You brought this upon yourself.

You sank beyond the abyss that is the remnants of your soul. You grasped at something beyond your reach. Sought a power beyond your means. Tore yourself even further down. For her. Called upon a power that signifies yet another broken promise. 

You are your brother’s sister. The title of Maestra fits you more than it does her. More than Maestro fit him. Your schemes, much like his, ended in abject failure. It brought those you care for into ruin. A ruin that took almost half of a year to recover from. 

She is still recovering, even now.

I do not need to ask if you are still alive. If you were not, my voice would not exist. Were you lost completely, I would be in action, rather than speaking to you. If the Diva is flesh without blood, if the Forte is soul without form, if the Aria is voice without sound, then you are still the Oracle who cannot see.

And yet, you did. For a brief, shining moment, you did see. For her. To make right what you made wrong? To atone? Such is folly, Oracle. Action without logic, without any meaning for you. 

Look what your actions have won you. Your domain is in disarray. Yours, and yours alone. The wayward spirits Divider had torn apart now reside here. Punisher is fled, or perhaps facing justice. Your control over this corner of this realm is beyond you. Traded for that vision, that power you lost. Was this what you sought? A glimpse, and blind faith that the Forte would catch it? Make use of it?

You confound me, Oracle. But in equal measure, you prove yourself capable. Capable enough to endure me a while longer. As such, accept this small gift. A token of my begrudging respect. Sabrina’s bad habits are beginning to influence me, I’m afraid. 

I had assumed your vision beyond you, yet you have proven capable of holding it for now. Do not let it burn or burden you, Oracle, lest my voice become clear in your mind once more. Neither of us desire that outcome.

---

Hiding in plain sight was Diana Caelum’s specialty. No more did she emphasize that this time than by taking a seat in the corner of the newest spot in Mitakihara to grab a drink. Shame about the name, of course, but as busy as it was on this night, it would at least provide ample cover. Diana sat, drink in hand, watching the bar and club beyond it. She felt another person sitting beside her, and without looking, she addressed the presence.

Diana: (In American English, under her breath) <Who the fuck calls a bar “The Smile” anyway? Can you make heads or tails of this dumbass name, Melati?>

Melati: Bars are where people come to be happy, no? I like it better than “The Horse’s Head” or any of those. 

Diana: <“Bottom of the Barrel” was my favorite. …Remember that one, Mel?> That old dive bar in New Hampshire, about a century or so ago? The beer was awful, but I think that’s where we had our best talks.

Melati: You know the beer was bad if we still remember it. (She leans over the table, hanging her head a little) I wonder what I’ll remember about this city in a hundred years. 

Diana: <Either the shitty name of this club, or the glassing of the edge of town.> (She takes a drink and her voice takes on a rare softness) …She survived it, you know. They all did. I’m assuming that was your intention.

Melati: (She leans back, pushing her hair out of her face) Of course it was. I’m not here to kill people who aren’t causing any harm. 

Diana: It was close, though. Yours is a scary power when you unleash it like that. The only person I ever knew not to be afraid of it was… her.

Melati: You need to let her go, lady. Why did you agree to Kyubey’s schemes if it was going to be this much of a problem? 

Diana: …It wasn’t Kyubey, per se. It was her. I followed her for the same reason I’ve been stalking Yui. She interested me. (She hesitates, then pulls out an older American quarter. Seated Liberty, 1862) …Y’know, that incident up in the Sierra mountains was the only time I ever saw her paint in orange? She said she couldn’t find anything to rhyme with it, so she’d just forget about it. Who the fuck even talks like that? It took me longer than I’d like to admit to figure out that she got the orange from your sun.

Melati: (She eyes the quarter with a sidelong glance) I seriously doubt it. She and I didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye. There’s a reason why I never worked with her after that. 

Diana: <…Let me put it another way, then. I trust Aisha about as much as you trust Kyubey.> Kyubey’s style of Balancing is distasteful, even to me. <But I came into this world as a killer by default. There… wasn’t ever a way out for me.>

Melati: Don’t be silly. Nobody is born a killer. I don’t think it’s something humans were meant to do. It only happens when someone makes us. 

Diana: <…You remember what I wished for, don’t you?> (She downs the entire glass all at once. And she doesn’t.) 

Melati: I’m not gonna forget that. It’s hard to remember everything over a two hundred year life, but I’m not that messed up.

Diana: <…The fact that I’m alive now proves my existence as a killer. If I wasn’t, he would’ve had a life come and go instead.>

Melati: … (After a pause, she answers in English this time) <You know how Kyubey is with wishes. He finds someone desperate… like a shipwreck survivor… you wish to save yourself and your baby son… and he takes that and twists it as much as he can. Blaming yourself over it is what he wanted so you’d become a Witch faster.> 

Diana: <But I didn’t become a Witch. Aisha took me under her wing, probably to prevent that. …Probably because she knew what I could do, too.>

Melati: Hmm. <You worry too much. You’d need to be awfully small to fit under her wing.>

Diana: …In many ways, working as Aisha’s Balancer was easier than Kyubey’s, for what it’s worth.

Melati: I’ll bet it is. Every time I see Kyubey’s work I just feel ill inside. 

Diana: He didn’t even try to be subtle about this Balancing. <Jesus Christ…> I met one of them. Firestarter, I think he called her. She was the sane one out of that Erasure squad. But… I have no idea what Kyubey’s endgame was with this Balancing. How was he going to cover this one up? Firestarter broadcasted her attack. Globally. The hell was he thinking…?

Melati: The answer can only be… (She pauses to take a drink of the water on the table) That what he was covering up was worth taking the heat of a botched Balancing. Of course, thanks to everyone’s efforts, now he’s got the worst of both worlds there. 

Diana: Kyubey made an enemy of not just an entire city’s Puellae, but several cities around here. And then, he gets on Aisha’s radar. Homeworld, too. Is it really that big of a danger for Yui Arashi or any of Mitakihara’s Puellae reaching Magia? Why not just make her a Balancer?

Melati: Ugh… I don’t want to think what he’d do with her power. No, I think the resentment of him runs a little too deep here. More likely, he’s just covering up his science experiments… or that he personally murdered someone. Without a Balancer. 

Diana: Wait, what? That’s not like him at all… 

Melati: Seems like he was so greedy for the power the Rinju girls used to have that he’d do… a lot of things. These incidents with their healer and this Tomatsu woman too. 

Diana: The healer? The same one you kidnapped? (She takes a drink) I heard about that Tomatsu girl. Left unchecked, that would’ve necessitated a Balancing on its own. It’s a good thing that a functional healer exists in Mitakihara, really.

Melati: Well, you know how it is with healers… the longer a group of Puellae sticks around for, the more likely they are to start causing problems. For Incubators or for other people. 

Diana: I reiterate, why not just let Aisha recruit them, then? Keep an eye on them yourself? You’d make a better mentor than I would, but I think she needs one.

Melati: I saw what happened the first time Aisha met with Yui. That wound on her face still hasn’t healed. (She sets down her glass with a hard bang) I don’t think Yui is receptive. 

Diana: (She doesn’t visibly react) <I’m just so… so damn curious where she’s gonna be in a few decades. It’s so rare that someone sparks my interest in this fucked up world of ours, Mel.> Anyway, are you surprised that Yui and Aisha fought? You know how Aisha can be better than anyone, right? Besides, how else was Aisha supposed to stall for time?

Melati: I’m not surprised they fought. It doesn’t mean I have to like it when one of my comrades comes back wounded. (She picks up her glass but doesn’t drink from it yet) So you’ve found yourself a new Fiora? 

Diana: (At the mention of Fiora’s name, she goes quiet, once again idly swirling her cup.) …Maybe. And that scares me to death.

Melati: … Well, why not? As long as it doesn’t drag you into another hundred-year obsession, we all need something to be passionate about. 

Diana: A new obsession every hundred years… seems fitting for me. (She finishes her drink, then stands up, walking a few steps away from Melati before stopping again) … <Hey, if this wasn’t all a dream… If this were all real, then isn’t what we call reality rather ambiguous?> (Before Melati can answer, Diana is gone, as if she had never been there to begin with)

Melati: (After a pause, she answers anyway) For you, maybe. For me, the only question after all your reality splitting is… is this you the real you?