“You’re late.”

As the woman stepped into the elegant grand hall, she was met with a single, curt greeting, if you could even call it that. One of a number of shadowy shapes stood at the far end, awaiting her arrival. Completely at ease with gloved hands folded in front of her, her pristine dress spread over the immaculate carpet as she glided her way to where they convened.

“Apologies,” she replied, not at all meaning it. “My attire did not survive my journey quite the same as I, and as I did not want to appear in such an unbecoming state of dress, I took some time to change.”

“It’s been two hours,” the man hissed.

“Personal hygiene is not a matter to be taken lightly,” she stated matter-of-factly. Her smirk widened underneath her mask as she imagined how much her tardiness and nonchalance had irked her supposed leader. “But, if you require another reason, I did have some difficulties getting away without being noticed. Quite the crowd had amassed towards the end.” For good measure, she paused to take a curtsy. “I do hope you’ll forgive me this time.”

A grunt and shake of the head was her response. “Enough. Just come here.”

She suppressed a giggle with her hand, amused at how she had managed to get under his skin even if he tried not to show it. It had definitely been worth making them wait past the scheduled meeting time, especially since she’d gotten the chance to relax before having to face the music of her failure during this debrief.

As she approached, one of the dim, featureless figures shifted from one foot to the other, leaning its weight onto a cane as it regarded her with what she imagined was a lopsided smile beneath its silhouetted tophat. “It would seem our resident jovial jokester is in high spirits today. Should we assume, then, that things went well?”

“But of course,” she answered smoothly, then paused for dramatic effect before continuing. “...Is what I’d like to say. However, the reality is that things proved to be much… trickier than I could have anticipated.”

“Oh? Tricky enough that you, who so brazenly boasted of her talents and refused aid, would come back empty handed? Color me intrigued.” Standing just behind the figure, a second, shorter one raised a hand to stifle what she could only assume was a giggle of its own. Though it was noiseless, the way its translucent shoulders shook was unmistakable.

It wasn’t that they were simply masked by darkness either. The room was lit to perfection thanks to the Light Crystals lining the walls and high ceiling, and yet they still appeared incorporeal and showed only the vaguest resemblance to those they represented. If she hadn’t understood the concepts behind projection technology, she would have assumed they were phantoms of some sort.

Even now, long after she’d gotten used to it, she couldn’t help but be impressed by the advancements being made with mana crystals and their capabilities. None of these people were actually here, and yet she could see and speak with them as if they were. Of course her own form was being projected to their locations too, and while all of their appearances and voices were disguised for security purposes, the fact that she could tell she was being made fun of with such limited information was impressive nonetheless.

It wasn't, however, enough to dampen her rising irritation. But before she could cleverly retort the smug tophat bastard and his cheeky protégé, a third voice cut in.

“Enough! I did not come here to be witness to more of your senseless bickering,” barked the absolute antithesis of fun—a guy she knew only by his codename, Obelisk—as he stood there imposingly with arms crossed, his own subordinate standing stoically behind him. Though she had no way of knowing, she could just imagine the vein in his forehead on the verge of popping. But that was neither here nor there, as this was a matter of pride the likes of which were beyond his mundane understanding.

“Nebula.” But it seemed their almighty leader foresaw her intent to explain this point, as his distorted voice immediately silenced the room, addressing her with the codename she’d assigned herself. “I’ve been informed of all that transpired during your assignment.”

“My my, even though I’ve only just returned? You people certainly work fast,” she commented neutrally, throwing a glance around the room to search for the culprit. “Shall I assume our missing member reported on the situation before me? Where is she anyway?”

“Nomad is currently still on assignment and won’t be available for the time being,” he answered with similar neutrality. “More importantly, you insisted on undertaking this task alone, and assured me that you could capture [Baphomet] without any complications. And yet, you not only failed to secure the legendary monster as you said, you allowed it to be slain by a group of Heroes right under your nose.”

Oh? Is that how it was reported? Interesting…

“This level of incompetence is unbecoming for someone of your talents. I assume you have an explanation for this?”

“Yes, it was all quite droll I would say,” she replied while pretending to inspect her nails. “After all, I’d put forth so much effort into injuring the beast, only for a momentary lapse of judgment to leave me injured in turn. Loathe as I am to admit, I underestimated the power of a legendary monster.” She shook her head in a dramatically woeful fashion, then perked up moments later. “Oh but, rest assured, I shan’t make the same mistake twice. As soon as you’re ready to move on the next target, I-”

“No,” he interrupted. “There won’t be a next target. Not for you, anyway.”

“Oh my, is that so? Whatever do you mean by that?” she asked innocently.

“You’re on house arrest for the time being. Zaoth will become a hotbed of activity in the wake of this incident, so it’s too dangerous to make any more moves there. For now, lay low. Cancel all of your appointments and public appearances immediately, and do not leave your estate without my permission.”

“Fufu, what should I do? It seems I’m being grounded.” She stifled an amused laugh, but otherwise offered no resistance. After all, she’d been expecting much, much worse.

Having doled out her punishment, their boss then turned his attention to the tophat piece of trash. “Deuce. Halt your operations in Westra and prepare for reassignment. Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to reclaim [Baphomet] before we continue with our plans.”

“Reclaim it?” The man, codenamed Deuce, pushed off of his cane and back into a standing position. “How do you propose I do that? And in Norith of all places?”

“According to reports from Nomad as well as the Heroes who were involved in [Baphomet]’s death, it was apparently revived by a female necromancer shortly after its death. The Heroes were attacked, but fended off the unknown party until she fled, taking [Baphomet] with her.”

“A necromancer?” That got Obelisk’s attention, and Nebula knew she would have been surprised too if she hadn’t seen it all take place before her eyes. Still, what was really surprising was the fact that Nomad, and even the Heroes had apparently chosen to hide the involvement of the two girls from their report. “I thought there weren’t any necromancers left. Extinct, just like monsters.”

“Yes, and just like the monsters, some have managed to survive into the modern era,” their leader explained. “However, I know of only one who possesses the resources and expertise to sabotage our operations like this, and the description given by the Heroes matches her perfectly.” He sighed, seeming genuinely irritated. “A pest of a woman, who leads a criminal organization based out of Regalia. Circe…”

“Excuse me? Circe? Surely you don’t mean that false goddess from the Disciples of Circe,” said Deuce.

“I do. And she’s false in more ways than you realize.” Everyone seemed to await his explanation, but it never came. Instead, he continued on. “Make your preparations. I want you and Domino in Regalia before the year’s end. Build up your operations there and establish yourself as a player in the criminal underworld making a bid for power against her. That will catch Circe’s attention.”

“You want my organization to compete with hers?” Deuce put a finger to his chin in thought. “Sounds like it would simply be suicide under normal circumstances. The head of a criminal enterprise that even I wasn’t aware of, and a necromancer on top of it? She even has a legendary monster in her repertoire now.”

“I’ll support you financially, but the rest is up to you to figure out,” their leader said. “I can’t afford to get too involved or spare any of my own manpower, so I recommend you avoid direct confrontation for the time being. Focus on scaling your own assets.”

“What is the point of this?” Obelisk asked brusquely. “Why not simply assault her and take back the legendary monster?”

“Because I don’t just want [Baphomet] back from her. She did this knowing it would be a thorn in my side, for no other reason than her own twisted amusement. That sort of behavior cannot go unchecked.”

“Ahh, I see,” Nebula chimed in. “Rather than simply reclaiming the monster and leaving it at that, you want to completely crush her to ensure that she can’t involve herself with our business again in the future, correct?”

“Correct. Deuce. Domino. I’m entrusting this task to the two of you. Do not fail me.” Deuce gripped the brim of his hat between his thumb and finger as he inclined his head, while Domino gave a cheerful mock salute at his side.

“Worry not,” Deuce said, and Nebula could practically feel the glance he sent her way. “Unlike some who shall not be named, we’re not ones to let hubris be our undoing. Isn’t that right?” The girl was all too eager to nod in agreement, angling towards her while covering her mouth with both hands to supposedly stifle more cheeky giggles. These fuckers…

“Good. Get on it. I want regular reports every fifteen days. The rest of you will remain on standby until further notice. Dismissed.” After concluding the meeting, his form fizzled out until he vanished completely, leaving the five of them alone.

“Hmph.” Or rather, three, as Obelisk and his subordinate abruptly disappeared moments later.

Now alone with the tophat idiot and his brat of a protégé, Nebula rolled her eyes when it became clear that he wouldn’t leave just yet. “Sucks to be you, being told to stay home. Your penchant for trouble certainly knows no bounds, does it?”

“Ufufu,” she giggled, if only to keep him from noticing how irritated she was. “Well I can’t deny that. Now, did you have some business with me, or did you only stay to make an ass of yourself with petty remarks?”

To her satisfaction, her comment seemed to irk Domino, who she imagined let out a growl as she took a menacing step forward. A single raised hand from Deuce was all it took for her to relent, however, and he himself remained unfazed as he leaned onto his cane once more. “Come now, no need for such hostility, old friend. As it turns out, there was something that tickled my fancy concerning this recent assignment of yours. Namely…” He paused, his voice lowering. “...your loss against [Baphomet].”

Nebula went quiet, knowing exactly what he was hinting at. She didn’t consider them friends in the slightest, but his tone gave away that his use of it just now was not out of endearment. Feeling that there was no point beating around the bush, she prompted him. “...How much do you know?”

“I know that, as a betting man, I would stake my life on the fact that you failed your mission intentionally. I would also play the odds that you wanted [Baphomet] to be killed, which is why you let those Heroes finish it off after you did most of the work. Am I wrong?” Nebula’s only response was silence, and after a moment Deuce shook his head exasperatedly, his demeanor lightening considerably from before. “Good grief… What is it you’re hoping to achieve here? We both know that man has killed over less. If he finds out you betrayed him, there won’t be anywhere you can run.”

Nebula hummed, turning her back to the two as she contemplated what to say next. “Well… Let’s just say, you’re not the only one who has some insurance.”

“Oh? And would this ‘insurance’ of yours happen to have anything to do with the demon you’re contracted to? The one you’ve yet to reveal the identity of even to our esteemed leader?”

“Hahaha!” A genuine laugh slipped through her lips at his annoyingly-accurate guesswork. She angled her head back to stare at him, smiling brightly beneath her mask even as a vein threatened to pop on her forehead. “I see your knack for butting into other people’s business hasn’t changed at all, has it? You son of a bitch.”

Deuce too let out a laugh, likely amused at having successfully gotten under her skin. “I do apologize! I’d forgotten how easy it was for your ego to bruise. I was merely looking out for you, as your friend.”

Now she could tell he was using the term just to vex her. And admittedly, it was working. “I don’t recall the two of us ever becoming friends,” she said, still smiling. “I would appreciate it if you removed such unsavory delusions from your head, then promptly commit suicide at your earliest convenience.”

“Oh dear, it appears your aggressive side is slipping out bit by bit. Is it alright to let yourself get this excited? I mean, considering your age…”

This guy…!

“Hmhmhm~”

“Ufufu~”

Domino glanced back and forth between the two of them as lightning sparked between their outwardly friendly, but inwardly intense expressions. The girl’s shoulders sank in an inaudible sigh, and with a light tug on Deuce’s sleeve, the two also disappeared.

Now thoroughly alone, Nebula pulled her mask off and let out a groan as she turned away, massaging her face muscles to relax them after all that fake smiling. “What a pain, seriously… But I guess it all turned out better than I was expecting.”

Now that the meeting had concluded, her part in this was over, at least for now. From here, things would proceed fairly smoothly, and with luck all she would need to do is wait for things to play out while getting some much needed rest.

The only variable I can think of would be… Micah, huh.

Her unexpected reunion with the mysterious girl had come as a complete surprise, but one she found to be oddly pleasant nonetheless. It certainly wasn’t fun being pushed to the brink of death by two children, but the experience had provided her with valuable information. That being, that a new piece was now on the playing board—one neither side was aware of just yet.

Nomad probably realized it too, which was why she chose to keep Micah’s existence out of her report. Whatever the woman’s agenda was, it didn’t seem to be too different from her own. And from the looks of things, Deuce didn’t seem too far away from the truth either. Nebula had watched the girl flee the cave with the help of Circe and her lieutenant, which could only mean Micah was aligned with her. If that was the case, then that tophat scum and his annoying protégé were in for quite the surprise if they planned to go up against the Disciples in the near future…

A wide smirk spread across her face as she considered all of the various motivations and alliances at play here. As long as she could ensure that she stayed above them all, she could continue to watch things play out as if it were her own personal stage drama unfolding before her eyes.

And that thought was, put simply, exciting.

Alright… Do your best, Micah. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you’ve become the protagonist of this little story. The question is: Will you be the villain, or the hero? Choose wisely, because the very world itself will be what experiences the result.

-----

At the start of the spring season, many of the villages based in the forests of Zaoth began to experience an increase of monster activity. The creatures that had appeared were predatorial, highly aggressive, and seemed to come almost out of nowhere. Entire families were lost to the beasts, and several villages had also been totally devastated by large-scale assaults, leaving casualties numbering in the hundreds.

However, the truth of this incident—which has come to be known as the Zaothern Forest Incident—will never be known to the general public. To them, it was nothing more than a senseless tragedy caused by the poor vigilance of the Hero Association, and that it was they who put an end to things after a delayed response effort.

In actuality, though, the cause of the resurgence of monsters was [Baphomet], a legendary monster that was birthed during an event known as Red Day that occurred long in the past. One of four of its kind that had spawned amidst the chaos, [Baphomet] was eventually defeated and sealed away by mages of old, but suddenly emerged in modern day without warning and began producing offspring—offspring that would go on to terrorize the nearby villages.

But this emergence was not a naturally-occurring phenomenon. [Baphomet] was purposefully unsealed by a mysterious woman garbed in elegant white clothing and hiding her face with a porcelain mask. For reasons unknown, the “woman in white” perpetrated [Baphomet]’s unsealing and subsequently fled, though not before exchanging blows with the beast and leaving it injured.

At the same time, one girl was in the midst of her own journey to track down [Baphomet]. Ellie, daughter of the famous professional Hero Eveline, had been informed of the situation along with her team, who arrived in Zaoth to watch for signs of the mage responsible for unsealing [Baphomet] hidden among the Zaothern Heroes. Discontent with being forced to wait around while people were being hurt, however, Ellie instead took matters into her own hands and set off on her own to find the legendary monster and stop it.

Over the course of Ellie’s journey, she encountered many dangers, including a fierce battle against the woman in white after they crossed paths, ultimately ending in neither side claiming victory as the unidentified mage fled. But after weeks of navigating the forests of Zaoth all on her own, she eventually discovered [Baphomet]’s location. Her team, which had been forced to pursue her, regrouped with her, and together they slew the beast while it was weakened.

This feat will no doubt go down in history as the first recorded incident of a legendary monster being slain, however their victory was short lived as another mysterious woman appeared. This time it was a necromancer, who waited until the Heroes were flush with victory to revive [Baphomet] and put it under her control. She then proceeded to assault the Heroes before escaping amidst the chaos and destruction. The identity and whereabouts of this mage, as well as the “woman in white” who unsealed [Baphomet] initially are unknown.

“Muu~” Micah watched as Circe put down the paper after reading its contents, an unhappy pout resting on her face and she groaned discontentedly. “I can’t believe this is the official report. All of those guys got a good look at my face, but nobody thought to add even one comment on how stunningly beautiful I am! Are their eyes just for show or something?! I demand a redo!”

“E-Even if you tell me that, I can’t really help you there…” Micah replied as a bead of sweat rolled down her cheek. From her side, Zaheer placed a cup of tea on the small table in front of her and went to stand behind Circe. “Thanks.”

“This is an outrage!” Her boss slammed both palms against her desk, apparently inconsolable. “I even went out of my way to put makeup on before I arrived. I made the flashiest entrance I could! I mean, did you see the way Baphy burst out of that pile of rubble? Weaker men would have peed themselves in fear if they were witness to that!”

“Ugh,” Micah cringed, pausing just before the teacup met her lips. “Can you please not talk about pee when I’m about to drink? What are you getting so pissed for anyway? It’s not like it matters what they think of you when they don’t even know who you are, right?”

“That’s not the point, Micah! This is about my image here! My self-esteem!”

“Like it wasn’t overinflated to begin with…” Micah muttered. Still, she knew Circe would keep whining if she didn’t say something here, so she set her cup down and crossed her arms. “Look, forget about that for now. Wanna tell me what the heck all of that was back there? How did you get there all of a sudden? And why didn’t you tell me you were a necromancer?”

“Um… Because you never asked?” Circe’s response caused Micah’s shoulders to hitch in irritation. “And anyway, it didn’t really matter whether or not you knew. I never planned to do any physical work during your employment with me. I only changed my mind because I received the information about the monster problem in Zaoth shortly after you left.”

“Huh? Wait, so you came because… you were worried about me?” Micah’s brows went up in surprise, but quickly sank back down when Circe burst into laughter.

“Pfft-hahahaha! What? Why would I leave the comfort of my home just for something like that? Are you crazy? Hahahaha!”

Tch, I should’ve known.

Circe’s laughs died down a bit after a while, and as she wiped away a tear from her eye with one finger, she continued. “No no, I went out there myself because I heard a very special prize awaited me in the Zaothern forest—one only I had the ability to claim.”

“You mean… [Baphomet], right?”

Rather than answer, Circe held a hand up above her desk. After a moment, a dark mist began to seep from between her fingers, raining down onto the pristine wooden surface until it created a shroud of dark magic. And from out of that shroud emerged…

“Gwaa~”

…

…

…Eh?

It was… not [Baphomet], but one of its offspring. Practically a toddler. And yet, as it stood proudly growling on Circe’s desk, Micah couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t quite as fearsome as she remembered the monsters to be.

“Now that I have complete control over Baphy, I can reproduce its abilities,” Circe explained as her fingers brushed against the creature. Any sense of pride it was trying to show off vanished as it crumbled beneath her touch and rolled over like a playful puppy, squirming beneath her petting hand. “It’s one of the perks of being a necromancer. This alone would have made the trip worth it, but I also got the added bonus of screwing with a certain someone in the process. Ahh, truly this spring has been rather favorable for the Disciples of Circe.”

“Uh huh…” Micah replied noncommittal as she watched her boss toy with the plushy-sized creature. Put simply, it was adorable, and looked exactly like any other small animal one would keep as a pet. But anytime it opened its eyes, she caught a glimpse of the dull grey slits that were its pupils flicking about, which she now knew to be the signifying feature of those who were undead.

Her eyes traveled upwards, specifically to Zaheer who stood stoically behind Circe. His eyes, grey and unblinking, met her own.

Then… does that mean that… he’s also…?

“Yes, Zahy is undead,” Circe answered her unasked question without looking up from the hornbear.

“W-Whoa, seriously…?” Though she’d already suspected as much, Micah still found the news surprising. But it did explain a lot of the strange details surrounding the man that Micah had otherwise written off, the most important of which being his inability to feel pain and apparent invulnerability. To think, all of that was because of Circe…

…Why is it that the more I learn about her, the more terrifying she becomes?

“You don’t seem all that surprised.” Circe pursed her lips as she glanced towards Micah, who shrugged.

“I dunno, I guess it just makes sense. After learning you were a necromancer, the other pieces kind of fell into place. It is still impressive though.” She looked to Zaheer, who lowered his head humbly.

“It is all due to Lady Circe’s incredible talent at dark magic. She found me, a mere corpse floating down river, and brought me back into this world. She saved my life, gave me a chance to start over, and for that… I am forever grateful.” It was rare to see Zaheer smile, but the sheer happiness in his expression left no room to doubt the sincerity of his words. Still, considering the way Circe interacted with [Baphomet], Micah found herself curious regardless.

“Wait, so… you’re not under her control?” she asked.

“No, I am not. Lady Circe has not exerted her power over me for quite some time, in fact. Despite how she may seem, Lady Circe is a kind person who refuses to do away with me even when I’m not needed. It is with her mana that I am able to function and do battle, and as you may expect this puts a terrible strain on her to continuously maintain. It may not be obvious due to how much power she possesses, but in order to keep her strength she must avoid intense exertion or stress, and intake calories—sugars in particular—on a regular basis.”

“Huh?” Micah’s eyes went wide hearing such an unexpected revelation about her boss. “Y-You mean, the reason why you’re always relying on others and lounging around here eating sweets is…?”

Circe herself, however, seemed less than pleased as she waved the entire conversation off with one hand. “One of many, yes. But there’s no need to bore you with such an old story. More importantly, Micah… Did you finish it?”

Circe’s calculated stare told her all she needed to know about what she was referring to. The whole debacle with [Baphomet] had certainly been a distraction, but it didn’t change why she had gone out there in the first place. She lowered her head and responded. “I… I did. Talahanan is dead.”

Micah knew Circe had taken note of her hesitant expression, and of the way her fists balled in her lap. After a few moments of silence, the woman continued. “I see. How was it?”

“It was… hard.”

“I’m sure it was. Demons, even untrained ones, are far above the level of a typical human. Plus the miasma they produce makes them nigh impossible to take on even for experienced fighters. But you should be proud that you overcame it; most others would have died going up against him-”

“No, that’s not what I-” Micah shook her head, cutting Circe off. Her feelings towards Talahanan were still pretty muddled, but she at least wanted to make sure his ideals didn’t die with him. He was a coward, but not the same kind of coward that Micah was used to seeing. Honestly, in retrospect, Micah sort of wished that she could have had the chance to talk to him a bit more. “I mean, yes, he was strong. In terms of raw power, he was stronger than anyone I’ve ever faced seriously before. But he also taught me some things, and… he was nice to me.”

“...Was he now?” Circe responded noncommittally.

“Yeah… It wasn’t just him, but some of the things he said made me question if I’m really doing what’s best for the people I care about.” Micah raised her hands to stare at her palms. “I mean, I know I’ve gained a lot of power ever since I joined up with you, but now I’m starting to wonder if all this power is even worth having in the first place. All I’ve done so far with it is hurt people, and my ultimate goal feels so far away that it’s getting harder and harder to justify all the suffering I’ve caused. I keep trying to see it as a means to an end, but… I’ve been thinking. If… the person I’ve been looking for—the one I’ve been trying to reunite with this whole time—found out about all of this… what would he think about me? What about Bernadetta? I want her and the others to continue living happy, safe lives without me, but whether I like it or not, the reality is that my lies and meddling made me a part of those lives too.”

Micah smiled bitterly, as fond memories of her time with the four women who raised her in this world resurfaced. “Even now, they’re probably all worried to death about me. Even though I lied to them, made them think I was something I wasn’t, and went behind their backs so many times, they haven’t stopped sending me letters and asking me when I’m going to come back. I know the longer I stay away from home, the more likely it is that they’ll come looking for me, and that something might happen to them if they do. I don’t want them… to have to worry about me forever.”

“...Then?” Circe prompted her, causing Micah to glance in her direction. Her hands were folded on her desk, and her expression was frighteningly serious as their eyes met. “After your term with me ends, will you go back? To Halloway.”

“Huh? W-Why would I…”

“Don’t play dumb, Micah.” Her boss sighed, leaning back as her arms crossed beneath her chest. “You can try to make this about them all you want, but in the end you’re just making more excuses.”

“N-No, that’s not-!”

“You want to go back, right?” Micah’s words caught as Circe laid bare the feelings that had been swirling around the back of her mind, and festering within her heart that should have belonged only to one person. “You want to give up on this grand quest for this important person of yours and go back to the one place you can call home. Sure they’ll probably be shocked, and it may take them a while to get over it all once you start being truthful, but we both know they’d accept you back in a heartbeat if you returned to them. Am I wrong?”

“...”

Micah couldn’t answer. She could barely even hear Circe with how loudly her heart beat against her chest. Her fingers laced together nervously as her gaze fell towards her lap and stayed there.

Circe no doubt took note of the sudden change in her mannerisms, as she quickly continued. “Well, it sounds like you’ve got some things to think about. Take some time to relax; you’ve certainly earned it. Good work on your assignment.”

Without a word, Micah stood from the chair and made a beeline for her room, only to be stopped when Circe spoke one final time. “Oh, hold on. One more thing. I still haven’t heard your reasons for wanting me to keep those Heroes alive.”

“H-Huh?”

“Mind you, I’m already willing to overlook it one way or another after reading the report, but I still want to hear it from your own mouth. That girl you killed [Baphomet] with, what is she to you?”

“...She’s…” Despite the conflicting emotions in her heart, Micah felt a smile form naturally at the thought of such an easy question. “She’s my friend.”

“...I see.” Perhaps she was coming to understand her boss a bit more, as she found herself not at all surprised to see Circe return her smile, seemingly satisfied by her response. “Heehee, that’s a good answer. It certainly would have been bad if I’d killed someone like that, so I’m glad you stopped me. Alright, go get some rest. I still plan on working you to the bone in the coming years, so it won’t be long before I have another job ready for you.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Micah grumbled a bit as she left, returning to the room she’d been assigned and almost immediately collapsing onto her bed without even bothering to kick her boots off. It had already been some time since she left Zaoth, but the exhaustion seemed to return all at once now that she was in a proper bed. Still, her mind was swimming with thoughts she hadn’t been able to really process until now, and those kept her from falling asleep.

Ellie… She really helped me a lot during that time.

Even as far back as their first meeting, Ellie had been trying to save her. She was so kind, so considerate… She was even willing to kill for her sake. Although…

“...”

Micah thought back to something she had witnessed during her time with Ellie. It was the same night they faced off against the woman in white. The same night Micah had agreed to try opening her heart to others.

---

Later on, after the two had finished their dinner and gone to bed in shifts, Micah was stirred from slumber when she suddenly heard Ellie get up in the middle of the night. At first she thought the girl might have been heading off to use the bathroom, but as she peeked an eye open, she was surprised to see Ellie covering her mouth with one hand while supporting her stomach with the other. A barely-audible groan left her lips as she stumbled off, and from there Micah knew something was wrong. In the end, she decided to follow her in silence, carefully concealing her movements with [God’s Blessing].

Ellie walked off only a short ways away, to the river near their camp. Once she arrived, she nearly toppled to her knees as she threw up into the water, her stomach heaving as its contents were forcefully emptied. The sight of her friend throwing up her dinner shocked Micah, who hadn’t noticed any signs that she was sick considering how happily she’d eaten it. But when Ellie wiped off her mouth and began to speak to herself between pants, she understood exactly what was going on.

“I… I tried to… k-kill a person…” Ellie spluttered, sounding completely distraught as heavy tears dripped from her chin. “Her hand- it just… it just… c-came right off-ulkgh!” She retched as the image likely returned to the forefront of her mind, and another stream of bile left her lips to flow downstream. Ellie puffed out a series of labored breaths as she remained hunched over, hiccuping every so often as she struggled to calm herself down. “I-I’m sorry, mom… Even though I promised you… I still used your technique… on a person… Oh gods, I almost cut her in half… If I didn’t hesitate, I would’ve… would’ve become a… Oh gods…!”

She vomited for a third time, then fell into a mess of quiet sobs afterwards. Micah watched for only a few moments longer before stealthily sneaking back to their camp. Vowing to pretend she hadn’t seen any of what just transpired, she went to sleep with only a single thought:

I’m sorry, Ellie.

---

After around thirty minutes, Ellie returned. Ten minutes later, she woke Micah up for her shift, and making use of the darkness, she emphasized how tired she was while making sure her face couldn’t be seen clearly. And finally, the next morning she was back to her usual bubbly self as if nothing had happened. Micah too, ended up putting it out of her mind in order to focus on the matter at hand, but now that she was back in Circe’s hideout, she couldn’t help but remember the absolute misery Ellie had expressed that night by the river.

I had forgotten all about it during the fight with [Baphomet], but… in the end, she really was a kind person. Even though it was a life or death situation, even though she saved my life in doing so, she still couldn’t help but feel guilt over almost taking a life.

It was admirable, really. Micah couldn’t remember any time she’d actually felt guilty for hurting or killing someone, because in her heart she knew it was for the sake of someone or something she cared about. To her, there was no point in being weighed down by the guilt of your sins, because sometimes it was necessary to commit sins in order to protect someone. It was, after all, extremely difficult to keep someone safe without getting your hands dirty eventually.

At least… that was how she used to feel. But now… now, she…

“No matter what reasons anyone has, whether it’s to hurt someone or protect someone, violence shouldn’t be okay. The power to hurt and to kill people… it should never be okay. It’s because such an awful power exists that this world has become so rotten, and that children like you—children like my daughter—have to suffer for it.”

“That’s why, I won’t indulge the brutality brought about by this kind of world by killing you. I don’t care about your reasons, and I don’t even want an apology. I just… want to be done with the violence and the killing. Does that make sense?”

Back then… I don’t think I really agreed with you on that. I’d never personally felt remorse for the things I did, so I couldn’t comprehend why someone would want to actively avoid hurting people even if it put them or others they cared about in danger. It just… didn’t make any sense to me.

But now… Now things were different. Watching Ellie suffer from her own guilt had shown Micah exactly why her mentality may have been wrong. She wasn’t like most other people. The horrible experience of being left for dead by her older brother had traumatized her, and the events that took place in the year following that had forever changed her outlook on life. Her thoughts, emotions, beliefs… they were all warped to the point of being incomprehensible in the eyes of most people.

In other words, she was… an abnormal person. A sociopathic anomaly that only cared about herself and those she deemed worthy of her protection.

“Still, I would at least make absolutely sure there wasn’t any other way. Killing should always be a last resort in any situation.”

“I… If that’s how you… th-think… then you’re… going to lose… something really important to you… someday...”

Is that what Mariel had been trying to tell her? Was she actually in the wrong for forcing Ellie into a mindset where she was willing to commit murder? But if they hadn’t fought with lethal force, they wouldn’t have… No, she couldn’t say that for certain. Maybe they could have avoided fighting altogether somehow, or focused on creating an opening to escape rather than defeating her. That’s what Ellie had been pushing for in the first place, but because of her stupid extremist mentality, she’d manipulated her friend into a position where she had to traumatize herself by almost killing someone just to save her.

She hated it. She hated seeing Ellie suffering like that. All because Micah felt the need to force her beliefs onto others; to pretend like anyone who didn’t share her views was somehow mistaken. Because of her ignorance, Mariel and Leo—who were only trying to help her and keep innocent people safe—ended up being killed, and Talahanan’s family was destroyed. Not to mention the countless others whose lives were ruined by her too. And Ellie…

…I… I’m sick of this. Book characters or not, I don’t… want to be the cause of anyone’s misery anymore. It’s not what Yuu would want, it’s not what my family on earth, or here in Magi would want, and… it’s not what I want either.

…

…

…Maybe…

As a yawn escaped her lips, Micah’s mind finally began to fade away from the rampant thoughts flooding her head. But as her consciousness drifted, she couldn’t help but think for a moment about the nuns, and the happiness and peace she had experienced during those precious years in Halloway.

Four faces stood out to her from among the crowd of familiar figures, all smiling warmly as they waited for her with open arms. This was a place free from pain, free from suffering, free from the burdens and the hardships and…

Free from Yuu.

Maybe…

…I should just…

…………go home…

…

…

…

-----

…

…

…

“...ink she’s dead?”

“Of course not, idiot. She’s just asleep.”

“Still, she looks kinda worn out. Maybe we pushed her too far?”

“Ugh, you too? She’s the one who insisted on coming here, so what’s the use in complaining?”

“I dunno, I’m just saying-”

“Ah! She’s waking up!”

“See? I told you she was fine.”

“Hellooooo. You still with me, Mikasa?”

“Huh…?” A dull groan left her lips as Micah steadily opened her eyes. She stifled a yawn with one hand and raised her other above her head to stretch, her mind hazy from sleep. “What… What’s going on…?”

“That’s what we wanna know,” said a voice that was far too familiar to be real. “What the hell do you think you’re doing after inviting us all out here?”

“Eh…” Confusion and shock made Micah flinch, then combined with hope and anxiety as she steadily looked up to see who was speaking to her. What filled her view was the imposing form of a teenage girl, staring down at her with arms crossed and a displeased tint to her otherwise attractive features. Shoulder-length reddish brown hair, which often covered one eye when she leaned a certain way, was styled loosely with bangs that were parted only by a single hair clip, exposing cold, dark brown eyes that bore into her so nostalgically. It was… It was… “Na… ri…?”

“Hah? What’s with that look? You think I’m not gonna be pissed off just ‘cause you’re tired?” Nari—her friend from earth, Nari—said as she pulled something out of her pocket. Micah flinched as she found a cell phone shoved into her face. “See this? Sixteen missed calls, and a dozen plus texts telling me to hurry up and not be late. So after having the gall to treat me like your personal uber yesterday, you force me to pick everyone up and drive here just so you could spend the better part of the day passed out on a bench wasting our money.”

“Eh…? H-Hold on… What is…”

“Hey c’mon, that’s not fair,” came another familiar voice from Micah’s right. “We paid you back for the gift shopping yesterday, didn’t we? Besides, you know Mikasa always gets antsy around this time of year. At least now that you have a license, we don’t have to take a taxi everywhere, so we’re not blowing as much cash as we usually do, right?”

“Ma… Makoto…” Micah breathed, staring shocked as her closest friend from her previous life smiled back at her with her usual easygoing expression. From the way her dark-blue bob cut framed her face to her somewhat boyish features that gave her the look of a laidback beauty, it was undoubtedly her friend from junior high, Makoto.

“What’s up, Mikasa? Who’d’ve ever thought you would get so burnt out you’d fall asleep at an amusement park of all places. Haha, don’t worry, I already stopped Mio from taking a pic of your sleeping face.”

“Hey! Did not!” The third voice to chime in was high pitched and adorable, and as Micah finally took a proper look around and realized she was sitting on a bench in an amusement park, she also laid eyes on a third familiar figure. The petite frame of Mio swayed a bit from the weight of the large teddy bear in her arms as she leaned in towards Micah’s flank. “You okay, Sawacchi? You don’t look so good.”

“N-No, I’m just… I-Is… Is it really you, Mio-chan?”

“Hm? What are you saying, of course it’s me~! See, I’m just as cute and loveable as always.” She did a little twirl as she spoke, throwing her curly black twintails—as well as the stylish skirt she wore beneath her cardigan—into the air a bit.

“Annnnd you just flashed your panties to that family walking by,” Makoto quipped dryly.

“W-What?! OH GOD NO!” Mio’s eyes shut in panic as she tried to hide her backside with the teddy bear, eliciting a laugh from Makoto and a snort from Nari, despite herself.

As Mio squirmed in embarrassment and whined to the two of them, Micah watched it all as if it were a movie playing before her. But all of the sights, sounds, smells… it was all definitely real.

W-What is… this…?

Slowly, she raised her hands and looked down at them, the size uncomfortably bigger than she was currently used to. Not to mention her outfit, which was much more modernized than the clothes she wore in her usual day to day in Magi. Her scarf was missing too, but she didn’t feel panicked at all. In fact, it felt more like…

Hold on… don’t tell me I’m…

Unconsciously, she dug into her skirt pocket where she found her own cell phone. It looked exactly as she remembered it, but more importantly, she caught a glimpse of her reflection on its surface.

And to her surprise, rather than the eleven-year-old Micah Stronoff, the face of seventeen-year-old Sawatari Mikasa stared back at her.

I… I really am… back on earth…! But how?!

“Gee~eez,” Mio moaned, slouching a bit as she took a seat on the bench opposite to her. “What are we gonna do now? Sawacchi looks totally out of it. Should we just go home?”

“After I had to get up at five in the morning today just for this? Wanna get decked?” Nari cracked her knuckles threateningly, forcing a sharp cry of fear from Mio as she flinched beneath the taller girl’s terrifying smile.

“Seriously though,” Makoto said, if only to get the conversation back on track. “If you’re not feeling up to it, you shouldn’t force yourself. Whaddya think, Mikasa?”

“Huh? What do I…” Micah- no, Mikasa brought a hand up to her forehead, fighting off the mild headache that had set in as her brain struggled to comprehend her current situation. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep on her bed in Circe’s room, and now she was… back on earth for some reason? What the hell was going on? “Why… Why are we here again? I don’t…”

“Whoa, you must be more out of it than I thought. It’s Yuu’s birthday today, remember? We’re here to kill time until your parents are done setting up your house for the surprise party.”

W-What did she say?!

“Ah!” Mio exclaimed. “Speak of the devil, Yuu-chan’s back with drinks~!”

“Sorry I’m late! There was a line in front of the machine. I managed to get everything though.”

“Hey, it’s fine. Sorry to make you go even though it’s your birthday,” Makoto replied.

“Don’t worry about it. I was the one who insisted on going. Consider it my treat for today.”

N-No way… it… it can’t be…

“Here you go. Low-sugar coffee for Nari-san, right?”

“Mhm, that’s it. Thanks a bunch.”

“No problem! Then, it was orange juice for Mio-neechan, right?”

“Yup yup, thank you! You’re such a good boy, Yuu-chan! There there~”

“A-Aw, quit it~ You’ll mess up my hair!”

“Ehehe~ Don’t wanna~”

“Geez… Makoto-neesan, I brought your cola. Here you go.”

“Thanks, Yuu. I’ll pay you back later, okay?”

“Really, it’s fine! It’s the least I could do after you all came here to celebrate with me.”

“Haha, you really are a good kid, you know that? Make sure you give Mikasa hers too; she’s been pretty out of it ever since she woke up.”

“Eh? Onee-chan, are you alright? Here, I got you some mineral water…”

“U-Ugh… hic… uu…”

“O-Onee-chan…?”

“H-Hey, Mikasa…?”

In response to the sounds of choked sobs, Makoto gazed at Mikasa worriedly. Not just her, Nari and Mio also looked concerned at her sudden change in behavior. But it was useless.

Because there was no way Mikasa wouldn’t cry after laying eyes on the boy she’d been searching for this whole time. Her precious baby brother. The boy she’d fought for. The boy she’d died for. The boy that meant everything to her. Sawatari Yuu was standing just before her eyes, within arms reach.

Without thinking, she leapt off the bench to encase him in a hug, practically crushing him in her embrace as she squeezed him tightly. She vaguely heard the sound of the mineral water smashing against the ground nearby, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was that he was here. After all this time, all this suffering and heartache, the two of them had finally, finally reunited.

And this time, she would never let him go again.

-----

“Hahaha! C’mon c’mon, hurry up you guys! What’re you lagging behind for?!” Mikasa shouted as she ran further into the park, dragging Yuu by the hand as she called out to her friends. “We’ve still got the whole day ahead of us, so let’s get on another one!!!”

“Hehe, Onee-chan, you’re pretty excited, huh?”

“Of course! It’s been forever since I’ve been to an amusement park!”

“Eh? But we went just last year, didn’t we?”

“O-Oh, uh… y-yeah! Doesn’t last year feel like forever ago? I-It sure does to me, haha…”

“Ehhh~ Well, if you say so. Then, let’s enjoy ourselves to the fullest today!”

Like that, the next few hours passed in a complete blur of excitement, joy and festivities. Mikasa’s face was one of pure bliss as she lost herself in the merriment of quirky attractions and exhilarating thrill rides, all with her friends and her baby brother by her side. It was a literal dream come true; her wildest fantasy brought to life. It was…

…

…

…Well, having spent some time in this world, she concluded that there were two possible explanations for her current situation.

As much as she wanted to believe in her heart that she had simply been transported back to earth, Mikasa knew that this situation was abnormal. After all, she clearly remembered already having lived through this day in her own life.

This was Yuu’s thirteenth birthday, which took place a couple of months before her own eighteenth birthday would in July. She’d spent the previous day shopping for gifts and decorations with her friends, then brought them to her house so her parents could set things up today while they took Yuu to the amusement park to celebrate and distract him for the surprise. It felt like so long ago to her now, but Mikasa still remembered that day clearly. It was, after all, one of her last truly happy memories with him.

In other words… what she was currently living through wasn't the present day, but a memory from her own past.

With that in mind, the obvious first assumption was that she really was just dreaming. A lucid dream, to be exact. She’d fallen asleep in her room at Circe’s hideout and ended up dreaming about a fond memory of her friends and Yuu. That was a perfectly normal explanation, but Mikasa had never had a lucid dream before in her life. Also, though she’d heard that people experienced lucid dreams differently, she was under the impression that there was always an element of control one had over the dream as soon as they became aware of it.

Right now, she could not do anything outlandish such as changing the weather or making anyone else she knew appear. No matter how much she tried to wish for it, she couldn’t find a way to wake up either. It completely felt like she was in reality—the sights, the sounds, the smells, all of it felt undoubtedly real to her. Time flowed normally too, and the reactions of her friends and Yuu were completely in line with their personalities. Rather, the only strange thing about this whole thing was that she could induce changes to how she remembered this day simply by making decisions that contradicted her memories.

For example, she remembered riding the teacups before going into the haunted house, but she observed no notable changes by doing them in the reverse order this time. She’d also been ignoring certain roller coasters she remembered riding the first time, but nobody did anything out of the ordinary to suggest she was creating some sort of paradox. It was a rather flimsy explanation all things considered, but the idea that this was all a dream was the easiest to digest, so she couldn’t write it off.

As for the other possibility… well… it was certainly outlandish, but what if this really was the real world, and everything she’d experienced in Magi thus far had been the dream?

Again, it was pretty far-fetched, but what she was experiencing now was just as vivid and real as her time in that other world, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that there was no discernable difference between the two in regards to her perception. Despite its absurdity, it was entirely plausible.

Put simply, she fell asleep on that bench and dreamed vividly about the next several years of her life, including her own death and rebirth into a fantasy world that she lived in for eleven years. Then, when she went to sleep in that world with the wish of wanting to “go home”, she suddenly woke up, back in reality with the experience of her dream still fresh in her mind. As for why the memories of her life up until her eventual death in this world still existed, she’d already proven that she could induce events that didn’t line up with those memories, so they were simply her own imaginings. It was all a result of her dream. Yuu wouldn’t become hospitalized, and she wouldn’t be killed trying to get to him.

God, the nuns, Circe, Ellie, everyone… they weren’t actually real. They were nothing more than the product of her own imagination. In the end, those people were even more fictitious than fake book characters. The smiles they shared, the tears they wept, the bonds they’d built… all of it really was just as she’d been suspecting that whole time.

Micah squeezed her brother’s hand tightly, her lips curling into a natural smile as she reaffirmed the warmth in his palm. When he turned his gaze up to smile back at her, she could feel her heart lighten in a way she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

Yes… Surely this was the correct answer. Magi wasn’t a real place. Nothing that happened there had been real. This. This warmth, this joy, these people right here next to her… They were the ones who were real. They always were, from the very beginning.

And with that final thought, Mikasa felt her memories of Magi, along with the people she’d met there, begin to burn up and dissipate like discarded photographs. Soon enough, even her own identity as “Micah Stronoff” became nothing more than just a mirage, and faded away into ash with the rest.

-----

“Mmmm-mmnnn…!” As afternoon gave way to the orange hue of evening, Mio stretched her arms above her head and grunted, trailing the group as they walked through the park. “We sure played a lot today, huh? I guess it’s about time we went home.”

Nari walked on next to her, eyes on her phone as she idly slurped on the straw of her soda. “There’s still a couple hours till the park closes, but I guess we got our money’s worth.”

“Then, should we head over to Mikasa’s place to hang out?” Makoto offered, following the plan for the surprise party. “We can have one final celebration before we call it a night. Whaddya say, you two?”

“Sure, let’s do it!” Mikasa replied cheerfully, still on cloud nine. “You ready to go home, Yuu?”

“...”

“Yuu?”

“Huh? O-Oh, yeah sure! But um, actually…” Yuu smiled apologetically as he abruptly stopped walking. “I have to use the bathroom before we go. Do you guys mind waiting for me?”

“Oh, is that it?” Makoto asked. “Sure, no problem. We’ll just be waiting by the entrance, so come find us when you’re done.”

“Number one or number two?”

“What the hell are you asking, idiot?” Nari elbowed the side of Mio’s head, eliciting a cry from the small girl as she glanced Yuu’s way. “Don’t take too long.”

“I-I won’t, trust me. Sorry for the trouble, everyone.”

As the three girls began to walk off, they suddenly paused when they noticed that Mikasa hadn’t started walking with them. Rather, she turned to face Yuu with a serious expression.

“I… I’ll go with you.”

“God damn it, you brocon-”

“Th-That’s not it!” Mikasa quickly refuted Nari, as well as the suspicious gazes from her other friends, as she frantically waved her arms around in denial. “I-It’s just that it’s getting late, and I don’t want to send him off by himself, that’s all! I’ll go with him to the restroom, so you guys go on ahead.”

“S-Sawacchi, you…” Mio covered her mouth with one hand. “I know you and Yuu-chan are close, but going to the bathroom with him is a bit…”

“Outside!!! I-I mean I’ll wait for him outside!” Mikasa screamed, her face going red from her friends’ teasing.

“Alright guys, give it a rest.” Thankfully Makoto came to her rescue, placing a hand on the other girls’ shoulders. “Let’s just get going. We can call ahead and let the Sawataris know we’ll be on our way soon.”

With her insistence, the trio eventually walked off, leaving the two siblings alone. When their eyes met, Yuu showed another awkward smile as Mikasa reached down to take his hand. “I’m sorry, Onee-chan. Because of me, we have to…”

“Don’t be! I also had to go too, so you actually helped me out a bit by bringing it up. Now let’s hurry so we don’t keep them waiting too long!”

“Ah, okay!”

With Mikasa leading him by the hand, the two headed through the park while searching for the nearest restrooms. But as they proceeded, Mikasa couldn’t help but notice just how empty the place had become. It felt like there were still people around when they were with the others, but even as she swiveled her head around, there wasn’t a single person in sight.

“H-Hey Yuu, wasn’t this place more full just a minute ago?”

“...”

“Yuu…?”

“...Onee-chan.” Mikasa glanced down to her side, surprised to find Yuu staring at her sadly. “As expected, you’ve changed a bit, huh.”

“W-What? What do you mean?”

“Hey… Do you remember that time from last fall? We were walking home together and we noticed some flowers growing on the sidewalk.”

“Ehhh, amazing. I can’t believe they can grow like that even in such an odd place.”

“It’s almost like they’re saying, ‘As long as we’re together, it doesn’t matter what environment we grow in.’”

Mikasa nodded. That incident would always remain cemented in her heart. “That time… What about it? Yuu, what’s going on?”

“After we noticed the flowers, you said something back then, right? You made a promise to me.”

“That promise? Of course I remember it.” She crouched down to grip her brother’s shoulders. “I promised you that if we were separated, I’d fight tooth and nail until we could be together again. And I did! I was trapped in this strange dream for what felt like ages, but I fought and I fought and eventually I got back to reality! To you!”

“Onee-chan…” Yuu showed her a sad smile—one that threatened to break her heart in two. “We both know that isn’t true.”

“W-What…? What- What are you talking about?”

“You’ve come to accept this situation as reality because it’s easier on you, right? You were ready to give up everything, and now that you’ve reached an ending, you’re willing to accept it no matter how strange or suspicious it seems.”

“H-Hey, stop talking nonsense… C’mon, get a hold of yourself Yuu!” Mikasa shouted as she shook his shoulders, but Yuu continued talking quietly, almost to himself.

“...But you can’t do that. This is only the [Normal End]. The Onee-chan I know would never let things end like this, not unless she was absolutely sure there wasn’t anything more she could do.”

“No, you- you’re wrong… This… This is reality! I know I made it back! I know I did!!!”

“So that’s why…” Yuu whispered as he gently removed Mikasa’s hands, then held one in both of his own. “You have to keep going. You can’t stop until you reach the [True End], Onee-chan; until you keep your promise to me and we can be together for real, not just in a dream like this.”

“Yuu, I…” Mikasa started, but was cut off when a strong force pulled at her from behind. She glanced back on instinct, and gasped at the sight of herself… no, of Micah Stronoff sleeping soundly in her room at Circe’s hideout through some sort of vortex. “No…! NO!!! I don’t want to go back!!! I finally made it out!!! I finally made it back to your side after so, so long!!! Don’t make me go back, Yuu!!! Please!!! I’m BEGGING YOU!!!”

The powerful suction of the vortex increased, sweeping Mikasa right off her feet and leaving her dangling helplessly by the one hand still being held by Yuu. Seemingly unaffected by the vacuum himself, he continued to speak to her.

“Goodbye… No, I suppose it’s ‘See you later’, right? It’s a promise.”

“Yuu…?” Tears stung at her eyes as she stared at her baby brother in disbelief. His only response was to smile… then let go. “YUUU!!!!!”

She reached her hand out in a wild attempt to reach him, but it proved futile as the vortex instantly yanked her away. Horrified, she watched as Yuu’s figure got further and further away, until everything around her became engulfed in blinding light…

…and Mikasa lost consciousness.

-----

Slowly, her eyes opened. Slowly, her consciousness returned. Slowly, she became aware of herself once more, and after a few quiet moments, steadily sat up from her bed, her head hanging low.

“...”

Several seconds of silence passed.

Then, from beneath her bangs… clear droplets began to fall.

Micah brought her hands up to her face, but couldn’t stop the flow of tears spilling from between her fingers. Her shoulders trembled as she sobbed to herself, drowned in sorrow over the cruel experience she’d just suffered.

He was right there. He was right before her eyes. She’d reached out and touched him. He’d spoken to her. After so long, she’d finally reunited with him, only to find out that it was just another dream.

No, it wasn’t just another dream… It was a nightmare.

Why…? Why did I have to dream that… I was so close to giving up; so close to thinking it was fine to just go home and be happy with the people I’d met in this world. B-But now… now I…

…

…

…She wanted to see him. She wanted to see his face, and hold his hand, and laugh with him just like she’d done in that dream. Every fiber of her being was wracked with the longing to be with her baby brother again, as well as all of her other friends who were there for her from day one.

Makoto, Nari, Mio, and even her parents who she hadn’t seen… That dream had been the blast from the past she needed to remember how much all of them meant to her. Mikasa may have already died because of her ignorance, but at the very least there might still be a chance that she could return to those joyful days in some small way. All she had to do was keep the promise she’d made that day.

That’s right… If Yuu really was out there somewhere, she had to find him. She WOULD find him.  She would keep fighting until she reached that [True End]. No matter what.

Micah’s sobs steadily quieted down as she renewed that promise within her heart. Her prior feelings were still very much present within her, but she was done hesitating. From now on, she would do things her way, and act only on her own feelings in pursuit of her goal. Like Ellie said, she might get betrayed a lot from here on, but no matter how much she’s pushed down, she’d make sure to get back up again—forever, as many times as it takes.

At that moment, she swore. She would try to atone for all of the horrible things she’d done in her own way, so that when she came face to face with her loved ones again one day, she could smile at them proudly.

-----

When Micah emerged from her bedroom, she was surprised to see that it was already dark. With her curtains closed, there wasn’t any way for her to tell that she’d been asleep for quite a few hours. What surprised her even more though was the figure of Circe writing at her desk, seeming engrossed in some documents as she scribbled away. Micah took a few steps towards her, then paused when the woman suddenly spoke.

“That’s for you,” she said, gesturing with her pen to a steaming mug sitting on the edge of her desk. Micah blinked at it, and after a few moments Circe turned to smirk her way. “I heard some little kid bawling her eyes out and figured she’d need something to drink when she was done. Be careful, it’s hot.”

“O-Oh, uh… thanks,” Micah said, inwardly cringing at the idea that she’d been heard despite her attempts to stay quiet. Enduring the awkwardness, she walked over to retrieve the mug, relaxing a bit as she took a seat in front of Circe. “You’re working late today. Where’s, um…?”

“Zahy? Standing guard outside as usual. I don’t like to be disturbed while I’m working, especially at night.”

“Huh? Oh, should I go then?” Micah made to stand up, only to stop when Circe waved her off.

“You’re fine. Besides, you’ve come up with an answer, right? To my question from before.”

“You want to go back, right? You want to give up on this grand quest for this important person of yours and go back to the one place you can call home.”

“Right…” Micah nodded, then took a quiet sip from the mug. She let the flavorful tea flow down her parched throat for a bit before continuing. “I gave it some thought, and I decided… to keep going.”

“Oh?”

“I know I’ve got people who care about me back in Halloway, and I know they’d accept me if I came back and apologized. I know, but… I can’t do that yet.” She couldn’t help but smile a bit bitterly. “Haha, I guess I just can’t give up on him after all… I want to find Yuu so bad it’s killing me.”

“Hm? Yuu?” Circe echoed, but Micah’s smile remained as she turned her way.

“Yup, the person I’m trying to find is named Sawatari Yuu, and he’s my little brother. See, while I was thinking, there were a couple of things I decided on. First, I don’t want to keep forcing myself to be someone I’m not just because of my self-imposed obligation. I want to find Yuu, yes, but I don’t want to keep hurting innocent people to do it. Maybe it’s just the way I was raised or the experiences I’ve had in this world that made me accept that the people here are ‘real’, but I don’t want anyone to suffer because of me anymore. It makes me feel awful, and I know the people I care about wouldn’t want it either. That’s… what I’ve decided.”

“Um…” Circe raised a hand to interrupt her, looking more than a little concerned. “I get that you’re becoming determined and all that, but you’re also saying some things that don’t make any sense.”

“...Yeah. That’s because of the second thing I decided.” Micah placed the mug down and stood up to face Circe seriously. “From now on, I’m going to trust you. I really don’t like you, your goal, or your methods, but all of your promises toward me have come true and you haven’t betrayed me yet, so… I’ve decided to start treating you as an ally. Whatever you need, whenever, just ask and I’ll do it. Regardless of your reasons for taking me in, I’m going to trust that you have my best interests at heart. I don’t have any proof of that, but… it’s just how I feel. And I promised someone that I’d start trusting my own feelings more. With that in mind…”

Micah took a deep breath, preparing herself mentally to lay everything bare. “My real name is Sawatari Mikasa. Or, rather, that’s the name I used to have in my past life. The truth is… I’m from another world.”

From there, Micah went on to explain everything—from her past life as Mikasa to her former home of Earth, as well as every important detail she could think of leading up to her death. She even went beyond the information she’d told Brunhilde and explained about God, her desire to meet him again and find out what happened to Yuu, and also the reason why she was so determined to gain as much power as possible.

“...I don’t know if God will tell me what I want to know just by asking, so I’ve resolved myself to do whatever it takes to make him talk this time, even if I have to beat the answers out of him. But there’s a chance I won’t need to meet him again, if Yuu somehow got transported to Magi along with me. It’s a slim chance, but… with your help, I can find out if that chance will pay off sooner rather than later. That’s why-” As she spoke, she bowed her head low. “Please, help me find him. Help me find my brother. In return, even after these five years are up and I leave the organization, I’ll continue to help you out if you need me. Just say the word, and I’ll be there.”

Circe’s eyes were slightly wide as she stared at her in silence, so Micah hastened to add, “B-But like I said, I really don’t like you! In fact, almost everything about you pisses me off! And from now on I’m going to refuse any of your requests for me to kill someone, my debts be damned. I’ll repay you however you want in other ways, but I don’t want to go through that horrible experience of destroying an innocent family ever again. Are we clear?”

“...”

“W-What’s with that look… Are we clear or not?!”

“...Fufu.” Circe stifled a small giggle with her finger, then reached her hand out to offer a handshake. “You really have changed, haven’t you. And here I was thinking you’d readily accept any job for the sake of gaining strength and experience as quickly as possible. But if you’re this resolute about the path you want to follow, then of course I accept your terms, Micah. It may just be for a few more years, but the Disciples of Circe is like your family. You’re allowed to make whatever requests of me you like.”

“Really? Th-Thanks…” Micah, somewhat bewildered by Circe’s response, reached out with her own hand, and the two shook firmly. “Then, I guess I look forward to working with you some more, Boss.”

“But of course. And also, you don’t have to be so stiff and formal. I just said we’re like family, so you can call me Big Sis, you know?”

“Like hell I’ll do that, you sadist witch. Don’t get a big head just because I trust you now; you’re still a horrible person that deserves to die a thousand deaths, and don’t you forget it.”

“Muu~ So mean, as usual… I guess you haven’t changed all that much after all.”

“...”

“...”

“Pfft.”
“Heehee.”

Despite their differences, Micah was surprised to find that she could laugh in Circe’s presence, and as the woman responded in kind, she decided to accept this new, strange turn to their relationship. Though she’d never admit it aloud, a small part of her was looking forward to seeing how it would develop in the future too.

-----

As the night went on, Micah ended up helping Circe with some of her paperwork while she went on a small candy break. The girl seemed to have some experience with this sort of thing, so she left her to work on the lounge sofa and returned after fifteen or so minutes.

When she did, she was surprised to see that the girl had fallen fast asleep, passed out with her work complete and her mug of tea mostly finished. No doubt she was still exhausted from her last mission and the terrible cry she’d had earlier, so while mentally capturing the image of her sleeping face to tease her with later on, Circe called for Zaheer to take her to her room and dispose of the mug. She unconsciously smiled at the sight of her small body curling into itself in the larger man’s arms, but before nostalgia could set in she busied herself with filing away the last of the reports.

She refused when he offered to escort her to bed as well, citing that she still had one more thing to wrap up before heading off herself. With a calculated smile, she patiently waited for him to leave the room before settling back at her desk, lacing her fingers together just in time to hear a disembodied voice speak from inside of her head.

[It would seem her doubts have been abated.]

“Yes, well, thanks in no small part to my intervention, wouldn’t you say?” she retorted. “The way things were going, she probably would have broken down by now if I hadn’t suggested you do something.”

[Regardless, my doubts remain. Her outlook has changed drastically, and there is no longer any guarantee that she will not stray from her path a second time.]

“That’s true, but I’d say this change was necessary to avoid a greater disaster. Like I told you last winter, she’s been suffering from the weight of her sins, and her confusion and anxiety were only going to increase the longer they were left alone. You really need to do a better job of managing that girl’s mental state if you want to go through with this big plan of yours.”

[That is none of your concern. All you need to do is continue increasing her power as we agreed. It is because your unnecessary meddling nearly convinced her to abandon her quest and return to Halloway that I was forced to expel some of my power.]

The voice suddenly took on a threatening tone as it spoke, burrowing into her head.

[Remember this. If your actions lead Sawatari Mikasa to repudiate her quest for Sawatari Yuu… I will hold you personally accountable for what follows.]

“Waa, how scary. To think someone like you was once revered in this world… Fine, fine, I’ll try not to meddle so much. Really, I can’t help but pity that poor girl though. No matter what she does or how much she struggles against her fate, she’ll never be able to attain the happily ever after she’s fighting for, and she doesn’t even know it. Don’t you feel even the slightest bit of guilt for getting her wrapped up in all of this?”

[That is also none of your concern. I will do whatever it takes to protect what is important. To achieve my goal, I would sacrifice any number of people, innocent or otherwise. Because… I am fighting too.]

“I understand. Still, I’d still advise you to act with caution, because I have no doubts she’ll figure out the truth on her own one day no matter how much you try to hide it. After all, anyone who lives long enough in this world will eventually come to realize…”

A bitter smile forced its way onto Circe’s face as a myriad of memories flooded her mind.

“...that there’s no such thing as God.”