Nearly a year between updates. Honestly, not even my worst hiatus.
Happy New Year's, everyone. Here's a Blake chapter that's as long as the previous two combined. Enjoy if you can.
…
Blake Belladonna sat quietly behind the cashier desk of a small bookstore in downtown Vale. She was reading an old fairy tale about a man with two souls—a quaint story that she hoped would carry her through the more boring hours of her day job. Her boss had recommended it to her, actually. It had been nice of him.
Tukson's Book Trade didn't get many customers on weekdays during school and work hours, unfortunately. At the moment, it was just the odd few adults stopping by for a quick look. It at least gave her the peace and quiet she needed to read.
A ghost of a smile tugged at Blake's lips when she turned the page. She traced a line across the paper with her fingers, following the vivid yet fantastical description of the main character's soul leaving his body. She could almost laugh. There was no mention of the unbelievable pain it entailed. It just spoke of the all-consuming emptiness of the void followed by an inexplicably bright warm light just within arms reach. It was so similar to what Blake herself had experience when she made a contract with Kyubey, yet it just skirted past the more memorable, albeit unsavory details. So close, yet so far.
Blake shook her head.
She then remembered that the book she was reading was, in fact, written for children. Detailed description of the overwhelming agony of becoming a magical girl—agony that a normal human was unlikely to ever experience—was probably too much for such a story. An old fairy tale or not, a children's book did not need that.
Blake's reading halted when she felt the presence of magic nearby. It was faint—a drop in the bucket for a city as dense as Vale—but it was close and it was familiar. It was probably a block or two away, by the edge of her territory.
And it wasn't a witch.
Blake knew who it was—a magical girl she had encountered just a month prior who wielded a scythe and wore a white and red cloak. She still remembered their first meeting and the rather bloody clash that followed.
The reaper was a fairly nice girl, all things considered. In another life, they could have become friends. But being nice didn't mean Blake would just let her territory be encroached by a rival magical girl without making contact. She quickly sent out a mental probe.
"Ruby Rose," Blake said in a telepathic equivalent to a growl.
Internally, she cursed. She intended to sound threatening but didn't quite get there—she sounded curious, moreso. It still achieved the same results, however.
The emotions of surprise and confusion surged into Blake through the mental connection with Ruby. "BLAKE…! Blake… Right… Hi…"
Blake lifted her gaze from her book and looked over the counter. Through the window, across the street, her eyes zeroed in on Ruby who was smiling apologetically and waving at her amidst the pedestrian crowds. Blake raised an eyebrow.
"What are you doing here, Ruby? We agreed to stay out of each other's territory."
Ruby clapped her hands together and bowed. "Yes, I know, but I reeaally need to go to this drug store that's in your part of the city. It's the closest one to my house. Pleeeaaase let me pass?"
Blake felt her neutral stare falter at Ruby's hopeful innocence. It didn't help that she could feel the reaper girl's emotions clearly through their telepathic link.
It was disconcerting, feeling foreign emotions so vividly through telepathy. That wasn't supposed to happen and yet it always happened when Blake spoke with Ruby. The girl was just so unguarded with her emotions that it was almost uncomfortable to talk to her.
But Blake still had to admit, the genuineness Ruby displayed was a breath of fresh air.
The fact that Ruby was on an errand also gave her something of a pass.
Blake gave Ruby a mental sigh and conceded. "Fine. Whatever. Get what you need."
She then felt an influx of gratitude so strong that she'd describe it as overbearing. "Thank you, Blake!" Ruby squealed in her mind.
Blake rolled her eyes even as her lips curled up wryly. "Yes, yes. Please just go quickly. Errand or not, if other girls see you freely roaming my territory, they're gonna start getting ideas."
A mental hum came from Ruby as she started walking away. "Seriously, Blake, you don't need to get so antsy every time another magical girl steps onto your turf. Everyone's open to hunt on mine and I never get problems."
Blake snorted. "That's because people are scared of you, Ruby. Not everyone can turn into a literal ghost that can't be touched or killed."
With that, she severed their telepathic link and returned to her book. As she did so, she twitched with mild curiosity. Blake could have sworn that, just before she cut the connection, Ruby was surprised to hear other magical girls were scared of her.
To that, Blake rolled her eyes once more. Ruby Rose wore a hooded cloak, used a scythe, and had ghost powers. She was pretty much the archetypical personification of death itself. Why wouldn't people be afraid of her?
Blake's day shift continued without further incident.
…
Blake was in a good mood. That night, three witches had spawned in her territory and she had just dispatched two of them with complete and utter ease. She had barely expended any magic and her gem was still a bright violet. She didn't even need to use any grief seeds that night so, for the first time in a long time, she had a surplus of them. She could stop hunting for a week and still have enough to sustain herself.
Of course, she'd still continue the hunt that night. There was still one witch alive and witches left to their own devices would devour more humans and grow in power. Granted, the city of Vale was large and dense enough to support multiple magical girls. Another girl was bound to find and kill it before it got too strong.
It was in Blake's territory, though. If anyone was going to kill that witch, she would be the one to do it. She wouldn't let it happen any other way.
Besides. The night was still young—just reaching midnight. She knew she couldn't sleep quite yet.
Blake landed, light as a feather, atop a streetlight near the edge of her territory. The halogen lamps aimed towards the ground did very little to light her form in the darkness. It helped that her magical girl outfit—tightly fit black robes which she affectionately called her shadow garb—absorbed light in a way that made her almost impossible to see at night.
She touched the soul gem on the base of her neck, hidden by her scarf. She could feel that the witch was close. Its signature was still faint but it was the strongest she'd felt since she found it at the start of her hunt. It wasn't quite strong enough to pinpoint the exact location but she knew it was within a block away. She just needed to scour the entire area for the entrance.
She released a deep sigh, producing an eerie hiss as air passed through the veins of her intricate ivory mask.
As good a night it had been, it just had to be ruined by tedium.
Blake jumped to a rooftop and began the toilsome task of finding the labyrinth entrance. This entailed walking slowly and watching her soul gem's pulse for even the smallest change in tempo and intensity. Riveting, she thought glumly.
As she did so, she felt Ruby's presence once more.
"Back off," Blake broadcasted with a snarl, both mentally and by baring her teeth under her mask. "This is my prey."
Ruby seemed completely unperturbed by Blake's threatening demeanor and greeted her cheerfully. "Evening, Blake. If you're looking for that witch with the really weak magic signature, I think I can help you."
Blake stopped walking across the roof and turned to where she felt Ruby's presence. Atop the roof of a building across the street was Ruby who waved at her with a smile. Blake felt the scowl on her face soften.
"I tracked that witch to an apartment building parking lot. I was gonna fight it but it was in your territory so I decided to let you handle it."
Blake slowly shook her head. "Unbelievable," she breathed, actually saying those words aloud. "Ruby, if you weren't as strong as you are, you'd have been killed within your first week. Letting go of your prey and letting other people hunt in your territory? That's not how things work. You're supposed to do what you must to survive. Not… whatever it is you think you're doing… You're too nice, Ruby…"
Ruby regarded Blake for a moment and chuckled. "You're not wrong," she admitted. "At the same time, though, magical girls run on morale. A little compassion and optimism can't hurt, right? Every bit of positive emotion goes a long way."
Blake shifted her weight, unsure of how to respond. Blake wasn't wrong… But Ruby wasn't wrong either…
A moment of silence passed.
"Well, I've taken up enough of your time. I'll let you get back to what you were doing." Ruby turned away and dissolved into white and red rose petals that slowly drifted off in the night breeze. "Good hunting, Blake."
Their connection severed, leaving Blake alone to ponder in darkness.
"What a strange girl," she muttered.
Blake cleared her mind of Ruby's philosophical rambling and set out for the witch.
The parking lot that Ruby had told her of was exactly one block west of her and was surrounded by three-story buildings from all sides. It was barely large enough to fit all the cars of the ground floor residents, let alone those of the residents of entire apartment building. Only one or two residents opted to keep their cars in the lot as opposed to the basement parking garage. Thus, many of the other residents use the outdoor parking lot as recreational space.
Blake snorted in annoyance as the details came rushing back. The only reason she knew any of those details at all was because she once lived in said apartment building. She could still remember what it was like living there—noisy and chaotic. She had always hated it.
Less than ten seconds later, Blake landed on one of the buildings overlooking the parking lot and clicked her tongue. She could feel that the witch's labyrinth was there but it was already collapsing. Someone had killed it before she arrived.
Whoever this is hunting in my territory doesn't know her place. Blake set one hand resting on the handle of the wakizashi sheathed on her belt. I'll need to correct that…
Reality blurred and rippled for just a second as the labyrinth collapsed completely. A small black spec slowly floated down to the ground in front of a girl in a white dress and jacket, holding her arm out to catch it.
Blake stared intensely at girl in white, taking in as many details as she could.
The girl was probably half a head shorter than Blake. Her waist long hair was tied in an asymmetrical ponytail to the right of her head. Across her forehead, just above her brow, was a metal tiara inset with a pale blue jewel in the middle. She wielded a sword with an extremely thin blade and a cup guard that flared out into four points—a rapier or estoc? Interestingly, she held the weapon with her left hand.
The girl in white's soul gem was clearly visible so there was no worry of accidentally hitting the gem and killing her. The weapon she used was longer than Blake's wakizashi so she'd need to keep very close to stay on even footing—and perhaps take advantage of the white magical girl's hair length whenever she was within arm's reach. But she was also smaller than Blake which meant she had an advantage at close range.
Depending on the white fencer's experience with fighting other magical girls, their battle could go in anyone's favor.
Blake felt a razor thin smile on her lips as she unsheathed her sword.
"You!" Blake called to the girl who had just caught the falling grief seed. Said girl looked up at Blake, wide eyed. "What do you think you're doing, hunting in my territory!?"
The girl in white stared, mouth agape, panic and adrenaline obvious in her eyes. Then a magic circle with a snowflake glyph appeared under her feet and she shot into the sky like a bullet.
Blake immediately jumped after her, sensing the girl use magic to course-correct her flight path away from Blake. She was quickly putting distance between the two of them.
This didn't matter, though. Blake had already used her illusion powers to cast a veil of darkness across a ninety degree cone, extending two hundred feet in front of her. The girl in white could see nothing around her as she soared through the air. She gracelessly slammed into the side of a building, falling into an alleyway.
Blake followed, dropping into the alley, already adjusting her magic darkness to only fill the space between the two entrances. The girl was already up with her rapier held ready, eyes closed and face tense. The moment Blake's boots hit the ground, the fencer attacked.
Blake was forced to deflect a lunging stab with the blade of her wakizashi. The sound of clashing steel rang in her ears as the tip of girl in white's sword flew past her face, just barely grazing her cheek.
Even in complete darkness, she was able to sense Blake with such accuracy?
Blake was not given time to ponder this as the girl in white followed up with a series of stabs, each consecutive thrust arriving faster than the previous one. Blake had nimbly ducked under the first thrust and stepped to the side for the second, but the next few arrived quickly enough that she had to back away to dodge any of them. Once again, she had received a number of grazed hits.
She was better than Blake expected, though not quite good enough.
The girl finished her series of quick stabs with one strong stab which Blake sidestepped, grabbing the girl's throat and throwing her against the wall. Blake then stabbed her wakizashi into the girl's left forearm, the two-foot katana blade easily slitting between her ulna and radius bones. She cried out in pain as she was pinned to the wall.
For the first time, Blake was able to get a good look at the girl's face, which was pale and beautifully smooth. The only thing marring it was a deep scar across her left eye which was shut tightly. The other eye stared deliriously at Blake, colored the same blue of her soul gem. A slow build up of tears streamed down her cheeks.
"What is your name?" Blake asked, deathly calm. The girl in white groaned, alternating between clutching her impaled arm and clutching the hand pressed against her throat.
Blake frowned under her mask and tilted her head slightly. She twisted her sword by a few degrees.
The girl screamed again, losing her grip on her rapier which clattered to the ground.
"Your name," Blake repeated.
"Weiss!" the girl in white gasped. "Weiss Schnee!"
"Weiss Schnee. Pleasure to meet you," Blake said flatly. "My name is Blake. I've never heard of you before so I'm assuming you're new. And because you're new, I'm not gonna kill you for hunting in my territory."
"I didn't… know," Weiss said through her grit teeth.
"No. You didn't," Blake agreed. "My territory is a five square mile rectangle. One corner is Dusk Towers. The other corner is the VNN studio building. If you don't know where those places are then figure it out."
She punctuated those last words by releasing Weiss' neck and pulling out her wakizashi. Weiss screamed once more and fell to her knees, holding her injured arm against her chest and soaking her white dress in red. Blake took a step back.
"You didn't know so I didn't kill you." She flicked the blood off sword and sheathed it. "But now you do know. And the next time I catch you hunting in my territory, I will make sure you never will again. Do you understand?"
Weiss sobbed. "Y-yes…"
Blake nodded and started walking away, lifting her veil of darkness. "You can keep the grief seed. Use it to heal your injuries. Make sure I don't see you here again."
With that, Blake left Weiss crying in the alley, bloodied and defeated.
…
It was another routine patrol for Blake that night and it had been relatively uneventful. In fact, all of her patrols had been uneventful since that night she had found three witches and fought that fledgling fencer, Weiss. It had been four days since then.
Blake didn't necessarily mind the few days of respite—after all, she still had plenty of magic to spare—but if a witch didn't spawn in her territory soon, she'd need to start hunting less ideal locations.
Blake landed on the roof of the Dusk Towers complex, surveying the surrounding area. She noted how, a block away, the lights were still turned on in the apartment above the bookstore she worked at. Quietly, she wondered what Tukson could be doing so late at night.
She then shook her head. She was out on patrol and needed to focus.
Kneeling down, she closed her eyes and touched her soul gem, sensing the magic around her. There was a small trace of witch magic nearby. It could be another runt whose magic was naturally weak or a witch from very far away. Based on the direction her soul gem seemed to be pointing towards, the current case was likely the latter. The chance was high for her to be sensing a witch residing deep in the warehouse district.
Blake clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. The warehouse district was dubbed 'neutral territory' due to how no one wanted to claim it as their own. It was justified in that so few witches spawned there. The time investment of patrolling and defending the territory did not match the reward. As a result, any witches that did spawn were usually heavily contested by rival magical girls from the surrounding territories.
Without any hesitation, Blake bounded towards the witch.
Speaking truthfully, Blake wasn't worried about rivals. She had been hunting in Vale for close to six years and had spent all that time fighting to stay on top of the food-chain. She knew how to put other girls in their place and they knew to keep clear of her.
Well… most of them did…
There were some outliers of course—people who were powerful enough to stand as Blake's equal.
Up until a month ago, one of them had been Yang Xiao Long, a formidable blonde bruiser who Blake could never catch off guard. Blake had always liked Yang. She was straightforward and headstrong. She also never hunted in Blake's territory. Blake very much appreciated the respect she got from Yang.
There was also Ruby Rose who had taken over Yang's territory after Yang mysteriously disappeared. Blake wasn't sure what to think about Ruby. Blake could never quite pinpoint what her powers were—just that they involved ghosts and illusions somehow. At least Ruby wasn't a threat, though—too nice for her own good.
Then there were the girls who tested themselves against her because they were either ignorant, stubborn, or just plain stupid. Blake always hated them. Despite how skilled she was at killing other magical girls, it was not something she liked doing. It always felt like a waste of a life. If only they did the smart thing and stayed away from her.
Blake's thoughts inevitably went back to Weiss Schnee, the girl she had almost killed the other day.
Weiss was new. Not new in that she was newly contracted—though that likely was the case—but new in that she was new to Vale.
Kyubey had set up a system for Vale where there would always be barely enough girls to hunt the city clean. Everyone would get their own territory. Anyone extra would either be a replacement for a magical girl who was about to die, a roamer who would eventually leave the city, or someone whose life was on a timer, doomed to fall to despair within a month.
Blake had to wonder… In which of those three categories did Weiss slot into?
She quickly got off that tangent as she reached her destination.
Her boots soundlessly fell atop the roof of a warehouse, completely indistinguishable from the multitude of other warehouses around her. She tapped her foot with impatience as she checked her soul gem once more. The magic trail led her downwards, towards the center of the warehouse.
Nodding, Blake made for a window to enter into. This involved jumping off the edge of the roof and sliding down a wall. Once at a window, she used her wakizashi to cut through the lock mechanism and opened it. She was inside within three seconds.
Blake smiled with a faint bit of satisfaction at how utterly easy it was to break into buildings. All the security in the world couldn't stop a determined magical girl. And even security cameras were useless since any use of magic always caused them to inexplicably lose a few seconds of footage.
Blake's smile immediately vanished when she felt another magic signature enter the warehouse from the front. The ear-splitting groan of the sliding doors was probably audible from a mile away —especially considering how quiet the night was. Quickly, Blake cast a veil across the entire inside of the warehouse, trapping all sound and absorbing all light.
"What do you think you're doing!?" Blake asked dropping to the ground and sprinting to the front entrance. When she saw who it was that had just entered, she immediately rolled her eyes. "Of course it's you."
"Blake?" Weiss Schnee looked vaguely in her direction, raising her rapier pointedly. Blake tilted her head curiously at this. Weiss had fully recovered from the deep wound on her left arm.
Accelerated healing was an extremely common trait among magical girls. To begin with, soul gems already passively increased the rate in which girls heal. An injured girl need only induce the healing deliberately to further increase the rate—though that technique was generally less magic-efficient for girls whose wish did not give them healing magic.
Most newly contracted girls were not aware of this, however. Interesting how Weiss was able to pull it off.
Weiss' face contorted into a snarl. "Stay away from me. We're not in your territory."
Blake shook her head. "No, we're not," she said in agreement. She dismissed her magic darkness. "We're in neutral territory—contested territory. Whoever hunts here must fight for the right to keep the spoils."
Weiss scowled at Blake's words. "You claimed that witch as yours, didn't you?"
"The grief seed it drops can only go to one."
Weiss took a step forward, an aura of killing intent radiating from her. "So I'm gonna have to fight you?"
Blake eyed Weiss with a more wary interest. The fencer showed a defiant ruthlessness that was completely at odds with her behavior during their first clash. Obviously something had changed. Or perhaps she was simply more agitated.
"No. Not yet," Blake said flatly. "Until that witch is dead, we are allies. We work together to kill it." She slowly pushed the tip of Weiss' sword away as she leaned forward. "But once it's dead, you better have some sort of strategy to take me down because I will not yield the grief seed to you."
Weiss wore a look of tempered outrage as she stared intensely at Blake. There was a veritable storm in her pale blue eyes which seemed to glow menacingly. She maintained her gaze for but a moment before she turned away. "Fine," she grumbled, lowering her rapier. "I'll play nice… for now…"
With that begrudging agreement, the two set out to kill the witch.
…
Within minutes, they had found the entrance to the labyrinth and were already slaughtering their way into the witch's chamber.
There was little to note of the labyrinth. It was a dense forest of mangled trees and twisted metal spires, all seemingly drawn with chalk on a blackboard. Visibility was limited. Very little light filtered down from the canopy above and their view was blocked by the trees and the hanging vines. Hiding among these vines were the witch's snake familiars, serpentine creatures vaguely drawn in the same chalky style as the rest of the labyrinth.
Blake had seen similar and more impressive labyrinths before. The forest held her interest only as far as the hazards it presented. Weiss Schnee, on the other hand, held Blake's attention far better.
From what Blake surmised based on observation, Weiss' magic involved some sort of telekinesis. She would summon snowflake glyphs around objects and launch them at targets, crush them, or perform some other telekinetic feat. The glaring weakness of her power was how obviously telegraphed it was. The glyph was a dead giveaway that she was about to do something. Any experienced fighter would most definitely be able to take advantage of that.
"Schnee, get ready," Blake said upon slicing a snake familiar in half. Weiss looked at her quizzically. Blake only spared her a glance as she crouched down. "She's coming."
As expected, there was a rush of air as the labyrinth started folding in on itself. The witch was done waiting. It was bringing the fight to them.
When the roar of the wind stopped, they found themselves amidst a large clearing. The night sky above was starless, showing only a shattered moon.
"Oh my god," Weiss breathed. Blake did not share Weiss' shock.
Before them was a large coiled snake with green scales that glittered like emeralds. In place of a head was a hand with eight fingers and covered with eyes. They stared ever stoically at them, seeming to dart between Blake and Weiss randomly.
"Scatter!" Blake ordered, already bounding away. Weiss heard her, loud and clear, and jumped in the opposite direction.
The coiled snake shot forward and struck the ground where Weiss and Blake once stood, imprinting the shape of its eight fingered hand into the earth. Right as it did so, its scales flashed and rippled before becoming completely invisible.
Weiss looked baffled at the witch's disappearance for a moment before something slammed into her and threw her halfway across the clearing. A similar force shoved Blake into a tree, knocking her arm out of its socket.
Blake cursed under her breath in pain. With a surge of magic, she snapped her dislocated shoulder back into place.
She didn't expect it to turn invisible. Though, she could probably use that to her advantage. Witches with illusion powers usually interfered with Blake's own illusion powers. Thankfully, the interference went both ways…
"I'm gonna reveal the witch! Pin it down!"
Hoping that Weiss understood what Blake meant, she sent out a wave of darkness that radiated from her location. The shadows abruptly stopped and dissolved when it touched the witch. Said witch's illusionary camouflage also dissolved, leaving it visible for a moment.
Weiss threw a hand to summon a glyph underneath the witch but was too slow. The witch had sprung away the moment it had been revealed. A second later, its invisibility returned.
Blake growled in annoyance. The witch was moving far too quickly for something that didn't have legs. She sent out another wave of darkness. "Keep trying!"
The two repeated the action three more times before they successfully pinned the witch. The moment they did, both Blake and Weiss jumped in and stabbed it.
The witch convulsed violently from the two swords impaling it, black blood spraying from its wounds. Muffled and distorted screams echoed through both Blake and Weiss' minds as it continued to struggle.
Weiss looked at Blake, face strained with effort as she kept her rapier firmly planted into the witch's body. It seemed to be forcibly sliding the swords out of its wounds somehow. "What do we do!? It's not dying!"
"Yes it is! Stab harder!"
Blake held her sword with both hands and dragged it along the length of the witch's body. There was another loud scream from the witch as it thrashed with even greater vigor. More blood sprayed from out of it. Noticing the witch's reaction, Weiss also began twisting her rapier wildly around the stab wound, leaving similarly brutal cuts.
The witch convulsed for a several seconds longer before it let out the loudest, most desperate, scream yet and went limp. With a distant rumbling, the labyrinth began collapsing.
The two stood and walked away from each other as the blood soaking their clothes evaporated along with the witch corpse before them. The forest of chalk rippled, warped, and faded away, once again returning them to reality.
A moment of silence passed wherein Blake and Weiss merely stared at each other and the grief seed on the ground between them.
Weiss raised her rapier. "It's done."
Blake felt herself smile under her mask. "Yes, the truce is off. Do you plan on fighting me for the grief seed?"
Weiss smiled as well. "What do you think?" she asked dryly.
Blake dropped down and swept her legs in front of her, kicking the grief seed away. As she did so, she sent out another wave darkness to fill the entire warehouse… which quickly receded to a mere twenty feet as soon as she called it forth. A glyph had suddenly appeared directly under her and pulled her to the ground with crushing force. Her concentration faltered and the magic darkness dissolved completely.
She looked up and was faced with the tip of Weiss' rapier. "Tell me, Blake, how does it feel to be pinned down at sword point?"
Blake allowed herself a moment to take a deep breath before answering.
"I'm a bit surprised," she admitted. "I won't lie, you've gotten better."
Figures of darkness crawled out of the shadows and clung to Weiss from behind.
"But better is not nearly good enough."
With a yelp, Weiss attempted to shake the dark figures off. "What are these things!? I thought your powers were illusions!" The shadows wrestled the rapier from out of her hands.
"Illusions, yes." With some effort, Blake pushed herself back to her feet, counteracting Weiss' glyph through sheer will power. "But what difference does it make when your target believes it's reality?"
Understanding dawned in Weiss eyes and Blake smiled sharply.
"Do you get it, Schnee?"
Weiss glared at her even as the shadowy figure produced blades and pressed them against Weiss' neck. "Yes. I get it… It's not just illusionary darkness, is it? You must have several more tricks you've yet to use on me."
Blake nodded. "And as long as you know your place, you'll never see them. I don't want to kill you, Weiss Schnee."
"Yeah. I noticed," Weiss said dryly, dismissing the glyph under Blake's feet. "I can tell you've been holding back. Last time, you stabbed my arm to keep me from fighting."
"It was a necessary show of force."
The side of Weiss' lips twitched. "Yeah?. So is this."
The glyph on the floor disappeared, a different one replacing it—a much larger one that glowed an ominous red. Blake went wide eyed and jumped away on instinct right before a searing heat turned her world white.
The next thing Blake knew, she was lying under a heap of rubble with half-healed burns across her skin. The warehouse was in shambles around her, aisles and aisles of merchandise knocked over and set ablaze. There was not a trace of magic left. Weiss and the grief seed were long gone. All that was left was Blake and the aftermath of that red glyph that exploded.
It occured to Blake that perhaps Weiss Schnee was not a telekinetic. Last Blake checked, telekinetics couldn't summon fiery explosions. But if Weiss was not telekinetic then what was her power? What magic allowed her to use abilities so similar to telekinesis and also create shockwaves of heat?
Blake shelved the topic for later. Post-battle analysis could come after she was safe in her own territory. She was lucky to be alive in the first place. No use endangering herself further by staying.
With a groan, she slipped out of the rubble and looked for an exit. She could hear the fire department's sirens in the distance. She needed to leave the scene as quickly as possible.
The windows were still a good option despite the smoke rising to the ceiling. She was a magical girl so she could just ignore the lack of breathable air.
Taking a step back, she broke into a run and bounded out of the warehouse.
…
Another four days had passed since Blake's defeat against Weiss. In that time, Blake had reevaluated how she would go about dealing with Weiss should they ever cross paths again.
Between allowing Weiss make the first move, revealing her shadow clones, and getting knocked out by an explosion, Blake had performed so pathetically that it felt insulting to herself just thinking about it. The moment the witch died, she should have immediately incapacitated Weiss. Had she been less careless, that would have been exactly what she did.
If anything good came from that defeat, it was that Blake was no longer working under false assumptions. That Weiss' magic was extremely well-telegraphed telekinesis; that the skill gap between herself and Weiss was large enough to trivialize the fight; that Weiss would be at all intimidated by her shadow clones—these were assumptions that proved undeniably false. They were the reason Blake lost. She could no longer underestimate the fencer lest she be defeated again. Or worse.
Blake's eyes refocused as she landed atop a streetlight, suddenly realizing that her mind had wandered while out on patrol. Internally, she scolded herself and tried to regain her bearings.
She was on the "fringes" of Ruby's territory and her own. Specifically, she was in the middle of an awkward city block that didn't neatly fit into a grid pattern like the rest of Ruby and Blake's territory. The collection of buildings had always been a bit of an uncomfortable place for Blake and whoever happened to own the territory next door. Negotiations over ownership was almost always annoyingly long. She was thankful that Ruby—and before her, Yang—was quick to compromise.
The current agreement was that it was shared neutral territory between the two of them. Both Blake and Ruby could freely hunt the shared territory as long as they stayed out of each other's way.
That agreement came with its own problems, though.
Blake growled in annoyance as she watched a magical girl talking animatedly into her phone, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She then noticed the dark masked figure of Blake staring at her and quickly moved far far away.
Blake grunted and bounded to a nearby rooftop.
Ruby's territory was open for any magical girl to hunt in. This meant that they were also open to hunt in part of Blake's territory since she shared ownership of that part of the city with Ruby. It did not sit well with Blake at all.
It also made Blake wonder why they were hunting there in the first place. Ruby's territory wasn't terribly large—barely large enough for Ruby herself. With how powerful Ruby was, she was probably hunting it clean every night. It couldn't possibly sustain as many girls freely coming and going as it currently was. It just didn't make sense.
Blake walked to the edge of her current rooftop and jumped to the building across the street.
At the same time, though, more magical girls circulating through an area meant more magical residue would build up over time. Many of the weaker witches would hide in the presence of a stronger witch since their faint magic signature would be masked by the other. By saturating a territory with magic, weaker witches and the familiars of fallen witches were more likely to settle down and hide in the noise where they'd be more difficult to find.
To this, Blake frowned.
The puzzling dilemma of Ruby's territory reeked of incubator involvement. It was likely that this whole debacle was another experiment to increase grief seed harvesting efficiency. Last time they tried one in Vale was years ago, when Blake was still newly contracted. It was how the current system was established, in fact. If they were truly experimenting with a new harvesting scheme, Blake may very well have to give up her territory and the safety it provided. It was an unpleasant thought to entertain.
Blake quickly shelved that thought when she felt a sudden pulse of magic. It was distinct, familiar, and so incredibly concentrated that it made her skin crawl. She looked up and saw waves of malevolent energy rolling across the sky. In her mind, she could hear a distant unholy chorus, screaming to the world.
A magical girl had fallen to despair and turned into a witch.
It was close by—just a little ways into Ruby's territory. It was also powerful. No doubt every magical girl on Blake's side of Vale had felt that pulse.
She grit her teeth.
Normally, she would wait a day or two before killing witches spawned from a magical girl succumbing to grief. They were markedly more aggressive and powerful during the initial hours following their birth—at least compared to witches birthed from saturated grief seeds. Blake would rather the witch expend that extra power during its tantrums and fight it when it was weakened and needed to feed.
She couldn't do that now, though. There had to be at least half-a-dozen girls already booking it for the witch. One magical girl on her own might not be able to take it out but multiple girls together could easily do so. And once the witch was dead, they'd inevitably start fighting over the spoils. Blake did not want to get caught in that. She needed to kill the witch herself before all of them got there.
She let out a deep breath. "Ruby probably won't mind."
With a magic augmented leap, she made for the witch's location.
…
When Blake found the labyrinth, someone had already started fighting it. The entrance was flashing and distorting, with the distant sounds of explosions and clashing metal emanating from within. Blake had no qualms about stealing kills within what was effectively neutral territory so she did not hesitate. She took a step into the witch labyrinth and allowed her surroundings change before her eyes.
What was once an alley filled with trash was now a great hallway filled with angular stone pillars. Said pillars were colored a deep, light-absorbing red, with golden glowing runes etched into them. The glow seemed to periodically pulsate in its intensity, like a slow heartbeat. The walls and floor were black marble, polished so clean that Blake could see her own reflection—a reflection that waved at her even though she wasn't moving. It didn't attack but it was disconcerting. Up above was an intricate network of walkways and stairs made of marble and glass, some of them looked precariously thin and steep. The ceiling rose far into the distance with ornately designed chandeliers hanging from it. The candlelight barely reached the floor.
Hot, Blake noted as she ran in the direction her soul gem was pointing her towards. In fact, subtle as it may have been, it actually seemed to be getting slightly hotter as she ventured deeper into the labyrinth—hotter and drier.
Blake scowled at this. Hot and dry environments were indicators that the witch used fire-based attacks. The labyrinth being decorated in reds, yellows, and blacks also heavily suggested so. It was likely she'd be facing a fire witch.
Wonderful, she thought dryly.
She did not enjoy fighting witches with elemental magic. The more powerful ones were capable of countering her illusions by way of simply peppering the battlefield with whatever flavor of elemental-death they could cook up. Not being able to see their target meant nothing. She'd need to be careful.
Blake went wide eyed as a her boot fell atop a red snowflake glyph that appeared before her. It glowed menacingly.
Schnee…!?
She immediately summoned a shadow clone to body-block the resulting explosion. The shockwave was still enough to send her tumbling about like a ragdoll. She rolled helplessly for several feet but managed to correct herself and stagger into a run. She felt the intense heat searing her skin.
Blake knew Weiss Schnee couldn't have been the same girl who was fighting the witch—the witch's chamber was still much deeper into the labyrinth. That meant her objective was already impossible to accomplish. Even in the unlikely event that the witch was still alive by the time she defeated Weiss, Blake would have expended too much magic trying to take Weiss down. The logical action would be to just cut her losses and run before any other magical girls arrived.
Assuming Weiss let her go.
Another explosive glyph appeared under her feet. Again, Blake summoned a shadow clone to shield herself. She recovered faster than before, though the force of the blast still left her movements ragged.
Blake was not hopeful for her escape.
A third and forth explosion came in quick succession that Blake dealt with in the same manner as the last.
Blake had quickly realized that she was at a massive disadvantage. Not only did she have no idea where her enemy was attacking her from, she was also expending too much magic trying to mitigate and repair the damage from the explosions. Blake couldn't dodge forever and it was only a matter of time before Weiss realized that she could just blanket the ground indiscriminately with red glyphs.
Blake needed to find where Weiss was and fight her in close quarters. Once she knew where to look, getting to Weiss would be easy. The problem was the labyrinth's magic saturation causing too much interference—she couldn't detect Weiss' signature. Blake needed to make use of a slightly unorthodox method of finding her.
Once again, Blake dodged out of an explosion, her ears still ringing and her burned skin still stinging. She snarled, suppressing her pain.
Blake then sent out a mental probe in all directions, brushing against a mind that recoiled on contact. She bared her teeth in a sharp smile under her mask at this. In the split second before she cut the connection, she felt Weiss' jolt of panic through their mental link. She had found her target and her target was scared—as she should be.
Weiss called several glyphs around Blake, perhaps as a desperation move. It wouldn't be enough though. Blake shrugged off the blasts and bounded for Weiss' location, casting her illusions as she did so.
A sphere of darkness materialized where Weiss was standing, atop a walkway Blake had ran under just a minute prior. Blake had made the sphere large enough that the only way she'd get out was to give up the high ground and drop to a lower walkway that Blake had easier access to.
A glyph exploded several feet behind Blake as she bounded up the network of walkways to her target. Weiss was disoriented, as Blake expected.
In an obvious act of desperation, Weiss began casting glyphs randomly in hopes of catching Blake in the chaos. To her credit, the tactic had merit—a few of them came dangerously close to hitting their mark.
It was futile, though. The sphere of darkness Blake had shrouded around Weiss was already within eyeshot. It took but a moment to climb to the walkway Weiss was standing on and dive into the shadows. Blake's hand was already raised for a magic augmented palm-slam to the forehead. One hit on the tiara on Weiss' head and her soul gem would shatter.
"Hey!"
There was a cold rush of petals and Blake suddenly found herself back in Vale, dropped hard onto the roof of a building overlooking the labyrinth entrance. Weiss was lying on roof of a building on other side of the alley, looking to have been similarly dropped. How did—?
"You two need to chill the hell out!"
Blake winced and rolled to a crouching stance. "Ruby Rose," she growled.
Standing atop the water tower on Weiss' rooftop was Ruby Rose, her white and red cloak billowing wispily in the wind. In her hands was the eerie glowing sickle that was her weapon. Blake felt a chill run down her spine just looking at it.
"My territory, my rules. No one's allowed to kill each other here." Ruby gave Blake a hard stare. "You should know this already, Blake. We're supposed to respect each other's rules."
"I was defending myself," Blake said flatly. "If I'm left with no other choice but to kill or be killed, I'm going to kill."
"Still, Blake. You—"
Ruby was cut off by a sudden flash. Weiss had stood back up and summoned a glyph under her feet, bathing the rooftops with harsh white light.
"I gave you no choice?" Weiss laughed bitterly. "Who do you think you're fooling!? Every time we've crossed paths, you've tried to kill me!"
Blake tensed, hand on her wakizashi, ready to jump into action the instant Weiss attacked. She spoke slowly and warily so as to not provoke. "And yet you're still not dead yet. I don't want to kill you, Schnee. I never wanted to kill you."
"LIES!" Weiss spat, stomping forward and raising her sword. "Lies, Belladonna! If I ever let my guard down, you will kill me! DO NOT LIE TO ME! DO NOT LIE TO HER!"
"Uhh…" Ruby shifted her weight nervously. "I'm not sure how to tell you this but, based on experience, what Blake said is kinda true…"
Weiss face contorted with righteous fury. "If everyone chooses to go against me, then so be it!" Her sword began radiating a brilliant light, an incredible amount of magic being channeled through it—enough to cause the air to thrum and crackle with power.
An attack was coming. Blake did not know if Weiss even had a technique that could use that much energy but she knew that any technique of such magnitude could kill all three of them—Weiss from expending too much magic; Blake and Ruby from getting caught in it. Blake needed to stop her somehow—
"Sleep," Ruby cut in, teleporting behind Weiss and phasing a hand through Weiss' head. The white fencer went limp and fell into Ruby's arms. Seconds later, another white flash transformed Weiss out of her magical attire.
Ruby slowly laid Weiss back down onto the roof, touching a grief seed onto Weiss' soul gem.
"You're helping her?" Blake growled, tilting her head slowly. "After that little tantrum of hers? She could've killed us."
Ruby then checked Weiss' pulse and breathing. She did not look up as she replied. "She's scared, Blake. Of course I'm helping her."
Blake regarded those words for a moment before, standing up, relaxing slightly. "With the way she acts, she's going to die soon—and it might not even be me who kills her. You do realize that, right?"
"Yeah… I know… That doesn't mean I won't help…"
Ruby looked up, staring meaningfully at Blake. "You need to stop fighting her."
Blake turned away, releasing her grip on her sword and letting it fall back into its sheath. "I'll keep away from her if she does the same to me. The only reason we've fought so far is because she was in my way."
"She can avoid your territory like the plague but who's to say you won't still meet again? There are some nights you hunt in neutral territory. What happens if you meet then?" Ruby stood and tossed Blake the grief seed which Blake caught. "The next time you fight and I'm not there to break it up, one of you won't survive. Are the issues between the two of you really worth dying over?"
Blake pursed her lips as she looked at the grief seed in her hands, writhing with dark energy but still far from fully-saturated. "We give up our souls to live and die for our wishes. Those who die will fuel the wishes of those who live. Such a death is our kind's fate—mine, yours, Schnee's… All magical girls'… There's no going against it… but by no means will I allow myself to die while my gem still shines." She tossed the grief seed back. "This is your kill. Keep it."
Ruby pocketed the grief seed and sighed. "You always make it seem like we're not allowed to help each other…"
Blake averted her eyes.
"I like you, Blake," Ruby said flatly. "I don't want you to die." She scooped up the unconscious fencer in her arms. "I don't want this Schnee girl to die either… Every death of ours that I witness is a memory that's burned into my soul… I don't want to have to remember… but I will… because no one else would remember us otherwise."
Blake scowled. "You don't have to do that, you know? You don't need to carry that burden."
"I want to, though. They deserve it—especially the ones I had to kill myself." Ruby chuckled and turned her back to Blake. Blake couldn't help but notice the pained roughness in Ruby's laugh. "And besides… I don't really have a choice. It's something I wished for, after all…"
With those final foreboding words, Ruby and Weiss blinked out of sight in a rush of rose petals, leaving Blake to stare quietly at the spot where the reaper once stood.
…
In the month since Blake and Weiss' last battle, they had encountered each other five times. Blake would see Weiss stalking along the street that served as the border between Blake's and Ruby's territory. Blake never attacked but always made sure Weiss could sense her watching. She'd usually be crouching atop a lamp post or other high structure, masked face staring menacingly down at the fencer. Weiss would always stop and stare back with wary eyes. Neither made any attempt to instigate another fight. After a silent exchange of glares, Weiss would resume walking, no doubt following the magic trail of a nearby witch. Blake would then resume her own hunt.
It was concerning, the fact that Weiss was still alive but did not control her own territory. The way the incubators had set up Vale simply did not allow such a thing to occur. The combination of scarce spawn rates for witches and the competitive culture the incubators had fostered made it nigh impossible for newcomers like Weiss to maintain a place on the city's food chain without replacing someone else. None of the other girls in the neighboring territories seemed to have any news of recent deaths among the veterans. At the same time, the density and frequency of witch spawns did not seem higher than normal. That meant that either those rats really were experimenting with a new grief harvesting scheme or Weiss was overdue for departure. Neither option appealed to Blake.
She shook her head free of those thoughts. It would be just an hour before she began her nightly patrols through her territory and her mind was already wandering. She took pride in the fact that she could maintain a job even though she was a magical girl. She needed to focus, else lose that point of pride.
"Blake, you can head out early if you want. I can tell you're distracted."
From the bookstore counter, Blake winced as her boss addressed her. She had hoped he wouldn't notice—he always did but she still hoped all the same. "I can finish my shift," she said quickly.
Tukson chuckled. "You don't need to act like that. We're probably not gonna get any more customers tonight anyway. It's Friday and I can tell you have plans. A young woman like you should enjoy her weekend. Let an old timer like me deal with locking up. Don't worry about today's pay."
Blake pursed her lips. Enjoying her weekend might not be possible considering she was a magical girl, but he was right in that she had plans. She had felt a witch's labyrinth appear near the edge of her territory just as her lunch break had ended earlier. She had been itching to kill it for hours. An early dismissal was just the opportunity she was waiting for.
"Thank you, Tukson."
Minutes later, she exited the store with her bag in tow. Already, she could feel the witch from the alley, two blocks away, beckoning her into its labyrinth. She jumped up to a nearby fire-escape to hide her bag and then bounded for the labyrinth entrance.
Thus began that night's hunt.
…
It was a few minutes past midnight when Blake encountered Ruby for the first time since she broke up the fight between Blake and Weiss. Had their encounter now had been any other circumstance, Blake would have actually been pleased to see the reaper. Alas, Ruby was standing alone in an alley, deep within Blake's territory. A grief seed lay at her feet from the witch she had apparently just defeated.
Blake dropped to the ground in front of Ruby. Her wakizashi gleamed, reflecting what little moonlight filtered down from the gap between the buildings. She was ready to strike at a moment's notice.
"Start talking, Ruby," Blake growled. "Neither of us wants this to end in a fight. Why are you here?"
Ruby smiled nervously, taking a step back as she raised her scythe defensively. "You know, it doesn't have to turn into a fight," she suggested helpfully.
Blake bared her teeth under her mask. "Talk."
Ruby flinched at this and very quickly began explaining. "You know how witch labyrinths sometimes change location while you're inside of them? It's basically that."
Blake tilted her head in response. "You're two miles away from your territory."
"So were you when we first met." Ruby countered. "You can keep the grief seed if you want—I've got extra." Her stance lowered, cloak billowing violently against wind that did not blow. "But if you really want to fight me, I can't promise that I won't kill you. My scythe is unwieldy and you're way too good for me to hold back."
Blake shook with barely contained outrage. "Dammit, Ruby, we had a deal! These sorts of agreements are why all the veterans in this city haven't killed each other yet. Do you have any idea what will end up happening if I don't try to kill you now?"
"I do but… I don't really wanna think about that. Can't we burn that bridge when we get to it?"
Blake took a step forward. "I'm sorry, Ruby, but I can't let this go."
Ruby pursed her lips. "Well… I guess I'm sorry too…"
There was an explosion of magic that consumed the entire alley before immediately dissolving into a cloud of particles. Both Blake and Ruby had attempted to cast their illusion magic and it had cancelled each other out. Even as this happened, Blake and Ruby moved in for an attack with their weapons, sparks flying as blades clashed, sending ripples through the specks of light floating in the air. They both recoiled from the impact.
In a moment of clarity, as her sword rang in her hands, Blake noticed a number of things wrong. Ruby's mannerisms were slightly different. The way she carried herself did not have the same weight. The chilling aura that surrounded Ruby whenever she had her cloak up and her weapon out was barely noticeable. But most of all, Ruby had started the fight with an attempted killing blow.
During this realization, Blake righted herself and rushed forward with a magic-augmented hand toward the rose-shaped gem pinning Ruby's cloak to her shoulders. She was able to reach the reaper without much effort. The moment her fingers were around the jeweled rose, she clenched her fist, breaking the gem.
Ruby limply slumped forward into Blake. Had she actually been a magical girl, she would have de-transformed after a few seconds. Instead, Ruby giggled ominously. "Smart girl," she whispered into Blake's ear. "But that's not enough."
A fist shot up and hit Blake square in the jaw, sending her reeling. As she stumbled back, Ruby began swinging her scythe wide and wild, completely disregarding the hindrance posed by the walls on either side of them. This allowed Blake time to regain her balance well enough to dodge most of the swings. She got out with damage mostly to her clothing—damage that would repair itself as soon enough anyway.
There was one particularly deep gash on her shoulder, however. It had severed the muscles that moved her arm. She could still wield her wakizashi just fine but the use of her other limb would be limited to flailing until she spent the time and magic to heal herself.
The inside of Blake's mask felt hazy as she numbed the pain she felt in her shoulder. She glared at Ruby, ignoring the haziness. No. Not Ruby, she then corrected grimly. She once again raised her sword, ready for another strike. What's in front of me is a witch or familiar. Somehow it got the drop on me. Think, Blake. How did you get in this situation?
The faux-Ruby once again attacked, though none of the swings connected this time. Blake kept close to her opponent, well past the ideal striking range for the scythe faux-Ruby was using. This allowed Blake to deliver several cuts that should have been crippling or downright lethal had her opponent been actually human.
Eventually, faux-Ruby was so cut-up that she couldn't move anymore. Shortly after, her mutilated form turned gray and shrivelled up into a dried-up husk. Blake nudged the husk with her boot and it disintegrated, turning into so much a pile of dust. So too did the alleyway around her.
…
Blake jolted upright, eyes darting around as she took in as much of the scene before her as possible.
She was untransformed, spread out on a lumpy bed. Atop the bedside table was her soul gem, darkened significantly but still glowing well enough. The room she was in was dimly lit and had no doors or windows. A patchwork of black and grey pattern wallpaper was pasted haphazardly onto the walls. Piles of dust sat still and unmoving on the tiled floor around her bed.
She didn't need to be told where she was.
It must be a dream eater, Blake thought numbly as she wobbled out of the bed.
The last thing she remembered was stepping into the labyrinth. Next thing she knew, she was fighting Ruby in an alley. The witch must have had her under from the moment she entered. Careless of her, really.
She shook her head. She had time to lament her mistakes later. With a surge of magic, she transformed, sweeping away the haze from her mind.
Not very far, Blake thought after sending out a pulse from her gem. She detected another magic signature with the witch—probably another magical girl.
Someone's fighting in my territory, Blake thought grimly, putting a hand on one of the walls.
She unsheathed her wakizashi and, with a smooth swing of her arm, slid the edge against the wall. The sword tore through inches of concrete as if it were made of the same thin paper decorating it. She swung again to cut a large patch of wall into a gap she could walk through.
She then pursed her lips. What is she even doing?
The other magical girl was losing.
Blake broke into a run down the halls of what seemed to be a run-down apartment complex.
The other girl had the audacity to hunt in Blake's territory yet let herself fall prey to the very witch she was supposed to hunt? Dream eaters were pitifully weak—weaker than even illusion witches since they required their targets to be asleep just to be able to create their illusions. Anyone with a strong enough mind should be able to resist dream eaters—or at least break free from their illusions in a timely manner. Just how bad could this magical girl be?
Blake flew across the tiled floor in a strange, murderous trance, every step shooting her several feet forward. Whenever one of the witch's familiars, an amorphous, vaguely humanoid construct of sand got in her way, she cut it down without even missing a beat.
What exactly had this other girl's plan been? Did she expect to arrive while Blake was fighting the witch and simply steal the kill? Perhaps she planned to kill Blake and then kill the witch? Or maybe she wanted to kill Blake after killing the witch had tired Blake out? No. Those might have worked if it were any other type of witch but there was little chance with this current one. Once the witch was dead, Blake would have just killed the other girl for her trouble. It had to be some other reason.
As Blake was running down the flight of stairs that led to the witch's chamber, the labyrinth began collapsing around her. What was once a claustrophobic, dilapidated hallway disintegrated into sand and was blown away.
Again, Blake found herself in the alley where the labyrinth entrance once was. Before her was a girl in white, sobbing into her hands, a grief seed planted on the ground in front of her.
Weiss Schnee.
Blake frowned. Of course it was Weiss Schnee. Things couldn't have been easy.
Far toward Weiss' side looked to be a bag of groceries haphazardly—or perhaps hurriedly—dropped. From the looks of things, the fencer was on an errand when she noticed the labyrinth entrance and quickly dropped what she was doing in order to fight the witch.
Blake sheathed her Wakizashi, noting how dark the inset jewel on Weiss' tiara had gotten. Based on how she was still crying uncontrollably, the witch must have forced sleep on her somehow. Whatever the girl saw during her dream must not have been pleasant. At the same time, she might have also been near the edge of despair before she even entered the labyrinth.
Blake's scowl deepened. Things really couldn't have been easy.
"You have a choice, Schnee," she said, turning away from Weiss. "Grab the seed and run or stay here and I kill you. You have ten seconds."
Blake didn't want to kill Weiss—really, she didn't want to kill anyone—but if she was to survive, she needed to maintain control of her territory. Reputation was one of the only things keeping the magical girls of Vale from constantly fighting each other for grief seeds. She needed to be ruthless. She needed to instill fear and caution among her peers. If she couldn't do that…
Blake grit her teeth and snarled. The whole situation was so frustrating. She had agreed not to fight Weiss but here she was in Blake's territory. Blake couldn't not defend her territory. At the same time, Weiss' gem was so dark. Fighting Weiss now wouldn't be an actual fight as so much a mercy kill. If Blake actually wanted Weiss dead, she wouldn't have even hesitated. But a grief seed was right there, though. If Weiss just took it… If she just used it…
A sense of danger overcame Blake's internal struggle, compelling her to duck under a lunging stab from Weiss' rapier.
Sloppy, Blake thought as Weiss stumbled over Blake's crouched form. The grief was dulling Weiss' senses.
As Weiss struggled to stand, Blake stood and picked up the grief seed still planted into the pavement. She presented the seed to the fencer. "Your soul gem is almost completely black, Schnee. You need to take this grief seed."
Weiss lunged once more with her sword which Blake easily sidestepped.
Blake pursed her lips. "Either take this grief seed or let me kill you. I refuse to allow you to turn into a witch."
The next attempt at stabbing Blake was met with a grapple and throw, leaving Weiss pinned to the ground on her stomach, her arm twisted behind her back.
"This is for your own good," Blake said flatly, touching the grief seed against Weiss' soul gem.
Tears resumed streaming down Weiss' cheeks. "Just kill me!" she screamed.
Blake did not reply, simply allowing the grief seed to purge Weiss' soul gem of corruption.
Weiss began thrashing underneath Blake. "I just wanted control of my own life! Why won't you give it to me!? Why won't you just let me die!?"
Blake twisted the arm a bit more and the thrashing became less violent. "What happened? Why do you constantly fling yourself into situations that lead to your death?"
"What does it matter!? Why do you care!? Why does anyone care!? This whole world is against me! Just kill me already!"
"Why do you want to die so badly?"
Only a feral scream escaped Weiss' lips as a white glyph appeared under them. Blake immediately fell atop Weiss, feeling a crushing weight on her back. The grief seed dropped to the ground as she struggled to sit back up.
"Stop… using… magic," Blake groaned. "You're gonna turn into a witch…"
Weiss did not reply and instead increased the power of the white glyph pulling them down.
A sense of desperation fell upon Blake as she realized that, if she did not do something, Weiss would turn into a witch while she was on top of her. With unbelievable effort, Blake stretched her hand toward Weiss' tiara and squeezed.
For the second time that night, she felt a soul gem crack between her fingers.
…
"I guess I should have expected this."
Blake looked up at a white cloak billowing on the rooftop across the street from the one Blake had laid Weiss' body down. She allowed her gaze to linger on Ruby for a moment before looking back down to Weiss.
"What even happened that pushed her that far into despair?" Blake asked, taking a step away from the corpse as Ruby teleported to her side. "She was too far gone. Not even a grief seed was helping her," she added, looking away.
"It's hard to say," Ruby said, kneeling down and brushing a tuft of hair from Weiss' forehead. Her lips quivered. "She was never really open with me. I could tell she had baggage but she never wanted to talk about it."
Blake crossed her arms and shifted her weight. "I didn't want this, Ruby."
Ruby chuckled dryly. "Yeah… I know…"
Blake released a nervous breath as a the air condensed around them into a wispy recreation of Weiss' last struggle before Blake killed her. A chill ran up her spine when the illusions passed through her body and lost coherence. The last action she saw before the illusion dissolved was her apparition pinning Weiss to the ground.
"The strongest memory people have of someone who just died is usually their last one," Ruby whispered, as clear to Blake's ears as the words of death itself. "That one was still fresh in your mind."
Ruby stood and gave Blake a look of concern. "You gonna be okay?"
Blake looked down, shifting her weight once more. She was unsure what the expression on her face was but she was grateful that her mask kept it hidden.
"I'll manage," she eventually answered. "She wasn't the first person I killed. She won't be the last."
Ruby shook her head slowly. "Don't you get tired of it? Of all the killing?"
Blake raised her head to give Ruby a brief look before she turned her back to the reaper. "I've been tired of it for a long time. It could be worse, though. At the very least, this is better than what it was like when I first contracted…"
There was a long silence where Ruby did not reply. During that time, there was only the sound of shuffling fabric and boots hitting concrete. Ruby began walking away.
"I'm taking this body off your hands—maybe find a way to bury her…"
Blake put a hand on her mask, letting her fingers slide down the ivory veins. "A burial for a magical girl?" she asked, her throat feeling dry. "That's a lovely sentiment…"
Ruby hummed in bittersweet amusement. "It'd be nice, wouldn't it? If I make ends meet, you're welcome to come to her funeral."
There was the sound of rustling petals. Without even turning, Blake immediately knew that she was alone on the roof.
Blake gingerly touched the soul gem on her neck. "Yeah," she replied with a sad, cynical smile. "That would be nice…"
…
Blake Belladonna sat quietly behind the cashier desk of a small bookstore in downtown Vale. She was reading an old myth about a woman who murdered her family in order to go travelling the world with a dashing hero but was betrayed by him and left to die on a lonely island. She had given up everything to get what she wanted. She did not receive it. All she received was loss. Loss of dignity. Loss of control. Even the loss of a home to come back to. It was an utter tragedy.
A frown was on Blake's lips as she turned the page. She traced a line across the paper with her fingers, following the wallowing prose of the woman's sorrow. She felt her skin prickle.
"Ruby Rose," Blake growled, looking up at the girl standing in front of the cashier desk.
Ruby gave a small smile and wave before depositing three large text books onto the counter.
As Blake began scanning and bagging the books, Ruby pulled out a handful of bills and started counting them.
"How're you holding up?" Ruby eventually asked, presenting the money to Blake. Her face was carefully neutral.
"Well enough," Blake replied, working cash register and producing change for Ruby. She pursed her lips. "I don't need you to look out for me. I've survived long enough on my own."
Ruby pocketed the change and scooped up the bagged books. "Your ghosts will always haunt you, Blake," she said as she started walking away. "It's about time you stop being afraid of them."
With that, Ruby left the bookstore, leaving Blake to look on in silence. She felt Ruby's presence leave her territory soon after.
Blake's day shift continued without further incident.
End of Chapter