Be Careful What You Wish For | Hey Arnold! x Puella Magi Madoka Magica Crossover

Chapter 5

"Please...it's just for a moment. I'm one of Phoebe's best friends. I just want to pay my respect to her parents."

Gerald stood before the closed door of the hospital room which Mr. and Mrs. Hyerdaul occupied, but the nurse blocked his way. The stern figure folded her arms and frowned.

"Absolutely not," replied the nurse. "Besides, visiting hours were over a while ago."

Gerald sighed in defeat. He looked exhausted, and at this point in the day was too tired to fight back, so he simply nodded his head and walked away.

A rather unusual cloud hovered close to an open window of Hillwood General, several stories up.

"Here we are," said once of the cloud's occupants.

The fluffy white apparition was actually Helga and Gloria, concealed to look like an average (though particularly low-flying) cloud. As soon as the two of them hopped through the open window, Gloria tapped her staff on the floor, and their ride dissipated just as soon as it appeared.

They were in the same room to which Gerald had tried to gain access; Mr. and Mrs. Heyerdaul lay quietly in their hospital beds, opposite from one another in the room. Reba looked peaceful in her comatose state, the steady beeping of the machinery to which she was attached a sort of sterile, mechanical lullaby to her deep slumber. Mr. Heyerdaul's bed was isolated from the rest of the room, its view obstructed by a large curtain surrounding it.

Gloria approached the curtain with Helga following close behind. Gloria turned to look at Helga, as if she were trying to say "brace yourself" with her eyes, then pushed the curtain aside. She remained stoic, but Helga gasped and covered her mouth in horror at what she saw.

Kyo was badly burnt. More than 95% of his body had been consumed by flames; his body lay limp, covered from head to toe in bandages that were quickly saturated with blood and pus from his oozing wounds. The only indication that he was still alive came from the heart monitor, one of several machines attached to the wretched heap of a man.

Helga turned away and hunched over, holding her stomach. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

"She's in here somewhere," said Gloria, ignoring Helga's warning.

Gloria walked away from Mr. Heyerdaul's bedside, and surveyed the room. Just as Helga was about to lose her lunch, she straightened up and also looked around.

"Wait a second...did you hear that?"

Amidst the cacophonous beeping of the hospital, the faint sound of whimpering could be heard. Helga followed the sound to a corner of the room, partially obscured by a mop and bucket, a broom, and movable clothing rack filled with nursing scrubs. As she pushed the stuff aside, Helga's heart leapt into her throat when she found what she was looking for.

"Oh, Phoebe..."

Phoebe sat crouched in the corner, looking helplessly afraid and distressed. She was filthy; her clothes, skin and hair were covered in dirt, sweat, blood and soot. Even as her best friend stood before her, she continued to weep and stare ahead at nothing in particular.

"Phoebe, what hap-?" Helga was about to ask, but Gloria quickly covered her mouth and shook her head to deter the remainder of the question. She then knelt before Phoebe and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright," said Gloria. "You're safe now."

Phoebe stopped crying long enough to finally acknowledge the two girls' presence, and Gloria extended her other hand to her. Phoebe and accepted, and together, the three of them hopped back onto the floating sheep-cloud vehicle and went home.