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16-year-old Zelinda Seacrest is a vegetable, stuck in a coma for 11 years and counting. Her mother Zentroz is worried about the health of her daughter, hoping every day that she would awaken from her endless sleep. But unbeknownst to her mother, Zelinda's dreams have served as a wondrous, attractive, and nearly permanent destination since they began 11 years ago. A magical kingdom paradise born from her imagination, with Zelinda princess over it all. And with an imagination that has grown beyond her wildest dreams, Zelinda ventures to the surface of her subconscious, bringing her overactive imagination with her. Meanwhile, Zentroz grows restless with her husband Jonathan as they receive news of the moment that they were waiting for. A care-free Zelinda finally awakens, ready to experience the strange new world that awaits her. And with the kingdom in her mind, she slowly introduces it to her parents, before gradually growing homesick of her dream world again. The thought of the mysterious dream world that her daughter describes begins to worry Zentroz. And her daughter's growing attachment to it worries her even more. And as the days and weeks go by with Zelinda's numerous revisits to the land of her imagination, her daughter begins to change more and more. What was this mysterious land that she spent so much time in? Why does Zelinda keep becoming more and more different? Before any of Zentroz's questions could even be answered, Zelinda becomes as mysterious as the dream world that she first experienced in her coma and her parents begin to find themselves right in the middle of their daughter's fantasy world. Welcome to the kingdom born from imagination. Welcome to Zelinda's Garden. I. The Planting Chapter 1: Nowhere Zelinda Seacrest’s eyes looked so empty that you would believe that there’s nothing inside her. Her eyes never changed or moved. If you were to try to talk to her, you would clearly get no answer. All you would get is a glance of her dazed stupor. A robotic glance devoid of any real intelligence. Her hazel hair flowed down to her shoulders. Her face was lightly freckled with a couple areas of acne starting to form. Her left bra strap sagged over the v-neck of her sky-blue dress. Lacking any awareness, Zelinda continued to stare into nothing. While her own heartbeat proved that she was alive, Zelinda was nowhere to be found. She was sitting on a soft tan couch, with her neck hunched over. Her parents sat beside her, impatiently looking at their phones for the time. “When is he coming?” Jonathan said, staring up from his phone screen. “It’s three minutes after four! The doctor is three minutes late!” “Calm down, dear.” Zentroz said, patting her hand on his right shoulder. “Maybe she’s with another patient.” Zentroz gazed over at her teenage daughter and tucked the bra strap back into her dress. “There honey. I fixed it.” But Zelinda didn’t respond. She maintained her same blank stare as usual. “Why do you talk to her?” Jonathan said, sighing. “She is not even there!” “How do you know?” Zentroz asked him. “There might be something going on inside her. You don’t know!” “Do you still think that? She’s been like this for 11 years!” Zentroz took the defensive. “Maybe so, but she’s still my daughter and I want to talk to her. Isn’t that right, Zelinda dear?” She waved her hands up and down over Zelinda’s eyes, which remained still. Zentroz could remember the last time that her daughter was normal. It was just a few days after Zelinda’s fifth birthday, in the year 2043. Zentroz was putting her daughter to bed. “No mommy!” she cried. “Tell me more of the story!” Zentroz held the book shut and smiled. “Don’t want to ruin the surprise, dear. You’ll hear some more tomorrow night, okay?” She leaned over her daughter’s bed and nuzzled her nose over her daughter’s face. “I love you, dear.” Zelinda gave her mother a look of curiosity. “Mommy?” “Yes dear?” she asked, staring into her eyes. “Am I a princess, like the story you told me?” Zentroz waved her hand on her daughter’s face like a magic wand. “You are, dear. You’re a beautiful princess.” Zelinda’s face lit up and she began to smile. “Look at me, mommy! I’m a princess!” Zentroz nodded, giving her daughter a very excited face. “You are! Good night, dear!” She kissed her daughter goodnight and left the room. During that night, something strange started to happen. Zelinda quickly fell asleep and was filled with the dreams from all the stories that her mother told her. Stories about beautiful princesses and heroic princes to rescue them. Fond memories of all the playtime that she had during that day. Then it happened. In the morning, Zelinda stopped. Her face gave a blank stare, which has remained unchanged to this day. Wherever Zelinda went that one night, she never wanted to come back. The doctor finally came in and shook both Zentroz’s and Jonathan’s hand. Dr. Julia Prost greeted her patient with a warm smile. “How’s Zelinda today?” Zelinda gave her usual response, giving her a blank and emotionless stare. Dr. Prost nodded. “Fine as usual, I would guess?” She adjusted her glasses and gave Zentroz a serious stare. “I know that you want to see your daughter back in the right mind. Do you mind if we run some more tests on her again?” Jonathan sighed. “What difference would that make? You have done this every month for years!” Dr. Prost gave Jonathan a sharp stare. “Yes, I know. But what else can we do? There might be something else that we can find out about her. Something that might get you your daughter back.” Zentroz elbowed Jonathan and smiled at the doctor. “Oh, we would love that! Wouldn’t you want that, honey?” Jonathan nodded. “Yes, I would, but we’ve been down this road for about 11 years now. Do you really think that this would make any difference?” “Yes!” she sharply responded. “I think that it would make a lot of difference! Let’s just do what the doctor says. Okay?” She looked back at the doctor and nodded. “Go ahead and take her. If you have any questions regarding her, they’re all going to be the same as last time. Just to save you the time.” Dr. Prost nodded. “That’s fine. And that’s also why we would like to run some more tests on her. Just asking the same questions and trying all the same things as before isn’t going to change anything. All we can do is run some more tests. Maybe we can reach her this time.” “I hope!” Zentroz said with a smile. Dr. Prost held Zelinda by the hand and led her outside the room to the lobby with Zentroz and Jonathan following. Some other specialists were standing there, ready to take Zelinda. Zentroz’s smile faded when she saw the specialists guiding Zelinda down the hallway. “Leave her to us.” Dr. Prost said, giving her a reassuring smile. I’ve trained the new staff so they’ll know what to do with her. I’ll keep a good eye on her, okay?” Zentroz nodded. “Okay. Let’s go home, honey!” Zentroz and Jonathan left, leaving Zelinda to the doctors. The doctors ran all the usual tests on Zelinda, but the results were the same as last time. By that time, it was evening, so they placed her in one of the hospital beds. Zelinda’s blank stare retired for the day. Her eyelids drooped shut and she fell asleep. *** Zelinda watched as her mother tucked her in. That was a wonderful story. She wanted to hear more and how it turned out. Where did the princess go? What land did she travel to next? Maybe she’ll tell me more if I ask her… But the mother closed the book. Zelinda, now crushed, started to cry. “No mommy!” she whined. “Tell me more of the story!” But the mother just stood there, holding the book in her hands. Zelinda glanced at the book and frowned. If only I could get that book! Maybe mommy tell me just a little more…” “Don’t want to ruin the surprise, dear,” she told her. Zelinda’s tears were erased when she heard the word “surprise”. What? Surprise? Where? Zelinda glanced around, trying to find where the surprise was. “You’ll hear some more tomorrow night, okay?” Zelinda glanced at the book that was out of her grasp. Tomorrow? I can’t wait until tomorrow! Please let it be soon! Pleeeease? She felt the nuzzling of her mother’s nose against hers. Oh, I love it when mommy does that! I hope that she kisses me too! “I love you, dear,” the mother warmly told her. Zelinda then thought of the story that she just heard again. That princess in that story…Is that me? Maybe mommy knows! Mommy knows everything… “Mommy?” she said with great eagerness. The mother stared deeply into Zelinda’s eyes. “Yes dear?” Zelinda began to smile even more. “Am I a princess, like the story you told me?” She watched her mother wave her hand on her face. It’s a magic wand! She’s turning me into a princess! “You are, dear.” The mother told Zelinda. “You’re a beautiful princess.” Zelinda smiled very brightly. She closed her eyes, imagining her beauty. She then opened her eyes. “Look at me, mommy! I’m a princess!” The mother nodded and smiled widely at Zelinda. “You are! Good night, dear!” Zelinda glanced at her mother, who gave her a very nice kiss on the cheek. There we go! She didn’t forget! Yay! After the mother left the room, Zelinda’s eyes became heavy. When she opened her eyes, she was in a magical land. She got out of her royal bed and glanced out of the window. She was in a beautiful castle on top of a very high hill. When she saw the view, her royal chamber, and her royal princess gown, she sighed with ecstasy. “Wow!” she squealed. “I really am a beautiful princess! “I never want to leave this kingdom! Ever!” And that is just what happened. Since the night she dreamt that dream, she has remained princess of her very own kingdom. All while her body continued to age day by day from the outside. While her mother was worrying about her vegetative state, she was having the time of her life, living every one of her days as a beautiful princess in a land of her very own. *** Eleven years has passed since Zelinda began the wonderful journey to her very own kingdom. Every day played out exactly as the day before. Her mother the queen would tell her that one day, the land would be hers. Everything that she could see outside the window of her castle would belong to her. Zelinda, still five years old, squealed as she played with her royal blocks. She stacked the blocks to make a royal castle of her own. Looking out of the castle, she frowned. “Mommy, can we make the castle bigger?” Right after she said that, the castle grew to exactly the size that she wanted. “Yay!” She got to her feet and ran around all the new rooms that she made in her now bigger castle. When she entered the throne room, she went and sat on the throne. “Mommy?” she asked. The queen immediately appeared. “Yes dear?” “Can I be ruler now?” she asked her. Right after she asked her, a crown appeared on her head. “You are, dear!” she told Zelinda. “You rule everything!” Zelinda smiled. “I do!” All of a sudden, Zelinda suddenly remembered the story that her mother promised that she would tell her. She glanced at the queen. “Can you tell me the story now?” The queen looked at her in confusion. “What story do you want me to tell you?” Zelinda smiled. “You know! The princess story!” The queen nodded and smiled. “You’re already a princess. What story do you want to hear?” Zelinda frowned and began to pout. “You don’t know the story. I wanna hear the story!” A portal appeared and Zelinda saw it. Wow! A flashing thing! If I go through it, will mommy tell me the story? Zelinda ran eagerly through the portal and went through it, her very own kingdom vanishing behind her…

New episodes are released on Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern Time! ------------- I know a lot of people are stuck at home without much to look forward to, so I wanted to try something a bit different. I've been working on this anime-themed story for about a month, and recently decided to release it week by week, as if you were watching it on TV! That's fun, right? Not annoying? (Honestly I need about a week to write new chapters and edit them. >_<) I think this could be a lot of community fun. Fan speculation, "next time on"s, stuff like that. It isn't really an ABDL story as much as it has Little themes? Though there is light diaper content. It's much more a mysterious magical girl story. So if that's your jam, you should definitely follow along. Unlike other stories, this one will not be released early on Patreon. I want to try to keep all the community engagement stuff in one spot. But when it's over, our Patreon will have the complete PDF and ePub. I'll also be starting a new story on there very soon if you want to check us out! Thank you for reading and playing along! ------------- Special thanks to the following patrons for the extra support: Lil' Erica, Cam, Lizzy, BeelzeDerBock, Lizzie, Phil, Ruka Puddlegum, Selpharia, Scotia3079, Jasmine Starshine, Princess Sarah, Herezulo, Sorka, Keira, and Guilyn. (Honestly, we can't thank you enough!) ------------- Maidens of Fate By Sophie (with Pudding's help) Episode 1: A Dark Decade and a Dazzling Day “We’ve been over this, Midori.” The doll’s lips didn’t move, but the voice came so clearly from her face. It was old, wearing a tattered blue dress with one missing shoe. It was the same doll Midori had loved all her life. “You know what happens to people who claim they have an imaginary friend.” “I never said I would tell anyone,” Midori muttered softly, holding her doll Nari tight against her chest. Taking a doll to school may have been inconspicuous in middle school, but high school was another story. If someone caught her, Midori would be the talk of the town. She didn’t want the attention. “I feel like people would be more accepting if they knew you weren’t make-believe,” Midori told Nari as she pushed her into her backpack. Most days, that was where she stayed. Then there were days like today, where Nari nagged and pestered until Midori took her out. “It’s important not to stand out,” Nari said quickly, in a voice that was both playfully befitting of a child’s doll, and yet inscrutably stern. “You’ve seen all those things on the news lately, about the girls in America and England? What would your mom think if you got hurt, or you disappeared?” Midori sighed and nodded her head. She had already been born with powdery white hair - the universe set on targeting her. If she wanted to stay safe, she needed to stay out of the way. Nari was always right about things like this. “Okay, you win,” Midori whispered. “Now please be quiet.” She clamped the bag closed. Nari started to sing inside the bag - something she had taken to doing recently. She wasn’t that bad, but it sometimes caused Midori trouble during tests. She wasn’t doing so well in school. “Hi Midori!” Pandora ran into Midori in the hall and held out a little brochure. “The Music Club is looking for new members. Maybe you could come by today and see if it’s something you might like?” “You asked me to join the Literary Club last week,” Midori reminded her. “And the week before that, the Bakery Club. Why would I join one of these if you’re going to keep switching out of them?” Not that the two of them were even that close. Pandora moved to Japan from Europe in elementary school. She was exuberant, with bright blue hair, but Midori and Pandora never seemed to click. Their friendship always felt like a little too much work for Midori. “It’s just not good for your academic transcript to have no extra-curricular activities, Midori.” Pandora frowned a little, lowering the brochure. “Tell her that you’re busy,” Nari called out from Midori’s backpack. But Pandora - like everyone other than Midori - couldn’t hear her. “You can’t waste your time on things like that.” “I…” Midori listened to the muffled voice in her bag, but Pandora had a good point. She already wasn’t doing well in school… “I’ll think about it,” Midori finally answered, taking the brochure. “I don’t know anything about music though.” “Oh, that’s quite alright!” Pandora smiled, her spirits lifted at the possibility that she wouldn’t be refused. “You don’t need to know anything; we can teach you all about it! Maybe even how to play?” “You could get hurt,” Nari sighed. “What if a tuba falls on you?” “R-right… yeah, um. I’ll look into it. Thank you.” Of course, Midori knew Nari was right: she couldn’t go frivolously joining clubs. But the idea of doing something after school other than going straight home was so… interesting. After classes that day, Midori walked along the edge of the school boundaries with Nari in her hands. She played softly with Nari’s old dress while listening to her latest lecture. “I don’t trust that girl, Midori. She keeps offering you different things to try and join. Don’t you think that’s suspicious? It sounds suspicious to me, like she’s trying to entice you to do something bad.” “But people do things like that all the time,” Midori pouted. “Part of high school is clubs and stuff, you know? And I feel… I feel like I’m missing out. Isn’t it a good thing to get some stuff on my transcripts? I’m already failing two of my classes…” “You’re doing bad in school because you keep getting distracted!” Nari continued. “You have to focus, Midori. You want to go listen to them talk about music instead of going home to study. What sounds like it’s going to be more helpful?” Midori sighed and looked back at the school. She should spend her time at home studying. It just never seemed to help… “You’re right,” she sighed and held her doll tight against her chest. “Midori!” The voice wasn’t Nari’s. Midori looked up in confusion to see a small blonde girl hurrying toward her from the school. Quickly, Midori stuffed the doll in her school bag and buckled it closed. “Midori,” she said again as she got closer. The girl didn’t look like she was old enough to be out of elementary school, let alone middle school, and her personality didn’t help the misconceptions about her age. She came to a halt in front of Midori and waved her hand in the air. “I’m sorry,” Midori said quietly, “you are…?” “Kachiko,” she said, taking a moment to catch her breath. “Kachiko Kazumi. Panda said you were going to come to the music club today! Did you forget?” “I… uh. I was going to go home and study, actually. To… to try to do better on my exams this year.” “But Panda said!” “R-right…” Midori felt like she was at a loss. “Well Miss Kaz—” “Call me Kachiko, please.” “Uh… Kachiko. I’m just not sure…” Midori bit her lip nervously and Kachiko took her hand. “We saved you a seat and everything. A trumpet too, if you want to try playing.” “Tell her no, Midori.” The voice was succinct and stern, emanating from Midori’s schoolbag. “She’s a distraction, and she’s going to get you hurt.” “Right,” Midori said more to herself than anyone. “I’m sorry, Kachiko, but—” “Please, please, please! Just one minute! Panda will be so happy that you made it. She thought you didn’t want to come, but I told her you must have just forgotten is all.” The small pink-haired girl had such radiance in her eyes. So much energy. So much life. Midori couldn’t figure out how she was so… so strong. Maybe curiosity got the better of her. “Just a minute, then.” Midori forced a smile and let Kachiko drag her back toward the school and into the main building. A heavy sigh came from her backpack. Nari was right about Midori’s schoolwork, but it didn’t quell the ounce of excitement in Midori’s heart. She had never been to a club before! The music hall was on the third floor, on the far side of the building. By the time the girls arrived, most of the school was already cleared out with the exception of the current clubs. Kachiko was practically effervescent as she led Midori by the hand, but they stopped just outside the door to the music room. “I probably can’t stay long,” Midori preempted. “You can stay as long as you want,” Kachiko smiled. “But your doll has to stay out here.” It seemed like such an odd thing to say - harmless or pedantic - but the voice only Midori could hear didn’t seem to see the whimsy. “Midori, we have to go! Right now! She’s trying to hurt you!” “Doll?” Midori forced a laugh. “What doll?” “The one you keep in your school bag,” Kachiko said happily. “Everyone knows you bring it with you.” Midori’s cheeks burned pink and she bit her bottom lip. “I… well, I can explain that…” “It has to stay out here,” Kachiko said with uncharacteristic certainty. “Midori! Leave!” “I… I have to go home,” Midori muttered, holding her bag tight to her chest. “I know you don’t understand, but it’s going to be okay. Just trust me.” Kachiko put her hand out for the bag and Midori looked terrified. Why did she want Nari? “It’s okay,” Kachiko said again, taking a step closer to Midori. With careful movements and surprising speed, she unlatched Midori’s school bag and pulled the doll out from its hiding place. “Don’t let her take me!” Nari screamed. “This was so stupid! You know better!” Midori felt guilt strike like lightning through her spine. She snatched at Nari, but Kachiko pulled her out of reach at inhuman speed “Give her back!” Midori shouted, tears filling her eyes. “One minute inside,” Kachiko said confidently. “You can have her back after just one minute, okay?” “That’s… that’s not fair…” Midori shook her head in confusion. Was Kachiko bribing her with Nari? “I”ll stay out here and take care of it,” Kachiko said, holding Nari to her chest the way Midori often would. “See, safe and sound.” “She’s going to take me away from you, Midori! She’s going to hurt me, I can feel it! Then she’s going to hurt you! I can’t believe how stupid you were… why did you listen to her? Why do you hate me?” Midori felt sicker and sicker, looking down with tears in her eyes. She didn’t understand. Why was Kachiko trying to hurt her imaginary friend? She felt like she was going to throw up… “I…” “Head inside,” Kachiko told her. “You’ll get her back after.” Midori bit hard on her bottom lip and tried to think. Nari was a doll. Even if they were friends, no one else knew about her. No one could hear her. There was only one thing to do: Midori had to go inside. For Nari. The door clicked behind Midori and Pandora stepped out from the corner of the room. “You’re in a lot of danger, Midori,” she said. There were a number of other girls in the room, and all of them seemed to watch Midori with worry. “We don’t have a lot of time.” “I… I’m sorry…?” Midori looked around the music room; the walls were covered in shelves and sheet music. There were only a few instruments and only four girls. Two of them Midori recognized. A taller one stepped between her and the door she came in. Nari was right. This was dangerous… “We were able to get that thing away from you for a few minutes, but it’s not going to last long.” Pandora took a step forward and one of the other girls did so as well. The taller one by the door, with wavy orange hair. “I’m Daisuke,” she said calmly. Something about the way she spoke… it seemed to put Midori at ease. “We have math together, remember? Pandora is right; we are only trying to help.” “I know that thing said we were the bad guys,” Pandora said, “but we’re not. You’re in a lot of danger, but it’s not from us.” “What… what are you talking about? You all sound crazy!” “Crazier than talking to a doll?” Daisuke asked. Midori blinked. They knew about Nari? But no one else could hear Nari. She was Midori’s friend. Midori shook her head and shouted: “You’re not making any sense!” “It’s a parasite,” a new voice said, quiet and mousy. It was a stark contrast to Midori’s yelling. The short girl with green hair approached Midori, aided by braces on her legs. It was clear that each step was a masterpiece of effort and coordination. “You probably don’t remember what it’s like to not feel scared and self-conscious, because that thing has been feeding on you for so long.” “Nari…?” Midori asked softly. Everyone looked at her until, finally, Pandora nodded. Midori shook her head and stepped back, right into Daisuke who was still blocking the door. “Nari’s not… she’s my friend! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” “Nari probably told you not to come in here,” the girl with the green hair said. “It doesn’t want you to know the truth,” continued Daisuke. “If you find out, then it’ll lose its hold over you,” Pandora said. “Your grades have been bad for a few years now, haven’t they? You used to do so well and then one day - like magic - you couldn’t do anything right.” “That’s how they work,” the green haired girl went on. “But they don’t usually get a hold of one of our own…” Midori shook her head, trying not to listen. Tears filled her eyes. She was so tired, so stressed, and these girls… they were trying to turn her against her doll? Midori didn’t understand. It didn’t make sense! So what if she had a doll? So what? She wiped her eyes and tried to push past Daisuke, but the tall girl refused to let her pass. “Lemme out!” Midori shouted. “Please calm down,” the mousy girl said quietly. “If it thinks you’re in trouble, it’s going to hurt Kachiko.” “Like any parasite,” Pandora explained, “it’s going to try to protect its food source.” “Think back to the first time Nari spoke to you,” the mousy girl said. “How long ago was it?” The room of four girls all had their own ideas. Midori was positively tiny, her growth stunted, and she was weak and jumpy and lacking in confidence. She wasn’t supposed to be like this. Nari must have been latched on to Midori for years… Pandora went over to Midori and took her hand, smiling as tears rolled down her cheeks. “It’s okay, Midori. Just answer.” “I… I was six. It was my birthday.” Ten years ago. Had it really been so long? “She never talked until then… but… but I always had Nari, since I was a baby.” Ten years? All four girls looked at each other - Pandora, Diasuke, the mousy girl, and a quiet girl in the corner with black hair. They knew it had been a long time, but ten years was unheard of. “They take the form of something you love,” Pandora explained. “Usually a doll. Sometimes other things, like a pet or a family keepsake. Then they abuse you, because your self-doubt is like food for them.” Pandora wiped one of Midori’s tears away with her thumb. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll keep you—” A loud crash ruptured through the quiet music room from out in the hall, and then the sound of a young girl screaming. It was Kachiko’s scream. “Nari!” In the confusion, Midori pushed past Daisuke and burst into the hallway. Kachiko was sitting on the floor across from a broken window. Midori scanned the hall for the doll but it was nowhere to be seen. She felt a panic rise in her chest. “Wh-where…” “It’s so powerful,” Kachiko muttered, looking dazed. The mousy girl with the leg braces arrived in the hall last and Pandora held Midori back. “It had a decade to feed,” the mousy girl said. “We’ve never seen one so strong before…” But there were more pressing matters. Pandora was struggling to hold Midori back from jumping out the window to find her doll. “Can someone help me with her?!” Daisuke stepped in and pulled Midori back. “It’s not real, okay? It’s using you. It’s trying to hurt you. Please calm down.” Midori thrashed against the taller girl who held her back and finally broke free, rushing to the window. For a moment, it looked like she might jump out of it, but she kept her feet on the floor. Her eyes surveyed the broken glass, then the ground a few stories down. No doll. Nari was gone. Why would she do that, Midori thought. Why would she leave me? “Kuu,” Pandora said sternly. “Go after her.” “Right.” The mousy girl with braces on her legs pulled a lollipop out of her pocket with a shaky hand and stuck it in her mouth. The hallway erupted in light and she lifted off the ground. The braces fell off her legs and onto the tile with a metallic clatter. A brighter, colored light enveloped the green-haired girl and two large wings sprouted from her back, wrapping around her. Only a moment later, they spread wide - showering feathers everywhere - and showed Kuu in a very different ensemble. It looked like a junior’s school uniform complete with suspender skirt, glowing green along the trim. Kuu smiled at Midori and flew straight through the hole in the window - making it much bigger - and showering glass upon the school grounds. Then she disappeared into the sky. … … … “Midori…?” Pandora said. … … “Miri?” Kachiko said. … “Miss Kaneda?” Daisuke said. “She just…” Midori’s voice was far away. “She… flew out a the window…” “Like five minutes ago, yeah,” Pandora sighed. “People don’t… usually… fly out windows…” “People aren’t normally like us.” Pandora picked up the complex array of metal bracing that Kuu left behind - the only reminder that she had been there at all before her transformation - and only the feathers remained thereafter. “I bet you’re starting to feel a little better. The further away it gets from you, the less it drains from you.” “I… I don’t understand…” Midori felt sick all over. She didn’t feel better in the slightest. She felt scared. She didn’t know what to do. These girls, and Nari… “She’s… she’s my best friend. She’s not a parasite…” “Best friend, Midori?” Pandora asked. “Or only friend?” The wind from the broken window blew one of the feathers into the air, which landed in Midori’s lap. “They try to isolate you if they can; it makes you easier to control. If they have their way, they’ll feed on you for years and years and years, slowly destroying everything that makes you who you are.” “She didn’t…” “She did,” Daisuke said plainly. Midori curled up, pulling her legs to her chest, before putting her head down between them and tried to hide from the world. A horrible world, one that would hurt Nari… “You never had any extra curricular activities,” Daisuke said, “never had any friends. You only ever had school to focus on and your grades still slipped. I bet Nari made you feel guilty about it too, as though you weren’t trying hard enough.” “Daisuke’s sister had one,” Pandora explained. “She’s gone now…” Daisuke looked away and went back into the music room. In turn, Kachiko came over to Midori, sitting beside the silver-haired girl and leaned against the wall. “She… she cared about me,” Midori tried to tell Kachiko, or Pandora, or the black-haired girl who stood in the doorway to the music room. Anyone who would listen. “Yeah, she pushed me. But it was a good thing. It’s good to have someone push me, to do better at school.” Though Midori’s mind did wander to an immutable fact: maybe if Nari didn’t sing so much in class, she would have an easier time paying attention. “It does its best to make you hate yourself, Midori,” Pandora said. “To make you obsess over a goal and make sure you can never reach it.” “You shouldn’t be so trusting.” Those were the first words the black-haired girl said, and she said them with venom. “Naomi, don’t be rude!” Kachiko chastised. “Ten years,” Naomi said harshly. “How stupid can she be, really? Is she even fit to be one of us?” “That’s what the Missive said,” Pandora replied. “Are you going to question the Missive?” Naomi rolled her eyes and went back into the music room, following Daisuke. Pandora and Kachiko decided that maybe it was safer in there. “Come on, Miri,” Kachiko said with a smile, helping the white-haired girl to her feet. The three of them joined Daisuke and Naomi in the music room. Kachiko and Midori sat at a table in the corner and Pandora went to talk to her teammates. Midori nervously played with her fingers in her lap, wiping away the tears on her cheeks. It took her a while to stop crying, and the tears came back every so often nonetheless. “She was the only person who understood,” Midori said to Kachiko. “I just… I… I don’t know what I’m going to do without her.” Kachiko sighed and looked around the room, until her eyes rested upon the violin. Then she got an idea. “Hey, Miri. When you were young, was there anything you were good at? Like, an instrument or singing or something?” “Something I was good at?” Midori asked thoughtfully. Truthfully, she couldn’t remember if she was ever good at anything. She had always been so unremarkable. Uninteresting. Incapable. But she remembered when she was younger, she would draw pictures for her dad. He loved them. But maybe that was just because parents always love stuff their kids draw… “I think I was good at drawing. But I stopped doing it a few years ago. It was just a waste of time. It was getting in the way of my schoolwork…” Kachiko’s eyes lit up. “Oh! That’s perfect! One moment!” Kachiko got up from the table and went to one of the desks on the edge of the room. She fished around inside the drawers until she found a few sheets of paper and a pencil. Then she returned to Midori and set them down in front of her. “Draw me something.” Midori took the pencil at her hand and looked at the blank page. White paper was a masterpiece. Anything Midori could do would only soil it. She felt sick again and put the pencil down. “Come on, please Miri? Just a little bit, until Kuu gets back?” “I don’t want to make it ugly,” Midori muttered. “It’s okay if you do,” Kachiko encouraged. “I have lots of paper.” Midori sighed and started to draw. Rough lines in no particular order. Then Midori had a flash of inspiration. Maybe if she connected the lines like this. Then put two more lines here, and a circle here… Kachiko picked up the violin from the corner of the room and began to play softly. The heaviness of the room began to ebb away, and a gentle joy filled it instead. Ten minutes later, Midori had finished a sketch of the music room. It wasn’t amazing, but it was recognizable. The perspective was impressive. It looked like something one would draw after a few weeks of practice, rather than the first thing drawn in years. The pencil shook in Midori’s hand. “See what you’re capable of?” Kachiko said with a smile, and Pandora and Daisuke came over to see what was going on. They each took a seat beside Midori. “Creativity is one of the things it feeds on,” Daisuke said. “Now that it’s gone, you’re suddenly in control again. Things that might have been so hard before will become natural.” Midori looked at the paper, then up at the girls. She felt sick, but at the same time… excited. It was a nervous excitement that made her ill. “I’m… good at something?” “You’re going to be good at a lot of things,” Pandora said with a smile. “More than you thought possible.” “I don’t understand,” Midori said again, though she was starting to understand very well. “Nari was… she was taking care of me. Or she was trying to.” “What did Nari do when you got close to someone else?” Pandora asked. “Did she encourage it, or did she find some reason why you shouldn’t be friends with them? I know I’ve tried to be your friend a dozen times, and that’s just me.” “Well, she said it’s dangerous. I mean, it is dangerous! People get hurt all the time. And there was a girl in England who died last week for no reason, you know? If I died, my mom would be alone. It’s safer if…” But they weren’t Midori’s words; they were words Nari had said to her. Pandora exchanged glances with the other girls and sighed. She would have to explain sooner or later. “That girl on the news was no different to you, Midori. Nari is a creature that hurts people, and one like her had latched onto that girl in England.” “We fight to stop them from hurting others,” Daisuke spoke up. Midori looked at the both of them and then down at her fingers. It hurt that girl in England? she thought. Something like my Nari? “I’m sorry,” Midori muttered. She felt so pathetic. So stupid for being tricked for so many years. “I just want to go home.” “That’s the first place it’s going to look for you,” Daisuke said. “How about you stay here with us for a little while longer,” Pandora offered. “Until Kuu gets back. Maybe we can explain what’s going on.” Though that was usually Kuu’s territory. “There are other people out there, Miss Kaneda. Other girls and other boys who were victims like you were. We protect them.” “Protect them? Like…” Midori thought back to the flash of light in the hallway, and when Kuu grew wings. “You transform and fight them?” “Yes,” Daisuke nodded. “We all transform. And we use that power to save people.” “The Missive tells us who is in trouble,” Pandora said. “But it told us about you and that you were more than just a victim. That you were destined to be one of us.” “I’m destined?” Midori asked incredulously. “How am I destined? I don’t think… I don’t think I can turn into a bird, if that’s what you’re wondering.” Unless Nari was preventing that, too. Would I sprout wings now, without her around? I slid the pencil into my pocket and crossed my arms. “Kuu isn’t a bird, silly,” Kachiko laughed. “No, that’s Kuu’s form and hers alone,” Pandora said. “We all take on different forms when we transform. Our Miko forms bring out our hidden strengths. Yours will be different to any of ours, just like ours are all different from one another.” “We apologize if we are explaining this poorly,” Daisuke cut in. “It’s not as complicated as it sounds. Kuu usually explains this stuff.” “But she’s busy being a bird,” Kachiko giggled. “Okay,” Midori muttered, trying to make sense of it. Apparently Kuu was really good at being a bird, so she became a bird? Midori didn’t understand. Maybe she would turn into a pencil or something, since she could draw? She wondered if Kachiko turned into a violin… “I don’t know how I feel about any of this,” Midori admitted. “I’m just…” In shock, she thought. “When Kuu gets back, we’ll talk more about it,” Pandora smiled. “How about I run out and get us a pizza?” All the girls - even Naomi - agreed to this plan. Midori put her head on the desk and watched everyone else talk. Kachiko and Daisuke tried to start conversations with Midori, but neither tried very hard. They understood she needed time to process. But it was the first time Midori could remember that she didn’t have Nari to talk to, and it made her uncomfortable. Pandora returned with pizzas and Naomi left. She liked to play up the ‘didn’t want anything to do with the new girl’ angle, but Pandora, Kachiko, and Daisuke knew she was guarding the door. Shortly afterward, there was a sound of swooping wings and Kachiko opened one of the classroom windows. With impossible grace, Kuu slid inside and landed on her feet in the center of the room. “I lost it,” Kuu said solemnly. “I couldn’t keep up. She reached down to the bow on the breast of her outfit and tugged on one of the ribbons. The uniform dissolved into light - wings and all - and was replaced with the mousy girl in her school uniform. “I gotcha,” Daisuke said as she caught Kuu in her arms and helped her into a chair. Pandora brought her leg braces over and Naomi poked her head in from the hall. “Well?” Naomi asked. “It got away,” Kuu explained again. “Great. We’ll have to hunt it.” “Tomorrow,” Pandora said. “Tonight we have to talk to Midori about Miko.” “She agreed to follow her fate?” Kuu asked in surprise. “I didn’t really agree to anything,” Midori said flatly. Everyone looked at her, and Midori thought at first it was because she had spoken out of turn. Then she realized it was because she had never spoken out of turn before. “I imagine you have a lot of questions,” Kuu said with a smile, pulling an inhaler from her pocket with trembling hands. “Let’s eat and talk, okay?” Midori watched Kuu curiously. She was is inelegant now, so different to how she had been only minutes before, and it was hard to reconcile the two as the same person. Everyone sat and took a slice of pizza and let Midori take her time in asking the first question. “So, I guess…” Midori started nervously, “what is this Miko thing? What does that mean?” “Unmei no Miko,” Kuu explained. “It’s a really old term that means something like ‘Maidens of Fate’. We’re an order that has existed for hundreds - maybe thousands - of years, all over the world. We operate in secrecy, getting our instructions from a force called the Missive.” “Missive?” “It’s like a magical postal service,” Kachiko explained. “Except the sender is unknown.” “But you just do whatever the Missive says?” “It’s omniscient,” Daisuke said simply. “I’ve seen hundreds over the years. They know things that are happening everywhere in the world, sometimes things that haven’t happened yet. Some Miko think the Missive is sent by a god, and others think it’s the universe itself speaking to us.” “No matter what the Missive is,” Kuu cut in, “we use it to protect humans from the Richi - parasites like your doll. Or at least, we try to. Whatever the rhyme or reason to what we do, our assignment is too noble to ignore.” “Richi…” Midori looked at the boxes of pizza. Normally she had trouble eating in front of people, and a couple minutes ago she wasn’t even hungry. But now… now she was. “So you’re like… magic?” “As much as penicillin would be magic to someone three hundred years ago,” Kuu said. “Historically, magic is just technology we don’t understand yet. But you could say we’re magical, yes. We all possess a weakness and it becomes our strength when we take our Miko form.” “I thought your strengths were your strength…” Wasn’t that what Pandora said; something about hidden strengths? Midori took a bite of pizza and suddenly started feeling much better. She didn’t realize how hungry she was. “Well, our weaknesses become our strengths. For example: ordinarily, I can barely walk. In my Miko form, I can fly.” “So not everyone flies?” Midori asked and Kuu shook her head. Midori wondered what her hidden strength was. “So why am I one of these Miko things?” “Because the Missive said so. You’ve been suppressed for a long time, Midori; it’s amazing you didn’t become a Hollow as a result. You must possess incredible potential.” “Hollow?” “It’s what happens if the Richi take all the potential from a human,” Pandora said, sitting next to Kuu. “They are like puppets. If you cut off the Richi after that, the human dies.” Midori was starting to understand the gravity of the situation. She could have been hours or minutes from becoming one of these Hollow things. She could have died, and left her mom all alone. To think Nari would do such a thing to her… “I’m not special or anything,” Midori muttered. “Maybe you have the wrong person…” “You played host to a Richi for ten years,” Diasuke said. “The moment it was removed from you, your talents started to bubble over almost instantly.” “Ten years?” Kuu asked dumbfounded. Everyone nodded. “That’s unprecedented…” “Tell her the other thing, Kuu,” Pandora said. “About being destined to lead.” “I wasn’t going to put the pressure on so early,” Kuu sighed. “But yes, the Missive did mention it.” “Lead?” Like, lead these girls? Midori shook her head very quickly and waved her arms back and forth. “No thank you! I’m okay. I don’t want to lead. That’s fine.” She didn’t really believe in destiny anyway. “You’ll be ready when you’re ready,” Kuu smiled and got to her feet, adjusting the braces on her legs. “You won’t be rushed into anything, but one of us will stay with you every night until you decide. You’re still in danger, as long as your Richi is out there.” “I’ll take the first night,” Naomi said. No one saw that coming — Naomi wasn’t one to volunteer for things like that. “I’ll be fine,” Midori tried to quell their fears, but the girls didn’t seem interested in hearing it. And though Midori didn’t want to be a burden, she had to admit the magical girls made her feel safer. If Nari really was the reason she felt horrible, then it was nice to be protected. It was decided. After dinner and the sun went down, Naomi and Midori left together for Midori’s house. She wasn’t sure how she would convince her mom to let a friend stay the night on such short notice, but Midori’s usual anxieties seemed so much lighter the past few hours. Almost like they didn’t matter. “You live with your mom?” Naomi asked. The two girls were halfway to Midori’s house before either of them had said a word. “Do you have any reason to think the Richi is attached your mom as well? Has she been depressed lately? Started any new medications?” “I… I don’t think so.” Midori’s mom hadn’t started any new medications and she didn’t consider her depressed, but her perspective was rapidly changing and it was hard to tell anymore. “Can that happen? Can it attach to two people?” “I’ve never seen it happen, no,” Naomi said coldly. “But I’ve never seen one as powerful as yours. Most people become Hollows after a year or two, and the Richi finds a new host.” Naomi moved with a sort of victorian elegance, her bony limbs in perfect choreography. She was persistently alert. “Are you going to be able to tell if your Richi is close?” she asked. “Should I be able to?” Midori had never in the past felt when Nari was nearby, but she rarely left her alone these days. And Midori liked having Nari around. “You’ll feel a sense of apathy at first. Then you’ll long for it. That’s what makes it so difficult for you to break its grasp.” Naomi had dispatched a great many Richi herself, even though she had only been a Miko for a few years. Even so… “Your Richi terrifies me. I think you should know that.” “Why…?” Wouldn’t Naomi’s magic be enough to keep them safe, Midori wondered. The sun had gone down a while ago, but the sky still looked red. Midori didn’t look at Naomi as they walked. “Because the Missive says you’re destined to lead us. This Richi has fed off you for the past decade. Doesn’t that terrify you?” Naomi was never typically so candid. “But… I will protect you. No matter the cost. I want you to know that.” “Oh, I…” Midori struggled for words. What was she supposed to say to that? She played with her fingers behind her back and looked at her shoes while she walked. “I’m not a leader, no matter what the Missive says.” “You will be,” Naomi said without speculation. “We deal in potential, not in outcome. No matter how strong your Richi is, you’ll always be stronger. You just don’t know it yet. And until you do… I’ll take care of you.” The two of them stopped outside a pretty little house. “Is this where you live?” Naomi asked. “Yes, but…” Midori looked at her house, but something was wrong. Like the lights were too bright or too dark. Or the shingles were the wrong color. Something small, something she couldn’t discern. “This doesn’t look—” Just as Midori walked past the front gate, in an instant, everything felt heavy. Little black clouds spun around the property and Midori could hardly breathe. Whatever waited for the two of them was ready, and it wasn’t holding back. [Ending Song & Credits] ------------- Cast & Hair Styles: Midori Kaneda > shoulder length white hair Pandora > short blue hair Kachiko Kazumi > short blonde pigtails Daisuke > long wavy orange hair Kuu > shoulder length green hair Naomi > long black hair

Hello! This will be my first post on this board! A friend of mine who is a regular suggested that an on-going story I have been working on might be a good fit for here, so I figured I would post the parts that I have so far. I hope you like it! Lily didn’t see the point of Math class. Well, not all Math classes universally, she didn’t feel remotely qualified to make such a sweeping claim. Somewhere out there could be a future Robert Oppenheimer or Mileva Maric who is seeing their first isosceles triangle and furiously scribbling in their notebook the first figures in a formula that will completely change the way humanity views the laws of reality, and that will ultimately carry us to the stars and all of the wonders contained therein—but that person was not Lily. And that class was not Mister Shigeki’s Intro to Differential Equations. Oh well. At least he was nice to look at, even if his accent was unexpected. She had always thought Scottish brogues were supposed to be sexy, but his just felt frustrating. Then again, the gods don’t give with both hands.As she began dissecting why that idiom doesn’t translate to polytheistic beliefs, a nub of pink chalk bounced off her forehead. Mister Shigeki had hit her right between the eyes from across the room, and now stood leaning against Marissa Adam’s desk in the front row. His beard was perfectly manicured to compliment his jawline, and the smirk on his face betrayed his frustration. “Miss Celeste. I don’t suppose you can tell me the answer to the question on the board?” Lily blinked several times as she processed his request. Her eyes darted to the question on the board and she sighed. There weren’t even any numbers in it, just random letters representing imaginary ones. “You know what Mister Shigeki? I really can’t. But it’s my fault, I thought this was going to be a Math class. If I realized this was linguistics I would have brought my other notebook.” She punctuated the last word by picking up the little red notebook and tapping it on her desk for affect. A murmur of exasperated snickers rustled amongst her classmates and Mister Shigeki rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “If you don’t plan on paying attention, why don’t you just go home early?”Lily raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you supposed to teach me?”“You can’t teach someone who doesn’t want to be taught. I have fifty minutes three times a week to teach a first year Math class to a room of students, the majority of whom do not care. If you decide that you want to get caught up, my office hours are always open. But I don’t need you setting precedent for people day-dreaming and getting away with it.” He paused. “Although I suppose half of the room only shows up to ogle you while you’re staring off into the void. Blood flushed to Lily’s cheeks, but the rest of the class was busy either grumbling indignantly of stifling laughter. She blacked out for a moment, and the next thing she knew she was standing outside the door to the Math room with her backpack slung over one shoulder. She started down the hallway to the stairs, feeling extremely self-conscious about how short her skirt was. She threw the front door of the STEM building open with both hands and galloped out into the sun, her ballet flats clicking on the pavement as she did. Lily hated everything about the STEM building, how stiflingly warm it was, how the third and fourth years seemed to linger everywhere like Gollum looking for a fish—she prided herself on how quickly she could get out of it. After such a mildly embarrassing experience she needed to not be around anyone, let alone leering engineering students. Thankfully the University campus was built alongside a dense greenbelt, and she made for the trees. While the edge of the trees was a popular hang-out spot for students, walking just ten minutes into the scratchy underbrush and decomposing autumn leaves virtually guaranteed her solitude. To her, the smell damp detritus was comforting.She kept walking until she couldn’t see any sign of the campus through the woods before finally leaning against a tree. Lily carefully lowered herself down onto one of its roots and took a deep breath. She thought back to what Mister Shigeki said. She didn’t want to be there. That was about all she did know. Halfway into her first semester of University and she still had no idea what she wanted to study, as well as having befriended a paltry two people: Marissa Adams from the Math class after she lent the other girl a pencil on the first day prior to moving to the back of the classroom; and Lily’s assigned roommate, Annie.Realistically, Annie was the only reason she had not dropped out yet. She actually felt like she could trust the other girl. Annie was in her second year and she had the confidence to show it. She had her whole daily schedule planned out, which fit into a weekly schedule, which fit into a monthly schedule, which fit into her five year plan. She colour-coded everything too, and prepared her meals in advance. She prepared her meals in advance! Lily didn’t even feel like an adult most days, and next to Annie she felt like a gods damned toddler.A noise nearby drew Lily’s attention. It sounded like a rabid housecat, then a desperate squeaking. She got to her feet and slowly slunk towards it, holding her bag in front of her as a shield. She peered around a tree into a clearly. A white rabbit with little purple wings was slowly backing up into a tree trunk, having been cornered by some kind of black lynx. The winged rabbit looked injured and terrified. The wildcat coiled as if it was about to pounce, and before she could so much as think Lily broke from cover and hurled her bag at it and prayed the weight of her Math book would be enough to scare the creature off. The bag struck with a heavy thud that knocked the cat off its paws and Lily shouted at it as she moved towards the rabbit. She still didn’t know what prompted her to act. She had never heard of a winged rabbit, so it was probably an endangered species and she couldn’t have extinction on her conscience. Her eyes went from the rabbit to the lynx and she froze. It had three eyes. Three red, angry eyes. And maybe it was because she was closer to it, but it seemed a lot bigger now. Panther big. Lily imposed herself between the ever-growing cat and the injured rabbit, wishing she still had her shield-backpack to maybe buy her thirty seconds more of life.“You are the one I’ve been looking for.”“Wha—“The voice was coming from inside her head, and despite the danger of her present situation it filled her with courage. A brilliant light erupted from the rabbit and she turned her head just in time to see it leap towards her. At the same time the enormous wildcat pounced at her. As the rabbit made contact she was enveloped by light and an invisible force erupted forth from her body and the wildcat was blasted away from her like a shot from a cannon.In her mind Lily saw a pink crystal star encapsulated by a green gem. She saw the star inside her own chest, in her heart, and felt power flow out from it and into her, transforming her. The light faded and Lily was left in the clearing. Her skirt and blouse had been transformed into low-cut tutu-like uniform with a bright purple blow emblazoned on her chest, with matching bows now tied into her hair. Her ballet flats had similarly been changed into knee-high boots, her knee socks had become pale pink thigh highs, and elbow-length frilly gloves had manifested on her arms. A weighty scepter with a pink star atop it was in her hand. But in all of this, the part of her outfit Lily noticed first was what had appeared between her legs: an impossibly large pink diaper, complete with bows and frills that matched the rest of her outfit. The padding was so thick that it descended to halfway down her thighs, and the frills of her new skirt did nothing to hide it. But she had no time to question the ensemble as an enraged yowl from across the clearing reminded her of her predicament. The wildcat pounced again, but this time she reacted faster—faster than she ever thought possible. Lily hopped aside and the three-eyed beast buried its claws into the tree roots in the spot she had stood a moment before. Moving on instinct more than anything else, she thrust her star scepter towards the beast and pink and green light erupted from it. The cat yowled again, but this time in pain as it was thrown into a tree trunk. It hit with a crack and it slumped to the forest floor.Lily stood her ground, not dropping her guard for a moment as she watched the cat’s furious red eyes. It blinked at her as it breathed slowly. Then its form began to change, the heavy black fur seeming to fade away into smoke. All that was left were the three glowing eyes, and then they were gone too. Lily sighed. Then she re-examined her new outfit. What the Hell was going on? And how was she supposed to get back to residence? *** Lily pinched the baby fat of her bicep. Ow. She pressed the bramble of a bush of fuchsia flowers against the inside of her thigh.Ow.She bit down on her tongue until tears welled in her eyes.Oooooooow.Okay. She was now reasonably certain she was not dreaming. Though the only other possibility was that she had lost her mind. Maybe the cat had pounced on her and was actually in the process of disemboweling her as it snapped her tiny neck and everything after the point of impact was an elaborate fantasy her mind had created to cope with the agony. Maybe she stepped on a hidden pressure plate on the forest floor that released a hallucinogenic gas that was developed by the government and she was actually rolling around on the forest floor tripping out like those kids in the DARE not to do drugs after school specials. Drugs seemed like the more likely option, because despite nearly dying a handful of minutes ago and being stuck in the most embarrassing outfit she could possibly imagine, she could not remember ever feeling better in her life.And oh yes, she was stuck. Once the shock of fighting (killing?) a wildcat the size of a small car faded, that was the first thing she tried. Everything was stuck in place, from the headband and ribbons, to the gloves and stockings, to the impossibly skimpy dress, to the diaper that hung almost to her knees. It wasn’t like any of it restricted her at all, beyond needing to waddle whenever she took a step. But the especially weird part of it was that even though she had next to no desire to go anywhere dressed this way. . . She also didn’t exactly have any desire to take it off. These clothes felt good. Safe. Like she was powerful.No amount of powerful-feeling ridiculous outfits were enough to give her any desire to stay in the woods once it got dark out. At night the University’s heavy metal club were known to go out into the forest to drink and blast music and those were the last group of people she wanted to run into. She squeezed her star scepter in both hands as if praying for courage and started in the direction of the campus. At least if she peed herself in fear she was properly equipped for it.Lily’s heart skipped a beat at the thought and she pushed it from her mind. There would be time to figure out whatever she was feeling once she was back in her room. Then maybe she could figure out how to change. Her first problem was making it to the safety of residence, which was located at roughly the opposite side of the campus.The walk to the edge of the forest was surprisingly quick. She had expected her padded predicament to slow her considerably, but the exaggerated sway of her hips didn’t appear to have any such effect. She even found herself smiling, and skipping once the underbrush thinned. The air had an enticingly sweet scent to it, probably from the fuchsia flower bushes coiled amongst the trees. Were they always there? For all of the time Lily had spent in the forest, she could not recall ever seeing them before. She considered stopping to examine them for a moment. . . Then glanced down at her frilly dress and bulging pink diaper and decided it was better to come back later. She was close enough to the edge of the forest that she had to be conscious of running into students sunning themselves between classes. She could make out the concrete of the STEM building through thinning trunks, and the forms of people moving. Classes must have just let out, which meant in a few minutes people would either be off to their next class or in the cafeteria for dinner. This was perfect. If she just waited for that to quiet down she could stealth her way clear across the quad and slip inside before anyone noticed her brightly-coloured ensemble. Just watch and wait. Watch and wait.Watch and wait.She blinked. As her eyes opened she realized how heavy her lids felt. Maybe waiting for a few more hours was a good thing. People less likely to see her in the dark. She could take a nap. The adrenaline was probably wearing off. Her body needed to rest and recover. Lily felt her body begin to sway gently. She could sit down. Just had to keep watching and waiting. Watching and waiting.Keeping her eyes forwards, she squatted down and let her padded rear touch down on a fallen log. She blinked again. Her head nodded forward once, twice, three times. One of the fuchsia flowers was between her boots. She hadn’t noticed it before just now, but it must have been there. Flowers don’t move on their own. Their vines don’t coil around your ankles and travel up your legs and—Lily leapt up from the log and to her amazement flew twenty feet vertically. She flailed her arms and legs in her surprise and managed to snag the branch of a yellow spruce. Lily hung there, one hand on the tree and the other gripping her scepter so hard it trembled. She looked below. The flower was still there, its vines coiled around the log and immobile.No waiting. She wanted out of these woods. Lily swayed her legs back and forth and on an upswing released the branch, sailing forward. She stuck the landing with only a slight stumble and transitioned into a nervous jog towards the edge of the woods. The moving forms through the trees had tapered off. Now was her best shot. As she approached the edge she picked up speed as much as she was willing with her waddle and bolted out onto campus. She made for the shadow of the STEM building and crouched low the way she did when she was playing hide-and-seek tag as a child. If someone looked out the window of one of the nearby buildings for more than a moment they would certainly see her, so she kept moving. She hugged the corner as she rounded it and the campus quad lay before her. It was empty, which is better than she possibly could have hoped. Taking a deep breath she broke out in a sprint diagonally across the field, aiming her trajectory so that the fountain in the centre could shield her from the greatest possible number of windows. As long as no one saw her face, no one would have any reason to suspect her. She passed the fountain, and the glass library, and the English and the art buildings. She crossed the road separating them from the residence and used the enormous and ancient trees that dotted the grass as cover as she skirted past the cafeteria. She could hear people nearby, possibly arriving late or finishing early or just wandering amongst the maze-like grey residence buildings, but it didn’t matter because she was almost home-free. She could see the door to her building, and she forced herself to contain a squeal of delight. She reached out to pull the door open and—She didn’t have her key. She froze on the spot, petrified by the realization. Her key had been in her backpack. Her backpack was still in the clearing, if it was intact at all. Lily had made it all this way only to be locked out. The voices were getting closer. Her legs trembled. Her throat felt tight, like she was on the verge of tears. Her reputation on campus was about to go from lazy smartass to diaper girl.The front door opened under someone else’s power. Annie stood in the threshold, one arm leaning against the metal from and the other propping the door open. She looked Lily up and down and raised an eyebrow.“So I see you finally found your Catalyst. Come on, get in here before anyone sees you.” She stepped back to allow Lily in.What? *** Lily had never been so happy to see her shitty cramped residence room. The hallways and stairwells leading up to their room had been mercifully empty, and Annie had not so much as snickered at her predicament before whisking her in.Lily dove straight for the covers of her bed and rolled herself into a comfortable little burrito. For a moment she hoped that she could forget that she was trapped in an enormous pink diaper, though that did not end up being the case. Annie locked their door and then went to sit next to Lily. She placed a comforting arm around her friend and began to stroke Lily’s cheek. Lily flinched, but then allowed it to happen. She realized that she had been running on adrenaline and not much else since the fight in the woods, and now she was too exhausted to even stand. She opened her mouth to speak but the words felt like mush.“Hush now, baby. Er, sorry,” Annie said, then shook her head with a chuckle. “I can only answer a few of your questions, but I will help however I can.”Confusion prodded at Lily’s mind, but she nodded and waited for Annie to continue.“Okay. The short version is that you are a magical girl.”“What. You mean like Sailor Moon?” “Yes! Sort of. These powers work differently, and there isn’t some team uniform.” “How do you know any of this?”“Well, because I’m one too.” Annie half-smiled and tilted her head to one side.Lily’s brow furrowed and she looked from Annie’s face to her waist.“Wah— No, I don’t have a diaper when I transform. That’s just you, at least I think it is.”“Well why do I look like an enormous child then!” Frustration tinged Lily’s voice.“Calm down, it’s okay,” Annie stroked Lily’s cheek. Lily’s eyes were still wet with tears on the verge of falling. “Okay. There are a few of us all over the world, at least as far as we can tell. We all have different powers and costumes, and generally we’re pretty spread out but occasionally we team up. As near as we have figured out, all of our powers were awakened when we came in contact with an unnatural animal.”“Unnatural like a dragon?”“For one of us, yeah. Mine was a snake with ram horns.” Annie used her hands to mimic curled horns on the side of her head for descriptive effect. “What was yours?”“A—A bunny. With wings.”“I’ll add that to our google doc.”“There’s a google doc? You started all of this organization stuff, didn’t you.”Annie suppressed a blush. “Maybe. We needed to organize to maximize our effectiveness! None of us even know what we’re fighting, just monsters that seem to prey on humans. Someone needs to start piecing it together so we can start to win.”“Alright, alright fine. But why can’t I change back? And, not to sound like a broken record, why am I wearing a diaper?”Annie sighed and took Lily’s hands in hers. “You can't change back because you didn't kill whatever you were fighting.”“The Hell I didn’t! I knocked that giant pussycat against a tree and it didn’t get up!”“Did it fade away like smoke?”“Yeah.”“Yeah. You didn’t kill it. You have to deliver a finishing blow. It’s still in the area, and it’s going to prey on the vulnerable to regain its power.”A cold shiver ran down Lily’s spine. It was still out there. “I have to go stop it.”Now Annie laughed. “No, you need to stay here and rest. You’re weak from your transformation and you don’t know how to use your power yet. I’m going to go finish it off.”Lily opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. Annie made sense. She knew how this stuff worked, so it was better to leave it to her.“Good. As for why you’re wearing a diaper: when we all came into contact with our animal, our Catalyst, they didn’t give us these powers. They just unlocked our potential. As near as we can figure, that’s why we all look different.”“So that means—““—that your potential is related to your youth or innocence or—““—or I’m a giant baby.”The girls let silence hang over them. Annie hugged her friend in what she hoped was comforting. For Lily it was impossible for it not to come off as being babied.Annie stood up. “Look, I’m going to go track down the monster. We’re going to get you turned back, and then we’re going to figure this out. Whatever is going on here, you aren’t alone, Lily. You’re part of a team now.” She offered a smile, then folded her hands over her breasts and closed her eyes. Green light enveloped her in a flash. When it cleared her tank top and short shorts had been replaced by a green bodysuit that looked like it had the same texture as a lizard’s scales. The suit completely covered her chest and neck, and formed a cowl with a set of horns that pushed back her red hair. She had thigh-high heeled boots, elbow-length gloves, and a domino mask. On her hip were a set of twin curved short swords.Lily was simultaneously in awe and painfully jealous. Annie looked like she had stepped straight out of a comic book. She was right, Lily would be no help in hunting down that monster. Annie shot her a wink and skipped to their window, pushing it open with one hand. “We’ll get you fixed up in no time, sweetie. Get some rest, I’ll grab you something to eat on my way back.” And with that she slid out into the night.Lily curled up on her mattress, still cocooned in her sheets. Sleep was a good idea. Just stay here and rest until Annie gets back. Just rest. Just rest. Just rest. On some level Lily became aware that the voice telling her to rest was not her own. In fact, it was the same one she had heard at the edge of the forest. She made to sit up but couldn’t. She couldn’t move anything. Panic began to set in and she tried to struggle, but something had coiled around her body and restricted her movements. She could feel it writhing around her arms and legs, beneath her dress and in her diaper.“Wha—“One of the magenta flowers from the woods came into view in front of her. How had it followed her? Did it stow away? The flower took up her entire field of vision, and the centre of it began to ripple like a mirage. Lily tried to turn away but it followed her every move, and the longer she looked at it the less she wanted to fight it. Everything was fine. No need to scream. This was fine. Just sleep. *** Despite the situation, Annie couldn’t stop herself from smiling. The evening air was growing colder and bit softly at her exposed cheeks as she descended from their shared window. She landed on one knee, then leapt with extraordinary power and grace back into the air. She had orchestrated being Lily’s roommate when her serpent eyes identified the magical potential she held. Annie had been piecing together documents on these Magical Girls since her own awakening and had done her best to establish a support network. She also took it upon herself to ensure potential candidates had a guardian until they found their Catalyst, and these measures had both helped their numbers to swell and kept young girls safe from the corruptive power of their enemies (whoever they were).Annie made contact with the side of one of the residence buildings and immediately bounced off, then ricocheted again and again from building to building. It was still light enough that she had to be quick and quiet, and stick to the periphery of people’s vision as she hunted to the creature. Lily’s reaction, to go with her and help hunt, was an admirable one. But she was tired, exhausted, and had only just acquired her new powers, to say nothing of her unorthodox outfit. Annie didn’t have time to babysit tonight.She gripped the edge of the campus observatory’s domed roof and vaulted onto it; it was the highest point that gave her a clear view of the surrounding area, and a clear view was what she needed to hunt. Annie closed her eyes and focused on the power deep within her. It was coiled around her heart, binding her while protecting her. It was a snake constricting her so tightly that it was impossible to discern where one began and the other ended. The snake opened its eyes and so did Annie, and now they saw the world as one predator. Colours of mundane objects, of buildings and students, were a muted grey. The tainted trail of the creature that Lily had fought was magnified to an unnatural vibrancy. Annie looked towards the woods, to where the cat had entered the campus and to the clearing where Lily had fought it. The trail had a brilliant green aura to it that shone through the trees. There was another glowing colour too, but this one seemed to be spread at random throughout the forest; pink lines woven throughout the underbrush like a hastily-woven web. Annie squinted and her view magnified and zoomed in on one of the neon pink strands. They looked like . . . Vines? With bulbs or flowers. Were they a new weapon? Annie had never seen them before. She would have to examine them more closely after the hunt, and inform the others to beware of strange plant life. A flash of green at the far end of the woods caught her eye. The creature must have reformed, and it was moving fast around the outer edge of campus. Annie took a running leap off the rooftop and aimed to intercept the beast if it stayed on its current trajectory. It was dark enough now that she didn’t need to do this quiet anymore, but the beasts were more powerful at night. She had to stop this now, before it found a staff member or student to feed on.She landed on the ground a dozen stories below in a forward roll and immediately transitioned into sprinting, her heels clicking on the pavement in such rapid succession that any casual observer would see a blur of green and red and hear a constant, steady noise. In the span of a blink she was in the woods, and in the span of another she had closed in on the panther-like creature. Annie drew her blades and wove through the trees to come in low from its flank. With one blade in a fore grip, she jabbed it between the beast’s ribs with enough force to take its paws off the forest floor. Then in a smooth spin she flipped the other blade into a reverse grip and aimed a vertical cut at its meaty neck. The speed of her attack, combined with the speed she had been travelling, was more than enough to part the beast’s head from its shoulders. There were a pair of thuds, one light and the other much heavier as its now two parts landed several yards away, in the direction it had been running. Annie alternated spinning her knives in each hand as she strode over to the beast’s three-eyed head. It still snarled at her despite what would have been a lethal wound to any normal animal. With clinical precision, Annie sunk the tip of her knife into its third eye. It shrieked as rays of light erupted from every orifice and it imploded in the spot. Annie checked over her shoulder just in time to see the beast’s body fade out as if it were sketch being erased by a frustrated artist. That was easier than she had expected. She turned and walked in the direction of vines she had seen before. At this rate she would be finished here before Lily even woke up. *** Lily felt like she was floating. Everything was heavy, as if her perceptions were moving through water. Warm fluid swaddled her, filled her nostrils and covered her eyes. It embraced her inside and out. She didn’t know how she got here, or even where “here” was for that matter. She could see, but she could only see nothingness. Deep down part of her knew this wasn’t real, or it was but that she was really still in her dorm room. Whatever this place was, it was very real, just not in the way her bed or the campus or the trees or Annie were. Annie had gone somewhere. Would she be able to find Lily? Was Lily findable? She became aware of a ripple passing through the fluid that suspended her. The fluid reoriented her in the direction of the source. Something formless, like the void that surrounded her while simultaneously being much deeper. The formlessness shifted almost imperceptibly, then it began to move. It accelerated faster and faster; Lily could feel the velocity tearing at her, and yet she also didn’t move. She screamed but there was no sound, or maybe there was a cacophony all around her and it all became the same thing as the pressure grew to be unbearable—Light burst forth from her chest and formed a field around her. Lily could see colour, and the weight all around her receded. The void rumbled again like angry thunder and then it too was gone and Lily was lying in her bed.The vines of the magenta flower still bound her tightly, and its petals formed a tight mask around her face. She screamed and an omni-direction energy blast burst forth from her, forcibly stretching the vines and the flower squealed like a wounded animal. It released her and slithered away from the bed like a cephalopod on the ocean floor. Lily threw back her blanket. Her Star Scepter appeared in her hand and she fired a series of blasts, but the flower skittered them. It seemed to flatten itself out and slip through an air vent.Lily sat on the edge of her bed, stock-still and arm still outstretched. Slowly, she forced herself to take deep breaths. Her heartrate slowed. It was gone. Maybe she wasn’t safe (she was still transformed afterall), but she was safe-er. It was dark out her window. How long had that thing had her trapped? Annie should have been back by now, right?Annie had gone out to hunt the creature she had failed to kill. The last time Lily had seen the creature was in the woods. The woods were full of those flowers. Annie might not know about them, or if she did she didn’t mention. If they trapped her out there then she could be in serious trouble.Lily gripped her knee until her knuckles trembled, then stood up. She examined her outfit: elbow length gloves and stockings, uncomfortably short and low-cut baby-dress, ribbons and ruffles all over, and a comically large diaper that she could not hope to conceal. Annie carried herself like someone who knew what she was doing—heck, apparently she was the most organized Magical Girl on the planet! She probably knew all about the flowers. And if she already knew about them then Lily would being risking social suicide for nothing. She closed her eyes, then walked out into the hallway. Her best bet was to start where she had last seen the creature. *** With the exception of a handful of late-night study groups and some intoxicated individuals near the campus pub, the campus was relatively deserted. Lily considered that one of her first real turns of good fortune all day. Though, she supposed the ease with which she was able to move in her transformed state could also be counted as lucky. If you had told her yesterday that she would be faster and more poised than ever before while wearing high heels and an impossibly thick diaper she probably would have laughed politely, then backed away slowly and made a note to avoid you in the future. Then again, she wouldn’t have believed very much about what had happened to her today. In fact the only thing that made a strange amount of sense was that Anna was a superhero. Something about the way she had carried herself in the brief time that Lily knew her just had a certain nobility, righteousness even in the mundane. Anna’s fastidiousness and reliability was such that Lily was already second guessing going after her roommate at all. She had not even left the shadow of her residence building, and truthfully was huddled behind one of the exterior bushes. Even if Anna didn’t know about the flower, surely she could handle it. She seemed beyond ready to handle the beast that had nearly killed Lily in a straight fight, and while the flower had posed a threat when Lily was asleep it didn’t seem particularly dangerous once she awoke. Though, the feeling of the vines crawling all over her, of the flower’s hypnotic stare—Lily shivered and shifted her weight from foot to foot. No, she couldn’t let her fear control her, whether it was fear of being attacked or fear of being seen. Anna wasn’t the only superhero now, and it was time for Lily to do her part. She inhaled deeply, held her breath, and exhaled. Then she tensed her legs and leapt forward with all her strength, flying several stories up and into the air. Her breath caught in her lungs for a moment in surprise at her own strength, but there was no time for that now, since she still had to stick the landing. Her toe set down ever so lightly on the lawn and she kicked off again, into the air and covering ground faster than she could have ever imagined. She held her breath for an instant as she saw she would land within eyesight of a group of drunk college bros out for air and she fought to keep the redness from her face. She leapt again, and if any of them had seen her she was gone before she heard the reaction.In a fraction of the time that her absolutely terrifying run home in the afternoon had taken she reached the edge of the woods and was barely even winded, though the next problem quickly became apparent: she could not see in the dark. But she wasn’t worried now, as if something brave and sure deep within her knew what to do. Not really knowing what she was doing, Lily raised her wand up like a torch and a soft pink light emanated forth from its star and as the light washed over her she became absolutely sure that she had chosen correctly. She started off in the direction that she had seen the flowers in earlier that day, trusting the light of her scepter to guide her. And it wasn’t long before she found exactly what she had been worried of: a tightly wound mass of green vines and pink flower, approximately the size of a person. The curved knives Anna had carried lay nearby in the underbrush, forgotten and evidently useless.“Anna—“ Lily cried out and started forward, but her voice and momentum died as quickly as they began as she found those same vines tangle her ankles and wrap around her mouth. One of the flower slithered over her shoulder, and trembled as if in satisfaction. Had the one from the residence building hitched a ride on her? Her cry was muffled, and she struggled in vain as it reasserted it’s earlier control over her, it’s hypnotic center taking up her entire field of view. She felt the inky void calling out for her, comforting. It missed her and wanted her back. Someone in it wanted her back.She wouldn’t go so easily. An omni-directional wave of magical energy burst forth from her chest and ripped the flower away with a piteous squeal. Lily scrambled upright leveled her scepter at the flower nearest where Anna’s face would be and fired. The kinetic blast ripped it away from the mass of vines and revealed Anna’s still-dazed face. Momentarily surprised at the effectiveness of own attack, Lily continued with a flurry of at the heads of the various flowers trapping her friend.“Anna!”Lily’s roommate blinked at the sound of her own name and seemed to come to, quickly tearing the weakened vines away before retrieving her blades. She dashed towards Lily and the two stood back to back.“I told you to wait in the room.”“Bet you’re glad that I didn’t.”“My ass and I are both very grateful for your poor listening skills, but perhaps we can continue this later.” The flowers, though still injured form Lily’s assault, had abandoned any semblance of camouflage and now moved like enormous knotted spiders to surround the two. “I’m not in great shape right now, so I don’t suppose you have a plan?”“More of a hunch.” Lily seized Anna around the hips with one arm, aimed her scepter towards the ground, and fired. The blast lifted both women into the air like a rocket, launching them clear of the trees just as the flowers were about to close in. She angled the stream of energy to carry them away from the forest and back to the relative safety of the campus. They landed in a twisted heap of limbs, sore but safe.As the two extricated themselves from around each other, Lily helped Anna to her feet. “So I think I need to know a little more about this whole magical girl thing.” *** The two exhausted magical girls made their way back across campus, hopefully for the final time that day. Lily still carried a fragment of her earlier anxiety at being seen, but it was much diminished. Perhaps it was because of the terrifying battles with an eldritch blackness on another plane of existence she had experienced twice now today, but she suspected that having her arm around Annie was also a big factor. Something about her friend being there was comforting. Even if her friend seemed the worse for wear.Annie’s eyes were distant, unfocused. The speed and power with which she had moved earlier that night was also diminished. She barely focused on where they were going, instead letting Lily lead her. How could she have let herself be captured so easily? She knew how to fight these monsters and how to smell a trap. How did flowers get the drop on her? And why could she not shake this feeling; it was like the vines were still present, still tangled around her limbs. She felt some weighty darkness pulling at her, something that she had never known before and yet that felt uncomfortably familiar. The night air gave her a sense of unease that she simply could not shake.Despite their physical state, they made it home together without incident. This time Lily was especially cautious of being followed, as she was not about to let the same flower trap her as easily again. Back in the safety of their room, they slumped to the floor, leaning against each other for support in the process. Lily still gripped her scepter so tightly that her knuckles trembled, but the fight was over. At least for now.“Annie. Annie,” Lily stroked her roommate’s hand gently.“Mmm.”“Annie.”“I’m okay, I’m here.”“What is going on?” Lily placed special emphasis on each word, letting their significance impress itself.“We’re magical girls—““Not that part, I got that.” She gestured at the way the two of them were dressed, from Annie’s latex-like catsuit and horned cowl, to Lily’s enormous pink diaper and uncomfortably short dress. “What were those things? Where did they take us?”Annie blinked slowly as if she did not understand the question.“Annie. . . You felt it, right? When the flower trapped me it. . . Brought me somewhere. I felt something.”Annie said nothing.“I’m not crazy, right? That happened, right?” The agitation in her voice was audible.Annie still said nothing.Lily put her hands on her friend’s shoulders and turned her so that their eyes met. “Annie!”Annie gripped Lily’s wrists firmly. “I’m here.”Lily recoiled slightly, but allowed herself a slight smirk as she felt her friend returning."So?”“I don’t know what that was. I don’t remember.” She shifted into a more comfortable sitting position. “Each one of us have different strengths and weaknesses. If whatever those things did was magical— I’m highly vulnerable to magic attacks. I think if you were able to break out it means that—““—It means that I’m not.”“Right. Which means you could be the best person for fighting whatever that thing you sensed was.”The bottom of Lily’s stomach fell out and the emptiness in her gut chilled her. How could she possibly face that thing again? Annie stroked her friend’s cheek as she had earlier that night. “Don’t worry, hun. That doesn’t mean you have to do it alone. You’re part of a team now.”Lily could feel her friend’s words. They warmed her heart, and the complicated font of emotions within her caused her to tear up. “Okay. One more question?”Annie wiped the tears from Lily’s face with her finger. “Yeah?”“How do we change back?” *** Lily yawned and stretched her arms above her. She blinked groggily and grunted as she felt the stiffness in her neck. Why was she sitting up? She had fallen asleep in front of their bedroom door, in the same place that she and Annie had slumped over yesterday when—Holy shit was it real?“Annie!” Her voice came out in a sleepy rasp. She sprung to her feet and immediately regretted it as the stiffness in her neck blossomed into a cramp.“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Annie called over from the far side of the room. She was seated at her desk across the room with her computer open. Two mugs, one shaped as Winnie the Pooh and the other with a My Little Pony logo on it sat next her, steam coiling off of them. “Coffee?” Lily took one of the two mugs and sipped from it—strong black coffee—and let her eyes linger on Annie for a moment longer than usual. The green catsuit was gone. She was dressed in her pajama pants and a white t-shirt, the set she wore every Thursday night. She checked herself too. She was wearing the enormous pink sweatshirt that she slept in every night. Most importantly was what she was not wearing: a diaper. She opened her mouth to vocalize the thought perched on her tongue.“So—““Yes. Yes it’s real. Everything. The monster, the flowers, the bunny, the magic. . .”“The costume?”“The costume.”Lily sighed and leaned against the desk as she gripped the mug in both hands to leach off its warmth. She felt Annie grasp her thigh reassuringly.“I know this seems like a lot right now. I mean, it is a lot.” Annie jiggled the high-end mouse hooked up to her computer to bring the screen to life and opened a file titled ‘Crystal Magic.’ “I’ve seen several first transformations, and it’s never easy. Lord knows mine wasn’t.”“What, did you used to have a giant diaper too?” Lily spat the words. She knew she would regret the venom behind them later. But while she was glad to have her friend here for this, there was a very small, very nasty part of her that resented her roommate.Annie tilted her head in recognition of Lily’s point. “No, that was a first for me.”“Oh good, I’m special.”“But you are special,” she said as she grasped Lily’s hand. “Each of us is. We all went through our own struggle when we met our Catalyst. You remember how fast I can more, right?”Lily paused. “Yeah,” she said sulkily.“The first time I changed, I couldn’t control it. I was completely disjointed from space and time as you recognize it. It was—Invigorating, to say the least.” Annie’s eyes took on a far-off look, one that equally reflected fascination and pain.“Oh. . . How long did that last?”“Three days.” She put special emphasis on each syllable. The two girls let the weight of the words fill the room for a time. Lily tried to imagine her own experience lasting that long. The terror at every new predicament, but also at the power that filled her up unlike anything else she had ever known. “I’m sorry.” Lily looked Annie in the eye for the first time since the night before. “I didn’t know. I’m just—““Scared?”Lily sighed. “Yeah. I’m scared. Not even just the monsters and the plants and whatever that. . . Blackness was. I’m scared about what this means for me. What does this say about me?”Annie smirked. “It means you’re a hero. Anything else is just a side dish.” She then opened a blank document with shocking speed and formatted its margins with minute precision. She titled it ‘Lily Celeste,” and her fingers flashed across the keyboard as she filled it in. “We’ll have to think of codename for you soon. Hey, you don’t have any classes today, right?”“Yeeeah, why?”“Because you have class now.” Annie drained her still-hot coffee in a series of gulps, wiped her mouth, and got to her feet. “Get dressed.” She paused. “And don’t wear anything you like.” *** Lily shivered in the dawn chill. She wrapped her hoody more tightly around herself and leaned against the wall next to the front door of their building, just on the edge of where the light fell. The hoody was two sizes too big, a “boyfriend hoody” according to some, but she didn’t feel right calling it that as she had never actually had one (a boyfriend, that is), not unless you counted high school mistakes that ended before they even began. She hoped that it and the two pairs of leggings she had layered would be enough. Training meant physical activity after all, and that meant they would be moving around. Probably. The expired packet of instant oatmeal she had foraged from the common room sat like a brick in her stomach. Maybe the sad, grey paste could have been appetizing if she had more than a shoddy microwave and tap water available to prepare it, but she did not and thus it was quite bad. Lily already regretted eating it at all. But the cafeteria wasn’t open this early, and neither she nor Annie had been to get groceries for the past few days. She had meant to after Math class, on the day when her whole world went crazy and she fought hypno hydrangeas and a fairytale monster while wearing a giant pink diaper. Ever since all that she hadn’t felt much like going outside. Not alone at the very least.Lily examined her own body. She ran a hand across her thigh. It was the same thigh it had been last week, the same as it had been for as long as she could remember. And yet not the same. It felt different. Her whole body felt did.At that moment Annie bounced down the stairs, a duffle bag slung over one shoulder.“Ready to go?”Lily dropped her hand with a start and did her best to make it look like she had not just been feeling herself up. “Yup, so ready. Just lead the way. I am very, very ready.”Annie gave her a look somewhere between maternal care and condescension. She held out her hand as if she wanted Lily to take it, which she did. Then with a flourish of her other hand Annie summoned one of the two curved blades Lily had seen her use before. There was a blur of motion and light and the air itself opened into a narrow slit, like Annie had made a gash in space itself and the guts of the universe were about to be laid bare. Annie winked at Lily then stepped through, pulling Lily with her.Lily was a petrified by panic and wonder and she was certain that for a moment her heart stopped and the breath froze in her lungs and then the apartment was gone and Lily was standing next to Annie, still clutching her roommate’s hand and standing in a meadow that she had never seen before.Annie tossed the blade and it did a neat spin in the air before vanishing. She coughed once and glanced at their still-clasped hands.“Do you mind?”Lily released her death-grip and the motion broke her form her stupor. “What just happened!”“We warped,” Annie said as she set about unpacking her duffle bag. She extracted a stack of clay disks and a small pneumatic device with a slit on one side and a plastic cylinder on top that looked roughly the same diameter as the discs. “Well warp, teleport, instant transmission, whatever term you like really. Most of us have some ability that serves a similar purpose, but it kind of varies depending on the specific powers.”Through the haze of the day of her first transformation Lily remembered Annie mentioning others. She wondered for a moment where they were and when she would meet any them.“But we can talk about my powers later. Right now we’re going to focus on yours.” Annie loaded the disks into the cylinder and clicked a switch on its side. The device breathed to life. “Let’s see how your aim is.” She pulled a remote control from her pocket and clicked a button on it. The device revved and one of the clay disks shot out up into the air—And kept going off into the horizon.Annie glanced at Lily from the corner of her eye. “You were supposed to shoot it.”“Shoot it with what? I don’t even know how to transform.”“Ah! That’s an excellent point. Okay. We should go over some basics.” Annie pulled out a well-loved notebook with the words ‘CM BASICS’ written on it in careful calligraphy. She opened it to a page and held the book up to Lily. There were a series of graphs and numbers, some of which she could recognize from sight but others so complicated that even trying to process them made her head hurt. “Don’t worry, we’re gonna go slowly,” Annie said. She pointed to the first graph, one that Lily could understand. It was a scatterplot. “This graph represents a hypothetical two dimensional reality. Those two dimensions are the two axes of the graph,” Annie said, indicating it with her finger. She pointed to the one next to it. “And this one represents our three dimensional reality. It has a third axis, so the same data we had represented on the previous graph is going to look different by virtue of adding that in.” Sure enough, upon closer inspection the two graphs did contain the same information. The new metric of measurement took the handful of datapoints and cast them adrift from what had been their point of origin.Annie pointed at the final graph, the one that made Lily’s brain hurt to look at. “And this graph represents a reality that has four dimensions. It changes that same data even more, so that it is virtually unrecognizable from before.” Lily tried yet again just to process the thing she was looking at, but looking at it longer brought the graph from merely painful to totally confounding. She couldn’t even imagine a way to sensibly present it in three dimensional space.Lily closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples. “Okay, I guess I’m following you. But I don’t see what this has to do with me.”“Well, you remember how I called that animal you touched your Catalyst? It created a reaction in you with components that already existed, and it was specific to you. As far as I know, the catalyst of one magical girl could not activate another. The one thing that we all have in common, though, is that we all appear to be pieces of a fourth dimensional reality.” Annie paused to let her words sink in. “Your Catalyst reintroduced your fourth axis. From the moment you touched it you have been transformed, changed into your true form. Even right now you are transformed.”Lily blinked several times, then looked down at her body in confusion. Same hoody and leggings she remembered putting on this morning.Annie rubbed her chin with one hand. “I’ll try to break this down even more. You know those shows like Power Rangers or Sailor Moon where they have a transformation sequence every episode?”Lily nodded.“We don’t have that. Our physical form just changes when we use our powers. And when we don’t use them we appear, at least to most people, as we would in this three dimensional reality. We appear the same way we did before we changed.”“I still don’t really get it,” Lily said deliberately. “But I think I get the important part? There’s no ‘Morphin Time.’”“Yes.”“But how do we turn back?” Lily paused for a beat. “Well not turn back but you know.” She gestured around her hips.“The short and horribly unhelpful answer is practice,” Annie said with a shrug. “You just have to figure out what works for you.”Lily sighed in frustration. “Alright, fine. But this all seems pretty. . . High-concept for basics.”“Ah,” Annie stammered. She blushed and looked intently at a spot on the ground. “I don’t get many chances to share my theories with anyone. I guess I just got excited.”Lily stared at her for a long, unbroken second. Then she burst out laughing, so hard that tears formed in her eyes and her abs ached, so hard that she felt like she might pee, which honestly would be the perfect thing to happen since apparently she was a big old magical baby at heart. This was the first moment in the entire time she had known Annie that the veneer of fastidious perfection slipped. Annie was just as confused and alone as Lily was. And at some point Annie started laughing too, until the two girls were exhausted, sweating, and slumped against each other on the dry grass. The two sat in silence, enjoying the emotional release of everything they had both been through over the past few days. Lily looked out into the sky, and the smile that lingered on her lips began to fade slightly.“So if I’m understanding your theory,” Lily said. “I’m always transformed. But when I use my powers that becomes, uh, apparent.”Annie nodded vigorously, pleased that Lily had followed her explanation.“So I’m actually always wearing a diaper.”Annie stopped nodding and squeezed her eyes shut as if Lily had just hit on something she hoped would go unnoticed. “Yeah. According to my theory, at least. That is your true form, or at least as close to your true for as can be conveyed in three dimensional space.”Lily felt around her hips again, searching for any sign of the padding. “Are you okay?” Annie asked hesitantly.“Yeah. Honestly the part that scares me is how okay with it I am. It’s like, I never would have described myself as being uncomfortable in my skin before. But then I experienced that change and I can’t imagine wanting to go back to how I was.”Annie’s eyes sparkled. “I felt the same way about my change.”“I mean obviously it’s still going to take some getting used to but. . . I think I can do this.”“Yeah,” Annie said, squeezing Lily’s hand in her own. “I’m pretty sure you can.”Pieces of another reality. Lily had always felt like she didn’t really fit in, like she was one small fragment of a mosaic that was not meant to be, a piece of coloured glass whose hue and texture clashed with those that surrounded it. But she had decided long ago everyone probably felt that way, that disillusionment was standard. It was the only way she had found to survive. But now, apparently, there really was more to that feeling. She belonged to a space and a time and an existence beyond the one she had always known and that thought filled her with equal parts warmth and sheer terror. And that terror caused a thought to percolate in her.“So those monsters from before,” she said. “They must be from the same reality as we are.”Bewilderment crossed Annie’s face. “I suppose it’s possible. I haven’t had the chance to study them.”“Wait, you mean you didn’t immediately catch one and dissect it?” Lily nudged her in the ribs.“I guess I got caught up in the whole ‘fight evil’ thing. I mean it’s not every day you find out you’re a superhero.”“Okay, well. When I started walking through the woods, I didn’t see any of those flowers. Maybe I’m just kinda dumb—don’t say anything—but if we go by your theory—““—Then you only started seeing them when they became apparent in this reality,” Annie’s eyes lit up. “Lily you’re brilliant. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. If we’re pieces of another reality then it stands to reason that there could be other pieces too.”“If we can figure out what they’re doing and why they’re here—““—then we can figure out where all of this is coming from. Including us.” Annie looked ready to explode from pure elation. She sprung to her feet and offered a hand to help Lily up. “But first we’re going to get some use out of this launcher. Do you have any idea how upset the phys. Ed. Department gets when I take this thing?”“Annie—you stole it?” Lily’s brow knit together and her mouth gaped, the face of someone who had never stolen anything since she had been punished in elementary school for taking Macey Johnson’s eraser because it was shaped like an ice cream cone. Annie raised an eyebrow at her.“What? Did you think they were going to let me sign it out for magical girl practice?” ***