Standing in the Hall of the Ribbon was like standing inside of a dream. Stained glass stretched up, up, high overhead in great panels of red and blue and green and yellow and every other color in between. The bright light of the high, noontime sun blazed through the panes of glass, bouncing off the polished marble floors and onto glittering white limestone walls, then reflecting back up again into the far-away ceiling and its innumerable stars.
On the right, magical girls stretched out hands and weapons and magic, stepping forward to push back demons and scatter darkness. Some stood proud and strong, fighting back to back, heedless of danger, or perhaps accepting it, as part of their lives. Others healed the wounded, the ones that had suffered too grievous an injury, but were determined to fight alongside their sisters in arms. Along the bottom, the youngest girls cast spells and gathered grief cubes, shielded by their elders but doing their best to help.
On the left, magical girls fell to their own darkness, corruption consuming some and others falling with gems shattered. Each shimmering gem fragment glittered in a frozen moment of time, suspended forever until the end of time. Still others lay to the side, bleeding, eyes pained and in agony, as their gems blackened and they awaited death. Along the bottom, the youngest girls wept bitterly in sorrow, unable to help their elders, bereft of grief cubes, and awaiting their own demise as the cold hand of death tightened around them.
"Oi, the line's moving."
Emma snapped out of her daze and muttered an apology, hurrying forward to bridge the gap she'd let appear. The stained glass on the left was haunting and gave her the shivers. She turned away, looking up at the glass on the right again. One of the girls was using a halberd, just like Emma. She was hooking a demon through the chest, pulling it down for the others in her team to bombard with arrows of gleaming, multicolored light.
Maybe she could…
Emma coughed and rubbed at her eyes. Whoever had designed the hall was very good at their job. It was doing a remarkably good job at reminding her just what she was visiting.
"Is this your first time here?" asked the girl behind Emma.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," said Emma, turning. The girl's name was Eliana Cruz and spoke modern Japanese with a Latin American accent.
"I can tell," said Eliana, nodding to herself. She looked mostly Japanese but had something Latin American about her facial and hip structure. "New contractee right? You all have the same look about you when you walk in here."
"Actually, I contracted about a month ago."
"Eh, same difference," said Eliana with a shrug. "You fight in Samsara then?"
"Yeah."
"Tough go of it, that fight."
"It was."
"You get anything out of it?"
"Er," said Emma, taken aback. "What do you mean?"
"Medals, a promotion?"
"Oh, yes, I did," said Emma. "I got promoted and was given a few medals."
"Huh, I see," said Eliana, nodding again. "Good. Congrats."
"Thank you."
They dropped into silence, Emma not entirely sure what has just transpired. But Eliana had been nice enough, she supposed. There was no harm in idle conversation while they waited, though of course now they were silent. Emma found herself looking up at the stained glass again,
"Y'know a friend of mine worked on those," said Eliana. "The girl over there, with the spear? She made that one."
"Don't they have a synth for this sort of thing?"
"Nah, all this is hand-made artisanal," said Eliana. "Besides, s'not like making the thing's the only part of the job. My girlie worked on design and stuff too."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize," said Emma as they shuffled forward again. "It's very nice work. She's very talented, your friend."
"Ah, thanks," said Eliana. She wiped an eye. "Yeah, she was pretty good."
Emma paused, then blanched. "Oh, um, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"Nah, nah, it's nothing," said Eliana. "She's been dead for ages now. I visit sometimes to see her work again is all. And y'never know, maybe the Ribbon'll do something interesting for once."
"I hear visions are pretty rare?"
"I've never witnessed someone having a vision," said Eliana, nodding. "Never had one either. It is what it is, I figure."
They lapsed into silence again. The line moved slowly, edging forward over the next half hour, until Emma and Eliana stood under the entwined wings of Homura. On their right, Homura gazed serenely up to the heavens, wings radiant white and surrounded by a purple corona. On their left, Homura gazed crazily up to the heavens, wings rippling black and surrounded by oozing black corruption. Between the two, the mist-enshrouded form of the Goddess reached down, all-embracing, and at the base of it all, a gate in gold filigree, protected by a shimmering forcefield and two guards. Both were magical girls, standing at attention and in costume, staring stiffly out at the line.
"No more than three at a time, please," said the guard on the right.
Emma and Eliana looked behind them to the next girl.
"You want to come with then?"
"Sure," said the girl, shrugging.
Through the forcefield, the previous party departed.
"Please transform before entering," said the guard on the left.
Emma, Eliana, and the random girl they'd just met transformed in a burst of blue and yellow and red.
"Heterochromatic costume," said Eliana as she looked over Emma's red-dyed robes and blue soul gem. "Interesting."
"You may pass," intoned both guards. They gestured at the entry way.
The Ribbon was the epitome of anticlimax. Small, red, and draped carefully on a cushion, it was no different from the hair ribbons Anna had worn once when they were kids. A bit silkier, perhaps, but Emma couldn't say for sure unless she touched it, which of course was impossible due to the nuclear-explosion-proofed glass it was housed behind.
"How does this work?" Emma asked Eliana quickly.
"Usually, people kneel and pray," said Eliana. "Just imitate random chick over there."
Emma looked over at the other girl. She had knelt down, clasping her hands tightly in front of her as she whispered something in Latin.
"Uh, okay," said Emma. She put one knee on the ground, then-
-felt the ground drop out from under her, falling down, down, down, until she found herself on her hands and knees, somehow, in a bell tower. High up above, birds flitted through the rafters. The sunset was streaming in from the west-side opening, glinting off of the giant, brass bells and partially illuminating the stone walls. The shadow of two girls stretched across the floor.
"Now, that's not the Sayaka-chan I know," one of them was saying reprovingly. "Aren't you supposed to be a Hero of Justice? The magical girl who would never give up?"
"Tch, some Hero I am," said the other girl, presumably Sayaka. "I didn't even manage to do anything before I died."
"It's not how much you did that matters," said the first. "All that matters is that you stood up and tried your hardest to make it real."
Emma flinched as the first girl, her hair pink but her eyes shining gold, turned and looked directly at Emma.
"Isn't that right, Emma?"
"Who're you talking to- oh," said the second girl. Her hair was blue, and she had a music note hairpin. "Who's she?"
"This is Emma Sinclair," said Pink and Gold Eyes. "She's just a friend of mine. Why don't you join us for ice cream, Emma?"
Emma nodded mutely, getting to her feet and walking over. Pink Hair scooted over, given Emma a space to sit.
"Here you go," said Pink Hair, handing Emma an ice cream cone.
"How do you know my name?" asked Emma.
"Silly Emma, of course I know your name!" said Pink Hair. "It's me, Madoka, don't you remember?"
Emma blinked, and remembered swimming, and a beach, and a movie of her life.
"I-"
"Neh, Madoka, I thought you said you two were friends?" said Sayaka, leaning forward to give Madoka a questioning look. "How's she not remember your name?"
"Oh, timey-wimey stuff," said the Goddess, waving her hand dismissively. "Like I told you already, time's not linear here."
Sayaka harumphed something unintelligible and licked her ice cream.
"So, how are things?" Madoka asked Emma. "Did the fighting go okay?"
"U-um, yes," stammered Emma. "I um, I got back to the line. Things w-were dicey for a bit, but the Fleet came through in the end."
"Oh, good," said Madoka, smiling happily as she licked her ice cream again. "I knew that was a good idea."
Emma nodded wordlessly and, with nothing better to do, licked her ice cream. It was delicious.
"Anyway, like I was saying earlier, Sayaka-chan, it's not what you actually did that counts," said Madoka. "It's that you did your very best to make it happen, even if you didn't succeed. Emma can tell you!"
"I can?" asked Emma.
"Of course," said Madoka. "You're a soldier, after all."
Sayaka choked on her ice cream.
"Wait, what?" asked Sayaka aghast. "There's a future where magical girls fight a war?"
"Oh there is," said Madoka, her mood dimming considerably. "A lot of magical girls die."
"A lot more regular people die too," said Emma. She turned to Sayaka. "We're the only thing preventing humanity from getting wiped out. Us, and the occasional wish."
"So what, you're being invaded by aliens or something?"
"Yes."
"Wha- bullshit."
"Nope," said Emma quietly. She licked her ice cream. "Alien invasion, with laser guns and everything."
"But, sending in magical girls?" asked Sayaka, still stunned. "I mean, most of us are like what, twelve?"
"Well, the median contracting age has gone up a little," said Emma, smiling a little. She was feeling very relaxed, for some reason. The ice cream was probably drugged. "But yeah, that happened at the very beginning, when it was just magical girls versus aliens. I heard an eight-year-old saved an entire colony once."
Sayaka looked ill.
"I guess Madoka's right," said Emma contemplatively. "Thinking about it, it's not like any one of us could end the war. There's not a magical girl in all of human space that can just snap her fingers and wipe out the squid. It's all of us, a little bit at a time, doing our best to keep the squid away just a little longer."
"S-squid?"
"The alien invaders," said Madoka. "They're all tentacle-y."
"Eurgh."
"You get used to it," said Emma with a shrug. She licked her ice cream again, and contemplated biting into it to save time. It really was very good. "You know, just keep track of the tentacles, make sure to cut them off if you can. But they're tricky bastards, those tentacles. They'll try and trip you if you're not careful."
"Jeez," said Sayaka, looking down at her toes. "And I thought I had it bad."
"Different time periods," said Madoka. "Don't go comparing yourself to Emma, just like you can't compare yourself to someone from 1st Century China."
"That's true," said Sayaka. She smiled sadly. "Still, I could have done at least a little better."
Emma shrugged. "Maybe. But you're dead now right?"
"Er, yeah."
"The way I see it, as long as you put up a reasonable fight, there's nothing anyone can fault you for once you're dead," said Emma. She laughed quietly at herself and sighed. "I have the record for most number of deaths in simulation, you know. If I thought like you do all the time, I'd have faded away weeks ago."
Sayaka frowned at her toes contemplatively. "I… I guess."
Emma bit into her ice cream, letting the creamy sweetness slide deliciously across her tongue. Goddess, this was amazing stuff. She closed her eyes to savor the flavor.
"You need to make sure you follow your own advice, you know," said the Goddess.
Emma flinched, dropping her ice cream off the bell tower, and whirled on the spot. She caught a flash of white skirts before dropping to her knees.
"My Goddess," she said, not looking up. It seemed disrespectful, somehow. White-shoed feet stepped into Emma's field of view, before a gloved hand lifted Emma's face up to meet the Goddess' eyes directly.
"No need for that," said the Goddess. "I'm still human enough to be bothered by formality."
"Y-yes, my lady," said Emma, coming up with the title on the spot. "I- it's an honor."
"The pleasure is mine," said the Goddess. She turned and began walking into a garden. "Walk with me. Let us talk awhile."
"Y-yes, of course."
"Did you enjoy your time with myself?" asked the Goddess. "If I recall correctly, you should have just had ice cream with me and Sayaka-chan on the bell-tower?"
"I did, yes. It was very good ice cream."
"Nagisa-chan knows what she's doing," said the Goddess, nodding. "You'll forgive me, I hope, for using a bit of magic on you for that conversation. The visions can be disorientating, and I thought you might like the experience better if you were relaxed."
"Oh, er, it's fine," said Emma awkwardly. "I mean, it was nice meeting Sayaka again, even if the first time I was technically dying."
"Ah, yes, I did restore those memories didn't I?" said the Goddess. She sighed. "A shame I have to wipe them again."
"What?"
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to trust me on this one," said the Goddess. "It's important that you don't remember this, or any other, vision clearly."
Emma blinked in confusion. "But- well, er, I… I guess? Why's that?"
"There are a few reasons," said the Goddess. She paused, and gave Emma an apologetic pat on the shoulder. "I really am very sorry, but I can't be more specific than that."
Emma nodded. "That's fair, I suppose."
"I apologize ahead of time as well," said the Goddess. "You'll go through a lot of trouble because of my interference today. I hope you'll not hold it against me."
"Never, m'lady," said Emma immediately. "I'm- that's impossible. I could never hold anything against you."
The Goddess smiled sadly at Emma and said nothing.
"No doubt you're wondering why you're here," she said, changing the subject abruptly. They stopped in front of a rose bush.
"Er, it had crossed my mind, yes," said Emma, rubbing an arm. "It's an honor, of course, but my impression was that you didn't do this for everyone?"
"No, I don't," said the Goddess. "You're here because… well, I suppose it's because I think you deserved a little celestial encouragement. Even without my interference, your life has been getting very complicated, hasn't it?"
Emma nodded, thinking about Ayane and Ryouta, and about everything involving her family's business.
"I just wanted to say that I believe in you," said the Goddess. She plucked a rose, holding it carefully between the thorns. "You're a strong girl. You'll make it through."
"Ah, well, thank you," said Emma, blushing.
"But that doesn't mean it will be easy for you," said the Goddess. "The times ahead will be difficult. You will have to decide, Emma, who you want to be."
The Goddess gestured behind Emma. "Who will you choose to be?" the Goddess asked. "The Right Hand, or the Left Hand?"
Emma turned, then stepped backwards in alarm. Two versions of herself had appeared, one on her right and one on her left. They both stood looking at her, corruption swirling in their gems, each just on the brink of despair.
The Right Hand was Emma, but older, colder, costume torn and stained with blood. She fixed Emma with a stare that had seen too many friends die, who had almost forgotten why she was fighting. Emma, but alone, fighting an endless battle that had no end, dying one day somewhere, lost, hoping beyond hope that it had all been worth it, regretting that she hadn't had the happiness that she had defended to her last breath.
The Left Hand was Emma, but older, colder, costume smooth and unruffled. She fixed Emma with a stare that had seen too many dreams unfulfilled, who lived each day with regret and anguish. Emma, with her family and her friends, helping, but not really, through the power of the Shizuki Matriarchy, dying one day in a hotel room, hoping beyond hope that it had been meaningful, regretting that her part had only been small, and, perhaps, that she could have done more.
Emma felt herself start crying. "W-what is this?"
"This is the fork in the road," said the Goddess. "But don't be afraid. This fork has more than one path."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly that," said the Goddess cryptically, placing her hands on Emma's shoulder. "You have a lot of choices to make, Emma. They will be hard choices, but they will be yours to make. What you have to understand is that in order to fulfill your wish,-"
Emma pressed herself backwards against the Goddess as the Right Hand held out one of her bloodied hands. The Goddess was unyielding.
"-in order to make the best of the opportunity given you by your contract-"
The Left Hand reached out as well. Both of them grasped one of Emma's hands in theirs. The Right Hand was icy cold and slippery with blood, but tightened like a vice. The Left Hand was fiery hot and dry, rasping against her, but held on just as tightly.
"-you have to use both hands."
The world exploded in white. The hands holding onto Emma's were unyielding, even as she felt herself begin to fall.
"I won't lie to you," said the Goddess' disembodied voice. "There's a hundred other magical girls I could talk to. Anybody in that line, I could have decided to grant a vision. But I think, in the end, I wasn't wrong. You're the person who needed to hear this."
"What do you mean?!" Emma shouted. Her right arm was going numb with cold, her left burning so hot she was losing feeling as well.
"That's a question you'll have to answer for me," said the Goddess. "One day, you'll come back to the Ribbon and tell me why you were special, when you weren't special at all."
"I-!"
"But, unfortunately, this is where this particular vision ends. So good luck."
"Wha- but-!"
"The only thing you'll remember is this last bit," said Madoka. "And even then, only bits and pieces. But it'll be enough, I think."
"Wait-!"
The marble floor of the Ribbon Hall appeared below, and Emma felt herself hit the ground with a dull thud.