Puella Magi: A Cyclical Magica

…

–Capable of Anything

Sayaka Miki stood frozen as a statue, her thin knees buckling and her arms trembling as the door to the Witch's domain closed in front of her. With an alien cry and the unmistakable sensation of being pulled headfirst into quicksand, the barrier sealed shut and disappeared. It was nothing short of impossible. And yet, if anyone ever walked past the convenience store across from Hitomi's house again and turned the corner, they would see a perfectly ordinary alleyway. Trash bags and empty beer bottles littered the floor, but nothing else out of the realm of normality.

They would never see the creature that grabbed Sayaka, pulled her into a nightmarish hell realm, and nearly ate her alive.

"Are you hurt?"

The words were so distant—

"Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

The blond girl's hand reached out and gripped Sayaka's shoulder like a vice, gently shaking her back and forth looking for any kind of response. This wasn't a normal girl. There was no possibility of this being a normal human being, under any defnintion. Sayaka had seen it all herself: the girl had been dressed in her sailor uniform one minute, and then in some kind of bright golden tunic with a matching feathered cap the next. Her guns had come from nowhere, firing bullets into a void of unmistakable evil. The overkill canon weapon she used at the end seemed to come right out of a comic book.

Sayaka struggled to find the words.

"I'm fine," she cleared her throat. "Fit as a fiddle."

The other girl flashed a bright smile. The powerful yellow of her current, obscure outfit paled in comparison. "That's great," she exhaled. "You had me worried for a minute."

'Worried for a minute'. There had been things crawling on walls that flipped up and down and turned in directions that probably didn't exist anywhere else on Earth, and she was only slightly concerned.

Sayaka made the only decision she could understand: she turned around and walked out of the alley. What was there to say? How could she find the words to talk about what had happened? Sayaka felt a 'thank you' would be almost offensive.

She could feel the other girl's stare on her back.

"Wait. It's not safe yet—"

"I'm thankful for…I…" Sayaka gave up on finding something to say, "But I just want to go home. I don't…this was a dream, right? It's a dream. I fell asleep in class again. Madoka's gonna wake me up any minute now. I know it. Wake up. Wake up.

"Wake up," she whispered desperately.

Sayaka braced herself on the grimy sidewall of the convenience store and blinked her eyes, trying her hardest to believe her own lie.

"You can't go home," the golden girl said she extended her arms outward with a ballerina's grace, "Not yet."

A flash of light erupted behind Sayaka, beginning and ending quicker than the flash of a camera or a jolt of lightning in the sky. When Sayaka turned around, the girl had returned to wearing the standard schoolgirl uniform. Her powerful blond curls fell to her shoulders with precision.

"You're Sayaka Miki," the girl said. "Am I right?"

Sayaka's heart jumped out of her chest and ran down the street. This was just too much. She faced the girl, hands clenched and lips tight.

"How do you know my name?" She nearly shouted.

"There's no need to be defensive, Sayaka."

"What are you talking about? You have guns everywhere! And don't call me by my first name unless I say so!" Sayaka spat.

The girl took a deep breath and met Sayaka's eyes dead-on. "Miss Miki," she rephrased, "My name is Mami Tomoe. I've been looking after you for some time. I wanted to make this easier on you, but when the Witch appeared, I had to act.

"Truth be told, I'm sorry I didn't plan this better. I feel kind of stupid," she added with a melancholy giggle.

Sayaka relaxed slightly. Whatever Mami was, she definitely didn't seem threatening. You just had to ignore the arsenal of weaponry she had commanded seconds ago and focus on Mami's lighthearted attitude.

Sayaka didn't share her new friend's optimism. "Looking for me?" She repeated.

"Yes." Mami suddenly adopted a serious tone. "Something's going to happen to your friend, and we—"

"Madoka?" Sayaka's voice shot up like a rocket.

"Madoka Kaname."

"What's going to happen to her? Those things in there…in the wall, or wherever they went, are they going to do something? You can't let that happen!" Panic took hold of Sayaka and didn't let go.

Mami held up a small, pristine hand. "Stay calm, Sayaka. Nothing's happened to Madoka yet, but there will be some bad people coming for her soon. We decided that you were the best person to come to for help. From what I've seen, you know her the best out of her immediate peers and you can help us the most effectively."

Sayaka nodded along to the parts that made sense. Madoka's other close friend, Hitomi, had started cram school a few weeks ago. She didn't have the time for either Sayaka or Madoka; as a result, two of them grew closer every day.

Mami jubilantly walked past Sayaka, accidentally brushing her yellow locks against Sayaka's short sapphire hair.

"We should go someplace with more people," Mami said. "It's too quiet here. This isn't safe. You don't get attacked in a crowded place, you know." She might as well have been talking about a song she liked for all of the fear in her words.

Mami had the kind of voice where anything she said could be taken in two different ways. On the one hand, Sayaka felt compelled to believe this girl that had killed hellspawn and knew her and Madoka by name. On the other hand, every word that came from Mami's mouth was liquid butterscotch in its consistent sweetness.

"Okay," Sayaka said.

…

Standing over the water fountain in the park, watching her impeccable reflection ripple in the clear water, Alice felt at peace. The relaxing fountain sounds and the sense of absolute solitude afforded by a park in a crowded city had no equal when it came to calming her nerves.

"You don't have anything to be afraid of," Xulbey resounded in Alice's head. The Incubator walked along the fountain's edge, its deep green fur somehow keeping perfectly dry. "It's not like I'm sending you into a death trap or anything. It's perfectly safe."

Alice's fingers tickled her violet Soul Gem, hanging from the charm bracelet on her slim wrist. The color overshadowed the rest of her reflection, casting it in a murky shade.

"I don't like this," Alice admitted with a downcast expression as the corners of her mouth pulled taut. "Puella Magi are all on the same side, aren't we? And I don't know this one. I don't even know her as a girl; how am I supposed to just hate her?"

"It's easy. Remember that she's the harbinger of doom." Xulbey's pulsating yellow eyes drilled through Alice like a warm knife through particularly low-grade butter. "Isn't that all you need to know? Puella Magi protect people from harm. This is how we do it."

The words felt like a wrench in Alice's tiny stomach. To attack a girl in middle school…it didn't feel right. "She's not a witch yet—"

"She will be!" Xulbey's thoughts grew louder in her mind, echoing through all five of her senses, "And trust me, we're not the first to get this idea. If we don't start now, then it will fail again and nothing's going to change."

A pause.

"Because after all, isn't that what this is all about? Change! A new world order," the Incubator said as it leapt up to Alice's broad shoulders, much too broad for her slim frame and tiny breasts. Xulbey purple tail draped around Alice's arm like the perfect high-brow accessory. "You've got your own reasons too, remember?"

Alice was silent.

"Precisely. This is simply how we do it. Trust me, Alice." His smile somehow seemed more genuine despite never changing. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

Alice sat on the fountain edge as Xulbey crawled to the top of her head of thick, curly mahogany hair. Her immediate woes were dispelled with a sigh.

"Fine…what's her name?"

…

"Madoka's responsible for all of that?"

Mami ate another French fry and dunked it in the meager container of sugar-blasted ketchup. "Not yet," she said before popping it into her mouth. "Madoka herself is entirely normal. I'm not good at explaining this part though…Kyubey, can you take it from here?"

The Incubator Kyubey leapt from Mami's lap and sat on the table, giving the overwhelmed Sayaka his undivided attention.

"Remember what I told you about Soul Gems, Sayaka?"

It took Sayaka a minute to adjust to having another being's complete sentences projected into her mind, but she was getting used to it quickly enough. She took another bite of the cheeseburger on her tray as she eyed the yellow Gem on Mami's finger. "I think I got it," she said. "They're the power of a magical gi—I mean, a Puella Magi—that gets created after forming a contract."

"A contract for making a wish. Exactly. Madoka's powers are not within the normal range of a Puella Magi, though. For reasons I do not understand, the Soul Gem she would produce would be capable of anything. It'd be stronger than everything I've ever encountered," he said honestly.

Sayaka spotted the vagueness instantly. "Capable of anything? Madoka? You're joking."

"I'm not." Kyubey's piercing red eyes were either incredibly genuine or an amazing poker face. "If Madoka were to contract with me, the power she would wield could let her become a goddess."

"I get that much. What's so bad about this Xulbey guy, then?" The name felt different, disturbingly so.

"That's the problem we're facing right now. If Madoka contracts through Xulbey, she will be open to his influence, and I can tell you right now that we don't want that."

Sayaka couldn't resist asking. "Why not?"

Mami raised her hand, for a brief moment looking positively grade school. "Xulbey isn't a normal Incubator. He's on the run from the rest of the Incubators. He defected from them, and he's looking for a way to fight back."

"Contracting Madoka Kaname would be the ultimate weapon against our people," Kyubey finally began moving again, looking toward the plate of fries and wagging his long, swirling tail. "She could kill anything with just a suggestion from Xulbey. You realize, I can't allow that."

Something didn't add up for Sayaka. "Fine, but why do you need me?" She folded her arms. "Just go contract Madoka first or whatever, and be done with it."

"I can't."

"Because..?"

"It's not safe."

This was going nowhere. "Why isn't it safe?"

"Because, Sayaka. Xulbey is sending his own Puella Magi here to capture Madoka Kaname."

That was a game-changer.

Sayaka sat up straight and brushed an offending blue lock from her eyes. "Capture her?"

Mami swallowed a mouthful of fries and wiped her hands on the paper napkins on her tray. "Kyubey doesn't know how many Puella Magi Xulbey has working for him, and I cannot protect Madoka alone. At least, I don't think I'd survive for too long if I tried." Again, the optimism was morbid rather than comforting.

"Then you just need to build up your ranks!" Sayaka leaned forward, forgetting about her lunch entirely. "Get more girls contracted and take this Xul-whoozits down! You just have to find—"

She had answered her own question.

A painful silence passed as Sayaka realized what they were getting at. Telling her about the Soul Gems, about the powers and responsibilities of the Puella Magi, about Incubators and Madoka's role in all of it wasn't just complimentary lunch conversation.

It was a mission briefing.

Sayaka looked at the blindly cheerful Mami and the unwavering Kyubey, knowing the question but uncertain of her answer.

"You're joking. You want me to—"

"That's right!" Kyubey leapt to less than an inch from her face and filled her mind with the command that would change her life.

"If we're going to protect the life of Madoka Kaname and the lives of everyone in this universe, I need you to contract with me and become a Puella Magi!"