Disclaimer: I don't own Warhammer 40k or Puella Magi Madoka Magica
If there was one thing that science fiction movies and books had failed to mention during her childhood, it was just how rough entering a planet's atmosphere could be in a landing vehicle.
"Uuuhhh…"
Madoka was glad that she was consigned to a wheelchair, with someone else in charge of where she was going, because in that moment, all she could really do was close her eyes and languish in her seat as wave after wave of sick feelings washed over her.
"Don't worry." Mami offered, her voice coming from somewhere nearby that the girl couldn't bring herself to look towards. "Just focus on keeping your breathing steady. Nobody's really prepared for their first landing. You'll get used to it after a while."
She gave a light groan in response, silently praying that wouldn't be the case. She could die happy if she never had to experience that kind of turbulence ever again.
"Lady Inquisitor." Gilliam interrupted. Madoka could feel his grip in her chair tighten as he readied himself. "It seems we have company."
Something in his tone caused the girl in his care to crack one eye open questioningly. As far as Madoka knew, they were expected to rendezvous with Uzzaiel's forces, who had arrived before them to speed up the process of introduction and explain their situation. The soldiers approaching them across the landing pad however, were a far cry from the red robed disciples of the Machine Cult.
"Tempestus Scions." Mami muttered, standing just a bit straighter next to her seated charge. "I suppose the Magos managed to draw the eye of an Inquisitor already."
In a way, the group of black armored soldiers reminded Madoka of the Kasrkin that she'd seen in action during the daemonic threat. The way they carried themselves, and the weapons they held, both gave her a subtle tingling of warning in the back of her mind that she'd come to recognize as danger. Like the Cadians, they appeared to be well above the basic guardsmen and armsmen she'd been exposed to.
However, unlike the Kasrkin, there was a distinct air of distance between these men and those around them. Where the Cadians had held themselves with a practiced air of camaraderie with one another, almost like a living organism, the squad of Scions appeared far closer to a machine. Ever step was quick, efficient, and held in such stiff discipline that it almost made Madoka's own muscles sore just to watch.
In just a few moments, the Stormtroopers drew up to the arriving forces, forming a small semicircle around the Inquisitor's group. Though their postures weren't aggressive or threatening, Madoka found her previous discomfort quickly replaced by a sense of lingering unease. Something was going on, and she hadn't the slightest idea what it was.
After a brief pause, one of the men spoke up.
"Inquisitor Mami Tomoe. Ordo Malleus." He addressed, his voice echoing from behind his helmet. "Your presence has been expected."
She blinked once, settling on a neutral, if guarded, smile in response.
"So I see." The blonde said, looking over the assorted soldiers with a modest curiosity. "I imagine that Magos Uzzaiel must have worked quickly to arrange a greeting such as this so soon after his own arrival."
Though the man's expressionless helmet didn't give any indication of what was going on in his mind, Madoka couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about him. Off about all of them.
"We've met with the Magos." He confirmed. "However, that isn't what I was referring to."
"Oh? Did one of our messages manage to make it through without our knowledge?" Mami questioned.
The lead Scion shook his head.
"I think it best if you were to come with me." He stated. "There will be time for discussion later, but that will come after the Inquisitor has met with you. I believe that there are two missing from your group? Both young women. One by the name of Kyoko Sakura, and the other known as Sayaka Miki."
Madoka's breath caught in surprise, her mouth falling half open before she managed to catch and close it again. The noise of those working through the landing zone had faded into the background, becoming little more than static as Mami's eye's narrowed ever so slightly.
"And how exactly…" She breathed, her voice held in a carefully controlled tone. "…would you happen to know something like that…?"
"As I said, everything will be explained after you've met with Inquisitor Heidric. Now, where are your associates?"
"Inquisitor Heidric?" She questioned, one hand rising to her chin. "Inquisitor Heidric of the Ordo Hereticus?"
"That is correct."
Madoka looked to the blonde questioningly, but it seemed that her eyes were too far away to notice. Though Mami gave little outward signs of a reaction, the girl had spent enough time around her to recognize some of her subtler displays. At present, she looked thoroughly perturbed by the news.
Several moments passed in silence before she spoke up again.
"I cannot vouch for Kyoko Sakura's location." She said evenly, choosing, for reasons Madoka could only guess at, not to pursue the matter any further. "She's supposedly going to be landing soon, but I'm unable to say for certain when she plans on arriving. Sayaka Miki should be touching down at any moment. She and her kind were in the same batch of landers as we were. I trust that whatever sources you're using are aware of her… condition?"
"If you are referring to the fact that she's an Eldar Harlequin, then yes." The Stormtrooper replied, keeping his voice down enough that they wouldn't be overheard. "Now, if I might make a suggestion, I would ask that you follow me. My men will wait to meet with the others, but it is important that you meet with the Inquisitor as soon as possible."
Mami spared a glance towards Madoka and Gilliam, both of whom looked to her for an answer to the situation. After several seconds of contemplation, she nodded.
"Very well." She conceded. "I would like to see where Heidric is getting all this information from."
"Is he dangerous?"
It was difficult to keep her voice down inside the massive structure they'd found themselves in, but Madoka couldn't leave her thoughts be until later. Compared to outside, amidst the din and clamor of those docking and unloading, the interior building was almost as silent as the grave, disturbed only by the ambient noise of shuffling robes and the scratching of paper as scribes of some sort seemed to be recording every passing individual.
Mami didn't answer her question at first. It was only the brief shifting in her posture that let Madoka know she'd heard at all. Right when she was starting to assume that the blonde had decided to ignore the inquiry, she spoke up.
"All members of the Ordos are dangerous." She replied softly. "I would assume the same is true of Heidric."
"When that man said his name… you sounded like you'd met him before. Do you know each other?"
"If I may, Lady Inquisitor." Gilliam offered, pulling them closer to one side while still following the path of their obsidian guide. "I'm am also somewhat curios. I've not heard the name Heidric until now."
"It's a long story, and I don't know him personally." Mami said. "But his mentor has been called into question in the past. I know that Octavian came into conflict with them on at least one occasion prior to my apprenticeship."
"That is… inconvenient." The Commissar concluded, putting words to the lump in Madoka's throat. "Do you know if he is still an enemy?"
"If I knew for certain, we wouldn't be walking in like this." She offered. "This whole situation feels strange."
Before long, the four of them arrived at at a seemingly bare and unremarkable passageway, blocked off by a simple wooden door. Compared to the rest of the militant and imposing architecture, it looked downright trivial.
"In here." The Scion prompted, stepping to one side. "The Magos and the Inquisitor are already waiting inside. I will return with the xenos as soon as I am able."
"Unharmed." Mami specified, causing him to pause in his actions.
"…I will return with the xenos, unharmed, as soon as I am able." He corrected.
And without another word, he departed, leaving the trio to their own devices. Madoka couldn't help a glance over her shoulder to watch him go, until he disappeared into the sparse throng of people moving through the complex.
"Shall we proceed?" Gilliam asked, turning to Mami for guidance.
"It would appear to be the only option." She said, nodding towards the door. "Even if we felt the need to turn back, he almost certainly has sentries stationed at regular intervals to track out movements and report back in the event we try to flee."
"How do you know that?" Madoka asked, suddenly wishing she'd been paying more attention to those they'd passed on their way here.
"Because." The blonde replied with a weary smile. "It's what I would do in his position."
"Oh…" There wasn't much else she could say to that. Taking her lack of response as a cue, Mami stepped forwards, leading them as she pushed through the wooden doorway. Gilliam followed behind at a respectful distance, pushing Madoka's wheelchair along as he went.
She wasn't quite ready for what they were met with upon entry.
"-have told you already, my armor is in fine working condition. I don't need-"
"The servos are rusted through clear neglect, it is suffering from numerous structural damages, and I am reading that its inner workings are operating at suboptimal efficiency. I must insist you let me remove and repair it for you."
"I have not been neglecting anything, I've merely had more important things to focus on. The damage is topical, battle scars, nothing more. This armor is ancient. It isn't capable of functioning at optimal efficiency any longer. And I most certainly will not be removing it at a time like…"
It was only then that the room's occupants looked up to find they were no longer alone.
"…This."
If Madoka hadn't known better, she might have thought she was watching a mugging. Far from the sinister figure of danger that she'd been expecting, Inquisitor Heidric looked more like he was the one under threat, nearly surrounded by the Skitarii warriors under Uzzaiel's command.
The red-robed machine cultists had just about backed the man into a corner, lurking on all sides like silent vultures while their leader pushed himself uncomfortably close to the object of his attentions.
For his part, Heidric still managed to cut a powerful figure, even while being practically smothered under the attentions of his guests. His entire body, short of his head, was wreathed in a massive suit of armor which looked as though it were designed more for a giant than a man. Still, even with the dirtied silver plating augmenting his frame, he only just came up to the Magos' eye level. A fact he appeared to be painfully aware of at the moment.
After a brief, exceedingly awkward silence, Mami decided to speak up.
"Are we… interrupting?" She ventured, raising an eyebrow.
"Inquisitor Tomoe. Impeccable timing." Uzzaiel said, keeping his gaze fixed firmly on the suit of battle-worn armor. "Perhaps the word of another member of the Ordos may hold more sway. I was just discussing with Inquisitor Heidric here that-"
"There is no discussion, and I've made myself very clear." He interrupted, meeting the unflinching optical sensors of the Magos with an even stare. "I will not be removing my armor, and that is final. Now, please, be seated so that we may proceed."
The two exchanged looks for several more moments before Uzzaiel relented, shifting back among his men and standing near the table that dominated the center of the room. The other Mechanicus soldiers arranged themselves around him in near perfect synchronization, much to the relief of the beleaguered Inquisitor.
"Thank you, Magos." He breathed, shifting his frame away from the wall. "Now then."
Madoka found herself sitting up straighter as Heidric faced them. A mess of sandy brown hair fell across thick features that had clearly seen better days, and though his deceptively frail facial structure contrasted with the battle armor he wore, the intensity of his gaze was none the lesser for it.
"Mami Tomoe." He addressed. "It's been quite some time since I'd last seen you."
"Mordin Heidric." She replied. "I could say the same."
"How is your master? Is the old man still hanging on?" He questioned, a touch of a smile edging at his features.
"The last I heard, he was in good health." Mami answered. "What of Bardeos?"
Though her response appeared innocent enough, Madoka picked up on a slight edge to it that she didn't quite understand. Heidric merely chuckled lightly.
"Alive, supposedly." He said. "And I'm reasonably confident that you and yours would still consider him a heretic, but I would ask that you refrain from passing any problematic judgments at a time like this."
"No judgment is problematic." Mami responded coolly. "They are either just or unjust."
"True enough. But I'm sure you can see the problem with pursuing grudges right now. After all, the fact that you're here before me is proof enough that you've seen the threat looming on the horizon, is it not?"
He paused, taking in her lack of a reaction before going on.
"I'm not here to make an enemy of you, miss Tomoe." He assured. "I am here to aid, and ask only that you extend the same towards me in this time of trial."
Though the somewhat guarded air in her posture didn't disappear entirely, neither did she outright dismiss his assertion. After regarding him briefly, she folded her arms, relaxing her stance just enough to make it clear she wasn't going to push the issue further.
"If that's the case, and after the things I've faced up unto this point, I would hope it is…" She began. "Then I'll need you to answer some questions I find myself perplexed by. Such as, how is it that you knew we were coming?"
Heidric took the opportunity to step away from the wall, gesturing for Mami to take a seat. A move which she chose to ignore, leaving Madoka as the only person in the room actually sitting.
"To answer that, let me pose my own question." He responded. "Did you think that you were the only ones?"
Mami raised an eyebrow.
"And just what do you mean by that?"
"I think you know exactly what I mean, Lady Tomoe." He said, taking a step forwards. Now, standing in the center of the room as he was, Madoka couldn't help but notice that his massively augmented frame was far more domineering than she'd initially suspected. "I mean; did you think that you girls were the only ones with links to her world?"
The statement brought an involuntary gasp from Madoka, one which she immediately wished she could snatch back upon seeing the creeping edges of his mouth work their way upwards. Her mind immediately shot into overdrive, trying to make sense of this information. She knew for certain that he wasn't anyone close to her. Not family, none of her teachers looked anything like him…
Had she happened across his double while just going about her daily routine without knowing it? Surely that couldn't be the case. Her wish had been a chance to save her friends. There's no way that a complete stranger could have been dragged in, right?
Right…?
"Inquisitor Heidric, I strongly suggest that you exercise caution when you speak." Mami warned, her voice as cold as ice. Behind her, Madoka felt Gilliam's posture loosen, as his hand moved ever so subtly closer to the weapon at his hip.
"Are you worried that I might be spilling your secrets Inquisitor Tomoe?" Heidric questioned, glancing towards Magos Uzzaiel, who hadn't moved since the start of their conversation. "Then rest assured, nothing I'm going to say is news to those lot. I've already filled them in on the strange circumstances surrounding your impossible girl."
For a moment, Mami appeared as though she'd been struck, her golden eyes flicking towards the Magos, and back to the man standing opposite her, before all expression fled from her face like deer before a landslide.
"I see." She said. The sheer simplicity of those words sent a chill up Madoka's spine, causing her heart rate to increase noticeably as the two Inquisitors stared one another down. "May I ask, why you thought it crucial to share such delicate information to one who has no connection to the Ordos, and whom you've only just become acquainted with?"
"Simple." He said, oddly cheerful despite the room's atmosphere having dropped to frigid levels. "She wanted me to spread the word."
Before anyone could voice the obvious question, his armored hand rose to his earpiece, showing surprising dexterity despite the enormous size.
"Send her in." He ordered.
In the den of shadows, the night will find them…
In the heart of madness, her light shall blind them…
A phantom dagger plunged itself into Madoka's chest. A fiery, iron, pain burning its way through her blood. For reasons she wasn't entirely certain of, she found herself swiveling around in her wheelchair to face the door. An action which served to aggravate her old wounds.
The child of death, with guns in hand…
The flower of youth, in her final stand…
The rose of war, a boundless flame…
The fallen soul, whose love is to blame…
She could feel something approaching. The unmistakable tinge at the edge of her mind that she'd come to associate with Psykers. This one, however, was far different from those she'd come across in the past. Where as the Maximillian and Tseranis had been relatively controlled in their powers, this was wild and feral, like a rabid dog ripping at the edges of its leash while its master clung desperately to the reigns.
In the storm, the cage we've made…
Will haunt us till the debt is paid…
A dream from which we cannot wake…
All that lives to hold at stake…
A soul of dark, a soul of light…
Only one may brave the night…
The psychic presence flared, detecting her presence and rearing back as though to strike out at her. Rather than bite, Madoka felt it snap back into itself, curling together as tightly as possible at the barest touch of her mind. As the feeling of the source drew nearer, the Psyker's powers seemed to shrink, pulling itself closer and closer like an animal trying to hide under a rock.
A billion wrongs, and a billion more…
The doors creaked open, revealing several more black-armored Stormtroopers escorting the source of the disturbance she felt.
"For this is the world of eternal war…"
The knife was gone. In it's place, a chilling hand clutched at Madoka's heart. With each breath she drew, it closed tighter and tighter, choking the lifeblood from her veins. All because she knew, with absolute certainty, that what she was looking at wasn't meant to be.
In many ways, the girl who'd been brought in was very similar to Maximillian. Just as he'd been adorned in plain, simplistic robes, so too did she appear in a similar garb. The sparse iconography bore different symbols to those held by the elderly man, but the general shape and material seemed to be the same. Even the staff she leaned on was near identical, ending in the same double headed eagle, though in noticeably better condition.
It wasn't her dress, but her features. Something that everyone present had noticed. Something that silenced the room as assuredly as a gunshot.
The same, thin, delicate fingers that Madoka knew so very well. The same childish, features, unmistakable despite the edge of malnutrition that had stolen its youth. Even her hair. Nowhere else in her ventures through this world had she seen hair like this. The only thing that was different was the sash that had been tied about her eyes, effectively blinding the girl.
"Now, going by your expressions, I would hope that you know exactly who this is." Heidric spoke, calmly strolling up to the side of the girl who was as unsteady on her feet as a newborn fawn. "But I do believe in maintaining formalities."
"Please, allow me to introduce miss Madoka Kaname, Sanctioned Psyker in the service of the Ordo Hereticus."
"Troupe Master? Is something the matter?" Tseranis asked, looking to the Athair who sat opposite him. The lander bucked beneath them, on the final leg of its journey towards the planet's surface.
Navarre, strangely enough, had been silent and contemplative during the entire journey.
"You spoke with her, didn't you?"
The question was not a surprise. Not really. The Warlock knew that he might have been overstepping his bounds by interfering directly with the girl, but it had felt necessary at the time.
"Yes." He replied, going no further into the matter.
"Tseranis." Navarre breathed, almost sadly. "Poor, simple minded Tseranis. Is there but one lens through which you can see this world?"
"And, should my perspective be skewed, whom do we have to blame for that?" He replied, meeting his master's gaze. He knew what was coming, but he still felt the need to establish his own views on the subject.
"Have you never treated a venomous bite, dear Warlock?" The Athair questioned. "The last thing you wish to do in such a situation is to frighten the victim. An increased pulse, a touch of adrenaline, a rush of fear, all of this leads to the poison spreading further, faster, and more effectively."
He leaned forwards in his seat, his movements far more subdued than Tseranis was used to seeing from the normally mischievous Harlequin.
"Why did you feel the need to spread her poison?"
"Was I meant to let it fester, unseen?" He replied. "Too little awareness of one's own predicament is as lethal a killer as too much. More so even, some would argue."
"On an individual level, perhaps." Navarre said. "But there is much more than an individual at stake here, isn't there? You realize how powerful the birth of this new goddess could be were she to drown in her despair, don't you?"
"I am aware."
"Then you also know pressuring her with the knowledge of her impending ruin will only hasten the rate at which she decays."
"Would you prefer I let her live in ignorance?" He asked, rather than address the issue.
"There is an old human saying. 'Ignorance is bliss'. I think it rather fitting for this moment, don't you?"
"I care little for Mon-Keigh adages."
"Then care for the sanctity of your soul instead." Navarre finished, his tone decisive and brokering no argument. "You are not to take any action which could further damage her frail standing. Walpurgisnacht is proving trouble enough. We cannot afford to unleash the full might of the supreme Witch upon this galaxy."
Tseranis was silent for a long while, rolling with the jostling turbulence of the human contraption with as much dignity as could be afforded to one made to endure such a machine.
"And what of her…?" He asked at last, nodding towards the far end of the lander. There sat Sayaka, near doubled over, no doubt suffering from the journey the worst of any of them.
"You leave her difficulties to me." Navarre declared. "I will see to it that she remains with us for as long as possible."
"Pardon my skepticism Athair…" The Warlock said. "But how exactly do you plan to calm the damage done to the girl's soul without the benefit of a Seer's touch?"
He laughed. A soft, lilting note that managed to pierce through the screen of background noise as assuredly as a lance through the heart of their foes.
"Now, now, dear Tseranis." He chided. "The work of Seers is exemplary, but to depend on them wholly is to prostate yourself before the whims of fate and happenstance. Though I do so love the miraculous excitement that comes from throwing one's destiny to the hand of random chance, I have not lived this long without learning a thing or two about the merits of a common man's worth."
He kept his eyes fixed firmly on those of his subordinate, conveying every bit of the severity he held in that gesture.
"As I said, I will see to Sayaka's safety." Navarre assured. "You focus on keeping miss Kaname intact, and do so without further prying open the gouge in her heart. Do I make myself clear Tseranis?"
"Inescapably, Athair." He replied.
"Good. I'd suggest you ready yourself then. It seems like we'll be landing soon, and I'm getting a funny feeling the nearer we draw to the planet's surface."
"How… what… who…?"
Madoka wanted to ask something. Anything. Everything. But the words caught in her throat, blocking one another out and leaving nothing but stumbling, half-formed sentences to drop from her mouth.
All the while, her eyes were entirely stuck on her very own doppelganger.
"This is Kaname." Heidric restated, gesturing to the pink haired mimic. "Through several very… extraneous… circumstances, she's come into my possession. She might not look particularly lucid at the moment, but her visions were the very thing which brought your existence to my attentions, as well as that of the Chaos Witch Walpurgisnacht."
"But.. B-But she's…"
"You?" He questioned, looking down to her. "Is it that strange to see? Surely you must have wondered if such a thing had already happened or not. After all, the one's you've come across in your time here are not the same girls you knew in your world, now are they? The Inquisitor by your side isn't the Mami Tomoe who you first grew to know. The Eldar Harlequin is not you first friend. Nor is the Knight Freeblade the same Kyoko Sakura you were acquainted with."
Madoka had nothing to say to that. All she could do was look to the girl who was meant to be her duplicate with a kind of repulsed fascination. It frightened her. The entire situation. But she couldn't deny that there was something unmistakably familiar about her copy which drew her in all the same.
She wasn't a perfect mirror image. Just as the others had all been intrinsically different, so too was Kaname the Psyker a very different person to Madoka the Magi. However, her inconsistency appeared to go much further than simple cosmetics.
Despite the supposed familiarity that she should have possessed with her Inquisitor and his troops, she stood with the kind of tension that would have put steel cable to shame. Her shoulders were perpetually hunched over as though expecting the sky to rain a blow down upon her at any moment, and strange, wordless mumbling was flowing from her lips in an endless stream. All the while, her damaged psychic essence was roiling into a miniature star at her center, condensing itself to seemingly impossible levels, as though trying to hide from her awareness.
It was all too sudden for her to make sense of. Perhaps if she'd been given more time to consider the nature of her situation, something like this wouldn't have caught her so completely off guard, but then and there, she found herself unsure of what to say. Unsure that she wanted to say anything to begin with.
"Inquisitor Heidric." Mami interrupted, a neutral and distant expression carefully held on her features. "I believe that some manner of explanation is in order. I'm sure you understand that this is getting to be somewhat… difficult. Please, inform me of how you came across this girl, and exactly what she's told you up until this point."
"Why miss Tomoe, I'm sure you're aware that all information of my duties are kept as confidential records pertaining to the Ordo Hereticus." He replied, a slightly joking tone entering his voice. "Are you asking that I divulge the secrets of my sect?"
"You certainly didn't have any trouble divulging mine." She remarked pointedly, nodding towards the still silent Uzzaiel. Something in the Magos' stock-still manner gave Madoka the impression that he was recording every detail of the exchange in some form, even without his Servitor aid nearby.
"Fair enough." Heidric said lightly. "But first, might I ask you to inform me of how you came to meet your version?"
If there was one thing she could live without, it was the idea of being a version of herself. Even if, thanks to the time-cycle Homura had unwittingly built up, the label might have applied to her more accurately than most people.
Mami narrowed her eyes briefly before giving a small noise of acknowledgement, folding her arms in front of her and closing her eyes in recollection.
"We met on the planet of Atlania." She recited. "Where I had been stationed for some time. I wasn't there to witness her arrival, but the locals claimed that she fell from the sky. There was little more detail than that to go on, but she came with a certain marking. Madoka, if you would?"
It took a second for her to realize what the Inquisitor was getting at, but she managed to catch on and quickly displayed the back of her hand, showing off the Inquisitorial Seal emblazoned on her flesh. The sight caused Heidric to hum in curiosity.
"Interesting." He mused, rubbing his chin. "Very interesting indeed."
Beside him, Kaname seemed to have calmed down somewhat with the attention of the room being diverted away from her. Madoka did her best to sneak a few glances her way, anything to try and gauge the state she was in, but it proved a futile effort, as the words she muttered were too quiet to pick up on. All she could hear was the vague impression of their rhythm. A soft, floating tone that reminded her of a children's lullaby.
"I will admit; I had expected something more… ominous." Heidric said at last, frowning to himself.
"I take it your encounter was more dramatic?" Mami questioned.
"To put it lightly."
"Have you ever set foot aboard one of the Black Ships, Lady Tomoe? If so, I imagine that is was an experience you'd not soon forget. They are chilling vessels. One's that can easily shake a man to his very soul. A place such as that, so full of tortured souls, near mad from their own untreated power, is not where most individuals would go willingly.
"Now, imagine if you would, that one of those Black Ships very nearly dropped itself into your lap. No movement. No actions. Psi shields deactivated. Answering no hails. Tell me, what would you do?"
He gave a mirthless smile, keeping her from answering with a small hand motion.
"It doesn't matter. Without the proper forces to storm the ship and discover what had rendered it in such a state, the smart thing would have been to destroy it. Something had clearly gone wrong, and the danger of daemonic corruption was astronomical."
The corners of his mouth twitched briefly, as though touched by some humor that only he could understand.
"But, of course, that isn't what happened. I cannot justify my actions with any kind of logic, but I felt drawn to the derelict vessel. A dangerous proposition, but one I ultimately chose to follow. Can you guess what I found?"
Mami didn't make any move to answer, instead looking on with a touch of impatience. Madoka couldn't blame her. Despite the nature of the discussion, Heidric appeared to be a bit too fond of the dramatic for their current circumstances.
"Nothing." He said. "Nothing but cold. Silence. And corpses."
"The crew were dead?" The blonde asked, exchanging a brief glance with Gilliam.
"Slain to the last." Heidric confirmed. "Every man, woman, and errant Psyker lay dead as though some terrible psychic cataclysm had torn the very souls from their bodies."
"All but one."
He turned, looking down to Kaname who seemed to be lost in her own actions. If she was aware that she was once again the focus of the group, she gave no sign.
"Deep in the belly of the beast, we found her, the sole survivor, huddled in the center of a cage whose psychic defenses had been blasted through by sheer force alone." He explained. "I don't think I need to explain the severity of that, do I?"
A slight shake of the head was his only answer as Mami's gaze remained fixed on the estranged Psyker.
"She was hardly clinging to existence when we walked in." He went on. "More dead than alive, but she kept muttering the same four words, over and over, as though they were the gospel of the Emperor himself."
"Homura."
"Sayaka."
"Mami."
"Kyoko."
"Over and over and over again. That is, until we tried to approach her."
At this, his attention drifted over to Madoka in her wheelchair. She found herself suddenly exceedingly self-conscious as his eyes drifted over her form, as though silently judging the worth of her appearance. She had to remind herself that she wasn't be measured for any purpose, that she wasn't meant to prove anything at present, but she couldn't quite shake the feeling that she'd been found lacking somehow.
"As soon as we drew near, the air exploded with energy. I'd felt the touch of heretic magics before, repulsed their foul touch with my will, but before her, I was little more than a sapling in a hurricane. Her mind burned into my own, forcing two pleas into my very soul."
"She's coming."
"Help me."
Silence followed his words, descending on the room with the weight of everything that had been laid out before them. Even the murmurs of Kaname had slipped into the quiet, unheard confines of her own thoughts.
"Inquisitor Heidric…" Mami began. "You realize that what you've just described to me… sounds rather…"
"Dangerous?" He finished for her. "Bordering on outright possession perhaps? You wouldn't be wrong Lady Tomoe. But, as I'm sure you're aware, there are some situations wherein that which treads outside the confines of purity must be indulged for the good of the Imperium. Given the foe that has appeared, I think that this is a time we can ill afford to cling to ideals. Would you disagree?"
The blonde's eyes slowly drifted between the Psyker and Madoka herself, likely recalling her own rocky meeting with the girl from another world, and the strange, fantastical developments that had arisen as a result. Behind her chair, Madoka could feel the weight of Gilliam's hands pressing down on the handles, as though preparing to take action at a moment's notice.
"I would not…" Mami answered finally. "Though I wouldn't condone such a course of action so easily either. To act on the images forced into your mind by an uncontrolled Psyker…"
"Feeling a touch hypocritical are we?" Heidric asked, the barest touch of humor reaching his eyes at her frown. "But enough of that. You didn't come here to discuss these things."
"You came here to find a means to combat Walpurgisnacht, and I think we may be able to help one another in that respect."
A thousand questions buzzed around Madoka's head, swarming her mind like tiny talking gnats that she couldn't swat away no matter how hard she tried. Sadly, her befuddlement took a back seat to the situation at hand. She was left to stew in her own uncertainty while the two Inquisitors, with the odd remark from the Magos every now and then, talked over the details of their plan. Details that the girl found very difficult to focus on at the moment.
So she didn't. She couldn't have said exactly what it was that possessed her to do so, but while the others were talking, she managed to slip away from Gilliam's normally watchful attentions, inching her wheelchair away from his side and towards the only other person in the room not focusing on the main discussion.
Kaname didn't react to her approach. Didn't seem to even notice her as she quietly slid up next to her, gulping down her own trepidation.
It was such a strange thing to see someone who, for all intents and purposes, was a copy of herself. Though, come to think of it, perhaps not so strange as she made it out to be. She'd felt the soul of the Goddess take over her more than once now, and were the two of them really so different as to be called separate?
Maybe that wasn't the best thing to think about right now. Focus on one topic at a time.
Feeling a nervous thrill running through her simply by her proximity to the Psyker, Madoka hesitantly tried to get her attention.
"Hey…?" She whispered, keeping quiet so as not to disturb the planning in progress. "Um… can I talk to you for a second…?"
The girl didn't react, simply staring down at the ground with a vacant expression on her face.
"Hey?" She tried again. "Can you hear me? Are you-"
"Madoka Kaname."
She gasped involuntarily, caught out by the eerily chilling tone of the Psyker's voice. It was so reminiscent of her own, but alien in a way she couldn't quite describe. Spectral, almost. As though the faintest hints of an echo followed her words.
"Y-Yes…?" She stammered. "That's my name… and yours too I guess, isn't it…?"
Slowly. Painfully slowly. Kaname's head turned towards her. The shrouded cloth covering the girl's eyes didn't fix on her direction, instead appearing to focus on some point behind her.
"No." She said, her voice flowing with ghostly softness. "Yes. No. Perhaps."
Madoka wasn't sure how to reply to that, but she wasn't given a chance before her double continued.
"She's coming."
"Yeah. Um, I know." She said, shifting in her chair as the uncomfortable thought of the Grand Witch loomed over her. "Walpurgisnacht is coming. B-But don't worry! I'm sure we'll find a way to… um… do something about it."
She wasn't entirely sure who's benefit she was speaking for, Kaname's or her own, but it didn't seem to satisfy the Psyker.
"No." She insisted. "It isn't her…"
"Huh?"
"The one who followed." She insisted, urgency coloring her voice. "The one who waited. The one who wallowed. The one who hated. The one who carved that name into the heart of heaven itself. She's coming, and with her comes the herald of the end."
Madoka's voice left her, mouth opening only to close again in indecision. The words resounded in her ears, seeming to pull themselves into her head with each beat of her heart. It took almost a full minute before she found the breath to speak.
"W-What does that mean…?"
Kaname didn't respond, instead keeping her distant, slackened gaze staring straight ahead.
"Madoka Kaname burns." She spoke, as though simply voicing her thoughts to the open air. "It remains to be seen if we will burn with her."
With that, she turned away, dismissing the waking world from her focus with the kind of reclusive effectiveness of one who only touched with it on occasion.
Madoka was left to her own questions, feeling more chilled and uncertain than ever.