#MGChronicle [01:21:22:27] <Reikim>
Hikari is waiting for her.
Standing in the middle of the path, looking up at the stars; hand in her coat pocket, lit from below by the little running lights that line the path.
…She looks so young.
She's tall for her apparent age, but she can't be more than 14. It's a bit of a shock; she isn't even *that* much taller than Melissa. Well, relative to everyone else.
She breathes something to herself and the night air, as she looks at the stars. Then she brings her eyes back down to earth, and focuses on Melissa.
"Hey," she says.
"…You look like someone who's decided on something."

<~Wander>	 “…Hey,” the little redhead replies.  One hand is entwined in her curls, the other raised in a halfhearted greeting.  The dull iron grey of her eyes doesn’t reflect much starlight.  Despite being the size and shape of a child, something about her seems much older than it should.  Much too tired.
“I guess I have, but…” Melissa takes a pair of deep, even breaths.  It’s a calming trick she picked up from Belinda. “…but I’m… I…”
She shakes her head, a bitter smile creeping across her lips. “…Ah, I guess I… I’ve still got some questions…”

<Reikim>	 "Go ahead."
Hikari positions herself at Melissa's side, following her pace.
"I'll answer them honestly," she promises. And somehow, she knows it's true.

<~Wander>	 Melissa doesn’t seem to be headed anywhere in particular, just letting her feet take her where they may, hoping it will be somewhere she won’t be overheard.
“First off, this process… *Purification*… it could definitely kill me, couldn’t it?” she starts. “And I’ve been given the impression that my corruption is… *progressing*, somehow?  Almost like… after all this time, I’m *suddenly* approaching some point of no return?”

<Reikim>	 Hikari chooses to answer the second question first…with another question:
"Were you always so hungry," she asks, bluntly, "as you are today?"

<~Wander>	 Melissa hesitates a moment before answering.
“Today was… actually *lighter* than usual,” she mumbles out. “I didn’t eat much of my stock before dinner, yet I was still able to… actually taste normal food.”

<Reikim>	 "But it's gotten worse over time, hasn't it?" she says.
They pass into a row of trees; oaks, it seems, young, but healthy, not quite tall or broad enough yet to cover them fully.
The strip of moonlight that passes through between them sits between the Beacon and the monstergirl. From the other side, Hikari adds:
"It's the shackles. The Corruption is linked to your magic; so when they suppress your magic, they suppress it too. That's what they were designed for…not to lock you up."
"…For what good that's worth." She shrugs, her ponytail swaying. "Either way…it won't work forever."

<~Wander>	 Melissa holds out her right arm, letting the shackle shimmer in the moonlight.
“*So it works almost the same as the suppression pills used to,*” she mumbles.
She stares at it for a few moments, her expression hardening.
“…You know, you treat this like it’s a *disease*, and your people look at me like a *leper*, but… do I even really have any say in whether or not you purify me?  If I refused and tried to leave, you’d… probably send people to hunt me down and force it on me, right?  Or to *exterminate* me, I guess.  I’m too dangerous to let go, but you have to make it *seem* like I have a choice, both because it’s easier on you and… so Belinda believes it’s what’s best for me, right?” Melissa doesn’t raise her voice as she asks for confirmation on her suspicions.

<Reikim>	 "I'm surprised it took this long for you to say it," says Hikari. "But I guess it was Belinda, wasn't it…"
She sighs, and plays with her ponytail.
"I'd let you leave," she says, seriously. "I promised you would be safe here. We're not like the Mint; we won't use loopholes on you. As far as I'm concerned, you have the right to leave here whenever you want."
"...But if you do," she says. "I *would* have to send one of us with you."
"Then…yes. It's been tried…it's only a matter of time. Eventually, it'd win…you'd get too hungry…and, usually-"
She pauses on something. Melissa can feel the weight of it, caught in her throat, hanging heavy behind her eyes as they look out at other time, and other places.
"…You probably know how that ends," she says finally. "You can feel it."
"If you use the shackles, or the pills, you'll last longer. But eventually..."
Crickets chirp in the twilight.
"…There's one other option," she adds. "We could burn out your magic completely."


<~Wander>	 Melissa is silent.  she stares at Hikari for nearly half a minute before answering.
“I’d rather die on my feet than lose my powers,” she finally replies, shaking her head. “I went off the pills and became like *this*, because they taught me just how *easy* it was for people to hurt me if I didn’t have power anymore.”
She tugs at the shackle, wishing it were gone, even if she had to lose her entire arm in the process.
“…But I guess if I left, then… you *really* wouldn’t put me down *right away*?  I think that… that maybe you’d be *right* to,” Melissa confesses, wearily smiling even as something in her voice *cracks*. “Y-you know, the worst thing about coming here is that… you’re *right*.  They’re *all* right about me, and… and *it hurts*.  It hurts *s-so much* and I c-can’t even keep telling myself you’re all *wrong*, anymore.”

<Reikim>	 "Breaking things is easy," says Hikari quietly. "It's harder to put them back together."
She stuffs her hand in her pocket and looks up at the moon.
"…I've been around a long time. And I know it never works out when we try to decide who lives and who dies."
She looks back over at Melissa; her dark eyes are hard and determined.
"The *right* thing to do is save you, however we can. You dying is the *last* option, as far as I'm concerned."
She cracks a small smile. "…Besides, Belinda'd be sad if you did. Then Nika'd burn off all my hair again."

<~Wander>	 “I d-don’t… I don’t really think I *can* be saved, anymore,” Melissa replies, her voice starting at a murmur, but then quickly rising in volume and pitch.  “I’m *Melissa the Red*!  Over the years, I’ve racked up a body count of over *two hundred* people!  *Most* of them for food and *all* of them handpicked because they *deserved* it!  C-can you *really* save someone who’s spilled *so much blood* that it’s left her magical outfit *permanently stained*?”
As quickly as Melissa has that outburst, she quiets down again.  Her hands are shaking as she draws a sleeve across her eyes. “I… I’ve learned to *enjoy* it, you know that?” she mumbles. “I… I d-don’t really even know *how* to be human, anymore…”

<Reikim>	 "But you want to," Hikari observes.
"And as long as that's true, it'll work."
She shrugs.
"I think we could use some help, honestly. Especially around here. Three hundred years and I still haven't figured out what it means to be human; I'd love it if you could help."
"Until you figure it out, I'll keep you safe," she promises.
…And somehow, Melissa knows she *will*.
"As long as it takes. That's my job." She smiles up at the moon; then holds out her hand into the thin beam of moonlight between them.
"If you're all right with that…I think we can find a place for you."

<~Wander>	 “Y-you…” Melissa’s shoulders shake once.  Twice.  She lets out a small giggle, not entirely *healthy*, but not completely *fake*, either. “…I guess this is why you’re in charge here, huh?  You’re always able to say the right things to reassure someone in need?”
She wipes her eyes again, this time mustering a weak smile as her hand crosses the moonbeam to accept the one she’s been offered.
“I guess I… while I’m laying my soul bare like this, there’s… one other thing I wanted to ask,” she admits, staring at her hand and Hikari’s.
“Y-you see, when I got here, I honestly didn’t care *too much* whether I was human or not, but…”
Melissa squeezes her eyes shut for a moment.
 “H-have you ever met someone that… that was like…” She needs to pause a moment to piece together her thoughts. “Have you ever met someone who was like a sudden burst of *color* when your world was all brown and grey?  And suddenly everything is *vibrant* and *wonderful*?  But… but then, they leave your life and take all the color with them… and you can’t bear to go back to the old, colorless way your life used to be?”
She sighs to herself, not thinking she’s making much sense, but unsure how else to explain it.
“B-basically I think maybe that’s the main reason I’m going along with the purification?” she finishes.