Yosuke was right. The only real option Yui had right now, the only chance at answers she had was Melati. 

Seia was right. If Aoi was on an Incubator transport and outside of Earth’s orbit, it was already too late.

Kiwako was right. This was all one, giant, elaborate script, with the pieces involving Diana Caelum and Melati Nyaua and this Incubator named Aisha all intertwined.

Hanako’s reckless maneuver into gathering information told Yui all she needed to know. While Diana wasn’t involved in this plot, she was aware of it, and was making plans of her own. Diana also now had possession of the Virtuoso’s Soul Lantern. And while that was now the Diva’s game to play, Yui still recognized a long game when she saw one. Yui needed answers, and the only way to acquire them was to call Melati and arrange a meeting. A phone call wouldn’t cut it, not when Melati could just end the call and block further communication— if she hadn’t already.

But not at New Eden.

Yui was not about to risk her sanctuary in pursuit of these answers.

Yui looks back at Mitakihara with a resigned sigh, sitting by a riverbank. She looks at the city in the distance, phone in hand, just one tap away from actively igniting the powder keg on which she currently sits. She has a plan in place, not one to waste hours of time just to go in blind anymore. But she also knows how this is going to go down. Melati isn’t going to simply give Yui what she wants. Yui knows what will come of this. She thinks herself ready, but deep down, she realizes she doesn’t know Melati well enough to carry this out for certain.

Sigh.

Freeze.

Tap. Ring…  Ring…

Melati: (She waits an unusually long time to pick up) Hello. Melati here. 

Yui: Yo, Melati. (Her voice is uncharacteristically calm) I was tracking something near the edge of town. One of mine spotted Kyubey doin’ somethin’, possibly trying to make a Balancer out of a fresh contract to take another crack at Mitakihara, or something. I’m on site, but haven’t found anything. Wondering if your gadgets or whatever might see what I can’t?

Melati: Oh. Well, he’s certainly not allowed to be doing that. (She doesn’t speak with the level of outrage this would warrant) The edge of town, you said? 

Yui: (With an equally lacking amount of urgency) Yep. Past the warehouses, by the river’s edge.

Melati: Right now, then? (Sounding distinctly tired and worn) 

Yui: If you can, yeah. Don’t want the trail to go cold, y’know?

Melati: (A long silence, with the sound of some papers and objects shuffling) If you’ll still be there, I guess I can come by. See– (She stops in the middle of hanging up) How’s Yuzuki doing now, by the way? 

Yui: Yuzu? (Life seems to return to her voice, along with genuine warmth) Seemed fine after Ikana bit it. More than fine, actually. Haven’t seen her in person yet, though. Why?

Melati: Just wanted to check on her. She seems like a promising, smart young lady… who didn’t need magic or an Incubator inflicted upon her. 

Yui: …Did any of us?

Melati: No. I’m sure we all would have done something else with our lives if we hadn’t. 

Yui: Mm. …Anyway, I guess I’ll see ya in a few.

Melati: Yeah. Be right there. 

The phone call lasts only a minute or so. The wait feels much longer, even if it was also only a few minutes. Yui sits by the river, transformed. There was no reason not to be, even if the ruse wasn’t completely transparent. Yui doesn’t have to wonder if Melati could see right through it or not. This wasn’t a trap built on subtlety, but a pretense for a conversation neither woman wanted to have, and Yui knows this won’t go anywhere.

Still, it is her only lead.

Before too long, Melati appears. She spots Yui from some distance away, but her gaze is towards the sun on the water as she draws close. She stops a fair ten feet away.

Melati: Not even going to greet me outside your Puella form, huh? 

Yui: You an’ I both know the real reason I called you out here, Mel. I’d say I’m shocked you showed up at all, but like… I dunno, maybe this is the last of your “goodwill” toward me or something.

Melati: I didn’t think Kyubey would be dumb enough to do something like that. What’s this about then?

Yui: Where is she, Mel? (She stands and takes a couple steps toward Melati) Where’s Aoi?

Melati: (She hesitates for a moment, perhaps considering whether or not to lie about her involvement) You could find out it was me, but not where she is? 

Yui: I’m not stupid enough to think you’d give up the exact location. Besides, kinda hard to track Incubator tech when you’ve had centuries to perfect the art of coverin’ your tracks with or without it. But I’m pretty sure I’ve helped you enough to get some kinda info free and clear.

Melati: I’m sorry to disappoint, but I only passed her along to Aisha’s care. I’m sure me not knowing is for my own protection, or so I wouldn’t be tempted to say anything in a situation like this. If Aisha has any sense, she might be on board a faster-than-light transport out of the galaxy by now. 

Thunder rolls overhead, despite how calm Yui looks.

Yui: That’s the answer I was expecting. And I’m gonna save myself the dignity of asking if you have a spare to chase her down in. So unless she can come get you or something after this and I can ride that to her ship, best shot I got is acting on all my training… Balancer.

Melati: Surely with the size of your community and your resources you could acquire another healer. Why go after the one you had to chase into orbit to take her out? 

Yui: You’re a fuckin’ idiot if you need to ask me that. Aoi isn’t just a convenient healer I keep locked in the basement. She’s a friend, someone I’m tryin’ to bring back into reason. God, is this how you saw Diana? Transactional? No fuckin’ wonder she snapped.

Melati: (Shaking her head with an exasperated look) I don’t see what Diana has to do with any of this. She makes her own decisions. Always has. 

Yui: (Her eyes flash) And that eats you up, doesn’t it? Knowin’ you couldn’t stop her? Well, takin’ Aoi offworld is just making history repeat itself. That sit well with you, Mel?

Melati: … What did Diana tell you to give you these ideas about us? Listen, both of us are lucky to not have been in Aoi’s situation. 

Yui: Maybe. Y’know, you could’ve just asked her or me about all this, right? Even lying to me about why you needed her. Any bullshit story would’ve probably worked. You got us to talk about Kyubey when we all stonewalled you at the start. …Regardless, you have my friend. I want her back. If I can’t get her back, I’ll tear down anyone responsible for takin’ her.

Melati: If you care, I did ask her for her assistance and she agreed. (Despite her saying this, she takes off her gloves, preparing for a fight) 

Yui: There was a bit of crumpled paper by her bed. Didn’t want her tellin’ me about it? Again, you could’ve spun something. If she’d left a note, hell, if you’d even clued me in a little, we wouldn’t be here right now. 

In her hand, a golden staff appears. Then another in her left hand. Then no less than three dozen more, forming a pre-built Soul Cage around them both, which activates and connects the staves with violet lightning.

Yui: And to think, I was beginnin’ to trust you.

A karambit knife appears in Melati’s hand, with lines of gold down the blade and studded with rubies. Her Puella outfit follows, a sleeveless blouse and slacks, very understated save for a large sun crest on her chest.

Melati: By the way, I saw what you did to Aisha… I could say the same. 

Yui: Yeah? It kept that, huh? Good. S’what it gets, and you by extension, for tryin’ to Balance my city.

Yui lunges forward and swings her staff in a wide, horizontal arc. Melati jumps back out of range. Then, true to the weapon in her hand, she closes the distance quickly, getting very close to where she can take a swipe with her knife. The swipe is caught by the staff in Yui’s other hand, and she lunges forward, rather than reacting to a typical knife attack, sending her head into Melati’s.

Melati turns away, not enough to dodge it but enough that the headbutt hits her on the side rather than the front. She grabs onto the back of Yui’s head, trying to throw her to the ground. Yui seemingly fails to resist this, rolling back up to a knee a short distance away, a bolt of lightning striking down onto the staff she left behind, right next to where Melati is standing. She leaps to the side as best she can, some sparks still jumping to her and causing her to stumble. She shakes herself off, raising her knife again. 

Melati: I suppose there’s no point fooling around trying to subdue you the nice way.

Yui: This is the nice way? God, there really isn’t anything separating you from the other Balancers. (She stands upright, aided by her remaining staff) Shame I never found myself again. This’d be quick if I still had it.

Melati: From what I can see… (She shakes her head) You didn’t ever “find yourself.” And it’s well that you didn’t. People weren’t meant to have such power. 

Yui: …What the fuck are you saying, Melati?

Melati: I’m saying what you had wasn’t really Magia. It’s always possible to have some personal growth without going all the way there. Like Yuzuki.

Yui: …That’s bullshit. (Thunder rolls overhead again, violet flashing and streaking across the clouds) That’s fucking BULLSHIT! (She lunges again with a primal yell)

Melati: (She lifts her hand, and a jet of searing heat erupts toward Yui. It’s far too hot for normal fire, curving oddly) 

Yui: (Yui brings her hands instinctively up to guard her head, withstanding the heat only for a moment before jumping off to the side. Not enough to escape completely, but enough for some relief)

Melati: It’s best not to take this any further. (Where the flare had passed, the sand and silt of the riverbank have fused into glass and sparkling rare minerals) 

Yui: …Tch. No different from Punisher, from Shiori… hell, even the fuckin’ scarecrow. It’s all tricks. (Yui begins slowly walking backwards, towards the edge of the cage) 

Melati: Oh, it’s no trick. Just more power than any one person should have. 

Yui: What… yours is real, an’ mine was fake? What a bunch of bullshit. Your Incubator know you have that forbidden power of Magia? Or do you keep secrets from it, same way we do with Kyubey?

Melati: Of course she does. Don’t be silly. She was there when I fell into it, even. 

Yui: Bullshit fuckin’ hypocrites, the lot of you. You fight to keep us off the Path, all while walkin’ it when it’s convenient. …Even without a “real” Magia, I still got enough to take you both out.

Yui jumps backwards into the side of the cage, wincing in pain as lightning courses over her body. The cage itself doesn’t last long, however, as it falls apart, then swirls, growing faster in rotation and slowly contracting around Melati.

Yui: Heh. Not even I’m stupid enough to fight a Balancer alone anymore.

Melati prepares to break the cage, several flares springing out towards the staves. Before she can, however, a sudden blackness envelopes the riverbank, like the bottom of the deepest cavern. After a brief pause, Melati lashes out blindly at random, even the flares invisible in the darkness. A rubber-clad hand on Yui’s shoulder lets her know where Seia is.

Seia: I’m here. 

Yui: Good. I guess the literal fuckin’ sun ain’t enough to break through your darkness, good to know. Hanako, now!

The cyclone swirls blindly around Melati, sparks dancing off the staves as they close inward, a maelstrom of electricity and gold, sometimes lashing and hurling toward her. This only lasts for a few moments, before a sudden explosion blasts everything away from her. A flare arcs towards Seia, and she is forced to dive for cover somewhere behind Yui. The veil of darkness lifts, Melati standing incandescent amidst flames on the ground.

Melati: So you all need an example. Of why it’s pointless to continue to fight like this. Do you know what a young fool like me wished for when I was your age? 

Yui: (Covering herself and providing cover with Seia as her eyes flash, adjusting to the sight) I dunno, give me a sec an’ I’ll read it on your soul. (Under her breath, so that only Seia can hear) Tch… this is bad. I need to buy time an’ get you two away…

Seia: (Getting to her feet unsteadily) D-don’t worry about me… 

Melati: A volcanic eruption ruined everything in my country. Even for a whole year afterward, the dust blocked out the sky and no crops would grow. That’s when I found out, someone had wished for the eruption to happen. That’s when… I wished for myself to become the new sun.

Melati raises her arm, and it transforms into a bar of searing, blinding light. The ground around her bursts into flames, the plants curl up and blacken, the soil starts to run in rivers towards the bank. The water in the river goes up in a cloud of steam. The intense radiation prickles on the girls’ skin, a metallic taste in their mouth. 

Yui: Y-You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me— (She drops to a knee, continuing to try and shield Seia from the worst of it) Go on… g-get out of here, Seia!

Seia: (She tries to get up, but the shadowy hands she uses to guide herself recoil from the heat, and she can’t find her way) 

Melati: (She has to shout to be heard over the roar) You see now? Lightning, wind, whatever you throw at me all comes from the sun! (The light disappears, her arm returning to normal. Melati has sank into the ground a little, in a depression filled with rare earth minerals that sparkle. The wind blows in, covering the bank in steam from the river) So leave me alone, before I have to use this power where it would cause real damage. 

Despite her calm tone, she starts running after the first few steps, apparently eager to be gone before anyone changes their mind. Yui sighs in relief, but the coughing fit that follows, along with the trembling tell a different tale.

Yui: Seia, you alright? Fuck… where’s Hanako?

Seia: Y-yes… (She stands up, her rubber suit a little melted where it was exposed) 

The wind goes eerily calm for a moment, but soon after, Hanako emerges from her hiding place a short distance away, farther from Melati’s display than the others.

Hanako: Y… Yui, are you okay?

Yui: (She coughs, a few drops of blood splattering onto the ground beneath her) …Fuckin’ peachy.

A streak, a blur of blue rushes forward, Cecilia kneeling down beside Yui.

Cecilia: A-Are you okay?! I saw that flare and I came running—

Yui: (Another coughing fit cuts Cecilia off, and a much larger amount of blood pours from Yui’s mouth)

Cecilia: O-Oh no… (She feels Yui’s wrist, her hand recoiling as if touching a stovetop) H-Hanako, get Yui out of here, quick. Her Soul Gem is still really hot from that attack…

Hanako: (A cyclone forms around her as she hovers near Yui) …Where did you come from?

Cecilia: I’ll answer any question you have once we’re back at New Eden!