Chapter 30
The Need to Return
Kyoko's spear flicked to the right, impaling one of the green-haired paper dolls that had appeared as if drawn before their eyes. They were on the floor of a titanic room, fighting their way across the ivory tiles beneath pillars that stretched into the sky like trunks of impossibly large trees.
Looking up, the red-head called out to her partner. For a moment she thought the blunette hadn't heard, Sayaka laying about her with a frenzy, her sword slicing the encroaching familiars, literally shredding the paper bodies. They'd destroyed dozens of the things so far; The problem is, Kyoko thought grimly as she watched it happen again, one of the creatures folding in on itself, they keep making more of themselves. "Yo, Sayaka!"
When her friend glanced over, Kyoko pointed up and gathered herself, springing high into the air. The surreal, cartoonish environment of the barrier had infected her with a sense of deep melancholy, reminding her of childhood drawings posted to refrigerator door. Trying to shake the bitter feeling that kept cropping up within her, Kyoko rose above the immense flat ledge that stretched out for dozens of yards, landing in an acrobatic flourish.
She turned to watch Sayaka, who dropped solidly on two feet, panting slightly. "You good?" Kyoko suddenly asked, noticing a strange look in the unfocused azure eyes.
"Fine." The red-head watched her for a moment, but the younger girl didn't add anything further, refusing to meet her gaze. What the hell?
They boosted themselves higher, reaching another ledge, this one wood.
"Check it out, see what this is?" Kyoko tried to make her tone light, awkwardly seeking to lighten her friend's suddenly gloomy mood, and her own in the process. Ever since the blunette had woke up back there... wryly, Kyoko tried to smirk at her over-reaction. Sayaka had only been back for a few minutes, and wherever she'd been it had undoubtedly been unpleasant. It was stupid, overly dramatic, to get all worried. The blunette just needed to snap out of it. And as her-I can't believe I'm even thinking this-girlfriend, it's up to me to make sure that happens.
Her growing smile died on her lips as she noticed the non-reaction from the blunette. Not giving up, she walked over to where her partner stood, her arm twitching uncertainly before she lay it across Sayaka's shoulders. "It's a chair. This thing... a table. See over there? A sink, way on the other side of this chasm." It was like looking down from the eighth floor of a building, but instead of high-rise apartments thrusting up into your field of vision, it was the immense kitchen.
"Let's keep going," the blunette said impatiently. Her expression had hardened, and she peered over the edge of the cyclopean table top. Scanning, trying to find some kind of clue about where to go next, where to find what needed killing.
"Incoming," Kyoko stated matter-of-factly, a swarm of the flapping paper dolls rising from the ground. They seemed to crinkle and flap, scrunching their feet up to their crudely animated green braids of hair. The hair would stretch up, along with two stick arms, and seem to pull itself straight before crumpling up, again. It was almost like watching an caterpillar moving along a branch.
As the things crawled upwards through the air, they would occasionally fold. Unfolding, there would suddenly be two, or four, sharing a moment of connection before breaking off.
"Over there." Kyoko pointed, and Sayaka drew back from the ledge to see. An arch cut the room in two, but where it led was impossible to see. It led somewhere, and that was enough for the veteran at the moment. A flash of memory from her childhood; the entryway, the kitchen, the hallway that led back to her room... and her parents' room... and-
"She'll be back there."
"She?" The blunette looked, for an instant, offended.
"It, whatever." Annoyed at her slip of tongue, Kyoko was in no mood to quibble with the touchy younger girl.
"It never stops," the blunette whispered to herself. Kyoko frowned. You knew what you were signing up for! She quietly sucked in a deep breath, holding it in.
Finally, she sighed. "That's why we're here, babe. We're the one's that make it stop." Kyoko tried to throw all her enthusiasm and passion for the hunt into her words, but they sounded flat to her ears. Sayaka's wan smile didn't reach her eyes, which were getting that hollow look again. "Let's go."
The Witch had just hatched. They found it within a maze of stuffed animals, discarded clothes, and school supplies. The enormous room was pretty much what Kyoko had been expecting, at least generally. Twin beds. A room shared by sisters.
The horned thing that erupted from the dead-black egg was like something that had stepped out of a wood carving, something belonging to a museum. The hulking form of the oni stood up, each massive hand holding a long, curved blade. The thing let out a roar, the twisted ogre face remaining frozen in a perpetual snarl.
Sparing a glance at the blunette, Kyoko was startled to see the grin spread across her friend's face. It was an abomination; the red-head was all for evilly baring her teeth, but the way that look twisted Sayaka's beautiful face, the way it made her eyes go feral and scary...
I'm supposed to be the scary one.
Sayaka launched herself at the creature, the anticipation overwhelming the gnawing dread that had slowly come to dominate her thoughts. Sprinting, she lept high, somersaulting over the Witch to get behind it. She felt it's swords slash through the air, trying to find her twisting body. As she landed, she brought her own weapon up to deflect the dual blades that flashed down at her-
The spear point erupted from the Witch's chest, tendrils of shadowy energy spewing out of the jagged hole. It staggered, and Sayaka took the opportunity to slice off one arm, then another. The frozen face of the oni screamed as Kyoko yanked her weapon out, pulling back for another strike.
The Witch toppled, its legs cut out from underneath it. Sayaka strode over to the thrashing, dismembered body, a particularly wild look in her eyes. Kyoko couldn't help feeling uneasy as the girl began to hack away at the Witchified remnants of what had once been someone's sister, eyes glinting like chips of ice. The red-head paused, watching her partner finish the job with a savage lack of elegance.
The Witch dissolved with a long moan of grief and despair. Is she raging against her defeat, Kyoko wondered for the very first time, or is she remembering that last hideous memory of her sister's skeleton clutched in her arms? Of her final, ultimate failure? It. The long red ponytail snapped back and forth as she shook her head violently at the pointless, and counterproductive, thoughts.
The barrier collapsed. Once again, they were surrounded by stacks of rusting metal shipping crates, the gentle sound of water lapping against the docks the only noise to break the night's stillness. A small black orb hovered, spike downward, then dropped to the ground with a clink.
Sayaka fell to her knees, the slump of her shoulders betraying her exhaustion. Kyoko searched the area, finding no imminent threats awaiting them, then picked up the Grief Seed. About time something went right, she thought. There were no bodies; all the casualties had been sucked into the barrier that had formed. The dark, glistening stains and the shattered wall of containers that Sayaka had destroyed were the only-
Dammit. Kyoko spotted the bulky figure in the distance, the body inert where she'd dropped the enemy a scant twenty minutes ago. With a quick glance at her friend's caped back, she was glad to see Sayaka absorbed in her own thoughts, still staring at the waterfront. I'll let her rest a bit. It was late, after all, and they'd been in at least four separate fights tonight, depending on how you counted them.
A few minutes later, there was a gentle splash along the docks, distinct from the lapping of waves. Kyoko wandered back, a short combat shotgun held loosely her side.
"Hey Sayaka," she called, approaching the still kneeling blunette. "Do you think we could get this on the train?" The thing was heavy, but in the back of her mind she couldn't help thinking it might make a good bribe for some upcoming negotiations. Negotiations she was intending on having with a certain frigid, insufferably arrogant Puella Magi once they got back to Mitakihara.
In a matter of hours, they'd be on the train, tickets courtesy of the yakuza yen she'd acquired. It had been... exciting, that was for sure. She knew the blunette was eager to get back, but these last couple days had been the some of the best, and worst, she could recall. They had certainly been the most intense. She'd begun to like that feeling. Crave it. Not in the almost obsessive way Kyoko had kept her eye on the younger girl, trying to figure out what was going on inside of her as she wrestled with thoughts and feelings she'd long thought banished. Stupid stubborn girl, making me notice her! What she felt was the release of having found someone she could rely on. Someone she could trust. And the exquisite feeling of being needed, herself. Of meaning something, begin important to someone. Someone who, somehow, for some reason, mattered.
It felt good, feeling again. Except...
Kyoko swallowed as something caught in her throat. She noticed the slight shake of the shoulders, and listening closely heard the gentle sobbing. Shit, she figured it out, the red-head thought in dismay. She'd hoped, with all the fighting and confusion, the blunette wouldn't begin to dwell on the night's events until later. How stupidly optimistic am I? she wondered, ashamed at herself. Life was best regarded as a series of worst case scenarios, a philosophy she'd begun to drift away from ever since her heart had seemed to wake up. This was very alarming to the little voice inside her head; what she had once thought to be her conscience, but could better be described as her sense of self-preservation.
Circling the girl, she saw the streaks of glistening tears illuminated by the distant industrial lighting. Watery blue eyes stared out at the water, while white-gloved hands clasped together tightly in the girl's bare lap. Her short blue hair hung about her face in disarray, the golden clip partially undone.
Kyoko's feelings for the girl were so complex, a confusing tangle of friendship and romance and surrogate family bundled up into a stunning blue package. Toss in a dash of soldierly admiration, a pinch of friendly rivalry, and a generous dose of outright lust and you had a recipe for a steaming pile of... something. She still wasn't quite sure what. She sympathized with her friend's pain, the feeling of having done something terrible, but at the same time couldn't help wishing the girl didn't take everything so damn personally.
"Sayaka, it's not your fault. You have to stop blaming yourself!" she began, gratified to see her words startle the blunette out of her thoughts. "They attacked us. We have a right to defend ourselves!" Kyoko took a breath, not liking the defensiveness that had begun to creep into her voice.
The younger girl looked up at her, confused. "What are you talking about?"
Kyoko was speechless for a moment. "I... you looked so sad, and I thought it was because those girls..."
Sayaka shook her head wearily. "No. No, that was horrible. But... it's..."
The red-head got impatient. "Is it because of the two si-" She broke off, her friend's puzzlement increasing. Then her eyes widened in dawning horror.
Those two girls Kyoko had been fighting. The one she'd... killed. The barrier, an enormous house, obviously a family home. With pets. And... the green-haired cutouts, the replicating familiar that had attacked them again and again, fulfilling its duty, no doubt, of protecting her sister.
The deep, almost cosmic horror of the situation permeated her mind. It was true. The things she'd seen, what had happened to Gabrielle. What had been done to her.
What has been done to me.
"I'm-m-m a m-monster," Sayaka sobbed. Kyoko bent down, cradling her head against her chest, furious at her slip. Not my fault she's so delicate, a part of her thought resentfully, the part she'd been working hard to ignore.
"Don't be stupid. We just talked about this. If anyone's a monster, it's the asshole who let her sister Contract." She stroked the soft blue hair pressed against her chest, waiting for the girl to gain some semblance of control.
"Who... who w-were they? Do you, I mean, know who they were?"
Kyoko shook her head. "Never met 'em before. Except that Maeko bitch." Sayaka's red-rimmed eyes narrowed along with her own. It wasn't a lie. What good would it do for her to know their names, anyway?
Kyoko would remember, though. Kieko and Noemi.
As for the other girls who'd disappeared that night, she never spared them a second thought.
"I need to do something," Sayaka said suddenly. Pushing herself away from Kyoko's embrace, she stood up, swaying unsteadily for a moment. "I have to go somewhere."
"Okay," Kyoko said. "Where are we going?"
"You... you don't have to c-"
"Don't be an idiot," the red-head growled. What is her problem?
Sayaka glanced at her feet, chagrined. "Sorry. I... it's just that... I need to go back."
Kyoko pretended to glance at a non-existent watch. "We are going back, in like five hours. You'll be home before-"
"No," the blunette interrupted. "Not home. I need to go back to... where we came from. The place where we appeared, underneath the building that looked like a hand..." Her increasingly rapid explanation died out, the look on the older girl's face confused and more than a little worried.
"What? Why? Are... are you... trying to get back in, or something?" Kyoko asked in harsh whisper. Her insides were frozen; something about the way Grief Seeds affected this girl was messing her up. All the worries, the little things she'd noticed over the past few days... the girl's raw power had somehow changed, like she'd unlocked something within herself. Certainly she hadn't been this strong during their first duel. Kyoko didn't want to imagine going up against the summoned fleet of humming, exploding swords the girl had pulled off; even that elongated, almost liquid blade of hers would have made the fight much more difficult.
Sayaka was confused at the older girl's concern. "No, what do you think I am, crazy? Besides, it's gone, right? No witch, no barrier. But..."
There had been concerns. The veteran found the sheer number of things the girl magically summoned during her attacks to be troubling; a couple additional spears was all Kyoko had ever managed to conjure up during a fight, and the drain was immense. The whole mind-meld situation, parts of the Witch seeming to get sucked up into Sayaka's head. What was going on in there? The whole idea of sharing memories with one of those things was disturbing.
"I think there's a reason why the barrier let us out there. It matched up, with what was inside, remember? I just... there's something there. I need to find it."
The red-head listened with half an ear. Most worryingly of all, Kyoko considered how quickly, sometimes, the girl's Gem got dark. She was pretty sure it wasn't just in her mind.
On impulse, she reached down, lifting up the flap of cloth hanging down from the blunette's battle bra, a flash of her smooth, pale belly and a healthy gleam of blue from the crescent at her navel.
Sayaka slapped her hand away. Kyoko grinned mischievously, feeling relieved. "Sure, let's get going then."
It had looked clean. It was probably just her paranoid imagination, looking for things to go wrong. There were enough things that had gone wrong over the past few days that it was pointless for her to add to them needlessly. One thing at a time.
Go to this building to do... whatever it is Sayaka feels the need to do, I guess. Find someplace to hole up for the night. Shit, it's already so late, it's almost not worth... hmm. Maybe we could just crash at the train depot while we wait... get this beautiful creature back to Mitakihara.
Then, when things were settled, they'd figure things out.
Christ, there's a lot I need to figure out.
As they began to leave the shipping facitily behind, Kyoko smiled as she felt the blunette's slim hand slide into her own.
A few things, at least, had gone right.
Long black hair fluttered in the breeze, a pair of cold eyes surveying the scene. The signs of the battle were obvious. If the eviscerated steel containers hadn't made it painfully apparent, numerous cuts and holes were noticiable in the surrounding area. The damage done was precise, clean, and complete.
One does not slice a steel cargo container three centimeter thick.
The blood told another story. It must have been the whole pathetic crew her people had noticed around the city. Wonderful. The larger pools were where people had lay bleeding, possibly dead. A smear lead away from the largest concentration, the uneven trail convincing her that one had crawled away. Dragging left a much simpler, direct trail. The crawler's trail ended along the docks. Dark eyes scanned the water for several minutes before turning away.
She found evidence that another casualty further away, this time clearly having been pulled to the edge of the waterfront before being tossed in. Unceremoniously, she imagine. A small smile played across her thin lips, a flicker of amusement at the shoddy clean-up attempt by her opponents.
Two bodies accounted for, but the blood indicated at least another, possibly two or three, were still missing. A second search revealed no more clues.
Bringing a hand up to her ear, the figure pressed something. She waited.
"Kenichi-sama. I am calling, as requested. I've found something."
Sorry for the extraordinarily long wait. There's still a lot to tell.
Thanks for your patience, it was fun to see people were still reading this months after I'd paused. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated, let me know what's up and how I can improve.
It's been a real long time. Kenichi Shinobi is the yakuza bosun whose penthouse was defiled by Team Sayako.