"Love is such a sweet illusion…"
Chapter 10: Miasma Buildup
Momo. That was only a nickname. It made her sound cool, she decided—that was the main reason she begun to insist that everyone address her by that name. It made her more like her sister, she hoped.
The shrine maiden uniform weighed upon her tiny frame.
Weltschmerz
The girls had stayed there in the Time Sphere for a couple of days. Since time flowed differently on the inside, they were able to do so without any problem. One day within the time-bending artifact was equal to only an hour in reality. It had been almost midnight when they had gotten to Mami's home. Now, doing some simple calculations, they had decided to stay at the most eight days. This was to ensure the maximum amount of rest, coupled with the right preparation to arrive as school on time. Kyōko knew she was outmatched in terms of power when it came to Madoka so she resigned herself to being their prisoner for the moment.
The forest within the E-sphere was stocked with creatures of every sort of shape and size. Thus, Kyōko didn't complain, because Mami permitted her to hunt as much as she wanted while they were there. The second she saw the surrounding forest brimming with plenty of big game, Kyōko was sold.
So the glutton of a vampire decided she would at least try to settle down, at least for the moment. The nomadic warrior had become discontent with her lifestyle, due to the lack of blood she found herself with.
While Kyōko was busy stuffing her gut, Hōmura and Madoka had much to talk about, so they decided to try and relax for the time being. Madoka mostly explained the differences between this universe and their original one. Hōmura listened in the meantime to the new Puella Magi system and felt a little more optimistic than she had even been earlier this week. In between and even during their chats with their friends, the girls completed their homework in advance as well.
However, during this whole time Sayaka locked herself in the guestroom that Mami had provided, refusing to eat or speak to anyone until she left. Even the attempts from Kyūbey were ignored, and he had tried the most irresistibly cute poses and dialog he could think of. Eventually after the fourth day, they gave up and left Sayaka to her jumbled thoughts.
"Are you ready, Hōmura?" Both goddesses spoke in unison, with our Madoka smiling gently and of course the other most likely doing the same thing at the moment. Beside them was the waterfall they had passed by the other day, and the spray of light moisture rained down upon them.
Hōmura nodded, her resolve set firmer than concrete.
"Good. This contract is not limited by Kyūbey's power, for I will grant your wish."
Looking askance, Hōmura noted with some slight irritation the strange manner in which Madoka was talking.
"You're synched with the other Madoka, aren't you?" she observed, recalling their earlier conversation.
"I prefer to call myself 'Golden End' Madoka," echoed the Goddess's voice from the pendant.
Our Madoka laughed outright, holding her stomach. "I guess that makes me chopped liver then, huh?" She stretched out her hands as if she was preparing to play the piano, her knuckles giving a satisfyingly loud succession of cracks.
"I'm ready, Madoka."
"Very well then," her eyes once again flashed a dangerous shade of cardinal. Hōmura barely had time to blink before Madoka summoned her bow. However, Akemi was calling upon her innate tenacity to stay rooted to the spot. Ripping out her own soul hurt very much so, as she recalled very clearly.
"Hōmura Akemi, what is your heart's desire?"
With her feet apart and teeth clenched, the once-timid girl stood her ground. "I wish…for the power and knowledge to protect my friends."
"Then you are ready. Here. Reach inside of your heart. Now... What is the activation key that will awaken your powers? Tell me the meaning of your soul!"
And then the arrow pierced cleanly through her friend's chest.
"Oh my," remarked Madokami. "Perhaps that was just a little too powerful?"
Hōmura wondered if Madokami had meant the arrow or her wish.
Across from Madoka, Hōmura was still standing, her back arched backwards slightly, wavering on her heels, ready to fall. Luckily, for Akemi, Madoka reached out just in time to catch Hōmura before the girl's legs buckle beneath her tiny frame.
In her hands was a dark purple gem that, despite its color, shone so brightly it dazzled even Madokami.
Looking down at the gem she and Madoka produced, the former megane-girl parted her lips and held her soul up to the sunlight.
"Obey me, Time," she whispered fiercely, "for I am your master!"
...
On the last day of them spending time within the sphere, Mami presented the "reformed" vampire with a present.
"Huh?" said Kyōko, looking at the box held out to her. She was chewing on some gum to assuage her boredom and looked up at Mami while sitting with her legs under the kotatsu. The box in question was wrapped in bright yellow paper and tied with a large red bow. "Wazzat?"
"Open it and see."
She hoped it was food. Please be food. Please be candy. Please be something edible!
Kyōko lifted the bow away after untying the elaborate knot. With her hands rapping the top of the box she removed the cover and was so shocked she could hardly speak.
"A…a….you've got to be kidding me!" She clutched the piece of light yellow fabric and practically wanted to choke the blonde for even attempting to give her this monstrosity. "What the hell is this Tomoe? You want me to kill you?"
"Come on, Kyōko, don't overreact. After all…since you're in our custody, it's a necessity."
The exceedingly cute uniform seemed to exude the arrogant notion that Kyōko would love to wear it. Her wanting to even hold it was out of the question, for it was the closest thing to an orange jumpsuit for Kyōko.
"…"
"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," Kyūbey assured her with two shining blue marbles for eyes. "I'm sure you'll look extra cute!" As impossible as it sounds, his furry cheeks seemed to gain a slight pink color as he imagined the image.
Kyōko punched the critter in the face so hard that he flew forward, bounced off the wall, and then she caught him on the rebound. When her hand clenched around his tail, he shrieked, and there was a small squeaking noise, like a squeezed chew toy.
"You stop your fantasies right now, Kyūbey." Kyōko held him close to her face, but he smiled innocently and cooed, his face becoming even pinker. "Inkyū-sensei told me all about your perverted ways."
"Why, Kyōko, I am hurt! You honestly think I'd have impure thoughts about you in that cute little school uniform?"
"You're full of bull, Kyūbey, and I can smell it a hundred miles away." A fang popped out from her lip when she curled it back into a snarl. "You're a pervert, hands down."
"Well, how can I not be? You human girls wear the most amazing things. Incubator girls don't even give me a second glance, and you are much cuter than any of them, my dear Kyōko."
"Don't think that because I'm older than these little chicks means that you can go after the hen. You're just a dirty old man!"
Every hair on Kyūbey's body stood on end. He didn't appreciate the accusation of being a character like that, especially not from a bloodsucking leech like her.
"Hey! In Incubator years I'm still a teenager, y'know!" blurted out Kyūbey, swiping his paws at her face. She held him away before any hits could connect.
Now Kyōko's curiosity had been awakened, as well as Mami's. "Oh-ho, now that was something I didn't know." She tossed the white ball of fur, and he tumbled over and landed in front of her, all four legs sprawled out in each direction.
"Er…." He pressed his ears to his head.
Wiping away the drool from the corner of her mouth, Kyōko grinned. "So that's why Inkyū-sensei told me so much about you."
He put on an emotionless mask, the one that Hōmura and Madoka knew very well. "You know nothing!"
"Is she, by any chance…" Kyoko searched her mind for the possibilities, a thumb on her chin as she narrowed her eyes.
"Don't say it!" Kyūbey said, his voice tapering off in a distressed squeak.
"...your ex-girlfriend?" With an exaggerated look of triumph in her light red eyes, Kyoko pointed at the Incubator.
Said Incubator blinked in surprise, and smiled wryly. "Huh?" For a second she had him on the ropes, but it turned out to be a false alarm.
"What?" So her guess was off the mark. Kyoko had expected him to panic or something, but since she was wrong…
His surprise quickly morphed into smugness. "Oh, is that what you thought?" Kyūbey sat on his haunches, now the picture of serenity and peace.
This irritated Kyoko. She folded her arms and sighed, throwing out the most ridiculous theory she could, just for fun. "Well, what is she then, your older sister or something?"
"!" Kyūbey's entire body stiffened and drained of all its color. His smile suddenly faded, turning into a flat line.
"No way, I'm right?!"
"Before you two get any more riled up," Mami gave them a bright smile. "I have to turn in some wish coins, Kyūbey." A couple was already in her hands, and she held them out to the Incubator as if she were offering a stray cat a snack.
"That's rare of you, Mami. I thought you were saving up for something." He grinned at the thought of making some money, and jumped into the well-endowed girl's lap.
"Not really, but I decided I wanted this done right." Mami giggled lightly. "If I did it myself I'm sure it would be nearly impossible for me, aside from the errors I'd make."
"So what do ya need, kiddo?" He wrapped his tail around her arm that was holding the coins.
Mami's grip on the money was locked with an iron fist. "Well I need Kyōko to enroll at our school, so I'm going to need authentic documents, birth certificates, etc."
Nodding in understanding the Incubator closed his eyes and made tiny purrs of approval. "The standard minor reality-bending? Sure. Want to throw in some athletic awards?"
The blonde gunner cracked a wry smile. That was Kyūbey for you, always trying to squeeze more coins out of her. "Depends on how much it'll cost."
"18 coins; 2 extra for the frills."
As he was speaking, Mami reached into her little coin purse in front of her on the table. In her hands she held about twenty glimmering coins out to the Incubator.
"Sounds fair." Mami tossed the coins high, glancing at Kyōko as she did. Kyūbey jumped into the air, did a roll in the air, and gulped down the coins. "Go nuts."
...
Sayaka said nothing when they exited the E-sphere. Sayaka also said nothing when departing from Mami's house. She remained silent the entire day, and throughout lunch, she merely picked at her food. After school, she went to the hospital to visit Kamijou and Hitomi, and went home to do her homework.
The next day she had begun to repeat this routine, and the other girls became even more worried for her, omitting Kyoko, who begrudgingly agreed to wear the uniform in exchange for copious amounts of food. It was her first day today, since it had taken a day for her paperwork to be processed (not at all unusual for a modern-day magical school), and was greeted warmly by Albireo, who did not strike her as quite all there in the head.
Now, it was lunchtime when Madoka and the crew, plus a vampire and minus Sayaka and Hitomi, sat down to eat the special of the day: Shio Ramen. It was insisted upon by Kyōko, who, by Mami's generous backing, finally had enough money to buy the foods she wanted. Without much coercion, the young heiress had her parents issue the redhead a small allowance, and it was no secret what she was going to spend most of it on.
So Hōmura, Mami, and Madoka stared at the ramen, watching the noodles grow, as Kyōko slurped generous portions down her throat.
It was then that Sayaka decided to grace them with her presence. Next thing anyone knew, she was walking up to their table with her bento box in hand and a wary frown.
"I think I'm ready to learn more," she announced, and sat down without a moment's hesitation. She popped open the lunchbox, scanned their confused faces then dug in. She just had to stuff her mouth full of rice when she started to question them. "So what's this thing about being a God, Madoka?" Sayaka pointed at the pink-haired girl with both light blue chopsticks.
Sayaka was referring to Mami and Kyūbey's insistence upon calling Madoka "Kami-sama". This Madoka picked up on quickly, and sighed once more. It was getting tiring correcting everyone all the time.
"I am NOT a goddess."
"Don't be so modest," said Kyūbey's voice in their minds. He was sitting in the middle of the table, but he had stayed so still the entire morning that everyone chalked him up to a very cute plushie. "Madoka-kami-sama is the strongest Magical Girl in the worl-no, the universe."
Ignoring his adulation, Madoka gave Sayaka an uncharacteristically moody look and scowled for being called 'Kami-sama' again. "It's a long story. I'd rather not say, but if you hadn't been sulking for a week, then I could have explained that to you."
"Fair enough." She stabbed her chopsticks into some more rice. "But after school you gotta show me these Demon things you keep talking about."
"Any more questions?" said Mami, happy to oblige.
"Yeah, don't you think it's a little creepy, even for us magical folk, to think ripping out your soul to become stronger at magic would be a good idea?" She thought for a moment. "Well, it beats ripping it out and then slicing it up to live forever…" Sayaka shivered just thinking about the dark magic it took to accomplish the second option that she menti
For a beat Mami had to think over her question, but then came up with a very…strange answer.
"Souls are just things after all. After it's been ripped out, at least you still have it, right?" Mami paused. "No offense, Sakura-san."
"None taken," said the vampire, still eating.
Madoka and Hōmura, however, were too stunned to say anything. Mami just said from her pretty little lips that she didn't care if her soul was…detached from its body.
How very unlike the blonde veteran Puella Magi…
Well, maybe it was because her parents were there to help her cope?
I must really apologize. The past few months have been hellish. I'm being purposefully blocked from Fanfiction dot net by the parentals, so…yeah. I want to take down OpenDNS. Yup, so I need revenge on David Ulevitch. Wonder if there's a way to bankrupt their company? That would be amazing, right? (Starting to become a little evil, here. Heh.)
So the only way I get to post updates is to go somewhere with public Wi-Fi. Since at the library you can only get to FF dot net with your own computer, I'm doing that. UGH. Censorship SUCKS. I mean, it's everywhere. I hate it and now I have to upload in bulk because of it and make my lovely readers wait longer than necessary. Oh well, hope you all forgive me.
Because of this, I can no longer beta my chapters because….I'm impatient. Also, for all of you who PMed me telling me about the ["I put some random dialog here." Said Mami. ] Problem….thanks. I sort of figured it out I think. Freakin' grammar…
Oh and thanks to whomever updated my TvTropes page! Love ya for life. Special shout out to y'all right here. Please help fill up the WMG section and other places!
If anyone is willing to pay for me to have unblocked internet, I'll be your girlfriend~
SERIOUSLY…I'm considered sort of cute so please consider it. {smiles}