Madoka stared at the pink soul gem in her hands. Her soul gem. Which… wasn't supposed to exist anymore, but this was hardly the weirdest thing she'd experienced today. She'd checked a mirror; pink eyes and short hair. She was mortal again, stripped of divinity for the second time in the span of a month.
Wow, she was really bad at this.
The former goddess had cried her eyes out until she literally couldn't anymore, and now mostly existed in a state of "wanting to curl up into oblivion." At some point Bren's wife (Aia, was it?) had come by with some bread, and despite her protestations that she wasn't hungry, one bite had confirmed the exact opposite.
Mami hadn't left her side for a moment, doing her best to keep her spirits up and generally fill her in on what had happened in the solid day(!) she'd been out cold, and Madoka was so very glad she was around because she wasn't sure what she'd do if she was alone right now.
Madoka banished that particular train of thought.
The bigger issue right now was Sayaka. The other girl hadn't woken up at all, and her soul gem currently resting on the end table was filled with indescribable colors courtesy of Homura. Fears of witch-hood quickly abated when it was clear nothing was going to happen, and Madoka wasn't even sure if it was possible to become a witch a second time. Or rather… if it was possible to become a witch after she would-have-been-but-didn't-because-she-was-added-to-The Law of Cycles. Or…
Eugh, Madoka's head hurt, and the nature of Homura's ascension only made the question even more confusing. Homura had somehow done something Madoka hadn't even been aware was possible, and she hadn't really had any time to puzzle it out, considering she'd "known" devil(?) Homura for a grand total of about five minutes, and most of that had been spent locked in combat.
… Devil Homura? Eh. She'd leave the clever nicknames to someone more capable than herself. Besides, thinking about her that way pained Madoka. Homura wasn't evil, despite what she'd said. Or done…ish. Mostly. She glanced back at Sayaka.
… Crud.
Madoka felt dumb. She'd once been a timeless infinite being, able to reach her consciousness across the cosmos at will. Now everything felt restricted and fuzzy. Even her memories of the experience felt distant and disjointed, like a half-remembered dream, as if she was trying to grasp something beyond her comprehension.
"… Do you think she's going to be alright?" Madoka asked Mami mournfully, looking over at Sayaka's sleeping form. She certainly didn't look well; her eye bags and gaunt appearance revealed the other girl's suffering in a way her otherwise peaceful sleep did not.
Mami shook her head, "I don't know. I want to say her gem looks a little less dark than it did yesterday, but I can't be sure. I wish I had some grief cubes to give her." Nothing the apothecary had on hand had worked, not that either of them had expected it to. Sayaka wasn't suffering a physical ailment; whatever Homura had done to her had been directed at her soul. Madoka had tried to take the burden off Sayaka of course, but it seemed she didn't possess any of her old powers. She just… wasn't the Law of Cycles anymore. At all.
Madoka sighed with bewilderment and abject sorrow as she brushed a lock of Sayaka's hair out of the girl's face with her hand, "… Homura, what have you done?"
Holding her own soul gem, Mami again attempted a simple spell.
Nothing.
"Still can't cast anything?" Madoka asked her.
"No. I don't know if it's going to come back." The situation reminded Mami of a conversation she'd once had with Kyoko when the latter had been reflecting on her lost illusion magic, and Mami wondered if this felt anything like that or if she was just completely off-base. Certainly, she hadn't rejected her wish, and even then it had only cost Kyoko part of her abilities.
Neither Mami or Madoka had been able to do so much as transform or do anything beyond switch their gems between ring and gem form, which only furthered Madoka's endless questions; why bother giving her back a soul gem if her magic was going to be useless? Why was her magic useless? None of this added up.
Needless to say, none of this was doing any favors for Madoka's already terrible mental state.
"… This is all my fault," she whispered to herself, staring at the floor.
Well, she couldn't say dad hadn't told her so. Hell sucked.
Kyoko and Nagisa trudged through the barren ashy wilderness, both freezing. Magic hadn't helped; despite both still having their soul gems neither had been able to even transform, much less will any discomfort away. For better or worse, with the exception of increased durability and strength, it was like they were completely human once again… except still stuck with the downside of their souls being housed in tiny rocks.
"Where are we going?" Nagisa asked the older girl.
Kyoko shrugged noncommittally, "Dunno. Somewhere with shelter. Maybe there's a cave somewhere nearby."
"What are we going to do?"
"Suffer mostly."
"Kyoko—"
"WHAT?" the redhead snapped at the younger girl in barely contained agitation, spinning around on her heels to glare at her. Her anger instantly died however, when she saw the expression of forlorn fear on Nagisa's face. She sighed, calming herself down as she brushed her hand through her hair, "I'm sorry, you don't deserve that. Look, I don't know. I don't know where we're going or what we're going to do," she lowered herself to Nagisa's level and put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder, "But we'll watch each others' back, okay? We'll get through this."
Kyoko wasn't sure if she was telling the truth on that last bit, but that wasn't something Nagisa needed to know. The younger girl mustered up some determination at Kyoko's words, taking a deep breath and letting some of her anxiety out.
And that was when they heard a noise, sticks breaking. Both immediately switched to alert mode, even more-so now that they didn't have any weapons or powers. Boy, did Kyoko feel naked without her spear, or even a box of pocky.
Something vaguely insectoid stepped out from behind some bushes, about the size of a large dog and brown in color. It was almost like an oversized cricket crossed with a spider, but way more dangerous looking. Also it was really pissed off.
"… And this is doing absolutely nothing for my arachnophobia." Kyoko deadpanned as she picked a stick up off the ground. More noises followed—three more bug creatures stepped into the clearing. "Shit."
"What do we do?!" Nagisa asked fearfully as she backed up against Kyoko. The latter threw her stick at the nearest bug, which caught it in its jaws and snapped it like… well, like a twig. Kyoko's eyes widened.
"…Run!" she called to Nagisa, grabbing her hand and pulling her away as the cricket demon… things chased after them.
"I can't go that fast!" Nagisa called to Kyoko as she was essentially drug behind the much more athletic redhead. Nagisa was constantly tripping and skidding across the ground, dragging Kyoko back with her and slowing her down.
"Okay," Kyoko said, "New plan." She grabbed Nagisa and hoisted her over her shoulders into a piggyback ride even as she kept running, "Tell anyone about this and I'll kill you." Nagisa said nothing as she grabbed hold of Kyoko for dear life.
The ride didn't last long though, as Kyoko soon realized she'd made a grave error.
… That error being that she'd just run out of land and was now walking on air. … Falling. Falling through air. Aaaand into a filthy, murky stream. They'd toppled over a cliff, and as Kyoko pulled her head out of the freezing ash-infested waters any remaining doubts she had that this wasn't Hell were dashed.
"H-hate… my… l-life…" Kyoko managed to blurt out between bouts of hypothermia-induced shivering as she dragged herself and Nagisa onto shore. She had to crawl; putting any weight on her left foot was quickly demonstrated as a bad idea when lightning-sharp pain shot through it; something was broken. Hoorah.
The exhausted and pretty-sure-she-was-dying-a-second-time redhead collapsed in a heap on the river bank, ready to let the cold take her. Could you die in Hell? Because right now she'd take sweet oblivion in a heartbeat.
Someone in heavy, ornate robes approached the two beached children, berating them in some language Kyoko had never heard before. She looked up at him and despite herself yelped and managed to scramble back a good few feet. He was old but also not even remotely human, with long ears and greyish, ashen skin.
"… A-are… are y-you a d-d-demon?" shivering aside, her question was strangely calm considering. Despite turning her back on religion after her father… well, after what he did, dying and waking up in a cold ashy wasteland with demonic people and monsters had a hell of a way of reigniting one's faith.
The… man? Demon? He spoke a few more words, becoming increasingly agitated before he gave up and went back over to where Kyoko saw a portable table and chair and a whole bunch of beakers, pots, and other odds and ends on top. The redhead sat up, shivering but said nothing as the demon worked quickly on something; what she couldn't tell. Nagisa watched in silence, also clearly suffering from the cold.
After a minute or two, the man came back over with two small amulets, and motioned to the girls to put them on. They did so and—
"Can you understand me now?" the grumpy old demon man asked.
"Er… y-y-yeah," Kyoko said in mild surprise, "Are… are y-you a d-demon?" she repeated, feeling embarrassed she even had to ask.
The man looked at her like she'd grown a second head, then shook his head, "Not the worst insult I've gotten over the years, I suppose. Now, what are two Akaviri children doing wandering the wastes of Solstheim by themselves? Where are your parents? Please tell me you're not orphans. I detest orphans."
"… S-solstheim?" Kyoko asked, intentionally ignoring the fact that both she and Nagisa were in fact orphans.
"… A-akaviri?" Nagisa asked.
The man looked at them with frustration, "Yes. You," he pointed at them like they were slow, "Are Akaviri. This," he pointed to the land, "Is the island of Solstheim. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" he paused, "… And why do I detect high levels of magic from both of you?"
"W-wait," Kyoko said, putting the pieces together, "So… w-we're n-not in Hell?"
The man sighed to himself, "This is what I get for skimping on amulets. The spell never sticks right. Hell didn't translate. What is Hell?"
If her question before hadn't made her feel like a stupid child, Kyoko's next statement certainly did, "Er… it's where y-you g-go when you d-die if you've been b-bad."
"Far be it from me to rain on petty folk Akaviri traditions," the man replied dryly, "But no. You are quite alive, though for how much longer I cannot say. Now, would you mind telling me who you are and why you are here interrupting my work?"
"Uh, N-nagisa Momoe" the younger girl bowed despite her body's quaking, flustered, "P-pleased to meet y-you."
"Kyoko S-sakura," the redhead replied, quickly regaining her swagger even though she was still sitting on the ground with a bad leg and was literally dying from her soaking wet clothes and the cold temperatures, "Now w-who are YOU?"
The man looked at her flatly with irritation, both at her attitude AND at the fact she still hadn't answered his second question. He puffed up a bit, "Dear child, I am Master Neloth, Mage Lord and Councilor of the former House Telvanni. Now, if you're quite done being a mouthy teenager, would you mind telling me what in Oblivion you're doing on my property and interrupting my experiments?"