for compassion!" Her fist clenched. "I know how they saw me. I know how you see me. Fine! Sooner or later, I won't be trustworthy. Then what? Saffron comes for me? I become just another grief seed! And you, too! How long before you say that you're a 'brave hero' of justice or whatever it is, that you won't tolerate them and their activities? Would you like to be a grief seed as well?"
Mikami shook her head. "You're no better than them! You're just as selfish and corrupt! I… no matter what you think, it was an accident. I didn't mean to let it kill them. It was an accident, a mistake."
There was something dark in the other magical girl's eyes. "I saw you! You were going to freeze that witch, until you saw. That this was an oh-so-very-convenient opportunity to get rid of them. We're all horrible people! Why else would have Kyubey chosen us?" Her hands clutched the grief seed.
"You're wrong. I'm not selfish. I made this wish for my sister, to avenge her!" She glared at Nimue.
"Or maybe you were just trying to make yourself feel better." Nimue said. Mikami summoned a scalpel and threw it at the wall near Nimue. "Shut up!"
Nimue threw her hands out. "Was I right?" She left the skyscraper, walking away from Mikami. "Speak with me again or not if you want. I'm not ruthless. You can live, if you just stay out of my business." Mikami let out her breath, before walking away.
Mikami stared at the girl, nearly dropping her phone. "Um, as I was saying, can I be your pupil?" Celeste said. "I saw how you killed it! That monster! You were so cool!"
"No!" She said. "You don't want to get involved in this. Don't talk to Kyubey, no matter what he says. Trust me. And I'm not mentor material." She wasn't even sure if she was hero material. She'd let Nimue leave. Leave, after she proved that she didn't care about anything other than herself. Leave, after she killed Rios.
Her refusal did not deter Celeste. "Why? I already made my wish. I want to be a brave hero, like you! I want to be someone strong, someone who can keep my friends and family safe."
Upon hearing that, Celeste nearly choked on her milkshake. Coughing, she shook her head. "What? You reckless girl! Do you think this is some sort of game? That I do this for fun? What did you wish for? It'd better be worth it!"
Celeste recoiled. "For my friends and family to be safe and healthy. I know it's a bit selfish… but please! Teach me how to be a hero!"
Was this girl serious? No one could be that naïve. "Look… how old are you? I can't believe you here! Wishing for the health of your loved ones, selfish? I've seen people wish for beauty, skill, revenge… aren't these all much more selfish than yours?"
"Umm, thirteen? But I don't think revenge is that selfish compared to beauty?" Ere would be that age if she was still alive. "You're making your wish for someone you love, to honor their memory."
"It's inherently selfish. You wish for the power to avenge those you loved, even if they're not living anymore. All it does is make you feel like a hero." Mikami turned towards Celeste. "Even if you're not!"
"Oh," Celeste said, averting her eyes, "I'm sorry," she looked back up at Mikami with a determined expression on her face, "but you are! You saved me! Mikami looked away from her disgusting admiration. "You were so amazing. So please, please, can I be your student?"
"I…" Why wouldn't she go away? "Fine. You already made your contract. I'd rather not you died. Just…" She looked away from Celeste. "Don't expect me to be very good at it. I stay in my home most of the time! I'm not the most social person."
Celeste smiled, squeeing with joy. "Thank you, senpai!" Mikami shielded herself from the sight. "Don't call me senpai!" Celeste nodded. "Sensei, then?" Mikami said "I'm not old." Celeste smiled and took Mikami's hands. "Alright, senpai. Thank you!"
Celeste's soul was dark and corrupted, with storms of inky blackness swirling around in its pale orange luminance. Her body was bleeding from a thousand cuts, her arms twisted at unnatural angles. "Ah," she weakly laughed, "I'm so sorry, senpai!" In any occasion, Mikami would be angry at her for letting herself get hurt, even if she could heal herself. "I guess it's a miracle I'm still alive, isn't it?"
Mikami wordlessly picked up Celeste's soul gem. "Yes, a miracle." Why hadn't she told Celeste the truth? No matter how much it may have hurt her, she still needed to know it. Was she really that afraid that Celeste would be corrupted by it, become yet another magical girl obsessed with grief seeds? "The witch was pretty tough, senpai. And I ignored the familiars and their scissors, even though… I thought they weren't strong enough, that they weren't important enough. I… I think my back's broken, too. I guess I might've bitten off more than I can chew."
"And yet you were strong enough to escape." Mikami stared at the rapidly darkening soul gem. Just how much magic had Celeste spent in that fight? "Celeste." She bittersweetly smiled. "I couldn't admit it. But I loved being with you. Having you as my friend. In a way, you remind me of my sister." It was so dark. A tempest of despair. "I'm sorry."
Celeste's eyes widened. "What?" Mikami ignored it, and shattered her soul gem, shooting with a blast of magical energy. Celeste slumped back to the floor, her eyes dull. "I really am a coward… I tried telling you. That I'm a failure. That I'm not a hero. That I'm a murderer. And yet, each time, you excuse it, like it's nothing. Less than nothing. I tell you about Ere, and you say that I was still so young, that it's not my fault. I tell you about Elicia and Rios, and you say it was just an accident. I tell you about Nimue, and you say I'm not a murderer. You should have listened to me. Found someone else to be your hero. Someone strong, someone brave, someone who would never compromise. Because I failed you. Why didn't you listen to me?"
She embraced Celeste, eyes staring skyward, at the impossibly cheery clouds. "Ere… I love you. Maybe, sometime in our next life, we can be sisters again." Even if I don't deserve it, can I see you one more time?
H.N. Elly Kristen
somewhatLazy
Serial Procrastinator
- Location
- lurking
Once I finish Elsa Maria and Walpurgisnacht, I might do a Christmas omake.Merry Christmas i guess ?
Elsa Maria
somewhatLazy
Serial Procrastinator
- Location
- lurking
Dear father and mother, the note began, I must apologize. You have raised me well, and instilled morals and a love of God in my heart. But despite that, I have strayed from the path of righteousness. I have done things I cannot undo. Her hand was shaky as she wrote. I trusted someone I should not have, under the false pretense that they meant well for the world. Her mind doubted her path, but she pushed past it. She ought to own up to her mistakes. I thought that I was doing good for the world with my actions, but in the end, they have only advanced their agenda. She refused to call the Incubator "he." Shame fills me when I think of what I did. Whether it be because of innocence or naivety, it does not change a thing. I'm sorry, I truly am. But I cannot stain this house with my presence anymore. The pencil pressed so hard against the paper it broke writing the final words. She stared at her darkening soul gem.
"No," she whispered. "I will not give up." She took a new pencil and touched the paper with it. Finally, she wrote down the last words. Love, dad. Love, mom. Love, sis. —Dinah. "Goodbye." She took the backpack, checking once more to make sure that everything was in it, and left the house, walking away. It followed her. Despite her wishes, it followed her as always. Would she ever be rid of it? It stared at her, its thoughts unknowable.
She glanced at it, then continued, ignoring it. "Don't follow me," she replied. "I will make my own way in life. Don't speak to me again." And what will you do with your used grief seeds?
"I don't trust you with them," she said simply, "you've already hidden so much from me. What's a few more secrets?" Their energy, while not as great as their initial transformation, is still substantial. "Is that the whole truth?" At times, one needs more witches to motivate potential contracts. "Motivate. All you're doing is making them choose between death and damnation!" I didn't do that with you. And in any case, such motivations make up only 14% of the reason why potentials contract.
"That's still too high," she said, though she knew debating with it was ultimately pointless. And it was right in one point. It was her decision to contract with it. Not anyone else's. It had walked up to her and offered her power. The chance to improve the world. Like a naïve fool, she had accepted, and wished for the power to smite witches.
I do this for the universe, it replied, which is far more important than your short lives. She ignored it, continuing through the night as the moon silently observed. "I'll never become a witch," she declared, a promise to herself.
Nimue smiled without love or joy. "You're in my territory," she stated, vainly stroking her pale blue hair, "so leave now, won't you?" She held up her staff, magic circles appearing in the air around her. "The alternative is, let's say, quite painful."
Dinah looked at the city beneath her, standing on a roof along with the stranger, and refused, transforming and summoning her warhammer. She would not ignore her duties, nor would she let those corrupt magical girls ruin the lives of men for their own profit. "I saw the familiars that run rampant in Salem, and I heard of your ruthlessness. Don't you care at all about them killing people!? What if your friends or family died?" She would bring justice to these corrupt.
Her eyes were a cold blue. "Perhaps, but I'm willing to bet that I won't." She shrugged. "Let's admit it. Humans don't care about people we don't know. They're like nameless extras. So why should I?"
Dinah growled, lightning crackling down her warhammer. "It would not surprise me if your mother died to a familiar, due to your actions. They had lives! Lovers, children, dreams! If you'd just hunted a few familiars, they would still be alive. I won't just ignore this."
Nimue frowned. "Amazing how many crazy newbies there are," she dismissively said. Dinah did not consider herself crazy. She was protecting people, keeping them safe from those who would abuse their power. She'd listened to Kyubey's lies, but she would still do good. She had the power to save men. She'd be damned if she didn't use it!
The pale-haired girl staring at her smiled. "Looking at you, it almost makes me want to go 'awww!' What, do you believe all that crap Kyubey's been feeding you? That you're some superhero? It makes me want to puke!"
Dinah glared at her. "What, do you think heroism exists only in ignorance? Our actions still make a difference!"
"The world's not so nice and cuddly as that! Do you want to know what I wished for? Beauty to rival a god's, so people would do what I asked." She flirtatiously winked, though her eyes did not smile. "It's amazing, the doors that open for you when you're pretty."
"I'm surprised that you think that would disguise your personality. Are you utterly unrepentant?" Dinah sighed and burst forward, lightning crackling behind her trail as lasers burst from Nimue's circles and slammed into the concrete where Dinah was a moment ago, causing it to explode. She swung her warhammer at Nimue, and hit her shoulder, throwing her back. "I don't enjoy thi—ack!" Dinah gasped in pain as something sharp hit her back.
Nimue smiled, and ran away from her. "She's all yours!" Dinah turned her back, looking at a girl with medium-length golden hair in a short white kimono with a gold obi. The gold-haired girl resummoned her spear and charged recklessly.
Dinah easily dodged, side-stepping the attack as the spear thrust through where she was a moment before. Lightning gathered around her hammer and she hit the girl's back with a thunderous crack. The girl screamed in pain, before disappearing and reappearing where she was before she made her charge, looking as well as she was before. "Surrender," Dinah said. "I'm not here to fight you."
The gold-haired girl recoiled, and looked around, almost as if expecting someone to arrive. "N—no!" She leapt from rooftop to rooftop, before jumping towards Dinah. Once more, Dinah's electricity surged into the girl as her hammer hit her. She screamed and appeared where she was before, when Dinah ran towards her, boosted by her magic, and struck the concrete where she'd been a moment before. "She's a monster! Help me instead!"
One of Nimue's attacks shot past her and nearly incinerated her. I can't play cat-and-mouse with that girl, Dinah thought. She ran towards Nimue, dodging her predictable attacks.
Nimue frowned and fled. Dinah followed her, gaining on her with bursts and lightning and thunder. A clear shot! She readied her warhammer and leapt, but instead of Nimue it slammed into the golden girl. She fell to the streets below them, before rewinding. Dinah glanced at her soul gem, half of it swirling with darkness. "Is she who you want to die protecting!?" she shouted at the girl.
The girl flinched. "I—I'm too weak!" Dinah ignored her. She wasn't her to get in a protracted fight with her, not when her target was Nimue, who had infiltrated and assassinated the last magical girls to claim Salem as their territory.
Nimue knelt on a rooftop, gauging Dinah, before leaping off it and into the streets below. Dinah followed, jumping off the rooftop.
And into the path of one of Nimue's circles. The girl smirked. Twisting midair, Dinah screamed as her legs burnt in the heat of Nimue's circles. Tears filled her eyes, but she knew she couldn't surrender now. She accelerated her fall with her magic, and slammed her warhammer into Nimue's navel, where her pale blue soul gem was located, smashing it to pieces..
They crashed in the middle of a sidewalk, pedestrians screaming in horror. Dinah had no doubt that Kyubey would cover this up. She groaned, untransforming and looking at her soul gem. It was a storm of corruption, with only pure white pinpricks of light. Should have hunted more witches, huh…? she thought. She'd expended a fair amount of energy on the fight.
"I'll never become a witch," she'd declared once. Now… now she'd have to make good on it. She raised her fist, trying to muster all her strength in that strike. It was hard, her body so broken, but she would have it obey! She struck the soul gem, and it hit the ground, still intact. "Ah," she whispered. Of course it wouldn't be so easy… her head rung and hurt.
The sound of running feet neared her, and she looked up to see two magical girls—one dressed in something like a witch's outfit and with piercing acid green eyes, and another with punk-style pink and yellow clothing—staring at her. "Jesus," the second one said, "who the fuck is that?"
The first picked up her soul gem, examining it. "Look at this," she said, "so dark." Dinah groaned in protest, her consciousness fading. "It's about ready to hatch."
Dinah could barely comprehend what they were saying, her mind hurt and exhausted, but some part of her understood. "No," she whispered, "please, don't…" I don't want to become a monster.
"No," she whispered. "I will not give up." She took a new pencil and touched the paper with it. Finally, she wrote down the last words. Love, dad. Love, mom. Love, sis. —Dinah. "Goodbye." She took the backpack, checking once more to make sure that everything was in it, and left the house, walking away. It followed her. Despite her wishes, it followed her as always. Would she ever be rid of it? It stared at her, its thoughts unknowable.
She glanced at it, then continued, ignoring it. "Don't follow me," she replied. "I will make my own way in life. Don't speak to me again." And what will you do with your used grief seeds?
"I don't trust you with them," she said simply, "you've already hidden so much from me. What's a few more secrets?" Their energy, while not as great as their initial transformation, is still substantial. "Is that the whole truth?" At times, one needs more witches to motivate potential contracts. "Motivate. All you're doing is making them choose between death and damnation!" I didn't do that with you. And in any case, such motivations make up only 14% of the reason why potentials contract.
"That's still too high," she said, though she knew debating with it was ultimately pointless. And it was right in one point. It was her decision to contract with it. Not anyone else's. It had walked up to her and offered her power. The chance to improve the world. Like a naïve fool, she had accepted, and wished for the power to smite witches.
I do this for the universe, it replied, which is far more important than your short lives. She ignored it, continuing through the night as the moon silently observed. "I'll never become a witch," she declared, a promise to herself.
Nimue smiled without love or joy. "You're in my territory," she stated, vainly stroking her pale blue hair, "so leave now, won't you?" She held up her staff, magic circles appearing in the air around her. "The alternative is, let's say, quite painful."
Dinah looked at the city beneath her, standing on a roof along with the stranger, and refused, transforming and summoning her warhammer. She would not ignore her duties, nor would she let those corrupt magical girls ruin the lives of men for their own profit. "I saw the familiars that run rampant in Salem, and I heard of your ruthlessness. Don't you care at all about them killing people!? What if your friends or family died?" She would bring justice to these corrupt.
Her eyes were a cold blue. "Perhaps, but I'm willing to bet that I won't." She shrugged. "Let's admit it. Humans don't care about people we don't know. They're like nameless extras. So why should I?"
Dinah growled, lightning crackling down her warhammer. "It would not surprise me if your mother died to a familiar, due to your actions. They had lives! Lovers, children, dreams! If you'd just hunted a few familiars, they would still be alive. I won't just ignore this."
Nimue frowned. "Amazing how many crazy newbies there are," she dismissively said. Dinah did not consider herself crazy. She was protecting people, keeping them safe from those who would abuse their power. She'd listened to Kyubey's lies, but she would still do good. She had the power to save men. She'd be damned if she didn't use it!
The pale-haired girl staring at her smiled. "Looking at you, it almost makes me want to go 'awww!' What, do you believe all that crap Kyubey's been feeding you? That you're some superhero? It makes me want to puke!"
Dinah glared at her. "What, do you think heroism exists only in ignorance? Our actions still make a difference!"
"The world's not so nice and cuddly as that! Do you want to know what I wished for? Beauty to rival a god's, so people would do what I asked." She flirtatiously winked, though her eyes did not smile. "It's amazing, the doors that open for you when you're pretty."
"I'm surprised that you think that would disguise your personality. Are you utterly unrepentant?" Dinah sighed and burst forward, lightning crackling behind her trail as lasers burst from Nimue's circles and slammed into the concrete where Dinah was a moment ago, causing it to explode. She swung her warhammer at Nimue, and hit her shoulder, throwing her back. "I don't enjoy thi—ack!" Dinah gasped in pain as something sharp hit her back.
Nimue smiled, and ran away from her. "She's all yours!" Dinah turned her back, looking at a girl with medium-length golden hair in a short white kimono with a gold obi. The gold-haired girl resummoned her spear and charged recklessly.
Dinah easily dodged, side-stepping the attack as the spear thrust through where she was a moment before. Lightning gathered around her hammer and she hit the girl's back with a thunderous crack. The girl screamed in pain, before disappearing and reappearing where she was before she made her charge, looking as well as she was before. "Surrender," Dinah said. "I'm not here to fight you."
The gold-haired girl recoiled, and looked around, almost as if expecting someone to arrive. "N—no!" She leapt from rooftop to rooftop, before jumping towards Dinah. Once more, Dinah's electricity surged into the girl as her hammer hit her. She screamed and appeared where she was before, when Dinah ran towards her, boosted by her magic, and struck the concrete where she'd been a moment before. "She's a monster! Help me instead!"
One of Nimue's attacks shot past her and nearly incinerated her. I can't play cat-and-mouse with that girl, Dinah thought. She ran towards Nimue, dodging her predictable attacks.
Nimue frowned and fled. Dinah followed her, gaining on her with bursts and lightning and thunder. A clear shot! She readied her warhammer and leapt, but instead of Nimue it slammed into the golden girl. She fell to the streets below them, before rewinding. Dinah glanced at her soul gem, half of it swirling with darkness. "Is she who you want to die protecting!?" she shouted at the girl.
The girl flinched. "I—I'm too weak!" Dinah ignored her. She wasn't her to get in a protracted fight with her, not when her target was Nimue, who had infiltrated and assassinated the last magical girls to claim Salem as their territory.
Nimue knelt on a rooftop, gauging Dinah, before leaping off it and into the streets below. Dinah followed, jumping off the rooftop.
And into the path of one of Nimue's circles. The girl smirked. Twisting midair, Dinah screamed as her legs burnt in the heat of Nimue's circles. Tears filled her eyes, but she knew she couldn't surrender now. She accelerated her fall with her magic, and slammed her warhammer into Nimue's navel, where her pale blue soul gem was located, smashing it to pieces..
They crashed in the middle of a sidewalk, pedestrians screaming in horror. Dinah had no doubt that Kyubey would cover this up. She groaned, untransforming and looking at her soul gem. It was a storm of corruption, with only pure white pinpricks of light. Should have hunted more witches, huh…? she thought. She'd expended a fair amount of energy on the fight.
"I'll never become a witch," she'd declared once. Now… now she'd have to make good on it. She raised her fist, trying to muster all her strength in that strike. It was hard, her body so broken, but she would have it obey! She struck the soul gem, and it hit the ground, still intact. "Ah," she whispered. Of course it wouldn't be so easy… her head rung and hurt.
The sound of running feet neared her, and she looked up to see two magical girls—one dressed in something like a witch's outfit and with piercing acid green eyes, and another with punk-style pink and yellow clothing—staring at her. "Jesus," the second one said, "who the fuck is that?"
The first picked up her soul gem, examining it. "Look at this," she said, "so dark." Dinah groaned in protest, her consciousness fading. "It's about ready to hatch."
Dinah could barely comprehend what they were saying, her mind hurt and exhausted, but some part of her understood. "No," she whispered, "please, don't…" I don't want to become a monster.
Elsa Maria