(27)

Miss Sada's car pulled into a parking area that was little more than a gravel patch off of a dirt road, and a moment later, Reina brought her bike in next to her and lifted her helmet off. Though the council president had been right there with the teacher at the school, having to pick up Ran and Natsumi meant the sedan was going to be full. As the only one with a license, the older student took her motorcycle, instead.

It was considered poor form, apparently, to go leaping across town under the augmented power of their transformations, due to the risk of being spotted outside of a seal. Of course, Sword Witch wouldn't have been able to keep up with the others, anyway, making it something of a moot point.

It was truly getting dark now as the girls unloaded, especially this far from the heavy city lighting, but they could still see the long, empty length of railway across the field from them. To the left, a couple miles down the track, was a bridge for the train, followed by a sharp curve. To the right was the city they came from, though they could mostly only see the lights reflecting off of the sky and a few of the really tall buildings. They were a dozen miles out from the actual train station.

The brunette looked over the scene in front of them. There wasn't even the sound of a train within earshot. "This is the place?"

"This is where you will need to intercept the train, yes," Sarasa confirmed. "Thanks to Miss Tamashini's precognition, we're still a few minutes ahead of it, though the seal has already been erected."

The history teacher made a motion with her hand and a video display appeared in the open air before them. It showed a flaming train engine barreling angrily down the tracks, dragging a line of doorless cars behind it. The engine's wheels were forged of red fire that burned with a black core, and identical flames belched from its smokestack, though the vehicle was supposed to be diesel. Twin flames even burned from the windows above its grill, giving it the twisted semblance of a face.

... There was no way anyone could be alive at the train's controls with that kind of fire raging out of there unless they were a demon, themselves. The runaway train no longer answered to a master.

"Haru's trapped on that thing." It was the only thought that could make it out of the brunette's head.

"Along with maybe hundreds of others," Reina reminded her. "We have to get them out of there."

"Those cars may not be part of the protodemon," the younger girl pointed out, "but it's still reinforced them. It doesn't want to let go of its passengers, and I'm not much good for car hopping in the kind of winds those speeds will be generating. Without transformation enhancements, I'll get blown right off. Besides, we have another problem."

The brunette turned away from the video feed and pointed toward the bridge. "If it goes over that bridge at full speed and doesn't rattle it apart, the whole train's going to jump right off that cliff the moment it hits the turn. And I have a hunch it doesn't care."

"So we're on a time table, then," Reina agreed.

All eyes widened when they heard a whistle, and the girls all looked toward Sada.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, looking only toward the display, where the scenery was starting to look more and more familiar. "When I said a few minutes, I didn't anticipate such reckless acceleration."

"Then we're out of time." The brunette paused a moment. "... And I have a bad idea."

Reina didn't apparently need to be told. "You can't. If you try to stop the train by force, you won't make it in time."

The younger girl looked toward her, understanding the team leader was speaking from premonition. "Do I stop the train?"

"... Yes." The answer was hesitant. "But not soon enough to get out of the way."

"Then we need to make it easier to stop. Lower its mass, remove cars from the chain."

But the black-haired girl shook her head. "It's not possible. We don't have the power. Maybe if--"

The council president choked short on her words as her eyes widened and face paled, and she found her gaze resting on Natsumi and Ran.

The moment stretched uncomfortably long, until the redhead finally scowled back. "What?! Speak up, Tamashini! You look like you're having a heart attack!"

But the brunette had seen that expression before, and grinned. "Sorry, seems I broke her again. You can fill us in on what went wrong later, Boss. Right now, we've got a train to catch."

Miss Sada nodded in agreement. "I'll move you girls into the seal as soon as you're transformed."

Reina pulled herself out of her stupor with what looked like force of will and nodded before stepping to the front of the group. "Let's go."

"TRANSFORM!"

The shout went up in unison as a rainbow of cards were thrown to the sky before crashing back down again.

"Blazing fires of passion!"

"Unyielding aegis of devotion!"

"Golden blade of determination!"

"Heavenly crescent of ascendance!"

* * *

As soon as the light show faded and the sensation of displacement into the seal passed, Sword Witch summoned her blade and flipped it around to hold the hilt toward Flame Witch.

"Natsumi, you're essential for this. I know you don't like using it, but we need your unparalleled strength. You're the only one who can break the cars loose now that they're being reinforced by the protodemon, but since it's fire element, your explosions aren't going to work."

Flame Witch stared at the handle like it was some sort of serpent. She still remembered how easily it handled, how smooth it was, how light, how perfectly it fit her hand. Yet something deep in her recoiled from it.

She knew she could use it, she knew she had the training to use it, heck, she knew the other girl was right about its necessity. But her mind just couldn't imagine doing so. She could picture herself as Natsumi, training with a wakizashi just like she knew the sword would become. She could recall the lessons in using the weapon and many others.

The moment she tried to put that weapon into Flame Witch's hand, her head just wouldn't do it.

And why should it?! Her mind immediately leaped to its own defense. Flame Witch was a witch! She had no need of physical weapons, of barbaric brute force attacks! Who cared if something wouldn't burn?! She just had to burn it harder!

But she raised her eyes to meet those of Sword Witch. Those blue eyes were not bossy or arrogant like those of Thunder Witch. They made no demands. They just ached, and they pleaded with her.

"Please, Natsumi," the brunette asked her. "For Haru."

... Flame Witch mentally threw her own mind to the back wall and reached forward to grasp the hilt as the blade flashed into that flame-licked wakizashi. Screw her pride as a witch, her pride as a friend, as Natsumi Homura, was far more important to her. A friend needed her, and she'd throw all of her magic away forever to save any of her friends.

Sword Witch's eyes changed, not to braggadocio, not to a know-it-all, but to gratitude.

"Thanks, Red. I'll be counting on you to take care of her."

She nodded back. "She'll be in good hands, but only until you get back, so don't get run over."

The brunette returned the nod, then turned to the other two. "Ran, Reina, you two need to be evacuating people as quickly as possible. Start from the caboose and work your way forward, we don't know how the engine will react if you get too close."

"Um," Shield Witch started, "we'd be able to get them out faster if you helped, then we could stop the train together."

But Sword Witch shook her head. "I already said I can't handle the winds without a proper transformation, much less haul people out." She held her arms out, clad in what to any onlooker would seem a Witch's magical costume. "Nariko isn't built to be a fireman, unfortunately. The only thing I'm good for is heading the thing off."

"Without that transformation," Sacred Witch reminded her, "you will be that much more vulnerable to an oncoming train. Kelly, you will not survive any sort of impact with it."

But there was that Thunder Witch grin coming back. "I'm more interested in getting there in time. Don't suppose you're willing to lend me your bike?"

Reina blinked in confusion at the question, then looked over to the machine and back to the witch asking for it.

"Come on, we're in the seal!" Sword Witch argued. "Even if it gets totaled, the real one will be right there waiting for you when we leave!"

"That ... isn't the issue, Kelly," she answered back. "You don't know how to operate a motorcycle."

But that grin widened. If Haru were here, she'd be vehemently refusing to let Riko try whatever it was she was considering, just from the width of that grin alone.

"Now why would you go and make an assumption like that, Prez?"

* * *

The four constructs were playing poker. Haru had to wonder if they were really enjoying it or just going through the motions. They did such a good job of portraying emotions that she wouldn't have questioned it at all if it weren't for the fact she could tell they didn't have any.

Could the imitation of enjoyment provide a shadow of joy if the actor didn't personally know the difference?

A concierge, who was also a construct, had brought her a juice box and a dose of aspirin just like the gangster had promised, and it had definitely helped. Since then, she'd done occasional reinforcements of the emotions she'd initially instilled, but that was much less straining than establishing them in the first place. At this point, it was easier to just walk over to any abnormalities and touch them directly.

... That scared her more than the fact, in doing so, she was helping a demon. She was in more or less direct control of every living thing in that train car, and now that it was established, she could pretty much keep it up indefinitely. Even if she had to sleep, she could just make them sleep first.

Haru looked down at the faces of her parents, themselves still asleep, where they would remain until she woke them, and she felt sick. She covered her mouth even as she willed the contents of her stomach back down, and by the time it finally settled, she still kept her mouth covered as she fought back sobs.

She had never disliked being a Witch before. No hardship, no pain, no danger had ever made her regret it. She was helping people, and she was doing it with friends. People that understood her, people that knew what it was like to be so different from everyone else on maybe the entire planet.

But none of her friends were here. She was alone, and the only way she could help the people trapped on this train was to chain their hearts, too. She was their jailer as much as the four constructs were. Worse, maybe, because at least the constructs left them able to comprehend what was happening.

In that moment, she despised her powers, and blamed them for what she had done with them. She had to use them, but if they hadn't existed, then she wouldn't be alone on a train full of people, doomed to wherever the demon in charge was taking them. She couldn't be a tool if she wasn't of any use to anyone.

How unfair was it, she thought, that she could use her powers to control everyone else's emotions, but not her own?

But the implications stiffened her spine enough to shove that wish away. No, it was essential that she could feel this revulsion, that she could be disgusted by herself, horrified by what she could do. If she could control that, then how would she ever know where the line was? Every time she'd push it away, it would get easier to do, get easier to excuse doing.

Down that path stood only one more demon, and the world had enough of those.

Haru forced herself to sit up straight, to breathe deeply and get a grip on herself. She wasn't alone, and maybe she was being watched too closely to slip off and transform, but she wasn't the only Witch in town. Sarasa would know that the attack was happening, and the others would be putting a stop to it. It was okay to just be buying time.

That's what friends were for.

Once she felt in firm enough control of herself, she pushed her way to her feet. It would do her good to stretch them a bit. And, come to think of it, if it weren't for the fact they were the vanguards for a demon attack, a cowboy, a kung fu master, a yakuza and a gangster would actually be a pretty amazing skit ...

"It's not right," the cowboy was saying as he sorted through his cards. "Just sittin' around watchin' 'em all like a peck a' mother hens." He slapped two cards down for the yakuza, who was playing dealer, to replace. "If this were any proper train heist, we'd be goin' up and down the aisle, fillin' a bag full a' everything they got that's worth a dime, then burn the breeze all the way to the county line."

"Well, there's your nut right there," the gangster replied after he blew the smoke from the latest pull on his cigarette. "This isn't a box job. The boss's orders were very specific. We're here to make them stay put, which means we stay put. Nobody's pasting anybody, and there's no sense in puffing them with nowhere to go."

Though he tossed a card down casually, he did it in such a way that it never showed face up as he addressed the yakuza. "Gimme one, would you, Soupy?"

"You don't need to tell me we're a bunch a' waddies," the cowboy countered. "That don't make it right, and it don't mean I have to like it."

"You can't like it," the gangster bit back with exasperation. "None of us can, that's the screw!"

The cowboy shoved himself to his feet. "Well, I can sure as Hell get damned curly, and I'll pop that flannel mouth of yours on the way through!"

The gangster rose to meet him. "You're tooting the wrong ringer, pal! But if you've got it in your noodle to breeze off, please, by all means, take it to the butter and egg man, yourself! Don't let me stop you! Maybe your replacement won't be such a flat tire!"

The yakuza brought his arms down on the table with a wordless snarl. The impact sent the table jumping, and Haru thought she might have even felt it through the train car floor.

The great crash caused both the cowboy and the gangster to fall still for several long moments. The latter was the first to regather his wits, and he cleared his throat as he went through a show of adjusting his red tie.

"I follow ya, Soupy," he concluded. "Excuse our manners." And he pulled his seat back over and returned to it. The cowboy grumbled something, too, but did the same.

Haru decided to step over once they had all settled back into their places, and the gangster glanced over and took notice.

"Hey, Kitten, don't mind us. We're just trouble boys bumping gums." His attention was more on gathering his cards back up and straightening them back out. "You, uh, topping off the pipes again already?"

Haru only understood that he meant her emotional maintenance on the passengers because he'd used variations of the phrase before. Otherwise, she'd probably think he was asking if she was going to the bathroom.

"No, everyone's fine for now," she replied. "I'm just stretching my legs."

"If everyone's fine," the cowboy told her irritably, "then get back to your seat. This ain't a riverboat."

"Hey, now," the gangster put a hand forward, "no need to be a punk. She wants to walk around a bit, let her."

The cowboy leaned back in his seat to glare across the table at his partner. "Why do you get all namby-pamby with her, boy?! You give me a lecture about sticking to task, and then turn about and give that girl special treatment. She's not owed any better than any other soul on this deuce train."

The gangster stared back at him as if aghast. "Look, pal, we may be brunos for a literal heartless monster, but that's no excuse to not show a dame proper manners! Besides," he added, waving a hand across the table, "it's her hard work that's keeping us all so lousy with free time!"

Haru wrinkled her nose at that phrase. "That makes it sound like a bad thing."

He tilted his head in consideration. "Does it?"

Across from them, the cowboy groaned deeply. "Yes, you leaky-mouthed blatherskyte. Lousy is a bad thing. All the sand you're always kicking about being from the next century, didn't they even teach you how to speak right?" He glared over his cards at Haru, though he still spoke to the gangster. "Or did you spend all your time pirooting with guttersnipes?"

Well, that definitely sounded like a bad thing, and the way the yakuza was starting to growl again, Haru figured that was exactly how it was supposed to sound.

The girl held up her hands and gave an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be an issue, honest! I didn't know it would be a problem! I'll just head back--"

The gangster grabbed another loose chair and spun it around so it hit her in the back of her knees, and her retreat turned into a yelp as she fell back into it. "Sit down."

He looked back across the table at the glare from the cowboy. "There. She's in her seat."

"That's not her seat!"

"I'm changing her seat." He glanced over as Haru began to fidget, then raised a hand to get a passing concierge construct's attention. "Hey, there, moll, get our canary some giggle juice, will you? All this excitement's giving her the heebie-jeebies."

Haru stared at him in confusion. "Giggle juice?"

He worked his eyebrows for an alternative. "Hooch? Corn? White lightning? Bathtub--"

"He means booze, girly," the cowboy finally put in. "Alcohol." He sighed. "Damned fool can't talk straight for the life of him."

"Oh, um, I'm a minor, so ..."

"Believe me, girly, you look it."

But the gangster just laughed. "What are you worried about, Dollface? Eh? The law? Where I'm from, it's illegal for everybody. Nobody gives a jack what your age is. Trust me, I won't let you out on the roof, but a little'll settle those nerves of yours."

He raised his head to the concierge again, who was still waiting for them to come to a decision. "In fact, get a round for all of us while you're at it." He patted his pocket thoughtfully. "Oh, and, uh, pick me up another deck of luckies while you're at it."

Again, Haru raised an eyebrow. "Cards?"

"Smokes, babe. Gaspers." He dangled the stick he was already smoking. "Cigarettes, since my capacity for the language has been challenged. Don't worry, those're for me."

When the concierge left to fill the order, the boys finally got back to their game ... for what it was worth.

"DAMN IT ALL!!!" the cowboy raged as he threw his cards against the table the moment the martial artist revealed his own. "AGAIN! How many more times is this blasted squint-eye gonna pull faces?!"

"Wise man say," the chinaman spoke for what might have been the first time Haru had heard him, "keep your own face empty and watch your enemy's. Many victories come your way." He began sweeping in the chips. "Also, we invented mathematics. Counting is easy."

The gangster threw his head back and laughed as the cowboy seethed so hard a vein was bulging at his temple.

Both stopped when the whole car shook. All four men got to their feet and began searching for the source. Both the gangster and the cowboy drew their guns again.

"What the hell was that?!" the cowboy demanded.

"That's the sound of us lining up behind the eight ball, pal," the gangster put in, and grabbed Haru by the arm to pull her up. "Get behind me, kitten."

Haru's breath caught in her throat when a golden blade pierced through the roof. But no, that was a single-edged blade, with a curve ...

Before any of the constructs could figure out what was going on, it carved open a hole and a fiery-haired young woman in a red magician-like outfit dropped through to land in the middle aisle, her face already drawn into a fierce glare.

"Natsumi!" the blonde registered before she could stop herself.

The gangster was looking back at her and forward at the invader with hesitation, though his gun was still raised. "You know this bearcat?"

"I do! Please, let me speak with her!"

But his arm blocked her path. "Stay put, kitten. We'll handle this."

Flame Witch stood up straight and focused on the four of them. "By all means."

"She'll kill you all!" The urgency in Haru's voice even surprised herself.

The martial artist didn't seem to even flinch, and the yakuza looked like he was pumping himself up, but the raw panic the girl practically screeched with gave the other two pause.

The gangster looked between the two girls again, but raised his gun vertically and eased the hammer down. He dipped his head to the cowboy. "You know he'll shoot the moment you pull anything."

But she smiled sympathetically up at him and patted his arm. "It's okay, I know you will, too. But you won't have to, I promise."

The cowboy looked disgusted and spat to the side as the gangster shifted awkwardly while the girl stepped past him.

Homura only removed her eyes from the constructs for a glance as Haru stopped in front of her.

"Hey, Nat ..." the blonde greeted.

"... Haru," she responded. Her gaze went out to all of the people sitting in their seats and chatting among each other like nothing was happening. "You of all of us know a demon construct when you see one. So tell me what the fuck is going on."

"I was controlling the situation here to keep the fighting down," the empath explained. "Are the other cars the same way?"

"Yeah," the witch confirmed with a nod. "They've all got constructs, but the others are on it. Sacred Witch busts in and blows them apart, then Shield Witch scoops up all of the passengers. But I promised Kelly I'd personally make sure you were safe."

Haru couldn't explain it, but that struck a chord of worry deep in her spine, and she stepped closer to Flame Witch. "Where is she?!"

Her sword was with Flame Witch, and the only reason Riko would send someone else to protect her, even if that someone was Natsumi, was because she was physically incapable of it.

The redhead's emotional fires burned warm at the sight, and she put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "She's fine, Haru. We've got a plan. She just couldn't take the winds without a transformation, so she's handling another part of it. We're on a timer, though, so I've got to get you out of here."

Haru's mind went to all of the people around her. If she left ...

"No!" The way she pulled away from Homura startled the witch too much to stop her. "I can't go! I'm the only thing holding this car together!"

"It's true," the gangster called from back where they were standing. "Frankly, things were getting awfully goofy before your gal stepped in. A lot of people were going to get hurt."

She started to take a step forward. "I could just take you out now, and then it won't be an issue."

But Haru immediately moved in front of her again. "Nat, stop! Don't do this! You said you're on a timer, right?!"

"I also said I'd get you to safety," she countered.

"I am safe," the blonde insisted vehemently. "Whatever you're doing, keep going! Aren't I a Witch, too?! I've got this car under control!"

Flame Witch watched her for a long moment, but then pointed the wakizashi at the guards. "I know none of you can feel emotions, but if anything happens to her, we'll be finding out if you can feel pain."

"I follow ya, bearcat! I follow ya!" The gangster waved her back with his empty hand. "Like we keep saying, we're here for just that!"

The redhead turned her attention back to Haru and gave a long, torn stare.

She smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine, Nat. Trust me."

"... Okay," she concluded. "I'm burning time as it is. Don't make me a liar to Kelly of all people, Haru."

And as easy as skipping, the witch jumped back through the hole in the roof and was gone.

"Phew," the gangster said after a moment as he put his gun away again. "You've got some scary pals, kitten."

She glanced his way. "What's a bearcat?"

He just nodded toward the hole. "She is. Everything she is, that's a bearcat."

The next instant, another impact struck the train car, this time from the front end, and it rattled the entire place enough that Haru had to brace her feet and grab the side of a nearby seat.

"What was that?!" But when she looked up at the gangster, he was staggering even after the car had settled, and he was beginning to fade in and out.

He looked down at his hands as he turned them back and forth in front of him, then scoffed. "How about that ... Bumped like a chump ..." The gangster looked up at Haru with a grin like it didn't matter. "Looks like it's your win, kitten."

No, no, those were bad words. "What's going on?!" she demanded again.

"The car's been disconnected," the cowboy explained. "And I've a bee in my bonnet it was that four-flusher friend of yours." He had a dark look in his eyes as he raised his revolver. "I figure I've still got a shot at getting a little justice, though."

Haru could only stare down the black barrel of the gun. There were people behind her. If she moved ...

She clenched her eyes shut and looked away as the cowboy's finger closed around the trigger.

I'm sorry, Nat, she thought. I'm making a liar of you after all! Just one more stupid mistake!

"Kitten!"

Her eyes went wide just as the gun went off, and a heavy weight collapsed back into her. She found the gangster in her arms as their combined weight dragged them both to the floor.

He had one hand over a bloody hole in his chest, but his other raised his own gun and fired three shots back into the cowboy, who crashed into the wall before slumping to the ground.

The gangster gasped as he wildly waved the gun between the other two. "Don't you--" He had to spit blood out that was coming up from his lungs. "Don't either of you get any wise ideas, either!"

The martial artist and the yakuza seemed surprised, but stayed put, clearly in conflict about what they should do even as all of their bodies continued to fade in and out.

Haru reached around him and, with effort, pulled him into more of a sitting position so he was leaning against her instead of on top of her. She looked him in the face and tried to say words. He took a bullet for her. Why? How? What was the point?

Her mouth moved uselessly as all of the words just piled up in a wreck.

He met her eyes. "Don't ... don't give me that look, dollface ... I've said it often enough. I don't get stuck on nobody." He knocked his gun hand against where his heart would be. "That part of us doesn't run. It's just the job. Gotta protect the passengers. That's all you are to me, kitten. A job."

His gun hand was starting to droop. "So ... so get that ... that look off your ..."

And it clinked against the floor of the aisle, and the only sound for a long moment was that of the tracks passing underneath as the blonde struggled to keep from bawling over a construct, even as the weight of his body faded to nothing and there were only humans left in the car.