Chapter 1

A wish born from the dark

–Unknown date-

-Mitakihara City-

The clouds above the Mitakihara city was apocalyptic. They were grey and very heavy, filled with nothing but torrential rain and devastating winds. The unfriendly wind blew hard across the city, hitting the skyscrapers which made their joints emit eerie sounds that echoed everywhere. It really looks like a heavy storm is going to hit the city and when it hits, all would be destroyed.

Luckily the streets and the pedestrian below were all empty. Loud noises of storm warning blared from the city's intercoms, warning every one of the approaching storms. The people were already gathered in evacuation centers, all safe and sound, away from the impending disaster.

There should be no one in the street right now.

"Augh!" Suddenly a loud disemboweled grunt erupted along the streets. The side of a building suddenly burst as a shiny object - a humanoid suit of armor - crashed down on the middle of the road.

The lights around the suit of armor, with futuristic design of red and gold color, blinked as its components inside short circuited. And then, with a soft hiss, the armor face plating of the humanoid armor opened. A face of a middle-aged man looked out to the dark world. The man possessed a small mustache and well chiseled face. He would've been extremely handsome, if not for the excessive blood that almost covered his face.

"Guys, you still there?" the man asked, his voice was haggard as he labored for his breath. His questions travelled through the empty streets and were drowned out by the sound of the howling wind's crescendo.

"Samurai X! Clint Eastwood Knockoff! Fruit bat!"

"Look out!" as if his question was answered, the man looked up and saw another man, crashed on the side of the building on his right. He gasped in terror as the familiar pink kimono falls down on the road with a loud thud.

"Battousai!" The man quickly moved towards the other downed man. His friend had landed on the sidewalk and just like him his face was all bloodied up. His kimono, colored in pink, was now bright red from his own blood, the only thing that was left intact was his pink soul gem on his hair clip, which tied around his pony tail behind his head.

"Kenshin! You ok, Fruit ninja?"

"Tony-dono…? I'm fine…I think." the man whose name is Tony looked down and saw both of the man's leg, twisted in an odd angle. His friend, Kenshin, was a hardened samurai warrior and wouldn't go down so easily. To see him in such a dire scene, it sent terror down to his spine.

"No, you're not fine, Kenny!" Tony thundered with worry and took out a Grief Seed. He put the seed on his hair clip and watched as a cloud of black smoke floated out. The hairclip of the Samurai warrior shone brightly more and his injured legs were healed in an instant.

"Can you stand?"

"Yes." Tony helped the man and pulled him up. Kenshin let out several hard breaths before he look up.

"She's too strong, Tony-dono…too strong. No matter how much I multiply, she just brushed me away!"

"I know, but we can still push this thing away from the city…" the man paused as he spit out a one of his loose teeth out of his mouth.

"Now where's Batsy—-"

Tony's question was cut when the building behind them exploded. The two quickly looked behind them and saw a man, clothed in black and grey, landed hard on a bus. The vehicle cratered from his impact.

"Not you too, Batman!"

"Bruce-san!"

The two quickly ran towards the wrecked bus and saw their third man. Bruce Wayne, or Batman, was lying in the center and he was in a much worse situation than the two of them. The man's legs and arms were all battered and twisted, while the bat on his chest, his symbol and his soul gem, was now disgustingly murky grey.

"Oh God…" Kenshin gasped in horror. Batman was also just like the Battosai, a hardened warrior and vigilante who was gifted with such vast knowledge on fighting. The man will never go down so easily and would always finds a way to defeat this enemies, even if it's a god. And to see him all bloodied up, it frightened him.

"There's no…God here, Kenshin Himura." suddenly Bruce spoke, blood shoot out from his mouth dying his mask red, "only that…the Walpurgisnacht."

"I still have three Grief Seeds left." Tony on the other hand pulled out another Grief Seed and kneeled at the man. The murkiness of Batmna's sigil quickly disappeared, returning its glowing gray hue once more.

"Ugh…is this your idea of ballroom dancing with that thing, Tony? Because we are getting the short end of the stick here! The Walpurgisnacht got minions, tons of it!" Batman grunted as he felt his arms repairing.

"According to the Magius, they were once Magical Girls who gave in to despair. And they are preventing us from attacking the target." Kenshin looked at Tony and with a saddened and terrified voice he added. "Tony…we are loosing… we can't stop it."

"No! We should all try harder. If this thing hit the evac center…then our loved ones will be killed!"

"We all know!" Batman on the other hand growled, vehemently, before Kenshin helped him to stand up.

"Wait." Suddenly the Samurai warrior glanced around after he noticed that there was someone missing in his group. "Where's Arthur?"

"Arthur…is still up there." Batman answered and looked up. "His soul gem is almost black, but he still wants to continue attacking her."

He's still there! Tony Stark, in alarmed, widened his eyes as he remembered something. He quickly flew up and looked around. His eyes darted around the dark sky; grey clouds scattered in his vision and together with it were broken skyscrapers and buildings that the wind had swept up from the ground.

Where are you—suddenly the former avenger's eyes caught a familiar glint of the color bronze. The clouds on his right suddenly parted and revealed an amazing sight, a horse made out of hundreds of bronze bullets galloped and made trail with its legs. It whined and hurled as its rider pulled its reins, making it gain more speed. And as for its rider, Iron Man recognized him as the fourth man of his group.

"Arthur!" No, your soul gem is almost black, I know what you are planning! The man called him but to no avail, the wind drowned out his voice as he shouted more. "No Arthur, don't sacrifice yourself!"

Arthur Morgan, the fourth man, zoomed out of the clouds and shout. His horse whined and galloped more while his ocean eyes were locked in front. Suddenly his ears caught the familiar voice of Iron Man and he couldn't help but make his lips form a small smile of sadness.

"Don't worry about me, Tony…at least you guys were all good." The man closed his eyes and lightly exhaled. Despite all of the chaos that was happening around him, he was all calm and devoid of fear, his heart was beating normally while his hands gripped the reign around his horse in a soft way.

"Even though it was a short year, I thank all of you for being my comrade." Arthur opened his eyes before his horse entered on a large cloud again.

"The wish that I'd made with that accursed Kyubey, despite being all twisted and cruel, it was wonderful to me. I met him once again. I redeemed myself to him and I'd loved him one more time." The man opened his left palm, and right on the middle of it, showing nothing but murky brown, was his Soul Gem, the physical form on his own soul…and his last remaining weapon.

Arthur's thought was cut, however, when the clouds parted in front of him. The roar of the wind was gone suddenly but, in its place, another raging sound filled his ears.

And so, I've arrived, to the main enemy of my brand-new story. "Hello there, I am your last dancer…Walpurgisnacht!" Arthur shouted in a taunting manner as he pulled his black gambit hat from his head. His face showed a mad smile while his eyes became bloodshot as if he was a predator facing his prey.

The sound that had enveloped him right now, was no longer the roar of the storm, but of laughter. The laughter was heavy, belittling and was maddening as if it came from a witch.

And it really came from a witch that was floating in front of the lone magical cowboy.

At last, I get to see you, Walpurgisnacht, the creature that will send me back to where I belong. In Hell.

The Walpurgisnacht, the mother of all witches and the one that bring disaster to mankind. It was the enemy that he must face for it threatened the lives of his loved ones, the ones who were living in the city. The creature was large and vast. It was floating upside down in the sky, surrounded by chaos and destruction. It possessed white porcelain skin, like that of a doll, and was clothed in an elegant blue gown from the bygone era.

If a normal human could see this creature right now, that person would die on the spot, out of fear. However, to Arthur, her terrifying appearance was nothing. In fact, what was inside his chest right now, was pure excitement and rage. The same feeling that he had when he did his first heist with his old friends from the previous world where he, originally, came from.

"I don't care with your parlor tricks…you're just large bitch that I could kill right now." Arthur haughtily said as he waved his gambit hat in front of him. And just as he did that, the clouds behind him parted, revealing millions of floating gatling guns, lined up in columns.

The cowboy's grin grew more, menacingly. This is it; he was now facing the largest enemy that he had ever seen, and because of that he must enjoy himself with this.

"Without further ado…shall we dance!?"

The Walpurgisnacht must've understood the man's intention for it gave another round of unfathomable laughter while the cowboy waved his hat again before he shouted with a determined voice.

"CHARGE!"

-Unknown place-

Where am I? Arthur Morgan slowly opened his eyes and saw nothing but infinite darkness. Air, heat or even nature's ambient sound, he couldn't feel or hear anything at all. The place he was in was nothing but a black void.

Where is this place? He thought again while he glanced around more. And then he stopped and his eyes widened as scenes begun to flash before his eyes. He recognized the scenes that was currently playing, it was his memories. He stood still and felt the emotions that flowed inside of him as he remembers everything about his life.

Oh that's right, I'm already dead. Tuberculosis got me…which means this place must be afterlife. Arthur had finally remembered what happened to him and for that he already got the idea of the place where was in right now.

So this is the afterlife huh? Its completely nothing. The man knows nothing about the afterlife, sure he had heard that it was a paradise locked beyond a huge pearly gate or an endless desert where the heat was unbearable and deadly. Arthur knows that he doesn't belong to the former but to the latter so he expected to see hell as he opened his eyes.

But it seems he was wrong again. The endless void stretch before him and Arthur couldn't comprehend whether he would be terrified or saddened to the fact that this place would serve as his soul's final destination.

Is this it? Is this where I would stay forever? Arthur couldn't help but give a sad smile. "Heh, if this is my final destination, then I will stay here."

Arthur knows that he is bound for hell and never to heaven. He was, after all, an outlaw and died as one. His life was filled with crimes. Murder, robbery, and many others, he had done a lot of heinous activities as long as he could remember and he only get to redeem himself after death finally got to him. Hell is a rightful place for him, after all he has to pay for his transgression, he had hurt many innocent people from before and he is sure that all of them were hoping for his demise.

"I guess, I will accept this kind of fate…" All I can do is walk into this darkness forever.

"Are you sure about that?" Arthur's eyes widened in shock and quickly darted his eyes everywhere. A voice, light, cheerful and almost childlike, had answered him back.

"Right here." the voice called him again and this time the man looked in front of him. A bright light suddenly appeared and had chased the darkness away, he shielded his eyes from it and just as fast as it appeared, it vanished again.

"Howdy pardner." Arthur lowered his left hand and blinked towards the person that greeted him. A small startled gasped escaped his lips after he saw the one who was talking to him a while ago. It wasn't a person, it was an animal.

The animal wasn't normal one, first it was cat-like but it has four ears, the upper one was that of cat's while hanging underneath were rabbits-like. Second its fur was unnatural white with a red ring on its back. And third and last, its eyes were red. Blood red and seemed to be devoid of emotion at all, and both of them reflected the cowboy's still startled face.

"Uh…" Arthur lost his words. He was in what he thinks hell for he knows that he was dead, and now a talking creature that looked like a cat had just greeted him. The outlaw had seen a lot of strange things all throughout his life, but this scene right now takes the cake.

"Hello, little one." Finally Arthur found the courage to speak. "What are you…are you an angel? You're too little to be one."

The creature glanced at him, making several blinks, as it inquisitively observed the man more.

"A lot of people called me that, others even called me God himself. But for your sake…call me Kyubey."

Kyubey? "That's a weird name…for an angel." Arthur smiled as the creature only nodded. "My name is Arthur Morgan, nice to meet you, Kyubey."

"Likewise." The creature named Kyubey scratch his right ear before it rests its beady red eyes again at the man. "Arthur, do you already realize that you are dead?"

"Yes." I know this because I'm pretty sure that this kind of void doesn't exist in the real world. Arthur looked around, observing his place more, before he closed his eyes and contemplated. The creature named Kyubey, tilted his head to the left, it seemingly took an interest in his answer which contains nothing but acceptance.

"That's nice. If I'm allowed to ask you, how was your life? Is it good or is it bad?"

Arthur opened his eyes and gazed at Kyubey with a thoughtful look. The life of the outlaw began to play again as he absorbed the angel's question to him. Memories of good things flashed before his eyes and he felt nothing but happiness and joy. However, the bad memories quickly followed suit. His crimes popped out with the familiar sound of his guns, phantom screams of his victims filled his ears, a heavy feeling of reminiscence filled his chest and it made his frown deepened more.

"There were good things that occurred in my life. I have created many happy memories with my former gang, whom I considered as my family." Arthur smiled again, remembering his gang, the Van der Linde Gang, the gang that he loved as his family. "Our gang however were outlaws, we live by doing crime. We survive by the edges of our blades and the bullets coming out from our guns."

The man deepened him smile more, turning it into a sad one. "I… never have an honest life, Kyubey. I'm a criminal, once and always will be, and thus the reason why I'm in this hell right now."

Kyubey stared at Arthur for a moment, its tail lightly wiggled. It must've been pondering the story that the cowboy had told him, thinking what he could reply to him. But after a minute it closed its eyes and made several nods.

"Oh, it seems you've a very rough life, not being rude though."

"You're not."

Kyubey opened its eyes again and arched his tiny mouth a bit, to what seems to be an understanding soft smile. "Arthur, despite you've accepted your death, it seems I could detect some hesitation." Arthur shifted his frown to a thoughtful one as the angel spoke more. "I know that you're already prepared to live here in this afterlife…but by any chance, do you still have hope that things in your life could be different in some ways?"

"What do you mean by that?" Arthur asked however he already got the gist of what the creature was saying. The cowboy knows nothing all throughout his life, except to live as an outlaw. The gun that he carries was his way of living, plundering and stealing from others, lying and scheming for a big heist, those are the only things that he knows. But some days, he does often think of a different life.

What if he had a different life right now, an honest one perhaps, would he still be happy? What if he grew up with a proper family and not a criminal gang one, would his life be all bright and sunny and not of blood and gore? Those questions sometimes hammered down in his mind but he usually brushes it away through accepting his current reality.

"I do wonder sometimes. I usually think about me having a different life. Would I still be happy if I grew up in a normal household? Would I still be happy if I'm living a proper and honest life? Those questions popped into my mind." Arthur paused and lessened the arch of his small life, into a disappointed one. "But I don't ponder that, Kyubey…because I always accept what's in front of me. I don't know any life beyond the life of an outlaw, so I always brushed those dreams aside."

"I understand that." Kyubey paused as it tilted its head to the right before he asked the man again. "However, do you, somehow, still wish that things could be different in your life."

Arthur didn't answer the angel immediately, he only looked down with curiosity slowly building up inside of him. When he was still alive the man always brushed aside the idea of having a different life, however from time to time the idea returns and lingers faintly inside his mind.

Yeah, I do somehow still think about it. Despite the things that Arthur had done, he does still think about it. And with that he indeed has a small feeling of yearning for that kind of dream. And that yearning of his was just a little wish that he kept to himself.

He knows that it would never happen, so why bother saying it to others?

"Yeah, Kyubey, I do sometimes wish my life would be different…but just sometimes."

Kyubey's tail wagged a bit, its white fur faintly shone. "So then…what if I tell you that I can grant your wish to relive your life, would you make a wish then?"

What? A soft gasped escaped Arthur's lips as he was startled from what the creature had said. The nonsensical feeling of having a different life returned to his mind however, unlike before where he could easily brush it off, it was stronger. The thought was screaming at him, turning it into something that he was very familiar with.

Desire, and since it had turned into a desire, Arthur couldn't help but gulped down in strong wonderment.

"Kyubey—I mean, can you really do that?"

"Yup. I can,"

A different life… Arthur's wondermen was nagging him. Now that he knew that he could have that kind of life, an honest and good one, he couldn't help but want to give in. But he paused as he remembered the words of his former family.

Hosea told me, for every deal that you make, there would always be a catch. The cowboy gulped down again, this time in cautiousness. Kyubey's deal was very good and seemed to be true, however his life experiences had told him that there's no such thing as a good deal.

"There's no such thing a good deal, there's always a catch. So, what's the catch Kyubey?"

Kyubey looked at him, its beady red eyes stared at the man, unmovingly, reflecting his serious frown. Then after a couple of seconds of silence, it spoke to him. "Well, there's indeed a catch. You will live your new life in another world, but in order for it to happened, you will form a contract with me."

"A contract of what?"

Kyubey blinked again at him before it answered him. "To become…a MAGICAL MAN and to do battle against WITCHES.

It was now Arthur's turn to be dumbfounded. Witches, Magical Man, what the fuck? The things that Kyubey had told him are the things that he usually tells Jack, John's son, as bedtime stories to help him sleep. Now he was hearing it, from an angel nonetheless, that these things are actually real. He was very confused more.

"Would you like me to elaborate further?" Kyubey asked and the Cowboy silently nodded.

"By forming a contract with me, you'll become a Magical Man and you are dutifully bound to fight against Witches, creatures and anomaly born out of the wickedness of humans."

Whoa, this is too much. Arthur struggled mentally as he tried to understand what the angel said to him. Magical man, will this Kyubey turn him into some kind of a person with magical person and that he has to fight against these things called witches? It seems to be the case, and he doesn't like that.

He doesn't want to live under someone's thumb and most importantly, he doesn't like to live by the bullets of his guns anymore.

"Wait, I want to live a different life in a peaceful manner. Why would I battle against these witches? That seems contradictory."

"Even though you are dutifully bound to fight Witches, you aren't actually required to always engaged with them. You can still have a life. Not to mention, the powers that you'll get are enough to defeat them. Also, you're a gunslinger before, I'm pretty sure your skills are adequate for battling them. Are you ok with that?"

Kyubey tilted its head again to the left, beaming a what seemed to be a very cute and angelic smile. So far, Kyubey's answer was very convincing for him. He will certainly get a new life only that the cost was to battle these so called 'Witches'. Arthur was a hardened warrior and he wanted to have a good life however it seems he wouldn't get very easily, that for sure.

Well…oh what the hell. At least I wouldn't stay here in this God-awful place. Arthur sighed vehemently and made up his mind.

"What do I have to do then Kyubey?"

"For starters, I will create a 'Soulgem' out of your soul. To be frank, it's basically your soul and your source of your new power. It would be the one to make you a Magical Man." Kyubey scratch the behind of his right ear and beamed his happy smile again.

"Now then, are you prepared, Arthur Morgan? Do you want to become a Magical Man and lived an honest and good life?"

Arthur stood still for a moment. Kyubey's deal was almost on the tips of his fingers. His new life awaits, if he says 'yes' to him. However, a small feeling of doubt nagged inside his chest. It was telling him not to take the creature's contract, he felt that there was something was off about it.

Arthur, stop being a doubting Thomas for once, you will get a good life ahead, what more do you want? Arthur, after convincing himself adamantly, finally opened his eyes. A look of determination formed on his face.

"Kyubey…I am prepared."

"Then say it to me, Arthur. Say it like you are truly wishing for it."

Arthur gulped down and took a huge breath. "I wish to live again, this time with an honest life, in another world and in another time."

"THEN WITH THAT, THE CONTRACT IS SEALED. WELCOME TO YOUR NEW LIFE MAGICAL MAN, ARTHUR MORGAN."

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of PMMM and Red Dead Redemption 2. Names, places and events are fictional.