Here's Chapter 4 of Marker Magica. Enjoy!
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"She said what to you?" Sayaka Miki asked aghast. The blue-haired girl was seated with her friends Hitomi Shizuki and Madoka Kaname, having come to a restaurant to grab a snack like they normally did after school.
Here she was expecting to hear her best friend to tell her some sort of nurse's aide-transfer student…okay, she didn't actually know what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this.
"'Cherish your daily life and your status quo, or you may find those things you cherish irretrievable.'" Madoka restated to the best of her memory.
"Sounds a like a threat to me." Sayaka stated, crossing her arms.
"But then there was also that bit about things that were too good to be true." Hitomi Shizuki pointed out Madoka's earlier words. "Honestly, it makes it sound a bit like a warning."
"Isn't that what a threat is?" Sayaka questioned her green haired friend.
"Entirely dependent on if she would be the one carrying out the forewarned action." Hitomi countered. "Though, Madoka I have to ask, have you met Akemi before? Because either way, it's a bit odd for someone you just met to talk to you like that."
"That's a good point," Sayaka agreed, shifting her gaze to her best friend. "So, have you two met before?"
"Well…" Madoka hesitated for a moment. "I guess the correct answer would be no…"
"You guess?" Sayaka questioned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's, well…" Madoka's gaze bounced back and forth between Hitomi and Sayaka. "Promise me you two won't laugh?" Both of her friends nodded, as they each went to drink from their respective cups.
"I…I met her last night…in a dream." To her friends' credit, they took a moment to take their mouths off their straws, set their drinks down, and swallow before they both burst into laughter.
"Hey! You two promised you wouldn't laugh!" Madoka pouted.
"Haha, yeah," Sayaka wheezed between chuckles. "As long as you didn't say anything funny."
"You never said that!"
"It was implied." Sayaka turned towards their wealthy girl of their little group. "Right Hitomi?"
"Oh, it was most definitely implied." Hitomi said with a giggle as she joined the bluenette in teasing their mutual friend.
"Maybe she's some sort of psychic," Sayaka theorized, wriggling her fingers in the air for dramatic effect. "And she implanted herself into your dreams. And she's doing to lure you in like a serin song! And then she'll-"
"Started off like Three-Thousand and Two, then you trailed off from there." Hitomi muttered.
"Three thousand what?" Sayaka questioned, her finger curls freezing to emphasis her confusion.
"It was a reference that was…Eh, in hindsight, it was only tangentially related. Not the best one to compare what you were suggesting."
"Best one of and reference to what?" Sayaka asked, putting her hands down and resting her chin on them.
"You wouldn't know it. Let's…skip that and get back on topic." Hitomi said with a giggle, as if she'd made a clever joke. If she had, it went clear over the heads of the other two girls which, if anything, just made her chuckle a bit harder before she composed herself and turned back to Madoka, while Sayaka muttered something about never understanding the humor of rich people.
"In all likelihood, you probably have met her before in the past, maybe even just saw her on the street one day, and your subconscious just chose to randomly bring her image out in that dream."
"But…" Madoka looked nervous, as if she was afraid her friends were going to laugh at her expense again. "Why now, on the day she shows up?"
"I'd attribute that to pure coincidence." Hitomi answered, smiling.
Hitomi checked her phone. "It seems I must be going now."
"Hey Madoka, is it cool if we stop by the music store on our way out?" Sayaka asked her best friend as Hitomi leaned over to pick up her bag. "I want to get a CD for Kyosuke."
"Fine by me!" Madoka exclaimed cheerfully.
And so, as they stepped out of the restaurant and parted ways with Hitomi, the two students made their way to the music shop. The entire way there, neither of them felt so much as a chill as they were watched by a pair of red, unblinking eyes watching them from across the shopping center.
The Akemi issue was starting to become…problematic. And far less ignorable than it would have preferred. Homura Akemi seemed to know of its intention to contract Madoka Kaname, and also seemed inclined to prevent such a deal from being made. Since her debut, she had hindered every attempt to make contact with Kaname.
Currently, it could only come up with two plausible reasons as to why a Magical Girl would try to prevent another from contracting. The first, and most common in tangentially similar cases, was the common Magical Girl desire to prevent the spread of rivals over access to a limited number of Grief Seeds.
The second plausible reason Akemi may try to prevent Kaname from contracting hinged on Akemi knowing a few key pieces of information. If she was aware of the magnitude of Madoka Kaname's potential, as well as the true nature of Witches, it could be reasoned that her goal was that of simple self-preservation or for the long-term survival of her species (as it ought be, for a member of any sapient race). However, Akemi knowing that the Witch born from Kaname would result in a (it ran the calculations…) ninety-six point three percent chance of the cessation of all life on Earth was, frankly, largely contested by the evidence at hand. In fact, both points were.
Observation from their school showed that Akemi had exchanged words with Kaname in an isolated wing of the building, in an overpass that connected two parts of the main education complex. While the exact words were unable to be determined, Akemi seemed to have alarmed Kaname, but left without further incident. If she had been intent on eliminating a strong rival for Grief Seeds from being made, or ensuring the continuation of humanity from Kaname's Witch, that would have been the ideal time to put a bullet into the pink girl's head. And yet, Akemi did not, putting a hole in the only logical conclusions it could think of to justify her attempts to stop Kaname from contracting.
Perhaps her actions were related to the circumstances of her possible wish and abilities…which were also factors unknown to it. It appeared on the surface to be some form of teleportation but it could…Oh who was it kidding, there was too many things it could be. It could be as plain as it appeared, simple short-range teleportation. Or Homura Akemi could have (local expression, what was it…) taken a page from its book, and a number of bodies readily swapping out and disposing of the rest, giving the appearance of a singular, fast moving individual. And there were so many other possibilities as well. It did not have enough data to safely rule out many of them.
All of this also hinged on the idea that it had somehow made a contract with Homura Akemi in the first place. If the girl had been taken on as a Client, a record would have been created with her identity, wish, and observed powers. But if her wish had involved tampering with its records, that would surely reflect in her abilities, yet those remained some form or another of translocation. So now, it couldn't even safely rule out a third party having taken on Akemi as their own client. And that could mean that said hypothetical third party could be-Oh, this new possibility was far more plausible than it would have preferred. If the girl was a Client in the service of another entity, such an entity may also be after the potential stored within Madoka Kaname, seeking a contract with her before it could secure one itself.
It could not allow such a thing to happen. Kyubey would not permit such an intrusion to occur. Kaname's energy was vital to expanding the lifespan of the universe. The lifespan of…He would trust no other entity nor collective in the handling of such a significant apparatus.
Kyubey allowed his body to growl, a rare occurrence for an Incubator to be permitted. But such actions helped to alleviate some of the stress put on the unit as he processed the issues…Issues that only applied to the Kaname case. Yet, he couldn't ignore the other anomalies that had begun to plague him as well.
For example, the matter of Oriko and Kirika's double suicide, costing both a valuable resource in her foresight and triggering the need for a new investigation into the rationale behind the unorthodox circumstances the two went about their self-termination. They had sat, fully dressed, in a bath filled with (and the girls themselves imbibed in) gasoline, before shattering their Soul Gems, letting a held match fall and set the liquid ablaze.
And of course, Oriko saw no need to inform Kyubey of what she was doing, or her reasons for it, despite the constant inquiries he made throughout the process. If she had merely gotten cold feet at the prospect of reaching maturity and becoming a witch, not an occurrence without precedent, the shattering of her Soul Gem would have sufficed. But this went far beyond that; she'd effectively turned her bathroom into a furnace, and her home her own funeral pyre. And given her aforementioned foresight, in tandem and relative proximity with the Kaname and Akemi anomalies, this wasn't the kind of investigation he could delay for long.
Then there were the lower priority anomalies, such as the incomplete creation details of the Marker, a multitude of things at play in Asunaro City, and those were only a handful of the local anomalies on this small batch of islands called Japan! For mere humans, a species yet to even establish colonies off world, to cause so many issues for Kyubey, at this critical juncture no less, it was Infuriating.
URRRGGGGHHHH!
Oh dear. It pulled its consciousness out of the drone as it writhed on the ground in agony. That was unfortunate, but it only had itself to blame. These units were not designed to handle such levels of psychological stress. So when it built up, it overflowed and began breaking out into deviant responses, before rendering the whole drone defective. Typically analogous to human clients succumbing to despair, but unfortunately it was not in a harvestable format; if it could use its bodies and skip having to contract other races altogether, it would…granted, such a hypothetical scenario would actually require it to weigh the efficiency of using its own component parts against what it would gain from other species, on a per-species-basis. Regardless, targeting Kaname would remain a priority in any such scenario.
Hmm…But how to go about-movement observed. Kaname was spotted moving across the mall with another girl, potential candidate Sayaka Miki; honestly, compared to the potential energy of Madoka Kaname, the Miki girl was utterly irrelevant. But she seemed to be the one guiding the pair, so it couldn't afford to outright ignore her.
Speaking of things it couldn't afford to ignore, it had a newly summoned unit shift its gaze to view the still-spasming drone, still twitching violently in ways the body wasn't designed to accommodate. Both units in question were several miles away from the unit observing Kaname, the now-defective unit on a rooftop of a single story convenience store, with the fresh observing unit on the roof of a multistory office complex across the street from it. It observed as two more drones emerged from the smallest shadows on the store's roof, and approached the malfunctioning terminal to begin the material reclamation process. As per standard in these sorts of cases, best practice was to begin with recycling the head and neck, before the drone started to produce audible cries and wails. Such noises carried the risk alerting of mature humans to its presence and, unlike witches, the drones did not have the means of silencing those who might acquire recorded evidence of its existence.
Back to the matter at hand, how to go about making contact with Kaname while unregistered Magical Girl tried to stop contact? Or perhaps how it could arrange for Kaname to distance herself from Akemi? Oh. That notion had potential. A lot of potential it realized as it dwelled on the idea, while a terminal observed Madoka and Sayaka enter into a music store.
Perhaps Homura Akemi could be made into an asset in the Kaname case, albeit in a roundabout way. Akemi had already established that she would seek to terminate any terminal getting near Madoka Kaname, and perhaps that could be used against her. The appearance of the drones had often been described as "cute" or "innocent", not just in human cultures, but in most sentient races in this galaxy. Mankind even had similar creatures they kept as pets. And humans tended to detest those amongst themselves, who would harm such domesticated species…
It was satisfied at the plan of action being developed. Homura Akemi had declared herself to be its foe. And ironically, her very open hostility would enable it to…it paused to find the local idiom…Ah, enable it to "stack the deck in its favor".
A few drones were taken off standby and given destinations. The current location of nearest witch in relation to the target was determined. Client Tomoe's current location, destination, and pathing were also cross-referenced and used in determining the optimal positioning, that she would encounter the scenario before true danger to the target. The current whereabouts of Anomaly Akemi were not known, but likelihood of her responding to its own actions was high. It was time to make its move.
Sayaka would have missed when Madoka left the music store, had it not been for a flash of the girl's pink hair in the corner of her eye. Wandering off was not really a thing Madoka did, not unless something had caught her attention, like a wounded animal, or a cry for help (the latter having happened once when she overheard part of a movie someone had on in their home, with their window down, and mistaken it for an actual person). The former very unlikely in the middle of a mall, and the latter having unsettling implications this deep into a part of the mall no one was supposed to be in.
And frankly, with all the disappearances and murders that had been happening on the news, Sayaka wasn't comfortable letting Madoka go wandering off alone…And heck, she wasn't too comfortable being on her own either. Always good to be at least a pair. Hitomi claimed to have a thing a pepper spray on her, so Sayaka never worried about the girl. But Madoka…sometimes the girl was a bit too nice for her own good.
As she followed the trail of slowly closing doors Madoka had just passed through, Sayaka spotted a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall. Her thought process was quick, but also rather detailed: Madoka had wandered off (or been lured…) into a restricted area, was calling out for someone she apparently didn't know, and there's no one who could hear or help the two girls if they got into trouble here.
There was no way she was going to follow after her friend unarmed. And this could either be an ideal smokescreen, or…It was at least a blunt, heavy object. So, without another thought, she grabbed the cylinder off the wall, held it in her right hand like she was going to swing it at anyone who tried to get near her, and continued following after her friend's voice.
It didn't take long to hear Madoka again, but also what sounded like the transfer student too. Well, better a student than some creep the cops may be after. Sayaka rounded a corner, caught a glance at Homura Akemi's expression, and hid back behind the pillar. She'd only seen Madoka for a second, but her friend looked to be clutching something. Homura was dressed up in some sort of really well made costume, but her expression made it look like she wanted to either kill Madoka or kill the thing Madoka said she was protecting.
Well, school uniform isn't exactly shining armor, Sayaka thought, as she readied the fire extinguisher. But here I go, to the rescue.
"Madoka, run!" Sayaka yelled out as she jumped out from the corner, spraying the extinguisher at Akemi. Madoka bolted, while Akemi looked surprised. Her friend was indeed carrying something, but Sayaka couldn't quite tell what. Some sort of plush? No, that looked like blood and cuts, was that thing alive? And dang, this thing was a better smoke screen than she was hoping. Note to self, start keeping one of these things handy; it'd probably be great against a burglar.
The moment the extinguisher started sputtering its last breaths, Sayaka grabbed the cylinder with both hands, and threw it at the transfer student as hard as she could. She turned and ran before she could even see if she hit the girl, desperate to both catch up with Madoka, and put as much distance between themselves and the cosplay-crazy as they could.
Where the hell does Miki keep finding these darn fire extinguishers? It didn't seem to matter where this sort of scenario took place, but whenever it did, Sayaka would always find one of the accursed things! Was this just a constant of the Universe or something?! Sun shines, birds fly, and Sayaka Miki always gets her hands on a bloody fire extinguisher!
"And is it just me," Homura mumbled to herself in agitation, as she rubbed her would-have-been-bruised-if-not-for-magical-healing head. "Or is her aim getting better with each loop?"
And as much as she hated herself for doing so, she had to give the blue-haired girl some credit; she was defending Madoka and herself from a perceived threat with whatever means she had on hand. Now if only she was smart enough to apply that same level of dedication to realizing Kyubey would play her like a fiddle ahead of time, then Homura's life may actually start taking a turn for the better.
A shimmer appeared in the air around her as she began to pursue the duo. "And here I was, worried you wouldn't show." She muttered under her breath.
A labyrinth was forming, and for once, Homura welcomed it; aside from the Oriko incident, things were playing out remarkably similar to a past loop, and Homura was intent on recreating as much as she safely could in order to reach Charlotte's labyrinth in a few days. As long as Mami showed up and rescued the two, everything would be fine…
Homura withdrew a rifle from her shield regardless. Just in case; She'd long since stop putting any semblance of faith into her luck.
More Humans? Gertrud observed angrily. Once more, the rats were in her precious garden. At least their souls seemed to be of higher quality stock than the woman who would serve as tomorrow's entertainment. One of the two new ones seemed to almost radiate energy like the sun that fueled her flowers. The other was not nearly as bright, but was still better stock than the others of her accursed kin. And save for the small white -Betrayer- creature, they seemed alone.
Her familiars, all of the name Anthony, appeared like cotton balls with small mustaches, with a thin pair of arms, and a mermaid-like lower body that ended in a butterfly. They surrounded the two intruders, who were at that point where they realized that they were no longer in the world they knew, but not quite at the point where they realized they were about to die. Gertrud's massive gardening sheers moved through the air, opening and closing shut with loud metallic clashes. It was highly likely the jagged blades wouldn't even reach the pair before her familiars had ripped them apart, but it would at least add some nice ambient sound to go with their screaming.
But then something happened. Chains fell around the girls, imbued with magic. A barrier? Clearly not impossible, given its happening, but its origin was currently unknown. Though not for long.
A new one approached, holding the end of the enchanted chains. She had blonde hair, styled like screws, and the same uniform as the other two vermin. Yet the blond one was different than the other humans. She was calm, and not in a manner that suggested she was in denial of the witch's reality. The girl had-
A familiar gemstone, flecks of petal red swallowed by the inky black. Pain, suffering, and betrayal. And then the roses, the flowers that bloomed, bringing beauty into this wretched and ugly world.
The witch recoiled at the -it was not a memory- as she realized what the blonde girl was. A Magical Girl.
A Seedling.
One that dared try to grow its filthy roots in her garden? One that would dare use her roses as its own fertiliz-
Gertrud's thought process halted as her priorities reestablished themselves. Her roses. They were alone. Exposed. This little decorative hedge was not worth the risk to the roses. But she would not yield up even this shrubbery without so much as demanding it be defended.
And so, with an unspoken command, her cotton-ball-like Anthonies swarmed outward, toward the aspiring weed, who had now donned her Magical Girl attire. In response to her familiars, more rifles than Gertrud could have counted materialized in the air, and with but a single gesture, the girl rained ballistic hellfire down upon the witch's minions. The Anthonies didn't have the capabilities to scream, not that they would have had the chance to do so, before they were cut down in an instant.
No more. She would withdraw. Leave this hedge to its fate, and return to her garden. And her workers…though they existed solely to serve her, they served her well. And today's sacri-…today's tragedy…her servants had more than earned tomorrow's entertainment.
Exquisite timing as it turned out. As she dissolved this space and fled, she detected yet another Seedling. A fight here could have been her end. And she would not have that. Not in this place at least. If Gertrud were to end, she would fall amongst her beloved roses. But for now, there were preparations to be made for tomorrow's show.
Alright, thought Homura, as she put her rifle back into her shield, watching from a distance as Mami transformed. She showed up on cue. Good, I was starting to get worried.
She mentally recited the lines for the upcoming scene in her head as bes-The lines? The scene? Homura gave a grim chuckle. When had her life become such a literal stage show? No. Focus Akemi.
Gertrud fled, as she always did whenever she wasn't in her "main" labyrinth. A behavior that was seemingly unique to her, at least amongst the witches Homura observed within the city over her many years-long month here. The Rose Witch would only stick around to fight when her labyrinth was in that one location, near one of the town's abandoned buildings.
"Looks like the Witch got away." Mami said, not knowing she was repeating something Homura had already heard her say about this exact scenario a dozen times before. "If you want to finish it off, you'd better get on it quick. I'll let you take care of it this time."
"I have unfinished business here." Homura responded, masking her nervousness that the slight variation in her word choice from last time may result in the butterfly effect. Last thing she wanted was to find out that an extra syllable had cost her this loop.
"Perhaps I was being a bit too subtle." Mami stated, her faux smile never wavering as she stared unblinkingly at Homura. "I'm giving you a pass, just this once."
Homura counted down the seconds. Four, Three, Two, One...
"Don't you think that it'd be best for both of us if we didn't trouble each other today?"
Homura held off her urge to wince at the words just barely long enough to turn away first. It still hurt, her former mentor not having the slightest hint of recognition in her eyes, and the veiled threats of her words, ordering the perceived trespasser to leave her territory. And being viewed as a threat by Madoka and Sayaka. As she leapt down from her perch, she began to think things over.
Unless she was missing something small, this was all she needed to do today. Next up should be the lady who was given a witch kiss, and then her goal for this loop, Charlotte's labyrinth. And with any luck, with the tool from last loop, hopefully things will turn out differently with Mami…Ugh, tears were welling up in her eyes. Mami's words, though expected, cut deeper than she wanted to admit. Homura pulled out her soul gem as she transformed back into her regular clothes and just started walking on the sidewalk. Her gem was a bit cloudy, but she would be able to hold off on needing a Grief Seed for a while. She had plenty in reserve, but right now, putting herself in a better mood would probably go a long way to keeping it from getting any worse.
Screw it. She was treating herself to some comfort food. Anything to remind her of a happier time. Back when Mami would so much as give a genuine smile in her direction. When Sayaka didn't view her very existence as some sort of blight. When she and Madoka had actually been mutual friends. There was a restaurant nearby that made some good steak. The girls used to go there together, especially back in the earlier loops. One time they even had Kyoko join them. She wasn't sure how that had happened though, she'd been unconscious during that part.
And honestly? If she couldn't figure out how to recreate that event, she at least wanted to remember and relive it to the best of her abilities. Here's to hoping that their old group booth wasn't already being used.
This had been the ideal, desired, and obtained outcome. The Akemi Anomaly would be distrusted by Primary Target Kaname, Secondary Target Miki, and Client Tomoe. It had to admit, Miki hadn't even been involved in the planning stages, considered irrelevant next to Kaname. And yet, she had leapt to Kaname's aid and, by proxy, itself. The awe on her face was evident, and suggestive of a strong admiration for Mami. Contracting her may be both easy and help incentivize Kaname to become a client as well.
Client Tomoe had nearly healed the unit back to standard conditions. This was ideal, letting her expend her magic to spare it from having to repair the drone itself. And despite its lack of human emotions, it was still able to acknowledge, (the closest response it had to appreciation) the ironic circumstances of this particular drone. In their first exchange, Akemi had kicked this unit off a roof, and Client Hayashi was located and contracted as a result. And now in this interaction, Akemi had shot the drone, only for it to now be made whole again, in a position of trust with the Primary Target, while the girl had cast herself into a position of suspicion.
But now was time to begin the end of this chapter. Humanity had been somewhat above average, but honestly, without a handful of rare elements not found in abundance on this world, the species was likely doomed to be consumed when their sun expanded.
As Mami began exchanging pleasantries with the Incubator, he shifted his focus back to the task at hand. It was time for the Kaname case to properly begin.
*I want you to make a contract with me, and become Magical Girls!* Kyubey said cheerfully through his telepathy.
Yamada couldn't sleep. She didn't know why she couldn't just lose consciousness already, given that she was utterly exhausted. But if anything, closing her eyes just seemed to make the time drag on longer. So much for going to bed early.
She'd tried out that "strategic dismemberment" thing from Senri's game in her husband's copy of Resident Evil 4; first enemy, four shots to the knee, then the zombie grabbed her and she was forced to shove a knife in his face a la button prompt. So yeah, that gimmick didn't work in the Resident Evil games. Shame too. Forget needing to burn zombies, if they couldn't chase you, they were essentially a non-issue.
Unless they grabbed you. Pulled you down. Clawed at your flesh, spilled her guts on the ground, as it stabs her over, and over, and over again and again.
…Where the heck did that thought come from? And why didn't it disturb her as much as it probably should have? Was she going to need to go visit a shrink too? She could imagine his annoyed expression, probably telling her to stop playing so many games where people's body parts went flying, especially when she's feeling under the weather. But hey, if the doctor finds nothing…well, first, she'd go to another doctor, get a second opinion. But after that, if still nothing and she still feels as broken as she currently does, Yamada would check to see if there was something up with her brain.
Yamada gently clutched her head again, laying down on the couch.
Before it was a sort of pain, a jagged guck clogging up her head. But now…it was almost like a fog had settled over her mind. Or…How to put the feeling into words? Like her head was full of sharp edges, but those edges were being submerged in a swamp of…something. Or like she was subconsciously watching a show, could see something on the program shouting at her, screaming at her, but something else had just put the show on mute. And on the show went, just playing in the background, no less intense than before, but she had to focus on it to realize it was there. If she didn't focus on it…Yamada just felt sort of apathetic to the whole thing. Maybe she'd get her head on straight tomorrow. Hopefully she'd feel whole again. The office woman glanced out the window and saw that the sky was a blazing orange. Was it morning already?
Thank goodness. Yamada thought, pulling out her phone to check the time. Hopefully the daze she's been in didn't cause her to miss her appointment. That would be ironi-Oh. It was…That wasn't the sunrise was it? Well…at least she hadn't missed her appointment…This was going to be a long night. And she wasn't looking forward to a minute of it.
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Well, I hoped you all enjoyed that chapter of Marker Magica. I'll admit, the first bit of this story is a bit of a retelling of the first episode or two of the anime; As such, I wanted to mix things up a little by shifting the POV to what other characters may have been up to or thinking. (Also, threw in a Kazumi Magica reference, just city name, and that's the full extent of Kazumi Magica in this story; just Kyubey knowing that there's stuff going on that he doesn't know about, which is something he does not like.) But we're also getting closer to where the Marker will start causing some significant deviations from the anime plotline. Big one will hopefully be the next chapter. And I can't wait; The setup is practically complete. Time to put on a show.
Well, please fav, follow, and/or leave a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter. And if you already have: Thanks! I appreciate it! Good day to you all!