Chapter 1 - Tracey Edwards
London, England. A blonde haired girl in a mixture of medieval armour and school uniform, blue in colour with golden highlights runs along Piccadilly. Catching sight of herself in a reflective surface gives her an amused smile as always. She always knew watching those old Japanese cartoons so much with her older brother would make her weird. Not like she could help it at the time, but...
Still, she loves running. She always has, ever since she made her contract. Before this life she was bound in a wheelchair, a legacy of a spinal injury they'd said would never be fixed.
But it was, and now she runs as well as anyone. Hell, better, because her body is simply stronger than a normal girl's. She can run for miles without being winded badly, she can jump higher than the others.
It's given her a certain level of arrogance, but she thinks it entirely justified. The only time she does not display this is in the middle of a hunt. She's seen what overconfidence can do in battle. How it can turn victory from a certainty into a vague unknown in one swoop.
Her prey is before her, but her Soul Gem is darkened by overuse. She hasn't fought a demon this powerful since a few years ago when the other Puella Magi of her area banded together to fight them. The damned things had kept coming, and it was only a miracle that they'd beaten them down that time.
She knows she is done for. This time there is no backup waiting, no Kate to pull her away from the monster's' jaws. No Chloe to heal her wounds. She's alone. She has no spare grief cubes to cleanse her gem and refresh her magic. She could run away, but she neverruns away when the demon could attack innocent people.
But a thought stays with her, lurking in her mind; just what happens to those whose soul gems are completely darkened and empty. They disappear, fade into light, just as those who fall in battle do. But there are always tales. And she's seen one die herself, after a long battle. In that last moment of life, Kate's eyes had widened, and she'd given a soft smile and a nod, as if acknowledging something... Maybe even someone.
And so, for Tracey Edwards, her situation holds no fear, only a strange and wild exaltation as she jumps and swings her halberd at the demon. She misses and lands, skidding behind it, halberd clattering away and smashing into a shop window. Oops.
She summons another halberd and throws it, missing again. Canny bastard. A beam of light flies towards her and she holds up her arm, a large shield appearing on it. She holds it up against the beam.
That was her wish. She wanted to be able to protect her baby brother from bullies and from harm, because she couldn't bear to see his tears and feel so uselessand unable to defend him as she was. So now she defends not only him, but her whole family, her home, as a knight-protector of the city streets, against the demons of grief. The wish manifests in her Puella Magi form as a large shield and the ability to take hits that would cripple another magical girl. Or so she's found.
And yet she feels in her heart it's not going to be enough.
She's proven right as the beam shatters the shield and pierces her body, but she's alive. Grimacing, she wheels out of the way of another lunge and fires off a round of summoned bidents, impaling the creature into the ground in a cage of red spirals. A sardonic grin attaches itself to her face. She really has been watching too much stuff with her big brother.
It only lasts a moment, though, and she can feel the darkness now, in her very soul, pulling at her. The exaltation starting to give way for despair. The hesitation that feeling produces becomes her end as she looks down to find the demon has sliced her belly open with its claws. Her entrails spill out and she makes a vain effort to hold them in.
The demons are always like this. They look human, but they very quickly change into monstrous beasts, and just as quickly change back when they've attacked.
The world comes into clarity like she has never seen before,and she lets out a pained gasp. Somewhere, just beyond the bizarre face of the demon is a figure, smiling at her. Pink hair flutters in the wind.
And the beast is upon her again. Her left arm is severed quickly, cleanly, but there is no pain. Not any more. It lands nearby with a sick thump.
Tracey holds out her remaining hand. She knows what to do. The figure nods with a smile. A large lance forms in her remaining hand, and she swings it around and throws it up, putting every last ounce of her power into it and directing it down towards the demon, and the creature explodes into cubes of blackness, the lance embedding itself in the street..
Tracey falls to the ground and lies there for what feels like hours, but is really only minutes. This is it, she thinks. This is the end.
She closes her eyes and tears fall from her eyes, dripping to the ground and mingling with her blood. She'll never see Jake grow up. He'll not have his big sister there for him. Tom won't have her barge into his room and demand to sit with him while he watches those cartoons she says she hates but really loves, all because it's watching something with her big brother that he loves.
Dad won't be able to give his special smile or cook her favourite breakfast whilst grumbling good naturedly about her demand he do so. Mum won't keep checking up on her at night, even though she's been walking for three years.
Her soul gem darkens to black, and cracks run down it. So many regrets. It's not fair. Why should she have to pay this price? Why?
Black despair overwhelms her, and she arches her back as a horrifying feeling of emptiness runs through her, like lightning rushing all through her body but hollowand terrifying. And something else, like
And then, just as suddenly it's gone. She sees the blackness flow out of the gem, as if someone had held a grief cube to it, and a hand runs over it, then gently runs through her hair.
She holds her own hand out, and something, someone takes it, pulls her up and dusts her off. She sees her soul gem on the floor shatter, but doesn't feel afraid any more.
"Your duty is finished." The voice is so sweet, like a mother. "Come. It's time." Tracey nods.
The last thing she glimpses before the world turns golden-white is pink hair and a red ribbon. And then, just for a moment she sees her family, sitting at the dining room table, eating supper.
She knows they'll be damaged by her death, but they'll heal. Jake will be fine eventually. Tom will look after him. But it doesn't mean they'll forget their sister. She smiles, and then feels an embrace she's always been waiting for, but never knew she was.
And a pink haired familiar stranger leads her into a world of light.
All they find in the morning is a hat belonging to Tracey, next to a hole that a police officer who re-enacts in his spare time swears was made by a medieval lance.
A/N - This is more or less a writing exercise in which I'll tell stories of various magical girls dying and being picked up by Madoka, who as I understand it seems to have become some kind of valkyrie thing after ascending. I think. I hope you enjoy it!
So that's what this is. It's probably going to be depressing, but at the same time happy because, hey, least they're not turning into witches, right?
I'm going to be mostly writing a series of OC puella magi, but there will be a few familiar faces scattered around. The chapters aren't going to be too long, maybe 1000 words on average. Might be longer if I can actually get writing action scenes better. Not sure how many I'm going to do in between writing lots of other things. This was also posted on spacebattles, so if you're from there, hi, I'm Strawberry there.
If you enjoyed, don't forget a review! They feed my soul gem!