Chapter Text
Today was ruined.
The thought haunted Olivia Smith as she hesitantly made her way to the tram station. She didn't want to be in a crowd. Not now. Not in this dress. She can't blend in like this. They're all going to look at her and wonder what the deal is with the girl in the yellow dress and gray stocking cap. She looked weird. She looked wrong. This wasn't her. This wasn't how she wanted people to think of her. She wasn't a dress-wearer. She was a black T-shirt and jeans wearer. Ideally the jeans would also be black. Some color was allowed (even pink) if the shirt was a concert T. She'd never get through the door of the 201 looking like this. Not without a lot of laughs. Would she ever be able to go back to the 201 even if she wanted to? No matter what Julie said, she wasn't Power Weapon anymore. She had no more power, she had no more presence or aura. She was just a frail, scared child in a yellow fucking dress. If she wasn't frail she would walk home instead of taking the damn tram. The gym was helping sure, but she wasn't ready to walk that far yet.
Nobody's looking at you. You don't look stupid. You don't stand out. Relax. Hold it together long enough to get home and you can put this bullshit behind you.
Blessedly the tram wasn't packed so she was able to get a little breathing room in the back. At least that's what she initially thought until 2 suspicious girls breathlessly jumped on the last second. Clearly magical girls judging from their hair.
Ok there are still plenty of seats elsewhere so they'll just sit down somewhere else and they look like they're looking for somebody and they're looking this way and oh shit no they're looking for me. Please no. Not this, not today. What can they want? What the hell can magical girls want with me?
Much to Olivia's chagrin, both girls took a seat nearby. Olivia couldn't help but note that the green-haired one was looking at her in doe-eyed awe. There was something about being looked at like that that made Olivia terribly uncomfortable.
"Holy shit you're Power Weapon." Maria Greene could barely contain her excitement. Her hero, not even 5 feet away from her. She never thought she'd see this day. She didn't get her powers until Power Weapon lost hers and at that point she completely fell off the map.
"Nope, got me mistaken for somebody else kid." Olivia knew it was hopeless but she blurted out the lie anyway. She knew that however much she might not look like herself at the moment she wasn't exactly in disguise and was in fact pretty easy to recognize if you had ever seen her before.
"Nuh-uh. Your face is pretty unique. Nobody else has piercings like that."
Olivia thought maybe she should try the brusque approach.
"Ok kid you got me, what the fuck do you want?" Olivia knew as soon as the words came out she had felt. There was no fire to them, they limped weakly out of her mouth; the flaccid words of a girl who was at present deeply embarrassed.
"Holy shit I am totally your biggest fan! How are you? Where have you been? Why are you dressed like that?" Maria caught a fleeting glare from her sister Elizabeth at that last question.
Failing the brusque approach (and what Power Weapon fan would be put off by brusqueness anyway) Olivia opted for brevity.
"Shitty, retired, lost a bet." Olivia immediately realized she shouldn't have said shitty.
"Shitty? What's wrong? Is it anything we can help with? We're magical girls too you know. I'm Maria and this is my sister Elizabeth. We're Team Witch."
Olivia realized trying to blow Maria off was hopeless. She was going to have to earnestly engage these two like an adult. Even if it went without saying that her problems were none of theirs.
"Just a bad day."
"Oh. How's the post-magical girl life treating you?" It was now Maria's turn to be embarrassed. She was finally living a dream. The Power Weapon in front of her and all she could come up with was dime-store small talk.
"Never lose your powers kids."
Although Elizabeth Greene lacked her sister's interest in Olivia that question piqued her curiosity. "Why not? I mean, didn't it wear you out doing it for years? Being scared that you'd come back home for sure? Worrying your loved ones? Having to split school life and magical girl life?"
Olivia sized up Elizabeth. She could tell immediately that she was an innocent little butternut squash of a girl. And she knew that she was going to have a hard time answering those questions in a way that wouldn't traumatize her. And she definitely knew that there was absolutely, positively no way in hell she was going to admit that was more frightened at this very moment in time than she ever was out there.
"I didn't worry about that stuff. I just fought. Fighting feels right. Not fighting just sucks."
"See Elizabeth, that's why Power Weapon is the best. She knows what's important and she's not afraid to stand up and tell it like it is no matter who is asking! Also pulling box cutters out of your sleeves is awesome. Even though I personally use a knife."
Olivia was able to bust out a tiny smirk at the notion of this star-struck child stabbing monsters with a knife. "Yeah, it was pretty awesome. Shame it had to fucking go away."
"So what's up these days? Gone from fighting monsters to fighting humans?"
"Kid, look at me. Without my powers you could probably kick my ass. I'm nothing without them." Olivia had no idea why she blurted that out. Every time she was confronted with the notion of fighting that lunged out of her mouth. Some sort of ridiculous self-flagellation. And now she just yelled it to her last surviving fan.
For her part, Maria was stunned. She had no idea how to react to it so she simply changed the subject. "So...ummm...we saw you with another girl. She looked an awful lot like Power Pop."
"Yes that was Power Pop." Olivia was more than happy to change the subject.
"You two hang out? Wait, is she who you lost the bet to?"
"Yes...well really it was more of a dare than a bet." Olivia saw no more reason to lie about it. "I did this to get her to get her nose pierced."
"Wow really? I never figured you hung out much aside from being magical girls together."
Even though Elizabeth had little particular interest in Olivia on her own there was always a little question that popped up in her head whenever Olivia would show off any merchandise or media that had both Power Weapon and Power Pop on it. She didn't want to ask as it was really none of her business but if the conversation was headed that way anyway...
"..Are...are you and Power Pop...a couple?"
Olivia's cheeks turned maroon. Her first impulse was deny, deny, deny. It was bad enough Julie knew. The public could not know that the most badass magical girl to ever walk the earth was a couple with her saccharine partner.
Her second impulse was to come clean.
"Yeah actually. Candi is my girlfriend." Olivia admitted to herself that it felt wonderful to say that to people. Maybe 'Power Weapon' was embarrassed to be in love with her partner but Olivia? Olivia felt that the notion that her love of Candi was something to be hidden was disgusting. It was in the running to be the most wonderful thing that ever happened to her (as much as she loved Candi the night she got her powers was so momentous that it can not be moved from the pinnacle so casually). It was something to be proud of. It was something to celebrate!
Maria meanwhile struggled to pick her jaw up off the floor.
"No way..."
"What? You got a problem with my partner?"
"Um...no." Maria didn't have a problem with Power Pop. She simply couldn't understand how she could form a team with her hero. "Just...she doesn't seem like your...type?"
Olivia thought about giving Maria a hard time about this but decided that the viewpoint was understandable. "I know. We seem like an odd pair huh? I ain't gonna go into details, just know that your hero thinks Candi..." Olivia thought twice about using her full name "Power Pop is the most wonderful person she's ever met."
"I guess the candy girl was the peanut butter to your dark chocolate huh." Maria smirked.
So didn't Olivia.
"So...ummm...can I get your autograph?" Maria couldn't hold back the question of the hour anymore.
"Sorry kid I don't have a pen. And you don't have anything to sign anyway."
Elizabeth frantically searched the bags she bought from the craft store. "I have some laundry markers here."
"Oooh oooh sign my shirt!"
"Uhhh alright." Olivia grabbed the pen and started to write her name on the collar of Maria's shirt. She got as far as 'O' before realizing 'oh wait you probably want me to sign this as Power Weapon."
"Oh yeah if you don't mind. Actually I don't even know what your civvie name is?"
"Olivia"Why
Maria bristled. Even though she asked somehow knowing her hero's civilian name felt strange and wrong to her. And Olivia? That was the name of a fashion model or a pop idol, not the punk queen of magical girls.
"Alright there you go." Olivia said as she resealed the marker and gave it back to Elizabeth.
"How's it look?"
Elizabeth looked slightly dismayed.
"You can barely read it."
Maria looked down at her new collector's item with a chuckle. "Well obviously, it's upside down."
"Look, signing a shirt somebody's wearing on a bus is hard ok!" Olivia took offense at the shade being thrown at her signature.
"It doesn't matter if you can read it easy or not. I know what it says and it's not like this is the first hard to read signature ever? I mean do you have any idea how hard it is to forge mom's signature Elizabeth?"
Sometimes Elizabeth couldn't tell if her sister was joking or not.
Through all this, something prodded at Olivia. Why does this girl still care? Power Weapon is dead. Does she know she's not actually talking to Power Weapon right now? Why did Julie still care? Legend? What world does she live in? Magical girls get forgotten the second their hair changes back. What is up with these people?
"So anyway...um...why do you care? You know I'm ABC gum at this point? No powers, no flavor. Yesterday's news."
"Are you KIDDING? We all fight the fight out there but you were like a badass goddess! I worship you!"
Goddess. Worship.
A needle skipped in Olivia's head. Fire consumed her brain, nausea filled her guts.
You are to be the perfect vessel for The Founder's power. A savior. A second coming. A goddess even. A cleansing fire to purge the filth of the night.
What farce is this? So you got the dream? So what? Everything about this is wrong. This isn't the countenance of a goddess. This isn't the power of a savior. This is mockery. Vulgarity. Failure. You've wasted my life, now get out of my sight while I figure out what I'm supposed to do from here. \
I'm still a magical girl mater. 'Exalted be those touched with The Founder's blessing. May none be burdened by malison by those who hold The Founder as sacrosanct.' The Righteous Words 3-7. I am still a vessel for his power and I will be treated as such.
<A silent tantrum, a storming off. A second true taste of power...but not divinity. Never divinity>
"I'M NOT YOUR GODDESS KID! I'M NOT ANYBODY'S GODDESS! I NEVER WILL BE ANYBODY'S GODDESS! Shit...I'm sorry ok. I'm sorry I'm not your fucking goddess. Don't...don't fucking worship me. Fucking ridiculous." Olivia sputtered out words with a righteous rage tempered by a sort of shame she had never before experienced. Still fluctuation between angry and apologetic mutters she stormed off the bus before Maria's apology could reach her ears.
"Power Weapon wait!" Seeing Olivia leave the bus in such a state made Maria think the only logical thing to do was to follow her. But as she went to jump to her feet a hand on her shoulder held her down.
"Maria, no."
"Why not?"
"I don't think she wants us following her right now."
"But...but..." Maria had been getting an impression of Olivia over the course of her conversation, one she didn't want to face. But with that outburst it was obvious it was there. "...she needs help Maria."
Elizabeth was surprised Maria had come to this conclusion about her longtime hero, even if it was blindingly obvious based on how the conversation ended alone, but wanted to see what insights her sister had on the subject.
"Oh?"
"I mean it's obvious isn't it? Her whole body language. She didn't look me in the eye for that entire conversation, she was constantly trying to cover her body with her arms like she didn't want people looking at her. That cap doesn't match her dress at all. Why was she even wearing it?"
"It's kind of chilly outside."
"Yeah but that ain't why. I got a peek at her shopping bag. Hair dye. Black. And nothing else. She's hiding her hair I think."
"That might be a bit of a stretch."
"And the stuff she was saying 'Never lose your powers kids. Without my powers I'm nothing.'"
"Are you surprised she feels that way?"
"No but like...it's still messed up." Maria pondered her next words for a second. "Do you think Power Weapon is a...nahou?"
"Nahou?"
"You've never heard of it? It's like...a girl who can't get over losing their powers."
"Oh, um..." Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to call Olivia 'a textbook case' "I can see why you'd think so."
"That's just messed up...just...people look down on nahous Elizabeth. Think they're nuts who just cling to the past. Power Weapon isn't like that! She's brave and she's bold and nobody in this city is better at being themselves no matter what others think! Why is she acting like that?'
"Well Maria if you say Olivia excels at 'being herself' what if in her mind 'herself' means 'being a magical girl'? And then once she stopped being a magical girl she stopped knowing what...herself is."
"Dammit! That's not right! She can't be that messed up." Even though Maria saw it with her own eyes, the notion that maybe her hero wasn't good at being her hero anymore was a tough pill to swallow. "if something has happened to make her that messed up she needs help."
"Maybe so but what can we do? We have no way to contact her and how would we help her even if we could find her again?"
"Ugh...I don't know. But I know somebody who might."
"Mom?"
"Don't make me say it out loud."
"I won't. But how do we get home?"
"Maybe the tram? Like the one we're on."
"We're on the wrong tram."
Maria for the first time realized this important truth.
"Oh...well I hope mom doesn't mind that we're a little late."