10th Recipe - The Freezer

[starofpleiades]

Characters: Kazumi and You!
Setting: Floor Sixty Kitchen, Floor One Hundred Memory, any other floors
Format: Either
Summary: Kazumi ends up exposed to the dark mist and loses it... violently.
Warnings: Violence, death

[It was... cold. She'd given up yelling an hour ago. Kazumi was confident though that someone would notice she was taking too long and come check on her. Then she'd be able to get their attention. But for now, she was alone, waiting inside of the walk-in freezer. After all she'd talked about keeping others safe, falling into it herself...

It was just her and... the voices.]

[Floor Sixty]

[Perhaps you came here looking for Kazumi, or by chance, or maybe you just smelled the food burning in the oven and boiling over on the stove. In any case, you're just in time: right as you enter the kitchen, there's a loud noise, followed by a flash of light as the door to the walk-in freezer goes flying off, crashing around the room violently propelled by a beam of pure energy.]

Limiti Esterni!

[As the dust settles, a small, slim figure comes walking out of the freezer: Kazumi in her magical girl outfit, staff upheld in one hand, the other adjusting the brim of her large pointed hat.]

I won't... fail this time.

[Floor One Hundred]

[The normally empty hall is already filled with someone's memories: a large, empty hall, cold and silent, lined with the bodies of tagged girls. In the center is a seal, dozens of dark and sullied soul gems sitting on top of it. And before that seal stands a lone figure.]

[Other]

[After the above two events, Kazumi can be seen rampaging around both in partial and full witch forms on various levels of the tower. Final rights go to eternallilly though.]

Comments

[tohko_amano]

Waugh!

[Tohko, not expecting Kazumi to use magic to move the stairs, wobbled a little bit and would have toppled over if she didn't manage to grab the wall.]

[starofpleiades]

[The outburst settles down, though Kazumi's still standing there, shaking]

I'm not scared...

[tohko_amano]

Kazumi..

[Tohko sighed and tried to put a hand on Kazumi's shoulder.]

There's nothing wrong with admitting you're scared. Only fools are never scared. The important thing is to know that you're scared and still try to move on anyway.

[starofpleiades]

[She sobs a little, trying to hold back the tears, gripping her staff tightly. And nods her head.]

Mm... but that's why... I need to go.

[tohko_amano]

And where are you going to go? Where do you think your friends are?

[starofpleiades]

Angelica Bears... they'll be there. I'll call them there. And finally put an end to this.

[tohko_amano]

Angelica Bears..?

[starofpleiades]

The place... most dear to us...

[That's all she says before she suddenly disappears, teleporting away - she'll be on floor 100 if Tohko tries to find her]

[tohko_amano]

[And Kazumi suddenly teleported. Sighing, Tohko ran up the stairs, biting her lip. Kazumi had been headed up this direction, and she wasn't going to abandon her friend!]

[starofpleiades]

[By the time Tohko reaches it, the 100th floor would have already taken on the properties of Kazumi's memories, that long hall they called The Freezer...]

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko, being a bit of an idiot, had checked every floor she came across, dealing with the psychological effects and trying to heal on the stairs as she kept heading up.

However, when she got to the hundredth floor, she didn't recognize whose memories were being projected..but called out anyway as she wandered in.]

Kazumi! Where are you?!

[starofpleiades]

[There was no response, but in the middle of the hallway, the girl was clearly standing there, something of an ominous aura surrounding her as she stood in that silent hall]

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko looked around at the holographic tubes of women, both puzzled and a little scared. What in the world..?]

Kazumi..are you alright? What's going on here? Why are all these women in tubes?

[starofpleiades]

Welcome to my barrier. Welcome to... The Freezer.

[When the girl turned, there was a vaguely haunted look in her eyes, an eerie aura about her.]

These girls... are the ones we've saved from becoming witches.

[tohko_amano]

How has putting them in these tubes saved them?

[starofpleiades]

We've separated them from their soul gems, halting the corruption. It's... the only thing we can do for them. Until... until this system is changed, until we can break the Puella Magi system... this is all we can do for them...

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko stood there in shock a moment, processing everything Kazumi said.

Their soul gems. Kazumi hadn't said anything about their souls being ripped out! This was..horrible.]

Kazumi..if you separated them from their soul gems, they're not alive either! And how does this halt the corruption?!

[starofpleiades]

Well... the truth is, we are our soul gems. Our bodies are... just shells now, that we control.

And by sealing their time and consciousness, preventing them from despairing or using magic, we at least stop them from turning into witches...

I know... it's cruel, but it's the only thing we can do to save them. Otherwise, they... they'll become nothing more than monsters.

[tohko_amano]

[So Kyubey ripped out their souls..this was horrible. Tohko sighed as she walked toward Kazumi, trying to stay calm.]

..But..isn't there any other way to keep them away and still not have them become witches?

[starofpleiades]

[She shook her head]

Just by living, controlling our bodies, we use up our power... and those who can't clean their soul gems have no choice but to become witches.

[tohko_amano]

Isn't there any way to clean a soul gem though?

[starofpleiades]

There's Jyuubey... but he can't save all of them. That's why... the seven of us have to fight on for these girls. So we can put an end to this twisted system.

[tohko_amano]

And how are you planning on putting and end to this system?

[starofpleiades]

[At that, her face becomes downcast]

I don't know. Umika, Saki and the others were researching it...

[Were they? Or was the things they'd been working on all this time been...?

Was it true? How much could she even trust? What if...?]

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko sighed.]

..I see. I'm not Umika or Saki, so I can't tell you how successful they'll be. However, I can tell you that this room isn't real.

[To prove it, Tohko put her hand through one of the nearby tubes. It was just a hologram.]

Kazumi, if you stay in the mist any longer, you're going to get sick. Please, for these girls, for your friends, for me..take a rest on the stairs.