The Maid and Her Princess

V.

This definitely was the Witch, this time. Madoka shook her head. Maybe. She thought this was for real about three times ago, but this? This definitely was its true form. It was tall and elegant, with two legs and arms like her. Odd creaking noises and wet sloppy sounds worked their disgusting songs in Madoka's ears, bringing instant displeasure to the maid. Had they not been enemies at the moment, she would dunk this beast into a big tub of water to wash it immediately. Besides the black tar-like substance that coated its "skin," its flesh was twisted and woven tightly together like a straw basket. The being standing before her resembled nothing like a former goddess, but instead a grainy and undeniably corrupted fiend that had lost everything but power.

Madoka's hair rose on their ends as she watched the creature move its hands in an offensive stance and her inward cursing at it stopped. Unlike the impossibly long serpentine body it had apparently lived in, this being was only a few heads taller than her. The rest of the oozing black tar that covered it began to bury Audrey's prison. A growl escaped her as the monster's killing intent shot up, and it screamed a horrifying wretched wail in response. Now was not the time to be angry, even though everything inside of her wanted to tear it apart. The creature vanished from her sight with its godly speed. The artificial day above had fallen once into night, fogging up her vision, and its previous form walled off every escape with its sheer, inert size. So Madoka shut the world out and sharpened her senses.

The mystical warmth of her Crystal's shield wrapping around her returned when she focused.

The spray of dust disturbed by agile footsteps sent the smell of death in the air.

And then— tiny specks of crystalline thought-shards clinking together ever so faintly. Their soft chimes sifted through the barrier.

"Give up your Eyes," they sang to her.

"Fat chance!" Madoka countered with a swing the second her barrier distorted. Magnolia's clang matched another's sudden, yet equal strike. The attacker abandoned its path, dashing into obscurity once more.

Madoka felt the ground shift, but she stood in the new location with a single thought of her own.

"Hang in there, Audrey," she prayed and swung again, feeding more power into it. She channeled her fury into logic tracing the desperation in the Witch's movement, and her strike caught something— like an elusive prey now in her grasp. The enemy's body and screams were now skipping across the battlefield like a couple of tossed stones. Then, her shoulder roared to life when it detected another's suffering by her axe's mighty blade.

Madoka had forgotten about that rune. It had not revealed itself when she destroyed the Crimson Guardian, or even when she systematically destroyed the Witch's fleeing form segment by segment. The segments looked more like the tail of a serpent. She did not see Sovos shaped top half of Her body, the torso, which must have disintegrated somewhere beyond her vision. The look of its flattened face by her massive weapon of choice was still fresh in her mind, potentially because of the rune now burning her shoulder. It urged her to destroy the Witch, so her feet complied.

The creature, having recovered, charged once more with a strange blade like tentacle protruding from its arm like a blade. Madoka lunged in return. More exchanges occurred, but in the end both sides were slower than the start of the fight. She did not know if the Witch needed to breathe, but she did. The rune on her shoulder sent a rage through her from a lucky hit, igniting her wrath as she staggered to a halt. Steps in front of her quickened into another deadly lunge. The attacker's blade scraped the dirt and rubble with it, squealing and sniveling as it charged. Madoka was ready this time, and she delivered Magnolia's judgment straight into the creature's ribs.

I will crush you, now it was Madoka's turn to advance. Her steps cracked the ground as the crimson glow of her rune gleamed in tandem with her axe's malicious aura. You will die here in the Uracksheegal. She stood above the ashen Witch. The strange liquid coating its skin roiled, but could not hide the gash she managed to inflict. The Crystal barrier she had flickered off. She had to hurry up and finish this!

"Audrey is awaiting my return," She swung Magnolia down upon its head.

But the crunch never came, instead, a bright light nearly blinded her. Madoka felt her world crash as pain shot through her arm. Her revenge slipped from her fingers and now her arm was broken. Something coiled around her wrist, restraining her against her raging heart. Madoka watched Magnolia drop from her sight, yet she could not move. A bolt of something black and blue lashed at her, resembling a twisted version of a lightning spell.

Her body rattled, everything inside of her wanting to escape outside. Madoka convulsed, but what else could she do? The blue magic howled, burning the air as it shook her like a violent hand. The black magic stayed, piercing her wrists and legs. Shadowy, thorny vines that came into being held her limbs apart like ropes tied to the ends of walls at extreme angles. She was pinned, head reeling, watching the odd light bob slightly as the Witch stood up. It had been using magic during, but not this…! It was a bright ring, blazing with magic at the center of Her torso. A Core..?

Madoka struggled with a defiant growl, but that only brought more pain as the black vines tightened their grip. Was it merely toying with her? So is this how it ends? Her tied up like a beast for slaughter? The Witch was screaming something, either in a language she had never heard or out of raw fury. A cheap shot, Madoka growled back, but all she could do was watch its shadowy, twisted body move closer. She noticed the Witch truly was covered in the corrupted black tar, but the mist reminded her of the shadowy assassins she had fended off. Madoka frantically pressed herself for any bright ideas that could snuff out the Witch's Core for good.

"Don't you want to be free from all of this?"

The question went ignored. Instead, a new tendril of flesh slithered out of its arm, then hardened into a spear. Madoka lifted her head to look at its hollowed out eye sockets.

"Don't you remember me, Gechick?" Madoka screamed out. It quickened its speed, raising the spear at her head. Right as she was about to meet her end, she looked up, instinctively. Nothing but the blinking beacons and false night sky. Why did Elise tell her to look up?

Something warm surged in her chest, illuminating the Witch's spear tip just as it nearly impaled her neck. Its assault was halted abruptly, as if it ran into an invisible force, but Madoka did not remember if she recovered her Knotting magic or if the Crystal was recovering on its own. If the hollowed out face of the Witch could show emotion, she imagined one of pure shock would be plastered on it. There beneath its illuminated face, was the shining light of a floating golden hand, gripping its neck with deadly force.

"Audrey!"

Elation and relief flooded her, but the pain from the vines releasing her instantly snapped her out of it. Her shattered arms found the handle of something heavy. Magnolia shined brightly through her dizzy vision. The Witch was screaming in desperation at whatever the princess's hand was doing to it and Madoka was determined to make its wailing cease for good. Blood and tears trickled down her sweaty skin, but with one desperate roar, Madoka finally brought it straight at the Witch's neck. Her swing caused her to stumble and to her horror, Magnolia's axe head had managed to sink into its target, but the handle snapped off. Off balanced and furious at the new prospect of Boss Thribelt's wrath falling down upon her in the future when he discovers this sin, Madoka stood up and then immediately charged again.

The Witch flailed, clutching at the heavy blade threatening to slice her head off completely. Madoka was eager to attend to that duty, tackling the creature with a hard shove. It buckled over as its Core flared its meager light like a dying star as they tumbled. Madoka's hands found the back end of Magnolia's rocky axe blade.

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"A head, for a head!" Madoka roared as her hands wrung the axe's blade violently in the attacker's thick neck. Tendons ripped apart, followed by gurgling as the a foul stench leaked into Madoka's nose. Finally, she drove the blade completely through the neck, and both the axe head and the Witch's rolled a distance away. Black mist spewed out from the wound and its brown innards rolled out like spilled rotten fruit on a blood red carpet, staining her cloak but she did not care.

She was alive!

Every part of her felt like it was going to break and she could not even scream or dance or even cry, but she was certain that the Witch was finally lying dead at her feet. Something exploded near the serpentine body and the last thing she saw before slipping into darkness was a figure in a shining white dress approaching her.

"So, you finally did it," a soft voice interrupted Madoka's sleep. Her body no longer felt the pain that had accumulated during the long fight, so she resigned herself slowly with a sigh. She was speaking to another visitor, someone who will vanish entirely into her memory's aether. There was no longer any need in her to catastrophize herself into a frenzy. If she was here in another dream world — she was going to wake up eventually. Feeling bittersweet about it all, she finally wriggled a hand that no longer felt strained. Then something cold and metallic bumped into it.

Madoka opened her eyes and glanced at it. A helmet with a sunken skull looked back at her. She screamed and tried to back away, but a hand steadied her. This… Was not a dream?

"Wait, Madoka, easy," the familiar voice soothed her considerably, so Madoka slumped into her arms. Audrey's perfect sky blue eyes peered down into hers.

"Am I dreaming?" Madoka murmured, slumping further down until her head found soft thighs to rest on. "Because I don't want to wake up."

Something warm splashed on her forehead. Madoka looked up. Audrey was crying tears of joy and the strange unease that arrived when someone was finally free.

"I'm real, really, truly real," she burst into wailing. Madoka sat up and embraced her princess. Finally united again, even though it was a brief time apart, it felt like several lifetimes being separated. Everything she had done, all the pain she had suffered through, and the life she took.

"Where is the Witch?" Madoka finally took in her surroundings and tumbled back onto her bottom in shock.

Sunlight came from somewhere, allowing her to see everything. They were resting in what appeared to be the valley that she battled the Witch over, yet, everything was shattered and floating, drifting like the lands in the Leyline. She peered beneath the sky island that were she was on. The copses of treelines intertwined with black roots poked from the ground level. A familiar statue poked out, as well as the ruins of the human laboratories dotted the land below. Those trees were a part of the Shadow Forest! There was no sign that the Witch's bodies in either form had crashed down there. A big white cloud drifted between her and the view, too lazy to hurry out of her way so she averted her gaze when the disorienting feeling came from looking downward for too long. Only now, there was no heartbeat and no oppressive feeling in the air crushing her bones.

Beyond the floating islands stood an impossibly tall spire in the horizon. It appeared to be a shriveled up tree trunk, with no branches or any sign of life though it was as massive as the space station she could not see amidst the wreckage and clouds neneath them. When she focused her sight on it, she realized that it was made from the Witch's serpentine body. There were so many questions Madoka had in her mind, but Audrey spoke up first.

"I'm so glad you're alive," She sobbed. Madoka immediately shook out of her shock over her surroundings and reverted to doting on Her Highness.

"You saved me," Madoka whispered into her hair.

"I believed in you," Audrey spoke back with a heavy certainty in her voice. They knew that the road ahead would be difficult and those roots were not the last thing that would try to split them apart, but Madoka drew back and looked at her determined face intently. The sky's soft glow illuminated her eyes as the sun set and the warm wind brushed the ravaged island they were floating on. "I always will have faith in you, Madoka. That's the diff—"

Madoka silenced Her Highness by kissing her, showing how little the difference mattered to the maid.

Audrey froze for a moment, but did not push away. Then she wrapped her arms around Madoka and gave in. She pressed her lips deeper into softness no dream could ever compare to. Her heart raced. Her hands burrowed into Audrey's hair, allowing the girl to do whatever she wanted. She was radiant, submerged into a fulfilled passion left unspoken for so long. Then she realized that Audrey's hand had stopped its roaming and was now patting her back. Slowly, then urgently. Madoka finally released her tight hold on her, only to see the state she left the princess in.

Audrey's face was a deep shade of pink, more deeper than the sakura trees.

For some reason, Madoka felt proud. She could even imagine steam coming out of the girl's ears. She shook out of it.

"Sorry, Audrey," Madoka felt her own lips, realizing that she also felt the giddiness and tingling laced in her fingertips. "What were you saying just now?"

Audrey scooted her legs up and turned around, burying her face into her knees.

"T-That was my first kiss," she murmured.

Was she embarrassed? Madoka wondered. What for? Her gaze settled on the girl's back, basking in her work. The clear difference between her pale jade skin and the red shade border was beautiful; the orange glow of the sun paired well with her strawberry skin. Then she noticed what the princess was wearing. A white dress? When did she have the time to switch out of her traveler's clothes? As her eyes moved from the elegant dress's straps to the girl's arms she gasped. The Golden Hand was missing, back to her normal arm.

"Audrey, your arm…!" Madoka exclaimed. Audrey retreated by scooting away from her overwhelming shyness, but was no match for the maid since she just spent the whole night defeating a corrupted goddess. Still, she looked away when Madoka straightened her out, pouting like a flustered kitten.

"Y-Yeah," Audrey murmured. "I sacrificed it to get out of that root. Guess I wasn't really able to unleash my superpowers after all. Heh."

"H-How?" Madoka gasped, but she was marveling at the lustrous skin that had been hidden under a metallic gold sheen for too long.

"I was trapped by the Witch, by Gechick, when I slipped through the portal," she said. The color of her face was returning slowly back to normal. "But I had faith,—" She looked directly at Madoka. "—in you. That you'd save me. Though…"

Audrey's voice trailed off as she glanced towards the massive tree trunk reaching to the Uracksheegal's upper atmosphere. A shocked expression formed on her face as she turned back to Madoka.

"I can still use Knotting magic, I think," Audrey pointed to somewhere off the island. Madoka squinted, trying to focus on anything that looked out of place aside from the massive chunks of floating islands drifting lazily in the sky with them. Then, a barely perceptible distortion in the air rippled.

"A barrier?" Madoka widened her eyes. The island was surrounded by a barrier similar to her Crystal. She put a hand over her chest, sensing that it was still inside her. "To be honest, I don't know what those white magical spears were when I used them against the Witch."

"Ugh, don't you think that you're a little too much of a work-a-holic? You're leveling up and exploding everything around here!" She squeaked as she pointed all around them.

"Eh?" Madoka glanced at the destroyed landscapes. This place used to be a valley, but now even the plains and forest she flew from were shattered into debris. Was all of this destruction caused by her? Audrey stared at her, but then her face turned pink again and she looked away. Madoka could not figure out why she was acting so jumpy around her. Her own heart leapt with joy whenever she witnessed Her Shyness being alive. Well, at least she was only slightly nervous around her.

"Before you passed out, both the Witch's dragon body and the human form twitched and flew straight over there and then… well, now it's a tree. An ugly one, it looks like it's—"

"It's healing," Madoka stated. Since she no longer felt the darkness disturbing this place, she had a strange new feeling quietly settling in.

Find me, the feeling seemed to whisper gently in her ears. Madoka glanced at the rotted tree. The voice was coming from there, but it did not seem hostile anymore. She did not dream at all when she woke up in Audrey's arms. The memory of Elise's vague promise of them meeting someday in the future had already faded, but she also knew that she finally revealed her feelings to Audrey. She prayed to Princess Fiara that she could be satisfied with her actions now and forever.

"Whether it's dead or not. Maybe we could get a break from all the Eyes and Ears stuff," Audrey sighed. Madoka leaned back as the strange sunlight hovered in the twilight hours. She realized that it was alternating between broad daylight and the golden hours of sunset. "I had faith you'd pull through, but I'm scared for you. How did you manage to beat that boss?"

"Well," Madoka fidgeted, feeling Audrey's hand on hers as she leaned in as if they were conspiring together. "I hit her."

"You what?"

Audrey seemed taken aback by what Madoka revealed, rendered utterly speechless. Something in Her Highness's shocked tone suggested to the maid that she could not process what she said, but Madoka was stunned. How could a genius princess like Audrey not comprehend what she said? She thought about this for a moment, then decided to elaborate further on how she defeated the Witch.

"I hit her really hard," she explained. Then she added. "With a frying pan."