[based on To The Stars, by Hieronym ( /works/777002/chapters/1461984 / s/7406866/1/To-the-Stars)
will include crossovers with other manga beyond OnK and PMMM.
this will probably be a long fic, and the chapters will update very slowly after the first few ones (which have already been written). apologies in advance - writing is difficult and painful for me.
notice: I have not approached Hieronym, so treat this as strictly fanwork. I've tried to stay true to TtS canon from as far as I read, but no guarantees I managed.]
"What I possess, seems far away to me, and what is gone becomes reality."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust
December 26th, 2027. Around 16:30 (4:30 PM). Odaiba Beach Park, Minato-ku, Tokyo.
"I believed that... that you'd definitely come back, because your expression screamed, 'I wanna live in the future'. You didn't look like someone who wanted to die."
She stares at the setting sun, holding the bouquet as tightly as she tries to hold her smile.
Hers arms are tense, the flowers almost breaking... It's not working. She cannot hide her pain from the horizon's gaze. It's surreal.
"Why didn't you let me help you?"
Her eyes glaze over. Her throat tightens as memories crash far more violently than the tiny waves around her.
"If you wanted to, we could've planned the perfect crime together. I was ready to become a murderer."
Her composure cracks. Her knees fail, and she collapses onto the sand, the flowers tumbling in the cold waters of the Odaiba Beach. His body had been found by a fisherman here. It feels proper - no strength to keep her upright. It's not like she feels she can go forward anyway.
The tears mercifully come, slowly at first, then in gushes.
"I would've... I would have even gone to hell as long as I was with you", she mumbles at last between sobs.
I can help you with that. A strange voice, inside her head - strange, unfamiliar, childlike.
Her heart skips a beat. The hairs on the back of her neck prickle. She looks up startled, and sees... nothing.
The ocean, the sand, the sunset, the wind. And then, suddenly, to her left she sees... a cat? What was a cat doing in the beach?
No, it's not a cat. It's something else.
It's something she cannot comprehend.
"Who is there? Is this some sort of prank?!"
It can't be. That... thing looks like a magical girl series mascot, like Kero-chan from that old anime her mother used to watch as a kid, wings (?) and all, an uncanny, twisted parody of something innocent. Those red eyes... She looks around for some whiff of sense, in vain.
I am no prankster. The universe has deemed fit to bring a terrible fate on the young Hoshino Ai, and on all around her... including Hoshino Aquamarine. The chill in the air intensifies with every word the creature speaks - or rather thinks; she's sure there's no sound coming out from it. Yet the air feels heavier, like it's pressing against her chest - or maybe it doesn't, and it's just her fear warping the world around her.
But you can change that fate, Kurokawa Akane. With my help.
What little measure of composure she has managed to regain breaks again as she sits on the sand, her boots and socks and dress drenched. There is nobody around, nobody but her and that bizarre creature which speaks directly to her thoughts, its tail swaying. So many emotions rush her, so many questions, so much anger at reality and this creature and everything, and above all, so much FEAR... but she can't stop sobbing.
A flash of Kana-san's voice scolding her inelegant blubbering appears in her mind and makes her laugh through the tears, despite all.
The creature remains still, its eyes unblinking. She lowers her head again to hide the tears. After five seconds that feel like an eternity, she looks up, her makeup a mess.
"You... speak of changing fate. I was starting to question whether there was any truth to all that occult stuff, after the whole reincarnation plot of the movie", her voice comes, wavering, weak. "Was that real after all? Was that you? Who are you? Are you a god?"
I am no God. I am an agent in the war against entropy. My name is of no consequence now. - The creature's voice turns harsher, graver, somewhat like a bird's call. - Indeed, I was responsible for the reincarnation of those you know as Hoshino Ruby and Hoshino Aquamarine - and I am here because your soul rebels against the karma of your life, same as the one who brought their reincarnation into being. You can make a wish that alters reality, so long as it is truly your heart's desire.
"Nothing is that easy, creature." The girl finally manages to steady herself, her voice becoming more stable, the words coming out faster. "I am not a hero, and saviours do not appear out of nowhere with mystical powers asking for nothing in exchange. If you are real and not a hallucination, if... if you can..." - she stops for a second, fighting to remain calm, unable to even look at it further, "what is your price, then? Is it my soul?"
In a way. The voice seems closer and more serene now, almost as if deliberately trying to calm her. You have potential to become a Magical Girl. For your wish you will become one, and will fight against all demons that plague mankind, until your final day.
That is the extent of my price. It is not a small one, and you will regret it many times.
She swallows hard. The dread clawing at her is suffocating, worse than anything she had ever experienced - except for the horror at the realization that Aqua was not going to come back. She understands him, and she respects... No, that is not true, was it? She does not respect his wishes, not in full. She cannot respect him for leaving everyone behind - it's bad for her, but for the girls it's even worse. She can live without him - maybe? - but she can't let him go and leave those two broken.
It is also a lie that the dread in her heart now is smaller than all of that. It is larger. Much larger.
Still, she straightens her back and looks at the horizon. The doubts are there, but so is every person that is dear to her and that is falling apart right now. And so is the fear. But, if there is a chance...
"Hear then my plea!"
Her eyes like stars, her expression changes, and, consummate actress that she is, she assumes one of her favourite masks, the fear turning into a rapier to riposte. This could be the worst mistake she will ever make... but she'll do it anyway.
Very well. What is your heart's desire, Kurokawa Akane?
"I will be the Faust for your Mephistopheles and become that which you ask of me, and I will go through Hell if need be!"
And then she raises her hand and points to the creature, all doubt, for a merciful instant, fading from her mind.
"But, in exchange, my wish is that all those I love be allowed to live happy, long, fulfilling lives. I will not let Ruby and Kana fall apart. I wish my beloved to be happy!"
Silence. Utter silence.
Then, after what seems like an eternity, the creature's booming voice echoes in her mind.
Then so be it, Kurokawa Akane. Your wish has been granted, and your soul has successfully been torn away from its karma.
You are now Mahou Shoujo.
Then comes the agony, a suffering that cannot be put in words, numbers, measures, or anything.
In that infinitely smell fraction of a second, what happens is something far worse than she ever felt, or she thought possible, or she thought could be made possible. It like her soul was suddenly pushed deep below the ocean, pressure pushing to and fro every possible side, consumed by the tide, twisted and shattered by the currents of some terrible force. A storm tearing everything in its path, caving her chest in, shredding her to the her core, splintering her into something unrecognizable.
She cannot see. She cannot breathe. She cannot think. She cannot be.
And then, as sudden as it came, it just vanishes.
When she opens her eyes, the sun hurts them, as if it is her first time seeing it. Colours are sharper, more vivid. The creature is nowhere to be found. The only things left are her, the flowers, and a glowing aquamarine set in a brooch floating before her, irradiating a haunting blue light.
Your Soul Gem. The voice again speaks directly to her thoughts. It is your destiny, Kurokawa Akane, and it belongs to you. Take it. Get your bearings. There is much work ahead.
She wants to say something... anything. But her throat feels parched, gross, hard to use. Every breath is like struggling to after almost drowning, gasping for something she doesn't quite know how to name.
Trembling, she picks the brooch, shiver at how cold to the touch it is, and contemplates it for... seconds, minutes, hours?
Then her cell phone rings, and, startled, she almost drops it.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, AKA-CHAAAAAAAAAAN?!"
She blinks. Arima Kana's voice should be familiar, but the way she's talking?
" ...A-Arima-san? What happened? Why are you calling me..."
" Where the actual FUCK are you, you dumbass? And who the hell is 'Arima-san'? It's Ai-san's birthday, did you forget? I need my best friend with me for my mother-in-law's birthday, Ruby-chan's asking for you, and Aqua-kun obviously wants you here too! It's in their house - get your ass here, NOW!"
Her eyes widen, her body freezes... and before she can mumble an answer, a rogue wave comes from behind her, and tackles her down, and takes her phone down, and drags her phone into the sea.
Shit!
Best friend? Mother-in-law? Aqua is alive? Ai?!
And as realization floods in like a rapid-changing tide, Kurokawa Akane, Mahou Shoujo, starts to realize that her meddling with the fabric of reality has gone way beyond what she had imagined possible... and that her "partner" was way more dangerous than Mephistopheles himself.
December 27th, 2027. 00:24. Jikei University Hospital, Minato-ku.
Only when the familiar snoring comes from the other side of the room does she finally relax.
Her mother had finally fallen asleep, after hours of an understandably concerned frenzy with her daughter's health status. Kurokawa Monika is usually not a smothering parent, and her relationship with Akane is pretty easy-going particularly after she became an adult the year before - it couldn't be different, with her daughter working long hours from an early age.
The present situation, however, rather justifies it. She had arrived home confused, late at night, missing her phone, drenched and looking like she'd been through a storm, hours after going incommunicado while she was supposed to be with Kana-chan; after her daughter's friend called her trying to reach her, and she herself couldn't reach her for what seemed like an eternity, it was a testament to Monika's willpower that she has just called the police and her husband, and was not in the middle of a panic attack by the time Akane knocked at their apartment's door.
That Akane barely remembered what happened to her during the day only made it worse.
She was rushed to a hospital, where after undergoing thorough examination, the doctors could find absolutely nothing wrong with her. No visible wounds, ordinary blood tests, nothing on the image exams, no signs of even a concussion. There was no obvious reason why she would have been confused; Akane herself said she might be overworked and overstressed, and with no better explanation, the doctors decided to keep her into the hospital overnight just in case, then send her home in the morning if nothing changed.
At first she didn't think they'd believe her lie, but well, if there is something her time with Aqua has taught her, it is to lie well. Especially when it is a half-truth, since she WAS overstressed - it just had nothing to do with work, or, in fact, with anything she could explain.
She hates lying, but sometimes it's everything she has left.
After all, it's not like she can tell people she had just retroactively changed over a decade of history with a wish made to some pompous, weird mascot thing that tore her soul apart. She wouldn't believe it if someone told her that, and the only reason she was sure it happened is that Arima Kana had come to the hospital to see her, bringing along Ruby and two people that, a few hours ago, she knew were dead.
Well, that and their behaviour. Kana almost literally tackled her in the hospital bed, her face red with tears of concern, a far cry from the irritable contrarian she had known, even at her most moderate. And Aqua was a totally different person from the one she interacted with for three years now - much kinder, much more open, much less serious, miles from how he was with her even during the months he had been her boyfriend.
And then there was Ai.
Nothing could have prepared her to meet the real Ai. Even with all the videos and pictures and the whole profile she had studied to mimic her behaviour in LoveforReal, even after watching Ruby become her for the movie, the idol in front of her was a complete stranger - and a staggering one in ways that Akane struggled to put in words, even to herself. Half the time they were there, Akane was blushing and trying not to stare back.
Aqua being alive could somehow be waved away - maybe she just had a horrific nightmare, and had temporarily lost the capacity to distinguish between dream and reality. It would have very bad implications about her mental health (which was already something she was rather worried about, all things considered), and it was harder to ignore his completely different behaviour, but maybe she'd had a concussion or something the doctors didn't find and the last days had not actually happened.
A superstar idol who had died fifteen years before, who she was certain she had never seen in the flesh, whose murder was the reason for so much that happened in her life in the last three years at least and the subject of a movie she had just worked on, was something else entirely. And when Ai reached out to touch her hand, well, that could not be explained rationally by any means.
Unless you bring magic in, inasmuch as the supernatural could even be seen as "rational" anyway. So she probably was not insane. Maybe? It's hard to be sure.
Her mother falling asleep means she can finally stop pretending everything is alright. She wasn't faking the confusion, but tired as she might be, she doubts she'd sleep without heavy meds. And now she can start to understand, really understand, this apparent new reality she's in. Which means doing what (she thinks) she is best at: research!
Well, after some minutes of making meme-worthy faces of sheer terror at everything that was happening to her, but so it goes. She was finding that humour helped a bit in dealing with the worst of the feelings of inadequacy.
Her phone was gone, but fortunately she still has her notebook. Also fortunately she still used the same dumb password, so she manages to login by typing "b3llp3pp3r"in the keyboard.
Which, hopefully, Kana-chan would never hear about.
Her nose was used to the anti-septic smell of the hospital by now. So immersed in dozens of browser tabs and social media posts she was, she has no idea how long it took for her to notice the creature was sitting on the shelf looking at her, just like a cat except not at all.
She is even less sure where it came from, or if "where" even applies to it.
You waste no time, Kurokawa Akane.
It glances (she thinks? It was difficult to read any expression in its face) at her left hand and at the teal six-pointed star mark on her middle fingernail.
You have already learned to disguise your Soul Gem. Excellent
"It just hid itself there when I realized I couldn't explain how I got a weird jewel out of nowhere. Not that I can easily explain any part of this day", she makes a visible (well, audible) effort not to raise her voice, frustration palpable, "like being on Odaiba beach out of nowhere when I was supposed to be kilometres away or losing my phone to waves on a waveless beach, or not being familiar with people I'm supposed to know for years, or, well, that apparently I've suddenly shifted into a parallel reality after making a contract with something inhuman and supernatural." She makes a small noise and throws her hands in the air.
I am aware that I gave you nothing to work with, Kurokawa Akane. For what it's worth, I am sorry for that.
If it is actually sorry, that doesn't appear on its voice, which is as cold and direct as always. She realizes, to her surprise, that she actually believes it.
Not that it frustrates her any less, and just as she catches her breath to answer, it speaks again.
I have reasons, which you might understand in time. But now is not time for explanations of this nature. There is a task ahead of us which cannot be postponed any further .
She snaps.
"Really? And what could be so urgent that you appear this late at night and refuse to explain yourself further, o Mephistopheles? You just turn me into... this, throw me into this mess, and now I'm supposed to go along having no idea what to do? Am I going to feel like I have gone insane forever, flailing about without answers?!"
She says that nearly snarling, shaking from the anger and the exhaustion and the confusion, but abruptly stops, fists clenched, knuckles white. Not how she usually behaves with anybody other than Arima, but again, nothing is usual about all of this
You are an important asset, and I need you to learn what you will need to survive the dangers of being Mahou Shoujo, Kurokawa Akane, unless you want to last much less than it takes to get yourself acquainted with a new character role. Think of it as doing precisely that, if it makes it easier.
Now follow me.
She looks at it for a second, as if about to deny it... then she sighs, closes her notebook and gets up - and before she can do anything else, even get out of her pajamas, the creature jumps from the shelf to the window, which just opened without a sound, and opens its wings.
Then it plummets down from the 12th floor onto the street. And without any hesitation, Akane's body somehow just goes after easily, before she's able to scream, before her mind is even capable of being horrified. It's pure instinct, and, even more surprising, pure joy. Like she was made for it and was always like this, her body twists and shifts in mid-air like an acrobat, like a... well, like a cat.
It takes until she lands - without hurting anything, without even flinching - for her to realize what just happened and start to whisper a silent prayer. And then, before she can even process the fact that her body is not splattered against the concrete below her, the creature jumps and perches at her shoulder, then imparts on her mind the place where they're going - but not before it thinks something else to her, again in an unexpectedly softer tone.
In truth, however, you are going to feel stalked by insanity for the rest of your days. I certainly do.