Chapter 6: A Demonstration of Death

For the first time in months Anastasia managed to sleep. Honestly and truly sleep. No visions or nightmares, just a peaceful night of oblivion, and that was not a good sign. The only time she slept well was when something big was going to happen. Rolling out from under the bed, she couldn't help but let out a sigh, she just knew it was going to be a long day.

It took her more than ten minutes to find the kitchen, honestly, who in their right mind would want a house this big, it boggled her mind. Hell, the kitchen itself looked bigger than her entire flat, and yet, had none of the modern conveniences she was used to. There was no fridge per say but rather an inexplicably cold room filled to the brim with food of all kinds, many of which she had never seen in her life. Rolling her eyes at the affluence shown in just this small room, she grabbed a few things to make herself breakfast. Summoning herself a bayonet she got to preparing the ingredients, singing to herself as she did so. She enjoyed cooking, a lot, it was one of the only things that linked all of her lives together, Adrian cooked, Anastasia does, and so did every single life she lived in her dreams, they may not have done before the war but during it could become a true moment of peace, focusing on nothing but the small fire in front of you.

Her body fell into a familiar rhythm, peeling, slicing, frying. The world faded around her until she was solely focused on the food. It wasn't perfect, she didn't have access to all the herbs and spices she wanted, this was a British household after all, but it still smelled good, the ingredients were of far higher quality than anything she could afford.

"What are you making?"

Anastasia whirled round, bayonet clutched tightly in her hand, ready to strike at a moment's notice. One couldn't hesitate in the trenches, to do so would invite death, but acting rashly would do the same. So, she stood, like a viper poised to strike.

"You, okay?"

At once the fog cleared and an unnatural, but all too familiar calm came over her.

"Just fine, thank you." Rose stared at her clearly not believing her. Anastasia cleared her throat. "You hungry?"

In response Rose's stomach growled. "Yeah, but I can't. I need to take my potions on an empty stomach." The sadness in her voice shocked her, she seemed truly devastated at the thought of no breakfast.

Anastasia smiled "Well we'll just eat later then."

"But what about you?"

She smiled sadly. "Eating by yourself is lonely, besides, you never know when it could be your last meal, best make it as good as you can."

Rose looked at her quizzically. "Are you sure you're, okay?"

Anastasia ruffled Rose's hair violently, smiling at the indignant huff. "No, but it's nothing you should worry your little head about." Rose shot her an inscrutable look. "I'm going to watch the sun rise, care to join me? I'll light a fire to keep the food warm."

She didn't wait for a reply, simply grabbing the food and throwing the back door open, before pausing and taking in the views. The building, or rather Manor, was situated on the crest of an enormous hill. All around was the dramatic landscape of the rolling Welsh hills. Tiny clusters of lights could be seen in the valleys below, growing larger and more numerous the closer they got to the coast. Tiny beacons of civilisation, it seemed so… distant up here. Like she was some sort of god almost, or a monarch looking down at her people, busying about living their ordinary little lives. It was strange, but also put into perspective just what it was she was doing, she was a guardian of these tiny lights.

"It's a nice view, isn't it?"

Anastasia couldn't help but smile. The sun had just begun to crest over the horizon, bathing the hills in golden light as its rays peeked over the summits. "It's beautiful."

"Here." Rose dropped a pile of firewood at her feet.

Anastasia smiled and set about making a small fire, placing their veritable feast upon it. She flopped rather gracelessly onto her back gazing into the sky. The stars were just beginning to fade. It was… peaceful? She was strangely calm, well as calm as she could be while sober. She didn't know what to do, she was so used to worrying about everything, from money, to her safety, to when she'd next be called before the Council she didn't know how to relax anymore. Cooking, she supposed, was the closest she got, but that was more like her brain shutting off, this, this was something different. While she was here she didn't have to worry about any of those things. She almost didn't like it, Anastasia had been under constant stress for as long as she could remember, it had been worse since she left Privet Drive but even while there. Living under the constant hateful eyes of the Dursleys made sure she could never relax, but right here, right now? She simply let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, possibly for her entire life. She knew it wouldn't last, this sense of peace, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it while it did.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end and Anastasia could feel how restless Rose was, could tell how she was practically bursting at the seams with questions.

Anastasia sighed as she turned to look at Rose "Well, what is it you want to ask me so desperately?"

"If you're not a metamorph, what are you?"

"I'm what's called a magical girl. We're basically a group of predominantly women that have been granted magical powers by our familiars in order to protect the general population from these foul monsters that hunt them."

"So, you're like Aurors?"

Anastasia sighed; it seemed this girl just couldn't grasp that she was basically speaking gibberish. "Could you perhaps tell me what an Aur-"

"An Auror is the magical equivalent to the police."

Anastasia practically jumped out of her skin, her head jerking towards where the voice came from to see Lilly stood in the doorway, two small glass bottles in her hand. It was exceptionally rare that someone was able to sneak up on her. Relaxation was a dangerous game. Lilly sat between then, handing them to Rose. She downed them both in quick succession, grimacing at the taste.

Lilly turned to Anastasia. "You mentioned you were protecting people before we took you. What did you mean by that? Surely things in the muggle world aren't so bad, right?"

Anastasia laughed. "Oh, I'm sure that its worse than you're thinking. I can show you if you want. Take you out and show you what I have to do, what its really like." Lilly swallowed thickly, nodding. "Very well, we'll go after breakfast. Feel free to help yourself." Anastasia drew her bayonet from her belt, quickly whipping dirt and a few specks of blood off of it on her uniform before spearing a piece of bacon on the end, popping it her mouth. It tasted of aristocracy, which is to say it was unreasonably delicious, even prepared as it was. The budding chef in her cried out at how she'd treated such a magnificent ingredient. The soldier in her couldn't care less, they were just hungry…

Lilly looked at her horrified "Is that blood?" Anastasia looked at the bayonet, running her tongue around her mouth as she did so, checking for injuries.

"Seems like it. Don't worry though, it's not mine."

"That's even worse! Do you have any idea how unhygienic that is."

Anastasia shrugged, "When you flirt with death as often as I do, you stop caring very, very quickly." For all her words, Anastasia wiped the knife vigorously on her coat, making a show of shifting the stubborn blood stain. "Happy now?"

Lilly just sighed "We have cutlery you know…"

Anastasia just shrugged, spearing more food onto the end of her knife. Northing much more was said between them. Anastasia thought Lilly looked a little nauseous to be honest.

"Look, I can't do this. I need you to show me, I have to know what you've been doing, what you've been facing."

"Can I come?"

Lily just stared at Anastasia. "Look, as long as you stick close to me and do exactly what I tell you, you should be fine."

Anastasia sheathed her knife. "Can you do that teleport thing too?" Lily nodded, she looked… nervous, though why she had no idea. "Right then, I assume you can get us to Surrey then?"

Lily gently placed her hand on her shoulder and there was that awful feeling of being dragged through a straw, though this time it was different, it almost felt as though her body was being torn apart. No, that wasn't quite right, it felt more like something was being pulled out of her, she couldn't breathe, and it hurt so much. Her legs buckled as the ground rematerialized beneath her and she gulped down air like she'd been drowning.

Her throat burned; a yellow-green haze covered the field obscuring nearly everything. It hurt so much; her vision warped as her eyes streamed from the pain. The sounds of gunfire and artillery simply serving to disorient her further. It felt like the world was ending around her, this truly was hell. She'd thought they'd been exaggerating when they told her what it was like on the front, but no. They were understating how bad it was. There was a sound behind her, and she grabbed her spade, swinging it towards the sound. By now she could hardly see anything, whatever it was in the air rendering practically blind. She had no idea if they were friend or foe but at this point there was hardly a conscious thought in her head at all. It was all the primal urge to survive. Her swing was stopped by something, though what, she had no idea. Someone grabbed her shoulders shaking her, they were saying something, but she couldn't hear them, her ears were ringing, drowning out even the sounds of battle.

At once the mist vanished, the world coming sharply into focus as a sense of unnatural calm overcame her. Rose had hidden behind Lily who herself looked terrified, and Anastasia could see why, her spade was embedded in a lamppost, the light itself flickering wildly.

Anastasia cleared her throat, wrenching the spade out. "Awfully sorry about that. Shall we get going." Anastasia didn't wait for an answer, walking off down some random alleyway, keeping an ear out for any sign of prey. Honestly, she didn't have the highest hope of finding anything, there was maybe an hour of darkness left, but well, if one was diligent enough there was always something to be found, even if it was another magical girl. Though they may have a common enemy, she and her 'comrades' were often in direct competition, she didn't like thinking about what she'd done but, well there were less magical girls than when she started and not all of the blood on her hands was inhuman.

She sighed. As much as she preferred this life over her life as Adrian, she certainly couldn't say it was good, at least before her hands we- There it was! She heard it, the tell-tale sign. The inhuman roar shook the very heavens. The sky was rent as lightning crashed to the earth. A sense of morbid excitement overcame her. It was a big one. She took off sprinting, hardly even giving a passing thought to Lily and Rose. Her muscles screamed at the exertion as bound down the streets, leaping onto rooftops and hopping over fences until she got her first glimpse of the creature.

It was human, or seemed to be at first glance, its flesh however seemed to be a patchwork mass of different tones and textures. Parts of it seemed to be fur rather than skin, which simply added to the unpleasant appearance of the creature. Its body seemed to be held together rather poorly by staples and a few rotten bits of thread, though large gaps and gashes covered the body causing pus to seep from the gaps, along with an almost ethereal glow. The creature was naked except from a set of manacles and a set of thick iron chains that snaked its way from the creature's waist all the way up to its neck which it coiled around. There was another deafening bellow as it opened it mouth and raised its hands towards the sky, a series of unrecognisable symbols began dancing over the beast's body as another bolt of lightning flashed down from the heavens, striking one of three Magical Girls that were attempting to take on the creature.

By the looks of them they were losing, and badly at that. They seemed exhausted and badly wounded. The one who had been struck now lay on the ground, lightly smoking, the smell of burned meat filling the alleyway. They were very likely dead. Anastasia tutted, amateur.

"What is that thing?"

Anastasia practically jumped out of her skin as Lily spoke from behind her. "No idea, never seen one before. Definitely dangerous though. To be honest it might be a new class of creature otherwise the Council would have sent more than three people."

"It's horrifying."

Anastasia shrugged, "I've seen worse." Flashes of creatures sped through her mind unbidden, images of blood and bones and of her face looking back at her. Anastasia took a steadying breath and smiled at Lily and Rose "Once more unto the Breach." She held out her hands materialising a German Stahlhelm and Gas Mask, quickly pulling them both on before saluting Lily and stepping backwards of the building, dropping quickly onto the pavement below.

Anastasia closed her eyes, trying her best to block out the sounds of battle around her. She knew what she wanted; what weapon would hopefully change the tide of battle all she had to do was summon it. Sadly, that was easier said than done; she could count on one hand the number of times she'd managed to create the correct weapon. Rather than the heavy weight on her back and metal tube she was hoping for. No, instead the wooden stock of an MP-18 fell into her hand. Anastasia sighed, it was typical really and she hardly expected to get what she wanted. Ah well, no use complaining, stiff upper lip and all that.

Anastasia ran forward, pulling back on the bolt, cycling the mechanism and placing the first round into the chamber. It was oddly nerve racking being watched like this. No, now was not the time. Pulling the stock up to her shoulder she began to slow down, coming to a full stop just in front of the two remaining girls. Anastasia put the creature within her sights and watched as it reached into one of the gashes on its body, submerging its hand completely within its chest cavity, thick streams of puss pouring down its arm and chest as it seemed to rummage around for something. It seemed to find what it was looking for as it began rapidly withdrawing its hand. She felt a hand on her back as the ground rapidly came up to meet her. A crescent of sickly green light passed overhead gouging vast chunks of the surrounding buildings as it travelled. Anastasia muttered a quiet 'thanks' and was met by an exhausted sounding 'No problem'.

She re-sighted the creature from her new prone position and opened fire, quickly embedding the full 32 rounds into the creature to little effect other than drawing its attention solely on her. She hadn't expected anything else, but she'd hoped something beneficial would happen. She shook her head to rid herself of these defeatist thoughts as she swapped magazines with a practised ease. She unloaded this magazine as well, again to negligible effect, this wasn't going to work, that much was obvious. Pulling herself up she considered her options, she could try to get in close but that ran its own risks, so far, she'd only seen it use ranged attacks but two of the three magical girls that were here before her were melee based and yet they were keeping their distance. Clearly the creature had something to keep them at range, either that or they lacked the experience to properly analyse the creature. The beast raised its hand to call another lightning strike and Anastasia shrugged, in for a penny in for a pound. She sprinted at the monster, dropping her gun and swapping to the entrenching tool hanging from her pack.
Digging her heel into the ground, Anastasia pivoted on the foot, throwing her momentum behind the swing, aiming her spade for the area between the creature's neck and shoulder. The sharpened edge of the tool cut through the flesh like a hot knife through butter, it was too smooth, almost as if the creature had no internals at all. The creature looked down at her, an infernal red light pouring from its eyes like headlights. The air grew thick with the smell of ozone and static danced over her skin. She didn't have time to even register what was happening before excruciating pain consumed her though only for a second, she could vaguely smell burning wool and cooked meat. Everything hurt, not as badly as before but it was still exceptionally painful, though the more pressing issue was that of her current blindness and the sensation of blood trickling down her face, likely from burst eardrums. At least that's what she assumed, given her inability to hear anything. This was not ideal, but she'd make do, it should only be temporary, one of the perks of being a Magical Girl she supposed. Though she was not looking forward to the next few days.

Anastasia jerked her hand back and felt the spade slip out of the creature's body. She stumbled slightly, putting far more strength into pulling it out than she needed. The smell of ozone filled the air once more, but this time she was ready. She waited, just a second, enough time to make sure, before she pulled off her helmet, holding it in her shaking hand, hoping desperately that the monster wouldn't try to hit her or something. Still, she waited, her heartbeat unsteady but racing as adrenaline coursed through her. There, she felt the hairs on her arms stand up and she threw the helmet towards where she thought the creature was. She felt the lighting strike something that thankfully wasn't her. The ground shook from the strike. It was terrifying. She was almost completely helpless like this. She took a careful step backwards, and then another. She needed to get away until her vision came back at least, and it was coming back, just very, very slowly. She wasn't sure if the light had blinded her or if the electricity had fried her nerves.

Small spots of bright light pierced through the inky blackness that had become her vision, spots that grew bigger with each passing second. It wouldn't take that much longer, at least she hoped it didn't, she hated being helpless like this. It wouldn't be so bad if she could at least hear but her ears were still completely damaged, she couldn't even hear ringing or anything. Well, she could at least try and make use of her current predicament. Closing her eyes against the kaleidoscope of lights and colours she pictured in her mind the weapon she wanted, pictured it in near perfect detail. She could practically feel the cold metal in her hands, its weight unfamiliar and yet strangely comforting. She felt her magic run through her body as she tried desperately to summon the weapon. It was a struggle to keep the image in her mind but keep it she did, even against the searing light of her magic. It seemed brighter than usual and radiated heat. She could feel her hands blistering as the energy pooled in them, the heat travelling up her body before concentrating onto her back. It seemed to last forever the heat, the light, the pain. In many ways it was worse than being struck by the lightning, at least that only lasted a second.

The blinding light began to fade, and she felt a long metal tube slide into her hands and a heavy weight materialise onto her back. She'd done it, her burned skin hurt awfully as she gripped the metal, but she couldn't think about that right now, she had a job to do. She slowly opened her eyes; her vision was exceptionally blurry, but she could make out her enemy and that was enough for her. The two other magical girls had covered her well, keeping the entity distracted. She was oddly excited; she'd never used a Flamethrower before. She began to slowly make her way towards the monster, taking care not to jostle the heavy, and likely highly volatile mixture, stored in the tank on her back. As she got closer one of the other girls tried to pull her back, but she shook them off. The hazy figure of the monster raised its hands and Anastasia smiled, opening the valve and allowing the chemicals to mix, the propellant forcing the petrol out of the nozzle where the magnesium in the nozzle ignited the mixture and sending a burst of flame towards her enemy, striking it firmly in the chest. The creature's skin ignited almost immediately causing it to writhe around in agony. Anastasia watched dispassionately, she was honestly a little disappointed, maybe it was the fact she couldn't hear the roaring flames, but it felt rather underwhelming. Still, she kept the valve open, watching as the creature's movements slowed before finally stopping. There was very little left of the beast, just a mass of scorched flesh and a horrendous smell. Anastasia drew her bayonet and began poking around in the creature's remains, finding a small white pearl which she quickly flicked out of the now wriggling mass and stomping on it. The creature's remains burst into a thick purple mist. Anastasia, pocketed the crystal before picking up the collection of notes and coins, quickly flicking through them. There was about £400, a surprisingly high amount for the creature's size, though it was rather sturdy she supposed. She counted out £100 each for the other two girls, pocketing the other two and a collection of coins she didn't recognise.

She handed the girls their share of the loot. One of them tried to talk to her but she could hardly hear anything beyond a ringing noise. She opened her mouth to speak but decided against it, simply gesturing at her ears and mimicking an explosion with her hand. The two of them seemed to discuss something amongst themselves before one of them started making a series of quick hand gestures. Anastasia just sighed and rummaged around in her pockets for a moment before pulling out a notepad and a pen, quickly scribbling a "What?" on it.

One of them snatched the paper and pen off her writing something on it before shoving it into her chest. It took her a while to decipher what they'd written, but when she did? Well, she was certainly shocked, she'd expected some form of thanks, or perhaps a demand for a bigger cut but no. It seemed these two were a tad pissed over the death of their friend.

"What the fuck took you so long to get here? You could have saved her, you prick!"

Anastasia simply shook her head in disgust. She'd just saved them, and they had the audacity to be angry at her? She should have just let them die if that was how they treated their saviour. The one in front of her drew her sword. No wonder they struggled so much. Anastasia just stared her down. She could see the fear in the girl's eyes. Her eyes had recovered enough for her to get a good look at her. She must have been relatively young given how much of her body her armour covered. The metal plates seemed thick and sturdy, nothing like the one she saved in that back alley all those months ago. A helmet covered most of her face meaning that she was likely living in her adult form. Anastasia could just make out here eyes, which were a pale blue, tears pricked at the corner but held a steely determination.
Anastasia smirked, deciding she would test that determination. "Well, go on then. Run me through."

The girl stood there, her sword arm shaking. The girl screamed before wildly swiping her sword at her opponent's throat. Anastasia locked eyes with the girl before grabbing the girl's weapon, the blade slicing into her hand but she held it firm. Anastasia shook her head "Pathetic, with skills like those no wonder your friend died. Now let me give you a piece of advice. You better shape up or you'll lose your other friend too." Anastasia made to turn away before clenching her fist. "Oh, and don't try and kill me again-" She swung her fist at the girl's face, denting her helmet with the force of her punch. "Or next time I won't be so merciful."

Anastasia walked away, trying not to show just how much her hand hurt. She was fairly certain she'd broken most of the bones. She somewhat regretted doing that but, well, it made her point. At least her hearing was better now. She just hoped she didn't run into any more creatures before her hand healed, though judging by the pinks and oranges in the sky it was highly unlikely. She quickly cast her eyes over the rooftops, quickly spying Lily and leaping up to her.

Lily grabbed her hand, and she couldn't help but wince as she jolted the bones. "How could you do this to yourself?"

Anastasia looked down at her hand and winced again. Small shards of bone protruded from most of the skin on the back of her hand. Her palm hadn't fared much better, the number of bone shards were much less but the number of blisters was frankly nauseating. "It's fun? Look can you just take me back, I really need a nap. Oh, and don't worry about my body, it'll heal soon enough."

Lily placed her hand on Ana's shoulder "Fine."

The world swirled around her, and Ana shut her eyes in an attempt to stave off the sickness. An attempt that failed when her feet hit solid ground as she promptly threw up and passed out.

A/N: Well 6 months isn't to bad right? Right? In all honesty sorry for the delay. Life's been a tad hectic lately. I was broken up with recently and I took it badly so writings been a tad slow. Hope you are all doing well! Here's to the next update being done this year…