Lunch time at St. Hallvard High School.
"Would you mind if Chan-chan and me sat here?" Rain asked as she led her girlfriend, Chanel, to a table in the cafeteria. "Mary? Em?"
"Oh, please." Maria answered with a knowing smile. "As the only other openly lesbian couple in the school, we won't have many friends if we turn you down, right, Em?"
"Um, yeah." Emily nodded, a bit awkwardly.
"Lesbian-ish." Chanel said as she sat down beside Rain. "I'm asexual, so I'm only lesbian-ish."
"God, how long have you waited to say that, Chan-chan?" Rain laughed and mock punched her girlfriend on the shoulder.
The four exchanged pleasantries and chit chat over lunch, and it was when the break is almost over that Rain popped the question:
"So listen, Chan-chan am I are planning to go on a date after school." she said, "Do you gals wanna come along and make it a double date?"
"Oh, we would love to!" Maria began, but then Emily pulled at her sleeve, and the two exchanged a look before Maria changed her tune: "...But we probably can't. We have, ah, extracurricular to do?"
"Really?" Rain blinked, as she wasn't aware of either of them being in a club or on a team, but she didn't pry. "Well, it's a shame, but I guess maybe next time?"
"Yeah, next time."
Rain and Chanel waved Maria and Emily goodbye as they went to make out a little before the next class, and that's when Emily finally spoke up for real: "We really need to go and find the Philosopher." she took out her Soul Gem, which was almost half-dark. "Or at least hunt some Witches."
"I know, I know." Maria sighed and spread her hands dramatically. "I guess a relaxed lifestyle is too much to ask for a lesbian magical girl." she stood up from her seat and offered her hand to Emily. "God, being a Magical Girl is suffering." she said in jest, not knowing how right she was.
"A gay correction camp?" Maria gasped when her very Christian parents came up with the very brilliant idea about what to do to "cure" their daughter's sexuality. "Hell does that even mean?"
"Maria, language!" her Mother chided, but her Father was more focused on the matter at hand.
"Exactly what it sounds like, Maria." her Father said sternly. "You just go there over the summer, and they promise to fix you like new."
"Why don't you just get it, Dad?" Maria clutched her hands into fists in frustration, her fingernails digging into her palm. "There's nothing to fix! There's nothing wrong with me!"
"Nonsense!" her Mother interjected. "All you need is the touch of a proper man!"
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Maria demanded. "Because that sounds an awful lot like rape to me."
"That's not what I - " her Mother tried to explain, but her Father cut her off: "Well, if that's what it takes, then maybe - "
Silence. Beat. Silence. Beat. Silence. Beat.
"Kyubey," Maria muttered darkly, "Are you there?"
"Maria?" her Mother asked in a worried voice. "Who are you talking to?"
"I am always here, Maria Stonewell." the small cat...mouse...thingy said. "Are you ready to make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl?"
"I knew it!" her Father exclaimed, in an almost triumphant tone. "She's possessed!"
"Yes." Maria growled, and a new Magical Girl was born.
After school.
"So, why are we looking for this Philosopher gal, again?" Maria asked and glanced sideways at Kyubey, her Soul Gem in her hand.
"She's what you would call a dark magical girl." Kyubey explained. "She works with a Messenger of Magic that has gone rogue."
"So is she, like, evil?" Emily asked, a bit uncertainly.
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
"Okay, but how do we find her?" Maria pressed on. "Last time I check, there isn't any social groups for Magical Girls on FaceSpace."
"Same way you find any other Magical girl:" Kyubey answered: "You find the Witches they fight."
"But if she actually has the Philosopher's Stone, then she wouldn't ever run out of magic?" Emily pointed out. "And if she's evil, she wouldn't be fighting Witches out of the good of her heart?"
"Well, that's - " Kyubey was just about to try and answer that, when Maria silenced them both with a gesture. "I think I got something here!"
Indeed, her Soul Gem was glowing brighter than usual: the indication that there's a Witch nearby.
"Save the questions for later." Maria said as she put her Soul Gem away. "For now, we fight."
She has a horned helmet on her head and black wings on the back of her dress. Her eyes were sharp and red, and her body was clad in black. A fallen angel of death and vengeance upon this sinful earth. Before her was two pillars made of salt, their humanoid shape only vaguely apparent, and their features difficult to discern.
"What - " Maria blinked as she stared in horror at the scene before her. "What have you done?"
"I have done nothing but granting your wish, Maria Stonewell." Kyubey said. "You wished for a biblical punishment upon your family; I'm taken to think that this is very biblical."
"You little piece of - " Maria growled and was about to strangle the little lying bastard, before something more important occurred to her: "Oh my god, Rudy!"
"Rudy, are you okay?" she almost screamed into the door as she pushed into her brother's room and found -
Rudy Stonewell, her brother and fellow homosexual, was similarly turned into a pillar of salt, only smaller in size.
"What have you done?" Maria cried out the words as she grabbed what passes for a neck on the small white creature. "I asked for punishment on my family!"
"Your brother is your family, though." Kyubey pointed out. "Is he not?"
Maria paused, let go, and stared into the abyss.
"I see." she said after a long moment of silence. "You're right, of course."
She stepped forward to gently caress the salty remain of her dear brother.
"This is, indeed, biblical." she said softly, almost like praying. "You're just like God - fucking people over because of the smallest of sins or mistakes."
"So what do you want from me?" she asked.
"What is this place…?" Fara blinked as she looked around her, taking in the surreal landscape. Black branches were all around her, sometimes getting as thick as an adult's arm, cutting off any semblance of an exits with their thorns. "How did I get here…?" she held her head as she tried her best to remember: one moment, she was still shopping in the mall, and the next…
"What the…?" she flinched and took a step backward when an apple the size of a young child dropped in front of her, split into two, and revealed the two infants inside, both made of wood. The two babies made an eerily high-pitched noise that was the deranged bastard child between a sob and a scream, before they began advancing toward Fara, in small but sured steps.
"Get - get away from me!" Aunt Fara screamed and looked around her for anything that can be used as an improvised weapons against these freaks of nature, but found none. Just before the wooden fetus could drove her back against the thorn with its outstretched arms, however, a thin sword looking more like a cross than a weapon struck the monster baby and turned it into...salt?
"Aunt Fara?" a familiar voice came from above, and Fara looked up to find Emily and Maria, two friends of Rain's who had visited the house more than a few times. Both of them were wearing strange costumes resembling those cosplays one would see at an anime convention, except the quality was amazing. That, and the fact that both of them were floating in the sky without support.
"Are you okay?" Emily asked as she landed beside Fara. She was dressing like a fairy straight out of Disneyland, all pink and gold and glittering, with a pair of golden butterfly wings upon a little pink dress. Surrounding her was small butterfly shapes made of orange flames, which further gave her appearance a dreamy and otherworldly feeling. Still, Fara knows these two and knew them to be good kids, so their presence and apparent calmness in the face of all the craziness around them helped to anchor Fara in a semblance of sanity.
"Yeah, I'm alright, all things considered." Fara nodded and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "But can anyone please explain the situation to me? Where is this place?"
"Well, that's - " Maria began, but then something else caught her attention and cut her off mid-sentence. "- Watch out!"
"This is nice." Chanel giggled as she walked through the park with Rain, their fingers locked together. As the Sun went down and the time drew near to supper, people began to depart the trees and the benches for diners or their home, making the park a perfect place for making out or more private conversations.
"It is." Rain nodded in agreement, but her expression seemed somber. "Look, Chan-chan, there is something I have to tell you..."
"What?" Chanel cocked her head like an adorable little birdy. "Is this about you being trans, again? I already said I don't mind; you're a girl to me."
"No, that's not it." Rain shook her head. "I'm no longer trans, anyways."
"Huh?" Chanel blinked her large, soulful eyes. After all, hearing someone saying "I'm no longer trans", is on the same order of hearing someone saying "my missing limb grew itself back".
"It's complicated." Rain sighed. "But look, that's not really what I meant to -"
"Rain!" just then, Hachiko appeared before the two girls. "There's a Wtch nearby!"
"What - what is that ridiculously adorable critter?!" even in her surprise, Chanel somehow was still able to point out how cute Hachiko looked. "And how come he can talk?!"
"Well, I'm sure one of the other girls can take care of the Witch." Rain said with a dismissive wave, but then: "Wait a minute, Chan-chan?! You can see Hachiko?!"
"Shouldn't I be?!"
"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear." Hachiko urged. "There's a Witch nearby, and Fara is caught in its Barrier!"
"WHAT?!" Rain's shout made Chanel cover her ears with her hands. "You should have led with that!"
"Rain, what is this I don't even - " Chanel was still trying to make sense of the situation, but all she got was an apologetic smile from Rain:
"Sorry, sweetheart. I don't really have time to explain." Rain took her Soul Gem out of her pocket, which burned brightly with a scarlet blaze. Rain's clothes melted away in a flash of light, and was swiftly replaced by a crimson robe; in her hands there was no longer her Soul Gem, but rather a staff with two snakes circling its length, the mouths of the snakes containing the crimson gem. "But in short? I'm a magical girl."
"What, like MiniatureManager Akira?"
"Yeah, except I don't manage any miniature." Rain took a step toward Chanel and produced a small envelope from within her robe. "Chan-chan, if anything were to happen to me..."
"What do you mean, if anything were to happen to you?!" Chanel's eyes was wide from fear and uncertainty. "What do you think is going to happen to you, Rain? Is there anything I can do to - "
"Please, Chanel. This is important" Rain gently put a finger upon her lover's lips as she slipped the envelope into her lover's hand. "If anything were to happen to me, open the envelope."
"I don't understand..." Chanel's voice trailed off into a near sob, as Rain turned away and departed with a final: "Goodbye, Chan-chan. I'm sorry. I wish things could have been different."
And that was the day Chanel learned that, while there are fifty ways to leave your lover, there isn't one that would ever bring her back again.
While Maria and Emily was defending themselves and Fara from the Familiars, the Witch itself approached. It swung down its mighty branches with amazing speed, catching the girls off guard and unable to react...except for Emily, whose power was almost instinctive. "Get away from me!" she cried, and the orange butterflies spread out, turning into flames and burning down whatever they touched, the branches, the babies, the thorns, the Witch itself…
...And Fara, as well.
"Emily, stop!" Maria shouted as a blood-curdling scream of pain escaped Fara's mouth, which finally snapped Emily out of her panic and stopped her magic. But just because her magic is stopped, It doesn't mean the damage was reversed - Fara was still burning, and there isn't a fire hose or extinguisher in sight inside of the Witch's barrier. "Emily, what - "
"What the fuck have you done?!"
And that was when Rain arrived at the Barrier.