A/N: I finally caved and got a Tumblr. Same name. Hit me up. Show me things. Ask me questions. Whatever. I haven't given any serious effort to prettifying it yet but I've shared some things.
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ZWEIUNDSIEBZIG
TIMELINE X + N + 1
Isshin decided to go with his previous strategy of letting his girls work their magic on Mami and Kyōko. He left them in the sitting room to bicker over and eventually play games and opted to sit at the card table temporarily replacing the shattered dining table. He was joined by the Kaname parents, who were fascinating people. After awhile, Junko disappeared and returned to retrieve their son from his nap then plopped him in his high chair. The toddler looked at him curiously, then smiled and drooled.
Isshin's heart melted. That cuteness was a devastating weapon. He couldn't resist playing peek-a-boo and causing babygiggles. So nostalgic.
They were interrupted by the arrival of Yuzu pulling Mami behind her. Yuzu had her Mission Face on and Mami looked baffled as she was dragged into the kitchen. His daughter raided the cabinets and hauled things out of her camping bag. Mami hesitantly followed Yuzu's orders. They were soon baking and talking, Yuzu encouraging and Mami subdued. Isshin smiled at Yuzu when she glanced his way and made a shooing motion while crinkling her nose. He proudly reciprocated and turned back to the Kanames, certain his daughter had things well in hand.
A collective shout rose from the impromptu game room. Ichigo roared, "DAMMIT!" and Kyōko screeched, "Fuck you and your blue shells, Karin!" while Isshin's other daughter cackled maniacally.
"Ah, she's so energetic," Junko said with a sad smile. "I wonder how much is genuine and how much is forced."
"Hmm, hard to say," Isshin pondered. "So far, she strongly reminds me of my Karin. She puts up a front like that. I can usually figure her out, but I've known her since she was born."
"Her parents should be sitting at this table with us," Tomohisa said darkly. "I hope that monster had to look his God in the eye and answer for what he did before he went to Hell to roast for eternity."
"I'll drink to that," Junko said with a sneer before she sipped her sake.
Isshin dearly wished to know if the skeletal gates of Hell had opened for Reverend Sakura. If the weasel had wriggled his way into Soul Society, Isshin hoped it was to one of the Eightieth districts and that the man had juuust enough reiatsu to feel hunger. Let him starve and struggle to survive in a violent world like his daughter. Let him hear the spectral breath of Famine rattle in his ears every waking and sleeping hour as his body consumed itself.
Isshin was far from a perfect father and definitely could have done more to ensure his son didn't take all the blame on himself in the aftermath of Masaki's death, but the idea of ever blaming his child and opting for pater familicide as a solution was such anathema to him that every physical and spiritual particle of him was violently repulsed. Violently. Violently.
Junko cleared her throat. Isshin looked up at her and found her in ruthless businesswoman mode, eyes drilling into his over her cup. "So. Do you know Kisuke's plans?"
Isshin sighed. "Vaguely. In broad strokes. Except it keeps changing or stalling when these crises happen. He's a genius but there's only one of him." He sipped his sake and swished it around his mouth as he thought. "The overall goal is to stop the Incubator, but we still know so little about it and the changes it makes to girls' souls that the immediate mission is research for the adults and talking prospective magical girls out of contracting for the kids."
"Know thy enemy," Junko muttered. "You said before that you've been training your girls and have a project assigned by Kisuke. What does he have you looking at?"
"Tracing Sōju's path of destruction to get an idea who the confiscated Soul Gems might be. See if any bodies were found quickly enough to be on life support, get an idea of density and location of magical girl population, et cetera."
"Hmmm. I wonder if I could be of use for research," Junko mused. "I have access to a great deal of local and international resources. I wonder if marketing statistics could be mined for anything useful."
"Marketing statistics?"
"Oh, you know— population stats, micro and macro market demographics, search engine history stats, ad clicks, contacts in other countries who can dig deeper if I word it as being about a secret new product under development. Kisuke said it's global, right?" She stared blankly at the ceiling, voice thoughtful. "Obviously, there wouldn't be records of magical girls per se, but perhaps local demographic data could be cross-referenced with whatever you find to extrapolate a pattern to search for elsewhere. Develop some kind of formula to predict where there may be magical girls using methods similar to how we target advertising." She knit her brow, then perked up. "Ah! Or look for search queries referencing both 'magical girl' and terms like 'Kyubey,' 'Incubator,' 'Soul Gem,' 'Grief Seed,' whatever. You know— to control for people looking up entertainment. This is the Internet Age— some girls must have Googled around about it looking for information or advice."
Isshin stared. Part of the wider problem was lack of data for Kisuke and Twelfth to crunch because their preexisting research had such a narrow focus... If she already had data that had been processed beyond the raw state Twelfth was gathering... and prospects beyond what they were even looking for...
"Ohhh, you have ideas," Junko crooned. Her mouth curved into a predatory smirk. "Maybe I should update my resume and give it to Kisuke." The light-yet-not laughter that followed reminded Isshin of Kūkaku whenever she had gotten one of the Shiba men to admit to something that merited her oncoming wrath. I have you where I want you and am going to enjoy this laughter.
Junko Kaname may not have powers in the spiritual sense but Isshin had a feeling the Incubator might one day regret ever targeting her daughter. She was a woman not to be crossed.
They all looked up as Mami approached them with cooling racks and timidly said, "Ah, there's not enough counter space. Is it okay if...?"
"Of course!" Isshin replied. The girl soon returned with a sheet of cookies fresh from the oven and scooped them onto the wire racks. When she turned to leave, he stole a glance at Yuzu— back turned washing some dishes, yes!— and reached—
"Don't you dare touch them, Daddy."
Isshin withdrew his hand as though burned and cried, "Daddy would never!" Her back was still turned. Damn, she had gotten good.
"Daddy will always," Yuzu chirped. A timer chimed. "Mami, can you get that?"
"Oh." Mami blinked and shook her head as though to dispel the wistful longing on her face. "Of course. Of course."
Isshin frowned and wondered what specifically had her looking at them like that. Then Karin howled as though stabbed and Kyōko and Ichigo roared with laughter. Sayaka's voice trilled something mocking, Madoka squealed, and Uryū screeched, "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, KUROSAKI!" No clue which one, but he sounded scandalized.
"Ah," Tomohisa said sagely as he raised his glass. "Teenagers."
§ x § x §
Kisuke retreated to his labs, sat at his desk, and promptly plunked his forehead down on its surface several times.
Must you be so melodramatic? Benihime drawled.
"Yes," Kisuke said aloud. "It's this or throw things." He went still with his forehead on the tabletop.
Benihime sighed. Ten heddles, ten thousand threads, it would seem.
Kisuke weakly clunked his head on the table one more time and groaned. On top of the strengthening manifestations of Kaname's and Miki's powers— which really needed to be addressed— the previous night's events and Kyōko Sakura had casually dropped a fresh batch of riddles in his lap. Or perhaps more accurately, throat-punched him with them.
Sakura seemed like a throat-punching kind of person.
Right. New questions.
First, the mysterious lack of Witches in Sakura's territory. Coincidence seemed unlikely if Akemi was disturbed. If the dearth of Grief Seeds in Sakura's territory had been deliberately orchestrated, who was the culprit? The most obvious suspect was the Incubator; the most obvious motive was to eliminate their resistance with an overwhelming Witch. Hitsugaya had texted him that morning that Sakura's Witch had been so strong and complicated to fight that he had been pushed to the verge of shikai or limit release even with backup. That was one hell of a weapon to throw at them; it would be overkill against most humans with spiritual powers equal to Hitsugaya's disguise. Which implied he was not the primary target.
So. Acquisition of said weapon. In the Incubator's place, Kisuke would have countered Sakura's impressive dominance of all threats in her territory by removing the resources that allowed her to maintain that dominance— removing the possibility of collecting Grief Seeds. It was the most logical way to push a magical girl as powerful as Sakura to a critical point. The question was how to pull it off. The simplest answer was that the Incubator could divert Witches. The question then was how it would accomplish that— directly, or through magical girl agents as shepherds? Directly or not, how?
If it could aim Witches, the timing of Momoe's disappearance into a labyrinth in her apartment complex was possibly a deliberate ploy intended to split the team. The long distance between the two labyrinths made Akemi the most logical choice for which member to split off, as it was no secret she could travel quickly. Akemi's timestop-pretending-to-be-teleportation sliced off nearly all travel time, save for the moments she allowed herself to appear en route to give the illusion of a range for her "teleportation." Kisuke wondered if she had bothered to keep up that charade in crisis. If she had traveled farther than she had previously allowed herself to be seen, they could have a problem. Kisuke didn't know what kind of problem, but he hated showing his hand to an enemy.
All right. Other things that had potentially broken the Incubator's hypothetical plan; it was likely a combination of small factors. Akemi and Hitsugaya's phones allowed for coordination with their base of operations, so their separation wasn't as dire a problem as it could have been and Akemi knew she needed to rush back to her team. The potential to save Wit—
...Wait. Hitsugaya had written that they didn't sense Momoe's disappearance. If it hadn't been a coincidence and the intent was to split the party, that implied that the Incubator may have factored the phone communication into its plot. Which would mean it not only intended for Akemi to return to the battle site, but it had at least suspected that Momoe was subject to some kind of remote monitoring— and they had confirmed it. Fuck.
Benihime huffed irritably. While it was likely pure conjecture on its part, I would recommend you submit the schema for the bracelets to Kūkaku, Akon, Yamamoto, Kyōraku, Ukitake, and Unohana for independent review. Possibly the Shihoin clan, as well. Perhaps you did not obscure the tracking signal as well as you thought in your distracted haste.
Kisuke clunked his head on the table again. Seeking peer review. Possibly from the Shihoin noble "Guard of Godly Gear" and traditional leaders of the Special Forces. The elders of which still resented him for "inspiring" their "princess" to go rogue even though Aizen's machinations to push them that far had been revealed and their group's defection had been vindicated. If he had fucked up, they'd gleefully rub his face in it. "Politely." Joy.
All right. So. Moving on. The potential to save Witches was the ace up their sleeve that prevented Tomoe from turning or simply descending into homicidal backlash. Without that knowledge, she likely would have turned and forced whichever teammate had gone into Sakura's labyrinth with her to battle two powerful Witches after having already fought through one labyrinth. If Akemi had taken much longer, Hitsugaya would have had no backup when Tomoe turned; he likely would have survived the endurance test despite that, but the Incubator didn't know that and he could have blown his cover to do so. From the Incubator's point of view, Hitsugaya's death would have then forced Akemi to confront two strong Witches alone. Absent knowledge of her time manipulation, that was a wise course to eliminate a single magical girl who used mundane weaponry to conserve magic and had already fought through a labyrinth containing two Witches. Would be a clever way to push her to the brink of turning or being unable to shield her Soul Gem from destruction.
And then there was Miki. The proximity of the Shadow Witch's labyrinth— and thus the confrontation with Sakura— to Miki's location was suspect. Especially since the Incubator made a direct recruitment pitch to force her hand. Why would it want her to, though? Why add backup to the equation? Why unlock the powers of a confirmed enemy?
Kisuke sat and turned that over for a long time, untangling threads and laying them out in his mind. He considered Miki's temperament, her reactions, Akemi's reports of other versions of her...
Sakura's words popped into his head out of nowhere: "Had to spook the little rookies—"
He sat up suddenly and thought to Benihime, Throwing an inexperienced and potentially overconfident rookie into a pit with two extremely powerful Witches would either get Miki killed or turned or get Akemi killed or turned trying to protect her and fight at the same time. Or both. If only Akemi died, Miki has a certain charisma about her and such a strong sense of justice that she would likely move to replace the gap in our team— to be our magical girl who talks other girls out of contracting. Killing her or forcing her to turn by exhaustion from multiple consecutive battles would rob us of that backup asset.
If all went as planned, our entire known current and potential fighting and peer-recruitment force would have been decimated, Benihime said coldly. The Incubator likely suspects more of our alliance is capable of fighting, but such a loss would potentially force us out into the open. The Incubator truly has expanded its target set beyond Akemi to root out and eliminate our entire resistance.
"Not unexpected, really," Kisuke said as he stared into space and pictured connections as threads. There was a gaping hole in the tapestry. "Akemi has said that in every timeline, the Incubator is aggressively interested in contracting Madoka Kaname," he slowly thought aloud. "If this entire debacle was a plan... it would have left Kaname untouched." Kisuke paused. He scrubbed his face tiredly. "And potentially unprotected. Save for her wards. And she sensed the fight from that distance... if she hadn't called the shop first, she could have gone running out into the night by herself. Or with her parents, who would be liabilities. Gods, letting her come here last night without a powerful escort was stupid."
We got lucky, Benihime said sullenly. She hated luck. Too fickle. Tsukabishi should have known better than to advise her to leave the wards.
Kisuke chose to save that argument for another time. "The lack of protection beyond her property line would leave her vulnerable if she tried to go about life as usual. We haven't publicly shown any other allies young enough to shadow her to school as a bodyguard."
She and her family all have the bracelets, Benihime joined him in pondering, but there is a limit to how much they can mitigate. And they will not protect everyone in this city. If Walpurgisnacht was to descend in the wake of the deaths of all of her friends, not knowing our true capabilities...
"Kaname might think she has literally nothing to lose and contract to stop it despite the consequences to her soul. Then immediately turn into a powerful Witch for the Incubator to harvest. Checkmate." Kisuke leaned over the table and pressed his thumb and forefinger into his eyes to stave off a headache. "Gods, this is like sifting through Aizen's plots all over again. Magnificent."
Be thankful their paths never crossed, Benihime murmured darkly.
Kisuke couldn't suppress a shudder at the mere idea.
We also may have to tell our allies about shinigami and our capabilities, Benihime sighed. If for no other reason than to lower risk of them contracting or doing something irreversible in an emergency. We may not be able to interrupt every attempted manipulation the way Akemi did last night. We are not omniscient.
Kisuke plunked his head on the desktop again. Benihime had a point. He should probably actually consult with others before doing so in order to keep stories straight. If he chose that path at all.
His brain hadn't been this messy since his escape from Soul Society after being framed for Hollowfying the Visored. Weeks spent desperately researching and designing ways to help them had left his mind in tangled knots once the situation had stabilized. Kisuke saw himself going down that same road. He groaned and hit his head on the table again.
Calm yourself, Benihime snapped. You should now know better than to hastily weave a dozen patterns across each other at once, as we did back then. Set the shinigami loom aside for future consideration and tend the loom bestowed upon you by the little red spitfire. Sew their cloth together later.
Right. Okay. Moving back to other angles of investigation newly brought up. He sat up and shuffled his stuff to drag out some paper and started outlining things before he forgot.
Akemi's blatant confusion when Junko was able to see Tomoe's magical girl costume. At least he could set that aside as something to ask about next time he managed to get Akemi in private. Well, as crowded as the shop was now, maybe he should just text her and have her text a reply.
Soul Gems' apparent ability to convert physical energy to spiritual energy to stave off final corruption. Was that standard or an ability only available to magical girls with Sakura's degree of power? Was it a conscious or unconscious act?
Sakura's instinctive conjuration of flames even though she had no physical contact with her Soul Gem. Were all magical girls able to use their abilities as long as their Soul Gem was close enough to allow them control of their bodies?
Her philosophical analysis of the Incubator's system. Something about it struck him as significant.
Her intriguing and really goddamn obvious question about the Incubator's terminals: "How d'you know they're endless?" Taking Akemi's word for it without closer questioning had been sloppy.
Confirmation that Marina Sakamoto was also a magical girl and she and Bethany Michaels shared territory on the coast. Actually, Kisuke should probably start a map of territorial possession in the area. And one of where Akemi most frequently associated a location with a particular Witch to compare to this timeline and document anomalies. And one of the homes, schools, and death sites of suspected and confirmed magical girls; possibly a new one for every timeline from now forward. And one with a more definite outline of the Asunaro barrier. He'd have to do it in something akin to Photoshop so he could toggle overlapping layers. Maybe have the girls themselves draw things on paper copies to convert later?
He needed a dozen of himself. Really.
What manner or clarity of memories did a reverted Witch retain? Had they been "conscious" while Witches? That was going to be a tricky subject to talk about. He'd likely need the assistance of the more parental adults and empathetic kids to tease out that thread from Sakura.
And then there was the person of Kyōko Sakura herself. Her behavior was as capricious as wildfire, able to switch directions in the breeze from warm and lazy to deadly inferno in an instant. She had suffered a degree of trauma second only to Akemi's and also brutally suppressed it. Must have, for her to have not turned after her family's deaths. Both girls became cynical, but whereas Akemi went cold, Sakura went hot. Rage was Sakura's sword to strike that which would wound her heart and cynicism her shield to prevent attachment or optimism— if she didn't allow herself to hope or trust in the first place, she couldn't be disappointed. Her reawakening showed that it was possible to overwhelm her emotional fortress and revealed what her mental state was like in her fallout shelter beneath a mountain of defense mechanisms. Which was both worrying and encouraging.
Speaking of defenses, Kisuke wondered if Sakura noticed just how much Yuzu had known about her situation in order to stab at the heart of her defense as accurately as she had. Hopefully, she had been too stunned. If it came up later once she had time to think... Note to self: Send old articles about the Sakura murder-suicide to everyone from Karakura and say that he had done research on her when her name was mentioned by Tomoe, then he had sent it to everyone so they'd have an idea of what trauma they might have to deal with. Plausible deniability that wouldn't implicate Tomoe beyond telling those in the shop the previous night, lessening the perception of Tomoe as a gossip and glossing over Akemi's knowledge.
Right. Moving on. Back to Sakura. He had noticed the exact moment when the girl grasped the lifeline of rage and blame of the Incubator as a focus— to repurpose her guilt and horror into something that could be directed outward rather than at herself. That could end up being useful if they could rein it in and control it. If being the operative word; backfiring was just as likely. Kisuke really wanted to talk to Akemi about past experiences with Sakura and which levers were useful and which were detrimental. For now, Kisuke had a tentative perception of Sakura's outward personality as halfway between Karin and Hiyori, who had similar defense mechanisms with one having a default state of sarcastic nonchalance and the other defaulting to aggressive bitterness. Perhaps a dash of Ichigo's tendency to blame himself for harm to people he loved and hold onto it until it was beaten out of him.
Akemi's brief profiles of the Mitakihara magical girls had described Sakura as brash, rough, vicious, hotheaded, and so cynical that she was able to accept the truth of the magical girl system the best out of any of the four girls. Akemi had written about her abilities, her lone wolf attitude, her prowess in battle, and her tenacity. Had mentioned certain ways to trigger her softer, idealistic side to rise from its self-imposed coma. Akemi had not mentioned how sharp Sakura's mind was under her abrasiveness— and Kisuke was convinced it was even sharper than Sakura had shown, considering what he had seen was in the immediate wake of major trauma and surrounded by people she didn't trust. She reminded him of when Yoruichi was in a snarly mood when they were the shinigami equivalent of young teens, which was a slightly horrifying thought because it raised the possibility of her being relentless, rebellious, and violent in her use of a devious intellect against those who pissed her off. Yoruichi had turned to pranks; Sakura could very well escalate to sabotage or personal warfare if they pushed her too hard or in the wrong direction. Yoruichi may have been like that had she spent a few years surviving in a distant Rukon district instead of a posh ancestral estate.
Now there was a thought that gave him chills.
Kisuke had accounted for the likely rebelliousness; he had not accounted for the extent of the intelligence that could be behind it. Aside from his usual backup plans, that was. Sakura was good at seeing the bigger picture in abstract and wary nearly to the point of paranoia when it came to commitment and letting anyone influence her, which Kisuke thought raised the risk of her identifying inconsistencies in their stories. He hoped someone in their group could wrangle Sakura into some semblance of cooperation. Anyone who could cook well was likely on the shortlist. Tomoe had history with her, but it remained to be seen if Sakura's dismissal of their old resentment was permanent. Tessai had managed to scrounge up Junko's sealed juvenile record, which revealed she had probably been similar to Sakura when she was a teen gang member on the streets. Junko was probably their best asset to throw at Sakura, paired with Tomohisa to cook for them. And possibly the Kaname children with their soothing reiatsu, but only if Sakura wouldn't bristle at it as a manipulation. Tatsuya's reiatsu was far weaker than Madoka's and he would obviously be too young to control it, so he would probably be less likely to provoke Sakura if he used it. Depending on how Sakura behaved with very young children. Which Junko and Tomohisa had agreed to test for.
He slid his chair over to a computer and tapped keys to bring up the surveillance of the room the teens had claimed for their games. He unmuted the live stream and listened; their mob was raucous and yelling, bickering and laughing. Including Sakura, who was intensely focused on the TV. Kisuke pulled up the recording, rewound to their entrance, and observed Sakura when Junko asked all the kids to keep quiet until the toddler woke up from his nap. Sakura looked blatantly suspicious that it was a ploy of some kind, but complied for the entire time from then to Junko's reappearance with her son. When the toddler waved at her, she returned it automatically, then caught herself and went red.
Good. She was a sucker for little kids. Possibly something to do with her dead little sister.
A dead little sister was a distasteful and potentially dangerous lever, but he'd use it if he had to.
Right. So. He had been forced to divert attention from existing projects and collected a lot of new things to study. Which meant the Asunaro investigation had stalled. Again. The drones had picked up activity in Asunaro, but it was inconclusive as the magical girls in the video had been moving quickly through the dark and were lost between drones for several minutes at a time. Kisuke sighed and brought up the composite of the surveillance Tessai had cobbled together. Paired with reiatsu sensor data, they could tell only that six magical girls bounced around a seventh, chasing her north until they were beyond cameras. Kisuke decided to refrain from any conjecture until they had context for the situation. He really needed to saturate the area with more cameras.
And that was on top of studying gemological equipment to convert into something useful for Soul Gem analysis. And all the existing leads and new questions.
Kisuke pushed away from the desk, rolled the office chair halfway across the room, and spun it in a circle with his hands covering his eyes while he let out a frustrated, "GRAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
Benihime did not approve.
Maybe he actually needed two dozen of himself.
§ x § x §
Kyōko did her best to bring out her gamer persona while also thinking through the clusterfuck she found herself in. Whenever she felt herself getting upset, she forced her attention on the games and teasing people until it eased up; then she could resume her thought where she had dropped it. Sizing up how the others reacted to her was also a good exercise. She was pretty sure Karin and her brother were onto her but pretending not to be. The giant was the only true mystery, neutrally existing— a human boulder. Glasses-nerd and Mami's knight in frosty armor watched her warily from opposite ends of the room, not quite relaxed enough to hide that they were blocking exits. Probably wise of them, though it sucked for her. The lighter, softer members of the group acted like they bought her calm as genuine. Even Mami, who should have fucking known better. Sayaka mostly seemed to, but would occasionally cast a searching glance her way.
Yuzu also seemed to buy it without any visible suspicion, but Kyōko refused to be lulled by her sweetness after witnessing the explosion that brought everyone else into line. Including Homura, who was largely aloof if Pinky wasn't being made to cry. Including Kyōko herself, which pissed her off. Including Yuzu's impressively powerful father and monstrously powerful brother, who had looked downright ready to piss themselves in fear after just the first sentence— which hadn't even been directed at them. That Yuzu's entire family reacted like that was not lost on Kyōko; if Little Miss Sunshine could bring that pack of powerful weirdos to heel, she was a force to be reckoned with and thus not to be provoked without a plan. Or brute force, which was probably a capital-B capital-I Bad Idea in this secret clubhouse full of stupid powerful people who liked and/or feared the girl.
Kyōko was generally homicidal, not suicidal, after all. And Kyubeycidal, now.
Generally. Usually. With a couple exceptions which she immediately buried under embers again, hoping the memories would burn off. Now that she really was— had been a Witch, she kept hearing echoes of the things her father had said between discovering her secret and going on his own Inquisition.
A witch among you must be put to death. You are to put them to the sword and erase their sorcery from this earth with cleansing fire; their blood will be on their own cursed hands which signed their pact with the Devil.
Fuck that.
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live; for all they touch that was good is cursed.
Her mind was an asshole sometimes.
Playing games for hours helped beat her mind into submission. The other girls were decent company for the most part and the adults mostly left them the hell alone and were permissive as fuck when it came to their rowdiness. Well, except for that first hour when Pinky's mom stood in the doorway and pleasantly/ominously told them they could be as loud as they wanted after Pinky's baby brother woke from a nap. Kyōko doubted the sanity of having a toddler in the same building as her when she woke up primed to fight, but whatever. She didn't trust there really was a toddler, but she hated when little kids cried so she clamped down on her volume for the bickering over which game to play and who would play it. Just in case. Until Pinky's mom appeared in the doorway with an actual toddler, who gave her a bleary smile. He waved shyly; Kyōko waved back before she could stop herself.
Damn. She was such a sucker for little kids. When they weren't crying, anyway. Crying made her think of Momo wailing days befo—
"Please! I didn't dooo anything, Daddy!"
Could her mind just fuck off? Damn. She hadn't even heard the kid cry to set her off like that.
Emotional instability, Bucket Hat Magic Science Clown had said. Kyōko glanced at her Soul Gem ring and found it dim. Dammit. This despair shit was like a disease.
Annnd that Sayaka girl was looking her in the eye way too solemnly. It wasn't pity, really, but whatever it was pissed her off. Kyōko curled her lip in a sneer. Sayaka frowned, but that look didn't leave her face. It made Kyōko bristle. Then Pinky glanced at Kyōko and her magic rose a bit. Kyōko resisted the relaxing contact high at first but gave in when she kept hearing Momo cry in her head. Her raw nerves were soothed and her mood leveled out.
It was both creepy as hell and a relief that Pinky was some kind of magical aromatherapy antidepressant.
It was also part creepy, part relief when Yuzu hauled Mami out of the room saying something about baking. She didn't really want to be alone with the new people. Kyōko was still conflicted about Mami, but waking up from her hellish nightmare world to the concerned face of the girl she had considered an older sister back in the day had been comforting. Mami seemed willing to let bygones be bygones, but she also seemed to be in as much shock as Kyōko herself so who knew. Maybe they'd fight about it again when Mami got over the shell shock. Kyōko was also conflicted about their point of contention a year back— letting Familiars feed long enough to turn into Witches in order to get Grief Seeds. It was immoral as hell, but Kyōko had run out of fucks to give about morality after—
...
Anyway, Kyōko thought the new information about the system... didn't exactly justify her actions, but supported her view of how important it was to get Grief Seeds. Of course, it also revealed use of Grief Seeds was like magical cannibalism, so. Yeah. That was extra fucked up. If that wasn't the height of sin, she didn't know what was.
I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins. You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty. You will store up but save nothing, because what you save I will give to the sword.
Her hands shook. She tried to hide it by tipping her head to let her hair block Orangeygo and Karin's view of her face, gripping the game controller harder, and leaning forward as though intense, but Pinky and Sayaka could see her face and weren't fooled. They didn't say anything, but they looked worried. Sayaka even glanced at Kyōko's Soul Gem ring, which affronted Kyōko though she couldn't say why. Well, actually, she could— girl thought she might go Witch again. Kyōko clenched her jaw and put her mind on lockdown again, severing that train of thought and burying her despair under the burning coals of sheer fucking spite.
Ah. Warm.
Anyway. Kyōko wasn't in the mood for a round of I-told-you-so with Mami, so she hoped the girl would have the tact to not bring it up. They had more important things to do than bitch each other out. Kyōko did, anyway. She hadn't made up her mind what to do about everything. She seemed to have been caught up in some kind of secret guerrilla resistance movement. They wanted her cooperation, yeah, but they also wanted her under their authority. To take orders. They hadn't said as much, but it was there if you read between the lines. Kyōko was off-balance, not stupid.
One of the things that had struck her during their storytelling session was that everyone deferred to Urahara and Homura as though they were equal leaders. They hadn't been named as leaders, but the two had tag-teamed for the majority of the explanation; others chimed in to support their statements, but those two held all the cards. That was interesting in and of itself, but Kyōko was also one-hundred-percent goddamn certain they weren't showing her all their cards. They spun a compelling tale, but Kyōko noticed... gaps. She hadn't asked much, wanting to see what they volunteered before being pressed so she could think about it and press hard. Forcing herself to be patient was a frustrating struggle, but she was way too outnumbered and uninformed to be anything but careful.
Scorched earth was her favorite tactic, but sometimes it worked best if you knew which plot of earth needed the most scorching.
Kyōko lost track of time between the games and the shouting and the magic potpourri and eventually the smell of food cooking. It was dark out and apparently ridiculously late when they were all summoned back to the dining room, though. Huh. She plopped in a chair between Mami and Madoka again and wondered where the hell the adults had gotten a new, bigger dining table and how they got it so fast. Orihime was helped into the room by the three guys who hovered around her like mother-henning bodyguards. The older girl flopped into a seat and let her eyes wander around the room; they stopped on Kyōko and blinked.
"Oh! Let me see your Soul Gem," Orihime blurted.
The boys all said, "Orihime—"
The young woman waved them off and said, "I told you, purifying a Soul Gem is waaay easier than reverting a Grief Seed."
Kyōko didn't want to expose her Soul Gem but she could see and feel its dimness and wanted to avoid Witching the fuck out more, so she cautiously manifested its egg form in her palm, hand curved to protect it. Orihime made a hand gesture, babbled some nonsense, and suddenly two little fairies darted out from her hair and fluttered around Kyōko's Soul Gem. Kyōko watched with wide eyes as they chattered and chirped then made a magic shield of some kind over her hand that drew off corruption as black smoke.
Well, she thought they might be fairies. Weird-ass fairies, though. They started out looking like colorful paper airplanes and opened up to look like origami of plucked chicken wings. Or something. One set of wings looked like a little floating red kimono bent into that shape and the other kinda like... praying mantis arms? Okayyy. Kyōko leaned closer and squinted. The red kimono thing was a kind of floating hood for a dark-haired girl in a pink... short hanbok with kimono sleeves? Okay. That one peeped and hid in her hood. The other fairy had blond hair in a topknot-ponytail thing, wore a red tunic, and had two-toed bug-like legs. Kyōko had no idea if it was male or female. That one grinned and fucking winked at her, then chimed something unintelligible but unmistakably teasing.
"The hell?"
The little critter laughed. Kyōko wondered if she had been drugged for real. Or if this was a really weird labyrinth.
"Shun'ō likes you!" Orihime cheered as the golden shield dispersed and the fairies darted over to flit around her head.
They had names.
"Oh! You too, Mami! I'll clean your Gem! Anyone else?"
Mami hesitantly brought out her Soul Gem and allowed it to be cleaned. Kyōko frowned at how dark it was, but watched closely as the fairy-bugs did their thing again. When they were done, Kyōko eyed Orihime, who giggled and woozily announced her hunger.
Game-changer. Do-over giver game-changer. If Kyōko could get that woman on her side, she could focus on a campaign of terror against the Incufucker without wasting time on Witches. She'd just have to get enough food to keep her recharged. Boom: Soul Gem jumper cables.
She caught sight of Urahara watching her out of the corner of her eye. Kyōko looked at him more directly; his face was calculating and one corner of his mouth turned up slightly as he met her eyes. She got the distinct impression he knew exactly what she was thinking. Ass. He was dangling Orihime's usefulness over her head like someone tempting a dog with a treat. C'mon, girl, do a trick!
Kyōko sneered at him. The asshole grinned back.
Little Miss Sunshine, Pinky's dad, and the giant-with-glasses brought out platter after platter of food. Kyōko stared at the spread in awe. She hadn't eaten like this since... well, that year between her wish and Dad going all avenging angel. Maybe not even then.
"Family dinner time! Wooo!" the crazy Manchild Dad cheered.
Kyōko couldn't stop herself. "You people aren't all related, are you?"
"Nope!" He grinned widely and threw her a double thumbs-up. "But we're all family here anyway!"
Kyōko scowled. "I ain't—"
"ALL. FAMILY," the guy repeated with intense cheer, jabbing his thumbs out more forcefully.
"All family!" Yuzu gushed with a sweep of her arms and adorable smile. She even struck a cute pose like a princess in a cartoon movie. Just needed a poofy dress and worshipful animal friends.
"All family," Pinky's mom said fiercely as she raised her glass. Her eyes bored into Kyōko's until she had to look away, uncomfortable.
The toddler banged on his high chair tray and squealed, "Ah fammy!"
There was various cheering around the table. These people were nuts. Kyōko half expected them to start chanting one of us! one of us! They were nuts and she didn't want to get sucked into their little cult.
But they had information. And a Gem-washer. And food.
Every bit of home-cooked food they gave her was so fucking delicious that Kyōko decided to at least go through the motions of cooperating. For now. She'd find out more about whatever the hell they were doing if she played along. Everything they had presented so far made her inclined to cooperate, but her survival instinct was too strong for her to commit based on their word alone. She wasn't convinced of good intentions as easily as Mami. So she'd bide her time, gather information, and eat her fill of the fucking glorious food they gave her. She wanted a bottomless storage thingy like Homura's Pocky-pit so she could squirrel some food away when she left and went to ground to consider her revenge options.
Dinner was winding down and Kyōko's mouth was full of Mami's peach pie— damn, it had been thirteen months and three weeks since she last had some— when Urahara dropped his fan out his sleeve with a flourish and smacked it in his other hand.
"So! Let's talk revenge," he declared with a sharp grin.
Fuck. Bucket Hat Magic Science Clown had her number.
Kyōko swallowed and eyed him suspiciously. She was glad she was good at playing with fire. "You gonna actually tell me the plan this time, Creepyhat?"
Karin drawled, "Well, you didn't exactly let us ans—"
"Do not," Yuzu interrupted pleasantly.
Karin stuck another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and sulked. Heh.
"My hat isn't creepy," Urahara whined with a pout.
"Issha whole package," Karin muttered around her spoon.
"Isshin! Your daughter is cruel! Such disrespect! In my own home!"
"None of my children respect authority," the burly man deadpanned. "You should know this by now."
Yuzu pouted. "That's not true, Daddy!"
"We respect mature authority figures," Karin muttered again.
"WAHHH! DADDY IS MATURE!"
The hell.
Orangeygo scowled and threw a cookie at his father's face. "Shut up! This isn't the time, Old Man!"
The cookie broke in pieces and fell to the floor. Kyōko went still, breathless with sudden fury.
Manchild Dad gathered cookies to himself and cried, "MY CRUEL SON HAS DECLARED WAR! DADDY MUST DEFEND HIS HONOR! SURRENDER NOW OR PREPARE TO FIGHT!"
"Oh my God," Karin grumbled with an added cringe of embarrassment.
Kyōko saw flames as the next cookies were thrown. She opened her mouth to yell, was so angry she choked on the words, and—
"Don't. Waste. Food," Homura hissed.
—And Kyōko became too surprised to speak.
She could feel that her jaw had dropped and her mouth was open, so she shut it. The Kurosaki men looked at Homura with confusion.
Orangeygo haltingly said, "But— we had that flour war and— you didn't—-"
"Mind the company you keep," Homura snapped at him. She looked at Kyōko and coolly said, "I apologize on their behalf. They have never known food insecurity." The violet eyes that looked into her own made Kyōko wonder how she understood. Especially without having been choked by Kyōko's furious hands first. Homura seemed like the hoity-toity never-hungry-a-day-in-her-life type.
The Kurosaki men suddenly looked deeply ashamed. It was gratifying even though Kyōko felt her own face reddening. Mind the delicate fee-fees of the widdle girl who's starved several times and'd lick that off the floor even if it was ground into crumbs, guys. Fuck.
The guys stammered apologies. Kyōko looked away and fiddled around with her fork. "Tch. Whatever."
There was a long, awkward silence in which the screedly-deedly of the fork tines on Kyōko's plate grated at all their ears. Eventually, Urahara repeated the fan-slap and cheerfully declared, "AS WE WERE SAYING: REVENGE!"
"Ah bennnd!" the toddler squealed.
"Revenge is good," Kyōko made herself say airily. "What's your plan, man? If it is tea parties, I'll fuck off 'n do my own thing."
"Focka-fin!"
Several people choked on either food or laughter. Kyōko stared in horror first at the toddler, then at his parents.
"No no, sweetie, that's a big kid word," the mom said with a wry grin.
Tatsuya pouted. "I big!"
This would be about the time Kyōko's father would have gone ballistic. Even in the days before he went and drowned in the deep end of the booze pool. ~Corrupting the youth~ and whatever. She was dead meat.
Pinky's dad chuckled and said, "But you're not as big as Kyōko."
The toddler turned to Kyōko and shouted, "I big! Yeah, Koko?"
Kyōko just stared, first at the kid then at his parents.
Tatsuya scowled. "Koko! Say I big 'nuff!"
"Uh." Her brain had short-circuited. Why weren't the parents acting pissed?
"Nope. Nice try," the mom laughed. Her kid huffed and shoved a cookie in his mouth until his cheeks puffed out. The woman looked at Kyōko and said, "I generally don't mind cussing, but please limit the worst ones around Tatsuya. He's too young to know when it's a bad time to repeat it."
"Uh— uh, yeah," Kyōko stammered. Maybe they just didn't want to scare the toddler by yelling? "Uh... sorry?"
The dad waved her off. "You didn't mean any harm. Just be careful from now on."
"...Okay?" What the fuck. These people were nuts.
"Can— can we stay on-topic?" Frosty asked with tired dismay.
"No," Karin said flatly.
"Again: REVENGE!" Urahara declared with arms spread wide.
"Go on," Kyōko said blankly, still weirded out.
"What is the first step of the best revenge?"
"Know~ thy~ ene~my~," Pinky's mom sang.
Urahara jabbed his folded fan at the woman. "Correct!" He smacked the fan in his hand and met Kyōko's eyes. "If you want to destroy an enemy, it's best to know everything there is to be destroyed."
"Duh?"
"So we're focusing on research for now. Paired with preventing contracts and keeping contractees from turning."
"That sounds... slow."
"It can be," Urahara admitted with a nod. "Slow and steady wins the race."
Kyōko made a face and was about to needle him when Karin piped up, "It's like an RPG. Level-grinding and finding all the secret weapons and shhhhhh—" a glance at her sister and the toddler— "stuff before curbstomping the final boss."
Kyōko stared at her and deadpanned, "I hate RPGs. They're too slow."
Homura glanced aside and muttered something under her breath.
"What was that?" Kyōko snapped.
"Nothing," she said with a completely straight face.
Kyōko scowled, but Urahara resumed his speech before she could pursue it.
"The thing about research is that it can be slow but it doesn't have to be boring," he said with a smirk. "I don't expect you to learn a scientific discipline or crack the books or anything. Some of the research is figuring out the extent of the powers of magical girls— your maximum output, destructive potential, endurance, self-healing, et cetera. Part of it will be seeing how much it takes to overload my equipment so I can keep making it stronger— which would require extreme displays of power. I have a huge subdimensional training area where you can go all out without worrying about property damage."
"...What?"
"He means a—" Karin started.
Kyōko cut her off with a dismissive wave. "I know what the words mean. But why?"
"Well," Bucket Hat Magic Science Clown said lightly, "Understanding what the Incubator does to your souls is important— if we know what it is capable of doing, we may gain an edge in figuring out how to defeat it. Looking for individual weaknesses to compensate for with training and teamwork is important if we end up going to war or something. But also..." He dipped his chin and looked up at her from the shadow of the brim of his hat with a bloodthirsty grin, gray eyes gleaming. This was his face behind the clown mask. His voice dropped to a sly near-whisper. "If we know every. single. detail. about how Soul Gems work, we may be able to develop ways to enhance their functions."
Well. Damn. That sounded fun.
Urahara's grin widened. He so had her number.
"There is one aspect you will likely find distasteful, however."
Fuck. Here came the catch. "Yeah? What's that?"
"You can't leave this property."
Speechless. Unbelievable. Utterly speechless. Then words. "WHAT?!"
"You can't leave this property."
Kyōko leapt to her feet and slammed her hands on the table. "LIKE HELL I CAN'T!"
"Ly kell!" the toddler shouted in a mimicry of her rage. He even banged on his tray.
"You can't leave if you don't want to doom us all to failure if not death," Urahara said coolly.
"THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"
"You were already used in one assassination attempt," the asshole said. "Should you leave, you not only open yourself up to being used again, but you'll also give away that we have a trump card, even if you don't tell the Incubator who or what that trump card is. What degree of escalation do you think the Incubator would resort to if it knew we have secret means to save its prey from its trap?" Urahara tilted his head and added, "It tried to turn Miss Tomoe into a trap. It turned the Sōju sisters into a trap. It turned you into a trap. What other magical girls will it manipulate into coming after us? What new trap would it devise?"
Kyōko stared, shaking with outrage. She could see their trap closing on her. Could feel it. She needed leave right goddamn now. "Fuck you— I'm out!"
"You won't leave," Urahara said calmly even as others tensed.
"Watch me!" Kyōko snarled. She transformed and turned to leap for the door.
Blocked by giant-with-glasses, whose hands were held up and sparking with magic. Fuck. Windows— Frosty. Fuck. Left wall— other giant. Fuck. Right wall— glasses nerd. Fuck. Ceili—
"Forgive me," Urahara said mildly. "I should have said you can't. Literally will not be able to." He wove his fingers together and rested his chin on them. "Have you noticed the wards? Did the girls explain that they prevent intrusion earlier?"
"Yeah," she said with a suspicious glance at said girls as she stepped aside and angled herself to be able to see all potential opponents. It had sounded similar to her own barriers so she hadn't paid it much attention after hearing it kept Incufucker out. Had even shoved the feeling of the wards to the back of her mind in favor of more pressing issues, like getting her brain to stop throwing old memories at her.
"Foul witch! Your evil shall—!"
"What most of the girls don't know is that the wards have two optional protocols I had Tessai activate before we woke you."
Several people shifted uneasily, apparently surprised. They stayed quiet, though.
"Oh?" Kyōko kept her eyes on Urahara, kept her face defiant, but mentally scrabbled at her sense of the wards.
Frighteningly complex even at a glance. She'd been sitting in a snare this entire time, too distracted to notice. She was a frog in water coming to boil. Fear crept in through chinks in her armor like suffocating smoke. She couldn't think. Couldn't think. Trapped.
"Most relevant at the moment is the inversion. That protocol prevents escape. Either for all except whoever is keyed in, or for only designated magical signatures. Like yours."
"Your evil shall be confined! This shall be the tomb of your sorcery!"
Her rage burned pure and hot, consumed her fear. "SO I'M A PRISONER?!"
"I would prefer for you to be a house guest," Urahara said with a shrug.
"House guest or house arrest?!" The fucking gall. She cast a betrayed glare at Mami. "Did you know they'd do this?! Lock me up and throw away the key?!" Mami shook her head hurriedly, looking shocked. Her magic felt alarmed-confused.
Well, that was... good and not. Good that Mami wasn't in on stabbing her in the back. Bad that the people casting themselves as the good guys were keeping shit from her, too.
"That's not the plan at all," Urahara said. His calm was infuriating.
"Ain't it?!" She didn't like how shrill her voice sounded. It reeked of desperation. So she manifested her spear and whirled it into a defensive pose as a show of strength. "You just said you're going to keep me shut up underground!" Kyōko ground her teeth and made a decision. When it came down to it, if she needed an ally— "Mami! Let's bust out and get the fuck outta here! Before they lock you up, too!"
The blonde let out a distressed little gasp and looked at the faces around the table.
"You misunderstand," Urahara said. "I have no intention of confining you."
"Your evil shall be confined!"
"I have no intention of forcing you to cooperate in our research, even. You are free to do as you will within the bounds of the wards." He straightened and picked up his tea as if there wasn't a spear pointed at his face. "The second secret protocol is a modification of a spell called, by hilarious coincidence, Kyokkō."
"The hell is that?!"
Giant-with-glasses cleared his throat. "'Bent Light.' It hides the physical form and magical signature of a target— a magical mirage."
Kyōko refused to look away from Urahara, who she thought was the biggest threat. "So what?!"
"So you can go outside of the building. We set it so everyone who enters the property is invisible from outside the wards," the giant explained. "The Incubator will be suspicious when people disappear from the yard upon entry, of course, but we have some other plans to mislead it as to what we're hiding. And it won't see others talking to empty air."
"Oh, because that's so much better!" Kyōko sneered. "I'll have a prison yard! Great!"
Urahara set his teacup down and tapped its rim. "I would prefer that—"
"You would prefer, you would preferrr!" Kyōko mocked. "What about what I would prefer?!"
"Don't you want revenge?" the asshole asked lightly.
"Why would I ever agree to any of this— this— just for—" Kyōko shook in outrage and waved her spear around, struggling for words. She felt like her mouth was only good for spitting lava; her tongue tasted of char. Thinking was hard.
"You get what you pay for," Homura said softly.
Kyōko's neck actually popped from how hard she whipped her head to look at Purplebitch. "What?!"
Homura's face was all business, her voice cool. "A house to live in. Food to eat. Games to play. The opportunity to get stronger, but no obligation to do so. Protection from the Incubator's manipulations." She tilted her head and watched Kyōko with hooded eyes. "Soul Gem purification on demand." Homura lifted her chin and raised a brow. "In exchange, your only sacrifice would be to stay within the property line until needed in battle. Even then, you would be under no obligation to fight. I would think that a bargain, objectively speaking."
Kyōko's jaw dropped at having her own philosophy thrown in her face. This bitch. This bitch.
She hated her. Hated her. Hated her!
Bitch was fucking right.
But— "And what the fuck would you get outta this deal if I just hang around and play video games?! Huh?! How would that be worth it?! What's worth that?!"
"Your safety," Pinky's mom said, heading off everyone else.
Bitter laughter fell out of Kyōko's mouth before she could stop it. "The fuck you mean 'my safety'?! That's worthless!"
"Not to us," Manchild Dad declared.
"What good does it do you?!"
"Peace of mind," Pinky's dad said.
Kyōko's face twisted in confusion. "The hell're you talking about?!"
"The thought of you out there in the streets by yourself and hungry is painful," Pinky's dad said.
"The thought of you fighting alone with no one to watch your back would make us lose sleep," said Manchild Dad. His son firmly agreed.
"The thought— If— I don't—" Mami stammered, looking uncertain about speaking with the adults. "The thought of you maybe— m-maybe turning into a Wi-itch again is— is— unbearable," she continued as tears spilled down her cheeks. "You're— you're my— I want you to be safe, Kyōko!"
Why did her throat hurt so badly? Why wouldn't her mouth work? Why did her eyes burn?
Smoke. Surely. Flames licking—
Liars. Liars. Toying with her feelings. Liars. Tricking the poor widdle orphan girl. Liars. Cruel liars who should die. Rosebitch magic smell resist resist resist re
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and SORCERERS, and idolaters, and ALL LIARS, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
"Koko?" a little voice said.
Kyōko blankly looked at toddler she completely forgotten there.
Tatsuya wriggled and looked worried. "Koko sad ouch. Too much ouchies. No, no. Wanna hugs? Wanna cookie? I gotta hugs 'n cookie. No sad, Koko, no sad. Ouch." The toddler's lip quivered and his eyes shone wetly.
"Don't cry," Kyōko rasped, whispers echoing head at just expression on face.
"Ouch, ouch. Koko sad." Tears welled up and he sniffled. His voice wobbled when he offered, "I hugs ouchies bye-bye?"
"Kyō-ko, will-ill you kiss-issa ouchie better?" Momo whimpered between her sniffles as Kyōko tended the scrape on her knee when they were little.
Kyōko dropped spear with clang dissolve. Vision dimming voice hollow, said, "Shut up."
"Tch. Rude," Karin.
same time scold
"Kyōko!" Homura.
Barely heard. Smoky whispers. Crackle. Fast slow.
"Kyōko, I'm— I'm scaaared—"
"SHUT UP!" she roared.
"K— Kyōko—" Mami stand up
Tatsuya's breath hitched hE began cry in earnest. leaned forward highchair reached arms out for heR, fingers grasping empty air, squeaked, "Too much'a sad! I help Koko with'a ouchies! Let me hugs! I help Ko-kohhh!" And then was bawling.
"HELP! KYŌKOHHH—!"
Kyōko's hands flew up and gripped her skull, claw scalp. Room ran away. tunnel of shadow. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
Smell blood, sound wailing, sound nothing, sight nothing, sight darkness, smell smoke, sight not nothing, sight limbs, flicker-flame, roasting meat, creaking rope, Oh God Oh God Oh God Oh—
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; for by thy sorceries were all the pious deceived!
"Inoue! Her Soul Gem!" Frosty shouted, far-a-far-a-far-a-way.
Kyōko came back bit at feel of two fairies' itty-bitty bodies actually slamming into collarbone either side of Soul Gem her chest. Golden dome burst into place close-quarters firework, dazzling vision even before looked directly. Ears ringing sister cries, she focused the light as tunnel receded. Teeny-tiny fairy-bugs gripping hem of opening in her coat teeny-tiny worried expressions on teeny-tiny faces. Her Soul Gem very dark. Smoke-not-smoke burned off it. Ah, grease fire— smother it. Voices swam through ringing ears.
"—The baby out of here!"
crying going away
"Pushed her— edge—"
"So sudden—"
"—L at once like that?!"
"—Fuck's sake, Ura—! Did— have to—?!"
Warmth around her. Arms around her. Grounded.
"I'm here, Kyōko. It's me," Mami soothed voice waver. "It's Mami. Kyōko, can you hear me?"
"Momo," Kyōko blurted. Her voice sounded farrrrr away. The fairy-bugs' sad chimes closer than her voice. Huh. "Momo's crying."
Mami's breath hitched. "Oh— oh, Kyōko—"
"—Is Momo?" Frosty?
"—Was her sister," Mami answered.
"Oh. Fuck." Orangeygo?
"Crying trig— flash—?" Nerd?
"Despair—" Purplebitch
Warm hand on her sweaty cold brow, pushing bangs. "Kyōko. That's over. Come back here. To the shop. Look at me, Kyōko."
Kyōko let her eyes wander. The floor very close. When did come up like that? The grain the wood was swirly. "Hear Momo but she's dead," she mumbled.
The sound Mami's throat made was very strange. Mami trembled. "I— I don't—" Mami not talking to her but okay. "I don't know what to do," Mami squeaked.
Quick steps "Kyōko."
Kyōko was burning at stake why wasn't the floor burning it wood why— Hands on her cheeks, cupping jaw like Mom, lifting—
"Kyōko. Look at me."
Kyōko looked up, dazed. Bosslady Mom.
"Do you understand that she's not here?"
"Ye-yeah," Kyōko whispered. Yes. Momo was dead. Long dead. But— "Why do I— hear— her?" Something hot down her face.
Bosslady Mom looked sadangry rubbed thumbs on her cheeks. Wet. "Homura?"
"Yes?" Purplebitch hedged while Kyōko dully said, "'S not my name."
"How could her Soul Gem cause this?" Bosslady Mom barked.
"Ah."
Kyōko blinked a bit and looked around hazily. Purplebitch transformed and holding up the Pocky-pit.
"Distressing emotions cause a Soul Gem to darken. As the Gem gets darker, the despair intensifies; this causes the Gem to darken still more." Purplebitch held Kyōko's gaze. Purple eyes cool in the smoke. Kyōko grasped at her words. "It is a feedback loop of despair. Hallucinations are not unheard of."
"'Lucinaysin," Kyōko slurred.
Bosslady Mom kept rubbing her cheeks with her thumbs "Kyōko. Look at me."
"'Kay."
Different kinda purple eyes searching hers. "Do you still hear her?"
Distant crying, chest feeling lighter. Can't look away. "Kinda."
"All right." Bosslady Mom nodded like a decision. "You just keep looking at me and listening to me until you don't hear her anymore, okay?"
"'Kay."
Smile like Mom when she was sick, fingers brush away sweaty bangs. "This is why we want to keep you close. We don't want this to happen to you when you're by yourself. We don't want you to suffer."
Bosslady Mom didn't get it. "But I gotta. Dad said."
Sharp breaths around the room. Bosslady Mom's face angry underneath.
"Your father was wrong."
"I'm a Witch. I corrup— ted... the con— gregation." Old dead words fell out her mouth as she heard Dad say them in head, voice burn away like paper, monotone. "Consult God's instruction and the test— imony of warning. If anyone doesn't— speak according—"
"Please stop, Kyōko."
"—To this word, they have no light of— dawn." Despair dulling but words still there. "Distressed and h-hungry, they'll— they will—" voice crack
"Oh, sweetie, no."
"Roam— roam through the land; when they're famished, they'll become enraged and— and, looking up— will curse—" Kyōko looked ceilingward and felt wet on her face.
"Shhhhhh."
Shaking. "—Curse their God. Then they'll look toward the earth and see— only distress and— darkness and fearful gloom, and they'll— they will be thrust into utter dark— dark..." no more energy, no more voice
"We won't let that happen. You've had enough darkness in your life. You never deserved it in the first place."
"I—" lost.
"Kyōko. Look at me." Manchild Dad.
She did, let eyes wander to him. When he get so close?
Firm face, unhappy, angry under. "People say those things when they're afraid of people with powers like ours. People get angry and reject things when they don't understand them or are afraid. A lot of the time, it's because the thing would challenge their entire worldview. Right?"
She stared blankly.
He looked at golden glow below her chin, back at her face. "Think, Kyōko."
...Maybe?
"People like that think they know all the rules for how the world or people work and try to force new things to fit those rules," Bosslady Mom explained. "So they don't look for more information. They don't try to explore their rules to see if they were based on a misunderstanding. They double down. They hate being wrong."
Manchild Dad nodded. "And they get furious at the thing that didn't fit. They say awful, hateful things to make it go away or stop. Things like what your— father—" he spat the word— "told you."
Clicking heels. Purplebitch Homura standing behind Manchild Dad, who was on the floor with her so Homura standing taller. Ha. "Kyōko. You were just very angry because you were afraid of what we might be doing and that you might be trapped, were you not? That your understanding of the situation was shaken?"
Kyōko blinked slowly and thought. Like slogging through mud in smoke. "...Yeah?"
"Did you think terrible things about us?"
Words drifted back to her, drifted past her lips quietly as falling ash. "Liars... shall have their part in... the lake which burneth... fire and brimstone: the... second death."
"Oh. Well." Someone else far away.
"Fuckin' yikes." Karin?
"That is the kind of reaction people without powers often have toward people with powers," Homura said patiently.
"...Oh." Made sense. Actually, she kinda knew that. Room was coming back into focus and light. Kyōko blinked and looked down at her Soul Gem. Dim but much cleaner. Fairy-bugs looked tired.
"It was irresponsible of your father to turn on you. He never should have said such horrible things. You did not deserve that, and you do not deserve to suffer for his irresponsibility," Bosslady Mom said, voice thick.
Kyōko stared at her.
"We're sorry we lied to you," Manchild Dad said. "We were worried you might get upset like this if we told you everything as soon as you woke up. We always intended to tell you the truth; just in pieces so you'd have a break between each new thing."
"We wanted to spare you something like this," Bosslady Mom sighed. She brushed Kyōko's sweaty bangs aside again. "I'm sorry Tatsuya was the straw that broke your back. His dad and I will try to keep him from crying around you."
Tats— oh. Yeah. Toddler. The memories were swimming back to her as the smoke wafted out of her head. "Oh. Fuck. I scared the hell outta him, didn't I?"
"It's fine," Bosslady Mom soothed. "You weren't yourself." She looked at Kyōko more closely, still stroking her hair. "You're coming back to us."
Kyōko didn't know if that was supposed to be a question so she just stared.
The golden light at her chest flickered. Orihime breathed, "Guys, I— I'm sorry, I can't— not much longer. Still tired from— not enough back."
Bosslady Mom tapped Kyōko's nose to get her attention. "Do you still hear her?"
Kyōko opened her mouth, stopped, then said, "No."
Manchild Dad relaxed with a sigh of relief. Bosslady Mom smiled and said, "Welcome back. We're happy to have you."
Her throat hurt again. Couldn't swallow right.
"Miss Sakura."
Kyōko turned her head with effort to look at Bucket Hat Magic Science Clown. He was standing and looking concerned, hat held to his chest.
"I was perhaps too blasé in my explanation of the situation. My apologies."
Kyōko stared blankly at the man for a long moment then blurted, "You suck."
"You would not be the first to say so, Miss Sakura." Urahara strode over to where Bosslady Mom and Manchild Dad were sitting with her on the floor, carrying his cane instead of his fan. His voice and face were melancholy. He watched Kyōko but said, "Miss Inoue, disengage Shun Shun Rikka and rest."
The golden shield dissolved in sparkles and the fairy-bugs drunkenly wobbled through the air to perch in Orihime's hair. Her giant friend caught her when her knees went out.
"Miss Sakura, I think you should rest for awhile. You are... tired. We can talk more when Miss Inoue has recovered enough to intervene if things go sideways again. So you don't turn into a Witch."
"Oh. Okay."
"May I have your permission to... sedate you?"
Kyōko narrowed her eyes. "With drugs?"
"If you would prefer. I was going to use magic. I know a sleeping spell."
Kyōko stared. The pieces of her mind were slotting together; she remembered the earlier discussion better. Still didn't trust him, but... so goddamn tired. She scowled. "I guess. But you'd do it anyway, wouldn'tcha?"
"Maybe, maybe not," Urahara said as he put his hat back on and stepped up to her. He leaned over Bosslady Mom's shoulder to hold his hand in front of her face. Kyōko sensed the gathering of magic as he murmured, "Hakufuku."
Kyōko's vision wobbled in and out of focus, overlaid with shifting purple light. Dark cherry blossoms drifted down from... above? Their scent mixed with Pinky's rose aromatherapy magic and all the tension just bled out of her. She felt very disoriented and sleepy, but... not in a bad way.
"See you soon, Miss Sakura. Sleep w
§ x § x §
The dining room was silent for a long minute. Everyone took in the scene now that the crisis had passed. Junko cradled Kyōko's sleeping body like the girl was her own daughter. Isshin stayed kneeling nearby looking deeply sad. Urahara stood over them and just stared thoughtfully.
After what felt like hours of stillness, Urahara sighed, "Well. That went well."
§ x § x §
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A/N: I am aware my Scripture is incorrect in parts. Reverend Sakura was excommunicated for twisting his base religion; the dub has Kyōko say he preached things that weren't in or were different from the Bible. Kyōko is most familiar with her father's... interpretation, for lack of a better word.
Kinda basing some Kyōko stuff on conversations I've had with friends who were raised in various denominations but left/rejected them in their teens or later. Also basing some of her outlook on the tendency of children to assume their family dynamic is the "normal" one even if it's abusive. Also, there are a couple scenes from PMMM Portable in which Kyōko reacts poorly to Tatsuya crying in public. Including a flashback to when she was little.
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.