towerofanimus | POTS TSAL ♞ FFATS HTFIF

Characters: Sayaka Miki, anyone who was interested in a Witch's Kiss, and the Nuke Squad.
Setting: Floor 28, and on the way to.
Format: Any is fine, but I prefer prose.
Summary: My wish is somewhere not here.
Warning: Spoilers for Puella Magi Madoka Magica, death.

On the path to Floor 28.

Sayaka has become despondent, over this last week (well, eight days, to be more specific). It felt like all her feelings fell away, one by one, watching the battles in the labyrinth - only a few days in, she'd lost all will to pay attention to it at all, and stopped making appearances in places she would normally be found in.

Anyone who's attentively lived through the start of this month, on either side of events, wouldn't be surprised by this in the least. But it's over now, right? So why does this girl look just as hopeless as if the worst was still to come? She's shuffling relentlessly forward, with some sort of purpose - but it doesn't look like a happy one.

Floor 28.

There's something different about this floor today. Something on a more unsettling, dangerous caliber than the usual fare - it's the tower, after all. It's never safe. But this is on a whole different level.

The air feels heavier. 'Humid' might be the correct descriptor, though that makes no sense - there's no water significant enough on this floor to cause an atmosphere like that. A close look would reveal that it's the truth, though - on some of the instruments, a bit of condensation has appeared. It's more obvious in a specific part of the floor - and anyone who can significantly sense magic will have been drawn there, anyway.

Because here, in the strings section, where a song gently waves through the air - there resides a Witch.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She...really wanted to find that song, didn't she. It was all he could do to stop short at the haphazard harp strum, trying not to lash out and kick an instrument or two.

This was something she really, truly loved, and the tower was using that to-

"Sayaka...I don't think it was playing." His words were cagey, but not on her account, of course. "The tower- it makes you see and hear things sometimes, so you think you've found what you want. But it's...not really there."

"No. It was there. Someone else was with me, and they heard it."

She stops in her tracks, taking deep gulps of air. She feels.. light headed? Numb, all of a sudden. And under that numb there's a deep, cold spike, starting from the ring on her finger and spreading through her whole body.

"..but I.."

_{She'd dreamed of letting Kyosuke die.}

After that, she really wouldn't deserve to ever listen to his music again. So it's obvious what's happened.

"..I know what it is. I just, don't deserve to hear it anymore. I've gone deaf. I lost sight of everything, and now I'm going deaf, too...!"

Yeah she's gonna collapse, now.

"Huh...?"

Oh geez, she was panicking- while everything in him was sure this was the fucking Tower, a small part was suddenly very scared it wasn't.

He stumbled to try and catch her, but ended up hitting the floor on his knees, hard, instead. Even still, he grabbed at her shoulders, trying to shake her out of it.

"Sayaka, you're not deaf, you can hear me just fine! Just calm down, I'll..."

What could he actually do? His grip tightened, and his hands were suddenly a lot more quivery than they'd been before. "...I'll try to think of something."

As Roxas is busy shaking Sayaka, there's a clink from the floor. Her soul gem had fallen off of her hand, from a ring back to a rock in a second.

And it's black. There's no other word for it; deep, consuming, abyssal black. Unthinkingly, she reaches down to retrieve it.

It cracks under her touch.

And that's when things go to hell.

There's a quick flash of foreign information, spilled out as the gem breaks like a flood. Silhouettes conducting on a stage. Letters in an illegible language. A little girl swinging her legs excitedly, atop a red stadium seat.

There's also a startlingly powerful knockback effect.

A gem becomes a seed.

And slowly, Oktavia von Seckendorff peers up from the depths.

He'd been halfway through going to pick up the ring- gem? -for her. Her hand touched it. He couldn't remember it being that dark before, not that he paid attention to something like jewelry.

And then it was like drowning; Roxas felt the change before he saw it, overwhemled in to shutting his eyes and hunching down, pulling Sayaka's easily-shifted shoulders with him. The hold became a hug instead, and he did his best to ride out the oppressive feeling of salt and humidity bearing down on him.

Much worse was the sound, a noise he didn't want to hear, just barely humming in the back of his brain. He kept his eyes shut, kept his grip tight on Sayaka's slumped body, and staggered up to standing. It was harder than it should have been.

He tried to run, but it wasn't until he'd taken several strides that he realized his companion was not pulling her own weight. Only then did he venture to peel open an eyelid, and...

He regretted it, shifted her in his arms, and pushed himself to run faster.

But it's like the floor bends and wavers with every step Roxas takes - space is stretching out into a bubble for the Witch to hide within, and collapsing back in at the edges. If he would look too far ahead, he wouldn't see an exit - he'd see a shuddering vision of the monster waiting behind him.

It's like something that couldn't - shouldn't physically exist. It doesn't have depth, or more than a second dimension, but it can move properly just fine. That's proven as it draws itself up into a position on a black throne, ragged black cape fluttering.

It felt like his steps were sinking through the floor, no matter how hard he pushed himself. Sayaka's... unconscious, form was growing heavier, even as he tried to gather her up more and more in his arms. The fact that he was holding her so tightly and she wasn't even stirring-

Even if he was keeping his eyes closed, he could feel that, thing at his back. Even as he tried to get as far from it as he could, that sensation of it breathing down his neck...

He couldn't keep going. It was too much. Roxas shoved his shoulder through something damn and intangible, collapsing on relatively still ground. Sayaka tumbled out of his arms, and he prioritized nudging her in, further from the impromptu hole Roxas had made. His keyblade was summoned without even thinking, and only then did Roxas watch in horror as the labyrinth built itself. Where were they? Could the tower...really do something like this? They'd made that horrible battle royal, but this seemed different somehow.

He hazarded a glance from his viewing point to Sayaka, still unmoving and still on the ground, eyes open. It unnerved him like few things ever had, and he didn't hold the gaze long. Instead, he fell back on his tailbone, curled his knees in to his chest, key still gripped tight in his hand.

He just needed a minute to think. Just a moment.

Oktavia lounges on her throne as her realm is built around her - the eternal concert has yet to put bow to string, so she is unsatisfied yet. Her familiars haven't even made their entrance. She can't know the beautiful revolutions of her minions' song for a little longer.

Lazily, she gestures her sword in the direction Roxas has taken solace in - and immediately, there's a burning feeling on a spot on his neck, isolated to the skin in a certain shape.

However, beyond the sting, nothing happens.

Apparently, he wasn't getting a reprieve. The sting came as a shock, and he immediately clapped his hand over the spot, dropping the key completely. He pulled his hands away in stages, checking for any sign of blood, but nothing. He traced the spot with his pointer, and found some sort of complicated crescent just above his collar.

Back on edge, he scooted deeper in to the duo's little hidey-hole, curling up by Sayaka's ankles and keeping a wary eye on the outside. He...he wasn't going to leave. Not yet, he was too scared now. Maybe when, if, that thing left (what was he even looking at, it didn't make sense) then he'd make a break for it. But, until then...

POTS TSAL ♞ FFATS HTFIF

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oktavia says roar

aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh

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