Author Notes:
So, this chapter. Um… How about that? This chapter was a little late since I actually redid it from scratch, because the old version was crap. This version is thousands of times better. Still crap, because I can't write worth a damn, but much better than before. If you're curious, Remilia's magical girl power was the ability to pull apart and put together objects. Her witch was Mina, the reaper witch with a nature of separation. Scarlet's witch/real self is Tepes, the vampire witch with a violent nature. The name Mina came from Mina Harker, a character from Dracula, and Tepes came from Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad the Impaler. I don't really have much to say about this chapter. Enjoy the chapter, see you next week!
Chapter 8: "So what happened?"
*April 30th, 2 years ago*
"Haaaaaaaaah."
"What's the matter Alessa?"
"I don't know about this," Alessa replies.
"What's there to not know? We're essentially going to live in Japan now. Is it that hard to understand?"
"I've got a bad feeling is all," Alessa says. "I feel odd about going there. I don't even speak Japanese!"
"I don't either. We'll learn. You're essentially smart, right?"
"No essentially about it! I'm way smarter than you, Remilia!"
"I'm essentially wounded," Remilia tells her little sister. "You won't even call me big sister anymore?"
"I can't call you that forever," Alessa says, hugging her stuffed rabbit close to her chest.
"Why not? I like it," Remilia says.
"Is that so? Well I'm sorry, but big sis is Remilia now!" Alessa exclaims. "Got it, Remilia?"
"I get it. Essentially I'm just disappointed by it," Remilia says with a frown. "I miss the days of you essentially being the youngest and most innocent thing ever."
"Remi," Alessa tries to grab her sister's attention.
"Back when you couldn't stand being alone to the point of essentially throwing a tantrum if I ever left the room."
"Remi," Alessa's tone grows slightly colder.
"Back when you would watch something scary and start crying and I'd have to hold your hand and pat your head until you essentially calmed down."
"Remi."
"Oh, whatever happened to my adorable little sister? My precious little sister who essentially means the world to me? What could have happened to her?"
"REMI!" Alessa shouts. "Stop that already, I'm embarrassed just listening to you."
"Embarrassing you is essentially my job," Remilia says, patting her little sister on the head. "That's why I'm the older sister."
"Only by two years," Alessa says. "I'll catch up to you in no time!"
"That's not essentially how time works little sis," Remilia says with a chuckle.
"Is that so? Well too bad for you, that's exactly how it works!" Alessa says. "In two years I'll be super grown up and mature and you'll still be like this, so I'll have caught up easily."
"What makes you say that?" Remilia asks. "You can essentially see into the future now?"
"No, I just know that I'll be way better and more mature than you. In two years you'll be the one asking me for advice on things! I'll be super smart!"
"Okay then little sis," Remilia says, still chuckling. "I'll hold you to that. We'll compare ourselves in two years and essentially see who is the more mature one, that sound okay?"
"Promise?" Alessa asks, holding out little finger out. Remlia smiles and wraps her little finger around Alessa's.
"I promise," Remilia says. "And it's a pinky promise, so you know I'm essentially not allowed to go back on my word."
"That's exactly right!" Alessa says, grinning widely. "Hey, Remi."
"What's up little sis?"
"Why are we moving to Japan?" she asks.
"Dad's job is asking him to move there," Remilia explains. "They're essentially building some kind of headquarters, or super building or something, and they want him to oversee it. You know, make sure everyone's essentially doing their job and working properly."
"Is that so? So why are they building one there?" Alessa asks.
"Heck if I know," Remilia says with a shrug. "Essentially it's a new city from what Dad has told me. Newer constructions have essentially just started so Dad's company wants to get in on it before the place gets too crowded."
"Is that so?" Alessa asks.
"Essentially it is," Remilia nods her head. "They've been wanting to expand out there for a long time anyway, and essentially this was the perfect time for it."
"What's the name of the city we're going to be moving too?" Alessa asks.
"Essentially it's… Mitakihara?" Remilia says. "I hope I'm pronouncing that even close to correctly."
"Mitakihara," Alessa rolls the words around a bit. "Is it a nice town?"
"I don't know," Remilia says. "I've essentially never heard of it before Dad told me about it. He said a few things about it, but I essentially can't remember any of them. I think they were good though. I guess we'll just have to find out!"
"Is that so?" Alessa asks, sounding very unimpressed.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Remilia assures her younger sibling. "Essentially it'll all be fine."
"You saying 'essentially' doesn't essentially inspire confidence," Alessa says.
"Is that so?" Remilia asks. Alessa blushes slightly and Remilia grins. "See, not so fun when it essentially happens to you, now is it?"
"No, it isn't," Alessa says. "I don't like it."
"Is that so?" Remilia asks once again.
"I hate you, big sis," Alessa says, burying her face in her stuffed rabbit to hide her blushing.
"Ah, don't be like that," Remilia says. "I'm just essentially poking a little fun."
"Is that so?" Alessa asks, still hiding behind her rabbit.
"So it is," Remilia says. "Alessa?"
"Yes, Remi?" Alessa asks, peaking out from behind her, ever so slightly from behind her stuffed shield.
"I've essentially got a present for you."
"Is that so?"
"Yep. But before I give it to you, you essentially need to put Mr. Fluffles on the ground and close your eyes."
"But Mr. Fluffles helps me when I'm scared," Alessa protests.
"Alessa, please? For me?" Remilia asks.
Alessa hesitates, but eventually relents. She closes her eyes and puts Mr. Fluffles the Rabbit on the ground. She feels a slight weight bump against her chest and opens her eyes.
"Huh?" Alessa asks, grabbing the object.
"It's my necklace," Remilia says, smiling at her sister. "Now whenever you're scared or don't know what to do you'll always have me around to help you."
"… But Remi, it's just a necklace," Alessa says. "Unless you've put some kind of microphone than I can't interact with you or anything."
"Oh, if you're going to be like that than I suppose I just essentially have to take it back," Remilia says, reaching for the necklace.
"No!" Alessa says, grabbing the necklace tightly and turning away from her sister. "My big sister gave it to me, I'm not giving it to anyone ever!"
"That's a good girl," Remilia says, patting her sister on the head again.
"Thank you Remilia," Alessa says. "I love you, big sis."
"I love you too, little sister," Remilia says with a grin. "Let's have fun in Japan together, okay?"
"Okay!"
*April 30th, one year ago*
"REMI!" Alessa called out. "Remi, where are you?!"
The ground begins shaking, and Alessa trips and falls. Alessa didn't know what was happening. A huge storm was supposed to hit that day, so she and her family were on the way to one of the designated storm shelters when their car had been struck by falling debris. They had gotten out and intended to continue on their way, but had gotten separated by earthquakes and more debris. Now Alessa was all alone.
"What's happening?" Alessa asked. "Storms aren't supposed to last this long, are they? Not the time. I have to find Remi and my parents."
Alessa firmly grasped onto her necklace and took a deep breath. Everything would be okay. She was sure of it. All she had to do was find her family. She started running as fast as she could through the empty streets of Mitakihara. Eventually she started growing tired, and had to rest. She stopped in a large plaza so she could catch her breath. It wouldn't do anyone any good if she collapsed in the middle of the road. She rested for only a few seconds, but already felt ready to go. She was about to rush off and continue searching for her sister when something in the sky caught her attention.
Gears and lace.
Those were the first two things to catch Alessa's attention. She had a hard time even describing what she was looking at. It appeared to be some kind of giant, upside-down jester with gears where its legs should be. It floated through the air, despite not having wings or anything that would allow it to fly.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the witch's laugh reverberated throughout the entire town.
"Wh-wh-wh-what is that?" Alessa asks. "Is… Is it the reason all of this is happening?"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The witch laughed in response.
Alessa covered her ears to try and block out the witch's laughter, but to no avail. The witch simply kept laughing, and laughing, and laughing.
"I need… I need to find my sister," Alessa decides. "Remi'll know what to do. She always knows what to do. Okay."
Alessa puts the witch's laughter behind her and continues running through the city. As she kept running, the laughter followed her.
"Stop it," Alessa says as she continues to run. "Stop laughing."
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The witch responds.
"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Alessa yells. The ground begins rumbling again, and Alessa stops running and steadies herself to hopefully avoid tripping. A louder rumbling sound rang through the deserted street, catching Alessa's attention. She looks to the side and saw that a building near her had started collapsing.
"A-aaah!" Alessa yells as she starts running away. She sprints as hard as she can to get away from the falling building. It hits the ground, and dust and debris is sent into the air. Once it cleared, Alessa noticed that she had hit the ground face fist. Besides a cut on her forehead, she seemed mostly okay.
"That could have been worse," Alessa says. "I need to get away from here though. It's not safe. … Of course it's not safe, stupid."
Alessa tried to move, but realized she was stuck. She was momentarily confused, but soon realized her leg was trapped under a large chunk of rubble from the building.
"That's… That's probably what I meant by 'could have been worse,'" Alessa says. "I need to get out. One, two, push!"
Alessa used all of her strength to try and push the rubble off of her leg. Since the rubble was larger than she was, she failed. Instead of trying to move the rubble entirely, she instead tried just to lift it up just enough that she could slide her leg our from under it. That plan worked, and Alessa was able to free her leg. She smiled at her small victory and tried to stand up. She fell face first immediately and hit the concrete with a thud. Alessa looks at her leg again and notices how beaten and bloodied it is. She tries to move it, but nothing happens.
"I can't move my leg," Alessa notes. "This is bad. This is bad, this is bad thisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbad."
Alessa grabs onto her necklace and takes a deep breath. Another deep inhale, another deep exhale.
"It'll be okay, it'll be okay," she tells herself. "I haven't completely lost my leg. I'll get some medical attention, it'll all be good. How am I going to get out of here though?"
Alessa starts thinking but stops once she sees the witch still floating through the air, doing as it pleases.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-" the witch's laughter was cut short by the sound of an explosion.
"Huh?" Alessa says. All thoughts of getting away of there were brushed aside as she watched the scene unfold in front of her eyes.
A bright, pink light was leaping towards the jester. If Alessa squinted then she could barely make out what looked like the silhouette of a girl with her hair tied in two tails inside the pink light. The girl was rushing towards the thing. What was she doing?
"Is… Is she going to fight it?" Alessa asked.
"Yes, she is."
The unexpected voice startled Alessa. She looked to where it was coming from and saw what looked like a cross between a rabbit and a cat sitting on the rubble near her.
"Who are you?" Alessa asked.
"I'm Kyubey," the creature introduces itself.
"Kyubey… You said she's going to fight that thing?" Alessa asks.
"Indeed," Kyubey confirms. "Right now she's the only one who can."
"She's going to lose," Alessa says. "That thing is destroying this entire city. How can she even think she stands a chance against it?"
"Do you want to help her?" Kyubey asks.
"Me? What can I do?" Alessa asked.
"You can make a contract and become a magical girl," Kyubey said. "All you need to do is tell me what wish you want granted, and I'll give you the power to fight Walpurgisnacht and save Mitakihara."
"Wish? Walpurgisnacht?" Too many terms were being thrown at Alessa for her to understand. What was this thing? What was it talking about? Wish? If she had to make a wish right now, what would she wish for?
I just want to see my big sister again, Alessa thought to herself.
"I-"
"ALESSA!"
Alessa perked up at that voice.
"Remi?"
She turned away from Kyubey and saw her sister, standing a ways down the street. Alessa smiled as brightly as she could.
"Remi!" Alessa called out to her sister. "I'm right here! My leg really hurts, but I'm okay otherwise!"
"Just stay still, I'll essentially be right there!" Remilia called back.
"Kyubey, I'm sorry but I suppose I don't have a wish right now. … Kyubey?"
It seemed that the creature had disappeared while Alessa wasn't looking. Why would that be? Alessa didn't care too much, she was far too happy to see her sister again. Now they could get to the shelter, she could get medical treatment for her leg and everything would be fine.
A large boom was Alessa's first warning. She looked towards the boom and saw a building start falling to pieces. It slowly started tipping forward, and then it started falling. Alessa tried to get to her feet to run out of the way, but stumbled and fell. Her leg just wasn't in the condition it needed to be to get her away from the falling building.
"ALESSA!" Remilia called to her sister. She started running as fast as she could, hoping against hope that she could get to her sister and get them both away from the collapsing building.
Alessa knew better. She held onto her necklace as tightly as she could. She looked at her sister who was stilling running towards her and smiled.
"I guess this is goodbye, big sis," Alessa said quietly. Alessa smiled at her sister and kept smiling until the building fell down on top of her.
*15 minutes later*
Remilia had started digging through all the rubble immediately, praying that a miracle would have happened and she would find her little sister buried in the rubble, but mostly unharmed. Fate had not been kind to her that day. It took a while to dig through the rubble, but she had eventually uncovered Alessa's body. Or rather, she had uncovered all that remained. The rubble and debris had completely crushed the left side of Alessa's body. All that was left of her little sister was the beaten right half of her corpse.
"Alessa, I'm sorry," Remilia said, holding onto all that was left of her younger sibling. "I'm so sorry."
Remilia held onto her sister and started crying. She sat there and wept and wept and wept.
"I'm such a useless older sister," Remilia says. "I couldn't even keep you safe. I'm so sorry Alessa, you deserved far better than me. I'm so sorry."
"What would you give to have her back?"
"Huh?" Remilia asked. "What did you say?"
"My name is Kyubey," the creature introduces itself. "I asked what you would give to have your sister back."
"You can essentially bring her back?" Remilia asks.
"Easily," Kyubey says.
"Then do it!" Remilia yells at it. "Bring my sister back right now!"
"You don't want to know what will happen in exchange for your wish?" Kyubey asks.
"I don't care!" Remilia exclaims. "Just give my little sister back to me! Please! Please."
"Very well," Kyubey says. "Stand still."
There was an incredibly blinding light that forced Remilia to shut her eyes. When the light died down and Remilia could open her eyes, she saw her little sister was still in her arms. Unlike before, however, Alessa's body was put back together, and she had been completely healed. Except for the scar running down her back, she didn't even look like she had ever been injured at all.
"A-Alessa?" Remilia asks.
"Mmmm," the girl groaned slightly as she stirred awake. She looked around, not entirely certain where she was or why she was there. She paused when she saw Remilia's face. "Why am I not… Big sis? What just happened?"
Remilia didn't answer, and instead embraced her little sister as tightly as she could.
"Thank you," Remilia says. "Thank you God!"
"Big sis?" Alessa asks. "Are you okay?"
"We're both going to be fine," Remilia tells her. "We're both going to be just fine."
"Then why are you crying?" Alessa asks. "I don't think people cry as much as you are when things are going to be fine."
"I'm crying because I've never been happier than I am right now," Remilia says, hugging her sister tightly. "You essentially have no idea how happy I am to be able to hug you right now."
"Is that so?" Alessa asks. "I don't think I understand."
"That's okay," Remilia replies as she lets go of Alessa and stands up. "Come on, let's go. We need to go find Mom and Dad. … That's weird."
"What?"
"Where'd she go?" Remilia asked. "A friend of mine was just here. I hope she's essentially okay."
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Alessa says as she grabbed onto her older sister's hand. "Come on, we need to find Mom and Dad."
"You're right," Remilia said. "She's a tough one, after all. Let's go."
The two siblings walked through the quiet, empty streets of Mitakihara hand in hand. Alessa was thankful for the silence. That jester's laughter was incredibly grating.
*May 28th, 11 months ago*
"Remiiiii," Alessa complained as her sister walked through the door to their room.
"What's the matter little sis?" Remilia asked.
"Why are you always out?" Alessa asked. "I never get to see you anymore! What are you doing? … It's not a boy, is it?"
"No, it essentially isn't," Remilia confirms.
"So it's a girl?" Alessa asked.
"No!" Remilia says. "I've just been really busy. Essentially a friend of mine asked for help, and that's been keeping me really busy the past few weeks."
"But it means I get to see you less," Alessa complains. "I don't like it. Do they really need the help?"
"Yes, they do," Remilia says.
"I guess it's okay then," Alessa says. "I still don't like it."
"Work is never something to like."
"Oh, there you are Sakuya," Remilia said as her friend walked into her room. "Alessa, this is essentially my friend Sakuya. Sakuya, this is my sister."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Alessa says as formally as she can.
"Name's Sakuya Izayoi, it's nice to finally meet you," Sakuya says. "Your big sis talks about you a lot."
"I don't talk about her that much!" Remilia protests.
"She talks a lot," Sakuya confirms. "Wow, you two look exactly alike. I'm amazed you two aren't twins."
"Yes, we're essentially similar," Remilia admits. "It's essentially just the blonde hair and red eyes, yet everyone thinks we look exactly alike. I've been thinking of essentially dyeing my hair or something so people don't get us confused."
"Dye it blue!" Alessa says.
"What, why blue?" Sakuya asks.
"This girl helped me out earlier today when a vending machine wouldn't work properly, and then she showed me around the town a little," Alessa begins her explanation. "She was super helpful and had short blue hair. What was her name? Something Miki, I think. Anyway, she had short blue hair and it looked really good on her! I think you'd look good like that!"
"It's essentially an option," Remilia says as she twirls a lock of her hair around. "I'll keep it in mind."
"Here's something to keep in mind," Sakuya says. "What's going on with you two?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Alessa asks.
"Remilia filled me in on some details," Sakuya starts. "You're like, here in Japan because of your parent's jobs or something, right? And you're in this town at the moment because Mitakihara is cinder and rubble. What are you going to do now?"
"Oh, we're essentially staying in Japan for the foreseeable future," Remilia says.
"Is that so?!" Alessa asks excitedly. "I really do like it here. I mean, I want to go back to Italy eventually, but I really like it here!"
"Don't worry little sis, we'll be here a while," Remilia says. "Apparently it was decided that they're going to essentially build 'New Mitakihara' on top of the ruins of the old city. A sort of city wide memorial. It'll have all sorts of fancy doohickeys and whatchamacallits to keep it safe from another natural disaster like last month. Mom and Dad are essentially overseeing the construction so we'll be here until that gets finished at the very least."
"That sounds good," Sakuya says. She gets ready to continue and explain why that sounds as great as it does, but loses her thought process almost immediately. "Alessa, that's a nice necklace. Where'd you get it?"
Alessa grabs her necklace and turns away from Sakuya.
"Touch it and I'll get angry," Alessa says. "I'll kick your shins until you give it back."
Sakuya chuckles at the threat.
"She's such an adorable little sister," Sakuya says. "I'm totally jealous of you."
"You should be," Alessa says. "I'm Remi's little sister only!"
"Geez Rem, hog all the adorableness why don't you?" Sakuya says.
"I think I essentially will!" Remi says, hugging her little sister tightly. "She's my little sister, got it? No stealing!"
"Yeah! No stealing!" Alessa mimics her sister's words perfectly.
"Alright, don't worry about it," Sakuya says, holding back giggles as best as she can. "Ah, this has been nice, but I do need to go. Business to do."
"Business?" Alessa asks.
"Important business," Sakuya confirms.
"I'll go with you," Remilia says. "Just in case."
"Wh-what? No!" Alessa exclaims. "You just got back!"
"It's okay little sis, I'll essentially be back soon," Remilia assures her. "I'll be back soon and then we can go somewhere, okay?"
"Is that so?" Alessa asks. Remilia nods, and Alessa smiles. "Yay! Let's go to that arcade! I love it there!"
"Got it," Remilia says, returning the smile. "Once I get back we can essentially head to the arcade, alright?"
"Promise?" Alessa asks.
"I promise," Remilia says.
"Okay then. Bye big sis. Be careful."
"I'll be fine," Remilia says. "Come on Sakuya, let's essentially head out."
"Understood. See ya, Alessa."
"Good bye Miss Izayoi," Alessa responds.
"Just Sakuya is fine," she says. "I'm your big sister's best friend, don't be so formal."
"Is that so? Then, um… Good bye Sakuya," Alessa says.
"Much better," Sakuya says with a smile before she and Remilia leave Alessa alone in her room.
Alessa sighs and throws herself onto her bed. She lied there motionless as she wondered what was keeping Remilia away from her.
"Big sis, what's going on?" Alessa asks. "Does it have something to do with Kyubey? Remi, I know I'm supposed to be dead. Did you wish me back? Is that why you're so busy now? Make a wish and become a magical girl. That's what it said, didn't it? Remi, what are you doing out there?"
*October 28th, 6 months ago*
"Whew! That was difficult," Alessa said, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Too bad I've been practicing!"
Alessa pats the dance game on the side and skips away. She loved this arcade. It was kind of small compared to others, but it was bright, energetic and had tons of fun games to play, including the aforementioned dancing game.
"Though I suppose it's not dancing if all you're doing is stepping on arrows in time to the music," Alessa muses. "Well, that's when you make your own choreography! That works just as well! Now, where'd Remi go?"
Remilia hadn't been feeling well the past few days, and Alessa was worried about her. Remilia was the one who suggested going to the arcade to try and perk herself up and while Alessa wasn't sure about that, she wasn't going to say no to her sister.
"She said she was going to the snack bar sooo… Where is the snack bar?"
Alessa started wandering around, asking some people if they had seen her sister. Several negative answers later and Alessa was starting to get worried. Did her sister suddenly have to take care of something? Would she be okay? Alessa held tightly onto her necklace and tried to calm down. She started scanning every single person she saw for some kind of familiarity. Alessa smiled when she saw a recognizable mess of blonde hair in the crowd. She prepared to call out to her sister, when she noticed something odd.
"Remi, where are you going?" Alessa asked quietly.
Remilia appeared to be heading for the back entrance. Why was she going there? Alessa grew increasingly concerned and decided to follow her. She followed her sister outside into the back alley. Once Remilia had arrived there, she fell to her knees and seemed to be holding onto something tightly.
"Remi!" Alessa called out, running up to her sister. "Remi, are you okay?"
"A-Alessa?" Remi asks.
"Yes, it's me! Remi, what's wrong?"
"I… I don't know," Remilia says with a sad smile. She unclasps her hands and looks at what she was holding. It looked like some kind of fancy jewel. "Essentially I overdid it, didn't I? Why else would my soul gem be so black?"
"Huh? Soul gem? Overdid it? Big sis, what are you talking about?"
"I guess it doesn't matter," Remilia replies, smiling sadly. "Not anymore it doesn't."
As she finishes her sentence, Remilia's soul gem shatters. The force of the soul gem shattering knocks Alessa onto her back. She pulls herself to her feet and sees that she's no longer in the arcade's back alley. Now she was in what appeared in a graveyard. The ground was a dull black, and the sky a depressing grey. The trees were dead and withered, and tombstones dotted the desolate landscape.
"Wh-where am I?" Alessa asked. "Huh? What's this say?"
Alessa was briefly distracted by the tombstones. She normally wouldn't have noticed them at all, but something strange had caught her eye.
"My name? Why is my name on this tombstone? No, wait a minute. Why is my name on every tombstone?"
Every tombstone had her name and a single date on it. April 30th. The day Walpurgisnacht had destroyed Mitakihara. Before Alessa could wonder why her name was written on the tombstones, a sound rang throughout the graveyard. It sounded like laughter.
"Th-that jester?" Alessa asks. She looks around for the sound, but didn't find what she was expecting. Instead of the jester, she saw what looked like death itself. It was a large skeletal figure, wearing a black, hooded cloak and carrying a large scythe. It's skeletal mouth opened and that laughter resounded through the air.
"No, that's not laughter. It's crying?" Alessa asks. "Remi? Did you… Is that what happened to you?"
The skeletal reaper didn't respond. It didn't even look at her. It simply kept roaming around the graveyard, checking every single grave and crying. Alessa wanted to approach her, but before she could, a flash of blue came in and attacked the reaper. It cried out in pain, and turned towards the blue flash. It was a girl, much like the pink girl Alessa saw fighting the Jester in Mitakihara. If this was just like back then, then this blue girl was-
"N-no!" Alessa cried out. "Don't hurt her! Don't hurt my sister!"
The blue magical girl didn't hear Alessa and continued the battle. The girl clearly had experience with battle, as she ran circles around the newly born reaper. The battle had barely gone on for a minute and a victor had already been decided. The reaper let out a final death cry, before slowly fading away. The graveyard scenery faded away and Alessa and the blue magical girl had returned the arcade's back alley.
"Whew, that could have been dicey," the blue magical girl said. "I was worried 'cause she looked super tough with that scythe and all, but a few ice blocks here, a few ice swords there and the day was won!"
The blue magical girl stopped talking to herself when she heard Alessa crying.
"There was someone else there? Ah crap, I need to pay attention to stuff like that more. U-um, you okay there? I'm Yoko Tsukihime, you are?"
"Y-you monster!" Alessa yells at Yoko before charging at her and trying to beat her. The punches had little impact, so it confused Yoko more than anything else. "How could you? HOW COULD YOU?!"
"H-hey, what's wrong?" Yoko asked. "The witch is gone, you're safe now, right?"
"Don't call her a witch!" Alessa yells. "That was… That was my sister, you murderer!"
"S-sister?" Yoko asks. "That reaper witch was your sister?"
"She's not a witch, she's my sister!" Alessa exclaims. "She's my sister and you killed her!"
"M-miss, I'm sorry but that wasn't your sister," Yoko begins her explanation. "Not anymore, anyway. I don't know exactly why, but your sister's soul gem got corrupted and she turned into a witch. If I didn't stop her she would have killed you and a whole lot of other people."
"Liar! Remi would never hurt anyone! She's the nicest person I've ever known, she'd never turn into something as horrible as that!"
"Unfortunately, Miss Tsukihime is telling the truth," Kyubey says, picking that moment to join the two girls.
"You're Kyubey, right?" Alessa asks.
"That is correct," Kyubey responds. "It's been a while, Alessa."
"What do you mean she's telling the truth?" Alessa asks.
"Remember the offer I gave you during Walpurgisnacht?" Kyubey asks. "To have your wish granted and become a magical girl? Your sister took my offer and brought you back to life, and became a magical girl as a result. What you just witnessed was the ending every magical girl meets. They fall into despair and become a witch. What you had witnessed was your sister's transformation into a witch. If Miss Tsukihime hadn't come along, she most certainly would have killed you."
"H-hey, Kyubey," Yoko interjects. "You don't really need to say it like that, do you? Maybe use a little more tact?"
"She asked for the truth, and so I gave it to her," Kyubey says. "I was simply answering her questions."
"She just lost her sister, you don't need to drop any more bombs like that on her!" Yoko protests. "You're just putting more emotional baggage on her with that!"
"It's okay," Alessa says. "Hey, Kyubey."
"Yes?"
"You said you can grant any wish, right?" Alessa asks.
"H-hey there, you can't be thinking of becoming a magical girl, can you?" Yoko asks. "You just saw what happens if you're not careful, you should think about-"
"Shut up for a minute," Alessa tells her. "Kyubey, answer the question."
"Provided you have enough potential then any wish is trivial," Kyubey says. "You appear to have quite a bit of potential, so I imagine whatever wish you would make would be child's play. I assume you desire to wish your sister back?"
"Before I make my wish, one last question," Alessa says. "There's lots of magical girls, right?"
"There are magical girls all over the world, if that's what you're asking," Kyubey says.
"Is that so? And they all end like that, right?"
"Correct."
"Even that jester at Mitakihara?"
"Even Walpurgisnacht was once just an ordinary girl with a wish," Kyubey confirms.
"I get it now," Alessa says. "I know what wish I want granted. I wish you had never come to Earth in the first place!"
"E-excuse me?!" Yoko asks.
"Do you truly understand the implications of such a wish?" Kyubey asks. "My kind have been on earth since the prehistoric era. The reason Humans have been able to advance as much as they have in such a short time was because of my kind granting your wishes. If we had never come to Earth then it's incredibly likely that you humans would still sharpening rocks in caves."
"You think I care?!" Alessa asks. "You think I care about anyone else right now? You killed my sister, you killed who knows how many people in Mitakihara, you killed who knows how many people through history! I don't care if the entire world were to just end right now, I want all of this gone! I wish you and anyone like you had never come to Earth in the first place!"
"… Very well," Kyubey says.
"W-wait a minute, you can't actually mean to grant a wish like that?" Yoko asks.
Yoko's question goes unanswered as a bright red light shines throughout the alleyway. The light kept growing and growing until it eventually covered the entire world.
*April 24th, present day*
"So what happened?" I ask, after hearing that entire story.
"I assume you mean why are there still incubators and magical girls if your wish was granted?" Inko asks.
"Exactly," I say with a nod. "I made the wish and it was granted. What happened?"
"I can answer that, if you would allow me" Kyubey says, entering through the window. "Once your wish had been granted, we assumed we would either still be on our world, or would have settled on a different one. What we didn't assume was that the other world we wound up on would be a different Earth. Your wish spared your earth, but at the cost of another. I believe the term for that would be 'equivalent exchange.' Since very little had changed for us, we continued our business. Eventually, once that information had become known to a select few humans, a certain girl wished that we would go back to our original world. Once again, we assumed this would mean we would be pushed back to our homeworld, as I'm sure was the intent behind the wish. Instead, we were back here. Don't worry Alessa, it isn't that your wish was never granted, it's effects were simply cancelled out by another wish."
"I can confirm his story, if you want," Inko said. "I was the reason any of that happened, after all."
"But then why are you a human now?" Inugami asks. "I don't want to imagine that the kyubeys think that looking human would make us more likely to trust them."
"Someone on that other Earth was displeased with our deals, and wished that we could see what is was like from their perspective," Inko explains. "I was the incubator granting that wish and as a result, I was transformed from an incubator to a magical girl."
"That explains why we didn't remember making a contract with you," Kyubey says.
"What do you mean?" Yukari asks.
"Despite being many different units, we incubators share a network," Kyubey explains. "This doesn't mean that we always know what every other incubator is doing, but we can request necessary information from other units. Since the unit you call Inko was the one who held the information about Alessa and Remilia's wishes and she had been removed from the network by that person's wish, we could no longer access that data."
"Conversely, I can no longer access any of the other incubator's data either," Inko says. "As useful as it would be for me to pull information about Yuki, Nina and Deus so we could have the upper hand, that simply isn't possible."
"But there's still one thing bugging me," Inugami says. "I more or less get what's happened up to this point, but what about Scarlet's memory loss? What happened with that?"
"It's actually easy to form a hypothesis if you think about it hard enough," Inko says. "Scarlet wished for a world with no incubators. A world without incubators means no magical girls and no witches. How long do you believe a magical girl would last without witches to hunt and grief seeds to consume?"
"You're saying… You're saying I became a witch?" I ask.
"No, I'm theorizing that you became a witch," Inko says. "The only one who knows for certain would be you, as you were the only one there. It's a logical conclusion to draw however. When a magical girl becomes a witch, they lose their senses of self and their minds are twisted beyond recognition. It's possible that when you became a witch you simply lost all the information from your past life and spent the rest of your time in that world rampaging around. After all, normal people can't see witches, and conventional weapons are very ineffective. Nothing could have stopped you."
"But that makes no sense!" Inugami says. "If Scarlet witched out, then why is she so human now? Should she be some kind of monster running around, eating people and all… oh wait a minute."
"What? Why wait a minute?" Yukari asks.
"Um… Scarlet?" Inugami seems to be asking me for permission.
"Sometimes I go really insane," I explain. "I tend to eat necks when that happens. I ate the neck of some thug that was mugging Inugami, and I completely devoured a witch a bit ago."
"You… You what?" Yukari asks.
"Interesting," Kyubey says. "You must have been a very aggressive witch for that impulse to stay with you even when human."
Witching out explains the impulses, and as for why you're human, I think I have an answer for that as well," Inko says. "Remember, we incubators were on another Earth until someone wished us back. The day you woke up with amnesia and met everyone was the same day that that girl had made her wish. So, since you made the original wish, you kept your memories of the old world without incubators and that's why you woke up with no memories. You woke up with your witch's mind, albeit more under control than normal since you were human and had better impulse control."
"But why is she human again?" Yukari asks. "I think I kind of get the amnesia thing, but shouldn't she still have become a witch somewhere along the way?"
"Not exactly," Kyubey says. "Remember, she became a witch because there were no witches to hunt or grief seeds to consume. Now a reality exists where she was a magical girl with many witches to hunt. It's not a stretch to assume that she was able to live off of those witches until the day the girl made her wish and Scarlet woke up with no memory."
"This is making my head spin," Inugami says. "All this weird talk. I really don't know if I get it, but it basically boils down to 'Scarlet is a witch,' is that right?"
"That's correct," Kyubey says.
"I don't believe it," Yukari says. "Scarlet's way to passive to be a witch. Besides, how could she be a witch and become human again? Isn't that supposed to be impossible? I don't buy it."
"It makes sense," Inko says. "Miku… Miku told me something a bit ago, before she died. Scarlet, you can understand the witches, right?"
"What? You can?" Inugami asks.
"Not quite. The one witch I had to translate spoke in those weird runes that the witches always have," I explain. "I can read those easily."
"Just to confirm, could you please right your name down?" Inko asks, handing me a pencil and paper.
"Which name?" I ask. "Scarlet or Alessa?"
"Whatever you think is your name, I want you to write it down," Inko says. "Trust me."
I give her a confused look, but do as she says. I write down my name on the paper and hand it to her.
"Scarlet, you'll have to do me another favor and translate," Inko says, showing me what I wrote on the paper. "I may be an incubator, but even we haven't figured out how to translate witch runes yet."
"It says Tepes," I say, looking at the paper. "Tepes? Why did I write that?"
"... Let me try something," Inugami says. "Hey, Tepes."
"Yes?" I ask. "Huh? Why'd I react-"
"That's your name," Kyubey says. "Rather, it's your witch's name. That explains why you can read witch runes so easily, you're brain is still hardwired as a witch's brain. How interesting. You truly are an intriguing magical girl."
"That's enough Kyubey, you can leave," Inugami says.
"She's saying, 'get out before we force you out,'" Yukari translates.
"Very well," Kyubey says, turning and heading for the window. "Do let me know if you find out anything else. I'm truly interested to see where this goes."
Kyubey takes his leave, leaving me and my friends alone in my room. The room was eerily silent. All I could do was sit on my bed and hug my knees to my chest. I'm supposed to be dead? I made such a stupid wish? My sister's dead? I'm just a witch pretending to be a regular girl?
"Scarlet, are you okay?" Inugami asks.
"No," I tell her. "No I'm not. I'm going out for a bit. I need some time alone."
I left my room and walked out of my house. I just want to find someplace quiet where I can think. Eventually I settled for sitting on the roof of this old arcade that wasn't too far away from my house. I just sat on the roof alone and thought about what to do now.
"Remilia," I let the unfamiliar word leave my mouth. "Remi, what am I supposed to do now?"
I hold onto my necklace as tightly as I can.
"Remi, please. I don't know what to do anymore."
I didn't get a response, of course. All I got was complete silence.
