Puella Magi Hunger Games

Chapter 11

"I'm sorry, Oriko," A disappointed Kirika stood in front of the poised white magical girl, "I wasn't able to kill them."
"Never mind," Oriko's face was regal, and full of understanding, "At least you weren't hurt."
"I'll do better next time."
"I'm sure you will."

"Sayaka?" Kyoko ventured slowly towards Sayaka's limp figure. There was no response.
"Hey, Sayaka," Kyoko crouched down in front of her, "Wake up, I know you can." Something in her peripheral vision made her look at Sayaka's stomach, at her soul gem.
What she saw chilled her spine. Blackness swirled around the crescent gem, slowly taking over more and more of the bright blue glow.
Kyoko frowned. Why wasn't Sayaka changing back? Almost as though he read her mind, Kyubey's voice came into her mind.
I forgot to mention, but from now, you cannot change back, you will always be in your magical form. We figured it would be easier for you, seeing as at any minute now, you could be under attack. We don't like our competitors to die so early in this game, so we made it the same for everyone.

That explained it. What was most important now though, was cleansing Sayaka's soul gem. Kyoko delved into her pocket, pulling out a grief seed she had collected at the start of the game. Pressing it to Sayaka's crescent soul gem, she let out a silent sigh of relief as she watched the taint fade from Sayaka's soul gem, absorbed into the grief seed.
"Kyoko?" Sayaka's voice reached her ears, never had Kyoko been so happy to hear it, "What happened? Where am I?"
"Sayaka!" Kyoko cried, then calmed down, "You don't remember anything?" Sayaka frowned as she sat up.
"I remember... Oh." Kyoko assumed she had just remembered what had happened.
"You remember right?" Kyoko pressed, "Your fight with Kirika and everything." Sayaka sighed.
"I remember," her face fell, "She's so fast, I don't get it, when I fought her, it felt almost like I was walking in glue, everything clung and slowed me down."

Another two magical girls have come into the arena.
Kyubey's voice came into their minds.
Yuuki Ameyono and Miku Osunaga. More magical girls will be coming soon, so goodbye for now.
May the odds be ever in your favour.

The pictures of a pink-haired and blue-eyed girl, and a white-haired girl flashed onto their soul gems, an in the sky.
"Grrrrr," Kyoko steamed at the announcement, "Just what we need, more magical girls. We almost got killed by one, why do we keep getting more?!" She punched the ground in frustration at the last phrase.
"Kyuubey is gonna- Sayaka? Sayaka!" Kyoko looked in shock at Sayaka. She had just been sitting there, and now she was gone.
"Where'd she go?!"Kyoko stood up, looking around desperately.
"KYOKO! AHHHHHHH!" Sayaka's voice pierced the air, as her voice rose in pain.
"Sayaka, I'm coming!" Kyoko ran off, following Sayaka's voice. Skirting stones and bricks, she found herself in front of a dusty, rundown shed.
"Sayaka?" She called,"Where are you?"
"It's too late," The voice that greeted her was one she did not recognise, "Sayaka Miki is dead." Kyoko spun around, seeing a mysterious person. The girl smiled, a smile which never seemed to reach her eyes. Kyoko looked down, and saw, at the girl's feet was a body. A body in the uniform of Mitakihara middle school. A body whose hair was too blue to believe. Sayaka Miki was truly dead.
"You!" Kyoko hissed, placing her spear in a defensive position, "You killed Sayaka!" Without thinking, Kyoko ran towards the mysterious girl, her spear aimed to stab her. The girl dodged easily, and suddenly drew a massive sword. Hefting it into the air, she brought it down, aimed to crush Kyoko. Leaping to the side, dodging the attack, Kyoko turned to see the girl's sword disappear, as she ran away, soon lost from view amid the piles of rubble, and broken houses.
"Come back!" Kyoko screamed angrily, "I'm not done with you!"
Turning, Kyoko ran after her, but couldn't follow, having already lost her. Then Kyoko realised.
"Sayaka!" She screamed, immediately rushing to the fallen figure of her best friend. Falling to her knees, she saw Sayaka's eyes, lifeless and empty. Her soul gem lay on the ground, next to her face, smashed, the broken shards littering the ground around it. Tears sprang to Kyoko's eyes, as she reached out, to touch Sayaka's forehead. What she felt, was a cold, frozen surface, not the skin of a living person.
"Sayaka!" Kyoko screamed again. Maybe if she yelled loud enough, Sayaka might wake up, then they could both go and hunt down Miku Osunaga, and kill her.
Without Kyoko's realisation, the the red soul gem on her chest slowly began to darken, the grief rising up, like a sea of darkness, to slowly engulf the bright red, until there was nothing left.
Slowly she covered her face, crying silently, sobbing and grieving the loss of her best friend. She could hear Kyubey's voice, but she couldn't listen. She didn't want to listen. This place was stupid. The whole games was stupid. Life sucks.

A small hand suddenly came onto Kyoko's shoulder, as she knelt there, sobbing. A grief seed touched the corrupted soul gem on Kyoko's chest.
Kyoko sensed the taint fading from her soul gem, and abruptly stopped crying, looking up. The person standing there was someone she had not expected.
"Y-Yuma?" She whispered, looking up at the little girl who stood there, holding a grief seed, smiling at her expectantly.
Kyoko blinked. Slowly, her brain began processing everything.
Yuma is standing there. She is holding a grief seed, she has a magical form. She has a soul gem. She...
"You made a contract?!" Kyoko screeched, getting up immediately, "How many times have I told you not to make one?" Yuma's face drooped slightly in disappointment.
"Yuma thought Kyoko would be happy that Yuma can help," Yuma replied, her soft voice sad, "Yuma doesn't want to be a burden, Yuma wants to help."
"No! I told you, Yuma," Kyoko snapped back, "You shouldn't have done that, look what you got yourself into, you're too young anyway, and now, you're stuck in this arena, having to fight to the death." Yuma pouted slightly.
"Yuma was scared when Kyoko suddenly disappeared, Kyoko never said anything, never even said goodbye, so Yuma made a contract, and wished that she could find Kyoko and would always be ready to heal her." Yuma cheered at the last part. Kyoko groaned. Bringing her hands behind her head, she sighed, looking down at Sayaka's body. Yuma looked too, and her face fell.
"Yuma didn't know this would happen." Yuma murmured, her eyes downcast. Kyoko said nothing, she just looked at the body in front of her, silently mourning for her best friend. Finally, she spoke.
"We have to bury her," Kyoko said, "I won't leave her body to rot." Yuma nodded. She picked up her staff, a long pole with a ball at the end, comprising of two cat ears and a tail. She began banging at the ground, slowly making a dent in the ground. Kyoko picked up Sayaka's body, glancing one last time at her face. The eyes were still open, wide with surprise. They shouldn't be like that. Reaching out, she used two fingers to gently lower the eyelids, making Sayaka look like she was just asleep. For eternity. Placing Sayaka's body gently in the deep dent Yuma had made, she backed out slowly, taking her time. Glancing to the side, she saw Sayaka's broken soul gem, and after hesitating a second, picked it up, and placed it on top of Sayaka, over her heart.
"To my dearest friend, a comrade in battle, I wish you peace," Kyoko whispered, "Goodbye Sayaka, I'll see you in another place, at another time." Picking up her spear, which she had left on the ground, she began pushing the dirt at the edges of Sayaka's grave onto Sayaka's body, covering her. As she worked, she kept her eyes on her spear, glistening red and silver. She didn't want to see the dirt covering Sayaka's body, making it dirty, burying her forever. Finally, she was done. Looking up, she saw that the dirt still piled on the edges, uneven and bumpy. Sayaka deserved better. Using her spear, she began smoothing it over gently. Yuma picked up her staff and began helping too. Neither of them spoke.
Hidden in the shadows, Yuuki watched the silent and grave procession unfold. Her heart ached. She knew Sayaka well, and she had been one of her closest friends.
"Sayaka." She whispered. She wanted to say the name one more time, while Sayaka's presence was still there, before the memory was lost, before the games ended, and Sayaka was nothing more than a dead contestant.