Author's Note

WARNING!

This chapter includes some pretty graphic scenes inside. I've probably written more grotesque updates before, but while I was writing this chapter, there was legitimately one point where I started throwing up. I won't blame you if that makes you want to wait for the next chapter. Again, I'm probably overreacting and it's probably nothing, but I've never straight up vomited while writing a chapter update before.

Chapter 12

If I made any sudden moves, I was dead. If either of the girls beside me tried doing anything brash, it was more than likely that I would end up dead as well. In fact, the only way for any of us to make it out of there alive was to get some kind of lucky break, but unfortunately for the three of us, luck was in her total control.

“Let’s see who we have here,” Lucky Star said, squatting down to get a good look at the three of us. “Of course, we have the Great and Powerful Trixie here. If I heard correctly, you were the one who single-handedly murdered Sonic Boom. That’s quite impressive, but unfortunately not impressive enough to make it out of this one, it seems. Ah, is that Palette as well? It’s funny, really. When we invited you two into our home, we honestly believed that you would respond with gratitude, but it looks like all of us regret that decision now, don’t we?”

As Lucky Star continued to speak, I had to grit my teeth to keep myself from saying anything I would immediately regret, even though the way she was speaking to us was so condescending that I almost started a shouting match. She was monologuing, giving us the chance to make something happen, but with Palette’s and Night Seam’s powers too obvious, I was the only one who could try a sneak attack. The only problem was, I had no idea what I could do without getting caught, especially since it would probably end in an insta-kill for the three of us if I were to be discovered. Then again, our lives were already in danger, minutes--or possibly seconds--away from being slaughtered where we lay.

“Oh! I don’t think I’ve met you before,” she said, turning her attention towards Night Seam. “My name is Lucky Star, and you are…?”

“Night Seam. It’s a pleasure to officially meet you.”

“Ooooo, I think I like you. See, girls? Isn’t everything so much easier when you just speak politely with someone rather than sneaking up on them in order to kill them? Now, may I ask you what you’re doing here, exactly?”

Night Seam quickly gave me a glare, hinting that while the two of them were talking, it would be my job to create a diversion to get ourselves out of there. I then immediately started looking around the room, trying my best not to appear too conspicuous, just in case Lucky Star caught me and chopped my head off. While Night Seam began to speak, however, I finally took notice of a stereo on the other side of the room, still plugged into the wall socket despite my magic disorganizing the room.

“We’re here on Discord’s official business. He told us that Dokaeru was plotting to have us killed in secret, and now that she’s dead, it appears that everyone in Everfree City is trying to avenge her. We came here to snoop around and get information, just in case you tried to attack any of us like Sonic Boom did last night.”

“Hmm… I can definitely understand that logic, but why would any of us try and attack you? As far as I’m aware, the only one who would even know you exist is Divinity, but she’s told us that she refuses to intervene in magical girl fights. I’m guessing you’re from Platinum City then, am I correct?”

Night Seam glared at me again. She was doing a good job at ad libbing for the time being, but even someone as good as her would fall short eventually, especially seeing how many questions Lucky Star was throwing at her. In the meantime, though, I quickly tried my best to turn up the volume knob as much as I could, switching the tuning dial to the loudest radio station I could possibly think of.

“I am from Platinum City, yes. As far as I know, I was the third magical girl created by Discord, following Divinity and a young girl named Marrow, who was the one who introduced me to Discord in the first place.”

“Very interesting! And what might your power be?”

“I can change things black.”

Lucky Star waited awkwardly for the punchline, but when it never came, she shook her head in confusion, saying, “I beg your pardon?”

“I can turn anything I want black.”

“O-oh! My, that’s certainly a… erm… interesting power. Would you mind if I see it?”

Finally, with everything set, I used my magic to turn the stereo on, blasting the room with violent soundwaves and causing Lucky Star to reflexively turn her head backwards, which was all the time we needed to pull ourselves out of her furniture. Once I lifted the bookshelf and couch off of our backs, Night Seam immediately touched the bodies of Palette and I while stomping her foot on the floor, turning the two of us as well as everything surrounding us black. Once Lucky Star finally turned to face us again, however, we were already jumping away, blending ourselves in along with the furniture in her apartment. With an angry grunt, she snapped her fingers, causing the stereo to short circuit at the exact time she needed.

“She has a weakness!” Night Seam called out. “She can’t manipulate the luck of things she doesn’t know about! Keep your eyes on where she’s looking!”

“There you are!” Lucky Star shouted, snapping her fingers and causing Night Seam to fall facedown on the floor, undoing basically everything she had turned black. Then, with Night Seam on the floor, she turned her attention back towards the two of us, focusing on Palette first, who was busy trying to paint a shield in thin air. Unfortunately, though, with another snap of her fingers, Palette for the first time ran out of ink, causing her creation to fall down onto the floor in a sea of colors.

With the other two unable to fight, her eyes quickly descended onto me, and I really didn’t have anything to protect myself with other than my spear. Then, with a smile, she pulled out one of her cards and threw it towards my jugular vein. Just as I was about to block her attack with my spear however, my hand uncharacteristically lost its grip, sending my weapon flying to the other side of the room with the card now inches from my throat. I had run out of luck. It would only be another split second before my blood was spilling all over the floor…

*Slice!*

...or so I thought. As I opened my eyes, I noticed that the card had been pinned into the wall beside me by a throwing knife, and as I looked over Lucky Star’s shoulder, I saw Night Seam, holding her knives in her hand. “Why did you save me?!” I shouted. “You could have gone for Lucky Star!”

“Idiot! If you die, we’ll just have to revive you next, which means Mind Games would have to wait!”

“DON’T MENTION REVIVAL!”

By that time, though, it was already too late. I was now wondering whether Night Seam had inadvertently slipped out a key detail or if Lucky Star had used her magic to get Night Seam to reveal the secrets she knew she was hiding. Either way, she was now smiling from ear to ear, skipping over to Palette, who was trying desperately to get her magic working again, putting a playing card against her neck.

“It would really be a shame if I got lucky and gave Palette here a paper cut in the worst possible spot,” Lucky Star began, essentially holding Palette hostage. “Now, what’s this I hear about reviving somebody?”

Night Seam and I were debating whether or not we should say anything, but with Palette’s life on the line, the options were beginning to feel severely limited. Unfortunately for us, though, with Lucky Star’s hand glowing a bright yellow against Palette’s neck, our teammate opened up her mouth and started revealing all of our secrets.

“One of ze reasons we are trying to kill you is because it vill help us to bring our friend back to life. With every magical girl zat we eliminate, Discord vill resurrect a fallen magical girl from Platinum City. Now may I go, please? I really have no use being here, after all.”

“Well, lucky for you, I’m not going to kill you yet. I still have questions about these magical girls you’re trying to revive.”

“Yes, Frau Lucky Star. Anyzing you say.”

While Palette was busy spilling all of our confidential information, however, Night Seam sent me another glare, hinting that it was my turn to create another diversion. I quickly looked all around the room for anything that I could use to take her attention off of Palette, and to my surprise, there just happened to be a phone charger right in front of her foot. All I needed to do was get her to trip. Then, with her attention off of Palette, Night Seam would be able to use her knives to cut her down, but yet again, my plans didn’t work as well as I had hoped. Apparently, Lucky Star had seen me looking around the room, and even though she probably didn’t know what I was planning, with the snap of her fingers, my mind went blank, causing me a severe block any time I tried remembering what my plan was.

“How many magical girls are in Platinum City right now?”

“It depends on what you mean. Zere are four of us from Manehattan, but we are all living in Canterlot at ze moment.”

“And I’m guessing those would be the three of you along with that Dreamdrop girl from the other night?”

“Correct.”

It looked like Night Seam wanted to glare at me some more, but she kept her face forward, just to make sure Lucky Star didn’t catch her communicating with me. I didn’t know whether or not she knew what was going on with me, and for all I knew, Lucky Star had put the exact same curse on her, leaving us both with severe mental blocks any time we tried coming up with a decent strategy.

“And how many more magical girls need to be revived?”

“Six, which means we vould need to kill every girl except for Divinity in order to bring back every girl from Platinum City. We are currently trying to bring back a girl named Mind Games by killing you.”

“Oh, really? And how did she end up dying in the first place?”

Rather than speak, however, Palette lifted up her shaky hand, pointing her finger in my direction and making Lucky Star squint her eyes in confusion. She was starting to switch glances between Palette and myself, seemingly trying to figure out if she was lying before she focused all of her attention on me. This, however, was the exact chance we needed! She had taken her attention off of Palette completely, and upon summoning her throwing knives yet again, Night Seam quickly threw them all into Lucky Star’s neck before she realized what was going on.

Blood immediately started shooting out of her neck with each heartbeat, which was growing faster and faster from the sight of just how much blood she was spraying all over the room. Within seconds, almost everything in the area was colored red, leaving her trying to pull the knives out of her throat, creating an even larger spray of blood all over her apartment. Even the three of us were beginning to get covered in her bodily fluids as Lucky Star gripped at her neck, trying her best to stop the bleeding before losing oxygen. She appeared like she was trying to talk, maybe even scream, but instead, she opened and closed her mouth in vain, falling to the floor and convulsing while the remainder of her blood shot out of her body. She almost appeared like a fish out of water, flailing on the ground as her heartbeat attempted to regain its rhythm, but that image was quickly replaced once the red liquid began pouring out of her mouth and her movements gradually decreased, leaving a lifeless husk where the magical girl once was.

Finally, her body transformed back into Black Clover, lying in a puddle of her own blood, causing her tan skin to match the red color of her hair. Her eyes were in the back of her head with her mouth left wide open, further solidifying the disgusting appearance of her barren corpse. It hadn’t even been twenty-four fucking hours yet, but I still had to watch another girl die right in front of me, making me once again scream from the top of my lungs.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”

“Palette! Get Trixie out of here!”

“NO!! LUCKY STAR! WE CAN BRING YOU BACK! DISCORD, PLEASE! PLEASE DON’T LET HER DIE!”

“Great und Powerful Trixie, we must move!” Palette said, trying to pull me away from Black Clover’s body. “It is only a matter of time before--”

“I DON’T CARE! THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE DOESN’T CARE ANYMORE! WE CAN’T LET HER DIE!”

“Enough!”

As I tried to pull myself away from Palette’s arms, Night Seam turned everything black, making it to where not only could I not see Black Clover’s body in the midst of the rest of the furniture scattered around the room, but the blood was also blending into the rest of the environment. The only reason I even knew there was blood by my feet was because I could physically feel the liquid up to my ankles, causing my muscles to tense up. I had seen one too many girls die in front of me, and even if it meant losing Mind Games forever, I had to keep the same thing from happening to Black Clover.

Seeing black rather than red was somehow beginning to calm my emotions, but not so much my mind. I knew that she was still in that puddle of black somewhere, even if I couldn’t see her, yet even with my emotions reeling out of control, I could finally feel myself begin to breathe again. Night Seam was right that we had to get out of there, especially since we were on a time limit for how long we could take before her spirit disappeared forever, making this whole operation next to pointless. As I turned towards the door along with Night Seam and Palette, I took one last look back, trying to find Black Clover in the sea of darkness and finding nothing, allowing me to leave with one fewer graphic memory that would scar me forever.

The three of us then returned to the roof of Canterlot High School, making sure we checked the entire perimeter of the schoolyard before deciding to hold our meeting where people would find us. By this point, I was breathing properly again, although I continued to replay that memory of Lucky Star’s death over and over again in my mind, trying futilely to block out the visage of her desperate attempts to scream, just for more blood to pour out of her mouth. I was in no mood to continue being a magical girl right now, but the three of us had a job to do. Mind Games wouldn’t be able to wait for us forever, after all.

“Appear, o spirit of chaos,” Night Seam called. “Discord!”

The three of us then waited for clouds to appear in the sky or for fog to build up around our legs, but instead, we remained standing there, waiting awkwardly for something to happen. Just as Night Seam’s face was beginning to turn red, however, we all began to feel a buzz in our pockets, pulling out our phones to see a new message from the god of chaos himself.

“‘Can’t talk right now,’” I read aloud. “‘Busy trying to find a six-letter word for apocalypse’? Discord, get over here!”

“Fine!” I quickly dropped my phone as the draconequus pulled himself out of my touch screen, yanking himself out of the phone completely with a crossword puzzle in his claw and a pair of reading glasses on his muzzle. “Although if you ever need me to help you with one of your crossword puzzles, you’ll just have to find another omnipotent being to give you the answer.”

Night Seam sighed, making all eyes fall upon her as she aggravatedly folded her arms, glaring up into Discord’s yellow eyes. “You know why we called you. We want you to resurrect Mind Games.”

“Oooooo! And I’m guessing you have a soul for me to put into her body as well?”

“Yes. Lucky Star is dead. Now can you please bring my friend back before her spirit disappears?”

Discord chuckled loudly, holding onto his gut as he began laughing hysterically about seemingly nothing. “Alright, Night Seam! Whatever you say!”

Then, with the snap of his fingers, we were in a completely different place, surrounded by large trees and a marble statue in the center of a grassy area. The place seemed familiar, but at the same time, I felt a shiver run down my spine, as if I had specifically tried to block the memory from my mind. Discord had returned us to a park, yet for some reason, even though the sun hadn’t completely set, the area was completely void of people other than the three of us.

Just as I was about to question the scenario further, however, the three of us heard a noise coming from behind us, making us all turn our heads to see a girl groaning, holding her head as she sat herself up. She was extremely pretty, wearing a hypnotic black and white dress with long, frilly blonde hair and a silver hairpiece. Even as the years had passed, her magical girl form hadn’t aged a day, bringing a tear to my eye as I saw the girl whose murder I regretted the most finally breathing air into her lungs again. The moment she made eye contact with me, however, she jumped, cowering on the ground as if I were still trying to hurt her.

“What’s going on?” she asked, switching glances between myself and her teammates. “Why is the Great and Powerful Trixie here? I thought she was the game changer! Don’t tell me you two have joined her side!”

“Calm down, Mädchen!” Palette replied. “Zere is nozing to be scared of anymore!”

Mind Games tilted her head, continuing to switch stares between the three of us. “Whyyyyy are you talking like that? Seriously, if it’s something you can’t say out loud, you can just tell me in your mind.”

“There won’t be any need for that,” Night Seam said, helping Mind Games back up to her feet. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“The last thing I remember?” Mind Games looked away as she timidly tried to recall the memories she probably didn’t have anymore. “I… I remember us fighting… and the Great and Powerful Trixie had me trapped in her magic, but… I don’t think I remember anything after that.” Then, she looked back into my eyes, staring at me with a confused expression, as if I was the one who was somehow hiding her memories from her. “What did you do to me?”

“I… um…” I had no idea what to say. Should I lie and tell her that I knocked her out? Should I tell her that I put a spell on her and took her memories away from her? That was assuming she would believe me, however, which wasn’t something she would probably do in this situation, seeing as how in her mind, the death game was still going on.

Before I could say anything stupid, however, Night Seam butted in by saying, “The Great and Powerful Trixie killed you four years ago. She has since brought you back to life to atone for the mistake she made.”

“What? No! That can’t be true! Is the game changer gone? Who was it? Was it Marrow after all? She has to be alive! Nobody could kill her! There’s no way that I died either, especially four years ago! This is… I mean, this is--”

“Mind Games,” Palette said, placing her hand onto her friend’s shoulder. “It is over. We have a new enemy zat we must worry about now.”

Mind Games gulped. “What kind of enemy? Like a magical enemy?”

The three of us then looked back at each other and sighed before switching our expressions back to Mind Games, who looked just as confused as ever. This was going to be a long explanation, especially since even though we had just revived her, there would be a high chance that she would just end up dying again in our current death game. I hated putting everyone’s life in danger like that, including the girls from Everfree City, but somehow, I had convinced myself that what we were doing was for the greater good…. Somehow…

“Summer Breeze! Trixie is hoooome!”

As Summer Breeze walked out of the kitchen, however, wearing the apron that I loved just because it showed off her cutest features, she was holding a rolling pin in her hand, smacking it against her palm while pouting angrily at me. I had a feeling I already knew what this was about, but hopefully after saying my sorries, the two of us could kiss and make up so that I could do the exact same thing the next day, keeping her as far away from trouble as possible. She would catch on eventually, but hopefully by that point, Iron Maiden, Cupid Symphony and Paradox would all be revived as well, making this whole magical girl hunt worth it in the end.

“Let me guess,” Summer Breeze began. “You had a project?”

“...If Trixie said yes, would you pretend to believe her?”

“Nope!”

“Then she was out killing another magical girl. Oh, by the way, Mind Games is back. Are those crescent rolls Trixie smells? You always make the best--”

“What the fuck, Trixie?! You think you can just keep doing this like I’m not going to notice? Like I’m not going to care?”

“To be fair, this was kind of a last minute thing, and Trixie just maaaaaay have forgotten to tip you off about it.”

“Bullshit! You know what? Here’s what’s going to happen. From now on, I’m going to come with you every time you go hunting for magical girls, OK? I don’t care what Night Seam says. She’s never scared me, and you are going to let me so that I can protect you! Or do you not remember me saving your ass last night when Night Seam went berserk?”

I had to admit, she had saved me from Night Seam two times already, plus saving me from Lulu Lemon and saving Palette from Dokaeru. There was no longer any reason to hold her back other than my own fears that something might happen to her, but she was probably thinking the exact same thing whenever she saw me take on magical girls alone. As much as I hated to say it, I had no logical reason that she wouldn’t be allowed to help out, especially if I wanted our relationship to last… supposing we didn’t die.

“How about every other time?” I asked, grinning sheepishly while getting the staredown from Summer Breeze’s angry eyes. “Alright! Alright! Fine! Trixie will let you come along, but only if you promise to get out of there if things get too dangerous. OK?” Rather than answer, however, Summer Breeze continued staring down at me, her expression unwavering to the point where she almost seemed frozen. “Uh… is that alright?”

“She can’t hear you.”

“Eeeep!” I shouted, turning around to face the sudden voice behind me.

There she was again. Long, blonde hair, a pure white dress and golden bracelets decorating her wrists, giving her the perfect image of an angel, complete with the wings that she was hiding behind her back. Every time I saw her, whether I asked to speak with her or not, I felt something in my stomach drop, like she would cause the heat death of the universe if I ever unknowingly said anything that would piss her off. Plus, she always had this emotionless expression on her face, like she had seen so many terrible things that life didn’t even phase her anymore, but this time, she didn’t look like she was very happy to see me, making my heart drop even more.

“I need to speak to you, Great and Powerful Trixie.”

“Y-yes, Divinity?”

“These girls you’re reviving. You didn’t tell me that they would be helping you kill my teammates.”

Shoot! I didn’t even think about that!

“Trixie didn’t realize that they would be joining her! It just sort of… happened!”

Divinity sighed, taking in another large breath through her nose before looking back at me. “I hope you know that the reason I haven’t interfered so far was because I considered you, Palette and Dreamdrop as family of Everfree City, despite your allegiances with Discord. However, the girls you are recruiting have no dealings with Everfree City, and if you intend to use them as your weapons, I will start to aid my sisters against them. Lucky Star’s death was acceptable if it were to come from one of the three of you, but since Night Seam was the one to kill her, I’m going to be sending one of my own girls to kill her.”

“No!” I blurted out, causing Divinity to raise an eyebrow. “I mean… Is there anything Trixie can do to change your mind?”

Divinity stood in silence for several moments before finally saying, “You can use your next soul to bring back Lucky Star.”

I wanted to. I wanted to so bad. “But… Trixie can’t do that…”

“In that case, our discussion is over. I’ve given you my warning. Please do not allow it to happen again.”

Then, with her wings spreading out to the far corners of the room, she disappeared, sending time back to its normal course while leaving my head going through a tailspin. What was going to happen next? Was I just supposed to let Night Seam die? Could I really intervene as far as Divinity was concerned?

“Hellooooo!” Summer Breeze announced, putting her hands on her hips and pulling me back into reality. “So are you going to let me come along or not?”

Suddenly, though, I realized exactly what I had to do, even though I still wasn’t sure whether or not I was making the right decision. “Summer Breeze, we have to leave. Right now.”