Puella Magi Makayla Magica

Chapter 25 Doubt

I've been up for an hour now. I don't really feel like doing anything, but my stomach is saying otherwise. I bet Stella and Mia are up, and Grace will arrive pretty soon. If I don't get up now, the others will think that I'm just lazing about or maybe that yesterday has hit me harder than I thought it had. I push myself out of bed and swing myself off the edge. I take a look in the mirror. A girl with messy brown hair and sad blue eyes stares back. I try my best to fix the image, but all I can manage right now is pressing down a bit of hair sticking out, and even then, it only lasts for a few seconds. It's not that bad, so hopefully, people won't notice.

I make my way down the stairs and into the dining room. I can hear Stella and Mia cooking, which makes me feel guilty for not getting up earlier. Stella walks out of the kitchen with her breakfast.

"Ah, Makayla, you're up. How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," I say. I walk into the kitchen, where Mia is putting her food on her plate. She gives me a nod, and I nod back. It's good to know neither of us is are morning people. It looks like her hair needs work as well. I grab my breakfast and sit at the dining room table with Stella and Mia.

"Makayla, I know it might be too soon, but we need to talk about what happened yesterday." Yesterday, huh? I really don't want to talk about that. I just lower my head and tune out whatever she has to say, and mumble replies that seem correct. I don't need her pity. I've got enough self-pity as is. I finish breakfast and wait for Stella to take a break before asking if I can go shower. She pauses for a moment before nodding and giving me the go-ahead. I couldn't leave the table fast enough as I dump my plate in the sink and head upstairs. There's a shared shower on the first floor, so I have to go up to the second floor, grab my clothes and go down to the first to the showers. I guess that's what I get for wanting luxury over convenience.

After my shower and getting dressed and ready to go, I go downstairs and into the common room. Stella and Mia are sitting down, Stella reading a book and Mia on her phone, and it looks like Grace has arrived.

"Oh, good morning, Makayla." She says. I do my best to fake a smile.

"Morning." I nod. As soon as she turns to Stella, I immediately drop it. It's too much work.

"Are we ready to go?" Stella asks. She turns to each of us. Everyone gives a nod. "Right, let's go." I quickly jump down the stairs and almost push Grace out the door, pretending that I'm eager to get back into the fight. I'm not, but everyone will just be even more concerned if I don't keep up the act.

We walk down the street as if we're exploring. I don't even know what we're looking for at this point. Witches are everywhere, rumours are hidden around every corner, and we try to avoid conflict with other magical girls if possible. We're completely outnumbered if we go into a fight with the other factions, so I don't know why I tried to fight a member of the Wanderers of the Nine. If it hadn't been for the other factions showing up, Mia and I probably wouldn't have made it out of there.

"Hey, remember what I told you," Stella says in my ear. I don't remember, but I just reply with 'mmhm', which satisfies Stella, and she walks on to join the others. Something about this seems familiar. My three teammates all up the front, and me hanging back a little while.

"There it is." Someone says. I don't know who, but as I look up, all three of them are staring at a wall. Looks like we found a witch. Without much hesitation, Stella and Mia grab Grace's hands and jump into the labyrinth. I jog over to catch up and jump in as well. Everything is dark, and the ground feels like it's turned to stone rather than concrete. It's uneven and makes my foot roll around. I can see lots of buildings that look pretty old based on the design. They look black and are illuminated only by the moon in the sky. The three of them are running towards something, fighting transparent gold creatures. I sprint over to try to catch up, but the gold familiars block my path. They're like little balls with hollowed-out mouths and eyes. I manifest my pistol and step back before aiming at one of the familiars. I can start to feel my head turn away as I start pulling the trigger. As the gun fires, it jumps up, and I feel like it's about to hit my face. That's never happened before. The next familiar charges at me, and I close my eyes, turn my head away and fire again. When I open my eyes, two gold familiars are almost on top of me. I try to jump back, but I'm too late, and they force me to the ground. One of them bites my arm, and I kick the other away. I swap my pistol into my left and shoot the familiar biting my arm. As the familiar I kicked charges at me, I take aim and fire at the last familiar. It disintegrates, and I sit here alone again. I can feel myself breathing heavily and hot blood dripping from my arm that's starting to tingle with pain.