WISH WARRIORS

~Puella Magi Dresden Magica~

TREASURED MEMORY – Lost in the Dark

Halloween night, one year ago. Dusk's orange glow flickered unsteadily as a strong gust blew the branches of the shadowy firs back and forth like the arms of monsters in a haunted house amusement park ride. But it would take more than the Spectral Forest's typical creepy ambience to frighten Shanoa, dressed as Noir from Persona 5, and me, dressed as V from Devil May Cry 5, as we wandered through it.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" I asked.

"Neon, how many times do I have to tell ya? I got this." Shanoa assured me.

"And how many times do I have to tell you that it's NEON BLACK, not 'Neon.'"

"But you're not black. I'm black."

"You know that's not what I mean. Anyways, I only keep asking because it doesn't seem like we're getting any closer. You sure your brother isn't playing some kind of trick?"

"Oh the concert is real all right. Didn't you see the flyers we posted all over town?"

"Nope."

"Really?"

"Really really."

"Huh. That's strange. I spent all night with the band putting up those flyers. They're getting faster at taking them down."

"'They?' You don't mean. . ."

"Yes. Them."

"I see. This must be part of Their plot to kill all good music in the world and replace it with formulaic and tasteless pop."

"Exactly."

I stopped walking and held my cane out to stop Shanoa. "Do you hear that?"

After a beat of silence, she said, "Nothing but the wind."

"Exactly. If we are truly anywhere near Moose Munch's venue, wouldn't we be able to hear something? Like a large crowd, or the sound guys testing the gear, or, y'know, the actual band?"

"I see. We might already be too late. They could have captured Moose Munch!"

I slowly spun in place, but the trees surrounded us so completely as to block out any sign of civilization. I grabbed my companion's hands.

"Face it, Shanoa Noir. We're lost."

I swore I saw Shanoa blush.

"Nuh-uhhh! We're not lost. We're just, uh, taking the scenic route. Yeah! Aren't the woods pretty at night?"

"We can hardly see anything. C'mon, let's call your parents."

"No way! If Mom and Dad find out that I got lost again, they'll never let me out of their sight until I'm too old to walk."

Again? "So you do admit that we're lost."

"Mrrrr. . ."

"How about your brother, then?"

Shanoa tapped on her phone and called Moose. After a few rings, it went to voicemail.

"Right. Should have expected that," I said.

"Maybe your parents?" Shanoa asked.

I shook my head. "If we call my parents, they'll send a search party after us, and our night will be over. I'm already going to be in trouble for dropping my phone in a puddle."

Epsilon was with Nico, so we couldn't ask her for help in good conscience. Fieros was grounded and under a strict watch, and though she would probably come find us if we asked her, we would miss most of the concert by the time she managed to fight her way out of her parent's clutches. And Fantasia was out of town.

I sighed. "Why does this seem like the opening to a horror movie?"

"Um, I think I remember where the venue is now," Shanoa offered.

"No no, I'm taking the lead this time. All we need to do is retrace our steps. So long as we make it back to Vela Nova, we should be able to find our way."

"Fine. Lead the way."

I made circular, methodical motions with my arms to invoke the power of the dark. "Black flame ignite our footsteps and make the darkness itself shine so that we may trace time back to where we were twenty minutes before." I clasped my palms together, bowed my head, and closed my eyes. "Verto." After imagining the black flame swirling around me in an intense vortex in answer to my spellcasting, I opened my eyes.

"Which way do we go?" Shanoa asked.

I swiveled my head slowly as if in a trance. Crap! I don't remember which direction we came from. It all looks the same!

I did a 180 and pointed with my cane. "That way!" I declared. It's the opposite of the way we were walking, I think, which is better than nothing.

After ten minutes of travel, the forest opened up to a large circular clearing dug into the ground. On the other side stood a solitary phantom of a multi-story building.

"Where the heck are we?" I said.

"Looks like an abandoned quarry," Shanoa said. "Though that's strange. I've never heard of there being a place like this in Spectral Forest. Have you?"

I shook my head. "Not even rumors."

We exchanged glances.

"Wanna go check it out?" Shanoa asked with undisguised excitement.

I mirrored her excitement with a wide smile. Our plight momentarily forgotten, we went around the quarry to the entrance of the derelict building.

It required a bit of muscle, but together we were able to push through the revolving door into a large foyer. Shanoa clicked on her phone's flashlight function. The derelict space was surprisingly furnished – couches, chairs, and tables with a thick layer of dust; richly carved wood décor covered in cobwebs; peeling wallpaper with some spots of the original pattern peeking through the browning caused by neglect; a crystal chandelier with pieces scattered across the floor along with stone debris.

"It's like we stepped into a fancy hotel in a black-and-white movie," Shanoa remarked.

"I wonder how old it is. . ." I said. "This could pre-date Vela Nova, which could explain why no one knows about it."

"Really? It's that old?"

"Well Vela Nova was developed in the 1960s, and if the art deco style of this resort is period correct, then it was probably built in the 1920s."

"Wow, you know a lot about architecture."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Not really. My world history teacher in 7th grade had art appreciation Fridays, and he really liked architecture. Guessed he rubbed off on me."

"Which teacher was that?"

"Mr. Maxwell. He moved up to 8th grade, so he's actually my teacher this year, too. I swear he's some kind of wizard. No matter what he teaches, he somehow always makes it fun and interesting. There isn't a single kid in my grade who has called his class boring."

"Oh, he's the one who runs guitar club, right? Fi told me about him. Said he was the only teacher she thought was cool."

"Yeah, he even lets us listen to music during study time. Usually soft rock, like Jack Johnson."

"Lucky. Hope I get him next year."

We poked around the room as we talked, with Shanoa's phone providing the only source of light and giving the abandoned resort an appropriately spooky atmosphere. There was a separate dining and kitchen area, and also a huge and very unfinished outdoor pool area. Eventually we found our way to the elevators. Shanoa pushed all the buttons, but of course nothing happened.

"It was worth a shot," she said.

"The stairs probably don't need electricity," I said, pointing toward the stairway nearby. "Shall we?"

We climbed the spiral staircase, disturbing a thick layer of dust as we stomped on its carpet. That dust also coated our hands as we made use of the handrail.

We disembarked on the second floor and traversed long hallways lined with numbered doorways.

"Let's check out one of the rooms," Shanoa said. We pushed through a thick ajar door into a spacious suite. Compared to a modern hotel's minimalistic, cozy room design, this suite was extravagantly decorated, with a gigantic bed serving as the center piece of the room and an equally enormous bath and shower.

"I wonder why they would abandon this resort," I said. "It looks like it was nearly completed."

"Maybe it's built on an ancient burial ground," Shanoa said. "Or the ghosts of some workers who died while building this place decided to haunt it for revenge."

"Ooh that would be so cool. Think we can find a ghost?"

"Let's check the other floors."

The third floor was identical to the second, though the rooms were decorated differently from the ones below and had a more arabesque aesthetic. After not finding any signs of ghouls, we got bored and decided to see if we could go up to the roof, but large concrete rubble blocked us from going to the fifth floor and beyond it. Neither of us felt like climbing over and possibly ruining our costumes, so we settled with searching the fourth floor.

The theme of this floor was under-the-sea, complete with a water bed. Since this was the furthest up we could go, we checked out several rooms in hopes to find something even remotely like a horror movie.

Turned out our search payed off. One room welcomed us with gashed walls, smashed furniture, and a ripped up bed and couch. It was so disfigured that the sea-floor aesthetic was entirely lost.

"Hey Neon, check this out."

Shanoa pointed me toward some words scrawled in black on the wall. Unlike in the movies where you get messages painted with blood in big letters warning of the presence of some sort of evil, this appeared to be done in sharpie in normal notebook-sized letters.

I read it out loud in my best imitation of a head archivist of the Magnus Institute, until exactly what I was reading sunk in.

As I crouched on the ground, my hands covering my face in horror at what I said, Shanoa gleefully picked up where I left off, in the middle of a graphic description about. . . things that went on between a woman and multiple men in this room. After reading out a phone number, Shanoa finished with, "And look, she left a picture of herself ripping a fetus out of her swollen belly. How nice. Well, that explains the state of this room."

She lightly tapped me with her foot. "Hey, what's the matter? Scared?"

"Shut up," I answered as I stood back up. "Have you no shame?"

"I'm not the hooker who wrote that." She gave me a predatory grin. "You know, we're all alone here. No one would hear us or interrupt us if we wanted to try some things."

"L-like what?"

"You know." She took a step toward me, and I took a step back. "Like kissing. Or even handholding."

A few steps more and she pushed me backward onto the bed. She crawled over me on all fours and held my arms down by the wrists.

"You love me, right?" she said. She kissed me, lightly, not quite on the lips. "Because I love you."

Unable to process what was going on enough to form any sort of coherent answer, I let out a small sound that was somewhere between a whimper and a moan.

Shanoa interlocked her fingers with my own and slowly leaned in. I closed my eyes in anticipation. My mind was too numb to resist her.

And then, somewhere on our floor, a door slammed shut.

Shanoa swore and sat up, still straddling me. Back to my senses, I propped myself up on my elbow. Alert, we peered out the door and waited for any more noises, but quiet fell upon us once again.

"Old buildings are drafty," I offered. "It was probably the wind."

Another door slammed shut. We held our breaths as out in the hall a group of small squeaking shadows fluttered through the air past our view.

"See?" I said. "Bats."

"I don't think bats go around closing doors," Shanoa replied.

A third door slammed shut.

"Is it me or is "the wind" getting closer?" Shanoa whispered.

"We are not alone," I whispered. I made to get up. "C'mon, we can continue this later."

Shanoa rolled off of me. "You know, I was just messing with you, but if you really want to 'continue this later,' call me whenever you like." She winked.

I bonked her on the head with my fist.

"Ow! Meanie."

"Shhh. Let's make like a couple of thieves and sneak outta here."

We crept to the door and peered around the corner, but it was too dark to make anything out.

I poked Shanoa. "Shine your light."

"Right."

She pointed her phone's flashlight over in the direction the of noise as a large, humanoid figure a few rooms down slammed another door hard enough to make the wall shudder.

"Eep!" We whirled back into our room and now clutched tightly to each other's hands. Our squeak was answered by a gurgled growl and heavy, unsteady footsteps heading toward our direction.

"Under the bed!" I whispered.

We shuffled underneath the large bed on our stomachs and twisted to face the doorway.

"Crap!" I cursed. "We should have closed the door and locked it."

"The locks are probably trashed anyway," Shanoa whispered.

A sudden sensation creeped across my neck.

"Shanoa. . ."

"Yeah?"

"Please tell me that's your hand brushing my neck." My voice got smaller and rose in pitch.

She turned to look at me.

"Ohmygosh!"

Using her full hand she flicked at the back of my neck. A centipede the size of my forearm landed a foot away from me. I screamed, which Shanoa managed to muffle with her hand on my mouth just in time, and creepy crawly scuttled away.

A couple of tears and a sob escaped me unbidden thanks to my phobia of bugs. Shanoa pet my head and kissed my cheek.

"You're OK. You're OK."

The humanoid figure lurched to a halt in front of our room. Shanoa's hand remained over my mouth. After about half a minute, it let out a hoarse belching noise and shambled away.

"Looks like one of the workers haunts the halls after all, as a zombie," Shanoa said. Of course, we both knew that the identity of that thing was likely a very drunk man, but calling it a zombie made our situation ironically less scary.

After waiting a minute, with my composure regained, we crawled out from our hiding place and peeked around the doorframe. Shanoa attempted to be more discreet with her light, but there wasn't much she could do to hide a bright object when we needed it to see in the dark. Regardless, the hallway was empty.

Holding hands again despite how lewd Shanoa made it sound moments earlier, we finally exited the room and moved quickly but quietly toward the stairs.

With a roar and thrashing limbs the zombie lept out of a suite right in front of us. We screamed and ran the other way.

"Wait!" I said. "If we keep going, it'll trap us."

"Then what do we do?" Shanoa asked. We looked back at the zombie and anticlimatically slowed to a stop. Persistent though it was, its pace wasn't much more than an easy walk.

"We have to rush past it," I said. "Now!"

We bolted back toward the stairs. Shanoa passed the zombie on its right, and I on its left. With a growl it grabbed at me, but I dodged with a spin and kept going. Shanoa and I linked hands back together as we rushed down the stairs past the third floor, but coming off the second floor was another zombie. This one was skinnier but just as tall as the first. With us in its sights, it screamed like a howler monkey and ran. We flipped around and sprinted down the third floor hallway to the first open room.

"In here!" Shanoa said, opening a wardrobe. A couple of rats skittered out of it, making her jump in surprise with a short yell.

The zombie chasing us shrieked in reply. It would be on us in seconds. We both clambered inside the wardrobe. We barely fit, but we managed to get the doors closed just as the zombie rounded into the room. It was hunched over, arms splayed at odd angles as it stalked through the room while making loud snuffling noises like a rabid hound dog with serious allergies. It stopped right in front of us, taking up the entirety of our view from the crack between the wardrobe doors. Its nose came very close as it snuffled menacingly. Shanoa and I covered each other's mouths. Just as it seemed it would rip open our hiding place, the zombie instead left to check out the bathroom.

Shanoa pointed outward. I shook my head. We waited for the zombie to leave the room, waited another minute, and then slowly, silently, left our hiding spot. We peeked around the doorway. The zombie was waiting in front of the stairway, twitching every so often.

"Crap! Now what?" Shanoa whispered.

"Think we could take him?" I asked.

"Like what? Tackle him?"

"Yeah. Like maybe if we did it at the same time—"

"Two little girls against a six-foot-something zombie? What if it bites us?"

"Shanoa, we both know that it isn't going to actually bite us. Probably."

"Probably?"

"Probably."

"Fine. On three."

We counted together. "One, two, THREE!"

Shouting the last number to get us going, we lept into the hallway and charged forward at a full sprint. We caught the zombie off-guard, and before it could react, we knocked it on its butt. I jumped over and kept going, but a scream and a thud stopped me in my tracks.

"Dresden!" Shanoa cried out. The zombie had caught her by the ankle and sent her sprawling to the ground. I ran back and kicked the zombie in the head. It moaned and let go of my friend. I pulled her to her feet, but I didn't have time to ask if she was OK. We ran to the stairs, but once again our way down was blocked, this time by the first larger zombie. With a gargling yell it lurched toward, but we lept backward out of its reach. With nowhere else to go, we went back to the fourth floor.

"Dang it!" I cursed.

"Let's hide," Shanoa said. "We need to rethink our approach."

We ran further down the hallway this time, until we took a bend. As we passed one of the more busted rooms, I said, "Is that a hole?"

Sure enough, upon closer examination the room had a massive hole in the middle of it. I peered down into what must have been another room.

"On second thought, that's a pretty far drop," I said.

"We don't have a choice," Shanoa said. "Both zombies know we are on the fourth floor. If they're working together, then the big one will block the stairs and the fast one will come after us."

"You're right. OK, let's do this."

I approached the edge, sat down, and roll over so that I would slide down and catch the edge with my hands. From there, I dropped the six or so remaining feet to the floor, bracing the impact by bending my knees. Shanoa followed after me, but as she sat down, the ledge crumbled.

I moved underneath her and caught her in my arms, though the drop knocked me off my feet.

"My hero!" Shanoa declared, wrapping her arms around me and kissing me on the cheek.

"Stop messing around," I said.

"Why? You like it, don't you?"

"Sh!" I brought my voice down to a whisper. "The zombies still think we're on the fourth floor. Let's keep it that way."

"OK OK."

We activated stealth mode as we traversed the third floor. About two-thirds down the hall, we heard a thud from back where we were before.

"Now we run!" Shanoa said. Sure enough, the fast zombie rounded the hallway, shrieked, and charged after us. But we were already at the stairs.

The big zombie was indeed lying in wait, but this time he was above us. Our way down was finally clear.

Crack! A one of the stair's steps, followed by another, gave out from underneath me. I managed to leap ahead safely, but Shanoa, who was a couple of steps behind me, fell right onto it and dropped to the ground a story below with a bang! She cried out in pain.

"Shanoa!"

"Oh no!"

With oddly coherent exclamations, both zombies rushed past me with unprecidented speed, ignoring me in favor of the easier target.

I was ready to fight off our pursuers with my cane, as vain as my attempt would be, but thanks to the light of their phones and them being within my sight for more than a glimpse, I recognized the zombie pair's true identities.

"Moose? Munch?" I said incredulously.

"'Sup?" Moose, as cool as always, greeted.

"Hey," Munch, a big Tongan man and Moose's best mate, greeted.

"What the heck, guys?!"

While Moose checked on his sister, Munch gave me the details.

"After setting up the stage for our concert, Moose saw the voicemail from Little Sister. He tried calling back, but she was out of service, so he figured that she was lost somewhere in the woods. We used GPS to track her phone to this bodacious abandoned resort, and that was when I said, 'Hey Brother, you know what day it is?'

"And Moose said, 'Night of fright, baby.'

"So we decided to play Halloween hide-and-seek at the haunted hotel. Awesome, right? Were you scared?"

"Yeah I guess it was pretty awesome and scary but. . . I kicked Moose in the head."

"It's cool," Moose said. "You thought I was a monster. If I was you and someone grabbed my baby sister, I would have messed them up fo sho."

Moose carefully scooped up Shanoa and rose to his feet.

"So what's the diagnosis?" I asked.

"I think my ankle is sprained, if not broken," Shanoa said.

"But was it worth it?" Munch asked.

"Heck yeah! That was a blast! But I'm ready to go back now."

That was when something Munch said clicked in my head.

"Hold up. Shanoa. Are you telling me that this whole time you had GPS on your phone and you didn't use it?!"

Moose answered for her. "Mum and Dad didn't want her to know that her phone was traceable because they were afraid she would turn it off."

"And I took the maps app off my phone because it's too confusing," Shanoa added.

"Well, shall we head back?" Munch said at the same time that I vocalized my exasperation toward Shanoa's evidently hopeless sense of direction. "I think the guys have stalled for long enough."

"Yeah concert time! Ow!"

"Baby girl, try not to kick so much."

"You know I don't like it when you call me that," Shanoa grumbled, but it did the trick and she calmed down.

"Um, is it OK if I get carried, too?" I asked. "I'm exhausted."

Munch laughed and said, "No problem."

Like the ending to some cheesy slasher flick, two high school senior bros princess carrying two middle-school girls left behind the abandoned resort. At the concert venue, Moose made sure to get Shanoa and I chairs (and front row seats). When Moose Munch was done performing their Queen-inspired punk rock setlist, Shanoa turned to me and said, "Best Halloween ever!"

I hugged her close. I couldn't agree more.