Chapter 50: In His Stride

Crossroads

The Lighthouse

Sitting and waiting for things to happen is hard for all but the most patient and disciplined of people. When some of the Morning Lights were out on missions and others stayed behind, all the latter group could do was find ways to pass the time until they received word.

Some of the Lights handled these waiting periods better than others. Homura Akemi sat at the ring-shaped crystal table in the middle of the Crossroads, staring resolutely straight ahead with her hands knit together in her lap. Her expression was neutral, her back was straight as a flagpole, and were it not for her deigning to blink occasionally, one might think that someone had placed an uncannily realistic doll in one of the chairs.

On the other side of the ring, Meilin Li waited with her headset at the ready and a holotablet close at hand, listening intently for the first word from Strike Team Tiger. She and Homura shared a similar determination to be there when the team called in, but that was about all they shared. Not for nothing was Meilin on the opposite side from her; she was quite content to do her duty and leave Homura well enough alone.

Not all of the Lights shared Homura and Meilin's commitment to wait in perfect silence, however. Only a few meters away, near the portal to Vertex Four, a heated match was in progress. Four young women sat around an Immaterial card table a few meters away. Two faced each other, and the other two watched them from the side in varying states of distress. There was also a white cat sitting atop one corner of the table, his interest primarily on the game... but he was also quite aware of his designated duty to step in should things get truly out of hand.

Surprisingly, it was Usagi Tsukino who suggested poker. "I've always wanted to learn it," she had said to her flabbergasted friends when she posed the idea. After repeatedly confirming that yes, she was serious, Minako Aino and Rei Hino agreed to teach her the ropes. Usagi was utterly hopeless at first, but after a few dozen losing games she had gained enough skill to hold her own some of the time. No one was betting actual money, of course... fortunate, for a number of reasons.

Making a drinking game out of their matches was not Usagi's idea. That came later, once Michiru joined in. It was Michiru Kaioh who suggested this rather unusual method of "making things a bit more exciting", and it was because of that suggestion that Artemis felt the need to supervise them. They were of course all of legal age and he trusted them implicitly, but, he told them, there were some things for which one really needed a sober adult in the room.

Usagi and Rei were out, having folded their final hands of the game. Their champagne glasses stood dry save for a few lingering drops. Rei had a slight tinge of color to her cheeks, but she still watched the game with rapt attention, totally enthralled. By contrast, Usagi wobbled in her seat, her cheeks and nose tomato-red. No one was quite sure how this was the case, given that she'd only drunk at most an eighth of a glass.

Minako had her cards fanned out before her face and her elbows on the table. Her expression was a veneer of calm over an intensely focused core. Her cheeks were warm, a slightly darker shade of pink than Rei's, but she felt solid as a rock. She was just the right amount of drunk: buzzed enough to loosen her nerves, but clear-headed enough to stay focused. When she put her mind to it, she discovered, she had quite a knack for card games... or at least that was what she thought before Michiru started playing with them.

Wearing the same serene and faintly mischievous smile that she always did, Michiru sat across from her, radiant in her serenity. The enormous piles of poker chips that surrounded her would be evidence enough of her skill to an outside observer. What was truly worrying was that she had finished an entire bottle of vintage—replicated vintage—Dom Perignon Reserve de L'Abbaye and was halfway through a second, and not only was she still winning, but she displayed not even the slightest sign of drunkenness: no rosy cheeks, no swaying, not even a hint of slurred speech. Not so much as a single refined, classy hiccup.

That was the suggestion Michiru made: the winner of each hand would take a sip of champagne. A full glass for each game won. "A handicap," she called it. "The more one wins, the more one drinks. And the more one drinks, the harder it becomes to maintain their advantage." She had conveniently neglected to mention that she was apparently just as good at holding her liquor as she was at playing cards.

Usagi swayed dangerously to one side. "... duzzen't make sense," she mumbled. Usagi had won three hands early on, out of sheer dumb luck. "Sometimes it's 'Moon Tiara Action', an' sometimes it's 'Moon Tiara Boomerang'. Sometimes it's 'Moon Tiara Magic'. An' at least once it was 'Moon Frisbee'..."

"Usagi-chan, quiet," Rei shushed at her. "I'm trying to focus on the game."

"... an' that one time! 'Super Moon Super...' Wait. 'Moon Super Moon Target!' Whuwazz that about?!"

"Quiet!"

Artemis placed a paw on the crook of Minako's elbow. "Mina? You okay? You, uh, aren't blinking much."

"[Shh!]" Minako snapped through her AMP. "[This time she's mine. I know I can do it.]"

Heaving a sigh, Artemis settled back down, tucking his paws underneath himself. "Famous last words. You could just fold now, and save yourself the grief."

That little crack earned him a venomous glare. "[Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence, furball.]"

Across the table, Michiru smiled in a beatific fashion, cards held casually in one hand. With the other, she traced languid circles around the rim of her glass with the tip of her index finger. "No pressure," she said. "Whenever you're ready."

"[Mind games,]" Minako almost swore. "[Not falling for it this time.]"

"Oh my." Michiru had the grace to feign polite offense, but the smile never wavered. "Am I upsetting you? Shall we call it a night?"

Rei squirmed in her seat. Psychic powers or not, Minako used to think she would be a natural at cards... and it was true, she did have an excellent poker face, thanks to her Rei 1 half. However, as they had discovered, one needed more than just a poker face to win. Her bets were always too safe, too cautious to truly excel. When it came down to the wire, she crumbled. Minako had a willingness to risk it all that she didn't, therefore Rei lost most of their early games. "Come on, Minako-chan," she said. "She's baiting you. Don't listen to her."

Michiru, though. Minako thought herself good, but Michiru was a demon. Every poker player's nightmare. Behind that faux-innocent smile lurked a cunning and devious mind, sharp as a steel trap and about as deadly. Poker was about psychology as much as it was about luck and skill, and in the psychological aspect, she ran circles around all three of them put together. Not that she lacked luck and skill, either.

Now Minako squinted at Michiru, studying her face in intimate detail. "[What are you hiding?]"

"Me?" Michiru arched one lovely eyebrow. "What makes you think I'm hiding something?"

On a level of consciousness entirely separate from the two of them, Usagi stared up at the great central spire's inner walls. A particular spot caught her attention; it was a piece of Immaterial wall that was perfectly identical to everything around it. After a few seconds of squinting at that spot in intense concentration, she burst into whooping, hyena-like laughter. She didn't stop until Rei kicked her in the shin under the table.

"['Cause you're you,]" said Minako, tuning the racket out. "[Always some motive, some secret plan. You're suspicious.]"

Michiru's fingertip made another circuit around the glass's edge. "Really, Minako-san. I'm only in it to have fun, nothing more."

Minako growled through clenched teeth. Through Comeback Tour's speaker, the sound came out tinged with baritone notes. "[I'll get you. I swear I will.]"

"Careful," said Michiru with a tiny, musical chuckle. "Your blood pressure."

"[Blood pressure, my—]" Catching herself, Minako stopped and took several deep breaths. Her features relaxed back into neutral as she rolled first one shoulder, then the other. That was close, she almost fell into an obvious trap. "[Okay,]" she said to herself. "[Okay.]"

The drama of the match was interrupted by the opening of a very small door, roughly at eye level with the players. Kerberos, the Guardian Beast of the Seal, came bobbing through it with one paw raised, not even waiting to see who was there before shouting out his usual greeting. "Hidey-howdy-ho! How's everybody doin'?"

At the crystal ring, Meilin looked up briefly at the sound of the familiar voice, then wrinkled her nose, shrugged, and went back to her holotablet.

Minako tensed. Of all the times. Kero made for enjoyable company in normal circumstances—for someone without human hands, he had proven himself to be a worthy rival when it came to video games, and she relished the competition—but at the moment, his voice was like a dental drill running next to her ear. "Are ya—" He cut himself off upon sight of the cards and chips laid out. "Oops, sorry."

"You know the rules, Kero," said Artemis, frowning up at him. Bless him for taking it upon himself to give the reminder, Minako thought, instantly forgiving him for doubting her earlier. Somebody deserved an extra can of albacore tonight. "At least two meters away from the table at all times."

"Right, right, I got ya." The disappointment was evident in Kero's voice, but he didn't argue. After more than a few matches ruined because of him, Kero was now forbidden from observing poker games; even in the rare event that he could restrain himself from giving audible advice to the players, his expressions whenever he saw a hand said it all. His poker face—if one could call it that—was the polar opposite of Michiru's: a passing glance at him was enough to broadcast to the rest of the table, all given spectators, and anyone else in the room what the general contents of the hand were.

Out of the corner of her eye, Minako saw him catch sight of Homura sitting at the crystal ring, immobile as ever. Kero hovered over to her shoulder, waving to Meilin along the way, and Minako felt a brief sting of regret that she couldn't really focus on the disaster that was doubtless about to happen; even someone as friendly as Kero would probably find Homura hard to get along with, because everyone—with one exception—found Homura hard to get along with. The girl was about as warm and personable as a cactus at the South Pole. At midnight, in midwinter.

Homura's side of the following conversation was difficult to make out, but she made do...

"Oi, Homura! How ya doin' over here?" Kero, by contrast, she had no difficulty hearing.

Homura said something that was too quiet to decipher. Minako guessed it was something incredibly articulate and verbose, like "Fine."

"Ya know," said Kero, "you should really get in on a poker game yourself! You'd be great at it!"

This time Minako heard her: "No."

"Aw, really? How come? I bet you'd even clean up against Michiru over there!"

Two words this time. "I'll pass."

"Hrmph." Kero plunked himself down on Homura's shoulder and crossed his tiny arms, oblivious to the menacing, icy scowl that she then gave him. That scowl was as close to "I will murder you slowly" as her taciturn eyes could express, Minako thought. "Seems to me like you'd have more fun playin' cards instead of just fidgetin' over here, waitin' to hear back—"

And then a full sentence, which was more than Minako had ever heard out of her at once. It was divided into three parts, with a deadly pause between each: "I. Do not. Fidget."

That did it. Minako set her cards down and turned in her seat to watch the fireworks. Rei was in the process of rising from her chair to say something, but—

"Leave her be, Kero-san," Michiru drawled from across the table. "Can't you see that poor Akemi-san is worried sick about her love?"

Homura's mouth fell open for a split-second, then snapped back closed. "I don't know what you think you're insinuating—"

Michiru giggled. Now she sounded faintly drunk, but Minako knew better. A master actor, she was. "So repressed. That's not healthy, you know."

Homura shut her eyes and performed a lightning swivel in her seat, which violently dislodged a shocked Kero from his perch. She ran a hand through those splendid, silky black tresses of hers, the ones that reminded her so much of Rei's. "Believe what you want. I'm entitled to do whatever I want to pass the time while I wait for the team's signal."

"Of course you are, dear," said Michiru, making no attempt whatsoever to mask her playful condescension. "By all means, sit there and fidget—"

"I. Do not. Fidget!"

"Beach towels!" blurted Usagi to no one in particular before dissolving into giggles.

"Speaking of repressed." Michiru deigned to return her attention to the game. The spark of mischief was bright in her eyes. "I wonder if we could... up the ante a bit, as it were."

"[How so?]" Minako braced herself for anything.

Smirking deviously, Michiru raised her empty champagne glass. "Someone here has been hiding something for a while now."

That sentence sent Minako's mind racing through her personal secrets. She didn't have any, did she? There was that one after-party in Glasgow... With great difficulty, she kept calm. "[Yeah? So what?]"

Artemis and Rei said nothing. Usagi hiccuped.

"I propose," said Michiru, "that if I win this game... that someone confesses their secret, once and for all. Here in front of everyone."

Dead silence. Minako looked at Rei, who looked at Michiru.

Artemis stared from one face to another, fully lost.

"Agreed?" said Michiru, her eyebrow arching again.

"I—" Artemis shuffled from paw to paw. "I mean, as long as it's not something harmful..."

"Oh no," said Michiru. "Quite the opposite. As I said, repression isn't healthy. It's far better to have it out in the open."

Sucking in a breath, Minako nodded. "[All right,]" she said. "[Let's do this. Deal me three.]" She placed a king, four, and six back into the deck.

Nodding, Michiru slid three face-down cards across the table.

Careful not to let anyone see, Minako added them to her hand... and her heart skipped a beat. Calm, she had to stay calm. It took a herculean effort to keep her face neutral, but she risked a glance at Michiru...

Her eyebrow twitched, just a fraction of a millimeter. It was a tell, it had to be.

Go for the must-go, Minako thought. Banzai! Smoothly as possible, she pushed all her remaining chips into the pot. "[I'm all-in.]"

Rei stood up from her seat, which prompted a birdlike squawk from Usagi. "Minako-chan, are you serious?!"

Artemis just gaped at her. "Mina?"

One by one, Minako laid down her cards, allowing herself a smirk. "[Yeah. There's no way she's beating this.]" An ace of spades, an ace of diamonds, then three eights: clubs, spades, and hearts... "[Full house. Read 'em and weep.]"

Michiru stared at Minako's hand, her expression unreadable. She stared for so long, in fact, that hope began to bloom inside her like summer sunshine.

And then Michiru smiled the devil's smile. Which, with an actual (if former) devil in the room, was all the more impressive. Without a word, she spread out her cards, face-up: the seven, six, five, four, and three of diamonds. A straight flush.

The blat of misery that came out of Comeback Tour's speaker was similar to that of a long note played by an inexperienced trombonist, one who had been seriously neglecting their practice. It paired reasonably well with the bongo drum percussion that was the noise Minako's forehead made as she thunked it against the card table. Random, messy locks of her prized golden hair protruded from between her fingers as she clutched them at her temples.

Cool as a cucumber, Michiru poured herself a small helping from the bottle of Dom Perignon and took a long, triumphant sip. That done, she set down her glass and scooped up all of Minako's chips... and then, almost as an afterthought, she patted her on the head. "You came really close that time," she said, generously choosing not to add "But not close enough" to the end of that sentence. It didn't matter. Minako could hear it there anyway.

Sensing distress, Usagi leaned vaguely in Minako's direction and waved an arm at her shoulder. She missed, by a considerable margin. "Mnk-chn?" she gurgled. "Y'k?"

That handful of mangled semi-syllables made Minako smile despite herself. Even when totally hammered, Usagi was amazing at making people feel better. It was a gift. She took Usagi's hand in her own, at least partly to keep her from sweeping anything potentially breakable off the table. "[Will be, I guess.]"

"So now that that's done," said Michiru, "it's time for the secret."

Artemis shook his head. "Hoo boy."

A pregnant silence fell... broken only when Kero zipped back to them, looking excitedly from one face to another. "Secret? Somebody's tellin' a secret?"

"That was what we agreed to," said Michiru, helping herself to another full glass. That impish gleam in her eyes was brighter than ever as she gazed around the room and raised her voice. "You know who you are. Just speak up when you're ready."

Thirty seconds passed. For a moment, Minako wondered if Michiru did somehow know about Glasgow.

There was movement at the crystal ring. She heard Homura harrumph, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw her toss her hair back, shifting her hips as if preparing to rise...

... and then Rei stood up and grasped her free hand, and Homura flew from her thoughts entirely. Minako blinked. "[Rei-chan?]"

Somehow, she had failed to notice that over the past minute or so that Rei's face had begun to glow almost the same color as the streaks in her hair... the streaks that were now letting off faint curls of smoke. "I—" said Rei. The words didn't seem to want to come to her lips. She flushed darker, her Rei 2 half clearly furious with herself. "Minako-chan, in these past few months—"

Minako goggled at her. No. No way.

"In these past few months," Rei said again, trying not to stammer. "I've finally realized that..."

Minako looked from Rei's face to her hand, wrapped around her own, then back to her face again.

Then she started to laugh. Hard. She laughed and laughed and couldn't stop. Comeback Tour's speaker fluted with feedback from trying to keep up.

Dimly she became aware that Rei wasn't taking it well. "You don't have to make fun of me!"

"[Rei-chan, you idiot,]" said Minako, letting go of Usagi's hand to wipe tears of merriment from her eyes. "[Seven years since we met, and it's taken you this long?! Come here, stupid. I love you too.]"

The impossible happened: Kero lapsed into shocked silence.

Artemis just stared.

Michiru raised her glass to her lips, which were curled into an accomplished grin. "That works too, I suppose."

A hurricane of fluctuating emotions spun on Rei's face as she sat back down: joy, there was a lot of that, but also profound embarrassment, just a touch of frustration, giddy anxiety, the works.

Minako didn't care. She didn't care which Rei was confessing to her, Rei 1 or Rei 2 or both of them, whatever. Rei was Rei. After so much time waiting and wondering if Rei was even interested or if it was just her imagination, after pondering just how or if the two of them could ever work, after years of telling herself that Rei would probably never just be honest with herself long enough to come out and say it... here they were. A faraway memory leapt up from her mind, a memory from her early days fighting alone against the Dark Kingdom. Usually it was a terrible, tragic memory, but this time she couldn't help but grin at it. I'm cursed, huh? she thought. Well take that, curse. She clasped Rei's other hand. "[C'mon, Rei.]" she said, leaning forward to touch foreheads with her. "[Usually I'm giving love confessions... now I'm finally receiving. Let me enjoy a real one.]"

Noise behind them, as Meilin sprung into action at the crystal ring, talking excitedly into her headset, the words unclear. Homura snapped off another "I do not fidget!" That she heard before she faded into the background too. Minako tried to tune them both out; she'd waited too damned long for this.

Rei beamed through tears and sniffled. God, she really did have a beautiful smile, Minako thought. Rei squeezed her hands, took a shaky breath, and spoke: "Minako..." Abruptly, her expression changed. Her eyes focused on something far away, and her face went slack.

Panic spiked in Minako's belly. "[Rei? You okay?]"

And then she was back to normal, cringing slightly. "Sorry. It's this stupid vision. I've been having the same one for weeks. Someone's calling 'Rei, Rei' over and over, that's all I can make out."

"[You need a minute?]"

"No," said Rei. "This is too important." Another deep breath. "Minako, I'm sorry it took so long, but I really do l—"

The words were interrupted by a thunderous CRASH which sent Artemis bolting from the table and Kero to somewhere near the ceiling. Usagi, who had been teetering precariously ever since Minako let go of her hand, had finally slid fully off her chair and hit the floor. Clamorous snoring followed shortly thereafter.

The embers in Rei's hair threatened to turn into a full blaze. She stood bolt upright, stooped down, and seized the besotted girl by her collar, bellowing in livid fury into an ear that was long past comprehending her."USAGI, YOU IDIOT...!"

And pandemonium ensued.

Michiru sat back and watched it all, deeply satisfied.

*****

TSAB L-Class Inspection Cruiser Arthra

Nanoha and Fate's Quarters

Simultaneously

"I'm not okay."

"Fate-chan, nobody expects you to be.."

Their quarters were dark, save for a faint amber glow from Bardiche that cast gentle shadows over Fate Testarossa Harlaown's face. Much to her displeasure, she had discovered that headaches were more frequent than they used to be, since one of her eyes was now doing the work of two. Her eyepatch was off, held tight in her fingers, and her thumbs traced gently, delicately over the threads of the red paw print she had sewn onto it.

"I've lost so much already," Fate said in a husky whisper. "My mother, my sister, my eye, my friends in the TSAB... I even lost who I was for a while." Her insides roiled with the old, stinging memory of Precia Testarossa telling her of her true origins. The face of the woman Fate loved as a mother twisted in final cruelty on the viewscreen as she embraced the tank holding Alicia, her long-dead template and sister, and spoke the words: "You're nothing but a doll... I've always despised you." And now she was gone, Alicia was gone, and Alph was gone. The Testarossa family of old was a thing of the past. "Now her. I thought that with all I've lost, it wouldn't hurt this much. Like I'd be armored against it.

"But I wake up every morning and she's not there, and every morning it's like a knife in my stomach. After a while that fades, and then I just feel... nothing. There's this terrible empty numbness inside me that's even worse than hurting. I don't know how I'll ever feel normal again. Maybe this is normal now."

Nanoha Takamachi leaned softly against her shoulder. "You're grieving, Fate-chan. And you're right to grieve. You need to grieve, because it's the only way that you can process what's happened."

On her other side, Hayate Yagami wrapped her arms around her. "We're all feelin' it, whether or not we show it," she said. "Lindy-san, Yuuno-kun, Chrono-kun, Amy-san, everybody. We all loved her, and we all miss her."

Fate opened her mouth to speak, but Nanoha stopped her. "Of course no one loved her more than you. No one here feels it as much as you do that she's gone. She was your family, Fate-chan."

"An' I'll just come out and say it," said Hayate, hugging her close. "I'm not okay, either. Not by a long shot, I'm just pretendin' to be. Keepin' up as best I can. Sometimes I feel like I'm barely holdin' it together without Rein an' the Knights. An' Reinforce, she was—" She choked back a sob, but quietly.

"Hayate..." Fate had no more words than that. Well she remembered Hayate's period of mourning after losing Reinforce for the first time. To get her back again, even just for few minutes, only to lose her once more... None of this was fair.

They held each other in the near-darkness, the TSAB's invincible Aces clinging to each other for support.

"Fate-chan. Hayate-chan," Nanoha said after a long while. Sheets rustled as she moved across the bed, placing herself between them. "I'm sorry. I don't know what it's like to lose family, so I can't truly understand what you're both going through. I've been doing some reading, you know, so I can try to help..." She took Fate by the hand, and clasped Hayate with her other one. Most of the damage she sustained from firing the Starlight Breaker on Carnaaji was now healed, but her fingertips were still smooth and shiny. They would be for some time. "On Earth, there was a famous psychiatrist, one of the world's leading experts, who developed a scale for the common stages of grieving. But even she said, 'Our grief is as individual as our lives.' What you're both feeling right now, this loss... that's yours. I can't do much more than empathize with you and help you through it as best I can, I'm sorry.

"But there was another quote I found," Nanoha continued with a wistful smile. "I don't know if it'll help or not, but... I thought it was really something. Would you like to hear it?"

"Go ahead," said Hayate.

Fate nodded and squeezed Nanoha's hand.

"Okay," she said. "It was from a famous British author, and it went like this: 'Do you know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?'" She paused, letting the words sit. "That's the quote. When I found it, it sort of stopped me in my tracks... I just closed my screen and turned it over and over in my head for a while."

Silence.

"I like it," said Hayate. She sniffled. "Yeah, it's... it's a simple thing, but. I like how it sounds."

Fate couldn't speak. A few tears rolled down her cheeks and splashed onto Bardiche's surface.

"Fate-chan?" Nanoha's voice grew tinged with concern.

"I'll be okay," she said, forcing the words around the lump in her throat. "Thank you, Nanoha. It's a beautiful quote. As long as we remember her..."

"And speak her name," said Nanoha.

"Right. And speak her name."

"All their names," said Hayate. "Alph-san... Signum, Vita, Shamal, Zafira, Rein... an' Reinforce."

"Alph-san, Signum-san, Vita-chan, Shamal-san, Zafira-san, Rein-chan, and Reinforce-san," said Nanoha.

Fate clutched her eyepatch to her heart, tracing her thumbs over the red paw print. "Signum," she whispered. "Vita. Shamal. Zafira. Rein. Reinforce..." And for the first time since that wretched day, as she spoke her companion's name, there was no knot of unbearable agony inside her. There were no rising tears. It still hurt, and it always would, in a way... but it was a warmer hurt. A gentler hurt, bittersweet. "Alph."

For just a moment, she could see Alph smiling.

*****

Arm in arm in arm, the three of them made their way down the corridor to the mess hall. There were no other words between them.

As pleased as she was that the quote had brought comfort to Fate and Hayate, Nanoha still felt troubled. There was a part of her that still ached with guilt, a part of her brain that accosted her: You could be doing more. You could be doing more, but you're not. You're not strong enough.

Wasn't that what Hadenya said, more-or-less? The Dead End woman called her weak, a shadow of herself, and there was an ugly ring of truth to her words. Worse still, at least part of it was her own fault. Were it not for pushing herself too far, back when the Gadget Drones attacked on that snowy planet, were it not for overconfidence in her own abilities, she wouldn't have been crippled. If that had never happened, she would have been at full strength back on Carnaaji. At full strength, she could have rescued the Wolkenritter and stopped Viluy sooner. She could have saved both Fate's eye and the planet itself. For all she knew, Nanoha the invincible Ace of Aces could have turned the tide of this war single-handedly.

But on the other hand, she mused, the Gadget Drone Incident happened in part because she placed all the burden on herself. Back then, she ignored the warning signs that she was overtaxing herself and her mana. She was the Ace of Aces, she could take it. The Ace of Aces could do whatever was necessary and go to any lengths to see the mission done. Everyone relied on her, she couldn't let them down.

During her year in the hospital, she had plenty of time to reflect on those kinds of thoughts. In hindsight, she recognized them for what they truly were: reckless, arrogant, and self-destructive. That Nanoha, the pillar of strength who got weathered and cracked and chipped away while others took shelter behind her, couldn't exist anymore. The new Nanoha, the person she was now, had to rely on others as much as they relied on her. No more pushing herself past her limits, no more martyring herself. Someday she would be invincible again, she resolved, and better than before... not solely because of her own power, but because of the support of Fate and Hayate and all her other friends and loved ones. What she lacked, she would let them fill in, and she resolved to do the same for them, no matter what. That nagging inner voice berating her for not doing more... she looked it dead in the eyes and told it "No."

Her ears perked at sounds coming from the adjoining corridor. There was a subtle whirr of wheels and two pairs of footsteps, one pair slower, heavier, and in an odd, unbalanced rhythm compared to the first. Voices, too, three of them. One was as loud as the two others put together. She smiled at the trio of Precure coming around the corner... their reddened cheeks combined with the airy, springtime scent of shampoo indicated that they were fresh from the showers. "Ah!" she said, brightening. "Tsubomi-chan, Kurumi-san, Omori-san!"

"Pffft," said Erika Kurumi, waving a hand. "Please, just 'Erika', no need to be formal."

"Same with me." Yuko Omori smiled up from her mobility chair, an expression as warm and sweet as her Cure form's namesake. "Call me 'Yuko', or 'YuuYuu.'"

Hayate grinned at Erika. "Didn't skip out early on your exercises, did you?"

"With Tsubomi coaching us?" Erika cackled and shifted her crutch to her opposite arm to slap hands with her. "Not a chance. She's a slave driver, Hayate-chan. Merciless. Look at that face, there's no mercy there."

Tsubomi Hanasaki flushed red and twiddled her fingers. "I-I'm only following the instructions Hayate-chan and Mary-san gave us... Oh! You must be—" Starting, she gave a quick bow to Fate. "I don't believe we've met before, but I've heard a lot about you from Nanoha-chan and Hayate-chan! How do you do, I'm Tsubomi Hanasaki!"

Smiling, Fate bowed in return. "Fate Testarossa Harlaown. Call me 'Fate.'"

"Oh yeah!" Erika extended an arm, pulling a startled Fate in close as she came up from the bow. "Fate-chan, we gotta induct you into the group—"

"Group?" said Fate.

"The Damaged Goods," said Erika proudly. She slammed the crutch against the side of her dummy prosthetic. Thunk. "'Cause, you know, I lost a leg, and you lost an eye, and YuuYuu's stuck in the chair..."

She saw what Erika was getting at, but that was a little much. Nanoha opened her mouth to speak...

"I wouldn't." Tsubomi smiled at her sheepishly and shook her head. "Erika's a very 'my-pace' sort of person. No one can stop her once she gets going, I know that from experience."

"D-Damaged Goods..." Her cheeks were pink, but somehow, miraculously, Fate giggled softly. The sound warmed Nanoha's heart. "I suppose we are."

"We're glad to have you, Fate-chan," said Yuko. "It's a small group, but a welcoming one."

"Oi," chided Hayate, putting her hands on her hips in mock offense. "What about me? I poured my heart out tellin' you about how I was in a chair all those years, why are you leavin' me out?"

Erika gave her a side-eye, smirking. "'Cause you got out of yours, dummy! You got a leg up on all of us."

Dead silence. Nanoha gaped at her in near shock.

For emphasis, Erika whacked her prosthetic again. "Leg up! Come on, nothing?"

One could almost hear the steam erupt from Tsubomi's ears as she wailed, mortally embarrassed. "Erikaaaaaaaaaa!"

*****

Their trio now swelled to a sextet, they continued down the corridors, albeit at a much slower pace so Erika could keep up. The ice was broken; it delighted Nanoha to see Fate smiling often at Erika's antics, and even laughing a soft little laugh once or twice. That was to say nothing of how she and Tsubomi formed an immediate connection with each other. Nanoha found it appropriate; both Fate and Tsubomi were gentle souls on the outside with wills of pure steel underneath. Friendship transcending universes... that was what Precure were about, after all. Here were three more people who could help Fate work through her darkness, and Nanoha was grateful.

As they stepped through the doors to the mess hall, one half of an excited conversation greeted them. It came from very near the floor, and it initially appeared that the current speaker was talking to herself.

"... bet you didn't know that Mami-nee is super competitive when she wants to be," the voice was saying. "Like, Mami-nee's so good at everything, you know, but when somebody does outdo her, it's like she— Oh!" The small, white-haired figure seated against the wall jumped up as they walked in, throwing the person next to her into her shadow. "Sorry, Nagisa was just chatting. We'll go somewhere else if you guys want privacy."

"Don't worry about it, Nagisa-chan, we don't mind," said Nanoha. It was strange getting to know the real Nagisa Momoe, months after seeing another being wear her face. "Who were you talking to?"

"The Stranger," said Nagisa, beaming. A pure, guileless child's grin. "The Stranger doesn't talk, but Nagisa talks with her anyway. Nagisa thinks we should be friends and hang out together, considering Nagisa used to be her." Her head tilted to one side. "Kind of. It's complicated."

Yuko nodded. "That seems like quite a wise idea."

"Yeah!" Nagisa stooped back down and tugged on the wrist of her companion behind her, someone even smaller than she was. "And Nagisa talks enough for the both of us, so—"

It was as if some sixth sense screamed at her what was about to happen, a split-second before it did. Nanoha moved automatically to catch Fate's arm as the Stranger stepped from Nagisa's shadow, blonde-haired and ruby-eyed, wearing Alicia Testarossa's face and form...

Too late. Fate was ready to cope with a lot today, but not with that. With a strangled half-cry, she sank to her knees, her eye so wide that the entire sclera could be seen.

"Fate-chan! Fate-chan, it's okay!" Nanoha dropped down next to her and held her tight, felt her partner's body go rigid and wild with shivers.

Nagisa stepped back, pale and aghast. "Oh god. I-I didn't even think... Fate-san, I'm so sorry, we thought you were used to seeing her this way by now—"

Fate said nothing. She only stared at the smaller, younger duplicate of her own face, and held onto Nanoha with trembling hands.

Now Hayate was down next to them as well. "Hey, Fate-chan, we're all here, we're all with you."

The Alicia-Stranger looked as if she had just seen a terrible accident. She gazed down at her own hands in a sort of horrified fascination, and she flickered and shrunk... Chibi-Chibi's shape took her place. Carefully, like someone inching across broken glass, she took a few steps toward Fate.

Nagisa was little but a stream of babbling apologies. "She didn't mean to, we didn't even know you guys were coming! She... she didn't mean to..."

"I... know." The words came from Fate as if someone were dragging them out of her one by one. "It's not... her fault. Not... your fault. My fault... I wasn't ready... wasn't ready to see her... to see Alicia... not today..."

Tsubomi, Erika, and Yuko stared at each other, lost for how to help. Nanoha didn't blame them; they had witnessed something much too personal, like walking in on someone's parents fighting. They were paralyzed.

The Chibi-Stranger drew close to Fate, almost standing in her lap. She tilted her head to one side, raised herself up on her tiptoes, extended one tiny hand, and placed it on Fate's cheek. Fate didn't move, she merely closed her eye, fighting to breathe evenly.

"Hey," said Hayate. "Are you—"

Some profound, unknowable sadness swam in the Stranger's pure blue eyes. She removed her hand and placed it on her own chest. Lines of worry creased her round little face as she tilted her head again, as if in deep thought. No one moved.

"Wh-what's she doing?" said Erika.

Turning once more, the Stranger stepped over to Hayate's side. Once more, she stood on tiptoes, raised her hand, and rested it on Hayate's cheek. Then she withdrew her hand and placed it over her heart. It looked as if she desperately wanted to say something. Wanted to, but couldn't.

Tsubomi looked to Nagisa for help. "Nagisa-chan?"

"I..." Nagisa swallowed. "I don't know. We don't share thoughts anymore, she can't talk to me, but—"

The Stranger looked at Fate, then at Hayate, then back at her own hands. A few tears fell from her eyes. Then as if responding to a summons the rest of them couldn't hear, she stood up straight, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and flickered once more. Now Ayumi Sakagami, Cure Echo, stood there in her place... but not for long. In the blink of an eye, she was gone.

No more than a second later, Nanoha and Fate's Devices both chimed with the signal for an incoming message, and seconds after that, Tsubomi's AMP let out a resonating series of tones.

Tsubomi was the first to break the spell, the first to activate her Device and see the message's content. Her lips spread into a shaky smile. "I-it's the Tigers," she said to the others. "They beat the Witch, they're okay...!"

*****

La Fin de Toute

(formerly Galactica Palace)

Two Hours Later

It would work.

One way or another, she would make it work.

Sayaka Miki leaned against the shimmering pillar for support, its material warm against her back. It felt like marble, but it had a peculiar heat and energy running through it that was unlike anything found on Earth. It was no simple inert stone, she could tell that much about it, but everything about it except the surface level was a mystery to her. It was a familiar feeling.

Sayaka had no doubts about her goal, her personal mission. That mission was an anchor, all she had to keep her sane in this madhouse. There was no other option but to complete it, and then after that, come what may. However, it occurred to her that as things stood, there was less and less opportunity with each passing day to seize her chance, to do what she came here to do. That morning, as she lay awake in her quarters, staring at the ceiling, she had resolved to do better, to find answers.

This time, she would make it work, so help her. Her thumbnail pressed hard against the side of her index finger, almost breaking the skin.

It wasn't long until she heard them: echoing footsteps on the smooth, shiny, not-ebony floors, a symphony of clicking heels. Sayaka took a few deep breaths and squared her shoulders, waiting for them to arrive. The hall was vast and high-ceilinged; sound carried well here, so she caught a bit of the conversation as they walked.

"... making certain to account for all eventualities," said the voice of Labyrinth Commander Eas, calm and calculated as always. "All worlds' data will be curated, managed, and administrated by Labyrinth's central processing systems."

And then another voice, a sardonic voice, outwardly cheerful but deadly as strychnine underneath. The voice she was waiting for... Joker. "And you're certain those systems are sufficient for such a large operation?"

"Yes, Master." Eas sounded proud. That was unusual; she thought Eas was normally more careful about showing emotions like pride in front of him. "These are the upgraded versions of the ones that housed Lord Moebius. They were built not only to control massive amounts of data, but to withstand the influx of energy from Infinity."

"Très bien," Joker purred. "Well done, Commander. Impressive work, as always."

"It wasn't all my work, Master. Doctor Mizuno's assistance was invaluable. Wasn't it, Doctor?"

Another, much smaller voice this time, with a hint of a posh accent: "It was my privilege to help." A pause, and then: "Please... someone has to stop him! He wants to—" It cut off abruptly.

There followed peals of giggling from a few steps behind Joker and Eas. So they were there too.

Joker's voice took on an edge like that of a knife. "Commander, s'il vous plaît, set me a reminder to have Lethe come and attend to Doctor Mizuno in the near future. Until then, we may need to stitch her tiny little fabric mouth shut."

"Yes, Master."

No time like the present. Sayaka took one last breath, then stepped from the shadows behind the pillar. She drew herself up to the harlequin's level and prepared to stare him dead in the eyes. "Master Joker."

"Master Joker! Master Joker!" Black-clad shapes cavorted around her in circles, two of them cackling shoddy impressions of her voice. The Bad End Precure... just her luck. She held her ground and her gaze. The best way to deal with the Bad Ends, she found, was to ignore them. Giving them openings was just asking for—

Sayaka blinked. There were only four of them today: Happy, Sunny, March, and Beauty. One was missing. Why?

Bad End Sunny leered, hanging from her shoulder. "Whatcha doin' back there, fish?" she said, leaning way too close to Sayaka's ear. "Ya ain't waitin' for a hook, are ya?"

"Or an ambush, maybe," said Bad End March. She crossed her arms and tossed back her flowing green ponytail. "Though if that's what you're going for, Miki, you've missed your chance."

Already Bad End Happy's tiny attention span had drawn her back to Joker's side. She fawned up at him, batting her eyelashes. "As if she could hope to even scratch our Master Joker! Ridiculous, isn't it, Master?"

"Of course it is, cherie." Joker patted her on the head, and Happy cooed like a contented pet bird. "Absolute hogwash."

"Hmph. Distasteful." As usual, Bad End Beauty seemed to think that contributing to conversations was for lesser beings.

"Master Joker," said Sayaka again, determined to see it through despite the distractions. "I need to talk to you about the next phase of our operations. I have questions."

Eas raised a silver eyebrow. "You're questioning Master Joker? Unwise, Commissar. I thought you were smarter than that."

"Now now, ladies." Joker raised his hands and cut a path through the Bad End Cures. "A little curiosity is a healthy thing. Not too much, of course."

A holopanel appeared at Eas's fingertips. "Master, if I may, there's still some—"

"Eas," said Sayaka. "Would you mind giving us a moment? This is Commissar business, I really don't need you here."

"Ahhh," said Joker. "Commissar business. Very important stuff, making sure we're all marching to the beat of the same drum! You see, Eas? Miki takes her job with utmost seriousness."

"I can see that," said Eas, not even bothering to conceal her disdain. She pivoted on one cherry-red heel, the long tails of her black coat flapping and making a breeze as they followed. "I commend you for your duty, Commissar Miki. Master Joker, shall we continue our conversation later?"

"Naturally." Joker waved her off without looking at her. "Make yourself useful elsewhere in the meantime."

"Go on, do what makes you happy," Sayaka added with a thin-lipped smile.

That sentence caught Eas in mid-turn. Unless they were looking closely, most would have never noticed that she very nearly lost a step. Wild-eyed and shaken, she whipped back around to face Sayaka and spoke in a furious, hoarse rasp. "E-excuse me?!"

"That will be all," said Joker, in a tone that said clearly that any more argument would lead to his mood taking a turn for the murderous. Even the Bad Ends straightened up and gave him a wide berth.

Eas stared at Sayaka a moment longer, then vanished in a crimson flash.

"Can you call them off, too?" said Sayaka once she was gone. She shrugged a shoulder in the direction of the Bad End Cures, who were giving each other confused glances.

"Pffft." Joker blew air through his lips. His features split into a wide and jagged grin. "They know better than to let anything slip. You're underestimating the limits of my control."

Sayaka couldn't resist. "With all due respect, Master, maybe you should review those limits. They don't do much for Kanna."

A hush fell over the hall. One could have heard a pin drop.

Joker roared with laughter, his hand over his mask's eyes, his chest heaving... after a moment's hesitation, the Bad End Cures joined in with him.

Sayaka stayed still and silent, waiting. Unnoticed by anyone, beads of sweat broke out in the small of her back.

Once done, Joker clapped her on the shoulder, with strength that would make a normal human's knees buckle. "Excellent deadpan, my dear mademoiselle! Truly excellent! And that it came from you of all people is just exquisite, totally unexpected. You seized your moment and you took it. Comme c'est admirable! I wish more of the troops had that initiative."

"Initiative is actually what I wanted to discuss with you, Master," said Sayaka. "Permission to speak freely?"

Joker drew back and laid his spindly fingers against his chest. "Oooh, the dreaded words. Someone is daring today. Carry on, Commissar."

Another deep breath. As she swore to do, Sayaka looked him in the eyes. "Master Joker, sir, what exactly is your plan going forward?"

Joker seemed startled. "I beg your pardon?"

The speech she had been rehearsing in her head for the last two months laid itself out before her: all her points, all her arguments, each word carefully chosen. This was her moment. "Sir, strategy isn't my strong suit," she said. "That was more that devil's thing, or Mami-san's. I'm not much of a thinker at all, it's not my job. I just make sure everyone's loyal, and I break whoever or whatever you point me at. So believe me when I say that even I can see it: what you're doing now doesn't make sense.

"The Merry-Go-Round's served its purpose, whatever that is. Even though we've lost Moebius 90, the Will, and the entity, you've still got weapons and doomsday stuff to spare, a lot of which you haven't even used yet. You've got soldiers everywhere except Vertex Three. If you wanted to, you could just wave your hand and all of your forces would move out and take full control. We outpower the TSAB and we outnumber the Lights hundreds to one, so even if they took out some or most of the front lines, we've got more than enough muscle to... hold whole cities hostage, or something, until they're forced out of hiding. With things as they are now, if you pushed just a little harder, you could make everyone everywhere suffer, like you said you wanted to. A little harder than that, and you could win. But instead, you're just..." The words tumbled out of her, sharp and frustrated. "You're sitting here on hold! It's like you're waiting for something, but I can't figure out what..."

Joker's expression was unreadable. "Your point being?"

"My point being, I need to know, so I can have my shot," said Sayaka. Goosebumps rose on her arms, the fine hairs stood up straight. "I joined you because you promised I could personally make that devil pay for what she's done. I've tried to do everything you've asked and follow every order. I've waited and waited for so long... but it's like you're not willing to do what it takes to draw her out. If I'm gonna be the best soldier I can for you, Master, I need to know what your plan is, so I can be ready to fight her. I know, I know," she said before he could cut her off, "you're all about being mysterious. Untouchable. Secrets and intimidation and... and manipulating people. But all of this..." She waved an arm for emphasis. "There has to be some purpose for it, beyond just making them all suffer. There has to be an endgame. How am I supposed to just sit back and wait for it, thinking that you're doing nothing? How am I supposed to trust that my moment's coming if I don't know what the big picture is?!"

Joker fell quiet for a very long time.

Beside them, the Bad End Cures collectively shuddered.

One more push. Sayaka steeled her jaw and folded her hands behind her back, clenching her fists tight. "You could have made me another brainwashed slave, blindly following your orders... If that's what you wanted, you could have done it in a second, at any time at all, but you let me keep thinking for myself. Because I can think for myself, I can't just sit back and say nothing. Not when it's about this.

"You promised me revenge, you promised me. You swore that I could have it before you do whatever it is you're doing, and I will have it."

Now Joker leaned forward. His face grew until it occupied her whole vision, the eyes of his mask bulged wide and round, windows into nowhere. The X-shaped scar in the mask... for a moment, she thought she saw its lines glow. "Is that a threat, Sayaka Miki?" His words were like razor blades wrapped in silk. "Do you truly presume that you could threaten me?"

Sayaka stared unblinking right back into those pitch-black eyes. "Do I have to?"

She thought she heard Happy emit a short, high-pitched squeak. She did hear a faint gasp from Beauty, almost more like a sob.

Whatever dark fires brewed within Joker, those sounds quelled them. His facial muscles twitched, his lips parted. "As it turns out, no, you don't," he said. "I admit, I do like to encourage vengeance-seeking in my minions. Strengthens the immoral fiber, and all that. Your patience, ma sirène, is commendable, as is your commitment to putting my desires before your own, barring a few faux pas here and there." Now his smile returned, but gradually, creeping millimeter by millimeter across his face like the footsteps of a careful predator on a hunt. "No matter, I forgive them. What better motivator is there than good old-fashioned homegrown hatred, justly earned? In any case, I can almost see you fraying under the restraint... but proper service deserves proper reward."

Sayaka nodded primly, her heart racing. "Yes, Master."

"So!" Joker clapped his hands, just once. Now his fanged grin was back in full, belatedly. "To set your mind at ease: yes, there is a greater purpose behind all of this. Despite how it may appear, everyone in Dead End, down to the lowliest grunt, is always progressing toward the fulfillment of that purpose... whether they're aware of it or not. As for your nemesis? Well, the next time our little friends poke their noses out, if Madame Deville is with them, you may—"

He was interrupted by a holopanel blinking to life between them. Inside the panel was the mirror image of Unlovely, currently manning the communications hub. The corrupted Precure wore an expression of concern, verging on panic. "My apologies, Master, but there's a situation in Vertex One, the Juuban area."

"Can it wait, please?" Joker harrumphed. "I'm busy."

"Er," said Unlovely, "ordinarily I'd just send a division there, but... I really think you should see this. I'm not sure what to make of it." Unlovely's holo waved a hand...

Sayaka stared. Making out what she was looking at shouldn't have been hard, even seeing it from the wrong side, but she suspected she would still be confused even seeing it from the front. That was definitely a wide shot of an expansive Japanese city skyline, presumably Azabu-Juuban. There was something shining bright with white and madder red light from the clouds overhead, out of the camera's view. The effect reminded Sayaka of pictures she had seen of auroras. Those big shadowy things had to be the black crystalline spires that local Dead End forces had planted in the area, looming many stories over even the highest buildings. Dwarfing the spires, though, was something utterly out of place, something that should not have been even remotely visible on that scale. A booming, if somewhat nervous voice began: "Um! A-attention, citizens of Azabu-Juuban! We are the Morning Lights, and—"

Joker dismissed the holo with a furious swipe of his claws. "Pardonnez-moi, mademoiselle," he seethed to Sayaka. "It appears I am needed after all. But as I was saying: the next time Mademoiselle Akemi appears, you will have your opportunity. I suggest you don't waste it." Before Sayaka could say any more, he vanished in a smear of inky blackness.

Left staring at the empty space where he had been, Sayaka's insides slowly loosened from the dense knot they had been in for most of the last twelve hours. Her feelings were decidedly mixed. She had managed the tightrope act, but—

"You..." said Beauty's voice from a few meters away, more strained than Sayaka had ever heard. "You challenged... Master Joker."

"Yeah I did." said Sayaka, rolling one shoulder. All her muscles were tense. As she raised her right hand, she saw a red divot in the side of her index finger. There was blood... she must have been pressing into it with her thumbnail while she talked to Joker. A nervous habit. No matter; a quick azure splash of her magic sealed it up. "I had to." Turning to face the Bad Ends, she found them staring at her in a mix of awe and apparently genuine terror.

March swallowed and took a step backward. "Y-you must really hate Akemi..."

"That was an... impressive show of nerve, Miki-san." said Beauty. Her composure restored, she settled neatly back into her cool unflappable manner. "Of course, you should not make a habit of it."

"Uh," said Sayaka. "Thanks, Beauty."

"Yumi," she said, frowning... but not her usual haughty frown.

"What?" Sayaka wasn't sure she understood.

"My name," she said, with a hint of a tremor in her voice, "is Yumi."

Was this some new game? "I thought your name was Reika—"

Now Happy shook herself from her daze. "That was her old name," she said, regaining a bit of her perkiness. "Yumi-san's a different person than boring old Reika, so now she's Yumi-san. And Sunny is Higure-chan, and I'm Sachi-chan, and—"

"And I'm Yori," said March... or apparently, Yori.

"But you!" said Happy, or Sachi. Her huge magenta twintails flew like streamers as she hopped to Sayaka's side, an oversized rabbit stuffed into a black, skin-tight suit. "I thought for sure you were gonna be a smear on the floor, but you stood up to Master Joker and didn't blink and you lived! It was like Beowulf facing down Grendel!" She reached for Sayaka's shoulder... then seemed to think the better of it, retracting her hand quickly.

"Wait, Beowulf?" Now Sayaka was even more confused. She recalled the name from school, he was some ancient mythical English hero or something, like King Arthur before King Arthur. Grim and bloody stuff. "Since when do you know about Beowulf? Aren't you the one that's into picture books and fairy tales?"

"I got sick of those," said Sachi, as if that explained everything. "So I gave them up around the time we picked out our new names. Beowulf and stuff like that is way more fun! There's more violence~."

Higure clapped her on the back. "I keep tellin' ya," she said, "ya gotta watch the Ring series with me an' Yori-chan sometime if ya want violence. We both love it. Should be right up your alley." She grinned wide. "Lotsa people sufferin', too. It's tragic."

"The American remake films are surprisingly decent as well, for the time." Yori added with a sage nod. "Except the second one."

There was something very wrong here, aside from the obvious, but Sayaka couldn't put her finger on what it was. Since Joker was gone and she didn't have a new assignment to puzzle over yet, she went for the obvious problem: "Where's Peace? I thought you five were always together."

"Aw, Kanna-chan's been ultra-poopy lately." Sachi's cheeks puffed out as she turned up her nose, in a manner that looked more at home on Yumi. "Moping around and screaming at anybody who comes near her. She's no fun when she's like that, so we ditched her."

"We last saw her further that way, down the hall," said Yumi, indicating with an impeccably manicured finger. Then, after a pause: "I would advise you to be careful, Miki-san."

They left with that, whispering among themselves. Sayaka stood in the cavernous hall, alone and confused.

*****

She didn't know what made her decide to look for Kanna. Usually, anyone who did so was taking their life into their own hands. Over and over again, the thought tumbled through Sayaka's brain that something was wrong, very wrong. Something bothered her about the way the other Bad End Precure acted... and Kanna? Moping around? Lashing out at her friends? That didn't sound like her, not at all.

It took some searching to find her. Kanna's presence was typically almost impossible to miss; that was another thing that struck Sayaka as off. She finally resorted to checking the pillars one by one, circling around each one. Behind one particularly huge pillar, one as thick around as a giant sequoia, she found her target.

Kanna Kise, Bad End Peace II, had her small frame curled into an even smaller ball, her knees tucked up to her chin, cloaked deep in the pillar's shadow. As Sayaka approached, she wondered if the little terror was asleep... but then she saw Kanna's shoulders shake, and heard what was unmistakably a muffled sob.

Still, Sayaka hung back. It was quite probable that this was some sort of nonsensical prank; Kanna's idea of what was funny usually involved some sort of abuse or harassment, be it physical, emotional, sexual, or a combination of the three. Keeping herself about two body lengths away, Sayaka swallowed and called out to her. "Peace? Hey, Kanna?"

"Go fuck yourself." The response was low and monotone, the polar opposite of Kanna's typical hyperactive chatter.

Worrying, but still she hesitated. Sayaka wrinkled her nose. "Come on, that wasn't creative at all, you can do better than that."

"I said fuck off, Fish Lips, I'm not in the mood."

"Look," said Sayaka, edging a step closer. "If Master Joker finds you like that, you won't like what happens. You need to get up and find your friends."

"They're not my friends."

Something about that made Sayaka's skin prickle. "What do you mean? Happy... Sachi and the others are—"

"They're not my friends," Kanna repeated, huddling up tighter. "They're her friends. The crybaby moeblob's friends. The only reason they stay around me is because Master Joker fucked with their brains, or with their Seeds, or something. I dunno. It doesn't matter. Fuck off and leave me alone."

Stranger and stranger. Sayaka tried from a different angle. "Does Master Joker know you feel like this?"

A deeper sob. "I think Master Joker's punishing me," Kanna sniffled. "I fought the moeblob and lost, remember? In Chapter 41, two years ago." There was a brief pause. "Or was it just last month...?" The question trembled with uncertainty. "Maybe it was both? Sometimes I can't tell. I dunno. I lost to her and it must have upset him. He won't let me go out to fight for him, he won't let me do anything. Won't even talk to me." Kanna's voice rose in pitch and volume by the word, her shoulders heaved. "All I want is to please Master Joker and make him happy, that's what he made me for, but he won't let me! Why won't he let me? I'd try again if he'd just ask, I'd do anything for him!" At last, she raised her head and looked at Sayaka directly. Her face was a mess, blotchy and pink. Her eyes were reddened around the edges, and Sayaka was startled to see apparently real tears streaming down her cheeks. "Why won't he let me...?" she repeated, soft and wounded.

Sayaka steeled herself. However this appeared, however miserable she seemed to be, she still didn't trust Kanna not to pounce for her neck the moment she let her guard down. Even so, she didn't have a heart of stone; heartsick memories floated through the sea of her mind of the many times in many timelines that she had asked herself similar questions about Kyosuke Kamijo. "Kanna, I can't really—"

Shrill laughter interrupted her. Kanna cackled hysterically, as if someone had told a joke only she could hear. It was the strident Kanna laugh that Sayaka heard so often from her, the one she liked to use when making other people miserable. "It's all funny, isn't it?" she gasped between fits. Her eyes flew open, and stayed open throughout the tirade that followed. "Kanna's so cute! Kanna's so perverted and quirky, look at her go! Kanna's just this silly comic relief character, a rambunctious little clown for everyone to laugh at, ha ha ha!" Somewhere in there, her laughter grew tinged with bitterness, which infused it like someone steeping tea. "Who cares what Kanna's feeling?! Who cares if she's breaking?! Ha ha ha! Tell us another one! Do a wacky one-liner! Make us fucking laugh, Kanna! Ha ha ha...!" And now it was barely laughing at all, it was an enraged, frenzied sound, a banshee's shriek. "HA HA HA—"

Her laughter came to a crashing halt, as if someone had pressed a button in her brain. Her features shifted instantly into an expression of quiet, staring shock. "Do they know?" she said in barely a whisper. "Do they really see me? Does Master Joker really see me...? Does... does anybody?" For a few moments she only stared—at what, Sayaka couldn't tell—and then she broke down sobbing again.

Her head spinning, Sayaka attempted to process what she had just seen. Kanna was inarguably unstable at the best of times, that much was a fact, but she was also devious and manipulative. It would be just like her to fake a breakdown in order to get close enough to hurt someone. She was enormously skilled at bursting into tears on command, Sayaka knew that... if someone made the mistake of trying to engage with her, Kanna would switch it off on cue and laugh in their face, or do worse.

Something about this, though, this whirlwind of emotions, the misery of being apparently ignored and abandoned... it struck Sayaka differently. You could fake crying, but to her knowledge, there were no ways to fake crying for as long as she apparently had been. Her confidence that this was some kind of bizarre prank shrank away to almost nothing. One could never tell for sure when dealing with Kanna, but she had the sinking feeling this time... her pain was real.

And if Kanna's pain was real, then Sayaka couldn't help herself, even if she might regret it later. She moved close and sucked in a breath. "Kanna," she said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

SNAP.

Kanna moved like black lightning, and liquid fire swelled in Sayaka's arm. She dropped to one knee, breath frozen in her lungs. Everything from her mid-forearm down was limp and ablaze, the bones were broken like twigs. What hurt more than the injury was the shame, though. She was furious with herself for being stupid enough to think that Kanna actually needed help. Her magic would fix her arm right away, but before that she was going to give Kanna a piece of her mind. She nearly gave herself whiplash craning her neck up to her, she sucked in air to yell as loud as she could...

But Kanna's haunted eyes were wide and wet, and her hands were plastered over her mouth. She stared in mortal terror at the arm that she had just broken, then back up at Sayaka. "Oh my gosh," she croaked. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I don't know why I did that! I'm sorry! We'll get you to a doctor or a healer right away, please don't move! I'm sorry... It's my fault, I'm sorry..."

Struck dumb, Sayaka could only stare back at her.

Kanna spoke softer than Sayaka had ever heard before, a voice like the flutter of a baby bird's wing. "I'm so scared," she whispered. "I don't know what's wrong with me. Please, help me..."

Sayaka's skin was acrawl, goosebumps risen on every square centimeter. Seconds ticked past before she felt prepared to form words again. Those words were not to the girl that was Bad End Peace, not the girl who delighted in suffering and pledged her all to Joker, not the girl who had been broken by Joker's indoctrination and molded into a loyal servant. They were to the girl who had been spirited away in the night, stolen from her world and everything she knew without any knowledge of the war, Dead End, Precure, or anything. It was to that girl—the girl who was buried deep down beneath countless layers of madness and nightmares, the girl who Sayaka swore was long since dead but was now maybe, just maybe trying to resurface—that she spoke, and she only said this: "K-Kanna-chan...?"

Stunned, Kanna raised a trembling hand, reaching out. Her lips began to curl upward. Fresh, relieved tears welled in her golden, shining eyes.

And then, something behind those eyes shifted...

Kanna blinked. "Hey, Fish Lips!" she said, breaking into a broad, cruel smile. "Wow, you look like shit, doesn't suit you. What's up?"

"I—" stammered Sayaka.

Her eyes flicked downward. "Hoocha, the fuck happened to you?! Don't tell me you actually were trying to rip off your own arm, that was just a joke. Besides, that's a lousy place to do it, you wanna try for the elbow or the shoulder. Unless you wanted to botch it... Are you a masochist after all? Like, I kinda suspected, what with you going after Violin Boy all the time, but!" Kanna sprung to her feet in one smooth motion, rapidly blinking her tears away. "That's weird. Anyway! Gotta keep on chug-chug-chuggin', right? Nothing stops this train! The story won't write itself, and the readers need to constantly be engaged with new content. Next time I see that moeblob, I'm gonna make her scream. Master Joker's gonna be so proud."

Leaning against the pillar for support, Sayaka struggled upright. "You... you really don't remember? You were crying, you lashed out at me... b-broke my arm..."

Kanna laughed in her face. "Stupid Fish Lips, if it had been me, I wouldn't have stopped with just one arm! You get hit in the head or something? Sheesh, maybe take a day off. Spend it doing something productive, like masturbating." She snorted and crossed her arms in disgust. "I'm outta here, you're boring today. Smell ya later!" In a small crack of thunder and a rush of displaced air, she vanished.

Alone again, Sayaka watched the space where she had been for a long time. She had promised herself to find answers today, and now she only had several hundred more questions.

END OF CHAPTER 50

NEXT:

HERE UPON THESE STONES

[Author's note:

Thanks to Storyteller222.

You can also show your appreciation and help me out by keeping the Shattered Skies: The Morning Lights pages on TVTropes updated! Additionally, you can donate via Pa*treon (at tasakeru) or (at Pay*Pal [pp-dot-me-slash-bhsdesk]... if you like this chapter, please consider tossing a few bucks my way, it'll be of great help!]