Magic and Miracles
A/N: Couple of quick notes. This is a crossover with Puella Magi Madoka Magica, however you won't need to know anything more than will be explained in this story. Because of its crossover nature, this does not take place in my Reimagined 'verse.
If you want a better visual idea of what Albertine and Anja (the witch and familiar, respectively) look like, as well as the witch's lair, feel free to watch this video at YouTube: v=5EEGNjgwogY (it's from the game).
[ - ]
Josh absently fiddled with his house keys, tossing them up in the air before quickly grabbing them and repeating the process, the light jangling meshing with his footsteps and creating an unusual but not too horrible soundtrack as he walked. He'd been out, chatting with a few fellow athletes about the upcoming DOX event, a little later than usual this year but it hadn't bothered any of them, and Josh had tried to show that it didn't bother him either.
Well, not too much.
Truth was, now that Berto had managed to somehow reconfigure the nanoprobes (Berto had mumbled something about polarity and attrition and left Josh plugged in to the laptop for the whole day, cautioning him to not move at all) he was almost looking forward to competing. He could dial down his abilities when needed, leaving him in 'Josh mode' with just extra-sharp hearing - no inhumanly possible strength, no ungodly endurance, just the skills and talent he worked on.
Kat had taken great delight in being able to best him in a sparring match to test his reduced abilities.
Josh turned the corner, a smile causing the corners of his mouth to turn up slightly as he spotted his house up ahead. He, Berto, and Kat had pooled together their money to rent it shortly after INTEC was destroyed, despite how much Kat complained that she saw enough of the two of them at work, she didn't really want to be stuck rooming with them as well. All arguments aside, she had been the one to find the place, all but shoving a print-out in Josh's hands and commenting that they were going to see the place, no comments.
Josh closed his eyes momentarily, chuckling slightly as he recalled when he and Kat had made an appointment to see it, the landlady assuming the two of them were a couple. Josh said nothing to correct her, and neither had Kat; to Josh's surprise, Kat didn't even look close to furious when the comment was made, simply letting it roll off her back.
"Maybe I should have commented about it," he mused, eyes still closed. A loud, screeching laugh answered him and he opened his eyes in shock.
Surrounding him was not the path to his house; instead it was filled with colourful, cartoony, child-like items. Surrounding him were large alphabet building blocks, some houses constructed out of large but thinner rectangles and triangles. Glancing down he saw that he was standing on a large green mat with numerous coloured stars, some teddy bears dotted around, and looking up he saw silhouettes of animals, two-dimensional and black, hanging on strings. There was no sign of the natural blue sky anywhere; instead, all he saw was a black expanse.
The screeching laugh sounded again, and Josh turned around to see...something...behind him. A something with orange skin, green hair, no arms but somehow piloting a plane which was zooming around. The face and body was covered in scribbles, an item hastily drawn. As he looked, another orange-skinned thing appeared, this one with purple hair and driving a car across the green expanse.
This is getting creepy, Josh thought to himself moments before his Bio-Link slid open. Josh pressed a button and immediately switched to a defensive stance as his Max Steel persona appeared, changing him from a brown-eyed blond to a blue-eyed brunet. After a second, a burst of yellow-green light covered him, disappearing a moment later and he shot forward, fist clenched, and punched the green-haired something directly in the face. That something exploded in to dust and Max turned around to face the other something, knocking away a couple of balls it sent in his direction.
"I've seen cartoons scarier than you," he commented, knocking another ball away. The something simply stuck out its tongue in response, giving it an even more childish look. It held Max's gaze for a second before turning and zooming away. Max, still on the defensive, watched it disappear with mild curiosity.
Max regretted that a few seconds later when a missile slammed in to his left side, forcing him on his knees and winding him. He sucked air, glancing around to try to find the thing which had attacked him; the thing which was approaching rapidly, tongue sticking out and looking almost maniacally happy at having knocked him down. He gritted his teeth, staring down the thing, hoping that he'd regain his breath before the thing had a chance to get off another attack.
The crack of a pistol echoed around the room, and the thing had a split-second to look terrified before a bullet tore into its body, disappearing in to dust a second later. Max glanced up to see where the bullet had come from, but only saw a green-clad figure in the distance standing on one of the alphabet blocks. Still cautious, he deactivated turbo and stood up, cautiously clenching a hand against his injured side.
As he looked closer he could see that the figure was a woman, a gun held in her right hand. Her back was to him, obscuring his ability to see just who was there, and she seemed to be focusing on something slightly to her left.
As he watched she jerked out her left arm perpendicular to her body, the cloak or cape on her back flying out at the sudden disruption, and a gun materialised in her hand out of nowhere. She cocked the gun, firing off another shot before jumping off the edge of the block, completely obscuring her from Max's view. All he could get was the sound of rapid gunfire, the guns the woman was dual-wielding seemingly never running out of bullets.
Before too long the sounds of shooting stopped, and after almost a full minute of silence the woman jumped back up on to the block she'd vacated, walked across it, and jumped down in from of Max before making her way across to him.
As she did so, her face now towards him, Max could see just who it was, and she saw and recognised him a moment later.
"Kat?" Max said, not believing what he was seeing. She was dressed in a - for her - very feminine outfit: a white blouse; dark green cloak fastened at the neck; dark green wrap-around skirt with white trim and with a very obvious gap in it, the two sections of the skirt only joining up mid-thigh; white tights; and knee-high black boots.
Kat scowled as she saw Max, her two guns disappearing in a flash of green light. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you wearing?" Max said almost in the same instant, grinning despite the situation when a flush crept up on Kat's cheeks. "Don't get me wrong, I -"
Kat spun around, a gun appearing in her hand in a flash of green light, firing off a bullet towards a thing which had, from the looks of it, been trying to creep up on them while they were distracted. The gun disappeared once more, and Kat turned to look at Max.
"Come on," she said, offering up her left hand for Max to take. As she did so, he noticed a brilliant green gem embedded in the back of her left hand, heart-shaped and looking very well polished. He used her hand to help himself up, glancing around once more at their location before turning his attention back to Kat.
"You really shouldn't be here, and I won't ask how you managed to get here," she began, turning around and beginning to walk off as she spoke, Max following after her a short while later. "This is going to be dangerous, so keep close. I can't leave you alone, but I don't know how well you'll be able to fight." She gave him a quick once-over, her expression devoid of anything but the feeling of a general assessing a new recruit.
"I did manage to kill a couple of the...whatever they were. The things with orange skin."
"Familiars," Kat supplied, leaving Max with a confused expression. "I'll explain later. If you can kill them, then maybe you will be useful," she added with a brief smile, drawing out her guns once again. "But you do what I say. Stay back unless I call for you, and don't try any heroics."
Max grinned. "Since when have I ever tried that?"
Kat rolled her eyes. "Always. This is different. If you want to get out of here, you need to follow my every instruction. Every. One."
Kat held out her hand as the two of them reached a door, this like the familiars scribbled on in crayon, brightly coloured letters in a language Max had never seen adorning the door. Max cautiously took Kat's hand and she raised the gun in her free hand, getting off a couple of shots before kicking the door open.
Kat grinned as she stepped through, looking a lot more like the Kat Max knew. A swarm of familiars crowded around them but between Kat's gun and Max's fists, the swarm quickly dissipated to nothing.
"Ready?" Kat asked, and Max nodded. Kat took off at a run, Max following her, dashing past more familiars, Kat getting off the occasional shot at them. After a bit they slowed down, stopping behind a pile of alphabet blocks.
"Stay here," Kat hissed, indicating for Max to kneel down. "Don't move, don't do anything unless I explicitly call for your help. Understand?"
"Got it."
Her other hand now free, a gun appeared in it and she dashed forwards, Max leaning out to glance at the situation they were now in. The sky above had changed a little, the addition of a large eye with yellow and green eyelashes, purple sclera, blur iris and black pupil with a red highlight giving everything an even more eerie feel.
In the centre of the room, towards where Kat was heading (in between pausing to get more shots off at familiars), was a huge playpen with a tall creature inside. It had blond hair in two puffballs, porcelain white skin, purple overalls and a red top. The door which Max and Kat had dashed through slammed shut and the creature looked up with its empty eyes, focusing its attention on Kat. It glanced down at the floor quickly before kneeling, scribbling something on the ground and a moment later a new familiar popped up.
Kat got off a lucky shot, killing the new familiar in one hit. The creature looked annoyed, crouching down and scribbling again on the floor, dodging a shot from Kat when it stood back up. Those actions repeated for a short while before the creature disappeared from view.
"Watch it!" Kat yelled, and Max hurriedly looked around. The creature was nowhere to be found and Kat, frowning, cautiously stepped over to one of the building block houses, raising her gun and placing a well-aimed bullet through the centre of it. Nothing happened, and Kat moved on to the second, then the third house. When she shot the fourth house, however, a high-pitched wail echoed around the room and the creature reappeared, on its knees and sobbing into its hands.
Kat cautiously paced around the creature, firing off a shot behind her at any approaching familiars, and before too long the sobbing stopped, the creature got back on its feet, and the battle resumed. Kat got off a few more shots at the creature before it disappeared once again, and Kat resumed her little game of wander around and shoot the building block houses.
Just as she 'found' the creature again, Max realised what was going on: the creature and Kat were playing an elaborate game of hide and seek. He shifted a little uncomfortably; most of the familiars were gone, and those that remained were keeping back as if afraid of what Kat would do to them if they got any closer. Most of the danger was gone, he could help Kat hunt down the creature, couldn't he?
Don't move, don't do anything unless I explicitly call for your help. Understand?
Max grimaced to himself, settling in for a slightly more comfortable position as the creature appeared once more, this time no crying but with something akin to a look of determination on its face.
Kat also had determination etched on her face, marred by weariness as well. She aimed both guns directly at the creature, the shots so close together they were almost in tandem, and Max waited for the creature to go and hide yet again. However, this time the creature collapsed, not turning in to dust like the familiars but simply collapsing on to the ground, the scene around Max and Kat dissolving away. The building blocks, the teddy bears, even the sky began to grow more translucent until the view returned to that of the road leading down to the beach house.
Kat let out a relieved sigh, collapsing to one knee and her clothing shattering, showing her dressed in her more usual clothes: jeans, red sneakers, and for today a dark green tank top almost the same colour as her cloak and skirt. A black blob appeared out of nowhere, sinking down to the ground slowly.
After a moment Kat regained her composure and walked over to where the black blob had fallen, picking it up and slipping it into her jeans pocket before walking over to Max who, after a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, changed back to Josh.
"I think you owe me an explanation."
"I do. Meet me on the beach in fifteen minutes."
[ - ]
Fifteen minutes later Josh was leaning back against one of the benches on the beach, head titled back and eyes closed as he concentrated on just listening to what was going on. He still had exceptional hearing, but he was working on being able to dial that down as well.
Someone flumped on to the bench next to him and he opened his eyes and looked over to see Kat sitting next to him. Without saying anything, she dug into her jeans pocket before handing it over to Josh.
Now able to look at it closer, Josh could see that it was a sphere with a sharp spike on one end and a very narrow cylinder on the other. On top of the cylinder was a star, and in the middle of the sphere what looked like a flower viewed from above. He rolled it around in his hands for a few seconds, looking over every inch of it.
"I saw this when that creature disappeared. What is it?"
"It's a Grief Seed," Kat said, taking the item back from him and putting it in her pocket. "It's what witches hatch from - that giant creature I was fighting was a witch. They also drop them when they're killed." Kat held her left hand out, palm facing down. A ring on Kat's middle finger, an item Josh had sworn he'd never seen before, glowed slightly and an egg-shaped object appeared above it. Kat quickly grabbed the item with her right hand, clenching it in her fist and holding it close to her chest for a second before opening it and showing Josh.
The egg was tinted a vivid green, the same colour as the gem he'd seen on Kat's hand. There was a tiny little heart on it, coloured in gold as like the little details and embellishments on it.
"So, what's this?"
Kat hesitated, glancing over at Josh. "It's a...Soul Gem. Proof of a Magical Girl's contract."
Josh snorted. "Magical 'Girl'? You're about ten years above being called a 'girl'."
"Well, I wasn't too far off when I made my contract."
Josh may have been able to brush off the use of contract once, but twice was a curiosity he was not willing to let go. "What kind of contract?"
Kat rolled her Soul Gem around in her hand, watching it idly as it moved. Josh was almost ready to ask his question again when Kat answered.
"What would you wish for if you had the opportunity to have anything in the world?"
"There's nothing I'd wish for that's possible."
"Oh, really?" The Soul Gem disappeared in a flash of green light, the ring reappearing on Kat's hand. "You wouldn't wish to spend time with your biological parents, maybe even bring them back to life?"
Josh glared at Kat for a second before looking away. "Maybe. But like I said, it's impossible."
"Oh, it's possible. Anything you think of can become true, no matter how impossible. It is a contract, however, so it's not something freely given. For a wish to be granted, the wish-maker has to agree to fight witches. Witches are born from despair, often found in places high in death, tragedy, and anger, and it's a Magical Girl's duty to defeat them."
Kat's Soul Gem appeared once more, and she also dug out the Grief Seed she had obtained. As Josh watched, she drew the two of them close together and once they were close enough he saw black spots migrating from Kat's Soul Gem to the Grief Seed, leaving the Soul Gem to glow just a little bit brighter.
"It's not a selfless request to hunt witches, even if you ignore the wish. A witch will drop a Grief Seed which can be used to cleanse a Soul Gem of the magic used in battling them. If you have enough Grief Seeds on you, you can battle without worrying how much magic you're using. If you don't..." Kat held the Grief Seed up towards the sky, the sunlight making it look even blacker. "If a Grief Seed absorbs too much corruption, a witch can re-hatch, so you need to be careful."
"You sound like you've been doing this a while."
"Eight years. I was fifteen when I was given the opportunity to make a wish."
"What did you wish for?"
"A way to get out of the horrible life I was in." Kat turned to Josh. "You've seen part of what my past is like - do you really think some place like INTEC would take me on at eighteen knowing what I'd done? No, all of my criminal records were erased, and while people I knew still remembered me, no one but me remembered just what I had done. I worked hard after that, building myself up to be the person I wanted to be, not the person I had made myself become."
Kat fell silent, leaning back against the bench and closing her eyes, copying the position Josh had been in when she met up with him.
"It sounds difficult."
"It can be - Del Oro isn't exactly a hotbed for witches, even Wipeout doesn't attract too many. It can be difficult to find enough Grief Seeds, but I've survived so far. It's not any more difficult that hunting down a terrorist in the Amazon rainforest, or dealing with a break-in at INTEC. I deal with them both."
Josh smiled. "I guess you've been saving the world in two different ways."
Kat looked down at her ring before looking back at Josh, a smile on her face as well. "Yeah, maybe."
[ - ]
After Josh had left, Kat opted to stay on the bench. A couple of minutes later, a white, furry animal jumped up on to the bench and settled next to Kat who paid it no heed.
"He has potential," the animal said, its face somehow staying in a fixed, slightly eerie smile. "Not the most powerful I've met, but he has the capabilities."
"I don't think he'd appreciate being called a Magical Girl," Kat said, not bothering to open her eyes. "I thought you only made contracts with teenagers, Kyubey. Why are you so interested in him?"
"Like I said, he has potential. He could be quite an asset as a Magical Boy."
Kat smirked, trying to imagine Josh in whatever clothes the contract gave him. "I don't think so. There's enough witches and Grief Seeds here for one Magical person, boy or girl. If he became one, we'd just be competing for everything."
"Or maybe he could become an excellent ally."
Kat frowned, turning to look at Kyubey. "You really want him to make a contract with you?"
"It would be appreciated," Kyubey said before fading away. Kat glanced back at the house, pondering.
Any wish you desire.
It would be interesting to meet Josh's parents...