Chapter 27

Rumble, Part II

Sayaka felt a vicarious wave of pain wash over her, the phantom nausea making her understand exactly what was happening.

No no no, not too late not too late. The blunette repeated the denial over and over like a mantra, willing herself to believe.

She was easily a hundred meters from the scene as she turned the corner, squinting at the harsh overhead illumination.

A group of foreboding figures, three standing around a lump of something, while another seemed detached from the group, staring at a different, larger object back towards a dimly lit building.

Lump. Object... Sayaka knew what she was looking at. Bodies.

Time seemed to slow. She saw the crimson dress, poking out from beneath a glittering mass of chains. She watched the Sachi-girl's arm poised against the sky, her black leather melding with the shadows but her silver chains glimmering in the harsh illumination, swaying silently. She saw the samurai-dressed girl, Keiko, her hakama spread wide like a skirt as she crouched, holding her naginata at the ready, watching the scene unfolding before her with an odd expression. An unfamiliar brute of a girl, easily a head and a half taller than her companions, stood over the blunette's prone friend, a wicked snarling roar building up, echoing within the metallic corridors. Her back was turned, her head a mass of unkempt purple hair, her muscles corded and tense, easily visible through the halter top she wore. And off to the side, the crossbow wielding girl with the flowing robes, green braids framing her young face. Noemi, the leather-clad girl had called her.

She saw the distinctively curved blade descend. Saw the spray of blood. A hundred meters... she covered half the distance in one second, burning magic to give her the power and traction necessary for her to be faster than she'd ever been...

But a lot can happen in two seconds. The huge figure, towering over her companions, raised a wicked-looking club, preparing to strike the lump at her feet... a red-ponytailed lump that appeared to be wrapped in chains.

Sayaka summoned a sword in each hand, rippling tides of energy seeming to bleed out of the shimmering blades.

The robed girl standing alone jerked her head around, noticing the incoming blunette. She opened her mouth to shout a warning.

The girl dressed like a samurai took a step backward, turning toward her partner just before she started to call out.

Sachi Maeko brought her arm back, then let it slam down again, sickle blade red and wet. She had done enough damage to the wily red-head's spinal column to ensure there would be no struggle once the chains were loosened. She considered continuing her gruesome chopping, reveling in the catharsis the flowed through her as she laid waste to this arrogant bitch lying helpless at her feet, the one who had humiliated her, made her feel helpless, so long ago. She called the entwining links back, unwrapping her enemy's upper torso, revealing the glimmering, furiously red star just waiting to be smashed.

Sayaka threw the sword in her left hand, spinning and blurring as it hurtled ahead towards its target, humming faintly.

The huge girl brought down the club with all her force, targeting the lolling head of the comatose intruder who had killed her best friend in the world-

"Maeko-san!" a young voice echoed shrilly within the valley of boxes.

Maeko drew back, hearing Noemi's shout of warning, instantly noticing the charging sapphire blur, still confident in her gang's victory, unwilling to admit the look on the girl's face scared her in the least...

End over end, a shimmering azure wheel hurled through the air, a faint hint of an electric guitar note buzzing up and down, wah wah, alerting the purple-haired attacker. She started to look around-but almost instantly her eyes were lowered to gaze in amazement at the meter of crackling blue energy that seemed to erupt from her chest. The force of the impact caused her to stagger forwards past her target, dropping her immense club, and she began to scream as jagged tendrils of energy, shimmering between aquamarine and indigo, began to arc from the blade into her body, the buzz beginning to crescendo.

Noemi clutched her cho ko nu tightly, trying to keep from shaking, trying not to close her eyes. She watched her senpai's friend Harumi-san scream, impaled through the chest and somehow continue stumbling around, aglow with crackling blue arcs of energy. Horrified, she saw tendrils of smoke rising from the large, muscular girl. This was more horrible than any of the half-dozen Witches she'd help take down...

Maeko acted fast; the blue maniac was almost upon her. Leaving Kyoko half-wrapped in her weapon, she summoned another kusarigama, the long, weighted chain at the end of the sickle arcing through the air, watching with glee as the fool reached out and actually grabbed it, laughing as she flooded the conduit with pain-inducing energy, ecstatic at having beaten both of these invaders-

Sayaka grabbed the chain with her left hand, the white glove straining along the back under the force of her grip. Pain, agony... the torturous feeling threatened to overwhelm her for a second, bile rising in her throat, bitter and burning. Then she had broken through, past the pain, and yanked the chain with all her might-

Keiko and Noemi watched, the naginata-wielding girl taking a hesitant step toward the fight, but stopping at the shake of the younger girl's green braids. She glanced at the reeling girl, Harumi, who was pitifully pushing the blade sticking out of her chest backwards, the whites of her eyes clearly visible around the iris.

Bringing her blade around in a powerful sweep across her body, the blunette used the second it took for Maeko to release her weapon to lunge forward, meeting her halfway. Slicing through the dangling chains and leather, her curved sword hummed as it cut through flesh and bone. The black-clad girl screamed in disbelief as her arm fell away, the chains binding Kyoko vanishing.

The polearm spun as the samurai girl took a step forward, looking uncertain as she gazed upon her opponent's maddened face. What would happen if she got past Maeko? This... was not going according to the plan. Not at all. Afraid, but determined to protect the only girl here that she cared about, Keiko advanced, watching with amazement as...

A giant figure slammed into Sayaka, knocking her away from the now-one-armed Maeko, who took the opportunity to stagger away clutching the stump that continued to furiously pump out blood. Landing on the hard, cracked pavement, the blunette felt the incredible density of the her opponent pressing down on her, face twisted in an enraged snarl as she bought back both her fists, slamming them down at the girl below her.

Sayaka saw the sword, still sticking into the girl, but pushed partly back. Even with a sword sticking out of her... she was impressed despite herself at the girl's ability to keep fighting. Kyoko was too close... Sayaka had hurt her before, and even at this tense moment included her friend's safety into her consideration. A quick glance, and another heart-clenching sense of panic and fear as Maeko leapt towards her fallen friend

Twisting like a snake, Sayaka latched on to the huge girl's waist, spinning her off and onto the ground. Facing each other, Sayaka let go of the metaphorical leash that hung, invisible, connecting her to the swords she created. It detonated. A burst of razor sharp shards of glass tore into the night, a spray of sand across the blunette's face, but leaving behind a sticky, wet film of her enemy's vaporized torso.

Maeko felt the dozens of crystalline splinters hit her shoulders and head, searing pain fueling her panic. She was so close, so close to an unasked-for revenge that had fallen into her lap like a gift from God... she couldn't let it slip away. Letting her stump bleed freely, she summoned another weapon, her grip slick with her own vital fluids.

Pumping blood and the echoing ring of the explosion filled Sayaka's ears, the blunette got up to her knees, eyes widening as the horrendously tenacious leather-and-chain Puella Magi once again stood over her friend, the red-head seeming to twitch, partially healed but helpless.

Kyoko woke, gasping for air, unable to breathe. She didn't focus on the pain that seemed to linger in every part of her body, didn't bring her hands to the ragged-feeling throat that failed to suck in the air she desperately needed... she focused on a pair of black leather legs dripping with chains that stood above her. Her damaged body reacting instantly, instinctively, her summoned spear flashing while jabbing upwards into the body of Sachi Maeko. Through the fog covering her vision, Kyoko noticed with dim amusement that her opponent's looks had improved with the removal of her arm and a few pints of blood.

"-end her!" the youngest looking girl was crying, her voice panicky as she stared at the blunette that was approaching again, murder on her face. She crouched down, raising her hands...

Sayaka saw Maeko go in for the killing blow. Ignoring the gurgling mass of wet, red tissue behind her, she dashed forward, mouth open in a scream, eyes narrowed furiously. Sweeping both blue-sleeved arms before her, white gloved-hands crossing paths halfway through the motion, she felt a sharp stabbing cold from her belly as dozens... hundreds of radiant shards of indigo swarmed through the air, safely above the prone form of Kyoko even as her friend's spear seemed to burst up from the ground, a cacophony of wind-chimes clanging in a hurricane-

Sachi Maeko saw her death in the crimson eyes that opened even as she brought her sickle down, felt the razor-sharp triangular spear head penetrate her, thrusting her into the air with an unbearable sensation of tearing, of being impaled... and then the ringing blue swarm was traveling through first one leg, then the other, feeling the meat flensed from her bones, screaming for an instant before going silent, the remainder of her body falling in a heap half a dozen meters away.

The swarm continued on, and four pairs of eyes watched in fascination. Short, dark hair whipping her face, the samurai girl was already in motion, dodging to the side. Diving, she landed awkwardly as blood blossomed from holes across her body.

The youngest girl, green braids undulating as she shook with stunned terror, brought her arms up in an instinctive reaction to sudden bright light and the fear of something traveling at high speed towards one's face... the long sleeves of her robe falling back to reveal a dark, almost black, gemstone worn on a bracelet above her wrist.

Noemi felt only the briefest flash of pain as the host of glittering, razored shards tore into her hand, before the energy-laden slivers tore through the magically-enhanced flesh of her fingers and palms, pierced the thin bones, and erupted out the back of her hand. The green, dimly glowing gem shattered into a thousand fragments, each a glimmering mote of mossy green within a field of electric blue.

A curl of smoke, a wisp of cloud, seemed to hang in the air for a moment. The ringing chimes died out as a huge hole was torn into the metal containers across from Sayaka, and for another moment, silence reigned.

Then, a scream rent the midnight air. It sounded so horrible, infused with grief and confusion and disbelief... the blunette's heart was stabbed with pity, recognizing the blind denial and overwhelming misery that lay underneath the pitiful sound.

Keiko stared at the skeletal mass that had been her... no. No. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! These... these monsters had killed her! She felt like her soul was trying to rip itself out of her body as her head bent back and she wailed with all-consuming agony.

Sayaka's mind was torn from the carnage before her as the crimson shape at her feet moved, Kyoko trying to get up on one arm before realizing it was still shredded from the shotgun blast, her limp muscles failing and falling back to the ground with a grunt.

Latching on to her friend's hurt, her pain, she blocked out the horrible screaming, the sight of the twitching pile of gore behind her, the sticky feel of the blood coating her... the horrified part of her conscience that was thinking about what she'd just done-

"K-Kyoko... are you-"

Bending over, she saw the startled look in the crimson eyes that stared back, a momentary flash of something before it was hidden again. Sayaka couldn't help but think her new companion was disgusted by... she broke of her chain of thought as Kyoko's face twisted in discomfort as her gaze darted around taking in the damage and casualties. Bending down, Sayaka laid her slim white-gloved fingers to the red-head's chest, willing her throat and neck to rejuvenate.

Another sharp, stabbing pain. She involuntarily clutched at her belly, realizing where the pain was coming from... wide-eyed, she hesitantly lifted up the hem of her shirt, staring at the dark, dark gem in her navel.

Kyoko's vision came into focus as her girlfriend... her love, stood over her, the slump of her shoulders so different from the rampaging warrior who'd done everything she could to protect her just a minute before. Her first coherent thought had been Damn that's a lot of blood! The second had been to realize that none of it seemed to be her friend's, and a wave of comforting exhaustion had swept across her. Taking in the situation, looking around she saw little to threaten her in the immediate future. She sagged, taking a long, deep breath, shaky through her quickly-healing throat.

Alive. Still alive. That had been too close, she'd let herself get surprised... if it hadn't been for-

"Sayaka?"

The word was a croak, a guttural whisper, but the blunette heard and looked down before crouching next to her friend. Her eyes were brimming with tears, her face twisted with an intense internal struggle. Kyoko saw the bared belly, eyes lingering on the clean, pale lines until being drawn to the black hole at its center, eating up the light.

"Saya... babe... now's the... time." Every whisper felt like thorns imbedding themselves in her throat. Please, Sayaka, she implored, sharing her suddenly desperate need with the girl above her. You gotta use it, now.

"I... I d-don't..."

The blunette hesitated, a look of... almost resignation washing over her, mouth drooping, shoulders slumping... the heart-wrenching wail behind her seeming to pierce her soul.

Numbly, she reached back, grasping at the lining of her cape, and pulled forth a Grief Seed. The one that Kyoko had almost, almost left on the street... If only she had, Sayaka had thought several times, worried about whatever horrors it would undoubtedly contain from that twisted monster...

Looking around, Sayaka noticed something missing... the body of the instigator of all of this bloody mayhem. Sachi Maeko's corpse was not laying inert where it had fallen; a glistening trail of red-brown led away from it, off to the edge a few dozen meters away. Into the water. Sayaka half-stood, a feeling of cold determination sweeping through her. She'd follow that girl, join her in the ocean, the immersion cleansing her body and soul. She felt a craving, a need, to get into that water and swim... get away from all of this.

"She's gone. I have to-"

Don't care about her, care about you. Use it. It will... make you feel better. Kyoko winced at her own clumbsy encouragement, sounding more like some kind of illicit substance pedlar than a helpful friend in her own ears. She was still weak, though, and profoundly worried about the blunette's mental state. The combination of her energy drain and the spectre of what she'd done

"Please. For... me," Kyoko winced, feeling like splinters of glass were imbedded in her vocal cords.

The wailing behind her dying, Sayaka clasped the Grief Seed by its spike, pressing it up against her Soul Gem, amazed at how close the two colors were.

And then she was sucked back down the rabbit hole.

Kyoko crouched near her the blunette, thinking about what had just happened, eyes glistening wetly in the harsh industrial light. The young girl, fearful, looking at the older girl in confusion. The older one's protectiveness, watching over the younger. The fight leaving the young one's eyes, as she stood back, staring at the one Kyoko had killed. Screaming "We surrender!" as Sayaka had charged in to attack Maeko. All those looks, shared between those girls. Sisters. Two sisters. Who'd heard of such a thing? She blinked, a single tear running a trail down her cheek.

Hoshi Keiko crawled over to what had once been the body of beautiful Hoshi Noemi, her dear younger sister. She'd introduced her sibling to Kyubey little over a month ago. Wave after wave of anguish rolled over her, one for each and every memory she had of her sister and the life they'd shared, and an even greater sense of grief as she began to dwell on what she'd imagined the future would hold for the pair. Battling evil, making a difference in the world by helping protect people like her family from an invisible menace that lurked, waiting...

Being Maguka is suffering, a familiar voice said in an imitation of cheerfulness, almost sing-song, in her head. Glancing up, she saw the tell-tale pink orbs staring at her from above, on top of a tower of metal. You're poor sister... It's too bad you thought she was ready...

Joining up with Maeko-san had seemed like such a good idea. The girl knew her stuff, and the Grief Seeds had been much more plentiful once she'd learned some of the mechanics that went into being a Magical Girl.

Defending their territory... it had seemed important. They needed those seeds. So, with a little back up, the locals would intimidate any new girl that came to town, either shaking her down for Grief Seeds, or leaving her battered, bloody, and with orders to get the hell out.

It had always worked before. And now, the first time Noemi had accompanied them...

God curse you, Sakura Kyoko. And especially you, blue-haired murderer. Burning in Hell is too good for both of you. If I could, I'd cut you both to pieces for what you've done... The thoughts were filled with bitter anger and yearning for vengeance, but most of all hopelessness. She couldn't do any of that, couldn't avenge her fallen sister. She was almost gone herself, her body betraying her.

An icy stab in her chest caused her to gasp, but failed to startle her out of the misery that all but consumed her universe.

And then, as the Soul Gem on her necklace spider-webbed with cracks, a fine dust of glass falling like the sands of time, a sharp black spike bursting from within the murky jewel. The samurai outfit disappeared, leaving behind a shattered, limp body in a pristine school uniform, still clutching the skeletal hand of her sister's corpse.

Let me know what you think, or felt, about this one. I hope it wasn't too convoluted, there are so many perspective changes I didn't bother separating them with lines since it would have been almost every paragraph... tell me if it was confusing.

Hell yeah i own what i do, but the flip side of that is taking responsibility for the impact what you've done has on people (intentional or otherwise), and I can get any criticism tied to borderline content... so i'll keep doing what i do but i still want be, well, considerate. (I had removed the review previously mentioned, since it was pretty much about the other side of the story and I didn't want, er, spoilers posted here. But i still felt bad removing it! Sorry XD)

Next: Kyoko's perspective or Sayaka's? Either would work, let me know if you have a preference but no guarantees.