STARS ABOVE: Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10: I Just Can't Stop Myself

2007

Hiiragi household, Takanomiya

"Finished already? Let me see."

"'Kay." Tsukasa slid the paper across the table, then rubbed at her eyes.

Kagami scanned her writing and smiled. "This is really good… you're definitely improving."

"Thanks, onee-chan. Yuki-chan's been helping me a lot…"

"Mmm-hmm. There's just one thing here…" She smirked. "Her name's 'Lenore.'"

"Huh?" Tsukasa blinked and cocked her head.

"It's 'Dreaming of the lost Lenore,'", said Kagami, carefully sounding out the English words. "'Not 'Renoir', that's a French painter."

The younger twin's face slipped into an expression of panic. "B-But… I thought he was missing a valuable painting, like it had been stolen or something, and that was why he was so sad… Uwaaah!" she groaned, grinding her knuckles against her temple, "I'm such an idiot!"

Despite herself, Kagami laughed. "Calm down, calm down! It's an easy mistake to make. Here, just change the letters. I'll help you."

"Thanks, onee-chan," said Tsukasa again, grinning sheepishly. "I guess that does make a lot more sense."

Once the paper was corrected, Kagami leaned back and stretched her arms above her head. "That takes care of that… I think I'll go upstairs and take a bath."

"That sounds nice," said Tsukasa. "Do you want me to start making a snack or something for after you get out?"

"Nah, I'm fine." Kagami waved a hand in her direction as she stood up from the table. "I should be watching what I'm eating."

Two weeks had gone by, and the initial furor of interest over Homura's arrival at Ryouou had given way to normal routine. No longer was she attracting stares in the hallways or amazing people on the track or in the computer lab… if anything, she seemed to be making a concentrated effort to blend into the background. She and Kagami had barely spoken since the nurse's office, save for a few words of small talk every other day or so.

Konata, of course, was being as annoying about it as she possibly could. Only threats of physical violence and no more help with homework had stopped her from making cracks about Kagami and Homura's "lover's spat".

Kagami sighed as she climbed the stairs. Her life was finally back to normal… or mostly normal, save for Kyubey's constant presence around her. This was exactly what she had wanted ever since that afternoon on the train… so why this sense of gloom? Why was she still thinking about Homura, even though the other girl had barely said a full sentence to her in two weeks?

Maybe I just haven't adjusted yet, she mused to herself as she shook off her blouse and let her skirt drop to the bathroom floor. We went through so much in just two days that "normal" doesn't feel right. Maybe that's it. Off came her bra, joining her other clothes in the pile. She pulled down her panties and tossed them off, then pulled the ribbons from her hair, letting her pigtails fall into loose strands.

The bathroom's mirrors fogged over with steam as she filled her bucket with some of the hot water from the faucet, letting the rest fill the tub. I wish she'd talk to me. She'd tried asking more questions of Kyubey, but his answers were almost always either maddeningly vague or supremely unhelpful. He didn't understand emotions and wouldn't talk about what happened in the other universe. Hell, he didn't even seem to know very much about Homura, for a companion of hers… Eventually Kagami had decided that talking to him was a waste of time, and she resolved to ignore his presence unless he felt the need to speak with her. That seemed to be working well for the both of them.

She tipped the bucket over herself, washing away the soap suds. For a moment she watched the water and bubbles swirl down the drain, then she climbed into the tub, sinking gratefully into its warmth… The water was heavenly, and did a wonderful job of easing away the tensions of the day. Physical tensions, anyway. Mental tensions were more than one bath could help with.

Kagami was beginning to pick up on the subtle clues of Homura's moods, she knew. Even though they had known each other for such a short time, they had been through so much in those two days that the Puella Magi seemed more… open to her than she did to anyone else. So Kagami knew for certain that something was bothering her… it was all there in her voice, in the way she paused to choose her words so carefully before speaking. Something had her worried, but for whatever reason, Homura wouldn't tell her what that was.

She sighed and leaned back, resting her head against the lip of the tub. What is it with you, Homura? Why are you doing this to me? My homework's done, my chores are finished, and I'm here in a nice hot bath… I should be relaxed, but I'm not. I just can't stop myself from thinking about you. Dammit...

Homura. Kagami turned her image over and over in her mind. Homura… quiet and withdrawn, almost always wearing that stony expression, speaking in a monotone whisper… Her pale face, her cold violet eyes, the way she often flipped her long black hair back when she stood up… Homura, the sad, haunted girl who fought a war that had claimed the lives of her friends, who hid behind a façade of indifference that only Kagami could see through…

Kagami's hands began to wander. Homura. She thought about seeing her on the roof across the street, standing there in the moonlight, bathed in silver. Homura… Her fingertips sank down into the water, resting lightly against her belly. She thought about the graceful dance of Homura's transformation, how she charged into battle with the second Demon without hesitation, without a word. So brave, so strong… so lonely. She was a stranger lost in an unfamiliar world, only a schoolgirl on the surface. Kagami found that to be tragic. She wondered if anything could ever make Homura smile… but she couldn't even picture a smile on that face, the very idea was too disturbing.

Homura. Even her name was strange, but somehow that added to her mystery, her allure… Her fingers were slipping lower. They had a secret together, a dark secret that no one else could know. And she and the other Kagami… something had happened between them. That was a secret that Homura refused to tell… what was it? Could they have possibly…

"Mmmf…" Ripples formed on the surface of the water as Kagami squirmed. Her imagination was running wild now, feeding her images and sounds that didn't make sense. Homura was going through the motions of the dance again, but this time her school uniform was falling away and leaving nothing behind. Homura was standing out there on the roof across the street, a shadow against the brilliant white disc of the full moon, beckoning to her. Homura was looking down at Kagami in her lap, her violet eyes just about to spill over with tears, leaning down very close to her and parting her lips…

Kagami? said a cold, clinical voice in her mind. Are you all right?

"KYAAAAAAAAAA!"

Kyubey recoiled back slightly from his perch on the bathroom windowsill, startled by the sudden noise. I just wanted to make sure that-

"GET OUT! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!" shrieked Kagami, her whole body turning red as a beet as she ducked down into the water up to her chin, clasping her hands over her breasts.

Kyubey tilted his head to the side. Are you upset?

"OUUUUUUUUT!"

A shampoo bottle shot past Kyubey's head like a missile, bouncing off the glass behind him and clattering to the floor. Honestly, Kagami, he thought at her, is that really necessary? You humans are- A tube of conditioner thrown at high velocity actually grazed one of his ears before he could finish the thought. Concluding that Kagami was in no state to listen to reason, he turned around and phased through the window, just in time to avoid the wooden sandal that struck the glass an instant later.

Kagami sat huddled in the water, panting hard, still clutching herself tightly as she fought to regain her composure. I'll kill him, she swore savagely to herself. I don't care what Homura says, I'll kill him!

It took her a moment to hear someone knocking on the bathroom door. "Onee-chan!" Tsukasa's voice was frantic with worry. "Are you all right? I heard you screaming!"

"I'm…" Kagami swallowed. "I'm fine, Tsukasa, it's okay. I thought I saw a peeping tom…" A peeping cat… rabbit… whatever!she thought. "I'm all right, whatever it was is gone now."

Tsukasa didn't sound convinced. "If you say so. Do you want me to get Dad to look around outside?"

Kagami took a deep breath. It was almost tempting, but… "No, don't bother him. Tell him I'll be fine. Sorry for scaring you."

"Okay…" She still seemed doubtful, but she left it at that.

Once she was sure she was truly alone, Kagami drew her glistening fingers from the water and stared at them, utterly bewildered. What on earth is wrong with me…?

Kasukabe

Here it comes.

Homura's thumb flicked open the detonator's molly-guard. She pressed her back against the rough surface of the black boulder as if she were trying to melt into it; she desperately hoped that it would shield her from the blast. Ten kilos of homemade C-4 would be overkill in any other case… not for this Demon.

It had pursued her slowly and relentlessly through its mountainous, boulder-strewn Lair for over an hour. Homura had thrown half her arsenal at the thing. Bullets did nothing, shells did nothing, and rockets barely made it flinch. The C-4 explosive was one of her final options; the others were to activate her wings and endure the massive power drain that came with using them, or to escape the Lair and come back later, giving the Demon opportunity to feed on more victims until she returned. Neither of those was preferable, so the explosive had to work. Ten kilos has to be enough to crack its hide. Come on, come on.

Its heavy, thunderous footsteps were growing closer as it crossed the landscape of ever-shifting black boulders, which rolled back and forth ceaselessly, crashing into each other. The Demon was over three meters tall… it would have been taller except that its upper body hunched forward grotesquely just below its shoulders, as if its spine had been bent ninety degrees by a giant's hand. It took the form of a knight, encased from head to toe in lead armor. Thin veins of gold and silver crisscrossed the armor, connecting the plates to one another. In one hand, it carried a golden lance with a wicked, serrated underside. Strapped to its opposite forearm was a shield of polished silver. Apart from a few dents and pockmarks, the Demon showed no damage at all from Homura's attacks; it strode forward at the same steady pace, never slowing or quickening its steps, brushing aside the heavy boulders as easily as if they were made of cloth.

Now, however, it was nearing the spot where Homura had found enough soil to bury the explosive. All she had to do was wait until it walked directly over that spot. She focused all her attention on the tiny mound of soil amid the maze of boulders… and thanked her lucky stars that she had decided to go with a remote-detonated bomb rather than a pressure-sensitive land mine. The constant random rolling and crashing of the boulders would have set a mine off long before the Demon came close enough to get caught in the blast.

Homura flicked the molly-guard closed, then open again.

And then she nearly had a heart attack as someone laid a hand on her shoulder. Only her iron nerves kept her thumb from slipping and hitting the button.

"It'll never work, you know," said a feminine voice from behind her, as the hand squeezed gently.

Homura did a 180-degree turn on one heel, spinning around and drawing her Beretta from her shield, and pointing it directly into the face of…

Herself.

Her eyes widened in shock, and she bit back a scream. The Homura standing there with her wore a Mitakihara school uniform. A pair of red-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of her nose, and her long black hair was tied back in twin braids. She smiled, clasping her hands in front of herself. "Gaspare never tires," she said cheerfully. "Once he starts pursuing his prey, he never stops. Ever. He'll keep going until you're too weak to move. Then he'll destroy your body and shatter your Soul Gem."

Homura's hand shook, but she kept the pistol's barrel trained right between her duplicate's eyes. "Who are you? What are you?"

She giggled. "Isn't it obvious? I'm you."

"That's a lie." Please let it be a lie. Tell me I'm not going crazy...

"I suppose it is. I'm not you anymore, am I? You killed me the day you made your contract, Homura Akemi."

"No," said Homura, turning pale. "This is a trick. You're one of the Demon's Spawn…"

Her double shook her head. "Gaspare doesn't have any Spawn. He ate them all to increase his own power."

So that's it, thought Homura, her stomach churning. She had wondered why this Lair was so unnaturally empty… "What do you want?"

"You," said the other girl with a horrible, sadistic smile that sent a crawling chill down Homura's spine. "You stole my life from me, Homura Akemi. You killed me because of your own selfishness, your unwillingness to let her go. So now it's time for you to pay."

The footsteps of the Demon grew closer… far too close, it was almost upon her. The duplicate had so rattled her that she had nearly forgotten about it. Cursing herself for letting herself be distracted so easily, Homura flicked open the molly-guard and jabbed the button…

She felt the heat of the explosion even through a meter of solid rock. A hail of shrapnel pelted the other side of the boulder, accompanying the sudden rain of gravel, remnants of shattered rocks that were caught in the blast. The noise was deafening… for a moment her double's words were blessedly silenced. Once the echoes faded, Homura peeked around the boulder's edge… The bomb had made a crater two meters deep, and it was now filled with a sea of dirt and gravel. A single leaden armored hand remained uncovered by the debris, still and unmoving.

Before she could check to ensure the Demon's death, Homura felt a pair of human arms wrap around her waist, and a soft cheek nuzzling against her back. She froze…

"It doesn't matter," said the other Homura in a sultry whisper, somehow managing to be heard even above the ringing in her ears. "It's only a matter of time. You know that, right? You're only one Puella Magi, standing against a city full of Demons."

Repulsed, Homura pulled herself away, sending her double tumbling to the soil. Her heart pounded frantically against her ribs. The double was speaking her most private doubts and anxieties, she had somehow read her mind… This wasn't a savage, animalistic beast like a Demon or a Witch, it could think… Dropping the detonator, she wrapped both hands around her pistol and trained it on the other girl's skull once again. "Shut up."

"It's true, and you know it," said her double, not bothering to pick herself up, staring at Homura from the ground with crazed glee in her violet eyes. "You can't protect them forever."

"I can," said Homura quietly, fighting to remain stoic. "I won't let them suffer. I won't fail."

"Don't you see?" she said with a grin that was too wide for her face. "You already have… Serafino found them, and Geppetto even managed to feed on one... How much longer can you-"

The Beretta leapt in Homura's hand. A fine spray of orange blood and fragments of bone burst forth from the back of the duplicate's head, coating the boulder behind her in a slick of gore. She slumped over, and the lenses of her ruined glasses shattered as they hit the ground at an angle.

Homura turned away from the awful sight, covering her hand with her mouth and trying not to be sick. I have to get out of here. Just need to get the Curse Seed and go…

Taking one shaking step at a time, she approached the crater where the Demon's body lay buried, and began scanning it for signs of the tiny black cube. Nothing. Perhaps it was buried along with the Demon. She looked down to check her Soul Gem... and the armored hand twitched.

The savage tip of the golden lance moved like lightning, exploding out of the pile of rubble. A white-hot clap of pain seared through Homura's body as it thrust itself into her stomach, running her through, painting her costume red with blood.

Slowly the Demon pulled itself up to a standing position, shedding rocks and soil as it lifted her off the ground on the end of its lance. It turned its head toward her… it had no helmet, no eyes, no facial features at all, just a smooth, rounded blank made of dull grey lead… but somehow, it was staring at her…

Homura moaned, and blood trickled from her mouth. It took a simple mental command to shut off her sensation of pain… a technique she normally loathed to use, but it was the only way she was going to survive this. As numbness spread itself over her, she struggled on the lance, trying to tear it free of the Demon's grip. Her actions left smears of red on its gleaming surface, but the serrated underside kept her from sliding off without doing more damage to herself. Panting, she looked the Demon right in its faceless blank. "Let… go."

"He won't listen to you," said a horribly familiar voice. "This is your end, Homura Akemi." The duplicate was back, walking toward them, still with the ghastly hole between her eyes. She looked up at Homura, her face distorting into a bloodied grin. "Now you'll pay for the sin of your selfishness."

"It will… take more than this… to kill me…" The bravado was partly to bolster her own confidence, and partly to buy time to think of something…

"Oh, I'm aware of that. Gaspare?"

The knight nodded its blank head. Sheets of molten gold began to spread outward from the surface of the lance, covering over her wound and slowly coating her torso. It trickled over her shoulders and down her legs, and Homura felt the awful sensation of her limbs stiffening, then freezing in place.

"It's a pity," the duplicate sighed as the knight set Homura down, knowing she was unable to run away. "If it weren't for that lance, you would make a lovely statue as a gift for the Ninth. But then, it's far too much of a risk to remove it now..."

Glaring hatefully at her, unwilling to give her the satisfaction of seeing her fear, Homura continued struggling as much as she was able. The molten gold enclosed her shoulders and crept up her neck. "The… Ninth…?"

The duplicate tapped her chin. "I suppose it wouldn't spoil the game too much if you knew. I am Desideria, the Second." She tilted forward in a bow. "This is Gaspare, the Fourth," she said, gesturing to the knight. "We are two of the Nine, born of the sins of humanity."

Panic raced through Homura's mind. No. It's not possible. They're not just intelligent, they're organized… they can think, plan, work together… Liquid gold crawled over her chin, her cheeks, her lips, advancing up her face. How? How did they- Now it was in her eyes, she couldn't see…

The golden statue that used to be Homura now stood motionless, her face frozen in an expression of shock.

Desideria grinned, and Gaspare was silent, as always.

END OF CHAPTER 10