• Published 9th May 2020
  • 1,413 Views, 223 Comments

Magica Ex Dolori - Posh



A wave of suicides sweeps through Canterville. Sunset and the girls can't stop it. But maybe Wallflower Blush can. She just needs someone to show her how. A crossover with Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

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5. Venari Strigas

Wallflower’s bargain bin shoes squeaked with every step. She sounded like a character in a cutesy preschool cartoon as she trudged after Lorelai, whose sharp heels clacked confidently against the pavement.

She'd never cared about accessorizing before. But since becoming a magical girl, she wondered if she should put more effort into her appearance. Maybe she could dress more like Lorelai, who'd added a long, snow-white scarf to her ensemble since the last time they saw one another.

Or maybe she could just wear lots of fancy jewelry. She was already halfway there. In its passive state, her soul gem took the form of a stylish silver band, engraved with runes she couldn't read and set with a green stone. Why not get a matching pair of earrings, or a necklace?

As if I could afford something like that, she thought, slumping. But maybe I can find something nice at the thrift store.

Their pursuit of the witch from the diner, Miranda, took them away from the beating heart of downtown, and into the same shady neighborhood where she and Sunset had encountered Briar Rose. Lorelai said little, silently guiding Wallflower through the city with her soul gem in her hand, following the trail of magic residue that the witch left behind.

Wallflower wasn't sure what, if anything, to read into her silence. Indifference, maybe, or anger. But she appreciated her company, regardless.

After yesterday's talk in the garden, she expected Lorelai to follow up on her promise and compete with her, rather than cooperate. Something must have made her reverse her stance, and whatever it was, Wallflower wouldn't second-guess it. She needed all the help she could get.

The battle at the diner proved that much.

"Hey," she said, as Lorelai led her down a familiar, decaying street. "You mind if I ask you something?"

"Is it about my shoes? I noticed you eyeballing them. They're out of your price range." Lorelai glanced over her shoulder at Wallflower. "I assume, anyway."

Wallflower blinked at the non-sequitur. “That's nice to know, I guess, but I was actually gonna ask something else. Since we're kinda sorta, um, working together, I was thinking that—"

Lorelai froze, mid-step; and pivoted toward Wallflower suddenly. Her scarf's tails whipped through the air as she whirled.

"Quick reminder, in case you forgot." Lorelai's sharp blue gaze bored into Wallflower, frigid and intense. "I don't do partners. I don't do sidekicks. And we're not 'working together.' The only reason I'm out here with you is because you couldn't seal the deal back there, and I want to make sure you don't screw up again."

She tossed her hair behind her shoulder.

"Any questions you have, I'll try to answer 'em, but don't take it as anything more than professional courtesy. We clear, Fluffy?"

...'Fluffy?'

Not wanting to question it, and unable to speak around the lump that just formed in her throat anyway, Wallflower nodded.

"Good. Now." Lorelai cocked her hip and rested her hand on it. "What do you want to know?"

Swallowing the lump, Wallflower toyed with the soul gem around her finger.

"You mentioned that you were after some mega-uber-witch... was that her, back in the diner?"

"You haven't run into the big one yet. Be grateful for that." Lorelai scoffed. "The one in the diner, Miranda, was barely a witch compared to her. She evolved from a familiar."

She resumed her march down the sidewalk. Wallflower stumbled trying to keep up with her, wondering how Lorelai could move so quickly in heels.

"Kyubey told me about familiars," Wallflower said, once she'd caught up. "Witches keep them as pets, right?"

"More like minions," Lorelai replied. "Sometimes they take off on their own, and evolve into witches themselves, complete with their own familiars. That’s what happened with Miranda – those graves you smashed were her familiars."

"He said that could happen, too," said Wallflower. "If I didn't smash those graves, would they have turned into witches someday?"

"Maybe. Familiars need to take a lot of victims before they evolve into fully-fledged witches. Miranda probably ate four, five people’s worth of grief before she fattened up into one."

Wallflower wondered if Moondancer had been among that number. "Is that where all witches come from? Kyubey didn't say."

Lorelai didn't answer immediately – Wallflower noticed her hands clenching, just before she shoved them into her pocket.

"What matters is, that's where Miranda came from. Briar Rose, too." Her words sounded strained; she was speaking through her teeth. "Among others. We're liable to run into them before long."

"How many others?" Wallflower blinked, and behind her eyelids, saw Sunset Shimmer, her arms and legs snared by thorn-covered vines. "Is there another Briar Rose out there? Another Miranda?"

"There will be, sooner or later. There can only be one at a time, see. One familiar becomes Briar Rose, one becomes Miranda, and so forth. But no – Briar Rose is dead for the time being." Lorelai looked back at Wallflower, eyes narrowed. "The number of them isn't where the danger comes from. These witches are especially dangerous because the witch that made them is unusual."

Wallflower drew to a halt beside the yawning mouth of an alley, not so different from the one where they'd met Briar Rose. "Is that the one you're after?"

To her mild surprise, Lorelai slowed down and stopped a few paces away. Wallflower half-expected her to just keep walking without bothering to wait.

She nodded, once.

Wallflower decided to press her luck. "What's so unusual about her? What makes her familiars so dangerous?"

"A lot of things. They're exceptionally strong, and their witch forms reincarnate. But beyond that..." Lorelai turned, facing Wallflower in profile. "Witches are like fishermen. They cast a line, and wait to reel someone in. This witch fishes with a net, though. Gets victims by the dozen. And instead of just feeding on them, she'll use them as anchors."

This got nautical in a hurry. "What do you mean?"

"With enough people under her control, she can bring her labyrinth into this world, merge her dimension with ours, and tear them both up at once. And once the connection's broken – whether 'cuz she flees, dies, or finishes off her victims – she'll leave behind pieces of that labyrinth."

“Like at the diner.” Wallflower thought about all those unconscious bodies among the rubble Miranda left behind, and shuddered.

A few more minutes, and that place really would have been a cemetery.

"Honestly though," said Lorelai, shrugging. "That wasn't as bad as it could have been. I've seen these witches devastate communities, whole neighborhoods. If they all worked together, they could turn this city inside-out – kill every last thing here, or just smash it into a crater. Worst Miranda did was litter, when you get right down to it."

"But like you said, these witches are unique. Exceptions, not the rule." Beads of sweat gathered on Wallflower's upper lip, and she licked them off anxiously. "Most of the time, witches just hide in labyrinths and hunt people one by one. Uberwitch is as bad as they come, right?"

A calm voice from the alley answered. "As powerful as this witch and her offspring may be, there are others still deadlier. And one in particular, whose destructive potential far outstrips all witches, combined."

Wallflower swiveled toward the alley's entrance – she didn't miss the way that Lorelai pulled her fists out of her pockets.

Kyubey padded out of the shadows, his paws squeaking like Wallflower's shoes. He bounded toward Wallflower and scampered up her leg, making her yelp.

"Fortunately, I doubt you'll ever encounter that one," he continued, standing on her shoulder. "Only a handful of magical girls throughout history have. Were it to appear, and you met it as you are now, you would most likely die."

Wallflower scowled and flicked Kyubey where his nose should have been, making him twitch his ears. "Thanks."

"I meant no offense. Under current circumstances, you have a small chance. You both do." He cast a wide-eyed look at Lorelai. "I see you've formed an alliance after all."

"Don't get cute." Lorelai folded her arms. "The hell are you doing here?"

"Carrying out my duty." Kyubey blinked at her. "I'm responsible for advising all magical girls."

"We didn't ask," Lorelai growled. "And we don't need your help."

"Perhaps you don't. But Wallflower Blush does. On that, I believe we both agree." Kyubey cocked his head, jingling with the motion. "Do you object?"

A tremor seemed to run through Lorelai – Wallflower swore she saw her soul gem flicker, once. She worked her jaw in a long, slow circle, and turned around.

"We stand around flapping our gums much longer, the trail will get cold, and this'll all be for nothing." Lorelai popped the collar on her coat and stepped briskly down the sidewalk.

Taking that as approval – at least, it wasn't disapproval – Wallflower followed after her, Kyubey perching on her shoulder like a pirate's parrot.

"She doesn't seem to like you that much," she whispered to Kyubey. "Why is that?"

"I don't entirely understand, myself. Humans are difficult—"

"Pick up the pace, Fluffy!" Lorelai snapped.

Meeping, Wallflower hurried after Lorelai, falling in step close behind her. Yet Kyubey's voice continued to speak with her, echoing in her mind.

"As a species, humans' actions and stated motives often don't match up. Why would Lorelai dismiss the possibility of a partnership with you, only to arrive mid-battle, rescue you from the witch, and then insist on tracking down that witch together? Is that not the definition of a partnership?"

Wallflower watched Lorelai carefully for signs of reaction. Kyubey must have been communicating to her, and her, alone, because she didn't so much as prick up her ears.

"I don't know what she's after, either," she thought back to Kyubey. “But I'm not gonna complain. I'm obviously not ready to do this job on my own.”

"You're being unfair to yourself. Your efforts in that fight were commendable."

"You saw what happened?" Wallflower's cheeks heated – of course he did. "I didn't do anything ‘commendable.' Just made an idiot of myself until Lorelai showed up."

"You saved the witch's victims, though. What higher duty does a magical girl have than protecting the helpless?"

Wallflower shrugged, taking care not to knock Kyubey off her shoulder. "Looking cute in a skirt?"

"I'm sure you'll look back on your first battle much more fondly, someday." Kyubey paused. "There are some facts which Lorelai overlooked. You weren't present for the witch's initial efforts at feeding on the people gathered, but its first attack was, somehow, repelled."

"Repelled?"

"Yes. An outside force disrupted its hold on the victims. And a small number of people present in the diner never fell under the witch's control, either – the group of seven who the witch drew into its labyrinth, whom you rescued."

Wallflower could sense the curiosity underpinning Kyubey's words. He wanted to know what she knew. She pictured the scene as she'd found it: the bodies slipping into their gravestones, and Sunset, and her friends, frantically trying to pull them out. They must've been resistant to the witch's mind control – must've used their magic to break their hold on the diners, the same way they'd broken Wallflower’s Memory Stone.

The question of how much Kyubey knew about that again rose in her mind. If he was in the diner before Wallflower got there, and the girls used their powers on the witch's victims, then he would have seen it happen. But here he was, speaking and acting as if he hadn't – something just broke the witch's possession. Maybe he couldn't perceive, or understand, the kind of magic Sunset used.

Or maybe he was just playing dumb.

Wallflower wanted to say something about it, and almost did. But then she remembered the other night in the diner, and Sunset's voice in her head, warning her not to tell Lorelai about Equestria. If Kyubey didn't know about it, then she didn't want to tip him off. Not yet, anyway. Not when she wasn't sure she could fully trust him.

She wondered if Kyubey could read her mind, the same way that he heard her thoughts telepathically. She hoped – for Sunset's sake – that he couldn't. But he wouldn't be asking her if he could just pick through her mind, and get the answers he needed.

...Right?

"Your guess is as good as mine," she thought.

Kyubey's purring slowed to a stop, and Wallflower felt the familiar skin-crawling sensation of his eyes on her.

"...That's unfortunate," he said. "But no matter. Together, I'm sure we'll solve this mystery."

That seemed to settle the question. Still, Wallflower felt uneasy.

In the short time she'd known Kyubey, she'd never heard him speak with emotion. He said everything with the same cool, diplomatic inflection – the same hollow words in the same hollow voice.

And even though that hadn't changed... something in the way he talked now made her skin crawl, the same way it did when he stared at her, too hard, for too long.


In the hour after the witch's attack, a host of city workers, electrical engineers, and paramedics swarmed the diner.

Sunset watched from the curb across the street, likening them to ants on a picnic blanket. She doubted Pinkie – or any of her coworkers – would still have a job in the morning.

They really should get hazard pay, thought Sunset, hugging her knees to her chest.

The others hadn't stayed to watch with her; they went home one by one after speaking with the paramedics. Sunset felt an obligation to remain, though, and stayed long after the first responders left. She'd told the girls it was just to put her mind at ease – she wanted to make sure that witch didn't come back.

The truth was a little messier than that. Far more personal. And not the sort of thing she expected her friends to understand, as loving and well-meaning as they were.

She felt a gentle nudge on her shoulder, and, blinking, looked up. Twilight had come back, wearing a cardigan and a sad little smile, two paper cups in her hands.

"Artisinal hot cocoa?" said Twilight, holding one out. "It's from Roasty Toaster's."

"I was unaware that hot cocoa could be artisanal." Sunset accepted the cup and lifted the cap, drawing in a rich, chocolatey breath. "What's in this?"

"Well, they took some chocolate powder and poured milk into it, stirred it up real nice, and topped it off with whipped cream. They say it's gonna take the world by storm."

Sunset glowered at her from behind her cup. The sour expression vanished as soon as she took her first rich, bold taste of the cocoa. "Hot damn."

"See? Urban renewal has its upsides."

"'Til I get urban-renewed right out of my apartment, and some pig tears it down to build a gastropub. But hey, maybe they'll let me rent the attic for two thousand dollars a month."

She was forcing the bitterness, and she knew it. How could she be bitter when the cocoa was so sweet?

"How'd you know I'd be here?" Sunset said, changing the subject.

"I implanted a chip in your sternum back at Camp Everfree. In addition to acting as a GPS tracker, it feeds me a constant stream of info about your bodily functions. Your blood sugar's low right now."

"Great. As if I needed another thing to keep me up at night."

"I always wanted to be the reason a girl stayed up late." Twilight unbuttoned her cardigan and settled beside Sunset on the curb. "What'cha thinking about?"

"Buncha stuff." Sunset sipped, relishing every drop. "You know, this is the second time since Sunday night that I've watched paramedics wheel away people I know."

Twilight whistled. "Hope that doesn't become a trend."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it does. The way our lives tend to go... maybe this'll be the new normal." Sunset swirled her tongue around in her mouth, licking up every bit of chocolate that she could. "This is really tasty, Twi."

"Glad you enjoy it." Twilight let a moment pass in silence, broken only by the slurpy sounds of two girls sipping from paper cups.

Eventually, she set her cup down and took off her glasses – they'd fogged up with steam, and she wiped them off on the front of her shirt. She cleared her throat with a dainty little cough.

"It probably goes without saying," she said. "But I didn't just come out here because I thought your blood needed sweetening."

Sunset balanced her cup between her thighs and folded her hands over her lap, her thumbs playing against one another.

Twilight continued, with some hesitation in her voice. "Are you okay?"

"Paramedics talked to me, gave me a clean bill of health."

Twilight frowned. "You know, the 'aloof tough girl' act doesn't fool me. It never has."

Her hand joined both of Sunset's on her lap.

"It's one thing if you don't want to talk about it. Just say the word, and I won't pry. But, please, don't dodge the question. And don't deflect." Her thumb stroked Sunset's knuckles, coaxing her hand open so she could clasp it in her own. "I mean, c'mon, I bought you hot cocoa. I deserve better than that."

Sunset laughed and scoffed simultaneously. She lowered her head to watch Twilight's thumb as it stroked, gently, rhythmically, across her own. Squeezing once, she pulled away and stood, her cup in hand.

"There's something I didn't tell you the other day," she said. "About what happened the night I ran into Cadance. Something I haven't told anyone about – not Wallflower, not even Princess Twilight."

Sunset looked up at the diner, glimpsed her distant reflection in its window, and promptly averted her eyes.

"Just before things got really bad, I tried going inside Cadance's mind. Reading her thoughts. And I saw... me." A chill ran through Sunset. "Or, no. That's not accurate. I saw Cadance, but she had my face on. Stretched over hers, like a mask."

Twilight took a silent moment to process what she said. "I assume that's not a regular occurrence when you use your powers."

"No. First time it's ever happened. I didn't understand what it meant, didn't really want to think about it, to be honest. But now I can't get it out of my head. Can't stop asking myself what it meant. Or if I'd have seen the same thing if I used my powers on Tip-Top today. Or if..."

She trailed off, prompting Twilight to prod. "If what?"

"...Running into Briar Rose, when and where and how I did? Before today, I wrote that off as a coincidence. Now, though? First witch I run into happens to be someone I just talked to? Someone I'm meeting in an isolated part of the city, without my friends to back me up?"

She heard Twilight sip, and smack her lips. "You think Cadance was bait."

"Yeah. And whatever the vision meant, I can't say, exactly. But I know this much." Sunset turned toward Twilight. "Those two witches were willing to kill people by the dozen just to get me. And if there really are more witches out there, then they're gonna keep coming after me, and a lot more people are gonna get caught in the crossfire."

"I guess your friend Lorelai was wrong. This is your problem, after all." Twilight hummed thoughtfully. "Or, rather, it's our problem."

Sunset hesitated. She drained the rest of her cocoa, then crushed the cup in her fist and tossed it in the gutter. "I think you had it right the first time. Maybe this one should just be my problem."

"What do you mean?" Reproach crept into Twilight's voice. "You shouldn't litter, y'know."

"Glad you have your priorities in order Twi," Sunset muttered, shaking her head. "Look, I've gone over what happened today, over and over again. What almost happened, to me, to you, to the girls. To Tip-Top, and Celery, and... and Cadance, the other night, too. And Wallflower could've—"

She fell silent as she recalled what did end up happening to Wallflower.

She's as deep in this as I am now. Isn't she?

Twilight's gaze softened behind her still-foggy lenses. "None of that is your fault, Sunset."

"That's not where I'm going with this," said Sunset, holding up her hands. "I know I'm not responsible for anybody getting hurt, and all those people would probably be dead if we weren't around to save them. But they also wouldn't have been in harm's way without me, either. If there are more witches out there, and they all want a piece of me too, then anybody close to me is gonna be in danger."

Twilight absorbed that in silence, nodding thoughtfully. Then she stood, walked over to Sunset.

"Have you noticed that tends to happen a lot?" she said. "I mean, for goodness sake, this isn't even the first time someone's had a vendetta against you. We're pretty well used to danger by now. I think the girls would agree."

"This is different, Twi," Sunset retorted. "This isn't a case of magic possession, or of someone picking up a cursed artifact and going mad with power. We're flying blind, facing off against something I don't know the first thing about fighting, something that's come close to offing me twice now, and caused a lot of collateral damage. And I..."

She trailed off, and glanced away, gripping one of her arms self-consciously.

Twilight leaned into her line of sight, blinking. "And you...?"

"...I don't know what to do about it." Ashamed, Sunset met Twilight's gaze. "I just know that I don't want anyone else getting hurt on my account."

Twilight's lips twitched. She bent to pick Sunset's crumpled, discarded cocoa off the ground. Straightening, she examined the two cups in her hands.

"You really shouldn't litter, you know," she murmured. Her gaze flicked toward Sunset; her lips twitched into a smile. "If our positions were reversed, and I wanted you to stay out of my problem because I didn't want you getting hurt on my account... I'm pretty sure you'd ignore me, and do as you pleased."

"Probably. That's how it's worked out in the past." Sunset thought about Camp Everfree, about the Friendship Games, and reached across her body to grip her arm. "And maybe I shouldn't—"

Twilight cut her off with a finger to her lips. Firmly, yet sweetly, she spoke.

"I wouldn't be here right now if you hadn't insisted on sharing my burdens. That's what friendship's all about. That's what you taught me." She pulled away from Sunset's lips, letting her hand dangle at her side. "I know this is tough, and I know you're shaken up right now."

"I'd describe myself as stirred, not shaken—"

"I can, and will, throw this cup at your head," said Twilight sternly. "There's no way we're going to let you give yourself to the wolves. If these witches want you, they gotta go through us. And if they try to hurt anyone else, we'll stop them together."

"...We know we can do that much, at least, yeah," said Sunset. "Disrupt the witches' possession, keep the victims safe. And then..."

...And then what? she thought bitterly, when she realized she didn't know where to go from there. Babysit them until Wallflower and Lorelai show up to save the day?

The thought brought on a wave of bitterness, and she shook her head, clearing it from her thoughts. "We'll figure something out. You're right about one thing, though."

"I'm right about a lot of things."

"One thing in particular, then," amended Sunset, rolling her eyes. "We stand the best chance of getting through this by working together. I'm sorry if I tried to push you away. I just... I don't want you guys getting hurt on account of—"

Twilight tossed Sunset's discarded cup at Sunset's head.

Sunset blinked from the impact, and glared at Twilight. "Was that really necessary?"

"Yes. And from here on out, I will do it every time you try to push me away. Consider this fair warning." Twilight picked the cup off the ground again, wiggling it in the air with a simper. "You don't live too far from here, right? Why don't I walk you home?"

Sunset brushed a curl of hair out of her face, turning away so that Twilight couldn't see her crack up. Deep down, she'd been hoping Twilight – and all the girls, too – would insist on staying with her.

Maybe that was selfish of her. Maybe she'd regret it. For now, though, it was a ray of hope to cap off a very, very bad afternoon.

"Actually, I got something I wanna do first," she said to Twilight. "Why don't you tag along?"

Twilight crooked her arm for Sunset, and giggled as Sunset slid hers through. "Where are we going?"

Sunset patted her hand. "I've got a friend I wanna check up on."


Slack-jawed and dumb, Wallflower gazed at where Lorelai's soul gem had led them: the sprawling, fruit-scented, child-infested, calliope-scored and widely adored amusement park known far and wide as Hick's Cherry Ranch – and, locally, as just "Hick's."

"You've got to be kidding me," she said to Lorelai. "This is where that witch went to hide?"

"Possibly. Then again, maybe it just passed through on its way someplace else." Lorelai closed her hand around her soul gem; rays of light peeked through the gaps in her fist as the green stone transformed into a ring around her finger. "Either way, the trail leads here. We'll have to get inside and search the grounds if we wanna know whether it ends here, too."

"You're actually serious, aren't you?" Wallflower raised an eyebrow. "I know I'm new to this and all, but this doesn't exactly scream 'witch's lair' to me."

"And that greasy spoon diner does?" said Lorelai. "I don't get why this is so hard for you to wrap your head around."

"Yeah, but that's at least close to the neighborhood where all those suicides..." Wallflower trailed off as something in her head clicked. "...Wait. Come to think of it."

Lorelai's expression softened. "What's up?"

"Something I overheard at school the other day." Wallflower massaged her temples as she tried to recall more concrete info. "A rumor about people at Hick's going missing, workers turning up dead. Something the park was trying to hush up."

Lorelai and Kyubey looked at one another – and for once, there wasn't abject disgust in Lorelai's gaze. "A rumor, huh?"

"I know, I know. Stupid thing to bring up." Giving up on recalling anything, Wallflower sighed, and slumped. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You'd be surprised how often we rely on rumors in our line of work." She paused, and added, "You remember that, okay?"

Wallflower nodded, in something of a daze – she'd expected Lorelai to chew her out. "Still, though. Kind of surreal that we're looking in a theme park for a man-eating grief-monster."

She felt a fuzzy, warm sensation against her cheek as Kyubey bonked her with his head. "Your confusion is natural. Witches generally select abandoned or secluded environments as their territory, and prefer areas where people are prone to conflict, or negative emotions. It's also rare for witches to hunt during daylight hours."

"They mostly come at night," said Lorelai, falsetto. "Mostly."

Slowly, Wallflower and Kyubey swiveled their heads to look at her.

Lorelai stared back, her expression fading, a long silence broken only by the distant noises from the park.

"...In any event," Kyubey continued, ignoring Lorelai's flush of chagrin. "These witches are far from typical. We should expect the unexpected from them."

"Telling me how to do my job now," Lorelai muttered. She shouldered past Wallflower and strode toward the ticket stands. "Let's go, Fluffy."

Is she mad that I didn't get it? Wallflower thought.

The ticket lines were mercifully short, and within minutes of queuing up, Lorelai and Wallflower were eye-to-eye with a ticket-taker wearing the ghoulish mask of a grinning woman, her eyes half-lidded and her face spotted with freckles shaped like cherries.

It was supposed to be Hickory Switch, the park's friendly mascot. It just looked like a skin-eating, cherry-themed serial killer. Wallflower shuddered as the ticket-taker looked at her, silent and expectant.

Wallflower gulped, suddenly recalling a recurring nightmare she had about that face, gnashing its teeth and drawing closer and closer to her bed while she lay paralyzed from head to toe, unable to breathe or speak or scream.

Lorelai slammed a fifty dollar bill onto the counter.

"Gimme two tickets and keep the change," she said brusquely. "Buy yourself something pretty. Maybe a face lift."

The worker passed two paper slips through the hole at the bottom of the service window, along with two folded maps of the park.

"They make us wear these," said a woman's tired voice. "Enjoy your visit to—"

"Have you heard of anyone disappearing around here lately?" Wallflower blurted.

Before the worker could respond, or react in any way, Lorelai forced out an insincere laugh and hooked her arm around Wallflower's neck. She muscled Kyubey off Wallflower's shoulder in the process, and he fell to the ground with a rubbery squeak.

"Crazy cousin Fluffy," she chuckled, noogying gently. "Blood sugar runs low, and she asks silly questions. Let's go shove a cherry pie up your pie-hole before you say anything else."

Noogying her again, harder this time, Lorelai flashed a toothy grin to the still-staring park employee. She dragged Wallflower toward the turnstiles, only releasing her when they were a safe distance away from the ticket counter.

"What was that all about?" Wallflower whined.

"We're supposed to keep a low profile when we're out hunting – that means we generally don't advertise that we're out hunting." Lorelai dropped her voice to a hiss. "You're new at this, so I won't hold it against you. But, from now on, be subtle. Got it?"

Rubbing her neck, Wallflower nodded, as Kyubey climbed up her leg and mounted her shoulder again. "What's subtle about a headlock, huh?"

Lorelai just gave her a flat look, eerily reminiscent of Hick's, and handed Wallflower a ticket and a brochure. Wallflower stuffed both into her back pocket, and followed Lorelai toward the turnstiles leading into the park.

One summer, when Wallflower was ten, her father bought the family monthly passes to Hick's, intending to use them every weekend. At the time, Wallflower felt ecstatic at the possibilities, a feeling which only grew when she passed beneath the park's threshold for the first time.

Clinging to her parents' hands – her mother on her left, her father on her right – she'd marveled at the fruity kingdom stretching out before her. At ten, she was already too cynical to truly believe that she'd entered a world of make-believe, and left her cares behind. But part of her had clung on to the tatters of that fantasy, gripped it tightly throughout the day.

She wished she could recapture that feeling now. Instead, she only felt a slow, roiling anxiety as she counted down the seconds to her next confrontation with a witch.

Attendance was characteristically sparse for a Tuesday afternoon – she knew that much from listening to classmates gab about their day trips. The park hosted a thin crowd, mostly teenagers with annual passes who either just got out of class, or never went to class to begin with. Come evening, though, the park would be bustling, with people packing together like sardines, pressed so close that they could hardly breathe.

Just thinking about it made Wallflower feel claustrophobic.

A green flash in the corner of her eye drew her attention – Lorelai had drawn out her soul gem, cradling it in her palm with a pensive expression on her face. Wallflower did a cursory check to make sure nobody saw – they didn't seem to be paying attention – and drew closer to Lorelai.

"Where to now?" she said, her voice hushed.

"Not sure. Now that we're inside, I can definitely say that there's a witch here, but I'm having trouble picking up her trail." She closed her hand around her gem, sighing. "Dammit."

"It's camouflaging itself," said Kyubey, twitching his ears. "Diminishing and masking its own magic signature."

"I was about to say that, Mister Narrator," Lorelai scoffed. "But thanks."

"So she's incognito, huh?" Wallflower cupped her chin. "Is that normal? Do all witches have a stealth mode?"

"Generally, no," said Lorelai. "Certain members of this family do, but I've never known Miranda to. If this is her, then who knows what other tricks she has up her sleeve?"

"'If?'" The sharp, pointed emphasis Wallflower placed on the word made Lorelai stiffen. "You mean you don't know?"

"I mean... it probably is." Lorelai curled a strand of hair around her finger, glancing away. "It's tough to tell with these witches. They all come from the same family tree, and their signatures are all pretty much the same. I don't always know who I'm dealing with until we're face-to-face."

Wallflower folded her arms. "Briar Rose didn't have a face."

"Miranda has two, if you want to be pedantic. What difference does it make?" She gave the curl a tug before letting it bounce back into shape. "If we can't follow her trail, then we don't have any choice but to search the whole area. Our soul gems should react once we get close to the labyrinth."

Wallflower nodded – her ring started flashing when she got close to the one in the diner, which had been her second sign that something was wrong. Her first was that the sign in the window of a 24-hour diner said 'CLOSED.' "Any idea where we should start looking?"

Kyubey hummed. "A witch operating in populous territory will usually seek out an isolated, unassuming space to establish its labyrinth. In a crowded area such as this, we would be best served looking someplace that people tend to avoid."

"And that might be...?"

"Hell if I know," said Lorelai. She'd been staring at Kyubey while he spoke, but now turned her attention to Wallflower. "You're from around here, and I'm not. You must know this place pretty well, right?"

"I've been here once, with my parents. I really can't tell you much. But, um..." Wallflower cupped her hands and pushed her index fingers together timidly. "There's this urban exploration channel I'm subscribed to – you know, guys sneaking into abandoned places, giving little walking tours? They talk a little about the place's history, show you all kinds of neat secrets—"

"Get to the point."

Wallflower eeped. "The other day, they did a show on the Magnus Amphitheater. It used to be the concert venue for the park, until it shut down earlier this year. It's still there – just fenced off from the rest of the park, totally deserted."

"'Totally deserted,' you say." Lorelai's jaw worked thoughtfully. "As good a place to start as any. You know the way?"

"No... but, uh... I got this to help." Wallflower reached for the map in her pocket, tugged it out, and unfolded it. She scanned the pages, frowning slightly as Kyubey nudged under her chin to get a closer look.

She checked the map's directory first, but the amphitheater wasn't listed – the park must've struck it from promotional materials after it closed down. There were enough landmarks in the video that she could make an educated guess about its location, however.

Sure enough, right at the spot on the map where she'd expect it to be was a wide, irregularly shaped blob of blank space, enclosed by a dotted line, with the words "COMING SOON" printed inside.

"Paydirt," Wallflower mumbled.

She traced her finger along the map, trying to find the best route there, until finally, she lifted her head, and stared out at Canterville's second tallest roller coaster: a sheer, vertical pillar of tracks and rails, visible from miles out.

Wallflower swallowed. "Okay, yeah. I think I can get us there."

Turning halfway, Lorelai swept her arm with a mock bow. "Lead on, then."

Wallflower's heart did a little jump. Blushing, she took the lead, Lorelai's heels clacking on the pavement as she followed.

"This place looked pretty big from the outside," Lorelai remarked. "How far do we have to go?"

"You see the Flying Golem over there?" said Wallflower, pointing. "It was in the background of the video, right at the start. By the look of things, the amphitheater was pretty close to it."

"Making us schlep all the way out there, after schlepping all the way here? Miranda's really making us work for our grief seed." Lorelai looked warily at Kyubey, who was grooming himself on Wallflower's shoulder. "The cat explained grief seeds, I assume."

"He did, yeah." Wallflower reached over and ticked the top of Kyubey's head, and he nuzzled against her finger in response. "Witches drop them when they die, and we use them to clean off our soul gems after a fight."

"And I recycle used seeds to prevent overuse, which could lead to the birth of additional witches," Kyubey added. He pressed his cheek hard against Wallflower, and pulled away. "It's a highly efficient, mutually beneficial arrangement – a system with virtually no wasted energy."

"It's nice to know that witch-hunting is eco-friendly." Wallflower bit her lip. "Seems like there's something wasted, though. If seeds are so scarce, and we always end up giving them to Kyubey, then the amount of grief seeds in the world should always be stagnant. Or, worse, trending down."

"More or less," said Lorelai. "Puellae magi come to blows over grief seeds all the time. And in situations where two or more do collaborate to take down a witch, things tend to fall apart when it comes time to decide who gets the reward."

Lorelai watched, with detached interest, as a cherry-shaped balloon that had gotten away from its owner drifted lazily through the air.

"Alliances are fragile, at best," Lorelai said, after some contemplation. "We're better off as competitors, like I said."

Wallflower nodded. We all need grief seeds, she thought. But there just aren't enough to go around. The wind rustled her map, and she shook it once to straighten it.

"It seems like there's untapped potential there," she said. "I'm kind of surprised there isn't more of a market surrounding these things."

Lorelai scoffed. "Who's gonna buy 'em?"

"I dunno, there must be somebody. We kill monsters, get their seeds, sell them to a collector – like, I dunno, Beyond the Boundary."

"What the hell are you—?" Lorelai shook her head, refocusing. "Humans can't even see grief seeds, Fluffy. They only have value to magical girls."

"And myself," Kyubey interjected.

"And they're so valuable that we'd lose more than we gain no matter what we traded 'em for," she finished, ignoring Kyubey. "They're not just valuable because they're scarce. We only have one basic need, and that's grief seeds."

The path forked, then: an intersection marked by a grinning statue of an anthropomorphized giraffe in coveralls, wearing a nametag that said "Cherrypicker," crossing his arms to point in opposite directions. Far behind him, the Flying Golem loomed. Wallflower stopped to quickly scan the map, to figure out which way to take. Lips moving silently, she read through it, glancing up at Lorelai.

She again eyed Lorelai's shoes and scarf, frowning.

"Nobody pays us," she said. "But you're always dressed like you're on a runway, and you dropped fifty bucks on our tickets like it was nothing. Doesn’t add up."

"You got me, kid. I lied because I didn't want you finding out about my buyer and undercutting me." Lorelai flicked a curl over her shoulder. "Truth is, I sell my grief seeds to this old man in a room full of Chinese lamps. He says he'll be rich someday."

"That's... oddly specific. And probably not true." Wallflower raised an eyebrow. "You keep saying things I don't understand. It's kind of annoying."

"What, but I'm supposed to know what the hell 'Behind the Bedroom’ is? How do you think I feel?"

“It's 'Beyond the Boundary.' You don't gotta be mean about it." Wallflower pulled the map up to her face, hiding her pout. "Fuyukai desu."

"What was that?"

"I said, 'left at the giraffe."

They took a shortcut through Cherrybud Meadow, an area of small-scale attractions built with younger kids in mind. She had vivid memories of it from her last visit – despite being ostensibly too old for it, Cherrybud catered more to Wallflower's sensibilities than anything else in the park.

It surprised her how well she remembered the area, after she'd spent so many years trying actively to forget that trip. Occasionally, they'd pass something that she recognized, and the sight would send fleeting memories of her previous visit rushing through her – feelings, sensations, half-remembered verbal exchanges.

Even more surprising? They weren't bad memories. She found herself welcoming them.

There was the bathroom where her father had gone to wash off the cherries jubilee she'd spilled all over his shirt. There was the ring toss game where her mom won that big, plush snail after Wallflower insisted she wouldn't leave the park without it. There was the cart where Wallflower ate her first churro – drizzled in cherry syrup – and afterward felt like she'd touched the face of God.

It was enough to make her wish that there'd been more than one trip. But whatever her father had intended when he bought those passes, they never had a second day at Hick's.

Their path ended abruptly at a chain-link fence, covered in a canvas tarp and planted smack in the middle of the walkway. The wall curved, closing off a wide space.

The park's management had tried to make it blend with the rest of Hick's theme, decorating the tarp with the same creepy mascots as the rest of the park, but it was obviously a recent, and temporary, addition.

Wallflower looked down at her map, only for a fleeting shadow to pass overhead. Blinking, she looked up, and felt her heart skip.

Not far away, the Flying Golem towered, casting its considerable shadow toward the entrance of the park like the needle of a compass. Thrilled screams and shrieks echoed down to them from the cars at the top, filling Wallflower's heart with a stinging, nostalgic yearning.

"This looks like the place," said Lorelai as another train rumbled down the track. "I think there's a gate just a little down the way. We should probably—"

Kyubey interrupted her by bounding off of Wallflower's shoulder and scampering up the fence. Pausing at the top, he looked down at Wallflower, shook his head, and hopped over to the other side.

"...I mean, we could do it that way, too," said Lorelai, folding her arms. "But seeing as we're not invisible, we might be a tiny bit conspicuous."

Wallflower folded the map and slid it into her back pocket again. She smiled wanly up at the Flying Golem, shielding her eyes against the afternoon sun's rays.

She heard Lorelai's heels click on the pavement as she drew a little closer. "Something wrong?"

"Not exactly wrong, just..." A car passed overhead, throwing a fleeting, cool blanket of shadow over her. "I really wanted to ride that thing the last time I was here. But I couldn't."

Lorelai gave a disinterested grunt. "Too short?"

"No, I was tall enough. Just barely." Wallflower tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Mom and Dad just had other plans, that's all."

Well. Mom had one plan, and Dad had another, and while they were arguing over whose plan was best, Wallflower had slipped free from her mother’s hand...

She shook her head, and shook the memory away.

"You know, we'll probably have some time after we're done with that witch. And we got these tickets." Wallflower lifted a finger for emphasis. "What do you say? Take a ride with me?"

The corners of Lorelai's lips twitched; her eyes briefly narrowed. "I'll pass, kid."

"Why not?" Wallflower wilted, her finger shriveling back into her hand. "Is there some rule in the contract that says we're not allowed to have fun?"

"Don't be ridiculous. It's not fun I'm opposed to. Roller coasters just aren't my idea of fun, that's all."

"Scared of them?"

"There's not a thing on this earth that scares me," Lorelai said. "But you stay in this line of work for long enough, and a lot of things lose their luster. Roller coasters among them. You'll see what I mean, sooner or later. And by the way, a word of advice..."

Lorelai paused, flipped the tail of her scarf from one shoulder to the other.

"A trip like this is supposed to be for business, not pleasure. Any magical girl worth her salt knows that. If you ever want to be good at this, you'll learn that lesson, and take it to heart."

She turned, her heels tap-tapping as she strode toward the wall's doorway.

"Why do you care?"

Lorelai froze. She turned around to look at Wallflower, probably as surprised as Wallflower herself that she'd said anything.

"What?" she said.

Wallflower’s gut clenched – but she didn’t look away.

"You said you didn't care whether or not I became a magical girl. You said you don't do partners, or sidekicks, and that we were competitors, not friends. You could probably knock out this witch on your own and take the grief seed for yourself. Instead, you're tagging along with me, answering questions, giving me advice," said Wallflower. "Why? Why do you care?"

Lorelai wound a curl of hair around her finger, looking away. "I don't. I just can't have some amateur puella magi running around half-cocked, making a mess and giving us all a bad name. If I wanna look good, I gotta make you look good. That's all."

She glanced, silently, at Wallflower. Then, with a cough, she spun around, and briskly headed away.

Wallflower stayed where she was a moment longer, watching her retreat. She cast one last, longing look up to the Flying Golem.

Smiling to herself, she hurried to catch up with Lorelai.


The fence's gate had a sign posted to it, featuring Hickory Switch riding on a bucking cartoon donkey, with a word bubble proclaiming the area beyond off-limits, and advising guests to "get their kicks elsewhere."

It was the most whimsical "No Trespassing" sign Wallflower had ever seen.

Lorelai looked down at the latch – it had a padlock clamped over it. "You don't suppose this is the only way inside, do you?"

Wallflower shrugged. "The video I saw started with the guys already inside the arena."

"Hmm." Lorelai frowned, then reached for the lock. "Keep an eye out, would you?"

"Why? What're you gonna do?" When she didn't get an answer, Wallflower chuckled nervously. "You're not gonna break the door down, are you? Because we might as well have just jumped over if you were gonna do that."

Ignoring her, Lorelai ran her thumb over the keyhole. A green light shone from the opening, and vanished in the same instant. With a pointed look at Wallflower, Lorelai pulled the lock free, lifted the latch, and cracked the gate open.

"Hurry up and get inside," she said with a jerk of her neck.

Confused, and feeling a bit silly, Wallflower ducked under Lorelai's arm and slipped through. Lorelai glanced around the area before following, pulling the gate shut behind herself.

Magnus Amphitheater was a throwback to ancient Greece, despite its name being Latin: all molded stucco facades, cracked enough to reveal hard concrete underneath. Along the wall, behind grimey glass panes, were posters advertising the different acts that'd played at Hick's in happier times. Songbird Serenade, Sapphire Shores, B.B.B.F.F...

The final show had been the Rainbooms. Their poster hung right at the amphitheater entrance. Sunset grinned confidently from behind the glass pane, flanked by her friends in matching ouftits – Twilight was missing, so it must have been before the Friendship Games.

The marquee above the ticket booth still advertised them too, albeit with a few missing letters.

"Ah, yes, the Inboos." Wallflower muttered, elbowing Lorelai. "I have all their albums at home."

Lorelai didn't react – to the joke, or the elbow.

Kyubey awaited them at the ticket counter, grooming himself between two cracking columns that framed the service window.

"You'll be pleased to know that there are no humans in this immediate area," he said. "What's more, Wallflower guessed correctly. There is a witch's labyrinth here."

Wallflower couldn't suppress her smile – a hunch of hers turning out to be right was a rare and precious occurrence. Already, she felt the shame of her previous screw-up melting away.

If this was what confidence felt like, she could definitely get used to it.

Lorelai stared intently at the Rainbooms' poster, her face a blank, expressionless mask.

"...I get it now. 'Inboos.' Kinda funny, I guess."

She stepped past the amphitheater entrance, and headed down the path to the stage. Wallflower paused to let Kyubey scamper up her leg and perch on her shoulder before following.

The deeper they descended into the amphitheater, the greater the contrast between it and the rest of the park became. Glass bottles and empty snack wrappers littered the aisles, and little mounds of cigarette butts and ash collected on the concrete benches. Someone had been sneaking in here besides herself and Lorelai – kids, probably.

That, or the park employees had turned it into some kind of unofficial smoking area. Maybe that was how the witch got its victims.

Lorelai paused in front of the sad-looking stage – there was nothing left but a raised platform and a few sad-looking lights still drooping limply from the overhang. She drew out her soul gem, and a shape materialized on the stage: a floating ring of glyphs that Wallflower couldn't read, with five gently flickering flames, splayed out like flower petals.

"That's the entrance to the labyrinth, right?" Wallflower tilted her head quizzically. "It looks different from the one at the diner."

"That's because this isn't her." Lorelai's face was blank as she regarded the symbol. "It's from the same family, though, no doubt about that. I must've gotten Miranda's signature mixed up with this one's."

Wallflower blinked. "So... this isn't the same witch we fought before?"

"It's not even a witch – not yet, anyway. It's a familiar." Lorelai swore under her breath. "Of course. It wasn't camouflaging itself; it just wasn't strong enough to hone in on. Stupid mistake."

"But an easy mistake to make, given these witches' unusual properties." Kyubey twitched his ears, and looked at Lorelai. "I sense a fully formed labyrinth beyond this barrier. This familiar has been feeding regularly, if not quite enough to complete its evolution."

"So the rumors were true." Wallflower folded her arms smugly. "And you thought I was crazy for asking."

Lorelai just gave her a flat, unamused look. Then she turned, stuck her hands back into her coat pockets, and started back up the path, heels scraping against the worn pavement.

"What are you—?" Wallflower's posture faltered as she watched Lorelai retreat. "Where do you think you're going?"

"You heard the cat. That thing hasn't fed enough to become a full-fledged witch yet. You're not gonna get a grief seed from it." She sucked her teeth. "Zero for two today. What a waste of an afternoon."

That disdain, that complete non-reaction to the familiar's presence... Wallflower felt like she was talking to a stranger. "We tracked down a familiar, we cornered it, and we have a chance to nip it in the bud before it becomes a witch. I don't see how any of that—"

"Tip from an old pro, kid. You want it to become a witch before you kill it."

Her words slapped Wallflower across the face. "What?"

Lorelai turned, silhouetted against the sun.

"You fight a witch, you expend magic. The witch drops a grief seed, you replenish your magic. You don't get a grief seed, you got no way to fix yourself up after the fight. You following?”

She pulled one hand from her pocket and swept it through her golden curls, then rested it on a hip. Sunlight glinted off the metal band around her finger.

"Trust me," she added. "I know what's behind that barrier. It's not worth fighting that one just to walk away empty-handed, even if she hasn't gone witch yet."

"That point may become moot shortly," Kyubey interjected, before Wallflower could respond to Lorelai. "This familiar is very close to becoming a fully-formed witch – perhaps only one victim away. And there is somebody inside that labyrinth."

A cold shot of adrenaline spread from Wallflower's heart, through her veins. She stared at Lorelai, searching, pleading.

Lorelai's eyes flicked between the barrier, and Wallflower's face. Her hand slipped off of her hip, dangled at her side. Her lips twitched, forming words she didn't speak.

She said nothing. She did nothing. Maybe she was just undecided, mulling it over. But if she had to think about it at all, with someone's life on the line, then that told Wallflower everything she needed to know about her.

Wallflower turned her back on Lorelai. Facing the glyph on the stage, she raised her hand, and took a deep breath. The ring around her finger glowed with pale green light. It swallowed her, cocooned her in warmth, seeped into her every pore, stoked her insides until she blazed with it.

An instant later, the light vanished – but not that feeling of warmth, intoxicating as it was. Straightening her jacket, she swiveled toward Lorelai.

"I'm gonna kill that familiar, and save whoever's in there," she said. "Are you coming, or not?"

She still saw the indecision on Lorelai's face. This time, though, she found her voice.

"Kid, listen to me—"

"Wrong answer. And I'm not a kid."

Kyubey bounded up her leg, up to her shoulder, nestling down comfortably – Wallflower didn't miss the disdainful way that Lorelai watched his movement. She hopped onto the stage, a six-foot vertical leap; her knees shook when she landed.

The barrier jiggled like gelatin when Wallflower touched it, cold, wobbly, and wiggly. She pressed, harder, and her arm sank through the barrier; that same wriggling sensation climbed up past her wrist and elbow, pulling her in.

Lorelai called out to her as the barrier drew her inside. Wallflower didn't look back, and instead, stared, deeper and harder, into the witch's barrier. A phantasmagoric pattern of lights filled her vision, bright spots and blotchy shapes dancing in and out of sequence.

Wallflower squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

"You're entering the labyrinth alone," said Kyubey, his voice serene in her mind. "Are you frightened?"

"It doesn't matter," thought Wallflower back.

She pictured Moondancer's portrait on the easel as she opened her eyes to take in the labyrinth.

"You don't need to be brave to do the right thing."

Author's Note:

This chapter ended up running about twice as long as I wanted it to, so for ease of reading, I've broken it into two. The second part is fully drafted, but needs editing and revision.

All told, it should be about three to four years before you get it.

Special thanks to Soup Boy and Hugmuffin for editing. An additional shout-out to Scampy for feedback on selections of text that I dropped into her DMs like a cat bringing half-dead lizards to its owner.