Chapter Text
So. There the six of them were. Natalia, Astra Invicta, was in kissing distance with the glass dragon, followed by Astra Terra and Jasper Irinka. Luna was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Up on the roof of a partially abandoned house that it turned out Astra Terra lived in, Riot Blue and Riot Purple had just saved everyone with a well-timed instrumental.
“Thank you,” Natalia said, and despite her flat affect, she found she meant it. “... Sorry.”
Rather than dwell on the thing that will end in pain, she broke the moment by casually throwing a hook to keep the dragon honest. The dragon’s jaw made a sound like chipping a tile, and its neck twisted halfway around. Hairline fractures split and squeaked terribly, but slowly melted over and sealed. “Think you can sneak up on me, do you?”
Riot Blue grinned and counted herself and Purple back in. “One two three FOUR--”
“Uh. Natalia? It was pretty much always there,” Astra Terra said. “--Right-- Identities, you’re Invicta--”
“Okay, hear me out,” Luna said, reappearing with a garden hose.
Both Purple and Blue picked up the beat exactly where they left off.
So knock us down,
and watch us stand!
Our colors bleed, across the land!
Put us out, and cut us through -
Burn us down, and we'll be born anew!
“Yeah! Time for round two!” Terra shouted, triumphant. Somehow, she produced a metal tenderizer from underneath all the skirts and taffeta.
“Round two!?” Invicta said, high hook to reverse punch to knee to side kick. She slipped the incoming flame breath on instinct, the hint of warmth being the only warning she needed. “I didn’t hear a bell.”
As if to punctuate this, Jasper matched Natalia’s counter-uppercut with a downward strike with her improvised hammer, breaking open the neck once more.
Riot Blue picked up the lyrics:
I know, the things you say
When you don't think I'm here!
Before you tell me you don't hate me,
Stop voting that I disappear!
And her rhythm burst forth, each beat a solid wave of sound. The glass whined, and the cracks spread.
Luna turned up the hose, raising huge gouts of steam on one side as the water hit it. A huge BANG from the steam and the cut split the dragon’s back wide open, and she hollered like she just got five kids to paint a fence for her.
Purple picked up the pre-chorus:
It's your pocketbook, against my personhood
Your comfort, against my rights!
You wanna cure me, you wanna fix me
I wanna kick you to the curb!
And her alto's grass roots slowly pulled the dragon to the earth. Its form shifted, flexed, pooled to try and escape.
And all the while, Astra Terra stared at the spectacle of it. “This is so cool!”
Only then did she look down and see that its tail was right next to her, growing longer and thinner. “Oh! I’ve seen this on the internet!”
The music hit the chorus--
So knock us down,
and watch us stand!
Our colors bleed, across the land!
Put us out, and cut us through -
Burn us down, and we'll be born anew!
“What--!?” Invicta shouted, but it was too late.
Astra Terra dropped the meat tenderizer on it.
The entire dragon, suddenly, at last, as if finally feeling every other blow that landed on it, shattered into a spray of thousands of little bits of glass with a sound like gravel exploding. Everyone except Terra shielded their eyes and mouth from the assault.
When the spray stopped bouncing, all that remained was a floating chunk of glass, golden, with sharp edges. Inside, it glowed blood-red, like a beating heart. Invicta knew this was bad news.
“Yeah! We did it~!” Terra completely ignored the problem. Invicta should have known that no matter what else was true, Terra would remain a space case.
“It’s not done yet!” Blue shouted, and as if to emphasize that, the glass chunk thrummed with a resonance not unlike the buzzing in your teeth after running for your life.
Around them, all the little glass pieces made a sound like dumping marbles.
“What?” Natalia took a step back, trying to avoid the heat under her boots.
“Hey, no, no--” Luna sprayed down the hot glass where she could, but even for her, that wasn’t an easy sell. “Stay down!”
The shards were gathering at the broken-glass core, like it was taking gleaming armfuls of sand and rebuilding its sandcastle.
Despite all of this, Jasper Irinka, the alien girl who had to be dissuaded from using plumbing supplies as a spicy sauce, plucked the core out of the rising pile of glass bits. “Oh, you’re not getting away.”
Jasper bit down, until there was a sudden CRACK, like taking a hammer to hard candy left to cool too long.
“Jasper!” Invicta said, reaching for her. This seemed like such a bad idea, even for someone of her constitution.
Jasper hummed and tilted her head as if she wasn’t appreciating the piquant flavor of a chunk of glass. “Oh, man, I really missed that! It’s kinda smoky, has it been here a while? I dunno, usually fresh corruption’s better, it’s got that heat from the urgency, but I guess hunger’s the best spice. You should really try it, Natalia!”
“Jasper, I cannot eat glass. I would die.”
“Eh, your loss!” Jasper shrugged, taking another bite. Everyone else cringed at the sound, but the rest of the glass stopped moving.
“Maybe mustard in tonight’s dinner, then,” Natalia pondered.
Claire and Nova stared at the display, until Nova broke up into a long, sonorous laugh. “Oh man. You guys are flammin awesome.”
“I can cook for you guys!” Terra suddenly said.
“Let’s. Put that on the back burner,” Rinley put up their hands to try and slow Terra down.
“You know, as long as it’s not sauteed glass magica core?” Claire said. “I’d be happy to.”
“Ehh, you should probably slow-boil it instead, this is pretty tough,” Jasper continued, the snap of glass marking another bite.
“Ah. Right. Speaking of:” Natalia looked Astra Terra up and down, without a hint of change of expression. “What is this?”
“The. Wishing power of my heart?”
“I see. Does that have a name?”
Astra Terra took a step back, with a hint of fear.
Rinley rolled their eyes. God, Natalia’s bad at this. “Hey. What should we call you? You still Chuubo?”
“No!” She stopped. “Uh. Shoukyo. Shoukyo. I’ve. Been thinking about it a while, I just--”
Jasper and Nova almost bashed heads bringing Shoukyo in for a hug, and Natalia reluctantly followed Claire and Rinley.
All of them felt so bright, except for herself. She just felt. Tired.
“Welcome to the sisterhood, Shoukyo!” Nova said.
“But…”
“Hey, the Maidensong vouched for you, and if it’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for you,” Claire threw in.
“You guyyyyyyyys--” Astra Terra, Shoukyo as she first became, started crying, and Natalia put her hand on Shoukyo’s head.
“It will be well,” Natalia said.
“Nataliaaaaa!”
The sound of crunching glass signaled Jasper taking her last bite.
When Shoukyo had cried her tears, and the hug had at last started to break up, and the Maidensong’s part temporarily done, Claire said, “Okay, so. Sara’s going to want to see this, right?”
“Yeah,” Nova agreed.
“You two comped me a pass, so I’ll comp for Shoukyo,” Rinley offered. “One good turn deserves another.”
“We might actually finish a show.” Claire said. “Amazing. After that, we can get everyone to Starlight.”
“Starlight.” Rinley’s eyes narrowed. “I dunno, every time I hear about this ‘international cooperation group’ centered on delivering magical girls to problems, I can’t help but smell bacon.”
“We’re not cops,” Claire said. “I know it’s a little hard to believe, since I got that impression at first, too, but it’s really not like that.”
“Sounds like something a cop would say.”
“Excuse me!?” Nova shouted. “I'm in Starlight, you idiot. Do you think I would willingly join the cops?"
Rinley paused, looked Nova over, and hummed. “You know what? You’re right. Us queer idiots gotta stick together.”
“Darn right,” Nova grinned.
“You’re all welcome on Vancent Price for a lift to the Den,” Claire added.
Rinley laughed. “I’d be glad to!”
“Aw, cool! You guys have a team car and everything! Of course I’d love to,” Shoukyo said, in her usual fashion.
“Perhaps I had best as well,” Natalia muttered.
“Well, I gotta take Seafoam. It’d be weird if he just started following you back,” Jasper said. “Natalia, you wanna come with, not crowd Vancent?”
Nova and Rinley exchanged a glance, and Nova added, “Yeah, that sounds like a better plan. You’ll have plenty of time to talk to us in the Vault, don’t worry!”
“Someone should be watching over you,” Claire agreed, solemnly, picking up Nova’s cue, even if she wasn’t sure why Nova was trying to set up these two. “Especially since you decided to have a snack of a corrupted magica core made of glass.”
“In that case,” Natalia said, confusion spreading over her face, “Wouldn’t someone more experienced with magic be a better choice?”
“I have to drive,” Claire said.
“I’m scared of motorcycles,” Nova lied.
“I wanna talk with Nova,” Rinley said.
“You’ve been a magical girl longer than I have,” Shoukyo noted. Not that Shoukyo was up on the context, she just had experienced Jasper’s motorcycle skills before.
Jasper shoved her spare helmet into Natalia’s hands, looking up at her with a smile. “Well, that’s the verdict. Come on, Seafoam’s a lot more fun when he’s unyoked and unbridled.”
Thankfully, having to follow Claire meant at least paying lip service to things like ‘staying in a lane’ and ‘kind of obeying the speed limit if you squint’. Without the shock of fear every time Jasper swapped lanes with a car, and the terrifying way she’d manage to go between lanes with a sidecar (where had the sidecar gone?) Natalia found herself leaning into Jasper’s back. She had an excuse ready if Jasper asked, but Jasper never did. In Natalia’s fevered imagination, Jasper settled in against her when they stopped briefly.
Jasper brought Seafoam to a halt, and turned to meet Natalia, sitting sidesaddle with the kickstand down. “I knew you were magical.”
Natalia blinked, heavily, and pulled off her helmet, shaking out her head and her thoughts. “Not. Magical. Not really.”
Her eyes lingered on Jasper’s hand, resting on her hip. Natalia's head struggled to lift to Jasper’s visor, instead of that hand, her shoulder, the curve of her under the jacket. “I don’t think you realize just how much you’ve affected everyone around you already. Me, too, you know? I’d probably be sleeping in a roadside shrine or something without you.”
Natalia’s heart skipped a beat. Her eyes shot back up. Jasper had lifted her visor, front and all.
Natalia probably needed more water than she thought; she was overheating.
Sara Ward opened the backstage door. She blinked, crossing her arms. “... Four, huh? This is getting out of hand. Mind introducing me?”
Natalia rallied her energy one last time. “Yes. Yes, of course. These are my. Acquaintan. ces. . .”
As she stepped off the bike, Natalia’s legs gave out from under her. She found herself falling forward and into the arms of Jasper. “Hey. Hey, stay with us, Natalia.”
“Okay,” Claire said, “I think I see what you mean…”
Whatever else Claire was going to tell Sara faded out with the rest of the conversation as the static finally claimed Natalia’s vision.