Deals and Fairytales
A Puella Magi Madoka Magica Outsider's Tale
Disclaimer: I don't not own these characters, they are owned by Studio Shaft/Aniplex and ABC/Disney for Madoka Magica and Once Upon a Time respectively. This story is meant for non-profit enjoyment only.
Chapter 1: A Simple Deal
The skies were an angry grey and black. Lightning struck at random places and thunder boomed across the devastated city. The once beautiful metropolis was now a twisted wreck: Buildings had been torn apart, the asphault had been torn apart as pieces of the Earth had been heaved skyward, cars were strewn about, water gushed out of breaks in the city's water main, everywhere the heavy scent of ozone wafted about. To any normal human it would look like a massive natural disaster. The girl standing in the middle of this maelstrom was not normal however. Clad in purples, whites, greys, and blacks the girl stood defiant against the true cause of the calamity ravaging the city, the gigantic monster hovering overhead. Its horrible red grin mocked the girl who unleashed everything she could on it. Gun fire and explosions were everywhere filling the area with an acrid smoke that stung the eyes. Yet despite the impressive display the monster remained, its very existence some kind of sick joke on the girl struggling desperately to defeat it. She pushed herself as hard as possible her one thought reverberating through her mind. 'Why? Damn it, why can't I beat you!?'
Then one of the creature's attacks found its mark and the girl was slammed down into the darkness below...
The hospital reeked of antiseptic and other medicines, it's hallways scrubbed down in the usual clinical manner. Occasionally, a gurney or crash cart could be found and various hospital staff and patients wandered to and fro going about their day to day lives. Sometimes the smells of blood, vomit, or urine would be wafting around ready to give the unweary an unpleasant surprise. In short, it was your average, everyday hospital.
None of it mattered though to the little girl running down the hall away from her mother's room. Nagisa Momoe's thoughts were too fixated to notice anything but what had been revealed to her by the doctor looking after her mother. As she raced down the hall, tears streaming from her eyes, the patients and staff gave her a wide berth. The doctor had said her mother had a couple of weeks at most to live, likely less. The cancer had slowly eaten away at her strength until she could barely sit up in bed. Her voice couldn't raise above a whisper and it was a small miracle that she could still eat at all. Nagisa had spent most of the last week in that hospital room watching as doctors had poked and prodded her mother, taking various blood samples and changing out the various IV bags attached to her arms. Up until the doctor had voiced his diagnosis Nagisa had held out hope that maybe, just maybe she could be cured, that somehow the chemotherapy would destroy the insidious disease ravaging her body. Now with that final pronouncement uttered it was all Nagisa could do to keep from screaming at whatever god ruled the universe to grant her mother mercy. All her young mind wanted now was to find some quiet place where she could think and ... try to deal with what she knew.
Eventually winded from her running and crying, Nagisa turned down an empty hall and ducked into a vacant patient room. The sun had begun to set casting the room into hues of oranges and reds. On any other day Nagisa would have found it beautiful, but today she barely took notice of it. Mentally exhausted, she crawled into one of the stiff chairs next to the hospital bed and continued to sob. It was as she contemplated the unfairness of the world that something ... odd happened. Some small animal had just nonchalantly padded its way into the room.
Nagisa stopped crying at the sight, bewildered by what she was seeing. First she squinted, then she rubbed her eyes just to make sure she hadn't imagined the sight. The creature looked similar to a fluffy tailed cat but its ears were some odd mix of rabbit and cat with rings somehow hovering around them. It had various red markings and a red circle on its back. It turned and looked at her with beady, red eyes, its lips curved into some facsimile of a smile. Nagisa found it to be quite cute.
"What... are you?" Nagisa asked, curiousity overriding her sadness for the moment.
The creature titled its head slightly, its expression never changing. Yet what happened next caused Nagisa's eyes to widen in shock. A soft voice seemed to come out of nowhere and into her head. 'Oh, you can see me, that's one of the traits necessary to become a magical girl!'
"A magical... girl?" Nagisa moved out of the chair to study the creature more closely. "You mean like, in an anime?"
'Yes!' The creature chirped into her mind. 'My name is Kyubey! I am the one who finds and contracts with those with the potential to become magical girls. I'd like to ask you a favor and contract with me. If you make a contract with me and become a magical girl to help fight the witches, I will grant you a single wish! What is your name?'
Nagisa's eyes widened again, this time in delight. "Nagisa! What kind of wish?"
'What would make you happy?' Kyubey asked.
The first thought that sprang to Nagisa's mind was to cure her mother. She opened her mouth to voice this desire but closed it almost immediately, her brow furrowed in thought. The doctor had said her mother's cancer was terminal, that there was no cure. Did that mean that Kyubey couldn't save her either? She wanted her mother better but... it seemed like something very big to wish for. She closed her eyes and began to think hard about what made her happy. Sweets was the first thing that came to her mind. Nagisa loved all kinds of sweets from chocolate to caramel, marshmellows to hard sugary treats. But there was one thing that had stood out among all the rest: her mother's cheesecake. Her mother made the best cheesecake in the world in Nagisa's opinion and she had spent many happy days with her mother eating slice after slice of the delectable treat. The thought alone caused her mouth to water, and if her mother was going to die then Nagisa would just like to share one last cheesecake with her.
"Could I wish for a cheesecake to share with my mother before she dies?" Nagisa looked at Kyubey imploringly.
'Certainly!' At this Nagisa's mouth broke into a huge smile. 'If you agree to become a magical girl and fight the witches, I will grant your wish.'
Nagisa opened her mouth and was about to agree when another voice came from the darkened far corner of the room. For some reason the voice sent a chill down Nagisa's spine, like she had had a bucket of ice water dumped on her. It seemed somewhat jolly, but there was also a sense of wrongness about it. "That sounds like a waste of wish to me, dearie!"
The voice followed with a cackle that made Nagisa shudder. She and Kyubey turned to look in the direction of the voice. Though she could have sworn there had been no one in the room besides her and Kyubey prior to this there was a man sitting in a chair in the shadows cast by the fading sun. The man stood up and walked into the light as Nagisa promptly fell on her butt and scuttled backward until she felt hard wall at her back. The man, if it could be called a man was dressed head to toe in odd leathers with his vest appearing to be from some kind of reptile but that wasn't what had disturbed Nagisa the most, it was everything else. The skin on his hands had a golden, scaly appearance with his fingernails seeming so dirty as to be black. The scaly skin continued up to his face and when he smiled seemingly relishing her reaction, she could see yellowed, rotten teeth. His hair was a stringy, unkempt brown that only seemed to accentuate the terror that was coursing through the cowering child. The worst part though was his eyes, their golden irises bored into the girl with a kind of sadistic amusment at the fear that was plainly on her face. Nagisa decided he looked like some kind of grotesque crocodile leering at her as if she were to be its next meal.
"W-W-W-What are you!?" Nagisa barely managed to squeek out as she attempted to huddle further against the wall.
"How rude! I am not a what, I'm a who." The man spread his arms in an elaborate bow. "Rumplestiltskin, at your service!"
"L-Like the fairy tale?" Nagisa's voice was barely above a whisper.
Rumplestiltskin's mouth cracked into a twisted smile and he let out an evil chuckle that made Nagisa flinch. "If you like."
Nagisa's eyes widened in horror. Her mother had read her fairy tales many times when she was younger. Some of them had been comforting and some, like Rumplestiltskin's, had actually disturbed her. That some kind of fairy could come up and demand someone's firstborn child with the intent of taking it away to who knows where had frightened her and left her sleepless one night long ago. The thought of being dragged away from her mother crashed through Nagisa's mind screaming at her to run away. She looked at the door for a moment trying to decide if she could make it. She realized vaguely that something was wrong though. She focused for a moment and realized what it was: There was a man standing in the tiny part of the hallway she could see if she strained her neck forward a little. The problem was that the man wasn't moving at all, not even breathing. It was as if he had been frozen in place somehow. Then she saw how close Rumplestiltskin had come and realized he'd simply grab her if she tried to run. Instead she looked up at the imp in front of her and mewled pitifully. "You, you want to take me away from mama don't you?"
Rumplestiltskin's voice became somewhat less disturbing, more somber than anything. Nagisa wasn't sure but for a brief moment she thought there was a haunted look in his eyes. Her heart stopped beating as fast and she relaxed a bit, though not by much. "No, no dearie. I'm here to help you. Speaking of which, why would you wish for a cake you could simply buy from a market? As I said before, that sounds like a wasted wish."
"I-I just want to share some of mama's cheesecake with her before she..." Nagisa looked down as tears began to well up in her eyes. She quickly tried to brush them away to no avail.
"Before she...?" Rumplestiltskin prodded.
"Before she dies!" And Nagisa broke into more sobs.
"Oh dear, oh dearie dearie dear." Rumplestiltskin cracked another twisted smile. "Why not ask for your mother to be healed then?"
"Is that even possible?" Nagisa was staring up at Rumplestiltskin, her eyes big as saucers. Kyubey meanwhile twitched its head left, then right, shook its head several times, and finally stared up at Rumplestiltskin though its expression never changed the whole time.
"Well I don't know what this creature can do, but with the proper magic nearly anything is possible! What you need is an elixir, one that can cure any ailment, like this!" Rumplestiltskin knelt down close to the girl and gestured with his hand. A puff of black smoke appeared over it and within a couple of seconds cleared to reveal he was holding a small vial containing a glowing red liquid. "All she need do is drink this and any disease she has will disappear as if it had never existed."
Nagisa hesitated. This guy was like every one of those "Stay away from strangers" PSAs all rolled in one. He was all around foul even if what he said about the vial was true. The last thing she wanted was to accept anything from this man and yet she thought back to how the doctors said her mother couldn't be cured. She still wasn't sure if Kyubey could do the same. The creature that had been perfectly talkative before was now curiously silent. She couldn't lose her mother. If this could save her ... Slowly she reached out toward the vial only for Rumplestiltskin to cackle and stand up quickly keeping it out of her reach. Nagisa looked up at him again silently pleading.
"Now, now dearie that's not how this works!" Rumplestiltskin held out his hands in front of him with the thumb and forefinger in a square pattern. "All magic comes with a price! If you want this medicine you'll have to agree to a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Nagisa's imagination was running wild trying to think of all the terrible things the evil imp in front of her might ask her to do.
"Nothing much dearie and certainly a pittance compared to what that creature would require of you." At this he glared down at Kyubey for a moment before fixing his stare once again squarely on Nagisa. "I need to you to deliver something for me."
"Deliver what to who?" The little girl watched as the imp gave a quick wave of his free hand. Once again a puff of black smoke appeared and quickly disappeared replacing the vial of red liquid with another vial. This one however held what looked like a brackish type of water. Nagisa immediately had the uncomfortable feeling that it smelled bad and what it did to you was far worse. She felt nauseous just looking at it.
"There is a young man on the floor above you. I believe his name is Kamijou Kyosuke as you people seem to put it in this part of your world." At this the appropriate symbols for the name appeared glowing in the air in front of Nagisa then disappeared. Yet they seemed to stay in her mind and came back to her with perfect clarity when she thought about them. "I want you to take this to his room. Mix it in his water, his tea, whatever will do. Make sure he drinks it, then return to me."
Nagisa's mouth droppped open. "You want me to poison him!?"
"No, no dearie. This is no poison." Rumplestiltskin flashed a thin smile. "It's just to improve his mood."
"I don't believe you." Nagisa began to shrink away against the wall again.
"Whether you believe me or not isn't the point dearie. The point is that you don't have much of a choice if you want to save your mother. You know I'm telling you the truth about this medicine and it's not as if this little thing has given you any other options."
Nagisa sighed. She knew the imp was right. She hated herself for doing this, but she was desperate to save her mother even more. "Alright, I'll do it."
Rumplestiltskin cackled madly and handed her the murky vial. Nagisa turned to run out of the room but before she could dash off to fulfill the distasteful deal she had just made, he placed a hand on her arm turned her toward him again. "Now, now dearie don't leave just yet. I don't expect you to do this without some help." He waved his hand over her body which began to emit a slight greenish glow that seemed strongest on her chest where her heart was. She winced as this happened as it felt as if a thousand little needles had suddenly pricked into her heart for a few seconds and then quickly withdrawn.
"This spell will keep people from noticing you and getting in your way so long as you don't draw attention to yourself. Now hurry along you have an hour at most before the enchantment wears off." With that, Nagisa tore out of the room Kyubey following after her. By now night had fallen and the only light in the hallway was that supplied by the hospital's overhead flourescents. As she left the room she noticed that people were moving once again. Nagisa darted toward the stairs her mind awash in a mix of fear, disgust, and determination. Fear and disgust over what she was setting out to do and determination to see the deed through for her mother's sake. As she moved toward her destination the few people she met seemed to subconsciously move out of her way. At least Rumplestiltskin hadn't lied about the spell he cast. She round the stairs to the next floor and as she reached the top Kyubey's voice entered her mind once again.
'Nagisa, you don't have to do this. I can grant your wish to heal your mother.' Nagisa turned to look at the little cat creature with shock and anger and was about yell at him when Kyubey spoke into her mind again. 'You just need to think what you want to say. Talking here wouldn't be advisable. In that room over there.'
Kyubey and Nagisa ducked into the empty, darkened room. 'Why didn't you say anything!?' Nagisa thought angrily.
'I tried. He was able to block my thoughts from reaching you somehow. You don't want to do what he asked do you?'
'It ... it doesn't seem right.' Nagisa couldn't help but think about what the potion in her hand would do to the boy she was supposed to feed it to. Her mind and heart kept telling her over and over that we she'd agreed to was wrong.
'Then make a contract with me and become a magical girl Nagisa. Your wish to cure your mother will be granted and you won't have to do as he asked.'
Nagisa needed to think about it for only a moment. "Ok. Kyubey, heal my mama and make me a magical girl."
Soundlessly, Kyubey floated in the air in front of Nagisa and glowed softly. He moved his ears toward her heart and Nagisa began to feel a strange suction occurring ... and then there was a flash of green light and a mental cry of shock from the little creature as Kyubey was thrown across the room and smashed into a defibrillation machine next to the bed. Nagisa stifled a scream and darted out of the room to duck around the stairwell right before several orderlies ran in to see what the commotion was about. Slowly, she climbed back up the stairs and back up into the hallway. When she glanced at a metal tray someone had placed on a lowered gurney she had to clamp her mouth shut with her hand as her reflection turned into Rumplestiltskin with a snarl on his scaly face. His mocking voice invaded her head. 'Didn't your mother ever teach you it's not wise to break your word? No matter, you have no other choice now so I'll give you one last chance dearie. Now go on, you have a job to do. And if you think to break our deal again you won't like what happens next.'
That last sentence had been delivered with a deadly edge that sent a wave of terror through the child. Slowly she crept down the halls looking for the right room. Eventually she found it and looked in. Lying in the bed was a young man with light blonde hair staring out the window. Nagisa spied a nearly empty water glass with some pills next to it on a tray to the side of his bed. Silently she crept into the room and approached the glass. Slowly she opened the vial and moved to pour its contents into the glass only for her hand to stop at the last second.
'Can I really do this?' Nagisa thought. Whatever Rumplestiltskin had planned for this young man it obviously wasn't good and now he was forcing her to help with whatever that plan was. But if she didn't there was no telling what he would do to her or possibly her mother. She knew deep in her heart that Rumplestiltskin's threat was very real. Did Nagisa really have a choice? After a few seconds she shut her eyes, whispered a silent "I'm sorry" and poured the contents of the vial into the glass. They swirled around in the glass growing slightly darker for a moment before becoming completely clear. Nagisa tiptoed out of the room and watched out from the corner of the door.
After maybe a minute or two the boy sighed, turned around, and looked down at the pills. His face was haggard, possibly from stress and he had a glazed look in his eye. He looked like someone who had lost all hope Nagisa realized. She had seen that look before, from her mother. He reached out his right hand and popped the pills in his mouth then reached for the glass. Nagisa almost cried out to him at that point but thought better of it. He downed the glass then layed down on his pillow and fell asleep. Nagisa snuck away feeling more wretched with each footstep she took.
Nagisa slowly made her way down the stairs. She was mentally exhausted and barely managed to shuffle along back to the room where this whole mess had all started. What had she just done? She was sure that boy would go through something horrible now and it was all her fault. The hallway was deserted but as she moved to enter the room a giant plume of black smoke appeared out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see Rumplestiltskin standing there with a smug smirk on his scaly, golden face. "You did well Nagisa."
"How do you know my name? I never told you."
"You remember the fairy tale don't you? Names are a stock and trade of mine."
Nagisa was shaking now. Utter terror was coming off of her in waves and her heart was beating so hard she could felt the vibrations pass through her entire body. From the twisted little smile on his face, Rumplestiltskin was well aware of her condition and relished it. "You're the Devil aren't you?"
Rumplestiltskin let out a short laugh that made Nagisa cringe. "I've been called many things dearie, but I think you'll find that creature you wanted to give up your soul to for a wish fits that name far better."
"It didn't want my soul!" Nagisa was outraged at the accusation.
Rumplestiltskin leaned down so close to his Nagisa that his face was mere inches from hers. His golden eyes drilled into hers. She tried not to cry out and run away. "So you think, dearie, so... you... think. In any event you fulfilled your end of our bargain and now it's my turn. Rumplestiltskin never breaks a deal."
He placed the vial of red liquid in her hands. "Be careful with that dearie oh and congratulations on saving your mother!" He then disappeared in another large plume of black smoke.
Nagisa trundled back to her mother's room, careful not to drop the life saving elixir she had paid such a high price for. When she reached the room she shook her mother asleep. "Mama! Mama! Wake up!"
Her mother slowly opened her eyes. "Na..gi..sa?"
"Mama I have something for you. Drink this!" Nagisa carefully helped her mother slide the contents of the vial into her mouth. Once she had swallowed the concoction, Nagisa hugged her mother tight and started to cry. "I'm sorry mama! I'm so, so sorry!"
"For what?" Her mother weakly put her arm around her beloved daughter but Nagisa simply sobbed into her hospital gown until she passed out.
A week later it would be declared a miracle. The doctor's had held her mother to conduct a battery of tests just to be sure. Nagisa's mother was completely healthy just as Rumplestiltskin had promised. But Nagisa couldn't bring herself to feel happy about it. She had tried to tell her mother what happened but her mother had simply written it off as a bad dream. She had been so delirious that night that she didn't even remember the red potion Nagisa had given to her. One day Nagisa found the book of fairy tales her mother had read to her from so many years ago. She picked it up and flipped to the story of Rumplestiltskin and stared at the picture at the beginning of the tale: A dwarf appearing before the would be princess in her tower prison. With a disgusted shudder she threw the book in the trash, climbed onto her bed, and began to cry.
Kyubey stood outside the hospital silently staring at the building and contemplating what had just happened. After the failed attempt to contract Nagisa Momoe the hive mind that made up the consciousness of the Incubator race had decided that withdrawal was the best course of action. The creature calling itself Rumplestiltskin had proved far more powerful and meddlesome then they had initially thought possible. That it could outright stop the contracting process itself was unprecedented. Once a girl agreed there should have been nothing that could prevent the soul from being extracted and the body augmented. Kyubey couldn't understand how this being so similar and yet so different from an old child's fairy tale could show up and prove to be such a problem. Prior to this Kyubey had been relatively certain that the fairy tale in question was created either by a magical girl or some failed contractee as a warning to future generations to avoid making deals with strange beings so as to thwart the Incubators' contracting efforts. Now it wasn't so sure.
Kyubey didn't bother to turn around upon hearing and feeling the woosh of the black smoke plume that presaged the creature's arrival. "You didn't think I would leave my little helper unprotected, did you? I trust the point has been made as to who is in control here."
The tone of the creature's voice was meant to frighten its recipient into a cowed position but this didn't bother Kyubey at all. Intimidation tactics were useless against the Incubators seeing as they had no emotions and thus no capacity for fear. He finally turned around to face the creature and sent out a simple question telepathically. 'I can't understand your behavior. Why did you interfere? And how were you able to?'
"I used magic of course. But then despite that offer you made you really don't know all that much about that do you? You're really more of an ignorant little thing stumbling around in the dark when it comes to proper magic." Rumplestiltskin was glaring down at the Incubator with unmasked hatred. Kyubey just continued staring at him with its unchanging expression. "And as to why perhaps I disagree with your methods. Really dearie I am impressed. Ripping out a child's soul and condemning them to a fate worse than death? There are few things in this and the many worlds I've been to that could disturb the Dark One yet you managed to succeed admirably."
Kyubey cocked its head to one side regarding the creature nonchalantly. 'I doubt that's true. You don't appear to be the type to care about what happens to any being save yourself.'
Rumplestiltskin merely sneered at the Incubator's casual response. "True enough."
'Then why pursue such an illogical action?'
"Oh it's not illogical at all dearie. It's merely a demonstration." The creature was now pointing at the Incubator.
'A demonstration of what?' Kyubey was still trying to figure out this creature's motives but try as it might it couldn't find a good reason for it to waste so much time and energy just to prevent a simple contract. What did the creature hope to gain?
"A demonstration of my power. To show how little you can do to stop me." The creature's voice was low and Kyubey could tell it was trying to be threatening again.
Kyubey wobbled back and forth. 'I doubt you know what we are capable of. Our actions are necessary to ensure the continued existence of this universe and will continue. As long as you cease interfering in our energy collection plans we will not take hostile action against you.'
"And I would say you underestimate what I am capable of doing to you should I see fit! Oh don't get me wrong dearie I'd love to see you try, it would be most amusing! But as it stands it benefits me for you continue your energy collection plans."
Kyubey had determined that engaging in the creature's pointless mind games were an inefficient use of its time and so went straight to the point. 'What are your intentions?'
"Those are mine to know, and shall remain mine alone."
'Then further communication is not necessary.'
"Indeed." And with that Rumplestiltskin disappeared in another plume of black smoke.
Kyubey turned and walked into the night. So the creature was from another dimension then? The Incubators had little knowledge nor desire to attain thereof when it came to alternate realities. At least until now. This Rumplestiltskin was shaping up to be a major problem. Certainly if he interfered in the usual collection duties he would affect the timetable very little, unfortunately there was a still a potential breaking point that could throw the entire plan into disarray. The Incubators had recently discovered a girl whose potency was beyond anything they had seen before though Kyubey had failed to figure out why. Once she was contracted and harvested their quota of emotional energy would be more than reached and they could finally leave the primitive Earth with its human cattle. Certainly the human race, indeed all life on Earth would die or worse, but what was one planet compared to the rest of the universe? The time to make contact with her and begin the contracting process was fast drawing near.
The problem lay in the possibility that Rumplestiltskin could interfere in the contracting of this Madoka Kaname. The hive mind felt it very likely that the creature would intercede in their attempts to contract the girl though why was still beyond it. Madoka was too valuable an asset to simply let go and so Kyubey would be focusing on her primarily from now on. If the creature placed itself between the Incubators and their asset it would be dealt with, it was as simple as that. The question was how? The hive mind continued to ponder the solution to this problem as the Incubator prepared to make its usual rounds.
In the hospital a young girl slept fitfully. Her mind was plagued by a nightmare of another time, another place. A horrible destiny that needed to be averted and yet wasn't. There was terrible pain and sadness as well as incredible loneliness. There was determination and sacrifice. And monsters, many terrible monsters. There was an overwhelming sense of despair over everything. As the girl slept questions formed in her mind. Where was this? What was actually happening? Why was she seeing all of this? The girl didn't know it but come the morning there would be no questions, only a mission, yet she would never be the same person ever again...
Author's Note: Well here we are at the end of my first official fanfic and the first in the Outsider's Tales series I plan to do for Puella Magi Madoka Magica. The concept for the Outsider's Tales series is fairly simple and based on two major goals. The first is to have an outsider be it a character(s) from another series, an original character, or some major shift in the usual canon occur and see what happens. The second and more personal goal is to use these tales to explore how the major characters in the PMMM world operate. What are their major themes and how do they tie into the story being told?
The first of these stories focuses around Rumplestiltskin from the Once Upon a Time series. For those not familiar it is a successful fantasy series on ABC that deals with a fractured fairytale premise based mostly in the "real" world. Rumplestiltskin is one of the primary antagonists of the series being a stand in both for the Devil and the Beast from the Beauty and the Beast story. He's an incredibly evil and cunning force that focuses on making deals that almost always end badly for those he deals with. He's not generally a soul stealer unlike Kyubey, but he doesn't have to be to be one of the nastiest pact makers in recent television history. Finally unlike the characters in PMMM Rumple is perfectly capable of wreaking havoc on the Incubators as you see in this and later chapters. They don't really have a good way of dealing with him given there's only one way to kill him and that just spawns a different Dark One, most likely one with a personal vendetta against the Incubators. The Incubators are in a position of vulnerability that they usually don't experience in most of the PMMM media.
Speaking of the comparisons and contrasts between Rumple and Kyubey, that was one of the things that really motivated me to write this chapter. I liked the idea of comparing these two antagonistic sources of evil. Yes I said sources of evil. One of the major philosophical questions among the PMMM fanbase is whether the Incubators are evil to which I emphatically reply yes, yes they are. To me evil is knowingly inflicting pain and suffering on others either for amusement or in the pursuit of a selfish interest and based on this definition at least the Incubators are definitely evil. They knowingly hide information about how magical girls work in order to sucker girls into accepting the contract to turn them into twisted abominations and reap emotional energy from them. That the Incubators have no emotions does not excuse this nor does the idea that they are trying to save the universe (Which is BS anyway if you understand how long universal heat death would take). They don't care what happens to the girls or humans in general, their's is a completely selfish goal regardless of who else may coincidentally benefit from it. Their lack of emotions however puts them in the unique category of indifferent evil. They aren't the type to commit evil acts out of sadism or malice but rather through efficiency and have a viewpoint that only logic, not compassion, pity, or empathy can effect. It is also a type of evil that most human beings cannot fully understand simply because we all have and are affected by emotions to varying degrees.
Rumplestiltskin by contrast is the usual, more knowable twisted, sadistic evil that we see in so many villians across all forms of media. He wears his evil on his sleeve so to speak (at least at this point in the OUaT canon) unlike the Incubators who hide behind the mask of "ye cute mahou shoujo mascot". He revels in the chaos he causes but when we look deep inside his psyche we can understand his motivations twisted as many of them may be. It also presents an option for him in the form of redemption. This story takes place before he's met Belle and so the humanity laying dormant in him hasn't been brought out in the slightest. This is the Dark One at his most unfettered and frightening yet beneath all that there is a human that can potentially be brought back from the darkness. That can't be said of the Incubators. You can't really "save" what you can't understand.
Now the second motivation for this chapter centers around Nagisa, our POV character for most of the chapter and the girl who would eventually become the witch Charlotte in the series. I loved the idea of figuring out how this naive grade schooler would react to the obvious evil that is Rumplestiltskin. Coming up with unique ways to describe what was going through the little girl's mind as she's having to deal with the consequences of meeting and bargaining with both Rumple and Kyubey was a fun challenge. I also liked the idea of delving into a bit of PMMM lore that's generally mentioned in passing with the exception of the Rebellion movie. Of course here Nagisa can't become Charlotte thanks to Rumple's interference but that doesn't mean she gets off scot free. All magic comes with a price as Rumple is fond of saying and Nagisa's price for saving her mother is her childhood innocence. She's been exposed to and forced to help true evil and that will haunt her the rest of her life. Now as to why Rumple would help Nagisa aside from setting up his own plan those who know the character will recall he has this thing about children being torn unwillingly from their parents. He's more than willing to take advantage of such a situation or even to manufacture one in the short term for his own benefit but generally speaking when the goal is to reunite a parent and child or in this case to prevent a child from being taken he's usually willing to be fairly lax when it comes to his price. Doesn't stop him from being a right bastard though. Oh and if you were wondering that little trick Rumple pulled to prevent Kyubey from contracting with Nagisa is basically a version of the protection spell meant to keep a person from being able to rip out your heart. You'll see more comparisons to the contracting process and the heart ripping thing in the future.
Now as a matter of course I usually like to listen to music when writing out these things. For this chapter the breakout piece is "Dealing with Rumplestiltskin" from the Once Upon a Time soundtrack. You can find it on Itunes.
The only problem with this chapter is that it is a villain establishment chapter and has nothing to do with the PMMM character study the rest of story will have a focus on: Homura Akemi. That will start in the next chapter: The Girl and the Wish Across Time. Hopefully I'll get it done quickly. Until then feel free to rate, like, comment etc. This is my first official fanfic and I'm pretty sure I did some of the characters a disservice somewhere along the line.
Update: I added some things here and there and changed the conversation between Kyubey and Rumplestiltskin to be more in line with how they act in later chapters. When I first wrote this I struggled with that first exchange and now it flows better. I'm looking at the other chapters for revisions too. In particular chapter 2 is going to get more fleshing out, hopefully I have that done soon. This is still a short chapter though so as to get people into the meat of the story and character study.