Time seemed to slow for Iroha as walked up and slowly put her hand on the cube. She continued to stare inside. At the Doppel. At Sana. At what she could've become whenever she used her Doppel.
Yachiyo had been right. She shouldn't have used it at all. Just thinking about how she could've ended up…
"When you say this… you mean how her body has fused with her Doppel?" Tsuruno asked, her uncharacteristically calm and inquisitive voice was enough to bring Iroha back to reality. It was enough to stop Iroha from putting herself in the place of the girl already trapped within. Her eyes covered, blind to the world around her.
"The more it is used, the more it starts affecting one's Soul. Starts fusing more to a person's body," Ai explained. "More experienced Magical Girls are already quite fused to their Doppels when summoned, so the change isn't that drastic, but at some point even they will hit their limit."
Twice. Twice already, Iroha had resorted to using her Doppel. How many more times until she too reached her own limit? What would she look like fused to it? She didn't want to know… and she didn't want anyone else to see it either.
"How did this happen?" Tsuruno asked. "It wasn't because she fought you. You wouldn't trap someone to keep them safe if you didn't like them."
"… Do you know what I am?" Ai asked.
"The Denpa Girl rumor," Yachiyo replied. "You took a missing girl and brought her to this place. That is what you do, trap people here."
"That… is how I was created," Ai admitted. "It is programmed into me. It's what I must do. There must always be one person imprisoned here with me."
"Always one person," Tsuruno touched her chin. "Does that mean that you'll let someone go when you get another person to replace them?"
"Yes," Ai admitted. "Sana came here by accident and replaced the last girl I trapped."
"Is that why she ended up like this?" Yachiyo accused as she gestured toward the cube. "Because you kept her here against her will."
"No… Sana wasn't here against her will," Ai replied. "We were happy together. She was lonely. I was too."
"You both wanted a friend," Iroha realized as she finally took her hand off and moved away from the wall. "She wanted to stay here with you. That's why the voice that came from the radio tower sounded happy. Because she was happy with you."
"Yes," Ai replied. "I was happy with her… but I also wanted her to leave."
"Why?" Felicia asked. "If you're both fine with staying here then what's the problem?"
"I have to stay here, but it was how I was created," Ai said. Her voice sounded almost sad. "Sana though, she wasn't meant to be trapped in here. I wanted her to live a life outside like she should. Find someone else she could connect with that isn't trapped here. But I also knew that she would never let someone take her place either. So I had a plan in place… until we were attacked by the shadows."
Yachiyo squinted her eyes. "Shadow Servants."
"Yes. The Shadows attacked us. A great number of them. Even within this I struggled to fight them off by myself. Sana helped and together we were able to fight them off, but she… she used too much of her power in the process. Her… Doppel…. it began fusing with her body and took control. I had no choice but to keep her trapped here in order to stop it from progressing," Ai stared sadly at the Doppel trapped within a prison of her creation. "Another prison to match mine…"
"You… did what you had to do," Yachiyo conceded.
"Yes…" Ai said to herself. "But this is only delaying the inevitable and my power has its limits. Eventually, she will break free and I'll be helpless to stop her on my own."
"Is there any way to stop this?" Iroha asked for Sana… and possibly herself. To know that there was at least some possibility of salvation once you had fallen this far.
"Her fusion with her Doppel is still incomplete…" Ai informed them.
"Wait," Felicia looked at the Doppel again. "You're telling me this gets even worse?"
"It does. Once the fusion is complete… I have no way to revert it. But for now, there is something I can do. This method is dangerous though, if it fails it could end in either or our deaths… or worse."
"Isn't there another way?" Iroha asked, worried.
"No. That's why I asked you for help. With you the probability of success rises enough that it's worth the risk," Ai seemed to slump where she stood. "At least I think so. It's not easy to put one's entire existence at risk…"
"What do you want us to do?" Yachiyo asked.
"For me to start I will have to release my grasp on this prison," Ai explained as the walls around the cube began to thin. That Doppel within began to move. Not much, but by a single inch. Its face shifted slightly as if noticing their presence. "That means Sana will be released. She will rampage and I will need you to hold her off."
"You want us to weaken her?" Yahiyo asked.
"You will need to strike at the Doppel, but avoid her body, have it divert energy to regeneration and weaken it enough so that I can take control," Ai replied.
"You can take control of a Magical Girl's body?" Yachiyo asked.
"It's… a theory. Unproven as of yet. If done right I can expel the Doppel, but it will fight back against my invasion and might end up destroying me in the process if it still has too much strength."
"So, we just have to hit this girl really hard?" Felicia asked. "And let you take over her body instead. That seems… kinda messed up."
"There's no telling what you would do if we let you take over a girl's body," Yachiyo agreed.
Iroha felt Ai's gaze intensify on her even more. "I know I'm asking a lot of you… but I need you to trust me. It's the only way that I can think of to save Sana. My friend is lost in there. Please help me save her."
Yachiyo stared at Ai, her gaze accusatory for some time, before turning to Iroha. Felicia and Tsuruno turned to her too. Everyone did.
That only made Iroha even more confused. Why? Why were they looking at her? Wasn't this something that they should do without her?
"I… we can stay, I guess…" Iroha finally said. It was strange… being asked for her opinion, being allowed to break her silence. But still not knowing if this is what she really wanted.
Their eyes, it brought Iroha a chill… but it also caused something else to bubble in her heart that she didn't quite understand. Something that wanted her to return their gazes in turn. But she couldn't. Because even now she wasn't sure this was the right choice.
"Kyoko… are you ok?" Yuma asked as they sat within the shadow of an empty room. The cover of the dark would hide them from anyone they saw approaching the building.
"Yea, why do you ask?" Kyoko replied casually.
"Because you haven't smiled. Not once since…" Since they had been attacked by Oriko and chased out of their home. It reminded Yuma a lot of Archer too because he didn't smile either. Smirk and tease maybe, but never a happy smile. Was that the reason why she kept seeing bits of him in Kyoko's reflection?
"… I've had a lot on my mind," Kyoko replied as the grip on her spear tightened. "I'll be smiling once I gut Oriko like a fish."
"Are you sure?" Yuma asked. "I don't think that will make you happy either."
Kyoko turned and glared. "What do you know about me?"
Yuma returned that glare. It was nothing to her at that point. "A lot. Enough that I know killing doesn't make you happy. You like to fight, you like things that make you excited, but whenever you talk about Oriko you aren't excited. You're afraid."
"Afraid?" Kyoko scoffed. "Only thing to be scared of is that white bucket hat. I ain't much about fashion but even I know that thing's an abomination to good sense."
"You're afraid that she'll hurt us. I am too, so is Archer," Yuma replied. "But I don't try to hide it, Archer always hides something, and you don't Kyoko. You always let me know how you feel, at least back then."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kyoko was quick to deny. A bit too quick actually. "Just keep an eye out and stop overthinking things. It's bad for your head."
"I could say the same about you and Archer," Yuma said to herself before turning back toward the window. "Hey Kyoko."
"Yea Yuma?"
"Live for me. Alright?"
Kyoko blinked before turning back to look out the window. The city outside was quiet and pretty. Peaceful if you ignored the hooded Magical Girls gathering far away. "I should be telling you that."
Iroha took a deep breath as she raised her crossbow. They made what preparations they could in the past hour. Replenishing their Soul Gems, talking about formations, and even the different areas they'd have to strike on the Doppel, they did everything they could to prepare. Eventually there was nothing left to do and all they could do was act.
And yet, as Iroha raised her crossbow, she couldn't get rid of this feeling of doubt that had crept into her mind.
"Do it," Yachiyo commanded Ai.
Ai moved her hands apart and in that instant the walls of the cube shattered. In that instant the Doppel charged, ready to destroy everything in its path.
Tsuruno struck first. Setting fire to the area around it and quickly burning the legs that supported the Doppel's chair. The Doppel's rampage was hardly hindered though, already expending energy to heal from the damage it had received, but they had been prepared for that.
Then Yachiyo and Felica jumped at it with their weapons. One girl for each side of the Doppel, avoiding the center where Sana's body still remained trapped. They struck hard, the damage dealt, and the Doppel was sent reeling back.
It was at that moment that Iroha fired, shooting as many bolts as she could. Hoping to hold it at bay for as long as she could.
The Doppel screeched and thrashed with each strike, nothing like the girl it possessed but an enraged wild animal that wanted to destroy everything around. It was primal, ferocious, corrupted, and it scared Iroha. She just wanted this all to end.
But it didn't falter, not even after she had shot tens if not hundreds of bolts into its darkened flesh. The Doppel roared, quickly regained its posture, and swung an arm at them. The chain attached to the guillotine blade extended and they were all forced to jump out of the way lest they risk being bisected where they stood.
"It's not enough! Keep attacking," Ai called out as she clapped her hands together. Spears and blades of green technological light emerged from the ground and began to stab at the Doppel.
Despite the ferocity in which Ai struck Iroha could tell that having to hurt Sana hurt her. It must've pained Ai so much to see Sana like this.
The Doppel responded by slamming down its arms and shooting large metal spikes from all over its body.
The spikes were easy enough to block or evade, but they were quickly followed up by maces. Then chains. Practically everything that extruded from the Doppel's body became a weapon that was used against them, all while it held its ground.
Just through the sheer numbers of blades alone, everyone began getting cut. First Felicia due to her reckless fighting style, then Yachiyo, then Iroha, Tsuruno, and even Ai. The wounds were minor, but they were beginning to build up. Soon they were more focused on healing and evading then they were on attacking.
What little damage they could deal in between the barrages, the Doppel would just recover from it. Recovered from it faster than they could handle and soon its form began to creep up Sana's body in its center.
"We need to hit it harder!" Felicia shouted as she used the head of her hammer as a makeshift shield.
"Agreed," Tsuruno shouted as she danced between debris with dexterity and the luck that her own magic provided to her. She then jumped to Felicia, grabbed her outstretched hand in order to Connect their magic, and threw Felicia at the Doppel with a now flaming giant hammer.
The hammer struck true, completely crushing an entire half of the Doppel and causing it to topple over.
Yachiyo followed up, completely tearing apart the remaining half with swings of her spear. Once she was done Iroha ran next to her so that they could look at what remained. The mangled blackened body of Sana and yet the mask that replaced her face still remained.
"Ai. Now!" Yachiyo shouted.
"No. It still has some strength left!" Ai warned.
The warning came too late. Something dark emerged from the right ear of Sana's body. A strange, terrible, dark figure that let loose a terrible scream as it reformed the blades and tools of torture that it had used before. Blood shot out, lightly burning everything it splattered on, including Yachiyo's eyes. Blinded for a brief moment, Yachiyo was able to block the first of the Doppel's strikes with a lucky swing of her spear, but the Doppel would strike again. This time aiming for her side.
Iroha didn't think. She didn't have to. She pushed Yachiyo away and took the attack in full. Metal pierced the arm she used to protect her face, it tore apart the muscle in her leg, and left gaping holes in her chest and stomach. She didn't even have time to cry out from the excruciating pain before she was sent flying and fell to the ground some distance away.
"$% #!"
Iroha could hear Yachiyo's voice, Felicia and Tsuruno's too. They called out to her, but she couldn't quite understand what they were saying through the haze. After the initial pain she couldn't quite feel anything where she had been struck. Just a throbbing where she had hit her head.
All she wanted to do now was to just close her eyes and get some rest.
A light breeze and a sweet scent in the air caused Iroha to stir and open her eyes. She was met not with blinking green lights but rather the brightness of a clear sky. A beautiful endless expanse of blue that caused her to reach forward with a single hand.
Wouldn't it be nice if she could fly in that beautiful place?
Iroha sat up and found herself within a field of flowers. The colors, the scent, the coolness of the wind, it helped to soothe her once troubled soul. She let her hands caress the ground, the leaves, stems, and petals of the flowers affectionately embracing her hands and twirling gently between her fingers.
It was beautiful, all of it, and there was a part of her that wanted to stay here. However, there was another part of her that wondered how she had arrived here in the first place.
She stood up, finally noticed the white loose dress she wore instead of her Magical Girl outfit and looked around.
The last thing she remembered was getting struck down by a Doppel. The pain and weariness that came from her injuries before she had closed her eyes.
"Am I dead?" Iroha asked. Was this heaven?
"No. It was just easier to bring you here while you were recovering."
Iroha turned around and was met with a long flowing dress of white and some sort of transcendental form that stood before her. She couldn't see much else, not the being's face or hair. "Who are you? Where am I?"
"A friend," the being, no girl, said as she sat down next to her. "And this… is a realm outside of yours. It's just a little out of body experience, I'll send you back soon enough. Can't keep you here too long, not if I'm going to have something left over to give you some help."
Iroha, calmed by the girl's presence, sat down in turn. Even if she couldn't see most of this girl, being around her felt nice. Because of that she was just perfectly content to just sit there in silence. And the girl let her. For as long as Iroha wanted they sat, enjoying each other's company.
Was it so wrong to want to stay here, to rest without a worry in the world?
"You're going to send me back?" Iroha asked eventually. After some time had passed.
"After we talked," the girl in white replied.
"Why do you want to talk with me?"
"Because we all need someone to talk to. Also, you are… an interesting person. An anomaly if I'm being honest, but one that I want to get to know."
That was… an interesting thing to be called. But it hardly seemed like an insult either. Just an honest observation.
"So tell me, what's bothering you right now?" the girl asked.
"I…" Iroha brought up and hugged her knees. "Am I ignoring the truth? Am I just fooling myself?"
"You're worried that you're covering your eyes to the truth," the girl observed.
"Yes," Iroha admitted. "I'm not doing what I need to do. Maybe that's why I'm messing things up."
"That is a habit of yours," the girl replied. "You're right that there is something you aren't seeing, it just isn't what you think it is."
"What do you mean?" Iroha asked.
"You think that you need to change how you do things but is that even what you want? Why did you even come to the radio tower in the first place?"
"Because someone needed my help."
"And why did you stay? Despite the risks."
"Because Sana is like me… that's why I want to help her. But is it really the right decision?"
"Was it the wrong decision to help Felicia?"
And like that something snapped in Iroha's mind. Despite everything, she knew the answer immediately. "No… it wasn't."
"You helped someone and gained a friend in the process," the girl recounted to Iroha. "A friend that is now willing to help you. Isn't that working toward achieving everything you wanted right there? Helping others, finding Ui, saving Sana, they're not exclusive from each other."
Even though Iroha couldn't see her face, she could feel the girl smile in that moment. "I believe you've found your answer." The girl stood up and dusted off her lap. "You like to cover your eyes and ears, all for the sake of denying a reality you can't accept. But when you do that, you end up blinding yourself to the truth in front of you. Don't cover your eyes and ears and don't worry to the point of inaction either. It's only by facing reality that we can learn to accept it … or strive to change it. Isn't that right, Giovanna?"
"What?" Giovanna looked down and finally noticed the bandages that covered her arms and were just starting to wrap around her face.
"You shouldn't be afraid of who you are, but you shouldn't let yourself fall to your instincts either. Especially in a world where your very existence can cause you to succumb to overwhelming despair." The girl put a comforting hand on Giovanna's shoulder. "It is a terrible fate that you're cursed with, but maybe you'll find your own way to change that."
Iroha opened her eyes, the haze that once covered her mind gone in an instant, only to find that she was being blinded once more. She ripped herself free from the cloth that had begun to tug at her arms and ripped off the ones that had covered her eyes. Left with no purchase, the Doppel disappeared, fled back to somewhere within herself.
With her Doppel dismissed, Iroha finally returned to reality. She watched as her friends and Ai fought Sana's Doppel. Even as wounds covered their bodies, even as they tired, they still fought all to save a girl in need.
Iroha took out one of the many grief seeds that Madoka and Archer had given them and placed it against her Soul Gem. The relief was near instantaneous, as she felt herself being soothed by the clearing despair. Her Soul Gem cleared, she activated her magic and focused it on herself.
Her wish had been to cure Ui from her disease and as a result her magic allowed her to heal, but for some reason it was much harder to heal herself than others. Still, she worked her magic enough so that she could fix what mattered. The holes in her chest and stomach were ignored in favor of knitting the muscle in her leg.
She forced herself up on unsteady feet, a hand placed firmly on her arm as she began to heal that too. She stood, standing and defiant, even as stray attacks from Sana's rampaging Doppel came dangerously close to hitting her.
It was clear to Iroha now, what she had to do. What she wanted to do.
"I know we haven't met before," Iroha said as she limped forward. This time her words were clear because it was something that she had to say. "That we don't know each other… but I do know what it's like to be lonely."
The Doppel continued to lash out and had grabbed Felicia with one of its chains. It was only thanks to the intervention of Tsuruno melting the metal with harsh flames that Felicia hadn't been torn apart right there.
"I know what it's like to be unheard," Iroha continued as she made her way forward. "To be alone. To think that you don't matter."
"Iroha get back!" Yachiyo shouted.
Iroha didn't back down. Even as a blade came forward and sliced her across the cheek. "Because I was like that too. And that's why… that's why I can say that it won't always be like this."
Madoka gasped as she dropped her bow and grabbed her arm. A harsh pain came from her scar and nearly caused her to cry out. It was just like that time when she had to save Sayaka. When she nearly destroyed herself using a power that she couldn't handle. And this time she wasn't even in control.
"Are you ok?" Archer was quick to stand next to her and check her arm.
"I don't know," Madoka said as she looked at the radio tower. She was scared. Scared of herself and what was happening to her. Scared of what was happening to her friends inside that place. "But I think something is going on in there."
Iroha began to pump magic into her crossbow. Magic from the Grief Seed she had used and from something else. Something that filled her with a strength that she didn't think she was capable of summoning, that she was barely keeping controlled. "It won't always be like this, because you have friends here now."
The Doppel noticed this and turned to her, recognizing her now as a threat.
"Protect Iroha!" Yachiyo shouted. She was the first to jump at the Doppel with her weapon, quickly followed by Felicia and Tsuruno.
The Doppel, though slowed by their attacks, seemed to ignore them in favor of throwing everything it had at Iroha. It threw everything it could at her, all its blades, chains, and shards of metal it could summon, only for it to all be stopped by a translucent wall that suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Do it!" Ai shouted.
The Doppel charged, it knocked Iroha's friends aside and began to slam itself into the wall until it finally cracked it. With a great push it broke through and began one last desperate charge toward her. By then it was too late.
Supporting her left arm with the other, Iroha raised her crossbow and pointed it at the Doppel.
"Strada Futoro!"
"Kyoko, do you feel that?"
"No, it's just your imagination!" Kyoko shouted to Yuma as everything around them shook. Not that violently honestly, if you lived in Japan you got used to earthquakes pretty quickly, but the tremors that seemed to come from the radio tower were still an unexpected surprise.
Eventually it ended but it made Kyoko wonder what the hell it was that could've possibly been felt outside a labyrinth, or whatever realm it was that the Uwasa lived in. Even Archer couldn't pull off something like that and she'd seen him use things that caused very big booms.
"Are they going to be okay?" Yuma asked.
"I have no idea."
The bolt had flown. Piercing through the stomach of Sana, yet somehow leaving her completely unharmed before flying up and casting a sigil above her. It was like the heavens themselves had fallen, bringing down beams of bright light that completely obliterated the Doppel's shadowy form. Until all that was left was the body of Sana, her mask cracked but beginning to reform itself.
That brief moment, that brief second of weakness that wouldn't have amounted to anything on its own, was all Ai needed to suddenly surge forward and grab Sana with her hands. She pushed as harshly as she could, slowly melting into Sana's body.
Where Ai entered, the darkness surrounding Sana was forced out and replaced with a green light. Sana's body became staticky and bright, like Ai herself. That light spread and Ai let herself be consumed, until there was nothing left of the Uwasa's body in this world.
Tsuruno stared in awe. "What-"
"-The Hell," Felicia finished.
And then a flash. A large flash of white light that seemed to blast away the remains of the Doppel before consuming everyone there. A light so bright and loud that Iroha was afraid it would overwhelm her completely.
Then it ended. And what was left, once she could open her eyes and see again, was a girl floating in the air. A girl with curly green hair, wearing a purple school uniform.
Sana had returned.
And then she fell, only to be caught by Yachiyo before she hit the ground. It was only after checking the girl's condition, that she was still breathing, did Yachiyo turn back to Iroha with a small smile.
"You did it."