Chapter 12: Found and Lost

-VERTEX THREE: 8.333882^10-

Noble Academy, Yumegahama

Simultaneously

The sky was not broken, it was black.

Solid black, from one horizon to the other, without a single point of light. No sun, no moon, no stars, only darkness. Every few minutes, frightened eyes looked out of the windows of the boarding school, scanning the ominous sky for any changes and finding none before turning away.

Most of the students and staff of Noble Academy were well used to strange occurrences by now: giant monsters, aggressive strangers in weird costumes, people suddenly falling asleep and waking up in strange places with no idea how they got there. They were the kinds of things everyone experienced sooner or later, but no one talked about. What would they say? That a selection of bizarre figures had been seen in and around Yumegahama for months, demanding to see people's dreams? That there were a disproportionate number of seven-meter-tall monsters, random explosions, and strange flashes of sparkling light on campus? That the school's Groundskeeping Committee was kept in a constant, wearying state of struggle against mysterious patches of torn-up sod on the lawns, not to mention the pockmarks, burn marks, small craters, broken windows, and cracked walls that accumulated on the outsides of school buildings every week or so? There was simply no explanation for these things, so better to just ignore them.

The sky turning pitch black, however... that could hardly be ignored. Most of Noble Academy's students huddled inside their dorms, frightened and confused, while the faculty convened and spoke together in urgent, hushed tones.

However, there were five girls that looked out at the darkness and saw it not as some strange, terrifying unknown, but as a challenge to be overcome. They had faced crises like this many times before, after all...

"Is it DysDark, do you think?" said one girl, staring out at the darkness with ocean blue eyes. Even when uncertain, she had a calmness about her, which in turn inspired calmness in others.

"Who else could it be?" said the second, far more casual. She tilted back in her chair, crossing her arms behind her long brown pigtails. Star-shaped earrings jingled as she moved. "Sorta fits with their MO, doesn't it?"

"I'm not sure," said the redhead closest to the window, the smallest of the group. She twitched with more than her usual nervous energy, anxious to get out and stop whatever this was. "Something doesn't feel quite right. When it's DysDark, it's usually... loud, you know. And obvious."

"Regardless of who it is, we must stop it." The fourth girl spoke in overly formal, courtly speech as she rose and smoothed out her skirt. Her apricot-colored curls were carefully arranged to hide a distinctive pair of pointed, elfin ears. "Yui," she said to the fifth, "you know what to do. Please ensure the other students stay inside."

"Got it," said Yui Nanase, nodding and adjusting her thick glasses. As always, she couldn't join the fight with the others, but her own duties were no less important. "Good luck, everyone... I'll be watching and rooting for you!"

Moment later, the school's main doors swung open, revealing Minami Kaidou, Kirara Amanogawa, Haruka Haruno, and Towa Akagi, the defenders of dreams, the girls chosen as the four Princess Precure. As one, they drew their enchanted keys, placed them into the Princess Perfumes, and called out:

"Precure, Princess Engage!"

Light blossomed on the school's doorstep as the transformation took hold, energy resolving into colorful dresses. The Precure took their signature poses and began the ritual:

"The Princess of the Blooming Flowers... Cure Flora!" said Haruka, the leader in pink, her boundless courage radiant enough to drive the darkness back.

"The Princess of the Clear Seas... Cure Mermaid!" said Minami, elegant and serene in blue, the picture of a lady.

"The Princess of the Sparkling Stars... Cure Twinkle!" said Kirara, dressed in bright, cheery yellow and always aglow with youth and spirit.

"The Princess of the Crimson Flames... Cure Scarlet!" Finally, there was Towa, the fiery red princess of another world, who had adopted Earth as her second home.

"Strength!"

"Grace!"

"Beauty!"

"Go!"

And all together: "PRINCESS PRECURE!"

In the darkness that surrounded the school, something moved. A low, menacing voice intoned a single word: "One."

Before the Precure could move, before they could process the voice, before they could even react... four slabs like coffin lids erupted from the pavement directly behind each of them.

"Wh-" Flora sputtered.

"Two," said the voice.

Steel manacles sprung from the surface of each slab, closing around the Cures' wrists and ankles and pinning them in place. This was all wrong, there was no way someone could-

"Three," said the voice, and...

... and Flora screamed as something wrenched itself out of her chest from deep inside her, shining with bright light... Her teammates' voices accompanied hers, it was happening to all of them, what was it-

"Princesses..." said the voice, seething with hatred and scorn. It was somehow familiar... "False princesses. You think you are worthy of calling yourselves royalty? You think you possess 'Strength, grace, and beauty?' That your dreams are enough to empower you? Appalling." Out of the field of blackness she came... not the dark presence they expected, but someone new. A stunningly beautiful woman in a dark, flowing dress, ivory-skinned and raven-haired, with elfin features rather like Towa's. Her face, though... even through the haze of pain, Flora could see the cruelty behind that gorgeous face, hiding underneath her skin like a cancer waiting to erupt. The woman drew close to them, her eyes chips of ice, slitted with golden pupils. The way she spoke... it was an archaic dialect, cultured and refined, one that left no illusion as to how far above them all she saw herself. "We are true royalty," she said, laying a pale hand against her chest. "We possess the strength, grace, and beauty of which mere children can only dream. And We shall have those dreams of yours... you shall surrender them to Queen Nehelenia."

"Nehelenia...?" The name was unfamiliar, but her presence quelled even the blazing heat of Cure Scarlet's power. Dyspear was horrible enough, a monstrous creature that had stolen her childhood and her kingdom from her, held her in thrall for years, brainwashed her into something like this woman: a cold, unfeeling, arrogant monster. This woman named Nehelenia, though... she could feel her power on her skin, washing over her in waves, chilling her to her core. Scarlet recognized Nehelenia's kind of evil... for she had been that kind of evil.

Flora pulled at her manacles, staring right into the so-called Queen's icy eyes. Whatever it was that Nehelenia had torn out of her, she was still awake, which meant she could still fight... she just had to stall for time until she could get loose. "Who are you? What do you want with us?"

Nehelenia looked down at her as if she were an insect. "We were told of you," she said. "The one who desires to be a princess with all her heart. That dream..." She spread her clawed fingers, drew her hand back - "... We shall see if it is pure enough for Us."

"Flora!" Mermaid couldn't see what the woman did, but Flora's pained howl a second later left little to the imagination. "FLORA!" This woman was hurting her, torturing her... Mermaid strained and arched her back, to no avail. The manacles were only steel, they should have broken easily under her enhanced strength, but that power... Nehelenia's power didn't just dwarf her own, it suppressed it... "Leave her alone!"

"Silence." Queen Nehelenia didn't even look at her; she sneered and dug her claws deeper into the Dream Mirror, the solidified form of all the false princess's hopes and desires. "Cure Flora," she whispered over the girl's screams. "Your dream is indeed pure, but pointless." She hissed the words, and twisted her claws. "Your strength, grace, and beauty will all depart you with time. Such was true even for Us. The only way to keep those virtues that you treasure... is to break time altogether..."

"S-stop..." Flora's insides burned... Nehelenia was inside her heart of hearts, darkening her innermost thoughts... "Stop it...!"

"We almost pity you," said Nehelenia. "Almost."

From behind her: "Precure Mermaid Ri-"

Without looking, Nehelenia waved her free hand, and the Lemures came to her beckon call. Formless, inky black creatures made of teeth and despair, a swarm of them appeared at her fingertips and screeched with joy, descending on the blue Cure's exposed Dream Mirror.

Now it was Mermaid's turn to howl. The living nightmares streamed into the mirror that hovered in front of her... and countless tiny, needle-sharp teeth tore ragged edges in her, eating away at the warmth and power that sustained her as a Precure. They gathered on the edges of her vision, whispered mockeries of her dreams into her ears, and danced in the corners of her eyes...

"NO!" Twinkle and Scarlet shouted in chorus, watching horrified as Mermaid's voice petered out and her head lolled to one side. This was wrong, it was all wrong...

It was a pure dream, it truly was. Even Nehelenia had to admit it. However pure, though, it was beneath her, as so many other things were. It was not worth consuming. Besides, the one that sent her here had other plans for it. Withdrawing her hand from the pink Cure's Dream Mirror, she turned to the next target. Behind her, another horde of Lemures rushed into the glass, and the false princess screamed...

"You," she said to the one called Cure Scarlet. "We were told of you."

"I-" Scarlet trembled under her gaze. A voice inside her screamed to fight back, to do something, but the awful, familiar evil she sensed inside Nehelenia held her frozen. "I will not," she said, determined at least to defy her to the last. "I will not surrender my dream to the likes of you!"

Next to her, Twinkle shouted something that blistered her ears, but meant essentially the same thing in spirit.

It was as if Nehelenia didn't even have to reach into the floating mirror. Her eyes read every inch of Scarlet, laying her secrets bare. "Yes, we see. You were once a fine figure of a true princess. Sublime, noble, and beautiful... you brought awe and terror to all around you with your presence, did you not?"

Scarlet's eyes grew wide. The shadow buried deep inside her heard those words...

Next to her, Twinkle roared, and her manacles creaked: "Get away from her, you-"

"Princess Twilight," said Nehelenia, ignoring the other's feeble cries. Until now, all her words had been arrogant, or cold, or steeped with anger... now, she sounded oddly reverent. "Your fall from grace was pitiable."

"My name is not-"

Her words cut off. Nehelenia's hand dove into her Dream Mirror, into her heart, seeking the brilliant light at its core. "Do not despair. We shall give you one more chance," she said, reaching deeper. Her fingers closed on the Seed, so impossibly bright that it burned her skin... all it would take was turning it just a little... "You, Princess Twilight, are worthy of-"

The air sizzled. Something hot and glowing streaked across Nehelenia's vision: a small golden star... a star alight with intense heat and sacred power. Whirling so fast that its points blurred together, it lanced clean through her forearm...

And Nehelenia howled as her arm emerged from Scarlet's mirror, but her hand did not.

A soft moan left Scarlet's lips. Her Dream Mirror faded back into her chest, and her transformation broke as she went limp.

"Keep... your hands... off of her."Breathing hard, her eyes gleaming, Cure Twinkle glared white-hot daggers at the monster that dared hurt her friends. She had nearly dislocated her right hand to free it from its manacle... a wisp of smoke rose from her shaking index finger, still pointed at the Queen.

Lovely, pale features twisted into an ugly snarl as Nehelenia clutched her bleeding stump to her chest. "How dare you... how dare you...!"

"You're gonna undo whatever you did to Towa-chi and all my friends," said Twinkle, quaking with rage, "and then-"

Black lightning erupted from Nehelenia's remaining hand. Taking savage glee in the yellow Cure's cries of pain, she struck again, and again, and again... She was besmirched, she was ruined, all because of this commoner, this worm who called herself a princess. A murderous crimson glow shone from the Queen's eyes. She would make this one pay, she would make this one suffer enough for a thousand lifetimes before she granted her the mercy of death, she would-

Another pain, a much smaller, almost insignificant pain, registered from Nehelenia's cheek. A rock. Someone had thrown a rock at her. Her blazing eyes left the yellow Cure as she turned...

A few steps away was a girl, just an ordinary human without a trace of power, already stooping for another rock, twin dark blue braids falling over her shoulders. Behind the thick lenses of her glasses, her eyes were wet, but she did not cry... she trembled, but she did not back down.

For the first time that she could remember, Nehelenia was baffled. All four Precure were hers, so who was this?

Yui Nanase stood up straight. "Let them go."

"You... you would oppose Us...?" Nehelenia's mouth fell open in abject astonishment.

"You're darn right," said Yui, clenching her fist. "Let them all go, or else."

It made no sense. Nehelenia felt the world spin out from underneath her... why in all the worlds would a mere, powerless human be insane enough to-

Yui hurled the rock, and scored a second cut on her cheek.

And that was enough to send Nehelenia into a frenzy... forget the Precure, she would first take this impudent wretch's dream, then tear her apart while her precious friends watched. "One! Two! Three!" The slab appeared behind her, the manacles locked into place, and-

And Yui Nanase didn't scream as her Dream Mirror was extracted. The only sound she made was a small yelp of shock as it emerged from her chest... but she bit down on her lip and held the rest in. Her teary eyes never left Nehelenia's for a moment.

"Yuiyui, no..." Twinkle could barely speak. Her body still sizzled with leftover sparks from Nehelenia's brutal attack, she smelled something burning... but damned if she was going to let this witch hurt anyone else. "T-Towa-chi... Minamin..." Though every small motion hurt, she pulled at the remaining manacles holding her to her slab. "Haruharu..." Her muscles cried out in agony, but the manacles wouldn't budge. She tried again.

This time, to her surprise, she fell forward onto the steps. Stunned by the impact, she blacked out for a few seconds...

When she came to, there was a lovely pair of ruby eyes staring at her with concern, set in a small face Twinkle had never seen before...

*****

Nehelenia hovered over her prey, blazing with fury. Blood trickled down her cheek from the shallow cuts the rocks had made, cooling in the night breeze. "You hurt us," she said, cold and merciless as death. "You disfigured our face..."

Yui gritted her teeth. "The P-Precure will do worse to you."

"For your transgression," hissed the Queen, "we shall not consume your dream. Rather, we think..." Here, she took hold of Yui's Dream Mirror. "We think you deserve to watch Us as we shatter your dream into pieces, bit by bit. Our Lemures shall then inhabit the withered husk that is left of you... and you shall watch from within it, helpless, as they drive you to commit every atrocity known to your kind. You shall suffer as no human has ever suffered-"

"Precure Meteor Humming!"

A flurry of golden shooting stars threw the Queen into silhouette, riddling her back and streaking under her outstretched arms to tear through Yui's slab. Yui began to fall... but before she could, she snatched her Dream Mirror back from Nehelenia's hand...

And the Queen watched in disbelief as the ordinary, unimportant human girl shoved her own Dream Mirror back inside herself, then didn't so much as stagger as she ran to her friends at the top of the stairs.

There Twinkle stood, pointing her Crystal Rod at her, half-dead but still on her feet. She held an unconscious Towa with her other arm... and next to her was a very small girl in a turquoise sundress, with long blonde hair and clear eyes like rubies. One look at her, and Nehelenia could tell that this one, at least, was no ordinary human...

The Queen rose to her full height. It didn't matter if one or two of them were free. The other two belonged to her Lemures now, and should the yellow one try to free them...

She moved to do so, but the little stranger stopped her, placing a small hand on her leg. Twinkle's face tensed in shock, as she looked past Nehelenia at something that wasn't there, something far away... Nehelenia heard the human girl called Yui ask if she was all right before the little stranger touched her too, and the same stricken expression crossed her face.

Whatever was happening, it stopped now. Nehelenia floated inches off the ground, swelling with power, and she threw a cascade of lightning at her adversaries...

It struck nothing but air. With impossible speed, the little stranger pushed the two Cures and their human into an ordinary wooden door that appeared out of nowhere between Flora and Mermaid's slabs, standing by itself... Once they were through, the door simply ceased to be.

Nehelenia was alone. In some respects, she had failed... but she had two more for the Merry-Go-Round, at least, and her Lemures would ensure they would march themselves onto it without a problem. A partial success was still a success. Tracing the threads of blood from her injured cheek, she vowed then and there to make it a complete one, someday.

Cure Twinkle. Yui. The both of you shall suffer for this...

-VERTEX THREE: 8.333882^7-

Nanairogaoka

Simultaneously

Frigid winds lashed the little town to the bone, keening through the streets and over silent houses. Those winds were the some of the only things in Nanairogaoka that still moved; almost everything else was still, frozen over in sheets of ice half a meter thick. That included the townspeople: workers, shoppers, salarymen, mothers and their children, even animals... all captured in the second that the inexplicable storm had hit them, wearing the exact same smiles they had a half an hour ago. It was more than inexplicable, it was impossible... blizzards couldn't freeze over entire towns in an instant, especially not in the middle of July...

In the center of the vast, monochrome wasteland of ice and snow, there were six colorful figures: five teenage girls known as Smile Precure and their fairy companion, trying to find the storm's center.

"It doesn't make any sense!" That was Cure March, Nao Midorikawa. In battle, March was tough and strong, and possessed blinding speed, but her greatest asset was her unfailing kindness and loyalty to her friends and family. Every group of friends had a "team mother", and March fit that description better than most. Her voluminous green ponytail and the two smaller sidetails that framed her face were blown straight back by the freezing wind. "Pierrot was destroyed, so this can't be a Bad End Space, can it?"

"It doesn't feel like one,"said the fairy that rode on her shoulder, a tiny, lamblike creature with long, fluffy ears tucked into spiral-shaped buns. "And it doesn't look like one, either... nobody's giving off Bad Energy, ~kuru!" Candy shivered and huddled tighter against March's neck, trying to take shelter within her poofy hair.

Miyuki Hoshizora, Cure Happy, rubbed her arms, which were studded with goosebumps. "L-l-let's just h-hurry and s-stop whatever it is," she said, her teeth chattering. Even the leader's boundless energy and optimism were dampened by this weather. That was a bad sign indeed... there was a noticeable droop to her enormous pink pigtails, and she moved far slower than her usual breakneck pace.

"Here, stand next to me and ya won't be as cold." Akane Hino, Cure Sunny, put an arm around her friend and hugged her close. If anyone should have been unaffected by the blizzard, it was Sunny, as hot-blooded and passionate as her name, powers, and orange uniform implied. "Feelin' any better?" At least her smile was as warm as ever, and there was something about her feisty Osakan accent that could lift even the darkest of spirits.

"Yeah," Happy smiled in return and huddled close. "Thanks."

Forging ahead at the front of the group was Reika Aoki, Cure Beauty. She was less bothered by the cold than any of the others; ice was her element, after all. However, even Beauty felt her strength being sapped from exposure... another sign that the storm wasn't natural, as if they needed one. The blue Cure lifted a hand to her brow and peered into the whorls of snowflakes, trying to make out their location. "It's hard to tell, but I think we must be close to the fountain at the center of town," she called back to the others, calm and unflappable. "Perhaps the storm is concentrated there?"

As if in reply, the yellow Cure bringing up the rear let out a loud, echoing sneeze. "S-sorry," said Yayoi Kise, Cure Peace, rubbing her nose and sniffling. "I'm w-with H-Happy," she said. "W-we need to hurry and s-stop this...!" Peace was smaller and more timid than the rest of her teammates, still prone to bursting into tears on occasion whenever she got too emotional. The love and support of the others kept her going, even in miserable situations like this one.

On they trudged, their footprints in the snow rapidly filling in behind them. In seconds, there was no sign they had ever been there at all.

At last, a shape loomed before them out of the white void... the town fountain, but it had changed. The entire structure lay trapped within ice crystals, a cluster of great frozen spikes that jutted out at threatening angles. The Cures squinted as they looked up into that cluster... then stared in disbelief. Sitting atop the ice was an enormous flower blossom, its petals closed tightly together, colored so deep violet they were almost black,

"Huh?" Sunny blinked. "What the heck's a flower doin' out in the middle of all this?!"

"I have a bad feeling about this, ~kuru," said Candy.

Fascinated, Beauty peered closer. "It doesn't look like any species I know of. It's much too large, and any normal flower would have withered in this weather... which means it must not be normal at all."

"S-s-so wh-what should we do?" said Peace over a fresh attack of shivers. "Sh-should we attack it?"

"Your call, Happy." March nodded at her friend.

Happy looked to each of her friends and Candy in turn. She nodded, and opened her mouth to speak...

At that precise moment, the storm died out all at once as if someone had flipped a switch. There was no more biting wind, and the only snow that fell drifted down on them in gentle flakes. Everything fell silent... too silent.

Happy clenched her fists. "Girls, get ready!"

Atop the frozen fountain, the bizarre flower's petals swirled open... and from inside-

"Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me..." said Sunny.

-from inside the blossom there came a shower of confetti, the sound of noisemakers, a burst of off-key calliope music sounding as if it were being played over a very old speaker, and...

"No..." Happy's insides seized up with cold that had nothing to do with the weather.

Joker. Their old enemy rose from the center of the blossom with his arms spread wide, a slasher's grin across his face, the black eyes of his mask wide and wild with glee. The harlequin spun in place, dancing in the colorful confetti scraps that fluttered down on him. "Surprise, mes amis!" he cackled. "The star of the show has returned for an encore performance! Please, please, hold your applause!"

On March's shoulder, their fairy companion began to shudder uncontrollably. "Y-you..." said Candy, gripping March's sidetail for dear life. "I-i-it's impossible... Y-y-y-you aren't supposed to be here! You d-d-d... destroyed yourself, and w-we d-destroyed P-P-Pierrot..."

March put a hand on her little friend's head to steady her. "Candy's right!" she said. "We defeated Pierrot, your Worst Ending, and your Bad End Kingdom-"

"Bad End Kingdom?" Joker blew air through his lips. "Please, mon cherie, that's so passé. I've set my sights on bigger and better things. Bad End is out..." His grin stretched so wide that it threatened to tear his face apart. "Dead End is in."

"'Dead End?'" Beauty took a cautious step back and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, dear, emphasis on dead," said Joker. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, hellish red lights burning in their centers. "As in, no more. Ceased to be. Expired, gone to meet its maker. A stiff, bereft of life, it rests in peace-"

"Oi!" Sunny raised a fist, which burst into flame. "Can the comedy act already! Whaddya want?!"

"Tsk." Joker waved a dismissive finger at her. "What a philistine, no appreciation for the classics. My dear Akane, if I wasted time telling you want I want, well, that would be less time to watch the show. I've something extra special prepared for all of you..." His gaze shifted onto Candy, who moaned and hugged March even tighter. "All six of you. I've had quite a lot of time to think about my mistakes, and this time... it's your Dead End, and I'm going to watch and savor every second of it."

Immediately, the Precure took ready stances, prepared for anything. Even Candy, terrified as she was, attempted to swallow her fear and hopped down from March's shoulder, raising her tiny arms.

"Candy?" said Peace, looking down at her.

Abruptly, Candy wasn't down anymore... a puff of white smoke, and a girl even smaller than Peace stood next to her, dressed all in white, with big blue eyes and twin hair buns that resembled Candy's ears. "I-I'm f-fighting alongside you this time, ~kuru," she said, her voice trembling but determined. "I never got a chance to pay Joker back for Mama before..."

"'Attagirl, Candy! That's the spirit!" Beaming with pride, Happy clapped her on the shoulder, seeming much more like her old self. "If the six of us are together, there's no way Joker can beat us!"

Sunny grinned. "Yeah, none of us got to give the bastard the poundin' he deserved... Count me in."

"And I as well," said Beauty.

"I'm going too!" Peace swallowed and took a ready stance.

"And me," finished March. "Happy, what's the plan?"

"Hit him with everything we've got until he stops moving!"

Sunny had to blink at that one. "... that's a plan?"

"It'll do! Let's go!"

From above, Joker watched them, barely containing laughter. "Oh, this is simply marvelous. I knew I made the right decision not telling you... you have no idea what's coming, do you?" He snapped his fingers...

In the distance, across the icy plain, a figure appeared out of thin air without a sound. Happy expected some kind of monster or demon... but that was not at all what it was. It was a figure shrouded in a black cloak, carrying some kind of ornate metal staff with a jewel at its crown... and from that jewel sprung a wicked, curving blade of blood red light. The cloaked figure rode atop a horse out of someone's nightmare: a sickly, skeletal thing with milky, blind eyes and an odd, off-white coat...

Happy heard Peace draw in a sharp breath next to her. "Peace? Yayoi-chan, what is it?"

Peace couldn't answer, her throat was too tight. She and her mother went to church. Not often, not since her father passed away, but often enough that she knew the verse: I saw a rider on a pale horse...

"Time Reaper," said Joker. "If you please..."

With a clatter of hooves, the horse took off at full gallop. Its rider held out the scythe to one side as it led its steed on, barreling straight for them...

"Everyone, dodge!" Happy tucked and rolled, and heard the others do the same. She heard and felt the air hiss as the scythe blade passed over her head, missing her by inches... Then, a crackle of energy, a pulse of power she could feel on her skin even through the frigid cold, and...

"Ghhh-"

-static-

The rider had extended its scythe's energy blade as it passed. It had curved outward and down in a wide arc... and buried itself in Candy's chest. She stood still, pale with shock and staring at nothing... the rider galloped on with its staff, but the burning scythe blade remained, having run her through...

Before the Cures could even call out her name, Candy's body faded to shades of grey and crumbled into dust.

Oh, how sweet it was. The screaming, the crying, the expressions of stupefied disbelief. Joker carved every sound and every one of their stricken faces into his memory. That damned fairy brat was at fault for everything. She saved the Precure from Pierrot's clutches when he had them dead to rights, she helped them unlock new power and turn the tide of countless battles... why, her presence was the reason these girls even became Precure in the first place. And now she was gone, deader than dead, and all that was left was to finish springing the trap and enjoy.

"Spectacular work, Reaper," he said to the cloaked figure that was now back at his side. The horse (which was an absolutely splendid touch, Joker thought), had disappeared into ether the moment the Reaper dismounted it.

The Time Reaper nodded and said nothing.

"Now, shall we proceed to the second act?"

The Time Reaper nodded and said nothing.

Joker smiled. "I like the way you think, mon ami!" He snapped his fingers...

Underneath the Cures' feet, the ice rumbled and heaved. Still sick with grief, they stumbled and lost their footing as five towering spires of ice crystals erupted from the frosty ground, all in a row behind Joker and the cloaked rider. Flowers blossomed from the tip of each spire, their petals parting to reveal five feminine, oddly beautiful figures, all of different colors. They almost looked like fairies out of one of Miyuki's beloved picture books, with dragonfly wings and feathery, moth-like antennae on their foreheads, but their eyes... there was something wrong about their eyes, all flat colors, vaguely insectoid...

"Precure," said Joker, spreading his arms, "please allow me to introduce the rest of the evening's entertainment. These fine ladies you see behind me are a group of very special Youma, who call themselves the DD Girls..."

Oh God, no. Not them... Heaven help them, it's all gone wrong...

"Mesdames," continued Joker to his troops, "these are the Precure: Happy, Sunny, Peace, March, and the one in blue is Beauty. There was one more, but she had to leave the show early. Rather rude of her, don't you think?"

"You..." Hot tears streamed down March's cheeks, tears she couldn't feel. Her shoulder was still warm. Candy had just been standing there a minute ago, but her warmth was already fading... "You murderer! How dare you-" She took a crouch, pulled her leg back, sprung into the air, and bellowed, "PRECURE MARCH SHOOT!" A whirling ball of condensed wind spun to life at the toe of her boot. With all her strength, she slammed her foot into it, sending it streaking right toward Joker's grinning face...

... and Joker wasn't there anymore, he was a meter to the right along with the cloaked rider. "Très impoli, Mademoiselle Nao... should you really be focusing on me? Haven't you more important people to worry about?"

"What do you-"

Then she heard a voice that stopped her cold. "Nao-onee-tan!"

Everything else dropped away. March fell back to the ice, looked past the fountain, and saw something that dropped an iron weight of cold dread in her stomach. Her youngest brother, Kouta, barely even three... He was tied to a post twenty meters away, red-faced, sobbing, scared out of his wits. "Nao-onee-tan," he cried, those big brown eyes pleading. "Nao-onee-tan...!"

March didn't think. She didn't hear the words of her teammates. Taking off at top speed, she ran for Kouta, her thoughts on an endless loop: Please be all right, please be all right, please be all right, please be all right...!

Less than a dozen steps from him, Kouta looked up at March, and smiled.

That wasn't Kouta's smile.

That wasn't Kouta's smile...

"K-Kouta...?" March skidded to a stop, and a heartbeat later, Kouta's chest exploded. A flurry of thick green vines shot from his small body, and there were more of them at her feet, erupting from beneath the ice. "No!" They wrapped tight around her before she could run, pinning her arms and squeezing her with horrible strength. She felt herself lifting off the ground... It was Joker's troops, the DD Girls, all five of them bursting up from below. The vines were their arms, carrying her into the sky...

Down below, the others screamed her name. Happy and Sunny grabbed their Smile Pacts from their hip pouches, gathered their energy...

"Precure Happy Shower..."

"Precure Sunny Fire..."

Moving as one, the Youma pulled close, surrounding March in a tight circle.

"Wait!" called Beauty, throwing out an arm. "You can't, you'll hit March too!"

"But-"

"D-don't...!" March groaned down at them, struggling in the Youmas' grip. Their vines crushed her bit by bit, she could hardly breathe... "S-save your energy, I can h-handle these things... M-my fault... nnngh... I got caught... Sh-should have known it... was a trap...! Get... Joker... for Candy...!" A crackling sound, and... and then agony, electric bolts racing through the DD Girls' vines and into her body...

"March!"

"NAO-CHAN!"

Pain, so much pain, sending her into spasms, lighting up every nerve with fire. But... whoever these monsters called Youma were, they had made a critical error. March smirked... "You've got s-some n-nerve... g-g-getting this close..."

Panic flashed through two of their faces. One of them spoke, the purple one, perhaps aware that something was amiss: "What...?" The others bore down, squeezing March harder, pouring more electricity into her...

Darkness infringed on March's vision, a growing numbness spread through her limbs, but she could still move one leg... and she had just enough power to- "PRECURE MARCH SHOOT... IMPACT!" And March became a living tornado, pirouetting in place at blinding speed. Three of the DD Girls let go and peeled off... the two others weren't so lucky. March spun, wrapping their vines around herself like a spool of yarn being threaded, pulling the two Youma in even closer. March's leg lashed out, shredded through them both like they were made of paper, and-

And the creatures exploded with a titanic roar. A shockwave, a tide of loose snow, and a blast of searing heat washed over the four Cures down below, a geyser of melted ice water sprung up from the point of impact, and there was an oddly musical sound as the water immediately hardened again...

Happy picked herself up, blinking snow out of her eyes, her ears ringing. "M-March...?"

Silence. Another frozen spire now stood where March had been, enormous spikes of ice jutting at random from its sides, their edges sharp and deadly. What little remained of the two DD Girls was trapped inside... and higher above them...

Something constricted Beauty's heart, as if it were caught in a vise. "March!"

They ran, all calling her name, rushing to the base of the spire. Happy clambered onto one of the ice spikes, slipped and nearly fell, then regained her grip. "March, hold on!"

March was half-frozen, suspended upside-down inside the tallest spike. One look at her battered body confirmed that something was wrong, very wrong. Her eyelids fluttered... "E-everyone..."

"MARCH!"

"NAO-CHAN!"

"Happy, stay back, you'll cut yourself wide open on those things!"

"I don't care! Nao-chan, we're coming!"

March chuckled, a sad, weak sound. "S-sorry... th-that was dumb... D-don't think... I'll be coming... with you... "

"Don't say that!" Peace gripped Sunny's shoulder so hard she almost broke it, her tears throwing off sparks. "Sunny, you can melt the ice, right? Sunny!"

Sunny was lost for words, unable to move. This couldn't be happening, couldn't be real. "Nao-chan...?"

Somehow, Happy had found a grip on a few of the jutting spikes, and was now mere feet away from March. "Nao-chan, just hold on, please hold on, don't-"

Beauty reached for her to pull her back. "Happy-"

"Get... Joker..." whispered March with a gentle smile. "Give him... one for me... and one for Candy. Keep f-fighting... and don't..."

Then silence, save for musical cracking of the ice...

"Nao..."

"NAO!"

"Nao-chan!"

"NAO-CHAAAAAN!"

The freezing wind began to blow once more, moaning a dirge.

It took everything Sunny and Beauty had to keep their teammates from running back to the spire. Desperate, not thinking straight, they kept fighting, trying to return to Nao, when it-

No, thought Beauty. It's not too late. It can't be. Her mouth was a thin, hard line. A strange, terrible calm had descended on her, not at all like the usual kind. This calm was as cold as the bitter air, a feeling of detachment from herself. Detachment, but also perfect clarity: This can't be for nothing. I will not let it be for nothing. Keeping an arm around poor Happy for support, she strode forward, her fine senses on high alert. Where are you?

No matter how far they walked, they never seemed to reach the edge of the fountain square. That didn't make sense; the square wasn't big enough to get lost in, even when buried under a meter of ice. Which led Beauty to one conclusion: they were being fooled. The endless wasteland was an illusion, perhaps the same kind of illusion that fooled March.

Where are you?

"Beauty?" said Sunny, who had a tight grip on a despondent Peace's wrist. "What's up?" She sounded so tired, not like her at all.

"I'm trying to find a way out," said Beauty. "I think there may be-"

She didn't see it, but she felt it: they were close. They were waiting.

"Sunny?" Her voice was even. "Stay here with Happy and Peace for a moment, please."

"What are you gonna-"

"No!" Before Sunny could finish, Happy whirled on her, her eyes red-rimmed from crying. Her fingers dug in as she seized Beauty's shoulders. "Reika-chan, y-y-you can't, we've got to s-stick together!"

"I know." Beauty laid a gentle hand on her cheek. "I know. But if someone doesn't cut off the source of the illusions, we'll never get out of here..."

"No." Happy shook her head so fast that her pigtails made a half-circle behind her. "No, no, no, no, no..."

Peace sobbed once, too tired for a full-on cry. There were now soft, intermittent sizzle-pop sounds from her direction... her tears were losing their charges.

"I'm with Happy." Sunny crossed her arms and gave a fierce glare. "There's no way we're lettin' you go alone."

"Please understand," Beauty's tone stayed even. "We are all very tired, and two of you are in no condition to battle right now. Sunny, if you come with me, there will be no one to protect the others if Joker's troops try to attack."

"Then I'll go by myself."

"No," said Beauty. "You won't know what to look for. I have an idea, but-"

"Then screw it!" At that, Sunny stamped her foot... a cloud of steam sprung up from beneath her as flames licked over the ice. "We all leave together, and come back when we're stronger!"

"Sunny-"

"I ain't gonna stand here and-"

Smack.

Happy and Peace looked up in total astonishment at the sharp sound of flesh striking flesh, even forgetting to cry for a moment.

Beauty, of all people, had lost her temper. Cool, serene, eternally patient Reika Aoki had just left a glowing handprint on Sunny's cheek. The entire world seemed to tilt out of balance...

"I'm sorry," said Beauty. "I'm sorry, Akane-chan." A warm smile, that good old Reika smile. "When I destroy the source of the illusions, the rest of you should be back in the square. That's when we'll need your power to melt the ice in town, and save as many people as we can. I will follow right behind you as soon as I finish."

The two teammates' eyes met, an entire conversation happening between them without words...

Finally, Sunny spoke, her voice husky. "Yeah, I got ya. Hot-blooded power, right? Ya'd all be outta luck without me." She reached out and gave Beauty a gentle punch to the shoulder. "Go. Don't ya dare be late."

"R-Reika-chan..."

"Please, don't-"

"Miyuki-chan, Yayoi-chan, don't worry. I will be right behind you, I promise." She gave each of them that warm smile, then turned and ran... but not before she caught one more glimpse of Sunny's eyes.

Sunny's eyes said something to her clear as day, something that the orange Cure didn't dare say aloud in front of the others: Liar.

In only a few steps, she lost all sign of the others. That was enough confirmation for her illusion theory. Now she simply had to wait...

It wasn't long until she made out the shape of a human body in the mist before her. Before it had even finished resolving, she knew who it would be... Junnosuke, her beloved older brother. His body hung from a chain, still and unmoving.

"Onii-sama," Beauty whispered. Her heart stung, but she wouldn't be fooled. She knew this game. The picture of calm, she took a deep breath, channeling her energy before she intoned: "Precure... Beauty Blizzard Arrow."

At her command, the bow and shaft materialized, forming from ice crystals facet by facet. Beauty wasn't about to walk right into their trap... she would let them come to her. With practiced skill, she gripped the end of the shaft and pulled back on the bowstring, and let fly...

The false Junnosuke looked up at the whistling sound. His eyes flashed a foreign red color, Beauty heard "him" cry out in an unfamiliar voice before the arrow buried itself in his forehead. A sharp crack accompanied his scream... and in a blink, he wasn't Junnosuke anymore, he was the lead DD Girl, the blue one with the crown...

"You bitch...!" The Youma's language was perfectly audible even from a hundred paces away as she clawed away the frozen shaft. "I'll kill you, you filthy sow!"

Beauty's nose wrinkled. "How distasteful. You should remember your manners." Dismissing the bow, she took a balletic flying leap forward... and icy blades formed on each of her boots before she touched back down to the frozen ground. Arcs of powder and frost sluiced to either side of her as she sped forward, another weapon forming in her hand...

The blue Youma's... teammates? Siblings?... split off from behind her and took to the sky, but the leader had no intention of fleeing. Splitting her arm into vines, she shrieked and cast them at the oncoming Cure, she would skewer her like a pig...

It was like trying to hit a shadow. Beauty ducked and weaved out of the way of each vine with the grace of a champion, shooting past the Youma and circling around for another pass. More vines, fireballs, and bolts of electricity rained down from the two in the air... their shots were wild, haphazard, but growing closer. Blue's vines ripped through the ice close behind her, denying her the smooth surface she needed, but it didn't matter; she wouldn't need another pass. The weapon was complete, a rough, crystalline, frozen sword... Beauty crouched low and poured on all speed, launching herself like one of her own arrows, directly at Blue... Vines shot by on all sides, drawing blood even with grazing hits, tearing through her Cure uniform, but she was so close, couldn't back off now... only one chance... Blue roared, there was no fear in those blank eyes, and-

"GYAAAAA...!" The roar became a scream, which petered out into silence. The blue DD Girl slumped to her knees, the blade embedded inches deep in her skull, having plunged straight through her crown. Before she hit the ground, her body swelled, her teammates scattered...

... and Beauty was thrown off her blades by the explosion that followed, crashing painfully to the ice. The pain was worth it, it worked... Cringing, she pushed herself upright. No time to rest, no time to lick her wounds. There was a promise she intended to keep. With a considerable amount of effort, she rose to her feet, and took a few unsteady steps back in the direction she came-

Something thin and cold and hard plunged into her back, through her body and out of her chest. Beauty's pupils shrank to pinpricks. "What-"

"Well, that didn't go at all as planned," groused a sardonic voice behind her. "Exciting, yes, but far off script. I don't take kindly to performers improvising, Mademoiselle Reika."

"Jo... ker..." There was a rapier blade running her through, but there was no blood. The pain and shock now began reach her brain, yet there wasn't any blood, why wasn't there blood...?

Dimly, she felt the harlequin's hand run through her hair and brush over the curve of her ear. "Really, you're supposed to be the smart one, yet you didn't see that coming? Perhaps it would have helped to have a pair of high-tech goggles, or a fancy little computer, non?"

"What... do you want?" Beauty groaned. Every iota of her willpower, she poured into resisting the urge to go limp and let the dark claim her.

"The end, in the long term," hissed Joker. "But for now... well, let's just say that you in particular have humiliated me once too often, Mademoiselle. And now you've derailed this production enough that I'm personally stepping in to cut your scene short~."

"N-" A hideous tearing sensation, and something bright appeared at the point of Joker's blade. Something so impossibly bright, it hurt to look at it... Beauty was about to reach out and touch it when the rapier pulled out, and she fell. She fell for what felt like years, without ever touching the cold, frozen ground...

Moaning, Peace sank to the ice, her legs splayed awkwardly underneath her. "C-can't," she sobbed. "Can't... run... anymore..."

"Whaddya mean, ya can't?" Sunny whirled on her, eyes blazing. "Come on, you ran that baton race in school, didn't ya? This is nothin'!"

Happy came to Peace's side put a hand on her shaking shoulder. Out of stubbornness more than anything else, she attempted to smile, because her strength was what the others needed right now... but there was no disguising that the spirited twinkle in the pink Cure's eyes was all but gone. "Come on, it won't be much farther. Any minute now, Beauty's going to find whatever's causing the illusions and destroy it."

"B-but C-Candy... and Nao-chan... th-they're already-"

"We'll get them back, I swear." A hollow promise, one that she had no idea how to keep, or even if it could be kept, but if it got them out of this... Ahead, she saw Sunny open her mouth to argue, but a pleading look stopped her.

Far in the distance, the three Cures heard an inhuman scream, one that made Peace cringe and cover her ears. As the sound faded, the endless flat wasteland of ice shimmered like a heat mirage and faded into the familiar surroundings of Nanairogaoka... still frozen over, but it was really their home. Which meant only one thing...

"You see?" The first genuine smile in what felt like hours spread across Happy's face. "Look, Peace, we're back in town! Beauty did it! She did it!"

Daring to hope, Peace lifted her head. "R... Reika-chan?"

Even Sunny seemed to regain her passion. "Awright, that's what I'm talkin' about! Way ta go, Beauty! Sorry I doubted ya, Happy, you were right!"

Happy nodded, sniffled, and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's okay. All we have to do now is wait for Beauty to come back. It sounds like she took out another one of those Youma things, so-"

"So now it's four on two," Sunny finished, pounding a fist into her palm. "Great. I gotta score to settle with them."

"It's... it's gonna be okay," said Peace in a quiet voice, looking off in the direction Beauty had gone. "When Reika-chan comes back, it's gonna be okay..."

They waited. And waited. And waited.

No Beauty.

"She..." There was a growing blankness to Peace's expression, an indication that she teetered on the edge of a full breakdown... "M-m-maybe she's hurt. That must be it, right? She's hurt. We should go h-help her..."

Sunny bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood even in her Cure form.

"I mean..." Peace turned back to look at them, pale and trembling. "Th-that's the only reason she w-wouldn't be here, r-right? She won. She should be here. Why isn't she?"

How could Happy respond? How could she say anything, knowing the likely answer to that question, and how close Peace was to her limit? She shook in place, her fists clenched tight, willing herself not to cry anymore. "Peace..."

"No," said Peace. Everything about her seemed to... to deflate, even her huge, fan-shaped ponytail. She stared listlessly at the ice beneath her, too numb to move. "No. Not Reika-chan too, no. No..."

That was when Happy saw it: a glowing, spreading light in the ice, in a perfect circle directly beneath where Peace knelt. Red at first, then orange, then yellow, then white...

She didn't think. Happy hurled herself at Peace, shoving her out of the way... an instant before the vines melted through the street and the ice covering it. The breath was forced from her lungs as they seized her, hot iron bands constricted her waist...

Sunny was up at once, hurling handfuls of fire at the base of the vines. A moment later and Peace followed, throwing lightning with everything she had left, screaming for them to leave her alone. Pride for her teammates swelled in Happy's heart, briefly dulling the pain shooting up and down her spine... they could do it, all they needed was-

The vines yanked downward all at once, and Cure Happy vanished into the gaping, melted hole in the street.

"DAMMIT! Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!" Switching from individual volleys to a constant stream, Sunny scoured the tunnel with flames. The rocky walls glowed cherry red down into the dark... it had to work, they couldn't lose Happy too...

They heard her screaming moments later. From deep down came flashes of burning light...

That was when Peace collapsed, wailing in helpless despair, her hands pressed to her ears and her eyes screwed shut in a desperate attempt to block out reality.

"Dammit..." It was all Sunny could do to keep from joining her in her misery. Her fist slammed the ice, spreading a network of cracks through it. "This... this isn't fair..."

More flashes, more screaming. A yell of surprise from one of the Youma. Happy's voice welled up from somewhere in the tunnel: "H-HAPPY SHOWER... SH-SHINING...!"

The tunnel walls lit up brighter than ever with a blinding pink glow, and one of the Youma managed a howl that was quickly silenced. The thoom of a faraway explosion rumbled through the ground beneath them... then nothing. No more light, no more voices.

Happy was gone. Only the wind was with them now, blowing that mournful dirge...

"Yayoi-chan," said Sunny after a long time. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

Peace had no answer, save for a dry sob. There wasn't even a flicker of voltage to her tears now... she was all out. Spent. Useless.

"This... this shouldn't have happened." Sunny beat the ice again, cratering it. "Things like this... they just don't happen. It's not-"

"Yes they do." She spoke in barely a whisper.

"Peace?"

The yellow Cure stared off into space, old memories resurfacing. Sad memories... but with all the grief and misery she had already felt today, sad memories hardly hurt as much. "I've seen this before," she said. "I've seen it before."

Sunny blinked. "Seen what?"

"This." Slowly, Peace took in the frozen fountain square, as if seeing it for the first time. "All of this. The ice. The Youma... the DD Girls. I've seen them before... I've seen this happen..."

Part of Sunny felt a horrible suspicion that Peace had finally snapped from the strain. Yet she sounded so sure of herself... She knelt next to Peace and put her hands on her shoulders. "Where? Where did you see it?"

"You..." Peace frowned, and it was so like that silly little Yayoi pout that Sunny felt the inexplicable urge to laugh. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But I saw this when I was little... with Papa. I remember being so scared... it was scarier than anything I'd ever seen, but he told me it would be all right in the end..."

"Well, was it? Did it turn out? C'mon, if ya know what's happening, gimme details!"

Peace turned her stare on Sunny. Fear lurched in her belly, gnawing at her insides... "Oh no."

"Whaddya mean?" said Sunny through gritted teeth. "Spill, already!"

"It's..." Now Peace began trembling again. It should have been impossible to be more frightened than she was already, but... "It's almost the same, but n-not quite... they... they took Candy first, th-that didn't happen... but th-then it was March, who got tricked by an illusion. Th-then Beauty, she went off b-by herself, then... then H-Happy p-pushed me out of the way, b-but... but I should have pushed her... I'm not the l-leader, I'm Venus, it sh-should have been me, n-not Happy!"

"Peace, you're not makin' any sense!" Sunny shook her, but gently. "Please, ya gotta hold it together!"

".. b-but if y-you're Mars..." Peace's hands gripped Sunny's tight. "... th-that means... you're next..."

That, at least, registered to Sunny. She stood, and turned around...

Ten meters away, the last remaining Youma hovered, charred, singed, and smoking, but alive. Waiting for her.

It's all gone wrong...

"Peace," she said quietly. "I dunno what's goin' on, but-"

"No. Sunny, no, you can't! I'm not the leader, I'm not strong enough to-"

"'Course you are. You're a crybaby, but you're plenty strong. You took out Akaoni all by yourself that one time, remember?" Sunny's eyes fell into shadow. "It's all wrong. It's all messed up. But you're sayin' you know what's happening, and that it's gonna be all right in the end... so I believe ya."

"Please, Sunny, let's just run! We'll get help... w-we'll get help from Märchenland or somewhere..."

"Yeah, ya will. I know ya can. Go to Märchenland and get help from anybody ya find there. I'll cover ya."

"Sunny, no, please don't leave me alone!"

"Hey." Sunny wrapped her arms around Peace and tousled her hair. "Don't worry. I'll be back before ya know it. 'The brilliant sun, hot-blooded power', remember? That's me. This bitch don't stand a chance."

Peace tried to cry, but more tears simply wouldn't come. It was as if she had already lost Sunny. "A-A-A-Akane-chan..."

Releasing her, Sunny lightly punched her in the shoulder. Her eyes were still hidden, but Peace saw a glistening trail run down one cheek. "See ya around, crybaby."

"Akane-" Peace couldn't move. All her strength had left her.

So she watched as Sunny rotated her arm, cracked her knuckles, and approached the final DD Girl, solemn and silent, not at all her usual boisterous self...

She watched as the Youma dove into the ground in a blur of motion...

She watched as the ice rose up and split open like the mouth of a giant beneath Sunny's feet, swallowed her whole, and slammed shut, collapsing into a shapeless tomb...

And she watched, numb to all feeling, knowing what would happen next, as the tomb lit from within with fire, one long stream bursting from its side before subsiding. There was that horrible Youma scream again, and what sounded like Sunny's laugh...

A muffled explosion, and silence.

Peace was alone... completely alone... "Miyuki-chan," she whispered. "Akane-chan. Nao-chan. Reika-chan. Candy..." She was about to break... she was about to break, and she couldn't stop it...

Someone tugged on her skirt.

At any other time, Peace would have shrieked and let off a few hundred volts. Now, all she could do was look down, perplexed...

Next to her stood a very small girl, no more than five years old, with long blonde hair and eyes like rubies. The little stranger looked up at Peace with an expression of deep sorrow and shared grief, and reached for her hand.

"Who-" Peace started, then shook her head. It didn't really matter. Whoever this was, however she got here, it didn't matter. If the poor thing wanted to hold hands, let her.

Tiny fingers closed around hers, and Peace saw... a dizzying whirl of images, sounds, and feelings, a sorrow that surpassed her own... and a light, a single light lancing out into infinite darkness. Overwhelmed, she stumbled back and fell on her rump. "Who are you?" she asked the little stranger, looking right into those beautiful ruby eyes...

"Aha, it's about time," said a voice that made Peace's skin crawl. "I was wondering when you'd bother to show up, petit."

No strength, no power, no help. Peace did the only thing she could: she gathered the little stranger into her arms to shield her from Joker with her body. Closing her eyes tight, she whispered to her as she awaited the killing blow. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It'll be over soon, I'm sorry..."

"Over?" said Joker, floating down and taking a seat on Sunny's tomb. "Why, Mademoiselle Yayoi, you of all people should know... it's never over." The harlequin's tone rang with surprising bitterness. "It just goes on and on and on and on, never stopping... don't you get sick of it?"

She wouldn't answer. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Really, you should be thanking me. It's high time someone had to vision to bring it all to a close," said Joker. "I hope you enjoyed the effort I put into this scene, by the way. I did make it especially for you, as I knew you'd appreciate the reference~."

"You-" Only now did Peace turn around, staring into the pitiless black eyes in Joker's mask with as much venom as she could muster. She had seen all this before, and Joker had... had deliberately recreated it, as some kind of sick game... "You k-k-killed my friends...!"

"'Killed?'" Joker's mouth fell open in mock shock. "Moi? Mademoiselle, you wound me. Why would I kill such valuable talent? Well, yes, I did have the Time Reaper kill the fairy brat, but the rest..."

All of Peace's muscles seized at once. It was a lie, it had to be...

"Didn't you know, Mademoiselle? Precure are hardy little things, very tough to kill." He examined his claws. "I should know, for all the times I've tried."

Conflicting emotions spun through Peace's mind, just as the images and sounds and feelings had at the little stranger's touch. If there was even a chance that Joker was telling the truth... She stood up and faced her enemy, clenching her fists. "My friends," she said, her voice quivering. "Where are they? What did you do to them?"

"Hmm? Oh, they're right here," Joker drawled, spreading his fingers. On the tip of each one, there hovered a tiny, impossibly bright light, so intense that they hurt to look at...

Peace's eyes watered as she stared at the lights without comprehension. "What-"

"Here's Nao," said Joker, and the light on his index finger glowed green. "And here's Reika..." A blue light from the next one. "Then Miyuki, and last is Akane." The final two shone pink and orange, respectively. "They're all here. I took their Seeds, what makes them them, do you understand?"

It wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible. But as Peace stared at those lights... she felt something from each one: the comfort of Nao's loyalty, Reika's elegant grace, Miyuki's shining, unconquerable optimism, and Akane's fiery passion... "Put them back," she whispered. Then, louder: "Put them back! Give me back my friends!"

Joker titled forward, cocking his head. "Are you sure you want that, Mademoiselle?"

Hot, boiling rage spilled over in Peace's heart. "I said, put them BACK!"

"You need only ask~!" With his free hand, Joker snapped his fingers.

Each of the four lights... changed. They dimmed, sputtered, went out... and turned deeper and darker than anything should be. Four pieces of... of nothing, of cold and darkness and void, drawing in all light around them. Like black shooting stars, they rocketed to the tomb, the tunnel, and in opposite directions to the horizon... Peace heard four claps of muffled thunder, and-

And four streaks of violet light painted the air at Joker's sides. Out of them walked Happy, Sunny, March, and Beauty... but wrong. Twisted mirrors of their true selves, they wore form-fitting bodysuits, jet black save for skirts and diamond patterns in their respective colors. On each one's head was a jewel that sprouted black bat wings, like a perverse crown.

Happy opened her eyes... blank, with no light, no pupils... She stared at Peace and giggled, the sound high and shrill, tinged with cruelty. "Hey look," she said, "It's Yayoi-chan! Hi~!"

No. Peace's blood turned cold as the ice that surrounded her. No, it's got to be a trick.

The little stranger tugged on her skirt again, but she couldn't move.

Sunny's hands lit with violet flames. "Can I burn her? I kinda wanna burn her."

"Such an ugly thing," said Beauty, her lips curling into a sneer. "She would hardly look worse burnt, I think."

"Someone so weak deserves more," March turned her head in disgust. "That's too quick for her. We'll make her end slow, and you can burn her corpse later if you want."

There was that shrill giggle again. "Hear that, Yayoi-chan? Sounds like killing you would make all of us ultra-happy~!" Happy's face split into a terrifying smile, almost like Joker's...

"What did you do?" Pale with shock, Peace took a step back, then another. "What... what did you do to them? Those aren't-"

"They are," said Joker, pulling Happy close and chucking her chin, prompting another giggle. "New and improved, better than ever! I gave your friends' parts a few rewrites, you see, because some people keep trying to revise the script without my permission." His cheerful manner slipped only for a moment as he shot a withering glare at the little stranger. "It wasn't really fair, last time... My Bad End Precure had so much potential, and you just poof!" He waved a hand. "Did away with them, just like that. A brilliant idea that was shot down in its prime. But a new cast and some editing have done wonders, n'est pas?"

Peace was beyond speech, beyond thought. Until now, nothing could have ever convinced her that Joker could get any worse, any more cruel... but this...

The little stranger's hand seized hers. She tugged on her arm, dragging her backwards... to a single door, an ordinary door, standing by itself in the middle of the square... Peace followed, too horrified to put up any resistance. Miyuki-chan. Akane-chan. Nao-chan. Reika-chan. And Candy... they're all... gone...

Joker spoke... not to Peace, but to the little stranger. All the twisted humor left his voice, and the lights in his eyes burned red and dark as the fires of hell. "Consider this a warning, petit, to you and to whoever sent you... I know they were watching this part of the show. Keep sticking your noses into my production, and the next time you cross me... all the suffering I've caused to this girl will look like La Cage Aux Folles compared to what I do next. Comprendez vous?"

There was no answer. The little stranger pushed Peace through the door, and they were gone...

Joker sighed. "Très impoli. Girls, if you could finish tidying up here, please," he said to his new pets. "I need to check up on a few things backstage."

The new Bad End Precure bowed to him, and he vanished in a streak of violet.

Elsewhere

Cure White, Honoka Yukishiro, drew in a long, shuddering breath. It felt as if she hadn't taken one in ages...

There was something pressed tight over her eyes, something warm, wet and unpleasant. She moved to peel it away, but her limbs were locked in place. Flexing accomplished nothing... her arms and legs wouldn't budge, even when she applied all her strength.

"Careful now, Mademoiselle," said a sardonic voice. "If you do that, you could tear something."

"Who-?" Honoka searched for the direction of the voice. "Wh-where am I? Where's Nagisa? What have you done with-"

A dismissive noise. "Doubtless, she's off galavanting around space and time with the worlds' most annoying bit player, but you'll meet up with her again soon enough, I think."

Anger rose in Honoka's breast as she struggled. "Mipple... Mipple, are you there? Speak to me!"

No answer.

"Oh, that thing," said the voice. "She's right where you left her, but I don't expect her to wake up anytime soon. Merciful, that. Doesn't that voice of hers grate on you after a while, Mademoiselle?"

"You...!" Honoka lurched, straining her arms harder than ever... and then howled in agony. It was like someone had torn off a section of her skin, and poured vinegar on the wound...

"I did warn you," said the voice. "Mon dieu, you'd think that somewhere among all the dozens of you Precure, there would be a good listener..."

It took a moment for the pain to recede enough for those words to register. "D... Dozens...? You're... you're wrong, there's only me and Black... and Luminous..." She shivered. Would she ever see poor Hikari again?

"At first, yes." The voice grew bitter. "I was actually interested to meet you, Cure White... you being one of the ones that started this whole Precure... thing. I suppose that makes this somewhat your fault, doesn't it?"

"Started..." Honoka wrinkled her brow. "I don't understand."

The voice sighed, and peeled the warm, wet thing away. When Honoka's eyes adjusted to the light, she found herself in... in some kind of luxurious palace, vaguely Greek-inspired, judging by all the columns, but at the same time unlike anything she had ever seen on Earth or in the various fairy worlds. The marble pillars had an otherworldly shimmer to them...

"I suppose I should introduce myself," said the colorful masked harlequin standing before her, holding some strange device attached to a wire. "I am Joker, the commander of Dead End. Enchanté."

Dead End... Joker... the words sparked Honoka's memory. "You sent those girls!"

"The Souju twins? Yes," said Joker, tossing the device away. "They were supposed to bring both of you, but... ah well. The other one's learning her lesson."

"What do you-"

"Do stop interrupting me with questions, would you? Thank you. As I was saying: you and Mademoiselle Black were the first, and from there sprouted an endless string of other worlds, all filled with different Precure..."

-static-

There was something... familiar. Something true to the harlequin's words. Fragments of memories raced through Honoka's mind, unconnected to anything. She... she knew of other Precure, but she couldn't quite remember... how was that possible?

"Yes," Joker continued, sounding bored, "so now there's dozens of you people in a staggering number of different worlds, and quite frankly it's getting out of hand. So I'm doing my best to rectify the situation and, ah, trim the cast a bit. Hence... the Merry-Go-Round."

Something made Honoka look up.

The sight froze her breath within her. Above her and around her, a tower, stretching upwards and out of her sight... a monstrous tower, made of metal and flesh so closely intertwined that it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. Glowing wires and cables mingled with pulsing arteries and veins, metal plating joined seamlessly with bone. And entombed throughout its structure were people... dozens if not hundreds of young girls in colorful costumes, vaguely familiar... Each of them didn't seem to be shackled to the tower so much as grafted to it, networks of wires and sinews threading through their limbs to keep them in place. Each one had some kind of horrible spidery thing attached over their eyes, a thick cable/vein sprouting out the back of it... and to Honoka's disgust, each girl was alive, moving, moaning quietly... She even made out Luca Souju among the bodies. Joker had put one of his own people in this thing...

"What..." she whispered. "What... have you done... what is this?!"

A wistful sigh came from Joker as he looked upon the abomination with sick reverence. "My Merry-Go-Round. A towering achievement, if you'll excuse the awful pun. It's not turned on at the moment... I still need the Will to regenerate before we can do that... but when it's working... well. This whole farce will finally end in a way that's to my liking."

Appalled, Honoka stared him right in the black, empty eyes. "You're insane," she said. "You're insane, and you'll never win. Nagisa won't stop until she finds me, and-"

"Yes, yes," Joker waved a dismissive claw at her. "Mon dieu. You all even talk the same. I'm well aware that Mademoiselle Black will come looking for you... in fact, I'm counting on it. You and I are going to welcome her when she gets here."

"I'll never-"

And Joker's hand plunged into her, digging around inside her body... Honoka moaned, but with all her will she denied him, she fought against him... she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of screaming.

"You are a stubborn one, aren't you, Mademoiselle White?" said Joker, giving the girl's Cosmos Seed a slow, agonizing twist. "How about we make this more interesting, non?"

Beads of sweat broke out on Honoka's brow as she gritted her teeth. She wouldn't scream, she wouldn't-

"Take a look," said Joker. He opened his eyes as wide as possible, pools of bottomless, perfect black... and within that blackness, there was something darker still...

What Honoka Yukishiro saw tore a scream from deep inside her. She screamed in endless terror, for hours and hours on end...

END OF CHAPTER 12

NEXT:

THE 🌙RETURN