Magical

Context: This is an AU drabble based on the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica, so if you're not familiar with the series, this might be a little weird. In a nutshell, its really horrifying sad Sailor Moon haha

If there was anything Lars had learned from this experience, it was to be very careful in choosing his wish, to think over his words, to make sure it was a wish that was worth the price he'd be paying. Upon staring into the soulless red eyes of the small white cat-like creature as it asked him what he would wish for, his utmost desire seemed to spill right off his lips.

I wish I was never lonely ever again.

God, it just sounded so stupid, so desperate, he thought, as he stared at the lilac colored gem resting in his palm. Its initial glow was dim, and small spots of darkness had sprinkled along its surface. In the past, no matter how much he'd try to get rid of them, rubbing at them with his fingernail, or using his shirt, they remained, seeming to be infused inside the glassy orb.

When he'd made his wish, after making a contract with the strange creature, everything in his life just seemed to get stranger. The following morning, Ronaldo had caught up with him, asking if they could talk, and discuss their tumultuous past, to see if their friendship could perhaps be repaired. Lars was initially excited, thinking this was the first step in his life changing for the better.

But the 'too-good-to-be-true' aspect seemed to stop right there. During the conversation with Ronaldo, Lars had brought up his strange encounter with the cat-thing the other evening, the wish he'd made, and all too quickly, Ronaldo was frantically asking to see the gem Lars had received, and upon seeing it, Ronaldo looked grim.

"You really have no idea what you just did, do you?", he'd asked, voice low.

And just like that, their friendship was forcibly back on track, and Lars found himself being apprentice to a veteran magical person, and soon Ronaldo devoted less time to his computer, and more time to showing Lars the world of magic and fighting wishes.

Lars had complained about the outfit he received upon transformation, not too keen on the fact it contained a skirt, but Ronaldo had teased him, saying it flaunted his figure well, and admitted he liked getting to fight while wearing a dress. Eventually they got used to it. Lars was quick to forget about the dress issue as soon as he discovered his weapon of choice, a sniper rifle that could extend to any size. Ronaldo had insisted he would need to be careful in using it, and that he should have picked something simpler to use, like his own sword and shield.

The veteran magical boy taught Lars how to fight witches, making it through their barriers, using their weapons with utmost skill and knowledge. It impressed Lars, to see his old friend using his 'nerd skills' to take down the creatures of evil and despair, and then collect their grief seeds to restore their gems' magic. It was sort of fascinating to first see Ronaldo's pumpkin orange gem regain its magnificent glow once it was exposed to the grief seed.

After a year of fighting alongside together, they discovered they weren't the only two magical contractees in their city. Their mutual friend Sadie had made a contract sometime before Lars ever did, and never bothered to tell them. After disclosing their status to her, she ended up joining them, and the three worked in tandem to collect grief seeds and restore their magic. Another boy, Kevin, insisted he'd been fighting witches long before Ronaldo, and was more than a little vain, but he ended up joining their witch hunts for a brief amount of time.

Briefly, because during the third group hunt, he'd been too cocky and his mint green gem was shattered by a powerful witch, Lars and Sadie both left to watch in horror as his lifeless body crumpled to the floor of the barrier, all magic attire fading away. Ronaldo watched grimly, but did not seem as shocked as his comrades, and had tiredly told the two to help him carry Kevin's body out of the barrier once the witch had been defeated.

Ronaldo then told the two the important facts about their gems: They contained their souls and their body was a husk to be controlled by them, and they should always be kept safe, so as not to shatter or get lost. He stressed the importance of using the grief seeds to restore their magic, and to never let them become fully tainted with despair.

Lars soon found himself keeping closer with Ronaldo than ever before, invested in keeping his soul gem bright and defeating as many witches as they could. He didn't fully understand the outcome of a gem turning fully dark, and he'd never actually asked Ronaldo. He'd end up learning the hard way almost another year later, when he was late in noticing how disillusioned Sadie had finally become with her wish of getting to do things as she liked without any interference, and her sky blue gem became cloudy and dark.

She had been sitting alone in her home when she began to drown in despair, and like any close friend would, Lars had gone to visit her, to see if she was alright, to ask her if she was going to join them on another witch hunt that night. She'd been skipping them as of recent.

Right as he had entered her basement, that was when he would be the first and only witness to seeing her transformation into something new and horrifying.

Ronaldo would be quick to join Lars in the new barrier as Lars sobbed hysterically for Sadie to come back, screaming at the manifestation her soul had become, a writhing pile of stuffed animals, clothes, trophies, machinery, and skeleton arms, a witch known in the magical world only by the runes 'BARBARA'.

When it came time to take out the witch, Ronaldo did it with no emotion, even as Lars screamed at him not to hurt Sadie. When he collected the grief seed, he'd offered it to Lars, insisting he would need it more than he did.

Sadie hadn't been careful enough, he'd said numbly. That they'd done her a favor by destroying her witch form while it was still new, so there was less suffering.

Lars had asked him how long he'd known about this. How magical girls and boys were destined to become witches.

Ronaldo admitted he'd always known, and that he'd taught himself to be numb to the emotional turmoil it all caused. And then promptly told Lars to use the grief seed to clean his gem before it got any more dark.

Hearing his name getting called out, Lars looked up to see Ronaldo approaching the park bench where he was seated.

"Did the fight go well?"

Ronaldo uncurled his closed hand, revealing a grief seed, "Does this answer your question? Go ahead and take it."

"Thanks," Lars mumbled, exposing it to his tainted gem, hardly reacting as it regained its violet shine. He stretched his legs, "I'll come on the next hunt."

"Sounds like a plan," Ronaldo sighed, "Want to hoof it to the arcade before it closes?"

"Maybe in a bit," he sighed, and stared at his soul gem, chewing on a thumbnail, "Do you ever think it's all gonna be over someday?"

"What do you mean?"

"That one day we'll just...stop this whole magic thing, and be able to do whatever we want and not worry about getting killed?"

"I don't know," Ronaldo sighed, "Even with all my years of this...I don't know."

"...Do you ever think about what's gonna happen if we...uh...well...if we lose all our magic and..."

"End up like Sadie?", Ronaldo asked blankly.

"...yeah," Lars mumbled. It had been three years since they lost her, and it still made his heart ache painfully. He looked at Ronaldo worriedly, "I don't want to become a witch."

"None of us do," Ronaldo sighed, fixing his glasses, "And so long as we work together, and keep each other safe...hopefully we never will have to become one. But I need you to promise me something; if I become a witch, I want you to be the one to take me out, understood? Don't hold back."

Swallowing hard, Lars mumbled, "Only if you promise the same." He figured that with how hard it was to keep his emotions in check, he'd end up transforming first, and had a feeling that Ronaldo would probably react with little emotion as he slayed him, judging by how empty he was for Sadie, Kevin, and every other witch they'd come across.

He wanted to go back in time to re-do his wish, to wish for Ronaldo to never have made that contract. He was sad to see how numb Ronaldo had become to feeling, his excitement muted. The teen insisted it was to prevent himself from falling to despair, but Lars wondered if it was really doing much to help.

"You never told me what your wish was," Lars then spoke up.

"It was nothing important," Ronaldo insisted, "I don't even think it came true."

"That's too bad," Lars sighed, and reached for a hand to hold.

"What about your wish. Did it come true?"

Giving a small, but genuine smile, Lars had looked him in the eye, "Yeah. It did."