Chapter 26

Reathma gasped.

It was more of a reflex than anything. Hearing that the mysterious girl who had saved her was powering up this . . . Superwitch made Reathma temporarily forget where she was. The gasp escaped her before she realized what she was doing.

Stupid. It was stupid of her to let her guard down. Immediately, all three of the Magius stiffened.

"Who's there?!" Touka yelled. "You better come out right now!"

No. No, no, no! This was really bad. Not only had Reathma gone against the Magius' orders and entered their inner sanctum, she had seen the Witch they were raising and heard a vital part of their plan. If they got their hands on her . . . she wouldn't make it out of the Rumor.

Realizing that, a single thought reverberated through her mind, demanding her attention.

Escape!

Not even bothering to hide anymore, Reathma rose from her crouched position and sprinted the way she had come. Behind her, she could hear the shouts of the Magius, warning her not to flee.

Reathma ignored them. Within moments, she was through the door again, and the oppressive feeling started to lift. She could breathe easier, even with the panic mounting inside her. And there was certainly a ton of panic. The running footsteps behind her confirmed she was being chased, and a barrage of worries assaulted her at the thought of being caught.

As she passed the two girls that were still sped up, an idea came to her. She summoned her discs to her hands, and chucked one into the wall on each side of her, hard enough for the weapons to get stuck. Then, she pushed the button on one to activate the electric current that ran between them.

It wouldn't slow down the Magius for long, especially once they touched the two girls who had been standing guard and brought their perception of time back to normal. Still, it would hopefully be enough for Reathma to get away.

By this point, she had been to Hotel Fendt Hope enough to know where the exit was. It was on this floor, but it would take her multiple minutes of running to get there. She just had to hope—

"Attention, Feathers!" Touka's voice rang across the base, making Reathma jump. "There is a spy trying to escape the Rumor. If you see a girl in a green dress, make sure to apprehend her for us, okay?"

Shit! Did one of the guards have voice projection or something? Was that how they would have alerted the Magius to an intruder? That was just Reathma's luck. She had abandoned her cloak already, so it wasn't like she could hide in the crowd. Her only option was to pick up the pace.

That was easier said than done. As she rounded the corner, she saw four Black Feathers, all of which jumped into action upon seeing her. Clawed blades shot out at her from multiple angles, threatening to knock her down.

Well, she wasn't about to let that happen. Reathma summoned her discs back to her hands, catching the blades with them. Then, she twirled her discs around each other, getting the chains those blades were attached to tangled up. Before the girls could try retracting the blades, Reathma triggered the electric current, which traveled through the chains back to the arms of the girls. They cried out in pain as the shock ran through them, and Reathma took the chance to unsummon her discs and run.

As she came to another intersection, she saw girls running in from the right. Rather than confront them, she ran straight, heading further down the hallway. When more clawed blades flew at her, she weaved side to side to avoid them.

At least, that had been the plan. One grazed her side, making her gasp in pain. She put a hand to the spot, and felt it soaking with blood.

Ignore it. Reathma kept running, even as her side protested. This pain was nothing compared to what Alina would do to her. She had to get out now! Yet she could tell her steps had slowed down, even if it was just a tiny amount. If she didn't get away now . . .

The stairs. That was her best option, as the main exit was probably littered with girls by now. That in mind, she sprinted up the steps to her left, making her way to the second floor. The spiral staircase hid her from view just long enough to throw herself into one of the side rooms, then shut and lock the door.

They would figure out what was happening pretty quickly, and from there it wouldn't be long before they got the door open. Rather than waste time opening the window, Reathma hurled her disc at it, shattering the glass. She then jumped through the hole in the window without slowing down.

Her landing was . . . unpleasant. The wound in her side flared, making her trip and fall on her face. Worse, there was still shouting coming from above. Were they going to jump after her?

Wait. Those don't sound like angry shouts.

Reathma turned, and her eyes widened at what she saw. A giant bear head was by the shattered window, attacking the girls. Where had it even come from?

Is it part of the Rumor? Did breaking the window summon it?

Now wasn't the time to wonder about that. Whatever it was, it had bought her time, and Reathma was going to take full advantage of it to escape. Pushing the pain from her wound to the back of her mind, she picked herself off the ground. In her slower steps, she made out a cloaked figure by the entrance itself, the last obstacle in escaping.

"Step aside!" Reathma blurted. "I don't want to hurt you!"

For a moment, the girl said nothing, and Reathma wondered if she didn't hear her somehow. That was, until the girl lifted her head, and Reathma saw the bits of blonde hair poking out of the hood.

"Reathma," Felicia muttered. "Where are you going?"

"Felicia . . ." Reathma swallowed. "I . . . I have to leave. I can't be a part of the Wings anymore."

"Why?" Felicia asked. "The Magius are going to stop Witches from being born, so why are you going against them?!"

"That's not it!" Reathma blurted. "The Magius are making some sort of Superwitch! That's what the Rumors have been for! If they finish raising it, I'm sure it will destroy the city!"

Surprisingly, Felicia paused. "A . . . Superwitch? But they said there would be no more Witches . . ."

"I don't know what they're planning exactly," Reathma said. "But we can't trust them. Please, Felicia . . ."

Any hope Reathma might have had that she'd gotten through to the younger girl was dashed when she summoned a hammer to her hands.

"You're lying!" Felicia yelled. "I have to kill them all! Every last Witch! I won't let you ruin that!"

"Felicia . . ." Reathma summoned her own weapon, tightly gripping the discs as they appeared in her hands. First, Kyoko had vanished, and now she was leaving too. What was that doing to Felicia, who would be left alone?

Reathma had to fight her friend. Dammit! How had this happened? Asenath would have been able to find Reathma without getting involved in such a mess, had their positions been reversed.

Is that why I can't find her? Am I just not good enough? Do I not deserve to be with my family again?

Yes, that was it. She was a failure of a sister. When she did find Asenath, she would surely hate Reathma. And that was only if Asenath really was in this time period. What if . . . what if Kyubey had lied to her?

You saw them die. Your parents, your sister. They died right in front of you, and you did nothing to help them. All you did was run away, so far into the future that there was no one left to remember them. How disappointed they would be to see you now.

So lost in her grief, Reathma didn't even notice that the voice in her head wasn't normal. Nor did she notice the color fade away from her soul gem, turning pitch black. She didn't see Felicia back away from her, calling out to her in a desperate attempt to snap her back to reality. All she noticed was the rising despair, and the sudden change it brought.

The top of Reathma's head opened up, four jagged, clawed legs emerging from it and lifting her body off the ground. Those legs were connected to a head the same, brown color. It had triangulated ears, empty black eyes, a large snout, and an open mouth filled with fangs.

It screeched at Felicia, sending her flying off her feet. She fell to the ground in a heap, unmoving, and the Doppel went silent. The part of Reathma that would have felt concern for the girl had vanished, and she barely gave her prone form a second glance. Whatever that screech was, it had left her too disoriented to move. There were no more obstacles left, and the Doppel knew that. It crawled out of the Rumor, taking its master's body with it.

From there, Reathma's memory became fuzzy. The Doppel took her away from the Rumor and to the city before vanishing, and though she wanted to pass out from the strain of unleashing her despair for the first time, she forced herself to keep walking. There were so many black spots in her vision that she was practically blind, but somehow she kept moving. Had to keep going. Had to get away. Don't stop. Stopping meant death.

Her mind was a haze. She could barely think. All she felt was the fear that threatened to drown her, guiding her onward. She wasn't even sure how much time passed as she forced her damaged body to take step after step.

Soon enough, she couldn't go on any further. Stopping in front of some sort of restaurant, Reathma fell to her knees. Her head was swimming, and not even her arms could hold her up any further.

"Woah! Hey, are you okay?!"

The voice sounded familiar, but Reathma couldn't remember. Was it an enemy? Had the Magius finally caught up to her?

But I . . . don't want to die . . .

Reathma passed out before she could try to defend herself.

Doppel Description: Jìmò de nǚhái, the Doppel of Loss. It's form is a vampire bat. The Master of the Doppel will search endlessly for those taken from her, walking in their shadows and letting her light be smothered. Those who hear this Doppel screech will temporarily lose the use of all their senses, and its claws and fangs are sharp as steel.

"Tsuruno is taking a while to get here . . ."

Flick watched Yachiyo to see how she would react to Iroha's words. Everyone had been gathered at Mikazuki Villa, and even the Mitakihara girls had arrived before Tsuruno. Was Yachiyo worried for her as well?

Sure enough, Yachiyo was biting her lip. "We'll try calling her again," she said. "Hopefully, this is just because of an issue with the trains." That said, she pulled out her phone, her fingers rapidly flying across it as she dialed a number. Everyone seemed to hold her breath while the phone rang. Then, at the click of a receiver, they collectively winced.

"Dammit . . ." Yachiyo put the phone away with a scowl. The more time Flick spent with the older girl, the more she started to figure her out. Though she appeared cold and pushed people away, it was clear she deeply cared for her friends. Of course, Mifuyu was the most important person to her, but Tsuruno was someone else she wanted to keep safe.

Why push her away, though? They hadn't spoken for a long time until Tsuruno directed Iroha and I to Yachiyo. What am I missing?

Before she could ponder that question any further, the doorbell rang. Flick's head snapped in that direction, but Yachiyo was far quicker, throwing the door open before she could even take a step that way.

"Tsuruno!" Yachiyo took a step back. "What . . .?"

Tsuruno stepped into the room, and Flick's eyes widened at the sight of her. The girl herself was fine, if a little exhausted from exertion. What caught Flick's attention was the unconscious girl she was carrying on her back.

"Reathma?!" It was her, the Black Feather Flick had run into at the Rumor of the Seance Shrine. Wha—How did—

"What happened?" Flick asked.

Tsuruno shook her head. "I'm not sure. I found her passed out in front of Banbanzai. She was transformed at the time, and there was some dried blood on her side. I think she was running from someone . . ."

"Tha Magius?" Madoka suggested.

"But she works for the Magius, doesn't she?" Iroha asked.

"The Magius have proven they don't hesitate to throw away people once they're not useful to them anymore." Yachiyo clenched her fists. "Put her on the couch. You said there was blood on her. We should check if she's injured."

"Master?" Tsuruno blinked in confusion, but set Reathma down as instructed.

"She might know where they're keeping Mifuyu," Yachiyo explained. "At the very least, she can tell us about the Magius' base so we don't get blindsided once we're in there."

From there, they moved quickly. They cleaned the wound, though there wasn't much of one left. The only evidence Reathma had been hurt was a small scab. Her healing must have taken care of it. Once that was done, they brought Reathma to one of the rooms in Mikazuki and set her on the bed.

"She's clean now, so . . ." Flick hesitated. "We shouldn't overwhelm her when she wakes up. Can I be the one to talk to her?"

The others exchanged glances.

"That should be okay," Tsuruno said. "Right, Master?"

"As long as she cooperates," Yachiyo said. "We can't waste too much time."

Flick nodded. "I'll try to be quick."

They left, leaving Flick to her thoughts. Well, not really. There was still the constant presence in her mind, who had been quiet this whole time.

Did you ever meet Reathma, Ai? Flick asked.

"I did not," Ai said. "She was never assigned to the Rumor of Endless Solitude."

So there was nothing Ai could tell her about Reathma. Flick would be going into this conversation blind.

Even so, I want to trust her. Reathma hadn't seemed like a bad person during their brief encounter. If anything, she had looked . . .

"Lonely." Flick frowned. What had happened to drive this girl to work with the Magius? Watching over her sleeping form, Flick felt a pang in her heart for whatever had happened to her. Her eyes ended up landing on Reathma's face, noticing her mouth was open slightly while she softly breathed. Honestly, it was a pretty cute sight—

Alright, no. What was wrong with her? Watching Reathma sleep that closely was nothing short of creepy, and Flick had been doing it for far too long. Dammit, she could feel her face heating up.

Luckily, it went away just in time for Reathma's eyes to flutter open. She stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression, not yet fully awake. Flick could see the exact moment she realized something was wrong, as her eyes widened and she jolted upright.

"W-What?!" She squeaked (and dammit, why did the noise have to be so cute?!) as she looked around. Her eyes fell on Flick, then widened even further.

"You're . . .!"

"Uh, hi." Flick waved. Truthfully, she had no clue what she was doing. "Are you alright? You were hurt when Tsuruno found you . . ."

"I . . ." Reathma swallowed. "W-What happened to you? Why do you look like that?" She stiffened. "Ah, sorry! That came out ruder than I intended."

"No worries," Flick said. "It's a long story. I'll tell you, but first can you explain why you were running? Are you in danger?"

"I think I'm safe now . . ." Reathma met Flick's gaze. "Am I?"

Realizing what she was asking, Flick smiled. "You're safe with us, Reathma, I promise."

"Thank you . . ." Reathma sighed in relief. Then, she took a deep breath. "Flick."

Flick jolted at the sudden use of her name. "That's me. What is it?"

"I need to tell you something," Reathma said. "It's about the Magius, and what they're planning.

"You need to know how you factor into their plans."