Apologies for how long it took to get this out, there was a combination of a family wedding and me knowing what I wanted to write but not how I wanted to word it.
Chapter 9: Broken Things
"Hold on a second," Kyoko fumed, rounding on her until-now stoic companion. "Did you also know that we're basically all zombies?"
"The knowledge wouldn't change what's already been done." Homura shrugged. "Besides, I've already come to terms with it. It doesn't affect my goals. I recommend the sooner you do the same, the easier it will be to defeat Walpurgisnacht."
'You all' was referring to Sayaka, Mami, Kyoko, the nine new girls that had one night ago been their enemies, and an older man who had joined them somewhere along the way, all now gathered in Homura's surprisingly spacious apartment. Just an hour prior, Homura and Kyoko had been planning strategies for when the Dreadnaught Witch would arrive in Mitakihara (Homura estimated within two to three weeks). Then, upon checking the day's date to create a better guess, a brief flash of what could have almost been called distress showed in Homura's purple eyes. Standing up, she simply declared, "We need to go to the hospital. Now. There's no time to explain."
"Hold on a second!" Kyoko protested. "I'm starting to rethink this partnership. If all you're ever going to do is keep me locked out of the loop, this city ain't worth it. At least Kazamino doesn't have twenty different magical girls runnin' around unchecked!"
Homura had not responded. Turning, she prepared to leave the apartment as they both received a message from Sayaka. "Akemi-san? Sakura-san? You two might want to get down here to the hospital. Something strange is happening, Mami-san was just almost killed, and what Kyubey is saying isn't making any sense!"
Kyoko had seen it in that moment - true panic in Homura's normally emotionless purple eyes. Kyubey's "explanation" of the contract's true nature that had followed made the red magical girl grudgingly admit that panic had been justified. Until she realized - what would her new "partner" have had to worry about if this was her first time hearing this as well? This accusation had only led to their unsatisfying confrontation seconds earlier, however.
Fortunately, Sayaka seemed just as unforgiving. "Why wouldn't you tell us something like that? You may not consider it important information, but a lot more people would like to know about little details like selling their souls!"
Homura spread her hands. "If you insist on turning it into an issue, I would suggest taking it up with Kyubey. It will gladly explain the magical girl system to you better than I could."
Although she was still frustrated, Kyoko let the conversation be shut down for now. "Fine. Just as long as there aren't any other secrets you're keeping from us." She gauged Homura for a reaction, but the black magical girl was back to being an unreadable slate again.
Sayaka turned to Mami, who was curled up on the couch, still unresponsive. Nobody had bothered to tend to her wounds. For once, Kyoko didn't try to suppress the twinge of pity welling up inside her. If she was taking this rough, she couldn't imagine what it must be like for a magical girl like Mami, who put everything she had into fulfilling her end of the contract. As for the newbie, Kyoko couldn't tell how she was handling things. In all honesty, during the few hours she had heard Sayaka's opinions and questions the night before, Kyoko felt like she was looking at herself, during the days where she had been Mami's apprentice. If there was some kind of prize for most eventful first 24 hours as a magical girl, she would probably be able to try for it.
Now one of the other magical girls cleared her throat. Everyone turned to where a darker-skinned woman who looked college-age was standing by the door. Kyoko was fairly sure she had heard the black-haired girl wearing red call her Setsuna. "What I'm not understanding is why we were all affected when Usagi is the only one who made this 'contract'. Or why she seems to have made the complete transition to your type of magical girl when all we have are these." She held out the smooth black orb occupying her palm.
When nobody said anything, she continued. "If nobody minds a bit of guesswork, I suspect that when Usagi made her wish, something happened that affected us as well, although I still can't come up with an explanation for why that would happen. Whatever this phenomenon was, though, it extracted our Sailor Crystals from our bodies, and a side effect was the creation of these orbs. Most likely, they're meant to be some kind of protection. However, I strongly suspect that as long as our Sailor Crystals aren't on us at all times, we won't be able to transform."
"With all due respect, Setsuna-san, it's not exactly something I would leave lying around the hotel room," a girl with brown hair in a ponytail called from the other couch.
Setsuna looked at her with stern eyes, but she had a small smile on her face. "I should hope not."
Sayaka stood up from the couch. "Well, I need to be getting home. This day has had way more weirdness than I planned, and maybe a good night's sleep will help clear my head." Despite the blue-haired girl's uncaring projection, Kyoko could tell she was more scared than she was letting on.
"We should be leaving as well," a blonde woman with cropped hair announced. "Michiru, Setsuna, Hotaru?"
As the girl named Hotaru passed by, Kyoko shivered as they briefly locked eyes. She looks like she's been one of us for years already.
This left bunhead and company, Homura, Kyoko, and Mami, although the curly-haired girl was still barely aware of her surroundings. Kyoko was starting to wonder if she should have left with Sayaka. Between Fire Girl from last night looking like she was trying to shoot lasers from her eyes at Kyoko, Homura's creepily-passive attitude, and her catatonic former mentor, Kyoko discerned she wasn't exactly in the friendliest of company.
The unlikely gathering sat in silence for a minute or so, until Usagi bolted up with an alarmed gasp. "Has anyone called my parents to tell them I'm alright?"
Everyone let out a sigh, some frustrated, some relieved. "Well, at least one of us is back to normal," came a murmur from Fire Girl to the blue-haired girl she was standing next to, who gave a small, nervous laugh in return.
The black-haired man rested his hand on her shoulder, smiling. "Relax, Usa. I called Kenji-san to tell him the news the minute Rei told me you had woken up."
Kyoko watched the relief spread across Usagi's face, and felt a mixture of contempt and envy. She wouldn't last a day if what happened to me happened to her. Must be nice.
Looking at Mami once more, the red-haired girl couldn't help but wonder, Then again, maybe she would be smart and actually turn to her friends instead of pushing them away like I did.
Shooting one last glare at Kyoko, the raven-haired girl said in a voice that could probably freeze water on a hot summer day, "Come on, we've wasted enough time as it is. We should be out in the field testing our new abilities instead of sitting around wondering about them."
"Rei-chan, I know this has been a shock for all of us, but - " a girl with her hair tied back in a red ribbon started, but Rei turned her back on her and exited the apartment on her own before she could finish. The girl sighed. "But maybe it wouldn't kill you to listen to the girls who actually know about this new magical girl system," she grumbled.
"I'll try to talk to her alone," Usagi said softly. "Maybe she'll be a little more open tomorrow."
Minako turned to Homura and Kyoko. "Sorry about Rei-chan. I know she can come off as rather cold towards people she doesn't know, but deep down, it's just her way of dealing with things she can't understand. She almost always comes around." Homura gave no response other than a slight nod. Kyoko gave a slightly more involved grunt of understanding. A quiet laugh from the other couch drew all of their attentions.
"She sounds a lot like you Kyoko. You're both even red." Nobody had noticed Mami as she sat up. Her eyes still had a faraway look to them, and she spoke in a flat, trance-like voice. She giggled to herself again. "But you don't seem like you get along too well, do you?" She looked around, her golden eyes finally focusing. "Where - where are we?"
"My apartment," Homura responded. "It was the safest place to regroup after the events of this afternoon. I assume you will have to be filled in though."
"Oh, that won't be necessary." She began to talk in a sing-song pattern. "I heard every word. About them, and about us. What we really are." Her voice dropped to a whisper, as though she was a schoolgirl telling a secret to a friend. "But don't worry. I already have a plan. I'll save all of us."
Kyoko would replay the events that transpired within the next few seconds in her head a thousand times over later on. Mami began to shakily raise her hand, the one she wore her Soul Gem ring on, all the while still wearing that eerie smile. In that same moment, Homura let out a true gasp of panic. A flash of orange and a flash of purple went off seemingly at the exact same time. Kyoko blinked, momentarily blinded. When her eyes refocused, Mami had been thrown back against the couch, her transformation failing. Homura stood over her, in full magical girl attire. One hand rested on the silver shield that decorated her forearm. The other was clenched tightly, with a faint amber glow coming from inside. It wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out what the black-haired girl had done. But how could she have moved so quickly? She was on the other side of the room!
Still clutching Mami's Soul Gem, Homura tentatively allowed her own civilian clothes to take the place of her magical girl outfit. She's the one in power here, so why does she have a look in her eyes like a cornered animal? Kyoko thought.
Deciding it was time to make her exit, Kyoko fished the last stick of pocky out of the box she was holding and stuck it in her mouth. "Well, this has been a fun meeting, but someone needs to patrol the city, and I don't see anyone else volunteerin'."
Usagi looked up towards her. "But... but what about her?" She pointed towards Mami, who wasn't moving.
Homura reached for Mami's wrist, searching for a pulse. "It's nothing to be concerned about, she's just unconscious. It was most likely a side effect of the forced removal of her Soul Gem. I promise, it was for our own good. In this state, Mami Tomoe is no longer in her right mind. There is no telling what she might do."
This was more than Kyoko could take. "And how the hell could you know that? You just transferred here a week ago!"
"No better than you could claim to know her. I was under the impression you hadn't spoken to her for - what did you tell me earlier, a year now?"
"Why you little-" The empty pocky box was crushed in her hand. She threw it on the ground, and advanced on Homura before the other girl could react. Her spear pinned the purple-eyed girl against the wall, millimeters from her pale throat. "You know what pisses me off more than anything else?" Kyoko growled. "Magical girls like you sticking their noses where they don't belong." Homura gave no response.
"JUST SHOW SOME SIGN OF EMOTION, DAMMIT!" Kyoko shouted. "Are you even human?"
Amethyst eyes as cold and hard as steel met Kyoko's. "Once. Before I made the contract."
"Please, just stop!" Usagi sobbed. There was a burst of white light, and the aura of the silver-haired angel was felt once more. Her staff sent Kyoko's spear flying to the other end of the room.
Kyoko looked between the white magical girl and the black. "Tch. Have it your way." She called off her transformation. "Sorry you had to see that. It wasn't your fight."
Usagi's silvery-blue eyes filled with confusion. "But I don't understand. Why do you have to fight at all? Wouldn't it make more sense to help each other and work as a team?"
"That's the thing, though," Kyoko said. "Not everyone can work in a team. Not everyone wants to. And sometimes they do, just not with you." She faced the other three girls and Mamoru. "You all seem to know each other pretty well. I guess you work together pretty well too, last night aside. Good for you. But see how long that lasts once reality kicks in. Once two of you have darkening Soul Gems, but there's only one Grief Seed left. When you're trying to fight your way through a labyrinth, only to wind up separated, so that one of you gets stuck facing the witch all by yourself. Or maybe one night, you'll be thinking back on your wish, hating the you of the past for how stupid they were when they made it, because they didn't know what they really wanted and just said the first thing that came to mind, and it wound up ruining them."
The blue-haired girl spoke up. "You say all of that like we're already destined to become our type of magical girl, even though we already concluded that, if anything, this is just a mutation of our original powers as Senshi."
The brunette girl with the bandaged leg added in, "And even then, I think we would wind up plenty different from you."
Red Bow stood up. "Come on. I think we've heard all we needed to hear." The others followed her out the door, Usagi last. She cast one last look over her shoulder at the remaining three girls. It almost looked like pity.
After the door closed, Homura faced Kyoko once more. "If you're done trying to kill me, there remains the matter of Mami Tomoe."
Kyoko glanced towards the couch, where the blonde girl was still unmoving. "Yeah, what about her?"
"In this mental state, he is a threat. Had I not stopped her earlier, she would have killed us all."
Kyoko grimaced. "You know what, I've changed my mind. I don't think I want to know how you can guess that." She eyed the amber Soul Gem still glowing from within Homura's hand. "So what's your plan?"
Homura regarded the unconscious girl. "As much of an unstable factor as she is now, I feel it would be too drastic to eliminate her altogether. I assume you would agree with this?"
Kyoko shivered. She talks about Mami like she's just a piece on a game board. "No, I'm not killing her now. I know it may seem shocking, but I don't pick fights with people who can't defend themselves."
The black-haired girl slowly nodded. "I assumed as much. Therefore, I propose she be monitored at all times, until she can be guaranteed as a non-threat. If she continues to show such sudden displays of aggression, though..." Her grip on Mami's Soul Gem tightened.
"Alright, alright, point taken," Kyoko snapped. "I'll be her babysitter. I'll never let her Soul Gem off my person. At the very least, I won't have to steal from grocery stores and sleep in empty hotel rooms if I can crash at her place. But what do I get out of it? I'm not exactly looking forward to being the one who has to pull her finger off the trigger, figuratively and literally speaking."
"If you can make her see sense, perhaps an ally for when Walpurgisnacht comes. Although two magical girls is certainly more preferable than one, as a whole we would likely sustain less damage with a third. Do not underestimate the power of the Dreadnaught Witch. Better magical girls than you have been defeated by it."
Kyoko rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you talk like you've fought it a hundred times before, but doesn't change the fact that based on what you've told me about it, you'll probably be singing a different tune once it's actually coming at us three weeks from now."
Homura extended her hand to give Kyoko the yellow Soul Gem, but the redhead waved a finger. "Let's say the deal begins at midnight. I have one more thing I wanna do before I become your watchdog."
The black-haired girl looked her over. "Very well. I will see to it Mami Tomoe makes it back to her apartment. I will meet you there at midnight."
Kyoko nodded. After closing the apartment door, she took out her own Soul Gem. She pointed it in the direction Usagi and her friends had gone, and smirked as it began to pulse a blood red.
"Still got any homework you haven't finished?" Junko asked from the kitchen.
Madoka thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't think so. I did the book report right after it was assigned so I could get it out of the way. I let Sayaka-chan borrow my math notes from the three days she was out sick last month. Hitomi-chan and I put the finishing touches on our report for science last week. And I don't think our new history teacher is as likely to give us a pop quiz on the first day back as our old one was."
Her mother smiled. "That's my girl. If only I had been as good a student as you are."
Madoka tilted her head. "I thought you were top of your class."
Junko let out a loud laugh. "Only in my last year of high school, after I got serious! Before that, I would always wait until the night before something was due, then scramble to finish it and not get to bed until three in the morning. Your grandmother didn't know what to do with me."
The pink-haired girl gave a smaller laugh. "Well, I'll try not to follow your example."
"You had better not!" Junko's eyes widened. "Oh God, now I sound like your grandmother!" She looked up at the clock on the wall. "Tell you what. If your father isn't back with Tatsuya in twenty minutes, we won't wait for them any longer and have the hot chocolate all for ourselves."
"All right!" Madoka walked upstairs to her room. She was about to change into some pajamas when her phone vibrated as Sayaka's name flickered onto the screen. "I need to talk to you. Can you call me when you get this?"
Concerned, Madoka dialed Sayaka's number. Sayaka picked up on the first ring. "Sayaka-chan, is everything okay?"
A sigh came from the other end. "Well... no, not really. Something weird happened when I was out witch-hunting with Mami-san today. Well, several things, to be more accurate."
Madoka listened, growing more and more horrified as Sayaka told the entire story, from the witch hunt gone wrong to the truth about Soul Gems. "And to top it all off, it seems like that transfer student knew about it, but just couldn't be bothered to tell us! She said it 'wasn't important'!"
Her friend sighed on the other end. "I just don't know what to do now. How do I keep acting like nothing is wrong? I never asked for any of this, I just wanted to help people!"
"I... I don't know what to say," Madoka tentatively began. "After all, I'm not really in the same position as you."
"Nah, it's alright," Sayaka said. "I just wanted to warn you. You know, just in case Kyubey decides to go after you too."
"Don't worry about that, I already decided I wouldn't," Madoka assured her. "How about we go check on Mami-san tomorrow morning? It was probably a shock for her, too."
"Yeah, I don't think she was taking things so well when I left. My mom would probably say she was in shock. And she had some painful-looking cuts on her neck, but nobody did anything about them. I noticed them, but I just... didn't know what to do."
'Well, I'm sure you were all scared," Madoka said. "I don't think you should be blamed for being more concerned about yourself in this case."
Sayaka sighed again. "Thanks, Madoka. Sorry for dumping all of this on you, I didn't mean to kill your night. See you tomorrow, I guess?"
"Yeah, sure. We can meet where we usually walk to school." Madoka hung up and looked down at her bedspread. I know Sayaka doesn't like her, but could that transfer student have been trying to protect me when she told me not to contract last night?
Changing into pink and white pajama top and darker pink shorts, Madoka walked back downstairs. The smell of hot chocolate hit her almost instantly, and she closed her eyes, breathing it in. I'll talk to Mom. She might have some advice.
However, when she entered the kitchen, her mother was furiously tapping out a message on her own phone, the two mugs of hot chocolate cooling on the countertop beside her. "Mom, is everything okay?"
Junko looked up, startled. "Oh, Madoka, I didn't hear you come down. I'm just checking the traffic report. I know Tatsuya's friend lives on the other side of town, but it shouldn't take them thirty minutes to get from there to here unless there was some kind of backup on the main roads. I've already tried calling your father, but he didn't pick up. I know he doesn't like talking on the phone while he's driving, but it still got me worried..."
Madoka's stomach dropped, but not because of what her mother was probably thinking. Mami had made a passing comment the night before about how the area where Tatsuya and her father had gone was one of the best places in the city to go witch-hunting, because there were so many alleyways and one-way streets for them to hide in. Madoka ran back upstairs to her room and frantically searched for Sayaka's number on her phone.
"Hey, Madoka, what is it?" Sayaka answered.
"Sayaka-chan! I need your help! I don't think Mami-san could fight if she's as bad as you say, and I don't have the phone numbers of those other two girls!"
"Slow down now. You need me to do something as a magical girl?"
"Yes! I can pay you back for the bus fare. But I need you to go to the northwest district right away! I think my father and Tatsuya have been attacked by a witch somewhere by the art gallery!"
She could hear Sayaka rummaging around for something on the other end, most likely a city map. "Okay, the Hoshizora Art Exhibition, or the Tachibana Gallery of Photography?"
"The second one. It has a two-story apartment above it, and there's some gold lettering in English on the windows."
"Only for you, Madoka, but I'll do it. If it is your old man and your brother, I'll save them!"
"Thank you so much, Sayaka-chan! I don't know I'll be able to pay you back!" Sayaka laughed, then hung up. Madoka slumped against the wall, not feeling as relieved as she had expected. After all, could Sayaka really be expected to fight in top form after all she had learned today?
Madoka heard her mother downstairs, now talking to Ms. Tachibana. "They left twenty minutes ago? Oh, I see. No, everything's fine, I just wanted to know." She hung up, and fell silent. "Madoka?" she called up in a voice that was sounded far too earnest. "Come on down, the hot chocolate is getting cold!"
"Coming!" the pink-haired girl answered. She looked out her window, and couldn't help but think, But if I'm right, do I really want to be?
