798/The Secret of the Soul Gem

The Secret of the Soul Gem
Date of Scene:	21 November 2023
Location:	Mitakihara General Hospital
Synopsis:	One of the secrets hidden within the Soul Gem is finally revealed in a terrible way.
Cast of Characters:	Magda Faust, Lulu Adelstein, Kyouko Sakura, Madoka Kaname, Sayaka Miki, Amanda Faust, Katarina Bach, Teresia Kuefer

---

Magda Faust has posed:
    Magda got the urgent message, came to the scene of the fight, and (while completely horrified) stabilized Lulu enough to move. She was able to heal the spinal damage with intense effort, along with broken ribs, both broken arms, bruising, and so on. Then, she assisted in transporting her friend to the hospital, with Katarina's improvised stretcher and whoever is best suited to carrying someone smoothly and swiftly.
    Lulu has been brought in as a patient, not snuck into the hospital, with a report that she fell and injured herself. The blood around the redhead's mouth and other signs of rough injuries don't speak to such a mundane cause, but the medical staff don't pry, even if they will probably approach Magda later to ask her for more details.
    Once Lulu has a bed, an IV, and monitoring equipment, and the small crowd of visitors is gotten permission to hang out with their friend, only then does Magda shut the door, sit down, and start to very, very carefully look into the Soul Gem issue.
    "Um. May I see it...?" she asks, certain she doesn't want to, but just as certain that she should do it regardless. The window is open in this third-floor patient room, the cool air blowing the drapes inwards periodically.

Lulu Adelstein has posed:
    Lulu lies in her bed, occasionally spasming in what looks like intense pain, and letting out noises to match. She is sweating heavily, each convulsion carrying her up off the cot like she was electrocuted, before settling back down. Breathing hard, she gets out, "How... Bad is it? Can... You fix it?" Her question ends in her fists clenching reflexively, her nails digging into her palms, and a pained half-yell before she is able to relax again.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Somehow, Kyouko is here along with the rest. She's pressed herself up against the window, as she chomps on pocky. She's watching, but not too close, and the waves of restless discomfort coming off the girl are almost palpable.

At least she isn't pacing? Her managing to stay still might not actually be better.

She's silent as she watches Magda and Lulu primarily, although her attention flickers over all the other puella in the room in turn before settling back on Magda and Lulu.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka hasn't been in henshin since leaving her own false Labyrinth. Her Chara haven't been out of their eggs, either. This alone isn't that abnormal, as they sleep in those eggs by default. Maybe they're just a bit tired? It's hard to tell. They've been safely stored inside of a soft container in Madoka's school bag ever since. Most of her attention has been on Lulu, worrying about her, trying to do what First Aid she could before the real healer showed up.

    As time goes on, she moves on to a more supportive/cooperative role with Magda, until finally hitting a point where she was too exhausted to work. That's why she's now sitting on a chair in the hospital room, holding herself and waiting for the shakes to stop. She's back in her school uniform, and her school bag is in her lap.

    Lulu is on death's door and Madoka knows it. Her mind is catastrophizing, because losing one friend today can mean losing two tomorrow, and if that goes on and Walpurgisnacht comes then they'll all lose everything, and then whatever comes after that will...

    She shakes her head and tries to get rid of such thoughts. Focus on the problem in front of you. Everything else can wait. It will all get better! She truly believes that. She has to.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka is sitting on a chair, fiddling with her ring, looking anywhere except Lulu's direction. Not just due to the memory of her broken body coming back with a fit of nausea, but the convulsions the bedridden Puella is victim of is too much.

Facing someone with an injury of that level isn't something she ever thought she had to do, and her mind is a loop of worry and churning horror. She doesn't know if Lulu can even come back from such a grave injury, yet her mind only focuses on how horrid it was seeing her like that.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    When they're let in the hospital, Amy quirks an eyebrow at the rapport Magda has with the staff, getting them let in -- and *all* of them let in -- with this story.

    Lulu is clearly in pain. Amy winces. "Is it like a burning pain? A stabbing pain? An ache? Is it localized?" She mutters, "Shit, I should've asked Chrono where in the core a linker core is... I mean where in the body..." She glances over Lulu. "Maybe we can get you some painkillers. Although... what would the doctors even *find* wrong with you..." She tries patting Lulu's shoulder gently.

    She looks over at the cracked soul gem, then at Kyubey. "...Kyubey, to be *very clear*... When you said we'd lose our magic if we break our soul gems, did you mean we'd just cease being Puella Magi but continue living, or did you mean we'd die just like we do if we run out of magic? And... how do we *fix* a cracked soul gem?"

Katarina Bach has posed:
    Katarina is the caretaker of the delicate Soul Gem for now. Wrapped in cloth, and Labyrinth-fluff, and hope that everything will be okay. Shorter standing than everyone else here is sitting, the white-haired girl does not take up a lot of space and has minimal presence. When Magda asks to see the Soul Gem, however, the smollest of the Puella Magi steps forward and carefully, oh-so-carefully, unwraps the precious gem and lays it out on a bedside table for Magda to examine, before stepping back slowly and going back to being invisible.

    She's used to being unnoticed, and in this situation it's for the best. What she can 'see' of the Soul Gem is... Not good. There's an ugly crack in it, just on the surface level thankfully, but magic is leaking out of it continuously. A dark substance is also leaking, but not as strongly as the magic that jettisons itself out like a geyser. Maybe Amy's Grief Seed was meant to be used on Lulu. But who knows if that would even fix anything or just delay the inevitable.

    She faces towards Kyouko in the window with her milky blind eyes. Things would have been worse, no doubt, without the unexpected aid from a presumably local magical girl. Then there's Amy, who was promised a story.

    "There is... A Super Witch... That destroyed our home... Back... In Germany." she struggles to get out. Her eyes have returned to the floor, even though she can't see anything with them. "We do not know... her true name. But magical girls refer to her as 'Walpurgis' where we come from... Others call her Walpurgisnacht... Or similar titles. It means... 'Witch's Night'... She is a Witch so powerfu... She does not need to hide... In a Labyrinth. If she manifests... Even once... Thousands will die. And... Because normal people... Can't see her... They will just consider it... A natural disaster."

    She shuffles her feet a bit. "What we fought... Was one of her Familiars. It... May have been lost. But... It could also... Have been... looking."

Teresia Kuefer has posed:
    "It is a truly fearsome Witch who has claimed many lives. No single magical girl exists who can defeat it." Kyubey explains, just suddenly there, in a chair. "Amanda Faust, as death is the consequence of depleting your magic, should it not be logical that losing your magic entirely would have the same result?" he asks, tilting his head a bit. "As for Lulu's Soul Gem, damage to a Soul Gem that does not render it non-functional is a rarity. I have never seen it before personally. Powerful magic might be able to restore it, but it also might be too severe for anything but a Wish. I can only theorize on this matter."

Magda Faust has posed:
    Magda looks up at Kyouko. She blinks. Was that girl always here? Well, she's obviously a Puella Magi or otherwise involved... Then she looks back when the Soul Gem is revealed. The green-haired girl immediately feels sick. She can't see magic as clearly as Katarina can. Probably nobody else can. But she doesn't need to, to gauge the damage they are dealing with.
    "I..." she starts. Then she stops. She tries to block out the explanation of the Super Witch that Kat is giving. Going into a full panic spiral right now isn't what Lulu needs her to do, so she stays focused. Compartmentalize, Magda! For now, she just puts her hands on either side of the Soul Gem, and tentatively tries to use her own magic to stop rapid emissions of mana at the very least. Kyubey suggesting 'powerful magic' or 'a Wish' as ways to fix the Soul Gem isn't promising.
    Thankfully, out of everyone else in this city, and possibly this entire country, Magda is the best suited to raw healing power. Outside of a miracle like a Wish... She has confidence in that much at least.
    "Do we know anyone who is looking to make a contract, Kyubey-san?" she asks with partial attention, since she is focusing on damage control over anything else.

Lulu Adelstein has posed:
    Lulu hisses out an answer to Amy, with difficulty. "It feels... Like there's a crack... In my everything." Not very specific, but after another convulsion and pained yell, and then dropping back to the bed, she gasps a few times, and adds on, "It's like... There's a fissure, through my body. And my mind. It's so hard to think or feEEELL AAH!! Hah... Hah... Feel anything... But pain. It's like... When I shut off my sense of touch... To keep pain from impairing me... But this time... Pain is the only thing not being filtered oUT HOLY SH--!!" That last bit seems to have been especially painful, as she has to bite her lip to cut it off, and not draw attention from orderlies or nurses. It wouldn't be useful for them to come in here right now. There's nothing they can do.

    It takes her twenty seconds to be able to relax again, and she looks absolutely wiped out afterwards.

    Thankfully, Katarina is explaining during this time, and then Kyubey, and Magda is focusing on helping her. She does seme to stop getting more tired, at least. And, after another ten seconds, there's been no other convulsion. In fact, as the seconds tick by, it seems whatever Magda is doing is helping. Not fixing the crack, but stopping the worst of the side-effects.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Painkillers dont do much for us." Kyouko comments from her perch by the window, crunching on what seems to be a fresh stick of pocky. "We burn through them too quick to be useful. One of the 'joys' of being a magical girl." The sarcastic air quotes are heavy, even around the pocky.

Kyouko turns her attention to Katarina at the explination. "You have got to be..." she trails off as she starts to swear quietly under her breath. "Well ain't /that/ just a steaming hefty bag worth of bullshit. A Witch that doesnt need a Labyrinth?

"Do ya keep a waiting list, Kyubey?" Kyouko drawls lazily as she shakes out another stick of pocky.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Today has been a rough day, and Madoka kinda wishes that Medo would speak up about this, but maybe it's better that the Chara remains silent and asleep. A fairy child using gag magic to pretend to be a nurse isn't going to be quite as effective as an actual expert in medicine, or even in magic medicine.

    Magda's sway with the doctors of Mitakihara General is no news to the Chara Bearer. Magda and Madoka both come here often to help out, so they know each other through here, and they know a lot of medical staff too. These two coming in with a wounded friend in tow carries a lot of serious weight that a group of strangers otherwise wouldn't.

    However, Madoka's usefulness as a medic in this situation is more or less over. Lulu is in better hands. She did her job as best as she could.

    When Katarina tells the story of Walpurgisnacht, Madoka listens. It gives her something else to attach to, something else to do, so she chimes in. "That Witch doesn't introduce herself like the others do, so not even Gretchen would know the name. It picks up buildings and throws them at you, and breaths fire, and..."

    Her right hand grips her left arm, and she looks down at the ground. "She's the reason why I've been pushing myself. Why I can't afford to be anything less than my best. If we can defeat it, we'd be saving a lot more than just our city. That's why..." She trails off. Everyone saw what she did. No point in repeating.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The Super-Witch is explained. Amy pulls out her phone and takes notes. Kyubey adds on. Amy shrugs at the comment about smashed soul gems. "I don't know, it's *magic*, I can't assume anything." Although, she notes that he followed it up with saying 'render it non-functional' instead of 'cause death'. He knows about Witches, why is he squeamish about just saying d-- Oh. Right. Most mahou are teenagers. Hmm. Did they react badly if he just said they might die?

    Wait, does that mean many recruits didn't realize they were going to be risking their lives fighting when they Wished?

    Amy winces as Lulu cries out again and again. She remembers getting an especially awful stomach bug several years ago, and some ear infections in her youth. It just hurts, shouting only distracts from it a little, and you just want it to end...

    "...Turning off pain? That's a thing we can do? ...That explains some things..."

    It comes down to Wishes, huh...? Amy *had* thought of that, back at the scene. The idea of recruiting someone to make this wish did not feel good.

    "Maybe... There's so much about magic we don't know. Inai-san used to be a magical girl, right? She might have encountered all kinds of things in her day. And Meiou-san might've seen weird magical injuries before and have some ideas..."

    Her eyes widen and she stares at Madoka talking AS IF SHE'S FOUGHT WALPURGISNACHT. Or at least seen it fight. "What the... how do you know that?!"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
When Katarina drops that explanation, Sayaka looks at Madoka, going over every line the pinkette had said while they were fighting the familiar. "That's why you did what you did. Accessing Gretchen's powers for a short while had really hurt you. Would you have know what would happened once you stepped out of that transformation? For all I know it's a miracle you are like this."

She then looks at Katarina, anger-worry seeping through in her voice. "What about you? You knew about that thing, yet you said nothing. If we had better prepared, Madoka wouldn't have panicked, she wouldn't have had to deal with Gretchen. We would have been more focused on how to approach it without worrying her."

The bluenette crosses her arms, her mood unabated. "Do you know how bad it is for her? Not only that, if we knew what we had to deal with, Lulu wouldn't even risk losing her life or being stuck like that."

She gets up from the chair and starts pacing around the room. "You call us for a mission to slay that familiar, and tell us nothing about about the Witch it comes from, so we go in not really sure what to expect. That pachyderm is actually from some sort of Super Witch, and a more thorough planning was required that just "oh, I will put myself up as bait, everyone else just strike it with everything, and who cares about putting together some sort of structured attack scheme." No, let's not prepare about a familiar of a Super Witch we had known about for how long? Weeks? Months? Years?" she tears into Katarina.

Kyubey's arrival just worsens her mood further, but this time she doesn't have anything to say to the white cat. Him being a jerk is old news, and the inference he suggests is actually as obvious as he says for once.

Katarina Bach has posed:
    Katarina stands there and takes Sayaka's anger. It is likely just displacement due to worry over Lulu, and Sayaka's friends, and her family, and... Everyone, really. But even if it is genuine, well, as Kyubey often says, 'It can't be helped.' Only after Sayaka finishes does the blind girl say, "Your anger... Valid. Should have told... More people... Sooner. Teresia said... Could be dangerous... To reveal her too early. However..."

    She still isn't looking at Sayaka when she turns to talk to face her. She can only guess at location by voice, unless she wants to spend magic on it. "We didn't know... We would be facing that. We only knew... It was a dangerous Familiar, that needed to be stopped." She takes a moment to take in several breaths. Her physical condition is so bad that just all of this talking has left her winded.

    Finally, she says, "If it had been me in charge... I also would have thought... That six magical girls... Was more than enough... For a single Familiar... Without even a Labyrinth of its own. Would you... Have thought differently... In Lulu's place, Sayaka?"
    She does not address Kyubey. He speaks in riddles, but there's information between the lines if one listens closely. Katarina is very good at listening. It comes with people forgetting she's there, and talking like she can't hear them just because she can't see them.

    "I am sure that, once Lulu recovers, she would be glad... To take suggestions... On strategy." she finishes, with a respectful bow to Sayaka, that the white-haired girl holds, to show her sincerity.

    She does, however, say, "I apologize... Both to Sayaka... and to Lulu. I don't think... That asking someone to make a contract... Just to heal even my close friend... Is acceptable. That is not a choice that should be made... Through coercion."

Teresia Kuefer has posed:
    Kyubey makes some cute movements of his head and body as he addresses those who spoke to him, or whom he feels should hear what he has to say. All he needs is cartoonish sound-effects to go with them. "I do not know of any individual presently who would be likely to both make that particular wish, and have the potential as a magical girl to see it succeed. It depends on the wish, of course." Of course!

    "There have, until recently, been a few individuals with more than enough potential. But they have chosen other paths to pursue." Hint hint. Then he focuses on Madoka as she describes things related to the Super Witch as though she has encountered it before. Those beady red eyes, and unchanging expression. Impossible to tell what he's thinking.


    He looks over at Sayaka when she expresses her anger. She who wished for her friend's recovery, and is now angry at... A lot of things, it seems. "While it would be beneficial in this situation to have someone willing and able, I too cannot suggest to someone a wish they could make. It would be against the rules. It must be done by their own will if they are to risk their life in exchange for a miracle."

Magda Faust has posed:
    Sighing, the multi-braided medical magi sees this is going to be a long night. Assuming they can even find someone tonight. She... Really wants to save Lulu, but she also understands Katarina and Kyubey's points. She would have been resentful if she were tricked into making a wish, or pressured or manipulated into making a wish for someone else that she wouldn't have chosen on her own. Then again... Her own wish was very selfish. A miraculous cure for herself, so she could survive. If she had been thinking more clearly, she might have chosen to wish that everyone with her illness be cured, or that the disease itself be eradicated from existence.
    But she didn't.
    Because, right then, the most important thing to her was 'healing my illness so that I can live a normal life'. Now, there's so many other things she considers more important than her own life. Like the friends right here in this room.
    "I can stall for a long time. Basically, for as long as I can stay awake, and if I spend magic to refresh myself I can stay awake more or less indefinitely... I think... But the quality of my healing will suffer, and I will be burning through Grief Seeds."
    She already wants to rub her green eyes, sore as they are from already being at the ol' magical treatments for literally all day and night thus far. "If there is someone who can make the wish... And is willing, on their own, without coercion... Then we can invite them. Otherwise, I am going to have to go all-out to see if my magic is powerful enough."
    She can't spare the attention for Sayaka's anger, or Katarina's apology, or Kyouka's sarcasm, or Madoka's comments about Walpurgisnacht, or Amy's concerns, or Kyubey's.... Kyubeyness. "Has anyone called Teresia-senpai yet? Or Linda-chan? Or Mami-san?"

Lulu Adelstein has posed:
    At least not getting worse, Lulu forces herself to sit up. "Yeah, Amy. Did you think I was totally fine when I got turned into barbeque when we fought the Train Witch? It just also slows your reaction time, so it's dangerous. I can't do it unless the fight's over, or there's a healer on standby, for obvious reasons. Doing it while I was on fire was so that I could get out of there intact with all of you--"

    Lulu stops as she swings her legs over the edge of the bed, dizziness overwhelming her. She feels like she should be bent over double in pain, but no pain comes. That's... Worrying. "We don't need to bother Memi-sensei." she hastens to assure Magda. She just got done promising Mami that she would gladly be her kouhai and take lessons from her. She wants to stay at Mami's side. The last thing she wants is to worry her new friend with a trivial injury like this. Heck, it's probably not even really an injury. A little spit and some rubbing and the crack will come right off. It's fine! Probably just dirt or something! Really!

    "In fact, I am going to go tell her what happened myself. Straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak! Someone else call Teresia and Linda, but let them know I'll be fi--" Lulu started walking around the cot, headed for the closed door, when her legs fall out from under her. She forces herself back up onto her feet slowly. "Haha. Wow. Yeah. I'm really tired. It's okay, it's just a quick jog over to Mami's place. Maybe I'll even get in a Witch hunt along the way." She reaches for the door handle.

    Magic is no longer leaking out of her Soul Gem, but it's rapidly filling with black.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"It was a Familiar.. I wasn't even going to stab anything until it was clear that the whole damn thing was a shiteshow." Kyouko comments. "So can it, Sayaka. You didn't get dragged there on a chain, you turned up of your own free will."

Kyouko waves her pocky. "Of course we're not making some poor kid wish out of convenience. I'm an asshole, not a monster."

Kyouko watches Lulu attempt to just haul herself out of the hospital room. "I expect that's about to end really badly, really quickly." She comments, as she watches.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka looks up at Amy, pink eyes full of worry, before gazing down at the ground again. She reaches into her bag, into her egg container, to pull out the black egg with the white cross on it. If one were to look closely, one could see a strangely familiar pattern underneath. The egg is also... glowing slightly with a black aura. It wasn't doing that before the fight.

    "Gretchen-chan showed me."

    How could she explain this? How should she? Madoka wouldn't dare betray Homura by talking about time travel, but... they already know Katarina. Magical girls getting dreams about possible futures isn't that weird, is it?

    "In dreams. Possible futures. Different ways the battle can go..." she trails off again. Maybe now in current company isn't the best time to discuss Dumb Ways to Die starring Madoka Kaname. "... even in the best case scenarios it destroys a lot. Almost immediately."

    Shaking her head, the pinkette explains, "If it were only dreams, I wouldn't be so sure, but it lines up with Adalinda's picture and Bach-san's story. I was actually bringing Gretchen along so that we could talk about it after the fight... I thought she might be able to help."

    Sayaka speaks her mind, and for once Madoka quietly listens. Keeping her in the dark about the Super Witch was a mistake, even if it would be hard to bring up, but Madoka's not actually what path would have been better.

    "I know you don't want to see me get hurt. I feel the same way about you, but that's exactly why I had to make sure..." Even though she says that, she doesn't fully understand what the cost will be. Not yet. Normally her Chara would be explaining magical things like that, but they're silent. "I also don't think there was any way to know what was coming. Not even Gretchen knew until the last minute."

    Kyubey says what he says, and Madoka... doesn't even have the energy to be angry, or defensive, or anything. Is fixing a Soul Gem something that she could have done? Is it something that she could still do? Even if she had that power, it'd more than likely belong to her X-Chara, and Madoka doesn't want her anywhere near a damaged Soul Gem.

    Lulu starts to walk, and Madoka's pink eyes go wide. She stands up, barring Lulu's path, holding up her hands and shaking her head. "No, no no no! You sit down! You can't..." She's not looking at the Soul Gem.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy raises an eyebrow and nods at Madoka's explanation, and nods after Katarina's explanation. She looks towards Sayaka. "I mean to be fair... do you really want everyone to tell you about the worst monster they know, whether they expect it to ever show up or not? I'm an adult, do you want me to tell you about every bad thing you're gonna have to face in adulthood? ...I mean like, you probably *should* be warned, but like, dumping it all at once would be kind of... Make it seem worse than it is, ya know?" :I "...Okay, maybe we *should* have some kinda strategy get-together about any impending supernatural disasters we know about." And let's *not* crush any spirits with the unsolvable problems of the adult world. Someone'll start assassinating CEOs and we don't want that on childrens' consciences...

    Magda says she can keep the soul gem going at a cost of grief seed. Amy pulls the two-thirds-used grief seed from her belt pouch and hands it over to the other Faust. "If you need it."

    She blinks at a realization. "Hey, after I got what looked like fatal wounds fighting Nezha, he gave me some kinda pill that healed me up." Magda may remember being called to check on her after that. "Maybe magic like that would work on a soul gem, too? ...I'm gonna start sending some texts." She pats Kyubey's head and then finds someplace to sit with her phone, muttering. "Coco's music... who knows what powers the cures have... has anyone asked the Senshi if they have weird healing stuff? ...This might be something Meiou-san's thought to ask of all the magical girls..."

    Amy blinks up at Lulu. "I had it kick in in fights... yeah, it's like I'm lagging a bit, but it's manageable. Guess compensating for lag is like riding a bicycle, you never forget, even after 20 years, huh?" She smiles awkwardly.

    And then Lulu is falling over. "Woah! That can *not* be a good idea in your current condition, you're just gonna end up on the ground writhing in pain! We'll get Mami here if you need to talk to her!"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"You don't know about a familiar that you especially recruited us to fight. Well, I am not sorry about not believing that", Sayaka bites back, staring down at Katarina. "Teresia said it could be dangerous to reveal her too early, but facing one of her familiar unprepared isn't!? I don't get your logic, or Teresia's logic."

The bluenette shakes her head. "If I would have thought differently? Of course! If I knew what Lulu had known, I wouldn't have underestimated it. Why should I take lightly something I know can reduce me to that!?" she shouts, pointing at the bed she is agonising on.

"This is not about what to do once she recovers. This is about the fact we don't even know if she can get back to how she was, and now you reveal you had important information all along that would have avoided putting Madoka and her in danger.

"Amy-san, we were specifically called upon to fight that familiar. Would you tell someone to go take some kittens off of a feral cat without explaining what is going to happen when they do?"

"Madoka-chan, please, what would you have accomplished if trying to spare me from things got you dead? Do you think I would be all "Oh, I am so happy to be alive, thanks, Madoka-chan!" No, of course I wouldn't! Seeing you hurt beyond compare, or worse yet, gone isn't going to help anyone any! If you truly want to avoid us being hurt, then care about yourself more."

Speaking of taking more care of yourself... "What are you doing pushing yourself? Do you want to get worse? Don't move, you need to be put back on the bed", she exclaims towards Lulu.

Katarina Bach has posed:
    There has been a failure of communication. With Sayaka so mad though, this isn't the time to try to clarify matters. Emotions are running high, people are worried and scared... Lulu is trying to leave on her own. She looks at Lulu's Soul Gem, seeing it filling with darkness in her magical vision. Lulu is going to keep trying to leave unless she is outright restrained.

    Because... Lulu can't stand being the one who gets protected. She is the one who has protected so many others, and being stuck here while others take care of her is anathema. Katarina realizes that much. Not everyone here knows that Lulu was a hero to the downtrodden, who stood up to bullies no matter how much older they were, or how many of them there were. The red-haired girl would take a beating in place of someone weaker any day, and grin while she did it.

    Katarina from Lulu to the Soul Gem, and back again.

    She runs over and grabs up Lulu's Soul Gem while Magda isn't looking. They need Teresia here, now, to solve this. Teresia can do anything and everything. She's perfect, unlike Kat. She'll know what to do. And until then... She can't let Lulu transform and go off recklessly. She can be kept here much more easily if she's stuck here.

    Katarina henshins mid-turn as she runs towards the window Kyouko is in, and uses her diminutive size to leap through the gap between the other Puella and the window frame. She drops three stories, lands, and keeps right on running. "I'll return it later... Lulu..." she mutters as she sprints away.

Teresia Kuefer has posed:
    Kyubey was watching all of this silently, taking the head pat from Amy, and just observing. He definitely takes in the information about Madoka seeing things in dreams too. Then Katarina runs over, snatches up the Soul Gem, and yeets herself out the window. He makes a disappointed sound. "Katarina should not have done that. You can't just treat your friends so casually, especially when they are hurt."

Magda Faust has posed:
    Magda first looked up to warn Lulu to lie back down, but other people seem to have that handled. She starts to focus again, then Lulu is up and then down on the floor, and then up again and heading for the door! "Lulu-chan! You're in no condition to fight Witches or to go anywhere by yourself! Please just wait. Mami-san will come here, and Teresia-senpai, and Adalinda-chan, and you can tell them what you want here--!"
    *Pranked*
    Magda sees the blur of movement in her peripheral vision, and starts to look back. Kat has Lulu's Soul Gem. Then she is transforming, and booking it for the window. "Kat-chan, what are you--!?" Too much is happening too fast. She transforms as well, unsure if she should be pursuing or restraining Lulu, or what!

Lulu Adelstein has posed:
    "No, no. Waiting here for someone else to save me isn't my style... You don't understand. I'm strong, okay?" She jerks a thumb at herself. "I don't need anyone to coddle me. I can carry my own weight! Now... Now, move aside. Kyubey, come with me, I'll make another wish or something. A double-wish. That's a thing ri--" Then Kat is committing grand theft soul gem and Lulu is too dazed to react quickly. She turns on her heel, and yells, "EFFING WHAT!? Where is Kat going!? She can't just take my Soul Gem a--" Then her red eyes go empty, and she starts to collapse again. This time, bonelessly, like she just suddenly stopped trying to do anything at all.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Why did you underestimate a familiar that they literally called for back up on?" Kyouko squints at Sayaka. "I like to think that there aint anyone in this room who needs to hold hands and huddle with their besties to take out a boring Familiar. We are not, generally, much of a 'yes, lets do everything together' sort of group." She gestures around. "There are waaaaay too damn many of us and I'm starting to get a cranky sense on why."

Kyouko watches Katarina yoink the soul gem and then book it right past her. "Where the hell is she going?"

Kyouko literally laughs at Lulu's protests that she's strong, that she doesn't need to wait to be saved. That laugh is cut off as Lulu collapses, like a puppet whose strings are cut. "Woah. What the actual hell?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka blinks at Amy. "You're... an adult?" Come to think of it, she never really asked Amy what her Wish was. There are other stray facts that Madoka might piece together later, but right now her focus is elsewhere. Lulu should be laying in bed! This will only make things harder for Magda...

    Sayaka's still upset, and this time Madoka does argue a bit more. "Saya-chan, that's not how it is. All we knew at the time was that the Stage Witch has elephant Familiars and also that a Familiar was killing a lot of people in that area of town. We didn't have any reason to connect those facts until the last minute."

    What Sayaka says to her specifically makes her blink. She kind of assumes that people would be happy to be alive. Losing a friend would be terrible, but... There's more at stake here than just Madoka's own life, right? Walpurgisnacht kills by the thousands.

    Of course, she's busy thinking about that when Katarina grabs the soul gem and runs with it, even leaping out of a window. Her eyes go wide. "W-wait! Don't just...!"

    Well at least she didn't throw it. Unlike some people. Hopefully the partially magic padding will keep it safe. Madoka can't exactly henshin and chase her right now.

    She already knew that a corrupted Soul Gem would result in death, but no one ever really warned her about other details. What information the X-Chara was able to give her was all focused on anti-Witch strategy and tactics. Something like the finer points of taking care of one's Soul Gem, such as not leaving it in the car when you go to the store, wasn't really something that Madoka really needed to know in this timeline.

    Which is why, when Lulu suddenly goes limp and lifeless, Madoka loses her entire breath in one deep gasp. Immediately, she moves to catch the punchy Puella, and she goes pale. "Did... did it break?! Help me get her back onto the bed!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy quirks an eyebrow at Kyouka. "Maybe *you're* not. I quite like having other experienced Puella Magi at my side."

    Amy gives Sayaka a confused look. "If you knew a Familiar, or even a Witch was causing trouble, but you didn't know *which* Witch, or Familiar, you'd still call people to help, right? There's always risks. Like... We're in a hospital right now. Within these walls, there have surely been times when doctors tried to treat some obscure disease like a much more common ailment that presented similar symptoms. Just because they know there *are* such rare diseases... if they told every patient to expect the worst, they'd be needlessly terrifying 99% of them. And maybe turning them into hypochondriacs. *None* of us got a good look at it until it was close. I don't know why you think everyone is trying to trick you..."

    Amy blinks.

    "...But, it's not wrong to have feelings. Maybe we can, like, try to get to the bottom of that when Lulu's not... this?" She gestures at the soul gem and catches just a glimpse before Kat takes it and *dives out a window*. "It's almost empty! Shit!"

    She stands and runs to the window, so startled she forgets to use Telepathy and shouts. "KAT! YOU NEED A GRIEF SEED!"

    She turns to ask Magda for the grief seed, only to see Lulu collapse like a puppet with its strings cut. "The hell? Lulu! LULU!"

    She checks for breathing, a heartbeat... "Scratch that." She directs Madoka, and tries to lower Lulu to the floor. "Get the doctors, now..." She positions her hands for chest compressions. God, she hopes she remembers how to do this--wait. She looks up. "Magda, can you restart a heart magically?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Did some of the cotton from Madoka's Labyrinth get stuck in your ears, or were you always that hard-eared and it only came up now?" Sayaka tells Kyouko, heckled. "Really, you would think you would have heard that I suggested we should have coordinated beyond a simple "attack when I tell you?" But I guess asking you to be on time at things, or actually listening when people speak is beyond you."

"Gretchen is uncooperative when it comes to doing good things, so I get why you couldn't have known, but if they have known in detail all along, it doesn't excuse them."

Sayaka shakes her head. "Did I ever say they tricked me? No, so quit putting words in my mouth, Amy-san. They should have checked what they were up against if they knew about this Super Witch. Or even just tell us about the eventuality, so that we would be ready, checking or no checking."

Sayaka's brow darkens considerably when Amy mentions Lulu's heart isn't beating. "Alright, what now? What other lesson in trickery do you have for us? Let me guess. It really is like a Heart Crystal, or a soul", she tells Kyubey.

Katarina Bach has posed:
    Katarina is running. Running to Radiant Heart Academy, hoping to find Teresia at her dorm. Despite her seemingly calm and cool exterior, Kat is extraordinarily panicked, afraid, and feeling guilty after Sayaka's lecture. Whether or not there's a misunderstanding, the truth is... Out of every single person there, Katarina Bach was the only one who knew in advance what the Familiar was that they were facing. She could sense it well before it appeared, let alone got close enough to attack.

    She, and she alone, could have warned everyone. But she didn't, because she didn't have any hints about it. She has become... Too reliant on reading dreams and semi-oracular insights. When she didn't get one, she just assumed that meant nothing important was going to happen. So when things went bad, she was paralyzed with indecision.

    Now, she's running through the city with her friend's Soul Gem, and a mostly-used Grief Seed pressed against it to try to siphon away some of the darkness, not knowing what she's doing, because again she had no warning, no notes to deliver, no visions or insights. She's acting on her own, and she has a very poor record with making decisions on her own.

    She has been a good girl her whole life, so...

    Please, please, please someone save her before she makes a terrible mistake.

Teresia Kuefer has posed:
    Kyubey looks curiously at the magical girls as they freak out over the body that Madoka lowered to the floor. "Amy, what are you talking about?" he asks. "Lulu is with Katarina now. This is why you should always treat your friends with care, even when you become emotional." Sayaka's question comes as Kyubey relocates to a shelf across the room. Just fading into existence there. "This happened because the distance you magical girls can control your bodies at would be within about a 100 meter radius."

    Then, a towering blonde woman in a long black gown appears in the room. She's just there. In a different way from Kyubey, or Homura, but no less effective. She looks at Lulu's body, calmly but caringly. "Where is she?" she demands of Kyubey immediately.

    "Teresia. Perhaps you can help. Lulu and Katarina went out of that window. I believe Katarina may have been trying to find you--" Kyubey starts to reply. Teresia is gone again before he can finish. "Ah... She's going to do that again. I am not certain that she will be able to handle this on her own. Perhaps one of you should go with?" Handle *what* on her own, exactly? Bringing back Katarina? For someone like Teresia, that can't be more than a one-woman job, right?

    ...Right?

Magda Faust has posed:
    Magda goes from looking at the window, to turning to help Lulu as Amy gets to work on chest compressions. "I, um...!" Her Soul Gem leaves her nurse's hat and she reverts from her henshin, as she holds the green crystal in hand over Lulu's body, and burns magic to keep her alive. Or... To keep her body warm, a more cynical person might say. "Someone--!" She startles when Teresia shows up, relieved for a moment when she realizes, only to grow even more worried when Kyubey implies Teresia might be in trouble from whatever she is going to do.
    Kyouko is right there in the window. "K-Kyouko-san! Please save them! You're really fast, right!?" That's what she was told, anyway! She has no time for the implications to sink in until several seconds later. As she watches her Soul Gem glow, the light reflecting in the empty eyes of her friend's body.
    "...I... What are you talking about, Kyubey-san...?" she asks in a near-whisper. She looks up at Madoka, eyes wide with a different kind of terror than she was experiencing up until now. Then she looks at Sayaka, who managed to pull an answer out of Kyubey that the green-haired puella magi is pretty sure she would have preferred not hearing.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Oh bloody hell." Kyouko watches the chaos and listens to the wide selection of non answers and cranky pants puella going around. She sighs deeply and pushes herself out the window. She's already henshined by the time she's bouncing off the ground, her spear already out to be used as a pole vault to help ricochet her along.

<< Yo! >> Kyouko tries the telepathy tactic, sending ahead as she bounces. << Er.. Blind chick. Get the hell back here! >>

She is not above tackling Katarina to get the smol puella to stop. She's a puella, after all. She'll bounce.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka frowns and frets. Lulu is on the floor now. Things are happening, and her Chara still aren't answering her even though she needs them. Teresia is doing something. Kyouko is out the window. Pieces are starting to come together in her mind.

    "If Kyubey is saying that Lulu-san is the Soul Gem, then..."

    This is bad. Awful things keep happening. Now she's starting to see, to really see, why Homura kept warning her so insistently. What else is there to know?

Amanda Faust has posed:
> Lulu is with Katarina now.
What.

> ...the distance you magical girls can control your bodies at is about 100 meters.
    WHAT.

> Your mind is software. Program it.
> Your body is a shell. Change it.
> Death is a disease. Cure it.
    Amy looks down at her hands. She pulls her soul gem pendant from under her shirt and strokes a finger along it. She takes a breath.

    "So this is..."

    Another breath. She looks at Magda. "Don't waste magic trying to revive. Can you make her heart beat and her lungs breathe? Just keep the tissues oxygenated. Especially the brain." She blinks, and looks at Kyubey. "Does that even matter? Are our brains even used for consciousness, memory, or intent... um, control of, conscious control of our bodies? How does all of this..."

    She trails off. Her eyes widen.

    "What's she... experiencing right now? Is she conscious?!"

    Amy stands up from the floor, but her legs feel weak. She falls to her knees and stands again. "Kyubey, I have a lot of questions. But first, we... we...." She looks at the window. "We need her back, right? How do we get new bodies? Wait, that doesn't help her, her soul gem is cracked..."



    "Soul gems. It's right in the name. Wait, souls are real?!" But she's an atheist!

    She looks at Kyubey. "How do I explain this to them? If I'm understanding right."

    She looks around at those gathered here. She takes a breath. No, she needs more time. No... Madoka's already got it. If she doesn't speak up now, the conversation is going to be a mess, especially with the mood Sayaka's in. She has to say something.

    She grins awkwardly and throws up her hands. "Congratulations! We're immortal!"

    That should buy her a few more seconds to think!

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Quit messing around, Kyubey. It really is like a Heart Crystal, or a soul", she tells Kyubey. Kyouko is on the run, and all he talks about isn't addressing what he did, but something else entirely. "You speak of this 100 meter limit, but is that because you extracted our souls from us or not?"

Katarina Bach has posed:
    Telepathy! She forgot about that! Seems like a lot of people did! Hearing Kyouko's voice in her head, Katarina skids to a stop and turns half-way. <<I need to find Teresia so she can fix-->> She probably isn't going to get to finish that thought. But she also has stopped running. With Kyouko's speed and pole-vaulting skizzles, she is going to be caught up to (and maybe caught!?) within moments.

Teresia Kuefer has posed:
    The barrage of questions from Amy and the insistent interrogation from Sayaka and the stunned mumblings and whispers from Magda and Madoka are all treated the same. "Did you really think you could fight witches with the same fragile bodies that humans possess? It's unthinkable. For magical girls, thoe so-called 'bodies' that you possess are really just exterior hardware." Then, very directly, to make sure it is clearly understood, he states, "Your real bodies are your souls, and to make them able to use magic more efficiently, we put them in these compact, easy-to-protect forms instead."

    There. Confirmation. The Soul Gems are storage for their 'real' body, the soul. "To complete the contract to become a magical girl..." Super close-up of his face and his beady red eyes gleaming in the low-light in a corner of the room. "...what I do is rip your souls out of your bodies and turn them into Soul Gems."

    He looks towards the window. "Once Lulu is brought back within range of her shell, her uplink will resume momentarily. Then she will be able to control it again. Any amount of damage can be healed, including brain injuries, provided the Soul Gem remains intact."

    Then he looks back to the crowd of magical girls, his and otherwise. "Isn't it handy this way? Even if your body's heart gets crushed, or you bleed out your very last drop of blood... You can just heal your bodies with magic and get right back up!" He sounds so cheerful about it.

    He takes Amy's declaration of immortality as a good sign, so continues explaining all the other details. How nice. Finally some magical girls who react rationally.

    Teresia resolves from black and yellow lines right next to Katarina, grabs Lulu out of the white-haired girl's hand, and starts rapidly blurring in place, continuously. Something is happening. Something major.

    When it's over... Teresia collapses to the ground. Her Soul Gem is still bright, but she looks exhausted to the point of near-death. She holds up Lulu. The crack isn't gone, but it is... 'Filled in'. A stop-gap measure. And all the darkness inside of it is gone too. For now. This is NOT a permanent solution.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Yeah. Good plan. Except we need to get that BACK to your 'I can do anything' friend." Kyouko didn't quite tackle Katarina, but she did leave a gash in the ground when she stopped abruptly. "Cause that's her soul and she kinda needs that to .. y'know.. do stupid shit like living. C'mon." She reaches out bodily picks up the tiny puella. "Hang on. I'm faster."

Faster she is, doing the half run, half epic long jumps via her spear, bouncing and bounding right back the way she came, including right back up to that third story window.

At least she's willing to fake polite to set Katarina inside first, gently to ensure that she's got her footing before climbing in after her. She didnt just bring the soul gem back, she brought the puella carrying the soul gem too.

Lulu Adelstein has posed:
    After a few seconds, with her Soul Gem newly bandaged with magic and put by her side, Lulu suddenly jolts. The light comes back to her eyes. She's breathing again. She sits up... Blinking as she looks around. She feels awful, but... Why is she on the floor? "...What?" she says to the collection of faces, old friends or new.

    "What is it? What happened?"

    Horrified silence, and Magda's tears, are her answer.