The scene in the gym had become a routine. Fresh from a rather difficult training session, an exhausted Mei helps a barely conscious Ueno down to the basement for treatment from Aoi. Kiwako had decided to follow them. Yuzuki and Alice were in the office, discussing their dwindling supplies. Kohaku maintained her vigilant watch by the entrance. And Yui was in the ring, cleaning it down. A familiar voice came into her mind, though it wasn’t enough for Yui to break her stride.

Cecilia: {I see this is a calm enough time. Can we talk?}

Yui: {Yeah! Sure! Thanks for sending your ‘associate’ down! Big fuckin’ help, giving us a literal fucking child to fuckin’ babysit! While we’re gettin’ hunted fuckin’ alive down here!}

Cecilia: {You should be more accustomed to eccentric personalities by now, Yui. What’s one more?}

Yui: {I would kick your goddamn fucking ass right now if you were here.}

Cecilia: {All the more reason to avoid the gym for now. Joking aside, she has been helpful, yes?}

Yui: {Goddamn psychopath, goin’ off an’ tryin’ to kill Mei just ‘cause Mei showed off her power and read into the girl’s memory or something. But her power’s right on the money for something to throw our hunters off, at least. Kid’s a loaded goddamn cannon, too. She’d put up a pretty solid fight against me, if it came to it like ever. The fuck did you meet someone like her though?}

Cecilia: {Kiwako is where I was while Aoi was causing her incident. Literally, as you undoubtedly have discovered, as she was a Witch when I found her.}

Yui: {Yeeeeeah… meant to ask a lot of questions about that.}

Cecilia: {Short version. I saw my presence in Mitakihara as doing more harm than good at the time, and wanted to settle a debt I owed to an old friend.}

Yui: {You’re fuckin’ with me. She’s like ten, how did you know her for years?}

Cecilia: {Kamihama was once a playground for the Incubators, not unlike Mitakihara is now. The city eventually tore itself apart over it. Or it would have, if not for one powerful Witch…}

Yui: {Yeah, yeah. But like, how did you meet?}

Cecilia: {We didn’t, until I entered her barrier. Not physically. But she had one of my shards, a long time ago. In the same vein that you and I once communicated, all those years ago, Kiwako and I communicated. I learned of her life, her dreams, her wishes… eventually, her singular wish. Through that snow globe she treasured, she maintained a modicum of humanity after she fell to her destined fate. That snow globe… Kiwako… she was one of the first things I saw, after I made my wish, long, long ago. Seeing Kiwako hold on to herself because of me, it ironically helped me hold on when I broke my soul in the first place. A destiny to fulfill, to return and become a force other than for destruction.}

Yui: {Isn’t that just a bootstrap paradox?}

Cecilia: {Perhaps. But omniscience does not follow linear logic. I was shown an escape route, and when you returned me to life, as well as gave me one in full in this body, I knew I wanted to repay that favor. More than I saw myself doing so, I wanted to. She was a friend I never knew. And Kiwako knew this as well, peering into a piece of my soul for so long.}

Yui: {Okay, cool. How come you never mentioned her before?}

Cecilia: (Cecilia mentally sighs.) {Yes, Yui. A tale of a little girl in a neighboring city— one you currently find to be insufferable, no less— with whom we saved one another from oblivion, or would come to save. That was clearly relevant at any point where you and I were in communication. During your diving into our history, for example. Or saving Alice from her family’s cursed bloodline. Or during Kae’s assault on Mitakihara. Or while your father was harboring Shiori. I’m sure you were all ears—}

Yui: {Okay, okay! God damn… ugh. Passin’ bits of my power to you is one thing, but the sarcasm, that’ll kill me one day. But uh, anyway, all that bullshit aside… Got any other news?}

Cecilia: {…I’ve been busy, more or less. I met with Anisa—}

Yui: {Whoa, what? Uh, she holdin’ up okay out there? What about Toi? Is Seia with them? Shit, uncle René…}

Cecilia: {Calm down. They are all fine. The Balancers, it seems, had no interest in combing the far reaches of Mitakihara, especially since their hands are full looking for you all.}

Yui: {Okay, okay. Thanks, Cecilia. Sorry, just… y’know. So what happened? I can’t imagine that was a pleasant visit.}

Cecilia: {It wasn’t. But I managed to help snap Anisa out of her nihilist depression spiral, enough at least to put her in motion.}

Yui: {Cecilia! Don’t tell me you’re trying to get Anisa involved in fighting these fuckers! They kicked our asses. You, with your omniscience, and me, with my training. You think a rusty fuckin’ bureaucrat stands a chance against these nutjobs?!}

Cecilia: {Calm down. I was caught off guard, focusing on sending Kohaku your way. You were caught off guard, not expecting an enemy of this caliber to descend upon us so swiftly. United, however, as we will all soon be, we stand a much better chance. Besides, I did not merely give her the option to fight with us. I sent her towards the Birds, passing along their message.}

Yui: {Oh. Well… uh… here’s to hoping, I guess. Wait… so you’re sending her to meet with Kenji? So you gave her a different role, then? I guess that’s not so bad.}

Cecilia: {What I gave her was a choice. She seems to be taking a more constructive role with the Citizens’ Council, to help rebuild after the dust settles. Whether she joins us in battle or not, I cannot say.}

Yui: {Can’t? Or won’t?}

Cecilia: {I didn’t look. I don’t need to see the path of Anisa Nobunaga in order to see how this conflict will end.}

Yui: {The fuckin’ balls on you, Cecilia… well, whatever. What did you actually reach out about?}

Cecilia: {Three things. One, to touch base with you once Kiwako arrived. Two, you have a question for me. And three, I need to solve a problem that Yuzuki and Alice are currently discussing in your office.}

Yui: {Oh, right. …Shit. We are running low. You called at a good time then.}

Cecilia: {Yes. I will provide to you a route to find enough supplies to last for a long while.}

Yui then receives flashes in her mind, a mental map of Mitakihara from the gym to a store that has not yet been raided. The route shows a very specific path, time and timing along with it.

Yui: {…Tomorrow in the afternoon, just before sunset. Okay. God, is it really gonna be sunny all day though? Doesn’t give me good cover…}

Cecilia: {Go alone, Yui. I should not have to tell you this. But my visions are far from perfect. This still carries risk. I simply found a route that minimized this risk.}

Yui: {No, yeah, I appreciate it. An’ yeah, I’m going alone. Alice’ll throw a fit, but it’s just safer this way.}

Cecilia: {It’s getting more and more difficult to see my visions to completion, Yui. These are dangerous times.}

Yui: {Don’t fuckin’ throw that ‘blind spot’ bullshit at me, Oracle. ‘Specially since we established that that’s your code for “you don’t need to know, I’m a Conductor, raaah.”}

Cecilia: {I said it’s getting more difficult. Not that there are blind spots. The future is shifting even more than usual, due to minute little differences in decisions that are being made, from all sides of the equation. The subtleties add up, Yui. You should know this better than most.}

Yui: {…Okay, okay. Right. Just, look, this is pretty stressful here from the trenches, okay? Not sayin’ you’re not doin’ your part out there, but like… it ain’t easy keeping almost a dozen people cooped up in a goddamn gym, trainin’ ‘em day in an’ day out, pushin’ ‘em to the edge, an’ then just getting a healer to wipe the slate clean. Then, god… there’s Koharu’s side of the tracks. …Wait! Sis, you can see them, right?}

Cecilia: {They are all well enough. No casualties, so far as I can tell.}

Yui: {…The fuck’s that mean?}

Cecilia: {The genuine blind spot in my vision. The girl who rewrote the world with her wish, and yet never fell into any of our pitfalls. She travels with them, and I have seen no signs of anyone being left behind, dead or alive.}

Yui: {Oh right, Yasu. Hope she’s holdin’ up well, bein’ away from Mitakihara. …Let’s be honest, she’s probably much better off. Just like that necromancer chick that helped take down Walpurgisnacht the first time.}

Cecilia: {Again, I should not need to tell you this, Yui, but you cannot tell the others about their whereabouts.}

Yui: {Hold up… you can’t honestly expect me to keep that shit from their loved ones over here. Kohaku isn’t showin’ it, but she’s worried sick about her sister out there. I know I am, at any rate.}

Cecilia: (Cecilia is quiet for a while, then continues her telepathic communication) {…It should not cause any problems to at least confirm their safety. Just, no more than that, okay? I cannot tell you—}

Yui: {Oh shit, that’s where they’re going? Man… that can’t be a fun trip.}

Cecilia: {Stop it, Yui! You know not the delicate balance you upset by reaching into my vision!}

Yui: {Oh come off it, Oracle. I knew you weren’t gonna tell me where they were. I’m just gonna let the others know they’re alive, that’s all. But in the trenches, I deserve enough info to plan around. That’s all.}

Cecilia: {And your enemy, your former friend, she lived with Kaito Arashi for a time. Lest you forget.}

Yui: {… Fuck. Fuck, god damn it… you’re right. Shit, Shiori might know how to throw you off, if Dad taught her anything. Why didn’t you open with that from the start?}

Cecilia: {I was operating under the assumption you had enough common sense to keep that detail in mind, Yui.}

Yui: {Still not omniscient, Oracle. I can’t see everything like you can.}

Cecilia: {…Right. Well, do try to keep out of my visions. And keep an eye on Kiwako at the very least.}

Yui: {Yo, speaking of. Why does she insist on being called that cutesy ass name, anyway?}

Cecilia: {There are things about Kiwako I still do not fully understand. But she has been a Puella Magi for a deceptively long time, and a Witch for a fair while as well. She is trying to cling to a humanity that long since died, I would think. But why ask me?}

Yui: {She doesn’t give me a straight answer either. Unless it’s about her power, anyway. Right, I had a question. … Don’t smirk like that, Sis. I was gonna ask anyway. …What do you make of it, anyway? Venefica in Puella?}

Cecilia: {It is the alternate path forward. The embracing of our innermost shadow. A step below the raw power of Puella Malefica, and yet not. The allowance of our Witch controlling our vessels, and our powers. Yet not drowning out our consciousness at the same time. The acceptance of our inner darkness. An alternative to Magia, which is overcoming it.}

Yui: {I got that vibe when she showed it off before. But I mean, which do you think is right?}

Cecilia: {Both? Neither? That is up to the individual. In your case, in the context of fighting the Balancers, you worry about whether you need more power now, compared to a power to stand even with them later. We do not have the luxury of time, yet we equally cannot afford to sit and wait, either. Correct?}

Yui: {Yeah… that’s the long and short of it.}

Cecilia: {You do not need omniscience to know what I’m about to say.}

Yui: {…I know, I know. I have to answer that myself. Just, y’know, you were part of me for a while. Couldn’t hurt to ask.}

Cecilia: {You will find your answer, and right when you need to. That’s how you’ve always done things, isn’t it?}

Yui: {Heh… yeah. If you gave me an answer, I might have to pick the other one out of spite.}

Cecilia: {And this is why I keep information from you, Yui.}

Yui: {Go fuck yourself… god. …When am I gonna see ya again, anyway?}

Cecilia: {So you can hit me again?}

Yui: {Yeah! …Er, no! So we can finish this shit once and for all!}

Cecilia: {Soon, Yui. Just endure awhile longer, okay?}

Yui: {Yeah, yeah. …You too, Sis.}