Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

Oblivion was dying, and nobody knew except for her and the person she hated the most.

She sat hunched over on her black throne, clutching at the wound in her stomach. There was no blood, though black vapor leaked out between her fingers. Though she was in great pain, there was a smile of satisfaction on her face.

The towering door opened, sending an echo through the cathedral-like room. And in walked a bizarre looking animal. At first glance one might mistake it for a large black cat with a long, thin tail that curled over its back like a chameleon. However, its head was strangely triangular, with the tip ending at a beaklike point. Out of each ear hung a floppy appendage that appeared to be part arm, part antennae. Its beady eyes glowed red in the shadows of the darkened room.

Seemingly without a care in the world, the creature padded over to the throne and sat down on the floor, its unblinking eyes watching Oblivion with evident interest.

"Well, color me surprised," it said. Or rather, it didn't, for it had no visible mouth with which to form the words. But even though they were not said out loud, Oblivion still heard them just as clearly. "You actually went through with it!" It turned its head and scratched it with its shoulder with its hind leg. "And here I thought you were just all talk."

Oblivion showed her teeth in a mad grin with triumph. "Y-yes…" she whispered, her voice growing weaker by the second. "I…I did. And you lost…lost your pawn."

The creature laughed. "And once again, you exceed my expectations of your stupidity. Dear idiot, how do you think the previous Oblivion vacated her position? You were always the expendable half of our relationship."

Oblivion's face, already unnaturally pale, was now dimming to transparency. "But it won't…be me," she gasped. "It won't be me."

"No, it won't." The creature turned away from the dying girl. "What a relief. You always were a bore. Fortunately, I have your replacement already, and she promises to be lots of fun!"

Oblivion would have answered, but she didn't have the strength. She sank back into her throne, her eyes now blind with agony. Her mouth opened, and black smoke issued forth in a thick torrent. The effect it had on her body was like that of a balloon punctured with a pin. It simply deflated, collapsing in on itself and fading away until there was nothing left but the swirling dark cloud overhead.

...

Kyoko Sakura awoke to the gentle sound of falling rain.

Her eyes opened just a crack, and she stared blearily at the apple and fish mobile hanging above her head. It moved slowly, the flat, plastic fishes chasing the red fruit around in circles. Kyoko didn't blame them. She liked apples too.

But at that moment, she decided that she liked sleep just a little bit more. She yawned, rolled over and pulled the sheet up over her head.

I don't own an apple and fish mobile.

Kyoko's eyes snapped open and she sat up with a gasp. As the sound of her heart pounded in her ears, she stared at the strange room she had woken up in.

She was lying in a bed with a metal wire frame and a plain white pillow and sheets. Directly across from her was brown dresser, and against the far wall was computer desk. There was a door next to the dresser. The lights were off, and she could hear the rain continue to patter down outside.

Kyouko recognized it immediately. The mobile was new, but otherwise the arrangement was almost exactly like her old bedroom, back home. Before she had become a Puella Magi, and for a short time afterward.

But why would she be waking up here? That room was gone, along with the rest of that place. And more to the point, why was she waking up at all? By all rights she should be…

A sharp chill ran down her spine. Kyouko threw away the covers and quickly checked herself. She was unharmed and dressed in her usual outfit, consisting of a pale green hooded jacket over a black tank top, a pair of short shorts and knee-high boots. That in itself was not unusual, but given her most recent memory, she should be in a condition that could only be described as "Broken beyond repair".

Kyoko grimaced and kicked the rest of the covers away. She had no idea what was going on, but she was certain of one thing. Someone was screwing with her, and it was pissing her off.

First things first. She needed to figure out why she was here and who had brought her here. And to do that, she needed to start looking for clues. She swung her legs around to hop out of the bed, or at least tried to. One of her boots had somehow gotten tangled in the sheets, and she found herself stumbling into the dresser with a gasp of surprise.

She managed to catch herself before falling over. Kyoko let out an annoyed grunt and shook the sheets free. Then she looked up.

Her blood ran cold.

There, above the dresser, was a collage of framed photographs. They were all of different parts of the exterior of her father's cathedral and were arranged in such a way so as to construct the whole building. However, they appeared to have been taken at different times. The ones near the bottom were from when it had been at the height of its success, with the stones clean and well cared for and members of the congregation standing around and enjoying each other's company. But as the pictures moved higher up they also moved forward in time, documenting the once-proud structure's decay until the ones at the top showed it for what it was now. Empty. Abandoned.

Ruined. By her hand.

Kyoko swallowed. Her eyes moved back down to the depictions of its happier days. In the center photograph on the bottommost row was a smiling family. Her family. Her father and mother stood on either side of her younger self, with her little sister sleeping contently in her father's arms. She remembered taking that picture, right after she had made the contract that had transformed her into a Puella Magi and ensured her father's success. Or so she had thought at the time.

Then she noticed that the dresser itself also contained framed photographs. However, only one was sitting upright, with two others lying facedown. Unlike the picture of her family, this one had captured an event that had never happened. It was of her, with her arms around the shoulders of two other girls and her trademark smirk on her face. The girl on the left was a bit older than her, with a full figure, heavy-lidded eyes and blond hair that curled in two spirals on either side of her face. She wore a small but confident smile. The girl on the right was the youngest of the trio, with short blue hair and an energetic grin. All three wore the extravagant outfits of the Puella Magi.

Mami Tomoe and Sayaka Miki. Fellow Puella Magi, and the only two that she had been on any kind of friendly terms with. And in both situations, things had turned out badly. Very badly.

With a growing sense of apprehension, Kyoko picked up the fallen pictures and set them right. One was of Mami Tomoe's corpse as it was devoured by a monstrous witch. The other showed the bodies of her family, hanging lifeless from the roof of her father's cathedral, just as she had found them after her father had forced them to commit suicide, all in response to finding out the true reason for his church's success.

Kyoko stared at the photographs. Though she had not witnessed Mami's death for herself, she had no reason to believe that the scene depicted before her was inaccurate. The one with her family certainly was.

Then she turned her attention to the computer desk. It was bare save for a laptop sitting closed in front of the chair. She walked over to the laptop and flipped it open. It booted immediately, the glow of the screen illuminating the room with an eerie luminescence. There was but one program, a media player. Inside, she found but one file, a video under the file name of "ENDGAME".

She moved the cursor over the file and double-clicked.

The video started playing immediately, and the room filled with the sounds of battle. The picture showed Kyoko herself, in full Puella Magi gear but bleeding from multiple wounds. She was riding an oversized version of her spear, the tip of which was pointed directly at the heart of huge monster that seemed to be part mermaid, part night and part orchestral conductor.

The spear hit, killing the witch and Kyoko in the same action. There was a brief pause, and then the video restarted.

Kyoko once again stared at the display of cruelty. The witch had been what Sayaka Miki had become despite Kyoko's best efforts to deter her. And once it had become obvious that she could not be saved, Kyoko had decided to eliminate her in that manner so as to put her out of her misery and ensure that she would not die alone.

In fact, that had been her most recent memory before waking up in this place. She was supposed to have died then. This video confirmed that. She was supposed to be dead. Why, then, was she now alive and uninjured in a sadistic mockup of her room surrounded by pieces of her past displayed specifically to torment her?

Her mouth twisted into a snarl of rage. Her hands balled into fists, and her body started shaking. Then, with a cry of fury, she smacked the laptop across the desk and sent it crashing into the far wall. The screen cracked, but the video did not stop looping.

However, smashing it against the floor and stomping on it until it was nothing more than a mess of circuits and crushed plastic did the trick.

Then she turned her attention to the pictures on the wall and dresser. Still crying out, Kyoko tore them down and smashed them against the floor, the top of the dresser, the wall and the door. Anything with a hard surface.

After that came the dresser. She yanked each of the drawers out and tossed them aside. Doing so upset their contents. Gnawed chicken bones, empty pocky boxes, discarded candy wrappers, rotten apple cores and other evidence of food long eaten scattered everywhere. This of course only served to enrage her further. It was not enough that they had to torment her with horrible scenes from her life and (presumed) death, now they were taunting her as well. She grasped the side of the dressed and pulled it down into the mess. Then she slammed the heel of her right boot into its back until the thin wood cracked and her foot plunged right through.

Following this was the bed. The sheets and pillows were flung every which way, the mattress upended onto the wreck of the dresser and the frame overturned. Then she snatched up the chair and slammed it against the top of the desk until it broke into pieces. The desk itself was then overturned in short order.

Shaking with adrenaline, Kyoko panted as she surveyed the devastation, searching for something else to break. She then noticed an object hanging on the far wall, opposite of where the desk had stood. Eyes narrowed, she took an aggressive step forward with the intention of adding its destruction to the wreckage.

And then she recognized it and froze in her tracks.

It was one of her segmented spears, the ones she created to battle witches. Held normally, it functioned as a spear was supposed to and could be used to counter, whack, stab and slash alike. But when she wished it (as she often did) the shaft would separate into linked segments and lengthen, allowing her to whip it about and deliver a satisfying amount of punishment. Kyoko had always been pleased with her weapon's adaptability. It suited her personality.

Now, she stared at the one hanging before her. She had not taken on her Puella Magi form, so there was no reason for it to just be hanging there, independent of her.

Then realization struck and she looked down at her hand. When not in use, she wore the source of her power, her soul gem, in ring form on one finger. It was easier to carry that way, and should she ever need to summon something pointy without going through the rigmarole of transforming, it was always at hand.

But now it was gone. All of her fingers were bare.

Kyoko quickly searched herself and came up with nothing. She then frantically looked about the room, overturning the wrecked furniture, trash and smashed pictures. It was nowhere to be found.

The feeling of dread that had been growing inside her ever since she woke up now skyrocketed. How could her soul gem be gone? As the name implied, it literally contained her soul. Without it nearby, her body would become a lifeless thing, no better than a corpse. But even when she didn't have it on her, she was always able to sense its location, just as she knew where her hands or feet were without having to look at them. It was a part of her. Separating her from her soul gem without her knowledge should be impossible.

But regardless, her soul gem was still missing.

Kyoko stood stock-still as the implications flew through her mind. Then the horror melted away as her fury was ignited anew. Someone was screwing with her. Someone was screwing with her a lot. And she could think of only one way to deal with people who screwed with her.

She snatched her spear down from the wall and hefted it in her hands. It felt as natural as always. She gave it a couple experimental swings to test the balance and then gave the command for the shaft to separate. To her surprise, it obeyed, just as it always had.

Kyoko grinned. Well, she had that going for her at least. She cracked it back and forth, tearing gouges in the walls in the process. Good.

Satisfied that it was working as it should, Kyoko turned to leave the room. There was someone she needed to find, someone she needed to hurt. She didn't know who it was yet, but it didn't matter. They were going to be hurting soon, no matter who they were.

Then she remembered something. Kyoko glanced over her shoulder, sighed, and swung the spear around in a swift arc. Severed from the ceiling, the stupid fish-and-apple mobile fell to the floor, allowing her to stomp it into ruin.

That done, Kyoko opened the door and left the destroyed room behind her.

...

Hot…so hot…

Who…where am I? What happened?

Hurts…everything…burns…everything…

…so hot…

...

Despite the pains that had been taken to make the room that Kyoko had woken up in resemble her old bedroom, the same attention had not been paid to the rest of the place. Kyoko wasn't sure where she was, but she certainly had never seen it before.

The best she could tell, she was in some sort of house or apartment. The room exited to a hallway. The end to her left opened to what had to be the living room. The end to the right had nothing but a full-length mirror. There were only two doors in the hallway, the one she was now leaving and one a bit down the way from her, near the mirror. More pictures lined both walls, though these were less psychologically cruel. The ones on her end just showed endless crosses, ranging from detailed crucifixion scenes to hastily scrawled "t" shapes. The pictures on the other side were all of musical notes. Kyoko didn't understand it but didn't care. She knew that her prey was a nut.

Most of the lights were off, leaving the place a dim mystery. There was some sort of flickering white light coming from the living room, and the light in whatever room was behind the other door was on. Beyond, she could hear a shower running, meaning that it was probably the bathroom.

Kyoko's grip tightened on her spear as an eager grin slashed its way across her face. So, her prey had decided to clean themselves up. Well, murders in the shower were classic scenes from the movies, and always turned out poorly for the person without the blade. Kyoko liked the idea of playing the killer. Though in this case, she wasn't going to kill them. Not right away, at least. First, she was going to make them explain what in the hell was going on and where they had brought her. Then she was going to torture the location of her soul gem out of them. And then, when she was sure that there was nothing more they could tell her, maybe she'd kill them, depending on what kind of mood she was in at the time. Either way, this was going to be a blast.

She crept toward the bathroom and stood ready by the door. She was going to have to do this quickly, before they had a chance to realize what was going. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the handle, threw the door open and leapt inside.

But for the second time in so many minutes, what see saw brought her up short.

It was a bathroom, as she had predicted. Before her was an old-fashioned ivory bathtub, the kind that sat on brass dragon's feet. A showerhead was stuck on the top of a long pipe. It was turned on full blast, spraying steaming hot water on the bathtub's nude occupant. For their part, they didn't seem to notice that the water was starting to scald their skin and cover them with first-degree burns. In fact, they looked to be completely unconscious.

It was as good as a setup as Kyoko could have hoped for. Unconscious and burned, they would be unable to fight back. However, all thought of attack had been driven from Kyoko's mind. She knew that person. She knew them very well.

"Sayaka!" Kyoko cried. She dropped her spear and raced to the other girl's side. "Come on, wake up!"

She grabbed Sayaka by the shoulder and shook her. To her relief, Sayaka let out a weak moan. Good, she wasn't gone just yet. But if she were left in that water much longer, she might as well be.

"Come on, Sayaka," Kyoko said as she grabbed Sayaka by the armpits and tried to haul her out of the tub. "Get out of there, you stupid-" Scalding water hit her hand. "-Ow!"

Kyoko lurched back and sucked on her fingers. "Idiot," she hissed at herself as she rushed over to the other end of the bathtub. Two ivory knobs stuck out just below the edge. She grabbed the one controlling the hot water and tried to twist it.

It wouldn't budge.

Feeling panic rise, Kyoko looked up to the showerhead itself. Maybe she could…No. Smashing it would be a horrible idea. She'd just end up spraying the water everywhere.

There were several fuzzy green towels hanging from a nearby rack. Kyoko grabbed two, wrapped them tightly over her hands and once again tried to lift Sayaka out of the tub. She braced her feet against the tub's side, set her teeth, and pulled with all her might.

This time it worked, and she was able to get Sayaka out of harm's way and onto the linoleum floor.

Kyoko threw the towels aside and starting slapping the only part of Sayaka that hadn't been burned by the water: her face. "Sayaka!" she yelled. "Can you hear me? Come on, wake up already!"

Sayaka moaned again but didn't regain consciousness. Kyoko sat down next to her, drew her knees up under her chin and wondered what she should do next.

It was then she finally noticed that there was something horribly wrong with the blue-haired girl lying unconscious at her side. While her torso was covered in painful looking burns, she was, at least, fully human from the waist up, exactly as she had been before becoming a witch.

From the waist down, however, things were different. Instead of legs, she had a large fish's tail, covered with scales of blue, black, and maroon and two fins that flared in a rainbow of the colors of fire. In short, Sayaka was now a mermaid.

Now Kyoko was getting scared again. The horrifying witch Sayaka had become, the one that Kyoko had sacrificed herself to kill, had also been in possession of a mermaid's tail. Of course, she had been much larger then, wearing a full suit of bizarre armor and behaving in a generally terrifying manner, but a mermaid she had been.

It was then that Kyoko finally noticed the state of her surroundings. The same level of care that had gone into turning the bedroom into a house of horrors for her had gone into turning this bathroom into one for Sayaka. However, instead of framed photographs, the vile scenes were in the tiny ceramic tiles of the walls themselves.

Two mosaic scenes were depicted on either side of the room. On the left, Kyoko saw Sayaka as a normal human girl, surrounded by the people she cared about. Holding her right hand was that one violinist boy she had been so obsessed about, whatshisname. Holding her left was that dippy pink-haired girl, the one everyone always seemed to think was so important. Next to her (and farthest away from the violin boy, Kyoko noted) was that one green-haired girl. Behind Sayaka with their hands on her shoulders were a pleasant looking man and woman. Kyoko guessed that this had to be her parents. Everyone was smiling and looked happy to be together.

The scene on the right, however, wasn't nearly so lighthearted. It looked like it was of Sayaka's funeral, with a photograph of her face surrounded by candles. However, only a fraction of the candles was lit, and none of the people there seemed to care. The violin boy and the green-haired girl were off in one corner, kissing passionately. The pink-haired girl was laughing and holding hands with that mystery Puella Magi, Homura. No one was paying Sayaka's picture any attention, and her parents were nowhere to be seen at all.

Once, soon after they had met, Kyoko had pointed out that since Sayaka had cured the violin boy of his injury with her wish, he no longer needed her. Kyoko had then sardonically suggested that if Sayaka wanted to make him hers forever, all she had to do was break all of his limbs. She had even offered to do it herself, as a favor. She hadn't been serious at the time but now, looking at that scene, Kyoko really did want to cripple that boy. And everyone else in that scene, for that matter. Sayaka had given up everything for them, including her humanity and her life, and how did they repay her? By spitting on her gifts and refusing to so much as thank her.

Kyoko knew exactly what that was like.

Then she looked over her shoulder. There, in the wall around the toilet, was pictured a huge armored monster holding a sword. It was the orchestra-conducting witch Sayaka had become. Only in the mosaic showed it slumped over with Kyoko's spear cutting through the breastplate and protruding out the back.

Kyoko reevaluated the targets of her anger. Forget Sayaka's so-called loved ones. Kyoko needed to get back to what she was doing, and deliver the one responsible for this situation into a world of pain.

Sayaka's breathing had slowed to a peaceful rhythm, but she still showed no signs of waking. Kyoko hoisted her up again by the armpits and dragged her over to prop her against the wall.

"All right," Kyoko said. "I'm going to be right back. If you wake up before I'm done, don't go anywhere. If I get back to find you gone, I'm going to be all kinds of pissed."

Sayaka didn't answer. Of course.

With an annoyed grunt, Kyoko stood up. Then she grabbed her spear and headed out.

...

The hallway was just as silent and empty as it had been when she left it. Apparently all of the shouting she had just done had failed to attract the attention of their kidnapper. Kyoko slipped out of the bathroom and carefully closed the door behind her.

The light from the presumed living room continued to flicker, and if she concentrated, Kyoko could just make out the sound of voices, barely audible through the sound of the shower. She crept forward, spear at the ready. When she reached the end of the hall, she took cover along the way and peeked in.

As predicted, the room beyond was some sort of living room. Or at least half of it was. The right side was a small combo kitchen/dining room, with a refrigerator, sink, stove and round table surrounded by four chairs separated from the left side by a linoleum counter. The other half held two couches along the walls, a recliner in the center of the room that faced away from Kyoko and a television sitting in a wall unit. The television was the source of both the light and the voices, as some sort of movie was playing with the sound down low. There were no windows.

There was, however, someone sitting in the recliner.

Kyoko's grin returned. There he was. Or her. That point was going to be resolved in a few seconds, along with several other mysteries.

She tiptoed toward the chair. Then, when she was close enough, she whipped the spear around so that it wrapped around the recliner and its occupant and grabbed it as it came swinging around. She pulled tight, trapping her target in the chair.

"Move and you're dead," she hissed.

Her target obeyed.

Kyoko nodded in satisfaction. "You probably thought you could get away with it, did'ja?" she said. "Thought you could just take us away and screw with our minds. Guess no one told you how dangerous Puella Magi are. Or maybe this is just some sort of complicated form of suicide. Either way though, you're going to answer some questions. Let's start with the obvious: who in hell are you and why did you bring us here?"

Kyoko waited, but her target was apparently so paralyzed by fear that they couldn't even speak.

"Hey, didn't you just hear me?" Kyoko asked. She gave her makeshift lasso a sharp tug. "I just asked you a question! Who are you? Why did you bring us here? Where's my soul gem? What's with all that bullshit in the pictures? How did you make Sayaka human again? Come on, start talking or I'm going to start counting how many bones I can break before you go into shock!"

Again, her prisoner remained silent.

Now Kyoko was growing mad. "What the hell are you trying to prove? I mean it! I will kill you as painfully as possible if you don't start talking. Come on, say something!"

When this too failed to elicit a response, Kyoko's temper snapped. "You irritating bastard!" she cried as she yanked hard on the lasso. The chair fell backward, occupant and all. Kyoko whipped her spear away and gave the chair a sharp kick, sending it tumbling to its side.

Kyoko leapt onto the side of the upturned recliner. She landed in a crouch and pointed the tip of the spear at her fallen prisoner. "All right, that does it! I'm going to start with the toes and work my way…Huh?"

As it turned out, the thing in the chair was not her captor. It wasn't a person. It wasn't even alive. It was the upper half of a suit of extravagant armor. It wore a cape with a tall, heart-shaped collar that was tied with a red ribbon around its neck. The helmet was skull-like and disturbing, with several miniature swords fused into a metallic representation of a high hairdo. Clutched in one hand was a cutlass, identical to the ones Sayaka had wielded in battle.

It was the same armor that Sayaka's witch had worn, the one from the mural in the bathroom. Only now it was shrunk down to human size.

Kyoko stared at the empty armor. The fire in her veins was again freezing to ice. Her invisible adversary was playing mind games with her again, and damned it if weren't effective.

It was only then that she thought to check what was on TV.

It was another one of her memories, one almost as recent as that of her death, but somehow even more painful. Kyoko stared at the television and remembered.

…

It had taken her a long time, but Kyoko finally found her. Sayaka was sitting by herself at a subway station at night, staring at her shoes with a look of hopelessness on her face. Rolling her eyes, Kyoko ran up to her, out of breath from the search.

"I finally found you," she panted as she sat down next to the blue-haired girl and pulled open a can of chips. "How long are you going to blow off your friends?"

"Sorry to bother you," Sayaka muttered. She did not meet Kyoko's eyes.

Kyoko, of course noticed. "What's wrong?" she asked irritably. "You're not acting like yourself."

Sayaka took her time answering. "I just don't care anymore," she said at last.

Kyoko didn't have a response, so Sayaka continued. "What do I even care about? What do I want to protect? I don't even know anymore."

"Hey," Kyoko said, just a bit fed up with Sayaka's self-loathing.

Then Sayaka opened her hand, revealing her soul gem. Kyoko gasped in horror when she saw that the its normally blue color had been consumed by darkness.

"The balance of hope and despair is always zero, you said so yourself," Sayaka continued, seemingly heedless of her own perilous state. "I understand what you meant now."

Now Sayaka's demeanor was starting to scare Kyoko. She was swaying back and forth, and seemed to be speaking more to herself than to her companion.

"I've saved plenty of people," she said. "But in exchange, resentment and pain took root in my heart." She held up her corrupted soul gem, an empty smile on her face. "I'm even hurting my best friend now."

"Sayaka!" Kyoko blurted out. "Are you-"

"As much as I wished for the happiness of one," Sayaka continued, not even noticing Kyoko now, "someone else must be equally cursed. That's how the story of a Puella Magi goes."

She took a deep shuddering breath and finally turned to face Kyoko. Tears filled her eyes, though that empty smile never left her face. "I've been such a fool," she said.

And then a tear fell from her eyes to land on her soul gem.

The next thing Kyoko knew, she was being thrown back by an explosion of force. Sayaka's soul gem had exploded, and the pieces reformed themselves into a shape that she knew all too well: that of a grief seed, the talisman of a witch. Sayaka's body fell limply to the ground as darkness and strange shapes danced in the air around her.

Kyoko managed to grab a nearby railing and held on for dear life, though the dark power emanating from Sayaka was too strong. "Sayaka!" she screamed as she desperately tried to keep her grip. And then…

…

Then there was a click and a whirr. Static consumed the image, and when it cleared, Kyoko was once again running up to Sayaka as she sat alone on a bench.

Kyoko, the real one, cried out and threw her spear right through the television. The screen exploded in a spray of sparks. She yanked it back out and started bashing the machine into scrap, just has she had done with the laptop. Only this time, she had a weapon, and was able to reduce the television to ruined components much faster.

"Where are you?" she screamed when she was done. "Stop hiding in the shadows! I'm right here! Come and get me!"

She hadn't really expected her challenge to get a response, and thus was not surprised when it didn't. However, she was plenty pissed off. She hated being screwed with, and she hated being ignored. And now her unseen enemy had managed the strange feat of doing both at the same time.

Kyoko was sorely tempted to thrash this room as she had the bedroom, but was able to rein in her violent impulses. She was done with this place. It was time to get Sayaka and get the hell out of here. So she yanked Sayaka's cutlass out of the metal fingers that held it and marched back toward the bathroom.

But as it turned out, the place was not done with Kyoko and had one last trick for her. Before, she hadn't paid much attention to the mirror in the hallway. But as she rounded the corner, she got a good look at her reflection.

In it, she was wearing a sleeveless waist-length red battle tunic that opened over a maroon-and-pink striped skirt. She had on black thigh-highs and tall boots the color of dried blood, each adorned with a red gem at the knee. White detached sleeves covered her arms, with heavy black cuffs around the wrists.

It was her Puella Magi uniform, the outfit she wore to battle. The only thing missing was her soul gem, which she always wore as part of her tunic, just below the collarbone. The space for it was there, but the gem itself was gone.

Kyoko looked down at herself and her green jacket and pair of shorts. Then she looked back at her inaccurate reflection. The pieces were now coming together.

Sayaka's tail aside, most of what she had seen so far could be accomplished using only human resources. The pictures, the mosaic, the videos and so on were possible to replicate by ordinary people, if not difficult. But she hadn't known of any technology that would cause her reflection to be changed to such a degree. Hypothetically speaking, such an illusion might exist, but it was far more likely that the effect was achieved through magic.

Of course, the fact that she was still alive and moving around without her soul gem had already confirmed that, as did Sayaka's partial return to humanity. And this only cemented it further. The suspect pool had been narrowed down to three types of enemies.

The first was that this was the work of an Incubator, like that damned Kyubey. Their full capabilities were yet unknown, and they were certainly capable of something like this.

The second was another Puella Magi. Despite having a common origin and ultimate goals, the Magi rarely worked well together, and it was not unheard of for one to start attacking her competitors.

The final suspect was the most likely. She could be inside a witch's labyrinth. Bizarre mind games were right up their alley, and while all the labyrinths she had encountered thus far were composed of bits of the witch's past rather than that of its opponents, finding one that worked in reverse was not outside of the realm of possibility.

It was this last possibility that Kyoko feared the most. If this was a witch's labyrinth, then there had to be a witch attached. And the only witch she had encountered thus far was Sayaka herself. True, she had been partially restored to humanity, but the change was not complete. Furthermore, her restoration to her former appearance could just be another trick, something to lower her defenses. If that were the case, then Kyoko was likely going to have to kill Sayaka all over again.

She didn't want it to come to that. She didn't want that to happen at all.

First things first though. She still needed to find her soul gem, and that mirror was looking like a probable hiding place. Heck, perhaps it was a two-way mirror, and her target was watching her from the other side.

Only one way to find out. Kyoko lunged forward and swung her spear out. The head smashed into the glass and broke it into pieces, sending shards flying everywhere. Kyoko snapped the spear back to its normal form and examined the damage.

Nothing. The only thing on the other side of the glass was the mirror's wooden frame.

Kyoko sighed. She walked over to the broken mirror, grabbed it by the frame, and wrenched it off the wall. Again, there was nothing to see but the bare wall.

Well, it was worth a shot. Kyoko gave up on the mirror and returned to the bathroom.

...

Sayaka was right where Kyoko had left her, which was encouraging. However, she had not awakened, which was disappointing. But her condition had improved. The burns on her torso had cooled to an inoffensive shade of pink, so that they were less threatening than a sunburn. That was good news. It meant that Sayaka still had her advanced recuperative abilities.

However, now Kyoko was presented with the problem of how she was going to move her. Normally she would just hoist Sayaka onto her back and hold onto her legs. But seeing that Sayaka had traded her legs in for a fishlike tail, that way was right out.

Finally, she ended up hoisting Sayaka onto her back anyway. First, she tore off strips from one of the towels and tied Sayaka's cutlass to her waist. After this she moved Sayaka's arms so that they hung to either side of Kyoko's neck and tied them together, so as to prevent her from slipping off. Then she gathered up Sayaka's tail under one arm while keeping a strong hold on her spear with the other. Then she leaned forward, making sure that the mermaid was firmly in place, and slowly stood up.

Sayaka was heavier than she looked, but thanks to the contract she had made and all the exercise witch-hunting gave her, Kyoko was unnaturally strong. Still, it was an awkward bundle to carry, but after a few moments of grunting and adjusting her weight she managed to rise fully to her feet.

"Just so you know, you owe me big time," Kyoko hissed to the unconscious girl on her back. "And I'm gonna make sure you pay. So you better wake up soon."

The apartment was just as creepy as before, though Kyoko barely noticed. Her concentration was partially taken up with the burden on her back and with keeping an eye out for any new dangers. Fortunately, none presented themselves, and she was able to make it to the front door without much difficulty. Though she did spare a second to glare contemptuously at the fallen armor, even as she made a conscious effort to stay well out of its reach.

Once she had reached the door, Kyoko set her spear against the wall and tested the door to see if it would open. To her surprise, it swung upon with ease, allowing the two of them to leave the building.

As Kyoko had guessed, they had been in an apartment building. The one they had just exited was on the bottom floor, within the shadow of the upper walkways. Directly in front of them was the parking lot. The rain was still coming down, splattering against the asphalt and the metal rails from the levels above. Beyond, the structures of a city could be seen. Those in themselves looked normal enough, but it did not take long for Kyoko to realize that they were someplace strange.

For one, there were no cars in the parking lot. Each space was empty. Despite this, the place had not taken the overgrown and trash-filled looked that quickly consumed abandoned apartment buildings. The walls were clean, the plants well cared for and there was very little litter to be seen.

Second, Kyoko could see the city streets from where she stood, and either the city had some serious flooding problems to address or this place used canals in place of streets. Water rushed by like a river, completely oblivious that it was passing through sidewalks and under blinking intersection lights.

Third, the city itself was lit up with so many colors that it was almost painful to look at. Neon signs, banners, and advertisements were everywhere, covering the cityscape with flashing lights.

And finally, there was the sky itself. The storm clouds were unlike any that Kyoko had ever seen. They rolled and twisted over each other, forming themselves into bizarre and random shapes. Grinning skulls melted into mighty ships with in turn gave way to fluttering butterflies and so on. The clouds themselves were not the usual grey and black of a rainstorm, but a myriad of colors that likewise exploded and clashed against each other, turning from yellow to red to green and the rest of the spectrum.

If there was any doubt that Kyoko was now inside a witch's labyrinth, it dried up in that instant. But she had never seen that recreated an entire city. And here she was, without her soul gem (how that was possible, she still couldn't figure out) and with an unconscious Sayaka to defend.

That was, assuming that Sayaka herself wasn't the witch…

Almost as if in response to that thought, Sayaka let out a small groan and started to move. "Wha…where?" she muttered.

Kyoko grinned. "Hey, looks who's finally coming around." She quickly moved Sayaka's bound hands up over her head and carefully set the other girl down against the wall. Sayaka blinked several times, squinted at Kyoko and rubbed her eyes.

"Ugh," Sayaka moaned. "What…what happened?"

"Huh? You don't remember?" Kyoko exclaimed in disbelief. "You got turned into a witch like an idiot! And I tried to save you, like a fool! And we both ended up killing each other!"

Sayaka squinted at her. "I…I'm sorry, but none of that made any sense. At all. Uh, do we know each other?"

"Huh?" Kyoko's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? You don't remember me? At all?"

Sayaka thought for a moment, and then shook her head.

"Well, how about that one friend of yours, Ma…Makika? Right, Madoka!"

Sayaka shook her head again.

"Then what about Puella Magi?" Kyoko pressed. "Or Kyubey? Or soul gems? Or witches? Or grief seeds? Or…or that boy with the violin? You gave your humanity to fix him!"

Sayaka took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she said.

Kyoko felt like tearing her hair out. "Argh, goddamn it, Sayaka! Don't you remember anything at all?"

"I…I remember the music." A small, wistful smile appeared on Sayaka's face. "Such beautiful music…"

Kyoko felt a chill run up her spine as she remembered the orchestra that Sayaka's witch had been conducting. "And that's it?" she asked. "You seriously don't remember anything else at all?"

"I remember…" Sayaka frowned. "Wait, what did you just call me?"

"Huh? I called you Sayaka! That's your name, Sayaka Miki!"

"Sayaka? No, I'm pretty sure it isn't."

"Oh?" Kyoko growled. "Then what is your name? Or, wait, don't tell me. You forgot that too, haven't you?"

"No, I know my name," Sayaka said. She smiled in triumph, happy to have remembered that at least. "It's Oktavia. Oktavia von Seckendorff."

Chapter Text

Kyoko stared down at the half-fish girl that sat in front of her. "Uh…huh? Oktavia von…Sectorwhatever? What are you going on about?"

Sayaka scratched her head. "I could ask you the same thing. That's my name, not Sayaka Miki."

"The hell it is!" Kyoko thrust a finger at Sayaka's face. "I know you're all kinds of messed up right now, but you've got to at least remember your real name at least!"

"I do! Oktavia von Seckendorff! Do you want me to spell it out for you?"

Kyoko growled. Any happiness she might have felt at having Sayaka alive and…reasonably humanoid again was swiftly evaporating. She opened her mouth to start yelling again, but then a horrible thought occurred to her.

Despite having hunted them for some time and knowing quite a bit about how to fight and kill them, Kyoko admittedly didn't know much about what a witch actually was. She had learned the hard way that they were born when a Puella Magi's soul gem became corrupted beyond repair, and that fragments of the girl they had once been were used to construct their labyrinths, but beyond that she hadn't had time to learn more about the subject. Still, there were several possibilities. One was that they actually were the soul of Puella Magi, only twisted and mutated by the forces released when their soul gem succumbed to corruption. Another was that they were an entirely new entity created by those same forces, given form and life. And finally, it could be true that they were a combination of the two, that it was in fact the Puella Magi themselves, but with their entire identity wiped clean and a new one programmed in to replace it. Which could mean any number of changes: a new personality, a new set of motivations, maybe even a new name, known only to the witch itself.

Kyoko was no scholar, but given what she was now witnessing, her support was now for the final theory. In which case, Sayaka was not truly back at all. Her witch was simply wearing her face and using her voice.

Kyoko's eyes narrowed. "Oh, is that right?" She kicked her spear up to her hands and thrust it forward, so that the tip was mere inches away from the other girl's forehead. "So you're still a goddamned witch? Is that it, 'Oktavia'?"

Oktavia's body froze. Her eyes crossed as they tried to focus on the spear's point. "H-hey now," she stuttered. "Wh-what d-d-do you think you're d-doing?"

"Gimme a second, and I'll decide," Kyoko growled.

"Uh, okay." Oktavia slowly brought her hands up, empty palms outward. "L-let's not do a-a-anything cr-crazy now. Please. Put…Just put that spear away. Okay?"

Kyoko did not. Her grip tightened.

Oktavia swallowed. "Look, if y-you wanna call me S-Sayaka, go ahead. Th-that's fine! Just put that thing away."

Kyoko stared down at the thing wearing Sayaka's face. She could feel the urge to jam the spear the rest of the way through its head well up in her. Her mind rebelled against the idea, but her body wanted to do just that. It wanted to do it very badly.

She took a deep, shaking breath, closed her eyes and slowly let it out.

A moment passed, and then Oktavia said, "So, are you-"

Kyoko let out a scream of frustration and drove the point of the spear forward.

"-No!" Oktavia screamed. She instinctively flinched back and covered her face with her arms in a futile attempt to defend herself.

A few seconds ticked by, and then she slowly lowered her arms. Kyoko was still standing over her, breathing heavily and clenching the pole of her spear with trembling hands. The point had been driven into the wall right next to Oktavia's head.

They stared at each other, and then Kyoko slowly pulled the spear out.

"Why?" Oktavia asked.

Kyoko shook her head. "Because…I don't know. Because I don't know. I don't know what's going on. I don't know where we are. I don't know who you really are, or what. But I'm gonna find out. And I want you to be there when I do, so I can decide."

"Decide? Decide on what?"

"What, are you an idiot?" Kyoko growled. "Decide whether or not I should kill you!"

She turned around to look out on the bizarre city. The haze of the neon lights shone still through the curtain of rain.

"Right now, I'm gonna go find some answers. Obviously I can't be carrying your scaly ass with me, so we're gonna have to find a place to hide you until I get back-"

"Wait a minute!" Oktavia interrupted. "What makes you think I'm going to do anything with you? I don't even know you! And you almost killed me just now! Like I'm going to hang around with you and give you another chance!"

Kyoko glanced at her over her shoulder. "You think you can get anywhere without me, go ahead and try," she said with a laugh. "Maybe you can try rolling your way to that river over there. You might make it. The current looks pretty strong though, and there's probably a whole mess of monsters swimming around. But hey, worth a shot, right?"

"What are you…" Oktavia's voice trailed off when she glanced down at herself. She stared down at her tail, as if she were seeing it for the first time. Maybe she was.

"I'm a mermaid," she said flatly.

"No," Kyoko said. "Really?"

"And I'm naked!" Oktavia cried. She quickly covered her breasts. "What the heck did you do with my clothes?"

"What, you think I did that to you?" Kyoko turned toward her and stuck the butt of her spear in the ground. "I saved you from getting boiled alive and that's the gratitude I get?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

Kyoko took a deep breath. "I found you like that in that apartment!" she shouted, pointing a finger at the door in question. "In the bathtub! Getting yourself scalded like a lobster by superhot water! I'm the one that pulled you out and got you out of there, so you'd better be grateful!"

Unfortunately, Kyoko's explanation didn't seem to have cleared anything up for Oktavia. If anything, the (former?) witch now looked even more confused. "But…what…"

"I don't know, I just got done telling you!" Kyoko growled. "That's what this is all about! You're supposed to be dead, we both are! Why do you think I'm in such a bad mood?"

"We're supposed to be…WHAT!"

"Ah, forget it," Kyoko said wearily. "It's a ridiculously long story. But hey, for what it's worth, I promise I won't try to kill you unless I find out that you're lying to me or if you try to kill me first. Deal?"

"Lying about what?" Oktavia cried. "What the heck are you babbling about?"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't know? Ask me again, and you'll really piss me off."

Oktavia frowned. She tilted her head to one side as her sapphire eyes studied Kyoko's face.

"We really did know each other, didn't we?" she asked.

Kyoko stared right back. "What kind of question is that? You think I'd go through all this trouble for some stranger?"

"No." Oktavia shook her head. "All…right. I'm trusting you. I don't know why, but I'm trusting you."

"Fantastic," Kyoko spat. "All right, let's find some place to hide you until I get back."

At Oktavia's insistence and to Kyoko's reluctance, they tried the apartment door but found that it had been locked. So were all the other doors they tried. Finally they had to settle for hiding her in a corner and pulling a trash can loaded with refuse in front of her.

"This has got to be the lousiest hiding place ever," Kyoko growled as she forced the can into place. "Seriously, stay out of sight and don't make noise. You'd better still be here when I get back."

Oktavia looked down at her tail. "I don't think I'm going anywhere very fast."

"Not on your own, maybe. But who knows what's out there?" Kyoko turned to leave.

"Wait."

Kyoko sighed. "Oh, what is it now?"

"What's your name? You haven't told me that yet."

She had, actually. Back when Sayaka had been human. But that had been in another existence entirely. "Kyoko Sakura," she said, her heart heavy that she had to do it again. "I guess you don't…"

Oktavia shook her head. "Sorry."

"Of course you are," Kyoko whispered under her breath. She turned to leave again.

"Wait," Oktavia said again.

"Yeah?"

"Uh…can I borrow you jacket? It's freezing, and I'm kind of naked."

Kyoko stared at the rainbow-finned girl. Then she wordlessly unzipped her jacket, pulled it off, and tossed it her.

"Thanks," Oktavia said as she slipped it on and zipped it up. "I think."

Kyoko didn't answer. She just turned and leapt into the rain.

...

Unbeknownst to Kyoko, she was being watched. Two small figures crouched on the apartment's rooftop, hidden in the shadow of a large air conditioner. A pair of violet eyes tracked Kyoko as she headed deeper into the city while two yellow eyes remained focused on the huddling shape of Oktavia. They exchanged a glance, and while no words were exchanged an understanding passed between them. The one with violet eyes dropped to the parking lot below and followed after Kyoko while the yellow eyed one remained crouching in place, watching.

...

Given the disappearance of her soul gem and the fact that she was not in uniform, Kyoko had feared that she had lost all of her power as well. But within moments of leaving the apartment complex she was relieved to find that such was not the case. She was just as fast, strong and agile as ever, and soon was leaping across the rooftops, searching for some sign of life.

The strange city seemed deserted. Though all the lights were on, there was no life to be seen. Very few of the buildings had windows, and those that did were completely opaque.

Finally, when she grew tired of leaping around aimlessly, Kyoko sought out the tallest building she could find and finally settled on a radio tower adorned with green, red and blue flashing lights. She quickly scaled the structure until she was clinging to the top of its broadcast tower. From there, she could see the entire city.

Unfortunately, the new view did not give her much information. The city stretched out far in three directions, an expanse of concrete, water canals, and neon. Beyond the city limits Kyoko could see nothing but an empty wasteland. Not a very inviting path to take.

But in the fourth and final direction, the one she had come from, the city ended much closer. There, the streets emptied into open water. Kyoko couldn't tell if it were a large lake or an ocean, but given that all the streets were flowing toward it, that was probably their best bet for escape. Unless she wanted to carry Sayaka on her back all the way out of the city.

First things were first. She had to find some kind of boat. And food. And clothing. And some more weapons wouldn't hurt. Kyoko slid down the side of the radio tower and vaulted back into the city. From there, she leapt from roof to roof, searching the rushing streets anything she could use.

…

Oktavia peeked out from behind the trashcan. The apartment's court remained as empty as before, with the falling rain providing the only movement.

She huddled back and hugged her loaned jacket close. She had no idea what was going on, and it terrified her. She didn't know where she was, how she had gotten there, who that strange, angry girl was, or why in the world she had a tail. In fact, save for her name, she couldn't remember much of anything.

Which isn't to say she was a complete blank. She still knew things. She knew that the sky was blue (or at least, as she noted with a fearful glance at the morphing clouds above, it was supposed to be), that water was wet, that you weren't supposed to run a red light, that Tokyo was the capital of Japan, that cake was delicious, and so on and so forth. But the actual specifics from her life, the faces and names and events, were all gone. The only name she was left with was her own, and if that crazy girl was to be believed, even that bit of information was in dispute.

With a grimace, Oktavia clawed at her head as she tried to remember something, any at all. The music, she could remember the music quite clearly: the strumming of the violins and cellos, the clash of the cymbals, and the tinkling of the piano's keys. Unconsciously she started humming it to herself. The familiar (but from what?) melody comforted her.

But the rest…everything was all muddled up in her head. Flashes of color, flitting images, and the odd obscured face or two. She could vaguely recall a broken hand trying to hold a violin, a tear-streaked face framed by pink hair, and an overwhelming feeling of resentment and despair. Also, the spear that the strange redheaded girl had carried, that was important somehow.

But there was no context for those brief, fractured images, nothing that allowed her to piece them together into full memories. And, given what Kyoko had told her, she wasn't sure if she wanted to.

Oktavia whimpered. If there was one thing that she was sure of, it was that she was in a lot of trouble.

And then she straightened up. Though she might have imagined it, she thought she had heard something: the sound of something, or someone, lightly dropping down onto the sidewalk nearby.

"Hello?" she said.

For nearly a minute, there was no sound but the pattering of the rain. Oktavia started to relax. It had just been her imagination after all.

And then there was a rustle of fabric, and a soft, mewling voice said, "Ticky-ticky, what do we have for Nikki?"

…

After a few minutes of desperate searching, Kyoko found success. A shopping center, one that held a supermarket and a sporting goods store. The windows were pitch-black and the parking lot was empty, but it was a step in the right direction.

Kyoko crouched in the shadows of an alley across the street (or rather, river) from the complex's side. Though the surrounding area was as lifeless as the rest of the city, she was far from ready to let her guard down. She glanced around, tensed her muscles and charged forward. The butte of her spear struck the ground, and she vaulted across the river.

She hit the ground with a pounce, rolled over her shoulders and landed in a crouch in the cover of the stores' overhanging. A brief glance told her that she was still alone, so she straightened up and wondered which store she should loot first. While her instincts told her to raid the supermarket first, practicality reminded her that she was going to need something to hold the food. As such, she went up the front of the sporting goods store, ready to jam her spear into the crack and pry the door open.

She needn't have worried. The door dinged and smoothly slid open, revealing a brightly lit store.

Kyoko paused. The checked the window from the outside and found them as black as before. Then she stuck her head in. they were perfectly clear from that side, revealing a perfect view of the rain-slicked parking lot.

A small chill swept through Kyoko's spine, one that had nothing to do with her soaked state. The windows were all one-way. Which meant that the abandoned city might not be so abandoned after all. A thousand eyes could have been watching her every move.

Paranoia was a healthy trait for a Puella Magi to have, and Kyoko was long accustomed to listening to hers. She had to get moving.

First order of business was to see to her own poor condition. She couldn't see any towels, but there were several racks of hooded sweatshirts nearby. Kyoko grabbed two, using one to dry herself off before pulling the other over her head and slipping her arms through the sleeves.

That done, she headed toward the hiking section and picked out a large black backpack. She unzipped it, pulled out all the brown tissue paper and slipped it on.

All right, now it was time to find a boat. Kyoko searched the aisles until she found the inflatable rafts.

And just what do you intend to do with those?

"What do you think?" Kyoko muttered to herself as she looked for the one that looked the lightest. "Looking for a way to get us out of here."

And who is us?

"That's a stupid question. Me and Sayaka. Who else?"

Sayaka? Don't you mean Oktavia?

Kyoko grimaced but didn't answer. She found a line of self-inflating rafts and yanked one off the shelf. After tearing the box open, she pulled out the roll of rubber and found the small, metal cylinder attached to the raft's side.

With a hiss, the raft expanded and filled out. It flopped onto the tiled floor, ready to go.

Good, they worked. It was a small one though, little more than an inner tube with a bottom, clearly designed for only one person. Still, there was no way she was lugging one of the bigger ones all the way back to the apartment. They would just have to pack themselves in the best they could. Kyoko grabbed another boxed raft and stuffed it into the backpack. The top stuck out, but she could carry it without worrying about it falling out.

But though she hadn't answered, her doubts continued to whisper to her.

She's still a witch. It doesn't matter what she looks like. She doesn't remember being human. All she knows about is her music, the same music she tried to kill you and her friend to protect.

Kyoko searched until she found a couple of duffel bags. She filled half of one with a few changes of clothes. Over at the camping section, she smashed the display case and pulled out a couple of survival knives, the kind that had an unscrewable handle that hid matches and flint; a Swiss Army knife; a butterfly knife; and a machete.

Sooner or later, she's going to turn on you. It's their nature. Witches are your enemy. It's the way things are.

"Shut up," Kyoko growled.

I thought you had learned your lesson. Don't trust others. Always look after yourself. Why are you burdening yourself with someone you can't even trust?

The question actually made Kyoko pause. After all, as much as she hated to admit, it was a legitimate point, one that had been gnawing at her as she had made her rounds over the city's rooftops. If the Sayaka she knew was truly gone, what good was there in looking after the witch that remained?

Finally she said, "Part of her came back, even though it was supposed to be impossible. The rest can come back too."

Are you sure?

"Of course I am!" Kyoko snapped irritably. "I'll show you…me…you!" She angrily picked up her bags and sulked her way out of the store.

Outside, things were unchanged. Kyoko cast a reproachful look at the empty parking lot and the gaudy city that lay beyond. Making her way back to Sayaka while encumbered by so much was not going to be fun. Then, with a sigh, she entered the supermarket.

Again, the door slid open as if everything were as it should be, and again the store beyond was brightly lit and completely normal looking, with only the lack of any sort of human presence indicating that something was wrong. Despite the ominous seriousness of the situation, once Kyoko was inside she started to feel a whole lot better. An entire store full of food stood unprotected before her, just waiting to be pillaged. It was too good to be true, which unfortunately added to her growing suspicion that it wasn't.

Still, nothing was gained by passing by such a bounty. Kyoko set to work, filling the remaining space in her bags with loaves of bread, packets of snacks, canned meats and fruits, boxes of sushi and, to her delight, an expensive slab of prime rib. This almost made up for the horrors she had destroyed back at the apartment. Almost.

The door dinged as it slid open.

Kyoko's hungry plundering stopped instantly. She ducked into an aisle of pasta and tomato sauce and dropped into a crouch. Remaining still, she strained her ears, trying to catch some sign of movement.

Nothing. The only sound was that of her own breathing and the beating of her heart.

Moving with all caution, Kyoko slipped the duffel bags from her shoulders and set them on the ground. This was followed by the heavy backpack. Now unencumbered, Kyoko peeked out of the aisle at the sliding door. Again, there was no sign that anyone other than herself was in the store.

But the door had opened. Of this, Kyoko was certain.

She waited, her heart pounding in her ears. When nothing leapt out at her, she slowly straightened up.

The shelves across from her exploded outward, showering her with boxes of pasta. Kyoko threw herself to the floor, just in time to avoid the flying body that sailed over her to cling to the opposite shelf. Kyoko snarled and slashed up with her spear. Her attacker evaded the strike and leapt back-and-forth along the shelves, moving quickly across the shelves.

Despite the fact that she was now fighting for her life, Kyoko felt a whole lot better. Earlier she had been jumping at every shadow, unsure if there was someone out there who wanted to kill her. Now she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that someone wanted to kill her. It simplified things.

"Hey!" she shouted. She scampered to her feet. "Get back here!" She ran after her new enemy, slashing out again with her spear. As it swung, the handle came apart and doubled in length, allowing Kyoko to thrash the aisle before her, shredding the boxes of pasta and smashing the jars and cans of tomato sauce. Unfortunately, the black-swathed stranger managed to keep just out of reach, rebounding off of each shelf a split-second before Kyoko destroyed it.

Then the fleeing figure reached the end of the aisle. Kyoko kept running, expecting it to keep going toward the registers beyond or perhaps turning into another aisle. Instead, it gripped the edge of the shelf on the left and swung itself up and back around, hurling itself at Kyoko.

Kyoko whipped her spear around but realized half-a-second too late that it was far too long. Her opponent twisted itself out of the way and tackled Kyoko's stomach. The next few seconds were a frantic whirlwind of madness as they rolled across the pasta-strewn linoleum.

Kyoko's opponent managed to get behind her and wrapped its skinny arms around her neck. Kyoko gasped as her windpipe closed. She fumbled around until her hand fell upon a jagged shard of glass from one of the smashed jars of pasta sauce. She seized it up and stabbed it into her assailant's arm.

The black-clad figure let out a scream of pain and Kyoko suddenly found herself free. She spun around to see her opponent lurching away from her, clutching its wounded arm with its pencil-thin fingers.

Something was wrong, though. The wound wasn't bleeding; no trickle of red marred the ivory skin. Instead, wispy tendrils of white vapor seeped from the cut.

Well, that was different. At least it proved that her enemy wasn't human. Thought that in itself made no difference in the end, it did mean that there was going to be less of a mess.

With a sharp flick of her arm, she reattached her spear's segments into a single pole again. Then, roaring her battle-cry, she slashed her enemy across the stomach. White vapor billowed up as it fell back with another scream. Kyoko rammed it with her shoulder, driving it all the way to the ground. One of her hands closed around its throat while the other held her spear high, ready to drive its point straight down.

It was then that she finally got a good look at her attacker's face.

It was a girl, perhaps a couple years older than Kyoko. She was thin, almost painfully so, with sticklike limbs, a long face and a sharp, pointed chin. Her skin was so white that it might have been bleached, and there certainly was a great deal of it showing, with her garments consisting of nothing more than a long skirt, what honestly appeared to be a nun's headdress covering her hair and a narrow strip of material covering her small breasts, all of it made from black cloth. Two stabbing blades were fastened to the back of each hand by more cloth strips. In fact, the only color to be found were her eyes, which were a startling shade of violet, and wide open with fear.

"W-wait," the girl stuttered. She held up her hands, palms forward. "D-don't…"

Kyoko's grip tightened around the girl's throat. "Hands down," she hissed. "Palms flat on the ground.

The girl obeyed.

"All right," Kyoko said. "Now, you're going to answer some questions, and if you refuse, or if I don't like your answers, I'm going to peel off your face. Understand?

The girl nodded.

"Good. Okay, to start things off: who the heck are you, and why are you attacking me? What is this place? Why am I still alive? What did you do with my soul gem? What happened to Sayaka? Why is she half human, and why can't she remember anything? Are you a witch? Is this your labyrinth? And-"

It was then that Kyoko made a rather disquieting discovery. The girl had no legs. Nor did she have a tail like Sayaka's. Her skirt was empty.

"-what in the heck happened to your legs!" Kyoko exclaimed in amazement. "How do you get around? Can you fly or something?"

The girl stared at her in uncertainty. "Um…what questions should I answer first?"

"Pick one," Kyoko growled.

"Are you…are you Kyoko Sakura?"

Kyoko blinked. Then her grip tightened. "Okay, add 'How do you know my name?' to that list."

The girl's eyes widened even further, though not with fear. "It's you, then," she whispered. "I really found you first, and you've just arrived!"

Now Kyoko was even more confused, which just made her angrier. "Hey! You're supposed to be answering my questions, not giving me new ones! Are you saying that there's more of you creeps, and you're all looking for me?"

"Mmmm-hmmm!" The girl's thin lips spread into a triumphant smile. "You're pretty famous around here. After all, Oblivion's had us watching for you for months!"

Even more questions! And from the look of things, she wasn't going to like the answers. Still, at least it was a step in the right direction. At least she now had a name. "Oblivion?" she said. "Is that the person behind all this?"

In response, the girl opened her mouth and started cackling. Kyoko was dumbstruck. It was as if she didn't even care anymore that there was a pointy blade mere inches from her face.

"You don't have a clue," the girl gibed. "You don't have a goddamned clue."

Kyoko released the girl's throat long enough to smack her face. "Watch your language," she hissed. "And you better start making sense, or I swear I'll-"

"Oh, come on, Miss Sakura!" the girl said, rolling her eyes. "I already told you that there's more people like me. Did'ja think I'd really jump you without backup?" With that, her gaze flitted from Kyoko's face to focus on a point somewhere beyond her head. She smiled in recognition and waggled her dark eyebrows.

A sharp chill swept through Kyoko as she realized what the girl was implying. She glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see another figure in black clothing hovering at the end of the aisle.

There was no one there.

Before Kyoko realized how thoroughly she had been suckered, the arm holding the spear erupted in red-hot pain. With a cry, she fell back and stared in horror at her right arm.

The legless girl had taken advantage of Kyoko's distraction and slashed her with all four blades. That was bad enough, but instead of leaking blood, crimson mist seeped from the wounds to swirl in front of her face.

Kyoko screamed.

…

Oktavia was no longer alone.

Another girl now crouched in front of her, one that was even younger than she, barely in the cusp of puberty. Her skin was so pale that Oktavia wondered if she were wearing full-body paint or makeup. Her outfit was certainly…unusual, consisting of a black leotard slashed in strategic places to prevent glimpses of the bone-white skin beneath, knee-length boots, elbow-length gloves, and a headdress that looked vaguely Egyptian, all made from the same featureless black material. Her face was round, her cheeks dimpled, and her yellow eyes shone with gleeful delight. On a fully grown woman, her get-up would distinguish her as a dangerous, if eccentric, femme fatale, someone who was well used to using violence and seduction in equal amounts to get what she wanted. That, or a professional dominatrix. But on someone so young-looking, it was a bit sickening.

Either way, the girl was clearly not sane. And the oversized steel knife she was turning between her fingers was not making Oktavia any more comfortable with the situation.

"Looky, looky, who do we have for Nikki?" the girl sing-songed. "A little fishy, and on dry land! Silly fishy, there's no water here!" Then she blinked at if something had just occurred to her. After a glance over her shoulder at the rain, she amended, "Well, maybe there is, but Nikki really don't think it's enough. Besides, you're hiding here, away from all the water! Silly fishy, why are hiding from the water?"

Oktavia had no idea how she was supposed to answer that question, so instead she asked, "Who…who are you?"

The girl sucked in a surprised breath between her teeth. "Oh, what a dunce Nikki is!" she cried, slapping a hand across her forehead. "She completely forgot her manners! So sorry, fishy. To her friends, she's known as Ticky Nikki. Pleased to make your acquaintance!"

"Ticky Nikki?" Oktavia repeated. It was certainly as unusual as its owner. And it somehow fit, in its own bizarre way.

All friendliness melted away from the girl's face in an instant. "NO!" she snarled. She lunged forward and pressed the razor-edge of her knife against Oktavia's throat. "Don't call her that, it's insulting!"

"But, but…" Oktavia sputtered, doing her best to keeping from swallowing. "You said…"

"She said that her friends call her Ticky Nikki! How can you be friends with her? You just met!" The girl shook her head in disgust. "No, you just get to call her 'Nikki'."

"Okay, okay!" Oktavia said. "I get it! Nikki. Understood."

"Oh! Well, that's good then." The knife went away and Nikki backed off a couple steps to sit on her ankles, but Oktavia was far from relieved.

"So," Nikki said. "What'cha waiting for, ticky-ticky?"

"Uh…what?"

Nikki tsked. "Mind your manners, fishy. Nikki gave you her name. Now it's your turn!"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Oktavia von Seckendorff."

The sound of her name seemed to delight Nikki. She threw her head back and cackled, a harsh, grating noise that made Oktavia flinch and cover her ears. "Ah, lovely!" Nikki crowed. "A proper witch's name, and the best one Nikki's ever heard! You witches are so lucky. You come here with no nasty pasts dragging you down, and you get the best names. Nikki sometimes wishes she got to be a witch like her big sis. Then she'd get a cool witch name too!"

Oktavia seized upon that word: witch. Kyoko had called her that, before she had run off. She knew what it meant, of course. A female magic user that flew around on a broom and wore a pointy hat, with black cats occasionally serving as pets. However, given the context, she was reasonably certain that this wasn't what either of these crazy girls meant.

"That's the second time I've been called a witch," she said, speaking slowly and carefully so as not to anger Nikki again. "What does that mean?"

Nikki stared at her. Then she snapped her fingers and said, "Oh, that's right! You're a noob! Sorry, Nikki forgot."

"Noob?"

"Uh-huh. New to this place. Annabelle Lee was the same way, when we first got here. Nikki had to tell her everything. It took forever!"

"Who?"

"Nikki's big sister," Nikki said, waving off the questions as unimportant. "She went after your friend, that girl with the big spear."

"You mean Kyoko?"

Nikki sucked in another breath. "Kyoko?" she said eagerly. She got down on all fours and pushed herself uncomfortably close to Oktavia's face. "Kyoko Sakura? That's her?"

Oktavia tried to keep away from the mad girl's face as best she could. "Yes! At least, that's what she said. Why, do you know her?"

"Nope! Do you?" But before Oktavia could answer in the negative, Nikki said, "Oh, wait! You wouldn't know! Sorry, forgot again, ticky-ticky. But we saw her shouting at you." She grinned, and Oktavia suddenly wished that she hadn't. The sight of her teeth was not pleasant. Apparently this world did not have dentists. "I think you did know each other."

"So do I," Oktavia said. "I just wish I knew how."

Nikki grinned. "Eh, you'll figure it out. We did, big sis and Nikki."

"I sure hope so," Oktavia muttered. Then her mind seized upon something Nikki had said. "Wait, you said your sister was going after Kyoko?"

Nikki nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! We've been looking for her for months!"

"You have? Uh, why?"

"Dunno," Nikki said, shrugging. "Was hoping you could tell us. But Reibey says that Oblivion wants her bad, and what Oblivion wants, Oblivion gets!"

There was a change in the mad girl's demeanor. As she spoke the name Oblivion, her eyes misted over, and her tone became one of devoted longing. It was clear that this was someone Nikki revered. While that was useful information, it did mean that Oktavia was going to have to choose her words carefully. One imagined slight, and Nikki might start thinking with her knife again.

"Okay," Oktavia said. "And did this…Reibey?"

"Uh-huh. He's our boss!"

"Right. And is…Oblivion his boss?"

"Uh-huh!" Nikki said again, with a quick nod of her head. "Whenever Oblivion wants something, she tells Reibey! And then Reibey tells us, and we make sure it gets done! And then Oblivions gets happy, and someone gets released!"

"Released?"

"Freed! Sent off! Only Oblivion can release us from this world, and she only releases those who serve her best!" Nikki's starting twitching with excitement. "And…and if we bring her Kyoko Sakura, she's going to be so happy with us! Maybe she'll even release us both, at the same time!" She placed a hand on her cheek, closed her eyes and sighed wistfully. "Wouldn't that be perfect? We're always together, you see. We grew up together, became Puella Magi together, and died together."

"HUH?" Oktavia gaped. "What? Died…what? But you're alive!"

"Oh, right." Nikki chortled to herself. "Sorry, forgot again, ticky-ticky. No, we're not. Wouldn't be here if we were."

Oktavia's arms started trembling for reasons that had nothing to do with the cold. "So then, Kyoko and I really are…"

"That's right," Nikki said, baring her horrible teeth once again. "Sucky news, I know. But you'll get used to it. Welcome to Hell."

…

Kyoko grabbed at her arm, desperately trying to stifle the flow of red vapor. She screamed the whole time.

"Surprised?" the pale girl gibed, cutting into the horror that was numbing Kyoko’s mind. Laughing, she shoved herself out from under Kyoko. "Oh man, are you for a rotten week."

It was then that Kyoko learned exactly how the girl managed to get around without legs. She rose into the air like a wraith. Letting out a bloodthirsty shriek, she swooped down, blades extended and zeroing in on Kyoko's stomach.

Now acting purely on instinct, Kyoko threw herself back and thrust her hand forward. Several chains, all made from diamond shaped-links, materialized in the air before her, coming together to form a barrier. The pale girl's eyes widened as she realized what was happening less than a second before collision and tried to arrest her own momentum, but by then it was far too late. She slammed into the barrier and was knocked sprawling to the floor.

With a grunt of satisfaction, Kyoko banished the barrier. Good, that still worked. Then she focused on the pale girl, who had still to come to her senses.

Kyoko swept out with the pole of her spear. She caught the pale girl by the throat and, gripping both ends of the pole, swung the girl up and slammed her back-first against the nearby shelves. "What's going on here already?" she shouted into the girl's face. "Why wasn't I bleeding?" She held up her wounded arm. "And what's this red stuff…Huh?"

The red vapor was no longer issuing from her arm, and nor was it wounded any longer. Though the sleeve of her hooded sweater still sported four gashes, the skin underneath was unharmed. And come to think of it, the pale girl was no longer leaking that white smoke either, and the cuts Kyoko had given her had closed up as well.

Where in the world was this place?

Instead of answering, the pale girl stopped trying to push the pole away from her throat and slashed out at Kyoko again. This time, Kyoko had enough presence of mind to dodge the swipes. She twisted her body left and right, sought out an opening, and found it. Her right foot lashed out, catching the pale girl right on the bellybutton, slamming her back against the shelf.

"TALK!" Kyoko roared.

The pale girl gasped for breath, but managed to retain her self-satisfied smirk. "I'll…let Oblivion fill you in," she said. "After all…you two are going to be spending…a lot of time together."

"Like hell we are!" Kyoko growled. "The only time I'm spending with him is until he runs out of ass for me to kick!"

She drove her spear forward. This time, the pale girl managed to roll out of the way just in time, barely avoiding what most certainly would have been an impaling blow. She leapt into the air, once again bounding from shelf-to-shelf all the way down the aisle.

"Her, not him!" the pale girl shouted over her shoulder. "Oblivion is a her!"

"Like I care!" Kyoko shouted back. "And you're not getting away with that trick again!" She thrust her finger forward, and another barrier sprang to life midway through the aisle, stopping the pale girl before she could go any further.

This time, the pale girl recovered more quickly, and managed to pick herself off the floor and turn around. But she still was too slow, as Kyoko was already on her.

Again the pale girl found herself with the pole of Kyoko's spear jammed against her throat and shoving her backwards. But unlike last time, there was no shelf in the way, allowing Kyoko to keep driving her back. Broken glass and scattered noodles crunched under her boots as she pushed the pale girl back through the aisle, out past the registers and directly at the one-way windows.

Kyoko briefly wondered if the windows would withstand the impact, or if they would allow her to crash right through. It didn't matter, as neither result was in the pale girl's favor. Her black wearing opponent knew it too, as right before impact she seemed to realize where they were heading and squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation.

It turned out to be the latter. The window shattered, and Kyoko only stumbled for half-a-step before regaining her balance. She slammed the pale girl against a concrete pillar, whirled her spear around to thrust the butte into her opponent's stomach and slammed the heel of her boot into her face. The back of the pale girl's head cracked against the pillar and she slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Behind her, the door dinged and slid open, blissfully unaware that Kyoko had missed.

Kyoko considered finishing her opponent off right then and there. It would certainly be the smart thing to do. But she still hadn't gotten any of her questions answered. And, as she had had learned one unfortunate rainy night a few months ago, killing your only known source of information just meant you had to waste time looking for a new one.

But then there was something else, something that Kyoko realized with a gasp, something even more pressing than information. The pale girl had said that there were others like her, other servants of this "Oblivion". And while she had been lying about having immediate backup, there was no reason to doubt that there were other strange persons in black skulking throughout the city, ones just as deadly as the one she had knocked out.

This realization was followed by another, one just bad. Sayaka's cutlass, forgotten in the confusion, was still tied around her waist.

She had left Sayaka all alone, with no means of defending herself.

That did it. She had to go, now. Kyoko glanced at her fallen adversary, grimaced, and slashed out with her spear. White vapor billowed up and formed a thick cloud. Kyoko, however, was already moving, sprinting across the parking lot to vault back into the city, all the while praying that she wasn't too late.

…

"Hell?" Oktavia gasped. "Wait, are you serious? We're in Hell? Fire, devils, pitchforks, all that stuff?"

Nikki shrugged. "Eh. Hell, Heaven, Purgatory, Hades, Nirvana, Aaru, Netherworld, Valhalla, Yomi, whatever. Does it make a difference?"

"I think it does, yes!"

"Maybe. But Heaven or Hell, it really doesn't matter, ticky-ticky. This is the place all good Puella Magi and witches go when they die. And all the bad ones too." She shook her head and giggled. "Guess they forgot to mention this place when they asked us to make a contract."

"Contract?"

"Jeez, what is it with you and the obvious questions? It's Annabelle Lee all over again." Nikki stood to her feet and put one hand on her hip, the other still gesturing with her knife. "But don't worry. Everything will be made clear, soon enough." She turned, looking out to the rain. "Big sis will be back with Kyoko Sakura, and we'll all go back to Oblivion together!"

With a happy squeal of delight, Nikki clasped her hands together and jumped up and down. "Oh, I can't wait! She'll be so happy! She'll smile at Nikki, and pat her head, and say 'Good job, Nikki! I knew I could count on you!' And then Reibey will say, 'Yes! You're the best Void Walker of all time!' And then big sis will give Nikki a hug and kiss her cheek, and we'll have a big party! With cake and balloons and those clever little monkeys with the funny hats and those music boxes you crank and peanuts…"

So intent Nikki was on her private daydreams that she forgot to keep an eye on Oktavia, who had, at that moment, decided that she didn't want to go anywhere near this Oblivion person, even if she would answer all her questions. And she certainly had no intention of waiting around for Annabelle Lee to return. She had been awake for less than an hour, and already she had been threatened by two crazy girls. A third was just plain overdoing things.

But what could she do? She couldn't walk. She could barely crawl. And she wasn't armed. Whereas Nikki had working legs, a large knife, and absolutely no inhibitions about using either. As Nikki danced around and ranted to herself, Oktavia scanned the surrounding area, looking for something, anything that could be used as a weapon. But there was nothing. The only things within reach were the jacket she was wearing and…

The trash can.

Keeping a wary eye on the celebrating Nikki, Oktavia reached up and grabbed the trash can's aluminum lid. She then carefully lifted it up and brought it close to her, holding it like a shield. Of course, the odds of her hitting Nikki accurately enough and hard enough to knock her out were so astronomically high that they might as well be non-existent. But it was the only shot she had.

Unfortunately, Nikki chose that exact moment to return her attention to her.

"No!" she cried. She lunged at Oktavia, knife-first. "Bad fishy!"

Acting on instinct, Oktavia shoved the metal lid directly into the blade's path. There was the sharp sound of metal tearing, and the next thing she knew, she was staring the knife's blade, protruding out of the back of the lid, less than a foot from her face.

On the other side, Nikki growled and tugged on the handle. Realizing that the knife had gotten stuck, Oktavia tried to wrestle both lid and knife out of Nikki's grasp. Unfortunately, while they were an equal match for strength, Nikki had the advantage of leverage and legs.

"No! Fishy let go!" Nikki shouted. She released the knife's handle, grabbed the metal lid's edge, and threw herself back, wrenching the whole thing out of Oktavia's grasp.

Oktavia flinched, bracing herself for the feeling of sharp steel cutting into her flesh. But while Nikki's angry sputtering continued, the fatal strike never came.

Oktavia opened her eyes. Nikki seemed to have forgotten her entirely and was instead struggling to free her knife from the hold the lid had gotten on it. She was now holding it by the edges with both hand and banging it repeatedly against the wall.

"Stupid thing! Give Nikki back her knife!"

Not knowing how long it would take Nikki to calm down and start attacking the problem from a rational mindset (if ever), Oktavia decided that she didn't want to be here at all. So, while Nikki was distracted, Oktavia slowly eased the trash can out of the way, flipped onto her stomach and started crawling away on her elbows as fast as she could, all the while cursing the fate that had saddled her with such a useless tail.

As Oktavia made her slow but panicked way toward the parking lot, she found herself actually hoping that Kyoko would return quickly. She much preferred the redhead's anger and death threats to Nikki's childish madness. At least Kyoko seemed to be willing to consider other options before gutting Oktavia like the fish she appeared to be.

…

As Kyoko leapt from building to building, she eventually came to realize an unfortunate truth: she had forgotten to mark out the apartment's location. And, with all the building hopping she had done, she had completely lost her way.

Panic threatened to rise up, but she beat it back down. No, she couldn't lose her head now. Every second she delayed lessened Sayaka's chances.

The radio tower. Right, it had been visible from the apartment, and not too far at that. Kyoko found a tall enough building, leapt her way up its fire escape and, once at the top, quickly scanned the city's skyline.

There! Though difficult to make out through the haze of the rain and neon lights, she could see the blinking radio tower rising high above its neighbors. Grinning, she bounded her way toward the tower's location.

And then something slammed into her. Hard.

Kyoko gasped as she was knocked off course. She slammed into a nearby wall, felt her teeth rattle, and tumbled down into an alleyway to crash land into an open dumpster.

The impact knocked her silly, and for a few terrifying moments the world swam around her. But then her vision cleared enough to make out what had hit her.

The pale girl was there, somehow managing to crouch on the dumpster's side despite her lack of legs. Her teeth were bared in a snarl of pure fury, and, to Kyoko's dismay, there wasn't a mark on her.

"Hey!" Kyoko said as she scrambled to sit up. "The hell? I killed you!"

The pale girl turned her head and spat. "Please! Like cutting me open would kill me! If that worked, I would have done it myself ages ago!"

Kyoko rolled back onto her shoulders and leapt back to her feet. So, her opponent was a black-wearing pale-skinned teenaged girl who talked about suicide and cutting herself. At least she now had a better idea of what she was up against.

Freaking emos.

She struck out with her spear, but this time the move was expected. The pale girl ducked the swipe and grabbed the spear right under the head as it swept by.

The next thing Kyoko knew, she was flying straight up into the air, dragged along by her own spear.

"I don't care if I have to cut you to pieces and stick you in a box!" the pale girl shouted down at her. "But you're going back with me to Oblivion whether you like it or not!"

"Like hell I am!" Kyoko shouted back.

Then she released her spear.

It took the pale girl nearly five seconds to realize that she had lost her passenger. She looked down to see Kyoko standing on the rooftop below, with a triumphant grin on her face.

The pale girl stared down at her. Kyoko could see the thoughts going through her mind, as clearly as if she had said them out loud. Why, she was wondering, had she let go and left herself defenseless?

Then Kyoko drew Sayaka's cutlass, and the pale girl's confusion gave way to understanding.

And then Kyoko stomped the ground with one boot. In response, the rooftop cracked apart, allowing a second spear to rise up to her other hand.

"That's right," Kyoko said to her. "All my powers still work. I figured it out." She pointed at the fuming girl with Sayaka's cutlass. "And three guesses to what you're still holding, the first two don't count."

The pale girl glanced down at her hands and remembered, to her horror, that her opponent was, soul gem or no soul gem, a Puella Magi. And Puella Magi had an empathetic connection to their weapons. And she was now holding one of those weapons by the neck.

Before she could drop it, the spear's pole separated into segments and snaked up to wrap around round her body, binding her skinny arms to her body.

"Hey!" she cried as she struggled to free herself. "Let me go!"

At this point, Kyoko was disinclined to acquiesce the pale girl's request. Instead, she settled for screaming her battle-cry and leaping toward her bound enemy, spear and cutlass alike crossed in front of her.

The anger on the pale girl's face gave way to terror when she realized just how much this was going to hurt.

Seconds later, a mass surrounded by billowing white smoke tumbled through the air to splash into one of the nearby waterways and Kyoko was once again leaping her way toward the radio tower.

…

If there was one good thing Oktavia could say about Nikki it was that the mad girl took her distractions seriously. Indeed, she had managed to speed-crawl more than three-fourths of the way to the parking lot before Nikki finally came to the conclusion that slamming the trash can's lid against the wall until it was a shapeless lump wasn't getting her anywhere and decided to change tactics.

She grabbed the handle of the knife and angrily wiggled it back and forth until the tear widened enough for her to finally yank it free. Grinning in triumph, she held up her free weapon and lovingly stroked its side with her other hand.

"There we go!" she exclaimed. "Nasty fishy, trying to-"

Then she glanced to the side and saw Oktavia doing her best to scurry away from her. "What? No, bad fishy!" she cried again and she ran after her. She slammed her boot between Oktavia's shoulder blades and shoved her down, making her cry out in pain.

"Where do you think you're going?" she demanded. "Trying to get away from Nikki? Bad, bad, fishy! You're so rude!" She brandished her knife. "Maybe Nikki should take away your arms, see how well you crawl when-"

"Hey. Ugly."

The voice was not Oktavia's. Nor was it Nikki's. Nor was it that of Nikki's adored older sister, Annabelle Lee. Nikki looked up from her tormenting of Oktavia to see something that was both unexpected and wholly terrifying.

A red spearhead the size of an automobile hovered in the air, its tip pointing directly at Nikki's head. Holding the spearhead aloft was a series of poles as thick as tree trunks joined together by heavy chains. The whole apparatus was now rearing up out of the nearby canal like an angered cobra, or a perhaps a scorpion's tail.

And there, standing right behind the spearhead, with a silver cutlass in one hand and a spear that was a perfect miniaturized version of the one she now rode in the other, was Kyoko Sakura.

Kyoko's eyes focused on the dumbstruck Nikki, and it was clear that her intentions were not at all friendly.

She said, "I'm the only one who gets to threaten her."

Oktavia closed her eyes, though not out of fear. As much as she disliked Nikki, she had a feeling that the next few seconds weren't something she would want to witness.

Fortunately, it was over quickly. There was the sound of some heavy hitting something soft, a ripping noise, and a shrill shriek. Nikki's boot disappeared from her back, and then there was the sound of a splash.

"Freaking emos," she heard Kyoko mutter.

The next thing Oktavia knew, Kyoko was crouching next to her. "Sayaka!" she said, worriedly shaking her by the shoulder. "Hey, you okay? Did she hurt you? Come on, say something!"

Oktavia coughed and pushed herself up. "Yeah, I'm okay," she grunted. "I'm fine."

"Sure you are," Kyoko said, her tone less than believing. She flipped Oktavia onto her back and started patting her down, searching for any hidden knife wounds.

"Hey, knock it off!" Oktavia said as she pushed her away. "I told you, I'm fine!" She glanced around. Nikki was nowhere to be seen.

Kyoko still didn't look convinced. "Who the hell was that?" she demanded. "What'd she do to you?"

"Mostly just ranted nonsense and acted really weird. She didn't start getting serious about that knife until right before you showed up." She looked Kyoko up and down and frowned.

Kyoko took a step back. "What?" she said, her tone defensive.

"You came back."

"Well, yeah. Any reason why I shouldn't have?"

Oktavia shook her head. She smiled. "No. It's just…you came back."

Kyoko was growing visibly irritated. "Hey, just because I might have to end up killing you doesn't mean I want to, or that I don't like you. I went through way too much trouble to get you back. I'm not going to let you get knifed by one of these freaking emos."

With that, she knelt down to pick up Oktavia by the armpits. "Come on," she grunted. "We gotta get out of here, now. Before she wakes up or more of them show up."

"Wakes up?" Oktavia looked around again, expecting to see Nikki lying unconscious against one of the walls. "I thought you killed her."

"Yeah, turns out these guys can't die. I ran into another in the city. Trust me, that nut with the knife is gonna be back soon." With that, Kyoko reached down and picked Oktavia up onto her shoulders in a fireman's carry.

"Hey!" Oktavia protested. "What-"

"Unless you can fly too, get over it!" Kyoko started jogging toward where her giant spear still sat in the nearby canal. She talked as she went. "There's a whole bunch of these creeps! They're working for some chick named-"

"Oblivion, I know!" Oktavia said as she clutched at Kyoko's arm for dear life. "Nikki kept going on about her, like she worships her or something!"

"Nikki's the nut with the knife, yeah?"

"Yeah! She said her big sister was looking for you, someone called Annabelle Lee!"

"Is that what her name was?" Kyoko stopped on the wet sidewalk, in front of the canal. "Yeah, we met."

Oktavia looked up at the giant spear hovering over them. "Wait, is that-"

"The thing I killed us with? Yeah, you remember?"

"A little."

"Well, it's a start," Kyoko muttered. Oktavia then cried in surprise out as Kyoko swung her off her shoulders to unceremoniously drop her on the concrete.

Kyoko snapped her fingers, and the spear lowered itself to settle in the rushing water, the blade flat against the surface. Another snap, and the pole's segments connected and became whole. The pole's length shrank down until it was only about the length of its smaller cousin, though the thickness remained the same.

It was then that Oktavia realized what Kyoko intended. "Hold up!" she said, pushing herself up on her palms. "You don't actually intend for us to ride that thing, do you?"

"Oh, you got a better idea, do you?" Kyoko snapped at her as she tossed the cutlass and the smaller spear on board. "I lost the raft I found, so unless you want me to carry your scaly ass everywhere we go from now on, quit your bitchin'."

"Yeah? And where are we going, exactly?" Oktavia demanded.

"I dunno, we'll figure it out when we get there. Now, stop talking and hold still!"

"What? Why do you-AGH!"

That last cry of surprise was due to the fact that Kyoko had just reached down and scooped Oktavia up into her arms. At another time and another place, the gesture might have been mistaken for protective, affectionate, even sweet. Alas, while Kyoko was known for being occasionally protective, she did not have a reputation for affection or sweetness. And this was only further punctuated when she simply tossed Oktavia onto the flat of the spearhead before leaping on board herself.

Making sure that the weapons were secured, Kyoko crouched near the spear's tip and shouted over her shoulder, "Okay, this is gonna be fast! Hold on!"

"Hold on?" Oktavia looked around at the oversized spearhead. "To what?"

"To me, you idiot! Hurry up!"

Oktavia raised an eyebrow, but she crawled up to where Kyoko crouched and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Uh, okay. So, when you said this thing was going to go fast, how fast did you-WAHHH!"

The spearhead shot forward, riding the current quicker than any speedboat. Rain splattered against their faces and the glowing lights of the city and the morphing lights of the sky flashed by, blending together to form a nauseating display. Energized by the speed and the success of their escape, Kyoko threw her head back and laughed maniacally in exhilaration. As for Oktavia, she just held on tight, closed her eyes, and did her best not to be sick.

…

In another part of the city in another canal, the water was rushing just as quickly, but it was otherwise unremarkable, just another strange street in a strange city that was filled with them.

And then a thin, ghostly pale hand bound with black strips of cloth and sporting two steel blades on its back thrust up out of the current to seize the nearby sidewalk. It was soon followed by its twin, and Annabelle Lee surfaced with a gasp. Panting and growling, she hoisted herself onto the sidewalk and flopped onto her back.

She lay there with her eyes closed, ignoring the rain that fell onto her exhausted body. The only thing that concerned her was getting her breathing under control.

Once she was sure that she had recovered adequately, Annabelle Lee flipped over onto her stomach, pushed herself up onto her palms and shot off into the air. She gained speed and altitude and was soon soaring high above Genocide City on a direct course for the apartment complex where she had left Nikki. She had no thought of seeking out Kyoko Sakura. By now she would be long gone and impossible to find. Now the only thing to do was collect her deranged sister.

However, Annabelle Lee had every intention of finding her very soon in the future and repaying her for certain grievances before delivering whatever was left to Oblivion and Reibey. While she had never had a negative thought about Oblivion throughout her years of service, she now grimly thought that whatever reward was to be obtained for successfully capturing Kyoko Sakura, it had better be worth the trouble of bringing her down.

As expected, neither Kyoko nor that blue-haired witch with the mermaid tail was to be found at the apartment. Neither was Nikki, for that matter. While Annabelle Lee wasn't especially concerned for her sister's well-being (an inability to die tended to decrease her feeling in that aspect), she was mildly worried that Nikki had been taken prisoner. Or that she had forgotten what she was supposed to do and done something incredibly stupid. Given her track record, the latter was the most likely.

"Nikki!" she called as she circled over the complex. "Hey, where are you? Come on, you were supposed to be watching the mermaid! Don't tell me you went and screwed up again!"

And then she saw her.

There, in a nearby canal, where the waterway forked into two other branches, forming a Y shape, was a black and white bundle. It had somehow gotten stuck right where the two branches separated.

Annabelle Lee rolled her eyes. Oh, she couldn't wait to hear Nikki explain this one.

Swooping down, she grabbed her younger sister by the arms and yanked her out of the water. "Hey!" she said, smacking Nikki's cheeks. "Ticky Nikki! Wake up!"

In response, Nikki's head just lolled back and forth. Her eyes remained closed.

Annabelle Lee got behind her and wrapped her arms around her middle. She bunched her clasped her fingers into a fist, brought it up under Nikki's ribcage, and shoved up. Hard.

Nikki's eyes bulged open and water spewed out of her mouth like a fountain. She fell onto her hands and knees, coughing.

Annabelle Lee waited for her sister to gather herself (or at least, as much as Nikki could ever gather herself) before asking, "Nikki, what the hell happened to you? You were supposed to be watching the mermaid, remember?"

"Was," Nikki gagged. She sat back onto her heels. "Then we talked, and she thought she was Nikki's friend, but then she told her that she wasn't, so she made everything all clear, and then she told her where she was going to go, but she didn't know anything and got all confused-"

Annabelle Lee, whose head was swimming from the pronoun confusion (a common hazard of dealing with Nikki's tendency to address herself in the third person in a world completely inhabited by females), interrupted her sister with, "Yeah, whatever. How'd you end up in the water?"

"Oh! That! Redhead girl showed up, riding a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig spear." Nikki held her hands apart for emphasis. "And then things started to hurt a lot."

This news just made Annabelle Lee grunt. While she still wanted to gouge out Kyoko Sakura's eyeballs, she had to admit to a certain amount of grudging admiration. Newly arrived Puella Magi very rarely reassumed mastery over their abilities so quickly. True, Annabelle Lee had given Kyoko plenty of motivation, but to already regain use of her ultimate attack…it was impressive.

Still, if there was one silver lining to be found, it was the knowledge that Kyoko Sakura could not possibly know what expending so much energy at one time was going to cost her. The thought made Annabelle Lee's thin lips twist into a smile.

"Hey," Nikki said as she stood up. "Annabelly. Was that really Kyoko Sakura?"

Annabelle Lee scowled at her sister. "What did I tell you about calling me that? And yeah, it was."

"Did she beat you too?"

"Yeah," Annabelle Lee said with a sigh. "She did."

Nikki pondered this. Annabelle Lee could practically see the synapses racing through her sister's fragmented brain.

Finally Nikki said, "So…we found her, like Reibey told us to. But she beat us both and got away, didn't she?"

"Yep," Annabelle Lee said with another sigh. "That she did."

"Oh." Nikki's eyes flitted back and forth. She whimpered. "Reibey's gonna be mad, isn't he?"

Annabelle Lee laid a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Yeah," she said, wincing in anticipation of what promised to be a very unpleasant debriefing session. "Reibey's gonna be mad."

Chapter Text

As it turned out, Ticky Nikki had been absolutely correct. Reibey was not happy. At all.

Annabelle Lee and Nikki were prostrated on the black-and-white checkered floor of Palace Omega, their faces planted firmly against the cool tile. In front of them, Reibey paced back and forth, his normally curled tail practically twisting itself into knots.

"So, let me see if I got this right," said the midnight-black Incubator. "You two were patrolling Genocide City when none other than Kyoko Sakura, having recently slipped off the mortal coil, showed up right in front of you. And not only that, she brought a witch with her, presumably the same one responsible for her untimely demise."

Not daring to look up, Annabelle Lee gave a twitching nod. Nikki whimpered.

"Naturally, instead of keeping an eye on them while calling for help, you decided to make the grab yourselves. And not only that, when Sakura left the witch to go leaping through the city, you, for whatever retarded reason, decided to split up."

"The fishy witch-" Nikki started to say, but then she screamed as her body contorted in pain. Annabelle Lee grimaced, but remained where she was.

Reibey continued to stare at the thrashing Nikki for ten seconds more before releasing her. "The witch, you say?" he said as she curled up into a ball and started sobbing. "Who cares about some damned witch? I'm up to my ears in them already! Did Oblivion ever claim 'I want Kyoko Sakura and the witch that killed her'? Did she even make so much as the slightest indication of being interested in anyone except Kyoko Sakura?"

A few seconds ticked by, during which the only sound was Nikki's whimpers. Then Reibey snapped, "That was not a rhetorical question!"

"No!" Annabelle Lee said as quickly as possible. "No, she didn't!"

And then she screamed as her skin caught fire while her body was flooded with ice, or at least that was what it felt like. She writhed on the ground, lost in a haze of pain.

Reibey watched her dispassionately, his tail twitching above his head. "Then why oh why did you leave Ticky Nikki behind?" he demanded. "Why did you try to take Kyoko Sakura all on your lonesome? Was it pride? Hmmm? Greed? Did you want the reward all for yourself?" He closed his ruby eyes and shook his head. "I swear, we need to implement a better screening process when we hire. It seems no matter what we do, I end up surrounded by incompetence."

The pain suddenly vanished, and Annabelle Lee collapsed against the black-and-white tiles, coughing and wheezing.

Paying no heed to his underlings' distress, Reibey turned and started padding toward the door that led to Oblivion's chambers. "Fortunately, all is not lost," he said. "Based upon what we know, Kyoko is no idiot. She would know that carrying that mermaid witch around on her shoulders would be stupid. And seeing how you two didn't catch her stumbling around in the wilderness, they most likely escaped to sea. So there's a chance to catch them before they reach Freehaven. Which means you two get a second chance."

"Yes," Annabelle Lee choked out. She pushed herself up onto one elbow while coughing into the other hand. "Thank you…"

"You're welcome," Reibey said. "I'm assigning The Twins to assist you. Try not to break them. And remember, if you come back and Kyoko Sakura is not with you, I'm going to be quite put out. Capiche?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Now, pick yourselves up and stop drooling all over the floor. I just had it waxed."

His disappointing servitors dealt with, Reibey made his way toward the tall, arching door that led to Oblivion's chambers. It opened as he approached, permitting him inside.

As usual, Oblivion sat there on her throne, the only piece of furniture to be found in the cavernous room. In stark contrast to the scanty outfits preferred by the Void Walkers that paid her mindless devotion, Oblivion was covered from head to toe by a shapeless hooded robe, completely lacking in ornamentation. Black gloves extended into the depths of her sleeves, and even her face, which was just pale as that of her servants, was only glimpsed when the heavy hood moved enough to permit a glimpse of what lay beneath. However, her pale blue eyes managed to shine clearly, and along with Reibey's red eyes, were one of the only three sources of color to be found in the room.

The third was a Rubik's cube, which Oblivion was frantically twisting. Obliviously frustrated, she could be heard mumbling to herself under her breath.

Reibey stopped a few feet away from the throne. "So!" he said. "How goes the battle?"

Oblivion angrily tossed the undefeated cube aside, sending it clattering across the floor. "I can't figure that stupid thing out! Every time I think I got it right, it just ends up messing everything up!"

Reibey looked from Oblivion to the cube and then back to her. "Well, maybe you failed to complete the puzzle, but if you look at it as a metaphor for the human experience, you may have just stumbled upon an important truth!"

Oblivion just blinked at him. "What?"

"Never mind," Reibey said cheerfully, not at all surprised by his prodigy's inability to grasp anything resembling higher thought. If nothing else, it only served to further confirm his prejudices. He padded over to the throne and leapt onto her arm and climbed onto her shoulder. "At any rate, I have good news for you!" He turned his head so that his round scarlet gaze was looking directly into the hood. "Kyoko Sakura has finally arrived!"

Oblivion gave a little jump of surprise. "Really?" she said eagerly. "She's here?"

"Mmmm-hmmm! Well, not here here. Not in Palace Omega. But it seems that her warring days are over, and she has departed the vale of tears!"

"The what?" Oblivion said, blinking.

"The vale of tears. She has slipped from the mortal coil, dropped out of the race of life, ceased to be, passed away, and would be pushing daisies if there were enough of her to bury, which I am sure there is not. She is deceased, she has moved on, she is-"

"She's dead," Oblivion said.

"That too."

Oblivion looked away. Reibey heard the sound of sniffling from within the hood and felt a flash of irritation. What had he been thinking, letting a little brat take on the mantle of Oblivion? It didn't matter what she looked like now, she still was stuck with the mind of the pathetic little runt he had found whimpering in the alleys of Genocide City. Just because her specific circumstances were unique didn't mean she would work out well as Oblivion. Reibey now had his paws full just keeping her from doing something embarrassing in front of the Void Walkers. He should have just added her to his "collection" and had someone less extraordinary but more level-headed take on the role. At least he had cured her of that annoying habit of referring to herself in the third person. Now that had been grating. It was bad enough that Ticky Nikki couldn't seem to stop doing it, and at least she had the excuse of insanity working for her. Seriously, what was it with these nutty little girls and their inability to employ proper use of first-person pronouns? It wasn't cute, it was downright irritating!

Still, weepy brat or not, she was significantly easier to control than any of the previous incarnations. And so long as he could keep her happy, he wouldn't have to worry about this one offing herself like the last five had. "There, there," he said in a soothing tone as he rubbed his face up against her cheek. His tail uncurled and wound itself loosely around her shoulders. "Don't be like that. This is what we wanted, remember? Big sis had to die to come here first. Otherwise, you'd never get her back!"

"But…but…" she blubbered. "If I'd been there to help her…"

"No fault of your own. Blame that irresponsible time twister. And isn't it better this way? Back in life, you two faced separation every day! Here, you have a castle to live in and an army to protect you. And of course, I will always be here to make sure no one ever tries to hurt you again. Soon you and big sister Kyoko will be reunited, and you'll be together forever."

Oblivion wiped her eyes with her heavy sleeve. "Promise?"

"Oblivion, remember who you're talking to. I'm your magical genie, remember? Have I ever let you down?"

"No," Oblivion said, shaking her head.

"There you go! Now, she was last seen jumping around Genocide City, the same place where I found you! I've already sent the Tick-Tock Sisters and The Twins to go pick her up. They'll be back soon, and you'll-"

Oblivion leapt to her feet. Not expecting the sudden action, Reibey had to dig his claws into the thick material of her robe to keep from falling off.

"Let me go with them!" she implored.

"What? No! Why?"

"Because I'm tired of just sitting around, doing nothing! I wanna go out and see Kyoko now!"

"No, you're not going anywhere!" he snapped, a bit more harshly than intended. Realizing that he was well on his way to making her start crying again, he reined himself in and said, "Remember our deal. You need to stay here and do your duty. The Void Walkers are used to having an Oblivion that's reclusive and mysterious, and it would confuse them if you started running around, doing things for yourself."

"But I want to do things for myself! I don't want them to think I'm useless!"

Useless. Reibey shook his head in disgust. An entire army of former Puella Magi and witches, all of them united by a single-minded devotion to the being they knew only as Oblivion that at times bordered on worship, and she was worried that they would think she's useless just because she didn't run around with them, helping them out with their menial tasks.

Enough of this. He wasn't going to spend the day arguing with her. "No more of that," he murmured in a low voice. His tail drew in closer, until it brushed against her neck. "Just trust Reibey. Soon, big sis will be here, and you'll never lose her again."

Oblivion stumbled. Beneath her hood, her eyes flickered as they grew heavy. "But," she muttered sleepily. "But…"

"Shhh. Rest now. Leave everything to me."

Oblivion sank back into her throne. Her head slumped into her chest, and soon she was slumbering peacefully.

That annoyance taken care of, Reibey hopped off her shoulder and walked away. This was becoming a royal pain. Those four had better be successful in bringing Kyoko Sakura back. Otherwise, she was going to wander right into Freehaven. And getting her out of there was going to be a bitch at a half.

It was then an unpleasant thought occurred to him, one that made him pause. All this time he had been focused on acquiring Kyoko Sakura as a means to control Oblivion. But how was he going to control Kyoko?

His tail twitched over his head as he considered the problem. Perhaps he had been a little too hasty while judging the Tick-Tock Sisters. If Kyoko Sakura had been that adamant about defending that witch she had been with, perhaps the mermaid did have use after all. He'd better send word to them before they left and instruct them to bring the pair in.

As he headed off to do that, his eyes fell upon the discarded Rubik's cube. He cocked his head to one side. Under his gaze, the cube rose into the air, and the segments began to twist of their own accord.

He kept it up for about thirty seconds before dropping the cube back to the floor, still unsolved. Stupid thing. Humans and their pointless self-inflicted challenges. Truly, there had never been such a masochist race ever to grope their way into sentience, if it could be called that.

…

On the whole, Kyoko Sakura was not a peaceful person. When she wasn't fighting she was hunting. When she wasn't hunting she was making use of her powers in order to acquire some of life's essentials: money, food, personal hygiene, and luxury hotels. In her downtime she preferred to rack up high scores on the dancing games at arcades or wander around seedy alleys to tempt the local thugs into attacking her (that was always worth a laugh). Even when she slept, her dreams were often restless and filled with activity. Of all kinds.

As such, moments of quiet, when there was literally nothing much to do, were not something she was used to. It made her uneasy, like there was something she should be doing or someone was setting her up.

Take her current situation for example. Upon escaping from the City of Annoying Lights, she had driven the giant spearhead out into sea as quickly as it would go. As it turned out, the body of water was an ocean, and soon the city was nothing more than a dot on the horizon. And soon after that, she couldn't even see it at all. However, the mental strain of moving the spearhead forward at such a high speed finally caught up to her, so she brought it to a stop to give herself a few moments to catch her breath.

Apparently, the strange storm of twisting images and changing colors had been part of the cityscape as well, as they were now floating under clear, blue skies, with nary a cloud to be seen. The water was also completely still, and if it weren't for the strangeness of the place they had just left, Kyoko could almost bring herself to believe that everything was normal.

But she was still riding a giant spearhead with a mermaid. That just bugged her.

Since she had no idea how long this respite was going to last, she decided that now would be an excellent time to get the amnesiac Sayaka (she refused to think of her as Oktavia) caught up on…everything. And so she told her all she knew. She told her about the Puella Magi and their mission to fight witches. She told her about Kyubey and his damned wish-granting contracts. She told her about soul gems and the powers they granted and the horrible price they came with. She told her about the witches themselves, and how Sayaka's fall had told her exactly where they came from.

After that, Kyoko went into the specifics. She told her what she knew about Sayaka's life, about how she had made the contract to restore the violin boy to health, and how much that had backfired. She told her about the ensuing downward spiral into despair, and how she and Kyoko had first started off as enemies, but then learning exactly what soul gems were had made Kyoko rethink her hostility.

Of course, that had led to the most difficult part of the story for Kyoko: going into her own life story. She had done that once already, and thought she would never have to do it again. Tearing the scab off of that wound had been painful enough the first time around. But of course, life would never be finished dicking around with her, even after when it was supposed to have ended. And so the scab came off again.

She told Sayaka about growing up in her father's church and watching him struggle with the evils of the world. She told her about how he had tried to reform and transform the church from within and create a new faith, one that would save humanity from itself. She told her about how this had driven his congregation away how, faced with poverty, starvation and being unable to watch her beloved father's efforts go to waste, she had made her own contract in order to bring the parishioners back, and the horrible tragedy that had happened once her father had learned the truth behind his newfound success.

And so the story went on, covering her family's demise, her rejection of altruism only to regain a sliver of hope when exposed to Sayaka's hopeless idealism. Kyoko told Sayaka how she had tried to snap her out of her downward spiral only to fail again when Sayaka had turned into a witch. She told her about how she and Sayaka's friend Madoka had entered Sayaka's Labyrinth and tried to bring her to her senses. She told her about that final climatic battle, as she had tried to protect Madoka while holding back so as to avoid hurting Sayaka too much. And, when it became clear that they had no hope of success, she told her about how she had finally delivered the blow that released Sayaka from her misery and took Kyoko's own life in the process.

All in all, it took much longer than she had expected, and when Kyoko finished the story she felt even more worn out, not to mention emotionally drained for having to relive so many raw memories. Though going over her past had been a bit easier this time around, mainly because Sayaka was now not the suspicious former enemy she had been last time. She just sat leaned back on her elbows and listened.

When it was over, Sayaka whispered, "And I'm guessing the next part is where you woke up in that apartment and found me…in the bathtub?"

Kyoko nodded. "Yeah. The hot water was turned on full blast, and you were getting cooked like a lobster. Now, what was I supposed to do with that?"

"Huh. You know, I actually think I remember that part." Sayaka shook her head. "Still, all that about magical girls and evil witches and wish-granting aliens…sounds like something from an anime."

Kyoko growled. Her exhaustion was making her even more irritable than normal. "If you so much as think that I'm lying, I swear I'm gonna-"

"Huh? No, no, I believe you!" Sayaka said quickly, holding up her hands to placate the other girl. "So much weird stuff's happened already that I can't go around calling you a liar just because your story's all crazy. I mean, that glowing city with the rivers for streets, those crazy clouds, and…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down to where her legs used to be.

"And you got turned into a mermaid," Kyoko finished for her. Despite her fatigue, her lips managed to twist into their usual smirk. "Yeah, that would make any believe in magic."

Sayaka shuddered. "You got that right. And heck, Nikki alone would make anyone believe in witches."

"Who? Oh, right, the emo girl with the knife." Kyoko shrugged. "If you think she was bad, you shoulda met her sister. Nasty creep could actually fly."

"Fly?" Sayaka blinked. "You mean-"

"Yep. Fly. She didn't have any legs either, but that didn't seem to slow her down any." Kyoko sighed and put a hand on her stomach. It grumbled under her touch. Her thoughts went to the two duffel bags she had left behind and she cursed Annabelle Lee for forcing her to abandon them.

Sayaka looked up at the sky. "It's so strange," she said. "I mean, I had a whole life. Not a long one I know, but I had a family and friends and went to school and had a crush on somebody and probably had things I wanted to do when I got older, but I can't remember any of it. I know it must have happened, but to me, it's just gone." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "And that friend of mine, the one that went with you…"

"You mean Madoka?"

"Uh-huh. What did she look like?"

Kyoko rubbed her chin as she thought. "Eh, small, real shy, had some major self-esteem issues, pretty nice person though. Short pink hair. I kinda liked her. For who she was, she had guts."

Sayaka sighed. "See what I mean? I have this…this picture in my head, of a pink-haired girl, and she's crying. So I guess it must be her. But other than that, I can't remember anything about her, but she must've cared about me a lot to have risked her life like that. But I can't even remember her."

"Don't take it so hard," Kyoko said. "At least you had someone willing to fight for you. Not your fault that Kyubey screwed you over."

"Did he? I mean, it was my choice, wasn't it?"

"Don't give me that crap," Kyoko growled. "He left out a whole lot when we contracted, stuff we shoulda known." She sighed. "Like this place, for example. Sure would like to know where in the hell we are."

Sayaka visibly flinched at that.

"What?" Kyoko said. "You got something to say?"

"Kind of. That girl, Ticky Nikki, she said that we were…Well, that we were in Hell."

Kyoko's hunger was momentarily forgotten. She slowly turned her head to stare at the blue-haired girl sitting next to her. "Uh, say whaaaaaaat?"

"It's what she said! Or maybe. She wasn't really clear, to be honest, but she did say that we were dead, and this was the afterlife for…for people like us."

Kyoko stared at her. "Wait, you mean for Puella Magi?"

"And witches," Sayaka nodded. She shrugged. "I don't know if she was telling the truth, or if she even believed it, but…it kind of fits, doesn't it?"

"The hell it does," Kyoko growled. "I don't know what rubbish that nut was saying, but this ain't no afterlife."

Sayaka scratched her head. "How can you be so sure?"

"I…I just am, okay? I'd know if we were dead, and this ain't it."

Sayaka still looked confused, but she didn't press the question. Kyoko was glad. The reason why she was so certain that she wasn't in the afterlife was simple. She was the daughter of a preacher, and had believed in God all her life. Even after she and the church had parted ways, she still believed in God, even if she no longer considered she and Him to be on the same side. And as such, she believed in Heaven or Hell as well. To her, it wasn't a matter of theological debate. When you died, you went to one or the other. This was simple fact. And Hell was a place of pain and suffering, where sinners paid the eternal price for their deeds.

To Kyoko's mind, she had no other ultimate destination save for that. She had been hellbound the moment she had contracted with Kyubey, and her every deed since then had only further secured her place.

But while this place was certainly no Heaven, it wasn't Hell either. That alone told her that this Nikki creep was wrong. No, she and Sayaka were still alive, and all they had to do was find out who was responsible for all this weird crap. Her money was on this "Oblivion" person. So once they finally found Oblivion and beat the truth out of her, everything would be clear.

And then Kyoko looked down at her arm. Soon after they had made their escape, she had insisted that they switch jackets. The one from the sporting goods store may have been more expensive, but she much preferred her ratty green number. She pulled up her sleeve and stared at the unharmed skin beneath. The memory of red vapor floating from the four cuts Annabelle Lee had given her flitted through her mind and made her insides squirm.

"There's one thing I don't get though," Sayaka said, jerking Kyoko out of her reverie.

That made Kyoko laugh. "Oh yeah? Just one? Man, are you the believing sort."

A ghost of a smile passed over Sayaka's face, thought it didn't last long. "Why did you let yourself die?"

The question was so unexpected that it took a full five seconds for it to fully penetrate Kyoko's brain. "Ah, er, what?"

"You didn't have to die with me. Just putting me out of my misery would have been enough. I mean, you probably killed witches all the time, so it's not like I could have been that much of a challenge. So why'd you do it?"

Kyoko's right hand twitched. "What kind of question is that?" she exploded. "Are you saying I should have just whacked you and run off? What kind of person do you think I am?"

"But you died!" Sayaka sputtered in confusion. "Or at least, you meant to, even though you didn't have to! And you only just met me. It wasn't like we were childhood friends or anything."

Kyoko grimaced and looked away, out at the ocean. She considered not answering, to give Sayaka's ingratitude the response it deserved. But she would want to know as well, so she just groaned and said, "Because I didn't want you to die alone, okay? You deserved that much, at least."

Sayaka still looked confused. "Why would you care?"

"Because it sucks to be alone," Kyoko said. She pulled her legs up and folded her arms over her knees. "And dying alone must be even worse."

She stared moodily out at the waters, her foul mood now even worse. Her empty stomach's complaints were now even louder, her mind was being boiled by the unholy concoction of anger and confusion that now sizzled in her brain, and she was so tired that if it weren't for the storm of emotions raging through her she might have dropped dead asleep right here and now. She was glad that Sayaka was at least mostly back, but everything had been flipped upside down.

And then Sayaka reached over and poked her in the cheek.

Kyoko's eyes popped wide. She slowly turned to look at the mermaid in disbelief. "Did…did you just poke me in the face?"

Sayaka shrugged and smiled. "Sorry, but you just looked so mopey that I couldn't help it."

"You…you poked me," Kyoko said flatly. "In the face." A pause, and then, "Do you wanna die or something?"

"Hey, hey, it's kind of late for that, don't you think? Besides, you really should cheer up a little. Sure, things are weird and confusing, but at least we got away. And who knows? Maybe this place won't be so bad after all."

"When the hell did you get so cheerful?" Kyoko muttered as she laid back, arms folded beneath her head. She scowled at the sky, and then glanced over to Sayaka. The mermaid was leaning over the side of the spear and dangling her hand into the water.

Kyoko glanced at the weapons to confirm that they were on her side of the spearhead. Then she smirked, held up her right hand with the palm down, and tilted it to the right.

"WAH!" Sayaka cried as her side of the spearhead suddenly flipped downward, dumping her into the water. She surfaced quickly, wiped the water from her face and stared at Kyoko.

"What the heck was that for?" she demanded.

"Hey, you're a mermaid, remember," Kyoko snickered. "I'm just returning you to your natural habitat."

Sayaka scowled. "Oh, you think you're so funny." She tried to scamper up the smooth metal of the tilted fin, grabbing for Kyoko's jacket. "Come here, and try that-"

Kyoko gave her hand a swift turn to the left. Sayaka's half of the spearhead obeyed, flipping up and catapulting Sayaka up through the air and into the water at the other side.

As Sayaka sputtered and angrily tried to splash her, Kyoko just laughed and lay back down. Maybe Sayaka was right. No point in declaring the situation hopeless until it actually was.

For now, while there wasn't a whole lot she could do about the pit that was steadily growing in her stomach or the loads of unanswered questions in her mind, she could do something about the fatigue that had set deep into her bones. "Yo," she said, turning her head toward the irate Sayaka. "I'm gonna close my eyes for a bit. Wake me up if we reach land or if something tries to kill us."

Sayaka's response was to splash her again.

"Bitch, bitch, bitch," Kyoko yawned. "I save your ass three times today, and that's the thanks I get?" With that, she pulled her hood over her head, closed her eyes and let herself slip away into the dark embrace of sleep.

…

When Annabelle Lee and her little band of misfits arrived at Genocide City, not much had changed. The rain continued to fall (but then, it always did), the canals that served as streets continued to rush angrily between the buildings and the symphony of chemical lights continued to give her a headache no matter where she looked. It was far from her favorite place to visit, and having to return with the threat of future punishment hanging over her head was bad enough.

Unfortunately, Reibey had a mean streak. And in addition to the verbal abuse and searing pain he had subject her and Nikki to earlier, this was best demonstrated by the "backup" he had chosen to accompany them. Namely, The Twins.

Oh, Great Balls of Zeus, Annabelle Lee absolutely loathed The Twins.

A pair of witches that had only joined their ranks a few years ago, The Twins were so named because of their near-identical appearances. The same blond hair, though now dyed black to fit in with Oblivion's monochrome color scheme, and tied into two ankle-length pigtails; the same slight figures; the same golden eyes; and the same fashion sense that leaned toward striped thigh-highs, short black skirts, corsets, and, something that many found to be just plain tacky, pointed witch's hats. In fact, they looked so much alike that many people assumed that their title was literal, but they always insisted that they weren't actually related, and that any similarities were mere coincidences.

Nobody believed them.

Which wasn't to say there weren't differences. Obviously, their witch forms had not been the same. One of them, Arzt Kochen, had the fingers of her right hand replaced by syringes, which she wielded as her primary weapon. And Nie Blühen Herze, the other, had two normal hands but had the mark of a red broken heart over her left breast, which had been long confirmed not to be a tattoo. For weapons, she wielded a pair of pistols.

All of this was nothing especially unusual. The Void Walkers had many with stranger choices of wardrobe. But the part that Annabelle Lee found rankling was that they could not keep their hands off each other! It seemed like every time she saw them, they were cuddling, kissing, caressing, groping, or some combination of the above, with varying degrees of intimacy. While relationships among Annabelle Lee's allies were fairly common, at least everyone else had the decency to keep it private! Besides, that sort of open devotion was something they should be reserving for Oblivion and Oblivion alone! Well, the devotion itself at least. Annabelle Lee was fairly certain that Oblivion wouldn't appreciate the constant physical affection. But at any rate, every time someone complained and asked them to get a room, they just laughed and said something to the tune of "You know how it is" and go right one with the snogging.

Annabelle Lee wasn't the only one to find them annoying. And poor Nikki had it even worse. Somewhere down the line, The Twins had gotten it into their heads that Nikki was just the cutest thing ever and made a point of cooing over her and treating her like some kind of pet, to the little psychopath's obvious distress. More than once Annabelle Lee had found Nikki cowering under her bed and, when questioned as to the reason, had only responded with a fearful "They're looking for Nikki." That had been explanation enough.

While Annabelle Lee respected Reibey as her superior, she had to admit to harboring no small amount of resentment toward him for saddling her with those two. The pain had been one thing. Failure deserved punishment. But this was just cruelty.

Still, they had a job to do, and the sooner it was done she wouldn't have to put up with them anymore. So the four of them, Annabelle Lee, Ticky Nikki, Arzt, and Nie, made their way back to the apartment complex where Kyoko Sakura and her mermaid witch had last been seen.

Kyoko hadn't left much trace of their presence behind. Annabelle Lee swooped down to the sidewalk that connected to the complex's parking lot and gave the adjoining canal a brief look.

"Current's heading out to sea, so Reibey was right about that," she muttered. Nikki scampered up to join her. Annabelle Lee nodded at her and said, "Freehaven's almost a day away. Maybe half, if they went full speed. But Kyoko Sakura's going to run out of energy long before them." Her lips parted in a malicious grin. "Probably already has. So odds are, they they're stranded somewhere out there. So, we still have a good chance to catch them."

Nikki giggled. "Goody. And just how much are we allowed to hurt them, ticky-ticky? Will Reibey be mad if we cut them just a little?"

"What Reibey doesn't know won't hurt him," Annabelle Lee said. "And if he does, we can always just say they resisted, which they probably will. I really don't think he'll care anyway. He just wants us to bring them in. He said nothing about how, or in what condition."

"Sweet," Nikki purred. "Nikki can't wait to filet that-"

"Oh, there you two are!"

Nikki stiffened. She glanced at her sister, her eyes full of fear. Annabelle Lee just sighed.

"Oh Christ," she muttered. "Here we go…"

A moment later two arms had wrapped around Nikki's waist and pulled her into the air.

"Darling Nikki, were you hiding from us?" Nie said as she pressed her cheek to Nikki's. "We were getting lonely without you!" Nikki tried to squirm out of her grip, which just made Nie laugh and cling tighter.

Annabelle Lee closed her eyes and pinched her nose. "Nie, put my sister down. Now."

"Aw, I was just-"

"You've got three seconds."

Nie scowled. "Oh, nice try. You wouldn't dare hurt me. Reibey's angry enough with you already."

"I wasn't talking about me. But Nikki there is about ready to bite your arm, and if she does, I'm just going to look the other way."

"No way! Ticky Nikki would never do such a thing!"

Annabelle Lee rolled her eyes. "Nikki. A visual aide, please."

Grateful for being granted permission, Nikki grabbed at Nie's right arm and opened her mouth, exposing her sharp, crooked teeth.

"Hey now!" Nie squealed as she dropped Nikki. "What do you think you're doing?" She stared in shock at Nikki, who had run behind her sister for protection. "Ticky Nikki, how could you?"

A bout of amused laughter broke into the dispute. Arzt walked up next to Nie and looped an arm around her elbow. "Oh, don't take it personally. You know that sister of hers has been a bad influence." She drew Nie's face close to her own with a finger to the chin and murmured, "How else can someone resist such a sweet face?"

As their lips met, Nikki stuck out her tongue and started gagging. Annabelle Lee concurred with the sentiment.

"All right!" she snapped as she rose up a foot into the air. "Save the snogging for when we get back! But for now, we have a job to do. So keep your hands to yourself until it's done."

She motioned in the direction of the flowing current. "Reibey said that Kyoko Sakura and her witch most likely headed out to sea, so that's where we're going. Now."

Arzt looked disappointed. "Oh, we're leaving already? Shouldn't we stay here for a bit and…you know, investigate?"

Annabelle Lee stared at her. "Investigate what? Do you think they left us a note to tell us where they're going and a detailed map?"

"Don't be silly, of course not! But didn't you say that they were rebirthed in this very apartment building? So, shouldn't we try to find the apartment they woke up in?" Her hand slipped down to grip Nie's. "You know, to look for clues. About what we're up against?"

"Why the crap would we care?" Annabelle Lee said in bemusement. "We're capturing them, not writing a psyche evaluation!"

Arzt's thumb was now making small circles over Nie's knuckles. "Yes, but even so, there might be…pertinent information."

"Like what? Why are…Oh." Annabelle sighed as she understood. "Look asshat, if you want to break into apartments for a quickie, do it on your own bloody time. And seeing how our prey is likely far out to sea, that is where we are going right now. You have a problem with that…" she held up the two wickedly sharp curving blades strapped to her right hand "…my complaint department is right here."

Arzt sighed and exchanged a look with her partner. "You see what I mean? So unbelievably rude. No wonder Ticky Nikki's picking up bad habits."

"Isn't!" Nikki insisted. "Don't say bad things about Annabelly while Nikki is here!"

The Twins shot her a pitying look. To Annabelle Lee, Nie said, "And by the by, you said they were out to sea. Exactly how are you planning on getting us all out there? After all, you're the only one among us who can fly."

"This is Genocide City, genius," Annabelle Lee seethed. She pointed toward the sea again. "There's a jetty. The jetty has boats. So go find one that's fast and try to keep up."

Arzt let go of Nie to put her hands on her hips. "And just how do you plan to find them, once we're out there? The ocean is a big place, and they could have gone in any direction."

"Oh yes, I do believe you're right," Annabelle Lee said flatly. "If only we had someone who could fly overhead and see for miles on end. That would certainly be useful." She motioned with her bladed right arm. "Get moving already."

The Twins exchanged a look. "Well, I guess we have our marching orders," Arzt said. She turned her gaze to Nikki, who quailed at the attention. "Come on, little Nikki," she cooed. "Let's go for a boat ride. I'll even let you sit on my lap!"

Nikki shot her sister a stricken look. Annabelle Lee rolled her eyes. "Dream on, ladies," she said as she reached down to grab Nikki's hand. She hoisted her sister up and pulled her onto her back. Nikki, used to riding along in this position, put her arms around Annabelle Lee's neck and locked in tight with her legs. "The psychopath rides with me."

Nie pouted. "You're just trying to keep her for yourself."

"Uh, yeah?" With that, Annabelle Lee soared up high, above the rooftops. She shouted, "If you two aren't in the water in five minutes, I'm going to use your teeth as whetstones!"

And then she was off, shooting forward through the rain, her anticipation rising as she imagined just how delicious it was going to feel when she got to introduce her blades to Kyoko Sakura's stomach and watch as her soul poured out.

…

She danced high above the city, spinning and twirling with her fellow performers on the rotating stage. Below, civilization crumbled in their wake, a symphony of destruction providing music for their performance.

This was truly the grandest stage of them all, and she was blessed to be a part of it. Why had she fought against this for so long? What would she have accomplished in the end? Nothing. But now, she got to take part in the greatest show of all time, dancing through the end of the world and putting on the performance of a lifetime…

"Kyoko!"

The sound of her name dragged Kyoko partially back to consciousness, but it failed to rouse her fully out of her sleep. However, the sharp pang of hunger that twisted her insides a second later finished the job.

Someone that she truly hoped was Sayaka shook her by the shoulder. "Hey, wake up already! We've got a big problem!"

Moaning, Kyoko opened her eyes and squinted. Though her vision was still blurry and her mind clouded by fog, she could see enough to confirm that yes, she was still floating on a giant spearhead. However, the world seemed to be considerably dimmer than before. Not as dark as the storm within the neon city, but enough to tell her that clear skies were a thing of the past.

She tried to roll over only to wince as another pang of hunger shot through her. What the hell? It seemed like that since she had fallen asleep, her intestines had started devouring themselves.

"Sayaka," she muttered as she pushed herself onto her knees, one arm holding her stomach. "How long was I out?"

"Uh, only a couple hours. Are you okay? You don't look so good."

Kyoko didn't answer. Only a couple hours? But it felt like she had been comatose without food for days. Furthermore, her nap didn't seem to have done her any good. If anything, she now felt even more exhausted.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she lied. She forced herself to stand. Her knees threatened to buckle, but she managed to get all the way up. "Where the heck are we?"

"I have no idea," Sayaka said. She pointed. "But it really doesn't look very friendly."

Kyoko looked. They had washed up against a small island, smaller even than the apartment complex they had woken up in. It was little more than a bunch of rocks jutting out of the sea, with a worn-down wooden dock extending from one side. A tall lighthouse, weathered smooth by the elements, stood high at the island's center. Overhead, dark clouds rotated around the lighthouse's apex in a slow spiral. It wasn't the skin-crawling strangeness of the storm that hovered over the city, but it was still eerie, especially since a quick glance confirmed that the cloud disc didn't extend much more than about half a mile out to sea, and beyond the sun continued to shine just as brightly as before.

But despite the haunted feel of the place, it didn't seem to be abandoned. Lights shone through the thin windows and the long arm of the lighthouse's beam swept around and around, warning any passersby of the island's presence.

"Huh, now what could that be for?" Kyoko mused out loud. "Did…I don't know, were those clouds here first, and they put the lighthouse here so people wouldn't hit the island? Or did they make the lighthouse first, and call up the clouds to give it something to do?" She shrugged. "Ah, hell with it. Like it matters." She nudged the spearhead around the island, toward the dock.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Sayaka asked.

"What does it look like, genius? Docking."

"But why? That place is obviously bad. Why not just go around it and take off?"

Kyoko took a deep breath. "Okay, normally I'd be all with you on that, but we really need to figure out where the heck we are. Otherwise, we'll probably end up floating around for, I don't know, the rest of eternity or something." She mumbled a curse under her breath. "Shoulda followed the coastline instead of shooting straight out. Damn it, wish I thought of that earlier."

"Er, all right." Sayaka quirked a dubious eyebrow in the lighthouse's direction. "And if they don't want to give us directions and start shooting us instead? Because that really seems to be the thing to do around here?"

Kyoko grinned. "Nothin' I can't handle. Though people seem to be more into stabbing." Then, before she could add anything else, her stomach let out a loud gurgle, one that even Sayaka heard.

"Hungry?" the mermaid said.

Kyoko's shoulders slumped. "Well, yeah," she muttered. She pushed a hand up her forehead and moved her fingers through her copper hair. "That would be the other reason we ain't booking it."

"For food? Really? Are you really so hungry that you're going to risk being attacked again just to get some lunch?"

Kyoko brought the spearhead to a sudden stop. She stomped over to Sayaka, grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her in the air.

"Is that what you think?" she demanded. She smacked Sayaka upside the temple. "Just some lunch? We're in the middle of the freaking ocean without any food! Do you know what it's like to starve? Because if we don't find anything to eat, you're going to get to find out! And lemme tell you something, little mermaid, it ain't fun!"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Sayaka said, holding up her hands. "Food is important, message received! Put me down!"

Still muttering to herself, Kyoko dropped Sayaka back down. "Just some lunch," she hissed as she started the spearhead back into motion. "Like we're just stopping at McDonalds."

Sayaka rubbed the place where Kyoko had hit her. "I said I get it already!"

"You know every time I look at you, I keep picturing that tail of yours covered with mayonnaise and stuck between two slices of bread. You wanna see what'll happen in two more hours if I don't get anything to eat?"

Sayaka just rolled her eyes.

Kyoko brought the spearhead the rest of the way to the dock. She knelt down to pick up the smaller spear. Then she kicked the cutlass in Sayaka's direction.

"Thanks," Sayaka said, picking it up. She swished it back and forth. "Though I don't think it'll be much help if those two show up again. You know, since I don't have legs."

"What, you think I'm just gonna leave you here?" Kyoko said. Then she knelt down on one knee and put her head under Sayaka's arm.

"Hey, wait!" Sayaka sputtered as Kyoko lifted her onto her shoulders. "You're going to carry me inside? What if we get attacked?"

Kyoko grunted. At first she was afraid that she would be unable to bear the weight in her weakened state, but though her legs trembled a little they didn't buckle. "What do you think I gave you your sword back for? Think of yourself as an extra arm."

Sayaka sighed. She gave her sword a couple half-hearted swings and managed a weak smile. "Arrrrrr."

"Besides, I can drop you in a sec if I have to. Like this."

Kyoko dropped Sayaka onto the dock.

"Hey! Stop dropping me on my butt!" Sayaka complained as she rubbed her rump.

"Learn to fly like the other legless girl, and I won't have to," Kyoko retorted as she leapt up herself. The sudden motion sent a wave of nausea through her, forcing her to slow down. She inhaled deeply, held it, and carefully crouched down and hoisted Sayaka back up.

"I miss my legs," Sayaka moaned, placing a palm over her face. "I don't even remember them, but I miss them."

"How do you think I feel?" Kyoko snapped. "Quit bitchin' already."

Moving with caution, she made her way over the slick stones toward the lighthouse's front door. It was made of pocked iron and heavy looking, but Kyoko didn't see a lock. She nudged it with the toe of her boot. It moved an inch with a grinding creak, but resisted going any further.

"Doesn't look like it's locked," Sayaka observed, again stating the obvious.

"Nope," Kyoko grunted. "Just really rusty." She closed her eyes and slowly filled her lungs with air. After holding it for a few seconds, she let it out just as slow and lifted up her right leg.

Then she slammed it as hard as she could against the door's center.

It took three solid kicks, but in the end she managed to get it to swing open and bang against the attached wall.

Sayaka winced. "Well, so much for element of surprise. They probably heard that all the way back at the…Whoa, hey. Are you okay?"

Kyoko, who had just stumbled and fallen to one knee, grunted, "Yeah, I'm fine." She pushed herself back up. "Stop worrying about me already, it's annoying." With that, she went in.

The interior of the lighthouse was fairly standard: a tall, tubular structure with a staircase that wound around the wall up to the rotating lantern at the top. However, the bottom had been converted into a miniature home. Several shaggy rugs had been thrown onto the stone floor, none of which matched. A wooden table stood in the center of the room, on which sat several books, a feathered quill, and an inkpot. Along the wall were several cabinets and bookshelves, containing even more volumes. Several chairs sat here and there, from a comfortable overstuffed easy chair to a plain, three-legged stool to everything in between. Whoever it was that lived here obviously had salvaged their furniture in bits and pieces.

The walls, however, put Kyoko back on her guard. Covering the weathered stones, from the area touching the rugs and stretching all the way to the top, were hundreds upon hundreds of black handprints, all of them the same size and shape. Which meant that they had all been made by the same person. Or several people with identical hand-shaped stamps.

"Wow, looks like something from a horror movie," Sayaka said in a low voice.

"I know, right?" Kyoko muttered. "Better than that freaking apartment though." Then, without warning, she again slipped the mermaid from her shoulders and dropped her to the ground.

"Ow!" Sayaka winced. "Will you please stop doing that?"

"Hey, at least you got to land on carpet this time," Kyoko said, though she wasn't giving the mermaid her full attention. Her eyes wandered upward, up the stairs. "Now shut up. I think I hear someone."

Sayaka quieted down immediately. Sure enough, a voice could be heard speaking from somewhere above. It didn't sound much like a conversation, but rather a low, droning chant.

Kyoko set her mouth in a thin line. Ascending the steps while carrying Sayaka was a bad idea, but she didn't much care for the idea of leaving her alone at the bottom either. "Hey!" she shouted. "You up there? Knock-knock!"

"What are you doing?" Sayaka demanded in a panicked whisper. "Why are you letting them know we're here?"

"Like they didn't hear their door being kicked in." Kyoko put her hands on her hips and sighed. "But fine. Looks like I'll have to go up after them."

She briefly scanned the room and, after some deliberation, decided to pull Sayaka into a space between two cabinets, all the while ignoring the latter's sigh of irritation. Once there, she waved a hand, causing one of her chain barriers to form around Sayaka.

"Hey!" Sayaka said, straightening in surprise. "What the heck?"

"Oh yeah, I can do that," Kyoko said with a shrug. "Relax, it'll keep you safe."

Sayaka glowered at her from behind the links. "More like keep me caged!"

Kyoko smirked. "Eh, it's not like you were going anywhere anyway." She tapped the barrier with her knuckles. "At least this way anyone wanting to get at you has to smash through here first."

"Right." Sayaka stuck her fingers through one of the gaps. "Unless they've got guns or any kind of knife longer than three inches."

"Good point." Kyoko gestured, and a second layer of chains wrapped around the first, closing any gaps and covering the mermaid with a protective cocoon.

"Hey, wait!" Sayaka's muffled voice protested from within. "Now I can't see anything!"

"Again with the bitchin'," Kyoko sighed. She opened a slit just large enough for Sayaka to peek out. Then she tapped the ground with the point of her spear. A ring of spears rose up out of the ground, forming a bladed fence around the barrier. "There, satisfied? Don't answer, I don't care." She turned and headed towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go say 'hi' to our host. Lemme know if any of those freaking emos show up, will yah?"

Then, ignoring Sayaka's further complaints, Kyoko headed up the stairs.

As she headed higher into the lighthouse, Kyoko noted that being up and moving around hadn't made her feel better. If anything, she now felt worse, as if her strength had been sapped away. And the empty pit of her stomach was widening.

She grimaced and forced herself to continue. If this turned out to be a result of those cuts Annabelle Lee had given her, then she was in deep trouble. She had been poisoned once before while fighting a spiderlike witch, and had barely survived. This didn't feel like poison though. More like she had stayed up for seventy-two hours and ran a marathon. Perhaps it had something to do with the disappearance of her soul gem?

Whatever, she was now almost to the top of the stairs. She could get her answers from whoever it was mumbling to themselves.

Then Kyoko stole a glance at the hundreds of handprints that covered the walls. Or maybe she wouldn't. This did seem to be a world of crazy people, and from the look of things, this person wasn't any different.

The stairs ended at a wooden landing that connected to the lantern room by a ladder. The gears that turned the lantern took up the center of the room, groaning as they spun the light around and around. The rest of the space seemed to have been converted into a makeshift chapel, with a small wooden chest bearing an iron monstrance sitting against one wall and a ring of lit candles of various sizes placed along the edge of the landing. A threadbare blanket and a musty pillow sat at one end, on which were three stuffed animals that had seen better days: a grey rabbit that had once been white with one eye missing, a brown wolf whose nose was hanging on by a few frayed threads, and a green snake with stitches that were coming undone. A molding Bible lay next to the pillow.

And there, kneeling before the small altar, was the lighthouse's sole resident.

She wore a heavy overcoat, one that was much too large for her, that was weathered by use and heavily patched. Her dark, unwashed hair was long and tangled, with the ends splitting in such a manner that reminded Kyoko of feathers, or perhaps small leaves. Her head was bowed and her hands, almost obscured as they were by the large sleeves, were clasped in prayer.

Kyoko, who had been hunched over with her spear at the ready paused. Even in her weakened condition, she had been ready for another fight. But despite all she had done and all she had become, there were certain lines that even someone like her didn't cross. And jumping someone who was praying was one of them. She straightened and waited.

Finally the girl muttered her amens and stood up, moving slowly so as not to trip over her own overcoat. She brushed off her knees and said, "Hello there. Thank you for waiting."

Kyoko blinked. "Er, no prob. Though when someone kicks in your door and starts yelling for you, don'cha think that you should get up and do something about it?"

"Perhaps," the girl said with a short giggle. "But cutting off a conversation seems like poor manners, especially when it's with God."

She turned around then. At first, Kyoko had the horrible feeling that she was dealing with another one of the crazy emo girls. But after she got a better look, she realized that this strange girl was not the same as Annabelle Lee or Ticky Nikki. Though her skin was pale, her cheeks still had some color. She just didn't see much sun. Those two had looked like they had been whitewashed.

"Well, despite your rather…abrupt entry and the fact that you're holding a weapon, I suppose that since you're not offering me immediate violence your intentions are not hostile?" the girl asked.

"Only if I gotta," Kyoko said, making sure the threat was there. "But nah, me and my friend washed up here, and we really need some directions. Also food. Definitely food."

The girl nodded. "A couple of travelers who have lost their way. There seems to be no lack of them here."

"What, you get a lot people barging in and…" Then Kyoko got it. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, fer crying out loud. Look sister, I really don't have time for your religiosity. If you can help us, fantastic. But the last person I cared to hear sermons from is dead. Kinda killed my appetite for them, you know? So save the preaching for someone else."

The girl studied Kyoko's face. Kyoko, who felt herself growing more irritated by the second, stared back. "Yeah?" she snapped. "You got something to say?"

"Lost indeed," the girl sighed. She shook her head and let a small, sad smile touch her lips. "Well, it would be unbecoming of me to turn away those in need, though I don't know what assistance I can offer." She held out one grimy hand. "Elsa Maria, but just plain 'Elsa' will do. Pleased to meet you, Kyoko Sakura."

Kyoko almost took the offered hand, but fortunately her brain caught up. "Hold up!" she shouted, jumping a step back and bringing her spear to bear. "How'd you know my name? You're…Aw crap, you really are one of those emo girls, aren't you?"

Elsa frowned. "Emo girls? Excuse me?"

"You know! The ones who wear all black and keep talking about how much they love this Oblivion freak! I ran into two of them earlier and they gave me nothing but trouble."

"Oh," Elsa said, blowing out an exasperated breath. "Them. No. Rest assured, I have nothing to do with the creature Oblivion, and do not associate with her followers."

Kyoko's grip on her spear did not lessen. "Then how'd you know my name?" she demanded.

"It's my gift," Elsa said, spreading her hands. "My wish. When I contracted, I prayed for the gift of insight."

Kyoko's eyes narrowed. "Oh, another Puella Magi, huh? Well, isn't that just great."

"Well, not really," Elsa admitted. She stared down and scuffed the ground with one toe. She was wearing large leather boots. "Once, perhaps, but like so many others, I fell into-"

"Darkness and despair, and you became a witch," Kyoko muttered. "Yeah, there's a lot of that going around."

"An unfortunate truth," Elsa agreed, crossing herself. "It's…not something I prefer to dwell on. Fortunately, my descent into darkness was not to end with damnation. Praise the Lord, I was saved."

"You mean 'killed,' right?"

"Does it not come out to the same thing? Which fate would you prefer?"

Kyoko thought about that and conceded the point. "And your wish was to know people's names? Kinda lame, if you ask me."

"Not all people, just those like me. Girls who traded their souls for power."

The point of Kyoko's spear moved forward another inch. "What'd I say about the preaching? Quit it."

"Who was preaching? Is that not what happened?" Elsa brushed her ratty hair out of her face and frowned. "Though I see what you mean, considering how we were deceived into believing otherwise."

"If you so much as mention Eve or apples, I swear I will-" Kyoko's stomach, awakened by the mention of apples, chose that moment to interrupt. Both she and Elsa stared at it as it rumbled loudly.

"Oh," Elsa said. She looked like she was trying hard not to laugh. "Right. I'm sorry, I'm already failing as a hostess." Ignoring Kyoko's spear entirely, she passed by her to start down the stairs. "Well, come on. I don't have much, I'm afraid, but you don't strike me as the picky type."

Kyoko wondered if there were any hidden insults in that statement but decided that she didn't care. It was true, after all.

She followed Elsa down the stairs, careful to leave a good-sized gap between them. "And yes," Elsa said. "I do know the names of any Puella Magi or witches that I meet. Their wishes as well. Sometimes other bits of information occasionally leak through, flashes of events important to them, that sort of thing. Though, without context, it does often become…confusing. I can only imagine how the prophets felt while witnessing…Kyoko?" She turned to see that Kyoko had stopped following her. "Is something wrong?"

Kyoko said, "You know people's wishes?"

A pause, and then Elsa said, "Yes."

"You know mine, then?"

This time the pause was longer. "I do," Elsa said softly. "I…hope you don't mind, but did-"

Though Kyoko didn't point her spear at her this time, the threat was there. "Don't. Even. Ask," she growled.

This time Elsa did look a bit frightened. "O-of course! I understand. I beseech your forgiveness; I should not have pried."

Kyoko said nothing.

Finally Elsa turned and started down the stairs again. Kyoko followed. Neither spoke the whole way down.

Once they reached the bottom, Elsa came to a stop. She looked at the protections Kyoko had covered Sayaka with and blinked. "What?" she said. "I'm sorry, but what in the world is that?"

"That's my friend," Kyoko said, walking over to the spear-surrounded cocoon. "The one I mentioned earlier."

Elsa tiled her head to one side. "And…is she going…to hatch?"

"Who's there?" Sayaka's voice said from inside. Kyoko saw her peeking out through the eye slit. "Kyoko? What's going on? Who's that?"

"Oh," Elsa said. "Oh! Okay, I see. Clever! But, a bit extreme, isn't it?"

Kyoko ignored her. "Our new buddy," she said to Sayaka. She tapped the cocoon with the butte of her spear. The fence of spears sank back into the ground as the chains unraveled, revealing the mermaid inside. "Meet Elsa Maria. You two got a lot in common, so you should get along fine."

Sayaka looked Elsa Maria up and down, clearly unsure of what to make of the grimy girl in the too big overcoat. "Uh, hi," she said, managing a shaky smile. "Yes, I'm a mermaid. It's tough, but I'm dealing."

For her part, Elsa Maria did not return the greeting. She didn't say anything at all. Instead, she just stared at the blue-haired girl with an expression of near-religious awe. Kyoko's hackles went up. This was probably not good.

Sayaka coughed. "So, yeah. I wasn't born this way, not really sure how it happened, but it's not that bad. So…"

Elsa lunged forward to wrap her arms around Sayaka in a fierce embrace.

"Urk!"

"You," Elsa said, her voice choking with emotion, "are most welcome! Bless you, my savior. Bless you."

"What are you doing?" Kyoko cried. She snatched Elsa by the collar of that stupid coat of hers and yanked her off Sayaka to toss her onto the table, scattering the books.

The sudden motion sent a wave of fatigue through Kyoko's body and spots filled her vision. Grimacing, she shook her head, trying to fight off the feeling of weakness.

Fortunately, it passed quickly, and Kyoko placed herself between the two former witches. "Touch her again, and…" Her mind chose that moment to freeze up, unable to think up a new threat. "Well, fill in the blank!"

"Hey, what the heck is going on here?" Sayaka said in bewilderment. "Is she a friend or not?"

"Still trying to figure that out," Kyoko said over her shoulder. "I'll let'cha know the moment I do."

"I'm sorry," Elsa said as she carefully levered herself back to her feet. She let out a small laugh and wiped her eyes with her grimy sleeve. "Forgive me, I mean no harm. I simply forgot myself. I hadn't been expecting…"

Dumbfounded, Kyoko and Sayaka watched as their strange hostess started laughing again. Fortunately, it was not the mad cackling witches sometimes exhibited, but the chuckle of someone who had been genuinely surprised and was delighted by it.

"Well!" she said at last. "I suppose I've made enough of a fool of myself for one day!" She started clearing the remaining books away from the table. "Come, come! I promised food, and while it may not be much, I intend to fulfill my duties as hostess. And I know you two have many questions. I only pray that what few answers I can provide will not be inadequate, and that you do not judge ignorance to have been a preferable state."

…

Given that her job primarily consisted of patrolling, stalking, and occasionally brief bouts of frenzied violence, Annabelle Lee did not often have the opportunity to just get out and fly. As And there were few finer places to fly than over the ocean.

"Weeee!" Nikki sang as she held onto her sister. "Faster, Annabelly, faster!"

"Don't call me Annabelly," Annabelle Lee automatically responded, but she acquiesced, shooting off and leaning into a wide arc, causing Nikki to giggle with delight.

Though her memories of her human life were gone for good, Nikki insisted that Annabelle Lee used to take her flying all the time. While Annabelle Lee strongly suspected that her younger sister was just trying to cajole her into taking her flying more often, she couldn't blame her. After all, who wouldn't want to go flying whenever possible, once it became possible?

In fact, even with the threat of punishment hanging over her head and her irritation at having to work with The Twins, Annabelle Lee had to admit that she was enjoying herself. Some of the best updrafts were to be found over the ocean, and there was no beating the smell and feel of salty air hitting her in the face.

In fact, she was enjoying herself so much that she almost forgot that she was supposed to be looking for something. Almost.

Still, she couldn't help but feel just a little disappointed when she noticed a dark spot at the corner of her eye. She slowed down to a stop and checked again. Sure enough, there was something there, something too far to properly make out, but that was easily remedied.

Nikki saw it too. "What's that, Annabelly?" she whispered. "Is that them?"

"Could be," Annabelle Lee muttered. "Let's got find out. Oh, and don't call me Annabelly."

She lowered herself until they were about two meters above the water and headed toward the dark object at half speed. As they approached, the object revealed itself to be a small island with a thick canopy of dark, swirling clouds. An operational lighthouse sat in the island's center, and lying flat in the water next to a rickety old dock was…

Annabelle Lee blinked in surprise. And then a triumphant grin spread her thin lips. "Found you," she whispered.

With that, she launched herself hard and fast backward in the opposite direction. Nikki squealed in surprise and clung tighter. Annabelle Lee spun around and soared into the sky. There was little time to waste. She had to find The Twins posthaste and formulate a battle plan.

Unfortunately, The Twins were not where she had last seen them. Annabelle Lee frowned as she looked around. Granted, one part of the ocean looked the same as the next, but she had been certain that they had been floating around in the speedboat they had commandeered.

With a sigh, she launched herself six meters straight up and looked around. She really hoped that she wouldn't have to waste time looking for her teammates immediately after she had found their quarry.

Fortunately, it didn't take long to spot The Twins' speedboat, about twenty meters to the west. Relieved, Annabelle Lee swooped down and shot towards it, shouting as she went. "All right, I found them! They're not far, so let's get moving and-"

Then she got close enough to see what they were doing.

"Ew," Nikki gagged.

Aghast, Annabelle Lee covered Nikki's eyes and demanded, "The hell is wrong with you? Reibey's all but promised to visit horrific pains upon me and my sister if we fail, and you're treating this like a visit to a love hotel!"

Arzt looked up sheepishly. "Well, you know how it is…"

"…all alone in the middle of the ocean…" Nie added.

"…with the boat…"

"…and the sun…"

"…and the water…"

Annabelle Lee held up one of her arms so that the sun glinted off the blades just right. "Get your goddamned clothes back on and follow me, or so help me I'll sink you here and tell Reibey that you abandoned the mission to go skindiving and got eaten by an octopus!"

The Twins hastily obeyed. Annabelle Lee was impatiently for them to finish, all the while wondering if Reibey would believe such a lie and if it would be worth it to try. At the moment, she was torn.

"Annbelly?" Nikki said.

"Yeah?"

"Do octopuses really eat people?"

"It's octopi. I think. And maybe the big ones do. Oh, and don't call me Annabelly."

…

The promised food turned out to be hard sailor's biscuits that were well on their way to going completely stale, a great deal of smoked fish, and sour wine that was Sayaka was convinced was really vinegar with the labels switched. All in all, hardly appetizing, but judging by the way Kyoko tore into it one might mistake it for being delicious. Even Elsa Maria was taken back by how quickly her first plateful had disappeared. Sayaka, who really wasn't hungry, had tried to politely decline. Kyoko's immediate reaction to the refusal had made her genuinely fearful for her life, and as such she soon found herself picking at a cracked plate of smoked trout and two biscuits.

Despite the incredible amount of food that was being shoveled into her mouth, Kyoko was still somehow able to speak, and wasted no time in explaining to Elsa Maria everything leading up to their arrival at the lighthouse and following it up with an onslaught of questions.

Elsa Maria, who had remained silent during Kyoko's story (though she did wince during the mention of Oblivion and her servitors), sighed and said, "Well…that is a bit…shall we say difficult to explain."

Sayaka, who was attacking one of the biscuits with a knife and fork and losing, said, "Ticky Nikki said this was some kind of weird afterlife."

"Which is bullcrap," Kyoko said around a mouthful of fish. "The idiot here's thinks that we're dead." She motioned to Elsa Maria with her fork. "Tell her that this is just some super-witch's labyrinth so we can move on."

Elsa Maria's hands were folded on the table, and she suddenly seemed very interested in what her thumbs were doing. Which was nothing at all.

Kyoko swallowed and said, "Hey! Did'ja hear me? Tell Ariel here to forget this afterlife stupidity already."

"Ariel?" Sayaka said in bewilderment.

"What in the hell!" Kyoko said, aghast. "I know your memory's gone, but you have got to at least remember Disney!"

Sayaka pointed at her head. "Uh, no? What part about having amnesia didn't you understand?"

"I'm sorry, Kyoko," Elsa said in a low voice. She did not raise her head.

"Why? Okay, it sucks, but forgetting Disney isn't the…" Kyoko put her fork down, very suddenly. "You're not talking about Disney, are you?"

Elsa shook her head.

"So, it's true?" Sayaka said. "We're really dead?"

There was a moment of hesitation, and then Elsa nodded. "That is why you cannot find your soul gem," she said softly. "There was no soul gem to find. After all, were they not, as their name suggests, vessels for our very souls, violating God's will to fulfill the Incubators' dark pact? You no longer possess your soul gem because it has been destroyed. This body, this form you now wear, is what was inside."

Kyoko slammed her hands onto the table, rattling the dishes and making her companions jump. "No, it's not," she said with conviction, rising out of her chair. She glowered at Elsa Maria, all but commanding her to retract what she had just said.

"But it makes sense," Sayaka said. "I mean, you said so yourself that we're supposed to be dead, so why…"

"Because it don't work that way," Kyoko said, not taking her eyes off of Elsa Maria, who in turn refused to meet her gaze. "You die, and then it's pretty-pretty sunshine times with clouds and rainbows and harps, or you burn for all eternity. I don't care what the Catholics say, there ain't no in-between."

"There is," Elsa said. "At least, there is for us."

"Bull," Kyoko growled. "Where does that even begin to make sense? Rules are rules, okay? And you of all people should know that freaking God hates having his rules broken."

"Even by a wish?" Elsa said. This time she did look up to meet Kyoko's eyes.

Kyoko sat back down. Her hands were trembling, but the rest of her body was stock-still. "Start talking," she said, her voice a rough growl.

"You must understand, what I've heard is based upon rumor and legend," Elsa said, her gaze jumping from Kyoko to Sayaka. "So I cannot say for certain if my information is reliable. But the story goes that, a long time ago, there was a girl who learned what we all found out too late: that the whole system of Puella Magi and witches is nothing more than a fraud perpetrated by those…abominations, the Incubators."

"You mean, like Kyubey?" Kyoko spat. "That weirdo, Homura, told me that they were called that, right after Sayaka went down."

"I do not know this 'Kyubey,' though judging by the name, I would say so, yes. Just another demon among dozens. At any rate, this girl was fortunate to learn the truth before making any kind of contract." Elsa shrugged. "Accounts vary as to how. Some say it was due to witnessing a friend or a family member contracting and eventually becoming a witch. Others say that a rouge Incubator told her the truth, acting against his superiors' orders. Either way, despite what she had learned, this girl decided to contract anyway."

"Why?" Sayaka said, looking even more confused than ever. "That doesn't even begin to make sense! If she knew how she was going to end up, why would she have anything to do with the whole thing?"

Elsa Maria spread her hands. "I do not know. Selflessness, perhaps? A willingness to sacrifice her own future so that others may be saved? Such a thing is not unheard of."

"What did I say about that preaching?" Kyoko said.

"I'm not, I'm simply pointing out the obvious. And the point here is not the girl's motives, pure as they probably were. The point is the wish itself. It is said that…" Elsa's brow furrowed. "…that she was horrified at how young girls were being deceived into such a horrible system, and lost their futures as a result. So she wished that they might have a second chance at building a life of their own. Enter this place."

"What?" Kyoko said, staring.

Elsa shrugged. "Once again, nothing has been confirmed. But that is the most popular theory. This place is a second chance, an afterlife in the literal sense of the word. Here, fallen Puella Magi and witches are given another chance at life, whatever kind they wish. And the world, for a lack of a better term, cooperates, molding itself in accordance with its inhabitants' wills and expectations."

All of this was making Kyoko's head spin. "Okay, you're really gonna have to explain this better. The hell?"

"Well, let me give you an example. During your flight from that city, you encountered nothing but open ocean until God guided you to my lighthouse, correct?"

"Well, yeah," Kyoko shrugged. "It's an ocean. That's what they're like."

"But if this truly was the labyrinth of a witch, as you believe, would you not have encountered all manner of oddness?" Elsa pressed. "Strange sea creatures, oddly colored water, strange rock formations and an entire navy of bizarre sea craft?"

Kyoko didn't answer.

"That is because there was no one there to create such things. There are dozens of communities of our kind, some of them seemingly normal, others…much stranger. And the land that they occupy reflects the community it contains." Elsa gestured toward the east. "Take Freehaven, for example. It's not too far from here. And, aside from one or two bits of oddness, it appears to be completely normal. But you take a place like…"

"That city?" Kyoko said. "The one with all the canals and ugly lights?"

Elsa smiled. "Not the most extreme example by far, especially since it's mostly uninhabited, but yes, that would be one."

"But if no one really lives there, why does it exist?" Sayaka said, scratching her head.

Elsa shrugged. "Bleedover effect, perhaps? It is on the border of Oblivion's lands, and that place is not starved for dark energy. Or perhaps someone willed it into existence for a specific purpose. But trust me, the further away you go from the inhabited areas, the less interesting this place becomes." She motioned to the room they were in. "After all, this lighthouse and the island it rests upon exists solely for me."

"So, wait, this place can create any place you want to live, and you chose a crummy old lighthouse in the middle of freaking nowhere?" Kyoko said. "Why?"

Elsa coughed. "It's…not quite so intuitive as that. We have a measure of control over our dwelling places, but it isn't as if we are allowed to consult an interior decorator first. Honestly, it responds more to our subconscious than our conscious desires, though the more powerful among us are able to exercise greater control. No doubt my lighthouse was inspired by something from my now lost past. I don't complain though. I don't ask for much, and everything I need is provided for."

Sayaka eyed the contents of her plate. Though she didn't say anything, it was clear that she didn't think much of Elsa Maria's choice in lifestyles.

As for Kyoko, she was still turning all of this over in her head. When explained the way Elsa Maria had just done, she supposed that things now made a bit more sense. The wishes granted by Incubators were nothing short of miraculous, and often reality itself would be reshaped. As such, it was within the bounds of possibility that an entire Puella Magi afterlife could have been wished into existence.

But her heart still rebelled against it. Like she had said, the rules about such things were clear. And one would think that God out of all people would be able to negate a wish if it went against his will.

Kyoko decided to wait until she learned more before coming to a decision. Besides, there was something else that needed to be addressed. "What about this Oblivion nutcase?" she said. "Who the hell is she, and why does she want me so bad?"

Sayaka looked expectedly at Elsa Maria, clearly wanting to know the answer as well.

As before, Oblivion's name brought forth a look of disgust on Elsa Maria's face. "Oh," she said. "Right. Her." She shifted in her seat and sighed. "Well, I personally make a point not to have anything to do with that…person, but to put it plainly, she is a false prophet."

"Eh?" Kyoko said.

"She misleads and beguiles the wretched, gaining their loyalty and servitude in exchange for empty promises. One might compare her to a cult leader, except her power and influence is far too great to keep her restrained to such simple terms. She owns what is perhaps the largest principality in this world, and has perhaps thousands of Puella Magi and witches devoted to her cause. In short, she has made herself into a god." Elsa made an unpleasant noise at the back of her throat. "She is little better than the Incubators. At least they actually followed through with their promises."

"And what does she promise them then?" Sayaka asked. "I mean, if we are dead, what can she possibly give them?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Elsa Maria said. "It is in her name, after all. She promises them escape. Freedom from this place. Serve her well enough, and she will release your soul into nothingness and let you rest in oblivion." She looked from one guest to the other, her eyes troubled. "In short, she lets them do something that they could not do on their own. She lets them die."

…

Annabelle Lee hovered at a spot halfway up the lighthouse's body. She pressed against the dusty stone and peered through one of the narrow windows. Below, Kyoko Sakura and the mermaid witch were talking with someone, another witch by the look of her. "Looks like they made a friend," she muttered. "That might be a problem."

"Why?" Nikki said from her spot on Annabelle Lee's back. "Let Nikki cut her, make the problem go bye-bye!"

"Keep your voice down. And we don't know her capabilities yet." Annabelle Lee withdrew from the window and floated back down toward the dock. "Besides, witches are notorious for booby-trapping their sanctuaries. We rush in there, we're signing up for being made into sushi."

There was a small pause, and then Nikki said, "But Nikki likes sushi…"

"Not made, made into. Made into! Do you really want to be chopped up and rolled in seaweed with rice and junk? Actually, on second thought, don't answer that. I'd rather not know."

She floated down to the dock, where The Twins were waiting for their return. True to form, though Annabelle Lee had been gone for less than two minutes, Arzt and Nie's fingers were getting adventurous. Though irritated, Annabelle Lee was hardly surprised.

"Hands to yourself, ladies," she said as she came close. "And-" Fortunately, she caught herself before she told them to get their heads back in the game, a phrase that could be misinterpreted any number of ways. "Get your focus back on the mission. Kyoko Sakura isn't in our hands yet, so we need to talk strategy."

…

"Is…is that possible?" Sayaka asked.

"Of course it isn't! At least, I'm fairly certain it isn't. But even it was, that would just make things worse. Despite the near nation she rules, she only releases a handful each year, and only to those who was she judges to be the most deserving. There are many, many girls who have tired of this place and wish to take their chances with what God intended, and she uses that desire to move on as a way to gain personal power!"

Elsa had to take a deep breath and lean back. "I'm sorry, it's just…when I think of all those multitudes mindlessly devoting themselves to her will, it…the Bible teaches us the divine nature of loving our enemies, but I find it difficult, at times. Lord forgive me."

Well, at least that confirmed what Kyoko already knew: that Oblivion was bad news. "What does she want with me then?"

"I can't imagine," Elsa Maria said with a shrug. "This is the first I've heard of her targeting someone specific. But then, I have not been here as long as some, only a couple years, so I cannot say for certain."

She leaned back in her chair, a carved wooden piece with a pink cushion that might have come off a luxury liner eighty years ago, and looked up toward where her loft hung and, beyond that, the lantern room itself. "There's one version of the story that says that Oblivion is the very same girl that wished this world into existence, and gave herself that power so as not to make this place a prison. It's not what I personally believe, but if so, the years have certainly corrupted her."

"Or maybe it was Reibey," Sayaka suggested.

Elsa looked at her and frowned. "I'm sorry, who?"

"You haven't heard of him?" Kyoko said. "Those freaking emos were talking about him, saying he was Oblivion's right-hand creep." She shrugged. "In fact, I think he was the one who gave the order to grab me."

Elsa stiffened in her chair. "They said that? That someone named Reibey holds a high position in Oblivion's court, and ordered that you be brought before her."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"You need to leave." Elsa stood up and marched around the table to grab Kyoko by the sleeve. "Right now."

"Hey, hands off the merchandise, sister," Kyoko snapped, yanking her arm away. "What's this all about?"

"Reibey," Elsa said urgently. "You called him a 'he," in a world of females. And the suffix 'bey.' It means-"

"That he's an Incubator. Yeah, we figured that out. Still not seeing what that has to-hey!"

Elsa Maria had seized her by the collar. The former witch's eyes were open wide with alarm. "You don't understand! This is our world! There shouldn't be any Incubators here! But if there is one, and he's close to Oblivion of all people, and if he's put a hit on you…Kyoko, I don't have the power to protect you here! The lighthouse acts as a sanctuary, yes, but it isn't a fortress!"

Which made perfect sense, when explained that way. Kyoko shoved the last bits of food from her plate into her mouth and said, "All right, you convinced me. Let's go!"

Kyoko quickly retrieved their weapons. And the, working together, they picked up Sayaka and, as Kyoko insisted, placed her back on Kyoko's shoulders. If they were going to be attacked, it made sense to have at least one of them be unencumbered, and while she was now feeling better having eaten something, Kyoko still wasn't feeling up to another fight.

"I just pray that we haven't delayed too long," Elsa said as she led them toward the door. She held the spear and the cutlass in her hands. "If Oblivion's servants do show up in force, I fear this is little we could do to counter them."

"What ever happened to trusting in God's protection?" Kyoko said as she followed, though out of reflex and not as viciously as she might have. On her shoulders, Sayaka sighed and muttered, "Not the time…"

Elsa gave Kyoko a look. "He is not a genie in a bottle, and I personally prefer not tempt Him."

Kyoko conceded the point, and they headed out of the lighthouse. Save for the three of them, the island was still empty.

"Praise God, they're yet to arrive," Elsa said as she hurried toward the dock. "Now, where is your boat?"

"In front of the dock," Kyoko grunted as she tried to keep up. Was it her imagination, or had Sayaka grown heavier? "Go to the edge and look down."

Elsa peered over the side. "I…is that a spearhead?"

"Hey, I was in a hurry. Had to work with what I had."

"Ingenious," Elsa marveled. She shook her head in admiration. "And can it go fast?"

"Oh yeah," Sayaka groaned. "She drives that thing like a lunatic."

"And well she should," Elsa Maria said. She turned toward Kyoko and Sayaka as they made their way down the dock. "All right, I don't know how long it'll be until Oblivion's agents arrive, but we cannot trust them to delay further. To the east, you'll find one of the settlements I mentioned, a place by the name of Freehaven. Thanks to certain treaties, it is perhaps one of the few places safe from Oblivion's reach. Find a woman by the name of Corrie Linemann and explain the situation."

"Who's she?" Kyoko asked as she carefully lowered Sayaka down to the spearhead.

Elsa handed the weapons down to Sayaka. "Freehaven's mayor. She is a good woman, and is certainly no friend of Oblivion. Just be honest, and she will provide what help she can, which will be considerable."

"And what about you?" Sayaka asked. "You're coming with us, right?"

Elsa Maria hesitated. "Well, to be honest, thanks to certain…poor decisions on my part, I am no longer welcome in Freehaven. So, it's probably best that you don't mention my name."

Kyoko entwined her fingers behind her back and stretching, popping the vertebrae. "Whatever happened to being honest then?"

"Touché," Elsa admitted. "Well, it is up to you, just be warned that my name might not put you on her good side." She looked out toward the horizon, her dirty face troubled. "You've probably delayed long enough. You should go now."

"Duly noted." Sticking on hand into her jacket pocket, Kyoko stuck the other out. "Well, you may be a kooky hermit, but you're kinda all right. Thanks."

Elsa accepted the handshake with a nod. "God be with you both."

"Why should he start now?" Kyoko smirked as she turned toward the spearhead. She was about to leap aboard, but then she remembered something.

"Oh, hey," she said, turning back around. "One last thing. How come when you saw Sayaka, you went all fangirl over her? It was like you knew who she was or-"

There was the sound of thunder crashing, very close by, and someone punched her in the gut.

Kyoko stumbled. "Hey, what the hell?"

"Kyoko!" Sayaka screamed.

"Oh, my sweet Jesus," Elsa Maria whispered as she covered her mouth.

"What?" Kyoko said in bewilderment. "Hey, what's wrong with you two?"

It was then that she noticed the tendril of red mist drifting up in front of her eyes.

"Huh?" she said as she looked down. A tiny hole had appeared in her stomach, right above and to the left of her navel. The red mist was leaking out of it like the smoke of a cigarette.

Before Kyoko could figure out what had happened, there was another thunderclap, and she was knocked back again. A second hold appeared right under her heart. She tried to move, but her legs suddenly lost all strength, and she fell over sideways. Elsa Maria grabbed her by the shoulders, saving her from falling into the water.

Kyoko tried to ask a question, but her lips would not form the words. An attempt to lift her arm was likewise met with failure. Elsa was shouting something to someone Kyoko couldn't see. She tried to look, but everything kept swimming all around her. The world was melting away into a formless blur.

However, that didn't prevent her from hearing that third, final thunderclap.

…

From her place in the lighthouse's shadow, Annabelle Lee felt the warmth of satisfaction well up within her as Kyoko Sakura's head snapped back and her body went limp. Her soul's vapors seeped out from the bullet hole in her forehead, joining those already leaking from the two holes in her abdomen.

"Nice shot," she said to Nie, who was standing next to her.

Nie twirled the pistol in her hands and blew smoke from the barrel. "I've been practicing. Pistols aren't the best thing for sharpshooting, but anything can be learned."

"Ain't that God's own truth," Annabelle Lee agreed. "All right, take out the filthy one."

"With pleasure." Nie's broke cover and started firing at the witch in the overcoat. Her target tried to shield Kyoko Sakura's lifeless body with her own, but it was a pointless gesture.

Especially since Arzt rose out of the water behind her and seized her by the waist. The witch in the overcoat, already seeping from at least four shots, was flung into the water, where Arzt was ready to take her out of the game. Kyoko Sakura fell to the dock.

"What do you think you're doing?" the mermaid witch cried. She tried to pull herself onto the dock, but her tail made that next to impossible. "Get away from them!"

Unbeknownst to her, Nikki was rising out of the ocean behind her, her soaked headdress hanging around her grinning face. Smooth as a cat, the little psychopath pulled herself onto the spearhead and yanked the mermaid back by the hood of her jacket. Taken by surprise, the mermaid fell back and her head cracked on the flat of the spear.

"Nuh-uh, fishy," Nikki sing-songed as she sat on the mermaid's stomach and pressed the edge of her knife against the groggy girl's throat. "No more talking, no more moving, ticky-ticky," she said as she shoved her other hand over the mermaid's mouth.

The mermaid froze immediately.

"And that takes care of that," Annabelle Lee said as she hovered her way toward the dock. "Good work ladies."

"Just doing our job," Arzt said as she pulled herself out of the water. She crouched next to Kyoko Sakura's prone form and held up her right hand, the syringes primed and ready. Each and every one was filled with liquid as green as poison.

"Go for it," Annabelle Lee said.

Needing no further prompting, Arzt plunged all five needles into Kyoko Sakura and injected the liquid into her body. Soon the red mist that leaked from Nie's bullet holes turned a sickly shade of pink.

Annabelle Lee put her hands on her hips and grinned. "Well, all's well that ends well." She nodded to Kyoko Sakura's body. "All right, bring the boat around, and let's get these losers loaded up."

"Can Nikki make sushi?" Nikki asked.

"Yeah, okay, why not?" Annabelle Lee said with a shrug. "She'll be all healed up by the time we get back anyway, so go nuts. Just wait until we've got her on the boat."

The mermaid's eyes went wide, and she started making loud, incoherent protests, muffled by Nikki's hand. Nikki shushed her back down, giving her knife a small twitch for emphasis.

"So darling Nikki's going to be riding with us, then?" Arzt said as she stood up, Kyoko hanging lifelessly over one shoulder. "Wonderful!"

Nikki's face fell. "Never mind, don't wanna make sushi no more."

"Thanks for crushing my sister's dreams, jackass." Annabelle Lee glanced over her shoulder. "Hey, Arzt! Where's that boat? We need to get this show on the road!"

"Coming!" Arzt's voice said from the other side of the island. Annabelle Lee heard the speedboat's engine cough to life.

"Alrighty then," Annabelle Lee muttered. She drifted over to where Arzt stood with Kyoko Sakura over her shoulder. With a knife-thin smile, she grabbed Kyoko Sakura's chin and lifted her head up. Pink vapor still seeped out of the hole in her forehead and her eyes were half-closed and unfocused.

"Hey, tough guy," Annabelle Lee said. "Remember when you drove me through that window? Or when you slashed my stomach? Or when you cut my throat? And then there was that time you cut me in half. Oh hey, let's not forget what you did to my sister." She gave Kyoko Sakura's head a rough shake. "Well, not so tough now, are you? If there's any downside in all this, it's that I won't get to decide what Oblivion does to you." She spat, and a gob of saliva hit Kyoko Sakura's cheek. "I just hope Reibey puts you through double what he did to Nikki and me because of you."

"Uh, are you done back there?" Arzt said over her shoulder. "Because it's kind of awkward for you to be doing that right behind-"

"P-put her down, right…right this second!"

Blinking in surprise, Annabelle Lee and Arzt turned around. The witch in the overcoat was struggling to pull herself out of the water and onto the island.

"I thought you finished her," Annabelle Lee said.

"I did," Arzt responded. "Or I thought I did." She let out a low whistle. "She's a tough one, I'll give her that."

"Uh-huh. Look, next time, try dismembering them. It'll keep them down longer."

"I'll keep that in mind."

The witch finally managed to haul herself completely out of the water. She slipped her coat and stumbled onto her feet, her body a dripping mess and her ragged clothes clinging to her. "How…how dare you?" she sputtered. "How could you sink to such lengths?"

Annabelle Lee shrugged. "Not that hard, once you know how."

The speedboat was now nearing the docks. "Hey, should I just shoot her again or what?" Nie called to them.

"Go for it."

Nie stood and lifted one of her pistols. She took aim and fired.

Or at least, she tried to. Half-a-second before she could take the shot, something seized her by the twintails and jerked her back. She cried out in surprise and her shot went wild.

"Nie!" Arzt cried. She dropped Kyoko Sakura and leapt to her lover's side.

Annabelle Lee blinked. "Wait, what the-"

"You!" the witch shouted, pointing a finger at Arzt. "You were once an angel of mercy, a healer of children! You took up the fight so that your friend might be well! And now, here you are, using your gifts for evil intentions!"

"And you!" she continued, directing her attention to Nie. "You who took on your friend's very identity so as to avenge her death! You have become the very monster you despised, tearing other people's friends away from their loved ones!"

"And you!" she said again, turning toward Annabelle Lee. "You wished to have your beloved sister returned to you, an act of pure love! But now, you are a brutal thug, who cares not for the pain she causes."

"Yeah?" Annabelle Lee said. "So?"

The witch's finger swung to Nikki. "And as for you, you are…" Her voice trailed off.

Nikki cocked her head to one side.

"…uh…"

Arzt and Nie exchanged confused glances.

"…a very, very strange young lady," the witch finished at last.

"Hey!" A pleased grin split Nikki's features. "Thank you very much!"

"Well, she's perceptive about that much at least, I'll give her that," Annabelle Lee muttered. Louder, she said, "So, is that your shtick? Telling folks stuff about them? Well, newsflash for you, Davy Jones. Save for the strange young lady, all of us went full witch. So we don't remember jack shit about our pasts. All that stuff you just said, about the people we used to be? That doesn't matter anymore. So save your speeches for someone who cares."

The witch just shook her head and sighed wearily. "Hear me, all of you!" she called. "It isn't too late! You all are better than this. You should be better than this. Turn away from this dark path now, and repent of your wickedness before it's too late!"

The Twin burst out laughing, and Nikki started giggling so hard that the mermaid had to cringe away to avoid having her throat shaved by the shaking knife.

As for Annabelle Lee, she just rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh great, we've got ourselves a preacher girl. You know what? Screw this. We're wasting our time here. Nie, pop this moron already."

"This is your last chance!" the witch cried. "Even if you refuse to turn from your path, at least let those girls go and depart this place in peace! They are innocent!"

"Ain't nobody innocent," Annabelle Lee muttered. She glowered over to The Twins. "Nie! Get with the shooting already! Arzt, make sure her hair don't get pulled again."

"Gladly," Nie said. Her thumb pulled down the hammer.

Watching this, the witch sighed again. "So, it seems that I have no choice," she whispered. "Forgive me."

"Are you serious?" Annabelle Lee laughed. "If anything, we should be asking you to forgive us! Though I wouldn't hold my breath, becauseBLOODY HELL!"

The witch's shadow, barely decipherable from the dark rock on which she stood, suddenly spread out from her like a puddle of oil. It surged and bubbled as if it were a dark liquid being brought to boil. And then the arms appeared.

There were dozens of them, all of them made from darkness and stretching to impossibly long lengths. Their skeletal fingers clawed and grasped as they shot toward the gang of staring Void Walkers.

Annabelle Lee had seen some truly horrifying things since she and Nikki had arrived in this hellish excuse for an afterlife. And though she sometimes believed herself to have been desensitized to the terrors this world often begot, sometimes she would encounter something so unbelievably horrendous that, had she still possessed them, her bowels would involuntarily evacuate.

This was one of those times.

Only Nikki managed to scream before the arms hit. It did not last long.

…

Oktavia wasn't sure what was going on. She had been pressed the flat of Kyoko's spearhead, with Ticky Nikki's knife once again pressed against her throat. She could hear Elsa Maria shouted at their assailants to stand down, though their response was nothing but predictable.

As for Oktavia herself, she was fully convinced that this was the end. Kyoko had fallen already, and Elsa Maria was soon to follow. In moments it would just be her alone, to endure whatever cruelties her captors had in store for her during the long road back to Oblivion.

And then things got strange.

There was a sound not unlike several whips whistling through the air. Oktavia's hood had fallen partially over her eyes, so she couldn't see what was going on. But she heard Ticky Nikki let out a brief scream of terror, almost exactly like the one she had made before Kyoko had attacked her back at the city.

And, just like before, Ticky Nikki's weight simply vanished. There was no splash this time.

Oktavia tried then to see what was happening, but something was disturbing the water. The spearhead rose up and down, swaying and bucking, and, with nothing to hold onto, Oktavia soon rolled into the ocean herself.

Below the water, everything looked different. She could see the surface rising and falling, see the spearhead rising and falling with it. She could see that the island was little more than a stony pillar, descending down, down, down into the depths below. But beyond that, there was nothing else to see, just an endless expanse of murky green. She couldn't even see where Nikki had gone.

And then, suddenly, there was something else to see.

Two bodies hit the water and sank. It was those two girls that looked almost exactly alike, the ones with the pointed witch hats. The one with the pistols and the red heart tattoo looked like she had been knocked unconscious, while the other, the one with syringes for fingers, was desperately trying to swim to her aid.

Something bumped against Oktavia's back. Stiffening in fear, she whirled around.

It was her cutlass, the one Kyoko had pressed into her hands. Like herself, it must have fallen overboard. Oktavia grabbed it by the handle and turned her attention back to the freaking emos.

Oktavia caught herself. It looked like some of Kyoko's personality was rubbing off on her after all. Besides, these two looked more goth than anything.

But goth or emo, they were still the enemy. And from the look of things, she had been spotted.

Syringe Girl was now holding her partner over one shoulder and was glowering at Oktavia with an expression of outright hatred. Of course, given the losses her team had just sustained, the smart thing to do would be to retreat and regroup. However, whether because she desired revenge or was driven to salvage what bits of her mission she could, Syringe Girl wasn't leaving. In fact, she was now swimming straight for Oktavia, her partner still carried over her shoulder.

At first Oktavia felt panic at having to face one of the bad guys without Kyoko or Elsa Maria's help. But then she remembered something. The reason she had been so unable to defend herself thus far was because her tail made her practically helpless while on dry land. But they were now in the water, which was, as Kyoko had jokingly pointed out, her natural habitat. Furthermore, her opponent was burdened by the body of her unconscious companion and was armed with nothing more than some very pointy fingertips. Oktavia had free range of motion and a sword.

This was so unfair it was incredible.

Her lips twisted in a snarl, Syringe Girl came at Oktavia and swiped at her with all five needles. Oktavia spun out the way with ease and smacked her in the face with her tail. That last part was actually an accident, but Oktavia wasn't about to tell her that.

She put a decent distance between her and Syringe Girl and held out her cutlass. "All right, this is your first and last warning!" she said. "I've got a sword and you don't! So beat it!" To her surprise and delight, she could still speak freely through the water, even if the words sounded a bit distorted. Apparently being a mermaid came with multiple advantages after all. It was a pity that they were all useless unless everyone happened to be in the water.

Syringe Girl shouted something back at her, but as she was not a mermaid, her words just came out as nonsense and bubbles. Then she angrily started kicking her way toward Oktavia again, slashing wildly.

Well, she had been warned.

A moment later, three of Syringe Girl's hypodermic needle fingers now ended halfway up the tube, with the rest floating away in pieces. She let out a high-pitched scream and started swimming away as fast as she could.

Oktavia was content to let her go. While she knew the necessity of defending herself, she didn't have the same spine for these sorts of things that Kyoko did. Even slicing away those syringes was about as much violence as she felt like inflicting for now. She just hoped that the fight was truly done, and neither of the lookalike girls would come swimming back for another round.

She needn't have worried, for at that moment a whirlwind made up of several inky black arms twisting around each other slammed through the water's surface. They wrapped around Syringe Girl and the unconscious sharpshooter and hauled them out of the water.

Oktavia stared slack-jawed. Even if those arms were on her side, that was not something you saw every day, nor would want to. Was that the sort of thing she had faced every day when she had been a Puella Magi? If so, no wonder she had fallen into despair. And it was no wonder Kyoko had such a rough personality. That girl deserved some kind of medal for being able to hold it together after…

With a start, Oktavia remembered Kyoko and what had just happened to her. Oh God. Kicking her fins, she circles around and headed back to the surface.

…

Screeching, Annabelle Lee darted this way and that, trying to find a break in the wall of arms that had sprung up around the witch. Thus far, she had managed to avoid the same fate suffered by her companions, but it had been a very close thing. And as fast and agile as she was, the arms were everywhere. And they simply would not stop coming.

"Stop it!" she screamed as she slashed at the hands as they grasped at her. "Leave me alone!"

"Then leave," the witch called to her. Annabelle Lee couldn't see her through the thicket of ghostly limbs, but she could hear her well enough. "Leave those girls alone and go. I will not stop you."

"I can't!" Annabelle Lee swooped down and tried to approach over the water, but that path was blocked as well. "What are they to you, anyway? You just met them!"

"What are they to you?" the witch countered, sending more arms after her. "Why must you pursue them?"

"Because I have to!" Annabelle Lee cried. "Do you have any idea what Reibey will do to us if we show up empty-handed? Do you?"

The onslaught stopped, and the arms retreated. Annabelle Lee saw the witch, now standing protectively over Kyoko Sakura.

"You fear this creature, but serve him willingly," the witch said. "Why? Why not leave him, and find a better life?"

Annabelle Lee laughed. "Are you serious? If that was what I wanted, I would just do it! This is my only ticket out of here, and I'm not going to let it go now!"

"You poor, deceived creature." The witch shook her head sadly. "You know it is a lie."

"It's not." Annabelle Lee licked her dry lips. "I've seen it."

"I am sorry for your fate, but it was you who chose it. I cannot allow you to take these girls back to your foul master. I will give you one more chance. Take your companions and go."

Annabelle Lee's fists clenched. She held up her blades.

The witch sighed. "So be it. God forgive you. And me."

"Tell him that in person!" Annabelle Lee shouted. She drew back her right arm and shot forward.

The witch held up her right hand, index finger pointing straight out. Annabelle Lee readied herself to dodge another swarm of arms.

Except this time there were no arms.

The witch's finger bulged and erupted, shooting out a freaking tree! It was a huge, gnarly, leafless thing with black bark, and it grew faster than anything had a right to. Annabelle Lee's eyes bulged and she tried to get out of the way, but the surprise had taken her off her game so much that by the time the intention to get out of the way formed in her brain, the tree had already slammed into her with all the force of a wrecking ball, tearing her body apart and launching it far, far away.

…

Oktavia surfaced with a gasp. She grabbed onto Kyoko's giant spearhead for support, but it came apart in her hand like greasy foam. In fact, the whole thing was falling apart and drifting away in pieces. Oh, that couldn't be good.

"Kyoko!" she called. She reached up and tried to grab onto the edge of the dock. "Elsa! Hey, is there anyone up there?"

To her relief, Elsa appeared on the dock. "Oh, thank God," she said in relief. She dropped to her knees and reached down to grab Oktavia's outstretched arm. "Okay, just hold on."

With a grunt, she hauled Oktavia out of the water and onto the dock. "Are you all right?" she said as she sat down next to the mermaid. "Did they hurt you?"

"No, I'm good," Oktavia panted as she wiped the water away from her face. "Turns out this stupid tail is good for something after all."

Elsa smiled. "I'm glad."

Then they both looked at Kyoko, who was lying face up. Smoke the color of penicillin leaked weakly out of three small holes: two in her torso, and one over her right eye.

"Whoa, hey!" Oktavia cried as she crawled over to the lifeless girl. "Kyoko? Are you…" She shook Kyoko by the shoulder. "Oh God." She looked at Elsa. "What happened? Is she…"

Elsa shook her head. "She has died already, remember? Nothing is fatal anymore. You can literally heal from anything."

"She took a bullet to the head!" Oktavia protested, pointing at the hole in question.

"Headshots are not exempt."

"Then why is she still like that?"

"I don't know," Elsa murmured. She moved her fingers over the wound in Kyoko's head and sighed. "One of Oblivion's agents injected…something into her. It has done something to her soul."

"I thought she was her soul."

"You know what I mean," Elsa said, a hint of weary irritation in her voice. She stood. "And I don't have the resources to help her, not with her like this. And it won't be long before Oblivion's agents return."

Oktavia blinked at her. "Right. And hey, where those your arms? Those big scary ones that grabbed those girls out of the ocean?"

"Yes." Elsa looked out to sea. There, the freaking emos' (darn it, there she went again) speedboat still floated, forcibly abandoned.

"How did-"

"An unfortunate legacy of my nastier days," Elsa said shortly.

"You mean when you were a witch, right?"

"Well, fully a witch. Yes."

Oktavia stared. "Then what were you so worried about? If you can do that, you're pretty much invincible!"

"No, I'm not," Elsa sighed. "Can a champion boxer fight forever? Can a marathon runner run for all eternity? Using them, especially so many at once, takes a lot out of me. I can't keep it up forever."

Though its engine was not turned on, the speedboat started lurching its way toward the dock, seemingly of its own free will.

"How…" Oktavia started to say.

"The arms," Elsa said, as if that were explanation enough.

It was. Oktavia nodded, and said, "Is that where all those handprints on the walls came from?"

"Hmmm, let's just say my first week here was…Well, there was a period of adjustment. Let's just leave it at that."

The boat arrived, pushing away the disintegrated bits of the spearhead. Elsa Maria picked Kyoko up by the armpits and dragged her toward the edge of the dock. More of those dark arms rose out of the water to pick up the limp body and lower it into the boat.

"All right," Elsa said, returning for Oktavia. "Your turn."

The touch of the ghostly arms sent shivers up Oktavia's back. She grimaced, but stifled her protests. The arms lowered her into the driver's seat.

By then, Elsa Maria had retrieved her overcoat. She reached into one large pocket and pulled out an old wooden compass. Rubbing its face with her sleeve, she blew on it and muttered a brief prayer.

"Here," she said, handing it to Oktavia. "This'll point you toward Freehaven. Or, at least, to someone who can take you to Freehaven. Whatever you do, just keep following the arrow. Do not stray, and stop for nothing."

Oktavia gaped at her. "Wait, you're still not coming with us? But won't they be-"

A shrill cry of age cut through the air. It was far away, but that was temporary situation at best. Elsa Maria stiffened.

"Go," she whispered. "I'll hold them off as long as I can. Just leave now. And take care of each other. You're more important to each other than you realize."

Swallowing back the lump in her throat, Oktavia turned the key. The boat's engine sputtered to life. "Why?" she said. "Why are you risking so much to help us? I mean, don't you realize what they'll do to you?"

Elsa smiled then. "I'm doing it because I choose to. Because it's the right thing to do. And because I owe you a great debt."

"What?"

"Salvation comes in many forms, Oktavia von Seckendorff. And you gave me mine, when I needed it the most."

Oktavia didn't understand, at first. And then realization hit.

"Wait!" she said with a gasp. "Are you saying I was…"

Another cry cut through the air. Far in the distance, a figure could be seen flying towards the island, holding onto another person by the wrists.

"Go!" Elsa commanded. "Go now! God be with you both!"

"But you said you've been here for two years!" Oktavia cried. "How could I have-"

"GO!"

The arms reappeared around Oktavia and started manipulating the levers. The boat took off, speeding away from the island. Before it fully left the arms' grasp, they grabbed Sayaka's hands and forced them onto the controls. The message was clear: there was no going back.

Still, she couldn't help but look over her shoulder. Annabelle Lee had reached the island and dropped her passenger onto the rocks. It was the girl with the pistols. And together, they converged onto Elsa Maria.

The arms sprung up again to repel them, but by then Oktavia couldn't make out how the battle was going.

Tears blurring her vision, Oktavia turned forward and concentrated on keeping the speedboat pointed forward. She didn't really didn't know how to drive it, but so long as she didn't mess with anything they should be fine. On the dashboard, the compass's point continued to point directly ahead.

"Hang on, Kyoko," she said to the unmoving girl in the back. "You'll…you'll be all right. You'll see. She'll be fine too. Yeah. She'll be fine."

The sounds of battle faded away, but whether that was due to the distance or because Elsa Maria had fallen Oktavia didn't want to ponder. She just focused on the horizon kept them moving forward.

She didn't know how long it would take them to reach Freehaven. Hours passed, and the sky darkened into night. And still they continued forward. Every few minutes Oktavia would look over her shoulder. She kept expecting to see Annabelle Lee following close behind. She knew she should stop looking, but she couldn't help it.

And then, when she was certain that Elsa Maria had sent them in the wrong direction, something appeared on the horizon. It looked like an old drilling platform, held up by four steel pillars that were crisscrossed by support girders. At the top was some kind of one-story building. The platform was covered with lights and the rooms inside the windows were lit, which meant it was inhabited. There was a small dock on the water, to which a small boat and a medium sized one were moored. An open elevator sat in a tall cage, connecting the dock to the platform.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Oktavia turned the steering wheel toward the platform. Unfortunately, it was more difficult than it looked, and she ended up overshooting. Growling with frustration, she came back around and tried again, this time fiddling with the controls, trying to figure out how to make the damned thing stop.

It took her six tries, but she finally managed to coax the thing in the direction she wanted and slowed it down. She hit the dock a bit harder than she intended, but it made the boat stop.

It was then that Oktavia realized that she had a problem. Whoever it was that owned the platform was at the top, whereas she was down here, with no way of getting their attention. Furthermore, she had no legs and no one to help her reach the top.

"Forget this," she muttered. Kyoko's wounds were still open, and losing all that mist couldn't be good for her. Leaving her cutlass behind, Oktavia wiggled out of the driver's seat and slowly hauled herself onto the nose of the boat. From there, she turned her body sideways and rolled onto the dock.

She rested for a moment, regaining her strength. This was lunacy. Why couldn't these people live in a submersible? She would be able to reach them then.

Taking a deep breath, Oktavia crawled on her elbows toward the elevator, dragging her stupid tail behind her. Once there, she grabbed onto the cage with her fingers, hoisted herself up with trembling arms and lunged upward, slapping the Up button.

With a metallic ground, the elevator rumbled its way up. Oktavia slumped down and waited.

The building turned out to be a house of some kind, with fading white walls, large windows, and an honest-to-God windmill. Oktavia couldn't tell if it had some sort of purpose or was merely decorative, and she honestly didn't care. She started crawling again, making were way around the platform until she found the front door.

She heard voices talking inside. Good. Summoning what strength she had left, Oktavia started banging on the door. "Hey!" she shouted. "Open the door! My friend needs help!"

The voices ceased, and she heard someone walking towards the door. "Who's there?" someone said.

"Please!" Oktavia gasped in desperation.

A panel set in the middle of the door's upper half slid open, and she saw a pair of blue eyes look around in confusion.

"Down here!"

The glanced down and, upon seeing her, widened in surprise. "Oh wow," said the person on the other side of the door. "That's, uh, new. Hang on."

The slid back in place and the door opened.

Not surprisingly, it was another girl, this one looking like she was a few years older than Oktavia and Kyoko. She was slender and had short, dark pink hair that was tied into two small ponytails. Her outfit was normal enough, just a green tank top, woolen grey socks, and a black knee-length skirt.

And she had a tail. Not a fish's tail like Oktavia's, but a slender black one with tiny red polka-dots that dangled between her legs. Another former witch.

The girl stared down at Oktavia. "You're, ah, a mermaid."

Oktavia's patience snapped then. "I know that! But seriously, my friend needs help! She's down at the dock! Something's poisoned her, and she won't heal!"

"What's going on, Charlotte?" said another voice. A second girl, also a few years older than Oktavia, appeared behind the first. "Who is that?"

"A mermaid, believe it or not."

This girl was shorter than the first and was wearing frayed jeans and a grey turtleneck sweater. She was much curvier than her companion and had a round face with heavily-lidded eyes. Her blond hair was tied into two drill tales on either side of her head, and she held a teacup on a saucer. She saw Oktavia and froze in place.

Oktavia was about to again start demanding help but then she saw the expression on the girl's face. It was ash-white with shock, and her mouth slowly opened, though no sound came out.

The girl called Charlotte noticed as well. "Mami?" she said, tilting her head in confusion. "Are you all right?"

"Sayaka," Mami whispered. And the teacup fell from her hands to shatter on the floor.

Chapter Text

Thunderstruck. That was the only word that properly described Mami's reaction. She stared down at the girl lying on the metal walkway that circled the house, a girl with short blue hair dressed in a heavy hooded jacket that had four slashes across one sleeve. A girl who was staring back at her, her face filled with anger, frustration, and confusion. A girl whose lower body had been replaced by a multicolored fish's tail. A girl whom Mami had never expected to see again but whose face she still remembered, despite not having seen it in years. Even after all this time, Sayaka Miki popped up in her darker dreams, among several other people.

"Mami?" Charlotte said, shaking her by the shoulder. "Hey, Mami? What's up? Are you-"

"You just said my name!" Sayaka blurted out. She pointed up at Mami. "I mean my old name! You know me?"

"I..." Mami tried to conceptualize an adequate response, but her mind was so overwhelmed that it had nearly shut down. "I don't…"

"Wait, wait, wait, never mind!" Sayaka said. "Later! For now, my friend's still down there and needs help! She got shot and now she's bleeding…uh, misting really badly and won't heal or wake up!"

"Shot?" Charlotte's attention snapped toward Sayaka. "By whom?"

"By…Uh, never mind, you wouldn't know them. By Oblivion's people! You know who they are, right?"

Charlotte's jaw dropped. "Holy crap, Oblivion's after you?"

"YES!" Sayaka cried. "Now will someone please go get my friend before-"

"On it!" Charlotte said as she leapt into action. Not even bothering with the elevator, she vaulted over the mermaid, grabbed the railing, and swung her way down to the dock.

It was then that something that Sayaka had said finally broke through the stunned stupor that had settled over Mami's mind. "Wait," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. "You…you that your friend was hurt."

Sayaka blinked. "Uh, yeah. See, we got ambushed, and-"

"Madoka," Mami said. She fell to her knees and grabbed the mermaid by the shoulders, making her recoil in surprise. "Madoka Kaname! Is she here with you?" she asked, feeling a twinge of hope, followed by a healthy helping of shame. It was bad enough that Sayaka was here as a witch, with all that implied. Having Madoka appear as well would be far worse. But to be able to see her again…

The surprise on Sayaka's face only increased. "Wait, Madoka…Pink haired girl, right! You know her too?"

"Yes! I know both of you! Is she here?"

Before Sayaka could answer, the cage surrounding the elevator clanged and shook. Charlotte came into view, climbing up along the cage's outer side. A limp body was thrown over her shoulder, from which leaked three pink soul trails, eerily luminescent in the darkness. "Got her!" Charlotte said as she jumped onto the walkway. "She's in bad shape, though." She ran past the equally bewildered Mami and Sayaka and into the house. "I'm going to call Dr. Young! Can you-"

"WAIT!" Mami shrieked. She whirled around grab Charlotte by the shoulder, stopping her short.

"What?" Charlotte said, pulling back. "Come on, we need to get this girl some help!"

She ran back into the house. While she did so, Mami got a good look at the unconscious girl hanging over her shoulder, copper ponytail trailing behind her. It was most definitely not Madoka Kaname, but that didn't mean she didn't recognize her instantly.

Mami's state of mind was already strained, and this just brought it crashing down. "Kyoko," she whimpered, reaching after them.

"Wait, hold up!" Sayaka said, pushing back on her palms to move away from the distraught girl kneeling next to her. "You know Kyoko too?"

Feeling numb, Mami could only nod.

"Oh, for God's sake!" Charlotte shouted from inside the house. "Come on doc, I know you're not asleep. Pick up your freaking phone!"

"And you know me too?" Sayaka pressed.

Mami nodded again.

Sayaka groaned. "Good grief, why does everyone here know me except for me?"

That, more than anything else, made the full reality finally make its impact. Sayaka Miki was here, which meant she had made a contract with Kyubey. When Mami had known her, she had known Sayaka to be a brave, headstrong, and loyal young woman, something she had admired in her, even if the girl had been a bit on the reckless side. But now, she realized that those same qualities would drive her to make a contract and become a Puella Magi so as to avenge Mami, whose death she had witnessed. And seeing how Sayaka had arrived as a witch, that meant that she had fallen into the cycle of grief and despair that eventually consumed all Puella Magi, if they weren't killed off first. And seeing how Kyoko was here as well, with Sayaka, it could only be presumed that they had arrived together. Any joy Mami might have felt at seeing the two of them again dried up.

"Sayaka," Mami said, her voice breaking with emotion. "I am so sorry."

"Yes, finally!" Charlotte said. "Hey doc, it's Charlotte from the Nautilus Platform. I…Of course I know what time it is; you think I wouldn't be calling you if it wasn't an emergency?"

Sayaka looked at Mami in surprise. "Uh, okay. For what?"

In answer, Mami grabbed Sayaka in a fierce embrace and held her tight. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she whispered over and over.

Sayaka cringed. "Whoa, okay. Take it easy, I, uh, forgive you?"

"You shouldn't," Mami sobbed. "You don't know what I've done yet."

Grimacing, Sayaka wriggled out of Mami's arms. "Look, I'm sure you know how all this works, so I'm sure you know that I don't remember anything. So, whatever it was, it's like it's gone. So don't worry about it, okay?"

"Uh, excuse me?"

Mami and Sayaka looked up to see Charlotte standing in the doorway, her red-spotted tail curling around her left leg, displaying her discomfort. "I just called Doctor Young. She's on her way. In the meantime though, maybe we'd better get our other guest inside?"

"I…you're right," Mami sighed. Focus on the current crisis before dealing with the larger one. She glanced at Sayaka. Understanding the look, Sayaka nodded. Mami scooped the mermaid up in her arms as if she were holding a baby and carried her into the house.

…

One would think that, in a world where everyone was dead already and all wounds healed themselves up in moments, a doctor would be unnecessary. But the truth of the matter was that they inhabited a strange world, and there were any number of new contagions to be inflicted with. As such, having at least one doctor at hand was a useful thing, even if the nature of her job had was a bit different from what people were used to.

Doctor Young was a small girl, a barely even a meter in height, with long dark hair that hung around her face like a curtain and glasses that were three sizes too big, giving her face an owlish look. That, combined with the oversized white lab coat and green slouch hat that she insisted on wearing everywhere despite their lack of necessity meant that newcomers tended to not take her seriously. Those who have lived in Freehaven knew better. They also didn't take her seriously, but for reasons unrelated to her profession. She was also quite possibly the only person in the whole town to insist on being addressed by her surname, something everyone else found to be just silly.

But still, she was still the only doctor the town had.

Everyone held their breath as she knelt over the prone Kyoko. She had already stopped the bullet holes with a kind of white gauze, and was now extracting a minute measure of Kyoko's soul's essence into a hypodermic needle.

"Hmmm," she said, squinting at the pink vapor. "Okey-dokey then."

"What is it?" Mami asked.

Doctor Young shrugged. "Welp, good news and bad news."

"Does the good news outweigh the bad?" Charlotte asked.

"Now that really depends on your point of view," Doctor Young said. She started packing her instruments into her black leather bag. "If you need Sleeping Beauty here awake and mobile right now, then them scales are gonna be tilted toward the 'Bad' side. But if you guys got a few days and don't mind caring for what pretty much amounts to a sweaty mannequin in the meantime, then things are looking up."

Sayaka sat up straight. "So she's going to be okay?"

"That be a bit of a subjective term, but I'd say so, yeah." Doctor Young shrugged. "I really dunno what she's been shot with, so there ain't a whole lot I can do 'bout it, but from what I been able to figure out, her soul's essence has been made to move slower than molasses dripping through a penguin's intestines. It ain't that she ain't healing, it's that it's happening so doggone slow that it's pretty much unnoticeable."

"But she'll get better," Sayaka pressed. "She's going to get better, right?"

"Sure, soon as that crap in her wears off and dissolves."

Mami coughed. "And how long do you think that'll take?"

Doctor Young grimaced. She put one hand on her hip and rolled her large eyes skyward. "Welp, that's the trick, see. First time I've seen anything like this, so it's hard to make any kinda educated guess. But based on what I've seen, I'd day…'bout a week? Maybe a little less?"

"A week?" Charlotte said, her head lifting. "That long? Isn't there anything you can do to speed it up?"

Doctor Young shook her head. "Told'ja already, ain't never seen nothin' like this crap. Don't wanna risk making things worse by messing around in there. Best to just wait."

"All right," Mami said, nodding. "Thank you, doctor."

"Don't mention it. I'll be by tomorrow, to check up on her." Doctor Young glared at Mami and Charlotte. "Better be some of them treacle tarts waiting for me this time."

"There will be," Mami promised with a smile. "I promise you that."

"Well, can't say fairer than that." Doctor Young nodded to each of them in turn. "Mami. Charlotte. And, ah…"

"Oktavia," Sayaka supplied for her. Mami winced.

"Gotcha. Welcome aboard." Doctor Young tipped her hat. "Righty-ho then. G'night ladies."

After she had left, Charlotte cleared her throat. "I'll, ah, go make us some tea."

Perceiving her real reason for excusing herself, Mami patted her hands and nodded.

Sayaka (no, Mami thought. Oktavia. She had to get used to calling her that) watched Charlotte head into the nearby kitchen. Then her gaze drifted over to Kyoko's still form, her eyes fraught with worry.

Now that her mind had received some time to get used to the fact that two of her former friends were now sitting in her living room, one as a witch and the other in a near-coma, Mami found herself marveling at the concern Oktavia was showing for the redhead. She had never fathomed that the two would meet, much less become friends. They had inhabited two very important but wholly separate parts of her life that it was difficult to imagine them intersecting, especially like this. And it was equally bizarre that they would suddenly show up at her front door. Ghosts of the past indeed.

"Uh, excuse me," Oktavia said, looking at her. "Mami, isn't it?"

My God, she really doesn't remember me, Mami thought. Well, of course she wouldn't, but the bare knowledge and the hard realization of the fact were two different things. Trying to keep from looking and sounding too distraught, Mami said, "Yes?"

"Now that we know Kyoko's gonna be okay, I think it's time for us to compare notes."

Mami sighed. She walked around the chair that Oktavia sat in and took the one opposite the coffee table. "You're right," she said. "We really need to talk."

…

On the whole, Annabelle Lee did not miss her legs. She got along just fine by flying, which was by far a more effective way to travel. Even so, there were certain things that one needed legs to accomplish, one of which was kicking people you really hated. As she looked down at the witch's crumpled body, the one that had prevented her from finally taking Kyoko Sakura, Annabelle Lee longed to have that ability.

But as she didn't, she would have to rely on a proxy. So she instructed Arzt to kick the bitch for her.

As Arzt threw herself into her task, Annabelle Lee looked up at the now dark sky, wondering what in the hell she was supposed to do. She had already gone out twice to search for her quarry, only to choose the wrong way each time. And by now they would have reached Freehaven, effectively putting them out of reach.

Someone cleared their throat, demanding her attention. She looked down to see Nie coming out of the lighthouse.

"Well?" Annabelle Lee demanded.

Nie shook her head. "It's filled with rubbish. Nothing we can use at all."

"Of course it is," Annabelle Lee groused. "Why should luck start smiling on us now?"

Nie's golden eyes flashed. "Well, maybe if you didn't lose our boat, we wouldn't-"

She stopped talking, her silence motivated by the very sharp points of Annabelle Lee's blades, which were now pressing against the soft underside of her jaw.

"Don't start with me," Annabelle Lee growled. She applied the smallest bit of pressure, and thin wisps of white leaked out. "Don't you dare fucking start with me. Got it?"

Not bothering to wait for an answer, Annabelle Lee turned around to storm off toward the dock. There, Ticky Nikki was sitting on her haunches, staring at the water immediately below her. Her head turned in small counterclockwise circles.

"Round and round and round and round…" Nikki muttered to herself.

"What in the world are you doing?" Annabelle Lee demanded. "Trying to make yourself dizzy? If you fall in I am not fishing you out."

"Nikki's watching the whirlpool," Nikki said, pointing. "It's going round and round and round and round…"

"Yeah, don't care," Annabelle Lee said, grabbing Nikki by the elbow and dragging her back to her feet. "Stop playing with your imaginary friends and…" She glanced down. "Oh, holy crap, there's really a fucking whirlpool there."

Sure enough, a swirling disc of water, about two meters across, was directly in front of the dock. The Tick-Tock Sisters watched in amazement as it spun faster and faster. Was this one last trick on the witch's part? Or someone new, perhaps?

And then an inky stain appeared in the middle of the whirlpool and spread outward, visible even against the dark waters, and Annabelle Lee understood. Nikki, who also had figured it out, whimpered and hid herself behind her sister. Annabelle Lee agreed with her sentiments. Not her. Anyone but her…

There was a sudden flash, and the blackened water shot up out of the whirlpool and formed itself into a humanoid shape. The woman who now floated before them was as pale as any of the other Void Walkers, with midnight-black lips and fingernails. She wore a sleeveless dark gown that sank low to spread over the waters like an oil slick, the neckline of which plunged nearly to her navel. Under the gown she wore a net-like mesh that extended all the way to her neck. Her short dark hair was tied up in a tight bun, and a gauzy veil was draped over her face. The color of her eyes was a mystery, thanks to the blindfold she always wore. Not that it ever prevented her from being fully aware of her surroundings, but then there wasn't much about her that made sense.

The Matriarch, as she was called, was the highest ranking of the Void Walkers, only a step below Reibey himself. Not that she often exerted any sort of authority, as she mostly acted as the Incubator's mouthpiece when he wasn't around. Part of the reason for her high position was that she was always capable of hearing his voice, no matter where she was. Another was that she possessed the ability to travel to anywhere that was not under the control of the New Life Alliance within a matter of seconds, making her an ideal messenger. And as she could take a single person with her at a time, she also had uses as Reibey's private transportation service.

It was hotly debated among the Void Walkers whether or not the Matriarch had any true will of her own. Whenever she spoke, it was to relay some sort of message. That didn't keep them from fearing her though. After all, what she saw, Reibey also saw.

The Matriarch raised her head and, despite her blindfold, turned her head in Annabelle Lee's direction. "Greetings," she said in her melodic yet unemotional voice. "I have been sent by Lord Reibey. He demands an update."

Before Annabelle Lee could answer, she heard the sound of footsteps. She looked over her shoulder to see The Twins stomping their way toward her, both of them looking extremely put out.

"Annabelle Lee, you twisted piece of slime!" Arzt snarled. "How dare you lay your hands on…"

They caught sight of the Matriarch and stopped dead in their tracks.

"Oh, no, no, no," Nie whispered, her hand covering her mouth.

The Matriarch tilted her head. "All members accounted for. Team leader, please report."

Annabelle Lee coughed. "Uh, well, operation is currently in progress…"

"Have you successfully secured Kyoko Sakura and her aquatic companion?"

"See, about that…" Annabelle rubbed the back of her neck as she desperately tried to think of a good excuse.

"Your hesitation conveys that you have not. Hold please."

The Matriarch glanced downward for a few seconds, and then looked back up. "Lord Reibey wishes to know why not."

Annabelle Lee grimaced. Oh, this was going to suck. "Well, see, it's kind of a funny story. Turns out that Kyoko got herself some help. An unaffiliated witch, and an extremely powerful one at that. She attacked us, and, uh, they…got away in the process…"

"You were defeated, then?"

"Oh, hell no!" Annabelle Lee said quickly. "We kicked her ass, sure enough. But we're still trying to pick up their trail again. It's…kind of a work in progress."

"Hold please." The Matriarch again looked down as she communed with Reibey. When she looked up, Annabelle Lee could swear that she saw a hint of smugness in that normally expressionless face.

"Lord Reibey expresses extreme disappointment."

"It wasn't our fault!" Nikki blurted out. "See, dirty witchy person had lots and lots of hands, and they got all grabby and sent Nikki flying and-"

"Nikki!" Annabelle Lee gaped in horror. She grabbed Nikki and shoved her back. "Shut up!"

"Hold please," the Matriarch said. After a much longer moment, she said, "Lord Reibey wishes to clarify that yes, it is your fault, and any attempts to convince him otherwise are highly discouraged. He also would like me to inform you that your intelligence, personal hygiene, sexual history, and ancestral heritage are of highly suspect quality. Hold please."

Another heart pounding pause followed. Then Matriarch said, "Lord Reibey wishes to speak with you in person."

"Me?" Annabelle Lee said, her breath catching in her throat.

"All of you."

"Reibey's coming here?" Nie said. She and Nie were clutching tightly to each other, as if their shared contact could possibly protect them.

"Negative. You are going to him." The Matriarch spread her arms, and another whirlpool spun to life in the water before her.

Annabelle Lee stared at her in disbelief. "You want…us to go in there?"

"Correct. One at a time, please."

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't possibly be happening. Annabelle Lee exchanged equally fearful glances with the rest of her team.

"Do not dally."

Annabelle Lee sucked in a sharp breath between her teeth and slowly let it out. "Fine," she growled. She turned to The Twins. "You two, you go first."

"What?" Nie said. "No way!"

"Forget it," Arzt added. "This was your failure, not ours! You go first!"

"Did I sound like I was giving you a choice?" Annabelle Lee retorted. "Get in there already!" She looked over to the lifeless form lying on the rocks. "And bring that idiot with you. If nothing else, she'll give us a visual aid."

"But-"

"If you delay any further, Lord Reibey says he will come here instead," the Matriarch called to them. "And he wishes to assure you that if he has to come to you, you will not enjoy the consequences."

The Twins shot identical looks of hate at Annabelle Lee, but they moved to grab the fallen witch by the arms and dragged her down the dock. As they moved, Annabelle Lee turned her attention away from them toward that stupid, stupid lighthouse. The few seconds she had bought by making The Twins go first would not improve her situation in the slightest, but it did give her enough time to do something extremely cathartic.

…

Catching up took less time than Mami had anticipated. It helped that Kyoko had already filled in most of the important parts for Oktavia, and once they found the common threads, the rest fell into place.

Frankly, Mami found the story Oktavia told her to be nothing short of amazing. She couldn't begin to fathom what Oblivion would want with Kyoko, but she found the idea of Kyoko sacrificing so much for both Sayaka and Oktavia alike to be equally astonishing. While she knew that the hero Kyoko had so wished to be was still buried somewhere within her, the last time they had seen each other Kyoko had just been setting off on a dark path, pushed there by a horrible tragedy. Though they had not seen each other since, Mami had still made it a point to keep tabs on Kyoko when she could, and from what she had learned Kyoko had only fallen deeper. Obviously something had jarred her back to her senses, and when she saw the brief but frequent glances Oktavia was sending Kyoko's way, she believed that she had a good idea what it had been.

"This is amazing," Mami said, staring at the cup of tea that Charlotte had handed her. The pink haired witch was deliberately hanging back now, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. "I'm sorry, but this is so much to take in. I never expected to see either of you, ever again. And yet here you are, at the same time."

"I know, right?" Oktavia said. "And it almost didn't happen. If it weren't for-" Then she sat straight up, her eyes popping wide open. "Holy crap!" she breathed. "I forgot Elsa!"

"Elsa? You mean the girl who helped you?"

"Yes!" Oktavia fretfully ran her fingers through her hair. "Damn it, how could I be so dumb? I mean, I just left her there to get torn apart by those maniacs!"

Charlotte entered the conversation for the first time. "You said she lives on an island with a lighthouse, yeah?"

"Yes! It's about…Ugh, I don't know how far it is. I don't even know what direction!"

Charlotte snatched the boat keys off the hook on the wall. "I do. Never been there, but I've seen it before. I'll go."

Mami started to rise. "All right, let me-"

Charlotte stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Nuh-uh. I got this. You need to be here."

"But…"

Charlotte kissed her cheek. "Trust me on this."

"All right," Mami said after a moment's hesitation. She touched Charlotte's fingers and gave them a small squeeze. "Be careful."

"Aren't I always? Be back in a flash."

Oktavia stared as she headed out the door. "Wait, you're letting her go by herself? She'll just get slaughtered too!"

"No, she won't," Mami said. "She's safe enough."

"What? How? Why?"

Mami looked at her cup of tea, trying to decide if she wanted to drink it or not. Deciding on the latter, she placed it on the table and said, "She's an official resident of Freehaven. And Oblivion isn't allowed to so much as touch her, either in person or by proxy. It's all in a treaty we all signed, called the Free Life Compact. If Charlotte is harmed in any way, there will be some very heavy consequences that Oblivion cannot afford. Trust me when I say that Charlotte has nothing to fear from the Void Walkers."

Oktavia still looked dubious. "Yeah, that all sounds kind of sketchy to me. You really trust those idiots to stick to any kind of agreement? Because the ones that aren't bugcrap crazy are complete sociopaths."

"They won't," Mami said confidently. "Trust me on this."

"Okaayyy, if you say so." Oktavia shook her head. "And you're sure Charlotte will be able to handle them?"

Mami nodded. "Charlotte's the most capable person I know. If your friend is still there, she'll be able to help her."

"Gotcha." Oktavia fidgeted in her seat. Mami noticed, and asked what was wrong.

"Well, I was wondering," Oktavia said. "I mean, while we're waiting…what's your story, anyway? I mean, not the 'before' part, we went over that already. I mean after."

"After I died, you mean? Woke up here without a clue as to what was going on, like you did?"

"Pretty much, yeah. I mean, if you don't mind me asking and all."

Mami shook her head. "No, I don't. And after everything you told me, it's only fair. I warn you though, parts of it aren't exactly…pleasant."

Oktavia chuckled. "Hey, mine wasn't exactly a children's picture book either."

"True enough. Though you really should see some of the picture books they've got around here." Mami took a deep breath to steady herself, and slowly let it escape. "All right, it started with…"

…

Then…

Gasping in shock, Mami sat straight up. Her hands immediately went to her neck and face, so as to reassure herself that they were still there. They were. But how could that be? By rights she should be…

Her eyes wide, Mami fell back and started hyperventilating. She could still feel the razor-sharp teeth as they cut through her skin, severing her throat. She could still her vertebrae being crushed under the force of the witch's jaws, her spinal column being twisted and shredded. She could still feel the horrible wetness of the witch's tongue pressing against her face, suffocating her. Even if it had lasted only a few seconds, the sheer horror of it made it feel like it had lasted longer. Much, much longer.

Her eyes misted, and Mami curled up into a ball. They had gotten her. The monsters had finally gotten her. She had made one mistake, and had become witch-food as a result. She had lost, and lost horribly.

But if that were the case, why was she now in one piece? Had Kaname made a wish to save her? Sniffling, Mami wiped her eyes and looked around.

Her heart nearly stopped. She was sitting in the partially smashed back seat of a car. The car, to be exact, the same one that she had nearly died in, the one her parents had died in.

This is a nightmare, she told herself as she stared up through the cracked windshield. Beyond she could see nothing but blackness. I'm dreaming, reliving that day. Soon Kyubey is going to appear and offer to make a contract.

She held her breath and as she waited. Even if it was a dream, this time she was going to do things differently. She was going to save herself and her parents, and enjoy a few fleeting moments of happiness.

Kyubey never appeared.

It was then that Mami noticed that, this time around, she was uninjured. Moving slowly and with caution, Mami peeked at the two seats at the front of the car, where the bodies of her parents should have been strapped in. They were both empty. For some reason, that made things all the creepier.

Mami grasped the door handle and pushed the door open.

The place she found herself in appeared to be a large concrete warehouse, or perhaps a high-ceiling car park. And it was filled with at least two dozen totaled automobiles, from four-person cars to minivans to pickup trucks to sport cars to even a monster truck or two. Wrapped around the edge of two walls were the crushed remains of an eighteen-wheeler, its cargo box bearing an oversized painting of Kyubey's face.

Mami had not entered an automobile of any kind ever since she had become a Puella Magi. Even the thought of it brought back memories of that horrible, final impact, and the certainty that she was about to die. And standing in this ghastly graveyard of twisted metal, glass, and rubber, it was all she could do not to start screaming.

Stop, she told herself. You're fighting a witch, like you always do. It's just playing mind games with you, like they always do. It's just that this one likes to make things more personal than the others.

Seizing onto that thought and taking strength from it, Mami was able to push the horror away. She had a job to do, and her friends were still in danger.

As she had done dozens of times in the past, Mami swung her hand out with a flourish, activating her soul gem, which she wore in ring form on her middle finger. Throwing her head back, she leapt into the air as she let the power she had acquired from Kyubey surround and envelop her, transforming her casual clothing into her extravagant Puella Magi uniform.

That was the plan, at least. The truth of the matter was that all she ended up doing was karate-chopping the air and jumping up and down, with no beautiful transformation sequence.

"What?" Mami said, looking at her finger in confusion. Her soul gem was gone. But how was that possible?

"What?" she repeated as she patted her body down, trying to find it. "What? I…what?"

…

Now…

"Yeah, Kyoko said she went through the same thing," Oktavia said. "Did you end up trashing the place to find it too?"

Mami shook her head. "I think further destruction would have been redundant at that point. Everything was pretty smashed up as it was. Though I am not at all surprised that Kyoko reacted as you said."

"Yeah, she kinda has some serious anger problems."

"That she does," Mami said. She glanced at Kyoko's body. Despite everything, she took pleasure from being able to refer to Kyoko in the present tense. "But then, we all have our issues to bear."

Oktavia nodded. "So, what happened next?"

Mami considered telling her about the minor freakout she had experienced after failing to find her soul gem, but decided that it was unnecessary. "Well, even if I couldn't find my soul gem, that doesn't mean there wasn't anything to find."

…

"My…my musket?" Mami said in bewilderment. She stood on the crumpled hood of a grey Toyota pickup, staring down at the ground. In the center of the room a space had been cleared of car parts. In it sat one of her silver muskets, balancing on the end of its handle, the barrel sticking into the air.

Things were making even less sense. Mami had never been able to summon her muskets while in her civilian garb, much less while lacking her soul gem entirely. But there one sat, without her needing to bring it into existence.

Mami slid and hopped her way down to the gun. After a brief moment of hesitation, she picked it up. When it didn't immediately explode, she examined it. It seemed to be identical to any of the several hundred she had created and discarded. She considered firing it as a test, but as each musket had but a single shot and she only had the one, she decided to wait on that one.

Now armed, it was definitely time to leave. Mami stalked out of the room, holding the musket at the ready. Beyond was a bare concrete hallway, of which the entrance to the warehouse-like room was the only thing of significance. While she walked, she started sending out signals to anyone who might be listening.

Kyubey? she thought as loudly as she could. Kyubey, are you there? What's going on? My soul gem's missing, and I can't transform. Are you there? Uh, Kaname? Miki? Anyone? After a moment's pause, she reluctantly added, Akemi? Are you there?

When everyone failed to respond, Mami tried speaking out loud, despite the inherent dangers.

"Kaname?" she called out as loudly as she dared. "Madoka Kaname! Are you there? Sayaka Miki? Hello?"

The only sounds were that of her footsteps and her own voice as it echoed through the dimly lit hallway. Mami was no stranger to danger. She could handle danger. But this skin-crawling emptiness was almost oppressive.

She pressed on. The hallway turned to the right, so she quickly darted to take cover along the wall. After mentally counting to three, she peeked around the corner.

The hallway stretched out before her. However, at the far end was an opening. She could see grey light shining in from the outside. And a doorway was set halfway into the left-hand side. From within, she could sounds, though they were very faint.

Well, now she was getting somewhere. After confirming that she was not being followed, Mami crept over to the doorway and looked inside.

The room beyond appeared to be a hospital room, containing a single white-sheeted bed. A small table sat next to the bed, holding several long-dead flowers and mold-encrusted Get-Well cards. The source of the sounds turned out to be the television set that hung on the wall across from the bed. From the sound of gunshots and explosions, some kind of action movie was playing.

Mami ignored the television and focused on the bed and its occupant. It was a mannequin, the kind that modeled clothing in department stores, only this one was wearing a hospital gown, the kind that never seemed to close fully in the back. Oddly enough, it was lacking in painted facial features, and instead it had a crude doodling of a piece of cheesecake sitting on a plate drawn where its face should be. On the mannequin's lap was a large silver plate, covered with cake crumbs. Two IV needles were taped to its plastic arms, attached to tubes that ran to an IV machine that sat next to the bed. The tubes were filled with some kind of red mist that seeped out of the needle's points.

Mami looked at the mannequin for only a few seconds. It was odd, yes, but it meant nothing to her. Then her gaze drifted to the person sitting in the plastic chair next to the bed.

It was a nude girl, one of actual flesh-and-blood and looking to be around Mami's age. She appeared to be fast asleep, with her chin slumping into the top of her small chest. Like the mannequin, she had an IV needle taped to either arm, though in her case the points sank into her flesh, drawing that mist away from her and feeding it to the mannequin. She was quite thin and had short pink hair, tied into two pigtails on either side of her head.

"Kaname!" Mami blurted out in surprise. She rushed to her friend's side and hastily tore the needles out. "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

The girl didn't answer. Mami grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. "Come on, Kaname. Please, wake…"

Her pleas died away. Now that she could see the other girl's face, she realized that this was not Madoka Kaname, she just had a similar haircut. Mami had never seen this girl in her life. Slightly taken off guard, Mami shook her head. Maybe she didn't know this girl, but she still had to help her.

"Hey," she said, shaking the girl's bare shoulders again. "Wake up! Hello?"

To her relief, the girl stirred and let out a small whimper. She blinked and opened her eyes. Strangely enough, her eyes were bright blue, unusual in that they did not match the color of her hair. While such aberrations were not unheard of, they were pretty rare.

"Are you okay?" Mami asked as the girl sleepily rubbed her eyes.

"I…ah, I think so," the girl murmured. "Who are you?"

"My name is Mami Tomoe. Don't worry. I'm a friend." Mami glanced over her shoulder at the doorway. Still, no one was there. Good.

"Come on," she said, taking the girl by the hand. "We need to get you out of here."

"Uh, okay," the girl said as they stood up. "Though where is here? And…" She glanced down and her cheeks flushed bright red.

"Why in the world am I naked?" she cried, hastily pulling away and covering her intimate bits with her hands. "What's going on here?"

"I'm…not sure," Mami admitted. "That's how I found you. But we need to go before whoever brought us here decides to…uh…"

Her eyes caught motion that should not have been there and drifted down. There, hanging between the girl's legs, was a thin black tail, covered with tiny pink dots.

It took Mami half-a-second to remember what that tail looked like. When she did, she cried out and threw herself away from the girl. Her back pressed against the wall as she kept screaming.

"Whoa!" the girl said, stumbling back herself. "What's gotten into you?"

"You…you…" Mami said, pointing with one trembling finger. "You're that…"

Intuition tugged at her attention, and she looked up. The television hung directly over her head, and it wasn't playing a movie. Rather, Mami was watching herself, clad in her Puella Magi uniform and standing in a world that had been constructed entirely from desserts. Rearing up over her was a smiling, cartoonish monster that looked to be part caterpillar and part clown. The combination was goofy enough to mistake the creature as friendly, if it weren't for the maw of razor-sharp teeth that it was now opening wide as Mami, both of them, stared in shock.

And then the monster's mouth closed over Mami's head. It pulled her off her feet and chomped down. Her body dangled for a moment, and then her uniform transformed back into her school uniform.

There was a horrible ripping sound, and her body fell, leaving her head behind. The monster wasted no time feasting on the rest.

"I'm that what?" the girl asked. "What are…" Then she noticed the television as well. "WHOA! That's gruesome!"

…

Now…

"Well, uh…" Oktavia coughed. "That must've been…awkward."

Mami looked down. Her tea was going cold, but she didn't feel like drinking it. "Hmmm. Awkward. Yes, I guess it was."

"It was just confusing for me," Oktavia groused. "Kyoko kept shouting stuff at me that didn't make a lick of sense. I mean, they did later, after she explained anything, but at the time? Noooooo."

"I don't doubt it." Mami sighed. "Unfortunately, save for battle-cries, I've never been one to…shout."

…

Then…

"H-hey," the girl stuttered. She slowly backed up; hands held up. "C-calm down now."

Mami didn't feel like calming down. She didn't feel like doing anything this monster said. Her musket was clutched in her trembling hands, and she pointed it directly at the girl's face.

"You're that witch," Mami said, her voice nearly breaking. "You ate me."

"That doesn't even begin to…" The girl glanced again at the shaking musket and swallowed. "L-look, I don't kn-know what this is-"

"It was you," Mami said. "You're doing this. We're still in your labyrinth."

"What?"

"Where are Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki?" Mami demanded. "What did you do with them?"

Now the girl looked equal parts confused and afraid. "Who?"

"Where are my friends?"

"I don't know! I've never heard those names in my…No, wait don't!"

It was too late. Mami's finger twitched a millimeter too far, and the musket went off. There was a brief flash of sparks and thunder, and the girl's head exploded. She fell back, sprawling against the IV machine as bright pink vapor issued out of her neck in a torrent.

…

Now…

"Ouch," Oktavia said with a wince. "Heck of a way to start things off."

"Not my finest moment," Mami admitted. "Obviously we've gotten past it by now, but our first meeting did not go well."

"Tell me about it," Oktavia agreed. She held up her hand, index finger and thumb spread with only a few centimeters between them. "Kyoko came this close to turning me into a shish-kabob. Though I bet things got worse when she grew her head back."

"Yes, you could say that."

…

Then…

"Stop!" the girl screamed as she ran terrified through the concrete hallway, Mami in hot pursuit. "Leave me alone!"

"No," Mami said. She felt calm, detached, almost eerily so. Everything was falling into place and, at last, making sense. All she had to do was kill the witch, and everything would be fine. Unfortunately, her musket had only been good for one shot, and she would be obtaining no replacements until she figured out how to transform. Until then, she was having to improvise. A rusted but still sharp scalpel salvaged from the hospital room was clutched in one hand, and a pair of surgical scissors was in the other. Mami wasn't a fan of close-quarters combat, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

She pursued the girl back the way she had originally came. Her quarry was fast, she'll give her that, but Mami was well conditioned for frenzied action. The gap between them grew ever smaller.

They rounded the corner, and Mami's frowned when she saw the girl dart into the room of smashed cars. She wasn't thrilled about going back in there, but a dead end was a dead end, and she was no stranger to fighting on an uneven terrain.

She reached the entrance and looked around. The vehicle junkyard was still there, just as she had left it. The girl, however, was nowhere to be seen. She was fast, there was no denying that. But she couldn't hide forever.

Holding both of her weapons at the ready, Mami picked out the most likely hiding places and started to hunt.

…

Now…

"Okay, yeah, that was way worse than what happened with us," Oktavia said. "At least she never went beyond threatening to kill me. I can't say I blame you though. At least Kyoko actually knew about the whole thing about witches before we woke up."

Mami didn't meet her eyes. Truth be told, she was surprised that she was going this far into detail. It wasn't something she liked recalling, much less discussing. But now that the story had gained momentum, it was easier to keep going than it was to stop. Perhaps it could be chalked up to feelings of guilt toward the younger girl's condition. Or maybe Oktavia just had that effect on people. She had apparently gotten Kyoko to tell her all about her family's messy history twice, the first time being only days after they had met and were still technically enemies.

Of course, it could just be that Oktavia was a cute mermaid with amnesia who needed help. It was hard to say no to someone like that.

"Yes," Mami said. "And I'm afraid things only spiraled further downward from there."

…

Then…

Mami's foot slammed against the Toyota's windshield. Already cracked as it was, the impact bent it inward.

From inside the cab, the pink-haired girl screamed as Mami kicked the windshield again. She grasped frantically at the door handle, only to find that it no longer functioned.

A third kick, and Mami's heel partially broke through the glass. The girl rolled down the window as fast as she possible could, reached out to grab the outside handle, and opened the door just as Mami succeeded in smashing her way through.

Mami abandoned her now pointless attempts to enter the truck and instead hopped off the hood to follow. There was no longer any need to run. She had the witch in her sights.

The girl was now stumbling her way toward the eighteen-wheeler. Mami tossed the scalpel into the air, caught it by the blade, and lined up her shot.

By pure chance, the girl happened to glance over her shoulder just as Mami readied her strike. Her tear-filled eyes widened when she realized what was about to happen and she threw herself to the ground just as the scalpel left Mami's hand. It sailed forward, missing her by mere centimeters and thunked into the painted representation of Kyubey's right eye.

Fast and agile. It was almost as if she were a Puella Magi herself. Mami walked forward, opening the scissors and holding them up.

"Wait!" the girl screamed as she held up one hand and used the other to scoot back. "Stop, stop, stop! Why are you doing this? I never did anything to you!"

"Nothing?" Mami repeated. She continued to walk forward, her voice dull and flat, her face an expressionless mask. "You bit off my head. You ended my life. Do you call that nothing?"

"What in the world are you talking about? You're standing right freaking there! You're alive! Your head is right where it's supposed to be! I never-"

Then her eyes focused on something above and behind Mami. "Look!" she screamed, pointing.

Mami smiled without warmth. "That trick won't work on me. Next time, try something more original."

"It's not a trick, I am so serious right now, so freaking look already!"

Curiosity got the better of her. Mami glanced over her shoulder and saw nothing but cars. She looked higher, up at the ceiling.

The scissors fell from her hand to clatter against the floor.

The witch, the one that had eaten her, was there, right there. It hovered in the air, curling around the ceiling like some sort of ghastly flying slug, its comically painted head dipping down at the center of the room, over where her musket had stood, tooth-filled maw opened wide.

Mami's knees buckled. She tried to keep her balance, but her legs had forgotten how, so she fell onto her rump. However, her mouth still remembered how to scream, and threw itself into its task with great fervor.

That was when the caterpillar monster started to explode. Half of its face blew clean off, followed by large chunks of its sides, each of them consumed by sudden bursts of flame. There was a creaking sound, the sound of a snap, and the whole thing fell to collapse over the automobiles.

Mami flinched back when the impact happened. Dust and other debris pelted her body, none large enough to do harm but still large enough to sting. When it stopped, she opened her eyes.

The monster's body was now lying limp over the vehicle graveyard, or at least what was left of it. Huge chunks had been blown out, some from the explosions and some from the impact. And it no longer had what could be properly called a face.

Part of the monster had landed near where she was cowering. Without knowing exactly what drove her, Mami reached out with one trembling hand and touched its side.

Plaster. The whole thing was made of plaster.

Mami frowned. Now that the danger was gone, her mind was starting to click back on. She stood up and inspected the plaster beast. Now, who had put that there? She was well acquainted with witches playing horrible mind games, but this was the first time she had seen a mock-up of one witch appear in the barrier of the other.

Then she looked down at her feet and got another surprise. Five of her muskets lay among the pieces of plaster and shattered windshield, all of them discharged. Had she done that, summoned them by instinct and shot them off? It would definitely explain why the monster had exploded like it had, and it did sound like something she would do. But how was that possible? Her soul gem was still MIA, and she was not clad for battle.

Acting on a hunch, Mami laid her right hand over her heart. When she moved it away, it was clutching the handle of another silver musket and pulling the rest of the barrel out of her chest, just like she had done several times in the past.

Well, that was interesting. It explained nothing, but it was interesting. Too bad she had not discovered this earlier, when she had been chasing…

Oh, right. Somehow, she had forgotten all about that.

A fraction of a second later, the pink-haired girl had finished sneaking up behind Mami and bashed her over the head with the rusty carburetor she had found. Mami went down as the girl sprinted past her, towards the exit.

…

Now…

"You weren't kidding about things getting worse," Oktavia said, sounding equal parts horrified and fascinated. "Heck, I think you had it worse than we did. Kyoko says that there was just the armor I was wearing sitting in an easy chair, and it was brought down to normal size. There wasn't like a three-story plaster statue of witch-me." She looked down at her lap. "And come to think of it, maybe it's best I don't have legs. Or we'd probably have started kicking each other's butts too."

"Don't think like that," Mami said, a bit more harshly than she had intended. "You're just as much a victim as anyone else, maybe even more so. Don't trivialize what's been done to you."

"Whoa, okay," Oktavia said, sounding startled. She held up her hands. "Don't worry, I'm not."

Mami sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I get it, believe me. And trust me, I'm still ticked about needing to be carried everywhere." She cast a half-glower, half-smile at Kyoko. "Especially since she insists on dropping me on my butt every time."

"Somehow I don't find that hard to believe at all," Mami said with a small laugh. She looked down at her tea, which was now stone cold. She placed it on the table.

Oktavia cleared her throat. "So…it sounded like things were starting to heat up, what with you getting bashed in the head and all."

"Hmmm? Oh, right. The story." Mami rubbed the back of her head, remembering how it had felt. "Well, we Puella Magi don't stay down for long, and people in this world heal quickly, as no doubt you've noticed. So, seeing how I had regained the ability to summon my weapons, it didn't take long for things to get truly out of hand."

…

Then…

Another piece of wall exploded. The witch yelped as shrapnel pelted her bare back but she kept running.

Mami was again following, only this time she wasn't even bothering to run. She just walked forward in a smooth, unhurried gait, pulling out musket after musket and firing them off one right after the other in quick succession. Most of the hallway behind her was already a devastated wreck, and the rest was well on its way to being demolished.

But though Mami was a dead shot, somehow the witch was managing to avoid taking a crippling blow. She was very fast, yes, and she was very agile. But pure desperation was taking it to superhuman levels as she twisted and dodged out of the way of Mami's destructive onslaught. Not that Mami's aim had completely failed her. The witch's right arm now ended right above the elbow, with red smoke issuing forth.

The witch tried to duck into the hospital room, but Mami was having none of that. She obliterated the entrance. The witch quickly backpedaled and fled toward the open exit at the far end of the hallway.

Mami continued to fire. The girl was tremendously skilled, but with no cover and a narrow space, it didn't matter how nimble she was. Sure enough, when the girl was less than five meters from the exit, one of Mami's shots hit her in the shoulder, blowing it and the attached arm clean off. The witch's body spun around from the impact, allowing Mami to shoot her in the stomach.

The witch was launched back screaming through the exit and disappeared.

Huh, apparently the hallway opened to a drop. Mami walked the rest of the distance, pulling out two fresh muskets, ready to finish off whatever was left. But then she looked outside.

They were in one of the middle stories of a tall skyscraper, one of several. Mami didn't recognize the city she was now in. All the buildings were made from unpainted grey concrete, with no decorations to be seen, and all the windows were unobstructed by glass, giving the place a skeletal look. But perhaps the most eye-catching feature was the fact that the entire city was upside-down. Some kilometers away, a sheer cliff wall rose up, with a long outcropping of stone sticking straight out at a perfect right angle. The city hung from the bottom like a cluster of stalactites. And below, past the inverted skyline, Mami could see nothing but clouds. While there was no way to judge how far the ground was below those clouds, Mami had the sinking feeling that they were very, very high up. Even though she had never been afraid of heights, even she couldn't help but feel a sudden rush of vertigo.

As for the witch, she was directly below (or was it above?) where Mami stood. A metal flagpole stuck out of the building, and she was clutching to it for dear life, both legs and her remaining arm wrapped tightly around it.

Mami stared down at her. The hole in her stomach was already closing, and her shoulder was likewise starting to regenerate. No doubt she would be whole in only a few minutes. Mami pointed down at her with both muskets.

The witch looked up and, seeing Mami there, her already terrified face paled even more. Her body jerked, almost causing her to lose her grip, and she had to scramble to keep from falling.

"No," she whimpered. "No, please. No."

Mami stared. She didn't fire or lower her guns. She just stared.

"Don't," the girl pleaded. "Don't do this. I…please, just don't." Her face scrunched up, she closed her eyes, and started crying.

Mami continued to stare. She had seen witches who had cried before, but that had always struck her as a gimmick, much like the witches who always laughed or the ones that screamed. This was different. This girl just sounded like someone who was in pain and scared out of her mind.

And, while she was on that thought, when had she ever encountered a witch who had been capable of conversation before?

All this slowly burned through her mind, dissolving the detachment that had driven her rampage. And the full enormity of her actions finally realized themselves. She wasn't hunting a witch, she was about to murder an innocent girl, one who was just as lost and confused as she was.

Oh God, what had she done? What was she continuing to do?

The hands holding the guns started to shake, and she had to throw the weapons into the hallway behind her rather than risk them going off. She gritted her teeth and tried to hold it together. No, she couldn't afford to break down again, not now. Right now, someone needed her help, someone who was now in great danger because of her actions.

"H-hold on!" she called down to the girl. Her voice cracked, but not by much. "I'll try to find some way to pull you up!"

…

Now…

"And just like that, you were friends?" Oktavia asked. "After all that?"

"Well, no," Mami said. It was now near impossible to look the younger girl in the eye. Though she didn't have a mirror, she had no doubt that her cheeks were now bright red from shame. "Not right away. But it was a start."

…

Then…

They sat together, on the edge of the opening, legs dangling. Or rather, they sat on the same edge, but the girl was making sure to keep a healthy distance between her and Mami. She was now wearing the mannequin's hospital gown and was holding a sheet from the bed tightly around her.

Mami had just gotten done explaining things the best she could, but with her mind in the state it was and knowledge of just how ridiculous it all sounded bearing down on her. Granted, everything about their current situation was ridiculous, but as she had long learned, just because people were willing to accept one kind of ridiculousness didn't meant they were going to accept everything.

At least the girl was willing to listen. Or at least, sit silently without interrupting. When Mami was done, she still didn't say anything. She just studied Mami's face for a moment and then looked out at the upside-down city. That was fine. Mami was content to let her wait and digest the information.

"Magical girls," the girl said at last. "Girls with superpowers from cute little aliens who go out and fight evil witches, one of which ate you, and you thought I was that witch. That's your story?"

"Yes," Mami said. "I know it sounds far-fetched, but-"

"This city is upside-down. I watched you pull a bunch of guns out of thin air." The girl looked down to where her tail was sticking out of the back of her gown. "And I have a tail. Far-fetched? That doesn't even begin to explain it. Crazier than what's happening right now? No."

"So…you believe me?" Mami said, trying not to hope.

The girl shook her head, though it was more out of bewilderment than to convey a negative. "Right now, I don't even…" The words caught in her throat. She swallowed noisily and tried again. "Everything is so screwed up that…Look, I don't…"

"It's okay," Mami said, instinctively leaning over to take the girl by the hand. "You don't have to-"

The girl jerked her hand away. "Don't touch me!" she cried, leaping to her feet and retreating several steps back.

Mami cringed, but nodded. "Okay. I won't."

"Well, good. That's very good to hear. Because the last time you did, you ended up blowing my head off! And my arm. And my shoulder. And oh yeah, how about shooting my guts out! Is that what you Pulley Magic people do to everyone you think is a witch? You know what, I'm starting to think that most of those 'disappearances' you blame on witch attacks are really you people getting suspicious and blowing people to pieces! 'Whoops, screwed up again! But that's okay, we'll just hide the body and say a witch did it!' Some heroes!"

Before Mami could come up with a decent response, the girl turned and stormed away. Mami considered going after her, but what good would that accomplish? The girl had good reason to be angry, and anything Mami said would probably just make things worse. Best to let her cool down. It wasn't like there was anywhere she could go.

Still, the girl's words were troubling. Mami was so accustomed to acting as a defender of the people that having such accusations thrown at her had shaken her. Not that she blamed the girl. She was disgusted by her actions as well. But considering the circumstances…

What exactly were the circumstances, anyway? Mami looked down at the clouds far below. Well, the first step would be getting down from here. And from there…

Mami shook her head. One step at a time. Focusing on the flagpole, she flicked her hand in its direction. Immediately a yellow ribbon appeared and wrapped itself around the pole.

Good, she could still do that. That would certainly make getting down that much easier. In which case-

She heard footsteps. The girl was returning. Her eyes were red and blotchy, and her mouth was set in a straight line, but she at least didn't look like she was about to give Mami a sudden push. Instead, she marched her way to where Mami sat, glowered down at her, and asked, "So, what exactly do we do now?"

…

Now…

"Yeah, uh, how did you get down, anyway?" Oktavia asked, her face twisting in confusion. "I mean, was there actually an elevator or something?"

Mami shook her head. "No, we climbed."

"Climbed? For real?"

"Well, first we had to travel from building to building until we reached the cliff wall. And from there we climbed." Now that she was past the really uncomfortable bits, Mami did feel a bit better, enough to finally take a sip of her tea. Lukewarm, bleh. "It wasn't that bad, actually. The ribbons helped lots, making bridges and harnesses and whatever we needed. And as it turned out, we really weren't that high up. Those clouds were actually fog, so once we made it that far down, we ended up reaching the ground much quicker than expected." Mami sighed. "Of course, it took a long time to convince Charlotte that I wasn't planning on strangling her or letting her fall, but we somehow managed to get past that as well."

"Huh," Oktavia said thoughtfully. "You know, even though it sounds like most of these powers are meant for fighting, that one sounds like it must come in handy in day-to-day life. I mean, if there's something on a shelf you couldn't reach, or if you found a tree that looked like it could use a swing, all you'd have to do is snap your fingers, and hey presto!"

Mami coughed into her hand. "Ah, yes. You're right, they're very…useful."

Oktavia frowned at her. "Wait, are you blushing?"

"Never mind that now," Mami said hastily.

"Hold up," Oktavia said, blinking. "What exactly do you use them for-"

"That's not important!"

Oktavia's brow furrowed. Then she shrugged. "Okay, if you say so." Mami sighed. The younger girl wasn't even bothering to hide the grin on her face.

"Sooooo, anyway," Oktavia said, her grin becoming something of a smirk, "You and Charlotte started traveling the world together, right? Went on a big adventure together, looking for clues, riiiight?" She leaned forward. "Started off as enemies, but found yourselves stuck together, with no one else for company. Soon you had to rely on each other, probably even saved each other's butts a few times. And over time, the walls between you started to crumble, and you became closer and closer, until finally, one beautiful moonlit night, as you lay side-by-side under the stars, you found your hand reaching out for hers, and…"

Mami's finger impatiently tapped against the arm of her chair. "Are you done?"

Oktavia thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think so."

"I really think Kyoko's been a bad influence on you."

"What?" Oktavia said, still grinning. "I haven't known her that long."

"You don't need to. She works fast. Before too long she'll have you running around in a hoodie and a baseball cap, helping her rob convenience stores and smash in car windows."

That just made Oktavia laugh. "Uh, yeah, a couple of problems with that," she said, slapping her tail.

"You'd be surprised," Mami said. "Maybe she'll just leave you on the sidewalk for everyone to gawk at and start picking their pockets while they're distracted."

"Right. Because mermaids are just so gangster, yo," Oktavia said, making an obviously false and highly exaggerated gang sign with her fingers. "Bitches love mermaids."

This time Mami joined in on the laughter. "All right, now I know she's been a bad influence on you."

"Hey, don't blame everything on her. Maybe I'm just a natural delinquent."

"Right," Mami said, eyeing the tail in question. "The very first gangster mermaid."

"I'm a trendsetter, what can I say?" Oktavia said, making another stupid-looking gang sign and winking. "Soon I'll be the head of my very own mermaid yakuza. Before you know it, all of Japan's sushi production will be under my control. I will be the queen of all sushi!" She threw her head back and started cackling manically. "MWAHAHAHAHA!"

Mami blinked. She picked up her now-cold tea and examined it with a critical eye. "What in the world did Charlotte put in this?"

"Hey, don't write of my dreams of total sushi control so lightly!" Oktavia snickered. She took a deep breath and let it out with a happy sounding sigh. "Guess I got a little carried away there," she said, fanning herself.

"Just a little," Mami said. "Not to say it wasn't very entertaining."

Oktavia mock-bowed, sweeping both arms out like a showman. "I live to please, mine host."

"Glad to see you're feeling-" Mami caught herself before she said "Like your old self." Before the pause became noticeable, she switched to, "-much more cheerful."

"A little yeah." Oktavia's face sobered, though only a little. "I mean, I'm still worried to death about Elsa, and to be quite frank, Kyoko being in that coma is really starting to get real freaky. But I am starting to feel a lot better, yeah."

"Hmmm, good point about Kyoko." Mami got up and picked up the unconscious girl and carried her to the guest room. As she walked, she noticed just how filthy with dirt, seawater salt, and sweat the redhead was, as were the clothes she was wearing. Furthermore, her shirt and jacket were still marred by the two bullet holes.

Mami considered just leaving her like that, but immediately quailed at the thought. Unconscious or not, Kyoko was still a guest, and to leave her in such a state was just inhospitable.

She changed course and head toward the bathroom. Once there, she quickly undressed the redhead, uncomfortably aware of just how awkward it was to do so while Kyoko was still unconscious, and just how furious she was going to be when she found out. But then, it wasn't as if they hadn't seen each other naked before. Still, it did feel perversely wrong on some level.

Sighing, Mami soaked a washcloth in the sink and quickly gave the girl a quick sponge bath, even if there weren’t any actual sponges involved. While she did so, she couldn't help but notice how Kyoko's face looked. Her muscles were all tensed up, with her eyelids squeezed tight and her lips twisted into a frown.

While Mami was reasonably aware of what her former protégé had gone through after they had parted ways, the stark contrast between the idealistic hero-in-training she had known and the fallen warrior now before her was disconcerting. Kyoko had gone through a hell far worse than anything Mami herself had experienced, and though, unlike Oktavia's situation, she was not directly responsible for the tragedies that had befallen Kyoko, Mami still felt personally responsible. Of course, Charlotte would probably just flick her in the forehead and tell her to cut it out with the self-pity, but Mami couldn't help how she felt. She had been one of the Puella Magi's foremost supporters, almost their poster-girl in some areas. She had had a hand in recruiting several, convincing them to make a contract with Kyubey and fight witches in their respective areas. The whole time she had been stalwartly convinced that she had been doing the right thing, but like everyone else, she had been used, nothing more than a tool.

And like Kyoko, the girls she had saved and recruited had paid the price, some of them still paying it. Oktavia was here already, all that remained of Sayaka Miki. Who was next to arrive on her doorstep, broken and internally scarred? Michiru Kazusa? Brooke Alexander? Any of the half-dozen other girls whose names she barely remembered? Perhaps they were already here, out there somewhere, working for Oblivion or lost in the wild paths. Or maybe they were still wandering the land of the living as witches, sowing pain and misery while waiting for a Puella Magi to come kill them.

It was a heavy burden to bear, and while Mami had mostly come to terms with the lie she had been a part of, it was still hard to remind herself that she wasn't the one to blame, that she had been a victim herself. Despite feigning impatience over what she called "Mami's moping sessions," Charlotte also carried the same weight around with her, or at least one like it. Perhaps that was why they were able to put up with each other's darker moods. They knew the guilt the other carried.

…

Then…

Mami sat cross-legged near the campfire, though not too near. Charlotte sat next to her. The pink-haired girl had traded in the hospital gown for a pair of heavy hiking pants, a grey sweater, and a brown flight jacket, all of which were far too big for her but were still a vast improvement.

The person responsible for Charlotte's change in wardrobe lounged across from them. In many ways she reminded Mami of that mystery Puella Magi, Homura Akemi, in that she had hair of a comparable length and color, and her calm and collected manner of speaking was also quite similar. However, this girl was much taller, considerably more filled out, and had an air of arrogant smugness that Homura didn't seem to have been capable of. Furthermore, the underside of her hair shone silver. Her name was Shizuku Sango, and she was the first person Mami and Charlotte had met since leaving the upside-down city.

The two of them had come across her while wandering a forest path. Three days had passed since they had "arrived" together, for lack of a better word, and without any new information, a sense of direction, or any supplies to speak of, they were frankly downright miserable. And at least Mami had been fully dressed. Charlotte only had the hospital gown and the sheet to keep her warm.

Shizuku, upon seeing the two, had found the whole situation to be quite amusing. She still was more than willing to clothe and feed the pair, to their extreme gratitude, but she still obviously was taking great delight at their misfortune. However, at that point Mami could not care less. Let her laugh.

Of course, once they had settled down for the evening, the line of questioning had begun. Shizuku claimed to be on her way home from a hiking trip, and hadn't been at all surprised to find the two. She also hadn't been surprised that Charlotte had a tail.

"Oh, that just comes with the territory," she had said dismissively. "All witches retain some aspect of their witch-forms. Count yourself among the lucky that all you got was a tail."

Charlotte, who had just been finishing pulling on the jacket, had stiffened immediately. As for Mami, she had nearly fallen over backwards. "You…you know about that," she said, scarcely unable to believe it.

"What? About Puella Magi, Witches, and all the little Beys in a row?" Shizuku had smirked and gave her hair a flick. "But of course. I am, after all, a Puella Magi myself."

Mami stared. "And you know what happened to us? Where…"

"Where this place is, what this place is, how you came to be here, what happened to your soul gem, why she's suddenly looking human again, and…Oh, there's far too many to list them all." Shizuku had shrugged and sat down. "Of course. It's a bit of a long story, though. Care to help me get dinner on in the meantime?"

"I…well, of course," Mami had said. She knelt down and cleared a space for the fire. Charlotte had remained frozen in place, staring.

"Much appreciated," Shizuku had said after they had gotten the wood gathered. She reached into her pack and pulled out a pack of matches. "Now tell me," she had said, striking one and holding the tiny flame in front of her face. "How much do you really know about the contract you made?"

Half an hour later, the three of them were sitting around the still-crackling fire, each holding a heated can of stew, the first real thing Mami and Charlotte had eaten since leaving the upside-down city.

Thirty minutes, that's all it had taken to completely destroy Mami's world.

She was barely aware of her surroundings. The flickering of the campfire, the receding warmth of the can in her hands, the cool of the night air, the chirping of crickets, all of it failing to register on her. Even forming a coherent thought was nearly impossible.

Everything was false. The Puella Magi and their righteous duty to defend humanity against the evil scourge of witches. The noble Kyubey and his comrades with their wish-granting contracts. The witches themselves, beings of pure wickedness, deserving only to be destroyed. All of it a lie.

Images flashed through her mind, images and faces. The twisted bodies and countenances of all the witches she had vanquished. How many had it been? Dozens, at least. Perhaps over a hundred. And each and every one of them had once been a Puella Magi like her, girls who had joined the fight for one reason or another, girls who had once had families, friends, lives and dreams of their own. And she had killed them, slaughtered them in the blind belief that she was doing good. How long would it have been before she had joined them, another laughing witch to be struck down by her successors?

Once face in particular stood out, one that was wholly inhuman. Kyubey, her mentor. Kyubey, her helper. Kyubey, her dear friend. Kyubey, her deceiver, who had selected her to be nothing more than just another piece of his machine, to be used up and discarded in turn.

It wasn't true, her heart wailed at her. It couldn't be true. But what if it was? She had never truly learned where witches had come from, or grief seeds for that matter. Come to think of it, grief seeds did look a bit like soul gems, only darker and pointier.

She refused to even allow the parts about her really being dead after all and this being some sort of afterlife enter the fray. The free-for-all taking place inside her mind had too many participants as it was.

"It's a lot to take in, I know," Shizuku said as she sipped from a mug of hot cocoa. "No doubt you are now experiencing feelings of disbelief, disillusionment, a complete shattering of your entire worldview. Don't worry, everyone who doesn't already know goes through it." She glanced over to Charlotte, who was starting to shake. "Ah, are you going to be all right? You look like you're about to-"

Charlotte let out a sound not unlike a foreman's whistle and jumped to her feet, spilling her stew everywhere. Before Mami could react, she had already fled into the forest, hunched over and clutching at her stomach.

"-do that," Shizuku finished. "Well, I saw that coming." She glanced over to Mami. "Shouldn't you be going after her?"

Still in a state of shock, Mami stared at her.

Shizuku shrugged. "I mean, it's a great big forest, and if she gets lost, she might never find her way back. And I'd hate to think of what would happen should she run into someone dangerous. She doesn't strike me as much of a fighter, at least not in the state she's in. Who knows? This very well may be the last time anyone hears from-"

Without responding to Shizuku's taunts, Mami stood up and ran after Charlotte.

The forest was pitch-black, and the ground uneven. Still, Mami was agile enough to keep her footing as she chased after Charlotte. It helped that the other girl was going in more-or-less a straight line, and soon she found Charlotte huddled in a tight ball at the foot of a gnarled tree, sobbing.

Mami approached the girl with caution. She didn't want to make her run away again. "Ch-Charlotte?" she said. "Are…" She swallowed when she couldn't think of a satisfactory way to end that question. Of course Charlotte wasn't all right. Neither of them was.

"Oh God," Charlotte moaned. "Oh God. I…it was…"

Mami knelt down and put her hands on Charlotte's shoulder. "Charlotte, I-" Then she squeaked in surprise when Charlotte suddenly whirled around and grabbed Mami by her shirt.

"Don't you get it?" Charlotte implored, her eyes wide. "Don't you see? What she was talking about?"

"I…I do," Mami said. She looked away, unable to meet her eyes. "Everything, it was all-"

"No, you don't!" Charlotte nearly screamed. "Mami, you were right!"

"What?"

"When we first met? You were right. Mami, I am the witch that killed you. And you were right to try to kill me back." Charlotte collapsed forward to cry into the shorter girl's chest. "Oh God, I am so sorry. I am so-"

"Charlotte, stop."

Charlotte looked up at her, tearing eyes filled with confusion.

Mami held her by the shoulders and moved her away so that they were eye-to-eye. "Look, I still don't know what to think about what she just told us. To be honest, my mind is in a state of near collapse. I don't know how much of it is true, or…But my point is, even if you had been turned into that…thing, that wasn't you."

"What? Of course it was!"

"No, it wasn't," Mami said firmly. "You were not that monster. You were imprisoned by that monster, nothing more. And now you're free. And whatever that thing did to me, it has no bearing on you."

"Yes, it does!" Charlotte snapped, roughly shoving Mami away from her. "Don't give me that! Don't try to pretend that it wasn't me, because it was. It was me, it was…" She doubled over, holding onto her stomach. "Oh God."

Mami stared at her, wondering why she was holding on so tightly to that guilt. Then her mind flashed to the horrible things she had done, to the girls she had unknowingly destroyed and to her attempts to kill Charlotte back at the upside-down city. In both cases there had been extenuating circumstances that, if she were to stand in a court of law, she might be let off. But that didn't take away her sense of personal responsibility, nor would she react well to anyone who would try to take it from her.

"Charlotte," she said softly. "Charlotte, look me."

Sniffing, Charlotte looked up.

"You're right," Mami said. "That monster was you, and you did kill me, bit my head right off."

Charlotte's face contorted with misery.

"But," Mami continued, "don't forget that I shot your head off too. And in both cases, neither of us really knew what was going on. We were both misled, and horrible things happened as a result. So as far as I'm concerned, there is no score to settle between us. We're even, all right?"

Blinking in surprise, Charlotte wiped her eyes and asked, "So…you forgive me?"

Smiling, Mami took her by the hand. "Only if you forgive me."

Charlotte let out a choked noise that was half a laugh and half a sob. "D-deal," she said. "Wow, talk about the worst possible way to meet, huh?"

"Hard to think of a worse one," Mami agreed. "Why don't we start over?" She stood up and bowed her head. "Hello, my name is Mami Tomoe. It is very nice to meet you."

That made Charlotte laugh again. "Wow, out of all that…Sure, why now?" She got up and returned the bow. "Hello, Mami Tomoe, my name is Charlotte. I hope we can still be friends, despite our history of mutual decapitation."

Relieved that things were now starting to work out, Mami opened her mouth to respond, but then there came a sharp whistling as something traveled very quickly through the air. This was followed by the fleshy thump of an impact and a cry of pain.

Startled, Mami and Charlotte whirled to see Shizuku standing nearby. In her hands was a long, metal chain, topped at either end by a sharp blade, one of which was now sticking into a small figure writhing on the ground.

It was another girl, this one looking very young and very wild. Her body was lean and unwashed, her short blond hair tangled with leaves and sticks, and she was clothed with nothing but a torn and filthy grey sift and, curiously enough, a red-and-white ribbon tied into her hair. Mami almost started screaming at Shizuku for hurting the girl, but then she saw that Shizuku's target was not normal. Her eyes were the color of freshly spilled blood, and her tiny teeth were as sharp as nails.

"So sorry to break up such a touching scene," Shizuku said, "but this one was getting ready to pounce. I told you this place was dangerous. You really should have listened." She gave the bladed chain a swift tug, pulling it free. The wild girl snarled and retreated on all fours, red mist issuing from her wound, which soon tapered off as it closed.

"Naughty, naughty," Shizuku said, advancing on the wild girl. "It's not polite to sneak up on strangers. Where are your manners?"

The wild girl hissed. "Hungry," she said insistently. "Hungry!"

"Of that I have no doubt. Unfortunately, I doubt that you would find either of them to be at all substantial." Shizuku aimed a kick in the wild girl's direction. "Go on, now. Get."

The girl hissed again but, seeing that she had lost, she quickly turned and scrambled away into the darkness.

It wasn't until then that Mami remembered how to speak. "Who…what was she?"

"Wild witch," Shizuku said as she starting to looping her chain. "It happens sometimes. They can't come to terms with their own deaths and allow themselves to become feral."

"And no one tries to help them?"

Shizuku shrugged. "Some do, but it's hard to help someone who doesn't want to be helped. And there are so many of them." She slung the chain over her shoulder. "Speaking of which, now that you two are BFF's, have you decided what you want to do?"

"Excuse me?" Charlotte said.

"Have you," Shizuku repeated, enunciating every syllable, "decided on what you want to do?"

Mami and Charlotte glanced at each other. "Well, uh," Charlotte said. "We really haven't gotten that far yet."

"Hmmm, understandable. I suppose you're still coming to terms with…well everything. Perhaps I should wait until you're done with your respective mental and emotional breakdowns before any sort of planning for the future takes place?"

"Hey now," Charlotte said indignantly. "There's no call for…" Then she stopped, considering. She glanced over to Mami, who was starting to sway on her feet.

"Uh…" Charlotte said, looking her up and down. "Are you okay?"

Mami steadied herself and shook her head. Now that the excitement was over, everything she had just learned was starting to come back, in all of its overwhelming horror.

Charlotte grimaced. She turned back to Shizuku, who was smirking in amusement. "Well, maybe we're not in the best shape to do any planning," she admitted.

"Thought so," Shizuku said. She turned and started heading back to the camp. Mami's hand found Charlotte's, and the two of them followed.

As they walked, Shizuku kept talking. "Well, seeing how you two don't know which way is up right now, why not come back with me?"

"With you?" Mami asked. "To where?"

"A town, not far from here. Well, actually not the town itself. My girlfriend and I own a place called Nautilus Platform, a few kilometers out to sea."

"Sea?" Charlotte said, at the exact same time Mami said "Girlfriend?" in much the same tone.

"Yes, sea," Shizuku said, pushing a low hanging branch out of the way. "Well, more of an ocean, actually. And come on, this is an all-female world. We work with what we have." She chuckled. "Though admittedly, my friends and I weren't exactly picky during my lifetime, either."

Mami shook her head in bewilderment. "Well, I suppose you have a point. But…" Her tongue tried to form itself into words, but her brain was not providing the necessary thoughts.

Fortunately, Charlotte stepped in. "So, you said you live at this platform place? Doing what?"

"Harvesting seaweed, mostly."

Mami's steps faltered. "Seaweed?"

"Mmmm-hmmm."

"For…like sushi?" Charlotte asked, sounding just as confused as Mami.

"Well, cosmetics mainly."

Now it was Charlotte's turn to miss a step. "Cosmetics? You're telling us that you spend your afterlife harvesting seaweed to be made into makeup?"

Shizuku laughed. "Just because we're dead doesn't mean that civilization stops. Life goes on, even if not in the literal sense."

They reached the campfire, which was now starting to die down. Shizuku tossed her bladed chain onto her backpack and sat back down. "It's good work, but it's still work. And we've been talking about hiring on some extra hands. Interested? Room and board will be provided, of course."

Mami and Charlotte looked at each other. Charlotte shrugged.

"Of course," Mami said as they sat down. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me just yet," Shizuku said. "Like I said, it's hard work, but you get used to it." She leaned back against a fallen tree trunk, stretched out her legs, and rested her hands on her stomach. "But in the meantime, I'd better start bringing you two up to speed. Can't have you show up in town as ignorant as you are. So let's bring you up to speed with one of the biggest dangers around here, a very naughty little girl called Oblivion."

…

Now…

"Come on," Charlotte mumbled as she tried to push the skimmer to move even faster. "Come on, come on, come on…" She looked around at the endless expanse of dark waters and pounded her fists against the dashboard in frustration. "Damn it! Where is it? Why does the whole ocean have to look the goddamn same?"

Of course, she knew that she had not gone far enough to reach the lighthouse just yet, but she was going nuts with impatience. Part of her frustration was due to her not knowing exactly what she was going to do when she found the place. Granted, the Void Walkers couldn't hurt or attack her in any way, but the reverse also applied. So how exactly was she supposed to get the friend of Mami's friend away from them? Civilized discussion and negotiation? Bribery? Pointing at the sky, scream, "Whaddya know, a UFO!" and grab the girl and run while they were distracted?

Growling, she kept the boat moving forward. That would have to wait until she was actually there. For now, actually finding the place was top…

…wait a minute…

Something had appeared on the horizon: a light, and a bright one at that. Slowing the boat down, Charlotte moved forward, squinting to make it out. It didn't look like a lighthouse's beam. A signal flare, maybe? Or another boat? She glanced at her crossbow, which was sitting folded-up in the passenger seat. Hopefully she wouldn't have to use it, but it always paid to be prepared.

She kept moving forward, eyes darting back in forth in search of movement. The light grew brighter as she came closer. Now she could just about make it out…

Charlotte's eyes went wide when she realized what she was looking at. "Oh crap," she whispered. "Oh, that's not good at all."

…

"…of course, by that time, we had been walking all day, so we were so tired that we weren't exactly thinking straight," Mami was saying. Kyoko had been washed up and redressed in some of Charlotte's old clothing, all that she could find that would fit, and been put in one of the guest beds. So now it was time to go back to telling stories of some of her adventures. "So when we found a farmhouse with a nice-looking woman who was willing to let us sleep in her hayloft, were we going to say no?"

"Big mistake?" Oktavia asked.

"Very," Mami confirmed. "As it turns out, there are monsters everywhere. And this one turned out to be-"

The phone rang, startling them out of the story. Mami rose to answer it.

"Hello, Nautilus Platform," she said. Then her face brightened. "Charlotte! Are you okay?"

Oktavia's head snapped up. She leaned forward to listen.

"Oh good," Mami said, sounding relieved. "And…Wait, slow down, please. I can barely make out a thing you're…Oh." Her face fell, quickly followed by Oktavia's heart.

"Yes, I see. Are you sure…All right." She glanced over to Oktavia. "No, I'll tell her. Just come back, it's not safe out there. I'm sorry, of course you know that. All right, I love you too."

She hung up the phone.

"Well?" Oktavia demanded, her fingernails digging into the recliner's armrests.

Mami didn't turn to look at her. "I'm sorry, Oktavia," she said.

Oktavia's throat rose. "Sorry?" she said. "What's that supposed to mean, huh? Tell me what happened!"

"Charlotte found the lighthouse, but it was on fire."

"Fire? It…it was on fire? That doesn't make any sense! It's made out of stone, right? Stone doesn't burn, right?"

Mami sighed and returned to her chair. "There's still plenty within a lighthouse that can."

Oktavia's arms started to shake. "But…what about…"

"She searched the area the best she could, even went inside the lighthouse for as long as she could." Mami shook her head. "It was deserted; there was no one there."

Oktavia was both aghast and confused. "But…how? It hasn't been that long! We took their boat, and Annabelle Lee was the only one who could fly. How could they just leave?"

"I'm sorry, Oktavia. I don't have any answers for you. Much of what Oblivion is capable of is still unknown."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Oktavia demanded. "We can't just leave her there!"

Mami tapped her lower lip, thinking. Rescuing Oktavia and Kyoko's friend was now beyond their capabilities, but that didn't mean they were without options.

"All right, there is one last thing we can try," Mami said. She went to a stained oak cabinet and pulled out a small brown address book. After finding the number she was looking for, she picked up the phone and started dialing.

…

Even though Freehaven was one of the largest settlements within the New Life Alliance, it was very loosely run. For the most part, its denizens took care of the day-to-day problems themselves. Of course, the fact that said residents had remained mostly the same group of people for several decades helped to keep things steady, as none of them were going to die or reproduce anytime soon (or ever, for that matter). Every now and then a new face would pop up or somebody would leave, but aside from those rare changes to the registry, Freehaven remained a place of routine, enforced not by heavy laws but by the simple habits of those who lived there.

In short, Freehaven was a static city. It rarely expanded, preferred to maintain what was already there than replace it with something new, and everyone was on first-name basis with everyone else. Not the most exciting place to live, true, but for those who wanted to live their afterlife out in peace and comfort, Freehaven was the place to go.

That didn't mean that it was without leadership. Someone had to be the final judge and arbiter whenever a dispute arose, rare as they were, just as someone had to act as the city's voice while conducting negotiations with the other settlements. Corrie Linneman had been serving as the city's mayor for over eighty years. She kept her job partially because no one else wanted it, and partially because she didn't need to actually do much, which she had no problem with.

Another important part of her success was that she was very good as her real job: making sure that Oblivion's fingers stayed as far away as possible. Freehaven and the rest of the New Life Alliance were supposed to act at the antithesis of everything the Withering Lands stood for, and Corrie intended to ensure that this meant that as little of Oblivion's presence was felt as possible. Which meant that when it looked like Corrie was going to have anything to do with her and her black-wearing minions, it tended to make her unhappy.

For example…

The phone rang, startling her out of a deep sleep. She glowered in its direction, wondering if she was still dreaming, and if she wasn't, who in the world would be calling her at this hour.

"Mmmmph?" mumbled her wife, Monica. "Wha…?"

Corrie sighed. "I got it…" Yawning, she slipped out of bed and picked up the phone. "Y'ello?" she half said, half muttered.

"Hello, Corrie?"

Corrie glanced over to Monica, who had covered her head with a pillow and was grumbling her protests to the noise. "Mmmmyeah?"

"This is Mami Tomoe, from Nautilus Platform. I'm sorry I woke you, but we have a bit of an emergency."

Corrie snapped wide awake. The Nautilus Platform was Freehaven's last piece of property out to sea. In many ways, it marked the end of their territory, beyond which was neutral ground. If trouble was coming, they would be the first to see it.

Keeping one eye on Monica, Corrie said in a hushed voice, "Does it involve…you know who?"

"I'm afraid so."

Corrie closed her eyes and sighed. "All right. Hold on a moment."

Placing the phone on hold, Corrie grabbed her nightgown from where it lay slung over the back of a chair and headed for the door. As she did, Monica sleepily said, "Corrie? Whazgoinon?"

"Not sure yet," Corrie said. "Probably nothing. Go back to sleep."

"M'kay."

Corrie moved quickly through the house until she got to her private office. Carefully closing the door behind her, she flipped on the lights, winced when her dilated pupils protested the sudden change, and blinked all the way behind her desk.

Once she was sitting down, Corrie picked up the office phone and reconnected with the call. "All right, what's going on?" she said.

She listened as Mami Tomoe explained the situation to her, her brow rising and falling at different points. When Mami finished, Corrie said, "And…that's the whole story so far?"

"Yes. Kyoko and Oktavia are with us now, and Charlotte's on her way back."

"I see." Corrie groaned and rubbed her forehead as she tried to muddle her way through this mess. "And you have no idea why Oblivion is after those two?"

"None."

"All right. Well, obviously you need to get them here to sign the Compact ASAP. That'll stop the attacks at least. Though I'd really appreciate it if they stayed with you two for the time being. I don't have any objections to giving them Freehaven's protection, but if word gets out to some of the rowdier folks around here that their new neighbors are on Oblivion's hit list, they'll probably cause a bit of a stink over it. Let me do some preemptive damage control first."

"I understand. That's what we were planning on anyway."

"Good to hear." Corrie's hand reached into the desk and pulled out a large blue plastic binder, which contained the most recent census. She started flipping through its laminated pages. "In the meantime, about this friend of theirs…What was her name again?"

"Elsa Maria."

Corrie moved to the "E" section. "Hmmm, Elsa Maria, Elsa Maria, I'm not seeing…"

Then her memory recovered fully and she froze. "Hold up. Wait, we're talking about the Elsa Maria?"

"Excuse me?"

"Could…could you ask your friend there…Oktavia, right? Could you ask Oktavia if this Elsa Maria could do anything involving shadows and a great many arms?"

"Arms?"

Corrie slumped over her desk. "Just ask her, please."

"All right, hang on."

A few seconds ticked by, and then Mami's voice returned. "Uh, yes. She says that was how she fought off the Void Walkers."

Of course. Of course it had to be her. Corrie sighed and said, "Er, Mami? Do you remember a little incident that happened…about a year-and-a-half ago at the church? That one that ended with us needing to replace all the windows and me face down in the bird bath?"

"What does…Oh."

Corrie flicked a pen across the desk top. "Yeeeaaahhh."

There was a noticeable pause, and then Mami said, "Well, in fairness, that was a year-and-a-half ago. She's obviously gone through a change since then."

"Bird. Bath."

"Corrie, please. I know how you must feel about this person, but she sacrificed herself to save Oktavia and Kyoko from Oblivion's minions. We can't just leave her to suffer."

Corrie grunted, but not as harshly as she might have. It was true, she had no fuzzy feelings towards Elsa Maria, but if she had fought off four Void Walkers at once to give two newcomers enough time to escape, her opinion of Elsa Maria was improved by a little bit.

"Maybe," she admitted. "But I'm really limited in what I can do. She's never signed the Compact, so I can't sue for her release. The best I can do is contact Reibey and try to reason with him." She sighed and place her palm over her eyes. "And, uh, you can already see the problem there."

"I know, you don't want to talk to him."

"Damn right I don't want to talk to him. And if word gets out that I am talking to him, trying to get Elsa 'The Church Smasher' Maria released, then things could get real ugly. I mean, Reverend Beatrice still refuses to replace that bird bath. She says it's bad luck."

"Corrie, please! Oktavia is distraught here! If worse comes to worse, just say that Reibey was planning on using Elsa Maria as a weapon, and you wanted to stop him."

"Like that'd work. He has plenty of big guns already." Corrie rolled her eyes. "Look, I'll make the call tomorrow, but I can't promise it'll work. In fact, it most likely won't. Prepare yourself for that very likely possibility."

"All right," Mami said after a short moment of hesitation. "I understand."

"Uh-huh. And in the meantime, do not let those girls out of your sight! Whatever Oblivion wants them for cannot be good, and I don't want her getting anywhere near them until we can figure out what she's up to!"

"They're safe with us," Mami promised without hesitation.

"Damn right they are," Corrie muttered as she hung up.

She collapsed back into her chair and glowered at the far door. Well, this was an unpleasant surprise to wake up to. She hadn't the slightest idea how she was going to fix this mess, and probably wouldn't until she actually made the call, which was not something she was looking forward to. On the list of people she actively disliked, the trespassing rat was the only name higher than Oblivion herself. She hated Oblivion for what she stood for. Reibey she just plain hated for being Reibey, and the fact that he was an Incubator didn't help in the slightest.

Corrie left her office and made her way back to the bedroom. On the bright side, she didn't have to deal with the problem immediately, and at that moment she was in no state to deal with anyone from the Withering Lands. Slipping out of her nightgown, she crawled back into bed and snuggled up to Monica.

Monica shifted and muttered, "Mmmm, Corrie? Who was that?"

Corrie debated how she should answer and finally went with, "Mami Tomoe, from Nautilus Platform. It looks like we'll have a couple new faces joining us."

"Really? Oh, that's good." Monica yawned and shifted. "I like…meeting new people…"

"Yeah," Corrie said, closing her eyes. "Me too."

Chapter Text

Images and colors blended together. Faces emerged from the darkness to laugh at her only to vanish into nothingness. Sayaka came striding toward her, wearing her blue Puella Magi uniform, a knight in shining armor. She smiled and extended her hand. Kyoko reached out to take it, but then Sayaka's body fell apart, crumbling into a thousand pieces, each one becoming a tiny, silver-scaled fish. Kyoko grabbed at the fishes. If she could just catch them all, she could put Sayaka back together. But there were just so many, and they were all much too fast.

And then she was falling, falling, falling, tumbling head-over-heels through the darkness. Voices whispered to her through the black, voices she knew. Sayaka, Mami, Kyubey, Father, Mother, Momo, and a half-dozen others, all of them calling to her but never to each other.

"Don't cry, we'll be okay!"

"You…you did this for me? You think I wanted this…this blasphemy?"

"I'm such an idiot."

"Of course they will listen! All you need to do is make a contract with me!"

"I'm not your enemy! After all…After all, you were the first magical girl who believed as I did!"

"Big sis Kyo? Why is daddy crying? Are you crying too?"

And so they continued, all of them vying for her attention. But in the background of the babble, barely audible at first but steadily growing in volume, was the sound of a little girl, weeping. Kyoko frowned. Why was everyone so focused on talking to her? Why wasn't anyone trying to comfort the little girl?

Kyoko opened her mouth to ask just that, but then everyone shut up. Furthermore, she was no longer falling. She raised her head to see that she had landed on a smooth, black-and-white checkered floor that stretched as far as her sight would allow. Beyond that, there was nothing but shadows. With a sigh, she lay back down, her cheek pressing against the cool marble. She considered getting up, but she was just so tired, and the floor was so comfortable.

Soft footsteps came out of the darkness. Something was coming. She couldn't see its full form, things were just so dark, but its round, crimson eyes stared at her from about meter above the floor.

Kyoko watched as the eyes came closer and closer. She tried to make out the creature's shape, but the shadows seemed to move with it, hiding it from view.

And then, when it was less than a meter away, it stopped. Kyoko stared into its eyes, neither she nor it blinking. Had they continued without interruption, she might have gotten lost in its gaze, staring at it forever.

But then a pitch-black paw came out of the shadows to touch the black of her hand, and the creature spoke.

"Gotcha!"

Kyoko Sakura woke to the sound of voices, talking nearby.

She stared up at the ceiling, her heart pounding loudly as she tried to gather her thoughts. She had just had a nightmare, that much was certain, but what it had been about was swiftly fading, leaving her with nothing but the sense of gnawing dread and desperate loss. Red eyes had featured prominently, that much she could recall, and that irked her. Out of all the people she did not want to be featured in her dreams, Kyubey was near the top of the list.

But with the sleepy bewilderment was mixed a feeling of déjà vu. For the second time in so many days, she was waking up in a strange bed in a strange room. Only this time, there was no stupid fish-and-apple mobile turning over her head, so already this new place was an improvement. Her blurry eyes searched the slanting, wooden tiles of the ceiling, certain that it had to be somewhere, maybe hiding in the corner. But all she found was more ceiling.

Yawning, Kyoko closed her eyes, resolving to solve that mystery sometime in the future. But then, just like before, her mind managed to emerge enough from the thick fog to remind her of certain recent events and suggest that sleep could wait until she had addressed certain discrepancies.

Kyoko sat up straight, her eyes wide open. She looked around, frantically searching for some clue as to what had happened. However, this time she was not in a ghastly mock-up of her old room. In fact, this room looked rather normal, with wood-paneled walls, a hardwood floor, and a simple dresser sitting under a circular window to her right. There were pictures of a nice looking seaside town on the walls, a bookshelf filled with paperbacks in one corner, a single-door closet in the other, and a nightstand with a fat-bodied lamp next to the bed. A second bed, this one empty, sat near her own, neatly made up.

Kyoko kicked the covers away and swung her legs around. She was struck by a sudden wave of dizziness, which made her groan and grab at her head. How long had she been out? But when her head cleared, she made a disheartening discovery. Her clothes were gone, and in their place were pink pajamas, a couple sizes too big and patterned with smiling teddy-bears.

She stared at her new outfit. Suddenly, Ticky Nikki's assertion about them being in Hell was starting to accumulate evidence.

Sighing, Kyoko dropped to the floor and noted, to her displeasure, that her legs still weren't working right. She slapped some feeling back into them and shakily stood up. Once she felt strong enough, she summoned a spear into existence and made a quick search of the room but found nothing of note. The closet contained only naked coat-hangers, and the dresser and nightstand were both empty. And the view through the window simply told her that she was in some sort of raised structure over the sea.

Kyoko tiptoed over to the door and pressed her ear against its frame. A girl whose voice she didn't recognize was telling a story about a debacle while shopping at a bakery. Kyoko briefly considered swinging the door open to confront her mysterious rescuers, but decided against it. Her rescuers might very well turn out to be captors, and it would be best to get the drop on them first, just in case.

She returned to the window and checked to see if it opened. Fortunately, it did. Grunting, Kyoko climbed onto the dresser and crawled out into the salty air.

…

"So, so there I was," Charlotte said, leaning forward and holding her hands apart to demonstrate her point, "completely covered with sugar and holding the top half of the wedding cake in one hand and the Christmas log in the other, standing in a pile of jellybeans, and everyone is just staring at me."

She and Mami started laughing at the memory, and Oktavia joined in at the mental image she had conjured. "So what'd you do?" she asked.

Giggling, Charlotte said, "So I looked around and said, 'That's the last time I take those geese shopping!'"

"You didn't!" Oktavia said in surprise as the laughter erupted anew.

"She did," Mami confirmed, wiping away a tear of mirth. "It was months before they let us come back. They still don't let her anywhere near the cupcakes."

"It wasn't my fault!" Charlotte insisted. "I was misinformed!"

Mami gave her an affectionate peck on the cheek. "I know, but you have to admit, you did look very suspicious."

The three of them were sitting down to an afternoon tea. Mami and Charlotte were sitting together on the couch, and Oktavia in one of the two blue recliners that were placed on either side of the short-legged tea table. This had become one of Oktavia's favorite times of the day, as Mami and Charlotte were both home from work, and they had the best stories. And the snacks were always to die for, or they would be, if the term were not obsolete.

Oktavia had to admit, while Kyoko's condition and Elsa Maria's unknown fate was a source of constant worry and concern, the time she had spent here had been nothing short of wonderful, especially given what she had to go through to get here. Mami and Charlotte were more than welcoming, and Kyoko was getting all the help she needed. According to Dr. Young, it was only a matter of time before she woke up. Until then, Oktavia couldn't ask for a better place to wait, or better people to wait with.

Once she had gotten her snickering under control, Oktavia took a sip of her tea and started to ask Charlotte a question, but stopped when she saw that the pink-haired girl was staring at a spot beyond her with an expression of confusion.

"Uh, are you okay?" Oktavia said. "What's wrong?"

"Er, I think your friend's awake," Charlotte said.

"Kyoko?" Sayaka said, sitting up straighter. She looked toward the hallway, expecting to see the redhead standing there.

"Yeah, and she somehow got loose," Charlotte said, pointing.

Everyone looked. True enough, Kyoko was standing outside, still dressed in Charlotte's pajamas and staring through the large picture windows that were set into the walls. Given how thin she was and how hollow her cheeks had become, one might compare her to a Dickenson orphan, peering longingly into the homes of the more fortunate. However, the expression on her face wasn't one of yearning, but open-mouthed disbelief.

"What the heck?" Oktavia said. "How'd she get out there without us noticing?"

"The window, probably," Mami said. She put her tea down and stood up. "She is quite limber."

"I'm…going to forget I heard that," Charlotte muttered.

"Not what I meant, sweetie."

Seeing that everyone had noticed her, Kyoko moved over to the front door. The doorhandle jiggled, and then she started knocking loudly.

Wordlessly, Mami walked over to the door and opened it, letting Kyoko in. The redhead stood in place, staring at the blonde girl.

"Awkward," Charlotte muttered as she shifted in her seat.

"So," Kyoko said, her expression unchanging. "You're here."

Mami nodded. "Hello, Kyoko. It's…it's been awhile."

"Yeah. No kidding."

"Why were you outside?"

Kyoko shrugged. "Woke up someplace I didn't recognize. Heard someone talking that I didn't know. Figured it was safer to go around and check things out instead of walking into a nest of bad guys." She glanced around at the room. "Well, I guess I might as well face the facts, huh?"

Mami frowned. "I'm sorry?"

"You're dead," Kyoko said, her voice deadpan. "You got eaten by a witch. Everyone knows that."

Oktavia glanced at Charlotte, who had winced. Awkward indeed.

"Well, yes," Mami admitted. "But-"

"Hold up, still talking here." Kyoko closed her eyes and swayed. "You're dead, I'm supposed to be dead, Sayaka's over there, and she's also supposed to be dead, so…" Her shoulders slumped. "Aw, goddamn it. Elsa Maria was right. This is the freaking afterlife, isn't it?"

Mami's head jerked in a small nod. "I…understand if this is…"

Kyoko pushed past her and slouched her way inside. She shuffled over to Oktavia and plopped down on the recliner's armrest.

"Are you okay?" Oktavia said in a low voice. Mami walked around the table to reclaim her place next to Charlotte.

Instead of answering, Kyoko leaned over, grabbed the bowl of mint candies and pulled it into her lap. She then started stuffing handful after handful into her mouth. Everyone waited for her to finish without protest. Mami was already well aware of how dangerous interrupting a feasting Kyoko could be, Oktavia had gotten a hint in that direction back at the lighthouse, and Charlotte had since been informed, though she was clearly unhappy about the loss of the candies.

When the bowl was three-fourths of the way empty, Kyoko swallowed, wiped her mouth, and said, "Sayaka, what in the happy-hotsauce hells happened?"

Oktavia frowned. "You don't remember?"

Kyoko shook her head. "The last thing I remember is running out to the docks with you and Elsa. And then everything got all…swimmy."

Well, that made sense. Being shot in the head and injected full of poison would make anyone's memory a little shaky. "We got jumped," Oktavia said. "Same guys."

"Who, Annabelle Lee and the knife girl?" Kyoko let out an exasperated groan. "Well, I gotta give them credit. They're persistent."

Oktavia nodded. "Yeah, only this time they brought a couple friends."

"More emos? God, they're everywhere." She managed a faint smile. "Some things just never change, eh?"

Instead of responding to the weak attempt at humor, Oktavia pointed to an area near her bellybutton and said, "You got shot here, and here," she moved her finger to just above where her heart belonged, and then pushed up her bangs and pointed to a spot right above her right eyebrow, "and here."

"Oh," Kyoko said. "Well. That sucks."

"You also got injected with some sort of…something," Charlotte put in. "We're not really sure what it was, but it kept you from healing up and recovering." She shrugged and smiled. "Fortunately, Dr. Young doesn't mind making house calls. She said you won't be having any nasty side-effects, so there's that to be thankful for."

Kyoko frowned. "Hey, I'm sorry, but who the hell are you?"

Charlotte looked taken back by the sudden rudeness. She opened her mouth to respond, but Mami cut in. "My roommate," she said firmly. "And friend. She was the one who brought you into the house and got Dr. Young to come look at you."

"Okay, okay," Kyoko muttered. "Sorry, didn't mean nothing by it. Sheesh." She looked back to Oktavia, who, for her part, was lamenting the lack of mobility her tail granted her. Being stuck in the middle of an already awkward situation that promised to descend even further into awkwardness was not a place anyone would want to be.

"So, even after I kicked their mascara-covered asses, they didn't get the hint and decided to shoot for us again, only this time they brought even more losers with them. And guns. And they actually did something smart by taking me out before we knew they were there." She shrugged. "Okay, fair enough. It was good strategy, I'll admit it. But seeing how we ain't kissing Oblivion's boots, something pretty significant had to happen between then and now. How'd we get out of it?"

"Elsa Maria," Oktavia answered, though saying it hurt. She had been doing her best not to think of Elsa much over the last few days. Kyoko's coma had been worry enough without adding survivor's guilt into the mix. "She saved us."

Kyoko raised an eyebrow. "No shit! Wow, didn't think she had it in her. I mean, she was cool and all, but…Hey, how'd she do it? Did she bust out some crazy witch powers or something?"

"Something like that," Oktavia said, repressing a shudder. Though Elsa's arms had saved them, the memory of them was still terrifying. "She drove them off, stole their boat, and put us on it. After a while, we ended up here."

"Ah. Okay." Kyoko looked around. "Can't help but notice that she's not here at the teaparty though. Unless she just went to the bathroom or something. That has to be it, right?" She let out a slightly crazy laugh. "After all that smoked fish and concrete biscuits, all this rich food must be really hard on her stomach. I bet she's been waking up like three times a night and rushing out to take a massive dump. Hell, I was that way for about a week, after I got my powers and didn't have to scrounge around in restaurant dumpsters anymore. Crazy diarrhea. Every night. Every freaking night!"

Everyone stared at her.

Except she didn't, did she?" Kyoko's hands tightened around the bowl. "She's not here, is she? She stayed behind, didn't she? To give us time to get away. Because that's the sort of thing she'd do, even though we just met her and she didn't owe us shit-"

Her throat tightened and she huddled over the bowl, not letting anyone see her face. Oktavia swallowed. True, she really hadn't known Kyoko all that long, and thus could not say to have even scratched the surface of the redhead's troubled personality. But still, this open display of grief and concern for a near-stranger surprised her.

But why should it? It was true, Elsa had, for all intents and purposes, sacrificed herself for them. And despite her roughness, Kyoko wasn't made of stone.

Oktavia slowly raised her hand and laid it on Kyoko's arm. The redhead flinched at the touch, but didn't shake it off.

"Charlotte here went back for your friend," Mami said in a low voice. "After you two arrived and we learned what happened. She went back to help her. Once right after you got here, and again the day after."

There was a pause, and then Kyoko's head rose by mere millimeters.

"It was too late. There was no one there, and the lighthouse had been set on fire." Mami took a deep breath, let it out, and said, "I'm sorry."

Letting out a bitter laugh, Kyoko said, "Well, hey. I guess I was right after all. Some things just never change. Even here, in the fucking afterlife, anyone who tries to be nice to me ends up getting screwed over."

She jumped suddenly to her feet. "But hey, at least I made it out okay. That's what matters, right?" She put the bowl back on the table. "I mean, that's how I roll. Look out for me and me alone, and to hell with anyone who gets in the way."

"It's not your fault," Oktavia said.

Kyoko's head swung around to face Oktavia, her copper hair whipping around. Oktavia was taken back by the look on Kyoko's face. Her eyes, normally narrow with her perpetual smirks, frowns, or scowls, were now wide open and blank, and her voice was far too high-pitched. "My fault? Did I ever say it was my fault? Did the words 'It's all my fault that the emos tracked us to her lighthouse and dragged her away to get tortured and shit just because she dared to stick her neck out for us' ever come out of my lips? Look, Sayaka, don't go putting words in my mouth that I didn't-"

Mami cleared her throat. "Ah, Kyoko?"

Kyoko looked at her. "Yeah, what's up?"

The blonde tilted her head toward the front door. "Would you like to speak in private?"

For one brief moment, Kyoko looked like she was about to answer with something biting and sarcastic, but she seemed to think better of it and said, "Yeah, hell. Why not? We're way overdue anyway." She started toward the door. "Come on, living dead girl. Let's catch up."

Mami glanced at Charlotte and Oktavia. "We'll be right back," she said as she rose to follow.

Once they had left and the door had shut, Oktavia slowly allowed her rigid shoulders to relax. "Well," she said. "That could have gone a whole lot better. They really didn't part on the best of terms, did they?"

"She stole my tart," Charlotte said, looking down at her empty plate.

…

Kyoko leaned over the railing and stared out to sea. Judging by the sun's position, it was now mid-afternoon, and a pretty one at that. Of course, calm, cloudless days at sea were, by default, pretty, but that didn't take away from the tranquility. Father had been fond of mixing sea metaphors into his sermons.

"Life!" he would say. "The ocean is filled with life, of all kinds! From humble shellfish to great and mighty whales! From the moody eels to the proud octopuses (or was it octopi? Kyoko had never figured that out) to the playful dolphins to the cold-minded sharks. Hundreds, thousands of different lifeforms, celebrating the Lord's variety! And yet, they all live in the same ocean!"

Looking back, Kyoko felt an urge to point out that those same lifeforms spent the majority of their time tearing each other apart, but most metaphors broke down, when examined closely.

As did everything else, apparently. Here she was, standing on a metal platform, staring out into the open ocean. While she didn't visit the ocean often, that in itself wasn't anything strange. Except for the fact that Mami was standing right behind her.

Mami, her mentor. Mami, the closest friend she had ever had. Mami, the girl she had idolized.

She had met the veteran Puella Magi not too long after making her own contract with that thrice-damned Kyubey and restoring her father's congregation. Back then, Kyoko had still been a wide-eyed rookie, eager to prove herself and be the best magical girl ever. And then, during an especially frustrating battle against a witch that just would not stay down, Mami had shown up to help. And Kyoko had been in absolute awe of her. Mami had been everything Kyoko wanted to be one day: courageous, beautiful, skilled, kind, compassionate, and yet still a total badass. After they had defeated the witch, Kyoko had gone up to her right there and then and asked the older girl to take her under her wing and tutor her in the ways of the Puella Magi. And Mami, glad to have found a friend, had accepted.

And for a time, it had been fantastic. Kyoko's skills had increased ever the quicker, and the two of them had become quite the team. Witch after witch was taken down, and word had started to spread among the Puella Magi of Mami and Kyoko, the unstoppable duo.

Unfortunately, like all that was good in Kyoko's life, it was doomed to end in horrible fashion. The disillusionment that had resulted from her father's murder/suicide had driven a wedge into their friendship, until it had deteriorated into open hostility. They had separated, with Mami continuing to patrol Mitakihara alone while Kyoko had gone to seek greener pastures.

And then, months later, Kyoko heard the news. Mami was dead, killed in action. And despite all they had once meant to each other, her reaction had been something down the lines of, "Huh, sucks to be her. I wonder if Mitakihara is up for grabs?"

Looking back, Kyoko realized just how far gone she had been. While she didn't apologize for many of the objectionable things she had done since they had parted ways, the fact that she had responded so coldly to her former idol's death was…troubling, to say the least.

Except now Mami was, in fact, standing right behind her. And that was even more troubling.

Kyoko sighed, bit off half of the raspberry tart she had nicked from Mami's roommate, and said through a mouthful of crumbs, "You know what kills me?"

Behind her, Mami hesitated and said, "Ah, I assume you're not being literal?"

"A little too late for that, Goldilocks. Nah, it's funny. See, my dad used to always talk about what comes after death, Heaven and all that. And he would always go on and on about how it's like freaking Disneyland meets…I don't know, a five star all-you-can-eat buffet or something. Minus the lines. A really, really awesome place, is what I'm saying. Someplace where nothing could ever hurt you, and everyone you ever loved is always there, and no one could take them away."

"I remember," Mami said, nodding. "He did make it sound wonderful."

"Heh, that's right. I did drag you along to a few sermons." Kyoko's face softened as her voice turned wistful. "I liked the way he told it, because I always figured…Well, that we were going there one day, you know? The four of us: mom, dad, Momo, and me together in Heaven. Sounds fucking beautiful, don't it?"

She laughed and tilted her head back to smirk at Mami over her shoulder. "Of course, later I understood that it was all complete bull. I mean, he'd never been there, so how could he know what it's like? Did God send him a postcard or something?" She returned her gaze to the ocean. "But anyway, once it happened, it all stopped mattering anyway. I stopped caring about the afterlife and all that. I had enough shit to worry about, just with living. Still, I did have an idea of what it would be like, at least for me. And I gotta say, this ain't anything like I pictured!"

She waited for Mami to say something like "More clouds and cake?" or "Fewer emos?" or something dumb like that. But apparently Mami knew her too well, as she remained silent and watched, waiting.

Deciding to continue without the prompt, Kyoko said gestured toward the ocean and said, "For on, I sure as hell didn't expect all this water. I thought there'd be more fire."

Mami spoke then. "Kyoko," she started, but the redhead cut her off.

"See, he never talked about Hell all that much. I guess he figured we had enough hell on earth to worry about. But maybe he should've taken a closer look, because we were bound to spend eternity together anyway. I mean, I sold my soul and he killed his family and hanged himself! Not exactly the types they let through the Pearly Gates, you know?"

"Stop it," Mami said firmly. "It's not your fault."

Kyoko sighed. "What is it with people thinking I'm blaming myself? I know it ain't my fault! I got duped! So did you! We all did. But that shouldn't have mattered. I mean, rules are rules, yeah? You don't go making deals with things like Kyubey and expect to do anything but burn. Except I guess the rules don't apply to us, do they?"

"I suppose they don't," Mami admitted. "But would rather they did?"

"You mean, go to Hell?" Kyoko shrugged. "I dunno. I guess not, but at least I'd know what to expect."

Mami took in a deep breath and slowly let it out in a sigh. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Kyoko, I know…this is all very-"

"What's with this 'Kyoko' business?" Kyoko interrupted.

"Eh?"

"You never called me by my first name. It was always 'Sakura' this and 'Sakura' that. Hell, you never called anybody by their first name."

"Oh. That." Relieved at the subject change, Mami smiled and said, "Well, I guess it just fell out of habit. So many of the people I know are former witches, and only a small handful actually have family names, if they can be called that. So people here mostly just use given names."

"Huh." Kyoko's brow furrowed as she stuffed the rest of the tart into her mouth. "Well, it makes sense for the afterlife to be all ironic. I mean, we spent every day hunting them down, and now they're our next-door neighbors." She swallowed the mouthful of pastry. "Or roommates, apparently. Who is that chick, anyway?"

"The one you stole that tart from? Her name is Charlotte."

"Charlotte, huh? That's it? Just Charlotte?"

"Just Charlotte," Mami confirmed. "You see my point?"

Kyoko shrugged. "I guess," she said, wiping crumbs from her mouth with her sleeve. "So, what's her story anyway? She's not one of the witches we took down together, is she? Because that would be too awkward for words. Hilarious, but awkward."

Moments after the words had come out of her mouth, Kyoko came to a sudden, horrible realization. "Oh sweet Christ-on-a-fucking-bicycle," she said before Mami could answer. Her eyes widened. "That's her, ain't it? That's the witch that freaking ate you!"

Mami grimaced. "Yes, she is. But please, for the love of God, don't bring it up, not around her, not ever!"

"You mean she doesn't know?" Kyoko gaped. "She did that to you, and she doesn't know?"

"What? No! Of course she knows!" Mami grabbed Kyoko by the shoulders and pleaded, "But it's a very sensitive topic for her, she took it very hard when we figured it out, so please don't bring it up!"

"Okay, okay, message freaking received!" Uncomfortable with the sudden contact, Kyoko pushed Mami's hands off. "I get it already!"

Unfortunately, Mami didn't restore the distance between them. "Promise me, Kyoko. Promise me that you'll never-"

"Fine, fine," Kyoko said, leaning away. "Chillax, and some breathing room please?"

Mami stared into the redhead's eyes, as if trying to gauge her sincerity. Apparently what she found satisfied her, as she relaxed and stepped back. "I'm sorry. It's just…we had a rocky start, and I really hate it when something reminds her."

"Yeah, I'm getting that," Kyoko said, scratching her head. Something wasn't adding up, and it was bugging the hell out of her. "And, ah, hey. Something's bugging me here. You keep talking like you've been here for a long time, and seeing how you got this nice house…out in the middle of nowhere…but that don't make sense. I mean, you haven't been dead for even a month!"

"Oh. That." Mami glanced down at her feet. "Well, I guess you were going to figure it out sooner or later."

Irritated, Kyoko said, "Figure what out? Don't tell me this place works on some kind of Narnia bullshit."

"Narnia what?" Mami said, staring blankly.

"Are you serious!" Kyoko said, staring at her in disbelief. "You never…Ah, forget it. What I mean is, time flows differently here, right? Like, we could be here for a month, go back and find out it's only been an hour."

"That's…Well, I'm afraid so," Mami admitted. The subject was making her uncomfortable. "Only, well, we can't go back, but even if we could, it would be a whole lot less than an hour."

Kyoko's stomach dropped. "Mami, how long have you been here?"

"Well, let's see," Mami said, touching a hand to her forehead as she thought. "The time difference isn't really that consistent, but…Okay, Natsuru and Shizuku left about three years ago, so that means…" She winced, and said, "I can't say for sure, but it's been about seven years."

Kyoko's legs lost their strength, and she had to cling to the guardrail to keep from collapsing onto her bottom. "Seven…years?" she repeated, if only to confirm that she had heard Mami correctly.

"Give or take, yes."

Seven years. Seven years had passed for Mami, since she had died. Kyoko had read stories about afterlifes and other universes in which time flowed at quicker or slower rates, but to actually experience one firsthand…the implications were staggering, and just a little terrifying.

Especially since that meant…

"Mami," Kyoko said, her voice sounding raw. She pushed herself back up. "How long was I out?"

"Out? You mean unconscious?"

"Yeah."

"Five days."

"Five days, huh?" Kyoko frowned. "That's a long time to be flat on your back. And add the time before that…I've been here, maybe six days total? Give or take?"

"I suppose."

Six days. A fair amount of time, all things considered. But if seven whole years had passed for Mami since her death, than practically no time at all had passed back home for Kyoko, in the world of the living. In fact, Homura Akemi and Madoka Kaname were probably still fleeing Sayaka's collapsing barrier. Hell, her body, or what was left of it after that explosion, probably still hadn't hit the floor.

Kyoko started to feel very cold inside.

"Kyoko?" Mami said in concern. "Are you…"

Kyoko's stomach heaved. Clasping her hands over her mouth, she doubled over and fought to keep her rebellious digestion under control as the tart and mint candies threatened to force their way out. Mami moved forward to help her, but Kyoko waved her off. If there was one thing she could do without help, it was keeping food from-

The food won. Kyoko spun around and threw her upper body over the railing just as a mess of crushed candy, mushed pastry, and burning bile exploded out of her mouth to fall into the ocean. Two more contractions followed until there was nothing coming out except the bile.

Mami helpfully patted her back and rubbed between her shoulders as Kyoko coughed. The redhead wiped away the wetness from her eyes and nose and glowered at where the vomit had disappeared.

"So what, you had a problem with my stomach, is that it?" she shouted down at the water. "Well, fuck you! That was a violation of your food contract! And I swear to God, I'm gonna find whoever made you and report your sugary asses!"

Mami laughed. "You always did take your food seriously."

"Still do, especially when they start pulling that crap. What, you think I'm just gonna let that fly?"

"Well, seeing how I made the tart and we're friends with the people who made the candies, consider them reported."

"Glad t'hear it." Kyoko turned back around and let herself slump down to the metal walkway. She leaned against the railing and stared up at the sky. Mami sat down next to her.

A handful of seconds ticked by in which neither of them spoke, and then Kyoko sighed and said, "Well, I gotta admit. Whenever I heard the phrase, 'See you on the other side,' I never thought it would be so literal." She tilted her head and favored Mami with a sidelong smirk. "I guess you'd say life is funny that way, but that really don't apply anymore either, does it?"

"Who's to say it doesn't?" Mami said. She brought up her knees and rested her arms on them. "Afterlife or not, some things never change."

"Yeah." Kyoko eyed Mami's house. "This…really ain't how I thought how our reunion would be either."

"The same."

"Yeah? How'd you picture it?"

Mami winced. "I don't know if I should tell you…"

"Aw, come on," Kyoko said, elbowing the blonde in the side. "We're dead. You gotta get over being embarrassed when you're dead."

"I told you, some things never change. But fine." Sighing, Mami looked upward and tapped her chin. "Well, after we…separated…I started fantasizing about running into you fighting a witch, and you're having trouble…"

"Oh, for God's sake!" Kyoko rolled her eyes. "That's just a rerun of how we met!"

"And then, well…" Her voice trailed off.

"Come on," Kyoko goaded, who was enjoying the older girl's discomfort more than she should have. "I wanna hear this. Finish the story."

Mami took a deep breath and finished in a hurry. "And then we fight together again, but you get injured, so I have to take you home and take care of you until-"

Kyoko didn't even try to hold back the laughter that leapt out of her. That was so typically Mami that she wasn't even offended by how weak the fantasy made her look.

"Oh, stop it," Mami said crossly. She lightly punched the redhead in the shoulder. "I was upset, all right? We've all had silly fantasies."

"Yeah, but that's gotta be the lamest white-knight crap I've ever heard!" Kyoko said, pushing Mami back. "Did it end with me being all grateful and vulnerable and wanting to make it up to you in any way I could?"

Mami scowled in disapproval. "Now I know for sure where Oktavia got it from. When did you become so crass?"

"You want the short answer, or the really long and detailed one?" Kyoko gibed. "I can make illustrations if you like." She started laughing again as Mami, already red with embarrassment, buried her face in her palm.

"Well, for your information, no, it didn't end like that," Mami said when Kyoko started to calm down. "I just saw us talking things out and becoming friends again."

"Aw, that's it? No hot and steamy-"

"Kyoko," Mami said, gently but not without warning.

Kyoko held her hands up. "Fine, fine. I just think my fantasy alter-ego should be entitled to getting some action, that's all."

"Do you take anything seriously anymore? I mean besides food."

"Sure. Plenty of things. I just reserve the right to critique any fantasy that casts me in a starring role. I mean, come on! Even you have to admit that that's kinda silly."

"Oh, give me a break. It was just a fantasy. I mean, I missed you."

Kyoko snorted, but her face softened. "Yeah, all right. I guess I've had my share of dumbass daydreams too."

"Oh?" Mami raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."

"Nah," Kyoko said with a laugh. "I don't think so."

"Hmmm." Mami shrugged and stretched her legs out. "Okay."

Kyoko eyed her. "That's it? Okay? That's all you've got to say?"

"I'm not going to pry. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to."

"Now that's just cheating," Kyoko muttered. She gripped the warm steel of the railing behind her and pushed herself back up to her feet. "Gotta go make me feel bad. All right, I'll be honest. After I cooled down a bit, I did kinda regret some of the things I said…" Her fist twitched as she recalled the feet of her knuckles impacting against Mami's face. "…and did…" She shook her head. "And I started wondering if I should go back and try to patch things up."

"You did?" Mami said, tilting her head to one side. There was a hopeful note of longing in her voice that made Kyoko cringe.

"Look, don't get the wrong idea," Kyoko was quick to say. "I meant what I said, back when we fought. I was doing it for you just as much as me. I…" Her throat constricted. She grimaced and looked away. Damn it, why did this have to be so difficult? "I…didn't want to…drag you down with me."

"Oh Kyoko," Mami said, her face falling. She stood up as well and put her hands on Kyoko's shoulders. "You…you didn't have to do that to yourself. I could have helped you! Believe it or not, I did have an idea what you were going through."

Kyoko angrily pulled away. "Why, 'cause you lost your family too? You think that was the same thing? Bullshit! It was a car crash! They happen all the time! And unless you grabbed the wheel away from your dad or something, that shit weren't your fault!"

"No, but I had a chance to save them, didn't I? One wish, and we all would've been all right. Instead I chose to save myself, and myself alone." Mami took a step forward. "Maybe you're right. Maybe what happened to you was far worse than what happened to me. But I still know what it's like to stay up all night crying into my pillow, wondering where I had gone wrong, wondering why I didn't do things differently. I could have been there for you, Kyoko. I should have been there, wanted to be there. But you wouldn't let me!"

…

Oktavia leaned over the recliner's armrest, trying to see through the window. From the look of things, Mami and Kyoko's reunion was starting to get heated. She grimaced and eased herself back into place.

"Yeah, definitely not on the best of terms at all," she said. "How long do you think this'll last?"

Charlotte, who had been sitting in place ever since with her gaze firmly fixated on the far wall ever since Mami and Kyoko had left the room, simply said, "Given what I've heard about how they separated…we're in for a long wait."

"Ah. Rats." Oktavia squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. "So…what do we do in the meantime?"

"Stay here. If they start throwing punches-"

"Try to separate them?" Oktavia suggested.

"What, get between those two? Are you insane? No, we hide under the table, and hope the platform is still here when they're done."

"Got it." Oktavia sighed. As glad as she was that Kyoko was awake, the awkwardness of the situation was increasing at an infuriating rate. So was her boredom.

She sat still, listening to what few words she could catch from the conversation coming from outside. She felt bad about eavesdropping, but getting up and leaving wasn't exactly possible.

Then Charlotte sighed. "So," she said. "You up for a game of cards while we wait?"

…

Kyoko growled. Indignation welled up within her, and she had to turn and grip the railing with both hands to keep from lashing out with her fists. She waited until her arms stopped trembling before saying, "Had my reasons. And I don't think there was anything you coulda done."

"But you don't know that!"

"Yeah, well, the thing about that, it's way too late to find out." Kyoko folded her arms over the railing and glowered at the sparkling water. "And hell, maybe you're right. Maybe you coulda helped me through all that, stopped me from going down my downward spiral. Hell, things woulda turned out a hell of a lot better. I mean, I woulda been there, fighting with you. Probably coulda saved you from getting your ass eaten. Hell, we probably would both still be alive. And as for Sayaka…" She shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe things woulda been better for her too. But that's kinda the point, ain't it? We don't know what woulda happened, but we do know what did happen. And that's what we gotta deal with, what's right in front of us." Keeping one hand on smooth steel bar, she turned to look at Mami over her shoulder. "So what say we stop worrying about what coulda happened and focus on what's happening now?"

A few terse moments of silence ticked past as Mami studied Kyoko's face. Finally, reluctantly, she nodded. "Okay. You're right. Regrets will get us nowhere."

Kyoko smirked. "There, you see?" She turned fully around and leaned back against the railing. "But yeah, getting back on track, things got kinda ugly afterward. I kept hunting witches, but after a while, I stopped caring about protecting humans. They just seemed so insignificant, you know? A bunch of slack-jawed, glassy-eyed idiots that crowded the streets like so much cattle, not one of them mattering in the least, useful for nothin' but providing cannon fodder to draw out witches and pump up familiars."

As the words left Kyoko's mouth, her mind marveled at what she was saying. After all, it wasn't as if she were recounting ancient history. It had been (to her at least) only a couple weeks ago that she had been like that. And now she was talking about it like it was some sort of past life. Okay granted, it actually was, but she meant in the metaphorical sense. Had she really changed that much? She didn't feel that different. But then again, two weeks ago she wouldn't have stuck her neck out for some punk-ass rookie, much less willingly died for her.

As strange as it sounded, Kyoko actually found this realization to be quite encouraging. Heartened by this, she continued. "Before too long, I was just going from one city to the next and getting worse and worse. I wanted something, I took it: food, money, whatever. If I got bored, I'd go find some street punks to beat up." She shrugged. "I remember this one night, where I was in this park, investigating a spot where someone had seen a familiar. And this cop started bugging me, asking why I was out by myself so late and who my parents were, how I needed to go home and yadda yadda yadda. So you know what I did? I kicked him in the face!"

Mami winced.

"What? Don't give me that look. I told you I how bad I had gotten, so don't act all surprised. But anyway, I ended up breaking his nose and knocking him clean out. Maybe gave him a concussion too. I dunno, I stopped caring after he dropped. I just left him there and went back to looking for that familiar."

Shrugging again, Kyoko rubbed the back of her neck as she shuffled her bare feet. "I mean, I ain't proud of what I did, but that's how far I had gotten."

"So what happened?" Mami asked. "You're obviously different now. What made you change your mind?"

Kyoko laughed. "Ain't it obvious?" She tilted her head toward the house, and the two witches inside. "I met that dumbass in there. Some rookie looking to take your place, as green as they come! And oh man, she just pissed me off! Going on and on about how she was some kind of hero of justice and a defender of the people." Kyoko shook her head. "And she just would not quit. No matter how many times I kicked her ass, no matter how many times I showed her how stupid she was being, the little idiot just. Would. Not. Stay. Down. She just kept getting up over and over, even though she couldn't win!"

A small smile appeared on Mami's face. "Sounds like somebody I know."

"If that wasn't the point I'm trying to make, I'd shove you into the water," Kyoko said, rolling her eyes. "But yeah, that was what really pissed me off. She was just like me, wanting to do good and be a proper magical girl. And you know what she wished for? To have her not-boyfriend's freaking hand fixed, so he could play the violin again. And he wouldn't give her the time of day afterward. L-A-M-E!"

Kyoko rested her elbows on the railing and let her head fall back. "But you know what else?" she said, staring up at the sky. "As much as her naïveté annoyed me, and as hard as I tried to beat some sense into her, she wouldn't break. She just kept sacrificing herself more and more. And…okay, it did get pretty stupid when she wouldn't even recharge her soul gem…"

"She didn't?" Mami said, blinking in surprise. "Why not?"

Kyoko shrugged. "Eh, I kinda made a big deal about how gathering more soul gems was what mattered. I think she was trying to prove a point."

"But…" Mami pushed her bangs back as she struggled with Sayaka's bizarre behavior. "Even if she didn't know what would happen to her, she had to know that letting her soul gem go completely dark was a bad idea!"

"I think by that point she was trying to kamikaze. She was kinda nuts by then," Kyoko admitted. "But still…Er, what was I saying?"

"You were trying to make a point, but got lost."

"Right, right." Kyoko straightened and started walking back and forth across the walkway. "My point was, even if she was being all kinds of stupid and I was doing my damnedest to make her wake up…I even took her to the church and told her what had happened to my family! But anyway, I kept trying to change her, but after a while, the opposite started happening. I started remembering what it was like to be like that, only minus the bullheaded stupidness."

"You mean honorable?" Mami said.

"Yeah, honorable. And selfless. And compassionate." Kyoko laughed. "You know, hero stuff. And…it felt good. I was actually starting to miss being the good guy."

"She said that you tried everything to get her back after she had turned," Mami said. "And when that turned out to be impossible, you sacrificed yourself so she wouldn't be alone in death. That sounds pretty heroic to me."

"I know, right? A regular Lancelot, that's me!"

There was a noticeable hesitation before Mami asked her next question. "I also understand that you went into Oktavia's barrier with Madoka Kaname. Do you know what happened to her?"

"Her?" Kyoko shrugged. "Hey, the last time I saw her, she and Homura Akemi were running for all they were worth. Probably still are, actually, with this damn time difference."

"Homura?" Mami said sharply. "Homura Akemi?"

"Yeah, apparently you two met."

"I'll say we did," Mami said. "And you trust her?"

Kyoko considered the question. "Well, for some things, yes, some things, no. I definitely don't like her, I can tell you that much. But do I trust her to watch over the kid and keep Kyubey the hell away from her? Then yeah, I do."

Mami still looked troubled, but she nodded. "All right, I'll…I'll trust your judgment."

"Heh. Probably the first time anyone has, in a long time." Kyoko smirked, but it didn't last long.

Mami noticed. "Kyoko? What's wrong?"

Kyoko shuffled her feet. "Well, it's stupid, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that when I thought you were dead and gone and I would never see you again, I really didn't give a damn. But now that the whole stupid 'See you on the other side' thing actually freaking happened, I don't know how I'm supposed to feel." She pointed at her head. "It's like there's this part of my brain that keeping telling me that there's no way this could be happening, that I have got to be still dreaming. Because you're dead, and you can't talk to dead people. But then the rest of my brain starts ganging up on it, reminding me that I'm dead too, so of course I could, and…" She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and let out another small laugh.

Mami, hesitated, and then said, "I don't know if this will make things any better, but I know exactly how you feel."

Kyoko tried to put her hands in her jacket pockets only to be reminded that she wasn't wearing it, so she settle for folding her arms and saying, "Yeah, I guess you would."

"Though for what it's worth, even though the circumstances are…horrible, I am glad to see you again, Kyoko," Mami added.

Kyoko's face went at war with itself again, not quite rising to a smile but giving its best effort. "Horrible. Yeah. You got eaten, and I got stupided. Horrible is right."

Mami gave her a long look. "Weren't you the one saying that we shouldn't bury ourselves with regrets? Kyoko, I won't deny that you went through Hell. I went through a little bit of it myself. But just because we went through Hell doesn't mean we have to stay there."

Kyoko scowled. "Now you're starting to sound like Elsa Maria, what with her talk about this place being some kind of second chance for us."

"Well, she's right. I can tell you that firsthand. Losing my parents was horrible. Watching your heart and soul break was horrible. Being alone was horrible. And dying was really horrible. But now?" Mami looked up at the sky, her full lips forming a smile, small but genuine. "I'm happier than I've ever been. I'm not risking my life for a lie anymore. I have friends now, friends that know what I went through because they went through it themselves, so we're able to build each other up. I have a real life here. Sure, I had to die to find it, but seeing how I was just another dupe conned into believing myself to be something I'm not, I'm not complaining. You can have the same thing too, Kyoko. A chance to start over. To rebuild yourself. To heal."

"What, retire?" Kyoko said, feeling incredulous. "Just quit and settle back into being boring?"

Mami hesitated. "Kyoko, I hate to remind you, but you're kind of dead. If you're not allowed to rest after you've died, then when can you?"

Kyoko was unconvinced. "Nice speech. Too bad I've heard it before. Same feeling, only with different words. How do you know you're not being conned now, that this ain't just another spoke in Kyubey's wheel?"

"Oh, I've considered it," Mami admitted. "And I know I'm not the first person to have had some thoughts. Oblivion's army is full of them."

That reminded Kyoko. "And yeah, speaking of which, let's say I do go along with this. Hang up my spear, and join whateverthefuck you've got going here. You keep talking like I can just retire now and stop fighting, but I'm a wanted girl. You know Oblivion's morons are just going to keep coming after me."

"No, they won't," Mami said, her voice firm and confident.

Kyoko snickered. "Oh, so certain are you."

"I am. You may not believe this, but there is kind of a political system here…"

…

Oktavia frowned at the cards clutched in her hand. She glanced over them at Charlotte, who was staring impassively at her own hand.

"Got any sevens?" Oktavia asked.

"Go fish," Charlotte replied, holding a serving tray containing a small pile of cards to her.

Oktavia dug into the pile, chose a card, and brought it to her hand. It was a nine. Grimacing, she said, "By the way, how strong are the windows, anyway?"

Charlotte glanced up at her. "Why?"

"Well, if they start throwing each other around, I want to make sure I don't have to duck any flying bodies and shards of glass."

"Ha." Charlotte looked back to her cards. "Trust me, if that happens, the windows could be made from transparent steel and it still won't make a difference. They'll smash right through just the same."

Oktavia made a face, but she shrugged. "Huh. The bar fights in town must be a sight to see then."

"Oh, you have no idea. Hey, you have any nines?"

…

"That's it, I'm out," Kyoko said as she threw up her hands and turned to walk away. "Fuck politics. I'm gonna go see if Hell has a taxi service that'll pick me up."

"Oh, stop being dramatic," Mami said, arresting Kyoko's movement with a hand on her shoulder. "It's nothing like that. And you didn't let me finish. What I was going to say was that Freehaven is actually part of a larger network of settlements. There're three other larger towns and a handful of smaller groups. And Oblivion's not allowed to touch any of them, not her or her forces. There's a treaty."

That made Kyoko laugh. "Or what? She gets put on time out? Seriously, everything I've heard makes this bitch out to be some kind of evil empress. Who's going to stop her?"

"We are," Mami said. "You are forgetting that all of those settlements are populated by Puella Magi and witches. Sure, she has an army, but we are an army, one that's at least as large as hers, if not larger. And I can tell you, we take keeping her out very seriously. If she bothers any one of us, she risks having the entire network declaring war on her."

As Kyoko pondered this new bit of information, she was struck by the strangeness of it all. She was still getting used to the idea of thinking of witches as friends and allies rather than monsters to be hunted and destroyed, but for some reason the idea of all those Puella Magi backing her up was equally weird. Given the scarcity of grief seeds, she always saw them as enemies and competitors. But now they apparently were ready to go to war on her behalf? Now that was bizarre.

"But why would they do that for me?" Kyoko demanded. "I just got here. They don't even know me."

"No, but they know me," Mami said. "And they know Charlotte. And you two are under our protection. An attack on you is an attack on us. And an attack on us is an attack on the alliance as a whole. Believe me, Oblivion wouldn't risk it, no matter how badly she wanted you. She's strong, but she's not that strong."

Kyoko frowned, not yet willing to buy into the idea of Mami's group of friends being that intimidating, but she didn't voice her doubts.

"And in the meantime, I know people who are very good at digging up information. Maybe they can find out exactly why Oblivion is interested in you in the first place." Mami extended her hand. "Kyoko, I know it's not in your nature to trust people anymore, but please don't reject our help. Maybe I didn't get the chance to help you back then, but I want to now. Please give me a chance?"

Kyoko eyed the offered hand. It was true, she wasn't sure if she much cared for the idea of having a bunch of strangers solve her problems for her. And there was something about this whole setup that just smelled rotten to her. Despite her claims to the contrary, Mami was more than likely getting duped all over again. It wouldn't be surprising to find out that Reibey was secretly running both Oblivion's group and Mami's alliance thing from behind the scenes.

But for now, all she had were suspicions. And if this was all a con, than Mami was caught in it, and would need help getting out. Granted, Kyoko wasn't the type to stick her neck out for people, but she was trying to correct that.

On the other hand, Mami might be right. And if that was the case…

Reluctantly, Kyoko reached out and took Mami's hand, though she didn't shake it. "Just so we're clear," she said. "I'm still not buying that this place is as awesome as you make it sound."

"All I ask is that you give it a chance," Mami said as their hands separated. "In fact, we all need to go to Freehaven tomorrow anyway. The mayor has asked to speak with you in person when you were ready, so it'll be a good time for you to see the place for yourself."

"Mayor?" Kyoko said, her face twisting. "Who the hell is that?"

"Corrie Linemann. Don't worry, she's one of us. She just wants to get to the problem of this Oblivion problem, that's all."

"Oh, yeah, Elsa mentioned her," Kyoko mused as she remembered.

Mami blinked. "She did?"

"Yeah, said she was a good woman, and could help us." Kyoko tiled her head and frowned. "Why?"

Mami hesitated, putting her thoughts in order, and asked, "Did…any mention of a bird bath come up during that conversation?"

"Uh…" Kyoko's face went to war with itself as she tried to make sense of that question. "Y'know, I can honestly say I have never been asked that question before. The hell does a bird bath have to do with anything?"

"Corrie and Elsa Maria have a bit of a history," Mami told her. "Let's just say it wasn't friendly, and a bird bath was involved. Let's leave it at that."

"Huh," Kyoko said, staring. She shook her head. "Well, okay then. Whatever. Just hope she realizes that I don't know what the fuck Oblivion is after me for."

"Neither does anyone else," Mami said. "You are a bit of a mystery, even when you're not trying to be."

"You say it like it's a bad thing. I like being a mystery. Mysteries are sexy. Bitches love-"

Mami pressed two fingers to her forehead and sighed. "Please don't say 'bitches love mysteries.' It's bad enough our mermaid friend is talking like that."

"Really?" Kyoko grinned. "Guess I taught her well. But about Elsa Maria…"

Mami sighed. "Corrie's been working on that ever since you two got here. She's been trying to contact Reibey and negotiate her release, but it isn't going well."

Kyoko's jaw dropped. "Hold up! Contact Reibey? You mean, she has that asshole on speed dial?"

"Don't be silly, of course she doesn't! But she does need to be able to communicate with him whenever there's a Compact violation." Mami sighed. "Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like he much wants to talk."

"So, does he have her or not?" Kyoko demanded.

"That's the problem, he won't tell us. He refuses to say anything about it until…" Mami looked away.

"Until you wrap me up in a basket and leave me on his front porch," Kyoko finished for her, her voice coming out as a near-growl. "Well, great."

"Actually, he wants both of you."

Kyoko stiffened. "What, me and Sayaka? The hell for?"

"That's the problem, he won't tell us that either." Mami's face hardened in frustration. "It's bad enough we have to share this world with that…that…"

"Fuckwad?" Kyoko suggested. "Fathersucker? Triple decker moldy sea turtle testicle sandwich with extra monkey snot and a jumbo sized diet jizz?"

Mami looked like she was trying not to gag. "Sure, why not?" she said weakly. Then her frown returned. "But it's bad enough that he's here. But why does he have to be so…so…frustrating!" As she spat out that last word, she slammed her fist against the top railing, denting it considerably.

Kyoko and Mami stared at the results of Mami's uncharacteristic bout of anger. Then, with an embarrassed look on her face, Mami grabbed the railing and bent it back into shape, or at least until it was close enough. Despite being plenty strong herself, Kyoko made a mental note never to really get on Mami's bad side, at least when not within leaping distance of a hiding place.

"So, I guess you don't like him," Kyoko remarked.

"Of course not," Mami muttered. "He's an Incubator, and a particularly nasty one at that. This is supposed to be a sanctuary against the Incubator's machinations, but he has to be here to ruin everything!"

"Then why the hell do you let him?" Kyoko demanded. "Why is he even here?"

"Because he's too well protected. Going after him would be suicide, even for a dead person. And before you ask, no, we don't know why the Void Walkers listen to him. We even have a couple that have defected, and they're at a loss to explain why." Mami shrugged. "As for how he got here, no one knows. We just know that he and Oblivion have been here longer than anyone. And until we can figure out a way to deal with the fact that he has an immortal army to hide behind, we just have to put up with him being here. And as for your last question, no one knows either. He and Oblivion have been here longer than anyone cares to remember. They seem to be permanent fixtures."

"Well, shit," Kyoko growled. She eyed the railing, considering adding a dent of her own. "So you're telling me that he probably has someone whom I owe big time, and there's not a damned thing I can do about it?"

"In short, yes," Mami said. "I hate it too, but it's the reality we have to live with."

"That right? Well, fine. Why don't I go down there in person and call him up myself?" Her right hand squeezed into a tight fist. She imagined having it wrapped around Reibey's neck. Granted, she didn't know what he looked like, but she had no problem picturing him with Kyubey's stupid Muppet of a face. "I'd say we're long overdue for a chat."

Mami nodded. "Okay."

"Huh?"

"Corrie wants to meet with you anyway," Mami explained. "This whole situation is driving her nuts, and she's growing desperate for answers. Maybe Reibey will be more inclined to talk if he knows you're on the other line. I'll give her a call, let her know you're awake."

Goody. Just what Kyoko had always wanted. To call up Kyubey's twisted brother to negotiate the return of a nutty dead witch. Kyoko had thought that her life had been plenty strange, but now it was just pushing toward stupid territory.

"Fine, you do that," Kyoko said. "But before we go, there's something I wanna do first."

Mami's head tilted to one side.

"I wanna go back to Elsa Maria's island."

…

"You're cheating," Oktavia accused as she handed over her five.

"No, I'm not," Charlotte said as she put down another pair. "You're just a sore loser."

"Yes you are!" Oktavia pointed at the large number of pairs Charlotte had arrayed on the table before her. "Look at all those! You're using some sort of witch power to look at my cards!"

Charlotte gave her a look. "Oktavia, best we can figure, my witch powers consisted of creating desserts and turning into a giant ugly worm with lots of teeth. What in the world do those have to do with cards?"

"I don't know, but I'll figure it out," Oktavia growled. She looked at her own collection of pairs, all three of them. "I'm onto you, evil card cheater person."

…

"You want to go back?" Mami repeated, disbelief all over her face. "Why?"

"Duh! I want to see for myself."

"But…that's just setting yourself up for an ambush! If they're still out there, that's where they'd be waiting!"

Kyoko grinned. "Well, then I guess it's a good thing I have your Compacted ass to watch my back and make they don't try anything."

"But-" Mami cut herself off, though it appeared to take a considerable amount of will. "There really is no point to this, is there?" she mumbled, as much to herself than Kyoko. "You're going to go, no matter what I say."

"Well, lemme put it this way: you got yourself a boat, yeah? Would you rather be the one steering the thing and keeping an eye on me, or deal with me stealing the damned thing and maybe probably more-than-likely crashing it?"

"You don't even know the first thing about boating," Mami pointed out, her face a careful mask of neutrality.

Kyoko grinned. "My point exactly."

"I…" Mami closed her eyes and sighed. "Well, I suppose it would save me a lot of grief. All right, but if we do this, I'm calling the shots. I know more about how this world works than you do, so I'm in charge. Agreed?"

Kyoko shot off a slightly mocking salute. "Aye-aye, captain! And by the way, did I ever tell you how much I love it when you get all commanding and forceful? Makes you real hot."

Her flippancy earned her a hard flick to the forehead. "All right, enough of that," Mami said firmly. "Just because I'm glad to have you back doesn't mean I'm going to put up with that."

"Okay, okay," Kyoko said, rubbing her forehead. "Gotcha. Loud and clear. And hey, ow."

"Oh stop, you deserved it. And in the meantime-"

That was when they were interrupted by the sound of shouting.

…

"I knew it!" Oktavia cried as she threw her cards into the air. "I knew you were cheating!"

Charlotte groaned as she slumped back into the couch. "I told you already, they're not marked! I just know the scratches on the backs real well."

"Who cares if it was on purpose or not? You still had an unfair advantage!" Oktavia searched the area around the chair, trying to find a way to cross the few meters between her and Charlotte without help. Unable to find any, she said, "Come over here so I can punch your cheating nose!"

…

"What in the world?" Mami said as she and Kyoko watched the altercation through the window. "We weren't gone that long."

"Long enough," Kyoko said, snickering. "Big happy family, huh?"

Mami shook her head. "All right, I'd better deal with that. As for you, I think you're long overdue for a shower."

Kyoko started. "You have a shower?"

"Yes."

"With hot water?"

"We do," Mami nodded. "It's not that strong, but it's still good for a few minutes. And I'll make you something to eat while you're getting ready."

Kyoko moaned with anticipation. "See, that there? That does more to make a convert out of me than anything else you've said."

"Somehow, I am completely unsurprised." Mami opened the door and called, "All right, you two! Settle down!"

"It's her fault for cheating!"

"I wasn't cheating already!"

Mami sighed. She turned to Kyoko. "We'd better go in before this gets worse."

"Fine by me. Just one more thing though."

"What is it?"

In answer, Kyoko tugged on the hem of the pajamas she was wearing. "Teddy bears? Really, Mami? Really?"

That made Mami start laughing again. "Oh yes, sorry about that. Your clothes were all ripped by the gunshots and smelled awful. Those were the closest fit we could find."

"Uh-huh. I think you just wanted to play dress up while I was unconscious." Kyoko favored Mami with her most furious scowl. "And come to think of it, you did get your freaking fantasy after all. And I bet the pajamas were part of it all along."

Mami took the pajama-clad Kyoko by the arm. "I guess you'll never know," she said as she guided her toward the door.

"You better not have burned my clothes, that's all I'm saying," Kyoko groused, but she allowed herself to be led along. "Because if I'm stuck wearing your cutesy-fartsy cast off shit, this place really will be a slice of…Uh, say. Does this place even have a name?"

Mami, her hand on the doorhandle, paused to reflect. "Well, that is a good question. It has a few, actually, most of them taken from mythology. The folks up north refer to it as Valhalla, while out west they usually refer to it as Purgatory. Of course, the Void Walkers like to call it Hell, which tells you everything you need to know about their outlook."

"Well, that's unoriginal," Kyoko said. "We get a completely new afterlife, all to our own, and the idiots here can't even think of a new name for it. What about you then? What do you call it?"

Smiling, Mami opened the door. "Home," she said.

…

As it turned out, Kyoko's clothes were fine. Mami had even taken the time to give them a thorough cleaning and patch up the bullet holes. They had even been left for her in the room she had woken up in. Kyoko had just accidentally kicked the bedcovers over them and overlooked them while stumbling about in confusion.

But before she could change, she had to deal with the fact that she had been lying comatose for five days and was now riper than an elderly banana. Mami had helpfully directed her to the bathroom, who was just one door down from where Kyoko had been unconscious.

Mami's bathroom wasn't large, but it was clean and, as odd as it was to think of a bathroom in such terms, elegant in its own way. The toilet sat on the right end, the shower on the left, with the sink sandwiched in between. The toilet seat was covered with some kind of blue plastic material, and instead of a shower door, there was a curtain decorated with smiling yellow ducks. Seashells sat on the toilet's back, and a round mirror hung on the wall over the toilet seat.

Acting more out of habit than actual paranoia, Kyoko cautiously checked behind the curtain and, after confirming that the shower was free of lurking enemies, twisted on the hot water.

"Indoor plumbing," Kyoko muttered as the shower heated up. "The afterlife has indoor plumbing. Go figure."

Placing her clothes on the toilet, she gave the bathroom another look. She noticed something she had not seen during her initial glance: a couple of framed pictures were hung across from the toilet. It showed Mami and that Charlotte chick on a decent-sized white boat. There was a dark-haired girl whom Kyoko didn't recognize, one that reminded her a bit of Homura Akemi, only this girl was obviously older. Mami and the dark-haired girl were leaning over the railing and talking while Charlotte, apparently the only one aware that they were being photographed, was sticking out her tongue and holding two fingers in a V shape in front of her face. There was no hint to who the photographer was.

The second picture all three girls standing and smiling on a dock in front of the same boat, their arms around each other's shoulders. Now a fourth girl had joined them, this one a tall blunette with her hair tied up in a messy ponytail. Presumably she was the photographer of the first photograph.

Kyoko studied the pictures, wondering who the other two girls were. They hadn't been at the tea she had crashed, and Mami hadn't mentioned them. She made a point to ask her about them later.

In the meantime, the room was starting to fill with steam. Kyoko stripped out of the pajamas and stepped into the shower, though not before scowling at the duck-covered shower curtain. First teddy bears and now ducks. She wondered which of her two hosts was the one responsible.

Once she was under the pressurized water, Kyoko sighed and leaned against the tiled wall. She closed her eyes and slid down to the floor.

She was dead. Ticky Nikki had said it, Elsa had confirmed it, and now Mami had proved it. Kyoko wanted to hold onto her theory of this being a witch's trick, but all evidence was against it. Kyoko thought of herself as a rational thinker, and as much as she hated the idea, she had to admit that this being some kind of weird afterlife was the most likely explanation, as bizarre as it sounded. Besides, if that were true that this was a witch's work, she would be dead by now anyway.

But even if her mind was willing to admit that her former life had come to an end, the rest of her was having trouble coming to terms with it. She was dead. It was unthinkable, but she was dead. Back in the world of the living, the Earth was going to continue to spin, and the Sun was going to rise and set, but she would no longer be a part of it. Almost everyone who had known her was either dead already, and the bodies of those who died within a witch's labyrinth were never found, so she wouldn't get so much as a burial. It was all over for her.

Except no, it wasn't. And to be truthful, if she had died as she had intended and had been consigned to Hell or even just darkness, she would have been okay with it. But no, instead of finishing her long war and receiving her reward, she had been sent to some weirdass near-replica of the world she had quit, like some sort of supernatural conciliatory prize. Elsa Maria had called this place a second chance, and Mami certainly treated it as one. Given what she knew of those two, Kyoko couldn't fault them for being grateful.

But that was them. And Kyoko just didn't need a second chance. She didn't want one. She had her shot, she had made her choices, and she had experienced the consequences. That's how things worked. She had been done. But instead of being allowed to finish, she was stuck here now. It didn't matter how nice this place was, or that she was sharing it with two of the few people she actually felt something for, she was stuck here. She couldn't die. Which made this place less of a paradise and more of a well-decorated prison.

Opening her eyes, Kyoko touched her flat stomach, feeling the smooth, taut skin. Was this body she now wore, identical to the one she had inhabited in life, real? Or was it just a fake, a copy, a shell created to keep her comfortable? She remembered the red mist that had issued out when she had been injured. Was that what she was filled with now? Did she even have organs anymore? A skeleton? A brain? Anything? She touched her left breast and felt the small but steady drumbeat of her heart, thumping along as it always had. She remembered the taste of food, from Elsa Maria's smoked fish, hard biscuits, and sour wine to the mint candies and strawberry tart. She remembered how good they had felt going down, and how sick she had felt when they had forced their way back up again. That would suggest that her body was real, but with everything she thought to be true being called into question, she didn't know if she could trust even her basic sensations.

Suddenly, Kyoko felt a surge of empathy for Annabelle Lee and her twisted desire to end her existence. In fact, had Oblivion's agents not come out swinging during their first encounter and made an enemy of Kyoko, she might have eventually sought Oblivion out of her own accord. Now that was a sobering thought.

Kyoko's body trembled. She wrapped her skinny arms around herself and hunched over as the sobs started to escape. Disgusted with herself, she clamped her jaw shut and forced herself back under control. The last time she had cried was when her family had died, and she swore never to let herself cry again. She intended to keep that promise. Death was no excuse.

In time, she was able to will herself back into the bottle. She waited until her shoulders stopped shaking and her breathing became steady before letting herself relax.

Sighing, Kyoko stood and twisted the water off. It was starting to grow cold anyway. She brushed her wet locks out of her face stepped out of the shower. Well, nothing was gained by crying in the shower. If that kept up, she would lose her right to accuse Annabelle Lee of being emo.

After toweling off, Kyoko pulled on her clothes. She had to admit, once she was back in her customary wardrobe she felt a whole lot better. She had been wearing that jacket, shorts, tank-top, and boots for so long that being without them made her feel incomplete, unless of course she was dressed in her Puella Magi uniform. And just being able to get out of those stupid pajamas was an improvement in itself. And then, after taking a moment to restore her ponytail, she left the bathroom.

She almost stepped onto the tray before stopping herself. A full lunch sat on the ground, consisting of a pastrami sandwich, a bowl of applesauce, two fried chicken legs, a cup of tea, and a slice of chocolate cake. Kyoko smirked. Same old Mami. Admittedly, it was a bit more western than what she was used to, but seeing how the only thing she had eaten in the last five days had been forcibly evacuated, she wasn't complaining. And like all things produced by Mami's culinary skills, it looked and smelled delicious.

Kyoko picked up the tray and walked back into the living room. Mami and Charlotte were both gone, though the snacks from the tea had been left. Sayaka was still fidgeting in her recliner. Upon seeing Kyoko approach, she brightened.

"Hey," she said. "Feeling better?"

"No talkie," Kyoko said as she sat down on the couch. She took a bite of the sandwich and closed her eyes in ecstasy as her taste buds experienced Nirvana. "I'm doing this first. Then talk."

"Ah, okay then." Sayaka watched in fascination as Kyoko demolished the sandwich and chicken legs, inhaled the applesauce, and consumed the cake in two bites. When she set to work on the leftover snacks, Sayaka said, "I swear, you're like some kind of human trash compactor. How do you stay so skinny?"

"Magic and loth ov extherthize," Kyoko mumbled through a mouthful of cookie. "An' wha' I say 'bout twalking?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your…You know what? I don't even know what to call what I'm seeing. It's like a whole school of piranhas in the shape of a cranky redhead."

Kyoko smirked. She finished the rest of the offerings, swallowed, and sucked the residue from her fingers. "Hey, I've been out for five days. I'm entitled."

"True enough," Sayaka said, nodding. "So…are you okay?"

"Eh, I guess," Kyoko shrugged. "For just having been shot, put into a coma, and apparently poisoned or some shit, I actually feel pretty good."

"Well, good," Sayaka said. "But that's not what I meant."

"Tch." Kyoko clasped her fingers behind her head and leaned back into the cushions. "Well, gee Sayaka, how the hell am I supposed to answer that? Me and Mami talked and worked some things out, sure, but I found out some things out that completely turned my world upside down, and I gotta admit, I'm not caring much for the new view. So am I okay?" She turned her head to look at the blue-haired mermaid. "I have no clue. It's still way too early to tell. But I'm dealing. I'm not gonna wig out and become some kind of basket case. That answer your question?"

"Pretty much," Sayaka said. "And for what it's worth, I'm glad you're back with us. You had us all pretty worried." She smiled. She had a nice smile, Kyoko noticed. She wondered if she had ever seen Sayaka smile back when they had been alive, a genuine one, and found that she could not remember.

"Sorry to bother you," Kyoko said, leaning forward on her knees and allowing herself a small half-smile in return. "What about you, eh? Pretty crazy, running into Mami here. I mean, what are the odds that we meet the one person we both know."

"Well, we figure Elsa Maria used her insight to send us here on purpose," Sayaka said. Her smile disappeared. "And I wouldn't say we both knew her. More of she knew both of us." She pointed at her head. "Memory's gone, remember?"

Kyoko shrugged. "Hey, that just means you got to introduce yourself all over again. But even so, you've been hanging out with her and her new friend all this time. What's happened while I was out?"

"Not much," Sayaka admitted. "The doctor from Freehaven's been by a few times to make sure that yucky stuff was dissolving, and Mami and Charlotte have been taking turns going out to harvest. But mostly we've been waiting for you to wake up."

Kyoko wondered what she meant by 'harvest,' but decided that she didn't care enough to hear the explanation. "Huh. Sounds boring."

"Eh, it was a little," Sayaka said. She reached down, grabbed a lever set into the side of the armchair, and gave it a pull. The chair reclined back, allowing her to stretch out. Kyoko watched as Sayaka's tail gave a little bounce as the footrest came up. "But not really. They took me down to go swimming a few times, and there's a bunch of board games in the hall closet. Though it turns out that Mousetrap makes Charlotte act real weird, so we didn't do that one after the first time. Also, they've got a bunch of books here, all of them written by other magical girls, and some of them are pretty good. They've even got a couple picture books, believe it or not. For kids. Like there's this one called The Littlest Witch that's about…" Sayaka peeked her head up. When she saw what Kyoko was doing, she scowled and cranked the chair back into a sitting position. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I boring you?"

Kyoko, whose eyes had closed and was starting to slump over her legs, straightened with a snort. "Uh, huh?" she said, letting out an exaggerated yawn. "Sorry. I dozed off after you said 'board games.'"

Her wit earned her a thrown powdered cashew toward her face. She snatched it out of the air and popped it into her mouth.

"So anyway," Sayaka said, making her chair recline again, "Mami said we were going back to Elsa's island."

Kyoko shot her a glare. "Hey, where'd this 'we' come from?"

"Uh, you, me, Mami, and Charlotte. Last time I checked, 'we' was the proper plural pronoun to use whenever you include yourself."

"Who says you're coming along, Fish Filet?"

"Mami," Sayaka answered promptly, cranking the chair back down. "Come on, Mopeybrains, you're going to need at least two other people to go with you, one to watch your back and one to watch the boat. And do you really want to leave me here by myself, all weak and defenseless?" She tilted her head and stuck her lips out in a pout.

"Knock it off, dumbass," Kyoko snapped. She hooked the underside of the foot rest with her foot and popped it up, knocking the chair back into recline mode. "It's you being weak and defenseless that I'm talking about. In case you haven't heard, they're after you too now. So in addition to being dead weight, you'll just be a liability."

"Tell that to the Void Walker whose butt I kicked," Sayaka retorted.

Kyoko blinked. "Say what?"

"What, you thought Elsa Maria did all the work? She knocked one of them into the water, and I finished her off!"

"Who, Elsa?"

"No, you dummy! The Void Walker!" Sayaka pointed to the corner of the room. There, her cutlass was leaning against the wall. "She came after me, and I sent her swimming away crying! Cut off her hand and everything."

"Did'ja now?" Kyoko shrugged. "Oh, good. So all we have to do is ask them politely to stay in the water so you can take care of them."

"Oh, give me a break. Obviously I'm going to stay on the boat, and they can't touch me when I'm on that. And if I ever get knocked off and they come after me…" Sayaka brought the chair back down. She flexed her right arm and grabbed her bicep. "Their butts are mine!"

"Yeah, okay, great," Kyoko deadpanned. "So you're some kind of super mermaid warrior. The Terror of the Sea." She shook her head. "Now I'm wishing I was still unconscious."

Sayaka searched for another cashew but found none. However, she did find a pistachio shell in her cushion and threw that at Kyoko instead. "What, you don't think I can handle myself?" She held up both hands and beckoned. "Fine, let's go."

"You're delusional."

"I'm serious. Let's do this. Come at me."

Kyoko wondered what in the world Mami had been feeding Sayaka to make her act so silly, but then she realized that the blunette was just trying to cheer her up. Well, fine. If that was the way she wanted it…

Letting out a dismissive snort, Kyoko flipped around and stretched across the couch. She watching Sayaka out of the corner of her eye. The mermaid held the pose for a few moments longer, waiting for Kyoko to take up her challenge. When Kyoko failed to attack, she let out a disappointed sigh and pulled back on the lever, making the chair recline again.

Working to keep the smirk off her face, Kyoko counted down in her head. 5…4…3…2…

Milliseconds before she got to one, Kyoko leapt up and pounced. Sayaka yelped in surprise as eighty-seven pounds of redhead landed full upon her.

"What's wrong, Fish Filet?" Kyoko laughed as she pinned Sayaka's shoulders to the backrest. "Don't wanna fight anymore?"

"Why, you-" Sayaka sputtered angrily. Then she pushed Kyoko's arms out of the way and tried to flip her over.

It wasn't as one-sided as Sayaka's handicaps would lead one to believe. Despite having the element of surprise and four working limbs, Kyoko still felt just a little woozy from her long sleep, and Sayaka proved to be surprisingly strong, probably from all that swimming. The two girls struggled against each other, each trying to gain the advantage. Finally, Kyoko managed to work her way behind Sayaka and wrap her legs around her tail and grab her neck in a sleeper hold.

"Tap out!" she laughed as she started squeezing. "Come on, you guppy! Tap out!"

"Never!" Sayaka growled as she shoved up on Kyoko's arms.

"Do it, bitch! Do it!"

"Bite me!"

Sayaka regretted her words when Kyoko did just that. She yelped in pain and started slamming her head back against Kyoko's, trying to dislodge her.

"Ahem."

The two combatants paused their battle and looked up to see Mami standing over them, a looking of disapproval on her face.

"So nice to see that you two are so happy to see each other," Mami said. "But no fighting on the furniture."

Sayaka and Kyoko glanced sheepishly at each other. Sayaka shifted her weight, allowing Kyoko to crawl out and return to the couch.

"I was winning, too," Kyoko muttered as she stretched herself out.

"Also, feet off the couch," Mami glanced over to Sayaka. "And Oktavia, please stop playing with the recliner."

"Yes, ma'am," Sayaka muttered.

"Thank you." She turned back to Kyoko, who had turned back into a sitting position. "Anyway, I just got off the phone with the mayor's office. It looks like you'll have to wait for tomorrow to see her."

Kyoko frowned. "Yeah? Why's that?"

"Because she's not there. Apparently there was an emergency in one of the nearby outposts that she had to see." Mami sighed. "I'm sorry, Kyoko. She'll be back in the morning."

"Whatever," Kyoko shrugged. "Wasn't really looking forward to talking to the rat anyway."

Mami blinked. "Rat? What do you…Oh, you mean Reibey. Well, I really don't blame you." She shook her head. "Anyway, we'll be ready to leave soon. I'm going to go get the boat ready."

Kyoko stared as the blonde exited through the front door. "So," she said to the mermaid. "We're going by 'Oktavia' now, huh?"

Sayaka, who had brought the chair up for what was presumably the last time, shrugged. "Well, yeah. It is my name."

"Your name. Huh." Kyoko was careful to keep all emotion from touching her face. "Whatever happened to 'Sayaka'?"

Sayaka twiddled her thumbs and sighed. "Look, I don't want this to be a thing, but I don't remember being Sayaka, okay? I know I was, I know it was my whole identity, but I've got no memory of anything you told me. I mean, I still believe you and all. And even if I didn't, Mami's already confirmed a big chunk of it. But…" The remainder of the sentence trailed off and she looked down at her hands.

Kyoko raised an eyebrow. "But…" she pressed.

"But I even if I know all that stuff happened, it…doesn't mean anything to me."

Now it was Sayaka's turn wince at the poorly chosen words as Kyoko rose her feet, her voice rising as well. "Doesn't mean anything?" she said. "What the hell? I freaking died for you, and you're saying it doesn't mean anything?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that!" Sayaka said as she held up her hands.

"Oh yeah? Then what did you mean?" Kyoko demanded.

"I just meant I don't remember any of that happening, that's all! I really do appreciate everything you sacrificed for me, don't worry. Just…calm down, okay?"

Kyoko let out a derisive snort, but she complied. "Yeah, okay. I guess I'm no one to throw stones over a slip of tongue," she said as she sat back down. She rolled her wrist around. "But you was saying…"

"Right, right," Sayaka sighed. "Well, looks like we're getting nothing but awkwardness today. But anyway, while I appreciate all that and it is really important to me, I just don't remember it happening. I've tried, but I can't. Everything's all muddled up and cloudy, and the best I can get is like one or two images. Nothing I can really piece together, you know?"

"I guess," Kyoko said, though she didn't like where this was going. "So, you're saying you're just gonna give up on being Sayaka? Let all that disappear?"

The mermaid looked up to lock eyes with the redhead sitting across from her. "Kyoko, I can't let go of something I don't even remember having! Again, I don't remember being Sayaka. But I do remember being Oktavia, that's my point! Everything that's happened over the last few days, from being burned in that bathtub to trading death jokes with you, that was all me being Oktavia! I'm sorry, if I could bring back Sayaka, I would, but I can't. I don't know how to be her. I just know how to be me."

Kyoko felt the familiar burn of anger as it rose up within her. "Look, I ain't asking you to put on the Sayaka Miki Show, I just don't get what's wrong with the name. Why not keep it? What difference does it make?"

"It…it just does, okay?" The blunette grimaced. "I can't explain, but it just does."

Kyoko stared at her, unsure of what to make of all this. To her, it sounded like complete foolishness. Her very identity had been snatched away and replaced with a fake, and she was not only going to let it slip away but insist on keeping the wrong one? If Kyoko had discovered that someone had stolen a large chunk of her life away, she would not rest until she had taken back what was hers.

She considered saying something, to argue further, but before she could think of what she wanted to say someone cleared their throat. The two arguing girls looked over to see Charlotte standing in the hallway entrance.

"Er, I hate to interrupt," she said. "But we're about ready to head out." Her blue eyes flipped from one face to the other. "So, are you two still coming, or…"

Kyoko and Sayaka exchange a short glance. Kyoko's face twitched, but she said, "Yeah, we're coming," she said as she stood up.

…

It was a long trip to Elsa Maria's island, long and quiet. Tension hung over the boat like a wool blanket soaked in chloroform, and any attempts at conversation were quick to fizzle out.

As it turned out, Mami and Charlotte were in possession of three boats. There was the decent-sized one that Kyoko had seen in the photographs; a smaller, swifter one; and the speedboat Sayaka had arrived in, which they had opted to keep. For this trip, they were taking the smaller of their original boats. Mami was driving, with Charlotte sitting next to her in the passenger's seat. Kyoko and Sayaka sat in the back.

Sayaka, sensing that Kyoko didn't want to talk, simply sat still and stared off into the distance. As for Kyoko, she was turned around in her seat, arms crossed over the boat's side and chin resting in their crux as she stared gloomily out at the sparkling sea, her mind twisting itself into knots as it tried to figure things out.

There's a sun, she thought, noting the brightly shining sphere in the sky. This place has a sun. So, does that mean it's a planet? Are we still in the same universe? Or is there a big black emptiness with just one single star and one single planet? Also, does the weather act the same as it does back home? The clouds over that freaky-ass city and Elsa's island probably mean that something's different, but what? Does the water not evaporate and turn into clouds or whatever? Jeez, I wish I had paid more attention when we learned this shit in school.

Sighing, she turned her head to the side. Maybe she should leave off figuring things out until she was in Freehaven or whatever. They probably had a library or something for Sayaka to look things up.

Then she noticed something and frowned. "Hey, ah, Sayaka?"

The blue-haired mermaid started and glanced at her, clearly not expecting having Kyoko initiate conversation. "Uh, yeah?"

Kyoko pointed at Sayaka's neck. "You, uh, know you've got a bunch of funny little cuts on your neck, right?"

"Oh, those." Sayaka relaxed a little and laughed. "Yeah, and guess what they are?"

She pulled the slits open, revealing what honestly appeared to be the inside of her throat.

Kyoko recoiled. "Okay, that's just gross. And seriously. Gills? You've got freaking gills?"

"Yup!" Sayaka removed her hand from the slits. "Turns out being a mermaid does have a few cool things going for it. One of them is breathing underwater."

"Well, huh." Despite her nature, Kyoko was honestly impressed. "And you've actually tried it out?"

"Every day. And I can go pretty deep too. I could probably live underwater if I wanted." Then, when she caught the look on Kyoko's face, she frowned. "Ah, well, maybe not live, but…darn it, we need to update our vocabulary."

"Eh, don't worry about it," Kyoko said dismissively. "I doubt anyone here cares."

"We don't," Charlotte called back at them. "We see it as a second life, not a continuation of death."

"There, you see? And hey, are we there yet?"

"Almost," Mami answered, glancing over her shoulder at the pair. "Though don't expect much to be left."

Kyoko shot her a quick glare. "Yeah, I know," she muttered, more to herself than anything. "I just need to see."

The blanket of uneasiness descended yet again, and no one said anything for another thirty or so minutes, when at last Mami announced that they had arrived.

"Finally," Kyoko said as she unbuckled her safety belt. She leaned over the side of the boat, trying to see.

To her relief, the island was still there, but Elsa's absence was already taking effect. The clouds were gone, and the stones were all cracked and flaking away. The top of the lighthouse had been blasted right off, and the cylinder of its body was tilting worryingly to one side. From the look of things, someone had torched the whole thing with fire. Kyoko did not wonder who was responsible. That much was obvious.

Mami edged the boat until it was about six meters away from the island. "All right," she said, killing the engine. "Now, we don't know if the Void Walkers are still here, but we're going to assume that they are. So Sayaka and I are going to stay in the boat and keep circling the island. Kyoko? Charlotte? You two check around the place and see if there's anything we missed." Her attention focused on the redhead. "And remember what I told you: they are not allowed to attack Charlotte, and they can't attack you if you're under her protection. So stick close to her, and don't give them any loopholes."

Kyoko glanced at Charlotte and nodded. She didn't like the idea of being under anybody's "protection," but she wasn't stupid. This wasn't the time to make a fuss.

"Also, as you may have noticed, this place is coming apart. It is literally ceasing to exist. It still should be stable enough to walk on, but be careful. Don't take chances." The corner of Mami's mouth twitched up. "I don't want to waste time digging you out if you somehow manage to fall right through a rock."

"Fall right through…Wait, is that a thing that might actually happen?"

"Don't worry," Charlotte said as she squatted in front of the footlocker they had brought aboard. "It usually takes a couple weeks for it to get that bad. Just watch your footing and don't push the lighthouse over and you'll be fine."

"Yeah?" Kyoko said, regarding the pink-haired witch with suspicion. "And how many places like this have you actually checked out?"

From a footlocker, Charlotte pulled out a two-gun holster, the type meant to be concealed under a jacket, and put it on. "First one," she said as she slipped a couple of sleek, black handguns into their leather sheathes. Then she extracted a high-tech crossbow and popped its arms open. "But I've read about them." She held out a semi-automatic rifle to Kyoko. "Want one?"

Kyoko, who was slipping on a backpack, shook her head. "Nah, never been much of a gun person." She pulled a spear out of her chest. "That was always Mami's thing. Hey Mami, you can still do the thing with the bazillion muskets everywhere, yeah?"

In answer, Mami shot her a wink and reached down to touch the bottom of the boat. When her hand came back up, it was holding onto the barrel of an elegantly designed silver musket.

"Suit yourself," Charlotte said, replacing the rifle. "But you might want to reconsider. Close-quarters fighting on uneven terrain might not be the best idea. And I get the feeling that you're the kind who likes to jump around a lot."

"Which is why I got you coming along. Besides, I'm a terrible shot. I'll just stick to what I know."

As there was little left of the dock save for a few moldering planks and the shriveled remains of the posts poking their dissolving heads above the water's surface, Mami nudged the boat close enough to let Kyoko and Charlotte to step onto the island.

As soon as Kyoko's foot touched the rock, it sank several centimeters in, almost making her stumble. It was like walking through snow. "Okay, weird," she noted as she took a couple of experimental steps. "I can see what you said about this place going to pieces."

Charlotte was also having trouble keeping her balance. "Whoa, okay. Looks like we're taking this slow."

The two of them moved toward the lighthouse, or what was left of it. The crumbling stone was even worse around the tower's base. Kyoko found herself grateful that she wore knee-length boots.

Thanks to the lighthouse's tilt, the heavy door that had given Kyoko so much trouble was partially open. She reached over to touch the sun-warmed metal. It flaked under her finger. She applied a bit of pressure, and the door cracked like the shell of an egg.

"Careful," Charlotte said. "Remember what Mami said about pushing this thing over."

"You think that might happen?" Kyoko said. She shielded her eyes and squinted up the lighthouse's slightly diagonal length.

"I think we'd better not take chances. This place is wrecked enough as it is."

Even though Kyoko knew that it was unintentional, Charlotte's word still sparked her anger. This place had been Elsa Maria's home. Sure, it was a crummy, damp, and moldy piece of junk. Sure, the food was shit and it smelled. But it had been her home. She had lived there, content with what she had, and Oblivion's goons had forced her from it, all for the simple crime of trying to help another person. And now, without her presence to hold it together, it was dying. Even if they did manage to spring Elsa from Oblivion's clutches, there was no guarantee that the lighthouse would return.

Even though she wouldn't admit it, Kyoko was actually nursing a bitter hope that Annabelle Lee and her cronies were still hanging around. There were a few accounts she wanted to settle with them, and the destruction of Elsa's home had just been added to the list.

Moving gingerly so as to not upset the door, Kyoko squeezed her way inside, Charlotte following close behind. If anything, the lighthouse's interior was in even worse shape. The whole place was a scorched mess. There was nothing left of the furniture save for a few unrecognizable lumps of ash. The winding staircase had been burned away completely, as had the platform at its top. The lantern room was gone, just plain gone, with the top of the lighthouse now open to the sky. Filthy shards of glass and twisted bits of metal now lay mixed in with the ash, all that remained of the lantern itself.

"Did it look like this when you guys came here?" Kyoko said, her voice not much louder than a whisper. She wasn't worried about attracting anyone's attention, it just felt sacrilegious to speak too loudly.

"Actually, it's kind of worse now," Charlotte answered. "But more-or-less, yeah."

Kyoko didn't answer. She moved carefully through the room, stirring the pile of ash with the pole of her spear, cracking its sun-hardened surface. She didn't really expect to find anything, but she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she didn't at least try.

And then the spear bumped into something. Her brow rose, and she crouched down to clear away the ash from the object.

It was Elsa Maria's monstrance, the iron representation of the rising sun that had sat on her altar. Though it was dented and partially melted from the heat in places, it was not crumbling away, suggesting that she had acquired it from someplace else. Kyoko frowned and picked it up. She brushed the ash away from its iron rays.

"What's that?" Charlotte asked, peering over Kyoko's shoulder.

"A monstrance," Kyoko answered. "It's meant to represent the sun, I think."

"I thought Oktavia said this girl was Christian."

Kyoko's body tensed up at the mention of Sayaka's witch name, but she said, "She is. It's not as common as the cross, but it's still Christian. I think it has something to do with communion. I dunno, we never used one." She slipped her backpack off and put the monstrance inside. Then she returned to sifting through the ashes.

"Hey Kyoko, can I ask you something?" Charlotte said as Kyoko searched.

Kyoko paused. She glanced at the pink-haired witch. "About what?" she said, her voice tinged with suspicion.

"You and Oktavia. How long did you know her before you guys died?"

Well, she was straightforward at least. Still, Kyoko wasn't in the mood to discuss such things with a near-stranger, even one that was Mami's friends. "Getting kinda personal there, Charly. What's it matter to you?"

Charlotte breathed out slowly. "Well, I caught your argument with her back at the house. You know, about her name?"

"Yeah, I remember. So what?"

"Well, it's just that you seemed really adamant about her being called by her old name. I was wondering why."

Now Kyoko had turned fully around. "That's right, I was. Again, so what if I am?"

"Hey, I'm just saying-"

Kyoko took a step forward and thrust a finger at Charlotte's face. "Look, Powderpuff, I may not be Sayaka's childhood friend, but I was there when she turned into Oktavia. And it was hands-down one of the worst things I've ever experienced. Hell, if it weren't for how utterly fucked up my life was, it would be number one. Do you have any idea what it's like to go through life thinking you're going to be alone forever, thinking no one could possibly be worth sticking your neck out for, only to find something actually worth giving a shit about only to watch her self-destruct even though you've practically torn yourself apart to save her?"

"Look, you don't have to-"

Kyoko did, actually. She was already angry from the lighthouse's devastation. And Charlotte's probing questions were turning her into a convenient target to lash out at.

"She was the first person I've actually done anything for since my family died," Kyoko said, her voice sinking deeper into a growl as her anger rose. "I thought I could save her, keep her from turning out just like me. And do you know what happened? She turned into one of you!"

She expected Charlotte to react with surprise, with anger, with hostility. She expected those blue eyes (and how the hell did she end up with blue eyes and pink hair anyway? That just didn't make any sense at all) to snap wide open and her cheeks to turn red. But instead, Charlotte merely returned the stare and waited calmly for Kyoko to finish.

That only made Kyoko angrier. "She turned into a witch, the very thing I had been devoting my life to destroying! And oh shit, that meant I was going to go out the same way one day, unless something killed me first. And since there was no way in hell I was going to let that happen, I tried everything to get her to turn back, even going so far as bringing her best friend into her labyrinth to see if we could get her to remember who she was! Of course, that didn't do a fucking thing, and so I figured that since she was gone for good and I on my way out, we should just end it all, together." She clapped her hands together, mere centimeters from Charlotte's nose. "Kaboom!"

This time Charlotte did flinch, which gave Kyoko a small measure of vindictive pleasure. "That shoulda been the end of it, but you know what happened next, don'cha?" Without waiting for an answer, Kyoko plowed on. "I woke up here, in Wonderfuckland. And wouldn'cha know, Sayaka was there with me! Sure there was some problems, what with her having a tail and not remembering shit, but hey, there were still pieces of her memories floating around. I can work with that!"

"You think you can bring her back," Charlotte said.

Kyoko felt her trademark smirk, the one she had always worn during her bad time, return in all of its malicious glory and did nothing to prevent it. "Oh, you bet'cha. She's already halfway there, so I just gotta work on bringing her back all the way. Hell, she can even keep the fish tail. It's kinda cute. I'm just going to make sure her mind comes back. You know, the important part."

"You mean the part that has all those memories and feelings that traumatized her into turning into a witch in the first place?"

Kyoko blinked. Then her left hand involuntarily clenched into a fist. "Better to have those problems and know about them so she can deal with them than have them wiped away!" she shouted. "You can't just cut away that much of a person and call it a good thing!"

"Really? I'm not complaining."

Forgetting completely that she was supposed to be careful about making sudden movements, Kyoko lunged forward and grabbed Charlotte by the collar. "That's different!" she yelled as she lifted her into the air. "You're different! You've got no fucking clue what your old life was like and no way to find out! She has me to help her get it back!"

"And therein lies the problem," Charlotte said.

"What the hell are you going on about?"

"Put me down, and I'll tell you."

Kyoko did, but she didn't increase the distance between them. "Start talking," she growled.

Charlotte sighed. "Look, don't get me wrong. I get what you're trying to do. And it's not a bad thing. Except, it kind of is."

"What?"

"Well, it's like you said. Witches are clean slates. Our past lives, everything we were when we were human, are gone. Erased. We're mostly blank slates, with our identities gone."

Kyoko tilted her head. "Annnnnd?"

"And just that. We have nothing. The only thing we remember, the only thing we have, is our name. Our witch name. It's the only piece of identity we have."

"So what? It's just a name."

"Except it's not," Charlotte said. She had the look of someone needing to explain something important but was having a difficult time holding onto her patience. "It's more than something people call us. It's…" She squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced. "It's who we are, the only thing we've got that's really us. And whether we know it or not, we actually fight to keep it."

Now Kyoko's anger was giving way to confusion. Lots and lots of confusion. "Okay, I'm sorry, but what?"

"Look, we witches get our new name when they turn, and we keep it when they die, so it's literally a major part of our psyche. So we've got this reflexive need to make sure we don't lose it. Every time we're called anything that's totally different, especially our old name, it makes a kind of…" Charlotte frowned. "Now, how did Shizuku put it? 'Spiritual dissonance,' that's right."

"A what of a what now?"

"It triggers something," Charlotte explained. "In our minds. Like an involuntary resistance. Not a big one, but it adds up. And over time, we-"

"Go back to being full witch, huh?" Kyoko finished for her. She tried to sound nonchalant, but if she were to be honest with herself, having Sayaka regress fully to that terrifying armored mermaid conductor gave her the shivers.

"No, mostly it just drives us insane," Charlotte said, her voice equally deadpan.

Kyoko snickered. "Yeah, 'cept I've been calling her that since we arrived, and she never had a problem with it until I noticed you all calling her Oktavia."

"It doesn't happen overnight," Charlotte said with a tired sigh. "But trust me, it'll happen. You saw how defensive she got when you were talking. Next she'll get irritable. Not much, and not all the time, but it'll become something of a pet peeve for her. She'll try to ignore it at first, but over time she'll start snapping at you every time you call her 'Sayaka.' Then she'll get angrier and angrier, which in turn will turn into actual hostility toward you, which also in turn will start to spread to everyone she interacts with. She'll get paranoid, convinced that everyone is calling her Sayaka behind her back, until she finally-"

"Okay, okay!" Kyoko quickly interrupted. "Holy shit, you've made your freaking point!"

"I hope so," Charlotte said. "I like Oktavia, I really do. And I don't want her to end up like some the others I've heard about."

Kyoko scowled. "But damn, this place has some freaky rules."

Charlotte shrugged. "It is what it is. I didn't make the rules. But I can at least try to keep you guys from breaking the wrong ones."

If it weren't for the horrible implications Kyoko would have laughed again. Breaking the rules was what she did best. But that didn't mean she was so boneheaded that she was willing to drive Sayaka to paranoia and insanity just to make a point.

However, she also wasn't willing to throw away her hopes that Sayaka might be made right and whole again. Kyoko resolved to give this matter some more thought.

In the meantime, she had a lighthouse to rummage through. "Hey, Charly? Do you mind if I call you Charly? It's close enough, right?"

Behind her, Charlotte made an exasperated grunt, but said, "I suppose. Nicknames are harmless enough."

"Alrighty then." Kyoko nudged what looked like the remains of a bookcase with her spear, only to have it crumble to pieces. "Tell me something then: can you witches turn back to the way you were, or are you stuck?" She glanced over her shoulder. "And seriously, ain't trying to start something here. I really want to know."

"You and everyone else," Charlotte sighed. "And yes, actually. It's possible."

Kyoko's heart fluttered. "Wait, really?"

"Hold on, don't get excited just yet," Charlotte said as she held her palms up. "Yes, it has happened before, but it's extremely rare. Out of the thousands and thousands of witches that have come here, there's only like eight actual documented cases where it's happened, and each time, the circumstances were different, so no one knows what makes it happen. Even the girls it happened to don't know how it happened, so don't think you can just copy whatever they did."

Kyoko's face fell in disappointment. "Whaddya mean, 'they don't know'? They were just walking along one day when suddenly they changed back?"

"Of course not! Like I said, there were certain circumstances, usually involving extreme emotional duress, but it was always different! And each time, it happened without them trying to make it happen! That's my point. No witch has ever, ever been able to turn into a Puella Magi on purpose. It just doesn't happen that way." Charlotte looked down and nudged a hardened clump of ash. As she did so, her tail snaked up around her legs to touch the palm of her hand. "More often than not, the opposite happens."

"Wait, you mean they go the other way?" Kyoko sucked in a sharp breath. "That can happen?"

Charlotte nodded. She did not meet Kyoko's eyes. "Yes. It's still rare, but not nearly as rare as turning human again. Out in the wild places, away from settlements, there's several of them."

"Well, shit." Kyoko's brow scrunched as she pondered this. "And, how the hell does that happen? Same as back home? Despair and giving up?"

Charlotte shrugged. "Pretty much, but not in that slow, cancerous way. From what I can tell, it takes a combination of shock, anger, and yeah, despair. Back on Earth, it was kind of a gradual thing, at least most of the time, where you sort of sank into your witch's form. Here, it's more of a sudden kick."

"Yikes. That must suck, always having to keep control like that."

"Mmmm, not as much as you might think." Charlotte shrugged. "Like I said, it's really rare, and things have to be pretty extreme for it to happen. Think of it like having a sudden heart-attack from shock. Yeah, it happens, and yeah, it can happen to you. But that doesn't mean you're constantly worried about it."

"Well, maybe you've got a point," Kyoko admitted. She put her free hand on her hip and chuckled. "Damn, I just realized that this is the first conversation we've had. Hell of an icebreaker, huh?"

Charlotte's shoulders relaxed, though only a little. "That's actually why I'm telling you this now. Mami knows you well enough to worry about telling you and keep putting it off until it's too late, and Oktavia doesn't really get it yet. So I figure I might as well just get it over with before I start worrying about your feelings."

Kyoko searched the other girl's face. She was starting to pick up on something, something that Charlotte wasn't saying. "You don't like me very much, do you?"

That actually got a surprised laugh out of the pink-haired witch. "I don't know you," she clarified. "There's a difference. So I figure I should get the uncomfortable talks out of the way first."

"Well, hey, at least you're honest. That's a point in your favor." Kyoko was tempted to return the favor by inquiring into the exact nature of the relationship Charlotte had with Mami, but then something attracted her attention.

She reached down and grabbed an overturned drawer by the side and turned it over. She whistled when she saw what was underneath. It was the stuffed animals she remembered seeing on Elsa's bedrolls: the wolf, the snake, and the rabbit.

"Hey, check it out," Kyoko said, picking them up. Like the monstrance, they had survived the inferno, and were not wasting away. "Looks like these little guys got lucky."

Charlotte peered over Kyoko's shoulder. "No kidding. That drawer must have landed right on them and protected them from the worst of it. It's kind of miraculous, actually."

"Heh, she's probably agree with you." Kyoko placed Elsa's stuffed animals inside the backpack to the monstrance and continued sifting through the ashes. So far she had discovered at least two things that she knew Elsa would very much want to have back. Now she just had to find a clue that would allow her to give them back.

…

Oktavia tilted her head to one side. "Hey, do you hear that?"

Sitting across from her in the driver's seat, Mami's mouth set in a straight line. She nodded. "Yes. I think Kyoko and Charlotte are having an argument."

"Oh, jeez," Oktavia groaned. Grimacing, she pressed two fingers against her forehead. "For God's sake, Kyoko, can't you talk to anyone without getting them mad at you? Like at all?"

"Honestly I'd be very surprised if it was just her fault," Mami said. She gave the wheel a slight turn, and the boat entered the lighthouse's shadow. "Charlotte has a tendency to be overly blunt at times, as I'm sure you've noticed. It's gotten her into trouble once or twice."

"Yeah? Well, Kyoko has a tendency to mouth off and yell at anyone for anything that pisses her off, and believe me, that's a really long list. As I'm sure you've noticed."

"Oh, you have no idea," Mami said, but she smiled in amusement. "It's a shame though. I really hope they learn to get along. They really do have a lot in common."

Oktavia quickly ran through all of Kyoko's personality traits, at least the ones she knew. Then she ran through Charlotte's. Other than sometimes being brutally honest, she didn't see that much in the way of similarities. She shrugged. Mami had known both longer than she did, so she would be more qualified to judge, even if Oktavia didn't see it at the time.

"If you say so," she said.

"Well, okay, maybe they're not that much alike," Mami admitted. "But I really hope they can get along."

Oktavia did as well, though she wasn't holding her breath. She had a feeling that even if Charlotte was the nicest, most polite person in the world, Kyoko would still find reason to dislike her. Not that Charlotte was especially rude, some people were just naturally abrasive.

Then again, she had warmed up to Elsa Maria fairly quickly, even with the occasional clashes over Elsa's religiousness. Maybe the abrasiveness was just Kyoko's way of expressing herself to people.

She was about to comment further, but then she got a good look at Mami and all desire to continue the conversation withered away. Mami had brought the boat to a stop and was sitting statue-still, her head turned to the left and her eyes focused on a patch of ocean.

"Uh, Mami?" Oktavia said in a low voice. "What's-"

"Get down," Mami said. She unbuckled herself and stood up.

Oktavia was now even more confused, but she didn't question Mami's orders. Undoing her own safety belt, she squirmed into the place between the seats. It was a tight fit, but she did the best she could.

Moving slowly and deliberately, Mami walked out toward the open area in the back of the boat, her musket held in one hand. Then, moving so quickly that Oktavia's body jerked in surprise, the blonde spun around, bringing the musket to bear as she turned, and fired at the spot she had been watching.

The shot hit the water. Oktavia waited for something to happen, but nothing did.

Mami didn't seem to mind though. She tossed the used musket overboard and pulled another out of nowhere. Taking aim at the same spot, she called, "That was a warning shot. You won't get another. Come on out."

A few heartbeats passed, and then the waters rippled as someone surfaced. Oktavia felt burning anger ignite when she recognized Annabelle Lee's bony figure. Obviously, the Void Walker was soaked through, with her headdress clinging wetly to her back. Her twig-like arms were held at her sides, with her hands clenched into trembling fists. Despite the weapon aimed at her chest, Annabelle Lee's desperate eyes were not focused on Mami, but on Oktavia.

Mami glanced at Oktavia. "Is this one of the ones you know?"

"Darn straight she is," Oktavia said, bracing her hands on the seats and pushing herself up. She grabbed onto the back of the passenger seat and pulled herself into it. "That's Annabelle Lee, their leader."

"I see." Turning her attention back at Annabelle Lee, the blonde said, "All right, let's see the rest of you then. Bring them out."

"It's just me," Annabelle Lee. Her voice was cracked and rough. "I'm the only one left."

"You're lying," Mami said. "Void Walkers never work alone. There's always at least one more, and you should have three others with you."

"They're not here," the Void Walker insisted. "Reibey called them back. He told me to handle this on my own, that this was my last chance."

"Is that so? Sounds like he's setting you up to fail."

Annabelle Lee's already tight grip squeezed even tighter, but she didn't answer. However, Oktavia had plenty to say.

"Hey!" she shouted across the water. "What did you do with Elsa, you asshole? Where is she?"

"Elsa?" Annabelle Lee croaked out. She laughed. "The arms witch? Where do you think she is?"

Growling, Oktavia rolled onto the floor and power-crawled her way toward the side of the boat, intending to pull herself over and deliver unto Annabelle Lee a fully deserved ass-kicking, but Mami put her leg in the way, stopping her.

"No," she said, not taking her eyes away from Annabelle Lee. "That's what she wants. To get you away from the boat and attack her. If you do that, you'll be free game."

"But I can't just stay here and let them hurt her!" Oktavia cried. "I mean, she got mixed up in this because of me!"

Annabelle Lee's brittle cackle echoed across the water. "Yes, she did. And Reibey didn't look too happy with her when last I saw her. I shouldn't have to tell you what happens to people he's not happy with, do I?"

"I get the feeling that he's not happy with you right now, is he?" Mami countered. "And if you come back empty-handed, the punishment waiting for you isn't going to be light."

Annabelle Lee laughed again. The sound of it made Oktavia's skin crawl. "Like you wouldn't believe."

"Then don't," Mami said. "I know you're desperate. I know you'll backed up against a wall. Why give him the chance to hurt you? Leave him. Void Walkers have defected before. We can get you amnesty."

A low, hissing growl vibrated from Annabelle Lee's throat. "That's the second time I've had someone try to make me switch sides. You wanna know what happened to the last one? I'll give you a hint: that's what's left of her lighthouse over there."

"You…you bitch!" Oktavia shouted. "She was just trying to help us, and you-"

"Yeah, we did! And guess what, little mermaid, it's going to just keep happening unless you give up. You want my masters to let her go?" She swung her skinny arm toward the lighthouse and pointed her finger straight out. "Then get your little lunatic of a girlfriend out here and come with me! You do that, and we'll let her go. You two for her. That's the deal."

"Stop," Mami commanded. "Don't try to manipulate her compassion. Instead, let's talk about your clear violation of the Free-Life Compact by assaulting a resident of Freehaven."

"What? Bullshit!" Annabelle shot back. "I haven't laid a finger on you! And I know those two haven't signed anything when we fought them."

"I wasn't talking me or them, I'm talking about Elsa Maria, the witch you took prisoner."

"What, seriously? She's a neutral! She has nothing to do with your little colony!"

"That's where you're wrong," Mami said. "We looked it up. Elsa Maria may not have actually been living in Freehaven, but she did for a time, and her name was never struck from the census when she left. That means she's still under the protection of the Compact."

Oktavia blanched. She was? Neither Mami nor Charlotte had mentioned anything of the kind. She looked up to inquire further, but Mami quickly nudged her with her foot. Oktavia shut up.

As for Annabelle Lee, her reaction was even more extreme. Her violet eyes were very nearly popping right out of their sockets, and her mouth was opening and closing, though she made no sound that could be heard.

"I see you understand your mistake," Mami said. "By attacking her and those under her protection, by destroying her sanctuary, and by taking her hostage, you have violated the Free-Life Compact, and did so under Reibey's orders. Of course, I doubt that he wanted you to ignite a war between the Alliance and the Withering Lands, but it looks like you've done just that." She shrugged. "All things considered, I'd say you have a bit more to worry about than failing your mission."

Annabelle Lee made a sound that was not quite a squeak and not quite a whimper, but combined the traits of both.

Mami lowered the musket a few centimeters. "Please reconsider. What awaits you cannot be good. We can help you, you know."

At that moment Oktavia was in no mood to help Annabelle Lee with anything, but she kept silent and let the professional handle things.

Annabelle Lee took a deep breath, held it in, and let it out. "I…can't," she said. "Nikki's still there. I can't just leave her."

"Nikki's your sister, yes?"

"Yes." Then Annabelle Lee's face hardened, and she bared her teeth in a grimace. "And besides, I've already sworn myself to Oblivion's service. I can't just run away because I…because I screwed up."

Mami tilted her head. "But they're hurting you."

"No more than I deserve."

Mami refocused the musket. "Either way, you're not taking these girls. They're under Freehaven's protection, and you've violated the Compact enough as it is."

Annabelle Lee shot her a look of pure hate.

"You've lost. Either give up and come with us or leave. Either way, you've lost."

Then, so suddenly that it actually made Mami start, Annabelle Lee threw her head back and let out a bone-rattling shriek of rage. The sound of it was simply unearthly, almost a witch power in itself. Oktavia squeezed her eyes shut and slapped her hands over her ears, trying to keep out the horrible sound.

And then Annabelle Lee was gone, soaring off away from the crumbling island, shrieking the whole way. Her form disappeared long before the sound of her cry did.

There was the sound of banging, and Kyoko and Charlotte rushed out of the lighthouse. "What in the holy hotsauce hells was that?" Kyoko demanded. "Sounds like a live pig getting spitted right up the…Holy shit, was that Annabelle Lee?"

It was only then that Mami lowered the musket. "Yes," she said.

Kyoko gaped at her. "Wait, the hell was she doing here?"

"Looking to ambush us, apparently."

"And you just let her get away? Goddamn it Mami!" Kyoko rushed forward, heedless of the unstable terrain. She jabbed the butte of her spear against the rock, intending to pole-vault into the boat. "I still owe her for…WAH!"

The end of the spear had sunk further than she had expected, which caused her to miscalculate the pole's arc, sending her flying straight for the water.

Mami reached out and grabbed Kyoko by the boot as the flailing redhead sailed past, arresting her trajectory.

"I told you to be careful," she said, dropping Kyoko on the deck.

Kyoko glowered. She rolled her weight onto her shoulders, drew her legs back, and leapt to her feet. "Forget careful!" she shouted. "Why the hell aren't we chasing her?"

"What point is there?" Mami said. "We can't do anything to her without violating the Compact. The same thing that keeps her from attacking us protects her as well."

"Screw the Compact! I never signed any treaties! I'm not part of your stupid club! I can do whatever I want to her! I bet I can beat Elsa's location out of her in under five minutes."

"Kyoko, there's nothing you can do," Mami said softly. "I'm sorry, but there isn't. She already told us where they took Elsa. She's at Palace Omega, Oblivion's stronghold."

The color rose in Kyoko's cheeks. Her spine stiffened as her fingers curled into claws.

"Hurting Annabelle Lee won't solve anything," Mami continued. "She can't help us. The only reason she was even still here was because Reibey made her, as a form of punishment. She wouldn't even be useful as a hostage. I think it's plainly obvious that that Incubator doesn't care much for his underlings."

"So what are you saying, sempai?" Kyoko spat. "We're just gonna leave Elsa with them, just because it's politically convenient?"

"Kyoko, I would never suggest such a thing. I'm saying that angrily beating that Void Walker to a pulp is pointless. She's just a finger, one of many."

"So what, I gotta go all the way into the middle of Oblivion's territory, storm her castle and beat the shit out of her and Reibey in person to pull it off? Okay, fine with me, let's fucking go!"

"Yeah, no," Charlotte said, leaping into the boat in much more graceful manner than Kyoko had. "Oblivion's got an army guarding that place. You won't even make it to the borders, much less all the way to the castle. Besides, that's probably exactly what she wants. I wouldn't be surprised if that Void Walker was sent just to dangle Elsa Maria as bait in front of your nose." She handed a bag to Kyoko. "You forgot this, by the way."

"Oh, right." Kyoko grabbed the bag. "Thanks. And don't tell me I can't-"

Someone cleared their throat. Everyone looked down to see Oktavia waving at them.

"Uh, hey," she said. "I know this is an important conversation and all, but would someone mind giving me a hand?"

"Oh," Kyoko said, slightly chagrined. "Sorry, fish-bait." She reached down to pick Oktavia up by the armpits and hauled her over to one of the seats. "Though you really have got to get one of those flying wheelchair things. Because no offense, but you're kinda heavy."

"Thanks, I love you too. But why are we even fighting about this? I mean, you said Elsa Maria is a member of Freehaven, even if she's not actually, uh, welcome there anymore. So can't we use that to make Oblivion give her up?"

That part was directed toward Mami. Upon hearing this, Kyoko's face lit up.

"Wait, really?" she said, looking toward the blonde as well. "We can actually make this BS politicky thing work for us?"

Oktavia held her breath as she waited for Mami's answer. If that was the case, if things were as Elsa had described, then maybe they did have a chance. She knew a bit more of the Free Life Compact than Kyoko did, having had it explained to her while they had waited for Kyoko to wake up. The long and skinny of it was that both sides, the Alliance and the Void Walkers, definitely did not want a war. As no one on either side was capable of dying, it would be a pointless affair: a devastating, painful affair, one that wasn't guaranteed a winner. As such, both sides were willing to bend over backwards to keep it from happening. As such, since the only reason they had taken Elsa was as leverage, they might be coerced into letting her go.

Of course, that all depended on Oblivion and Reibey's willingness to cooperate, and from what Oktavia had heard, Reibey was not known for being a paragon of sanity. He might just be willing to risk such a disaster out of spite. And it also depended on the Alliance's willingness to cooperate and actually push for Elsa's release. That was also a sticky situation. Oktavia didn't know exactly what Elsa had done to make herself so unpopular around Freehaven, but she did know that it's mayor, one of the Alliance's leading figures, did not like her very much. It was a long shot, but it was the only chance they had.

Charlotte, however, just looked confused. "Wait, she is?" she said, looking at Mami in askance. "Or was? I thought Corrie said she never signed on!"

Mami winced.

Oktavia's heart fell. She slumped back into her seat as hope died within her. The look on Kyoko's face likewise turned from one of hope to bafflement, followed by horrible realization.

"What?" Charlotte said, looking from one face to the next. "What did…Oh." She winced in turn and slowly edged away. "Uh, yeah. I'm going to go…over there."

As Charlotte pretended to busy herself at the front of the boat, Oktavia said, "So, she's really not part of Freehaven?"

Mami miserably shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I wanted to scare her into leaving, and no Void Walker wants to be the one to accidentally violate the Compact."

"A bluff, huh?" Huffing, Kyoko walked over to angrily pop down in the seat next to Oktavia. "Well, nice idea, but where the hell does that leave us?"

Mami gazed at the tilting lighthouse, lost in thought. Then she tossed the musket over the boat's side and walked toward the driver's seat. "Here's what we'll do. We were going to go to Freehaven tomorrow anyway. We'll set up a meeting with Corrie, and she'll contact Oblivion. From there, we'll try to negotiate Elsa's release."

"What?" Oktavia said, aghast. "Negotiate with that monster?"

Kyoko agreed. "Mami, the hell are you on? You think she'll just let Elsa go because we say pretty please?"

"No, I don't," Mami said, strapping herself in. "But it's a start. If nothing else, it'll open some doors for us to find out why she wants you two so badly. And from there…" She sighed. "Well, we'll figure something out."

Kyoko's face was already pink with anger, but now it was flushing scarlet. She leaned forward, presumably to start yelling again, but Oktavia arrested her with a hand to the shoulder. Kyoko looked at her, eyes demanding to know why she had stopped her. Oktavia shook her head. Now was not the time.

Kyoko stared at her, her face going to war with itself. Then the fight seemed to go out of her and she slumped back into her seat. She hugged the bag Charlotte had given her and stared out at the sea, her face carved from stone. Oktavia placed her hand over the redhead's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Kyoko shuddered, but didn't reject the gesture.

Mami gunned the engine, and turned the boat away from the dying island. Oktavia watched as it faded into the distance.

It was a very long, very quiet trip back.

…

Kyoko opened Mami and Charlotte's refrigerator and peered inside. Though she was still in a foul mood, her face lit up when she saw it contents. While she still had mixed feelings about being reunited with Mami, it did come with certain advantages, one being that Mami was an amazing cook, a skill she enjoyed practicing at every opportunity.

Dinner had been shrimp stir fry, though it had been rather tense around the table. No one had felt like talking, and only Kyoko had felt like eating. But though she had had three helpings, she was hungry again.

After a few moments of consideration, she finally settled on a Tupperware container of chicken alfredo. Mami and Charlotte didn't have a microwave, and Kyoko didn't want to risk burning the place down, so she just started eating it cold as she wandered back to the guest room.

Sayaka (Kyoko still refused to think of her as Oktavia, no matter what Charlotte said. She would just have to find a way around the name problem) was sitting up in the other bed and was just finishing buttoning up the pajama shirt Charlotte had leant her, the same one Kyoko had woken up in. Kyoko had refused to wear the thing again, preferring to sleep in her own clothes.

"Hey," she said as Kyoko plopped onto her bed. "You didn't bring anything for me?"

"Kiss my incredible ass," Kyoko said as she dug into the Tupperware container. "Do I look like a waitress to you?"

Sayaka rolled her eyes but smiled. "You know…even if the circumstances are, uh, horrible, I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow. I really want to see what Freehaven's like. I've only seen pictures, but Mami and Charlotte tell me that it's kind of awesome."

"Eh, if yous shay sho," Kyoko mumbled through a mouthful of pasta. She swallowed. "As for me, I just wanna file whatever stupid complaint thing Mami was talking about. Then I'm outta there."

"You are?" Oktavia said, sounding surprised and disappointed. "Why? And where?"

A few moments ticked by, during which the only sound was of Kyoko eating. Then she finished and set the plastic container on the nightstand and said, "Look, maybe I only knew Elsa Maria for like…an hour? Less? But she saved my ass when she didn't have to, and lost all her shit because of it. I owe her, and big. And I always, always repay what I owe." She shrugged. "'Sides, I kinda liked her, preaching and all."

"So you're just going to storm the gates of Palace Omega?" Sayaka said, staring at her through the darkness. "Are you insane? That's suicide!"

Kyoko drew her legs up and started pulling off her boots. "Yeah, that term don't really mean the same as it used to anymore," she said as she dropped them by the side of her bed. She skinned out of her jacket. "And I didn't say I was gonna fight my way in. I was thinking I'd sneak it, all Hobbit-like, and snatch Elsa out from under their runny noses."

"Still stupid, still a real bad idea," Sayaka said flatly. "Come on, Kyoko. You know it isn't going to work. And at the end of the day, Oblivion is just going to have you both."

"Will she?" Kyoko shrugged. "We'll see."

Things were quiet between them for a short while, and then Sayaka said, "Come on, Kyoko. I hate what happened to her too, but going in alone is just stupid. And I don't want to lose you too."

Kyoko didn't answer.

"Look, just hold off on heading out on your lonesome until we know more. And Freehaven's got plenty-"

"Oh, fer Chrissake's, will you people just shut up about fucking Freehaven!" Kyoko exploded. "It's always Freehaven this, Freehaven that. 'Oh, Freehaven is so super special awesome, you'll love it!' 'Don't worry about a thing, Freehaven will solve all your problems!'" She kicked her way under the covers and turned away from Sayaka, pulling the blanket tightly under her chin. "Makes me wanna gag, is what it does."

"Whoa, hey," she heard Sayaka say. "Where is this coming from?"

Kyoko sighed. "Look, I just don't buy it, all this talk about second chances and making a new life. It's bullshit. We had a life, and we lost it. That's how it works. You get your shot, and you try not to screw up too badly, and then it's over. But no, apparently this fucking place had to show up out of goddamn nowhere, and now it's like everyone is filming a Freehaven commercial! We're dead, so we shouldn't be forced to live again. This isn't a second chance, it's playing house."

"Now you're starting to sound like a Void Walker," Sayaka said. There was a hard edge to her voice.

Kyoko shrugged. "Hey, Reibey may be a right bastard that needs to get real acquainted with the bottom of my boot, and Oblivion may be a fraud that needs to get slapped down something awful, but that don't mean the punks they got working for them ain't wrong for wanting an out. And I for one don't buy that there isn't one."

"A way out?"

"Sure, why not? There's always a way to make things stop." Kyoko laughed. "Hell, there's probably even a way to get back home, you never know?"

"Are you serious?" Sayaka said. "You want to go back? To be alive again? After all that talk about having your shot and how it should be over?"

Kyoko turned to look over her shoulder. "Hey, if I gotta be stuck somewhere, I'd rather it be in the place that's actually real. And hell, maybe things did suck, but at least I knew what's what."

"Uh, Kyoko? I really hate being contrary and all but…no. No, you didn't. Wasn't that kind of the whole point? That you…we…you were being lied to and was nothing more than a pawn in the Incubators' game? And, ah…" Sayaka grimaced, her expression of discomfort still visible even through the shadows. "Don't take this the wrong way, but wasn't that a big part of why you let yourself die? I mean, I know a major part of it was for my sake, and again I really appreciate it, don't get me wrong, but I get the feeling that you also didn't want to be part of their cycle anymore."

Kyoko glowered, but she couldn't retort. The amnesiac mermaid was right, after all. Which, incidentally, was not a thought she had ever expected to have.

"And from what you and Mami told me, wasn't your life pretty awful anyway? I mean, there was what happened to…" Sayaka flinched and quickly mumbled, "yourfamilyandallthat." In a normal tone, she continued, "And weren't you kind of homeless, needing to steal to get food and all that? You didn't sound like you liked what kind of person you were becoming either, and eventually you would have either just got killed anyway or turned into a witch yourself."

"The point," Kyoko said. "Get to it."

"I'm just saying, with all that…what exactly do you want to go back for?"

Kyoko gave Sayaka a long, hard stare, but again she didn't have a satisfactory answer. When one failed to present itself, she rolled over again.

"Look, I know the thing with Elsa Maria is awful, and I know the whole thing with Oblivion and the freaking…uh, Void Walkers sucks too." Sayaka took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. "And I know you think what Mami and Charlotte are doing here is kind of silly, but come on. At least give it a chance?"

Kyoko's fist clenched under the covers, but she forced her fingers to uncurl. "Okay, fine," she said without turning around. "I'll give Happy Land a chance. Don't expect me to be wearing any 'I Love Freehaven' tee shirts though."

"Heh, even I think that would be real cheesy. Thanks, though. That's all I really ask."

"Sure," Kyoko said, shrugging. "Whatever."

Sayaka yawned. "All right, goodnight then."

"Mmmph. 'Night."

It didn't take long for Sayaka's breathing to slow to the steady, even flow of sleep. But despite being exhausted herself, Kyoko remained awake, staring at the far wall.

She just couldn't shake Sayaka's words, no matter how hard she tried. Because Sayaka was correct. Kyoko's life had sucked, she had been living a lie, and she had been doomed, no matter how you looked at it. And as the blunette had pointed out, she couldn't even use the knew-where-she-stood argument either, because the face of the matter was that she hadn't known squat. She had been used, abused, and discarded. So why was she hoping for a way to return? Nostalgia?

The funny thing was, she almost wished she had gone to Hell as she had expected. Yes, there were the eternal flames and torment, but at least then she would have known were she stood. There would have been no more illusions, no more confusion. It was strange, that she actually preferred being damned to having her mind twisted around, but there was only so much weirdness a person could take.

She remembered reading somewhere, couldn't remember exactly where, that some criminals actually found being arrested to be a relief. Because while they had been on the lam, the possibly of being caught or worse had always gnawed at them, tormenting their minds. But once they were actually in prison, the realization that they had finally fallen as far as they could go was a comfort. They no longer needed to fear the worst, because it had already happened. And as screwed up as it sounded, Kyoko had craved that relief.

But now she was in a world that she had never even heard of, knew very little about, and, though she hated to admit it, just sounded too damned good to be true. Granted, that freaky-ass city had been, well, a bit of a nightmare. And it was evident that Oblivion was looking to be a continual thorn in her side. But beyond that, the possibilities that were being offered to her were very tempting. To be able to reunite and settle her differences with Mami? To have successfully returned Sayaka to human…ish form and have an actual friendship with her, with all of the blunnette's suspicion and hostility cleansed away? To live with the two of them in an admittedly awesome house on an ocean platform thingamajig? To no longer live in fear and distrust and have real, honest-to-God friends? Okay granted, she still didn't know where she stood with that Charlotte chick, and she did find the fact that she had been the witch to eat Mami to be kind of on the disturbing side. But hey, the awkward tension between them was not a deal breaker, and given how her encounter with the witch Oktavia von Seckendorff had gone down, she was no one to throw stones about the whole killing Mami thing. And to top it off, with Oblivion gunning for her and Elsa Maria still needing saving, it wasn't like she was going to be bored either. She had an obviously, almost comically, evil bad guy to fight and a damsel in distress to rescue. It was her chance to be a real hero, and to do it on her terms.

But that's where she had a problem. In her experience, when something sounded too good to be true, that meant it was. There had to be another layer to this, something sinister that no one else was seeing. Because at the moment, it sounded too much like a good…

Dream?

Kyoko's eyes snapped open as realization hit her. She almost started laughing and had to bite down on her knuckles to hold it in. During her battle with Oktavia, right after she had realized that their attempts to get to her were doomed to fail and right before she had unleashed that final, devastating attack that had vanquished them both, Kyoko had done something that she had not done since the day of her family's death: she had prayed. She had knelt down right there in the middle of Oktavia's concert hall and talked to God for what she had expected to be the last time. But she hadn't prayed for protection, or strength, or even redemption. In her mind, those had been unnecessary or out of her reach. Instead, she had simply asked that she be sent one last bit of comfort. A happy dream.

And now, here she was.

Was this the answer to her prayer? Was this the dream she had asked for? Kyoko turned over. Sayaka was sleeping peacefully, lightly clutching at her pillow. Beyond the bedroom door, Mami was nearby, also at peace with her new life. And they wanted Kyoko to be a part of it.

But despite all that, Kyoko couldn't bring herself to find comfort in the thought. Because more often than not, her dreams became nightmares.

Troubled, conflicted, and unsure of what she was supposed to do, Kyoko finally drifted into an uneasy slumber.

…

Mami leaned with her arms folded over the platform's railing, watching the moon cast its shimmering reflection over the water. Corrie Linemann had already been contacted and was expecting them tomorrow morning. But though she really should be resting up for what promised to be an eventful day, she just couldn't bring herself to go to bed, not yet. She had too much to think about.

She heard someone walk up behind her and smiled when a familiar pair of slim arms wrapped themselves lightly around her waist. "Hey," she said, reaching up to cradle the head that now rested on her shoulder.

"Hey yourself," Charlotte said. "You okay?"

"Mmmm. Just thinking."

"About what?"

"Everything." Mami sighed. "And how we're going to deal with it."

"Yeah. Things did suddenly get real complicated, didn't they?"

"It's to be expected."

"Doesn't make it any easier though."

Mami sighed again. "No, not really. But who ever said life was easy?"

"Funny," Charlotte said with a small chuckle. She released Mami's waist and moved to lean against the rail next to her. "Still, this is all kinds of ironic. Two people you knew back in your life, showing up at the same time. And it turns out they've got trouble with Oblivion herself. I have to give them credit, they work fast."

"Come on Charlotte, you know it's not their fault."

"Oh, I know. I'm just saying, it's so ridiculous that it's kind of funny when you think of it."

"You've got a strange sense of humor," Mami said dryly. She shook her head. "Oh, by the by, what were you and Kyoko arguing about back there?"

Charlotte turned to look at her in confusion. "Ah, come again?"

"Back in the lighthouse. We could hear you two shouting at each other."

"Oh. That." Charlotte shrugged. "I was just explaining how it's a bad idea to not call Oktavia by her name. And she really didn't take it well."

Mami sighed. "Really? Come on, sweetie. I know it's important, but did you really have to drop that on her today? I mean, she's kind of dealing with a lot right now."

"I know, but it's better that she knows, and the sooner the better."

Mami took Charlotte's hand and gave it a light squeeze. "Char, I know you're all for confronting hard truths right up front, but bringing that up when she's just woke up from a five-day coma, reunited with her dead friend with whom she has a real troubled history with, found out that she really is dead herself, and was in the middle of desperately searching for someone that she feels indebted to? Not really the best time. Remember how we were when we were figuring things out? Would you have liked for someone to drop something like that on you then?"

That made Charlotte wince. "Uh, well. When you put it that way…" She sheepishly ran her hand through her hair. "I guess maybe I should apologize to her, huh?"

Mami smiled. She leaned over to rest her hand against the taller girl's shoulder. "You don't like her, do you?"

Charlotte gave her a sidelong glance. "Hey, where is this coming from? And she asked me the same thing, you know that?" She shrugged her other shoulder. "Well, the answer's still the same. I don't know her. I have nothing against her, but I don't know her. You warned me that she's pretty abrasive, and you were right. And I honestly think she's a little weirded out by me. So yeah, there's a little tension there."

"Just give her a chance," Mami said. "Like I said, she's-"

"Dealing with a lot," Charlotte said in agreement. "No, I get that. And you're right, she needs some space right now. I should have realized that earlier, sorry." She shook her head and laughed. "Though to her credit, she's handling all this a lot better than we did."

"Mmmm, that's for sure. She hasn't tried to shoot anyone yet. At least not that we know of."

Charlotte gave her a playful shove. "Maybe not, but she did say that guns aren't her thing. So I wouldn't let her near the sharp objects if I were you."

"That's kind of pointless, seeing how she can summon some very sharp objects out of thin air," Mami pointed out.

"See what I mean? Tension. Especially since I keep expecting her to go all stabby-stab-stab the second my back's turned."

"Well, I'll tell you what. She does that, and I'll threaten to send her to bed without dinner. That'll set her straight, trust me." They both laughed at that.

For a while, neither of them spoke. They just stood together, enjoying a few moments of peace before whatever the next day brought.

And then Mami said, "But do you know what I find strange? I actually felt sorry for her."

"Who, Kyoko?" Charlotte asked, bewildered. "Of course you did! She's your friend, why wouldn't you?"

"Oh, oh no." Mami shook her head and laughed. "I'm sorry, I should have clarified. No, I meant that Void Walker, Annabelle Lee I think her name was? Despite everything she had done to Kyoko and Oktavia, and even though she's responsible for whatever is happening to their friend, I felt a little sorry for her."

"Sorry," Charlotte repeated, her tone flat. "For her." A pause, and then, "Really?"

Mami shrugged. "You didn't see her. She was desperate. I have no doubt that whatever punishment Reibey has in store for her, it must be horrible."

"Well, maybe," Charlotte said incredulously. "But you really got to question the intelligence of anyone who would willingly work for an Incubator. I mean, come on. You know what they say about making beds and sleeping in them?"

Mami patted the back of Charlotte's hand. "It's not always so simple as that. Some girls just can't adjust, and they see Oblivion as their only chance. You know that. Remember Jezebel?"

"Had to bring her up," Charlotte sighed, remembering one of their more unfortunate acquaintances. "All right, you have a point. Still, you've got to be one of the few people to feel sorry for the person trying to abduct your friends for an evil monster."

"Like I said, you had to see her. That girl was terrified." Mami shuddered. "If anything, it just makes me hate Reibey more, thinking of what he must be doing to her, to all of them, right now."

…

There was the sound of a concussion, an explosion of force, and Annabelle Lee's body was flung backward with unstoppable momentum. She didn't have enough time to scream before she slammed into the stone wall with bone-shattering force.

As Annabelle Lee's broken body tumbled to the ground, trailing wisps of white vapor behind it, Reibey turned his attention to the rest of her posse. Arzt, Nie, and Nikki huddled together, staring with wide eyes as he paced back and forth.

Reibey stared unblinking at them, letting the tension continue to rise. Ten seconds went by. Fifteen. Thirty. A full minute. Two.

It wasn't until Annabelle Lee had healed enough to push herself up on her shaking arms that he broke eye contact. "Well, gosh," he said, looking from one trembling face to the next. "Girls, I really don't know what to say. I ask one thing of you, one simple job. I thought you would be able to handle it. After all, it wasn't like I was asking anything especially difficult. Just please go grab those two new arrivals and bring them here. And seeing how there's four of you and one of them doesn't even have legs, I thought for sure you could pull it off."

Shaking his ratlike head, Reibey padded over to the three of them and sat down less than three meters away, making them cringe back. "But despite giving it your all no less than three times, here you are, back here with no Kyoko Sakura, no mermaid witch, and nothing to show for your efforts except for some churchgirl who I have not even heard of until now. Tell me, why did you waste time by bringing her here? Did you expect me to exact you revenge for you? Punish her for succeeding while you failed? What exactly do you expect me to do with her? Ask her to write Kyoko Sakura an invitation to tea?"

His shoulders lifted and fell in an exaggerated sigh. "My word, I am just so disappointed right now. I'm sorry girls, I take no joy in telling you this, but that's three failed attempts. Do I even need to make the tired baseball analogy?"

"Wh-what?" Nie stuttered. "But…but Arzt and I were only there for one!"

Nie agreed. "Annabelle Lee was the one who failed three times, not us!" she cried, pointing at her disgraced team leader with the syringe hand while clutching Ticky Nikki close with the other. For once, the little nutcase wasn't resisting, but instead burrowed into Nie's side, trying to hide herself. "And Nikki wasn't there for the last one; she still has one more shot!"

Reibey cocked his head to one side. "You know what? You're right. Annabelle Lee was the one to fail all three times. All right girls, you just got yourself another chance."

"What?" Annabelle Lee said as she looked up. "But you said-"

There was another wave of force, and Annabelle Lee's body was slammed down against the ground. Her forehead smacked against the cold tiles and she lay still with a dazed whimper.

"That should keep her quiet for a while," Reibey said. "As for you three, same terms apply. Go get Kyoko Sakura and the mermaid with blue hair. Bring them here. Don't violate the Compact. Beyond that, no restrictions. Understood?"

"Yes, yes!" Nie cried, bowing low. "Thank you!"

"Not at all. You have thirty seconds."

Three dumbstruck faces stared at him, all of them unable to believe what he was saying.

"Seven seconds are gone, girls. Time is a-ticking. Aren't you going to do anything?"

Nie and Arzt exchanged looks of helplessness. Nikki started crying.

"Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, aaaannnnd…time's up! Sorry Ticky Nikki, that's it for you."

Reibey glanced up, and Nikki was torn from Arzt's grasp so suddenly that she almost took the arm with her. Wailing, she hurled upward to impact against the ceiling, more than forty meters in the air. From there, she plummeted all the way down to land in a crumpled heap next to her sister.

"Well, by my count, that still leaves you two with one more shot," Reibey said, addressing The Twins. "Please don't fail again. I'll even give you a full minute this time. That should be more than enough, right?

The Twins stared at him, their golden eyes mute pleas.

"No? All right, forget it then. Three strikes, all around."

Arzt and Nie were flung apart in opposite directions. Reibey turned and walked away as they impacted with the room's east and west walls.

When he was sure that everyone had recovered sufficiently to pay attention, Reibey sat down and said, "I really don't remember ever being so disappointed, and I know Oblivion isn't going to be thrilled. I'm sorry girls, but this just reflects poorly on everyone."

"Wait," Annabelle Lee gasped as she clawed her way across the floor. "Don't cast us out. Don't make us leave. Please."

"Nothing's decided yet, but right now, it isn't looking good." Reibey shook his head. "For now, I want the four of you to return to your respective quarters and stay there. I'll talk things over with Oblivion and let you know as soon as she makes a decision."

His four failed subordinates, all of them scattered across the room, cowered.

"Now!"

He didn't need to tell them a third time. Annabelle Lee staggered her way into flight and practically dragged a sobbing Ticky Nikki out the door. The Twins limped their way back to each other and hurried out the door as quickly as they could.

Once they were gone, Reibey turned and headed toward another door, this one set in the opposite wall. It opened as he approached, and he was soon descending a seemingly endless Mobius strip that spiraled in a black void. As a defensive mechanism, it was quite ideal, as those incapable of leaving it where they wished would find themselves forever desperately trying to reach the non-existence top or bottom. Fortunately, there was nothing in Palace Omega that was shut off to Reibey.

Once he felt that he had gone far enough, Reibey hopped off the steps and found himself in hallway that looked as if it had been carved right through a solid mountain of obsidian. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all smooth, featureless, and completely without seams. However, from the walls came a myriad of unpleasant sounds: pitiful sobs, angry threats, deranged screams, and incoherent babbling. Newcomers often assumed that the hallway was haunted, and it was, after a fashion, though not in the way they imagined. After all, were not all inhabitants of this world essentially spirits of the dead, save for Reibey himself? Did that not make any place where they gathered together "haunted"?

It was an interesting thought, one that Reibey found amusing. But the truth of the matter was that the source of the horrific cries had a very definite source. Reibey walked down the hallway before stopping to look at a seemingly insignificant bit of wall.

He blinked, and the wall opened up, forming a rectangular doorway. Beyond was a square room, unfurnished and unlit save for the faint lights of his eyes. Fortunately, Reibey's night vision was exceptionally good.

Kneeling in the far corner of the room and facing the wall was the witch that Annabelle Lee's crew had brought in, the one that had caused them to fail their mission. Her head was bowed, her eyes closed, and her hands clasped tightly under her chin. Her mouth moved, forming words, but she made no sound, and didn't even react to Reibey's entrance.

Reibey walked into the room. "Well now, I for one cannot apologize enough for this horrible misunderstanding. Rest assured, those responsible for bringing you here have been disciplined. I really am sorry, Elsa. May I call you Elsa? I don't want to be presumptuous."

Elsa Maria didn't answer. She didn't even acknowledge him. She just kept praying.

Reibey sat down on his haunches, his tail bobbing over his head. "Of course you are to be released. I'm sorry it took so long. You know bureaucracy. Every time you think you've finally finished all the paperwork, one more form rears its ugly head."

Elsa Maria continued to pray.

"And we will of course make full reparations for any property loss you have suffered. If you like, we would be happy to build you another lighthouse, or any other structure of your choice."

Still no answer.

Reibey tilted his head to the right and scratched his ear. "But before you go, I was wondering if you would be willing to help us out with a little problem. See, it seems that we've also got a bit of a misunderstanding with one Kyoko Sakura, whom I believe you know. This whole thing has just been a ghastly mess from beginning to end, and I really would appreciate the opportunity to clear things up with her and make amends. The only problem is that, thanks to the bumbling idiocy of those I have working for me, I think she might be laboring under the impression that our organization is actually hostile towards her! Can you believe it? I sure couldn't. But I would love to set things straight, so if you could convince her to have a one-on-one meeting with me, I would be most appreciative."

There still was no answer. It was like he wasn't there.

"You know," Reibey said after a long wait. "It is considered polite, upon being addressed, to pay those speaking to you some measure of attention."

He waiting for some kind of acknowledgement and, when he didn't get it, he said, "You do realize that I am bending over backwards to make things right. I understand that you and your associates were wronged and my people are at fault, but please give me the opportunity to…You're not going to so much as look at me, no matter what I say, are you?"

True to form, she didn't.

Irritated, Reibey decided to drop the pretenses. "All right, fine. If that doesn't work, then chew on this. Since your name doesn't appear on the Compact in any way, shape, or form, you derive no protection from the agreement. Which means I can do whatever I want to you, and there isn't a damned thing anyone can do about it. So if I decided to let you rot in this tiny room for the rest of eternity, then that's exactly what is going to happen."

When once again she refused to answer him, Reibey's last bit of patience snapped. "Fine! Enjoy the screams from your neighbors. I give it a week before you join them, if that."

Reibey turned to leave, but before he was halfway to the door, the witch said, "You will fail."

That stopped him his tracks. "I beg your pardon?"

"You will fail. You, and all those who act in concert with you. Your plans will be for naught, and you will be cast down, like Lucifer before you."

Reibey's tail twitched. "Oh, so now you're speaking to me? And what plans will that be, exactly?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Not to be contrary, but it does." Reibey started moving toward the door again. "You religious types confound me, you really do. Even after being confronted with concrete proof that the universe works according to an entirely different system than the one described in your little book, you just cling tighter to your delusions. And then you go off on a self-righteous spiel about how all my plans are doomed to fail even though you don't have the slightest clue what they actually are. Assumptions without evidence. I suppose I should give you credit for internal consistency at least."

He stepped out into the hallway, and the wall was made whole, sealing her up again.

Well, that had gone nowhere, but then what did these days? His group of minions seemed to be incapable of performing the simplest tasks, and now Oblivion was badgering him all the more. He now deeply regretted letting her know of Kyoko Sakura's arrival. He should have waited until he had the girl wrapped up in a basket before presenting her to the whiner as a surprise. It was now getting to the point where he was deliberately avoiding the throne room, which in turn was making her all the more irritable.

He was cursed, there was no other explanation. Some unseen force was getting its jollies by ensuring that he not enjoy the smallest measure of success. And now Kyoko Sakura was more-or-less out of reach. She was probably signing the Compact already. And what did he have to show for his troubles? One lousy witch, and a useless one at that. Maybe, just maybe, Kyoko Sakura could be convinced to come to him in hopes of rescuing her, but he wasn't nearly so optimistic to believe that would…

Wait.

Wait, wait, wait.

Reibey froze in mid-step.

An idea was starting to take form in his head, the seeds of a plan. Granted, it didn't have the advantage of simplicity, but he had tried that already. He recalled everything Oblivion had told her about this elusive Kyoko Sakura, about her motivations and past tragedies. Unfortunately he really hadn't been paying much attention, but based upon the few tidbits he could remember…

He started chuckling. Well, this could work. It was a long shot, but at least this time he would be doing the work himself instead of relying wholly on incompetents. And speaking of which, perhaps those for could prove useful yet.

Reibey broke out into a run, leaping back onto the spiral staircase and heading into the upper reaches of the palace.

Chapter Text

The elevator rattled to a stop, and Kyoko and Charlotte stepped out of the cage. Kyoko placed the case she was carrying down, looked around at the dock, and whistled her appreciation.

"Well, I gotta admit," she said. "For being in the middle of nowhere, you've got a pretty nice setup here."

"We like it," Charlotte agreed, though there was a note of defensiveness in her voice. Kyoko smirked. Yup, the pink-haired witch didn't much like her. Which was fine. Kyoko was used to people not liking her.

"Hey, I ain't being sarcastic or anything." Kyoko walked to the edge of the dock, turned around, and looked the entire platform up and down. "I mean it, this is pretty cool. Couldn't have been cheap though. Hey, do people still use money here?"

"Yes," Charlotte said. "But fortunately, we didn't have to use it. We sort of inherited this place."

"Really?" Kyoko stuck her hands into her pockets. "How's that work? I mean, if everyone's dead already."

"We used to work for its former owners," Mami said. The blonde girl was already in the largest of the boats, securing a bunch of plastic boxes, identical to the one Kyoko had been carrying. "Natsuru Senou and Shizuku Sango. But they left a few years ago and let us keep the place."

Kyoko blinked. If she had a sweet house on the ocean, she sure wouldn't be so quick to give it up. "Why?"

Mami straightened up and brushed her hands on her jeans. "Some friends of theirs showed up in Pinespire, up north, and they decided to go live with them. I guess the Nautilus Platform was too small for their friends to come here."

Huh, that was interesting. Kyoko thought of the two girls she had seen in the bathroom photos. "Was one of the 'bout yea tall," she said, holding her hand a bit above her own head, "with long black hair, and the other around the same size with blue hair?" She cupped her hands in front of her chest. "And both of them with really big boobs?"

Mami rolled her eyes.

"Wait, huh?" Charlotte's face screwed up in confusion. "How…"

Kyoko shrugged. "Saw some pics in the bathroom. Was wondering who they were."

"Oh. Well, yes. That's them. We still keep in touch, and visit them every Christmas."

"Huh." Kyoko looked the platform over again. "Hell of an inheritance. I mean, most people just get a few bucks, some cheap-ass jewelry, the family dog, maybe a car. Hey, do we still have dogs here?"

"Again, yes," Charlotte said. "Most animal species are accounted for, plus a few new ones."

From her perch across Charlotte's shoulders, Sayaka shifted around to look at her fellow witch and said, "So wait, does that mean animals have souls too? But why'd they come here then?"

"No one knows for sure. We try not to question it."

Kyoko eyed the pink-haired witch. "You know, I'm starting to get the feeling that there's a lot you people don't know about this place."

"Oh, be nice," Sayaka admonished. She wagged her finger reprovingly at the redhead. "It's not like there's a lot we knew about the land of the living either."

"How would you know, you don't even remember it!" Kyoko countered.

"Can you guys wait until I'm not carrying one of you before you start arguing?" Charlotte said. "Because this is kind of awkward."

"Sorry," Sayaka said.

"Hey, if it's that much of a problem, then give her here," Kyoko said, holding out her hand. "It's not like I haven't been carrying her ass around everywhere anyway."

Glowering, Sayaka pushed herself up with her hands on Charlotte's left shoulder. "And every time you did you just complained the whole time. Besides, if I let you do the carrying, you'll just drop me on my butt!"

"I might not," Kyoko said.

"Yes, you will! You always do!"

"I might not."

Charlotte, who was already staggering in her attempts to keep Sayaka's body balanced, said, "Okay, okay! Let's stop rocking the Charlotte or you're gonna fall overboard!"

"Whoops, sorry Charlotte," Sayaka said sheepishly. She settled back down.

Snickering, Kyoko picked the box back up and hopped aboard. She handed it to Mami and watched her tie it to the others.

"Hey, what the hell is in those things anyway?" she asked.

"Mermaid eggs," Mami answered promptly, giving the cord a final tug.

Kyoko stared, unsure if she had just heard what she thought she had heard. "Wait, what? Say that again?"

"Mermaid eggs," Mami said again, just as matter-a-fact as before. She stood up and headed for the front of the boat. "We sell them. It's how we make our living."

"Mermaid eggs…You, uh, you're fucking with me right?" She turned to Charlotte, who was helping Sayaka into her seat. "Charly, she's fucking with me, right?"

"Nope," Charlotte said. She finished strapping Sayaka in and walked off to join Mami. "Those really are boxes of mermaid eggs over there."

Kyoko shook her head. She could accept a lot of things, but this was too much. "Come on Sayaka, are they fucking with me?" she asked Sayaka, her voice almost pleading. "I mean, you don't really…"

"Well, you know how it is," Sayaka said primly as she ran her fingers through her short blue hair, straightening it out. "Mermaids lay a fresh clutch every morning, and it would be a shame to let it all go to waste."

"I…ah…"

"Actually, it all works out," she continued. "Before, they had to harvest wild mermaid eggs, and that's just dangerous, given that mermaids are really protective of their nests. But with me around, that's a third of their daily quota, right there before they even begin." She shrugged. "We even tried having me try to communicate with the wild mermaids and see if they can't domesticate a couple more, but one of them started doing this really funky jiggle thing. I figured it was their weird way of saying 'hi,' so I started copying her."

Kyoko had no idea what to say to something like that. "Oh, uh, did you?"

"Uh-huh. Turns out it was a courtship dance." Sayaka grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, things got a little awkward after that. I may or may not be married now, but she still keeps showing up at the platform like every night, trying to make me come with her. Just can't get it through her head that it was all a big ugly misunderstanding." She shrugged again. "Love, y'know? What'cha gonna do?"

"I…I…" Kyoko quickly knelt down and put her head between her legs. She clutched at her skull, trying to fight off what surely had to be a developing aneurysm.

That was when everyone starting laughing, Sayaka especially. If it weren't for the harness she was wearing, she would have been doubling over in hysterics.

As for herself, Kyoko was just growing more and more confused, not to mention frustrated. "What?" she said, looking from one to the other. "What? Come on! What am I missing?"

In answer, Mami walked over to one of the boxes and loosened the straps. She opened it up, revealing a number of frozen pale yellow spheres, each about the size of a baseball. She picked one up. For a brief moment her hand glowed, and the ice thawed. Then she handed it to Kyoko, who gingerly took it. It was made of some kind of firm jelly-like stuff, and while it didn't smell bad, per se, it sure as hell smelled a lot.

"The kelp around here use these as floaters," Mami said, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "We harvest them and sell them to be made into things like makeup, perfume, food flavoring, that sort of thing. They've been nicknamed mermaid eggs long before we got here, so any relation to Oktavia here is purely coincidental."

"Still was freaking funny when I found out," Sayaka said, still chuckling. "Seriously, I couldn't stop laughing for like ten minutes!"

Kyoko looked at her. "So, you really don't lay eggs?"

"No, Kyoko," Sayaka said slowly as if she were speaking to a small child. "I don't lay eggs. And as far as I know, I'm the only mermaid here."

Kyoko glowered. "Dumbass, don't freak me out like that!" She tossed the sphere back to Mami. "People really use this in perfume? Smells like a Christmas tree soaked in pickle juice." She sat down next to Sayaka and sulkily folded her arms.

"That's what you get for calling me Sayaka," the blunette mermaid said, flicking Kyoko in the ear. Kyoko blinked. Right, she had forgotten about that name thing. She shot the mermaid a look, but fortunately Sayaka was still smiling mischievously. Good. Apparently she still had a long way to go before she started going insane. Plenty of time for Kyoko to work out how she was going to fix her, as there was no way she was going to start using the name "Oktavia."

Still, while she was woman enough to admit when she had been taken by a good zinger, Kyoko couldn't let it pass without some form of retaliation. So she leaned over and asked, "By the way, maybe you don't lay fishy eggs, but, uh, do you still do…other stuff?"

Sayaka frowned at her. "Like what?"

Kyoko gestured down at the multicolored tail. "Well, you still poop, right? And if so, how?"

There was a snort of laughter from the front of the boat. Charlotte had apparently been listening in on their conversation, and was trying to hide it with her hand. Sayaka, however, wasn't so amused. "Wow, really?" she said, giving Kyoko a look.

"What, I'm just askin'." Kyoko examined the tail with a critical eye. "I mean, do you do it like a human and still use your ass, or is it like a fish where it all comes out the front there?"

"Oh, my God," Sayaka said as she pressed her hand against her forehead. "Really, Kyoko? Really?"

"And can you still use the toilet, or do they gotta go dump you in the ocean? Heh, come to think of it, that would be pretty neat. Just dick around, doing your business, trying to hit any fish that swims under you. And hey, is it the long stringy kind, or the-"

The rest of her line of questioning was cut off when Sayaka shoved a hand over Kyoko's mouth. "All right, that's enough of that," she said. "We're even now, okay? And by the way, you're freaking disgusting."

Grinning, Kyoko pushed Sayaka's arm away and leaned back with her arms folded behind her head. "Can't blame me for being curious. I mean, the whole mermaid thing never made sense to begin with, so I can't let this opportunity just slide by. You know, for science!"

Sayaka muttered something about jerks and finding a way to get revenge in the future.

Then Charlotte's voice called from the front. "By the way, if you want to know, she totally does it fish-style."

"Holy crap, Charlotte!" Sayaka shouted, mortified. "I swear to God I'm going to find a way to drown you!"

Kyoko burst out laughing. Up front, Mami had grabbed Charlotte in a headlock and was reprimanding her for embarrassing Sayaka, who in turn was now bright scarlet. Kyoko smirked at her, licked a finger, and drew an imaginary "1" in the air. Maybe she had started out behind, but in the end, that round had gone to her.

Mami started the boat, and soon they were heading out. Kyoko watched as the Nautilus Platform grew smaller and smaller behind them. For all her reservations about the afterlife, Mami and Charlotte did have an awesome house.

The mainland wasn't far, and before too long Kyoko could see it approaching on the horizon. And soon she got her first glimpse of Freehaven.

She had to admit, it wasn't exactly what she had pictured. Given how much Mami had talked up the place, she had pictured a sprawling futuristic metropolis at least the size of Genocide City, the capital city of a Puella Magi nation. But while Freehaven was of a decent size, it wasn't that big. And it was much too…pretty.

It sat on the side of a gently sloping hill, starting from its peak and reaching all the way to the sea. White buildings with flat, red-tiled roofs seemed to be the norm; with arching doorways and windows rimmed with mosaic tiles; and green, springy plants with small, curling vines hung everywhere. At the bottom, there were two notable dock areas, the borders of which were marked by long wall of rocks and separated by a long stretch of beach, which already had a good number of people wandering its sands, despite the early hour. Moored on the right-side docks were a number of pleasure craft, while the ones on the left were more of a commercial persuasion.

It was toward the latter that they were heading. Mami brought the boat up to one of the docks and slowed it to a stop. Waiting for them was a bespectacled girl with olive skin and dark, curling hair that reaching just past her ears. She wore a pair of overalls over a blue tee-shirt and was checking things off on a clipboard. But the most eye-catching was the pair of thin, delicate horns that sprouted out of her forehead and curved up and over her head. Kyoko blinked, and then nodded. Another former witch. Interesting.

The girl glanced up as they approached and smirked. She put the clipboard under her shoulder and walked over to greet them. "Well, well, well," she said as Charlotte and Mami started tying the boat to the dock. "About time. I was getting worried we'd never hear from you two again." She looked over the boxes of mermaid eggs and clicked her tongue. "Hmmm, kind of a small haul, too."

"Sorry about that," Mami said cheerfully. She finished her knot and went over to give the girl a friendly side-hug. "Had something come up." She nodded toward Kyoko and Sayaka, who were staring openly.

"So I heard," the girl said. "They're the ones, huh?"

Mami nodded.

"I see." The girl shrugged, hopped onto the boat, and stuck her hand toward Kyoko. "So, you're the girls everyone's been talking about. Howdy, and welcome to Freehaven. I'm Victoria, the dockmaster. But you can call me Vickie. Everyone does."

"Uh, hey," Kyoko said, cautiously taking the offered and giving it a limp shake. She wondered if she disliked this girl or not and decided that it was still too early to tell. "Kyoko. Kyoko Sakura."

"And I'm Oktavia von Seckendorff," Sayaka said, leaning over and shaking Vickie's hand with more enthusiasm than Kyoko had shown. "Pleased to meet you!"

"The same." Vickie put her hand on her hip and looked them both over. "So, word down the grapevine has it that a certain lying asshole and her pet slimeball went and put a hit on you two, that right?"

Kyoko immediately tensed up. "Yeah?" she said. "What of it?"

But to her surprise, Vickie just grinned and gave her a thumb's-up. "Good job!"

Kyoko blinked. "Huh?"

"Hey, I have no idea what you did to make Oblivion so mad, but anyone that gets that bitch's gourd is okay in my book. You two'll fit in just fine." Vickie turned toward the dock and hollered, "Hey! Get your lazy asses over here and get this smelly shit stored away! Come on, what do I pay you guys for?"

Kyoko stared as a bunch of girls of various nationalities descended upon the boat and starting hauling the boxes away. "Huh. Well, I guess they do like us here," she said, sitting back down next to Sayaka. Vickie had hopped back onto the dock and started talking to Mami.

"Looks like," Sayaka agreed. "Well, that'll make things easier."

"Vickie's an ex-Void Walker," Charlotte said, coming over to join the pair. "That would probably explain why she likes you."

Kyoko and Sayaka both jerked their heads toward her in surprise. "Wait, wha-" Kyoko gaped. "You mean, she's…"

"Yup," Charlotte nodded. The pink-haired witch leaned back against the boat's side. "Left them oh, about forty or so years ago. They put a hit on her too, until she went and signed the Free Life Compact and moved here. Brought a ton of information with her too. We weren't there of course, but from what we've heard, the rat was furious."

"He was," Vickie called cheerfully down to them. "Kept trying to bully Corrie into sending me back. She told him to go to hell."

"Which, from his perspective, he's already at," said one of the dockworkers, a burly girl with a box under each arm. That got a laugh and a round of agreement from her coworkers.

As for Kyoko, she found she couldn't tear her eyes away from the dockmaster. "But…" she said, trying to put her thoughts in order. "She's…all tanned!"

This was greeted by another bout of laughter. "What, you didn't think all that whitewashing was permanent, did you?" Charlotte snickered. "Once you leave that gang, you leave for good."

…

In many ways, the great auditorium was the beating heart of Palace Omega and, by extension, the entirety of the Withering Lands. For one, it sat in the castle's center, with its high, glass domed ceiling being the most prominent feature of the roof. For another, it was here that the Void Walkers that had been deemed worthy of moving were released by Oblivion's own hand. And, though it was only known to Reibey himself, the auditorium also served as the focal point of Reibey's pet project.

The room itself was immense, taking up the entirely of Palace Omega's ground floor. In its center, directly beneath the dome, was a short ziggurat of black stone. At the end of every year, all the Void Walkers of sufficient rank and standing would fill the room, and watch enviously as those among their number that had served Oblivion the most faithfully had their bodies permanently destroyed and their soul essences cast into their master's namesake. What happened to them then, whether it be reincarnation, another afterlife, or nothingness, was anyone's guess, but everyone agreed that it had to be better than the prison that they currently inhabited. That, coupled with the fact that the actual criteria for faithful service was very vague, served as ample motivation for all of Oblivion's subjects to try their hardest to win her favor.

However, today Reibey was not in the auditorium to oversee the release of a soul; quite the opposite, actually. Annabelle Lee's most recent kidnapping attempt may have been an unsurprising failure, but she did bring back the news that Kyoko Sakura had awoken from her slumber and was seeking for that praying witch he had stored away. And given how that bald bitch from Freehaven had been pestering him every day for the last week, it stood to reason that he would soon be talking to Kyoko herself. It was time to gather some information.

He padded across the large, empty room, his black body blending in almost perfectly with the featureless obsidian floor, and hopped his way up to the top of the ziggurat. Once there, he sat down and pawed at the ground.

"All right," he said. "Cough them up."

Though he was the only one in the room, and though no one spoke in response, there still must have been an answer, as he then said, "You know damned well which ones. Stop being disingenuous and let's see them."

The top of the ziggurat glowed red, and suddenly what appeared to be a whirlwind of swirling black smoke and red lights exploded out. It soared up and twisted several times around the auditorium ceiling, like some sort of demonic serpent bursting out of Hell. The sound it made was simply unearthly: a long, continuous wail, though disjointed, as if a chorus of voices were crying out in agony from the other end of a poorly tuned radio.

The smoke swirled around the room once, twice, and three times before looping up and around to descend back onto the ziggurat's peak. But instead of being absorbed back into the stone, it washed over the small pyramid and swept down across the floor. The smoke broke apart and separated into clumps, forming several dozen black shades that huddled along the ziggurat's tiers and around its base. They were all identical, each taking the shape of a thin girl with long hair tied into a single ponytail. Further, they all had a pair of glowing crimson eyes, similar to Reibey's, but more hazy. And each and every pair was focused upon the rogue Incubator with a look of naked loathing.

As for Reibey, he was not at all perturbed by the hatred being sent in his direction. His gaze swept over the shades, locking eyes with a small handful for no other reason than to make them even more uncomfortable. Then he said, "Good morning, ladies! Or should that be lady, in the singular? Sorry to have woken you up like this, but I find myself in need of information of the sort only you can provide."

He stood up and walked along the platform's perimeter, enjoying the way the shades flinched when he stared at them for too long. "So now," he purred. "Why don't you all tell me about yourself?"

…

Up on the docks, Mami was finalizing things with Vickie.

"Really hope you can get the next shipment to me quicker," Vickie said as she marked things off on her clipboard. "I mean, I know you had important things come up and all, but you guys are still the best supplier of these things around, and I've had everyone from the bakery to the beauty salon breathing down my neck."

"Sorry," Mami said. "The next one will be faster, I promise."

"Hey, no need to apologize. Some things are more important than smelly balls of jelly, you know?" Vickie quickly scribbled out a check and handed it to Mami. "Here."

"Thanks." Mami looked at the check and frowned. "Ah, Victoria? This is our usual rate."

"So it is. Why's that a problem?"

Mami was confused. "But we haven't been able to harvest much. We couldn't have brought more than two-thirds of what we usually do."

Vickie put her clipboard under her arm. "Like I said: why's that a problem?"

Mami blinked. Then she understood and smiled. "Thanks, Vick," she said, leaning over to kiss Vickie on the cheek.

"Hey, easy there," Vickie said with a smirk. "You'll make Charlotte jealous." Then her brow rose and she slapped her forehead. "Oh, hold up, almost forgot. You know that special item you asked me about?"

Mami's face brightened. "You got it?"

In answer, Vickie walked over to a large, open crate and reached inside. From within, she withdrew a contraption made from steel, felt, and plastic.

"A wheelchair!" Everyone turned to Oktavia, who was practically squealing with delight. "Oh God, thank you! I thought I was going to have to be carried everywhere!"

"Now you get to be pushed everywhere." Vickie shook her head. "But I suppose that would be a major step up. Anyway, you four better be off. Corrie's been calling me every fifteen minutes, asking if you'd arrived yet, and it's really getting on my nerves."

"Us too," Mami said. "She started around four in the morning. We ended up turning our phone off."

…

Sometime later, Kyoko had learned another important fact about the afterlife, or at least about Freehaven. While it still had boats and telephones which operated more-or-less as they had back in the world of the living, cars had yet to make the transition, at least in Freehaven.

"Well, it's not like they're needed," Charlotte said as the four of them made their way up Freehaven's cobbled streets. "For one, these roads were built before cars were even invented, and they're way too narrow. For another, Freehaven's small enough that anywhere is within walking distance. And if we need to get somewhere in a hurry, well…"

She pointed up. There, Kyoko could see a couple of Puella Magi leaping from rooftop to rooftop, making their way down toward the sea.

"Yeah?" Kyoko shrugged. "Well, whoop-de-doo for them. Doesn't do us any good."

Then she jumped, as Sayaka had just jabbed a finger into her side. "Oh, whine, whine, whine," she said. "Come on! A little walk never hurt anyone."

"Says the girl who gets to sit down the whole way," Kyoko snapped back. "Why don't you get up and let someone else have a turn?"

"Sure thing," Sayaka drawled, reaching over to poke Kyoko again. "Let me borrow your legs and we'll switch."

Kyoko slapped her hand away. "Poke me again and lose a finger. And you don't need my legs. Just get Mami here to carry you around so Charlotte can push me around for a change."

From her place behind the wheelchair (Sayaka had adamantly refused to let Kyoko anywhere near the handles, claiming that she would be pushed down a flight of stairs at the earliest opportunity), Charlotte rolled her eyes and turned to Mami. "Are they going to be like this the whole way?"

"Oh, most likely," Mami said with a happy smile. Unlike the pink-haired witch, she didn't seem bothered by the younger girls' near-constant bickering. Recent reunions and reconciliations had done much to increase her tolerance.

As they rounded a corner, Kyoko felt someone approach from behind, and a strange voice like crystal wind chimes said, "Pardon us, but we're new here and seemed to have gotten a bit turned around. Can you tell us how to get to the library from here?"

"Sorry," Kyoko said, turning around. "My first time too. These two might be able to…"

The rest of her sentence was immediately forgotten when she saw who, or to be precise, what had addressed her. Two glittering bubbles hovered in the air before her, one about four times the size of her head, the other two-thirds the size of the other. The larger of the two was yellow, though its shade was constantly changing. The smaller was pink, and like its companion it also kept pulsing from bright to dark. Both of the bubbles had several tiny, multicolored lights swimming through their bodies.

Though she had seen many strange things since she had first made a contract, they had at least kept to certain themes. This was unexpected enough that Kyoko couldn't do anything except stand and stare, her jaw hanging wide open. Sayaka was likewise struck dumb, and had twisted her upper body around to peek over the wheelchair's back.

Mami and Charlotte, however, weren't in the least bit surprised. "Oh sure," Mami said, stepping toward the two bubbles. "It's actually not that far." She toward a gap between buildings, beyond which two white towers could be seen. "See those towers there? It's right across the street from them. The way there from here gets a little confusing, so you're probably better off just floating over the rooftops to get there."

The bubbles moved to look. "Oh, I see!" said the large, yellow one, its glittering lights swirling in time with its words. "Thank you."

"Not at all," Mami said with a polite bow of her head. She moved to let the bubbles through. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Have a good day!" Charlotte added with a cheerful wave.

The bubbles bobbed in what honestly appeared to be a nod, and as they floated away Kyoko heard the smaller one said in a more high-pitched voice, "See? I told you it wasn't far!"

Still dumbstruck, Kyoko turned to stare at Mami and Charlotte, who seemed to be amused by her confusion. "Uh, witches?" she said. It was the only explanation she could think of.

"Nope," Charlotte said, grinning. "Well, maybe, but not necessarily. It's kinda hard to tell with them, to be honest."

Now that didn't make a lick of sense. "Okay…Familiars then?"

"Wrong again. Can't make them anymore, not without turning all the way back into witches."

"They're called calliopes," Mami told Kyoko. Then she frowned. "Well, actually their real name is unpronounceable, but that's the name they adopted for us to use."

Kyoko's brow scrunched up. "Wow, way to not make a lick of sense. You wanna try again?"

"They're from another planet, Kyoko," Charlotte said.

Kyoko's body froze in place, her eyes going very, very wide. Down in the wheelchair, Sayaka made a sound not unlike a hiccup.

"Humans aren't the only species the Incubators have been working with," Mami explained. "We're just the one they've had the most success with, so we form the majority here. The calliopes are actually comparatively new, from what I hear. There's still a fair amount, but you'll mostly find them up in Cloudbreak or Pinespire. They prefer high altitudes and low temperatures, so you don't see them often here in Freehaven, but occasionally we get tourists visiting friends."

Kyoko's look of complete shock slowly morphed into a grin of absolute delight. "Hold up, are you telling me that I just met a freaking alien?"

"Well," Charlotte said hesitantly. "Not exactly alien to here. I mean, it's the afterlife for everyone the Incubators have made contracts with. But yeah, back in the world of the living they'd be alien to humans."

"Hot damn!" Kyoko turned to Sayaka. "You hear that, Fish Filet? First mermaids, and now aliens! If we meet talking dragons I swear I'll take back every bad thing I've said about this place."

"Why would you want to?" Sayaka asked in bafflement. "I mean, aren't they kind of…" She paused and looked thoughtful. "Okay, I admit it: dragons would be pretty cool."

"Uh, Kyoko?"

Kyoko looked back to Charlotte. "Yeah?"

The pink-haired girl looked a little uncomfortable. "Not to break your high, but you've already met an alien. Remember Kyubey the Incubator?"

There was a long pause, and then Kyoko said, "Wow. Way to be a buzzkill, Charly."

Charlotte winced. "Sorry." At her side, Mami pursed her lips, sighed, and shook her head, evidently not approving of how Charlotte had brought Kyoko's spirits down.

They walked on for a while in silence, and then Kyoko asked, "So, how many kinds of aliens you've got here anyway?"

Looking relieved that the awkward moment had passed, Mami said, "Including ourselves, there's about twelve species officially documented. At least I'm sure it's twelve, I haven't really checked recently." She looked at Charlotte. "It's twelve, right?"

"Thirteen," Charlotte said. "We had our first couple of savians show up three months ago."

Mami nodded. "Right, it was all over the news. Poor things. They were scared out of their wits."

"Huh." Kyoko mused on that for a while. "And they've got the same deal as us? Make a wish, get super-powers, fight witches before you get turned into one yourself?"

"More-or-less. You have to understand that it's not like it is in the TV shows. Most other species aren't like humans with different ears or forehead. Well, those Savians came pretty close, but many of them, such as the calliopes, aren't humanlike at all, and as such have developed completely different cultures and ways of seeing things, so the Incubators use different strategies with them, depending on the species. But the same basic framework remains, yes."

"Go with what works I guess," Kyoko said, her tone contemplative. "And is it the same as with us? I mean, where they only go after girls?"

"Mostly," Mami said. They came to a four-way junction and turned left. This led them up a slope with rougher cobblestones. "Not all of them reproduce the same way we do, so there's no need for gender."

"L-l-like th-the c-c-cal-l-lio-o-o-p-pes?" Sayaka guessed, her voice rattling along with the wheelchair as it bumped along.

"Exactly," Mami nodded. "But for the ones that do have genders, they do stick with young females, yes."

"A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a," Sayaka said, for no other reason than she enjoyed the distortion effect.

Kyoko scowled. "You know, I never thought about it before, but what's up with that, anyway? I mean, after this twit here," she rustled Sayaka's hair, earning her a sharp flick, "got herself turned into a musical fish stick, Homura Akemi gave me something of a crash course on how the rats run their con game. And she said that they only go after young girls about our age, like in their early teens, you know? Something about needing emotional energy to fight off autopsies or some nonsense like that."

"Autopsies?" Charlotte repeated, sounding bewildered.

"I think she means entropy," Mami said.

"Eh-eh-eh-en-troh-oh-oh-oh-pe-e-e-e-e," Sayaka put in.

"Right, that," Kyoko said. "Only not stupid how she made it sound. But anyway, the Terminator girl told me that they go for girls because girls are supposed to be all emotional, especially during puberty. But I can't count the number of guys I've met who were total whiny bitches. And plenty of them were old and married. So, what's with that? I mean, that's a shitload of untapped potential there!"

The ground leveled out and became smoother, and Sayaka thankfully stopped playing with her voice. Mami shrugged helplessly. "Unfortunately, I never had the chance to speak to Kyubey once I had been made wise to the full scope of their operations, so I really couldn't tell you."

"Well, they are aliens," Charlotte pointed out as she moved aside a low-hanging vine. "Maybe they did some basic research, chose a demographic, and stuck with it."

"Or maybe they're just a bunch of sexist assholes who really need to have their skulls kicked in on a regular basis," Kyoko put in to answer her own question. That got a snort out of Charlotte.

Mami pursed her lips. "Well, it's probably not as simple as that, but I doubt you'll find anyone here that disagrees."

"Or maybe it's because boys don't look nearly as good in those frilly dresses," Sayaka suggested.

That brought the whole group to a stop. Mami, Charlotte, and Kyoko looked first at each other, and then down at the wheelchair-bound mermaid.

"What?" she said, putting on a show of innocence. "I read that book you guys have. The one that lists all those different Puella Magi uniforms? And despite what you might think, I do remember what men look like. Come on, admit it: those outfits looked way better on us."

This was met with a collective sigh, and the caravan started moving again. "My outfit wasn't frilly," Kyoko muttered, mostly to herself. "And it was more like a battle-tunic than a dress."

"Neither was mine," Mami said. "Mine was more like-"

"Mami, I don't even know how to begin to describe that thing you wore. Like someone crossed a sailor-schoolgirl uniform with a cowgirl suit."

Mami cleared her throat and shot a sharp look to Charlotte and Sayaka, who were both trying to hide their snickers. "Kyoko, that is probably the worst description I have ever heard."

"I don't even remember mine," Charlotte said. "So it could have been frilly. Who knows?"

"Me neither," Sayaka said glumly. "I hope mine wasn't. I'd look awful in frills."

"Actually, Kyoko here could probably tell you," Mami said. She touched Kyoko's shoulder. "What did her uniform look like?"

Kyoko thought about the question for a while before shrugging and answering with, "Eh, cleavage."

Again, the party was brought to a stop. Charlotte slowly turned her head toward Mami and mouthed, "Cleavage?"

Her mouth moving wordlessly, Mami shook her head and spread her hands.

"Cleavage?" Sayaka repeated, again with the same expression she had worn when Kyoko had questioned her as to her bathroom habits. "Cleavage?"

"Yeah. Cleavage. You had it. Top of your boobs. They were out." When Sayaka continued to stare, Kyoko added, "Hey, I didn't pick the outfit."

Whistling, she stuck her hands into her pockets and continued on. Behind her, Sayaka started shouting, "Oh, come on! That can't be the only thing you remember. There's got to be more to it than that! What color was it? Did I have a skirt or pants? Did I at least fill it out okay? Did…Why are you two looking at me like that?"

Kyoko grinned. She licked her index finger and drew an imaginary "2" in the air.

…

Interrogating the shades took somewhat longer than Reibey had expected. Though they were all technically the same person, there were still numerous minute differences that needed to be weeded out before the common baseline between them was sufficiently established.

When he felt that he had gathered enough information from this particular group, Reibey said, "Well, I believe that's enough. Thank you, ladies. You may return. Tah-tah."

Though their actions were fully enslaved to his will, the shades' minds were still their own. And he knew full well that, were they to be given the chance, they would rip him to pieces. The knowledge of their helplessness was one of the few things that still warmed him inside. He watched as they rejoined back into a single mass that swept up and plunged back into the top of the ziggurat. It was a pity he couldn't just wrap one of them up for Oblivion to keep her happy, especially since, ironically enough, the one she knew was actually in his possession. Unfortunately, when reduced to such a state, it was impossible to put them back the way they were. Pity.

Reibey started to descend the ziggurat's steps but hesitated before reaching the bottom. Though he probably now had enough to work with, why not hedge his bets?

He raced back to the top again and said, "Okay, change of plans. They're a few more I need you to spew out for me. Shouldn't take long, but I'm expecting a call, so let's make this quick."

A silent question was asked, a name was provided, and the top of the ziggurat started to glow blue.

…

To Kyoko's complete lack of surprise, Corrie Linemann’s home was at the top of the hill. Why the mayor hadn't come down to meet them, Kyoko couldn't wait to ask.

Insofar as houses went, it was certainly big: a three story building with the same white walls, flat red roof, and mosaic-surrounded arching windows as the rest of the town. Separating it from the street was the strangest looking lawn Kyoko had ever seen. Where most people decorated their lawns with flowers, trees, and hedges cut into the shapes of amusing animals, this one was decorated with itself. While most the grassy ground was flat, here and there it would rise up and form the sort of shapes usually taken by hedges, such as posing animals and people. Kyoko stared at these odd shapes, wondering if they were statues that had been persuaded to have grass grow all over them or if the lawn instead had been molded like clay. Given where she was and the sort of people that inhabited, she strongly leaned toward the latter theory.

The four of them crossed over a path made of the same cobblestones that constructed the streets and approached the door. But as Mami raised her fist to knock, it opened, revealing a tanned girl whose eyes and short hair were emerald green. She wore a smart pantsuit of the same color and couldn't have been over ten years old.

"Oh," Mami said, surprised. "Hello Nicole."

"Good day," the girl named Nicole said solemnly as she bowed politely at the waist. "The mayor is expecting you. This way, please."

She turned and reentered the house. The others followed. Frowning, Kyoko sidled up to Mami and whispered, "They've got a grade-schooler as a butler?"

"The dead don’t age, remember?" Mami whispered back. "Nicole is older than all of us put together."

The interior of the house was elegant enough, though not overtly so, with a slight but noticeable Spanish flair. Immediately before them two staircases curved around an open door. Sayaka's face fell when she saw this, no doubt anticipating having to be carried up the steps.

She needn't have worried, as Nicole led them through the doorway instead. Beyond was a sitting room, with two pale red sofas sitting on either side of a low table and an archway set into both the right and left-hand walls. In one corner, a blue-and-yellow parrot was amusing itself in a playground of brass hoops. The far wall was one large window, displaying a marble deck with a swimming pool beyond. Kyoko didn't bother fighting the smirk she felt forming. Well, these people had money, that much was obvious; however, she vastly preferred the Nautilus Platform. As fancy as this place was, it wasn't on a sweet ocean platform, something that put it at a severe disadvantage.

Fidgeting in one of the sofas was an anxious-looking girl in her late teens wearing a grey skirt and blouse. She was striking enough, with a handsome face with strong cheeks and eyes the color of storm clouds. However, her most noticeable feature was her silver hair, which was done up in four braids that hung from the four corners of her head. But instead of falling straight down like hair should, they curved up like an elephant's trunk, each one topped by a tiny yellow star. Furthermore, she was, if anything, more endowed than Mami, something that Kyoko wouldn't have thought possible without surgery.

As the others entered the room, Kyoko hung back and looked the girl up-and-down. So this was Freehaven's mayor. Kyoko couldn't say she was especially impressed, given how fretful the girl looked. Also, if her unusual hair was any indication, she was a witch. Kyoko wasn't sure if that actually meant anything, but it was worth noting.

Nicole paused at the room's entrance and cleared her throat. "Ma'am, they have arrived."

However, the girl had already heard them coming, and was rising from the couch. "Oh, thank God," she said, rushing forward to embrace Mami and Charlotte and kiss them both on the cheek. "You're here at last." Kyoko furrowed her brow and stepped back. These people were entirely too affectionate for her tastes.

Mami and Charlotte, however, didn't seem bothered. "Oh, come on Monica," Charlotte said. "It's barely seven in the morning!"

Wait, Monica? Kyoko frowned. She had thought the mayor's name was Corrie.

"I know," the girl said with a roll of her eyes. "But Corrie's been pacing around the place since three. You know how she gets when she's restless."

Ah, so this wasn't the mayor. And yet the butler was still treating her like the master of the house. Was this instead the home of one of someone else, perhaps one of the mayor's friends? Or perhaps this Monica was a close relation to the mayor, a sister or cousin or something similar. Or perhaps…

Kyoko's smirk started to grow. Ho boy, this was getting interesting.

Monica looked to Kyoko and Sayaka and her face brightened.

"And you must be Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff! I've especially been wanting to meet you."

For one horrible moment, Kyoko was afraid that she was going to be hugged and kissed as well. Fortunately, Monica contented herself with an offered handshake, same as Victoria had.

"Hello, I'm Monica, Corrie's wife," she said, confirming Kyoko's suspicions. "I also run the local post office, library, and militia, but no one ever remembers that unless they've got a complaint. But enough about me. It's so wonderful to finally have you here! You had us all worried."

"Hey, it's great to be loved," Kyoko said, accepting the handshake with more enthusiasm she had Victoria's. "You have a lovely home."

Maybe she was acting too friendly, because Charlotte raised an eyebrow and stole a look at Mami, who was noisily clearing her throat. However, Monica didn't seem perturbed.

"Thanks!" she said. "You're Kyoko, right? I was so relieved to hear of your recovery!"

Kyoko shrugged. "Eh, if you say so," she said, her voice dripping with disappointment. "Personally, I'm not so happy about it."

To her satisfaction, Mami and Charlotte both stiffened. Sayaka was giving her a sidelong look, silently asking her what she thought she was doing. Monica frowned in confusion. "I-I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"

Wearing her most disarming smile, the one that showed both fangs, Kyoko said, "Nah, it's just I was going for the record for the world's longest power nap! Three more days and I'd have had it in the bag."

Monica laughed appreciatively. As for Kyoko's companions, they didn't say anything, though it was clear that they were groaning internally. Mami closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Kyoko smirked and shot her a wink, as if to say, "See? I can play nice too. Don't be so uptight all the time."

"And this must be Oktavia, right?" Monica bent over to shake Sayaka's hand. "I'm sorry you had to arrive in such a condition. Witch remnants are rarely so severe."

"Hey, hey, no worries," Sayaka said amicably. "It's got its perks. For one, I can breathe underwater and swim like a dolphin." Leaning forward, she cupped her mouth and said in a loud whisper, "For another, I've got these losers to push me around everywhere."

She started snickering, only to have Kyoko smack the back of her head. "Hey, don't get so cocky," the redhead said. "One flight of stairs and we're leaving your wise ass at the bottom."

Looking relieved that her guests at least seemed friendly, Monica turned to Nicole. "Speaking of stairs, you'd better go up and find Corrie. She's probably-"

"I'm here, I'm here," said a harried-looking girl in a charcoal black suit as she bustled in through the archway on the left. Though she was of a similar age, she was different from Monica in almost every way. Tall and thin, she had chocolate skin and dark eyes. Also, save for her thin eyebrows, her head was completely hairless. Under her arm was a thick file.

"Hi, sorry I wasn't down at the docks to meet you," Corrie said, quickly shaking hands all around. "But the phone's been ringing off the hook since I got back. As soon as word got out that Kyoko here was awake, I've had everyone from all over the Alliance calling for updates."

"Damn, I am popular," Kyoko said, raising an eyebrow.

"In a matter of speaking," Corrie said, her tone curt. In contrast to her more easy-going wife, she struck Kyoko as someone who had recently been put under more pressure than she was used to, and wasn't adjusting well. "But we'll get to that in a moment. But for now, we-"

She was interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone, coming from a different room.

"-can't seem to go five minutes without that damned thing squealing its head off!" Corrie said loudly. "I swear to God, why can't they-"

"I got it, I got it," Monica said, moving to the next room. "Nicole, you better take position at one of the upstairs phones." She winked at Corrie. "Don't worry, we'll hold off the horde."

"Appreciated," Corrie sighed. "Just tell them the situation's a work in progress and we'll let them know the moment's there's anything worth calling them about."

Once Monica and Nicole had left, the rest of them settle in the two couches, with Mami pushing Sayaka's wheelchair to the head of the low table.

"All right, let's dive right into things," Corrie said once everyone was sitting. She looked first to Sayaka and then to Kyoko. "I assume you two have already been brought up to speed on, well, everything…"

"Eh, mostly," Kyoko said. She slouched back, throwing her right arm over the couch's back and crossing her legs. She noted with displeasure that no one had offered refreshments, a major strike against the household. "And can I just say that for an afterlife, this place has some amazingly stupid rules?"

"Yes, it does," Corrie said. "But let's concentrate on the ongoing Oblivion crisis." She set the folder down and opened it up. "Now Kyoko, I'm glad you're awake. I've already spoken to Oktavia here a couple of times over the phone, and have been checking with just about everyone across the Alliance, trying to figure out what Oblivion wants with you. But so far, we've come up with zilch, save that she is after you." She looked up. "So please, please, please tell me there's something you can tell me to make sense of this."

Kyoko felt a little uncomfortable. Though it wasn't her fault, Corrie looked so desperate that she found herself wishing she had something to give. "Sorry," she said, shrugging. "Never even heard of this place until after I kicked it. And those assholes she sent after me wouldn't tell me squat, neither."

The corner of Corrie's eye twitched, and she slumped over the table with a heavy sigh. "I expected as much," she muttered. "Of course it wouldn't be that easy." She shook her head. "Okay, maybe they need you for something. Is there anything…special about you two, anything that sets you apart from the rest of us?"

"Heck if I know," Sayaka said, shrugging. "I mean, I'm kind of a fish, but I really don't think that's what they're after."

"You mean besides the undeniable awesomeness that is being me?" Kyoko said. "Yeah, I got nothing."

"And that's strike two," Corrie groaned, holding up two fingers. "All right, moving on." She rubbed her smooth forehead as she thought. At last she said, "Kyoko, from what Mami told me, Oktavia here was a rookie when she witched out, only been a Puella Magi for a few weeks, right?"

Kyoko quirked an eyebrow. She shot a brief glance at Mami, who was looking progressively more and more uncomfortable. "Yeah," she said in a guarded tone.

"But you on the other had been operating for a while, in a number of different areas," Corrie continued.

"I've been around, sure," Kyoko said.

"Long enough to have made some enemies, right?"

Kyoko let out a dismissive snort. "Oh, so that's what you're getting at." Chuckling, she ran her fingers through her hair and said, "Sure, I've messed up a few faces here and there, and there were plenty with reason to want to see mine get smashed. But they were all nobodies, just a bunch of punks I squabbled with over witch-hunting. Happens all the time. Trust me, there was nothing special about any of them."

"Are you sure?" Corrie pressed. "It's possible that one of them might have died or witched out before you did, and took advantage of the time difference…you know about that, right?" When Kyoko rolled her eyes and nodded, Corrie continued, "Right. Given how much quicker things move here, she might have risen through the Void Walkers' ranks, earned Oblivion's favor, and is now taking advantage of that to get revenge."

Kyoko let out a bark of laughter. "Seriously? Okay, yeah, that's what might have happened, just like Oblivion might be after me because there's some ancient prophecy that says that I'll one day drop through her roof on a giant fire-breathing dragon, shooting lightning bolts from my most wonderful ass while shredding a face-melting guitar solo, and then drive my spear so far down her throat that it shoots out the other end!"

A long pause greeted her theory, and then Corrie cleared her throat. "Uh, wow. Okay. You know, a simple 'No, there's nobody' would have worked just as well."

"Yeah, but I told you that already."

"So you did," Corrie said, shaking her head. "Okay, last idea. I'm sorry I had to bring this up, but it's possible that it has something to do with the wishes you two made when you contracted."

Mami immediately looked stricken. "Corrie, we already talked about this!" she pleaded. "They both wished to help people they cared about, none of which had anything further to do with the Incubators!"

"I know, I know, but it's something we need to at least consider!" Corrie said. "I mean, it's entirely possible that a member of Kyoko's father's congregation made a contract, and later became a Void Walker! Kyoko, do you remember anyone who might have…" She looked up at Kyoko, and suddenly seemed to forget what she was saying. "…ah…"

Kyoko wasn't saying anything. In fact, she had barely moved at all. But the stony look she was sending Corrie wasn't at all friendly. Her right index finger was slowly scratching the top of the back cushion. Mami moved to say something to her, but Charlotte grabbed her by the arm and shook her head.

The room's mood, already uncomfortable, had gone completely stiff. Nothing moved save for Kyoko's finger and the parrot in the corner, which continued doing its acrobatics through the brass hoops, blissfully unaware of how chilly the nearby humans had gotten towards each other. Somewhere, in another room, the phone rang, only to have Monica or Nicole answer it on the first ring.

Then there was a sudden ripping sound, not loud of but sudden and unexpected. Everyone save for Kyoko herself jerked up in surprise. The source turned out to be Kyoko's finger, which had torn right through the cushion's fabric.

Kyoko's eyes widened slightly. She glanced at the tear she had made, shrugged, and used her fingernail to widen it a bit before saying, "Why, no. To my knowledge there was no one from my father's church who had any direct interaction with an Incubator. Save, of course, for myself."

"Right," Corrie said after a few heartbeats had gone by. "Okay."

Kyoko withdrew her hand from the tear. "Sorry about your couch," she said, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

Corrie took a deep breath. "Don't worry about it."

Another long pause went by. Mami refused to meet Kyoko's eyes, which were glowering menacingly at her. Charlotte watched Kyoko warily, looking ready to leap to Mami's defense should violence erupt.

Then Sayaka said, "Well, don't look at me either. Because the cranky redhead tells me that I just wished to fix the hand of this guy I had a crush on, and he just ended up going out with my best friend instead. I guess that's gratitude for you, huh?"

The tension seemed to diffuse a bit. Kyoko at least stopped glaring at Mami, instead redirecting her gaze to the ceiling. Corrie shook her head and muttered, "All right then. Let's move on."

"Well, hey, what about the local rat?" Kyoko said, still staring upward. "I mean, you've apparently been talking to this Reibey, right? There's gotta be something he's let out."

"Rat bastard!" the parrot suddenly exclaimed. Everyone turned to stare at it.

"We've, uh, kind of got it trained to do that whenever someone says his name," Corrie said, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "It's sort of a call-and-response thing. It…gets kind of annoying, to be honest."

"I dunno, I think it's fitting," Kyoko said in approval. "But yeah, he let anything on?"

"Oh, if only," Corrie said. She straightened up. "And yes, it's true that I've, ahem, 'spoken' to him every day, it's the same message every time." Her voice became high and squeaky, in what Kyoko suspected was an imitation of Reibey. "'Let me talk to Kyoko Sakura. I'll say nothing except to Kyoko Sakura." She shook her head. "Christ, he's insufferable enough even when I don't have to talk to him."

"Well, then let me," Kyoko said with a touch of irritation. "Come on, ring him up and I'll get him to tell me. Problem solved, right?"

"It's not that simple, Kyoko," Mami said.

"Why not?" Sayaka asked before Kyoko could. She looked from one face to the next. "I mean, we want to know why Oblivion and Reibey-"

"Rat bastard!"

"-are after us, Rei…the Incubator won't tell anyone except for Kyoko, and Kyoko's right here, so why shouldn't it be simple?"

Again, the phone rang in another room. Everyone in the meeting ignored it.

"Because for one, we still don't know the full extent of Oblivion's power," Corrie answered. She reached into the open folder and extracted a piece of paper. "She's got literally thousands of followers, all with their own set of special abilities, carried over from life. And I don't want to risk having any sort of contact between Kyoko here and that scum without putting certain protections in place."

"Yeah?" Kyoko finally turned her attention away back from the ceiling. "Like what?"

"Like this," Corrie said, pushing the paper toward her.

On it was a large amount of legal text, with a line to be signed at the bottom. The title at the top read "THE FREE LIFE COMPACT."

…

Reibey watched with smug satisfaction as a cyclone of yellow lights was swallowed up by the ziggurat. That had been the fourth group of shades he needed to talk to, and the last; and as such, he now had ample information to work with.

Though he hated music, he felt a strange urge to start humming. He was simply in a rare good mood, so that there was a noticeable spring to his step as he descended the steps.

When he reached the bottom, he sent off a mental command to his most trusted inferior. The answer was immediate, and the Matriarch ascended from the floor to stand before him.

She bowed low. "My lord."

"Hey there," he said. "Looks like I'm all done here. Have the dead primates made their daily call?"

"No, lord Reibey."

"No? They're late then." He shrugged his small shoulders. "Well, they'll be ringing for me sooner or later."

He leapt into the Matriarch's arms. "Take me to my private sanctum," he said. "Don't want to keep them waiting, after all."

The Matriarch bowed her head. She sank back into the floor, taking her master with her.

The ziggurat now stood alone in the empty auditorium.

…

"The Compact?" Mami said in surprise. "Corrie, isn't this a bit fast? I mean, are you sure this is necessary?"

"I'm sure I don't want to take chances," Corrie said grimly. "Anything to discourage Oblivion and Reibey-"

"Rat bastard!"

"I knew teaching her to do that was a mistake," Corrie muttered. "But anything that discourages those two from trying anything falls in the good idea category as far as I'm concerned." She pushed one copy to Kyoko and handed another to Sayaka. "Now, I'm sure Mami and Charlotte already told you what this is all about, but even so, the gist of it is-"

"We know what this is," Kyoko said as she picked up the paper and briefly glanced it over without actually reading anything. She let her eyes linger on the page for a long moment before lowering it just enough to glower at Corrie over the top. "And wow, really?"

"Look, I understand that you probably have reservations," Corrie said. She was starting to sound exasperated, a common enough condition in people who tried to persuade Kyoko to do anything she didn't want to. "But given the circumstances-"

"Yeah, about that," Kyoko drawled. "See, the last time I let sucky circumstances drive me to sign up for something I didn't really understand, it went a little sour."

"This isn't an Incubator contract," Corrie said, her dark eyes flashing. "The opposite, in fact. It's a declaration of opposition to everything they've done and a-"

"Oh, for Chrissakes, spare me the infomercial!" Kyoko groaned as she rolled her eyes upward. "Look, if being a part of an official Incubator hateclub makes you feel better about yourself, more power to you. But don't expect me to start attending the group therapy meetings just because you hate the same bunch of pricks that I do."

Sayaka cleared her throat. "Uh, not to derail your anti-establishment rant, but maybe you better think this over before you reject it out of hand?" she said. "I mean, it's obvious that these people are on our side. And if signing the Compact can keep Oblivion from attacking us again, wouldn't it make sense to go for it?"

"Exactly, thank you!" Corrie said. She waved her arm at the mermaid. "See, she agrees with me! Please, listen to her if you won't listen to me."

"Hey, you can do whatever you want," Kyoko said, pointing at Sayaka. "If you wanna sign up and move in, go right ahead. But I got this thing about people pushing me into doing anything. It kinda sets my teeth on edge, you know?"

"No one's pushing you to do anything," Charlotte said. Like Corrie, she sounded like she was starting to lose her patience with the redhead.

Kyoko glanced at her. "Yeah, they kinda are."

"They're…Okay, maybe a little," Charlotte admitted. "But if you ask me-"

"Which I'm not," Kyoko said.

"Okay, but if somebody did, I'd say that refusing just to make a 'nobody tells me what to do' statement is, well, kind of dumb."

"Charlotte," Mami said in warning.

"Well, it is!

"But that's no excuse to-"

They were interrupted by the sound of paper crumpling loudly as Kyoko crushed her copy of the Free Life Compact into a ball and tossed it behind the sofa.

"Maybe you dumbasses weren't paying attention," she said flatly to her staring audience. "But I didn't come here to join a club, I came here because some bitch I've never even heard about until a week ago made me a wanted girl, and I want to know why. Plus, her pet rat took a friend of mine, which is something he and I need to have words about." She locked eyes with Corrie, and the corner of her lip curled enough, just enough to show her fang. "That's it. Save the recruitment speech for someone who gives a damn. You got a problem with that? Tough."

Nobody said anything, but judging by the sparks in Corrie's eyes and the way her fingers were curling it was clear that she was seriously contemplating violence. Sayaka had her face buried in her hands, no doubt out of embarrassment for her friend's behavior. Charlotte looked downright incensed, and from the look of things was fully prepare to back Corrie up should things come to blows. And as for Mami…

The blonde cleared her throat, summoning everyone's attention. "Kyoko? A word, please?"

"Go ahead," Kyoko said. "I ain't stopping yah."

"In private?"

Kyoko snickered. "Again? Jesus Mami, you gotta stop dragging me off for these private chats. People are gonna start talking and-" Mami was already on her feet and marching toward the door. She grabbed Kyoko by the shoulder and pulled her along with her. "Hey! I didn't mean literally drag! Lemme go!"

Mami ignored her, just as she ignored the questioning looks from those still sitting. She kept hauling Kyoko along until they were in Corrie's kitchen.

"I said let go!" Kyoko said, finally managing to free her sleeve from Mami's grip. "Jesus, what crawled up your butt and…uh…"

Her rant died with her indignation when she saw the expression on Mami's face. It was the twin of the look she herself had worn when Corrie had brought up Kyoko's family, which in turn bore a skin-crawling resemblance to the look Mami used to wear whenever Kyoko annoyed her with her goofing off. Back when they had been partnered together, Kyoko had quickly learned that whenever Mami just stared at her without speaking or smiling, it was time to knock it off. Though they had both come a long way since then, some lessons remained entrenched.

The two girls held each other's gaze without speaking. An itch developed on Kyoko's nose, but she didn't dare scratch it. She didn't think Mami would actually attack her, but her former mentor didn't need the threat of violence to be intimidating.

Then, once again, the silence was broken by a ringing phone, which again was quickly answered. Mami sighed.

"Listen," she said, her voice calm but with an undercurrent of steel. "I know you're going through some heavy things right now, and I don't blame you for not wanting to sign the Compact, nor do I think it should be forced on you. But don't take your anger out on Corrie like that. She's spent the last week doing everything in her power to procure information for you, not to mention the fact that she's being trying to negotiate for Elsa Maria's release every day. Disagree with her if you wish, but at least try to cooperate with her."

Kyoko scowled. Now that the spell Mami's stare had put her under had passed, it didn't take long for her to work up her familiar anger. She shoved her hands into her pockets and said, "Yeah? Chick wants my cooperation, maybe she shouldn't do things like bring up my freaking dad. Told her about that, did you?"

A brief look of shame passed over Mami's face, but her tone remained resolute. "I did, and I'm sorry, but she needed to eliminate that as a possibility for Oblivion's interest in you."

"Could've just told her that it ain't one, and she should just mind her own business," Kyoko said, scratching her nose.

"Kyoko, this is her business," Mami said. "Literally. The Alliance essentially made her your official liaison and told her to get to the bottom of this. And believe me, she's been doing her best. Yes I agree bringing up your father's church was tactless, but she does have the best intentions."

"Yeah, wasn't there some sort of proverb about good intentions, and the road to Hell and all that?" Kyoko said. She glanced around. "Oh, wait."

Mami's face went cold again.

"All right, all right," Kyoko said hastily as she put up her hands. "Sorry, sorry, but that one just wrote itself."

"Kyoko…"

Kyoko winced. Now Mami looked disappointed, which was worse than her icy glare. "Okay. I get it. I'll say I'm sorry and cut her some slack. Just so long as she don't bring up my dad again or make me sign anything I don't want to. That sound fair?"

Mami held her gaze for a moment longer before letting herself relax. "Fair enough," she said, nodding. Then one of her small half-smiles appeared. "Just behave yourself. I don't want to have to ground you."

"Ha!" Kyoko punched her in the arm as she walked past her. "Try it. I fucking dare you."

"Keep that up, and I just might," Mami said, returning the punch. "I might just send you to bed without supper as well."

That sobered Kyoko right up. "Okay, now that?" she said, rubbing the spot where Mami had punched her. "That's just cold."

…

In his private sanctum, a place that no one save for himself and the Matriarch had access to, a place none of the Oblivions had ever been made aware of, Reibey paced impatiently back at forth. He would start from one end of the room, march all the way to the other, and turn around to go back again, his tail constantly twisting itself into knots the whole way. Off to one side, the Matriarch stood in silent stillness, no more intrusive than an article of furniture.

Finally, Reibey stopped his pacing long enough to spit out, "Damn them all to a Hell lower than this one, what is taking them so long?"

"My lord?"

He looked to the Matriarch. Though she had little in the way of a will of her own, she was trained to act as a sounding board should he require one. Ranting to an unresponsive statue wasn't any fun. "They should have contacted me by now! I thought they were all so desperate for me to spill the beans. So why are they dawdling now?"

"I do not know, my lord. Perhaps you should contact them."

He snorted in derision. "I'm not about to give them the pleasure. No, they'll be calling my name sooner or later."

The Matriarch hesitated before inquiring, "My lord, forgive me, but if I am to understand what you've told me, you do not plan to actually lay the bait during this conversation, correct?"

"Of course not. That bitch Corrie will be there, picking through every word I say."

"Then why are you so anxious to begin this particular meeting?"

"Because I don't like to be kept waiting," he said. "Besides, I still need to keep Kyoko Sakura from signing the Compact in the meantime. That shouldn't take much, I think."

There was another moment of hesitation, and then the Matriarch said, "But, my lord, what if she has already?"

If it were anyone else questioning him, they would find themselves writhing on the floor in pain. But as it was, Reibey just laughed. "Oh, I'm not afraid of that. I have every reason to believe tradition will hold."

"Tradition?"

"Tradition. You see, my dear marionette, this isn't the first time this sequence of events has happened. And as I just learned, in each and every reiteration ever since the current Oblivion, Kyoko Sakura and her mermaid companion have always refused the Compact." ???

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't. It isn't for you to understand." He shrugged. "Of course, this could all be a waste of time and things end up resetting, but one should always plan for any eventuality. We all have our parts to play, and sooner or later, the play is going to finally progress to the next act. When that happens, I don't plan on being caught with my pants down." He glanced briefly to his bare backside. "Metaphorically speaking of course."

The Matriarch said nothing, and Reibey didn't feel like continuing the conversation anyway. He continued his path from one end of the room to the next, waiting.

…

Kyoko and Mami returned to where the others were waiting. Everyone's head perked up as they reentered the room. Kyoko could practically see the question marks in their eyes.

She was about to retake her seat when Mami poked her in the side. When Kyoko looked at her in puzzlement, the older girl cleared her throat.

"What?" Kyoko said. Then she got it. "Oh, right. That."

Sighing, she turned to Corrie and mumbled, "Look, I was kind of a…Well, I was being a…Sorry." She sat down quickly.

Corrie looked surprised, but she nodded. "Ah. Well, all right then. No worries, I understand. And I apologize for bringing up certain past events."

"I'm still not signing your Compact thingamajig though."

Corrie and Charlotte both looked like they were going to start protesting again, but Kyoko cut them off. "Look, I already told you guys, I ain't gonna be pressured to join anything. Sure, I'll stick around for a while and check things out, and if I like what I see, I'll sign up. But not all rushed like this."

"You do realize that, as a neutral, that limits what we can do to protect you, right?" Corrie said slowly. "You're making yourself vulnerable to anything they want to do to you."

"Like what?" Kyoko said. "No, seriously. You think they're gonna mind control me through the phone? Doesn't that break your rules already? You know, seeing how I'm in your house as a guest or whatever."

"Perhaps, on a technicality," Corrie said. "But I am not interested in giving them any loopholes to abuse."

"Hmmm, okay," Kyoko said with a shrug. "Now, what about this: say I become an official Freehaven whatever, and we go and call up Reibey-"

"Rat bastard!"

"I have got to get me one of those," Kyoko said admiringly. "But yeah, say we call him up, and he finds out that he can't touch me anymore. He lost, I'm out of reach. Now, if I were him, I wouldn't feel like telling us shit. I'd tell us to piss off and hang up. It's like the one chick Vickie, down at the docks. He was after her too, but gave up after she joined up with you guys, right? If he can't get me and wrap me up with a pretty bow to give to his boss, why in the hell should he explain anything?"

Looking troubled, Corrie mused over this. "So, you believe that contacting him while remaining a free agent, he might be more inclined to reveal something important, on the grounds that he might still be able to, ah, manipulate you into coming out of our protection?"

"Z'xactly."

"I still don't like it," was the blunt response. "He is under no obligation to tell the truth, and he knows it. He can say whatever the hell if it'll mean luring you out."

"Plus, don't forget that you signing the Compact won't mean that you're completely out of reach," Charlotte put in. "I mean, he won't be able to mind control you anything, assuming he even can, but if he convinces you to emancipate yourself…"

Kyoko's head snapped up. "Wait, that can happen?"

"Just once," Mami said. "If you've been kicked out by the New Life Alliance or the Void Walkers, you can be accepted back, if their leaders decide that you've somehow redeemed yourself. But if you leave of your own free will, that's it."

"It's like I said earlier, you leave that gang, you leave for good." Charlotte said. "It's to keep people from 'quitting,'" she made quote signs with her fingers, "just long enough to cause trouble."

Kyoko frowned. She obviously had not considered this, given that she hadn't known it. That was the most annoying part of this whole situation; there was just so much she didn't know. Hell, Sayaka probably knew more than she did, given that Mami and Charlotte had plenty of time to fill her in.

She stared at the ground, deep in thought. All around her, everyone watched her expectedly, waiting. She ignored them. Known as she might be for being reckless, acting now and worrying about the consequences later, this wasn't a decision she could rush into. That kind of behavior had already gotten her killed once.

Yet again, the phone rang, and Monica answered it. She spoke in a low tone for a few seconds, sighed, and then appeared in the doorway. She held an old-fashioned corded phone in her hand, her palm covering the receiver.

"I'm sorry, but it's Alex," she said wearily. "She won't take no for an answer, and keeps insisting that she needs to talk to Kyoko."

Corrie's nostrils flared. "I told her already, when we have something to tell her, we'll give her a call! If we haven't called, that means-"

Kyoko stood up and marched over to Monica.

"-uh, what are you doing?"

Without answering, Kyoko snatched the phone out of the surprised Monica's hands and held it to her ear.

"'Sup?" she said.

A husky voice said, "Yes! Corrie?"

"Nah. Who the hell are you?"

There was the sound of someone sputtering, and then the person on the other line said, "Wh-who is this?"

"Hey, I asked first."

"This is Alexandria Beltram, President of the New Life Alliance! Who are you? Where is Corrie Linemann?"

"Over there," Kyoko said, vaguely waving her hand toward the dumbstruck mayor of Freehaven. "I'm Kyoko Sakura. You wanted to talk to me?"

"Wait, you mean you're…" Then the voice brightened. "Finally! Listen, I need you to tell me exactly why Oblivion is so interested-"

"Yeah, about that," Kyoko drawled, nonchalantly sticking her free hand into her jacket pocket. "Sorry, still working on that, don't have a fucking clue yet. Do you?"

"Wh-what? But you have to know something!"

"Do I?"

Kyoko tossed the phone back to Monica, who gave her a mortified look and immediately scampered from the room, frantically trying to mollify the angry voice on the other end.

"Kyoko," Corrie said as the redhead sat back down. "Tell me you didn't just hang up on the President."

"That was the President?" Mami gasped. Charlotte groaned and buried her face in her hands. As for Sayaka, she seemed to find it hilarious and was trying, with negligible success, to keep from giggling.

"Okay," Kyoko said. "I didn't just hang up on the President."

"Yes, you did," Charlotte said, not bothering to lift her face out of her hands.

"Did not. I just stopped talking to her. She's still on the line."

Pursing her lips, Corrie rose to her feet and quickly moved out of the room to take the phone from her wife.

When she was gone, Mami turned to Kyoko and pointed at her. "Hey. Play nice."

"I am!" Kyoko protested. That just made Sayaka laugh harder.

"I'm serious, Kyoko."

"So am I. She asked questions, I answered." Kyoko stretched her leg out to nudge Sayaka's head with the toe of her boot. "And knock that off before you give yourself cramps."

Corrie returned to the room, having already finished her conversation with the President of Happyland. However, she looked far from happy, and her right eye had developed a noticeable twitch.

"Okay," she said. "That was unpleasant."

"Was she angry?" Mami asked.

"She's always angry," Corrie said as she huffed back to her seat. "And not really discriminating about who she points it at."

"Sorry," Kyoko said.

"Sure you are." Corrie closed her eyes, appeared to count to ten under her breath, and opened them again. "So, there is pretty much nothing I can say or do to convince you to sign the Compact before you confront Reibey, right?"

"Rat bastard!"

"Right," Kyoko said.

"Didn't think so." Corrie turned to look at Sayaka. "What of you, Oktavia? When we spoke last, you did express interest."

Sayaka sobered right up. She frowned, looking her copy of the Free Life Compact over. Then she shook her head and put it back on the table.

"Huh?" Kyoko said, her head perking up. "Wait a minute, I thought you were all for this!"

"For once, I agree with her," Charlotte said. "Come on, Oktavia! You've got nothing to prove."

In response, Sayaka just folded her arms and shook her head again.

"Look, Chicken of the Sea, I don't care if you wanna sign anything," Kyoko told her. "Seriously, go ahead. I won't think less of you."

More stubborn silence. Another head shake.

"Out of all the-" Corrie cut herself off, took a deep breath, and said, "All right, may I ask why?"

"No," Sayaka said.

Corrie threw her hands in the air. "Well, great. That's just great. On top of everything, I'm supervising a kindergarten class. Fantastic." Then she focused on Kyoko. "All right, if you two want to be stubborn and stick it to the man, that's your business. But at least, at the very least let me put some failsafes in place before we call up Reibey."

"Rat bastard!"

"Failsafes?" Kyoko blinked. "Like what?"

"Well, as you may have noticed, we're all Puella Magi or witches here, and everyone has their own special talent. I'll call some people who are able to monitor the conversation and tell if he tries something sneaky."

Kyoko frowned. "Well, I guess that would be-"

"Come to think of it, why am I asking permission? This is my town, after all. Nicole!"

The young-looking girl in green appeared so quickly in the doorway that Kyoko wondered if she had teleported.

"Call up Tabitha and Celeste for me, yeah?" Corrie said, holding her fist near her ear with her thumb and pinky extended. "Tell them we have need of their talents and they should get their little keisters here ASAP."

"Yes, ma'am," Nicole said, bowing deeply. And just like that, she was gone.

"All right ladies, let us get this over with so I don't have to deal with it anymore," Corrie said, rising. "My hotline to the Withering Lands is upstairs, in my office. So let's-"

"Wait, it's upstairs?" Sayaka cut in.

"Yes."

Sayaka grimaced. "Is there any way to bring it down here?"

"No, it's kind of attached to my desk," Corrie said. "Why do you…Oh."

"Yeah," Sayaka said. She slapped her scaly thigh. "See, I kind of have this thing about stairs."

…

Tabitha and Celeste turned out to be a pair of girls who worked at the local library and were exceptionally in tune with the waves of energy that floated through the air and talented at detecting any sort of signal that passed through. When told that they were to stand watch for any sort of unwanted transmissions sent by Reibey, they had grown very apprehensive, even with Corrie's assurances that they were safe enough.

"You both already signed the Compact!" she had told them. "It's not like he can do anything to you!" But even so, Monica had to promise them both a month off with double pay before they agreed.

Fortunately, moving Sayaka to the second floor proved to be less difficult than expected. It helped that everyone present had some form of super-strength. When it was made clear that Sayaka wasn't keen on the idea of being thrown over someone's shoulders again, Mami had simply lifted her up, wheelchair and all, and carried her up the steps. Kyoko had to admit that she was impressed by the ease with which it was done. Mami had always been exceptionally strong, even for a Puella Magi, but it was clear that her active lifestyle had done her a great many favors.

As the party progressed up the stairs, Kyoko brought up the rear. Charlotte took the opportunity to sidle up to her and say in a low murmur, "It's because of you. You know that, right?"

"Huh?"

"Oktavia." Charlotte nodded toward Mami and the mermaid she was carrying. "She wants to sign the Compact, but won't unless you do too."

Kyoko gave her a sidelong scowl. "And that's my fault…how?"

Charlotte shrugged. "Just thought you should know."

"I ain't her mom," Kyoko hissed. "She can do whatever the hell she wants. Same with me. So save the guilt trip."

Charlotte's face turned frosty, but she didn't say anything. Kyoko, who was now fully convinced that Mami's so-called roommate didn't like her, thought back to the conversation the two of them had had the previous day about witch names. So, not only did she rub Charlotte the wrong way, but the pinkette also seemed to be kind of protective of their mutual mermaid friend, and probably saw Kyoko as a bad influence.

Well, she was right about that last part at least. Kyoko wondered if she should hide the grin she felt forming and decided that she really didn't want to.

Corrie led the six of them into her office, which was composed of an oak desk in front of a picture window and lots of bookcases and potted plants. The mayor of Freehaven pulled a small, steel key out of her pocket and stuck it into a keyhole situated at the desk's lower right-hand corner.

There was a click, and a rectangular panel in the center of the desktop slid open, and a featureless white pad about five centimeters high rose from the desk.

"Kyoko, over here," Corrie said. "Tabitha? Celeste? Take up position on either side of her, and keep your ears open."

"What about me?" Sayaka asked.

"You're fine over there."

When everyone was in position, Corrie took a deep breath and pressed her hand against the top of the pad.

…

"Finally!" Reibey snapped as a small rectangle in the middle of the floor started glowing. He walked over to it and touched it with one paw.

…

When Corrie withdrew her hand, it left a black handprint. There was a low hum, and the handprint dissolved into hundreds of tiny black dots that swirled in a thick cluster above the pad's surface.

"Wicked," Kyoko breathed. "You've got holograms."

"It's amazing what you can accomplish when science starts listening to you for a change," Corrie said, her eyes focused on the dots. "All right, here he comes…"

The dots gathered together and formed a distinct shape: a triangular black head with a rodentlike snout, and those same freaky ear-arms that Kyubey had, down to the little free-floating bracelets. Two beady red eyes opened, which immediately focused on Kyoko.

The two librarians visibly shuddered. Even Mami and Charlotte looked uncomfortable. Sayaka, however, leaned forward with interest. As for Kyoko, she took one look at the notorious Incubator's face and burst out laughing.

Everyone stared at her like she was crazy. Even Reibey looked taken back. It was clear that this wasn't the reception he had been expecting.

"I…ah…yes?" he said. His voice as high-pitched as Kyubey's had been, if a bit scratchier. "Is something funny?"

"Damn, I was not expecting that!" Kyoko laughed, holding onto Corrie's chair to keep her balance. "I thought they were being…Well, that's one thing you've got over Kyubey!"

At the name of his fellow Incubator, Reibey's eyes narrowed. While his kind weren't known for their wide range of facial expressions, Kyoko had feeling that she had offended him. Which was fine in her book. She had offended almost everyone else today. It wouldn't do to exclude the person most deserving.

"Really," he said. "And…how is that, if I may ask?"

Still snickering, Kyoko pointed at his floating head and said, "At least you don't pretend that you're not a rat!"

Corrie slumped back into her chair. "Don't start a war, don't start a war, don't start a war…"

Reibey stared icily at redhead. But then his eyes went neutral and he made a forced-sounding laugh. "Ah. Ha, ha, ha, yes. Very amusing. Would I be correct in presuming you to be the elusive Kyoko Sakura?"

"Sup, asshole?" Kyoko said, flipping off a lazy salute. "Word has it you're trying to bag my ass. Wanna explain why?"

Instead of answering, Reibey's head turned until he saw where Sayaka was sitting, with Mami and Charlotte standing to either side of her. Kyoko could swear she saw a flicker of triumph in those creepy eyes of his.

"What do you want?" Sayaka said, leaning back away from him.

Reibey didn't say anything. Though Kyoko couldn't see a mouth, there was something about the way he was tilting his head that suggested a smirk.

"Hey," she said, flicking her hand through his head, making it fuzz out for a second. "Leave them alone and talk to me. You still haven't answered my question."

"Yes, well, that." Reibey turned back to her. "Miss Sakura, I really must give you my most sincere apologies. This whole thing has been a frightful mess from beginning to end, all brought about by a horrible misunderstanding."

"Yeah. Your people keep attacking me."

"I realize that, and let me assure you-"

"The first time I got jumped in a grocery store, had my arm all slashed up, had my friend here threatened with a knife, and, just to really piss me off, they made me leave one of the best hauls I've ever seen behind!" A pained look passed over Kyoko's face as she remembered those bags of food, sitting abandoned back at that freaky city. "All the rest I can forgive, but that last one was just cruel."

"Well, you see-"

"After that, your goons shot me without warning, poisoned me, put me in a coma, beat up my other friend, kidnapped her, and burned down her lighthouse." Kyoko folded her arms. "Yeah, it's a frightful mess all right, though I dunno about the misunderstanding part. Because everything you assholes have done so far has been pretty easy to understand."

"I can see how you would come to believe that, but the truth of it-"

Now done with playing games, Kyoko thrust her finger to a point mere centimeters from Reibey's holographic face and demanded, "The fuck do you want me for, and the fuck did you do with Elsa Maria?"

"The praying witch? She's safe and unharmed. As for why my people have been searching for you, well, the truth of the matter is that it's not actually me that's interested in you."

"Oblivion, huh?" She noticed how almost everyone in the room grew dour at the mention of their arch-nemesis's name. "Fine, you or your sicko boss, it don't matter. Answer the question."

"Of course. You see, the thing is…"

He stopped talking. His head moved back and forth, as if searching for something glanced out of the corner of his eye. In fact, it looked like he was sniffing the air. It reminded Kyoko of a fox testing the air for the scent of a larger predator, though she had a feeling that she had the roles backward.

This was confirmed when his beady eyes focused on Corrie's failsafes, focusing first on Celeste and then on Celeste. They narrowed, and the two librarians cowered back.

"I see," he said. He let his gaze drift to Corrie, who, while not frightened, certainly did not appreciate the attention. "Corrie, what's with eavesdroppers? I am participating in this dialogue out of good faith!"

"Because we don't trust you," Corrie snapped. "I thought that was obvious by now."

Reibey shook his head. "Such a regrettable series of events. Kyoko Sakura, I once again extend my apologies, both on behalf of myself and my overzealous…employees."

"Save the sorries, and answer the fucking question!" Kyoko growled.

"I will, but not now, not here, not with so many prying eyes."

"What?" Corrie pushed Kyoko aside to address Reibey directly. "Wait, you said you would tell Kyoko here everything!"

Kyoko shoved her way back into Reibey's line of sight. "If you think I'm gonna let you weasel your way out of-"

"Everything in its proper time and place," came the curt reply. "Rest assured, everything will be made clear. In the meantime, I'd suggest that you do not put your name down on anything. I'll be very much less inclined to talk should that happen." He nodded at Kyoko. "Well, Miss Sakura, you'll be hearing from me again. Very soon."

With that, his face dissolved into swirling dots which were sucked into the pad and disappeared.

"No," Corrie said as she slapped her hand down on the pad. She lifted it up. There was no handprint. "No, no, no!" She slammed her fists onto the desk. "Damn it, you bastard! You said you would tell her!"

A long silence followed, during which Kyoko angrily stomped off to brood in the corner. She had been so certain that she would finally get some answers, and instead of making good on his promise, the rat had just left her with more questions. She was almost tempted to go downstairs, smooth out the Compact she had crumpled, and slash her signature on it just to spite him.

Then suddenly, Sayaka broke the quiet. "So," she said, looking from one despairing face to the next. "What do we do now?"

Chapter Text

Nearly an hour had gone by since Kyoko's baffling holographic conversation with Reibey, and they were still in Corrie's office. Well, most of them were. After confirming that no, Reibey had not tried to mind control anyone through any means that they were familiar with, Tabitha and Celeste had made a hasty exit, the former claiming that she had left a food in the oven and needed to go eat it and the latter on the excuse of needing to turn the iron on.

Kyoko had to admit, she found the various ways people reacted to Reibey to be somewhat fascinating. Those two girls had been so scared of being in the same room as a holographic projection of his head that she wouldn't be surprised if they referred to him as You-Know-Who. Mami, on the other hand, treated him as the vermin he was and made it clear in no uncertain terms that if it weren't for the truce put in place by the Free Life Compact, her hands would find their way around his neck. And as for Corrie, she seemed to act as if he were a hated rival from an opposing political party: someone she clearly despised and constantly worked against, but accepted having to deal with him as part of her job.

At that moment, her job consisted of angrily pacing back and forth along one wall, catching up on all her missed calls and telling everyone that the confrontation had been a complete bust and she had nothing concrete to give them. Apparently, Corrie's associates weren't taking the news very well, and she wasn't taking their attitude very well in turn, and told them such in no uncertain terms. Kyoko still took umbrage with Corrie for having so bluntly brought up her father and for trying to force the Compact on her, but she had to admit that she admired the fretful mayor's refusal to play nice when she didn't feel like it.

As for herself, Kyoko was lounging in the big leather chair with her feet propped up on the desk. Nicole had finally come to her senses and provided a small platter of refreshments, so Kyoko nibbled on a raspberry Danish as she turned recent events over in her head. Oblivion wanted her for something, that they already knew. And if Reibey was to be believed, his boss's intentions were not malevolent and both of the incidents with Annabelle Lee had been nothing more than horrible misunderstandings. Of course, the day she started believing someone like Reibey was the day she went on a diet, so they were still stuck on square one.

As flippant as she had been during Corrie's questioning, Kyoko had to admit that many of those same questions were going through her mind. Was it somehow connected to Father's church? A former parishioner perhaps, one that hadn't taken kindly to Kyoko's conversion methods? Or perhaps a former rival, one still nursing a bitter grudge? Hell, perhaps she really was special, and Oblivion needed her to carry out some sort of evil plot. Admittedly her ego found that final possibility to be rather appealing, even if such things tended to end with the so-called "special" person flat on their back on a pagan altar getting their heart cut out.

Noticing that Kyoko was uncharacteristically quiet, Sayaka wheeled herself over to the desk and asked in a low voice, "Hey, you okay?"

Glancing at the wheelchair-bound mermaid out of the corner of her eye, Kyoko shrugged and brought her legs back down. "Yeah, sure. Just trying to figure things out. I mean, I thought we'd have some freaking answers by now."

"Well, he is an evil alien overlord," Sayaka pointed out. "Did you really expect a guy like that to be helpful?"

"Not really," Kyoko admitted. She picked up a crème tart and offered it to Sayaka. "But I was kinda hoping he wouldn't be such a slimeball."

Sayaka took the pastry and said, "Well, he did say that he'd contact you later."

"Oh joy," Kyoko snorted. "And that's good news in what universe, and do I have to die again to get there?"

Down below, the doorbell rang, and someone, presumably Nicole, answered. Kyoko and Sakura both stiffened and exchanged a look.

"Do you think-" Sayaka started to say.

"Nah," Kyoko said, forcing herself to relax. "He wouldn't come through the front door. Besides, butler would probably start screaming if he did."

"Right, right. Of course it isn't him. That'd be stupid."

"Extremely," Kyoko agreed, and she found that troubling. There had been an inordinate amount of stupid happening recently.

And as it turned out, the stupidness was doomed to continue, though not in the way she had been fearing. Moments later, there was a polite knock at the office door, followed immediately by it opening a crack.

"Ma'am, your eight-thirty is here," Nicole said, her deceptively young face and voice as flat as ever. She turned her dull green eyes to the apprehensive Kyoko. "And yours as well."

Kyoko, whose mouth was still occupied by an unchewed wad of pastry, spewed crumbs all over Corrie's desk, much to the bald mayor's annoyance. "W-wait," she coughed. "My w-what?"

"Fine, show her in," Corrie said with a wave of her hand. She shot one more dirty look at Kyoko before returning to whatever phone call was vexing her at that moment.

Nicole opened the door the rest of the way and stood aside, letting what had to be the dumbest looking person Kyoko had seen walk into the room and look around. Like just about everyone else she had met, it was a girl in her mid-teens, and a tiny one at that, barely five feet in height, if that. Despite this, she, for whatever stupid reason, had decided to go out in public wearing a white lab coat obviously intended for someone much taller, judging by the way its hem dragged on the ground, and a ridiculous looking green hat with a wide, floppy brim, complete with a parrot feather sticking out of the band. Her hair was long, dark, and straight, with both its ends and bangs cut perfectly horizontal, making it look like she had put a really long, black mophead on her head and cut out a rectangular door on the front. To top it off, she was wearing a giant pair of eyeglasses that magnified her eyes to owl levels. But despite the weirdness of her outfit, the expression on her fact was almost as deadpan as Nicole's, as if she were perpetually bored by everything around her and only dressed that way because she was contractually obligated. In her white-gloved hand was a classic black leather doctor's satchel.

The weird looking girl briefly glanced over everyone in the room and said, "Well, righty-ho. 'Sup, everyone?" This was greeted by a round of casual nods and hellos, indicating that they at least were used to this person. Even Sayaka grinned and snapped off a quick salute.

"Uh, you know this weirdo?" Kyoko muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

"Well, yeah," came the response. "So do you. Sort of."

Kyoko did not like the sound of that. "Run that by me again?"

"She means we've met, but you were kinda not paying attention at the time," said the newcomer. She walked right up to Kyoko and plopped her bag onto the desk. "And by that, I mean you managed to get yourself into a poison-induced coma." She stuck out one hand. "Howdy, I'm Doctor Young. I fix people when they break, which happens just enough for me to stay in business but not often enough to support any competition. Decent gig, all around."

Instead of accepting the offered handshake, Kyoko just gaped incredulously at the people around her. "Waittafudging minute! You actually have a doctor?"

Charlotte pursed her lips. "Uh, yeah? I told you that, when you woke up."

"Yo, and that would be me," Dr. Young said, hand still extended. "Nice t'see yah vertical for once. Your voice is whinier than I thought it would be."

"Why?" Kyoko demanded. "Why is there a doctor? I mean, we're freakin' dead!"

"Kyoko, calm down," Mami said.

Dr. Young, however, didn't seem at all perturbed by her former patient's outburst. "Yeah, sorry t'disappoint, but that little detail there kinda already got brought to our attention. Fortunately for me, there's still plenty of illnesses and maladies 'round here that call for some doctoring."

"Like what?"

"Like poison-induced comas," came the prompt response. "Plus blisterpulp. Plus Shadow Mountain Fever. Plus bubblelip. Plus creeping gas (that'll put nasty roots though your eyes and under your skin). Plus vapor boils. Plus about eighty-seven different kinds of fungus that just love soul vapors. Plus any number of ugly hexes and curses, courtesy of those more magically inclined folks with a mean sense of humor." Dr. Young wiggled her fingers. "Oh, and yah gonna shake my hand already or just leave me hanging? 'Coz I'm starting to get a cramp here."

Kyoko stared at her in bewilderment. She had no idea what to make of this strange, little person, or how she was supposed to react to her showing up out of nowhere and shoving her hand into the redhead's face. Finally, after another moment of hesitation, Kyoko quickly darted her hand forward, gave Dr. Young's a very quick shake, and withdrew it.

"Close enough," Dr. Young said as she opened her bag. "So, how yah feeling?"

"What?"

"C'mon, I'm your doctor. I looked after you while you was unconscious. Checking up on your general well-being after your return to the land of the not-quite-living-but-near-enough-to-count is part of my job." With that, Dr. Young opened her bag and started rummaging through its contents.

"How I feel? Well, uh…" Kyoko shot a look with Sayaka, who just shrugged and rolled her wrist in a "Well, go ahead" gesture. "Fine, I guess. Was kinda woozy for a while after I woke up, but I'm okay now."

"Good t'hear." Doctor Young extracted an empty syringe, squinted at it, and nodded her apparent satisfaction. "But you know, better safe than sorry and all that jazz."

"Hold up!" Kyoko yelped, leaping fully into the air and landing on her feet behind the big, leather chair. She grabbed its sides and put it between her and the doctor. "No way in hell are you sticking anything in me. That's what got me into that mess!"

Covering the phone's receiver with her hand, Corrie shouted, "Hey, can you keep it down? Kind of in the middle of something here!"

"Kyoko, it's okay," Mami said, advancing forward with her palms held up in a placating manner. "She's not going to inject anything into you."

"Nah, it's cool," Dr. Young said. "I get this a lot. And at least she ain't shooting at me, like the last girl did." She held up the syringe and pressed down on the injector as far as it would go. Nothing came out but air. "Look, it's empty, see? Just need'ta make sure all that crap's gone from your body."

Still staying behind the cover the chair offered her, Kyoko glowered suspiciously.

"C'mon, you was active for a bit before you kicked it, right? Probably had all sorts of pointy things stuck in you at one time or another. You're not afraid of a little ol' needle, are you?"

As blatant as the doctor's manipulation attempts were, they still did the trick. Mumbling under herself, Kyoko reluctantly came out from behind the chair and rolled up her sleeve. Not wanting to get caught in the middle of whatever was going to happen once that needle actually entered the redhead's skin, Sayaka hastily backed up in her wheelchair to a safe distance.

"Cheers," Dr. Young said, and plunged the syringe into Kyoko's arm. Kyoko flinched, but beside the brief sting, nothing happened.

Ignoring the glower being sent her way, Dr. Young pulled back on the injector, filling the syringe with that same crimson vapor that had come billowing out back when Annabelle Lee had slashed up Kyoko's arm. She pulled it out, checked it briefly before nodding, and reached into her bag to extract a small, black tube-like device with rounded ends. Sticking the tip of the needle into the end of the tube, Dr. Young injected the vapor and waited patiently. After about five seconds, the tube beeped and a green light flashed.

"Welp, looks like you're good to go," Dr. Young said. "Stuff is all cleaned up."

"Well, that's good news!" Sayaka said encouragingly. "Congratulations!" She looked at Kyoko, hoping that the doctor's assessment would be met with a positive reaction.

However, Kyoko's attention was occupied by a different matter entirely, one that watching that crimson vapor being extracted from her arm had pushed back to the forefront of her mind. She rubbed the knuckles of her right-hand, feeling the hard bulge of the bone. "Yeah, okay. You know, that's great and all, but just so we're clear, that stuff is my soul, right?"

"Eh, don't worry about it," Dr. Young said with a shrug. Her tone conveyed that this was a conversation she had had multiple times in the past. "It's like blood. Sure, it's important and you need it and all, but losing a little ain't a problem, and you always make more." She started packing away her instruments, only to pause when she realized that she was missing one. Turning to Kyoko, she sighed and said, "Yo, that's mine."

Kyoko, who had managed to snatch up the again-empty syringe and was now critically examining it in much the same way the doctor had earlier.

"Kyoko, you'd probably should give that back," Mami said, her voice now cautious.

Instead of answer, Kyoko narrowed her eyes, glanced at her hand, and plunged the needle straight into the knuckle of her middle finger.

"Whoa, hey, what are you doing?" Sayaka said, jolting in surprise. The others agreed, with Mami immediately rushing to intervene while Charlotte just stared in shock. As for Corrie, her back was to the ongoing drama and she failed to notice anything wrong and continued talking into the phone.

Before Mami could reach Kyoko, Dr. Young stepped between them and, though she had to reach to do it, slapped an arm across the concerned blonde's chest. "No," she said sternly. "Let her get it out of her system."

Mami blinked at her in bewilderment. "But-" she started to say, only to stop as she realized what was going on. Though clearly unhappy, she fell silent and stayed put.

"What?" Sayaka said, looking around for someone to give her an explanation. "What's going on? Why'd she do that?"

Charlotte walked over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay," she said in a low voice. "Most everyone goes through this sooner or later."

"Goes through what? Is randomly stabbing yourself normal around here? Come on, give me some help here!"

As for Kyoko, she took absolutely no notice of everyone's reactions to her strange actions. Instead, she just held up her hand and looked at it. The needle remained stuck through her skin, entering at the hump of the knuckle and coming out the other end.

"Huh," she said. "Well."

Then she pulled it out, flipped it around, and stabbed it right into her heart.

"The heck are you doing?" Sayaka yelped. She tried to wheel her way toward the seemingly self-mutilating girl, but the hand on her shoulder held her in place. "Let me go!" she shouted, trying to shrug Charlotte off. "Why are you letting this continue?"

"It's okay, just leave her alone," Charlotte said.

Kyoko looked down at the syringe sticking out of her chest, scowled, and pulled it out again. Then she jammed it into the back of her neck. It went straight in, its path unobstructed by vertebrae.

"Wh-what's wrong with all of you?" Sayaka gaped. "What…why…the…what?"

Now Mami was growing concerned again. "Kyoko, you don't have to-"

"Kinda do," Kyoko growled as she again removed the syringe. "See, I know there's a lot I still need to learn about the land of the dead, and there really hasn't been time to tell me all of it. But this…" Without hesitation, she slammed the needle right into the side of her head. This time, everyone save for Dr. Young and the still-oblivious Corrie recoiled.

"This seems to be something I shoulda been told about," Kyoko said, her tone as flat as paper. She looked around at those staring, the syringe still sticking out of her temple like one of the Frankenstein Monster's knobs. "Well? Someone wanna explain where the hell my freaking skeleton went?"

"Blew up with the rest of you," Dr. Young answered. "Think you'd remember that part."

"Yeah, but I can still feel it!" Kyoko lowered her head and ran her fingers over the back of her neck, feeling the bumps of her vertebrae. "And my heart's still beating, and everything else is still the same as always. So why in the hell didn't this freaking needle hit anything when I stick it in?"

"There was nothing to hit," Dr. Young said, shrugging. "Your body's gone kablooie. Sorry, but it's true. Nothing left but your soul. But since it's used to having bones, a heart, liver, lungs, etcetera, it makes it feel like they're still there."

Kyoko stared at her, her expression blank. Then, slow and methodical as a surgeon, she reached up, yanked out the needle, and held it toward the bizarre yet unflappable doctor.

"Thank you," Dr. Young said as she retrieved the syringe and placed it back into her bag.

"So, that's it then?" Kyoko said, her voice still a dangerous monotone. "I'm just a bag of skin filled with red gas that just feels alive?"

"Pretty much, yeah" Dr. Young said, again showing absolutely no concern for her patient's earth-shaking revelation. "But hey, in fairness, before you was a bag of skin filled with juices, bones, and squishy meat that felt alive. No reason why one version of alive should be better than another."

"That right?" A disbelieving grin etched its way across Kyoko's face. "Well. That's great then. It's like the freaking Matrix. Whatever." She collapsed back into the chair, throwing her hands into the air. "Fine! I got used to the idea of being a freaking zombie, I guess I can get used to being a ghost." With a groan, she sprawled her upper body over the top of her desk, her face pointed down. Her hand groped around until it found the plate of pastries. Seizing one, she shoved it into her mouth and started chewing morosely.

Dr. Young shrugged. "Welp, if it's any consolation, Charlotte said it right: most everyone goes through what you just went through. But now that we've got that outta the way, mind if I ask you one or two little questions?"

Raising her head just enough to glare, Kyoko said, "Kinda fed up with questions, doc. And I'm not in the mood for a shrink."

"No worries, ain't getting paid to be one. Though I know a great one if you be needing a reference."

Kyoko glared.

"No? I'd be rethinking that if I was you. You'll be needing one sooner or later." Dr. Young pulled a small plastic pad and tapped its surface. It lit up, becoming a digital notepad. "Anyway, this got nothing to do with that. Just something I ask everyone new. You remember what date it was when you kicked it?"

Kyoko blinked in surprise at the question, but told her anyway.

"That right?" Dr. Young tapped her notepad. "Welp, only been two days, living world time, since the last newbie showed up. This gets kinda depressing sometimes."

"Sometimes? I'm surprised you all haven't gone completely insane by now."

"Lots of have. The rest of us endure. Don't suppose anything of any great significance went off in those two days?"

"Yeah," Kyoko said. "I died."

Whistling through her teeth, Dr. Young deactivated her notepad and put it bag into her bag. "Figured that be your answer." Picking up her bag, she tipped her hat to the room. "Welp, it's been awkward. Cheerio, ladies."

With that, she turned and left the room. Kyoko's eyes remained fixed onto the doctor's back until she was out of sight. Then she let her face fall back onto the desk's surface.

"Fuck this world," she mumbled. "Fuck this world and it's amazingly fucked up rules."

Mami, Sayaka, and Charlotte all looked at each other uncomfortably, none of them exactly sure whether to try to comfort Kyoko or let her be. Their hearts told them to go with the former, but as Kyoko was the sort to prefer working her way through her problems on her own, they'd probably only end up angering her further.

"Finally!" Corrie said suddenly, startling everyone. The mayor marched over to the desk and slammed the phone back in its receptacle. "But by God, that jott likes to hear herself talk!"

Hands on her hips, she looked down at the silent phone with satisfaction, but gradually the tension in the room came to her attention.

"What?" she said, looking around. "What did…Oh for crying out loud, what happened now?"

…

Not bothering to wait for Nicole to open the front doors for her, Kyoko yanked them open and stormed out into the sunlight. She was, if anything, in an even fouler mood than when she arrived. The whole things with Reibey had been frustratingly disappointing, the mayor and her politics had pushed many of the wrong buttons, and what she had learned from that weird-ass doctor was troubling in ways she couldn't fully explain, even to herself.

Once outside, she glowered out at Freehaven. It was certainly goddamned pretty, but that just pissed her off even more. What in the hell was wrong with these people? They get pulled from the natural order of things and dumped into a dollhouse for dead people, and instead of taking control of things for themselves, they just went along with it, putting on the pretty dresses and ignoring the fact that they were in a freaking cage. Kyoko was fine with living and let live when it came to how other people chose their paths, but experiencing such overwhelming denseness from people who really should know better was just disturbing. Mami especially. You'd think she of all people would see the fakeness for what it was. But then, she had been hooked pretty easily by the Incubators once already. Some people just never learned, Kyoko supposed.

And speak of the devil…

"Kyoko, wait!" Mami called as she rushed up to her. "Hold on!"

Sighing, Kyoko shoved her hands into her pockets and came to a stop, allowing her onetime mentor to catch up.

"Kyoko, look, you're right," Mami said once, putting herself in front of the redhead. "I should have told you about the…changes to your body. I'm sorry, and-"

"Forget it," Kyoko growled, a bit more harshly than she had intended. She turned her head aside, not wanting to meet Mami's gaze. "I got used to finding out I was a zombie instead of a Magical Girl, I can used to being a ghost."

Mami clearly didn't buy it. "Kyoko…"

"And hey, it could be worse," Kyoko said, trying to sound jovial. "Sayaka's gone from human to Magical Girl to zombie to witch to ghost and mermaid at the same time! All she needs to do is grow fangs and become a vampire. Then she'll have the whole set!"

"I need to do what now?" Sayaka's voice called from the still-open doorway. The mermaid came into view, her wheelchair pushed by Charlotte.

"Turn into a vampire!" Kyoko called to her.

Sayaka snickered. "Yeah, I think I've been turned into enough monsters," she said as the two of them approached.

"That's the point. You're still missing one."

"I'll pass, thanks." Then Sayaka's face turned sober. "So…"

Kyoko sighed again. She had a good idea of what was coming. "Got something to say?"

"Well, just that you kinda scared us just now," Sayaka said. "I mean, I thought you were about to run off."

Shrugging, Kyoko said, "Yeah, well, it looked like we were all done there, so I didn't see any reason to stick around. Except for maybe that parrot. He seemed like a decent guy."

Unfortunately, much like Mami, Sayaka didn't look at all convinced. As for Charlotte, she just stood silently behind Sayaka's wheelchair, watching the drama play out.

"Tch," Kyoko muttered. "All right guys, look: I'm dealing, okay? Yeah, it was a big fucking shock. Wasn't the first, won't be the last. But I guess I can get used to it, all right? So stop trying to baby me."

Charlotte opened her mouth to say something, but apparently Mami already knew what the pinkette had in mind and didn't think it would be productive, as she touched the slender girl on the shoulder and shook her head. Charlotte looked a little disgruntled, but left her thought unspoken.

"So…" Sayaka said, twiddling her thumbs. "That's good, I guess. But now what?"

"Well, Reibey did say to expect some kind of message from him in the future," Mami said.

"Yeah, but he never said when or how," Kyoko pointed out. "And I for one don't think that's a good thing."

"For once, I agree with her," Charlotte said. "That rat's up to something. Everyone could see it."

"Twice," Kyoko said.

"Huh?"

"That twice you've agreed with me. First time was about Tuna Legs here signing the Compact, remember?"

Charlotte gave her a look but didn't raise the bait.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group, as they all mused over the possible ramifications of Reibey's words. Finally Mami said, "Well, we can't do anything about that until it happens. Until then, we can't hole up just waiting for him to make his move. Life goes on, and we do have our regular errands to run."

Kyoko rolled her eyes and turned away.

"Hey, I'm fine with that," Sayaka said. "You guys promised me that you'd show me around once we're here. Well, now we're here, and I wanna get shown around!"

"Fair enough," Mami said, nodding. "I'll finish up with the shopping. Charlotte, can you take the girls around the town, and we'll meet up with-"

"Actually, I think I'll go with you," Kyoko said suddenly.

"Huh?" Sayaka said, staring. She sounded a little disappointed. "With Mami? You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kyoko said, waving off the blunette's concerns. "We've got some stuff we need to talk about, and you don't want my grumpy ass dragging you down. Go have fun."

"Well, I suppose I could use the help," Mami said slowly. "And Kyoko's right: we do need to go over some things."

"Sounds fine to me," Charlotte said. Unlike the mermaid, she wasn't at all disappointed by Kyoko not wanting to go with them. "Want to meet for lunch at the Tradewinds at, say, one?"

"All right," said Mami. "We'll see you there."

Charlotte nodded. She started to wheel Sayaka away, but the mermaid suddenly leaned forward and pointed an admonishing finger at Kyoko. "Hey," she said. "Behave now. You better be there."

Kyoko winked and snapped off a quick salute. "See yah, Meal on Wheels. Try not to get hooked." With that, she followed Mami down the street in the opposite direction.

…

Squirming uncomfortably in her seat, Oktavia watched as Kyoko and Mami walked away. "I don't like it," she muttered. "Are you sure she'll be okay?"

"Well, that remains to be seen," Charlotte said.

Oktavia frowned. "And hey, is it true that most everyone freaks out when they find out about the gas thing? Because I took it okay."

"Lots of people do, yeah," Charlotte said. She turned the wheelchair around and headed toward one of the downward sloping streets, this one gentler than the one they had ascended. "Freak out, I mean. I didn't, mostly because I don't remember having a body. But, uh, Mami took it kind of hard. Harder than your friend did, actually."

"Really? How so?" Oktavia asked, before she realized that she probably shouldn't. She winced, and said, "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

There was a noticeable pause, and then Charlotte said, "She pulled out one of those muskets of hers and blew her own head off. Scared the crap out of me."

"Oh," Oktavia said. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. It's natural to be curious. Anyway, don't worry about Kyoko. Just give her some space and a little time. She'll come around. Probably."

Sayaka thought on that. Then she twisted around enough to see Charlotte's face. "You…really don't like her, do you?"

Charlotte blinked at her in surprise. Then she let out a bark of laughter. "You too? Jeez, you're the third person to ask me that. Is it really that obvious?"

"Kind of."

"Well, fine," Charlotte huffed. "I don't like her. She's rude, she's annoying, she's got a major attitude problem that has nothing to do with her death, she goes out of her way to antagonize people who are only trying to help her, and she's got one hell of a filthy mouth. I mean, I'm not even a prude when it comes to swearing, and I still think someone needs to take a bar of soap to that girl."

Oktavia snickered. "Sounds like I'm not the one who needs to give her time. She's honestly not that bad."

Charlotte harrumphed.

"Seriously, Kyoko is a good person, deep down. You should have seen how many times she saved my fishy butt before we made it to you guys. She's just a little rough around the edges."

"And the sides," Charlotte said. "And the base. And the top. And the-"

"All right, all right," Oktavia laughed. "Come on, just give her a chance."

"I'm trying, but she makes it so hard," Charlotte muttered. Then she let out a small laugh of her own. "Though I will say this about her: she can be pretty funny sometimes."

"Hey. Watch it. I still haven't forgiven you for telling her how I poop."

"Oh, I'm so scared. Please, scary fishy lady. Don't hurt me."

"Jerk," Oktavia said. "Drowning. Soon. Expect it." Then they both laughed.

The ground leveled out, and Charlotte took a right. As they continued down the road, Oktavia took the opportunity to ask, "By the way…"

"Yeah?"

"When are we going to tell Kyoko that you and Mami are married?"

…

Kyoko and Mami's first few minutes alone were, predictably enough, silent and uncomfortable, at least for Mami. She kept casting worried glances at Kyoko, as if she expected the redhead to start asking questions or make accusations. However, Kyoko just walked along quietly, hands in pockets, and casually looking around, like any other tourist going for a stroll.

It wasn't until they actually reached the bank that the façade dropped. The building itself was normal enough: a white, one-story structure with a red-tile lobby with three arched teller windows, only one of which was open. But while the smiling, Middle-Eastern girl in the dark suit that greeted them at the door was normal enough, the clearly inhuman teller made Kyoko pause for a moment at the doorway. She (if it was a she) had an impossibly thin body and flexible that had to be over seven feet tall, a round bulge at the top from which sprouted eight arms as long as her body, each with three spindly fingers, and a head suspended on a skinny neck that looked like a closed flower bud. The whole creature seemed to be made from smoky volcanic glass.

"That's Kii'sa'ko," Mami whispered to her. "She's an ai'jurrik'kai."

"Of course she is," Kyoko murmured back. "How could I mistake her for anything else?"

Though she really didn't expect an attack, Kyoko still hung back while Mami exchanged pleasantries with the multi-armed teller and deposited the check Victoria had given her. It was then that she realized what she had taken for the thing's body was actually a ninth arm being employed as a leg, and the bulge itself was the body.

Once Mami had finished up and the two were once again walking the streets, Kyoko said, "Well. That was different."

Mami nodded. "I'm sorry, I forgot she was working today. I should have-"

"Uh-huh, yeah, okay," Kyoko said. She was getting just a little fed with being apologized to for not being told something. "So, how many aliens actually live here, anyway?"

"You mean nonhumans. And not many," Mami said, looking a little relieved was starting on a neutral subject. "Freehaven was built before the Alliance was formed, so it was originally just for humans. Calliopes don't much care for the heat, and jotts don't like the humidity, so there's not a whole lot of them around. And ai'jurrik'kai rarely move once they've established a nest. I mean there are exceptions, but for the most part it's mostly humans here."

"Huh. What about the other cities?"

Mami shrugged. "Well, Pinespire was a communal effort, so it's pretty evenly divided. Cloudbreak is mostly calliopes and ai'jurrik'kai, and Orya's Furnace is practically all jotts, with a few humans here and there. There's also a few smaller towns and settlements that vary in their populations."

"Jotts?"

"Yes, they're about this tall," Mami said, holding her hand to a little under a meter above the ground, "very hairy and muscular, and have very large mouths. They mostly live underground, but are very civilized. They love the arts, for example, and many of them are fantastic storytellers. More than half our books are jott-written. Anyway, the four of us, the humans, the ai'jurrik'kai, the calliopes, and the jotts, make up the New Life Alliance. The other species weren't interested, so they mostly keep to themselves and have formed their own communities."

"Neat," Kyoko muttered. She would have asked more about the other aliens, but there was one subject that had been niggling at the back of her mind since early that morning. "And getting off the aliens for now, there is something else you shoulda told me. Like, from the very moment I woke up yesterday."

Mami stopped walking and stared at Kyoko, apprehension written all over her face.

Then Kyoko broke out into an unexpected grin. "When the hell were you gonna tell me about you and Charlotte?" she said, elbowing Mami teasingly in the side.

It was pretty funny, watching so many reactions flash across Mami's face. First was blanked-eyed incomprehension, followed by a full second of dawning realization, followed by wide-eyed nervousness, followed by red-faced embarrassment, and finally capping off with shamefaced resignation.

"Oh," Mami said. "I…guess you figured it out?"

Kyoko laughed. "Oh, come on! No offense, but you guys really suck at hiding it. I can't even begin to count the number of times I saw you two almost hold hands, almost brush cheeks, almost lean in to kiss. Then you suddenly remember that I'm around and you stop and look all flustered. Gimme a break, Mami. I do have eyes." She leaned in closer. "Plus, I snuck a look into that room you share with her. For roommates, you must be really freaking close, close enough to not mind sharing a bed."

Her face now bright scarlet, Mami buried her face in her hand.

Kyoko had to admit, she was enjoying Mami's embarrassment more than she should. But she didn't care. Seeing the blonde get so flustered was a treat that she had no shame in relishing. "Aw, come on!" she said, slapping Mami on the back. "You don't hafta get all shamefaced! I think it's cute! In a…really weird, sort of disturbing kinda way, given that she ate you once."

"Kyoko…"

"But hey, if you can work past that, more power to you!" Kyoko said with another laugh. "I just don't get why you felt you had'ta hide it from me. I mean, I don't care! And it's not like I'm not making fun of you all the time anyway."

"It's…not that," Mami said, her face still in her palm.

"What?" Kyoko said with a slight frown. "Oh, come on, it's not the whole church thing, is it? You're not thinking that I'm one of those 'homosexuality is a sin' people, do'yah? Give me a break, you met my dad! Do'yah really think he had a problem with who wanted who?" She leaned over and twisted her neck around so that she was looking up at Mami's face. "Really, I don't care if you like girls. It doesn't make you any less cool, okay? And hey, maybe me and Charlotte don't really get along, but if you two dig each other, that's fine! No bother to me if she's your girlfriend."

"It's not really that either," Mami said, finally lowering her hands. "And, ah, she's…actually a little more than just a 'girlfriend.'"

"Huh?" Kyoko blinked. Then her eyes slowly widened. "No way."

In answer, Mami reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a ring and slipped it on her finger. It was made of silver, or something similar. Its centerpiece was a four-sided yellow gem. A set of three pink gems of descending size sat on either side of it.

Though Mami's face was still red, a small smile of relief tugged at her lips as she put the ring back on. It was clear that she had missed it.

"Holy shit!" Kyoko said with a bark of surprised laughter. "Wow, you actually got married?" She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Damn, Mami! When you settle down, you settle the fuck down!" Then she bared a fang as she grinned and stuck her thumb up. "But hey, for what it's worth, congratulations and all that shit! How long ago was it?"

"Three years ago," Mami said. She still looked a little uncomfortable, but was warming up to the subject. It did seem to be a happy one for her, after all. "We had it on the Nautilus Platform's dock."

"That dinky little thing? You musta had one hell of a short guest list."

That managed to coax a smile out of the older girl. "Oh no, we actually rented several portable floating platforms to attach to it. It was actually quite large when we finished, and most of the guests brought their own boats and turned them into their private seating." Her voice took on a note of wistfulness. "Almost everyone came out for it, so we practically had a whole fleet around the platform. And we ringed all the boats with white balloons, and made an arch of them over where we said our vows. Charlotte was really uncomfortable in her dress. She doesn't much like wearing them, but she looked beautiful. And after we kissed, all the calliopes lined up to spell 'Congratulations, Mami and Charlotte!' in the sky."

"Huh," Kyoko said, slightly disappointed that she hadn't been there. "Must've been something."

"It was the best day of my life," Mami murmured, now lost in the memory.

"Yeah, I can see that." Then a thought occurred to Kyoko, one that made her scowl. "And hey, just for the record, Charlotte's good to you, right? I mean, this whole not telling me thing isn't because she-"

Mami snapped out of her nostalgic reverie. "Kyoko Sakura," she said, her voice firm. "Let me assure you, that has nothing to do with it. Charlotte is the best thing to ever happen to me, and we couldn't be happier. So please, banish any possible misconceptions you might have about our relationship."

"Okay, chillax," Kyoko laughed, holding up her palms in surrender. She didn't have any trouble "Just looking out for you."

Mami relaxed a little. "I'm sorry, I overreacted. And you're right, we shouldn't have hidden it from you." She sighed and unconsciously twirled one of her drill-tails around her finger. "To…tell the truth, it wasn't our relationship itself we were worried about telling you. It's just there are some associated topics that I didn't want to bring up until you were ready."

Kyoko snorted. "Hey, most of my beef I have with this place is all the weird stuff people haven't told me about. Though I think I see what you're talking about." She shrugged and chuckled. "Kinda funny, when you think about it. Back when we were training together, I figured you had half the boys in school wrapped around your finger. Never figured you'd really be batting for the home team."

Mami suddenly tensed up again. "Well, er, actually…"

"And hey, now that I think about it, back when you agreed to be my mentor and all, were you planning being more than just my sempai?" Kyoko smirked and poked Mami in the ribs. "Hoped to groom me into a proper future wife, weren't'cha? Get 'em when they're young, eh?"

"That's…not really…"

"Aw, come on! I'm not blaming yah! I am a fox, after all. This most wondrous ass of mine has probably turned more straight girls gay than Haruhi Suzumiya!"

Mami finally seemed to muster the courage to articulate what she wanted to say. "Kyoko, I wasn't."

"Wasn't what?" Kyoko asked. "Planning on seducing me with your worldly ways and experience? It's not like you needed to. After that peach pie you used to make, all you'd have to do was ask, and I'd've gladly dropped my pants!"

"No," Mami said, in a firmer tone this time. "I mean, I wasn't into girls back then."

"You wasn't into…" Kyoko blinked at her. "But then why…"

Though Kyoko didn't know it, her face underwent nearly the same sequence of reactions Mami's had earlier. She stared blankly as the pieces put themselves together in her mind. Then her brow slowly rose as the finished picture revealed itself to her. And her face turned beet-red. Though, unlike Mami, it was not due to embarrassment, but another emotion entirely.

The next thing either of them knew, Mami had been shoved back against the nearby wall, the pole of Kyoko's suddenly summoned spear pressed against her throat, and Kyoko herself screaming in her face: "You mean you got turned…WHAT the fudging hell!"

…

Any time a newcomer was taken on a guided tour of Freehaven, the first stop was always the Magi's Gifts Emporium. The store was located near the foot of the hill, in plain view of beach-going tourists. Though there were other gift shops, they continued to remain in business only by the Emporium's grace.

Oktavia's jaw dropped as Charlotte wheeled her in through the front door. "Baloney, fudge, and mustard!" she cried. "Look at this place!"

Charlotte paused for a second. "Baloney, fudge, and…mustard? What?"

Oktavia ignored her. She didn't want to distract from taking in the sight of the shop's interior.

It wasn't huge. It was large, certainly, but modern department stores dwarfed it by a considerable amount. However, Oktavia was more than willing to bet that most department stores didn't offer a fraction of the merchandise available at the Emporium. The ceiling was two stories high, making space for winding rows of shelves that stretched nearly all the way up. Metal handholds were fixed to the sides of the shelves. And every square centimeter of shelving space was crammed tight with what looked more like treasure than merchandise.

Fantastically carved and painted toys, so lifelike that they might be mistaken for living beings, shared space with elaborate chess sets made from precious metals and ornate weapons hailing from a hundred different cultures and time periods. A full row of sparkling glass spheres that resembled miniature calliopes sat across from a tea set that might have come out of a Sultan's private collection. Another shelf contained games with tiny, free-moving pieces. One open section proudly displayed fully accurate models of the Free Life Alliance's primary settlements, all for obscene prices. Model flying machines and kites of every imaginable shape and color hung from the ceiling, around and through which ran a golden model train, tooting merrily on a track that had no visible means of support.

Other shelves contained items of a more mundane quality. Baseball bats, swimmer's goggles, caps marked with witty sayings and Freehaven logos, and board games akin to the ones Mami and Charlotte had been entertaining Oktavia with. It was clear that the Emporium made a point to cater to visitors of all tastes and financial means.

"This is," Oktavia said breathlessly. "This is. Wow. This is…"

"Pretty neat, huh?" Charlotte said as she pushed the wheelchair through the door, careful not to upset the potted tree that held dangling crystal necklaces instead of leaves. "You should see their fireworks!"

Moving carefully so as to not accidentally brush any of the delicate items with the wheelchair, the two of them maneuvered their way between the towering shelves. Though it was still reasonably early, there were a fair amount of shoppers browsing about. Oktavia watched as a couple of girls scampered up the sides of the shelves with all the dexterity of a monkey and wondered how they managed to do so without upsetting any of the precariously placed merchandise.

A moment later she got her answer. One of the girls' feet unintentionally upset a teacup, which slipped from its perch and started to fall. But it got less than a meter before coming to a sudden stop in midair. It hung suspended for a moment before whizzing back up and coming to rest in its original place. The girl gave her near-accident only the briefest of glances before returning to her search.

"Okay, that was weird," Oktavia said, staring. "But really cool."

"Yeah, you really have to work to break something in here," Charlotte said. "And heaven help you if you pull it off."

"Ooooh, talking from personal experience, are we?" Oktavia teased. She reached up over her head to poke Charlotte's stomach. "Came across a golden cheese-grater and lost control, didn't you? Smashed up all the plates and-Hey!" she yelped as Charlotte rubbed her knuckles into the top of the mermaid's head. "Ow, no fair! Stoppit!"

At the other end of the store was a glass counter displaying a sparkling selection of jewelry. And manning a fancy, old-fashioned cash register was a girl with a severe face who wore her jet-black hair in a tight bun and had on a pair of pointed spectacles. That, combined with her sharp black suit, she looked much older than her physical body would normally suggest. She was frowning at an open book of numbers and muttering to herself. Sitting next to her on a stool and helping her with the numbers was something unlike anything Oktavia had seen before. It was very short, about the height of Dr. Young, but packed with dense muscle. Its skin was pink and covered with what looked like snowy down. A huge, toothy mouth took up the majority of its squat head. However, its fingers, of which it had seven on each hand, were remarkably long and agile-looking, though the hooked claws on the end of each were certainly intimidating. A thin membrane stretched between the lower half of its fingers, and, oddly enough, it wore a loose-fitting tank top and a pair of shorts.

Oktavia tried not to stare, but it wasn't easy. "Another alien?" she whispered to Charlotte.

"Yes, a jott," Charlotte whispered back. "Only with a major haircut. That's Beleg. She's one of the few jotts to live in Freehaven. She and Roseanne there run the store."

As the two witches approached, Roseanne and Beleg glanced up. "Ah, Charlotte," Roseanne greeted with a thin smile. "Welcome! And I see you brought a friend."

"Yup. This is Oktavia," Charlotte said, giving the blunette a friendly pat on the shoulder. "She's staying with us for the time being, so I decided to show her around!"

"Wonderful! You certainly picked an excellent place to start." As she spoke, Roseanne left her partner to finish up with the book and came out from behind the counter. As she did, a look of surprise flashed across Oktavia's face before she managed to rein it in.

Like herself, Roseanne had no legs, at least not of the human variety. Her lower body was, quite literally, a giant red pincushion. From it, hundreds of sewing needles were linked together to give her eight, multi-jointed spider-like legs. Furthermore, her left hand was wooden and ball-jointed, like a tailor's mannequin, while the fingers of her right were all steel scissors.

Despite the fact that she was one of the few people to have retained more witch remnants than Oktavia herself, Roseanne had no trouble at all getting around, something that Oktavia felt to be completely unfair. "Greetings, and again, welcome to my shop," she said, bowing at the waist.

Still taken up with her ledger, Beleg made a loud harrumphing sound.

"Our shop," Roseanne quickly corrected. "I'm Roseanne, and this is Beleg. A pleasure." She extended her wooden hand.

Snapping back to attention, Oktavia grinned and took the offered handshake. "Hey, nice to meet'cha," she said. "Awesome store, by the way. And it's cool to know that I'm not the only witch who came here with more than weird hair or tiny tail."

Beleg made a sound of amusement, and Roseanne's smile faltered. Oktavia mentally winced. From the look of things, the shop owner was a bit more sensitive about her handicaps than the mermaid was. Whoops.

"Yes, well, we all have our crosses to bear," Roseanne said, clearing her throat. She glanced down at the hand made of scissors. "Oh, and I feel compelled to warn you in advance: my name is Roseanne. Not Edward, or Johnny, or Kim, or Peg, or Tim, or Vincent. I have no interest in ice sculptures or hedge-trimming, I can eat peas just fine, don't particularly care for lemonade, was not raised in a gothic castle, and have never slept in a waterbed."

Oktavia stared. "Ah…Okay?"

"Roseanne, she just got here," Charlotte said. "Of course she doesn't know about Edward Scissorhands."

Roseanne relaxed a little. "Of course, of course. My apologies. It's just everyone who has always thinks they're being so clever, and that no one has ever made those jokes before." Then she focused on Charlotte and her eyes narrowed with displeasure. "Ah, Charlotte, forgive me for intruding, but it seems that your finger is lacking a certain ornament. This isn't a sign of poor things to come, is it?"

Charlotte looked confused, but then she laughed. "That? Oh, no. It's right here." She reached into her neckline and pulled out the necklace she was wearing. On it was a bejeweled ring made from white gold.

"Oktavia isn't the only person we're, ah, entertaining," Charlotte explained. "One of Mami's friends from back in the day just arrived too, and she's still getting used to…well, everything. Mami decided that it was probably best to keep our relationship on the downlow until she's…well, until she's ready."

"Huh, doesn't sound like the sort of thing you'd go for," Beleg said, speaking for the first time. The jott's voice was deep, certainly, though surprisingly melodic, coming from such a rough looking creature. "I thought you were all about honesty up front."

Charlotte shrugged in such a way that suggested that she wasn't really happy about the current situation. "I am, but it's Mami's friend, so it's her call."

Deciding that the current subject was too awkward for her to be caught in the middle of, Oktavia took the moment to wheel herself out from between the others. "I'm just going to look around," she whispered to Charlotte, who hesitated for a moment before nodding.

As Charlotte talked to the shopkeepers, Oktavia directed her wheelchair toward something that had caught her attention earlier: an entire corner devoted to musical instruments. Two pianos sat side-by-side, there were at least four drum sets, and the wall was lined with stringed and wind instruments of every kind. There were even a few that Oktavia didn't recognize, probably made by one of the nonhuman species.

Oktavia felt curiously drawn to them, almost as if they were calling to her. Getting the wheelchair to move on her own took a little doing, but she managed to get close to one of the pianos, one carved from stained oak. She ran her fingers over the ivory keys, and felt a little shiver shoot up her spine.

"Nice, isn't it?" said a voice, startling her. "Do you play?"

Oktavia looked to see that Beleg had left the counter to join her. "I…don't know," Oktavia admitted. "I only arrived a week ago."

Beleg shook her head back and forth like a horse. "I see. Well, people sometimes retain learned skills, even after witching out. Perhaps you knew how to play in life, and can still do it. Would you like to try?"

Oktavia did, very much so. "Can I?" she asked eagerly.

Beleg made that head-shaking motion again, which Oktavia realized was her way of nodding. "Of course," the jott said, waddling over to move the piano's bench out of the way. "Give it a try."

Situating herself in front of the keys, Oktavia stared down at them. She didn't have a clue on how to start, but something inside her was moving her to try. It was worth a shot. Taking a deep breath, she let her fingers move of their own accord.

The response was immediate. Her hands moved over the keys with the practiced motions of a master, playing the melody that had been running in her head since she had arrived, and sometimes found herself humming. Smiling, she closed her eyes and happily allowed herself to get lost in the song.

Oktavia wasn't sure how long she had been playing, but when she finally hit the last note, a round of applause rose up from all around her.

"What?" she said, jerking her head around in surprise. "Huh?"

Unnoticed by her, a small audience had gathered behind her. In addition to Charlotte and the two shopkeepers, at least six of the other shoppers were there as well, including the girl who had knocked over the teacup.

"That was beautiful," Charlotte said, clapping with the rest. "I didn't know you could play."

Blushing from the unexpected attention, Oktavia said, "I…uh…didn't really know either, until…hey, how long was I playing, anyway?"

"Only for a few minutes," Roseanne said, tapping her wooden hand against the opposite wrist. "But I must agree with our mutual friend: you played wonderfully. I have never heard that song before though. What's it called?"

"I…don't know," Oktavia admitted. "It's just been going through my head since I arrived."

"Well, I think it's lovely." Roseanne rubbed her chin as she thoughtfully looked at Oktavia. "How would you feel about giving lessons? We could use a music teacher here."

"Now that's a fine idea," Beleg said, crossing her furry arms. "Always felt we needed someone with a more artistic touch around here."

"I'd take them," chimed in one of the shoppers. "Always wanted to learn the piano."

"Whoa, whoa, wait up!" Oktavia said quickly, holding up her palms. "I already told you I don't know how I did it! It was, like, instinct! That's all! I have no idea how I'd teach something like that."

"Aw, too bad," said the shopper. "Nice song though! It was real pretty."

After everyone whom Oktavia had never been introduced to had wandered off, Roseanne said, "You know, it's not unheard of for witches to bring over some sort of innate talent, related to whatever gimmick their labyrinths were based upon. I myself am quite a competent seamstress, as you no doubt have surmised."

Oktavia considered this. "That might be it. A friend of mine, the one Charlotte told you about, said my wish was to fix up another friend of mine so he could play music again. And apparently my labyrinth had an orchestra theme."

"That makes sense," Charlotte said with a nod. "I'm pretty damned good at baking, and Mami says my labyrinth was filled with desserts."

"Huh." Oktavia considered this. Though her lack of legs was incredibly inconvenient, she had to admit that she was liking the consolation perks. "Well, that's kinda neat, actually."

"Hey, tell you what," Charlotte said brightly. "Why don't I get you an instrument? You know, as a welcoming present?"

Oktavia perked up. "Wait, really?" she said excitedly.

Roseanne's eyes immediately gleamed at the mention of a potential sale. "I think that's a fantastic idea! I'd be more than happy to cut you a special discount."

"Sure, go ahead and pick something," Charlotte said. "I mean, obviously we can't cart a piano back with us, but I'd be more than happy to get you something more portable."

Oktavia eagerly scanned the instruments mounted on the walls, though her face fell when she noted how much they cost. "I don't know," she said. "They look kinda pricey."

"Nonsense!" Roseanne said indignantly. "These instruments are all of the finest quality, and the prices are more than fair."

Charlotte laughed. "Oktavia, relax. Me and Mami run our own business, remember? We're pretty well off. Go ahead, it's on me."

Well, it was hard to argue with that logic. Oktavia again scanned her possible selections, searching for one that felt right.

"We can get a keyboard if you want to stick with something with keys," Charlotte suggested. "Or hey, a violin! How do you feel about a violin?"

…

Elsewhere, Kyoko's own tour of Freehaven was not going quite so pleasantly.

"You call this a paradise?" she growled as she continued to keep Mami pinned against the wall. "You just put up with this shit and act like it's okay? The hell happened to you, Mami? I knew you were a little naïve. Never thought you were a complete idiot!"

"Kyoko," Mami said hoarsely, struggling to speak through the pole jammed against her throat. "Let me…let me down."

Kyoko didn't comply. In fact, she wasn't even listening. "Didn't you learn your lesson the last time?" she said, raising her voice to a shout. "I thought you'd had enough with other people screwing with you. But no, you just gotta close your eyes and go marching along to anyone else's beat, never asking who they were or what they were up to! No, it doesn't matter how much they fuck with you; it's okay if they let you play hero or give you a pretty house and a pretty wife to tuck you in at night! Just so long as you feel good about yourself, you don't care-"

"Enough!"

Both of Mami's hands pressed against Kyoko's chest and shoved, sending her back a couple steps. The redhead almost pushed back, but a tiny sliver of common sense told her to way. So she stood her ground, both hands gripping her spear in a white-knuckled grasp, letting the rage run its course through her.

Mami coughed a few times before speaking. "Kyoko, calm down. Right now. You are…entitled to your anger, but if you must curse and attack me, do not do it here in public, especially not in front of children."

Children? What? Kyoko looked around and saw that her outburst had attracted some attention. Two girls dressed in Gothic Lolita fashion were standing nearby and openly staring. Above, four children that looked even younger than Nicole had were crowding around a window.

Kyoko scowled. "Psssh. They've probably like fifty or something."

"They're not." Mami tilted her head to a passageway between two buildings, this one even narrower than the street. "The alleyway. Now."

Fuming, Kyoko stomped her way into the alley. Mami waved off the staring bystanders, though it wasn't until she had joined Kyoko that they finally went on their way.

Not waiting for Mami to have the first word, Kyoko started talking before the blonde even reached her. "Seriously Mami, why do you just let this slide? I mean, okay, if you were into girls back in the day and just decided to run with it, fine! No problems there. But…but to let someone change something so…so personal just because of how they think things should be without so much as a 'May I?' That's just…sick."

Mami sighed. "Charlotte was right. Slowly easing you into this was a bad idea."

"Hells yeah, she was right! So, what, you were just gonna slowly break the news that dying turns you into a lesbian without permission and expect me not to be pissed?" Slamming the butte of her spear into the ground, Kyoko stepped forward to jab her finger into Mami's sternum. "Look, when I found out that becoming a Puella Magi meant you got turned into a zombie, I-"

"Lich," Mami said.

"What?" Kyoko's head jerked back. "Well, hey! Same to you!"

"I said lich, not bitch," Mami said patiently. "A zombie is a dead body that has been resurrected without a soul. A lich is a person that keeps their soul in some kind of outside container. It's a common mistake."

"Fine! Lich! Whatever," Kyoko said, throwing her hands into the air. "Point is, at first I was pissed, yeah. But then I starting thinking it might not be so bad after all, seeing how it kept my soul all nice and cozy and made it so my body could get healed from anything! But then I read the rest of the fine print and found out I was fucked no matter what!"

"It's not the same thing," Mami said. "And it's not what you think."

"The hell it isn't! Look, you let someone twist you around like that, no matter how small it might look, you might as well sign the rest of your life away! You know that one chick, the one that supposedly wished for this place so we'd get a second chance at life or whatever?"

"Yes. But you have to understand-"

Kyoko didn't let up. In fact, she was only gathering steam. "Well, guess what? I never asked for her help! I never asked to be brought here, and I sure as hell don't appreciate being turned into something I'm not just because she thinks it'll make me happy, and you shouldn't either! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Kyoko!" Mami said, her voice nearly matching Kyoko's own for volume. "It's not like that at all!"

"Oh?" Kyoko said with a bitter laugh. Folding her arms, she motioned toward Mami. "First you tell me you were straight when you were alive, and now suddenly you're a lesbian. So, what the hell am I supposed to think?"

Closing her eyes, Mami took a deep breath, presumably to steady herself. "Listen: when you come here, nothing about you is changed, not like that."

Rolling her eyes, Kyoko lowered her spear and made a cut on the back of her hand. "Nothing?" she said, holding it up so Mami could see the trickle of red vapor.

"Well, yes, there is that. But your body was destroyed, Kyoko. It doesn't exist anymore. You're a soul now."

"Kinda noticed," Kyoko said dryly. "So?"

"So, this new form you've taken looks and feels exactly like your old one because that's what it was used to," Mami explained. "Your internal anatomy may be different, but unless you've been turned into a witch, you still come here with everything else intact: your thoughts, your memories, your personality, beliefs, and yes, even preferences."

Now Kyoko's anger was starting to morph into confusion. Shaking her head, she spread her hands in bewilderment.

"But even still, your physical body is still gone," Mami continued. "Your…behavior is no influenced by things like genes, hormones, neurons firing, that sort of thing. It may seem like it sometimes, but it isn't. And as such, things can…change, if you want them to."

Now Kyoko was starting to get it. "Waittaminute, you telling me that you…"

Mami nodded. "Our first year here, after we died, was pretty bad. There were so many things to get used to, so many horrible things we were finding out. Learning Kyubey's true intentions nearly broke me, and when Charlotte discovered what she had done to me, she was devastated. But as strange as it sounds, we grew very close as a result. Like we were-"

"Clinging to each other," Kyoko finished for her. Her voice was now a low, but dangerous, monotone. "Using each other as a way to stay sane."

Mami's eyebrows rose. "Yes. That's it, exactly. After a while, I noticed that was…starting to have feelings for her, ones that went beyond friendship."

"Ah. Did you now?"

"Yes. And as you probably guessed, it frightened me. I was confused, not sure what I should do. I was feeling things that I thought I shouldn't be feeling."

Kyoko nodded, her face now completely expressionless. "And?"

Mami's face was starting to turn red. She averted her eyes and said, "Well, as you already know, I've…never been the best at confronting my true feelings. Fortunately, Charlotte is, and ended up approaching me. She had been having many of the same feelings as I, but without a previous life of experiences, beliefs, and traditions holding her back, she was more willing to embrace them. So, we talked it over and decided not to fight how things were going. It's not like there's a gay-straight switch you can flip whenever you want, but it is possible to…modify yourself, if you truly want to."

Kyoko frowned, but she didn't say anything.

Sensing that the hostility was starting to ebb, Mami stepped forward and put her hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Kyoko, I chose to love Charlotte, or to allow myself to fall in love with her. Me. I chose. I could have fought it. I could have chosen to stay the way I was. Some people do. And there is nothing wrong with that. You can too, if you wish. No one will think less of you. I'm just trying to make the point that this world isn't a cage as you believe. It's all about respecting your choices and giving us more than we had in the world of the living. I know you're angry and suspicious, but just because you've been hurt by one lie doesn't mean everything is a lie."

Kyoko stared at Mami as the wheels turned in her head. Her brow rose and fell as she tried to sort out the clutter that was taking up too much space in her mind. Every time she felt like she was starting to get a grip on things, another stone would be unturned, revealing a whole new mess that she had to deal with.

Besides, as passionate as Mami's speech was, as much as she probably believed it, there was one very blatant contradiction.

"Maybe," Kyoko slowly. "Maybe it is. But you know, for a place that's supposed to be all respectful of your choices and all, there's a couple I can't help but notice that it don't give us."

Mami blinked. "What's that?"

"The choice not to come at all," Kyoko said flatly. "And the choice to leave." Then she looked up, at the buildings towering over them.

"There's something I gotta go check out," she said. "Catch up with you later."

"What?" Mami said, startled. "What are you-"

Without another word, Kyoko sprung into the air and leapt her way to the rooftops. From there, she started leaping her way across the cityscape.

"-Kyoko, wait! Come back!"

…

"You know you can still get that violin," Charlotte said as she and Oktavia exited the Magi's Gifts Emporium. When Oktavia had finally made her choice, the pink-haired witch had been somewhat disappointed, and kept hinting that Oktavia should have chosen something grander. "Really, it's okay. You don't have to go with that just to save me money."

Oktavia, who was feeling too happy to let Charlotte's pestering bother her, just grinned at her friend over her shoulder. "Hey now, don't be dissing my choice here," she said, holding up her brand-new musical instrument. "I'm serious, this is perfect!"

Looking somewhat unconvinced, Charlotte said, "Yeah, okay, it's cute and all, but…a harmonica? Why a harmonica?"

A harmonica it was, though like almost everything else offered by the Emporium it was quite the fancy one. Made of brass and plated with silver, Oktavia knew instantly that it was the one for her the moment her eyes fell upon it. Part of that was because it was, as Charlotte said, very cute; however, the fact that one side was painted with a very pretty mermaid swimming through a coral reef also attracted her to it. The other displayed a proud unicorn galloping through a field of wildflowers. Though Oktavia had no connection to unicorns that she knew of, it still looked pretty cool.

"Because I like this harmonica," Oktavia retorted in a lofty tone. "This is now Oktavia's harmonica, and I shall hear no further objections. Besides," here she ran her fingers lovingly over her beloved new melodic companion, "you might hurt its feelings."

Charlotte shook her head. "Now you're just being silly. It's a freaking harmonica!"

Sticking out her lips in a pout, Oktavia bowed her head over the harmonica and said in a babying voice, "Aw, don't wisten to the big meanie. Mommy woves you, and that's all you need to know!"

"I swear to God, if you start talking to that thing, I'm pushing you both overboard as soon as we hit deep water," Charlotte sighed.

Oktavia stuck her tongue out at her. "Don't care! Mermaid and waterproofed!"

It was indeed. In fact, Oktavia had insisted that be the first modification made to her new harmonica upon purchase. This had been followed by fireproofing, shatter-proofing, tarnish-proofing, high-speed-projectile-proofing, and acid-proofing, all backed by an extended warranty. Just because she didn't really expect to run into any of the above hazards, her first twenty-four hours in the afterlife had taught her to prepare for anything.

Sighing again, Charlotte patted Oktavia on the shoulder. "Well, so long as you're happy, I guess I can't say anything."

"Darn right, you can't! Besides, you should be thankful. It was either this or the accordion." Then, dropping the teasing for a moment, Oktavia followed it up with, "Oh, and thank you. I mean it, this is great."

"Don't mention it," Charlotte said. "Just don't wake me up at one of the morning by belting out showtunes, and we'll be fine."

Oktavia nodded. Then she turned her attention to the other object in her hands, which she had insisted that they purchase. It was a necklace, made from a thin, black braided rope. At its bottom it separated into four strands that wrapped tightly around a gleaming red stone before coming together again to support an obsidian arrowhead.

The necklace was obviously intended for Kyoko. Since Oktavia was taking home a souvenir of their first trip to a purely Puella Magi city, it was only fair that Kyoko got something as well, even if she hadn't wanted to come. Oktavia just hoped that the redhead loosened up a bit and gave the city a chance, like had said she would.

To be honest, Oktavia wasn't really sure what Kyoko's problem was. It was like she was going out of her way to be difficult. Okay, granted, she had good reason to get upset at the mayor. After all, using the current Reibey situation to try to rush Kyoko into signing the Compact was kind of tacky, but the moody girl had seemed set against the city from the beginning. Maybe after the whole thing with finding out how much that Kyubey person had been hiding from her she was just naturally distrustful of anything new, or maybe she was just naturally belligerent. Personally, Oktavia felt it was a combination of the two. It was a little discouraging, but hopefully Kyoko would come around. She liked the redhead, attitude problems and all, and felt greatly indebted to her. She didn't want her to end up as a bitter wreck wandering the wilderness, which, from what she had been told, was not uncommon. That was where Oblivion did most of her recruiting, after all.

"So where do you want to go next?" Charlotte asked, jolting Oktavia back to reality. "We could head over to Mayboyer Park and take the nature trail. Or we could hit up the library and get you some new reading material. Or there's always the beach-"

"The beach," Oktavia said without hesitation. "Definitely the beach."

"Had a feeling you'd say that," Charlotte said. Even before she had received her answer, she had already turned the wheelchair in the beach's direction. "Okay, fishy-girl. Time for a swim."

The two of them stashed the gifts in a rented locker, and Oktavia pulled off her shirt. Given her aquatic leanings, she had taken to wearing a swimsuit under her clothes at all times, just in case.

Then something occurred to her. "What about you?" she asked as she stuffed the shirt inside the locker. "Are you just going to hang around?"

Charlotte gave her a look. Then she pulled off her own shirt, revealing a pink tankini.

"Oktavia, come on. You're a mermaid who loves the water, and we're taking you to visit a seaside town. This trip was going to include a swim at the beach sooner or later."

Oktavia bowed her head. "Oh, excuse me. Forgive me for ever doubting your foresight!"

"Granted. My mercy is ever constant, and my kindness is unwavering."

As Charlotte finished undressing, Oktavia glanced over the sandy beach. Already it was filling up. "Uh, this is going to be awkward."

"How so?" Charlotte asked as she put their clothes in the locker and shut the door, engaging the magnetic lock.

Slapping her wheelchair's side, Oktavia said, "There's no way I can take this to the water. So, it looks like you'll have to carry me."

"Huh. Carrying a mermaid to the ocean. I think I've seen a holo or two where that happens." Charlotte shrugged. "Ah, whatever. Upsy-daisy."

Before Oktavia could react, Charlotte had already reached down and scooped her up into her arms.

"Uh, we're getting a lot of weird looks," Oktavia said as Charlotte carried her toward the surf. Her cheeks were starting to turn red. "Really hope no one gets the wrong idea."

Charlotte snorted. "Oktavia, come on. I know most of these people, and they know I'm a married woman."

"But that's what I meant! People can be downright vicious with rumors, you know!"

By then Charlotte was already up to her knees in the water. "Well, with any luck this'll dissuade them."

Oktavia was about to ask her what she meant, but then Charlotte unceremoniously dropped her into the ocean. Yelping as her body plunged into cold water, Oktavia immediately retaliated, lunging up to tackle Charlotte's waist.

"I warned you!" she shouted as she tried to drag the older girl down. "Time to drown, you-"

At that moment, a wave came crashing past, bowling both girls over.

…

There was one advantage for traversing over the rooftops in a city designed and built by other Puella Magi: and that was that said rooftops were ideally suited for bounding across. The tiles were rough enough to provide plenty of friction, the spaces were small, and no building towered high enough above its neighbor to be a problem. Good thing too, as Kyoko needed to move quickly. Trying to escape from Mami was no easy task.

As pole-vaulted from one roof to another, passing over one entirely, she risked a brief glance over her shoulder. Yup, Mami had already scaled the walls and was in hot pursuit.

"Kyoko, wait!" Mami called. "Please don't do this!"

Instead of complying or even answering back, Kyoko took the landing in an over-the-shoulder roll and bounded to her feet. As she ran, she considered the problem before her. In keeping ahead of and quickly losing Mami, she was faced with a distinct disadvantage, in that she was in alien territory. In contrast, Mami was on her home turf. Furthermore, she was stronger than Kyoko and had those damned ribbons of hers, which would end the chase as soon as she closed enough distance.

Fortunately, Kyoko was smaller and faster, and had been actively fighting for her life until very recently, whereas Mami had spent the last seven years living the life of the domesticated. Loss of internal anatomy or not, reflexes were reflexes, and Kyoko's were still sharp whereas her former mentor's had atrophied. She just needed to get a quick glimpse of the landscape.

There was a tall tower coming up, one with a tiered roof. That would do nicely. Kyoko leapt towards the tower, hooked the fin of her spearhead on one of the lower tiers, and launched herself up three tiers before hooking another one. She took the tower's height in three leaps and vaulted over the pinnacle.

As her momentum took her high over the city, she quickly scanned the area, searching for the opportunity she needed. It didn't take long.

Bingo, she thought as she spied the perfect place. That'll do just-

Then her instincts screamed at her, and she twisted her body just in time to avoid having her ankle ensnared by a yellow ribbon. Mami was already at the tower's peak. Damn it, Kyoko had underestimated her. That had been way too close.

"Stop!" Mami called as Kyoko again took the fall in a roll and kept running. "Kyoko, please!"

Another street was coming up, this one wider than the others. Instead of leaping over, Kyoko dove right for the gap. But rather than let herself fall all the way to the street below, she again hooked her spear on a cornerstone and swung herself through an open window. From there, she quickly threw herself through the house (passing right over some sleeping girl in a stupid looking floral bonnet) and came out through a window at the other end.

Now in another alleyway, Kyoko grabbed the edges of the roof and peeked over. It looked like doubling back had worked, as she could hear Mami's voice calling for her in the opposite street. She dropped the rest of the way to the ground and concealed herself between two tall potted plants.

In time, Mami's voice began to fade. Kyoko waited another five minutes before judging it safe enough to stand up and come out of hiding.

Sorry Mami, she thought as she brushed herself off. Some things you just gotta do by yourself. I'll apologize later.

With that, she started moving through the streets.

…

As helpless as she was on land, Oktavia absolutely thrived in the water. And, as it turned out, this included body-surfing.

She would wait in the shallows for the hump of an incoming wave to appear on the horizon. Then she would kick off with her fins until she was at its peak. Once there, she would change direction and swim with the wave as it grew in size and instability, her powerful tail allowing her to keep up more surely than a pair of human legs ever would. Then the wave would crest and come crashing down, and she would just ride it all the way down, letting herself tumble through the foam before she finally came to rest back in the shallows.

Of course, there wasn't enough water there for her to swim back, and she had to lie on her side and roll into the surf until it was deep enough, but after the third time she got the hang of it. And she was having a blast. Exploring the still, deep waters around the Nautilus Platform was awesome, to be certain, but this was a whole new level of fun.

Roughly around an hour later, Oktavia was relaxing on a wooden bench, watching the other beachgoers. In the time she had been there, she had already met several of them. At first she had thought that the attention was due to her tail, but though there had been a fair amount of lighthearted jokes made about it, she had come to realize that people were drawn to her simply because she was a newcomer.

And in a way, that made sense. To a town whose population neither died nor reproduced, even the tourists would in time become familiar, and truly new faces, especially friendly ones, would be a source of curiosity. Not that Oktavia minded. Everyone she had met so far had been very friendly, and she was now rethinking her decision to refuse the Compact on Kyoko's behalf. This was definitely a community she would not mind becoming a part of.

Still, as much fun as she was having, and as happy as she was, there was something that was bothering her, one that had nothing to do with Kyoko. As she sat, she found herself watching a small group of children playing nearby in the sand, collaborating together on a sand castle. There was four of them: a lively blue-eyed, long-haired brunette; a mournful-faced blonde with sad, dark eyes; a cheerful looking girl with short hair the color of aluminum foil; and a spunky redhead that reminded Oktavia a great deal of a younger Kyoko, if Kyoko started wearing braided pigtails and exchanged her street delinquent outfit for a more gothic-punk style.

Oktavia wasn't sure why she kept getting drawn to the group, or why seeing them troubled her. They looked like they were having fun, and were certainly in no danger. But even so, there was something wrong about seeing them there.

And then she realized that the reason the children were troubling her was because they were children. The Incubators had seen fit to make contracts with such young girls, and the very fact that they were here meant that they had been killed, probably in horrible fashion. And if any of them had witched out (she was willing to bet that the silver-haired one had), that meant she had been traumatized to the point of falling into the deepest, darkest despair, something no child should have to experience. Sure, they were happy enough now, but it must have been horrible, to say nothing of what their families must have gone through when their little girls never came home.

And come to think of it, what about her own family? She wasn't that much older than they. Though she had wondered on and off over the last few days what her old life had been like, it never really occurred to her exactly how much she had lost until now. Had there been a funeral? How had her teacher broken the news to her classmates, and had any of them grieved? How about her mother and father, assuming she had either? What had they even been like? And had enough time passed in the land of the living for anyone to even have noticed that she was gone?

Suddenly Oktavia wasn't in such a good mood.

Charlotte walked up to join her, a snowcone in either hand and a sullen look on her face. "Stupid ice-cream lady," she muttered as she sat down next to Oktavia and handed her a frozen treat. "Just because I have a problem with one dairy product doesn't mean they all make me lose control. It's not the milk itself, I keep telling them, but do they listen? Nooooo." She nibbled a bit at her own snowcone before noticing that her friend was unusually quiet. "Hey, you okay?"

"I guess," Oktavia said morosely. "It's just…well…" She nodded over to where the kids were playing.

"Hmmm?" Charlotte looked at them and her brow furrowed in confusion. "What's wrong? You don't like sandcastles?"

Oktavia shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, seeing them, and there was Nicole earlier, I dunno…"

Charlotte's frown deepened, but then her eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, I think I get it," she said, wincing. "Kind of tough to see kids here too, given what that means."

"Yeah," Oktavia said, finally taking a bite of her snowcone.

"Well, yeah, they did get a raw deal," Charlotte said. "I guess we all did. But it's not…quite as tragic as you think." She pointed her snowcone toward the brunette. "Okay, maybe in her case, it is. From what I heard, she had a wonderful family and a great life, and only contracted because she thought she needed to protect them. So, what ended up happening to her is pretty sad. But not so much for the others."

Oktavia glanced at Charlotte out of the corner of her eye. "Example?"

"Well, take that one over there," Charlotte said, indicating the blonde. "Her life sucked. Her older sister died before she was born, and apparently her mom was incredibly messed up in the head. She kept trying to turn Fate into the dead sister, and would beat her whenever she didn't play the role perfectly. So all in all, I'd say she's better off now. And the one with silver hair over there," here she pointed out the girl with the metallic hair, "well, she witched out like us, but the others knew her before she did, and according to them she was both an orphan and a crippled, who was living by herself, supported by nothing but government money even though she couldn't so much as move her legs."

"Yeah," Oktavia said. "I kind of know what that's like."

Charlotte nodded. "And at least you can swim, and have friends to help you get around. She didn't even have that, until she met the others. And as for that one over there," she gestured toward the redhead, "they won't even tell us what happened to her, but the hints we've gotten have been…unpleasant. Trust me when I say that they're much happier now."

"I guess," Oktavia said. "It's still pretty sad, though."

"You'll hear no arguments from me."

The two of them sat together for a time, watching the children play while munching on their snowcones in silence. Charlotte finished hers first. She drained the paper cone of syrup, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into a nearby trash can.

"You know," she said, breaking the silence. "I really do think that we witches have it the best. True, what our former selves must have gone through was probably all kinds of horrible. But even so, we come here with no dark pasts bringing us down, no lingering trauma giving us nightmares, no memories of our lives holding us back. We're able to dive right into things and make a real life here without having to worry about the last one. For us, there is only the present and future, without being burdened by regrets."

Oktavia thought of Kyoko and nodded in agreement. "Does Mami still have…problems?"

"Yeah," Charlotte said softly. "She has nightmares, every now and then. Sometimes she wakes up screaming, or starts crying in her sleep. Other times she just goes into this deep funk where she doesn't really want to do anything to talk to anyone. At first I thought it was…well, because it was…"

"Because of what you-" Realizing what she was about to say, Oktavia cut herself off instantly.

A brief look of pain passed over Charlotte's face, but she nodded. "Yeah. And that was part of it, for a while. But the part that really bothers her is thinking of all those witches she killed, and all those girls she convinced to make contracts. I think, for her, the guilt is the worst part."

Girls like me, Oktavia thought. She must have looked unhappy, because Charlotte glanced and her and smiled.

"Don't worry," she said, putting an arm around Oktavia's shoulders and giving her a squeeze. "Mami really is glad to have you here. We both are. Don't think you're causing trouble for her just by being who you are."

"I just wish there was something I could do to help," Oktavia murmured as she leaned into the taller girl's side. "For her and Kyoko. I mean, you both have been the best, but I feel like such a burden sometimes."

Charlotte playfully tousled her short blue hair. "Don't," she said. "You're not. And I mean it. You'll be joining us in the kelp fields before too long." Then, in a more serious tone, she said, "And don't worry about Kyoko either. She'll come around. You'll see."

"What if she doesn't, though?"

Charlotte mused over the question a long time before answering. "Then, if she doesn't, then remember that it's her choice," she said at last. "You did all you could, and so whatever she decides is her responsibility alone."

Oktavia frowned. She knew that Charlotte was right, but it still wasn't the answer she had been hoping for.

Seeing this, Charlotte sighed. "Oktavia, try not to bear her problems for her," she said, drawing the sullen mermaid close and kissing the top of her head. "This family has enough guilt burdening it as it is. Don't add to it when it's unwarranted."

…

The damnedest thing about trying to find anything in Freehaven was that the streets were so tiny, and there were so damned many of them that Kyoko kept getting lost. Plus, she didn't dare take to the roofs for fear of being spotted.

Still, though it took a little doing, she eventually found what she was looking for: the bad part of town.

In her mind, there were two places it was most likely to be: either by the industrial docks, or on the other side of the hill. Both were fairly well-concealed, kept away from the tourists' sight. And given what brief glimpse she had seen on her way to the mayor's house, she decided to go with the docks first.

As it turned out, her instincts were right on the money. Not far from where they had tied up the boat, hidden behind the curve of the hill, was another residential area. However, here the buildings were not well-looked after. The walls were chipping, the rooftops had faded and were missing tiles, and what mosaic existed was falling apart. Bits of trash were scattered through the streets, and there was very little in the way of decorative plants.

Now she was getting somewhere. Putting her hood up, Kyoko stuck her hands into her pockets and wandered deeper into the neighborhood. Now bits of graffiti were starting to appear, and the amount of litter was increasing. Furthermore, she was starting to see people.

Some of them looked more-or-less normal, if a little shabbier than the rest of the girls she had seen. Others didn't look so good. She saw one girl wearing a hooded parka wandering aimlessly, her glowing blue eyes bloodshot and filled with veins. Another with hair almost as greasy as Elsa Maria's had been sat in a stoop and muttered to herself, pausing only to drink from the bottle in her hands.

Kyoko smiled grimly to herself. Just as she had thought. Even here, in the afterlife, people were still people. And as such, the privileged were put on display while the poor losers were shuffled off to someplace out of sight.

There was no such thing as utopia. She had believed as such for a long time, and this only confirmed it. Sure, they might dress their city up all nice and fancy, and talk about community and interspecies cooperation, but even they had people that embarrassed them. She wondered how often Mami and Charlotte came around here, if they did at all.

Funnily enough, she was more comfortable here than she had been in any other part of the afterlife she had visited thus far. After all, this place was the closest to reality she had seen.

Then, as she turned one corner into yet another claustrophobically narrow street, she ran right into someone coming the other way. Kyoko stumbled back a couple steps, but before she could orient herself, the other person angrily shoved her to the ground, and a rough, almost mannish voice shouted, "Watch where you're going, ze!"

Kyoko drew her legs back and leapt to her feet. "You watch it, bitch!" she snarled, giving the other girl a shove of her own.

"What'choo say to me?"

The next thing Kyoko knew, stars were exploding behind her eyes as her cranium erupted in pain. She fell to her knees, clutching at the back of her head. The other girl was carrying a stick, and had decided to use it to brain Kyoko on the back of her head.

"Oh, now it's on," Kyoko breathed. Then she launched herself as the other girl, fists ready to start pummeling. As she did so, she noted with amusement that in a city where people greeted each other with hugs, kisses, and handshakes, this was the first person to greet her in a manner she could fully get behind.

Chapter Text

Kyoko's first punch was wild and sloppy, and was easily turned aside.

"Weak," said the other girl in a dismissive tone. "You Freehaven types really are a bunch of pussies, ze."

Then she was doubling over, gasping and holding her stomach where Kyoko's elbow had been driven into it.

"I'm not from Freehaven," Kyoko growled. Then she grabbed the girl's head with both hands and shoved it down to meet her knee.

Dropping her stick, the girl stumbled three steps back and had to grab onto a lamppost to keep from falling over. Dazed, she sniffed and shook her head, her hand pressed against her forehead. A trickle of yellow mist seeped out of her nose.

"That hurt," she said. "Wow, that really hurt."

Then she looked up, a mad grin spreading over her face. She slipped the bulging leather backpack she was wearing off of her shoulders.

"You bitch," she laughed. "I think I like you, ze!"

Then, with a cackle that was more than a little crazy, she lurched back to her feet and charged straight for Kyoko, her own fists cocked and ready.

…

It didn't take long for Mami to realize that Kyoko had given her the slip. Exactly how her wayward protégé had pulled it off, she didn't know. Maybe she had managed to sneak into some sort of hiding place that Mami had overlooked. Maybe she had found a way to double-back. Maybe she had regained her use of the Rosso Phantasm maneuver and had tricked Mami into following a decoy. Whatever her method, it was probably quite clever, and Mami made a point to commend Kyoko in its effectiveness, sometime after she had stopped strangling her.

Of course, she knew that it really Kyoko's fault. She had been the one to insist that important information be kept from her. She been afraid that Kyoko would find all the changes too overwhelming: the changes to her body, Mami's relationship with Charlotte, and so on. In fact, she had forgotten their extraterrestrial neighbors entirely. That decision had been mainly motivated by memories of her own reactions, very few of which had been good.

But the fact of the matter was that Kyoko simply wasn't Mami. Back when they had both been alive, Mami had worked so hard to give off an outward persona of strength and confidence, but had been incredibly brittle inside; whereas Kyoko, once they had split, had been rough and cynical, but had been a natural survivor. She rolled with the punches while Mami had crumbled under them. The ways they had died illustrated this: Mami had gotten sloppy and made a fatal error, while Kyoko had willingly chosen to sacrifice herself for another's sake.

She should have listened to Charlotte and trusted Kyoko to handle the truth. Perhaps there would have been a moment of shock and a short freak-out, but in the end, Kyoko would have likely just accepted things and adapted. She wouldn't have gone to pieces like Mami had, and she most certainly wouldn't have tried to commit suicide right there on the spot, despite the fact that her closest friend was still in the room and would likely have been-

Realizing that she was again falling back into her tired habit of wallowing in self-pity and self-loathing, Mami grimaced and shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind. Now wasn't the time for one of "Mami's Moping Sessions," as Charlotte called them. Finding Kyoko was her current priority.

Still calling out the other girl's name, Mami kept moving through the streets and over the rooftops until she came to an open plaza located where four streets intersected. A four-sided pillar monument sat in its center, and off to one side was fruit stall that Mami knew well.

Its owner, a pleasantly plump Native American girl, smiled when she saw the blonde approach. "Ah, good morning Mami!" she greeted. She automatically grabbed a brown paper bag and started to fill it with peaches. "Haven't seen you or the missus for a time. Your usual order?"

"No, I'm sorry Ayiana. Not today," Mami said hastily. "Listen: have you by any chance seen an angry looking girl, Japanese like me, with long, red hair and a green jacket?"

One eyebrow rising in surprise, Ayiana put the fruit back and said, "Well…yes, actually." She pointed down one of the adjoining streets. "She spent most of the last five minutes complaining to me about my prices before storming off. Again."

Mami stared as she tried, and failed, to make sense of what she had just been told. Kyoko had run off…to buy fruit? And had apparently done so before? Something was definitely not adding up.

However, Ayiana was right about one thing. Kyoko is, in fact, sulkily stomping down the nearby street, with her hood pulled up and her hands shoved in her pockets.

Well, that mystery could wait until later. Nodding her thanks to the helpful fruit vendor, Mami ran after her wayward friend. "Kyoko, wait!" she called, mentally willing the redhead to keep from running. Somehow it worked, and Mami managed to grab Kyoko by the shoulder and spin her around. "Listen, you don't have to…"

The words die in her throat when she realizes that the girl she had just grabbed was not Kyoko. The general build and hair color were the same, and she also wore a green jacket, but her hair was shorter, her face rounder, and her eyes more narrow. Furthermore, her name was Usami Nagato, and she had lived in Freehaven much longer than Mami had, and wasn't renowned for her people skills, even less than Kyoko was.

Whoops.

Usami glowered at her. And then, moving with slow but unmistakably hostile deliberation, she reached up and wrapped her fingers around the hand currently on her shoulder. "Well, the Seaweed Girl," she said, her voice filled with contempt. "You've got three seconds to convince me not to break you in half." Usami wasn't known for her eloquence either.

Mami quickly freed her hand and slowly backed up, empty palms upheld. "I'm sorry," she said. "I thought you were someone else. No offense intended."

Usami's already narrow eyes narrowed further. "And if I choose to take offense?"

"Usami, be reasonable. It was a mistake." Lowering her voice, Mami added, "Plus, you know as well as I do that the marshals would love an excuse to expel you. You have to be near your last strike as it is."

For a second it looked like the surly girl was going to attack regardless, but in the end she settled for spitting on the ground. "Touch me again, and I just might risk it," she sneered. Then, punctuating her threat with another wad of spit, she turned and slouched away.

Sighing, Mami turned and returned to Ayiana, who had been watching the exchange with a wry look of amusement.

"Allow me to reiterate," Mami said. "Have you seen an angry looking Japanese girl that you have never met before and is not the town troublemaker?"

Ayiana shook her head. "No. And just out of curiosity, exactly how many angry red-haired girls in green jackets do you know?"

"One too many," Mami said wearily. "Excuse me while I go find the one I actually wish to spend time with."

Once she had returned to the rooftops, Mami quickly pushed that unfortunate encounter away from her mind and returned her thoughts to the problem at hand. Kyoko had said that there was something she needed to check out. But what in the world could that possibly be? She had never been to Freehaven, after all. And as far as Mami knew, she knew next to nothing of its history and landmarks.

Slowing to a stop, Mami rubbed her chin and considered her next step. Running blindly would likely get her nowhere. Perhaps it was time to call in the cavalry. Charlotte and Oktavia would likely be willing to help, and…But no. Thanks to Oktavia's handicap, she wouldn't be much use for this sort of thing. Besides, she had been looking forward to her first trip to Freehaven, and Mami wasn't about to ruin it for her.

Shaking her head, Mami started moving again. She would just have to figure out how to find Kyoko herself, and let Oktavia have her fun. The poor girl had enough things to worry about as it was, and Mami wasn't about to add to it.

…

"Get away from me, you stupid flying freaks!" Oktavia shouted as she covered her head with one hand and tried to ward off her attackers with the other. "Beat it!" Behind her, Charlotte was pushing the wheelchair as fast as she could in an attempt to leave the park and find shelter before things got worse.

After they had left the beach, Charlotte had suggested that they go spend the rest of the time before the meet-up at the Tradewinds at Mayboyer Park. Eager to see as much of Freehaven as she could, Oktavia had agreed. Unfortunately, neither of them had noticed that while they had been at the beach, Oktavia had attracted the attention of several of the local seagulls. The winged scavengers had followed the two witches to the park and, once they were fully out in the open, had swooped down to attack. This had drawn the attention of a murder of crows and some ugly grey birds with spiny backs and scaly tails, and soon Oktavia had found herself being assaulted by what had to be every bird in town.

"Hey!" she cried to the park's dumbstruck patrons. "Don't just stand there! Help us before I get pecked to pieces!"

Finally galvanized into action, three other girls leapt to their defense, with one dark-haired girl in a grey park ranger uniform helping Charlotte motor Oktavia's wheelchair into the safety of the nearby visitor's center while the other two fended off the army of feathered predators.

"Okay folks, just stay calm!" the ranger shouted to the visitor's center's startled clients they bustled through the sliding doors. "Just have a minor avian uprising! Nothing to get excited about!"

"Nothing to get excited about, my ass," Charlotte muttered as she shook feathers from her hair. "We almost got pecked apart!"

"What's this 'we' business?" Oktavia said as she glowered down at her tail. While the scales were strong enough to prevent any damage from being done, her arms, face, and neck still displayed a roadmap of bruises. Fortunately, none of the birds had managed to break the skin; but she still was still understandably pissed off. "I was the one they were after!"

"Yeah, what was that all about, anyway?" the ranger asked, scratching her head in bewilderment. "Why'd they go all Hitchcock on you for?"

Though Oktavia had no idea what going 'Hitchcock' meant, she understood the general meaning. "Well, that part's easy enough," she said, slapping her thigh. "Big fish." Then she frowned. "Except that doesn't make sense. I saw some kids with big inflatable fishes, and they didn't get attacked."

"They probably were going by smell," suggested one of the visitor's center's patrons.

"Hey!" Oktavia protested indignantly. "I don't smell like a fish!"

"Well…" Charlotte said with deliberate hesitation. "We weren't going to say anything, but…"

"I don't!"

"It's okay, nothing to be ashamed of," Charlotte smirked, patting Oktavia on the shoulder. "We'll get you some deodorant, some of that extra-strength stuff. And if that doesn't work, we could always just start rubbing you down with mermaid egg juice. We're used to that smell, and there's no way the birds will go anywhere near you after-"

Oktavia smacked Charlotte's arm with her harmonica.

…

It didn't take long for Kyoko to surmise that her brawling partner was a long-range fighter, like Mami. She came to this conclusion based upon the fact that, despite her enthusiasm, the other girl wasn't very good at melee fighting.

Still, she persisted in attacking Kyoko with wildly swung fists, nail gouges, and yes, even biting, all without proper technique and also without bringing out anything resembling ranged weaponry. Kyoko briefly considered taking her down with a single haymaker, but then she realized that given how pent-up she had been feeling, this was a perfect opportunity to relieve some of her frustration.

With that in mind, Kyoko temporarily set aside trying to win and instead focused on just the fight itself. She matched punch-for-punch and kick-for-kick, though she didn't try to match the scratching. Catfighting wasn't something she was exactly comfortable with. Truth be told, it made her feel kind of dirty. Besides, pure brawling was enough for her.

The two girls fought without form or technique. As they did so, a small crowd of onlookers started gather, some of them laughing and shouting taunts or words of encouragement while others just watched dispassionately.

As the other girl struggled to put Kyoko in a sleeper-hold, it occurred to Kyoko that the longer this fight continued, the more likely they were to attract what passed for the authorities around here. And while she didn't expect this part of town to have the best response time, she wasn't about to count on it, especially since it was highly unlikely that whoever did the policing around here was as easy to defeat or evade as they were back home. And as fun as it would be to try, she was still trying to distance herself from that kind of behavior. Trying.

With that in mind, Kyoko slipped her head out from under the other girl's arms, reached back to seize the other girl by the armpits, and pulled her over her shoulders into a body slam. Surprised, the other girl staggered to her feet, her fists swinging drunkenly.

Kyoko took a step back and snapped a side-kick to the other girl's chin, sending her flailing against a nearby wall. With a groan, the dazed girl slumped to the ground.

A smattering of applause rose up from the gaggle of bystanders, and, their fun gone, the crowd slowly dispersed and went about their way. Kyoko hunched over her knees, panting heavily. Going easy on the other girl had allowed her to get bruised up plenty, but she was smiling nevertheless. She felt better, that much was for certain.

As for the other girl, she kept widening and squinting her eyes, trying to bring them into focus. Now that she sitting still, Kyoko finally got a good look at her. From the look of things, she was of mixed heritage, with both Asian and Caucasian features. Her hair was blonde and unkempt, with only a single messy braid hanging by the side of her face speaking of any attempt to tame it. Her outfit, though certainly on the eccentric side, was still more "normal" than most Puella Magi uniforms: consisting of a pair of black trousers held up by suspenders over a frilly white button-down blouse. Judging by its state of repair and cleanliness, she had been doing a lot of traveling as of late.

Shaking the dazedness away, the girl lifted her hand to her mouth and spat a tooth into her palm. "You knocked out my tooth, ze," she said, sounding more fascinated than anything.

Straightening up, Kyoko fixed her with a challenging glare. "Damn straight I did. Try that shit again and you're gonna need dentures."

But apparently her defanged opponent wasn't interested in a second round. In fact, instead of rising to the challenge, she started laughing: a deep, guffawing sound that was part belly-laugh, part cackle. "Damn, but you've got a nasty kick!" she said, putting the tooth into her pocket. Then she tried to stand up only for her knees to give way. Groaning, she held her hands out to Kyoko. "C'mon, don't just stand there! Gimme a hand!"

Kyoko stared. "Wait, so first you try to beat me up, and after I kick your ass, you expect me to help you?"

"Why not? Come on, you beat me fair and square, I admit it! At least help get my loser ass off the ground!"

Kyoko hesitated, and then grudgingly grabbed the girl by the wrists and hauled her to her feet. The girl took a couple of shaky steps before reestablishing her balance.

"Well, those still work, ze," she said in approval. Then she looked around. "Now, where is…Ah, ha!"

Her stick lay where it had fallen. At one end was a large white cloth with red polka-dots, its ends tied to form a bag, the contents of which Kyoko could only guess. Nearby was a pointy black hat with a wide brim and the leather backpack. Picking the hat off the ground, the girl slapped the dirt off before putting it on her head with a smirk of satisfaction. Then she slipped the backpack back on, snatched up the stick, and put it over her shoulder.

Shaking her head, Kyoko said, "Nice look. You got a corncob pipe to go along with it?"

"Been thinking about getting one, actually. Though I'm really more of a cigar gal." Then girl looked Kyoko up and down appraisingly. "Well, gotta give you credit, ze. I was starting to think that all you Freehaven types had your fighting spirit atrophied or something."

Kyoko frowned. What was up with that 'ze' sound she kept making? It was like some weird cross between a high-pitched sneeze and hiccup. "Told you already," she said. "I'm not from Freehaven."

"That's right, you did," the girl said, snapping her fingers. Then, with a cocky grin that was eerily reminiscent of the one Kyoko herself often wore, she stuck out her hand. "Well, nice to meet a fellow lady of the road! Name's Marisa, and that's all you're getting."

Not sure if she really believed that this was happening, Kyoko blinked. "Hold up, I accidentally run into you, and you want to smash my face in. I beat the shit outta you and knock out your fucking tooth, and suddenly you wanna be my friend?"

"Uh, yeah?" Seeing that Kyoko wasn't interested in another handshake, the girl removed her hand and used it to scratch the back of her neck. "C'mon, we just spent the last five minutes writhing in each other's arms, and now you just wanna up and leave? Breaking my heart, you are."

Kyoko rolled her eyes. "Well, my name is Fuck Off, Bitch. Nice to beat you."

"That right? Damn, your parents had issues."

"Someone thinks she's funny," Kyoko said with a shake of her head. "Look…Marisa, right? Look, I don't know you, and I don't want to. I'm having a real shitty day, on the end of a real shitty week, and the last thing I wanna do is make friends with some crazy girl whose way of saying 'hi' is to push me around and try to break my nose." Flipping off a sarcastic salute, she said, "So yeah, thanks for being my punching bag, and so long." With that, she turned on her heel and stomped away.

She had gone about halfway down the street before coming to a stop. Sighing, she turned around.

"Stop following me," she said.

Rather than comply, Marisa rubbed her chin as she studied Kyoko's face. "You're new, ain't'cha?"

Scowling, Kyoko said, "If you mean I got torn to pieces a week ago and woke up in a nightmare and found out that I was in fucking weird afterlife that's bound and determined to piss me off at every turn, then yes. I'm new. You gotta problem with that?"

"Not a one."

"Good to hear." Kyoko again introduced Marisa to her back. "Now piss off."

"Aw, come on! Don't be like that! Look, I started this whole thing, so what say I make it up to you? Let me buy you breakfast. How's that sound?"

Kyoko froze in mid-step. "You want to buy me breakfast?"

"Why not? I lost, so it's only fair? C'mon, I know a place. Eggs are shit, but the pancakes are to die for, ze. Heh, literally."

That did it. Despite having her world flipped upside down, torn in two, stuck back together backwards, and dribbled like a basketball, Kyoko still refused to let go of certain principles. And dead though she might be, she just wouldn't be able to live with herself had she turned down free pancakes.

"Well, okay then," she said, turning back around. "Lead on."

…

Tilly's was often called a hole-in-the-wall establishment, but those who frequented it knew better. It was more accurately referred to as a hole-in-the-chain-link-fence, or a hole-in-the-plastic-tarp-used-to-cover-the-hole-in-the-wall. Barely large enough to accommodate two people standing between the wall and the rarely washed counter, never in possession of proper lighting (though considering the state of the floors, this might be considered a mercy), and a tiny kitchen that produced more smoke than most coal-based power plants, Tilly's should not have remained in business as long as it had, even though health codes kind of lost meaning in light of its location.

But in business it remained, not based upon the presentable state of its appearance or any attempt at customer service (indeed, its employees found the very concept laughable), but on the strength of its incredibly good pancakes.

Kyoko and Marisa picked up their orders and commandeered an outside table. Dining inside was just too unsanitary, even for the dead.

"Th' way I shees it," Marisa mumbled around a mouthful of fried mushrooms, "thiz is jus' annuder win fer qualidy of protuct over prezenzazion." She swallowed, and said, "I mean, most people take one look at this place, and they see the dirty floors and the glares they're getting from behind the counter, and they walk the other way and go to some shitty place that's got every fucking inch shined up all pretty with balloons and crap everywhere and all the waitresses have this big dumb smiles glued to their faces and always ask how your day is going, even if they don't really give a shit, but unfortunately for them, the food's mediocre at best, ze. But if you've got the balls to actually go through these doors, hold your breath, and ignore the fact that the chick at the register looks like she wants to rip your face off, you'll end up with God's own pancakes."

Kyoko, whose feelings toward Marisa had warmed considerably, nodded in agreement. She considered herself a connoisseur when it came to breakfast, and she had to admit, normally she would have passed over Tilly's completely. And it would have been a tremendous loss. She had never even known that chocolate-chip pancakes were a thing until now.

"Though what I don't get is why you got that thing as well," Marisa said. She motioned with her fork toward the remains of the ham-and-cheese omelet sharing plate-space with Kyoko's pancakes. "I mean, I told you the eggs were shit."

Kyoko shrugged. "Eh, I got curious. To me, all food's edible until proven otherwise. Haf'ta at least give it a chance, you know?"

"Okay, fair enough," Marisa said. "And your consensus?"

After a moment of consideration, Kyoko pronounced, "Way too greasy, salty, and the yoke's all runny. Still…" She speared the last bit off omelet with her form and slurped it up. "It somehow feels really satisfying, going down."

Marisa made a face. "Eh, if you say so, ze." She loaded her fork with mushrooms and chunks of pancake, shoveled the whole load into her mouth, swallowed, and said, "So, you're new, right? How's death working out for you?"

"Sucky, thanks."

"Yeah, it usually is. Lots of new stuff to get used to."

"You mean like how all my organs and bones got scooped out and replaced by a bunch of gas?" Kyoko said.

Marisa nodded. "There is that."

"Or that for every day that goes by back home, ten years go by here?"

"Well, that's a big-time exaggeration, but I get what you're saying."

"Or that there's a bunch of aliens that we're all buddy-buddy with now?"

"Now that ain't something I would call a bad thing," Marisa said, jabbing toward Kyoko with her fork.

"Okay, maybe that part is kinda cool," Kyoko admitted. "But still, it's just so…" Then she was struck with a thought. "Hey, can you explain something to me?"

Marisa shrugged. "Okay, shoot."

"See, I've got this…" Kyoko hesitated for half-a-second, and then said, "…friend. This friend. And she's a mermaid."

Marisa blinked. "She's a what? For real?"

"Well, you know, that whole thing where if you get turned into a witch, you still keep like bits and pieces of it?"

"Ooooh, I gotcha. Okay."

"Right, right," Kyoko said. "Anyway, this morning I was giving her a hard time, asking her how she poops and all." When Marisa snorted back laughter, Kyoko nodded and said, "Yeah, and I was just messing with her, you know? But come to think of it, if my stomach and intestines and all that are gone…"

"How the hell do you poop?" Marisa laughed. "Eh, it's kinda cool, actually. See, you still get energy and stuff from the food, but that soul gas stuff takes it out directly. They actually managed to get like an X-Ray of it happening. The gas actually gets thick enough to keep the food suspended until it's done, and when it is, it's time t'take a dump!"

Kyoko stared first at her, and then at her remaining pancakes. Then she shrugged and shoved another forkful into her mouth. "Thass 'mazingly mezzed up," she mumbled.

"Eh, maybe a little," Marisa said. "But this whole soul thing's got its advantages, ze."

Kyoko swallowed. "Like?"

"Like…Hey, you're Japanese, right?"

Kyoko frowned. What did that have to do with anything? "Yeah," she said, "Ain't you?"

"Close enough. But see, here's the thing. You know that chick who took our orders?"

"You mean the one who kept looking at me like I owed her something?"

Marisa laughed. "Don't take it personal, she does that to everyone, ze. But see, the thing is, she's German. Don't speak a word of Japanese."

Kyoko's fork froze halfway to her mouth. "Say what?" she said, putting the utensil down. "But…she did!"

"Give it some thought," Marisa prodded. "The answer'll come to you."

It did, and it made Kyoko groan. "Oh, don't tell me it's another weirdass soul spiritual thing."

"Huh, I'm gonna have to remember that one," Marisa said, scratching her neck. "But yeah. You remember how those Incubator bastards used to talk straight into our heads?"

Pushing her chair back, Kyoko slumped over her folded arms on the table. "Don't really want to."

"Yeah, well, it's kinda like that." Marisa started wiggling her fingers at her head. "See, when you talk, it's like you send out this psychic signal, and when someone picks it up, their mind 'hears' what you wanna say, and translates it into their language." She shrugged. "Of course, it makes things like puns and whatnot get a little awkward, but pretty neat overall."

"To you, maybe," Kyoko said. "To me? It's just another example of how twisted things have gotten."

"Eh, you get used to it," Marisa said with a dismissive shrug.

Yeah, but I don't want to get used to it, was the primary though in Kyoko's mind, though she didn't say it out loud. Instead, she sat up and resumed eating. She was almost done when suddenly Marisa spoke again.

"So, how'd you kick it?"

Kyoko's first impulse was to tell the other girl to go fuck herself and mind her own business, but it died quickly. Ah, what the hell, she thought. Marisa had bought her pancakes, after all. "Eh, met some dumbass rookie who looked like she was gonna make some of the same mistakes I did," she said.

"The mermaid?" Marisa guessed.

Kyoko nodded. "Yeah. Tried to talk some sense into her, she didn't listen, and got her ass turned into a witch."

"Must've been a surprise for the rest of her," Marisa remarked.

Kyoko had to snort at that. "Yeah, well, it sure as hell was one for me."

"Didn't know about that nasty little detail, huh?"

"Nope," Kyoko said. "Hell, I didn't even find out what soul gems really were until a few days before that. Lousy week, all around." She munched on her breakfast for a few moments before continuing. "Anyways, me and a friend of hers went into her labyrinth. Figured we could talk some sense into her and bring her back, you know?" She shrugged again. "Well, as you probably figured out, that didn't work."

"And so she killed your ass," Marisa guessed. "Well. That's ironic."

Kyoko shook her head. "Nah. I just figured that, since I already spent so much time trying to save the girl, I was kinda responsible for her. And hell, I didn't want to end up as a witch too, so I went all ultimate attack on her and took us both out." Sighing, she said, "Seemed like the decent thing to do."

Marisa's brow rose. "Well, hell, that's actually pretty impressive," she said. "Hell of a way to go out. And way better than mine, ze."

What was up with that 'ze' sound, anyway? Did she have hiccups or a speech impediment? "Yeah?" Kyoko said. "And how was that?"

Marisa's lips parted in a ghastly grin. "Picked a fight with a chick that was supposed to be way outta my league, ze. Ended up kicking her ass anyway. Only she didn't much like that, so she blew up my house and broke my neck." She grabbed her own throat and let her head loll to the side, her tongue flopping out.

"Huh. That sucks."

"I know, right?" Marisa said, straightening her head out. "Talk about a sore loser. But getting back this kid you were trying to save, since you two died at the same time and same place, you musta showed up in the same way, eh?"

Kyoko's thoughts went back to the nightmare that was Genocide City. Shuddering, she said, "Yeah. Yeah, we sure did."

She gave Marisa a summarized account of everything that had happened to her and Sayaka since waking up in that ghastly mock-up of an apartment. The blonde wanderer listened with rapt attention, her brow rising and falling in response to the different parts of the story.

"Well, daaaaaammmnn," she drawled once Kyoko had finished. "That's a hell of a story, all right. Your first week in, and you already got beef with Oblivion." She shook her head. "I gotta give you credit, you don't waste time!"

"Like I was trying to do it," Kyoko said with a scowl. "That's the damnedest part of it all. If I'm gonna have someone gunning for me, I'd at least like to do something to deserve it!"

"Hear, hear," Marisa said, raising her Styrofoam cup of coffee in salute.

"Still, could be worse. I mean, at least you're where she can't get you." Marisa frowned. "Though come to think of it, maybe that's not so great after all, seeing how you can't get her either. But then, I can't think of a single place where you could get to her."

"Yeah, I hear she's kinda got a lot of-"

"Well, I mean if you managed to get into her throne room, then maybe you'd have a chance," Marisa said. "Buuuut, there's kinda one or two itsy-bitsy problems with that."

Kyoko rolled her eyes. "I know. They told me that-"

"I mean, first you gotta get to the Withering Lands without getting snatched by her goons." Marisa held up her right hand, all five fingers splayed out, and started to tick off points. "And to that, you can either go back across the Byronic Sea, which by the way would be fucking suicide, seeing how they've probably watching the whole godsdamned thing, just waiting for you to poke your cute little ass outside of Freehaven's borders; or you could go the long way and walk to the Withering Lands other entrance, which would also be suicide, seeing how that'll take months and it's a fucking jungle out there, and oh yeah, those Void Walkers can just pick you up out anytime they want, ze."

"Okay, I get it," Kyoko said in irritation.

Marisa ignored her. "Next, assuming you're get incredibly luck (or unlucky, depending how you look at things, ze), and you do manage to make it to the front gates, there's the little problem of actually getting in without being noticed, and seeing how they kinda keep a real close eye on their borders, that's all kinds of out of the question. And even if you do somehow get past all their guards, checkpoints, and security stations, you still haf'ta hike all the way across the fucking Withering Lands, and…Hey, you saw Lord of the Rings, right?"

"Right," Kyoko said in a flat tone.

"Right. Well, it's kinda like that, only this time's Mordor's got prettier orcs and more guns. And the scenery's nicer, I guess, but that don't really matter much when-"

"Okay!" Kyoko snapped. She banged her fist against the tabletop, making their plates jump. "I get it already! It's impossible! Message received."

"Oh, okay," Marisa said, lowering her hand. She sounded a little disappointed. "But I haven't even gotten to the part where-"

"Forget it, I can form a picture. Next you'll be telling me she has guard dragons."

"Nah," Marisa said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "They don't usually truck with her."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me one-" Then Kyoko realized what was being implied and the words caught in her throat. "Hold up!" she said, nearly choking in the process. "You…you're telling me that there's actual…"

"What, dragons?" Marisa shrugged. "Sure, plenty of 'em. The big ones mostly live up north, in the mountains, but there're plenty of smaller ones out and about. In fact, there's a dragon ranch not too far from here. They've got dragon rides and a petting zoo and everything, ze."

Kyoko's hands were starting to tremble. "D-dragon rides? I can ride a dragon?"

"Sure! I mean, it's pretty expensive, and they make you take an hour-long orientation course first, and the waiver they have you sign is longer than most religious books, but it's still a lot of…Oh man, now I'm starting to feel bad," Marisa sighed, changing course in mid-sentence. "Kyoko. Calm down before you pee yourself. I'm fucking with you."

Crushing disappointment caused Kyoko to physically slump in her chair. "Wh-You…you mean, no dragons?"

"No, no dragons," Marisa said. "Plenty of other weirdo beasties, but no dragons. Sorry to crush that little heart of yours."

Normally that alone would be cause for violence on Kyoko's part, but she was feeling too bummed out to actually work up the anger necessary to attack Marisa. "Goddamn it," she muttered. "The one thing that would actually make this place awesome…"

Rolling her eyes, Marisa said, "The girl hangs out with a real-life mermaid and hobnobs with aliens, and she complains about there being no dragons. Whine, whine, whine." She picked up her plate and used her fork to shovel the remaining mushrooms into her mouth. After she finished chewing and swallowed, she said, "Anyway, if you want my opinion (and you should, seeing how they're always awesome), just sit tight for now. I mean, usually I'm all for going on a big, epic quest and storming the castle and all that shit, but nothing lost by waiting until you know what this whole is actually about."

"Tell that to Elsa Marisa," Kyoko snapped.

Marisa shrugged. "Ain't saying you should just up and abandon her, but seeing how the girl literally sacrificed herself so you and the fish could get away, she'd probably be real pissed if you went and did something stupid to get yourself caught."

Kyoko couldn't really argue with that, though she wanted to. Dear God, she wanted to.

"Look, as much as it would shock certain people to hear me say this, just hold off on the grand adventure until you figure out a way to do it that isn't completely and utterly stupid." Shoving her plate to one side, Marisa pushed her chair back from the table and reclined, arms behind her head and feet propped on the tabletop. "And hey, it ain't like you don't have a sweet place to chill in the meantime. I mean, you got your mermaid friend and your old training buddy to hang out with, the ultimate oceanfront property to live in, and Freehaven's always there if-"

That did it. "Okay, enough!" Kyoko snapped. "Enough of Freehaven, I'm sick of hearing about Freehaven!"

Marisa blinked. "Whoa, hey. The hell is this about?"

"Where do you think? Ever since I got here, I've had nothing but people jabber at me about how awesome this town is, but so far from what I've seen it's actually pretty shitty. I mean, on top of that whiny mayor trying to shove her membership application down my throat and the girl who's supposed to be helping me get the hang of this place deliberately keeping me in the dark about some really important facts, it turns out their precious Freehaven is nothing but a tourist trap full of glassy-eyed sheeple who need to wake the hell up and face reality!"

Cocking her head to one side, Marisa frowned and said, "Okay, you lost me."

What a shock. For all of her supposed worldly-wisdom, it looked like Marisa was just as blind as everyone else. "Look, I just don't get you people," Kyoko said, spreading her hands on the table before her. "I mean, it's obvious this so-called afterlife is some kinda scam. We're brought here without being asked if we even wanna come, made to stay here until we finally give in and go do whatever the hell Oblivion wants so she'll let us go, and everyone just accepts it! Sure, you all talk about how much you hate Oblivion and wanna beat her face into a pulp, but instead of actually getting off your lazy asses and doing something about it, you just sit around and do nothing because hey, at least the afterlife gives you a pretty house with a nice view!" Snorting, she leaned back and folded her arms over her chest. "Instead ganging up and tearing these Withering Lands or whatever the fuck they're call apart, you all just plug up your ears and keep playing at your so-called 'second life,'" here Kyoko made the appropriate quote-signs with her fingers, "like a bunch of dolls! That's what Freehaven is, a bunch of dollhouses!"

Despite her overall easy-going nature, the way she had initially reacted to Kyoko meant that Marisa had a bit of a temper herself, and Kyoko fully expected her speech to bring it to full boil. But instead, the blonde just sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well, guess I shoulda expected this," she muttered. "Hey, not to put a wrench in your righteous indignation or anything, but if you don't mind me asking-"

"What if I do?" Kyoko said with a glower.

"Tough beans. Now…Hey, how old are you again?"

Kyoko's glower deepened, but she still said, "Fourteen. Why?"

"Figured," Marisa said, nodding. She brought her feet off the table and leaned forward over the table, arms folded before her. "Now, I don't wanna know any specifics, but did something bad happen to you, back you were alive? Something other than the obvious shit?"

Kyoko's fingers tensed up. "Yes," she said. "Something did. Again, why?"

"Okay. Figured that too." She sighed again. "Ah, what the hell. Might as well."

"Might as well what?"

Pointing at Kyoko with her fork, Marisa said, "Look Kyokopuffs, don't take this the wrong way. I like you. You've got guts and a brain, and you don't back down from a fight. I respect that a lot, ze. But still, this is something you really need to hear."

"What?" Kyoko said, her irritation rising. "Need to hear what? Get on with it already!"

"Okay, fine. Do you really think you're special?"

…

"Kyoko? That kid with the really long red hair?" Vickie looked up from her manifest to peer at Mami from over the top of her glasses. "No, I haven't seen her. Thought she was with you."

Through a great exertion of self-control, Mami managed to retain her grip on her composure. "She was, but we unfortunately were accidentally separated," she said in as casual of a tone as she could. "I'm afraid she got a bit lost."

"Well, no surprises there. Those streets are a flippin' maze, I tell you." Vickie turned her attention back to her clipboard. "What about Charlotte and Oktavia? You haven't misplaced them too, did you?"

"No. Charlotte's giving Oktavia the grand tour, and I really rather not involve them."

Vickie smirked. "Don't wanna admit that you lost the kid, huh?"

Sighing, Mami ran her fingers through her hair and said, "No, I just don't worry them unnecessarily. Kyoko's probably just wandering around the shops somewhere."

"Huh. Have you tried running across the roofs and calling her name really, really loud?"

"Yes."

"What about the marshals? Maybe they can help."

Remembering Kyoko's story about her encounter with that unfortunate police officer, Mami nearly winced at that, but she said, "I don't think that's a good idea. Kyoko doesn't have the best history with law enforcement, and would probably not take kindly to their involvement. Besides, I don't think the situation is quite that dire, just yet."

Sucking her teeth, Vickie shook her head and stuck her hand on her hip. "Don't know what to tell you then. I'll keep an eye out for her, and tell the girls to do the same though."

Mami nodded. "Thank you. I'd appreciate it."

"Better find her soon though. Dunno why Oblivion thinks she's so important, but whatever it is, it's got to be…" Then Vickie's attention snapped toward a nearby fishing boat, which was having its cargo unloaded. From the way she was scowling, it was apparent that she didn't like the way her girls were going about their job.

"Oh, what the hell!" she shouted as she stomped over to the boat. "Goddamn it, how many times do I have to tell you not to carry those like that? You trying to break yourself in two?"

Sighing, Mami turned and walked back into town. If anything, Vickie was understating Kyoko's importance. Yes, the Reibey situation was of concern to the Alliance, but in Mami's mind it ranked secondary. She had failed Kyoko once before, and she wasn't going to do it again.

…

Kyoko's head jerked back in surprise. "The hell?" she said.

"I mean it," Marisa said. In contrast from her usual devil-may-care joviality, her tone was now utterly serious. "Do you really think you're special? That you're the first magical girl to waltz into town with some kinda sob story on your back and a chip on your shoulder? That you're the first to look at everyone here living their comfortable little lives and roll your eyes at all the tiny-minded idiots? 'Cause you're not."

Kyoko's mouth opened and closed, though no sound came out.

"Hey, for what it's worth, you're right about Corrie trying to shove the Compact down your throat being a kinda sleazy move. And yeah, your friend was kinda dumb to not tell you everything right off the bat, ze. But the rest?" Sighing, Marisa leaned back into her chair. "All right, here's a little History 101. Contrary to what you might think, you ain't the first person to have reservations about the afterlife, or think that Oblivion and Reibey are somehow behind it. In fact, that's how the New Life Alliance got started."

"Ah…okay." It was all Kyoko could think to say.

"Look, it's like this," Marisa said. "See, a few hundred years ago, a whole bunch of Puella Magi and witches got the same idea you have. They banded together, teamed up with those glass spiders and midget yeti, and got themselves a real army going. Then they up and declared war on Oblivion."

Kyoko was having a hard time wrapping her head around that. "They…they did?"

"Yup," Marisa nodded. "And for the record, they were far from the first group to pull something like that. It's like a rule or something: every couple o' hundred years or so, someone decides that Oblivion and Reibey have gotta go, and they're gonna be the ones to do it. Only thing is, this time they almost pulled it off. Most of the other times someone tried it, they'd get their asses majorly kicked and be sent crying home, if they were lucky. But this gang actually put up one hell of a fight. Actually managed to take over and occupy a third of the Withering Lands, and people started taking bets on how long before they managed to storm Palace Omega. Might have done it too, if more people had chipped in to help. Crazy times, all around." She knocked back the rest of her coffee, crushed the cup, and tossed it into an overflowing trash receptacle, a full block away.

Despite her lingering skepticism, Kyoko had to admit that she was getting interested, even if trying to imagine this group of pansies as an actual army of stone-cold badasses threatened to give her an aneurysm. "So, why didn't they then?"

"A couple of reasons," Marisa said. "First, fighting a full-scale war where nobody can really die becomes kind of a problem after a while, you know? Neither side loses any numbers, and taking prisoners becomes a real strain on the resources. Plus, the Void Walkers are a bunch of fanatics, and were willing to keep fighting long after everyone in the Alliance got sick of getting stabbed, shot, or blown up every day. Even if you can't die, all that fighting still fucking hurts."

Kyoko scowled. "And the second reason?"

"Numbers. Way I hear, the Alliance gang was pretty damn big to begin with, and once they got enough buddies willing to throw in, the sides were more-or-less equal." Marisa spread her hands and shrugged. "I mean, I wasn't there, and it's not like either of them released any kind of census, ze, so I can't say for sure, but from what I hear it was a pretty even match for most of the war. Buuuuut then they kinda ran into a problem. See, as much as they thought that Oblivion was a scam and needed to go, there were a lot of groups sitting on the sidelines that didn't much care for their only way out getting taken down, and threatened to throw in. And by that point, the war had been going on for a few years, and them Void Walkers weren't letting up at all, so with a bunch of bloodthirsty lunatics at their front, and everyone else glaring all offensive-like at their back, there really wasn't much they could do, ze."

"So they gave up," Kyoko said, her red eyes flashing with disgust. Snorting, she shoved her hands into her jacket pockets and pushed back against the table with her foot, raising her chair up onto its hind legs and keeping it balance. "They came closer than anyone else to taking those creeps down, and they just threw in the towel. Figures."

"Well, yeah," Marisa said, raising an eyebrow. There was one last mushroom still on her plate. She picked it up and, instead of wolfing it down like she had the rest, started nibbling on its cap. "Wouldn't you?"

"Hell no! Look, I may be a lot of things, but a quitter ain't one of them!"

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I said when someone told me this story for the first time," Marisa said. "Only thing was, that person was someone who was actually there, and…let's just say she took a little offense to me calling her a wuss, and put things in perspective for me."

"What, she kicked your ass?"

Marisa shook her head. "Didn't need to. She just…Well, okay, look at it like this. Say you've been fighting a war for going on five years. In that time, you've gone through all kinds of hurting. Bombs blowing your body to bits, been shot full of holes almost every day, probably been dismembered a couple dozen times. And though you've been doing as much to the other side, it don't seem to bother them any. Sure, you win a scuffle here and there, capture this base, push back that attack, and so on. But if anything, your enemies just keep getting crazier and crazier, and the more you drive them back, the more of them there seems to be. And it just. Doesn't. Stop. Every day it's the same hell, with nothing to look forward to but even more pain the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that." Marisa gave Kyoko a meaningful look. "Sure you'd still be so gung-ho to keep fighting after that, Kyokocopter?"

Kyoko wanted to insist that she would continue the war regardless, that she would just suck it up and deal with the pain like she always did. But then her mind flashed back to her encounters with Annabelle Lee and how the nut just kept coming after her. Then she tried to imagine an entire army of Annabelle Lees, and found herself blanching at the thought. She had an extremely high tolerance for pain, certainly, not to mention an ironclad will. But in the end, despite all the supernatural changes she had gone through, Kyoko was still human. And as much as she hated to admit it, she had her limits.

Seeing the look on Kyoko's face, Marisa smirked. "Thought so. Okay, now imagine, after going through all that, most everyone who'd been sitting on the sidelines letting you do all the work suddenly shows up and says that if you don't back off right the fuck now, they're gonna start hitting you too. So, with the giant army you've been fighting all those years not getting any smaller, here comes another giant army ready to crush you from the other end. Still think you'd want to keep fighting?"

Sighing, Kyoko let her chair fall back onto all four legs. "I guess not," she mumbled.

"Good t'hear, because that's exactly what happened." Marisa shrugged. "'Course, it wasn't like they got curb-stomped or anything. Like I said, they came real close, and did a shit-ton of damage in the meantime. And Oblivion wasn't exactly eager for that to happen again. So, they got to talking, and called a truce."

Kyoko saw where this was going. "The Free Life Compact, huh?" she said.

"Hey, you catch on. Yup, that's exactly what happened. Both sides released their prisoners, the Alliance got outta the Withering Lands, and staked out their own territories, and everyone agreed to hate each other from a distance." Finally done torturing her single remaining mushroom, Marisa stuffed it into her mouth and swallowed it whole. "So yeah, all that to say this: all that ranting you just did about how these people need'ta lace up their boots and stick'em up Oblivion's ass? Well, they kinda already tried that. Didn't work out for them, or anyone else who's tried the same thing. So, tell me something Miss Know-It-All: exactly what in the hell are all these 'sheeple' supposed to do that they haven't done already?"

"I…uh…" Kyoko's shoulders slumped. Damn it, there went all her righteous indignation. "I dunno."

"You dunno?"

Kyoko muttered something under her breath. Then, in a louder voice, she said, "Okay, so I can't think of anything right now. Gimme a break, it's been a sucky week."

"Well, okay then," Marisa said. "When you come up with your brilliant plan, be sure to bring it up at the next town hall meeting. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to hear you out, just as I'm sure they'll be more than happy to show you the giant-ass list of people who came up with the exact same idea, followed by the almost-as-long list of people who tried the exact same idea and ended up failing miserably."

"Fuck," Kyoko muttered. This was starting to get depressing. A huge part of her life had been geared toward facing insurmountable obstacles and surmounting them anyway. And as keen as she was to tackle the impossible to show up all the losers who had come before her, she had to admit, she hadn't the slightest clue on how.

"And while we're on the subject, you really got the wrong idea about Freehaven too," Marisa said. "It's not like it's some sort of…What'cha call it again? A bunch of dollhouses?"

Sighing, Kyoko nodded.

"Well, okay. Except it ain't. It's not some place that was somehow already here and people just moved in without wondering why. See, something-odd buncha years ago, there was this group of girls who decided to stick together and watch each other's' asses. And these chicks eventually put up some shelters, because hey, getting rained on sucks. Soon they found friends and upgraded their housing. Fast forward a couple hundred years, and you got yourself a city, ze. A sorta 'By us, for us,' deal. Sure, maybe I like to make fun of it, but it's really kind of all right." Marisa glanced out at the surrounding neighborhood, taking note of its shoddy condition. "And okay, so it ain't perfect, but gimme a break, is there a place that is?"

"I guess not," Kyoko said glumly. "I'm just getting sick of hearing everyone talk it up like some sorta paradise."

"Eh, fair enough," Marisa grinned. "It does get annoying, but you learn to tune it out."

When Kyoko didn't say anything, Marisa filled the silence: "Look kiddo, you don't wanna sign the Compact? Then don't! Hell, I didn't."

"Wait, what?" Kyoko's head snapped up. "But I thought-"

"Do I look like a city girl to you?" Marisa said. "Told'ja already, I'm a lady of the road! And there's way too much neat stuff out there to see to be tied down to one place. I just pop into town whenever I'm in the area for pancakes and ice-cream. That don't mean I have a problem with the people who do wanna live here. Die and let live, I say."

Kyoko had to snort at that.

Retrieving her hat from where it lay next to her plate, Marisa plopped it back onto her head and stood up. "Anyways, as fun as it is to play therapist, I really gotta get going. Places to be, supplies to pick up, that sort of thing."

"Yeah, okay," Kyoko said, preoccupied with her thoughts. Then she remembered something. "Oh, wait a minute. Crap. What time is it?"

"Hmmm. Uh, lemme see…" Marisa pulled a big gold pocketwatch from her pocket and flipped open the face. "At the sound of the tone…Twelve-forty."

Kyoko sighed. "Damn it. Hey, you know about a place called the Tradewinds?"

"The Tradewinds?" Marisa cocked an eyebrow. "Sure. It's a restaurant near the beach. Why?"

"You think you can show me where it is? 'Cause that was where we were supposed to meet with the others at one."

Scratching her chin, Marisa said, "You mean you and that girl you ran out on? Shouldn't you find her first before you go grab lunch?"

"Can't find her if I don't know where she is, which I don't. But I figure she'll be heading there sooner or later anyway, to see if I show up."

"Eh, fair enough," Marisa said as she slipped her backpack on and shouldered her stick. "Let's get going then."

The two left Tilly's behind, making their way through the dingy neighborhood and eventually reaching the warehouse district that connected to the docks. As they approached the nicer part of town, Kyoko said, "Oh hey, mind if I ask you another question."

"Go right ahead."

"What the hell is up with that 'ze' noise you keep making? Do you got chronic hiccups set to a timed release or something?"

That brought Marisa to a full stop. Rolling her eyes to the heavens, she took a deep breath and said, "Oh, fer the love of…Look, it's a tic, okay? It's like Tourette's or something. Had it all my life, it stuck around after death, and that's that!"

"Then why not get rid of it?" Kyoko asked. "I mean, apparently you can change your freaking sexuality by wishing real hard, so something like that should be easy to lose!"

Glowering, Marisa stuck a thumb into her own chest and said, "Because it's my ze and I don't really feel like being without it! You got a problem with that?"

Kyoko grinned. You really had to respect an attitude like that. "Nope."

"Good. 'Cause I ended up pushing the last girl who did off a bridge!" Then, after a moment of consideration, she admitted, "Okay, so maybe it was for completely unrelated reasons, but still. There's a precedent. So, just remember that, ze!"

"Heh. Will do," Kyoko said.

They kept walking for a bit longer, and then Marisa said, "Oh yeah, and one last piece of free advice."

Kyoko's mouth set in a straight line, but she nodded. "All right. I'm listening."

"While keeping you in the dark was pretty dumb, cut your friends some slack. Especially that one you used to partner with. She's probably freaking the hell out herself, what with you and your witch friend getting dropped on her head."

That hit a little uncomfortably close to home. "What are you, her advocate?" Kyoko muttered, though more out of habit than actual indignation.

Marisa smiled, but in contrast to the cocky grin she had been wearing for a good portion of their conversation, there was no mirth or mischief in the expression, and just for a moment, her twinkling golden eyes took on a haunted look. "Kiddo, I may not be a real old-timer here, but I've been around. And lemme tell you something: you are damned lucky to have your friends still with you. Which is a hell of a lot more than most of us get. Don't ever take it for granted."

With that, she continued to lead the way, whistling "Turkey in the Straw" as she went. As for Kyoko, she just stared at the older girl, wondering what in the hell that was supposed to mean.

…

One o' clock was swiftly approaching, and Mami had long progressed past frantic and was quickly approaching near-panic. Kyoko was still nowhere to be found, and she had no way of knowing if she was even still in the city. She honestly wasn't sure who she the blamed the most: herself for not being upfront with Kyoko from the beginning, or Kyoko herself for running out on her. Even with Kyoko's promise to return after she was done with whatever she was doing, Mami was now thoroughly convinced that the redhead had disappeared for good. Again.

Once more, she had failed Kyoko. She had failed to be the sempai the girl had needed after the death of her family, and now she had failed to be the friend she needed in the wake of her own demise. It didn't matter which world she was in, she just kept failing those she was responsible for.

Stop it, she angrily told herself. Stop it, and control yourself. This solves nothing. Just concentrate on finding Kyoko, and have your breakdown later.

She checked the time and found to her dismay that it was just about time to go meet the witches for lunch. Well, there was no getting around it now. If she didn't show up, Charlotte would immediately know that something was up. As much as she hated to admit it, she was going to have to admit to the other two that she had lost Kyoko. With a feeling of dejection, she made her way down the hillside toward the shore.

Though the Tradewinds was protected from the elements from above, it had no exterior walls, doors, or windows, with nothing but a low wooden fence to separate it from the street. As Mami neared, she could see that Charlotte and Oktavia were already there, having a miniature sword fight with their table knives. Wincing, Mami slowed down and approached.

Almost as if she had sensed her wife's presence, Charlotte looked up and smiled. "Hey, just in time!" she said, waving Mami over. "We were just about to order."

"Did you know that the birds in your town are homicidal maniacs?" Oktavia said. "Because they're homicidal maniacs. True story."

"She's not joking," Charlotte said. "I had to buy a whole bunch of smell-blocking enchantment just so they'd leave her alone. "Then, finally noticing the look on Mami's face, she frowned and said, "Uh, wait. Mami, are you okay?"

While Mami didn't have the foggiest clue why they were talking about birds all of a sudden, that story would just have to wait until later. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Charlotte, Oktavia, I'm so sorry. But we…well, we have a problem."

The two witches exchanged a look, and Charlotte lowered her voice. "It's not…you know, the rat, is it?"

Mami shook her head. "No, it's Kyoko. It…turns out you were right about hiding our relationship from her being a bad idea."

Strangely enough, Charlotte didn't react with apprehension or irritation. She just raised an eyebrow and said, "Ah. Okay?"

"Yes, well, as it turned out, she was fine with that, but it led to her learning some other things that she didn't take too well, and, ah…" Mami hesitated for a moment, and then said, "We got into a fight, and she ran away."

Charlotte and Oktavia didn't say anything. They just stared.

"I'm sorry you two, but I don't know where she's gone," Mami continued. "I've looked everywhere, but she hasn't turned up, and I'm getting really worried. We may have to call the marshals."

Charlotte glanced at Oktavia, who just shrugged.

Now Mami was starting to get a little confused. "Don't you understand?" she said. "Kyoko is gone! And if she leaves Freehaven she'll be in grave danger! We need to find her now!"

Then Oktavia spoke. "Uh, have you tried looking behind you?" she said, gesturing with her fork.

"Behind me? Why would…" Then Mami stopped talking. Sighing, she turned around.

Sure enough, there was the wayward Puella Magi in question, accompanied by a blonde girl in a pointy hat that Mami had never seen before.

"Well. Kyoko," Mami said in a flat voice. "There you are. I was looking for you."

True to form, Kyoko didn't look all that repentant about the worry she had caused. "Aw, jeez Mami, I told'ja I'd be back," she said with a disarming grin.

Mami was torn between hugging the girl and slapping her silly. "Yes. Yes, you did." Her gaze wandered over to Kyoko's new companion, who wasn't even bothering to hide the fact that her attention was fixated firmly on Mami's bosom.

"I...I'm sorry, but have we met?" Mami said.

The blonde girl's eyes snapped up. "Nope," she said, with a grin similar to Kyoko's, though hers was more genuine. "Howdy, name's Marisa. Stumbled upon some misplaced valuables of yours, and going against my natural inclination, I decided I'd best return them, ze."

Relaxing a little, Mami said, "Oh. Well, I'm very grateful. Thank you very much for looking after her."

"Hey, it's not like she was babysitting me," Kyoko grumbled. Naturally, she was ignored.

"Not a problem," Marisa said. "Glad'ta be of service. Go gentle on her though." Lowering her voice to a loud whisper, she added, "She's kinda fragile."

"Excuse me?" Kyoko said. "Who kicked who's ass again?"

Again, no one paid any attention to her. "Yes, I had noticed," Mami said. She motioned toward where Charlotte and Oktavia were sitting and watching the exchange with interest. "We were just about to have lunch. Won't you join us? It's the least I can do to thank you for returning our…misplaced valuables."

"I mean, I wasn't even trying all that hard," Kyoko complained, deliberately oblivious to the lack of attention she was getting. "Seriously Marisa, you kinda suck at brawling."

Marisa shook her head. "Nah. I usually never turn down a free lunch, but I really gotta split. Nice'ta meet you all though. Best of luck though. Sounds like you're gonna have your hands full."

"I assume that means Kyoko told you of the Reibey situation?" Mami said. She nodded. "Yes, it is a cause for concern."

"Actually, I meant looking after this scamp. She's kinda frisky," Marisa said, roughly ruffling Kyoko's hair and dodging the reactive punch. "See yah, Fuck Off, Bitch. Remember to be a good girl from now on! I don't wanna have to pick you up from the pound next time."

"Dumbass," Kyoko muttered as Marisa wandered off. "I'm the one that knocked her senseless. I don't see why she should be all…"

It was then that she noticed the chilly look Mami was giving her. Apparently coming to the conclusion that she wasn't going to charm her way out of this one, her cockiness melted away, replaced by a rare look of chagrin.

"Oh, uh, yeah," she said, self-consciously scratching the back of her neck. "Sorry about running out on you and all that. I just, you know, had some things I needed to see for myself."

"Like what?"

"That crappy neighborhood over by the docks."

"Haruka's Row? Why would you go-" Then suddenly, Mami understood. Or at least, felt like she was beginning to understand. "Oh. I suppose I see…But you came back."

"Well, yeah," Kyoko said, shrugging. "Ran into Marisa down there. We punched each other in the face for a while, and then she bought me pancakes and told me to stop whining."

Mami had to admit, that wasn't a tactic that she would have thought of, though given Kyoko's personality, violence and food would make her more receptive to a pep talk. "And?"

"Well, she's kinda right," Kyoko said. "I mean, life goes on, you know? Just because you're dead and things are different doesn't mean it's a bad thing." She looked around at the seaside town that Mami had come to call home. "And even though I'm not sure if this Freehaven place is for me, if you like it, well, I guess I can't really argue with that."

"So, you might not stay?" Mami asked. "Should this problem with Reibey be settled, you might leave?"

Kyoko shrugged. "I dunno. I'll have to think about it."

Glancing over to where the witches were still sitting and watching the conversation, Mami said, "And what about Oktavia?"

Biting her lip, Kyoko glanced at the mermaid and lowered her voice. "Uh, well, that would be one reason to stay, I guess. Like I said, I gotta think about it."

Mami's face softened. "Well, all right. Just please do me one favor: if you do decide to go, let me know first?"

"Deal," Kyoko said. "And hey, just for the record, it's okay to tell me if there's weird things I need to know. I can take it."

"Deal," Mami said. Then she allowed herself a small smile. "I'm glad you came back."

"Yeah, yeah," Kyoko muttered. She hopped the fence and sat down next to Oktavia. Mami followed, going through the restaurant's proper entrance.

As Kyoko took her seat, Oktavia gave her an odd look. "So, you ran off, huh?" she said.

"Maybe."

"I thought I told you to behave."

Kyoko scowled. "Since when were you the boss of me? Besides, I came back, didn't I? You should know that by now. I always come back, sooner or later."

Oktavia huffed dramatically, but when she looked away, there was a satisfied smile on her face.

Then Charlotte spoke. "Pardon me, but if I am to understand everything that was just said, you are now fully aware of the relationship between Mami and myself, correct?"

Kyoko grinned. "Yup," she said, and started humming "Here Comes the Bride."

"Oh," Charlotte said. She pulled out the necklace she was wearing and yanked her ring loose. From there, she put it back onto her finger. "Well, good."

Before anyone could figure out what was coming, she grabbed Mami by the shoulders, yanked her close, and planted a passionate kiss on the surprised Mami's lips.

Oktavia burst out in laughter as Kyoko rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh, fer Chrissakes," the redhead complained. "Fine, fine, have at it."

Charlotte did just that, tilting her head and deepening the kiss. Even though she really didn't feel that this was the time or the place, Mami found herself responding, her arms going around Charlotte's waist and drawing her closer.

Kyoko coughed. "Uh, okay. You made your point."

"Oh, leave them alone," Oktavia said. "And come on, it's pretty adorable."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure they're using tongues now!"

Charlotte and Mami paid them no mind.

Again rolling her eyes, Kyoko crumpled up a napkin and tossed it at them. "Hey!" she said. "Get a room already, or save it until after you've let the poor girl do her job!"

"What?" Mami said in a dazed voice as they parted. "Girl?"

Scowling, Kyoko stuck a thumb toward the waitress, who was standing near the table looking embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry," she said. "If you need a few more minutes-"

"Nah, they're done," Kyoko said, grabbing a menu. "Let's see, do you have…Oh hey, Chunky Monkey ice cream! Awesome!"

After everyone had ordered, things returned more-or-less to normal. A great deal of the tension had been dispersed, and Kyoko returned to her usual wise self. Granted, Charlotte was still regarding her warily, but at least there wasn't much in the way of actual hostility.

On the whole, Mami was very relieved to see things coming back together. Kyoko wasn't lost after all, and the rift between them was healing. It wasn't guaranteed that she was going to stay after all, but it was a start.

But even so…

After lunch had been finished and the bill settled, Mami said, "Well, while normally this would be when we would continue the rest of the tour together, unfortunately Kyoko and I were…sidetracked, and were unable to finish our errands."

"Is that right?" Charlotte said, eyeing Kyoko, who was exchanging jabs with Oktavia. "Well, that's a problem."

"Yes," Mami said. "But fortunately, it seems that distraction is over and done with. And Kyoko already so graciously agreed to accompany me earlier, she wouldn't mind helping me make up for lost time." She smiled at the redhead in question. "Isn't that right, Kyoko?"

"Huh?" Kyoko said, finally noticing that she was being talked about. "Say what?" Then she saw the uncharacteristically creepy grin on Mami's face and broke out into a cold sweat.

…

"I said I was sorry already!" Kyoko yelled and she struggled to keep her balance under the weight of the bags she was carrying. "I mean, come on! Gimme a break here!"

"Whatever do you mean?" Mami said, not turning around as she led the four girls through Freehaven's industrial area. "You volunteered to assist me on my errands, did you not?"

Kyoko's face was now burning bright red with both exertion and anger. "I said I'd go with you, not become your pack mule!" she said. She certainly felt like one, with both arms burdened by multiple blue felt bags full of groceries, and she wore a heavy drawstring bag like a backpack, this one full of maintenance supplies for the boats.

"Oh, come now," Mami said, her arms wrapped around a crate of cleaning and cooking supplies. "You're a strong girl. You can handle a little manual labor."

"Yeah, right! You just wanna get revenge on me for running away!"

"Kyoko, please. I may be many things, but petty is not one of them."

"Bull to the shit," Kyoko muttered. She couldn't help but notice that Sayaka and Charlotte were not at all encumbered, even though there was plenty of room on Sayaka's lap and Charlotte's back. Further adding to her annoyance, Sayaka had not stopped snickering the whole way down the hill.

"The hell are you laughing at?" Kyoko snapped.

"You," Sayaka answered honestly, completely without guilt.

"You want me to dump this stuff in your scaly lap? Because I totally will if you don't knock that off."

"Yeah, no you won't," Charlotte said.

"Oh? Who's gonna stop me? You?"

In response, Charlotte smiled at her. It was not a nice smile.

Defeated, Kyoko settled for fuming to herself. Okay, maybe she did kind of deserve this, but that didn't mean she had to be happy about it.

Mercifully, once they got to the warehouses, it wasn't long before they reached the docks and, from there, the boat. Seeing them, that Vickie girl took one look at Kyoko and started laughing.

Yeah, yeah, Kyoko thought. You and everyone else.

Summoning up her final reserves of energy, Kyoko took off in a stumbling sprint down the dock and relieved her aching arms of their burdens, nearly collapsing over the side of the boat in the process.

"Careful with those," Mami said as she came up from behind. "You don't want to break the eggs."

Kyoko shot her a murderous glare, but her principles regarding wasting food took over, and she carefully rearranged the bags to ensure their safety. Then, once the rest of the cargo had been secured and everyone else had boarded, she sank into her seat with a groan and rubbed her complaining back.

"You know, you kind of brought that on yourself," Sayaka said after Charlotte finished strapping her in.

"I know, I know," Kyoko said. "Look, had another freak-out, okay? Can't you people just let it go already?"

"Well, I gueesss," Sayaka drawled. "But only because you look so pathetic." Then, for a moment, the teasing left her eyes, replaced with concern. "Though, uh, speaking that…"

Kyoko had a feeling she knew where Sayaka was going and, not really interested in being asked if she was okay again, said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Got a lot of things worked out. Don't worry about it."

Frowning, Sayaka tilted her head to one side and leaned in closer to study Kyoko's face. Not at all comfortable with the close proximity, Kyoko moved away.

"What?" she said.

Sayaka sighed and backed off. "Look, I just worry about you sometimes. It's like you keep trying to tell me that you're okay, but, well, you're not."

Kyoko gave her a sidelong look. "And that means what, exactly?"

Sayaka shrugged. "I dunno. It's just like you're ready to explode at any second, and you're looking for a reason to."

A familiar flash of anger rose up, but Kyoko managed to keep it down. Sayaka was just trying to help, and to tell the truth, she was right. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do," she said as she moodily stared down at the boat's deck. "I mean, this whole thing with Reibey? That I can handle. He's just a weasel that needs stomping. But everything else?" She gestured with one hand toward Freehaven, and then at the open sea. "It seems like every time I think I've got this place figured out, it throws another curveball at me. I can't decide if I like it here or hate it. There's way too much stuff that's changed, and whole lot that hasn't, and it just doesn't make any sense to me."

Shaking her head, Kyoko crossed her arms behind her head and leaned back to look at the clear blue sky. "Weird thing is, I kinda envy you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. I mean, your whole freaking life got torn away from you, and since you're stuck with a fish tail, you need to get pushed around or carried everywhere you go. But since you don't remember anything about what you went through and what you lost, you can fit yourself right in without worrying about if you should." Kyoko shrugged. "I dunno, maybe I'm overthinking it."

There was a long pause, and then Sayaka said, "Actually, Charlotte said the same thing to me earlier."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. And believe it or not, she also said that Mami had more problems adjusting than you did."

That got Kyoko's attention. She cast a glance to the blonde in question, who laughing at something Charlotte had just said. "Really? How much more?"

"Well, I don't know if it's for me to say," Sayaka said, fidgeting in her seat. "But it was pretty bad, from what I hear."

Huh, so Mami had some freak-outs of her own. Well, that was to be expected, given what Mami had said about how bad her first year was, but if she had more issues than Kyoko was having, that went a long way to explain why she was so reluctant to inform Kyoko about some of the stranger changes. It didn't really excuse keeping her in the dark, but it did make things easier to understand. Kyoko made a mental note to ask Mami about that later, as well as to get her information from Charlotte from now on. Tension or no, at least Mami's wife wasn't shy about telling Kyoko what she needed to hear.

"Oh, wait!" Sayaka said suddenly. She reached into her shirt pocket. "I almost forgot."

Kyoko tensed up. What hand grenade of bizarreness was about to get tossed at her this time?

But instead of rocking Kyoko's world with yet another earth-shaking revelation, Sayaka pulled out a black necklace, from which dangled a red stone attached to a sharp-looking arrowhead. "Here, we got this for you."

This new development was so unexpected that it took Kyoko's mind a full five seconds to process the situation. "Wait, you…huh?"

"Well, I figured that since I got my awesome, awesome, harmonica, you should get a souvenir too," Sayaka said as she pressed the necklace into Kyoko's hand. "Besides, you're having a lousy week, so I thought you could use some cheering up."

Kyoko honestly didn't know what to say. The last time anyone had given her any kind of gift had been…God, she couldn't even remember. Sometime before the death of her family, she supposed. And while she had never really worn a necklace before, she had to admit that this was really her style.

"Well?" Sayaka pressed.

Deciding that there was only one thing she really could do, Kyoko undid the clasps, fitted the ends around her neck, and clicked the metal bits back together.

"You're welcome," Sayaka said, sounding satisfied.

Up at the front of the boat, Mami turned the key and gunned the engine, and soon they were off for the Nautilus Platform. Fingering her necklace, Kyoko again looked up at the sky.

Maybe Marisa was right. As weird as this all was, it wasn't like her story set the bar for horribleness around here, and everyone else seemed like they were adjusting. Maybe there was a place for her after all. She thought about the discussion she and Mami had had the day before, when the subject of her hanging up her spear and joining the others in finding a new life had come up. While she couldn't see herself living the domestic life like Mami was, she could see herself fitting in other ways. She already knew Freehaven had a rougher crowd. Who knows? Maybe they had some kind of fighters' league. She could see herself getting into something like that.

Next to her, Sayaka had pulled out her shiny new harmonica and started playing a tune. Combined with the humming of the boat's motor and the smooth passage of the boat, Kyoko felt herself growing drowsy. Yawning, she closed her eyes and relaxed, ready to let herself doze off.

Then she recognized the song Sayaka was playing and snapped back to full wakefulness. Once again, it was that same song Oktavia's orchestra had been playing as Kyoko had fought off the giant witch's spinning wheels and Madoka had desperately tried to reach whatever humanity Sayaka had left, moments before Homura Akemi had dragged her off and Kyoko ended both her life and Sayaka's.

Her body tensing up, Kyoko watched the mermaid out of the corner of her eye. Sayaka had her eyes closed and kept playing, oblivious to the effect her song was having on her companion. Kyoko was sorely tempted to snatch that harmonica out of her hands and hurl it overboard.

Steady, she told herself as her hands closed over her necklace and gripped it tight. Sayaka didn't know what she was doing, and lashing out again would only cause more problems. Besides, that was the sort of thing the old Kyoko would do. All her issues aside, she had to at least try to be different.

In as a casual voice as she could manage, Kyoko said, "S-say, uh, what's that song you're playing?"

"Hmmm? Oh, I dunno," Sayaka said with a shrug. "It's just been stuck in my head all this time."

"Huh. Well, it's nice." Kyoko scratched the back of her head. "You…wouldn't know any others, by any chance?"

Sayaka frowned. "Maybe," she said. "Let's see…"

She switched to a tune that had been playing back at the Tradewinds. She was good at it too. Sighing, Kyoko forced herself to relax. Okay, so maybe there was still that problem to deal with. She still had no idea how she was going to coax Sayaka's memories and identity out from wherever they were buried, but at least she now had plenty of time to work at the problem.

Now that Sayaka wasn't playing that song anymore, Kyoko's drowsiness slowly returned, and she finally was able to doze off. The feel of the seat and the sound of the ocean faded away, though Sayaka's playing remained, and followed Kyoko as she…

…walks through a hallway carved from smooth, black stone. All around, screams and cries permeate the walls, some of them begging for release, others ranting mad gibberish. She ignores them though. Her attention is focused on a single sound, that of a crying child, audible even through the racket all around her.

It's from someone very important to her, Kyoko knows that much. She just needs to find her, and get her out of here. But no matter how far she walks, the hallway never ends. It just keeps going and going, as the cries of the damned wail on without ceasing, mingling with, strangely enough, the sound of someone playing the harmonica.

Finally, she breaks out into a run. There has to be an end. That child needed her. She just had to find the end. It was close, she could feel it, but she couldn't reach it.

Then suddenly, the music stopped, as did the crying. And though Kyoko couldn't see the child, she heard her say, "Kyoko? Kyoko!"

Someone grabbed her by the arm and started shaking her. "Kyoko!"

"What!" Kyoko yelped as she jolted awake. She was back on the boat, with Sayaka still sitting next to her and gripping her arm. They had arrived at the Nautilus Platform.

However, Mami hadn't brought the boat up to the dock. Instead, her focus was on a point beyond the platform. Charlotte quickly unbuckled herself and moved to the back of the boat. She opened a crate and pulled out the crossbow she had armed herself with when they had visited the ruins of Elsa Maria's lighthouse.

Something was very wrong. Even with her companions' strange behavior aside, Kyoko could feel it in her teeth. "What's going on?" she whispered.

"Them," Sayaka said in a low voice. She pointed to where Mami was staring.

Then Kyoko saw the problem. She sucked in a sharp breath. With one fluid motion, she summoned a spear into her hand. Up at the front, Mami already had one of her muskets at the ready.

Someone was there, standing on the water as if it were solid ground. It was a woman, one as pale-skinned as Annabelle Lee and her cronies had been. She was wearing a flowing sleeveless black dress with an incredibly low neckline over a netted mesh, some kind of gauzy veil over her face, and a black blindfold. The hem of her dress spread out like an oil slick over the surface of the water around her.

That in itself was bad enough news, but nestled in her arms like an oversized cat was a black creature with a curling tail; a pointed, rat-like face; two long appendages dangling from its ears, and beady red eyes.

Reibey and one if his Void Walkers. He was here, at the Nautilus Platform. Waiting for them.

Chapter Text

"Kyoko, Oktavia," Mami said, her voice low but not to the point of inaudibility. "Get down."

"Hell with that," Kyoko snarled, her spear already summoned and in her hand. Her hands moved quickly, unstrapping herself from the seat and allowing her to stand up. "No way am I sitting this one out."

"No. Attacking him will start a war, and he wouldn't come out here if you had a chance of succeeding." Mami turned to Charlotte. "Char, call Corrie. Let her know what's happened, and see if she can't send help."

Nodding, Charlotte moved toward the boat's onboard phone, but before she removed it from the hook, Reibey's hated "voice" spoke to them: "Good evening, ladies! Now, before you go running off to inform the authorities of my presence, may I request that you hear what I have to say first? It's only good manners."

Her face an emotionless mask, Mami stood up straight and called back, "Given how abruptly you terminated our previous conversation, forgive us if we feel disinclined to continue it on your terms."

"I forgive you," Reibey said without a trace of irony. Kyoko gritted her teeth. She was definitely seeing why everything hated this prick so much.

"You're too kind," Mami said. Without taking her eyes off the Incubator and his silent guardian, she said to her wife, "Charlotte, make the call."

"Ah, ah, ah, none of that," Reibey chided. "Our conversation this morning was discontinued because of Corrie Linemann's unwanted presence. Reintroducing her to the talk will just encourage me to retreat now and give Ms. Sakura the explanation she desires at a later date." He bowed his head, letting the silence grow heavy before adding, "A much, much later date."

"Put the phone down," Kyoko told Charlotte. She walked to the front of the boat to stand next to Mami.

"Kyoko, this is a bad idea," Mami murmured out of the corner of her mouth.

"Yeah, story of my life," Kyoko murmured back. "And beyond." To Reibey, she called, "All right asshole, we're here, you're here, and the mayor ain't. So, let's talk."

"Not so fast," Mami said. "First things first. I do believe you and your…companion are trespassing. According to the Free Life Compact, signed by both yourself and your master, no parties belonging to or allied with the Void Walkers shall enter territory belonging to the New Life Alliance without permission agreed upon and ratified by all five-"

"No need to quote the specific page and paragraph, I am aware of what it says," Reibey said. He didn't sound at all concerned by potentially having committed an act of war. "And I am pleased to inform you that while we are near the border of Freehaven's holdings, neither I nor my associate have so much as extended finger or tail across the line. Never fear, the Compact remains unbroken."

"He's right," Charlotte said. She frowned at a small green readout set in the dashboard. "They're right up at the edge, but not over."

"You see?" Reibey said. "Now, let's stop posturing and discuss this like civilized beings. I assure you, my intentions here are nothing but benevolent."

Kyoko glanced at Mami. "So, attacking this guy will kickstart a war, huh?"

"Yes."

"Huh." Kyoko sucked in air through her teeth and slowly let it out. "Hey, Mami? Do the words 'Worth it' mean anything to you?"

"Don't you dare," Charlotte warned.

"I dunno. Getting kinda tempting."

"Kyoko, stop," Mami said. She turned back to Reibey. "Do we have your word that you will abide by all terms of the Compact, that you have brought no servitors and/or allies beyond the one that carries you in her arms, and that you will abuse no potential loopholes in order to compel any of us to break give Kyoko and Oktavia up or break the Compact ourselves?"

"Yes, yes," Reibey said impatiently. "Talking only, no attacks, no sneaking around, no traps, no mental control or subtle influencing, and etcetera. But goodness gracious, you people are paranoid! I swear I have to do this song and dance every time I have to talk to any of you. The war was over centuries ago, girls. And you were the ones that attacked us, if you'd be so kind as to remember."

"We weren't there," Mami said. "But I prefer to learn from the mistakes of history. It saves me from making them myself."

"Ah. And which history would that be, and written by whom? But this banter is pointless. You have my word of good faith, and I have information that you desire. Now, are we going to continue yelling at each other across the waters, or are you going to come over here so we may parley properly?"

"No," Mami said. "Here is fine."

Leaning on her spear, Kyoko said, "Nice try, asshole. Try being less obvious next time."

Reibey sighed. "This is getting tedious. A few meters less will change nothing, and you know it. If you prefer, think of it as putting me in range of that caveman's tool in the event of my expected betrayal."

"Huh. He's got a point," Kyoko drawled. "Okay, bring us in closer."

"Okay, and when did today become Stupid Day?" Charlotte demanded.

"He can't do shit to us so long as we stay on our side, right?" Kyoko said. "So stay on our side!"

"Mami, don't," Charlotte said. "It's a trap."

"You are an antsy bunch," Reibey observed. "But fine. Look at it this way: all four of you are in that boat. That boat belongs to two of you, both of which are, as I understand it, signatories of the Compact. Therefore, so long as your guests remain in said boat and said boat remains on your side of the line, I cannot move against you in any way, shape, or form, and if I do, I risk violating the Compact and having a lot of angry little girls declare war on me. I've had that happen once before, and it's not an experience I wish to repeat, especially not over something this trivial." He closed those tiny eyes of his and sighed dramatically, something that just looked strange coming from him. "Now, can we please dispense with paranoia and the I-know-that-you-that-I-knowing? I really do have others things I need to do today."

Kyoko exchanged brief glances with Mami and Charlotte, both of which looked extremely troubled. She shrugged and said, "Well, we gonna do this or not?"

"I'm waiting," Reibey added.

Moving with evident reluctance, Mami gunned the motor and moved the boat closer to where the Void Walker hovered. As they approached, Kyoko took the opportunity to whisper to Charlotte, "So, who's his friend anyway? Is that Oblivion?"

Apparently Reibey had excellent hearing, as he answered before she could. "This? No, not at all. Oblivion rarely leaves Palace Omega, I'm afraid. No, this is my personal assistant, the Matriarch. She helps me move from Point A to Point B, and keeps the rabble in line. Say 'hello,' Matriarch."

"Hello," the Matriarch said. The sound of it made Kyoko's ears twitch. There was definitely something wrong with how she said that simple word. Her voice was pleasant enough, but there was a definite emptiness to it. There had been no sense of greeting when she spoke, no warmth, no anger, hatred, sarcasm, friendliness, or anything at all. She was simply following instructions, and would have done the exact same thing in the exact same tone had there been no one to speak to.

And that, Kyoko decided, was just damned creepy.

Mami brought the boat to a stop, though there still was a good seven meters or so between them and Reibey. Noting this, the Incubator sighed and said, "I suppose that will have to do. Ah well. Hello again, Kyoko Sakura! I trust our time together will be productive."

"I wouldn't hold my breath," Kyoko said.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so certain of that. After all, much can change within the space of a single sentence." Reibey hopped up onto the Matriarch's shoulder and lifted his head to peer over the top of the boat's windshield. "Ah, is that Oktavia von Seckendorff I spy down there? A good day to you too, young lady. I trust you are managing in spite of your crippling handicaps?"

With a sweet smile, Sayaka said, "Why don't you swim over here and let me show you?"

"I'm afraid I must decline. Water has never agreed with me. And as for your vigilant caretakers…Mami and Charlotte Tomoe, is it? My apologies for intruding on what appears to be the tail end of a marvelous day of shopping and girl time, but I am driven by my responsibilities. I'm sure you can empathize."

Charlotte went rod-stiff in her seat. A slight but noticeable tremor had developed in her upper arms and hands. As for Mami, her already cold face chilled even further. With one smooth motion, she stood back up and pointed her musket directly at Reibey's face.

"How do you know our names?" she asked. "Elsa Maria never met us, and Corrie made a point of never telling you who we are."

"A little birdy told me," he said, his beady eyes focusing on her. "Along with many other things. I daresay you still enjoy fried shrimp?"

That just drew confused stares from the girls, not least of all Kyoko herself. She wondered if it was some kind of code, but a glance at Mami told her that the blonde was just as confused as she was.

"Fried shrimp?" Charlotte muttered in bewilderment.

"I have no idea," Mami replied. To Reibey, she demanded, "I'm afraid if that point had some sort of meaning, it was lost on us. Perhaps you would like to explain what significance seafood has with us?"

"Oh, you don't remember? Disappointing." Reibey closed his eyes and shook his head. "Oh well. Give it some thought, and I'm sure the answer will come to you."

Mami's finger twitched on the trigger, and for a moment Kyoko was tempted to grab it and shove it the rest of the way. But before she could scratch that itch, Charlotte reached over and placed her hand on the musket's barrel.

"No," she said, gently pushing the musket down. "He's trying to provoke us. Don't give him what he wants."

Reibey turned his focus toward her. "Really, Mrs. Tomoe? Is that what you believe? Come now, if I wanted the Compact broken, I would do it myself."

However, Kyoko was starting to understand what Charlotte was getting at. "Yeah, unless you want us to blow our tops, take a shot as your curly ass, and then force those Alliance tools give us up before you unleash hell."

Then Reibey did something that literally sent icy fingers running up and down Kyoko's spine: he laughed. It was a grating, chittering sound. "Oh my, someone has an overinflated sense of her own worth. Ms. Sakura, despite what my over-enthusiastic staff may have led you to believe, you are not important enough of a wergild to risk open war in order to acquire. Though I suppose I cannot fault you for your misconceptions, all things considered. So let me clear this up: this is not a matter of state security or gaining a valuable asset. This is a matter of dealing with a minor annoyance that, thanks to some horrific misunderstandings and disproportionate measures on our part, has snowballed out of control and turned into a great big mess. That is why I'm here: to explain exactly what is going on and hopefully clean things up."

Kyoko rolled her eyes. "Then get on with it already! We're listening!"

"The many accusations being thrown my way would suggest otherwise. Still, if we are truly done with Passive-Aggressive Theater, I suppose we can begin."

Though Kyoko was pretty sure that Incubators didn't actually need to vocalize in order to speak, Reibey made a show of clearing his throat anyway. For a moment, she found herself regretting that it had not been this Incubator to approach her and offer to make a contract instead of Kyubey. Everything that had been wrong about Kyubey hadn't been discovered until long after the fact, and she had to admit he did know how to make a good first impression. Reibey, on the other hand, most certainly did not, and just based on what Kyoko was picking up, she seriously doubted that he was at all motivated to even try. Had he been the one to approach her with a promise of a wish, she would have probably either thrown rocks or run away screaming.

"Now then," Reibey said at last. "As I explained this morning, the whole seeking you out thing was actually not ordered on my behalf, but on the behalf of my, ah, superior. From an authority standpoint, that is."

"Yeah, yeah, Oblivion is all wet and bothered about meeting me," Kyoko said irritably. "We got that already. Why?"

"Well, again, it's not really…" Letting out another overly dramatic sigh, Reibey said, "Oh bother, I suppose I'll have to start at the beginning."

Suddenly Kyoko felt a sudden stab of empathy for Corrie Linemann. If this was what she had to put up with on a daily basis, no wonder she had been so cranky. Maybe Kyoko had misjudged her after all.

Reibey said, "You see, several years ago a new recruit joined our ranks. Now, she was a young girl-"

"No, really? Well, how about that? And here I thought you only took on old geezers."

Though they didn't exactly narrow, Reibey's gaze did increase in intensity, and his tail started to twitch. "You know, for someone who was so eager to pump me for information, you seem bound and determined to keep me from doing just that. How am I to explain myself if you insist on interrupting me every few words with color commentary?"

Kyoko bristled, but said nothing. He was right after all, though the knowledge of it was deeply irksome. It didn't help that Charlotte was pursing her lips and giving her a sidelong look, as if to say, "Well, he does have a point."

"Anyway," Reibey said. "What I meant was this girl was considerably younger than the normal stock, being what you humans consider early elementary. Now, while making a contract with someone so young is fairly uncommon, it does happen from time to time."

"Yeah, we've noticed," Sayaka said, her voice cold.

"No doubt you have. Anyway, despite this girl's obvious physical drawbacks and…lack of mental progression, she was still in possession of certain talents, which I should now make the point of clarifying are completely classified. This allowed her to speed through the Void Walker ranks much more quickly than her comrades, and soon attracted the attention of the higher-ups. In time, she became a favorite, and found herself in a rather high position herself, high enough to start making special requests. Specifically, there was someone she had been very close to in life, another Puella Magi, one that had not died yet, and the girl wanted to be reunited with her once the inevitable took place."

Wait, what?

"And while we don't normally accommodate such desires," Reibey continued, "we do occasionally make exceptions, and this one had the sponsorship of someone very high up on our personal totem pole. I'm sure I don't actually need to name names."

Oblivion again. Kyoko started putting the pieces together in her mind. So, Annabelle Lee was working under orders from Reibey, who in turn was acting on orders from Oblivion, who in turn was doing so on behalf of this kid. That didn't make much sense though. Who the hell was this kid, and what in the hell would she want Kyoko for-

Wait. Fried shrimp. Mami. That was what they had for dinner when-

And then, the answer was there, right in front of her. Kyoko's eyes popped wide open as her spine went ramrod-straight. A tiny gasp escaped her lips, drawing confused looks from her friends. Then Mami apparently got it, as her eyes likewise widened with shock.

If Reibey noticed her reaction, he gave no sign. "So, I'm afraid that's it. Just a young but influential member of our organization who knew you back in the day wanting to see you again. Oblivion asked me to make that happen, and unfortunately when I passed along word to the Void Walkers, I was not as clear as I should have been, leading them to misunderstand the reasons and overcompensate in the method." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "And on top of the resulting mess, I made the mistake of telling the girl that you were around, and she has just been impossible ever since! Every time I see her, it's always, 'Where is big sis Kyo? Have you found big sis Kyo yet? What's taking so long?' Children, you know? It's just been a royal headache, let me tell you-"

"YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" Kyoko screeched as she vaulted over the windshield, pushed off of the nose of the boat, and hurled herself at Reibey, spear-point first.

But before she had cleared half the distance, something bound itself around her arms, wrists, legs, and waist, stopping her momentum dead and holding her suspended. Snarling, Kyoko thrashed out against her bonds, which turned out to be Mami's ribbons.

"Kyoko, no!" Mami cried. "This isn't the time!"

The hell it wasn't. She was here, Reibey was there, and there was a clear path between them. "Lemme go!" she growled. "I'll kill him! Kill him! Kill!" She tried to slash away at the ribbons, only to find that the haft of her spear was likewise bound tight.

She wasn't the only one. Back on the boat, Sayaka had either also put two and two together or assumed that Kyoko had a damned good reason to suddenly attack, and had somehow gotten her hands on a filleting knife and was trying to haul herself over the side.

"Hold up, wait!" Charlotte shouted as she rushed over to pull her back. "Bad idea! Bad freaking idea!"

Her attention diverted by their struggle, Mami looked away from the suspended Kyoko, who took advantage by encasing herself in a sphere of her rust-red diamond plates. The ribbons were severed and Kyoko was dropped into the ocean.

The sphere extinguished the moment it hit water, and Kyoko was enveloped by cold. The shock of it pulled her out of the mindless rage, but did nothing to kill her desire to see Reibey's head stuck on the end of her spear. Unfortunately, her swimming skills were…exceptionally lacking. Circumstance had never provided her the opportunity to learn, alas. Still, what she did have was her raw determination, and plenty of power in her lithe, muscular legs. She thrashed and kicked as hard as she could, hoping that would be enough to propel her forward.

Unfortunately for her (or fortunately, depending on how one views such things), Mami was not so easily deterred, and Kyoko quickly found her movement halted when the ribbons plunged into the water and again wrapped around her before she had made any progress. This time, Mami didn't give Kyoko a chance to free herself, and simply yanked her out of the water and tossed her back onto the boat.

Sopping wet, Kyoko tried to leap at Reibey again, but Mami appeared behind her to wrap her arms around Kyoko's waist and hold her in place.

"Kyoko, stop," Mami said as the two struggled against each other. "Don't do this. You're just playing right into his hands."

Kyoko knew this, and was perfectly okay with the idea if it gave her a shot at the rat. But it became a moot point when Mami used her ribbons to bind them together. Others appeared, anchoring them to the deck. She wasn't going anywhere.

Across the water, Reibey watched the unfolding drama with amusement gleaming in his eyes. "Well now," he said. "That was impulsive. And unnecessary. Really now, I'm only discharging an obligation. No need to be so violent."

"Kill you!" Kyoko gnashed. Though it was hopeless, she still tried to tear away to launch herself at his throat. "I swear I'll kill you!"

With one last sigh, Reibey said, "Well, it seems that settling this like rational beings is off the table. I really shouldn't be surprised."

"Get out!" Charlotte snapped as she wrestled Sayaka back into her seat and clicked the restraints in place.

"Again, not at all surprising." Reibey leapt back into the Matriarch's arms and settled in. "Well, I can tell a lost cause when I see one. My apologies for trouble incurred. Oh, and Kyoko? Should you change your mind, do look me up. You know where to find me."

The tresses of the Matriarch's dress, which were spread over the water like an oil slick, suddenly started to boil and bubble. She spun in place and corkscrewed down into the writhing dark blot, taking Reibey with her. The blackness contracted a breath later and disappeared, leaving nothing behind but the still surface of the ocean.

…

Kyoko wrenched at the Nautilus Platform's front door handle but found it locked. Not bothering to wait for everyone else to catch up, she hopped back and snapped off a side-kick to the door's center. Her boot left a shallow dent but the door held, indicating that it had been designed to withstand a frantic Puella Magi. Rather than be deterred, Kyoko again took aim and lashed out with another kick. And another.

"Kyoko, hold on a minute!" Mami cried as she hoisted herself up over the railing. "I know what you're thinking, but calm down and let's talk about this!"

"Open the door," Kyoko said.

"Please, stop and think before you do something-"

"Open the goddamn door before I break a window!"

Wincing, Mami reluctantly pulled a ring of keys from her pocket, stuck one into the lock, and turned it. As soon as the lock slid away, Kyoko burst through the door and ran to the guest room. The backpack she had worn during the trip to Elsa Maria's lighthouse was still on the dresser. She yanked it off, unzipped it, and dumped out the monstrance and stuffed animals. She needed to travel light, and they weren't going anywhere.

"Kyoko, rushing off isn't going to do any good," Mami said as she entered the room behind her. "That's exactly what Reibey wants you to do."

Kyoko shoved her way past her and ran to the kitchen. Tearing the door open, she started indiscriminately grabbing packets of food and shoved them into the backpack. Then she did the same to the pantry.

Mami followed her, still pleading. "You're just going to get yourself captured. He said everything he did to rile you up. To get you to act without thinking."

Okay, she had food. What next? Weapons. She needed…No, she had weapons. Her spears and shields were enough. Clothes? She had clothes. A flashlight? Matches? A towel? Yeah, a towel would come in handy.

As Kyoko scampered off for the bathroom, Charlotte entered the house, holding Sayaka in a princess carry. "Well," she said as she walked in. "This deteriorated quickly."

"She won't listen to me!" Mami said. "I can't through to her!"

"Can you blame her?" Sayaka said. "Heck, why aren't we helping her?"

"I can think of a few dozen reasons. Here," Charlotte said, handing Sayaka off to Mami. "I'm going to need my hands free."

In the bathroom, Kyoko snatched two towels off their hangers and ran back into the living room.

"Mami," she said. "Keys. Boat. Now." Everything else she needed was probably already on board.

Mami's face paled. "You're not actually considering-"

"Keys. Now. Or I'll-"

Charlotte's fist snapped forward. Her attention completely focused on her preparations, Kyoko was wholly unprepared for the attack and took it full in the face. She was lifted off her feet and landed hard on her ass.

"Charlotte!" Mami shouted in shock, right as Sayaka burst out with "Holy crap!"

Kyoko tried to rise, but stopped when she saw the crossbow aimed at her head.

No one dared to move. Mami and Sayaka were too stunned, Kyoko too dazed, and Charlotte patient enough to wait for everyone's brains to start making sense of the situation.

When Kyoko's eyes finally starting registering comprehension, Charlotte said in a low voice, "I know what you think, and I have a good idea what you're going through. But this I guarantee you: if you go out like that, in that state of mind, you will be caught and vanished. Not might, not probably, will. You will help no one and accomplish nothing."

"Get out of my way, Charlotte," Kyoko said.

"No. I'm not going to let you throw your life away."

"What life?" Kyoko spat. "And I'll throw you through the fucking wall if you don't move your ass."

"No. Not until you turn your brain back on."

Kyoko's brain was actually fully operational and racing, but not in the way Charlotte would have liked. Her eyes quickly flitted from the gun to Charlotte's face to the position of her limbs and her stance. She then spared a quick glance to the still stupefied Mami and Sayaka. Calculations ran through her mind as she deliberated the best course of action.

"Think," Charlotte said, keeping the tip of the arrow pointed at Kyoko's forehead. "Why do you think Reibey was here, at the Platform? Why do you think he refused to explain anything this morning? Because right now, we are so close to the border you could literally jump over it from here. He's counting on you losing your mind and go dashing off. And the second you leave Freehaven's protection, you're done. He'll snatch you up and-"

Kyoko leg suddenly swept out, aiming for Charlotte's shins. At the same time, her arm snapped up and a spear the size of one of Charlotte's arrows flew out of her sleeve to impale the crossbow and pin it to the wall.

But apparently Charlotte had been expecting her to do something like that. Though she couldn't get the crossbow out of the way, she still managed to hop over Kyoko's leg. She released her hold on the crossbow and spun around to drive the bottom of her shoe into Kyoko's chest, shoving her back down.

With a heavy snarl, Kyoko registered the pain of the kick, acknowledged it, and shoved it back into a place where it couldn't affect her. Then her hands clamped around Charlotte's ankle and twisted, bringing the other girl to the floor.

The next few moments were a confusing muddle of grappling limbs and attempted blows. Kyoko, who had expected this fight to go much as the one with Marisa had, soon came to a disheartening truth: despite her preference for the crossbow, Charlotte was as much a close-range fighter as she was. Plus, her limbs were longer and the leverage was in her favor. Somehow, she managed to get behind Kyoko and twist one of her arms up in a chicken-wing, while Charlotte's other arm went around her neck, locking in the sleeper-hold that Marisa had failed to get. Her legs then wrapped around Kyoko's torso and locked in tight.

Kyoko's vision went red, though whether it was from the rage or oxygen loss she couldn't tell. It didn't really matter. She readied herself to summon another spear and cut herself free, even if she had to stab herself right through the stomach to get at Charlotte to do so.

And then a shot rang out, stopping the fight cold.

Mami, having set Sayaka onto the couch, stood with a discharged musket in her hand, the barrel pointed at the still-open door. "That's enough!" she shouted. "What's wrong with you two? Fighting at a time like this? Stop it right now!"

Though she was breathing a little heavily, Charlotte said, "I'm trying to save her hide."

"Charlotte, let her up."

"She'll just try to run off again."

"Char," Mami said, her tone pleading. "Please."

Charlotte tensed up, but she complied, slowly releasing her hold on Kyoko's neck and unlocking her legs. As soon as the pinkette's grip had loosened enough, Kyoko shoved her away and stood up. Mami's tear-streaked face hardened, clearly in expectation of a fight, but Charlotte's attack had fulfilled enough of its purpose. Enough of Kyoko's rationality had surfaced from the haze to keep her in place. But that didn't change anything about her desire to run off right now for Palace Omega.

Looking from one distraught or worried face to the next, Kyoko said, "W-what do you exp-pect me to do? J-just stay here and do nothing? Let fucking Corrie try to work things out? That fucker's got my baby sister!"

"We don't know that," Charlotte said softly. Despite her earlier aggression, she sounded genuinely sympathetic, if still resolved to keep Kyoko from carrying out her plan. "This is Reibey we're talking about. He could have been-"

"HE WASN'T!" Kyoko shrieked at her, making her jump. "There's…there's no way, okay? He, he said stuff, stuff only she could tell him. Stuff only she would know. He's got her. I d-don't know if she's a prisoner or a V-V-V…" she almost choked on the word, but managed to force it out. "Void Walker, but he's got her." Her fingers curled into trembling fists. "That bastard's got her."

Then Mami said, "Char, I think she's right."

"How can you be sure?" Charlotte asked her. "What did he say?"

"Fried shrimp," Kyoko answered in Mami's place. She didn't bother turning around to face Charlotte, instead keeping her face downcast. "You remember that part? That's what…that's what my mom. Made for dinner. When Mami came over for the first time, and I…and I…"

"Introduced me to her family," Mami finished for her. She held her hands in front of her chest. "I remember. Her sister kept trying to sneak shrimp off of my plate. Kyoko's right, there's no other way he could have known that."

"Maybe he's a mindreader?" Sayaka suddenly suggested, breaking into the conversation for the first time. "Or that creepy goth girl that was carrying him around?"

Mami shook her head. "No, I don't think so. The conversation with him this morning was carefully monitored, so if there was any mindreading involved, it would have to have happened just now. And no psychic would be able to dig up such a deep memory that quickly and transmit it to Reibey, especially without being noticed."

"Occam's Razor then," Charlotte said, her tone flat. "He has her. Now we address the question before us: now that we know this, what do we do about it?"

"What do we do about it?" Kyoko muttered. She straightened up. "Heh, you kidding me?" Tilting her head back, she favored Charlotte with an over-the-shoulder maniacal smile. "I'll tell you what we do. We saddle up. Lock and load. Raid the castle, and lay waste to anyone who gets in our way."

Charlotte rolled her eyes and looked like she was about to say something sarcastic, but then apparently she thought better of it. Instead, she stretched her neck and nodded to Mami from over Kyoko's shoulder, indicating that perhaps the blonde should handle this.

"Kyoko," Mami said softly. "I want to help Momo too. But that isn't the way."

"Why not?"

To everyone's surprise, the objection had not come from Kyoko, the most obvious source, but from Sayaka. Everyone turned to the blue-haired mermaid, who was still stretched across the couch but had sat up with her hands braced behind her. There was a furious scowl on her face, one of resolute determination.

Kyoko recognized it at once. It was the same look she had worn the first time they had met, when Kyoko had scornfully chided her for attacking a familiar before it had devoured enough people to allow it to evolve into a full witch. Sayaka had of course taken issue with that way of thinking, and her face had looked much the same then as it did now.

"Why not?" Sayaka again demanded as she glowered at them. "Are you saying we're just going to let this slide? Let him get away with something like this and do nothing? You just don't screw with someone's family and get away with it!" Bracing herself against the armrest, she pounded her fist against her palm like a judge's gavel and declared, "Besides, I say, if Kyoko's sister is here, we need to go get her! And Elsa Maria!"

Grateful for the support and relieved to see more of the old Sayaka surfacing, Kyoko thrust a finger in her direction and said, "S-see? She agrees with me! You all heard that, right? Momo and Elsa Maria! Now let's go already!"

"No," Charlotte said. "That is most definitely not going to happen."

Kyoko was torn between breaking the other girl's nose and tearing her own hair out. "Look, if you don't have the stomach for this sort of thing, that doesn't mean I'm gonna-"

"The Byronic Sea is now officially a no-Kyoko zone," Charlotte said flatly. "Oblivion has probably got the Platform under surveillance right now, just waiting for you to stick your toe across the line. She also no doubt is still smarting about how you slipped her agents before. If I were her, I wouldn't be taking any chances this time, and fill the water with as many agents as I could spare. Which is, I should point out, quite a lot." She tilted her chin. "If you two want to mount any sort of rescue down that way, then you should have just given yourself over to Reibey when he was here and saved everyone a great deal of trouble. Because I promise you the end results would have been identical. Is that what you want, Kyoko?"

Which was more-or-less what Marisa had told her. Kyoko was tempted to just say "Screw it!" and go out anyway. Sure, maybe she didn't have a ghost of a chance of succeeding, but even getting captured meant being with Momo again. At this point Kyoko was desperate enough to consider it.

But then her damned common sense had to choose that moment to wake up. Yes, giving herself up or doing something that was guaranteed to get her caught would get her Momo back, but it would also mean winding up stuck as Reibey's slave. And there was no way in hell she was going to let another Incubator control her life. Or Momo's, for that matter.

"Then…" she said, trying to form the raging storm inside her mind into coherent thoughts, "…then wh-what do I do? You…you gotta help me. I don't…I don't know what to do." She let out a bitter chuckle. "Hell, I don't know what to do."

"Kyoko…" Mami started to say.

Then Kyoko looked Mami right in the eye. "Mami," she said, her voice cracking. "Sempai. C-come on. You gotta help me here. I…I mean, if there was a chance, even if it was just a small one, that you could get…could get just one of your parents back, wouldn't you take it?"

Mami swallowed noisily. She looked away.

"Hey, wait a minute," Charlotte said as she took an angry step forward. "Don't go using that-"

"And you!" Kyoko said, whirling around to face her. "What if someone took Mami away from you? What if she was gone for years, and you thought you would never see her again, but suddenly it turns out Oblivion's got her all brainwashed and locked up in a fucking tower somewhere, and Reibey started dangling her in front of you going 'Nyah nyah!' What would you do then, huh?"

Charlotte stepped back.

Kyoko looked back and forth from Charlotte to Mami. Her whole body was trembling now. Licking her dry lips, she said, "Guys, please! Mami, I know I haven't always done right by you. I know I've screwed up and hurt you. And Charlotte? Okay, I've been a pain in the ass since I got here. I know that. But this is my baby sister! I can't…I can't leave her there, with them. I just can't!"

Mami and Charlotte exchanged a troubled glance. Charlotte bit her lip.

Squelching the scream she felt forming, Kyoko went for a new tactic. "Okay, how about this? You help me get her back, and I'll sign the Compact. Hell, I'll sign whatever you want. I'll join the neighborhood cleanup or whatever you've got, volunteer at the preschool and show the kids how to glue macaroni to paper plates or…or whatever you want!"

Speaking in a slow and measure tone, Charlotte said, "You do realize that if you do as you ask and help you mount a rescue attempt, none of us are likely to return, yes?"

"Then you think of something!" Kyoko shouted. "You're the ones who know this place and how it works! Tell me what to do!"

“Tell me what to do.” Five words that Kyoko had never thought would come out of her mouth. Perhaps once upon a time, back before that night in which she had come home to find that her choices had cost her everything she held dear, she would have been more than content to follow someone else's lead. Her father had been her spiritual mentor and Mami had shown her the ways of the Puella Magi, and she h had idolized them both. But after her father's madness and Kyubey's deceit, she had resolved to never again follow someone else's lead. Her path was from that day forward hers alone, mistakes and all. She would have rather died than beg someone for help.

But this was different. Now she had a chance to recover a piece of what she had lost. And she was going to get it back by any means necessary. Even if she had to humble herself before her fallen sempai and her distrusting wife, she was going to do it. Momo deserved no less.

Then Charlotte spoke, but not to her. "Mami," she said. "We need to talk."

Kyoko started to protest, to claim that they didn't have time for more deliberation, but then Charlotte pointed at her and said, "You." Her finger then moved toward the couch, where Oktavia was still sitting. "Sit there. And don't move until we're done."

"What?" Kyoko goggled. "And give you a chance to go tattle on me to the Alliance? Like hell I am!"

"I said-" Charlotte then grabbed Kyoko by the shoulder, spun her around, and marched her to the couch. "-sit down and wait for us to finish talking!"

Kyoko sat.

Charlotte took Mami by the hand and led her outside. Kyoko watched them until the door slammed shut. Part of her wished that they had gone to talk in one of the bedrooms, as that would have given her a chance to sneak out in the meantime. But Charlotte was right about one thing. Her first plan would have just ended in failure. She needed a new one, and in her current state of mind there was no way she would be able to come up with one without help.

Kyoko hunched over and tried to keep from hyperventilating. She couldn't think. It was hard enough to wrap her mind around the concept that Momo was here, in this afterlife, at that very second. The very possibility had force-crashed her mind straight into a brick wall, and she was still sorting through the pieces.

Then she felt soft fingers take her hand and give it a tight squeeze. Blinking, she turned her head to see that Sayaka had moved to sit by her. The mermaid's blue eyes watched her, full of concern. But when Kyoko met them, Sayaka favored her with a supportive smile, as if to say, "Hey, don't worry! Everything will be okay! We'll think of something."

Kyoko wished she shared the other girl's surety, but she still appreciated the support. Nodding her thanks, she squeezed back and returned her gaze to the ground.

…

Charlotte was angry. No, that was an understatement. She was furious. She was incensed. At everything. At Reibey, at Oblivion, at Kyoko, at Kyoko's sister, at Oktavia, at Corrie, at Mami, and, most of all, at herself. Because she knew exactly what was about to happen, she knew how much it was going to cost them, and she knew she was going to do nothing to stop it; quite the opposite, actually.

Charlotte had always prided herself as a realist. Most people, when told of this, assumed that this meant she was cold and clinical when it came to her approach to problems, but that was far from the truth. She was actually a very emotional person, and had, at various times, fallen prey to her own vulnerabilities and caused some rather embarrassing disasters as a result, as the number of times she'd been thrown out of restaurants, grocery stores, or bakeries indicated. Plus, there was that little Christmas Eve debacle involving Mami's wedding ring that no one seemed content to let her forget, though in fairness it did make for a great story at parties.

But even so, she was at least more honest about her personal shortcomings than most, and as such had developed something of a knack for recognizing flaws in others and predicting how it would affect their decisions.

And so instead of playing the futile game of trying to force people to take the most rational path and have everything blow up in her face as a result, she instead tried to figure out the most likely path and make adjustments to that instead. It didn't always work out the way she wanted. In fact, it quite often didn't. But it did make it easier to adjust and keep going.

Which was exactly why she was so angry. She knew exactly what Kyoko was going to do. The girl was going after her sister, and nothing anyone said or did was going to change that. And as angry as Charlotte might be with her, as many problems as it was going to create for them all, Charlotte could not find it within her to blame the girl. Because the rub of it all was that Kyoko was right: Charlotte would do the exact same thing were she in her position. If it was Mami that was being held, nothing would stop her.

But like a domino effect, Kyoko's actions were going to have a drastic effect on them all. Charlotte saw where things were going to end up. And she couldn't stop it. To do so would be worse.

As soon as both she and Mami were out on the catwalk surrounding the house and the door clicked shut, Mami opened her mouth to speak, but Charlotte beat her to the punch. "Mami, tell me honestly," she said as she walked over to the railing and gripped it tightly. "Do you believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Kyoko's sister made a contract with an Incubator before she died, and is now in Reibey's hands?"

Mami hesitated, and then said, "Char, you know I can't say that. There's too much we don't know."

Gritting her teeth, Charlotte gave a quick nod. "But you do believe it, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Great. Well, great." Charlotte sucked in breath, held it in, and let it out. Explosively.

"Damn it!" she swore, smashing her fist against the railing over and over, in time with her cursing. "Damn it, damn it, damn it, goddamn it!"

"Charlotte!" Mami cried in alarm. She hurried over and grabbed Charlotte's wrist, holding her stead. "Baby, calm down!"

Charlotte did, but only so far as to stop attacking the railing. She unclenched her fist and gripped tightly to the now dented steel bar, her hands trembling. "Don't you get it, Mami? Don't you see where this is going?"

Mami didn't say anything, on account of knowing that Charlotte wasn't actually looking for an answer. Instead, she just released her hold on Charlotte's wrist and clasped her hands around her wife's waist, waiting for Charlotte to get her rant out of her system.

"Kyoko's going after her sister," Charlotte said. "It doesn't matter what we, or anyone else says. Try to reason with her and she'll ignore you. Get in her way, and she'll knock you out. Lock her up, and she will find a way to break out. She's going, and that's that."

"Yes," Mami said.

"And if we try to stop her, she'll never forgive us, never forgive you." Sighing, Charlotte looked up and out over the water, which sparkled in the light of the setting sun. "And if you let her go out on her own, you'll never be able to forgive yourself. So you're going with her. And if I…" Her voice caught. "And…if I try to stop you, and succeed, you'll never forgive me."

Mami's arms tensed up. "Char!"

"It's true. Of course, you won't say anything. You'll…you'll rationalize it away in your mind, tell yourself that I was only doing what I thought best and you shouldn't resent me for it, but it'll keep eating away at you, worrying you, bothering you, like a witch who keeps getting called by her old name."

"Stop it," Mami said in her dangerous voice. "You know I would never-"

"Yes, you will." Mami's arms still around her, Charlotte turned around to look her lover in the eye. "Because you care about her. You remember what happened between you two back when you were alive, and you don't want to lose her again."

"Charlotte," Mami whispered. Tears were starting to form in the corners of her eyes.

Gently cupping the shorter girl's cheek with her hand, Charlotte said, "It's who you are. You can't help it. Which is why you're a better person than me."

"Charlotte, don't say that! We've been over these countless times! Just because-"

"It's the truth. I'm not kicking myself down, I'm just saying it how it is." Charlotte leaned over to softly kiss her lips. "Which is why you're going with Kyoko. And…" She swallowed. "And…if I let you go off, and not come along, I'll never be able to forgive myself."

Mami's mouth set in a straight line. "Charlotte, think about what you're suggesting. If…if we do this…"

"I know. And I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just saying what is going to end up happening." Charlotte managed a crooked half-smile. "I just wanted to skip to the end."

Mami smiled in return. "Yes, you always seem to do that."

"Hey, it just saves time, and-" Then Charlotte blinked. "Hey, wait a minute! That meant what exactly?"

Laughing, Mami leaned forward to lay her head on her lover's chest. "You're wrong though," she said. "About me being a better person than you." Charlotte rolled her eyes, but she smiled. One hand ran through Mami's hair while the other encircled her back and drew her in close.

Even though she knew that they would have to return to the anxious Kyoko soon, Charlotte put off that moment for a few moments, just to savor the moment. After all, their time here, at the place that had been their home for the last seven years, was now severely limited. Best to enjoy it while they still could.

…

Though Oktavia hadn't really known Kyoko much longer than a couple of days, week-long coma notwithstanding, she had learned enough to know that the redhead was never at a loss for words. Whether she was she was angry, happy, teasing, irritable, hungry, depressed, or so on, Kyoko could always be counted on to have something to say.

Such was no longer the case. Now, she sat in total silence, her face downcast and her eyes wide open and staring straight ahead without focusing on anything. One hand held tightly to Oktavia's, as if they may be torn away at any moment, while the other was wrapped around the black arrowhead and glimmering red stone of her necklace. Nearly every muscle was tensed up and trembling, and her mouth was a straight, horizontal slash across her face.

Oktavia couldn't blame her, and she felt no motivation to try. She couldn't even imagine what the other girl must be going through. While they both had lost their families, Oktavia had done so in the most impersonal of ways. Yes, she knew that hers existed, but she couldn't even remember their names. There was a kind of tragedy to that, certainly, but nothing compared to Kyoko's situation. Oktavia just wished there was more she could do for her. She couldn't empathize on a personal level, and thanks to her tail, there was no way she would be able to take part in a hypothetical rescue attempt. So she did the only thing she could: hold Kyoko's hand and provide whatever emotional support she could offer. She just hoped that Mami and Charlotte's conversation wasn't going to last too long.

It didn't. Soon, much sooner than Oktavia had expected, the door clicked open and Mami and Charlotte reentered the room. Kyoko sat up straight, her jaw and neck tensing up even more.

The two girls watched expectedly as Charlotte marched stone-faced across the room and headed toward a wooden cabinet. Opening it, she extracted a large roll of white paper, which she then carried to the coffee table and rolled it out.

To Oktavia and Kyoko's confusion, the paper was blank. But before either of them to ask about its purpose, Charlotte touched one of its corners. A glowing green square lit up under her finger.

Black lines then appeared on the paper, etching out a map; landmasses took shape, as did bodies of water, mountain ranges, cities, forest, and deserts. A wave of static passed over the map, and the lines rose up to form a six-centimeter-high landscape.

"If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right," Charlotte said. "Forget about going back over the sea. Even if you manage to make it back across the Byronic Sea, you'll end up at the wrong part of the Withering Lands." She pointed to the southern tip of a huge country that was shaped like two misshapen kidney beans joined by a thin strip of land. Her fingertip touched a black dot with the legend "Genocide City" floating next to it. Oktavia squinted. Just northeast of that point was Freehaven itself, and right next to it was a flashing red dot that she took to mean "You Are Here."

"If your sister is one of Oblivion's favorites, she'll be up here," Charlotte said, moving her finger to another city entirely, this one near the top of the other kidney bean. According to the map, it was named Twilight's Crypt. "This is the Withering Lands' capital, on the exact opposite end of where we are. For obvious reasons, getting there from the bottom up is pants-on-head lunacy, so we'll have to enter from the northern tip."

Charlotte took a deep breath. "That's also a problem, as to get there, we'll have to pass through all of this." She waved a hand at the large expanse of neutral territory between Freehaven and the topmost part of the Withering Lands. "There are transport systems that can take for part of the way, but given how screwed up a lot of it is, there will still be a whole lot of old-fashioned legwork involved, through places that are just as dangerous as the Withering Lands, except without those dangers specifically looking for us. It'll also be easier to lose whatever agents Oblivion sends out way."

Throughout Charlotte's speech, Kyoko stared at the pink-haired witch with a look of absolute disbelief. Finally she was able to choke out the word, "We?"

Charlotte gave her a hard look that wasn't quite a glower, but still had quite the edge to it. "Yes. We. There's no way you'll make it without help, and Mami and I are the only ones in the whole goddamned town who would agree to something like this. You need backup and a guide, and our presence would discourage any Void Walkers that would-"

"Wait, stop," Kyoko said, her face and voice still wooden. "You're serious about this. You're just gonna help me without arguing or nothing?"

The look Charlotte gave her was downright venomous. "Kyoko, you're on thin ice with me already. Don't aggravate the situation by making me second-guess myself. Yes, we are giving you the help you asked for. Is that clear enough for you?"

Again, Kyoko looked like she was at a loss for words. Oktavia felt much the same way. They had both expected there to be some sort of resistance, likely a huge fight; Charlotte telling them that what they were planning was stupid and they should just accept things and forget it, Kyoko telling her to kindly go fuck herself, Oktavia agreeing with Kyoko but using somewhat less crude terms, and Mami desperately playing the role of mediator. Having Charlotte and Mami to not only give her what she wanted but immediately start putting together a plan was throwing them for a loop.

Oktavia recovered first, as there was one nasty little detail that had to be addressed. "Uh, wait. What about the Compact?" she said. "Aren't you breaking like every rule in the book by doing this?"

Mami grimaced. She shot a look to Charlotte, who had closed her eyes and was muttering something under her breath. "Let us," she said at last, "worry about the Compact."

That seemed to shake Kyoko out of her stupor, as well as activate her instinctive stubbornness. "Now hey," she said, scowling. "Don't think you gotta sacrifice yourself for me just because you pity me or-"

"Oh, shut up!" Charlotte snapped. "I swear to God, if you get all tsundere on us, I'm knocking you back into your coma!"

Kyoko looked shocked. Then a slow smile crept up the sides of her mouth. "Heh," she said. "I guess I was doing that, a little. Sorry, reflex."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, but looked abated. "Fair enough. Besides, it's not really pity that's driving us right now." Sighing, she walked over to collapse into one of the easy chairs. "You were right earlier. If it were Mami, I would be doing exactly the same as you, dangers be damned, Compact be damned. So I can't exactly argue with you."

"But she's right about the dangers," Mami said as she reached over to lay a hand on Kyoko's knee. "You have our full support, but understand that our chances of success are very, very low."

Kyoko's face darkened in a frown, but she shrugged. "Well, hey, they usually are." Then she showed her fangs in a wicked grin. "But hey, it ain't like any of us are getting any older. We've got eternity to work something out."

"That's the spirit!" Oktavia said, elbowing Kyoko in the side. "Keep up that positive attitude!"

Charlotte shot her an annoyed look, but didn't counter her. As she went back to outlining the obstacles they would have to face, Oktavia settled back into the cushion, a happy smile on her face. Despite everything they were going to have to face, she was glad that at least things were moving forward. Now they had direction and a tangible goal; everything else was just details.

But then something came back to remembrance, and her mood soured. She looked down at the multicolored fish tail she had in place of legs. While the handicap it gave her hadn't really bothered her before, she now found herself deeply resenting it. Because while she would able to adjust to a quiet life in Freehaven without trouble, it did mean that whatever plans the other three made, whatever rescues they attempted, she couldn't be a part of it.

…

As bad as the pain had been, as awful as the humiliation had been, the waiting was even worse. Sitting around in the tiny stone room that she shared with her sister as hundreds of different possible outcomes ran through her mind, each one more terrible than the last. Granted, they were all variations on "Oblivion has decided that you are completely worthless and will never become worthy of being released, so get out of my sight and never come back," but while that alone constituted a worst-case scenario, Annabelle Lee's imagination had no trouble inventing additional horrible things that could be said or done to her and Nikki.

However, they were to be banished. There was no question in her mind. For the last forty-three years, she and Nikki had served faithfully, almost fanatically, in Oblivion's name, in hope that one day they may be judged worthy in their master's sight and be set free from this ghastly mock-up of an afterlife. That hope alone had been enough to keep Annabelle Lee going, allowed her to endure endless patrols through Genocide City, tolerate the inane behaviors of her so-called companions, and withstand Reibey's punishments. But now, despite all of their faithful service, it was all going to be wiped away. Forty-three years of misery, all down the drain.

And now they were stuck in Hell. Forever.

Annabelle Lee sat in the room's single chair, a rough, wooden piece that was little more than a bar stool with a back, with a heavy book in her lap. She wasn't much of a reader, but had long learned the benefits of keeping such an item near at hand.

She hadn't moved much since Reibey had ordered her and Nikki to their quarters the day before, not even to sleep. She didn't know how long it would be before Oblivion's decision was announced (as if that were necessary), but as much as she dreaded the finality of it all, she wished that the call would come already and get it over with.

Ticky Nikki, on the other hand, was curled up in her cot, fast asleep. Annabelle Lee watched her, slightly envious that her sister had been able to sleep at all. But then, sometimes being a complete nutcase with stunted mental growth had its advantages.

Though, as usual, Nikki's sleep was anything but restful. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her stomach, and her left leg kept kicking in doglike fashion. Her eyes were squeezed tight, and her face glistened with sweat. In rhythm with her leg's twitching, she muttered, "Ticky-ticky-ticky-ticky-ticky…"

Then the spasms increased, as did the speed and volume of her mutterings. Annabelle Lee tensed herself. Here it came…

"…ticky-ticky-ticky-tickytickytickyTICKY!"

Ticky Nikki bolted upright, her eyes wide with adrenaline-fueled fear. Her right arm swung out, and a glittering knife flashed into existence. It sped through the air, right for Annabelle Lee's face.

Or rather, right for the heavy book Annabelle Lee now held in front of her face. A book that was already marred by multiple slashes.

The knife thunked against the book's cover and penetrated right through the pages to protrude through the other end. Annabelle Lee glowered at the razor-sharp point and tossed the book into a pile of other similarly-defaced books.

Nikki looked around wildly until her frantic eyes settled upon her sister. Then the frenzy left them and her face softened. "Hi, Annabelly!" she said, swinging her legs around to sit on the side of the bed. She yawned and stretched. "We do Genocide now?"

Noting the amusing misunderstanding that would result should someone hear that sentence without context, Annabelle Lee reflected that maybe being a mentally-stunted nutcase wasn't so great after all. "No," Annabelle Lee said. "Not patrol time. In fact, we are never going on patrol ever again."

Nikki's face lit up. "We got moved?" she said excitedly. "No more getting super-wet and bright lights hurting Nikki's eyes?"

It took Annabelle Lee a moment to realize that Nikki meant "reassigned." "No," she said. "Now, can you remember what happened yesterday?"

Sticking her lower lip out in a frown, Nikki's eyebrows knitted together as she tried to focus. First one eye scrunched up while the other widened, and then they traded places. Annabelle Lee waited impatiently while her sister tried to sort out her actual recollections from whatever it was she had just been dreaming about and any number of imagined events.

Then her face froze. "Oh," she said in a neutral tone. Immediately after, both of her eyes opened as wide as they could go. "Oh." Then she swallowed, gripped the edge of her bed with both hands, and whimpered, "…oh…"

A moment later, Nikki had dropped to the floor on all fours and scampered under her cot, where she cowered like a frightened rodent, though she looked a bit more like a trap door spider.

"Yeah, that's gonna be a big help," Annabelle Lee said with a roll of her eyes. "Wonderful defense strategy. They'll never find-"

In lieu of nothing, no knock or spoken announcement, the door swung open. Annabelle Lee shut up immediately.

Two other Void Walkers had arrived, neither of them human. The first was a pale white sphere the size of a watermelon. It hovered in the air, glowing with an eerie luminescence. Tiny, glittering dots sparkled all number of colors in its interior, which was filled with a crystalline, geometric pattern, like a three-dimensional spider's web, indicating Zealand's status as a calliope witch. Her people were a rare sight in the Void Walkers' ranks, as most of them had gone over to the Alliance's side and seemed content to stay there. However, no people were all one thing, and even in a species mostly populated by silly airheaded fairies, there had to be one or two oddballs who actually had a brain, metaphorically speaking.

In contrast to her small, inhuman partner, the other was a huge, hulking form, well over eight feet tall, completely swathed in in black robes and bits and pieces of scavenged armor. While most of the Void Walkers' outfits tended to be on the skimpy side, Harlonga much preferred to keep herself fully covered at all times, as did the rest of her species. This was considered a blessing by her comrades, as dockengauts were not considered to be aesthetically pleasing by other species; even the ai'jurrik'kai, another species that many found unnerving, were frightened by them. Annabelle Lee had seen pictures, and even she was grateful that Harlonga had covered herself up.

However, she was not at all grateful that those two had showed up to her room. They were among Oblivion's elite guards, which meant that the time had finally come.

Harlonga raised her hooded head just enough for Annabelle Lee to get a glimpse at what lay underneath, which wasn't much. No eyes, but there was definitely rustling movement, like a thousand spindly bug legs writhing against each other. "You twozzz," she said in a voice like a swarm of flies. "Come wizzz uzzz."

She turned and moved down the corridor. No steps, she just glided smoothly over the featureless obsidian as if carried by an invisible platform under the heavy folds of her robe, though there was a kind of skittering sound, as if a thousand rats were racing over the floor. Zealand held back, waiting for the condemned to obey.

Annabelle Lee swallowed noisily but rose to follow. As unthreatening as calliopes may appear, you did not want to make one angry.

"Come on," she said to Nikki, who was still trembling under the bed.

"Don't wanna," Nikki whined.

"Do you not? Too bad," Zealand said in her honeyed, simpering voice. "Unfortunately, your wishes and desires have since been rendered…Oh, what's the word. Harlonga, help me out here?"

"Obzzzolete," Harlonga buzzed.

"I suppose that works too, though I would have gone with 'irrelevant.' Obsolete would imply that they ever mattered to begin with."

"Nikki," Annabelle Lee seethed. "Come. Here. Now."

With one last whimper, Ticky Nikki crawled out from under her cot and shuffled over to the door. Apparently, she wasn't moving quickly enough for Zealand, as the calliope suddenly pulsed brightly, and Nikki leapt up with a yelp and scampered to Annabelle Lee's side. As they moved from the room, Annabelle Lee allowed herself a small measure of amusement from the observation that Nikki was the only one who was actually walking. It wasn't much, but by now, she would take whatever good feelings she could get.

The four of them, Harlonga in front, the Tick-Tock Sisters in the middle, and Zealand taking up the rear, moved through wide, lantern-lit corridors of the barracks, towards the stormline that would take them to Palace Omega. As they progressed, Annabelle Lee was distinctly aware of the knowing glances, loud whispers, snickering, and unrepentant smirks from the other Void Walkers that they passed. Everyone knew how badly she had bungled her mission, and that she was now on the chopping block. Though she deeply desired to launch herself at the little parasites and gouge out their eyes, her blades had been confiscated and, unlike Nikki, she couldn't just summon more. Besides, she would never get past Harlonga and Zealand.

They reached the door to the stormline. To Annabelle Lee's surprise, The Twins were already there, clinging tightly to each other. Judging by the fact that they were accompanied by two other of Oblivion's private guard, both of them human, and did not at all look happy about it, it seemed that they were to join the Tick-Tock Sisters in their punishment. Annabelle Lee smirked. Well, at least there was a silver lining. Not a great one, but hey, she'd take it. Though judging by the unhappy whine coming from Nikki, she didn't find anything good about sharing space with those two.

Upon seeing the Tick-Tock Sisters approach, The Twins stopped sniveling and glowered hatefully. "Oh Nie, look who's here," Arzt said dourly. "Why, it's Annabelle Lee herself, our esteemed leader, to whom we owe so much."

"Bless my soul Arzt, you're right," Nie said, matching the sour expression on her lover's face. "How splendid. And here I was asking myself if I would ever get the chance to thank her for the tremendous favor she's done for us."

"No thanks necessary, ladies," Annabelle Lee said with a sweet smile. "It was my pleasure."

Zealand made tittering sound that greatly resembled wind chimes. "Aw, look at that, Harlonga! The vermin think that their petty grudges actually matter!"

"How preciouzzz," Harlong droned. To The Twins' guards, she said, "Ve vill takezzz it fromzzz herezzzzz."

The other two guards departed, though not without one last smug look at the condemned. Zealand floated close to the stormline's entrance, a simple rectangular portal sealed with a solid lump of stone, and tiny flares of light jumped from her aura to the doorframe. The stone dissolved into static and disappeared.

"Inzzzide," Harlonga ordered. Needing no further prompting, Annabelle Lee, Ticky Nikki, Arzt Kochen, and Nie Blühen Herze stepped through the portal, followed closely by their guards. Beyond was a wide sphere of transparent crystal, from which multiple tubes of the same material, each one sealed off, shot out to zigzag their way to their respective destinations.

Save for Annabelle Lee, Zealand, and perhaps Harlonga, everyone went from walking along to floating weightlessly through the sphere's interior. As soon as all six of them were bobbing together at the center, Harlonga said, "Palazzz Omega."

The slab of stone reappeared behind them, while one of the tubes unsealed. Then, as if they had been flushed through a drain, all six of them were sucked right through, and they were off.

Given the sheer size of the Withering Lands, a rapid-transit system like the stormlines was all but essential. Thanks to it, trips that would normally take days, even for super-powered girls who could bound along quicker than most automobiles, took mere hours. However, not everyone was appreciative of the advantages that the stormlines offered. New initiates often found the experience nauseating, and it was not uncommon for them to arrive at their destination accompanied by floating globs of their own vomit.

Personally, Annabelle Lee had never seen what the big deal was. To her, it was no worse than any other freefall from two kilometers up. Less wind resistance, too.

Thanks to the fact that the barracks and Palace Omega were less than a kilometer from each other, the trip took less than a minute, but it was enough for Annabelle Lee to catch a glimpse of the Withering Lands' capital city.

Twilight's Crypt was, like all things in the Withering Lands, ominous in its name (perhaps overly so, in Annabelle's opinion. Oblivion certainly had a flair for the dramatic when it came to naming things) and both imposing and Spartan in construction. The buildings, with a few exceptions, varied only in their width and height. For the most part, they were towering rectangular monoliths of the same smooth, shiny black stone that just about everything was made from. Their walls fall straight for several meters before sloping out and then falling again the rest of the way, with the corners bent inward at ninety-degree angles. The windows were all rectangular as well, each one the exact same size, and dotted the building in neat rows. Stormline tubes encircled and passed through the buildings, joining the city to the massive network that connected the entire country.

Also like the Withering Lands, Twilight's Crypt's name was somewhat misleading. The country was not actually withering, and in fact was quite fertile in most places. Likewise, the city was one of immortals, and though it was literally the only place in the whole goddamned after life where people could actually die, it contained no crypts, graveyards, mausoleums, or crematoriums. Being released left no body behind, after all. To that end, "Twilight's Execution Chamber" would have probably been more accurate, if less catchy. Though it had to be admitted that when viewed from above, the buildings did have an unnerving resemblance to rows of tombstones, which may have been the name's origin.

The city itself was heavily populated, and Annabelle Lee glimpsed hundreds of her fellow Void Walkers going about their daily business in the streets below or zipping through the tubes. Unlike other major cities, there was very little in the way of advertisement. While an "entertainment" industry did exist, it was, like everything else, owned, operated, and maintained by the government. All books and films were produced by Oblivion's studios and publishers, and distributed through her official channels. Though many of her comrades intently followed the latest releases, Annabelle Lee rarely bothered. They all ended on depressing notes anyway, and she had enough misery in her life as it was. However, she did often participate in the many fight clubs that had been established for training purposes and as a way to blow off steam. Savage violence always made her feel better.

All in all, the Withering Lands was not at all a pleasant place to live, but that was the point. Void Walkers did not enter with hopes of making a permanent home, but to "leave" as quickly as possible. And while visitors weren't forbidden, per se, tourists rarely ever entered, save for political delegations and the occasional curious sight-seer, though they never stayed long.

In short, the Withering Lands was a country-sized business, one whose clientele was its own workforce. Oblivion never advertised. She didn't need to. Simply by existing, she held an ironclad monopoly on the afterlife's most valuable service. Sooner or later, almost everyone sought her out. There was a saying that had existed as long as anyone could remember: "All paths lead to Oblivion." Cynical perhaps, but no one could deny the cold truth of it.

As for Annabelle Lee, she and her sister hadn't been in the afterlife a year before joining up. A second chance was one thing. Eternity was something else. No, thank you.

Except that was what she was now facing. Eternity, stuck in a life she couldn't leave. Even if they signed the Compact and got themselves a nice seaside home in Freehaven, how long before the march of centuries made every day a tedious ordeal? If they took the wanderer's path and went to explore the vastness of the afterlife, in time they would have seen every nook and cranny. And then what? Certainly, the afterlife was constantly expanding as new girls and sometimes even new species died and were reborn, but even the new areas would all start to look the same. It was enough to drive one mad, and Nikki was there already.

Well, there was one thing Annabelle Lee resolved to do. Once she was no longer bound by the Compact's bindings, she was going to hunt Kyoko Sakura down and introduce that redheaded bitch to a world of pain. Nikki could have the mermaid. At least they had that to look forward to.

As for Palace Omega, it stood in a valley all to its own, separated from the rest of the city by a low range of hills. The ground surrounding the palace was beaten flat, paved over, and polished as smooth as a ballroom floor, though, like the nearby city, it entirely lacked ornamentation. Annabelle Lee had often wondered why the space wasn't at least filled with outlying buildings, but had never worked up the nerve to ask.

The palace itself was the only building to really have a sense of style, simple as it was. The building was composed of five huge stone squares: one in the center, and the other four fused to the corners. A huge glass dome sat in the center, and a ring of needlelike towers were set all along the perimeter. Another tower, this one taller and thicker than the others, sat directly north of the dome. Oblivion and Reibey's quarters were contained within.

Rather than connect directly to the palace's side or roof as it did with other buildings, the stormline only rose high enough to give a brief glimpse of Palace Omega and the surrounding valley before plunging straight down into one of the hills. For less than three seconds, they shot through complete darkness, with nothing but the sudden change in the feeling of rushing vertigo letting Annabelle Lee know that their path had shot down deep through the earth before sharply curving up again.

And then it was over. The six Void Walkers emerged into the light, dimmed as it was, of one of the palace's four weightless waystations, identical to the one back at the barracks. The portal dissolved, and they floated into the corridor.

Palace Omega's hallways were very similar to that of the barracks, but much emptier. While Annabelle Lee did not miss the mocking looks from her soon-to-be-former peers, the lack of contact was unnerving. Still keeping close to her sister's side, Nikki whimpered her agreement.

Though it was probably just her nerves that extended the distance in her mind, but Annabelle Lee couldn't help but suspect that their escorts were deliberately taking the long way there. But even so, as excruciatingly long as it felt, they found themselves before the massive double-doors that led to Oblivion and Reibey's tower all too soon.

It was time.

Zealand took position on one side of the door, Harlonga on the other, and with a heavy groan, the doors slowly opened wide, revealing the cavernous room beyond. Annabelle Lee took a deep breath and floated inside, followed by Ticky Nikki, Arzt, and Nie.

Reibey sat on his haunches in the room's center, his beady eyes glimmering through the shadows. The four disgraced Void Walkers stood (or hovered) in a row before him and waited.

"Ah," Reibey said, taking the time to lock eyes with each one of them in turn. "There you are. Took your own sweet time getting here, did you?"

So Zealand and Harlonga had purposefully delayed their arrival after all. Annabelle Lee's jaw tightened, but she bowed her head and said nothing.

"Hmmm, no comment? No excuses? Anyone?" Reibey shrugged. He stood up and started pacing back and forth before them. "Well, no matter. You're here, so we can get right down to business. You're all fired."

Annabelle Lee choked, and The Twins made sounds of surprise of their own. While she had expected no less, the abruptness of the announcement had taken her off guard. She had expected him to delay the final moment for as long as he could and waste time making them squirm with taunts, biting insults, and overwhelming pain.

Deliberately misinterpreting their reaction, Reibey said, "Oh, don't act so surprised. You fouled up a simple retrieval mission despite being given multiple chances, drove your quarry into the protection of the New Life Alliance, and left me with one hell of a political mess to clean up. And to top it off, you've angered Oblivion, who is none too happy with the situation. I mean, really." He padded over to Annabelle Lee and stared straight up into her downcast face.

"Did you really expect anything less?" he said, his normally high-pitched voice now lowered to a menacing level.

"No," Annabelle Lee muttered.

"And so you should not." Reibey turned and walked several meters from the group before facing them again. "Well, I suppose everything that needs to be said has been said already, and we both have things we need to do today."

That caught Annabelle Lee's attention. Wait, what things?

But rather than explain, Reibey said, "So, without further ado…"

The next thing Annabelle Lee knew, she was lying curled up on her side, gasping. Her whole body had erupted with pins and needles, and it felt like pure adrenaline was being force-fed into her through a high-pressure hose. To either side of her, the sound of moaning and small, trembling sobs told her that Nikki and The Twins were experiencing similar sensations.

Annabelle Lee lifted a shaking hand and stared at it. Before her eyes, her bone-white skin was regaining its color, with shades of pink seeping back in. Though she couldn't see it, she knew that the rest of her body was being likewise changed.

And then it was over. Annabelle Lee lay still for a moment, and then slowly straightened and floated up off the ground. To say that she felt different would be a gross understatement. In fact, she felt terrific, as if she had been suffering from a debilitating illness for years and had suddenly been cured. She was now rejuvenated, and felt younger, faster, and stronger than she had in a long, long time. For most of her life, actually.

The despair of it threatened to choke her. She was now fully banished.

"And that's that," Reibey said as the rest of Annabelle Lee's companions picked themselves off the floor. "You will all return to your quarters to gather what meager personal effects you possess. Tomorrow, the Matriarch will transport you out of the Withering Lands."

Annabelle Lee's head jerked back in surprise. The Matriarch herself was to be responsible for their departure? She had assumed that they were going to be escorted to the border and simply given the boot.

"You will be transported to Bertha's Brothel," Reibey continued. "Once there, someone will contact you and provide you with the tools and information you'll need to begin your new life."

Now things were making even less sense. Bertha's Brothel was an independent town located in the swamps just past the Withering Lands' north-western border, and possessed such a poor reputation that only the extremely unlucky or morally suspect made their homes there. Why would Reibey be sending them there? Granted, they could probably find a job with the many smuggling or piratical operations located there, but why he would go so far as arrange for someone to help them along was beyond her.

And then a possible explanation leapt to her mind: a wondrous, miraculous explanation. Annabelle Lee sucked in a sharp breath as joy sang through her body. Everything started clicking into place. She now knew who was to meet them, and exactly what they would be offering.

"Of course, though the Compact normally allows that the possibility for redemption be made available to you, the current political climate has all but made this impossible," Reibey continued. "The Alliance already has their panties twisted into knots. Again. And inducting you four back into our ranks would look highly suspect. However…" He lowered his voice. "However, should you four actually manage to make up for your errors, I'm sure Oblivion would be…grateful. Very grateful."

Annabelle Lee's mouth fell open. He hadn't actually just offered what she thought he had offered, had he?

But before she could request clarification, Reibey said, "Well, I suppose that's everything. I have things to do, and you all need to pack. So get out of my sight."

With that, he turned and trotted away, his curled tail bobbing over his head. Within moments, the shadows had swallowed him up.

Zealand and Harlonga reappeared to escort them from the room. Zealand made disparaging comments about their lovely new shade of pink, but Annabelle Lee barely heard them. She was floating on air, both on a literal and a metaphorical sense. A wide grin of genuine joy split her bony features, the first real one she had experienced in a long time.

As they made their way to the waystation, Arzt sidled over to Annabelle Lee and murmured, "Now, judging by your idiotic smile you've come to the same conclusion we have, correct? Is Lord Reibey really giving us what it sounded like he was giving us, is he?"

Still grinning, Annabelle Lee nodded. This was more than another chance. This was a golden opportunity, one that would have otherwise not been made available: the chance to skip over the decades of service they still had remaining and quietly move to the front of the line. It was just as well that Reibey had left when he did, because otherwise she would have been sorely tempted to kiss him.

Then a small hand tugged on her elbow. "Annabelly?" Nikki said, her voice dazed and yellow eyes unfocused. "What just happened?"

Right, Nikki couldn't be counted on to pick up on the hints Reibey had dropped. "Tell you when we get back," Annabelle Lee said.

"Oh, okay," Nikki murmured. Then her eyes rolled back into her skull and she collapsed.

Chapter Text

For Kyoko, most of the following morning was spent in a daze. She hadn't been able to sleep much, and the news that Momo was here, alive (or near enough. Kyoko was still working her way around the new terminology) and looking for her, pushed all other things out of her mind. She was dimly aware that she had eaten breakfast, but damned if she could remember exactly what it had been. She knew that they must have gotten into one of Mami and Charlotte's boats and taken it to Freehaven, but that was only because at one point she looked up and realized that they were walking through the warehouses that clustered around Freehaven's industrial docks.

There was someone walking with them. It was that girl from the docks, the ex-Void Walker with the horns. Vanessa? Was that her name? No, there was an "I" in it. Vinny, maybe?

"…hard to tell, with him, really" said Vinny, or whatever her name was. "Maybe he's telling the full truth, maybe it's all a lie, maybe it's a little of column A and a little of column B. But whatever it is, y'all better be extra careful. That little shithead really knows how to screw with a person."

"Believe us, we know," Charlotte said in a low growl.

Kyoko idly wondered why the dock-girl was accompanying them. She wasn't coming with them, was she? While having another pair of hands along would be useful, she would prefer it not to be one of the Freehaveners, or anyone in the Alliance for that matter. They couldn't be trusted, and as much as this person might like Mami and Charlotte and hate Reibey and Oblivion, Kyoko didn't know her, and that alone made her untrustworthy.

Suspicion reared up insider Kyoko. Just why was the dock-girl coming with them anyway? Was she a spy, sent by Corrie or another one of those Alliance tools to keep an eye on Kyoko? Or maybe she had never left Oblivion's service to begin with, and was acting as a double-agent. Would she turn traitor, and hand them over to whoever she was working for? What were her capabilities, anyway? Kyoko was confident in her abilities as a fighter, but considering what was on the line, she did not want to take any more chances than was absolutely necessary.

Kyoko glanced up from her brooding to glower at the dock-girl, only to jerk in surprise when she realized that said dock-girl was no longer with them. Not only that, they had apparently left the warehouses far behind and were passing through the houses, partway up the hill.

"Wait a minute!" Kyoko said, coming to a sudden stop. Icy fear gripped the heart she no longer had.

Mami, Charlotte, and Sayaka all came to a stop, though given that she was once again being pushed by Charlotte, Sayaka really didn't have much choice in the matter. They all turned to look at her in worry. "What's wrong?" Mami asked. "Did we forget anything?"

"Vinny," Kyoko said as she looked around wildly. "Where's Vinny?"

Charlotte's face scrunched up with confusion. "Vinny? Who's Vinny?"

"You know! The girl from the docks, the one with the horns!" Kyoko moved her hands over her head, indicating their shape.

"You mean Vickie? What about her?"

Vickie, that was right. "She was just here!" Kyoko said. "Where'd she go?"

Mami and Charlotte exchanged looks of bafflement, and Sayaka cleared her throat. "Uh, back…at the docks?" the wheelchair-bound mermaid said. "You know, where she works?"

Now Kyoko felt completely lost. "So, she's not coming with us?"

"No, not last time I checked," Charlotte said. "Why, do you want her to?"

"Kyoko, she's staying here," Mami said. "She's also watching over the Nautilus Platform while we're gone. Remember?"

Kyoko stared blankly at her. Then a light went on in her head. That was right, Mami had said something about that the night before, during their strategy session. Apparently, it was customary for Vickie to have some of her employees stay at the Nautilus Platform and care for it, as well as keep up with the kelp farming, whenever Mami and Charlotte went on an extended trip. Admittedly, most of that night was a hazy blur, but she still felt a little embarrassed over her wild assumptions.

"Oh, right," she said, recovering. She scratched the back of her head and flashed a disarming grin at them. "Sorry, I guess I was thinking about something else."

Her companions didn't look especially convinced. Sayaka fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat, clearly ill at ease. Charlotte raised an eyebrow and made a "Mmmm-hmmm," sound, whereas Mami just kept looking at Kyoko, concern written all over her face.

Crap, this wasn't good. "Hey, come on!" Kyoko said, walking briskly past them and slapping Mami and Charlotte on the shoulder. "So I made a mistake! It happens. And we've got places to be, right? So let's keep moving."

Mercifully, they did, though the unease didn't leave their faces. Well, that was fine. So long as they were moving. Letting out a heavy sigh, Kyoko let herself drift to the rear again. Man, she was really out of it. Granted, she had good reason to be, but she really needed to get her head back into the game. Now was not the time to wig out.

However, now that her memory had been jogged, something else from the previous night came back. According to Charlotte, if they were not back within a year, a time-sensitive document would be released, one that would pass ownership of the Nautilus Platform and all of its assets onto Vickie. And, if the dead look in the pink-haired witch's eyes and the flat sound of her voice when she had told them this were any indication, Charlotte already saw this as an inevitability. To her mind, they had spent their last night at the Platform.

A fresh stab of guilt jabbed at Kyoko. A couple of weeks ago, she wouldn't have cared in the slightest, provided that she got what she needed. But now, after all that had happened, her conscience had been revived and was growing ever stronger. There was a certain irony to it, considering that it had taken her death to bring it back to life.

Okay, so maybe it had started to stir a little bit before that, but the point still stood.

It'll be worth it in the end, she told herself, hoping to quell her uneasy conscience. I'll find a way to make it up to them, after we've saved Momo. To her mind, it wasn't a question of if they were going to be successful, but when and how. There simply was no other outcome; failure was a possibility she couldn't even entertain. Sure, there were plenty of hardships ahead, monsters to fight, enemies to defeat, and rules to break, but in the end, she was getting her sister back, even if she had to burn the damned place to the ground doing so.

And then everything was going to be better. They would find some place to live, if not Freehaven than somewhere else, and the five of them would be a family, a real one. One that wouldn't hold any secrets from one another, one that wouldn't be torn apart by shortsighted selfishness, one that would never leave her, never turn on each other, never die. They would make their own Heaven here, and everything would be-

"Kyoko!"

Kyoko snapped out of her longing reminiscing and saw that the others had turned onto a branching path while she had just kept going forward. Damn it, she had done it again!

"Whoops!" she said as she jogged back to them. "Sorry, took a wrong turn."

"Well, that's not incorrect," Charlotte said. "Maybe you'd better take Mami's hand until we get there."

Kyoko's eyes snapped wide open. Then they narrowed in anger, her countenance darkening. "Say what?" she demanded. "Do I look like I'm five or somethin'?"

Folding her arms over the top of Sayaka's wheelchair and leaning forward, Charlotte said, "No, you look like someone who is under an incredible amount of stress, and is so preoccupied that you can't even see where you're going."

"Hey, cut her some slack," Sayaka to the pinkette hovering over her head. "She's kinda going through a lot right now."

"I know, I just pointed that out."

Her face bright red, Kyoko opened her mouth to start yelling, only for Mami to get between them. "All right, that's enough from both of you," the blonde said. She held out an open palm to both Kyoko and Charlotte, keeping them separated. "We have problems without you two dissolving into pointless bickering."

Kyoko fumed, but she acquiesced, stepping back and unclenching her fists. Charlotte's eyes lingered on her for a moment longer, but then she glanced away.

They started moving again, Kyoko still bringing up the rear. Damn it, I did it again, she thought ruefully. Gotta snap out of it. Gotta start paying attention. Can't afford to let them think I'm losing it. Have to be aware. Have to think. Have to…

She shook her head violently. Have to stop talking to myself, because that's what's making me zone out. Okay Kyoko, focus. Wait until we're on the plane or whatever. Then you can shut down.

Kyoko forcibly snapped out of her internal monologue. Fortunately, she was still with the group this time, and they had yet to reach the top of the hill.

However, it seemed that her earlier outburst had attracted some attention. A couple of black girls, neither of them looking to be older than eight, were staring openly at her.

Kyoko stopped walking to glower at them. "What?" she snapped. "You want somethin'?"

The two girls exchanged a look, and one of them said, "You're not…drunk, are you? Because there are laws about disturbing the peace."

"Drunk? Do I look drunk to you?" Kyoko demanded. "And who are you to talk down to me, you snot-nosed little-"

A hand fell heavily on her shoulder, cutting her off. "Kyoko," Mami said, wearing her scary face. "That. Is. Enough." To the girls she said, "I'm really sorry about this. She's newly arrived, and isn't adjusting well."

The girls blinked at that, and to Kyoko's utter disgust, she saw pity wash over their faces. That was the last thing she needed, for a couple of kids to feel sorry for her. "Oh," said the other. "We…understand." Then she did something worse. Smiling a comforting smile, she reached over to pat Kyoko's hand. "Don't worry, dear. It's hard, I know, but it does get better."

Kyoko blinked. She might have started yelling and cursing then, but Mami apparently anticipated her reaction and literally dragged her away before she could explode.

"Kyoko, please control yourself," she murmured. "If you cannot even make it out of Freehaven without losing your temper, how do you expect to make the rest of the trip?"

"Get off of me," Kyoko snarled. She wrenched her shoulder out of Mami's grasp. "And like I need to be talked down to by a couple of dumb kids. You'd be pissed too!"

"Those 'kids' are old enough to be your great-great-great-grandmothers," Charlotte said. "And they've been through a fair amount themselves. Plus, Mami's right. Making a scene will just make things worse for us. If you want, we can arrange for you to have some time alone with a Reibey doll and those spears of yours once we get to Cloudbreak. They have places where you can do that. But keep yourself under control until then, okay?"

Before Kyoko could snap back, Mami stepped in. "Save your anger for whom it is due, Kyoko. We are not your enemies."

Instinct told her to turn her verbal aggression toward Mami, but reason managed to assert itself enough to remind her exactly how much Mami and Charlotte were giving up for her sake. That was enough to for her guilt to return, snuffing out her anger in the process.

Her face turned red, and she looked away. "Right," she mumbled as she took a couple steps back. "Sorry." She awkwardly scratched the back of her neck and muttered, "Maybe I could use a little guidance." She held out her hand.

Mami looked thoughtful. Then she put her arm around Kyoko's shoulder, which made Kyoko feel relieved. Okay, this was an acceptable compromise.

The rest of the walk up was spent in silence. Sayaka especially seemed to be in a sour mood, one that Kyoko noticed even through the haze of her own emotions. The wheelchair-bound mermaid was far from her usual cheerful, teasing self. She sat quietly in her seat, barely reacting when her friends had almost come to blows. Maybe she was just tired; after all, she had also gotten very little sleep, as she had spent most of the night trying to cheer up Kyoko, an effort that was appreciated but rather unsuccessful.

However, if Kyoko were to place a bet, her money would be on Sayaka being disgruntled that she couldn't come along. Kyoko empathized; she would have been pissed off too. Unfortunately, they would be traveling over some very rough terrain, and Sayaka's tail meant that there was no way they could take her along. Some friends of Mami and Charlotte, the Nautilus Platform's original owners, had agreed to look after her, and would be meeting them at Cloudbreak in a couple days to pick her up. Charlotte had said that they didn't know exactly what was being planned, but were smart and loyal enough to not ask questions, which in turn would protect them should the plan go sour.

While Kyoko certainly understood why Sayaka was upset, she didn't know what to do about it. She was pretty lousy at offering words of comfort; helping people confront hard truths were more her thing, something she grudgingly admitted that she shared with Charlotte. And given her own current mental state, she probably shouldn't be trying to encourage anybody. It still rankled her though. She hated being helpless, and knew that Sayaka did too.

But then, as they finally reached the top of the hill and got their first look of the other side, all of Kyoko's dark thoughts were driven from her mind when she beheld the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

The slope on the other end was far gentler, and extended for a fair distance before evening out completely. On it was a complex that looked very much like an airport, though obviously not intended for planes. It was rectangular, with square, three-story building with blue windows at each corner. A thin tower topped by a blinking sphere reached out from each building. In the center of the complex was a grid of square landing pads, each of them glowing red, green, or blue. As Kyoko watched, the grids switched from one color to the next, and the activity of the people within changed accordingly.

However, it wasn't the skyport that attracted Kyoko's attention, but the aircraft. These were no airplanes or helicopters. They were long and serpentine, with segmented bodies made from gleaming precious metals and studded with gems. Just behind their triangular heads extended two bow-shaped arms, from which stretched a shimmering white membrane made from pure energy, all the way to the second-to-last link of their tails. They flowed gracefully through the air, gliding along on their wings, until they reached the skyport. From there, their wings would wink out of existence, the arms would retract, and they would gently corkscrew downward until they came to rest on a blue pad.

Dragons, Kyoko thought numbly. There are actually dragons here. I'm going to ride a dragon.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Mami said. "They were created from technology hybridized from four different species, and fortified with enchantments. We call them elysians."

That broke Kyoko from her stupor. "Wait, not dragons?" she said in disappointment.

"Eh, they're close enough if you ask me," Charlotte answered with a shrug. "You're not the first person to make the comparison."

Kyoko's disappointment dried up, and she nodded. Close enough indeed. "So, the whole thing is enchanted?" She thought back to the small items she had enchanted herself in her time, for one reason or another. Each time, their composition had changed into gold or silver, and had become adorned with jewels, much like the elysians were. However, doing so came with a magical price, and was never permanent. "Isn't enchanting something that big kind of…hard? I mean, your boats are all normal."

"It is," Mami said. "But they can afford to keep those skilled in magic employed just to keep the enchantments refreshed. And there's really no point in keeping our boats enchanted. If we need them enhanced, we can do it ourselves on the spot."

Indeed, after an elysian had come to rest and its passengers had disembarked, Kyoko watched several people scampering over its hull. There was the occasional flash of light as they repaired one enchantment or another.

Neat.

"Wait, so we're going to ride one of those things?" Sayaka said suddenly. Unlike Kyoko, she didn't seem all that enthused about the prospect. Her face was now pale, and she was tightly gripping her armrests.

"Well, yeah," Charlotte told her. "Unlike that Void Walker friend of yours, we can't fly without help."

Sayaka stared as an elysian spiraled into the air, sprouted a pair of wings, and soared on its way. She swallowed loudly. "Uh…yeah. Hey, what say we go by a different way? Like a boat!"

Charlotte gave her a look. "So…you want us to take a boat…to a city…that's in the sky?"

"Well, we could go part of the way," Sayaka said weakly. "Like, to right under it, and go the rest of the way on one of those elitist-"

"Elysian."

"Right, those things."

Charlotte shook her head. "Wouldn't work. For one, Cloudbreak's currently over a landlocked territory. For another, it would take us way too long."

"What's wrong, Blue Tuna?" Kyoko smirked. "Afraid of flying?"

Sayaka scowled at her. "I'm a fish!" she declared, slapping her scaly thigh. "Fish weren't meant to fly! It isn't natural!"

Charlotte let out a bark of laugher, but, upon seeing the look Mami was giving her, quickly covered it up by coughing. Kyoko didn't bother hiding her own snickers.

"Yeah, uh, if it's 'natural' you want, you're really in the wrong place," she said. "Besides, fish fly. There's flying fish."

"Oh, very funny," Sayaka snapped. "Look, my personal memory may be gone, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna believe every crap story you make up about the world of the living."

A blanket of awkwardness descended on the group, during which Charlotte and Mami exchanged looks of discomfort. Kyoko, however, just cracked up.

Then Mami cleared her throat and said, "Ah, Oktavia? She's telling the truth."

Another silence followed, and then Sayaka slowly turned her head to stare at the blonde. "What," she said in a flat tone.

"There really are…were…are flying fish," Mami clarified. She spread her arms. "They have specialized fins that allow them to glide through the air after leaping out of the water. In fact, they looked a lot like those elysians."

"Seriously, you've never heard of flying fish before?" Kyoko chuckled. "Come on, that's just sad." Then something occurred to her. "Hey, we got flying fish here?"

"Not that I've heard," Mami said. "At least, not of the Earth variety."

"Bummer." Kyoko shrugged. "Ah, whatever. Come on, we've got a flight to catch!"

With that, she eagerly bolted down the hill toward the skyport. Despite everything that had happened, a silver lining had just appeared. This place may not have dragons, but they had the next best thing.

…

Annabelle Lee hovered alone in the small cell she had shared with her sister for the past fifty-three years, staring at herself in a smudged, cracked mirror.

The scanty outfit she had worn as her uniform had been discarded. Replacing it was a much more modest plain white cotton t-shirt and a leather flight jacket. The headdress was also gone, letting her hair fall freely. The only part that remained was the long, black skirt. Given her unique physiology, it only made sense, as any form of pants were straight out and she absolutely refused to wear anything resembling a diaper.

Annabelle Lee took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She reached up with one finger and tapped the glass. She was not at all pretty, she certainly wasn't beautiful; she wasn't even attractive. Her body was far too thin, her limbs stick-like, and her joints knobby. She had no breasts to speak of, her face and neck were far too long, and her nose protruded to the point where comparisons to certain fictional witches were not uncommon. But that was fine. There wasn't much to be admired about her anyway, so it was only fitting that her appearance reflect this.

If there was one claim to beauty in her possession, it was her hair. Long and lustrous, it flowed nearly to her hips in natural waves, and was the same brilliant amethyst as her eyes. Normally she kept it covered so it wouldn't get in the way, but now that it had been exposed, she found herself studying it in full. It was very lovely, she had to admit, almost as if it had been intended for someone else but ended up on her head by mistake.

Her wrist-blades sat on the rough wooden dresser before her. Seizing one up, she slashed away at her hair until it hung unevenly, reaching just past her ears. Then she cut a strip of black cloth from her abandoned headdress and tied it tight around her brow, drawing her hair up into a rather punkish style. After a moment of examination, she nodded in satisfaction. There; now at least everything matched.

Then the door swung open, and Annabelle Lee's breath caught in her throat. Then she relaxed when Nikki ran into the room.

In comparison to her sister, Ticky Nikki was very pretty; with a softly plump body, adorable chipmunk cheeks, and curly blonde hair that bobbed when she walked. It was easy to imagine that she would have become a real stunner had she been allowed to mature fully. Given that they looked absolutely nothing alike, Annabelle Lee often wondered if they were really related; after all, she had naught but Nikki's word that they were sisters, and the trustworthiness of anything Nikki said was tentative at best. But in the end, it really didn't matter if they were blood-related or not. Genetics didn't hold much value in the afterlife; in the Withering Lands even less so. They were the Tick-Tock Sisters, and that was that.

Of course, as cute as Nikki was, any attractiveness tended to end the moment she let out one of her mad cackles and exposed her crumbling tombstone teeth with a sadistic smile. Despite being over fifty years old, Nikki's personality had not matured in the slightest; if anything, she was now even more childish than she had been when they first had joined the Void Walkers, and considerably more deranged. All those patrols through Genocide City and the other spawn sites were probably to blame. Those places had a bad energy.

But then again, the reason that had caused the two of them to seek out the Void Walkers in the first place also had to be largely to blame. The shadow of that week still loomed large. Annabelle Lee fought the shiver she felt forming at the dark memory.

"Ready to go?" Nikki asked as she skidded to a stop. "Scary Matrarichy lady is gonna-" She cut herself off in midsentence and goggled at her sister. "You cut your hair!"

Annabelle Lee shrugged. "So I did."

"But your hair was so pretty! Why'd you do it?"

"If you think real hard, you'll find that you've just answered your own question." Annabelle Lee looked Ticky Nikki up and down and frowned her disapproval. "You're not seriously going out dressed like that, are you?"

To complement her deceptively childlike appearance, Nikki's new outfit was, well, cute. She now wore a knee-length pink skirt, a white-and-yellow striped blouse, white stockings, and a pink jacket. She even had a couple of pink hair ties, decorated with tiny plastic flowers.

Nikki looked down at herself. "What's wrong with it?"

"You look like a pedophile's wet-dream, that's what. All you need is a big red backpack and you'll be ready to go skipping off to the elementary playground."

Nikki grinned her horrid grin. "Silly Annabelly, there's no playground here!"

"No shit, there fucking isn't. And don't call me Annabelly." Annabelle Lee shrugged. "Well, fine. If you wanna go out like that, don't let me stop you. But I think you're gonna regret it, pretty soon."

"Huh?" Nikki said in confusion. "Why?"

Instead of answering, Annabelle Lee just grinned wolfishly, leaving Nikki to fidget.

Nikki went to work packing up what meager possessions she had; Annabelle Lee's were already put away in a small shoulder-strap bag. They had never owned much anyway, as they had never planned on staying.

Then the door again swung open as someone expected and, for the first time, actually welcome arrived. The huge, robe-shrouded form of Harlonga loomed in the doorway, while Zealand bobbed over her shoulder like a ghostly familiar. Under normal circumstances, having those two show up at anyone's door was met with plunging stomachs, stammered pleas, and evacuated bowels. But today, Annabelle Lee could not be happier to see those two monsters. It meant the beginning of the end of her imprisonment.

Though neither Harlonga nor Zealand possessed faces, Annabelle Lee could sense the sneers they were sending the Tick-Tock Sisters. But before either of them could open things up with one of their customary disparaging remarks, she slipped her wrist-blades on, adjusted her shoulder strap and said, "Ah, good timing. Shall we be off?"

Harlonga reared up in surprise while Zealand's luminescence dimmed dangerously, the calliope's version of a frown.

"Well, someone's eager to be thrown out like the trash she is," Zealand chimed. "Looking forward to returning to your natural habitat, are we?"

Annabelle Lee favored the pale calliope with a malicious smirk. "Absolutely. Any place that's not here is automatically a step up."

"Annabelly, no," Nikki whimpered as she hid herself behind her sister's skirt.

Zealand dimmed even further. She started to move forward, but Harlonga raised one of her disturbingly long arms. A couple dozen thin, inky appendages with far too many joints emerged from its folds to touch the surface of Zealand's body.

"Peazzzze, Zzzzzealand," Harlonga buzzed. Then she turned her faceless countenance toward the Tick-Tock Sisters. "Mind yourrrr tongue, zzzzzcum. The Mazzzzzzter only zzzzzzaid we were to ezzzzzzcort youzzz to the palazzzzzz. He zzzzzzaid nozzzzzing regarding yourrrr condizzzzion."

Which was an excellent point, making Annabelle Lee regret her flippancy. Upsetting one of the Elite Guards was foolish, upsetting a dockengaut was idiotic, and upsetting Harlonga was unquestionably insane, even when judged by previous standards. Zealand may be the more inclined to petty cruelty, but Harlonga's wrath, when roused, was the stuff of nightmares. Reibey knew this, and was not above using her as a method of motivation when he felt one of his servitors wasn't pulling her weight. Annabelle Lee had seen the results, and had no desire to become a cautionary tale.

Bowing her eyes, she cleared her throat and said, "You're right. I apologize. No offense intended."

Angry sparks crackled over Zealand's body. "If you think this pathetic, cowardly retreat is going to spare you our-"

"Enouvvvvfff," Harlonga warned. She pushed Zealand back and commanded, "Come wizzz uzzzzzz."

Again Annabelle Lee and Ticky Nikki were led through the barracks and toward the stormlines. Again they were followed by contemptuous stares and mocking whispers. This time though they simply washed right off her, and it was all she could do not to return the sneers they were receiving.

That's right, ladies, she though smugly. We'll be gone within the year, while you'll remain stuck in Hell. So laugh it up while you can. She spared a couple of quick glances to Zealand and Harlonga and had to resist the urge to smirk. And you two will just keep on delivering Reibey's mail and intimidating little rookies until he gets tired of you. Good thing you love your job, because you'll be doing it for a long, long time.

Despite her feelings of devotion toward Oblivion and her guarded respect for Reibey, Annabelle Lee had no illusions about how they felt about her. She was nothing to them, a disposable resource, to be cast aside once she had served her purpose. It was just her good fortune that being disposed of was exactly what she wanted, and as cruel as Reibey's punishments could be, she knew he bore her no personal malice; again, she was nothing to him, and it was one and the same to him if she and her sister were to be released or not. And that most certainly worked in their favor.

Once again, they entered the stormlines and were whisked away to Palace Omega. And once again, they were led through the halls. This time, however, instead of being taken to Oblivion's citadel, their escorts took them to a small side room, furnished only with a long, featureless table made from the same stone as the building, surrounded by uncomfortable looking chairs.

Like yesterday, they weren't the first ones there. The Twins stood hand-in-hand in the far corner, and to Annabelle Lee's astonishment, that was as far as their physical contact was going. Apparently, being within Palace Omega where Reibey could watch them was enough to dampen even their libidos.

Unlike the Tick-Tock Sisters, The Twins had elected to remain dressed in their customary short skirts; stripy stocking; corsets; and pointy, wide-brimmed hats. The only change Annabelle Lee could see, save for the added color to their skin, was that they had washed out the dye in their hair, returning the color to bright yellow.

As Annabelle Lee and Ticky Nikki entered, The Twins looked up from their hushed conversation. When they saw who had arrived, identical scowls formed on their identical faces.

"Ah, good morning, Annabelle Lee," Arzt said. "I see you've traded in your barbarian nun look for…what would you call that?"

"Biker-dyke chic," Nie murmured.

"Exactly so." Arzt looked Annabelle Lee over and nodded. "Well, the more of your hideous body covered, the better. I approve."

"Thank you," Annabelle Lee said icily. "And I see your sticking with the pseudo-Victorian prostitute look. It's very you. I approve."

The scowls on The Twins' faces darkened, and Annabelle Lee knew she had scored a hit; not by coming back with a more biting retort, but simply because Nie and Arzt's egos were more easily bruised than hers.

"Given that we're all about to spend a great deal of time together, I'd watch myself if I were you, Annabelle Lee," Nie warned. "Though given what you'd have to look at, I can't fault you for not wanting to."

Annabelle Lee rolled her eyes. Why did they keep attacking her appearance? That was like insulting a career chef for being a poor accountant. She was about to fire back, but then Arzt interrupted their insult contest with a squeal of delight.

"Oh my God!" she cried, releasing her lover's hand and pressing both palms against her own cheeks. Her golden eyes were now focused on Ticky Nikki, who was tentatively peeking out from behind Annabelle Lee's skirt. "Look, Nie! She's adorable!"

Nie looked. She saw. And she joined in the squealing.

A moment later, both of them were rushing forward, arms outstretched and grasping. Nikki stiffened, her face losing its newly regained color as her eyes took on the look of a hapless animal about to be bowled over by an oncoming train.

Fortunately for her, The Twins found themselves halted by two pairs of sharp blades digging into the flesh of their throats.

"No," Annabelle Lee growled. "Back off. Now."

Nie let out a low hiss. "You wouldn't dare. Not here."

"I'm banished already, ladies. I mean it. Leave her alone."

Despite the sharp points ready to lay their necks open, The Twins looked like they were about to press the matter anyway. After all, they had Annabelle Lee outnumbered. But then a knife appeared in Ticky Nikki's hands. She bared her teeth and snarled.

Sighing, The Twins withdrew. "Such a shame," Nie murmured as her hand found Arzt's. "We really must see to her reeducation."

"Oh, most definitely."

Annabelle Lee shook her head. She looked down at Nikki, who was bristling like a threatened cat. "Told'ja so."

"Do we really gotta go with them?" Nikki whined.

"'Fraid so, short stuff. But hey, if they ever bother you, you have my full permission to poke them full of holes."

"All exiled failures accounted for," remarked the Matriarch. "Is everyone prepared to depart?"

"Yeah, I think so," Annabelle Lee, casting one last venomous glare The Twins' way. "We're just about-" Then the Matriarch's sudden and unannounced arrival finally registered, and she went stiff. "Holy shit," she whispered.

The Twins and Ticky Nikki had similar reactions. All four of them warily turned to face the Matriarch, who was now standing (hovering? It was hard to tell) at the head of the table.

The Matriarch surveyed the dumbstruck ex-Void Walkers with her covered eyes. "You will all be transported momentarily," she said at last. "Do you remember your instructions?"

A heavy silence descended upon the group, one that made the back of Annabelle Lee's ears itch. After a moment, she realized that everyone was staring at her. Right, she was technically the leader, after all.

Moving forward, she cleared her throat and said, "Uh, yeah. You're, uh, taking us to, to Bertha's Brothel. And once there, someone will, uh, someone will meet us and…give us…further instructions, I guess."

"Correct," the Matriarch said. With that, she moved away from the table and spread her arms. The floor before her warped and twisted, spiraling down into a vortex, the stone moving as fluidly as water.

"Now," she said to the condemned. "Who would like to go first?"

…

The interior of the elysian was almost as cool as the outer hull. The floor was carpeted with soft blue velvet, with several rows of rectangles embroidered in with gold thread. The walls curved gently upward and seemed to have been molded from liquid gold. The ceiling had actual chandeliers, ones shaped like spinning tops, with glowing diamonds on their bottom, large sapphires on their sides, and tiny rainbow gems along their circumferences. Along the walls were round windows with a slight turquoise hue.

Kyoko took one look at the splendor, grinned, and asked, "So, where's the slot machines?"

One of the other passengers, a short girl with spiky brown hair, overheard her and snorted. "I think they go for Blackjack here," she said.

"That's it?" Kyoko shook her head. "What'd they do, blow their money on the glitz? Lame." She looked again and noticed something else amiss, this time for real. The cabin seemed to be lacking seats. "Wait," she said. "Where's the-"

Then she noticed the other passengers heading toward the golden rectangles and intuition struck. "Oh, wait," she said, pointing. "The seats come out of those, don't they?"

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "Hey, you're catching on." Indeed, as they spoke, every time someone entered a rectangle, the ground within would glow a soft blue, and shimmering energy of the same color would then rise up and form into the shape of a chair that was part airline seat, part throne. Once complete, the simulacrum would then solidify and become real, allowing the passenger to sit comfortably.

But chairs weren't all that were formed. The rectangles seemed to recognize the species of the passengers they were serving, and react accordingly. There was a scattering of ai'jurrik'kai, and instead of seats, they got a sort of overhanging apparatus that allowed them to grip on with all nine hands. There was also a couple of those midget yeti, those jotts, and for them, the energy became squat little igloos that they simply climbed inside of and curled up.

Now that, Kyoko decided, was quality customer service.

Selecting one of the rectangles near a window, Kyoko let her seat form and plopped back with her arms behind her head. Mami sat next to her, Charlotte took the next one over, and Sayaka's wheelchair was rolled into the rectangle bordering the aisle. In her case, the wheelchair itself was changed, becoming a stationary seat like the others, only with extra support for her tail. Despite this, she still looked dissatisfied.

"What's up with you?" Kyoko called over to her. "Expecting an aquarium?"

"Kind of, yeah," Sayaka muttered. Now that they were actually in the elysian, she was even more unhappy. "And just we're clear, this thing does have proper safety…thingies, right?"

"What do you care?" Kyoko said before Mami or Charlotte could answer. "We can't die!"

"Crashing still hurts, doofus!" Sayaka shot back. "Do you like pain? Because I don't!"

"It's okay," Charlotte said, patting her hand. "There are plenty of safety systems and enchantments. We're perfectly safe."

"Yeah, and what happened to Miss Super-Knight anyway?" Kyoko said. "Come on, don't tell me that the girl who fought off every beating I gave her and still tried to kick my ass is scared of a little…" It was then that she saw the dark glares Sayaka and Charlotte were sending her way and came to the conclusion that continuing that thought was probably not in her best interests. "…ah, okay then."

She quickly cleared her throat and looked away. In the uproar finding about Momo had caused, Sayaka's "special condition" had been nearly forgotten. It was understandable, all things considered. But now that she had accidentally stumbled upon it again, maybe it was time to start trying to figure out that little problem.

Except the problem with that was that she wasn't sure where to begin, and part of her doubted that anything she came up with would do any good. She thought of Marisa, and what she had said about Kyoko being far from the first to have reservations about the Alliance. No doubt the same principle was at work here. There had to have been hundreds of people who wanted to find the secret for turning witches back to their former selves; hell, there probably were entire research facilities devoted to the problem. And given how much slower time flowed here with nobody dying, they'd already had plenty of time to find a solution. And yet, there still was no viable solution. How could she hope to succeed where everyone else had failed?

Still, it was possible. Some girls had come back. Charlotte had told her so. There was a way; she just had to find it.

Then she heard a chime, and a melodic voice said, "Thank you for choosing to fly with Elysium Skylines."

"Like we had any alternative," muttered the girl sitting in front of Kyoko. "Friggin' monopolies."

"Oooooh, dooooon't yooouuuu staaaaaart," said the ai'jurrik'kai hanging suspended next to her, its voice a thin whistle.

"This is your captain speaking. Looks like we've got the all clear from the tower, and are ready to depart. Just a reminder, should you require a stewardess, simply slide the pink gem, located on your right armrest for humans, topmost grip for ai'jurrik'kai, and directly above the entrance to your dome for jotts. Furthermore, bathrooms are accessible by sliding the blue gem right next to it."

Kyoko supposed that there wasn't any non-Alliance species aboard that day. She lifted her hand and saw the gems in question. Okay, pink one called a stewardess. That sounded pretty standard. But the blue one took her to the bathroom? How did that make any sense? Couldn't she just get up and walk?

Her curiosity got the better of her, and she placed her finger on the blue stone and pushed up.

Then she let out a squeak of surprise as her seat sank into the ground, taking her with it. The next thing she knew, she was in a tiny room, smaller than a closet, staring at a circular mirror with a gem-studded frame. Directly beneath it was an ivory sink with a golden faucet. A small bar of pale lavender soap sat in a small tray next to a silver hand-sanitizer dispenser, and a toothbrush hung on a tiny hook on the wall. Around her, the captain kept talking through unseen speakers, but Kyoko wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention.

As Kyoko gaped at this unexpected development, her cushioned seat irised open beneath her bottom, making a hole. It took a moment for her to comprehend what had just happened, but when she did, it took nearly a full minute for her to stop laughing.

When she managed to regain control, she grinned, flipped off a salute to her reflection, and flicked the blue gem back down. The hole closed up, and her seat rose back up into the passenger cabin.

"I have my own private bathroom," she told Mami.

The blonde looked amused. "It's nice, isn't it?"

"I'll say. And it's fancier than some of the hotels I've broken into."

"Somehow, this doesn't surprise me in the slightest," she heard Charlotte mutter, only for Sayaka to punch her in the arm and whisper, "Knock it off."

Ignoring this, Kyoko said to Mami, "But talk about a culture shift. I know enchantments are tough to maintain and all, but Freehaven could use a little of this!"

"If you want enchantments doing everything for you, go live in Arcania," Charlotte said, folding her arms over her chest. "We prefer to do things for ourselves."

Mami tensed, clearly expecting another spat, but her fears were unwarranted. "Eh, I can get behind that," Kyoko said, slouching back into her chair. "Still, a little first class is nice every now and then."

Then she glanced out the window and saw, to her surprise, that they were already spiraling into the sky. Wow, she hadn't even felt them take off. Kyoko straightened up and stared in fascination as the elysian made its graceful loops higher and higher. Then it straightened out soared on.

Kyoko was transfixed. She had never flown in a plane before. Certainly, her daily patrols as a Puella Magi had allowed her to see the world from great heights, but she had always been focused on others things. To be able to just watch the landscape pass underneath was rather nice. Pity that the cabin had such perfect control over its internal atmosphere. A little vertigo would have been nice.

Then she heard the sound of hydraulics. She looked away from the window just in time to see Sayaka's chair descend into the ground.

Her brow rising, she said, "So, I guess she had to go?"

"Nature calls to us all," Mami said.

"Uh-huh. And, ah, they do know that her, ah, anatomy has…special needs, right?"

"Yes. The enchantments will make the necessary adjustments."

Kyoko tried to imagine what a mermaid-friendly private bathroom would look like. All of the images conjured up by her imagination looked really unpleasant, but she supposed that the enchantments would figure things out. She looked at the ai'jurrik'kai hanging in front of her and wondered what passed for a bathroom for her species. That was probably why Elysium Skylines relied so heavily on enchantments; trying to figure out accommodations for so many different species would swiftly become a royal headache.

And suddenly, Sayaka reappeared. What was more, she was sopping wet.

Kyoko, Mami, and Charlotte all turned to stare questioningly at the soaked blunette, who, for her part, looked as happy as a clam. Then the air around her shimmered as if hot, leaving her perfectly dry.

Sayaka turned to grin at her friends. "Found my aquarium," she said.

…

If there was one thing that everyone, Puella Magi and witch alike, could agree upon concerning the afterlife that they now shared, it was that the geography was certainly interesting. Twelve sentient species were represented and settled in, and each and every one of them had brought a piece of their homeworld with them, and as soon as more of the newly arrived Savians started to take root, a thirteenth would be added to the mix. A newly arrived human could be walking through a normal looking pine forest one moment, only to turn a corner and find themselves in the homeworld of the ai'jurrik'kai, surrounded by impossibly tall spires of dark glass jabbing at a sky filled with dirty brown clouds. The endless expanse of brilliantly colored clouds and gigantic tumbling crystals of the calliopes' homeworld sat side-by-side with the black jungles, maroon plains, and silver deserts of the kotoss intendrent and the viridian oceans, puffball forests, and salt-storms belonging to the vaskergoros. And in some areas, there was a fair degree of overlap, as neither animals nor plants are known respecters of boundaries, leading to a fair amount of cross-breeding and fertilization. The results have been of great interest to scientific communities and freakshows alike.

Other areas were notable for wholly different reasons. Those who are unable to bear the traumas suffered in their past lives and/or the weight of their unasked-for immortality often went mad, and the ones who couldn't or refused to be helped tended to be driven out of civilization to wander the wild paths. And as the land molded itself in accordance with the baseline subconscious of the locals, places with a high concentration of these madwomen seemed to go mad themselves, with the worst of them being nearly indistinguishable from witch's labyrinths.

And then there were the actual witch's labyrinths. Most of the time, mad witches simply went feral and wandered alone or in packs, attacking anyone foolish enough to enter their territory. However, some descended back into to the dark depths of their own physiology, and returned to being the twisted monsters they had become in the last few days of their earthly lives. Full witches were rare, yes, and it was true that they were easily dealt with when they popped up in more civilized places. But the ones who came into being in the wilder areas were far tougher to root out, and there were plenty that stuck around for a good long time, ruling their labyrinths like the nightmare queens that they were.

Which wasn't to say that the whole of the afterlife was a waking nightmare. In fact, the fair majority of it was quite pleasant, as its more determined denizens managed to cooperate and force civilization on the suggestible landscape. There were many territories with their own established forms of government, thriving cities, and various peace treaties and trade agreements with their neighbors. But even so, the land was still stitched together from the subconscious minds of magically enhanced and spiritually traumatized adolescent females of twelve extremely different species from all parts of the universe, which made for a great deal of strangeness.

But even so, despite the incredible variety of climates, regions, landscapes, flora, and fauna, nobody was willing to claim credit for the Fezzinigo Swamplands.

Oh, it was certainly a swamp, and an impressive one at that; nobody was going to deny this. The trees were appropriately thick and gnarled, with their canopy blocking out the sunlight; there were foul bogs aplenty, filled with all sorts of interesting beasts; the flowers were quite exotic, and did interesting things to those who got too close; and there seemed to be more hungry insects per square kilometer than grains of sand.

But while it was definitely a swamp, no one was quite sure whose swamp it was. The plants didn't seem to match those found on any of the planets, and while there were a fair number of identifiable animals, there were also several species unique to Fezzinigo, including some very aggressive rodents that grew to unusual sizes. Plus, the swamp had its fair share of nasty quirks that weren't found anywhere else. The gasses produced by years of rotting plants and carcasses combined with high levels of sulfur had a tendency to produce bursts of flame that would erupt out of the ground. While these bursts were preceded by a distinct popping noise that made them fairly easy to avoid, there still were a number of unwary travelers that had been set alight. Also, the soil was of an unusual composition in places, taking on a consistency similar to powder snow. Like quicksand, it would gobble up the unaware, but did so in a flash, as a single misstep would cause the unlucky fool to be swallowed up in the blink of an eye.

Popular theory held that the Fezzinigo Swamplands were a hybrid, born from the swamps of several different worlds. And concrete fact held that the Fezzinigo Swamplands were extremely dangerous. But even so, they were not uninhabited. There were several small camps, fortresses, and towns that had managed to hold their ground against the beasts and the elements, the residents of which were renowned for their strength of will, prowess in combat, and highly suspect moral quality.

The largest of these settlements was Bertha's Brothel. Located on the northern border, where one of the bog's many foul rivers emptied into the Auburn Sea, Bertha's Brothel was notable for its extremely large seaport, its ties to various criminal empires from other territories, and for being the home of the Brothel, from which it took its name. "Order," as it was, was enforced primarily by the Madam, who was indisputably Fezzinigo's most powerful figure, and her rules could be summarized as such: "Don't fuck with me and my people, and watch out who you screw with, because you'll probably get screwed right back." This made Bertha's Brothel a natural haven for mercenaries, smugglers, pirates, and their ilk. And thanks to its close proximity with the Withering Lands, many of its more powerful cartels had standing business agreements with Reibey, and the Madam herself was said to be a personal confidante of his. The Void Walkers even had their own embassy housed there.

However, that was not where the Matriarch deposited Annabelle Lee and her companions. Rather, they found themselves standing in the fog-shrouded docks, surrounded by rusty shipping containers. This didn't surprise Annabelle Lee in the slightest. After all, their mission wasn't exactly official.

Upon emerging from the Matriarch's vortex, she looked around at filthy metal crates, the soggy and poorly maintained docks, the heaps of trash and leaky barrels, and found herself liking the place already. Sure, it was a shithole, filled all sorts of scum, but at least it made no pretenses. Its ugliness was out there on full display, and it laughed at anyone who dared to criticize it.

And then she took her first breath of the fog and started coughing. Ugh, the air here was foul. It was thick, cloying, and seemed to stick to her throat. Which made sense, given that it was on the edge of a bloody swamp, but that didn't make breathing it any easier.

Judging by the hacks and wheezes coming from The Twins, it was clear that they agreed. "Oh, my God," Nie gagged. "Haven't these people heard of air purification?"

"They probably tried it once, only for it to run away screaming," Nie replied as she covered her nose.

Out of all of them, Ticky Nikki seemed to be the least affected by the stench. She cocked her head to one side, sniffed the air in catlike fashion, and wrinkled her nose. "It smells like dead farts here," she announced.

"Well, when you're right, you're right," Annabelle Lee said. She waved a hand in front of her nose. She hoped that their contact would arrive soon. Spending any amount of time surrounded by this horrible smell was not something any of them fancied.

But then she was struck by a troubling thought. What if there was no contact? What if this was Reibey's twisted idea of punishment? Just drop them off in the bad part of a bad town and instruct them to wait for someone who was never going to arrive? If that was the case, then they risked being targeted by thieves, rowdy thugs, or worse. It was not unheard of for the unwary to find themselves caught by slavers and sold as meat-slaves to dockengauts. Immortality or no, Annabelle Lee's tolerance for pain was not especially high, and that was a fate she wished to avoid.

Clearing her throat, Annabelle Lee said, "Um, hello?" Her eyes darted back and forth, looking for any kind of response. "Is…anyone here? Hello?"

The only sound was the low babble of voices of the town's residents, the cry of seafowl, and the distant bell of a buoy, all coming out of the fog.

"Well, that accomplished nothing," Arzt observed.

"Maybe we got dropped in the wrong place?" Nie suggested.

Nervous sweat prickled on Annabelle's skin. "Hello? Hey! There was supposed to be someone here! Can you hear us? We were sent-"

And then she felt four sharp points dig into her back, piercing even through the tough leather of her jacket. "Shut up, stupid girl," hissed a strangely familiar voice. "Didn't they tell you anything? 'Shut mouths bring no harm, but loose lips light the way for a multitude of trouble.' That's the fourth rule of survival here at Bertha's Brothel! Stupid, stupid girl!"

Annabelle Lee froze. She tried to look over her shoulder to see who it was that was threatening her, but the angle was all wrong. She could see The Twins though. Judging from the looks on their faces, they could see this new person just fine, and were not planning on intervening on her behalf any time soon.

"Okay, gotcha," she said, carefully arching her back away from the blades' points. "And, uh, you would be-" Then she caught sight of the look on Nikki's face and felt a sudden rush of fear. "No, wait, Nikki! Don't!"

Too late. The moment her sister was threatened, Ticky Nikki's instincts had taken over. Letting out a low, predatory growl, she immediately bolted forward, her previously empty hands now clutching a pair of wickedly sharp knives.

The blades pressing against Annabelle Lee's back disappeared, but before she could feel relief, a new problem presented itself. Nikki had been snatched off the ground and was held up by the neck, courtesy of a blue-sleeved arm.

The arm's owner was eccentric, to say the least. She was Asian, like The Twins, with long dark hair that needed washing and pale-yellow eyes. Her outfit was…well, the first word that came to Annabelle Lee's mind was "foppish." She wore a frilly white shirt under a peacock coat, one with coattails of all things. Her pants were of the same color and so tight that it was a wonder she could move around in them comfortably. A green ribbon was tied into a messy bowtie around her neck, and a top hat sat on her head, to which was pinned what looked like a plushie eyeball.

That was interesting enough, but of greater concern to Annabelle Lee was the fact that long, sharp metal claws were fixed to each of the fingers on the girl's right hand, and these claws were now pressing against Nikki's front, ready to tear her open.

…

Kyoko wanted an elysian. She didn't know how she was going to get one. She didn't know how she was going to maintain the enchantments if she got one. She didn't know if private ownership was even allowed. She just knew that she wanted one.

And honestly, who could blame her? Not only were they flying golden mechanical dragons made from alien technology, not only did they provide her with a sweetass chair and her own private bathroom, but wonders of wonders, the food didn't suck. In fact, it was actually pretty damned good. From what she had been told about airlines, this was a rarity.

Kyoko bit down into her hamburger and chewed thoughtfully. They had been in flight for about fifteen minutes. Mami was dozing next to her, and Charlotte was reading a paperback book she had brought along. As for Sayaka, she had lowered herself into her bathroom/aquarium and seemed content to stay there. Apparently it was a small room filled up with water that had an amazing filter. It sounded incredibly gross to Kyoko, but Sayaka assured that it worked wonders, able to remove waste instantly while keeping the water fresh. The images conjured by that piece of information had also been gross, but rather hilarious. Still, if it kept her happy during the flight, Kyoko saw no reason why Sayaka shouldn't stay in her little fishbowl.

Still, once they were in the air and on their way, her mind returning again, not to the Momo situation, but Sayaka. Yesterday, after they had made up, Mami had told her a few more interesting tidbits about the afterlife. Apparently, witches were the people they had been birthed from, a complete continuation of their consciousness instead of a near-copy. Which meant that "Oktavia" really was the soul of Sayaka Miki, just reformatted and…somewhat altered. Which in turn meant that Sayaka could be retrieved from her. If people had been able to change back in the past, no matter how few, that meant that her memories were locked up somewhere inside that mermaid. There had to be a way to find them.

But the more she mused over the problem, the more uncomfortable she became. Though Kyoko hadn't known Sayaka long, she had still seen enough of her at her worst to know what kind of person she was at the core. And though Oktavia was very similar, she was still different from Sayaka in a way Kyoko couldn't put her finger on. The gung-ho hotheadedness was still there, so was the mischievousness, and so was the unwavering loyalty. But even so, Oktavia was a bit more easy-going, more confident (genuinely so, instead of that overcompensating "leave it to me!" attitude Sayaka had been burdened with), more at peace with herself. That in itself was a small thing, but it still niggled at Kyoko. It was somehow significant, she just needed to figure out how.

And then the pieces came together and she understood. Sayaka had been driven to prove herself to everyone and everything: her friends, her enemies, and herself. It had kept her going when most people would have lain down and quit. It had caused her to keep fighting without the aid of grief seeds, far beyond the bounds of sanity. And it had driven her mad and buried her in despair. It had destroyed her humanity.

In contrast, despite her lost memory and major physical handicaps, Oktavia didn't seem to have the need to prove herself to anyone. She was who she was, and she was fine with that. Sure, she seemed all too eager to spring to Kyoko's aid back during the talks with Reibey, but that had seemed to be for Kyoko's benefit rather than to prove herself to be some kind of hero. She was happy with herself in a way Sayaka had never been, and simply wished to enjoy her life and be with her friends.

And that went a long way to explaining Kyoko's discomfort. She wanted Sayaka back, yes, but if Sayaka was happy being Oktavia, would forcing a return of her memories ruin things for her? After all, her final memories were nothing short of horrible. Would they bring back the same self-esteem issues that had destroyed her?

Kyoko scowled. She grabbed up a fistful of apple chips and shoved them into her mouth. She thought back on all the traumas she herself had endured, all the pain she had suffered. She wondered what it would be like if she had also been turned into a witch and then woke up in the afterlife with everything swept away. The tragedy of her family's death would be gone, and the horrible person she had become would no longer haunt her. Would it be better to remain happily oblivious to the kind of person Kyoko Sakura had been, and all she had gone through?

After some consideration she came to her decision: no, it would not. True, the pain would be gone, but she would be too. She would cease to exist as a person, with someone else driving her soul from there on out. Her memories, her experiences, both good and bad, made her who she was. They were hers, and no one had the right to take them away.

But the question still remained: did she have the right to force Oktavia to remember Sayaka?

It was a hard question, one that she would have to give more thought to. Kyoko sighed and finished up her lunch. Even though she was trying to move away from the bitch she had become in her last few months of life, she had to admit that she missed the simplicity.

Then, as she leaned back and munched on her last few chips, she looked around and noticed something odd. A few of the other passengers were missing, along with their seats. And it wasn't as if they had descended into their little bathrooms. Quite the opposite, as a long metal pole stuck up where their seats had been, connecting the floor to the ceiling. It took a moment for Kyoko to realize that their seats had ascended through the roof.

What in the world? Kyoko thought, twisting her face up in confusion. She reached over to give Mami's shoulder a shake.

"Hey," she said. "Hey, wake up."

"Hmmm, what?" Mami said sleepily. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

Kyoko pointed. "What's up with those?"

Mami glanced at the poles. "Oh, thrill seekers. They bought Windrider tickets."

Kyoko sucked in a sharp breath. "Mami, does that mean what I think it means, and if yes, can I upgrade right the hell now?"

Charlotte, who had not put down her book, snorted and shook her head, but Mami laughed. "Well, I should have expected this. All right, just a moment."

She tapped a gem on her left armrest, and a holographic screen appeared in the air before her. It looked similar to a company website, with several different promotions, advertisements, and ticket information. Mami touched a few links, made some kind of payment, and banished the screen.

"Okay," she said. "You'll be protected by your own magical field, so there's no chance of falling off or losing anything. Just-"

"I'll still feel the wind and the drops and everything though, right?" Kyoko pressed. Butterflies of excitement danced in her stomach, and it was all she could do to sit still.

"Of course. But try not to jump off on purpose."

Kyoko blinked. "Uh, is that possible?"

"Barring a full magical failure, no; there are far too many failsafes. But it annoys the crew."

A white gem appeared on Kyoko's seat and started blinking. Without hesitation, she mashed her finger down on it, and her seat started to rise, and a recorded voice welcome her to the Windrider experience and provided her with a list of rules, unheard over Kyoko's whoop of delight.

"Have fun!" Mami called to her. "Looks like we're headed through calliope territory, so you should be in for a wild ride."

Kyoko's fingers dug into the armrests and she grinned furiously. Overhead, the ceiling opened up, allowing the chair to rise through.

And then she emerged onto the back of the elysian. Before her, she could see the beautiful aircraft stretch before her, its golden back gleaming brightly in the sunlight and its shimmering wings spread wide to either side. The wind tore at her face, sending her ponytail trailing behind her.

And then her seat changed, standing her up and transforming around her. The next thing Kyoko knew, she was standing on a circular platform surrounded by a chest-high railing. She gripped tight, threw her head back, and let out a scream of furious joy. Her scream was answered by another, and Kyoko saw the other Windriders dotting the elysian's back. Each of them looked just as overjoyed as she was, and why wouldn't they be? They were riding on the back of a giant golden dragon-thing, hundreds of meters up. This was by far one of the coolest things Kyoko had ever done, and that was saying a lot.

Plus, Mami had been right about the world they were traveling through. The sky around them was deep amber, and the clouds rolled swirled around them, playing host to an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors; much like the sky above Genocide City, only this was beautiful and awe-inspiring instead of nightmarish. Sparkling dust glittering along the surface of the clouds, adding to their splendor.

"Look!" she heard someone cry, barely audible over the wind. "There's a dance coming!"

"A what?" Kyoko shouted back.

"A dance of calliopes! Over there!"

Kyoko looked, and saw that there was indeed several of the multicolored spheres shooting through the sky. I guess a "dance" is what they call a bunch of calliopes all together, Kyoko thought as she watched the creatures keep pace with the elysian. Seeing them nip to and fro playfully around the majestic machine, she could see how they had earned the name.

One of them, a large red one, soared close to where she was standing. "Hello!" it called to her in a friendly tone. "Where you going?"

"Cloudbreak!" Kyoko called back. "And is this what your planet looks like?"

"Yup! It's pretty, isn't it?"

"It's awesome!" Kyoko agreed. She was about to ask for more information, but then she was interrupted by the captain's voice.

"This is your captain speaking," she said over the speakers. "Looks like we're approaching a thick crystal cluster, so things are going to get a little rocky. All Windriders are reminded to stay within their protective fields, and should you experience motion sickness, simply return to the cabin and signal a stewardess, who will be by with medication."

"Oh, this is going to be good," her new friend giggled. "Ever been through a crystal cluster before?"

Mystified, Kyoko shook her head.

"Then you are going to love this."

The elysian rose up above a cloudbank, and Kyoko’s eyes went wide and she let out a small gasp. There, just over the clouds, was what looked like an asteroid field. It reminded her of that scene from those Star Wars movies, where the spaceship fled through a swarm of stones of every size, narrowly being squashed as the asteroids tumbled and smashed against each other. Only in this case, the asteroids were huge sparkling crystals that displayed the same range of colors as the clouds. The large ones were the size of skyscrapers, while the smaller ones looked like fields of flying gemstones; which, she realized, was exactly what they were.

But as wondrous as the sight might be, Kyoko was struck with a surge of fear. How were they going to pass through that without getting torn to shreds? The big ones would be easy to dodge, sure, but the little ones would rip through them like tissue paper.

But the elysian plunged into the field regardless, and Kyoko got her answer. The smaller gems simply disintegrated with tiny yellow pops as they impacted the energy field surrounding the elysian. Okay, now there were legitimate force-fields. This was just getting cooler and cooler.

And then the elysian soared up, filling Kyoko with the thrill of vertigo. It was like being in a rollercoaster as it ascended the track, only a thousand times better. And, just like a rollercoaster, as soon as it reached the top…

The elysian's wings folded and it plunged straight down, darting skillfully between the building-sized crystals with all the agility of a dragonfly. Kyoko shrieked in delight, as did the Windriders who had elected to remain. The calliopes hugged close to the elysian's body, enjoying the ride as much as the passengers were.

And, just for a moment, all of Kyoko's problems were forgotten. The obstacles they still had to overcome, the enemies that would surely rise up to oppose them, the issue with Sayaka and that damned legal mess they were going to cause. She was riding a golden dragon through a field of flying jewels, on her way to get her sister back. In that moment, Kyoko was happy.

…

Why, Annabelle Lee thought wearily, why does nothing ever go right?

"Dumb, dumb girl," said the newcomer as Nikki squirmed and snarled. "What were you thinking? 'Don't ever attack anyone before you know what they can do!' That's the seventh rule of survival here at Bertha's Brothel."

Though Annabelle Lee had never seen this girl before, she finally pegged the reason why her voice sounded so familiar. The girl was crazy, in the same way Ticky Nikki was crazy. It was a common enough problem, especially in the rougher territories. With things like cancer or Alzheimer's no longer an issue, something had to take their place.

"Duly noted," Annabelle Lee said. "Though if I may, you might want to add an amendment to that list of yours."

The girl stared at her blankly. "Huh?"

Annabelle Lee pointed at her sister. "Never put your arm so close to Ticky Nikki's mouth when she's pissed off."

In demonstration, Nikki opened her mouth full of jagged teeth and chomped down on the crazy girl's arm.

There was a squeal of pain, and the girl lurched back, citrine vapor seeping from a number of tiny punctures. Ticky Nikki squirmed free and darted to her sister's side.

"Ow!" the girl shrieked as she clutched at her wounded arm. "Why'd you do that? You…you…" She looked up at the former Void Walkers to see all four arrayed against her. Annabelle Lee's arms were held up in a fighter's stance, blades gleaming; Ticky Nikki had scaled one of the cargo containers and was poised to pounce, a mad grin on her face; Nie had taken position on a crate across from her, both pistols drawn and aimed at the girl's head. Of Arzt there was no sign at all, but Annabelle Lee knew she was close.

"So, finally decided to join in, eh?" she said to Nie while keeping her eyes on the girl.

"Of course," Nie said dismissively. "She may do what she wants to you…"

"…but no one harms our darling little Nikki," Arzt's voice finished for her.

"I'm touched," Annabelle Lee said dryly. To the girl, she said, "All right, wackjob. It's four against one, and you've pissed us all off. If you're the person we're supposed to meet, then fine; let's talk. Otherwise, beat it."

The girl looked from one determined face to the other. All expression left her features. "You tore my coat," she said, holding up her arm.

Annabelle Lee tensed up immediately. She had lived long enough with Ticky Nikki to know what that look meant. "Brace yourselves," she hissed to her companions. "She's gonna-"

And then the girl was gone.

Before Annabelle Lee could figure out what was going one, a piercing shriek sounded to the right of her. Nie had fallen to her knees, four stabbing blades protruding out of her front, golden smoke leaking out from around their edges. The crazy girl was crouching behind her, having stabbed her in the back.

Oh crap.

Before she was next, Annabelle Lee rocketed into the air, snatching her sister as she went. They powered out of the fog and emerged into sunlight. This gave her a clear view of the entirety of Bertha's Brothel.

Located directly on the mouth of a wide but ugly brown river, a full third of Bertha's Brothel sat upon the water itself, with joined platforms connecting the two banks and extending a fair way out into sea, where the docks stuck out like teeth, to which were moored a diverse collection of disreputable watercraft. The town itself was a motley collection of high wooden towers, most of which stuck out at odd, sometimes impossible, angles and had other towers sprouting from their corners, connected by numerous platforms, bridges, catwalks, ramps, and ropes. Buildings bulged out of the towers like tumors, again seeming to defy the laws of physics, and thin tin chimneys stuck out everywhere from the pointy rooftops, smoke flowing from them as if from a hundred cigarettes. The entire lower level was shrouded in fog, and the Fezzinigo Swamplands flared out behind it like a reeking infestation of mold, occasionally lit up by flame bursts. The city's residents scampered over the multistoried towers like ants in a farm.

Nikki giggled as she took her customary place on Annabelle Lee's back. "It's Dr. Seuss land!" she sang happily. Annabelle Lee had no idea what that meant. To her, it was reminiscent of the treehouse villages she had seen pictures of, only minus the trees.

But as interesting as the sight may be, her concern was on the crazy girl that had attacked them. She wasn't sure of the girl's capabilities, only that she had an insane manicurist and had a nasty habit of popping from Point A to Point B without actually traversing the space between. Maybe she could teleport, like the Matriarch, though Annabelle Lee doubted it. Teleportation was an extremely rare ability, and those who could do it were often in the employ of the rich and powerful, who guarded them jealously. More than likely the girl was just blindingly fast, which came with its own set of problems.

Especially, Annabelle Lee thought grimly, with this damned fog in the way. She could barely see the silhouettes of the cargo containers, much less the girl herself. She did note that Nie had stopped screaming, which meant that she was probably down for the count, at least for the time being.

And then, as Annabelle Lee screwed up her eyes to pick out some sign of movement, the strangest thing happened. All of the people moving about Bertha's Brothel suddenly seemed to kick into overdrive. They didn't change course or notice the flying sisters, they just went about their business at incredible speeds, as if they were a recording been fast-forwarded.

Annabelle Lee jerked back in surprise, making Nikki yelp and cling tighter. What in the world was causing that? Did people here take specialized stimulants that worked in synchronization? Was time itself being messed with, with the Tick-Tock Sisters being the only ones unaffected? Or was everyone moving at normal speed, and they were the ones being-

A blur shot up from the fog, so quick that it might have been imaginary. However, a sudden weight appeared on Annabelle Lee's back, sandwiching Nikki between them. Before either of the sisters could react, four razor-sharp blades cut straight through both of them. Annabelle Lee's head snapped back, and she screamed in agony.

Chapter Text

"As of now, the Alliance still has the only two known members locked up in the Xenologic Institute," explained Gesala. She moved one of her three-fingered talons over a floating, three-dimensional representation of Cloudbreak and tapped a domed, two-story building. The image of the building expanded, allowing those gathered to see it in detail. "Information pertaining to their culture and their planet is still classified, but word has it that Ki'no'vask has been spending a great deal of time with them, so we can expect a lengthy thesis to be officially published on them within the month."

Gesala was a vekoo, which was to say her body was vaguely avian, with six sharp talons, a vulture-like head on the end of a skinny neck, and a fleshy membrane that stretched between her limbs, allowing flight. But she was completely featherless, instead having pebbly white skin (originally brown before committing herself to Oblivion's service) and long, stiff hairs that covered her back and lower arms and legs, each one tipped with a tiny bladder. She wore knee-length black kilt and silver-studded armbands. Her official title was Minister of Foreign Information, which essentially meant that she was Reibey's spymaster.

Looming next to her was Eton, the Void Walkers' Minister of Defense. She was small for a dockengaut, being just over two meters tall, but was no less intimidating. The fact that she often kept her hood down, making her writhing, faceless "head" plainly visible had a great deal to do with this. "Ki'nnnno'vasssssk is a pomfouzzzzz fool," she buzzed, contemptuously referring to the famous ai'jurrik'kai scholar. "Her thezzzzziiiizzzzz vill be more zzzzzelf-congruzzzzulaizzzzzon zzzzan fact, annnnd zzzreee timezzzz longer zzzzan nezzzezzzary."

"You'll hear no arguments from me," Reibey remarked. The Incubator sat in front of the holographic image, gazing up at it with unblinking eyes. "But if we have to sift through her egotistical ramblings and pointless conjecture to gain concrete fact, so be it. It'll serve as a beginning."

It was a routine council meeting, usually held on the morning of the first day of each week. Today, the subject of conversation was the savians, who were the first new species to arrive in the afterlife in some time. Currently, the only two known members were being held by the New Life Alliance, which was something of an annoyance. Reibey, who had never even heard of the species until their arrival, really didn't care one whit about the savians themselves, but it rankled him that the Alliance had gotten them first, especially since he wasn't keen on having an entire species join their ranks. Simply them having the lion's share of the calliopes and the ai'jurrik'kai was bad enough.

"Perhaps," Gesala allowed. "Though given the source, I fear the bulk of the paper will be devoted to the Savians' mating habits and romantic poetry."

This was met with a chorus of low chuckles, Reibey's voice among them. Ki'no'vask's academic respectability was a dubious thing at best. "Be that as it may, I'm more concerned-"

He was interrupted by the sound of rustling cloth. The ground at the head of the room twisted, and the Matriarch rose out of the vortex. The other council members, who were long accustomed to her abrupt entrances, bowed their heads in respect and muttered greetings.

As for Reibey, he simply nodded at her and said, "Well?"

"Done," she responded.

"Good." He turned his attention back to Gesala. "As I was saying, I'm not interested in their culture. The place in which they spawned is of greater importance. If they came into being in known neutral territory, then they are indeed the first of their kind to arrive. But if they originated from an unknown spawn site, then it's possible that there is already a fully established-"

The door to the room creaked open, and a voice said, "Reibey? Are you in here?"

The council stiffened, Reibey included. No, he thought in despair. No, no, no. What is she doing here?

"Reibey?" Oblivion said as she shuffled nervously into the room. "You weren't in your room, so-" Then she noticed all the staring eyes (or, in Eton and the Matriarch's cases, lack thereof) and froze. "Oh," she said. "Uh, hi."

"My lady," Gesala bowed her head and hooded her eyes, the vekoo gesture of deference. All around the room, the other council members were likewise prostrating themselves before Oblivion in the manner of their people, all save for the Matriarch, who had never been very reactionary, and Reibey, who was now too pissed off to show much respect.

A heavy silence fell, which was only broken when Reibey had regained enough control for him to speak calmly. "Good morning, your Grace," he said, sounding as servile as he could manage. "Is there something you wish to discuss?"

That seemed to jolt Oblivion out of her stupor. "Uh, yes," she said, focusing on him. "It's been almost a week now, and you still haven't-"

"Splendid! We'll do so in the privacy of my quarters." He quickly moved toward the door, nodding to the council as he left. "Your pardon, ladies. I'll be back in a moment." As he passed the Matriarch, he said in a voice only she could hear, "Don't let any of them leave this room."

The Matriarch nodded.

Reibey struggled to maintain his composure all the way back to his quarters. Once they were safely behind closed doors, he turned to Oblivion, with great effort of will, said as kindly as possible, "Oblivion? Honey? Do you remember what I said about wandering around and revealing yourself to the help? Do you remember how I said you weren't supposed to do it?"

Oblivion's face darkened with anger. "But I'm bored!" she shouted back. "You got me cooped up in a stupid room all day with nothing to do and no one to talk to! You said I was going to be a queen! Being a queen isn't supposed to be boring!"

And with that, Oblivion demonstrated her ignorance on what being a female part of a monarchy was actually like. Queen, princess, empress, and so on and so forth, none of them were anything like the storybooks commonly portrayed them. Honestly, only the princes ever got to have any fun. Everyone else was either burdened by endless responsibility, lethargic figureheading, or just waiting to be traded off like some sort of genetic political gift. Well, at least the decent ones were. Tyrants at least knew how to have fun before being dragged through the streets by their successors.

But Oblivion was no tyrant, as much as the opposition would like everyone to believe otherwise. She served as an excellent figurehead, but her actual influence on matters of state began and ended with the yearly Releasing Ceremony. In the meantime, she was supposed to stay well out of sight. The last thing Reibey needed was for the wrong person to catch her whining like an elementary school child. Which, in fairness, she technically was, physical size notwithstanding.

Note to self, Reibey thought wearily. In the event that this iteration ends with a reset, find a way to contact my future self and keep him from giving the strange little girl the powers of Oblivion. Of course, that was probably impossible, as it was thanks to Oblivion that he was even aware of the resets to begin with, but hey, he could dream.

In the meantime, he did have a façade to maintain. "But what of those entertainments I provided you?" he asked. "Are they not adequately amusing?"

Oblivion scowled. "All you gave me was that dumb colorful cube that I can't figure out, a paddle-ball, a hula-hoop, and a beach ball."

Hmmm, apparently Oblivion found human children's toys to be just as inane as he did. Still, in fairness, her list was incomplete. "What of that game machine?" he asked. "I hear they're quite popular."

"You just gave me an Atari with no games, no TV, and no place to plug it in!"

Reibey supposed he should have actually looked up those items up before putting in the order. "My sincerest apologies," he said, bowing his head. "My knowledge of modern human entertainments is somewhat lacking, I'm afraid. So how about this: you can compose a list of the items you desire, and I'll have someone with more knowledge of your culture procure them for you?"

That seemed to mollify Oblivion a little, though she still looked upset. "What about big sis Kyo?" she asked. "When is she going to get here?"

Oh right. That. "It's a work in progress," he said with as much forced cheer as possible. "The Alliance is continuing to make things difficult. But I've already sent some special agents out earlier this morning to talk to a friend of mine who'll help them sneak her out."

Oblivion bit her lower lip. "Oh. And how long with that take?"

Though his outward demeanor was of complete submissiveness, Reibey's claws were starting to protrude from his paws. If this kept up any longer, he was going to start scratching up the floor. "Impossible to say, I'm afraid," he said, pumping every drop of civility he had into his words. "With the Alliance going out of their way to be uncooperative in every way, they will no doubt do every in their power to delay your reunion as much as possible. I've already explained the situation to their leaders a dozen times, and even to Kyoko herself-"

Oblivion's body jerked stiff, the heavy folds of her robe swishing across the floor. "Wait, you talked to Kyoko?" she blurted out. "When?"

"Yesterday evening," he responded. "She was near the border of the Neutral Zone, and I took the opportunity to try to explain how much you missed her and wanted to see her again."

To Reibey's discomfort, Oblivion responded to this tidbit of information by swooping down and snatching him up by the front shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me?" she said, shoving her face forward until their noses were almost touching. "What did she say?"

Reibey had to resist the urge to claw his way to freedom. "I didn't want to upset you," he said. "Unfortunately, the Alliance had already filled her head with misinformation, and she has been taught to hate us. In fact, after I finished explaining the situation to her, she lost her temper and tried to attack me."

A small squeak of surprise came out of Oblivion's throat. "She what?" she said. "Then…she hates me?"

Finding that her grip had loosened, Reibey wiggled free and hopped up onto Oblivion's shoulder. "As I said, she has been brainwashed by our enemies. Not her fault by any means, but it does…complicate things."

"Then what do we do?" Oblivion said pleadingly. The girl sounded like she was close to tears. Which, in Reibey's experience, meant she was one wrong word away from becoming an impossible blubbering mess.

"At this point, find a way to bring her here and show her that your love for her is genuine. Even as we speak, the agents I sent are preparing themselves to mount a rescue operation." His tail twitched. "Of course, you realize that such an operation will encounter many unforeseen obstacles, and must be carried out with utmost caution. So, I'm afraid it is impossible to predict exactly when they will return."

Wringing her gloved hands in agitation, Oblivion said, "B-but it'll work, right? They'll get her and bring her here, right?"

Reibey made a show of heaving out a heavy sigh. "Oblivion, I do not wish to fill you with false hope. As I said, what we are trying to do is very dangerous, and there are many things that can go wrong. But please believe me when I say that everything that can be done will be done."

"But you promised!" Oblivion cried, falling back to the classic child's argument, as if the fact that a promise had been made trumped everything else. "You promised you would get me whatever I wanted. Well, I want Kyoko!"

"And I intend to keep that promise," Reibey responded. "However, the situation has changed drastically since I made that promise." He leaned forward so that he was looking right at her face. Predictably, it was scrunched up with defiance, an expression that was offset by the tears forming in her blue eyes. "Please understand I am doing everything in my power to bring you and Miss Sakura together, but given the circumstances, it will take time and effort. A little patience is all I ask."

She held onto her frown for a moment longer, and then it dissolved. "Okay," she muttered, hanging her head.

"Thank you." With that, Reibey leapt off her shoulder onto the floor. "In the meantime, feel free to make up a list of what kind of entertainments you'd prefer, and I'll see that they are delivered to you as soon as possible."

When Reibey returned to the meeting, everyone was still sitting (or nearest equivalent, depending on the anatomy of the person in question) in silence, waiting for his return.

"Sorry about that, ladies," he said, hopping onto the table. "Just some minor affairs needing to be sorted out."

Eton regarded him, her writhing mess of a face impossible to read. But Reibey still got the impression that she, like the rest of her council, was a bit concerned. "Zzzhhhen all izzzz velllll wizzzz zzzzeee mazzzzzzerrrrr?"

"Of course. Nothing to be worried about." Reibey bobbed his head diplomatically. "Please, let us continue."

After a short hesitation the council returned to the subject at hand. Sighing, Reibey returned his thoughts to the meeting. Though he had no great trust in the competence of those he sent out on this task, he was very thankful that the Madam had agreed to assist. She at least knew what she was doing, so hopefully with her guidance they would stand more than half a chance at success.

…

There are certain moments in which it pays stop what you're doing, take a step back, reflect on the situation, and wonder when and how did your life go so wrong.

As Annabelle Lee plummeted from the sky toward the wretched docks of one of the worst towns in existence with a gaping wound through her stomach and her mentally unstable sister screeching into her ear, she might have had such a moment. Unfortunately, she was too busy with her own screaming to do much reflecting.

They hit the docks hard and mercifully blacked out before the pain of the impact had time to register.

When Annabelle Lee finally came to, she noted another mercy: despite being taken down by a deranged assailant in the bad part of Bertha's Brothel (though in truth, Bertha's Brothel did seem to be all bad parts), she was not waking up naked in a dank basement somewhere with her arms tied to a steel chair and a blindfold covering her eyes. Instead, she was waking up fully clothed on the same dank dock she had passed out on with her arms tied to a rusty barrel and nothing covering her eyes. Still not a preferable situation by any means, but it was far superior to some of her alternatives.

As the throbbing in her head ebbed away, Annabelle Lee was able to verify that her torso was no longer sporting a great big honking hole, which meant she had been out for almost half an hour at least. Her jacket and shirt were still ruined though. Furthermore, she had been stripped of her wrist-blades. A problem.

Further investigation revealed that Ticky Nikki was similarly tied up to her left, while Nie was chained to a pipe at her right. That was three-fourths of the team taken out. Another problem.

As for the crazy fop herself, she was looming over them with her hands on her hips, upper body leaning slightly forward, and amber eyes dark with disapproval. In her still fuzzy state, Annabelle Lee couldn't keep from giggling. The nutcase looked more like an uptight class president who had just caught her underachieving classmates goofing off again instead of a deranged criminal who had just eviscerated three complete strangers.

Naturally, that pissed the fop off. "Hey, why are you laughing?" she demanded, tilting her head to one side. "Do you find me funny? Because that's just rude!"

Enough of Annabelle Lee's mind recovered for her to remember that laughing at the girl who had just handed all three of them their asses in under a minute was probably a bad idea. "No," she said. "Not funny at all."

The fop glowered down at her suspiciously, as if trying to gauge the truth of her words. "Then why were you laughing? Don't say you weren't laughing when I saw you laughing! Stupid, stupid girl! Don't you know better than to laugh at people better than you? That's the thirteenth rule of survival here at Bertha's Brothel!"

Despite the severity of her predicament, Annabelle Lee found herself idly wondering if Bertha's Brothel had an actual rulebook that Reibey had neglected to provide her with. It did sound like something he'd do: trick her into committing a fatal faux pas through ignorance and let her get torn apart by the locals. But given the source of said rules, it was more likely that the fop was just making them as she went along.

Then she saw something that gave her a rare feeling of hope. As the girl ranted down at her bound prisoners about their lack of knowledge concerning local etiquette, Arzt emerged from the shadows of the cargo containers behind her. Crouching down low, she stalked toward the crazy fop, arms held out like bat wings, golden eyes burning with fury. The syringes she had for fingers were all filled with a luminescent crimson liquid. Annabelle Lee didn't know what nasty substance Arzt had armed herself with, but she was looking forward to finding out.

Then, demonstrating that Murphy's Law was taking special interest in everything Annabelle Lee did, Nikki chose that moment to regain consciousness. She groggily sat up, looked around, and then focused her attention, not on the crazy fop standing directly in front of her, but on girl trying to stealthily advance on said crazy fop. And for one disastrous moment, Nikki forgot that Arzt was supposed to be her ally.

"No!" she cried, trashing at her bonds. "She found Nikki! Don't let her get her! Stop her Annabelly! Stop her!"

Panicked, Annabelle Lee shoved a hand over her sister's mouth. "Shut up!" she hissed. Unfortunately, Nikki didn't even notice that the hand was even there, as she continued to screech in alarm around it.

Perplexed, the fop leaned in closer. "She's afraid," she observed. "Why is she so afraid?"

It was such a bizarre statement that Annabelle Lee stopped trying to quiet her sister long enough to stare in disbelief at the fop. She opened her mouth to list the very large number of reasons why Nikki would be afraid, but Arzt, having finally closed the distance between her and the fop, chose that moment to strike.

Annabelle Lee had to give Arzt credit: as annoying as she and Nie were, the pointy-hatted witch knew her way around a sneak attack. All five needles sank into the fop's neck with perfect precision and the red fluid was injected in short order. The fop's eyes bulged wide, and she immediately pulled away.

"Whazzisthat!" she cried, her hand clapping over the point of entry. She whirled to face Arzt, who was watching her in smug satisfaction.

"Five," Arzt said.

"What?" the fop said in bewilderment. "Who are…Why did…"

"Four."

"Why are you saying numbers? What did you poke me with?"

"Three."

The fop's face turned red with anger. She spread her fingers, and those nasty hook-claws sprouted from the tips. "That's it, I'm going to open you up like a…"

"Two.

The fop stopped talking. She blinked in confusion, though the angry red didn't leave her face. In fact, it was growing deeper, more vibrant, like she was suffering from a bad fever. "Wait, I don't feel so…"

Then her head exploded. Nikki let out a cry of terror and tried to burrow into Annabelle Lee's side. For her part, Annabelle was so shocked that she could only sit and stare at the fop's body fell to its knees and flopped over on its side, citrine vapor issuing from its neck like a smokestack.

Arzt smirked down at her fallen foe. "One," she said.

Then her eyes fell on the still-motionless form of her lover, and the smugness dissipated, replaced with alarm. "Darling!" she cried as she rushed Nie's aide. Fortunately for her, the chains weren't locked to anything, but simply wrapped around Nie in such a way as to prevent her from gaining any leverage, and Arzt was able to free her in short order.

Arzt drew Nie away from the post and gently cradled her head in her lap. "Oh Nie," she murmured, smoothing stray strands of hair away from Nie's face. "How could that…that beast do this to you?"

Nie's eyelids fluttered, and she looked up in confusion, which was soon replaced with joy when she saw Arzt's face. "Arzt," she breathed, reaching up to caress her savior's cheek. "You came back for me."

Oh, perfect. Just bloody perfect. There they went again. Reminding herself that Arzt had just saved all of their asses, Annabelle Lee clamped her jaw shut and mentally recited the alphabet backwards. Nikki's approach was more direct: squeezing her eyes shut, hunching down into a ball, and stuffing her fingers into her ears.

Meanwhile, the cheese continued. "I never left," Arzt said, beaming. She drew Nie up and held her head against her breast. "No matter what fate might have in store for us, no matter what new level of Hell we might descend to, I will always be by your side. God Himself could not tear us apart. What chance did this joker have?"

Annabelle Lee sighed. All right, enough was enough. There was a time and a place for melodramatics, and this was most certainly neither. She cleared her throat and said, "Hey. Arzt."

"How could I ever have doubted you?" Nie whispered, a small sob in her voice. She buried her face against Arzt's chest and wept. "Forgive me, my love. Forgive me."

Nearby, the vapor issuing out of the hole where the fop's head used to be had hardened into a dark yellow lump, stopping the flow. Keeping a wary eye on the body, Annabelle Lee raised her voice and again said, "Arzt."

Smiling, Arzt placed a finger under Nie's chin and drew her face up. "There is nothing to forgive, my darling. There is nothing to forgive."

Ticky Nikki, who was now in visible distress, let out a strangled whimper and cried, "Annabelly, they're gonna start kissing and stuff! Make them stop!"

That jolted The Twins out of what had to be a well-rehearsed routine. They turned their heads in unison to stare at their still-bound companions, looking as if they had quite forgotten that they were there.

"Hi," Annabelle Lee in a short tone. "Look, sorry to kill the mood and all, but you wanna get us out of this first?"

Further cementing Annabelle Lee's belief that The Twins either practiced that synchronization thing in secret or shared some kind of joined mind, Arzt and Nie glowered at her with identical looks of contempt. Then, as one, they silently rose and went over to free Ticky Nikki from her chains. For her part, Nikki didn't seem all that thrilled over being rescued, if the way she was hissing and pulling away from their fingers was any indication.

"There you are, sweet little Nikki," Nie said, loosening the last of the chains. "Don't say your aunties never did anything for you."

Rather than being grateful, Nikki kicked herself free and fled to the relative safety of the other side of her sister and snarled in warning.

"Good job," Annabelle Lee said. "Now me."

Instead of doing as they were told, The Twins again looked at her in disgust and walked off. Surprised by such blatant insubordination, Annabelle Lee gaped after them. "Hey!" she shouted. "Are you forgetting who's in charge here? Cut me loose!"

Arzt snorted in disdain. Then she said to Nie, "I think that idiot threw your pistols somewhere over here."

Furious, Annabelle Lee strained at her bonds. This was the last straw. She had suffered defeat, dismemberment, humiliation, exile, multiple impalements, and now betrayal and abandonment. Screw it all, she was going to break free and show those two exactly what the price of turning their backs on Annabelle Lee was.

After nearly a full minute, she collapsed in exhaustion, still no closer to freeing herself. Sighing, she turned to her sister, who was staring up at her in bewilderment.

"Hey," she said. "A little help?"

Soon she was sitting in a pile of loosed chains, rubbing her sore wrists. Okay, first step was to find wherever the fop had tossed her wrist-blades. Second was to introduce a certain pair of selfsexual airheads to the business side of-

Her wrist-blades landed with a rattle on the wooden planks in front of her. Startled, she looked up to see The Twins standing over her.

"Found them down that way," Nie said, tilting her head. "My pistols were right next to them. Guess she just disarmed us and tossed them away, the idiot."

Blinking in surprise, Annabelle Lee retrieved the blades and began strapping them back in place. She said nothing.

"So, what you want to do with her?" Arzt asked, sticking her thumb, the syringe one, over her shoulder at the still-headless fop. "I personally suggest tossing her into the drink and seeing how well she swims without a head."

Careful to hide the relief from her face, Annabelle Lee finished tightening the last cord and floated upright. "Get her up and tie her down."

"Sounds good," Nie said. She and Arzt grabbed the fop by the arms and dragged her to the pile of rusted chains that had previously held Annabelle Lee. "Then what? Let Nikki have her fun?"

Nikki's face lit up immediately, but as tempting as it might be to let her indulge in her hobbies, they still had a job to do.

"Not just yet," she said. "Turn out her pockets, will you?"

Doing so turned up some very interesting odds and ends, including but not limited to seven screws; a great deal of dental floss; a large silver pocketwatch that didn't work; an entire bag of squished toffees (Nikki immediately swiped this); several strangely worded love poems directed to some unknown "Savior;" a wallet full of cash (Annabelle Lee had to prevent all three of the others from stashing that away); six tubes of lipstick; four small oval jewels, each of a different color (Annabelle Lee had an uncomfortable feeling that she knew exactly what those were); two incredibly ugly plush toys; and a business card. The card identified her simply as "Latria," no title. On the back was a logo of a melting heart over a pair of crossed assault rifles.

Annabelle Lee's heart fell when she saw the insignia. "It's her," she said.

"What?" Arzt said. "Who?"

Annabelle Lee showed them the card. "Our contact. This is the Brothel's logo."

The others fell into an uncomfortable silence. "So…we just attacked one of the Madam's people?" Nie ventured at last. "In Bertha's Brothel?"

Nikki scratched her head. "This is a bad?"

"Yes, Nikki, it is," Annabelle Lee said as she started to replace the fop's belongings. "The Madam isn't known for thinking kindly of anyone who hurts her people."

"Then let's run," Arzt suggested. She pointed down to the body now lashed to the cargo container. There was now a lump of yellow gunk on her neck that was growing ever larger. "Before Latria here wakes up."

Annabelle Lee gave that option serious consideration. Running might be best. When it came to vengeance, the Madam had a certain reputation, one that probably explained why she worked so well with Reibey. If they took off now, they could probably be well clear of Bertha's Brothel before Margo regained consciousness.

Except…where would they go? Bertha's Brothel was the last bit of real civilization (even if the word was used very loosely) to the north, and fleeing into the Fezzinigo Swamp all but guaranteed them a fate on par with anything the Madam could cook up. And with her, Reibey, and possibly even the Alliance after them, they wouldn't last long anyway.

No, there was only one way to save their skins. It was a tremendous risk, but they had nothing else. "No, we wouldn't make it," Annabelle Lee said at last. "Just…keep her tied tight, and stay on your guard when she finally comes around."

Naturally, this didn't earn her a vote of confidence from The Twins. "What?" Nie said, grasping Arzt's hand tightly. "But…what are you planning to do?"

"Something I fortunately have a lot of experience with." Annabelle Lee glanced over to Ticky Nikki, who had gotten bored and was now amusing herself by squishing toffees together in the shape of a butt. "I'm going to talk some sense into a lunatic."

…

Windriding had been one of the greatest experiences of Kyoko's life, no irony intended. She had always enjoyed the adrenaline rush that came from leaping across rooftops, but even that paled in comparison to clinging to the back of a golden, mechanical dragon as it soared and, in some cases, swooped through a myriad of alien worlds.

Unfortunately, while her strength and endurance were quite literally superhuman, even she was not without limits, and it was a long trip. And so she found herself riding out the last few hours back inside the elysian. She was a little shaky from both exhaustion and exhilaration, but thanks to criminally good food (seriously, they had to be violating some kind of airline code of conduct with that stuff) and an exceedingly comfy chair, she was very comfortable.

Still, there was something bugging her, something she hadn't paid much attention to at first but was steadily niggling at her more and more. Gnawing on a chicken leg, she cast a dour look at the empty space next to Charlotte and finally piped up with, "Has she been down there the whole time?"

Charlotte gave her a look that said that they still weren't on friendly terms, but she put down her book (her third one of the flight) and answered, "More or less."

"She's come up for meals a couple of times while you were up there," Mami said. The blonde was reclining back with her eyes closed and her hands folded over her stomach. Before she had spoken, Kyoko had thought her to be fast asleep. "But other than that, no."

Scowling, Kyoko went back to work emancipating chicken bone from fried flesh. "What's up with her, anyway? Girl gets to ride in a first-class golden dragon thingamajig, and she spends the whole time cramped up in a goddamn fishbowl."

Charlotte returned to her book. Turning a page, she said, "Kyoko, has anyone ever told you that you're kind of whiny?"

"No," Mami said, holding up a hand before Kyoko could retort. "You two are not going to go at it again. We have enough problems as it is without you going at it all the time. Kyoko? Leave Oktavia be. Charlotte? Please don't antagonize Kyoko."

Then Sayaka's voice piped in from Mami's armrest, "And by the way, I can hear you, jackass. Don't make fun of my fishbowl."

"The hell?" Kyoko lifted her arm to stare at the source of the tinny voice. "They've got microphones in your bathroom?"

"Strictly optional, of course," Mami said. "Operated from her end. We've been using them to have conversations."

"Like I said, leave my fishbowl alone," Sayaka said. "You wish you were riding in something half this nice!"

Kyoko had to laugh. "Since when were you such a delusional little fishstick? For your information, I got to fly around on the back of this beautiful baby! And let me tell you: you missed a helluva view!"

"Oooh, wow, I don't know how I'll live with myself," came the dry reply. "Hey, here's an idea: how about you get back up there and get the whole thing on video for me. And when you slip and fall off, you can tell the ground how much I miss it. With your face."

Cackling, Kyoko entwined her fingers behind her head and propped up her footrest. "Even if that were possible, like I'd be so dumb as to fall off. My sense of balance is godly."

"Famous last words," Sayaka said, audibly snickering. "Hey, tell you what: how about the next time we have to travel, we go by submarine, one of those real deep-sea ones. Then we'll see how eager you are to get out and enjoy the view."

"You think a little water scares me?" Kyoko said with a snort. "Bring it on. I'll bring a fishing pole, see if I can't catch you a boyfriend. Oh, sorry, girlfriend. Forgot where I was."

"What did I just say?" Mami murmured, her eyes still closed. "Quit it."

"Sorry, Mami," Sayaka said, though she didn't sound it.

"I'm not," Kyoko said.

"And the award for the most redundant statement of the year goes to…" Charlotte muttered to herself. She glanced up. "Though hey, if you're so hung up on the view, you might want to head topside. We'll be nearing Cloudbreak soon, and believe me it's something you'll want to see for yourself."

Kyoko scowled. "You're just trying to get rid of me, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Heh. Well, good job."

With that, Kyoko shoveled the rest of her meal away and sent herself through the roof again.

Unlike her first outing, the elysian was not majestically soaring through a beautiful alien sky. Oh sure, it was still progressing through a sky, and this one was most likely alien. But it was now carefully navigating around several incredibly large stone pillars, and everything was covered in a thick, grey cloud, one that smelled like wet grass. What was more, it was freaking cold.

Kyoko's scowl returned. "She did this on purpose," she muttered, making a mental note to find some way to enact her revenge in the near future. She put her hood up, hugged her jacket tight against her body, and shivered.

Curiously though, there was a surprising number of other windriders up there with her, and as she watched, a couple more joined their ranks. One would think that given the lousy conditions, the ones that hadn't been tricked into exposing themselves to the smelly cold cloud would stay safely in the warm cabin. The weather sucked, the elysian was going too slow to catch any good thrills, and the view was non-existent. Okay, Kyoko had to admit that seeing those huge pillars suddenly loom out of the shroud of the cloud was pretty awe-inspiring, but it was hardly worth the wet clothing to come out and see.

And then, just as the thought was crossing her mind, the elysian broke free from the cloud into open sunlight. And then Kyoko got her first look at Cloudbreak.

Upon learning that the New Life Alliance's capital was literally a city in the sky, Kyoko had pictured it to be something like Angel Island: a floating piece of land with a flattened top on which a city had been built. As it turned out, she had the right idea, except Cloudbreak's architects had taken that idea, scaled it down, and then multiplied ad infinitum. Instead of a single large platform, there were hundreds of them arranged in three disks stacked on top of each other, two medium sized ones on the bottom and top and one double the size of the other two in the center. The platforms were tightly clustered near the center while spreading out more and more the further away they got, and were all making slow revolutions around a thin spire of white stone that acted as a stalk in this crazy pinwheel in the sky. And naturally, on the platforms was, well, a city.

Buildings, parks, monuments, arenas, all were arrayed on that lazily spinning fleet of platforms. And apparently people here liked their plants, because the whole place was covered with them, to the point where most of the platforms were practically hanging gardens. Connecting it all together was a weird looking network of twisting rails and tubes that enveloped the city like a web. As Kyoko watched in wide-eyed awe, she could pick out the city's residents literally swinging their way around on the smaller poles, while large vehicles that resembled trolleys slid under the larger ones. Extending from the city to the ground below were several tubes along the outer edge, while in the center was…

Kyoko squinted and peered in closer. Was that a waterfall? One that was going up? Further inspection revealed that it was a huge, clear tube that was sucking water up into the city. She looked down and saw that the tube reached down into giant spinning black sphere that sat on the surface of a sparkling lake, surrounded by what looked like a water purification facility, if all those pipes were any indication.

Okay, I get it, Kyoko thought to herself. That thing cleans up the lake water, and they send it up into the city. Neat. Then she frowned. How did they dispose of their waste then? After puzzling over it for a few seconds, she shrugged. Eh, whatever. She trusted the flying alien city to have solved the problem.

And really, was there any other way to describe it? Mami had told her that despite many of the buildings obviously designed to accommodate them, humans were actually something of a minority in Cloudbreak, with the majority of the population being calliopes and those glass spider things whose name Kyoko could not recall, save that it had too many apostrophes. Indeed, she could see several calliopes flitting to and fro around the city, like tiny crystals in a snowglobe. Furthermore, she could pick out several lanky forms moving over the rails that possessed far more limbs than their mammalian allies.

Kyoko had seen many strange things in the relatively short time since her death, and while many could definitely be called alien, this, along with the elysians, was one of the ones in which the adjective was spoken with a note of awe. Cloudbreak was gorgeous. There was no other way to describe it.

Her hands gripped the railing tightly. She leaned forward, as if that would get her there faster. If she was truly fated to spend the rest of her existence in this half-baked excuse for an afterlife, she now knew where she wanted to spend it.

…

When Latria finally started to stir, she was greeted by the sight of Annabelle Lee hovering right in front of her face, the feel of a pistol pressed against the side of her head and the point of a knife digging into her side, and the usual stench that came with waking up in Bertha's Brother. The last sensation went unnoticed. The first two weren't.

To her credit, as crazy as she was, she apparently followed her own rules. After all, Arzt had taught her what happens when they were forgotten. So as soon as she grasped the situation she froze up immediately.

"Hi there," Annabelle Lee said. "Your name is Latria, right?"

"Yes," Latria said, barely moving her mouth and not taking her eyes away from Annabelle Lee's face.

Annabelle Lee nodded. "Good. And you were sent by the Madam to meet us, right?"

Anger darkened Latria's face. "When she finds out about-"

The tip of Annabelle Lee's right-hand blade pressed against the soft underside of her chin shut her right up. "Yeah, we know about her having some interesting ideas when it comes to revenge. And believe me, we really don't want to find out how true the stories are. The Madam's kind of scary, right?"

The risk of puncturing herself kept Latria from moving, but the way she moved her eyebrows indicated a nod.

"So yeah, making her mad is definitely something we don't want to do. But see, here's something else: you did technically start the whole thing."

Latria's brow furrowed.

"I know, I know," Annabelle Lee, holding up her free palm. "Misunderstanding. You were trying to keep us from breaking one of those rules, things got out of hand, right there with you. But still, given where we are, we were a little…jumpy, you know? And sneaking up on a bunch of complete strangers in a dangerous place isn't real smart. I don't have my own copy of that survival rulebook handy, but that's got to violate at least one of them, yeah?" Annabelle Lee leaned in closer. "So does attacking the Madam's invited clients."

Latria's eyes went wide.

"See, we were sent here to do business with the Madam. By…" Okay, time for a little white lie. "…Oblivion herself. She was going to help us get ready for a super-secret mission, for which she would be paid…" A brief hesitation, as Annabelle Lee realized that she had no idea what Reibey had promised in exchange for the Madam's help. "…quite a bit. If she finds out about this, sure, we're going to be screwed. Tortured, sold as slaves, what have you. But she's bound to be a little annoyed with you for starting this whole mess, isn't she?"

The look on Latria's face, coupled with its sudden lack of color, gave Annabelle Lee all the answer she needed.

"So let's make a deal," she said. "We pretend that fight never happened. You don't tell, we won't tell, nobody tells."

The corner of Latria's mouthed moved. "She'll find out," she mumbled the best she could.

Annabelle Lee considered this. Her and Nikki's attempted escape into the sky had to have been seen by somebody. And even if it hadn't, people like the Madam always found out. It was that deadly tendency to always know what people didn't want them to know that gave them power.

"All right," she said at last. "How about this: we tell her up front. Say you startled us by accident, things got out of hand, but we figured out that we were being stupid and stopped. Everyone apologized, sorry about fighting, no offense intended, everything's cool now. Would that work?"

Latria also took her time mulling over the question. Finally, she said, "Prob'ly."

"Okay." Annabelle Lee withdrew the blade and slowly backed away. "So, do you promise to not attack us or try to get the Madam mad at us?"

Another long silence. Then Latria said in a low growl, "Say you're sorry first."

Figures. Even when presented with a workable compromise, she was still going to be petty. Oh well. Annabelle Lee was used to the taste of crow. "I'm very sorry for any pain, discomfort, and inconvenience we have caused you," she said solemnly. "And for our part in this whole ugly misunderstanding."

"No," Latria said. "I want to hear it from her." Then she nodded toward someone who, until then, had been standing silently behind Annabelle Lee.

Specifically, Arzt.

Crap.

Surprising absolutely no one, Arzt did not care for this condition at all. Her lips curled back and her golden eyes narrowed with indignation. "Excuse me?" she seethed.

"Say you're sorry," Latria repeated primly. This earned her a growl from Nie, who was still holding a gun to her head and was no doubt still dwelling on how much it had hurt to be skewered. As for Nikki, she seemed confused by the whole proceedings. While she held the knife firmly in place, her attention kept wandering from her captive to her sister, as if silently asking her why everyone was getting so bent out of shape over apologies instead of chopping each other into fine little pieces.

Annabelle Lee waved her off. "Arzt, now is not the time to get huffy," she murmured out of the corner of her mouth.

"Shut up, Assabelle," Arzt hissed. "If you think I'm going lower myself to actually apologizing to this scum, you need to get your-"

"All right, come on." Annabelle Lee seized her by the arm and half-led, half-dragged her away from the group for a private discussion. She glanced at the bemused Nikki, amused Latria, and infuriated Nie. "'Scuse us for a moment, ladies. We'll be back once we get this sorted out. Nobody do anything violent while we're gone. Or aggressive. Or in any way offensive." She thought for a moment, considering the personalities involved. "Actually, come to think of it, nobody move. At all. Just…sit tight for a bit. Nikki, this means you."

With that, she pulled Arzt along until they were out of earshot, or so she hoped. Maybe Latria had super-hearing, but Annabelle Lee didn't have time to react to all eventualities.

"Look," she said in a low voice. "Just do it. You don't have to mean it or anything. Just say it so we can be rid of her as soon as possible."

Arzt angrily pulled her arm away from Annabelle Lee's grasp. "Like hell I am. You saw what that beast did to Nie!"

"And you saw what she did to me and Nikki," Annabelle Lee countered. "It kind of hurt. But I still did it."

Folding her arms, Arzt shook her head in disgust. "Yes, I saw your disgusting display of groveling. Well done, Annabelle Lee. You are truly an inspiration to us all."

"Not enough of one, apparently." Annabelle Lee was getting sick of this. "Look. Arzt. I know where we stand. Which is to say we can't stand each other. You think I'm a shameless barbarian, and if I have to see you and your, ahem, 'twin' tonsil wrestle one more time, I'll probably vomit." She reached over to jab at Arzt's sternum with her finger. "But like it or not, we're the closest thing we have to allies right now, and we do not have time for this dumbness. So just suck it up and apologize to the crazy person we can get moving already!"

"After what she did?" Arzt demanded. She swatted Annabelle Lee's hand away. "She hurt the one person in my life worth caring about!"

"Nie is fine! So will you please-"

"What if it were your sister?" Arzt challenged. "What if it were Nikki that she attacked? Would you still be able to suck it up and beg her pardon?"

Annabelle Lee stared at her in disbelief. Apparently, Arzt's short term memory had been given lower priority in favor of righteous indignation. "Yeah, I don't know how in the hell you forgot, but Nikki did get attacked! I did too! And we both got lanced the same way Nie did! So yes, I would and did suck it up and beg her pardon!"

Arzt's face went cold. "You are one ugly piece of work, Annabelle Lee. Do you even care for your sister at all?"

"Yes, I most certainly am," Annabelle Lee retorted without hesitation. "You're right about that. And as a matter of fact, I do care for Nikki. Enough to not let something as stupid as my pride keep me from saving her from being tortured horribly by the city's most notorious crime boss!"

The color left Arzt's face. She opened her mouth and closed it several times in succession, but no words came out. At least none that were intelligible. She did make several squeaky sounds, but none of them resembled actual words.

Then, without warning, she spun on her heel and marched back to where the others were waiting. Miraculously, the situation had not devolved into stomach-churning violence, a rarity whenever Ticky Nikki was involved. Maybe she and Latria had cancelled each other out.

In her most cloyingly sweet voice possible, Arzt said, "Latria, I truly do apologize for making your head explode. The suffering you must have endured must have been horrible, and the thought that I may have been accessory to it pains me more than you could imagine."

Ticky Nikki and Nie both gaped at her in surprise. However, Latria was not so taken back.

"Oh. Okay!" she said, cheering up immediately. "That's all right. Sorry about stabbing you guys and all." She glanced at the two stunned girls still pressing weapons against her and then down at her chains. "Can you let me go now? We're late enough as it is."

"No!" Nie shouted.

"Yes," Annabelle Lee countered.

"But we didn't blow her butt-half up yet!" Nikki whined.

"Don't care," Annabelle Lee said. "Let her go."

"But-" Nie started to say, but she saw the look Annabelle Lee was giving her and presumably decided that now was not the time to question orders.

Soon Latria was free and standing. Nikki and Nie both wearily watched for her to again take the offensive, but she seemed to have lost interest in all grudges. "Ah, so much better!" she declared, swinging her arms back and forth to ease out the kinks. "My back was starting to…Wait a minute."

Her hands went to her head and found it bare. The relief on her face gave way to confusion, which was quickly upgraded to panic.

"Hat," she said. "My hat! Where's-"

Annabelle Lee pointed to where Latria's ridiculous hat was still lying, having been blown aside when her head had popped.

"There!" Latria pounced, sweeping her hat up and plopping it on her head. Nodding in satisfaction, she turned to grin widely at the staring ex-Void Walkers.

"Thanks!" she turned around, facing toward the city. "Okay, let's go!"

With that, she marched forward. After a short hesitation, the others followed.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Annabelle Lee to Arzt, who was administrating comforting nuzzles to Nie and being administered to in turn.

"Shut up, Annabelly," The Twins said in unison.

…

One thing that must be remembered, no matter how difficult her impending behavior might make it difficult. Kyoko Sakura is, in fact, a seasoned warrior. She has, both in partnership with her friend and mentor Mami Tomoe and by herself, battled and defeated monsters that would give Stephen King nightmares and make H. P. Lovecraft curl up into a ball and cry. And by doing so, she has honed her technique, disciplined her mind and body, and perfected her brutally efficient fighting style.

On top of that, she is a survivor. She has taken blows that would land professional fighters in the emergency ward and kept right on fighting. Sure, the enhanced resilience gained from her contract had something to do with that, but those blows still had hurt. What's more, she has, in the space of only a few short years, endured emotional and, dare we say, spiritual traumas that would make grown men break.

But even with those aspects of her character in mind, it must not be forgotten that while she is both warrior and survivor, she is also, when it comes down to it, a fourteen-year-old girl, one that had just fulfilled her lifelong dream of riding a dragon and was now getting to visit an alien city in the clouds.

Needless to say, it did not take the others long to lose track of her. In fact, it took less than thirty seconds.

Though to be fair, they had little reason to keep an eye on her. After all, they were in Cloudbreak, which was theoretically the safest place in the world from Void Walkers (though, as Charlotte would dryly point out when they would discuss the subject later that day, it was the least safe place in the world from the Alliance, which would soon be counted among their enemies). Furthermore, it wasn't as if they were currently arguing about something, so it wasn't like she had any real reason to go running off by herself as she had in Freehaven.

Furthermore, though Mami and Charlotte had been there a couple of times before, those short trips hadn't been enough to get them accustomed to the sight, and this was Oktavia's first time there. And let's face it, given that skylines relied heavily on enchantments to keep their mechanical creatures in the air, their skyports pretty much had to be prettied up to keep the elysians from standing out too much. The one back at Freehaven bore more than a few similarities to hotels that cater to the rich and extravagant. This one was a little more original. It was built from dark yellow marble and seemed to borrow heavily from the temples of several ancient cultures, not all of them human. Furthermore, everything from the walls, ceiling, and floors to the columns to the furniture was webbed with a network of wide cracks, which were filled with ai'jurrik'kai glass that shifted from one color to the next, making it look like there was a vein of precious gems bursting right through the surface. Those unused to the sight were known to block hallways with their staring and run into things.

Funnily enough, it was the newcomer Oktavia that first noticed that Kyoko had wandered off. As Mami and Charlotte took turns taking in the sights and watching for their luggage to emerge, she came to realize that they their little party of conspirators was short one body. She snapped out of her tourist daze, looked around, and saw that their quartet was missing a member. The others were then alerted, and a search began.

"Damn it," Charlotte growled as she stalked through the baggage claim. "Out of all the times. Out of all the times!"

"Calm down," Mami said, though she had been thinking similar thoughts. "She probably just wanted to explore and forgot to tell us. Excuse me!" That last part was directed toward a purple calliope that had been bobbing around the area. "Have you seen a human with long, red hair wearing a green jacket?"

The calliope paused. "As a matter of fact, yes. She went sprinting down that hallway." The sparkling dots on her surface converged into a single point, facing the hallway in question.

Mami took a look. Sure enough, in the far waiting area, was Kyoko. The girl was standing slack-jawed in front of a sculpture made from liquid silver that twisted and morphed its shaped constantly into graceful patterns.

Mami opened her mouth to call out to her, but right then was when something outside must have captured Kyoko's attention, because the redhead suddenly turned around, went as stiff as a startled cat, exclaimed something that probably summed up her astonishment in a handful of obscenities, and bolted for the doors.

Oh dear.

"Stay with Oktavia!" Mami called to Charlotte, and she was off like a shot. Thankfully, most of the people between her and the lobby were ai'jurrik'kai, who preferred to lope across the walls, and calliopes, who were almost incapable of being an obstacle to anyone, unless they were trying to be.

Mami skidded on her heel, made a sharp right, and burst through the front doors, silently praying that whatever it was that had attracted Kyoko's attention, it was something solitary.

She needn't have worried. Immediately before her at the bottom of the steps was a wide, rectangular plaza made from the same ai'jurrik'kai glass-infused stoned of the skyport. All along its edge were towering Corinth pillars topped by hanging vines and flowers, with more exotic plants nestled along their bases. And in the center was a fountain, the centerpiece of which was a tall but delicate-looking three-dimensional webwork of spun glass, from which water was continually spraying from the hundreds of tiny spouts that covered its surface.

What was more, like the silver sculpture inside, the webwork was moving: curling up, unraveling, and undulating in lazy movements. During her first trip to Cloudbreak a few years back, Mami had also been stunned by the sight and had immediately assumed that the webwork was in fact some strange extraterrestrial being basking in the shallow waters. Of course, that turned out not to be the case, and in retrospect Mami supposed that paying such a being to spend all day lying around being goggled at by tourist would end up being more expensive than just building a physics-defying piece of art, but it was no less impressive.

With that memory in mind, Mami found it hard to really blame Kyoko for running around like she was. The girl was barely over a week into her afterlife, and most of it had been spent unconscious. And even in the time she had been awake, most of the stuff she had experienced had either been reminiscent of her past life or horrific. Her ride on the elysian had been her first taste of the more wondrous side. This was her second, and it was turning out to be quite the helping.

Mami could let her gawk at the fountain. Sure, she could do that.

Fighting the small smile she felt forming and doing an utterly lousy job at it, she walked up to the fountain and waited for Kyoko to finish her lap. As the redhead started to move around her, apparently oblivious to her presence, Mami turned to face her and said, "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Now Mami had to admit, as much as she tried to act as peacemaker and advocate for civilized relations between the people she cared about, she was still only human, and thus had a bit of a vindictive streak in her. And watching the troublesome little rebel let out a tiny squeak of surprise and actually leap up in surprise pleased it greatly.

"Jesus, Mami!" Kyoko said, clutching at where her heart had once been. "The hell you thinking, scaring me like that?"

Mami bowed her head in apology. "Forgive me, but as you had startled us with your sudden disappearance, I wished to return the favor."

Kyoko blinked stupidly at her. Then she caught the jab and, to her credit, actually looked a little chagrined. "Well, yeah," she said, scratching the back of her head. "But come on! You've got that aluminum amoeba inside, and this…" she motioned helplessly at the webwork, "glass thingamajiggy here, and who knows how much kickass stuff right around the corner! Cut me some slack, you woulda run off too!"

Actually, back then Mami had been tempted to do just that, though she had exercised greater self-control than Kyoko was displaying. Charlotte however had gotten lost three times before they had even arrived at their hotel due to her having her attention grabbed by something interesting and needing to go check it out. But rather than share that piece of information with Kyoko, Mami simply went to go stand next to her and watch the fountain. "Perhaps. But it would behoove you to remember that we are unlikely to get anything accomplished if I have to go looking for you every five minutes," she chided gently.

"Yeah, yeah," Kyoko muttered as she shoved her hands into her pockets, though there didn't seem to be much in the way of actual rebellion. Maybe putting on an attitude when she was lectured was part of her contract. Either way, Mami decided to let the subject drop.

They watching the webwork as it squished in on itself like a sponge before spreading upward into a cone. Then Mami said, "And you're right, it is very impressive."

"How they do that, anyway?" Kyoko asked, scrunching up her face quizzically. "Enchantments?"

Mami shook her head. "No. Simple technology."

"Huh?"

"It's made from the same glass that they've filled those cracks with," Mami explained. "In fact, it's not even glass. The ai'jurrik'kai spin it to make their homes the same way a spider spins silk. They've since figured out a way to make their creations…hmmm, amorphous I suppose you'd call it. They mostly use it for things like doors, elevators, and easily constructed furniture. But as you can see, it has its artistic merits as well."

"No kidding," Kyoko said, sounding impressed. "And I guess that silver bubble thing works the same way?"

When Mami nodded, Kyoko just shook her head. "I don't get it, Mami. Why do these guys even hang out with us? I mean, we humans got Freehaven, and sure, it may be pretty and all, but it's kinda…ordinary. They've got a flying city that has cool shit like this. The hell do we got to offer them?"

Mami had to smile at that. "I think you underestimate our contributions. Freehaven looks the way it does because it was built before the Alliance came into being, but Cloudbreak was built after, and we had just as much to do with its creation as anyone else. An actual ai'jurrik'kai town actually looks much different. Besides, there is plenty of human technology that has amazed our neighbors as much as their mutable glass is amazing you."

"Yeah?" Kyoko said, sending her a sidelong glance. "Like what?"

"Air conditioners," Mami replied.

Kyoko said nothing. Her face said it all.

"It's true," Mam said. "Air conditioners are one of the principal reasons that we got along so well with the jotts. They're more accustomed to cooler temperatures, and so often ran into trouble when they found themselves outside of their natural environment. Furthermore, the ai'jurrik'kai love radio. They don't see the same way we do. So, they've never really warmed up to anything visual. But they adore radio, and actually have a thriving radio drama scene in their communities."

Dumbfounded, Kyoko shook her head as she tried to process this. "Well, okay," she said at last. "That's…really weird."

Mami shrugged. "I don't see why it should be. We all have something to offer our neighbors. Cloudbreak is living testament to this."

Kyoko frowned at that, and Mami had a pretty good idea as to why she was troubled. During the ride over, Kyoko had confessed that that girl she had met in Freehaven had given her something of a wake-up call in the form of a history lesson. Coupled with the surprise possibility of being reunited with her sister, Kyoko was now thinking much more positively of her future in the afterlife.

However, she still had her reservations, and maybe she would never be able to settle fully in. In life she had been forcibly conditioned to be distrustful of anything good that she had not personally paid for. She wasn't the kind to respond well to handouts, as in her mind they always came with a hidden price. If something seemed too good to be true, that meant that it was; end of story.

Maybe that mindset contributed more to Kyoko's determination to get Momo back through brute force than she would admit. If she was going to find paradise, she was going to do it her way, on her terms. It was entirely possible that she saw the ordeal ahead of them as a sort of testing ground, a way to prove that once she was finally happy, she had damned well earned the right.

Or maybe Kyoko was just a natural hothead with little patience and Mami was reading too much into things.

At any rate, they had stood there long enough. "Come on," she said, albeit with some reluctance. "Charlotte and Oktavia are probably getting worried."

"Yeah, sure," Kyoko said. She started to turn away from the fountain.

Then she froze. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips curled in a predatory manner, baring one of her fangs. Mami was instantly on her guard.

"What is it?" she whispered, eyes searching for the threat.

"Her," Kyoko growled.

Mami followed Kyoko's gaze and saw, not a Void Walker or one of their allies, but a perfectly normal looking human girl. She was walking leisurely through the plaza, pulling a wheeled suitcase behind her and munching on a foot-long hotdog piled high with relish.

Confused, Mami was about to ask Kyoko why she was reacting so negatively to the girl, but when she saw the reason she actually groaned out loud. The girl had finished two-thirds of the hotdog and, judging that to be enough for lunch, wrapped the rest in a napkin and tossed it into a trash can.

Then she stopped and frowned in at the trash can in question. Her discarded meal had failed to enter the receptacle, courtesy of a maroon, diamond-shaped shield that had suddenly materialized to catch it.

Before she could stop her, Kyoko was already halfway across the plaza and storming the rest of the way with enraged purpose. "Hey!" she shouted at the bewildered girl. "The hell do you think you're doing?"

The poor girl. She had just wanted to throw some unwanted leftover away. Unbeknownst to her, Kyoko Sakura had been in the area, and now she was going to have to suffer for her indiscretion.

"Kyoko, this is not the time!" Mami pleaded as she ran after her. "Leave her alone!"

Naturally, her pleas fell on deaf ears. "You just gonna toss that and walk away?" Kyoko demanded, practically shoving herself in the girl's face. "You just don't waste food like that!"

The girl gaped at the strange, natty girl picking a fight with her and her bizarre reason for doing so. "I-if you want it, it's yours!" she said. "I don't mind!"

"This has nothing to do with me!" Kyoko shot back. "Pick up the damned hotdog and either eat it now or eat it later. But don't you fucking dare just throw it away like that!"

Mami reached her then and managed to at least drag Kyoko away from the girl's face. "Kyoko, control yourself," she hissed. To the girl, she said, "I'm so sorry about this. Wasting food is a trigger for her, please don't take it personally."

As she worked to defuse the situation, Mami suddenly became aware that the whole plaza had fallen silent. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. She did not need to spend one of her final days in the Alliance being made into a public spectacle.

But then she realized that despite the scene they were making, very few people were actually paying attention to them. It was difficult to tell at first, as only a few of those around had readable faces, but instead of the angry girl throwing a tantrum over a stranger's wasteful ways, they were instead staring toward the skyport's doors and the…person that had just emerged from them.

Mami saw the person, and her breath caught in her throat. "K-Kyoko," she stuttered. Her grip on Kyoko's elbow slipped, and she had to clamp down on the redhead's forearm to keep her hand from trembling.

Still oblivious to the danger she was now in, Kyoko continued to lecture the other girl on the error of her ways. "You think that just because you're dead that means you can just gobble up what you want and toss the rest like it's nothing? Hell no! If anything, you should be treating food with even more respect, seeing how it's how we fucking recharge our magic now!" However, the girl wasn't listening. She too had seen what matter of being they now shared the plaza with and had frozen in fear.

"Kyoko, let's go," Mami said, pulling insistently on Kyoko's arm. Unfortunately, all the commotion had attracted the creature's attention, and she was now wandering over to see what all the fuss was about.

Mami tried to get Kyoko out of there by force, but as the creature came to loom over them, she found all of her strength gone. Now she was praying for someone to show up and rescue both of them.

"So don't you go around acting so goddamned careless!" Kyoko continued on. "Trashcans are for trash, and food is never trash."

"I connncurrrrr," the creature buzzed in agreement. "Food izzzzz nezzzerrrr to be wazzzzzted."

"See, this girl's backing me up," Kyoko said. She turned to glance at her new advocate. "So you'd better-"

She stopped talking. The being that was now towering over her had to be nearly four meters tall, huge even for one of her kind. Her entire form was swathed in a heavy, crimson robe adorned with furs and the tanned hide of some kind of reptile. A concealing hood covered her head, which extended buzzard-like from her broad shoulders, and her arms hung almost to the ground.

Long ago, Mami had taken it upon herself to learn as much about her nonhuman neighbors as possible. She knew what was under robe. She knew what she looked like. She knew what sort of things her people did. As such, she was now terrified.

The creature first regarded Kyoko with amusement before focusing on the hapless girl that had started the whole thing. "Yooouuunnng laaadieeee," it said in a voice like a swarm of locusts. "Zzzheee izzz right. Youzzzz zzzzould not be zzzzo wazzzzefullll."

"Sure," the girl squeaked, her face now completely devoid of color. "Whatever you say."

The creature chuckled. Then it lifted one of its arms. Mami tensed up in anticipation of an attack. Instead, the creature merely reached over toward what was left of the hotdog. Six thin, black digits extended from her sleeves to spear the partially eaten treat and drew it back inside. A moment later, the shredded remains of the napkin drifted back out.

Then the creature turned back to Kyoko. Thanks to her position, she got a glimpse of what was under that hanging hood. The thing had no face, no eyes, nose, or mouth. But it certainly had…something. Exactly what it was, she couldn't tell. But it was moving. A lot.

"Not bad," buzzed the creature. With that, it turned and glided away.

Nobody dared move until at least a full minute after it had left the plaza. After that, people cleared out in a hurry. Ai'jurrik'kai scampered over the pillars, calliopes took the high road, and humans and the handful of jotts that were around retreated for the sanctuary of the skyport. The girl that Kyoko had been offended by was one of the latter.

Soon the two of them were more-or-less by themselves. Kyoko didn't exactly look frightened by her encounter, though she was definitely confused. She didn't know better, after all.

"Mami?" she said. "Mind telling me what the hell that big, creepy thing was, and everyone was scared shitless by it?"

Mami slowly released a breath that she hadn't even know she was holding. "That, Kyoko, was one of our…nastier neighbors. That was a dockengaut."

…

If the shipping dock of Bertha's Brothel had been bad, its slums were even worse. As the uneasy quartet of former Void Walkers followed their deranged guide through dimly lit streets; past dozens of suspicious looking storefronts, only half of which seemed to be in business (though Annabelle Lee suspected that none of them were closed); and through narrow alleys, Annabelle Lee once again found herself thanking the fates for removing her legs and gifting her with flight. The filth the others were trekking through were ruining their shoes and would probably soon be introducing their feet to a number of charming fungi. However, as something suspicious dripped onto her head from an overhanging drainpipe, she found herself envious of The Twins' hats.

But even with the muck, scum, and uncomfortable close spaces, the slums had something even worse, something that made the docks look positively homey by comparison: it had people.

Over the many years of the town's existence, girls who had been unable to adjust to their second life, fallen on incredibly hard times, or had just been bad to begin with had migrated to Bertha's Brothel. Some of them joined one of the many criminal enterprises that made their headquarters there. Others got jobs with the independent piratical, smuggling, and mercenary groups that passed through. There were even those who managed to find honest work. After all, even a haven of scum had to have some form of legitimacy in order to function.

But many were unable to even do that, and wound up in the slums. Once there, they became cannon fodder for vice pushers, brothel owners, kidnappers, and anyone in need of a body that would not be missed.

Annabelle Lee could see why. She passed people from every available species, and despite the wide variety of body types, number of limbs, and clades, there was something that nearly everyone she saw had in common: a lack of hope.

It was a city of predators, and this was where they kept their prey. Some shuffled along aimlessly, while others prowled around on the hunt for someone more unfortunate than they were. Annabelle Lee floated on and did her best not to make eye contact. She kept a tight grip on Nikki's hand while making sure the blades on the other were openly displayed. Fortunately, most of those they passed saw that they were being led by Latria, and judging by how they gave the group as wide of a berth as the streets would allow, Latria had something of a reputation. Annabelle Lee couldn't fathom how it must have been earned.

Not all were dissuaded, however. As they passed through a wide courtyard (well, wide for Bertha's Brothel, that is), a human girl with short, greasy hair and an outfit that consisted of little more than a fishnet approached them. Judging by her crooked smile and the way her hips swayed as she walked, she had concluded that these new faces could use a friendly local for company and had taken it upon herself to provide it (for a price, of course). At another time, Annabelle Lee would have been tempted to take the girl aside and convince her that Arzt and Nie's relationship was growing stale and they were interested in including a third party to spice things up, just so she would have the pleasure of watching their reactions. Today she did not have time for such games. However, she did have bared blades and a vicious glower. Once the girl caught sight of both, she quickly backed off.

Their next encounter was much more unsettling. As they passed through one alley, a rag-covered figure of indeterminable species shambled toward them. "Soul drops for the pretty ladies?" she squeaked, holding open a metal suitcase. Inside were a number of tiny glowing gems of the same make as the ones they had found in Latria's pockets. Annabelle felt a little sick seeing them. Ingesting another's soul vapors was well known to provide a strong burst of energy, and when mixed with the right substances, a heavy feeling of intoxication. As such, there was any number of "products" that used soul vapors as a primary ingredient, soul shards being one of the most common.

Of course, consuming another's soul vapors was heavily frowned upon, if not outright banned, in most civilizations that contained an ounce of civility, and those found using such products were harshly punished. Naturally this meant that the soul vapor business was thriving, and the harsh truth of the matter was that not all vapor donors were well compensated for their involvement. Or were, in fact, willing.

Annabelle Lee hated the whole business. She was not a good person by any stretch of the imagination, but damn it, there were limits. As such, she took one look at the suitcase, wondered which poor losers had been split open to provide the raw materials, and growled, "Back. The fuck. Off." The misguided merchant made a hasty exit.

Shaken by the experience, Annabelle Lee reevaluated her earlier opinion of Bertha's Brothel. She now hated the place. Sure, it was honest about its ugliness, but boy howdy, it sure had a lot of it on display. What was more, as she passed one hopeless shmuck after another, she came to a troubling realization: Reibey's mission was the only thing keeping her from becoming just like them. They only difference between them and herself was that she had a chance at an exit. Unless they were willing to endure the centuries of service and vicious competition as a Void Walker, they didn't even have that.

As Annabelle Lee mused over her dark thoughts, she realized that Latria had stopped leading them through the streets and was now purposefully heading for a tavern. That was odd. Annabelle Lee had expected the Madam's operations to be located in the town's higher levels, where the upper class made their homes. But this place was still in the slums. Maybe it had some kind of stairway access or something.

Latria threw the doors open like she owned the place (which was admittedly possible). As she entered, Annabelle Lee was surprised at what she saw. Sure, the place was small, barely larger than a lounge, and sure it was somewhat worn, but it could pass as a second-rate watering hole in a much nicer city. The carpets were red velvet, the bar clean and impressively stocked, and the walls paneled with expensive woods.

There was one thing in particular that drew Annabelle Lee's attention. In a shadowed alcove at the far end of the tavern, a trio of butontikos were taking long drafts from a bubbling hookah. The butontikos were an interesting race, in that their bodies were almost completely transparent: their skin, muscles, and organs being composed of a deceptively tough gelatinous substance that, under the right circumstances, made them nearly invisible. As such, when they drew in long breaths from their pipes, Annabelle Lee could literally see the red smoke traveling up through their narrow snouts and out again through their nasal cavities.

But that wasn't why she was staring. Butontikos were strange, yes, but she had known several. No, it wasn't the smokers that had drawn her attention, but the bong they were using. It was perfectly round and just as transparent as its users. Inside was something round, red, and…

Annabelle Lee couldn't say for certain, but she was fairly sure that what they were actually smoking were soul vapors, drawn directly from an imprisoned calliope.

Nausea welled up within her, and she had to turn away, free hand cupped over her mouth. Fortunately, The Twins were standing in front of her at this point, so they didn't notice. Nikki did though.

"Annabelly, are you sick?" she asked in concern. "Did you catch a germ? Was it when you got opened? Were Latria's knives dirty? Nikki always makes clean knives. It's polite, you know." This last bit was directed toward Latria in a scolding sort of way. For a moment, Annabelle Lee was terrified that Latria would take offense initiate violence. Instead, she merely blinked in surprise at the reproachful little girl, extended the blades from her fingers, and examined them for dirt.

Birds of a feather…

"I'm fine," she mumbled to Nikki. "Just a little winded is all." She swallowed back her sickness and straightened up. As she did so, she stole a glance of the trio of Butontikos. They had noticed her reaction and were watching her with amusement. Seeing that she was looking at them, one slowly put her pipe to her lips and drew in a long, deliberate draft. The calliope visibly trembled as its very soul was sucked away.

Annabelle Lee forced herself to look away. This wasn't her business. That calliope meant nothing to her. She was just here to pick up whatever the Madam had for her and be on her way. Still, it was hard to keep from imagining Nikki or even her own self trapped in that glass bowl.

Apparently, Latria's claws had passed inspection, as she shrugged, sheathed them away, and led them through a beaded curtain and through a stiflingly narrow series of hallways before stopping in front of what looked like a janitor's closet. Opening it, they found that no mops or cleaning chemicals, but instead a rather unsafe looking steel cart on a rail that descended down through a diagonal metal tube.

"Get in," Latria ordered. Swallowing back her rising discomfort, Annabelle Lee obeyed. As everyone crowded in around her, she gripped the rails tightly, partially so that the cart wouldn't leave her behind, but mostly because, in addition to the bad taste that had been steadily accumulating in her mouth, she did not do well in enclosed spaces, and Bertha's Brothel's lower levels had nothing but.

"Are you all right?" asked one of The Twins, she knew not which. "You're looking a little green around the gills."

Perhaps the concern had been sincere, but as Annabelle Lee could practically hear a smirk in her words, she truly doubted it. "Just…just leave me alone," she seethed through clenched teeth. The Twins snickered, and if she were not convinced that sudden movement on her part would make her vomit, she just might have tried to shut their mouths via impalement.

Then she felt a warm presence wrap its little arms around her waist and burrow into her side. Ticky Nikki, seeing how distressed her sister was, had decided that a little sisterly comfort was in order. It was strange, how someone with real empathy problems and a mean sadistic streak could show such affection without hesitation. But then, Annabelle Lee was all she had, and vice-versa. Annabelle Lee looped an arm around Nikki and held her close.

Latria pulled a lever, and the cart began its slow trek downward. Annabelle Lee squeezed her eyes shut and found herself missing the stormlines. Even when they went underground, it happened so fast that she never had time to feel the weight of the earth pressing down on her.

But this? This was a nightmare. It didn't take long for the rusty clanging of the cart to take on a strange echo, letting her know that they were now beneath the water level. She thought of all that water, separated from them by only a rusty, ill-maintained pipe.

Then the echoes changed. They had thankfully passed beyond the river's border and were now descending deep beneath the swamp itself. Annabelle Lee had heard tales of those who had been swallowed up by the deceitful patches of soft sand. Unable to free themselves, they had been doomed to an existence of eternal suffocation, or at least that was how the stories went. And while logically a Puella Magi or even a witch would be able to eventually free themselves, everything up until then had to be a living Hell, one that Annabelle Lee had no trouble envisioning.

They kept going down and down and down, deeper into the swamp. Annabelle Lee gritted her teeth and held Nikki closer to her side. The little lunatic also wasn't taking the oppressive descent well, and was now seeking comfort as much as she was giving it.

Then, when Annabelle Lee felt that she no longer could keep from screaming, the cart jolted to a stop. "We're here," Latria cheerfully announced. "Bottom floor." She mimed an elevator ding and broke out into a fit of giggles.

Annabelle Lee opened her eyes. The cart had left the pipe and was now in a small cave. Before her was a metal catwalk that led to a steel door, emblazoned with the Brothel's insignia. Humming happily to herself, Latria skipped down the catwalk and rapped her knuckles against the door. An exchange occurred with someone on the other side, and the door creaked open.

As the Void Walkers made their way toward the entrance, Nie took the opportunity to get in one more jab. "You know, if you need to vomit, this is probably your last chance," she muttered.

"Shut up," Annabelle Lee hissed, though she was considering doing just that. "Just shut up."

Strange though, that there weren't any guards present. Granted, having the Brothel's entrance buried so deep underground was a natural protection in of itself. But still, one would expect someone to be keeping watch.

Annabelle Lee noticed a spider clinging to the wall next to the door. It was about the size of her thumb, had no head or eyes, and was completely surrounded by at least a dozen sharp-jointed legs. Four more legs stuck out of the top of its disk-like body, which slowly waved in the air like antennae.

With a jolt, Annabelle Lee realized three things. Firstly, that was no spider. Secondly, she had been very wrong in her belief that the door was unguarded. Thirdly, she wanted to get away from that thing immediately. Pulling Nikki along, she hurried to catch up to Latria.

Now, given the city's reputation, it will probably come as no surprise that Bertha's Brothel contained many, well, brothels, from the cheap, seedy ones in the slums to those with higher class, standards, and rates nestled in the upper levels. They weren't exactly discriminating about who they hired or catered to either. Chances were, if you were in need of some form of sexual release, you would be able to find someone of your species and personal preferences (or not of your species, if that was what you were into).

However, the only connection those establishments had with the Brothel was the cut all businesses were required to pay. And while the Madam certainly had her hand in a great many sex industries, her name and that of her organization was not literal. If it was a night of depravity you were looking for, you should probably inquire elsewhere. But if you were looking to topple governments, eliminate rivals, or collapse local economies, the Brothel was the place to go.

In short, it was a weapons seller and mercenary organization, one that charged highly for its merchandise and the service of its girls. But with that hefty price tag came the promise of quality and increased chances of success. They were not a group of thugs looking to perform violence for whoever would pay them. If you needed a few extra hands backing you up in some kind of grudge match, there were plenty of other places to go. But if you were looking to stage a coup, you went to the Brothel. If you needed the head of a major corporation and all of her supporters removed and disgraced so you could take over, you went to the Brothel. If you found yourself in need of a high-profile terrorist attack but felt that your own people were not up to the task, the Brothel stood ready to get the job done.

As for the Madam herself, there had actually been six of them since the Brothel's founding. Bertha, the original, had retired more than four centuries ago and was either living like a queen in an opulent but unspecified location, atoning for her sins as a member of a monastic order, or captaining a pirate crew that was the terror of the Amphritos Sea, depending on who you talked to. Of her successors, two had managed to safely pass along their position to their apprentices and disappear of their own accord, one had forcibly passed along her position to her loudest dissenter and disappeared against her will, and no one was exactly certain what had happened to the fourth but given that she had tried to break relations off with the Withering Lands there was no shortage of theories.

The current one was fairly new, only having taken charge a little over a decade ago, making her virtually a rookie when compared to her predecessors. Plus, the fact that she was the one of the two Madams to take control via hostile takeover without the previous incumbent's blessing had rubbed many the wrong way. Still, that had been plenty of time to establish herself as someone not to be contended with. Annabelle Lee didn't know much about her, but the stories painted her as someone was fair, reasonable, trustworthy, and utterly ruthless. She was someone who was long-suffering and slow to anger, but you did not want to get on her bad side. She wasn't especially popular though. There was still a great deal of resentment over her method of ascension and her close ties to Oblivion. But she was feared, and she was respected. And that was all a Madam needed to be.

It was the "reasonable" part that Annabelle Lee was counting on to save their hides. If the Madam was willing to hear them out about the fight on the docks and decide that personal vengeance wasn't worth damaging her relationship with Reibey, then maybe they would get a pass. Otherwise, they were screwed.

The rocky passages that Latria led them through now were wider than they were upside (thank God), though Annabelle Lee was still aware of the tons of stone and earth pressing down on them. Along the left-hand wall, windows had been carved out and set with fiberglass. Beyond was a cavern that dwarfed most cathedrals. Within was contained a weapons factory.

There were catwalks. There were conveyer belts. There were mechanical arms putting together parts. There were sparks and there were vats of molten metal. And there were many, many guns, bombs, vehicles, stationary turrets, and their more barbaric cousins being assembled. The weapons being created were all of the highest quality: sleek, deadly, and efficient. Annabelle Lee was a melee person herself, but she had to admit the sight was making her feel tingly in places she didn't normally feel tingly. The thought of Kyoko Sakura on her knees with the muzzle of one of those lovely assault rifles pressed against her head didn't exactly help in that regard.

And then Latria opened a door, leading them through the factory itself. Passing through was considerably less pleasant than viewing it from without, as the heat made Annabelle Lee feel dizzy and the sounds of the machines made Nikki cover her ears. Fortunately, they were there for less than a minute, as their path took them up a flight of steel steps and into an office that overlooked the factory.

All things considered, Annabelle Lee was rather surprised by how sparse the Madam's office was. Given her title, she expected something a little…flashier, rugs and painting and golden statues and the like. Instead, there was a single glass desk with a holographic computer screen, a low tea table surrounded by black plastic chairs, and a large window overlooking the factory floor. But then, maybe this was just the office she worked out of when she needed to oversee production, and her day-to-day office was in a different part of the facility.

As for the Madam herself, she sat at the desk, typing silently at a glowing keyboard superimposed over the desk's surface. Taller and older than most of the human girls that contracted with the Incubators, she was slight and frail looking, with something of a regal bearing. Her eyes were pale green, her hair was of silvery grey and tied into a neat ponytail that fell just beyond her shoulders, and she wore plain, but expensive, grey tailored pantsuit. The only decoration she wore was a small round jewel the color of her eyes inscribed with a vine imprint that was pinned through the center of her tie.

All in all, she didn't exactly look the part of a ruthless mercenary leader. Rather, she looked more like a favored intern at a prestigious company. But looks were often deceiving. After all, Annabelle Lee looked like a stiff breeze would knock her over, and Ticky Nikki looked like…well, Ticky Nikki.

As the girls entered, she glanced up from her work and nodded. No smile, but no frown. Annabelle Lee braced readied herself to begin pleading her case.

And then Latria went and threw everyone for a loop when, instead of announcing their presence, making introductions, or running off to procure refreshments, she instead cheerfully bounded across the room, landed in the Madam's lap, threw her arms around her torso, and started affectionately nuzzling her neck like a beloved family pet. What was more, the Madam did not seem bothered or even surprised by her subordinate's familiar behavior. Instead, her mouth finally moved up in a small smile as she took off Latria's hat and patted her head

Annabelle Lee remained frozen in place, finger raised and mouth open to speak but no longer capable of fulfilling its purpose. If anything, The Twins seemed delighted by what they were seeing, as they immediately pressed themselves against each other and exclaimed, "Awwwww." As for Ticky Nikki, she seemed more repulsed than anything. She glowered first at the Madam and her loving underling before shooting a suspicious look toward The Twins, as if wondering if she now had to deal with two pairs of overly grabby lovers.

"Latria," the Madam said, replacing the hat. "Welcome back."

Still seated on the Madam's lap, Latria withdrew and smiled at her master. "I brought them like I said I would."

"That you did." Further increasing the family pet parallels, the Madam eased Latria to the floor, who then happily wrapped her arms around the Madam's leg and hugged it tight.

Annabelle Lee's face twisted up. This was proving to be a very interesting day. In no particular order, she had been surprised, shocked, terrified, impaled, disgusted, nauseated, and sent into a claustrophobic near-panic. Now she got to add incredibly creeped out to the list. Seriously, was there no one in this godforsaken afterlife capable of displaying any sort of affection without being so freaking weird about it?

As the Madam absently scratched behind Latria's ear, she looked up and nodded cordially at her guests. "Ladies. Good morning.

Annabelle Lee blinked. "Oh. Ah, hello."

"Close the door please. It's noisy and you'll let the air conditioning out."

"Oh. Right." Annabelle Lee turned around, but Nie had already nudged the door closed. The sounds and heat from the factory cut off immediately.

"Thank you. May I offer you something to drink? Tea, perhaps? Or coffee?"

Ticky Nikki's eyes perked up at the mention of a caffeinated drink, but Annabelle Lee was quick to cut her off. "Just green tea for my sister and me, please."

"Sugar?"

It would be polite to accept, but this was Ticky Nikki they were talking about. "No thank you."

"And we wouldn't say no to a cup of red wine," Nie put in.

The corner of the Madam's mouth dipped down. "I'm afraid I do not permit alcoholic beverages on my property."

"Oh." Nie looked quite beside herself. Inwardly flinching at her companion's faux pas, Annabelle Lee cleared her throat and said, "I think it'll be tea all around."

The Madam nodded. She gave Latria a gentle push, sending her off through a back door.

"Please, have a seat," the Madam said, indicating the chairs set around the coffee table. The Twins immediately sat down in two, adopting identical poses with her hands on their knees and heads bowed, body language conveying that they were in no way important and thus no attention should be paid to them. Nikki claimed the chair farthest from them and sat with her legs crossed and eyes narrowed at her nemeses, as if daring them to make a move.

Annabelle Lee moved to follow, but then she hesitated. "Uh…I'm sorry, ma'am, but…"

"Madam, please," the Madam said evenly.

"Right. I'm sorry, Madam, but there is something…you should know about."

The Madam quirked an eyebrow. "Would this be about that altercation between Latria and the four of you on the docks, that one that resulted all but one of you being stabbed through, Latria's head exploding, and then her being chained to a shipping contained and threatened with bodily harm?"

Shit, Latria was right. The Madam did know everything. For all they knew, maybe that dumb eyeball plushie on the nutcase's hat was some kind of camera. "Er, yeah. That would be it."

"I see." The Madam gestured toward her. "Well, do explain."

Doing her best not to trip over her words and sound like an idiot, Annabelle Lee quickly summarized what had happened, from their surprise at Latria's sudden entrance to the flaring of tempers to the actual violence before finally ending with the truce and round of apologies. "And I just wanted to let you know, no, uh, offense was intended toward you or your, uh…" She had to stop her mouth from saying the word "pet." "Associate. It was a very unfortunate misunderstanding that devolved in a very unfortunate manner, for which you, uh, have our…Well, I'm saying we apologize. No offense intended."

"Please don't bake us," Ticky Nikki added suddenly, making Annabelle Lee moan internally. Nikki, please, shut up, she thought.

"I…see," the Madam said again. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Then, her expression unreadable, she stood up and walked toward Annabelle Lee.

The amethyst-haired witch stiffened as she approached, but the Madam walked right past her to sit down in the chair at the head of the table. The back door opened, and Latria reentered, this time bearing a silver tray holding five steaming China cups.

"Latria, did you get into a fight with our guests?" the Madam asked as Latria set the tray down.

Latria's face fell. "Yes," she mumbled.

"Was it an accident?"

"Yes."

"Did everyone say they were sorry?"

"Yes."

"Did you say you were sorry?"

“Yes.”

"Very good." The Madam picked up her cup and took a sip. "You're excused."

Latria hastily exited the room. Once she was gone, the Madam said to Annabelle Lee, "Please, sit down. We can hardly do business with you standing there with your back to me."

Annabelle Lee sat.

"And thank you for volunteering that information," the Madam said. "It is rare to experience such honesty."

Annabelle Lee wasn't sure how to respond, so she played it safe and just nodded her head.

"After all, had you remained silent and tried to cover it up, I would have vanished the lot of you and had my own people secure the prize for Reibey. Based on what he's told me about you and your mission, I doubt he would mind much."

Nikki let out a small squeak, and The Twins both started trembling. Annabelle Lee couldn't blame them, as she was experiencing the adrenaline high that often came from a near-miss from a bullet: intense relief coupled with equally intense fear.

"But the matter is settled, so I see no reason to dwell on it." The Madam set her cup back down. "Now, as I understand it, you four are about to engage in a highly dangerous operation: the acquisition of two humans, one Puella Magi and one witch, who are currently under the Alliance's protection. Current data puts them as heading toward Cloudbreak, which further complicates things. You four have been stripped of your Void Walker status so as to lessen the chances of Compact violations, but still need my help and equipment in order to get in, fulfill your task, and return safely with your prize in hand. Can that be judged as an accurate summary of the situation?"

Well, that was one thing the Madam had over Reibey: she didn't play games. "Yes, it is," Annabelle Lee told her.

"I see." The Madam leaned back and crossed her legs. "Why?"

Annabelle Lee blanched. Where was this question coming from? "I, uh, Reibey didn't say-"

"I do not ask why he is willing to spend such a sum in order to acquire two girls. That is his business. What I ask is why you four are so willing to throw yourselves into such a dangerous position. After all, you have been exiled. You owe him nothing." She looked to The Twins. "What of you two, Arzt Kochen and Nie Blühen Herzen? Can you answer my question?"

Nie and Arzt exchanged a long look. Then Nie coughed into her fist and said, "Where else would we go?"

"Plenty of places, but I suppose that's beside the point." She turned to Nikki. "What of you, Nikki Cynthia Moffat? What are your reasons?"

Nikki flushed red at the mention of her full name. Annabelle Lee herself was surprised to hear it. In fact, she had almost forgotten it, it had been so many years since she had last heard it uttered out loud.

Fortunately, Nikki managed enough self-control to simply say, "I got where Annabelly…Annabelle Lee goes."

"How touching." Then the Madam turned her focus to the group's increasingly uncomfortable leader. "What of you, Annabelle Lee? Why put yourself through this?"

Annabelle Lee racked her brain for a satisfactorily articulate answer, her mouth moving up and down as she did. Finally, she settled on, "It's my only chance."

"I see," the Madam mused. She then rested her chin on her hand, closed her eyes, and thought.

Annabelle Lee exchanged bewildered looks with her comrades. Where in the hell was this line of questioning coming from? She had thought the Madam was the sort to do what she was paid for without delving into the reasons.

Then the Madam opened her eyes. "Nikki? Arzt? Nie? Would you excuse us for a moment?"

"What?" Arzt said, with similar sentiments being expressed by the others.

The Madam tilted her head toward the back door. "You'll find a comfortable parlor beyond. I would like to have a few words with your leader in private."

Nikki whined, "But I don't wanna-"

The Madam looked at her.

Nikki quailed. "Okay," she mumbled.

Annabelle Lee watched in confusion as the others filed out of the room. When they were gone, she slowly turned her head to stare at the Madam.

The Madam clasped her hands over her knees. "Tell me something, Annabelle Lee. Exactly what kind of person are you?"

Chapter Text

Self Discovery

Annabelle Lee sat frozen in her seat, eyes wide open, mouth slightly agape, breath caught in her throat, and fingers digging into her armrests. She had expected many things from this meeting with the Madam: a debriefing, intimidation tactics, and a great of being talked down to.

What she hadn't expected to be psycho-analyzed.

"I'm waiting," the Madam said.

After a brief internal struggle, Annabelle Lee managed to find her voice again. Well, part of it at least. "M-me?" she choked out. "Why?"

"Because I'm interested," the Madam replied.

"But…th-th-there's nothing interesting about me," Annabelle Lee protested. "I'm just a-another girl who doesn't want to stay and is trying to get out!"

The Madam's calm gaze burrowed into her eyes. "You mean die."

"Yeah, but I'm already dead! I just, you know, want to start acting like it." Annabelle Lee ran a shaking hand through her unevenly slashed hair. What was the point of this? What did the Madam want? "I just want to leave, that's all."

"Is that right?" The Madam took a long sip of her tea, ignoring the fact that her guest was squirming in discomfort. "And why is that?"

Annabelle Lee's brow twisted up in confusion. She slowly shook her head, mouth moving soundlessly before she blurted out, "Look, what's the point of this? Lots of Void Walkers want to leave. That's the whole part of being a Void Walker! What does it matter why I-" Remembering who she was mouthing off to, Annabelle Lee clamped her jaws shut before anything that could be constituted as rudeness slipped out. She averted her gaze, fixing to unmoving on the surface of the coffee table, all the while praying that she hadn't just purchased her ticket to a weighted tour of the bottom of the river.

Fortunately, the Madam didn't seem all that offended. In fact, she looked more amused than anything. "You are correct, there are," she said. "But we are not talking about them. You see, you interest me, Annabelle Lee."

Annabelle Lee frowned. "W-why?" she stammered.

"Well, that will take a little explaining," said the Madam. "You see, before you arrived, I glanced over your personal bio."

Oh. Well, that couldn't be good. Maybe not bad, but probably not good either. "Oh. Uh, did you?"

The Madam nodded. "It was…unexceptional. Five plus decades as a Void Walker, during which your service could be described as more than adequate, but otherwise ordinary. Nine years working security at the Silent Mill, five years as part of the Tower of Naught's sanitary crew, another two as a hygienic inspector, before you and your sister were finally assigned to patrol duty at Genocide City, where you remained until a few days ago. Relatively few instances of receiving disciplinary action, no notable foul-ups until now, a decent win-loss record in local fighters' circuits, and from what I can tell, had you not been interrupted, in three years' time you and your sister would have been transferred to north-western border patrol, at the Cathedral of Nihilism. All-in-all, you were a good Void Walker, but far from a remarkable one. Do I have the right of it?"

She did, though Annabelle Lee wish it weren't the case. During her time of service, she really hadn't cared much about standing out from the crowd. She hadn't been interested in becoming employee of the month or garnering accolades and commendations. Her only goal had been to do her job to the best of her ability until she had progressed enough so as to present her name for consideration at one of the Releasing Ceremonies. But listening to the Madam dispassionately list out her lack of notability like that made her wish that she hadn't been quite so mediocre.

Hey, she thought bitterly. At least you managed to screw up enough that Reibey fired you in person. That's something, at least.

"I see," the Madam said after noting the look Annabelle Lee's face. "Your psyche profile was much the same. Classic misanthrope. Jaded, cynical, and utterly self-loathing. You hate where you are, you hate what you are, and most of all, you hate yourself. No friends, no one who cares enough about you to put a good word in for you, no one you feel any sort of affection toward save for your mentally stunted sister. Again, your run-of-the-mill Void Walker, noteworthy only in that you reached that stage in your first year rather than your first century, which is standard. But even that isn't unheard of. All in all, completely and utterly unremarkable."

Annabelle Lee cringed. Damn it, what was wrong with her? She was supposed to be the type to never take personal criticism to heart, but the Madam's words were cutting deep. As thick as her skin was, it looked to have one overlooked and undefended entrance. She looked down, focusing on under untouched cup of tea, not daring to meet the Madam's eyes.

Apparently, her silence was inadequate as a response. "Speak, please," the Madam said.

Annabelle Lee didn't raise her head, though the grimace on her face had to be obvious. "Wh-what's the point of this?" she rasped out. "You already know who I am, what I am. I'm a nobody, yeah. So, why'd you send the rest of the guys out? Why try to figure out who I am if you already know?"

"Because I feel your dossier is incomplete," the Madam said in a prim tone. "Based simply on what I've read, I expected to see someone without real ambition, without empathy, and without hope. Just another shambling pawn without a sense of self-worth, throwing herself into the Abyss so she wouldn't have to live with the shame of her own existence anymore."

"I…you kinda did."

"Did I?" The Madam studied Annabelle Lee for an uncomfortable moment, her pale green eyes regarding her like a capture specimen about to be pinned to a wooden box. "Tell me something, Annabelle Lee. What do you think of this city? It's okay to be honest. I'm not especially fond of it either."

Annabelle Lee blinked. What, was this another test? "W-well, it's kind of…"

"Yes?"

After several seconds, Annabelle Lee finally settled on an answer that was honest but unrevealing. "Smelly."

"Not untrue," the Madam said with a small, amused smile. "What else?"

"Crowded."

The Madam nodded. "Yes. And what else?"

Annabelle Lee sighed. Oh, what the hell. "It's…it's a cesspool. You've got a bunch of worthless, hopeless idiots shuffling around with their heads down, with nowhere to go, nothing to do, until they get snatched up by a slaver ring or soul harvesting cartel or something. It's stifling."

"Indeed," nodded the Madam. "Continue."

"What do you want me to say?" Annabelle Lee said with a helpless shrug. "This place sucks. It's a great big cage, where you either become a monster or you get trapped."

"Hmmm, yes." There was a knowing glint in the Madam's eyes that made Annabelle Lee uncomfortable. “And you hate cages, don't you?”

"I'm not a big fan of closed spaces," Annabelle Lee said honestly.

"You must have hated your quarters then," the Madam remarked. "I hear they are not starved for space."

"Didn't care for it, no. But I could deal. It was just something I had to put up with on my way out."

"But Bertha's Brothel is different?" the Madam pressed.

Annabelle Lee struggled to come up with an articulate answer before just settling with, "There is no way out of here."

"No, there is not," the Madam said, nodding. She took a dainty sip from her cup and set it down. "In a way, it is as much as monster as those who have made their fortunes here. And you pity those that have caught in its jaws."

Annabelle Lee frowned. "I don't like closed spaces," she said again.

"Nor do you much care for the soul harvesting industry."

"No," Annabelle Lee said, shaking her head.

"Why not?"

"Same reason. No way out. At least, back in the world of the living, if you got taken away to get tortured or have your organs harvested or something horrible, at least you had death to look forward to. Once you were gone, you were out."

"But those caught by soul harvesters don't even have that," the Madam continued for her. "They are kept imprisoned indefinitely, with no freedom, few comforts, and their life essences constantly being sucked away. A hideous existence, by anyone's standards."

Annabelle Lee shuddered. Just thinking of it made her skin crawl. "Yeah."

"Which is why you reacted so strongly to Turpentine."

Annabelle Lee blinked. "What?"

"The calliope," the Madam explained. "The one trapped in the hookah bong upstairs."

"Oh. Yeah."

The Madam pursed her lips. "Strange. The girl detailed in the psyche profile I was given would have no reason to care for her. After all, what is another luckless loser? She should have been nothing to you. And yet, you were disgusted by her predicament. You felt sorry for her."

Well, that much was true. "Even I've got limits," Annabelle Lee mumbled.

The Madam quirked an elegant silver eyebrow. "And yet, here you are, ready to depart on mission to steal away the freedom of two girls that have done you no wrong or-"

Annabelle Lee's head snapped up. "No wrong?" she said, mouth agape. "Are you serious? Do you have anything what those bitches put us through?"

"Yes, I do," the Madam said calmly. "They did nothing more than react to multiple unprovoked attacks by you and your associates. They defended themselves from unknown assailants and did so successfully. Do you really resent them for succeeding while you failed? Tell me: was the punishment you endured really any fault of their own? Or should they have simply lain down and let you carry them off?"

Annabelle Lee blinked. "I-"

"But despite the fact that Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff have done you no ill beyond what you had coming, despite entrapment being the one thing capable of eliciting moral outrage from that dried walnut you call a heart, you are now about to become the very thing you despise. You are going to take these two girls away from a place they want to be, and deliver them to somewhere they very much wish to avoid. And all things considered, it is highly likely that, upon arrival, no one will hear from them again."

"Well, I suppose that…"

"And not only that, to do so you are seeking the aid of the sort of person that you hate. After all, it is a well-documented fact that, despite the Brothel being the foremost of my interests, I also have my hand in a number of other enterprises as well, soul harvesting being among them. I fund and profit from the only thing capable of disgusting you." The Madam's pale emerald gaze bore into Annabelle Lee's vibrant amethyst eyes. "So tell me: are you still eager to accept my assistance in this matter, or am I too odious of a monster to take anything from?"

Now Annabelle Lee was starting to grow just a little frustrated. Yeah, okay, she did hate the whole soul harvesting business, and yeah, the fact that the Madam profited from it made her feel just a little bit of contempt for the crime lord. And fine, maybe her hatred of Kyoko Sakura wasn't exactly morally justified, and okay sure, she was the bad guy of their little rivalry. But damn it, if she was a bad guy, then why should something like conscience prevent her from achieving her goals? "W-what do you want me to say?" she said, spreading her hands. "Okay, so I'm a tremendous hypocrite. Fine. Yeah, all that stuff bothers me, but I want out!"

"And you'll do anything in your power to achieve your goal?"

"Yes!"

The Madam sighed. "That is precisely what I'm talking about. Those two identical girls you came in with? Arzt Kochen and Nie Blühen Herzen? They care for nothing save for living out their demented fantasy life." She sniffed, as if detecting an unpleasant odor. "And your sister is too simple-minded to bother with."

Annabelle Lee frowned. While it was true that Ticky Nikki was a neurological mess whose grasp of morality was a very loose thing, she still felt compelled to defend her. "Well, uh, she's actually a lot smarter than people give her credit for.

"It is not her cunning I question. I'm sure she can be quite clever should the situation call for it," the Madam answered. "However, the fact remains that she has gleefully plunged into amorality and never looked back. You, however, are not beyond help, though you soon will be. You can yet be redeemed."

To this, Annabelle Lee had absolutely nothing to say at all. The look on her face said it all.

However, the Madam evidently wanted more. "Speak."

Annabelle Lee's mouth worked soundlessly before she managed to croak out, "What is this? Redeemed? You're trying to help me redeem myself?"

"Is this so surprising?"

"Yeah! You're…" Annabelle Lee struggled to find the appropriate title. "You're a crime lord! The crime lord! The Madam! You…you…you like…"

"Like what?" the Madam said, tilting her head to one side. "The Queen of Sin? The Mistress of All Evil? Dark Overseer of the Underworld?" Though she didn't smile, there was a note of amusement in her voice.

"Er-"

The Madam shrugged. "A bit of an exaggeration, if so." She gestured to herself and the business suit she was wearing. "As you can see, my flowing dark cape is at the cleaners, I seem to have misplaced my spike-covered scepter, and I had to return that throne of skulls for the sake of my back." This time she did smile, though it was a small one. "Besides, that sort of on-the-nose evil seems to be your former people's bag. If it weren't for your impressive recruitment statistics, I'd offer to find Oblivion a new image consultant, one that isn't quite so melodramatic. But I suppose that's the advantage of holding an ironfisted monopoly."

"…uh…okay."

"But beyond that tangent, if the point you were making was that I am a monster, one with a great deal of power, you would be correct. But please don't mistake me for a cape-swishing, manically laughing madwoman. I am a businesswoman above all else. And besides, I wasn't born a monster."

Annabelle Lee blinked. "Er, is anyone?"

"Not really, no," the Madam said, shaking her head. "Some perhaps are born with certain qualities that make the transition more likely, but monsters are constructed, not created." She leaned forward a bit. "Tell me something, Annabelle Lee: if I told you that, before my sudden and untimely death, I was the daughter of well-respected politician, the president of my school's student council, heavily involved in community service, and fervently believed in making the world a better place, would you believe me?"

Actually, despite who the Madam was and the sort of business practices she espoused, that description seemed to rest easier on the shoulders of the frail looking girl Annabelle Lee saw before her. "Kinda…" she admitted.

The Madam nodded. "When I contracted, it was with the same intent. I wanted to fight for justice and stability. I thought to unite the other Puella Magi, to end the endless competition and undercutting that takes place in their interactions. To make hunting more efficient, to minimize the waste of magic, to ensure that everyone had enough grief seeds, and reduce the number of deaths." She sighed. "Unfortunately, I was dissuaded of that design less than a week in."

"Too hard?" Annabelle Lee guessed. That was the number one cause of the death of most moral crusades.

"No, but the bullet that went through my forehead was," the Madam said wryly. She tapped a perfectly manicured nail against the spot where her brow joined together. "Hard enough to pierce right through my skull and liquefy my brains on its way through."

"Oh."

The Madam shrugged. "And upon my arrival here…well, let's just say the area I spawned was less than accommodating to the soft of heart. There were many lessons I had to learn in order to survive, and fortunately, I've always been a fast learner."

"Uh, okay."

The Madam leaned back and crossed her legs. "But now we're drifting away from the point. It is true, I have made my choices and have fallen too far to pull myself back up. But the same cannot be said for you. I'll admit, I'm a bit of a sucker for hard luck stories. And I'd rather you not slide down the same path I did. It's a bit crowded down here at the bottom as it is."

Annabelle Lee frowned. Even with the explanation, this conversation was still very strange. "So…what exactly are you offering?"

"A chance, quite possibly your last one. Forget this business. I can provide transport for you and your sister to anywhere you'd like. Lordus? Antilles? Westwitch? I can even arrange for you to have work and housing when you arrive. Honest work, not the kind I'm usually associated with. You'll be able to…better yourself, for lack of a better word."

The strange thing was, she seemed to be entirely sincere. There was an earnestness to her voice, almost as if she were pleading with Annabelle Lee to accept her offer. But that didn't make any sense at all. If anything, it only made Annabelle Lee even more incredulous. "Are you serious?" she said.

"Is there any reason I shouldn't be?"

"I…" Annabelle Lee struggled to put her thoughts in order. "What is this, some kind of test? Did Lord Reibey tell you to do this, to double-check my commitment or something?"

The Madam frowned slightly. "Not at all. My intentions are entirely genuine."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Annabelle Lee protested. Ah hell, the Madam had told her to be honest. "You just met me! You don't know me! Okay, so I got really creeped out by some of the stuff I've seen here. And just because of that, you want to make me into some kind charity project?"

"So, that would be a no?"

"Yes," Annabelle Lee said flatly. "With…all due respect, I don't want to better myself. I don't want a second chance at life. I want out. And…if I have to become a monster to do it, fine. This is the only chance I got, and I'm taking it, conscience be damned. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear."

The Madam inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. "I see," she said, sounding disappointed but not especially surprised. "Very well then. But when you lie broken, abandoned, and betrayed, please remember that I gave you a chance, and that you turned it down."

Annabelle Lee's head jerked back. "I…"

The Madam turned in her seat and raised her voice. "All right girls, you may reenter."

The door opened, and Annabelle Lee's companions reentered. Judging by the looks of confusion on Nie and Arzt's faces, they hadn't been able to overhear the conversation that had just taken place, though no doubt it wasn't for a lack of trying. But they did notice how forlorn Annabelle Lee looked and exchanged concerned glances. They didn't say anything though, which was a mercy.

Unfortunately, Ticky Nikki was not so prudent. She took one look at Annabelle Lee and whirled around to glower at the Madam. "What'cha do to Annabelly?" she demanded.

"I talked to her," came the calm response.

"She looks sad."

The Madam didn't bother explaining. "Sit down, please."

Nikki looked like she wanted to protest further, but Annabelle Lee was in no mood to tolerate further foolishness. "Nikki," she said. "Sit down."

Nikki sat, though she kept sending suspicious glares at their host.

Once everyone had been seated, the Madam cleared her throat, drawing their attention. "My apologies for the delay," she said. "But now we can get back to business." She took one last sip of tea and set her teacup aside. "Now, here is the situation: I fortunately know where your quarry is, and I know where they will be, and I know what they will be doing." Her green eyes slowly swept the room, focusing on each face in turn. "Now, here is how you will retrieve them."

…

Mami and Charlotte had outdone themselves. The Silver Palace resort was a wonder to behold. Taking up an entire rotating platform, the hotel itself was an architectural marvel, one that flowed and twisted up in a slow spiral, seemingly in defiance to the laws of physics. Surrounding it was an array of entertainments for the wealthy vacationers that came to visit: a medieval town-themed shopping center, a miniature golf course that paid as little heed to gravity as the hotel did, and an extraterrestrial petting zoo. Charlotte and Oktavia had unanimously voted Mami to be in charge of keeping track of Kyoko, something she felt was just unfair. The excitable redhead ended up disappearing twice before they had even unpacked and three times more over the next five hours.

Oktavia found it hard to blame her. Had she not been wheelchair-bound, she would have probably joined her. Fortunately, the resort had something for her to enjoy as well: specifically, a triple-layered swimming pool, one connected by waterslides, funky underwater tunnels, and some kind of weird spinning wheel thing. The lowest pool was shallow and had a sort of pirate fortress play area intended for children (actual children, though those of an adult mind were known to indulge in their inner [and outer] child), while the top pool was considerably deeper than pools usually were, and had something of a sunken ship-themed maze at the bottom. Snorkeling equipment was available at poolside for those not blessed with Oktavia's gifts.

She had to admit, she did have fun exploring the maze, slipping on her belly down the slides, and even playing with the kids at the bottom. And she definitely enjoyed the attention she received by those thrilled to have a real mermaid in their midst. But while swimming in the pool was fun, it wasn't quite the lengthy diversion she had hoped it would be, and rather than occupying her for the rest of the day it only really amused her for about an hour and a half before her mood soured. In time, she was back in her wheelchair at poolside, staring out at the happy tourists frolicking in the water and the miniature rainforest that surrounded the concrete area. She wished she could enjoy herself more. Mami and Charlotte had spent a lot of money for their rooms, and no doubt they had hoped that the luxury accommodations would help soothe the sting at being left behind. She appreciated the effort, but having fun was kind of hard when the knowledge that they would be leaving her soon, perhaps for good, loomed over her thoughts. She had been in the afterlife for little over a week and had one friend taken away already. Now, it looked like she was going to lose the other three. Charlotte had been very blunt when she had described the dangers that the trio had to face before they made it to the Withering Lands, to say nothing of actually entering the country and abducting a high-ranking official. To hear her tell it, their chances of success were preceded by a period and a whole lot of zeros.

Pessimistic thinking of course, but Oktavia would feel a whole lot better if she could just come along. Even if it was a fool's errand, at least if they fell she would fall with them. To her, that was considerably easier to stomach than sitting in dull safety, driving herself mad with worry.

Scowling, she looked down at her tail. Water droplets had condensed on the multicolored scales, glistening in the sunlight. Until now, she hadn't been at all bothered by the handicaps it caused. After all, she had fully expected to spend the rest of the foreseeable future at the Nautilus Platform, working the kelp fields and playing around the docks. But now it was keeping her from sticking with the loving couple that had all but adopted her since she had flopped her way up to their front door. And it was keeping her from Kyoko.

Sighing, she pulled out her harmonica from its little side pouch that dangled off an armrest and slowly began to play. Instead of blowing out the notes of her "theme song," which she had dubbed the melody that played in a continuous loop inside her head, she tried to see if she could come up with a new melody. If proficiency in music was among her witch abilities, than she wanted to see how far it would go.

After a few awkward false starts, she finally found a groove she could work with and settled in. The groove soon became a melody, and Oktavia was able to relax enough to lose herself in playing. That was the great thing about music. It was there when she needed it, and always managed to make her feel better. Just in playing she felt some of the tension ebb out of her shoulders and take the edge of off her frustration and worry.

As with the piano, Oktavia eventually lost track of time, but was soon jolted back to reality when someone snuck up behind her and clapped their hands over her eyes.

"Surprise!" Kyoko gibed. "Guess who?"

Sighing, Oktavia put the harmonica down and said, "Where have you been?"

"Around. Mami said if I was going to keep running off, she might as well take me on a guided tour. Works for me, as that means she buys the snacks!" Kyoko removed her hands and pulled over a white plastic chair so she could sit next to Oktavia. She was holding a couple of sugary looking ice snacks that twisted around wooden sticks. The top of the red one had already been sucked away. "Want one?" she said, offering the blue one to Oktavia.

"Thanks," Oktavia said, accepting the treat. She bit down on the tip.

The flavor was blue raspberry, but she barely had time to notice before her tongue was flooded with some kind of viscous substance that fizzled and crackled madly. "Blegh!" she yelped as her mouth started overflowing with pale blue foam.

Kyoko cackled unsympathetically at her surprise. "Sorry, shoulda warned you about that," she said, though she sounded anything but. To her favor, she did moisten a handful of napkins with a water bottle and hand them to Oktavia. "The core's filled with the stuff. You gotta suck it slow, or it's like you inhaled a handful of Pop Rocks."

"Now she tells me," Oktavia muttered as she cleaned herself up. "Jerk." Once she had gotten rid of the foam and wiped the stickiness away, she tried again, with slow licks this time. The flavor was much easier to appreciate this time. Even the fizziness was enjoyable, when taken in small doses.

"So," Kyoko said as she wore her own ice down. "Here we are, on the edge of the single most kickass swimming pool in the history of history, and I find you out of the water, in your chair, and moping." She gave Oktavia a discerning look out of the corner of her eye. "Something up?"

Oktavia flinched. "Er, well, not really."

"Uh-huh."

"I'm serious! I'm fine."

"Uh…huh."

"Really!" Oktavia insisted. "The water…just doesn't feel right. That's all."

Kyoko raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't…feel right?"

"Yeah. The…uh, chlorine. It's hard on the gills."

Kyoko nodded. "Right. The chlorine. That they use to purify the water. Despite the fact that they literally have a magic water filter. One that doesn't need chemicals. Yeah, that chlorine."

"Oh," Oktavia said, feeling a little abashed. Though, in fairness, her lie had been pretty transparent to begin with. "Do they?"

Kyoko shrugged. "Told’ja already. Mami gave me the tour and told me how they keep this place going. Water filtering was on the list."

Crap. "Well, maybe it's not chlorine," Oktavia said hastily. "I dunno. Maybe I'm just used to salt water."

"Uh-huh. Which is why you spent the whole trip here in an extremely well-filtered fishbowl."

Sighing, Oktavia slumped back into her seat. "All right. I'm moping. You happy?"

"Hhhhrrrmmm," Kyoko muttered as she continued to wear her fizz pop down. "Well, I'd say that isn't like you, but seeing how I've seen you like this before and that instance turned out kinda horribly for everyone, I'd say no, this don't make me happy. Not at all."

"What?" Oktavia stared blankly at her, wondering what she was talking about. In her memory, Kyoko was usually the one doing the moping, with Oktavia's bad mood being a fairly recent development.

And then she got it. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Oktavia groaned. She slumped back and rolled her eyes. "Give me a break, Kyoko. That wasn't me, and you know it."

"Kinda was. Mami explained it to me. Same soul, just with a memory wipe and some housecleaning."

If it was Kyoko's intention to snap Oktavia out of her funk, she was failing miserably. "Okay, fine," Oktavia snapped. "But hey, in case you already noticed, I'm already a witch. And I've done a little more research into how things work than you, thank you very much. It takes a whole lot more than a lousy mood to turn me back into a monster." Purely out of spite, she chomped away a good third of her fizz pop and immediately regretted it when the inside of her mouth turned into a fruit-flavored washing machine. She swallowed the mess whole, winced as it burned all the way down, and moments later was assailed by nasty spikes of pain shooting through her skull.

"Ah, ah, ah," she groaned. Stupid lifelike imitation. She didn't even have a brain to send chilled blood up to, or blood to chill for that matter.

"Okay, fair enough," Kyoko said, pretending not to notice Oktavia's discomfort though a small smirk was bleeding through. "But seriously, what's eating you?"

The pain was ebbing away, though she was still wincing a little. Still, she had recovered enough to say, "Duh. You guys are leaving soon. Duh. I don't like getting left behind. Duh. You knew this already, so now you're just being obstinate." She waited for the brain freeze to fade away completely before finishing with, "Duh."

There was a short pause, and then Kyoko sighed. "Yeah, okay," she said, lowering her fizz pop and hunching over her knees. "I get you. I'd be pissed too. But you know-"

"I do," Oktavia sighed. "Wouldn't work, just be a burden, too dangerous, I get it. I just don't like it." She shrugged. "Besides, the mountains are no place for a mermaid."

"Uh-huh," Kyoko monotone. "Guess you weren't paying attention when Charlotte gave us the cliffnotes on what we're going to hit along the way, which by the way include a huge freaking mountain."

"Oh, come on! Like you were?"

"I was, actually." Kyoko took a long suck from her pop. "Didn't have my little breakdown until after she was done. And I do remember there being big-ass mountain. One that's kind of cold. As if in it's a great big pile of Ice Age that only has two seasons: Blizzard Season and Holy Shit the Fucking Air is Frozen Season."

"Oh," Oktavia said. She couldn't help but shiver at the thought.

"Plus, there's all the other stuff we gotta march through. You know, like open fields, rocky hills, some seriously weird forests, and maybe a desert or two. I don't think mermaids do well in deserts either. Do you?"

Oktavia hissed. "I said I get it already; I just don't like it! Stop being a jerk already."

Kyoko's face softened a bit, and something that wasn't exactly shame but still somewhat resembled it passed over her features. "Yeah, sorry," she said. "Hard to turn it off sometimes." Then she brightened a little. "But hey, it ain't so bad! Mami says that friend of hers lives real close to a big-ass lake. So it's not like you'll be all fish on dry land all the time."

"Oh, goody," Oktavia said dryly. "A lake. A freestanding body of water with a bunch of stuff flowing in, very little going out. I can't wait to see all the algae and fish poop I'll be breathing."

Kyoko snorted. "Right. 'Cause the ocean totally didn't have any of that. Whale sperm, Fishy Lips. Alien whale sperm."

Oktavia had to snicker at that. "Okay, point taken." Then she sobered up again. "Still, really not looking forward to it. I mean, I know it hasn't been that long, but you guys are the only family I've got, you know."

"Damn it," Kyoko growled. "Had to put it that way." She sighed again and leaned back. "Look, it's not like it's forever. As soon as we're done sneaking into Mordor-"

"Wait, where?" Oktavia stared blankly at her. "I thought you were going to the-" Catching herself in time, she glanced to the swimmers playing in the water and lowered her voice. "-you know, that place. What the heck is Mordor?"

Kyoko didn't answer immediately. She just sat in place, staring forward without focusing on anything in particular. Then, moving with deliberate precision, she slowly sat up straight and turned her head to gape in open disbelief at Oktavia. "You," she said slowly. "Have got. To be fudging kidding me."

"What?" Oktavia blinked at her. "So I don't know what Mordor is. I was kinda blanked out when Charlotte was giving her lecture, I missed it."

"Oh my God," Kyoko said as she slowly shook her head. "Mordor. Lord of the Rings. You seriously don't-" Then she frowned. "Oh, yeah. Memory wipe. Sorry, it gets hard to keep track of."

Actually, that name did ring something of a bell. "Wait, isn't that some kind of movie?"

Now it was Kyoko's turn to blink in surprise. "Wait, you really remember it? Or you just heard about it after?"

"Remember," Oktavia said. "Sort of. This memory thing is kind of weird." She pointed a finger at her head. "See, I still got the general knowledge. I remember the names of a lot of cities, a fair bit of geography, a handful of politicians, a few things from the news, a…surprising number of softball teams, even a few pop idols. I remember the menu at McDonalds, how to make an omelet, and what I think is Mi…Miti…" She frowned, trying to form the word in her head. "Mitakihara," she said at last. "Mitakihara's bus routes."

Kyoko actually looked a little impressed. "Wow, I thought you were all blank."

"No," Oktavia shook her head. "It's just the personal stuff that's gone. I don't remember my parents' names or what they looked like, or even if I had either of them. I don't remember my friends, my teacher's name, what books I've read, what hobbies I had, what music I listened to, and I'm having to rediscover what food I like all over again. There's a couple of stray fragments, but I don't have any context." She shrugged helplessly. "So yeah, I know that there was a movie called Lord of the Rings-"

"Three of them, actually. And they were books first. My mom really liked them."

Oktavia nodded. "Okay. But I don't know if I saw them or not. Sorry."

"S'kay," Kyoko grunted. She finished off her fizz pop and tossed the stick into a nearby trash can. "You probably did though. It was your kind of story." Then she blinked, as if something had just occurred to her. Then her face darkened. "And yet you still don't remember freaking Disney. Sayaka, I like you, but there are some major problems with your childhood that need to be addressed."

Oktavia winced at that. "Uh, maybe. But hey, look, I really don't want to this to be a thing, but about calling me Sayaka and all…"

The scowl on Kyoko's face was replaced by a look of sudden fear. "Oh shit," she said, her head jerking back. "Damn, it I forgot. Sorry, I-"

"It's fine, it's fine!" Oktavia was quick to say. "Don't frig out, I'm not mad. Just remember that it kind of bothers me, okay?"

Kyoko didn't say anything, though her face still looked troubled. An uncomfortable silence fell between them, and Oktavia's black mood grew deeper. She hadn't meant to shoot Kyoko down like that, but getting called by the name of a dead girl really bothered her.

Finally Oktavia couldn't take the silence any longer. "So…" she said, her voice sounding a bit too loud in her ears. "You were saying?"

Kyoko looked surprised that she had spoken. "Huh?"

Gesturing with one hand, Oktavia said, "You were saying something about Mordor, then we got tangented."

There was a short pause, and then Kyoko said, "Oh yeah. Forgot all about that. Huh." Then she shrugged and said, "But anyway, look. I know you're not happy about getting stuck up in a mountain cabin, but it ain't like it's gonna be forever. As soon as we're done storming the castle, we'll come back and get you."

"If you come back," Oktavia said morosely.

Another pause followed. Then Kyoko's hand snapped out, grabbed the very surprised mermaid by the jaw, and wrenched her head around so that she was staring a pair of very angry scarlet eyes.

"Listen," Kyoko hissed. "Don't you ever fucking say that again. There is no 'if.' We are doing this thing. We are going to that place, and we are taking Momo out of that slimy bastard's paws and pulling Elsa Maria out of whatever pit he's dropped her in. And then we are coming back for you. We are all gonna be together at the end of this, and it sure as hell won't be in some tiny cell. Not the rat's or the Alliance's. You got that?"

"Ohgey, ohgey!" Oktavia cried through squeezed cheeks. Despite Kyoko's slight frame, there was steel in those fingers. Oktavia grabbed Kyoko's slender wrist and wrenched her face free. "I get it! Calm down!"

Kyoko removed her hand, but didn't so much as avert her eyes. "I mean it. This is going to happen. Don't even think otherwise."

"Got it! Message received, all doubt erased, will never question you again!" Oktavia rubbed her jaw. Damn, that girl had a strong grip. "And by the way, ow!"

Kyoko didn't look away, and her gaze didn't lose any of its intensity. There was some kind of whirlwind of emotions raging under her skin, that much was obvious. Her hands were balled up into tight fists, her jaw was clenched tight, and the veins were standing out from her neck. But more noticeable were her eyes. There was something stirring in those scarlet irises that wasn't exactly madness, but was definitely related to it. And not exactly distantly.

Oktavia blinked, the discomfort in her jaw forgotten. Holy wow, she had triggered something big. Simply suggesting the possibility that Kyoko might fail, that there was a chance that she would not be able to whisk her sister safely away from Oblivion's clutches had set off some kind of primeval reaction, one that was hairsbreadth away from turning violent.

Hooo boy, this couldn't be good. Oktavia was aware that she really hadn't known Kyoko much more than a handful of days, and the redhead had spent most of their relationship unconscious. Still, given how…colorful Kyoko's personality tended to be, and how she wasn't at all shy about expressing it, Oktavia had thought she had a fair measure for the kind of person she was. She knew that Kyoko was a survivor, one that ran anger and willing to return any blow she took sevenfold. She rolled with the punches, took life's best attempts to knock her down, and kept right on going. That didn't really make her the easiest person to get along with, sure, but she did have her softer side, even if one had to dig real deep to find it. And while earning her favor took some doing, once you had it, she would fight to the death to protect you, Oktavia's own case being a literal example.

But Oktavia was only now understanding why Kyoko was such a fierce fighter, why she was able to endure trials that would have broken most people. And that was because she believed. What she believed was irrelevant, it only mattered that she believed in it with every fiber of her being. If one belief was knocked down, she would remold herself after a new belief and throw herself into that one with just as much fervor, even if it directly contradicted its predecessor. When her family had died, she had lost her faith in God, the goodwill of mankind, altruism, and heroism only to replace it with self-centeredness, selfishness, nihilism, and social Darwinism. And when she had realized how thoroughly she had been played, she chose a course and followed it like a seeker missile, even though it meant willingly going to her death.

Right now, a great many of Kyoko's beliefs were being challenged, and she was making the necessary adjustments. A lot of what the afterlife was had troubled her, maybe even scared her, but she was adapting, rough as the transition might be. And her sister's presence, far away as it was, was now acting as the focal point of her new belief. She didn't just want to get Momo back, she wasn't just going to fight to get Momo back, she was going to get Momo back. As far as she was concerned, it was a done deal; she just needed to go and do it.

Of course, the reality of the situation wasn't quite so concrete. The dangers they would face meant that just getting to the border of the Withering Lands was one hell of a longshot, to say nothing of what had to be done once they got there. Chances were that Kyoko, Mami, and Charlotte's fates were not going to be agreeable. If the elements didn't get them, then Oblivion most certainly would.

But Kyoko wasn't even going to consider that. Oh sure, she was aware of the obstacles. She knew how dangerous the trip was going to be and what they had to overcome to accomplish their goal. But to her, failure not only was not an option, it wasn't even a possibility. They were going to succeed, because she needed them to.

As such, when Oktavia had ventured the opinion that overwhelming victory might not be quite as set in stone as Kyoko had forced herself to believe, she had reacted…poorly. Maybe it was because that belief was still establishing itself and the foundation was still a little wobbly, but either way, Oktavia had learned enough to know that, all previously encountered emotional problems aside, Kyoko was not exactly stable. Sure, maybe becoming a bit of a basket case was a common thing, but it was probably different for everyone.

And Oktavia had just stumbled upon Kyoko's unique brand of crazy. She was going to have to tread with caution.

Kyoko kept staring at her longer than was comfortable, but when Oktavia didn't rise up to challenge her again, the anger seemed to leave her, like air leaving a punctured balloon. The muscles in her face relaxed, her fingers slowly spread out, and the fire in her eyes died away. With a loud sigh, she closed her eyes and sank back into her chair.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "Shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

Swallowing, Oktavia nodded and said, "It's okay. Just so long as you remember that we're on the same side here."

"Yeah. Probably just need a nap or something. Haven't really slept since Annabelle Lee put me down for a week." She laughed. "But damn, death is way too much like life sometimes."

"That's probably it," Oktavia agreed. "And yes, it is."

They sat in silence for a time. Kyoko stared broodily out over the water, and Oktavia, realizing that her fingers were getting sticky with melted fizz pop, decided to work on finishing the darned thing. Her lack of mobility meant that getting over to a trash can was more trouble than it was worth, and disposing it unfinished in Kyoko's presence was probably tantamount to suicide.

She was nearly done when Kyoko cleared her throat. "Shame about the Nautilus Platform though," she said, not taking her eyes away from the surface of the pool.

Her tongue still crackling with that fizzy stuff, Oktavia glanced her and said, "Fwhah?"

"Nautilus Platform," Kyoko grunted. "Shame we won't be able to go back to it. Mami had a real sweet setup. It'd be nice to take Momo there. She always liked the ocean, even if we never actually got to go there. Had a whole bunch of picture books about baby whales and mermaids and shit." She glanced over to Oktavia. "Come to think of it, she'll probably fangirl all over you. Fair warning."

"Duly noted," Oktavia said, scraping her tongue clean on her teeth. "I think I'll cope. And yeah, the Platform was pretty cool." Her voice turned wistful. "In fact, it was kind of perfect. Wish I got the chance to go harvesting with them at least. That could've been fun."

"Fun, heh. Try smelly." Kyoko gave her a sidelong look, her lips curling into a very familiar smirk. "Though wouldn't that be a little weird, having you along? I mean, them being called mermaid eggs and all. Be a little like cannibalism." She cleared her throat and adopted a horrible American accent. "Yup, dem babies be ready fer harvesting. Go get the tractor, Bubba!"

"Oh God!" Oktavia covered her face with her hands. "Do they even have a word for what's wrong with you?"

"Plenty, but they're all too long and I can't pronounce them," Kyoko said as she laced her fingers behind her head. "And even if you did get to go out with them, what exactly will you be doing? Sitting on the boat and shouting words of encouragement?"

Oktavia stared at her in disbelief, wondering when exactly Kyoko had become so dumb. But to her credit, as soon as the jab had left her lips Kyoko looked like she realized how stupid she was being, but it was too late to take it back. She winced as Oktavia started laughing.

"Seriously?" Oktavia gibed. "Um, Kyoko, you do realize that the kelp are underwater, right? And that I have a fish's tail, right? I think I'll be able to move around without help."

"Okay, okay," Kyoko groused as she slapped a hand across her forehead. "So it was a dumb question. I wasn't thinking. Sorry."

"I guess not. I mean, I know you like to make fun of people, but come on!"

"Hey, I was just dead and unconscious at the same time! Cut me some slack, all right?"

"Nah, I don't think so," Oktavia said as she slurped the last bit of fizz pop away. "I've been putting up with you pushing me around since we woke up, so revenge is mine!"

"Get a life. Seriously." Again, Kyoko realized too late the full meaning of her words, and groaned as her cheeks flushed scarlet.

Fortunately, Oktavia didn't take offense beyond reaching over and flicking Kyoko's cheek. "Oh, come on! That was just cold."

"Sorry, sorry," Kyoko muttered as she slapped the mermaid's hand away. "It's reflexive!"

"Well, keep that up and you'll be dead to me."

A moment passed. Then Kyoko slowly turned her head to glower at the smirking mermaid. "Really, Shark Bait? Really?"

"Hey, it's not my fault your manners are dead and buried. I'd suggest you start taking some lessons on tact, but I think it's too late for that."

Kyoko rolled her eyes. "Well, I was going to, but my chance passed away."

"Huh, I guess that put the final nail in the coffin of you ever being a considerate person. No wonder you always wind up in grave peril, what with you letting loose with that killer mouth of yours."

"Ha! Like any of them have a ghost of a chance at ending me! Every time they try, I just pound their faces until the danger has deceased to be!"

"Okay, that last one was just forced," Sayaka said. "I think we should just kill the whole thing and scatter the ashes."

They shared a laugh at that, and Oktavia felt some of her tension ease away. Okay, so maybe they had both gotten majorly screwed over and had a psychiatrist's Christmas list of issues to show for it. Maybe the future looked bleak. Maybe this was one of the last times they would be able to spend together. But at least they were still friends. It wasn't much, but it counted for something.

Oktavia finally slurped up the last bit of raspberry-flavored slush and whatever that fizzy stuff was and looked around for some way to dispose of the stick.

"Here, gimme that," Kyoko said, extending her hand. Oktavia gave her the stick, and she immediately tossed it over her shoulder. It swished perfectly into the same trash can she had thrown her own discarded stick into.

"Nice," Oktavia said appreciatively. Then she frowned. "Hold up, didn't you say something about being a terrible shot?"

"With a gun, yeah," Kyoko said, handing her a fresh wad of damp napkins. "But tossing sticks is kind of my thing. Though they're usually pointier."

"Fair enough." Oktavia cleaned herself up. Then she picked up her harmonica again and started playing.

Kyoko sat quietly for a time, listening to her play. Then she said, "Hey, didn't you say that thing's supposed to be water proof?"

"Mmmm-hmmm," Oktavia said, lowering the instrument. "Charlotte got so many proofings that it's practically indestructible. Why, are you-" Then her brain caught up. "Oh, don't you dare-"

Too late. Kyoko had stuck a spear pole through the spokes of the wheelchair and yanked up, tilting the whole thing forward and dumping Oktavia back into the pool.

…

"We're still being held up at Orya's Furnace," Shizuku said from the hotel phone. "Some kind of transit strike, very irritating. But it seems to be winding down, so we should be arriving within two days' time."

"I understand," Mami said, though the delay still put her on edge. While she knew that it didn't really matter, as the proceedings with the Senate would likely take longer than that, it didn't serve as a good omen. "Try not to hurt anyone."

"I will make every effort. But beyond that, no promises." Then Shizuku's voice turned wry. "But tell me, how are things on your end? Are your new young wards enjoying their trip?"

Mami sighed in weariness. "I spent most of the last three hours chasing Kyoko around the resort. She's like a small child at Disneyland, only with superhuman agility."

"Mmmm, that sounds familiar. Didn't we have a similar problem with Charlotte?"

Mami had to smile at the memory. "A bit, but Kyoko's worse. At least Charlotte just stared at the animals at the petting zoo."

"Oh dear. I hope she didn't try to ride anything…dangerous."

"I managed to dissuade her." Mami coughed. "Erm, barely."

"After you found her halfway over the fence and had to yank her off, I suppose?"

Though she had repeatedly denied having any sort of psychic abilities, Mami and Charlotte were still convinced that their former mentor was secretly a powerful empath. Her knack of always "knowing" got a little creepy sometimes. "Just about," Mami sighed. "Fortunately, security hadn't noticed and I managed to bribe her away with ice cream."

Shizuku tsked. "Yes, calming the hyperactive child with sugar. That makes all kinds of sense." Before Mami could respond, Shizuku was already moving on to the next topic. "And what of the other, whose company we soon shall be enjoying?"

"Oktavia? She's fine." Mami glanced out of the hotel room window at the pool. "Definitely easier to keep track of. Charlotte took her to the pool, and Kyoko wanted to join them, so they're Charlotte's problem now."

"Ah, avoiding unpleasant tasks through delegation of responsibility then! Well done!" Shizuku said approvingly. Then her playful tone dried up. "And now that we've done our song and dance, perhaps it's time we turn to the real subject we should be discussing?"

Mami swallowed. She had been dreading this. "Shizuku, I-"

"Now Mami, you know I think highly of your intelligence. Which, I might add, is a rare thing."

"I know," Mami said. "But you see-"

"I also know you to be a woman of great moral character. As such, I put great value of your abilities as a decision maker. Which, I once again make point of, is not praise I give out lightly."

Mami had to give her credit, few people could smother on the guilt like Shizuku could. "Shizuku, believe me when I say-"

"Unfortunately, while your kindness is undoubtedly a virtue, you can be compassionate to a fault, and if you'll excuse my bluntness, you are also burdened with a heavy guilt complex, one that has been known to cloud your judgment in certain matters, especially in regards to those with whom you were close to you pre-mortem."

Mami closed her eyes and bowed her head. This time, she didn't have a reply.

"And if I'm not mistaken, both of your new wards fall into that category. And the one that we have not been asked to look after might very well be the one whose past relationship with you weighs the heaviest on your shoulders. Now, with all that in mind, and given that Reibey himself is openly interested in this girl for reasons that you have chosen to withhold from me, I cannot help but feel somewhat concerned that you have gotten yourself tangled up in something that, while no doubt well-intentioned, may not be…advisable."

Taking a deep breath, Mami said as calmly as she could, "Shizuku, if I could tell you, I would. But please believe that-"

"Yes?" Shizuku interrupted. "Believe that by not disclosing specific information, you are protecting us from whatever fallout your actions might incur? Plausible deniability? A touching sentiment on your part, though I should point out that, unless you've had a bag over her head this whole time, Oktavia is most likely aware of your full plans, and will be the first person to be sought once your…endeavors…start to have…consequences. And even if they did believe us to be innocent of your designs, I highly doubt they will be at all amused by our participation."

Oops. Mami's cheeks turned red. She hadn't even thought of that, and she felt stupid for not doing so. But of course Oktavia would be taken in at the first sign of trouble. And of course Shizuku and the others would be affected as well. Good God, what had she been thinking? Shizuku was right. This whole thing with Kyoko was keeping her from thinking clearly.

If only Oktavia hadn't arrived as a mermaid, then she could come with…No. That wasn't preferable, as she would just end up suffering the same fate that was in store for them. But it wasn't like things would go well for her once the Alliance figured out what they were up to. Mami had to face it: they had all been doomed once Reibey had announced that he had Momo Sakura in his possession. There was no force in existence that would prevent Kyoko from going after her, and despite all the harm it would cause, Mami was unable to say that she was in the wrong. Even Charlotte had agreed with her.

Per usual, Charlotte was right. The only way this whole ordeal was to end on any sort of optimistic note was if Momo had fallen into the Alliance's care from the beginning. But she hadn't, and now everything was falling apart. And once again, Mami had tried to do the right thing, tried to make amends for past sins, but now she was just hurting those she cared about.

With a heavy sigh that sounded a lot like a whimper, she slowly sat down on the hotel bed and put her head in her free hand. This really never ended with her. It seemed like the harder she tried, the more damage she did. And this time, she was going to drag the whole Alliance, and entire society filled with innocent people all blissfully aware that their quiet, stable lives were about to get thrown into chaos, down with her. But what was she supposed to do? Just let Kyoko go on by herself to certain doom? She wouldn't last the first three kilometers.

Maybe she should have, though just thinking that made her hate herself.

"What am I supposed to do?" she whispered. It had intended to be a small, private expression of her inner turmoil, or perhaps a plea to the powers that be, but in the course of raking herself over the coals, she had forgotten that she was holding a phone to her ear.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that for you," Shizuku said. "I only wish that you would trust us enough to allow us to help."

Mami swallowed back a sob.

"Mami. Please listen to me. We are not children. What is more, we are no strangers to incredible danger. We faced the same perils that you did in life, and though I am loath to point this out, we were able to uncover the Incubators' designs long before our deaths and actively worked against them until then. We are veteran warriors, Mami, not naïve civilians to be coddled." And, just when Mami was certain that dagger being shoved through her gut could not burrow any deeper, Shizuku gave it another twist. "Furthermore, we are your friends, Mami. We care about you. I care about you. I don't know exactly what you have entangled yourself in, but I do know that I want to help."

"I…" Sniffing, Mami wiped the wetness from her eyes. "I can't. I can't ruin it for you guys. This…this isn't your problem, and things are going so well for you, with the house and the new company and…"

"Oh, posh. As if any of that matters," Shizuku said scornfully. "Send the company under, burn the house, take away every centitalent, and drop me in the middle of the most backwater place you can think of. Three years in, I will own the whole of it and have converted it to a first world civilization. You, however, are not quite so replaceable."

Mami wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry, but her throat was now too swollen to allow either. God, she was a terrible friend. Why had she involved them in this? And why did she think they would simply do as she asked without voicing the slightest bit of concern? Shizuku was involved, after all. It was miracle she didn't know the full details already.

Maybe…and Mami hated herself even more for considering this, but maybe she should say yes. Seven Puella Magi (well, six and one witch) would stand a much better chance of success than three (well, two and one witch). And Shizuku could scheme her way out of dockengaut swarm. If anyone could plan a way to whisk Momo's sister away with no one being the wiser, it was her.

But at what cost? Even with the extra help, their chances were still next to zero. They were good, but the forces that stood against them were staggering. By saying yes, all Mami would be doing was ensuring that she had more company when they were dragged into Hell, whatever shape it might take.

Then, as she wrestled with her decision, the matter was at least postponed for her. Through the window, she heard the meaty impact of something metal hitting something made of flesh. This was followed by a very familiar cry of surprise, and then capped off by a loud crash. There was a short silence, and then the commotion began.

Mami rushed over to the window and looked out. She stared for a moment, seeing the basics of what had happened and who had been involved, but was unable to comprehend it. One thing was for certain though: she was needed down there immediately.

She snatched up the phone, said, "Something's happened. I'll call you back," and quickly hung up. Then she was rushing out the door and making her way down to the pool area as fast as her feet would allow.

…

Ten minutes. That's all Charlotte had asked for. Just ten minutes to use the restroom and find some lunch for her and Oktavia. But she hadn't even reached the front of the line at the snack bar when the sounds of violence and disruption filled the pool area.

As soon as she had heard the yelling, Charlotte knew that Kyoko was involved. She didn't have to see for herself, she didn't have to ask what had happened, she didn't even have to turn around. She just knew. Damn it all to Hell, they hadn't even left yet, and that girl was already well on her way to getting herself arrested.

As the people around her rushed away to see what all the fuss was about, she considered just staying where she was. The line was now severely reduced, after all. Just get the food and let Mami deal with it.

Charlotte fidgeted, standing first on one foot and then the other. Her tail curled around her leg and constricted tightly. Her fingers balled up and unclenched several times in succession.

Then, with an irritated growl, she abandoned the line and stomped over to the pool. Oh, hell with it. Maybe Kyoko had pissed off something that was three times her size, and Charlotte would get to watch.

As she drew closer to the pool, it became evident that her disgruntled wish might actually have merit. As predicted, Kyoko was involved. Two of the hotel staff were helping her disentangle herself from a wrecked cocktail booth. Judging by the smashed glass in her hair, the alcohol soaking her clothes, the way she was clutching her stomach in pain, and the dazed look on her face, she had not gotten the better of…whatever the hell had just happened. Charlotte smirked. Good.

The rest of the scene wasn't making much sense, though. Oktavia, once again soaking wet and clutching tightly to her harmonica, was being helped into her wheelchair. Her mouth was hanging open, and her face was pale with shock. Charlotte glanced at her, then to Kyoko, and did a few quick calculations in her head. From the look of thing, the person that had launched Kyoko into that booth had been Oktavia herself. But that didn't make any sense. Oktavia was tough, sure, but nowhere near strong enough to pull of something like that.

Maybe it had something to do with the large, glowing spoked wheel lying on the ground between the two girls, completely unconcerned by the confusion it was causing by its mere presence. Okay…that was…that was a new one. Oktavia had no idea what to make of that, and judging by the reactions of everyone surrounding it, neither did they.

Blinking, Charlotte blew out a slow breath and walked over to Oktavia. "Okay," she said to the bewildered mermaid. "What happened?"

A few squeaks came out of Oktavia's throat, and she managed, "I…I have no idea."

Charlotte gave her a look.

"Well, I don't!" Oktavia protested, sounding somewhat defensive. "She dumped me into the water to be mean, and I got mad and wanted to hit her! But she was too far away, so…" Her voice trailed off, and she gawked at the wheel, which was still lying still, oblivious or simply uncaring of the stir it was creating.

"So you chucked a giant wheel at her," Charlotte filled in for her.

"I…uh, maybe?"

"Where did you even find it?"

There was a lengthy pause, and then Oktavia deadpanned, "Tell you what: as soon as I figure that out, you'll be the first to know."

The crowd parted, and a freckled redheaded girl dressed in a staff uniform, likely a manager, rushed over to the still-recovering Kyoko. "Oh my God," she exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

"Uh…" Kyoko said dazedly. One of the staff was trying to comb the shards of glass and other debris out of her hair, while another was trying to wipe the sticky mess from her face. "Y'shud see th'other guy."

"What other guy?" the manager said in confusion. "We have very strict rules about fighting! Who-"

It was then that she noticed the wheel, which now seemed downright smug in its absurdity. "Wait, wheel?" She looked around at the staring crowd. "Who made a wheel?"

For a moment, no one answered. Then one head slowly turned in the direction of the pool. This was followed by another, and then another, until everyone was silently staring at the wheelchair-bound mermaid. Charlotte grimaced. Oh, this wasn't going to go well for anyone.

Clearing her throat, the manager walked over to them, careful to give the obstinate wheel a wide berth. "Excuse me, ma'am," she said. "But are you responsible for this…" She glanced at the wheel, as if to confirm that it was still there. It was. "…incident?"

"Hey, I have no idea how that happened!" Oktavia protested. "I didn't even know I could do that. I still don't know how!"

The manager frowned. "You do realize that combative abilities are banned while on resort property, and violation of that policy means a four-hundred and fifty talent fine at the least? To say nothing of the damages."

"Come on, give her a break," Charlotte said. "She only spawned a few days ago, and had no idea what sort of witch abilities she has. It was instinct!"

"Uh-huh," the manager said flatly, in a tone that screamed I've-heard-that-before. "Well ladies, would you be so kind as to follow me, so we can discuss this in private?"

Charlotte grimaced. Damn Kyoko. They had just gotten here, and already she had gotten them thrown out of their hotel. If this was to be indicative of the sort of things that were to follow her around, then they would have been better off just chucking her over the border at Reibey when he had shown up the other day.

Then there was the sound of shoes clopping against wet concrete, and Mami pushed her way into the scene. "Is everyone all right?" she said breathlessly. Her face was flushed, as if she had run all the way down from their room to get there. Which, Charlotte surmised, she had probably done.

The manager took note of her and frowned. "Excuse me, ma'am," she said icily. "Are these women with you?"

Mami stared at her, as if wondering why this strange person was speaking to her. "Yes!" she said. "They're my wife and friends! What happened?"

"Still trying to figure that out," Charlotte said. "But three guesses as to who started it, first two don't count."

"It's not my fault!" Oktavia put in. "Kyoko thought it'd be funny to shove me in the water, and when I tried to slug her, a wheel came out of nowhere and smacked her in the stomach!" She punched her own palm by way of demonstration.

"Oh. I see." Wincing, Mami turned to the fuming manager. "Ma'am, I'm really sorry about this. She and Kyoko over there-" she nodded to the still-reviving redhead, who was repeatedly squinting and widening her eyes in hopes of clearing her vision, "-only arrived here in the afterlife a few days ago, and it seems that Oktavia here has some abilities that we simply haven't discovered yet. I'll be more than happy to pay for all damages, and I assure you this sort of thing will not happen again."

The manager frowned. From the look of things, she still wasn't buying it. "Be that as it may…" she said. "We take the safety of our guests very seriously, and are very strict when it comes to combative abilities. There are some hotels that require a fully verified list of all magical abilities before check-in, and I wouldn't be surprised if we started-"

"Hey!" said a loud, obnoxious voice. Charlotte felt her eye twitch. True to form, Kyoko had recovered her wits (such as they were) and was now going to make things worse. "The hell was that all about?" she demanded as she staggered unsteadily toward them, ignoring the pleas of the hotel staff trying to make her take things easy. "What'cha just hit me with…" Her eyes fell upon the wheel, which really seemed to Charlotte like it was laughing silently at them all. "Wait, why is there a train wheel? Did you hit me with a train wheel?"

Scowling, Oktavia said, "Well, if you weren't being such a jerk, I wouldn't have!"

"It was a joke! You were supposed to get mad and dump a water bottle on me later when I'm not expecting it! Not call down the spirit of Thomas the Tank Engine to strike me down!"

"I didn't know that was going to happen! I didn't even know I could do that!"

"Then how the hell did you-" Kyoko stopped talking, which would normally be a mercy, except that she started right back up again. "Oh hell, that's right. You can do that."

"Excuse me?" the manager said, sounding a little angry. "You knew she had the power to employ train wheels as ordnance and she didn't?"

Kyoko shrugged. "Well, yeah. She witched out in a train station, and threw a whole bunch a train wheels at me before we took each other out."

This was met with a low murmur of conversation from the crowd, along with some giggling. Charlotte sighed. No doubt they were thinking of an old superstition regarding a spiritual tether that was supposed to bind the souls of a Puella Magi and a witch that fell while fighting each other. Putting them out of her mind, she leaned over the handles of Oktavia's wheelchair and said, "And you didn't think to bring this up before now?"

"Hey, I've been kinda busy since then," Kyoko snapped at her. "Had a whole bunch of crap happen. It kinda slipped my mind, all right?"

"Okay, that's enough," said the manager. She put herself between Kyoko and the others and folded her arms. "There will be no more fighting on my pool deck. I'm going to have to ask you ladies to come with me so we can get this sorted out, and let the girls clean up here." She turned to Oktavia. "But first, please get rid of that wheel."

Oktavia frowned. "Uh, I don't even know how I made it in the first place. How am I supposed to get rid of it?"

"Just think at it and tell it to go away," Mami told her. "It should respond to your mental commands."

Oktavia perked up. "Really now?" She grinned. "Cool! All righty then…"

She leaned forward and focused her gaze on the wheel. Charlotte glanced around and saw that the crowd was leaning in as well. More than one of them was holding her breath in anticipation. Charlotte sighed. It was like a damned stage show.

Oktavia muttered something under her breath, probably a command for the wheel to exit the scene.

The wheel obeyed.

It shot straight into the air, narrowly missing a passing shuttle and kept right on going until Oktavia screamed, "STOP!" The crowd gasped.

The wheel stopped. The crowd held their breath.

"Come back!" she ordered, her face red. "And don't freaking hit anything on the way back!"

The crowd laughed, no doubt encouraged by the fact that Kyoko was now literally rolling on the floor and pounding her fist against the concrete with glee. Charlotte's eyes narrowed.

The wheel plummeted down, this time missing all obstacles with deliberation instead of luck. It swooped around and came to a sudden stop less than a meter from Oktavia's face. This prompted a whole new round of hysterics from Kyoko.

"Gah!" she said, jerking her head back. "Too close, too close!" The wheel retreated another meter and hovered there, waiting for further instruction. Eyeing it uncertainly, she whispered to Charlotte, "So, what do I do now?"

"Tell it to disappear," Charlotte said. "As if in, stop existing, not turn invisible or anything."

Oktavia nodded and did just that. If the wheel felt at all slighted by its impending non-existence, it kept it to itself and vanished.

With a relieved sigh, Oktavia slumped back into her seat while the crowd started applauding. Mami had her face buried in her hands while Charlotte was scowling at the still laughing Kyoko, visions of violent retribution dancing through her head.

"All right, all right!" the manager announced to those gathered. "Show's over! I'm going to need everyone to clear the scene so we can clean up." She pointed at the Nautilus girls. "You four, come with me."

She headed toward the hotel, and after an exchange of guilty looks, Mami, Charlotte, and Oktavia followed. As they passed Kyoko, Charlotte reached down and hauled her up by the hood.

"Get up," she hissed.

"Hey!" Kyoko said as she jerked away. "Hands off the-"

"Kyoko, shut up," Mami said, her voice cold. Apparently Kyoko knew well what that voice meant, as she blinked in surprise but obeyed. A small look of fear even passed through her eyes. Charlotte grunted. Well, at least they had that method of controlling her.

They entered the hotel lobby and followed the annoyed manager toward an office, passing four white businesswomen in matching olive suits who were checking in. One of them glanced at the girls as they passed and did a double-take, no doubt reacting to the oddity of seeing a mermaid in a wheelchair.

Yeah, yeah, Charlotte thought grumpily. We're in a flying city hobnobbing with aliens and a mermaid weirds you out. Get used to it already.

…

It took a great deal of self-control, but Annabelle Lee was able to keep from staring openly as Kyoko Sakura, Oktavia von Seckendorff, and that blonde that had tried to shoot her that one time literally walked right by them, not three meters away. There was some girl with pink hair that she didn't recognize, but given the company she kept, no doubt Annabelle Lee would soon hate her as well.

One of The Twins, Annabelle Lee couldn't really tell which one through her disguise, sidled up to her and mumbled, "That was them."

"Noticed," she hissed back. "Keep it cool."

A bloodthirsty grin passed over Ticky Nikki's face. "Sushi times be soon," she sang happily, which was just damned weird considering that she now looked like a seventeen-year-old Swedish girl in a smart suit. Annabelle Lee shot her a warning look before she forgot that they were supposed to be incognito.

"Ma'am?" said the receptionist, still wearing that welcoming smile and completely oblivious to the hate-fueled drama that was taking place before her eyes. "I need you to sign here, please."

Nodding, Annabelle Lee bent over the counter to do just that. A small smile tugged at her lips. Well, it looked like the Madam's information was right on the money. This was going to be easier than she thought.

Chapter Text

Kyoko hated politics. To her, it was just a bunch of high-and-mighties who never did a decent day of work bitching about how things ought to be done while screwing over the people who actually did them. Her meeting with the Free Life Alliance Senate did nothing to change this perception.

Well, to be accurate, she didn't actually meet with the Senate, not all of them. There were only about nine of them in a small office: two humans, two calliopes, three ai'jurrik'kai, and two jotts. And despite her insistent phone calls from earlier, the President herself was not present. Maybe Kyoko's attitude had soured her on an actual meeting.

At any rate, the meeting itself wasn't really going all that great. Kyoko had told them the truth, or at least the parts that were safe to tell. No, she had no dealings with Reibey before her arrival; that would be impossible. Yes, Reibey had contacted her personally at the Nautilus Platform. Yes, he had heavily hinted that her sister was a high-ranking Void Walker, and was the one responsible for Oblivion's interest in her. No, he had never actually come out and said it, but did he ever? No, she wasn't interested in signing the goddamned Compact already, and the next person to hand her a pen was getting it shoved in their ear. And if they didn't want her doing anything rash, then they'd better find a way to get Momo away from the Void Walkers, and quick.

It was those last two points that caused the most contention. As a free agent, there technically was nothing they could do to dictate her actions, but it was clear that they didn't trust the whole "Long lost sister is a Void Walker" explanation, and felt that there was some darker, more dangerous reason for Reibey's interest, one that threatened them personally. And so Kyoko lounged in the velvet chair that had been provided for her, watching with equal parts irritation and amusement as representatives from four wholly different but equally paranoid species argued amongst themselves.

"Look, all I'm saying that if Oblivion wants her, there's no way we can let her get her," one of the humans said.

"But how are we to stop her?" said a calliope. "Kyoko is uninterested in signing the Compact-"

"Completely and utterly," Kyoko said from where she sat, her attention on the tiny spear she was balancing on her fingers.

"-yes, exactly. So unless you are planning on imprisoning her-"

"No chance in hell," Kyoko commented.

"-there is little we can do to stop her from pursuing her sister."

"Shhhheeee neeeeeed not goooo faaarrrrrr," whistled an ai’jurrik’kai. Though her face wasn't readable, Kyoko got the impression that she was scowling. "Thhheeee Vooooiiiiiid Waaaaaaalkers willlll fiiiinnnnnd herrrrrr beeeefooorrrre toooooo looooong."

"Let 'em try," Kyoko said.

One of the jotts snorted. "Maybe we should just hand her to them, save everyone some trouble. If she's bound and determined to-"

It was kind of funny, how quickly the others were to shout her down. As one all six on them turned toward her and made it absolutely clear that there was no chance whatsoever that they were going to give Oblivion and Reibey anything they wanted, even if the specifics got lost in the overlapping voices. When they were done, the unfortunate jott slinked to a corner and sulkily said nothing further.

When that was done, Kyoko spoke up again. "Hey, not to be a buzzkill or anything, but is this gonna take much longer? I've got stuff I need to do that don't involve listening to a bunch of people I don't know argue about stuff that ain't any of their business."

This earned her a very familiar round of glares. It didn't matter the species or their preferred way of expressing displeasure, the sentiment was still the same.

Then one of the humans cleared her throat. "Perhaps it would be best to dismiss Ms. Sakura for the time being. She has already given all the input required from her, after all."

"Fine by me," Kyoko said, rising. "I'm hungry."

…

Mami wondered how much longer Kyoko was going be questioned. She had been alone with the senate's representative's for nearly an hour-and-a-half now, which had to be more than enough for their purposes. The delay was worrying. She kept glancing over her shoulder, expecting to see grim-faced marshals coming to arrest them.

At the moment, she, Charlotte, and Oktavia were sitting together in one of the Capitol Spire's cafeterias, having lunch. Once it had been determined that the three of them were not much more than chance accessories to Kyoko's plight, they had been excused, though Oktavia had been held longer than the other two. If anything, the mermaid was more ill at ease than Mami was, though judging by the furtive glances she kept shooting the exit and the patio beyond, her discomfort was owed more to being so close to a ledge than potential problems with authority. She had closed her eyes for most of the trip over, especially when they had taken shuttles and passed over bridges.

Charlotte, it should be noted, just looked bored.

Picking at her tuna casserole, Mami let her gaze wander. Predictably, the other patrons were composed mostly of the four member species of the Alliance, though given that they didn't require solid food, there weren't many calliopes around. There were also a handful of other races about, likely delegates from their respective communities. Over there were a couple of the gelatinous, reptilian butontikos, and gorging herself on a pile of raw meat in one corner was a towering, four-armed vaskegoros. Mami tried not to stare, but she so rarely got to see outside species.

Then a familiar hush settled on the room. Mami's skin prickled. Turning in her seat, she saw her fears confirmed.

A huge dockengaut, the one from the day before, was shuffling through the adjoining hallway, with three uneasy looking calliopes provided escort. As they passed by the cafeteria's open door, she paused for a moment and turned her "head" to gaze within. It didn't take long for those inside to notice her, hence the hush.

Mami grimaced and stared down at her plate. Well, it made sense for that dockengaut to be here. After all, why would one visit Cloudbreak if it weren't some sort of official delegate? Heck, there probably wasn't any other reason why one would be permitted within the city. But even with the knowledge that she wasn't likely to try anything while in the heart of the Alliance, Mami still wished she would go away, but no doubt she was finding everyone's discomfort to be amusing. They usually did.

The dockengaut remained in place, watching as everyone, even the big vaskegoros, cringed under her gaze. Something not unlike a chuckle emitted from her robes.

Then she lunged forward and snarled, "Boo!"

Those closest to her involuntarily leapt up with a cry of alarm, and the vaskegoros clawed her way up the wall. Laughing openly, the dockengaut turned and went about her way, its airborne guards hesitating a few moments before following.

Once everyone was certain that she was gone, the cafeteria settled down. Some returned to their meals, albeit more warily, while others elected to clear out. Mami slowly settled back into her seat, her not-quite-real heart hammering away in her chest. "Well," she said. "That was uncomfortable."

Charlotte agreed. "Okay, so not only did they let a freaking dockengaut into the Capitol Spire, they let in one that's apparently a trolling asshole. Whose idea was that, and how much would I get fined for kicking her in the face?"

"More than likely her colleagues have already done it for you," Mami said.

"Yeah, and look how much good that did," Charlotte said with a snort.

"Was that one of those swarm monsters that eat people?" Oktavia wanted to know. "Because seriously, those pictures you showed me gave me nightmares."

"Yup," Charlotte said, twirling spaghetti around her fork. "And seeing by big she was, I'd say that was some kind of leader. And based on what I've read about them, she probably has a bunch of meat slaves tied up at her nest."

"Meat slaves?" Oktavia repeated, a disgusted look on her face. "Is that as horrible as it sounds?"

"Yup. People from different species that the dockengauts have taken. They eat them slowly, let them regenerate, and then eat them again. Hence the name."

Oktavia's face went white.

"Charlotte," Mami protested, mortified at the candid response.

"Hey, she'll found out sooner or later."

"Yes, but you don't need to…" Mami's stomach churned. "Oh, never mind." She stood up. "I'm going to get some fresh air."

Outside was a small memorial garden, where grassy paths passed between rows of rectangular stone monoliths. Leaning against one, Mami breathed in and out for several seconds, waiting for the nausea to pass. Oktavia had been lucky in that she had learned about dockengauts from a book. Mami had done so through an educational film accidentally viewed during her first year, back when she had still been suffering from heavy PTSD and frequent nightmares. Said nightmares had gotten significantly worse after that, and though she was more adjusted these days, Charlotte's description had brought back some unsettling images.

As her rolling stomach finally started to settle, Mami became aware of a curious sound. Someone nearby was whimpering, and from the sound of it, it was from pain.

Curious, Mami followed the sound until she found the source. A very strange person was crouching behind one of the monoliths. She wasn't tall, less than a meter and a half at full height, and was obviously not human. However, she was still the most human-looking alien Mami had ever seen. Her body was bipedal, her skin a pale yellowish orange, and her limbs slender and graceful. She wore baggy pants and a long-sleeve shirt of some kind of flaxen material, and her fingers were incredibly long and delicate looking, with thin, sharp claws protruding from the ends. Her legs were the strangest, resembling those of chickens or dinosaurs in that they bent forward at the ankle, ending in a foot that consisted mostly of several thin, clawed toes that splayed out in all directions with a thin membrane stretching between them, forming a sort of pad. Her face was humanish, though her orange, egg-shaped eyes definitely were not. On the top of her head was what looked like short-cropped, spiky hair, and a fleshly, flexible tail slithered out of the back of her pants.

Mami couldn't help but stare. This girl didn't look like any of the nonhuman species she was familiar with, and there weren't exactly a great many of them. Still, she did feel like she had seen someone of that species before.

Then, when a jolt of recognition, she realized that she was looking at a savian, the newest species to have made contact with the Incubators. From what she remembered, only two had been made known of, both of which were staying in Cloudbreak. This must be one of those two.

Mami couldn't help but feel a little excited. The savians' arrival had been (and still was) huge news. A completely new species was sure to stir things up, and she was now standing before the first of their kind, at least as far as the afterlife was concerned. Part of her immediately felt ashamed, as being contacted by the Incubators was not a good thing by any stretch of the imagination, but she couldn't help but be aware that this was a very important time in their history.

The savian, however, didn't look so honored. Actually, she just looked like she was in pain. She kept clutching at her forearms with those long fingers of hers and whimpering, her face twisting up into a very humanlike grimace. Mami felt a wave of sympathy for the girl. Being the first of her kind in a frightening new world had to be terrifying, and now something was hurting her as well. Mami wondered if she should leave and find someone to help her, but she couldn't just walk away without doing anything.

Clearing her throat, Mami slowly approached and said in a soft voice, "Excuse me, are you all right?"

The savian spun around, her large eyes widening in surprise. It was then that Mami noticed that the stuff on her head wasn't hair at all, but rather a collection of stiff, pale bristles.

"I'm sorry if I startled you," Mami said, holding up her hands and praying the gesture wasn't considered threatening to savians. "I heard you crying, and just wanted to know if you were okay."

The savian stared at her, one hand still clutching at the opposite arm. Then she slowly relaxed, slouching back to a crouched position, which seemed to be her normal way of standing. "I-It is nothing," she said. Her voice was soft but strong, like velvet wrapped around hard steel. She held up her arms. "It is normal. Seasonal. We go through this every few months, and then it passes. Do not worry."

"Oh, I see," Mami said sympathetically. "Women of our species go through something similar every month. Fortunately, here we have ways from stopping it from happening."

The savian let out a low, chirping hiss that Mami realized was their way of laughing. "I wish we were so fortunate." She bobbed her head. "I apologize for my disturbance. I shall leave you in peace."

"Wait," Mami said, not wanting her to go just yet. "Are you sure there isn't something I can get you."

The savian smiled. "Ah. Are you sure it is my wellbeing that concerns you, or do you simply wish to look more closely at the savian?"

Embarrassed that she had been so transparent, Mami stuttered, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, no offense is taken," the savian sighed. "It is natural for you to be curious. I apologize. My condition has increased rudeness." She bobbed her head. "I am called Akia. Might I know your name?"

Relieved that her faux-pas was being overlooked, Mami bowed her head. "I am very pleased to meet you, Akia. I am called Mami, Mami Tomoe."

Akia tilted her head to one side. "Ah. I still have difficulty with human names. Would that mean you are Mami of family Tomoe, or your full name is Mamimamitomoe?"

"The former," Mami said with a laugh.

Akia smiled, which was a bit strange, given that it was so rare that other species used human facial expressions. It looked a bit strained though, likely due to the pain in her arms. "I suppose you wish to know of my homeworld?"

Mami did, though she was mindful of her manners. "Only if it's not too much trouble," she said. "I'm sure you've been asked about it many times."

"True, though my problem lies not with the frequency of the question, but my inability to answer it." It was then that Mami noticed how thin and sharp Akia's teeth were, almost as if she had a mouth full of needles. "I'm afraid my people are…lagging in our development, in comparison to others. A city like this," she swept an arm out to indicate Cloudbreak, "is well beyond our ability to construct."

"Well, in fairness, it's beyond humans as well."

"True," Akia said, bobbing her head. "But you have at least settled and tamed your planet in its entirety, and can see its whole in pictures. My people are…what's the phrase?" Her forehead bunched up as she thought. Mami wanted to suggest the word "primitive," but that sounded frightfully rude, so she held her tongue.

"Tribal," Akia said at last. "Nomadic. My clan lived…apologies, lives in a desert, with not much else save for bare rock and hot sand. I have been told that it is highly unlikely that the rest of the planet is the same, and this might be true, but if we possess any great forests, mountains, or oceans like the ones I've been shown, I'm afraid I have never-Ah!"

Akia suddenly pitched forward, against clutching at her arms. Mami immediately rushed in to help, but Akia quickly waved her off.

"I am all right," Akia gasped, though she clearly was not. Her fingers were clenching up and spasming. "It is just…stronger than I thought it would be. But it will pass."

Mami was anything but convinced. "Are you sure? I can go get someone to help."

Grimacing, Akia straightened up. "No, I think…I should do that myself. I have foregone treatment, which is now proving to have been foolish." She once again bobbed her head. "Thank you for talking to me, Mami. I apologize for the inconvenience my condition has caused."

"Not at all. Here, let me help-"

Mami blinked. Akia was gone. Not in that she had vanished; Mami could see her scampering through a doorway at the far end of the path. But she had gotten there in mere seconds. Savians moved fast, it seemed.

Then, with a bemused shake of her head, Mami turned to head back. Well, that had been interesting. She hoped Akia would find relief soon. She recalled one unfortunate incident, not long after her twelfth birthday, when her period had started in the middle of class, with no tampons at hand and the most horrible cramps putting her in a foul mood for the rest of the day, and found herself empathizing quite clearly with Akia's condition, even if she couldn't fathom why a seasonal pain would attack her arms.

But even though their conversation had ended so abruptly, Mami was glad to have met her. It wasn't everyone that got to meet the first of a species. She hoped the other savians would be able to adjust when they got here. It was a pity they had to be targeted by the Incubators. If Akia was any indication, they seemed like such nice people.

…

By the time Mami got back to the cafeteria, a fair number of the patrons had left, but Kyoko had returned. True to form, she had loaded up a plastic tray from the buffet and was digging in with great gusto, pausing only to answer questions from Oktavia and Charlotte.

"You're back," Mami said as she sat down across from her. "How did it go?"

Kyoko pointed at her bulging cheeks, indicating her lack of ability to speak, so Charlotte answered for her. "Kyoko says the questions are done for now. Apparently, they attempted to convince her to sign the Compact, which went as well as you'd expect, and are now arguing about the best way to keep her from wandering outside of their protection."

Chugging down a cup of soda, Kyoko rolled her eyes, expressing her opinion of the Alliance's so-called "protection."

"Oh," Mami said. "Well, that's…problematic."

"Also, there seems to be a bit of division in the Senate," Charlotte continued. "Between those bound and determined to keep Kyoko away from Oblivion at all costs and those who want to simply cart her to the Withering Lands' border and chuck her over."

Mami choked. "Wh…You can't be serious!"

Finally swallowing, Kyoko burped lightly into her fist and said, "Actually, it was just a couple."

"But why?" Mami said in bewilderment. Even just one member of the Senate voting to concede to anything Reibey wanted made no sense at all. "Why would any of them even suggest such a thing."

Picking at the rest of her food, Charlotte gave Kyoko a sidelong look. "Turns out that after spending some time with her in a small room, they don't like her very much. I wonder why."

And with that, everything suddenly made sense. "Oh, Kyoko," Mami sighed, burying her face in her hands.

"Hey, I didn't come here to make friends," Kyoko said, jabbing at Mami and Charlotte with a plastic fork. "I just wanted to get the whole stupid interrogation over and done with so…" She glanced up and frowned, probably wondering if the cafeteria had any hidden cameras or microphones. Sitting back, she lowered her voice and muttered, "Well, I just wanted it over with. If pissing them off gets me out of there faster, then so be it."

"Yeah, except for the part that it could also make them real suspicious of you and start tracking your movements," Charlotte remarked wryly.

Kyoko paled. "Wait, they would do that?"

"Kyoko, they're politicians with power and paranoia. They'd do it just out of spite."

"Good job, bonehead," Oktavia remarked, flicking Kyoko in the ear. "Way to tick the government off."

"Well, it's not like it's any of their business!" Kyoko declared, angrily throwing up her hands. "What does Momo have to do with them?"

"Hmmm, let's see," Charlotte said, holding up a hand with all five fingers splayed out. She ticked off each finger as she named a point. "They're Oblivion's archenemy, so stopping her from getting anything she wants is kind of their job. Reibey made a personal point to screw around with Corrie Linemann, who is kind of a big deal. When he showed to tell you about Momo, he got the closest he's ever been to Alliance territory in several hundred years. His goons have shown that they're willing to commit violence and destroy property to get their hands on you. Kind of a problem. Nobody believes a word he says about this not being a big issue, so now they're super suspicious. Every time he-"

"Okay, okay, I get it, I get it!" Kyoko groused. She angrily went back to shoveling food into her mouth, angrily muttering her dissatisfaction at having to deal with politics between swallows.

"So yeah, I know it's hard, but try not to piss of everyone you meet," Charlotte said, rising from the table with her tray in hand. "Especially people with power. That's a bad idea, everyone will tell you that."

Kyoko frowned, though not at the advice and its not-quite-subtle jab. "Where are you going with that?" she said, indicating the tray Charlotte was holding and its partially eaten contents.

"I-" Charlotte sighed and sat back down. "Fine, fine, have it your way." With that, she reluctantly grabbed a fork and worked on finishing the rest.

After everyone had finished (and everyone did, at Kyoko's glowering insistence), an ai'jurrik'kai ambled up to them and had them follow her back to the small office where the senators were.

Predictably, none of the waiting politicians looked like they were in a good mood. "After some discussion, we decided that this is a decision that we ought not make on our own, and will need to bring before the rest of the Senate," said one of the humans.

"Great," Kyoko said, scuffing at the carpet with her toe. "Just what we need to speed things up. More people."

Mami elbowed her and whispered for her to be quiet, though she secretly agreed.

"In the meantime," said the senator, turning her attention to Kyoko and Oktavia. "Given your status as Neutrals, we cannot…legally make you do anything." She took a deep breath. "However, in light of the circumstances, we would appreciate it if you remained in Cloudbreak for the proceedings."

Everyone turned to look at Kyoko, who in turn was openly scowling. She didn't say anything, but her stance made it clear that she would do no such thing unless given good reason.

Seeing this, the human senator added, "I know that, from your position, it would seem a waste of time, but your cooperation in this would go a great way to winning the rest of the Senate over to your plight. And in the meantime, we will do what we can to find out more about your sister. More information, at least, is something everyone can agree upon."

Kyoko didn't drop her scowl, but it softened a bit, and she averted her gaze. "Fine," she muttered.

"Okay," Oktavia said, with greater enthusiasm. "Sounds good to me."

"Thank you," said the senator. "It shouldn't take long, a week at most. In the meantime, please make yourselves at home. Cloudbreak is a beautiful city, which I hope you will take the time to enjoy."

...

The walk from the office and down to the Capitol Spire's lobby was a quiet one. All of Kyoko's euphoria from having ridden the elysian to a flying city had dried up, and she had returned to her usual dour self. In reaction, everyone else was drifting to their default negative states: Mami was worried, Charlotte was irritable, and Oktavia was uncomfortable.

Oktavia broke the silence first. "Well," she said as they wheeled her toward the elevators. "That could have gone…worse."

Kyoko gave her a look. "Yeah, but it could have gone better."

"Hey, you're not in jail, despite your best attempts," Charlotte pointed out. "So, that's a plus."

Kyoko shoved her hands deeper into her pockets. "Dumbass politics. Why are we even doing this? We should be-Ow!"

Oktavia jabbed a finger into her side, shutting her up before she let slip with anything incriminating. Kyoko looked like she was about to snap at her for that, but then she seemed to think better for it and grudgingly conceded the point. "Wasn't going to say nothing," she mumbled.

Sensing another uncomfortable silence about to fall, Mami tried to cheer the others up by same, "Well, if we are to wait, at least we're in the best place to do it."

"Yeah, assuming Smart Mouth over here doesn't almost get us thrown out of our hotel again," Charlotte said.

"Hey, Sayaaaaaaaaer…Blue Tuna here was the one chucking train wheels at people," Kyoko complained. "Don't blame everything on me."

"You were the one dumping me into the pool," Oktavia said.

"You're a fish!" They turned a corner. "You're supposed to like…."

Kyoko's thought trailed off, forgotten, and all four of them froze in their tracks. They had just inadvertently run into one of the last persons they wanted to see.

It was the big dockengaut again, this time without her calliope escort. She had been coming the other way, and in turning the corner, Kyoko had practically run into her. The dockengaut stopped in her tracks and examined the quartet, looking at each face in turn before focusing on Kyoko.

"Ah, zzzzzeee of zzzee scarletzzz mannneee," she buzzed. "I remmmberrrr yoouuuzzz."

Kyoko warily looked up at her, though she didn't move away. "Oh hey, Big, Tall, and Creepy. How ya doing?"

The dockengaut seemed amused by Kyoko's bravado and the others' fear. But then, dockengauts are amused by almost everything. "Juzzzz fine, zzzank youuzzzz. I take itzzz zzzat youuzzz hazzz buzzzzinezzzz here?"

"Nah, just seeing the sights," Kyoko said. "Big ol' shiny tower stuck in the middle of everything, you gotta go by it sooner or later."

"Ah. Exzzzactly zzzo."

"Kyoko," Mami whispered. She tugged on Kyoko's sleeve. "We should go."

This proved to be a mistake, as the dockengaut suddenly directed her attention towards Mami. She whipped around with surprising agility and lowered her "head" on its disturbingly long neck so that she and Mami were eye level with each other, even if only one of them actually possessed eyes. With the scarlet cowl she wore, it looked somewhat like a large elephant's trunk draped with a red blanket.

"Hmmm, youzzz I remmmberzzz zzzooo," the dockengaut said. "Youzzz zzeem nervouzzz. Izzz anzzzyzing zzze matter?"

Mami swallowed and tried to think of a disarming response. She knew the dockengaut was deliberately trying to unnerve her. It was what they did. But she had to admit, it was working.

Kyoko, however, wasn't quite so intimidated. "You're playing the whole creepy vibe kinda strong," she said. "You might wanna ease up a little on the throttle."

The dockengaut's head swung on her flexible neck to look back to Kyoko. "Ah, youzzz are new zzzo zzzizzz world, are youzzz not?"

"Yeah, what gave it away?" Kyoko said. "The stench of life about me, or maybe it's because I don't wig out just because you're in the same room?"

The dockengaut let out a hissing snicker, like dry grass being stirred by the wind. "Zzzuch bravvvado," she said, raising her head up. "But youzzz vill…learn."

Several barbed limbs, like giant, black spider legs, or maybe the appendages of a huge, black crab, uncurled from under the dockengaut's cowl and spread wide. Tiny black dots skittered out around them and went crawling over her armor.

Mami and Charlotte drew back, and Oktavia pressed herself back into her seat. Even Kyoko had gone a little pale. But she stood her ground.

"Freaky," she said. "But my buddy here already told me what you guys are. And I haf'ta say, it kinda makes you a lot less threatening when all I need to beat you is an extra big can of Raid."

The dockengaut reared up, gaining another meter in height, so that her "head" was almost brushing the ceiling. More limbs stretched out from under the hood, and even longer ones extended from the ends of her sleeves. "There izzzz not ezzzzough pezzztizzzide in zzze worldzzz to-"

"Berenko, that's enough!" shouted a voice from down the hall. A stocky little jott dressed in some kind of military uniform, was jogging toward them, huffing the whole way. Zipping ahead of her were the three calliopes that had been accompanying the dockengaut earlier.

Berenko immediately lowered herself to her normal (though still huge) height and quickly curled those limbs of hers back into the confines of her cowl and sleeves. "Ah, zzze zzzpoilzzzportzzz arrivezzz."

The jott looked both out of breath and furious. "You have been warned…" she panted. "Multiple times…not to wander around without an escort, and to stop trying to intimidate everyone you see!" As she spoke, the calliopes quickly surrounded the dockengaut, placing themselves between her and the humans.

"Trying too hard, if you ask me," Kyoko said, though she still looked a little shaken up.

The jott looked at Kyoko as if she had lost her mind, though she managed to keep her composure. "I'm sorry ladies. I assure you, this will-" She shot a venomous glare at Berenko. "-be dealt with. Berenko here is very close to exhausting her warnings, and any further accounts of harassment may very well lead to an interterritorial incident."

"Oh, relaxxzzzz," Berenko hissed. "I wazzz not-"

Then her "head" immediately whipped up, giving Kyoko a very ugly view of her "neck." But for once, Berenko's sudden movement wasn't intended to scare anyone. Instead, she had directed all of her attention to the other end of the all. She took a couple of steps back and hunched down, and it looked as if she were preparing to defend herself.

Of course everyone turned to see what was the matter. To Mami's surprise, there was another savian coming the other way. This one was somewhat taller than Akia, with leaner features and longer bristles on her head, so she supposed that this must be Akia's companion. The savian was smiling and chatting amiably with an ai'jurrik'kai that was accompanying her.

And then something very curious happened. The savian so happened to glance ahead of her and caught sight of Berenko. Immediately a change came over her. Her eyes narrowed, her bristles flattened back against her skull, and her lips drew back, exposing some very sharp teeth. She hunched over as well, but unlike Berenko, it wasn't in a defensive position. In fact, she looked like she was readying herself to charge.

At first Mami was convinced that the savian was moments away from attacking the dockengaut, but the savian's demeanor didn't so much remind her of a predator about to spring, but of an alpha wolf dealing with an upstart member of the pack. The savian's poise didn't seem to convey so much a threat of violence as it did a warning. Back off, she was saying. Or else.

And bizarrely enough, it worked. Berenko hissed and swung around, nearly hitting Kyoko with the folds of her robes. She retreated down the hallway, with the bewildered jott and calliopes following behind, shouting apologies back at the humans.

Mami gaped after her. Though Cloudbreak was a city of wonders, there were a few things she had not expected to see. One of them was a dockengaut. Another was a dockengaut running away.

She looked back to the savian, but she was gone, having made as quick an exit as Akia did. The ai'jurrik'kai was still there, and was looking around in confusion, no doubt wondering where her companion had gone too. In time she disappeared through a nearby doorway, leaving the four humans alone in the hall.

Everyone exchanged glances, none of them sure what to make of what happened. That had definitely been a very interesting encounter, one that demanded some kind of commenting on, but no one had the slightest idea of where to begin.

Finally, Kyoko just went and said what everyone was thinking: "Okay, what in the holy hotsauce hells was that?"

…

Fortunately, despite the little altercation at the pool from the previous day, Mami and Charlotte had managed to convince the hotel's management not to evict them from the premises, though it had taken a great deal of persuasion and not a small amount of money, which had not improved Charlotte's opinion of Kyoko in the slightest. In the meantime, Kyoko was banned from the pool area, and if Charlotte had her way, she would be washing dishes in the hotel kitchen for the rest of the trip.

Sayaka, however, was not banned from anything, despite it being her wheel that had actually done the damage. Kyoko found this to be incredibly unfair.

At any rate, once they were back at the hotel, everyone agreed that after such a stressful day, sitting around in the room would only serve to agitate them further and have them snapping at each other within an hour. As such, they decided to take a walk through the petting zoo to cool off.

Kyoko was the one wheeling Sayaka around this time, as she needed something to do with her hands. Surprisingly, Sayaka didn't have a problem with this, though the fact that she could now fight back should Kyoko try anything probably had something to do with this. Mami and Charlotte also didn't object, the former because she was worried that the wheel incident would incite hard feelings between them and didn't want their friendship damaged so close to their separation, and the latter because it made it less likely that Kyoko was going to try to climb into any of the cages.

"I'm getting sick and tired of this poli bullcrap," Kyoko muttered. Now that the shock from the dockengaut/savian encounter had worn off, her thoughts had returned to the real problems at hand. "We're supposed to be out of here already. Instead, I gotta sit and listen to a bunch of interfering busybodies blabber on and on about how much they can't do anything. Hey, that looks pretty cool."

They had come to a large habitat containing a huge, fat creature that looked like a cross between a starfish and an elephant, in that it had several limbs that closely resembled elephant trunks splayed out on a ground and surrounding a central body, which was pretty much a big, grey hump. It was lying in shallow water and liked to entertain itself by filling the trunks with water and spraying them at the onlookers. It never got close enough to actually hit anyone with water, but both the creature and the people watching it found the game amusing. A low symphony of contented trumpeting kept playing from the trunks that weren't engaged in play. Kyoko parked Sayaka in front of the railing and stood next to her.

"Just bear it out," Sayaka said as they watched. "Sooner or later, they'll get off your back. At least this'll give you time to prepare."

"Prepare for what? I'm ready to go now," Kyoko groused, leaning over the railing on her elbows. "We've got everything we need already. We should have been making for the Withering Lands this morning."

"I wouldn't say such things so candidly," said a new voice, one with a strong French accent. Kyoko and Oktavia turned to see a tall, leggy blonde in a sharp suit walking towards them. She came right up next to Kyoko and leaned over the rail, peering into the habitat. "You never know who may be listening."

Kyoko was instantly on her guard. "Yeah?" she said, slowly moving away. "And who are you?"

The French girl ignored the question. "For example, did you know that the Senate had two calliopes and an ai'jurrik'kai assigned to tracking your movements? They've been following you since you left the Capital Spire."

A cold sweat broke out on Kyoko's forehead and neck. This was very bad news.

"Oh, relax." The French girl turned to smirk at her. "My associates and I took care of them. They won't be bothering anyone for a while."

Kyoko frowned. "So, what, are you on our side? Part of some weird underground movement? I suppose you've got a waiting elysian packed with everything we need?"

"Again she says too much," laughed the French girl. It was not a nice laugh. "But you made a good guess. Yes, we do have a waiting elysian with everything that will be needed for the trip. What's more, the security cameras here just had a rather unfortunate glitch, in that instead of recording what's happening now, they're replaying a recording of what happened two months ago. Oh, and it seems that the marshals won't be wandering into the path between us and our transport." Her smile widened. "It pays, you see, to have friends in low places."

Kyoko got a very uncomfortable feeling. Despite weapons not being allowed, she still summoned a spear to her hands. "Who. Are. You?" she said again as she continued to back up.

Then she bumped into Sayaka's wheelchair. At the same time, she realized that the normally talkative mermaid had been very silent ever since this odd person had shown up. Kyoko glanced over her should. Her face went white.

Sayaka was slumped bonelessly in her seat. Her arms were hanging over the sides of her armrests and her head was lolling against one shoulder, mouth hanging open and eyes open but glazed over and unfocused. She appeared to be dead.

"Don't worry about her," the French girl said. "She'll awake in time. And so will you. By then, you'll be exactly where you want to go: the Withering Lands."

Kyoko frantically looked around for Mami and Charlotte, but they were nowhere to be seen. Neither was anyone else.

"Oh yeah, and about your friends?" the French girl said. "They're a wee bit back, being jabbered at by a couple of overly tourists who want them to take a bunch of pictures and want to know every detail about their trip and their lives." Then she dropped the fake accent, and though her disguise remained, Kyoko now knew exactly who she was talking to. "Pity they're too polite to just tell them to bug off, or that they don't suspect that they should."

Kyoko filled her lungs to shout, but then something sharp and thin poked her in the neck. She raised her hand to slap it, but for some reason her arm suddenly felt incredibly heavy. Her spear fell from her hands to clatter on the floor.

Then her legs gave out. She hit the concrete hard, but barely felt it. Every just felt so heavy. Even thinking was becoming too hard. Though she knew that it was a very bad idea, she just wanted to close her eyes and sleep.

Annabelle Lee grinned down at her. "Should have brought a camera," she said. "But oh well. There'll be plenty of time to right a few wrongs on the way back. My sister, for example, has a ton of sushi recipes she wants to try out, and now has more than enough fish to work with."

Kyoko tried to scream, but her mouth no longer obeyed her commands. And moments later, she couldn't even move anymore. The world had gone black.

Chapter Text

Annabelle Lee was not a good person. She knew this and she accepted it, even if she wasn't exactly proud of it. For starters, she had a vicious temper, and was not above using physical violence to achieve her aims, even if those aims were as petty as "Make the annoying person shut up already." And she could be downright ruthless when it came to her ultimate goal of escaping this shittastic excuse for an afterlife.

However, it wasn't as if she were a particularly bad one either. She had her redeeming features, her occasional moments of empathy and kindness, sometimes even for people other than her sister. She didn't go out of her way to be malicious (save for when someone had really pissed her off) and didn't necessarily get off from being cruel. All in all, she was just a person for whom life had done no favors whatsoever (except maybe for the whole flying thing. That at least was cool) and was incredibly bitter about it.

But even she would have to admit that the warm, fulfilling feeling of satisfaction that filled her as she watched Kyoko Sakura slowly slump to the ground probably wouldn't do her case any favors. She didn't care, though. Some things were meant to be savored.

"Finally," she breathed, excitedly rubbing her palms together. She nodded to Arzt, who had been responsible for their acquisitions' unconscious state. "All right, let's get her bagged up."

Arzt tossed her a large, black duffel bag, and working together they folded Kyoko Sakura up and put her inside. She was rather thin and wasn't especially tall, so she fit rather snugly. From there, Annabelle Lee slipped her arms through the bag's handles and stood up. Witches fortunately retained the enhanced strength they had as Puella Magi, and Kyoko wasn't that much heavier than Ticky Nikki, so the weight didn't bother her at all.

From there, they saw to Oktavia von Seckendorff. They straightened her up, closed her eyes, and folded her hands in her lap. To any chance onlooker, she would appear to be nothing more than a sleepy mermaid taking a nap.

"All right," Annabelle Lee said as she took the handles of Oktavia's wheelchair. "Now, go deal with their buddies. Watch out for the blonde one's magic guns though."

"Don't worry about me," Arzt told her. With that, she was gone, off to tie off a couple loose ends.

Annabelle Lee spun the wheelchair around and moved it toward the nearby exit. The Madam had really come through for them. A pity she couldn't transport them out as easily as she had gotten them in. Unfortunately, teleporters capable of moving others over long distances were extremely rare, with the Matriarch being one of the most powerful examples, and even she had her limits. The one employed by the Madam had been more than capable of sending them close to Cloudbreak, but bringing them back was beyond her means.

Fortunately, other arrangements had been made. Once she had left the resort, a few hops through public transportation would take her to the ship they had waiting. And once they were in the nearest settlement outside of the Alliance, they would call up the Withering Lands, have the Matriarch come pick them up, and they would be done, in every sense of the word.

The very thought of it made Annabelle Lee feel giddy. It was so nice to have things working in her favor for once.

…

"You've been to Pinespire?" the German girl said with a wide smile. "Oh my God, I've always wanted to go! What's it like?"

"Oh, it's very lovely," Mami said, though even her friendly smile was starting to strain. "We go every Christmas, and there's always lots of snow."

"Snow?" said the Swedish girl. She jumped up and down and clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, snow's wonderful, we love snow! What's it like?"

"I…" Mami blinked a couple of times, unsure of how to respond to that. She glanced to Charlotte, but it seemed that she was at as much of a loss as Mami. She just shrugged and turned to go look at a habitat filled with large-eyed, leaping hoobers.

A few minutes ago, they had been approached by a pair of European businesswomen, one originally from Germany and one from Sweden, if their accents were any indication. And after asking Mami to take their pictures, they had immediately struck up a conversation. At first, Mami had been glad to make friends, though Charlotte was a little put off by their forwardness. But after the third or fourth round of increasingly insipid questions, even Mami's patience was starting to fray.

"Well, i-it's, ah, cold, and white," Mami said, unsure of how else to describe snow to someone who apparently loved it but didn't know what it was like. "It falls from the sky, and crunches when you walk on it."

"Oh, that sounds lovely!" exclaimed the German. "Did you bring any with you?"

"I-er, no." Mami shot another glance at Charlotte, who, though her back was still turned, was visibly rolling her eyes. "Snow…melts. And it's not hard to make if you really want some. It's just powdered ice, really."

As she spoke, Mami idly reached up to scratch an itch on her neck.

That was what saved her.

Her fingers brushed against something long, needle-thin, and metal. Instinct took over and she whirled around to see yet another European businesswoman extending her hand toward Mami's neck. Though calling it a "hand" was being generous. All of the fingers had been replaced by metal syringes, filled with some kind of vibrant green fluid. There were glowing lavender shimmers around her wrist, indicating the presence of a dropped glamour.

Mami, who remembered well Oktavia's description of the Void Walkers that had attacked them, quickly reasoned that she was probably now in a lot of trouble.

"Get away!" she cried, dropping low and driving an elbow into her assailant's gut. The disguised Void Walker let out a loud oomph! and staggered back, clutching at her stomach.

Charlotte turned in her direction. "Mami, what are-Oh jeez!" She moved forward to protect her wife, but then the Swedish tourist was suddenly behind her.

"No, no, no," the tourist whispered into Charlotte's ear as she looped an arm around her neck. Charlotte gasped as a nasty looking knife slid into her back. "Bad monkey. Go down."

"Charlotte!" Mami screamed. She started to pull out one of her muskets, but then the German girl was there, pointing a pistol at her forehead.

"Yeah, don't," she said, her accent disappearing. "You got lucky once, but make one wrong move now, and I shoot you down while Nikki over there carves steaks out of your girlfriend's back." She tilted her head to Charlotte, who had fallen to her knees and was whimpering piteously as the faux-Swede continued to hold the knife in place, a bloodthirsty grin on her face.

Mami stared at the pistol's muzzle, her eyes crossing to focus on it. She slowly pushed the musket back.

"Good." The faux-German's eyes flickered to the girl with the syringes. "Arzt, sweetie, I think it's time to-"

Mami's hand twitched, and ribbons suddenly appeared, wrapping around both the Swede and the German and yanking them back. The Swede yelped in surprise as she was hauled away from Charlotte, but the German managed to keep her head. Even as the ribbons pulled her away, she managed to reorient her aim and send a shot through Mami's forehead.

…

All things considered, Charlotte's life was pretty easy. Sure, kelp harvesting was physically demanding, but she was young and strong, and always will be. And though she was reasonably sure that she had endured horrors unimaginable when she had been a Puella Magi, all those memories had been wiped away. As such, the two most awful experiences she could remember were having to enter the barrier of a friend that had regressed back to being a full witch and being attacked by a particularly vicious alien predator that had somehow wound up on one of Freehaven's beaches.

So all in all, she wasn't exactly the experienced veteran Mami was, nor was she accustomed to pain. She took self-defense classes and could handle herself, sure, but that was a far cry from being injured in an actual fight. And so having that knife thrust into her back nearly paralyzed her.

But then that fake German bitch shot her wife, and the pain suddenly didn't feel so important anymore.

Grimacing, Charlotte reached back with shaking hands to grab the knife still lodged into her back. And with a sharp intake of breath, she yanked it out. It fell clattering to the concrete.

As soon as Mami had fallen with a seeping hole in her head, her ribbons had withered and died, freeing their attackers. The crazy one that had stabbed Charlotte seemed quite beside herself, but the one with the pistols was already getting to her feet.

Gritting her teeth, Charlotte staggered up and launched herself at her. She hit the fake German with a flying tackle to the stomach, knocking her down. The back of the other girl's head bounced off the ground, and her eyes went wide with shock.

Charlotte was not interested in letting her recover.

"She's! My! Wife! Not! My! Girl! Friend!" Charlotte snarled, punctuating each syllable with a punch to the scumbag's face.

"Get off of her!" cried the syringe girl as she grabbed the back of Charlotte's collar and hoisted her up. She moved to jab those pointy needles of hers into Charlotte's stomach, but Charlotte managed to get her by the wrist and twist her arm around so they couldn't touch her.

But that just gave the crazy girl the opening she needed to leap in and stab Charlotte through the neck. And with that, the fight was over.

Charlotte slumped down, her mind nearly overwhelmed by the pain and her vision fading. She looked to her wife, who was still lying motionless on the ground.

I'm sorry, Mami, she managed to think. I tried. She tried to reach for her, but Mami was so far away, and her arm felt so heavy.

And then there was a confusing muddle of sounds and bright flashes. At first Charlotte thought that was just her mind shutting down, but then the knife in her neck disappeared, and something cool and soothing was pressed against her wounds. She rushed back to full consciousness with a gasp, and found herself being tended to by a bunch of girls she didn't know.

"Easy, take it easy," said the girl with short green hair that was tending to her. "You're okay now."

"Mami," Charlotte mumbled, reflexively trying to shake her off. "Where's…" Then she saw her lover, being similarly treated by two other girls. Mami was already moving, albeit a bit groggily, but she looked to be all right. Charlotte slumped with relief. "Thank God," she whispered.

"Don't worry, you're safe now," her rescuer told her. "We saw those guys attacking you and drove them off. They got away, but we'll call the marshals. They won't get far. So it's all okay now."

"Thank you," Mami breathed. "I don't know what we would have done without-" Then she stiffened. "Oh God, Kyoko and Oktavia!"

Charlotte and Mami stared at each other for a moment, and then, their weakness forgotten, they pushed away their confused helpers and rushed to their feet.

"Kyoko!" Mami screamed as they half-ran, half-stumbled down the path their friends had gone. "Oktavia!" They ran around the exhibits, calling out their names, but to no avail.

"What's going on?" said the green-haired girl as she caught up with them. "What happened?"

"Our friends!" Mami said, still desperately looking around. "There were two of them! One had long red hair and a green jacket, and the other was a mermaid in a wheelchair with short blue hair! She had blue hair, I mean!" she clarified unnecessarily. "Not the wheelchair."

The green-haired girl blinked at her. "A mermaid?"

"Yes! Witch! Have you seen them?"

The girl shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not. There was just you."

Charlotte rushed over to another group feeding a trio of silver, long-necked birds. "Hi, sorry, but did any of you see a cranky looking girl with long red hair and a mermaid in a wheelchair?" she gasped out.

They looked at her in surprise. "Uh, no, sorry," one of them said.

"I think I saw the mermaid though," said another.

"You did?" Charlotte's head snapped toward her. "Where?"

She pointed down a path. "Someone with a big black bag was pushing her wheelchair that way. She looked like she was asleep."

Oh, that could not be good. But why take Oktavia and leave…wait. "Ah, how big was this bag?" she asked, though she was afraid that she already knew the answer.

"Uh, pretty big, I guess. I don't know, I wasn't paying attention."

"Could you fit a human inside?" Charlotte pressed.

"I guess, if they were small, but why-" Then the girl's eyes went wide. "Wait a minute, are we talking about a kidnapping?"

Charlotte didn't answer. Now that she had the information she needed, her attention was elsewhere. She shot off a brief "Thanks!" before rushing back over to Mami.

"This way!" she said, pulling on Mami's sleeve and pointing down the indicated path. Mami nodded, and they two of them head down it as fast as they could, leaving their bewildered rescuers behind.

…

The tram slowed to a stop, and its doors opened, allowing a handful of passengers to disembark and a few more to replace them. Annabelle Lee was among the latter. She wheeled Oktavia von Seckendorff to an empty corner, readjusted the bag's weight, and settled in to wait. The other passengers meandered ever so slowly to their positions, and the tram started moving again, following the railing down to one of the lower levels.

Annabelle Lee inhaled deeply and slowly let it out. She was torn between shaking with nervousness and singing with joy, and had to repress both urges. This was the most dangerous stage of the operation, and she couldn't afford to attract attention to herself. But it was so hard! She was close now, so close to success. She just needed to play it cool. Nikki and The Twins would put down Kyoko Sakura's friends and rejoin her momentarily. And then they would be on their way.

Then she became aware of a nearby presence. Glancing down, she saw a little dark-haired girl staring up at her. Or rather, up at Oktavia.

Annabelle Lee's hackles rose. Damn it, had she been found out? Was this girl an agent of the Senate? She was sure they had gotten them all. But if something had been missed, it could bring everything down around her ears.

Then the little girl leaned over and said in an excited whisper, "Is she a mermaid?"

Oh. Okay. Annabelle Lee relaxed a little. So it was just a kid being a kid. "Yes," she whispered back. She brought a finger to her lips. "She's a mermaid witch. But keep it down. She's sleeping."

The girl grinned and nodded. "Cool. Okay."

Eventually the girl's attention waned, and Annabelle Lee went back to fretting. Damn it, why couldn't this tram go faster? Okay, so it had to keep to the schedule, fine. But this was an emergency! She glowered down at the unconscious mermaid. If it weren't for her awkwardly big tail, she could have just stuffed her into the bag with Kyoko Sakura and flown down herself. Yeah, it would've been a tight fit, but when she had been stationed at the Silent Mill, one of the only entertainments they had there had been an old Tetris machine, which Annabelle Lee had spent a great deal of time with for lack of anything else to do. It was the same principle, really.

To distract herself, she looked out the window. Okay, credit where it was due, Cloudbreak really was a beautiful city. As she had only known places like Genocide City, the various bleak Withering Lands cities, and the scumpit that was Bertha's Brothel, she had been more than a little dazzled upon arrival. And to tell the truth, she still kind of was. This place was the polar opposite of Bertha's Brothel, rejoicing in peace and beauty as much as the other had wallowed in filth and depravity.

But as pretty as it was, Annabelle Lee still didn't like it here. Something about it made her skin crawl. It was like these people were so bound and determined to stick it to Oblivion that they had built this superficially magnificent capital in the clouds to distract themselves from the fact that they were trapped there permanently. Annabelle Lee wondered where they kept their undesirables: those who had been broken by the long trek of years but were unable to free themselves. Maybe there was some kind of asylum you were sent to once your behavior started to get too erratic. There were other settlements outside of the Alliance that were known to do that.

Though speaking of asylums, was that Ticky Nikki? Frowning, Annabelle Lee leaned in closer to the window. Sure enough, there was her sister rushing along a nearby platform, with The Twins close behind. Something seemed to be wrong, as they kept jumping up and down and waving their arms.

Oh, that couldn't be good.

After checking that no one was paying direct attention to her, Annabelle Lee lifted her hand to tap the tiny mic in her ear. "Hey, you guys remember that you've got mics, right?" she hissed. "Stop making a scene!"

They stopped jumping, thank God. But when Nikki's voice came through, she still sounded frenzied. "Mayday, mayday!" she screeched. "Trouble!"

Annabelle Lee winced at the auditory assault. "Keep it down! God, are you trying to blow out my ears?"

"Never mind your ears, we're in trouble," said Arzt's voice (or was it Nie's?).

Annabelle Lee felt a cold shiver go down her spine. Cupping her mouth, she turned her head and mumbled, "Uh, you guys didn't drop the ball, did you? I mean, you did, er, do your jobs, right?"

"It's not Nikki's fault!" her sister wailed.

Oh shit. "What happened?"

"Long story short, Blondie and Pinkie got some surprise help at a really bad time," one of The Twins said shortly. "We got ambushed and chased off before we could put them down."

Annabelle Lee froze. "What," she said flatly.

"So yeah, we really should clear out. Like, now."

Annabelle Lee stared at her idiotic compatriots until the tram had descended below the platform they were on. Her hand fell from the mic to grasp the wheelchair's handles. She wanted to scream and curse, but she was surrounded on all sides by potential enemies. So instead, she mentally composed a list of all the nasty things she wanted to call those idiots and put the best ones in the most effective order.

…

Mami and Charlotte burst out onto the sidewalk and looked frantically around. A sheer drop was directly in front of them, and other platforms spun lazily all around. Everywhere, people were walking, floating, or skittering about their way, blissfully unaware of the Void Walkers in their midst.

And why should they be? Humans rushing this way and that in parkour fashion were nothing new, and the fleeing kidnappers would not raise eyebrows. Cursing herself for time wasted, Charlotte sprinted to the edge of the platform. Grabbing one of the many glass rails that connected the city, she leaned out as far as she could, trying to catch some sign of their quarry.

"Do you see them?" she called to Mami, who was doing the same thing a few meters away.

Mami despondently shook her head. "No. They've disappeared."

Charlotte cursed under her breath and abandoned her post. She ran over to her wife and joined her search. "Well, on the upside there's a Militia office not too far," she muttered. "So it's not like the marshals will have to go far to find them."

At that, Mami's face turned white. She quickly turned away, coughing into her fist. Charlotte knew her well enough to be worried. "Uh, Mami?" she said, leaning over to look her in the eye. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Mami bit her lower lip. "Charlotte, I don't think the marshals are coming."

"Huh? Why not? I mean, after that row, someone has-"

"Because I asked those girls not to call them," Mami said. "Or rather, begged them."

Charlotte's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"I told them that we knew who our attackers are, and that involving the marshals would only make things worse." Mami averted her eyes, unable to meet Charlotte's gaze. "So I thanked them for saving us, and pleaded with them to let us handle things."

"Uh…" Charlotte was trying very hard not to become angry, but her success was marginal. "Care to explain why?"

"Charlotte, I-"

"I mean, I know we're about to-" Charlotte cut herself off. She glanced around at the passersby, lowered her voice, and pulled Mami aside so that their backs were turned to the crowd. "I know we're gonna do something majorly illegal, but we kinda haven't done it yet. Plus, everyone knows that Oblivion's after Kyoko, so it's not like they'll ask questions. So why in the hell shouldn't we call the marshals?"

Mami grimaced. "Because of Freehaven."

"Freehaven? The hell does Freehaven have to do with this? The hell does Freehaven have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to Freehaven!" Mami cried, roughly pulling away. Startled, Charlotte drew back, blinking.

Tears were forming in Mami's eyes, but she didn't turn away. "Charlotte," she said, her voice nearly cracking. "Those girls. Who attacked us. They're…"

"I know who they are," Charlotte said before Mami accidentally dropped the words "Void Walkers." "So?"

"So? What do you think will happen if they're caught by the marshals?"

"What will happen?" Charlotte threw her hands into the air. "Whaddya mean, what will happen? Our friends will-" She noticed a couple ai'jurrik'kai looking at them curiously, and, with some effort, managed to put a lid on her emotions. Dropping her voice, she hissed. "We'll get our friends back, that's what will happen. To you want them to be taken by Oblivion?"

"Of course not! But what will happen then?"

"Well, I guess-"

And then Charlotte got it.

If several Void Walkers were to attack citizens of the New Life Alliance, the Alliance would take it very, very seriously. That was what the Compact was supposed to prevent, after all. And if that attack were to take place in Cloudbreak, the capital of the Alliance itself, war would be declared, no ifs, ands, or buts. While the Senate may be divided on how to deal with Oblivion stalking a free agent, an attack on their own citizenry in their own capital would instantly unite them. After all, The Free Life Compact meant nothing if it were not enforced. And this was a violation of everything it was supposed to prevent.

But what then? During the first war, the Withering Lands had suffered the most harm, and Oblivion would not sit idly and wait for the first attack. And Freehaven was the nearest Alliance territory to the Withering Lands, practically sitting on its doorstep.

It wasn't that Freehaven was without defenses. Quite the contrary, a significant portion of the Alliance's military was housed there for such an occasion, carefully kept out of sight of the tourists. Should war be declared, the place would become a veritable fortress. The Void Walkers would have to knock very hard should they wish to break that door down.

But the Withering Lands was one of the largest and most powerful nations in the afterlife. And they had some very heavy hammers. Ever since the last war, they had been building their own military, and by now the forces Oblivion had at her disposal were downright frightening to think about. Even if Freehaven survived, it would be a near ruin. Homes would be destroyed, Charlotte and Mami's friends would have their livelihoods crushed, and many would suffer, both in the war and in the aftermath. If Freehaven survived.

Charlotte had met a few veterans of the first war. Even the ones that had managed to readjust still carried the scars with them, even if they weren't visible. She had seen that haunted look in their eyes. She couldn't let that happen to their friends, not even for Oktavia and Kyoko's sake.

Taking a deep breath, she muttered, "Okay. I get it. Okay."

"I'm sorry."

This time it was Charlotte that couldn't meet her wife's eyes. "Let's just find them," she muttered.

Mami nodded, and the two of them threw themselves back into the search.

…

The tram arrived at its destination, and Annabelle Lee disembarked, pushing the comatose mermaid along as dutifully as a nurse. Her face was emotionless, her eyes calm, and her hands steady. Before her was a long walkway, bordered by slanting windows. She moved along at a brisk pace, ignoring the curious glances she received from everyone who knew what a mermaid was.

At the end of the walkway was an elevator, housed inside of a glass cylinder. Annabelle Lee headed toward it, trying to look unconcerned and unhurried, a difficult task when you keep expecting marshals to drop out of the sky at any moment.

However, none did, and Annabelle Lee reached the elevator unmolested. She pressed the down button and waited.

"Annabelly!" Nikki's voice screeched, making Annabelle Lee cringe. She turned and saw that, sure enough, Tikki Nikki and The Twins rushing toward her. "We're in big trouble, not Nikki's fault, totally their fault, so don't think that-"

"Nikki, shut up." She turned toward The Twins. "You two? Also shut up, and get in."

Mercifully they obeyed, and soon all four ex-Void Walkers and their oblivious prisoners were inside the glass elevator heading down. As soon as the doors had slid shut, Annabelle Lee took a deep breath and said, "Okay, just throwing this out there. The only reason why I'm not cutting the three of you into pieces is because this thing is made of glass and we're in public."

Nie opened her mouth to say something, but Annabelle cut her off. "Also, you're all a bunch of gutless, disease-ridden, foul-breathed, competence-challenged, mentally deficient, evolutionary throw-backs with about as much usefulness as an assless chair." Nikki raised her hand, prompting Annabelle Lee to clarify, "Yes, Nikki, even you. That's how mad I am."

Nikki's face fell.

Red-faced with indignation, Arzt snapped, "You can't-"

"Shut up, Arzt. I'm blaming you the most. I mean, what happened? It was a simple distract and drop job! You've done it a hundred times! How did-" Growling, Annabelle Lee closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten. She got as far as four before snarling, "Fuck it, no time. Just tell me if the marshals are after us."

"We don't know," Nie hissed. "We didn't stick around to find out."

"Well. Maybe you should've."

"Like I would allow Nie to put herself in such a dangerous position," Arzt said, placing herself between her lover and Annabelle Lee. "And by the by, so long as we're putting things out there, keep this up and we might take offense. And if we do, it'll be two on two, and you're encumbered. So, do keep that in mind."

"Hey!" Nikki shoved herself in front of Arzt, which, given the elevator's cramped space, meant that they were nearly nose-to-nose. "Don't be threatening Nikki's sister, or she sticks you."

"Nikki, no." Annabelle Lee took her sister and pulled her out of the way. "Stick them later. Right now, we've got bigger problems. Are these idiots' friends coming after us or not?"

…

The damnedest thing about Cloudbreak was how easy it was to get lost. You could be looking directly at the platform you wanted to reach, but somehow get turned around and end up three levels below it or on the far side of the city in the process of getting there. Trying to catch a moving tram while navigating the rat's nest of glass rails just made things worse, especially with all the ai'jurrik'kai getting in the way and the fact that there were several identical trams moving about.

Needless to say, it didn't take long for Mami and Charlotte to realize that they had lost sight of the tram and were now clinging to several thin glass poles hundreds of meters in the air.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it," Charlotte muttered as she gingerly adjusted her position. She shaded her eyes and squinted out at the city for a time, and then announced, "I don't see them? Do you see them?"

Mami was using a makeshift pair of binoculars, courtesy of her magic ribbons. It wasn't a design she used often, but the basic idea was simple enough to replicate. "No," she said, an edge of desperation in her voice.

Charlotte was silent for a time, and then said, "Mami. They're not getting away. You understand that, right?"

Mami couldn't look at her.

"They're not taking Oktavia and Kyoko. We're stopping them any way we can. Even if it means calling the Militia. You know that, don't you?"

No answer.

"Mami, look at me!"

Wincing, Mami reluctantly turned toward her wife, who was clinging to the rails a few meters above her. Charlotte glowered down at her, her face resolute. "They're not taking them, Mami," she said. "Even if we have to call the marshals. Got that?"

Mami didn't respond. Her attention had refocused on a point beyond Charlotte.

"Mami? Hey." Charlotte waved her hand. "Are you listening to me? Because I'm being serious here! There's no way-"

"L-look!" Mami choked out, thrusting a finger out. Though perplexed, Charlotte as she said, and when she saw what Mami was pointing at, she very nearly let go from surprise.

At the far end of a very long expanse were the Void Walkers. They were in a tube elevator that was making the long journey down to the city's lower levels. And though it was difficult to tell from such a distance, and even though the Void Walkers kept getting in the way, they could just make out a flash of blue hair.

"Holy cow, it's them!" Charlotte blurted out. "Um, ah, okay. Lecture is now obsolete, and-"

"Save it," Mami said as she scrambled up to her. "Let's just concentrate on getting there."

Charlotte frowned. "Yeah, but how?" She nodded toward all the empty space between them and the elevator. There were no platforms close enough for them to close the distance, and only one rail stretched far enough to be of any use, and even that was things. An ai'jurrik'kai could traverse it without much difficulty, but humans, even magically enhanced ones, didn't have a chance.

"Uh, I'm not really sure how," Charlotte admitted after running a few calculations through her head. "I mean, unless you can use those ribbons of yours to make a helicopter, we're kind of out of luck." She glanced down and regretted it immediately. Directly beneath them was nothing but clouds. "I, uh, guess we could try climbing down and hope we find them again-"

"No," Mami said, focusing on the rail. She snapped her fingers, and yellow ribbons snapped into place, two of them looping over the rail and more binding those tightly to her body.

Charlotte's jaw dropped. "Oh my God, you're seriously not suggesting-"

"Climb on," Mami said, her feet balanced precariously on the webwork as she readied to spring. When Charlotte hesitated, she glanced at her and frowned. "Well? Didn't you just say we're stopping them any way we can? Now get on!"

Grimacing, Charlotte climbed onto Mami's back, clinging around her waist with her legs and hugging her neck, careful not to obstruct the flow of air. "This is insane, you know that?" she hissed as more ribbons appeared to bind them together.

"You'd better get used to it," Mami said, but she flashed an encouraging smile over her shoulder. "Besides, I used to do this sort of thing all the time."

Yeah, and look how well that ended, Charlotte thought grimly. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Mami crouched. Then, after making sure that her makeshift harness was tight, she leapt.

…

Inside the elevator, the dissension within Annabelle Lee's ranks continued to grow.

"Of course they're after us!" Nie snapped. She thrust a finger out at the city. "What, do you think they'll just brush off being attacked as a case of mistaken identity or something? Odds are half the city are looking for us by now!"

Nikki peered out, pressing her hands and face to the glass. "Half?" she said in confusion. "This city only got four people, ticky-ticky?"

"Which wouldn't be a problem if you had just done your jobs!" Annabelle Lee yelled back. She turned to the other Twin. "For Chrissakes, Arzt! You're supposed to be Mrs. Stealth! How in the hell did you botch this up?"

Arzt's golden eyes flashed with anger. "They got lucky," she said.

"Because there really looks like more than four," Nikki remarked, still looking out. "Nikki counts…seven, twelve, two more, no! They're moving too fast!"

"Lucky? Lucky!" Annabelle Lee shrieked, spittle flying from her mouth. "Oh, I'm sure Lord Reibey will be just fine with that explanation. They got lucky."

"Excuse me, but who was actually doing something, and who was just hanging back? I'll give you three guesses. The only reason you weren't there getting your flat booty kicked with the rest of us was because you scampered off!"

"Two plus two is four, right?" Nikki wondered. "So, half of four is two, right?" She shook her head. "That doesn't make any senses. Nikki doesn't think two is half of city."

"Well, great!" Annabelle Lee spat. "Just fucking great! And odds are, they've contacted the marshals, so there's that too." She slammed her fist against the wall. "Here we are, in the middle of the Alliance's goddamned capital, with everyone knowing we're here, and we're stuck in a transparent glass tube for everyone to see!" She repeatedly jabbed her finger at the Down button, as if that would make the elevator descend faster. "All right, as soon as this opens, we run. The hanger's not far, so if we go fast enough-"

"That's assuming there isn't a squad of marshals already there waiting for us," Nie pointed out.

"Christ," Annabelle Lee muttered. She slammed her fist against the wall again. "Damn it! Damn it damn it damn it damn it!"

"Maybe everyone else is tourists, and only four people actually live here?" Nikki wondered out loud. "But that don't make senses either. Annabelly, how many peoples lives in big floaty city anyways?"

Annabelle groaned. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Yup, there was one whopper of a headache on the rise, the sort that only Nikki could provide. "Nikki, please stop talking. This really isn't the time."

"But Nikki's confused!" her sister wailed. "Shooty Sameface said half of city is chasing us, but only two actually are! Two isn't half of city!"

"Oh, for crying out loud. That was hyperbole! She didn't actually mean-" Annabelle Lee stiffened. "Hold up, what?"

Nikki pointed. "Nikki said, only two peoples are coming at us, but that's not enough for-"

Annabelle Lee hurriedly pushed her out of the way to look. Then her eyes slowly widened as she saw two swiftly approaching pairs of feet heading straight for them.

…

Charlotte was actually pretty okay with heights and fast speeds. She could walk around Cloudbreak without trouble and had even tried out windriding a couple of times. But even she had her limits. Sliding swiftly down a thin, glass rail with nothing to support her save for a few ribbons toward the side of a building with absolutely nothing below her two kilometers above the ground was a bit beyond those limits.

She tried to keep from screaming, she really did. But once Mami dissipated the ribbons binding them to the rail and surrendered the two of them to the grip of gravity, the decision was taken out of her hands.

Fortunately, that part was over in seconds. Then there was a horrible jolt, and they were clinging to the outside of the elevator tube, with more ribbons securing them to the building. Charlotte released the breath she had been holding and started hyperventilating.

Mami seemed unaffected by their close brush with freefall and was already getting ready. She had timed their drop to take them just below the descending elevator. So, before it came into view, she pushed back with her legs, stretching the ribbons taut. Then more ribbons twisted in front of her, becoming an elegant silver crossbow, of a similar style to her muskets. One bolt was already loaded, with six more clipped to the wings.

"Here," she said, handing it to Charlotte. "They'll cut through the glass, but imbed themselves upon hitting flesh, so be careful what you aim at."

Charlotte's eyes widened, but she took the weapon. Mami summoned one of her muskets and held it at the ready.

Just as the elevator passed into view, more ribbons appeared, crisscrossing below it and jamming the mechanisms, bringing it to a stop. At the same time, everyone aboard (save for the unconscious Oktavia) suddenly found themselves bound tight and unable to move.

"Hold it right there," Mami said, aiming at the girl that had a hold of Oktavia's wheelchair. Charlotte pointed her crossbow at the fake Swede. The crazy ones were always the most likely to attack.

The four disguised Void Walkers complied, though they had little choice. None of them looked happy though. The one Mami was covering was literally shaking with barely restrained rage.

Once she was sure that she wasn't going to be interrupted, Mami said in a slow and clear voice, "All right, here's how things are going to work. You are going to return both of our friends at once, and if they've been infected with some sort of poison or drug, you will also provide the antidote, and nothing else. The four of you will then exit this city and take with you any other associates and/or accomplices that may not be currently present. You will then return to the Withering Lands and tell Oblivion that if she tries something like this again, there will be war. Do so now, and the marshals need not be involved. Refuse, and we will shoot you all and call the marshals to sweep up whatever's left. Do I make myself clear?"

Charlotte had to admit, she was a little taken back. Sure, she knew that Mami was a veteran who had fought numerous battles, but she hadn't expected to see her become such a stone-cold badass. It was all she could do to keep from cheering.

However, the Void Walkers were not exactly motivated by her threats. They exchanged looks, the Swede growled a little, but they said nothing.

Mami's finger tightened on the trigger. "You are running out of time. Comply now, or we will open fire."

Another short silence passed, and then the one Mami was aiming at, presumed to be their leader, cleared her throat and said, "So…I take it's just you two, and the marshals haven't been called already?"

Mami faltered at that, but she recovered. "It doesn't matter. Our terms have been laid out. You have five seconds to answer."

"Okay," said the leader. She glanced to the Swede. "Nikki. Fetch."

What happened next can only be described as a whirlwind of blades. The ribbons binding the Swede were suddenly shredded, and she was lunging toward Mami and Charlotte. Taken by surprise, Charlotte's finger instinctively tightened, and an explosive bolt shot forth at the Swede's head.

And then the Swede's body literally came apart and dissolved, and the bolt flew right through the empty space where her head had been. And out leapt a little girl wearing an adorable pink outfit wielding two sharp-edged knives and grinning like a maniac.

Several things happened at once. Charlotte's bolt hit the control panel on other side of the elevator, causing an explosion of sparks. The little girl identified as "Nikki," no doubt the same one that had given Oktavia so much trouble, smashed through the glass tube and threw herself onto Mami. Mami tried to pull back and bring her musket into range, but it was too long. Cackling wildly, Nikki slashed out with both knives.

Both Mami and Charlotte winced, but the expected burst of pain never came. Surprisingly, Nikki hadn't been attacking them at all.

But the ribbons tethering them to the elevator weren't so lucky.

The three of them fell, two screaming and one screeching deranged laughter all the way down.

…

Though the Madam hadn't provided much in the way of her infamous hi-tech weaponry, she had at least upgraded Annabelle Lee's trademark wrist-blades. Now instead of two large scythes tied to either wrist, they were thinner, longer, sharper, and contained within spring-loaded sheathes. Annabelle Lee approved of the design, as they were much more efficient, and made cutting herself free of those damned ribbons a lot quicker.

Once she was free, she quickly set to slashing away at The Twins' restraints as well. They instinctively sought solace in each other's arms, but Annabelle Lee had no time for their usual shenanigans. "C'mon, not now," she said, hauling them apart and pulling them to their feet. "We've got to move. Now."

"Where?" Arzt demanded, holding Nie close. "If the marshals weren't after us before, they sure are now!"

"I know. Which is why we got to move!"

"Oh, so observant she is," Nie murmured, nuzzling Arzt's cheek. "In case you haven't noticed, this elevator is jammed, so unless you want to waste time getting under it and-"

"No, fuck that, and fuck the elevator." Annabelle Lee pointed at the shattered glass wall. "Nie, clear the rest of that away."

Nie stared. "You cannot be-"

"Do it!"

This got her another dirty look, but Nie complied, pulling away from Arzt and drawing her pistols. A few shots here and there, and the hole Nikki had made was expanded.

"Right," Annabelle Lee said as she slipped the bag containing Kyoko Sakura from her shoulders. "At the bottom are the safety repulsors. Our hanger isn't far. Keep close to me and don't slow down for anything."

With that, she hurled the bag through the hole and into the open air.

"This is insane," Nie said, with a note of resignation. "Even by your standards."

Annabelle Lee didn't waste her breath arguing. She was kind of right, after all. Instead, she shouted, "Clear a path!" Once The Twins had reluctantly gotten out of the way, she shoved the wheelchair forward and dumped the whole thing, mermaid and all, out of the elevator. "Keep moving, keep up, because if you get caught, I'm not coming after you!" she shouted at The Twins. And without waiting for an answer, she dove through the hole and plummeted downward.

Chapter Text

Even with Charlotte screaming in her ears and Nikki still brandishing her knives, Mami kept her head. She twisted her body around and took aim at the insane little girl plunging down at her. Focusing on Nikki's forehead, she fired.

Nikki's screeching laughter increased in pitch. She hurled both knives down and spread her limbs in all directions. The knives exploded with a burst of smoke, and a storm of tiny flechettes came tearing down. Three of them struck Mami's bullet and destroyed it, while the others singled in on her and Charlotte.

Oh. Well, that had been unexpected.

Mami's ribbons crisscrossed in front of her, while another tethered her and Charlotte to a nearby rail. Most of the flechettes were caught in her impromptu shield, and she managed to swing out of the way of the rest. Before Nikki could attack again, Mam quickly scampered to the relative safety of a close cluster of glass railings.

Behind her, Charlotte was shaking heavily and her face was pale. "I-I-I…oookay then," she panted. "Uh, m-maybe you'd better let me off."

Mami did so, though she made sure to help Charlotte get a firm grip. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Licking her lip, Charlotte concentrated on getting her breathing under control. "G-gimme a minute," she said, holding a hand to her chest. "Jesus, did you really do that sort of thing every day?"

Mami gave Charlotte's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "Just hang in there," she said. Then she looked back to the sky.

To her surprise, Nikki was no longer falling, nor was she also clinging to a safety spot of her own. Instead, some kind of softly glowing yellow membrane had appeared between her outstretched arms and legs, and she was gliding around in a slow, lazy circle, no doubt searching for some sign of her quarry.

"Uh, huh," Charlotte said, looking up. "Well, okay then. Is…is that one of her powers, or just some kind of fancy toy she's brought along?"

Mami shook her head. "Honestly, neither answer would surprise me. Data on her has been limited, but she has to be able to do more than just stab people with-"

Then a small, black object plummeted from the elevator tube, and Mami's breath caught. It was the large duffel bag Annabelle Lee had been wearing on her back.

"Kyoko!" Mami screamed as she scrambled to save her friend.

"Mami, wait!" Charlotte shouted. She grabbed Mami by the collar and yanked her back, but it was too late. Nikki had seen them.

Shrieking like a pre-adolescent banshee high on caffeine, Nikki folded her arms and dropped down at them. Mami instinctively brought a musket to her hand and fired.

Now, Mami was a dead shot with her muskets, and even if she wasn't Nikki was barreling right at her. But it was then that Mami was reminded of a hard fact: in the last seven years, she had rarely had reason to use her muskets for anything other than good-natured duels with friends, during which they would be loaded with things like snowballs or water balloons. In fact, she could probably count on one hand the number of times she had to bring them out in response to a viable threat. Ticky Nikki, on the other hand, had spent the last four decades as part of Oblivion's standing army, which, for all their faults, was not lax when it came to keeping its minions well trained and ready for action. Moving practically at the speed of thought, Nikki slashed through Mami's bullet and was on her like a rabid cat.

The next few seconds were a confusing blur of activity, and then Mami found herself in the precarious position of having the deranged child sitting on her shoulders facing her, with her legs wrapped around Mami's neck and both of her tiny hands raised high, each one clutching a gold-handled, serrated knife, ready to plunge both into Mami's head.

"Get off her!" Charlotte screamed. She wrenched off a piece of the rail and swung it at Nikki's head. It shattered on impact, and Nikki was knocked off Mami's shoulders and sending shrieking into the abyss below.

Mami nearly followed her, but Charlotte managed to grab onto her in time. "Are you okay?" she said, pulling Mami back. Mami shrugged her off. "Kyoko," she said, moving forward again. "We have to-"

Another horrible sight greeted her, stopping her cold. Oktavia was now falling from the hole in the elevator tube, her as body limp as a corpse's. Following her was her wheelchair.

But as sickening as it was to see her friends hurled into the open air like pieces of trash, what came next was just bizarre. Before Oktavia had gone a quarter of the way, the Void Walkers' angry leader, who was almost certainly Annabelle Lee in disguise, threw herself through the hole and fell in pursuit of the captives she had just sent tumbling. Her arms were held stiffly at her sides and her face directed downward, and it seemed as if she were gaining on the lifeless mermaid.

"Oh God," Charlotte whispered. "What the hell are they doing?"

"Taking the fastest way down, I suppose," Mami said. She summoned up a musket and lined up her shot. While her stomach churned at the thought of coldly sniping another human being, these were desperate times.

Unfortunately, that was when the cavalry arrived. Annabelle Lee's cavalry.

The two remaining Void Walkers exited the elevator much in the same way everyone else had. But instead of falling straight down, their trajectory was aimed toward the cluster of ai'jurrik'kai rails that Mami and Charlotte had taken refuge in. The distance was great, and at first it looked like they wouldn't make it. But one managed to snag a rail with one hand and deftly caught her partner's outstretched hands with the other, swinging her to safety like a trapeze artist. Soon the two of them were making their way toward the Tomoes at an alarming speed, navigating the maze and assisting each other with a level of synchronization that Mami had never seen before.

Mami readjusted her aim, but had to quickly take cover again. The Void Walker with the pistols was firing already. Her shots shattered glass and sent fragments flying, but they weren't deterred the same way Nikki's flechettes had been. The rails barely deflected them at all.

"Well, if the marshals weren't coming before, they sure as hell are now," Charlotte said as they huddled behind a doubly-thick shield of ribbons. Though the thought scared her, Mami knew that she was right. Cloudbreak gave a lot of leeway when it came to unorthodox methods of commuting, but drawing and firing weapons in public tended to draw unfavorable attention.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot they could do about it. The girl with the guns was not letting up, while her partner had disappeared. To Mami's mind, that was a very bad sign. To make things worse, Kyoko and Oktavia were falling at a fast rate, with Annabelle Lee swiftly catching up. Directly below them were the emergency repulsors, which were designed to stop accidentally falling objects (and people) from tumbling all the way to the lake below. Given that Annabelle Lee could fly, all she needed to do was grab her hostages after their fall had been halted, drag them over to the nearest walkway, and continue on her way, having skipped several stories in seconds.

Nothing for it then. Keeping this conflict under wraps was now straight out. And as much as Mami hated the idea of causing even more property damage and possibly hurting an innocent bystander, Charlotte was right about not letting the Void Walkers get away with their friends. Now was not the time for restraint.

"Watch for the ones with the syringes," she told Charlotte, who nodded. Then, after taking a deep breath, Mami leapt.

The barrage immediately intensified. Mami scampered through the network as best she could, shielding herself with a constantly regenerating shield of ribbons. Praying that she wouldn't hit anyone that didn't deserve it, Mami fired in what she desperately hoped was the shooter's location. This temporarily brought the onslaught to a stop. Taking that as a positive sign, Mami fired again. And then fired again. And then fired again.

After the seventh shot, she heard someone cry out in pain, someone that mercifully was not Charlotte. Mami dropped her tattered shield enough to see. The webwork above her had been blown to pieces, giving Mami a clear view of their assailant. Or rather, what was left of her. By pure dumb luck, Mami's shot had taken off half of her entire left shoulder and the attached arm. With a small moan, the girl toppled and fell, her body bouncing off of rails like a rag doll, golden smoke trailing behind her.

Mami felt a surge of relief, offset by a sick feeling in her stomach. While she knew that the girl was a deadly enemy who was going to be fine in a few minutes anyway, she still didn't like shooting people.

Unfortunately, she wasn't given time to ruminate on her moral dilemma, as a shout of rage drew her attention. The shooter's partner, upon seeing her friend shot down, had abandoned all pretenses of stealth and had broken into an enraged charge at Mami, her syringe-hand unshrouded and filled with a deadly-looking red substance. Charlotte, her original intended target, saw this and scrambled after her, but the syringe witch had too much of a head start and was fueled by animalistic fury.

Mami pulled out two muskets and prepared to shoot her down as well, but then an intense burning pain flared up along her right leg, nearly causing her to lose her balance. To her surprise, there were two neat holes in her calf and a third one in her ankle, all with twins on the other side of the leg, and all seeping golden vapor. So, she had been tagged after all. It had just taken her this long to notice.

On the whole, it was no matter. With the medical gel those girls at the zoo had put in her, wounds that small would heal up in no time, and she could block out the pain before the syringe witch reached her. Unfortunately, though she didn't know it at the time, she didn't have time for even that…

(a sharp shriek of anger came from below, assailing her ears)

…because Nikki had come back.

…

Closed, tight spaces gave Annabelle Lee the willies. But immense heights, sharp drops, and intense vertigo she was perfectly at home with.

Her arms held tightly to her sides and face pointed downward, she dropped like a meteor. Wind rushed in her ears and pressure built up behind her eyes, but she didn't even notice. Her attention was fixed solely on the three objects falling below her. Above, she could hear the sounds of battle. Fine. So long as those two idiots were kept distracted, let them fight all they wanted, just so long as her teammates remembered to bail before the marshals showed up.

Multiple stories and platforms passed in a blur, and suddenly the city's lower levels were coming up. By then, Annabelle Lee had passed the mermaid and the wheelchair and had reached the duffel bag, but she didn't grab it, not yet. Instead, she kept one eye on it and the other on her surroundings, waiting for a specific signal.

She got it. Red lights started flashing around her, signaling that the emergency repulsors had kicked in. Annabelle Lee found her descent being slowed by outside forces. She let it, finally grabbing onto one of the bag's straps in the process.

Finally they reached the bottom, or at least the bottom insofar as the repulsors were concerned. Rather than let herself be gently carried along like she was supposed to, Annabelle waited for Oktavia and her wheelchair to arrive and again took flight, using the extra lift provided by the repulsors to snatch up all three large, ungainly objects and haul them over to the nearest walkway.

Down there, the city wasn't nearly so nice looking. It wasn't exactly ugly, but most of it was metal girders and mesh catwalks, a far cry from the graceful architecture above. Annabelle Lee didn't care. The hanger wasn't far from where she was, and that was the only thing that mattered. She got Oktavia back into her seat, again shouldered the duffel bag, and readied herself to head out.

And then several glass shards fell into the grip of the repulsors and bobbed in place. Soon they were joined by two pistols, followed quickly by a barely conscious Nie, who seemed to be missing one of her arms. Startled, Annabelle Lee gaped at her for a moment before resignedly going after her as well. Well, things didn't seem to be going all that great upstairs. But what else was new?

…

The bad news: Nikki was back.

The good news: Nikki was apparently now so blinded by fury that she had forgotten her knives entirely, and was trying to scratch and bite Mami into submission rather than stabbing her. Not a preferable state of things by any stretch of the imagination, but fingernails and teeth were easier to deal with sharp blades.

The other bad news: syringe girl was making a beeline straight toward Mami, who had her hands full with the rabid little girl currently climbing all over her.

The even worse news: Charlotte was just too far away to be reasonably expected to catch the syringe girl in time.

She tried. She had always been agile and good at quickly navigating things like tree branches, rooftops, and ai'jurrik'kai webs, and scampered through the glass bars as swiftly as a monkey. Her desperation drove her to move faster than she had ever gone before, and she came less than a meter within reach. She made the grab for the syringe girl's leg, but as small as it was, the distance was just long enough. Her fingertips brushed the girl's ankle, and her failed lunge caused her to lose her balance. In the time that it took to regain it, her target had already passed far out of range, and was within moments of reaching Charlotte's very distracted wife.

Mami was about to get torn apart, or injected with something horrible and then torn apart, and she couldn't stop it. Rage built up inside her, overshadowed only by her fear. Mami was about to be torn down right in front of her eyes, and there wasn't a damned thing she could do to stop it.

Except one.

She almost did it. God help her, she almost unleashed the one part of her that she had sworn she would never revisit, the thing she had kept locked away for years. Because despite all the progress they had made, despite all the happy years they had spent together, and despite making a conscious effort to acknowledge the problems resulting from their first encounter and working through them instead of ignoring them, the fact of the matter was simple: Charlotte had killed Mami. Yes, they both knew that it wasn't her fault. Yes, she had been as much a victim as Mami. Yes, they long forgiven each other for those first offenses. But forgiving wasn't the same as forgetting, and Charlotte had never forgotten the blood on her hands. Or teeth, if one were to be accurate.

It was for that reason that Charlotte had always refused whenever Mami had suggested that she take one of the many classes intended to help witches unlock abilities that they may not have known that they even had. She didn't want to risk unleashing that monster, or possibly even discovering another one.

But as Nikki bit and clawed at Mami's face, and as the syringe girl drew ever closer, Charlotte almost broke that vow. And why shouldn't she? That monster had killed Mami. It only made sense that it be used to save her.

Though she wasn't falling, Charlotte suddenly felt the sensation of rapidly descending. An emptiness was opening up in her stomach as pressure built up behind her eyes and her ears. But more importantly, there was a tickle at the back of her throat, one that was growing stronger and stronger. She had to get rid of it, to force it out. All she had to do was keep pushing until she vomited it up, and then it would be-

NO! Charlotte pushed the urge back down, forcing the monster back into its cage, though the effort of it caused actual pain. She couldn't let it out for any reason, not even this.

But in the time that it took her to do that, the syringe girl was already rising up behind Mami, her glass-and-metal hand upraised and ready to plunge into Mami's exposed neck and filled her body with that vile crimson liquid.

"NO!" Charlotte screamed, reaching toward them. "Mami, watch-"

Then Charlotte blinked. Now the syringe girl was wrapped tightly in yellow strings, so that it looked like she had woven a golden cocoon. She pushed and struggled against her bonds, but they were too tight to allow much movement. It had happened so suddenly that for a moment, Charlotte had no idea how to react. Then she snapped out of her stupor and allowed herself a small smile of relief. Mami had heard her warning and managed to use her ribbons in time.

Except they really didn't look much like ribbons. More like wires, actually. Wires that weren't coming about of everywhere like Mami's ribbons did. Instead, they had an identifiable point of origin. Namely, the tips of Charlotte's fingers.

Charlotte stared numbly at her hand. Protruding from each fingertip was a golden wire, which then twisted around its siblings in a sort of latticework before going on to cover the syringe girl.

Uh, well, okay then. That was…that was new.

Next to the gold-encased Void Walker, Mami had finally managed to bring her own yellow restraints to bear. A ribbon wrapped around Nikki's waist and pulled her off. She still lunged and snapped like a rabid animal, but a musket shot to the head put an end to that. The ribbon tossed her limp body down after the sharpshooter.

Sighing, Mami gingerly touched her scratched-up face. Then, probably hearing the muffled cries of syringe girl, she turned around to see what the noises were coming from. She saw the golden, human-shaped cocoon and froze in place. It was a testament to how much strange stuff she had gotten used to that she didn't fall right off her perch in shock.

Then she noticed the latticework. Her eyes followed it back to its source, which so happened to be her still-stunned lover. Charlotte, who was still sprawled on her belly across several rails with her hand outstretched, stared back. "I have," she said, "no idea. It just sort of happened."

"Oh," Mami said with a numb nod. "Well. All right." She glanced back to the still struggling syringe girl. "Can you…get rid of her?"

That was a good question. In theory, if Charlotte had created those wires, she should be able to control them with as much ease as Mami controlled her ribbons or Oktavia controlled her wheels. However, she had absolutely no experience in this sort of thing, and in fact had no idea she could even do until a few seconds ago.

Now she had a good idea about how Oktavia had felt the other day.

Well, what had she to lose? Charlotte sent a long a mental command. To her partial surprise, it was obeyed. The wires reared up, taking their webbed prisoner with them. Then they tossed syringe girl down into the abyss like a discarded soda can.

"Oh," Charlotte said as she watched her fall. "Cool. And creepy. But mostly-"

Then the wires suddenly retracted, sucked back into her fingers like a released tape measure. It felt incredibly strange, tickled quite a bit, and made her revise her opinion.

"No, definitely creepy," she said. What else was she to say?

Mami cleared her throat. "We can puzzle that out later," she said, making her way toward Charlotte. "For now, we'd better-"

The air was suddenly split apart by the sound of sirens. Mami and Charlotte's heads whipped in the sound's direction. It was just as they had feared. The violence had not gone unnoticed. The marshals were on their way.

"Later," Charlotte said, scrambling over to Mami. "Right."

They peered down into the abyss that Annabelle Lee had tossed their friends down, which they had responded to by tossing Annabelle Lee's friends into as well. Charlotte's stomach clenched up. Even though she knew the repulsors would be there to catch them, that didn't change the fact that it was a very long way own.

Taking Charlotte's hand, Mami whispered, "Are you all right?"

"Not in any sense of the word," Charlotte said. "But I don't see why that should change anything."

Mami nodded. Then, after taking a deep breath, they jumped.

…

The hanger was just ahead. Annabelle Lee pressed on as fast as she could, but she was carrying two limp bodies, one on her back and one flung over her shoulder, while pushing a third in a wheelchair. Even as strong as she was it was still tough going.

No alarms had gone off, which was a blessing, albeit probably a temporary one. Kyoko Sakura's Compacted buddies may not have called the marshals yet, but it was only a matter of time before someone noticed the exploding elevator and the ensuing brawl. With any luck, Arzt and Nikki would be able to-

Annabelle Lee faltered for a moment. She quickly glanced over her shoulder. She bit her lip. No one was there. Normally that would be a good thing, but if Nikki was still there when the marshals arrived, then she wouldn't stand a chance. Sure, she fought like the devil, but she also thought like a mushroom. They would take her down and arrest her in seconds.

If it came down to it, Annabelle Lee would be willing to leave The Twins behind. Teammates or no, she still couldn't stand them. Their alliance was one of necessity, not loyalty. And when it came down to it, they would be just has happy to abandon her as she would be to take off with them holding off the marshals for her. Hell, all things considered that might actually be a plus! Trading The Twins for Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff sounded like a fine deal to her.

But Nikki was her sister. Sure, Annabelle Lee could be a little blasé with her personal well-being at times, but being immortal did that. Call her callous, but there were only so many times you could see someone take a horrific mortal wound in the morning and return to her usual chipper, deranged self by evening as if it had never happened before you stopped fussing. But leaving her behind in the hands of the Alliance was a different story altogether. Nikki was the only real companion Annabelle Lee had, the only family she had, the only friend she had. They had not been apart since they had died over forty years ago. Or a few months ago. The time difference was admittedly screwy, and Annabelle Lee hadn't bothered to keep track. Either way, they had always said that when it came time to be released and leave this miserable excuse for an afterlife behind, it would be together. If Annabelle Lee retreated now, she risked leaving Nikki in the Alliance's hands. And then her sister would be trapped here forever, alone.

She hesitated, even though she knew it was a bad idea. They needed to leave now, before anyone got wise to what was going on and initiated a lockdown. But Nikki was still up there, fighting. Should she go back? If she flew fast enough, maybe she could snatch her sister and drag her back down in time. But she would have to leave her acquisitions behind, and that was just too much of a risk.

Hurry up, she begged. Hurry up, and-

Wait. Footsteps against metal. Someone was coming, and quickly. Annabelle Lee tensed up. From the sound of things, there was only one of them, but if they had any way of raising an alarm, then one was all that was needed to bring everything crashing down.

Easing Nie's body off of her shoulder, Annabelle Lee fingered her still out-of-commission teammates pistols. She wasn't a great shot, but if she fired quick and often she might be able to-

Arzt came running into view, her human hand holding Nikki over her shoulder. Annabelle Lee had to keep herself from slumping with relief.

"There you are!" Arzt cried as she rushed over to her. "It's bad. Those cretins got the drop on us, and I'm pretty sure I heard the marshals-" Then she caught sight of Nie, who was curled around her still-growing stump of an arm. She wasn't unconscious, but judging by the bewildered sound of her moans, she had yet to gather her senses.

"Darling!" Arzt cried, dropping Nikki like a sack of flour. She pushed past Annabelle Lee and all but flung herself over her twin. "Oh, sweet Lord in Heaven! How could you let this happen?"

Unsure if Arzt was addressing her or God, Annabelle Lee decided not to care. She hurried over to where Nikki had fallen. So much for The Twins' supposed affection for the little lunatic.

Nikki was, for the most part, intact, but Annabelle Lee winced when she got to the face. Most of it had been blown off, and the hole plugged with yellow gunk. Headshots were nasty things. They didn't hurt much, as the victim almost always immediately dropped into stupor, but they took longer than most wounds to heal, and left you feeling like hell for a long time afterward.

Gathering up Nikki onto her shoulder, Annabelle Lee rushed back to the wheelchair. "C'mon," she said, pushing it forward. "Angst later. Pick her up and let's get out of here."

Arzt did so, though not without one of her customary dirty looks, followed quickly by associated tirade. Annabelle Lee tuned her out. It was the same thing every time, only with different words. By this point, it was practically an ad-lib.

When they reached the hanger door, Arzt was finally winding down. Annabelle Lee gripped the metal handle and twisted. The door opened with an echoing screech, and they entered. Arzt paused for breath, allowing Annabelle Lee to put in, "You know, if we're talking about failures, I can't help but notice that I've pulled off everything I was supposed to do. But when it comes to sneak attacks, you're only batting one out of three today."

The hate in Arzt's eyes grew hotter. "Have you ever tried to sneak up on two angry people with superpowers and a lot of guns perched on a goddamned jungle gym? It's not exactly easy."

"Yeah, and when the marshals catch us, that'll make everything better. It was too hard. Got it." Then Annabelle Lee whirled around so that she and Arzt were practically nose-to-nose and screamed, "Fuck your 'it's not easy'!" Startled, Arzt stumbled back, but Annabelle Lee wasn't done. "It was three on two twice, and you guys cocked it up both times! And now Hell is coming after us! Great job, you narcissistic bimbo!"

Arzt opened her mouth to retort, but it was forgotten when Annabelle Lee tossed Nie's pistols at her. She fumbled around to catch them, her syringe fingers grasping clumsily, and almost dropped Nie in the process.

The hanger was a large, open room surrounded by catwalks. At one end were several receptacles in the wall, for the purpose of docking elysians and other aircraft. Only four were full, the transport provided by the Madam being one of them. Unfortunately, while their ship was fast, it was an older model that required several minutes to fully power up. Annabelle Lee was convinced that Reibey had had the Madam saddle them with it as a means of punishment.

Annabelle Lee pointed to the catwalks that clung to the walls. "Nie'll be up and about pretty soon. Get her up there and find a shadow to hide in. Cover the entrance, and-"

"No," Arzt said coldly.

Annabelle Lee blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I said no." Arzt had shifted Nie over to the shoulder with the syringe hand. With the other, she aimed one of the pistols at Annabelle Lee's head. "I'm not taking orders from you any-"

In one fluid moment, Annabelle Lee dropped Nikki to the ground, slipped the duffel bag from her shoulders, and dove low over the ground. The sudden movement took Arzt off guard, causing her to reflexively fire off three wild shots. Two of them harmlessly struck the ground, while the other went straight through the duffel bag. A trick of red drifted out of the tiny hole.

Annabelle Lee came up from below. She made two quick cuts across Arzt's knee. They were shallow and would heal quickly, but they were still painful. As she stumbled, Annabelle locked her hands around her waist and flipped her onto her back. Already unbalanced by her wounded knee and the body on her shoulder, Arzt went down quick and she went down hard. She tried to sit up, but the blades she found digging into her throat quickly dissuaded her.

Now that she had Arzt's undivided attention, Annabelle Lee growled, "Listen to me, you…" Adjectives failed her, so she skipped the insults. "We do not have time for this bullshit. Nikki won't be up for another seven minutes at least, and I need to get the ship going. So it's up to you two to hold them off."

Squirming back from the razor-sharp points pressing against her skin, Arzt hissed out, "No. You'll just take off and leave us behind."

Far off in the distance, Annabelle Lee could hear clanging footsteps. "No, I won't! Now, stop arguing and just do it! We don't have time for this!"

Despite the fact that she was mere centimeters from having her throat split wide open, Arzt still managed a ghastly smile. "No. You got more riding on this than we do. We all go or we all get caught."

Annabelle Lee's hand was starting to shake. Willing the rising panic down, she said, "Fine! Me and Nie will cover the door while you take Nikki and the deadweights and get our ride going! That way, no one is gonna leave anyone behind!"

Arzt's eyes boggled. "And leave you alone with-"

Annabelle Lee hauled her up and shoved her toward the ship. "I'm trusting you with both the targets and my sister!" she shouted. "And in the time that it took us to do this stupid dance, we could've had the thing halfway ready to go! So please, get that thing moving before it's too-"

Then she heard the sound of a loud engine. Looking up, she was horrified to see a human girl bringing in her swifter to one of the smaller docks.

Swifters were the sky's answer to motorcycles. The basic frame was similar, though instead of tires, they had four spherical repulsors that kept them afloat. As the name implied, they were very fast, but notoriously difficult to control. That made them popular among daredevils, or people that just needed to get from Point A to Point M in a hurry.

Whistling, the girl slipped off her airborne bike and pulled her helmet off. She started to descend the metal stairway when she caught sight of what was going on.

"Uh, hi?" she said. "I'm not…interrupting something, am-"

In a blink Annabelle Lee had snatched up one of Nie's pistols and flew at the swifterist. Taken wholly by surprise, the girl stumbled back and tried to retreat. Annabelle Lee dropped her with two shots to the head.

As the girl lay still, Annabelle Lee turned to Arzt. "So. We're agreed?"

…

Mami and Charlotte ran as fast as they could through the metal corridors of Cloudbreak's underbelly. Mami's magical senses were extended as far as she was able, but there was so much magic in Cloudbreak that it was difficult to pick up on anything useful. Still, it was better than nothing, and the Void Walkers didn't have that much of a lead. With some difficulty, they navigated the narrow hallways around the massive engines and maintenance yards that kept the city aloft and functioning.

"So," Charlotte said. "Any idea of what to do once we caught them?"

They reached a four-way fork. Mami paused long enough to choose a path before answering. "Well, defeat them and take our friends back I suppose. What else can we do?"

"Granted," Charlotte nodded. "But I meant after."

The question made Mami feel uneasy. It was a logical question, to be sure, but something about the way Charlotte was talking was setting off Mami's alarms. "What do you suggest?" she said carefully.

Charlotte wore a small, humorless smile. "Apparently, one of them can fly. I say we see if the other ones can too."

That was what Mami had been afraid of. "Char, I don't think we can-"

"They attacked us, kidnapped our friends, and are risking turning our home into the frontlines of a major war just by being here," Charlotte said in a short tone. "I'm not exactly overflowing with mercy right now."

Neither was Mami, if she were to be honest, but that level of bloodthirstiness scared her, even if it was the smart thing to do. "Let's just concentrate on finding them first," she said firmly. After a short hesitation, Charlotte nodded, and the matter was dropped.

Mami's shaky guidance led them to a rough steel door. "I think this is it," Mami said. She twisted the handle and pushed the door open.

Then the two of them threw themselves back as bullets zinged by in greeting. "I think you're right," Charlotte said, her back pressed against the wall next to the door. She glanced to Mami, who was doing the same on the other side. "Care to clear the way?"

Mami waved a hand, and six ribbons rose up, each one clutching a musket. They made for the door, but two got shot up before they even got close. The other four managed to fire though. There was a short pause, and then the shots resumed.

"Missed," Charlotte remarked necessarily. "Try more."

Mami did, only to receive the same result. "It's no good," she said. "The room's too big, and I can't see where I'm aiming."

"Right." Charlotte's brow scrunched up. "Uh, okay. Listen. I'm going to make a break for it-"

Mami's head whipped toward her in shock. "Charlotte!"

"Look, I'm fast enough to get pretty far, and it's not like anything they can do will stick," Charlotte said, though the paleness of her face betrayed her fear. "So, while I'm drawing their fire, you get in there and blow the bejeezus out of their gunslinger. Only one of them has guns, right?"

"As far as I know," Mami said. "Though Nikki's knives also function as a ranged weapon."

"Right, forgot about those," Charlotte muttered. She took a deep breath. "Well, let's get this over with."

Then suddenly Mami remembered something. Unlike Charlotte, she had taken a few classes to improve her abilities. She hadn't attended them for long though, as during one she had accidentally pulled off something that the others had found to be very impressive. However, she had just been incredibly unnerved by what she had done and never tried it again. But given the circumstances, she couldn't afford to be squeamish.

"Wait," she said before Charlotte could move. "I have a better idea."

…

Surprise, surprise, Nie was unhappy with Annabelle Lee once she had regained her senses. Being pushed back into active duty so soon after having her arm blown off had not put her in a good temper, and she had caught enough of Annabelle Lee's exchange with Arzt to know that their leader had assaulted and threatened her beloved. If it weren't for the urgency of the situation, she might have voiced her complaints right there on the spot, using her pistols as mouthpieces.

In fact, as Nie broodily sat on her perch and Annabelle Lee skulked in the shadows, Annabelle Lee was struck with an unpleasant realization. There really wasn't anything preventing Nie from shooting her down now and joining Arzt in the ship once it was ready to go. And with that they could depart, taking the prizes, themselves, and their Darling Nikki to safety, leaving Annabelle Lee to take the fall. Yeah, they would love that. Just take all the glory, screw over their detested "leader," and forcibly adopt Nikki as they always had wanted to do. Granted, they would have little time to enjoy it before claiming their "reward," but just seeing Annabelle Lee fall would probably be enough for them.

Annabelle Lee cast a pensive glance up at Nie. The Twin was looking down at the pistols in her hands, a thoughtful look on her face. Damn it, she was probably contemplating doing just that. Annabelle Lee tensed up, preparing to defend herself against her ally while she waited for her enemies.

Fortunately, the enemies showed up first.

The clanging footsteps finally reached the front door, which in turn creaked open. Annabelle Lee got just a glimpse of Mami Tomoe's face before Nie opened fire. Her bullets wouldn't blow off limbs like those damned muskets would, but hit someone in the right place, and their body would react as if it had taken a mortal wound, even if no such thing existed anymore.

Mami Tomoe quickly retreated, though that didn't stop Nie. She was to slow them down, not destroy them. And in that, a constant barrage would work just fine.

A pity then that Mami Tomoe packed more firepower than all her friends and foes combined.

Muskets held by magic ribbons returned fire, and Annabelle Lee winced and covered her ears as the shots created deafening echoes. Fortunately, none of them came close to her or Nie, but there was nothing stopping Mami Tomoe from trying again until she got it right. And if the ship were to be damaged, then they were really in for it.

Another musket barrage followed, a larger one this time. Nothing important was hit, though considerable damage was done to the walls. If there was any consolation in all this, it was that no matter what happened, the Tomoes would have to eat the bill for all the property damage they were causing.

And then, to Annabelle's shock, the Tomoes decided to forego caution and made a mad dash into the hanger. Nie immediately fired on them, but now that she could see what she was doing, Mami Tomoe wasted no time in driving Nie from her perch. As for Charlotte Tomoe, she bounded straight toward the far end, where the ship was.

But as fast as she was, she couldn't fly. Annabelle Lee shot after her and tackled the pink-haired witch from behind. They rolled around, trading punches, but Annabelle Lee managed to push Charlotte Tomoe back with one hand to her throat while drawing the other back. Charlotte Tomoe's eyes widened when she saw the blades slicing straight toward them.

They hit and cut right through. But instead of an explosion of soul vapor, Charlotte Tomoe simply deflated and fell apart, and Annabelle Lee found herself grasping at a pile of ribbons.

What?

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nie finally managing to get the upper hand and shoot Mami Tomoe through the chest. But like her wife, she too fell apart and became ribbons, to Nie's naked confusion.

Too late, Annabelle Lee pieced together what had happened. And by the time she did, Nie had lost another arm. Screaming, the remaining Twin abandoned the fight and ran back toward the ship, firing over her shoulder with her remaining pistol at the pursuing Mami Tomoe, presumably the real one this time.

"Hey. Asshole."

A booted foot slammed into Annabelle Lee's solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her. Then two clasped hands hammered down against the back of her head, slamming her forehead against the floor. Annabelle Lee saw stars.

"This is for taking our friends!" Charlotte Tomoe shouted as she hoisted Annabelle Lee up back the back of her collar and punched her in the face. Annabelle Lee's personal constellation grew.

A knee to the gut, and Annabelle Lee doubled over, gasping. "That was for attacking us!"

The next thing Annabelle Lee knew, her body was tightly bound by golden wires that extended from Charlotte Tomoe's fingers. "And this," Charlotte Tomoe said, lifting her hands, "is for bringing this mess into our lives in the first place."

Moving as if they were alive, the wires lifted Annabelle Lee high off the ground and started to swing her around like a lasso. "I could get used to this!" Charlotte Tomoe crowed as she spun Annabelle Lee around faster and faster, no doubt intending to fling her with body-breaking force against one of the walls.

Annabelle Lee didn't give her the chance.

As she completed one of her arcs, Annabelle Lee suddenly shot forward, retaining her momentum but changing her direction. Taken by surprise, Charlotte Tomoe was yanked off her feet and hauled along for the ride.

The hanger was a large room, yes, but it wasn't that large, and Annabelle Lee was making a beeline for the wall anyway. However, she had no intention of reaching it. She looped around, popped her blades, and yanked her arms straight up. The wires shredded as her blades came up, freeing her. Charlotte Tomoe wasn't so lucky. As she passed by, Annabelle Lee jabbed up and slammed all four blades into her stomach. The strangled gasp of pain almost made the beating worth it.

"And that's for getting in the way," Annabelle Lee hissed as she hurled the limp girl against the hard wall that had been intended for her. Charlotte Tomoe hit and fell the ground, pink soul vapors trailing behind her. Annabelle Lee blinked. Wait, pink? Her eyes had been blue! Wasn't that supposed to take precedent?

But that mystery would have to wait. Upon seeing what had happened to her wife, Mami Tomoe screamed and started blasting away, and Annabelle Lee was forced to dive down and take shelter behind a metal column.

The column shook and shuddered as Mami Tomoe continued to fire. It wouldn't last long. Annabelle Lee glanced at the ship. Her face paled when she saw that it was almost ready to take off. She was out of time.

Then she saw it. Nie's remaining pistol lay not far from her. The severed arm had dissolved, leaving the gun. Without giving herself time to think, Annabelle Lee dove for it, snatched it up, and frantically began firing back.

Mami Tomoe didn't so much as budge. She just shielded herself with ribbons and kept right on shooting.

Annabelle Lee took off, flying for the ship for all she was worth (which admittedly wasn't much), all the while firing wildly behind her. She got within five meters before Mami Tomoe finally landed a shot.

There was a blinding flash of pain, and Annabelle Lee slammed into the ship's side and bounced off. Crying out, she clutched at her right stomach. To her horror, it now featured a sizeable hole, from which an amethyst cloud poured out.

Her mind hazy with pain, Annabelle Lee looked down at her foe. Her illusionary heartbeat stopped. Mami Tomoe had dispensed with the muskets, and was now aiming a gigantic cannon right at the ship. One shot from that monster, and everything would be blown to pieces.

The pain from her missing limb now seeming unimportant, Annabelle Lee lurched up and screamed, "HEY! Let me in! She's gonna blow us all up!"

Indeed, Mami Tomoe was about to do just that. She took aim, her crosshairs settling on the back of the ship.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Annabelle Lee screamed, slamming her fists against the ship's metal side. "Can't you see her?"

"Tiro," Mami Tomoe started to say, her hand on the trigger. Annabelle Lee squeezed her eyes shut. This was it; this was-

And then the ship's hatch blew open and Ticky Nikki leapt out, no fewer than six knives clutched in her hands. Screeching her little head off, she thrust her hands forward. There were several pops, a small explosion of grey smoke, and Mami Tomoe shouted out "FINALE!" and fired. Her cannonball shot forward.

Too bad for her that there was a cloud of metal flechettes waiting to meet it.

They tore the oversized bullet to shrapnel and rained down on the cannon. Annabelle Lee didn't see if Mami Tomoe herself was hit, though given how many tiny blades there were, it would be a miracle of she wasn't torn to shreds. As for Annabelle Lee herself, her sister hauled her inside. The hatch shut, the ship left its moorings, and they were off.

…

Mami lay flat on her back, staring upward. Above her, a steel sheet jutted out from the ground at an angle, in which were embedded dozens of Nikki's tiny blades. She felt very strange. Her emotions were pulling several directions at once: relief at being spared from dismemberment at the last second, shame at her failure to save her friends, fear for what was to come, anxiety over her loved ones' predicament, and, to her shame, a small amount of smugness over the realization that she still had it.

Deciding giving into any one of those directions would lead to some kind of breakdown, Mami decided not to think about it and just get moving. She eased her way out from the sheet and stood up. Her legs were shaky, and she needed the help from a nearby support column, but she managed to get to her feet. As soon as she did, the steel sheet that had sheltered her collapsed into a pile of shredded ribbons, and all its flechettes clattered to the ground, where they disappeared in tiny puffs of grey smoke.

Once she was vertical, Mami looked out to the empty dock where the Void Walker's ship had been. Beyond, she could see it pulling away from Cloudbreak, slowly at first but rapidly gaining speed. On it were Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff, the witch form of Sayaka Miki. Her friends, her protégées, her kouhais, whom she had failed.

Again.

Mami's conflicting emotions drowned beneath a wave of crippling despair that rose up and threatened to submerge her as well. She had failed, and done so in miserable fashion. She and Charlotte had literally given up everything for the sake of this quest. They had long discussed the dangers that would face them, and had done what they could to ready themselves for the horrors they would experience. It had been a fool's quest from the beginning, one with nearly no chance of success. And yet they had been prepared to see it through anyway, all for their own reasons: Kyoko because of her desperate need to have her sister back, Charlotte partially because she saw inevitability of things and partially because she had a noisy conscience, and Mami…well, there were many reasons similar to those of Kyoko and Charlotte, but when it came down to it, her reason had been, to her shame, selfish. She wanted to redeem herself. She wanted to stand with Kyoko to the end and not lose her again.

But lose her she did, and Oktavia as well. Before they could even embark, Annabelle Lee and her comrades, a minor problem long thought to have been conquered, had waltzed right into Cloudbreak and taken them away. And despite all her best efforts, Mami had been unable to stop them. Who was she fooling? If she couldn't protect them when they had been at Cloudbreak of all places, what use would she have been once they had actually begun their journey? And now it was over. Kyoko and Oktavia were now on their way to the Withering Lands, and would soon in the hands of Oblivion. And from there, war would be declared. The Free Life Alliance would have no choice. Freehaven would burn, and everything would fall to-

ENOUGH!

Mami slammed a stopper down on that line of thought, sealing it up. Yes, things were bleak, but she couldn't afford to give into despair and do nothing. Kyoko and Oktavia needed her, and all was not yet lost.

A small groan then reminded her that someone else needed her as well.

Charlotte lying on her face at the far end of the room, near the wall. She was trying to rise, but was doing a poor job of it. Pink vapor was still coming out of four gashes in her stomach, and the front of her face was looking rather squished.

"Charlotte!" Mami rushed over to her wife's side. She tried to draw her up, but that just ended with Charlotte gasping in pain, so she stopped. "D-don't move. I'll…I'll call the paramedics, and they'll help." Despite her words, she wondered if Cloudbreak even have paramedics. Except in extreme cases, the most commonly prescribed treatment for injury was to walk it off.

Charlotte blinked up at her, her eyes worryingly vague. "Mami?" she mumbled.

"Don't try to talk," Mami told her, taking her hand. "Just…just hang in there." Damn it, what was she to do? She couldn't leave Charlotte like this, but every second wasted meant that Kyoko and Oktavia were moving closer and closer to the point of no return.

Charlotte squinted, trying to focus. "Ok…Oktavia?"

"Gone," Mami said. "Kyoko too. They got away. We need…We need to..."

As soon as she heard that, Charlotte's gave snapped into focus. "Gone?" she said, her voice still low but no longer dazed. "I do not think so."

With that she lurched up, one hand on Mami's shoulder while the cover covered the gashes in her stomach. Mami protested the sudden movement, but Charlotte was resolute. "We need…we need something," Charlotte hissed out, her eyes searching. "We need…anything."

And then, miracles of miracles, they found it.

"Are they gone?" said a small, scared voice.

Mami and Charlotte looked up. To their shared shock, a human girl was tentatively peeking out from one of the far docks. Parked in it was a shining silver swifter.

"Hello?" she said. "Are they gone? Is it safe to come out?"

The Tomoes exchanged a look of disbelief. "No way," Charlotte said.

"I'll take it," Mami replied. Putting Charlotte's arm over her shoulder, Mami half-carried her over to the swifterist. Fortunately, by the time they got there, Charlotte had recovered enough to be able to support her own weight.

"So, they're gone?" said the swifterist as she hesitantly rose. "Who were they? They shot me in the head. Do they work for-" Then she caught sight of Mami and Charlotte's condition. Her jaw dropped and she ran down to meet them. "Oh my God, are you two all right?"

While she appreciated the concern, Mami had no time to answer questions. "Your bike," she panted. "How much did you pay for it?"

This was answered by a blank stare. "What?"

"Your bike!" Mami repeated, trying very hard to keep her composure. "How much did it cost?"

"Uh, well, they sell for new for forty-five thousand, but-"

"I'll give you eighty thousand talents for it, right now."

The swifterist's eyes boggled. "What?" she said again.

"Eighty thousand talents," Mami repeated. "Yours. Right now." When the swifterist failed to respond, she added, "Please!"

That jolted the other girl out of her stupor. "I, uh, wasn't really planning on selling-"

"My wife can pull guns out of thin air," Charlotte deadpanned.

"I…Uh, okay." The swifterist held up a steel ring, to which was attached a small, metal rod. "Sure, whatever you say."

"Thank you," Mami breathed. She pulled out her bank card. "Do you have a bank pad or…"

The swifterist did. A few pressed buttons and a transfer of funds later, and Mami was holding the bike's key. "Thank you so much," she said, pulling Charlotte along. "And I'm so sorry about all this."

"Sure," the swifterist muttered. She stared numbly down at her displayed bank account, which was now eighty thousand talents heavier. "Whatever you say…" Shaking her head, she shut off the landlock. Then she displayed a high level of good sense by fleeing the hanger as fast as her feet could carry her. Perhaps she was heading to a dealership, though it was more likely that she had gone in search of a bed to hide under. Mami wished her well.

The swifter was only intended for one person, so Mami and Charlotte had to squeeze in the best they could. Since Mami was going to provide the majority of their offense, it fell to Charlotte to do the actual driving. "Are you feeling up to this?" Mami asked, gripping Charlotte's shoulders.

"As much as I'll ever be," Charlotte said, studying the dashboard. It seemed simple enough. She had no idea what most of the readouts meant, but she wouldn't need this thing for long. "Though this is the first time I've driven anything that doesn't go on water."

"I don't have much more experience than you."

"I know. Okay, pedals down there," Charlotte said, jiggling the brake and acceleration. She gripped the handles, which curved up on either side of the vehicle like horns. "And these…whoa, they're loose."

"I think it's supposed to be like that," Mami put in. "That's how you steer."

"Huh. Well, okay." Charlotte glanced over her shoulder and favored her wife with a cheeky grin, though it failed to mask her apprehension. Mami smiled back anyway. Charlotte took a deep breath and said, "Let's do this."

With that, she plunged the rod into its socket and twisted.

The swifter roared to life, lifting up from the dock while its engines growled noisily. Apparently, its previous own had been playing some sort of music, as they were immediately greeted by a harsh electric guitar riff and a gravely woman's voice declaring them to be b-b-b-bad to the bone.

"Great," Charlotte said. "A soundtrack."

"Just ignore it," Mami said, peering out. Her heart fell. The Void Walkers' ship was now so far that she could barely see it. They had some catching up to do. "Move."

Charlotte pressed down on the acceleration, and then screamed as the swifter shot out in a cacophony of growling guitars, piano, and roaring engines.

…

With an agonized grunt, Annabelle Lee flopped onto the elysian's metal floor. As luck would have it, she landed on her punctured stomach, causing her to cry out as the fresh burst of pain nearly paralyzed her mind.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" she heard one of The Twins say mockingly. "Welcome to my world."

Grimacing, Annabelle Lee looked up to see Nie, now sans disguise, sneering down at her. "Got shot twice," Nie said, holding up her own arm. The hand was still a formless stump. "But do you hear me complaining? Face it, Annabelle Lee. For all your talk, you really are a lightweight."

"Don't say mean things!" Nikki cried, clutching at her sister. "Or Nikki cuts you!"

Annabelle Lee stared up at Nie, wondering how to respond. When nothing scathing came to mind, she simply held up her remaining hand. In it was Nie's abandoned pistol. "Saved your gun for you," she rasped.

That clearly had not been the reply Nie had been expecting. "I, uh…" she stammered, the scorn leaving her face, to be replaced with bewilderment. She hesitated for a moment, and then awkwardly took the offered weapon. "Er, thanks?"

Ignoring her, Annabelle Lee got up, though she needed Nikki's help to do so. Nearby was a First Aid kit. She tore it open with clumsy fingers and pulled out a syringe. Biting off the cap, she jabbed it into her wounded arm and breathed a sigh of relief as the pain numbed and the flow of violet vapor slowed. That done, she tapped the device she wore on her left wrist, banishing the glamour to resume her normal look.

"What's our situation?" she said, floating over the cockpit. There, a similarly undisguised Arzt was sitting in the pilot's seat. She shot Annabelle Lee a dirty look over her shoulder (lots of those coming from them lately, it seemed), but she said, "Despite a rocky exit, we seem to have successfully escaped Cloudbreak. According to the radio, the marshals are still investigating the fight at the elevator, and have not yet moved to stall outgoing traffic."

Annabelle Lee grunted. That was as good as could be expected. "What of the cargo?"

In response, Arzt stuck a thumb toward the back of the ship. There, Oktavia von Seckendorff had been laid on the floor next to the duffel bag. Her wheelchair was folded up and lying next to her. Annabelle Lee sighed in relief. "Good. That's…good."

"So glad to have your approval," Nie said, coming up to them. Without a word of warning, she leapfrogged over the back of the pilot's chair and landed neatly into Arzt's lap. Smiling, she touched a finger to her completely unsurprised lover's chin and drew her face close. "But really, with us at the helm, how could it not be good?" she murmured as their lips met. From the back of the ship, Nikki started retching.

"Oh, fer the love of…All right, that's enough!" Annabelle Lee groaned. She grabbed Nie's dangling legs with her good arm and upheaved her out of Arzt's lap. When the other Twin stood up to protest, Annabelle Lee just shooed her off. "Knock it off! Go in the back if you gotta do that, okay? We're not out of this yet."

Grumbling, The Twins walked off hand-in-hand. Shaking her head, Annabelle Lee took over piloting. Her stomach still hurt, and the vapor loss made her woozy, but the medical gel she had injected herself with was taking care of that. And in light of their escape, her mood was starting to brighten.

"Hey, Nikki!" she called over her shoulder. "If you wanna try out those sushi recipes, now would be the time!"

Ticky Nikki brightened immediately. "Really?" she said excitedly.

"Sure, you earned it. And it's not like she's gonna feel…" Annabelle Lee's voice trailed off. The sensors had just picked something up, something small and moving towards them. Frowning, she jabbed at a few buttons, enlarging the image. When she saw what it was, her eyes went wide. "Oh, you have gotta be fucking kidding me."

…

"Char, this is not right! Char, this is not right!"

"I know, I know, I'm working on it!"

"We're upside down, Char! You've turned us upside down!"

"Yes, Mami! That has been brought to my attention!"

The Tomoes' first swifting excursion was not off to a good start. As adept as Charlotte might be at boating, operating a sky-faring vehicle was a bit outside of her range of expertise, especially one with as sensitive controls as the swifter. While she had managed to get it out of the hanger without incident (unless you counted being scared nearly to their second death), it hadn't taken long for her to find out that unnervingly flexible handlebars responded to any movement, and simply keeping the damned thing moving straight forward was proving to be quite the chore, one that she had been wholly unprepared for.

As such, they were now upside down.

"Just…just move the handles to the left," Mami shouted. She didn't want to raise her voice, but given how loud the engine and the music was, she had little choice. "To the left, Char! To the left!"

"I'm trying, thank you!" Charlotte snapped back. She wrestled both handles to one side, but unfortunately exerted too much force. Both girls screamed as the swifter spun around in a tight corkscrew.

"Ease up, ease up!" Mami cried. Charlotte complied, but once again she overcompensated and ended up spinning in the opposite direction.

All the while, the music continued playing on, with the current song declaring them to have been born to be wild. It was not an assessment that Charlotte would agree with, but given their current circumstances, she was finding it difficult to argue.

"STOP!" Charlotte screamed as she wrested the bike back. Finally she got to stop spinning, thought it was leaning precariously to the left. If there was one silver lining to be found, it was that trying to control that horrible machine was distracting her from noticing just how high they were.

"That's close enough!" Mami shouted. She pointed. "But you've gone off course!"

They had. The Void Walker's ship was swiftly pulling away in a completely different direction. Sighing, Charlotte tried easing the thing around. Her results were questionable.

"Char, we really don't need to go back to Cloudbr-"

"Not helping, sweetie," Charlotte growled. "All right, hell with this."

With that, she roughly yanked and wrenched at the handles this way and that, sending the swifter into a mad, topsy-turvy epileptic fit. The world blurred before their eyes, until finally Charlotte brought it to a sudden stop.

The Void Walkers' ship was directly in front of them.

"Ha!" Charlotte crowed as she slammed down on the acceleration. "Nailed it!"

"You…never mind," Mami sighed. "Just keep it steady the best you can."

Charlotte nodded. But it didn't take long before another problem came to her attention. "Uh, Mami? They're going too fast! I don't think we can catch them!"

"Then we'd better slow them down then." Mami raised a hand, and ribbons flashed to life in front of her. They constricted and glowed, becoming a long-barrel sniper rifle. Charlotte gulped and ducked her head.

"Hold still," Mami shouted and she took aim. Her crosshairs lined up with one of the elysian's engines. "They're not getting away."

…

The elysian suddenly bucked like a stallion that had been given a swift kick in the rump. Annabelle Lee nearly bounced out of her seat, and something made of glass broke behind her. "What happened?" one of The Twins cried.

"You're not gonna believe this, but Pinkie and Blondie got their hands on that chick's swifter," Annabelle Lee called back. "And now they're chasing us!"

"What?" Arzt bolted up to the cockpit. To Annabelle Lee's dismay, her corset was undone. Apparently they had taken her advice literally.

Doing her best to keep her eyes on the instruments and away from Arzt's chest, Annabelle Lee pointed at the small approaching image. "Check it out. But put your clothes back on first."

Arzt complied with the first instruction but ignored the second. She studied the readout for a moment before slamming her fist against the dashboard. "Damn it all! What does it take to get rid of them?"

Nie came up to join them. Thankfully, she at least had the decency to put her outfit back together. "They're following us?" she gaped. "Really?"

"Following and shooting," Annabelle Lee told her. "That bump was us losing part of one of the-"

There was another jolt, and this time the lights flickered. "And there goes the rest of it," Annabelle Lee remarked. "We're down to three engines. Oh, and Arzt? Put your clothes back on, for God's sake."

As Arzt sulkily refastened her corset, Annabelle Lee studied the information she was being given. The swifter had greater acceleration than the elysian, but was stunted by a lower top speed, and as the elysian had already reached its own, it was a moot point. But if they lost another engine, the swifter would be able to catch them without trouble. Already it was starting to gain.

"What about weapons?" Nie asked. "Do we have any?"

Annabelle Lee shook her head. "No, this was supposed to be a stealth run, remember? An armed ship would have attracted attention."

"Which is stupid," Arzt muttered darkly. "It's not like half the city can't pull guns, swords, and knives from thin air."

"Yeah, well, don't care." Annabelle Lee tapped her finger at the approaching blip. "Right now, I'm concerned with that." She shoved herself away from the controls and floated out of the chair. "Arzt, take the wheel. Nie? You're with me. We're going skeet-shooting." She hesitated for a split-second before moving to the next name. "Nikki?"

Ticky Nikki, who had been completely oblivious to the recent attack and the ensuing battle council until now, looked up in surprise. She had been busy pulling several rolls of seaweed from a small cooler.

"Forget the sushi for now," Annabelle Lee said. "You're in charge of guarding the deadweights. If Blondie or Pinkie get aboard, slice 'em up good."

Nikki's face fell. "But Annabelly said-"

"I know, situation's changed. Guard now, seafood later. Oh, and don't call me Annabelly."

"But-"

"Stop arguing and just do it, Nikki!" Annabelle Lee grabbed the hatch's handle. She glanced over to Nie, who, while looking as disgruntled as she always did whenever she had to follow Annabelle Lee's lead, had her pistols out and ready.

"All right," Annabelle Lee said. "Let's do this." She pulled the handle down.

…

"We're gaining!" Charlotte called in excitement.

"So I see! Just keep heading towards them, we'll catch them." Mami summoned another sniper rifle and line up another shot. One of the Void Walkers' four engines was a dead, smoking thing. It was time for another to join it.

Unfortunately, the swifter shifted under her just as she fired. It wasn't much, but it was enough to change her shot from a crippling one to a simple graze.

"Char!" she said in annoyance.

"Sorry, still getting the hang of this!"

Sighing, Mami took up another rifle. But as she did, she saw movement on the elysian's hull. The hatch that Annabelle Lee had escaped into was moving, opening.

The hatch swung open and an angry face appeared, framed by her ragged, violet hair. Apparently Annabelle Lee had finally dropped her disguise. Mami readjusted her aim and fired. Annabelle Lee quickly ducked out of the way, and before Mami could bring up another weapon the Void Walker had thrown herself from the elysian and into the open air.

"Whoa, did you see that?" Charlotte gasped. She tried to track Annabelle Lee as she dove down, but a cloud swallowed her up.

"Yes! Watch out for her, I'm going to try to-"

Something zinged past her, followed by another one. The Void Walker with the pistols had partially emerged from the hatch and was shooting at them. Mami tried to shoot her down, but had to duck as more bullets flew past.

"Mami?" Charlotte said, her voice filled with uncertainty.

Mami shook her head. The bullets were easy to avoid. Annabelle Lee was the real threat. "Just keep going towards it," she said. "Try to get on the other side, where she can't aim."

Charlotte gave her a quick look. "Yeah, okay," she muttered. "I'll go ahead and do that then."

As Charlotte struggled to make the swifter obey her will, Mami kept an eye on the clouds below them, searching for any sign of movement.

And then the swifter violently shook. Charlotte swore loudly.

"What happened?" Mami called.

"I think we got hit! Nothing important, but-"

The swifter jerked again.

"-okay, that was probably something important. Hurry up and cripple them already!"

Mami gritted her teeth. This was hard enough without being shot at. She focused on one of the engines, created a new rifle, took aim, and-

-and Annabelle Lee chose that moment to attack.

She simply appeared out of nowhere, striking at the swifter from below. Sparks flew as she slashed away at the metal plating, cutting into the circuitry beneath. Cackling, she hauled herself up over its side and struck at Mami's leg.

Mami cried out as the steel blades bit into her calf. Charlotte tried to turn around, but the swifter suddenly lurched to one side, forcing her to fix their course. Annabelle Lee yanked her claws out and readied herself for a second strike.

Then, acting more on instinct than anything, Mami took the rifle in her hands and slammed the butte of it into Annabelle Lee's long nose. The Void Walker made a sound not unlike a breaking rock and proceeded to do a passable impression of one.

Grimacing, Mami swung her rifle around, took aim once again, and fired.

"Got it!" Charlotte called unnecessarily as the engine went up in smoke and sparks. "Nice shot. You okay?"

"Yes!" Mami said, trying to keep the pain from her voice. Her lower leg felt like it was burning, but that would pass. "Can you get us in closer?"

"With this-Ah!" Charlotte quickly swung to one side to avoid another shot. "With the damage we took, not likely. I mean, if you took out the rest of their engines, then maybe we'd have a chance, but I see us going down before they do."

Charlotte was right. The swifter's speed was dropping, as was its altitude. It wasn't falling, per se, but remaining level with the Void Walkers' ship was becoming a problem. "All right, I'll take care of it," Mami said. Using her ribbons to keep herself tethered, she leaned over as far as she could. As she did so, she was struck by a wave of dizziness that had nothing to do with vertigo. All that magic she had been using was starting to catch up to her.

Mami frowned and pushed the fatigue away. She couldn't afford to lose focus now. She touched a glowing finger to the gashes Annabelle Lee had torn. When she removed it, the tears were repaired, and were now studded with sparkling topazes.

"All right, that's done," she said, straightening up. "I'll try to knock out another engine."

"Sounds good! You think you could enchant this bike to go faster while you're at it?"

Mami shook her head. "I've used too much magic as it is. I need to save it for fighting."

"Figures," Charlotte muttered. "Well, okay. Onward then."

...

Ticky Nikki was not renowned for her patience, nor was she especially good at following instructions. It wasn't her fault; she just got distracted easily. And when she got distracted, she often forgot what she was supposed to be doing.

At the moment, she was supposed to be guarding the Fishy and Stabby Stab Stab Girl. Annabelly and Shooty Sameface were outside, making the Yellow Boom Boom and the Pink Monkey go away. Pointy Sameface was steering their sky boat, which was bothersome. Nikki didn't much care for either Sameface, but at least they weren't together. When that happened, icky things happened.

Sighing, she idly dug at the floor with her knife, wishing she had something to do. Annabelly had told her to wait until later for sushi, and that was just mean. First she said Nikki could turn the naughty Fishy into sushi, and then she changed her mind just as Nikki had gotten the ingredients out. She had done that on purpose, Nikki just knew it. Annabelly had been very cross lately.

Nikki cast a sulky glance at the Fishy. She was lying on the floor, fast asleep. And thanks to Pointy Sameface poking her, she wasn't going to wake up. Maybe Nikki would be able to make a few rolls. She was supposed to watch her, and she could carve without watching, right? She could do both at the same time.

A flick of her wrist, and her knife swung upright into her grasp.

Keeping an eye on Pointy Sameface, Ticky Nikki edged over to the food locker. She opened it as quietly as she could and carefully pulled out the packages of dried seaweed. Giggling softly, she laid them aside. Then she went for the rice, which was nestled behind several plastic jugs of water.

Just as Nikki was shifting the water out of the way, the sky boat suddenly lurched hard to the right. Squealing, Nikki fell backward, taking the contents of the food locker with her. The water jugs hit the floor and burst open, spilling everywhere.

The packet of rice had landed on Nikki's face. Lifting it off, she saw that the back of the sky boat had blown up. Well, not completely. It was still there, as were Fishy and Baggy, but small holes had been blown out from the walls, and smoke was everywhere. One circuit board had exploded, and several large, sparking cables had been severed and were now jumping and hissing on the floor.

Up front, Pointy Sameface was struggling to bring the boat back under control. She wrestled with the controls, pulling the ship up. As a result, the floor started to tilt, and all the food went rolling back to where the deadweights were lying, as did the spilled water.

As Nikki watched, the water splashed against the sleeping Fishy. That wasn't a problem. Fishes didn't mind water. But there was a lot of water, and there were live wires lying exposed nearby.

Nikki might be a little nutty, but she wasn't stupid. And as she watched the water approach the wires, her eyes went wide. Oh, ticky…

…

Mami's aim had been true. Three of the elysian's engines were now smoking ruins. She left the fourth, as at least one was needed to keep the ship airborne. They wanted to catch up to it, not shoot it down.

Which was what they were doing. The swifter slowly gained on the lagging ship, closing the distance between them. Seeing this, the sharpshooter's shots became more frantic, which wasn't doing her aim any favors. A couple of shots from Mami quickly sent her retreating back inside.

"Once we get inside, I'll keep the Void Walkers busy while you get Oktavia and Kyoko!" Mami shouted as they came alongside the crippled elysian. "Get them out and on the swifter as fast as you can!"

Charlotte nodded, though the plan made her feel uneasy. "Are you sure you can handle all three?"

Mami shook her head and smiled. "I don't have to handle them; I just have to distract them. I can do that for however long as you need. Once you're out, I'll take out the remaining engine and join you."

"All right," Charlotte said, though she still had a long list of reservations. "Be careful, and watch out for the little one."

"Don't worry," Mami said. She kissed the back of her head. "We've gotten this far; we can make it the rest of the way."

She brought the swifter close enough to the elysian for Mami to tether them together. "All right," Mami said as she leapt onto the other ship and grabbed onto an exterior ladder. She held her hand out to Charlotte. "Now, move fast, and-"

The swifter suddenly jolted, causing Charlotte to miss Mami's hand. "Whoa!" she said as she held on to keep from falling. "What the-"

And then she and Mami saw that the ribbons that had been used to tie the swifter to the Void Walkers' elysian had been slashed. It took them all of two seconds to realize what that meant. When they did, Mami's eyes went wide with fear.

"Charlotte, jump!" she shouted, holding out her hand. Charlotte tried, but before she could even rise from her seat, a skinny arm covered by a leather sleeve rose up from under the swifter to seize the left handle while another came down on the accelerator. One pulled while the other pushed, and the small craft was sent careening away from the elysian.

"No!" Mami shouted. She tried to snag Charlotte with a web of ribbons, but the swifter was moving too erratically, and it soon disappeared into a cloud. "Charlotte, no!"

…

The toxins that Arzt Kochen had used to knock out Kyoko and Oktavia were entirely unique. She produced them from her own soul vapors using magic. As such, there existed no recipe by which to replicate them, and as such there was no antidote. Once she stung you, the only thing you could do was wait until they passed out of your system, for however long that took.

However, they had not been intended to withstand being doused with electricity.

Oktavia came awake screaming. Or at least, she would have been screaming had the electricity surging through her not paralyzed her so completely that making any noise at all was completely out of the question. She twitched and spasmed, her tail thrashing and her mouth open in a silent agonized wail.

And then the world pitched to one side and the live cable was pulled out of the puddle. Oktavia collapsed gasping. Her skin was still twitching and her mind was frazzled, but was a step up from being electrocuted.

Her situation was still far from desirable, though. One moment she had been talking to Kyoko at the hotel's zoo, the next she was on an epileptic spaceship getting shocked. And to top it off, why-

Her head fell to one side, giving her a good view of the person staring at her.

-was there an adorable blonde little girl staring at her like Oktavia had just taken her milk money?

"No!" shouted the girl, clearing things up in an instant. She pulled out two very familiar looking knives. "Bad fishy! You go back to sleep!"

Well, this wasn't good. Apparently the Void Walkers had somehow gotten her, stuffed her on an ugly spaceship that they didn't know how to drive if the way it was pitching to and fro was any indication, and Ticky Nikki, who had seemed to have traded in her outfit but not her desire to cut Oktavia into tiny pieces, was about to finally experience the pleasure of dismembering the mermaid bit by bit. There was nothing about this that was good, save perhaps for Nikki's new wardrobe. It did not suit her by any stretch of the imagination, but it was at least a step up from that Daddy's Little Dominatrix get-up she had before.

Ticky Nikki bared her horrible teeth in a low snarl. She crouched down and sprung. Panicked, Oktavia cried out as she threw her hands in front of her in a futile effort to defend herself. She closed her eyes, unwilling to watch her own mutilation.

The mutilation never came. Oktavia hesitantly opened her eyes to a very strange sight. A spoked train wheel had sprung into existence directly in front of her. Nikki had managed to embed her knives in the wheel's spokes and now looked completely beside herself as she tried to puzzle out where in the world this round thing had come from.

Oktavia didn't intend to give her the chance. Remembering how she had controlled the wheel back at the pool, she frantically sent the wheel a single command, repeated over and over.

SPIN.

The wheel obeyed, and as Nikki had not the wherewithal to release her grip on the knives' handles, she was taken along for the ride. The little psychopath screamed as she was spun around like a top so fast that her body became a brightly colored blur. That was weird enough, but even stranger that it never occurred to her to let go.

Well, Oktavia wasn't going to wait for her to figure it out. She threw her hands out, and the wheel flew away from her, still spinning Nikki around like a drill. Her eyesight was still blurry, so she couldn't make out where it went, but there was a loud crash followed by another series of epileptic seizures from the ship, so she presumed that it had hit something important.

"What the bleeding hells!" someone screamed. Uh-oh. Someone was coming.

Oktavia frantically looked around for something to give her an edge. Her wheelchair was lying nearby, with all of its bags. Her cutlass was in one of them, so there was always that, though Oktavia questioned its effectiveness on dry land. There was also that sparking wire, which was fortunately not near the water. And there was some kind of large, black duffel bag.

Someone walked into the range of Oktavia's eyesight. She felt a rush of fear when she recognized the girl with syringes for fingers.

The Void Walker took one look and her and all expression went from her face. "Oh," she said. "You're awake." A pause. "How?"

Oktavia wasn't interested in answering questions. She propped herself up on the best she could and scooted away, though her recent shock made that difficult. She was moments away from being attacked again, and unlike the last time, all advantages were strictly in her opponent's favor.

…

Charlotte held on for dear life as the swifter pitched and turned this way. She tried pressing down on the break and stamping Annabelle Lee's fingers away from the accelerator, but the Void Walker had a persistence born from madness. She just laughed as her hand was mangled.

"LET GO!" Charlotte screamed as the world spun around her. "LET GO BEFORE-"

The hand she was stomping on popped its blades. They sliced into Charlotte's foot, causing her to jerk back. And all the while the swifter continued to spin out of the control, while the current song lamented something about the girls of summer being gone.

Grimacing, Charlotte did her best to ignore the sharp pain in her foot as she pulled as hard as she could on the handles. "Let go right now," she seethed through clenched teeth. "Or I'll-"

"You'll what?" The swifter righted itself and came to such a sudden stop that Charlotte nearly pitched over the side. Laughing, Annabelle Lee crawled up over the front to look Charlotte in the eye.

Charlotte tried to punch her, but her clumsy attempt was easily swatted aside. "Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, I can fly," Annabelle Lee said. "You're kinda outmatched here."

"Yeah?" Charlotte said. "Well, outmatch this!" She thrust her hand forward and shot of a tangle of golden wires. But to her dismay, Annabelle Lee ducked it easily. Perhaps the lameness of the comeback had affected her chances.

"Okay," Annabelle Lee said with a grin. "My turn." With that, she sliced off both handles.

"What?" Charlotte gawked. "No! No, stop it!" But Annabelle Lee did no such thing. Instead, she ducked down out of range of Charlotte's fists and started hacking away at the swifter's motor. Panicked, Charlotte slammed her wounded foot down on the accelerator, hoping that the sudden movement would shake Annabelle Lee off. Instead, the swifter just gave a sad little cough and did nothing.

"That should do it," Annabelle Lee as she rose up again. "Bye bye now." With that, her arm lunged forward, and Charlotte let out a strangled little gasp. She looked down to see two blades sinking into her chest.

That wicked grin never leaving her face, Annabelle Lee withdrew her arm and rose up. Charlotte helplessly watched her go.

And then the swifter sputtered and fell.

Charlotte's vision was going fuzzy, but she was conscious enough to know that she was in a lot of trouble. The clouds were moving away far too fast, and if she didn't do something soon, she was in for a short, but painful, landing.

With nothing else to do, Charlotte held up one hand and shot off her wires as far as they would go. It was a shot in the dark, but it was all she had.

…

"CHARLOTTE!" Mami screamed as her wife was wrenched away. She sent out a grasping tangle of ribbons in a desperate attempt to snag her, but her aim was off and the swifter's movement too erratic. Charlotte and Annabelle Lee fell away to be swallowed up by the clouds.

Mami stared numbly at where they had disappeared. She felt a horrible pressure in her chest as the darkness returned to envelop her. It really was happening again. She was failing the people she loved, and now they were being taken away from her. First her parents, then her friends, then Kyoko, then Madoka and Sayaka, then Kyoko and Oktavia again, and now Charlotte. She was losing them all, and she was going to be alone-

Wait. She sensed movement above her. Mami looked up. The hatch was still open, and the sharpshooter was climbing out. She glanced down, saw Mami clinging to the side of the ship, and her golden eyes narrowed. She didn't say anything though; she just pulled one of her pistols out and took aim.

Unfortunately for her, Mami was faster on the draw. A musket sprang to her fingers and she fired off a quick shot, forcing the sharpshooter to retreat back down the hatch. Disinterested in letting her get away, Mami hauled herself up the side of the ship, practically clawing her way up the ladder.

As she reached the hatch, the sharpshooter peeked out. Seeing how close Mami was, her face went pale, and she quickly tried to fire. Mami snapped her fingers, and the sharpshooter suddenly found herself wrapped tightly in a yellow cocoon, much like Charlotte had done using her wires. Only this time it was ribbons. And Mami wasn't interested in simply flinging her away.

"Wha-wha-" the encased Void Walker gaped as she tried to free herself. "I-" Then she saw the look on Mami's face and her eyes widened with fear.

Mami held up a hand, and the cocoon rose up out of the hatch. "Wait," the Void Walker gasped. "Don't-"

Mami punched her in the face.

Hand-to-hand combat was not her forte. She was a long-range fighter. And as such, hitting things was not something she was used to. But she was strong, and she was angrier than she ever remembered being.

"Why?" Mami snarled, and punched her again. "Can't you?" Another punch. "Just leave." A sharp uppercut. "Us alone?" The dazed Void Walker's head lolled to one side, her face swelling and her eyes unfocused.

Then Mami pulled out a musket and shoved the muzzle right between the girl's eyes. Her finger tightened on the trigger, but then she hesitated. What was she doing? This wasn't like shooting down an enemy in a live confrontation. This was a cold execution. True, she wouldn't actually "die," but this was far more extreme than anything Mami had done.

And then she remembered Charlotte screaming as Annabelle Lee pulled her away. She remembered Oktavia's limp body tumbling from the elevator tube. She remembered Kyoko's prone form being taken into the Nautilus Platform, seeping from three different wounds. She remembered Reibey's face as he taunted them, and imagined the sort of horrors he was planning for them.

Gritting her teeth, Mami squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out, and her burden went completely limp. Eyes still shut, she released the ribbons. Something heavy bounced off the side of the ship and fell away.

Mami shuddered and slumped forward. She panted heavily, one hand over her heart. "Forgive me," she choked out. "Forgive me, forgive me."

She let out one last sobbing breath, and then steadied herself. She had a job to do. Mami rose up and readied herself to plunge into the ship.

And then a miracle happened.

Five golden threads shot up from the clouds, shimmering in the sunlight. Mami stared in shock, her tired mind not understanding the significance of what she saw. But when she did, she almost fell off in surprise.

"Go!" she cried, sending as many ribbons as she could summon out at the wires. This time she didn't miss, and the ribbons and wires swiftly tangled together in a tight knot. The makeshift robe snapped taut, and to Mami's delight, there was something moderately heavy hanging at the other end.

She hauled it up as quickly as she could, praying that her strength wouldn't give out. And when Charlotte's body emerged from the clouds, she almost wept with joy.

Charlotte was hanging limply from one hand, the other clutched at her chest. Still, she managed to look up and, seeing Mami, smiled with relief, which Mami returned. But then Charlotte's expression turned to one of horror. Mami followed her eyes, and felt a rush of fear.

Annabelle Lee was hovering in the air about ten meters away, arms crossed and one finger tapping irritably against her bicep. She scowled at Mami and slowly shook her head. Then she uncrossed her arms and held them wide to either side. The sun flashed off the steel of her blades as they popped out of their sheathes. Then, with a challenging shout, she swooped down low, aiming for where Mami's ribbons and Charlotte's wires were tied together.

Panicked, Mami desperately searched for some way to stop her. Both of her hands were full, so shooting her down was out of the question. Plus, she was moving too quickly to get a clear shot at, but if she didn't do something soon, she would be cutting right through the knot…

…a knot that was composed of several of Mami's ribbons.

Wow, she was really out of practice.

The ends of the ribbons loosened just enough to swing around and point at Annabelle Lee. Their tips glowed and lengthened. When the glow faded, each ribbon was tipped with a loaded musket.

Annabelle Lee's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. She tried to avert course, but Mami had already opened fired. When her body passed by the golden cord, it didn't so much resemble as person as it did a violet comet.

Sighing, Mami hauled her wife up the rest of the way. Wire and ribbon alike disappeared, and Charlotte collapsed into her waiting arm.

For a time, neither of them spoke, content to just hold onto each other. And then Mami drew her up to kiss her, murmuring, "I thought I lost you."

Charlotte chuckled. "Sorry, no such luck."

"Are you okay?

"More-or-less." Charlotte made a face and looked down to where her hand was clutching at her chest. "Got a bit stabbed. That kind of hurt."

Alarmed, Mami shifted her weight to see. "Is it-"

"Fine for now," Charlotte said. "Guess I still had some of that med gel those girls gave us in my system. Though that's not the worst of it."

Mami swallowed. "Then what is?"

"We're out eighty talents."

"Oh," Mami said. She laughed. "Well. That's too bad."

"Mmmm-hmmm. A shame. That bike was starting to grow on me." Then the two of them looked up, at the beckoning hatch.

"Well," Charlotte said as Mami shifted her over to the ladder. "Let's do this. At least it's one down now."

Mami shook her head. "Two."

"What? What are-Oh." Charlotte looked a bit beside herself. "Well. You've been busy. Remind me never to piss you off."

Normally Mami might have responded with a quip, but she didn't have the heart for it. Shrugging, she started to climb.

And then a sudden crash nearly startled them off the ladder. Their heads whipped around just in time to see a spinning wheel smashing through the windshield to go spiral off into the distance. And while it was moving too quickly to tell for certain, Mami was pretty sure she saw Nikki flattened against its front.

"What the hell?" Charlotte said. "Is that…is that a wheel?"

"Uh, yes." Mami nodded. "Yes, Charlotte. That was a wheel."

"Huh. Well then." Charlotte's mouth widened into grin of delight. "You know, call me crazy, but I think Oktavia's awake."

…

"Get away from me!" Oktavia shouted as she hurled one wheel after another at the syringe witch. Unfortunately, it wasn't going so well. The witch was proving to be surprisingly agile, and had managed to duck, dodge, and hop over every spinning ordnance sent her way.

"You will," the syringe seethed as she vaulted over one wheel to slide under another, "stop this and lay down like the good little girl I know you-"

Finally a wheel managed to clip her in the shoulder, sending her spiraling back. Oktavia immediately launched two more at her, but she managed to recover in time to roll out of the way.

"Nie!" the syringe witch called toward the ladder that led out of the ship. "I need aid, darling! The fish is awake and flopping!"

Oktavia gulped. One Void Walker was bad enough. She had no idea how she was going to handle two. Already the effort of creating so many wheels was getting to her. She propped her back up against the wall and readied herself for the fight of her life.

It never came. The syringe witch stared up the ladder, her face twisting in confusion, and then to horror. "No," she whispered. "No, they couldn't have. Not my Nie. Not my-"

And then Oktavia clonked her on the head with a wheel, knocking her sprawling.

There was no time to waste. Now that she was out of immediate danger, Oktavia immediately went to the big black bag and yanked at the zipper. To her relief, the first thing she saw was a mess of red hair framing a thin face.

"Oh, thank God!" she breathed as she hauled Kyoko out of the bag. Her redheaded friend was as limp and unresponsive as she had been after Elsa Maria's island, but fortunately now Oktavia knew the remedy for that, even if it wasn't a pleasant one.

The cable was still sparking angrily against the floor. Summoning up one more wheel, Oktavia wrapped one arm around Kyoko and used the other to grab onto the wheel's rim. From there, she had it haul her over to the smashed circuit panel.

Grabbing onto the cable, Oktavia cast a guilty look down at her unconscious friend. "Sorry about this," she said. "I'll make it up to you later."

With that, she jabbed the cable into Kyoko's mouth.

…

Kyoko hated rude awakenings. If she was asleep, she intended to stay that way until her body decided that it had enough.

She also hated being electrocuted. True, she had never been electrocuted before, but it was such a painful experience that people hated it by default. And after being rudely awakened by electrocution, she came to hate in on a personal level as well.

Her eyes snapped opened as her body jerked and convulsed. Something was in her mouth, something sizzling and painful. Part of her considered pulling it out, but the rest was so overwhelmed by agony to get behind the plan. Not that her arms would have responded to the command anyway.

And then it was gone, taking with it the flow of electricity. Kyoko fell forward onto her face and gasped, every breath feeling unnaturally cold.

"Kyoko? Kyoko!" she heard someone cry, though her hearing was all screwed up. Then that someone grabbed her and pulled her back. She blinked and saw Sayaka staring down at her in concern. Or at least she was mostly sure it was Sayaka. For some reason, her hair was sticking straight out in all directions. "Are you okay?" the mermaid said, her voice still sounding all garbled. "Sorry about the wire, but you were kind of unconscious, and I needed you up."

Wait, Sayaka had been the one to electrocute her? Why in the hell would she do that? Kyoko scowled and opened her mouth to unleash a barrage of profanity, only to double over and start coughing. A puff of dark maroon smoke issued out of her mouth. Okay, that couldn't be good.

Sayaka patted her back. No doubt she was trying to be helpful, but each touch felt like a hammer blow. "St-st-stop it," Kyoko wheezed. "Y-you fucking-"

"Call me names later. After you've helped me deal with her."

Her? Kyoko looked up. The first thing she noticed was that they were no longer at the zoo. Instead, they were in the back of some kind of moving vehicle, one that had taken copious amounts of damage and had food strewn everywhere. Evidently, a kidnapping had taken place. What was more, their kidnappers seemed to be quite careless with their food storage.

That just made her angry. The kidnapping she could forgive. Business was business, after all. But to treat their food in such a disrespectful manner was just goddamned insulting. Fortunately, with the anger came increased focus, and she was able to zero in on the person Sayaka was talking about.

Though her blurred vision made it difficult to pick out details, Kyoko was still able to see some blonde chick in a gothy bondage outfit struggling to her feet. It didn't take a genius to figure whose side she was on.

"Yeah, that's the one that put you in that coma," Sayaka told her.

Kyoko raised her eyebrows. "Is…is that right?"

"Yup."

"Huh. Well, okay." Taking a deep breath, Kyoko moved her feet under her and slowly stood up. Her aching limbs protested the movement, but she told them to quit bitching and get with the program.

That done, she held out her right hand. The pole of her spear filled her grasp. A vicious grin slashed its way across her face. She focused on the stupid bitch's back, hunched down, and charged.

…

Arzt shook her head and blinked. Spots still filled her vision and her head ached something fierce. But she still had to fight through it. Nie was in trouble. She had to save her.

Groaning, Arzt staggered up and turned around. She blinked. Was it her imagination, or was a frizzy-haired Kyoko Sakura lurching towards her?

The swinging blade that came centimeters from taking her head off confirmed that it was.

Kyoko stumbled and fell with her back against the wall. She grimaced and pitched forward again, jabbing her spear at Arzt's stomach.

Arzt leapt aside and grabbed the weapon's pole. "How did you wake up?" she cried, staring into Kyoko's trembling eyes. "It's impossible!"

Instead of answering her very reasonable question, Kyoko just frowned and squinted at her. "Hey," she said, her voice rough and raspy. "Do I know you?"

The unexpectedness of the question took Arzt by surprise. She quickly rewound her memory. Had she and Kyoko ever met face-to-face while both were conscious? She didn't think so. "No," she said. "Why?"

"'Cause I swear I've seen you somewhere," Kyoko said. "Not positive, but I'm pretty sure I've kicked your ass at least once."

Arzt snarled. She wrenched the pole to one side. Kyoko held on, but the sudden movement made her stumble.

It was then that Arzt realized just how slow and clumsy Kyoko's movements were, no doubt an aftereffect of the toxins she had been pumped with. On the other hand, despite the beatings she had taken, Arzt was still relatively fresh.

With that in mind, Arzt shoved the spear's pole hard to the other side, making Kyoko stagger. She tried to jab at Arzt's torso again, but the witch easily sidestepped the lumbering attack and put her down with a spinning bicycle kick to the back of the head. Kyoko went down with a cry of pain.

Smirking, Arzt held up her syringe hand, and all five tubes filled with a deadly red liquid. She advanced on the gasping girl, ready to dispatch her the same way she had dispatched Margot.

And then a flying train wheel smacked her right in the forehead. Again.

The next few moments were little more than a blur. Arzt's vision swam, as did her thoughts. She was vaguely aware that she was in some kind of trouble, and that she had to go help Nie, but the specifics escaped her.

And then someone grabbed her by the neck and the waistline of her skirt and hauled her off the floor. Arzt flailed her arms in a futile attempt to defend herself. She was then rushed forward and hurled straight at the cockpit at the front of the ship, the same one that had been smashed to pieces by Oktavia's wheels. She flew through one of the holes and slid down the nose of the ship.

And then there was nothing but sky.

…

Mami gaped as Kyoko tossed the remaining Void Walker out into the open air. She and Charlotte had come down expecting a fight, only to find that both Oktavia and Kyoko had woken up and done all the work themselves. It was about as good an ending as they could have hoped for.

Groaning, Kyoko painfully turned around and leaned back against the controls. "Oh man," she said, rubbing her forehead. "Those emos. They're gonna be the death of me, I swear."

Then she caught sight of Mami and Charlotte staring at her and her face immediately lit up. "Holy shit!" she cried, standing up. "You made-erk!" The rest of her greeting was cut off when Mami rushed over to her and snatched her right off her feet in a crushing embrace. Kyoko gagged and kicked, but Mami refused to let go. That had been too close. She needed to reassure herself that Kyoko was there, safe, and not being taken away again.

"Gerrrofffamee!" Kyoko gasped as she tried to squirm free. She managed to get her arms between them and push back a little. "Damn it Mami! I can't breathe!"

Mami smiled. "Sorry," she said, letting Kyoko down. The redhead stumbled back and fell on her butt, panting.

"Took you long enough," Oktavia chirped in. "Seriously, you wait until we're all the way out of the city before you try to save us?" The mermaid was sitting at the other end of the ship, being seen to by Charlotte. The pink-haired witch had found a First Aid kit and was injecting a syringe into the Oktavia's arm, presumably filled with medical gel. For some reason, Oktavia's blue hair was sticking out in all directions, though it was nothing compared to the disaster on Kyoko's head. Like Oktavia, her hair poofed straight out, while her ponytail now looked like a squirrel's tail. Apparently they had had a bad experience with electricity at some point. Mami wondered if she should comment on it, but decided against it.

"So sorry for making you wait," Charlotte said with a small smirk. "Got caught in traffic, you know how it is."

Everyone laughed at that. They were beat up, cut up, run down, worn down, out of gas, (apparently) electrocuted, drugged, and on a heavily damaged ship that was down to one engine and no workable controls, but they were free and they were together. Which was a damned sight better than they had expected to be.

After using up the rest of the First Aid kit's med gel, they saw to problem of the ship. It didn't take long to confirm that the system that kept the so-called elysian afloat had been among the collateral damage, and while they still functioned, it wouldn't be long before the strain caused it to fail as well.

"So," Kyoko said, staring down at the single functioning computer they found. "We're gonna crash."

"We're not going to crash," Charlotte said, fiddling with the controls. Or perhaps "wrestling" would be a more apt description. Very few of them did anything anymore, and those that did performed their tasks halfheartedly.

"Yeah? This ship is wrecked and about to fall out of the sky. From what I hear, that usually results in a crash."

"We're not going to crash," Charlotte repeated, this time with a hint of irritation. "There's got to be a way to get this thing down safely. We just got to find it."

"Why don't we call for help?" Oktavia put in. "I mean, we can't be that far from Cloudbreak."

Mami checked. "Radio's gone," she announced.

"Oh," Oktavia said, her face falling. "Can we fix it?"

"No. It's not broken, it's gone." Mami pointed to a gaping hole among the controls. A wheel-shaped hole.

"Oh," Oktavia said again. "Er, oops?"

Kyoko scratched her head, still apparently oblivious to the fact that she now looked like a redheaded Super Sayian. "Well, how'd you guys get on here?"

"Took a swifter," Charlotte answered shortly.

"A what now?"

"Flying motorcycle," Mami explained.

Kyoko's eyes popped wide open. "You got a flying motorcycle?" she said in an awed whisper. "And you never told me?"

"Only had it for a few minutes," Charlotte said as she yanked hard on a lever that had gone stuck. "Then your buddy Annabelle Lee cut it apart."

"Oh." Kyoko's face twisted up into a scowl. She kicked a piece of scrap metal out into the air. "Well, damn it! Annabelle Lee ruins everything."

"You'll hear no arguments from me," Charlotte muttered, finally giving up on the lever. She rubbed her chafed palms and sighed. "Idiot stabbed me twi-no, three times. And smashed me against a wall. Really not sorry to see her gone."

Mami considered pointing out those sorts of things tended to happen in a fight, but decided that defending their enemy to her unhappy wife probably wasn't tactful. Either way, it didn't really matter. The Void Walkers were gone, which meant they had to focus on-

Wait. Mami frowned. Come to think of it, every time they had scored a hit, none of the so-called Void Walkers had misted white. Instead, Annabelle Lee's vapor had been purple while the other three had all been yellow, like Mami's was. Furthermore, weren't Void Walkers supposed to have pure white skin? Because those four had too much color in their tone to qualify.

Mami turned that mystery over in her head. This was significant, she was sure of it. An explanation, perhaps, for their surprising boldness? If Annabelle Lee and her associates were no longer Void Walkers, then that would explain why they had dared infiltrate Cloudbreak. But then why were they still after Kyoko and Oktavia?

While Mami pondered, Kyoko leaned back against the smashed controls and folded her arms. "Well, gotta say, this really ain't how I pictured our little adventure beginning. Usually the bad guys wait until halfway through before beating the shit out of us."

Oktavia perked up. "Wait, it's started?"

"No," Charlotte said, frowning. "As soon as we get out of this, we're going straight back to Cloudbreak. We're not starting this thing until we're fully ready."

"Yeah? You ever figured out how?" Kyoko put her hands on her hips. "I mean, even if we don't crash, we're way in the middle of nowhere, with no way of telling-erk."

Kyoko's gasp was so small that at first Mami though she had burped. She didn't pay it much heed at first, until she noticed that there were four thin blades protruding from Kyoko's chest.

"Kyoko?" she said, pointing. "What are…"

Kyoko numbly looked down. She lifted a finger to touch one.

And then the blades retracted and an arm came out from behind Kyoko to wrap around her neck. Before anyone could comprehend what was going on, Kyoko was hauled out through one of the holes in the windshield and out into the open air.

…

Despite being stabbed in the back and thrown into the sky, the attack had been so unexpected that Kyoko fell several meters before she figured out what was going on.

And then she twisted around to find herself nose-to-nose with a very familiar face, and she understood. Granted, the headdress was gone to be replaced by spiky violet hair, and her skin no longer looked like it was bleached, but there was no mistaking that ugly mug.

"You!" Kyoko shouted in outrage.

"Me," Annabelle Lee said, her lips twisting into a smile that was as ugly as the rest of her. "What's up?"

Screaming, Kyoko slammed her forehead forward. Annabelle Lee blinked and shook it off. She drew her arm back to stab Kyoko again, but Kyoko shoved off with both hands and kicked her assailant in the chest, creating some distance.

But unfortunately, Annabelle Lee could fly.

Laughing, she swooped in at Kyoko over and over, slashing at her each time. Kyoko blocked with spear and diamond plate alike, but while she could defend against five attempts, the sixth got through. And they just kept coming. Soon Kyoko was misting from half-a-dozen cuts. None were deep, but they stung.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Kyoko screamed as she whipped her spear out. The pole separated and lengthened, but Annabelle Lee ducked it with ease. "Why can't you just leave us alone already?"

Annabelle Lee just grinned and came in for another go. This time Kyoko tried surrounding her attacker with a sphere of her diamond-shaped shields, but Annabelle Lee just cut straight through them. And then Kyoko was sporting a seventh cut, this one along her leg.

This was insanity! Kyoko couldn't even defend herself properly, much less fight back. And how the hell was she supposed to break her fall? It wouldn't be long before they ran out of sky. And then Sayaka's earlier quips about saying hello to the ground for her would become all too literal.

It was then that Kyoko was struck with a sinking realization. That had to be Annabelle Lee's plan. Her attacks weren't doing any real damage. She was just playing with her. Because sooner or later, the ground would win the fight for her.

Kyoko frantically looked around. Damn it, there had to be something she could use. Nope, nothing but clouds. It couldn't end like this. There had to be something-

And then the clouds opened beneath her and she saw her salvation. A fat-bodied elysian shaped like a giant subway was leisurely passing below them. Judging by how it had no fancy enchantments, it was probably transporting goods of some kind. Kyoko didn't care. It was the edge she needed.

Annabelle Lee must have seen the look on Kyoko's face, because she frowned and looked down. And oh man, the way her eyes nearly bugged right out of their sockets was a thing of beauty. Kyoko might have laughed, but she was too busy figuring out how to avoid being smashed.

As the transport neared, Kyoko flipped herself around, drew her legs back, and slammed them into Annabelle Lee's midsection. The agonized oomph she let out was very satisfying, but more importantly it was enough to push Kyoko a few meters, so that she was heading for the transport's side instead of its top.

As the large elysian's hull passed by, Kyoko struck out with her spear, digging the pointed edge of the spearhead into its side. The spear dug a furrow through the metal, sending out sparks as Kyoko hung on for dear life. At first it looked like it would keep cutting all the way down, but eventually her momentum slowed until she finally came to a complete stop less than two meters from the bottom.

For a moment Kyoko just hung there, feet dangling while the transport kept moving forward, completely oblivious to the fact that it had picked up a stowaway. Then she grimaced and let go with one hand long enough to summon a second spear and jab it into the ship's side.

And so she progressed, using the spears as climbing spikes as she wearily made her way to the top. Though that med gel stuff Charlotte had given her had helped, Kyoko was still sore from being drugged, electrocuted, stabbed, and slashed. But she pressed on, fueling her ascent through sheer stubbornness.

It was enough, and soon Kyoko clawed her was onto the transport's thankfully flat roof. She rolled onto her back and lay there, focusing on doing nothing but breath. Ho-boy, this had not been her day. Hell, she'd take another go with those senators over this. Well, maybe.

Then her head flopped to one side and she saw a pair of violet eyes glowering at her. Annabelle Lee, somehow managing to avoid being smashed like a fly against a windshield, was clinging to the roof only a few short meters away.

Kyoko stared for a moment before leaping to her feet. "You just don't quit, do yah?" she said, crouching down and bringing her spear to bear.

Annabelle Lee spat. "Got nothing to lose, bitch. And I still owe you a thousand times over."

"Ditto." Kyoko's eyes narrowed. "All right, let's get this over with."

Annabelle Lee readily agreed, and the two of them charged at each other. Annabelle Lee swooped down low, blades zeroing in on Kyoko's stomach. Kyoko responded by vaulting over Annabelle Lee's back and whirling around to slash at the flying witch's side.

Jerking back just in time, Annabelle Lee came at her again, much like she had done when they were in freefall. But this time, with a firm ground beneath her, Kyoko was more than a match. Sparks flew as Annabelle Lee's blades met the pole of Kyoko's spear. Kyoko held fast, gritting her teeth as Annabelle Lee pressed down.

"You've upped your game," Kyoko grunted out.

Despite being locked in mortal combat, Annabelle Lee still managed a half-grin. "Been working out. You'd be surprised at how much hate can motivate you."

With that, she seized the pole with her fingers and shoved back. Kyoko stumbled half a step, giving Annabelle Lee the opening she needed to jab all four blades at the redhead's stomach.

With only half a second to react, Kyoko did the only thing she could do: let herself fall completely on her back. Two blades still sliced over her skin and tore her shirt, but it was far better than being impale again. As Annabelle Lee passed over, Kyoko again bunched up her legs and slammed them into the skinny girl's stomach, sending her hurling back.

Kyoko was back on her feet in a second. As Annabelle Lee flailed backwards, Kyoko added to her momentum with a flying tackle. They bounced and rolled across the ship's hull, while Kyoko rained blows down on Annabelle Lee's face.

And then she noticed something distressing. They were still moving back long after their momentum should have petered out. The transport wasn't moving quickly enough to account for it, and Annabelle Lee was now too dazed to do much flying. So what was causing it?

Kyoko looked up and her heart sank. Much like the Void Walkers' ship, the transport had four large engines near the back, each one flaring out from all four sides. These ones looked that those of an airplane, rising up on a curving wing with a large exhaust port in the front. Inside wasn't a propeller though. Instead, behind six crisscrossing metal beams, there was something blue and glowing, no doubt magic or weird alien technology of some kind. However, it was still as hungry as a propeller might be, and the closer they came to it, the stronger the pull got.

Releasing her opponent, Kyoko twisted around and again slashed at the ship's hull with her spear, slowing herself to a stop. Unfortunately, Annabelle Lee hadn't noticed their peril and didn't know that they had stopped fighting, as she immediately grabbed Kyoko and yanked her back. Chortling, she rose up with her arms wrapped around Kyoko's waist, intending to take their battle back into the sky.

Regrettably, the engine had other plans.

It didn't take long for Annabelle Lee to notice that she wasn't going straight up as planned. She looked over her shoulder and her face turned almost as white as it had been the day they had met. She tried to fly away, but by then the pull was too strong. Screaming, the two girls were sucked right in.

Kyoko closed her eyes. It was cowardly she knew, but whatever that blue glowing thing was, she didn't want to watch what it did to her.

And then her back hit metal, nearly driving the wind from her. By sheer dumb luck, she had hit one of the metal beams instead, though the pull was all but flattening her against it.

She looked above her. Annabelle Lee had hit the same beam and was now clinging to it for dear life right over her head. Behind them, the blue glow hummed hungrily. She could feel the heat of it.

Taking a deep breath, she shouted, "What happens if we get sucked in?"

Annabelle Lee stared at her like she was an idiot. "What happens?" she shouted back. "What do you think happens?"

Okay, so it had been a stupid question. "Will we come back?" was Kyoko's next.

Annabelle Lee grimaced. She looked absolutely terrified. "Sure," she said. "Eventually."

Kyoko swallowed. She glanced down at the blue glow and quickly looked away. "I don't want to do that."

"Me neither."

"Truce until we get out of this?"

Annabelle Lee hesitated for less than a second before nodding. "Deal."

Kyoko snapped, and a wall of shield plates formed at either side of them, preventing them from falling off. Then, using smaller spears to pull herself along, Kyoko slowly squirmed her way across the beam toward the side of the engine. Once there, she formed a horizontal chain of shield plates from between her legs to the wall. Grabbing on, she tried to haul herself up, but the pull was too strong.

"Give me a push!" she shouted over her shoulder. Annabelle Lee gulped, but she crawled under Kyoko's head and pushed up. As they rose, Kyoko formed a succession of plates behind Annabelle Lee's back, essentially "saving" their progress.

Once they were vertical (or rather, horizontal), Kyoko surrounded them on three sides with shields, pressing them against the wall. "Okay," she said. "Get your arms under my armpits and use those Wolverine claws of yours to start climbing."

Annabelle Lee obeyed, though not without a suspicious look. "And what will you be doing?"

"This." Kyoko lifted a foot, and a shield appeared under it. "You climb, I push."

Working together, they slowly and painfully crawled their way across the engine's wall. It wasn't far, but the pull fought them every step of the way. Plus, having to rely on a hated enemy didn't make the journey any easier, but the threat of total disintegration kept either of them from turning on the other.

Finally they reached the lip of the engine. Hauling themselves out, they fell onto the fat wing and slid down to the bottom. Fortunately, the engine was directly over them, leaving them well outside of it pull.

Now safe, the two girls collapsed side-by-side on the front of the wing. Kyoko rubbed her forehead and groaned. "Damn it all," she grumbled. "Bring back the senators."

"You're crazy," Annabelle Lee said. "Deal with politicians? I'd cannonball straight into that engine first."

Kyoko had to laugh at that, and even Annabelle Lee started chuckling. Then their heads rolled toward each other, their eyes locked, and the laughter stopped.

"Uh," Kyoko said.

"Huh." Annabelle Lee responded. Her eyes narrowed, and her smirk appeared. "Well." She sat up and lifted an arm, blades bared. "Truce ov-"

And then there was the sound of a very familiar gunshot. Annabelle Lee blinked once, and amethyst vapor poured out of the two holes that had somehow appeared on either side of her head. Kyoko gawked as Annabelle Lee's eyes rolled back and she slipped off the wing to fall bonelessly into the sky.

"Kyoko!"

Kyoko turned her head and, to her immense relief and confusion, saw the most bizarrely wonderful sight she had ever laid eyes on. The Void Walkers' busted-up ship was now hovering off to the transport's side. Well, hovering was perhaps a bit of a stretch, giving that it was losing altitude at a rather alarming rate. Still, it was there, and Mami was hanging out of the smashed windshield, beckoning insistently.

Well, the gift horse was calling. Kyoko bolted across the hull and threw herself at Mami. Ribbons wrapped around her, altering her course so Mami could grab her and pull her in. The two of them fell onto the floor and laid still.

"Are you all right?" Mami asked.

Kyoko's non-existent heart was beating a kilometer a second and her whole body was shaking, but she still managed a grin. "Never better."

"Oh, that good too." Mami smiled back. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to pass out for a while." With that, her eyes rolled back into her head and she did just that.

Kyoko blinked. Remembering all too well how using too much magic had exhausted her, she found herself empathizing with Mami's sudden bout of unconsciousness. Then with a sigh, she wearily sat up.

Oktavia sat with her back against the wall, staring at Kyoko with wide eyes. "What?" Kyoko said.

Oktavia took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Don't scare me like that again."

Kyoko scowled. Like it was her fault. "You look like Vegeta." Then she looked over to Charlotte, who was sitting in the pilot's chair with a forlorn on her face. "Hey, thanks for the ride. You figure out how to save our asses yet?"

Letting out a low sigh, Charlotte idly pushed at a now pointless switch and said, "I managed to restore some basic steering. That's how we got to you. But that's about it."

"Uh…" Kyoko blinked. "So…"

"The last engine's gone, and the anti-grav system's seconds away from crashing.

Kyoko thought for a moment. "Hey, can't I just enchant them so they'll work right?"

"Funny story, that. Mami tried doing just that."

"And?"

Charlotte leaned back with a sigh. "It blew up."

"What did?"

"The enchantment. And the engine. Turns out there were some enchantments already in this thing. They don't work anymore either, but they really don't like to be messed with. Shoddy thinking, that." She shook her head. "We are complete dumbasses. We should've jumped out to join you on that transport then have you come in here."

They watched silently as they transport in question moved further and further away, now far out of reach. Sayaka cleared her throat. "So what happens now?" she asked.

Charlotte sighed. "Now? Well, as it turns out, I owe Kyoko an apology."

"You do?" Kyoko's face scrunched up. "Okay…for what?"

In answer, Charlotte slid off the chair, picked Mami up, and brought her over to where Oktavia was sitting. Sitting Mami in her lap, she lowered her head and laced her fingers behind her neck. "Assume crash positions, everyone."

…

Two hours later…

It wasn't the most dignified way to start an adventure. At least Bilbo Baggins had a pony. And Kyoko was pretty sure that Sun Wokong didn't start things off by crashing a magic spaceship/airplane thing into the ground.

Still, it could have been worse. They had actually not been far from the ground by the time gravity took an interest in them, and some quick shield-work from Kyoko prevented them from being jostled around.

Still, by the time she and Charlotte emerged shaky-legged from the wreck, they were all pretty bruised up. But they were in one piece, which was a hell of a lot better than Annabelle Lee's crew could claim, wherever they were.

Once they were able, Kyoko and Charlotte had worked at helping Sayaka and the still-unconscious Mami from what was left of the ship. From there, they scoured it for any supplies they could use. They managed to recover some food and basic First Aid, but little else had survived.

Now the four of them were sitting in a circle near the edge of the crash site. Or rather, Kyoko, Charlotte, and Sayaka were sitting, while Mami lay with her head in Charlotte's lap, slumbering away. Miraculously, Sayaka's wheelchair had survived with only a couple of easily-fixed dents. What was more, her sword and harmonica had been stored away in the attached pouches, which struck Kyoko as painfully ironic. They had been forced out early with barely any supplies at all and had taken a hell of a beating along the way, but somehow the stupid harmonica had managed to come along.

As had Sayaka, come to think of it. Charlotte was still adamant that they find their way back to Cloudbreak and send her off with those friends of their, but Kyoko had a funny feeling that that wouldn't being happening. For one, they had no idea where they were, much less which way Cloudbreak was. When she pointed that out, Charlotte had sighed.

"Look, we can't start this way," she said. "We're all beat up, have barely any supplies at all, and there's no way we can take Oktavia with us."

Sayaka, who was contently humming away on her harmonica, cracked open an eye to glower at her.

"I'm sorry, but it's true! There's a bunch of terrain that we'll have to cover that your wheelchair just can't handle." Charlotte slumped over her knees and sighed. "Besides, we're all on the verge of collapse here. If we seriously set out like this, we're screwed."

"Yeah, but again, how the hell are we going to get back there?" Kyoko pointed out. "We're in the middle of nowhere, no way of knowing which way to go, and we're all on the verge of joining Mami over there in slumberland."

"Point," Charlotte groaned. She glanced back to the wrecked ship. "Okay, we spend the night here and rest up. The ship'll provide more shelter than anything else back there. In the morning, we'll…we'll think of something."

Still looking a little disgruntled, Sayaka nodded, as did Kyoko. But as they all headed back to the wreck, she paused and looked over her shoulder. The sun was setting over the treetops, and the sky was going dark. She stuck her hands in her pockets and shivered. While it wasn't much more than intuition, she knew that Charlotte was wrong. They wouldn't be going back to Cloudbreak. For better or for worse, this was where it started.

Then her fingers brushed against something made of metal in her pocket and she froze. When she realized what it was, she pulled it out and smiled. In her hand was Elsa Maria's compass, which she had been carrying with her since Freehaven. Well, this may be a shitty start, but at least they weren't without some kind of guidance.

Chapter Text

Help, Part 1

Dipping the sponge into the warm water, Kyoko lifted it to scrub the back of the small girl sitting in front of her. "Jeez," she said, gingerly moving the sponge over pink bruises, "Look at yourself. Told’ja rushing in like that was stupid."

Though her admonishments were gentle, the girl still cringed. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Sorry, nothing. You were damned lucky you didn't get your stupid head taken off."

The girl's bare feet kicked at the shallow water covering the ceramic tiled floor. "That wouldn't happen."

"Oh? And what makes you so sure?"

In answer, the girl turned enough to smile brightly at her, though for some reason, Kyoko could not make out her face. "Because you were there to look after…"

A name was spoken, but the dream was already dissolving. Kyoko awoke just enough to register how incredibly shitty she felt. Her whole body was shivering with cold; her limbs felt like dead, limp things; her throat was raw and throbbing; she was so hungry she could eat Sayaka's tail raw; and her head pounded something awful. And to top it off, it felt like she was curled up in the corner of a hard, metal room. She had no idea how long she had been sleeping, but it had either been far too long or too short. Either way, she felt horrible.

She drifted there for a few minutes, her discomfort preventing her from slipping back to the warm embrace of sleep but still unwilling to wake fully. But the pain in her stomach and in her head drew her out little by little. Plus, she had a bitch of an itch on her nose that was screaming for attention.

Cracking one eye open, Kyoko saw nothing but blurry shadows. She tried to lift a hand to scratch her nose, but it was just too heavy. It felt like all the life had been sucked out of her limbs, leaving her with big, floppy dead things that she could barely lift.

And then she felt something tickle around the itch and heard an angry sounding buzz.

Eyes popping wide, Kyoko smacked the huge beetle off her nose. It flopped onto the floor where it flopped and hissed for a bit before righting itself and crawling away in a huff.

Moaning, Kyoko settled back into her spot, which, as it turned out, actually was the corner of a hard, metal room. She scratched at her nose with still-heavy fingers and found that the itch was the result of a gigantic bug bite, probably courtesy of her beetle friend. Great. So that thing had been sucking away at her soul smoke. She hoped the lingering poison would give him cancer or something.

While being scared awake hadn't made her feel any less like crap, it did restore mobility somewhat. Kyoko blinked several times to clear her eyes and looked around. They were still in the cargo bay of the wreck of the Void Walkers' ship. Mami and Charlotte were curled up together in the other corner, still asleep. Neither of them looked especially well, but it looked like Mami was coming down with something, if the way she was shivering and sweating was any indication. Sayaka was sleeping in her wheelchair, which meant that she had the most comfortable bed in the place. She also didn't look so great. Not as bad as Mami, but her face and fingers kept restlessly twitching and she seemed to be muttering something. Also, her tail was covered with something shiny, though whether fishes could sweat or she was secreting some kind of gross mucus Kyoko couldn't tell. And her hair still looked hilarious.

Out through the smashed ruin of the cockpit Kyoko could see enough pale light to confirm that it was early morning. She wondered if she should rouse the others or try to go back to sleep. On the one hand, she did not want to get up. Her body just felt too beat up to even try tackling the long trek through the woods. But on the other hand, given just how much pain she was in, there was no way she was going to be able to sleep again.

Screw it. With a grunt, she pushed herself onto unsteady legs. Once she was reasonably sure of her balance, she staggered over to the cockpit. Maybe she'd be able to kill a bear or something. A bellyful of bear meat would go a long way toward feeling better.

Kyoko emerged blinking into the cold morning light. Early birds were chirping, insects were humming, and the whole place smelled like pine and dirt. If she had been leaving a camping tent, she might have breathed deeply, smiled, and gone for a bracing jog. Instead, she was limping out of crashed airship feeling like the floor after an elephant waltz with no food, no clean clothes, and all too mindful of how far from help they were.

Ah, well. She'd had shittier days. Kyoko stretched, winced when her joints protested, scratched her nose, and turned to go look for some sign of food.

She came face-to-visor with someone wearing full-bodied, high-tech green armor and carrying a futuristic assault rifle.

Kyoko and the helmeted intruder stared at each other for a moment, neither of them moving. Though she couldn't see the other girl's face, she got the impression that she was just as surprised to see Kyoko as Kyoko was to see her.

Then the armored girl recovered. Snapping into a defensive position, she brought the rifle up and pointed it at Kyoko's head. "Don't move," she said, her voice buzzing through the helmet's speakers. "Get down on the ground, and put your hands on your head."

Kyoko calculated her chances of winning this fight and came up with a depressing conclusion. Then she shrugged and summoned a spear. Ah, hell with it. She couldn't die, so surrender or get beat down, it would all end the same way.

"I wouldn't try it, love," said a voice with a British accent, this one unfiltered by speakers. Looking over her shoulder, Kyoko saw another armored person standing nearby, rifle aimed at Kyoko's back. She had dark skin and chiseled features, with braided hair falling around her neck.

Then two more armored thugs appeared, these ones wearing helmets identical to the first one. They took position on either side of Kyoko, surrounding her. A fifth one appeared on top of the ship's wreck, covering her from above.

Everyone stood still for a moment, waiting for someone to make a move. The unhelmeted girl studied Kyoko's face. "You know, we did just tell you to get on the ground and put your hands on your head," she said. "And yet, I can't help but notice that you haven't. Why not?"

Kyoko shrugged. "I don't like taking orders from people who don't even have the manners to introduce themselves first."

"Hmmm, sassy." The black girl smirked. "Though I can't help notice that you're looking a little banged up. Run out of gas?"

"Nah, some assholes tried to kidnap me," Kyoko responded. "Didn't much like that, so me and my friends threw them out the window." Tilting her head to one side, Kyoko asked, "You guys with the Alliance or something? 'Cause if so, your security sucks."

The black girl frowned in puzzlement. "The Alliance?"

"Uh, yeah? You know, the New Life Alliance? Big floaty city, not too far from here?"

"The New Life Alliance? No! Why would we be part of them?" The black girl lowered her rifle, though she still kept it pointed at Kyoko. "And if you think you're near Cloudbreak, then love, I've got some bad news for you."

Crap, they must have been taken farther than anyone had thought. "Uh, okay," Kyoko said. "So, uh, you gonna shoot me or tell me who you are? 'Cause you may have noticed, but I'm about thirty seconds away from collapsing."

The black girl seemed to consider this for a moment. Then she lowered her rifle to her side, and her companions did the same. "Well, if what you say is true, then it looks like you'd had a tough enough time as it is." She nodded to Kyoko. "I'm Janelle, of the Persephone Protectorate. We heard of a wreck and were sent to investigate."

"By who?"

"Our leader." She looked Kyoko up and down. "So, you say you got kidnapped, huh? Mind expanding on that?"

"Not really."

Janelle laughed. "What, afraid we're going to sell you out to them? Don't worry, love, we're an independent organization. Whoever you're afraid of, we've got nothing to do with them."

"Sure," Kyoko said, tightening her grip on her spear. "But I'm kinda new here, so you're gonna have to forgive me if I don't take strangers at their word."

"Fair enough. Keep your secrets, then. In the meantime though, you should probably come back with us and get looked at. No offense, kiddo, but you don't look so good."

"I had a bad night," Kyoko said flatly. "And hey, offer's appreciated and all, but seeing how I don't know you and you don't know me, how about we all go our own way instead?"

Janelle laughed again, and this time a couple of the others did as well. "Oh, come on. If we meant mischief, all we'd have to do is shoot you in the head and put you in a sack. Hell, it probably wouldn't even take that. You look like a stiff wind would knock you over."

"Better not start blowing on me then," Kyoko said with a smirk. This got another round of laugher, and Janelle sighed and slipped her rifle into a clamp on her back. She nodded to the others, who also started to put their weapons away, but a second later they all had them out again and focused on the ship.

Charlotte stood in the large hole in the cockpit, looking very surprised. Slowly she raised her hands up. "Uh, okay," she said, looking back and forth. "This is…not what I was expecting." She glanced over to Kyoko. "Kyoko, why are there a bunch of super-soldiers pointing guns at us?"

"Hey, don't look at me, they surprised me too," Kyoko said. "They call themselves the Persephone Protectorate. Ever heard about them?"

"Not really, no."

"That doesn't surprise me at all," Janelle said, shaking her head. "City girls. Sheesh." She waved her hand over to her helmeted companions. "Okay girls, take it easy. They're not going to bite." She looked to Charlotte. "Sorry about that. Don't worry, we're here to help."

The look Charlotte gave her was anything but trusting. "Uh, yeah…sorry, but a bunch of military-types pointing guns at people really isn't a great way to build trust. Who are you people? Who are you with?"

"We're with ourselves," Janelle said. She extended a hand. "Relax, we're the good guys. Think of us as park rangers meets the Marines. This place is mostly unclaimed, so someone has to make sure travelers stay safe."

"Park rangers," Charlotte said, not lowering her hands. "With…assault rifles. Right." She quirked an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you get some pretty big bears out here?"

"Okay, so it's a bit more than that," Janelle admitted. "There's actually something of an ongoing problem in this forest that we're trying to take care of.

"Problem?" Kyoko said. She glanced to the forest. It seemed peaceful enough, but in her experience, that meant absolutely zip.

"Yup. Bad guys, so to speak." Janelle glanced around, her face troubled. "And speaking of which, we really should get you and your friends out of here quickly."

"Why?" Charlotte said suspiciously. "What's out there?"

Janelle hesitated a moment before responding. "You guys ever hear of leechers?"

Of course Kyoko never had, but judging by how pale Charlotte's face got, she most certainly had. Whatever these "leechers" were, they were something scary.

"Oh," Charlotte said, as if that word explained everything. "Oh." She swallowed. "Yeah, that…let's do that then."

One of the helmeted girls helped Charlotte down from the ship, while another two went inside to retrieve Sayaka and Mami, who were still out. Kyoko suddenly had a very bad feeling about this. Sayaka and Mami were defenseless, while their new "friends" turned out to be otherwise, there wasn't a whole lot she and Charlotte could do about it.

"Relax," Janelle said, coming up to her. "Scary suits aside, we really are the good guys. This place just can get a little rough." She tilted her head to one side, examining the wreck. "By the way, that ship isn't yours, is it?"

Kyoko shook her head. "No, it belonged to the creeps that tried to snatch us."

"Smashing. We're short on spare parts, and that's some good salvage there." Janelle walked over to inspect the ship.

Once she was gone, Kyoko sidled up to Charlotte, who was sitting on a rock looking very scared. Aware that one of the soldier-types was keeping an eye on them, Kyoko leaned over to whisper, "I don't like this."

"Me neither," Charlotte said.

"If they're lying, we're fucked."

"Yeah, I know." Charlotte cast an apprehensive glance back at the forest. "But if they're telling the truth and we don't go with them, then we're really fucked."

Kyoko frowned. "Why? What are you so scared of? The hell are leechers?"

Charlotte took a deep breath. "Well, you know how back in the world of the living, sometimes people would get kidnapped for their organs and such?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, it's like that," Charlotte said flatly. "Only instead of your organs, they're after your soul." She looked up to lock gazes with Kyoko, her eyes full of fear. "And you don't die. So you never, ever leave."

…

The night spent in the wrecked ship had been hard. The trek through the forest was a waking nightmare.

Charlotte stumbled forward, concentrating on putting on foot on the other, trying to ignore how every step sent shooting pain up her calves and hips, trying to ignore how dry her throat was and how empty her stomach felt. She kept pressing forward, though in time she wasn't so much walking as she was continuously falling forward without ever actually reaching the ground.

She and Kyoko were marching in line with those Persephone Protectorate guys, whoever they were, heading toward their headquarters, wherever that was. Mami and Oktavia were both being carried. Mami was still out, completely oblivious to the armored woman that was giving her a piggyback-ride. Charlotte was worried sick about her, both due to her condition and the fact that they were being carted off by strangers. Unfortunately, there wasn't a great deal she could do about either one. She was only on her two feet by sheer force of willpower, else she would have been slung onto someone's back as well.

Oktavia was likewise being carried on another soldier's (or whatever they were) back, though unlike Mami she was awake and unhappy. She bounced along, her arms slung loosely around her carrier's neck, her face tired and openly wondering how in the world they had gotten into this situation. When she had awakened to find several strangers carrying guns surrounding her, Kyoko had to intervene before she started shooting off wheels again. And despite all the reassurances she had been given, it was clear that she distrusted their so-called rescuers as much as Charlotte did. But like Charlotte and like Kyoko, there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

Charlotte stepped on a branch only to have it twist under her. She stumbled to one knee.

"You okay?" said one of the helmeted girls. She held out a hand. Charlotte hesitated a moment before taking it.

"Yeah," she said brusquely. "Just slipped, is all." She took a deep breath and forced herself on.

Kyoko was a bit ahead of her, though that was like to soon change. The redhead was in better shape than Mami but worse than Charlotte. She wasn't even disguising how much her gait had become a stumbling limp, or how much she was starting to sway. Like Charlotte, she had refused the offer to be carried, though she seemed to be moments away from collapsing.

Grimacing, Charlotte tried to distract herself by trying to figure out a way out of their predicament. She had never heard of these people, so there was no reason for them to be who they said they were. Okay, granted, if they did intend evil, they would hardly need to lie and win their victims' friendship. Like Janelle had said, Charlotte and the others were in such terrible shape that all they would have to do was shoot 'em and bag 'em. Still, given how they had recently been blindsided in Cloudbreak of all places, Charlotte wasn't going to drop her guard. It was just that she unfortunately didn't have much of a guard to drop.

Ahead of her, Kyoko's staggering steps slowed to a stop. She tried to lift her foot, only to slowly droop to the ground. One of the nearby soldiers had apparently been waiting for that to happen, as she was already in position to catch her before her legs gave out entirely.

"Whoa. Easy there, tough guy," the soldier said. She slipped the rifle off her back, attached it to her leg, and hoisted Kyoko up in its place. Kyoko muttered something rude sounding, but she slumped against the girl's back and lay still.

"How about you?" said the soldier nearest to Charlotte, the one that initially offered her a ride. "You ready to give in?"

Charlotte wanted to snap back something prideful and defiant, but then she reconsidered. She might be in better shape than Kyoko, but that wasn't saying much. And if she was going to be honest, she really wasn't going to last much longer. If this did turn out to be a trap, she was going to need to conserve all the strength she could, for as much as that counted.

"Sure," she said grudgingly. "Thanks."

Chuckling, the soldier likewise transferred her rifle to her leg and knelt down. "Come on, princess," she said, holding her arms low and waiting.

Charlotte climbed onto her back and held on. Holding onto her legs, the soldier stood up with enviable ease and they were once again on their way.

While she was thankfully no longer on her feet, the ride was still a nightmare, but it was a noticeably smaller nightmare than before, for which Charlotte was grateful. She was still famished and hurt all over, and bouncing around like a grade-schooler's backpack was not at all a pleasant way to travel, but hey, an improvement was an improvement.

In fact, as she was carried along, the steady rhythm of the soldier's footsteps actually became sort of comforting, and Charlotte found herself slowly drifting to sleep.

She dozed for a time. How long, she couldn't tell. But the next thing she knew, she was waking with a start just as the soldier was lowering her to the ground. As they were obviously still in the forest, this was likely not a good sign.

"Wait, what?" she said, groggily rubbing her eyes. "Where are we?"

"Shhhh," the soldier said. She looked around, and though her features were concealed by her helmet, Charlotte got the impression that she was nervous. "Don't move, and keep quiet." She pulled her rifle into her hands and walked off to join the other soldiers, who had formed a perimeter around them with weapons drawn and at the ready.

Blinking in confusion, Charlotte took a look around. She had been laid in a relatively soft bed of moss at the foot of a large tree, as had Mami, Oktavia, and Kyoko. Mami and Kyoko were still asleep, though Oktavia was awake and worried.

"What's going on?" Charlotte whispered to her.

"Not sure," Oktavia whispered back. "But they said something's out there. I think they're expecting an attack." She scratched the back of her neck. "Also, the forest has gotten seriously weird."

It had. Before it had been plain brown bark, green foliage, and pine needles. Now there were springy, purple plants bouncing up and down on their stalks like slinkies; green-trunked trees that curled up like corkscrews with heart-shaped leaves that kept opening and closing; and white flowers with blinking eyes for irises.

Charlotte had only encountered this level of weirdness once before, but that one encounter was enough to give her a good idea of what had happened. "Wait, are we in a witch's barrier?" she said, her voice rising to a squeak."

"Nothing so interesting, love," Janelle said, walking up to them. Scanning the area, she kept her rifle at the ready while she talked. "There's lots of madwomen and feral witches in this place. Let's just say they've had an effect on the landscape."

Oh. That made sense, though it was still bad news. Given the trauma girls brought with them, madness was a common problem with both Puella Magi and witch alike. Not everyone was as lucky in finding help as Mami and Charlotte had been. More often than not, those wild girls would band together to form violent packs called covens, and their collective madness would shape their surroundings.

If that was the case, then that explained why the Persephone's Protectorate went around fully armed and armored. It also explained why there would be leechers in the area. Madwomen and feral witches made for both dangerous hazards and easy prey, depending on who you were.

"Keep you voices down," Janelle said. "There's a coven nearby. And we're pretty sure they're hunting us." She went off to go hold a low conversation with one of her girls.

Swallowing, Charlotte gathered up Mami and held her close with one arm, and with the other took Oktavia's hand and held it tightly. Oktavia glanced at her, saw the fear on Charlotte's face, and gather up Kyoko like Charlotte had done with Mami. Kyoko struggled a bit and muttered something, but didn't wake up.

They lay still, listening to the sound of their own breathing and the soldiers' footsteps. Beyond that, there was nothing, which only served to make Charlotte even more uneasy. Despite not seeing anyone, she had the crawling feeling that someone was watching them.

Keeping her eyes on the forest, Oktavia leaned over and whispered, "Sorry, what are we hiding from this time? I lost track."

"Shhh," Charlotte hissed back. "I'll explain after…"

Her voice trailed off. She saw someone.

A naked girl was crouching in the branches of one of the trees, partially shrouded by shadows. Charlotte couldn't make out much, but her body was covered with dirt and pieces of bark, her orange hair wild and unruly, and her fingers unnaturally long, each ending in curving claws. Even through the darkness Charlotte could still make out the glitter of mad, orange eyes.

Charlotte opened her mouth to shout a warning, but it was too late. The attack was already happening.

Immediately the air filled with shouts and the sound of gunfire. Several sleek shapes darted in and out, hitting the soldiers with swift and sudden strikes before retreating as quickly as they came. The soldiers stood their ground, standing back-to-back and shooting everything that moved.

Charlotte pressed herself further back into the moss and tightened her grip around Mami. She was no coward, but wild covens were not a threat to be taken lightly. Despite their madness they lost none of their fighting prowess or powers, and it was said that their magic's potency increased with their insanity.

Not far from where they were hiding, Janelle and two other soldiers were onset by several wild girls. There seemed to be five of them, though they moved so quickly that it was hard to tell. They darted back and forth, striking long enough to draw attention only for another to hit the soldiers where they weren't looking. Janelle and her companions stood with their backs to each other to prevent this, but they were outnumbered.

As Charlotte watched, a wild girl came crawling along the underside of the overhanging branches like an unnaturally nimble sloth. Once she was directly above the trio, she locked in with her legs and lowered her upper body. A shimmering net set with sparkling sapphires appeared in her hands, ready to be dropped on her prey.

Screw that.

Lunging forward, Charlotte struck out with her wires. They lashed up and struck the madwoman's bare thigh. She cried out and dropped, her limbs thrashing like a spider cut from its web. She landed near Janelle's feet rolled, somehow becoming tangled in her own net. She screeched and thrashed, only for Janelle to take one look at her and put her down with a shot through the forehead.

Unfortunately, that only drew the coven's attention. Charlotte saw more madwomen in the trees, looking down at where the four of them were huddling. The looks on their faces spoke of ill intentions.

Charlotte exchanged a glance with Oktavia and an understanding passed between them. They moved Mami and Kyoko between them and sat up the best they could. Oktavia held out a hand and two wheels appeared in the air in front of her. Charlotte did the same, ready to strike out again with their wires. Both were already worn to the point of exhaustion, but they would be damned before they let these unfortunate freaks take them without a fight.

The madwomen struck. The nearest, a girl heartbreakingly young, dropped from the tree and ran screaming on all fours, her wild hair streaming behind her and her mouth gaping open.

And then she showed up.

One moment she wasn't there, the next she was standing between the charging girl and her intended prey. She wore the same sort of armor as the others, but she immediately stood out. For one, instead of an assault rifle, she grasped a rapier in her right hand. Tiny gems sparkled from the golden hilt and the blade shone silver. For another, shimmering, gossamer wings sprouted from her shoulder like those of an enormous butterfly.

A fairy, Charlotte thought numbly. I'm teaming with a mermaid and being saved by a fairy. Call it in, it's time to go home.

The wild girl didn't so much as slow down. She leapt for the newcomer's throat, dirtied hands outstretched.

The winged girl barely moved. A couple flicks of her blade, and the wild girl was dispatched with as much ease as one might swat a fly. She went down and lay still.

It was then that Charlotte saw that the soldiers had more reinforcements besides the winged girl. More armored soldiers had joined the fray, and the tables were turned. The madwomen were driven off or put down much as the one with the net had been. But as efficient as they were, none were close to matching the winged girl. She moved with a grace like light given form, her flicking this way and that. And every time it did, wild girls screamed. And wild girls fell.

And before Charlotte knew it, it was over.

She lay where she was, hand still raised, imaginary heart pounding. She watched as the soldiers quickly secured the area. Those that had been wounded were treated, while the defeated madwomen were gathered up and taken somewhere Charlotte couldn't see without effort. The winged girl exchanged a few words with Janelle, patted her on the shoulder, and walked over to where Charlotte and her companions were lying.

As she approached, she pulled off her helmet, and it was all Charlotte could do to keep from gasping. Her skin was the color of creamy milk and completely without blemish. Her cheeks were dimpled, her chin pointed just enough to give her something of an exotic flair, and her feathery green hair flowed over her shoulders in waves, still in perfect condition despite being recently being confined in a helmet. But it was her eyes that took Charlotte's breath away. They seemed to change color with every movement, going from yellow to red to green and then to blue in the space of a few steps. And they shone with a brilliance that reminded Charlotte of a dance of calliopes flying in front of the sun.

She was undoubtedly the most beautiful person Charlotte had ever seen in her life.

The winged girl knelt down when she reached the four. "Hi," she said, smiling. "I'm Lily, the commander of the Persephone Protectorate. Are you girls all right?"

Dumbstruck as she was, Charlotte could only stare. She managed to stutter out, "L-let me g-get back to you on th-that one," before her eyes rolled back and she fainted dead away.

…

Once again, Kyoko slowly floated back to consciousness. Even as she did, she still noticed that this time was still considerably more comfortable than when she had awoken in the wreck of the Void Walkers' ship. Instead of shivering in the cold, hard corner of a metal room, she was snuggled between a soft mattress and warm blankets. Her throat no longer felt ravaged, her aching body was in a lot less pain, and there wasn't a gigantic bug clinging to her nose. All in all, it was a major step up.

She still felt like crap though. Well-cared-for crap, but still crap. And she was famished.

Opening her eyes, she was greeted by the blurry sight of florescent lights and a spinning fan. She reached up to scratch her still-itchy nose and was pleased that it didn't feel like a floppy dead thing this time.

Someone was playing music nearby, from a very familiar sounding instrument. Kyoko turned her head to see Sayaka in the bed next to her. The mermaid looked considerably healthier than she had before. She was wearing a plain cotton tee-shirt and was sitting up, which was a good sign. Her eyes were closed as she played a melody Kyoko hadn't heard before on her harmonica.

Kyoko lay still, listening to her play. Since it wasn't that creepy song from Sayaka's ghostly orchestra, she had no problem with enjoying the tune. And it was a very nice one: energetic and fun, but with a tinge of solemnity. It reminded Kyoko of fairies and elves dancing in a field beneath the light of the moon. She wondered if Sayaka had made it up herself. Probably she had.

Finally the song ended, and Sayaka lowered the harmonica with a contented look on her face. She glanced over to Kyoko and her eyes lit up when she saw that her friend was awake. "Kyoko!" she exclaimed, straightening up. "You're up?"

Grinning, Kyoko lifted an arm to weakly wave at her. "Heya, Sayaaaaa…"

Sayaka's face turned dark.

"…aaawordfish," Kyoko quickly corrected herself. Her voice was rough, but not enough to be a problem. "Nice song. You write it?"

Sayaka relaxed, apparently accepting "Swordfish" as a passable recovery. Then she actually blushed at the compliment. It was kinda adorable. "Er, yeah," she said, scratching the back her neck. "Just messing around. You okay?"

Kyoko nodded. "Sort of. Better, anyway. How long was I out?"

"Almost a day, which is impressive, as I had you pegged for being down for two at least," said a new voice. Kyoko turned to see a medium-sized girl with glasses and a curly brown hair tied into a frizzy ponytail approaching. She was wearing green scrubs, which made her job screamingly obvious.

"Well, I've always been a stubborn bitch," Kyoko said as the doctor checked the readings on the machine the IV drip was hooked up to. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Sayaka roll her eyes and shake her head.

"So I hear," the doctor said. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a piece of very comfortable roadkill. Which is actually a step up."

The doctor frowned at the machine. "Be that as it may, I wouldn't recommend you get up just yet." She glanced over to Kyoko. "In fact, you would do well to get a few more hours of sleep."

"Why?"

The doctor tapped the readings. Kyoko craned her neck to get a look, but it was all gibberish to her. "The details are kind of technical and multisyllabic, but in layman's terms, your soul is on the mend but still out of whack. Your wounds and energy loss aren't much, but whatever that magical tranquilizer they stuck you with is, it's done a number on you. Combined with that heavy electric shock, your vapors got turned into a veritable cocktail of weird."

Kyoko looked over to Sayaka and raised her eyebrows. Sayaka just shrugged unapologetically. "Hey, we were five seconds away from getting vivisected," she said. "I needed you awake."

Rolling her eyes, Kyoko sank back into her pillow. "Yeah, I guess you've got a point. Good call. Just don't do it again without asking first, okay?" To tell the truth, she wasn't as annoyed about being ordered to more bedrest than she would have been under normal circumstances. She still felt like crap, and some more sleep in a nice soft bed instead of a cold hard wreck sounded fantastic.

Still, she couldn't sleep just yet, not when she still had more questions. "So, I take it you're with the Per…Per…" She frowned. The hell were they called again?

"Persephone's Protectorate?" The doctor nodded. "Yes. You're at our headquarters now." She smirked. "Apparently there was some excitement bringing you in, but nothing unmanageable."

"Yeah?" Kyoko's interest perked. "Did it involve a super-skinny emo chick with no legs flying around?"

The look on the doctor's face told her that this was not a question she had anticipated. "I…no, no I don't believe so." She tilted her head to one side in puzzlement. "Someone you're familiar with?"

"It was a bunch of crazy naked girls," Sayaka put in.

Kyoko's head whipped toward her, though she regretted it when her headache flared up like a bad case of brain freeze. "Ah!" she groaned, pressing a palm against her forehead. "Wh-what did you just say?"

"A coven of wild girls," the doctor explained. When Kyoko paused in her pain-induced cringing long enough to stare at her in askance, she added, "Sometimes girls just can't adjust and lose their sanity as a result. Many of them end up banding together, and if left unchecked, will often devolve into animalistic behavior. The ones that attacked you were a particularly savage example." She shrugged.

"Oh," Kyoko said. That was disturbing. It seemed every time she turned around, the afterlife exposed another troubling aspect. "Well. That…sucks."

The doctor shrugged again. "It's sad, yes, but that's the reality of the world we live in." She gave the machine's readings on Kyoko's soul one last look. "In the meantime, I know you've probably got more questions, but you really need to get some rest. Lily wants to talk to you once you're able, and she'll be able to fill in on anything you want to know."

Kyoko frowned. "Lily?"

"Their leader," Sayaka supplied. "Don't worry, she's cool. You'll like her."

Yeah, well, we'll see about that. Rather than make an issue of it, Kyoko decided to ask one more question, one that, come to think of it, really should have been her first. "Okay, but…Mami? Charlotte?"

Sayaka grinned. "See for yourself," she said, pointing with her thumb to the bed beyond her. Kyoko craned her neck to see.

Mami was lying in the bed, fast asleep. She looked pale, but not deathly as she had been the other day. An IV drip identical to the one in Kyoko was taped to her arm. Charlotte sat next to her bed in a plastic chair, also asleep. Her upper body was slumped over Mami's still form, her hand tightly grasping Mami's.

"Yeah, Charlotte was actually kind of okay," Sayaka told Kyoko. "At least, compared to us. So she was able to get up faster. Mami's really worn out though. Hasn't woken up yet, but they say she'll be okay." She looked to the doctor. "Right?"

"Of course. She's just used too much magic in too short a time. She should be awake again roughly the same time as you two. And speaking of which…" The doctor scowled and pressed her finger against Sayaka's nose, forcing the mermaid back down toward her pillow. "Bedrest applies to you too. Save the harmonicaing for when you're better."

Sayaka gave her a sour look, but nodded.

"Sounds good to me," Kyoko said, shimmying deeper into her blankets. "But before I conk out, there's one itsy-bitsy problem that kinda needs fixing first."

"Really?" Frowning, the doctor leaned over Kyoko. "And what's-"

Suddenly Kyoko's hand shot up to grab the doctor by the wrist and pull her in close. Taken off guard, the doctor tried to pull back, but froze when she saw that, for just one moment, Kyoko wore a look of mad desperation similar to those associated with the wild girls.

"Bring me food," Kyoko rasped. "Right the fuck now!"

…

Hours later, Kyoko emerged from the infirmary well-rested, well-fed, and freshly showered. She was not quite fully recovered though. Small aches continued to plague her, especially around her head, but the doctor had pronounced her well enough to get up and move around, so she did just that, albeit with an armed escort of course.

The headquarters of the Persephone Protectorate was not exactly pretty. The infirmary was actually the nicest room, partially because if there was one place where sterile bareness was to be expected, it would be the infirmary. The whole of the complex was composed of low, grey bunkers made from concrete with sloping walls. The majority of the facility seemed to be underground, with the surface primarily just being a lot of short, ugly buildings; dirt; and fences contained within some very high walls. There wasn't much in the way of vegetation, and what weeds she saw poking their way from the ground were all nasty looking black things covered with spines.

This "Lily" person was apparently in the sparring yard. According to Sayaka, she had been by a couple of times while Kyoko had been asleep. The mermaid seemed to like her well enough, though Kyoko was reserving judgment until she actually got to meet her in person. Still, she had saved Kyoko and her friends when they were probably doomed to collapse somewhere in the forest, didn't turn them in, and gave them medical treatment and food. That counted for a lot in Kyoko's book.

Kyoko was led to a dirt clearing nestled in the shadow of four bunkers. That one black girl…the hell was her name again? Janette? Janet? Anyway, whatever the hell her name was, she was there, wearing a pair of dark green pants and a protective vest of the same color. She held a wooden rod about two meters in length and was clacking it against the staff held by her sparring partner.

And as for her partner, well, if the word "partner" was meant to imply some level of equality, then in this case it did not apply.

Now, Janelle was good. Kyoko could see that at once. But the woman she was sparring with made her look like a rank amateur. She wasn't even bothering taking the offensive. Instead, she just stood in one place and turned aside everything Janelle tried with quick, almost contemptuous turns of her wrist. Every now and then she would turn one of Janelle's strikes against her, sending her staggering back. Though Janelle was always quick to recover and resume her offensive, she never even got close.

What was more, this woman was easily the most gorgeous person Kyoko had ever seen. And what was more, she was a freaking fairy. Though not the cute Disney kind. This was more of the scary, regal Fae kind. With giant butterfly wings. Kyoko could only stand and stare in awe.

Finally, Janelle's opponent seemed to tire of the game. Suddenly taking the offensive, she smacked her staff against the bottom of Janelle's and twisted around, taking it out of Janelle's hands. Another spin, and Janelle's legs were swept out from under her, and she found herself lying in the dirt, the tip of her graceful opponent's staff pressing against her throat.

Well, I guess I found Lily, Kyoko thought, grinning. She stuck her hands in her pockets and fiddled around with Elsa Maria's compass.

"Yield," Lily said, her voice as beautiful as the rest of her.

Janelle stared up at her for a moment, eyes wide. Then she smiled. "Did that already years ago," she said, and they both laughed.

As Janelle pulled herself off the ground, Lily turned to see Kyoko watching them. "Ah, Kyoko Sakura," she said, shouldering her staff. "Good to see you awake."

"Not me. That bed was damned comfortable."

Lily laughed, and Kyoko wished that she would again. "Care for a round?" Lily said, lowering her staff.

Kyoko cast an apprehensive glance at Janelle, who was heading toward one of the bunkers. Even with most of her skin covered, she could still make out bruises. "Uh, I just kinda got released from bedrest…"

"Didn't you just say you wanted to go back?" Using the pole in her hand, Lily flicked Janelle's discarded staff up into her free hand and tossed it to Kyoko. "Come on, I'll go easy on you."

Well, why not? Kyoko and Lily saluted one another, and then fell into an easy rhythm, clacking their staffs together without much aggression. "So, I imagine you and your friends want to be on your way soon," Lily said.

Kyoko hesitated. How much should she tell her? "Something like that, yeah."

"I'm not surprised. Invading the Withering Lands isn't something to be put off."

Kyoko almost faltered. "What, what?"

Lily smiled. "Your friends told me. Oktavia and Charlotte. While you were asleep." At Kyoko's incredulous look, Lily laughed again. "Oh, don't worry. We're not in any way connected to the Alliance or the Void Walkers. Honestly, your secret's safe with us."

Maybe so, but Kyoko was going to have to have a talk with them about how secrets lost their use once they stopped being secrets. One didn't have to have a connection to an enemy in order to sell someone out to them.

"At any rate," Lily said. "Charlotte said something about getting back to Cloudbreak and starting over."

"Something like that, yeah," Kyoko said, guarding her tone.

Lily shrugged. "Well, that makes sense. Don't want to start until you're ready, right?"

"I guess," Kyoko said without much enthusiasm.

Of course, Lily caught it at once. "Is something wrong?"

"Eh," Kyoko shrugged. "It's just…you ever plan something out, trying to figure out all the…I dunno, variables and whatnot, and try to prepare for everything. And then something goes really wrong, and you find yourself on the road a month early, in a thirty-year-old car with half a tank, no money, no map, and you just know that this is it? You've started, and there's no way to go back and try again?" She shook her head, wondering why she was rambling like this. "I dunno, that's just the feeling I get."

"I think I understand," Lily said. She stopped sparring with Kyoko and stepped back, planting the butte of her pole in the dirt. "Though I have to ask: do your power include any sort of prescience?"

"Pre-what now?"

"Do you possess any sort of psychic abilities?" Lily explained. "Such as a sixth sense or the ability to sense the future?"

"Oh, like the Force?" Kyoko laughed. "I wish. Nah, just good old-fashioned intuition."

"I see." Lily thoughtfully rubbed her chin. "Well, while trusting you gut is…admirable, I wouldn't put too much stock in it. Instinct can often lead one astray."

Kyoko shrugged. "It's worked pretty good for me so far."

"Has it?" Lily shouldered her staff and started walking toward the edge of the sparring circle (or rectangle, as it actually was). Tossing her staff to one side, Kyoko moved to follow her. "Well, if you say so, though I should point out one tiny detail…"

Suddenly Lily dropped low and lashed out with her staff. Kyoko's legs were swept out from under her, and she hit the dirt with a surprised oomph!

Kyoko tried to rise, but this plan was discouraged when she found the end of Lily's pole pressing against her neck.

Smiling, Lily tapped her staff twice against Kyoko's throat and removed it. "Your instinct told you that just because I had put away my weapon and started walking away, we had stopped sparring. And it also told you to trust me when I said I would be going easy on you." She squatted down and offered Kyoko her hand. "Don't trust instinct. Trust only what you know, and even that can at times be suspect."

Kyoko stared at the offered hand. Then she grinned and took it. "Okay, lesson learned," she said as Lily pulled her to her feet. "Again."

"As is often the case. Now, sparring time's over for real now." Lily again headed away from the sparring ring, this time tossing her staff aside. "Come on, let's go see how your friends are doing."

…

"I feel like such a wimp," Mami said weakly.

Smirking, Charlotte squeezed her fingers and leaned over to give her a quick peck on the cheek. "A wimp. Right. That's what I love about you, sweetie. Only you could kick that much ass and still think of yourself as a wimp."

Despite her poor condition, Mami still managed enough sass to give her a look. "The only thing?"

"Among various others," Charlotte clarified. "Come on, you were hands’ down the biggest badass in that fight. How on God's green Earth does that make you a wimp?"

From the next bed over, Oktavia chose that moment to break in. "You know, if you want to get technical about things, we weren't really on God's green-"

"Not the time, Tavi," Charlotte said, playfully exaggerating her exasperation. She looked down to Mami, who was smiling and shaking her head. "Seriously, from what comes this latest trip down Beat Yourself Up Lane? Because the scenery's getting kinda familiar."

Mami sighed. "Maybe. But when it comes down to it, I didn't get hurt that bad. Maybe a few bullets here, and a little stabbing there, but what Kyoko and Oktavia experienced was far worse." She reached up to touch Charlotte's cheek. "Even you were more grievously harmed than I, and were using powers you had never even known you had on top of it. Whereas I just took a couple bullets and one quick stab through the foot, and those all closed up quickly. What right do I have to collapse after-"

The rest of her sentence was swallowed up by a weak coughing fit. Shaking her head, Charlotte picked up a glass of water with a little straw and helped Mami take small sips. "She gets like this when she forgets to take her meds," she said to Oktavia.

Mami broke away from the straw long enough to say, "Didn’t forget. Just don’t have them."

"She takes meds?" Oktavia asked, sounding surprised.

Charlotte sighed. "Tavi, we live in a town where just about everyone has some serious PTSD. Everyone does, their first few years in."

"I don't."

"Yeah, well, you're…naturally cheery?" Charlotte shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not a psychologist! Maybe it'll kick in later. At the worst possible time."

"I don't think that's helping, Char," Mami said, her voice slightly chiding.

Charlotte winced, as she always did when her mouth got her into trouble. "Yeah, I'm gonna shut up now," she muttered, slumping slightly in her seat. Mami rolled her eyes and shot an apologetic look over to Oktavia, who fortunately seemed more amused than anything.

"So anyway," Oktavia said as she leaned back against the bedhead with her arms folded behind her head. "Charlotte's actually right. Come on, you were awesome. So what if you needed a little more recovery time?"

Internally, Mami knew that they were right, but that didn't change how she felt. It rarely did, and as Charlotte had pointed out, this was a well-worn road for her. She couldn't help how she felt, no matter how much she wished it was otherwise.

So rather than argue further, she instead moodily sank back into her pillow and looked around. Upon awakening, she had first thought that they were back in Cloudbreak's clinic. Charlotte had then explained things, but despite both her and Oktavia's reassurances, Mami found the idea of being in the hands of complete strangers to be very troubling. She decided to reserve judgment until she learned more, but for now, she couldn't help but feel scared. Certainly, these Persephone Protectorate people could claim that they had no ties to Oblivion, but there was nothing preventing them from lying.

Eventually someone showed up with breakfast. It wasn't much: just scrambled eggs mixed with spam and peppers on top of a couple of corn tortillas along with a Styrofoam cup of coffee, but Mami did not care in the slightest. In fact, she ended up downing it so quickly that she barely tasted it, though she did need Charlotte's help to keep from spilling. After that came a second helping, and a third. By then Mami was feeling considerably better, and was able to sit up and feed herself without help.

"Sure you don't want another one?" Charlotte asked as Mami scraped the last few bits of egg from her plate. "Two more, and you'll have tied Kyoko's record."

Mami paused long enough to give her a look, and then resumed. "The day I try to match Kyoko in any sort of eating competition is the day I turn in my sanity card." Then she frowned. "Though please tell me that they didn't allow her to have five cups of coffee."

"Nah, we warned them ahead of time," Oktavia said. "She got orange juice."

As Mami was cleaning up, the door to the infirmary opened, and in walked Kyoko. The redhead seemed well enough, albeit walking with a slight limp. Though judging by the look on her face, something was clearly troubling her.

But all of that went straight out of Mami's mind when she saw who was entering next. Based upon Charlotte and Oktavia's very complimentary descriptions, this must be the Protectorate's enigmatic leader, Lily. Mami had to admit, while Oktavia had done most of the describing, hearing her wife so enthusiastically agree to such a flattering account of another woman's beauty had hurt a bit, even though she knew she was being a bit silly. But now that she was seeing Lily for herself, it was all she could do not to stare with her mouth hanging open.

Chuckling, Charlotte squeezed her fingers and said, "I know, right?"

As soon as Kyoko saw that Mami was awake, she immediately perked up. "Hey, look who's up!" she said, rushing to Mami's bedside. "How yah doing?"

Mami smiled. "A-All right. A little weak. But better. What about yourself?"

Kyoko grinned and shot her a thumb's up. "Just peachy. The fairy's called Lily. She's the boss around here or something."

"I suppose that's accurate enough," Lily said, walking over to stand next to Kyoko. "Hello, Mami. I'm glad to see you awake."

Mami swallowed. God, her voice was beautiful. "Ah, thank you."

"I assume Charlotte and Oktavia here have filled you in on the situation?"