Aug 30, 2025
Amare. A Magical Girl from Oz's Quadling Country. Served Glinda the Good Witch; then contracted and fought in the Magical Girl Civil War. From there her story diverges depending on the universe.
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Amare. A Magical Girl from Oz's Quadling Country. Served Glinda the Good Witch; then contracted and fought in the Magical Girl Civil War. From there her story diverges depending on the universe.
I’ll never forgive you. You’re the same in every world.
Made this tweet about a year ago. It’s relevant again for me.
Parallel Worlds Record Chapter Twenty-Four: That's What Happens to Magical Girls
Rating: Teen
Genre: Fantasy, Magical Girl
Word Count: Approx. 3,400 words
Summary: Mifuyu and her new friends try to find Homura and get some answers out of her.
Author's Note: Special thanks to @celesticnova and @evatriceakiyama for beta-reading for me! This chapter is a little shorter than the previous one, but I will admit, I had this cliffhanger in my head since, oh, late 2021... Time really flies.
[MIFUYU]
It was Kyouko… and at the same time, it wasn’t. She had the same face and red eyes, along with the same matching red ponytail that the Kyouko currently lying next to them on the ground had, but something was… off. Her spear was pitch black, like obsidian, and she wore a blood red kimono, nothing like what Kyouko wore.
The energy radiating off of her, it was also familiar…
Mifuyu realized what was going on. “You… you’re the same as Campanella, aren’t you?”
The new Kyouko smirked, a fang visible. “You’re smart. You can call me Ophelia, the Horseman of Famine!”
Kyouko–this world’s Kyouko–stood back up. “So you’re from another world too, huh? This is getting more confusing…”
Mifuyu kept her eyes on Ophelia. “What are you doing here?”
Ophelia kept smirking. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m here for Yachiyo Nanami… and you.”
Yachiyo was alert now. “Again? What do you want me for?”
“I’d be happy to tell you,” Ophelia said, “after the two of you come with me.”
“Like hell they will!” Tsuruno said, “you’re not kidnapping our friends!” She stepped forward, only to stop when Ophelia pointed her spear directly at Tsuruno’s throat.
Tsuruno tensed up, frozen in place.
“Look,” Ophelia said, like an adult explaining something obvious to a child, “you’re a Magical Girl who’s only been in one world. This goes bigger than your little universe. By the way, how’s the Law of Cycles holding up?”
Tsuruno blinked, confusion on her face. “It’s… fine? Why would you ask that?”
“Don’t worry about it. But what I’m saying is, you’re in over your head. You think your world is important? You have no idea what other worlds are out there…”
Mifuyu ran up to Tsuruno’s side. “You,” she said to Ophelia, “what world are you from?”
Ophelia shrugged. “It’s a long story,” she said. “My world–the world I was born in–it no longer exists.”
Mifuyu lowered her chakram slightly. “Was your world also destroyed by… by that thing?”
Ophelia suddenly perked back up. “The exact same one! She’s been running around and consuming worlds… I don’t think she plans on finishing anytime soon.”
Kyouko stepped forward. “Something destroyed your whole world, and you’re… helping it?!” she asked, gritting her teeth. “Why?!”
“Why not?” Ophelia grinned. “You should understand; you’re me after all. We both told ourselves that we would only live for ourselves, and no one else. After all, considering what we both went through…”
Kyouko jammed her spear to the ground. “You don’t have to remind me about that!”
Ophelia closed her eyes and let out a disappointed sigh. “I knew diplomacy wasn’t going to work. Look, if you’re not going to come over peacefully, I guess I’m just going to have to take you by force!”
Before Mifuyu could react in any way, a barrier of red energy criss-crossed over where they were. Her and Tsuruno were stuck with Ophelia, while Yachiyo and Kyouko were still outside.
Kyouko knocked on the barrier from the other side. “Hey, what is this? I can’t get through!”
Ophelia glanced at her. “That’s the point.”
Mifuyu’s eyes darted around. “We’re boxed in!”
Next to her, Tsuruno took out her fans, getting into a battle-ready position. “Whatever,” she said. “We can take her together! You destroyed that Wraith earlier, remember?”
Mifuyu frowned. “I did.” Would that be enough to fight Ophelia, though? She radiated magic that felt more potent than the Wraiths.
Still, that force field was holding tight, and the only other direction was towards Ophelia.
Mifuyu pulled out another chakram. “If we work together, we can take her out,” she said.
“Works for me!” Tsuruno rushed towards Ophelia, fans out. MIfuyu hurried after her.
“You’re not going to get me that easily!” Ophelia swung her spear. It disconnected, just like Kyouko’s, and she whipped it around at her attackers. Mifuyu barely dodged, while Tsuruno took a hit and kept on swinging at Ophelia.
“Hold on, Tsuruno!” Mifuyu threw her chakram, and willed it to spin at Ophelia. It connected on Ophelia’s shoulder, but she only seemed annoyed.
“You…!” Ophelia gritted her teeth. “Much as it would be easy to drag your corpse back, Campanella’s orders were clear. So I’ll take a third option.”
Immediately it was like Mifuyu was seeing double. Ophelia splintered into multiple copies of herself. Half a dozen of them rushed at MIfuyu.
Mifuyu could barely let out a yelp before the Ophelias pushed her back to the force field wall.
“Just stay right there and don’t cause a fuss,” the Ophelias said in unison. “You’re lucky I can’t kill you.”
Mifuyu struggled to her knees and backed up into the force field. “H-how?”
“It’s a power of mine,” Kyouko said from the other side. She gripped the force field. “Before I lost it.”
Mifuyu looked up at her. “Lost it?”
Kyouko looked away. “After my dad killed my mom and sister, and then himself because of my wish…”
Next to Kyouko, Yachiyo looked sick. MIfuyu herself felt something in her throat.
“That’s what happened,” one of the Ophelias said.
“You wished that people would listen to what your dad said,” another one picked up.
“And became a Magical Girl so you could fight Witches,” another said. “You’d save the world from the shadows…”
“While your dad saved it in the light,” the first one finished. Beyond the crowding Ophelias, Mifuyu could hear Tsuruno and the original Ophelia fighting.
Kyouko said nothing, but her miserable expression said more than enough to MIfuyu. She looked away, while Mifuyu turned to the Ophelias.
“So let me guess,” she began, “Campanella promised you something too?”
Ophelia stared back at her. “You can say something like that. But to be honest, I’m willing to help her and the others so long as it means I can get all the food I can eat!”
“You…” MIfuyu clenched her fist. “Why?!”
“Because I learned that doing something for others never works out for you,” Ophelia said coldly. “Isn’t that right, other me?”
Kyouko couldn’t look at her. “No… that’s not…”
Behind the Ophelias, Tsuruno cried out, followed by the sound of a body hitting the pavement.
“Tsuruno!” Mifuyu rushed the Ophelias, making it to the other side before getting grabbed and restrained by the arms.
Tsuruno struggled to her feet, looking worse for wear. Her ponytail was disheveled, and her outfit seemed torn in places.
The original Ophelia frowned. “That should have put you out for a bit.”
Tsuruno gritted her teeth. “It’s going to take a lot more to take out the Mightiest Magical Girl!”
Ophelia snorted. “Mightiest Magical Girl, my ass. I know it’s all just an act for you.”
Tsuruno froze. “W-what do you mean?”
Ophelia leered at her. “Oh, please. Do you think you’re really the first Tsuruno Yui I’ve fought? There are others like you–or, there were–in other worlds. All of them claimed to be the Mightiest Magical Girl. All of them were complete frauds!”
Ophelia pointed her black spear at Tsuruno. “Come on, don’t tell me you buy into your own bullshit, do you? I know about your family, about your mom and grandmother. They hurt you real bad, didn’t they?”
“Sh… shut up!” Tsuruno flew at her, trying to take out Ophelia’s face. Ophelia just weaved around her and stomped on Tsuruno’s back, causing her to yelp and skid face-down to the ground.
“Tsuruno!” Yachiyo began trying to break through Ophelia’s force field with her own halberd, but all that accomplished was sparks flying as she hit in vain.
Mifuyu looked at Yachiyo, then at Tsuruno. I have to do something! Without thinking much more about it, Mifuyu swung her chakram at one of the Ophelias surrounding her. As she swung, she tried to summon some of the magic she had used to take the Wraith out. She closed her eyes for a moment…
When she opened them, a spark of red energy from where the Ophelia was the only proof that she had been there in the first place.
Mifuyu took a moment to catch her breath, just as the other Ophelias seemed a bit stunned by what they saw. They didn’t have time to process what just happened, because Mifuyu immediately went for the next Ophelia. The others drew their spears and went on the offensive, but Mifuyu could tell that their progenitor’s order to not kill Mifuyu was getting in the way. Mifuyu didn’t hesitate to pounce on that and hack and slice every which way she could.
Before she knew it, she was freed, just as Tsuruno was knocked into a corner again. Ophelia stood a little bit away, the tip of her spear glowing red hot.
Before Mifuyu’s eyes, the spear’s tip grew even redder, before exploding in a trail of fire, a fiery dragon’s head forming on it. On top of the dragon, Ophelia stood, her stance reminding Mifuyu of a surfer riding on their board.
“Game over!” the original Ophelia cried out as the dragon lunged at the Mightiest Magical Girl.
“Tsuruno, no!” Mifuyu rushed towards her friend, chakram firmly in hand. She’d put herself in between the two of them if she had to. The fiery dragon opened its flaming maw as it prepared to eat them whole.
Time seemed to slow down as she ran towards them. Her legs felt like they were stuck in mud, but she kept going… she had to make it, to save her friend…
An arrow of light beamed down from above and struck the ground between the three of them. Mifuyu skidded to a halt and braced herself from the blowback, while Ophelia’s dragon dissipated, the girl herself knocked onto her back.
“What was that–?!” Mifuyu lowered her arm from her eyes and glanced up, just in time to see a figure with pitch black wings descend from a crack in the force field. It landed lightly in front of her, and took a moment to flip its long, black hair.
Mifuyu’s eyes widened. “H-Homura…?!”
It was Homura. She wasn’t like the Homura Mifuyu knew, or the one that Mifuyu had encountered that fateful night back in her world. This Homura had the same gray and purple sailor fuku-like outfit that the Homura of Mifuyu’s world wore when transformed, complete with the black tights and black heeled shoes.
But she had a ribbon in her hair; a singular, red ribbon tied into a bow. Mifuyu recognized it; it was the ribbon that Madoka was fond of wearing (or at least one of them). Instead of guns, this Homura was wielding a black bow; it also made Mifuyu think of Madoka.
One detail did stand out to her the most, though: This Homura lacked a shield.
“That’s enough of this,” Homura said, her voice as confident as the Homura with the beret that Mifuyu met back in her world.
Ophelia glared at Homura. “You again,” she said. “Or have we not met before? It’s hard keeping track of all of you.”
Homura didn’t budge. “This world is under my protection. I won’t tolerate you or anyone else who enters it with hostile intent.”
Ophelia backed away a bit, before glancing down at Tsuruno’s kneeling figure. Something seemed to catch her attention. “Fine, then,” she said. “I’ll retreat… for now.”
She turned around and leaped into the air, disappearing from sight. The force field that blocked Tsuruno and MIfuyu faded, and Yachiyo immediately rushed to check on Tsuruno.
“That was easy,” Mifuyu said. Too easy…
Homura was staring at her, and it made Mifuyu flinch slightly.
“Now what did Ophelia want with you…?” she wondered, looking Mifuyu over.
“It’s… a long story,” Mifuyu said.
“Whatever it is, it can wait,” Homura said. She turned her attention to the rooftop in front of her. “She couldn’t have gone far, and I can’t let her run loose here.” She outstretched her wings once more, and got into a stance like she was about to make a huge leap.
“Wait!” Mifuyu said. “Before you do anything, I have to tell you–I know about Madoka Kaname.”
At the mention of Madoka, Homura paused. She turned to Mifuyu, mouth agape.
“You… what?” Her wings retracted, disappearing in a flash of purple light.
Mifuyu nodded furiously. “I’m from a world where she exists. When I came here, Kyubey mentioned that you knew about her. That’s why I came here, to find you!”
Now she had Homura’s attention. “I… I see.”
Mifuyu pressed forward. “I need to find the Yachiyo Nanami of my world; and I also have to find a way back there! You have to help me!”
Homura seemed to hesitate. Before she could say anything, however, Tsuruno let out a cry of pain.
“Tsuruno, what’s wrong?!” Yachiyo was bent over the Mightiest Magical Girl, who was writhing in agony.
“Why… Why is it hurting so much?!” Tsuruno was thrashing now, the agony clear on her face. Mifuyu had only seen a Magical Girl react that way a certain time before. It was when–
“Oh no.” She ran towards Yachiyo and Tsuruno, and held Tsuruno in her arms. “Tsuruno, hang in there!”
Out of the corner of her eye, Mifuyu could see Homura walking briskly towards them. “Don’t tell me she’s…”
Tsuruno reverted back to her non-magical form in a flash, holding her Soul Gem in her hand. MIfuyu looked at it.
A chill ran down her spine. “No, Tsuruno, no… Why didn’t you take those Grief Cubes earlier?!”
“What’s happening?!” Yachiyo asked, eyes wide.
“Her Soul Gem has become fully tainted,” Homura said coldly. “She didn’t purify it in time.”
Tsuruno screamed again, just as a sliver of a crack appeared on her Soul Gem.
Mifuyu’s eyes widened. “Everybody, brace yourselves!”
It happened so fast; Tsuruno’s Soul Gem cracked, revealing a Grief Seed. In the ensuing shockwave, the other four girls were knocked back, the world disappearing in the darkness of a Labyrinth.
“W-where are we?” Kyouko’s voice echoed through the Labyrinth. MIfuyu opened her eyes, and saw that the environment was warped from the alley they had been in.
“What is this place?!” Yachiyo cried out. “How do we get out?!”
Kyouko and Yachiyo were looking around frantically; they’d never been in a Labyrinth before, Mifuyu remembered. There were no Witches in this world.
Not until today.
“It’s a Labyrinth,” Homura said. “It’s where a Witch hides so that no one can find it easily.”
“Witch…” Yachiyo turned to Mifuyu. “You mentioned Witches before…”
Mifuyu gulped. “I did…”
“Where’s Tsuruno?” Yachiyo asked, looking around again. She scanned the Labyrinth, until she saw a figure lying on the ground.
“Tsuruno!” Yachiyo ran to her. She knelt down and nudged Tsuruno’s shoulder. “Tsuruno, hey… wake up!”
A sharp pain shot through Mifuyu’s chest. “Yachiyo… that’s not Tsuruno.”
Yachiyo turned to her; there was panic in her eyes. “What do you mean? This is Tsuruno, isn’t it? Except… her Soul Gem is gone…”
Mifuyu slowly shook her head. “No… it’s not Tsuruno anymore.”
“What…? What do you mean?!”
Mifuyu pointed up. “That’s… Tsuruno now.”
The Witch was hovering above the group, an orange and yellow hot-air balloon-like creature. The balloon itself resembled a jingua ham that Tsuruno had told MIfuyu about once before. It was just floating up above them, without making any move at all.
Yachiyo and Kyouko craned their necks, not looking away at all. “What do you mean that’s Tsuruno…?” Yachiyo asked, fear in her voice.
“Her Soul Gem, it fully tainted,” Homura said. “When a Soul Gem becomes completely black, it becomes a Grief Seed, and the Magical Girl is reborn as a Witch.”
“B-but…” Kyouko began, “that’s not what happens! Magical Girls get taken away by the Law of Cycles when their Gems are too tainted! I’ve seen it happen!”
Homura shook her head. “Magical Girls are only spared from becoming Witches because the Law of Cycles swoops in to take them away from this world before that happens.”
“Then,” Yachiyo said, her voice quiet, “if Tsuruno became this Witch, that also means…”
Mifuyu glanced at Homura. The other girl’s mouth was in a firm line.
“It means the Law of Cycles is no longer working in this world.”
“W-what?!” Before Yachiyo could add anything else, the Witch that used to be Tsuruno Yui suddenly started to spurt out some kind of dark liquid. It poured out from one of the nodules in the balloon, and began to splatter all over the place.
Yachiyo and Kyouko ducked out of the way, while Homura summoned her bow once more. She pulled back the bowstring, and an arrow of purple light appeared in it.
“We have to destroy it,” she said firmly, aiming at the Witch.
“No!” Yachiyo got in-between Homura and the Witch. “Don’t kill her!”
“Yacchan,” Mifuyu said, “get out of the way!”
“Mifuyu, how could you?” Yachiyo’s voice choked. “Tsuruno is our oldest friend; we can’t just… kill her. I won’t let you!”
Mifuyu clenched her fist. None of this was like how it was back home. Yachiyo would have known what a threat Witches were; but this Yachiyo lived in a world that had no Witches until today. She couldn’t expect her to understand everything right away.
“I’m sorry, Yacchan…” Mifuyu held out her hand and summoned another chakram. “But that isn’t Tsuruno Yui anymore.”
Tears began to fill Yachiyo’s eyes. She summoned her halberd.
“I won’t let you do it!” she cried out. “I’m not losing another friend!”
“Yacchan…” Mifuyu felt a pain in her chest. “I… I know this isn’t easy to do–it never is the first time–but if we leave this Witch alive, more people will be hurt!”
“B-but…!” Another deluge of that dark liquid came out of the Doppel; suddenly, it ignited, creating a fire blast that was headed for their direction.
Yachiyo jumped out of the way. “Tsuruno!” she cried out. “It’s me, Yachiyo… I know you don’t really want to hurt anyone.”
The Witch remained silent, and continued pouring.
“You’re always trying to be the best and the strongest; this isn’t you!” Yachiyo struggled as more coins began to pile on top of her, burying her once more.
“This isn’t going anywhere,” Homura said. “I’ll take care of this.” She fired her arrow into the Witch.
It connected, causing an explosion. The Witch appeared to waddle a bit in the air.
“A few more arrows should do the trick,” Homura said.
“No…!” Yachiyo threw her halberd right for Homura’s face. Homura dodged out of the way.
“Yacchan!” Mifuyu ran towards her, swinging her chakram to block Yachiyo’s other halberd. The two of them were in a deadlock.
“Mifuyu, let me go!” Yachiyo screamed. “I won’t let her kill Tsuruno!”
“Listen to me,” Mifuyu cried out, “Tsuruno as you know her is dead!”
“I-I refuse to believe that!” The two of them barely managed to jump out of the way when another blast of fire headed in their direction.
“There has to be some way to save her!” Yachiyo said. She tossed her halberd at Mifuyu, only for MIfuyu to dodge. Mifuyu threw her chakram at Yachiyo, hoping to slow her down.
“Yacchan, don’t make me do this…!” Mifuyu focused on her magic, creating another illusion. She willed herself to appear in a different spot of the Labyrinth than she was in. Yachiyo took the bait, and Mifuyu took the opportunity to tackle her to the ground.
She grabbed hold of Yachiyo’s wrists, struggling to keep her down. “Yacchan, stop! There’s no way for you to save Tsuruno like this!”
Underneath her, Yachiyo grunted. “But… I can’t just let her stay like this…!” Yachiyo was crying now, her whole body shaking. If she weren’t holding her down, Mifuyu would have tried to soothe her; her own Yachiyo liked having her long hair stroked gently. Even if this one had shorter hair, she wondered if it would have been the same…
Another fireblast from the Witch caused them to duck out of the way once more. Another arrow of purple light struck it, followed by the strike of a spear. Mifuyu turned; Homura and Kyouko were doing their best to hold the Witch back.
“This has gone long enough,” Homura said. “I’m sorry, Nanami-san…” She pulled her bowstring back and took aim once more.
“Don’t!” Yachiyo elbowed Mifuyu, causing the latter to grunt and loosen her grip. Yachiyo rushed between Homura and Kyouko. She gripped her halberd, but was still shaking.
“Please…” Yachiyo cried again. Mifuyu stood up.
“Yacchan…”
The Witch charged up another attack. “Yacchan!” Mifuyu pushed Yachiyo out of the way, her pain erupting in her back as the blast hit her. She cried out, falling to the ground.
“Mifuyu…!” Yachiyo knelt beside her. “A-are you okay…?”
Mifuyu got on her knees. “I’ve been through worse…” she mumbled.
She turned towards the Witch. “Sorry… Tsuruno-chan…”
As she prepared her final attack, she wondered if there was any sliver of Tsuruno still inside that Witch. She had never been a Witch herself, but she had been a Doppel, which was part way to a Witch. She knew what it felt like to have her despair held at the brink and unleashed on the world; was that almost what a Witch felt like?
A dozen halberds flew out and struck the Witch, cutting Mifuyu’s thoughts off. “W-what…?”
She turned; Yachiyo was slumped over, like she had just thrown something, and gasping. Her expression was one of complete desperation.
“Yacchan?!”
“I… I couldn’t let her hurt you…” Yachiyo said. Above Mifuyu, the Witch erupted into explosions, falling into an inferno. Mifuyu braced herself against the force of the blasts, her hair decorations dancing in the gust. As it did so, the Labyrinth faded, back into the alley.
In place of the Witch, there was a Grief Seed. Mifuyu went and picked it up.
“This should be yours,” she said, handing it to Yachiyo. “You defeated the Witch, after all.”
Yachiyo looked at it. “Is that–?”
“The Grief Seed that came from Tsuruno,” Mifuyu said. “You can use it like a Grief Cube.”
Nearby, Kyouko was looking around frantically. “What the hell is going on here?!” she said. “How did that happen?!”
“I told you,” Homura said, nearby. “The Law of Cycles couldn’t save her; now any Magical Girl who falls to despair will become a Witch just like that.”
Yachiyo turned to her. “Magical Girls… are really supposed to turn into those things…?”
“That… that’s horrible…” Kyouko clenched her fist and punched the wall near her. “What the hell is this?!”
Homura turned to Mifuyu. “I can explain everything, if you come with me. About what happened to the Law of Cycles…”
Mifuyu raised an eyebrow. “And the Witch that’s destroying everything? The other you mentioned that, too.”
Homura tensed up. “... I can explain that as well…”
While they talked, another figure alighted next to them.
“There you all are,” Mami said. She looked around. “What’s going on? Where’s Yui-san?”
Yachiyo sobbed. “She… she’s gone.” She buried her face in her hands, her whole body shaking. Mifuyu herself pulled Yachiyo into a hug.
Mami blinked. “What? What… happened?”
“She turned into a Witch!” Kyouko turned to Mami, eyes wide in terror. “The Law of Cycles is gone, Mami! Without it, Magical Girls won’t just disappear when they run out of magic; they become Witches! That’s what really happens to Magical Girls; they all eventually turn into Witches!”
Amare seeing Yachiyo in this pic: 😳
Also Amare: “Who’s that girl with Iroha?” [Kuroe doesn’t exist in her world.]
Concept art for Homura, I'm assuming by Ume Aoki.
Beret Homura's appearance in my fanfic is inspired by this design.
Parallel Worlds Record Chapter Twenty-One: What Do We Have Here?
Rating: Teen
Genre: Magical Girl, Fantasy, Angst, Drama, Crossover
Word Count: Approx. 5,000 words
Summary: Yachiyo finds some answers... and more questions.
Author’s Note: If you notice a few things about crosses... I've been watching a lot of Ultraman recently.
Thanks again to @celesticnova and @evatriceakiyama for beta-reading this for me!
[YACHIYO]
When it was time to head out, Yachiyo headed for the colonnade opening up to the South. By then, the sun had already set, and torches lit up the area.
Glinda was sitting back on her throne, just as when Yachiyo had met her earlier that day. Assembled in front of her were the girls who would make up Yachiyo’s party for this mission. Lucina, Aliss, Neseel, and Kira turned to her as she approached them.
Glinda smiled. “There you are, Yachiyo. We were wondering where you were.”
A warm wind blew in from the desert, rolling over Yachiyo’s face. The veteran Magical Girl straightened her posture. “Sorry,” she said. “I was looking for Mifuyu, and I ran into Amare on the way.”
“Is she okay?” Aliss asked. She was wearing her red uniform again, with her sword by her hip. Her head, however, was bare. Her long, dark hair danced in the wind. Yachiyo had to admit that it was a breathtaking image.
Yachiyo briefly thought about what had happened earlier in Amare’s room. “She’s hanging in there. The sooner we can tell her what happened to the Yachiyo of this world, the sooner she can feel better.”
She turned to the rest of the girls. “Do you all understand what we have to do?”
Lucina, Aliss’s girlfriend, nodded. “Go to the Hammerheads’ land, grab the Moonlight Bloom, and bring it back here. Doesn’t sound too hard.”
Yachiyo nodded. “No, it doesn’t.” What could possibly go wrong?
“I brought some eggs, too!” Neseel said, holding a couple eggs out of her dress pockets.
Yachiyo raised an eyebrow. “Eggs?”
Neseel nodded. “In case we run into Nomes.”
Nomes… Yachiyo turned to Glinda. “Eggs for Nomes?”
Glinda smiles. “Nomes hate eggs. It’s poisonous to them.”
“I see…” There was clearly a lot more Yachiyo needed to understand about this place. She didn’t expect to run into any Nomes on this mission, but if she did, perhaps she could ask about Homura’s shield. Hopefully Ozma will have news on it soon, she thought. The girl ruler had promised to speak to the Nomes and try to get it back.
“There’s something I’m wondering about,” Kira said. “Why can’t one of Glinda’s spies just teleport and retrieve the flower we need?”
The Good Witch of the South had an answer for that. “The magic potency of the flower,” she said, “interferes with my spies. They can’t really get near it.”
Kira made a face. “I guess that’s enough of a reason for us going out this late.”
“Hammerheads aren’t that hard to deal with,” Neseel chimed in. “Lucina, Aliss, and I have battled them before.”
“It’s true,” Lucina said. “And they should be asleep by now. We’ll be there and back in no time.”
Yachiyo looked at Aliss. “Are you sure you want to come? You aren’t a Magical Girl.”
Aliss smirked. “I’ve been patrolling Oz before Magical Girls were even a thing here.”
Yachiyo shrugged. “Okay, then.”
“That reminds me,” Glinda said, standing up and walking towards Yachiyo. She held out her hand. “Take this with you.”
In her hand was an object that looked like some kind of silver faberge egg. It made Yachiyo think of a Soul Gem for a moment, save for the button at the top of the object.
“What is it?” Yachiyo asked.
“It’s a tracker,” the Sorceress said. “I was partly inspired by your Soul Gems. Instead of finding Witches, though, it can only find the Moonlight Bloom by tracing its magic.”
Yachiyo looked the object over as Glinda continued talking. “I’ll have to prepare the potion that the flower will be mixed into,” the Sorceress said. “While doing that, I’ll be away from my Book of Records and won’t be able to keep track of you as much as I’d like. When you get the flower, press the button on this tracker, and it’ll alert me to teleport you back to the palace. Anything you’re holding onto at the time will come back with you, too.”
Yachiyo nodded. “Understood. Thank you.”
Glinda smiled at her. “No problem. Now, are you all ready?”
Yachiyo turned and looked at the assembled girls. It was true, she had only met them earlier this afternoon, but they were all veterans of a Magical Girl civil war. Surely they were more than capable of fending off whatever Oz threw their way. And in an hour or so, they would be one step closer to finding out what had happened to this world’s Yachiyo Nanami.
And I’ll be able to go home again soon, Yachiyo thought.
Yachiyo turned to Glinda. “We’re ready.”
“Good,” Glinda said. “Now, transform and gather together, everyone.”
The girls did as they were instructed (except Aliss, who couldn’t transform even if she wanted to) and huddled close together before Glinda’s throne. The Sorceress took out her wand and gave it a whirl, light dancing along it. Then, there was a bright light, followed by…
The five girls standing in the middle of a field, the moon shining in the night sky above them. It was quiet–quieter than Yachiyo had ever experienced living in the bustling city of Kamihama. Yachiyo breathed in the countryside air, fresher than that of the city’s, and felt the soft, earthy ground beneath her.
Yachiyo took out the faberge tracker and looked at it. To her surprise, it was emitting a soft, white glow that looked like a tiny piece of moonbeam. She pointed it in one direction and the other, the light fading and growing each time, until she landed in a direction where it became steady.
“This way,” she called to the others.
Neseel used her magic to create a ball of flame, lighting up the way before them. “If any Hammerheads are nearby, I can just extinguish it,” she said.
Yachiyo gripped her halberd and glanced around the field before them. No sign of any Hammerheads.
“Now to find where the Moonlight Bloom is…” she muttered.
“The Moonlight Bloom can’t be too far,” Aliss said. “Which means there should be Hammerheads close. Keep an eye open, everyone.”
They all nodded and murmured in agreement before walking in a line, Yachiyo at the front and Kira at the back, bowstring pulled back so an arrow of light was ready to fire if necessary. They quietly trudged along the dirt path, the only sound being their breathing and footsteps for a while.
Behind Yachiyo, Aliss trailed her. After some time, the older girl moved beside Yachiyo.
“I’m surprised you didn’t want Amare coming with us,” Aliss said.
Yachiyo was glad for the darkness, it made it easier to obscure the pained expression on her face. “You are?”
“Yeah, her magic could have come in handy. Plus, she seemed eager to help you as much as she could.”
“Oh, I could tell,” Yachiyo said as matter-of-factly as she could. “But I thought she’d done enough already. She deserved a break, don’t you think?”
Aliss kept her pace beside her. “Is that really what you think?”
Yachiyo glanced back at her. “What?”
“Earlier today, Amare seemed a bit preoccupied with something. I couldn’t help but wonder if you knew anything about what could have happened to her.
Yachiyo thought about what happened when she was in Amare’s room. “No, I can’t really think of anything that could have happened.”
For a moment, she had almost blurted out “There’s no need for me to answer that.” But that would have made it obvious, wouldn’t it? As much as Yachiyo tried to downplay it, she couldn’t get what had happened out of her head. It wasn’t for lack of trying, either. Ever since MIfuyu and her got together, they always had each other’s company, and were rarely separated. Now they were literally worlds apart.
Yachiyo gripped her halberd tighter, thinking about it. It was one thing to be separated from your girlfriend, but now she was also stuck with a girl who clearly wanted to jump into bed with her. A pretty, dark-haired girl with some decent muscles and abs, and a thing for chains…
It was wrong, and Yachiyo knew it. Which was why she got herself out before it could go any further. And yet… considering everything that had happened to her in the last twenty-four hours or so–fighting things worse than Witches, ending up stranded in another world, going on trial before literal gods–having a warm body beside her in bed didn’t sound so bad…
Her mind flashed to Amare punching Mifuyu to the ground, and Yachiyo frowned. She shook her head. What was she even thinking about?
“Must be really confusing.”
Yachiyo snapped back to the present. “What?” she asked, turning to Aliss.
“Must be really confusing,” Aliss said, “ending up in another world, and all that.”
“Oh.” Yachiyo slowly nodded. “There’s no Oz where I’m from, but everything about Japan is pretty much the same. Save a few details, anyway.”
“You never know, though,” Aliss said. “Maybe the Oz of your world is still hidden. There are lots of hidden places in this world. Even beside Oz, or the surrounding countries.”
“Other… hidden places?” Yachiyo asked.
Aliss nodded. By now they had been walking a considerable distance. Up ahead, there appeared to be strange pillar-like shapes. “There’s this one place in Japan, even. Glinda knows more about it than I do.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, a whole city with Magical Girls, but not quite like the others I’ve seen. Some place called Gen–”
There was a rustling noise. Yachiyo became alert. “What was that?”
The other girls turned around every which way, readying their weapons. Neseel pulled out an egg with her free hand, holding it like it was a grenade.
“Hammerhead?” Aliss asked, drawing her sword out. Next to her, Lucina did the same.
“I don’t see any movement,” Lucina said. “Nothing the size of a Hammerhead, anyway.”
Yachiyo looked around for anything that could be a threat. The sound of rustling grass made her turn around. “It must be something small…”
She looked at the bush before her; something small ran out into the light of Neseel’s fire.
Neseel looked closer. “It’s a… dog?”
As if in response, the small creature made a whimpering sound. Neseel brought her fire closer and illuminated it. Everyone got a good look at the new arrival.
It was a dog, a small, white-furred one. It wagged its hairy tail and whimpered at the party. Its fur was dirty, as if it hadn’t bathed in a long time, and it was completely unkempt. It was an urchin dog, that was for sure.
“What’s a dog doing out here?” Kira asked. She walked closer; the dog immediately flinched back.
Kira drew back a bit. “S-sorry…”
“It must be a stray,” Aliss said. “No home, no owners… It’s just wandering around here.”
“Poor thing…” Yachiyo said.
Kira held out her arms. The dog looked curiously at her, before slowly walking up to Kira. Kira smiled, picking it up and holding it close to her chest.
“How long do you think he’s been out here…?” she asked. She petted it, and the dog made a noise that seemed thankful.
“Who knows?” Lucina said. “Judging from how dirty he is, a long time.”
“We can’t just leave him here.” Kira turned to the others. “Can’t we take him back with us?”
The other girls all looked at each other. Yachiyo spoke first.
“We have a mission, Kira,” she said.
“Oh, but Yachiyo, look at him! He looks like he could use a bath, and food!” Her face looked as pleading as the dog’s. The dog for its part whimpered.
Yachiyo took a good look at its eyes. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if they abandoned it now.
“Okay,” Yachiyo said. “He can come with us.”
Kira smiled, patting the dog on its head. “Don’t worry,” she cooed. “You’ll be coming home with us.”
The group continued on silently, until they were within reach of an empty field. Surrounding them were dozens of squat boulders, encircling it like Oz’s own personal Stonehenge.
“Look!” Neseel whispered, pointing to the center of the circling boulders.
Underneath the moonlight, one lone flower bloomed in a field of flowers that had yet to do the same. Its petals glowed like the moon.
“The Moonlight Bloom,” Yachiyo breathed. “We found it!”
As soon as they neared the place, the dog began to growl.
“Kira, tell it to keep quiet,” Yachiyo whispered. “There may be Hammerheads nearby.”
“Shh, not now, boy,” Kira said. The dog whimpered quietly.
Yachiyo looked at the boulders around them. There were so many, the way they were organized was definitely not by nature’s hands. Or maybe it was; she had just met fairies and other creatures who organized the world. Maybe this was their work…
“Did you hear that?” Neseel asked.
Yachiyo turned to her. “Hear what?”
“... Snoring.”
Yachiyo raised an eyebrow. Snoring? She listened closely; she did hear snoring. It was coming from all around them. But from who?
Kira turned to lean against a boulder, before letting out a small yelp, jumping away.
“What’s wrong?!” Aliss asked.
“The boulder…” Kira gasped. “It… It was breathing!”
“What?” Yachiyo walked over to Kira. Neseel shined her light that way, allowing Yachiyo to get a good look at it.
It wasn’t a boulder at all. It was a creature, vaguely humanoid, but short and stout, and with no arms. Its head was as wide as the rest of its body, and flat. It was bald, save for the tufts of hair on its sides. It had a bulbous nose, and a wide mouth from which the snoring sound emitted. Most strange was its thick neck that was covered in wrinkles. It wore red overalls, a comically-large red bowtie, and a yellow polka dot shirt with no sleeves, as well as yellow shoes.
“What the–?” Yachiyo began. “Is this a… Hammerhead?”
The others stared at the thing. “It… it is,” Aliss said quietly.
“It’s not the only one,” Neseel said, shining her flame on another boulder. That one also turned out to be a Hammerhead. And so did another, and the rest. All of them were surrounding the flower, like a circle of standing stones keeping watch over some ancient secret. Their clothes were all the same, and in dire need of a wash.
Yachiyo looked at them all. “They’re asleep,” she whispered.
Kira gently held the dog in her arms, trying to keep it from making any noise. “We shouldn’t talk so much,” she said, “we could wake them up!”
“What do you suggest?” Aliss said back in an equally quiet tone.
Lucina seemed to be thinking to herself. “I think we know what to do; but only Magical Girls can do it. Sorry, Aliss.”
Aliss looked at her. “Do what…?”
Talk to each other telepathically. Lucina’s voice echoed through Yachiyo’s skull. The other Magical Girls seemed to pick up on it, too. Only Aliss and the stray dog were out of the loop. Aliss herself had a look of someone who knew they were missing out on something.
The flower is right there, Lucina thought. We just have to grab it, then Yachiyo can signal for Glinda to take us back to the palace.
Yachiyo took out the small egg Glinda had given her, looking at the button. Kira has wings, right? We can have her fly over there and grab them.
All the girls looked at Kira; after a moment, Aliss did the same, evidently trying to follow as much as she could without hearing what everyone was thinking.
Kira looked at the flower. The Moonlight Bloom still shined among it. It doesn’t look too hard…
Then that’s decided, Yachiyo thought.
I need someone to hold this guy for me, Kira said mentally, holding the dog out.
The girls all looked at each other. Finally Yachiyo held her hand up. I’ll watch him.
Kira smiled and fluttered over to Yachiyo, handing her the dog. He wasn’t so heavy, and curled up in Yachiyo’s arms. Yachiyo could feel his warm body against hers as she gently held him.
As soon as Kira turned away, the dog began to whimper.
Everyone tensed up, looking at the sleeping Hammerheads. Yachiyo petted the dog’s white fur. “Shh, it’s going to be okay… quiet down…”
The dog slowly quieted down. Yachiyo smiled, and the others sighed in relief. Kira took off into the air, flying over the snoring Hammerheads to reach the flower. For a moment, she disappeared amongst the Hammerheads closest to the field, causing the dog to whimper again.
“It’s going to be okay,” Yachiyo said, petting it. “She’ll be back soon…”
It didn’t seem to help a lot, the dog was still whimpering, searching for Kira in the dark with a confused face. The girls all remained as quiet as they could. Seconds seemed like minutes, the minutes a full half-hour.
Soon, a familiar form flew out from the center, wings fluttering. In her hands she held the plucked silver flower.
I got it! Kira said mentally. Yachiyo beamed.
As soon as it saw Kira, the dog started barking, trying to force its way out of Yachiyo’s hand. Everyone else tensed up again.
“Calm down…!” Yachiyo said hurriedly, but it was too late. The snoring around them immediately stopped. In its place was the sound of lips smacking and voices murmuring. The sleeping forms began to shuffle and shake, before standing upright.
Lucina cursed under her breath. “Stay alert, one of them might…”
Before she could finish her words, something huge and dark knocked Lucina onto her back. She landed with a thud.
“Big Sister!” Neseel ran towards her.
Yachiyo looked back at the thing that had hit Lucina. It was like a large snake, and it was slithering back to somewhere. Yachiyo watched–it was one of the Hammerheads, its own head retracting back to its body.
Yachiyo gripped her halberd with one hand and held the white dog in her other, staring the Hammerhead down. Around them, the other Hammerheads gathered.
“Trespassers,” the Hammerhead said in a harsh voice. “No outsider is allowed this deep into Hammerhead country!”
Above them, Kira floated, kept aloft by her wings. A few of the Hammerheads spotted her.
A large gasp grew among them. “The Moonlight Bloom! She took it!” Soon the night sky was full of Hammerheads shooting their heads up at Kira, who dodged and weaved through them as much as she could.
The Hammerhead before Yachiyo turned to her. “What do you want with the Moonlight Bloom?”
Yachiyo narrowed her eyes. “Glinda the Good Witch needs it for a spell.”
The Hammerhead scoffed. “Princess Ozma was clear when she said we had our own sovereignty here! We don’t care what’s going on in the rest of the world, that flower is ours!”
“You can wait for the next one to bloom,” Yachiyo said.
“That won’t be for another month!”
Yachiyo grimaced. “I’m sorry… I need this to go home.”
The Hammerhead frowned. “It won’t be as easy as you think!” it growled, before firing its head at her.
Yachiyo dodged it, as well as the others as much as she could. Just when she thought she was clear, however, a stray head hit her in her back, knocking her to the ground. The dog yelped at the same time.
Yachiyo cried out in pain, before scrambling to her knees. She felt for the egg Glinda gave her; to her horror, it was not on her. She surveyed the field, taking in what was going on around her. Lucina and Neseel were using their swords and superhuman reflexes to fight back against the Hammerheads in their way, while Aliss whacked any stray heads near her with the flat of her sword. Kira was still in the air, doing her best to dodge them. Next to Yachiyo, the white dog was busy barking around, though the Hammerheads ignored it. For the most part, the Hammerheads didn’t seem to have any attack other than trying to knock someone off their feet with their heads. The Oz girls didn’t seem keen on hurting them, either–Yachiyo figured that made sense. They didn’t know any better; she still had to get out of here, though.
It would be easier to search for it if she had some light. Yachiyo realized what she had to do; taking a deep breath, she de-transformed in a flash of light, holding her Soul Gem in her hand and casting a blue light on the grass beneath her. Fortunately the Hammerhead who had attacked her was distracted by Aliss, and had wandered off.
Yachiyo! Lucina’s voice broke in. What are you doing?!
I need to find the egg! Yachiyo thought back. As soon as I get it, we can get out of here!
She searched some more, trying her best to locate it. Something shined in the blue light of her Soul Gem. She looked down–it was the egg!
Yachiyo made a grab for it, just in time for some stubby foot to stomp in front of her. Slowly, she looked up.
The Hammerhead glared down at her. Yachiyo glared back.
“We’re getting out of here,” she said out loud.
“I’d like to see you try–ARGH!” The Hammerhead yowled in pain, hopping on one foot. Yachiyo could make out the white dog, sinking its fangs into the Hammerhead’s ankle.
Yachiyo smiled. “Good boy!”
The Hammerhead growled and shook its leg, throwing the dog to the ground. Yachiyo immediately moved to grab it, holding it in her free hand.
“Yachiyo!” Kira cried out. “What’s going on?!”
“Hold on–I’ll get us out of here!” She held the egg in her free hand, and pressed the button on it, just as the Hammerhead fired its head at her. The faberge tracker lit up, blinding everyone…
In a flash, all of them were back amongst the palace colonnade. The sounds of the Hammerheads’ mumbling and grumbling disappeared, like a television being turned off. All was peaceful, and the desert breeze from the South greeted her face.
It was Lucina who spoke first. “We’re… back!”
Yachiyo stood up, getting a grip of her surroundings. Everyone was present and accounted for, if a little shocked from the sudden transport. They all had their weapons on hand, before putting them away.
She turned to Kira. “The flower…?”
Kira de-transformed, then held out her hand. The Moonlight Bloom was in it.
Yachiyo breathed a sigh of relief, before the sound of barking echoed through the colonnade. The small white dog scurried out from behind her, wagging its tail.
Kira smiled and knelt down beside it. “I’ll get you all cleaned up,” she said. The dog wagged its tail at her, clearly liking the idea.
“He helped me back there,” Yachiyo said. “He protected me. Thanks,” she said, smiling at him.
The others looked at him. “He needs a name,” Neseel said after a moment.
“What do we call him?” Aliss asked.
Kira turned to Yachiyo. “Any suggestions?”
Yachiyo thought for a bit. “... Mamoru.”
Kira looked at the dog. “Do you like that name?”
Mamoru panted with his tongue out, wagging his tail.
“Guess he does,” Kira said, smiling. “You’re going to be with us from now on, Mamoru.”
The group took a moment to catch their breath, when the sound of footsteps behind them caught their attention.
“There you are,” Glinda said, smiling. “I take it the mission was a success?”
Yachiyo dusted herself a bit, wanting to still look presentable. “It was. We got the flower.”
“And a new friend!” Kira said, gesturing to Mamoru.
Glinda looked at the dog. “Oh, what a lovely dog.”
“He’ll be more lovely when I give him a bath.” Kira handed Yachiyo the flower, and picked Mamoru up. “If you need me, I’ll be in my room.”
“Thank you for your help,” Yachiyo said.
Kira smiled and excused herself, carrying Mamoru amidst the other girls saying bye to her.
“Now,” Glinda said, “ready to try to make contact with the other Yachiyo?”
Yachiyo nodded. “I am.”
***
Glinda’s potion-making room looked like the chemistry lab at Yachiyo’s university. It was filled with shelves, which had jars full of different things, and beakers, bottles, and other glass objects that had different-colored liquids inside them. But it also had old books full of writings related to alchemy, magic, and other subjects that Kamihama University didn’t teach.
At the moment there was a cauldron over a fire, and liquid bubbling up inside it. Glinda took the flower that Yachiyo and the others had retrieved and dropped it inside, causing a puff of smoke to blow out, before the liquid became calm, with a pink glow.
“It’s done,” Glinda said. She let it cool for a few minutes, before scooping some of it up with a ladle and pouring it into a small glass.
Yachiyo watched all of this go on. “And you’re sure this will help me find this world’s Yachiyo?”
Glinda nodded. Even when she was being serious, she looked beautiful. “Just one gulp of this will do the trick. Just remember to think of her when it takes effect.”
She stood up from the cauldron and handed the glass to Yachiyo, the pink liquid swirling in it. Despite how light it was, Yachiyo couldn’t help but feel like it was even heavier, due to all that was going on.
She stared down at it.
“Is something wrong?” Glinda asked.
Yachiyo shook her head. “Just wondering what I’ll see when I drink it. I mean, we don’t even know where the other me is, right? And if this world is any indication… she could be anywhere.”
Glinda smiled. “That’s understandable. But you want to help Amare, right?”
“... Yeah.”
“This will help you do just that.”
Yachiyo looked at the glass. She took a deep breath, before gulping it down her throat. It was bitter, like cough medicine.
Yachiyo wiped the drops of liquid from her lips and covered her mouth, coughing a bit.
Glinda looked at her in anticipation. “Feel anything?”
“I… I feel…” Yachiyo wobbled a bit. She suddenly felt like her head was heavy. Her vision blurred, and she lost her footing.
Glinda caught her in her pale arms. “I got you,” the Sorceress said.
Yachiyo groaned a bit. She looked up into Glinda’s blue eyes. “My head hurts,” she said.
Glinda brushed some of Yachiyo’s blue strands of hair aside. “Hold on a moment; I have a cot for you.”
She took Yachiyo to a corner of the room, and placed her on a white cot. It was stiff, but it did its job. Yachiyo eased up a bit. Her eyelids became heavier, and her body weaker.
Think about Amare’s Yachiyo, she told herself. Amare’s Yachiyo…
Everything went black.
*** The first thing Yachiyo saw when she woke up was her own face, shriveled up so much it was only skin and bones.
She nearly screamed, and tried to move, only to find her limbs restrained by tight ropes. She craned her neck, and saw that she was bound to a cross, just like the shriveled up Yachiyo next to her. And she wasn’t the only one.
There were dozens of Yachiyo Nanamis tied to crosses here. For the most part they resembled Yachiyo herself–pale skin, long, blue hair–but they were unconscious. Some of them wore the same dark dress that Yachiyo herself tended to wear, while others wore different outfits. There was a Yachiyo with her hair tied into a side ponytail, and another with disheveled hair. All their outfits ranged from things that Yachiyo herself found impressive, and others that she would never have worn herself. She remembered Glinda’s explanation from before, that the potion would connect her to the version of herself in Amare’s world.
This must be her body, Yachiyo thought. Wisps of blue energy drifted out of them, drawn towards an illuminated pool at the center of the room. That’s right, they were all in a room, a large one with a huge vault of a ceiling that led into complete darkness.
She was in a building, in another world. What was this world like? Yachiyo struggled some more, only to realize how weak her body felt. It was as if her energy was being slowly sapped out of her.
She stared at all the other Yachiyos around her, and suddenly felt sick in her stomach. Where were all these other versions of her here? Who brought them to this place?
The sound of splashing water felt so small in the midst of the huge interior. Yachiyo squinted, and saw a naked figure step out of the pool. It was a girl with a lithe body and long hair. She reached for a towel nearby and dried herself off, before wrapping it around her body. In the glow of the pool, Yachiyo could make out a few more of her features. She craned her neck as close as she could, trying not to make herself noticeable.
Her face paled when she got a good look at the girl. The girl was also Yachiyo. But there was something wrong with her–there was some kind of tranquil bitterness in her eyes. She walked further towards a section of the room, not too far from Yachiyo, and observed the Yachiyos unconscious and hanging from their crosses. She reached out and touched one’s shin, looking up at the Yachiyo on the cross.
The sound of a door creaking open caught both Yachiyos' attention. The other Yachiyo turned, while Yachiyo’s eyes followed. Bright light poured in, and a small, dark figure stepped inside.
“So… you’re back,” the other Yachiyo said coldly.
The other figure–a girl, Yachiyo saw, with a dark, hooded cloak and short dark hair tied into an odango style, slowly approached her.
“I was looking for you,” she said, her voice quiet. “I figured I’d find you here.”
The other Yachiyo turned to her. “Well? Did you bring them?”
The dark-haired girl shrank back, looking down. “They… they got away. Mami Tomoe and Kyouko Sakura got them.”
The other Yachiyo clenched her fist. “So you failed.”
“I tried my best!” the other girl said defensively. “I’m not used to this like you are… like you and the other two are. At least I ended up in a universe with Incubators this time!”
The other Yachiyo scoffed. “I still don’t get how you ended up in that other one–there weren’t any Magical Girls or Witches there. You didn’t belong there even more than you did in the other worlds you visited!”
The dark-haired girl winced. “It wasn’t a bad world… I made friends with two girls there. And they didn’t have Wraiths or Witches, just these other things called Noi–”
“I don’t care.” The other Yachiyo said. “You had one mission: get Mifuyu back and the Yachiyo of that world, and bring them to me.”
Mifuyu? Yachiyo? Yachiyo frowned. What was going on here?
“I don’t understand,” the dark-haired girl said. “You have all these Yachiyos… why do you need more?”
“You know how batteries work, don’t you?” the other Yachiyo said. “Eventually they run out… or in this case, die out. And I need new ones. I need them for their magic. Each Yachiyo wished to survive and carries the hope of all the Magical Girls she knew.” She outstretched her arm, staring at her pale hand. “The more magic I absorb, the stronger I get.”
She grinned to herself. “A little something I learned from our mistress.”
Mistress? Who was that?
“How is our mistress doing…?” the girl asked.
“She’s still resting,” the other Yachiyo said. “It’ll be a few more days until she’s ready to go again.”
“That long?” the dark-haired girl asked, incredulous.
“Ever had a food coma?” the other Yachiyo asked. “Our mistress ate a whole world. She needs to let it digest, let all the base matter from it process inside her.”
“How many more does she need?” the girl asked. “How many more Madoka Kanames does she need until–”
A tremor shook through the room–an earthquake from outside. The girl winced, while the other Yachiyo simply waited it out.
The ground ceased to shake, and it was quiet outside again.
“I’m still getting used to that,” the girl said.
“Only a few more,” the other Yachiyo said. “With each Madoka our mistress devours, the closer this world gets to stabilizing. So what if we failed to catch the Madoka in that last world? There are an infinite number of Madokas out there. And then, when she’s done–we’ll have a world made just for us. Our own Garden of Eden.”
“A world… where I can exist like any other girl?” There was hope in the girl’s voice.
The other Yachiyo placed a hand on her shoulder. “Indeed.” She frowned again. “But I still need to get Mifuyu back. I won’t rest until I see the life leave her eyes…”
The girl seemed disturbed by that comment, but remained quiet. “Should… should I bring the other two with me?” she asked.
The other Yachiyo nodded. “That’s a good idea.”
“What about Akemi-san?” the dark-haired girl asked.
The other Yachiyo scowled. “One Homura Akemi is enough,” she said. “But if others show up…”
She glanced towards where Yachiyo was. “Oh… that Yachiyo is all tapped out. We need to get rid of her.”
Yachiyo’s breath hitched as the other Yachiyo stepped closer, walking towards the decayed Yachiyo on the next cross. Yachiyo did her best to remain as quiet as possible. If she could just hold still long enough…
At the worst moment, her nose began to itch. She felt a sneeze coming along, just as the other Yachiyo came closer…
No, no, no! Yachiyo thought to herself. Why of all times?
She sneezed. It echoed throughout the hall.
The other Yachiyo paused, turning. Her dark eyes met Yachiyo’s own. Yachiyo herself took in the face looking back at her–her own, but somehow with even colder eyes.
A smirk appeared on the other Yachiyo’s face. “Well… what do we have here?”
Literally 1984 [hits on my fanfic].
Thank you to everyone who's been reading this far! Even if you didn't read it all the way after trying it out, I appreciate it!