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magicaldogtoto · 1 year

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Parallel Worlds Record Chapter Fifteen: What's The Law of Cycles?

Rating: Teen

Genre: Magical Girl, Fantasy, Angst, Drama, Crossover

Word Count: Approx. 6,200 words

Summary: Mifuyu finds herself in another world where Magical Girls have a different enemy to fight.

Author's Note: Thanks again to @celesticnova and @evatriceakiyama for proofreading this for me, as always!

[Originally posted on AO3.]

***

[MIFUYU]

Mifuyu ran through Shinsei Ward, chakram in hand and nearly out of breath. There had been three Desolators only a few minutes ago when she became conscious. Now two of them were dead by her hand, and the last one was in survival mode. The remaining Desolator ran ahead of her, no longer willing to fight now that Mifuyu had killed its two companions.

With magical assistance, Mifuyu threw her chakram at the little imp, hoping to bisect its body. But the nimble creature dodged her attack, now seemingly determined to survive no matter what. It was starting to feel like an annoying boss in a video game; no matter what Mifuyu did, the Desolator would not die.

She pursued it through the city, barely taking a moment to really process what had just happened. Yes, she had fallen into a portal (no, two portals that collided into one, that detail seemed important). How long she had been falling, she couldn’t tell. When she came through, she was lying on the ground in the middle of Shinsei Ward, and it was night. A normal, clear evening in Kamihama City.

And that was completely wrong to her. The last thing she saw of Kamihama, it was being devoured by an entity from beyond the veil of what she had called reality. But now the city was as it had always been–busy stores, people walking around, cars on the road–the apocalypse had not come to this place.

There’s only one explanation, Mifuyu realized as she turned a corner after the Desolator. This isn’t my world. It has to be another one.

The thought scared her; Campanella had come from another world, too. In that world, the Seance Shrine Rumor had done its job, and trapped Yachiyo. But then things went entirely wrong. Now Campanella seemed determined to kill Mifuyu, and it sounded like she had already done so, many times. Then there was that other Homura–what world did she come from? What else did she know about that Super-Witch? And what surprises did this world have for her?

The insidious creature was now backed into an alley. Mifuyu made one last attempt and threw her chakram at it. Here goes!

The weapon collided with the wall… and the Desolator was now perched on a wooden fence. It hissed at Mifuyu, before running off.

“No!” Mifuyu ran towards the wall and climbed up it. She looked around; no sign of the creature.

Mifuyu let out a cry of rage. She was already having a bad time, lost in a place that looked like her home but was some other place. And without Homura, she was unsure how she could hope to get back to the others.

Forgoing what she had been taught was a way a proper lady should act, Mifuyu banged her fist against the wooden fence, taking in deep breaths. Homura… She repeated the name in her mind. If she was in another world, then there had to be a Homura around here, right? But it’s not the same one that helped us back in my world, the girl thought bitterly. The one here probably wouldn’t even know what I’m talking about.

After calming herself down, Mifuyu got down from the fence and took out her Soul Gem. To her dismay, she saw that the bright, purple glow of her Gem had now become nearly dark. Whatever Grief Seeds she had on her person had gotten lost when she fell into that portal. She needed to find a new one, right away.

“There has to be a Witch around here somewhere…” Mifuyu said. She transformed back into her civilian form, still wearing the evening dress from her date earlier. She quietly walked out of the alley, trying to pick up a Witch.

A scary thought occurred to her after a while: What if this world didn’t have Witches? What if it didn’t have Magical Girls? Was she going to die alone here? If she became a Witch, would the people of this world be able to fight back against her?

Traveling to different worlds makes my head hurt, she thought to herself. “Now where do I find a Witch…?”

“A Witch? What’s that?”

That voice… that familiar, carefree, chipper voice. Mifuyu felt a cold sweat form on her face. It only belonged to one person, no, one thing. She whirled around immediately.

Standing in the shadow of the grocery store building Mifuyu had been walking by, was none other than the Incubator itself.

“Kyubey,” Mifuyu said, frowning. “They still allow you in Kamihama?”

Kyubey tilted its head. “Of course they do!” it replied. “It’s only through my power that Magical Girls can make contracts.”

So Magical Girls do exist in this world, Mifuyu thought.

“If anyone’s not supposed to be here,” Kyubey began, “it’s you, Mifuyu Azusa.”

“Me?” Mifuyu narrowed her eyes. “And why’s that?”

Kyubey stared back at her. “Because you’ve been dead for over a year now.”

Mifuyu froze. “I… what?”

Kyubey scratched behind its ear with its hind leg. “Yes, this is a curious development, indeed.” It looked at her. “Mifuyu Azusa, alive when she shouldn’t be. And at the same time our sensors detected a spatial anomaly centered around this city.”

“A-anomaly?”

“Oh, yes! We Incubators have the means to monitor the fabric of this universe. It’s how we can tell how our energy collecting is holding off entropy. Our sensors picked up a disturbance in local space-time, a… a glitch if you want to call it that. I came down to inspect things, which led me to you.”

“I… I see.” Mifuyu internally groaned. On the one hand, she should be grateful that Magical Girls existed in this world, because that meant she could get the means to purify her Soul Gem. But at the same time, she didn’t like the idea of Kyubey being around. Surely there were worlds with Magical Girls who didn’t have to put up with the white-furred bastard. If multiple worlds existed, she refused to believe Kyubey was a constant in all of them.

Mifuyu thought about her Soul Gem again. “Look, I’d like to stay and chat, but I have to go hunting before my Soul Gem blackens.” She turned and began to walk away.

Kyubey’s voice called after her. “Well, I can’t exactly stop you,” it said. “I guess if you’ve just come back to this world, it would be a bit of an inconvenience if the Law of Cycles took you again.”

That last part made Mifuyu pause. She turned around. “Law of Cycles? What’s the Law of Cycles?”

Before Kyubey could respond, a chill seemed to pass through the air. Mifuyu looked up.

“Did you feel that?”

Kyubey remained unphased, like always. “Of course I did. This is how it begins, after all.”

“How does what begin?”

Kyubey’s red eyes gazed at Mifuyu. “The swarming.”

“Huh?” Mifuyu jumped as a low moan made itself heard. It echoed throughout the streets, the buildings, even the air.

The lost Magical Girl tensed up, looking every which way. That noise… it couldn’t be a Witch. Witches didn’t make their appearance this obvious. They hid in the shadows, in their Labyrinths. This… this had to be unique to this world.

“Mifuyu Azusa,” Kyubey said. “Behind you.”

Mifuyu turned around, and it was as if all the blood from her face had been drained. “W-what… what is that?!”

Shambling down the street before her was a giant. To MIfuyu, it resembled a Buddhist monk, but in a pure white robe and with equally pale skin. Its face was impossibly gaunt, with empty eye sockets and a lipless mouth that showed its teeth. But what was even stranger was that a fourth of its head appeared to be jumbled up, like pixels in a video game. In fact, there were numerous pixel-like things around it. Its exposed body was so emaciated that she could see its rib cage.

Mifuyu immediately transformed, holding out her chakram. “Kyubey, what is that?!”

“Don’t you know? It’s a Wraith, the enemy of all Magical Girls!”

“Wraith…?” This was what Magical Girls in this world fought?

The Wraith reached out its bony arm towards Mifuyu. Instinctively, Mifuyu threw her chakram at it, the weapon puncturing a hole in the creature’s chest. Immediately the Wraith began to disintegrate, fading away before Mfiuyu’s eyes.

In its place was a small, black cube. Mifuyu walked over and picked it up.

“Is this…?”

“A Grief Cube,” Kyubey explained. “Use it to purify your Soul Gem.”

Mifuyu looked at the Cube for a bit, before holding it to her choker and doing so. Instantly the taint in her Soul Gem was gone, and it glowed brightly once more.

“That wasn’t so hard,” Mifuyu said. Maybe this world isn’t so bad, after all…

“I wouldn’t celebrate so soon,” Kyubey said. “Look!”

He nodded up. Mifuyu looked, and immediately froze. On the roof of the building beside her, half a dozen Wraiths perched. She saw more on another roof, and another. It seemed like they were everywhere. The night sky was filled with that droning groan of theirs.

Mifuyu gripped her chakram in her black-gloved hand. “There’s so many!”

“Well, I did say it was a swarm, didn’t I?”

A groan to her right caused Mifuyu to turn. Across the street a woman was walking home alone. Unbeknownst to her, a Wraith was shambling along behind her.

“No…” Without hesitation, Mifuyu rushed across the street and pushed the woman out of the Wraith’s way, falling down beside her. Before the Wraith could react, she threw her chakram at it, destroying it immediately.

Mifuyu turned to the woman. “Are you okay?!”

No response. She shook the woman by her shoulders. “Hey! What’s wrong?!”

“The Wraith consumed her emotions,” Kyubey said, walking up beside her. “Now she’s just an empty shell.”

Mifuyu grimaced and turned back to the woman. “No…”

The damned groaning went on.

“Mifuyu Azusa,” Kyubey said, “I don’t mean to interrupt you, but you have more pressing matters at hand!”

Mifuyu looked behind. Three more Wraiths were upon her. From the pixels around them, laser beams shot out, aiming for MIfuyu.

Mifuyu barely dodged out of the way, before throwing her chakram at them, cutting them down in one fell swoop. Immediately she made a run for it.

There’s too many! Mifuyu thought. I can’t possibly fight them all!

She closed her eyes as she ran. Immediately, Campanella’s words drifted into her ear. “You’re weak, just like all the others!”

Mifuyu stopped running. “No,” she said to herself. “She was wrong–I’m not weak!” She turned around and faced the Wraiths on the roof before her. They looked down at her, preparing to fire. Mifuyu put herself into a running position, waiting for them to move.

As soon as the first shot of lasers erupted, she leaped into the air, running along the side of the nearest building. Her wooly hair accessories flew in the wind as she ran around. She threw her chakram once more, and soon there were three less Wraiths.

I can do this! Mifuyu thought to herself. She saw another round of Wraiths nearby, and resumed her attack, dodging their lasers and cutting them down as fast as she could. Maybe to the Magical Girls of this world, Wraiths were a challenge to beat. But Mifuyu came from a world where Magical Girls fought scarier monsters. Compared to Witches, these things were dropping like flies.

Seeing a dozen Wraiths fall did little to cheer Mifuyu up, however; it seemed for every Wraith that fell, two or three more took its place. She did every move she knew when it came to using her chakram, but she wasn’t fast enough to make any real dent in the horde’s numbers.

If Yacchan were here, she could probably take care of all of them easily, Mifuyu thought to herself. The idea took root in her heart, and she found herself getting distracted from the battle.

It was an inopportune time for a distraction, because soon a large, flaming spear flew at her. Mifuyu barely came back to the present and jumped away in time, her heart feeling like it would burst from her chest. She found herself sweating despite the cool, night air. It was as if a mini sun had made its presence known. Looking around, she saw that another Wraith had appeared in the distance. It was different from the others, just sitting cross-legged on a nearby building, a large, flaming spear in its right hand. Its face was bisected vertically, revealing a strange pattern in-between.

“What is that thing?!” Mifuyu cried out.

Next to her, Kyubey appeared. “It’s an Acolyte Wraith,” it said. “It’s much stronger than the others. Look out for its…!”

Another flaming spear struck the ground where Kyubey was, causing its white body to explode into fleshy goop. The shock knocked Mifuyu onto her back, and she let out a yelp. She winced in pain, her left leg stuck under a chunk of the ground. Biting back the urge to cry, she stared at the attacker.

Two more Acolyte Wraiths had appeared, flaming spears in their hands. Before them the regular Wraiths began to swarm around her. Mifuyu looked all around, but could barely see the street anymore.

“I can’t do this,” she said quietly. “I can’t beat them all… I really am weak…!” Tears started to well up in her eyes, which she hated. She could only imagine that thing from another universe who was wearing Yachiyo’s face laughing at her. She could hear her voice, exactly like Yachiyo’s, telling her that she knew Mifuyu was weak all along.

The Wraiths continued to swarm around her. Mifuyu closed her eyes.

“Absolute Rain!”

That voice… Mifuyu opened her eyes. Could it be?

She looked around, and saw the sky fill up with a hundred blue halberds. Before the Wraiths could react, they rained down from the night on them, making them burst one by one. It was a spectacular show of exploding monsters, mixed with the sound of metal striking each target.

Mifuyu could only look on in awe. Soon only the Acolyte Wraiths were left. A figure landed on a building next to her, illuminated by the moonlight.

It was a Magical Girl, Mifuyu was certain. She had a cool, mysterious air about her, her halberd in one of her gauntleted hands. She looked at the remaining Wraiths and paid little attention to what else was around her.

It had to be her, Mifuyu thought. Yachiyo!

Without saying anything, Yachiyo leaped towards the three Acolyte Wraiths, summoning more halberds to use as steps as she made her way above the ward. With each step, a halberd flew at a Wraith, damaging it as Yachiyo dodged their flaming attacks By the time she was at the final step, Yachiyo leaped into the air once more, flying towards the Wraiths and striking them with her halberd, making them explode and ridding the ward of the entire infestation at once.

By now Mifuyu had managed to force her leg out from under the rubble. She leaped towards Yachiyo, ignoring the throbbing pain and blood trickling down her leg. She was just happy to see a familiar face again.

“Yacchan!” Mifuyu cried out as she saw Yachiyo gathering some Grief Cubes under a streetlight, “I’m so happy to see you…!”

Yachiyo turned to her, and immediately dropped her Cubes. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

“Mifuyu… what…?” she managed to gasp out.

Up close, Mifuyu got a more detailed look at Yachiyo. She looked overall just like the Yachiyo of Mifuyu’s world. Her Magical Girl outfit had the same armor, the same blue evening dress, the same open-toed shoes, the same headdress… everything. But her hair, instead of being as long and straight as the Yachiyo Mifuyu knew, was cut short, almost like her own hair.

Yachiyo drew out a halberd and pointed it right at Mifuyu’s face. Mifuyu skidded to a stop, wincing at the pain in her leg.

“Y-yacchan…” Mifuyu blurted out.

“You…” Yachiyo glared at her. “What is this? Is this some kind of Wraith trick?”

Oh right, Mifuyu thought. I’m supposed to be dead… She took a deep breath. “Yacchan, it’s me, Mifuyu…”

A pained look appeared on Yachiyo’s face. “No… You can’t be Mifuyu. Mifuyu died a year ago. Her Soul Gem became too corrupted, and the Law of Cycles took her away from this world!”

Again with that Law of Cycles, Mifuyu thought. Just what is it, anyway? “I’m telling the truth, Yacchan,” she said, trying to remain as calm as she could. “I am Mifuyu Azusa. Just not the one from this world,” she added after a beat.

Slowly, hesitatingly, Yachiyo lowered her weapon. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Oh, she is, don’t worry.” Kyubey stepped into the light with them. “We did a diagnostic scan of her molecular structure. She is Mifuyu Azusa, in every way.”

“Except I’m from another world…” Mifuyu said.

Yachiyo glared at Kyubey. “You’re not lying, are you?”

“Why would I do that?” Kyubey asked. “What does lying about this do to benefit me?”

Yachiyo frowned, then turned back to Mifuyu. Her features softened, and for a moment, Mifuyu could see the Yachiyo that she’d only seen when it was just the two of them. Not the veteran Magical Girl who was cold and fierce in battle; instead, it was Yachiyo Nanami, the girl Mifuyu had been friends with for years.

The halberd vanished in a flash of blue light, as did the rest of Yachiyo’s Magical Girl form. Soon she was standing in front of Mifuyu, wearing that familiar black dress with white lapels, short sleeves and polka dots on the skirt. Yachiyo took one step, then two. “Mifuyu…?” she said, quietly, hesitantly.

Mifuyu nodded. “It’s me, Yacchan.”

Yachiyo’s arms were soon around Mifuyu, and Yachiyo’s face was buried in her shoulder.

“Mifuyu…!” Yachiyo choked out, crying on Mifuyu’s shoulder, her whole body shuddering and heaving.

Mifuyu, once the shock had passed, wrapped her arms around Yachiyo. “Yacchan…” Mifuyu herself felt tears beginning to form in her eyes.

“You’re back, you’re really back…!” Yachiyo hugged Mifuyu tighter, causing the latter to yelp when she felt the throbbing pain in her leg again.

“Mifuyu, what’s wrong?” Yachyo asked, looking at her.

“My leg,” Mifuyu said. “I injured it during the fight…”

Yachiyo looked down at it. “Come on,” she said. “I can get it bandaged up back at Mikazuki. Can you walk along until the train?”

Mifuyu looked into Yachiyo’s ocean blue eyes. “I… I think I can manage.”

*** Mikazuki was just like Mifuyu knew it in her world. There was, however, one difference that she noticed when she stepped inside.

“Where is everyone?” Mifuyu asked as she sat down on the green couch.

“Everyone?” Yachiyo asked.

Mifuyu nodded. “Where is Iroha, and Ui, and Sana, and Felicia, and Tsuruno…?”

Yachiyo made a face. “Tsuruno and I no longer work together.”

“Why not?”

Yachiyo looked aside. “I decided it was better this way. My wish kills people. I’m pretty sure it killed you, too.” She left the living room to get some bandages and ointment, and then returned.

“As for the other names you mentioned,” Yachiyo said as she placed the items on the table, “I have no idea who any of those girls are.” Saying that, she got to work applying ointment to Mifuyu’s cut, making the latter wince a bit.

“You never met Iroha and the others in this world…” Mifuyu said quietly as Yachiyo bandaged her leg.

“Yeah, about that…” Yachiyo said, standing up to observe her work. “You’re really from another world?”

Mifuyu nodded. “I am. I ended up here by… by accident.”

“What’s it like? That other place?”

Mifuyu thought for a moment. “It’s a lot like here, as far as I can tell. But we don’t have Wraiths there. Instead, Magical Girls fight monsters called Witches. And they don’t appear out in the open, either. They hide away in these pocket dimensions called Labyrinths.”

Yachiyo had a curious look on her face. “That is different from here,” she said eventually. She moved to sit down next to Mifuyu. Her right leg was very close to Mifuyu’s left, and she rested her hand on it, not too far from Mifuyu’s.

“Uh, yeah.” Mifuyu looked aside, blushing. She reminded herself that this wasn’t the same Yachiyo she was dating. “We don’t have a Law of Cycles, either, actually.”

“Really?” Yachiyo looked at Mifuyu.

Mifuyu nodded. “What is the Law of Cycles, anyway?”

Yachiyo looked up, as if trying to figure out what to say. “We’re not entirely sure, either. But since the beginning of this world, Magical Girls have had to fight Wraiths. That is the price we pay for our wishes. We keep fighting, until the day our souls are taken away from this world.”

“‘Taken away…?’”

“Yes,” Yachiyo said, nodding. “The Law of Cycles guides us to the next world, right at the moment our Soul Gems turn completely black. And we vanish forever.”

“Just as your Gems turn black… then that means that…” Mifuyu trailed off.

“Means what, Mifuyu?”

“... Never mind, I was just rambling.” She took a moment to get her mind back on track, while Yachiyo excused herself to get something warm for the two of them to drink. Perhaps it was best that she didn’t tell this Yachiyo about how Witches were born. Learning the truth about that was awful enough in Mifuyu’s world. But in a world where Magical Girls didn’t need to worry about that? It would probably be worse.

The Law of Cycles sounds like something that would be great to have back home, though, Mifuyu thought. Certainly easier than what we had to do to get the Automatic Purification System.

“I’m not going to lie,” MIfuyu said when Yachiyo returned carrying a tray with two mugs filled with hot chocolate, “this world sounds a lot better than where I came from,” Mifuyu finally said.

Yachiyo frowned. “I wish I could say that. Fighting alone as a Magical Girl can take its toll on someone.” She took the blue mug and sipped quietly on it.

Mifuyu took the purple one and did the same. “You mentioned your wish,” she said, placing the mug back down. “Did you wish to survive like the Yacchan in my world?”

Yachiyo let out a weary chuckle. “So I make the same wish in more than one world, huh?”

“You do,” Mifuyu said. She leaned closer to Yachiyo. “But believe me, Yacchan. Your wish… it doesn’t kill people!”

Yachiyo blinked. “It doesn’t?”

Mifuyu shook her head. “All that wish did in my world was give Yacchan the hope of every Magical Girl she knew who fell in battle. It combined with her magic and made her the powerful Magical Girl she is today. I’m sure the same is true for you!”

Yachiyo gripped her mug. “Is that true…?”

Mifuyu nodded excitedly. “It is!”

“Then all this time,” Yachiyo began, “I didn’t have to fight on my own? I could have been fighting alongside others?”

“Yeah, exactly!”

The sound of Yachiyo placing her mug on the tray echoed through the living room. She shot right back up.

“Yacchan…?”

Yachiyo clenched her fists. “If what you’re telling me is true, then the sacrifices I made to help protect everyone were worthless. Everything I thought I was doing to help people didn’t help anyone at all. I burned bridges and cut off people, and for what? It didn’t matter what decision I made, everyone–Kanae… Mel… Even you… were still going to die.”

She faced Mifuyu. Her eyes seemed especially icy. “Is that… really true?”

Suddenly Mifuyu wished she could sink into the couch like she did in that portal. “I… I guess so…”

Yachiyo looked aside. For a while, she said nothing.

“Yacchan…?”

“... It’s been a long day,” Yachiyo said eventually. “I need to go to bed.” She turned to Mifuyu; there was a very weary look on Yachiyo’s face.

“You probably could use some sleep too, huh?”

Mifuyu looked down at her nearly-empty mug. “I… I guess…”

Yachiyo sighed. “Then that settles it; we can talk more in the morning.”

“Yacchan, I…” Mifuyu trailed off. She wasn’t really sure where else to begin. In the end, she just nodded back. “Sure. Tomorrow then.”

She got up and picked up the tray to place it back in the kitchen, when she suddenly felt Yachiyo’s arms once more, this time hugging her from behind.

“Yacchan…?” Mifuyu turned around, looking at Yachiyo, whose eyes were closed as she leaned against her.

“Sorry, I… I guess I’m just happy to have you back again.”

Mifuyu blushed slightly. “I’m glad I make you feel happy…”

It took a few minutes before either of them moved from that spot.

*** Yachiyo gave Mifuyu one of the spare rooms to sleep in. Her bed was given fresh bed sheets, and Yachiyo even managed to get some old sleeping clothes for Mifuyu to wear. Fortunately both of them were about the same height, so it fit just fine.

Soon Yachiyo retired to bed, leaving Mifuyu to settle into her room. The night outside her window was quiet, as Shinsei Ward tended to be around this time. It was all so strange, though. She was in Mikazuki, but this MIkazuki felt barely lived in. There were no other girls to be found in other rooms, or wandering down the halls. Even her room was sparse and had little in decorations. She felt less at home and more a guest in a strange house.

Mifuyu had a hard time sleeping. She tossed and turned in her bed, but every time she closed her eyes, she kept seeing the chaos that had unfolded back in her world. All the destruction, the people being pulled up into the night sky, consumed by that Super-Witch.

And she had a hard time getting that frightful face out of her mind. It scared her in its familiarity, and at the same time in its complete inhumanity. What happened beyond her world that resulted in a monstrosity like that…?

She tried a few more times to fall asleep, before finally giving up. She opened her eyes and stared at the dark ceiling, before turning towards the window.

The two red eyes glaring back at her from the shadows caused her to jump, only to calm down when she recognized them.

“Kyubey,” Mifuyu said, “what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’ve just been wandering the city. There’s a rogue Incubator, are you aware of that?”

“I… I am.” Mifuyu wondered where that Desolator had gone off to; she hoped some Magical Girls would find it and kill it, should they come across it.

“You look like you could use someone to talk to, too,” Kyubey’s chipper voice commented.

Mifuyu gripped her bedsheets. “I suppose…”

In a split second, Kyubey was on her bed, curling up into a ball and staring at her.

“Being a stranger in a strange world must be quite the experience, huh?” Kyubey asked.

“It is.” Mifuyu eased a little bit. “Everything is all wrong. Yacchan is living alone, I’m…” she closed her eyes a bit, trying to process the words she was about to say, “I’m dead, and Magical Girls are fighting Wraiths instead of Witches. It’s like I’m in a funhouse mirror!”

She looked out at the window. “And I thought telling this Yacchan about her wish would have made her feel better, but… I think I just made her regret her actions even more. I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings like that!”

“There’s not really much I can say about Yachiyo Nanami’s emotions right now,” Kyubey said. “But I suppose it’s natural to be confused. All kinds of factors can affect the choices people make, and the way histories unfold. One theory is that, for every choice someone makes, another dimension is born where the opposite choice has been made.”

“The opposite choice…” MIfuyu frowned. She thought about all the choices she herself had made recently: Joining the Magius, eventually turning against them, and even when she nearly sacrificed her life to save the others from an Uwasa.

“Are you saying that, no matter what I did, or do… in another universe I just made the opposite choice?”

“It’s a possibility,” Kyubey said, moving to scratch behind its ear. “There’s probably a world where we Incubators never aided humanity. Your kind are probably still naked, and living in caves!”

Mifuyu frowned. That didn’t seem much better at all.

“There might even be a world where you lived, while Yachiyo Nanami died,” Kyubey continued. “There might be a world where both of you died.”

Mifuyu gripped her blanket, a lot of negative thoughts piling up in her mind.

“Maybe,” Kyubey began, “there’s a world where the two of you became bitter enemies and fought to the d–”

“Stop!” Mifuyu cried out. She took a moment to calm down, before checking her Soul Gem. There was already some taint in it, so she took out a spare Grief Cube she had gotten and purified it.

“I can dispose of that for you,” Kyubey said as it watched her.

Mifuyu tossed the Cube to it when she was finished, and the thing disappeared in the dimensional door on Kyubey’s back.

Kyubey’s tail waved a bit after that. “I will say, though, Wraiths are plentiful, yet the energy we gain from killing them isn’t fulfilling our quota as fast as we would like.”

“Is that so…?” Mifuyu asked.

“It sure is,” Kyubey replied. “We wouldn’t mind trying alternate means of energy gathering. And if multiple universes truly exist as you say, then that only means there are multiple possibilities!”

It looked up at Mifuyu with its red eyes. “You mentioned earlier that you were looking for something called a Witch.” Despite its unchanging expression, Mifuyu imagined she could see curiosity in Kyubey’s eyes. “Tell me,” it began, “what are Witches, and where do they come from?”

Mifuyu felt a cold sweat breaking out of her, and held back a gasp. “I… I’m really tired, Kyubey. And it would take too long to explain. Let me just go to sleep right now…”

Kyubey stared at her. It closed its eyes and seemed to sigh. “If that’s what you want.”

It hopped off the bed and turned towards a dark corner of the room. “You know, aside from you, there was one other girl who kept talking about other dimensions and timelines.”

That caught Mifuyu’s attention. “Really? Who was it?”

“A Magical Girl named Homura Akemi, from Mitakihara.”

Mifuyu leaned forward, forgoing any attempt to seem tired. “Homura Akemi? Are she and Madoka Kaname still living in Mitakihara?”

Kyubey turned back to her. “Homura Akemi lives in Mitakihara, yes. But as for that other girl you call Madoka Kaname… I have no record of anyone with that name ever existing.”

“I… I see.” That’s strange, Mifuyu thought. Madoka doesn’t exist here?

“Anyway, I’ll see you around,” Kyubey said. “When you’re ready to tell me how Witches work… I’ll be waiting.”

Soon Mifuyu was alone in the dark room. The conversation she just had refused to leave her head.

For every good choice I make, another me somewhere makes a bad one. Is that how all reality balances itself out? Was existence nothing more than an interconnected web of events, with no way to escape fate?

Mifuyu pulled the blankets over her and closed her eyes, trying her best to get the thoughts out of her mind and go to sleep.

She had hoped, at least, to be able to see Yachiyo–her Yachiyo–in her dreams. Instead, she found herself in a green hallway that looked like it was some kind of office building, or something.

In her dream, Mifuyu walked down the green hallway, headed for… somewhere. In a way, it felt as if her feet had a mind of their own. But this place was unlike anything Mifuyu ever dreamed about. It was nothing like her school, or Yachiyo’s bedroom.

Where am I…? Mifuyu didn’t have time to think, because before she knew it, she bumped into someone.

“Geez, watch where you’re going.”

Mifuyu found herself face to face with a girl she had never seen before. She looked to be in her late teens, about the same age as Mifuyu herself. She was a bit on the short side, and had long, wavy black hair and fair skin. Her eyes were equally black, and she wore a green gown.

Mifuyu was about to respond, when another voice did–her own voice.

“Sorry,” Mifuyu’s own voice said, “I didn’t see you.”

Is that really me talking? Mifuyu asked herself. But it can’t be…

“Oh I get it. It’s because I’m short, isn’t it?” The dark-haired girl frowned. “I see how it is.”

“No… I was just thinking about stuff,” Mifuyu’s voice replied again.

“I told you, nothing was going to happen between me and Yachiyo in there!”

Yacchan? Mifuyu became more attentive. Yacchan’s around here?

“I get it, okay?” Mifuyu’s voice sounded hurt. “I came along to help Yacchan. I don’t want any trouble.”

“Fine, then. Be more attentive next time.”

The dark-haired girl went on her way. She didn’t go far before Mifuyu’s vision turned to her, and her voice spoke out again.

“You know, there’s something I’ve been wondering.”

The other girl turned around and looked in Mifuyu’s direction. “What?”

“You didn’t eat dinner with us in the dining hall. Why?”

The dark-haired girl frowned. “I was tired, and wanted to be alone.”

Mifuyu’s voice pressed on. “Ever since we got here, you’ve avoided big crowds. And you also skipped out on the tour we took…”

“I’ve already seen the city, I didn’t need to see it again,” was the girl’s curt reply.

“That’s not all I’ve been wondering about. If you really helped save this place, why were you spending all your time back in Mikazuki? You never bothered to visit here afterwards…”

“... That’s none of your business.” The girl turned to walk away once more.

Mifuyu’s voice spoke up again. “You know, I overheard some maids talking earlier.”

Again the girl stopped in her tracks. Slowly, her head turned and she looked at Mifuyu out of the corner of her eye. “You did, did you…?”

Mifuyu’s vision went up and down, as if she were nodding. “They were talking about you. They heard through the grapevine that you might be back. Do you know what one of them said?”

“... No. Enlighten me, eavesdropper.”

“She said ‘That girl has some nerve to come back here.’ That mean anything to you?”

The other girl’s mouth was in a firm line. She glared in Mifuyu’s direction.

Mifuyu’s voice didn’t waver. “You’re hiding something, aren’t you? The Yachiyo of our world probably knew about it… and it seems she was okay with it. But the one with us right now… You’re afraid how she’ll react if she knows whatever you’re hiding. So you’re trying to keep it a secret from her, for as long as you can.” She stepped forward. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Immediately the dark-haired girl was upon Mifuyu, and grabbed ahold of her arm. Mifuyu’s voice let out a yelp.

“I told you,” the other girl growled, “that’s none of your business…!”

“Hey! What are you two doing?”

The girl turned, and so did Mifuyu’s vision. Another girl was now with them. This one had blonde hair that ended in curls, and magenta eyes. She looked European, but at the same time Mifuyu thought she saw some Japanese in her, too. She was also wearing a vibrant green dress, an asymmetrical gown whose skirt went all the way down to her feet, and left one of her shoulders bare. Even her headband was green.

The other girl looked aside, frowning. “We were just having a conversation.”

“Yeah,” Mifuyu’s voice went. “That… that was all.”

“Well, save it for tomorrow. We have to get up early for the trip. Remember?”

The dark-haired girl looked down. “I… I do.”

“Good,” the blonde girl said. “How about you walk with me, Amare? Our rooms are close to each other, anyway.”

“... Sure.” The girl named Amare walked beside the blonde, and they headed down the hall.

“Bonne nuit, Mifuyu,” the blonde girl said as they headed away.

“... Good night,” Mifuyu’s voice went.

W-what’s going on? Mifuyu thought to herself. As if to answer, her vision changed: she was looking into a mirror on the wall. What she saw nearly made her jump out of her skin.

It was her. The hair was longer, and she was also wearing a green dress, but there was no mistaking those teal eyes, those two cowlicks on her head, or that sad face. She was looking at herself, or a version of herself.

Mifuyu soon woke up once more, and sat up in bed, catching her breath.

“What…” she said, after calming herself down once more, “What was that dream…?”

#parallel worlds record #magia record #madoka magica #puella magi madoka magica #yachiyo nanami #mifuyu azusa #kyubey #fanfic #fanfiction #my writing #my post #yachimifu #text

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