Shattered Skies: The Morning Lights

CHAPTER 20: Meeting at the Crossroads

"The time is out of joint — O cursed spite,

That ever I was born to set it right!

Nay, come, let's go together."

- Hamlet, Act I, Scene V, 188-190

SHATTERED SKIES: THE MORNING LIGHTS

By BHS

ACT II: UNFAILING

Chapter 20: Meeting at the Crossroads

The Lighthouse, Vertex Point Five

Homura Akemi and Madoka Kaname sat across from each other in the cavernous room, neither saying a word, both too lost in their own thoughts to attempt to speak to one another.

For her part, Homura didn't trust this "Fantine" person, not one bit. To be honest, she didn't trust anyone other than Madoka, but she was particularly disinclined to take this Fantine at her word.

True, she was responsible for saving them from the void. Allegedly.

Yes, she provided a safe place to hide from Joker's rampage.

Indeed, she taught them how to use the Immaterial to make this place, a facsimile of Homura's old apartment from before her fall, before Madoka's ascension. Sculpting the smooth, rainbow-shimmering glass-diamond-soap bubble substance into any desired shape was trivial for someone used to manipulating time and reality, but Madoka was slower to get the hang of it. Homura suggested she might be more comfortable in a recreation of her own home... but Madoka shot that one down in a hurry. The Immaterial could replicate almost anything from itself, down to the finest detail... anything except for life. Even if Madoka did master it enough to recreate her room, her house, her neighborhood, it would be empty of what made those places home.

In addition, everything made from the Immaterial, no matter how faithfully crafted, lacked the true color and substance of real matter. Objects made of it felt, sounded, and even smelled right, but they would forever have that distinctive rainbow sheen and be just slightly faint and transparent, as if not quite real... as if crafted from dreams or memories. The effect was unsettling; Immaterial objects were so close to perfect, but not quite.

Then there was the matter of the food. Fantine told them both that time inside the Lighthouse didn't work the way that it did elsewhere, so not only hunger but all biological needs, food and sleep included, were rendered moot as long as they stayed in its bounds. However, Fantine explained that if they really felt like eating, as long as it wasn't made from living creatures, they could use the Immaterial to make food for themselves... as a comfort more than a necessity. It invariably had the same appearance as everything else made from it, and the taste was always bland beyond bland, but the smell and texture would be right, and at least that counted for something. She didn't need to eat, of course, but she understood Madoka's need to do so, just to feel normal.

For now, they sat there, in the faux-apartment from so long ago: cavernous white circular room with an enormous decorative clock set into the floor, all the furniture curved to follow its shape, and dozens of holographic screens floating overhead. Neither had spoken or moved for a long time.

It occurred to Homura that there was nothing stopping her from using her own powers to make real food. Madoka might appreciate that. Cakes... she was fond of cakes especially, she remembered. Cakes were easy to make; she merely had to arrange the right molecules in the right combinations to make sugar, flour, milk, eggs-

A voice cut through her thoughts, stemming from the Immaterial crystal at her side. The lack of echo in the room indicated that the speaker was communicating to her alone, and Madoka couldn't hear. Please, don't, said Fantine's voice.