Phone Home, Part 2

Homulilly could feel her heart sink deep into her stomach. This was the very last thing that she wanted. An attractive, charismatic, senior classmate filling Gretchen's head with the very talk that Homulilly wanted to get her away from? There was no way that this didn't end badly.

"It's very nice to meet you, Tsuruno-sempai!" Gretchen said with a bow of her head. "I'm Kriemhild Gretchen, but please just call me Gretchen! And this is my partner, Homulilly-chan!"

Homulilly blinked at being unexpectedly introduced. "Um, h-hello!"

"Oh, wonderful! I now have two cute juniors to help!" To Homulilly's horror, Tsuruno lunged forward to wrap her arms around both of the younger witches. Gretchen gladly accepted the hug, but Homulilly reflexively jerked back before she could be touched.

Taken off guard, Tsuruno looked surprised to only have one cute witch in her arms, while the other was standing further down the path, keeping a healthy distance between them.

But her discomfort was not shared, and Gretchen was, well, Gretchen, and she had no trouble in hugging Tsuruno back. "Thank you!" she said. "Please take care of us!"

Hearing that seemed to make Tsuruno happy, as well as cause her to forget the negative reaction she had just gotten from Homulilly. "Wow, it's been so long since I've heard anyone call anyone sempai." She drew back, though she kept one hand on Gretchen's shoulder, much to Homulilly's displeasure. "Or chan! I did the same thing when I first arrived, but no one else was doing it, so it just sort of fell out of habit."

"I know, it's strange, but it just feels kind of natural," Gretchen said.

Homulilly's lips pressed tightly together. If this was Tsuruno Yui's idea of "helping," then Homulilly would very much prefer to be left to figure things out on her own, thank you very much!

Then Tsuruno's brow furrowed. She glanced from one face to the next, her own countenance twisted up in puzzlement. "Oh, wait, you're partners? Does that mean that you're, um…

"Huh?" Homulilly and Gretchen glanced at each other. And then, as if responding to an invisible cue, both of their eyes widened in realization.

"Oh, no, it's not really like that!" Gretchen said hastily. She backed away, thankfully again grabbing Homulilly's hand in her own. "I mean it literally! We're a Walpurgisnacht!"

Tsuruno jerked in surprise. "You are?"

"Um, y-yeah!" Gretchen laughed awkwardly as she rubbed the back of her head. "Just the two of us, though, so it was a small one."

"Wow. Back when I was alive, the only Walpurgisnacht I knew of was the Walpurgisnacht, which would just float around like an all-destroying hurricane! But when I got here, I found out that there's actually lots of smaller Walpurgisnachts. Maybe that's why the witches back home were so tough."

Homulilly wasn't sure what to say to that, so she said nothing. Also, she couldn't help but feel a little hurt at Gretchen's denial of Tsuruno's assumption. Sure, Tsuruno had been wrong, but did Gretchen have to shoot that idea down so quickly?

"But you said that you know a way to do it?" Gretchen pressed. "Because I was in the library-"

"Oh, you won't find anything in the library," Tsuruno said with a dismissive snort. "There's nothing in there that they don't want you to know."

"Huh?"

"Listen: the people here are well…I guess they mean well, but there's a lot of stuff that they don't tell us."

"We know," Gretchen said, a sad note to her voice. "We just found out about how time is different."

Tsuruno grimaced. "I remember that. It shocked us all. I mean, it kind of felt like everything we had been through didn't really matter, since it was packed into such a short amount of time, do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah," Gretchen sighed. Homulilly said nothing, though her lips were continuing to thin out.

"It was nuts! I mean, one of my friends was so depressed afterward that she tried to kill herself!"

Homulilly's eyes widened and Gretchen gasped.

"Oh, she's fine now!" Tsuruno hastened to clarify. "Jeez, I shouldn't have said that so casually! She was just in a bad place at the time."

"But…how would that work?" Homulilly said. "I mean, if we're already dead…"

"It wouldn't work, which is why it didn't!" Tsuruno said in a bit too cheerful of a tone. "But anyway, that's just the tip of things. There's lots of weird and crazy things you're going to learn: some good, some really scary."

Huh. Interesting. Homulilly glanced skyward. Her new home was certainly strange, and it came as no surprise that she had not even begun to plumb the depth of that strangeness.

"But even so, I'm pretty sure that there's things that they never tell us," Tsuruno said. "Bit secrets that they don't want anyone to know."

"You mean…" Gretchen swallowed, and then lowered her voice. "You mean like a way to talk to be who are, well, alive."

"Exactly!"

Homulilly's brow knitted together. "Why would they hide something like that from us?"

"Oh, that's easy," Tsuruno snorted. "It's because they don't want anyone to leave! If there's a way to talk to the other side, then it stands to reason that there's a way to get to the other side! And if that got found out, then everyone would want to go home, and Freehaven would be empty!"

That…didn't sound right to Homulilly. Even if she accepted that Tsuruno was correct (and that was a big "if"), then wouldn't the people who ran the FIB want to call home as well? Weren't they also girls that had been trapped here?

"Maybe it's because so many of us are witches," Gretchen suggested. "And they don't want us to hurt ourselves by talking to people who knew us."

Tsuruno rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! You don't really believe that, do you? I mean, have you ever actually met a witch who could talk to someone who used to know her?"

"Yes, Heather and Lillian," Homulilly said. "From our class. They were friends back then and still are, but they have to be careful not to slip up and accidentally use Lillian's old name."

Tsuruno didn't look like she had been expecting that. "Oh, uh, really?" she stammered. She glanced around in discomfort. "Well, I mean, have you actually seen her get hurt because of her old name, or did they just say that it would hurt her, because I don't…" Her voice trailed off.

Gretchen and Homulilly exchanged a look. Then Gretchen cleared her throat. "But you said you know a way?"

"Oh, right! Yeah, I met a girl, an upperclassmate, who said that she knows someone who knows someone who can get me in touch with someone with very special powers. The power to see into the other side!"

Well, this stank to the sky. Homulilly's face twisted up, but the faint glow in Gretchen's eyes had brightened in a worrying way.

"Really?" she exclaimed. "Do you think we could meet her?"

Homulilly sighed.

"Maybe," Tsuruno said dubiously. "But you have to promise not to tell anyone! The marshals have been after her for years because they don't want her exposing them, so we have to keep it secret!"

That…didn't sound like anything Homulilly wanted to be involved in. At all. If the marshals were looking for this person, then there was probably a very good reason.

"A secret?" Gretchen said dubiously. "Well, I suppose so…"

"Great! I knew I could count on you!"

Why? They had just met!

Then Tsuruno glanced around them, her eyes narrowing. "Uh, listen, I should probably go. People might see us talking and…Hey, what's your room number? If I find something I can bring it to you!"

Homulilly stiffened. No, no, no! Their room was for them and them only!

"That sounds like a good idea!" Gretchen said. "We're in 306, East Wing."

Gretchen, no!

"Great!" Tsuruno grinned widely, and then bowed. "Uh, it was really great to meet you two. I hope the next time we speak, your dazzling senior will have good news for you!"

"Us too!" Gretchen said with a bow of her own. "Thank you so much!"

Homulilly didn't bow. She didn't thank Tsuruno. She didn't even protest. She just stood stock-still, mouth agape, wondering what sort of nightmare they had gotten themselves mixed up in.

…

The walk back to their apartment was silent. They didn't release each other's hands, but neither did they talk, for different reasons.

When they got back, Gretchen wandered over to the window and sat down, staring thoughtfully out at the city, while Homulilly took a seat at the other end of the room. She slowly peeled her gloves off of her arms, baring the skeletal horrors that she had been cursed with. Then she held up her hand, staring at her preoccupied friend through the spaces between the bones.

With a sigh she let her hand fall. "Gretchen-chan?" she said at last.

Gretchen jumped a little in surprise, and then turned to smile at her. "Oh, sorry! I was just thinking about how lucky we were to run into Tsuruno-sempai. This could be what we were looking for!"

Homulilly winced at the inaccurate use of the word "we." "Gretchen, I don't think this is a good idea…"

"Don't worry, Lilly-chan!" Gretchen got up and hurried over to take both of Homulilly's hands in her own. "I know it sounds scary, but I have a really good feeling about this! We just have to be careful about being quite."

That just made Homulilly wince. Gretchen just looked so earnest, but Homulilly couldn't let her keep thinking that Homulilly wanted the same thing that she did. "No, I mean, I don't think we should even try."

"What?" Gretchen blinked in confusion. "Why not? Don't you want to meet your family?"

Homulilly swallowed. "I…"

"I know they would be happy to see you! I mean, sure, maybe not a lot of time has passed for them, but don't you want them to not be worried about you?" The grip on Homulilly's hands tightened. "Don't you want to know what they're like? Don't you want to know anything at all?"

Now Gretchen was almost pleading. "Gretchen," Homulilly said, her throat getting thick. "They're…They're not my family!"

Gretchen jerked back like she had been struck. "What?"

Feeling close to tears, Homulilly thrust a finger at the mirror, where her face was reflected. "They're not my family, they're hers! The girl that died! The girl that I killed! I'm not her, Gretchen! I'm the witch that destroyed her, I'm the witch that-"

Suddenly Homulilly found herself wrapped tightly by two strong arms.

"Lilly-chan," Gretchen said softly as she hugged her tight. "Please stop talking like that. You're not a monster. You're still you. You're still the same person as before. You just look different and can't remember. But I'm the same as you, and I don't feel like a monster! Witches are people too, you know!"

Homulilly swallowed back the lump she felt forming in her throat. "I…I wish I could feel the same."

"But you are the same!" Gretchen moved back from her, an encouraging smile on her face. She lifted a hand to press warmly to Homulilly's cheek. "You're not a monster. You're my very precious friend. And it seriously hurts me when you talk badly about yourself, so please stop!"

Homulilly couldn't help but smile a little. She lifted a hand and laid it on the palm on her cheek, pressing its warmth in closer. "O-Okay. I'll…I'll try, Gretchen-chan."

Suddenly Gretchen pulled her into a tight hug. "And don't worry about your family. I'm sure they'll be so happy to see you, no matter what you look like!"

Homulilly's smile wavered. Being held by Gretchen always made her feel better about things, but it was hard to be optimistic when she could see her own horrible skeletal arms entwined around Gretchen's back. She squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn't have to see them and held onto Gretchen tighter, hoping the shared warmth would melt away the cold fear nestled away deep inside her.

…

While Homulilly preferred being with Gretchen as much as possible, there were times when they had to do things separately, foremost being regular meetings with Dr. Cynthia. Sure, the three of them often had group sessions, but while the two were quite literally soulmates, there were just some issues and worries that they needed to voice without the other around.

It wasn't so bad when Homulilly was the one talking to the motorcycle witch, because then she could at least focus on unburdening whatever was on her mind. But when it was Gretchen, Homulilly often didn't know what to do with herself. Most of the time she just waited back in their dorm, staring out the window, wondering what was being discussed.

But right now her head was too full with uncomfortable thoughts, and she did not want to be alone with them.

But where should she go? She could always just ask for a talk with one of the caretakers for herself, but she had a feeling that this was something that they ought not know about. It might get Gretchen into trouble.

She could go for a walk in the gardens, but without Gretchen, that would still just leave her alone with her anxious thoughts. A change in scenery wouldn't fix that.

And so she found herself heading back to the library. She didn't intend to stay long; just enough to stock up on the books she liked and head back to the sanctuary of their dorm. But when she got there she stopped dead in her tracks.

Someone else was already there.

It was Lindy. The big, friendly spider witch was crouching in front of the picture-books, examining their spines, her spider legs curled up behind her back, their tips twitching in agitation.

Homulilly stared. Why was Lindy there? Why was she in front of Homulilly's books? That was her space, not Lindy's!

Then, probably sensing that she was being watched, Linda glanced over and, spotting Homulilly, quickly hopped up. "Oh, hey!" she said, using one human hand and two spider legs to wave. "Fancy running into you here, ha ha!" Then she frowned. "Even though…it's open to everyone. So I guess there's no reason why you wouldn't be here. Huh."

Homulilly didn't say anything. She just kept on staring.

Awkwardly clearing her throat, Lindy gestured to the shelf. "So, uh, is there a book you're looking for? Because if it's on one of the higher shelves I can totally help you get it down! I've got reach for days! Plus I can walk on walls. And shelves. Don't even have to worry about leaving footprints." She waggled her spider legs. "Tiny bug feet. Kind of the only part of me that's tiny. It's fine, though! Big arms mean big hugs, plus a bunch of little hugs on top of it!"

Stop staring and say something!

Homulilly cleared her throat and said, "Uh, n-no. I actually was going for…" She pointed at the picture books.

At this, Lindy brightened. "Oh, hey! You like these too? I think they're great! I mean, Lucy makes fun of me for liking them, says that they're books for babies. But they're totally not, you know? I mean, the one with the vampire and the knight lady? Total bloodbath. Gave me freaky dreams for days, especially part where you see all those rotting priest heads on spears outside her castle at the end. It was cool, though. Better than the usual dreams I have, you know?"

Homulilly blinked. She honestly had not known there was another girl in their class who liked the same books that she did. "You've read them? Really?"

"All the time!" Lindy pulled one of the books out and held it out to her. On the cover was a woman with all-black armor seated on a horse on top of a hill, overlooking a cemetery chapel. In one hand she held a spear, and in the other her own head, leaving her shoulders empty. "This is my favorite! The Headless Horselady is just really cool, you know. Especially the part after the townsfolk execute her and are all laughing, but then her body gets up, and then her head is the one laughing? So cool!"

"I…It w-was," Homulilly stammered. "I, uh…" Then, before she really knew what she was doing, she pulled the book about the ghost girl out. "This one's my favorite!"

"Oh, that's a good one! Super sad, though. I was really hoping that the uncle got eaten by his own dogs at the end."

"Me too. But it had a happy ending!"

The brow between Lindy's human eyes knitted together. "Well, I guess? I mean, she did die. Horribly."

"But then she became a ghost too, so she and her friend could finally hold hands!"

"I guess you have a point. Getting to be with someone who cares about you is pretty happy."

Lindy fell silent, her gaze going back to the book in her hand, her thumb lightly caressing the image of the Dullahan woman.

Homulilly swallowed. She really didn't want to get involved in someone else's problems, not when she had so many of her own. And yet…

"Um, Lindy? Are you and Lucy, um, still…fighting?"

Lindy's head jerked up. "Aw, what are you talking about? We're find! Lucy's just real upset right now and sometimes says things she doesn't mean. She'll get over it; you'll see!"

Frowning, Homulilly tilted her head to one side. "Does she…normally say mean things to you?"

Lindy laughed in a manner was that was way too loud and sounded pretty forced. "Oh, Lucy is just Lucy. You know how she is at times!"

Well, no, she didn't, as she never really talked to Lucy. But she had seen Lucy and Lindy interact, and while she had never thought much of it, most of Lucy's comments did seem a little more disparaging than playful.

"I don't know," she said slowly. "I…I don't think you should be mean to your friends."

"What?" Lindy said with another insincere laugh. "Oh, come on! Lucy's not mean! That's just how she is sometimes."

Homulilly quirked an eyebrow.

"Aw, don't tell me you're taking anything that big grouch is saying seriously? She's be fine! We'll be fine. Trust me, all she needs is…"

Lindy's voice trailed off, and she looked away, her gaze drifting down toward the book held in her hands, her thumb gently caressing the illustration of the Dullahan.

Homulilly didn't know what to say. Gretchen was so much better at this sort of thing than she was, but she still felt like she had to say something! "Lindy-chan…" she started.

Then Lindy breathed out and looked back up at Homulilly with a smile. "Hey, I just remembered that there's something I need to take care of." She thrust the book into Homulilly's hands. "Um, nice talking to you! See you around!"

Homulilly watched as Lindy hurried away, a weird, sour feeling in her stomach. Lindy and Lucy had been almost inseparable since they had arrived, but now one change was driving an ugly wedge between them.

We're a Walpurgisnacht, Homulilly told herself. They're not. Gretchen's not going to be mean to you.

Well, maybe not, but their status as Walpurgisnacht partners did mean that they were the closest thing to family either of them had. What would happen if Gretchen actually found what she was looking for? What would happen if she did meet her actual family? Would she even still want Homulilly around.

It's impossible; it won't happen, she recited to herself as she put the books back without picking out a new one. It's impossible; it won't happen. Doesn't matter what Tsuruno thinks; it's still impossible to-

"Um, hello?"

Homulilly whirled around with a small cry of alarm. She hadn't even heard someone approaching!

And she certainly hadn't expected to see who was now standing before her, nor was she at all pleased.

It was Tsuruno Yui, the upperclassmate that had been filling Gretchen's head with all those ideas, the one that had been making things worse.

Darn it, was no place safe?

"You're Homulilly, right?" Tsuruno said. "I met you and your friend Gretchen the other day in the gardens, remember?"

Homulilly's eyes narrowed, but she nodded.

Catching the hostility radiating off of the younger girl, Tsuruno awkwardly cleared her throat. "Um, I just wanted to apologize for intruding. It sounded like you guys were having a…a private discussion, and I just butted into it and made you uncomfortable. I'm sorry."

Wait, what? Homulilly blinked in confusion. There were a number of things she had expected to hear from Tsuruno. An apology wasn't one of them.

"I also kind of get that you might not believe me," Tsuruno said. "But um…" Wincing, she glanced around. "Hey, can we find someplace private? I don't…like talking out in the open like this."

"Um…" Homulilly took a step backward. "I r-really should be-"

Suddenly Homulilly found her upper arm seized. "Come on!" Tsuruno said before taking off, practically dragging the dumbstruck Homulilly behind her.

Homulilly was hauled helplessly along to a private study room, one that had a wooden table with six chairs and was separated from the rest of the library by a sliding door. Tsuruno pulled her in and quickly slid the door shut.

"There," she said. "These places don't have any microphones, so we should-"

Finally seeing her chance, Homulilly tore herself away from her and retreated to the far corner of the room where she collapsed into a trembling ball, arms hugged to her chest and knees drawn up to hide her face.

"Huh?" Tsuruno said in surprise. "Um, are you…okay?"

Homulilly was not all right. In fact, Homulilly now felt like crap. "Don't touch me," she whimpered. "Please don't touch me. Please don't touch me."

"Oh," Tsuruno said. "Oh, my God. I messed up. I really messed up. I didn't…I didn't know."

Homulilly grimaced as tears of shame and frustration leaked down her reddening face. She had done it again. She had gone off to do something on her own, only to melt down. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she be normal?

And then she heard the sound of footsteps, followed by cloth shuffling. She glanced up, saw that Tsuruno had walked over and was sitting down next to her, and turned away again.

"I'm really, really, sorry," Tsuruno said softly. "I didn't know that you, uh, didn't like getting touched." Her eyes widened. "But I should have! That's why you got so upset the other day! I should have known."

"Yes, you should have!" Homulilly hissed. "I really don't like getting touched at all!"

"Is it because of something with your arms? Is that why you wear gloves?"

Homulilly's head jerked back. Then it whipped around to fixate a burning glare right through Tsuruno's concerned eyes.

She must have looked fierce, because Tsuruno actually winced. "Oh. I'm…I'm sorry, I really am. I…" She sighed and stood up. "Look. I'll go. I won't bother you anymore. I didn't mean any harm, I just wanted to help, but…Okay, I'll go."

She started toward the door, and Homulilly was more than happy to just let her walk out of her life.

But then something happened, something that Homulilly didn't truly intend to let happen. It just slipped out.

"Why?" she said.

Tsuruno paused. "What?"

"Why do you want to help?" Homulilly demanded. She stood up to her feet. She was still shaking a little, still a little wet in the eyes, but her frustration was turning into resolve, and now that the cork had been forced out of the bottle, she had a lot of churning emotions pouring out. "What's it to you? Why do you even care?"

Now Tsuruno looked utterly bewildered along with ashamed. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't I?"

"Because you don't know us! You never met us before! Why are you so interested in us?"

"I-"

"Besides, we're witches! We don't even remember our past lives! I don't know who my family was! I don't even know who I was, and I don't want to!"

"You don't know? B-But I thought…I heard you two talking-"

"That was Gretchen, not me! Yes, Gretchen is wondering, but it's not like she'll ever find out, or that she should find out! So why do you want to make her hope for something that'll never happen? Why can't you just leave us be?"

Now Tsuruno seemed totally lost. It was clear that she had expected something from Homulilly but was getting the complete opposite, and didn't know how to react. "I don't understand. Why don't you want to know? Why don't you want to meet your family?"

Homulilly inhaled sharply. A strange impulse had come over her, similar to when she had that talk with Amaya early on, to just show someone she didn't like exactly why she didn't want to risk getting close to other people.

She reached up, seized the edge of her right-arm glove, and pulled it right off.

Tsuruno's eyes were already wide before the glove had come down, but as Homulilly laid her skeletal arm bare, they very nearly bugged right out of their sockets, and she let out a small gasp.

Smiling bitterly, Homulilly held up her hand and flexed her bony fingers. "Do you really think they want to see me like this? Do you really think I want them to scream when they meet me?"

"I didn't…" Tsuruno looked down to her own fidgeting hands. Her own normal, human hands. "I didn't know…"

"Now you do." Homulilly slid the glove back on, sliding the fingers into their cushioned sheaths and slipping the edge under her sleeve. "Gretchen's the only person I let see me like that. She's the only person I can trust to not be afraid. I don't know what I would do if I lost her." Her throat was starting to tighten. Grimacing, she swallowed a few times, took a deep breath, and said, "So please stop trying to take her away from me!"

"I'm…I'm not-"

Homulilly snorted. "She already wants to go home and be with her family. I'm sure they'll be very happy to see her, no matter what she looks like. I'm sure she'll be so thrilled to be with them again." One hand rose up to grip the other arm, fingers digging into the velvet sheath. "I'm sure she'll find time for me, maybe. She's very kindhearted, after all. Maybe I can visit her on the weekends. Or maybe they'll let me stay after my own family screams and throws me out!" She turned away. "Yeah. That sounds so great." Shaking her head, she headed for the sliding glass door.

"Homulilly, wait."

Homulilly paused. Then she turned to glower. "What?"

"I…" Tsuruno was still fidgeting uncomfortably. "I guess I don't really get where you're coming from. About not wanting to meet your family. I don't get it." She looked up. "But you guys said that you and Gretchen are a Walpurgisnacht, right?"

Homulilly's eyes narrowed. "What about it?"

"So you two were probably friends before you became witches, right?"

"So?"

"So wouldn't that mean that both of you have a lot of happy memories of being together, locked away in your heads? Wouldn't you want to have those memories back?"

"What?" Homulilly scoffed. "What makes you think-"

And then the full weight of what Tsuruno was saying hit her like a hammer-blow to the chest.

She and Gretchen had definitely been friends; that much was blindingly obvious. And if they truly had been part of a magical team with the others, then they had probably only gotten closer after their other friends had died.

"I mean, you were probably partners! You probably fought witches together all the time, and spent lots of time training together." Tsuruno paused for a moment, and then said, "You probably had lots of happy times together too. Wouldn't you want to remember that?"

"I…" Homulilly honestly hadn't thought of that. "I don't know…"

Tsuruno blinked, and then looked down at her hands. "I…Well, I obviously do remember everything. My family. My friends. The other Puella Magi I teamed with. Yachiyo. Momoko. Mifuyu. Mel. They actually had a house together that we'd spent most of our time at! I mean, I still lived with my family, so I didn't. And I had a job, working for my dad's ramen shop, so I couldn't be with them all the time. Maybe I should have. Then I'd have more memories of them." She glanced over to the young witch sitting stunned at her side. "Wouldn't you want to have more happy memories of Gretchen? I know you probably have lots of them, all locked up inside your head."

Homulilly was quite beside herself. Sure, she often wondered off and on what things had been like between them, as well as the team formed by them and their newly found friends. But she had always just assumed that those memories were lost forever.

But what if they weren't? What if they could get those memories back? What if Gretchen and Homulilly had been really happy as magical girls?

What if it made Gretchen want to be with her more?

"Wait," Homulilly said suddenly. Something had just occurred to her. "We can't! We're witches! Learning about our past lives will hurt us, remember?"

At this, Tsuruno actually began to grin, and not the overly cheerful one she had worn during their first meeting. This one was more sly, sort of mischievous, like the sort Lucy usually wore right before taking off her head in front of some unsuspecting passerby.

"Leave that to me," she said.

"Huh?"

"Okay, look: I really am sorry for all the trouble I've caused you. But if you'll let me make it up to you, I think I know someone who can help you with that."

Homulilly still felt more than a little dubious. "Help…how?"

"You know that senior classmate I told you about? I asked her about the witch thing, and as it turns out, there's like this thing you can take, one that's supposed to clear up the spiritual lock on your memories! Only thing is, the people here don't want you knowing about it, but I'm pretty sure I can get you some!"

"Some…some what?"

"You'll see!" Tsuruno moved toward the sliding glass door. "But trust me: whatever you have going on with Gretchen, it's going to be so much better afterward."

"What? But I-"

Too late. Tsuruno had already bolted from the room.

Homulilly stared after her, now even more twisted up about things. "I don't like surprises," she said softly, though there was no one to hear her.

…

"Really?" Gretchen said, grasping Homulilly's hands in excitement. "You're going to do it too?"

Homulilly made a face at the word "too." It seemed that Gretchen's mind was made up. "No, I said I'm thinking about it! I'm not sure yet, though. It still feels…weird to me."

The two were sitting together on a bench in the FIB courtyard. In front of them was a concrete plaza with several tables and other places to sit, livened up with multiple planters containing trees and flowers. A few other girls were milling around, some just hanging out and talking, others eating, a few reading by themselves. It was late afternoon, and the shadow of the building was providing plenty of shade and privacy for the two young witches.

"Me too," Gretchen said. "I keep thinking, well, what if Tsuruno-sempai is wrong? What if this doesn't work? Am I making big mistake?" Then she smiled. "But then it's like, what if it does work? What if she's right? What if I lose out on my one chance to find out what my family is like, what I'm like?" She tilted her head. "Is it the same for you?"

Not really. "Sure," Homulilly lied. "Exactly the same."

Gretchen frowned. "Lilly-chan, what is it?"

Of course she would catch the falsehood. Homulilly sighed. "Well, actually it's less…that, and more of…" Okay, how did she say this without coming across like some kind of co-dependent weirdo? "I just want to know what we were like. You and me. How we met. How long we were friends. That sort of thing."

"Oh, I see!" Gretchen said, her eyes widening. "And I totally get that! I would love to know what old-Gretchen and old-Homulilly were like too! But I'm sure they were just as close as new-Gretchen and new-Homulilly!"

That was exactly what Homulilly wanted to hear. "Yeah," she breathed. "Yeah, I really feel like we were." Then her brow creased. "It's just so…strange, though. I wish there was someone we could talk to about it."

"I know what you mean," Gretchen said solemnly. "I thought about talking to Dr. Cynthia about it earlier today, but she works for the FIB, and she would probably just get suspicious. And I don't want to get Tsuruno-sempai in trouble."

Homulilly sighed. "Do you think she's right? About the FIB covering this up?"

"I…" Gretchen frowned. "I don't know. I mean, they've been so nice to us, and I guess it makes sense why they don't want to dump everything on us all at once. But they are really secretive about a lot of things! Maybe she has a point."

"Maybe," Homulilly said, though she still wasn't sure. Being deliberately kept in the dark did still rub her the wrong way. "Maybe she is…"

Homulilly's voice trailed off. A distinctive sound had just caught her ears, a rhythmic hum-hiss, the sound of pistons and hydraulics at work, the sound of something mechanical moving closer.

Hum-hiss.

Hum-hiss.

Hum-hiss.

"Is that…" Gretchen said, rising up.

The two young witches exchanged a glance. They knew that sound.

And then they heard voices.

"Okay, look: in my defense, I was a little drunk. And when you're drunk, everything looks adorable. And beluga whales are stupidly adorable already, so to Drunk Oktavia, it's like…500% more adorable."

"I'm not saying you were wrong to think the sea sausage was cute. Hell, I thought it was cute, and I also think most of the freaky shit you got down there are just different varieties of hellspawn! But trying to drag it to the surface so you can take it home with you was just a little bit irresponsible."

"Again. Drunk. Poor decisions were made, I agree. But come on! Didn't you see its cute little face?"

"I did. It was terrified."

"That's them!" Gretchen said, bouncing up and down in excitement. She seized Homulilly's hand. "Let's go say hi!"

For once, Homulilly didn't mind being suddenly dragged along. After all, they were off to greet two of top names on the very short list of people that she actually felt comfortable around.

The two of them raced to the big front gate of the facility, which was open to the road outside. And up that road walked two more witches.

Both girls were, like Homulilly and Gretchen, Japanese, and were physically around the same age as well, though most of the people they had met tended to be in their early-to-mid-teens. One was tall and slender and was wearing a somewhat extravagant suit all in red and pink, from red slacks to a red blazer over a pink button-down shirt and a red tie. She even had on a wide-brimmed red slouch hat with a pink band on her head, which was completely bare of hair, save for her scarlet eyebrows, the same color as her fiery eyes.

The other wasn't nearly so color-coordinated, but was no less striking. Unlike her girlfriend, she did have hair, which was short and blue and partially covered by a brown newsboy cap. She wore a light jacket over a black-and-blue striped shirt, and nothing else. Not that she needed to, as everything from the waist down was taken up by a massive fish tail, brilliantly colored by black, blue, green, pink, and maroon scales. The mermaid sat in a mechanical chair, one that had a special harness to support her tail and moved along on four rubber-tipped robotic legs, which she controlled from a small panel on the right armrest.

The two witches were strolling together past the FIB, chatting casually, apparently in no hurry to get to where they were going. "Ophelia-sempai!" Gretchen called, bouncing hi on her legs and waving her arms. "Oktavia-sempai! Over here!"

Ophelia and Oktavia both turned, and upon seeing Gretchen and Homulilly, brightened immediately.

"Oh, hey, look who it is!" Ophelia said as the two rushed out toward them. "Our long-lost-Oof!"

That last part was thanks to Gretchen hurling herself right at Ophelia, wrapping her arms around the taller girl's shoulders and squeezing her tight. Ophelia stumbled back a couple steps but quickly regained her balance.

"Jeez, affectionate, isn't she?" Oktavia remarked as she watched her girlfriend readjust herself. "You could learn a thing or two from her."

"Hey, I'm affectionate! I'm plenty affectionate! You want me to hurl myself at you every time I see you? Because I can do that. Knock you right out of that walking booster seat."

Laughing, Gretchen released Ophelia to lean down and give Oktavia a hug of her own, albeit more carefully this time.

"No tackle," Oktavia noted as she returned the hug. "I feel slighted."

"Your fault for going around on this spindly legs of yours," Ophelia said. "Everyone's scared to break it." Then she turned to Homulilly. "Hey, there, Homu!" She stepped forward as if to embrace her as well, but then paused. "Oh, wait. You're not really a hugger, right?"

Homulilly felt a little sheepish. "N-Not really."

"No prob." Ophelia settled for shooting her a snappy salute, and after a second of hesitation, Homulilly returned the gesture. Then she turned to wave at Oktavia, who waved at her in turn.

"So what are you guys doing here?" Gretchen said.

"Just out for a walk," Ophelia said. "I've got a performance later on tonight but have some time to kill before then."

Homulilly and Gretchen both stared blankly. "Per…formance?" Gretchen said.

"You never told them?" Oktavia said. "Wow, that is so unlike you. Dance performance! My girl is the best dancer in all of Freehaven!"

"Come on, I barely just cracked the top ten last month."

"And you're rocketing upward! Number one is in the bag!"

"Not yet," Ophelia said, but she seemed pleased at the praise.

Homulilly frowned. "You're a dancer? I thought you worked at the power plant."

"I can do both. Girl's gotta have some hobbies."

"What kind of dance?" Gretchen asked. "Ballet?"

Oktavia snorted.

"Eh, I've dabbled, but mostly hip-hop and breakdance."

"You breakdance?" Gretchen said. "That is so cool! Can we come?"

At this, Ophelia's face twisted up in chagrin. At her side, Oktavia burst out laughing. "Uh…actually, I'm not doing that kind of dance tonight, and I don't think they'd let you in, so…sorry. Maybe when you're older."

"Huh?" Homulilly's eyes flitted from one to the other in confusion. What kind of dancing wouldn't they be allowed to see? And why did Oktavia find it funny? "Uh, okay?"

Suddenly Gretchen perked up. "Oh!"

"Huh?" Ophelia tilted her head. "What's up?"

"Uh, I was wondering: do you have a few minutes? There's…something we wanted to ask you about?"

With a flash Homulilly understood. Ophelia and Oktavia were perfect! Unlike the people in the FIB, those two would have no agenda coloring the their answers to Homulilly and Gretchen's questions. Plus, they not only had gone through the same thing that they had, and given the shared history of their past lives, there was a personal connection there.

"Huh?" Oktavia said.

"There's something we wanted to ask you about, something we could use some advice on," Gretchen explained.

"Uh…" Ophelia checked her watch. "Sure, I guess. Hey, does that vending machine in the lobby still have those cold cans of apple juice?"

"Yup!"

"Sweet. Okay, claim a table. I'll be right back."

Ophelia headed toward the front lobby while Homulilly and Gretchen headed for one of the tables, Oktavia following behind in her robotic chair.

"So you know we're not exactly licensed therapists," Oktavia said. "I mean, you might be better off talking to one of the caretakers here."

"We know," Gretchen said. "We just…had something come up, something they can't really help us with."

Oktavia frowned but didn't say anything. She maneuvered her chair into the space between two of the stone chairs at the table.

Moments later Ophelia returned with four small aluminum cans. She sat down next to Oktavia while Homulilly and Gretchen sat down across from them. Ophelia passed out the cans. Homulilly took a sip from hers. It was good.

"So," Ophelia said, sipping slowly from her own can. "What's on your minds?"

Gretchen and Homulilly quickly glanced at one another. Having this talk without letting on what they were considering was going to be tricky. "We were wondering. Do you ever, um, wonder what we were like?"

Oktavia looked a little confused, but Ophelia nodded in understanding. "You mean before?" After Gretchen nodded in affirmation, she said, "Well, okay, do you mean what you two specifically were like, or all of us?"

"All of us," Gretchen said. "Anything. About what our team was like, how we all met, what your family was like-"

"No."

Homulilly felt a little taken back at the suddenness and coldness of Ophelia's answer. All the warmth had left the older witch's face, and her eyes, usually so bright with fun and mischief, had gone completely flat.

"Huh?" Gretchen said. "No? Not at all?"

Ophelia fingers began to drum a persistent rhythm on the top of the table. "I have it on pretty good authority that my family all committed suicide," she said. "And my father was probably the cause. So…no."

"Oh," Gretchen said, crestfallen.

Wincing, Oktavia reached over to lay a hand on Ophelia's arm. "Phe. Not really-"

"Really?" Homulilly said, before she even realized how inconsiderate asking would be. "How do you know that?"

Ophelia turned her head to look right at her. "I had a few hints. Back where I first woke up."

Normally Homulilly would have withdrawn and shut up with a muttered apology, but she found herself weirdly fascinated. "What kind of hints?"

Gretchen bit her lower lip. "Lilly-chan…"

Finally realizing that she had pushed too far, Homulilly finally stopped herself with a grimace. "Sorry."

Ophelia still hadn't stopped staring, but now she seemed focused on a point beyond Homulilly, lost in her own memories. "Um, stuff around the place I woke up. A stained-glass window. With pictures. And a bunch of nooses. A whole lot of nooses. That sort of thing."

She kept on staring. The coldness was gone, but now she seemed lost inside her own head.

Seeing how uncomfortable things were getting, Oktavia sighed and said, "I used to wonder a lot, too. I mean, I don't know who they were and what they were like, but they must have been heartbroken when I never came home." She frowned. "Actually, they're probably still looking for me, come to think of it."

That seemed to draw Ophelia out of her trance. She blinked, looked around, and, realizing how weird things had gotten, settled back with an apologetic look.

"Oh," Gretchen said again.

Things were really getting off track. "But what about us?" Homulilly said.

Oktavia tilted her head. "Eh?"

"What about us?" Homulilly repeated. "You know, the four of us…and Candeloro-sempai and Charlotte-sempai. We think we all used to be friends, right? Maybe even a team?"

"Right…" Oktavia said with a nod.

"So don't you want to know what that was like? What we were like? How we got along? Who was close with who? That sort of thing?"

"Huh." Ophelia drained her can and set it down on the table. "Good question. Honestly, it's not something I gave a lot of thought to."

"I did." Oktavia said softly. "All the time. Like, you remember those first few months, when we were still getting used to things and getting to know each other."

Ophelia nodded. "And ourselves."

"And ourselves," Oktavia agreed. "And I remember thinking, man, we must've done this at least once already, and now we have to start all over again! Sure would be nice to have all that knowledge. Besides, I know that there's not a whole lot I can do for the girl that I used to be, and I wouldn't trade the life I have now for anything, but I just can't help but feel like she deserves better, you know? I mean, she had a life, probably had a whole bunch of hopes and dreams and everything before she became me." She shrugged. "I dunno, I know that she's me and I'm her, but I still can't help but feel sorry for her."

Which was more-or-less how Homulilly felt. As strange as it was, it was comforting to know that she wasn't alone.

And then Ophelia's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "So…what brought this up? Where's a this coming from all of a sudden?"

Uh-oh. "I…er…" Homulilly stammered, mind racing for an acceptable explanation. "We just…"

"They just told us about the time difference," Gretchen said. "In our class. About how things go faster here than they do back home."

Homulilly sighed with relief. Thank God for Gretchen. She was just so much better at dealing with people than Homulilly was.

"Oh." Ophelia's brow rose. "Oh! Damn, I totally forgot you guys wouldn't know that already!"

"Yeah, remember how pissed we were that they took so long to tell us?" Oktavia said with a nod.

"I remember me being pissed."

"You threatened to take that fake skin off your head and set the room on fire."

Ophelia nodded as well. "I did do that."

Gretchen stared at her, looking like she wanted to hear more about the threats of arson. However, she apparently decided to leave it be. "But anyway, a lot of the other girls were upset too. And someone brought up how since not a lot of time has passed back, um, well, over there, that might mean that our families probably haven't even noticed that we were gone. And that just got us thinking about them, so…"

"Yeah, that would do it," Ophelia said with a grimace. "Sorry, kid. I know how rough that whole thing is."

"At least it explains how you've been here so long," Gretchen said with a grimace.

Ophelia breathed out. "Yup," she said, and lifted her can to her lips, only to scowl upon finding it empty.

"Well, on the bright side, it all worked out in the end," Oktavia said. "I mean, sure, a lot of bad happened, but we made it out okay, and ended up together anyway."

"That's true," Gretchen said. "We did meet up again. I'm sure our past selves would be thrilled if they knew!"

Homulilly hesitated. There was something niggling at her mind, a yet unremarked-upon point that she felt ought to be addressed. "Okay, but what other weird things do we not know about this place? I mean, does this mean that they're hiding more stuff from us?"

Ophelia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Afraid so, Petals. They like to take it slow, break things to you gently."

Homulilly tiled her head. "Petals?"

"Well, it seemed appropriate. I can drop it if you don't like nicknames."

Homulilly lifted a hand to brush her fingertips against the petals of her spider-lily. "No, it's okay. I like it."

"I don't suppose you could tell us?" Gretchen asked. "About the stuff we haven't been told yet, I mean."

Ophelia shook her head. "The people in charge of that get paid to do it. I don't. Sorry."

Fair enough.

A few awkward moments ticked past. And then Ophelia exhaled loudly. "Welp," she said. "I wish we knew how to make things easier for you guys, but we do gotta split. I have a lot of prep I need to do."

"Oh, of course!" Gretchen said. "And you guys helped loads. Thank you so much!"

"Don't sweat it," Ophelia said, standing up.

"And hey," Oktavia said as they turned to leave. "God knows, we totally get how weird and scary things are for you. But it definitely gets better, and it gets easier."

"I hope so," Homulilly said.

Moments later, Homulilly and Gretchen were standing at the gate, waving at their friends as they headed off.

"I wish we could go see Ophelia-sempai's dance thing," Gretchen remarked. "I wonder why they wouldn't tell us what kind it is."

Homulilly shrugged. She frankly didn't know anything about dancing.

Then Gretchen glanced at her. "So, um, have you…decided?"

Homulilly inhaled slow and deep. "I…" She swallowed. "Okay."

Gretchen brightened. "You mean it?"

"Y-Yeah." Though her insides were squirming, Homulilly still managed a small smile. "I'd like to know what things were back then. I'd like to know how we met."

"Yes!" Gretchen threw her arm around Homulilly in one of her patented embraces, and this time adding four of her legs, and this time Homulilly felt better about hugging her back. "I knew you would come around!"

Sighing happily, Homulilly gave her a tight squeeze of her own. "I just hope this works out."

"It will!" Gretchen drew back with a warm smile. "You'll see!" She seized Homulilly by the hand and turned around. "Come on! Let's go find Tsuruno-"

Then Homulilly noticed that Gretchen had forgotten to untie her legs from around Homulilly. "Gretchen-chan, wait! We're still-"

Too late. The entwined legs were pulled taut, and with a surprised squeak Gretchen pitched forward, pulling Homulilly down with her.

The two girl landed in a untidy heap, Gretchen flat on her stomach with Homulilly sprawled out on her back. "Ow," Gretchen muttered. She tried to moved, but in falling, her legs had become even more tangled than before.

Homulilly's landing had fortunately been a lot softer and much more pleasant, so she recovered quickly. "Um, easy," she said, reaching down to try to untwist Gretchen's legs from around her. "Let me just get this here…"

"Sorry," Gretchen said as she waited to be unraveled.

Homulilly couldn't help but laugh a little. It was more silly than anything. "Okay, I almost got it…There!"

Finally Gretchen's legs were loosened and she managed to wriggle free. The two girls sat up on their knees (or in Gretchen's case, the yet unnamed equivalent, and turned to face each other, Gretchen's cheeks pink with embarrassment. The two looked at one another and immediately started giggling.

"Oops," Gretchen said.

"It's fine, it's fine," Homulilly assured her. "It was kind of…"

And then she felt the weight of another's gaze upon her. Seeing the look on her face, Gretchen blinked and turned her head.

Vendel and Brittney were there, both of them grinning widely.

"Uh…" Gretchen said while Homulilly's mind completely froze up.

"Well, this is, like, super adorable," Vendel said.

"Don't mind us," Brittney added. "Carry on. Just pretend like we're not even here."

Homulilly wished that she were dead. Then she remembered that she was, and wished that she were alive, whatever state of being that would put her anywhere else but here.

"Um, excuse us!" Gretchen leapt up and seized Homulilly by the arm, practically carrying her away as she galloped off, her wires bearing her along faster than any human feet could.

…

"This is it."

Homulilly and Gretchen were sitting together in their dorm, which was normal enough.

However, they both were on the edge of Homulilly's bed instead of in the chairs, which was a little odd.

And they weren't alone.

It was sort of an unspoken rule that their dorm was their place. Gretchen had made a few friends among the other girls, but so far none had been invited to hang out in their room. This was for the two of them alone.

But now that rule had been broken.

By Tsuruno.

Their excitable senior classmate was standing before them, holding a three small vials in her hand, each vial sealed with a black cap. Inside of each was a pale yellow crystal.

"This is the stuff I was telling you guys about," she said. "It's super rare, and really illegal. They don't want anyone finding out about it, because if it gets around, then there's no way they can control us anymore!"

She handed the two witches one vial each. Homulilly held hers aloft and stared dubiously into the imprisoned crystal's facets.

"What does it do, exactly?" she said.

"Okay, so, you know how you two are witches, so you have all your old memories locked away, and trying to stir them up can mess you up in the head?"

"Yes," Homulilly said in a flat tone. "Like I told you. More than once."

"Well, that's because the person you used to be is sleeping inside of you, but she's covered by the person you are now, like a-"

"Like a blanket, I know," Homulilly said. "And if someone tries to wake her, she starts kicking the blanket, which just ends up hurting both."

"Homulilly, don't be rude," Gretchen whispered.

Homulilly sighed.

"Well, what these do is unwrap the blanket so the old you can slip out without hurting the new you, and the two yous will just sort of…" Tsuruno mimed pressing two objects together. "…merge, like clay."

Homulilly quirked an eyebrow. "So this will just make us remember? Just like that?"

"Oh, no! Not all at once! It only does a little at a time. Safer that way, don't you think? No, these will bring your old memories out little by little, so that when you finally do get to go home, you'll be ready!"

"That's amazing," Gretchen breathed.

Perhaps, but there was one other point that Homulilly wanted cleared up. "So why do you have one?" she asked. "You're not a witch. You don't need any help remembering."

At this, Tsuruno smiled a little sheepishly. "Well, okay, I don't. But these things pull up memories from before we died. And…" She sighed. "Well, I just…want to see my friends again. Even if it's just reliving a memory, I just want to see their faces. It's been so long, you know?"

"We do," Gretchen said sympathetically. "I don't blame you one bit. And I'm sure they'd want to see you too!"

Tsuruno looked like she was starting to get a little emotional. She sniffed, wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and took a deep breath. "Okay," she said. "Okay. Um, bottom's up!"

With that, she popped the cap on her vial, shook the crystal out into her palm, and tossed it into her mouth.

Gretchen and Homulilly exchanged looks. Shrugging, Gretchen did the same.

"How is it?" Homulilly said.

Gretchen frowned in thought. "It tastes…sweet. Like sugar."

"Do you feel anything?"

"Not yet. Maybe it takes…"

Gretchen's voice trailed off. Homulilly waited for her to finish, but she had stopped speaking.

"Gretchen-chan?" Homulilly said in concern.

Gretchen didn't answer. She just kept staring dead ahead.

Homulilly then looked over to Tsuruno. Like Gretchen, she seemed to have lost all awareness of the room around her. Instead, she was sitting on the floor and staring out into space, a look of pure euphoria on her face.

It was working. Or at least, it was doing something.

Her stomach twisting in discomfort, Homulilly stared down at the tiny shimmering crystal in her hand. She then glanced back up at Gretchen.

Gretchen was sitting with her head bowed, one hand still clutching Homulilly's, the other gripping the side of the mattress. She was breathing slowly in and out, the faint glow of her eyes fluttering from beneath her eyelids. Her wire legs were lying limp on the floor, the only movement in the tips, which were curling and uncurling in agitation.

Suddenly Gretchen gasped, her eyes snapping open and staring off at…nothing.

"Gretchen-chan?" Homulilly said in alarm.

Gretchen didn't seem to have heard her. She continued to stare at the far wall, her shoulders and arms trembling.

"Mommy?" she whispered as a shimmering tear slid down the side of her face.

Homulilly swallowed. She then looked back over to Tsuruno, who was lying on her side, arms and legs curled up against her. Like Gretchen she was trembling and crying. "Mel," she whimpered, extended one shaking hand to caress the empty air. "Mifuyu! I've…I've missed you so much…"

The memories. They were coming through. It was working.

Homulilly popped the cap and rolled the crystal into her hand. It felt so small for something so powerful. She lifted to her mouth, but before it could touch her lips, she found herself hesitating.

What if she didn't like what she found? What if her memories were bad ones? What if she found out that Gretchen didn't like her? What if-

Stop. Enough. If she continued down this road, she would never go through with it.

Before she could talk herself out of it again, Homulilly plopped the crystal into her mouth and swallowed.

For a few seconds there was nothing, just the tearful whispers from Gretchen and Tsuruno. Homulilly began to wonder if it had worked. Maybe she had gotten a dud, or a placebo.

"Gretchen," she said, turning to her friend. "I don't think-"

Then the words caught in her throat. Gretchen was still there, yes, but she looked…different! Her skin was a few shades paler, and her eyes no longer glowed. Instead of the FIB uniform, she was instead wearing a light blue and white striped blouse.

Homulilly blinked to see if that would fix it. No, Gretchen's new appearance remained fixed. Then she glanced down.

Her gloves were gone. She was still holding onto Gretchen's hand, but no longer with bare bones. Instead, her arm and hand were whole, covered with pale flesh.

Her heartbeat began to quicken. Gretchen was wearing blue shorts, ones with only two holes. And she had legs; actual human legs covered with actual human skin.

Homulilly's free hand instinctively went to the top of her head. Her spider-lily was gone, leaving nothing but a normal head of hair.

Then Homulilly began to look around. They were no longer sitting in the small apartment given to them by the FIB, but instead they were outdoors, seated on a wooden bench, in a city park. It was the middle of the day, and people were walking around, women and men, children and adults, no witches, no aliens, no weird monsters.

And not a single person so much as glanced as the two girls sitting together. No weird looks, no revulsion, no horror, nothing!

She then looked back to Gretchen, who was looking back at her and smiling. Gretchen's lips moved in speech, but no sound came out.

Gretchen leaned over to hug Homulilly, and Homulilly hugged her back, holding her with her beautiful, wonderful, normal human arms.

It felt wonderful!

She was whole. Gretchen was whole. They were normal! They weren't freaks anymore! They were normal and they were together!

Was this how it once was? Just a pair of normal girls, living normal lives, being normal friends? It sounded almost too-

Then Gretchen started to push herself in closer. Homulilly reciprocated, drawing her beautiful arms tighter around her, but Gretchen seemed to have more on her mind than snuggling. Instead, she just drew her face closer to Homulilly's, pressing herself up against her. Homulilly blinked in confusion. What was she-

Gretchen's soft lips pressed against her own.

Homulilly's eye popped open wide. Her heart, already beating faster and harder than normal, was now pounding like a war drum. She felt flushed and feverish, every atom of her body burning hot.

She and Gretchen had been…girlfriends?

This couldn't have been real. She knew they had been friends, that they had been close, but she hadn't imagined-

Had she? There was no denying that being with Gretchen made her happy. And that Gretchen made her feel safe. And that Gretchen was the only person that she truly felt comfortable around. And it could not be denied that Gretchen was extremely pretty, with a beautiful smile that Homulilly never got tired of looking at, whose soft arms never failed to make Homulilly feel better when things were bad, and who was so lovely that Homulilly didn't know what she would do without her-

Oh.

Oh.

Gretchen moved back, parting the kiss. She smiled again, lifting a hand to brush away a few stray strands of hair from her ear, fingertips caressing her cheek. She rested her palm on the back of Homulilly's neck, drawing her in so that their foreheads were kissing.

Homulilly stared slack-jawed at her beautiful face. This was so much better than anything she could have hoped for. She had heard the term "soulmates" bandied around for girls in their position, who had died and woken up together, but she hadn't known how much truth there was to it! But did Gretchen know? Would her own memories remind them of what they once had, and would she want to move things toward that again?

Then Homulilly's vision started to blur. At first she thought it was because of happy tears, but then Gretchen's face started to darken, the pink in her eyes started darken, only to be surrounded by a faint rose glow.

No! Homulilly thought in panic. Don't let it end! She wanted to stay in the world of the living, she wanted to stay in love with Gretchen, she wanted to stay normal!

But that world was fast fading, the sounds of the park and the city vanishing from her ears, and in its place…

Softness. Something soft pressed against her cheek.

Homulilly blinked. She was no longer sitting next to Gretchen. Rather, she and Gretchen were both lying on their sides on the top of the bed, staring into each other's eyes. Their arms were loosely entwined, with a few of Gretchen's legs lying loosely over Homulilly's hips.

"Oh," Gretchen breathed as she slowly blinked the tears away. "Oh, that was wonderful."

"I…" Homulilly's tongue suddenly felt thick and swollen, the inside of her mouth dry as a desert. "I, uh…"

Then she glanced down at saw, to her despair, that her hands and arms were once again covered by padded velvet gloves. A quick glance underneath confirmed that they were also again bare bones.

Even though it was Gretchen, Homulilly still reflexively jerked back, hugging her arms tightly to her chest.

Gretchen didn't seem to have noticed. "Oh," she murmured as she straightened up. "That was wonderful."

Homulilly sat up as well. "What did you see?"

"I saw…I saw my family!"

"Oh."

Well, of course Gretchen would have seen her family. It's what she had wanted to see, after all. But truthfully, Homulilly had been hoping that she would have been there too.

"I saw my mom," Gretchen continued. "She was so pretty! Just this calm, peaceful figure. And my big sister! Homulilly, I have a sister!"

"Was I there?" Homulilly inquired.

"Yes!" Then Gretchen frowned. "Well, I mean, no, not yet."

"Eh?"

"I saw you through the front window, waiting for me on the sidewalk. I think we were going to walk to school together, but I woke up before I could go say hi!"

Well, at least she was still a part of Gretchen's memory. Homulilly slowly breathed out. She would have liked to have had a bigger role, though.

Still, if this was just the start of the process, maybe she would show up in the next memory they unlocked.

Then they both looked to Tsuruno, who was just picking herself up off the floor. "Oh, wow," she said as she brushed her hair out of her face. "It worked! It really worked! I saw my friends again! It was real!"

"Was it a memory?" Gretchen asked.

"I…" Tsuruno frowned. "It might have been? I don't know. I was just visiting them at the Mikazuki Villa, which I did all the time." Her eyes were wet and glistening. "But it was still just like it used to be! They were all there! It was just how it used to be!"

Then she turned toward the two young witches. "What about you? Did it unlock your memories?"

"I…I think so," Gretchen said. "It was amazing!"

Homulilly didn't answer. She didn't know if the vision she had had of herself and Gretchen had been something that had actually happened, but she did know that she really wanted it to be.

"It was," Tsuruno said dreamily. "It really was." Then she rapidly shook her head as if to clear her mind and gingerly pulled herself to her feet. "Okay. Okay, so this could actually work! This could-"

Then there was a loud, frantic banging at their door.

Homulilly and Gretchen both stiffened. Tsuruno's eyes widened in fear and she quickly darted out of sight.

"Gretchen? Homulilly? You guys in?"

It was Gretchen's friend Marty. Confused, Gretchen rose and walked over to the door.

"Y-Yeah?" she said, opening the door just a crack.

The paperclip witch definitely looked agitated. "I'm just going around, checking on everyone," she said. "Are you guys okay?"

"Um…Yes? Why?"

"It's Lindy."

Homulilly inhaled sharply.

"Lindy-chan?" Gretchen said. "Did something happen to her?"

Marty shook her head in distress. "I…I don't know. I didn't know she was…"

"Marty-chan, what happened?"

Marty took a deep breath. "Lindy killed herself."

…

I've always wanted to do the italicized "Oh" thing.

And this chapter was supposed to go up like a couple weeks ago, but man did I get hit some heavy writer's block. Oh well, it happens.

Okay, next update will finish up this arc, then I'm going to have to be updating my other stories for what will probably be a long while, but when I return to this one, I will be working on it exclusively until its done.

Until next time, everyone!