A point commission for LunastelTheDarkAngel on deviantart.
" . . . I know, Sayaka. It sucks to be alone, believe me, I know. But it's okay now, 'cause I'm here with you . . . Sayaka . . ."
Then came the eruption, something from the depths of a loving soul. It shattered, and hurried to embrace the dying spirit of a loved one.
And then, silence.
Nothing.
Nothing but an endless path of black. Nothing up, nothing down. Nothing to turn back to. And yet, though nothing could be seen along the path, Kyoko still walked.
She shivered. The cold pierced right through her; her body was dead, her soul gem shattered – but she lived on. Kyubey was wrong it seemed. The soul didn't just disappear. How could it, when something beckoned her onwards? She had no weapon but Kyoko braced herself; magic remained in her soul, it surrounded her with courage to strive forth. The fight wasn't over. Maybe it would never end - but that was okay. After all, she wasn't alone anymore.
Then came the song.
Kyoko froze. Such a sad song, it reached deep inside her, much deeper than the cold ever could. She began to run, faster towards that sweet, horrific song. Ave Maria. And amid that, water. Sorrow fell from above and into a tiny pond. Quite suddenly, Kyoko stopped. She knew that form, oh so well, sat upon the edge of destruction, weeping for the pain in her heart.
"S-Sayaka?"
A pause, the song and the tears continued on. Slowly, Kyoko pressed on, to the edge of the pool. Oh yes, no mistake. The crying girl's tears made the pond; just enough moisture to consume her mermaid's tail. She might have been human. Once. The tail changed that, and the shattered remains of hope that littered the space between them.
"How did you get here?" Sayaka's voice was sharper than any blade, and cut Kyoko's heart. She wouldn't turn her head; a short sheen of blue locks cut Sayaka from the abyss around her. The song played on.
"I . . . I don't know." Kyoko slid to the ground. She dipped her toes into the pond; they lingered beside Sayaka's long tail. "I did say I'd be here with you. So . . . here I am, I guess. Wherever 'here' is." Her head tipped back, up to the endless sea of blackness above. There were no stars. No light whatsoever. Only darkness existed.
"Don't you know? When you kill a witch, we don't just vanish. We return to the grief seed – a witch's soul gem." Sayaka lowered her head. Hair drooped either side of her ears and still her face was hidden. There was no power here; no labyrinth, no familiars to keep Sayaka company. There was only her despair; endless darkness, and the frail song that pierced her soul deeper with each note.
And now, there was Kyoko.
"Guess that makes sense. If I don't have my own soul gem I gotta hijack someone else's." Her teeth sank into an apple, sweet and delicious. A tiny drop of juice dripped down Kyoko's chin and fell to the pond. "Just like old times. You and me havin' a good old heart-to-heart. Some things never change, eh?" The apple was gone and Kyoko tossed the skeletal core into the darkness. It vanished, and she began a fresh one.
"You shouldn't be here. Your soul gem broke, you should be free. This place is my despair, it's my grave . . .Y-you shouldn't have to suffer t-too. . . ." Her fists tightened. Tears streamed and struck the pool, and Kyoko gasped. The pond was not a pond, she realise, but a pool of blood.
"Sayaka!" She lifted Sayaka's face, and all but screamed at what she saw. Each tear shed was a razor, and it cut Sayaka's face like a ripe fruit. She watered the ground below with the anguish of her wish, now come back to haunt her. "Sayaka, stop!" Kyoko pressed her fingers to the base of Sayaka's eyes. Tears fell still, but instead cut Kyoko. Her teeth ground together. Blood poured from her skin and with it, so much regret.
. . . They dead because of you, Kyoko.
Mommy . . . Daddy . . . Momo. . . All gone because of your wish . . .
Kyoko blinked. "W-who is that?!" she cried. No one answerd. Only the weeping Sayaka sat beside her, too lost within herself to speak.
Why don't you face it?
You're a monster, Kyoko.
Maybe it would be best for you to die .. .
That's right! The world doesn't need you . . .
It doesn't need your failed wish . . .
"SHUT UP!" And Kyoko lunged for the kill. One hand wrapped tight around Sayaka's throat. Her eyes widened. Her mouth opened to speak, and silence by Kyoko's striking hand.
"Don't listen to them, Sayaka! They're wrong, your wish wasn't wrong. I NEED YOU!"
Time stopped. On the black ground both girls froze, panting, gasping desperately for a grasp on the world.
For the first time since Kyoko had appeared, Sayaka's tears had ceased.
"Y-you listen to me, rookie," Kyoko spat through clenched teeth. "Your wish wasn't for nothing. It was a selfless gift, and if the stupid boy doesn't ever realise it, then he's a bigger idiot than you!" She paused. Her hand unwrapped from Sayaka throat and began to wipe the streaming blood from her face. "I . . . I'm sorry I couldn't save you from becoming a witch . . . B-but I'll keep my promise. See? You're not alone anymore! I'm here with you!"
Slowly, so slowly, Sayaka sat up. Blood streamed down her face still, much like tears. Her long tail stretched from the water and wrapped around Kyoko's waist. And there it held on, so very tight, Sayaka clung to the only source of warmth around her.
"Y-you'll really stay with me?" she whispered. "Y-you won't leave me all alone?"
Kyoko nodded, and pulled Sayaka into her embrace. "Never," she breathed. "I'll be right here with you Sayaka. No matter what."
And there they remained, souls mingled and grasping for precious warmth to one another. And this time, as Sayaka began to cry, her tears transformed into clefs. They hit the floor, and blossomed into apples.