460/A Wish By Any Other Name

A Wish By Any Other Name
Date of Scene:	19 September 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Madoka Kaname thinks that she's lost her potential, but is that really what happened? Two Chara Eggs are born from her heart, and they both quickly turn into X-Chara. One flees the scene before Amu and Tadase can show up, while the other stays to fight and gets purified. Before everything can be fully explained, they all have to go to class.
Cast of Characters:	Madoka Kaname, Tadase Hotori, 54

---

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Fall is coming, and cold days with it. Madoka walks to school alone, wearing her Radiant Heart uniform and holding her school bag in front of her.

    So much has happened. A few months ago she lived a blissfully ignorant life. Now she's not only seen horrors beyond description, but gotten used to them. This is normal now. No, it has always been this way. She just didn't know it.

    Along the way she spots Kyubey, the strange cat. Or was it a rabbit? Or maybe a weasel? It was impossible to tell and it felt rude to ask. He stared back at her with round red eyes. Eyes that never blinked. He was impossible to read.

    "Kyubey..." Madoka's voice is soft. "We haven't spoken very much lately, have we?"

    "Should we?" Kyubey's head tilts to the side, inquisitively. "I'd imagine we don't have much more to talk about. Surely you realize that you can't make a Wish anymore."

    This wasn't the unbelievable horror she was expecting today. "... What?"

    "Honestly, I'm a little disappointed. If you don't mind me asking, what other path did you choose?"

    Madoka shook her head lightly. "I don't know what you mean. I didn't choose anything."

    "Is that true?" Kyubey's head levels out. "I'm sure I've mentioned this before. If your potential is already used up, then you can't make a contract with me. Most other sources of magic would be useless to you as well."

    Madoka's right hand lets go of her bag and moves over her chest as she takes a step forward. "But... I never made a pact, or found a talking weapon for myself, or became a planet person or anything. I don't have any magic."

    "How strange." Kyubey stood on all fours, then jumped from the railing to get close to Madoka. "Well, if your potential is gone, then you can't become a magical girl."

    Madoka couldn't believe it. She took a step back, covering her mouth with her hand. Just like that... it's over?

    Kyubey went on. "It's a shame, really. I think you'd have made a great Puella Magi. I suppose that's just how it is. We'll likely meet again since you seem interested in Homura, but we probably can't do business. I hope you don't regret this too much."

    Kyubey walks away as Madoka stares at his swishing tail. She feels numb and a little afraid. Madoka took her potential for granted. That was a stupid thing to do.

    Her right hand clutches her left shoulder as she walks to school in a daze. Dire thoughts cross her mind. As she nears the Radiant Heart campus, a certain brown-haired teacher turns his head. Nikaido-sensei's glasses shine as he considers her from the shadows. Here is someone with an egg in her heart. No, two eggs actually, and one shining so brightly. Could that be what he's looking for? He could easily check. With her heart so full of turmoil, it would be child's play.

    There's a hidden surge of darkness. Madoka's eyes go blank. Her spine curls back as she looks up to a heaven that has surely abandoned her. Long strands of purple-tinted darkness pour out of her body, rising into the air to form into two black eggs, each marked by a white X. As the eggs hover in the air above her, Madoka stands up straight, wide eyes staring ahead.

    Her soft voice reveals her deepest fears, "I'm helpless. I'll never be able to save anyone. All I can do is watch."

    The teacher frowns as he turns to walk away. "Tch. Another failure."

    It wouldn't be hard at all for a nearby Guardian Chara to know that something was up.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase Hotori is nearby, in his own uniform. Walking and talking to Kiseki. Nobody else is around, and since he's not looking at Kiseki, anybody nonmagical might just think he was talking to himself. "I really don't think we need to add a shoulder cape to the uniform, Kiseki." he says, his voice belying the exapseration that comes from having this talk before.

    "Not to the uniform, Tadase-san. Just to yours. You're a member of the Student Council. The closest thing this school has to Royalty. You hand down decisions and make and enforce rules. People should tremble at your approach! And see in an instant that you are to be feared and respected!" the tiny little Tadase says, shaking his fist as he raises it dramatically to the sky.

    "It's bad enough I do the cape thing when you're in control. I'm not doing it all the time." he notes. "Come on, we have to get home."

    Kiseki suddenly stood straight upright, shudders visibly moving through his body. "Tadase, wait!" he exclaimed.

    "We can keep arguing about this while we walk if it's that important to you, Kiseki..." Tadase said, sighing.

    "No, not that. I sense something. Something... bad. Something... we should make sure gets dealt with."

    "You mean like Dark Energy bad?" Tadase asks.

    "Yeah, exactly." Kiseki answers. Tadase's crown appears on his head and golden scepter in his hand. "Alright, Kiseki. Lead the way." And the boy starts following after the little king that's flying ahead of him, rushing into the danger once again.

Amu Hinamori (54) has posed:
Amu is making her own way to home room. She is staying in the dorms of course so its not a super long walk. Honestly, to be late someone would have to try... or have something crazy happen. Still, Amu is taking her time. She isn't wearing the school's uniform. She is wearing the one from her old school because she likes it more. Pure and simple.

Flying over her shoulder is the only officially hatched guardian character she has. Ran has her pom poms in her hands and is just happily flying around. "You should try out for cheerleading! Its a lot of fun and I could help you do it!" She comments as she flies.

Then something gets her attention. "Amu-chan?" There is worry in Ran's voice as she looks around. "There is something bad happening, Amu-chan! We need to hurry."

"Bad like you're going to change me without warning, or bad like Godzilla is destroying the city?" Amu asks being her rather cool and spicy self much to her own dismay.

"Its bad like the second one, we should do something!"

"Okay lets do this! My Heart, Unlock!" She moves her fingers over the lock necklace and does the box reversing motion thing. Ran is put into her egg and brought into Amu's heart as she transforms into what looks like a pretty pink cheerleading outfit. A big heart appears on her hat and she is fully transformed.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    One of the black eggs begins to crack and open, revealing a tiny, darkened version of its Bearer. An X-Chara. Her pink hair is tied into a pair of braids, she wears in a frilly black-and-red dress, and she carries a tiny little wooden bow in her hand. Her voice is at first a mutter, then escalates into a yell. "never... never... Never... NEVER!"

    The other egg cracks open, revealing something different. A red haired Chara pokes her head out, wearing a circle mask with a freaky looking face. Red twintails extend far down past where the Chara's legs should be, and as she rises out of her X-Egg she reveals a long dress made of black ribbons that would be impractical for any person who had to walk instead of float.

    "This is how I get born into the world?" speaks the second, masked X-Chara. "Kyubey, you're always ruining everything."

    Madoka Kaname seems unaware of what's happening above her. She finds a nearby bench and starts trudging towards it, grasping her left shoulder and looking down at the ground. "It was pointless. I waited too long. Why couldn't I make a decision?" When she reaches it, she curls into a ball and wraps her arms around her legs. She stays quiet for a while.

    The masked X-Chara turns to the unmasked one. "Guardian Chara are coming. It might be a problem if..." She stops for a moment and considers things. Then she says, "You know what? You can take them. You don't need me here."

    The masked X-Chara starts flying up and away, as fast as she can. The braids-wearing X-Chara stays, brooding and radiating darkness, turning to face the ones coming to stop her.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase passes by Amu - well, Amulet Heart - on the way. He comes to a stop and sort of looks at her. Whether she notices him or not, eventually Kiseki floats back over and just kicks him in the forehead. "Not -now-." the little king says, as annoyed in his tone as Tadase was earlier. "Right, right." Tadase says. "Amu, I'll meet you there!" Assuming she doesn't Hop, Step, and Jump her way to being well ahead of him, anyways.

    He comes to a stop outside of the clearing near the bench, seeing the little pink-haired girl just radiating despair and looking at the floating, angry one. Crap. It's not a youma he can just beat up. Good thing Amu's on the way. All he can do - as usual - is support. Mostly, he's okay with that - Mostly.

Amu Hinamori (54) has posed:
"I'll see you there, Hotori-san." Amu, now Amulet Heart states to Tadase. She is on the move alright, just not Hop-Step-Jumping at the moment. She doesn't know what she is getting into just yet.

A few moments later, Amulet Heart is on the scene, "She doesn't see the second x-chara that wondered off. She only sees the one with the bow. "An X-Chara!" She exclaims as she tries to observes it for the moment. She can't just purify it right now. She doesn't know what it can do after all.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The angry X-Chara watches Tadase get closer with a frown, then turns her gaze towards Amulet Heart. "Nari... nari... nari... nari..." it calls out. Impossible. Her dreams are impossible.

    The tiny little person draws back the string of her bow. A tiny black arrow takes form and begins to glow. Dark energy gathers around the X-Chara's tiny weapon, and when she releases the arrow it flies like a bolt towards Amu.

    The assault doesn't stop there. Arrow after arrow is fired in rapid succession, peppering the area and especially trying to hit Tadase and Amulet Heart.

    The masked X-Chara is long gone by now. Madoka is quietly sitting on her bench, not making a single sound.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    In a wierd way? Tadase is kind of happy about the bow. Not... really, directly happy. Obviously he would prefer nobody was shooting at him or Amu. He'd prefer there was no X-egg, no X-chara, no child feeling her dream slip from her grasp like this. But of all of the things it could be - giant words, tsunamis of dark energy, rocks - the bow seemed like a lucky draw.

    He shifted in front of Amu and raised his scepter. "Holy Crown!" He called out, using the energy from his scepter to shield himself and Amu in a dome of golden light. Well. There's a little more impact from the bow shots than their size would indicate, and he's actually having to channel a great deal of focus into the scepter to not have it wither under the assault. For something so small she's sure dangerous.

    "Do you think it's like the first one, Amulet?" Tadase asks. "That it must belong to that girl over there?" He asked, indicating Madoka with his head - he couldn't really shift much else from his scepter, which he was now two handing.

Amu Hinamori (54) has posed:
The barrage of inbound arrows has Amu moving quick to dodge the attack. Thankfully she doesn't have to dodge too far because Tadase suddenly has his holy crown up. She quickly catches her breath and watches the attacking x-chara. "I think so! Lets find out!"

Amu calls out to the pink haired girl on the bench. "Hey Girl! Is this your Chara?" She asks curiously. She probably would draw more attention from the dark chara. "If she doesn't respond, we know its her's right?" She asks Tadase. It makes perfect sense to her.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Tadase's royal barrier only makes the braid-wearing X-Chara more angry, and she focuses on him. This is probably what he wants. He's the tank after all. No one said this gloomy, frenzied X-Chara was a brilliant tactician. The smart one is the one that fled.

    When the X-Chara recognizes that this isn't working, she decides to escalate. Aiming her bow towards the sky, she charges up one big (relatively speaking) dark arrow that grows larger and larger, twitches more and more angrily, radiates more and more darkness. She fires it straight up into the air, where it turns into a massive white X that covers the whole makeshift battlefield. A torrent of arrows falls down from beneath it, each one curving and twisting through the air to try and get past Tadase's shield either by tricky movements or sheer overwhelming numbers.

    Madoka's response is... not normal. Her eyes turn up as she watches the magical battle happening in front of her. She doesn't know what it is or what it means, yet she recognizes the presence of a magical girl and boy. Her soft, sad voice speaks, not so much to anyone in particular, just... out loud. "I just wanted... I just wanted to help people. I wanted to be a magical girl. Now I can't. Kyubey said I couldn't anymore... I messed up. It's all over now. I waited too long."

    She starts trembling. She buries her face in her arms again.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    "Kyubey? The little white rabbit cat thing?" Tadase asks, out loud. He's not only the tank - at this point tanking is most of what he can do. Well, he could get up there and try to bash the little chara, but... Kiseki wouldn't let him anyways. The crown-shaped shield starts to crack under the assault, even if Tadase can manouver it into place to shield him. "You know, you don't have to be a magical girl to help people! And Kyubey's contracts come with conditions!" Here, Tadase only means the 'hunt witches' part. He's no idea of the real costs.

    "Kiseki, the shield can't hold forever." Tadase gripes. "Well, you come up with a better idea?" Kiseki retorts. Tadase blinks. Another crack forms in the shield. He does, however, come up with an idea. "Amulet Heart... I'm counting on you to get through to her. I'll deal with bad attitude here." He says to the girl next to him. And then...

    "Sorry Kiseki!" he says as he grabs the king with one hand and THROWS him like a projectile at the X-Chara, tumbling through the air to collide with her. I mean, if nothing else, she can't be expecting that!

    Kiseki sure wasn't!

Amu Hinamori (54) has posed:
As the sudden X cloud of arrows comes raining down on them, Amulet Heart stays under the cover of Tadase's holy Crown. Its integrity is weakening, she can tell that much. SHe has got to do something. "Listen Pinky. You don't have to be a Magical girl to help others. You can be hero in your own right!"

Amu watches as Kiseki is used as a projectile towards the X-Chara. "Well I guess thats one way to fight!" She winces and shakes her head before turning her attention back to the girl. "You can't give up on your hopes and dreams! You still hold them. You are punishing yourself and there is no reason for that!" She exclaims as she turns her attention to Tadase. She gives a nod to him, showing she's ready to do what needs to be done to bring an end to this.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The X-Chara gets a King thrown at her?! "That's not how you play!" she protests, before getting smacked dead on by His Royal Projectileness. Tumbling backwards in the air, the X-Chara takes a moment or two to recover. She fumes and stomps her foot against nonexistent ground. "The King is supposed to stay protected! Don't you play Chess?!"

    The X-Chara doesn't have any idea what she's talking about. She doesn't play Chess, either. Her assault has stopped for a moment. Madoka stirs.

    Something that she hears hits home, and instead of feeling guilty for waiting too long she feels guilty for forgetting. "Can I really? People keep saying that to me, but... I always wanted to do more..."

    Madoka considers for a moment. Then one after the other her legs uncurl and her feet set down on the ground. She sits with her hands folded in her lap, looking down at the ground. "... Is it really okay for me to remain like this?"

    The X-Chara pauses. She has another arrow nocked and ready to fire, but the despair she was drawing from is lessening.

Amu Hinamori (54) has posed:
"Are you kidding? There is always stuff you can do! There are people out there starving. There are homeless people. People who just need a few kinds words to make their lives so much better. You can be the person to bring food to the hungry. To give blankets and stuff to the homeless, you can be the one to just say a few kind words to a person. That simple thing can make the difference between them being in misery and them being happy! You can do this!"

Amu smiles to the girl before noticing that the X-chara has stopped. She looks up at the creature. Forming a heart with her fingers she smiles and calls out. "Negative Heart, LOCK ON!" She extends her heart shaped fingers out towards the x-chara. "OPEN HEART!" A beam of purifying energy goes flying at the X-chara, hopefully purifying it.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka hears Amu's words, and they just so happen to be the right thing to say. Being there for the homeless isn't something she considered, but it's pretty close to what she already does. Madoka feels guilty for forgetting what Magda told her before, what Teresia and Homura have said to her. For a brief moment, she smiles.

    The X-Chara looks at her bearer and taps her chin. "Um... the other one said that I could handle this, but..."

    Suddenly the tiny X-Chara is caught in a beam of hearts, trapped by purifying energy. The two red Xs tying the ends of her braids together (yes those were there the whole time, shh), crack and shatter.

    Pure light washes over the X-Chara, turning it back into a Chara. The red and black dress turns pink and white. The bow vanishes in a cloud of pink sparkles. After a moment, the Chara's eyes blink open.

    "Thank you," says the Chara, smiling brightly. "The other one got away, but we can deal with that later." The top and bottom halves of a very ornate bright pink egg form above and below her. "My name's Brai. It's time for me to sleep again, but... I have a feeling we'll meet again soon," says the Chara with a wink. The bright pink egg closes around her, and it's very clearly not a normal white Heart's Egg. It's covered on the top and the middle with a bright white lacy pattern, with an emblem of a strange teardrop gem sprouting a pair of wings. It's too decorated to be normal.

    After the Egg sinks back into Madoka's body, she blinks and start to wake up. "Huh..? What happened?"

Amu Hinamori (54) has posed:
Amu powers down. Ran pops out and starts flying over her shoulder. Everything is as it should be thankfully. Now with 50% less X-charas! Turning to Tadase she smiles, "THank you Hotori-san. You really helped today!"

Amu walks over to the bench and sits down beside Madoka. She crosses her arms and speaks up, "Hey welcome back. You don't need to be a super powered magical girl to make a world of difference to others. You have it in you to be a great person." Her tone is almost cold but there is honest to goodness concern there. She gives a quick smile, "You are already all you need to be. No matter what some white cat rat thing says!"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    The moment the egg returns to Madoka's body and she wakes up, Tadase's crown and scepter dissappear. He takes the focus off Amu for a moment so she can dehenshin, since he knows she has sometimes been... embarassed... about Amulet Heart's outfit at times. (Not that he sees any reason for it, but he is Helpful.)

    "You were having a rough time and came out here to try to get ahold of yourself. Must have fallen asleep on the bench here." He says, smiling and maybe glittering just a little with a wink. (It works less often here than it did at his last school but it's a habit.)

    He would offer himself to talk to, but he figures another girl who's probably easier to talk to will be along soon.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka watches Amu as she approaches and then sits down beside her, and also listens to Tadase. She's still in a little bit of a daze. Normally she doesn't lose her mind like that. She almost dismisses the idea that what happened could ever be magical, until she actually considers what Amu says.

    "Thank you. I try. I think the world is better if we all try to help. People keep saying I'm already a hero, but sometimes I think they're just saying that to be nice." Madoka frowns a little as she looks down at the ground. "You're right though. I shouldn't be so harsh on myself. It just... it was a shock to me, hearing him say that I lost all of my potential. I'm not really sure what happened after that."

    Madoka searches her feelings for a moment. Something feels different. She closes her eyes. Then she looks up at Tadase, and then she looks over at Amu. Then she looks at Ran. "Oh yeah... I saw another one just like you before."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase smiles softly. "Just because people say nice things to you - or reassure you - it doesn't mean it isn't true, you know." Tadase says to Madoka. "And even if you're not magic, you're a hero to some people, I'm sure, if they say that. It's far more likely people are telling the truth about this."

    But then she mentions Ran and Kiseki pops his head back up over Tadase's shoulder, eyes wide. "You can see her?" Kiseki asks. "Wait, can you see me? Hear me? Hello?" he says, floating over in front of her face and waving. He's, well... he likes attention, OK?

Amu Hinamori (54) has posed:
"We are Guardian Characters!" Ran exclaims as she shakes her little pompoms. "Inside every heart is an egg! That egg is the hopes and dreams of a person. Who you want to be!" She smiles and flies down, landing on Amu's shoulder and happily sits there.

"Yeah, they don't say how much trouble they are though!" Amu comments. To this Ran sticks her tongue out at Amu. "See what I mean!" She doesn't question that Madoka can see the Charas. Given how ornate the egg was, it is only a matter of time until her own egg hatches into the world. "So are you going to keep doing things to be a hero?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Just because it's said just to be nice doesn't mean it isn't true? Madoka considers that for a moment. She'd like to believe that, really.

    Madoka's eyes turn towards Kiseki as he tries to grab her attention, and she nods. "Yeah, I think I saw you before, too. I didn't really get a chance to talk to you then."

    Upon hearing Ran's explanation, Madoka cants her head to the side. "Guardian Characters?" The now ex-potential Puella can't help but smile at how cute Ran and Kiseki are. They're adorable! Yet also, something important is being said to her, so she focuses on that. "Hopes and dreams? Who they want to be?" This is all news to her.

    The antics between Ran and Amu cause Madoka to giggle, and for once she seems happy today. At Amu's question, Madoka nods. "I will. I tend to volunteer at hospitals, and try to help civilians when they get attacked by youma. Even without being a magical girl, I can still do that."

    When she considers this for a moment. "Would there be an Egg in my heart, too? Who I want to be?"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase nods. "Kiseki embodies who I want to be... with... some creative liberties taken." Tadase says, a little embarassed, scratching the back of his head. "Or... who I thought I wanted to be at the time? It's... less simple than it sounds but also more simple."

    "But I think people have the right of it. If you're volunteering at a hospital you're already helping a lot more than most people do. But... maybe it's eating at you because it doesn't match what you see a hero as?"

    "What -do- you see a hero as, Kaname-san?" Kiseki asks, satisfied now that he's been acknowledged. "Because... you want to be a hero. So what you see a hero as... must be what you want to be. Right?" Kiseki asks, turning to look at Ran and Amu to see if that makes any sense.

Amu Hinamori (54) has posed:
Ran nods to Madoka and smiles at her before flying over to join Kiseki. "Kiseki is right!" She smiles and flies around a little more. Its clear that Ran is quite energetic.

"I think you do." Amu states. "Unless you've given up on it already." She frowns. "Every kid has an egg in their soul. Its just most don't really know about it and the majority never see it in the real world. Most just kinda give up on their dream of who they want to be. Its really sad to think about but it happens.

"Don't we all have class?" She asks Tadase. A small smirk forms on her face, "I'm guessing that one of the perks of the Guardians is a get out of class free card?" She can't help but laugh a little. "But really. Should we be worried about getting punished for being out of class?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka has to consider Kiseki's question carefully. She has no trouble seeing doctors and nurses as heroes, or even volunteers, so why does she see herself differently? She would never go up to Meioh-sensei or Magda-san and tell either of them that they weren't heroes, or even quietly think of them as less than. It wouldn't even cross her mind.

    "I guess, if I have to say why I don't see myself that way, it's because... I feel like I'm not doing my best. Kyubey told me a lot of things about how much potential I had, and how strong I could be, but I never took the chance to use that power. I couldn't really say that I was doing everything I could." She pauses, and considers that answer. Is that the right way to say it? "Heroes in stories often give every ounce of what they have. They don't hold anything back when needed. I think that's where I saw myself falling short."

    Then Madoka considers what time it is, and suddenly stands up. "O-oh! We do! Um... I'm sorry. I need to go." Quickly she grabs her back and starts bowing to Amu, Tadase, and their Chara. "My name's Madoka Kaname. It was nice to meet you! Thanks again!"

    She smiles and waves at the two of them before starting to walk away.