The Maid and Her Princess

I. Magic In Your Eyes

When Madoka stepped through the portal, the world around her twisted her vision into a whirlpool. The haze that followed was a tangled mass of her flesh burning, her stomach churning and her mind overturning. Then a bright white light seared her eyes and she felt wind lashing her like rough bumpy tongues.

That is when she saw them. Memories like glinting blades spurned tracks on the solids of her brain, like she was being flung through a dark hallway. She heard laughter echoing around her in the tornado of colors, a woman's, but the voice was unrecognizable. Faces popped up like portraits flinging off the wall, with unsettling and unfamiliar eyes tracking her as she hurled by down the strange tunnel. She saw the faces of Sovos, Narm, and even some humans flashing by her. All of them watched her with unreadable emotions masking their gazes, but the portal did not allow her to stop and reason or reconcile their memories with her sense of reality as she soared by.

Madoka had no idea what to expect in this place, but this...! It glowed the same ominous light that coated the sky in twisted ribbons of crimson and violet hues, making her worry that Audrey would disappear into another root on the other side. The lack of her princess's grip on her own hand was enough to make her panic all over again.

"Audrey!" She called through the haunting laughter and blurred faces of strangers.

In a flash, she flung out that strange hallway and her foot sank into dirt. She wobbled a bit before the muddy stains on her clothes made her frown. All the dizziness she was experiencing disappeared in an instant, replaced by frustration. She was running out of fresh boots to switch into. A gasp let out into the silent air. One that did not belong to her. The maid's instincts took over and she immediately turned to attend to her beloved princess. She tried to worm her way out of the maid's grasp, but gave up quickly when she realized she could not escape.

Madoka held her steady, but when the girl looked up the shock in her changed eyes immediately appeared. It must have been worn on her own face, since they forgot all about what that mysterious fruit did to her. Her own eye was looking right back at her, a purple blemish on the princess's otherwise stunning face.

Thank the kind gods, they were alive! The sky was a clear and gray slate. She did not have time to be at peace for to long or be absorbed into Her Highness's looks when she realized they both were standing in a torn up expanse of dirt all around them. Destroyed trees stuck out like twisted arms reaching to the sky for help in the distance and beyond that massive mountains were crumbling with huge rocky chunks of themselves booming faintly in the distance as they tumbled down their sides. It was clear to Madoka that the place they were in did not start out this way.

"W-Where are we—" Audrey sputtered. The girl simply covered her mouth and looked away at their surroundings.

"We were fighting..." Madoka heard her voice trail off, the dawning horror and realization falling upon her. Her foot bumped into a rock, but when she looked down she froze. It was not an ordinary rock, it was a familiar but shattered orange roof tile. They have seen these ruins before from high above when they were in Gechick's Tower, but the stress from the portal made her forget.

"This..." Audrey choked up. Guilt was steadily rising in Madoka's throat. "This was Gladeban."

"Was... Was there anything we could have done to stop this?" Madoka looked around. "The people that lived here are all..."

"They're all seeking the River Goêt," a voice came from behind them.

Madoka instinctively pulled the Crystal from her chest up in a barrier around the two while Audrey's magic dropped the temperature of the desolate air. It was then she noticed the leaves swirling around her, pausing in the middle of their flight as they passed them like they were held back by invisible arms. The familiar creaking sound of bones rubbing together made her realize who it was. The kind god's avatar clapped, though she could not figure out why he seemed so nonchalant about his people dying.

"Ceghinort," Madoka said evenly, though inside she felt nervous. She was not sure if he was angry with them or not. She could not remember which kind god wanted her to stop the Witch. This barren land was the result of their work.

"The River Goêt," Audrey murmured. The air returned to its original temperature, so Madoka let the Crystal slip back into her chest. At least she could still use it. "What is that exactly?"

Ceghinort said nothing, but the skeleton's hand raised to its chin in apparent thought.

"It is where all my people go to seek Adventure when they die," he said solemnly.

"Oh," the princess stammered. "Sorry we couldn't save them, though that's probably not enough."

Audrey fell quiet. Madoka realized that her eyes were beginning to tear up, so she gently held her and prepared to wipe her face. The leaves were frozen like the time, yet a breeze pushed her hair and turned it into a wild tangle. So she, Her Highness, and a kind god stood in silence. Audrey mentioned these moments of silence represented as a form of respect for the dead.

Madoka's head swirled with emotion, but her heart was conflicted. If the dead could not even be brought back with words, what good was silence? Still, she was the quiet one most of the time. Was there a way to stop the Guardian from destroying this land? Ceghinort finally made a sound that resembled a throat being cleared.

"The River is where my People's souls go on their new adventure and at its end— they are reborn."

Madoka's left eye stung. That was Audrey's eye. Now, it was hers. She had a sinking feeling that she definitely should not have eaten that fruit. If she knew that the goddess's fruit would forcibly steal the princess's precious eye and exchanged it with hers, she would have thrown it away and never had eaten it. She would have definitely slapped it out of Audrey's hand, too.

"So?" Madoka held a hand on her hips and looked at the skeleton warily. "We still don't know if the Uracksheegal is truly stopped. But the Witch—"

She stopped herself. She somehow had the sneaking suspicion that it would take a long time before she sees her mother again. Did Ceghinort know of her true origin before? The kind god did not seem to mind her being direct.

"Time is healing her," he mused. "The Uracksheegal's corruption has been cleansed on, well, the only level that matters. I'm sure its Tomorrows will be full of light and dormancy. For us? That means some peace and quiet."

It was quiet here, Madoka looked at the devastation around them. But peaceful? There was nothing peaceful about this country anymore.

"For you two," the skull looked at them and spoke seriously. If it could narrow its empty eye sockets, Madoka imagined it would. "I'd like to meet you two. In person."

"Meet us?" Audrey asked. Madoka wondered when the kind God of Tomorrows would make contact with her. For some inexplicable reason, she had an odd feeling that she was also related to it as well somehow.

"In my country's Beloved Capitol, Ceghinortan," Ceghinort's skeletal hand pointed. When Madoka followed its direction, she noticed that across the shredded plains of dirt a massive structure resembling a palace poked out in the horizon. "I look forward to speaking with both of you face to face finally."

"W-What for?" Madoka blurted, then she covered her mouth for being rude.

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"What for?" Ceghinort let out a laugh. The skull shook, its bones shaking and rattling from an unspoken amusement. After its fit, the avatar straightened up. His ragged robes fluttered as the wind picked up. "To speak of your achievements and promotion, of course."

"Promotion?" Audrey exclaimed. Madoka remained unmoved. A sudden frustration bloomed within her. A mere shiny tag could not bring heal all of this destruction!

"What about all of this?" Madoka fanned a hand over all of the dirt and burning grounds. This was a mess she caused, but not something she could clean. The skeleton approached her, either unafraid of her hostility or unaffected. It made sense, since it was an avatar of the kind god. Then, it placed a bony hand on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. "I don't have to clean up the mess?"

"The land shall heal and more will continue the Adventure. Gechick is the Forest of Bitter and Sweet. In Time, this Bitterness will also heal," Ceghinort lowered his voice. "You've done a lot for us, more than you could ever know. Without your intervention, that Country Danger Classed monster from the Sky would have done much more harm to Rustaze. And you two managed to crush it overnight before it could rampage more."

But it was after us, Madoka thought silently, though she pouted. The hand patted her shoulder, but then fell to the ground with a dull thud. Their time speaking with Ceghinort was coming to an end.

"I have called upon Drezgor to bring the survivors to the capitol as well, Madoka," the kind god reassured them. The Acting Guild Master was still alive! Nadoka felt reluctantly relieved. "They'll have their hands quite full in the coming months, but when we meet, I believe you will understand why I am not having you work on restoring this place. Darker times await us yet."

Darker times... Madoka repeated in her head. It seemed like Ceghinort was aware that they needed to find the Links, perhaps to prevent these monstrous attacks, or that the princess was definitely not designed for heavy lifting. Either way, she glanced at Her Highness, who had already lost interest in whatever they were talking about. Madoka shot her a glare as she batted at a crumpled leaf floating in place like a bubble. Audrey froze, but then snatched the leaf quickly and shoved it in her pocket.

With another pat on her shoulder, Ceghinort gave them an odd salute with his other handless arm.

"Be seeing you two," he laughed. The leaves began to rush as Time began to course again.

Madoka silently watched the leaves swirl and fly off into the grey sky, feeling conflicted.

"Well," Audrey sighed. "That kind god... seems like he doesn't care for his dead people at all. Probably because he's a skeleton, but still. Would an undead necromancer ruler class worry for his dead people? Think of all the labor he's missing."

"Audrey," Madoka started, but sighed. Her rambling was a defense against her guilt. Letting a large group of people down seemed to be all they were good at. She saw the girl clutching her sleeves, so she took one and held it firmly. "Where to next?"

The girl's eyes, one blue and one purple, shifted back between her hands and somewhere else. Before she could assume the princess wanted to go to the capital, a gleam in her blue eye caught Madoka's attention. She immediately raised her guard.

"What is it?" Madoka looked off into the distance, but saw nothing but ruins and crumbling spires all around them like weak figures made out of limestone struggling to remain standing.

"The Leyline...!" Audrey gasped, pointing with her free hand. Sensing the maid's confusion and apparent inability to see what had changed with it, she stammered. "It's transformed into the Tree from the— You don't see it, do you?"

Madoka shook her head. She knew better not to question Her Highness. If Audrey saw something unseen, it had to be real. The girl, though shocked, stood there in deep thought. Then, she suddenly started contorting her face. Madoka tilted her head at the girl as she scrunched her cheeks and blinked, then wriggled her purple eye shut. Before she could ask, a strange sensation surged in her own left eye like icy water spraying at her face.

"Audrey?" Madoka clutched her face as a dizzying force clouded her vision. Something was wrong. When she opened her eyes again, her head felt like it was splitting. Audrey's face also seemed racked by strain and concentration, but it did not seem like she planned on stopping whatever magic she was doing.

Suddenly, her vision cleared, but when diplopia cleared an unsettling sensation remained holding her eye. No— It was not just her seeing things doubled, it was beyond that. Madoka could swear that she could see not only the shattered remains of the Petal's borders from a different angle, but also a face that she knew all too well. Her own, complete with her scars, disheveled red hair and defiant gaze, was looking at her from a shorter perspective. Dawning horror settled on the maid yet again when she realized whose perspective she was seeing herself from. The Princess's.

"So, that's kind of nifty," Audrey bent her body into odd angles, obviously trying to get used to seeing two things from two different vantage points at once. Madoka kept her vision on a focal point beyond the Leyline as the princess's vision bobbed her head. The shifting vision wobbling and bouncing her own face in her view made her feel sick. It seemed that she was viewing the world around her through her eye inside of Audrey's face and the princess was seeing the world from the maid's blue eye. "We're going to have to work on a better way to activate the whole eyeball vision swap thing we have going on here."

"Stop moving," she whined. "You're hurting my head!'

"Sorry," Audrey paused, then stood straight and slowly moved to look towards the Leyline. Madoka could not see whatever change happened to it, despite being able to see it from the princess's perspective. It was still a clear grey sky, aside from the occasional floating rocks and rubble that they once adventured on. She felt a tight stress boil. They also held a battle over there. "You can't see it, can you? The Tree where mom lives, er, your mother, uhh, Gechick— nah, that's too informal, is it?"

"No," Madoka's voice tightened, but her leg almost buckled from the magic's disorientation. She felt like she was going to puke. Audrey, for the most part, looked pale but the strange sensation withdrew itself. She recognized the shocking tendril as Knotting magic, but she could not help but feel squeamish over the fact that it was affecting her eye.

"Okay, yeah, sorry for doing that," Audrey bent over and leaned on her knees. "I didn't realized the magic would just... jump to your eye too."

"Mm," Madoka sighed. It was indeed a nifty trick. One that even someone as dull as her could tell would be extremely useful in the future. "That sickening feeling is going to take some getting used to."

"You're not angry?" Audrey perked up. The apparent dizziness seemed to wash off of the girl's energetic frame the second she did not hear the maid's complaints.

"Don't try it again," Madoka warned her. "At least, tell me when you do, okay?"

"Mmm, so how about now?"

"No!"

Audrey deflated again, but her glance was still looking towards where the Tree was. Madoka felt a pang of sorrow. How could she not see the Tree, where her mother was? Was it because she did not want to be seen by her own daughter in the state she was in? Was it because of the frying pan?

"Madoka?"

"Why do you call her mom?" Madoka asked, ignoring Audrey's concern. The girl instantly became bashful again, looking away, but her blushing face was too adorable to miss.

"It's because... Well," Audrey began to fidget with her hands again, looking down at her feet. It was clear that she was not willing to explain. Madoka wondered how staring at those small feet would be like from Her Highness's perspective.

Would they be cute like the rest of her? She instinctively closed her left eye, willing a golden strand of Knotting towards her face with her open eye. Ever since she left the portal, it felt like she was an entirely new person. The change in her own magic and body have been slowly growing in strength, but surely swelling inside of her. No, she thought as the strand shocked her eye. The dizzying sensation was less intense this time and Madoka found her answer. Any magic channeled into her pupil activated the sight. And— seeing her tiny shoes pointing at each other nervously from the princess's eye was indeed cute.

A gasp escaped the girl's mouth. It was apparent that she felt the invasive jolt of magic spreading up her cheek into her eye. How does it feel to have magic thrusted upon you, huh? Madoka refrained from letting the smugness get to her. Audrey's eye was glowing gold, this time. How interesting. Then she noticed the princess's frown and immediately released the Knotting magic from her eye.

"Do I really look that small to you?" Audrey whined.

"Yes," Madoka said without hesitation.

"Gah!" Audrey buried her face in her palms. "You're supposed to console me, not agree so readily!"

"But you are small... and adorable!" Madoka cooed.

Then, Her Bashfulness's skin tone turned an even more unreasonably shade of pink in embarrassment. Madoka realized she was being uncharacteristic and finally added an explanation.

"It's because you're mine and I'm finally..." her voice lowered to a nearly inaudible whisper. "Yours."

Her words made Madoka's face heat up. The uncomfortable feeling made her cross her arms, though she could see her own face's tone match Audrey's embarrassed pink shade through the dizzying feeling of magic. She realized that she was already getting used to it.

"Now, where to, Audrey?" Madoka switched the subject. It took awhile for the princess to recover from the magic shared between their eyes.

"Well, we'll do a fly by," Audrey determined. She was looking over the desolate wasteland before them at a certain spot. Smoke was rising from it. "Maybe we'll see if there's any stragglers or something there. Or catch up to Mister Drezgor."

Madoka nodded, feeling her wings materialize behind her. Instead of the wide wings that fanned out like a bird's, these lashed out like rays of sunlight or straight blades of pure white. Even through Audrey's perspective, she could feel the girl practically vibrating with jealousy. Instead of being self-conscious, the maid simply floated upward with a single flap. She was eager to lift off the mud anyways and their new journey to the Capitol of Rustaze awaited them.