Void Guardian 2.1

Approach 2.1

The reception at Hannah’s house was awkward, to say the least. I got to watch a whole lot of atrocious teenage lying, and was introduced to a very weary parent who didn’t want to pry. She mostly looked glad that I wasn’t a boy. After brief introductions, Jean, Hannah’s mom, ordered a pizza, gave us some cash for it, and announced she was going out with ‘the girls’ and not to wait up for her. Hannah looked disappointed and a little mad, but I didn’t want to say anything - prying into her life would just mean I’d have to give details on my own, and that had disaster written all over it, considering I’m sure they had a far different idea in their heads about my situation than the actuality of it. That said, I’m sure she wanted more info on me, which is probably why she volunteered to make the pizza run, taking Puchuu along and leaving me alone with Amy. Neither of us are big talkers, so we sit and eye each other silently as we wait.

Amy breaks first. “So… what’s happening with you at home?”

I avert my eyes. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

I can feel her staring. “I don’t need to know the dirty details, but you’re not being abused or anything, are you? We’ll take care of it, if we have to.” I think she’s trying to be supportive and tough. It comes off as prying by offering ineffectual support.

I give her my best sad smile. “No. Nobody’s hurting me, or anyone I know, not physically. Not even intentionally. It’s just that since this magic stuff happened last night, I’m not really welcome at home anymore.”

Her eyes widen and she grabs my shoulders. “You didn’t tell your family did you?! You’re not supposed to do that! Puu says-”

I slap her arms away and growl. “I couldn’t give a flying fuck what that little hell-blob says. It’s his fault I’m in this mess. No offense to you, I’m sure he’s been a bosom companion to you two, but to me he’s just the thing that took my body and lost me my family, okay?”

Amy cocks her head. “Took your body?”

“Ugh.” I’m already revealing more than I want to. “Look, I didn’t always look like a giantess. I’ve looked like this for less than a day, and from about a minute after meeting that little fucker.”

“So your wish was to be big? Your family didn’t remember you being big? Why did they throw you out? Did you not believe him when he offered the wish?” Amy fountains more questions at me, but I fixate on one thing. ‘Wish.’

I hold up a hand and silence her. “Back the fuck up. Wish? Powderpuff didn’t offer me shit. He said I was taking her place, and then my body warped and changed.”

Amy’s brow furrows. “You didn’t get a wish? But all the girls I’ve talked to got wishes when they became magical girls. I wished to be prettier and more like Hannah…” She looks wistful and introspective for a moment before continuing.

“And Hannah wished her dad would always come back so she didn’t have to worry about him dying. Over on base there’s a couple girls who wished to fly - one knows how to fly all kinds of planes and stuff now and the other got wings on her costume she can kind of use. You mean you didn’t use your wish or you wasted it on being tall?”

I frown. “No, I didn’t get one. No offer was made. Plus, if I had wished to be tall, I think everyone would have just remembered me always being tall. This isn’t my face either. This whole body is different. I didn’t exactly get thrown out, but I walked in and nobody recognized me. I claimed to be me and they didn’t believe it. Then they started to get violent, because there was a stranger in their house, with stuff that didn’t belong to her, and knowledge she shouldn’t have. I grabbed some things and ran before it got uglier.”

Amy looks dubious. “You must have made a bad wish without even realizing it.”

A spike of rage shoots through me. I ball my fists and close my eyes, trying to breathe instead of lashing out. My voice is level but cold. “Don’t tell me that I did anything when I know I didn’t. I didn’t say anything to the little pink monster before he changed me. Clearly you got a choice and were paid to hop on board the SS Child Soldier, but I got shanghaied into it.”

Amy looks like she wants to argue, but apparently I’m being genuine enough with her that she doesn’t want to poke at what’s clearly a sore spot with me. She’s probably just shrugging it off as a ‘bad wish’ that I don’t want to talk about. Fine. I glare furiously at the rifle case and the sword it contains. Puffball and I will have words about this wish business later.

I snap my eyes back to her and catch her eyeing the case we smuggled in after Jean left. “So, what’s in the case?” She says. Her voice is mostly steady, but I can hear the waver in it. Between my cold anger and her clear knowledge of what the case is, Amy’s at least a little afraid of the answer.

I try to sound as non-threatening as possible when I answer. “My shotgun, a small box of ammo, and a sword.”

“Why do you have a shotgun and a sword?” Amy’s voice is losing its steadiness.

“I wasn’t about the leave the gun in the house with my family when they thought I had died or vanished and a strange girl was scamming them. I didn’t want anything rash to happen so I took it with me when I left.”

I pop the case open and pull the sword free. “This isn’t really mine though. I’m told it used to be… Krystal’s? If I’m remembering that name right?”

Amy stops dead and goes white. “Krystal’s sword? Why would you have-”

“Because she’s dead.” My interjection is flat and low.

She isn’t exactly frantic, but this is hitting her like a gut punch. “No, she can’t be dead. She was fine, we split up last night to scout-”

“And you haven’t heard from her since.”

Amy covers her mouth in horror and I wince. I’m being rather harsh. I ease back, and try to follow up with a more sympathetic tone. “She was hit by a car last night. The pink terror singled me out as her replacement. I pulled the sword out of the grille myself after transforming.”

“But... we can’t...” She’s starting to tear up.

“Can’t what? Die? I’m damn sure we’re not immortal.” I cut her off grimly as I return the sword to the case.

A gratingly familiar voice cuts in. “They aren’t, chuu. But you kind of are.”

That voice. I slam the case shut and twist around, spotting Hannah coming in with the little pustule. “Wishes and immortality, you little shit?! I need explanations.” I’m not quite shouting at him, but my tone promises pain.

Hannah looks confused, but the thing leaps from her shoulder and plops onto the couch. “Oh, you can still die. All of you can. But you-” he points his tail at me. “Can come back. With time, and effort. Not easily. It’s more like reincarnation, really. Oh, and it’s harder to kill you in the first place. I don't want to keep doing this and opportunities like yourself don’t come along all that often. Odd how we had so many this week though.”

I blinked. “I- what? What do you mean opportunities like myself? So many this week?”

Coal-black spheres stare into my eyes. “Puchuu can’t grant powers of your magnitude to people like Hannah and Amy. It requires a great debt, and the wishes of most of these girls are simply not enough to put them in that realm. What you did, and those earlier this week did, are what let us shape and empower you so drastically. You are fixed. Permanent. You will sustain in a way that these girls cannot.”

Amy looks at me like I’m an alien. Hannah still looks confused. “So these others in my situation...”

It nods imperceptibly. “You may meet them. Or not. Most are elsewhere.”

Hannah is finally fed up and explodes. “What the fuck is going on?! Why is Amy crying? Who are you talking about? Maeve is immortal? What is going on!?”

I open my mouth with an explanation on my lips, but click my jaw shut. There’s no way to make this sound at all good. I cast a glance at the little monster and his inky eyes gaze back soullessly.

His voice echoes softly in my ear, almost impossible to hear, but not quite. “Best to keep the specifics from them.”
I don’t want to take his advice. I didn’t want to take these girls’ help, but they’re my only shelter, and I apparently killed a friend of theirs. And hid the body. Shit. Half truths. Stick to at least partial truth.

I wipe my face with both hands before sliding down to the open case on the floor. I extract the sword again and words tumble from my lips.

“Do you recognize this?” I’m shaking a little, and give the shining blue blade a half swing to disguise it. I plow onward before Hannah can answer. “It was Krystal’s. I don’t know what her transformed name was. I was there when she died. I didn’t look like this, I was normal. I didn’t want to be a magical girl. I didn’t get a wish like you did, like Amy did. I didn’t even get a choice. Battlefield promotion I guess. So that’s why Amy’s crying. Your friend is gone. As for the rest, something about me not getting a wish makes me different, stronger than she was. I don’t want to be your friend’s replacement… but I kind of am.”

I curl into myself. These girls are so earnest. They’ve helped me, but all I’ve done for them is kill their friend. I’m not crying. I’m so close. My eyes are blurring. I blink away the tears and fight not to let the pit in my chest eat me. I’m not crying.

Hannah glances at me and her friend, back and forth in frustration. She settles for grinding her teeth and marching toward us. “Puu. I’m cleaning up your mess.”

The pink blur wobbles and undulates before flouncing out of the room.

Hannah grabs Amy and pulls her to the couch, pulls all of us together in half hugs.

Her voice is low but strong. “Maeve. It’s not your fault Krystal’s dead. We’ve been searching for the monster in the gully for two weeks now. We split up to search, and it must have gotten her while we were separated. We should have stuck together. Did you see it? How did it get her, what did it look like?”

I wipe at my eyes. “I didn’t see a monster. She just came running out of the woods onto the road, got hit by a car. Nothing was chasing her, she was just… running.”

“Okay. Amy,” Hannah turns her head, pulling at her friend. “We’re not going to let Krystal die for nothing. Maeve’s a strong girl, she’s gonna help us out, and we’ll kill it. We’re going to hunt this thing down and kill the shit out of it.

Her arms are shaking with effort, hugging us hard. “Hell, we’ll start tonight.”

The silence is poignant. Amy has stopped sniffling, and while I wasn’t crying in the first place, my eyes are clear and the vice around my heart eases a bit. They’re not my friends, not yet. But they could be. That’ll do for now.

An overly cheerful voice breaks the moment. “I’m glad you girls are ready to avenge your friend, but you should probably eat before you go monster hunting.” Puchuu flops into the room, eating a piece of the pizza.

I hate it when he offers good ideas.