"All right Kamina-san, one step at a time." Mami stated while holding an arm around Kamina. She and Kyoko were helping him out of his still enlarged Gurren. They managed to get him out of the giant mecha, but still had to help him on his feet. Sayaka had run off somewhere with his Soul Drill, meaning Kamina had to once again push himself just to stand up.
"Damn…idiot…" He muttered. "She ran off…with my…Soul Drill!" Kamina knew he could recover a portion of his strength without the drill, but that was going to take some time. But that didn't concern him right now. What was more important was finding out where the hell Sayaka ran off to! "Gotta…find her…or else!"
"I don't get it, how the hell can you move without your Soul Gem?" Kyoko asked with a very confused look on her face. "Didn't Kyubey turn you into a zombie too?"
"That fuzzball…can't take… all of my…fighting spirit!" Kamina spat out as he struggled to keep walking. He pushed onwards with each step being farther than the last. He made a mental note to brace himself before he thought something like this would happen again. Mami looked at him with an admirable smile. Seeing Kamina continue to fight to move on like that was something she really looked up to. He truly was ten times the role model than she could ever hope to be. But she didn't let that bother her. Right now her friend was suffering and needed her help!
"Kyoko-san!" Mami cried out to her. "Go with Madoka-san and try and find Sayaka-san! I'll stay here and help Kamina-san!" Kyoko nodded and ran off alongside Madoka. She had to admit it was funny, working together with Mami again despite all the things she said to her in the past. It was like it almost never happened. But not letting that get to her, she ran off with Madoka in the direction where Sayaka had run off with Lagann.
"Damn it…" Kamina said as he continued to struggle to walk. "I didn't think…she would go…that crazy…" Mami sighed as she helped him as they approached the stairs that led out of the construction site. She looked back in the direction where Kyoko and Madoka ran off.
"Please Sayaka…stay safe."
Sayaka had arrived to a nearby bus stop with a shelter. It had begun to rain, so she parked Lagann and sat on a bench inside the shelter. She found herself to be so exhausted that sitting up straight was a difficult task for her. She was so out of it that she didn't notice Kyoko and Madoka arriving before her.
"You should go." Kyoko turned to Madoka. "If anyone can help her, it's you." Kyoko gave Madoka a look of sympathy that she didn't know Kyoko had. "Please. Don't let her turn out like me." Before Madoka had the chance to ask what she meant, Kyoko had quickly run off and wall-jumped to the top of a building. Madoka turned around and saw her exhausted friend lying down. She wasn't sleeping, so Madoka walked over and helped her sit up and let Sayaka lean on her shoulder.
"Sayaka-chan…Lagann and that Soul Drill belong to Kamina-san…why did you run off with it?" She asked as softly as she could. Sayaka turned her head and looked at her with cold emotionless eyes.
"I guess I wasn't thinking...like I never do…" She replied, showing no emotion in her voice. Madoka had never seen her best friend act so cold and distant before. She was scared, but tried to be strong to comfort her.
"Sayaka-chan, that way of fighting back there…it really wasn't good." Madoka sighed. She had feared the way her friend suddenly changed in front of her. Seeing her in Gurren Lagann going berserk made her look like a monster to her. Unfortunately, Sayaka didn't care about Madoka's words. She took out her Soul Gem.
"Kyosuke is in love with Hitomi now." Sayaka stated. "Now all I can do now is fight witches. They're the only thing left for me in this world." She said this as she clutched her Soul Gem as close to her as possible.
"That's not true! There's Mami-san, Kamina-san, me, and I bet even Kyoko-san cares for you!" Madoka quickly replied while raising her voice a bit, but in a desperate sad tone. She was now starting to get really worried. Homura had told her that she possessed the fatal flaws for being a magical girl. The results of those flaws were starting to be shown to her.
"…They only care because like me, they're dead." She gazed at her Soul Gem. "If they weren't magical girls and Kamina wasn't a magical boy, they wouldn't care because they'd be alive." Her gaze then shifted to the floor and away from Madoka. She tried as hard as she could to avoid eye-contact with her. "You're the only one left."
"Sayaka-chan…please…I just want to make you happy again." Madoka whimpered. She had no idea what she was supposed to say anymore. At this point she was willing to do anything. Anything except for the next thing Sayaka stated.
"Then join us." Sayaka stated. Madoka's eyes widened. "Kyubey says that you have a lot of potential for becoming a magical girl. You could kill off any witch easily. We wouldn't even need Gurren Lagann. So what's it going to be Madoka?" She picked her head up and gave Madoka a cold barren stare that she had never seen from her before. "Are we all going to keep suffer in your place?" Madoka couldn't say anything at that point as tears formed in her eyes. The amount of fear that her best friend had put in her was too much for her to even form words. Sayaka turned her back on her. "I should have known. To think you had the nerve to talk like you cared when you can't even begin to realize our suffering!" She opened the doors of the shelter and began walking out. "Don't even think about following me." She bluntly stated as Madoka called out to her one last time.
"Sayaka-chan…you're the only one who is suffering. I just want to help…" Madoka thought to herself as she started whimpering. She sat there crying for a few minutes before she realized something. She looked to her right and remembered Lagann sitting there, parked in the rain. Madoka was about to hop inside and go and find Mami and Kamina, when she stopped to look at Lagann's face. The machine simply stared back at her. Madoka remembered seeing Mami close to her death before that thing came barrelling in to save her. Seeing it on top of Gurren confused her at first, but when she took a long look at it back in the labyrinth before Mami's rescue, something about just screamed "HOPE!" Focusing her attention back on the task at hand, she hopped inside the mecha and walked off towards Mami's apartment.
"Please Kamina-san." Madoka said to herself. "Please help Sayaka."
"Yeesh kid. Could you have gotten a creepier room?" Kamina asked. After Madoka returned his Soul Drill to him, he and Mami took Madoka home. As they walked back to Mami's apartment, Homura had appeared before them. She told them that they had information about Walpurgisnacht that they should know about. When they got to Homura's apartment, Kamina was slightly less than chilled out. There were different colored sofa stools to sit on. There were strange flat boxes or as Mami called them "monitors" on the wall that showed various different pictures. The most common one in the room was of what looked like some upside down…thing with giant gears on its butt. Other pictures showed maps and pictures of strange shadows as well. Candles were lit alongside the windows. But the creepiest part about the room was the fact that everything else was white. Nothing else but that barren color everywhere. "You could get lost in a room like this!" Homura ignored him and sat down. Kyoko was in the room as well. She sat down and ate some noodles from a bowl.
"So. I called you all here to give you information about Walpurgisnacht." Homura stated. She laid out a map on the table and pointed to a spot on it. "First, it will descend somewhere around that area. As you know it is the most powerful witch. Unlike the other witches, it does not need a labyrinth to hide in. That's how great its power is." Kamina grinned at that.
"Ohhhh! So this one's not afraid to show itself huh?" Kamina whipped out his glasses and put them over his eyes. "Man I can't wait to fight something with an actual backbone this time!" Homura turned and looked at him.
"You'd best not get too excited." She bluntly stated. "Walpurgisnacht's power is not something to underestimate. Even with your so-called "Gurren Lagann", we will be easily defeated if we let our guards down.
"I'm not saying to let our guards down kid! I just think we should psyche ourselves up a bit more! This is a fight that'll prove how strong we are!" Kamina replied, still grinning. Homura turned away and focused her attention on the map.
"Not that we should all be trusting each-other or anything, but how the hell do you know all this stuff about Walpurgisnacht?" Kyoko asked, sipping some more noodles. Kamina and Mami looked confused at that. Yeah this girl was a mystery, but it seemed pretty clear that taking down this Walpurgisnacht was a priority for her. As far as Kamina was concerned, kicking that thing's ass was all that mattered. He felt like he could at least trust this kid to help out with that. But then again, it was weird how she knew all this information about this witch. Her saying she got the information from statistics made it even more weird.
"Homura." Mami added. "We want to defeat this witch if it is that much of a threat to this city. But if we're going to work together, you should open up more and give us more information on how you've figured this out."
"That would be something I would like to know as well Homura Akemi." Came a familiar voice. Everyone in the room turned to find Kyubey sitting before them. Kamina's smile quickly turned into an angry frown as he unsheathed his sword and pointed it at him. Kyoko did the same and whipped out her spear.
"You've got guts, thinking you can just waltz up to the mighty Kamina after all the trash you put these people through!" Kamina shouted. He had had enough of this fuzzball at this point.
"Oh dear. It seems that I am not welcome around you people." The tiny creature replied, tilting its head.
"You're not welcome around ANY member of Team Dai-Gurren!" Kamina shot back. "Now listen up! Our fighting spirit is going to be the thing that takes that big-ass witch down! I Kamina will no longer tolerate any more of you dampening it! If you know what's good for you, you'd turn tail and get the hell out of our sight!"
"Do what he says Kyubey." Mami replied with a stern expression on her face. It was still hard to believe that she called that thing her friend. "Leave. Now."
"I only wanted to inform you that Sayaka is going to be causing you some trouble in the near-future." Kyubey responded, earning questioning looks from everyone minus Homura. "She is succumbing to madness and despair at an incredibly fast rate. You have more to worry about her than you do Walpurgisnacht."
"YOU'VE got more to worry about my sword slicing through you than being here right now!" Kamina shot back, almost unable to contain his rage. "Now scram before I give this white floor a new shade of red!" Mami gulped. Kamina was certainly not a man to make angry if you knew what was good for you. She had seen him frustrated and suspicious before, but this was the first time she saw him truly angry. The little cat-rabbit mixture slowly turned around and left, but not before uttering one thing.
"A third party has become aware of recent events that have taken place because of your arrival Kamina. With them, things are bound to get more interesting for this city." With that, the creature hopped off into the dark of the night. That last line got a confused look out of everyone in the room.
"The heck does he mean by third party?" Kyoko asked.
"Hell if I know!" Kamina shot back. "But at this point I don't give a damn what that fuzzball says. We need to focus our fighting spirit on that big-ass witch!" Kamina turned around and pointed to the pictures on the wall to illustrate his point.
"What about Sayaka?" Mami asked. "We can't just leave her alone after…that incident." Mami shuddered at Sayaka's rage from inside the mecha that night.
"Don't you worry about her." Kamina replied, smiling at Mami. "Trust me, tomorrow, we're gonna find her and set her straight! Right now her mind is nothing more than a giant mess. Once we fix that, we can then take down that big-ass witch!" He pointed his finger at Walpurgisnacht on the wall. Seeing his rage transform into bravado and bravery made her put more faith in Kamina. After that, everyone decided that it would be best to leave for the night. Homura stared at Kamina as he left along with Mami.
"You can't save Sayaka." She thought to herself. "You have yet to see the true darkness of being a magical girl." As she thought this, another thought struck her mind. What did Kyubey mean by a third party, and what did it have to do with Kamina? She knew for a fact that Kyubey has never worked together with someone to scheme something before. She sighed to herself as she figured she wouldn't know the answer to that question anytime soon. She knew about Kamina as much as Kamina knew about her. They were both enigmas to each other.
Sayaka didn't bother returning home that night. She spent the night outside in the cold. But she didn't feel the cold. Kyubey told her all she needed to do was detach herself and she would no longer feel pain. She didn't want to be near anyone she knew. She avoided everyone throughout the day while cursing herself for saying those things to Madoka. She didn't even bother to eat anything that day. What did a dead person need to thrive on? No. She was a magical girl now and her only concern was with fighting witches. All day she sat alone by herself in a forest before sunset came down. Walking out of the forest, she found herself by a river, and she saw the last thing she wanted to see.
Kyosuke was sitting with Hitomi on a bench, talking about things and smiling at each other. Sayaka watched every second of them sitting together. At one point Sayaka had regretted saving Hitomi from the witch. But then she realized what a failure she was as an ally of justice for thinking that. She ran off as far away from them as possible. She didn't even know where she was going anymore. She was in a daze as she continued to walk on out of the forest, and through the city until arriving at a tall old empty building. Images of her mental breakdown from last night along with her rejecting Madoka's help. She kneeled down as tears formed in her eyes.
"I really am…so stupid…" She muttered to herself.
"Indeed you are."
"W-who said that?!" Sayaka cried out. She desperately looked around, wondering where that voice came from. There wasn't a single person in the dark area around her. "Come out! Where are you?!"
"You're entire purpose for existing has now vanished. Now you wander blindly not knowing of what goes on around you." Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone or something had appeared in front of her. A dark humanoid shaped being with giant white eyes that looked like were drawn with chalk was standing before her. Assuming it was a familiar, she instantly transformed and attacked it. However her cutlass did no damage to the being. "You have grown drunk on your non-organic Spiral power and are now suffering the consequences!" The deep voice yelled.
"SHUT UP!" Sayaka screamed as she took another slash at the being with her cutlass, it disappeared and reappeared behind her as she fell to the ground.
"But you should feel grateful. Your despair and suffering bring this universe everlasting prosperity! Such is the fate of those who make a contract with an Incubator!" The voice got even louder.
"What the hell…are you talking about?" Sayaka muttered as she looked up at the strange monster.
"The very instant you made your contract is the instant you became a cog in an eternal machine that sustains the balance of this universe! Now you have reached its final stage!"
Having had enough of this monster's words, Sayaka continued to swing at it over and over again. She continued to scream and slash, not believing its words. Not wanting to believe its words! But no matter how much she swung at the being, it remained there. The being chuckled which slowly turned into a monstrous laugh as it watched her futile efforts.
"That's correct! Continue to wander aimlessly! Plunge into the never-ending abyss of despair! DISAPPEAR AND NO LONGER BE SIGNIFICANT TO THIS UNIVERSE!"
Sayaka's slashes ended up getting slower and slower, until she could no longer see the point in it anymore. Her magical girl form faded away as she collapsed on the ground, sobbing hysterically, she continued to sob even after the mysterious being faded away. Nothing mattered anymore. Her head remained faced towards the ground as her Soul Gem continued to fill with darkness, adding to the green light that was present in it. It all became clear to her as her sobs died down. Everything she had done was a mistake. Her friends tried to help her but she ignored them. Those thoughts continued to ring through her head, causing her not to notice Kamina, Mami, and Kyoko running up to her in Lagann.
"Finally we found you!" Kamina stated. He wasn't smiling, but his tone wasn't angry or demeaning at all. "Listen kid, you need to remember what I said about having guts and a cool head! Having lots of fighting spirit does not mean losing control of yourself!" Kyoko and Mami walked over to her.
"How long are ya planning on being so stubborn kid?" She said as she helped Sayaka up to her feet. Sayaka's head remained faced towards the ground.
"We looked all over for you!" Mami added. "Madoka is probably very worried about you right now. We should go back to my apartment." She continued as she and Kyoko walked Sayaka over to Lagann.
"…I'm sorry for making you guys look for me." She stated, no emotion once again filling her voice. Everyone looked at her in confusion. "You were right Kyoko…for all the happiness you wish on someone, an equal amount of despair will come down on you."
"Where the hell is that coming from kid? That doesn't sound like you!" Kamina yelled while bewildered. "Are you forgetting why you became a magical girl in the first place?" He continued. "If you love your friend so much then you should be out fighting! Not believing in crazy things like that! Didn't I tell you to pick a path you believed in?!"
"I did. I realize now…I can't go down that path anymore…" Sayaka muttered. She pushed herself off of Mami and Kyoko. "For every person I saved…the more my heart filled with hatred…thanks to that…I hurt my closest friend." She emotionlessly stated as she brought out her Soul Gem.
"Sayaka?!" Kyoko cried out. "Why didn't you-"
"Blondie! Get a Grief Seed!" Kamina shouted, interrupting her. Mami reached into her pocket and gave one to Sayaka. She swatted it away like a fly. Kamina growled as he grabbed Sayaka by the shoulders. "Look around you dammit! Can't you see that there are people trying to help you out here?!"
"Kamina…thanks for helping us out. You really saved us. But…I guess I couldn't save myself." Sayaka stated as she looked up. Kamina looked at the expression on her face and his jaw dropped in shock.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" He uttered out. "You're not seriously thinking about stopping are you?! The instant you give up, no matter what happens its over! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
"I was stupid…so stupid."
At that moment, everything around them exploded. The darkness in Sayaka's Soul Gem burst out with a massive amount of force. Kamina, Mami, and Kyoko were blown away with Lagann. The darkness continued to emanate from Sayaka's Soul Gem, threatening to crack it. However, the green energy present in her Soul Gem held it together as dark images appeared around the area she was in. Nonetheless, Sayaka slipped into unconsciousness as the area around her distorted. Her body went limp as a now completely gray Soul Gem fell beside her.
"SAYAKA NOOOOOOOO!" Kyoko screamed as she was blown away along with Kamina and Mami.
"We didn't expect you to do that, Anti-Spiral." The Incubators stated as the black being arrived in the infinite space.
"We only acted in best interest of this universe Incubators." The Anti-Spiral replied. "Besides, what we Anti-Spiral seek is humanity's complete and utter despair." The black entity continued as it watched the scene unfold.
"Evolution into a witch is the inevitable fate of a magical girl." The Incubators responded. "She would have fallen into despair eventually. As unnecessary as it was for you to speed up the process, it has certainly allowed us to gain a quicker profit." The Anti-Spiral turned to the Incubators and frowned.
"Unfortunately, you did not heed our warnings about the presence of the Spiral life-form and instead tried to harvest him. Something has changed in your system of non-organic Spiral life-forms due to a fatal flaw you overlooked because of that."
"And that would be?"
Nothing. That's what surrounded her. There was not a lot of space to move. The ground she felt dirty and rough. She couldn't even stand up. All she could do was crawl. The last thing she remembered was looking at Kamina's angry face. She looked around as one question flew through her mind.
Where…am I?