Resonance Days

by TakerFoxx

Falling their mutual demise at each other's hands, Kyoko and Sayaka wake up in a strange world. Now, with Kyoko's soul gem missing and Sayaka's humanity and personality only partially restored, they must band together to survive.

3. Life After Death

Life After Death

As it turned out, Ticky Nikki had been absolutely correct. Reibey was not happy. At all.

Annabelle Lee and Nikki were prostrated on the black-and-white checkered floor of Palace Omega, their faces planted firmly against the cool tile. In front of them, Reibey paced back and forth, his normally curled tail practically twisting itself into knots.

"So, let me see if I got this right," said the midnight-black Incubator. "You two were patrolling Genocide City when none other than Kyoko Sakura, having recently slipped off the mortal coil, showed up right in front of you. And not only that, she brought a witch with her, presumably the same one responsible for her untimely demise."

Not daring to look up, Annabelle Lee gave a twitching nod. Nikki whimpered.

"Naturally, instead of keeping an eye on them while calling for help, you decided to make the grab yourselves. And not only that, when Sakura left the witch to go leaping through the city, you, for whatever retarded reason, decided to split up."

"The fishy witch-" Nikki started to say, but then she screamed as her body contorted in pain. Annabelle Lee grimaced, but remained where she was.

Reibey continued to stare at the thrashing Nikki for ten seconds more before releasing her. "The witch, you say?" he said as she curled up into a ball and started sobbing. "Who cares about some damned witch? I'm up to my ears in them already! Did Oblivion ever claim 'I want Kyoko Sakura and the witch that killed her'? Did she even make so much as the slightest indication of being interested in anyone except Kyoko Sakura?"

A few seconds ticked by, during which the only sound was Nikki's whimpers. Then Reibey snapped, "That was not a rhetorical question!"

"No!" Annabelle Lee said as quickly as possible. "No, she didn't!"

And then she screamed as her skin caught fire while her body was flooded with ice, or at least that was what it felt like. She writhed on the ground, lost in a haze of pain.

Reibey watched her dispassionately, his tail twitching above his head. "Then why oh why did you leave Ticky Nikki behind?" he demanded. "Why did you try to take Kyoko Sakura all on your lonesome? Was it pride? Hmmm? Greed? Did you want the reward all for yourself?" He closed his ruby eyes and shook his head. "I swear, we need to implement a better screening process when we hire. It seems no matter what we do, I end up surrounded by incompetence."

The pain suddenly vanished, and Annabelle Lee collapsed against the black-and-white tiles, coughing and wheezing.

Paying no heed to his underlings' distress, Reibey turned and started padding toward the door that led to Oblivion's chambers. "Fortunately, all is not lost," he said. "Based upon what we know, Kyoko is no idiot. She would know that carrying that mermaid witch around on her shoulders would be stupid. And seeing how you two didn't catch her stumbling around in the wilderness, they most likely escaped to sea. So there's a chance to catch them before they reach Free Haven. Which means you two get a second chance."

"Yes," Annabelle Lee choked out. She pushed herself up onto one elbow while coughing into the other hand. "Thank you…"

"You're welcome," Reibey said. "I'm assigning The Twins to assist you. Try not to break them. And remember, if you come back and Kyoko Sakura is not with you, I'm going to be quite put out. Capiche?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Now, pick yourselves up and stop drooling all over the floor. I just had it waxed."

His disappointing servitors dealt with, Reibey made his way toward the tall, arching door that led to Oblivion's chambers. It opened as he approached, permitting him inside.

As usual, Oblivion sat there on her throne, the only piece of furniture to be found in the cavernous room. In stark contrast to the scanty outfits preferred by the Void Walkers that paid her mindless devotion, Oblivion was covered from head to toe by a shapeless hooded robe, completely lacking in ornamentation. Black gloves extended into the depths of her sleeves, and even her face, which was just pale as that of her servants, was only glimpsed when the heavy hood moved enough to permit a glimpse of what lay beneath. However, her pale blue eyes managed to shine clearly, and along with Reibey's red eyes, were one of the only three sources of color to be found in the room.

The third was a Rubik's cube, which Oblivion was frantically twisting. Obliviously frustrated, she could be heard mumbling to herself under her breath.

Reibey stopped a few feet away from the throne. "So!" he said. "How goes the battle?"

Oblivion angrily tossed the undefeated cube aside, sending it clattering across the floor. "I can't figure that stupid thing out! Every time I think I got it right, it just ends up messing everything up!"

Reibey looked from Oblivion to the cube and then back to her. "Well, maybe you failed to complete the puzzle, but if you look at it as a metaphor for the human experience, you may have just stumbled upon an important truth!"

Oblivion just blinked at him. "What?"

"Never mind," Reibey said cheerfully, not at all surprised by his prodigy's inability to grasp anything resembling higher thought. If nothing else, it only served to further confirm his prejudices. He padded over to the throne and leapt onto her arm and climbed onto her shoulder. "At any rate, I have good news for you!" He turned his head so that his round scarlet gaze was looking directly into the hood. "Kyoko Sakura has finally arrived!"

Oblivion gave a little jump of surprise. "Really?" she said eagerly. "She's here?"

"Mmmm-hmmm! Well, not here here. Not in Palace Omega. But it seems that her warring days are over, and she has departed the vale of tears!"

"The what?" Oblivion said, blinking.

"The vale of tears. She has slipped from the mortal coil, dropped out of the race of life, ceased to be, passed away, and would be pushing daisies if there were enough of her to bury, which I am sure there is not. She is deceased, she has moved on, she is-"

"She's dead," Oblivion said.

"That too."

Oblivion looked away. Reibey heard the sound of sniffling from within the hood and felt a flash of irritation. What had he been thinking, letting a little brat take on the mantle of Oblivion? It didn't matter what she looked like now, she still was stuck with the mind of the pathetic little runt he had found whimpering in the alleys of Genocide City. Just because her specific circumstances were unique didn't mean she would work out well as Oblivion. Reibey now had his paws full just keeping her from doing something embarrassing in front of the Void Walkers. He should have just added her to his "collection" and had someone less extraordinary but more level-headed take on the role. At least he had cured her of that annoying habit of referring to herself in the third person. Now that had been grating. It was bad enough that Ticky Nikki couldn't seem to stop doing it, and at least she had the excuse of insanity working for her. Seriously, what was it with these nutty little girls and their inability to employ proper use of first person pronouns? It wasn't cute, it was downright irritating!

Still, weepy brat or not, she was significantly easier to control than any of the previous incarnations. And so long as he could keep her happy, he wouldn't have to worry about this one offing herself like the last five had. "There, there," he said in a soothing tone as he rubbed his face up against her cheek. His tail uncurled and wound itself loosely around her shoulders. "Don't be like that. This is what we wanted, remember? Big sis had to die to come here first. Otherwise, you'd never get her back!"

"But…but…" she blubbered. "If I'd been there to help her…"

"No fault of your own. Blame that irresponsible time twister. And isn't it better this way? Back in life, you two faced separation every day! Here, you have a castle to live in and an army to protect you. And of course, I will always be here to make sure no one ever tries to hurt you again. Soon you and big sister Kyoko will be reunited, and you'll be together forever."

Oblivion wiped her eyes with her heavy sleeve. "Promise?"

"Oblivion, remember who you're talking to. I'm your magical genie, remember? Have I ever let you down?"

"No," Oblivion said, shaking her head.

"There you go! Now, she was last seen jumping around Genocide City, the same place where I found you! I've already sent the Tick-Tock Sisters and The Twins to go pick her up. They'll be back soon, and you'll-"

Oblivion leapt to her feet. Not expecting the sudden action, Reibey had to dig his claws into the thick material of her robe to keep from falling off.

"Let me go with them!" she implored.

"What? No! Why?"

"Because I'm tired of just sitting around, doing nothing! I wanna go out and see Kyoko now!"

"No, you're not going anywhere!" he snapped, a bit more harshly than intended. Realizing that he was well on his way to making her start crying again, he reined himself in and said, "Remember our deal. You need to stay here and do your duty. The Void Walkers are used to having an Oblivion that's reclusive and mysterious, and it would confuse them if you started running around, doing things for yourself."

"But I want to do things for myself! I don't want them to think I'm useless!"

Useless. Reibey shook his head in disgust. An entire army of former Puella Magi and witches, all of them united by a single-minded devotion to the being they knew only as Oblivion that at times bordered on worship, and she was worried that they would think she's useless just because she didn't run around with them, helping them out with their menial tasks.

Enough of this. He wasn't going to spend the day arguing with her. "No more of that," he murmured in a low voice. His tail drew in closer, until it brushed against her neck. "Just trust Reibey. Soon, big sis will be here, and you'll never lose her again."

Oblivion stumbled. Beneath her hood, her eyes flickered as they grew heavy. "But," she muttered sleepily. "But…"

"Shhh. Rest now. Leave everything to me."

Oblivion sank back into her throne. Her head slumped into her chest, and soon she was slumbering peacefully.

That annoyance taken care of, Reibey hopped off her shoulder and walked away. This was becoming a royal pain. Those four had better be successful in bringing Kyoko Sakura back. Otherwise, she was going to wander right into Free Haven. And getting her out of there was going to be a bitch at a half.

It was then an unpleasant thought occurred to him, one that made him pause. All this time he had been focused on acquiring Kyoko Sakura as a means to control Oblivion. But how was he going to control Kyoko?

His tail twitched over his head as he considered the problem. Perhaps he had been a little too hasty while judging the Tick-Tock Sisters. If Kyoko Sakura had been that adamant about defending that witch she had been with, perhaps the mermaid did have use after all. He'd better send word to them before they left and instruct them to bring the pair in.

As he headed off to do that, his eyes fell upon the discarded Rubik's cube. He cocked his head to one side. Under his gaze, the cube rose into the air, and the segments began to twist of their own accord.

He kept it up for about thirty seconds before dropping the cube back to the floor, still unsolved. Stupid thing. Humans and their pointless self-inflicted challenges. Truly, there had never been such a masochist race ever to grope their way into sentience, if it could be called that.

…

On the whole, Kyoko Sakura was not a peaceful person. When she wasn't fighting she was hunting. When she wasn't hunting she was making use of her powers in order to acquire some of life's essentials: money, food, personal hygiene, and luxury hotels. In her downtime she preferred to rack up high scores on the dancing games at arcades or wander around seedy alleys to tempt the local thugs into attacking her (that was always worth a laugh). Even when she slept, her dreams were often restless and filled with activity. Of all kinds.

As such, moments of quiet, when there was literally nothing much to do, were not something she was used to. It made her uneasy, like there was something she should be doing or someone was setting her up.

Take her current situation for example. Upon escaping from the City of Annoying Lights, she had driven the giant spearhead out into sea as quickly as it would go. As it turned out, the body of water was an ocean, and soon the city was nothing more than a dot on the horizon. And soon after that, she couldn't even see it at all. However, the mental strain of moving the spearhead forward at such a high speed finally caught up to her, so she brought it to a stop to give herself a few moments to catch her breath.

Apparently the strange storm of twisting images and changing colors had been part of the cityscape as well, as they were now floating under clear, blue skies, with nary a cloud to be seen. The water was also completely still, and if it weren't for the strangeness of the place they had just left, Kyoko could almost bring herself to believe that everything was normal.

But she was still riding a giant spearhead with a mermaid. That just bugged her.

Since she had no idea how long this respite was going to last, she decided that now would be an excellent time to get the amnesiac Sayaka (she still refused to think of her as Oktavia) caught up on…everything. And so she told her all she knew. She told her about the Puella Magi and their mission to fight witches. She told her about Kyubey and his damned wish-granting contracts. She told her about soul gems and the powers they granted and the horrible price they came with. She told her about the witches themselves, and how Sayaka's fall had told her exactly where they came from.

After that, Kyoko went into the specifics. She told her what she knew about Sayaka's life, about how she had made the contract to restore the violin boy to health, and how much that had backfired. She told her about the ensuing downward spiral into despair, and how she and Kyoko had first started off as enemies, but then learning exactly what soul gems were had made Kyoko rethink her hostility.

Of course, that had led to the most difficult part of the story for Kyoko: going into her own life story. She had done that once already, and thought she would never have to do it again. Tearing the scab off of that wound had been painful enough the first time around. But of course, life would never be finished dicking around with her, even after when it was supposed to have ended. And so the scab came off again.

She told Sayaka about growing up in her father's church and watching him struggle with the evils of the world. She told her about how he had tried to reform and transform the church from within and create a new faith, one that would save humanity from itself. She told her about how this had driven his congregation away how, faced with poverty, starvation and being unable to watch her beloved father's efforts go to waste, she had made her own contract in order to bring the parishioners back, and the horrible tragedy that had happened once her father had learned the truth behind his newfound success.

And so the story went on, covering her family's demise, her rejection of altruism only to regain a sliver of hope when exposed to Sayaka's hopeless idealism. Kyoko told Sayaka how she had tried to snap her out of her downward spiral only to fail again when Sayaka had turned into a witch. She told her about how she and Sayaka's friend Madoka had entered Sayaka's Labyrinth and tried to bring her to her sense. She told her about that final climatic battle, as she had tried to protect Madoka while holding back so as to avoid hurting Sayaka too much. And, when it became clear that they had no hope of success, she told her about how she had finally delivered the blow that released Sayaka from her misery and took Kyoko's own life in the process.

All in all, it took much longer than she had expected, and when Kyoko finished the story she felt even more worn out, not to mention emotionally drained for having to relive so many raw memories. Though going over her past had been a bit easier this time around, mainly because Sayaka was now not the suspicious former enemy she had been last time. She just sat leaned back on her elbows and listened.

When it was over, Sayaka whispered, "And I'm guessing the next part is where you woke up in that apartment and found me…in the bathtub?"

Kyoko nodded. "Yeah. The hot water was turned on full blast, and you were getting cooked like a lobster. Now, what was I supposed to do with that?"

"Huh. You know, I actually think I remember that part." Sayaka shook her head. "Still, all that about magical girls and evil witches and wish-granting aliens…sounds like something from an anime."

Kyoko growled. Her exhaustion was making her even more irritable than normal. "If you so much as think that I'm lying, I swear I'm gonna-"

"Huh? No, no, I believe you!" Sayaka said quickly, holding up her hands to placate the other girl. "So much weird stuff's happened already that I can't go around calling you a liar just because your story's all crazy. I mean, that glowing city with the rivers for streets, those crazy clouds, and…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down to where her legs used to be.

"And you got turned into a mermaid," Kyoko finished for her. Despite her fatigue, her lips managed to twist into their usual smirk. "Yeah, that would make any believe in magic."

Sayaka shuddered. "You got that right. And heck, Nikki alone would make anyone believe in witches."

"Who? Oh, right, the emo girl with the knife." Kyoko shrugged. "If you think she was bad, you shoulda met her sister. Nasty creep could actually fly."

"Fly?" Sayaka blinked. "You mean-"

"Yep. Fly. She didn't have any legs either, but that didn't seem to slow her down any." Kyoko sighed and put a hand on her stomach. It grumbled under her touch. Her thoughts went to the two duffel bags she had left behind and she cursed Annabelle Lee for forcing her to abandon them.

Sayaka looked up at the sky. "It's so strange," she said. "I mean, I had a whole life. Not a long one I know, but I had a family and friends and went to school and had a crush on somebody and probably had things I wanted to do when I got older, but I can't remember any of it. I know it must have happened, but to me, it's just gone." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "And that friend of mine, the one that went with you…"

"You mean Madoka?"

"Uh-huh. What did she look like?"

Kyoko rubbed her chin as she thought. "Eh, small, real shy, had some major self-esteem issues, pretty nice person though. Short pink hair. I kinda liked her. For who she was, she had guts."

Sayaka sighed. "See what I mean? I have this…this picture in my head, of a pink-haired girl, and she's crying. So I guess it must be her. But other than that, I can't remember anything about her, but she must've cared about me a lot to have risked her life like that. But I can't even remember her."

"Don't take it so hard," Kyoko said. "At least you had someone willing to fight for you. Not your fault that Kyubey screwed you over."

"Did he? I mean, it was my choice, wasn't it?"

"Don't give me that crap," Kyoko growled. "He left out a whole lot when we contracted, stuff we shoulda known." She sighed. "Like this place, for example. Sure would like to know where in the hell we are."

Sayaka visibly flinched at that.

"What?" Kyoko said. "You got something to say?"

"Kind of. That girl, Ticky Nikki, she said that we were…Well, that we were in Hell."

Kyoko's hunger was momentarily forgotten. She slowly turned her head to stare at the blue-haired girl sitting next to her. "Uh, say whaaaaaaat?"

"It's what she said! Or maybe. She wasn't really clear, to be honest, but she did say that we were dead, and this was the afterlife for…for people like us."

Kyoko stared at her. "Wait, you mean for Puella Magi?"

"And witches," Sayaka nodded. She shrugged. "I don't know if she was telling the truth, or if she even believed it, but…it kind of fits, doesn't it?"

"The hell it does," Kyoko growled. "I don't know what rubbish that nut was saying, but this ain't no afterlife."

Sayaka scratched her head. "How can you be so sure?"

"I…I just am, okay? I'd know if we were dead, and this ain't it."

Sayaka still looked confused, but she didn't press the question. Kyoko was glad. The reason why she was so certain that she wasn't in the afterlife was simple. She was the daughter of a preacher, and had believed in God all her life. Even after she and the church had parted ways, she still believed in God, even if she no longer considered she and Him to be on the same side. And as such, she believed in Heaven or Hell as well. To her, it wasn't a matter of theological debate. When you died, you went to one or the other. This was simple fact. And Hell was a place of pain and suffering, where sinners paid the eternal price for their deeds.

To Kyoko's mind, she had no other ultimate destination save for that. She had been hellbound the moment she had contracted with Kyubey, and her every deed since then had only further secured her place.

But while this place was certainly no Heaven, it wasn't Hell either. That alone told her that this Nikki creep was wrong. No, she and Sayaka were still alive, and all they had to do was find out who was responsible for all this weird crap. Her money was on this "Oblivion" person. So once they finally found Oblivion and beat the truth out of her, everything would be clear.

And then Kyoko looked down at her arm. Soon after they had made their escape, she had insisted that they switch jackets. The one from the sporting goods store may have been more expensive, but she much preferred her ratty green number. She pulled up her sleeve and stared at the unharmed skin beneath. The memory of red vapor floating from the four cuts Annabelle Lee had given her flitted through her mind and made her insides squirm.

"There's one thing I don't get though," Sayaka said, jerking Kyoko out of her reverie.

That made Kyoko laugh. "Oh yeah? Just one? Man, are you the believing sort."

A ghost of a smile passed over Sayaka's face, thought it didn't last long. "Why did you let yourself die?"

The question was so unexpected that it took a full five seconds for it to fully penetrate Kyoko's brain. "Ah, er, what?"

"You didn't have to die with me. Just putting me out of my misery would have been enough. I mean, you probably killed witches all the time, so it's not like I could have been that much of a challenge. So why'd you do it?"

Kyoko's right hand twitched. "What kind of question is that?" she exploded. "Are you saying I should have just whacked you and run off? What kind of person do you think I am?"

"But you died!" Sayaka sputtered in confusion. "Or at least, you meant to, even though you didn't have to! And you only just met me. It wasn't like we were childhood friends or anything."

Kyoko grimaced and looked away, out at the ocean. She considered not answering, to give Sayaka's ingratitude the response it deserved. But she would want to know as well, so she just groaned and said, "Because I didn't want you to die alone, okay? You deserved that much, at least."

Sayaka still looked confused. "Why would you care?"

"Because it sucks to be alone," Kyoko said. She pulled her legs up and folded her arms over her knees. "And dying alone must be even worse."

She stared moodily out at the waters, her foul mood now even worse. Her empty stomach's complaints were now even louder, her mind was being boiled by the unholy concoction of anger and confusion that now sizzled in her brain, and she was so tired that if it weren't for the storm of emotions raging through her she might have dropped dead asleep right here and now. She was glad that Sayaka was at least mostly back, but everything had been flipped upside down.

And then Sayaka reached over and poked her in the cheek.

Kyoko's eyes popped wide. She slowly turned to look at the mermaid in disbelief. "Did…did you just poke me in the face?"

Sayaka shrugged and smiled. "Sorry, but you just looked so mopey that I couldn't help it."

"You…you poked me," Kyoko said flatly. "In the face." A pause, and then, "Do you wanna die or something?"

"Hey, hey, it's kind of late for that, don't you think? Besides, you really should cheer up a little. Sure, things are weird and confusing, but at least we got away. And who knows? Maybe this place won't be so bad after all."

"When the hell did you get so cheerful?" Kyoko muttered as she laid back, arms folded beneath her head. She scowled at the sky, and then glanced over to Sayaka. The mermaid was leaning over the side of the spear and dangling her hand into the water.

Kyoko glanced at the weapons to confirm that they were on her side of the spearhead. Then she smirked, held up her right hand with the palm down, and tilted it to the right.

"WAH!" Sayaka cried as her side of the spearhead suddenly flipped downward, dumping her into the water. She surfaced quickly, wiped the water from her face and stared at Kyoko.

"What the heck was that for?" she demanded.

"Hey, you're a mermaid, remember," Kyoko snickered. "I'm just returning you to your natural habitat."

Sayaka scowled. "Oh, you think you're so funny." She tried to scamper up the smooth metal of the tilted fin, grabbing for Kyoko's jacket. "Come here, and try that-"

Kyoko gave her hand a swift turn to the left. Sayaka's half of the spearhead obeyed, flipping up and catapulting Sayaka up through the air and into the water at the other side.

As Sayaka sputtered and angrily tried to splash her, Kyoko just laughed and lay back down. Maybe Sayaka was right. No point in declaring the situation hopeless until it actually was.

For now, while there wasn't a whole lot she could do about the pit that was steadily growing in her stomach or the loads of unanswered questions in her mind, she could do something about the fatigue that had set deep into her bones. "Yo," she said, turning her head toward the irate Sayaka. "I'm gonna close my eyes for a bit. Wake me up if we reach land or if something tries to kill us."

Sayaka's response was to splash her again.

"Bitch, bitch, bitch," Kyoko yawned. "I save your ass three times today, and that's the thanks I get?" With that, she pulled her hood over her head, closed her eyes and let herself slip away into the dark embrace of sleep.

…

When Annabelle Lee and her little band of misfits arrived at Genocide City, not much had changed. The rain continued to fall (but then, it always did), the canals that served as streets continued to rush angrily between the buildings and the symphony of chemical lights continued to give her a headache no matter where she looked. It was far from her favorite place to visit, and having to return with the threat of future punishment hanging over her head was bad enough.

Unfortunately, Reibey had a mean streak. And in addition to the verbal abuse and searing pain he had subject her and Nikki to earlier, this was best demonstrated by the "backup" he had chosen to accompany them. Namely, The Twins.

Oh, Great Balls of Zeus, Annabelle Lee absolutely loathed The Twins.

A pair of witches that had only joined their ranks a few years ago, The Twins were so named because of their near-identical appearances. The same blond hair, though now dyed black to fit in with Oblivion's monochrome color scheme, and tied into two ankle-length pigtails; the same slight figures; the same golden eyes; and the same fashion sense that leaned toward striped thigh-highs, short black skirts, corsets, and, something that many found to be just plain tacky, pointed witch's hats. In fact, they looked so much alike that many people assumed that their title was literal, but they always insisted that they weren't actually related, and that any similarities were mere coincidences.

Nobody believed them.

Which wasn't to say there weren't differences. Obviously their witch forms had not been the same. One of them, Arzt Kochen, had the fingers of her right hand replaced by syringes, which she wielded as her primary weapon. And Nie Blühen Herze, the other, had two normal hands but had the mark of a red broken heart over her left breast, which had been long confirmed not to be a tattoo. For weapons, she wielded a pair of pistols.

All of this was nothing especially unusual. The Void Walkers had many with stranger choices of wardrobe. But the part that Annabelle Lee found rankling was that they could not keep their hands off each other! It seemed like every time she saw them, they were cuddling, kissing, caressing, groping, or some combination of the above, with varying degrees of intimacy. While relationships among Annabelle Lee's allies were fairly common, at least everyone else had the decency to keep it private! Besides, that sort of open devotion was something they should be reserving for Oblivion and Oblivion alone! Well, the devotion itself at least. Annabelle Lee was fairly certain that Oblivion wouldn't appreciate the constant physical affection. But at any rate, every time someone complained and asked them to get a room, they just laughed and said something to the tune of "You know how it is" and go right one with the snogging.

Annabelle Lee wasn't the only one to find them annoying. And poor Nikki had it even worse. Somewhere down the line, The Twins had gotten it into their heads that Nikki was just the cutest thing ever and made a point of cooing over her and treating her like some kind of pet, to the little psychopath's obvious distress. More than once Annabelle Lee had found Nikki cowering under her bed and, when questioned as to the reason, had only responded with a fearful "They're looking for Nikki." That had been explanation enough.

While Annabelle Lee respected Reibey as her superior, she had to admit to harboring no small amount of resentment toward him for saddling her with those two. The pain had been one thing. Failure deserved punishment. But this was just cruelty.

Still, they had a job to do, and the sooner it was done she wouldn't have to put up with them anymore. So the four of them, Annabelle Lee, Ticky Nikki, Arzt, and Nie, made their way back to the apartment complex where Kyoko Sakura and her mermaid witch had last been seen.

Kyoko hadn't left much trace of their presence behind. Annabelle Lee swooped down to the sidewalk that connected to the complex's parking lot and gave the adjoining canal a brief look.

"Current's heading out to sea, so Reibey was right about that," she muttered. Nikki scampered up to join her. Annabelle Lee nodded at her and said, "Free Haven's almost a day away. Maybe half, if they went full speed. But Kyoko Sakura's going to run out of energy long before them." Her lips parted in a malicious grin. "Probably already has. So odds are, they they're stranded somewhere out there. So, we still have a good chance to catch them."

Nikki giggled. "Goody. And just how much are we allowed to hurt them, ticky-ticky? Will Reibey be mad if we cut them just a little?"

"What Reibey doesn't know won't hurt him," Annabelle Lee said. "And if he does, we can always just say they resisted, which they probably will. I really don't think he'll care anyway. He just wants us to bring them in. He said nothing about how, or in what condition."

"Sweet," Nikki purred. "Nikki can't wait to filet that-"

"Oh, there you two are!"

Nikki stiffened. She glanced at her sister, her eyes full of fear. Annabelle Lee just sighed.

"Oh Christ," she muttered. "Here we go…"

A moment later two arms had wrapped around Nikki's waist and pulled her into the air.

"Darling Nikki, were you hiding from us?" Nie said as she pressed her cheek to Nikki's. "We were getting lonely without you!" Nikki tried to squirm out of her grip, which just made Nie laugh and cling tighter.

Annabelle Lee closed her eyes and pinched her nose. "Nie, put my sister down. Now."

"Aw, I was just-"

"You've got three seconds."

Nie scowled. "Oh, nice try. You wouldn't dare hurt me. Reibey's angry enough with you already."

"I wasn't talking about me. But Nikki there is about ready to bite your arm, and if she does, I'm just going to look the other way."

"No way! Ticky Nikki would never do such a thing!"

Annabelle Lee rolled her eyes. "Nikki. A visual aide, please."

Grateful for being granted permission, Nikki grabbed at Nie's right arm and opened her mouth, exposing her sharp, crooked teeth.

"Hey now!" Nie squealed as she dropped Nikki. "What do you think you're doing?" She stared in shock at Nikki, who had run behind her sister for protection. "Ticky Nikki, how could you?"

A bout of amused laughter broke into the dispute. Arzt walked up next to Nie and looped an arm around her elbow. "Oh, don't take it personally. You know that sister of hers has been a bad influence." She drew Nie's face close to her own with a finger to the chin and murmured, "How else can someone resist such a sweet face?"

As their lips met, Nikki stuck out her tongue and started gagging. Annabelle Lee concurred with the sentiment.

"All right!" she snapped as she rose up a foot into the air. "Save the snogging for when we get back! But for now, we have a job to do. So keep your hands to yourself until it's done."

She motioned in the direction of the flowing current. "Reibey said that Kyoko Sakura and her witch most likely headed out to sea, so that's where we're going. Now."

Arzt looked disappointed. "Oh, we're leaving already? Shouldn't we stay here for a bit and…you know, investigate?"

Annabelle Lee stared at her. "Investigate what? Do you think they left us a note to tell us where they're going and a detailed map?"

"Don't be silly, of course not! But didn't you say that they were rebirthed in this very apartment building? So, shouldn't we try to find the apartment they woke up in?" Her hand slipped down to grip Nie's. "You know, to look for clues. About what we're up against?"

"Why the crap would we care?" Annabelle Lee said in bemusement. "We're capturing them, not writing a psyche evaluation!"

Arzt's thumb was now making small circles over Nie's knuckles. "Yes, but even so, there might be…pertinent information."

"Like what? Why are…Oh." Annabelle sighed as she understood. "Look asshat, if you want to break into apartments for a quickie, do it on your own bloody time. And seeing how our prey is likely far out to sea, that is where we are going right now. You have a problem with that…" she held up the two wickedly sharp curving blades strapped to her right hand "…my complaint department is right here."

Arzt sighed and exchanged a look with her partner. "You see what I mean? So unbelievably rude. No wonder Ticky Nikki's picking up bad habits."

"Isn't!" Nikki insisted. "Don't say bad things about Annabelly while Nikki is here!"

The Twins shot her a pitying look. To Annabelle Lee, Nie said, "And by the by, you said they were out to sea. Exactly how are you planning on getting us all out there? After all, you're the only one among us who can fly."

"This is Genocide City, genius," Annabelle Lee seethed. She pointed toward the sea again. "There's a jetty. The jetty has boats. So go find one that's fast and try to keep up."

Arzt let go of Nie to put her hands on her hips. "And just how do you plan to find them, once we're out there? The ocean is a big place, and they could have gone in any direction."

"Oh yes, I do believe you're right," Annabelle Lee said flatly. "If only we had someone who could fly overhead and see for miles on end. That would certainly be useful." She motioned with her bladed right arm. "Get moving already."

The Twins exchanged a look. "Well, I guess we have our marching orders," Arzt said. She turned her gaze to Nikki, who quailed at the attention. "Come on, little Nikki," she cooed. "Let's go for a boat ride. I'll even let you sit on my lap!"

Nikki shot her sister a stricken look. Annabelle Lee rolled her eyes. "Dream on, ladies," she said as she reached down to grab Nikki's hand. She hoisted her sister up and pulled her onto her back. Nikki, used to riding along in this position, put her arms around Annabelle Lee's neck and locked in tight with her legs. "The psychopath rides with me."

Nie pouted. "You're just trying to keep her for yourself."

"Uh, yeah?" With that, Annabelle Lee soared up high, above the rooftops. She shouted, "If you two aren't in the water in five minutes, I'm going to use your teeth as whetstones!"

And then she was off, shooting forward through the rain, her anticipation rising as she imagined just how delicious it was going to feel when she got to introduce her blades to Kyoko Sakura's stomach and watch as her soul poured out.

…

She danced high above the city, spinning and twirling with her fellow performers on the rotating stage. Below, civilization crumbled in their wake, a symphony of destruction providing music for their performance.

This was truly the grandest stage of them all, and she was blessed to be a part of it. Why had she fought against this for so long? What would she have accomplished in the end? Nothing. But now, she got to take part in the greatest show of all time, dancing through the end of the world and putting on the performance of a lifetime…

"Kyoko!"

The sound of her name dragged Kyoko partially back to consciousness, but it failed to rouse her fully out of her sleep. However, the sharp pang of hunger that twisted her insides a second later finished the job.

Someone that she truly hoped was Sayaka shook her by the shoulder. "Hey, wake up already! We've got a big problem!"

Moaning, Kyoko opened her eyes and squinted. Though her vision was still blurry and her mind clouded by fog, she could see enough to confirm that yes, she was still floating on a giant spearhead. However, the world seemed to be considerably dimmer than before. Not as dark as the storm within the neon city, but enough to tell her that clear skies were a thing of the past.

She tried to roll over only to wince as another pang of hunger shot through her. What the hell? It seemed like that since she had fallen asleep, her intestines had started devouring themselves.

"Sayaka," she muttered as she pushed herself onto her knees, one arm holding her stomach. "How long was I out?"

"Uh, only a couple hours. Are you okay? You don't look so good."

Kyoko didn't answer. Only a couple hours? But it felt like she had been comatose without food for days. Furthermore, her nap didn't seem to have done her any good. If anything, she now felt even more exhausted.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she lied. She forced herself to stand. Her knees threatened to buckle, but she managed to get all the way up. "Where the heck are we?"

"I have no idea," Sayaka said. She pointed. "But it really doesn't look very friendly."

Kyoko looked. They had washed up against a small island, smaller even than the apartment complex they had woken up in. It was little more than a bunch of rocks jutting out of the sea, with a worn down wooden dock extending from one side. A tall lighthouse, weathered smooth by the elements, stood high at the island's center. Overhead, dark clouds rotated around the lighthouse's apex in a slow spiral. It wasn't the skin-crawling strangeness of the storm that hovered over the city, but it was still eerie, especially since a quick glance confirmed that the cloud disc didn't extend much more than about half a mile out to sea, and beyond the sun continued to shine just as brightly as before.

But despite the haunted feel of the place, it didn't seem to be abandoned. Lights shone through the thin windows and the long arm of the lighthouse's beam swept around and around, warning any passersby of the island's presence.

"Huh, now what could that be for?" Kyoko mused out loud. "Did…I don't know, were those clouds here first, and they put the lighthouse here so people wouldn't hit the island? Or did they make the lighthouse first, and call up the clouds to give it something to do?" She shrugged. "Ah, hell with it. Like it matters." She nudged the spearhead around the island, toward the dock.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Sayaka asked.

"What does it look like, genius? Docking."

"But why? That place is obviously bad. Why not just go around it and take off?"

Kyoko took a deep breath. "Okay, normally I'd be all with you on that, but we really need to figure out where the heck we are. Otherwise, we'll probably end up floating around for, I don't know, the rest of eternity or something." She mumbled a curse under her breath. "Shoulda followed the coastline instead of shooting straight out. Damn it, wish I thought of that earlier."

"Er, all right." Sayaka quirked a dubious eyebrow in the lighthouse's direction. "And if they don't want to give us directions and start shooting us instead? Because that really seems to be the thing to do around here?"

Kyoko grinned. "Nothin' I can't handle. Though people seem to be more into stabbing." Then, before she could add anything else, her stomach let out a loud gurgle, one that even Sayaka heard.

"Hungry?" the mermaid said.

Kyoko's shoulders slumped. "Well, yeah," she muttered. She pushed a hand up her forehead and moved her fingers through her copper hair. "That would be the other reason we ain't booking it."

"For food? Really? Are you really so hungry that you're going to risk being attacked again just to get some lunch?"

Kyoko brought the spearhead to a sudden stop. She stomped over to Sayaka, grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her in the air.

"Is that what you think?" she demanded. She smacked Sayaka upside the temple. "Just some lunch? We're in the middle of the freaking ocean without any food! Do you know what it's like to starve? Because if we don't find anything to eat, you're going to get to find out! And lemme tell you something, little mermaid, it ain't fun!"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Sayaka said, holding up her hands. "Food is important, message received! Put me down!"

Still muttering to herself, Kyoko dropped Sayaka back down. "Just some lunch," she hissed as she started the spearhead back into motion. "Like we're just stopping at McDonalds."

Sayaka rubbed the place where Kyoko had hit her. "I said I get it already!"

"You know every time I look at you, I keep picturing that tail of yours covered with mayonnaise and stuck between two slices of bread. You wanna see what'll happen in two more hours if I don't get anything to eat?"

Sayaka just rolled her eyes.

Kyoko brought the spearhead the rest of the way to the dock. She knelt down to pick up the smaller spear. Then she kicked the cutlass in Sayaka's direction.

"Thanks," Sayaka said, picking it up. She swished it back and forth. "Though I don't think it'll be much help if those two show up again. You know, since I don't have legs."

"What, you think I'm just gonna leave you here?" Kyoko said. Then she knelt down on one knee and put her head under Sayaka's arm.

"Hey, wait!" Sayaka sputtered as Kyoko lifted her onto her shoulders. "You're going to carry me inside? What if we get attacked?"

Kyoko grunted. At first she was afraid that she would be unable to bear the weight in her weakened state, but though her legs trembled a little they didn't buckle. "What do you think I gave you your sword back for? Think of yourself as an extra arm."

Sayaka sighed. She gave her sword a couple half-hearted swings and managed a weak smile. "Arrrrrr."

"Besides, I can drop you in a sec if I have to. Like this."

Kyoko dropped Sayaka onto the dock.

"Hey! Stop dropping me on my butt!" Sayaka complained as she rubbed her rump.

"Learn to fly like the other legless girl, and I won't have to," Kyoko retorted as she leapt up herself. The sudden motion sent a wave of nausea through her, forcing her to slow down. She inhaled deeply, held it, and carefully crouched down and hoisted Sayaka back up.

"I miss my legs," Sayaka moaned, placing a palm over her face. "I don't even remember them, but I miss them."

"How do you think I feel?" Kyoko snapped. "Quit bitchin' already."

Moving with caution, she made her way over the slick stones toward the lighthouse's front door. It was made of pocked iron and heavy looking, but Kyoko didn't see a lock. She nudged it with the toe of her boot. It moved an inch with a grinding creak, but resisted going any further.

"Doesn't look like it's locked," Sayaka observed, again stating the obvious.

"Nope," Kyoko grunted. "Just really rusty." She closed her eyes and slowly filled her lungs with air. After holding it for a few seconds, she let it out just as slow and lifted up her right leg.

Then she slammed it as hard as she could against the door's center.

It took three solid kicks, but in the end she managed to get it to swing open and bang against the attached wall.

Sayaka winced. "Well, so much for element of surprise. They probably heard that all the way back at the…Whoa, hey. Are you okay?"

Kyoko, who had just stumbled and fallen to one knee, grunted, "Yeah, I'm fine." She pushed herself back up. "Stop worrying about me already, it's annoying." With that, she went in.

The interior of the lighthouse was fairly standard: a tall, tubular structure with a staircase that wound around the wall up to the rotating lantern at the top. However, the bottom had been converted into a miniature home. Several shaggy rugs had been thrown onto the stone floor, none of which matched. A wooden table stood in the center of the room, on which sat several books, a feathered quill, and an inkpot. Along the wall were several cabinets and bookshelves, containing even more volumes. Several chairs sat here and there, from a comfortable overstuffed easy chair to a plain, three-legged stool to everything in between. Whoever it was that lived here obviously had salvaged their furniture in bits and pieces.

The walls, however, put Kyoko back on her guard. Covering the weathered stones, from the area touching the rugs and stretching all the way to the top, were hundreds upon hundreds of black handprints, all of them the same size and shape. Which meant that they had all been made by the same person. Or several people with identical hand-shaped stamps.

"Wow, looks like something from a horror movie," Sayaka said in a low voice.

"I know, right?" Kyoko muttered. "Better than that freaking apartment though." Then, without warning, she again slipped the mermaid from her shoulders and dropped her to the ground.

"Ow!" Sayaka winced. "Will you please stop doing that?"

"Hey, at least you got to land on carpet this time," Kyoko said, though she wasn't giving the mermaid her full attention. Her eyes wandered upward, up the stairs. "Now shut up. I think I hear someone."

Sayaka quieted down immediately. Sure enough, a voice could be heard speaking from somewhere above. It didn't sound much like a conversation, but rather a low, droning chant.

Kyoko set her mouth in a thin line. Ascending the steps while carrying Sayaka was a bad idea, but she didn't much care for the idea of leaving her alone at the bottom either. "Hey!" she shouted. "You up there? Knock-knock!"

"What are you doing?" Sayaka demanded in a panicked whisper. "Why are you letting them know we're here?"

"Like they didn't hear their door being kicked in." Kyoko put her hands on her hips and sighed. "But fine. Looks like I'll have to go up after them."

She briefly scanned the room and, after some deliberation, decided to pull Sayaka into a space between two cabinets, all the while ignoring the latter's sigh of irritation. Once there, she waved a hand, causing one of her chain barriers to form around Sayaka.

"Hey!" Sayaka said, straightening in surprise. "What the heck?"

"Oh yeah, I can do that," Kyoko said with a shrug. "Relax, it'll keep you safe."

Sayaka glowered at her from behind the links. "More like keep me caged!"

Kyoko smirked. "Eh, it's not like you were going anywhere anyway." She tapped the barrier with her knuckles. "At least this way anyone wanting to get at you has to smash through here first."

"Right." Sayaka stuck her fingers through one of the gaps. "Unless they've got guns or any kind of knife longer than three inches."

"Good point." Kyoko gestured, and a second layer of chains wrapped around the first, closing any gaps and covering the mermaid with a protective cocoon.

"Hey, wait!" Sayaka's muffled voice protested from within. "Now I can't see anything!"

"Again with the bitchin'," Kyoko sighed. She opened a slit just large enough for Sayaka to peek out. Then she tapped the ground with the point of her spear. A ring of spears rose up out of the ground, forming a bladed fence around the barrier. "There, satisfied? Don't answer, I don't care." She turned and headed towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go say 'hi' to our host. Lemme know if any of those freaking emos show up, will yah?"

Then, ignoring Sayaka's further complaints, Kyoko headed up the stairs.

As she headed higher into the lighthouse, Kyoko noted that being up and moving around hadn't made her feel better. If anything, she now felt worse, as if her strength had been sapped away. And the empty pit of her stomach was widening.

She grimaced and forced herself to continue. If this turned out to be a result of those cuts Annabelle Lee had given her, then she was in deep trouble. She had been poisoned once before while fighting a spiderlike witch, and had barely survived. This didn't feel like poison though. More like she had stayed up for seventy-two hours and ran a marathon. Perhaps it had something to do with the disappearance of her soul gem?

Whatever, she was now almost to the top of the stairs. She could get her answers from whoever it was mumbling to themselves.

Then Kyoko stole a glance at the hundreds of handprints that covered the walls. Or maybe she wouldn't. This did seem to be a world of crazy people, and from the look of things, this person wasn't any different.

The stairs ended at a wooden landing that connected to the lantern room by a ladder. The gears that turned the lantern took up the center of the room, groaning as they spun the light around and around. The rest of the space seemed to have been converted into a makeshift chapel, with a small wooden chest bearing an iron monstrance sitting against one wall and a ring of lit candles of various sizes placed along the edge of the landing. A threadbare blanket and a musty pillow sat at one end, on which were three stuffed animals that had seen better days: a grey rabbit that had once been white with one eye missing, a brown wolf whose nose was hanging on by a few frayed threads, and a green snake with stitches that were coming undone. A molding Bible lay next to the pillow.

And there, kneeling before the small altar, was the lighthouse's sole resident.

She wore a heavy overcoat, one that was much too large for her, that was weathered by use and heavily patched. Her dark, unwashed hair was long and tangled, with the ends splitting in such a manner that reminded Kyoko of feathers, or perhaps small leaves. Her head was bowed and her hands, almost obscured as they were by the large sleeves, were clasped in prayer.

Kyoko, who had been hunched over with her spear at the ready paused. Even in her weakened condition, she had been ready for another fight. But despite all she had done and all she had become, there were certain lines that even someone like her didn't cross. And jumping someone who was praying was one of them. She straightened and waited.

Finally the girl muttered her amens and stood up, moving slowly so as not to trip over her own overcoat. She brushed off her knees and said, "Hello there. Thank you for waiting."

Kyoko blinked. "Er, no prob. Though when someone kicks in your door and starts yelling for you, don'cha think that you should get up and do something about it?"

"Perhaps," the girl said with a short giggle. "But cutting off a conversation seems like poor manners, especially when it's with God."

She turned around then. At first, Kyoko had the horrible feeling that she was dealing with another one of the crazy emo girls. But after she got a better look she realized that this strange girl was not the same as Annabelle Lee or Ticky Nikki. Though her skin was pale, her cheeks still had some color. She just didn't see much sun. Those two had looked like they had been whitewashed.

"Well, despite your rather…abrupt entry and the fact that you're holding a weapon, I suppose that since you're not offering me immediate violence your intentions are not hostile?" the girl asked.

"Only if I gotta," Kyoko said, making sure the threat was there. "But nah, me and my friend washed up here, and we really need some directions. Also food. Definitely food."

The girl nodded. "A couple of travelers who have lost their way. There seems to be no lack of them here."

"What, you get a lot people barging in and…" Then Kyoko got it. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, fer crying out loud. Look sister, I really don't have time for your religiosity. If you can help us, fantastic. But the last person I cared to hear sermons from is dead. Kinda killed my appetite for them, you know? So save the preaching for someone else."

The girl studied Kyoko's face. Kyoko, who felt herself growing more irritated by the second, stared back. "Yeah?" she snapped. "You got something to say?"

"Lost indeed," the girl sighed. She shook her head and let a small, sad smile touch her lips. "Well, it would be unbecoming of me to turn away those in need, though I don't know what assistance I can offer." She held out one grimy hand. "Elsa Maria, but just plain 'Elsa' will do. Pleased to meet you, Kyoko Sakura."

Kyoko almost took the offered hand, but fortunately her brain caught up. "Hold up!" she shouted, jumping a step back and bringing her spear to bear. "How'd you know my name? You're…Aw crap, you really are one of those emo girls, aren't you?"

Elsa frowned. "Emo girls? Excuse me?"

"You know! The ones who wear all black and keep talking about how much they love this Oblivion freak! I ran into two of them earlier and they gave me nothing but trouble."

"Oh," Elsa said, blowing out an exasperated breath. "Them. No. Rest assured, I have nothing to do with the creature Oblivion, and do not associate with her followers."

Kyoko's grip on her spear did not lessen. "Then how'd you know my name?" she demanded.

"It's my gift," Elsa said, spreading her hands. "My wish. When I contracted, I prayed for the gift of insight."

Kyoko's eyes narrowed. "Oh, another Puella Magi, huh? Well, isn't that just great."

"Well, not really," Elsa admitted. She stared down and scruffed the ground with one toe. She was wearing large leather boots. "Once, perhaps, but like so many others, I fell into-"

"Darkness and despair, and you became a witch," Kyoko muttered. "Yeah, there's a lot of that going around."

"An unfortunate truth," Elsa agreed, crossing herself. "It's…not something I prefer to dwell on. Fortunately, my descent into darkness was not to end with damnation. Praise the Lord, I was saved."

"You mean 'killed,' right?"

"Does it not come out to the same thing? Which fate would you prefer?"

Kyoko thought about that and conceded the point. "And your wish was to know people's names? Kinda lame, if you ask me."

"Not all people, just those like me. Girls who traded their souls for power."

The point of Kyoko's spear moved forward another inch. "What'd I say about the preaching? Quit it."

"Who was preaching? Is that not what happened?" Elsa brushed her ratty hair out of her face and frowned. "Though I see what you mean, considering how we were deceived into believing otherwise."

"If you so much as mention Eve or apples, I swear I will-" Kyoko's stomach, awakened by the mention of apples, chose that moment to interrupt. Both she and Elsa stared at it as it rumbled loudly.

"Oh," Elsa said. She looked like she was trying hard not to laugh. "Right. I'm sorry, I'm already failing as a hostess." Ignoring Kyoko's spear entirely, she passed by her to start down the stairs. "Well, come on. I don't have much, I'm afraid, but you don't strike me as the picky type."

Kyoko wondered if there were any hidden insults in that statement but decided that she didn't care. It was true, after all.

She followed Elsa down the stairs, careful to leave a good sized gap between them. "And yes," Elsa said. "I do know the names of any Puella Magi or witches that I meet. Their wishes as well. Sometimes other bits of information occasionally leak through, flashes of events important to them, that sort of thing. Though, without context, it does often become…confusing. I can only imagine how the prophets felt while witnessing…Kyoko?" She turned to see that Kyoko had stopped following her. "Is something wrong?"

Kyoko said, "You know people's wishes?"

A pause, and then Elsa said, "Yes."

"You know mine, then?"

This time the pause was longer. "I do," Elsa said softly. "I…hope you don't mind, but did-"

Though Kyoko didn't point her spear at her this time, the threat was there. "Don't. Even. Ask," she growled.

This time Elsa did look a bit frightened. "O-of course! I understand. I beseech your forgiveness, I should not have pried."

Kyoko said nothing.

Finally Elsa turned and started down the stairs again. Kyoko followed. Neither spoke the whole way down.

Once they reached the bottom, Elsa came to a stop. She looked at the protections Kyoko had covered Sayaka with and blinked. "What?" she said. "I'm sorry, but what in the world is that?"

"That's my friend," Kyoko said, walking over to the spear-surrounded cocoon. "The one I mentioned earlier."

Elsa tiled her head to one side. "And…is she going…to hatch?"

"Who's there?" Sayaka's voice said from inside. Kyoko saw her peeking out through the eye slit. "Kyoko? What's going on? Who's that?"

"Oh," Elsa said. "Oh! Okay, I see. Clever! But, a bit extreme, isn't it?"

Kyoko ignored her. "Our new buddy," she said to Sayaka. She tapped the cocoon with the butte of her spear. The fence of spears sank back into the ground as the chains unraveled, revealing the mermaid inside. "Meet Elsa Maria. You two got a lot in common, so you should get along fine."

Sayaka looked Elsa Maria up and down, clearly unsure of what to make of the grimy girl in the too big overcoat. "Uh, hi," she said, managing a shaky smile. "Yes, I'm a mermaid. It's tough, but I'm dealing."

For her part, Elsa Maria did not return the greeting. She didn't say anything at all. Instead, she just stared at the blue-haired girl with an expression of near-religious awe. Kyoko's hackles went up. This was probably not good.

Sayaka coughed. "So, yeah. I wasn't born this way, not really sure how it happened, but it's not that bad. So…"

Elsa lunged forward to wrap her arms around Sayaka in a fierce embrace.

"Urk!"

"You," Elsa said, her voice choking with emotion, "are most welcome! Bless you, my savior. Bless you."

"What are you doing?" Kyoko cried. She snatched Elsa by the collar of that stupid coat of hers and yanked her off Sayaka to toss her onto the table, scattering the books.

The sudden motion sent a wave of fatigue through Kyoko's body and spots filled her vision. Grimacing, she shook her head, trying to fight off the feeling of weakness.

Fortunately, it passed quickly, and Kyoko placed herself between the two former witches. "Touch her again, and…" Her mind chose that moment to freeze up, unable to think up a new threat. "Well, fill in the blank!"

"Hey, what the heck is going on here?" Sayaka said in bewilderment. "Is she a friend or not?"

"Still trying to figure that out," Kyoko said over her shoulder. "I'll let'cha know the moment I do."

"I'm sorry," Elsa said as she carefully levered herself back to her feet. She let out a small laugh and wiped her eyes with her grimy sleeve. "Forgive me, I mean no harm. I simply forgot myself. I hadn't been expecting…"

Dumbfounded, Kyoko and Sayaka watched as their strange hostess started laughing again. Fortunately, it was not the mad cackling witches sometimes exhibited, but the chuckle of someone who had been genuinely surprised and was delighted by it.

"Well!" she said at last. "I suppose I've made enough of a fool of myself for one day!" She started clearing the remaining books away from the table. "Come, come! I promised food, and while it may not be much, I intend to fulfill my duties as hostess. And I know you two have many questions. I only pray that what few answers I can provide will not be inadequate, and that you do not judge ignorance to have been a preferable state."

…

Given that her job primarily consisted of patrolling, stalking, and occasionally brief bouts of frenzied violence, Annabelle Lee did not often have the opportunity to just get out and fly. As And there were few finer places to fly than over the ocean.

"Weeee!" Nikki sang as she held onto her sister. "Faster, Annabelly, faster!"

"Don't call me Annabelly," Annabelle Lee automatically responded, but she acquiesced, shooting off and leaning into a wide arc, causing Nikki to giggle with delight.

Though her memories of her human life were gone for good, Nikki insisted that Annabelle Lee used to take her flying all the time. While Annabelle Lee strongly suspected that her younger sister was just trying to cajole her into taking her flying more often, she couldn't blame her. After all, who wouldn't want to go flying whenever possible, once it became possible?

In fact, even with the threat of punishment hanging over her head and her irritation at having to work with The Twins, Annabelle Lee had to admit that she was enjoying herself. Some of the best updrafts were to be found over the ocean, and there was no beating the smell and feel of salty air hitting her in the face.

In fact, she was enjoying herself so much that she almost forgot that she was supposed to be looking for something. Almost.

Still, she couldn't help but feel just a little disappointed when she noticed a dark spot at the corner of her eye. She slowed down to a stop and checked again. Sure enough, there was something there, something too far to properly make out, but that was easily remedied.

Nikki saw it too. "What's that, Annabelly?" she whispered. "Is that them?"

"Could be," Annabelle Lee muttered. "Let's got find out. Oh, and don't call me Annabelly."

She lowered herself until they were about two meters above the water and headed toward the dark object at half speed. As they approached, the object revealed itself to be a small island with a thick canopy of dark, swirling clouds. An operational lighthouse sat in the island's center, and lying flat in the water next to a rickety old dock was…

Annabelle Lee blinked in surprise. And then a triumphant grin spread her thin lips. "Found you," she whispered.

With that, she launched herself hard and fast backward in the opposite direction. Nikki squealed in surprise and clung tighter. Annabelle Lee spun around and soared into the sky. There was little time to waste. She had to find The Twins posthaste and formulate a battle plan.

Unfortunately, The Twins were not where she had last seen them. Annabelle Lee frowned as she looked around. Granted, one part of the ocean looked the same as the next, but she had been certain that they had been floating around in the speedboat they had commandeered.

With a sigh, she launched herself six meters straight up and looked around. She really hoped that she wouldn't have to waste time looking for her teammates immediately after she had found their quarry.

Fortunately, it didn't take long to spot The Twins' speedboat, about twenty meters to the west. Relieved, Annabelle Lee swooped down and shot towards it, shouting as she went. "All right, I found them! They're not far, so let's get moving and-"

Then she got close enough to see what they were doing.

"Ew," Nikki gagged.

Aghast, Annabelle Lee covered Nikki's eyes and demanded, "The hell is wrong with you? Reibey's all but promised to visit horrific pains upon me and my sister if we fail, and you're treating this like a visit to a love hotel!"

Arzt looked up sheepishly. "Well, you know how it is…"

"…all alone in the middle of the ocean…" Nie added.

"…with the boat…"

"…and the sun…"

"…and the water…"

Annabelle Lee held up one of her arms so that the sun glinted off the blades just right. "Get your goddamned clothes back on and follow me, or so help me I'll sink you here and tell Reibey that you abandoned the mission to go skindiving and got eaten by an octopus!"

The Twins hastily obeyed. Annabelle Lee was impatiently for them to finish, all the while wondering if Reibey would believe such a lie and if it would be worth it to try. At the moment, she was torn.

"Annbelly?" Nikki said.

"Yeah?"

"Do octopuses really eat people?"

"It's octopi. I think. And maybe the big ones do. Oh, and don't call me Annabelly."

…

The promised food turned out to be hard sailor's biscuits that were well on the their way to going completely stale, a great deal of smoked fish, and sour wine that was Sayaka was convinced was really vinegar with the labels switched. All in all, hardly appetizing, but judging by the way Kyoko tore into it one might mistake it for being delicious. Even Elsa Maria was taken back by how quickly her first plateful had disappeared. Sayaka, who really wasn't hungry, had tried to politely decline. Kyoko's immediate reaction to the refusal had made her genuinely fearful for her life, and as such she soon found herself picking at a cracked plate of smoked trout and two biscuits.

Despite the incredible amount of food that was being shoveled into her mouth, Kyoko was still somehow able to speak, and wasted no time in explaining to Elsa Maria everything leading up to their arrival at the lighthouse and following it up with an onslaught of questions.

Elsa Maria, who had remained silent during Kyoko's story (though she did wince during the mention of Oblivion and her servitors), sighed and said, "Well…that is a bit…shall we say difficult to explain."

Sayaka, who was attacking one of the biscuits with a knife and fork and losing, said, "Ticky Nikki said this was some kind of weird afterlife."

"Which is bullcrap," Kyoko said around a mouthful of fish. "The idiot here's thinks that we're dead." She motioned to Elsa Maria with her fork. "Tell her that this is just some super-witch's labyrinth so we can move on."

Elsa Maria's hands were folded on the table, and she suddenly seemed very interested in what her thumbs were doing. Which was nothing at all.

Kyoko swallowed and said, "Hey! Did'ja hear me? Tell Ariel here to forget this afterlife stupidity already."

"Ariel?" Sayaka said in bewilderment.

"What in the hell!" Kyoko said, aghast. "I know your memory's gone, but you have got to at least remember Disney!"

Sayaka pointed at her head. "Uh, no? What part about having amnesia didn't you understand?"

"I'm sorry, Kyoko," Elsa said in a low voice. She did not raise her head.

"Why? Okay, it sucks, but forgetting Disney isn't the…" Kyoko put her fork down, very suddenly. "You're not talking about Disney, are you?"

Elsa shook her head.

"So, it's true?" Sayaka said. "We're really dead?"

There was a moment of hesitation, and then Elsa nodded. "That is why you cannot find your soul gem," she said softly. "There was no soul gem to find. After all, were they not, as their name suggests, vessels for our very souls, violating God's will to fulfill the Incubators' dark pact? You no longer possess your soul gem because it has been destroyed. This body, this form you now wear, is what was inside."

Kyoko slammed her hands onto the table, rattling the dishes and making her companions jump. "No, it's not," she said with conviction, rising out of her chair. She glowered at Elsa Maria, all but commanding her to retract what she had just said.

"But it makes sense," Sayaka said. "I mean, you said so yourself that we're supposed to be dead, so why…"

"Because it don't work that way," Kyoko said, not taking her eyes off of Elsa Maria, who in turn refused to meet her gaze. "You die, and then it's pretty pretty sunshine times with clouds and rainbows and harps, or you burn for all eternity. I don't care what the Catholics say, there ain't no in-between."

"There is," Elsa said. "At least, there is for us."

"Bull," Kyoko growled. "Where does that even begin to make sense? Rules are rules, okay? And you of all people should know that freaking God hates having his rules broken."

"Even by a wish?" Elsa said. This time she did look up to meet Kyoko's eyes.

Kyoko sat back down. Her hands were trembling, but the rest of her body was stock-still. "Start talking," she said, her voice a rough growl.

"You must understand, what I've heard is based upon rumor and legend," Elsa said, her gaze jumping from Kyoko to Sayaka. "So I cannot say for certain if my information is reliable. But the story goes that, a long time ago, there was a girl who learned what we all found out too late: that the whole system of Puella Magi and witches is nothing more than a fraud perpetrated by those…abominations, the Incubators."

"You mean, like Kyubey?" Kyoko spat. "That weirdo, Homura, told me that they were called that, right after Sayaka went down."

"I do not know this 'Kyubey,' though judging by the name, I would say so, yes. Just another demon among dozens. At any rate, this girl was fortunate to learn the truth before making any kind of contract." Elsa shrugged. "Accounts vary as to how. Some say it was due to witnessing a friend or a family member contracting and eventually becoming a witch. Others say that a rouge Incubator told her the truth, acting against his superiors' orders. Either way, despite what she had learned, this girl decided to contract anyway."

"Why?" Sayaka said, looking even more confused than ever. "That doesn't even begin to make sense! If she knew how she was going to end up, why would she have anything to do with the whole thing?"

Elsa Maria spread her hands. "I do not know. Selflessness, perhaps? A willingness to sacrifice her own future so that others may be saved? Such a thing is not unheard of."

"What did I say about that preaching?" Kyoko said.

"I'm not, I'm simply pointing out the obvious. And the point here is not the girl's motives, pure as they probably were. The point is the wish itself. It is said that…" Elsa's brow furrowed. "…that she was horrified at how young girls were being deceived into such a horrible system, and lost their futures as a result. So she wished that they might have a second chance at building a life of their own. Enter this place."

"What?" Kyoko said, staring.

Elsa shrugged. "Once again, nothing has been confirmed. But that is the most popular theory. This place is a second chance, an afterlife in the literal sense of the word. Here, fallen Puella Magi and witches are given another chance at life, whatever kind they wish. And the world, for a lack of a better term, cooperates, molding itself in accordance with its inhabitants' wills and expectations."

All of this was making Kyoko's head spin. "Okay, you're really gonna have to explain this better. The hell?"

"Well, let me give you an example. During your flight from that city, you encountered nothing but open ocean until God guided you to my lighthouse, correct?"

"Well, yeah," Kyoko shrugged. "It's an ocean. That's what they're like."

"But if this truly was the labyrinth of a witch, as you believe, would you not have encountered all manner of oddness?" Elsa pressed. "Strange sea creatures, oddly colored water, strange rock formations and an entire navy of bizarre sea craft?"

Kyoko didn't answer.

"That is because there was no one there to create such things. There are dozens of communities of our kind, some of them seemingly normal, others…much stranger. And the land that they occupy reflects the community it contains." Elsa gestured toward the east. "Take Free Haven, for example. It's not too far from here. And, aside from one or two bits of oddness, it appears to be completely normal. But you take a place like…"

"That city?" Kyoko said. "The one with all the canals and ugly lights?"

Elsa smiled. "Not the most extreme example by far, especially since it's mostly uninhabited, but yes, that would be one."

"But if no one really lives there, why does it exist?" Sayaka said, scratching her head.

Elsa shrugged. "Bleedover effect, perhaps? It is on the border of Oblivion's lands, and that place is not starved for dark energy. Or perhaps someone willed it into existence for a specific purpose. But trust me, the further away you go from the inhabited areas, the less interesting this place becomes." She motioned to the room they were in. "After all, this lighthouse and the island it rests upon exists solely for me."

"So wait, this place can create any place you want to live, and you chose a crummy old lighthouse in the middle of freaking nowhere?" Kyoko said. "Why?"

Elsa coughed. "It's…not quite so intuitive as that. We have a measure of control over our dwelling places, but it isn't as if we are allowed to consult an interior decorator first. Honestly, it responds more to our subconscious than our conscious desires, though the more powerful among us are able to exercise greater control. No doubt my lighthouse was inspired by something from my now lost past. I don't complain though. I don't ask for much, and everything I need is provided for."

Sayaka eyed the contents of her plate. Though she didn't say anything, it was clear that she didn't think much of Elsa Maria's choice in lifestyles.

As for Kyoko, she was still turning all of this over in her head. When explained the way Elsa Maria had just done, she supposed that things now made a bit more sense. The wishes granted by Incubators were nothing short of miraculous, and often reality itself would be reshaped. As such, it was within the bounds of possibility that an entire Puella Magi afterlife could have been wished into existence.

But her heart still rebelled against it. Like she had said, the rules about such things were clear. And one would think that God out of all people would be able to negate a wish if it went against his will.

Kyoko decided to wait until she learned more before coming to a decision. Besides, there was something else that needed to be addressed. "What about this Oblivion nutcase?" she said. "Who the hell is she, and why does she want me so bad?"

Sayaka looked expectedly at Elsa Maria, clearly wanting to know the answer as well.

As before, Oblivion's name brought forth a look of disgust on Elsa Maria's face. "Oh," she said. "Right. Her." She shifted in her seat and sighed. "Well, I personally make a point not to have anything to do with that…person, but to put it plainly, she is a false prophet."

"Eh?" Kyoko said.

"She misleads and beguiles the wretched, gaining their loyalty and servitude in exchange for empty promises. One might compare her to a cult leader, except her power and influence is far too great to keep her restrained to such simple terms. She owns what is perhaps the largest principality in this world, and has perhaps thousands of Puella Magi and witches devoted to her cause. In short, she has made herself into a god." Elsa made an unpleasant noise at the back of her throat. "She is little better than the Incubators. At least they actually followed through with this promises."

"And what does she promise them then?" Sayaka asked. "I mean, if we are dead, what can she possibly give them?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Elsa Maria said. "It is in her name, after all. She promises them escape. Freedom from this place. Serve her well enough, and she will release your soul into nothingness and let you rest in oblivion." She looked from one guest to the other, her eyes troubled. "In short, she lets them do something that they could not do on their own. She lets them die."

…

Annabelle Lee hovered at a spot halfway up the lighthouse's body. She pressed against the dusty stone and peered through one of the narrow windows. Below, Kyoko Sakura and the mermaid witch were talking with someone, another witch by the look of her. "Looks like they made a friend," she muttered. "That might be a problem."

"Why?" Nikki said from her spot on Annabelle Lee's back. "Let Nikki cut her, make the problem go bye-bye!"

"Keep your voice down. And we don't know her capabilities yet." Annabelle Lee withdrew from the window and floated back down toward the dock. "Besides, witches are notorious for booby-trapping their sanctuaries. We rush in there, we're signing up for being made into sushi."

There was a small pause, and then Nikki said, "But Nikki likes sushi…"

"Not made, made into. Made into! Do you really want to be chopped up and rolled in seaweed with rice and junk? Actually, on second thought, don't answer that. I'd rather not know."

She floated down to the dock, where The Twins were waiting for their return. True to form, though Annabelle Lee had been gone for less than two minutes, Arzt and Nie's fingers were getting adventurous. Though irritated, Annabelle Lee was hardly surprised.

"Hands to yourself, ladies," she said as she came close. "And-" Fortunately, she caught herself before she told them to get their heads back in the game, a phrase that could be misinterpreted any number of ways. "Get your focus back on the mission. Kyoko Sakura isn't in our hands yet, so we need to talk strategy."

…

"Is…is that possible?" Sayaka asked.

"Of course it isn't! At least, I'm fairly certain it isn't. But even it was, that would just make things worse. Despite the near nation she rules, she only releases a handful each year, and only to those who was she judges to be the most deserving. There are many, many girls who have tired of this place and wish to take their chances with what God intended, and she uses that desire to move on as a way to gain personal power!"

Elsa had to take a deep breath and lean back. "I'm sorry, it's just…when I think of all those multitudes mindlessly devoting themselves to her will, it…the Bible teaches us the divine nature of loving our enemies, but I find it difficult, at times. Lord forgive me."

Well, at least that confirmed what Kyoko already knew: that Oblivion was bad news. "What does she want with me then?"

"I can't imagine," Elsa Maria said with a shrug. "This is the first I've heard of her targeting someone specific. But then, I have not been here as long as some, only a couple years, so I cannot say for certain."

She leaned back in her chair, a carved wooden piece with a pink cushion that might have come off a luxury liner eighty years ago, and looked up toward where her loft hung and, beyond that, the lantern room itself. "There's one version of the story that says that Oblivion is the very same girl that wished this world into existence, and gave herself that power so as not to make this place a prison. It's not what I personally believe, but if so, the years have certainly corrupted her."

"Or maybe it was Reibey," Sayaka suggested.

Elsa looked at her and frowned. "I'm sorry, who?"

"You haven't heard of him?" Kyoko said. "Those freaking emos were talking about him, saying he was Oblivion's right hand creep." She shrugged. "In fact, I think he was the one who gave the order to grab me."

Elsa stiffened in her chair. "They said that? That someone named Reibey holds a high position in Oblivion's court, and ordered that you be brought before her."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"You need to leave." Elsa stood up and marched around the table to grab Kyoko by the sleeve. "Right now."

"Hey, hands off the merchandise, sister," Kyoko snapped, yanking her arm away. "What's this all about?"

"Reibey," Elsa said urgently. "You called him a 'he," in a world of females. And the suffix 'bey.' It means-"

"That he's an Incubator. Yeah, we figured that out. Still not seeing what that has to-hey!"

Elsa Maria had seized her by the collar. The former witch's eyes were open wide with alarm. "You don't understand! This is our world! There shouldn't be any Incubators here! But if there is one, and he's close to Oblivion of all people, and if he's put a hit on you…Kyoko, I don't have the power to protect you here! The lighthouse acts as a sanctuary, yes, but it isn't a fortress!"

Which made perfect sense, when explained that way. Kyoko shoved the last bits of food from her plate into her mouth and said, "All right, you convinced me. Let's go!"

Kyoko quickly retrieved their weapons. And the, working together, they picked up Sayaka and, as Kyoko insisted, placed her back on Kyoko's shoulders. If they were going to be attacked, it made sense to have at least one of them be unencumbered, and while she was now feeling better having eaten something, Kyoko still wasn't feeling up to another fight.

"I just pray that we haven't delayed too long," Elsa said as she led them toward the door. She held the spear and the cutlass in her hands. "If Oblivion's servants do show up in force, I fear this is little we could do to counter them."

"What ever happened to trusting in God's protection?" Kyoko said as she followed, though out of reflex and not as viciously as she might have. On her shoulders, Sayaka sighed and muttered, "Not the time…"

Elsa gave Kyoko a look. "He is not a genie in a bottle, and I personally prefer not tempt him."

Kyoko conceded the point, and they headed out of the lighthouse. Save for the three of them, the island was still empty.

"Praise God, they're yet to arrive," Elsa said as she hurried toward the dock. "Now, where is your boat?"

"In front of the dock," Kyoko grunted as she tried to keep up. Was it her imagination, or had Sayaka grown heavier? "Go to the edge and look down."

Elsa peered over the side. "I…is that a spearhead?"

"Hey, I was in a hurry. Had to work with what I had."

"Ingenious," Elsa marveled. She shook her head in admiration. "And can it go fast?"

"Oh yeah," Sayaka groaned. "She drives that thing like a lunatic."

"And well she should," Elsa Maria said. She turned toward Kyoko and Sayaka as they made their way down the dock. "All right, I don't know how long it'll be until Oblivion's agents arrive, but we cannot trust them to delay further. To the east, you'll find one of the settlements I mentioned, a place by the name of Free Haven. Thanks to certain treaties, it is perhaps one of the few places safe from Oblivion's reach. Find a woman by the name of Corrie Linemann and explain the situation."

"Who's she?" Kyoko asked as she carefully lowered Sayaka down to the spearhead.

Elsa handed the weapons down to Sayaka. "Free Haven's mayor. She is a good woman, and is certainly no friend of Oblivion. Just be honest, and she will provide what help she can, which will be considerable."

"And what about you?" Sayaka asked. "You're coming with us, right?"

Elsa Maria hesitated. "Well, to be honest, thanks to certain…poor decisions on my part, I am no longer welcome in Free Haven. So, it's probably best that you don't mention my name."

Kyoko entwined her fingers behind her back and stretching, popping the vertebrae. "Whatever happened to being honest then?"

"Touché," Elsa admitted. "Well, it is up to you, just be warned that my name might not put you on her good side." She looked out toward the horizon, her dirty face troubled. "You've probably delayed long enough. You should go now."

"Duly noted." Sticking on hand into her jacket pocket, Kyoko stuck the other out. "Well, you may be a kooky hermit, but you're kinda all right. Thanks."

Elsa accepted the handshake with a nod. "God be with you both."

"Why should he start now?" Kyoko smirked as she turned toward the spearhead. She was about to leap aboard, but then she remembered something.

"Oh, hey," she said, turning back around. "One last thing. How come when you saw Sayaka, you went all fangirl over her? It was like you knew who she was or-"

There was the sound of thunder crashing, very close by, and someone punched her in the gut.

Kyoko stumbled. "Hey, what the hell?"

"Kyoko!" Sayaka screamed.

"Oh, my sweet Jesus," Elsa Maria whispered as she covered her mouth.

"What?" Kyoko said in bewilderment. "Hey, what's wrong with you two?"

It was then that she noticed the tendril of red mist drifting up in front of her eyes.

"Huh?" she said as she looked down. A tiny hole had appeared in her stomach, right above and to the left of her navel. The red mist was leaking out of it like the smoke of a cigarette.

Before Kyoko could figure out what had happened, there was another thunderclap, and she was knocked back again. A second hold appeared right under her heart. She tried to move, but her legs suddenly lost all strength, and she fell over sideways. Elsa Maria grabbed her by the shoulders, saving her from falling into the water.

Kyoko tried to ask a question, but her lips would not form the words. An attempt to lift her arm was likewise met with failure. Elsa was shouting something to someone Kyoko couldn't see. She tried to look, but everything kept swimming all around her. The world was melting away into a formless blur.

However, that didn't prevent her from hearing that third, final thunderclap.

…

From her place in the lighthouse's shadow, Annabelle Lee felt the warmth of satisfaction well up within her as Kyoko Sakura's head snapped back and her body went limp. Her soul's vapors seeped out from the bullet hole in her forehead, joining those already leaking from the two holes in her abdomen.

"Nice shot," she said to Nie, who was standing next to her.

Nie twirled the pistol in her hands and blew smoke from the barrel. "I've been practicing. Pistols aren't the best thing for sharpshooting, but anything can be learned."

"Ain't that God's own truth," Annabelle Lee agreed. "All right, take out the filthy one."

"With pleasure." Nie's broke cover and started firing at the witch in the overcoat. Her target tried to shield Kyoko Sakura's lifeless body with her own, but it was a pointless gesture.

Especially since Arzt rose out of the water behind her and seized her by the waist. The witch in the overcoat, already seeping from at least four shots, was flung into the water, where Arzt was ready to take her out of the game. Kyoko Sakura fell to the dock.

"What do you think you're doing?" the mermaid witch cried. She tried to pull herself onto the dock, but her tail made that next to impossible. "Get away from them!"

Unbeknownst to her, Nikki was rising out of the ocean behind her, her soaked headdress hanging around her grinning face. Smooth as a cat, the little psychopath pulled herself onto the spearhead and yanked the mermaid back by the hood of her jacket. Taken by surprise, the mermaid fell back and her head cracked on the flat of the spear.

"Nuh-uh, fishy," Nikki sing-songed as she sat on the mermaid's stomach and pressed the edge of her knife against the groggy girl's throat. "No more talking, no more moving, ticky-ticky," she said as she shoved her other hand over the mermaid's mouth.

The mermaid froze immediately.

"And that takes care of that," Annabelle Lee said as she hovered her way toward the dock. "Good work ladies."

"Just doing our job," Arzt said as she pulled herself out of the water. She crouched next to Kyoko Sakura's prone form and held up her right hand, the syringes primed and ready. Each and every one was filled with liquid as green as poison.

"Go for it," Annabelle Lee said.

Needing no further prompting, Arzt plunged all five needles into Kyoko Sakura's body and injected the liquid into her body. Soon the red mist that leaked from Nie's bullet holes turned a sickly shade of pink.

Annabelle Lee put her hands on her hips and grinned. "Well, all's well that ends well." She nodded to Kyoko Sakura's body. "All right, bring the boat around, and let's get these losers loaded up."

"Can Nikki make sushi?" Nikki asked.

"Yeah, okay, why not?" Annabelle Lee said with a shrug. "She'll be all healed up by the time we get back anyway, so go nuts. Just wait until we've got her on the boat."

The mermaid's eyes went wide, and she started making loud, incoherent protests, muffled by Nikki's hand. Nikki shushed her back down, giving her knife a small twitch for emphasis.

"So darling Nikki's going to be riding with us, then?" Arzt said as she stood up, Kyoko hanging lifelessly over one shoulder. "Wonderful!"

Nikki's face fell. "Never mind, don't wanna make sushi no more."

"Thanks for crushing my sister's dreams, jackass." Annabelle Lee glanced over her shoulder. "Hey, Arzt! Where's that boat? We need to get this show on the road!"

"Coming!" Arzt's voice said from the other side of the island. Annabelle Lee heard the speedboat's engine cough to life.

"Alrighty then," Annabelle Lee muttered. She drifted over to where Arzt stood with Kyoko Sakura over her shoulder. With a knife-thin smile, she grabbed Kyoko Sakura's chin and lifted her head up. Pink vapor still seeped out of the hole in her forehead and her eyes were half-closed and unfocused.

"Hey, tough guy," Annabelle Lee said. "Remember when you drove me through that window? Or when you slashed my stomach? Or when you cut my throat? And then there was that time you cut me in half. Oh hey, let's not forget what you did to my sister." She gave Kyoko Sakura's head a rough shake. "Well, not so tough now, are you? If there's any downside in all this, it's that I won't get to decide what Oblivion does to you." She spat, and a gob of saliva hit Kyoko Sakura's cheek. "I just hope Reibey puts you through double what he did to Nikki and me because of you."

"Uh, are you done back there?" Arzt said over her shoulder. "Because it's kind of awkward for you to be doing that right behind-"

"P-put her down, right…right this second!"

Blinking in surprise, Annabelle Lee and Arzt turned around. The witch in the overcoat was struggling to pull herself out of the water and onto the island.

"I thought you finished her," Annabelle Lee said.

"I did," Arzt responded. "Or I thought I did." She let out a low whistle. "She's a tough one, I'll give her that."

"Uh-huh. Look, next time, try dismembering them. It'll keep them down longer."

"I'll keep that in mind."

The witch finally managed to haul herself completely out of the water. She slipped her coat and stumbled onto her feet, her body a dripping mess and her ragged clothes clinging to her. "How…how dare you?" she sputtered. "How could you sink to such lengths?"

Annabelle Lee shrugged. "Not that hard, once you know how."

The speedboat was now nearing the docks. "Hey, should I just shoot her again or what?" Nie called to them.

"Go for it."

Nie stood and lifted one of her pistols. She took aim and fired.

Or at least, she tried to. Half-a-second before she could take the shot, something seized her by the twintails and jerked her back. She cried out in surprise and her shot went wild.

"Nie!" Arzt cried. She dropped Kyoko Sakura and leapt to her lover's side.

Annabelle Lee blinked. "Wait, what the-"

"You!" the witch shouted, pointing a finger at Arzt. "You were once an angel of mercy, a healer of children! You took up the fight so that your friend might be well! And now, here you are, using your gifts for evil intentions!"

"And you!" she continued, directing her attention to Nie. "You who took on your friend's very identity so as to avenge her death! You have become the very monster you despised, tearing other people's friends away from their loved ones!"

"And you!" she said again, turning toward Annabelle Lee. "You wished to have your beloved sister returned to you, an act of pure love! But now, you are a brutal thug, who cares not for the pain she causes."

"Yeah?" Annabelle Lee said. "So?"

The witch's finger swung to Nikki. "And as for you, you are…" Her voice trailed off.

Nikki cocked her head to one side.

"…uh…"

Arzt and Nie exchanged confused glances.

"…a very, very strange young lady," the witch finished at last.

"Hey!" A pleased grin split Nikki's features. "Thank you very much!"

"Well, she's perceptive about that much at least, I'll give her that," Annabelle Lee muttered. Louder, she said, "So, is that your shtick? Telling folks stuff about them? Well, newsflash for you, Davy Jones. Save for the strange young lady, all of us went full witch. So we don't remember jack shit about our pasts. All that stuff you just said, about the people we used to be? That doesn't matter anymore. So save your speeches for someone who cares."

The witch just shook her head and sighed wearily. "Hear me, all of you!" she called. "It isn't too late! You all are better than this. You should be better than this. Turn away from this dark path now, and repent of your wickedness before it's too late!"

The Twin burst out laughing, and Nikki started giggling so hard that the mermaid had to cringe away to avoid having her throat shaved by the shaking knife.

As for Annabelle Lee, she just rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh great, we've got ourselves a preacher girl. You know what? Screw this. We're wasting our time here. Nie, pop this moron already."

"This is your last chance!" the witch cried. "Even if you refuse to turn from your path, at least let those girls go and depart this place in peace! They are innocent!"

"Ain't nobody innocent," Annabelle Lee muttered. She glowered over to The Twins. "Nie! Get with the shooting already! Arzt, make sure her hair don't get pulled again."

"Gladly," Nie said. Her thumb pulled down the hammer.

Watching this, the witch sighed again. "So, it seems that I have no choice," she whispered. "Forgive me."

"Are you serious?" Annabelle Lee laughed. "If anything, we should be asking you to forgive us! Though I wouldn't hold my breath, becauseBLOODY HELL!"

The witch's shadow, barely decipherable from the dark rock on which she stood, suddenly spread out from her like a puddle of oil. It surged and bubbled as if it were a dark liquid being brought to boil. And then the arms appeared.

There were dozens of them, all of them made from darkness and stretching to impossibly long lengths. Their skeletal fingers clawed and grasped as they shot toward the gang of staring Void Walkers.

Annabelle Lee had seen some truly horrifying things since she and Nikki had arrived in this hellish excuse for an afterlife. And though she sometimes believed herself to have been desensitized to the terrors this world often begot, sometimes she would encounter something so unbelievably horrendous that, had she still possessed them, her bowels would involuntarily evacuate.

This was one of those times.

Only Nikki managed to scream before the arms hit. It did not last long.

…

Oktavia wasn't sure what was going on. She had been pressed the flat of Kyoko's spearhead, with Ticky Nikki's knife once again pressed against her throat. She could hear Elsa Maria shouted at their assailants to stand down, though their response was nothing but predictable.

As for Oktavia herself, she was fully convinced that this was the end. Kyoko had fallen already, and Elsa Maria was soon to follow. In moments it would just be her alone, to endure whatever cruelties her captors had in store for her during the long road back to Oblivion.

And then things got strange.

There was a sound not unlike several whips whistling through the air. Oktavia's hood had fallen partially over her eyes, so she couldn't see what was going on. But she heard Ticky Nikki let out a brief scream of terror, almost exactly like the one she had made before Kyoko had attacked her back at the city.

And, just like before, Ticky Nikki's weight simply vanished. There was no splash this time.

Oktavia tried then to see what was happening, but something was disturbing the water. The spearhead rose up and down, swaying and bucking, and, with nothing to hold onto, Oktavia soon rolled into the ocean herself.

Below the water, everything looked different. She could see the surface rising and falling, see the spearhead rising and falling with it. She could see that the island was little more than a stony pillar, descending down, down, down into the depths below. But beyond that, there was nothing else to see, just an endless expanse of murky green. She couldn't even see where Nikki had gone.

And then, suddenly, there was something else to see.

Two bodies hit the water and sank. It was those two girls that looked almost exactly alike, the ones with the pointed witch hats. The one with the pistols and the red heart tattoo looked like she had been knocked unconscious, while the other, the one with syringes for fingers, was desperately trying to swim to her aid.

Something bumped against Oktavia's back. Stiffening in fear, she whirled around.

It was her cutlass, the one Kyoko had pressed into her hands. Like herself, it must have fallen overboard. Oktavia grabbed it by the handle and turned her attention back to the freaking emos.

Oktavia caught herself. It looked like some of Kyoko's personality was rubbing off on her after all. Besides, these two looked more goth than anything.

But goth or emo, they were still the enemy. And from the look of things, she had been spotted.

Syringe Girl was now holding her partner over one shoulder and was glowering at Oktavia with an expression of outright hatred. Of course, given the losses her team had just sustained, the smart thing to do would be to retreat and regroup. However, whether because she desired revenge or was driven to salvage what bits of her mission she could, Syringe Girl wasn't leaving. In fact, she was now swimming straight for Oktavia, her partner still carried over her shoulder.

At first Oktavia felt panic at having to face one of the bad guys without Kyoko or Elsa Maria's help. But then she remembered something. The reason she had been so unable to defend herself thus far was because her tail made her practically helpless while on dry land. But they were now in the water, which was, as Kyoko had jokingly pointed out, her natural habitat. Furthermore, her opponent was burdened by the body of her unconscious companion and was armed with nothing more than some very pointy fingertips. Oktavia had free range of motion and a sword.

This was so unfair it was incredible.

Her lips twisted in a snarl, Syringe Girl came at Oktavia and swiped at her with all five needles. Oktavia spun out the way with ease and smacked her in the face with her tail. That last part was actually an accident, but Oktavia wasn't about to tell her that.

She put a decent distance between her and Syringe Girl and held out her cutlass. "All right, this is your first and last warning!" she said. "I've got a sword and you don't! So beat it!" To her surprise and delight, she could still speak freely through the water, even if the words sounded a bit distorted. Apparently being a mermaid came with multiple advantages after all. It was a pity that they were all useless unless everyone happened to be in the water.

Syringe Girl shouted something back at her, but as she was not a mermaid, her words just came out as nonsense and bubbles. Then she angrily started kicking her way toward Oktavia again, slashing wildly.

Well, she had been warned.

A moment later, three of Syringe Girl's hypodermic needle fingers now ended halfway up the tube, with the rest floating away in pieces. She let out a high-pitched scream and started swimming away as fast as she could.

Oktavia was content to let her go. While she knew the necessity of defending herself, she didn't have the same spine for these sorts of things that Kyoko did. Even slicing away those syringes was about as much violence as she felt like inflicting for now. She just hoped that the fight was truly done, and neither of the lookalike girls would come swimming back for another round.

She needn't have worried, for at that moment a whirlwind make up of several inky black arms twisting around each other slammed through the water's surface. They wrapped around Syringe Girl and the unconscious sharpshooter and hauled them out of the water.

Oktavia stared slack-jawed. Even if those arms were on her side, that was not something you saw every day, nor would want to. Was that the sort of thing she had faced every day when she had been a Puella Magi? If so, no wonder she had fallen into despair. And it was no wonder Kyoko had such a rough personality. That girl deserved some kind of medal for being able to hold it together after…

With a start, Oktavia remembered Kyoko and what had just happened to her. Oh God. Kicking her fins, she circles around and headed back to the surface.

…

Screeching, Annabelle Lee darted this way and that, trying to find a break in the wall of arms that had sprung up around the witch. Thus far, she had managed to avoid the same fate suffered by her companions, but it had been a very close thing. And as fast and agile as she was, the arms were everywhere. And they simply would not stop coming.

"Stop it!" she screamed as she slashed at the hands as they grasped at her. "Leave me alone!"

"Then leave," the witch called to her. Annabelle Lee couldn't see her through the thicket of ghostly limbs, but she could hear her well enough. "Leave those girls alone and go. I will not stop you."

"I can't!" Annabelle Lee swooped down and tried to approach over the water, but that path was blocked as well. "What are they to you, anyway? You just met them!"

"What are they to you?" the witch countered, sending more arms after her. "Why must you pursue them?"

"Because I have to!" Annabelle Lee cried. "Do you have any idea what Reibey will do to us if we show up empty-handed? Do you?"

The onslaught stopped, and the arms retreated. Annabelle Lee saw the witch, now standing protectively over Kyoko Sakura.

"You fear this creature, but serve him willingly," the witch said. "Why? Why not leave him, and find a better life?"

Annabelle Lee laughed. "Are you serious? If that was what I wanted, I would just do it! This is my only ticket out of here, and I'm not going to let it go now!"

"You poor, deceived creature." The witch shook her head sadly. "You know it is a lie."

"It's not." Annbelle Lee licked her dry lips. "I've seen it."

"I am sorry for your fate, but it was you who chose it. I cannot allow you to take these girls back to your foul master. I will give you one more chance. Take your companions and go."

Annabelle Lee's fists clenched. She held up her blades.

The witch sighed. "So be it. God forgive you. And me."

"Tell him that in person!" Annabelle Lee shouted. She drew back her right arm and shot forward.

The witch held up her right hand, index finger pointing straight out. Annabelle Lee readied herself to dodge another swarm of arms.

Except this time there were no arms.

The witch's finger bulged and erupted, shooting out a freaking tree! It was a huge, gnarly, leaveless thing with black bark, and it grew faster than anything had a right to. Annabelle Lee's eyes bulged and she tried to get out of the way, but the surprise had taken her off her game so much that by the time the intention to get out of the way formed in her brain, the tree had already slammed into her with all the force of a wrecking ball, tearing her body apart and launching it far, far away.

…

Oktavia surfaced with a gasp. She grabbed onto Kyoko's giant spearhead for support, but it came apart in her hand like greasy foam. In fact, the whole thing was falling apart and drifting away in pieces. Oh, that couldn't be good.

"Kyoko!" she called. She reached up and tried to grab onto the edge of the dock. "Elsa! Hey, is there anyone up there?"

To her relief, Elsa appeared on the dock. "Oh, thank God," she said in relief. She dropped to her knees and reached down to grab Oktavia's outstretched arm. "Okay, just hold on."

With a grunt, she hauled Oktavia out of the water and onto the dock. "Are you all right?" she said as she sat down next to the mermaid. "Did they hurt you?"

"No, I'm good," Sayaka panted as she wiped the water away from her face. "Turns out this stupid tail is good for something after all."

Elsa smiled. "I'm glad."

Then they both looked at Kyoko, who was lying face up. Smoke the color of penicillin leaked weakly out of three small holes: two in her torso, and one over her right eye.

"Whoa, hey!" Oktavia cried as she crawled over to the lifeless girl. "Kyoko? Are you…" She shook Kyoko by the shoulder. "Oh God." She looked at Elsa. "What happened? Is she…"

Elsa shook her head. "She has died already, remember? Nothing is fatal anymore. You can literally heal from anything."

"She took a bullet to the head!" Oktavia protested, pointing at the hole in question.

"Headshots are not exempt."

"Then why is she still like that?"

"I don't know," Elsa murmured. She moved her fingers over the wound in Kyoko's head and sighed. "One of Oblivion's agents injected…something into her. It has done something to her soul."

"I thought she was her soul."

"You know what I mean," Elsa said, a hint of weary irritation in her voice. She stood. "And I don't have the resources to help her, not with her like this. And it won't be long before Oblivion's agents return."

Oktavia blinked at her. "Right. And hey, where those your arms? Those big scary ones that grabbed those girls out of the ocean?"

"Yes." Elsa looked out to sea. There, the freaking emos' (darn it, there she went again) speedboat still floated, forcibly abandoned.

"How did-"

"An unfortunate legacy of my nastier days," Elsa said shortly.

"You mean when you were a witch, right?"

"Yes."

Oktavia stared. "Then what were you so worried about? If you can do that, you're pretty much invincible!"

"No, I'm not," Elsa sighed. "Can a champion boxer fight forever? Can a marathon runner run for all eternity? Using them, especially so many at once, takes a lot out of me. I can't keep it up forever."

Though its engine was not turned on, the speedboat started lurching its way toward the dock, seemingly of its own free will.

"How…" Oktavia started to say.

"The arms," Elsa said, as if that were explanation enough.

It was. Oktavia nodded, and said, "Is that where all those handprints on the walls came from?"

"Hmmm, let's just say my first week here was…Well, there was a period of adjustment. Let's just leave it at that."

The boat arrived, pushing away the disintegrated bits of the spearhead. Elsa Maria picked Kyoko up by the armpits and dragged her toward the edge of the dock. More of those dark arms rose out of the water to pick up the limp body and lower it into the boat.

"All right," Elsa said, returning for Oktavia. "Your turn."

The touch of the ghostly arms sent shivers up Oktavia's back. She grimaced, but stifled her protests. The arms lowered her into the driver's seat.

By then, Elsa Maria had retrieved her overcoat. She reached into one large pocket and pulled out an old wooden compass. Rubbing its face with her sleeve, she blew on it and muttered a brief prayer.

"Here," she said, handing it to Oktavia. "This'll point you toward Free Haven. Or, at least, to someone who can take you to Free Haven. Whatever you do, just keep following the arrow. Do not stray, and stop for nothing."

Oktavia gaped at her. "Wait, you're still not coming with us? But won't they be-"

A shrill cry of age cut through the air. It was far away, but that was temporary situation at best. Elsa Maria stiffened.

"Go," she whispered. "I'll hold them off as long as I can. Just leave now. And take care of each other. You're more important to each other than you realize."

Swallowing back the lump in her throat, Oktavia turned the key. The boat's engine sputtered to life. "Why?" she said. "Why are you risking so much to help us? I mean, don't you realize what they'll do to you?"

Elsa smiled then. "I'm doing it because I choose to. Because it's the right thing to do. And because I owe you a great debt."

"What?"

"Salvation comes in many forms, Oktavia von Seckendorff. And you gave me mine, when I needed it the most."

Oktavia didn't understand, at first. And then realization hit.

"Wait!" she said with a gasp. "Are you saying I was…"

Another cry cut through the air. Far in the distance, a figure could be seen flying towards the island, holding onto another person by the wrists.

"Go!" Elsa commanded. "Go now! God be with you both!"

"But you said you've been here for two years!" Oktavia cried. "How could I have-"

"GO!"

The arms reappeared around Oktavia and started manipulating the levers. The boat took off, speeding away from the island. Before it fully left the arms' grasp, they grabbed Sayaka's hands and forced them onto the controls. The message was clear: there was no going back.

Still, she couldn't help but look over her shoulder. Annabelle Lee had reached the island and dropped her passenger onto the rocks. It was the girl with the pistols. And together, they converged onto Elsa Maria.

The arms sprung up again to repel them, but by then Oktavia couldn't make out how the battle was going.

Tears blurring her vision, Oktavia turned forward and concentrated on keeping the speedboat pointed forward. She didn't really didn't know how to drive it, but so long as she didn't mess with anything they should be fine. On the dashboard, the compass's point continued to point directly ahead.

"Hang on, Kyoko," she said to the unmoving girl in the back. "You'll…you'll be all right. You'll see. She'll be fine too. Yeah. She'll be fine."

The sounds of battle faded away, but whether that was due to the distance or because Elsa Maria had fallen Oktavia didn't want to ponder. She just focused on the horizon kept them moving forward.

She didn't know how long it would take them to reach Free Haven. Hours passed, and the sky darkened into night. And still they continued forward. Every few minutes Oktavia would look over her shoulder. She kept expecting to see Annabelle Lee following close behind. She knew she should stop looking, but she couldn't help it.

And then, when she was certain that Elsa Maria had sent them in the wrong direction, something appeared on the horizon. It looked like an old drilling platform, held up by four steel pillars that were crisscrossed by support girders. At the top was some kind of one story building. The platform was covered with lights and the rooms inside the windows were lit, which meant it was inhabited. There was a small dock on the water, to which a small boat and a medium sized one were moored. An open elevator sat in a tall cage, connecting the dock to the platform.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Sayaka turned the steering wheel toward the platform. Unfortunately, it was more difficult than it looked, and she ended up overshooting. Growling with frustration, she came back around and tried again, this time fiddling with the controls, trying to figure out how to make the damned thing stop.

It took her six tries, but she finally managed to coax the thing in the direction she wanted and slowed it down. She hit the dock a bit harder than she intended, but it made the boat stop.

It was then that Oktavia realized that she had a problem. Whoever it was that owned the platform was at the top, whereas she was down here, with no way of getting their attention. Furthermore, she had no legs and no one to help her reach the top.

"Forget this," she muttered. Kyoko's wounds were still open, and losing all that mist couldn't be good for her. Leaving her cutlass behind, Oktavia wiggled out of the driver's seat and slowly hauled herself onto the nose of the boat. From there, she turned her body sideways and rolled onto the dock.

She rested for a moment, regaining her strength. This was lunacy. Why couldn't these people live in a submersible? She would be able to reach them then.

Taking a deep breath, Oktavia crawled on her elbows toward the elevator, dragging her stupid tail behind her. Once there, she grabbed onto the cage with her fingers, hoisted herself up with trembling arms and lunged upward, slapping the Up button.

With a metallic ground, the elevator rumbled its way up. Oktavia slumped down and waited.

The building turned out to be a house of some kind, with fading white walls, large windows, and an honest-to-God windmill. Oktavia couldn't tell if it had some sort of purpose or was merely decorative, and she honestly didn't care. She started crawling again, making were way around the platform until she found the front door.

She heard voice talking inside. Good. Summoning what strength she had left, Oktavia started banging on the door. "Hey!" she shouted. "Open the door! My friend needs help!"

The voices ceased, and she heard someone walking towards the door. "Who's there?" someone said.

"Please!" Oktavia gasped in desperation.

A panel set in the middle of the door's upper half slid open, and she saw a pair of blue eyes look around in confusion.

"Down here!"

The glanced down and, upon seeing her, widened in surprise. "Oh wow," said the person on the other side of the door. "That's, uh, new. Hang on."

The slid back in place and the door opened.

Not surprisingly, it was another girl, this one looking like she was a few years older than Oktavia and Kyoko. She was slender and had short, dark pink hair that was tied into two small ponytails. Her outfit was normal enough, just a green tank top, tennis shoes and a black knee-length skirt.

And she had a tail. Not a fish's tail like Oktavia's, but a slender black one with tiny red polka-dots that dangled between her legs. Another former witch.

The girl stared down at Oktavia. "You're, ah, a mermaid."

Oktavia's patience snapped then. "I know that! But seriously, my friend needs help! She's down at the dock! Something's poisoned her, and she won't heal!"

"What's going on, Charlotte?" said another voice. A second girl, also a few years older than Oktavia, appeared behind the first. "Who is that?"

"A mermaid, believe it or not."

This girl was shorter than the first and was wearing frayed jeans and a grey turtleneck sweater. She was much curvier than her companion and had a round face with heavily-lidded eyes. Her blond hair was tied into two drill tales on either side of her head, and she held a teacup on a saucer. She saw Oktavia and froze in place.

Oktavia was about to again start demanding help but then she saw the expression on the girl's face. It was ash-white with shock, and her mouth slowly opened, though no sound came out.

The girl called Charlotte noticed as well. "Mami?" she said, tilting her head in confusion. "Are you all right?"

"Sayaka," Mami whispered. And the teacup fell from her hands to shatter on the floor.

…

"Out of all the rusty old platforms in the ocean, and they wash up on mine. Play it again, Charlotte."

All right, let's be honest. Mami was going to show up sooner or later. I opted for sooner. Contrived coincidence? Maybe a little. Until you wonder if Elsa Maria had sent them to her on purpose after seeing her with her insight ability. But ah well. Whatever the reason, I'm glad she's here. Now the gang's all together!

Anyway, thanks for the comments! Glad you guys are enjoying the story. I do realize that it's taking a bit for me to capture Kyoko and Sayaka/Oktavia's characters, but hopefully I'll have them worked out soon. Sayaka is turning out to be especially difficult, seen how much she changed over the course of the show but now has been hit with a major system reboot.

Anyway, to address some common points brought up in the reviews:

Firstly, the general consensus concerning Annabelle Lee and Ticky Nikki seems to be "I don't usually like OC's, but I like them." Which is good, because to be honest, I'm not really a fan of OC's either. I understand why they're used and have seen them done well, but it tends to be a rare thing. Normally I avoid using them when I can, but as this story takes place in the afterlife for all the Puella Magi who had ever lived, it wouldn't make sense for only characters who had showed up in canon to be encountered. So here's hoping those two don't turn to crap.

And speaking of OC's, as many of you probably figured out, while I made up their new personalities and identities, The Twins are (or were) actually canon characters. Let's see if any of you Puella Magi trivia buffs can name them. :P

Another point that was brought up is that the creepy feel and the mindscrew of the first chapter is on the decrease in favor for a more traditional action plot. Again, this is intentional. While I love me some creepy mindscrew, it can and does wear out its welcome if used continuously over long term, or at least I'm not yet skilled enough to execute it properly to make it work. Fortunately, the nature of this afterlife means that the tone can change depending on wear the characters are, allowing it to travel the full range of fanfic genres. So there will definitely be more mindscrew and horror in the future, as well as…just about everything else, actually. Except for maybe western.

…ah hell, what am I saying? I mean especially western! Hey, it could work. Or not. Point is, this is going to be a real genre-hopper.

Well, I suppose I've rambled long enough. Until next time, everyone!