Chapter 5: Questionable Answers
Homura was silent as Kyouko continued to lead them down the corridors, staying silent as she attempted to regain control of herself. The redhead didn't press her friend to talk and instead focused on deciding where they were going to go. It was now late evening, the sun sinking below the fuzzy horizon, and the rest of the girls were beginning to return to their rooms.
Mentally shrugging, she decided she may as well take them to her own room. She didn't have to worry about disturbing a roommate after all, since Homura wasn't supposed to have fulfilled that role once she recovered. Briefly, the thought of sharing a room with the girl sent a spike through her heartbeat.
Turning several corners, Kyouko sighed in relief when she saw the door to her room, number thirteen-thirteen, at the end of the hall. All of the living quarters within the worker's complex were sandwiched into one section of the area, a spot closest to the gates which led out of the complex and into the rows of Millennium Factories only a mile away. Still, there was enough space to house roughly three thousand workers, so sharing rooms had generally solved the problem of living space.
Leading Homura down the hall, she ruffled around in her pockets for a moment before pulling out the pass card that had been assigned to her. Waving it impatiently before the scanner sitting presumptuously beside the doorframe, she waited for the affirming beep before reaching out and pushing the door open.
Once inside, she said Homura down on the single bed occupying the room before turning to close the door behind them. The dull rumble of the building's inner workings was suddenly cut off once she did, and the two of them sat in a suffocatingly sudden silence, as Kyouko leaned back against the door and stared at Homura's hunched figure, unsure of what to do or say.
Homura saved her the trouble by speaking first. "So this is your room?" She asked colloquially, looking up to stare around.
Kyouko joined her in the staring. There wasn't much to look at. Basic carpet on the floor, dirty white plaster covering the walls. There was a makeshift dresser where she had stuffed all the fitting clothing that she had managed to scavenge from storage, but the conjoining shelves were bare of any contents to boast. She'd only been here a week, after all, and in that time home decoration hadn't exactly been her top priority.
She reached up to untie her hair. "Obviously."
Homura's eyes followed the movement. "Well, I'm more than aware of your habit of sleeping in hotel rooms that don't belong to you."
The redhead instinctively snorted and let her hair tumble down. "Oh, come on. I haven't done that in a year."
"Because that's when you moved in with me, remember?"
"Only so you'd stop nagging me about everything I do."
Homura rolled her eyes. "Well, it's still better than breaking into high-profile hotels to wash up."
"Yes, because you've got such a five-star couch, Homura."
They both shared a laugh at that, Kyouko's chuckles louder of course, but Homura's more restrained giggle was there too, underlying hers. For a moment, it felt like old times, when things were still simple enough to joke without giving a damn about tomorrow.
But the moment quickly passed, and the brief glow they had shared together faded out of existence. Homura looked back down at her knees and Kyouko went back to staring at the top of her head.
"Hey," The redhead said finally, pushing herself off the door and walking over to the bed, "Are you going to be okay?"
Homura laughed as Kyouko sat beside her, the mattress creaking gently beneath the added weight. "Well yes. But I'm always 'okay', aren't I?"
"Of course you are. That's why you're stronger than I am," Kyouko said, making the girl beside her look up. "But that doesn't mean that you're...actually okay, you know? Even if you are okay. Okay, I really need to start expanding my vocabulary. I can't just keep using 'okay'...okay. Dammit, it doesn't even sound like a word anymore."
Homura snorted in amusement and elbowed Kyouko, making the redhead grin at her own disability to be eloquent. "Don't worry, I'm always going to be 'okay' in the end, Kyouko...I just get unsteady when I remember things like that. But memories are memories. Sometimes they come back, but they always fade. It will be the same for this one."
Kyouko smiled and pulled her friend into a loose headlock. "Good. You aren't very lucky with your love interests, are you?"
The time traveler snorted and pulled the redhead's arm off her. "You know more than anyone that I was never romantically involved with Kota. She's just...one of my bigger regrets, is all. It was also my second failure, which made the sting worse."
Kyouko briefly remembered "Madoka," the girl Homura had mentioned to them a few times in passing a few years ago, though any mention of the mysterious girl didn't peek up anymore. All the redhead knew was that Homura had loved her, but this was all Kyouko was likely to care about. She wondered where she fit, how big of a piece she was in the labyrinth that was Homura's heart, and whether she mattered to the girl in the grand scheme of things.
Finally, Homura sighed and rubbed at her temples. "Anyways, I hope you won't needle me to acquaint myself with other girls in the future," She said. "My heart's full enough with three people."
Kyouko blinked when she heard the mismatching number. Three? A third person? Frantically, she tried to think back to a point where such an individual might have been mentioned, but couldn't come up with anything. A queasy feeling was beginning to emerge in the pit of her stomach when she caught Homura smirking at her.
"What...?" The redhead asked, not understanding.
Homura rolled her eyes. "I was talking about you, obviously. You don't read between the lines very well, do you?"
Kyouko simply stared back at her, unsure whether she should feel angry or elated. Homura, finally comprehending the gravity of what she had just said, blushed suddenly and looked away.
"I consider you a good friend, of course," She spluttered almost automatically, grabbing at words randomly at throwing them out of her mouth. "We've known each other for a long time, and we've spent a lot of time together, and I do find your company enjoyable, so..."
She steeled her nerves and turned her head to look Kyouko in the eye. When she did, Homura was startled to find something unfathomable in the redhead's irises. Something bright, but clouded at the same time. It was a totally foreign expression, one that she had never seen before on the girl's face. Even the magic that increased her sensitivity to emotion couldn't decipher it in that split second, but Homura wasn't given the luxury of time as a moment later the look passed, and Kyouko blinked, her expression returning to normal.
"Don't be so fucking mushy," Kyouko laughed, punching Homura in the shoulder. "It doesn't suit you. Look, I'm gonna go find a second mattress for you. We could get a bunk bed dragged in here, but that might not be for a while."
Getting up, she crossed over to the other side of the room and opened to door. "I'll be right back," Kyouko promised, meeting Homura's eyes for just a moment. The ebony haired girl saw a bit of that same unidentifiable emotion in her eyes, before Kyouko closed the door and there was nothing but the sound of her footsteps to contemplate.
Sighing, Homura let herself fall back onto the springy mattress, closing her eyes when she felt the cool sheets sliding against her skin. Breathing in, she realized that the bed smelled alot like Kyouko. She indulged herself for a moment, inhaling slowly, trying to figure out the components of the scent. Admittedly, it mostly smelled like Homura's shampoo, since they had spent a year under the same roof, but there was something else underlying it, something she couldn't stick a name to. But it was most certainly Kyouko-esque.
Opening her eyes and realizing what she was doing, Homura shook her head violently as focused on breathing more shallowly. Sniffing the bed of a potential love interest...it was so horribly cliche that she almost wanted to laugh. Pursing her lips and staring at the rather drab looking ceiling, she thought back to Kyouko's odd expression. Given some thought, she now knew what it was; crushed hope.
As noted previously, Homura was far from oblivious when it came to romantic interest, despite her absolute lack of experience. Thusly, the numerous hints Kyouko had dropped for her over the years hadn't gone unnoticed at all, though Homura ultimately chose not to respond to them in an actionable manner. Her initial reason for doing this was that she was still adjusting to her life in the New Order, and after that she had argued to herself that she didn't know enough about the redhead to respond to her interest. Eventually, however, she was bound to run out of excuses.
She knew that Kyouko saw her as more than a friend. Luckily enough, the redhead seemed to respect her boundaries enough for this to have not become an uncomfortable issue between them, but Homura still felt guilty about acting like she didn't know what was going on. She probably wasn't fooling Kyouko much, either. They couldn't keep pretending forever, but they had to, didn't they?
Then again, why did they? After Homura had exhausted the array of reasons she could think of, her heart and mind had ultimately betrayed her by beginning to think, "Why not?" Why not accept Kyouko's advances and see where it took them? A week ago, it would have been so easy. It was a time of secured peace, the world wasn't about to end for once, and it would have been so very simple to just let it happen. So what was holding her back?
Her first that had been that the two of them simply weren't compatible, but that theory was quickly trashed. It felt absurd to realize, but she enjoyed Kyouko's company, and found her personality to be appealing, despite the redhead's many flaws. The girl was brash, inconsiderate, overly cynical, and ate far too much per capita. But she was also vibrant with energy and fiery about her beliefs, a contrast that Homura strangely liked having between them.
There was also the hidden blessing in that Kyouko had had as harrowing a past as her, and it was nice having someone who knew when you were being serious or not. Homura supposed that that was the key which had allowed their relationship to progress, the fact that they could understand each other, two broken people coming together for mutual healing.
But she couldn't take their relationship further, because she was too afraid. Yes, the great and fearless Homura Akemi, too afraid. Though in her opinion it was more of a tactical decision than anything else. She appreciated when she had with Kyouko and had come to cherish it greatly over the years, but taking it to the next level would only raise the stakes to unacceptable levels. With her luck, something would happen to one of them, something she wouldn't be able to foresee or prevent, and it would be the say cycle all over again.
If she was destined to lose Kyouko to the Cycle as well, she wanted it to hurt as little as possible.
Homura laid an arm over her eyes and exhaled heavily, set on her decision when a certain redhead's words filtered through her brain at the worst of moments.
"...you shouldn't be so quick to bury what you want. Sometimes it hurts other people to see you do that. And besides...you never know when you'll get another chance."
Groaning, Homura turned over in the bed and suffocated herself with the lumpy pillow that Kyouko probably didn't even bother to use. Now there was a point of view she had been hoping to avoid considering. If she were to die tomorrow, or a month or even a year later, would she regret never having something special with Kyouko? Would it be better to go out without that regret? Breathing shallowly, her mind wrestled between the two sides, responsibility and personal desire, common sense and passion.
It was the first time that the cold, logical side of her hadn't easily won the argument.
Closing her eyes and breathing in with her nose squashed against the pillow, she vaguely realized that whether she felt an actual attraction to Kyouko had ceased to become a question. It wasn't that she had suddenly decided that she reciprocated the redhead's feelings; in fact, she didn't know if she ever would.
But...she did feel like she could grow to love the girl, if she tried.
Her thoughts were rather gratefully (or rudely?) interrupted when Kyouko kicked open the door and poked her head in, saying, "Sorry, I couldn't find a spare mattress, so you'll have...Homura, what are you doing?"
The girl in question, raising her head up to blink blankly back at the redhead, suddenly realized that she effectively hugging Kyouko's pillow and tangling herself up in the sheets. This, coupled with the subject matter of her recent thoughts, was more than enough to paint her cheeks a bright, embarrassing red.
"Um," She said dumbly. "Marking territory?"
Before she could thoroughly process just how stupid of a response that was, Kyouko opened her jaws and barked in laughter, squeezing through the door and closing it behind her. "So what, were you just about to take a piss on the bed? That's how you 'mark territory,' right?"
Homura knew her blush wasn't going away and hated it. "Shut up, Kyouko."
"Look, if you need to piss that badly, I can go grab a bucket-"
"I said shut up."
Kyouko raised her hands in an "I'm innocent" motion as she crossed the room. "Alright, whatever. Anyways, as I was saying before I walked in on your little ritual-" She dodged a pillow aimed for her head. "-there aren't any spare mattresses I could find, so we'll have to make arrangements. Since you're the injured one, you can take the bed."
Homura frowned, knowing that she was being coddled and not liking it. "That won't be necessary. We could always share the bed."
There was a moment of palpable silence as Kyouko simply stared at her, and it took another second or so before Homura decided to analyze the context of her words.
"I never thought you to be so bold," Kyouko smirked behind her hand as she grinned mischievously at her friend.
"What? We've shared a bed before," Homura desperately tried to defend herself, even though she was fully aware of what she had said.
The redhead laughed again. "Sure, but it was never by your invitation. I just crawled in whenever it was too cold on the floor."
"Well, I never kicked you out, did I?"
"What, so you're saying you enjoy sleeping next to me?"
"Maybe I do," Homura challenged, looking up to lock eyes with the redhead. Strangely enough, she really didn't feel like losing this argument.
Kyouko only managed to match her glare for a few moment before looking away with a slight blush. "Oh."
The trail of embarrassment would have continued then, if it wasn't for the mental transmission they both receive at that moment.
[Get down to the bunker, both of you,] Anna's stern voice spoke into their minds. [There's a bombing run going on, and it's way too close for comfort. Mami and the council are ordering maximum caution. Hurry.]
"What's going on?" Homura asked as she hurriedly got off the bed, joining Kyouko as she reopened the door and headed out.
"Reapers are strafing another sector, trying to find us," She replied, walking briskly. Around them, they could hear the sound of five thousand more girls similarly on the move. "From the looks of it, they're hitting a little closer than we'd like."
"Are they going to expose us?" Homura murmured, suddenly tense as she understood the situation.
A grim smile. "Let's hope not."
As the redhead led her down the halls, Homura stared at the back of her head. She didn't know if she would respond to Kyouko's silent affections soon, or much later, or even ever. But she know that, relationship or not, she couldn't lose her.
The "bunker" was not a literal bunker, as one might have imagined. Aside from the sprawling array of buildings covering the surface where the factories were, the worker's complex also boasted a network of underground chambers that spread a considerable distance from the core structures. It was said the that the entire complex was originally an old military base which had been repurposed in the wake of Mitakihara's expansion, which would explain the rather Spartan layout. It was also one of the many reasons they had chosen this particular complex as a hideaway.
One of these many subterranean hovels was a large hangar, in which large equipment was kept until further use became necessary. Most of said equipment had been removed at some point before the complex's abandonment, and the hangar was now essentially a vast, open space, with walls surrounded by reinforced chrome and video links feeding visuals of what was going on at the surface.
Perfect for weathering out an attack, which they were about do.
"Not here. We're meeting with the rest of the council elsewhere," Kyouko murmured to her when they emerged through the last corridor leading into the bunker. Blinking at the sudden harsh light, Homura found herself standing at one side of a massive chamber, dozens of yards high and just as wide. Similar entrances like the one behind her dotted the walls around them, and a steady stream of girls was coming through them, slowly filling up the chamber. Solid metal floors and walls, bright florescent lighting along the ceiling.
"Can the entire federation fit in here?" Homura asked, slightly concerned. The hangar was extremely spacious, certainly, but not vast enough to accommodate five thousand girls.
"This isn't the only bunker," Kyouko replied as she led them through the growing crowd of girls. They took a set of wired stairs upwards, and for the first time Homura noticed the steel platforms ringing the hangar above their heads. "We have four more, so if we squeeze, we can fit everybody. But we generally encourage people not to gain weight."
Homura reached the level of the platforms and looked down at the throngs below them, blinking when a few of the girls looked back up at her in recognition. They all had that same look about them, hard set, and angry.
"How often have you had to do this?" She muttered, feeling something black rise up inside of her as she watched more magical girls shuffle slowly into the hangar.
Kyouko smiled wanly as they walked along the platforms, taking them to a single closed door at the center of the northern wall. "Well...we don't do this if the Reapers strike somewhere far enough away, but...this is probably the fifth time this week."
Homura gritted her teeth. "You can't keep running and hiding like this. Eventually, they'll find us, either through luck or process of elimination...and besides, it's humiliating."
The redhead's forced smile finally melted from her face as they reached the door on the second level. Reaching forward, she grasped the handle before turning to meet her friend's eyes. "We're all very aware of that," She said simply. "But you have to think about what it would mean to go out there and fight against the Reapers. These girls are looking for blood, Homura. This is nothing like the border skirmishes we dealt with before the federation came into existence. If we decide to come out of hiding and butt heads, girls on both sides are going to die. In great numbers, most likely."
Feeling slightly cowed for not considering this, the time traveler bowed her head in acceptance.
[Please release all magic currently in use,] An unfamiliar voice droned into their minds. Homura realized that it was probably a mass message. [Minimize all magical signatures as much as possible, and keep mental transmissions to a minimum.]
Kyouko frowned grimly. "Come on," She muttered, pulling open the door. "Let's go meet the others."
For Homura to say that she didn't enjoy working with the council would have been a gross understatement. After all, many of them were the same girls who had lied to her regarding Kota's personal safety, but even before that particular incident, Homura had tended to but heads with the rest of them. Unfortunately, it seemed that in this time of crisis, that very same council had become the decision making body of the federation to an even further extent.
It was the logical outcome, when she thought about it, but that didn't mean she liked it.
The door opened to reveal a pitch black corridor that only grew darker when Kyouko shut the door behind them, cutting off the harsh lights of the hangar. Squinting, Homura tried to make something out at the end of the hall and could only see a fuzzy point of illumination. The redhead passed by her and began proceeding forward and she wordlessly followed, having become accustomed to having her questions momentarily unanswered.
As they walked, the pinpoint of light in the distance grew more prominent, and soon enough she was able to realize that it was the glare of a monitor screen. Stepping out from the end of the corridor at last, Homura fully understood where they were.
It was a small, cramped chamber, with a low ceiling. The room was devoid of lighting aside from the rows and rows of computer screens that decorated the walls, filling the space with a glaring, sick light. The monitors ringed the entire perimeter of the room, displaying nothing at the moment other than a solid white surface. Buttons and command modules that she couldn't ever hope to recognize were rigged to desks and panels above her head. The steady beeping and clicking of modern machinery filled the room with its ambience.
In short, it was a command center.
A single, display-supported table sat in the middle, flanked on all sides by four people.
"Ah, Homura," Mami said, looking up from her seat at the head of the table. Its surface was obviously outfitted with some sort of holographic display, because a dimly blue light was shining upwards and giving the blonde's face a paltry glow. "Good to see that you could make it. Are you feeling alright?"
Homura nodded silently, not feeling particularly motivated to speak.
Mami nodded and gestured towards the two empty seats beside her. "That's good. Now, please sit down so that we can begin."
Homura circled the table, stepping on a mess of cables and wires as she went, before claiming her seat beside Mami. Kyouko took the one next to her, eyeing the rest of the council in an odd manner.
Placing her elbows on the softly glowing table and latticing her fingers together, Homura rested her chin there before instinctively taking in the faces of the girls around her.
The federation's council was never an actual, official entity, but it had eventually formed more out of necessity than anything else. A pure democracy was never going to work among magical girls, no matter how cooperative they claimed to be, so it was only natural that the oldest and most experienced among them would take on the responsibilities of leadership. Luckily enough, the federation's activities were largely self operative, and the council only ever had to concern itself with settling disputes, providing shelter for less fortunate girls, and accepting new members into their fold.
Then all of...this had happened.
Homura wasn't entirely versed yet on how much the council's function had changed, but Kyouko had filled her in with enough information to guess. They were now responsible for keeping the worker's complex hidden from the Reapers' eyes, as well as figuring out what their next move was.
According to rumors, the latter had become a rather heated issue among them.
"What is she doing here?" Asked one of the council members, placing a threatening hand on the holo-table. Looking up, Homura recognized Phoebe Waregle, the girl who had led the effort to exterminate her student. The two of them had never exactly reconciled after that incident, as Homura hadn't seen fit to forgive her, when Phoebe most likely felt no guilt anyways. Needless to say, their relationship was strained.
Turning her head, she realized that Phoebe was gesturing towards the person beside her and not the time traveler herself. Shiro was sitting stubbornly to her right, glaring right back at the older mahou shoujo without so much as a blink.
"She has participated in the greatest number of retrieval missions, aside from myself," Mami replied sternly, making her position as their effective leader obvious. "She experienced Kota's attacks firsthand, and also has as much experience as the rest of us. I think she will make a worthy addition to the council."
"Who said that we needed more members?" Phoebe growled, crossing her arms.
"Now, Phoebe. Do try to be more open minded," Murmured the sixth member of the council, a mind-reader named Saki. Homura appreciated her input much more. Saki was unofficially accepted as the best peacemaker among them, and next to Mami the two of them generally prevented disagreements from becoming too violent. Most people liked to attribute the mind-reader's constant composure to the fact that she knew everything you were thinking and had nothing to be paranoid about. Homura wasn't too worried about having her thoughts hijacked, however. She knew how to guard her own consciousness.
Settling back reluctantly, Phoebe muttered, "Fine," Before uncrossing her arms.
Beside her, Homura felt Mami sigh in relief. One of Saki's greatest contributions to the council was her constant taming of their most volatile member.
"So," Homura voiced aloud, consequently drawing five pairs of eyes in her direction. "What are we all here for?"
"Good question," Shiro muttered from her right. "I need to go and check up on Eru. Can we make this quick, please?"
Mami frowned at both of them before closing her eyes for a moment. Swiping her hand across the holographic surface of the table, she activated a module, making the lights before them flare to life and rearrange. A second later, Homura found herself look down at what looked like a map of the worker's complex, at least its surface, along with the sectors surrounding it.
"Reapers have been spotted near the perimeter," The blonde said, pointing to a specific spot on the map. About a dozen angry red dots materialized at the gesture, pulsing softly to maintain their attention. "Of course, this is nothing new, but this is the closest they've ever gotten to discovering us."
"I thought we had illusionists covering us from the enemies' eyes?" Shiro asked, peering suspiciously at the crimson dots.
"Yes, but we've been working them for more than eight consecutive days now. We can't sustain such massive amounts of magic usage for much longer, even if we take shifts," Mami explained as she waved her hand again. A pale green circle appeared around the complex, indicating the area that the aforementioned illusionists were keeping off the map. "And besides, we're dealing with other magical girls here, not ordinary humans. They would find us eventually."
Homura stared down at the pulsing marks which represented the Reapers and felt a strange itch in the pit of her stomach. Something was telling her that they had to act, but how?
"After the first day, they started hitting random targets, hoping to flush us out," Kyouko said, more for Homura's benefit than anyone else's. "About half a week later they narrowed their search, and they've been hitting closer and closer every day. The group of buildings they destroyed yesterday was only twenty miles away, and the distance between us and today's Reapers is only twelve. For eight days, they've been bombing and strafing everything along the coastline, which is where the Industrial District begins and ends."
Homura gulped, feeling once again uncomfortable for having been asleep while all this transpired. The world had changed so much in just eight days. "What about the civilians who were trapped by the miasma? What happened to them?"
"Ordinary humans seem to be able to leave through the miasma, but not return," Saki replied calmly. "A vast majority of them escaped within the first three days, but the rest of them..." She trailed off, for once failing to make something seem positive.
The ebony haired girl wrung her hands and stared hard at the table. "Any stragglers still out there? Girls who don't know about the situation?"
Mami shook her head. "We believe that we've saved as many as we could and brought them back here. Anyone else has at least realized that something is wrong and refrained from coming, or...are no longer with us."
The clicking and whirring of the computers around them was the only sound for a while after, as the six of them sat in silence, contemplating what had transpired thus far. To Homura, the atmosphere felt a little too much like a war movie, as if they were fighting for their lives against a superior enemy. Then, she realized, this was exactly what they were doing. And if Hollywood was to be trusted, in wartime people were going to die.
Looking down at the schematics decorating the holographic table, Homura suddenly realized the gravity of their situation. Staying within the confines of the complex and hiding was their best alternative to fighting, but it wasn't going to last forever. And once that grace period ended, there was an army of magical girls waiting for them, will apparently nothing to stop them from committing murder. Feeling a cold sweat break out across her brow, Homura stared at her knees and wondered how she was going to protect the people she had come to love, when the world itself seemed to be intent on eliminating them.
"Alright, enough with the curricular review," Saki murmured, clasping her hands together on the table. Homura noticed that the girl was wearing something akin to a robe or kimono, though it seemed to be modified for better practicality. She thought it went well with the mind reader's dark blue hair. "Tell us about these Reapers, Mami. What are they up to?"
The blonde cleared her throat and zoomed in on the red dots nestled together on the screen. "Based on their behavioral patterns, it's rather obvious that they intend to collapse another section of buildings. They used to take the time to search each sector thoroughly, but recently they have begun detonating instead and searching for Soul Gems among the rubble, likely in the interest of time. At the moment, they are roughly twelve miles away from the westernmost edge of the complex. This is as close as the Reapers have ever come, so I had Anna bring everyone underground as a safety precaution, though the blasts shouldn't affect us. I also wanted to discuss our next course of action."
Homura eyed the crimson markers on the screen nervously, wondering how long it would be before the Reapers discovered them. That same itch arose in her chest again, the urge to strike before she was forced to by circumstance. It felt counterintuitive at first, seeing as it was unlikely they could take on their enemy in a headlong fight; they were both outnumbered and likely outgunned. But the alternative, which was to sit and wait, almost certainly spelled their demise.
"We have to decide what we're going to do about this," Mami continued, rising to her feet and splaying her hands flat. "If we hide forever, they'll almost certainly kill us all. The federation is growing restless, and more and more people are starting to ask what the plan is, which is a problem because there is no plan, at the moment. Of all the scenarios we foresaw and prepared for, this was not one of them, and we are far from prepared to fight off an invading army. How many did you say the Reapers number, Saki?"
The mind reader closed her black eyes as she recalled the information. "Data has been skewed and difficult to obtain," She admitted. "But to the best of our knowledge, the enemy numbers around ten thousand."
Homura's heart clenched at the staggering figure. Ten thousand. Twice the federation in size. No matter how she thought about it, surviving a conflict with a force that large had very slim chances. Where in the world had the Incubators found so many girls willing to kill? And for what?
Mami nodded as she observed the tight looks on their faces. "They dwarf us two to one, and they hold the territorial advantages," She said, swiping at the table once again. The view zoomed out the show all of Mitakihara that was encased by the miasma. Most of the area was painted a familiar angry red, while only a blue thumb sized dot represented the federation's holdings. The rest of the council bit their lips when they took it in; no matter how positive one was, it was difficult to look at.
"So we can't wait, but we can't attack, either," The blonde continued slowly as she looked around the table. "An all out frontal attack would result in massive casualties, and even then I doubt our ability to succeed. Thus, I believe that our most advisable course of action is to-"
"Is to what, 'negotiate'?" Phoebe sneered, crossing her arms again. Her spiky, jet black hair hair rustled in agitation at the movement. "Surrender and hope that they'll be gentle with us?"
Mami seemed both troubled and offended by the outburst. "Essentially, yes," She admitted. "I believe that if we take a cautious approach, we may be able to reach an agreement-"
"There can never be an agreement," Phoebe growled lowly as she also rose from her seat, challenging Mami's position with her body language. "You saw what they did to Chitose. And to Diana, Hitagi, Nakamura, and more that I won't bother to list. You're a fool if you think the Reapers are just going stop and talk with you. Your head will be rolling across the floor before you even open your mouth!"
"Then what would you suggest we do?" The blonde asked tersely, obviously on the verge of losing her own cool. "Break down the gates and charge out with our guns blazing? That's a perfect way to get us all killed, if that's your goal. No, Phoebe. Peaceful interaction is the only way we're getting out of this in one piece."
"Your obsession with avoiding violence is going to be the death of you, Tomoe," Phoebe sneered.
"Jesus, you guys are edgy," Kyouko muttered, leaning back in her seat and stacking her feet on the table. "Can't you argue without yelling, for once?
"Shut up," The two girls replied in unison, turning to glare at her.
The redhead raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. "Well, sorry."
Mami sighed in agitation and crossed her arms, shifting her weigh to one hip as she regarded them all. Her left eyebrow twitched curiously for a moment before returning to normal. Homura eyed the determined blonde carefully, still trying to receive a proper grasp of the atmosphere, as she assumed that she would be expected to make important decisions in the future.
"I obviously did not intent to implement any plans on just my own volition," Mami murmured, tapping her fingers against her bicep. "The council will hold a vote, in one day's time. That, at least, you cannot deny me. I know we usually have more time to think about these things, but we lack that particular luxury."
The council murmured around them, as even Saki raised on eyebrow.
Homura raised her eyes and met the blonde's. "What are we going to be voting on, exactly?"
"On our future," Mami said firmly, crossing her arms once again, her ringlets bouncing determinedly. "Will we leave our hiding place and fight, or bide our time until peace can be reached? I won't try to influence any of your decisions any further. All I ask is that you think of your loved ones before you decide."
There were no more words spoken within the control room for a moment afterwards, as five pairs of eyes regarded the blonde, filled with emotions ranging from admiration to derisive skepticism. At the very least, Homura had to respect the girl's unwavering firmness in her own opinion. It wasn't easy to face down five other magical girls who were just as intelligent and powerful as you.
Finally, Phoebe sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine, Mami," She grunted. "We'll hold this little vote of yours. In the event that you lose, I hope you've prepared yourself for what's to come."
Mami was about to deliver a curt response when the largest screen behind her suddenly flared to life, and sirens blared through the air as an alarm screamed above their heads. Ducking and covering their craniums instinctively, the six of them looked up only to realize that the threat was simply being displayed on the screen before them. The monitor flickered as it revealed the view of a security camera placed at the edge of the complex's perimeter, trained to focus on the endless landscape.
"Sector 5501, westernmost post," The mechanical voice of the control room's computer droned. "Reporting significant damage to nearby superstructure. Now calculating estimated damage."
"What the hell is going on?" Shiro said, raising her voice over the blaring horns around them. Homura, who was crouching on the floor beside her with her Soul Gem gripped in her palm, found herself unable to answer, instead staring intently at the scene unfolding on the screen.
Almost immediately, she recognized the watchtower where she and Kyouko had spoken earlier. Or at least, what was left of it. The tower and the buildings beneath it were now in total ruin, fires consuming what was left of the wreckage as smoke suffocated the remains. It was difficult to make out any details through the thick debris; only the black outline of the watchtower allowed her to recognize the area. The video feed flickered and jittered as heat damage did its work on the camera's internal cables, adding to the sense of desolation.
"Westernmost point..." Saki murmured, brow furrowed. "That's where the third illusion team is."
[Gumi! Nao! Are you alright?!] Mami projected loudly and urgently, pressing a finger harshly into her ear.
[Mami!] A young voice wailed over the mental link. [Gumi passed out from exhaustion and lost her grip on the illusion. She discharged her magic and the Reapers sensed us! They took the entire watchtower down-]
Feeling something frigid sinking its teeth into her, Homura jerked her head to the side and saw the red dots on the table, with its minute-long delay, fade out of existence only to reappear just at the border of the complex.
[Nao, get out of there,] Mami thought, glaring in panic as the video feed spluttered for a final time before shutting off at last. [They'll be coming for you. Nao, hurry!]
[I want all available teams to relocate to the areas surrounding the westernmost post,] Saki ordered through her own mental channel, immediately, taking control of the tactical side of the situation. [Expend all magic necessary to keep the Reapers from finding the rest of us. Avoid contact at all costs.]
"Shit," Kyouko said, paling as she truly understood what was taking place. "I knew we couldn't keep this up forever. We were already running low on Grief Seeds as it was. They've blown our cover wide open..." Reaching up, she seized her hair and glared hard at the floor, desperately trying to come up with a solution which simply evaded her.
"Kyouko, calm down," Homura ordered, grabbing the redhead by her shoulders. "The only girls outside of the bunkers at the moment are the illusionists, and they're busy distracting the Reapers. They might think that Gumi was just another straggler."
"I..." Kyouko said, swallowing hard. Then she nodded violently. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Thanks." Homura smiled weakly and patted her on the cheek.
"Get those video feeds online!" Phoebe urged, prompting Shiro to scramble to her feet and rush to the control panels, clumsily searching for the ones controlling the security cameras. Soon the rest of the screens enveloping them burst into action, quickly materializing to give them a clear view of their newest battlefield.
Twisting, Homura took in all the camera angles. All the feeds were coming from cameras on building surrounding the now collapsed watchtower, those areas which were not Gumi's responsibility to hide. A thick plume of black smoke, the dust byproducts of advanced industry, clogged the atmosphere, further limiting visibility. However, it was easy enough to make out the flashes of intense light that lit up the dust clouds momentarily, the murderous attacks of the Reapers.
[All available teams are in place,] Spoke the voice of a girl Homura did not recognize. [We're setting up the strongest illusions and barriers we can muster with our current magic stores. But I don't know if it's going to be enough. Reapers just uncovered a lot of unchartered territory. They'll be looking for more.]
[Do it anyway,] Mami growled back, slamming her hands on the holographic table in frustration. [Any word on Nao's retrieval?]
[It's too dangerous to send more girls in after her,] The voice replied. [But her magical signature shows that she is just under a mile from here. If she's lucky, she should make it.]
The blonde's shoulders sagged with barely restrained relief. "Then we can only pray-"
[No!] Nao's voice shattered the brief moment of peace into a thousand painful notes. [No, please! I'll give you anything you want. Just please don't kill m-]
A high pitched screech tore through all six of their minds as Nao's mental presence of snuffed out, the girl's connection to all of them suddenly snapping like the tautest of strings. Groaning at the sudden spark of pain within her subconscious, Mami staggered for a moment before looking back up at the screens, her irises dilated.
"What..." She whispered, arms falling to her sides. "What happened?"
[It seems they caught up to her,] The unknown girl replied grimly.
"No..." Mami murmured, collapsing into her seat and grabbing her head in her hands. "No, impossible...they didn't even let her beg..."
"Mami," Saki said impassively, tilting her head as she received more mental transmissions from the other teams. It was unsure whether she was being uncaring or was saving time for grief later. "The girls are reporting no enemy presence. It seems the Reapers left immediately after retrieving Nao's Gem."
The blonde just shook her head, still numb to logic or reason.
Homura took a little pity on the girl and rose to her own feet. "Give her a little time to get over it," She murmured to the mind reader, reaching out the gently touch her arm. "Are the illusionists completely sure that we're alone?"
Saki tilted her head again as she referred for the information. "For the time being, yes," She said. "They have seers with them as well. It's the best prediction we can make...for now, we're safe."
"Okay," The time traveler nodded, letting her arm drop back down to her side. "If you don't mind, have the rest of the girls leave the hangars and return to their rooms or...whatever it is they were doing beforehand. I think we'll have to accelerate this voting process even further. We'll decide everything by tomorrow morning."
Saki smiled back at her wanly. "I always did appreciate your talent for taking control of things," She murmured before turning around and walking away, quietly transmitting to the rest of the federation that the emergency measures had been lifted. Homura watched the tail end of her kimono swish from side to side until the girl disappeared behind the door, into the harsh lights beyond.
Phoebe eyed the four of them before turning on her heel. "I don't enjoy being right about these kinds of things," She said. "But it's better than making mistakes like yours, Mami." She then exited after Saki, letting the door clatter shut behind her. Shiro soon followed suit, muttering something about going to see Eru.
Homura watched the three of them leave one by one. She felt an oppressive weight on her shoulders, as if she had somehow taken responsibility for something she was not yet prepared to handle. Turning, she stared at the screen displaying the smoking wreckage of the watchtower, and wondered how many more buildings would fall before all of this was over. She wondered how many of her friends were going to die.
Kyouko, meanwhile, had knelt by Mami's still hunched form. "Look, I know it's hard to swallow," She was saying. "But you've got to accept it. The Reapers are never going to make peace with us. All they can do is hunt and kill...please, Mami. This isn't like you."
The blonde shook her head absently, as if she was still distracted by something, as if something else entirely was on her mind at the moment. "No...I'm sorry," She murmured listlessly, staggering to her feet as she began making her way to the door. "Meet me in my room tonight. Both of you...we need to discuss something."
And then she was gone too, leaving just the two of them.
Kyouko's shoulders sagged and she leaned back against the control panel, gingerly holding her shoulders. "I'm worried about her. We need her to be strong for the rest of the girls, whether we decide to go on the offensive or not. And, obviously, I'm concerned about her personally..."
Homura didn't respond, instead lost in her own thoughts. She thought back to the girl named Nao who had died just minutes ago, and the girl named Gumi who had left them only a moment before that. Two lives, snuffed out forever, in the span of five minutes, while five thousand more hung in the balance. How quickly the world changed in eight days...or perhaps it had always been that way, and she had grown soft, unawares to the true nature of the universe she lived in. Now it was posing to her a question: how far would she go to protect those she cared for? Could she risk a war, the deaths of hundreds, maybe even thousands, simply to achieve that goal? Briefly, she tried to imagine a world without Kyouko, without Mami, without the federation. She couldn't bear the thought. As cumbersome as she found them sometimes, each of these entities had ingrained themselves into her. She couldn't let them be torn away now, lest their roots tear out her heart as well.
"Kyouko," She asked suddenly, looking up to bore her eyes into the redhead's. "Tell me what is better. One...or a thousand?"
The girl stared almost sorrowfully back at her, and answered without hesitation.
"One."
Three hours later, Homura stood nervously before Mami's door, as the blonde had previously requested. She knew that Kyouko was already in there with her, but she was still afraid of entering to find the blonde in an emotionally fragile state, as she was never one to handle such things with great skill. Steeling her nerves, Homura took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
The first thing she saw was the albino white, glossy fur of a certain alien.
"Kyubey?"
This chapter was supposed to be longer, but it was already pushing 10,000 words and I didn't want to overwhelm anybody. The rest of this (plus maybe some more) will either be added to this chapter later or become its own. Whatever suits the story best. I just felt like updating today.
Speaking of the story, I am horrible with pacing. Someone please help me.
Please leave any thoughts in the reviews!
~Banshee