"I don't want to do this, Michael."
The young man put his arm around his date. "Scared of haunted houses?" he teased, a mean edge to his voice.
The woman shook her head. "I'm not scared of haunted houses… I just… you know, on the news, that haunted house murderer, the one that goes to these things and kills the staff, sometimes the guests as well. It's been happening every October for the last three years… the Haunted Hunter, they call him."
"Relax, babe, it's only a myth. An urban legend."
Michael's hand crept lower, down to the woman's mid-back. She moved it off, shoving him away. "Why don't we go see a movie instead? I'm… I'm…"
"Afraid, huh?" Michael laughed. "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe, just stay by me."
She bit her lip, but didn't say anything further and let her date pull her closer.
Raye Johnson frowned as she watched the couple. The girl was right. Haunted houses were dangerous. That was why Raye was there. She had a sinking feeling that she knew exactly what was going on, and she had a plan to stop it.
Once, Raye had an older sister, four years older than she was and much braver as well. Marley had been Raye's idol, and the reason she'd made the decisions she had- namely, the decision to become a magical girl. When Marley had died one October, Raye had been a novice, a newb, barely able to hold her own.
Three years later, at the age of seventeen, Raye was a veteran, and not only that, but one of the best magical girls in the country.
She remembered quietly, secretly investigating Marley's death when her parents were mourning and the police were god-knows-where. She remembered sensing magic. She sneaked into the coroner's office, looking for a Witch's Kiss, but there was none to be found, and that was how Raye knew that this witch was dangerous, more so than anything any magical girl had faced before. This witch was deadly, sentient enough to move around to exclusively haunted houses, strong enough to live only causing despair one month a year.
Raye hated that witch, more than anything, and she used that hatred on her quest to avenge the older sister that she was now nearly as old as. She had spent three years examining patterns and cases, and tonight, she promised herself, would be her night.
She ran a hand through her short brown hair confidently as the line started inching forward. Her soul gem was clutched in her other hand, out of sight of the other people waiting to get in. She wished she could tell them to leave, to run, to go before they were trapped in the barrier, but she had tried that approach before. She knew what would happen. Raye didn't intend to be escorted away from the event before she killed this witch.
A tall blonde girl, maybe two years older that Raye was, tapped the magical girl. "Hey, kid. How old are you?"
"Seventeen," Raye answered, one hand still clenching the gem, the other scratching the back of her neck in anticipation for the coming battle. "Why?"
The blonde smirked. "This is a big girl haunted house. Kids might get hurt. You should leave."
"I am a big girl, and I can take care of myself. I'm tougher than I look." Raye was almost touched by the older girl's concern, though also rather annoyed by the implication. She knew she was small. Her whole family was. However, Raye was less likely to be killed than the taller, older woman was, and she would have thought that some of her natural confidence and supernatural abilities might shine through… she hated the idea that she looked like a defenseless child.
"Is that so?" the blonde mused. "Very well, then. I wish you the best of luck."
Raye nodded her recognition and faced forward again. She was almost at the front of the line, and certainly would be part of the next group to enter. The wait seemed endless as her anticipation grew, but finally, she was ushered into the darkness of the house, the second to last person in this group. Raye looked back at the last person, the blonde, who was smiling.
The house was self guided, with signs pointing the correct way to go. It wasn't long before the group of strangers separated, each walking at their own speed. Raye rubbed a finger over her gem and tried to sense a barrier.
Nothing. Nothing at all. Did the witch target a different house? It seemed unlikely. This one was a big one, in a big city, and because of the "Haunted Hunter," there weren't many operational haunted houses anymore. Maybe- and this thought sparked a bit of fear in Raye- maybe it was actually a real murderer and not a witch.
From behind her, someone screamed, louder and longer than a small scare called for. The wordless scream soon turned to pleading. "No, no! Help me!"
Raye raced towards the sound, down a 'broken' flight of stairs, into a room that she had been in only moments before, a room with a 'chainsaw murderer' who jumped out at you. As she skidded to a stop in the middle of the room, she saw the mangled, broken body of the 'murderer's' actor. The blonde woman from before stood over it proudly. As Raye stared in shock, her mind vaguely registered that the older girl was wearing a lemon-meringue yellow dress and boots, a crooked brown belt with a sheath for a sword resting on her hips, decorated with a heart-shaped yellow gem. A soul gem.
A magical girl.
The blonde looked Raye in the eyes. "Oh, dear," she sighed. "I did tell you not to come in, didn't I? Now you're afraid too."
Something about that shook Raye from her daze. "No fucking way I'm afraid of you!" she shouted, holding her gem out, letting the transformation wash over her, letting her own skin-tight deep brown pants and loose chocolate tunic appear, letting a leather cuff with a clear brown gem attach to her left arm. A pair of leather boots protected her feet, and she felt a bow tie her hair back.
The woman smirked. "Oh dear. I do believe you are definitely, definitely afraid. You wouldn't transform if you didn't find me a threat. Now I have to kill you as well. I was hoping I wouldn't have to."
The blonde pulled the sword from her sheath and pointed it at Raye with a small smile. "Have you made peace with yourself, my dear?"
"Like hell I have," Raye growled. From the pockets of her pants, her right hand pulled her own weapon, a misty poison that, when sprayed onto something, seemed to burn right through it, no matter what it was.
The blonde looked amused, and intrigued. "What is that? Holy water? I've met a magical girl who used holy water before, that and a flail, when I visited Japan. I never had expected water guns to be a competent weapon, but Miss Nanami put up quite the fight…"
"So you hunt other magical girls," Raye assumed. "You try to expand your territory. And you have to hunt witches as well, which is why you're here." The brunette motioned to the body. "So you killed her. Was she one of us? But where's the barrier?"
"You've got things all wrong, child," said the other magical girl, and Raye glared at the implication. "There is no witch; there is only me, and I am the only true magical girl here, for I fight witches before they even are witches."
Every logical part of Raye was screaming to attack this sinister colleague; curiosity, however, made her wait. "Witches are always witches."
"Not so." The older girl idly rubbed her soul gem. "Some would tell you that witches were once people, you know. Me, I know that's wrong. Witches, before they are witches, are fear and despair. I know you are fearful, Miss…"
"Raye."
"Raye… like Sailor Mars." The brunette nodded. "And I'm Tatiana. It's a pleasure."
"I wouldn't say so."
"Suit yourself. You're fearful anyway; you'll become a witch soon enough, right?"
"You're delusional."
"I'm the only sane magical girl there is."
The spell of curiosity that held Raye seemed to break, and she sprayed her acid straight at Tatiana.
The mist hit the yellow-themed girl in the arm and sizzled, burning into her skin. Still, Tatiana didn't scream, only slash her sword at Raye. The younger girl jumped up, barely avoiding getting hit, and aimed another spray of acid at her adversary. This time, she missed, and the brunette girl shook the bottle as though that would help. Tatiana took another swing, missing incredibly. As Raye watched her warily, she decided that the acid must have hit the blonde's dominant arm… Tatiana was not good at all with the uninjured one.
Another swing; another miss. Raye sprayed the older girl in the face, but the distance put between the girls from Raye avoiding the sword meant that only a small amount of the mist settled. Raye still smirked as the skin turned red and smoked.
"You're doing the world a disservice by fighting," Tatiana said irritably. "You're hurting all those you love. You wanted to get rid of the witch, didn't you?"
"You said there wasn't a witch, just you."
Tatiana swung again, coming closer this time, still not quite hitting. "Maybe it would be better to say only you, but I am the one you hunt, I assume."
"What are you?" Spray. Miss.
"I told you; I hunt fear. And this place is the breeding ground of fear, a place where fear is acceptable, encouraged even. I hunt fear so witches…" Swipe. Miss. "cease to exist. I hunt those that cause fear especially. Even animals don't escape my wrath. Fear will be eliminated. I will make it so."
Spray. Hit; Tatiana's neck began to sizzle quickly, revealing muscle underneath, and the older girl opened her mouth as though to scream. All that came out was a choked sob. Raye snorted. "And you're not scared? Not even now?"
"I… I'm confident. This isn't holy water. Holy water only affects the witches, doesn't it?"
"I think it's acid." Impulsively, Raye grabbed Tatiana by the hair and sprayed her in the eyes.
The older girl screamed in pain, but only for a minute before quieting and detatching her soul gem from her belt, holding it to her skin. Immediately, she began to heal. Raye smiled. "Oh, make a healing type wish, huh?"
"Barely. I just know the secrets. Obviously, you don't," Tatiana managed. "Pain is optional, you know, and I just turned it off. I've no reason to fear you, you know."
"I couldn't fear you if I tried."
Tatiana clutched her sword tighter, this time with both hands, and slashed the air in front of Raye, missing obviously on purpose. "Come, then. Show it."
Raye stepped forward, into the area that Tatiana had slashed, showing vulnerability to show her strength. She could afford to give the older of the two Puellae the advantage. She was going to win.
Tatiana grabbed Raye's left hand with her own right. "You left your soul gem open," she said conversationally. "That's dangerous, you know. That's your life, right there."
"No."
"Were you not told that? Yes. It's what keeps you alive. Nothing else. If it's destroyed… dead. You really didn't know?"
In any other moment, Raye might have freaked out. Instead, she sprayed her mist at Tatiana's belt.
The acid hit the gem perfectly, and the mist burned through it. Tatiana dropped Raye's hand and her sword and screamed the loudest, clearest scream the brunette had ever heard. She dropped to her knees as her screams grew in volume and pitch; Raye covered her ears in shock.
Then the yellow gem shattered; the acid had made it almost explode. The light faded from Tatiana's eyes, and her magical girl uniform disappeared with a puff of magic, leaving her in her clothes from before.
Raye let out a strangled laugh. Killing was so easy, if you were killing a magical girl, at least. All you had to do was hit the soul gem. Wow. What a cheat code! What a shortcut! What a clever thing!
She glanced at her wrist, at her own darkened gem. She could kill herself right now, so easily! How easy would that be? Very easy! The thought seemed awful and wonderful all at once, and she shivered, her body jolting. Like her thoughts, dark, scared, and confused, her body was out of her control.
How scary. How wonderful. There was nothing to stop it. She couldn't stop it at least, not even if she tried.
When her own gem shattered, it was not because it was thrown, nor because of any acid. It didn't break properly. It hatched.
And the haunted house that caused so much terror, that Tatiana vowed to destory… well, it became even scarier.
Raye's last sentient thoughts became her runes, her eternal mantra. In the end, she was right.