I watched closely as the ward faded and the forms of Madoka, Miki, and Sakura reappeared. I frowned when I saw Miki toss the grief seed she had claimed to Sakura. From my experience so far, that could only lead to Miki falling into despair and becoming a witch. Knowing Madoka, she would try to change Miki back.
I suppressed a memory of Madoka's bisected body bleeding out as I knelt helplessly next to her. I had to act this time.
I transformed and leaped over to where Sakura was standing and turned to face Madoka and Miki. An ugly frown formed on Miki's face when she saw me, as I expected of her.
"What do you want?" She snarled at me, turning to face away from me and crossing her arms.
"Yeah, what're you doin' here?" Sakura said as she took a step away from me.
I considered my words. Neither of them were familiar with what happened when a soul gem was too tainted with despair, I knew as much from the other times. But they would doubt me if I tried to tell the whole truth. So I decided on a small lie.
"Sayaka Miki. You are aware that you must replenish your soul gem with grief seeds, are you not?"
Miki glared at me. "I'm not like you, alright? I'll fight to protect people, not for my own benefit."
I shook my head disapprovingly. "This isn't a matter of whether you're like me or not. If you don't maintain your soul gem properly, you will die. Unless you plan on protecting people from beyond the grave, you'll want to reconsider throwing away grief seeds on principle."
Miki's eyes widened a bit. Madoka turned to me and spoke in a low whisper. "Is… is that true? Will Sayaka die if her soul gem isn't purified?…"
I nodded. I saw Sakura cross her arms from the corner of my vision. "What made ya decide to tell us this now? You seem to know quite a few things we don't."
"I'm merely providing a warning in the hopes Miki will reconsider her stance on collecting grief seeds." I ran a hand through my hair. "What you do with that warning is up to you. I no longer consider myself responsible if you die from neglecting your soul gems."
Miki glared at me. A long silence passed. Then she turned to Sakura and held out a hand with her head lowered. Sakura handed over the grief seed and shot me a glare of her own. I turned away, forcing myself to not observe Madoka's reaction. My job here was done for the day.
