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Two Beacon magical girls lay in the wreckage of Vale, battered, bloodied, and bruised. They managed to defeat the ultimate witch, Walpurgisnact, barely. But they had managed and now they were here amidst the rubble. The heavy rain the witch brought with her had slowed to a gentle rain that fell down on their faces as they lay in the water.
Blake and Ruby lay beside each other, respective soul gems in their hands which are crossed over one another. Their once vibrant soul gems were now tainted black, it wouldn’t be much longer now. The fate that befell all magical girls was upon them. Soon they would be witches themselves and lay waste to what remained of Vale and then the rest of Remnant. Blake and Ruby exchanged a glance.
“It looks like...this is the end for us.”
Blake nods. “You don’t have any more grief seeds?”
Ruby smiles sadly, turning her head upward towards the hazy sky and shakes her head. Blake closes her eyes and does the same, wearing the same sad expression. She knew it before even asking, that they had no more grief seeds left. They were going to become witches and that would be the end of it. Which was just fine by her.
She’d failed, she’d failed once again. And she was so tired. Tired of the world, tired of the fighting.
Tired of trying and failing to stop Nora from becoming a witch.
Tired of watching Pyrrha die to the same witch over and over again.
Tired of watching Wiess die in a vain attempt to bring Nora back.
And most of all, tired of losing the one she loved the most every single time she tried. She couldn’t go through all of this again. Not anymore.
“Listen…” Blake says, swallowing thickly as a single tear rolls down her cheek. “Why don’t the two of us become witches and really mess this rotten world up, huh? Let’s just break, break, and break it all into dust! Until there’s no more evil, no more sadness, nothing left at all…”
“Don’t you think…” She turned to look at her, tears spilling down her face. “That would be great?”
It was the clinking sound that made Blake’s eyes go wide, staring in utter shock to see Ruby holding a grief seed against her soul gem. “I’m sorry I lied earlier. I did have one left,” she chuckled.
“No Ruby! Why would you-” Blake gasped.
“Because there’s something I want to ask you to do. Something that only you can do.”
Blake nods, unsure of what to say. Ruby smiles sadly at her again and continues, “Blake...you can go back in time, right? You can change things so it won’t end like this, right?”
She nods again. “Yeah.”
“Then would you… go back and stop me from getting tricked by kyubey?” Her voice cracked as she began to sob.
The sound made her heart break. She reached out and grasped Ruby’s hand, pressing the grief seed tightly against her soul gem, holding her hand tenderly. “I promise I’ll save you! No matter how many times I have to go back and try! I swear, I’ll protect you!”
“Thank you…” Ruby smiled, still sad and in pain, but genuine. “There’s just one more thing I want to ask you. I...I don’t want to become a witch.”
Then she suddenly cried out and began writhing in pain meaning that Ruby’s soul gem had reached its limit and soon she would become a witch. They both knew what was going to happen. Ruby reached up with soul gem in hand towards her. “I know there are lots of sad things in this world, but… there are lots of things...worth protecting…”
“Ruby!” she cried.
“Thank you Blake.”
She watched as Blake transformed and retrieved Gambol Shroud out of her shield. With shaking hands and tears blurring her vision, Blake took aim. Her anguished cries drowning out the sound of the gun shot.