The Beginning
A soft clicking arose from the keyboard as Aaron's fingers danced across the keys. He smirked and took his glasses off. "I'll win without even seeing." He mocked as he continued to play, blinded by poor vision. The words 'You Win' faded into existence on the screen and Aaron donned his glasses and sighed. He downed his soda and added the now empty can to the leaning tower that sat next to his computer.
Several moments passed by with him staring at his screen, squinting in irritation. Finally, he groaned and said. "It's hot…and musty as hell." He stood up and threw his window open in disgust. The summer wind blew a leaf through the window. He caught it between two fingers and blew it back out the window. The small trees iconic of a newer neighborhood waved in the wind outside. Several empty lots were scattered here and there along the street. He turned away from them, moving back into his dark room.
Aaron ran a hand through his hair out of habit then stretched, making unnecessary noises out of boredom. The wind knocked the cans on his desk over and he lifted an eyebrow at them. He slid them into the trash can and smirked at his clean desk.
A slight scratching of paws on the windowsill reached Aaron's ears. He chuckled. "Little squirrel. How many times have I told you that I don't drop…" Aaron trailed off at the sight of a small, white critter sitting in the window. "…crumbs."
"Have no fear, Aaron Sato. I have no intention to eat your food." Kyubey spoke in his soft, confident voice. "There is something much more important I need from you."
Aaron lifted an eyebrow and took a seat. "Well, if you aren't planning on taking my food, I'm willing to hear you out."
"Hmm…" Kyubey mused.
"Is something the matter, little critter?"
"I'm not used to getting such a calm reception to my appearance. You fascinate me." Kyubey said, hopping down from the window to Aaron's bed.
"You're either a delusion from the heat or real." Aaron said, calmly. "In either situation, it would be more interesting to see what you want. So," Aaron said, putting his feet up on his bed near Kyubey, "what can I do for you?"
"I would like you to form a contract with me." Kyubey said, waiting for a response. Seeing none, he continued. "I will grant you any wish of your choosing in exchange for you working for me as a magical gi…er, guy."
Aaron stared at his feet, taking in everything that was just said. The wind seemed to have stopped, and the beige curtains had stopped moving. He looked up at Kyubey. "What does a 'magical guy' do, exactly?"
"Normally, those who make contracts with me fight witches that cause extreme despair and grief among humans. However, you'd be a special case. There is this witch who is causing issues with…" Kyubey started explaining.
Aaron jumped up, cutting Kyubey off. "Less exposition, more plot."
Kyubey, confused and tired of being cut off, tried to get clarification, "What do you mean?"
"I should have been more specific. What I mean is that you need to give me fewer details. All these details clutter the mind when I'm already being bombarded by so many things. I need to be able to process the broad picture, then seamlessly flow through the details as they become relevant." He said, making motions that seemed rehearsed.
Kyubey grinned. He had started to like this guy. "Then I'll be broad for you. A problem has come up, and I need you to help fix it."
"Was I your first choice?" Aaron said, glancing at Kyubey. "I don't like when people settle for me as a last resort."
"I searched the local areas for a particular skill set that I deemed suitable for…" Kyubey started but was cut off again.
"Mr. Critter. Yes or no questions require yes or no answers."
"You may call me Kyubey, since you seem to be without a suitable name."
"That's super weird. I should call you critter with a 'k' instead of a 'c' instead." Aaron propositioned.
Kyubey frowned. "What would that accomplish? They are the same word if you can only hear it."
Aaron laughed. "It's a joke, Kyubey. You're too serious."
"This is a serious matter." Kyubey was losing control of the conversation. He needed to be the one convincing, not being toyed with. "The answer to your question is yes, you were my first choice."
"Good! I accept the contract then." Aaron said, jumping onto his grey comforter in front of Kyubey.
"Just like that? You haven't even heard what I need from you." Kyubey said, realizing that his reactions were counterproductive to his goal too late.
"Why not? I have the gist of it. You have a witch who is apparently too big and bad for your normal horde of magical girly girls and need me to deal with it. A bit sexist to think a man is needed when women are failing, don't you think?" Aaron said, seeing if he could get some sort of emotion out of Kyubey.
Kyubey was amazed. "You…you're good at this information thing." He stuttered. "But no, it's not sexist. I sought you out based on skills, not gender."
"Tell that to the ladies, Kyubey." Aaron said, leaning back and sliding his foot under Kyubey, trying to toss him around.
Kyubey nimbly jumped over to Aaron's desk. "I am curious as to how you knew they were all female before."
"I didn't know for sure until just now. But you almost asked me to be a magic girl, which would mean you're quite used to asking people that question."
Kyubey sat in silence, watching the young man in front of him. He was arrogant, but rightfully so. "Well, you seem to understand what's going on without me explaining it. Since you seem so eager, tell me your wish and I'll complete our contract."
"Yeah, Kyubey…" Aaron started, "I was thinking I'd save that wish for later, just in case I needed it."
Silence fell over the room. Kyubey blinked in disbelief. "No wish? Then why are you agreeing to my contract? It's a very dangerous job! Most people don't even think the wish is ample compensation."
Aaron gestured. "Look around Kyubey. What do you see? Boring, cream colored walls. Boring curtains. Boring, whatever the hell my parents call that painting." He said, looking at the people sitting by a river in a frame. "My entertainment is my vast array of strategy games, which I happen to be top ranked in, so they get boring as well. Life is just moving too slowly for me."
"It seems that you have an intellect that is being wasted here." Kyubey said, finally understanding the person in front of him.
Aaron touched his nose and pointed at Kyubey. "You got it." He chuckled. "Look at me, talking way too much after telling you not to talk much. Let's just get right to it then, shall we?"
"I need your wish to make the contract."
The bed creaked as Aaron leaned back on it, thinking. "There's more to this wish than you're telling me." He looked over at Kyubey, who said nothing. "You need this wish for something. Otherwise, why give people whatever they want? You could just promise people magic in return for fighting for you. No, there's definitely something to it. Does it activate your magic? No…" Aaron started rambling to himself. Kyubey listened to this stream of consciousness. This man had not only taken control of the dealing, but also was figuring out the contract on his own. Kyubey forgot the rest of the doubt he had had in choosing a man for the job. There was potential here.
"That's it!" Aaron snapped Kyubey out of his thoughts. "You need the wishes to help define the magical powers! You just go up to mostly random girls for this, so there's no way you'd know the best form of magic to give them. You need this to help define their personality, combining that with whatever you figure out about their personality while talking to them. I've got you figured out Kyubey."
"Surprisingly yes, you got it exactly. I'm very impressed. So what does this mean for your wish?"
A smirk crossed over Aaron's lips. "It means my wish has to be strategic. Let's see…" Aaron trailed off, getting up and pacing around the small room. "I'll need to be able to hold my own in combat, but since you generally go to young women, who aren't really known for their fighting skills, my guess is that the magic will be compensation enough for that. I can also just sign up for some mixed martial arts or something. Yeah, that's not a problem." Aaron said.
"You're rambling, Aaron." Kyubey said, watching the dirty carpet sink underneath his footsteps.
"You're right." Aaron said. "I need a wish that improves something I can't improve myself. A strategic wish improving my utility and that will get me a strategic form of magic. Now what can I not improve…"
Kyubey was amused at this seemingly endless ramble. "Utility?" He asked, trying to get more from the mind of Aaron.
"Yes! Things besides offense and defense that aid me in…" His glasses slid down his nose and he stopped talking. "I've got it. I wish my eyesight was perfect." The scratching of paws was heard as Kyubey lifted them to cast the wish. "Wait. Perfect eyesight, in the light and in the dark." Aaron finished, smirking once again.
"Then let the contract be made." Kyubey said, releasing his powers.
Aaron woke up in his bed. "God dammit!" He groaned. He hadn't wanted it to be a dream. He rolled over and stared at the wall. All of its awful, cream-colored horificness, clear as day. 'Clear as day,' he realized. It wasn't blurry. 'Now I'm suddenly Spiderman,' he thought, reaching for his glasses and testing them out.
"How do you like your vision?" Kyubey said, sitting on the headboard above Aaron's pillow.
Aaron screamed and sat up. "Jesus dude! What's your problem?"
"Did I startle you?"
"I wonder…" Aaron said, sarcastically. He stood up carefully, examining himself. The carpet sank as it always did beneath him. There was nothing particularly magical happening when he moved arond. "So, I feel pretty much the same." Kyubey set Aaron's soul gem on his pillow while he was looking at himself. Aaron glanced at it. "Fancy egg. That your breakfast?"
"This is your soul gem. It's very important for you to keep it on you at all times." Kyubey said, letting his tail wave in the slight breeze from the open window.
Aaron lifted the soul gem. It shone in the light, the white color inside seeming to swirl around inside. "Is there some way to make it easier to carry around? I mean, putting it my pocket doesn't seem like a good way to hold something if I'm going to fight." As he finished speaking, the soul gem transformed itself into a necklace around his neck.
"Does that suit your need?" Kyubey asked, eager to see Aaron's first reaction to magic.
Aaron's fingers slid across it carefully. After a few moments, he looked at Kyubey, "Jewelry? Really? Couldn't have thought of anything more manly for the first guy you've gotten?"
"It's really not about looks…" Kyubey started, but was once again cut off.
"It's whatever."
Kyubey jumped to the window. "If you are finished complaining, would you please follow me?" He bounded out of the window. Aaron raised an eyebrow and clambered out the window behind him. The sunset cast a yellow glow across the neighborhood. Kyubey walked along the sidewalk, playing among a couple's legs as they walked. Aaron figured that only he could see him and began to follow.
The sidewalk turned to gravel as they left the neighborhood. The land beside Aaron's neighborhood was perpetually under construction, never giving the patrons peace from the loud banging and drilling.
Aaron stared at Kyubey as they walked along. He was curious. 'Test test,' he thought to himself.
"What are you testing?" Kyubey said, responded to Aaron's thoughts.
'And that explains why you always sound like you're in my head when you speak.' He thought.
"It would be weird for you to talk to something no one can see, would it not?" Kyubey said, triumphantly. "Now, I apologize for this being so sudden, but I have located a witch for you to test your magic on. I have made sure it is a particularly weak witch, that way you won't be overwhelmed. Normally, I will not be finding your witches for you. In fact, I won't babysit you either once you've begun."
'Good. I've never been good with babysitters.' Aaron thought, wondering what witches actually looked like. 'How far away is this witch?'
"She's been hiding in a construction site relatively close to your house. We are approaching it now." Kyubey said, turning off the curb to walk among the building shells. He stopped in front of a concrete building that would soon be an apartment complex.
The street lights came on, and the wind stopped. The hollow shell of a building stood lifeless in front of them. Aaron ran a hand through his hair and let it fall into place on its own. He shuffled his feet on the ground awkwardly. "So…come on out, witch!" He yelled up at the building.
Kyubey laughed and walked into the building. "A witch won't come to you. You go to the witch."
Aaron sighed and walked into the building. The walls began to shift around him and he stopped. "What's going on?"
"You have entered the witch's lair. They tend to form it into a labyrinth as protection." Kyubey said, completely used to the sight.
The floor formed into a sky filled with constellations, spinning slowly. The walls mimicked the surface of the moon, filling with craters and waves. Stalactites grew down from the ceiling, blocking any easy way forward.
Aaron slid his hands into his back pocket. "Seems she likes space. It's a bit upside down though."
"It's time for you to transform and begin using your powers." Kyubey said.
"I don't have to spin, do I?" Aaron said, trying to get Kyubey to be less serious.
"No. You should be able to figure it out. I could give you some sort of cheesy line to search inside yourself, but I think you'd complain."
Aaron wasn't amused. He took a quick mental stock of himself. His body parts felt all normal. The only thing that felt different was the necklace. He touched it and it glowed with power, shrouding him in light. "Cool."
As the light faded, Aaron could feel the difference. He looked down. He was in a black pinstripe suit, the pinstripes white enough to be glowing. He had white trench coat that hung down to his dress shoes. A gold pocket watch hung from the vest in his suit. He chuckled and went to run his hand through his hair again, but felt a hat. Taking it off, he saw that it was white with a black ring encompassing it and a feather. "You've turned me into a nineteen-fifties gangster, Kyubey."
"Is it manly enough for you?" Kyubey said, mocking him.
"It'll do." Aaron said, getting his hat on just right. "I was kind of hoping I'd get some kind of weapon, though."
"Every magical…person has some sort of magical item to aid them. Most times it's a weapon, but not always." Kyubey said, wagging his tail.
Aaron thumbed the pocket watch in his vest and pulled it out. Inside, there was the average clock, but behind it was a radar display. "Oh, this will definitely do." He said, putting it back into his pocket and approaching the stalactites. "So, just how much magic can I do?"
"It depends on the wish. I can't help you with questions about your capabilities."
A sigh left Aaron's lips. He'd have to figure it out. A weird tingling sensation seemed to hang over his body. He concentrated on it and tried to will it to push forward through the rock blocking his path. It worked, and the stalactites crumbled apart in front of him. "Digging. It." Aaron said, absentmindedly destroying a few more. Small green aliens crawled away from the wreckage. "The witch's lair, complete with minions. Come along, Kyubey."
"Unfortunately, there are other things I must do. You seem to have a grasp on things, so I will leave you to it." Kyubey said, turning to leave. Aaron shrugged, pulling out his pocket watch to check where things were. "Oh, before I leave, when the witch dies, it will drop something. Pick it up, and I'll explain what it is next time we meet."
"Whatever you say, Kyubes." Aaron said, turning back to the path. His radar showed the witch straight ahead, but he figured it wouldn't be that easy. He pocketed it and decided left was a good path.
The floor began to match the ceiling the further in the maze Aaron went. Alien creatures scurried away as he approached, fearful of the intruder. Doors were scattered along the cave walls, fully metallic and spacey. Aaron would open them to look through, but never went into any of them. He wasn't in the mood to get lost.
A larger door than the rest stood near the end of the hallway. Aaron pulled his hat lower on his head and slid the door to the side. A larger green alien stood in the middle of the chamber. It stared directly at him as he stepped inside. The door shut itself behind him, and he surveyed his surroundings. It was a circular room, with only one door. The walls were just as they were outside, but the ceiling rose into a big dome.
The witch raised its four arms and the light in the room faded. Aaron smirked, still able to see thanks to his wish. He watched the witch reach up and grab a stalactite from the roof and snap it off. Moments later, it was sailing through the air towards him. He jumped to the side, but went flying much further than he was expecting to go. "Well that was fun." He said, trying to land gracefully, but failing.
A howl echoed around the dome. The witch started running towards a wall, crawling up it in an attempt to find a better position against her new opponent.
"I really must apologize, miss," Aaron said, arrogantly, "but I am afraid my job description includes eliminating you."
Several more stalactites collided with the wall near Aaron's head. 'Apparently, the witch can't see well in her own darkness,' Aaron thought to himself. He knew he had the advantage, but now he had to figure out how to win. He had no weapons or tools, aside from his radar, which wasn't very useful against one enemy that he could see perfectly.
He quickly ducked as another projectile came flying at him. Then he got an idea. He jumped up to one of the hanging formations and snapped it off. It felt lighter than it looked, but he wasn't sure how much he could attribute of that to his magic.
The witch crawled around across the ceiling, howling and throwing things at him. "I'm going to have to ask you if you can hold still for a moment." He called up to it. It didn't respond to him at all. He sighed. He'd have to time it just perfectly.
He followed around underneath the witch till it stopped to break another piece off the ceiling. Right as it stopped, Aaron jumped upwards as hard as he could, throwing his projectile straight up. The point pierced the witch effortlessly, bringing a blood-curdling scream from the creature. It fell to the ground, disintegrating on contact. The walls around them faded, and Aaron was now standing on the roof of the building shell.
"I don't remember ever walking upwards." He said to nobody, holding his hat down as the wind picked up. His trench coat flapped out behind him and his shoes clacked on the concrete as he walked to where he saw something lying on the ground. A small, black object that gleamed in the dark stood upright on the ground at his feet. Aaron picked it up and put it in his pocket. He stretched some, making noises out of boredom, then walked towards the stairs.