Together Forever, Part 3

That's them. That thing. It's them.

Madoka! Kyoko is…um, the new witch is…it's melting into the big one! Just like Sayaka did!

Hang on, Homura! Just hang on! Mami, we need…Mami?

It's them. My sweet little kouhais. Those witches. I let them become witches.

Mami, please focus! We need your help!

All this time. Witches. That's what they are. It happened to them. And it's going to happen to us. It'll happen to me, and it'll happen to Homura…

Mami, stop talking like that!

…and it'll happen to you. That's our fate. Become a witch or die.

Mami? Sempai?

Why wait?

Sempai, please no! Not you too!

Become a witch. Or die.

…

When she woke up she found herself bound hand and foot; trapped at the bottom of a long, steeply sloping tunnel; staring up at the headlights of a car, its engine idling.

That in itself was weird enough, and in the haze of just waking up, with the last few remnants of that strange dream still swirling in her head, she stared up at the car and wondered if she was still dreaming.

Suddenly the car's engine roared. She jolted fully awake, raw terror driving away all grogginess. The car raced forward, its headlights bearing down on her like the eyes of a demon.

"Wait!" she started to say, but then the car slammed right into her midsection at full speed, while at the same time something thin and metal stabbed into her sternum. Her torso crumpled inward, and she slumped forward, the restraints on her arms the only thing preventing her lifeless face from falling over the hood.

Things got a little fuzzy after that. She didn't pass out, not completely, but the force of the impact had stunned her enough that all she could do was hang limply, her eyes as empty as her mind.

In her shocked state she was dimly aware when the car started to slowly withdraw. Something was hauling it back up the incline, something that groaned under its weight but held. Once it was gone she slumped down almost to her knees. She couldn't move, couldn't feel, couldn't think, and could barely breathe. Her entire lower half had been crushed like an aluminum can, while a gaping hole remained just below her breasts.

How long she hung in that state was impossible to tell, but in time awareness started to creep back, the cold, dark tendrils slowly unraveling from around her mind. She gasped, trying to fill her lungs, but something seemed to be blocking her throat, only allowing a miniscule amount of oxygen through. She tried to cough it out but found that she couldn't do that either.

Why…why did…

Tears welled up but she couldn't cry. Everything from her stomach down had gone completely numb. Had it been cut off? If so, how was she still alive? Was she even alive?

In time feeling started to crawl back into her lower half, meaning that it was at least it was still there. But it brought no relief. Instead, it just brought pain. Groaning, she stiffened against the wall, her fingers and toes curling tight. Her whole stomach had already been crushed, but now it felt like it. That whole area was a throbbing pit of agony, making her feel every centimeter of crushed flesh, making her all too aware of the burning hole where her chest had been punctured. She tried to cry, but all that she could manage where pitiful little whimpers.

She thought that she was going to die then, but she didn't. She hoped that she would pass out, but that too was denied her. So she did all that she could do: hang there and suffer.

All things considered, she expected to pain to just go on and on, but to her surprise a measure of relief was given to her. The pain seemed to have reached its climax and was now starting to ebb. The burning hole in her chest closed and disappeared. The throbbing in her stomach slowly lessened and lessened, and her breathing grew easier.

It took time, but eventually the pain died completely. Blinking, she straightened up and tried to look down and survey the situation. It was difficult with her restraints, and her breasts were annoyingly in the way, but from what she could tell she had somehow healed.

But…but how? How in the world was that even possible? You just couldn't completely heal from that kind of damage that quickly. It was completely-

Then the car roared again. She stiffened. "Wait!" she cried, but it slammed into her again.

Again the process repeated, the car withdrawing and leaving her a crumpled mess. Then she would be drowned in agony, only for it to recede and leave her whole again. And then the car hit her again. And again.

By the fourth time she was starting to get used to it.

As she hung in place waiting for the fifth time, she found herself wondering not about the why of it all, but the what. Specifically, what had she done to merit such cruel punishment? Whatever it was, it had to have been terrible.

Any second now. Her body was once again whole, which meant that she was moments away from hearing the engine roar and the tires squeal. She stared into the headlights and nervously licked her lips in anticipation.

Then something hit her, but it wasn't the car.

A dark apparition with a flaming head appeared, wielding two blades. It darted down the incline past the car and toward her. She screamed, certain that her torment had just been upgraded. The demon swung one of the blades at her body. She reflexively twisted away, her eyes squeezing shut in anticipation.

Then her left hand swung free.

She popped her eyes back open again. "Wha…who?"

"Hang on!" the demon said, lunging for her right. As she did, the car's engine roared its warning. The demon hastily slashed away the restraints on her right arm as well, but the car had already began to charge, and her legs were still bound in place.

"Shit!" The demon threw itself to the side, hauling her down as well. Stupefied, she fell onto her side. Mere moments later the car slammed right to where she had been suspended, its front bumper smashing right through where her stomach had been. The front tires bumped against her shins as the car jerked from the impact.

She lay in place, trembling as she stared at the murderous vehicle. Her legs were wedged in the small space between the bumper, tires, wall, and floor, having missed being crushed by a few meager centimeters.

As for the car, it just sat there, its engine idling. If it were at all enraged about being denied its prey it made no sign. Then it jerked, causing her to stiffen in alarm. But instead of attacking, it withdrew, hauled back by some kind of rope apparatus.

Even after the car had returned to its starting point she stayed where she was, too scared to move. Something inside of her told her to get up, and to do it now, but her body refused to move. All she really wanted to do was curl up in a corner somewhere and pray that it was all a dream.

Then she heard someone cough.

"Oof. Wow. That was close." Craning her head, she saw that the flaming demon struggling to sit up. "You okay?"

She blinked. Though the dark made it difficult to make out the other's features, the light from the fire framing her head gave her enough to see by. And truth be told, the other person didn't really look like a demon. Instead, she looked like a naked girl, one with slim, athletic features and who just so happened to have a live flame on her head instead of hair.

"Ah," the recently freed girl said. What else was there to say?

Sighing, the fiery girl got up and retrieved her sword from where it had fallen. The other girl cringed in reflex, but the fiery girl wasn't interested in hurting her.

"Yeah, I know," the fiery girl said as she knelt down next to the other girl's legs. "My head's on fire. Weird, huh? And yeah, I don't know why. Hold on, I almost got you free."

A moment later all of the restraints were gone, though the fallen girl still didn't have it within her to move. The fiery girl looked over her with a critical eye and frowned.

"Well, that's, uh, answers that, I guess."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Hang on, let's get you out of the way." The fiery girl put her arms around the fallen girl's waist and hoisted her up. She hauled her well out of the car's path and set her back down against the wall.

"Well, that was…interesting," the fiery girl said as she sat down next to her. "Um, tell me that that car hasn't been hitting you over and over this whole time. Please."

The silence that followed was answer enough.

"Shit. The fuck is up with these sadistic bastards? Okay, look. We need to get out of here. My friend's waiting for us, and I don't like leaving her alone. So, can you stand, or…"

Could she? She honestly didn't know. She had so many questions and everything was moving so fast, but if this strange, nude, flammable savior was going to lead her out of here, then she could wait to ask them.

She looked down at her legs to see if she could move them. As she did so, she noticed that for some reason, a pair of yellow ribbons were draped across her thighs, each one hanging from either side of her. Furthermore, they were each knotted at the end, with the shredded remains of another ribbon peeking out from the end of the knot.

"Oh, uh," the fiery girl said. "You might wanna-"

Puzzled, she reached down to touch the ribbons, or at least that was the intention. However, her hand never appeared. Rather, the ribbon on her right lifted up, curved around, and prodded her leg.

"WHAT?!" she shrieked as she jerked back.

"Take it easy, take it easy!" the fiery girl said, holding her hands out in a placating manner. "I know it's weird, but-"

"My arms!" She leapt to her feet, something that might have given her immense relief a moment ago but now went entirely unnoticed due to the realization that:

A. Those ribbons were firmly attached to her shoulders.

B. Her actual arms were nowhere to be seen, and…

C. The ribbons were now writhing and flailing about like a pair of snakes.

"What's going on?" she cried. "What happened to me?"

"Chill, okay?" The fiery girl grabbed her by the shoulders to hold her still. "It's like this torch on my head! Everyone here has something wrong with their body, okay? We'll figure out why later, but for now I need you to stay calm and-"

The car's engine suddenly roared, startling them both. It leapt forward again, charging down the slope to crash into the wall.

The pair stared at the scene for a long moment. "Oh," said the fiery girl. "Ouch." Grimacing, she turned her gaze back to the unfortunate ribbon girl. "Hey, you gonna be okay?"

"I…" The ribbon girl raised both ribbons to stare at them again before letting them drop. "Fine," she said, her shoulders slumping. "Whatever. Let's just get out of here."

"Sounds good to me. You want some help with those knots?"

"Sure."

The fiery girl went to work untying the severed pieces of ribbon from what now passed for the ribbon girl's arms. Despite her arms now being made from fabric, the ribbon girl could still feel the touch of her slender fingers, as if those ribbons were made from flesh. It made her shiver.

"All right, there we go. Now let's…" Then the fiery girl frowned, though not at her companion. Rather, she was focused on the car. "Hey, wait a minute. What's that?"

It's didn't take long to figure out what she was talking about. Tied to the hood of the car with even more ribbons was a long, silver musket, its shape elegant and carved with floral designs. It protruded out over the headlights like a spear, its metal tip extending just beyond the rest of it.

That's what stabbed me in the chest, the ribbon girl thought, her heart clenching up. Why her mysterious tormentor would use a gun instead of a blade for that purpose didn't make any sense, but the memory of it piercing her flesh was all too fresh.

The fiery girl cautiously walked over to it, sword in hand. She looked the gun over, and then sliced away at the ribbons, freeing it.

"Ha!" she said, holding it high. "This'll come in handy."

The ribbon girl cringed back. "M-Maybe you shouldn't touch it."

"Why not? All the rest of my weapons were being used the same way, and so far they haven't exploded or-"

The car groaned and laboriously trudged backward up the slope. The fiery girl stiffened, and then turned to watch as the two-ton vehicle was hauled further and further back until it came to a rattling stop.

The fiery girl inhaled sharply through her teeth. "But damn, these people are sick. Well, okay. You ready to get out of here?"

Swallowing, the ribbon girl nodded.

"Groovy. Okay, here. Catch."

Before the ribbon girl knew what was happening the fiery girl had tossed the gun at her. She reflexively caught it with both ribbons.

"Hold onto that for me, okay? I can only hold two of these things at a time."

The ribbon girl stared at the gracefully designed weapon in her grasp. The ribbons holding onto it started to tremble. "I…"

"Oh. Oh shit, that's a problem, isn't it? Okay, fine." The fiery girl took the musket from her. "Okay, you take the spear then. That okay?"

The ribbon girl thought for a moment. Then she slowly nodded. She could handle a spear.

The fiery girl handed her the weapon. Holding onto it was a little weird, as she kept trying to flex fingers that she didn't have around the handle. Finally she figured out how to wrap the her ribbons fully around the pole. She gingerly lifted it up and gave it a half-hearted swing. Well, she had never actually been hurt by this specific weapon, and she did feel a little better having it.

"Okay, cool," The fiery girl said. "Now follow me. And be careful. This slope is kinda steep."

Step by step they made their way upward. Now that she was not being methodically compacted over and over, the ribbon girl took the time to notice their surroundings. In keeping with the theme, none of it made any sense. The walls, ceiling, and floor all seemed to be made from red and yellow ribbons that had been woven together. Apparently it was tough enough to withstand the car's repeated blows, but the way that tunnel swayed was worrying.

What was stranger were all the tea sets. There were tables everywhere, from low tea tables to high legged tables to restaurant tables to dinner tables, and they were all set for tea. Some were rising from the floor while others stuck out of the walls. It was like something out of a demented children's book, and for some reason that sent chills down her spine.

To keep herself from glancing around at the strangeness she instead focused on her savior, who was carefully making her way upward just ahead of her, using the musket as a walking stick to climb. She made a point to look at her back, as peering into the fire hurt her eyes and it felt weird to stare at her bare butt.

The fiery girl had mentioned a friend. So, that meant that there were other people like them? Was this friend also some kind of freak? Had they also woken up to find themselves being tortured in a brutal, if fantastical, manner? There were so many questions running through her head, and she wondered if any of them were going to be answered.

"In case you're wondering, yes. Same thing happened to me," the fiery girl suddenly called back, as if she had read her mind. "Woke up and found out I was being crucified. Had to fight my way out on my own and found out myself in a weird, freaky room that made like zero sense."

"You were being crucified?"

"Yeah. And yes, it's just as bad as you think. But turns out that we got some kind of crazy healing power. After I got off that cross I took a nap and was fine."

The ribbon girl looked down at her perfectly intact torso. The feel of it being crushed inward and the hellish struggle just to breathe still lingered. "Do you…"

"Not a clue. Same thing happened to Oktavia too. She was getting all stabbed in the heart while her fingers were being crushed when I found her."

"Oktavia?"

"Yeah, that friend I told you about. I had to leave her behind because she's a fish."

The ribbon girl had to pause for a moment after hearing that. "I'm sorry, it sounded like you just said that your friend is a fish."

The fiery girl tilted her head to smirk down at her from over her shoulder. "You heard me. A mermaid, actually. That's her weird thing, like my hair and your arms."

"Oh."

"Yeah, and before you ask, we're just as lost as you are. Bet your memory's pretty much gone too, right?"

The ribbon girl halted then. She hadn't really given much thought to it, considering everything else that had been going on, but now that she was no longer being used to cushion that car's self-destructive rampages, she now had the time to collect herself and think back on the series of events that had led her to this place.

Unfortunately, there was nothing to find.

The ribbon girl felt a surge of panic. Her memory was gone, empty save for a few fleeting images that fled the moment she tried to seize ahold of them. It was blank, erased, nothing there, completely zilch.

Seeing the look on her face, the fiery girl smiled grimly and nodded. "Yeah, it's the same for us. Either they turned us into freaks or we were always freaks, but either way, they didn't want us to remember how or why." She pointed a finger at her temple, just below the flame line. "So we gotta deal with amnesia on top of everything. Figures, right?"

The ribbon girl couldn't fathom how flippant her new companion could be about everything. Didn't she understand just how terrible things were? Their memories were gone! Everything about them was erased, their lives taken away!

Her legs were getting weak. She fumbled around until she touched a high-legged chair pushed up to one of the tea parties. She pulled it toward her and sat down.

A moment later she sprang back up again. No, she couldn't use the chair, it might be booby-trapped. Everything around them was dangerous, nothing could be trusted, nothing could be-

"Hey, hey, hey, get a grip, okay?" the fiery girl said. She grabbed the ribbon girl by the shoulders and held her steady. "C'mon, look at me now. Look at me. Now take a deep breath and let it out. Let's just get our asses out of this weird-ass tunnel before it collapses or something. Then you can have yourself a good cry or whatever you need, we all did. But just hold it together for a little longer, okay?"

The ribbon girl's vision blurred, but she managed to blink away the tears. The fiery girl was right. There was a time and place for everything. She could hold on a little longer.

"Okay," she whispered.

"There you go," the fiery girl said, giving her shoulder an encouraging pat. "And don't worry. Like I said, both me and Oktavia had our own little breakdowns, so you're in good company. Right now we're just trying to round up everyone else that might be trapped here and then we'll work on finding some answers."

"I see."

"Right. So, chin up! I know things are fucking terrible, confusing, and stupidly weird right now, but you're not alone in this."

That wasn't exactly encouraging, but the ribbon girl appreciated it. "Okay. Oh, ah, I didn't thank you before. You know, for saving me. So, thank you."

"No prob. Hey, I remembered that we haven't really been introduced. Name's Ophelia. You got one?"

The ribbon girl frowned. With her memory being gone, she didn't expect that she did. But wonder of wonders, now that she was concentrating on that specifically, one presented itself.

"I…think so," she said, her brow furrowing. "It's…Can…Can…Candeloro?"

"Candeloro, huh? Jeez, what's with us all having their weird, fancy names?" Ophelia shrugged. "Well, welcome to the club, Candeloro. Wish I could say that the worst of the weird is over, but if you ask me, it's only begun."