Aftermath (A PMMM fanfic)

Route 4:C

(AKA FIGURING OUT STUFF)

    I leave the house, without having chosen any specific direction. The street is lined with trees on both sides, some of them cherry blossoms. At the end of the current lane, I spot a being with a white tail eyeing me - definitely an Incubator. This one looks even worse off than the previous. The Incubator approaches me.

" 'Sup? I'm Kyubey."

     I move to a corner, so that people don't assume I'm speaking to myself.

"What the hell happened to you? You sent me a note to come here - then nothing?"

"As you can see, I'm in no condition to physically appear anywhere. This is just our lucky day."

"How are you and the others so badly injured?"

"You can take a guess. You're smart to already be capable of guessing I'm not a normal cat."

"You don't look that much like one. Also normal cats don't talk in a human language."

"Tell that to all the girls who pet me. Apparently we appear like them, before she did this to us anyway."

"Well I have a rough guess about you Incubators and her, but what are those running around the place? The ones which look like dolls."

     I point at a few of them running around the perimeter of the adjoining street.

"Those are Familiars. The dolls are hers. They have different forms for different people."

"Are they harmful to humans or your kind?"

"Not really. The only things posing even potential harm to humans are Wraiths and those aren't anything compared to our demon. If anything, she's the real harmful being here."

"So our demon has familiars who run around the place doing nothing?"

"They won't be doing nothing during the apocalypse she causes. Considering the high value humans put on each others' lives, you could say they will cause considerable harm then. Familiars reflect their mistress, in this case, the dolls reflect her. Keep an eye out for their mannerisms - they can tell a lot."

"Noted. What about these Wraiths?"

"Those are nothing. Your mission is to save the world from Homura, and the Wraiths won't stand in your way, nor anyone elses'."

"I'm well aware of that. I also note that Homura has shown signs of bipolar disorder - it's considered a human mental illness. She can't get help from her own species directly."

"Oh. That makes your purpose even more important. There's something you should know."

"Does it involve the mission?"

"That depends. Since you aren't from this universe, you have some latent powers of a type that even I am clueless about. If I were capable of wish granting, I'd let you gain all of the those powers, activated to the max."

"I'll find a way around that." Maybe I will, but whenever the word 'wish' comes in, it's best to be wary. Wishes are not always what one thinks they are.

     I spot something black, like smoke going into a building. Kyubey tells me it has to leave. We exchange byes. I continue walking and come across a library.

    It turns out to be a public library, the books are free to read inside but membership would be required to take one outside. I go to the fiction section, then fantasy but find nothing pertaining to this universe along the lines of anything I'm aware of. I spot a computer nearby. Perhaps with the help of a search box it'll be easier to find something. On typing a couple of phrases, I find a book titled "Magica" and pick it from its shelf.

    The book isn't dusty and doesn't look used. I open it, skipping the long introduction. It actually has information about Wraiths, but I already guessed everything about those by now. There were sections on witches (which are now extinct), familiars and the like. However nothing really is much different from what Kyubey told me. Next were mental illnesses and possible attributes. The section looks like something out of a mystic's guide.

     Finally I come to something that strikes me. The section on friendly otherworldly persons aka me. We do have some powers, along the lines of but not limited to memory manipulation and being able to move in a situation that would normally freeze a person. Very helpfully, they have given a method to activate those powers.

    I take a picture of it and of the summaries of other sections just in case verbal explaining gets difficult. I also write the formula on the one sheet of paper I carry nearly everywhere. Two copies of an 'important' document are better than one.

    Satisfied, I exit the library to decide my next plan of action.

I am given the choice to regain one person's memory. Whom do I choose?

~ Kyōko. We need someone who can and will do the necessary at the required time, sans flinching. 
(Go to 5 I)

~ Mami. We need a leader figure and someone who can strategize, being a veteran in her previous life, although currently unaware about that fact.
(Go to 5 II)