Ch.0-2 ¤ Alone

I used to work for the Ninth. That was a lifetime ago, or so the whole goddamn universe aligned to make me feel that way. I was pretty thoroughly confused at first - and I still am but that's beside the point. After losing the ability to use most of my strengths and suddenly being ambushed by an unknown force that may or may not have been my own Officio deciding to retire me, I desperately needed answers. It didn't really matter what, just... anything to get a clue would have been fine at that point.

So what did I do? The most glaringly stupid thing I could possibly try? Well yeah, of course. Because it was the most direct way to be sure if they really decided to retire me.

I may not have been the smartest Magical Girl around, but I at least knew my hunting grounds, so I was able to lay low and get through the city without attracting too much attention. Well, not as efficiently as a Callidus would have, but enough to not get attacked on the way to my destination.

Besides, my target was in a fairly populated area, so with the human traffic it wasn't too hard to hide my... defining features. I slipped my armored hand into one of my kimono's large pockets and produced a keycard from my inventory, hiding the trick in the process.

I wasn't exactly surprised when the security system at the gate refused to take my clearance, but it still made my body tense and my throat choke a bit. Deep down I figured it would happen, but I had refused to accept it, taking another, desperate sweep to no avail. Well, at least it didn't ring some sort of alarm... none I could actually -hear- anyways.

I knew I should have bailed, but I couldn't help but just stand there dumbfounded for a moment. Was this really all happening? It was so sudden. It was so out of nowhere... just, why?

I gritted my teeth and looked down, staying for a while longer. My cold fingers shook lightly and let go.

When I finally managed to regain my composure, I realized a few of the local Greens were staring at me from outside the lobby. I let out a small sigh to steel myself and straightened my posture. They were staring, sure, but that meant they weren't actually attacking me. So either I was getting this all wrong or the memo didn't get passed down just yet. Either way it meant I didn't have anything to worry about for the time being.

I figured if there's anyone left who might give me the time of day, it'd have to be one of the few good friends I had here. I knew just which to ask for, actually; she's pretty special; she has a really unique ability and a big reputation. There's no way they wouldn't know who--

They didn't. They seemed genuinely clueless when I told them her name. Even when I used that really fucking silly nickname she hates and -everybody- worldwide seemed to know back in the days.

That's just impossible... yeah.. it's impossible.. there's no way.

"Ma... did they... they couldn't have..." I found myself rambling in disbelief. I must have looked pretty creepy because the fresh contractees backed off really fast. Well, I can't really blame them if they stole a good look at these baleful eyes of mine.

At this point I just headed off, still stunned and in shock. I disappeared back into the human mass and slipped away with a slow, dragging pace. Whatever had happened to me didn't happen only to me. One of the two best friends I had allowed into my trusted, personal space was gone too. For a moment I wanted to try to find some relief in the fact that I wasn't alone, but guilt sucker punched me just a few seconds afterwards. Fuck this I don't want her to have to go through any of this shit too...

Before I knew it, I was on autopilot. My body headed back to where my new home was. I had managed to get a nice place with all the money I made from missions and other odd jobs on the side about a year or so back. I still had a ridiculous amount to pay for it, but I thought I'd be fine if I kept that kind of income steady. The place was pretty comfortable and well located too, a sweet little haven to unwind and relax at.

So what the bloody hell was this construction site doing in its place!? This time I had to stop and lean against one of the nearby lampposts to take it in. What. The fuck. Seriously. What the fuck is going on. It's almost as if...

I flicked my cellphone back open and checked the date more carefully. Yeah.. I may tend to lose track of time, but I'm pretty sure a whole three years difference is a bit of a big deal. I took a heavy, deep breath and slumped against the lamppost. So was that it? Did this mean that weird as shit Witch Barrier sent me back three years? Was I just at the wrong place at the wrong time for that Vindicare shooting gallery?

I took another deep breath and tried to let things sink in. So far... it would have made sense. It would have worked with the twisted logic of this fucked up day. But that was just an assumption, I needed a better way to make su--

I double-checked the date and blinked. This day and month.. this hour.. I recognized it. That was the day of the trainwreck at the sorting station for all the smaller towns around. There was a suicidal train driver who picked up speed way past the limit and he got flung like a boomerang at the turn. If this was supposed to be the past, then it would happen roughly one hour from now, at 9:13.

I didn't waste any time and headed over to the station, it was 8:22. At that point I started to miss my bike. I used to have a pretty classy Kawasaki sport-touring that worked great in urban. It didn't have any of those fancy-ass mods like the Eight's or the Fourth's would have, but I still liked it. Well, it was gone like the rest, so there was no point in rambling about it too much.

I eventually made it to an elevated area from where the spot the trainwreck was supposed to happen at could be easily seen and plopped down onto the grass with a sigh. It was 9:04 and I hadn't run for this long for a long time.

I stayed there, silent, watching with nothing to say and nothing to really think about. This was my only real lead and if my hunch was right then things would go to shit in just a few minutes.

9:11 : You know. I should probably have felt like an horrible piece of shit for just sitting there waiting for a bunch of innocent bystanders to get crushed into soylent green fodder. I really should have. But at that point, I just felt hollow.

9:13: There it went, that should have been the one. My eyes stayed glued on the lead wagon for a while, dimmed and tired, but after a few seconds I realized it was going at normal speed. It wasn't going to break off the tracks. It took me a few seconds more to actually realize what that meant and that it just took a huge shit on my little pitifully-cobbled theory. I sighed heavily and waited, thinking maybe it had just been delayed a little.

10:25 and still nothing.

'Guess this wasn't the past after all.

I was still just as fucked, though.