02. audio.

[embodies]

Do you think...

[ her hands are covered in blood. It had been easy. So terribly, terribly easy - they'd been so weak, just as he'd said. It was a mercy, just as he'd said.

Yet as she'd left the cavern, she'd seen the animals starting to come towards town. Even if they were... monsters, even if it had been quick, she'd taken something away from them.

Madoka swallows hard and rolls the soul gem between her bloody hands. ]

Do you think that it's worth it. To... to do what he says.

Comments

audio

[glowsferatu]

I'll meet you on the road.

[ and then she puts her pipboy away to pour all her focus into running. ]

audio

[embodies]

[ She's moving quickly, but carefully. ]

action

[glowsferatu]

[ kanaya runs toward the caravan, slowing only when she sees madoka. she puts up a hand to shield her eyes against the sun, waiting til the distance is closed. ]

action

[embodies]

[ She quickens her pace once the other girl is visible, clutching her treasure close to her chest. It doesn't slip into a ring form as it should, there's no mark on her nail. Instead it sits in her hands, cold and empty.]

action

[glowsferatu]

[ when madoka starts running, kanaya runs to meet her, placing a hand on her shoulder once she's in reach, a frown stretching down from her lips. ]

What happened, Madoka? What's wrong?

action

[embodies]

[ She knows that she hasn't made a mistake. Deep in her heart, she knows that this is the way the world is - she's seen it, she's seen so many girls die for the sake of the salvation of others.

Her breath catches in her throat. ]

action

[glowsferatu]

[ kanaya moves her head to one side, her other hand moving to madoka's chin. it's funny, she thinks to herself, how even with the severity she's needed to practice to keep them alive in orsun, she never feels anything more than tenderness toward madoka. ]

You can tell me. You do know that, right?

action

[embodies]

[ She nods. Not bothering to attempt that smile. ]

Can we talk about this at home?

action

[glowsferatu]

[ kanaya turns around to look behind her. the village is still a ways off, she might have run further than she realized.

looking back at madoka, she offers her hand. ]

Yeah. Let's get you in out of this sun.

action

[embodies]

[ She takes it gratefully with a watery smile and allows Kanaya to lead the way. ]

action

[glowsferatu]

[ it's a long march back, even longer because of the silence, but they make it eventually.

once home, kanaya heats a pot of water. it had been some work and more money than she liked to get a box of tea, apprehensive as she was for such an indulgence, but she'll be damned if if there'll be any better time for it than now. ]

action

[embodies]

[ She sits quietly at the table, the small gem held between her hands.

after a few moments she speaks, very quietly. ] Have you ever felt like things happened before... but they were different?

action

[glowsferatu]

[ kanaya takes a seat beside her as she wait for the water to boil. ]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Everything that has yet occurred comes as prelude to what happens now. Everything happens, and it tends to do so often.

But, by its nature, I don't think what follows will ever be quite the same.

action

[embodies]

What I mean is... [ She's not even sure. She shakes her head. ] I'm not sure I can explain...

action

[glowsferatu]

I'm sure, at least, that you can manage your best.

action

[embodies]

[ Can she? She's not even sure... ]

I've been feeling for a while like... maybe, back home... I've been experiencing the same heartbreak over and over. A never ending cycle. I have a dream that my friend is fighting very hard for my sake, an impossible battle that she can't hope to win, and I have the chance to help - but when I take it, suddenly I'm waking up from that dream. I'm back home

[ her fingers curl around the gemstone. } This means.. this means that it happened.

action

[glowsferatu]

[ kanaya leans down to look at it, it seems almost as if it might have been pink once, but that was long ago. the friend...could it have been the same one who died? ]

This was...something from your dream?

action

[embodies]

This is a soulgem... It holds a magical girl's soul.

action

[glowsferatu]

And whose soul is this one meant to contain? [ she has a feeling already, but doesn't like the possibility. ]

action

[embodies]

It's mine. [ So resolute. ] I'm sure that this one is mine... But I don't know how...

action

[glowsferatu]

Wouldn't that mean you lack one in...whatever original position souls typically inhabit?

action

[embodies]

No, I haven't made a contract. So my soul is still here. [ She touches her... heart. Because where the hell else is a soul going to be. ] Every time I tried to make a contract, Homura made sure that I didn't have to... But... [ But she's not here. ] This is empty.

action

[glowsferatu]

Then the question, I suppose, is why that exists to begin with.

[ it's a standard paradox, as these matters go, but kanaya's never been fond of paradoxes. time can be a clusterfuck without even trying. but...time. ]

Perhaps it was prodigaled. From a doomed offshoot. [ the dream bubbles don't reach here, kanaya's sleep has been emptier than it's ever been since she was brought here. but there could be a way, if they could bring tavros' ghost. ]

action

[embodies]

... Maybe.

[ All of those Homura's fighting for her sake... fighting to make sure that this little gem never came into being. She feels her eyes welling up again. ]

action

[glowsferatu]

[ she thinks about that, "homura made sure that i didn't have to," and wonders if that isn't the problem. ]

What's important is...though it may be yours, it wasn't brought into being from you. Not this time. [ she puts her hands on madoka's, closing the other girl's over the gem. ] You didn't fail her.

[ not in this way, at least. but kanaya's sure there wasn't any way she could have kept her from becoming that monster, either. at least, she doesn't think there was. ]