As N Approaches Infinity

by Corisanna

Despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura. There she discovers that while the spiritually-aware people of Karakura were distracted by Ichigo Kurosaki and Xcution, Kyubey contracted the Kurosaki sisters as magical girls. Drawing the attention of the shinigami could be just the advantage Homura needs.

70. NEUNUNDSECHZIG

A/N: You don't know how satisfied I am to have finally reached this point.

§ x § x §

§ x § x §

§ x § x §

NEUNUNDSECHZIG

TIMELINE X + N + 1

Tōshirō parried the redhead's spear, forcing it aside. The haft shrieked its way down along his ice blade until the spearhead hit the ground, at which point the magical girl used it like a pole vault— how metal firm enough to resist a blade was so flexible was beyond him— to redirect her flight toward Tomoe feet-first. The blonde tripped backwards and dodged too slowly to avoid getting nailed in her left shoulder by the red magical girl's boots. They tumbled across the sod together in a tangle of limbs until a glowing yellow ribbon shot out to one side and wrapped around a tree, allowing Tomoe to haul herself out. She stared at the other girl with wide, horrified eyes.

Tōshirō pushed his gigai into shunpo and took up a guard position just in front of her, since she seemed to be in slow-reacting shock. Without taking his eyes off the recovering redhead, he barked, "You know her?"

"It's— it's Kyōko," Tomoe stammered.

Kyōko Sakura. The aggressive magical girl who shared a rocky history with Tomoe. Great.

Something was off, though. From what Akemi had told him, he expected Sakura to be quick and relentless. Now that the advantage of surprise was lost, Sakura was moving as though exhausted. She pried herself to her feet using her spear and didn't attack immediately— just stared at them like a starving predator. There were dark circles under her eyes, which were wide and not quite sane.

A starving predator was dangerous in an entirely different way than a focused warrior.

"I thought you respected territory, Mami!" Sakura snarled.

"I— I do!" Tomoe said. "This time was just— we tracked—"

"Don't lie!" Sakura shouted as she twirled her spear into a ready position. "Someone's been poaching my kills for weeks and you just proved it's you!"

"It wasn't me!" Tomoe shrilled.

"Liar!"

And then Sakura was a red blur aimed straight at them. Tōshirō leapt forward to meet her and parried again, sword in a two-handed grip for added strength. She was ready this time; her spear snapped into multiple segments connected by chains. The sections that made contact with Tōshirō's blade doubled over and bound it. Tōshirō yanked the blade left and down enough to drag the girl in that direction, then released his right hand and slammed his elbow back up into the girl's face, pivoting to put his entire weight behind the thrust. Effectively clotheslined, her head and upper body stopped but her lower body kept going, ending with her falling backwards. Sakura dropped her spear and gracelessly cartwheeled away as it dissolved in red sparkles.

Tōshirō had expected a counterattack— perhaps a roll into a foot sweep, not breaking the flow of the battle. Instead, she regrouped and spat out blood and teeth while he created another ice sword.

"Hey, Mami!" Sakura shouted as she conjured her spear once more. "You gonna just stand there and let your knight in shining armor fight for you like some damsel in distress?!"

"I— I don't want to— Kyōko, please—!"

"Tch. I thought you'd've gotten stronger by now, but you got weaker!"

"Kyōko—!"

"Go ahead and cry so I can lose my last shred of respect for you," Sakura taunted. She brandished her spear, broke it into segments, and made it snake through the air in ever-growing and shifting loops.

Variable length like our shikai chain, Hyōrinmaru observed with interest.

Tōshirō was tempted to use shikai, but didn't want it to be seen. Instead, he intently watched the looping chains and rods in search of a pattern while the two magical girls had an argument he only listened to with half an ear. He spotted a pattern, waited for the opening, and launched himself through it with his sword braced horizontally. Sakura screamed as he slammed the flat of the blade into her ribs and caused ice to gush out from the point of contact and restrain her. In the moment before she flared her fiery reiatsu and burned his arms, Tōshirō had a clear, close-up view of the Soul Gem centered over her collarbone.

Black. Streaks of red, but black.

Shit.

He jumped back from the scalding steam generated when Sakura's flames met his ice and engaged in furious combat with the redhead. She made up for waning magic by running on pure rage, eyes wide and murderous as she attacked from all sides. This was going to end very badly if she went Witch. Tōshirō and Tomoe didn't have trackers on them to signal their allies like Momoe had— stupid, stupid oversight— and they were beyond the current range of the surveillance drones, so he flared his reiatsu as strongly as he dared while undercover. If they ended up sucked into a second labyrinth, the abrupt disappearance of his reiatsu should be a signal of its own.

Tōshirō caught a glimpse of Tomoe standing and gaping at them. He had an idea and roared, "Her Soul Gem's too dark! Get the Grief Seed!"

Tomoe shook herself and cast about as the duel continued. A second and forever later, she yelled, "I have it!"

"Whip it at her Soul Gem with a ribbon!"

But it was too late. Sakura stumbled out of their last clash, Soul Gem bursting from her chest and reforming in egg shape as her costume disappeared and left her in ragged jean shorts and a dirty jacket. Tomoe only had time to gasp as the blackened Soul Gem exploded.

Tōshirō grimly darted forward through the dark gale, grabbed the fallen magical girl's body by the back of her jacket, and hurled it out of range just before he and Tomoe were dragged into Kyōko Sakura's personal hell.

§ x § x §

Homura ran through the hive labyrinth without bothering to shoot any Familiars she encountered. She had always found this labyrinth more annoying than dangerous, but she had no idea whether she should trust that this time, nor did she know how Nagisa would handle the swarm in the main chamber. So she froze time on every straightaway and only dropped the stop at intersections to sense out which path Nagisa had taken. She'd stand and fight once she found the girl.

It took longer than she preferred to reach the main chamber. Yoruichi was tensely perched on the ledge of the hexagonal tunnel opening. Homura stopped beside her and looked out at the arts-and-crafts disaster. The walls were honeycombs, some obviously tunnels but others mere ledges. Round sloping paths curved around the open air haphazardly, each spring green with assorted yellow, red, and pink embroidery, ribbons, and buttons. There were also occasional clusters of puffy fuchsia curls striped with yellow stitches. Clusters of plants and vines were tucked here and there. Those annoying hornet-pin Familiars were buzzing around the vaulted chamber as usual and Nagisa Momoe was frozen mid-jump into the middle of them, bubbles streaming from her trumpet. Several hornets were trapped in bubbles behind and above her on her arc of descent.

Huh. Useful.

Deciding to watch the girl for a minute before making her move, Homura dropped the stop. Nagisa continued to descend with a long note on her horn and Yoruichi startled violently, yowling as she jumped into a wall with her hackles raised. Not knowing whether there was an Incubator or other interloper watching, Homura drily said, "It's just me, Yoruichi." She sighed and added, "You tried. Salmon for you tonight."

Yoruichi meowed annoyance and threaded through Homura's legs. Maintaining her cover. Good.

"I'm busy," Homura said irritably as she shoved the cat away with her ankle and watched Nagisa below.

Yoruichi writhed with an angry hiss, insistently threw herself against Homura's shins, and made a show of being an uncooperative nuisance. Homura made a show of impatiently not paying attention to her, repeatedly sweeping the cat aside with her feet.

Nagisa was doing surprisingly well. Her bubbles made the hornets far less of a pain than was usual for this labyrinth. Whenever a loose Familiar bumped into a bubble containing a trapped one, they were sucked in. The air was soon full of spherical hornet traps, which Nagisa eventually detonated. Even though the girl looked frightened, Homura found herself impressed. However, she didn't let it show on her face as she crossed her arms in response to Nagisa glancing up at her in fear.

A louder buzz came from far above. The huge form of the Pin Witch emerged from a honeycomb tunnel that looked too small to hold it and dropped into the air. It was a strange black beast, vaguely canine haunches and back legs dangling from a bulbous body whose silhouette reminded Homura of a thin-necked vase with a diamond-like bulge just below the lip. This odd neck supported a giant pinhead, black with cartoonish floral designs in yellow and fuchsia and topped with bent leaf antennae. The belly of the beast sported a target of alternating black, yellow, and fuchsia rings with the bullseye in red. Its wings were elongated and curled, patterned with the same stripes as the target; it wielded a barbed lance of a stinger from its bottom.

Homura looked at Nagisa and saw the girl gulp nervously, then steel herself to fight it. She didn't know how she felt about that; she had decided she didn't want Nagisa to fight, but this entire situation drove home that she really did need to be trained. It made Homura sick.

Struck by a thought, Homura stopped time when she next made contact with Yoruichi and said, "Watch out. When that Witch feels threatened, a second Witch will appear and change the labyrinth."

"What?"

"As magical girls, they were sisters," Homura explained. "Beware vines with Venus flytrap mouths."

"Oh," Yoruichi said dully as she stood still. "Oh. The flower on the labyrinth door was a damn pitcher plant, wasn't it?"

"Yes. The other Witch is part pitcher plant, as well. But with teeth."

"Crap."

Homura dropped the stop and finished the movement of shoving Yoruichi away. She watched with interest as Nagisa frantically blew huge bubbles, which gathered over her like a canopy of soap suds. The Witch bounced off them at first, then angrily scrabbled down into them. Nagisa was still adding to the pile; once the Witch had wiggled down into the vertical center of the bubble bank, Nagisa pressed a button on her horn that made all the bubbles shine with eldritch sigils, then pressed another button that detonated them.

The entire labyrinth shook with the giant hornet's death shriek. Homura braced herself as the labyrinth came alive with vines and sewing supplies. She watched critically for how Nagisa would react when the suspended path she was on moved and showed itself to be a massive vine. The little girl tripped and fell with a scream, caught completely off guard.

Well, she had done decently to this point. Best to use this as a lesson.

Homura leapt forward and snagged Nagisa out of the air, then bounced around until she could set them on a ledge with no tunnel stemming from it. The little girl tried to stammer something to her, but Homura waved a hand dismissively and kept her eyes on the changing labyrinth. "We will speak later. For now, make your bubble shield and observe."

Nagisa squawked but complied. Homura narrowed her eyes at one particularly thick vine as it rose and a pitcher plant flower unfurled from its end. The petals peeled back to reveal they were edged with sharp teeth; a dark birdlike tongue emerged from its throat with a screech. It would be easiest to stop time and just lob a dozen bombs down its gullet, but that would teach Nagisa nothing and she had no way of knowing if there was an Incubator terminal lurking around to watch her. Pretending to teleport was a different matter from perfect defeat in an instant. So she stalked around passively and waited for the Witch to reveal its full body. The long neck and flower head were attached to a giant red pincushion that waddled around on stubby vine legs; a set of the puffy fuchsia curls with yellow stitches turned out to be its tail. Overall, the impression was of a huge turtle. A jungle of vines with Venus flytrap heads featuring yellow floral embroidery flailed around in search of prey.

Homura clinically assessed it and considered the sort of tactics she would want Nagisa to learn. Decision made, she jumped into the fray, bouncing trampoline-like from fluffy fuchsia swirl to a Familiar head that whipped her upwards; she controlled her flight and continued upward by using the Familiars but not actively engaging them— not wasting magic on them. When she was high enough for the Witch's head to be oriented almost completely vertically, she started pulling bombs from her shield and dropping them into the snapping mouth. After about twenty— better to go for overkill than underkill— Homura bounced to the ledge Yoruichi was pacing on, picked her up, pulled the remote detonator from her shield, and thumbed the switch.

The Pincushion Witch exploded spectacularly, green plant matter generating choking black smoke until the labyrinth wobbled out of existence and left Homura and Nagisa standing in a flowerbed by the dumpster behind the little girl's apartment complex. Nagisa looked up at her in defiant fear, a child caught playing with fire by her babysitter.

Homura had a full head of steam and opened her mouth to lecture the little idiot when her phone shrilled the ringtone she had assigned Urahara. She answered it while glaring at Nagisa and snarled, "What?!"

"Tessai picked up something in Asunaro, but Hitsugaya and Tomoe are in trouble," Urahara's voice said breathlessly among the sound of hurried footsteps as he moved through the bowels of the shop. "Hitsugaya flared his reiatsu high enough to be felt here and it abruptly disappeared. I'm on my way now. You'll be faster."

Homura made a wordless growl of frustration, then jabbed a finger first at Nagisa then at her building and furiously hissed, "Get in your house and stay there until I have time to deal with you!" She leapt to the top of the apartment complex without waiting for a response, trusting Yoruichi to enforce her order if necessary.

Time froze at her command and she rushed through it, hoping there was something to destroy at her destination. She needed something to lash out at. Badly.

§ x § x §

Sayaka's breath came in harsh pants as she ran the last bit through the park where she felt the magical alarms, bare feet painfully slapping into the gravel of the side paths. She staggered to a halt at the edge of the brush and stared with wide eyes as Hitsugaya fought a magical girl with fiery magic. They were lit largely by their own magic in the shadow of the nearby building, so all Sayaka could clearly make out of the girl's appearance was a polearm, a long ponytail, and flashes of burgundy. For some reason, Mami was just standing in one place. Sayaka could hear voices shouting, but couldn't make out the words. Mami startled and began casting about for something on the ground; she held it up with a shout. Sayaka was just desperately thinking that the only things she could possibly use as a weapon were her heeled shoes when the opponent staggered back, red and black magic flashed on her chest, and there was an explosion of dark Witch magic.

The sight of a magical girl turning into a Witch was even more horrifying than Sayaka had imagined. She felt it in her bones; remembered the twisting and despair when Sōju had transformed her. Sayaka's mind jumped tracks to hyperfocus on the body Hitsugaya hurled away from the epicenter of the explosion. When Hitsugaya and Mami disappeared into the new labyrinth, Sayaka stumbled out of the brush and approached the body. She ran clumsily, staggered, and fell to her knees by it. Hitsugaya had managed to throw the body into moonlight, so Sayaka could see the girl's unhealthy thinness, the dark circles under her dead red eyes, blood and bruising around her mouth, and—

Tear tracks running down her cheeks. Empathy punched Sayaka in the gut.

Thank you, said the Incubator.

Sayaka slowly looked up and found the little creep sitting nearby, innocent as a fluffy cat, and croaked, "What?"

I did warn you this could happen.

She thought back to the night the Incubator had spoken to her from her window ledge and shook with fury. "Mami hasn't— hasn't—"

Mami Tomoe just witnessed her former partner hatch into a Witch. She knows the truth and that all allies hid it from her. It began grooming its face with a paw and nonchalantly added, The truth will accelerate her descent into despair. It is highly probable she will become a Witch now. Homura Akemi and Nagisa Momoe are beyond reach. Do you think that boy can defeat two strong Witches by himself?

"What— what are you saying?"

If you were to contract, you could at least prevent the boy's death, it suggested.

Helpless rage flooded her mind and overflowed as distress. "I— I—"

Which is the least acceptable outcome by your moral standards: Allowing your soul to be detached from your body to save your friend's life or refusing and allowing your friend to die?

Sayaka thought of the unexplained extenuating circumstances that forced Homura's hand to contract— to save her friend's life. This was a trick. This was the Incubator playing to vulnerability. She knew it, and yet... her friends neeHomura materialized out of thin air, leg halfway through the arc of motion that carried her glowing boot into the Incubator's skull at such velocity that Sayaka could barely see it. The crunch of bone was loud, but the creature didn't make a sound otherwise. Sayaka's eyes were trying to track the thing's flight when she was wrenched up by her hair and Homura was glaring into her soul with violet fire in her eyes. Something like static electricity made the hairs on Sayaka's arms prickle and the atmosphere was so heavy she couldn't draw a proper breath.

"You will hide with that body and not say a word to any other Incubator terminal that shows up or I will make you regret your entire existence," Homura snarled. She dropped Sayaka and added, "Tell Urahara to only come in if we're not back in thirty minutes."

Sayaka nodded her terrified understanding but Homura was already charging into the new labyrinth.

She was staring at the body and her surroundings trying to figure out what to do with the dead magical girl— how to hide a body on her friend's request, stuff like that actually happened in real life, what the hell— when a crack! sounded nearby. Sayaka screamed.

"What happened?" Mr. Urahara demanded with an intense stare.

Sayaka babbled everything she had seen and Homura's order. The man frowned, pulled a phone out of an inner pocket in his haori, checked the time, and put it back. He lifted his head and assessed the abandoned battlefield as Sayaka hesitantly mentioned the Incubator's ploy, which made him whip his head to look at her. Mr. Urahara was pissed.

"Um... Mr. Urahara? I'm— I'm sorry—"

"No, no, don't apologize," he muttered. "That thing's ability to manipulate children is repugnant. I'm impressed that you managed to hesitate. Many children jump at the chance."

Sayaka was never particularly fond of being called a child but she kept her mouth shut.

Mr. Urahara heaved a sigh and bent to look at the body, pale in the pool of moonlight. "Ah, this must be the Kyōko Sakura Miss Tomoe told us about."

Sayaka remembered the conversation with Homura from what felt like forever ago.

"She can be extremely aggressive, but... not necessarily terrible. She is very cynical. Something terrible happened to her. She fights off idealistic magical girls who are more concerned with fantasy than reality to teach them a lesson. She sometimes allows Familiars to roam until they consume enough souls to spawn a new Witch, then defeats the Witch for its Grief Seed."

The words echoed in Sayaka's head as she watched Mr. Urahara cast a spell on the body and close its dull eyes. The tear tracks on the girl's gaunt face were more visible in the green light.

"It may not be as black and white as it appears at first glance, Miki."

"It is like slowly starving."

"Maybe this Kyōko just needs the right sort of... support. Rumor says she was once Tomoe's partner. Do you think Tomoe is the type to associate with someone with no redeeming qualities?"

Sayaka's ugly sob surprised her. She choked on it, but soon gave in and cried, feeling sick. This girl could never be redeemed now. According to Mami, this girl's wish destroyed her family; now she had fallen victim to the Incubator's plot after visible suffering. It was tragic. So Sayaka wept over the body of a girl she had never met, the taste of saltwater heavy on her tongue.

§ x § x §

Tōshirō examined his new surroundings. They were on a dark red stone pathway with low block walls on either side; it reminded him of the battlements of a castle. The environment was dimly blue like a foggy night during the full moon. He could see that the sloping red stone paths extended in all directions on multiple levels, suspended in thin air and melting into the fog. Multicolored goldfish half his size lazily swam through the air, occasionally shining when they neared one of the many swaying black lanterns emitting faint red light. The goldfish and pendulous lanterns weren't currently attacking, so he kept his sword ready and allowed himself to mostly focus on Tomoe. The magical girl remained sprawled where she had fallen, face frozen in shocked confusion as she shakily looked around.

"Tomoe," he said softly.

No response.

Tōshirō snapped his fingers loudly and more firmly repeated her name. This time she blinked and stared at him, eyes distant.

"Tomoe, stand up," Tōshirō barked in his Commanding Officer Voice.

She automatically complied, leaned on a battlement, then looked around. "What— what just— what just happened?" she whispered.

This was bad. All their plans for breaking it to her gently had just gone up in flames. "Tomoe—"

"Kyōko was— where's Kyōko?" Tomoe looked at him plaintively. "Her Soul Gem— it— she—" The magical girl slowly shook her head and rocked herself. "No. No." The horror of understanding was dawning on her face. "No. No. This isn't hap-penning. No. No."

Tōshirō frowned in concern and stepped toward her. "Tomoe—"

He felt Akemi appear behind him. He was glad until he saw the instantaneous fury on Tomoe's face.

"This?!" Tomoe shrieked. "This is what you've been keeping from me?!"

"Tomoe," Tōshirō hedged at the same time Akemi said, "Mami—"

"It is, isn't it?! ISN'T IT?!" Tomoe choked on a sob; the sparkle of floral magic at her fingertips made Tōshirō sidestep to put himself between Tomoe and Akemi to block an easy shot— just in case her mind cracked. "Magical girls— Soul Gems— we— we turn into—?!" She lurched forward and dry heaved, then looked up at them with rage. "How could you keep this from me?!"

"I did not wish to upset you," Akemi said evenly.

"Upset me?! Upset me?! You don't want to upset me?!" Tomoe shrilled. "How could I not be upset?! How can you not be upset?!"

"Enough time has elapsed since I found out that I have become somewhat numb to it, personally," Akemi answered. "I have other things to—"

"Do?!" Mami demanded, appalled.

"Worry about," Akemi corrected.

"Other things to worry about?!" Tomoe screamed. "When you know what we— we— what we turn in— int—" She couldn't finish her words, overcome by uncontrollable sobbing.

Tōshirō didn't like the unstable edge her reiatsu was taking on. "Tomoe—" he tried again.

Akemi inhaled deeply behind him. "You have a choice to make. Move forward and—"

"Choice?!" Tomoe screeched. "Choice?! If Soul Gems give birth to Witches, we have no choice but to—!"

Tōshirō stepped forward sharply, grabbed her shoulders, and shook her. "Don't finish that sentence!" he commanded. "It may seem that way, but it's not." Tomoe looked at him in despair. He noticed the darkness in the floral Soul Gem in her hair, then forced himself to look her in the eyes. "It's reversible," he said with conviction.

"Hitsugaya," Akemi hissed in warning.

"What's the point?" Tomoe wailed. "Our souls are— are rocks, we turn into— into— Why bother when we'll just kill—" She drew up short and looked even more horrified. "Oh, God, how many girls have I ki-illed?"

"None," Akemi said bluntly. "They were already dead."

Tomoe keened like a wounded animal.

Tōshirō whirled to glare at Akemi over his shoulder and snapped, "You're not helping!" She lowered her eyes and looked away. Tōshirō turned back to Tomoe and ordered her to look him in the eye. When she did, he firmly said, "You ended their suffering. Their despair. Without a way to turn—"

"Stop," Akemi said loudly.

Tōshirō turned to her in confused frustration

"We do not know if an Incubator is in here to eavesdrop," she said solemnly.

"She turned right in front of us. There wasn't a terminal outside—"

"There was when I got here."

Tōshirō raised a brow. "Where is it now?"

Akemi haughtily pushed her hair back. "If my kick did not achieve low Earth orbit, it was not for lack of trying."

Now she could make jokes. What the hell. "So... it's gone?"

"That one, anyway."

"Right. Fine. Anyway, we saw Sakura turn. The Incubator had no opportunity to get in and lurk until we showed up."

Akemi inclined her chin in acknowledgment of the logic. "Continue."

He turned back to Tomoe. "Without a way to turn Grief Seeds back into Soul Gems, defeating Witches was a kindness." He hoped she was too shocked to think of the Incubator eating them.

Tomoe heaved deep breaths. "Reversible— without—" She startled and looked at him more attentively, a drowning person grasping at a lifeline. "Do you mean—" Tomoe swallowed hard and her voice dropped to a whisper. "You have a way to turn Grief Seeds back?"

Tōshirō smirked. "Yes." He allowed it to widen and sharpen into something predatory then tipped his head forward to look up at her, inviting her into conspiracy. "And the Incubator doesn't know."

She stared at him in silence for a long time, then closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Eyes still closed, she whispered, "We can save Kyōko?"

"We can save Kyōko," Tōshirō and Akemi answered simultaneously, voices confident.

Tōshirō leaned back and watched Tomoe for a minute, then asked, "So, do you want to help?"

"Yes," Tomoe replied immediately. "I just— I just need— a moment." Her face crumpled in distress again and she shuddered with repressed emotion as she tried to control her breathing.

"Good." He glanced up at Tomoe's dark Soul Gem, then down to where she held the Shadow Witch's Grief Seed in one white-knuckled fist. Tōshirō took his hands off her shoulders and reached down to gently pry Tomoe's fingers open and take the Grief Seed. She watched him lift it. He paused and gestured at her Soul Gem, suddenly feeling like touching it without permission would be extremely rude and invasive. "May I?"

Tomoe nodded, so he tapped the Grief Seed against the muddied flower. Tōshirō watched the darkness siphon out until the yellow jewel shone brightly. He pulled back and looked at Tomoe's face again. "Better?"

"Better," she said quietly. "I— I can think better. Thank you."

He gave her a brief smile, then stepped back and offered the Grief Seed to Akemi. "You need to use it before we move on?"

"I suppose I had better," Akemi sighed. She took it, tapped it against the jewel on her hand, then stored it in her shield. "Tomoe, shield your Soul Gem."

"O-oh." Tomoe brushed a hand up by her hat. Tiny flowers bubbled around the shield she conjured. Then she lowered her hand, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply as she forced herself to stand tall. When she opened her eyes, she appeared to have switched mental gears. "What is our plan?" she asked as she looked around the labyrinth. They all turned outward to inspect the fog. The lanterns and fish still hadn't shown signs of hostility.

"Stay near each other so we do not get separated in this fog," Akemi said. "Much of this place looks identical. Perhaps we should mark our path as we progress."

"I'll leave ice as we go," Tōshirō volunteered.

Akemi nodded. "Mami, you and I will face forward. Hitsugaya, rear guard. We can adjust if the Familiars require different tactics."

"Sounds good to me," Tōshirō said as he rolled his shoulders and neck, then tested his scalded arms for range of motion.

Tomoe stared at him. "Where are your sleeves?"

"Burned off. I stopped it before it got deep in the skin. Burns are second degree at worst," he assessed clinically as he coated his arms with a thin layer of semisolid ice and recreated his ice bracers over the slush.

Tomoe gasped quietly and held a hand in front of her mouth. "I— I didn't even— notice! I'm sorry!"

"You were in shock. I'll be fine." Tōshirō looked at her seriously. "Let's get this over with."

Tomoe shuddered but pulled herself together and looked down the path, then at Akemi. "I'll take right, you take left."

Akemi eyed her carefully— particular attention was paid to the locations of each of their Soul Gems relative to one another— and nodded.

They set out in a triangle formation with Tōshirō at the rear. He frequently turned to walk backwards with light steps as he left footprints of frost in his wake. It was only a couple minutes before they ran into the Witch's patrolling Familiars, white paper dolls of women with the black hair and narrow eyes of traditional East Asian art on blocky heads, each wearing colorful paper robes and bearing either spears, banners, or torches made of giant matchsticks. Tōshirō largely let the girls fight with ranged attacks while he watched their rear. It proved a smart choice when they turned a corner and reached a crossroads that already bore his trail of frost; their party walked straight into a group of the Familiars they had simply dodged before and got stuck fighting on two fronts.

The Familiars were frustrating. Their spears could extend like Sakura's. Their heads often turned into spearheads that looked like stylized diamond dragon heads which they then launched at the party by extending their necks in unpredictable patterns, the clinking of chain mail scales echoing in the fog. That was annoying enough without the addition of fiery projectiles and the torchbearers' ability to conjure more Familiars by lifting their matchsticks skyward with a tinkling of bells and burst of orange light.

"I told Miki to tell Urahara to come in if it took more than thirty minutes," Akemi said irritably after eliminating another mob. "Let's—"

"Wait, Miki?" Tōshirō said in confusion as Tomoe said, "Sayaka's outside?"

Akemi paused and looked at them. "Yes. You didn't know?"

"No," both replied.

They all stared at each other. Akemi shook her head, dismissing the tangent, and said, "I would prefer to rush through to the Witch. If the Familiars mob behind us, we can just take them out with attacks that cover more area."

Tōshirō and Tomoe nodded, Tomoe looking uncertain. The three abandoned methodical combat and sprinted through the labyrinth together, Akemi spraying machine gunfire ahead of them as they progressed, muted reports echoing in the fog. They crossed their own marked paths several times, but eventually found their way to a higher section that widened dramatically. Akemi stopped at the implied entrance to the area, grabbing Tomoe to force her to do the same.

When Tomoe looked at her quizzically, Akemi said, "This place looks different. And don't you feel it?"

The air was heavy and oppressively warm with the Witch's presence. Tōshirō scanned in all directions, including above them. "Where is it?"

Akemi threw her mostly-spent machine gun over the ledge and pulled a grenade out of her shield. Eyes narrowed in suspicion, she pulled the pin and hurled it into the middle of the brick courtyard. Nothing appeared when it exploded. She frowned severely. "I think it will only show itself once we move in closer," she guessed.

Or, more likely, stated from experience.

Akemi looked sideways at Tomoe. "Can you do this?"

Tomoe trembled and looked distraught, but nodded and conjured five rifles to float in front of her. They cautiously moved forward as a group. Nothing happened until they were nearly halfway into the wide area. At that point, there was a flare of Hollow-like reiatsu and a loud rattling of chains as strands of burgundy diamonds materialized and formed a multilayered cage around the area.

"Those— that's Kyōko's lattice barrier," Tomoe said in a strangled voice.

No one had a chance to reply before there was a sudden burst of flame above the red stone on the far side of their new cage. It generated dark smoke in a circle, which whirled and then dispersed horizontally, revealing Kyōko Sakura's Witch.

A paper doll rode astride a paper horse. It, too, wore colorful robes, though far more intricate and colorful than those worn by the Familiars, dominated by brilliant red but featuring wild swirls of other colors, bright florals, and a geometric pattern on the underskirt. Tōshirō was suddenly struck by the resemblance to the costumes for the female warrior roles in Chinese operas; in context, the Familiars had also been dressed as such— the Witch's backup dancers, as it were. The Witch's neck consisted of the collar and burner of an oil lamp; instead of a head, it had a large open flame. It bore a huge black double-headed lance that shimmered with hints of color in the candlelight.

A paper being imitating a beautiful actress imitating a glorious warrior, topped by an unsecured flame that could consume it at any moment. Tōshirō wondered what that said about Kyōko Sakura.

The Witch's mount looked like it had been assembled from shapes cut out of paper with a disorienting black and white geometric pattern printed on it, then had been embellished by hand-drawn swirls of ink for a mane. Its legs were spindly and its stiff tail made Tōshirō think of a shape cut out of a black doily. Dangling from the horse's collar was a large pendant shaped like a diamond with concave sides. It was red and black, making Tōshirō think of the corrupted Soul Gem he had seen on Sakura's chest. The horse stirred and pawed the ground with a restless whinny as the Witch readied its spear with a rustling of paper.

Tomoe crumpled to her knees with a quiet whimper, rifles unraveling into ribbons and melting away. "K-Kyōko?"

Tōshirō exchanged a glance with Akemi; they silently agreed Tomoe wouldn't be much help in this battle. Akemi sighed, pulled a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher from her shield, and said, "Let's end this quickly."

As soon as he grunted agreement, Akemi shot the RPG. It nailed the Witch in the torso as Akemi discarded the launcher and retrieved another. The horse reared up and made a sound like a girl's voice imitating an angry whinny while its rider brandished the spear over its flaming head as though leading a charge, singed and ripped but intact. The circular whirl of smoke appeared before it; without warning, a fireball blasted out of it at them.

Tōshirō stepped forward and created a wave of ice in front of them with a horizontal swing of his sword. It held, but only just, melting to a thin sheet like a glass windowpane that collapsed into slush when the flames dissipated. Tōshirō scowled; as far as raw power went, this Witch might very well be his equal with his limiter on.

When the smoke and steam cleared, there were five copies of the Witch arrayed across the entire battlefield, none showing signs of damage.

"What the hell," he couldn't help but mutter.

"Rosso Fantasma," Tomoe gasped.

"What's that?" Tōshirō asked with an edge in his voice as he evaluated the layout of the enemy position. Were they illusions like Aizen's? Afterimages like Soifon's?

Tomoe took several deep breaths that sounded like she was fighting the urge to vomit. "Kyō-ko's— Kyōko's confusion tech-nique," she explained shakily. "She has il-lusion ma-gic a-and used to make copies of herself or other thi-ings to confuse the en-emy. But if she, um... Sometimes, the copies aren't jus-ssst illusions. They can— theyyy can—"

Three of the mounted warriors brandished their spears and conjured flames.

"They can attack!"

Tōshirō generated ice again; no fool, this time he kept slicing his blade back and forth to throw a steady stream of it. Akemi disappeared from his side and reappeared in front of Tomoe, who was still sitting on the ground looking dumbstruck, then brandished her shield while radiating violet reiatsu as a backup in case he failed. His ice held again, but sweat beaded on his brow and rolled down his temples.

Definitely our equal while limited, Hyōrinmaru observed in his head.

Five of my equal, Tōshirō thought with a mental groan as he tried to see see through the steam and smoke. When it thinned, he dully added, Correction. Seven of my equal.

We may have to lift the first limit, Hyōrinmaru muttered.

Tōshirō grimaced; he really did not want to do that. "Ideas, Akemi?" he demanded.

"Attack as many at one time as possible."

Tōshirō eyed her, picking up the hint and glancing at Tomoe. He didn't want to reveal Akemi's time magic and he really thought Tomoe would do better if she took an active role in the defeat instead of sitting passively. If she could be pushed out of her shock, anyway. So he used his Talking To Rookies On Their First Truly Dangerous Mission voice to bark, "Tomoe. We need you."

Tomoe blinked up at him with wide eyes, not bothering to hide her horror. "What."

Akemi gave him a not-terribly-subtle what the hell are you doing look. He chose to ignore it.

"Get up." When Tomoe just kept staring, Tōshirō growled, "Do you want to save your friend or not?"

Tomoe sputtered uncertainly, so Akemi huffed irritably and added, "Do not be a damsel in distress, Mami. You are better than this."

Tomoe flinched; the echo of Sakura's earlier words must have stung. "But— but—"

"Hitsugaya. Watch my back," Akemi said curtly as she turned to face Tomoe.

Tōshirō raised a brow but didn't object, simply saying, "Make it fast. I don't like the light those four are making," as he eyed the pinkish flames warping the air in front of some of the copies.

Akemi clicked her teeth and stepped right up to the space directly in front of Tomoe, grabbed the girl's neck ribbon, and bodily hauled her up by it until their eyes were equally matched. "If you want Kyōko Sakura to be saved, you must cooperate with us and defeat her Witch."

"It's— it's so— so cruel!"

"Sometimes one must be cruel to be kind."

"Wh-what?"

"Incoming!" Tōshirō shouted as the pink lights flashed, the four copies of the Witch disappeared or transformed, and four brilliantly glowing lances shot at them. He dodged left while Akemi yanked Tomoe to the right. The four lances struck their former position at the same time and obliterated the red stone, leaving a huge crater, then flashed and turned back into copies of the Witch. The three other copies charged their split positions as though jousting. Tōshirō allowed the one targeting him to get near, dodged the lance to get in close quarters, and beheaded the horse with a two-handed upward stroke from his blade. The horse crashed into the stones with the sounds of ripping paper and neighing. Its unseated rider hit the ground with a clash of jingling bells and chains. Tōshirō darted closer and drove his blade straight down into its back; he intended to extinguish the flame head with ice but the stab caused the whole thing to dissolve into smoke.

Tōshirō turned toward the girls when he heard gunfire and saw violet light in his peripheral vision, but noticed and parried another lance. The Witch rode past and out of his reach, swirling with smoke and generating another copy. Both circled back and charged him in unison with a clatter-crunch of paper hooves. He ran to meet them, dropping into a slide between them as he braced his sword horizontally to slice the legs off one paper horse. It went down like the one before it. Tōshirō had no sooner dispatched the rider than he was evading the copy. He dodged right into one of the giant spears of pink light. His reaction was quick enough to avoid losing his head but the Witch scored a crushing blow to his left shoulder. Tōshirō roared in pain, rolled with the hit, and lurched back to his feet in time to dodge more hooves, spears, and flames. He searched the battleground and was surprised by how far he was from the girls— and how many copies of the Witch were galloping, rearing, glowing, and smoking.

It's herding us apart, he realized.

Akemi's voice was furiously shouting something, but he couldn't understand what over the din of battle. He couldn't even see the girls for longer than a flash here and there between dodges and parries. Tōshirō fought as well as he could with one arm hanging useless and considered his narrowed options: lift his limit, hope Akemi threw caution to the wind and stopped time for a simultaneous kill, or hope it had been thirty minutes and Urahara was on his way. Only the latter was actually attractive.

Suddenly, the floor of the entire battlefield was flooded with the amber light of Tomoe's reiatsu, floral kaleidoscope patterns flaring across the stone surface like ripples on a pond.

"Legare Vasta Area!" Tomoe's voice screamed.

Ribbons. Ribbons and eldritch flowers everywhere. Blasting straight up like sprouting vines, snaking through horse legs to hobble them, grabbing spears out of the air, snaring riders and throwing them to the ground; red ribbons even swirled at Tōshirō's feet and whirled into a crisscross lattice-like shield for him. He stood on guard and panted as he watched the girls methodically destroy each bound entity until the third from last proved to be the Witch's true body, its destruction triggering the collapse of the labyrinth.

Surreality wobbled and dissolved into reality, leaving them in the shadowed park once more. Tōshirō took stock of his surroundings and found Miki huddled over Sakura's empty body and Urahara standing over them with his phone in his hand as though checking the time. The man's shoulders relaxed a bit, but he frowned severely at the party's injuries. All turned when Tomoe made a strangled sound. The girl staggered over to where the Wǔdàn Witch's Grief Seed had drifted to the grass. Tomoe fell to her knees before it, picked it up, stared at it, and wailed.

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WITCH DATA

MELITTA, the Pin Witch with an allegiant nature.

CARMELI, the Pincushion Witch with a self-serving nature.

Two sisters, both Witches. The elder sister captures prey and liquefies it; the younger sister then turns that liquid into nectar. One is a pin, while the other is a pincushion. They'll be together forever, friends forever.

Minion: Berthold, whose duty is to swarm intruders.
Minion: Justine, whose duty is to ensnare intruders.

OPHELIA, the Wǔdàn Witch. Her nature is abandonment. A Witch who eternally wanders with hollow footsteps within the fog. She can no longer remember what the horse that always accompanies her was.

Minion: Zoe, whose task is to march.

A/N: I almost used that first scene as the cliffhanger for last time, but I thought it would be too mean. LOL.

This chapter was replaced with an edited version on November 1, 2019. Reviews with timestamps before that date refer to a slightly different version of the chapter.