CHAPTER 20: Lullaby
The contented smile on his young face. That effortless rhythm of his fingers moving along his instrument. The unwavering adulation of the people in the audience. The young Sayaka was enraptured in that single moment, the happiest she could ever possibly hope to be.
Hope. That was the emotion powering Sayaka's heart as she made her fateful wish to Kyubey, that emissary of magic, that fateful evening. Her miracle to restore his hand granted, she enthusiastically leapt from rooftop to rooftop, now transformed into a magical girl, the very personification of hope. And whatever obstacles lie ahead, she knew she would overcome, especially with the aid of a capable senior and the support of her very best friend.
When that contented smile returned to his face, she knew she would never regret it.
"Beautifullllllll…" The disheveled Salaryman dropped the bouquet of flowers in his hand and shambled slowly toward the ambient melody that had infatuated him so. "So beautifulllllll…" He droned. His plans for the night had been utterly trashed. He'd been humiliated and devastated from the sight of his own boss in bed with his fiancé, a night which was supposed to be his happiest had turned into his most despairing. "Beautifullll songgggg…" What else was there for him to do but jump in front of the night train and vanish from this cruel world? Maybe killing himself would force them to realize just how truly essential he was to their lives. "Loooooove…" But now none of that mattered to him at all. "Meeeee..." The allure of that wondrous music was all-consuming, like a siren's call he could not help but be its captive. "Dooooo…" He reverently read the words on the pink, heart shaped graffiti on the floor before him, reached out then vanished into thin air.
"That makes eight victims in the last hour alone." The onlooking Kyubey remarked.
"Initial data suggests the temporal phenomenon emanating from this witch is generating a remarkable surplus of net energy." Another Kyubey reported. "Large enough that it is even having an effect on the unsecured Grief Seeds nearby." It added, "This incident and the fallout that will ensue may serve as a new solution to meeting our energy quota," then it proposed "There is a growing consensus among the others that, due to the circumstances surrounding this chain of events, and the unpredictability of the events going forward, the most prudent move would be to disregard standard operating protocol and take measures to capture this witch and procure this energy source ourselves."
"You ain't doin' jack squat, Bunnycats." A very familiar, yet completely unexpected voice behind them warned.
"Sayaka Miki," One of the Kyubeys turned its head. "So you were the anomalous disguised magical girl all along, yes?" The Magical Quintet of Sayaka, Homura, Mami, Kyoko and Nagisa strode confidently towards the conferencing group of Kyubeys in a single, unified stride side-by-side, with all of them wearing glasses. "Your presence validates our preliminary data, and our subsequent theory suggesting that what we are witnessing is the resultant temporal paradox of the same being interacting with their past self."
Another Kyubey walked from out of the shadows. "Effectively, there are two Sayaka Mikis, a human version, and a witch, interacting inside the labyrinth. This reaction is emanating quite the sizable amount of energy. Energy that is subsequently affecting the surrounding environment."
"We know all that, Incubator." The Quintet stayed in lock-step. Homura dismissively tossed her hair. "What's your point?"
"Homura Akemi," A third Kyubey spoke from atop a lamppost on the opposite side of the railway. "You are the other magical girl whose presence we could not definitively explain. We presumed by the data that you and your power is the likely root cause of this situation." It waved its bumptious tail like a curious cat. "The point is, the addition of a third Sayaka Miki would more than likely further exacerbate this paradox, as well as disrupt the interaction which has for now, achieved an equilibrium of harvestable energy. Therefore, we strongly advise that you do not venture into the labyrinth."
"I'll be okay." Sayaka assertively replied. She was the only member of the group who was not magically transformed.
"All present evidence suggests to the contrary." A fourth Kyubey's eyes glowed from within a nearby wildbush. "Indeed," A fifth appeared on a roof of a ticket station. "We insist."
"Although it is highly energy intensive and thus an inefficient use of our forms," Two other Kyubeys approached with their rears raised in a defensive posture and their gold bangle-adorned sensory appendages jutting outward and glowing. "We are capable of neutralizing any magical girls who act beyond their predicted behavior patterns."
"That sounds suspiciously like a threat!" Kyoko pointed her blade at one of the approaching aliens.
"We are merely advising that it is best that you refrain from taking any further action." They collectively stared at Mami, apparently expecting her to take charge of the group. "And retreat."
"And we are merely advising you to refrain." Mami calmly repeated. "And retreat."
"You may be able to eliminate a few of our individual bodies, but ultimately," Two more Kyubeys emerged from the shadows. "Ultimately, we possess more numbers, more expendable energy, and above all," Their eerie red eyes and gold bangles collectively glowed all at once. "Superior knowledge."
A scant few seconds passed and nothing happened. The collection of Kyubeys surrounding them all broke position and glanced at each other, completely confused by the counterreaction they apparently had failed to initiate.
"Awwwwww," Sayaka smirked as she confidently pushed up the glasses on her face. "Are you one-trick ponies surprised that your trick didn't work this time?"
"We were aware of the spectacles you wear as a defense against our psychic influence," A Kyubey in the group answered. "But we do not understand," One started, another completed, "How you resisted the energy pulse emitted by our collective. It should have temporarily nullified your magical transformations."
"Just as planned," Sayaka muttered under her smile, "It's simple, really. They're protected. Totally shielded from your undue influence."
"Shielded?" A Kyubey apprehensively approached them. "By what?"
"Not what," Sayaka stepped forward. "Who." She took a blue glowing gold fob watch out of her pocket. "Me."
"Is that... A Soul Gem?" One of the Kyubeys asked. "A pocket watch?" The collective Kyubeys all looked even more confused than before. "Explain. We do not understand how such a thing could offer protection by proximity."
"Maybe it'd be better if I showed you." Sayaka opened her watch, and the shape of a bright, blue egg made of pure energy burst out from the center. In an instantaneous flash, Sayaka's body transformed into her magical girl costume, her latest accessory recasting its form as a golden piece of knight armor which covered the entirety of Sayaka's left forearm, with a gauntlet covering her hand, and a rerebrace over her shoulder with her C-shaped emblem emblazoned on its front.
"There is something strange about her." One of the Kyubeys promptly backtracked into a bush, almost as though it were suddenly scared.
"What is it? Share your data." A counterpart commanded.
"Her internal physiology is completely wrong." The other Kyubeys synchronously glared at it. "Her body does not biologically match that of a human." They all tilted their heads and studied this new Sayaka more closely.
"I detect… An extremely rapid heartbeat."
"No… That is not the beating of a singular heart. I detect... The existence of a binary vascular system? That cannot be. She appears to possess an extra heart!"
"I detect other secondary and redundant complex features within her digestive, respiratory and renal systems as well."
"That's not all. Her ambient body temperature also registers at several degrees below normal."
"And the physical makeup of her brain is highly unusual. The grey matter within her cerebrum is far more densely concentrated than that of a typical human's."
"Wow. You could tell all that just by looking?" Sayaka was completely nonplussed by their reaction.
"What are you?" One of them finally outright asked.
"You don't know? Isn't it obvious? Who the hell do you think I am?" Sayaka boldly looked straight into its eyes. "I'm Sayaka Miki." She implacably stood straight, tall and unmoving. "That's Time Lady Sayaka Miki to you, bunnycats."
"Time Lady?" The Kyubey closest cocked its head. "As in, you claim fellowship to the mythological humanoid race of Gallifrey?"
"Not possible." The Kyubey behind it dismissed. "That species is long extinct."
"That may be so," The one beside it remarked. "But her biological readings are a match to the anecdotal descriptions of their kind." Dissent was formenting among them. Exactly as planned.
"You guys have two options," Sayaka held out two fingers. "Option one, you leave us alone and get the hell out of here. Not Mitakihara. You leave this planet. Peacefully. Quietly. Without protest. And then tell whoever you're working for that Earth is officially off limits. You're officially out of the magical girl making business."
"And the other option?" They all cocked their heads to one side.
"All of you die. Right here. Right now."
"Bad animal!" Nagisa hissed. "Go away forever!"
"You have no means of following through on such a threat."
"Incorrect," Homura pulled a very unusual-looking weapon out from behind her buckler. "We have this gun." It certainly appeared to the gathered Kyubeys to resemble a gun, though almost certainly not one of human design. The top of the stock and barrel had a dozen glowing liquid bubbling tubules jutting out, all leading to a battery seated within the grip, while the end of the muzzle was a dish with a blue-tipped wand-like antenna protruding from it.
"That might look like a gun," Sayaka corrected. "But it's actually a psionic wavelength disruptor, specifically attuned to at the precise frequency on which your telepathic communication resonates, which if amplified beyond your physical tolerance levels would result in your brains exploding." Homura aimed it squarely at the nearest one. "With one pull of that trigger."
"And I have right around ten thousand reasons to pull." Homura remarked with a smile that teetered on the brink of a smirk. "Just give me one more."
"We have many bodies. One weapon cannot possibly hope to destroy us all."
"We amplified it with some extra juice, so the wave burst will grow in intensity as it circles around the globe in a matter of minutes, think of it a bit like how a tsunami gets bigger and bigger as it approaches shore. Only you'll never see it coming."
"If you are the person you appear to be, Sayaka Miki, then you would not possess the knowledge necessary to craft such a device. Even if you were a Time Lord." Kyubey added, "I calculate there is an eighty seven point seven two seven one one percent chance this is a deception."
"I calculate it at eighty point four two two percent." A Kyubey beside it said. Still to plan.
"That's 'Time Lady'." Sayaka asserted. "And I leveled up a few ranks. With a little help from a friend."
"Even if that weapon functions as you claim," A different Kyubey stepped forth. "Magical girls utilize the same psychic frequency that we employ. Would your weapon not adversely affect them as well?"
"Thought of that bit already." Sayaka knowingly tilted her head. "But thanks to the fact that we all have the ability to heal our bodies quickly, coupled with the innate biological differences between your brains and ours, means we won't suffer much worse than a few seconds of an ear splittin' headache. More than a fair price to be rid of you pain-in-the asses."
"The odds that this is a ploy are seventy seven point one one six." A different Kyubey added. "Are you willing to risk everything on such a calculation?"
"We do not have consensus." The Kyubeys collectively said.
"Yes. That would certainly seem so." Mami folded her arms.
"By any chance, are you still searching for that individual that was severed from your collective?" Homura reached inside her buckler with one hand while still aiming the device with her other. "Because we found it." She pulled out a pulverised Kyubey body and tossed it to the ground. "Made for an ideal if rather uncooperative test subject."
"The revised odds are now at sixty-five point one nine four seven." The three Kyubeys in front of them physically recoiled.
"So what'll it be?" Sayaka smiled with an accompanying tilt of her head brow.
"You do not seem to understand all that would be lost, should we vacate this world," The Kyubey in the middle implored. "Without the energy added by the collective sacrifices of magical girls, you effectively would be sentencing the entire Universe to its eventual death."
"Tch! Tell that to somebody who cares!" Kyoko scoffed.
"Humanity would be doomed as well!" The one to its left added. "With no new magical girls to fight the witches, and without Grief Seeds to replenish the supply, witches would soon overwhelm this world, extinction would be likely within a matter of years!"
"You underestimate us." The Kyubeys collectively stared at Mami, seemingly surprised by the confidence in her reply. "Do so at your peril!"
"The odds of this being a deception I now calculate at fifty eight point one zero six seven." A Kyubey in the trees relayed. Their discord was growing. As was Sayaka's own confidence.
"Even if you were to prevail," The one on the right stood trotted a few steps forward. "Without the seeds sown by girls' wishes human progress would stagnate! The lower species are going extinct at an increasing rate, your primitive methods of energy generation are causing the planetary climate to teeter on the brink of total collapse, and nation states still continually threaten each other with destructive conflict!"
"Keeps life interesting." Homura asserted.
"That speaks only of the immediate concerns," The Kyubey went on. "Human medical technology has not progressed to the point where it could adequately deal with a worldwide pandemic, its infrastructure could not cope with a disaster on a worldwide scale, all the while you continue to experiment with more and more sophisticated computerized intelligence." It added, "Indeed, we calculate that your most likely long term survival scenario involves becoming subsumed by said intelligence. What could you possibly offer mankind absent our presence?"
"The same thing magical girls have always offered," Sayaka appreciatively glanced at each of her companions and smiled. "Hope."
"We're witches? She's lying!" Sayaka insisted. "She has to be!" The idea that their new teammate was telling the truth was just too disturbing to even consider. What would Kyubey gain from something so cruel? "No way what that Transfer Student said was true! We don't know her… You can't trust anything she says!"
"Sayaka!" Her pink, frilly-dressed best friend whined. "You're being a bully! Homura hasn't done anything wrong!" Why was her own best friend taking the new girl's side? When she should've been the first one in Sayaka's corner? How could this one girl they've only known for a few days become the thing that's driving them apart? It just didn't make any sense to her.
"I'm sure she thinks she's being forthright, and I'm certain she's mistaken somehow." Their group leader reasoned, a refined girl with a calm, assertive demeanor. "But what we're actually here to discuss, is your own behavior, particularly regarding the rather reckless way you attack witches."
"Geez! Yer makin' so many rookie mistakes!" The redhead tossed the unwitting Sayaka around like a ragdoll. "I could beat ya' blindfolded!" She ambushed Sayaka while she was doing as her leader told, working on her fighting techniques by hunting familiars. "Oof! Embarrassing to watch!" How did this girl even know where Sayaka was going to be? Had to have been the Transfer Student who told her! Sayaka just knew there was a reason she disliked her. "Man, yer so bad at this!" She effortlessly dodged Sayaka's charge for the fourth time in a row. "Sheesh! What the hell's she thinkin,' takin' someone as weak as you under her wing? Chain's only as strong as its weakest link, and sorry to be the one to tell ya'! Heh! Not really!"
Harsh words, but deep within Sayaka's heart, she knew her attacker was right. Her friend was already making great strides and growing closer to the Transfer Student, while the poor Sayaka was demoted to mop up duty. Still, so long as the boy in her heart was happy with the miracle her love had granted, she believed could endure. She just had to get up, and fight back.
"I've been meaning to tell you for a while now." Her classmate explained shortly after. "I've had a crush on him for quite some time…" Oh, no! This wasn't how it was supposed to be! She made a miracle come true for him, and now this girl's going to reap the rewards? That wasn't fair! But what could she do about it? Good girls don't hold their own feelings over others. That would make her no better than that awful redhead. She didn't need anyone's gratitude. She didn't need anyone's help. Good deeds are their own reward. So she kept telling herself. Less and less convincingly as the battles wore her down.
"It's not fair!" A creeping voice in her mind ranted as she was mercilessly mashing away at the witch she'd discovered that night. "Good girls get happy endings!" Sayaka chopped and chopped away, severing its head and kicking it into the bay. "How could it be this way?" But she didn't care about that anymore, she told herself. It didn't matter. All she existed to do now was fight witches, to the horror and disgust of those who were aware of what she was going through. But they had all left her behind, they had all found solace in each others' arms, while she was all alone and had nothing. Nothing but the sadistic pleasure of inflicting pain and death onto her foes. She couldn't have cared less what anybody else thought of her at this point. They didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore, besides the fleeting adrenaline high of the slaughter.
"The revised calculation is fifty three point four five one percent." The Kyubey in front of them conferred with each of its counterparts. "Do we have a consensus?"
"Fifty one point six two three eight," One said. "Fifty point nine six eight." Piped another. "Fifty point one eight four seven." Added another. "Forty nine point nine seven nine seven." Settling around fifty percent. Precisely as she expected. She had them right where she wanted.
One of them briefly checked on the state of the labyrinth. "Ultimately, we did not reach a consensus on how best to deal with this anomalous witch. We gain little by standing in their way. More data could be analyzed by watching them handle it."
"I calculate the chance that the captive human Sayaka that is fueling this reaction has already perished at ninety point one seven two percent." Another Kyubey chimed in. "And the odds that they successfully defeat the witch without casualties are a mere fourteen point one three six seven nine two percent."
"If the consensus is that it is wisest to withdraw for now, I concur." Yet another Kyubey opined. "Whatever theoretical gain there is from containing this witch's energy does not presently outweigh the risks of procuring it."
"On your last warning, Bunnycat." Sayaka slowly drew her sword. "Go. Or die."
"Very well," The Kyubey in front conceded. "That is the consensus. We shall withdraw." One by one, the gathering of Kyubeys disappeared back into the shadows and the brushes. Then the two beside the apparent leader turned their tails and retreated. Then after a final, momentarily intense staredown with Sayaka, it stood up, turned and started walking away.
"I leave you with this," It turned its head back to them. "At present, I calculate the odds of you defeating Walpurgisnacht without the intervention of Madoka Kaname as to be so small that it is virtually zero. I would wish you luck, but such a thing would go against both our own and the human race's greater interests." He smugly tilted his head as he slowly dissolved from view. "So instead I will simply say… Goodbye, Time Lady Sayaka Miki."
"Alright, everybody remember their roles?" The Quintet of magical girls resolutely stepped towards the labyrinth's seal. "Nagisa, you get those captive people outta there, then make sure nobody else comes inside. Kyoko, you deal with any familiars in our way. Mami, you keep the witch tied up so that it can't attack us." Sayaka turned and took Homura's hand. "Homura, I'm counting on you to look after me once I'm connected to her!"
"I failed to help you so many times that I stopped trying." Homura squeezed her hand tighter. "This will be my atonement."
"Let's hope each of our strengths can overcome one another's weaknesses." Mami soberly rubbed Sayaka's armored shoulder then fixed her own costume's cuffs.
"If ya' got half the guts of the Sayaka I know, then I ain't too worried." Kyoko pat Sayaka on the back. "The hell are we waitin' for? Time's wastin'!"
"When she wakes up, I'll bring her some cheese!" Nagisa picked at a piece of the Kyubey remains and scarfed it.
"Let's do it!" They grabbed each other's hands as Homura spun her buckler.
"... There's no goddamn way a cabaret girl like her could make the same amount ten years from now. Bitches are all the same, man! You can't let 'em make any excuses. Ya' gotta take control of every penny they make! If you give them even a little bit of their money, they'll waste it on something stupid!" The obnoxious guy on the train spouted. "Fools! Morons! Dumbasses! Ya' let yer guard down for a second and all of a sudden they start yappin' some bullshit about marriage!" He snorted. "Then they get really annoyin' once ya' try to get rid of 'em!" He huffed. "I tell ya' man, ya' gotta treat 'em like dogs! Train 'em, keep 'em in line, hit 'em good when they don't know their place, only give 'em a treat once they please ya' and after they've become useless to ya,' get the fuck rid of 'em and find another!"
"Hey!" Sayaka had finally heard enough. "Your girlfriend. Tell me about her."
"Huh?" His friend examined her. "You know this bitch, Shou?"
"Tch! Of course not!" The man was clearly displeased by her rather abrupt intrusion. "What are you, in middle school? It's late! Go home already! It's a school night!"
"Tell me about her." Sayaka disjointedly repeated. "Your girlfriend. Tell me. I wanna know more."
"Back off kid!" His friend boorishly knocked her back with an offhanded kick of his foot.
"Hey!" Sayaka promptly grabbed his foot on his second kick. "Why was I fighting!"
"Let go, bitch!" Her grip was unexpectedly strong. He couldn't shake her loose.
"Is this world worth protecting?" He heard a sudden cracking sound in his foot. "Tell me!" Instantly the pain shot up to his brain and he screamed in terrible agony. To her surprise, she really really liked hearing his scream.
His rude-speaking friend was all set to rush to his aid, until Sayaka shot him a most terrifying glare that promptly froze him in his seat. "I bet your girlfriend really cares about you. She tries her best, every single day. She works really hard for you. S- She-" Sayaka felt the weight of something heavy and hard forming in her other hand. "She loves you!" She instinctively raised it and pointed it towards his neck. "And here you are, comparing her to a dog! Despicable!" It was a sword. She could already picture all the wonderful ways his severed head could bounce. Smack to the floor. Flopping out the window. Rolling onto his horrified friend's lap. Every single scenario filled her heart with an unbridled glee. Every scenario was his deserved comeuppance. All she had to do was slash.
"What are you waiting for?" A familiar voice inside her brain echoed. "Kill them!"
"I-" Sayaka hesitated. Somehow she was still holding the urge back. Something about this situation seemed awfully familiar. Yet she couldn't understand how or why. Nor could she remember exactly how she got aboard this train. Nor why she was wielding a blade. Not helping was the blaring racket of a melody playing in the back of her mind. It was giving her the worst headache of her life, yet somehow its melody was absolutely transfixing.
"Good magical girls kill bad things right?" It insisted. "Kill this bad thing! Kill it right now!"
"I-" Sayaka noticed an odd presence in the corner of her eye, sitting in the seat opposite the one she occupied. It was that voice in her head. A diminutive creature. Dressed in a blue one-piece gown with a flower on her collar. It was sitting there, kicking its legs up and down like a hyperactive child. It leapt from the chair, letting Sayaka see this thing's unhidden form, and to her shock, it was a child. And not just any child: It was her own younger self! "They're people. I can't."
"Why does that matter?" Her odd doppel instantly zapped over to the frozen men's side, standing on the train car seat next to them. "Good kills bad. They're bad. It's what you wanna do, right? So do it!"
"I-" Sayaka couldn't disagree with the thing's logic. "Wanna. Real bad," She insisted. Yet something inside her knew this was wrong. "But-"
"No!" A separate voice shouted behind her. Sayaka looked over her shoulder. "You don't want to do it!" To her astonishment, it was yet another version of herself! The other doppel reached her hand out to Sayaka. "Now take my hand!"
But Sayaka couldn't put down her blade. Nor could she get her other hand to even budge. It was as though her entire body were a limp puppet, waiting for its master to pull her strings.
"What are you? The strange little girl disappeared and popped up beside the other Sayaka. "What are you doing here?" She zapped over to the Sayaka with the sword. "You can't be here! Go away!"
"Frankly, I'm wondering the exact same thing." The costumed Sayaka took a few slow steps closer to her counterpart, then abruptly stopped when Sayaka realized that both her body and her blade had pulled an instant one-eighty turn and was now pointed at this person's neck.
"You're not me! I am!" The young girl angrily shouted. She petulantly latched herself to the frozen Sayaka like a frightened child. "You're not me and you're not welcome! So go away!"
"I'm as much you as she is," The strange Sayaka grabbed onto the sword by its blade while she looked upon their surroundings. "Maybe more than I wanna admit." She reached out with her other hand. "Now c'mon. Let's go! Kyoko's waiting for you!"
"Kyoko?" Sayaka definitely remembered that name. The red magical girl who saved her life and offered her friendship. Or was she that red magical girl who taunted her and Mami and threatened Kyosuke? But she also remembered not liking Mami at all. All these memories, so paradoxical, yet all of them felt convincingly real.
"Please! Take my hand!" This strange Sayaka was sounding a bit more desperate now. "We have to get outta here!"
"No!" The childlike Sayaka cried. "You want to kill me!" The young girl clung hard as she could to Sayaka's waist. "You're bad!" She pleaded to the sword-wielding Sayaka. "She's bad! Please protect me from the bad!"
"Who... Are... You?" Sayaka slurred, she was so tired out and so terribly confused and the only part of her still steady was that blade still pointed underneath her counterpart's chin.
"I don't know how to explain everything." The counterpart briefly glanced behind her back. "And we don't have time! Now if you want to live and see everyone again you have got to take my hand!"
Only Sayaka didn't want to see everyone again. That was the one thought that did remain consistent. Kyoko was demeaning and obnoxious, Mami was bossy and strict, The Transfer Student was suspiciously infatuated with Madoka while playing so innocent about it, and Madoka, well, she committed the biggest betrayal a best friend could possibly make. She sided with the rest of them over her. And now she was Kyosuke's girlfriend. "No!" Sayaka rejected. Kyosuke was supposed to be all hers. "I don't care!" Yet she also had very clear, distinctive memories of Hitomi making moves on him, too. "Go away!"
"See? They're bad!" The wide-eyed child smiled. She could tell that Sayaka was finally starting to see the whole world her way.
"Yesssss…" Sayaka gripped that sword tighter. "They're bad! All of them!" Especially Kyosuke, all that time, all that energy, and all her hopes and all her tears, and he never, ever, even once, gave her the time of day. Kyosuke had to be seeing both of them at the same time. That was the only explanation. What a lying scoundrel. She should have never wasted her miracle on him.
"Don't listen to that thing!" The other one insisted. "You have to listen to me!"
"I'm not sure I can keep it restrained much-" Mami's voice echoed throughout the train car.
"Go away!" The child shouted. "Leave us alone!" The entire train car shook and rumbled, until the flooring underneath collapsed away and the Sayakas all dropped down into a vast, endless ocean, each tumbling into the deep, dark void below.
"Well, Squirt," Kyoko turned to Nagisa and finished the rest of her Pocky stick. "Is everybody out safe?" Nagisa anxiously nodded. "All righty, then! Let's bust some heads!" Kyoko fluidly drove her spear straight through the stomachs of a half dozen dancing, humanoid girl-like familiars. "Now the thing to know about familiars, Squirt," She began her impromptu lesson as the dancing horde took notice and swarmed. "There's always a lot of 'em, and they'll always try to rush ya,' but they're all pretty brainless," She dexterously twirled her spear around and drove through another half dozen, then another. "So long as you stay cool and don't panic, then they're no sweat! Heh heh!" She leapt high into the air and with a quick strike to the floor the familiars surrounding them all lost their balance and collapsed.
Kyoko landed and charged at the next batch. "Now, since ya' got yerself a ranged weapon, that puts ya' in an even better spot to-"
"Stoooooop!" Nagisa abruptly tackled Kyoko to the ground.
"The hell! What gives?" Kyoko picked them both up. Nagisa promptly pointed at one of the cheerfully dancing familiars before them, who upon a closer look wasn't a familiar at all.
"Hey, isn't that-?" It was Hitomi Shizuki, once again bewitched and drafted into a witch's service. "Whew! Close one! Good eyes, Squirt!" Kyoko blasted away at the Hitomi-like creatures slavishly dancing around Hitomi on one side, while Nagisa blew her horn and blasted away a second group on her other side. "Whaddaya say you get her outta here?" Nagisa eagerly nodded again.
"Ya' know it's funny… I never thought much about why familiars look the way they look." Kyoko accosted Hitomi as she blissfully twirled like a maniac to the music. "'Til now. Sayaka I hope you can- Oooooof!" Hitomi turned around and sucker punched Kyoko straight in the gut.
Nagisa stepped in and tackled Hitomi to the floor. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"Ugh… I'll live! Oooowwww!" Kyoko gasped, only her pride had been hurt. "Do me a little favor… When we hook back up with the others, make sure to leave this part out!" Kyoko reflexively massaged her stomach. "Now get outta here! And be careful, whatever ya,' do, don't let her dainty looks fool ya'!" She then stretched out her torso and slunk back over to her planned attack spot. "That girl can hit!"
Every time she opened her heart, it was trampled and broken.
Every time she trusted someone, she was betrayed.
Every time she tried to do the right thing, she was punished.
Every time she tried to do her best, she failed.
And now they all want to blame her for losing control and striking back at this sick, disgusting awful world? No! It was all their fault everything happened to her in the first place! Curse them! Curse them all! Curse that older one, for destroying her blissful old life... Curse that redhead, for pushing her and pushing her until she snapped... Curse that Transfer Student, for taking her best friend away... And above all, curse her best friend, for not staying here by her side. If they were only going to leave her behind, then she didn't need any of them!
She only wanted to exist for her music, to hear that wondrous melody which soothed her troubled soul.
She knew what she needed to do now… Yes… She must enchant the hearts of others with this music, the same way her own young heart was enchanted so long ago. And how soon those troubled hearts came… She sensed such heartache within each and every single one of them... She must cure them all with her healing magic… And as their enraptured souls gave themselves fully to her song, her power grew stronger and stronger, her music enticing more and more, her beautiful song becoming all the more alluring. It was a perfect symbiosis of love. Their adoration would become her sustenance, and her song would be their salvation… So much better than the violence and suffering of her life before. She need not fight anyone or doubt herself anymore… She need not hurt for someone else's sake… She need never worry. She need only amplify and propagate that wondrously magical music, share her melodious love with all who opened themselves to her song. Dance, little puppets… Flail around and keep her beautiful guests entertained for all eternity! She loved performing for them, and she loved being the center of everyone's attention, and they all loved being right here with her. Alone nevermore.
Hey, what's going on? No! No! No! Those mean, awful girls she hated so badly were back, now here in her realm and whisking her crowd away and trying to smash her puppets! Couldn't they see that she had at last found the best way to help the world? Selfish fools! What short-sighted, backstabbing jerks! Curse them! How she hated them all! She had to stop them! Good kills bad, and all the bad ones needed to pay for the cruelty they so needlessly inflicted upon her.
Then there was a bright flash. So hot. Burning. Agonizing burning.
Then there was nothing.
No music.
No adulation.
No form.
No light. Just darkness. Unending dark.
And worst of all, no love. Only cold. And pain. And regret. And loneliness. And despair.
"I get it now." The little girl heard a comforting voice say. "Don't worry… I'll stay with you."
"Sayakaaaa!" The Magical Time Lady called out into the void. It was quite eerie shouting her own name like that. "Can you hear me? It's not real!" She floated freely through the dark void. "It's putting it all into your head!"
"Who are you?" Her own angry voice boomed throughout the empty space.
"Grab my hand, and I'll explain everything!" Sayaka tensely reached out.
"Answer me!" She bellowed back. "Right now!"
"Okay," Sayaka visually searched for the source. "If you want a long story short, I'm you." But she could see nothing. "You from another time."
"Liar!" A teen and a young girl's combined voice thundered at her so forcefully she was sent careening backward.
"Look at me!" Made her wonder if she was too late. "I ain't lyin'!"
"You're one of them, aren't you!" Their voices both accused. "You're here to destroy me!"
"No! That's not true!" Sayaka shouted. "I'm here to help you!" She briefly caught sight of something swimming around from the corner of her eye. It looked unnervingly like a long multicolored fish tail.
"I don't need your help!" It ominously swam by again. "I don't need anybody's help!"
"Yeah? That's how I used to think a lot too," Sayaka reflexively drew a freshly-conjured sword. "But I was wrong then. And you're wrong too."
"Go away!" The creature charged forth out of the darkness and attacked her with a heavy, double-bladed sword. Sayaka saw her just barely in time to block with her own blade.
"Oh, crap!" Sayaka exclaimed. From the neck down her opponent looked exactly like the mermaid witch that Mami and Homura were presently barely keeping restrained. But her human counterpart hadn't been completely overtaken yet, her furious face was still visible, though being slowly subsumed by a metallic crown atop her head, seeping down her face like quicksilver.
"You're one of the bad ones!" She screamed as their swords stayed locked. "I knew it! I'm not going to let you hurt me again!" Through the illusion Sayaka felt everything around her shake. Her attacker took the moment's opportunity to swim back into the darkness for another ambush.
"Wait…" Sayaka had an apparent realization. "Again? Does that mean she's-?"
"Pull tighter," Homura's voice echoed around them. "Or she'll break loose!"
"Leave me alooooone!" The mermaid knight rushed at her from her left side. Sayaka was unable to parry in time and the attacker's blade embedded itself right into the shining armor covering Sayaka's left forearm. The blade had penetrated through the armor and into her arm.
"Guyaaahh!" Sayaka cried out in pain. The two remained locked that way for several agonizing moments, the creature's blade rattling against the armor as she futilely tried to pick it out, while Sayaka excruciatingly kept it embedded as her blood gushed through.
"I'm sorry," I'm so, so sorry," Sayaka finally said as calmly as she could try. "I know what it's like," It had finally just occurred to her which Sayaka she was actually here to help. "You're right." She started again. "I'm not you. Not completely. But I went through a lot of what you did." She dropped her own sword in her right hand and gripped onto the edge of the sword embedded in her arm. "Completely set in my own ideas of right and wrong, stubborn as hell, convinced that anybody who disagreed was the enemy and then pushed around and pushed around until I couldn't see much good in anyone anymore." She gazed into her counterpart's eyes, the melting crown was advancing over much of her face, turning one eye into a pair of concave oval holes, while a knight helmet-esque grated plating gradually started wrapping itself around her cheeks and mouth. The emotion of the one human eye still visible was wavering between the looks of agitation, confusion, and above all, fear. "And I'm so far from where I once was that I don't really know who I am or what I am anymore. Just like you."
Her uncovered, jittery eye happened to catch her own distorted reflection in Sayaka's armor. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed and jumped back. "What am I-" She panickedly screamed. She'd at last become aware of her transformed appearance. "What have you done to meeeeee?" She ripped and pried at the patterned corset around her torso, a garment with the image of a sword piercing a through heart while being vengefully clenched by a hand, but to no avail. Next she tried ripping off the helmet that had almost encompassed her entire head. "N- No! No! Letmegoletmegoletmegooooooooo!" It stayed firmly attached.
"You've got to let her go." Sayaka soothingly said.
"Noooooooooo!" The child's voice roaringly replied. "You said you understood me! You said you'd stay!"
"If she stays here, you're going to kill her. She's going to die."
"B- But I- I-" She stammered. "I don't wanna dieeeeeeee!" They wailed simultaneously. The sound of her strained, heavy breathing murmured through the closing helmet's grating.
"I know you don't want to hurt her. I know you thought merging with her would help you both." The Magical Time Lady swam slowly through the air to her witch counterpart. "But look what you're doing to her. She can't go on like this. And once she dies you'll be all alone and sad and scared and mad all over again." She embracingly wrapped her arms around the poor, frightened souls. "And you'll hate yourself for it. But then you'll try to fill that hole in your heart with more people, and start the cycle all over again. Don't you see? That's what a witch does."
"No! You're wrong! I'm not a witch!" She bawled. "I'm not a witch! I'm not!" The child spoke. "They were all hurting! So I shared my music with them! I was being a good girl! I was helping everyone!"
"I'm sure you thought you were doing good. And being good." Sayaka whispered softly. "It's what I thought when I made my wish. When we made our wish." Sayaka gently stroked its face. It had stopped advancing just short of covering her eye. "Our wish. Our miracle. Our hope. Remember what it was?"
"I- It- It was-" She struggled for an answer. It was so hard to remember. There were so many conflicting memories, a hurricane of emotions, welling deep inside her.
"We did the right thing. We fixed his hand. We saved him from despair." Sayaka hugged the creature around its corseted waist. "But we did it for the wrong reasons. What we really wanted was gratitude. His admiration. And attention. When he didn't give us any of that, we tried to tell ourselves that it was still okay. That helping others and doing good things was enough. And that he'd come around on us eventually." Sayaka looked deep into her counterpart's eyes. "For us, it didn't. We had to give our lives away for that miracle. But for her, it's different." She smiled. "She still has her life. Her future. It's all still in her own hands. She could have a life with Kyosuke, or even with anyone else, hard as that is to imagine. But for any of that to happen, you have to give her life back. You have to let her go."
"But I don't want to be alone!" Only the child was speaking now. "It's scary and cold and dark! I don't wanna go back there! Please don't make me go back there!" She begged.
"I won't make you go back there," Sayaka said. "I promise, We'll find a way to help you. And then we'll help everyone."
"Really? Cross your heart?"
"Yeah." Sayaka nodded, "Cross my hearts."
"Hope to die?"
"Stick a needle in my eye," They said together.
Then Sayaka added, "Wait a moment. I spoke a lie. I never really wanted to die." She had memorized the whole promise poem her Dad taught her in English, and even tried teaching it to Kyosuke and the others in her class. It didn't exactly catch on, but she remembered being so proud that she'd managed to learn so many words in another language.
"You're..." The girl's innocent eyes widened. The mask covering her face had dissolved away. The mermaid's long tail had vanished, the armor and corset were fading steadily.
"I'm you." She smiled. "But if I may, if I might, my heart is open." She paused, and corrected again, "My hearts."
"I'm sorry!" Her counterpart apologized. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone! I swear!" The beings had split back into two. The little girl was sleepily clinging to her older, already-unconscious self's waist.
"I know. It's okay." Sayaka gently stroked the child's head. "All is forgiven. Pease, go to sleep."
"Goodnight." The child yawned as the three clung together, floating freely in the void.
"Goodnight." Sayaka put her hand on the child's temple. "Cross my hearts, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. A secret's a secret, my word is forever, I will tell no one, about your cruel endeavor." She mentally projected all the strongest, fondest memories of their happy, former life with her friends into the child's mind. "You claim no pain," The day she went back to that aquarium in Tokyo with Madoka and Hitomi along. "But I see right through," Their picnic afterwards in the cafeteria surrounded by so many wondrous fish. "Your words in everything you do." That time she won the track and field day's three-legged race with Madoka. "Teary eyes, broken heart, life has torn you apart." That one, single time she and Hitomi beat Kyosuke and Nakazawa at basketball during recess.
"What's going on?" Mami asked. The labyrinth around them was dematerializing all around them, taking them back to the clear, mild Mitakihara night.
"I think she's succeeded." Homura watched the witch's once-mighty form wash away, its core gradually dissolved away, like a sandcastle in the waves.
"Cross my hearts, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Sayaka recited. "I loved you then," The time she joined Kyosuke's family at the amusement park. "I love you now, I'll still love you, though I'll break my vow." Then netting the DDR doubles high score with him at the arcade afterwards. "I can't hold this secret any longer," The energizing warmth of the early summer's sunlight. "It's hurting you, not making you stronger." The lush breeze at the top of a hill. "So I'll risk your respect, by hurting you," Back in class, doodling pictures of herself as a superhero in her notebook. "I can protect, I'll save yourself, since you will not." The sense of fulfillment she got from hunting down those rare CDs for her beloved Kyosuke. "You might hate me, but I'll give it a shot." The first snow before Christmas. "I'm willing to risk our bond that we own." Opening her presents on Christmas day. Her Dad was always somehow able to know exactly what she wanted. "So long as you're safe, you won't be alone."
"Whew!" Kyoko wiped the sweat off her forehead. "She almost had me worried for a sec!" She ran over towards Mami and Homura, who were approaching Sayaka kneeling beside her sleeping counterpart.
"What happened?" Mami asked.
Homura checked on the sleeping Sayaka. "Did you-?"
"Shhhhh..." Sayaka serenely shushed. "Cross my heart, hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye." The eerie glow around the Grief Seed was still visible, though fading as Sayaka gently coddled it in her arm. "Break my promise, tell a lie, save my friend," She tenderly kissed the Grief Seed, transforming out of her magical attire in a flash. "Though maybe it's 'bye."
