When Nagisa entered the room, she was greeted by silence; the only noises around were produced by those complicated, beeping machines. She did not really understand what they were for, but the nice nurse told her they were important. She was not around right now, though; everyone left her alone with her mother and she was grateful for that.
Today however, the girl was not just by herself. She gently walked up to the bed, noticed how wrinkled eyelids fluttered open a bit and a smile found its way onto those weak lips. Her mother would always smile when Nagisa came to visit... but it became less hopeful when her hair started to fall out; by now it was just the weak kind of smile, something she did because it was the only thing she could still do.
"Hello, Mama. Nagisa is back."
She took a seat and gently held her mother's hand, who nodded slightly. The sick woman rarely spoke as of late, but still...
"I went and bought that cute dress Papa mentioned. It fits really nice."
She went to speak over what happened recently as she usually did, just to have her mother know. The world was still there, waiting for her to return to it. However, the woman on the bed closed her eyes completely not long after she started. "Mama?"
There was still the slightest bit of strength in this hand she held, but her mother breathed less strongly... still, none of the instruments started to make lots of noises; they did that one time and a few nurses rushed into the room right afterwards. Nagisa was told to wait outside and they did something; she never found out what, though.
Mama fell asleep...
But this was no good; how should she introduce Candel now?
Nagisa sat there, wondering about what to do for a few more seconds. Then she slowly lowered one hand and pulled back the zipper, thus releasing the doll from her bag. Her friend emerged with a relieved sigh and looked around, then focussed on the bed the girl sat in front of. Candel made a jump upwards and landed on her shoulder. From there, they looked both down at the sleeping figure.
' This sure is bothersome.'
Then, suddenly, a cheery voice spoke up in her head and her friend squeaked in surprise. They both turned around and found a strange cat sitting on the ground. It looked at them with unreadable, red eyes and swished its tail back and forth; once they saw it, it got to its feet and jumped onto the bed. Nagisa wondered what that might be. Maybe Candel knew?
However, she found the doll shaking and not saying anything.
'You see, I overheard two of the nurses talking: This woman has not much longer to live. A few hours at least, but only two or three days at best.'
These words had Nagisa grow cold and her chest tightened in shock. What did this cat just say?
"That... that's... but... that can't be! Mama said she will be better and eat cake with Nagisa again!"
She could not help her voice from breaking over those news, even when she tried to stay composed. Somewhere deep down, Nagisa already suspected it. She did for so long, but she could not just accept it as the truth.
'You might want to ask the being on your shoulder. You can sense this woman's life draining away as well, can you not, Candeloro?'
"Huh?!"
She quickly turned her head around and cast a pleading gaze at the doll, whose price-tag lay flat on her head. Candel shook her head... and a few pieces of yellow yarn fell down from her head. "I'm sorry, Nagisa... but he is right."
Then however, the doll's arms wound around her and she went to speak to the cat: "What do you want from her, Kyubey?"
She sounded as if this cat was a bad one... but she was also right, why was it here? Maybe it was the hospital's mascot? Though Nagisa never saw it before...
'You know there is only one reason for me to approach someone.'
With those words, the red eyes returned to meeting the girl's gaze. 'I'm here to offer you to form a contract with me, Momoe Nagisa. I will fulfill one wish of yours and make you a Magical Girl in exchange. It will be dangerous if you decide to accept, though; you will have to hunt Witches, creatures of despair that spread curses throughout the world and prey on humankind.'
This... this was too much for her little head. Nagisa's shoulder's slumped down a bit and the girl eyed the cat in surprise. One wish, it said? So...
"So I can eat cheesecake with Mama again?"
She completely disregarded the second part. It did not matter at all if they could have their favourite cake again. Nagisa refrained from eating any ever since her mother became unable to; she wanted to wait until the sick woman was healthy again.
'If this is what you desire, you can make it happen. You hold the potential.'
Hearing this confirmed, to understand that it was actually possible... it made this young heart jump in joy. Nagisa squealed happily and wanted to speak, but then she found a ribbon winding around her mouth. It held her lips sealed and she could only let out a surprised "Umph!"
"Wait, please! What are you doing?"
The ribbon remained in place a little longer and the two stared at each other, the human with her eyes slightly widened and the doll with her voice shaking. Then the yellow cloth slowly let go of her mouth and Nagisa tilted her head. "Eating cake with Mama. What would be wrong with that?"
Candel seemed surprised by her response. She took a little step back, although this almost made her fall from the shoulder she stood on. "You... heard him saying that you have to fight if you form the contract, right?"
This question only made her tilt her head a bit further. What did that matter? Nagisa did not care much. "Yes?"
"And... you see nothing bad with that?"
"...No?"
The doll kept quiet and Nagisa wondered if she would stop her again. Kyubey seemed to wait patiently, but she did not want him to just go away when she was not looking.
Her friend sighed after a while and deflated further. "I... I don't think... Nagisa, is this what you really want?"
She sighed again over her enthusiastic nod, but continued to lower her ribbons. "I see... ugh... okay. But before you tell him your wish... could you tell me what you want to wish for?"
That was a strange question now. Nagisa already said her wish more than once. Did Candel not notice? In any way, the anticipation made her become a bit giddy over finally seeing her mother smiling for real again. "To have cheesecake with Mama."
There was another silence after she said it again. However, something was different this time; Nagisa could not really figure it out, though. Her friend looked at her and she looked back... and her confused voice could be heard again: "You... you mean it?"
"Um... yes?"
She was not really sure what the doll meant. It was obvious that she would make that wish, was it not? After all, she wanted to have cheesecake with her mother again. There was nothing wrong with that.
"Um... Nagisa... could you... by any chance... please tell Kyubey to make your mother healthy again instead? You can have a lot more cake with her that way..."
Huh?
She never thought about that but Candel was absolutely right; this was an even better wish! So the girl nodded with a cheerful "Okay".
. . .
She could not believe this was happening. Not only did she fail in stopping her friend from going through with this, she even encouraged her at some point... but the Dress-Up Witch was simply unable to work against what those she cherished wanted. If Nagisa decided to sacrifice herself for that, who was Candeloro to stop her? She knew far too less about her, her family ties or anything else to make a reasonable decision... she could only hope that Lilly would understand that. Now the other Witch would definitely chide her.
Speaking of Lilly... why was her aura present in the same building?
Nagisa's words and the bright light went almost unnoticed as the doll grew cold. Had her friend been following her? Whatever the reason for her being here, she definitely noticed what just happened... and Candel could feel a certain amount of displeasure seeping out from the other Witch. At least not anger, that was a start...
. . .
'Do you have a moment, Onee-chan?'
"I do. What is it, Lilly?"
In fact, Homura was currently busy scouting the city for Witches; she wanted to pay the Yakuza another visit in the evening, so hunting had to be done now. Kyoko went to take a walk and took Mami with her, so the time traveler was currently by herself and had the time to spare. Actually, she already felt the displeasure seeping through from her sister before her mental voice could be heard.
'I just wanted to warn you... Candel did something. I don't know exactly what, but I'm sure that I won't like it. I'm currently following Miki around, so I happened to be around the hospital. Now I am rather sure that the fool did not break my Kiss... which leads me to wonder which girl just contracted with Kyubey half a building away from where I am right now.'
Lilly's tone had Homura interrupt her stride and the Magical Girl came to a halt. Her eyes wandered over the crowd below, then she decided to discuss this out first. Thus, she went to sit where she walked before, with her back against a small wall on the roof she was on.
Someone else contracted. While this was fairly normal in a town of this size, what had her sister so upset was the fact that Candeloro was around the place as well.
"So this might be the person she was meeting. What about it?"
The response took a few seconds, but when it came, the time traveler raised an eyebrow: 'You... forgot the time. Today is within the range of Charlotte appearing right where I am... which was another reason I wanted to stay around here. However, no Witch... and a girl contracting that is not Miki Sayaka. This is another unknown to our plan, please keep this in mind. I already determined who the girl was in the last timeline... so I guess I go check if it's really her. Additionally, Homura... be careful. It just feels weird that everything is going so well so far.'
She had to agree with the last statement. It really was a lot less exhausting to go through this month with Mami on their side instead of against them. On the other hand... if Candel brought in another girl, this might become troublesome indeed. However, the Magical Girl would leave matters to her Witch for now; if Lilly needed help, she would tell her.
"I see. We should both be careful, I guess..."
'That we should.'
With this, the voice vanished. With it went the feelings Homura knew were not her own. She sat in place for a few more seconds, then sighed and got moving again.
. . .
Somewhere else in town, two girls went their way. One of them was carrying a few bags, grumbled and kicked whatever stones or trash came to lie in front of her feet.
"Why do I have to carry your stuff again?"
Which only prompted her blond companion to send an apologeptic smile backwards. "Well, Sakura-san... I figured that I should give you something to do is all. Besides, please keep in mind that quite a few of those things are actually for you."
On top of that, the redhead was not even carrying much more than Mami did. Although this was mostly because she was smart enough not to let her groceries get anywhere near this glutton of a girl.
"Yeah, yeah... fine..."
They were about done shopping and on their way back home, so she figured that this was alright. Kyoko would grumble for a while longer, but just take it later on.
They remained in more or less comfortable silence for a while. Until the other veteran decided to get some revenge, apparently: "By the way... you're really not telling Yuri 'bout your feelings, are you?"
"H-Huh?"
She quickly averted her gaze and looked somewhere else, hoping that her ringlets could at least partly disguise the redness on her cheeks. "Um... well... I guess there was... not a good time to bring it up yet..."
"Yeah, sure. And I'm the pope. Geez, Mami..."
The blonde's shoulders slumped somewhat over the response. She did not really expect her partner to fall for this, but the chance had been there; Kyoko was quite observant if she wanted to, that slipped her mind almost completely. Still, how should she respond to the question now? Mami knew about her feelings for Yuri... but it just never felt right to tell her. There was always something to do and especially the raven-haired Witch drowned herself in work. To make matters worse, that kind of work was something no one else could do; Homulilly was the one experimenting with magic, especially that of Witches. No Magical Girl could do this in her stead and Candel was too inexperienced still.
A heavy sigh found its way out of her mouth while her hand clenched a bit tighter around the straps of the bag she carried. "It is just... when should I bring it up? And how? And even if, by some miracle, I got not rejected, Sakura-san... Yuri-san has even less free time than I."
She had no doubt about how this would go. The Witch never expressed much interest in Mami, so it was highly unlikely for her feelings to be accepted.
"It might sound stupid coming from me", the redhead noted with with a stern expression, "but you'll never find out if you don't try. Worst thing that can happen is her saying no and you've got nothing to lose from asking."
Which was also right. Mami was not really surprised that even Kyoko caught up to this little piece of advice. She knew it herself, but it was just so difficult to get over her own timidness in that regard. She sighed again and nodded. "I... will try to bring it up as soon as possible."
Now the other fifteen-year-old smirked at her and showed a thumbs up. "That's what I want to hear. Go for it."
Which meant that everything would become more complicated. The blonde suppressed the third sigh and just went on.
.
. . .
.
A few minutes passed after she made her contract and this strange pain shot through her body. However, her mother did not wake up.
Still, Nagisa believed when both Kyubey and Candel told her that she was well again... it would just take some time for her to recover, she was sure of that.
Strangely though, she constantly got a strange feeling from the doll in her bag ever since... and the little jewel, her Soul Gem, was glowing as well. What did that mean? No one told her; The cat just left after Candel told him to go away and then they left the hospital. The girl did not really understand, but she trusted her friend. She took a few turns and finally went into one of the smaller alleyways, just like the doll whispered to her through the blue cloth.
Once they were halfway down this one however, someone spoke up behind her and had Nagisa whirl around in surprise: "Good afternoon, Momoe Nagisa."
Behind her stood an older girl with long, smooth black hair and unreadable, purple eyes. She looked down on her with a mixture of annoyance and resignation... did she do something wrong? And how did she know her name?
Before she could ask however, the older one sighed and motioned for her bag. "If you would let Candel out of there, there is no one around to see anyway."
"Huh... okay..."
She did not understand, but this sounded reasonable. So Nagisa pulled back the zipper and had her friend crawl out of the bag. Candel was shaking and quickly went to dart over to the other girl; then she hugged her leg and cried out: "I'm sorry, Lilly! I could not do anything..."
This is strange... who is this girl? Maybe one of Candel-chan's friends?
That sounded fitting, so Nagisa was willing to believe it for now. She was still looking at the two of them in confusion, but there was no attention paid to her right now anyway. The new arrival took the doll up by her waist and had her sit on her shoulder. "I know. Nonetheless, you brought us into yet a new mess; I guess it's time to clean up."
Then, all of a sudden, the girl's gaze turned to her with the very same expression. "I noticed that you formed a contract with Kyubey a few minutes ago. You're a Magical Girl."
That was not a question, so why was she saying it? Nagisa knew this already... although she had no idea what it actually meant to be a Magical Girl. They said something about fighting monsters, but there were girls in Anime that did it and were even younger than her; surely, this could not be worse.
The grade-schooler nodded cheerfully to at least confirm that it was her who formed a contract. "Yes, Nagisa is."
The older girl walked closer and held out a hand to her, much to her confusion; what was this about?
. . .
She was not sure whether she should strangle this child on the spot or go with what happened. The previous timeline taught her that Momoe Nagisa was the Sweets Witch, Charlotte; thus, if her arrival could be prevented... this meant a lot of problems, but also a lot of possibilities. Besides, she knew very well what kind of effect children that age had on older girls and most women; if she chose to take this one into the group, she could have Mami fuss over her and be happy for the additional time she could spend by herself. As long as the blonde was busy babying other beings, she would leave the Witch alone in terms of romance.
Which brought her back to yet another problem... was it safe to confront the other girl and turn her down? Would the amount of time this issue remained unsolved become troublesome later on?
Or I could just hope that she's a closet-lolicon and falls for Nagisa if given some time...nah, that's too unreasonable even for me.
Those weird ideas she had at times were quite interesting to entertain, but Lilly had to be careful which one to carry out after all. And as much as this would solve all her problems in one stroke, it was most likely not possible... besides the fact that she had to watch over Nagisa like a hawk in that case, making sure that nothing brought the elementary schooler down. Otherwise, she would lose Mami as well.
I should stop pondering that right now, really.
With that thought, the eldritch being returned from the depths of her mind and noted the quizzical expression her hand was given. Thus, Lilly rolled her eyes and shook the arm slightly. "Come on, take my hand. I will introduce you to a few people that can show you the ropes."
Again, the girl kept standing where she was; however, understanding sparked in her eyes now. She slowly held out her own hand, although far more reluctantly than the Witch expected her to be. "Um... okay... but Nagisa has to be back home at seven."
Which meant that they had a bit more than four hours today; that was just fine. So Lilly snatched the small fingers and went around the Magical Girl, who cast a confused and surprised look at her; this must mean that her abyssal presence was noticed at last; she made no real attempt to hide it anyway. While the Witch proceeded to put an arm around these small shoulders and have her free hand rest right under the girl's arm, she was still stared at.
"Um..."
Now there was a time to be patient, a time to be impatient and a time to play around. Lilly found that it was now time to mix them all together; she smiled down at Nagisa, who was still confused by the whole situation, especially when the Witch let go of her hand.
"Oh, don't worry about it. Your magic simply reacts to me being one of the beings you should be fighting; I'm not your enemy, though."
With these words, she took the surprised Magical Girl by the hips and made a jump upwards, which was helped out with Telekinesis to have her reach the roof without another leap. Nagisa let out a surprised gasp over the sudden movement, but they already stood again before she could even think about doing anything else. Lilly let go and motioned for her to follow.
"First thing is this; you can jump like that as well. That's one of the abilities every girl gets. Additionally, you have a far higher resistance to pain and are stronger and faster compared to before."
The information was taken in with a slight nod while the girl still looked down the twenty meters they just went upwards. Then however, something had her head perk up and a curious look was sent her way. "So... it doesn't hurt when Nagisa stubs her toe?"
This... was about the last question the Witch expected, which was why it took her a full ten seconds to get the dumbfounded expression wiped off her face. "Um... no. It won't hurt anymore."
This in turn prompted the girl to beam in joy; children really were strange. Lilly just sighed inwardly and waited for what happened next. For the time being, she could entertain the girl... in fact, this was both more interesting and relaxing than following Miki around; especially once the blunette decided to visit her one-sided crush. Not that Mortal World's Witch could not understand the feeling to be in that situation, but it reminded her of her own crush a bit too much. Therefore, she was rather glad to have a reason to stay away from there.
"Um... but why would I have to fight you? You're a nice person."
So they were headed this way next. It was as good as any and besides, she should get the basics down now before Kyubey could do more damage. Lilly smirked a bit more viciously over the question and crossed her hands behind her back; mostly for appearances, but she recently found this kind of posture quite interesting. It worked well with her physique and she liked it... why had she decided not to do that again? According to her memory, that was because quite a few humans were either alienated or intrigued by it.
Ah, right. Now that I think about it... oh. I have to get my dress.
She completely forgot to go and buy it over everything that happened.
And once again, the Witch had gotten distracted; she made a mental note, then quickly returned to the topic at hand and answered Nagisa's question: "Witches are beings of utter despair and insanity, preying on humans from within their barriers; they can't be seen by normal humans. You Magical Girls have to fight and kill them, seeing that grown Witches hold on to the only known means of cleaning your Soul Gem."
She pointed at the ring on the girl's hand, prompting her to look down in thought. "From simply existing, you constantly use up small amounts of magic; the same happens from using your powers. Once you have none left, you die and that is it."
"So... Nagisa has to fight a lot to stay healthy?"
This was what it boiled down to, so Lilly nodded. However, something struck her as odd. She eyed the girl warily. "Did you really understand everything I just told you?"
This child was ten years old, one of the youngest to be contracted. Still, she nodded and tilted her head in wonder. "Should I not?"
The topic might be a bit much for an elementary schooler... on the other hand though, she might just be a bit wiser than other girls her age; at least in some aspects. The eldritch being shrugged and returned to the topic at hand. "It eases things up, you can be sure of that. Anyway, as I was saying: I am a Witch, just as Candel is. Thus, logic dictates for you to fight us and if you stay around, you might find a few other Magical Girls trying that. However, the two of us are comparably sane and reasonable; the remainder of our kin is not. Due to that, the local girls are working with us."
Nagisa nodded a few times over her explanation, then raised her hand to indicate another question. Lilly motioned for her to ask; actually, it was an interesting experience to teach a more open mind.
"So... you said that only Witches can clean my Soul Gem and that you are one... um... so can you do that, too?"
Now it was for her to be surprised. That was a sharp deduction. Having this girl with them might not be bad at all; thus, Mortal World's Witch already started to change her plans as much as was necessary. She nodded with an appreciative smirk as well. "Good observation. We haven't yet let Candel try that, but I'm indeed capable of cleansing your Soul Gem. But don't let that get to your head, Nagisa; I'm not anyone's personal magic dispenser."
Although she would not mind to get a few delicious meals, this had to be said. The girl nodded with a bright smile. "Okay! Nagisa is still glad that... um..."
The statement was not finished. Instead, the child tilted her head once more. "Um... what's your name?"
Right, she did not introduce herself so far. The Witch allowed herself a small smile, but refrained from bowing like Japanese customs would demand. She was not human.
"I am Homulilly, Mortal World's Witch. However, you should just call me Yuri, as every human does."
Except for her sister, but Nagisa did not need to know that. The girl nodded thoughtfully and returned the smile. "I am Momoe Nagisa and I'm glad we do not have to fight."
Now however, she had to decide what to do; either introduce the child to the other Magical Girls or get an idea of her magic first. On the other hand... Mami and Kyoko were somewhere in town, Homura somewhere else and it might be better to find out if this girl was really useful first. If she was not or maybe even dangerous, having her disappear without questions asked would be impossible. Even now, Lilly was already wondering how she should explain something like this to her fellow Witch. This would not be easy if it became necessary.
Therefore, the eldritch being made her decision and crouched. "Hop on. I will bring you somewhere where we can examine your abilities."
While the child climbed onto her back and the Witch got a hold of her legs, she realised that this would be a long day...
