Mani was silent, knees drawn up to her chest and her head resting on top.

What did she do now? What could she do? She knew Momo wasn't lying; Mani's expertise with magic assured her of that.

She chuckled humorlessly; what good had her magic done her? All those years of training and studying, and she didn't have anything to show for it.

The gaping walls of Momo's mind seemed to mock her, almost as if her sorrow entered through the rows of the bookshelves and came out different as if belonging to someone else, and if anything, it just hurt Mani more.

Nothing could save her now; she was trapped. Momo was a powerful conjuration user of unknown origin and didn't seem to worship any particular deity, so Mani didn't have a clue how to fight her.

'Artemis, I could really use you, buddy.'

The space inside Momo's mind did nothing but echo her own words back at her, and Mani sighed, feeling the last of her hope shatter and drift away into the cavernous expanse of despair that had become of her soul.

If Artemis couldn't hear her, nobody could.

Mani sighed, staring up at the high ceiling of Momo's mindscape. If this was going to be her fate; then the Outer Ring had been right, death truly was too kind in comparison.

'You really can't leave?'

Mani turned, seeing Momo with her arms crossed, leaning against one of the bookshelves.

'No; I'm your prisoner, remember?' Mani told her, not even feeling angry at Momo's adamant question.

'Well I don't WANT you to be my prisoner,' Momo replied in annoyance. 'What do you need to do to get out of here?'

Mani sighed; part of her tried to summon anger, that insatiable rage that her enemies knew her for, but couldn't. Emotion felt so difficult at the moment.

'I don't know,' She admitted softly, staring at the ground. 'I'm not sure what my conditions were when I was banished.'

Momo pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. 'Ok, fine. I'll bite, WHY are you even banished in the first place?'

'I already told you,' Mani whispered brokenly. 'I'm a criminal to the Outer Ring.'

'Yes, but WHY?' Momo nearly snapped, barely holding back her temper.

Mani gave her a dead look, eyes half-shut like she was perpetually exhausted. 'Why do you want to know anyway? To make fun of me?'

'I want you out of my head,' Momo replied coldly. 'But since you obviously can't do that on your own; I decided to help you. If I know why you're here I can potentially get you out.'

Mani blinked, brows furrowing as she lifted her head. Why would Momo want to help? Getting Mani out of her prison would violate the laws of the Outer Ring, and was a guaranteed death sentence.

'Well?' Momo asked. 'Are you going to tell me?'

Mani hesitated; Momo was clearly a powerful mage or rather a Quirk user, if that was what they called magic here, and Mani needed all the help she could get.

But what if it was a trap? Momo could have been lying about everything, but what benefit would that have brought her? Mani was already here and couldn't leave, lying didn't really serve any purpose, especially if Momo was going to offer help right after.

'Well, I…' Mani bit her lip, where did she begin? Essentially everything she had done in her life had led her to this point, but she doubted Momo wanted her life story.

'I rebelled against the Outer Ring after I saw what they were doing to my people,' Mani explained slowly. 'And I committed crimes against the Crown, and they banished me for it.'

Momo sighed, pinching her nose. 'That gave almost no information to work off of. I don't know who the Outer Ring or Crown is, nor their crimes, nor yours.'

Mani paused, mulling over her response. 'Well, the Outer Ring is the government back in my country. They're the highest-ranking mages, in power, skill, and expertise, on the planet, and govern essentially everything.'

'Wait, so you weren't lying about the magic thing?' Momo asked, slightly bewildered.

Mani did a double take. 'Of course I wasn't. I'm a mage, you are too.'

'I'm not a mage,' Momo told her, rubbing her temples. 'I don't do magic.'

Mani gave her an odd look. 'You just conjured highly complex objects with zero difficulty. That alone is S-Class-level magic, probably SS, seeing as you can clearly do more than what you showed.'

'That's… my Quirk,' Momo explained slowly. Maybe Mani was insane? 'I can create any non-living object from the lipids on my body, as long as I know its molecular structure.'

Mani gave her a blank look. 'That just sounds like conjuration with extra steps and a fat component over a magical core one.'

'I thought you had to train to use magic?' Momo asked, brows furrowed. 'That's what I've read in all the stories I had as a child. I was born with my Quirk.'

Mani's jaw fell open in shock. 'You… You were BORN with conjuration?'

'Yeah?' Momo replied, even more confused. 'My Quirk manifested at four.'

Mani felt her body go numb, her mouth going dry. A four-year-old doing conjuration? A magical art that was easily in the top five hardest magical skills in existence, done by a CHILD?!

'Wha- How strong is your fucking bloodline, woman?!' Mani half-cried, staring at Momo with a mix of horror and fear. If a four-year-old Momo could do conjuration, Mani didn't want to imagine what she was capable of now.

'Holy fucking shit, no wonder she went easy on me,' Mani thought in horror, suddenly feeling very grateful for her life. 'This girl could've fucking killed me instantly, and here I was thinking I could win.'

Momo, meanwhile, had an unreadable expression. 'I'm a Yaoyorozu, I told you this. We're one of the wealthiest families in all of Japan and across the world.'

Mani shivered a little. 'No fucking surprises there,' She mumbled. 'Conjuration at that level before even beginning school; no fucking wonder she was defensive earlier, she must get dozens of death threats per day.'

Mani's face morphed into realization. That's why Momo wanted Mani out of her head so badly; a family with that rich and powerful a bloodline; would've instantly granted them a seat on the Outer Ring. And a family like that had plenty of secrets and skeletons in the closet.

'I- I'm sorry,' Mani bowed her head; she might be a banished fugitive, but she still held her honor. 'I didn't realize whose mind I was in; I deeply apologize.'

The corners of Momo's eyes tightened. 'Just please continue your explanation. You said the Outer Ring was a government?'

Mani nodded. 'They kept recruiting people against their will into the Archangels; anyone who refused was executed.'

'And why were these Archangels important?' Momo asked calmly, deciding to suspend her disbelief for now. If she listened enough, she could figure out something to get Mani out.

'Well they were essentially the handymen of the Kingdom,' Mani shrugged. 'They were used as farmers, workers, and soldiers. Most of them were hunters, though.'

'Hunters?' Momo raised an eyebrow.

'Criminals weren't given prison time, they were executed publicly,' Mani told her. 'Either by magic or by sword. It was used somewhat as entertainment.'

Momo choked. 'That's barbaric!'

Mani shrugged. 'They tried to kill me a few times; weren't able to.'

'Why? Was there something stopping them?'

Mani bit her lip. 'Promise you won't attack me for this?'

Momo's eyes narrowed. 'You better not do anything to hurt me.'

'No, I just wanted to show you this,' Mani replied, taking a deep breath.

Her magic flared, and the ropes shredded instantly, falling as thin threads around her.

She kipped up, cracking her back a bit as she did.

Momo blinked. Could Mani have done that this entire time? Why didn't she?

She remembered Mani's statement from earlier, that she didn't want to fight. Had Mani been honest?

'Be honest, why were you banished?' Momo asked, creating a staff from her palm and pointing it at Mani.

Mani stared at the weapon for a moment; it was a silent threat. If her answer wasn't good enough, not persuasive enough, her life ended here.

'I killed three members of the Outer Ring,' Mani replied honestly. 'I killed hundreds of Archangels with my magic.'

Momo's hand tightened around the staff; so she was a killer.

'Why?' She barked, her stance tense.

'They were oppressing my people,' Mani told her softly. 'My people were starving, dying without access to medicine or even water. Our city was once one of the richest, but the Outer Ring ran it dry until only a husk remained.'

Her voice was hollow, her eyes distant as memories passed through them. For a moment, Mani was standing on the empty streets of Athesall, seeing the empty carts where vendors once thrived.

'The magic was dying,' Mani whispered. 'Magic was becoming weaker with each generation, births were less likely, and those that occurred were often fatal to the mothers.'

Momo's hand shook as she held onto the staff. 'Why?' She gritted out. 'Why was that happening?'

'The Outer Ring had always used the people's magic to keep themselves alive and healthy,' Mani replied. 'But, after so long, magic can't keep something out of Death's hands. The Outer Ring began aging, and in response, began stealing more magic from people to try and stay alive.'

'Why?'

Mani shrugged. 'I couldn't tell you. They wanted to live forever, I suppose. Didn't want to leave their power to someone else; didn't want to be MORTAL like the rest of us.'

She sighed, staring off as memories were brought back. She'd been marked a criminal for years, but the hunt for her truly began when Mani killed one of the Outer Ring.

It'd been almost a year before Mani could even attempt to step foot in any town or village without Archangels trying to capture and kill her. Even after that, a price had been put on her head and her team, making allies scarce.

'So… this Outer Ring,' Momo took a shaky breath. 'They took magic from the people to stop themselves from dying, and that led to starvation, lower birth rates, and death during childbirth for your city?'

Mani nodded. 'Yeah, pretty much. I rebelled against them when they tried to take my magic, along with a few of my friends'. It was a huge scandal, and it led to me trying to kill them in order to stop the destruction of my people.'

'I'm assuming it didn't work,' Momo commented, gesturing to her.

Mani sighed. 'I killed three of them, and that restored a lot of magic to my people, along with the kingdom in general. I injured almost all of them at one point or another, but they survived long enough to get medical aid.'

'And you were banished by them?'

Mani gave another nod. 'Those that survived replaced the ones I killed. They ambushed me and my team one day when we were at a market buying food. I got my team out, some of them were injured and couldn't fight, so I had to fight them alone.'

She went silent for a while, the battle replaying in her head.

'I lost.'

Momo stared at her; Mani displayed real signs of pain at describing her experience, and the defeated, hollow look in her eyes wasn't something that could be faked.

She bit her lip; she didn't know Mani. If Momo helped, she risked her mind and who knew what else? Mani had broken her bindings easily, but Momo recognized the energy used as the one that helped her escape from her would-be kidnapper.

'When other people have been banished, what's done to recover them?' Momo asked, sitting across from Mani with her legs crossed.

Mani raised her head, staring at her, brows furrowed. 'You're going to help me?'

'I already answered that question before,' Momo replied with slight amusement.

Mani shook her head a bit. 'Yeah, yeah, right. Um, anyway, when people are lost, they can usually be found via their magical signature.'

At Momo's confused look, Mani quickly tried to explain.

'Well, ahm, when someone casts some form of magic, right? Like, a spell, or ritual, or something, there's this residue of excess magic that's left behind, and uhh… That's your signature, it's kind of like a footprint or fingerprints.'

'So a search team would use something the lost person last used magic on to find them? Similar to how tracking dogs use smell to track down a person?' Momo asked, beginning to understand a little.

'YES, yes,' Mani stated, nodding. 'So yeah, a magical signature can be tracked using this ritual that's referred to as the 'Point Me,' or sometimes people call it 'Eye of Heimdall.' It all depends on the user, see-'

'I think you're getting off-track,' Momo pointed out.

Mani flushed. 'Right. Well, I can normally be found if my team does that, but there's… a few small problems.'

She rubbed her neck nervously. 'Apart from being inside your head, I'm also like 70 years from the past.'

Momo took a slow, deep breath, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples.

'You're telling me,' She stated, eyes still closed. 'That not only were you banished from a kingdom that nobody's heard of, using a form of energy that's believed to be fiction, but you also jumped seven decades into the future via said energy without any side effects.'

'Well… when you put it that way…' Mani smiled nervously, looking away from her.

Momo sighed, rubbing her face. 'The only reason I'm listening to you right now is because I want to find a way to get you out of my head, but apparently that's not possible for some reason…'

Momo trailed off, a new train of thought hitting her.

'Hold on, can you point to your country on a globe?' She asked, creating a large globe and putting it in front of Mani.

Mani blinked. 'Uhh, sure? I don't know how that's going to help though.'

Momo waved her off. 'Just do it, please. This is to get you out.'

Mani shrugged and grabbed the globe, turning it in her hands to find Etuluthania.

Her brows furrowed after several seconds, and she turned the globe over in her hands several times, clearly confused.

'It's… not on here,' She stated slowly, still turning the globe. 'Actually… none of it is.'

'What do you mean?' Momo asked, leaning in.

'I mean, none of these countries look anything remotely like what they're supposed to,' Mani replied, growing more confused by the second.

She gestured to the Atlantic Ocean. 'There are like, ten more countries in there, and they're divided by a bunch of rivers and mountains. It's this huge tourist attraction cause of the sunsets.'

'What is… this?' Mani asked, pointing at the Americas. 'It looks like if Barimo had a chunk of it sunk and the rest was copy-pasted and moved downwards.'

She turned the globe to Asia. 'Why the FUCK is that country so big?' She questioned, pointing to Russia and China simultaneously.

'Those are different countries,' Momo replied in amusement.

Mani blinked and turned to her. 'You guys don't divide your countries with natural borders like mountains or something? How the hell is someone supposed to know where they are?'

'Usually, you'd expect to know which country you're in. It'd be problematic if you didn't.'

Mani huffed, brows furrowed as she stared at the globe. 'My world's so fucking simple. Oh, there are a lot of Blue Lillies, must be Nabe. See a bunch of snowy mountains with birds on them? Has to be Treania Sternta. It's SIMPLE.'

Momo shrugged. 'We decided they work, and people follow the rules for the most part.'

'Must be nice,' Mani snorted, turning the globe. 'What the fuck is EUROPE?'

Momo burst out laughing, slapping her hand over her mouth to try and cover her giggles.

'It isn't funny,' Mani grumbled.

Momo was still losing it, her face red as she snickered.

Mani crossed her arms with a huff. 'Oh, so we're doing this now?'

Momo just kept laughing, tears of laughter rolling down her face even as she squeezed her eyes shut.

'Ok, ok- wait,' Momo managed to get out as she tried to control herself. 'How- How do you- not know Europe?'

She began giggling again, not even able to fully get the last word out before her snickers drowned out her words.

'It isn't funny,' Mani huffed, though she was beginning to smile despite herself.

Momo put one hand on Mani's knee, the other covering her red face. 'I- I'm sorry,' She said between laughs. 'It's just really funny.'

Eventually, Momo managed to regain control of herself, taking several deep breaths, though small giggles still escaped her lips every now and then.

She managed to school her expression, fanning her eyes a little. 'Ok, ok, I'm calm now. I'm calm.'

Mani raised an eyebrow. 'You sure? You seemed pretty determined to laugh at me for a while.'

'I'm sorry, it's just-' Momo wiped her eyes, taking another deep breath. 'I don't laugh often.'

'That sounds like a boring way to live,' Mani told her. 'I couldn't go without laughing at least a few times a day.'

Momo waved it off. 'It's- It's part of how I live; comes with the family name,' She said, almost neutrally. 'No real friends that aren't business partners, no real chances to laugh.'

Mani looked horrified. 'Excuse me?' She asked, seemingly offended at the thought. 'No real chances to laugh? That's a HORRID way to live!'

'It doesn't matter,' Momo replied, shaking her head. 'What matters is getting YOU back to your team and out of my head.'

Mani paused for a minute; Momo clearly felt alone, even without her saying anything, the fact that her mindscape, a representation of her soul, was filled with nothing but books was a major red flag.

A mindscape took the most beautiful, most representative memories in your psyche and made them into a habitable space, which was where Mani and Momo were. The implication of all of Momo's good and even foundational memories coming from books was concerning.

'You… You're lonely,' Mani half-asked. 'Aren't you?'

Momo stiffened, her hands tightening on the globe she held. 'Don't worry about it.'

'I'm worrying about it,' Mani countered, leaning in a little. 'You said you haven't had many friends, right?'

Momo took a deep breath and glanced at her. 'I don't wish to discuss it,' She stated, tone clipped.

'If you want,' Mani told her gently. 'I can be your friend.'

Momo's hands shook as she held the globe, her eyes boring a hole into it as she took a deep breath.

She didn't respond, something had lodged itself in her throat, making it impossible to speak and stealing her breath. It was a strange, painful feeling, like being cut open and being completely changed.

Mani sighed internally, her shoulders slumping as Momo stayed silent. She knew it was a long shot, but Mani was still disappointed it hadn't worked.

'Really?'

Mani blinked; the question was so softly spoken that she almost hadn't heard it. It was delicately fragile, spun together by spider webs and broken dreams, almost as if uttering it risked it shattering irreparably.

She beamed at the other teen, her grin almost bright enough to light up a building, and Momo felt strange, almost unbearably warm, almost painfully aching, but it was desirable nonetheless.

'Of course,' Mani grinned, leaning forward happily.

Momo's eyes filled with tears even as a fragile spun, vulnerable smile crossed her face, and her hands covered her face subconsciously, almost as if hiding her delicateness.

Mani gently grabbed her wrists with a smile, pulling them away slowly.

Momo lunged at her, wrapping her in a hug before she knew what she was doing.

The mage hugged her back with a smile, Mani knew what being lonely felt like, and didn't want anyone to suffer the same.

'You still haven't told me what Europe is,' Mani pointed out.

Momo laughed a little, pulling back from the hug. 'It's a continent.'

Mani's face scrunched up. 'You mean like ketchup?'

The Yaoyorozu heir snickered quietly, covering her mouth with her hands as her eyes squeezed shut.

'That- that's a CONDIMENT,' Momo gasped out between giggles.

Mani huffed, crossing her arms as Momo continued giggling at her comment. 'Well, it sounds the same, ok?' She argued, throwing her hands up.

After she called down, Momo began explaining what Europe was to Mani, who was raptly paying attention, though only understood maybe one in three words that Momo spoke.

Momo got further amusement at Mani trying to pronounce the European countries, particularly Liechtenstein, Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

'Ok, so you can somehow speak three languages, but you still struggle with names?' Momo asked slowly. 'But you can pronounce Marise- Mari-'

Mani huffed. 'Mariensict, and yes. The words are hard, ok?'

Momo shook her head in amusement. 'We got off topic. You clearly have knowledge of chemistry, mathematics, and even physics, yet you can't point to your country on a globe.'

'Cause this globe doesn't HAVE my country,' Mani repeated. 'I'm not sure what planet you're showing me either, but I know it isn't mine.'

Momo blinked, her hands going a bit slack. 'You're an alien?' She asked, leaning in.

Mani did a double take. 'What? No! I'm from Earth!'

'Then why isn't your country on the globe?' Momo raised an eyebrow.

'I DON'T KNOW!' Mani cried, her arms extended to her sides.

Momo took a deep breath. 'Ok, I still need a way to know why your country doesn't appear on the globe.'

Mani sighed, her shoulders slumping. 'I don't know,' She mumbled. 'I don't even recognize any of the countries on this thing.'

'Wait-' Momo bit her lip, mind running into overdrive. 'What if you're not from this world? That's why you can't recognize any of the countries?'

Mani stared at her. 'I already told you I'm from Earth. I'm not an alien.'

'No, no, I know,' Momo replied, waving her hands in front of her face. 'But what if you're not from THIS Earth? What if you're from another Earth?'

Mani's brows furrowed. 'Like another universe?'

Momo nodded frantically. 'Yes, exactly. The multiverse theory is still just a hypothesis, but what if you're proof it's true?'

'But how would I get here?' Mani asked.

'You said you were banished, right?'

'Yeah?' Mani responded. 'But the Outer Ring doesn't have the ability to traverse worlds, at least, I don't think so.'

'But there's no other explanation,' Momo argued. 'It would make sense. Countries that don't exist in our world could exist in yours, and have wildly different histories.'

Mani bit her lip. 'But if that's true, how do we understand each other? Different COUNTRIES have individual languages, yet if I'm from another world, then how are we both speaking the same thing?'

Momo raised an eyebrow. 'Mani, this entire time, I haven't understood a single word out your mouth. You're speaking gibberish to me, but it's like there's a translator of sorts that puts things into Japanese.'

Mani blinked. 'Are you doing that? I thought you said magic didn't exist here?'

'I thought YOU were doing it,' Momo countered. 'That's why I decided to listen to your argument and decided to help you. I thought you were using magic to translate your words.'

'I- No?' Mani did a double take. 'Maybe it's because we're in your mind? And things are being translated automatically?'

Momo shrugged. 'Perhaps. But, getting back on track, it's likely you're not from this world.'

Mani deflated. 'Oh… that means I can't go back to my team.'

'Wha- no it doesn't!' Momo said quickly, trying to cheer her new friend up. 'If you were sent here, there has to be a way to get you back, right?'

Mani's eyes widened. 'You're right!' She exclaimed, brightening immediately.

She hugged Momo tightly, much to the girl's surprise, unused to random acts of affection from people besides her parents.

'Maybe if I hang around here long enough I can find a way back!' Mani stated with a grin.

'I can help you,' Momo offered. 'If there's information out there that can help, then I can get it for you.'

The two girls grinned, a plan beginning to form between them.