Home on the Range, Part 2
Dinner was a strange affair.
Carola's house was both quaint and busy. Nearly everything looked as if it had been handmade from wood that she had chopped down herself, from the furniture to the timbers of the house itself. But it was also crammed with decoration, from bits of colorful glass to painted ceramic to handmade dolls to cloth hangings depicting a number of forest creatures to pressed flowers to so many potted plants that some parts resembled an actual jungle.
Kyoko, Mami, Sayaka, and Charlotte were all seated together at one end of Carola's dinner table, which was long and covered with a bright red-and-white checkered tablecloth that looked to be handsewn. Sitting all along the sides were Carola's strange "sisters," each one of them seemingly identical, save for the Roman numerals on each of their cheeks, numbering them from one to twelve, each one of them perfectly still with their plasticine smiles unwavering.
And they were all staring silently at their guests.
Kyoko was quite unnerved, both by the stares and by the smiles. She had thought that those two creepy, touchy-feely twins that Annabelle Lee was always hanging out with had been unsettling, but this was on a whole new level.
According to Carola, none of them had names when she had first met them, so she had decided to name them after months from the old Roman calendar, since there were twelves of them: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December. Kyoko wasn't really up on her foreign naming conventions, so most of that had flown right out of her head. She just hoped that a situation that would require her to actually tell them apart wouldn't come up.
"It was just the darnedest thing!" Carola said as she entered the dining room. She was wearing a bright blue apron embroidered with rabbits and hearts and a pair of brown oven mitts, between which she was carrying several covered dishes, all stacked precariously on top of one another, so that her face was completely obscured. She was "Apparently back in the day before I went all witchy woman, I was part of this whole group of magical girls!"
Charlotte immediately looked alarmed, not by the story or even by Carola's creepy sisters, but by how the stacked dishes were swaying, with Carola constantly shifting back and forth to keep her balance. "Uh, hey, can I help you wish that?" she said, rising out of her seat.
"Nonsense! You're our guest, and that means-Whoops!"
The dishes had tilted too far to the left and were beginning to topple, and for a moment Kyoko feared that yet another cruel trick of the universe was going to take dinner away on top of everything else.
In this, she was spared, as before the dishes became victims of gravity, Carola's sisters immediately sprang into action with eerie coordination and precision, the ones closest to her suddenly moving out of their seats to each grab onto a dish and shift it over to its spot on the table. The speed and fluidity in which they did this made it look like something that they rehearsed.
"Whew! Thanks, girls," Carola said, setting the base dish down.
The one sitting closest to Kyoko (who was it again? Dec…December!) turned back to her, that damned smile still unchanging. "Our big sister is clumsy," she said, as if conveying some critical secret. The way she spoke was just as off-putting as the rest of her, as her voice was technically identical to Carola's, but the tone and inflection were stilted and unnatural.
"I am not!" Carola said in mock-offense. "Anyone would have slipped. Anyway, pass 'em around. Fortunately, I always go for big portions, so there's enough for everyone!"
Carola's sisters reached in to lift the covers off of the steaming dishes (again with unnerving synchronicity), and Kyoko tensed up, half-expecting to see someone's head or a bunch of insects or something equally horrid.
It was none of these things. Instead, it was the kind of food one might expect from a ranch, and more: prime ribs, scalloped potatoes, homemade biscuits smothered with gravy, and a kind of veggie dish of peas, sweet potatoes, and tiny onions. To drink was a large frosty jar of milk.
And it smelled wonderful.
Carola and her calendar siblings passed the dishes all around the table, each one spooning an identical portion of each onto their plates, each one moving with smooth efficiency and harmony like the mechanical arms of a factory's assembly line. Charlotte furrowed her brow when the dishes reached their side of the table and seemed unsure of whether or not she should trust the food, but Kyoko was too hungry to hair, helping herself to a healthy helping of everything.
"So, as I was saying, apparently I had a whole group of magical girl friends," Carola said as everyone dug in. "And, uh, by that I mean friends that were magical girls like me, probably not magical girlfriends, if you catch my meaning. As far as I know, anyway."
At Kyoko's side, Mami muttered something under her breath, something that Kyoko didn't quite catch, but sounded like, "Plate Adidas Saints."
"But um, I guess when I turned into a witch, they saw it happen and had to be the ones to, you know…" Carola drew a finger made of void across her throat. "And they took that kind of hard, so they decided to clone me!"
"Clone you?" Charlotte's face twisted up in confusion.
"Yeah! I mean, it's obviously not the same as bringing me back to life, but while kind of weird, I get where they were coming from."
Charlotte looked to Mami and Kyoko. "You know, I don't remember hearing that cloning being something that was really common in the world of the living."
"Eh, I never paid much attention to that kind of stuff," Kyoko said with a shrug.
"It wasn't," Mami said. "I mean, i-it's certainly possible, but not to this level!"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure it was more magic than test-tubes," Carola said casually, as if being recreated post-mortem by friends that she was incapable of remembering was something that happened every day. "And I guess they succeeded, but it also took a few tries to get it right. I think. I dunno, the details were hard to make out." She motioned with her fork at her sisters. "But anyway, that's where they came from."
"We're failures!" three of the clones said in cheerful synchronization.
"No, we are prototypes!" four more responded, at the exact same time, in exactly the same voice.
"We're prototypes!" the first three corrected, again in perfect unison.
Carola shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that. They kept referring to themselves as failures when I first met them, because that's what their creators called them, and I've been trying to get them to stop. I mean, just because they're not perfect copies of me doesn't mean it's okay to call them that."
Sayaka's face screwed up in confusion. "But how did they get here, though? I mean, did they make contracts or something?"
"Honestly? I'm not too sure." Carola frowned. "I mean, all I know is what they've told me, and they…don't really understand it too well themselves, and, well, I'm sure you noticed that they have some troubles with…well, with communicating."
"We have limited cognitive abilities!" said two of them, while at the exact same time four more exclaimed, "We lack certain essential human interaction instincts!"
"See what I mean?" Carola said, shrugging as if to say, "Ah, what can one do?" She took another long sip of milk. "But I'm guessing that since they were made from me by other magical girls, that was enough to count, so that when they were killed, they wound up here anyway!"
"Wait, what killed them though?" Kyoko was honestly finding the whole thing fascinating, and the more she learned, the less scary the clones seemed. If anything, she was starting to pity them a little. "It wasn't those friends of yours, was it? Because that would be messed up."
"I…I don't think so," Carola said, scratching her head. "Best I've been able to piece together, it was another clone, one that I guess actually was successful, but…not fully? Hard to tell, really. I've never met her though, so she's presumably not dead. As far as I know."
Kyoko wrinkled her nose. "So…wait. You kicked it like the rest of us, your friends somehow figured out a way to make another one of you, but it took thirteen tries to get it right, and the one that actually came out right went and offed all the ones that didn't, and now you all wound up here? Together?"
"That's essentially correct!"
"And presumably your clone is walking around alive and well, just living your life in your place?"
"Oh no, I'm living my life, and she's got her own. I hope she's doing well. I suppose I might meet her too someday, though. I guess it's inevitable that she'd come here."
"We'll all be together!" six of the clones exclaimed.
Well, to her credit, Carola didn't seem the slightest bit disturbed or resentful of the situation. If Kyoko found out that the people she cared about had just made another one of her to replace her and so casually disposed of all the failed attempts like that, then she'd probably have some very strong opinions.
"So, wait," Charlotte said, now caught up in the tale as well. "How'd you even find your, uh, sisters? The afterlife is huge!"
"Oh, they found me! Came right at me like a homing spell!" Carola demonstrated by swiping her hand in front of her face, miming a flying arrow. "They could somehow sense me and didn't know what else to do, so they made their way here." She chewed idly on a spoonful of creamed corn. "I still have no idea how they got as far as they did. They certainly can't seem to explain it." Then her eyes got dark. "But things apparently got dicey when they reached Pendle Quarry. A whole town full of antsy, paranoid bigots having twelve identical girls with…unusual cadences suddenly just rolling into town…well, let's just say I'm glad all they did was arrest them."
"We are felons!" declared five of the clones.
Kyoko blinked. "So, how'd you get them out?"
"Oh, they wouldn't stop talking about needing to find me, and word eventually reached Missy…she's over from the ranch, and she decided to head over for a look-see."
"Wait, she went there intentionally?" Charlotte said. "Isn't that…dangerous?"
"Missy ain't a witch, so she does a lot of our dealings with that danged place. They don't care for her much, but they'll at least talk to her. Someone has to work things out with the stuff that they buy."
Sayaka's jaw dropped. "You do business with that place?"
"Well, I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do. We need someone to order supplies from, and we keep them supplied with alcohol!" Carola wrinkled her nose. "'Course, none of us ain't exactly thrilled about it, not us nor them, but it is what it is." She shrugged. "Anyway, so Missy heads down there and takes one look at them and figures, hey, these girls look like they might have something to do with good ol' Carrie! So she convinced those folks to hand them over…weren't hard, they didn't want them…she brought them here, and now I have twelve sisters when I used to have none!"
"We made a family!" all twelve clones said at once.
Carola beamed. "Exactly! They may be a little simple and came into existence through highly questionable means, but they're still family!" She raised her cup. "Bring it in, girls! To family!"
Her clones gladly raised their own glasses and clinked them together above the table. In perfect synchronization. "Yay!"
By then Kyoko had finished off her plate, so she wiped her mouth and settled back. Truth be told, as creepy as she had found Carola's sisters upon their first meeting, their story had still touched a chord inside her, and she found herself with a hell of a lot more respect for the original model for taking them in. That was how a family was supposed to behave. "Well, damn. Carrie…cool if I call you Carrie?"
"By all means."
"Groovy. Well, my hat's off to you, Carrie. I mean, it would be, if I had one." She shot a quick glance to Charlotte, who rolled her eyes. "You did a good thing just taking them in like that."
"How could I not?" Carola stretched her shimmering arms out and looped them around the shoulders of the two clones sitting on either side of her and pulled them in, hugging them in close. "These cuties came all that way to find me, and I couldn't just turn them away!"
"We all live together!" cheered her sisters.
Kyoko exchanged glances with her friends, and then they all shrugged. Well, at least they seemed happy.
Carola resumed eating. "So, what's you folks' story?"
Mami, who had been noticeably silent during the whole story, jerked a little at the question. "Eh?"
"You came all this way for a reason, right? And I'm guessing it's nothing to do with anything around here. So, you heading to or running from?"
"I…" Mami and Charlotte exchanged brief looks, and Charlotte coughed lightly into her fist.
"Don't wanna tell? Ah, that's fine," Carola said with a shrug. "Lots of folks that come through here have pasts they don't like talking about. Still, if you're fixing to stay at the ranch for any length of time, they're probably gonna have to know what to expect. They don't take too kindly to other people's troubles showing up on their doorstep. Got enough of their own, you know what I mean?"
"Understood," Charlotte said. "We don't want to bring anyone any trouble. We just need a place to rest for a bit."
"Well, you'll certainly find that there. Most folks there came from one kind of bad situation or another, so I reckon you'll fit right in."
"Aren't you part of the ranch?" Sayaka asked.
"Eh." Carola held out her hand, palm-flat, and waggled it. "I mean, sort of? I don't actually live there and have my own thing going, but we're definitely part of their whole community. Hell, if we keep collecting strays, we might as well call ourselves a full-on town!" She laughed. "Now, wouldn't that be a royal kick in the tuckus for those Pendle Quarry twits? If we ended up building an even bigger town than they have?"
All twelve of her sisters laughed along with her, sounding like they had all practiced laughing at length but had yet to get the hang of it.
And then a phone rang.
"Oh, that must be them!" Carola stood and left the room.
Charlotte, Sayaka, Mami, and Kyoko were left alone with Carola's sisters, who at least were preoccupied with eating instead of staring at them with off-putting smiles.
Then Carola reentered the room, a pensive look on her face. "Bad news, girls. Can't really bring you over there tonight. We've been having some bad issues with the plumbing, hence why I've been using the well, and it seems it came to a head just now. So…yeah. Things are a bit hectic and disgusting over there."
"Oh," Charlotte blinked. "I…actually didn't think you guys even had plumbing."
"Oh, come now! We're not that primitive. Only…close." Carola coughed. "Well, since the closest thing we have to civilization around here is Pendle Quarry, and they certainly wouldn't let us onto any kind of network or infrastructure that they got, we have to make due with what we can cobble together. It works! I mean, we have electricity-"
"Most of the time!" chimed in one sister, the one with a six on her cheek.
"-working phone lines-"
"Except when we don't!" said sisters two and nine.
"-and the main house even has running water and flushing toilets!"
"But not this entire week!" said sisters four, eight, and eleven.
"Right, it's all very…tetchy," Carola sighed. "But they should have it under control by tomorrow. Until then, I hope you don't mind being put up here."
Mami, Charlotte, and Sayaka all exchanged looks, but before they could say anything Kyoko merely shrugged and said, "That works. Thanks."
Her friends looked at her strangely but none of them protested. Ignoring them, Kyoko just continued to eat, putting away a full plate before asking for another.
…
Despite its quaintness, Carola's house was actually fairly large. It had apparently only been built for one person, but after her sisters had shown up, her friends from the ranch had all pitched in to give it an extensive remodeling, expanding it out so there was room for all thirteen of them.
Unfortunately, she didn't have much in the way of guest accommodations. "Used to have a couple of guest rooms upstairs, but off course once my sisters all showed up, they kinda took over," she had said apologetically. "We keep meaning to expand even further, but that's a long ways away. Hope you don't mind sleeping in the living room."
They had assured her that that would be just fine. After all, even just having a roof over their heads was a vast improvement.
"So, that was…unusual," Charlotte said as they rolled out their sleeping bags.
"Yeah, but what ain't?" Kyoko grumbled as she sat down in one of the easy chairs and worked on pulling her socks off.
Charlotte shot her an odd look. "You know, you are…unusually, ah, how shall I say this…"
"Trusting?"
"Sure. I mean, given, well, everything, I would've thought that you would've been the first to insist we hightail it out of here."
"Why, because of the Stepford Squad?" Kyoko shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, they're…odd, but I don't get a bad vibe off of them. Besides, anyone that would take in that many new sisters, no questions asked, has to be okay."
Oktavia glanced at her. She sort of agreed with Charlotte, in that it was a little weird for Kyoko to not so much as question anything Carola had said, but she could sort of understand it. Kyoko had this thing about taking care of sisters, after all. "Yeah, I kind of agree. Good for her for taking them in," she said as she stretched her tail out. She winced at the sudden ache, and then her face relaxed and she let out a happy sigh. "Oof. After sitting all day, this feels good."
"Oh, you poor thing," Kyoko said as she gingerly dug her fingers into the soles and arches of her bare feet, grimacing as she did so. "Any longer of pushing your ass around and my feet will turn into freakin' leather."
"Tell yah what: give me your legs, and I'll be more than happy to push you around."
Grinning, Kyoko extended her leg and wiggled her toes. "Oh, you can have my legs anytime you want."
Oktavia flushed a little at that.
Ignoring the flirting, Charlotte frowned. "I don't know. After everything we've been through, I keep expecting to find out…" Then she glanced up at the ceiling, and her voice trailed off.
"Find out what?" Kyoko prodded.
"Forget it," Charlotte said, shaking her head. "Not now."
Oktavia and Kyoko exchanged looks and then shrugs. Fair enough. Whatever misgivings Charlotte might have, this probably wasn't the time nor place to share them. Still, Oktavia got it. Innocent or not, Carola's sisters were very unsettling in that backwater cult sort of way.
Still, there were good people out there, some of them a little on the odd side, but still good. Elsa Maria. The wayhouse. All the people that had given them aid along the way. Just because these girls were weird didn't mean they were bad.
Then Oktavia looked over to Mami, who was sitting by herself at the far end of one of the couches, back hunched forward, hands loosely clasped over her thighs, and eyes staring straight forward at nothing at all.
Oktavia really wished that she could do more to help her. She had tried back at the shop, but that had just left her with more than she felt she was qualified to unpack. She couldn't even begin to think of how it must feel to have so much guilt, have a workable method with coping built up over several years, only to have it suddenly yanked away, along with everything else. Anything Oktavia could say or do would fall woefully inadequate.
So she said nothing.
Fortunately, Charlotte took notice of Mami's condition and hastily sidled over to her. She sat down next to her and reached over to take Mami's hand.
Instead of accepting it, Mami abruptly stood up and left, walking right out of the front door into the night, letting it slam shut behind her.
From their places on the floor, Kyoko and Oktavia both stared, neither knowing what to say. As for Charlotte, she just let out a long and weary sigh.
Then she glanced over to them. "Don't worry, she'll be all right," she said as she stood up as well. "She just needs to clear her head. I'll go talk to her."
"Anything we can do?" Oktavia asked as Charlotte made for the front door.
"Thanks, but this is something you'd better let me handle. Just…get some sleep, okay?" And with that, Charlotte left the house as well.
Oktavia glanced over to Kyoko, who looked back at her. Lowering her voice, Oktavia said, "Is it just me, or is there something about Carola's that's just…bothering her?"
"You noticed that too?" Kyoko laid back and stared at the wooden timbres of the ceiling. "I really hope it's not some kind of clone-hate."
"You…really like those clones, do you?"
"More of I really sympathize with them. They look after each other, and Carola looks after them without complaint. That makes them a decent lot in my book."
Was it Oktavia's imagination, or was Kyoko's voice already developing the distinct drawl of Carola and those guys back at Pendle Quarry?
"I guess that makes sense. But no, I talked a little bit to Mami while you and Charlotte were in the store. She's just been-"
"Guilt complex. Yeah. I know. I'm just wondering what about this house has gotten her all worked up."
Oktavia shrugged. "Well, whatever it is, I'm not going to be the one to ask. Hopefully Charlotte can get it out of her."
…
Though the forest was much cooler than the desert had been, it was still a fairly warm evening as Mami walked out into the small clearing in which Carola's house sat.
It was a lovely night. Warm, given its close proximity to the desert, but still lovely, with bright quarter-moon shining overhead surrounded by twinkling stars.
Mami looked out at the forest, which looked so peaceful and tranquil, a worthy shelter to the abused and rejected girls that lived there.
If only it knew of that monster that now stood within it.
If only it knew that everything was all her fault.
The front door opened and closed behind her, and footstep approached her from behind. Mami knew them instantly. Good. It was probably the only person in the world that Mami felt comfortable discussing this with.
A moment later her wife came up to stand beside her. Charlotte didn't say anything, didn't press Mami for an explanation. She knew that Mami would talk when she was ready. For now, all she was there to do was to provide was comfort her presence could bring.
Then Mami said in a low voice, "I know her."
That got a reaction out of Charlotte. Whatever she had expected Mami to say, this clearly wasn't it. "Know her?" she said, looking to Mami with her head tilted, brow knitted together in confusion. "Know who?"
"Her. Carola. Or I knew her." Mami swallowed. "Before."
"Wait, you mean before before? Back when you were-"
"Alive, yes. Only briefly, but I did know her." Mami took in a deep, shuddering breath and slowly let it out. "Not for very long. But we did meet. I…I actually saved her life, saved her from a witch. And I guess that put her on Kyubey's radar, as she made a wish not too long after that." Mami wrapped her arms around her own arms, shivering as she hugged herself. "Her old name was Michiru Kazusa, and after I heard that she made a wish, I got in contact with her again and stuck around for a couple weeks to train her. I got in touch with her a little bit after and found out that she had put together an entire team of magical girls that she had also saved from witches, and they were working together to keep their town safe." Tears dribbled down her face. "I was so proud."
Charlotte laid a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. She didn't say anything, though. She had long learned when to jump in with a comment, and this wasn't it.
"I barely even thought of Michiru in years. I didn't even know she had died! Even when I did think of her, it was always just, you know, whenever I'd get down and think of all the girls that made a contract because of me, her face would show up in my mind, but it would only be one out of…" Mami sighed. "B-But then Mephisto happened."
Charlotte tensed up. "Mephisto?"
"Do you remember when I told you how she tortured me, how she mocked me for all the girls who's lives I had ruined to get me to take her deal? Michiru was one of them. I mean, gave her the spotlight and everything, brought her out during that mock trail. How she knew what had happened to Michiru when I didn't even know, I don't understand, but she did." Mami turned to stare with wet eyes at the house. "And now…now here's the real one? Out of everyone we could have run into, we run into her, out in the middle of nowhere?" Now the tears were falling freely. "How long does this go on, Charlotte? How many times do I have to be reminded of all the harm I caused? When does it end?"
Charlotte wordlessly drew Mami in and hugged her to her chest, holding her tight as she cried. "It won't stop! I can't take this anymore, I can't! But it won't stop! It just won't stop!"
…
Carola had been very apologetic for having them sleep on the floor. She used to have a number of guest rooms for people on their way to the ranch, but after her sisters had arrived she had converted them into bedrooms for their use. She kept meaning to have an addition to the house built, but until then this was the best she could.
No one had complained, least of all Oktavia. Just getting to sleep inside was so much better than what she had slowly and begrudgingly getting used to.
And she even had an actual pillow! Well, a cushion snatched from one of the chairs, but it was basically the same thing. It wasn't the same as getting to sleep in a real bed, but it was inside out of the wind and she was going to bed with a fully belly, so compared to the last few months this was the very height of luxury.
She looked over to Kyoko as she shimmied down into her sleeping bag next to her. "So, what do you think this ranch is gonna be like?" she said, pulling it up to her shoulders. "Great? Good? Disappointing? Another trap?"
"How the hell would I know? All I know is that it's got to be better than that dumpster fire we just left."
"Yeah," Oktavia breathed out. "That sucked."
"I mean, what the hell? You'd think they'd wake up and face reality, you know? We know who the real bad guys were, and it was the little weasels going around with their stupid wishes and their stupid contracts, and not the girls who got pushed too far."
"I hear you. Boy, do I hear you."
"And did you hear that one bitch acting like we were all ignorant and such, how she rolled her eyes when I told her how you became a witch? Like that wasn't how it worked and we were swallowing lies and stuff? Like, come the fuck on! I was there! I saw it happen!" Kyoko sullenly folded her arms over her chest and she glowered up at the dark timbers of the ceiling. "'One of those.' Pesh!"
"Preaching to the choir, Kyoko," Oktavia sighed.
"Yeah, I know," Kyoko grumpily said as she turned onto her side so she and Sayaka were looking at one another. "Well, maybe the ranch will let me do some cowgirl shit. Wear the hat. Ride a horse. Shoot a gun. Yee the haw."
Oktavia pictured Kyoko dressed up as a cowgirl. It was…not as silly as she had thought. Actually, she found the look kind of appealing. Still, there were a few bits of the ranch life that she felt that Kyoko was forgetting. "Shovel the poop?" she suggested.
"Hey, I'll shovel it. It's just work."
"Be up before the crack of dawn to shuck the corn?"
"Shuckity-fuckity. It's not like I'm getting much sleep as it is."
Oktavia's brow furrowed. "You're…kinda looking forward to this, aren't you?"
Kyoko shrugged. "Aren't you?"
Oktavia flinched.
"I don't know," she sighed after a bit. "I mean, after Lily, I just can't help but feel suspicious of everyone we meet."
"Yeah," Kyoko breathed out. "Yeah. I know what you mean. But hey! There's good people out there, right? Not every place we end up has to nothing but terrible people looking to sell us or eat us or whatever."
Oktavia looked at her strangely.
"What?"
Sighing, Oktavia turned over onto her stomach. "When did you get so optimistic?"
"The hell you talking about? I've always been optimistic. I was just an asshole about it."
"Well, at least you admit it," Oktavia murmured. Then she yawned. "Though I gotta say: nice girl Kyoko is kinda weird." Not necessarily bad, but definitely weird.
Kyoko scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just sayin'." Oktavia snuggled deeper into her sleeping bag. "Still, I'm glad you're keeping it together. You had me worried there for a bit."
Kyoko pulled her own sleeping bag up to her chin. "What, you expected me to turn into a basket case or something?"
"Yup."
"Hey!"
"Just saying," Oktavia said again. Then she yawned.
Kyoko fell quiet, and for a moment Oktavia wondered if she had gone too far. She frowned. Yeah, she had probably gone too far. Kyoko had been through enough; of course she would be…not okay. What was she doing, teasing her about it?
Should she apologize? Kyoko was pretty free with playfully insulting her friends, but there were limits, right? And Oktavia really, really, really didn't want Kyoko mad at her right now, not at this stage in their…their thing.
"I dunno," Kyoko said suddenly before Oktavia could make up her mind. "Maybe I'm just sick of acting like everything is out to get us. And, okay, it's kinda been that way, no need to point it out! But I spent the last year of my life being a total asshole. I trusted nobody and just kinda assumed everyone was either the same or an idiot. I don't really feel like spending my death the same way."
Oktavia's brow furrowed.
"What?"
"Nothing," Oktavia said. "I just…Well, that's a really mature outlook! I think."
"Eh." Kyoko rolled onto her side, looking over to Oktavia. "Mature, silly, childish, smart, I don't care. If things go bad then they're going to go bad. But I'm just too tired to…What?"
Oktavia blinked. "Huh?"
"You were staring. Like, really lose in my eyes."
Crap, she had noticed! Oktavia hastily turned away. "I…" She sighed. "Shut up."
Kyoko chuckled. "Well, hey, who can blame you? Dazzling ruby eyes, a smile made for the movies, face made for magazine covers-"
"That's been pounded into the dirt a bunch of times."
"So I need a shower. But c'mon. You were totally checking me out just now."
Oktavia sighed and let her hands flop to either side. "Goodnight, Kyoko."
"Admit it, you think I'm cute."
"Goodnight, Kyoko!"
Kyoko chuckled, the sound of it sending shivers down Oktavia's spine. She was struck with a strange urge to stop joking, to actually call Kyoko's bluff, to admit that, yes, she thought that Kyoko was actually cute.
Because she did.
Of course she did! Kyoko was cute! No, wait, cute wasn't the right term. She was very pretty…no that wasn't it either!
Beautiful.
Kyoko was beautiful.
And Oktavia absolutely had been checking her out just now, even though she could only see her face. Just like she had been checking out, admiring, appreciating, and just enjoying looking at Kyoko for…
Well, for pretty much as long as she could remember. Not that she would ever admit it, but…maybe she should?
Yeah, maybe she should just skip the pretenses and admit it. She thought Kyoko was beautiful. She thought that Kyoko's mischievous scarlet eyes were gorgeous; that her coy smile set her heart, real or nor, racing; that even in its hacked up, filthy state, her hair made Oktavia's skin tingle every time it brushed up against her; her body honestly looked like it had been sculpted by the gods; and her butt was, full confession, kind of awesome, and Oktavia had developed a bad habit of making fun of it because she knew that would get Kyoko to rub it up against her.
Sure. She should just tell Kyoko all of that.
And after that, she should tell Kyoko how much she thought of kissing her, because that was sure to go over well! And after that, she should tell Kyoko how scared she was of losing her, and that she wanted them to always be together, and how she so deeply wished for Kyoko to stop using those stupid nicknames and just call her by her name and forget Sayaka Miki and choose her instead, because even if she did come back, Sayaka Miki could never love her like she-
A warm, strong hand covered Oktavia's and squeezed.
A hand she knew intimately well.
Oktavia stiffened. She opened her eyes and glanced to her side.
Kyoko had reached over to take Oktavia's hand in her own. Seeing Oktavia nervously glancing at her, the redhead shot her a smirk and a wink. Then, without taking her hand away, she laid back and closed her eyes to go to sleep.
Oktavia didn't withdraw her hand either, though her cheeks were now burning quite warmly.
Oh yeah.
Kyoko knew. She definitely knew.
…
Mami and Charlotte entered the darkened house.
Everything was as they had left it, with their sleeping bag still unrolled on the floor, waiting for them. And Kyoko and Oktavia were still in their own sleeping bags, seemingly asleep.
Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
The pair were facing each other, each one draping an arm across the floor to the other, their hands loosely clasped.
Though Mami was still tensed, Charlotte felt her wife loosen up a little bit upon seeing that. "Well," she said in a low whisper.
Shaking her head, the pair removed what articles of clothing they didn't need and slipped in together into their own sleeping bag. Once there, Charlotte curled up against Mami's back, holding her from behind.
"I love you," she murmured into Mami's ear. "Always have. And I'm not ever going to leave you."
Mami didn't respond, but she did place a hand over the one Charlotte had draped over her stomach and gave the fingers a squeeze.
Soon the two of them were asleep as well, holding each other in the dark.
…
Though her eyes were closed and her breathing even, Kyoko was not asleep; she wasn't even drowsing. Instead, she was listening, and she was waiting.
She had long learned the unique cadences of her companions' breathing and knew how it sounded when each and every one of them had fallen fully asleep. She had to. When they slept was her best opportunity to go off by herself, and just because they were under a roof instead of the open sky didn't mean she was going to break tradition.
It didn't take long. Sayaka's breathing was already soft and steady, and it wasn't long before Mami and Charlotte's were as well.
Even so, Kyoko remained where she was, waiting until she was absolutely certain that they were completely oblivious to the world.
Finally she was pretty sure that they were all dead asleep, and to test she carefully slid her hand out of Sayaka's, all the while carefully watching the sleeping mermaid's face.
Sayaka's brow creased, and her now-empty hand curled, as if seeking out the warmth of Kyoko's, but she didn't awake.
Moving with practiced grace, Kyoko slipped out of her sleeping bag. She had taken to not zipping it up, claiming that it made it easier to get on her feet if trouble hit while they were sleeping, and while that was true she had another reason, one she had been keeping secret for weeks now.
Kyoko slowly and smoothly rose to her feet and tiptoed over to the front door. Fortunately, for as weird as she might be, Carola kept her house in good repair, so the hinges didn't squeak as she opened it just enough for her to stealthily slip outside.
Once she was out in the night air, Kyoko breathed a little easier. Her boots were sitting on the edge of the porch next to everyone else's shoes, so she sat down to pull them on, and then she was off, with the special treat she had nicked sitting comfortably in her back pocket.
She headed out into the forest, underbrush crunching beneath her feet, moving away to a comfortable distance from the house. And when she was far enough to feel safe, she looked around and let out a low whistle.
Part of her was worried that she would get no response. Though she trusted the creature she had come out to see to be able to keep up with no problem, he would still have to have gone through or around Pendle Quarry, and if any of them had taken the slightest bit of notice then…
Well, every cowboy movie needed a shootout, and if those creeps so much as looked crossly at Jerky, then Kyoko would be more than happy to provide.
Fortunately her fears were misplaced, as almost immediately she heard the familiar hoarse cackle in response to her whistle.
A moment later a shadow the size of large dog bounded down from the treetops. Jerky landed smoothly and gracefully on the ground and looked up at her, stiff and armored tail swaying behind him, foreclaws held to his chest, all three diamond-shaped eyes gleaming in the dark. He looked up at her and cackled again.
"Hey, buddy," Kyoko said as she sank to her knees and reached in to scratch behind his chest. Jerky closed his eyes and nuzzled her arm with the side of his snout.
"Glad you're here," Kyoko said. She then laid both hands on either side of Jerky's muzzle. "Okay, keep still for a sec. Let me get a look at you."
So far the juvenile valk had no difficulty with the different environments they had traveled through, but that trek through the desert had worried her, given how damp his family's territory had been. Take a freshwater toad and drop it in the middle of the Sahara and see how long it lasted. She had images of Jerky's cracked and dehydrated hide running through the back of her mind all day.
But to her relief, she saw nothing of the sort. Jerky was fine.
Kyoko breathed out. "Man, you are tenacious," she said, giving him another scratch. "You valks can live just about anywhere, can't you."
Jerky cackled happily. Then he tilted his head, looking down at Kyoko's waist. Or rather, what she had stuck into her back pocket.
Kyoko snickered. "Yeah, you smelled that thing before I even got out of the house, didn't you?"
Then she pulled out the treat she had snatched for him.
It was one of the prime ribs from dinner, still covered with seasoned meat. Kyoko stood up and held it out over his head, waggling it back and forth.
"All right, here we go," she said as Jerky looked up and hunkered down, his foreclaws twitching with anticipation as his eyes focused on the succulent treat being offered to him. "You want this? Do you? Huh?" Jerky chirped, confirming that he did want it, and very much at that.
"Okay, go!" Kyoko hurled the rib in a long arc over Jerky's head
Moving at blinding speed, Jerky pivoted around and leapt, clearing the space between himself at the hurtling rib in seconds. He snatched it out of the air before it hit the ground and stripped it clean in seconds, holding it in place with his foreclaws while scraping the meat off with his teeth. Then he bit down, splintering the bone with his powerful jaws to get at the marrow.
Kyoko shook her head. "Dingus. You're supposed to let it land first!"
Jerky gave her a look.
"Fine, fine." Kyoko walked up to him and running her hand over his armored back. "I wouldn't want my dinner hitting the floor either."
Then Kyoko sighed.
"Hey, Jerky," she said, squatting down next to her pet alien dinosaur. "Can I confide in you about something that's been kinda bugging me lately?"
Jerky tilted his head.
"Thanks, buddy." She reached up with one hand to give his flank a good scratch. "Okay, so, you know Sayaka, right? Blue-haired cutie with the fish tail."
Jerky snorted.
"I'll take that as a yes. Anyway, you've…well, I don't know how much you know about this kind of stuff, but you might have noticed that she and I…we got kind of a thing going on. And by that I mean I think I might actually like her, and I'm pretty sure she likes me."
All three of the juvenile valk's narrowed, which Kyoko had learned was the equivalent of a furrowed brow.
"Oh, don't look at me like that. I'm a little rough around the edges, but I'm still likeable. And hot. Because I am."
Jerky snorted.
"Shut up. Anyway, I've, well, I've been wanting to, you know, tell her for a while and see what happens, that sort of thing. But her deal is weirdly complicated." She frowned. "I mean, I don't know how much you actually understand about how any of this works, but the problem is that she is Sayaka, but also…not really? I mean, not all the way. It's her, but it isn't her, and she gets really pissed off if you bring her up to her, and…" Letting out a frustrated sigh, she ran her fingers through her increasingly greasy hair. "Damn, I'm not making any sense."
Jerky clicked from deep in his throat.
"Like I said, it's weird! But okay, remember when you had to save us from that nightmare monster thingy?" Taking his silence as an affirmative, Kyoko said, "Okay, when all that went down, I actually got to talk to the real…er, well, the original Sayaka a bit. And it was…" Kyoko slowly breathed out. "God, I missed her. But the Sayaka I have now doesn't remember any of that, and when Mami told her it really freaked her out! But it's still her, damn it! Why can't she-"
Jerky took a step away, head tilted at her in confusion. Realizing that she was starting to make him nervous, Kyoko took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, forcing herself to calm down.
"I know, I know, it's not her fault," she muttered. "But what I'm saying is, I still really like her. And…fuck…I do…" She paused. She was talking to an alien dinosaur. Why dance around the subject? "Aw, fuck it. I wanna be her girlfriend." Then she let out a bitter chuckle. "Shit, I finally said it out loud, huh? And if you tell anyone I swear to God I'll disown you!"
Jerky blinked.
"Well, no I won't, but there'll be no more jerky sticks for long time!"
Then Kyoko sighed again.
"But what the hell am I supposed to do? I made a promise to bring the original Sayaka back, and I can't just leave her gone, now that I know she's still in there somewhere! But the mermaid Sayaka doesn't want her back! And who can blame her? Those are some shitty memories! Besides, what if the old Sayaka comes back, and she just replaces the new one? What if everything we went through together is just gone? Like, that would be messed up, right? Be like killing her all over again, and I've already done that…two times already? Three?"
Kyoko started to pace, now speaking more to herself than Jerky. "But I can't leave her gone either. If we do get together, if we are happy together, what I am supposed to do? Just forget that she ever existed? That would also be like killing her again! I promised her, Jerky! I promised her! You should have seen her! She was so scared of getting swallowed up again! God, I can't her face out of my head. I watched her get turned into-" Her voice caught just before saying the word "Oktavia." She wince and plowed on. "-into a witch twice and couldn't save her! I-"
Suddenly Jerky reared up, nostrils sniffing the air. His eyes narrowed, and he let out a low, clicking growl.
Oh no.
Kyoko bounded to her feet, her spear appearing in her hand. She crouched down into a battle-stance, eyes searching, senses extended.
"Hello!"
Kyoko whirled around, her illusionary heart beating fast.
Standing not two meters away was one of Carola's…sisters. Clones? Duplicates? Prototypes?
Sisters. She considered them sisters, so that was good enough for Kyoko.
For her part, the girl didn't seem at all bothered by the spear pointed at her face, or have come across her family's guest sneaking out in the middle of the night to hang out with a prehistoric amalgamation. She was wearing flannel plaid pajamas and was smiling in that same slightly-off manner as always.
For her part, Kyoko did not drop her guard. Damn it, how had she not heard the girl coming? Hell, Jerky had almost been taken by surprise!
"What do you want?" Kyoko hissed. Jerky again growled, his trio of luminescent green eyes focused on the girl's throat.
Heedless of the malice being sent her way, the girl pointed at Jerky and said, "Is that a dinosaur?"
"I-" Kyoko shook her head. How did one respond to that. "Uh, it's…it's…"
"April," the girl helpfully provided. "My name is April." She pointed to the V and the I on her cheek. "Because I'm number four, see?"
April. Fantastic. As if not knowing her name was what Kyoko was worried about. "April. Okay. A-And are the others about?"
"My sisters?" April shook her head. "Nope! I had to go to the outhouse, when I was coming back, I saw you go into the forest, and wanted to see where you were going!"
Kyoko blinked. "Oh." Now that she was apart from her identical sisters, this one was getting weirdly…chatty.
She straightened up a bit, though she didn't put the spear down. Jerky shot her a sidelong look, as if requesting permission to pounce. Kyoko waved him down.
"So is that a dinosaur?" April again asked.
"N-No." Kyoko shook her head. "He's a valk."
"A what?"
"A valk." Things were so strange that Kyoko felt weirdly detached, as if all this was happening in a dream. "He's an alien that looks like a dinosaur."
"Oh, swell! Is he your pet?"
Kyoko again glanced down at Jerky, who seemed confused as to why his adopted mother hadn't given the signal to attack. "Kind of."
"How come you didn't bring him in with you? Does he have rabies?"
"No!" Kyoko shook her head again. "April, listen to me. You cannot tell anyone about him, okay? No one. At all."
"Oh?" April tilted her head. "Why is that?"
Kyoko wracked her mind for a suitable excuse, but was unable to come up with anything more convincing than the truth. "Because I'm kind of keeping him a secret."
April blinked once. Her expression remained fixed.
And then her eyes widened ever so slightly. "Oh, I get it! A secret pet! July had one of those! She found a puppy in the forest and tried to keep it in the closet but she wasn't very good at it and Carola found out immediately and since the puppy was actually a baby bear she had to send it back before its mom found out and got cross with us."
"Oh y-yeah?" Kyoko stammered.
April nodded. "Yes, poor July was very sad."
Kyoko swallowed. She was walking a razor tightrope, trusting Jerky's safety with…whatever April was. "Well, he doesn't have a mom to send him back to. I'm really all he's got, but nobody can know about him. At all."
"Why not?"
A flash of memory, of ripping teeth and venomous spit, Kyoko's eyes burning while Charlotte screamed. Kyoko hastily shook the memory off. "Because…Okay, you know my friend Charlotte?"
April shook her head, but kept smiling. "No!"
"Ugh." Kyoko rubbed her forehead. "You know, the pale one with pink hair and the tail!"
"Oh! Then yes."
"Well, she's terrified of valks, and she has good reason to be!"
"Why? Did one bite her?"
"Uh, yes."
"Ah," April said with a solemn nod. "That is a good reason."
"Exactly! But Jerky is one of the best things to ever happen to me and I can't be without him, but if she found out that I had him then she'd freak out, and I don't want that to happen, so don't tell anyone!"
April nodded again. "I understand. I shall not spoil your secret."
Kyoko eyed her in suspicion, not knowing how far to trust her. She didn't think that this strange girl would willingly expose Jerky, but she struck Kyoko as the sort to not really understand the complexities of keeping a secret beyond adhering to the letter of the law of what she promised and possibly letting things slip without realizing that they ought to have been kept away. "And that means your sisters. You can't tell them."
"I will not."
"Or Carola," Kyoko added. "You can't tell her either."
"Okay!"
Okay, what else? Kyoko really wanted to cover her bases with this one. "And you can't tell anyone that you're keeping a secret. Just pretend that you never saw him."
"I shall keep absolutely quiet," April promised.
Damn it, it was so hard think of possible scenarios in which April might innocently reveal Jerky's existence when her mind was as frazzled as it was. "Uh, th-thanks. I guess."
Then April dipped her head to smile down at the clearly uncomfortable Jerky. "May I pet him?"
Well, credit where credit was due. At least April saw Jerky as a potential friend instead of a monster, but Kyoko wasn't about to let things go further than they had already. "Better not. He trusts me, but he doesn't know you, and he's still pretty wild."
"I understand," April said without disappointment.
Did she? Honestly, Kyoko was having the damnedest time reading her. She was certainly turning out to be a lot chattier on her own than she had been when she had been with her sisters, but that off-putting smile just wouldn't go away.
Crouching down a bit, Kyoko patted the juvenile valk twice on the side. "Jerky," she murmured. "Go."
That was all the encouragement Jerky needed, and he bolted into the shadows of the forest, vanishing as quickly as he had appeared.
Kyoko and April stared after him, April continuing to smile serenely while Kyoko did her best not to panic. Oh God, oh God, someone else knew about Jerky, someone that Kyoko didn't really know and found to be really weird and probably couldn't keep a secret to save her-
"Who is Sayaka?" April asked.
Kyoko let out a wordless squeak of surprise.
"You were speaking of her out loud, but I do not recall being introduced to her. Is she another friend of yours? Will we get to meet her too?"
…
Kyoko was drowning.
Kyoko was drowning in a sea of red. She was panicking, flailing, trying desperately to reach the surface, but she was down too deep, and no matter how hard she kicked her legs, she couldn't seem to rise.
Of course, Oktavia had no such trouble.
She dove down deep through the scarlet waters, powerful tail kicking, eyes focused on the girl she loved. She was going to save her. Of course she was going to save her. She had to save her. And after all, this was the sea, and the sea posed no danger to Oktavia.
She reached Kyoko in no time, and extended her hand to take the struggling redhead's.
But instead of accepting her help, Kyoko slapped her hand away.
Oktavia jerked back in shock. What? Why had Kyoko done that?
It had probably been an accident. Kyoko was panicking, after all. It wasn't uncommon for drowning victims to unintentionally attack their rescuer.
Oktavia tried again, this time reaching down with both hands.
Again Kyoko slapped her hands away.
Oktavia stared. Now Kyoko was glowering up at her, her eyes filled with contempt. It hadn't been a mistake. Kyoko was genuinely rejecting her help.
But why? Did she want to drown? And weren't they friends? Why would-
Then, out of the dark maroon waters that surrounded Kyoko, a silhouette appeared, a humanoid shape swimming up behind her. Two slender hands reached up to take Kyoko by the wrists, and when they did, her face immediately softened, and she turned toward the new face that had just appeared next to her.
It was Oktavia's own.
But…it wasn't. This Oktavia wasn't a mermaid; she had two human legs! And she was wearing a strange blue-and-white uniform that was part soldier's dress outfit and part girl's school uniform, with a billowing white cape.
Furthermore, she was staring up at Oktavia with evident cruelty and smug victory.
It was Sayaka Miki, the original.
All of the fight had gone out of Kyoko. Now she was drifting away, her eyes closing peacefully, as if she were going to sleep, letting Sayaka Miki pull her deeper into the depths. Crying out, Oktavia reached for them both, but she couldn't follow. Something was keeping her from going deeper, keeping her away from Kyoko, and she could do nothing as they moved further and further and further-
Oktavia's eyes snapped open.
She was lying on the ground in a…place. A place. New place. What place?
House. She was in a house. Whose house? New person. New person, lots of sisters.
Carola. She was in Carola's house.
A dream. It had been a dream. She was fine. She was herself. And Kyoko…
Oktavia blinked.
Kyoko's sleeping bag was empty. She had been lying across from her, within arm's distance, holding her hand, but now she was gone.
Where? Where did she go?
Oktavia extended her hand, reaching out just as she had done in her dream. Why was Kyoko gone? Why was…
Then Oktavia's eyes closed again and she fell back into uneasy sleep, her hand still reaching for Kyoko's empty sleeping bag.
…
"Uh, Say-yaka. Ah, ha ha. Her." Kyoko again ran her shaking fingers through her hair. "Uh, you know her, my other friend. The one with blue hair, the mermaid."
"Oh." There was a slight furrowing of April's brow, the most genuine emotion Kyoko had seen from her so far. "I thought her name was…different."
Kyoko grimaced. "Well…"
"Ah! Oktavia! That was it." April nodded once, looking quite pleased with herself. "I thought her name was Oktavia."
"That's…" With a sigh, Kyoko plopped down on a nearby stump, her shoulder slouching. "…that's her witch name. Sayaka is her real name."
April's brow again creased. "Witch names are real names though."
Oh. Ouch. "That's not what I meant," Kyoko said with a wince.
"Then what did you mean?"
"She's…" Damn it, was this really happening? Was she really going to have to bare her ragged soul to a flawed clone of a dead girl that she had only just met? "Look, I knew her before. You know?"
"I do not," April declared.
Kyoko impatiently rolled her wrist. "I mean, before we died, okay? Back when she was Sayaka."
April didn't respond. She just stood in place, staring at Kyoko with her permanent smile fixed in place. Kyoko couldn't help but wonder if she was truly puzzling over Kyoko's words or if she had mentally shut down.
"Ooooh!" April said suddenly, her eyes widening ever so slightly. "I see. Before she became a witch, you mean."
"Yeah." The ever-present knife in Kyoko's heart, the one that she almost got used to at times, enough to dull the pain, suddenly jab inward with fresh vigor. "I was there." The tears dripping down onto Sayaka's shattering soul gem. "I saw it happen." Sayaka's limp body falling lifelessly to the floor.
"That must have been hard," April said. There didn't seem to be any genuine sympathy in her voice or expression. In fact, nothing changed at all. She sounded more like someone who was repeating what she had been told what she ought to say when someone confided something painful.
But then, just the simple fact that she was repeating it told Kyoko that she was trying to express sympathy in her own way, and weirdly enough it was appreciated.
"Yeah." Kyoko stared down at the ground. "Hard as hell."
"And you don't like her real name!"
Kyoko winced. Leave it to the flawed clone to bluntly cut straight to the heart of the matter. "It's…complicated."
"I understand," April stated.
Did she? Kyoko wasn't sure. April obviously knew how the afterlife worked and the strange dynamic between witches and magical girls, but Kyoko kind of doubted that she had ever encountered anyone with Kyoko's problems.
Then again, if the ranch really was a sanctuary for wandering souls, maybe she had.
"So, which one are you in love with?" April said after a pause.
Kyoko just about choked.
"W-What?" she managed to get out.
"You said that you were in love with her," April stated. "But which one? Did you fall in love with Sayaka and now resent the fact that she is now Oktavia, or have you fallen in love with Oktavia, but feel bad because you remember Sayaka?"
Kyoko mouth soundlessly worked around several syllables before sputtering out, "What? Neither! And I never said that I was in love with her!"
"Yes, you did. I heard you when I followed you."
"I said that I liked her, not that I was in love with her!"
"They mean the same thing," April said calmly. "That's what Coco told me."
Kyoko scowled. "Well, Coco can go-" Hold on, that name was new. "Wait, who's Coco?"
"My girlfriend."
"A," Kyoko said. What else could she say, really?
A lengthy silence passed, both girls staring at each other, April because it was what she did, and Kyoko because on top of already having her nerves frayed by potentially having Jerky exposed and being drawn into perhaps the most emotionally harrowing conversation she had had since Mephisto and have it be with someone like April, she had just been told something she truly did not expect and had no idea how to react.
Finally Kyoko said the only thing one could say in such a situation. "You have a girlfriend?"
At this, April's odd vacant smile actually softened a bit, becoming something a little more real. "Oh, yes! She lives at the ranch. She is very sweet, and very pretty! She is also really good at fixing things, and she is teaching me how to fix cars and how motor oil and coolant must not be poured into the same tank! And she explained to me that there is a difference between liking someone out of fondness, and liking someone out of romantic attraction."
Well, that was all very well and good, but Kyoko was still stuck on the part about April having a girlfriend. "Er, do any of your other sisters have girlfriend?"
"February does, and so does August! October did, but they proved an ill fit, and broke up." The edge of April's smile dipped just a little. "She was quite sad."
"I bet," Kyoko muttered.
And then she had an awful thought.
"Hey, they're not…you know, with each other, if you know what I mean?"
"I do not! Please explain it to me!"
Oof. Man, she really should not have opened her mouth. "Well, I mean, do any of your sisters…like each other in…you know what? Forget it."
A very long pause passed.
And then Aprils' eye got really wide. "Oh, that is a horrid idea! We are sisters! Why would you make such an assumption?"
The unwelcome image of a certain pair of twins known for being both incredibly annoying and also disturbingly touchy-feely with each other was taking up too much space in Kyoko's mind. "It's…more common than you realize."
April's eyebrows knitted together, and she almost stopped smiling entirely. "I do not wish to understand this."
"I do not blame you." Then Kyoko breathed out. "Look, no offense, you seem like a cool person and all, but this whole thing with me and the fish is…Well, it's not any of your business, okay? You don't know us, so don't push."
April nodded without offense. "I understand. Carola sometimes scolds me for unintentional insensitivity. I apologize."
Kyoko waved her off. "It's…fine. Just…don't tell anyone about anything you saw me doing or talking about."
"I will not!"
Well, she sounded earnest, but Kyoko wasn't sure how far she could trust her. Still, what choice did she have? Kyoko made a face and glanced back at the forest. She hoped that Jerky would have the good sense to stay out of sight. The last thing either one of them needed was anyone else learning of his existence.
"Perhaps we ought to go back to the house?" April suggested. "It is late, and you seem in need of sleep."
Kyoko breathed out. "Yeah. Yeah, th-that's for sure. That's…" Then she frowned. "Hey, April? Mind if I ask you something?"
"Not at all."
"Okay. Okay. Now, bear with me here." Kyoko's face twisted up as she tried to put all of her swirling thoughts into words. "Okay, so, you're like a clone of Carola, right?"
"That is correct," April said with a nod. "I was created by the Pleiades Saints, who were her old friends."
"Right. So, does that ever bother you?"
April blinked. "I do not understand what you mean."
"I mean…they made you to replace her, right? But it didn't work out. So, does it ever bother you that you're almost somebody else, that you were made specifically to be someone that had already died, but you're…not? That doesn't bother you at all?"
April looked a little puzzled. At least, her smile loosened a bit as the muscles in her cheeks tensed and relaxed as she mulled over the question.
"Ah," she said at last. "I believe I understand the question. You ask if my status as an imperfect copy of Carola, created specifically to replace her but failed and died, causes me any personal stress."
"Yeah, basically," Kyoko said.
"Then no, it does not."
"Why?" Kyoko asked. She knew her line of questioning was a little on the rude side, but she was honestly curious.
"Because I am not Carola," April said simply. "I was created to be her, that is correct. And those you made me failed, as they did with the rest of my sisters. In a sense, I failed in my purpose for being. But even if they had succeeded and I was as complete as the thirteenth clone, I still would not be Carola, just as she is not Carola. Because Carola is here, and the complete clone did not become her."
April laid a hand on her own chest. "I am myself. Just as my sisters are themselves. January is not Carola, and she is not April. She is January. August is not Carola, and she is not April. She is August. We are never going to be Carola, nor will we ever be the person she was prior to her transformation. She already is herself. And we can only be ourselves."
April's answer was so simple, so honest, and so poignant, and yet Kyoko felt like she had been punched in the gut.
I don't know how to be her. I just know how to be me.
It was almost the exact same thing Sayaka had told her, their first week in, right after Kyoko had woken up from Arzt's chemically induced coma. Back then, Sayaka's words had confused her, and even angered her a little.
Now she felt that she understood a little bit better. And that scared her.
"I get it," Kyoko said, her voice rough. "Thanks, I guess."
"You are welcome," April said with a nod. "Now, may I ask you something in return?"
Kyoko paused. She eyed the smiling clone up and down, wondering what this was all about. Then she shrugged. "Sure, I guess."
"What is it that you are looking for?"
"Eh?"
"You are looking for something," April said. "Your friends do not seem to be looking for anything other than a place to rest. But you are looking for something specific. What is it?"
Kyoko felt her neck tighten. She wanted to snap at the nosy clone, to tell her to mind her own business.
But that was something that the old Kyoko would have done. And while she wasn't exactly sure who the "new" Kyoko was yet, she had already asked April a deeply personal question and gotten a full and honest answer. It was only right that she got one in return.
"My sister," she said simply. "My sister is out there, and I want to find her."
April's eyes lit up, and her smile actually looked genuine for a moment. "Oh, it is just like us!" she said, leaning forward on her toes and clasping her hands in excitement. "We also wished to find out sister, and we did!"
"No, no, it's not like that," Kyoko said with a growl. "Your sister was just chilling in her little house in the forest, so all you had to do was go find her. My sister is…being held by some really bad guys, and I have no idea how to rescue her even if I do find her.
"Oh, I am sorry to hear that," April said in a tone that actually sounded sympathetic. "Have your friends come along to help?"
Kyoko shook her head. "That…was the plan for a bit, but I don't think they're into it anymore. They kinda lost their home because of all this, and I think they just want to find someplace safe. Can't say I blame them."
"But you still wish to rescue your sister."
"Hell yeah. I just…" She breathed in and out. "Well, obviously I can't right now. So right now I guess I'm looking for someplace safe too. I guess."
"You guess," April repeated.
Kyoko anxiously ran her fingers through her hair. "I…I don't know if I can do this. I mean, when I learned that she was around, I was like, fuck yeah! Let's go save her! I'll kick everyone's ass that gets in the way, you know? But now…It's so hard. It's so damn hard, and it just keeps hurting."
April nodded. "You have had a bad journey."
Kyoko swallowed down on the lump in her throat. "Y-Yeah."
"I understand." April looked up, gazing through the trees to the starry sky. "We had a bad journey too, when we were looking for Carola. There were many things trying to eat us".
"Yeah." Kyoko absently scratched the arm with a discolored sleeve. "Same. A few of them actually succeeded."
"You were eaten?"
Kyoko closed her eyes. In the deepest recesses of her mind she could still hear the clattering tiny, hard legs against cold stone. "A couple of times. Didn't stick, but it sucked."
"I am sorry to hear that," April said. She paused. "This is the part where the person listening to another person's troubles would offer some sound advice. I do not have any sound advice for you. Perhaps someone from the ranch would be able to help you."
Kyoko actually had to laugh a little at that. April might have come off as strange and creepy at first, but she was really growing on Kyoko. "Maybe. Anyway, don't stress. This is my problem, not yours."
"I hope you solve it."
"Thanks," Kyoko said, shoving her hands into the familiar recesses of her jacket pockets as the two of them headed back to the house. "Me too."
…
The house was dark and quiet when Kyoko and April returned. April wordlessly headed up the rough, wooden stairs to the second story while Kyoko went back to her sleeping bag.
But before she did, she took the time to glance over her friends, who were fast asleep on the floor.
Mami and Charlotte were snuggled close together in their big sleeping bag, with Mami lying on her side and Charlotte spooning up against her back. Though she was still asleep, Mami's face was tense. Troubled. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and she seemed to be shaking a little.
Another nightmare. Mami had been having a lot of those lately. Well, they all were, but for some reason Mami's were the most distressing. Kyoko often saw her twitch and whisper in her sleep whenever she snuck off at night to be with Jerky. Charlotte did what she could to comfort her, but there was only so much one person was capable of.
Plus, Charlotte had more than a few nightmares of her own.
Kyoko felt a fresh pang of guilt. While she knew in her heart of hearts that what happened to them wasn't really her fault, that Annabelle Lee would've attacked them regardless at Cloudbreak even if she hadn't been planning on invading the Withering Lands, the cold fact remained that if she hadn't entered their lives, they wouldn't have lost everything like they had. She hoped that April had been right about there being people at the ranch capable of helping them, she really did. They had been betrayed and fucked over so many times.
Then she looked over to Sayaka. The cute little mermaid also seemed to be in distress. Not as bad as Mami, but her sleeping face was scrunched up in a frown, and she had one hand laid out on the floor, the fingers twitching.
To be specific, twitching in the direction of Kyoko's empty sleeping bag.
Well then.
Kyoko quietly slipped back into her sleeping bag. Then she turned over to get a good look at Sayaka.
Maybe it was due to her coming to terms with things while talking things over with the real Sayaka, but Kyoko just liked looking at her, more and more. There was something about the blue-haired mermaid that she just felt calming.
She really is pretty, Kyoko thought with a small smile. I wonder if she thinks the same about me?
Then she reached over and took Sayaka's hand.
Sayaka snorted in her sleep, but didn't waken. Her hand reflexively squeezed Kyoko's, and her face relaxed.
I'll find a way, Kyoko promised. I'll find a way to make it work. To bring part of you back without erasing the other part. Somehow, I'm going to find a way.
Holding onto the image of Sayaka, her eyes closed of their own accord, and she found herself dreaming of an open prairie, on which wandered an infinite number of dog-sized dinosaurs, beneath a sky filled with flying fish.
…
Birthday update! This story that was started by college kid in his mid-twenties who was emotionally distraught at what had happened to his favorite characters in the anime he was watching is still being written by a dude in his mid-thirties emotionally distraught that it's been so many years and THERE STILL HASN'T BEEN A REBELLION STORY SEQUEL YET!
Anyway, Madoka Magica is almost ten years old!
Jesus.
Anyway, Kazumi Magica wasn't my favorite spin-off, but I always felt sorry for the clones, so I gave them a happy ending. Or beginning. Continuation. Whatever. They found the original, and they're happy now.
Also, fun fact: the whole bit with Kyoko and Oktavia sleeping side-by-side on the floor of someone's house while still on the run and having oodles and oodles of sexual and romantic tension literally came from a dream I had, and when I woke up I was like, "I should incorporate that dream into Resonance Days…oh, wait. They have that same tension every chapter!" Still, I did find a way to make it in.
And for those who follow both, I know I usually update Imperfect Metamorphosis on my birthday as well, but this year it's going to be a few days late. Sometimes not even I can make a deadline.
Also, just a reminder: go read Blood Island. It also features yuri and dinosaurs and lots and lots of pain.
Until next time, everyone!